Guild Wars 2

I admit, there are things that I don’t particularly care for with HoT. I can’t say I ‘hate’ them, they just aren’t in my favorites list. However, this is true for any game, any expansion, in the history of gaming. Ever. I fully expect there are going to be things I don’t like, and those things will be things that other people do like. That’s just how it goes. That said, I’m still eagerly awaiting the expansion information, wallet at the ready.

Now, all that said, and given the reactions by some in this thread, my advice to you is this: Wait and see. You may not like HoT, but whatever come next you may love. Those who thoroughly enjoyed HoT may hate what comes next. Or, you may decide what comes next is still not to your taste, at which point perhaps it’s time to move on and find something that is. That is merely the realities of gaming.

Considering Glint was the one that set the Prophecies forth, I don’t think she’d be ‘wrong’ per se. Additionally, since these are a collection of prophecies, and no one except Glint knew them wholly, it’s possible that they have not all been fulfilled.

However, given the lore as it’s been set forth (or so far as I understand it), they only pertained to the original GW1 campaign. Additionally, Glint tells us twice that the Prophecies (plural) have been fulfilled, so I doubt whatever prophecy is coming in the latest chapter pertains to the Flameseeker Prophecies directly.

All that aside, there is no reason why other prophecies couldn’t exist, from other sources, in the world of Tyria. We, the player character, just obviously isn’t aware of them (yet).

Well sigh ….

Randulf.7614:

Someone said the voice is similar or the same as the VA for Livia. I can’t remember how her voice sounded, so we shall see

You can get a feel for Livia’s voice if you look up some of the GW:EN cutscenes on youtube. Here’s one for you:

We “killed” Abbadon. Which is how Kormir was raised to god-hood, but absorbing the power he released.

Additionally, we also “killed” the Shadow of the Dragon at the end of Season 2 (we even get to stomp the critter).

Now it’s possible that either of these could have been ‘faked,’ but I sort of doubt it. So that “may” be a new dragon champion, or maybe it’s one of the several that have been ever present in the skies of Orr.

We definitely hear Braham and Anise talking, I’m not sure who the last voice is supposed to be. Its the same actress that does Jennah, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be Jennah speaking. Of course, it may not be a character speaking at all, it could just be commentary too.

The line about fulfilling a ‘prophecy’ has me intrigued. I didn’t think we had any of those floating around currently. So, I look forward to seeing what that’s all about. I know a lot of people over on reddit are throwing out the thought that the Flameseeker Prophecies aren’t complete, and that’s entirely possible. I’m a little ify on that, but it’s entirely possible.

Spartacus.3192:

meh people must have some really thin skin to be bothered by this. I actually like it because i can review stats in peace. Many times in the past ive won or lost a match and want to review stats but the enemy player wants to keep fighting me. If i ignore him he actually believes he beat me in the 1v1. lol

Match is over! Anything done after that is irrelevant.

It doesn’t bother me, per se. However, I do feel its implementation was in poor taste.

They removed certain emotes and changed how other emotes worked in game with the the original implementation because they wanted to keep things “friendly.” For example, you can’t point and laugh at someone. It was adjusted (between GW1 and GW2) to be laugh with someone. That is a very distinct and obvious choice. It seems with the introduction of finishers, oh so long ago, this approach has changed.

To add a “gloat” option like this is essentially just promoting poor sportsmanship. Which I neither condone, nor approve of, but that’s just my personal opinion on it.

Djinn.9245:

I really dislike that there is no UI for all of these items I worked so hard on. I don’t want the baby book, training book, etc. to take up space in my inventory but if I delete them I have no way to reference them in-game.

It’s a real shame that the game has all these great story items but then doesn’t have a management system for them.

A bookshelf or a library in our home instances would be lovely for these types of things. So many collectable books in game…

I don’t mind having a bit of bunker in the game. I’m not a fan of ‘First to Burst’ or ‘Explode on Contact’ type metas where you die if anything so much a breathes on you. Obviously some people find that fun to play and to watch, but not me personally. I think to make things interesting (and not completely one sided) you need the rock paper scissors mix to keep things interesting and fun. Unfortunately, we still aren’t there yet. We keep swinging too far one way.

Blockhead Magee.3092:

For a small experiment, I play two different accounts. Same class, same build. Last season, one account was top tier gold. The other was at the bottom of silver. The only difference between them was the matchmaking (other players). I don’t know where I belong (high, low or in between) but I can say that the MMR system is total fecal material when it comes to accurately ranking players.

Short of the hadfull of great players out there who can carry a game here and there, you’re at the mercy of who you are teamed with and against.

I’ve done this, since like season 2. My primary account, which I ‘learned’ on (so my MMR is meh) and my alt account, which came in ‘pristine’ (default MMR) Drastically different experiences.

