Guild Wars 2

No art… weeeeeeeell, let’s see, seashell trading post, octopus bank with fish tank, four fountains that spit into each other, the raining memorial with jade waves, the Comodors street in which the buildings are very old lions arch style crafted from boats with nets and hulls, the seaweed seaworld lIke honning that spreads overy the maim plasa… this new LA is very much grounded in modern art, while at the same time being larger, more open, and ten times more fortified, with 90% less junk. It still very much has a nautical theme, even the doors between each room of the vault are decorated sea themed. This very much looks like a tie in between a port city, a castle town and a modern art exhibit. How can you complain about there being no art, or it not being nautical enough, are you even on the same map? This has ten times more art value than the junk heap of old la

Thank you so much for addressing this issue in a timely and professional mannor, you (anet) have made a lot of little mistakes over the years, but for each and every one, you have listened to the community, addressed the issue, and resolved it… maybe much further down the road than we would have liked, but you always make up for your failings and setbacks, and as a customer, I wanted to let you know how much your efforts are appreciated.

With this change:
~Vets and new players have the same worth for their money, ie: core game now worth $10=1 character slot, also worth $10
~heart of thorns cheaper: if $10 worth of the $50 is either the core game for new players or the character slot for vets, that means the expansion is worth $40

And as such anet kills two birds with one stone, makes the game cheaper for those who think it’s not worth $50(not that I personally ever had a problem with the cost), and balances out the treatment between veterans and new players, giving us the same for our money.

That being said, I will prepurchase 2 coppies, and while I dont know if my family will prepurchase, I can guarantee you 4 more purchases at some point. Thanks again for resolving this quickly and fairly. Despite all the griping, I love you anet, and this is why, you always fix your mistakes and show that you value your customers above all else.

D best.3547:

Guys the base game cost $10 not much to be mad about… a character slot cost $10 they could make it even… I don’t know it’s true but the expansion looks so good. I wont pre purchase until more information comes out for HoT and that’s the only reason. I do agree Anet could make it fair for veteran players but it’s up to their business team not us.

$10? Hah, you’re kidding, right? I paid $50(5 times), and sure it was on sale for $10 for a time, but it’s current value is $30. That aside arguing that it’s okay because ‘$50 is the price of the expansion alone, and the core game is just a bonus’ rather than ‘the core game and heart of thorns are a bundle, and we want to pay for only the expansion and not the core sonce we al ready have it’ is irelivent semantics, the simple fact of the mater is that senior/vetran players are paying twice as much for the same amount of content and not getting anything extra for it.

Now I don’t think $50 is too much for an expansion and I’m more than willing to pay it. And I don’t believe vets should have special incentives or are entitled to anything, but that doesn’t mean they should treat new players to special benifets and forsake us, not to mention screw us over by making us pay twice as much.

I would be more than willing to pay $50 for the expansion… but not after this…

Vulcanite.3012:

Poeple are missing the point here. The problem is not with the Veterans or the people who buys HoT and then gets core game at the same time. The problem is everyone who bought the core game since the expantion was announced because in the FAQ it stated you need the core game to be able to play HoT and they changed it yesterday when they added the core game to HoT.

Interesting note: This expantion now costs more then I paid for the core game when it was first released in South Africa also about 1/4 of my month’s salary. Also feel so bad i convinced one of my friends to buy the game last week. He is so happy with me now.

While I understand and agree that those who were cheated by the FAQ have it worst than the vets, that doesn’t make the situation the vets are facing any less of a problem, the fact that they are being treated worst does not invalidate the fact that vets areally being treated bad too

Coodles.6198:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Coodles.6198:

And for those that are saying they just recently bought the game and feel shafted now… If you already knew an expansion was coming out, surely you knew you were going to be paying for it?

They feel shafted because the wording of the original FAQs page indicated the base game and HoT would be 2 separate purchases and it isn’t. It’s a one-time purchase for both games that the vast majority would have waited to buy together if they’d had any indication of that possibility at all.

Ok, that is a solid point. I had no idea about the FAQ issue. I’ve been wading through all the outcries and must have missed that.

I change my stance on people that recently purchased the game. That said, veterans of the game saying they feel shafted I just can’t wrap my mind around.

Why? Because we had to pay full price for two games, whereas new players buy one full price and get the previous free. Because for the same amount of content we had to pay twice as much, despite supporting anet since the beggining. i personally have spent overy $1000 on gems, but well, that was my own choice and while i dont expext any favortism for it, i most certainly am NOT okay with being screwed over instead. It’s just good customer service to reward loyalty. But even if you say we arn’t entitled to a discount, that doesn’t mean we should face the complete oposite and pay even more, not to mention twice as much.

The problem is not that the expansion isn’t worth $50, most mmo expansions are like that and I’m more than willing to pay, the problem is that new players are getting the same amount of content for half the price, that they only need to pay $50 whereas senior/veteran players had to pay $100(50 for original gw2 50 for expansion). How is that fair? How can anyone defend that? It’s like a slap in the face to those of us that have been loyal to the game since launch, that we have to pay more, twice as much even, then the new players to play the same amount of content, that is the problem, that is where anet is screwing us over.

Matatomi.8472:

It’s actually being funded by the Consortium, if I remember right. They have their surveyors everywhere in there.

No, its not being funded by the consortium, the consortium is contracted with the endeavor. There is a big difference, namely that the city council is paying them to rebuild Lions Arch rather than the other way around.

It was the Zephorite’s and Queen Jeanna’s fundraiser that gave LA the required funds to rebuild.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Pyro.4765:

Jorvych.3064:

Isn’t that what happened?

