Guild Wars 2

That’s because (unlike some other games), a patch in Guild Wars 2 does not require an hour-long maintenance period during which the game servers must be taken down.

You can just play the game while waiting.

I believe that is an early concept drawing of Caithe, before the sylvari were reimagined as 100%-plant creatures.

Don’t count on copying that, especially not the looks or hairstyle.

I think Vapor Form might actually be excepted from this mechanic, because it is an instant-cast skill and possibly also a stun-breaker. (Since it seems to act like a carbon copy of Mist Form.)

Instant-cast skills are never affected by crowd control, which the skill delay upon being downed amounts to. (In fact, the skill delay could actually be a standard daze, stun or knockdown effect that simply triggers on being downed.)

If this is correct, the only way to fix this would be to give Vapor Form a casting time, and I’m not sure I would support that…

Possibly, your friend has never deleted any messages he received from in-game sources (e.g. every heart vendor sends a message when their heart is filled). These may clog up his/her inbox. Ask your friend to also delete all these messages.

If the gold is still not received after that, you may have mistyped your friend’s name while sending the message.

You should probably read this developer post:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Customer-Support-and-the-Feature-Pack

snoeckie.9230:

Algreg.3629:

sometimes, I am very ashamed to be european… like at the moment.

Never be ashamed of being a european
Remember we civilized the world
;)

Interviewer: “Mr. Gandhi, what is your opinion about western civilization?”
Mahatma Gandhi: “I think it would be a very good idea.”

Expect the patch during the first hours of the US West Coast working day (which is where ArenaNet is located).

That means in 4 hours after the time of this posting, at the earliest. It’s probably going to be a few hours after that, as well.

There has been an announced change in the rollout of the Megaserver system. The level 1-15 zones are no longer the first areas, they’re now starting with just the cities.

ArenaNet’s stated goal is to start with low-populated areas first (and that probably does not include Queensdale…)

I believe you should know that, because it might impact your idea.

Ravenclaw, there is no “wrong” way of playing the game. There is also no “best” way of playing the game.

If you are having fun with what you are doing, you are doing it right. Everything gives you experience (not just killing and hearts). You get XP for reviving players and NPCs. You get XP for uncovering new parts of the map. You get XP for achieving goals in WvW. You get XP for participating in events that you find along the way. You get XP for completing daily achievements. You get XP for gathering. You get XP for crafting. You get XP for doing your Personal Story. You get XP for everything.

The only advice I can give is to try out new things. Try out shortbow. Try out longbow. Try out underwater combat. Try out crafting. Try out WvW. Try out exploring new areas (appropriate to your level).
This will help you find the things that you like to do. And if you do the things you like to do, you will gradually level up until you are 80.

The goal of the game is not reaching level 80. The goal is to have fun while doing the things that the game offers.

And you should know that the zones were designed so that 1 zone is NOT enough to level you to the next tier. Just Queensdale is not enough to reach level 17. That is because you are encouraged to do other things as well, like visit other 1-15 zones (or 15-25 zones), or craft, or WvW, or do personal story, etc.

The manuals will become obsolete and are removed from the game after the update. Personally, I would not be willing to spend 2 gold for a short-term benefit (if there is any).

While I cannot answer your question, I do not believe that grandmaster traits are that good to pay 2 gold in order to use them for 20 levels. (Although I don’t even know if it will work that way.)

Final advice: If nobody knows the answer to your question, don’t buy the manual. Worst case, you will have paid 2 gold for a benefit that disappears immediately after the patch.

I expect another mention (hopefully announcing where the merchant can now be found) in the April 15 patchnotes.

(By the way, you can’t really expect the addition of new content after ArenaNet actually announced that the Feature Update (now set for April 15th) would be the soonest update.)

One of my guildmates complained to me about his warrior recently. He said that if he wants to work get any PvE kills with any weapon (for the Weapon Master achievements), he frequently has to abort his Hundred Blades mid-animation, in order to make the killing blow with his other weapon.

Basically, warrior greatsword skills are arguably overpowered, at least in PvE against monsters that can’t move and attack at the same time.

