Guild Wars 2

The randomness is one of the things I love most about it. A voting system will inevitably mean people will avoid some (esp certain boss fractals) which will become largely derelict or involve bickering over votes etc.

Whilst I sympathise with what you are saying, I think it works perfectly s it is.

Matazeruz.7498:

Does this make me one of the cool kids now ?

No, you need to do one further intiation trial first
It involves a Quaggan, a trombone and a crumpet…

Sooooo…where’s my pressie???

;D

http://forums.intothemists.com/index.php?/topic/24559-zodiac-weapons-gone-from-merchant/

Found this response from a member of the Anet team. It doesnt say explicity they wont return, but it is implied.

Zodiac were removed a few patches ago. I cant remember if it was announced, but there was a thread about it. It generally seems not to be policy to announce removal dates for BL weapons anymore like they used to.

Sorry

What is the source of your info?

Were they 100% before the NPE was changed? If so, then the starter areas will be where to look since hearts were added/changed

This is one after Wurm was slayed.

I call it ‘Taming the Shai-Hulud’

It was a deliberate change to counter an exploit. Unforunately it caused some uproar due to the fact the people punished were not the exploiters and the animation is either unfinished or just extremely poor in design. Feedback is being collated here for hopefully a change.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Axe-skill-1/first

Nerfing the xploit is a good thing, but changing the animation from something fun and well designed to something so basic and poor was not. Whether or not they buff it is a different matter. I’m incined to believe that’s the axe done and dusted with as I doubt we’ll ever hear any further on this subject, sadly

Patches break stuff. It happens in MMO’s. I remember when Anarchy Online used to have a week of patches fix after every major patch. Became a running joke after a while.

The thing to focus on is that Anet generally are extremely good at fixing major bugs introduced very quickly. 5 patches since Tuesday to fix gamebreaking issues, whilst trying to re-build LA and produce HoT. That’s not bad work imo.

Of course, I’m still disgruntled over the necro axe change, but that’s a different story

It can be good, but a lot of people use the shield in pve because of the cool skins.

Guardian shield is a better example. I use, with no illusions of it being effective over other options. However, he loooks awesome….and that is more important to me on that toon.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Lordrosicky.5813:

Bhawb.7408:

Mesmer GS wasn’t necessarily being talked about on a fairly popular podcast that the devs listen/have listened to in the past. It is actually very likely that this was changed primarily because we mentioned it quite a bit, and as long as it exists as a weird interaction they would probably be hesitant to buff Axe AA.

Lol, everyone knows about mesmer gs , more than about axe necro. If they didnt fix mesmer gs it means they hate necro. Further evidence to what we all knew

Infallible logic.

Also, I’m surprised so many people use Axe #1.

The reason people use it is because the number of people who monitor their dps or build synergy or theorycrafting is likely the lower proportion of players.The game has a very strong casual appeal and I dont mean that in a negative context.

People choose weapons for looks, feels, playstyles, animations as much as anything else and the necro axe did have a unique look and feel to its play. It was perhaps the most enjoyable class for purely just….swinging an axe. It didnt matter to many whether it was more or less viable. Its the same reason a lot of warriors like myself enjoy the shield so much.

It wont happen simply because it would be a spoiler for new players

My hope is that they will do something like the Sea of Sorrows achievement where you could use clues from the book to find specific markers (or just stumble across them).

Something similar marking the Battle would add to the exploration factor and help tell the story of what happened, through text or cutscenes, since it is no longer playable and lost for new players who currently find the situation confusing

Please add feedback to this thread
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Axe-skill-1/first

It has improved for charr, but humans and asura seem hardest hit by this clunky animation.

The offhand problem will be fixed soon

It will be interesting to see if there is any additional response to this thread. I expect it’ll be a case of it being dealt with and it’’s now final though.

It was at least good of them to at least state why it was changed even if it is a bit of a head scratcher as to why this animation was the best possible solution.

Someone suggested it was much more in keeping with Vabbi and Istan. I can see their point.

I can see the Orr influence in that art you posted though. I imagine it’s a deliberate tribute to it’s former glory

Ellen Kiel prob found out you voted Evon and this is your just punishment…

Aktium.9506:

The new animations are great on male norn.

I guess all the complaints show just how many plebeians play humans instead of norn master race.

Can you post a vid of the male norn animation? Im curious to the look

Genlog.4983:

is it not better that you help Anet then complaining all the time
it will be better if you guys let Anet no what you guys like to see

what kind off animation maybe the DEV team can do something about it ??
as you no Necro use melee weapons as a long range weapon

so let your fantasy do your job and maybe there is something nice

The complaints have addressed this. They want it like it was before. Im sure a resolution can be found with the old or similar animation to address the exploit.

