Guild Wars 2

I killed her so Braham wouldn’t have a chance. That way, he didn’t get that feat to build his legend, and he’ll be forever stuck as the sidekick to someone on the bottom rungs of charr society.

::evil laugh::

Okay, no. I just did it to shut her up.

I’ll log in, get my daily chest, and log back out.

It’s my weekend to work. 12 hour shifts. So, I’ll have no time or energy to test anything.

Guild halls will be their own maps, so there’s two maps there.

That golden city may be its own map, we don’t know yet.

What we really don’t know is the number of “normal” maps where we’ll spend most of our time playing. It could still be only one map, and everything they’ve said would still be true.

Personally, I’m guessing only one map, with two more unlocking later as they let the story slowly progress.

There’s a point being made that it looks like members of Destiny’s Edge and DE 2.0 are being changed to the new classes.

I will forgive them entirely for giving thieves a staff, if they do this to Caithe, and the next time we see her she’s carrying a custom staff. One made out of Faolain’s spine, with her head still stuck on the end of it.

That, as a storyline moment, would be worth it.

I’d rather have them come back at 1 ticket. Their value is how they look, that’s it. Giving players more outfit and gear appearance options is a good thing. I don’t care what they’re selling for on the gemstore yesterday vs today.

Actually, what I’d really like to see is scraps turned into tickets, and current tickets turned into stacks of 10 tickets. Keep the ticket prices the same, then, and just let more of the items flow into our wardrobes. I’d be far more tempted to buy chests instead of just farming for them if that was done, because progress towards the skins I want would be much more reasonable.

There’s apparently problems with PvP reward tracks being reset, as well as collections and the lists of cleared dungeons. Maybe more. I’m not logging in until I hear official word that they’ve fixed this, just in case.

lordkrall.7241:

Palador.2170:

Something tells me that they were not really serious.

Or maybe, just maybe an issue turned up soon after that would have broken something else, so they decided to not go ahead with it?

Rather funny this. People always whine about them not testing stuff enough, but when they actually do test stuff, people whine about them not releasing stuff fast enough.

Now the “fix” is live and… it seems there was a problem with it anyway. ::bitter laughter:: Nobody wins.

Headcase.4618:

Welp, guess I’m not playing for a while.

Pretty much this for me, too. Given how long it took them to fix the HoM problems, I think this is going to call for a massive rollback. No point in playing and messing up my account, especially if anything I gain is going to be lost in the attempt to fix this.

Arlee.7038:

Palador.2170:

I’m a RPer, and I have characters that would have matched Elementalist Sword and Thief Rifle perfectly. And while the Elemenalist will actually work well with the reality of the Tempest, the Thief and staff are such a mismatch that I’m now worried about all of it.

You of course don’t have to use the elite spec or new weapon regardless of what it is. So after it is revealed if you don’t think it fits your character don’t use it

Yeah, I know. I’ll just stick with his trademark weapons, dual pistols. Because those work so well now, right? ::sigh::

I was hoping not only to use a rifle, but to find some traits that would make the pistols worthwhile again. Now I’m going to have to play him like yet another of the many generic thieves in the game.

Emtiarbi.3281:

I think what is left to show is:

- Elite Specs (5 remaining).
- Legendary weapons and precursors.
- Hard Content.
- The Map.

Am i missing something?

Missing? No, but they’re going to be missing some of the new legendaries when HoT comes out, so I’m not sure they’ll want to remind everyone of that fact.

SoulstitchMMO.1396:

Please only positive responses

.
..
…

Yeah, I think that sums it all up.

[Edit] To be fair, there’s some stuff I like here, really. Bits and pieces. But love? No.

Try again, devs.

glehmann.9586:

TexZero.7910:

glehmann.9586:

Palador.2170:

Linken.6345:

Yes we do mate how quickly people forget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxLkfXwxLTs

check the 37:45 mark in that video link

And are we sure they’ve not changed it?

I’ll admit, it’s not likely they’ll make it something else. But, this is ANet. They change plans all the time.

This is some first-class goalpost-shifting.

It’s not goalpost shifting if its a direct quote from their livestream. The notes of which can be found here -> https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3eh7gd/tempest_elite_specialization_livestream_notes

What I mean is, Palador asked if there was any proof that Druids were getting staff outside of the HoT preview video. Linken showed that yes, yes there is.

Instead of accepting that there is indeed proof beyond that preview video of Druids getting staves, Palador shifted the goalposts so as to not invalidate the point he was trying to make.

