Guild Wars 2

After having and deleting Charr characters (medium and light wearing), and having and deleting Guardian characters (human and sylvari) , I finally found a way to enjoy both Charr and Guardian…a Charrdian. So now I finally have a Charr character and a Guardian character once again. It seems Charr only have decent and appropriate armor for the species with minimal clipping issues when wearing heavy armor. :\

Awesome to hear! Thanks for letting us know. I check every other day but had not checked the last two days due to holidays. This is a very nice present as every other site was nowhere near comparable to it.

Diabolus Anur Kaya.8379:

That is kitten awesome!

Indeed, it is of the level of awesome that kittens are.

Anyone else discover the reason for how Tixx is able to wear human male cultural armor when he is an asura? Tixx should have his clothes removed against his will and human males should be in an uproar over their cultural armor being used on a non-human even if it is an NPC.

Hamfast.8719:

What…? It’s only been 2 months. Has everyone forgotten about Mad King Thorn already?

I also like Fiona Hastings, the beehive lady in Queensdale. (“You thought you could get your paws on my sweet, sweet honey, didn’t you? But I know people. Dangerous people!”) I think she’s related to Merle.

Her and Mona are my favorites!

“Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me. You chat, you die. Let’s get going.”

I had recently re-designed my character that I posted earlier: The Riven 2.0

[…Continued]
In my cultural situation resolution proposal I outlined making the cultural armors available on the Gem Store and switching to Class Armor. It would also implement the ability for past and future Gem Store armors to be infinite use for a fee of unlocking the Base Skin (Cultural 1.0) so players that want the 1.0 pay what the players paid for their Cultural 1.0 skins and they would also already have it unlocked as they already bought it. My proposal offered a way to make everyone happy without trivializing the time or money earned and spent on Cultural 1.0 armors, as well as retaining armor sets that are restricted, but to class instead of species. The Class Armors could even be GW1 class armors ported or re-envisioned for GW2, which would also make even more players happy that some GW1 skins would finally return.

Nobody gets slighted, nothing is removed from being attainable, restricted armor ‘mechanic’ remains, desired features get implemented, more appearance options available for every player, Anet sees increased Gem Store revenue, stagnant/half-implemented game aspects receive purpose.

Regarding the horizontal aspects of skills and traits I offer my thoughts on:

• Necromancer – Minion Acquisition and Management
• Ranger Changes
  • Pet Dismissal Replaces Pet Stow
  • A Non-Pet/Beastmaster Class Option
• Further distancing from trinity-influenced aspects of RPGs
  • Armor weight class restriction removal
  • Character Level Irrelevant; remove levels and switch entirely to stat-based down/upscaling
  • Base stats same across the board regardless of class; remove stats from armor; players increase stats based on character creation choices and frequency of skill usage (actual experience with skills increases that skill’s stats and its effectiveness instead of relying on an outmoded form of character progression to increase stats and dictate survivability, effectiveness, and appearance options: leveling)

Some of my suggestions from the past:

• Back Item + Mini Carrier Combo
  • Miniature Collection Slot
  • Miniature Carrier Slot
• Cultural/Class and General Armor Skin Issue Resolutions
  Also covers:
  • Class Trainer utilization
    • Class Restricted armor implementation instead of Culturally restricted designs
    • Future class skill implementation through trainers
  • Gem Store Skin Unlocks/PvE Wardrobe with Gem Store Armor design element toggles and alternate armor appearances
    • Gem Store Armors single piece sale option implementation

Pro Re-skinning
First I would like to state that I am not only completely fine with having alternate versions of cultural armor (or any armor), I actually encourage more alternate variations to be released that have different elements removed or added. Options for appearances are crucial to myself any many other players to fully enjoy this game. Ideally I would prefer the alternate appearances and elements of armors to be able to be toggled off and on to selectively hide certain elements as well as being fully dyeable. I do not see offering alternate forms of existing armors (re-skinning) as being lazy, but as a way to offer us, the players, with many more options to achieve the look we desire within existing armor designs. I fully understand what goes into designing an entirely new armor set in this game and I do not mind the long time it can take when creating them, but take your time and do them right to justify the gem cost (non-human character elements fully considered; charr horns/tail, asura ears/toes). While new designs are being created, offer us more variations of existing designs and a way to customize elements of them so they are not simply cookie-cutter static designs.