Isn’t it likely that if Kiel won they’d just give her that dialogue? I highly doubt that the massive “Invasion of Lion’s Arch” plotline hinged on Kiel being the elected candidate.

Either during or shortly after the Battle for LA stuff, someone from Anet said that if Evon had won the election, Lion’s Arch would have been better defended and thus suffered less in the attacks.

This said, however, Evon would be mucking about in the Mists if he won with stuff unrelated to Scarlet or other modern events (Abaddon fractal), and the Lionguard would still be about in Caledon Forest chasing after Scarlet. Going off of the datamined dialogue for Evon’s victory (yes, there is such a thing), Ellen would have gone rogue/full pirate rather than going back to the Lionguard – so she might have been going after things her way if not just go and not bother with anything (aka be put on the bus), rather than trying to butt heads with the council like she was having won the election.

No actually, the exact quote said that the result would have been ‘different’ they didn’t say whether it would be better or worst, players just assumed. But regardless events would have unfolded much the same, even if lions arch was slightly more defended and took slightly less damage.

Quaggin BBQ?! Give me the date and time, and ill be there!

Haha, honestly I don’t really hate quaggins, if I had to pick one reason for my dislike of them, it would be how they are overly romanticized. They really aren’t that cute, and their toddler level vocabulary, is grading to say the least. And NO, I do not want to ERP them… as a human, I am only interested in humans, and furthermore, I did not come to GW2 for that kind of thing in the first place and I have no intention of changing my stance now, and if I did, quaggins would not be the subject of my desires… ew, just ew. People have taken quaggins to a level of worship that they do not deserve, is quite freaky actually, and is rather annoying. So quaggin whipping party or BBQ? I’m there, XD

the only thing Im unsure of when I look at this concept art, is where the homes and shops are, it looks like just one massive building… well some of the other art pieces actually show city streets though, but I cant figure out where in this giant block those city streets are supposed to be. Hmmmm, but then again, we look at this and assume it scales the entirety of lions arch, but what if this is only one building, maybe the improved fort or the new aerodome?

I honestly hated the design of the previous lions arch, built from ships as it was, though I understand lore wise why they were implemented, the city always looked so trashy to me, like a human-sized skritsburge, where the five races collected their junk. Im so glad that city burnt to the ground.

What they are planning to build now however, looks much more appropriate, making use of the advanced technology, superior materials, and architectural marvels brought on through the collaboration of the five races, creating a city that is somewhere between scifi and fantasy, which is really the games two core genres. Im excited to see the finished art piece!

ZeftheWicked.3076:

Well i certainly don’t. Hated LA from day one.

And both chronomancer and reaper reveal were awesome and i have no complains there. Not saying Dragon Hunter was wasted time, i’m just not much into guardian.

Well, if you look at the concept art, this looks nothing like the lions arch that you hated… I honestly hated the ships too, though I understand lore wise why they were implemented, the city always looked so trashy to me, like a human-sized skritsburge, where the five races collected their junk. Im so glad that city burnt to the ground.

What they are planning to build now however, looks much more appropriate, making use of the advanced technology, superior materials, and architectural marvels brought on through the collaboration of the five races, creating a city that is somewhere between scifi and fantasy, which is really the games two core genres. Im excited to see the finished art piece!

I don’t know, when Lions Arch was first destroyed, like many others, I called on the forums for a player involved rebuild. But that was what, a year ago now? Now I’m just happy to finally see work on the city being done; at this point I just want LA back as soon as possible. It would have been nice (like six months ago) to see the city gradually be taken apart and then rebuilt, with numerous patches to show the development, but at this point in time, I think its too late to finally just start rebuilding, so it actually makes more sense that they were already working on it in the background, wherever this offsite location is. And with the reconstruction plan for the cities revival being ‘built offsite, airlifted in, and assembled onsite’ it doesn’t really make sense for us to help in the construction. Hmmmm, still things wouldn’t all be airlifted in in one day, so it would still be nice to see a couple patches showing the gradual construction.

If we think about this from a game development perspective, we know GW2 has a couple project teams so that they may work on various projects at the same time, but I believe at this time members from other teams were pulled in and drawn together to focus on Heart of Thorns, since its both a large undertaking, and a crucial point determining the game’s future. Whether they succeed or fail here doesn’t just change their future development direction, but also whether the game as a whole succeeds or fails. So quoting what Ruby said about a year before Heart of Thorns was announced is a bit… I would say it probably does not apply to this specific project, especially when its so close to its due date. Also, we have to consider that there were probably no event designers in the city development team in the first place, as the components of a city are only: art, terrain, sound, music, characters, and character dialogue. So you’re argument that this team functions separately from the heart of thorns team is invalid, because if they truly do work separately, then they don’t have the right cards on the table to do the kind of events we were requesting. And if they do pull team members from other teams, like players have said, it will slow down development.

I think Personal Story beginning from character creation up to the death of Zhaitan can be retrofitted to still maintain its “decisions are important and impact the story many ‘episodes’ down the road,” while gaining the replay-ability of being able to make different choices and go down different paths.

The simple way to do this, is to make the choices that only impact the next chosen instance within the ‘episode’, such as ‘which of the two/three instances do you want to do next?’, open to allow us to make different choices each time we replay, while making choices that impact future episodes, such as ‘which order do you want to join?’ locked after the first pick. This could be done by permanently blurring out the other selections, or just skipping the selection phase all together.

Also this idea could be expanded upon future living story episodes and expansions. For there to be a mix of replay-able choices that only impact the episode and thus can be reselected for a different rout/experience, and permanent choices that can only be made once, to still give the story that over arching depth and customization.

