Guild Wars 2

Woohoo! Me and my friend went in the first day and got our first skins with no video or guide. I wanted to get it done in advance that way before all of those who can’t do it without one got theirs. Matter of pride ya know?

I got my second skin today as well! I plan to have my necro done in all green as well! Already got the staff today!

I’d become a Gladium if they put that in and make sure every Kiel supporter was too miserable that queued up for it to ever think of getting back in the queue again. A small price they’d have to pay for the really bad living story we now have to put up with to be denied enjoyment from a new piece of content.

An investment in Trahearne 2.0 and how boring one can make the living story become is what it was. I plan to save time and skip all elections or so called choices in this game in the future because it is quote clear from his event they are not real choices with how biased toward one character it was from the get go.

Also plan so skip every cut scene from here on out as well with her even remotely involved as I’d rather not get invested in another MMORPG on the path set to destroy it’s own interesting lore for something boring and generic.

I plan to just keep mine in the collectible tab and never ever use them at all. I’d prefer to not be reminded about how poorly this event was implemented and how boring the story is going to be from now on due to it.

The polls were done in reddit threads during the event in the GW2 subreddit if you want to go looking for them and a few other gamer forums I lurk in.

deepwinter.9015:

I voted for Ellen Kiel because:

- I like the character.
- I like her story so far.
- I want to see more of her story.

I did not vote for Ellen Kiel because:

- Cheaper waypoints.
- I hate Guild Wars 1 lore.
- Because she has breasts.

I did not vote for Evon Gnashblade because:

- If I wanted to see a brief glimpse of Guild Wars 1 content, I would play Guild Wars 1.
- I rarely buy Black Lion Keys.
- I do not like his story.

Gnash lost; now I drink your tears.

#TeamKiel

I’d believe you expect people did polls before it ended to find out what people liked the most from each character as a stand alone. Evon’s stuff won across the board by around 20% except on the keys vs waypoints issue. Where the WP vote won with 90% vote and the most people between all of them voted in that single poll as well.

Waypoints was the deciding factor for Kiel supporters and it was pathetic.

Zalani.9827:

After reading through different threads and posts(which most have been locked already), I believe this pic is necessary…
Anyways, good post Op. I agree with you on all of this over reaction that is going on.

Funny the moment I saw the results of the election I did this. Aka that was when it was announced with the rewards.

Vena.8436:

KorKor.9452:

A mostly human council…in a city that is supposed to be a melting pot of every race… ya…. Charr gets killed to add in more humans… GW1 is calling they want their human empires back.

Lord Kuru.3685:

But… Think of the children!

Anyway, they already assassinated that charr from the ships council so it’s not like that’s never been seen in GW.

Its like you didn’t even pay attention. The dead charr was a representative, the person on the council who died (was assassinated) was Captain Theo Ashford, a human, and a good friend of Logan’s which is why he is the one who has Mai start the investigation.

Sarcasm really I am quite aware the council is pretty much all human with a few token other races thrown in. I was quite disappointed seeing them on stage the first day due to this. The Asura is even just there due to the gates in the city which is kinda sad. A human pirate city for humans! <.<

If they do it enough then the people who have valid points will stop posting and soon after the people who rage as well. It’s a great way to make it look like most people are happy with something and the other party is just a minority as it blows over.

Kirschwasser.3972:

Zhaneel.9208:

If that’s the case then they should be focusing more on the Charr in general, not the asura. To most people who are not extremely familiar with GW the Charr have become iconic of this game because they are the most unique race. (and no I’m not talking about Evon) People outside of the GW2 community equate the asura to gnomes because they are small and tech savvy.

Personally, I equate them with orcs. Or any other war-obsessed race that’s generally found in a fantasy setting. I don’t find them to be the most interesting addition to the game.

Sylvari are your stand in sylvan race. A little more unique than elves, but still filling the same role.

Asura are your stand in tech race. A little more unique than gnomes but still filling the same role.

Charr are your stand in war race. A little more unique than orcs but still filling the same role.

Norn are your stand in shamanistic race. A little more unique than… err… trolls? Trolls from WoW, I guess? Still, they’re Norse, and everything has norse stuff.