Ashantara.8731:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

We’ve been told that race changes are not possible due to technical limitations.

Those “technical limitations” are bound to the character’s progress (story choices etc.). If said reset item would nihilate the character’s whole background and let you rebuild them from scratch, only keeping their age (date of creation), that would certainly be someting many more people than you think would make use of.

As has been said, it would require the creation of an entirely new character and then just applying the original character’s birthday to the new one. Its not just a matter of wiping data from a column in a database. If it did, it would be much simpler.

Regardless, the technical limitation exists and they have told us such. So we know its more than just ‘they don’t want to do it.’

Pifil.5193:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Anyway, yes, theoretically that would work. But that would still be quite a bit of work to build an item for. I don’t think it would necessarily be cost effective for them, and does pose its own set of bugs if something gets overlooked. (Doesn’t it always?)

Would it be a lot of work? Perhaps, depending on how you define a lot of work and it would, of course, require significant testing.

Is it worth it? This is a saleable product and it should probably cost more than a new character slot. I would guess somewhere in the 1200 to 1600 gems range.

Personally speaking, I know I’d buy… oh… two as soon as I got home. Maybe a third for my Revenant. Oh and I’d need two or three name change contracts too.

It’s probably just as well that they don’t have this item; it’d cost me a fortune.

There’s going to be more to it beyond just how you or I define “a lot of work” because we have no actual clue what their codebase looks like. But yes, I was thinking the entire scope (planning, coding, testing (happy path, sad path, regression), bug fixing, additional testing, etc) not just specifically the code portion.

I don’t know if I personally would buy the item, and I’m sort of mixed on how I feel about others desiring them. But to each their own. I do think if they priced them at 1600 gems a piece ($20), people would kitten they were too expensive. They could just buy 2 character slots for that.

Pifil.5193:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

It’s not likely a database issue. I haven’t worked with NoSQL dbs (which as I understand, is what they use), so I don’t have experience there, but I think it’s probably more they have things hard coded in the actual game code, which is what will cause the issues. There are likely things that should have / could have been saved to the db but weren’t because of design choices that were made before launch.

Well, as I said in my previous post the key is selectively copying some data to a new character and deleting the old one. Not attempting to reset an old one.

The new character effectively gets a Level X boost (where X is the old character’s level). This gives them some map completion, some items in their inventory (probably in a box like with the Level 80 boost) and a boost in their crafting disciplines.

I understood they were still using SQL databases but regardless of whether it’s a SQL or NoSQL database a database is still a database. The same principles apply; if you can find the relevant entries associated with a character (their inventory, map completion, crafting recipe lists and so on) then you can copy or move it to another character’s entry.

They’re probably using a combination of the two. But last time I checked, their database position was asking for someone with experience in both arenas.

Anyway, yes, theoretically that would work. But that would still be quite a bit of work to build an item for. I don’t think it would necessarily be cost effective for them, and does pose its own set of bugs if something gets overlooked. (Doesn’t it always?)

Pifil.5193:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Pifil.5193:

It doesn’t have to be complex. All they really have to do is:

1) Have you create your new character. This is done using the normal way. This creates a normal level 1 instance of the character.
2) Copy your existing characters inventory to the new character (rewriting character IDs and packaging up any equipped gear like they do with the level 80 boost).
3) Copy your existing characters name and date of birth to the new character (which preserves the birthday).
4) Delete the old character.

This would effectively overwrite your old character with the newly created one but it would be a new, fresh character with no personal story progression that keeps only a few key elements of the old character (your inventory, name and date of birth).

If they wanted to get “fancy” they could copy other aspects of your existing character (such as map completion and level) to the new one. Again the key is selectively copying some data to a new character. Not attempting to reset an old one.

Edit: actually they should copy map completion and level to the new one. And crafting.

Even though you think it’s that easy to selectively copy data, I’m not sure why you’d think that it’s never occurred to them to try this sort of work-around. This topic (or its cousins) has been around since near launch.

It’s not complicated; there’s just a lot of simple things that need to be taken care of.

I’m an experienced software engineer. I’ve worked quite a bit with databases over the many years I’ve been working. I know it’s easy to selectively copy data. I’ve also looked at the GW2 API so I have a good idea of the kind of data they have.

As for why this solution never occurred to them; they’ve already decided they can’t do this so what makes you think anyone at ArenaNet has ever thought about this at all after the initial “oh that’s really difficult, rolling back the personal story would be a big problem there”?

