Guild Wars 2

John Smith.4610:

Xynn.2748:

Ok check this out, I’m dedicating this to a guildie of mine:

If ANet implemented my idea (it sounds like there are good reasons not to, but if they did), you could check a box to enable “drunk mode” where it would disable the link between TP and bank.

Cognitive dissonance (or some version of it) would make that feature not work.

Why are there so many ’Drunk Mode" buttons…..
hiccup!

What good is a riding outfit without a crop?

Giving us the ability to roleplay loan-sharking or indentured servitude would certainly be something.

Gesundheit! (sorry but gestaltish sounds like someone sneezing)
Gestalt can be defined as the thing that is more, or other than, the sum of the parts. By gestaltish I mean a reward system that encompasses and expands upon GW2’s unique qualities. Gear just doesn’t cut it.

edited to apologize to the German and English language

It is indeed challenging to shepherd kittens pastured on catnip., but sometimes the kittens manage to shepherd themselves.

I would prefer a new, more gestaltish reward system rather than pointing every activity in the game towards a marketplace dominated by psuedo-vertical gear progression.

Rouven, I agree that Colin’s wording, well mostly the context, can be confusing. I do not understand why he did not make the distinction clearer in the original post.

I think using laurels for the achievement point reward system would be a waste of achievement points.

Actually it is as simple as I describe and ‘not being a free market’ is not synonymous with the devs/pubs manipulating the exchange rate. A free market is a marketplace in which everyone can post/fill buy/sell orders. In the Tyrian currency exchange, only the BLTP can post buy/sell orders.

I’ll stop before it sounds like I am defending how the currency exchange works.

So what does the exchange rates history actually demonstrate? The exchange rate is going up because more and more Tyrian gold is being converted into gems. I would be hard-pressed to use that metric to make an unequivocal statement regarding the game’s general health.

Too much can be read into Colin’s statement about rewarding achievement points. Why does that feel familiar? Anyway, the statement does not mean achievement points will be included in the laurel marketplace but only that achievement points could have some future reward attached to them. What form that reward marketplace takes is anyone’s guess.

SamTheGuardian.2938:

…….
Some clear indicators to me would be the reduced cost of the game, the sale in the GEM store, the dramatic exchange rate increase in real currency to in game coin (real currency buys you 3x more in game coin than it did at launch, ArenaNet admits to using an algorithm they manipulate to keep the economy healthy- and bring in more micro-transaction dollars to help keep revenue stream coming in).
…..

Yes, the currency exchange uses an algorithm for “price discovery”. However there has never been an admission or any evidence that the algorithm is manipulated. Players exchanging gold for gems pushes the rate up, players exchanging gems for gold pushes the rate down. While I personally don’t like the system, accusing the developers of what would amount to fraud without any evidence is not objective.

Mary Sue’s hate to be bound within a fusion narrative engine.

I think the antagonist will be a fairly minor force when compared to any of the dragons. I don’t think the Living Story is meant as vertical narrative progression for our characters, ie who is the next super bad guy for us to kungkittenittenkick. Instead it is horizontal narrative progression for Tyria.

If I had to wager, I would bet that the current Living Story focus won’t even require a lvl 80.

Absolutely, the Living Story could culminate or include instances but I would not count on an antagonist that requires one.

Your point about when Southsun Cove exists demonstrates what I understood the blog post to be about. Namely that it is very easy to write time paradoxes into a persistent mmo.

edit: I wanted to add a change to my language. I do not think that the Living Story will ever culminate, but will simply continue to evolve.

A doppelganger would mean either the Living Story culminates within an instanced encounter or the game would have to generate a different skin, profession mechanic for every person participating in a dynamic event.

The letters from Destinies Edge are meant to explain why we will not see Destinies Edge participate in the Living Story because them participating would create a time paradox. The Living Story does not occur after our characters Storyline. You can only find a dead Zhaitain within 2 time/space events Arah storymode and the Fort Trinity instance that spawns afterwards.

editted for grammar

I would put ‘not being addictive’ in the positive column but would also check to see if you really mean ‘no way to progress my character in a way I find meaningful’.

