Guild Wars 2

Thedenofsin.7340:

Warrior’s role is to the best profession in:
1) PvP
2) WvW
3) PVE open world
4) PVE dungeons

Warrior’s role is to be THIRD best in all those situations. It’s also really easy to play, and are extremely powerful in the hands of/against Casual and Experienced Players – You know the type: They’ve mastered the basic mechanics of the game, don’t recognize that there’s a lot more to the game than just knowing what their skills do and how to move around, and are thus prone to being ‘outraged’ by what they see as Cheesing/Cheating. (It also makes up the bulk of all game communities, because there’s an order of magnitude of skill between going from Newbie, to Casual, to Experienced, to Expert, to Pro). However, in high-end play, it suffers because its Damage doesn’t scale as well, it doesn’t play as well with others, it telegraphs its attacks (In PvP), and the easy-to-learn tricks don’t pan out in high-level play.

There’s a term for this – Skill Gate character.

People come to the forums when they have a problem with the game, or see how something can be improved.

Asgaeroth.6427:

Play warrior, wear warrior runes, use disc trait 3. Combat weapon swaps go!

If it’s such a balance issue why can warriors already do it? :P

Because in order for a warrior to do it, they have to specialize in weapon-swapping, trading 3 trait points and all 6 rune slots to manage it (Preventing Double-Six specializations, unless one of those is Discipline) – and even then, it’s not instant. As a Disc 3 Warrior Rune warrior running Sword+Bow, I can’t swap from my sword to my bow to set the field on fire and immediately swap back to sword to set myself on fire (With Sword2) – I have to wait a second or two (usually laying down Bow3, but that’s not always viable) before swapping back.

Actually, “Heavy Armor” really only needs to mean “Metal plating/scales/mail” presence on the hands, shoulders, feet, head, waist OR legs, and trunk OR arms.

I’d love to be able to wear this on my males or Charr , or Something like this, but probably with an asymmetric plate-and-fluff bra on my female Norn

I’d also like to be able to wear more light armors that show off my male’s torso – females have lots of options, but males are restricted to about 3 sets. And – the female Phoenix outfit needs to be re-tweaked to be available for males.

On the other hand, I’d like to be able to wear this on my female human characters (But I can go either way on the Vigil armor… that should be two sets), as well as this as opposed to the WTF we’re given.

As for light and medium armors showing lots of skin – Light armor is only true for females, while males are restricted to two or three trunk-flaunting chest pieces(With overly large sleeves that clip with everything else), and medium armor has only three body-flaunting suits for females, and none for males, asura, or charr. Charr NPCs also tend to wear leg-baring lower body armor that doesn’t even exist for PCs.

… Every class should have a +25% passive speed boost attainable through trait, utility, or weapon slot. It’s most useful for world exploration, not combat. And when it comes to exploring the world, everyone’s pretty much equal – just blob with a camera flying around behind it.

.. okay, so Warrior S2 makes them stand out, as is the Mesmer portal.

What do you mean by “Work for what they want”? Equal Merit deserves equal compensation. We’re trying to decide Equal Merit here.

The hardest part of making a legendary should be in the accomplishments (Measured in the Gifts), not waiting for a blessing from the RNG.

Firebaall.5127:

This implies that all participation of equal merit, deserves equal compensation. This is bullkitten, in case you were wondering; A joke on sanity.

Actually, all participation of equal merit does “deserve” equal compensation – That is the very foundation of the concept of fairness.

The issue is how to define/establish equal merit.

MauricioCezar.2673:

I’ll be honest : 99% of elite skills are Elite.

… I can’t find a single one actually worth the slot.

GAH! The baby Doylak race, and the way lag interferes with so many skills! I’m not sure how many times I’ve flooded map chat with my rage over any of the following:
1. Lagging out in the middle of a Lightning jump, causing my character to hover and fall short of the target location (Which can be deadly).
2. Having Assisted Jump get delayed, causing me to fall off the platform before launching into the air and missing a jump.
3. Running out of Lightning and Cloud jumps just before getting to the Master Sky Crystal on top of the airship.
4. Fat-fingering the “End Transformation” button trying to search for traps in the Baby Doylak race, especially at the end stretch with less than a minute on the clock – Why can’t they bind this sort of thing and all other transformations to the “`”/swap weapon key? Then again, I’d probably fat-finger it any time I tried to use the sun dash. (No, my fingers aren’t actually fast. Just clumsy).

Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve. Doesn’t matter. Lion’s Arch is an independent city-state. The ship “Salma’s Grace” was lost, then later salvaged. The money they had was theirs, by evidence of them having it. How they acquired it is irrelevant, especially since it was in bullion and actual-value material, instead of a placement. It stopped being Crown Wealth as soon as the ship went down – if the Crown really wanted it back, it would have gone and gotten it itself. If the wealth on the Salma’s Grace truly belonged to the Crown, it would have been with the Crown, not in the hands of the pirates. It doesn’t matter how the pirates got it, they were the ones who had it, and thus it’s theirs to do with as they please.

