Guild Wars 2

Ever heard the phrase “Too smart for his/her own kitten good”? Yeah, that describes Scarlet perfectly for me.

I do not hate the trinity set up. It has it’s place; however, it’s place is simply not here. It does not fit with the vision of this game, and that is perfectly fine.

I will agree with others that running the trinity set up is limited. There is only so much that can be done with such rigidity.

I will also agree with the others that have pointed out that strategy, coordination, and teamwork can be accomplished without the use of the original trinity setup. These things are easier in established groups over pugs only because members of an established group are familiar with each other and their play styles. They know how to communicate, they know each others strengths and weaknesses, they know how to synergize. Pugs lack this only because they lack familiarity between the members.

Gibson.4036:

Though not all the shinies are useless.

Want to maximize boon uptime? You’ll need Superior Runes of the Monk, which are only available from running Ascalonian Catacombs.

Want a 5% stat increase (calculated to be up to 10% damage increase when you include weapon damage)? You’ll need to do some world bosses.

Not every reward from these grinds is cosmetic.

Yes, you can choose to ignore these rewards. But a game can also be designed so that you get the rewards through the type of stuff you actually like to do.

I can go to a pizza joint that only serves mushroom pizza, and pick out the mushrooms. I don’t have to eat them if I’d prefer plain cheese. It’d be a lot more enjoyable, though, if someone would just put cheese pizza on the menu.

In regards to the LS, most all of the shinies are useless. They are cosmetic niceties.

In your examples, such shinies have to be weighed against their grind to be determined if they are worth the effort to obtain them. Some will say no. Some will say yes. It completely depends on the player, their style, their patience, and their tolerance level.

All that said, I never (anywhere, ever) said the game was perfect. I’m all for a little more diversity in such things.

thehipone.6812:

Trust me, I get it. In the strict economic sense I have made the judgement in some cases that the desired reward outweighs the slog. I play a bunch, but I’m not really much of a compulsive completionist. I’ve happily ignored SAB, Tequatl and TA updates and in those cases determined that the reward did not outweigh unenjoyable content.

My main beef is that, in most cases, what makes it unenjoyable is the deadline. I have deadlines at work. I play this game to blow off steam after work. If I’m sitting at 200/250 aetherblade kills I’d happily wait until I naturally got 50 more whether it be a week or a month from now, but if it’s the Monday before the next release the choice is to either grind it out or miss out. Sometimes I choose to grind it out, sometimes I skip. I know I make the choice. BUT Why does the need to make this choice exist in a game? What’s the good argument for cramming things in and imposing deadlines in a game? To prop up server numbers to make the login stats look better? How are players served?

I can agree that deadlines suck. I have them in my own work environment as well. However, we have deadlines everywhere in our life. Some are hard, some are soft. The majority pretty much go unnoticed, but they are there anyway.

I also play this game to blow off steam. I’m not an 8+ hour a day player. I might play a couple of hours in the evening, and a few hours more on the weekend. Depends on how many errands I need to get done after work, or how long family commitments take on the weekend.

Why does any choice exist? To motivate you into making a decision, into taking a specific step or set you on a specific course of action.

They explained why they opted to go with 2 week updates. Basically it boils down to the people that do have oodles of time to play stop playing it in a short period of time, the average players take a little longer, and then you have the really casual players that take even longer.

The problem is that they can’t just leave everything in the game forever. (Different conversation all together, we won’t derail this thread with that.) So instead they have to find the balance between the various types of players in regards to how long they should let it run before swapping it out. Their metrics (which they covered) showed them that 2 weeks seemed to be that sweet spot, so that’s what they went with.

As it stands at 2 weeks, you still have those that kitten they have everything done within hours of the patch, and then people like you who gripe that 2 weeks isn’t long enough. Then you have people like me where I spread it out across the entire two weeks because I don’t only focus on it, and it works out fine. Who’s in the right? We got a Goldilocks scenario happening here.

Raine.1394:

The pressure may be felt by the player, but it doesn’t originate with the player. Why? It is an effect of game design. Temporary content (here the achievements) with a time gate is grindy—by design. It can be thought of as providing an incentive for continued play. There are many elements of game design with a similar calculation such as vertical progression. One of it’s effects is to provide an incentive for continued play.

If you understand anything about gaming, you’ll be reluctant to blame the player for things like this. Game companies are masters of motivation. But, it can backfire when it is noticed as it is actually disrespectful of players. It burns goodwill.