It’s not likely a database issue. I haven’t worked with NoSQL dbs (which as I understand, is what they use), so I don’t have experience there, but I think it’s probably more they have things hard coded in the actual game code, which is what will cause the issues. There are likely things that should have / could have been saved to the db but weren’t because of design choices that were made before launch. This is probably one of them, given the statement before launch that they wouldn’t make a race change item. They wanted people to think about their choices and wanted those choices to have weight, to have consequences. No changing willy nilly. Those building block choices has a cascading effect over the lifetime of a code base.

sometimes, team some one stood still,Whatever the reason. We are 4vs5
No points should be deducted,
One wrong is not other 4 member.

Translation: When one player goes afk, the rest of the team should not be penalized by losing rating. They are stuck fighting 4v5. They don’t get a choice in the matter. One player doing wrong, or just being an kitten, does not mean all are doing wrong.

Knockback pushes the characters into the Scene wood and stone, and the player doesn’t come out. This is a bug
This situation has been wronged

Translation: Knockback skills (pulls, and leaps too) are causing characters to get stuck in the scenery of the maps – walls, barrels, pillars, etc. The player can then not get out, and the enemy team may not kill them (even if they can), leaving the opposing team 4v5 again. This is a bug that requires fixing. Sooner rather than later.

Why is it me? Why can other people can 0 lose?

Translation: Why am I always on the losing team?

Hope that helps some of you.

We’ve been told that race changes are not possible due to technical limitations. They’ve made other comments about why they wouldn’t want to do them, but that’s the big one. There’s just too much tied to your race for them to be able to do it without causing issues.

I’d be happy to help. Add me, if I’m online when you go to do it, just give me a holler.

Cynz.9437:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Cynz.9437:

It is not a bug, it is DH feature. Apparently they are so weak that Anet decided DHs should be able exploit this game and push/pull ppl into terrain.

So what’s the excuse when it happens from Ranger LB 4, Warrior Rifle 5, and Mesmer GS 5? We could use that excuse (I suppose) for Mes and War. But Ranger?

but but but rangers are weeeek, tey need booofs!

Meh

They need some tweaks, sure. But that be not the same thing.

Cynz.9437:

It is not a bug, it is DH feature. Apparently they are so weak that Anet decided DHs should be able exploit this game and push/pull ppl into terrain.

So what’s the excuse when it happens from Ranger LB 4, Warrior Rifle 5, and Mesmer GS 5? We could use that excuse (I suppose) for Mes and War. But Ranger?

Getting stuck ‘in’ assorted objects is not limited to Coliseum. People get stuck in assorted items in Kyhlo, as well as in the pillars around the central point on Temple. It seems to happen if you get knocked back into the object.

I’d just be happy if I could ‘rank’ the reward tracks in some way. This way if one finished and I didn’t realize, it would go onto another one of my choosing, as opposed to a “random” one.

Or maybe even a ‘repeat this track until un-ticked’ option.

Many kudos for the potential additions list. I can imagine the work that went into compiling it (especially with the data loss and repeated steps, been here done that).

I’d love to see everything on it make it into material storage, but I understand the desire to potentially cut some of the items if at all possible. There’s a lot there.

From my perspective, I definitely want to see things like blade shards, mystic forge stones, ice runestones, and the HoT collectibles (chak eggs, plates, etc) make it in. Primarily because these kinds of things are collected over time, for me, and I’m not always at or near a bank to drop them out of my inventory so I can move on with my game play. I could probably go through the entire list and compile my ‘highly recommended’ added items, but it might be a bit redundant.

As for things we could cut – the cooking, scribing, core refinement components could all be cut. I’m sure absolutely no one will be pleased with this suggestion, which I do understand. However, we have managed thus far. I’ve leveled cooking, I know what it’s like to have all the cooking sub components sitting around waiting for the next step because you don’t have quite everything you need to move on. I can imagine scribe is much the same way, with intermediate steps. However, generally speaking, when we’re working with these items we’re at a work station with access to our bank vaults to ‘easily’ clean these out of our inventory, so we can carry on with our game play. (Assuming you have room in your bank, I know not all people do)

I suppose that’s one way to look at this list of items. The ease of getting them out of one’s inventory during a play session.

Sinmir.6504:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Sinmir.6504:

I’d have just had 2 groups. People who have bought and people who haven’t. So group one would be people who bought, either Core then HoT, HoT and unlocked the Core game with it or Core game but not HoT. Group 2 would be new players and F2P players.
So only two different prices, one for those who have bought the game in any way and one for people who haven’t.

Unsurprisingly, there are still players that just have the core game (I have at least 2 guildies in such a position), which is why I included the middle group. As I said above, the need for such may eventually go away, at which point yes, we’d end up with just the two groups. Which, I did consider in my initial tiering.

