Guild Wars 2

Ace.9861:

Hellride.6571:

SOR tunnel vision on eb ahhaha

Or it could be my scout decided to log without telling me.

Sometimes when I’m scouting I see a Victoria Secrets commercial and I have to take some “me” time.

Just sayin…

Averaging probably 5-6 hours a day since launch…never seen one precursor. :-(

flow.6043:

We did get an answer: anet wants to maintain class diversity. If you want to roll a boon machine you just can’t pick the necro.

And btw, Well of Power + bleeding/chilled = vigor.

There’s a lot of ground between boon machine and its opposite, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. I get that necro’s are boon removers, would just be nice to have adequate access to the only real avoidance mechanic in the game. But it’s not necessary I guess.

fyi, it negates the point of dodging if you have to stand inside a well to get vigor. :/

Why are necro’s the only class without access to vigor?

Something tells me it’s because vigor denotes life and energy…something necro’s are on the opposite end of the spectrum with. /sadface

unleashed.8679:

@All:
I wouldn’t call it holy trinity, because for me that implies:
- Guardian = Tank
- thief = melee DPS
- Ranger = range DPS
- “Cleric” = healer (we don’t have that class for a good reason)
- …

GW2 is far beyond that (in theory) because if I decide to play one class I am not forced into a specific role. Let’s take a warrior, he can be Support, melee DD, range DD, Condi DD, Tank/Bunker and probably some Hybrids. And every other class can do this, too. Yes one class is a better DD, one a better Support, … So one class can do specific parts a bit better then others, but who cares? That doesn’t mean others can’t do that content the same way or without this specific role. If all classes could do the same equally good, why would we need different classes?

…

I would say GW1 did a much better job with that than GW2. You could be any role really in GW1. The difference being there was always one role a specific class was best at. Which is how it should be imo. Why bother with other classes in the first place if everyone can do the same thing? Granted, GW2 does have differences between the classes. But it pales in comparison to the distinction and diversity of GW1.

Stephen
I hope that’s not the case. I’d hate to think this MMO is really a Captain Planet episode in disguise. :-/

Erukk
If that’s true that’s really lame.

lordkrall.7241:

Obsidian.1328:

Angel was brought into the fold in 2007. Nightfall was basically wrapped up, and the plans for GW2 were already being discussed. Eye of the North was the transitional bridge between the two games and shouldn’t really be considered GW1 proper.

So, technically you’re right. Realistically though, not so much.

And yet I have seen quite a few people talking about how awesome Guild Wars: Beyond was, and it is quite likely that she was doing parts of that.

WiK was decent. Kind of watered down the Mantle and Mursaat by making them look like common bandits, but the last mission “Defend LA” was a really fun one to play.

HotN was not very good. It’s just a really long emo-journey through the eyes of Kieran where he learns to “grow up and be a big boy” or something similar. It’s for children really. Oh and him and Gwen get married. /rollseyes

WoC I didn’t play, so can’t comment on. :/

Knote.2904:

Obsidian.1328:

2. All Charr wanted to see Ascalon(ians) burn, not just the Flame Legion. That cop out is a creation of the current writers..

Copout?

It’s a new generation.

That’s as ridiculous as blaming this generation of white people for slavery.

You missed my point entirely. I’m not blaming the Charr, I’m blaming the writers. They go to great lengths to try to distinguish between the Charr who “coerced” the rest of em to roflstomp humanity on Tyria, and the everyday Charr who got coerced into it.

That’s just not how it was. Every Charr was on the same page back then when it came to gutting humans. The Titans and the Cauldron Searing(coordinated by the Flame Legion) merely provided the Charr the means to do so. They only wrote in the “Flame Legion overlord” distinction later when they had decided to make the Charr a playable race.

Can’t have a bad guy race in a game with no faction fighting, simple as that.

Lostwingman.5034:

I’m going back and playing Prophecies now, will have to pay close attention to ambient Charr discussion.

When you do, be sure to note the subtle differences between Prophecies Charr and EotN Charr.

lordkrall.7241:

^ I suggest you read the forum rules before posting, since they quite clearly states that shout-outs to specific employees are not allowed.

As for the last part you do know that Angel WAS with the GW1 lore-team as well, right?

Angel was brought into the fold in 2007. Nightfall was basically wrapped up, and the plans for GW2 were already being discussed. Eye of the North was the transitional bridge between the two games and shouldn’t really be considered GW1 proper.

