Guild Wars 2

Linnes.2678:

I feel it is a bit unfair to people who bought the game, especially DD/CE, to not get these armor sets just because we were early to the party. I realize they can be bought in-game (via cash-shop), but that’s not the point. You already pretty much gave us a big middle finger in terms of birthday rewards and now you’re jipping out loyal customers again. The money pandering is just pathetic at this point.

Oh well, guess I’ll be heading to Eorza for a bit, cya when some new updates come. That is one good thing about the game currently, it’s F2P.

You’re trolling very much. It’s $5 and the armor set has been in the game since nearly launch.

You got headstart/prerelease items if you were a very early adapter anyways; you’ve gotten tons of “freebies” through content updates like Wintersday minis, Halloween Witch’kitten, Dragon Bash dragon wings, Flame & Frost Molten Gauntlets, Lost Shores multiple slot bags (from the first Lost Shores event), Lost Shores Scrylite & flower backpieces (from second Lost Shores event), Cutthroat Politics rose and knapsack backpieces, and so much more.

So what is very late adapters get an armor set that has been in the game over 9 months; those who have been truly playing the game since then have gotten so much more out of it.

Nuka Cola.8520:

I heard the whole original team who made gw1 left, Robert left so who is still with anet that has passion for gw as whole? Time will only tell i guess but its not looking pretty (especially endgame content)

You are aware that he wasn’t an “original team who made GW1”, right? His linkedin page puts him at A.Net for just over 2.5years from 2011. He was a hire on most likely only for Guild Wars 2.

cesmode.4257:

1. sad to see someone lose their job.
2. No I dont think this is indicative of any downward spiral within arenanet. Stop being naysayers.
3. SAB brings nothing to the game than a side game.. much like all of the other side games added to the game instead of..I dont know, actual content?
4. The game morphing toward a wow clone. Gone are the days we play for fun and cosmetics. Hello to the days we play for currencies, minis, rewards, rewards, rewards and smiley faces.

#1: True… but lost or quit by own accord? (don’t have full story)

#2: Very true. Naysayers need to zip their lips and stop puckering them for other games. Why wish for any company/product to fail (unless it’s a chemical company…bleh!): That’s just wishing more people unemployed and more static mediocrity within the genre.

#3: Disagree. SAB is actual content. It’s a stylized dungeon with a different set of mechanics. The dungeon can be soloed or it can be party oriented (way more fun the latter). It still has a rewards system much like other dungeons, with baubles running similar to tokens to get a specific set of themed items from the SAB. It also has bosses, trash mobs, secrets, and more. After they add in World #3 and #4, which completes the thing, it will be a permanent addition to the game’s world (as said by developers multiple times now).

#4: Disagree completely. This is not a morph of the game, so much a morph of the ambitions and actions of the game’s community/player base. The game still has “fun content” if you actually play it for the sake of fun. However, if you run with the champion-farm-zergs or start to party with those of that mindset, you’ll get into that pace as well. SAB, for example, is something that is very fun and enjoyable; yet you’ll see a large portion of players running it continually for the sake of rewards to get weapons and for nothing else (they’ll even complain saying that they “hate” the content but still “run it just to get a shiny”).

First, let’s address the ….
@Glassdoor.com reviews:
Only 4 of these reviews are post-launch of the game. The really bad reviews that some have linked are over 2 years old.
The one from September is from a “former employee”, which sounds like a disgruntled employee rant;
December’s review is positive and likes the company;
May’s review is saying that they should dump tons of money into HR, marketing advertisement, and sound department (so… more money on things unrelated to development of the actual game?) The other issue with this review is that it’s all over the place, first mentioning that there can be meetings for multiple days in a row, yet there’s no management? (who’s holding the meetings? what’s the meeting for?). And they mention that their name isn’t in the credits for helping make the game, which makes me believe QA tester position or lower, if there is such a position.
July’s review is a QA tester, which is entry-level position in video game making (see movie Grandma’s Boy). The pay for that position is normally lower as it’s a stepping stone in the business. And of course that position has “many managers” because every manager at every department has to get bug reports from the QA department (i.e. sound, program, art/graphics, UI, and so forth).

Now to the actual issue at hand with Robert Hrounda’s separation from A.Net.

• “Robert Hrouda
  August 20.
  Today marks the release of the last bit of content I built for ArenaNet. I had always hoped my last hurrah would be an epic dungeon that would stand the test of time, and provide entertainment for players to the very end… but instead it’s an instance that will only persist for two weeks, and then go away.
  That’s not to sound gloomy or anything – just that things don’t always go the way you hope they do. I still had a great time, met some amazingly talented and good people, and got to work alongside friends – not just coworkers, but people I consider friends. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity, and just wish I had done more with it.”

That part right there is what bothers me some. It either sounds like the postings of disgruntled employee who had a disagreement/argument with management, or that of someone who left a company based on not liking the direction the company was taking.

I’m just taking the sides of Arena.Net, instead of directly attacking them until one side or another makes a more official response on this company separation.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Saw this on a post in another thread and felt it deserved it’s own discussion.

Isn’t it rather sad that the most popular feature of GW2, is a mini-game that has nothing to do with GW2?

Kind of puts things into perspective if you think about it. People are more interested in a Mario style game instead of the actual game. Just seems rather bad that out of all the Living Story stuff we have received, a mini game that is not really GW2 at all is the most popular of them all.

Just makes you feel this game is doing something wrong if people are more excited about an 8bit Mario game instead of the actual GW2 game.

What’s sad is that you made this post in your perspective of what you opinionate what related to Guild Wars 2.

To bring into the light the not-so-obvious, GW2 is about a mixture of anything and everything. It’s never one thing, but always something. The gameplay isn’t always going to be 100% about what your individual character class can do, but what you as a skilled individual can do as a character in the situation presented.

What am I rambling about? Environmental weapons is just a single thing to show that class is of no matter. However how about looking at all the many games that have been introduced into the game via events, updates, and the like. Each of these “mini-games” are really just extensions of the player’s skill in a different environment.

The Karka Queen boss is also one where you look less at a player’s direct damage, but instead on whether or not they’re attentive to the eggs needed to ‘break the shell’ of the giant beast. Scarlet’s Playhouse, the ending fight, is also the same thing where it’s about moving and dodging more than just the damage (though damage does play a part when she’s vulnerable).

The Super Adventure Box is a pull for many of the skill aspects of Guild Wars 2 intertwined with it’s own mechanics. The Frog King fight is about movement and dodging; the acid sections about jumping; and most all the enemies within are about timed avoidance of their abilities. Just because health-pools and gear is changed doesn’t mean it’s unrelated to GW2. Quite the opposite, actually.

Wake up and smell the virtual roses.
What? No smell?
Where’s Moto?
I’m going to have his hide if he doesn’t get to programming smell right this moment!