Assuming they went with just 2 groups, one buys everything, the other just buys the most recent xpac, how then do we deal with someone that owns core and buys xpac2, but would also like hot? do they now need to be treated as a new player and buy the new player pack? (which is sort of what caused all the uproar with how they bundled core and hot with its initial release). do they offer each individual xpac for its own standalone price? does it come as part of the vet bundle? (would this in itself not cause an uproar from people complaining about rebuying what they already have?) Its not uncommon for MMOs to sell each xpac as its own thing, most of which stating right on their boxes that you need to own ‘x game’ for it to work, but anet didn’t want to go that route. They want to remove that pay wall altogether.

And again we’re right back to not being able to please everyone and the logic behind Anets packaging choices.

Sorry, I should have explained better what I was meaning by the 2 groups. Both would get Xpac2 and HoT. Just rather than having a tier for every different type People who have bought the game and people who haven’t.
So tier 1 would include HoT owners and paid core game owners.
They buy Xpac2 available at a lower price and get HoT with it if they don’t already have it.

Tier 2 would be F2P and new players
Their bundle would be Xpac 2, HoT and the core game.

Although before we get our hopes up, now the price of HoT is the same for a new player to buy as it is for a core game owner to upgrade.

I think we’d still run into the same whine with your set up. Players that own HoT are going to kitten that they are buying something they already bought, when they purchased the new xpac.

shrug

You just cant please some people. But I get what you’re going for, and I’m not opposed to it.

Similarly to Vayne, if you’re on NA OP, feel free to toss me on your friend’s list and hit me up if you see me on. I’ll come help guide you through maps or work through hero points if you so desire.

Excellent Name.9574:

01. Pricing the expansion as the full game for players already owning the original game

They priced the same way every other kitten MMO prices their expansions. Most recent WoW expansion – Legion: Base 49.99, Deluxe 69.99. Just to give you one example. And if you don’t already own the game, it’s another 19.99.

Excellent Name.9574:

02. DLC worth of new content, not worthy of expansion name

Whether or not you feel it is worth the price tag they stuck on that is your personal opinion. Some felt as you do, some did not. That is an issue with all products. However, it’s in Anet’s hands to determine what their price tag will be. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. The same as with any other product. Or wait for it to go on sale. Or wait for the price to drop when the inevitable next expansion comes out, at which point you should factor in additional costs (such as LS3) into whether it was worth not ever buying it.

Excellent Name.9574:

03. Rushed and short story mode, with a really underwhelming final battle design.

I didn’t find the final battle underwhelming, although I will agree that the story felt rushed. Hopefully they do better with the next expansion. I am hoping the ‘rushed’ feeling of the HoT story comes from them finally coming to terms with whether or not they were actually doing expansions or just Living World. However, all we can do is wait and see.

Excellent Name.9574:

04. Questionable map design, not the beauty of HoT maps, just usability. Minimap system is not enough for HoT layout.

I think the layering of the map is fine in general. It takes a bit to get used to. The mini map, and world map layering could use some fine tuning in general, but this was true prior to HoT as well. So simply saying its not enough for HoT, I feel, is unfair. Even prior to the extent of the layering in HoT, it wasn’t enough just for some of the basic layering that existed in Core.

Excellent Name.9574:

06. Killing the casualness of the original Guild Wars 2 in more than one way and thus making maps either extremely hard or right down impossible for solo completion.

I have mixed feelings on this. A lot of people cried for harder content in general. And Anet got a lot of solidly good feedback from the HoT beta regarding the difficulty of HoT’s open world content. Some going so far as to ask for it to be harder. Anet did actually nerf some of that difficulty before HoT’s launch, and then did a further pass later on was more people asked for it to be ‘dumbed down.’ But no, it’s definitely not on par with the ease of Core, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I don’t think it’s perfect by far in some aspects, but it’s not awful either.

Excellent Name.9574:

07. Nerfing the older content, all in hope player base will be forced to buy into deeply flawed new one.

I do agree here. Their nerf to the Core game when they made it Free to Play sent a terrible message.

Excellent Name.9574:

08. Essentially killing off PvP with tying it to the expansion.

Had they done a better job with balance, this would never have been an issue. They can still adjust this. It will just take them time. Then again, they’ve always been awful with balance, so I suppose none of us should be surprised.

Vesuvius.9874:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

For example:

Brand New Players:
Core + HoT + Xpac2 -> 50 Base, 75 Deluxe, 100 Ultimate

Core Only Vets
Hot + Xpac2 -> 40 Base, 65 Deluxe, 90 Ultimate

Core + Hot Vets
Xpac 2 -> 30 Base, 55 Deluxe, 80 Ultimate

Or some such. I just pulled numbers out of the air here, but that’s the idea people are going for.

