Guild Wars 2

BuddhaKeks.4857:

By the way, that’s not WP’s theory. It’s from the lore forum actually, but again the guy gives no credit, like always. If you want to discuss it, here is the thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/Aetherblades-use-Steam-Portal-tech/first

Which is funny because Konig brought up the fact they came from a steam portal during the instance event. Wooden potatoes on the other hand completely missed this point.

Yep, most of these updates starting with the Halloween stuff is to test out new mechanics. All of this content has been about poking and prodding to see what the player base like and what they don’t. Of course it not only to get people opinions (ie: here on the forums), but play the number game of who can complete said content and who can not.

The gauntlet was probably produced because of the less then satisfactory feedback over the AC refurbishment (or the controversial southsun “dungeon”). Now they can test out new boss mechanics for positive/negative feedback. Improving the risk versus reward system and who is happy with it. Dungeon content like Aetherblade Retreat and Molten Facility also was testing ground as well for future dungeon improvements. However the gauntlet seems like more of fine tuning the boss mechanics. I wonder if they will use this to test out for new bosses, or balance existing ones for guild bounty missions.

Basically A-net is trying to perfecting GW2 to a point where people are verily satisfied with what they can dish out. Once they have everything up to the way it was supposed to be at release last year, then they might do an expansion. In some ways they are avoiding putting out a rushed expansion of what they think people want; so they don’t repeat what happened with GW1: factions.

On a side note: I don’t know if anyone has pointed this out, but I think they have somewhat perfected dynamic chain events with the balloon DE rotations. It even seems the scaling system is working better now with these events.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Sindex.9520:

I can buy the alternate reality story personal nemesis. If it’s an alternate destiny edge member or a former antagonist that carries a different personality (it works). However I cannot buy another alternate PC character from another universe. That’s pushing it. The infinity ball story line is fine. If you count that story any of our PC alternate versions should be dead now.

I cannot understand your argument.

1. In the Infinity Ball storyline, that one particular possible future’s Zojja’s dead. So why would DE member be fine but not PC?
2. There’s more than one possible future. The Pale Tree says so herself – the future is always changing. During A Light in the Darkness, we see Caithe giving into the nightmare and Faolain, for example. We prevented this from occuring.

I don’t see how a possible future’s PC-turned-evil wouldn’t work. Just give the individual a title to go by to be referred to, and the VO would be who did the PCs already.

Let me put it this way via some dialog from your idea:

Personal nemesis: “I am from another alternate dimension from another time. I may not look like you either by gender or race, but through some complicated set of circumstance…. I am you.”

(Taking in the idea this is an Asura who has witnessed the infinity ball story.)

(continues)

Personal nemesis: “Even though you have faced and disposed another alternate version of yourself that is irrelevant; due to the fact I am from a completely different reality. Sure our technology and how we utilize it was eerily similar, but that is where the comparison ends.”

Now take that in consideration, then think about how A-net presents character development in game. Think about Traherne, Kormir, Rurik, Togo, and other prominent characters in the GW franchise. Who in turn were put into a blender because of the shoddy writing. How is that going to look towards people? It will either be:

A) Overly complicated where people just don’t get it.
Or
B) Simplified to a point where there is nothing but plot holes everywhere.

The infinity ball story worked because it took awhile to build up too. It was not too overly convoluted and it was simplified in it’s own way. It even explained how the mists worked in another way. Nevertheless it was still you, and nothing was altered physically (other then the voice/clothing). People could connect to this. When you start really complicate things people will call it out for being ridiculous and stop following it. Bioshock Infinite worked because the only difference between the antagonist and the protagonist was only through ideology.

Well now since we are piecing interconnection of said upcoming nemesis with wild speculation (previously asked in another thread), then I would like to chime in for a moment. I can buy the alternate reality story personal nemesis. If it’s an alternate destiny edge member or a former antagonist that carries a different personality (it works). However I cannot buy another alternate PC character from another universe. That’s pushing it. The infinity ball story line is fine. If you count that story any of our PC alternate versions should be dead now. Otherwise any Asura PC character cannot have an alter-ego from another dimension since they no longer exist in this time line. The cross race and sex is also a bit too over exaggerated. It’s too overly complicated and can easily get messed up with A-nets miss matched writing style.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea if it’s outside from being strictly the PC. Heck it can be an alternate version of Caithe where she went megalomaniacal. Instead of embracing dark agriculture she turned her head towards blasphemous and twisted technology. She could have even killed her former lover faolain for holding her back. Embracing the dream as way to change reality into ones own predetermined fate.

EDIT: On a side note: I did see the steam creatures yesterday as well, during an escort mission in brisban wildlands. Which was not connected to any other dynamic event at the time.

ColinJohanson.2394:

We too want to have an even larger playable content impact as stated in our goals for the second half of 2014, you’ll be see seeing that play out shortly.

