Guild Wars 2

Ahai,

Something has always been bothering me on these forums.
we have: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/The-Cantha-Thread-Merged Which has 55 pages right now. Yet Elona doesn’t have its own meta-thread like this. As such, here it finally is.

This is a thread for all who wish to see an Elonian expansion, the living story taking us there, Raids within the boundaries of the Land of the Golden Sun and everything else Elona-related.

What would you like to see in an Elona-themed expansion?

• New Elite-Specializations fitting the landscapes and culture.
• New Masteries.
• Lore, both old and new.
• AI and other Game-Mechanics.
• Etc.

Here is my entry which starts with a long introduction for those unfamiliar with Elona:

Elona

“The jungle is said to provide… the desert however? I’ve only ever seen it take away. It consumes those who dare set foot on its scorching surface. All it grants is death and decay. Still we have reason to head into these wastelands. Two Elder-Dragons have been slain; danger still remains. Kralkatorrik, the Crystal Dragon, was last seen headed to these lands. From the moment it arose from its slumber deep within the Blood Legion Homelands it flew south, not even bothering to cover its track as if not giving any of the races of Tyria a single thought, it carved the brand into Tyria’s landscape.

Now Glint’s legacy has been bestowed upon us and the nation of Elona is in dire need of its Salvation. Reports have come in of Palawa Joko, an undead lich overlord, holding the entirety of Elona within the grasps of his dried, rotten hands. Having learnt from his past mistakes in his attempts of seizing control, he marched into Vabbi with renewed strategies, he dammed and diverted the Elon River which deprived the Vabbians and Kournans of its source of water whilst supplying his own with this priceless resource. Seeing no way out the Vabbians surrendered, the Kournans and Istani soon followed.

The hailed Order of the Sunspears, guardians of Elona, has been reduced to a mere shadow of its former self. Palawa Swiftly crushed the Order and converted prominent members to his own cause. These converted Sunspear Traitors now serve Palawa Joko as a unit of elite knights named the Mordant Crescent.

It is unclear to us if Palawa has met with the branded forces of Kralkatorrik, yet we know for sure that they are bound to be enemies. The upcoming war in the Crystal Desert and further south shall be a war on three fronts. We have Kralkatorrik on one side, Palawa Joko on the other and our united races taking it up to them both!"

-Nero.

The Crystal Desert, the Desolation and Elona itself all share a harsh climate.

“Legends tell of a time, thousands of years ago, when the Crystal Desert was covered in water. These legends claim that it was the gods who raised the land, leaving it bare and empty in order to give the solitary creatures of the world a place to call their own. If the legends are true, humans were not among those for whom this land was made. There have been attempts by humans to settle in the desert, but they have, without exception, failed miserably, leaving behind only the grand monuments they built here proclaiming their short-lived triumph over this harsh land.

The weather in the Crystal Desert is hot and unforgiving. The winds blow hard, making and unmaking dunes, covering up the present and uncovering the past. An examination of the sand will reveal that each grain is actually a tiny, pointed crystal. In isolated locations, larger crystal formations have been revealed by the constant, unforgiving wind." – The Guild Wars Manuscripts

Due to the rise of Orr, water has entered the wastes of the desert. This has given life to new creatures and others thrive on the water like never before. Sadly the water influences only portions of the desert, an area easily the size of the great nation of Kryta still remains without water and is hard to traverse because of this. Sandstorms, not unlike those witnessed in Dry Top, are common.

• Ancient ruins of past human civilizations have been uncovered by these sandstorms.
• The joint nations must rely on the help of native species among which Centaurs to traverse many dangerous areas.
• Scarabs plague the arid plains and Hydra’s are not fond of the activity within their territory either.
  These Hydra’s can hold their own against the branded and Palawa Joko’s awakened forces. Prepare yourselves well.
• Many traces can be found of the Forgotten and other ancient civilizations among which the Margonite.

Raid
The Tomb of the Primeval Kings has been uncovered, yet was found corrupted by Kralkatorrik. What dark forces lurk in these halls now?

Masteries

• The Junundu
  Use these majestic wurms to traverse the desolate plains.

Elite Specializations
Guardian – Paragon – Polearm/Spear
The arid plains have worn out the soldiers, a commander has to stand up to motivate these soldiers to jump back into the fight for a greater cause.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/What-next-elite-spec-do-you-expect/first

Ranger – Nomad – Hammer
The ranger knows the environment well and they knows how to shake it up. With heavy blows of their hammer they squash scarabs while using new and improved beast mastery to better control their pets. (Bunny Thumpers!)

AI

• Hydra’s with their multiple heads now focus on multiple targets at once.
• Scarab swarms attack camps and they never attack alone. (Imagine pocket raptors, slower yet stronger.)

But this is all to spark an interest, please discuss and above all. Show your support for Elona as much as everyone else has been supporting Cantha!

As the great Turai Ossa once shouted:
“For Elona!”

Virtue of justice is a lot like the Anthem of Flame and I must admit it completely went over my head in my enthusiasm! ^^

Changing the Elite Specialization, in my suggestion would however also end up changing the virtue of justice. The effect would thus be lost.
Giving the effect to an anthem utility skill would be great!