That is spoken like someone that has never rolled a Charr. If you had you’d equate them more to the Roman war machine then stinking lame butt Orcs. They are quite an interesting race that is far more then just war.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Kirschwasser.3972:

ZBeeblebrox.4928:

This is not funny. There are enough places in the world where legitimately elected leaders really are threatened with things like assassination; let’s not bring it into the video game world, please. Whether the voting was rigged or not, keep it civil.

… Except that’s also commonly used in the plots of even lighthearted videogames like this.

You know, like Caudecus’ Manor?

So really, this is just kinda overly-sanctimonious. You know what else happens in real life? People getting kidnapped. Can we please have less kidnapping in the game? /sarcasm

But… Think of the children!

Anyway, they already assassinated that charr from the ships council so it’s not like that’s never been seen in GW.

A mostly human council…in a city that is supposed to be a melting pot of every race… ya…. Charr gets killed to add in more humans… GW1 is calling they want their human empires back.

All I know is you are going the way of even more boring story like Trahearne and the even older Kormir. I really really really hate to say it but at least WoW made me wait for the first expansion before I wanted to puke over the way the story and lore was being treated. You managed to do it in less then a year with this election in GW2.

This after creating two of the most refreshing races I’ve had in an mmorpg the Charr and Asura in a very very long time. Those two races gave me great hope where you wanted to take things. Even more so as the lore talked about how this was the decline of humanity. I could even stomach Rox after how much fun the dungeon was during that event and how helpful the npc’s actually were.

However this? Trahearne 2.0 goody two shoes biased reward vote stuff? Your other game Wildstar is calling me so is Everquest next. You just killed your lore faster for me then any other MMORPG has ever done that I’ve played.

I don’t want them to do it ever again because it is clear they fail at making it balanced. Putting a known against an unknown and something hated hardcore like RNG keys against something well liked such as waypoints.

I’d rather there but no choice over the illusion of choice.

Omega.4950:

xerokitsune.5094:

KorKor.9452:

Sorry going to have call bullkitten on them caring about Evon at all. If they had cared in even the slightest would have balanced the rewards and introduced Evon Gnashblade sooner so he would have been as known as Kiel. As it stands they put well liked stuff such as waypoints against heavily hated stuff like RNG keys. It was so obvious who’d win it was painful to even see ANYONE try to call it a real election.

Evon has been around since the game came out, staring at us as we visit the LA trading post.
While we didn’t adventure with him, Kiel was brand new. The story brought Kiel from generic nameless guard to a ship captain. It would have been odd for Evon the insanely rich merchant to join in an adventure.

You’d be surprised at what wealthy people do for more money.

o:

I hope we can do so as well. They say this is the age of decline for the humans where the other races rise. Yet most of it stars humans and they even have them getting Asura like Magitek when it is known the Asura have a whole division to prevent their technology being used by anyone but them.

The story reminds me almost of the space goats in WoW. Anything to make humanity look good or the quote -good guys- look good will make it in regardless of what must be tossed aside to do it story wise.

xerokitsune.5094:

KorKor.9452:

Sorry going to have call bullkitten on them caring about Evon at all. If they had cared in even the slightest would have balanced the rewards and introduced Evon Gnashblade sooner so he would have been as known as Kiel. As it stands they put well liked stuff such as waypoints against heavily hated stuff like RNG keys. It was so obvious who’d win it was painful to even see ANYONE try to call it a real election.

Evon has been around since the game came out, staring at us as we visit the LA trading post.
While we didn’t adventure with him, Kiel was brand new. The story brought Kiel from generic nameless guard to a ship captain. It would have been odd for Evon the insanely rich merchant to join in an adventure.

Ya, comparing an image that has no context to someone who was forced upon you in every living story segment makes perfect sense. “rolls her eyes”

TheKillerAngel.3596:

http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/b/441278394

Skip to 24:50.

Theo Nguyen, who was the designer for Queen’s Jubilee, would have had more fun making the Abaddon fractal.