Certainly it cant be left as it is since it is only half finished as an animation. Very stiff and clunky with an apparent dps loss

Rollbacks seem to be happening across the entire game. Lots of it in Kessex Hills

And again. I feel like Groundhog Day with this skill point!!!

edit: map chat indicates a widespread issue

Got a rollback in Kessex Hills. about 10-15mins of gameplay was lost including any map and skill points I had uncovered. When I re-logged I was nowhere near where I was when the dc happened.

Looks like it’s not just a wvw issue

Bellamy.9860:

Randulf.7614:

The offhand is a bug, that is confirmed.

Interesting to see its improved for Charr tho. The change for human is…..quite, quiet horrible. I’m killing things a lot slower (noticeably so) and I’m not understanding why if the skill hasn’t changed time

Well at least i like the current animation a lot better (on charr). The old one was like using a duster, the new one looks more brutish..

haha that’s even stranger because it is the opposite on humans. It’s now like fly swatting instead of a brutal flourish. I do actually like how races can have different animation effects.

Thanks for the heads up on timer stuf. Looks like info is conflicting there atm

Bellamy.9860:

Looks sooooo much better now on charr.

Thank you. Nice little fix for stow casting that also improves visual appeal.

But it seems like offhand weapon doesn’t get displayed in the attack animation.

The offhand is a bug, that is confirmed.

Interesting to see its improved for Charr tho. The change for human is…..quite, quiet horrible. I’m killing things a lot slower (noticeably so) and I’m not understanding why if the skill hasn’t changed time

Confirmed not to be a bug sadly
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Axe-skill-1/first#post5080643

Confirmed in ncero forum not to be a bug, but intended (except the offhand)

Real shame

Karl McLain.5604:

Hi all,
The animation of this ability has changed so that the attacks occur later in the skill, fixing the draw to constantly cancel the ability for an unintended increase in damage. The overall active time of the ability hasn’t moved (remains 1 second flat), so there shouldn’t be any actual loss of damage as long as you’re not cancelling the ability early. The first strike now occurs at ~0.5 seconds in (slightly past it), while the second attack occurs closer to the 1 second mark than before.
There is a bug with the attack hiding your weapon, which was unintended and will be fixed.

-Karl

Well, that is a real , real shame. Thanks for replying to concerns, but I’m pretty sad you chose to take a free flowing skill animation and make it clunky. Really feels like a dps drop though, def killing things slower than I was yesterday.

Feel annoyed I spent money on new skins etc for my necro for a change which wasn’t expected. Feels like our fun is taken away just because a few ppl cheated with an exploit

The solution would be to invest in a different skin, sell it and buy the one you want off the tp

They simply no longer communicate when BL skins are being removed. It’s been like that for a while, despite calls constantly for more clarity

Gone altogether seems odd tho. Have they been removed from the 1 ticket tab and put further down for 5?

It’s a placeholder, not based on accurate info to entice early preorders. A well known trick. Whilst August/Sept was always the most likely of the speculated dates, when Anet publish it on their site, then we will know for sure.

Also, this thread exists across a couple of subforums, here is one already made https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/I-THINK-I-found-the-release-date-for-HoT/first#post5076576

They said because ppl are getting hung up on the numbers in other elites, so they are clarifying that nothing is final

Yes I use it. I find it extremely fun to play with.

Well before the patch anyway…

I enjoy the axe and the animations are the best axe animations in the game. But this…is just clunky and feels wrong. Hoping it is a bug.

Yeah…wow…hope this is a bug. That is impressively awful in comparison to it was

Eww…yes hope it is a bug. That is……awful.

Much nice than those feathered ones imo. Is it dyeable? I presume not, but if it is…I’ll def get a set

Usually means a lot of people trying to login/patch at once. Happens every patch. It’ll calm down.

If not, I’d suggest a ticket to support to speed up a fix for you

Exactly, we dont “know”

Im baffled why they havent updated their news page or front page. There is clear confusion because it indicates they are dropping, but twitter indicated otherwise.

If they would like constructive feedback, then it continues to be that clear and precise comms would be appreciated during fixed term events.

Really good concept…except it is too specific to one class. I would also add screams to the souls tho for added horror.

Not sure about my own legendary. Maybe a bow formed from the bodies of writhing snakes like Kraitkin (one of my fav legendaries), where the arrows are either poison spat from the mouth of a snake, or the projectile is carried on serpentine wings.

These threads pop up daily, but the bottom line remains the same. Until Anet announce it themselves on their website, these dates are purely speculative to entice preorders. It is a tried and tested trick used by retailers over the years.