Blacktorn.3197:

And all of the exotics turn into pumpkins @ September 3rd.
Surely Ascended weps will cost a nice chunk of gold. And it would be kinda okay if we needed just One weapon, but we have multiple weapons for different purposes/specs, and upgrading them will be very long and grindy.
I can already see many ppl saying “Well, you don’t HAVE to get them, exotics are still exotics”. And there was a similar talk when Ascended tier itself arrived, but these are Weapons, they don’t only have stats, but also weapon damage, so if you want to be good, you Have to upgrade, many times. (And probably forget about specs that need different stat combos)
How is this not a GRIND of all grinds? And as I remember GW2 ‘’manifesto" saying "There won’t be any grind in our game, grinding is not fun and noone likes it", I gotta say that someone has no respect for their promises.

P.s. I Really hope I am mistaken in all of this and this implementation won’t cause more problems than the ‘advantages’ it gives. And I see it only as anoher-carrot-on-a-stick to keep people playing and grinding for something. Uh.

The “grind” comment that you so willingly misquote OUT OF CONTEXT was intended about the “swing a sword, wing a sword again” being an old fashioned combat system from old MMOPRG’s being a grindy state of things; instead, GW2 was bring a non-grindy action based combat system that requires the player to be on their toes, keep moving, and not AFK+Auto-attack. That comment from the manifesto had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH GEAR OR WAYS TO OBTAIN IT!

~Sorry for the bit of rage in the above paragraph, but that purposeful ignorance towards what was truly said just irritates me.

Honestly I wouldn’t mind it taking a bit of time to obtain, as it’s not “absolutely needed”, as you [OP] imply. It’s a 5% difference from Exotic gear, which is no biggie in terms of anything. In an evenly skilled fight of 1vs1, that it’ll matter sure (but when do those ever happen?). The gear isn’t in sPvP, all PvE can be completed without them right now (including 40+ Fractals), and in WvW is where they ‘might’ matter. But that is negated by the amount of players on the other side, considering that WvW is a consistent zerging fight between sides.

Am I done in ruining the worries and misinformation passed on by the OP? Is everyone in this thread now “chill” about the situation? Okay, good. Back to tea, classical music, and smashing skulls.

BoogerSammich.7189:

I must have it. Just saying.

You do know that she’s just Moto in drag, right?

In fact, it’s a homage to MiyMoto, the guy that helped make Nintendo what it is today.

Geemo.6018:

This game is beyond homogenized. No matter what you spec there are minimal differences between zero points and max points in any trait line. I have to keep pointing out the fact that I can see why 3 million bought the game, but less than 500k even play it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_Wars_2

Concurrency: operating or occurring at the same time

Congrats on linking a wikia page with information stats from November 2012,…over 9 months ago. Care for anything more recent? Because it was just a month ago when A.Net gave their mid-year update that they mentioned they have 2.5million users log in weekly. So….ya, …..you’re wrong.

Manuelito.6081:

or is there a project to “transform” dungeons (and the tokens?) to conform to the new ascendent gear?

Maybe new dungeons/tokens?

Any feeling whether badge of Honor will also be still useful to buy ascendent gear?

You’re looking at it in a slightly offsetting way of only numbers/stats in mind. The dungeons are there for their respective skin sets, found nowhere else in the world (save for sPvP). So say I want the Nightmare set on my Necromancer. I’d have to run the dungeon in the Sylvari zone to get it, because there’s no other way. That’s the idea behind the token system for dungeons, is to obtain the skins/sets.

I give your review a 2/10.

I give the game a 9.5/10.

Opinions are like feet: [most] everyone has them, and some stink.

Gandarel.5091:

The real and final stab in the back was this. Not just that they didn’t give us random minis and we got 8 Jennahs, but meanwhile, they add 42 new minipets to the gemstore. Jennah for tease, and if you want your GW1 present, you can have it, just empty your pocket for it.

I hope ArenaNet will start to make logical decisions at some point after they left behind their ‘GW1 didn’t exist and we ignore every loyal veteran’ mentality,

What are you yammering about? Minis were set to be a gemstore item SINCE DAY #1. The players have gotten many a free mini pets through events (Wintersday, Dragon Bash, Queen’s Jubilee, etc.).

However, the bulk of minis are still a Gem Store item based on A.Net needing actual money to pay for the FREE 2 WEEK CONTENT UPDATES that players are getting WITHOUT A SUBSCRIPTION all the time. Even still with that into consideration, Type 2 minis are tradable and sellable on the Trading Post, which I’ve seen many there now (averaging 1-20g each). And, on top of that, you can still just trade gold for gems and get a random pack for free* using in-game currency (*meaning you don’t have to pay real $$ for it).

As for the birthday gift….they didn’t have to do that. There’s no benefit for them to give players something for free. They could have done what SW:TOR did, put a title up on the Gem Store for 24hrs for like $1 (no joke, this is what SW:TOR did during the 10th anniversary of The Old Republic series, which they made a whole big ol’ press release about it).

It’s the same with the Currency Wallet, something that again they didn’t have to do. There’s the fact that item frees up player bag space, which is contradictory your conspiracy theory of them trying to squeeze money out of players (considering they sell bag and bank slots).

Oh let’s not forget Achievement Rewards. Those things give players FREE GEMS [@ 5,000 and 10,000 points]. Those greedy people at ArenaNet are giving players free currency for playing the game, how dare they! I mean, those gems are enough to buy 2 sets of minis just from both those thresholds. That’s not right…they can’t possibly be giving away stuff for free?! Shame!

Budchgon.2108:

Come back after a break and I loved WvW, but sadly reading the forums it seems everyone is fully decked out in Ascended items.. putting me at a severe disadvantage unless I suck it up and roll with the zerg…

I thought by now ascended would have been made easier to get rather than a time-sink (laurels) or fractals, maybe log in do daily and in a few months time i’ll be able to play and actually compete :-)

You seriously think that the 5% difference between Ascended and Exotic will leave you “at a severe disadvantage” ? That’s a joke,…a seriously bad joke. I’ve seen Champion ranked WvW players get steam rolled by Soldier ranked WvW players in 1vs1 fights; seen Level 60’s (boosted to 80, but still in 60 gear) kill some who was in Exotic gear (tell by the look of the CoF set they were wearing). The minor gear percentage differences mean NOTHING with skill-shots, split second ability trigger, and proper character play.

mexay.3902:

So my understanding is that the current digital deluxe edition owners/collector’s edition owner’s don’t get access to the new things in the heroic edition and the new version of the digital deluxe?

I’m not trying to be greedy but that seems a little unfair. We paid for our DDE/CE and got certain things, yet someone who pays for the exact same thing now, gets more? I wont exactly miss it either way, as I have no interest in the armour and can just do a fractal to get a bigger box.

Looking for an official response along with other players perspectives. Do you guys think it’s unfair or am I just looking at it wrong?