Sorry going to have call bullkitten on them caring about Evon at all. If they had cared in even the slightest would have balanced the rewards and introduced Evon Gnashblade sooner so he would have been as known as Kiel. As it stands they put well liked stuff such as waypoints against heavily hated stuff like RNG keys. It was so obvious who’d win it was painful to even see ANYONE try to call it a real election.

xagarelic.7950:

Another ‘good’ character wins, and another human, I thought I was playing Guild Wars 2, not 1

^- This! They claim this is the era after humanity but as far as I can see it is the rise of humanity to reclaim everything.

Boring character wins! Even more boring meme replies from her supporters! Expect more Trahearne living story excitement type in the future!

“ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg”

Biohazard.4196:

Rapti Bloodspill.5302:

On serious note: Anet this is fail :/. Gnashblade had so much better potential as a character.

The players elected Kiel, not Anet.

Please! Putting a known character with obvious things such as waypoints that are well used and liked against something like black lion keys along with an unknown quantity character it was just biased on who’d win.

The entire election was a bad joke and a huge chunk of people like me called it a mile away before it even began. This was an illusion of choice at best.

Okhu you sound like someone dumb enough to cut off their nose to spite their face.

I can agree with you on this. Even though I enjoyed the mini-game and hope it gets a few tweeks such as other starting points. The achievement when compared to the Aspect one is much harder to get and takes far more time. It is just silly and should be lowered. (I got it in the first couple days though as I find the game great. xD )

It’s a generic human npc character that plays the hero and was placed into the story far sooner and has a reward that the casual voter just like real life will see ‘n’ base their soul vote off of (aka waypoint costs).

Not to mention how they cast Evon Gnashblade in his first appearance in a very negative light and the few bits that do deal with him in detail proving he cared about LA are written story on the website which a vast majority do no visit or read these things even when they do visit. Oh.. and his reward is associated with RNG Keys that people LOATHE over something like trading post costs which would have been a fair match against waypoints. So people hate him based on that as well. Doesn’t even cover the fact that most people can’t relate to beast races in a staring roll like this as shown in COUNTLESS other games.

Doesn’t even touch on how sad many MMORPG communities are playing female characters they dress in the skimpy stuff. That also let that carry over into characters they like to watch, speak with, etc. Giving Kiel an even bigger edge yet again.

The outcome due to these very very simple things was decided before the vote even started. I called who’d win, why, and even that it would be one character aka Kiel in the lead the whole time. The vote was a joke and a very bad one.

Remember peeps called it before it even started. The percentages haven’t even changed since the last votes. What a joke.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151647961164209&set=a.135044094208.103264.114036714208&type=1&relevant_count=1

Cept the fact he cares far more for the city then Kiel ever has and was putting his life on the line for it a long time ago.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/

Yes, I did because if you watch her animations they kept it all the same as the normal human female animations. That means in each story segment such as when the Bazaar started she was jumping like a little school girl at the chance she was being given to win the election. Also a great many times in her speech she cracks jokes at the oddest times. So ya, she is bubbly.

As for what I meant about the obvious choice bit that most people will go with as I’ve said many times in this thread. People do not dig deep in real elections let alone fake ones online. They will take a glance at something such as hero/villain, human/charr, waypoints/keys and then did no deeper then that and vote along that line. More often then not people will vote generic human hero archetype and something like waypoints due to people HATING rng only makes it worse. That is what I meant by real life election type in that a vast majority will never read on which fractal we will get, the story behind evon, the minigame we get if one wins, or even that the waypoint discount will be temporary. They will vote based on the most common information they get which is simple.

Kiel/human/known character/generic hero/gives waypoint discount.

When they should instead be basing their votes off interesting stories, dialogues, new character paths, the minigames, long term wants, fresh new hero types, and things like this. https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/

I played enough hunger games to get my 2,500 points earlier this morning and have several desert roses! Even wear my badge whenever I do anything…. ;3

Grimwolf.7163:

RainbowSyrup.4130:

why do I have a feeling 80% of the ppl voting for kiel only votes for her for the cheaper waypoints?

More likely, the majority of people voting don’t use the site and have no idea what either is actually offering, and simply like the person they know and view as the “good guy”.

A very sad truth and part of why waypoints should have never been allowed as a factor.