So, technically you’re right. Realistically though, not so much.

The price of regular rams just went through the roof!

Kyrel.8942:

Obsidian.1328:

Kyrel.8942:

Note, all this is sanctioned by Ree and Jeff. They too think this is all ok.

o.0

Is that a positive or negative statement?

That’s up to anyone to decide, but personally I think positive. At least we know they still have their hands on the lore and know what’s up despite the other writers and lore devs.

Yeah, it could be considered subjective I guess. Personally I have the opposite view. Imo, those two are primarily responsible for the vast amounts of disconnect between GW1 & 2. Those two were deeply entrenched in the transitional phase, and are still very key players in everything lore related. And it’s a pretty safe bet to say nothing gets printed now without their approval, or at least their tacit acceptance. So really, most of these issues a lot of us have with the lore are on them, not the niche writers.

Naranek.3467:

I have absolutely no interest in grimdark intruding into my GW2. It needs to be more epic at times, but there are better ways to achieve that than shooing out the clowns.

Plus I despise George Martin. The less I see of his influence, the better.

And I have no interest in the circus intruding into my GW. Shooing out the clowns would be a good start actually.

I wouldn’t say GW1 was grimdark, but it was certainly more edgy and epic. If anything, GW2 intruded into the “Guild Wars” style.

RyuDragnier.9476:

1. Ascalon is near a desert, and happens to also have parts of it transformed by the brand. Think of it as the plains of Africa.
2. I blame that on the fanatical Flame Legion…and their obsessiveness with Baelfire (seriously, they talk so much about him that I think all of them love him in THAT way).
3. That was actually the fault of the Vizier who cast the forbidden spell which subsequently awoke Zhaitan while at the same time causing Orr to sink.
4. Get over it, Logan did.
5. You hate a military society? The Spartans are disappointed in you.
6. If you have a Blood Legion charr, you’ll know that the regular Charr hate them for this too…especially the females.
7. Why would you even care?
8. Compare the looks of any big cat species male to any female of the same species. That’s why.
9. Considering the ghosts attack ANYBODY, INCLUDING HUMANS who come near them, I can’t blame them for viewing the ghosts this way.
10. That…well, that one I blame on the camera system.

1. Ascalon was never a desert, it’s rolling hills and valleys used to be as green as the grove.
2. All Charr wanted to see Ascalon(ians) burn, not just the Flame Legion. That cop out is a creation of the current writers.
3. Yeah Khilbron did that. Of course, there was a Charr horde on Arah’s doorstep. Nuking the whole area out of desperation seemed a viable option. Now why does that sound familiar…
4. Gwen was too emo. But so is Logan. A chip off the old, old, old, block?
5. The Spartans also happened to destroy themselves by weeding out way too many “weak” children to the point where their slaves finally rose up and overthrew the few Spartans that were left. Darwin is disappointed in them.
6. Yeah. Oh the Flame Legion were responsible for that too I bet! Oh right…
7. I’m with you on this one, I don’t know what a “furry” is. :/
8. All I know about cats is they look funny when they do that paw-licking/head-rubbing grooming thing. It’s hilarious. Really.
9. Considering almost no one on ANet’s staff now was around during GW1, I can’t blame them for viewing it so irresponsibly. Lol, w/e. Of course I can.
10. Ditto, camera system. Although technically they should survive the falls a lot better than the other species. Just saying.

psyckos.6893:

I don’t like how they feel when moving. They feel clumsy at best even though they appear to be part feline. Maybe they inherited their agility from cows/bulls. From an RP standpoint, a 500lb. stumbling bison with sharp teeth doesn’t seem very stealthy (Ash legion is a joke). Also, the most flammable race in the game (yes, more than sylvari) is in love with fire. I know they hate the flame legion, but they’re still the same race with pet fire elementals. Never understood how so many fire huggers still have all of their fur. Bald and burnt should be the default flame legion appearance.

Absolutely rage inducing when trying to complete a jumping puzzle as one (or with one blocking your view).

From an architectural standpoint, the Black Citadel is a wreck. To get from point A to point B, you have to go around point C, through point F, down to point D, up through point E and hang a right at point G. No mini-map ever created can guide you through that. I saved completing that city for last on every one of my toons. After 9 times, it’s about 2% less mind numbing than it was the first time.

All that said, I love how my male charr guardian looks. Took me 4 total makeover kits to get him the way he is, but I finally like him. Screens below.