This is a hilarious quote that can easily be taken out of context. Yeah, Colin it’s fine to wait a year for the “real” content to come out (end sarcasm). Of course I know he meant 2013 and not 2014. Nevertheless I hope we start seeing stronger content in the future that shows me that you guys are learning from your mistakes.

Is GW1 lore being tossed out? Probably not, considering the election of these two was not a landslide victory. I think we will see more GW1 lore, but it won’t be a huge priority. It even seems that A-net is divided when it comes to GW1 and GW2 lore. Anthony scares the living daylights out of me though, because he could be one of the anti-GW1 lore people. Since the pro-stance of retconning certain ideas like the Cantha District in Divinities Reach, and his major support for the reactor fractal in this last event.

When it comes to new content though people like Josh Foreman’s SAB was brilliant, even with the light loaded lore it had. I enjoyed the two dungeons and what they brought to the lore table for GW2. Though some characters need better development. Nevertheless I am still holding out on the return of the Mursaat, Menzies, Dhuum, Glint’s children, and what’s in the wizards tower. Which the development team has touched up on and hopefully mean they will return one day.

Who would continue Uzolan’s work? Also why would the queen accept anything remotely connected to him? I find it a little hard to imagine that they would allow his legacy to flourish next to the queen after what he try to do in CM. If this connection turns out to be true then screw being suspicious of Caudecus. Since Jennah seems more of a screw loose, by letting things go awry in her own kingdom.

Well seeing Braham and Rox in the concept art tells me another interconnected short story of a set-up to earn favor/trust. Probably covering up what happened down in the great collapse. Then off to track down the evil fiend responsible. It would actually be pretty hilarious if they frame Logan for something.

Well that is a brilliant idea. You would have to make the game play just as fun though with the set skills you get. Also I remember that game as well so your not that old (@ locoman).

I have a weird feeling that this mission was created by the last Southsun update, living story team that put to together that infamous “dungeon.” Yes, that one “dungeon” which got called out for not being a dungeon or even challenging. If it is then bravo for putting together a challenge mission that overkill’s us by simply up scaling the AI stats to obnoxious levels. Instead of actually improving the AI to make the mission challenging on a realistic level.

darkace.8925:

I have three thoughts:
1. Nice video.
2. I still can’t believe they approved that silly design for Zhaitan.
3. Think of all the sales they’d have lost if there was Canthan architecture in that video. /sarcasm

Yeah, the thing people forget that GW1 suffered because of the Chinese market. We had things taken out because it was not politically correct. However some of that stuff came back after the GW1 servers were shut down in China. Like the Panda ranger pet.

So I would not be too surprised if this was another reason why Cantha is being also held back. Especially if NCsoft as a closer demographic (being a South Korean company) is the overseer of the Chinese market, and it’s “political correctness.”

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Here’s the thing -

Ask around, and you’ll probably find any game you could hold up as an example of a “good story” would have detractors who would disagree. Nitpicks, technical details, or plot holes which make no sense due to various reasons . . .

We haven’t seen a game yet which really and truly tells an excellent story and at the same time is an excellent game. We’ve had games which had a good story but barely a game (Xenosaga, and there were many other issues which dragged it down), we’ve had games which were great games but really blew it on the story (Portal).

First and foremost, the question always does have to be: is the game fun to play? If the answer’s no, then you need to step back and figure out how to make it fun. If you want to tell your awesome story, write it but not as a game. Or at least do the game first, THEN figure out how to get a story in there.

But you know what the Living Story reminds me more of as it unfolds? Someone’s tabletop RPG world where a couple people who know the creator run game sessions each with their own story arc, which may or may not affect other sessions/groups.

I agree that focusing on one aspect of the game can kill other aspects of it. Many games have suffered from this issue. The most relevant one was Crysis which had a core focus on graphics, while everything else suffered. Of course the developer blamed it on pirates for poor sales on it’s initial release. Which was a dumbfounding reason to say the least.

Yet I think there needs to retain a balance of everything. Game play, AI, story, and artistic direction are the major factors that makes a well balanced game. GW franchise thus far has excelled in artistic direction, and struggled with the game play over time. The two worse offenders has been the AI and the story. The practical example of the AI being dreadful is the pet AI for the ranger (in both GW1 & 2).

When it comes to the story it’s been poorly delivered throughout GW lifespan. It has an excellent potential in it’s setup, but then it’s poorly executed. Out of the entire GW franchise the one that delivered the best plot narrative was Nightfall (even with it’s faults). It had characters I cared about, and did not carry a two dimensional personality archetypes everywhere. Second would be Prophecies which was convoluted but it was still decent. In third is EotN which actually suffers because it was rushed to be the end expansion for GW1. GW2 is in fourth place because it went back to repeat all the mistakes throughout GW1, plus it had those horrid cut scenes. In last place we have Factions which felt like a poorly made Japanese dubbed film. Which Arena-net poked fun at with Togo’s BMP mission It was a bit entertaining and was heavily influenced by Kill Bill.