Businesses are masters of motivation, not just games. Why? Because we’d be heck of a lot less inclined to go out and participate/purchase a vast number of things without those external motivators.

Come buy this 200$ blender, sure you have one, but this one is also a food processor and can mix dough! It doesn’t matter that you have things that do those things too, come buy this one, get one item that does all 3!

Come buy this deep fryer, you ‘need’ it, even though you can use a large pot and do the same thing.

Come eat at this restaurant, for limited time it’s buy one entree take one home for $5!

We’re battered on all sides by these things, so yeah I fully expect to encounter it in the games I play. They are trying to motivate you into an specific action, doesn’t mean you have to allow them to pressure you into it. This isn’t any different than the “pressure” we feel from the advertisements around us, or from our peers when we opt to not follow the herd.

Imposing a deadline on the living story is simply to entice players into doing it ‘now’ if that’s what they want to do. It also makes us unique in that some will do it and earn the rewards (because that’s what they wanted to do) and others won’t. We don’t all end up cardboard cut outs with all the same items, experiences, etc. It allows for some diversity. This is not a bad thing.

Morrigan.2809:

No matter if the exchange between the train and other players are civil, a train still goes against the idea of an open world where everyone plays and helps or not as they wish. It is a very artificial play style created by players and in a zone like Queensdale it creates problems because it gives new players a bad impression and teaches them bad habbits. That said I do not run with the train, nor do I disrupt them, hell I have even put up karma banners and the like for people who do run the train. It is a situation thst needs to be adresses though. I am not sure how to do that other than make DEs more rewarding. sorry for the wall of text, my phone won’ t paragraph

I wouldn’t say the train goes against the idea of the open world necessarily. Anet has acknowledged that they are ‘ok’ with that play style. The zerg is simply playing how they "enjoy (using that term really loosely here) playing. However, their type of play should not inhibit another person’s play type.

Both sides sort of need to be more accepting of the other. If a person kills a champ out of the zergs ideal order, the zerg should suck it up and move on, not rag on the person for simply playing. Conversely, individual players should not ‘expect’ to be the only person trying to kill such foes. They need to accept that other people (and possibly the zerg) can jump in at any time too.

cesmode.4257:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Its not the end of the year yet either….

But they now have 2 months to get in either new skills for each class/weapon combo or the precursor scavenger hunt(which they said might not make it in as promised).

If both do not make it in, god help these forums.

They never did say how many new skills to expect. I figure we’ll see half a dozen or so, maybe. I’m also well aware that new skills need time to be developed, implemented, and tested. Let them take as much time as they need.

If we only get a couple by the end of the year, then a couple more a few months later, I’m good with that…if they come to us balanced and usable. I’m sure they’ll need some tweaking after the fact, since not everything can be caught or accounted for in the relatively sterile development environment. Nobody can catch every potential flaw or come up with every potential exploit or op synergy, its just not possible.

If people have issues with that, I challenge them to step into a professional game developer’s shoes for a day or two and see how it goes for them. It’s not sunshine and roses.

thehipone.6812:

I end up doing achievement related stuff that I don’t enjoy mainly because of the “never to be seen again” opportunity that exists with the 2 week release cycle and subsequent poofing of content. Want that quartz node? – better do it now because you can’t get it in a month.
Want that meta-achievement reward mini? – you’d rather play in a close WvW matchup this week instead of doing random Jps to find kites/caches? – too bad, do the JPs now or you can’t get the meta.

This is sort of exactly what I was talking about. The only person pressuring you to get those things is you. The world is not going to end if you don’t get the node (also want to point out that they never said there wouldn’t be another chance to earn one), or if you’re missing a few minis in your collection.

Yes, I understand, you have the completionist bug. I know that feeling, I had it too. It can be beaten, but the only person that can the make the choice to play any other way is you.

You don’t want to play any other way? You want to get everything, you want to be a completionist, you say? Well, then that is your choice too. Buckle down and slog on.

How you play, what you choose to do are all choices made solely by you. You can choose to slog through content you don’t like for a useless shiny, or you can choose to ignore it because it’s not to your taste. No one else can make that decision for you. Not even Anet, they can entice you, but they cannot make you.

I wouldn’t mind having some new armors added to the game that you can purchase or earn through play in-game.

Conversely, I don’t mind having some nice looking skins in the gem store either.