Anti-Cultural Armor
I’m actually against the concept of cultural armor as armor designs should have already been culturally designed from the start. An armor worn on a charr should not have the same appearance as that armor on a human only stretched out to fit their non-human body. I’m not saying that every single armor in the game should have a uniquely designed appearance based on the species/gender wearing it, that would take forever to design. However, that human armor could easily have slight tweaks made to it to make it appear more like what a charr would actually wear; remove the sleeves and show off those powerful furry arms, remove the backs of the legs so they’re more like covers/chaps and not form-fitting and fur-constricting pants. Give each piece of an armor design (base human most likely) one hour of attention and it can be made more appropriate for non-human species, thus removing the need for “cultural” armor and allowing all armor for that species to be appropriate for them.

Pro-Class Armor
I am, however, completely for armor designs that are restricted to only being available to each class through their class trainers. In their current form, having an individual trainer for each class serves absolutely no purpose. Players do not learn new skills from these trainers and the trait manuals are completely generic in that any class can use each manual tier regardless of where it was acquired (TP/a manual my thief got from their trainer can be used by my mesmer). Class trainers also do not even offer a unique service of resetting traits. There are ‘Trait Reset’ NPCs whose only purpose is to reset traits regardless of your class. And with the new single-use trait reset items, one does not have to even visit an NPC to reset their traits.

[Continued…]

TehHobNob.4687:

StinVec You are a Gentleman and a Scholar. This worked beautifully. Thank you for the guide.

You are welcome. I’m glad to see you found your way to this thread and that my post helped you out.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/10a0qk/official_response_clarifying_the_stance_on_mods/

“This is a very interesting question, and I appreciate hearing your thoughts.

As you are aware, we cannot approve or review or “vet” any third-party program; that is a given. However, our position is somewhat different than the one expressed in the GM response, so I’ve already contacted the team to be sure that everyone is on the same page.

Our general statement is that anything that gives advantage is forbidden. There are many utilities that help the player without taking a hit on others, without, for instance, being a detriment to the other players in a match. TexMod is one example of a program that doesn’t really give anyone an advantage over someone else. I’ve heard about certain programs that help disabled players, and those seem just fine, too. And of course there are others. We can’t say “Sure, use this and that and that other thing” because that’s tantamount to “approval,” but we do recognize the distinction between advantage-giving programs and those that simply make it easier to play the game under specific circumstances.

Thanks for pointing out that response. We’ll get things clarified so that future responses are consistent with our policies." – Gaile Gray

She states TexMod as an example of a program that does not give an advantage over others that do not use it, and includes it among mods that help disabled players as being OK.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

I disagree Tamerlayne. PvP is not part of the world because it’s a tournament-based instance. This is likely also why dungeons aren’t part of the “world”. They’re strictly instances that are not really “there” until players participate. On the other hand, WvW maps are always there. They could be full or empty or anywhere in between, but they are indeed part of the world and everyone in “PvE land” actually gets buffs and such from people who participate in it.

Look, I agree it can be frustrating to get the WvW points, which is why one shouldn not wait until the very last to get them. It takes anyone lots of time to complete the world. Start right away to get points in WvW so when you’re down to your last few %, those are NOT in the WvW maps!

Please point out on the World Map of Tyria where the land of WvW is located.

Fewer waypoints in each zone
I feel that each zone should have fewer waypoints as some of them are quite excessive with their placement. However, if waypoint numbers remain as they are currently (unlikely to ever have a reduciton), then I would like to see:

Players must be at a waypoint in order to travel to another waypoint
I really don’t like people simply disappearing (en masse in train cases) from the game world to then suddenly appear at a waypoint. Also, I do not understand how a player accesses the waypoint system without actually being at a waypoint. Players should be required to run to a waypoint and interact with it to then bring up a map of waypoints to transfer to.

It would be a very nice addition that would have an immediate, positive impact on the enjoyment of my game play, as well as less potential damage to my finger and bound key (thumb and #1 on the side of my Naga as I do not use auto-attack on any other skills).

Great idea, Ultrajoe.

KeybladeMaster.3148:

did anyone figure out a way to move this to the developer/player collaboration thread?

As I mentioned on Page 2, Shriketalon already commented on it there and included individual year images. Some other players have also commented on it and praised its epicness in that thread.

