Guild Wars 2

Avatara.1042:

Sitkaz.5463:

Newbies in my guild often ask “Where is Kyrta?” or “Where is such and such daily event?” I think Ebonhawke is considered Kryta for these achieves because it’s easier to think of Kryta as “any human settlement” than explain the history of each region to each newbie before they’ve encountered much lore. As far as I’m concerned the people arguing that they’re different are right. I just don’t think it was sloppiness on Arenanet’s part. I think it was a choice.

It, and the area it is in, count for Ascalon dailies/kills, though.

Huh. Well there goes that theory, then.

Nice video! It’s good to see the guy. He’s funny. And now I’ll hear him saying “And did you finally lose your virginity?” alongside “This won’t end well…” Heh.

Newbies in my guild often ask “Where is Kyrta?” or “Where is such and such daily event?” I think Ebonhawke is considered Kryta for these achieves because it’s easier to think of Kryta as “any human settlement” than explain the history of each region to each newbie before they’ve encountered much lore. As far as I’m concerned the people arguing that they’re different are right. I just don’t think it was sloppiness on Arenanet’s part. I think it was a choice.

I love my new rocket boots. If they took them away I’d have to go back to an elixir or something. Flying backwards onto my butt was never cool, even when it removed stun.

She’s a trend-setter. I’m not wearing shoes right now either.

It’s nice to see an “I’m not leaving” post. I’m excited for the big news, whatever it is. Sure it could be disappointing, but I’m having a lot of fun with the game anyway, and your WoW comparison is spot on.

kokiman.2364:

aocypher.9172:

GW2 should have stuck with their original manifesto and never introduce ascended gear. Without ascended gear, there would be no need for laurels (in daily). Without laurels, dailys would have been totally optional.

Their original design was good. They’re just dealing with the fallout of their ascended gear hack.

I still don’t see the problem with ascended gear. We can easily beat all of the pve content with rare gear and yet we have 2 more levels above that even though we don’t need it right now.

The only concern I have that with we get too powerful for the content we have right now.

Speaking for me personally, the trouble with ascended gear isn’t in pve but wvw, where those extra stats might make a difference beyond skill. I don’t think it always does, but sometimes.

sostronk.8167:

Sitkaz.5463:

Depending on how your server is doing, you can level as quickly or more so in wvw than in the Crown Pavilion

Explain to me how you can get a level 1 character to level 80 in WvW in under 20 hours please.

I have no idea, I’ve never leveled that quickly anywhere. Lately I go back and forth between wvw and CP with alts, depending on the wvw scene, like I said.

I feel like my 80s are progressing because I’m getting better at playing each profession. That, combined with better looking (not more powerful) armor and weapons, is all I want from endgame.

One thing that gets missed when people talk about daily content for casual players is that many casual players think of daily achievements as a bonus rather than a necessity. Since it’s easy to complete your five daily achieves and get that chest, they don’t realize it happens until it does, then: Hoorah, did it. If they’re really casual and really playing for fun, it’s just something that happens, not a barrier or restriction or anything.

They’re not actually NPCs. The Conjured Greatswords are Arenanet employees who’ve had it with complaining players. They’re letting off steam. Forum moderators get extra time in the Conjured Greatsword driver’s seat.

Leveling in wvw is totally viable. I have with most of my alts. People claim you’re a rallybot, but level scaling gives you abnormally high stats most of the time, as Respawn noted, and someone running a zerker build (and people still bring that into wvw) will rally people even easier. Just make sure your gear stays up to date and you’ll be fine.

Depending on how your server is doing, you can level as quickly or more so in wvw than in the Crown Pavilion. It just depends, as wvw isn’t as regulated and predictable as pve.

I’m not sure what honor badges has to do with leveling, though.

This is a cool idea. I like it. I’d want to ensure there were metal electric looking crossbows (no way my engineer is using some flimsy wood thing.)

Wait, RoS comms went to FoW this week? That might explain RoS’s performance too…

Psssht what server is this. They’re ruining wvw man ruiiiiiining it. Anet will you do nothing!?