Unfortunately, I do not have the time to play that I used to. I am a grown woman with a full time job, a family, and other real life obligations. While I do not mind earning things in game, I do not like having to spend 100s of hours to get to a single thing. I don’t want to be playing another WoW, where it takes 100s of hours to get a single armor piece ( or used to, been a long time since I played).

Not all players use the game as a time sink. Some play for relaxation and the enjoyment of playing in the few hours they have as ‘spare’ time. However, this does not mean that they should not be able to achieve the same goals as someone that does have 10+ hours a day to play. It will take them longer, but not so much longer that it may as well be impossible. There needs to be a balance in order to keep the various player types happy.

I can’t really ‘rank’ my characters from most to least played because I rotate through them pretty often. I played for 2 or 3 hours last night and I was on 4 different characters in that time. Two where maxed, two were still in the process of leveling.. I just sort of play whatever I feel calls to me at the time…

If I don’t like it, I don’t do it. It’s that simple. Even if there is a shiny at the end that I would absolutely love. Case in point – SAB. I wanted that pistol skin soooooo much, but I’m not overly fond of SAB (likely because I suck at it). As such, I didn’t do it, I didn’t get the skin I wanted. Yup, that simple.

It all comes down to personal choice. You only feel as much pressure to do something as you’re willing to feel, because the only person pressuring you for that shiny is you.

That’s my take on it anyway.

Seras.5702:

Another think I noticed about those patch notes is the dates. May 11, 13, 25. Not this every 2-4 week thing. If there was a problem to fix, it was fixed. There are planned patch releases, and that I get. But often fixes don’t come until the next patch release, instead of hotfixes. I thought hotfixes were the MMO norm.

I played GW from just a couple months after release and well into EotN. It was amazing. And it had some faults, but I always felt that when a serious issue was revealed (OP builds, bugs, UI issues) they were fixed quickly. We’ve got lists of known bugs all over these forums that haven’t been addressed in months. Meanwhile, we get tooltip reskins.

Things like templates and free respecs came with time. So I give any company that. But what I hate hearing, especially from the devs of a game that’s supposed to be so ground-breaking, is that they can’t do something due to technical limitations. We can’t name our pets or stack 25+ conditions because of server issues. That seems like gross oversights. Many of the things mentioned above ring true for me. I’mnot much of a PvPer. But I did get into it in GW because there were so many types that it was refreshing and fun. I think Anet threw all their PvP eggs in one big WvW basket with GW2.

You want capes to not clip? They can’t even get cultural armor to not clip.

Isn’t technology grand?

Some things can be hotfixed, some can’t. Depends on what it is, and how things are set up.

Edit: Some things have improved though, over GW1. In gw1 you couldn’t share conditions, here multiple people can stack them to the cap. You couldn’t have two copies of the same hex on someone either, one person would simple overwrite the other person’s. So it was a bit of a hassle to make sure people weren’t running the same thing.

The max cap for conditions isn’t all that different from having a max cap on degen either honestly.

Obsidian.1328:

Oh boy…the clipping issue again. What in the heck is the big deal with clipping? The screen has a million things going on and people /rage over a tail that obstructs a piece of cloth, or a piece of armor that covers up a portion of a focus. Good grief, how can anyone not expect that to happen? Does it really ruin your game if your hairdo doesn’t still look perfect with that new hammer skin you got? /rollseyes

I don’t have an issue with clipping overly much myself, but the vast majority of the player base seems to. As such, until they can get it just right, don’t expect to see it implemented. I’m sure the devs would like to hold themselves to slightly higher standard as well, and do it right. Can’t blame them for that. Doing it “right” vs just “doing it” makes a big difference on technical debt that has to be dealt with later on.

As for clipping in general… have you looked at some of the complaints on this forum? The last question you ask, seems to be a resounding yes.

Seras.5702:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Well, way back at launch (and eve since) people said they wanted more armors and that they’d be willing to buy them from the gemstore if they would simply give us more armors.

We should be more careful what we wish for.

I believe this was in contrast to them being hidden within RNG boxes. Sure, gem store purchases are better than RNG boxes, but I think most players would rather see new armors introduced as drops in actual gameplay. Still haven’t figured out why this concept isn’t being embraced by the devs.

We’ve had that one as well, but no, the one I was thinking of was just a general plea for ‘more’ armors. Before the living story stuff started occurring and locking stuff in the RNG boxes. Somewhere in like the first 60 days after launch, hell might have been in the first 30 days. We had the “more more more” “gimme gimme gimme” chants going just 36 hours after launch. Was sooooo sad to see.