This also makes giving a new skill-type of “Anthems” interesting in giving them an active and passive effect as well.

@ Yannir

You can always add more versatility to the spear by making it both close-combat and ranged combat, both offensive and defensive, both condition and power.

I believe for a weapon that has the ideal intention of sustain, a balanced aproach like this is wonderful.
For the range, we’ve seen how this can work on the underwater revenant to name an example.
I’d just like to see a Guardian throw a spear in a javelin-fashion → use the gap-closer you were talking about → use the AA-Chain and block when needed.

Adding both types of range to the weapon also improves the defensive/offensive balance.
In most situations you might expect that stacking + melee zerk-burning will remain. But we’ll never know what direction the game will take. We know what amazing things our new AI-Devs have brought to the table in HoT compared to the original release.
This is only the beginning. Actively switching between closed-combat/ranged and offensive/defensive may be just the thing we’d need in the future and a balanced polearm/spear would be exactly the weapon to fill that role.

The only part where I’m torn is my suggested power/condi balance in 1 weapon.
Seeing to both will likely result in not being great in either. I’d like to suggest making the spear mostly a condition weapon as well then.

For the elite specialization regarding this I’d also support a throwback to the old Paragons.
Chants, Anthems and Shouts can all find a way to work themselves in our role well.
Paragon-like gameplay will be able to shine well in GW2.

I used to play a Paragon in GW1 ever since Nightfall was released.
I was made fun of in solo- and praised in group-content.
This was mainly due to the mechanic of the Leadership attribute which caused you to need allies to fuel your energy. There is no need to go down this same road again in GW2.
A GW2-Paragon may be alright in solo- but shine in group-content.
An example of this could be by adding utilities like the chants/anthems.
These are utility skills that affect multiple allies. You can use them for yourself, they work just as well. But if you had any allies around you it would support them.

an example skill:
“Anthem of Flame”
GW1 Veterans will know it:

• Chant. For 10 seconds, the next attack skill used by each party member within earshot also causes Burning for 1…3…3 second[s].

This skill works in solo content, you get a nice burn out of it. but in group content the burn would be applied by multiple party-members.
In GW2 it could work the same way but with updated terminology.
Imagine having a decent burn by use of this chant. alright great.
Now imagine stacking this burn with 5 or even 10 allies in a 1200 radius.
This is likely way too much but it’s just to imagine the possibilities.

A Guild Wars 2 Paragon supports group-playing, it adds a valuable role which is in high demand: An offensive party-wide buffer which could also work defensively combined with its own DPS source.
We know how great the Ranger’s spirits or the Warrior’s banners are, there is no need for our Guardians, to not buff their supportive capabilities in a similar fashion with chants and anthems.

Note: Chants/Anthems aren’t boons.
Guardians have seen a lot of hate with the introduction of all the boon corrupting on Revenants, Mesmers and Necromancers. Chants/Anthems can not be removed by anti-boon spells.

Another great mechanic is the echo system.

As a Guardian we currently have our 3 virtues.
Virtue of Justice – Damage + burning – Offensive.
Virtue of Resolve – Healing (+ damage/movement if DH) – Utility + Defensive.
Virtue of Courage – Block – Defensive.

I believe the virtues could easily become Echoes.
Echo of Justice (GW1: Blazing Finale) –
Passive: Allies inflict burning whenever a Chant or Anthem ends. (weak burning)
Active: Throw a blazing spear at the target foe, burning it and enemies surrounding it.
Echo of Resolve (Finale of Restoration) –
Passive: Allies are healed whenever a Chant or Anthem ends.
Active: (GW1: “Help me!”) Heals are 50% more effective on you for 10 seconds and you’re healed for a small amount.
Echo of Courage –
Passive: Allies gain Retaliation whenever a Chant or Anthem ends.
Active: Allies gain 2 stacks of Aegis. (OP?)

The reason why I gave the Echo of Courage an active effect of giving Aegis is because I really appreciate the on-demand Aegis found in “Retreat!”. Many of us agree however that this skill is very outdated with its small benefit and long recharge.
The Echo of Courage would have an even longer recharge if it follows the example of its virtue-counterparts and as such I saw it fit to buff the active.

A 4th bonus to counter a condi-meta:
Echo of Purity –
Passive: Allies will have 1 condition removed whenever a Chant or Anthem ends.
Active: Gain Resistance and remove 2 conditions.

I’d love to once again become a motivating presence on the battlefield shouting phrases such as: “There’s nothing to fear!”, “Never surrender!” and especially “Never give up!”

Utility skill suggestions I’d love to see returned, modified or introducted for GW2:

Skill type: Altruism
Skills that affect only 1 other ally instead of yourself. Bringing this will be a great help for someone else in your party, but you won’t directly get any benefit from it. Unless perhaps traited otherwise.

Angelic Bond

• A chant/anthem that lasts for 10 seconds, if during the duration of this skill an ally affected by the chant/anthem were to receive fatal damage, the damage is negated, the target is healed and this effect ends on all other allies.

Leader’s Comfort (Heal)

• You gain health, you gain additional health for each ally within range.

“Make Haste!”