In regards to the large amount of people that utterly hate the race due to playing guild wars 1, I shared your sentiment UNTIL I read Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny. GoA dulled the charr hate and EoD made me hate the human race enough to overlook the searing as a “you deserve this” moment.

Spoiler Alert Save the extremely powerful mesmer Queen from dragon minions or kill the dragon? Great decision there Logan.

Wow, you really devoured those two pieces of marketing whole hog huh? Anyone can write something that changes established paradigms, it’s quite another to implicate the first paradigms never even existed.

Pre-searing Ascalonian countryside. :P

if not, then Crystal Desert

It’s just not the direction they want to go with the game guys. Every race has their own little pie piece of Tyria, and for humans that means Kryta. Ebonhawke is a nod to the old playerbase, not much more. ANet would be reneging on their storyline philosophy if they started letting humans retake Ascalon. :/

Gandarel, I played the Ruins of Surmia mission the other day and thought of you lol. /sadface

Kyrel.8942:

Note, all this is sanctioned by Ree and Jeff. They too think this is all ok.

o.0

Is that a positive or negative statement?

Vayne.8563:

Bright.9160:

Vayne.8563:

Feralwolf.7091:

I miss the Trinity. It made GW1 more fun. This game makes every class feel the same. Boring. OP suggested a system that allowed you to create a character that could switch roles. That’s exactly what FFXIV is doing now, and the approach GW2 should’ve taken. GW1 was approaching that idea by allowing you to switch secondaries but fell short somewhat.

Guild Wars 1 didn’t have the trinity, because you didn’t need a tank..at least not in PvE anyway.

You and I played a whole different GW1 then. All of the elite areas used tanks. They just didn’t use healers. Sometimes a bonder (DoA), but hardly any healing was used, because GW1 end game existed of tank-ball-spank, and abusing AI aggro mechanics.

I have no idea why you think you’d need a tank in Guild Wars 1. None-whatsoever. With an imbagon paragon absolving about 90% of an entire team’s damage, virtually permanently, a tank wasn’t really all that necessary.

Surely you’ve seen the sabway build which was pretty much all necros.

My hero team when I soloed used whatever character I was playing, a necro, 2 rits, 1 monk, 1 ranger (for interupts), 1 mesmer and then either an ele or a second necro for the last slot. No warrior, no heavy armor profession at all.

…

Then your imbagon was the tank. Or that team of necro’s were all three at the same time, seems like a highly specialized niche build /shrug. If you have enough heals and damage soaking/applying going around that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not using the trinity, it just means you’re doing it in an un-traditional way.

That’s nice you had a team which didn’t really require a tank, but it’s disingenuous to say that was the norm in GW1, especially when we are really talking about group play, and not custom-made hero teams.

As far as surveys go it was a pretty good one though. The only parts I had issue with were what minbariguy said, and the Living Story ratings page. I skipped a lot of them on purpose just because I don’t enjoy them at all, but there was no option for that. “Missed” makes it sound like I was not online at the time or something, so I was forced to choose “Not really enjoyed” even though I didn’t even participate.

Hexin.5603:

Maybe we (TC) might play more ppt, but that’s up to the council to determine. I know most of us, absolutely love just open field or GvG. The lag sucks – mostly only EB, but you battle through it. [REx]

O.O

You guys have a Council?? Noice!

We just call ours “reset chat.” I like your name better. =(

I like calling Trahearne Caeser, makes sense on so many levels…

Angry Chicken

OP mofo’s

Carlin Sanders.3587:

And remember that, in guild wars 1, adelburn claimed the throne from another king who went mad. This says that adelburn and rurik are not proper descendants okitteng doric, so thus either Jennah or Samuelsson needs to have sohothin or magdaer in hand. And remember, Samuelsson never said which line of ascalonian kings he descended from.

Also, Ascalonians practically begged Adelbern to be king, apparently the royal line had fallen to petty squabbling and greed. Barradin himself wanted Adelbern on the throne. Here

Knote.2904:

Empressium.5482:

when they jump, their posture look kitten ridiculious which nullifies “tough scary” beastmen race and their 4 legs running speed is tooooooo slow making them less threatening (imagine a lion tat runs like a turtle; would u run asap instead of laughing first then run)

This is why the running on fours thing should be the animation when you’re moving at fast speeds, out of combat with swiftness.