The problem with that approach is, given enough expansions, the price point will eventually hit 0. Do people really think that is viable for a business if it wants to keep making money? That’s essentially asking ANET to apply their own in-game law of diminishing returns to themselves…

Not necessarily, they could leave the tiers as they are, regardless of expansion. However, I would think that eventually the need for the middle group (players that just own core) would go away, and they’d just have the first and last set ups – free to play / new players, and vets. The first group gets everything, the last just wants the latest shiny. In theory, there will be those that might miss an expansion here or there, but Anet could do similarly to WoW and just have them available for single purchase and just leave the price at $25 or $30 a piece. Although, I suppose for expansion more than 2 years old, they could drop the price further.

In all honesty, there is no clean way to do it. Which, I feel, is partly why Anet went with the bundle method they did.

Additionally, the ‘idea’ of removing the ‘pay wall’ for new players is actually a good one. Its just a matter of making both new and returning players feel ‘valued’ in their purchase, which can be difficult to do. They cannot please everyone all of the time. No one can.

Sinmir.6504:

I’d have just had 2 groups. People who have bought and people who haven’t. So group one would be people who bought, either Core then HoT, HoT and unlocked the Core game with it or Core game but not HoT. Group 2 would be new players and F2P players.
So only two different prices, one for those who have bought the game in any way and one for people who haven’t.

Unsurprisingly, there are still players that just have the core game (I have at least 2 guildies in such a position), which is why I included the middle group. As I said above, the need for such may eventually go away, at which point yes, we’d end up with just the two groups. Which, I did consider in my initial tiering.

Assuming they went with just 2 groups, one buys everything, the other just buys the most recent xpac, how then do we deal with someone that owns core and buys xpac2, but would also like hot? do they now need to be treated as a new player and buy the new player pack? (which is sort of what caused all the uproar with how they bundled core and hot with its initial release). do they offer each individual xpac for its own standalone price? does it come as part of the vet bundle? (would this in itself not cause an uproar from people complaining about rebuying what they already have?) Its not uncommon for MMOs to sell each xpac as its own thing, most of which stating right on their boxes that you need to own ‘x game’ for it to work, but anet didn’t want to go that route. They want to remove that pay wall altogether.

And again we’re right back to not being able to please everyone and the logic behind Anets packaging choices.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Duzze.4068:

Also wasn’t the Lizard people the bad guys in GW 1?

You mean The Forgotten?

Knew I was forgetting one.

The lizard guys? You’re going to have to be a bit more specific here.

We had Krait that were foes in GW1.
We also had Naga that we fought.

They weren’t the “primary” foe though.

Ashantara.8731:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I just pulled numbers out of the air here, but that’s the idea people are going for.

Yes, that would be a nice idea, and one can only hope regarding the fact that there was no such payment model for expac 1.

I agree, there is no harm in hoping.

That said, I also don’t (personally) have an issue paying $50 for the next xpac either, if it garners my interest.

They don’t play well with others.

They tend to shoot themselves in the foot.

Vesuvius.9874:

Why is there an expectation for the expansion to be discounted?

I think ‘discounted’ is the wrong term for what they desire. They are looking for price tiering, depending on whether you’re a free or brand new player vs a vet that has core and potentially HoT.

For example:

Brand New Players:
Core + HoT + Xpac2 → 50 Base, 75 Deluxe, 100 Ultimate

Core Only Vets
Hot + Xpac2 → 40 Base, 65 Deluxe, 90 Ultimate

Core + Hot Vets
Xpac 2 → 30 Base, 55 Deluxe, 80 Ultimate

Or some such. I just pulled numbers out of the air here, but that’s the idea people are going for.

Granted, it would be nice to see Anet do this. However, I don’t believe they will. I think it’s going to be one set of prices, period. As it was with HoT. I think the price point might be slightly lower, but not significantly so. As such, I fully expect another catastrophic player meltdown here on the forums.

I have popcorn ready.

I’m going to have to concur with Cedo. Most likely we’ll see a unique weapon skin, and a unique armor piece. As it was with the original elites. I’m hoping its not the same armor piece, but rather different component with the same general theme. Tempest got a shoulder piece, maybe with the next elite spec they’ll get gloves, for example. Which eventually builds out to a “class specific” acquirable armor set.

They never said it was a new mode. Everyone assumed it was because they didn’t actually read what was said.

updated with a custom arena map for 2v2 battles

Nothing was said about a mode. They said a single map. They specified “for custom arenas.” If it were going to be a mode with a queue (as Stronghold was) they would have said as such. With more detail most likely.

Now, its entirely possible that depending on how popular this map is, the feedback they get on it, etc, it could become its own mode. But we’ll have to see.

Ayrilana.1396:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Ayrilana.1396:

If something isn’t ready wouldn’t they hold it back regardless as to whether there was a PvP season going on.

Which is what I said.

Ayrilana.1396:

As far as festivals, HoT and Halloween were released at the same time. All the other festivals (however few there are) have roughly a fixed schedule on when they become available and when they end. The episodes have roughly released every two months. With how spread out each festival is, it’s entirely possible for each episode to be released between festivals simply because that’s when they’re ready.