I’m not saying that Anet shifted the goalposts, I’m saying that Palador did.

Yeah, I guess I kind of did. Sorry.

I’m just feeling a bit paranoid right now, and doubting everything we think we know. Like worrying that the drones we see in the video are not new to the Engineer, but something added in an adventure and used there only. Just worrying that some of the cool stuff I’ve been looking forward to from day one simply won’t happen. (And I’ve tried to keep my expectations low.)

I’m a RPer, and I have characters that would have matched Elementalist Sword and Thief Rifle perfectly. And while the Elemenalist will actually work well with the reality of the Tempest, the Thief and staff are such a mismatch that I’m now worried about all of it.

And yes, by this time I’m pretty much resigned to Thief getting staff. None of the skins I have will even look good for a melee staff, and I don’t want to be stuck using the same skin as everyone else.

Linken.6345:

Yes we do mate how quickly people forget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxLkfXwxLTs

check the 37:45 mark in that video link

And are we sure they’ve not changed it?

I’ll admit, it’s not likely they’ll make it something else. But, this is ANet. They change plans all the time.

ronpierce.2760:

They haven’t added all of the files yet, likely meaning it’s just being worked on. They didn’t have the Reaper hood while they did have the Weapon. Or they just don’t have chat links yet.

I’m willing to get the Druid staff isn’t the one specifically featured in the thief elite specialization backdrop. Is logic really that hard? This isn’t deep detective work. This is going to be just like the Warhorn situation all over again, people refusing to believe it’s true because they don’t want it, and sure enough…

Let me rephrase the question for you, then. Do we have any proof that Druid gets staff? Proof other than a video where ANet admitted that the art team took confusing liberties with things? A video older than the datamined Elementalist sword skills? Yes, they’ve stated the name of the Elite, but have they ever actually said that they get staff for their weapon?

Is it really a good idea to say we know what weapon Druid has?

Genoshock.2104:

More of you should care more tbh, so a few decent lads could win big money that could change their lives

And what does that matter to us?

We’re not buying the game and paying for gems to support them. We’re doing it to get the game that we hopefully enjoy. Maybe if they stopped wasting time and money on this delusion of theirs, they could put more company focus on improving the actual game.

ronpierce.2760:

It came out as an ascended weapon with the other elite specialization weapons. Normal skins are datamined as skins or white items. It’s the same way we knew about Warhorn Ele. Plugging your ears and going lalala doesn’t really change what they added to the games files… :/

Question: Did the datamined files also include a staff for the Druid? We know they’re getting staff as their weapon, so it makes sense that it would be included. No need to hide it, right? Or was there only one staff, the one assumed to be for the Thief Elite?

PlatinumMember.5274:

skullmount.1758:

What if the ability/change of the tempest makes it so you can split attunements, one for mh and one for oh? though what do to do with skills…

That seems extremely and overly complicated, I do not see that happening EVER.

Actually, it would be pretty easy. When you select an attunement, it applies to your main hand. Your previous attunement shifts to your off hand. Allow changing to an attunement more than once, and you can just shift to an element twice in a row to set all your skills to that one.

If they did this with a good elite, then it would become important to consider what order you rotate your attunements in, but it would also allow you access to mixed skills. (And if it worked on a staff as well, just think of what your skill selection would look like when you mixed fire and water together.)

Relshdan.6854:

Palador.2170:

Relshdan.6854:

Palador.2170:

PlatinumMember.5274:

2. The class mechanic is unusable against opponents that have something called a brain, it only works against PvE mobs.

Given that not all classes and specializations will ever be equal, is it really so bad that there’s one that flat out doesn’t pretend to be useful in PvP or WvW?

yes.
its a waste of dev time if it is only usable in one of 3 game modes.

personally, i think it will be fine in wvw zerg…….just bad at roaming and VERY needy in small group / pvp

Oh, so anything used in only one of the three game modes is a waste of dev time? Think carefully now…

there’s no way their goal is to make an elite spec that only works in pve……it may end up that way….but that isn’t their goal.

That’s true. But once they saw how it was landing, was it really worth it to go back and start all over to try to get something useful for all three areas?

The fact is that it’s looking like it’s not going to be good for PvP. But that can be said of a LOT of builds, it’s just the nature of the game. I see no harm in one of the elite specs being that way.

(Also, we’ve not actually seen the warhorn in action yet. It’s quite possible that people will go Tempest in PvP for that, and simply avoid using Overcharge.)