Though, I can see how it would be hard to write so many different branches for future content, so even if going forward, the system of permanent choices and replay-able choices will not work, it could still work for the current personal story content, and thus make it replay-able.

Gaile Gray.6029:

nGumball.1283:

Waiting the day when this thread gets a merge with the expansion one.
Happy new year!

I think they are separate topics and can stand alone. Thanks for the suggestions, though. And Happy New Year to you, as well!

haha, I think you missed his point. XDDD When he said he’s waiting for the two threads to merge, he meant he’s waiting for Cantha to be the next expansion. Haha, you’re a very literal person, aren’t you Gaile? ;P

At any rate, I cant understand why they take anything off the TP, they are cutting their potential profits in the process. Unlike items in real life wherein if sales drop, production becomes costly and redundant, and the potential gains of moving on to new avenues of income, forces them to discontinue old merchandise in favor of new products; online items, once created, have no further production cost and take up no warehouse space, so even if the sale of a particular item is sparse and infrequent, you will ONLY make money by keeping it available. And while the ‘buy it now before it is gone forever’ may force some to impulse buy what they otherwise would have not, I think the long term profits of an extended sale will outweigh the short burst, as there is an indefinite stem of interested customers. Thus I believe it would only be to your benefit to have all TP items permanent, I mean, why would you refuse potential profits?

Nyx.7342:

Wanze.8410:

So you can repeatedly state that you would like them, but I am not allowed to repeatedly say that I would rather have a game without bunny ears?

We’re both allowed to repeatedly state our opinions.

Although seriously what’s wrong with bunny ears :o cute stuff is the best stuff!

Only that Lore and Story wise its game breaking, as there is no such race that naturally grows bunny ears in game, and never has been (accept for actually bunnies). So for we who like to immerse ourselves into the story and cling to whatever fraction of realism the game has left, to pretend and imagine that the world of guild wars is a real, palpable place, guided by its own laws of nature, science, and magic, we who like to roll play, and create histories and lifestyles for our characters; well things like bunny ears and black wings really ruin it for us.

But well, I think its far too late to complain about such thing. They are already here, and some of them are permanent, so for those of us who don’t like them, we simply have to ignore them, and play however we desire without enforcing our opinions upon others. GW2 tailors to many different player bases, from launch it was meant to satisfy a large variety of play styles and interest groups, so we should respect that policy and the wishes of other players even if we do not share them.

I don’t like bunny ears, so I wont wear them, and I honestly would prefer a game without. Yes, I do think they are cute, no, I do not think cute things belong on a battlefield where friends are dying all around you. But that’s how I play. If others want to wear bunny ears, then by all means, let them be bunnies. When we play together I will simply use my imagination to edit them out, XD

There is nothing grindy about unlocking traits; you do 1 event per trait per character, and all of the required events are different with no repeats, which means, you have to do each event only once. That is not a grind, for the definition of grind involves boring repetition, having to do the same thing over and over again. So where, prey tell, is the repetition in doing something once?

You may claim that it is not ‘once’ per trait, because you have to do it with each and every character, but that goes for just about everything in GW2; class lvl, personal story chapter, crafting lvl, armor and weapon acquisition, world map completion; all of these have to be done AGAIN each time you make a new character, and thus if you consider re-earning a trait to be ‘grinding’, then so must be everything involved in making and developing a new character.

However, it is your CHOICE to make a new character, your choice to lvl it to 80, choice to redo world completion, choice to complete personal story, and choice to re-earn a new set of top tier gear, and as such, your choice to complete again each event required to acquire its respective trait. This would thus fall under the ‘optional grind’ clause, as you are not required to do any of it.

Can we get an update on this please anet?

It was something like a meeting between foreign diplomats, the first holds more power and appears more aggressive, so their rival, the second, feels pressured, and lashes out, a body guard of the first feels his master is endangered and fires a shot, and war breaks out. This, a rather simple depiction of what happened, is actually a pretty accurate representation of real life -just, on a much smaller scale.

I think I should make note, that I recently replayed this instance with a friend, and this time, made sure I was outside of the tent to see how the slaughter truly began. It’s hard to make out exactly what happened given the limited game mechanics for gestures, how quickly this all went down, and how small characters are on the screen, so whether the centaur attacked Faolain intending to kill her, he bumped into her on accident and sent her temper off, or he tried to detain her to make sure she made no trouble, I’m not certain, but one thing is for sure, the CENTAUR MADE THE FIRST MOVE. Also, Id like to note that the scout Caithe was talking to DID THREATEN HER So… while I personally don’t believe the centaur attacked Faolain with the intention to kill her -More likely, he attempted to detained her, and she didn’t want the ‘mangy beast’ to touch her- I am certain that the centaurs started it, and it escalated from there.

but what i’m against here is how it’s presented mainly. I do not need to be Caithe to understand this information, particularly what was given to us here. I’m not even asking that Caithe cease to exist or everything gets rewritten – I’m just saying there has got to be a way to deliver this information without ripping me from my body and thrusting it into Caithe as a playable person even though for intents and purposes I really only “control” her for combat, and not for thinking. I enjoyed the gameplay, I just don’t care to be Caithe – and I understand others will, and others did – and feel that there must be a better way around the forcing of it.

True, there are other ways, instead of being her, we could have watched from the sideline… but then it would have been impossible for us to join the fight -no, forget fighting, we wouldn’t even have a physical form in her memory, because we weren’t present back then, she never saw or interacted with us, and thus any interaction we make would skew the true memory. If we in any way helped or hindered her to succeed or fail, then that would mean, we physically had to be there in the past, otherwise the events would not have flowed as they did. But as we do not wish to see a false memory, and we are not time traveling, that is impossible. Thus for this content there is two options, watch an extremely long series of cut scene -like a true TV episode- or play as Caithe… and as this is a game, and most players want to play it, it is obvious that playing as Caithe is the only real option.