I am solidly aware of when festivals typically fall. Ive only been here since forever.

There was 54 days between Ep1 and Ep2.
62 days between Ep 2 and Ep3.
78 days between 3 and 4.
82 days between 4 and 5.

This merely verifies that they are staying within their 2-3 month projected cadence. We could do all sort of projections on where we think Ep 6 could fall based on any of those numbers, the average, etc. In truth, a full 90 days from Ep 5 puts us all the way out at 9/5, so guessing an early Aug date puts us right around 60 days.

All of this aside, it was just a guess based on a logical pattern, regardless of coincidence. You guys don’t need to rip my head off cause I offered up a prediction.

Ayrilana.1396:

I believe it was also stated by someone from Anet that the living story episodes are on their own release schedule which is separate from everything else.

This is entirely possible. I don’t recall it, but I wouldn’t discount it either. I know they are on a 2-3 month cadence, that is enough to determine a ballpark idea of when to expect it. From there, its a matter of looking at what’s being said and what else is happening to maybe get a better feel for when it might fall. Coincidence or not.

If we don’t have a thread from Mo mid to late July saying the next Ep is going through its finishing touches, I’ll likely revise my prediction.

Episode 5 released May 2nd so 90 days would be around the beginning of August.

I’m simply disagreeing with what you said and the intention was never to “rip your head off”. I’m sorry if it came off that way.

There are various theories on what could happen and what could not. From what I have seen, I believe that it doesn’t matter if there is a PvP season. From your side, you see otherwise. Either of us could be correct.

Ha, you are correct. I stuck the wrong date in my Excel calculation. Thank you for correcting me. Been a long day apparently, I can’t even math lol.

Yes, any of us could be. I fully expect we’ll see quite a few predictions thrown out over the next month or so. Regardless of when it actually falls, I’ll just be happy when we get it.

Ayrilana.1396:

If something isn’t ready wouldn’t they hold it back regardless as to whether there was a PvP season going on.

Which is what I said.

Ayrilana.1396:

As far as festivals, HoT and Halloween were released at the same time. All the other festivals (however few there are) have roughly a fixed schedule on when they become available and when they end. The episodes have roughly released every two months. With how spread out each festival is, it’s entirely possible for each episode to be released between festivals simply because that’s when they’re ready.

I am solidly aware of when festivals typically fall. Ive only been here since forever.

There was 54 days between Ep1 and Ep2.
62 days between Ep 2 and Ep3.
78 days between 3 and 4.
82 days between 4 and 5.

This merely verifies that they are staying within their 2-3 month projected cadence. We could do all sort of projections on where we think Ep 6 could fall based on any of those numbers, the average, etc. In truth, a full 90 days from Ep 5 puts us all the way out at 9/5, so guessing an early Aug date puts us right around 60 days.

All of this aside, it was just a guess based on a logical pattern, regardless of coincidence. You guys don’t need to rip my head off cause I offered up a prediction.

Ayrilana.1396:

I believe it was also stated by someone from Anet that the living story episodes are on their own release schedule which is separate from everything else.

This is entirely possible. I don’t recall it, but I wouldn’t discount it either. I know they are on a 2-3 month cadence, that is enough to determine a ballpark idea of when to expect it. From there, its a matter of looking at what’s being said and what else is happening to maybe get a better feel for when it might fall. Coincidence or not.

If we don’t have a thread from Mo mid to late July saying the next Ep is going through its finishing touches, I’ll likely revise my prediction.

Amaimon.7823:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

PvP Season 7 starts 6/13. It should last roughly 6 weeks. We should see LS Ep 6 after it completes. We could potentially see it 8/1. However, my guess is 8/8.

you do know that the pvp and pve agendas collide like.. not at all?
I mean.. zero collision..

When PvP seasons start and end have zero bearing on when PvE updates occur

They don’t typically no. Different teams and all. However, my guess was merely based upon the entirely coincidental pattern I had noted.

Ayrilana.1396:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Yes, Ep2 released during a pvp season (season 4 to be specific). However, since then each episode has come between the seasons. For Ep 4 and Ep 5 it came directly after the season ended, and Ep 1 and 3 came right smack in the middle between two seasons. Ep2 seems to be a bit of an oddball.

Every season is 55 days long (yes, I verified), which ends PvP S7 on 8/7/17. This puts us right in the time frame to expect the next episode. If nothing else, it seems the pattern is to expect the LW Episode to release between the pvp seasons. I’m still holding to my original theory of 8/8.

That’s just a coincidence with the timing of the episode being ready. They’re not going to hold back an episode for weeks simply because there’s a PvP season going on.