Grumpdogg.6910:

You are going to fall way behind the gear curve.

We should all be much more worried about minipet power-creep…..

any foe overly obscured in particle effects would earn the role of my personal nemesis
such a drag getting old

The first thing that popped into my head was GW1 style doppelganger. I wonder if that is because I linked Ascended gear and Ascension (in GW1 your avatar becomes ascended by defeating their doppelganger). Don’t think that will be the case though.

I am trying to picture how the writers will develop the sense that this nemesis hates my guts and not just heroes (ok, maybe hero is a bit smug) in general.

I know! A mesmer with lots of clones all obscured with particle effects!

I think we need to measure the pacing against the time it would take for a casual, 5-10 hour a week player to complete the lvl 1-25 experience. As well, I think GW2 is such a fast paced game, that we learn to devour content quickly. Throw in the wiki and storytelling that is intended to proceed at an rpg pace is accelerated.

That being said, I do feel anxious to help the refugees. Consider though, that a planet as dangerous as Tyria would always have a displaced population: there are refugees everywhere, orphans and even displaced dogs. If the writers need someone to help feed, clothe and shelter those curled up, shell-shocked, charr refugee cubs…

Seriously, they are breaking my heart!

Lutinz.6915:

The momentos you collect from dead refugees you return to refugee coordinators to have them given to the dead refugees next of kin or loved ones. Its not really looting the dead.

Securing the deceeased is easier said than done in a refugee situation. What exactly is an asura going to do with a norn corpse he finds out in the middle of a frozen lake. If the situation is dire enought that refugees are dying to predators or the elements its likely that there arent resources around to be collecting dead bodies. They would be helping the living over recovering the dead.

As for the villian, there are plenty of non dragon villians we deal with leveling, from the Centaur, to the bandits, the nightmare court, the inquest, the dredge, the flame legion, and many others. Alot of these have plotlines still active.

Yes, I understand the narrative of the mementos, they are dog tags. However, I think the gameplay mechanic mimics looting and inserts the looting narrative. As evidence all I have to offer is what I encounter in map chat in the zones effected; many people refer to it as looting and point out the dissonance. Securing the deceased would just be polite positioning and marking for retrieval. Anyway, all speculation. I also agree that new villains could come from anywhere.

I am very curious to see the first persistent change left by the Living Story

I think the focal point of the living story is the refugee experience. If we take the lvl 1-80 zone experience as the narrative source, then there is no need to look for another supra-threat other than dragons. A newly created hero experiences the refugee narrative immediately, and a hero would indeed pass a lot of refugees on the way to battle dragons.

I think giving players the opportunity to role-play within a coherent civilian war zone environment would be groundbreaking. When I play in the zones, I hear a lot of rp dissonance concerning the ‘looting’ of the dead refugees. If I may, I would prefer to secure the deceased for collection: perhaps examining the deceased would spawn the villain that slew them. The villain would have a stolen trinket. Securing the deceased for collection would also raise the question of how do the species maintain themselves in the after life, their death and burial rights.

edited

MattWuerffel.9743:

Donari.5237:

It looks like the nagging question still unanswered is how the tokens will be stored.

The new currency earned from daily and monthly category completion is an account wide currency that is visible in your inventory, next to your karma. No inventory space required!

Aethena.7609:

Will the ‘select 4 of 6’ mechanic work for the monthly as well as the daily achievements? I don’t run dungeons and so have never gotten the monthly achievement – I’d like to be able to ‘play my own way’ and still get the monthly

Definitely something that we’re looking at, but we haven’t finalized all the details yet.

Is the opportunity to give great specific news to the player-base metered?

There is as much gambling in GW2 as there is in any stand-alone, coin-operated, arcade console; with the purchase price being valued against indefinite access to revives. Using that metaphor the only gambling is nudging towards TILT.

