Guild Wars 2

Hannelore.8153:

What we actually need is more functional retry motes, in every mission.

Definitely this. At the end of the instances, or perhaps at certain steps, there could be a mote that rewinds the instance to just before that encounter or something. That should help some of the pain, even if we’d still listen to some of the dialogue.

Fenom.9457:

BTW there’s a new boat and airship in LA though

Along with a bunch of Elonian refugees around the city.

Considering how the Current Events have been renamed as Side Stories, there does seem to be somewhat of a shift, but that shouldn’t mean it’s over. You completely disqualify the Caladbolg quest, even though it is totally a current event/side story. There was an expansion on the bandit movement right before chapter 4 (I forget exactly when that went in), which shouldn’t disqualify it as an event. And now that the next expansion is here, I wouldn’t expect anything new for at least a month or two after it. Perhaps it slowed down because they were helping with the expansion.

If Norgu did become an Awakened, he certainly would’ve written a follow-up to his first play. I’m eager to watch a performance of “Springtime for Joko”.

Although, I wouldn’t object if we met a descendant of any of the old heroes. If Koss and Meloni didn’t get married after Nightfall, I would be greatly disappointed. Not sure which of the other heroes might’ve had descendants

Well, Balthazar disguised himself as Lazarus back in Bloodstone Fen, so he’s been in the guise ever since he revealed himself. How long he had been planning this is unknown.

1. Rytlock said why he wore the blindfold for so long if you listen to all of his dialogue in that first instance. He used his blindness to concentrate on the new voices in his head that had been distracting. Now that he has more control, he no longer needs to wear the blindfold and can walk about with unbound eyes.

2. The trailer for Path of Fire reveal that Rytlock will, eventually, tell us what he saw in the Mists when he went to retrieve his sword. Whether the charr higher ups heard this during his tribunal or not, I have no idea, but it will eventually out itself.

3. I think I might’ve preferred if Caithe had been the one to get sucked into the Mists. Then we could have used the memory seeds from the Pale Tree to retrace her steps and see what she had seen, all without Caithe saying a word (but her privacy horribly invaded).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Elona is technically not a continent. It’s a nation.

In GW1, it was mechanically a continent, which has led to much confusion among players who began to view it as a continent rather than a nation, but in lore it has always been just a nation. In GW1’s time, the nation only consisted of its three provinces: Istan, Kourna, and Vabbi. In the past, certain groups attempted to spread it north into the Crystal Desert (specifically the Primeval Kings and Turai Ossa, the later creating the colony Elonia in the desert) but they failed. Joko has done so again, and succeeded.

So during GW1’s time, the Crystal Desert and its sub-region, the Desolation, were not part of Elona. But in GW2’s time it is.

When most folks talk about continental Tyria – like in the outdated wiki ugrakarma quoted – they’re actually referring to “Central Tyria” – continental Tyria is much, much, much bigger and includes Elona. As one can see here.

After playing a bit of Path of Fire, I feel more comfortable saying that you’re wrong in this. I’m not quite ready to say where is Elona and where isn’t, but Amnoon is NOT in Elona. Many of the refugees, deserters and other NPCs make it clear that they’re fleeing from Elona to Amnoon, and don’t want to go back.

Now, if the nation of Elona happens to consist only of Kourna, Istan and Vabbi, then there’s still room for your theory. But I don’t recall anywhere saying that Kourna or Vabbi were just provinces of a larger nation. I’m pretty sure each one of those three regions were independently ruled, for better or for worse.

Well, from your screenshot, you seem to be in the final instance. I’m not entirely sure I understand what your problem is, though. If you’ve finished the instance once, then of course you need to replay it to get to the final boss. If you had gotten partway through, disconnected and wanted to get back to where you were, I’m not sure what to tell you. If you had reached a checkpoint, you apparently restart the instance from that point even if you had quit the game in the interim. Now, if you had finished the chapter and were replaying just for a certain instance, then you can skip straight to that instance, which should be marked as a purple star.