Agreed, if it’s ready, I’m sure they’d release it. That said, if its not ready, I’d also fully expect them to hold it back.

However, intentionally timing a release cadence in such a manner allows for it feel like they are consistently pushing out things for players to do. As one ‘thing’ ends, another gets pushed out to keep people busy and happy. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if there were doing such a thing. We’ve already seen them do exactly this previously with LW and assorted festivals.

Yes, Ep2 released during a pvp season (season 4 to be specific). However, since then each episode has come between the seasons. For Ep 4 and Ep 5 it came directly after the season ended, and Ep 1 and 3 came right smack in the middle between two seasons. Ep2 seems to be a bit of an oddball.

Every season is 55 days long (yes, I verified), which ends PvP S7 on 8/7/17. This puts us right in the time frame to expect the next episode. If nothing else, it seems the pattern is to expect the LW Episode to release between the pvp seasons. I’m still holding to my original theory of 8/8.

PvP Season 7 starts 6/13. It should last roughly 6 weeks. We should see LS Ep 6 after it completes. We could potentially see it 8/1. However, my guess is 8/8.

From my understanding, the length of the break was meant for a couple of things:

First, to prevent season burn out. Some people would get burnt out going from season to season to season non-stop. That’s just how it is. Others, would simply stop playing because they have other things they “also” do in the game. So having breaks gives these players a downtime to do those other things and not end up overwhelmed. (The season overlap with wintersday, for example, was a sore spot for some. Not many, I’d guess, but you get the idea)

Second, it was supposed to be a period where they could do their “balance” update, and the dust could settle before people jumped back in “competitively.” This way people could test new builds, work out kinks in old builds, etc and so on, prior to season participation. Cause we all just love when people decide to “test a new build” in ranked, don’t we? Not that this stops anyone from doing just that, but we might see a lot more people doing it if we didn’t have that down time after a balance update.

I wouldn’t call this its own ‘mode’ anymore than having courtyard available made ‘annihilation’ an available mode. This is merely adding a single map to support (in a limited fashion) a specific user desire. In this case, the desire for 2v2. Its one map that you can set up in custom arenas, if you so desire. I wouldn’t be surprised if a modified courtyard was the map we saw for this purpose.

Wow, that’s not a guaranteed drop if the collection is active? That just seems….wrong.

My husband and I both got ours on our first attempt. =/

I completely understand the Tail of the Star God thing though. It took my husband like 10 minutes of grawl killing to get his. It took me 2 hours or more of just killing grawl as fast as they’d spawn. We’ve debated on whether or not him doing the heart in the bird form actually had any affect on this drop rate or not. We really don’t know.

I can’t say I ‘prefer’ one over the other, honestly. It depends on what I ‘feel like’ at the time.

I do typically play “solo” though not always by choice. Sometimes I don’t have guildies or friends on that want to play what I’m playing, as such, I end up alone when I would rather have company. Conversely, there are times where I would rather be by myself, and end up with others anyway just due to how the game is set up. shrug

I do participate in things like Fractals or WvW, and I do enjoy pugging at times. Like I said, it just depends on my mood. The wonderful thing about games is that when I feel burnt out dealing with people, I can just ‘turn them off’ and satisfy the introverted need for solitude to recharge. That’s much more difficult to do (and explain) in real life situations haha.

I could be inclined to believe the sword is a hint. As I said in another thread, maybe bringing Menzies back into the story would give us an excuse (and the ability) to go back to Fissure of Woe (preferably not as a raid wing though).

If I recall correctly, it was stated at some point that the gods are blocked from touching the world. As such, whether this was actually Balth or whether its Menzies begs the question…how did they get here? Can the gods suddenly touch the world again? Will we now see more interaction with the other gods and humans?

I’m disinclined to believe this was Menzies masquerading as his half brother though. Unless Temar and Tegon were an elaborate ruse. I don’t believe Menzies had access to the flaming hounds (even if to just mislead us with a fake Temar ankittene Tegon), and I doubt the real dogs would actually obey Menzies. There’s a perfect storm of ifs here.

Zeivu.3615:

Convenience? Accelerating the ability to get certain achievements and ascendeds is Convenience to you? But this argument is for another thread. Them being unlimited also circumvents a great gold sink….

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Astralporing.1957:

Oh kitten. Did the watchwork pick debacle teach them nothing?

I don’t see there being an issue here. We have items that do what these do in game – they cost karma.

The only difference between these and those is that these are unlimited, which is a convenience. Nothing more, nothing less.

This is no different than the original, basic unlimited tools in comparison to orichalcum gathering tools. You can get the same thing in game for gold or karma, but you need gems if you desire the convenience.

And that’s fine.

Now, do I wish we could buy and stack “like” gathering tools up to ‘x’ number of charges? Yes, that would be nice. Highly unlikely, but it’d still be nice.