Relshdan.6854:

Palador.2170:

PlatinumMember.5274:

2. The class mechanic is unusable against opponents that have something called a brain, it only works against PvE mobs.

Given that not all classes and specializations will ever be equal, is it really so bad that there’s one that flat out doesn’t pretend to be useful in PvP or WvW?

yes.
its a waste of dev time if it is only usable in one of 3 game modes.

personally, i think it will be fine in wvw zerg…….just bad at roaming and VERY needy in small group / pvp

Oh, so anything used in only one of the three game modes is a waste of dev time? Think carefully now…

PlatinumMember.5274:

2. The class mechanic is unusable against opponents that have something called a brain, it only works against PvE mobs.

Given that not all classes and specializations will ever be equal, is it really so bad that there’s one that flat out doesn’t pretend to be useful in PvP or WvW?

Well, this IS disappointing.

Oh well. At least I have the Red Lion Warhorn skin already, so my charr elementalist is set. Still, warhorn is so far down the list of weapons I wanted to see, it’s almost at the bottom.

Zaklex.6308:

All I’ll say is this…even the Z-axis doesn’t make underwater combat that difficult, I think players make it more difficult than it is…imo.

I would like to agree with you, but I’ve had cases where (both melee and ranged) I should have been hitting an underwater target and couldn’t.

Underwater combat in this game IS flawed, and rather than fix it ANet is simply avoiding it.

FrostSpectre.4198:

Hopefully, they update all maps, except starter maps, to contain foes that are not possible to kill with just “full berserker DPS” and just “spam 111111 and rely on passive defense”. This is a problem in vanilla maps, which makes critical game mechanics useless. (for me, this flaw has rusted my ability to dodge and now I’m trying to relearn them…)

I refer you to this quote, from the start of the thread:

PvE gameplay doesn’t currently provide the kind of challenge which would make swapping to a strong support kit like revenant’s staff and the Ventari legend valuable, so the development teams want to address that with elite specializations, revenant, and unrevealed challenging content.

It sounds as if they’ve decided to press forward with using the elite specs and the new class to give us the tools to face their “challenging” content. If they were to make such changes to older maps, it would become a very painful example of “pay to have a chance to win”.

Dahkeus.8243:

So…if I understand right, this is all solo content. If so, I doubt I’ll be doing much of it. This also seems really awkward for a massively multiplayer game.

It’s solo minigame content, which isn’t actually bad to have in a MMO.

What’s bad is that it sounds like a lot of it will be hard to access, forcing you to do other things before playing the adventures, if that’s what you’re there for. Not everyone finds the same parts fun, and I really wish someone would tell ANet that not everyone wants to spend a lot of time preparing to have fun, they want to jump in and have fun.

Now, if adventures were easier to access? They’d be a great way to kill some time while waiting for something else, or taking a random shot at when you’re in the mood. Sealing them behind other things, however, may well be the death of them and reduce this all to wasted development time.

I hope they set up the leaderboards like the ones for FotM. They did a great job on those!

rhapsody.3615:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Hall-of-Monuments-Update/page/4

Last update was May 29, which only said, “We’re close, seriously.”

Something tells me that they were not really serious.

Aerinndis.2730:

I noticed that too! Also I was able to destroy the item with another character. They were something I wanted to get out of the bank but before it was a pain trying to figure out which avie had it so I could go in and destroy it. I am happy with this change.

You can right click and destroy things that are in the bank.

Vayne.8563:

I get plenty of spirit shards from champ bags, plus 3 for doing my daily.

That doesn’t really answer the question, though.

starlinvf.1358:

its mainly to prevent more then 1 one Elite specialization. This is moot because we only have one coming up; but all future expansions will be using Elite specs in lieu of a new class.

I’m not asking for it to be in the first AND third slot. Just the first INSTEAD OF the third slot. So, we’d still only be able to equip one.

Healix.5819:

Elite specializations are meant to be endgame progression. Allowing new players to access them would increase the complexity and overwhelm them, plus they might cost more.

I’ve never liked “endgame progression”, especially when it’s something that’s endgame only because someone decided that it should be endgame without any lore or logic to back it up. It just disregards the leveling process, and encourages people to rush to max level for the “real game”.

Can they come up with some lore reason why you can’t be a Druid or Reaper before level 80? I’m sure they can, but I don’t think it would make much sense. Especially not with how they’re introducing the Revenant.

I do agree with the “it may cost more” part, though. If it does (and that track may very well cost more than the normal ones), then giving access to it to lower level characters might create some problems.

The price is high, yes, but the system is changing soon.