Tbh, the in-combat speed nerf shouldn’t even be in the game. I understand they don’t want peeps to just “run-through” zones. But the players do it anyway en masse. It hurts the solo players more than anything.

LyricDawnhagen.7803:

Deamhan.9538:

LyricDawnhagen.7803:

A simple Google search of the Dev Tracker finds the answer to this question. Here is the reason the game is called Guild Wars 2.

Martin Kerstein
Head of Global Community
This has been answered (Name is based on lore), so I close it.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Where-are-the-Guild-wars/1621260

Such gullibility.

Perhaps you should consider trying to find something from the person(s) who gave the original game its name where such evidence is dated as close to the time in which they came up with the name as possible.

But this is not about the name of Guild Wars (the original game). It is about the name of Guild Wars 2. It is possible that the original was named for something else. I was simply pointing out that ArenaNet has stated that this game’s name is based on its shared lore and not on GvG combat.

I remember reading somewhere that ArenaNet gave as the reason GW2 would not have open world PvP (or GvG) was that they wanted the PvE open world to be based on player cooperation instead of player competition. That is the reason that things like resource nodes are shared and anyone that contributes to killing a mob or completing an event get a reward. Player cooperation instead of conflict.

Different game, different play style. And (IMHO) a far superior and more enjoyable play style that most other MMOs that arbitrarily divide the server’s PvE population to create artificial “conflict” all in the name of PvP.

Having a GvG isn’t in conflict with the PvE cooperative spirit at all, GvG would surely be instanced. I don’t see any legitimate reason why it couldn’t be in the game really.

Safer Saviour.9685:

Obsidian.1328:

“suspension of disbelief”

That’s exactly what I’m talking about.

When you TC RPers(or anyone else) do your thing out in the PvE digitalscape, do you really try and make the world of Tyria adhere to the laws of physics? The whole idea behind fantasy is a suspension of disbelief. Why would you try to dissect the chemical reactions behind fireballs shooting out of your hand? Or the quantum physics involved in shadowstepping?

We like fantasy because of its unreal possibilities, not in spite of them.

Suspension of Disbelief doesn’t mean accepting every bit of information thrown at you, regardless of how ridiculous or contradictory. Indeed, there is a term alternately called ‘Secondary Belief’ or ‘Relative Realism’ which encompasses the idea of internal consistency within a fantasy world. When something breaks with that consistency, belief in the world starts to crack and instead of being immersed in the world, you become an outsider, looking at the flaws and cracks over a pretty surface.

Yes!

Internal consistency within that world! Changes should stay consistent to the overall foundation of the fantasy world it was created in, not the real-life world. What GW2 has effectively done is create a new Tyria on top of the old that breaks that continuity between the two, and immersion suffers.

GW1 verses GW2

Avariz.8241:

In real life earth period around the sun change over time. This change is both cyclical and random. Earth’s orbit is affected by gravitational pull by all other astronomical bodies like planets, moons, comets, belts of planetoids beyond our solar system, and other star systems and distance galaxies. Earth’s axial rotation have also changed over time. Earth used to rotate faster on its axis than it is now. That means instead of 24 hours day we had like less than 20 hours day. This is relational to the distance between the moon and the earth. When our moon were closer to our planet, earth rotated faster. Therefore in Tyria’s case changes in annual days and hours in a day are perfectly rational when you have the knowledge to suspend disbelieve and to accept the plausibility.

“suspension of disbelief”

That’s exactly what I’m talking about.

When you TC RPers(or anyone else) do your thing out in the PvE digitalscape, do you really try and make the world of Tyria adhere to the laws of physics? The whole idea behind fantasy is a suspension of disbelief. Why would you try to dissect the chemical reactions behind fireballs shooting out of your hand? Or the quantum physics involved in shadowstepping?

We like fantasy because of its unreal possibilities, not in spite of them.

Aradusm.6420:

Humans or any other race can become gods by acquiring vast knowledge and power overtime. I figure pre-guild wars era was filled with unchecked magic, humans, and other extinct races due to the elder dragons. Human “gods” were humans who achieved the pinnacle of magic, ascended into their god state. This was something we saw happen with our eyes, we saw Kormir ascend to being a Goddess due to obtaining all of Abaddon’s knowledge and power. She became the sixth god, goddess of truth, knowledge, and secrets.

