Guild Wars 2

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

No idea how to do that…or that double quote thing, Nike.

When you hit any interesting piece of formatting on these boards you can hit ‘reply to’ and look at all the commands that were used without actually replying – its the text in the brackets. That’s generally how I’ve learned my bag of tricks . The first {quote=bignumber;poster’s name:} creates the link to the post being quoted. After that there will be various {Quote} and {/quote} commands that create the individual quotes or nested quotes. I frequently un-nest them and just trim down the text in-between to what’s needed to carry on the conversation. It takes a little practice but it pays off in clarity!

And the ‘preview’ button is your best friend – any sort of tinkering you do can be tested out in the privacy of your own browser as many times as you need to get it right.

((I’ve replaced all the square brackets with { } in the above to keep the board from trying to process the commands I was describing – you’ll see the [] brackets in real commands if you do check it out .))

Chris Whiteside.6102:

That is because you haven’t been posting (-:

((Snicker)) I made a bunch of posts. They just weren’t directed at you. I will always treasure having a conversation that amounts to Nike talking about Nike talking about Nike talking… For a moment my posts had become the CDI meta-game…

Actually, it was a good thing to talk ‘best practices’ amongst my fellow posters. In long, complicated threads, good quoting is essential so the other person can find your replies when they are specifically directed. There are things we can definitely do as poster-contributors to make your/Dev involvement more agreeable, even when we’re ripping holes in something .

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Taking Nike’s suggestions to get posts read, perhaps.

That appears to have worked out for you .

((Though, were it me, I would have trimmed the quoted text down considerably. It makes it easier to draw a direct line between what they said and what you’re inquiring about.))

In fact the percentage of Dev posts that start with ‘Nike.2631 quotes’ has plummeted in the last few hours .

The prevalence of Zerker-uber-alles is why we’re seeing Vigor-generating abilities restricted in the next patch and will likely see even more tightly controlled access to the boon that grants absolute immortality on demand in the future. We’re also going to see more use of effects like Toxin that apply undodgeable damage ticks – so that Pure DPS builds/gear-loadouts either start splashing in some bunker stats/traits to live long enough or begin running with support characters that can manage the survival of several people at once while those other characters continue to dish maximum damage.

There are ways to break the Berserker monopoly on awesome and they are already upon us.

gidorah.4960:

While i think you are mostly correct they also can’t fix problems if they don’t acknowledge that the problem exists.

I’m with you. But realistically the best you’ll typically get is a “We can do better”. In some respects the existence of a CDI thread on a topic may be acknowledging that there is a problem… Maybe that’s something that can be folded into the tone of the initial ‘primer’ post by the Devs? The threads exist to make something better. You don’t typically try to fix what’s not broke.

So far the wvw thread has been the wvw dev’s doing the bare minimum and just making a mess of the process with a lack of participation and direction and chris sticking his head in the sand about it even being a problem. Unless this is one of those rare problems that can be fixed by ignoring it someone is going to have to do something and a nice start would be an apology for how badly the wvw thread was handled.

I wasn’t involved in that one so I don’t have an immediate grasp of how it went (though you’re not the first to mention “poorly” ). Which do you want more? An apology or a better thread next time? I’m not saying they’re mutually exclusive, just asking about the priorities.

1. Shared harvest nodes. I love not having to HATE my fellow player and race for nodes.
2. No WTb/WTS spam in chat. Not being able to trade confused me at first, but now I know it’s awesome.
3. Buy to Play.
4. Down leveling. I like that the number of places to do something on-level expands instead of just slides around.
5. Shared achievements. I’d like to see more alt-friendliness, but this is an amazing start over most MMOs.

Very cute!

gidorah.4960:

yeah pretty much this i got responded too alot before i got cranky about how chris and the wvw dev’s completely dropped the ball on the wvw cdi and are continuing to drop the ball on the wvw cdi. Try to understand it is a large group conversation and build upon other people comments or try to make sure people who summarize your idead better than you get the attention they deserve. It is easier for them to respond to directly questions that are easily answerable.