• Altruism – Target ally gains quickness and superspeed.

Holy Spear (off topic: my favourite spear-attack in GW1)

• Throw a spear a spear at your foe and deal extra damage + burning if certain conditions are met.

In GW1 this condition was: If your target is undead and was later changed to: if it’s a summoned creature. I would however like to revise this skill once again for GW2.
In GW1 Holy Damage could not be blocked. I’d like to see the Holy Spear become a skill that punishes bunkers/blockers.

Throwing the spear would be a small burn if thrown randomly.
Throwing the spear at a blocking target would make it go through the block, damage, burn and perhaps even knock the target back a small bit.
Really OP? yes, but you have to use this skill at JUST the right time + consider it valuable enough to bring it with you in the first place. if you don’t time it correctly you’re basically throwing a tiny spark of burning damage.

Spear Swipe

• Physical skill – Smack your enemy on the head with your spear. launching them.

Enduring Harmony

• Altruism – Chants and Shouts last 50% longer on target ally.

Burning Shield

• Physical skill – Assume a defensive stance and block the next attack, if blocked you unleash a fiery burst.

Cautery Signet (“Save Yourselves!”)

• Passive: Remove a condition every 10 seconds.
  Active: You draw all the conditions of allies within range to yourself and add burning to yourself for each condition.

The passive effect isn’t new, there’s Signet of Resolve with the shared effect. These two will however work together.
The active will cause you to receive a condition spike in many situations so you’d have to be prepared with resistance or condition-removals.

“You only live once!”

• Altruism – Target ally is revived when downed.
  (Sorry I had to.)

This was all written without any preparation and should thus be taken with the mother of all grains of salt. I am mainly here to support the Paragon Elite Specialization.

My friend and I are joining the queue.
Can’t complete it.

Time to farm Bandit Crests instead.

An Asura Warrior could be an Asura who values tradition a lot.
Remember, 250 years ago a LOT of Asurans you’d see were simple warriors using axes made out of stone (or perhaps obsidian, my memory is slightly hazy on this.)

A Charr Mesmer could work.
Although the Charr in general frown upon the use of magic due to the Shaman Caste it does not stop all Charr from practicing magic entirely.

If so all Charr would be either Warriors, Engineers, Thieves or Rangers.
Remember that individual personalities are more dominant than the shared traits of a race.
There are tonnes of humans in real life who can’t stand the sight of blood, yet others are utterly fascinated by it be the motive scientifically, psychologically or whatever.
A Charr could choose to study the arts and practices of a mesmer as a means to win a fight. Using clones to distract your opponents gives you a significant advantage after all.

A Norn Engineer?
I don’t see why Norn can’t be interested in technology as much as Humans, Charr, Sylvari or Asurans.

I do however agree with you, I’d love to have official lore on the professions from the unique races’ points of view.
I’d love to have more than “It is possible.”

aah it’s not an issue at all, just informing you. ^^

We have Megaservers now.
This means that all European players and all North American players play together. Regardless of their home-worlds.

Basically there are 2 Servers in the game now
European and North American.
That’s all that matters.

Unless you play WvWvW.
WvWvW is still bound by your own world.
If you’re mostly interested in that you might want to choose a guild that’s on your own homeworld.
I do warn you that a Guild that’s on your home-world can still have 99% members from other home-worlds.

Let’s say you’re from Sea of Sorrows for example.
Because of this you decide to join a guild which is on Sea of Sorrows.
Yet only the leader has Sea of Sorrows as his homeworld and all the other members are spread across the other Servers.
You’d still be unable to play in WvWvW with them.

So if you’re really interested in playing WvWvW with a guild I’d suggest joining a dedicated WvWvW guild found on your home-world.
You could always join a second guild for non-WvW besides that after all!

You may join up to 5 Guilds.

En ik realiseer mijzelf nu net dat ik alles weeral in het Engels type terwijl Nederlands ook had gewerkt.

-Nero.

Hey there Logic! ^^

I’m Nero and I lead the guild Seraphim Order [Ankh]!
We’re a small casual guild with a play-as-you-want type of setting!

We don’t have any enforced stuff like 100% represent rules or having to log in daily.
As such we’re pretty laid back. ^^

Personally I mostly play PvE but we have a decent percentage of members who enjoy PvP.

Also, Servers don’t really matter that much anymore! ^^
Mega-servers have been introduced allowing all players with a European server to play together. (same goes for all players with NA servers)

Because of this you can easily find people to play with regardless of their server!
The only place where servers are still somewhat important is WvWvW as that’s still world-bound.

I’ll gladly teach you all about the game again and I’ll be here if you have any questions whatsoever. If you end up joining or not feel free to PM me for questions or to just team up.

-Nero

The devs have stated before that the addition of a Raid tab isn’t as easy as you might assume.
This is mostly because the current LFG is centered around parties of 5.
Raids would be centered around squads of 10.

Nonetheless they are looking into it as they’ve said during the AMA on Reddit and although it won’t be released during the upcoming quarterly update in April they’re trying to get it out asap.

Hey Nounous,
Belgian huh?
Nederlands, Français or Deutsch? ^^

Not that it really matters, just wondering.
I’m Dutch myself!