I remember it happening with a Harry Potter book before it was even written…

I think pistols would have worked as well tbh

BrooksP.4318:

It is a shame that they made races homogeneous due to balancing reasons, instead of allowing diversity. Not sure if that fault is from a dev standpoint or a player’s mindset.

Prob both tbh. If the devs hadn’t have done it, it would have been demanded by players X race should be able to be like Y race etc etc

The lore of norns from the first game and also the books portrayed the Norn to be physically more powerful than humans. Only Charr were regarded to being close to their prowess. In Sea of Sorrows for eg, 2 Norn utterly decimated legions of Orrian undead. Also at 9 foot in height and built with broad, heavily muscular bodies, by that nature alone they will be more powerful.

One of my few criticisms of the game early on was the portrayal of the races and how each race lost some of their distinctions (partly due to the 3 orders and the need to put all 5 races in each, whether they fitted or not). Norn may not be portrayed accurately for gameplay reasons, but they are more physically powerful than humans.

BrooksP.4318:

lordkrall.7241:

Genlog.4983:

yes you can see Norns as vikings
the cold areas and there hunters

Oh, I agree that the are inspired by the vikings.
But that doesn’t mean they are humans.
They might look a bit like humans, but that doesn’t make them humans.

Not just inspired, but almost every aspect is based off of Nordic or Viking Lore, even their names. Sounds like Norns are just lazy story writing, copy and paste Nordic Lore, call them Norn, and say they are a non-human with unknown origins… They might aswell just had Kodan as Norn and never made Norns.

Not every aspect at all. Much, including religion and aspects of their culture and society, is based off North American culture

I’m not sure who you are aiming this at. The devs wont answer anything story related, specially long term. We don’t even know if Mord will part of the initial expac or part of the next living story series.

Should the changes be reverted? Probably. Something as small as fort destructions, inactive waypoints restored should be a fix since it it would be silly to leave them in limbo. However it is unlikely they wont be unless they obstruct future LW updates.

Whilst the concept of the LW is pretty admirable, point in time references are blurry and it is debatable whether it would make more sense to keep them there since HoT will be permanent and active, or to remove the damage and keep HoT as a separate ‘bubble’ for that story.

Reaper first since i love the concept and the genre it mimics is something im interested in

Then Chronomancer for sounding extremely interesting and having throwbacks to old concept work.

I have no interest in Dragonhunter, but only because ranger style classes dont appeal to me and the current Guardian sits better with me.

Nothing else revealed yet, although only Tempest and Revenant interest me personally.

The only other loose mention I saw was from the legendary weapon blog, but I don’t think that pertains to what you are after

“Map Bonuses
While the update to precursor acquisition makes for a huge change in the way we craft legendary weapons, our new Map Bonuses system will also make acquiring the materials you need a more directed activity. With Heart of Thorns, most explorable maps will have an associated set of bonus rewards that rotate on a regular basis. Starter maps will not be included in order to preserve the new-player experience. By completing events, jumping puzzles, and mini-dungeons in a map, you’ll be periodically awarded with one of its associated bonuses in addition to the normal rewards. For most maps, the bonus reward will be crafting materials. For instance, playing in Cursed Shore could reward you with ancient bones, charged cores, charged lodestones, or giant eyes during one rotation, and powerful venom sacs, glacial cores, glacial lodestones, or globs of ectoplasm during another rotation.
Maps like the Silverwastes or Dry Top that have a dedicated currency will work a little differently. For these maps, bandit crests and geodes have been something of a test for this concept, where you’re rewarded with these currencies through a bouncy chest for playing on the map. The Map Bonuses system is a more streamlined experience, and with Heart of Thorns, these maps will be updated to always award currencies through the Map Bonuses system. Moving forward, any map with a similar currency will also work within the Map Bonuses system.
The goals of this system are to provide ways for players to target the materials they need, let players know exactly where to obtain those materials, and help all explorable maps always feel like relevant and rewarding places to play.”

This comes up a huge amount. The answer is we don’t know.

S1 is not something that can be re-packaged and put out like season 2, since it is a totally different format compared to S2 and the even the personal story. It was based on massive group scale events, including a dungeon, a Tower which required taamwork to work up the levels; invasions across the entire world map; the invasion and destruction of LA, including multiple open world bosses which required teamwork in the similar sort of way as Silverwastes bosses do and an open world “raid” almost identical to Vinewrath in Silverwastes. Plus some festivals and storylines.

I have seen some excellent ideas (including a really good one from one of the lore experts, Konig) on how to convert this to a soloable piece of content, but it boils down to resources to re-code and re-imagine the whole thing. That would be a big undertaking imo and whilst it absolutely needs to happen for continuity purposes…I’m unconvinced it ever will.