Bright.9160:

Okay, so it’s different technology, I can give them that.

But where it become more frustrating is when you see the apparent priorities Anet sets. It might be that somewhere, some guy is working his butt off trying to get new things in, but we just don’t see it. That and the fact that they often try to ‘fix’ something that isn’t really broke, and in the meantime completely miss a really broken issue that is related to it.

For example: with the last patch they ‘fixed’ a skip in SE p3 where you would skip literally 2 mobs to the first boss. What they did was place a giant boulder in the way of the skip. On the other hand, 20 steps further down the road of that boulder there is a big hole in the ground where a piece of floor is missing. Due to the missing floor, the patrol that walks around there just stares blank at a wall the entire time. If you fall into the hole, you’ll need to leave the instance in order to get back in, because you’ll be stuck in combat.

Tell me how they can ‘fix’ a skip that didn’t even save time on a run (you can still run past the mobs in the hall and they’ll leash when you reach the boss), yet completely forget to fix a big hole in the floor?

The same goes for many things they introduce and/or fix in game. They always fix or introduce something minor while completely ignoring other more important features. Although the wallet and the likes were great additions and I applaud them for it, they still haven’t done anything about particle effects and let’s not forget it took us 9 months of begging for an option to turn off right-click to target.

Of course this isn’t super relevant to the topic, but it’s something that can often put oil on the fire.

You know, I can’t speak to their priorities. I honestly don’t work for them, and while I do speculate some, the simple fact is that unless they tell us, we won’t know. And they aren’t going to tell us, because of the way their player base lashes out at them in almost mindless rage over the smallest perceived issue.

There is probably much more going in behind the scenes than we, the customers, see. There always is with large companies.

They have told us that they work in teams. So the various issues aren’t all handled by the same person, or group of people most likely. They have told us that they are working on revamping dungeons and world bosses. It is likely that they may have deemed the overhaul more of a priority than fixing the hole in the floor. Of course, the hole in the floor might be a more difficult issue to fix than not being able to skip the mobs, and as such they fix the one but put the other on the back burner. We simply don’t know.

I know it’s frustrating, but development isn’t done with a magic wand. Sometimes code that looks like it should work, even runs perfectly fine in its test suite, doesn’t function as planned with no apparent reason for it’s malfunction. In a code base with thousands, if not millions, of lines of code and numerous dependencies to take into account, that can be enough to make someone tear their hair out.

RedShipRaider.9560:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

To me, this is like having to ask your spouse if its ok to sleep, or to eat, or to use the bathroom. You shouldn’t have to ask permission to do something that should be considered as part of the natural order.

If you want to eat at 5:30 so you can be finished before you have to be someplace, I would say that asking the SO/housemate/whatever for that is a very good idea. Talking to each other and communicating your intentions is a very important part of getting along with others. It is a very minor thing to ask the train to steer clear of your challenging kill attempt, rather than having a zerg train unaware of your intentions plowing into the middle of your attempt and then getting upset at them simply for doing what they do.

This misses the point entirely. Person a few posts up caught the general principle, the champ trains do not own the champs. Anyone can do them, in any order. Anyone can jump in, at any point. Just as your significant other does not own you, you are your own person and can make your own choices.

The example you give, while highlighting that communication is indeed important (won’t deny they, ever), is not quite the same vein of thought.

rizzo.1079:

But politeness has everything to do with it. The interaction that was described was a civilized one wherein everyone was polite to everyone else and no confrontation or foul language was necessary. It’s not the ‘asking for permission’ part that is important in the interaction, it’s recognizing that there are other people playing the game and treating them respectfully.

I recognize that other people play the game. I even acknowledge that being polite usually gets you further; however, by the logic you are presenting, a player should ask in map chat anytime they want to do something because who knows someone else might already have plans or designs on doing it and could potentially be upset because someone else did it, and they now have to wait for the next time. (Wow, long sentence) This sort of defeats the purpose of “just playing.”

This is like saying you should politely ask the players in Lunatic Inquisition if its ok that you actually try to win as a villager. Or having to ask your teammate if its ok that you help them on their kill.

Do we? No. Why? These things are expected because that’s how the game works. They are a part of the natural play and design of the game. The same should go for a person, or players, attempting to take on a champion outside of the zerg. Its a natural part of the play.

