Guild Wars 2

Let me be a bit more direct and not beat around the bush like Arena Net usually does. It’s not going to come back till maybe after Heart of the Thorns. Even then it might not be a guarantee. The lead designer and overseer for SAB Josh Foreman has a major hand in finishing up the design work for the upcoming expansion. The reason why there was no SAB since the second iteration because they had Josh pretty much work on everything else. Plus the work he did for all apparent purposes did get heavily criticize during SAB second release. Basically for being harder and longer.

People otherwise do favor his work he has accomplished throughout GW2. Not only for SAB. Including most of the jumping puzzles and major design work on the racial city throughout GW2 (ie: Divinity’s Reach and Lion’s Arch). He was also the one who let it slip out about the Cantha city district was being planned for Divinity’s Reach. Ever since work ended with SAB world 2 release and he has been working exhaustively on other things. For example some of his recent work included the Triple Trouble update, and a good amount of the season 2 map design.

I think it’s really going to be up to Josh and the management at Arena Net to let him do his own thing now. On a side note he does have a personal blog; I do read every now and then. Though I don’t think you will see anything heavily work related unless it’s positive. Especially after what happened the SAB world 2 release.

This unofficial thought process of what going on behind Arena Net’s closed doors. Take it or leave it. However I am not going to bait you with “nothing is off the table” or “it will come back eventually” catch phrase shenanigans. Since I can also pretty much predict that the expansion is also going to be group events, dynamic events, and personal instances. No new dungeons, fractals, or any other non-recycled festival be coming from now until maybe after HoT is done. Notice how Colin has shut his mouth about anything to do with Polymock. Probably because it got shelved, but they don’t want to tell you that in any direct way. Also I will bet you Crystin Cox who is one of the lead designer for the new mastery system, and the micro-sales division is already thinking of bringing custom glider wings to the gem store.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Ralanost.8913:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I don’t like asura and they keep getting shoved in my face.

I really don’t like charr, and for some reason it’s necessary I smile and pretend everything’s fine with the ceasefire.

Everything is fine. Flame Legion were the idiots that wanted all the war and death the most. The other 3 legions are killing them when and where they can. Is that not justice? Cleaning up their own mess and losing some of their own in return?

No. That is not justice.

Justice would be their homeland being invaded while it was burning to ash around them, and every single charr no matter the age or gender being killed.

There is nothing which will ever make the Searing something which can be forgotten and forgiven.

Did you forget the part where the humans evaded the charr homelands first? Took it over then proceed to call it Ascalon. Which started that whole domino effect. Don’t get me wrong both humans and the charr have caused great atrocities through the misuse of dark magics and fanatical political/religious standings. I used to think like you, before some of the new bridge lore started coming in as EotN was coming around. Revealing new historical information that occurred before GW1, during the 250 after GW1, and then the events happening in GW2. Now I just see the whole human versus charr thing as one whole Greek tragedy. There are no real winners in the end.

It was one of the more detailed and interesting lore bridges for GW2 that I have seen done. Furthermore all of it is well represented in game, and outside of it equally.

You know whatever your opinions are the writers will continue to shove it in your face. Unlike the rest of development team that drops an idea like a hot potato when it does not work out. The only one that did not seem to go anywhere Captain Ellen Kiel. She was left as a complete footnote after season 1. Despite them spouting out that she was going to matter in the future. I guess until the focal point goes back to LA we won’t be seeing anything advance for her again. In my opinion Lion’s Arch got way more attention then it deserved (from all those attacks).

The A-net writers committed an even greater problem since GW2 launch. A long time ago before GW2 went live they specifically stated that human lore would take a bit of backseat for all other races to get their spotlight. Out of all of them the one race that became the lead and the Deus ex Machina plot device (more so then the humans ever were in GW1) was the Sylvari. From Trahearne to Scarlet. What happened to giving all of the races equal time to shine? I hope (but I doubt) after we deal with Mordremoth it will be the Sylvari that will start taking a backseat to the main story.

Probably right on top of the other shelved ideas at the moment. Including build templates and a guild alliance system. Right now it’s crunch time for Arena Net to get HoT done. The only people that seem to occasionally have more time on their hands are the artist, animators, and audio people. Which their extra time is directed to make more black lion stuff. Same reason why Josh Foreman is not working on any SAB content at the moment. Since they have him tied up doing a bunch of work on HoT.