So I understand that human gods were created through pinnacle of knowledge and power, I guess six people reached that power before the elder dragons awaken. Before the other races could have the chance, this leads to the concept of gods and goddess being placed in Human lore. It is pretty much a state that any race can obtain, just it is now almost impossible thanks to the elder dragons consuming magic and the bloodstones limiting the magic.

I doubt the human’s gods or goddess have diminished in power. They their role has just been more clarified for us to understand they really never really had full control over our fates or destinies, they just been a instrumental role in helping protect humans by giving them knowledge and power, but that knowledge was lost over the span of 250 years, allowing the other races to catch up to humans who were temporarily the strongest race in Tyria. It is pretty much the dawn of equality since every race has accumulated vast knowledge and power that makes them equals in their own way.

There still so much the six main races doesn’t understand, knowledge that they can’t obtain anymore and power that exceeds the amount of magic in the world today. Magic is still a mystery and how the world around them isn’t still clarified. Look at the Asura experiments, they are not absolute and yield unsuspecting results that wasn’t thought to exist before.

I disagree with some of that. The gods came from another world, bringing humans with them, did they not? The way the first game played out, the humans were brought to an uncivilized world to populate and flourish. There were a few exceptions, like the Charr, Tengu, and Centaurs, that had an inkling of an advanced society at the time.

I also don’t think magic is all that mystical anymore. Asuran experiments are unpredictable not because of magic’s mystery, but rather the uncanny tendency of Asurans to not understand what they are doing and blow their labs up in the process lol.

Tachenon.5270:

Obsidian.1328:

One thing that strikes me as interesting is how “magic” is treated and portrayed in GW2 in the first place.

It used to be a mystical and mysterious force, flowing in and out of the daily lives of Tyrians. Yet now it seems like the writers have tried to quantify and classify it, changing more into a “science” than anything else. I get that they were trying something new, evolving 250 years into the future to a more “enlightened” understanding of the physical would. But I think that was a bad decision.

It’s supposed to be a fantasy-genre game, not a play on real-world Enlightenment principles. Where’s the mystery?

Well, at least we don’t have midi-chlorians. Yet.

LOL, I almost used that as an example. Cereally!

One thing that strikes me as interesting is how “magic” is treated and portrayed in GW2 in the first place.

It used to be a mystical and mysterious force, flowing in and out of the daily lives of Tyrians. Yet now it seems like the writers have tried to quantify and classify it, changing more into a “science” than anything else. I get that they were trying something new, evolving 250 years into the future to a more “enlightened” understanding of the physical would. But I think that was a bad decision.

It’s supposed to be a fantasy-genre game, not a play on real-world Enlightenment principles. Where’s the mystery?

I agree with most of Konig’s interpretation.

Although I’d like to point out that Angel’s response falls very much in-line with what I’ve been trying to say all along.

Namely, that the decision to introduce the 4 new playable races, as well the skill/combat changes, literally forced them to downplay or outright change the human-god dynamic that was present in Tyria, starting back in EotN ofc.

When they start giving out responses like …well, it’s like when you are in grade school and believed certain things that you find out as an adult were just old wive’s tales… you know they clearly don’t care all that much for the older lore.

I also find it interesting that the two writers I’ve long suspected responsible for this “transition,” Ree and Jeff, were the ones who approved her post(Bobby and Scott are newcomers).

Frankly, Angel’s post only reinforces my belief on ANet’s irresponsible handling of old material. I still think the real culprit in all this is a failure to legitimately fuse the new races and new skill mechanics with the old lore.

I could be wrong…but I doubt it. :/

I’ve basically resigned myself to picking one profession for acquiring all ascended gear, I simply don’t have the time(or money since I hate farming) to do that for my two other 80’s.

In GW1 I had 6 bows for my ranger, all top-tier stats, my favorite being a random drop(and very common) purple Dead Bow. This game is driving me crazy with the absurd amount of time gating. If I didn’t enjoy my guild so much(and the W3 we play), I don’t even know what I would do in-game anymore…

People tend to forget how GW1 was before Nightfall and EotN made it so PvE slanted. It was originally a very competitive PvP(especially GvG) game. The changes brought about by new staff, specifically the heroes and skill additions/changes, made the game not only a farmers paradise, but a solo farmers paradise.

It basically stopped being hard.

DarcShriek.5829:

TriggerSad.2597:

Dyno.9467:

Chuo.4238:

Dyno.9467:

Godzzila.3752:

When there is no such thing as wars between guilds…
I mean you might aswell just called the game: Guilds 2

Cause its the follow up to Guild Wars 1…………2 pages for this? Seriously?