The lionguard could have done that, or not, but ultimately the Lionguard was removed from Krytan Allegiance and handed over to the control of the Captain’s Council. Any Lionguard that wanted to continue to serve the crown were free to swap from Lionguard to Seraph, with the change in the duties. Even had that not happened, the Krytans could have renamed and re-established the Lionguard as the Seraph, while the Captain’s Council took the Lionguard name for the guardians of its city, and there’s all of jack nada the Crown could have done about it.

As for the Pact and Orders – they’d support a rogue organization that entered into an agreement it wasn’t “Entitled” to because it’s in their best interest to support the free port city capable of holding and handling the assets of the orders without the risk of racially-motivated discriminatory policies.

The grounds as a group the would uphold/support the Sovereignty of Lion’s Arch as a “Free City” because it is a Free, Sovereign City, and one they have significant investment in. kittening about what could’ve, should’ve, would’ve happened in the past won’t change the present.

Doggie.3184:

Veprovina.4876:

People, if you want skimpy dresses and “sexy” pixels and polygons go play every japanese or korean MMO. I mean it. The less clothing you have there, the higher the armor rating…

GW2 goes for a more “serious” approach to armor. Yes, heavy armor is a tin can. What do you want? Steel hot pants? And two bucklers for a bra?

There are a lot of mix and match “sexy” armor combinations in GW2, i see them all the time, so really, no need to add more.

Serious would only count for males and not even then since males wear serious female armor with all the skirts they throw at us. The armor females wear is already extremely skimpy. This game is pretty much just sexist and uncreative when it comes to armor.

Please, tell me again how skimpy the female armor is

We’ve kinda moved on from arguing about taking Ascalon to Kryta trying to take Lion’s Arch back instead.

Something that surprised me is how few interrupts rifles and pistols have. I imagine that they were made as magazine-fed auto-loading guns from the start, because while massing large numbers of guys with single-shot, noisy, high-power, inaccurate, smokey tubes might be effective at disrupting heavy cavalry charges, they’re useless against who they were developed to fight.

Instead, guns were developed by the Magic-Rejecting (At that time) Charr against Flame Legion shaman and other casters. The pistol was probably invented before the rifle in Tyria (But both were after the Cannon). Artillery was developed as an answer to the battlefield control a noncaster army is seriously lacking.. They needed something that was effective at killing and disrupting spellcasters, which required it to be small, portable, fast-firing(Because Charr are tough to kill, and you need to be able to shoot again when the target starts to re-cast), and able to be deployed by small, scattered squads (Because otherwise you’re just Meteor Shower and Eruption fodder). It also needed a smaller, faster projectile than a traditional arrow (Claws not cutting bowstrings is a bonus), to catch casters off guard.

Something interesting about this “Backward” development of guns is that it also resulted in weapons that are much lower-powered than we think of – these aren’t one-shot wonder weapons. They were developed to kill unarmored (And rather underdressed as well… I miss the GW1 charr ‘light’ armors!) targets capable of taking a lot of damage – putting more bullets into them is more important than making those bullets hurt individually.

From there, rifle and firearm development continued to adjust in different directions. The modularity of the rounds is also a charr need to replicate the utility of spellcasting until they got their own spellcasters in significant number again, and also explains the oversized barrels.

maha.7902:

Well yeah, but female outfits relative to males are revealing in literally every single fantasy game ever.

Which is a problem. Males should be able to show off more as well!

And you’re on about one outfit. How many are in the game? The only skimpy ones I can think of are winged and light human t3. everything else isn’t.

Actually, I was just using an example. There are lots of outfits, but I remember defending the use of skimpy armors because I’m so use to the practical medium and heavy armors… until I saw the massive divergence in designs between male and female light armors, and just how many gratuitous exposure points are on the faction and other high-end armors. The standard armors are fine though. But male armors aren’t skimpy enough, and there’s no reason for the Vigil/Priory/Order outfits to have the weird exposed points they have.

Nicholas S Lin.6187:

The legions likely wouldn’t get involved. Arcane council I see just sitting aside. Sylvari wouldn’t get involved. The orders wouldn’t join forces for reasons I already posts. OoW and vigil would be against it as it’s actively working to split allied forces that could be against the dragons (and OoW’s thing is getting everybody allied, in whatever means possibly). Priory would have the historical proof to show that LA is entirely legal. Hell, again, even IF Jennah went crazy and tried pulling that, the ministry would block it and work against it. They would never send the military forces needed to take the city as opposed to having those guys fighting the centaurs back.

Turning Kryta against Lion’s Arch would be splitting alliances. The Legions and Arcane Council have interest in keeping Lion’s Arch a neutral, independent, racially-diverse trading hub.

The Crown was forced to give its consent to the Pirate Cartel since at the time it simple did not have the resources to hold on to it due. NOT because of the normal operation and function of the Nation at the time. But because it was still recovering from being shattered and devastated by a massive tidal-wave.