• https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Collaborative-Development-Topic-Living-World/3176135

You may want to check my response at this link regarding checking your audio device configuration to ensure it is set to ‘Stereo’ and not set for ‘5.1/7.1 Surround Sound’ as GW2 does not support those. I also mention another setting or two to check in windows and your headset app.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/cant-hear-any-gamesounds-on-guildwars2/3171782

Astral Projections.7320:

Well, he said hero item. That was the only thing I could think of and his account of what happened and what he got was sort of vague. Unless there is some other hero item from the gem store?

Not that I know of. I didn’t take it as the item literally having “hero” in its name, I thought they were simply meaning an XP Booster or some other item for their hero or something like the Armor Booster to help their “hero” along on their journey.

I’ll be taking my leave now as I’ve not really contributed to this thread and I shouldn’t even come to the forums without first having a second cup of coffee. My apologies for that. If any of you are celebrating a holiday, I hope you have had/are having a great one.

Astral Projections.7320:

I’ve seen threads where people received a heroic chest by accident, some sort of game glitch.

From a thread where someone revived one after his account was hacked, banned, then reinstated. such as this one here.
Gaile Gray
ArenaNet Support Liaison
“As to why you were given a heroic chest, I cannot say why that happened. I am investigating, but I think you should simply consider it a gift and feel free to use the contents if you see fit. Otherwise, you may delete the chest or its contents”
Then later after Gaile checked:
“Why you received a Heroic Chest I cannot say — there are no notes that indicate that one was sent to you intentionally, so I have to wonder if its transmittal was a glitch. I am checking on that”.

Ah, I do remember that thread and their issue. I didn’t realize that it was a Heroic Chest this thread’s OP received and that is likely related to the situation of the TC in your linked thread. As this OP had only mentioned a “hero item and some tome of influence”, I wasn’t sure exactly which items those were as I have seen several types of items as being among those included in these ‘apology’ mails. Due to this I did not associate it with the Heroic Chest issue that your link has shown as happening before.

Astral Projections.7320:

StinVec.3621:

I’ve seen cases in the past where a suspension was given in error and those items were mailed to the account in-game mail as a sort apology for the error/unjustified suspension. I think it should have had a note with it though, not just items.

I don’t know about that. However, if he had been actually suspended, he would have gotten the black screen with the suspension notice and would have had to contact Support to have it lifted early if it was in error.

It wouldn’t have been a matter of minutes, no notification, and items sent to him without any sort if message.

Unless whoever made the error of incorrectly suspending them realized the mistake once they did it and corrected it. Their stating they were “temporarily suspended” means they likely did get this black screen and the suspension notice that you mention, which is how they knew they were suspended. Perhaps a different account was meant to get the suspension and they did theirs by accident, the person doing this realized the mistake, unsuspended them within minutes due to realizing this mistake, and then sent the items as an apology as has been done several times in the past and has been documented on these forums as something that they do when an incorrect suspension is given. The items likely did have a message, but it’s usually a generic one that mentions nothing of the incorrect suspension, just a “Here are your items due to some mistake”. Op would need to update on this info to verify all of that though.

I’ve seen cases in the past where a suspension was given in error and those items were mailed to the account in-game mail as a sort apology for the error/unjustified suspension. I think it should have had a note with it though, not just items.

Pro Re-skinning
First I would like to state that I am not only completely fine with having alternate versions of cultural armor (or any armor), I actually encourage more alternate variations to be released that have different elements removed or added. Options for appearances are crucial to myself any many other players to fully enjoy this game. Ideally I would prefer the alternate appearances and elements of cultural armors to be able to be toggled off and on as well as being fully dyeable. I do not see offering alternate forms of existing armors (re-skinning) as being lazy, but as a way to offer us, the players, with many more options to achieve the look we desire within existing armor designs. I fully understand what goes into designing an entirely new armor set in this game and I do not mind the long time it can take when creating them, but take your time and do them right to justify the gem cost (non-human character elements fully considered; charr horns/tail, asura ears/toes). While new designs are being created, offer us more variations of existing designs and a way to customize elements of them so they are not simply cookie-cutter static designs.