Except it kind of isn’t.

Kind of is, hence the kittene

Not really. The story isn’t a continuation of the first as there isn’t much of anything connecting the two together. We do have the interactions with Primordus in Eye of the North, but we don’t ever see that in Guild Wars 2. At all save for a Meta event in Mount Maelstrom and one small section of Kessex and Brisban.
We do see it with the Elder Dragons in general, but that in it of itself isn’t a very strong connection to tie the two together. Dragons were never a threat in Guild Wars, it was the conflict that the human gods had with one another that was the story behind the first series of games.

Gameplay-wise… There is nothing in Guild Wars 2 that screams “This is Guild Wars!”
From the profession system to how combat works, nothing in Guild Wars 2 give players a sense that they are playing a Guild Wars kittenle. Nothing.

Hmmm… I think your wong here. There’s quite a few connections to GW1. They are Lions Arch, Hall of Monuments, Pyre, Jora, Svanir, Ogden, Oola, of course there’s Tyria. Guild Wars is not the story of a bunch of guilds getting together to get rowdy. Guild Wars is the story of Tyria. It always has been, and always will be.

Lulz, aside from the name ‘Tyria’ only one thing from your list is really considered GW1. And they even changed that one thing(LA).

EotN is, for lore purposes, considered a GW2 prequel. Even the devs would admit to that. EotN was meant to intro GW2 content, not build on GW1 lore. About the only thing it shares with GW1 is the combat mechanics. If anything, it marked the dividing line between old and new.

I thought everyone knew that…

TriggerSad.2597:

Human guild versus human guilds fought among one another during the Guild Wars. That stopped once all of humanity realized that the charr were an actual threat to their civilization. Charr legions are not guilds, they are factions within charr society that took shape once the original leader of the charr dies, and his children fought one another to take his place.

“Guild Wars 2,” was only used as a marketing strategy to get players of the original game to buy this one. Guild Wars 2 was never going to be a successor of Guild Wars, as the two are vastly different. Even Guild Wars 2’s story makes no real connection to the first game, save for the fact that the enemy from the first, and last, Guild Wars expansion is one we sometimes see now. That being Primordus’ minions, with whom we haven’t even fought against.

GvG, the game type itself, wasn’t the driving factor of this game. It never was. Marketing was, which is why we have this game called Guild Wars 2. It’s a shame really, because a lot of this confusion would have been cleared had ArenaNet decided to name this MMO a different name, as I personally believe it should have been.

Werd

(15char)

Ya’ll need to understand the peeps who made this game don’t (with very little exception) have an emotional connection to GW1. They didn’t design its world, or write its story, at least not any story that wasn’t meant for this game. GW1 is a lore grab bag-o-fun for them and that’s how they used it.

The saw some punky cat race tearing kitten up and thought it would be cool if they made them playable. There are many ways they could have put them on par with humans and introduced them as a legitimate playable race. But instead they chose not only a massive reiteration of the very nature of the Charr, but they made humans out to look like weak kitten schmucks in the process.

I’d actually like them in a different game, they have a nice appeal and an interesting personal story. But the way they are now just doesn’t jive with the Tyria of old. But w/e, people like cats and steampunky stuff so why not. #rollseyes

Because I hate them.

And the backhanded way ANet retconned them drives me bonkers as well.

Hypothetical scenario…

In the last 255 years, the Mursaat that survived the War in Kryta had retreated to the Isle of Janthir. Slowly rebuilding their strength and numbers, they never forgot their defeat at the hands of the humans, and vowed a bitter revenge…

After the rise of the Elder Dragons, while the humans seemed weak, they deemed the time ripe for action. Sweeping down across the Watchtower Coast, the vengeful Mursaat and their Jade constructs poured into Kryta, terrifying and murdering humans as they went. Queensland was utterly overrun, the Krytans either fleeing into Divinity’s Reach, retreating to Fort Salma in the southwest, or seeking refuge in Ascalon Settlement in the east.

Divinity’s Reach itself was not taken, its massive walls buttressing it against the Mursaat onslaught. But cut off from supplies and soldiers, it was forced to draw forces from Ebonhawke. Factions within the Charr army, seeing an opportunity, launch a sneak attack on Ebonhawke and manage to breach a section of the wall. Charr forces pour into the city, overwhelming the outnumbered defenders. Queen Jenna orders the Asura gate closed, and Ebonhawke is lost.