My guild, Seraphim Order [Ankh], is a small casual guild which values feeling at home and playing as you want.

Don’t worry about considering yourself a “total noob”, I’m sure it’s alright and will gladly help you out by showing you around and answering any questions you may have.

You may ask these questions regardless of joining the guild of course.

Pleased to meet you and I hope to hear more of you soon!

-Nero.

Hey Lucy,

Just like Guardian of Angels above me, I’d also like to offer you a place to stay!
We, the Seraphim Order [Ankh] are a small and casual guild which also values a family feeling and a “Play as you want” style.

I fear we also don’t do a lot of WvWvW together simply due to it being restricting because not all of our members are on the same server.
We are often doing HoT, Silverwastes, Dungeons or Fractals together though! ^^
We have a PvP team and quite a nice amount of us plays PvP regularly.
Our Guild Hall is lvl 20 since yesterday (^^) and does offer the War Room for WvW and the Guild Arena for PvP.

Besides this we don’t require you to log on or represent all the time.
We realize that people have their lives and can’t always dedicate all of their time to the game or guild.

I am mostly a PvE player myself and if there are any questions regarding the gameplay or lore I’m glad to help you out!
This offer stands even if you decide not to join us at all of course! ^^
You may PM me at all times to team up and play or just to ask questions.

Pleased to meet you!

-Nero.

No problem at all lolly, I hope you find exactly what you’re looking for.
I simply didn’t want to invite you without being able to provide you exactly what you’re looking for. A guild where you don’t feel 100% at home may be a good guild, but it isn’t a great guild!

Imagine making friends with whom you simply can’t play, that’d be torture!

Once again best of luck!

oh and BUMP! ^^

Yea, I can’t wait for the raid-teams to provide us with their information.
It looks as if there is some human experimentation going on with the bloodstone.
Somehow it feels a bit cliché though.

White mantle infusing their bodies using the bloodstone to gain power.
^All speculation though.

I believe I recall that Arenanet has stated before that the Slothasor became as he currently is due to the leakage of magic.
Basically the magic corrupting it.

Matthias could be the more extreme version of having been corrupted by the leaking magic.

If so it makes me wonder how much of a difference there should be for the Slothasor to only show minor bloodstone-like effects and Matthias becoming this.. abomination.

From That_Shaman’s Data-mine:

White Mantle Weapons
1335453_0111 Fresh from White Mantle armorers.
[&CvwZAAA=] White Mantle Longbow
[&Cu4ZAAA=] White Mantle Short Bow
[&CuYZAAA=] White Mantle Sunderer
[&CvkZAAA=] White Mantle Gavel
[&CusZAAA=] White Mantle Pistol
[&CukZAAA=] White Mantle Censer
[&CuIZAAA=] White Mantle Bugle
[&CvsZAAA=] White Mantle Bulwark
Matthias
1303054_0864 Matthias’s Chest
[&CvUZAAA=] Staff of Matthias
[&AgFXMAEA] Mini Matthias Abomination

For a while now we’ve been discussing the direction that raids are taking.
Also regarding the Bloodstone and the White Mantle.

Today this staff was added to the wardrobe.

the Staff of Matthias.
It clearly has the White Mantle emblem on it and the gem appears to be a Bloodstone!

Hey, although you’re more than welcome to join us I must say that with the current megaserver system it might be a bit difficult.

This is because they’ve put a hard split between US and EU servers.
Someone on a US server simply can’t play with someone on a EU server unless they transfer using gems.

We have members who are frequently online and I do consider them relaxed but we simply couldn’t play with you due to the servers. :/

Still thanks for your reply! ^^
Feel free to contact me in game if you want to talk some more or just get some extra explanation of what I just said.

Another morning, another bump.

We still have some free spots in the Guild!
I’d love to meet you all.

I’ll gladly personally teach newcomers and returning veterans the ropes in…

• Dungeons
• Fractals
• General PvE
  …And Professions tips and tricks mostly when it’s Guardian, Revenant or Mesmer related.

“Not currently playable” aww
Otherwise Shiro was your best.

besides that you could go with Varesh Ossa, although I don’t recall if it was Power that drove her. I should read into it again.

The same goes for the Vizier/Lich. Was it the desire for power that drove him to his deeds or merely corruption…

If you want to go really grand scale though…

Dhuum.

I wish I could provide better answers but these are the only ones I can think of right now.

That’s great news!
Thanks for all the effort Blade!

Yes, altough it’s a bit hard.
Most upgrades and missions are centered around many members.
But you can grind for the upgrades
and there is a weekly post on the Reddit that shows Guild Missions which you can solo to earn Favor for your guild!
This Reddit post should be posted later today.

Otherwise I’d suggest merging your guild with another small guild. This way you could focus on being a WvW guild while getting the benefits from the other players as well.
See it as an alliance! ^^
I can however see why you wouldn’t want to do this.

I hope A-net will take a look at smaller guilds some day.

That moment when all the Fractals-PuGs want:
2 – 10 – Daily Fractal
21 – 40 – Daily Fractal

Have some variation in your daily life people! :c
If you’d like to do some other daily fractals feel free to join our Fractal Expeditions! ^^
At least you get to complete your Casual/Veteran Fractal Hero achievements with us!