If not for that event. There would have been NO opportunity for the cartel to take and hold it. Again it must be acknowledged that the only reason the cartel was able to field a military force of sufficient size to make an attack on it unjustifiable and doomed to likely failure is because of a singular fact. The gold from the sunken Krytan naval vessel “Salma’s Grace” financed the ablility of the cartel buy personnel and equipement of the best quality and in vast numbers. Without the “Salma’s Grace” gold the cartel would not have been able to hold the ruin city.

It doesn’t matter HOW Lion’s Arch happened to become an independent, sovereign city state – all that matters is that it is one now. And it is. There are lots of things that could have happened to keep Lion’s Arch part of Kryta. But those didn’t happen. What did happen allowed the city to gain independence. It’s no more relevant that Lion’s Arch was swindled by a band of pirates than if it instead gained Neutrality by the King of Kryta going on a drunken bender on a trip to Divinity’s Reach, losing a few tax records, and then forgetting Lion’s Arch existed and labeled it a free city. Or everyone just saying that it’s a free city and the other political factions accepting that without Kryta knowing what just happened. Or a wild rabbit showing up out of nowhere, kicking everyone’s kittens, declaring itself emperor of Lion’s Arch, taking over the world, getting beaten back, dying, and leaving the city free. What happened, happened, and all that really matters is that the people who matter (The four other races, and Factions of the Pact) say Lion’s Arch is an independent city.

This set of events would ensure that HRH Jennah would have solid grounds to formally request aid on behalf of humanity to re-take Lion’s Arch for Kryta and Humanity. The annexation of Lion’s Arch would not be seen as against the interest of the other four races. Why would it?

On what grounds would the other races believe that they have shared claim of Lion’s Arch? It was a sovereign territory of Kryta. Since this is one of the central pillars to back the shared ownership of Lion’s Arch, what is the basis of this claim?

It was a sovereign territory of Kryta, but it’s not any more. It’s now a neutral, independent city-state that trades with and represents ALL the races of Tyria, from the short but brilliant metricans, to the rather green and leafy Caledonians, to the tall Shiverpeak Mountaineers, and rather fuzzy and horny Ascalonians.

There is none – other than that is how the Lore has now been written. Despite there being no historical justification other than the Crown being force to give its consent due to the series of events as I have illustrated in detail in my previous posts – as it was written in GW2 Lore.

History doesn’t need justification. It just happens. Deal with it.

Where has it been established the Captain’s Council doesn’t have the support of the Orders or other Pact factions? They all have STRONG interest in maintaining Lion’s Arch as a free, independent city and neutral meeting/staging ground. It also holds LOTS of assets that would be threatened by such a move.

The point you don’t seem to get is that not only would the Pact and Treaty turn their backs to Divinity’s Reach if it tried to take over Lion’s Arch, but possibly its guns as well if it tried pushing the matter.

I guess it is possible that the end result of the interactions between Divinity’s Reach and Lion’s Arch and the Pact and Five-Race Treaty could result in Lion’s Arch again being the Capital of Kryta – As a Bandit/Pirate and Centaur confederacy, … with the entire nation being governed by the Captain’s Council, while the Charr, Asura, Norn, Vegetables, Vigil, Priory, and Whispers would treat the Royalists of Kryta the same way the High Legions treat the Flame Legion, the Sylvari of the Grove treat the Nightmare Court, the Ebon Vanguard treat the Separatists, the Norn treat the Sons of Svanir, and the Sentinels treat the Renegades.

It would also reduce Human racial influence from “One of the primary five races of Tyria” to “Some dudes who just happen to be hanging around… kinda like Quaggan” the bigger geopolitical players of a new five-race treaty between the Sylvari, Norn, Charr, Asura, and Centaurs.

maha.7902:

A little cleavage and back showing isn’t skimpy.

Compared to what the males get, it is! And, the part most people find offensive about revealing outfits is gratuitous exposure (Of the back and chest, in this case), more than lack of coverage. A woman in a long gown that exposes half of one leg, a plunging neckline, and fluffy sleeves is perceived as ‘skimpier’ than a woman in shorts and a T-shirt, though the latter is covering less skin.

I’ve spent $40 on gems. Wanted to try out one of the skins – WAS going to buy a character slot before remembering the trait bullkitten, and instead spent that money on instruments.

Why can’t I dedicate the time I spend learning how to play the harp and flute in GW2 to actually playing and practicing the baritone horn I have gathering dust in a corner in my room IRL is beyond me. The harp and flute can’t even hit the half-step accidentals

Where does my Carrion gear fall in the Damage/Resilience tradeoff?

maha.7902:

Purple Miku.7032:

…I’m just gonna go ahead and leave this here.

http://i.imgur.com/J1XHqTK.jpg

Just saying, the vast majority of the attire that’s available on this game is what I’d expect to see on strippers. I really am baffled how you think otherwise. :P

lol.

gw2 is like a nunnery, it’s not stripperific at all.