You got certain things A YEAR AGO, key thing to understand. The only new addition is boosts (which by now you’ve should have gotten dozens, if not hundreds through normal gameplay), a set of armor from the first set put into the Gem Store (which is still there to purchase and costs roughly 20g, something easily obtainable if you’ve been in the game sense launch), and an extra large bag (which we the players got free large bags from the Karka event, Wintersday, and I think Halloween too).

Basically look at it as $12-15 worth of Gem Store items -preselected, of course- for free with purchase of the game. It’s a perk used to obtain new customers. Current customers have already gotten tons of content worth within the game for free; and gem purchasers have even gotten free additions for their purchases like the Dragon Bash minis and the spring kites.

Try to look at from both a business perspective and a logical perspective; don’t look at it from a customer who’s purchased the game at a time, but neglects everything between that time and now.

azureai.9764:

The OP has a moot point, since the ANet devs have already said they won’t be removing the Commander Seals since folks already paid a lot of money for them.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some new functionality did get added to them, or if guilds with enough reputation gained access to an ability to have their leaders show up as a different color hat/symbol on the map.

My question was a gauge of player opinion about the current zerg-state of the game and how, based on my opinion, the Commander Seals contribute to it. It’s to see whether or not others agree with that being the case, and to see if removal is a solution to the issue or if there are other solutions to be had. With that affect, it is in no way “moot”.

See below with an explanation of the same issue with the voting system. Larger guilds becoming the main thing, while smaller guilds pushed aside; no matter if the smaller guilds have a far superior commander than that of the larger guilds or not.

P.S. It wouldn’t be to hard to remove all commander seals from the game and send in-game mail with 100g to everyone who has had them. Or, even refund like 50g, which is 50% considering that players have made use of them (or none at all considering that they’ve been used).

Nageth.5648:

Frankly, the only way that would increase the overall competence of commanders is if they were voted on some how. That is never going to happen because the game just isn’t set up for that.

The assumed issue with that is the guild politic shenanigans that’ll go on with it. Part of a large guild? That guild leader will REQUIRE you, the member, to Up-Vote every designated Commander (including the leader him/herself). Even if they’re a horrible commander, in a guild of 100, they’ve already got 100 Up-Votes just to start. It’ll be less about popularity and more about how many more guild members you can “persuade” to Up-Vote.

Another thought on this, though, would be to instead have Commander’s Rank/Achievement Score (for WvW and PvE respectively) right next to their tag name. This would indicate how much dedication, time, and effort that particular Commander has put into the game. The higher the Rank/Achievement Score, the more knowledgeable that Commander is likely to be about the game.

Ex.
There’s two Commanders on a map. One Commander in the northern part has 6,000 Achievement points. The other Commander in the southern section pops up in the map chat telling everyone to “on my pin!”, this Commander has 1,500 Achievement Points. Which one should players follow?

Take that example above, and replace Commander A with a “General” rank for WvW and Commander B with a “Soldier” rank for WvW.

Quick idea related to Champion farming/failed events:

• -Spawn 3-5 “Legendary” type mobs at the fail of an event.

The mobs wipe the players (unless it’s a super coordinated, super group), then 5 minutes later those Legendary types despawn. The thing then resets the event back to what it originally was at the start. No extra Champions spawn, no extra farming. Just death and reset.

Do people think that Commander Seal(s) should be removed from the game entirely [as a solution to getting rid of the zergs]?

The thing about this “tool” is that it is the quintessential reason behind zerging in both WvW and PvE (not sPvP, because people with commander seals on there just get laughed at). People gather on the Commander, groups conjoin with the Commander, and objectives are steered by the Commander.

I personally think it’s time that these things can go “bye-bye” in lieu of something better and less map-wide. A tag specifically for Guild Leader would be a good start in coordinating guild members within a single map that only those members [who are representing at the time] can see.

The simpler solution is to go back to the olden ways of just calling out locations of where people want to gather together, if they’re so going to, in map chat. Parties are also a great way to keep up with multiple people, though limited by the number 5 that it is.

Thoughts?
Suggestion?
Ideas?

P.S. Special Note: Please don’t bring any egotistical trolling/flaming wars into this thread about “Commanders on power trips” and “jelly non-commanders w/out 100g”. This thread isn’t about that and is more about possible solution to the zerg problem.

@Pringles.6542

You try to blame Arena.Net, but it seems that fault lays with the individual who had top priority permission in your guild and had his/her account hacked. This person’s security set up on their PC, or their email, or their account password, was in a weakened state that allowed for the breach of account.

Also if, as you said, you’d had multiple guild leaders, then someone should have stepped in and done something immediate as soon as the first or second kick happened. A quick split-second demotion of the individual prior to any more kicks would have stopped the motion of the break, but that’s more something that has to be caught on the minute it’s happening.

And another thing I want to bring up is how you have a permissions set up that other guild leaders are able to kick other guild leaders. How/why is this allowed? You’ve basically allowed your guild to have a leadership where anyone of them can backstab the rest and make off with the bounty. Sounds like a poor set up.

Last of the last things needed to be mentioned is that account recovery is possible, but guild recovery is not. The account recovery system wasn’t even created until about 3 months post-launch, but they have no such system for guilds. The reason behind this is because someone can “claim a hack”, but it could just be internal drama that splits the group; so a more hands-off approach is taken. It’s also the responsibility of the guild, as mentioned above, to structure their leadership properly with the allowable permissions they’d like each to have or not to have. And, it’s also up to the guild to make sure to inquire about the highest guild members having secure, reliable accounts so as to not threaten the guild with a possible hacked account.

Place the blame where the blame belongs: both the account holder and the guild itself.

Latinkuro.9420:

We need rarity frames to identify look at a glance, specially now with so much loot we getting most of the time my bags are full !

This picture shows what I mean: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55886904@N06/9529132240/

Um, not really. There are many, MANY types of organizational bags in the game that will rearrange your items for you. What you’re looking for are the bags from the Fractals like http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/20_Slot_Fractal_Rare_Equipment_Box That bag takes all rare quality items and sticks it in there first (if not full). There’s one for exotic gear and uncommon gear too. If you have all 3 of them, your bags self-organize for you.

You may have many collectable items that you don’t want to deposit into your collections tabs. That’s when useful things like Invisibility Bags come in handy simply because they don’t allow collectables to be removed automatically (and they don’t even show up at vendors either).

P.S. Added note: Get bigger bags, buy more bag slots (using some gold, if you’re too cheap to drop $5 on this game).

CrossedHorse.4261:

I wrote a long post and the site crashed on me … O.o

Anyway, I’ll make it shorter. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment behind the OP. However, I think it’s much more complicated than you make it seem. For instance, what makes a word offensive doesn’t tend to be the word itself. No word is inherently offensive – it’s the context and intent behind its use that makes it so.

Therefore, substituting “bookah” in place of another swear/curse word doesn’t do anything except superficially change the word. In terms of context, in the world of Tyria the asura use that term offensively to describe others they consider inferior to them. That is offensive. If we simply decided to say “bookah” instead of "f****er*, the implied intent and context is still enough to cause offense and I don’t think it would avoid doing so necessarily.