I hope that solves whatever problem you’re having. If it doesn’t, could you be clearer in what you’re actually looking for?

You need to find each piece of the armour each time you want to wear it and talk to the Svanir shaman heart vendor. They should disappear after being used once, but will drop after you start fighting the area Svanir again.

That’s unlikely, Dondarrion, as Livia says she had no children when Lazarus asked. Admittedly, she could have lied to her nemesis, but if she truly intended to kill him, what motive would she have to lie?

Also, hurray for thread necromancy! Appropriate for a thread about Livia, I suppose.

I’m pretty sure that Living World Season 3 is also a separate purchase from HoT or PoF, so it would be no surprise that LS2 is not bundled with HoT. I can’t check, though, since my account already has all of the living story seasons.

Dovienya.6597:

Maguuma Jungle consists of the Sylvari and Asura starting areas (Caledon Forest and Metrica Province) and the Brisban Wildlands. If you’ve never been to the Brisban Wildlands you can get there by passing through the starting zones outside Rata Sum or the Grove.

This is accurate, except that both Sparkfly Fen and Mount Maelstrom are both considered part of Maguuma, even if that’s not true geographically. Sparkfly Fen is probably part of Maguuma because of Eye of the North; no idea what Maelstrom is considered Maguuma.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Palawa Joko will NOT be our ally this time. When we allied with him before, he had been weakened, and he helped us reclaim a foothold in Elona and travel across the bleak Desolation part of the Crystal Desert. He’s since gotten strong, and has his army back, ready to fight any he feels would challenge his claim of the land, including some Outlander some people have been calling “Commander.” Will his troops fight the Forged? Probably, the same way that elementals will fight bandits if the two come too close to one another.

The LS3 maps, if you logged in during the 2-3 months after their initial release, should be unlocked on your account. (I’m going to guess you’re on the Ember Bay chapter, learning more about Primordus, and not Dragonis Mons, where we’re chasing after Lazarus.) Once a chapter is unlocked, it is unlocked forever and can be replayed whenever you so choose. If you didn’t log in during those periods, you would need to buy the specific chapter to be able to play through the story and eventually unlock the new map. (Interestingly enough, I believe if you’ve unlocked the LS3 exclusive mastery, you can level it all the way up so long as you have enough Maguuma mastery points and earn XP in HoT/LS3 maps.)

As far as story locations, it seems as if PoF will start by taking a zeppelin from Lion’s Arch down to the Crystal Desert, and the story should take place entirely in the areas around there, leading southeast into Elona. None of the Living World maps really come close to where we’ll be exploring in PoF, and the FAQ says that no masteries from HoT will be needed to complete anything in the area, although they will be usable.

So if you buy Heart of Thorns, you are given a free boost to level 80 for one character in a shared inventory slot. It looks like Path of Fire also offers one. So, if I haven’t spent my HoT booster, will I get an extra one from PoF?

Doing a bit of research, I can confirm that only humans and asura really give two flips about the Livia revelation. Humans care, because she was a Shining Blade member from the Eye of the North era who later became a leading member (as papers in the Shining Blade HQ confirmed). The asura care who she is because she was acquired as a hero by entering the asura areas of Eye of the North, and thus worked closely with them. The other races are just confused about this person, who had been called Kerida up to that point, suddenly being called another name by Lazarus.

I admit, the information about Livia easily found within the instance, especially after the reveal, is pretty sparse and doesn’t really explain things to players who only know GW2. I don’t feel this is a huge loss, though, as you would be free to shrug it off yourself. Honestly, she could have died in this instance, and it would have been a respectable end to Livia’s story. Many long-time fans might be annoyed by this, seeing as she’d been teased for many years, but it would have been an ending. Now that we know she is here and her generations-long quest to exterminate the mursaat has been achieved, are we likely to see her again? Maybe. Perhaps she and Ogden will have tea together and discuss the good old days.