KorbanDallas.7389:

I’m not witnessing the past, I’m playing the past – something that’s a fixed event that already should have happened, but gives me the illusion of having some sort of control over it, which is false. My character’s only real interaction is “go to place X, and come out of the experience with a single-track mind when it comes to explaining to Jory.” I know that it wasn’t a clear cut case of ‘being attack by centaurs’ as I witnessed it as Caithe, but apparently my real character is prone to not telling Jory what he knows already – that Faolin isn’t nice and Caithe loves her anyways. I mean, I get it, I do, but my characters involvement still ends at “plant seed.” It would be the equivalent of having him pick up and read a journal from Caithe’s bedroom. It’s involvement, but not the level of it I would have liked to see – my character’s involvement is literally having a daydream of the past.

No, It doesn’t give you the illusion that you are controlling the past, it gives you the illusion that you ARE Caithe, and can recall her past exactly as if it were your own, to remember everything she’s done, from the lightest flick of her wrist to release a dagger, to the very thoughts and emotions that course through her mind as they occur. That’s the kind of memory this is, you are immersed in it, not simply watching from the sideline, but rather from within her body, living it, not watching it, seeing what Caithe sees, feeling, what she feels.

And yes, all you’re doing is reliving memories right now, but that is so YOUR character can act later. Its like an officer cadet studying old battles at school, so that when they graduate, they may properly direction real ones on the field. That doesn’t make them any less in charge on the actual battle field, the time spent studying the past, was to strengthen themselves as leaders and strategist. In that same way, we are strengthening ourselves as commanders by learning of Caithe’s past.

I guess the main problem here -as far as I’m concerned – is that I was shoehorned into her involvement in the egg at all (as others have said, to the point of her stalking you regardless of if you told her to stop, which would have been a red flag to anyone who would find that behavior suspicious as it obviously is). If she just mysteriously popped up and decided to steal it, it’d be one thing (at least then my character should reasonably be surprised by the turn of events), but as it is all this story has done was shown us how we needed to go to a locked door. From the start, it was a case of either The newest part hasn’t really made me feel any different about the actions of a person who’s supposed to act like a hero and yet steals from a guy who helped get the gang back together and deal with their personal issues (in dungeons) without so much as a shorthand explanation.

I don’t believe it would have been as ‘obvious’ as people are all claiming it to be without Wooden Potatoes predicting this turn out, because it put us in the sate of mind that ‘this might happen’ so we weren’t surprised when it did, more over, it gave the story the appearance of being predictable, because well, one player with a lot of media attention, predicted it.

I personally remember coming out of the last boss fight on Episode 4, and stating in map chat that I thought Caithe might be a traitor, due to what Trehearn said in the instance, and Scarlet said in the TA Aether path dungeon. But at that time, no one in map chat agreed. And then one week before the release of episode 6(after the trailer), Wooden Potatoes made the same perdition, and then suddenly everyone was sure it would happen. Thus, when you read Caithe’s dialogue and watched her behavior, you were LOOKING for something suspicious, and when you look for signs you WILL find them.

If however, you take a step back and look at it from the perspective of your character, who is a good friend of Caithe’s and trust her judgement, having fought at her side against Zhaitain AND Faolain, your life having been in her hands and hers in yours countless times, then its not suspicious at all that she wants to come with you, especially considering the gravity of the situation. This egg could mean the absolute destruction of Tryia or its salvation; rather than being surprised at Caithe joining us, I’m shocked the others didn’t come too. Though we could chalk that down to them having other duties/responsibilities.

Anyandrell.6238:

I think in all this debate, people actually forgot the scope of the whole journey. We are to figure out where Caithe went with the egg, and why. That is the reason why we are going through all those memories.

The story is poorly written not because of the syrupy love dialogues – because, after all, we’re dealing with Sylvari, they ARE all lovey-dovey – but because it contradicts so much of the lore and history to date.

Let’s see the “sins”:

1. In this memory it’s not Rhiannoc who died first, like the PS (and the wiki itself) describes. But other 3 first born and Rhiannoc is getting ready to go on his journey.

2. The Asura, after capturing and torturing Malomedies, realize he is a sentient being and release him and apologize; then they turn around and capture more sylvari for their experiments? Also, Sylvari powering up golems?

3. The second born only now are awakening, and haven’t really gone beyond “Mother’s roots”, the first ones doing so are kidnapped by the Asura. Neveretheless, Faolain comes to the Silverwastes with a full platoon of assorted Sylvari fighters. Who are they and where did they come from? The answer some people gave me was “oh it’s been a while so they had time to get all trained and stuff”. Doesn’t seem at all like “it’s been a while” at least not long enough.

Feel free to add.

Point 3 is inconsequential, if you play a sylvari character, you are ready to fight and adventure the very moment you are born, as you were taught by the ‘dream’ and memories from previous sylvari, in this case, just the first born, but as there are some pretty skilled warriors in that lot, I would say it is sufficient. Also, they have been awake for 2 months, so that’s plenty of time for more direct training as well.

I love this puzzel, its vast, occupying the entire map, crossing both the great messa’s far above the battleground, and massive intricate caverns deep below. The terrain atop the messas is beautiful and the complexity of this puzzel is amazing! Though… it would have been a nightmare to do without friends or Dulfy, I couldn’t immagine solo exploring this; I tried from the begining, but then quickly joined a group that seemed to know what thyey were doing. lucky for me, they did! I mean, dulfy is great and all, but I hate looking back and forth between my computor and phone.