I didn’t have a zerg issue anywhere but in Kessex. Which is sort of to be expected considering we’re still in the first couple of days of the new patch. My husband and I only ran into two or three others when we opted to do some of the events on the other four available maps….

Henri Blanche.8276:

I only have problems with folks that are going out of their way to spoil the train. Otherwise, just move to the next champ and life goes on. I still recall when a small party politely asked the Icezerg in map chat if they could tackle the Champ Quaggan on their own without interference. The response was nothing but positive and folks cheered them on and wished them well. And yes, we just bypassed them and let them have their fun/challenge.

If someone, or a group of someones is simply playing along why should they have to ask the zerg for permission to simply play? They have as much right to do the content as the zerg.

To me, this is like having to ask your spouse if its ok to sleep, or to eat, or to use the bathroom. You shouldn’t have to ask permission to do something that should be considered as part of the natural order.

Its not the end of the year yet either….

snicker My cheers to the “kitten” that ruffled the zergs feathers.

Yes, even though I run the hamster wheel in QD on occasion, I do enjoy watching people get po’ed because their rotation gets messed up. Makes me laugh at their sorry uptight selves every time.

MastaNeenja.1537:

I watched Batman the animated series when i was in middle school until the animation quality took a dive and Robin came in. As for the rest of those shows, nope didn’t watch.

So i get the picture that you expect the story arcs for GW2 to be on the same level as a Saturday morning cartoon, well that’s great you like it, but you honestly came to the wrong thread. This thread is questioning why there are 3 alliances

One well thought out alliance would have worked.
Two alliances is pushing it…
Three alliances is just overkill

I expect a story that entertains me. That simple. Sometimes it can be light and predictable, like a Saturday morning cartoon. Sometimes it can be deep and emotional, or disturbing yet fun (hello Mad King Thorn!), and anywhere in between.

Some part of the living story have made me sad. Others have ticked me off. Some have made me laugh. Parts have made me sit back down, reread the lore, and ponder. That’s ‘good enough’ for me, I suppose.

laharl.8435:

Anet doesn’t have the technology to implement capes?

That is not what I said. I said that the technology is different. As such, things they did previously cannot necessarily be implemented the same way. This is something Colin talked about in his PAX interview. Using capes as the example, even though this is something they want to do, it is much more difficult with the current technology than it was in GW1, because there is simple ‘more’ to GW2. As such its not as simple as copying the code and pasting it into the codebase for GW2. It requires a ‘relearning.’

Obsidian.1328:

If they can do kites, they can do capes.

Except that kites aren’t quite the same. They aren’t attached to you. Don’t need to flow fluidly with your movements. Don’t have to take a million possible clipping collisions into consideration…

MastaNeenja.1537:

No they are not hobbled by their medium, a video game is an excellent medium with which to tell a story. We have all had at least one good story experience from playing video games so there’s no need to site examples of this. It’s just a bad story.

What story needs 3 consecutive failed alliances brought on by the same super villain? Anyone with half a brain would should see that after the first two failed that running with Scarlet is a bad idea. It’s like the plot and characters are not self aware … not Living in their World…

chuckle

Anet has always sort of been hobbled by their medium, imo. They have good writers, and they have good stories, but sometimes they seem to lack the ability to effectively relay it through their chosen medium. That was my point. We saw it in GW1, we see it here. It’s gotten better, and continues to do so, I feel, but there is still lots of room for improvement. A little more meat to each story arc is something I’m sure everyone would appreciate, and might give us more insight as to what is happening. There is so much we simply don’t know, but this is also common with Anet’s stories.

What story you ask? Ever watched any of the Batman animated series? How about Spider man? Green lantern? The Avengers maybe? Justice league? Ooo, how about Gargoyles? Multiple baddies, many variations of the same type of alliances, all fall flat on their faces. Repeatedly. Its the same formula for every episode, but we loved watching it anyway.

Because it’s different technology Bright. This is something Colin has expressed frustration with, especially in regards to the issue with capes. Things don’t work the same way, can’t be implemented as easily or in the same fashion. It’s not an uncommon issue with technology these days. Sometimes there are work arounds, sometimes there aren’t. Sometimes you have to ‘relearn’ how to do something in order for it to work in the new system. Of course, it could be as simple as they haven’t gotten around to it either (not that templates would work the same way necessarily here anyway). We don’t really know what the deal with for any specific issue because we don’t work there. We do need to cut them some slack though.