Well, the good news is that there’s only one more Living Story chapter to go in this season, so at least you’ll see it to its end. I also wouldn’t necessarily call Balthazar “evil”, even if he is becoming an antagonist, as the first thing he does is attack Primordus. It’s only because we’re finally understanding the ramifications of killing all these dragons that we try to stop him at all.

Now, not everyone is going to enjoy all the elements of the story, but to completely ignore the lives of our companions is also bad storytelling. At least when Kasmeer and Marjory are having their lover’s spat, you’re busy collecting the reflecting dishes, and everything doesn’t grind to a halt while they hash out their differences. If you just sat there to listen to their dispute, that was your decision, but the dialogue was designed to be ambient while you run around doing other things.

First off, she does look like the same character, just with a different hairstyle and dress. It’s harder to tell with pixelated characters, but her features are still in the same place.

Second, she’s a lot more reasonable in her flip-outs than Braham has been. Marjory has spent the last 6 months or so hanging out with a mursaat (which is dangerous even in the best of times), but she also understands that Marjory is her own person and thus can make her own decisions. That’s a step up from Braham’s emotional reaction to his mother’s death, however human it might be.

Third, whoever she might have been expecting under the mesmer disguise, Kas probably did not expect a god to be hiding there. I certainly wasn’t expecting it, either. Now, if you were suddenly faced with a being you worshipped most if not all of your life, you’d probably also have a bit of a crisis of faith. Remember also that Marjory was injured shortly before the illusion wkittentered. That probably didn’t help things.

Finally, we don’t know what she’s been doing since Mordremoth’s defeat. The letters in Lake Doric suggest that she was involved with E somehow, but the details are still unclear. This could also have affected her attitude somehow.

While capitalizing on the guardian’s burning skills, I think I’d prefer to see a build that turns the burning into a chill effect, at least if we’re going up against Primordus. I doubt that would happen, but that’s my personal wish list.

My biggest piece of advice is never listen to online advice on what your favourite class should be. If you like the revenant more than the thief, play that more. If you like the thief more, that should be your main. If you can use the mechanics better one way than the other, that should be the one you stick with.

As far as solo play, PvP or WvW, you should always be able to find something to do. Sadly, party play might be more difficult because people can be very opinionated on what they feel should be in a group and refuse to listen to reason. That’s not your fault, and there’s little you can do to change that.

Daniel Handler.4816:

Rognik.2579:

Daniel Handler.4816:

I don’t think it is unknowable. It is a pretty important part of the lore. Either we have some idea now, or the writers are sure to tell us.

Um… why is it important? They were asleep, and now they’re awake and trying to kill us. Why do we need to know how they stayed alive? Did you ever ask how Sauron existed years later? Or any of the other Sealed Evils in a Can? They just did, and it’s not important why because we’re going to kill them.

Also, magic. Magic is the answer to anything that doesn’t make complete sense.

Much of the plot revolves around the Elder Dragons. Omadd’s machine indicated they are essential to balance of the world. As the story continues to delve into that topic I imagine we will learn more.

Omadd’s machine indicated that the dragons were important, not that they were essential. You also seem to put a lot of value in a 2 minute clip from 3 years ago. The origin of the dragons isn’t important to the story, and possibly will never be revealed. While on that topic, the sylvari are also not the answer to everything. Try to realize this in future discussions.

Amaimon.7823:

Sartharina.3542:

… kitten, now I’m going to have to write a Charr/Asura romance story.

I think their core values would differ too much for a romantic relationship

Ah, but that just means there’s so many more obstacles to overcome! Lots of opportunities to puppy it up, but you also want to cheer them on so much more.

Daniel Handler.4816:

I don’t think it is unknowable. It is a pretty important part of the lore. Either we have some idea now, or the writers are sure to tell us.

Um… why is it important? They were asleep, and now they’re awake and trying to kill us. Why do we need to know how they stayed alive? Did you ever ask how Sauron existed years later? Or any of the other Sealed Evils in a Can? They just did, and it’s not important why because we’re going to kill them.

Also, magic. Magic is the answer to anything that doesn’t make complete sense.