The primary issue with the watchwork pick was there wasn’t anything else comparable, in game or otherwise.

Based on your statements, you were already purchasing and using the karma versions of these items then? At which point, yes these are simply convenience. You no longer have to purchase and replace a tool every 25 uses. The unlimited versions provide no more unbound magic per swing than their karma counterparts, thus it doesn’t accelerate anything any more than the existing option already did. The karma sink still exists, as there will be people that opt to go that route rather than converting gold to gems, or straight out buying gems.

If you were not using the karma versions of these tools, you were using any other tool what-so-ever, you have no argument to make. Obviously unbound magic wasn’t important enough for you to use the additional option to gather it via gathering already, so where’s the issue?

anxnox.9027:

Yes, like in real life we only get 4 birthdays.

Only 4 birthdays?

Do they have to be the first 4?

4 of my choice maybe?

Or every 25 years maybe (in which case, if we don’t live to see the 4th, or even the third, do we get a refund)?

(Yes, I just went weird places with that)

Astralporing.1957:

Oh kitten. Did the watchwork pick debacle teach them nothing?

I don’t see there being an issue here. We have items that do what these do in game – they cost karma.

The only difference between these and those is that these are unlimited, which is a convenience. Nothing more, nothing less.

This is no different than the original, basic unlimited tools in comparison to orichalcum gathering tools. You can get the same thing in game for gold or karma, but you need gems if you desire the convenience.

And that’s fine.

Now, do I wish we could buy and stack “like” gathering tools up to ‘x’ number of charges? Yes, that would be nice. Highly unlikely, but it’d still be nice.

The primary issue with the watchwork pick was there wasn’t anything else comparable, in game or otherwise.

I pretty much just play whatever I fancy at the time I log in.

Sometimes its just running around with the zerg in Edge of the Mists.
Sometimes its running around with the zerg in Eternal Battlegrounds.
Sometimes its playing a couple of unranked games and shaking my head at human stupidity. Sometimes its just a casual farming run for wood and ore.
Sometimes its doing some story pieces on my assorted characters.
Sometimes its helping a guildie get some hero points.
Sometimes its helping someone else with a story component.
Sometimes its working on an achievement I want.
Sometimes its clearing some maps on my current ‘map completion’ character.
Sometimes its putting some time into the current legendary grind I’m on.
Sometimes its looking for a dye or two that my collection is still missing.
Sometimes its standing in front of the wardrobe for an hour designing an outfit for a new char.

For example – last night, I finished Flashpoint and then I went and did about half of Frostfang’s 3rd collection gathering. And then I had real life stuff to do. shrug

It sort of sounds like you just need people to play with, OP. Either that or you need a break. Not quite sure which.

I’m guessing this just isn’t the game for the OP.

I haven’t read the entire thread (it would just kitten me off if I were to do so), but generally speaking most of the people that scream / rant / whine / beg / cry / plead that they want “gear progression” really just want a different game. They desire that treadmill to sink hours and hours of their life into because they either have no life, or they simply have nothing better to do (for any number of reasons). Yes, that sounds harsh and cruel, but it is what it is. Very simply put, there are many other games that offer this, please go play one of those.

There is nothing wrong with having a game that ‘breaks’ that mold. Where people that don’t eat, sleep, and breathe the treadmill can enjoy themselves. People toss out the word “casual” like its some type of corruption, or poison when the fact of the matter is simply people grow up. They aren’t in high school or college anymore. They have jobs, families, social lives, responsibilities, etc. They don’t necessarily have 40+ hours a week to sink into a game where that treadmill exists and you have to play it like a second job just to ‘keep up.’

Additionally, there are people that just don’t like that type of set up either. They want to spend time ‘playing’ what they enjoy playing, not necessarily having to worry about the next piece of gear they need to hunt down. Which is entirely not optional. The nice thing about cosmetics is that they are optional. If you don’t want it, don’t like it, whatever, you don’t have to go after it. You make the choice and work on it as you so choose. (Obviously within reason, as some things are time sensitive)

So, I have to agree with many others here…No to more gear tiers. Enough is enough with Ascended / Legendary.

Menzies maybe? Balth’s half brother has always been after Balth’s power. It’s old lore. As pushy as Balth is, I can see the other gods helping him in preference over dealing with Menzies.

Could be a way of working that struggle back into the story and giving us access to FoW again? Probably just wishful thinking, but it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve helped one of the gods. We did sort of help Grenth put Dhuum back into his box once upon a time.

Its also entirely possible the gods aren’t aware that destroying the dragons may destroy Tyria. They aren’t native to it after all.

(I haven’t played the story yet, Im just working off bits and pieces Ive seen so far)

Not yet.

Soon I should think.