Also, people have very different opinions on what causes offense. Someone may not find constant swearing offensive, whereas someone else does. Also tone is hard to convey in text, not to mention language barriers etc. While intent is sometimes obvious, sometimes use of language is not.

I completely agree that people could certainly learn to think a little before they type, but I do not think it’s a simple as the OP makes it seem.

My post was at medium between simplistic and complex due to the nature of the audience that it was written for. I know that a person’s personality cannot be changed. But I did hope to alter the perspective of some so that a bit of thought is put into what’s being said rather than just being blurted out.

And the “F-word” is by far the least offender of the bunch up there from my original post. The other words offend easier because they’re taking original words out of context and pushing them into the boundary of hate speech. And then these twisted words are used casually as curse words without any regards to who they effect or offend.

Take for [a rather extreme] example the “N-word”, in how it was used for the longest time as an insulting term of oppression and hate. In the past few decades the word has been twisted within certain cultures that it’s okay for said cultures to use casually as a term of endearment. Yet, the word is still considered heavily offensive if used by those outside the culture for reasons of it’s original discriminatory intentions (the whole Paula Dean fiasco is an example of such).

Seras.5702:

I get the whole not-offending-people. Nobody should be insulted or ridiculed, especially in a game.

But why is everyone so sensitive these days? If someone says that something is g**, they’re not hating on homosexuals. They’re just using coloquial slang. I get how it can grate at some people, but really, just let it roll off you. Somebody very close to me has Down Syndrome, but I don’t rage at people who say that such-n-such is kittened. It’s just vernacular. Words change over time. Terrific doesn’t actually mean great/wonderful. But the useage has changed over time and that’s how we now use it.

I’m using terrible analogies I’m sure. But my point is that while freedom of speech shouldn’t infringe upon other people, I feel like people in general are just becoming more and more sensitive. Everyone is looking for a way to feel victimized and it’s getting old. Where did our pride go? Where did our sense of strength and self-esteem go? Just stand up, hold your head high, muscle through it, and earn what you get. Nobody’s words can take that away.

As explained above, the words’ skewed meanings are being expressed as “curse words” in negative fashion. That slang is used to express a demeanor towards someone to emphasize a stereotype that to be such is something offensive.

I’d also like to point out that “Freedom of Speech” only applies to Public and Government locations. These forums and accompanying game are privately owned, operated, and monitored by Arena.Net. As such, all rules and regulations related to what can and cannot be said are controlled by them. This is why you’re not allowed to talk about other video games, call out developers directly, create hate speech, and other rules outlined in the Terms of Service.

When someone says/types something, do they consider only themselves, without any thought towards the words used or the people around to hear/see them?

Do you really think that person over there is a bundle of something? No? Why call them a f*******?

Judging your tone, you don’t really think that thing is merry, right? Okay, why call it g**?

Is that person you’re berating really a cigarette? Didn’t think so. And you’re calling him a f**, why?

Are you aware that the “f-word” is a meaning of sexual intercourse? Yet it seems to be the most popular way to express violent demeanor against someone. Why would something that is meant for pleasure, love, and reproduction used in such an ugly form against someone? Really, it shouldn’t be.

Many of those words that I self-censored above are becoming more and more social unacceptable to use. There needs to be a change within the gaming community -GW2’s community- to stop the use of those words. It’s not just about the words needing to be changed, but the attitude of the players in which the language extrudes from.

Instead of ….

“Our team is a bunch of losers. Y’all suck!”

Use…

“Shucks, better luck next time.”

Okay, so that does sound kind of a bit lame to some people. But, it’s not. It’s a positive spin on a negative situation. However, if a boiling point is reached there can be good alternatives to be used that are playful uses of lore within the game:….

“Skritthead!” -Being simple minded creatures, Skritt are not all that bright and considered a menace to others in Tyria. Basically a term for the absentminded.

“Son of Skritt!” -See above-

“Bookah” -This one is a term used mostly by Asura. It is a large, loud, bellowing, and dumb imaginary creature that they used to frighten their children. However, they do use the term to refer to those they view as inferior beings, which to them is almost everyone who is not an Asura.

“Kitten” -A bit of a play on from the forum censors for however long it’s been going on. Basically insert this key word as a replacement for any curse word you might be using in-game. ~Careful when using around Charr, as they get confused by this reference.

“Yak Dung” -Referenced towards the Dolyaks in WvW and the fecal matter which they produce.

Those are just a few creative and not-so-creative ones that can be used [only when that boiling point is reached]. Even then, try to do so in a non-aggressive tone so that as to not come off a some hate filled attacker.

Thank you for your time and help in making a better community to those around you.

Beorn Saxon.4762:

I’ve been under the impression that there was/is a rumor that Anet may offer profession changes in the future. Is there any warrant to this rumor?

I have a lvl 80 ranger, thief and engineer. Each a different race. I would like to swap them around, but the thought of scrapping and re-leveling 3 max characters is depressing. I would much rather pay for a profession change than have to re-level 3 characters.

Profession, much like race, is tied deep into your character creation. Because of this, it’s highly doubtful that they’ll offer up a “profession change”. The only option you have is to create and level new characters. That is why in an MMORPG, making characters is a HUGE decision choice that has to be done wisely. This goes same for your mid-leveling Faction choice between Vigil, Whispers, and Priory.

Johnson says yes…

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/09/guild-wars-2-teases-anniversary-plans

Alongside the new content, Johanson explained players could expect to receive a present on their character’s birthday, as was the case in the original Guild Wars. While Guild Wars 1 saw players usually receive mini pets on character birthdays, it’s unclear just what members of Guild Wars 2’s community will be gifted.

Although I’m confused by this statement. Does it mean that all characters share the same ‘birthday’ and it’ll be on the 28th? Or, does it mean that on the date the character was made/created (which kind of alienates late comers to the game, making them wait until the time in which they joined the game)? I’m sure it’s probably the former, but still curiosity peaks….

Waar Kijk Je Naar.8713:

I’d put my bets on a 1-hour 50% exp booster, a 1k-karma consumable and an unidentified dye as a birthday gift.

Don’t expect anything you would still care about after 2 days of owning it.

A bit on the pessimistic side, aren’t we?

After all, players who gem purchased early on in the game’s life got a free mini pet pack from Dragon Bash. And those who purchased gems in Spring got a free random kite toy. So those are perks that they’ve given out for free, that they really didn’t have to.

I’m going to think that the new Anniversary gift will probably be a mini pet (or pets) that’s going to be a Quaggan with a birthday hat on and a party whistle. Either that, or a mini Zhaitan.

I had that happen as well once. Mine was a bit different, though. It teleported me AND another player in at the same time, but with different challengers. Mine was the sniper guy with bomb fields, his was the Oozes. So,….ya, we were both questioning and going “What the Skritt?!”. It was an experiences, I’ll give it that much.