If you’re low level (1-15), try leveling in Queensdale rather than Metrica Province; it’s more crowded there.

Once you reach level 30, you will be eligible for your first dungeon (Ascalon Catacombs). Dungeons are a group activity by default.

Also, I’m not sure if you are into PvP, but World versus World is group activity by definition. Press “B” or click the castle-shaped icon at the top of your screen to bring up the WvW menu, and it will allow you to enter both the regular WvW maps and the Edge of the Mists directly.

Finally, ArenaNet will start rolling out their new “megaserver” concept over the course of this year, which should ensure that any zone you play in will have a decent-sized population.

In this game, race change is very high on the list of Not Going To Happen Ever, for reasons stated by the previous poster.

My preference would go to the following two combinations:

Power / Condition Damage / Toughness

Power / Condition Damage / Healing Power

(I would prefer Power to be the primary stat in both.)

Reasoning:
Having both Power and Condition Damage gives versatility to characters that have ways to deal both regular damage and condition damage. The addition of a defensive stat like Toughness or Healing Power also enhances survivability.

I realize we already have Carrion (Condition Damage / Power / Vitality), but I would like to stress that Vitality-based survivability works differently from Toughness-based or Healing Power-based survivability. Carrion gives decent resistance against conditions, while new combination #1 would give decent resistance against direct damage, and new combination #2 would give better recovery through healing. These differences are especially noticeable on light armor professions.

The addition of these two combinations would also enable players to mix and match their weapon and armor between #1, #2 and/or Carrion, in order to build a mix of defensive stats in addition to a strong bonus in both Power and Condition Damage.

I think it is a deliberate decision by ArenaNet that the game does not include emotes that serve little other purpose than to mock or humiliate other players.

/laugh is a bit borderline, but it has a lot of uses other than ridiculing people. Such as expressing amusement or joy.

A new merchant for blade shards has been promised to appear “soon”. That could be the April 15th feature update. Keep an eye on the patch notes.

What bugs me is that the harvestable plants are now gone. I guess they got blasted in the aether bombardment. I just hope they grow back.

If we continue Imperios’ argument, we get something like this:
“Why not include pedofilia, cannibalism, sexually transmitted diseases or (gasp) visible genitalia? Those all exist in the real world, so why should they not exist in Guild Wars 2?”

Unless we would want all of that in the game too, Imperios’ argument is not valid. Tyria is a fantasy world. ArenaNet has the artistic license to use or not use any elements from the real world, and to add or not add any elements that do not exist in the real world. We as players have the choice to either accept this fantasy, or to move on to a different game.

So if people don’t like Tyria for not exhibiting enough intolerance for homosexuality, this might not be the right fiction for them.

I partially accept the argument that all weapons’ #1 skills should be balanced with each other.

However, I would go one further: All sets of weapon skills should be balanced with each other. This means that elementalist MH dagger should be balanced with elementalist scepter and the first 3 skills of warrior greatsword, etc.

This means that weapons with very good #1 skills should have relatively poorer #2-5 skills (either in terms of cooldown or damage values), while weapons with poorer #1 skills should have relatively better #2-5 skills (either in terms of cooldown or damage values).
This creates interesting trade-offs, as certain weapons are better for short-term damage bursts, while others would be better for sustained damage.

Addtionally, main-hand and off-hand weapons should be slightly less powerful than two-handed (5-skill) weapons, because of the extra flexibility to mix-and-match weapon skills allow.

Finally, other profession mechanics should weigh in as well. A few examples:
- A profession that has above-average utility skills should probably have slightly weaker weapon skills.
- The elementalist’s attunements have twice the number of weapon skills available during combat as most other professions with a weapon swap. For this reason, the weapon skills can be made slightly weaker.
- However, the elementalist player has less freedom to choose which weapon skills he has access to based on weapon choice. It’s an “all or nothing” package deal. For this reason, the weapon skills can be made slightly stronger.
- Warriors and guardians have better armor than elementalists and necromancers, so this could be compensated by slightly weaker weapon skills.
- Guardians and elementalists have less health than warriors and necromancers, so this could be compensated by slightly stronger weapon skills.
- Etcetera.