Now I’m thinking I should write a tutorial on “Getting Devs to Answer”, which by the way is very different than “Getting Devs to Listen”. There’s a fair amount of evidence that posting in the right threads (like the CDI ones) greatly enhances your chances of being read – which is really where most of the advantage is to be gained. Being responded to is laden with glory and all, but it may not actually have any more impact on the game than just being read does.

About pointing out the Devs have dropped the ball: There is a very limited amount that you can expect folks to acknowledge, much less apologize for, past mistakes. Saving face is not just for the Japanese. The only real advantage to bringing these things up as a poster is to establish your understanding of the environment – going hunting for a pound of flesh over past grievances is going to be mostly a waste of time and move you into that invisible but slightly inevitable blacklist. People don’t readily chat with unlikeable people, no matter how right the unlikable person is . So stating your (negative) opinion can build your credibility, if you don’t grind it in. Basically, if you have a problem with part of the game, make your case… and then Look Forward.

Case in point, I said some absolutely vicious things about the character Scarlet (which I stand by), but despite that I moved on to having a useful chat with Bobby Stein over pressures in character creation and possibilities for increasing story immersion. But that discussion began with the technique I mentioned above: finding one of his quotes and starting from there. It really does help to show you are listening before you expect to be listened to.

Also changing your name to nike might help.

Depends on the forum. The PvP and WvW Devs have never heard of me, and the story guys and I got of to a rough start. But I’m happy to share my tactics .

Guhracie.3419:

I don’t think the issue is that anyone feels like you’re “stealing” or “usurping” ideas, I think it’s more that- agree or disagree, you’re the one getting the direct interaction. EDIT: Which is in no way your doing, I feel compelled to add!

Believe me, I’m aware. While its nice to get direct feedback, I’m a bit edgy that I’m inadvertently hogging the stage.

One strategy that may help my fellow posters is to open with small quotes from the Dev posting you are responding to – structure your thoughts so they are conversational rather than stand-alone essays, and arrange them so that Devs reading it see your comments as a fluid extension of what they just said – it lends context and makes it easier for them to respond as if it were a steady and ongoing discussion.

And be concise. I’ve noticed Chris never trims a post he’s responding to, which means the shorter yours is, the more space he has for answering .

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I will probably be swatted down, and infracted, but….

It’s almost always Nike. Even if someone else proposed nearly the same ideas…..it’s Nike.
I give up. =(

((Looks embarrassed))

I know I eat up a lot of the dialogue, but I’m not laying claim to the ideas. A lot of what I do is just synthesize and summarize other posts. If I usurped your thoughts I’m sorry and do apologize .

Chris Whiteside.6102:

While i agree that the topic may not be suitable as a CDI topic, it is worth noting that there is a lot more to this topic than performance optimization. Opportunities and evolution on this area are also impacted by Game Design quite heavily.

Ok, now this is interesting. From just that little snippet I realize I’d like to know more about it ((“Impacted by Game Design” you say? Hmm…)). I accept that my initial understanding of WvW skill lag issues is simplistic, and that such a thread might actually be very informative… which suggests something that applies to CDIs in general: It might be VERY useful for the one of the Devs associated with the nuts and bolts of each topic to~

A) Write a strong opening post for the CDI topic that lays the groundwork – sort of a primer so that readers have a little more grounding in the topic being addressed – put this right up front, either as post 1 (followed by the rules in post 2) or post 2 (following the rules in post 1). If you put it in post 1, you can also use the Q/A toggle to ensure this primer appears at the top of every page when viewing the topic .

B) Have time freed up on the their schedule to host the topic for the week/10 days/whatever fixed length you want it to run. Give them 45 minutes each day they’re expected by ANet to read and comment during the thread’s run. You’ve been the voice of several of these and might be again in the future, but for some of these more tightly themed topics ANet needs a spokesman who literally knows it better than anyone AND is clear that they are being pushed forward to listen and consider ideas that might be outside their comfort zone.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

The next topic for WvW after skill lag is: Commander mechanics and Commander tag functionality.

Chris

Allow me to use my powers of true prophecy to sum up the “CDI – WvW Skill Lag” thread in its entirety before it even happens:

Players: We hate skill lag. It makes us look like incompetents.
ANet: We hate it too. We’re working on it right now.