I think the bigger problem is all these people (or as the industry puts it: “whales”) that fell for this “flash sale” marketing gimmick. On a digital items that is tied into artificial supply and demand. I should not be that surprised. Since all those free to play (not really) mobile games, Call of Duty: same old, and pre-order season pass with some of the DLC strategies have been doing verily well the last couple of years. The consumer market is really getting more gullible every year. With marketing techniques as ancient as when man first figured out how to barter for goods. Just like all those people who invested into the Beanie Baby craze a long time ago. The only difference now is digital pixel items scarcity is a thing. Might as well be selling you air for a limited time offer.

Thanks Joe, for getting in my question about the end boss being better then what we got in vanilla. Also I did catch that he did not make any promise it would be better. However he basically took that safe route of saying “our past work shows we have improved on that part.” Not surprising. I am still worried about it being rushed out the door again. I rather it get delayed then having content that is overly buggy or completely unfinished again. Since Arena Net has shown no interest in going back and redoing things like that Zhaitan fight.

Actually the way everyone who went to that meet up there are basically saying the same thing. It’s nothing new. Just to get first hand impressions for the non-big gaming media groups. Also the fact that these embargo’s that A-net sets up, just keeps everyone in yelling at one about their game for about a day. It’s been done before with most of the top MMO community outlets already quite a few times now.

Unfortunately the marketing division at Arena Net are using archaic marketing tactics that is only going to hold attention for less then hour. It’s like when you see a billboard and go “oh yeah, that’s a thing” and then move on. Well at least it’s better then a taxi ad that try’s to hard to get out of the box, but is so overly motivated about forcing it’s message down your throat. I just shudder at the thought of that commercial.

Exeon.4358:

Or maybe they are gonna show off some new legendaries.

I think it was Matt Visual who said things like new legendaries and class specialization were completely off limits when they asked them.

Joe, I hope you finished the personal story if you want a question that would hit pretty dam hard. This one question which has to do with the final fight with Zhaitan; which stands as a testament to why developers should not be rushing things out the door. Just like how you got angry about quick time events being used for some lazy ending. This one featured some 1 button smashing to end it all.

Well the final fight in PS was even admitted be rushed by the developers, and has never been revamped for all of that criticisms it got. So the question would be something like this: “Will HoT not feature an anti-climatic ending that is not akin to something like the main personal story ending for GW2?” Don’’t let them get away with “well you can see from our living season stuff we have improved.” It should be a promise the ending will not be rushed to the chopping block again.

Unfortunately I think it will be fear of the unknown that will play a huge role in this misunderstanding. Especially when people start to link this problem to Scarlet, Aerin, and the unknown factor who let Mordremoth know about the summit gathering at the pale tree. However after some serious sleuthing we probably can find out more about what is truly causing Mordremoth to take over a section of Sylvari population. It would also be interesting if Mordremoth mind control was not just limited to corrupting Sylvari.

I am starting to wonder now if there are underlining factors from each elder dragon that can stave off another ED’s corruption. For instance the blue orb might actually come from the deep sea dragon (that kept the dead from rising again). Maybe glints (a former champion of Kralkatorrik de-corrupted) egg has something to do with this. Perhaps to block mind corruption or even can reverse the symptom itself.

Going back to the LA. I had a past theory about the Consortium could take advantage of the chaos. It would be interesting if Vorpp turned out to be one of the directors of the Consortium. Going from the person we got help from in order to bring down Scarlet, to an individual with his own hidden agenda.

Conspiracies aside when it comes to who she is affiliated with. First she is the lead of the microtransactions department. Second are any of you denying the fact we have had screw ups in that section of the game since release? Including what happened during the last Halloween event with the “new players don’t get it, so we fixed the gem conversion to be worse then what it was” slogan. She also habit of having other people being her mouth piece, when bad things happen in the micro store. Ever since launch of GW2, she only seems to talk with the big game media sites.

In other words it’s shelved at the moment till we get around to it (for a few years). Just like finding out what really caused the Great Collapse in Divinity’s Reach, or what’s inside the Wizards Tower. Or all those mini game we talked about since launch but never came out. Like Bar Brawl, Shooting Gallery, or even Polymock (which Colin has repeatedly teased at throughout the years). Not to mention the other things like SAB, Dragon Bash, or Reaper’s Rumble. The latter never being explained why it was removed after the first year Halloween, even though the Lunatic Inquisition is still broken. Better yet how about that lousy Zhaitan fight actually being reworked on, to make it less anticlimactic. Since it was admitted latter on that particular fight sequence was rushed out the door to make GW2 release date.