Eglesia.5049:

lordkrall.7241:

Because it is quite unusual for the whole world to just stop because a holiday or something is going on?

From a strategic point of view it is quite smart of the Krait/NC/Scarlet to make their move during Tyria’s Halloween Celebration, in order to take people unaware.

Look up “Christmas Truce” during World War 1. It does happen.

Yes, it does happen. However, it’s the exception, not the rule.

MastaNeenja.1537:

If this were a book or a TV series I would have stopped reading/watching a long time ago out of boredom , no need to skip to the end.

Fortunately it’s a game, so there’s things other than LW to do. Which i happily do and i try my darndest to just avoid LW content as much as possible. However LW is like a bad dorm mate you’re stuck with in college that you can’t get rid of.

They are sort of hobbled by their medium, but you’re absolutely correct. If you don’t like it, don’t do it.

Psycho Robot.7835:

Its not “skipping to the end” when 1. they’ve done this 4 times so far and 2. they tell you its her doing on the FRONT PAGE. And nobody is complaining about things being “given away” anyways. We’re all complaining because we’re sick and tired of scarlet. She’s got the depth of bad Chris Nolan’s Joker fan fic soaking in a puddle.

It is sort of skipping to the end when they data mine their answers… or at least enough to give it away. That’s really not any fun.

Scarlet has no worse depth than Batman’s Joker, or Catwoman, or Two-Face, and batman is a classic.

lordkrall.7241:

Because it is quite unusual for the whole world to just stop because a holiday or something is going on?

From a strategic point of view it is quite smart of the Krait/NC/Scarlet to make their move during Tyria’s Halloween Celebration, in order to take people unaware.

Very much this.

If anet wants to create a truly living world, they will need to work into having more than one thing going on at a time. The rest of the world does not stand still just because some other event is happening.

Thus far we have only seen human holidays, but what about the other races? What about the other things happening in the world? Scarlet and her machinations are but one facet. There are other threads they could tug as well. You have the corruption with the council, you have the other dragons which they could spin a subplot off from, we have any number of things the priory is investigating, we have all the little plots for the LS characters (rox, braham, etc).

The list could go on, but those are just some quick ones off the top of my head. However, I highly doubt we’ll ever get to a ‘truly’ living world, where events happen concurrently. Not because anet can’t manage it, but because their players won’t let them.

Thank you Mourningcry

Draknar.5748:

I believe it was stated at some point that precursors will be obtainable in ways outside of the toilet or TP, or the very off-chance it drops for you.

I have no source, but I’m pretty sure this was stated at some point. I think it is a 2014 plan though.

Precursor crafting. It is coming. Originally slated for delivery by the end of the year, they may or may not make that deadline. Per Colin, recently, right here on the boards. “Is precursor crafting going to happen” or some such thread.

As for the scavanger hunt, we were told around July ish that it was still in the works, but we’ve had no direct word if it still is.

Oh yes, I remember, and I often point such things out when arguing with people.

I also enjoy pointing out that just because this game lacks something that other games consider ‘standard’ may not be in error, it may have been done intentionally – ie no direct trading for example. We’ve sort of blown their initial game design dreams right out of the water.

It’s very simple.

First : WvW is considered to be part of PvE. I know, I know. You don’t like it. Well, technically neither do I. Same with many others. However, this is what the developers have decreed, so our choices are a) live with it, or b) get out.

Second : There have been, and still are, people of the pvp persuasion that complain that they have to leave WvW to participate in the living story. (Makes sense to me, but hey to each their own). They wanted to have the ability to participate without necessarily needing to leave their venue choice. As such, walla….ls in wvw. The developers heard, and complied.

You people sure do like skipping to the end of the book and reading it backwards, then griping that everything was given away….

Let them tell their tale. You don’t necessarily have to like or click with the entire cast of characters, but you’re not the one writing the tale either.

I have 9 characters, only 3 of which are maxed at this point.

I explore, and re-explore, the world jumping from racial area to racial area to keep things lively, and I always seem to find something I missed previously. Of course with my characters being so spread out in level range, I have lots of options of what to do on any given day.

I ‘shop.’ A girl’s gotta have snazzy clothes for her chars after all. It takes me so much longer than I originally thought it would to pick out a ‘look’ or even two for each character, and of course when new sets become available, the process starts all over again.