Now its possible that on this side of the fence there are some amazing network coders who have torn apart your engine in far more detail than the EULA allows and can offer some amazingly detailed and cogent suggestions for managing your packet handling and who would risk bans for revealing they know that much about your engine architecture… And your coders might love to meet and chat with them on a level 99% of us reading will never understand… But I’m not sure its a bet I’d be willing to take, investing your single CDI WvW ‘slot’ for the week or two it would require to bear fruit or prove fruitless.

Upon consideration, I think the CDI threads should go into the forums that relate to the topic – so players see them there who aren’t already committed to CDI discussions, but perhaps after they’re locked they could go into an archive sub-forum specifically for them?

While at first I thought a CDI sub-forum might be useful, I’m now suspicious that it would not reach the broader range of player-posters. Perhaps one reason the Living Storyline thread is longer than the others is that its in a more widely viewed venue…

When Norns speak to the peacekeepers, there is a special conversational branch just for them about ‘unnaturally tall beings’… And the city statutes against it…

Chris Whiteside.6102:

And on that note i am going to spend some time with the family. I will get back to the discussion either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Heehee. One of the parts of the process proven to work: The ‘catch you later’ note.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

What do you all think of this proposal:

That we only have one thread per area open at one time, for example, the next PVE one then PvP and then WvW?

I have been thinking about this for a few days and believe the major issue would be the overall velocity of the CDI, and the main Pro being that we will have more time to enter into discussions due to only having to focus on one at a time.

Thoughts?

I think you’ll end up hamstringing yourself as badly as the Living Story thread demonstrated – every time a Dev suggested a topic it multiplied the cacophony. Even this thread – by shifting from general discussion to “How do you think we should select topics?” started showing a little bit of mixed responses making it harder to follow. While its great you had a 40+ page thread come out of it, it was brutal to try and sift through that for anybody, Dev, reader, or interested poster.

Nozdormu.4352:

Nike.2631:

After looking at it a bit, I’d like to see Strength in Numbers and Honorable Shield swap tiers.

That would put Strength in Numbers in the master tier, similar to Spotter and Empower Allies, while making the off-hand weapon trait for shields more accessible.

Would break 50% guardian WvW builds.

If that were true is would say a lot about one of those traits being overpowered for it’s tier/cost…

You kinda have to know what you want to start drawing a line between where you are now and having it.

After looking at it a bit, I’d like to see Strength in Numbers and Honorable Shield swap tiers.

That would put Strength in Numbers in the master tier, similar to Spotter and Empower Allies, while making the off-hand weapon trait for shields more accessible.

I just want button 4 to be a sphere centered on the guardian instead of a cone. I should not be at the back of my group to buff them, and I should be in the midst of the enemy smashing them, not lining up a shot in front of me…

A bit lower base cooldown time for 4 & 5 wouldn’t suck either.

There is also a 1-handed sword covered in flames. drawing a blank on the name at the moment, its a roman style sword blade.

You might also look into Cobalt – they are quite cheap now and while they’re matched more to Guardian FX it might be a good placeholder while you work on Volcanus.

Donari.5237:

The New Year is coming! How about a toy-slot champagne bottle? It could have Costume Brawl abilities involving cork-shooting, aoe stuns of happy laughter covered with fizzy bubbles, etc. In non Costume Brawl mode you could put out a tray of champagne glasses for your friends.

Clever. I’d consider buying this.

And they do what, precisely?

Nick.6972:

So what do you people suggest? Give heavy armor to Ranger? Give reflects to Necro? Remove zerker armor? Come on.

Actually, they are visibly working to cripple ’Zerkers-uber-alles. The overall strategy of reducing Vigor uptime and reducing the number of dodges available is a direct attack on builds that rely on dodges rather than toughness/vitality/healing power to stay alive. The constant unavoidable damage ticks from the toxic spore condition is vastly more dangerous to glass canons than to bunkers. Basically the whole game is shifting towards a condition damage meta because of the disparities in ways classes absorb damage.

haviz.1340:

We actually do lose progress. We have to do scale 30 again even though it will be practically the same old scale 30 as before.