Tiger Ashante.1792:

I was not standing still, i wasn’t even near the bosses, but they still 1 shoot you. The point is, this should not be in any frigging game. 1 shot mechanic is lame imo. I’m a staff necro and every skill is a mark you have to place on the ground and basically stand still to place them, but i guess like some have said in other threads, im supposed to start changing build and my gear just for this fight? no thank you. i shouldn’t have to. this was supposed to be fun and i was actually looking forward this update, but ah well forget it.

Bwuahahahahaha….hahahahaha.

Your first mistake is the assumption that a Staff Necro stands still. That’s just a bad idea. You can target, move, and plant all at the same time…well, if you can’t, then you’re really not playing the Necro right.

Also, these fights aren’t designed that every build, every weapon can take them on. I’d recommend a Scepter/Focus with Corruption utilites/build and a minion as your ult. That’s the best thing to do for most of these bosses. The staff is more off-hand for making a #3 that slows the enemy by applying Chill to them, giving you a better distance on the melee opponents.

And yes, you SHOULD have to change build/gear if yours isn’t working for these fights. The developers said that’s how they’re designed. They gave the preview on Monday and posted the information a week ago. If you don’t like that, then tough luck, you’re out of completing this content.

LotuS.4378:

so when AN will start update WvW? 2015?2016?

i know its hard job, since you need 1 month per 1 skill, but hey! maybe more ppl for WvW , and less for living usless story.

Thanks for not having any contexts to your post at all. Basically sums up to a rant about “A.Net not paying attention to my sole content type. All the other kids are getting the cool toys!~” Is that the gist of it?

Please be aware that ALL Lord events in Towers & Keeps are made into events that count towards daily and month achievements. These same events, what with having Champion/Legendary mobs at the end, also drop the new Champion Loot Bags (which means the new loot system is for WvW too). And lastly, the new Supply Mastery that they’ve added is a WvW exclusive update so that more rank diversity.

So, that’s that. PvE and sPvP gets more focus because …believe it or not, this game is mainly a game for both PvE and sPvP. WvW is a tacked on feature to appease the gankers, zergers, and open world PvPers. If they add content to that gameplay, those players would complain about balance; if they don’t add content, those players complain about lack there of. I

t’s a fickle situation, and one that A.Net sweeps under the rug mainly to those players not financially supporting the game. WvWer’s don’t buy musical instruments, they don’t buy mini-pets, don’t buy town cloths, didn’t buy election banners, didn’t buy fireworks from Dragon Bash, and so on it goes. Basically, WvWer’s want a buy-and-done infinite open-world PvP game that’s constantly supported for them. Does that seem right? NO!

P.S. Forgot to add that the Permanent Finishers are a major update that benefits both sPvP and WvW, without any effect to PvE at all.

Funny, I’ve gotten resurrected 7 out of 8 times by other spectators and passers by while they wait for their matches. Only real problem is when the cage drops me 100ft below and my body is in some forsaken pit filled with Vets.

P.S. Also, what Okhu said on the whole cost-vs-reward thing of it.

Your original post is incoherent. Are you saying that you agree with the negative feedback? What specifically? Are you not agreeing with it? Your subject is far too vague.

Oh…and FYI, this game is A.Net’s game, we just have the privilege to be playing it. They designing it how they like to.

AND, an added note: the forums are a fraction of a fraction of the player base. Some times I still get people saying “There’s an official forum?” when posting a dev quote in Lion’s Arch chat from there. So….take what the forum negatites say with a grain of salt.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Sometimes I really wonder: Would story-driven quests (which tell their own little stories) actually be bad for the game? Developers themselves state that events have little room for storytelling…

…so I think there’s stuff like this missing in the game.

We already had quests in the game. Everyone who experienced last Halloween can probably remember. Mad King Memories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF_Xltpc_Do

Anet nailed it already, those worked great in the game (I can’t remember a single negative reaction about this), and it had a great narrative, awesome storytelling in it’s own little context. I still wear the backpiece with pride and it reminds me everyday what would be possible in GW2.

please, more of that dear Anet.

First, you should really change your title as there are more than a few Story-Driven quests in the game. From the one about the lady who lost her husband in a cave (this is in Harathi Hinterlands just south of the centaur camps); to the children and the Ritual of Bear (in Wayfarer Foothills). There are 100’s to possibly 1,000’s of these spread all throughout Tyria, it’s up to players to discover and find them. Most are pointed out to start by an obnoxious NPC running over to you to scream “help, help” and then the trigger starts the Dynamic Event chain.

SIDE NOTE: Forgot another really interesting story Dynamic Event in Dreadnaught Cliffs. It’s related to a “suitor” for this Norn woman who’s passed off by another. He then turns to the Sons of Svanir for power, only to be double crossed by a veteran shaman-like leader there who tries to just absorb him in some ritual for power for himself. Really interesting story of love, despair, and blind following.

But…. my main point I really wanted to bring to the table is your thing about “epic story quests” is an example pulled out of a MAIN HOLIDAY EVENT. Those events will always be of an epic, grand scale. Don’t necessarily expect something like that every two-weeks, when instead expect something similar in October (Halloween), December (Wintersday), July (Dragon Bash), and possible April 1st (April Fool’s Day) [although that was less story, more Adventure, of the Super Boxy type].

Lippuringo.1742:

So Anet trying to solve grinding by implementing rewards per way completed. But overall it’s not solve problem. People already thinking about optimal ways for better time/reward. Overall this “fix” would only ressurect like third of ways, but other still would be forbidden.
And this is huge disadvantage for new players, who want to see game content, but can’t because some ways hard, time wasting and overall non-profitable.

I think proper way to implement this update not adding same reward for different paths (with slight difference), but adding for each dungeon and way it’s own different gold reward, and bonus gold/decent items after completing all 3 ways, and also some bonus rewards after completing next full dungeon, and then next etc.

In this way players would be motivated in completing full different dungeon, and not farming only fastest paths in different dungeons.

You’re not making any sense with this rambling.

First, let me point out that new players aren’t restricted from any content via gear, save for Level 10+ Fractals (yay Agony!). Content being hard is not a deal breaker, it’s a challenge. The “time wasting and overall non-profitable” is a personal opinion and personal problem. From an outside-looking-in perspective, the entire game is a “time waste”, but to those playing it…it’s a fun adventure, enjoyable game. Bottom line of my rambling [in this paragraph] is that there’s no disadvantage for new players.

Secondly, dungeons are getting gold rewards based on their difficulty and time it takes for completion . The gold reward is between 1-3g per each path based on it’s grade. So the “harder” ones are going to pay out more, encouraging players to attempt those paths.

Lastly, each path of each dungeon only rewards out once per day. This does encourage that players go to different paths and different dungeons if they want to continually gain rewards (the alternative is doing CoF pt1, wait until 5pm server reset, do it again…what a slow, timid, and rather mundane way of trying to obtain currency).