Anti-Cultural Armor
I’m actually against the concept of cultural armor as armor designs should have already been culturally designed from the start. An armor worn on a charr should not have the same appearance as that armor on a human only stretched out to fit their non-human body. I’m not saying that every single armor in the game should have a uniquely designed appearance based on the species/gender wearing it, that would take forever to design. However, that human armor could easily have slight tweaks made to it to make it appear more like what a charr would actually wear; remove the sleeves and show off those powerful furry arms, remove the backs of the legs so they’re more like covers/chaps and not form-fitting and fur-constricting pants. Give each piece of an armor design (base human most likely) one hour of attention and it can be made more appropriate for non-human species, thus removing the need for “cultural” armor and allowing all armor for that species to be appropriate for them.

I’m also against the retaining of armor weight class restrictions in a non-trinity mmorpg, but that’s another argument entirely.

Pro-Class Armor
I am, however, completely for armor designs that are restricted to only being available to each class through their class trainers. In their current form, having an individual trainer for each class serves absolutely no purpose. Players do not learn new skills from these trainers and the trait manuals are completely generic in that any class can use each manual tier regardless of where it was acquired (TP/a manual my thief got from their trainer can be used by my mesmer). Class trainers also do not even offer a unique service of resetting traits. There are ‘Trait Reset’ NPCs whose only purpose is to reset traits regardless of your class. And with the new single-use trait reset items, one does not have to even visit an NPC to reset their traits.

In my cultural situation resolution proposal I outlined making the cultural armors available on the Gem Store and switching to Class Armor. It would also implement the ability for past and future Gem Store armors to be infinite use for a fee of unlocking the Base Skin (Cultural 1.0) so players that want the 1.0 pay what the players paid for their Cultural 1.0 skins and they would also already have it unlocked as they already bought it. My proposal offered a way to make everyone happy without trivializing the time or money earned and spent on Cultural 1.0 armors, as well as retaining armor sets that are restricted, but to class instead of species. The Class Armors could even be GW1 class armors ported or re-envisioned for GW2, which would also make even more players happy that some GW1 skins would finally return. It still needed slight tweaks, but I see the concepts as sound and every single person is covered.

Nobody gets slighted, nothing gets removed, restricted armor ‘mechanic’ remains, desired features get implemented, more appearance options available for every player, Anet sees increased Gem Store revenue, stagnant/half-implemented game aspects receive purpose… It was a win for everyone.

Sabyne.6329:

The whining one seems to be the winning one in this game.
Joke aside, if you both look the way you want, then I’d say you’ve pretty much both won. ^^

W2W
Whine 2 Win? That made me chuckle a little, in a bit of a sad way.

GW2 isn’t P2W. I agree with others, if someone thinks GW2 is P2W then they don’t know what P2W actually means.

((That was a good one, Rouven. Yum.))

(S)till have my integrit(y).

:(
You all look so incredible…
I’m lucky, I suppose, that I had not finished the full makeover and opted to store my old armors with the cultural skins I have on them…luckier than most everyone else.

We all share a great pain, one that I know I will not be forgetting, or forgiving, any time soon.

This was my proposal to resolve the situation.

Nihilmus.2301:

The Complaint: I’ve spent 38 laurels for my flamekissed (along with all my valuable collectibles from the bank), that’s 28 days of dailyes and a monthly + almost sold one of my 3 rare skins. I bought a new 3 piece cof set worth of 1000 flame legion tokens and reskinned on top of an existing armor (boots, helm and gloves) and added a whole set of runes to it (not extremely expensive but still, as a player who plays every now and then, who struggles for one gold a day it’s rather unfair. My time spent in game after “a year” of gw2 consists of a daily and after several dailyes a rush to finish the monthly.

So what should I expect from this? An update to my flamkissed that will make the original cultural T3 owners wish they did shut their mouth.

What I know will truly happen? I know deep inside ArenaNet will fail the expectations I have for the update. This skin came as a divine blessing after months of trying to figure out a way to get cultural without going completely broke (and destroy my real life after risking to fail my exams). I know what I’ll get in exchange is a Jester Skin, a joke. And as others have pointed out before: No, the gems refund is not enough. You can’t wipe the memories. I will always remember this armor as the best light armor in gw2. Ripping that from me isn’t worth 800 gems nor a million. Owning this armor is as priceless to me as it was for a player who owns the original T3 from back in the day the flamekissed didn’t exist. I share equal compassion for those who got tricked by ANET with the release of the armor, whether it’s the Vintage or New owners but I wouldn’t want to see it all go to waste.