The economy of GW2 is no more complex than a pinball game with all the holes smaller than the ball and access to multiball.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Kain Nosgoth.4218:

Yes we still get jugs and the other stuff.

Forgot to ask if we get crowns from PvP daily and monthly (meaning 80/month not 40). I hope not, I don’t want to be forced into doing pvp just to get my ascended and precursor at 2x speed.

You do not earn crowns for the daily or monthly PvP achievement, and the items you can earn for spending crowns are not intended for purely PvP players. We don’t want to make PvP players feel like they need to do PvE achievements to maximize their daily rewards, or PvE players feel like they need to do PvP achievements to maximize their daily rewards.

We’ll be evaluating progression and rewards in PvP with a separate system that takes players from all sides into account without making them feel like they have to play one part of the game they may not be interested in.

Thank you for clarifying. I see how parallel tracks are necessary, but I can’t help but looks for ways to make them overlap.

wilarseny.7853:

Psientist.6437:

Nike.2631:

raises hand I have a question:

Would giving players access to volume of sales information lead to better decision making and a more ideal marketplace?

It seems we’re operating in the dark quite a bit more that people realize if entire stocks are rotating in the space of a day.

I deal in mithril ore (that is to say I dig it up then sell it) and I’ve seen that I can price above the first several hundred to low-thousands of the lowest sale offers and still make my sale within an hour. Even then the lowest offer is usually right back where it was when I posted mine by the time I pick up my coin. The volume that gets traded must be staggering.

Like an average of how many times a commodity is traded before it is used?

Like an average # of transactions per hour/day. Volume listed on gw2spidy is very misleading as it shows unfulfilled orders – whereas volume in a real market context refers to completed trades.

While we’re at it I’d love to be able to short items… as it stands now there is no deflationary pressure within the market itself (not counting the fees), you can only make money through prices going up. I know this will never happen but one can dream. It would be good for the economy, and lower prices for average players! But actually.

Whoever figures out how to explain it in-game through a NPC to a 15 year old human being should win something.

John Smith.4610:

Astraea.6075:

Rakuren Kenshou.7689:

My guess is that it would probably be very similar to real world economics, where 1% of the people own 99% of the wealth.

If they start posting confirmations on this, we’ll end up with an “occupy wall street” movement in game. Players flooding the trading post in protest. Players refusing to buy/sell materials until changes are made to the game. Huge market crashes as the wealthy players try to offload everything they own in response. Chaos.

While there will be some superficial similarities, I seriously doubt the wealth inequality in game will mirror real world inequality as there are a number of factors that drive inequality in real economies that don’t exist in-game

For example, in the real world, having wealth enables you to create/find rent-seeking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_seeking) opportunities that don’t exist in this virtual economy. As a result, those who have already wealth in this game are generally not able to use that wealth to prevent others from gaining wealth.

You are correct. There are several good reasons why wealth distributions in game don’t mimic the US Economy.
Another reason is that the growth of wealth is exponential in many developed economies, where it’s closer to logarithmic in GW2.

The entire set of reasons would be a very interesting discussion…Well for me at least

Mr. Smith, of all the voices yours generates among the highest, localized, net-entropic values. That must be a burden, making it more difficult for you to speak-specific.

As evidenced by the distortion in the world load potential of ‘the stuff’ during Wintersday, Tyrian commodities are traded according to a semblance of physics. Myself would want a statement more than statistics. Something about long term production:salvage trajectory stability?

Not to call you out Mr. Smith, but instead recognizing the potential entropic effect of your voice when so many other developers get to talk about cool stuff….

What underlying principals of the Tyrian commodity market can we talk about openly, taking the risk of producing change?

Nike.2631:

raises hand I have a question:

Would giving players access to volume of sales information lead to better decision making and a more ideal marketplace?

It seems we’re operating in the dark quite a bit more that people realize if entire stocks are rotating in the space of a day.