Really? Can you fill me on what the mistlock instabilities are then? Because I’ve been wondering…

9/10 – I like the green

I managed to get a matched set of wings going…

Thuunk and Inphamus both amuse me greatly. 9/10

My engineer is “Handy Travel Size” – and he puts his name on the label of all of his gadgets and turrets. Some of his products can even be found here on Earth!

In this fractal the Aegis boon doesn’t exist…

lunyboy.8672:

When I play guardian, I feel like ANet’s favorite child.

Guardians do get to sit at the big table when the family has diner, but you have to roll Warrior to sit at the head of the table.

Rangers have to eat diner seated on the back porch… with the dog.

Engineers? I think they take their meals out in the garage on the workbench next to the vise and with the pieces of old bicycles hanging from overhead. Sometimes my engineer feels like I’m playing an entirely different game . I don’t always consider that a bad thing.

Dromar.1027:

How come whenever I do fractals its not that epic :’(

Because you don’t press the jump button often enough.

Seriously, try it .

Has this issue been listed in this month’s bugs-forum list of character art bugs?

It needs to be there EVERY MONTH until it’s fixed, and that’s really the only place you can be confident the character art Devs will see anything…

If I have a set of wings, or a book, or a fractal capacitor, having it replaced by the hobosack counts as a bug.

The current array of lodestones tells you a fair bit about the dragons:

Glacial Lodestone (Ice) → Corrupted Lodestone (Jormag)
Molten Lodestone (Fire) → Destroyer Lodestone (Primordus)
Charged Lodestone (Air) → Crystal Lodestone (Kralkatorric)
Onyx Lodestone (Earth) → Putrid Essence (Zaitan)

My expectation is as the other two Elder Dragons move into focus we’ll see pairs of “lodestones” added for them to the tune of~

Ageless Heartwood (Wood) → Blighted Lodestone (Mordremoth)
Tidal Lodestone (Water) → Murky Lodestone (Bubbles)

The flaming banana peel is pretty cool . I’m considering going after it myself (I have Infinite Light and 2 precursors I may never bother with…).

…Actually if Rune of the Guardian didn’t work for thieves, then it would be 7 out of 8 (since someone pointed out a suitably round-about way an Necromancer can block once in a blue moon).

But thieves can block… underwater. Nine-tailed strike .

But still, the real question is if you’re concerned about Engineer competitiveness and involvement, why are you wasting 1s & 0s over a bit of FLUFF like the final set bonus on an obscure rune you may never even see, when there are so many other issues to take up torches and pitchforks over?

mas.7401:

Because clearly we need more reasons to not play an engineer. My biggest issue with this rune is that my engineer is cut out of top tier end lvl content rewards.

Clearly the Engineer needs help that tweaking one Rune is NOT GOING TO PROVIDE.

Jeeez people, pick a battle that MEANS SOMETHING. This is bloody irrelevant to the greater issue.

And unless you’re rocking Runes of the Sunless right this second, you’ve managed to do without the shiny ‘endgame of the moment’ rewards before. Where was the outcry there?

Civilization, just another of those things that come from cooperation.

It would make for a hawt Engineer major trait that grants Aegis on drinking an elixir. Or one that grants Aegis on using a gadget.

A Massive Headache.1879:

Well of power, when it removes burning, gives aegis so you could use the rune set. It’d be a poor choice of runes for nearly everyone except guardians and warriors, but you can in fact use it.

Nicely played . I had missed that one.

I think the problem here is that in general Engineers are in a crappy place and this feels like kicking them when they’re down. I get that. Thing is tweaking this rune doesn’t change that in any meaningful way – its putting needless burdens of expectation on part of the system that doesn’t benefit from being hemmed in that way when the problem lies elsewhere and needs to be addressed/resolved elsewhere.

I’m all for giving Engineers better tools to be competitive and desirable. But to me that’s better addressed by making Signets a type of utility available to all classes, not trying to cram some sort of kludge in to a single situation. The general fix will resolve the specific problem and all future cases in a single stroke.

‘That rune’ caters to anybody that can block. Given that Guardians can’t block with their shield and Warriors can, I think presumptions of utility based on item name are a slope you don’t really want to start sliding down…

As to where this particular new tool is found… the number of builds, not professions, builds that can use an “endgame reward” like Superior Runes of the Sunless is pretty darn restricted too.