For these reasons, I believe the argument that only auto-attack skills should be compared and made equal is short-sighted. The thought behind it is a good one, but YOU need to see the bigger picture.

P.S. I’m not saying that all skills are perfectly balanced. Just that the proposed solution to the perceived problem is too simple, and that balancing takes far more effort than just improving elementalist auto-attack skills. Maybe it’s warranted, but maybe not. My main is an elementalist, and I can’t tell.

Elementalist auto-attacks are deliberately underpowered. That is because it is the #2 skills that are the elementalist’s bread and butter. Most of them do a good amount of damage, and they all have a cooldown of 5-6 seconds. Some are situational, however, and in other cases it is the #3 skill that makes a weapon truly worthwhile (although the #3 skill is on a slightly longer cooldown).

So if you believe that elementalist auto-attacks are weak, go use the other skills. And swap attunements if too many of your non-auto-attack skills are on cooldown.

I do agree that it would be nice if there was a large reward given away because the Living Story reached it’s end of season. However, I do not believe that it should be tied to the amount of LS releases a player has participated in. It should simply be a happy handing out of an extra gift (e.g. a unique skin, or a free Ascended weapon of the player’s choice of type and stats, or modest gift of gems, or a free set of Black Lion Keys) for ALL players.

Alternatively, perhaps a kind of wardrobe system could be included that allows players who have gotten any unique skins from the various LS meta-achievements to withdraw as many copies of those skins as they like. This system could simply check whether the account has the achievement associated with the given skin in order to allow the player to obtain a copy.
This would (1) allow players who threw away or already used their unique one-time skins to still obtain one in the future, (2) save up bank/inventory space for those who saved their unique skin items and (3) reward players for the number of LS events that they actively particpated in, without any hard feelings.

Frankly, the March 18th “Living Story epilogue” release would be a great opportunity for celebrating “end of season 1”. With gifts.

Permanent new stuff of the last 12 months:

- WvW Borderlands got a revamp with 5 ruins replacing the Quaggan/Krait sea in the middle.
- WvW Edge of the Mists map – entirely new.
- Twilight Arbor Spider path was retired in favour of a new Aetherblade path (with an entirely new map section).
- New Aetherblade jumping puzzle in Gendarran Fields.
- Revamp of Southsun Cove; it’s populated now and has a world boss event (Karka Queen).
- Tequatl the Sunless has been revamped, requiring a large organized group. It has its own set of achievements now.
- Bloodtide Coast now has the Great Jungle Wurm, a three-headed monstrosity that spawns in three places on the map at the same time. Requires even more coordination than Tequatl. It also has its own set of achievements now.
- Three new Fractals of the Mists (Thaumanova Reactor, Molten Facility and Aetherblade Hideout), and two new Boss Fractals (Molten Bosses and Aetherblade Captain Mai Trin)
- Guild Missions to participate in if you are a member of a reasonable large guild. These are open-world, so it is also possible to participate in a guild mission you encounter “in the wild”. Rewards are tied to guild membership, though.
- PvP reward system will soon get a revamp. Same for Runes and Sigils.
- Many profession traits have been rebalanced or redesigned.
- Each profession now has a new heal skill. Apart from that, there is also a new universal heal skill (Antitoxin Spray) that is rather situational.
- All equipment types are now available in Ascended quality. Ascended weapons and armor can be crafted or (if you’re lucky) found as loot drops from certain huge world boss events. Amulets can be bought with laurels, Accessories can be bought with the rewards from Guild Missions.
- Crafting disciplines Artificer, Huntsman, Weaponsmith, Armorer, Leatherworker and Tailor can now be leveled to 500 (in order to be able to craft ascended items).

Current temporary content: Go visit Lion’s Arch and see if you still recognize it.

[sarcasm]But apart from all of the above, not much has changed. [/sarcasm]

It is deliberately made impossible to convert karma to coin in a reliable way.