I enjoy the living story, but unlike so many I don’t grind it’s completion within the first 24 hours. I’ll do a little bit to get started when it comes out, then I’ll go back to leveling/exploring, and when I need a break from that, I’ll go back to living story stuff.

I like to occasionally run the hamster wheel. It’s relaxing. I can meet people to recruit into my guild. I can chat with my guild without feeling rushed in my typing. Sometimes the conversations in map chat are just entertaining in their stupidity. Of course, I enjoy trolling the train almost as much as I like running in it.

I enjoy a good ‘bait the troll’ session in LA. Be sure to bring popcorn! Rile ’em up, then watch ’em go. Its soothes my argumentative nature, and gets a good laugh (from me and many others) almost every time.

I dabble in spvp or wvw. Not often, or for very long, but I try. Normally I just end up dead on the ground, but hey that’s ok.

I do the occasional dungeon. I’d like to eventually get my dungeon master title, but I’m in no rush to do so at this point. I run a few paths that Ive found I like here or there to hang out with guildies, or as a change of pace.

I’m still working on jumping puzzles. After all, I can only frustrate myself for so many hours before I throw in the towel. I’ll get through all of those things eventually too. Just takes time.

I still haven’t decided which legendaries I want, or who they will go on…

How long have I been playing? Since beta (BW2 I believe it was). I just enjoy taking my time. I foresee many, many more hours of enjoyment, at least for me.

Good to see I wasn’t the only one that had the Batman idea haha.

Havana.8625:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Well, way back at launch (and eve since) people said they wanted more armors and that they’d be willing to buy them from the gemstore if they would simply give us more armors.

We should be more careful what we wish for.

I’m pretty happy with the new gemstore armors. If ascended armor was out, I’d grab them now and skin up! I’ll probably buy them as soon as I get my ascended.

I don’t mind buying them either, tbh. I just wish they worked similarly to costumes in GW1 – ie, 1 purchase, multiple uses across the account.

Maybe they should grey out (make it unable to be purchased on that char) any on the list that your character can’t wear…. sigh

Awwww bummer, I don’t think I’ll be home in time for this… I guess Thor will just have to wait until the following Sunday for my luvins!

Have we forgotten this line already?

“Captain Evon Gnashblade: My fault? You’re a mouse fart who thinks she’s a hurricane. Please.”

Anet intentionally makes interesting (to put it mildly) remarks through their characters to make us chuckle.

As soon as I get home! XD

This is not the first time we have seen the ‘Finish Them’ in pve. In Clockwork Chao, you needed to stomp the steam creatures, otherwise they could be re-animated by their menders (the flies, and once they started they were invulnerable so you couldn’t stop the reanimation). In large scale fights, this mostly went unnoticed due to the mob mentality, but in smaller scale battles stomping them vs not stomping them could make the difference between being overwhelmed or not.

I am not necessarily keen on seeing more of this in pve. It’s an interesting perk/twist in pvp, but I think I’d prefer if it stayed in that arena.

IceBlink.4317:

Mickey Frogeater.1470:

Is there ANYONE in the Guild Wars 2 cast who isn’t a Mary Sue?

Lord Faren.

Are you sure? Maybe his supoer powers from being roasted in Scarlet’s pot just haven’t kicked in yet. Maybe he’s Sailor Moon’s mysterious masked man, or maybe he’s He-Man and just waiting for his debut.

/sarcasm off

In all seriousness people, every character they give you you’re slapping ‘Mary Sue’ on. I seriously hope none of you actually read books (or even watch tv) because you’d be terribly disappointed. Every villian, every hero (male or female) is (by your people’s definition) a ‘mary sue’ because they are smart, strong, and thrown in your face.

Wow… so, when one female is even semi-possessive/protective about a female friend you people automatically assume its sexual? Not necessarily.

Yes, Anet has some very blanant female-female relationships that are sexual in nature, Caith and Faolain obviously. They also have blatantly hetero relationships as well, sylvari couple – you have to help rescue the female from the nightmare court (I remember doing it, dont recall if its a quest or part of the personal story, think its personal story), the newlywed couple out in Gendarren Fields, just to name a couple. There are many more.

Logan is obviously in love with Jennah, and from conversations/scenes, it’s also obvious she returns those feelings but hasn’t had the nads to do anything about it. Yes Jennah and Anise are obviously close, as Rytlock and Logan once were. This does not mean they are sexually interested in each other though.