I deal in mithril ore (that is to say I dig it up then sell it) and I’ve seen that I can price above the first several hundred to low-thousands of the lowest sale offers and still make my sale within an hour. Even then the lowest offer is usually right back where it was when I posted mine by the time I pick up my coin. The volume that gets traded must be staggering.

Like an average of how many times a commodity is traded before it is used?

John Smith.4610:

Dreamslayer.7659:

Vol.5241:

I don’t know why people here think they know more about the economy than an economist.

A couple reasons, but the main reason is that the study of economics is the study of human behavior and psychology and as such, it is imperfect, incomplete and subject to very different interpretations and perspectives.

It’s the voodoo witch doctor profession of our age.

This is very far from the truth.
Even more so inside of MMOs where there is complete data.

I think economic theory crafting is similar to weather forecasting. While there are eons of research and data and physical models, the process of forecasting still leaves many without an umbrella when it is raining . What is unique about mmos is that we know there are gods creating the weather; that is ‘simply’ the nature of the thing.

For me, how much information the publishers make available is a paradox. Do we need to argue the market value of information, or how information can move markets? Before we see more info, I think we need to talk about how to role-play a Tyrian economic pundit.

edited for spelling

Lighthammer.3280:

So my 4000+ ACHIEVEMENT points are rendered useless because you want to implement new type of achievement tokens. If you think i will do all jps and sjit all over again, think again. Just increase loot drop chance; tell us where exactly precursors drop and leave us farming in peace. You constantly add “new” stuff to the game but only thing that players need you will not;and that is the loot. Sorry but i personally hate to play this game simply because drops are kitten.

From what I understand of Colin’s answer your 4000+ achievement points won’t be wasted. Instead you will be issued a sum of currency based on the number of achievement points you have.

Kain Nosgoth.4218:

Yes we still get jugs and the other stuff.

Forgot to ask if we get crowns from PvP daily and monthly (meaning 80/month not 40). I hope not, I don’t want to be forced into doing pvp just to get my ascended and precursor at 2x speed.

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“Safe to skip” warrning -huge off-topic below.
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That also reminds me that infinite tier achievements and daily’s shouldn’t even give the same type of achievement pts.

When you have done every single “special” (enough to have an achievement) thing in the game (multiple times) and you have ~5000 pts and the guy next to you only has 1 character and didn’t do 70% of the content even once and is rocking 6000 pts from daily pvp achievement (that you don’t do) and because he didn’t take a 3 week vacation and he also salvaged every item instead of vendoring them because he doesn’t need any money you know something is “wrong” with the system. Not because he has more than you but because the number means nothing if you can get it by doing nothing special…a few hundred times.

Sure having a 2nd type of achievement pts to keep track of and feel a really vague statical sort of personal progression from everything you do repeatedly (daily, monthly, nr of events, salvage grind) for yourself is/would be great IF IT WERE SEPARATE and not taking away from the other achieved things.

Current version: “Yay I feel good because I have xxxx pts and it shows I have done lots of special things…oh wait…it could also mean I didn’t do anything important a few hundred times”.

I don’t see how the developers could not reward PvP achievements equally.

To your tangent, I agree more representational displays of a players achievements should always be the goal.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Keiran.1896:

ColinJohanson.2394:

The initial version will only be for daily/monthly achievements (this will not be retroactively rewarded.) Later you’ll see a system in place that rewards more expanded achievements points which will retroactively reward all achievements already earned, yes.

However, there are some achievements which are infinitely repeatable currently. It is highly likely so this new system isn’t broken we’ll need to cap those and people who have made insane progress down one of those lines will lose some of their progress to get back to the cap. I wouldn’t recommend anyone go bonkers trying to progress an infinitely repeatable achievement category in anticipation of the release of this system, as you will likely lose some points/progress if you take it to an extreme number.

We’re still working out the details on the system, so that’s about as far into detail as I can go currently.

This guy who posted his screenshoot with 10k achievement points earned by salvaging… he won’t be very happy xD

Yeah we’ll need to figure out something for folks who do fall into that category, I just want to make sure to get out ahead of expectations so people don’t all feel they should now go rush off and have to do this (or other infinitely repeatable achievements.) We don’t want people to feel they need to play the game that way and have it be the best way to be rewarded.