Orrian Jewelry Boxes are the only way to gamble karma in order to get an uncertain amount of gold.

The most versatile use of karma is to buy Obsidian Shards with it. These can be used for ascended crafting, or for (gambling for) Mystic Clovers.

The weapon was the Aether Megalaser that we had to keep from charging during the Marionette fight, not the Marionette itself. The Marionette was intended by Scarlet to lure all her enemies close enough to blast them with the laser (which was aimed directly down from her airship).

In Lion’s Arch, it is heavily implied that the megalaser firing down the drill shaft is the massive energy burst that aggravates the ley lines.

Mirta.5029:

Jornophelanthas.1475:

In the latest patch, the loot bug should be fixed.

Was killing knights yesterday and got no loot from any of them. And we only managed to kill 2 out of 3 as well. Not enough people at the moment. I’m hoping that there’s gonig to be more on the weekend.

The latest patch is dated March 7th, which implies that it is currently about 12-15 hours old (based on US Pacific working hours). Patches are usually released during the second half of the PST workday. If you played before that, the loot bug was still in at that time.

While the Battle for Lion’s Arch is still ongoing, the Found Belongings you get from the loot bags that drop from Scarlet’s minions can be used to buy Obsidian Shards in the refugee camps outside the city.

The limit is 150 players on the map.

During the KNIGHTS event, only 50 players can get the buff for each knight. So if the maximum 150 players divide evenly across the 3 knights, everyone should be able to get the buff. (If you can’t get the buff, move to a different knight.)

During the HOLOGRAM event, there are no such limitations.

Welcome to the game.

Based on your stated preferences (group support and heavy physical dps), you could consider the Guardian profession.

Note, however, that there is no dedicated “healer” profession in Guild Wars 2. Some characters have some group healing skills, but in this game you should primarily rely on self-healing. (Fortunately, every character has a dedicated skill slot for a healing skill.)

There is also no clear-cut “tanking” or “dps” role division. Each profession can fulfill each function reasonably well (although some professions can excel in certain roles), and it is possible – and slightly encouraged – to switch roles during combat.
Half your available skills are tied to the weapons you equip, and there is a weapon-swap option that allows you to switch between two weapon sets.
(Two professions do not have weapon swap, but instead have a different mechanic to increase their skill options.)

So in short, there is no “wrong” way to play any profession. Experiment with as many professions as you like before settling on the one you like best. And within a given profession, experiment with all the weapon combinations available to you. Try not to settle on a single weapon set (or even two), but mix and match the weapons available to you depending on the challenges you choose to face.

In the latest patch, the loot bug should be fixed.

The blue knight heal bug had already been fixed in one of the earlier patches.

Or are you selling your drops to NPC vendors?

Often the most profitable way of getting rid of your loot is to salvage it, and selling the materials on the Trade Post.

Also, there will be an epilogue on March 18th that should fill in some of the gaps.

panzer.6034:

According to Mordremoth’s twitter, he’s awake because we defeated Scarlet.

ArenaNet has now confirmed that that twitter account (and many others) is not theirs. It is fan-based speculation.

Yes, sometime after March 18th, Runes and Sigils will get a major overhaul.

You would be best advised to wait until then to decide on a final build. Especially if it has components that are expensive.

As I see it, there are four factions of sylvari (that we know of):

1. Sylvari of the Dream, which is nurtured by the Pale Tree to espouse goodness and nobility.

2. Nightmare Court sylvari, who seek to corrupt the Dream by turning it into its opposite: Nightmare.

3. Soundless sylvari, who seek to tune out and ignore the Dream, and thus have no wish to involve themselves with Nightmare either.

4. Sylvari of the Dragon – the Dragon that is possibly the true creator of the Pale Tree and intended the sylvari to be plant-based servants that mimic sentient life on Tyria. These sylvari want to reawaken the Elder Dragon and serve it willingly (or mindlessly if it comes to that). Only Scarlet Briar fits into this camp.

(5. Unknown sylvari of a rumoured second Tree, which includes Malyck.)