Why that’s my high-tech PC of course!

Somehow I think it’s kind of scary that most people who reply are in the least past their 30’s, giving the image of this being the average age of the forums’ users.

Why is it scary you ask?
Because more than half of the posts on these forums are an abundance of salt, name-calling, plain hatred or insatiable desire.

I suppose it’s those of around my own age that act like this.
Just makes you think if there’s a certain group of teenagers raging or if it’s the grumpy elderly.

P.S.
I’m in my mid-twenties.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/

Might be best to give this a read first.
It answers your questions best.

also regarding the dungeons/raids questions.
As the A-net employees are split into teams they will continue working on their respective content as much and as well as they can.

In the AMA was also stated that they might look into reward-changes for dungeons.

John Smith:
“We’re continuing to focus on Fractals as our primary focus for 5-man content. However, given the reaction, we are taking a second look at the current dungeon rewards.”

This gives a tiny ray of hope for the fellow Dungeon-Fanatics.
I don’t think raids are something you should worry about either.
A-net has been experiencing great numbers related to the Raids with a larger percentage of players participating in GW2-raids compared to the raids in other games.

As such it’s likely that they will get plenty of attention.

Uhm sorry but what is the purpose of this thread?
It mostly seems to be a combination of a question and a suggestion to me, making it hard to answer.

If your question is regarding the origins of these then I can’t give you any certain information.
Although the aesthetics of the Launch Pads is very Asuran.

Your last sentence: (and I guess your “suggestion”)

Make factory and office of tyrian explorer society and agreement between them and Evon Gnashblade for BLTC.

Throws me off though.
Are you saying Arenanet should make a Factory and office for the Tyrian Explorer Society?

Those are the staircases I’m referring to.

It’s strange how the boss is able to climb up until that one broken staircase.
They used to be broken at the very bottom of the map.
The boss would’ve never been able to ascend the first flight of stairs.
After all, as I described you had to phase through a non-physical wall to jump on the stairs instead of casually walking up them.

Another strange bit:
In the video the Howling King stops at a certain broken part.
At this part the staircase is destroyed mid-way. You can however easily jump over it and it’s not an issue, just another part of the Ascalonian Catacombs in ruins due to falling debris.

You would expect Arenanet to fix this part if it allowed exploits. Yet this broken-bit halfway the staircases is still left broken.

I don’t feel like testing if an exploit still works but thanks to your video I have my questions regarding the intentions of this fix.

• Can The Howling King pass through the newly placed gate?
• Can The Howling King still be lured far enough to ascend the staircases?
• Can The Howling King AND his spawn get stuck mid-way on the staircases?

Depending on the answers of these questions we may either have a half-baked fix for the exploit…
Or different intentions altogether!

As Bladex said:

It still leaves space to wonder why they would fix this particular small savespot that not many people know of, over savespots and exploits that have been in dungeons for over 3 years (Frost etc).

Wish I knew this before I bought another infinite pickaxe and axe…

Thanks though!

Thanks a lot Bladex!

Also, since you appear to be a fellow dungeon-supporter.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/d0nwov7

“We’re continuing to focus on Fractals as our primary focus for 5-man content. However, given the reaction, we are taking a second look at the current dungeon rewards.”

It’s not a revamp but even adjusting the rewards a bit will surely buff the popularity of dungeons!

Well that’s a downer…
No future plans and simply a fix for exploits.

I feel inclined to believe you yet I wish you never commented.
Not because I dislike you or your comment, in fact it’s exactly the answer I was looking for.
But because you extinguished that tiny spark of hope that had come to life in my excitement.

Thanks Casmurro,
Here’s to hoping we’ll one day get more content in the beautifully designed dungeons.

As the OP I hereby declare this thread as closed.
Thanks everyone!

That could indeed explain the change in the lighting of the catacombs but don’t tell me they repaired an entire staircase by accident! ^^
A new iron gate has been added to the bottom of the stairs which make it seem likely that the area could be closed off easily and re-opened again by an event or lever or whatever.

SW/F is my preferred choice.
More movement + blind with Blinding Flash.
The Focus’ shield is a great panic-button.
The Focus’ shield can be popped and it will remain even when you swap weapons.
Sword 3, forgot the name for a bit, is useful to destroy projectiles.

SW/F, less damage but I still like it more.

I’d only go greatsword if it’d be in a big fight and I’d want to pull people without stability into my traps.

Sadly sPvP doesn’t often see fights big enough to justify Greatsword to me.
And WvW…
Let’s allow the dead to rest in peace.
(until the great Necromancers arrive to resummon it.)

my simple solution to this is usually as follows:
During the last phase (where you have to hit the seal twice.) tell your team to not pick the hammer up until they’ve seen it on the floor for 1 or 2 seconds.

I haven’t had it glitch even once doing this and you don’t lost too much of your time.

Basically as our beloved McHammer once stated:
“Stop! . wait . wait . Hammer time!”

It’s because this game has a strong meta of “As much DPS as possible, as little utility as needed.”.
Basically: “Kill before you get killed.”