They said those weapons would come back at some point. Never confirmed when or for how much they would be. I have this feeling if they did come back, those weapons would have an automatic 5 ticket price tag attached to them. All the while calling it a sale, when it’s not.

Hybarf Tics.2048:

Sindex.9520:

HoT could be months (or years) away, and honestly until it’s in front of me I won’t dare to hype it up.

Try 6 weeks as Mike said.

It’ being demoed at PAX east in 6 weeks. Also how quickly we forget about the Zhaitan fight (which is still lame). So again till I have my hands on the game, not even getting out of my low expectations mode.

Yeah, overall I more interested in SAB returning as well. HoT could be months (or years) away, and honestly until it’s in front of me I won’t dare to hype it up. Also it was interesting that no one has brought up question of what ever happened to Polymock for GW2.

I take the path of playing a bunch of indie games. Which have been more satisfying then anything that has come out in the last few years from these big time publishers/developers. For instance I have been playing sinking more hours into Don’t Starve then GW2 at the moment. I even go back into my back catalog of games and play a bunch community created content for those older games. Recently been playing a bunch of Command and Conquer mods through Tunngle (since EA dropped the ball with their online play). Honestly though I am not hyping up HoT project. Simply because I know Arena Net when it comes to executing their overly ambitious plans. So unless it’s a total 360 turnaround then I am not going to join in with these excessively enthusiastic group of individuals.

A few questions. First who are the lead writers on this Heart of Thorns project? Is it the same people who have been handling the story since post GW2 launch (as in Bobby Stein and Angel Leigh McCoy)? Also is Jeff Grubb and Ree Soesbee working on this project or something completely different still?

Basically it was never addressed in game. However in a semi-interview article back in July 22nd with an Arena Net Associate Director, Steven Waller it was kind of addressed with this:

“I asked Waller about a jarring detail in Entanglement that left a lot of players confused: How did our characters know Mordremoth’s name well enough to identify the dragon to Kasmeer? Waller said that the player characters have access to the Pact’s information and would have heard about all of the dragons while preparing to combat Zhaitan, but admittedly I found that explanation a little disappointing. Prior to Mordremoth’s reveal at the end of season one of the living world, the dragon’s existence had only been broadly hinted at; even the Durmand Priory seemed to have only vague confirmation that there were six dragons instead of five, and that was one of the biggest lore bombshells uncovered at GW2’s launch. Having Mordremoth’s existence and name assumed to be common knowledge is anticlimactic, although Waller did say that the writing could have better explained how the player character came by that knowledge. “

That is a really good suggestion actually. Completely slipped my mind about that system being in GW1. It would even relieve a bit of stress that the new system created.

In honesty it could be anything. They could announce the living story has done so well that they will be going on to making episodic content for GW2, instead of an expansion. You will have to pay for small bouts of content. However all the major core content will still be free (skills, traits, professions, and so on).

Or they could kill the hype by saying how much the living story has improved (only gained positive and nothing negative), so that is the only content delivery system they will do from now on. Though when someone brings up Dungeons, SAB, Cantha, more fractals, expanded PvP/WvW, and so forth. They go into their good ol’ reclusive answer “nothing is off the table” bit. Basically they cover everything we have known for the last 2 years.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

If you submitted a Support request ticket, make sure to update it and state you no longer need assistance. =)

That will help the CS Team move on to tickets that do need help more quickly.

Already did that when I got the item back.

Silmar Alech.4305:

You had that bag “closed”, hiding its contents. It can be seen in your video, the 3rd 12-slot bag with the arrow pointing to the right, not down like the other ones.

No bug, if you ask me.

Even if that was the case the search function should have caught the item. Either way it’s been dealt with.

Well I logged back in now and they were not in my invisible bag However I did end up finding them back in my inventory today. I think it was locked up in one of the middle bags I had actually. So in the end I end up getting them back. I am not too sure if it was a bug or the search function skipped over that bag.

EDIT: Issue has been resolved. The luck has been found somewhere in my inventory.