Actually… the female light armors are pretty skimpy, and the Female Heavy Faction armors feature gratuitous exposure. I wish the male light armors matched!

Snowmoon.1758:

I don’t get it.

They can simply solve it by splitting the 3 stats (power, precision, ferocity)
Or maybe allowing maximum only 1 or 2 pieces of zerker stat gear.

Is there a reason why they are still allowing zerker gear in game?

It’s rather toxic to see a party list that does this:
lvl80s zerkers only, ping gear, >10,000AP only

Then imagine the poor just lvl80 new GW2 player who joined the party only to get kicked without knowing the real reason why.

He shouldn’t have joined a group that he didn’t meet the requirements for. There are plenty of non-zerker groups.

I like the staff, but largely because the Zenith Spire skin looks absolutely kitten, while the other zenith skins are notsomuch. I’m kind of annoyed that the animations don’t include actually using the staff, though.

I’m glad/wish that NPCs in the open world would be tougher than they currently are, so that I don’t feel like I wasted my time getting them back on their feet just to watch a single mob take them down again.

Djinn.9245:

phys.7689:

Djinn.9245:

I think that the fact that this subject keeps occurring means that it is of concern to people. However, many people in this thread are caught-up in the word “skimpy”.

I think that all of the currently-available armor should stay because I don’t care if some people like to dress their characters in a more “social” rather than “practical” manner.

But just as characters should be able to dress socially, some people would like to dress their characters more practically. There are currently very few armor sets that are something you would actually wear into battle or adventuring. I’m not saying the armor should be dirty or banged-up. You can have chest and leg pieces that are nice-looking but also provide good coverage for adventuring. And don’t have a skirt (which is highly impractical)!

You will have to define what you mean by practical.

i mean light armor really has no part in practicality, they just call it light armor by convention, it is clothes, and is primarily defined by not being armor. I suppose one could say it should be like jeans and a tshirt, but thats only really more practical from a cleaning standpoint, skirts, or jeans, neither will stop a sword or a bullet or fire spell.

First, I said battle or adventuring. When I go hiking I don’t wear thigh-highs and a mini-skirt. I wear long pants and sleeves so I can go through brush without getting scratched-up and ticks. Etc.

Second, cloth “armor” was used in medieval times by the peasantry who could not afford leather or metal (lookup “padded” or “quilted” armor). Of course it wasn’t as protective but it was also more maneuverable. Look at Ninja costumes, etc.

Those cloth “Padded” armors would be Medium Armors in Guild Wars 2. “Light” armor is strictly scholarly robes and other unrestrictive clothes, worn only by wizardly types. Actual ‘light’ armor is for Rangers, Thieves (See your Ninja example), and Engineers.

medium armor, is basically “light armor” its clothes that considers some for of defense, but not necessarily uniform i its standard. just putting mettle plates onto clothes in key areas/chosen areas amounts to medium armor. Its main function would be to provide some protection with minimal effect on movement.

but how would you define a practical armor?

No, you think of “leather armor” as being the kind of soft leather that modern leather pants are made out of. In medieval times, leather armor was very hard and much thicker. So medium armor is definitely medium armor. And medium armor can also include a certain amount of metal.

So for “practical” medium and heavy armor, I would like to see armor that looks nice but doesn’t have frills or skirts, etc.

Medium armor in GW2 is a blend of lighter real medium armors and what we’d call ‘light" armor. Trenchcoats aren’t made of hardened leather. We’re not dealing with “Medieval times” here, just by looking at the style of the armors.

Most of the “Heavy” armor is a range of what other games consider Medium armor and actual Heavy armors.

As a Pay-to-Play game, Guild Wars 2’s primary profit should be coming from people buying the game, not investing in the gem store. The way to bring more people into the game is to make it more fun to actually play.

Rauderi.8706:

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Also, the peak condi set everyone mentions is the Warrior, but the warrior causes its condi damage at melee, not range.

Rifle. Arms.

Even traited, the rifle doesn’t stack bleeds fast enough.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sartharina.3542:

As for the Norn involvement in whether to support of oppose a Krytan takeover of Lion’s Arch – either they’ll side with their Charr drinking buddies, or their allegiance falls to whoever offers the best deal on booze – which will probably be Lion’s Arch.

As amusing as it is, why does everyone portray the norn as being all about keggers and drunken loutishness? Or even as a unified force of any sort. What you’d get is more likely some norn standing for Lion’s Arch and a whole lot more going “meh, not my problem, I have a steading to run”.

Norn do not behave as a unified race. Notably, not even humans behave as a unified race. The only one which does for the most part is the sylvari and that’s because the Nightmare Court’s shenanigans don’t really affect their ability to act.

(Don’t say the asura, because they’re even less unified than the norn.)