The salvage track effects the economy so there is that as well.
Is the issue more with there being only a few infinite tracks? I would use gold and/or karma to unlock additional tiers for the title tracks I like or just happen to always be filling such as the slayer tracks. I would be able to self-apply rewarding rewards as my fun things to do overlapped with the dailies and monthlies.

Kai.3680:

Vol.5241:

Groonz.7825:

It’ll be interesting how you will do this, considering that there are some people who exploited a method to gain insane amount of achievement points at the cost of nothing (only time spent repeating same actions, not referring to the salvaging achievement).

Hope those people won’t gain immense amount of crowns due to said exploit.

1.) It’s not an exploit

2.) At the cost of nothing? It cost a ton of money to get those stacks of salvagable items. To get one point achievement you need 200. That costs a lot if you want 20,000 points.

The person posting made a point to say they weren’t referring to the salvaging exploit. And exploit is exactly what it is. It’s not a matter of opinion it fits the exact textbook definition of an exploit. You are taking advantage of a system beyond expectations to further your own personal gain….an exploit. I am not saying its unethical but regardless of the time or money spent that doesn’t change the nature what was done.

The only textbook willing to define exploit uncategorically is Alice in Wonderland. I think Colin has the best perspective when he talks about finding more fun ways to earn crowns and achievement points instead of grinding them.

I think we need to slow down about commendation keys as an exploit of the publisher or the customer. To me it looks more like a well intentioned story with too much carrot. The cheaper keys did not break the Tyrian or publisher economy, just not healthy for either.

Questions I have:
Is there a way to slow down the production of CCs in game, you know for everyone not here in the forums?
Are the skins available from Lyn available anywhere else?
Would those with large holdings of CCs be ‘ok’ with a lesser than expected return in something else, such as jugs or karma?
Would it be rude to ask if there is a process to vet rewards from a Tyrian meta-economic perspective?

I will miss the story of captain’s commendations and hope it is repeated elsewhere. Tyria needs more anti-Randian drivers.

It was refreshing and I think worthwhile of rock-star status that such an important question was answered so quickly and by the person best able to answer.

I would be surprised to find BLC keys in Lyn’s inventory, unless the developers made the cost float with the currency exchange. That being said…keys shmeys! Let her items be unique. Maybe an emote that shows everyone how much you care about rebuilding Tyria….dumb dragons keep breaking stuff.

Arcanorum Ignis.9218:

Lore has been seemingly completely disregarded in GW2. Nothing new that has been added to it seems to make sense.
It’s like ’Here’s some new shiny stuff, have fun waving it around like a pompous kitten
Want some sort of explanation? Tough kitten.’

Legendaries, FotM, Lost Shores, even the Elder Dragons. They just ‘are’.

Pleasing the hordes of silly kids is what has become more important.

I wholeheartedly agree. A world’s lore is the world’s physics and incomplete lore means incomplete physics.

Specifically to Legendary weapons. I think Dogblaster is right…mostly. Everything besides the precursor requires a meaningful story of accomplishment to obtain. While the precursor appears to revolve around TP lore, I think it actually revolves around Zommoros and exploring his story could help expand on Legendary lore.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Hey guys,

Just to help provide some clarity on this, we’ll be releasing within the next couple of weeks a high level summary of our big plans for the first half of 2013 to help provide more transparency into our plans with the game going forward. This will include providing more details about our goals for the game, information about the stories and features that you’ll see in the Jan/Feb/March releases.

To set expectations accordingly, the January release will be a relatively small release that sets the table for the stories and features we plan to roll out with the Feb/March releases and beyond. Also, there will be no new race, profession, or new region with these larger Feb/March releases. One of our major goals with these releases is making our existing world as strong as possible, ensuring there are reasons to go to all the locations in the world we’ve already built, and strengthening the core game we’ve provided. In saying this will be an expansions worth of stuff in these releases, we’re talking about the number of new features that will be rolled out across PvE, WvW, and PvP in early 2013, which usually you’d only find in an expansion for a traditional MMORPG.