I have a question, since it’s been over a year now. Those Fractal Gear Boxes still have not been added to the game (sine the Fractured update)? I mean for all the UI changes that take a few months or years to develop. This one simple reward system has taken over a year, and has yet to be fully implement into the game? I mean we already have so many countless systems that mimic this exact reward mechanic premise.

Yet the daily system got revamped two times over, the NPE system was implemented, and the trait system was revamped. I mean looking at all this fluff (because that is what it is), anyone new coming into this game now is basically screwed. It’s like everything that was simple/fun to complete has become tedious/boring. Whenever I see a new player now I envy them for anything they want to accomplish in this game.

Windsagio.1340:

Game company turnover is entirely unheard of! (In an industry where the average at 1 place is 2 years)

Either that was sarcasm or you forgot to put in the word “not” (entirely unheard of). However there should not be praise for high turn over rates in any company period (even if it’s a norm). The problem with anyone leaving a team of talented game designers means it leaves a void to fill. As a comparison to when your favorite music band breaks up. Is it naturally going to happen. Sure. Is it a good thing? It’s very rarely good thing. Well you could say another band member, or another entirely different music band can take it’s place. True. However the odd of that working out is slim. Hence why the music industry has become very stagnant of late.

A company should always provide growth from within, before it uses a high turn over rate to fill in it’s void. First you have to retrain that new person in working on that particular game engine (which means development time loss). Afterward you have to hope that person you hired matches or surpasses the previous employes work ethics. If the person does not work out you have to start from square one all over again. Companies who say the new people bring new ideas with them is sorta of true; if the persons inventive ideas can sync up with the companies standards. Companies that have high turn over rates and outsource their work tend to stop caring about the products they make, their employs they hire (because of the personal disconnect), and even their customers. EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, and Lucasarts are good examples of this problem within the industry (on top of poor management).

Duke Blackrose.4981:

It’s rather unfortunate that Undead Labs has been very small-time. A decent zombie game and a Pokemon-style game that’s exclusive to smartphones is well….. disappointing, given the history of those individuals.

Yeah, they are still working on the MMO version of State of Decay. Since State of Decay was suppose to be a prototype for it. As for their other game (Moonrise) it makes me wonder: does Undead Labs have the original creative mind who worked on Polymock? That thought alone makes me shudder to think what would happen if Josh Foreman left the company. The creative output from that one man saves so many GW2 projects now; from being mechanically boring.

Teon.5168:

Already had enough of Mark Jacobs while playing many years of Dark Ages of Camelot, No thanks. I have absolutely zero interest in playing his new game.

(and yes, I do realize that MJ bailed DaoC/Warhammer after getting lots of money from EA…..I was still playing DaoC and Warhammer during that transitional mess…..but I wasn’t crazy about some of MJ’s ideas when he was running the game)

Although sounds like his new game might be great for serious hardcore players…..if it ever comes out…..

Maybe he could do better independently, and hopefully not be tragically eaten by the EA alumni curse. The curse where a once talented/gifted developer that goes independent has their creative soul stripped out by their former employer EA. I am looking at you Richard Garriott and Peter Molyneux.

By the way I voted for none. Don’t even get me started on Square Enix. The same company who were cracking down on youtube/twich videos earlier this year, until the press got a hold of it. To which they relinquished their stance on the issue, but are still crossed with certain video game critics like Jim Sterling.

As for Arena Net they have a long way to go until they can really impress me again like they did when Nightfall came out. It might have to do with some of the original Arena Net staff leaving the company some time ago. That includes two out of it’s three original founders. Both Jeff Strain and Patrick Wyatt now work at Undead Labs. Furthermore the former design director at Arena Net James Phinney (that position was taken over by Chris “CDI” Whiteside) is also working at Undead Labs. Or it could be something else. Either way it does not help that their interpersonal communication skills with us have been severely lacking (or been selective to those who only “praise them”).

Wow 6 day’s till a massive change. It’s not like they had a lot of time to communicate with us about this feature change, way before it got finalized (/end of sarcastic remark). Well on the bright side at least it’s not as bad as the drastic gem conversion change, that was backed up by a poor excuse.

This egg better not turn into a MacGuffin or I will be ticked. As far as this epoisode goes there were some major continuity issues again with the Sylvari race. Why after so many years is this still happening? However some of the elements were pretty interesting in this story.