Which is why Nic’s idea that the other races would embrace Kryta’s takeover of Lion’s Arch is even more laughable – the Asura and Norn groups dependent on LA’s free trade would find the disruption of the status quo to be unacceptable, and support the city in whatever ways they can to the extent that they would be affected by its loss of neutrality. Whether it’s from Norn choosing to side with their brothers/sisters/friends in the lionguard, steading owners with trade deals with Lion’s Arch keeping their lives wealthy and happy, and mercenaries answering to good pay and deals on booze, or Asura krewes being Asura within Lion’s Arch controlled territory not wanting to have to answer to Krytan laws, regulations, and ethics.

What’s wrong with GS burst? It gives free Fury for a while (A 20% crit chance to offset short loss of 15%, and then shoots above that. Fine if you don’t have any other source of Fury), and 100b brings the adrenaline back to max before it hits full stride (later attacks do less damage than the later ones). And, it’s pretty fast, and hits significantly harder than any other single strike.

I’d rather see the baseline of damage be raised than condition baseline be lowered.

Argon.1563:

Medium armor looks worse on Charr.

Which is really a shame, given the most iconic Charr class wears medium armor.

I was upset that I couldn’t make a good-looking Charr Engineer.

Actually, there’s a big reason the Charr and Norn would actively defend Lion’s Arch against a Krytan invasion, particularly the Norn – “Hey, my brother’s a Lionguard!”

If HRH Jennah tried to move against Lion’s Arch, it’s highly possible that the other races may decide that she’s too bellicose and power-hungry (Because why else would she want to waste resources taking over a neutral city that she doesn’t own?) to trust with a long-term alliance (Because if she dismisses the treaty made with Lion’s Arch granting its independence when it no longer suits her, what’s to keep her from dismissing/ignoring her other treaties with the Charr and other races when they no longer suit her to right what she feels are past wrongs? After all, “legally”, she’s Queen of Ascalon).

The charr would probably respond with whatever support they can give to Lion’s Arch to defend it, and work out a treaty with the Asura to mitigate and marginalize humans loyal to HRH Jennah(And possibly replace their position in the order with humans that aren’t beholden to a crazed queen, such as centaurs, or the free men of Kryta and privateers of the Captain’s Council – referred to as Bandits and Pirates by Kryta, respectively), while also preparing for a more definitive and decisive war (Ebonhawke can either stand with the Charr and Asura and remain alive, or side with HRH, and find themselves besieged by the Charr and cut off from the outside world by the Asura.)

As for the Norn involvement in whether to support of oppose a Krytan takeover of Lion’s Arch – either they’ll side with their Charr drinking buddies, or their allegiance falls to whoever offers the best deal on booze – which will probably be Lion’s Arch.

I can’t imagine light female armors not having something like a ‘breast-cup’ of sorts, because normal female clothes feature such anyway. The heavy armors… I wish were somewhat more equal. Along with the mediums (What is with all those plunging necklines)

That said – I largely want more skimpy available on the males. I love the female Orrian armor (I’d gladly trade: Female get more masculine Vanguard so males can get more female Orrian!), and wish I could wear something with that aesthetic on my males and charr. The medium male armors are in desperate need of more skimpy outfits (Nothing to let me play a dashingly handsome rogue, half-dressed ranger, or can’t-be-bothered-to-get-properly-dressed engineer!)

Also – the only part of male anatomy that maps to a female chest is the male chest. But it evens out if you present them in the same way (Guess what?! A large driving factor in the “Female breasts are sexual” misconception is the way we have outfits emphasize, cover, and morph them into more ‘appealing’ shapes).

Fenrir.3609:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Why would the encounters be ridiculous?

Because you could spam constantly ticking damage whilst actively mitigating damage/running about and from a base of decent base survivability.

Condition specs do not have “base” survivability over zerker specs. The only difference in survivalbility is from gear.

So gear and the ability to apply constant pressure outside of melee range. i.e. greater base survive than someone in full glass gear, with a full glass spec, in melee range.

There is a reason people who struggled with Liadri as zerk warrior often cheesed it to death via a condi spec. It is because you could apply plenty of damage whilst running about like a loon.

Rabid based condition users can in some situations get to 25 stacks of bleed. They can not maintain this over several minutes, the base they can maintain is about 20 stacks, with brief surges to 25.

Rabid users can do significant damage, if you had a group of them pushing the condi damage past the current cap, then boss encounters could potentially be even more trivial than they already are.

If the condition cap was removed then Anet could also implement a Condition damage/Condition Duration/Precision gear set which would be the zerker equivalent of condition damage. Then with a slight adjustment to duration of conditions they would deal the same dps as power builds and have the same survivalbility.

If the condition cap was removed and other mechanisms brought in to counter any issues then I wouldn’t have a problem with that. But introducing the above mentioned gear would not work like that. The dps potential in relation to survivability would still be greater given the fact that the damage would be constantly applied even when the players happened to be out of range of the mob/actively mitigating damage.