This has 2 major reasons:

• The “No forced holy trinity” in Guild Wars 2.
  Everyone can heal themselves well, support others and everyone can tank a bit if need be. Problem being the following…
• The Dodge Mechanic.
  “Why face-tank if you can simply evade?”
  A lot of players, especially those used to the game and its mechanics, focus entirely on DPS because Armour and Health simply aren’t much needed in most situations.

Even in Raids where the Trinity has seen some sort of return to a few groups.
The Druid as a dedicated healer (yet also supporter and damager!)
A Tank, which mostly damages but has a tiny bit more of toughness to maintain the aggro.
Everyone else is DPS.

Guild Wars 2 has a lot of combat customization, you can truly play as you want to.
But the general consensus happens to be that it’s most efficient to be offensive. (Not talking about Offensive Language although sPvP may convince you otherwise )

Anyhow, this is why Varezenem knew you’re a new player.
Then again I do not discourage your builds at all.
I love them and I wish more people would think outside the box known as the “Meta”.

To you, and everyone else, I say:
Play as you want to. Guild Wars 2 offers you the chance to do so, be sure to take it.
A party that is 100% “zerk” and completes a dungeon in 10 minutes or burns a boss to ashes in 30 seconds is efficient, but to me the fun is hard to spot in a composition like this.

If you happen to be a EU player, be sure to PM me any time if you want someone non-meta to play with!

Well the Elder Dragons have always been described as huge organisms, more alike forces of nature that are led by a desire to consume magic. I don’t believe they want to “destroy everything and have minions that are slaves.”
It’s not that they inherently hate other races or desire to conquer the world. They just want to live and consume all.

Humans, Charr, Norn, Asura, Sylvari and the other races are but mere bugs ruining the Dragons’ feast.
I don’t believe a starving Elder Dragon driven to consume magic would start pooping rainbows of joy when interrupted.
Imagine having a picknick and all the bugs in the neighbourhood suddenly decide to ruin your feast by crawling all over the place and claiming all of the good food.

“GET OUT OF HERE, I WANT TO ENJOY MY FEAST!”

The Dragons simply use minions to fight these bugs in front of them because it’s convenient. Minions can serve the dragons by both protecting them and by feeding them.
The Elder Dragons are powerful, yet also the embodiments of most if not all Cardinal Sins:
pride, greed, lust, gluttony, wrath yet also sloth and perhaps envy as well.

I fear they are not as much one-sided personality-wise as they are human.
They simply lack any virtues and consider the world as theirs to consume, not unlike a human emperor.

Not sure if Pareidolia or a long lost friend of:
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/edwikia/images/e/ee/Plank.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101125042626

:)

As many know:
After fighting the Howling King or the Colossus Rumblus, in the explorable paths 1 and 3 respectively of the Ascalonian Catacombs, you can ascend some staircases or enter a pipe hidden by hanging moss.

The staircase leading to the famous “invisible bridges” which connect a few stone pillars and the pipe leading to the water underneath these bridges.

What is this post about?

I write this post because I have noticed changes having happened in this area.

• Soon after the Beta, the staircase wasn’t broken, you could climb it with ease and find the “hidden” room.
• Up until a few weeks ago the staircase was but a non-physical alpha-texture. You could not ascend these stairs the regular way and had to climb on top of a broken pillar, walk through some wall-textures and jump onto the remainder of the stairs to get to the hidden area.
• Right now the stairs have been repaired. you can easily get on top of them, and new walls have been placed blocking off the old walls which you could walk through.

The room with the invisible bridges has also been changed.

• The room is more bright.
• There are wooden platforms underneath the pillars located at the sides of the room.

Why is this of interest?

A never used-hidden area being changed could mean future use.
In the story we’ve recently attempted to clear the ghosts out of Ascalon without succes. A continuation could be planned!

Any thoughts?

edit
An imgur gallery of pictures related to the changes.

http://imgur.com/BPWElpn

edit 2
Moved the topic to General Discussion as it isn’t about Dungeon Help or Strategies as is intended in that sub-forum.

Wanderer.3248:

Sylvari have some sort of brain

I’m sorry I haven’t done an insane amount of research into the anatomy or physiology of Sylvari but where does this statement come from?

• Did you presume it?
• Is there proof in lore?

We know Sylvari appear humanoid but they are not entirely physically alike humans.
For one they bear no flesh, their blood is supposed to be not unlike a golden ichor in apperance, their “minds” are somehow in a connection with the Dream (not arguing if it’s a one-way or two-way connection after awakening.), they posess no reproductive organs and have a luminescent glow while shrouded in darkness.

I’m not even sure if our Sylvari friends have toes.

What I intend to say however is:

Wanderer.3248:

Sleep is important for the brain – without it you’ll suffer from reduced mental ability, and eventually you’ll have hallucinations and psychosis.

• Yes this is very true, for human physiology.

Wanderer.3248:

Sylvari have some sort of brain, so it’s not too much of a leap to assume they need sleep to rest their brain just like animals do.

• This is where you lost me as per the reasons stated above.

I’m likely just out of the running but please explain where you found the information of Sylvari having a brain like humans do and how their brain would be in connection to their thoughts and need for sleep/dreaming as there is for humans.