Ardid.7203:

Do permanent sex change exist? (hint: yes)

I’m not certain about this one. I know there’s that one person in Lion’s Arch who was originally a man but is now a woman, but I believe she talks about how being a mesmer makes it easier, thus implying that at least some of it is illusionary. Maybe I need to speak with her again, but that’s what I’ve taken out of it.

As far as the interspecies relationships go, it seems like the breeding aspect is a huge barricade for most if not all relationships. We definitely never see any characters directly, though there are hints, like whatever relationship Rox and Braham have with each other, or the various skritt having a crush on the Exalted (although if that’s actually romantic or just a SHINY fixation is difficult to tell).

So, officially, no there are no interspecies relationships on a romantic level. Of course, I’m now trying to imagine a human enjoying the tender embrace of a charr, or an asura and norn kiss and see problems in both cases. Maybe it will happen, but the species might just to be too difficult to properly mesh.

Describing the dragons as “eating their poop” is invalid in many ways, some of which are mentioned above. For one thing, it sort of implies that they actually produce the magic in their consumption, where that doesn’t really seem to be the case. It’s more like the magic seeps out from them much like water will eventually leak out of a sponge.

Plus, it’s magic. We don’t know what sustains dragons, or if he eats anything besides magical artifacts. Or the magic can sustain them without any degradation in the magic. Because, well, it’s magic.

Djinn.9245:

Many of us who agree with the OP have played GW2 straight through to this story (no level-ups). We have at least a fair approximation of how to play at this point. This isn’t a Dungeon or Raid where one would expect to have to “learn the dance”. This is the main storyline of the game in general PvE. That is my issue with pretty much ALL of the end-boss fights of the Stories.

I’m not sure why Anet decided to create their main story end fights in this way, but I will continue to express my dislike for it until they change or until I get fed up and quit.

1. I think you meant the auto-level up. If you got through the entire story on just a level 1 character somehow, I’d be impressed, especially as you’re pretty much guaranteed to be level 2 getting out of the intro instances.

2. There is still a bit of a dance to learn to complete the main story, as it’s different from a lot of the MMOs that were originally released. It might not be as complicated as the Dungeons or Raids, but there’s still tricks to learn.

I’m also currently replaying all of Heart of Thorns on my Guardian and I’m having a really hard time with it. I breezed through it on my Ranger (not even with the Druid specialization), but I’m really struggling now. Does that make me a worse player than I was before? I don’t think so. Is the content any more challenging? Doubtful, as a lot of the challenge was still in Act 1. No one’s complained about HoT story content (outside of Hearts and Minds) to the same degree any of the Living World chapters have. I think there’s something here more than just a challenging boss fight.

3. Are those really the only two options? Are you sure you will never learn to deal with the challenging but entirely doable end bosses in the LW chapters? Yes, Caudecus on day 1 was a bit too strong, but even then, lots of people were able to complete that instance the very same day. I recommend you learn to at least tolerate the way the end instances are designed, or perhaps you should save some time and quit now rather than keep up getting frustrated and frustrating us with these types of posts.

ArchonWing.9480:

This is nowhere on the level of raids or dungeons, though. Personally, I thought the end of the chapter where you have to train Aurene was actually frustrating.

Or something like Hidden Arcana, where you are introduced to multiple new mechanics at once and have to utilize all of them in a risky manner where conventional damage is muted. I’m glad they never did that again.

The last 2 chapters have had fights that are very easy compared to the ones immediately before. Granted, this one is much harder than the one in a Crack in the Ice. If people managed to get to this far, then I’m rather confused. I mean really, and I have trouble killing the individual jade armors!

Did you mean the end of S3E2, where you had to protect Aurene? Or the start of S3E3, where you go through Tarir and do various trials?

How is Hidden Arcana’s last instance different from how the end of S3E1 worked, where you are taught various mechanics tied to Counter Magic? I know a lot of people who have trouble with Justiciar Adrienne, and she’s not even the final battle of the instance. Is it really that different?

CaptainVanguard.4925:

A-net announced that theres 2 more episodes, in one of their recent livestreams.