I do hope you are right lucky for I am quite ready for a new take on my MMORPG story elements over generic good or generic evil. I’m ready for some fun dialogue insults and shrewd business with a side of huge naval battle fractals.

Duke Nukem.6783:

a person’s perception of who is going to win is based on 2 things: 1 is who you support and 2 is are you an optimist or a pessamist?

i am an optimist and an evon supporter so i see more evon support in game

i assume you are an evon supporter and a pessamist so you see more kiel supporters

always remember perception and expectation make up 95% of what we humans call reality

The votes speak for themselves and if Evon really had more supporters he wouldn’t be 5% behind and then 6% away from winning so early. Also I look at every badge and cheer on every Evon I see given I have a moment. I find it fun to do so but in reality pessimistic or not the truth is even at this very moment there are far more Kiel badges around that LA bank Charr then Gnashblade and that so far has been the standard.

He will vanish from where it counts which is an actual constant personal roll in the living story all the time and at most he will get side rolls where he will be taunted by Kiel or asked to aid her in probably a boring typical hero way against what his character would probably normally do.

As for it not making any sense? It is a PIRATE city which means laws are skirted around all the time for the right price. It has laws but yet is lawless at the same time as made evident when you speak to the top members and the people in the black market. Not to mention what members of other cities say about LA when going forth into the portals to it such as the female Asura about to pass through the LA portal.

It makes perfect sense to vote for a businessmen that has loads of money to put toward his campaign to win and actively participates in it’s every day roll thanks to owning the best auction house in town. He knows the cities inner workings while Kiel is just a captain in a military force that was told by those in charge of her to do the things she did. She didn’t go out there to Southshun on her own she was ORDERED to do so and then you showed up to give her the option to save the day. So without you she isn’t much to shake a stick at and is unlikely to know as much about the inner workings of the city because what goes on in barracks is always vastly different then the rest of a nation.

If you must RP and ask what your character would do look at their race, history, and what they’d be likely to know about both sides. Who would you really vote for based on that? Would a Charr really vote for a bubbly human? Would an Asura vote for a Captain in the military to win or as many Asura have said visiting LA someone that can turn then a profit? I think many RP races even human would actually vote Gnashblade after all it’s only separatists and those of Ebonhold that still hold a deep grudge. The queen of the humans has long since gotten over it and signed trade treaties with the Charr.

I saw this on the main GW2 page and typed up this reply. Can’t help but say to everyone. I told you so and I wish I’d bet on it. I’d be rich if I did because it was so predictable.

I knew this would be the outcome and even posted so on the forums before the election even began. Anet is putting a well established character in the lore against a character that just hit the market and on top of that they’ve given people a larger incentive to vote for Kiel over Gnashblade in the early part by not making both sides equal.

They know people will vote often without looking into the deeper issues just like real life. They will go with the known and flash in the pan stuff like the waypoints every time. So by putting black lion keys a know HATED item against a well loved item waypoints more or less made the election rigged from the start combined with the other factors. Then there is the whole race factor as people in games tend to ALWAYS vote human even if the character is BORING because they are by and by xenophobic. So they can only truly relate to something that looks the same in the mirror on a personal level.

The truth is though Kiel is an extremely boring character. All her dialogue is very very generic hero and all her actions are the same way. There is no deeper personality there you know everything she will say and do before she does it. Even her animations as a captain of a military unit are bubbly such as using the default human female cheer and laugh. It makes her look even less interesting if that was even possible and childish. Not to mention she is human and

Gnashblade isn’t evil and is a businessmen. He has a fresh snarky quality about him and is even willing to insult his opposition in creative ways such as the mouse fart comment. It would be a Charr on a council for a city that is supposed to be a mix of every race but yet some how even the council is majority human which makes even less sense. We’d get a fresh look on mmorph story that we often do not get and even get a naval battle with Abbadon in a fractal!

A vote for Gnashblade is a vote for a fresh new creative and fun take on the living story and future personal story maybe. Haven’t we all had enough of generic hero’s in these games? Have we not had enough Traehernes that always do the boring right thing in the most boring way possible? Where is your sense of adventure people and desire for new things?!