P.S. You’re completely ignoring Champion Loot addition to this patch, which complements the Dungeon revamp perfectly. Not only does it reward killing each boss (thus to discourage skipping/speed runs), but it also is a boon to open world content. Orr and Southsun Cove are crawling with Champions that I feel, come Tuesday, will be slaughtered by the 1,000’s in the name of fancy drops.

Neilos Tyrhanos.5427:

Singer.8740:

quoting a quote of a quote what does it all meen? give me a second while I consult god.

We know the “what” of both Thaumanova and Abaddon. We know the “how” of neither.

That was quite clearly his point.

Actually, you’re quite wrong on the “what” part. Abaddon’s fall was caused because he went to war with the other gods because they took his gift back from the races after those races caused war with the magic given (the first few Guild Wars). We know all the background leading to the event itself, the location, and the results of the event (the only thing missing is some Mortal Kombat style fighting amongst gods.

What do we know of the Thaumanova Reactor? We know the result was a catastrophic meltdown that tore a hole in reality and released chaos that spewed forth from the location. That’s it. We know nothing of the sub levels of the station where this happened, we know nothing of what was being researched down there. We don’t know what group caused the sabotage, if it was sabotage at all. What can be extracted from the current GW2-related lore is that the Crucible of Eternity is an off-site location based on earlier works within Thaumanova. Deduction based on that bit of information, it would seem that there’s something Elder Dragon related inside the Thaumanova Reactor.

For all we know, some Skritt ran a muck inside the reactor and stole some vital pieces. Those stolen pieces caused the meltdown. A later inserted Personal Story quest can be added to the game to talk to the Skritt King about recovery of one of the pieces, a Dwarven relic steeped in Elder Dragon magic. This addition to the Personal Story will be added over the next year to extend into the conflict with yet a 2nd Elder Dragon to defeat. In said fractal mentioned at the start, the players are transformed into the Skritt who go stealing all the shiny research equipment.

Doesn’t that sound fun?
Doesn’t that sound like an epic lead up to future Elder Dragon related content?
Doesn’t that have more lore relation to GW2?

1) May happen, but doubtful. Major trait skills can be swapped out of combat, but that’s it. It’s not a “major” thing to need to swap traits on the fly….in sPvP it is, thus you have the ability to reset traits there constantly (that, and sPvP has no gold, so you really can’t pay an NPC for the swap). Every city has a trait swap trainer anyways, and you probably pass them 2-5x daily.

2) Not going to happen. This was changed far back in Beta for a reason, they explained it, and that’s why it is what it is. Based on players already spending 100’s to 1,000’s of gold on dyes, it would be a huge kick in the Skritt if they did this.

3) Don’t expect this game to go heavy on the “end-game PvE dungeon/raid environment”. That’s what old MMO’s do, this game is something different. That said, it is making new Fractals that are coming out between now and Dec 31st, 2013. Those Fractals will include: Molten Weapons Facility, Aetherblade Retreat, and (from what looks to be leading in votes) the Reactor meltdown/explosion. The previous two mentioned are being worked on right now, the latter hasn’t been worked on [and neither has the Abaddon one]. A.Net has said that they will not start work on it until the players have voted. Ther other fractal will not be made at all, as said by devs.

The only….ONLY people that have issues with the SAB are the WvW & sPvP die-hards. But seeing as how the SAB is PvE content, who cares about those people’s opinions? They’re just angry that PvE is getting content while their type of gameplay is rather stagnate (and that’s how it really is in ALL PvP type scenarios). At least mini-games are a PvP mix-up, but …apparently PvPers and WvWers call still call mini-games “carebear content”. Sheesh!

Chromosome.7498:

- Heart of the mists -> BG (I play one BG, I afk for two others BG)
I have my laurel.

So, you cause distress on other players and exploit the game’s systems for rewards each day?

You do know that both of those things are against the game’s rules and can get you suspended/banned, right? You JUST admitted to breaking the game’s rules for reward purposes.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-rules-of-conduct/

• While participating in Plaver-vs-Player (PvP) gameplay, you will not participate in any form of match manipulation. Match manipulation is defined as any action taken to fix or manipulate the outcome of a match or alter or manipulate the rankings or ratings of the ladder. This also includes disrupting other people’s game experience by not actively participating in matches in good faith, a.k.a leeching.

So basically you just gave reasons for GM’s to visually watch activity on your account, and if…when you are seen doing this you’ll be punished. Nice job.

To the topic of this game, which seems to be that GW2 isn’t attention grabbing enough for the OP, I’d say that’s a personal dilemma. For me, I can do 6-12 or more sPvP games in a row without being bored; I can do many other things in this game that are fun for nearly hours on end (Southsun Survival being my new favorite). The game is fun for many, but it’s not for everyone. No game is. /end

I highly doubt that the “personal portal” is going to be ground-targeted spell. Instead it’ll probably be just like a Mesmer’s portal and make it point-blank location drop. This means that a person must be standing where the entrance is to be created, and then stand where the exit is to be created.

Mesmer portals used to skip jumping puzzles requires that the Mesmer actually complete said jumping puzzle to a point to drop a portal connection for someone to enter. What I find about this that really irks me is that basically it means the Mesmer does all the work while the other players take all the credit and reward.

I’ve seen players get DUSK from the EB jumping puzzle chest after being ported up by a Mesmer. Think that they’d share that reward they would otherwise not have gotten without the Mesmer’s help? Kitten no!

And on that note, …it’s basically welfare for those who are unskilled and cannot do the content themselves. Just as those who can’t get 1st place in Sanctum Sprint beg over and over again for someone to give it to them because they “don’t have the achievement.” Well, if you can’t achieve it, then you don’t deserve it! Simple!

Rainu.6871:

Wayshuba.5912:

Where are you getting the art district from?

It is obvious from the screenshots that the arena is going to be located where the Great Collapse is. Look at the left side split roof overhangs. These only exist today at the border of the Great Collapse.

The Great Collapse is where the art district used to be (lore wise, in the lore there never was a canthan district)

And I wish the people in that big “Canthan Thread” would realize it. Divinity’s Reach was founded AFTER Zhaitan rose Orr from the oceans and sunk old Lion’s Arch. However, when these Elder Dragons started to rise, Cantha turned it’s back on the Krytan people and the rest of the world. It’s closed it’s borders and stopped all external trade routes. All this is mentioned in a Durmand Priory book in one of their libraries inside Divinity’s Reach.

With that in mind, I do hope that some day we’ll get to see the Canthan nation once more…..as rubble below either the ‘jungle dragon’ or the ‘deep sea dragon’. I can wish no less on a nation that abandons the other races of Tyria for it’s own selfish needs.

MeGaZlo.9516:

Siphaed.9235:

MeGaZlo.9516:

So, developers moved the gold award from bosses at the end of the dungeon. As you know, most of the groups trying to pass as much as 80% of mobs and bosses, if possible. If not – are looking for different bugs of geodata. Can it happen that this innovation will add this their aspirations? Perhaps devs should raise the award from packs?