KorbanDallas.7389:

TL;DR – My main complaint is that I want my character to have more involvement in the story outside of “go from A to B to play as a different person.” It’s an MMO – I didn’t spend all the time I did crafting them the way I wanted just to use someone else. It might have been refreshing gameplay (as in the missions themselves), but I personally don’t care about Caithe and would rather have had it delivered in a less “obtrusive” manner.

…Your character is Involved in the story, YOU are witnessing the past, to understand whether someone you thought was a friend: is a friend, an enemy, or something in between, a friend with a delicate and complicated dark past that is forcing her to do something shady; to understand whether she is doing something wrong for pitiable reason, something she believes is right, but is not necessarily so, something that IS right, but you are not yet aware of it, or something on lines so gray, it is impossible to judge what is right and wrong; where she is and what she is doing; and most importantly, what YOU are going to do about it. Understanding and dealing with the present requires YOU to see the past, and puts YOU in the right frame of mind, to know just how to deal with it.

Sometimes to further one character’s development, you have to step back and strengthen another’s. Read an epic fantasy, like the Wheel of Time, and perhaps you will understand, how one event, one character, will impact a hundred others; and a hundred others, that one in return. A good story does not focus on one person. And a great character is developed not only by their actions, but by the actions of others. Well, that’s not to say the quality and depth of this story is even a hundredths of Jordan’s, as IT IS NOT, but reference still stands, a story lives and thrives through the acts of many characters, not just one.

Windsagio.1340:

The problem is, you have to ignore every single thing that’s happened up to that point in that specific memory for it to be reasonable.

When you start you see Faolain has brought in a military force ‘for protection’. Soon after, you meet the centaurs and they’re very respectful and friendly. Then Faolain starts saying hateful things, then they’re less repsectful, then they argue some, then Faolain pretty much directly threatens Wynne with abduction by force, then Caithe goes into the tent. There’s no point in the entire time Faolain isn’t being extremely hostile and going through extremely provocative acts.

From Caithe’s perspective it might be possible, Caithe is like, super kittening stupid. But your Character should have a better idea.

Even better she could go into the fight, and then afterwards turn to Faolain and say “I love you, and I’ll fight to the death for you, but what the kitten is wrong with you that you just did all that?”

Once again, Caithe does not know who started the fight; yes, Faolain was being rude, she did disagree with the Centuer’s intentions to hold Wayne there, and did bring a guard -which could be perceived as a threat- but that doesn’t mean she struck out first; for all Caithe knows, she COULD have been defending herself. You agree that Faolain’s show of force, manor, intentions, and words(her all together open hostility), could be perceived as a threat, so perhaps they took it as one, and acted upon it, dousing her flame before it had a chance to rampage.

Historically, most expeditions into new territory all involve body guards or soldiers to some degree, and even diplomats often travel with guards, so to claim Faolain intended to slaughter the Centuers simply because she brought a militant force -which she claimed to be for their own protection- is making a bit of leap, a leap our character may make because he know’s Faolain’s future, having encountered and repelled her in it, but a leap Caithe, likely would not, because she trust and loves Faolain, believing her to be a good person. Furthermore, we must remember Faolain IS not yet evil at this point; for however much she is becoming so, for however dark and horrible her actions are, currently she is acting upon what she believes to be good intentions.

To that point, can our characters be absolutely sure Faolain launched the attack? We were, after all, looking from Caithe’s eyes, and thus only saw what she did. I would like to judge mine as more open minded than to brand an enemy as having been a criminal from birth. Actually, as a player, I didn’t even see who started the attack, as I was focused on Caithe, the centuer (chief?), and their conversation, and so I too, cannot know for certain who started it. Though, don’t get me wrong, I do believe it was Faolain.

But from another point, we must realize, if our character was reliving Caithe’s memories, through her eyes, in her body, did we not think and feel as she did, witnessing every thought coursing through even the darkest corners of her mind, the very moment it did so? Is there not a chance that even now we are effected by her lingering emotions? Our characters would now know that there WAS goodness in Faolain, and remember feeling love for her, even if from another’s mind.

With that being said, while whether or not our characters felt Faolain started the fight may still be up for debate, I am CERTAIN Caithe didn’t. -And, even if she did, even if she knew her lover was falling into darkness, would she have stepped back and let her die, without even trying to reclaim her goodness, or more still, would she stand with the Centuers and put her down? Would you? I don’t think I would.

To those of you, whom would prefer to watch Caithe’s adventures as cutscenes… do you guys know how long those would take? The course of this episode would have taken at least 10-30 minutes of video footage to complete (including -but limited to- the traveling, talking, and fighting that occurs in the instances)… and putting aside what such an undertaking would do to ANet’s budget and 2 week deadline… few players want to spend that long watching a game, they want to PLAY it.

Furthermore, we were not simply watching a memory, we were reliving it, we were Caithe -and for that- it only makes sense that we play as her. Anything else would have been out of place in the context of the story, and would have failed to progress its development as much. No, this was a much needed plot device, but do not fear that it will occur often, if ever again; it was only employed because it would be the BEST way to show/play this segment of the story, it is unlikely that another episode will do so again, and if so, this type of content will be few and far in between. Thus there is no need to worry about ‘wanting to play your own character’, you have done so until now, and will continue to do so after this -one or two episodes played as a different person, do not change the fact that you play your own characters 99% of the time.

On another note, this was quite refreshing to those of us who played GW1, filling us with warm ‘feels’ of the time we played as Togo, Gwen, and the other NPC’s who had bonus missions. Unlike the bonus missions however, this was actually woven into the plot of the story, allowing us to experience lore, but in a matter that did not ‘put us out of game’ so to speak.