“Sigh” Well the election was decided before it even began and even more so now. Gnashblade would have to makeup 5% of that vote just to tie and another 1% to pass for victory and lets face it. Unless something like the Goons take an active roll as they are amazing at changing the tide of things. This election is already over and the overall living story just got even more boring.

Please! Kiel makes you do all the work every time there is a problem and then claims all the credit along with all the good loot such as the airship. She is using you to further her own ends so she looks good in the election. While Gnashblade an HONEST businessmen has always cut you a fair deal every time you use his services.

Proof once again the humans will do anything to get what they want and then pretend it never happened later. As if they -owned- the land all along.

Yay~ We pushed on Ehmry Bay and it is freshly opened~ Get your stuffs~ Also that 4 person bit was xD

@Joseph ~ We still have no way of knowing if those were the actual votes. Oh.. and you killed a weakened god cast out by the others trapped in another realm. You then let Kormir take that power from those more deserving in the party and yourself after doing nothing at all to aid you other then just being there.

I’d much rather see him in modern HD glory at full power. Shame he won’t escape time to kill Kormir though.

@Akechi ~ It is always the vocal who like intrigue, story, and will vote for something outside the box even if it disagrees with them.

Sadly the masses in the game see Kiel more and with the WP reduction costs it is a sealed deal.

@Shiren ~ That is just brilliant and I applaud you for pointing this out because it honestly fits so well with the current situation. Which is both funny and quite depressing.

Dig that linked them Martin but pretty sure the area I live in is so bland when it comes to videogames the only thing they’d get is mario. I swear… multi-billion dollar industry and most of the world still acts like it’s a thing you shouldn’t enjoy as an adult taboo.

Not to be mean Paul but we’ve kinda heard that before and often due to things others at Anet say. It is often implied you worry greatly about things being rigged with friends for achievements among a few other smaller things.

So if we go by that I wouldn’t hold my breath over these words at ever seeing it. Even if things such as the Toymaker fun would have been made better 5,000% by being able to play with friends in tower defense. Even when we are working together with other players you penalize us it seems. You toted this game as being all about teamwork so what changed that made mini-games to avoid it like the plague?

@Tenclub ~ You prove one of the points I was making. Even though the waypoints and keys are a very temporary thing. It has you sold without a care in the world really about the other things offered.

@Ykfox ~ You as well prove my point caring about a temporary waypoint first and then everything else second even if you care at all. There was never any competition on that front of this debate with most people and anyone looking at it objectively in Anet surely could see that. Ya, nudge the other point I made about caring more for 100% new content over older even if it covers an older story point more for new players to GW. The reactor is unknown except for the boom. While we have all the written accounts and more of what happened to the old god for quite some time now.

@Swiftpaw ~ It is possible considering they’d have to do some work on both in advance to be able to deliver them quickly after the election depending on who wins. However it will still take some time for them to finish it and put it in but it is also more likely they’d wait till it was no longer fresh on peoples minds so it seems like a treat later rather then something you should just get.

It also kinda brings to mind that the election is rigged from the get go so they only have to make one right away anyways. Yet, they will nudge the votes (gerrymandering ~lawl?) to make it look by design as if our votes actually matter on the content. Paranoid to say that but looking at the other things noted and the waypoint bit. It is kinda obvious who is being pushed to win as a known outcome. Course you could also argue that is null and void since the fractal won’t arrive either way till later in the year but the thought is there.

Just seems like one would know in advance the human ~female~ would win even barring this. As Shiren said the player base and story in general is already very biased to human females. Often for the same wrong reasons as people who like to hear a female automated voice over a male one and more.

@Farzo ~ Thing is the generic human hero has been winning the MMORPG for over a decade now. Not to mention that players often for the wrong reasons have a large affinity for female characters/models. This election is so biased it is almost puke worthy. =/

You are not the majority when it comes to these types of games. Most people do not really truly care about intrigue. They might say they do but at best only if it also caters to what they already desire. The average none vocal player in this game will vote Kiel because she is female, human, and the waypoints. The rest of it really doesn’t mean much in the grande scheme them.