The Norn pull out citizens from Ascalon in protest, and close the mountain passes around their lands, prefering isolation. But they don’t come to the human’s aid either. The Asura take in refugees, and offer assistance with food and supplies, but refuse to actively help the humans. Lions Arch takes in refugees as well, but can only offer a few platoons of Lion Guard soldiers in Gendarren. Only the Sylvari provide any real help, sending a large force north that proves vital in saving Fort Salma.

Remarkably, help comes from an unlikely ally. The Tengu, long quiet and hiding behind their walls in the Dominion of Winds, suddenly burst from the great north gate. They descend quickly upon the Mursaat in Kessex Hills, routing a large part of their forces there and sending them back into Queensland. The Tengu, it seems, know how to hurt the Unseen Ones.

It’s unclear why the Tengu chose to come out of hiding now(or what their motives are), or if the other races will choose to help. Only one thing is clear, humanity’s future hangs in the balance…

-somewhere along the Watchtower Coast, Kryta 1327 AE-

…Symun looked down into the blue-green waters, searching for his trap. He found it half buried in the sandy bottom, empty like the others. The river delta along the southern shore of Giant’s Basin was usually good for crabs. Today, the waters were eerily quiet.

He frowned to himself, and crouched there ankle-deep in the surf, letting the waves wash over his calloused hands. ‘I should have taken that job in Lions Arch’ he thought to himself, drooping his head a little at the prospect of working in that city. He hated city life, but out here in the middle of nowhere was proving to have its own hardships.

Scab, his old drakehound, started to bark erratically behind him, then suddenly began whimpering and whining. “What in Grenth is going on Scab!” Symun said as he whirled the dogs direction. Scab was laying low in the beach, tail tucked down, eyes darting back and forth between him and something to his right. Symun caught a tall shadow in the sand just then, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose instinctively. He hesitated, then turned his head slowly.

Standing…no, hovering there in front of him, 10 feet tall at least, was a humanoid creature. Golden yellow, with stringy black feathers radiating behind it, and glassy, cold, black eyes leering down at him. Symun tried to scream, but no sound escaped his lips. He lurched back, stumbling into the surf, and turned away, trying to get to his feet.

Suddenly his mind exploded in a cacophony of white noise. He instinctively put his hands over his ears to stop the piercing scream ripping into his brain. But there was no sound, nothing except the burning agony inside his mind. He fell to the ground in pain, face first in the water and sucking up surf. His lungs began to choke on sand and saltwater, but he couldn’t tell. The shrieking pain stabbing his mind numbed everything around him. His body convulsed, gasping for oxygen, but his head still lay flopping in the shallow water, twisting uncontrollably.

Finally his body stopped moving, his expression frozen in a grotesque mask of agony, still face down in the water. The creature floated over to the body, laid its bony foot over the lifeless head, and pushed it into the sand, burying it deeper with a sharp twist as a vertebrae snapped. It then rose up, turned to the south, and stared off at the far-away ramparts and banners of a distant city on a hill. The creature made an eerie scratching sound and its eyes darkened further, a menacing jet black.

“Humansss…” it hissed.

^
Kotaki has it right. Unfortunately it’s inverted, 90% is like that last frame of Quaggan poses, and 10% is the good stuff.

Maybe they ran out of time and slapped that skin on there.

What kind of damage do they hit you with? The prefix “ebon” was associated with earth-element damage back in the day (like Ebon and Ebon Hawk ), perhaps it’s an allusion to that. /shrugs

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

It was as if the writers expected us to like Destiny’s Edge, because they expected that we had read the books.

Well said Queen. ANet writer’s need to learn a little hubris. They might have thought they wrote this epic story, but tons of us know better. Covering their ears and eyes to that fact won’t get them anywhere with the players.

Narcemus.1348:

The problem is, the dissatisfaction in your case comes from the game in general, from day one. The dissatisfaction found throughout most of this topic, minus the OP, is found pointed in the general direction of the Living Story.

Hmm, I respectfully disagree. The Living Story gets called out on it because it’s so obvious. But the dissatisfaction I hear in-game, and see on these forums, is not restricted to just the LS. It’s endemic to the overall story arc.