Do you remember which one? I don’t recall seeing it in the Guild Chat shows, and I doubt it’d be on the fan creation show, so I’m curious when they “announced” that.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

ArchonWing.9480:

I mean obviously Minister Kitten is the reason why bad stuff happened and yes I understand why from a storyline view that the man is clearly even more sociopathic than at first glance.

Except, it’s not clear that he intended his daughter’s death.

I disagree, it was pretty clear that he intended to kill Demmi, especially after he confessed to killing his own wife. There’s no reason he’d talk about being reunited in the Mist right before shooting someone unless he was going for a killing shot.

In general, the level that the material is used to make is the same zone you’d find the material. For instance, copper is only found in the starting area zones, which is used in the first 20 levels of metal materials. The T3 materials is for 30-45, while T4 is 45-60, I believe. Maybe it’s a bit different, but that’s probably a good guideline.

Are you talking about the ruins in the southeastern corner of the map? I’d assume they belong to the same civilization the buildings in the Maguuma Wastes. There hasn’t really been any formal statement about who built them, nor the ruins around Rata Sum back in GW1.

Sarpan makes a good point. With your permission, Healix, I’m going to add it to the wiki walkthrough for this instance.

GoG.5102:

The ET game on atari is actually better than this, there is absolutely nothing redeeming about it and it is a complete negative play experience.

It is not really that bad as you say. Is it flawed? Yes, but there were a lot of things redeemable about the game, and there is no fatal flaw that I know of. There are people who found at least some enjoyment of it, and I really like the various ways different classes play the instance differently. I even like the riddles leading up to the final fight. That fight itself is… not the most pleasant experience, but everything leading up to it and after it is quite fun. Don’t let a single part of it ruin your entire enjoyment of it.

From 2017’s April 1’s patch:
*Ranger pets now require food. Failing to feed your pet will cause them to leave your kennel.
It seems like all rangers do have kennels for their pets, if we can trust anything from the patch notes at all.

Do you have Gates of Maguuma unlocked? If you have Season 2, Episode 1, you can play through the story. Once you have completed all the instances (and talked to a certain NPC for this chapter), it is considered completed. If you don’t have Season 2, don’t bother.

Also, you only get 1 of the 2 mastery points from completing the story. The other is by completing every achievement in the chapter.

The other thing is that, even if you could read the tooltip for “Counter Magic”, it is exactly the same for every instance of it, and never details exactly what it does. Whether it’s against the bloodstones draining your health, the Executioner dropping swords on you, or Caudecus smacking your face, the tooltip gives you the exact same message. So instead of worrying about what it will do, it’s more productive to just use it and figure out what happened afterwards.

Except… isn’t the silver salvage-o-matic not in the store any more?

Talk to Agent Zrii, near the camp at the start of Dragon’s Stand. That’ll get you back to the double-helix structure.

ArenaNet can’t force people to take you into their group if you don’t meet their arbitrary standard. I’m not saying it’s right, but it is their call for a standard, even if you think it stupid. Sorry.

I kind of wish the LFG would appear before the friends list…

The main problem with crossdressing is that all the outfits were built for a specific build, and there is a big difference between the male body and the female body, at least for the humans, norn and sylvari. To have some of that worn on the opposite gender would require it to be redrawn somewhat.

Nobody said it yet, but it was mentioned when the costs were initially removed was that returning to an armor repairer was punishment enough without the additional cost of armor repair. The armor breaking was always more of a slap on the wrist than a real punishment; so long as you didn’t die more than 6 times before getting the armor fixed, there was no effect on your stats. I don’t see why the armor damage/repair system really needs to be touched, as the stations are still pretty rare and good players rarely get defeated.

I think we need more charr feats.

You don’t like the bunny ears? Does seeing them make you hopping mad?