My apologies if I appear rude, it was not my intention.
(eventhough you just summoned this thread from the dead like a true Necromancer!)

In my opinion these skins are way over the top.
Many skins, especially the black lion ones, have comparable appearances.

I miss the toned down skins that still manage to be unique.

With weapon designs you often see “more more more”.
Bigger, more spikes, more shine.

Back when GW2 began I was among the players who disliked most of the legendaries. (I for one still dislike the greatswords but that’s another matter.)

Players like me were reassured by the statement claiming these weapons were Legendary and as such had to look special. Most of us gave in.
Yet tonnes of over-the-top skins are still added to the game. it’s rare to see new additions to the game which simply fit my own style.
And always being told to simply use the “starter-weapons” because they’re “bland” is getting a tad-bit annoying as well.

That spear you pointed out is a lot better than that sword in the same picture though.
I’m glad you didn’t suggest the sword. ^^

There will always be at least 2 sides to this debate.
One half wanting more, the other wanting less.

I just happen to want less flashy skins.
So to answer your question:
No, I do not want “epic-skins” in the game. I believe we have plenty already.

I loved a lot of GW(1) skins such as the Demoncrest Spear.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Demoncrest_Spear.jpg

This is “epic” to me. It’s stylish and has that epic fantasy theme without being too big, too flashy, too unwieldy.

You actually had to take a closer look to spot the Demoncrest, that’s elegance.

A-net has already sort of done this by creating Megaservers.
Instead of playing in the map belonging to your world.
You now play in European map 1 or European map 2 of a certain area for example.
This was to counter dead-zones and bring players together.

Squads can already be created and parties as well.
Simply use the map-chat to organize a party.
An automated or system-run squad as you wrote would, in my interpretation, create more forced meta’s not much unlike Dragon’s Stand.

You’re not totally “at the mercy of the RNG gods”.
The Open World tab of the LFG-Tool may be spammed with Raids and Meta-events for HoT but that doesn’t exclude you from using it as a tool to gather players for whatever purpose you like.

You can also make a map active all by yourself if you want, I have often done so myself in Auric Basin for example. Just taxi people in saying you’d like to start a meta map, if there is no meta-taxi present in the LFG-tool. (You don’t have to tell others that you only want to do the meta because there’s a pet locked away in a certain area.)

Try using this handy tool to find the best times to join a meta event.
I agree there are maps which are tough to join or start all by yourself, such as Dragon’s Stand. The best thing you can do is use the timer to find the times when players are most likely to be in a certain map.

http://dulfy.net/2015/11/09/gw2-hot-maps-timer-famme/

I hope I don’t sound too condescending or anything.
I’m simply telling you that I don’t think you’re completely out of options.
Organizing a map is something you can do by yourself, and it’s tonnes of fun! ^^

(inb4 I totally missed the contents of OP’s post.)

As far as I’m currently aware:

More toughness:
You get less damage but more aggro.
Meaning that if you want survivability and you use toughness in a group with 100% Berserker’s it will be counter-effective. You’ll be the tank.

More Vitality:
Your health pool is greater, yet your healing power does not scale.
If you had a 13K Health Pool and a 6K heal.
You’ll still heal for 6K when your Health Pool is 16K.
Yet I believe you do not get more aggro. (not sure about this though.)

In short: increasing your vitality would be safer than increasing your toughness if you don’t know the composition of your team.

if however, you’re a Scholar (Elementalist for example) in the team with a guardian, warrior, revenant or anything else bound to have higher toughness…
You can get a bit more toughness and vitality from stats like Celestial without any fear to become the tank..

Why don’t we just let this thread rest?
OP’s question is 2 months old and has been answered 2 months ago.
This isn’t as much a necro-thread as it is an echo-thread with the same answer repeated over and over again.

Not that I mind it that much, I just keep seeing “new post in the lore section” because of echoes in the “No thanksgiving in Tyria” or “Sylvari don’t burn as easily as you might think because…” threads while they are in essence closed threads already. ^^

Perhaps I don’t understand forums too well.
It’s also quite ironic how my comment which is non-relevant to the OP’s question bumps a thread which I would rather see closed.
But allow me to just ask in general then:

In a thread that isn’t 10+ pages long…
…what is the use of repeating answers?
Especially when this certain thread is months old.

My apologies if I happen to sound like anything but curious with a small touch of hypocrisy.

Many don’t bother reading the dialogues of events, even if shoved right in their faces.
Many don’t even bother reading the instructions of events. Take the Wyvern Patriarch and his shield-phase for example. The instruction clearly states to drop the Wyvern Eggs on the shield, yet many still ask what they’re supposed to be doing because plain damage doesn’t remove the shield.

Other than that, not everyone has been in Tyria long enough to experience these dialogues even post-Living World. ^^

I fully support this.
It would fill the GH up some more and add even more use to it.
The Guild Hall doesn’t even have to go full-out Heart of the Mists here.
Even just a light/medium/heavy & indestructible golem would do for me.
(AoE would be nice but we need quite some free-space for this one.)