If you’re “Running around” as a condi spec, you’re not applying condi stacks. Likewise, a ‘zerker isn’t always in melee. A zerker Gun or Bow warrior, or any Zerker Elementalist has all the kiting power of a condi build, but the damage of a Zerker (Well, almost. But ranged DPS is on par with condi DPS).

Also, there are a lot of condition builds (Such as Sword+Sword Condi Warrior, and Burning Guardians) that also requires all the risks of melee while being kitten as Condi.

1. Charr are the greatest race ever.
2. I can play as a Charr.
3. Combat and exploration are still fun, especially as a Charr.

Kalavier.1097:

Who said they call themselves a Sovereign state? last I checked it was an independent city (or a city-state), not a nation.

Also, again, LA has enough treaties with various groups Kryta trying to take out would likely harm Kryta and trade in general.

It’s either a Sovereing (City-)state in itself, or part of a larger nation. Independent cities are by definition sovereign.

And to answer Nick – The other powers consider Lion’s Arch a soveriegn entity because they currently treat it as a sovereign entity (See – Taiwan being Sovereign from China). It managed to acquire freedom from Divinity’s Reach’s crown, and get recognized as an independent city-state by the other powers. It’s also proven itself capable of holding that position against opposition. Sword Trumps Words, unless those words summon more sword (As treaties of alliance do).

The other powers also prefer the currently-independent Lion’s Arch because the leadership is multicultural and multiracial, giving everyone a more fair sense of representation on the council and in the governing of the city and its trade regulations.

I would I miss pre-searing Ascalon City and AA! Arena Net Please I want it back kittenmit!.

The only way Ascalon’s ever going back to anything like it was Pre-searing is to STOP tearing the land apart with excessive violence and neverending warfare.

tom.7468:

Talking about realism in a game with magic and unlimited ammo and dragons is a bit silly.
In the real world women was not sent to war either.

But they often went along anyway. Women have fought throughout history.

Azhure.1857:

Sartharina.3542:

1. How? They lack the skill points for even adept traits, and they don’t have access to the money-making systems yet. And, they don’t know how the traits play out, so have no idea what’s worth their time and money or not.
2. Except the requirements are on the wrong side of the world, or well above their level. And, they don’t even have traits yet, because they’re not yet level 35. And even after that, they don’t have enough to play around with what the system has to offer until level 70+. Leveling is dull and unrewarding, with 60 completely dead levels.
3. New players don’t spend money on the Gemshop – they’re still new, and trying out the game to see whether it’s worth actually investing more than the minimum in. Pay-To-Win (Which is what you’re suggesting) is the #1 way to drive new players away from the game.

1) By the time they can purchase traits, if that’s the route they take, they have skill points. As far as not knowing what is what — I do believe they (being new players) can research traits/builds OR… heaven forbid…. play a new game with reckless abandon and learn to play by doing just that – playing it.
2) We’ve been spoiled, haven’t we? So used to getting what we want, when we want it. A little patience would go a long way. Again if its a trait or series of traits that one HAS to have immediately, there are options of doing just that. Your argument almost seems self-defeating. You say leveling is unrewarding, yet you have to level in order to be rewarded. Go figure.
3) First off, I wasn’t “suggesting” it as the best option. However it IS an option. Also where do you get your facts that new players don’t use the gem shop?

Most of the people, as far as I can see, that are against the current trait system aren’t new players. Yet you’re using new players as your main argument against said system. I would like to hear more feedback from those players themselves. Don’t think it would be as bad as we’re all making it out to be. Just try to imagine if this current trait system had been implemented at launch. Would you truly feel as if you’re being cheated then? You’d have nothing to compare it to.

1. Maybe one or two, but not enough to play with the system, and certainly not enough to ‘jump right in’, as the system advertises itself as.
2. Leveling from 1-70 isn’t rewarding – in fact, it’s the opposite: When you level, instead of getting an upgrade, you merely make your gear start to suck more, especially as you get downscaled. It puts the emphasis on Rushing to Level 80, instead of enjoying the progression of leveling. 60 dead levels sucks, no matter what system you’re using.
3. Experience when dealing with and being a new player.

4.Actually – I’d have plenty to compare it to. Any other MMO out there. Any other CRPG out there. Any other Tabletop RPG out there. I already do compare it to other systems. 60 dead levels is a “No, I’ll take my money elsewhere” deal. THe only reason I still play the game is because Charr remain awesome despite the developer’s attempts to screw them over.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Don’t know yet about charr warbands, because your character leaves them behind at the Black Citadel to continue operations under your sparring partner and they have no real reason to show up in the Pact storyline at all.

You mean, other than the need to get all the allies we can muster against the dragon? Once the pact starts, I’m done with my faction – time to resume my command in the High Legions, to bring the might of the one I serve (And two I’ve gained the respect of) to bear against the Orrian threat.

Azhure.1857:

Sartharina.3542:

The gold and Skill Point sinks target the wrong demographic – they hit new players, not the ones who actually have gold/skill points to spare.

And those people have other options.