I’m still hoping the A-net team learns from their mistakes and build an excellent story that tops Nightfall. I would even be more blown away if they deliver this engaging narrative when they actually start working on Cantha. So I can easily say this is how factions should have been (narrative wise).

The problem I have with the Thaumanova Reactor incident is even if it leads to more information about the Elder Dragons; is that the dragons thus far have not been as engrossing as Abbadon’s lore. A-net has nailed it in so many times that the dragons are just forces of nature with no motivation. They even have weaker character development then a fallen god. Simply because dragons have a “cool” factor to them and are wield a greater power (through re-writing some lore), does not make them an interesting antagonist. This is probably I did not enjoy encounter with Urthemiel (the final antagonist) in Dragon Age: Origins. Unfortunately GW2 elder dragon lore has been nothing but a Micheal Bay take in character development. Very boring and cliche.

Abbadon on the other hand is a fascinating character with his motivation and strategies. He always felt like a combination of something out of Greek (Eris), Norse (Loki), Egyptian (Apophis), and other mythologies that carried a type of black sheep god. Probably had good intentions for humanity even with a few selfish undertones. There would even be a good chance he knew more about the oncoming storm with the elder dragons at that time, then the bit of information we might get from the Thaumanova Reactor. Not to mention the potential cameo’s and plot holes that could be filled about certain other characters we knew from GW1. I am talking about menzies, dhuum, glint, the 5 elder races, the spider god he usurped power from, and much more. Not expecting huge exposition since it will be a fractal. Nevertheless lore wise it seems more exciting concept overall.

Don’t get me wrong I love the Asura, and I find them to less bland then humans. It’s just that the Thaumanova Reactor incident has me picturing the inquest planting a bomb like a game of Counter Strike. I’m sorry but Kudu’s (bad mixture of Ernst Blofeld & Albert Wesker) failed CoE experiment was a melodramatic “carrot on stick” information pertaining to the Elder Dragons was terrible. This is probably exactly what we will be seeing again. I could be wrong though and if Kiel wins I hope A-net does prove that they know how to weave elaborate narrative still (without forcing upon us).

Don’t you just love what Mr. Johanson say’s here in this article:

When asked whom he plans to vote for in the election at the heart of the upcoming Cutthroat Politics release, Johanson expressed his support for Evon Gnashblade and went on to explain that the story impact of selecting a winner will go far beyond the perks associated with each candidate. Evon Gnashblade and Ellen Kiel are characters with wildly distinct personalities and might use their Council votes in very different ways for years to come. Players who are more interested in funding for their favorite built-from-scratch Fractals of the Mists scenario had better hustle to get their votes counted, though: Johanson said that it was unlikely that the losing concept would ever be built, as he feels that doing so would cheapen the impact of the final decision. However, he did make the lighthearted suggestion that mass player protests and political demonstrations could change that.

So Colin alluding us to taking out our pitch forks and torches if we are not happy with this election (for the denial of story/lore content), is not exactly what I call positive/constructive thinking how the community should work. I agree few others this was a poor choice in making us choose between the two fractals. The mini games I can understand but not the fractals.

It’s strange I feel torn about this too; over the rewards that are be given out. On one hand voting for Evon shows a message GW2 lore is weak compared to GW1 and we could care less about the RNG’s effect over the game. On the other hand a vote for Kiel shows that you can completely throw old lore out the window (GW2 has been successful at doing that) and decreasing money sinks is a better idea.

marnick.4305:

Gandarel.5091:

It is clear that GW1 players will vote for Abaddon, while GW2 players can’t relate and will vote for the fall of RNG boxes (what i too would do), so Kiel.

And since it is GW2, it’s completely unfair to have a race between the 2 group of players.
GW2 players will vote for a kittenty reactor explosion over a God’s fall..

You’re reading into it too much. I can battle Abaddon every day of the week, however thaumanova is new stuff.

If it’s about gw1 vs. gw2 then sure … I played and loved gw1 for 7 years. Time for gw2

I think what they mean is it fills in the plot hole gap of figuring out what really happened in the desolation. Bringing more characterization to Abbadon and the other 5 gods. If it turns out to be the fight of the 5 against the 1. It also shows that GW1 lore was far more superior to that of GW2. Meaning that we might get more old cliff hanger endings from GW1 being answered. I am talking about Glint’s children, Lazarus the Dire (mursaat), Dhuum (UW), Menzies (FoW), Wizard’s Tower (what’s inside), assassination attempt during MOX quest (reasoning), and much more.

The Thaumanova reactor incident just seems like industrial sabotage (like everyone is pointing out), which could turn out to be nothing but the inquest being themselves. However you could also easily say that a vote for Kiel shows that A-net is going in the right direction with the living story (plot wise). Also it could mean they could bring back everyone’s favorite sylvari….. Traherenre. Since he was not such a bad plot driven character at all in GW2.

Any idea if these NPC guild is going to continue in story development, or will it be another lost portion of GW lore? They did seem rather interesting and was pretty unexpected when I ran across them. They seem like an anti-hero guild who have their own unique set of skills from the norm.