Are you not aware that each boss now contains CHAMPION LOOT BAGS, which have: unique & rare skins, rare crafting materials, and other rewards. ???

If people want to skip a chance at getting THESE https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/f9681qj-screen-04.jpg then that’s their problem. I won’t be skipping any chance at those bad boys. Every champion I see will die! (even friendly ones if they have a chance at those)

It’s great. However, not all bosses are champions. Some of are “legendary”. Is it spread on them?
But well… In addition it can be born some… disagreement between those who, for example, need ingredients and skins and those who doesn’t care for them and want to just go faster. Plus, sooner or later, no matter how desirable, this champ-loot will become not needed. And most of the packs has no champions, besides. I wish that this moment was better thought out. Group that fanatically passed all possible packs are beginning to tire already.

And honestly those people either need to chill out, or find a better game. They act as content gorging, greed eaters. They care nothing for the game’s story, for the background of the content they do, or for anything else surrounding them other than their speedy ways of getting “lootz”. Even the community is just a means to an end, and if these people could solo the content with the same efficiency and payout they’d do so. [This is clearly seen in the /party kicks and berating against some for “too slow”, “wrong gear”, and other ego filling reasons to put down other players.]

I can honestly evaluate that this game isn’t for those people. They yell/scream/throw hate at the development team whenever they close “grind loops” (though they’re self-proclaimed ‘efficient farming!’). They treat the community like scum. And they treat the game unlike a game, but instead a job/commodity/well to suck dry. There are games designed for people with those kind of tastes and play styles, but Guild Wars 2 is not that game.

GW2 is designed for the experience, which is also why the Living Story exists. Some may not like it, some downright hate it because it’s not like other MMO’s in execution and design. But many love it. Why? Because it’s not like other MMO’s. If I want a raiding game, there’s quite a few on the market available such as Rift, EQ II, WoW, etc. If I want a dungeon game, there’s quite a few like those mentioned, plus Tera and a few others. However, those types are tiring and after decades of them …something new and fresh is better. That’s where GW2 shines.

MeGaZlo.9516:

So, developers moved the gold award from bosses at the end of the dungeon. As you know, most of the groups trying to pass as much as 80% of mobs and bosses, if possible. If not – are looking for different bugs of geodata. Can it happen that this innovation will add this their aspirations? Perhaps devs should raise the award from packs?

Are you not aware that each boss now contains CHAMPION LOOT BAGS, which have: unique & rare skins, rare crafting materials, and other rewards. ???

If people want to skip a chance at getting THESE https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/f9681qj-screen-04.jpg then that’s their problem. I won’t be skipping any chance at those bad boys. Every champion I see will die! (even friendly ones if they have a chance at those)

Could I just say….

"We the heroes of Tyria are gladly able to join in on the Queen’s Jubilee. In these Dragon haunted times, we have defeated Zhaitan and wane the number of minions that spewed forth from Orr.

The people of the Kodan have been welcomed south into the open arms of Hoelbrok. As they’re pushed out of their homes, so our heroes push back against Jormag’s Claws and the Icebrood.

As Krawlkatoric’s forces pushed upon old human territories and the runes of Ascalon, so do the Charr push back against them. Once again us heroes are called upon, though this time as supporting reinforcements of the great Charr Legions. Between ghosts and Branded, the area is purely a pain. But heroic efforts hold back the waves of evil and the push stops.

Primordus still resides underground, to which the Dwarven army [turned stone through Dwarven magic] fight against him. Should they they fail, we will be ready to fight the rising army of Destroyers. Once the other dragons that are harassing Tyria in the present are dealt with, we will assist the Dwarfs in the slaying of the fiery beast.

Two other dragons have yet to rise, though it is being researched as to whether or not the Karka are minions of one such dragon from the deep oceans below. If so, then that can be chalked up as another victory for our Heroic ways, as we have pushed them far back out into the Sea of Sorrows.

It would seem that we’re doing a great deal to fight back against the waves of Dragon destruction across Tyria. However, the Dragons are not the only issue to be dealt with; pirates attack cities, Dredge invasions occur, refugees being exploited/slaughtered, and political take over attempts of a major city port. A few celebrations in between all this heroic saving of Tyria is a good thing."

I really enjoy the GW2 wallpapers provided by the art’s team. But, I kind of dislike Charr. So, to compromise the situation, went ahead and manipulated a bunch of the released images -technically still the artists’ work- with a much more likable character: Watchwork soldier.

It comes in 1920×1080 resolution.

What will the August 20th 2-week content update hold, since it overlaps the 1yr Anniversary of GW2’s launch?

August 6th through the 19th will focus nearly exclusively on the Queen’s Jubilee content, based on the 2-week schedule that A.Net upholds. It will most prevalently relate to Dragon Bash and Bazaar of the Four Winds by extending the whole month run. But the update following has not only the expectation to relate to QJ, but to also related to the game’s 1yr Anniversary.

Speculations abound:

1) Some of the currently closed mini-games in Divinity’s Reach get opened up (such as Shooting Gallery and the Puppet Jousting).

2) Dragon minions invade Divinity’s Reach …because that’s a party, right?

3) HATS! (Come on…anyone who was here at launch should have the GW2 town cloths hat. And GW1’s celebrations were all about the hats…)

4) 24 pieces of Celebration Cake have been ‘accidentally’ teleported into different jumping puzzles throughout the game. Players must find and put together all 24 pieces for a new unique mini called “Living FrankenCake”

5) Something, somewhere, needs some help with saving it somehow. Players must somewhat participate with someone.

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

If you haven’t noticed there are a good deal of your players that enjoy pvp. Not the boring conquest system you have in place now, but actual pvp. You know,where we fight other players. That’s what PvP means.

At this point in time we use custom pvp maps, but it would be so much nicer if we could actually use the arenas. We aren’t asking for a leader board for pvp, though that would be great, all we are asking for is a dedicated map that we can use properly. This sounds like a perfect addition.

Allow players to queue into it, setup everything just like pvp and then fight.

Anet this is a please for actual pvp to be put into the game. What you have now isn’t even pvp most of the time. It’s boring hold a point, and that’s it. If you want GW2 to work as an esport it has to be exciting to watch. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the numbers on your viewers. People fall asleep watching it as it currently is. Look at what LoL is doing right and go from there.

Aren’t there more than enough games that have just killing (i.e. Deathmatch) as their main form of competitive PvP? What’s wrong with the point control system being main PvP form? Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean that others agree with you in distaste. I see many people who enjoy that the focus is less on killing and more on control & team coordination on maps. So please, do not dismiss GW2’s PvP as “not PvP” just because it’s not to your particular liking.

As for your request for “arenas”: No! Absolutely, positively, 100% NO! Why? Because that leads down a slippery slope of making a horrible community (and I mean putrid, bile toxic community). And that’s beyond bringing in the many, many shouting threads about “balance” as related to 1vs1 fights. Nope. I don’t see this as ever happening and I would never in 1,000,000 years wish it upon this or any other game (save for a game designed exclusively for arena fighting, like the Pirates, Vikings, and Knights HL2 mod).