I’ve been there for ages and not received a single skin or lodestone. Not that I much care but I’m bewildered by people who have.

On the other hand I’ve received 5 exotic drops in wvw this week alone. Love that!

I play for fun. I’m in a casual guild and when we’re a bit bored it’s fun to group up, hang out, get the bosses then dance by the center wp until the next bosses pop. I can see that it’d seem silly but it’s the company that makes it fun for me, and the loot is a bonus. I guess it takes all sorts to make an MMO.

(Btw Proxy, stating your opinion then “/thread” is kinda the opposite of what a community forum is meant to foster.)

lordkrall.7241:

Sitkaz.5463:

By “No one time event” does that just mean no Karka type event that takes over an entire map, or does it mean no massive plot point at all? Heh… I mean, I had it in my head we’d get the Battle of Divinity’s Reach or some other huge thing that would change Tyria forever.

No one time event means there is no event that must be done at an exact time, but rather something you can do during the course of the living story part in question.

There can be massive plot points without forcing people to be online at a very specific time.

Excellent, thank you.

Of course this is only what we actually get to see. Jennah is an excellent politician so she appears to keep her distance, and Logan has the luxury of being a soldier so he gets to show a little passion, but not a lot.

Behind closed doors it’s anyone’s guess.

Blacktide were struggling against multiple DL zergs yesterday evening when we realized they were trying to paint the whole map green. This actually managed to rally us: We knew we couldn’t beat you, but we could keep flipping things quickly enough that you wouldn’t get a green map right away. That was some sort of satisfying, for a little while!

Frosch.7809:

The Queen will reveal that she is pregnant…

…from Rytlock!

I just about inhaled my coffee. Thank you.

I’d be surprised if the Queen herself announces who Scarlet is. It sounds like something we’d investigate ourselves, but who knows.

I would definitely believe the announcement is about the Charr. Not only are we still due for a living story event happening in the Black Citadel, but there’ve been a lot of Charr/Human relation things going on lately, and most lately of course we have Logan forced to fight a Charr, and then Rytlock, in front of an entire crowd. It was weird, considering the peace talks.

I’m extremely doubtful that there’ll be a royal wedding with Logan. It’d make too much about the human personal story just weird, and anyway, I wouldn’t like it. Ahem.

By “No one time event” does that just mean no Karka type event that takes over an entire map, or does it mean no massive plot point at all? Heh… I mean, I had it in my head we’d get the Battle of Divinity’s Reach or some other huge thing that would change Tyria forever.

I’d like to have a use for them, too. It’d be nice if we could use them to sponsor other players or something, or as the OP said, simplify that and just be able to put them on the TP.

I’ve had the same problem with one character. I’m sorry to say I was unable to fix it, but I suggest opening a customer support ticket and seeing if they can help you out. They had a lot of ideas for me. None of them worked, as I said, but it might be a different issue for you.

And despite what people say, it’s not necessarily a corrupt client or connection problem. My issue was with just one character while the others were fine, so there’s definitely something else going on. Definitely open a ticket.

Great post and a lot of good ideas. The most important for me are the camera angle issues but I haven’t gone through the whole gauntlet yet. I also hope any improvements Anet makes continue to allow me to watch other people fight.

I think it’s interesting that some people would like to learn the fight from the game, and others would like a wiki. I’m quite used to how WoW raids couldn’t be accomplished well without studying mechanics beforehand, but that always bugged me, so I see the argument.

If someone could play the Star Trek fight theme while I played the game it would make my millennium.

Thanks Crazylegs, you bring up some good ideas.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

The official definition of sexism is:

sex·ism (skszm)
n.
1. Discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women.
2. Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender.
sexist adj. & n.

In terms of the Watchknights, we can easily argue that despite the sexualized nature of the design, there are in no way discriminated against. As for the stereotyping of of social roles based on gender, well this one is strange for me as well.

You have robots, designed with feminine traits, that are tasked with defending the city from hostile threat. They are towering robots that are capable fighters, and are designed to have a presence in the city.