More details and specifics to come in the next couple of weeks, but I hope that helps provide some more insight into what to expect at a very high level.

Thank you, it does help to know you are preparing a high level description of GW2’s course. We could list dozens, hundreds of eggs (stuff we think needs work) but without a well described basket (GW2 gestalt) we are left juggling those eggs.

Break a leg

Players have been asking for this since beta and I agree it is a simple, quality of life, addition. Though perhaps it is meant to give us insight into the asuran mind.

I think the developer’s plan to make ascended gear available in more places does more to spread out the population than your plan would.

Would you pay for these mounts?
$15 US for all 5?

I applied my considerable creative talent to the development of Tyrian mounts. The following is a list of racial specific mounts. You are welcome.

Human

Humans mounts are an item, specifically two coconut halves. When equipped, a human avatar begins prancing forward while clapping the coconut halves together. The mount does not give a speed boost and prevents the avatar from attacking but limits all damage received to flesh-wounds. The human mount can be upgraded with different gates, possibly funny walks.

Asuran

Asurans mount themselves. With practice, asurans can jump-flip with enough torque to fly up their own behinds. When activated, an asuran avatar would disappear up their behind and then reappear somewhere randomly in the zone. The Asuran mount can be upgraded with different sound effects.

Norn

Norn mounts are stationary kegs that the avatar straddles. The Norn mount can be upgraded with levels of inebriation. Would you prefer your avatar fall to the left or to the right?

Charr

Charr mounts are catapults. When activated the avatar is hurled through the air. Charr mounts are lethal to the user, but do provide the chance to admire the Tyrian landscape from a new perspective. Charr mounts can be upgraded to hurl the avatar farther.

Sylvari

Syvari mounts are woodpeckers. When activated the player looses all control over the Sylvari avatar as it is chased around by a woodpecker to the Benny Hill chase theme song. Sylvari mounts are upgraded with more woodpeckers.

we will get a meme when it is ready

I will support mounts as long as the only mount available is an asuran clapping two coconut halves together as they follow your avatar about. The most rare versions could say things like “neigh, I am a horse” or “run, bookah, run!”

phlemhacker.1372:

I would definitely say that it would go a very long way if ArenaNet managed to get a bit more active on the forums rather then just spouting out an errant comment or two. That said I realize they aren’t that large of a company and have a lot of work to do as well, so I can’t necessarily say I am surprised they haven’t, nor do I harbor disappointment by it.

I agree that realistic limitations can not be ignored. However, I genuinely believe that the developer that offers a coherent strategy for fan-sourcing will ‘win’.

I think any mmo world offers natural ways for players and developers to negotiate leasing and/or squatter’s rights. At the most basic level we negotiate with the yes or no vote of opening and closing our coin purse. The CoSM works for EVE because CCP designed a game with very low narrative dissonance, of course capsuleers negotiate with CCP in a board room. As well, the long-cycle subscription business model favors long-cyle negotiating.

How do Tyrians negotiate with Arenanet et al? Besides the cash-shop, I think we are using the basic principle of soap boxing in the town commons, a very short-cycle wave form. I would describe time for cash as a short-cycle wave form as well. Overlay the two and add the wave form for the pay-out of surprise (not a negative) and wheels spin in place and metaphors start smoking!

I think the official forums are what we have to work with and the work we need to do is raise the level of dialogue. Whoever argued that only capsuleers could manage negotiating failed to account for Tyrian capsuleers. I found this thread through the AMA thread. I think evolving a long-cycle AMA would be a good place to start. However, our efforts will be meaningless if the ArenaNet et al. does not offer something that looks like a new way for developers to negotiate. We are all outside of our comfort zone.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

I like the invulnerable mechanic. It adds a really challenging element to certain fights, especially since some foes can fully heal if I’m unaware of how to crack invulnerability.