Are you saying you don’t want to have Aegis on you, and have to get hit every time?

cadmiumgreen.8712:

See, the thing is the other name for the Krytan Floppy Fish is the Lungtuna. While most of us think of tunas and jacks as a strictly oceanic fish, the Lungtuna is a freshwater species that developed the ability to use its swim bladder as a gas exchange organ in addition to providing buoyancy in order to survive dry seasons and dam failures. Thanks to this spectacular adaptation the Lungtuna is the most widespread freshwater fish in Tyria as it also allows them to flop from water body to water body in much the same way walking catfish and snakeheads do, albeit in a more comedic fashion. You think the migrations of wildebeest and zebra in the Serengeti is impressive? Then you have yet to witness the wonder and majesty of a school of magnificent Lungtunas flopping their way across the Crystal Desert! I’m sure the BBC has footage of it with David Attenborough narrating.

The BBC being the Beetletun Broadcasting Corporation, right? I hear the mesmers have some difficultly recording the footage, but they do so with amazing clarity (even if it is predominantly violet in colour)

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

DaShi.1368:

I remember when RPGs were all text and numbers and didn’t require an animation.

I remember when RPGs were pen and paper and didn’t require a computer.

That still exists, but RP in a game can still be fun.

I kind of want to have a GW2-based RPG system. I know a group was going to create one just for fun, but I haven’t really heard much from it since the initial stage. Even if one of the existing systems could be modified (D&D, Pathfinder, World of Darkness, etc.) to work in the world, I’d be happy, but I wouldn’t even know where to look for such a fan-created mod.

This isn’t a particularly constructive method, but I believe when you complete a new heart, it’ll say “completed” in the lower-right corner, along with how many hearts have been completed. Other than that, and looking at the region from another map (which supposedly shows full hearts once completed), I think you just need to remember.

Daniel Handler.4816:

I am not saying she is the solution for everything. I am saying no one considers her a solution at all.

Because she isn’t a solution. She may be part of several solutions, but being a giant tree, she can’t exactly get up and attack anyone.

Daniel Handler.4816:

Speaking of plot devices, Aurene has foreshadowed greatness and people are already theorizing about her absorbing/expelling magic.

This one is slightly more credible, as we saw the egg absorb at least part of Mordremoth’s energy after his death. We haven’t learned of any other creature (besides the new destroyers and that one icebrood) absorbing the magic of defeated dragons.

Daniel Handler.4816:

And its the little things as well. Wouldn’t the priory study the Dream and/or the Pale Tree? Have race relations destroyed all Asuran curiosity?

As castle said, the asura did study the sylvari when they first starting spreading out. The trouble is that, back then, they just experimented on the sylvari without really knowing what they were. Now that sylvari are somewhat accepted, and knowledge of the Dream is somewhat known, we face the problem of how exactly do you study the Dream? Even if you have an all-sylvari team, they can’t test the Dream, they can’t return to the Dream, and those still in the Dream can’t be reached until they emerge. It’s not practical to study it.

Daniel Handler.4816:

There is a giant talking tree, and a bunch of psychically connected smaller trees, and everyone is completely uninterested.

1. Sylvari are not small trees, but mobile plants.
2. What exactly do you want done? Yeah, there’s a race of plants, but they aren’t more powerful than any other race that we can measure. We also know they are dragon minions, and their dragon is now dead. How much more can they help in a fight?

There are very minor differences playing the living story chapters through as a different race or profession (although Confessor’s End has more unique mechanics). Most of the differences are documented on the wiki, if you are really curious, as differences in season 2, at least, tended to be in non-spoken areas. HoT does have quite a bit of difference between a sylvari character and non-sylvari character, but otherwise has fairly little difference between the main story and deviant paths.

However, there is some benefit in replaying the instances if you want to get the achievements. Season 2 achievements could not be earned on the first playthrough, while season 3 can be earned the first time yet you might not get them all. But if you don’t care about achievements at all, there’s not really anything worth a second playthrough.

Honestly, the character that is, comma, “worth it”, comma, is one that you are comfortable with. If you can move around, easily kill enemies and come out from it stronger, then you’ve found your new favourite class. Sadly, finding the right class this way might be difficult.