There is no part of your contention that isn’t flawed. They’ve done 7-professions-out-of-8 runes before, they’ve done “endgame” runes of limited application before. Not every profession is going to delight in every release.

Maybe they’ll do a patch where all professions get some new Utility Skills. Maybe we’ll see Engineers pick up a set of Signets around the same time Necros learn to block. I’d be very happy to see both, but I’d be very unhappy if in the meantime the Devs feel like they have to back away from innovation and creativity because of a false expectation of super-symmetry between all the professions.

Manuhell.2759:

And what exactly the rune of the guardian has to do with this matter?

Its another Rune that works for 7 out of 8 classes? Its one of many examples that Runes ARE NOT required to work for all classes or even most of them?

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Clearly my comment has caused some confusion and offense, which was not my intent. For that, I offer my apology and a more literal version of what I mean to say:

Every profession has aspects that make it different than the others. Sometimes those aspects can exclude a player from taking full advantage of certain bonuses from equipment. But that is not the reason those choices exist. The implementation of a signet-related rune is not an oversight, nor is it meant as a deliberate exclusion of the engineer profession. It is meant to be a new, interesting choice for players that want to use to signets and want to play professions that have them.

And I bet you feel just terrible that Necromancers are the only class in the game that can’t leverage the Rune of the Guardian. 7 out of 8 classes can – I mean, how DARE YOU!!! This habit of exploring interesting mechanics, of branching out to creative effect triggers, of creating something NEW… It will be the death of us all.

I know I lose sleep over it.

Constantly.

((Keep up the good work))

Dromar.1027:

They should just add a face to face trade system like GW1 had along with the tp.

Not just no, but HELL NO.

I’m in no rush to have zone chat turn into an unending WALL of WTS/WTB blather.

Oniyui.8279:

Doggie.3184:

It’s Primordus.

He looks more like a 1.

I think it’s probably Sequelius.

Genius, sir. Genius!

Ultimately I’m not concerned with how CDI topics are picked: While there are many things about this game I consider Excellent, nothing is Perfect. Whatever the next topic, is if I have something to contribute I will. If I don’t, I’ll read with (mild) interest and wait for the next round.

But it’s getting to be bad comedy to see any and all crusades on other fronts get dumped here in the hopes that if they’re unwinnable elsewhere, they’ll magically be elevated to victory by sliding them in here . Take it as a sign ‘clarity of topic’ is a must.

Be serious. A crooked playtester need merely tell his friend 2 time zones away what to buy/look for. Laundering the coin is nearly as trivial, and that’s assuming the leaker/playtester doesn’t just take it out in the friend buying burgers next time they meet. Or the other guy pays the vent server fees for the next 3 months. Or the reciprocation takes the form of trade in an entirely different game.

I think I might prefer that the just knock everyone back to 1. Its a new line up. It has new mechanics. Lets have a fresh start for everybody .

Dr Ritter.1327:

goldenwing.8473:

Well, at least it’s Scarlet colored.

Watch them change the logo into a silhouette with pigtails

If they did that on April Fools Day I would laugh really loudly .

Nike.2631:

Is there anything you can tell us that would help us relate to your motives for this character? Something that will let us set better expectations and maybe give better feedback?

BobbyStein.2315:

I started to reply to each question in your post but ran out of time today. SPOILER: I was in meetings.

Duty calls. Perhaps later .

Questions like these may be more suited for an interview since the answers can be rather long when discussing the creative process, project constraints, etc. I would like to share some insights on Scarlet and other Living World characters but I’m not sure the forums are the best place. Let me think on that for a bit.

I’d like to think this would be an excellent venue. “Creative Process” is at the heart of the CDI as I understand it. Our ignorance of “project constraints” is probably one of the biggest stumbling blocks to players bringing you workable suggestions. The untold story of creating the common thread running though so many of the Living Story episodes would be immensely revealing about the non-story demands a character like Scarlet has to rise to.

((Oh, and while its in another thread, your mini-game joke made me laugh quite hard. A good sign that talking about Scarlet doesn’t always have to be so serious!))

It’s obviously Jormag – you can see it’s missing a tooth.