How much power does our personal nemesis have? Over the past few updates she has persuaded two xenophobic races to work together for a common goal. Created a quasi-union between pirates and the inquest; to bring attempted hostile political coup in LA. Of course we can expect more, and we can assume it’s all a means to an end by creating these fragile alliances.

I half expected some of the negations with these hostile collectives to have gone horribly awry. Is it purely charisma with a silver tongue, or heavy brutality with a keen sense tactics? Also many of these failed attempts have lead to several apprehension of conspirators, who still show loyalty to her despite their captivity.

The cliffside hammer disappearance happened twice to our groups and had to reset. It is rather annoying to loose your progress like that. Maybe I should tell everyone to stop doing it till it gets fixed. Which is ironic considering there is an achievement for it in this last update.

Scarlet could just be ambiguous not a literal fact about a person. It could also be someone in a red cloak and not revealing their identity. I am starting to suspect it’s someone near us that we know too well. Or someone who has been watching us from the very beginning and knowing our fates would be intertwined. Needless to say I will be watching campaign between Kiel and Gnashblade in the becoming the next person on the captain counsel closely. Just waiting to see if someone slips and becomes morally ambiguous in what they do. It’s always a dead give away.

Awhile back ago this area was fixed but it appears to broken again. The Bria dynamic chain event (one of my favorite DE’s) gets stuck with a cub standing outside of the event. Probably one of the cubs you try to attempt to save from Bria’s Shadow fiend (still has the defend symbol over it’s head).. While the event is trying to reset itself. The cubs are playing in front of Bria’s house pre-event. The other issue is the Renown Heart quest is also bugged. The Displaced Spirits get stuck in a tree and of course they are corporeal (non-spirits). I am on Tarnished Coast server so I have no idea if this is happening in other servers.

I know you guys are pretty busy with some major issues. However I am hoping you can update some of the icons that look pretty similar to other icons.

For instance the Mystic Salvage Kit:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_salvage_kit

Looks like the Crude Salvage Kit:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crude_Salvage_Kit

Almost deleted mine once because of that mistake because certain bandit bags have the crude salvage kit in them.

This even happens with some other weapons you have including dungeon weapons. Which carry the same icon as other weapons. Dragon of the deep weapons are a perfect example of what I am talking about. They look like generic weapon icons. Recently with addition of new weapons in some of the living story content, I thought you would continue to fix this issue. Let alone the transmutation bug that does not overwrite some icons to the skin you have transmuted.

What happened to it? It sounded really awesome, and it had some excellent readability next to the other drakes offensive skills. It was kind of upsetting that the sound effect was never transferred over to the pet version of the reef drake. Now it seems it’s been completely removed?

Edit for reference I put in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTFHHa7AvZo

Can’t really see when the drakes shriek’s, but you can still hear the effect. The sound effect was like strangely pitched wind out of bottle sound effect.

ASB.4295:

That’s because it the Live team from GW1 was needed for the launch of GW2, and it really doesn’t make sense to develop anything for that game anymore, not even a final event when the servers are shutting down. It’d be wasted money and time.

I understand GW1 struggling with it’s popularity after 2007, and why the abandonment of GW1 beyond. I was asking for rhetorical means. It seems if they go this route the only thing that will keep GW2 going, is the interest people have in the living story content. If it that interest wanes what happens then? Future game development would have to take a dramatic turn.

Don’t get me wrong, I think some of those people who professed their undying love for GW1 after quitting GW2 were hypocrtical. If the numbers showed that GW1 gained popularity despite GW2 being live then things would be different. Better or for worse.

One big question Mike, Colin, or any of the A-net team, is this going to be a repeat of what happened with Guild Wars 1 Beyond content? Since I remember a gigantic list of things that you wanted to do for GW1 after Winds of Change and it got killed by May of this year.

Perhaps it could be related with the great collapse hole in divinity reach.

If the it turns out to be true that scarlet want to rival the pact’s technology for unscrupulous purposes then I hope one of these don’t happen:

A) Using the tech to control dragon(s) or dragon(s) power (like Kudu’s failed attempt).

B) World domination through some pointless and forgettable means. (Just anti-climatic in any way)

C) Plot holes that are left for us the community to figure out on our own. (Looking at you random assassination attempt in GW1 MOX quest).

I am actually hoping that the personal nemesis actually motivated to make the heroes life a living underworld for an interesting purpose.

I’ve started to notice that trend now. Not so much people they know, as much as random people who are just interested in the reward. They kind of turned it into a guild recruitment tool. However sometimes it works and other times it does not. The interesting set ups are the multiple guild that all function together as one cluster to accomplish some of these missions. An unofficial alliance system that is external to GW2 itself. Just like the LFG site being a unofficial grouping tool outside of the game.

It seems the community adepts to these situations sometimes quite nicely. My thoughts though turn future prospects if the features I mention earlier do get put in.. Will people be grateful over the idea or will they be spiteful for it? I guess it comes down to when actually how the feature arrives (if it does). Since speculation only goes so far. Thanks for the feedback by the way.