I felt this was quite challenging, to me, and all players that do not have a thief -and even to thieves- who do not necessarily have the skill set Caithe uses. I also found the game mechanics deployed during the assault on the Assuran complex to be both an interesting and enjoyable change of pace.

Also, I would like to note, this is not the first time we’ve played as bad guys, FoTM Urban Battleground anyone?

I don’t know, I mean, Caithe was in a tent, and could only hear Faolaon’s screams, not actually see the conflict, who started it, and why; all she had to go off of (when she stepped out) was the view of Centuers fighting Faolaon and her followers to the death, and as they were actively in combat, no time to ask questions.

Ask yourself, if you heard screams from your lover -who you believe to good of virtue and intent- and rushed out from the tent to see her fighting for her life (for whoever started it, it IS clear that her life is now at risk) what would you do, who would you help, would you try to ask questions in the middle of a battle, try to pacify the combatants as they kill each other left and right, step back and watch, help the enemy put your lover down? No, you would step in and fight at her side.

So I think Caithe’s actions, from her perspective, are reasonable.

I’m not going to lie, I’m really excited about the prospect of playing as caithe, and reliving here memories! Well, I know we are likely overthinking -and thus overhyping- this, but it would be amazing if it happened!

Gaile Gray.6029:

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

Personal Story in the daily today. Yup, can’t finish can’t finish Chpt 6. A light in the darkness. Oh well.

Got disconnected from the server. On relogging, the PS completed. Who knows why.

Well, that’s odd! Perhaps an early Wintersday gift from Dwayna?

I don’t make light of the issue, believe me, nor of the concerns about the situation. But I can’t help but think it’s quite nice that a work-around took place that allowed you to get the daily credit.

…for most players, daily is quite fast and easy to complete… but for all of them, if a glitch causes you to complete this personal story step (without actually being able to experience it), you will never be able to play it again… so there’s no way this is a ‘nice’ outcome, for everyone here would rather have the latter than a free daily.

On a side note, any news for us? ;3

I think this might play out like the bonus missions from gw1, where you play as one of the iconic npc characters; this could be achieved through a magical spell, assuran science, or a mixture of both, but effectivly, we will see a flashback of caithe’s past, by playing it ourselfs. I have mixed feelings about this, it was cool to play as togo and the rest, but I hated having their builds and armor forced upon me. Still, if anet did go this rout, it would be cool.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I believe since this refers to the same storyline, this reponse from our narrative director would apply to the situation described in this thread. If they are different problems, please let me know. I feel that overall the same information about “My Greatest Fear” and its future corrections would also apply here.

Thanks.

This is deffinitly the same topic Gaile, can you merge these threads please?

Gaile Gray.6029:

I believe I understand you’d like to know if the Personal Story can be “reset” to a previous state. I have sent an email to ask about that and will let you know when I get some info for you.

Thank you so much Gaile! Your dedication and concern for the player base is a refreshing light in the darkness, and means more to us than you may ever know! I can’t tell you how excited I was when I saw your post, and even more so when I read it, not another off-topic or cryptic message, no trolling or snark, but you actually touched the issue and are doing your best to resolve it for us, that means a lot to me! Since you have joined, the comunications between ANet and players has improved ten fold, and I’m excited to see where you are leading this comunity. Really, thanks for the hard work!

And, I appologize for the relentless assult of negative -and, sometimes quite demanding, emails and forum post I’ve launched towards your staff, your reply shows us I have truly misjudged you(ANet, not you specifically) and you really do care; about us, and your game.

What you told us is exactly what we wanted to hear; that you are awear of the problem and doing your best to fix it. Even if it may take a long time, or isn’t restored to its original order as we prefer, knowing that it will be fixed, no matter how you do it, is all we really needed to hear. That alone, while prehaps not our favorite answer, is enough to make us happy, because while we prefered the original order, what we want the most, is simply to have a personal story that makes sense. (Because the storyline is one of the things we love about this game) So thank you again!

I play at home about 4-12hours a day, and use the forum while on break, traveling to and from work, and sometimes while at home (though most of the time I’m too busy playing to use the forum at home)

So another reason I don’t think the reason caithe stole the egg for the nightmare court, is that scarlet said, “I know something about you that faolain doesn’t,” which hints that there is some other secret propelling her.

She is obviously not insane, and thus is not corrupted by Mordremoth (we know she cant be corrupted in the first place, as both the nightmare court and the pale tree are immune, only the soundless can be taken), and that she does not sound evil, and feels it is important to tell us, ‘there is not time to explain’ means she still cares about how we view her, which in turn means she is not evil, if perhaps harboring twisted and complex reasons, still has good intentions, so I do not feel she is deep in the nightmare either.

Which, is why elegance to a third, yet unknown party, such as the highly referenced but mysterious Mr. E, seems the most likely cause for her action. Likely the next episode will reveal a lot about what can be done with the egg, and why she feels it must be done.

Also, in ‘Tracking the Aspect Masters’ there is a mysterious stranger watching us, Mr. E himself, perhaps?

Here’s an even better picture of the ‘Mysterious Stranger’ found in “Tracking the Aspect Masters”.

I personally played through the instance without noticing him at all, and then on a replay he was pointed out by a friend, and yet the interesting thing, is that he doesn’t seem to be there by chance, but rather, given where he is standing, seems to be watching us. So I very much feel he will be a very integral part of the plot to come, perhaps even, Mr. E himself. This is alluded even further by Caithe’s peculiar ‘betrayal’ and her comment that there is ‘no time to explain’. There is no doubt in my mind, that what players are dismissing as a weak episode, is actually the beginning of a mystery, that will unravel not just Caithe’s intentions, but perhaps, our very mysterious friend, Mr. E.