I suspect that ANet will quickly begin to see problems with the new system, and eventually put back in some way to buy influence/favor. As it was said, it’s an aid for the smaller guilds, but the bigger guilds don’t need it. OR, they may put in a way to “sub-rep” for a second or more guilds, so that you can slowly build favor for more than one at a time. Maybe not as fast as for the primary guild, but still make progress.

Work on alts, for starters.

And level 80s can still get spirit shards, they’re just supposed to be drops now instead of something you gain at a predictable rate. They’re supposed to drop for level 80s only, right? I’m not wild about it turning RNG on us, but at least that IS a reason to play your level 80s.

We’ve now all had a chance to see how the new Specialization system works first hand. We also know that only the third Specialization slot will be able to hold an Elite Specialization line, and it unlocks last. (Level 71, I believe.)

Having now seen it in action, and knowing about at least three of the Elite Specs, I have to ask: Why use the third slot, where a character is nearly finished before it unlocks?

Is there any downside to having it use the first slot instead? It seems to me that it would make leveling the character more interesting, as you’d have access to new things while leveling. It shouldn’t be unbalanced in any way, at least no more than a high level Elite Spec coming down to lower level areas would be.

I guess I can understand why they want you to have a level 80 to unlock access to it. It means that, in theory, you have a working knowledge of the base class and how it plays. (Though that’s not always true, some people can level to 80 without leaving the tutorial now.) Once it’s unlocked, though, why not allow its use at lower levels for any further characters of that class you care to create?

All the info we have is here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/pre-purchase-community-address/

Crise.9401:

Palador.2170:

And before you (or anyone else) claims that it IS a part of HoT, I would remind you that even non-HoT players will be on that map when it goes live. ANet may want us to think of it as HoT content, but it’s really not. It’s a long overdue WvW improvement (we hope) that they’re just releasing in tandem with HoT.

Simply the fact that ArenaNets announcement trailer for HoT at PAX listed it as part of HoT does make it part of HoT. Or do you have a source that this map would be coming our way without HoT, does not rely on any tech developed specifically for HoT etc. It may be free content, but it is content that as far as we know exists because of HoT, ergo it is part of HoT. The fact that it trickles through to the base game is happy accident, caused by their desire not to fragment the player base and likely some technical limitations.

Besides nothing is saying that they won’t incentivize HoT purchase through it, see the recent metamorphosis or Stronghold heroes into mist Champions for example. All the above points also apply to Stronghold btw.

Now whether you, or even most players perceive the Desert Borderlands as part of HoT is a whole different angle on this, however, anything included in the announcement trailers for HoT can factually be said to be part of it because it can be considered content enabled (probably both in terms of tech and costs) by HoT.

I don’t care if ANet thinks of it as part of HoT any more than I care if Collin thinks he once lead a band of super heroes while using the power of the Moon Silver Crystal. Nor do I care if some of the tech in one is used in the other. (And that’s only guess work, by the way. You don’t know if it happened, or for which part it was developed first.)

I’m speaking from the Point of View of the player, and how it comes to us. The fact is that it doesn’t matter if I pay for HoT or not, I’ll still get the new WvW map and the new PvP mode. They are not “contained” as a part of HoT, though ANet would like us to think that they are.

If you wish to see them as linked, that’s fine. I’m sure ANet appreciates it if we do. It still doesn’t change the fact that the WvW and PvP changes are not actually included in HoT. They’re separate, and free to all players.

I’ve been thinking about Warhorn for Elementalists, and I’ve got an idea in my head that I actually like. The problem is, it’s not a “Tempest” at all.

If Eles get Warhorn, I’d like to see it used to summon elementals that work like Mesmer Phantasms do. (Stay on one target and fight until it or they are destroyed.) They wouldn’t need to look like the player or standard elementals, they could be different shapes like firebirds and water dogs. This, I think, is what the horn should be saved for.

lordkrall.7241:

So, the only information that actually counts is Guild Halls, Masteries, Elite Specialization and new maps?

I’d say things like new HoT lore count as well, even though I found that to be annoying. (I want that in the game, not outside of it, please.) Also, the “challenging group content”, though I think we’ve already seen it and they were taken aback by players not seeing it as such.

But those ARE what you get when you buy the expansion, right? Those are the points that need to sell it. Making it sound like the PvP and WvW changes are part of the expansion is a bit dishonest when you don’t need the expansion to get them.

lordkrall.7241:

We did not know about the Mist Champions, considering that the system is rather different from the one we saw during the earlier betas. Thus it was new information for HoT.