The question is if you had to use merits to unlock guild hall, instead of using influence to unlock them. It would mean of course people will have to accomplish guild missions on a regular basis in order to unlock them. If they were implemented in that way.

I was watching this video yesterday about the new guild jumping puzzle. Which is something I enjoy; but I have to join a larger guild who have themselves well established in order to do them. My guild is rather small, and it would take a long time before we could access anything of that caliber. Yet this is besides the point. So far most of the guild mission content has been off beat timed mini co-operative games. Which is not a bad thing. Nevertheless after watching that video and listening to the idea to have primary story content being driven by such mechanics, has me questioning future guild content.

If it’s a side story to the primary content it would not be too detrimental. The living story so far has been technically a sub-plot line to the rest of GW2. Yet if it uses primary story driven elements dealing exclusively with guild content then I know people who will miss out. Not to mention if there is guild content that furthers a players advancement in their own personal story or an understanding of it. I doubt that A-net would create this type of gated content.

Guild Wars: Factions sort of did this by extending out the party limitations (albeit in arbitrary ways) for certain PvE section of the game. In spite of these mechanics there were some who never fully completed the PvE side of Factions. Either because they had time limitations or could never get a group large enough (people or AI (hero/henchmen)) to accomplish these sections of the game. This created two problems. People would have no knowledge of what occurred in Factions (continuity wise to the rest of the GW universe), and parts of the game became limiting because of the diminishing player population. Only specialized guilds and those who could tolerate the flimsy AI would be able to clear these obstacles. Hopefully none of the above will repeat itself in the near future, if some guild content becomes heavily story driven.

Also I noticed that there was mention of “guild housing” (AKA guild halls) being tied in with the merit system, and I was wondering how people felt about this?

I was actually surprised that no one complained about another currency system added to the game. My guess it’s because it a fair a decent system that allows you to get the rewards you want without any gimmicks attached. Also the weapons look really unique. Unlike SE, CM, and CoE graphic exchange program.

joeytan.3865:

Martin Kerstein.3071:

I have been playing since before launch, and still did not get a single abyss dye drop. ^^

UHhh so why are you telling us this with a smiley face instead of asking someone to increase the chance for abyss, celestial and other dyes costing like 10g.

The price of it is insane. And RNG being the only way to get it is kitten

Why not come up with some way of crafting it?

Sigh why does anet think that RNG is the solution to limit the amount of a specific item. There are ALMOST NO OTHER GAME out there that relies on RNG as much as GW2.

Or maybe they’re just lazy to use some brains and come up with new ideas to replace RNG.

I wonder how upset the community will be with A-net if they have those new flame and frost theme dyes chucked into the RNG feature. I’m predicting some hostility.

Also keeping on topic I have gotten one from someone who just gave me theirs for no apparent reason (have yet to use it). Other then that I just have gotten one celestial dye from one unidentified dye binge I did awhile back ago. On a personal note: I don’t care for having all black or white dyed armor, since it sometimes shows a lack of imagination when it comes to the wide color palette we have in GW2.

lordkrall.7241:

Sindex.9520:

Instead of Guild Merits, 3000 Guild Influence will be rewarded

In my opinion I would rather have the Merits then the influence. Also it’s still disheartening to see that Guild Puzzles are still a long while from being unlocked. It begs the question why were they added to the game, if it takes a couple of months to unlock anyways?

It don’t.
Unless I miscalculated it is very possible for a guild to have every single Guild Mission unlocked by now.

You forgot that merits have a weekly cap, and they are unlocked in order (not by choice).

Instead of Guild Merits, 3000 Guild Influence will be rewarded

In my opinion I would rather have the Merits then the influence. Also it’s still disheartening to see that Guild Puzzles are still a long while from being unlocked. It begs the question why were they added to the game, if it takes a couple of months to unlock anyways?

Personally I don’t mind what we have here in GW2 right now with the mixture of the two. Sometimes it goes too far on both ends. The stereotype of a character however is actually what kills both games of the franchise (GW1 and GW2) in my opinion overall.

Prophecy’s was interesting for some of its serious overtones but it lacked cohesiveness. It even took itself too seriously where some of the characters became boring and forgettable. Faction’s was a really bad running gag with a feel of English dubbed and interpretation of a semi-decent foreign flick. Nightfall finally was starting to bring the writing up too a better category. Nevertheless I think they did end up beating in the catchphrase “you never fight alone” way too many times. Also Kormir’s story was botched to a point where people believe still she did absolutely nothing to deserve her godhood. EotN unfortunately was turned had a movie trailer theme throughout the entire story. It did not fill in most of the plot holes left open by prophecies and actually created more. It just raised a bunch more question that hopefully would be answered in GW2 (but not really).