@ Terrahero ~ I will clarify the first point for you Terra. While all races might be quote represented in all the story we are focusing in on just these two characters at this time. Now out of these two only one has been here for months assisting players against things such as the Karka. That npc Kiel has been shown in a positive light and is known to a great many players. While Gnashblade hasn’t been here at all and his first showing cast him in a somewhat negative light. That he was trying to underhandedly get the trade agreement under Kiel’s nose.

Now as for others in other stories such as Rox the Charr in Flame and Frost. One has to consider what she was made for and it wasn’t Charr players who already loved playing Charr and thought Charr designed were amazing. Rox was instead designed with bringing people not interested in Charr around to at least looking at their lore and maybe wanting to play one. So her whole design aside from required aesthetics really doesn’t feel teenage warband trained for battle Charr but instead pleasant on the eyes bring in new demographic corny positive story cutesy eyed anime Charr.

So you could argue in some cases some of these other races was more Akin to the Blood Elves in WoW when the first hit. It was to get Alliance to roll Horde. Not to excite Horde who were already Horde.

Either way the first bit was a point about who was known and the simple fact is a majority of all -MMORPG’s- humans are the most played race and actual studies show humans have issues with empathy of those farther away from what they are and you have to impose human traits to get it back. Kiel on both fronts has a massive advantage just from those.

@Vahkris ~ I do not feel that way based on previous experiences from other games where players were given choices between two things like this in different ways. Past experiences in these games has shown people favor humans.

Even you when trying to advocate to me how both sides have a chance you highlight more reasons even unknowningly of why I should vote Kiel. One of the largest you noted even if it only lasts a few months which in elections like these people often jump in without reading everything. The waypoints being cheaper even for a limited time will push a great many at a glance to vote for her even tossing out the human factor.

I hope it is just like the old one and the zone is clear of pretty much everything for the event. Hunger games during the beta when not bugged for you was fun as hell but karka rolling never has been and never will be fun.

I see just as much growing support for Kiel in my LA and on Reddit as I did right way for Gnash. Just wait till more people get into over those of us who are just on early and the Kiel support will only swell.

Well once again as I said in that other thread we already know who is going to win this. A majority of all player base go for the humanoid races or just flat out human and on top of that many go for the scantly clad humans as well. Just walk around your LA and pay attention to each person if you need that verified.

A vast majority of the human race playing MMORPG’s always dislike the so called -monster- races and have trouble dragging up true empathy for them. Which is more fact then opinion but the real kicker here is the rewards and the characters.

Kiel has been toted around the game and exposed to the player base for awhile now as this great bubbly human lionguard hero. Which lets face it people love annoying bubbly. She also cuts your waypoint fees which every player uses to get to events for yellows, leveling, and new living story.

Gnashblade however had his very first showing marred as the villain who listened in on a conversation and cackled before trying to get what was talked about first. Then his reward is centered around something most of the player base has spoken ill about with the black lion key gambling. So his first note will come across sour.

So this brings it into the two fractal pieces. One is a flash into Guild Wars past which older players will froth in joy of but newer players really won’t have that much of an interest for and older players can play what they already have to see it again. Plus they all remember how Kormir was worse then Traeherne and stole godhood from them. The reactor fractal is something a large chunk of players HAVEN’T seen both old and new. It would be brand spanking new content based around an event that nearly all of us do daily each day for a yellow. Something that has itched on your mind on how it happened.

(Edit it seems some people are saying Abbadon will be of the first fall when he lost his body and not the second we know of. If true that could tilt things a little bit but it is still known lore compared to unknown.)

The election outcome was known the moment they announced this on a few other websites. It will be Kiel and it will be a very very very boring landslide victory only made to look like it wasn’t by Anet so the content can be passed off as done well and fair. I look forward to being led by another generic human character in a MMORPG… Oh.. wait.. not really.

I’m more annoyed that I don’t get one set now and another at 9k because it is all split apart. ;.;

You know the more I listened to the npc’s the more I thought either they are being held hostage, being held to uphold old ways by a stodgy leader, started to think themselves better then those below thanks to Glints bones so they misuse the power, or somewhere down the road while flying about they met someone or something. That got some of them to misuse the magic of Glint and those people are now in power.