I take it that Caithe and Faolain are towards the end of their relationship with each other. Probably the next chapter is about what causes the break up (hopefully not the Jora/Svanir plot line again), as well as the secret that Caithe was hiding. Beyond the innocent centaur massacre that she fell for because of Faolain antics.

It felt just like the whole Star Wars Emperor Palpatine being blatantly obvious about trying to turn Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side of the force in episode 3. However Anakin does not see it because they have been friends for a long while already. If that’s what is going on between Caithe and Faolain then firmly establish they have been a longterm relationship. Where they have built upon years of trust. Speaking of Star Wars that whole centaur massacre thing kind of felt a bit like the Tusken Raider massacre in episode 2.

Honestly they just look like remodeled version of the destroyer crab.

maddoctor.2738:

Actually the “I played X and had Y, can you put Y in GW2” or “X had Y so why not putting Y in GW2”, or “Y was amazing in X so why not having it in GW2” or any other similar, is a very common argument on many threads regarding new features for GW2 like mounts/dueling/open world pvp etc

It IS the most common argument given by people… now that it is worthless by itself and a very weak argument, yes it is.

It’s still a problem because it not fully detailed. People don’t all the time go, "well it’s in that game” as their main reasoning. Believe it or not they go into details why their arguments holds ground. Now while I don’t like the general consensus at times, when they compare this game franchise to something like WoW. You can’t simply generalize their argument into a couple of words. Since believe it or not they do have a point at times as much as I hate to admit.

Rauderi.8706:

In most of the cases, the pros are actually very simple, for good or for ill. There isn’t much reason to argue for a proposed feature, since they could be good for gameplay or quality of life.
The cons have to be more elaborate to justify why it’s not a good idea to add these features in. I can see why it would seem slanted, especially when the pro side items are “this would be cool” and “other game has it,” but those aren’t inherently bad reasons. :P

It’s still extremely slanted to one side. I have seen huge complex reasoning for why people want changes to happen in this game and why it needs to happen. The OP seems to degrades these argumentsm as they are a voices of short-sighted individuals. Which is not always true.

Can I ask why your pro’s are short sighted by a couple of words? All the while your negative are verily detailed on their reasoning. It kind of makes things look more slanted in one direction, because of this format. For instance the line in your pro’s to which you repetitively use “that other game has it,” tells us jack diddly squat on why that argument should even be considered. In the end it just seems negative stance get more argumentative attention, which is a biased angle towards GW2 keeping it’s status-quo. Which in all honestly I beg to differ because the game is far from perfect.

Not sure if this has been the worst scripted moment in Season 2 just yet. Probably once the next episode I can really say it was or wasn’t. To me though it would be between this, and when our PC magically knew Mordremoth by name in Episode 2: Entanglement.

You guys will get your guild raiding content down the line. Which hopefully is in way better condition then the Season 1 stuff was. Also I hope that QA actually scrutinizes over this content more then they ever have done before it’s release. It won’t content I will personally go for. Since I still think the whole guild mission structure is a loaded excrement (you know what I mean), when it comes guild size diversity. However it will be fantastic for those big guilds that seem to relish on killing Tequatl or the Great Jungle Wurm.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

If Caithe’s head is being messed around with by Mordremoth, I expect it’ll turn out to be straightforward, kill her before she misuses the egg, etc. I don’t buy into the idea that she orchestrated the attack, and I don’t see how the dragon egg would possibly help the Tree. I’m hopeful that there is no mental corruption, and that this has something to do with her relationship with Faolain- perhaps she’s gambling on the baby having Glint’s mental abilities, so she can see what exactly is going on in her ex-lover’s head.

Yeah, that is why I asked the question. Since I originally thought you meant something completely different with that last statement. Now I understand what you mean. Being Caithe is more easily subjugated to Mordremoth influence, simply because the Pale Tree has almost been mortally wounded. Which it would be a really lame and predictable thing to do.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Or ANet will take the more obvious, boring option, and this is just a lead-in to finding out that the Pale Tree being out of commission has made the sylvari as a whole vulnerable.

So are you thinking that this could turn into Caithe having good intention for all the wrong reasons? Something like Caithe found a way to orchestrate the attack that happened during The World Summit. However it went too far so now she is bringing the egg back to the pale tree to heal her?