As you can see, the Nightmare Court are not so much actual Dragon servants, but rather clueless malcontents who want to overthrow the Dream’s influence. They have no idea of what is behind the Dream (if anything), but they feel the Dream taints the sylvari’s true purpose – if any. Arguably, some factions within the Nightmare Court may even believe that the Nightmare – i.e. turning the Dream into its opposite – is its own end.

Contrary to the Nightmare Court, Scarlet has seen the sylvari’s true purpose. Omadd’s machine has allowed her to see behind the Dream, despite the Pale Tree’s warning. What she saw was the Dragon, and it forced a connection into her mind that has remained ever since.
Scarlet’s madness can be explained by her own will slowly being subsumed by the Dragon’s will. On the one hand, Ceara has always sought the freedom to forge her own destiny, free from the Pale Tree’s influence, but on the other hand, she has been slowly turned into the minion of an even more powerful force than the Pale Tree ever was. As the Dragon achieved a greater hold on Ceara’s mind, it subverted Ceara’s will and bent it to its own purposes. What shattered her mind is that she knows perfectly well that what she is doing is directly opposite to what she once wanted – and that despite this she no longer cares about it. The moment she stopped fearing the whispers in her mind, the last part of Ceara inside her finally gave up.

Equipment you buy from karma/heart vendors cannot be sold to merchants, sold to the trade post, shared with your other characters, or salvaged for materials. This is to prevent easy and guaranteed ways to convert karma to coin.

There is one viable use for such items rather than destroying them: collect up to 4 items of the same quality (i.e. all blue, or all green), and put them in the Mystic Forge. You will get a random item of the same quality and slightly higher level requirement (with a small chance of getting an item of the next higher quality category).

While the new item may not be useful to you at all, you will be able to sell/salvage this one. (Unless you have the bad luck of receiving another soulbound item; what comes out of the Mystic Forge can be from any loot table, including the karma verndors’ selling list.)

The Mystic Forge is normally located in Lion’s Arch, but is currently temporarilly stalled at Vigil Keep. It’s very close to the hub of asura gates from all the racial capital.

It sounds to me like during some of your attempts, the characters happened to end up in different overflows, while on other attempts, they happened to end up in the same overflow.

This can happen even in low-populated servers, because Queensdale happens to be a very popular area.

If you are in different overflow servers, you have to party up, right-click on the other person’s portrait in the top left of your screen and select “join in [area]”, where [area] can be Queensdale, Divinity’s Reach, or any other open world zone. This should bring you together with the other player.
If it does not work, then that means that you are either not in the same zone (e.g. you are in Queensdale, while he is in Divinity’s Reach), one of you is in an instance, or you do not share the same home server (e.g. you are on Vabbi while he is in Devona’s Rest).

Note that Salma District and the area where your Personal Story plays out do NOT work this way. These zones are called instances, and you can only enter these together under the following circumstances:
1. You are already in a party with each other.
2. You are both already in the same zone (e.g. Queensdale) from where you will enter the instance, though not necessarily in the same version of that zone.
3. One of you (the one whose Personal Story gets played) chooses to enter the instance.
4. The other should get a pop-up window with a timer and a request to join and accepts before the timer runs out (or the first player cancels the invitation).

If you want to play all different types of content with the same skill bar, you will be disappointed. Each profession has different weapon choices that are more appropriate for certain situations than for others.

If you say a rifle warrior is fun, but not in dungeons, equip a different weapon in dungeons. If you say a dagger/dagger thief is fun, but not if enemies can fight back before they die, equip a different weapon (and a different playstyle) for those occasions (e.g. stealth instead of gap closers).

You can (and should) also adjust your utility skills and major traits freely between situations. Only reassigning your trait points actually has a cost.

What I see as the major problem of both Tequatl and the Tri-Wurm can be summed up in one sentence:
A very small number of people can make the event unwinnable for all the rest.

At Tequatl, players standing AFK in the wrong place will scale up the enemy count to such an extent that the turrets cannot be defended anymore. Additionally, there is no way to stop a player from occupying a turret if they don’t know how to effectively use it.