• Make money (minor traits are only 10silver each, plus skill points)
• Unlock trait by hunting down and completing requirement
• Buy gems and convert to gold

I’m sure many will jump on the last option mentioned above. Whatever. It is the game we play in and we do so by choice. But before anyone goes all dramatic anti-gemshop on me. PLEASE remember that there are options for all players – whether they be new players or just another alt for veteran players.

1. How? They lack the skill points for even adept traits, and they don’t have access to the money-making systems yet. And, they don’t know how the traits play out, so have no idea what’s worth their time and money or not.
2. Except the requirements are on the wrong side of the world, or well above their level. And, they don’t even have traits yet, because they’re not yet level 35. And even after that, they don’t have enough to play around with what the system has to offer until level 70+. Leveling is dull and unrewarding, with 60 completely dead levels.
3. New players don’t spend money on the Gemshop – they’re still new, and trying out the game to see whether it’s worth actually investing more than the minimum in. Pay-To-Win (Which is what you’re suggesting) is the #1 way to drive new players away from the game.

Zalyn.9534:

Of course, to even claim that muscles = masculine and breasts = feminine is to accept flawed reasoning and to kowtow to the very social stereotypes you urge people to challenge (everyone has muscles, and everyone has breast tissue, just to different degrees). The problem is the inconsistency that happens to conveniently line up with the status quo and with certain types of male gaze and straight male preferences that dictate 1) what is properly gendered, and 2) what is attractive and therefore allowed.

You might have a point here if the reasoning actually was flawed, except male actually DOES = Muscles for every species except Crcocutta Crocutta, and Female = Breasts for kitten Sapiens, thanks to biology and genetics. And, larger breasts can be used to denote greater power as well – Strong pectoral support makes breasts perkier and seem larger. They also indicate maturity and experience. Furthermore, a large-chested woman has greater body volume/mass, which is another visual indicator of strength. They also give an overall “Top-heavy” aesthetic – same for ‘strong’ males. Of course, you can’t make the breasts TOO large, or it starts looking ridiculous – but a woman with a D or E cup tends to look stronger and more capable than one with an A-B cup (Cs are somewhere in the middle). Furthermore – the larger the breasts, the stronger the woman needs to be just to carry and move with them comfortably.

Same thing with hips – a female’s pelvis is differently-shaped from a male’s, muscles anchor themselves differently on it, and fat and muscles also develop differently. Larger/firmer glutes and thighs give greater ‘core power’ to the body.

The rest, though… it’s largely in presentation, as you said. It’s one of the reasons I like Guild Wars 2’s female Charr, even without their breasts (Though I wish the artist had gotten the other result when she made the “None or Six” ultimatum) – though I wish they could wear the skimpier female outfits like Orrian Armor to show off their fur and muscles more.

The gold and Skill Point sinks target the wrong demographic – they hit new players, not the ones who actually have gold/skill points to spare.

Or you can just dodge the condi applications…

Chadramar.8156:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Really? I mean I get not liking it… or getting it. But as a Charr main you’ve got to be happy that there was an armor designer who gave some kittens about Charr and gave their male outfit a totally unique feature.

As someone who plays female characters, not only do not have to be happy, I’m really ticked off because as with every other case of gendered armor, the female version is an inferior kick in the teeth compared to the male default. I play charr in no small part to get AWAY from gendered armor. Yes, male charr are the red-headed, left-handed stepchildren of this game in terms of gear, but female charr are below even that.

Not every case of gendered armor has the female be inferior. The Phoenix and Orrian armors for females, for example, while skimpier than the male counterpart, are also significantly more detailed and unique.

Bawi.9541:

Trait unlocking system: I like it a lot!!
Really good idea and it’s a lot of fun to be revarded with this kind of character progresseion for discovering the game world!

This is something I can get behind for the Master and Grandmaster traits, but not the Adept-level traits, which should have been a baseline for everyone to be able to access as soon as they were available. And bringing down the cost of master, grandmaster, and the new traits (So that masters cost as much as old Adept traits, Grandmasters cost as much as old Master traits, and the new Grandmasters cost as mcuh as the old grandmaster traits) would make acquisition less painful.

The pace of trait point acquisition is a little weird though. At 30 you get elite skills plus the trait system. Then you get nothing big until 60 (tier 2 traits), then at 80 you get tier 3 plus endgame gear plus dungeons etc. So lvl 30 and 80 are overkill when it comes to new stuff an 31~59 feels a little stale in comparison.
Plus there’s the issue of T1 traits requiring lvl 60++ content to unlock. It’s gotten better after the change but some requirements still feel extremely out of place.
It feels a little too focused on the last levels (2 trait points at 78 and at 80, really? :<).

This is the biggest problem with the trait system, IMO – Grandmasters waiting until level 80 to unlock overemphasizes the level 80 endgame that’s not supposed to exist – what happened to “Endgame starts at level 1”? – The game needs to open up MUCH earlier than it currently does, and even out the rate of trait point gain. As others have pointed out multiple times – level 15 and 1 every 5 levels would take a LOT of the pain of the new system off.