Some people form strong bonds with their friends, and can get jealous of that friendship if they feel something might threaten it. It’s simply a territorial instinct, if you want to look at it that way.

Andy Rymz.7518:

It was never going to live up to gw1, it’s just what it is. I have my Legendary, but more, I’ve met people through getting it. Not much left to do now. Took me so long to get to level 20 in gw1 and I was so chuffed, took me about a month to get lvl 80 in gw2. Doesn’t matter but I don’t think the genius behind gw1 is in gw2. xx

Took you so long to get to 20…. in which game? If you’re going straight prophecies sure, playing it in order. It can take you some time, I suppose. In factions and nightfall it took me 4 hours to max a character to 20, and that was taking my time.

Parlourbeatflex.5970:

Good points ill give you that.

Although again, I must state is really difficult to actually compare the krait with anything else in game, because they are very unique in the gw universe.
but yet again they are treated like every other race in the game and given an alliance, because for some unknown reason anet feel the need to give us two enemies each time. Its like they think fighting one type of mob throughout a themed LS dungeon/instance/zerg whatever will bore most players. Really shows how weak they know there story telling is atm.

The krait seem very GW1 charr like to me. So its plausible in my mind that they would seek some way to regain their glory. I mean, bringing back their prophets and subjugating the entire world is a huge undertaking, and if they are already being pushed back (as their lore suggested) then like the Charr, they may seek alternate means to furthering their ends.

As for getting 2 enemies every time, there may be something deeper there. We don’t know. Lots of theories floating around out there though. But, it could turn out to be nothing too, it’s still fun to speculate. It’s like theorizing what’s going to happen in the next chapter of a good book.

Do we have images of Marjory’s weaps? Not home yet, so can’t check the codes.

Parlourbeatflex.5970:

Late For Tea.1846:

Redenaz.8631:

The living story explains that whoever is pulling the strings (Scarlet, probably,) found something to offer them: Krait obelisk shards.

No one ever knew where to find them, yet Scarlet has triumphed where no one else could yet again. It was a poor way to fix a problem: Why the krait would ally themselves with others. In any profession you’re not supposed to fix problems but avoid them. The Krait-Nightmare Court alliance should never have happened.

Basically, this is what im talking about.

It seems like anet have once again had to twist the lore and give unfounded powers to the mastermind behind it. And everyone is forgetting how religious the krait actually were.

imagine a scenario where scarlet tries to communicate with the krait, who apparently havnt communicated with any other species for as long as anyone can remember.

How did she even setup a meeting?
Why do the krait trust her, especially as in there eyes, shes a non believer?
And then why would the krait trust the nightmare court, again non believers?

AGAIN this patch just makes me ask ALL THE WRONG questions… Rather than be intrigued by ‘How did this happen?’ im more peeved off with ‘HOW DOES THIS EVEN MAKE SENSE?’

In this vein, you have to take an even further step back…..all the way back to GW1 Prophecies.

The Charr worship no gods. Believe in no gods. Yet sought out gods to grant them power in order to combat humanity in their quest to reclaim Ascalon.

This falls into the same type of thing. The krait are willing to make concessions in order to further their own ends.

Sheep!

Baaaaaa baaaaa

Late For Tea.1846:

Redenaz.8631:

The living story explains that whoever is pulling the strings (Scarlet, probably,) found something to offer them: Krait obelisk shards.

No one ever knew where to find them, yet Scarlet has triumphed where no one else could yet again. It was a poor way to fix a problem: Why the krait would ally themselves with others. In any profession you’re not supposed to fix problems but avoid them. The Krait-Nightmare Court alliance should never have happened.

People do interesting things when given the right incentive. It’s why the phrase “anyone can be bought” exists. In this instance the krait were offered something they absolutely could not refuse…a piece of their obelisk.

Just because nobody found it before Scarlet, doesn’t mean that someone wouldn’t have found it eventually. She was just was the lucky one to piece all the information together, and if she’s as {smart} as {she’s} (stupid flipping filter) made out to be, that’s really not all that surprising. Puzzles seem to be her thing, and what is a treasure hunt? Just another type of puzzle.

We’re pretty sure by this point that someone or something else is pulling Scarlet’s strings, which likely gave her a nudge in the correct direction to find these shards.

From zergs to speedclears. Gimmick to gimmick. I don’t see how 1 is any better or worse than the other.