With the Wurms, players who don’t know what to do can also sink everyone’s chances at success. If too many people die inside Amber Wurm’s stomach, not enough people with harpoons come out. A single misuse of the harpoon (once outside) may be enough to prevent Amber Wurm’s shield from dropping. If too many people are just running around at Crimson Wurm, they will lure large mobs of enemies onto the collection stations. And at Cobalt Wurm, uncoordinated powder keg runners will just fruitlessly drop kegs that get removed before they add up to 20, wasting everyone’s time. At all three, those who don’t know (or don’t care) when to stop attacking to co-ordinate killing time can sabotage the event for everyone, as well as those who prefer attacking champions over unhatched wurm eggs.

And there is simply no way of correcting such untactical or counterproductive behaviour, except to explain it in chat (in the middle of a 15-minute timed event) and hope they even read it.

RedShipRaider.9560:

How is being in a Grove Overflow more disconnecting from your server of choice than being in a Lion’s Arch Overflow?

This.

If Lornar’s Pass AND Bloodtide Coast AND Gendarran Fields AND The Grove all send you to overflow on your new home server, then I can’t imagine that Lion’s does NOT have an overflow with a 45-60 minute waiting time – if it were still peaceful.

Imbune.5497:

Eivene.9127:

This would have us believe we’re going to take back Lion’s Arch

I hope we fail. I was-am interested now that a city was destroyed and thought we might finally be getting a true mmorpg with a changing online world. However, if we really do retake LA and eventually rebuild it (especially if it’s only like in 2-3 patches) then it’ll be: ‘well..what was the point of destroying it in the first place?’ It will fall into the same trap as virtually every single LS patch prior-a player took a year’s break and comes back to find…nothing’s effectively changed…at which point they take another year’s break -__-.

You know now that I think about it, I’m almost sure that’s exactly what will happen-maybe the time frame is increased from 2-3 patches but it will still be disappointing.

As for new HUBS-these things will sort themselves out in time, no real need for concern imo. The only concern I have is communication-if players populate the starting cities then obviously map chat alone will not suffice-some kind of global chat can/should be added imo.

I am expecting that we WILL win back Lion’s Arch, but that it will be rebuilt in a very different way. Major architectural landmarks have come crashing down, and I fully expect those to NOT be rebuilt in an identical manner.
I rather expect that Lion’s Arch will not so much be rebuilt, but rather a “new” Lion’s Arch will be built on top of the ruins of the “old” Lion’s Arch.

Like how back in November 2012, the Ancient Karka destroyed the old lighthouse, and a new lighthouse has been constructed next to the ruins of the old one during the months afterwards. Except on a larger scale.

If you play the current “Escape From Lion’s Arch” event and your server reaches a score of 1200+, you will receive a reward chest that has a (very small) chance of containing unique items from previous updates.

This is not guaranteed, and the chance for consumables or crafting materials is far greater than anything else, but in theory you could find a gas mask skin this way.

While this may not be reassuring, there is a distinct possibility that future events may also have such a chance. As well as new unique skins that may be as interesting or better than the gas mask.

You should probably mention whether you’re on a European server or a North American server, as it is not possible for EU and NA to play together.

(If you are neither in Europe nor in North America, you are probably playing on a NA server.)

Triple Threat:
When all three miasma events succeed during the same 10-minute interval, and you participated in at least one of them.
(The reward for completing each of the three is +5 Citizens Saved. The additional reward for completing all three at the same time is an additional +35 Citizens Saved. So it can be +50 Citizens every time this set of events pops up.)

Triple Play:
When all “Defend the Rally Point” events for all three rally points succeed during the entire cycle, and you particpated in at least one of them.

@BIAJ:
I believe Gaile Gray’s response was more along the lines of: “I don’t have the answer myself, but it never hurts to ask.” She is not directly involved in the policy of what to do if a player loses an item through player error, and is encouraging the OP to pose the question to those who do know what can be done.