No Walking.6349:

I don’t remember any bugs during Season 1 at all.

Ah-ha. That’s a good one. Season 1 had bugs galore which is less noticeable now because most of that content does not exist anymore. Even the last episode in season 1 was bugged with the 3 watchwork knights constantly being fixed till the last fours days.

While season 1 had somewhat of a deserve format and sometimes brought in some interesting gameplay mechanics. It was bogged down with a pitiful story, with a knockoff British Sylvari Harley Quinn Terrorist as the lead antagonist. Content half way developed or never implemented (Fractured Update). Content told to us to be something it’s not (Canach “dungeon”). All the while being temporary for 2 weeks, when the content was usually buggy for a full week an a half.

It probably has something to do with that slip up during episode 2. You know that one where our character automatically knew who the Elder Dragon was by name. Without any context where he/she got it from. Plus Taimi was still asking about questions about Aerin in this last episode. However I have to ask was Scarlet ever really linked to being directly influenced by Mordremoth? I don’t believe that I can remember one myself.

Anyhow it’s either because Arena Net does not want to repeat a past mistake. On assumption that we understand their needlessly excessive ambiguous narrative arch (has not really been that bad this season). Where we call them out for it. Or there is going to be a big betrayal/surprise that solidifies this question. Either way it seems that it will be answered before this season wraps up in game. At least I hope it does.

Why do I get this eerie feeling after seeing this particular trailer, that we might be getting closer to finding out the fate of the other pale tree. As if the vision that Scarlet had was actually the strangling of that other pale tree. Perhaps Mordremoth might have a nasty surprise for us as we get closer to the source.

BobbyStein.2315:

Back on topic. It seems that people liked the lore books. How would you like to see them improve or evolve? Examples help.

Thanks.

First I would say make the library itself more open to us after the instance, would be one of the major factors. The other one is have research catalogs start pulling information about subjects we are currently, or previously investigating. So that way if there was something crucial missing that needs be addressed you can find more detailed information there.

Beyond that I would say make them more interactive. For instance some some of the books could relate to a heavily influenced Easter Egg location in game. Something in tune to what it was done during the first Halloween scavenger hunt. Basically encourage exploration in Tyria a bit more, beyond just collectable stuff. Or have researchers talk to you about certain creatures or geographical location that needs to be heavily documented. Once you finish the documentation you have a new book in the library and maybe even co-authored by the player. Probably have the book lay around your home instance somewhere. You could throw in some concept art on the subject material.

If you want more of fantasy approach to the books, then make them feel more alive. Certain books would have subtle ambient sounds/music in the background. Direct voice over quotes from a narrator (Scarlet’s journal) or pulled from live interviews. How about forbidden material trying to pull you or forcing it’s way out of it’s subject matter. Or even a heavily influenced narrative interactive puzzle. It could be decoded within the library itself, or a reference to a location where it can be solved.

On a side note; I was heavily thinking about how Cyan World’s Myst franchise handled books and writing techniques within their games/novels. As I was writing this. Since they had a way of making it a rewarding experience to understand the importance of the lore in game. In addition to how it does effects the rest of the world (including you).

Please no. I rather see something from Guild Wars actual past (lore wise) then some real life event being mocked up in game. You could have the charr being chased out of Ascalon, when the humans first arrived. Or the war that happened just before the Foefire occurred. Or even go all the way back to when the human nations were at war with each other during the Guild Wars. So people actually know what the title stands for. Just no more out of place out of place stuff that does not directly relate to the in game material. Heck you can go to Field of Ruins and see Separatist humans and Renegade charr are still going at it.

I know this going to sound odd, but it seems like those people who were holding back those hidden lore cards finally had their hands slapped. So we got a pretty big lore dump this time. However I have a feeling that something like this was already planned, but not extensively or coherently. It’s like we are actually starting to see more of a lore connection to GW1 then we have seen since launch.

Making GW2 feel like a real sequel to the original game. Instead of what living world Season 1 did in order to butcher that connection, including some of the lore standing within GW2 itself. Which was a big problem. It felt like they were trying to hand out the lore outside of the game, and thought being overly ambiguous on everything was a great idea. I am hoping that the Mursaat, Lazarus the Dire gets this special type of treatment if he ever returns. Playing to the strengths that made the original game lore so extraordinary.