The Heart of the Mists/PvP won’t become a ghost town simply because there are now 2 locations where you can test your builds.

becoming a healbot using meditations keeps you alive well enough if you ask me.

A Paragon is a living embodiment of an ideal or a peerless example of a being.
Calling yourself a peerless example is a bit narcissistic but in essence not impossible.

( Also calling others a paragon, especially a Paragon of Virtue is quite common in historical literary works. Especially during times where an author would be in service of a lord.
Take Machiavelli for example, Machiavelli himself preferred a republic as a way of ruling. Yes his most famous work is likely Il Principe, the prince. Which is a “guide” for effective rule by a single monarch. (among others.)
Point being: writers would write anything to fall in favour of their lords.
Flattery such as calling someone a Paragon was common. )

The GW1 Paragon is a soldier who inspires his allies by assuming the role of the leader. A truly inspiring leader, one could say a Paragon among leaders in Tyria.

Enchantment? Enchantment!

I just knew you’d be supporting the Kurzick Konig.

Yet simply because a turtle is “some animal with a cannon mounted to its back” does not exclude it from being able to be a Mist Champion!

I could argue that a Kurzick volunteer is simply a misguided man or woman who sets foot on an altar, solely to be sung to by a handful of Tree Singers while the Songs of Arboreum corrupt them no less than the Dwarves of Deldrimor had their bodies as well as their minds turned to stone by the ritual to fight the Destroyers.
The volunteers may as well be more likely to be sacrifices, vessels to carry the demonic plantae tool that is a Juggernaut.
At least a cute turtle bears no ill will, right? it just carries out its duty with honour and love for those who raised it, not unlike a loyal dog.

Above that: what makes a man superior to an animal within Tyria?
In all honesty, I don’t think our forums are able to resolve philosophical debates such as these.

Actually we need more Tyrian Philosophers…
Let’s put this Dragon-hunting on hold for a bit and have an expansion where we force the players to rethink the challenges of life while sitting in armchairs.

As far as I’ve tried it’s simply impossible to answer this.

• How big is the pact?
  surely you could count all the soldiers you see.
  But does every zone have unique soldiers? or is the same soldier in map A as well as B?

• How many Sylvari are in the world?
  We have a few problems:
  - The Pale tree isn’t the only source of Sylvari.
  - The Rate and amount of Awakenings are simply unknown. (afaik)

• Do Norn Outnumber humans?
  Tough call, we have:
  - Norn and Humans spread-out almost everywhere.
  - Both being driven out of their lands.
  - Uncertainty regarding the remaining Humans/Norn spread over Tyria.
  - Cantha, purged from all other races and thus making more than enough possibilities for human expansion within the continent.

• Is one Order smaller than the others?
  You’d think the vigil, in need of soldiers, would have the most numbers.
  But yet again the Priory has scholars nearly everywhere.
  The Order of Whispers is involved in so many places I sometimes check underneath my bed to make sure they’re not there as well.

TL;DR:
I’m not comfortable crunching the numbers without any hard numbers to work with.
We simply don’t know enough.

Sure we could take rough estimates but even those would be entirely baseless.
What is the rough estimate of Canthan Citizens?
Is Cantha STILL thriving?
The Zephyrites say yes, but others may prove otherwise.
Kaineng could be putting up a front of prosperity while the remainder of Cantha has been starved to death. (Not as if Kaining doesn’t have the experience of enriching the surroundings of the Royal Palace and impoverishing the remaining population.)

I’ve been rambling again, my bad.

(Also thanks for saying Norn instead of Norns, not sure if this is wrong but it’s always been a pet-peeve of mine.)

In all honesty, eventhough they require to be Legends/Champions of the Mists…
…I’d love to have a simple Siege Turtle.

C’mon it’s the PERFECT embodiment of what a Mist Champion is supposed to be doing in the first place!

It spawns, it walks, it doesn’t care about your rays of judgements, it destroys gates, it destroys even more.
Boom! Siege Turtles.

P.S. I’m sure at least one of the Siege Turtles will have achieved enough to attain a Legendary Status.

P.P.S. Don’t get me started on Juggernauts, bring those abominations up and I’ll go full out Jade Quarry/Fort Aspenwood/Alliance Battles on you.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15033220/images/1306243448906.jpg

At around ~75% HP tiny shining blue whirlpools will appear at and around the wrists of Tequatl, as he burries his hands into the soil for his “finger-attack”.

I usually get dragged in if I stick around his left front-paw.
Good Luck!

A-net is more likely to introduce more elite specializations to further customize the current professions than add a new profession. especially now the current ones are balanced in the way that there are 3 soldiers, 3 adventurers and 3 scholars.

Other than that as Fogleg said, there are still some balance issues as the Elite Specialization is still quite strong, but I believe a lot of this will be nullified with the release of multiple Elite Specializations.

I see it as being alike skills and elite skills. Naturally bringing an elite skill packs more punch than a regular skill. if we had 3 skill slots, for either 3 utility skills or 2 utility skills and 1 elite. most would naturally choose the 2 utility skills and that 1 elite.

If we had 2 elites however, it would open up more customization again.

TL;DR
Elite Specializations are strong, but they’re intended to be. these are the first we’ve seen, more are likely yet to come.