Going into GW2 it has a bit of everything from the previous games (good and bad). However the pacing was way off for the personal story. The story with Destiny Edge felt rushed. They overacted their motivations which gave them a feel of a “high school drama.” However if you scale it then nothing has really improved with GW2 writing. If it gets too serious we get people get into boring character archetypes (with brooding overtones). If we get too silly then we get things that break the fourth wall and gets really obnoxious.

Overall I really did enjoy the guild wars franchise lore for better or worse because it still is unfortunately a work in progress. I appreciate the mystique more then when we finally learn what is really going on at times. Yet Abaddon’s story arch was actually pretty excellent compared to Elder Dragon’s motivations of pure destruction (their threat is downplayed by melodramatics).

Paulytnz.7619:

I think “anything” “snaff” would sound cool, snaff is just a cool name anyway it’s said lol. :p

But please Anet seriously no more zombies…..we are ALL sick of Zombies, am I right? I loved the halloween event for the skeletons, they are ALWAYS my fave enemies in rpg’s give us a skeleton Zaff over a zombie please!

Ah-ha, Livia returns wielding the Scepter of Orr (with Danika old voice actress) as the second coming of a Lich (now more undead for everyone). Just kidding it could not get that bad.

Not sure where they are going with the story actually now. I am still kind of disappointed about the Lost Shore fumbling sub plot line.

It’s not fixed for Path1; he still repeats himself. Also the beam and wall exploit against Ginva the Butcher is still doable. So of course there will still be path 1 runs for another month (while avoiding path 2 and 3). Nevertheless I am glad you guys did fix the CoE exploits. Thank you for that.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Cantha was my favorite GW1 region to work on. And I worked on every GW release. I know a lot of the dev team loved it and would love to revisit it. I kinda agree with critickitten about the negative aspect of tight corridors. Most of that came from hitting technological limits while trying to keep the epic quality of the concept art. I think we could do some really amazing things with those themes in our new engine. Certainly nothing is ruled out. I certainly encourage anyone to express your desire for a Cantha region in GW2 in a positive and friendly way. It could be years away, but it’s worth asking for.

After listening to the pod cast and what you just stated here it seems you guys have run into this issue before. For instance before factions was released you guy’s had to remove the panda pet from Guild Wars 1, because of problems with the marketing in China. Nevertheless that was rectified latter since the entire server base end up getting shut down at a latter date.

Now this seems a bit more extreme version of that based on the aesthetic architecture depicted by combination of Asian cultures. Heck I thought we were picky about the voice acting in factions and when titles first appeared. However the look of factions was never a huge issue with the fans (except those who did not care for the slums of Kaineng city), I still adore the Jade Sea it had something that was a signature of Arena Net artistic mastery.

It would be distressing if this is the case though, because Cantha had actually some interesting dynamics that were never fully fleshed out. I know I have ranted before about Factions being the weakest campaign of the GW franchise, but I have always complimented on its unique aesthetic appeal. Also the lead into Factions event was pretty neat; where we got to have some of its prominent citizen’s end up showing up in North Kryta Province.

All I hope it does not turn into another meandering loose ends plot that is use as filler (looking at the Karka event). If it is destroyers then maybe we can get some variety in the models and behavior of Primordus minions. We could always use a dragon Champion of Primordus and not just another version of the Troll. Even EotN had more variety then what currently exists in GW2.

Ansultares.1567:

Mystic.5934:

mining picks that exploited a bug: you’re not allowed to complain

Wait, you’re telling me that ten hit nodes were always a bug involving the mining pick itself?

I believe they are talking about the pick itself not having a level requirement to it.

<http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mining_Pick>;

The fact was they were parking low level characters by the rich Orichalcum vein and getting rich off it. Then it supposedly deflated the prices on the trading post where people were starting to complain. However we still have the underground bots who are still mining out everything and now it’s much harder to report them.

On a side note I hope they start putting more events into Sunshore Cove with these upcoming updates. Or some interesting reward system like Orr just received overall for actually investing their time in it.

Hey does anyone know where the developer post where they said “the feature of 4 out 6 to complete the daily monthly would come latter?" I have searching for it but no luck. I know there are plenty of people saying this, but I want a link to this post. Big thanks to anyone can find it.

Promenade Chain

-Updated the participation rewards for the event “Ensure that the Pact holds the Gates of Arah” to be consistent with the holdout events at other temples in Orr. Players who participate will earn three times the normal event rewards.

I hope this eventually get carried over to the rest of those contested dungeons (especially to Crucible of Eternity). So that way people are not shrugging it off and leaving it contested almost 24/7, because it is not worth their time.

Lazarus the Dire of course was a Mursaat that exclaims his vengeance on the heroes from Guild Wars 1 (and descendants) because they crippled him from gaining his former power. He originally tried to divide his power so he could hide from the threat of the Titans and Abaddon. Kind of like when his entire race use the another tactic to become the unseen ones, so they could hide from the elder dragon threat.