A big part of the problem with this discussion is people keep mis-framing anatomy. A female’s breasts are NOT the equivalent of a male’s butt or junk – they’re most comparable to a male’s chest, except with an additional taboo. Likewise, the male’s crotch is only comparable to the female’s crotch, with the added complication of additional bulk.

And – there are three values to skimpy – Sensuality, Power, and Attitude, as I mentioned earlier. I’d love to be able to wear the Orrian female version of the armor on my male and charr characters, because a bit more exposed skin and the ramshackle appearance would make it stand out a lot more than as “Just another noisy suit of plate.”

And – making new, good-looking armor will probably bring them more money than they lose, because it would A: Offer gem store prices (And each armor skin goes for 25% of the price of the game, and the game launched with more than 4 armor skins!), dramatically improve gem store sales of gem-store exclusive armor, and 3) Have people spend more on Gems for Gems-to-Gold to buy armors they want but can’t afford yet.

pdavis.8031:

I was thinking about the hall of monuments. If there is anything about “prestige” in gw2, its from the hall of monuments, and those rewards only come from playing gw1 and doing much of the end game content there. Other then that there is no gw2 prestige items. People wanted access to skins and items from previous content they missed, and it looks like they are getting it. So it does lose much of the status it had. However, only the gw1 titles amd skins have any amount of prestige anymore.

And you can still do that endgame content in GW1 to get the HoM stuff for Guild Wars 2.

Zaxares.5419:

Zaxares.5419:

Yeah. NONE of ANet’s testers ever managed to beat Liadri in her original incarnation. With her new graphical changes, I’ll be generous and say that 5% of players have managed to beat her in-game, including some who did it using the lifesteal method (and probable exploit). The majority of players still do not have the gear or skill to compete.

Most of this game is not about skill. It’s about finding the right build.

Most builds have a really hard time against Liadri. Some do not, and that’s how you beat her.

The “Right build” is worthless if you don’t know how to play it.

RIght. Being able to disable buffs and shut off virtues is a good idea to be able to have.

Can’t charr please get the female version of Phoenix armor instead of the female version of Ancestral armor instead?

No, you don’t understand it correctly. Equipping things works the way it always has. You don’t have to pay to equip different parts of your armor. Now, however, when you soulbind/unlock/salvage an item, it ‘unlocks’ the skin and adds it to your ‘wardrobe’, which is essentially just the skins you have available for transmuting.

Lets say you find a really cool-looking sword in your adventures, but its stats are crap. Under the previous system, you had to carry that sword around with you until you found a transmutation stone to apply to your current armor/weapon (Or weapon and armor you were waiting to level into), and then had to carry something with that skin throughout your career (Unless you got sick of it. Then you toss it, and regret it when you want it back). Now, you can just salvage the item (Or, if it’s not a soulbinding one, you can unlock the skin then sell it on the TP), and it will unlock the skin, and you can use a Transmutation Charge at any time to make any sword look like that one did. If you have a Legendary weapon, you can turn ALL your weapons of that type to look like said legendary for 1 transmutation charge each. You can buy Transmutation Charges with gems, or get them from Map Completion.

The “whole armor” he was referring to is “Skins+Stats+Inventory Slots”. Not “Full Suit.” I still carry two suits of armor with me – my vit+condition damage general-purpose exotic gear (A blend of Scallywag and Draconic armor) transmuted to look like a blend of Charr cultural (Tier 3 boots, Tier 2 pants) and lower-level plated armors that I had sold/salvaged long ago (Splint gauntlets, Reinforced Scale chestguard and boots, and Banded pauldrons) and a set of Zerker gear for dungeon runs transmuted to look as impractical as possible (Okay, so it’s actually just Draconic armor transmuted to look like Scallywag armor – from the suit I had transmuted to look like my old leveling/legion armor). Except the zerk rifle, which I transmuted to look like my Carrion Rifle as well, because Legionnaire rifles look awesome. I also transmuted my Legionnaire Sword to look like a Flame Blade instead, and my Pearl Sword (Oh god those weapons look terrible, but the stats are great!) to look like an Ebon Vanguard Sword. Oh yeah – and my shield to look like an Iron Legion Shield (Bought the skin from a quest vendor in the starting area!)

You can also go to your bank and see every skin available anywhere, giving you something to work for. And, once you unlock a skin, you can apply it at any time (Something I enjoy with my gem-purchased Flamewrath armor, even though it clips terribly with my tail.)

Just because a weapon has access to conditions doesn’t mean it can’t pack a physical wallop as well.

A longbow’s auto-attack dramatically out-DPS’s a Rifle’s Auto Attack, and it has utility that doesn’t depend on condition damage (Blind/Immob/AoE) And, a combo field’s a combo field, which pays off in spades in group content. Lay down the fire, let a phalanx warrior with a sword jump into it and get pounded by mobs, and enjoy massive Might stacks for everyone!