So, despite their sexualized nature, they are in no way promoting stereotypes that I can see.

I’d say you’re right that the robots themselves aren’t discriminated against. But are women discriminated against due to the presence of the robots? Ie. Does the huge presence of sexualized female design (and no one seems to be arguing that there isn’t a huge presence of sexualized design in games generally, that I can see) promote stereotypes of women as sexualized creatures, possibly to the detriment of attention to other attributes? It’s arguable.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Sitkaz.5463:

2. Just because something’s done a lot already doesn’t make it OK either. People keep saying, All MMOs have stuff like this. Greek art has stuff like this. Etc. Well it’s not like the people who are against it don’t know that. It still doesn’t make it OK and it still isn’t an argument, it’s just a situation.

You’re right here. This is the appeal to antiquity fallacy. While it’s fair to mention the comparison between what societies deem to be art, and sexual material, we can’t say that because it’s been done that way, it makes it ok.

So, what we need to do is take the design in context and ask ourselves if the design, in the context of the game, is promoting any particular stereotype, or is giving any message that promotes negativity towards a specific gender, race, religion, etc.

My opinion is no.

I have written a lot here as to why, but I will summarize what I’ve said. While these robots have feminine traits, they are by no means presented in a sexual manner. Their role in the game is by no means that of derogatory, or demeaning. The fact that they have features that some find offensive, is not the same thing as being sexist.

I really like what you’ve said here but I notice you’ve contradicted what you said earlier. You said “…despite the sexualized nature of the design…” but now you say “they are by no means presented in a sexual manner.” I can see how both might be true, eg. the design is sexual but the aren’t used in a sexual manner because they fight rather than acting sexy or having sex, but you can probably see how the division might not be clear to everyone. To some, their sexualized design presents them in a sexual manner, so they are indeed promoting the stereotype of woman as sex object.

I know I said I wouldn’t dive into the debate but I found your reply thoughtful and interesting so it pulled me in.

There are a couple of things that keep coming up in this thread I think need addressing.

1. Just because a woman thinks something isn’t sexist, doesn’t mean it isn’t sexist. If your wife/gf/friend/mom/whoever says, “I don’t have a problem with high heels on a robot,” that doesn’t make it A-OK anymore than a woman saying it isn’t OK makes it automatically not OK. This argument comes up a lot in feminist-related things, and it’s really not an argument. It’s just opinion: a girl thinks it’s ok. Maybe even an unofficial poll of all the girls you know says it’s ok. That’s great, but so what.

2. Just because something’s done a lot already doesn’t make it OK either. People keep saying, All MMOs have stuff like this. Greek art has stuff like this. Etc. Well it’s not like the people who are against it don’t know that. It still doesn’t make it OK and it still isn’t an argument, it’s just a situation.

I’m not prepared to launch myself into the midst of this debate, but I do think it’s important to recognize these points if you’re really trying to talk about this.

jawdrop

…

Flamethrower and grenades are great for zergs. With disorganized zergs (as many are) a flamethrower to the face will scatter people pretty quickly. Well-thrown grenades split up even an organized stack of players. Or place a big bomb and rocket boot yourself out of there.

I guess I’m saying engineers are good at causing chaos, and chaos is one of the best ways to defeat a zerg.

Try everything. All the kits, all the weapons, all the skills. Then when you have favourites, try them all again anyway. I’ve gone from “I’ll never use turrets” to full turret engineer, then “I’ll never use kits” to full kits, then “wth are rocket boots even for, this is stupid” to rocket boots always on my skill bar… Engineers are all about experimentation and adaptability. Try it all until you find what fits!

Not to sound too full of myself, but engies are a tough profession to play, and the payoff is “fun” rather than being the very best at anything in particular. Look around the forums a bit and you can see that a lot of players aren’t interested in fun as much as gear grinding, perfect dungeon runs, shinies… etc. Not that there’s anything wrong with any playstyle, but if you want to show off your legendary, for instance, kits won’t help you. If you want to look snazzy, the hobosack won’t help you. And if you want to quickly be the best at a profession, nothing about an engie will help you.