It would be interesting if he found a way to exist to the date when Guild Wars 2 takes place. Considering his somewhat innovative cowardice to extend his own existence; no matter how much of the odds are stacked against him. The white mantle legacy does still exist then I would not be surprised if good ol’ Lazarus found way to exploit this to his advantage. So what do you think?

Warning: this is long read through about my general feeling about the story so far with the Guild Wars franchise overall. Which has been the weakest link overall when it concerns the franchise as a whole. Everything else within the franchise has been rather satisfactory most of the time.
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Alright my thoughts on this is that it’s not on the characters themselves are unlikable. It’s the fact the writing, voice acting, or game-play mechanics these NPC’s are directly tied to that are poorly delivered. Sorry Jeff Grubb I knew after when you guys did Eye of the North, it was a step back from what you learned by making Nightfall; which was the most decent story progression arch you did for the Guild Wars franchise. So when you guys said “we learn from our mistakes moving forward into GW2 when concerning the story” (using of the EotN example), I did not hype myself over it.

I think Jeff’s team can come up with some interesting and diverse lore in Guild Wars. The problem is that almost every single time it’s been delivered to an incredibly poor degree it hurts the flow of the story. When this happens the player takes this delivery of plot and either misinterprets the meaning (to an extreme level) or severely degrades it. Hence the disgust we get on both Trahearne and Kormir due to their poor character development.

Nevertheless these are not the only characters this has happens with. Let’s look at Rurik from Prophecies. Did anyone really care about his death? How about Master Togo’s death in Factions? Speaking of factions I loved the scenery and the culture, but the plot was poorly divulged. Voice acting wise Factions was the inferior iteration in the series thus far. Anyone remember Danika zu Heltzer, or any other character who did not sound like they were overacting (otherwise under acting) their part? Nightfall (even with Kormir) was the least offender in most of these categories. Prophecies was semi-forgettable and predictable to the masses. The only thing people kept bringing up from that iteration was the pre-searing, and a little girl that is never mentioned again till a latter expansion.

The only major problem continuity wise with I had with Nightfall was Palawa Joko. Why? He felt like a running a joke at the end with his undead army; and I still don’t see how he could have ever been a serious threat even with the bonus mission pack. By the way don’t forget we still have to deal with him again in the near future when we go back to Elona. This means if you hated the risen now you’re probably going to hate Palawa’s army of darkness even more (pun intended).

Going into Eye of the North: who was the most wanted character everyone wanted to return to the Guild Wars franchise? Also who was their least favorite character to return to the series all grown up once Eye of the North came out? The answer would be the ever brooding Gwen who never changed her character archetype even though she is a supporting protagonist. Also Logan seems to carry on Gwen’s spitefulness and it plays to a point where he seems to actually be self centered when he gets defensive.

Or how about Shiro Tagachi who was a laughable follow-up antagonist after to Vizier Khilbron. Yet they kind of learned from that mistake when you made the two major antagonists in Nightfall (Varesh Ossa (even though she felt like she was just reading her line most of the time) and Abaddon). Then took a step back to make the mindless Great Destroyer and followed by the Elder Dragons in GW2 which are not as threatening as they suppose to be. This is heavily exemplified due to Zhaitan anticlimactic fight. If you were going to do the epic battle thing you should have crashed the ship into him, to do battle upon Zhaitan instead of doing it afar. Then the escape from the ship as it comes crashing down as Zhaitan falls to his inevitable doom.

I know you’re a well accomplished writer Jeff and so is your team, but you guys really need to stop turning your characters into cardboard cutouts of other prominent individuals either fictional or non. If anything I would look at another game developer that is in close proximity to you, who already knows how to blend story and game play together to a fantastical degree. In my own personal opinion it that would be Valve; since I know you guys have conversed before. Also not all of your characters are terrible. The Mursaat, Glint, King Adelbern, Saul D’Alessio, Ogden, Vekk, Vael, Gadd, the Asura, and the Charr are just some examples of those who have excellent character development inside and outside of both games. Even your background lore that deals with the past events in Tyria before the games even commence is astounding with its detail. Either when it deals with the human gods themselves or the fallen gods (Abaddon, Dhuum, and Menzies) there is some really neat/clever narrative going on in the background.

Continued progress on the achievement is breaking, my mind because I know I kill the person who has the gift so many times now. I spent another 5 hours seeing if I could just get one more point. Is this one supposed to be this difficult? I did the jumping puzzle and the bell choir ones but this one is a real pain to get. I love everything about this update by the way, but this bug is driving me up the wall. It can’t be connection issues otherwise I would have never gotten the gift bringer.

On a side note I am getting a bunch of personal gifts off from this so it’s not too bad. I guess I will wait to see if Arena net patches this latter hopefully. Also I tried another character to if it was another issue which was my thief/human (main is an engineer/asura) but no luck yet.

EDIT: Finally finished this. It seems the best way to get this is with the scout profession and when they are getting really close to their base. I used that sling shot skill to hold and charge up skill to get it. However it does seem to count on when you downed someone in this way. I really have a feeling it was a register problem in the code. Since it was nigh impossible to get it any other way then the description I gave above.