I thought some of the references to this dragon was going to be pulled out of the Lovecraft Mythos. A word play on the name of Shoggoth would be my first guess.

Probably sometime after Halloween or when people start thinning out from making anymore major gem purchases.

This is what I wanted Arena Net to do for newer players of the game. I already have Mad Memoires and Mad Memoires: Complete Edition on all 8 of my characters. However I do feel terrible for those who missed out during the first year. I hope that Arena Net also goes back to reactivates Descent into Madness and Reaper’s Rumble. The more content there is, the better. Especially when you can draw out the time spent with Halloween before the next major patch rolls out.

Zaklex.6308:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

~Snip~

Side Problem: Removal of RNG weapon skins
I mentioned at the beginning that there is a fourth issue with this update not tied to Halloween. To quote the update notes:

“There are only four weeks left to use tickets for Lovestruck, Dragon’s Jade, Aetherblade, Fused, and Dreamthistle weapon sets. After November 18, these sets will no longer be available for purchase with Black Lion Claim Tickets this year .”

~Snip~.

Usually, most of what you post is very good and well thought out, however, on this one issue I have a bone to pick. You apparently just decided to completely ignore the last two words of that announcement, this year, which unless I am mistaken, means they will return in a different year, be that 2015, 2016 or what ever. You seem to be under the impression that they are gone forever, never to be return. When in fact this is a temporary removal and not permanent.

The problem with what they did with these is is actually instead of creating a separate NPC. “Since it would be too confusing to new players.” They instead opt to create artificial scarcity. Which would be less problematic if the did not create permanent achievement category specifically for these things (to mock you). To add to that mockery there is still that “bug” that shows you have certain BLC weapons that you never received. These weapons are not earned entirely by skill anyways. In my opinion that should have never been done. Just like the NPE (new players are even more confused by it), and especially the revamped traits system. Which is still laughed at for being poorly implemented.

Don’t create rewards that are temporary when it’s the only thing that’s left for some people to go for in this game. Especially when it’s rewarded through a heavily influenced casino RNG system. Guess who is waving the proverbial "carrot on stick” as they hypocritically state, “they would never do that to their player base.” In a game where the risk vs. reward system is verily broken, so the best idea is to add more time gates, money sinks, and time sinks. Just like every other MMO on the market does instead of fixing the real issue. “Oh, but Guild Wars 2 is not like every other MMO out there it’s unique.” What a bunch of bullarchy.

On a side note they never really told us why they removed Reapers Rumble did they?

Gaile while I feel bad for you because your going to get the front end of this. Can you please stop referring to the team leader of the microtransactions division with that ambiguous tone. We know who she is, and what she does at the company. Crystin Cox has done several pre-laucnh interview and we know she still works there. We know she has the final say when it comes to these things, and she has not said a peep since the first time things went wrong in the gem store (Recipe: Dragon’s Revelry Starcake). Or when the conspiracy theories that supposedly surround her started to inflate. If Ms. Cox wants to up front with us on this issue then let her. I would love to hear from her instead of her dodging issues. Especially when she constantly using third party entities to answer for her.

Not to say what your doing is bad. Since this is what you do all the time, and it’s your job. However it would been nice to know this was in the works before it went live. Like a month ago. So public reaction could have been controlled, by getting community feedback way before it went live.

Unfortunately it’s a little too elegant to be used for any of my characters. While I give Arena Net big thumbs up for using things beyond flame effects, I would end up using the WvW Mistforge weapons over these. My personal preference of course. Also has anyone noticed how these BL weapons are getting closer to out playing Legendary weapons in the effects department (both visual and sound)?

The problem with that line of thinking is they did add something every year for Halloween and Wintersday in GW1. They also kept things practically the same for those who did not experience the first time around (while adding new stuff). The two events that hardly did change was the Canthan New Year and Dragon Festival. Although they did add some new interesting free rewards almost every year.

Regurgitated events from last year grind fest (when the first year was perfectly fine). No scavenger hunt, no Mad King mini dungeon, and probably still no return of Reapers Rumble (no communication why it was taken out last year). Also the father and son rivalry thing (last year blood and madness) was executed with bickering dialog, with no real physical conflict between them. Now the only question is where will this take place in (always remind you of our terrible go at creating a personal nemesis: Scarlet) burned down LA or somewhere else?