For my part, I wasn’t really jaded at launch. On the contrary, I had a huge amount of optimism for the game, but it wasn’t until I played it for a month or two that I began to see it for what it was. The gorgeous landscape tamed me until then I suppose. :/

jheryn.8390:

True creativity in this case is not replacing or being constrained by known history, but using it and making it more rich.

That’s true, that is being more purely “creative.” But that’s certainly not the only thing to consider when expanding on an established fictional history. A good story, when borrowing heavily from another, should try as hard as it can to stay true to the spirit of the first. Otherwise the two seem incongruent and foreign to each other…which is exactly what we have here.

Whatever the reason for the massive disconnect(personally I think it was just plain old greed), the two games don’t really sync with each other right. Sure, technically most of it works and fits together, but realistically that’s not really the case. It’s like ANet did a game version of “Extreme Makeover” or something…bleh.

However, one simple question you can ask yourself it this:

Does this game really feel like Guild Wars 1 Tyria?

To me, it might as well be an entirely different game with it’s own separate lore. Everyone needs to judge that for themselves… but …the sheer amount of dissatisfaction attributed to this topic has to say something. There is such a thing as a consensual truth, however imperfect that may be.

ShadowPuppet.3746:

Deified.7520:

Keep rune, fix the spamability of stuns. Spamming is a huge problem in this game. They need to stop treating the symptoms with internal cooldowns and just address the sickness itself.

The only problem with this is that with the exception of thief no class can repeatedly spam the same skill over and over since they are tied to cooldowns. Now some classes can chain multiple stuns, knockdowns so on and so forth but the only way to address this issue would be to introduce a longer gcd(global cooldown) and noone wants that I don’t think. They could possibly add a system similar to defiant stacks to players where you can get one cc and then the rest become ineffective until the stacks are removed which I don’t think is a optimal choice either. So these runes are pretty much the best answer to that at the moment heh.

CC’s are the bread and butter of the W3 meta though(along with mobility). It’s not so much one profession having limited “spamibility” of CC’s, it’s the fact that a well coordinated small group can effectively shut down an opposing group if they do two simple things: rip stabo, and chain CC. The only sure-fire way to escape this is a double-dodge roll…which has its own cooldown to consider.

The more numbers you have with you, the more CC’s you can spam…and for a longer period. This is one of the major reasons why zerging is so beneficial and popular now; #CC’s > #stunbreaks/stabo

Konig Des Todes.2086:

For taking the time of providing many of the sources I was thinking of after I saw how little sense that interview was, and proving that I’m just too kitten ed lazy to, I present Thalador with this gif:

(P.S., I fully agree with everything I bothered to read of his posts; I suggest Angel do a recap on the game’s lore, otherwise I may have to hop on Obsidian’s bandwagon after vandalizing it to be “separate lore continuities between Guild Wars 2 and Living Story”)

I…I…erm… o.o

I don’t mean to ruffle any feathers, but why not just don’t worry about the Achievement Points? I mean, they are really just random lists used by ANet to tap into that vulnerable gamer psyche which compels them to “finish stuff” at any cost. But the things themselves aren’t really meaningful.

I could create the same exact effect using different variables. I’ll let ya’ll decide if it’s silly or not:

Taking my Dog for a Walk Achievement

• 5 points: purchase red leash from specific store
• 2 points: walk dog to City Park
• 10 points: engage dog in dog-activities for 30 minutes
• 2 points: walk dog to Longs Park
• 10 points: engage dog in dog-activities for 30 minutes
• 2 points: walk dog to Oak Park
• 10 points: engage dog in dog-activities for 30 minutes
• 5 points: walk dog to City Square
• 4 points: make dog do a flip in the air while balancing on a park bench full of squirrels
• Earn Achievement!: 50 points

I’d bet the farm that some gamer’s wives could get their hubbies to do this, with enthusiasm, every day if they made it an achievement.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Kudu was a terrible cliche villain in my opinion. He even says “Tah!” as he twirls his mustache and vanishes.

But Guild Wars does tend to have a record of badly written villains. Both the Lich and Shiro were incredibly shallow back in GW1, until Nightfall pasted some extra backstory to them. Varesh was also incredibly cliche, with unclear motives, but at least she looked cool.

I’d say the only villains that I really like are Mad King Thorn and Palawa Joko. Especially the Halloween game where the two of them met, was incredibly entertaining.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Scarred_Psyche

Read some of the dialogues for a chuckle or two.

You thought that dialogue was funny?