I love my engie.

No, I don’t want any more upgrades to gear. I like getting on with improving my skill with each profession rather than chasing higher stats.

So, a portal from the invulnerable spawn point into the garri? That does sound like stretching things a bit. I would have thought wp’ing would end the portal entre/exeunt link.

I was thinking about creating a thread about guild issues, but oddly enough my issues are not at all the same as yours. I like that GW2 allows the easy creation of guilds and belonging to more than one guild because I think it supports the playstyles the game is going for. Like Astral said, you’re meant to be able to join a wvw guild and a pve guild and “real friends” guild etc etc.

My issue with the guild system is that it somewhat defeats itself anyway. I was recently removed from my wvw guild because they had a rule I should represent them at a certain time of day, every day, and I refused because I still had social guilds. Why should this one guild know I have characters in other guilds, anyway? I understand that seeing someone online but not representing is useful to know how loyal a player is to your own guild, but is that really what everyone wants? Privacy-wise, it’s weird. But the privacy-wise the whole “following” someone is weird, too.

Anyway OP, I appreciate the guild system isn’t doing what you want it to—me neither—but I don’t agree that making it more strict or difficult is the answer. I think they should commit the other way, personally. I believe this would actually support what you were saying about loyalty, etc, because then players could feel they really did support a guild for certain things (eg. wvw or pve or whatever) without the drama of explaining why they aren’t representing every minute of the day.

Hee! A new use for my pirate costume. I mean I’ve flown on my broom cackling between tower and supply camp but this, this is class.

JoakimFA.4713:

Poxxia.1547:

Shar.3402:

Doulou Le Relou.9762:

It’s a sad joke.

Good luck to SYNC, CC don’t deserve to go to final with their despicable behavior.

I won’t watch the PAX final.

+1

CC should be also disqualified for the behaviour of some of their members the day after the finals.

Seems like I missed something here … what happened?

I’d like to know too

A few members of CC posted on the forums that the change to best of 5 and a few other things were unfair. The thread became sort of ugly with lots of qq’ing all round. Other members of CC tried to just say gg though.

Oh, wow. Thanks for posting that video and these theories… creepy noise. I hope it leads to something!

Mogsterfortytwo.6712:

It’s pretty simple really;
Queen Jennah never left Caudecaus’ Manor alive. We all rescued a Charr replacement, so that they could gain access / control of the Ebonhawke Asura gate. As the Black Citadel is a colossal iron sphere, they will magnetise it to create a large gravity well (why they built it that shape), and connecting the black Citadel and Ebonhawke gates with that in the middle will sent anything travelling between the two gates back in time, a la the Stargate SG-1 episode 1969 (further reinforcing the Asura/Star gate reference). They will then use this to send back the construct to try and murder Gwen’s mum, and when they realise it didn’t work, again to send a second to assasinate Gwen. Simple.

I write this, and now kind of hope I’m right…

I could totally support this, but only if Rodney McKay gets a cameo somewhere.

Ahhhahahahahahaha… cough herding cats cough… good luck though!

I used to wonder why there weren’t more forum moderators keeping things coherent. Now I just assume they’re all off on stress leave.

This story is very fun. It made me love Rox, especially when Rytlock said he didn’t have patience for Logan/Jennah shenanigans right now and she thought, Or ever…

I had no idea she was so superstitious too! Aww.

Willisium.5081:

I understand some people had that reaction to Buffy, and I must admit there are one or two episodes that I deem questionable myself, but on the whole its hard to argue Buffy is, akittens core, a sexist show.

I brought up Buffy for the exact reason that some people had similar views on the show that people are using here, and they have been debated from every which angle, and in the end MOST advocates of feminism agree that a depiction of a strong, powerful, beautiful woman kicking kitten is a positive image for women. And again, the buffy-bot example seems particularly apt.

And there’s a difference between reacting to something and wanting it censored. These robots are Queen Jennahs artistic message to the world of her image of herself (snip)

I agree, that a depiction of a strong, powerful woman kicking kitten is a positive image for women. The ‘beautiful’ bit is unnecessary, but how do you create an ugly femmebot? Maybe if it didn’t have the heels, but kept the other feminine aspects it wouldn’t have rung so many bells.