If the policy is indeed that such items will not be replaced, it is Support that can tell the OP. Gaile may not be authorized to make a final call on such individual cases. (However, she is authorized to rule on lots of other things.)

I for one loved the cinematic dialogues (and still do). I don’t mind the technique being retired for future content, though.

What I do wish for, is a way to replay the cinematic dialogues in Personal Story chapters that I have already finished (perhaps by posting replay buttons in the “My Story” section of the Hero Screen).

Here are the advantages as I see them:
- Less sense that all this voice acting work is discarded once it has been listened to once.
- Allows us to hear the voices of our characters again after we have already completed the personal story.
- Add more functionality and flavour to the “My Story” tab, making it a less boring place to look at. It could use some love.
- Requires some programming to pull off, but all the artwork is already done. So the cost is pretty limited.

In fact, with all the times the developers compare Guild Wars 2 to a TV series, it seems strange that they have never considered a “video on demand” service for “past episodes”. TV series do, or they at least sell DVD boxes.

I am sincerely hoping Matthew Oswald would be willing to comment on this suggestion.

It was in late november.

The explanation given was that it served to “streamline the Style section of the Gem Store”.

Gossamer is useful for leveling tailoring to 500. Its functionality for other crafting disciplines is far less, though.

1. Elementalist
(opinion: larger number of weapon skills cannot compensate for lack of survivability due to low health and armor)

2. Warrior
(opinion: too easy to play in comparison to other professions because of high stats and all kinds of passive bonuses)

3. Engineer
(opinion: regular weapon skills are lackluster with few options, strongly urging players to equip at least one weapon kit into their utility skill slots, resulting in lack of options.)

On the topic of “personal nemesis”:

What we were told was that we “would recognize our personal nemesis when we would see her, or him”. This does not mean that we saw the nemesis before, or that he/she was featured in Guild Wars 1, but simply that the character would immediately grab our attention in some way.

Scarlet sending us a boobytrapped present by mail, as revenge for foiling her interruption of the Queen’s Jubilee, qualifies as grabbing our attention.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I keep saying this, but Ventari’s teaching were non-magical, and couldn’t protect anyone from dragon influence. Not even Sylvari. Plus, if Sylvari are minions of Mordremoth, what about all the Sylvari that weren’t born on the Pale Tree?

1. All sylvari were born of the Pale Tree. The only known exception is Malyck (from the sylvari Personal Story), and his origins remain a mystery so far. Also, sylvari do not reproduce. They have the organs, but they don’t get to have babies.

2. Ley lines. They are underground conduits for magical energies, similar to how streams and rivers are conduits for water on the surface. The seed that grew out to be the Pale Tree was planted and tended by Ronan. He treated it as a proxy for his dead family. After his death, he was buried beneath the Pale Sapling by Ventari, who continued to tend the plant. After Ventari’s death, all that remained was the tablet.

Speculation starts here:
What if it was a combination of Ventari’s care and Ronan’s grave that interrupted the normal flow of ley lines underneath the Pale Sapling, and instead of the Dragon’s energies, it was fed by the (human) form of Ronan and Ventari’s dreams of peace and serenity?
Ventari was known to create little havens of peace wherever he settled, and he may have had the ability to adjust ley lines in those places to reflect his own inner peace.
Whatever the case, my guess is that the specific circumstance of the Pale Tree’s growth somehow caused it to no longer feed on the ley lines with dragon influence, and to instead be shaped by Ronan’s human form and Ventari’s ideals. Which is why sylvari appear roughly human (including non-functional genitalia) and why the Dream is permeated with Ventari’s teachings.
The importance of the tablet could be slightly different: it could simply be the first thing that the slowly developing Pale Sapling used to relate to, and the first knowledge she acquired. As such, she has internalized its values and teachings into the very core of her being and personality, shaping the Dream with it before her first children appeared inside it.
Finally, what may be important is the location where Ronan planted the seed. What if it simply had no major ley lines that could feed the seed with dragon influence? Remember that Ronan snatched it away from a cave deep in the Maguuma jungle and took it many miles away to the place that is now the Grove.