Yeah, this one seems a little buggy actually. I downed the person and even got credit for the kill on the gift carrier; but I get no overall credit on the gift stopper achievement progress. Technically this achievement I assumed would have been easier to get then the gift bringing one. However that is not the case at all, I can’t get it past 2 now. I would have thought if you just make the person drop the gift then that would be it, but it’s much tougher overall. I have been at this thing for 6 hours straight and only 2 points to that achievement category, while the gift bringer achievement was done under an hour.

Also Car which character did you use to get it (race/profession)?

I have a question if this is an earth based elder dragon. Do you think there is any connection to the rise of the Modniir centaur tribe rise to power? I mean Ulgoth himself wields some really powerful earth magic. Even their War Beasts seem to be conversions of maybe Rock Dogs to an entirely different level of existence. Creating conflict that would even go against all of Ventari’s teachings that would end up passing onto the sylvari. Would it be difficult for an elder dragon to take something like Ventari’s teachings from the dream and twist it’s ideology on the creatures of origin (centaur)? Basically showing the flaw in Ventari’s and the Pale Tree’s philosophy about peace before conflict.

I know it may be total coincidence especially given the fact that the flame legion of course has no connection to Primordus. We did end up seeing what happen to that connection when the flame legion was looking for a new god to worship in EotN (via the destroyers). It did not end well.

What do you think happened to Razah from Guild Wars 1? Do you think he is in Elona still? Given his semi-demon state of being, he could be immortal. If he is still around do you think he is the reason why the order of whispers can easily transverse around both Palawa Joko and Kralkatorrik forces? We did get to see Ogden again. Of course I was a bit surprised not see a hidden reference to M.O.X. in GW2 yet. Also M.O.X. story-line was never fully fleshed out about involvement to stop some calculated assassination attempts in GW1. I don’t know there would be any relation 250 years latter unless time travel is involved.

I don’t know about Abbadon logic being clean when it comes to giving out magic freely. I mean you could be right about him not fully understanding repercussions of doing what he did. However it’s a bit hard to believe that the war he had with the other 5 simply escalated because of a misunderstanding. I mean the other gods have had personal arguments before that never turned Tyria into a war zone. Unless Abbadon was being stubborn with his logic and believed he was being singled out.

I think whenever A-net decides to give us a flash back before the conclusion in the desolation we will never know what his true intent really was. However it is kind of frustrating to see people label Abbadon as the protagonist, while labeling the other 5 as the antagonist. Simply because Abbadon was willing to give out magic in the first place while the other gods felt it was a poor judgment call.

Good work putting this together it is really rather informative. However I agree with Narcemus and your idea at the same time when it comes to the gods.

Here is my theory, and I am kind of throwing out a bit of what A-net has said before that there is no connection between Abaddon and the elder dragons. I actually believe that Abaddon (the god of secrets) has a kind of Loki persona, and is the one responsible for putting the bloodstone in the place where the elder dragons were sleeping. I think he knew what exactly what was sleeping down below Tyria. However he did not tell his associates (the other 5 gods) about what was down there; for he knew it would be the perfect shortcut for ultimate power. The problem was though that he needed a way to make himself to not look selfish in any shape or form. So Abaddon invited his naive associates to join with him to become gods amongst mortals. Therefore in their eyes they could supposedly save humanity.

The problem came when the other 5 gods learned the horrifying truth about the source of their power. To correct there mistake they tried to subdue the power that the bloodstone were giving out. Nevertheless Abaddon was not too keen on this idea and threw out the power to everyone trying to make him the favorite amongst the god’s entire devotees. In the end Abaddon was punished for his crime but never was willing to give up his power.

Which bring us to the question then why did the gods leave their followers to face the oncoming threat of the elder dragons? The answer would be simple: to keep history from repeating itself. It would seem the real downfall from everyone who faced the elder dragons before was the manipulation, greed, deception, and a hunger for raw power. Even the gods could not undo what was already set in stone (terrible pun btw). I think when this happened they knew it was time to leave because it was disheartening to see everything they worked for demolished because of one mistake.

Abaddon has always been the one I look at and still believe we don’t know the full story. For all the scheming he came up with to get his revenge, it does not seem like this was his first time using mass manipulation. Most of what the gods have done has been for a type of benevolent means associated to their individual power. However what Abaddon did by giving out free power always looked like it had a more insidious alternative motive. Probably he believed once he was praised for his gift, he would have all the power he would need before the elder dragons re-awakened.

Avatar.1923:

it isnt to the player to ask for something they want.

it s for the designers to create it.

seems like they tried (manifesto), they ended up failing, stuck at a road block.
they went back to an easy and proven treadmill mechanic.

Developers usually intake the vast opinion of the player base. This is why they have forums, in game anonymous reviews of content use, focus groups, and even play testers. From what has just occurred to me with this Lost Shore content is reflected on the people who wanted things to feel like past MMO iteration.