What you’ve just said about Jennah’s message about her image of herself is fascinating to me. I usually evaluate game content by what the designers want to say, but looking at what the NPC wanted is interesting. Maybe the heels are Jennah’s way of expressing that she’s hobbled by the image she has to present of herself.

Not quite… I’ve seen a lot of support thrown around in the pavilion on the harder fights. You can see the zerk builds because they’re usually lying there dead, but smart players are stacking on aoe heals and running helpful signets and things. I don’t know, maybe it’s just my perspective coming out of wvw.

You could guest to a low population server for a while? I know it isn’t perfect but it’ll let you play in the meantime.

Willisium.5081:

Buffy the Vampire slayer was created by a male. She wore a disproportionate amount of tight fitting pants. She fought monsters in what could be considered inappropriate attire for the situation, and she was far too slight and thin for the powers she possessed. In canon, her and the other slayers were created by a group of men for the sole purpose of defending others, at the cost of her life. Using the same logic as this thread, she would be considered a deeply sexist and misogynistic fantasy.

But instead she’s held up an icon for female empowerment, because she was a strong, capable, layered human being who is to be respected. These are robots, so they don’t have a personality of their own, we only have the personality of the woman who commissioned them, and she ticks all those same boxes.

I love Buffy. But I can’t see this argument without pointing out that actually she WAS criticized for being exactly as sexist and misogynistist as you say, by some. Not everyone bought into it, and plenty of people said the whole show was flawed, particularly as it went on. The fact that Buffy can’t have sex without it being a source of evil and death, for instance. Hey, I don’t think this, but being deep into Buffy fandom I know it’s there. So it’s not always as easy as saying that most people find something OK, so it’s OK.

Like with your fiance’s art. Of course she’s allowed to draw what she wants, but it won’t stop people having their reaction to it, right? I mean that’s one of the strengths of art anyway. Causing reactions, talking about the reactions, creating new reactions.

Cool, thank you.

The first thing I noticed was they have the same standing pose as my female human characters, which has always struck me as weirdly coy. That they’re in heels and topless makes it unnerving so I see where the OP is coming from. I figured they’re meant to represent unnerving female power, maybe pointing toward Anise, or mesmers in general.

Generally they repel me anyway with long skinny legs etc, which I also figure is intended. I find them kind of scary. Or maybe I’ve seen Terminator too many too. Also generally I’m ok if they stop putting nipples on robots, store mannequins, and basically anything without mammaries.

WSR was always ranked 24 or so until a few of your guilds left last week. Now it’s dropped to below FOW, which was 26 for ages. I’m on BT, 25, so I feel your pain, but the fact guilds are shifting around is hopefully a step in the right direction…

…though not for you, unfortunately. Sorry.

She shows up on Orr? I didn’t know that.

When you find her in the level ~20 PS you proceed straight to the Orders storyline so I’m sure she wouldn’t show up again there.

CP definitely has the issues, yes, but I get it in wvw too and I’m on a low wvw pop server. True they’re both places with more than average players in the same place.

I forgot to mention long loading screen times as symptom too. Not sure if it’s related.

I read on a reddit post “Anet recently reconfigured their network” without a source. Anyone know if this is true?

From this forum, my own experience and the reports in game, something has gone really wrong with the game since the last update. Symptoms include disconnects, laggy skills, strange graphic culls, etc. It seemed fixed for me after the second minor update, but tonight it self-destructed again, and I can see it hasn’t been fixed for other players.

Is there any chance someone can tell us if this is likely because of the new particle option mentioned in patch notes, or if it’s likely something else, and if it’s being worked on? Has there been an official response that I’ve missed? Please point the way.

I am NOT trying to start a complaint thread saying everything is bad hate hate blah blah. I’m just really trying to find out if there is a large game error being worked on, or if the assumption is each player will figure their separate errors somehow. Thanks.