She is obviously not insane, and thus is not corrupted by Mordremoth (we know she cant be corrupted in the first place, as both the nightmare court and the pale tree are immune, only the soundless can be taken), and that she does not sound evil, and is willing to take the time to tell us, ‘there is not time to explain’ means she still cares about how we view her, which in turn means she is not evil, if perhaps harboring twisted and complex reasons, still has good intentions, so I do not feel she is deep in the nightmare either.

Which, is why elegance to a third, yet unknown party, such as the highly referenced but mysterious Mr. E, seems the most likely cause for her action.

JusticarArkiel.1564:

i only have one problem with this: they said they’re aware of the problem…………..2 months ago. by all means, we should make it known to anet whenever possible, but i’m starting to lose hope in them ever going and fixing any of the PS, they’re too busy locking things behind pay/grind walls and adding to their precious (and now going downhill story-wise) living story.

Hah! One poor update (and it wasn’t horrible, just depressingly short), doesn’t mean they are going down hill, it appears lacking due to how amazing their previous update was, but that doesn’t mean it serves as a turning point, for all we know the next could be their best yet; its too soon to judge.

And if they have said as much, it wasn’t on this thread. I know they have regarded the confusion caused by mixing up chapters 7 and 8, as an error they intend to fix, but to my knowledge, they have said nothing in regard to the loss of the ‘my greatest fear’ arc.

Welcome back MountainPanda, I too believe this is a great community, and believe that together, we can make GW2 an even more AMAZING game than it already is! XD

Gaile Gray.6029:

Thanks a lot for your insights, MountainPanda! And welcome back to Tyria.

—While we enjoy seeing you post here, please reply to important issues too ANet.

My Greatest Fear, is that ANet doesn’t care.—

Okay, I’m done sitting here waiting for the ice to thaw in Greenland, its time to do something about this, and so I’ve resolved to unite the player base in a peaceful protest.

On every thread in which the topic is not an important issue, and yet ANet employees reply there while neglecting the real problems (you know the ones I’m talking about: the, ‘thank you ANet for being awesome’, or ’how many damage points can you get from jumping to your death?" type of threads; ie any thread that does not discuss core game mechanics, story and character development, features, or bugs), we will simply post this:

—While we enjoy seeing you post here, please reply to important issues too ANet.

My Greatest Fear, is that ANet doesn’t care.—

But for this to work, we must be civil, respectful, and friendly; remember, this is a PEACEFUL PROTEST, so I will outline a list of rules that will serve to guide you in that endeavor.
1. Each player in accord with our protest may ONLY post this message ONCE per thread (and only on mundane threads that ANet replies to), but ALL are encouraged to post on EACH THREAD THAT APPLIES, even if another player has already done so; for the more voices that resound, the more our cause will grow in strength.
2. You are to type no more and no less than the above stated entry, nor are you to add another post regarding our protest. (Explaining it, Encouraging it, and Justifying it, is NOT permitted)
3. If another player jumps in to argue with, or attack you for posting this statement, you will NOT respond. To do so would send the thread spiraling off-topic, which MAY result in the thread getting locked, and perhaps corrective action on the part of ANet’s staff; and WILL result in a negative regard for our movement from both the patrons of the thread in question, and ANet.
4. We are not here to to dissuade ANet from replying to such topics, or to suggest that these threads are ‘stupid’ or ‘not worth our time’, we only wish for them to reply to our more… sensitive… threads too.
5. We do not wish to come off as ‘whiners who only complain’, but rather, to present ourselves as players who truly love and care about this game, and thus cannot bare to see it destroyed. To those ends, after leaving the the post of protest, you are encouraged to take an active and positive roll in the actual topic of the thread.
6. We will not actively look for such threads, but will act upon them as we see them; we are not trolls.
7. This protest will continue until ANet leaves a statement on this thread; we’re not looking for anything specific, a simple “we are aware of the problem” would suffice if nothing else.

Sure, there are not as many epic mega eventes (yet), but the story and character developement, lore connections to personal story and gw1, depth and enterment value, the quality of cutscenes, and the story presentation and progression is a FAR better than season 1, you can’t even compair them really. sure, its not an amazing story now, but considering what they had in season 1, its a briliant revelation. they are finally heading in the right direction in terms of story telling, and you ask them to turn back?! ABSOLUTELY NOT!

dlonie.6547:

ColinJohanson.2394:

Either way, we’re aware of the need and will address it “when it’s ready™”.

Might want to duck and grab a shield after that last bit. Eat some fire salts for +Flame Resistance

No way, that was a great answer. They are aware of the problem, looking for a solution, are open to suggestions, and will put a fix in when they find one. How can you flame them for this? That’s one of the most direct and straightforward messages we’ve received from the Iron Fortress of Silence. I could almost propose now…

On topic: I loved the new silverwast map, the integration of wvw gameplay into pve was genius, and what’s more, it worked! It also was perfecftly placed to effectivly drive the current storyline (of taking, fortifying and maintaining the pacts presence as they prepare to move in on mordremoth). This created intrigueing and fun group events that encurraged us more than ever to work together. I also loved the lore connections of episode 5, your story telling has improved expedentially, and it truly was fun to play. I won’t lie, glints lair had me bouncing and squeeling through multiple fan-girl-gasms. So, please continue fleshing out this amazing content, I love the direction you’re going Iin!