The answer is without a doubt “no”. All those achievements are in an archived section for a reason: past events that aren’t around any more and cannot be accomplished again.

The achievements are related to their respective events [and not just a tie-in to the mini-games that are tasked]. If a bug/system issue allows it, then be happy; but certainly don’t expect them to try to retro achievements from old just for the few that missed out.

P.S. On a personal note, I think they absolutely shouldn’t just because the ones that have related titles shouldn’t be able to be earned any more. Those were rewarded to people that participated in and achieved goals related to the Living Story chapter at that time.

Mia Lunarfang.5826:

darkace.8925:

It’s a great move. If you don’t think some speed bumps needed to be added to cof p1 farming, then I’m sorry. But it did need to be done.

Really, where else are we to farm then? They destoryed Orr, and now CoF, there is no available way to make relatively quick income.

Actually, they restored Orr with this very same update that they’re changing Dungeon Loot systems. How so? Why, it’s the way they’re introducing Champion Loot Bags. Orr is sprinkled with Champion mobs throughout the major events; and the minor Dynamic Events scale up with more players to include champions when needed. This means that effectively players can (and should) start up Orr farming trains yet again to try to get these Champion bags.

TO ORR!

TO ORR!

RAISE THE SAIL!

WE SHALL NOT FAIL.

AND WE WILL YELL, FOREVERMORE…

TO ORR!

TO ORR!

TO ORR!

jweez.7214:

I am a pinata destroyer
I am an avid voter
I am a mini game connoisseur
I am a jumping puzzle master
I am a pyrotechnician
I am a supporter of false victories and looming threats.

But a hero I am not.

What’s your story?

I’m the guy that stopped the Molten Alliance’s invasion of Shiverpeaks/Ascalon area.
I’m the guy that killed the big frog in a test simulation for Moto.
I’m the guy that helped arrest Canach and stop his insane plan.
I’m the guy that solved the murder of a Lion’s Arch captain.
I’m the guy that stopped a major invasion plot by sky pirates.

I am the hero, whether or not there’s an audience to say so. The rest of the fluff in between is fun stuff to do in my down time from saving everyone….

SeNoZinD.9874:

We all heard about the new dungeon reward bonus thingy, but I’m still kinda confused. Lets say CoF p1 currently gives 50 silver per run. After the patch, a cof p1 run will you say…. 1 gold. After that initial run, how much money would you get? I know that guaranteed money drops are removed, but where are the sent to? The final chest? Still so confused :S

Basically stating this: CoF p1 farming is NO MORE!

You can only be rewarded 1 per day on any given path of any given dungeon. This is to encourage doing different dungeons instead of farming the same dungeon, same path all day long.

So, don’t be confused. Just do CoF p1 ONCE a day, then do a different dungeon, different path.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

so the next event will be in divinity reach!

Yep, seems so. And that line about hot-air balloons seems like they’ll be a sort of zone-specific instant travel options to Divinity’s Reach. Interesting as that sounds.

Alleluia.1320:

Siphaed.9235:

Speculations on what “QJ” is for the name of the update? Because that’s how they code their update photos with the name initials embedded (as seen in Sky Pirates, Cutthroat Politics, Dragon Bash, and every other update prior).

[…]
Queen’s Jubilee?

Actually, how long has she been in power? Queen’s Jubilee is a very plausible guess if an anniversary of her reign is coming up. And the story could be she’s reviving the entertainment district in direct competition with Caudecus’ bread-and-circuses carnival.

10 years, apparently. And the name “Queen’s Jubilee” is exactly the right guess:

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/view/news/read/28202/Guild-Wars-2-Queens-Jubilee-to-Commence-August-6th.html

The district is going to be known as the Crown Pavilion, which that article above has a screen of some concept art that was sent to them (looks like a giant stadium).

Thanks to MMORPG.com leaking information prior to the reveal tomorrow on 7/30, we now know the name and some details of the next Living Story content update.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/view/news/read/28202/Guild-Wars-2-Queens-Jubilee-to-Commence-August-6th.html

• Queen’s Jubilee to Commence August 6th

• By Royal Proclamation, Her Majesty Queen Jennah of Kryta welcomes you to join the citizens of Divinity’s Reach in celebrating ten years of her rule. Her Royal Majesty Queen Jennah will personally dedicate the new Crown Pavilion and open ceremonial contests to celebrate the indomitable spirit of the Krytan people. Hot-air balloons stand at the ready across Tyria to convey celebrants and well-wishers of all races to Divinity’s Reach.

So, we now know that under the tent in Divinity’s Reach is the new “Crown Pavilion” (whatever that is). Guess more details will come

First and foremost I must point out the many flaws in the original poster’s theories, the main one being that Mai showed no recognition of Kiel as anything other than Lion’s Guard. Also, Kiel arrested her with her security officers. The reason for destruction of the fleeting ship was to make sure the Aetherblade cannons, those mounted on these pirate ships, are better off destroyed when not able to apprehend. There’s just no way she is Scarlet, to lead adventures/reinforcements into her force’s lair to help destroy highly valuable tech and kill well needed troops.

SpeedFiend.4521:

So, if Kiel wants to research Inquest stuff because she’s buddies with them…
Evon Gnashblade is secretly a cultist of Abaddon? Just when I thought there was no way he could have my vote more. Vote Gnashblade, be on the right side when the coming darkness swallows us all.

As for Gnashblade, you are wrong and foolish to think as much on Gnashblade. He’s part of the Ash Legion and was part of a special operation to take control of trade at Lion’s Arch. His commanding Legionnaire wanted to do this by brute force (think mafia style), but he wanted to do it through subterfuge. In an argument about which approach was best, he stabbed his Legionnaire in the head and took controlling command of his special operation group. This group became known as the Black Lion Trading Company.

SOURCE: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/

Another thing to consider is that Gnashblade is a Charr. Those of the Charr -particularly those of the Flame Legion- followed their ‘false gods’ (Titans) into leading a very aggressive campaign against humans. This included the use of the Searing Cauldrons, bestowed upon the Charr by the Titans, that destroyed much of Ascalon. And who were the Titans? The Titans were minions of Abaddon, who were ordered to command the Charr into that campaign. Puppeteer puppets, to say the least.

What does that boring history lecture have to do with Gnashblade? As a special operation leader of the Ash Legion, he’s basically got “Operation Steal Lion’s Arch” chalked up as ‘mission accomplished’. Now he’s in the position to attempt to control a type of Mist time machine to go back in time to speak to Abaddon. Can anyone really put two and two together? He’s trying to either get Abaddon to provide more powers to the present through the Mists time machine, OR he’s trying to stop the old human god’s banishing of Abaddon, thus altering the time line and possibly leading to the proper invasion by the Charr to all of Tyria.