I am inclined to agree with you, though the mechanic could use some tuning. It is a pain in the kitten to be on a gentle, sloping hill running around trying to find the sweet spot.

I don’t see anything inherently wrong with PvE content that requires a larger party (15+) of well organized people, and DEs just don’t provide that type of content. Raiding is about ‘our team’ and what we can accomplish. “Raids” wouldn’t require new maps either, just new encounters on existing maps that are reached through a green star.

you could tie an asuran to the kite and call it a spy satellite!

loneknight.8425:

pod people Sylvari are found everywhere, just waiting for Order 66 to be dropped in their collective dream for synchronized attack.

Besides, various NPC dialogues have shown Sylvari have driven most folks, including Asurans, to near insanity with their incessant queries. I have this feeling that poor guy at Uncategorized Fractal has been overwhelmed with flora curiosity that 4 golems are not enough to quell his loneliness.

Wiki states Sylvari have pollen shakes off them as they walk everywhere, setting the world for ‘The Happening’?

I never saw the bit about pollen I will go check that out. Raise the potential of Sylvari fruit! On a more serious note have there been any reports of annaphallactic shock?

I guess everyone does deserve a spot at the table…..but I think I would prefer a chair with a booster seat for quaggans

Wind Instruments

Breath control is simulated by moving the mouse across the mouse pad or the players chosen range of motion. When the mouse reaches the end of the pad, moving it back to a starting position simulates taking a breath. The speed of the mouse could determine the strength of exhaling and mouse buttons/wheel could simulate tonal changes produced by mouth control or mechanisms such as the slide on a trombone.
Valves could be simulated with keys. For instance a trumpet’s 3 multi-positional valves could be simulated using 1-9 on the number pads for 3, 3 position valves.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Specific note on Orr: we do have some folks looking at those maps in particular, so I expect that a future update will contain some adjustments to the spawn density. Taking a quick look, right now it’s using the 95-120 timer, but I did notice that there are more creatures spawning than there are seperate spawn points, which can cause them to spawn multiple creatures on the same spot.

Is this the set-up for other areas as well? I can see this mechanic being easily confused for instant respawn.

Hello, hope this thread finds you well and in a musical mood. I have been puzzling over how instruments and player generated music could evolve in Tyria and keep stumbling because I am not a musician (I can dance though).
The biggest part of the puzzle I have been puzzling is the human to keyboard interface since that is where the bulk of the ludonarrative dissonance will occur.

Let’s look at LOTRO’s music system. Every instrument in LOTRO is played using the same static 37 note key-binding set-up; equip a lute press key ‘y’ the lute plays note ‘y’. This system works but I do not think it tells the story of the player as a musician well enough. After all, this system allows for scripts to replace a player’s fingers.
So, how to translate the motion ergonomics of playing a real world instrument to the motion ergonomic limitations of a keyboard and mouse? Think an example is needed!

The Tyrian tambourine is played using the mouse and the space bar. Grab the tambourine by the mouse and shake it! Swipe the mouse and press the space bar to simulate beating the tambourine head with your hand. If you dare, press the tambourine stance key and see what happens.

Granted a tambourine is a simple instrument with simple motion ergonomics, but I think this idea can be applied to other instruments. Playing the drums could be as simple as one key for each drum head for a large drum kit or one drum head could be represented by a grouping of keys allowing for tonal differences depending on where you strike the drum head.

Here’s what I have come up with for string and bow instruments. The mouse controls the bow: east/west axis controls the bow’s speed across the strings, north/south axis controls the bow’s angle to the strings, mouse wheel controls the bow’s pressure against the strings. The keyboard controls the fingerboard: each of the four rows of keys represents a string and pressing and holding a key simulates finger action on a fingerboard. I think this setup could be used for 4-stringed plucking as well.

I have working models for keyboards as well, but I really want to here from other people what they think. I for one would not mind a music system that induces head-bobbing.