DaveGan.8065:

I don’t think we’re in much disagreement here. I did not push all of the fault onto OP, merely “most” of it. While I may downgrade to “some”, it would take a very compelling argument to sway me further. (regarding OP’s intent, ignorance is not an excuse)

Perhaps we can look at the thesis. I’m seeing something to the effect of “ANet deserves a lot of praise. Discuss.” Most of the dissenting replies carry the tone of “ANet does not deserve that much praise because…”. Again, by providing arguments in favor of why ANet deserves thanks, OP opens up the door to arguments in opposition to that position. Perhaps if OP does not wish for a true discussion, OP can make a support ticket with the same message like she has been telling dissenters to do

So long as it is accepted for ANet defenders to post dissent in the “These are the things that are wrong with this game” threads, there should be zero issue with you or I posting in threads like this one.

On that, I’m somewhat borderline, while the format of the OP’s post was a letter, and thus does not invoke the intention to have a discussion, this is however a forum, where-in, discussing multiple views on an issue, is the principle objective. if she wanted it simply be be a clear, clean letter of personal thanks, with no dissention involved, then doing so via email ‘ticket’ would haven been the better option. However, I truly feel the OPs intention wasn’t merely to send her personal thanks, but to gather -as if on a silver plater- that of others players, which, would not be possible through a ticket, but as we both agree a forum is a place for discussion, does invite opposing positions. still, you must agree, that THIS is off topic, and if you wish to continue it, mail me through the forum, but don’t post here anymore.

DaveGan.8065:

Otaku, you’ve made dissenting remarks, but there is no irrelevant content. The topic is titled “Dear Anet”, not “Thank you Anet”, and you have simply followed everyone else in expressing your opinion to Anet. The only hijacking going on here is others’ intolerance for dissent. Don’t apologizing for that, and don’t get bullied out by it.

In my opinion the fault lies mostly with OP here in making an ambiguous title, which I suspect may have been driven by a (conscious or unconscious) motivation to get people to click and read rather than skip.

Yes, “Thank You Anet” or “[White Knight Thread] Dear Anet” would get dismissed by some, with many skipping it knowing exactly what the message is inside. On the other hand, you would have a significantly stronger argument against dissenting views in such a topic.

Such is the double edged sword of ambiguity.

I would disagree with you there, while tittles are not without consequence, it is the opening body paragraph, or more specificly, the thesis that establishes the topic, and that is indeed to complement ANet. My plea, while perhaps not wrong, was truly mislaid, and has driven the this thread off topic.

You were right about the ambeguity of ‘dear anet’ drawing me in, as I was curious of what the op had to say, and prehaps that does have an unconcious effect, but as reasonable clear thinkers who wish to protray a strong effective argument, we must be able to control such pulls. I didn’t, and that’s were the fault lies.

Aerwyna.2541:

OtakuModeEngage.8679:

Aerwyna.2541:

Youre welcome, Gaile.

And Im not kissing "anet kitten. lol some people just dont understand the act of expressing gratitude. I simply wanted to express my thanks for this beautiful game and maybe allow a few others to do the same.

As a person that has worked in a graphic design field, its nice to hear a “thank you” or a “you did a good job” every once in a while, since most of the time you hear constructive (and sometimes not so constructive) criticism of your work.

If you have a problem with this, make your own thread explaining how no one answers your questions or addresses your concerns etc. As i know, i cant stop you, Id appreciate if you could not make this into that sort of thread. Thank you and have a great day.

I personally have never said there is anything wrong with giving complements and congradulating devs for good work and amazing content, I have done so many times over the course of living story season 2. so I do not have a problem with this thread, the problem is that devs will reply to this type of thread, but not others that touch up on important matters.

I understand and as I said, you could make a thread and complain about that there. But not here, please. If that’s not too much to ask.

Edit: as you edited yours, I am sorry they have told you that. But that is not my concern. Maybe you should contact a staff member or send in a ticket?

Tickets of this mater are replied with ‘you should post on the forum’ howerver, you are correct, this was not the appropriate medium through which to express my exasperation and fustration with the lack of communication, I appologize, and will not do so again, as it only serves to derail and discredit the topic of this thread. But, if not here, on its own featured page, or through email, then where ANet? You may wish topic to go away, and believe me, so do I, but it won’t dissapear, until things change, it will continue to itch at us, until we are absolutely disgusted with the game we love, all because you do not communicate with your customers. I only ask that you do not let it end like this. forcing us to bottle up our unanswered anxiety until we explode, is not the solution. so either give us a form through which we can communicate our anxiety, or erradicate it all together simply by talking to us… that’s all I ask. and its the last I will say here.

Aerwyna.2541:

Youre welcome, Gaile.

And Im not kissing "anet kitten. lol some people just dont understand the act of expressing gratitude. I simply wanted to express my thanks for this beautiful game and maybe allow a few others to do the same.

As a person that has worked in a graphic design field, its nice to hear a “thank you” or a “you did a good job” every once in a while, since most of the time you hear constructive (and sometimes not so constructive) criticism of your work.

If you have a problem with this, make your own thread explaining how no one answers your questions or addresses your concerns etc. As i know, i cant stop you, Id appreciate if you could not make this into that sort of thread. Thank you and have a great day.

I personally have never said there is anything wrong with giving complements and congradulating devs for good work and amazing content, I have done so many times over the course of living story season 2. so I do not have a problem with this thread, the problem is that devs will reply to this type of thread, but not others that touch up on important matters.

As for starting our own thread on ‘devs not communicating’ we have done so twice, and twice these threads have been closed with Gaile informing us the second time, that she would apprecieate if we did not make a third. but with all due respect Gaile, until you start properly responding, even if we do not post, in our hearts, this topic (the simple desire to talk to you) will never die. please don’t give us such a tragic end.