I know it’s living story and something is to be expected but really just the way the npc’s talk you don’t want to trust them at all.

Thobek.1730:

RedStar.4218:

I don’t see why they should take away anything (except maybe the top player achievement, but even then…) : you are still doing the race, and making it to the end. The only thing your friends can do to help you is nothing.

wrong, its like trying out for the Olympic 400m and failing then telling the organizers “I just want to race with my friends and still get a gold medal”

If you can pick your competition then you shouldn’t get rewards or achievements.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having an option of racing with your friends, just with no achievements or rewards attached. Then see how popular that feature is.

Over the top strawman defense 5000! That is an over the top example much akin to when people bring in Hitler and the kitten’s for many other things. The two things are so different it isn’t even comparable.

There will always be people claiming it is just -pvp- and tough cookie. However you will always find that those people are ALWAYS without a shadow of a doubt the ones doing the camping of these areas or in other games corpse camping someone for HOURS. Which at that point it goes beyond just -pvp- and into trolling/griefing a player.

If they really wanted so called -pvp- they’d be out there in WvWvW zones fighting for camps, castles, and keeps. Maybe even some spvp tournaments or a custom arena but instead they stay there farming people to death until someone keeps killing them so they are forced to leave or something in real life pulls their sweaty hands away from the keyboard. They do not want pvp even they claim so.

Also I was there on day 1 of the puzzle and when EB got it’s first keep again to go inside. TC left everyone else alone till they got to the cages and then turned on them. They started the event that kept DB and EB from the kites for hours. I left my dead character there and went about doing other things while checking in from time to time. They kept at it for a very over the top amount of time.

I got what I wanted already now but really the puzzle does need multiple paths for one to reach the top or at the very least a few levers in places down below that help clear the top of choke points with flames, spikes, etc. It would also be nice if they stopped placing every bloody thing at the stinking end of it or how about some of the other jumping puzzles in the other zones! Which are always neglected! I’m getting a little tired of going in every event to the same thing. Oh… and an fyi? When EB dominates and others come in to get something like a kite? WE LET THEM for the most part.

Matthew Lahoc.1087:

I hate to join the kitten fest on Adnul, but he does seem to still be bugged.

Bugs:
-Invisible Critique, at the start of some matches he seems to have critique up without having the icon up
-Chained Critique, while he may not re-critique on the 3rd round of having critique up, he does seem to do it on the second, and very rarely the first (ie back to back).

Not a bug but very annoying:
-Doesn’t take enough damage/heals too much, while it doesn’t seem to be a bug, he just has way too much health and doesn’t take any damage, even those he rarely bluffs. Even with counting his skill uses it doesn’t seem like he can be beaten unless you correctly predict every skill he uses.
-Great timing on Critique, he often has perfect timing on when to critique if when not chained. (~75% health or lower, immediately after he countered your water)

I’d offer strategy advice such always bluff a couple turns after he Belches and save you own Belch and Water for when he could Belch… however i still haven’t beat him, so take it for whakittens worth.

I have experienced this stuff as well and it is quite annoying. I did it on 5 characters so I’d have the abilities whenever I wanted for fun as I am saving for the permanent belching table. Some with the mango pie and some not before I knew about it.

However after the mango pie nerf and doing it on 5 characters. I decided it just wasn’t worth it as the game really isn’t about skill but just pure luck with a couple of these npc’s. I’ve went through battles where -woo woo woo- was only down for the first two turns and the same for critique even after the so called fix.

This doesn’t even take into account the almost physic ability they have in same matches. When trying on my 6th character to beat Adnul before deciding it wasn’t worth it. He burped every single heal I ever did in 7 matches before I said screw it and left. The bloody npc refused to use burp at all until I tried to heal and then he’d time it perfect every time. It didn’t matter how long I waited or how many times I tried to get him to burp a bluff the few times critique was down or how many times I tried to change up the heal timing. He’d get it perfect every time.

While some npc’s can be beaten with knowledge of how they work or looking for the patterns. A few like mister Adnul don’t really have a pattern rhyme or reason it just comes down to luck and that saps all the fun out of doing it. Because you have to play till you get bloody lucky.