As I’ve pointed out in other threads, that’s not HoT news. It’s news, yes, but the new PvP mode is not part of HoT. It’s just coming out at the same time, no expansion purchase required.

Though I will agree with your later post that claims that it IS an important change to the game mode. It IS important news, just not HoT news.

Dead.5829:

Would you prefer they give you info they’re iterating on, so might be changed or repealed altogether, or give you info when they have it?
Relax.

First option, please.

We’ve seen ANet make some serious missteps when they work without the players’ feedback, and by the time the players know it’s too late to fix it. I think it would save them time AND improve the game if they let us in while there’s still time to fix those missteps, or at least adjust them a bit.

lordkrall.7241:

CureForLiving.5360:

Yeah nothing on twitter get, we might be getting another zero-info weeks. Well they are doing the wvw stress test… so no info.

I would say seeing the WvW map in action for the first time is rather much info actually.

The new map is (last we heard) coming when HoT comes out. It is not, however, a part of HoT. It may count as news, but it’s not HoT news.

And before you (or anyone else) claims that it IS a part of HoT, I would remind you that even non-HoT players will be on that map when it goes live. ANet may want us to think of it as HoT content, but it’s really not. It’s a long overdue WvW improvement (we hope) that they’re just releasing in tandem with HoT.

lordkrall.7241:

Oh, I agree, but people seems to imply that we have gotten no information whatsoever for months.

The thing is that the Elite Specializations (and Revenant) are the parts that apply to the entire game. They should be the big keystone to all of it. For them to have so little information out there about them is … worrisome.

Jordo.5913:

almost (90%+) everything that that_shaman data mines lately ends up in game

That’s all the more reason for the devs to throw in fake/junk data, though. They want to make it a big reveal, which they can’t do if it’s all datamined before they’re ready.

No way in Hades.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

But Zephyr Sanctum is permanently in the game.

As for Labyrinthine Cliffs, that will no doubt return in some form. Perhaps lacking the Zephyrite’s largest ship (there were ~12 before, we climbed onto one). Or lacking the Zephyrites entirely… Somehow.

I’d love to see an asura step up and say “Anything that magical crystals can do, I can do better!”, and replace them with devices of his own that allow us to travel up to the top.

They can also install slides to get us back down.

I’m going to have to agree here. Yes, it’s easy enough for me to figure out which one is where, but that’s not the point. They went too far into art, and not far enough into “understand at a glance”.

The art doesn’t need to be lost, but the icons need to “pop” a bit more.

Helm only, sorry.

Ashen.2907:

rifle with a 3 foot silencer perhaps ?

That would hardly be the strangest rifle in the game.

penelopehannibal.8947:

Whereas I agree that it looks like melee staff (still hoping but not certain!) I doubt that because there was a data mined costume leaked somewhere, that the Specialisation will actually be called a Monk. It can still happen, but I doubt it.

After all, how many of us managed to buy a Dragonhunter or a Chronomancer outfit so far?

To be fair, at this point the devs may be tossing in unused concept art and discarded ideas as placeholder data to throw people off the mark. It would allow them to do some of the patching they’ll need for upcoming Betas without letting data miners spoil any surprises.

shodannet.7409:

Ive been waiting for the next time keys went on sale. My pile of unopened BLT chests are growing concerningly

That’s the point of them, you know. The chests are just advertisements, the key is the real item of importance.

If they had a sign pop up in the game every now and then reminding you that you can buy sampler bags in the gemstore and have a chance at a rare reward from them, people would be kittened. So, they call it a “Black Lion Chest”, put it in as loot, and most people don’t realize that it’s the exact same thing.

TheDaiBish.9735:

Undoubtedly there’ll be some cosmetic stuff in the gem Store,

I really, REALLY hope not.

Judging from the way the decoration included with the bigger HoT preorders supposedly works, you get an item and “give” it to a guild to place. Once you do that, it’s gone. You don’t have it any more.

That means that someone will have to pay with gems (perhaps gained with RL cash) to get the decoration for the guild, and only that guild. They may not be allowed to place it, depending on guild privilege settings, or the guild decorator may place it for them, then decide to move/delete it later.

Worse, if they leave the guild or are kicked, then they lose that decoration entirely. Heck, even the upper levels of a guild quitting the game may cause that, as an entire guild finds themselves no longer able to adjust their guild hall.

Gemstore items would be great for personal housing, but they’re an awful mess just waiting to happen for guild halls.

Jahroots.6791:

Rata Sum is the most convenient option at the moment.

Well, I guess we know which city will fall next, then.