Important: Before I go on I must state that SOME people care so little about their culturals that they actually salvage them. So don’t tell me how much you love them and how much time you’ve spent working on a now salvaged set that you threw away for cheap money for a legendary. Don’t act as if you are part of this, waiting for a new free armor to drop from the sky cuz you regret salvaging yours. And don’t be greedy. This has nothing to do with the ones who actually wear the armor every day and represents to them their best look.

My solution? There is no good solution. For some reasons:
1. Greed: The more people think about the opportunity of making ANET do what they want, the more the people will profit. I agree that all 3 sets are cheap remodels, but I do not agree with the players asking for a rework of all 3 of them. I too want to see ANET release better armor sets in the future and yes, the ones released until now were either lazy or they lacked the fantasy and creativity. (Or perhaps we can’t imagine how hard it is to actually be a game designer/developer?)

2. Three-sided: They won’t be able to satisfy us all. This is in human nature. (yes three, now two, there’s Vintage owners, Flame-Kissed owners and eventually the ones that i.e. didn’t get to buy any of them or made some mistake and didn’t get one of them in time.)

3. Vanity.

4. The gw2 “Purists”, also known as players that play an excessive amount. The hardcores, for short.

What I think could be closest to satisfying the majority:

1. Keep the armor in game and allow access to it for free for people who own the Vintage T3 and the current Flame-Kissed Owners, regardless of race. The rest have to show the coin.
2. Add a new T3 amor for humans that will be accesible yet again for free by only the Vintage T3 owners (by letting them trade-in their old cultural) and purchasable with gold by the rest of the players. (Same price as other culturals). Basically reinvent the cultural while keeping it fair for the owners who maybe like the old model or for the ones who want to keep the flame-kissed. Either way, most people will be pleased. Both old, lucky and new. This method would require creating a new armor from 0. A better armor, something not cheap nor lazy that would restore grace to the current cultural owners.

-snip-

With much love for both those who agree and disagree,
Nihilmus

Many of the issues you and others have outlined are of the exact situations my proposal was worked out to address and prevent, issues that are now arising as predicted due to their chosen, undesirable method to handle this situation.
I wish you a very fond farewell and happy holiday if you are celebrating one (or two) this weekend.

^
LOL
Peekabu!
That’s awesome. Well done, Takato.

Thank you all for responding to my proposal. Despite being nearly done with the mock-ups, there is now no need to continue to discuss this matter.

Unfortunately for me and many others, they’ve stated that they are going the route of taking the Flamekissed skin away from those who purchased it and replacing it with a new mystery skin despite their having already paid for this one. Once they finish this replacement design, the current skin is being taken away and replaced with it, and if the many thousands who purchased the Flamekissed skin do not like the new design then they can file a ticket and request a refund of the gems that it cost. More info in that thread which also has many players inquiring into the depth at which the refunds will be granted due to the very nature of this move causing the very problems that this proposal was addressing to prevent.

Thank you again for taking the time to reply and share your thoughts. I bid you farewell and many enjoyable adventures.

MisterEction.9382:

Well, I may as well join in and post it while it lasts.

I still can’t believe they’re taking this out of the game. I feel like someone just walked up and stole something from me.

Happy Thanksgiving?

Sadly, it is because someone did. :\

Those are very nice screenshots. We need to be sure to fill our folders with many more before the removal just to be able to look back on when our sylvari’s appearances were exactly as we envisioned them to be, but until this patch were not able to achieve for them…if only briefly.

Happy Thanksgiving…

dietzero.3514:

StinVec.3621:

I’m very disappointed that this is the way that was chosen to handle this situation despite many alternatives that take a little more effort and do not involve taking the new Flamekissed skin away from players who wished to have it, have already purchased it, and are very pleased with it.

You do not seem to realise that any solution HAS TO involve that.

No, any solution does not have to. You apparently didn’t even look into alternatives like mine that I linked that compensates all involved, takes nothing away from anyone, and leaves everyone happy…including Anet with more revenue being directed to the Gem Store.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

Hey, everyone. We’ve been reading all your feedback about the Flamekissed Armor Skin that was released into the Gem Store yesterday.

Although the Flamekissed Armor uses the same mesh as the Tier 3 Human Cultural Armor, it was not our intention to create an armor skin that so closely matched the existing Tier 3 Human Cultural armor set. The intention was to use the mesh as a basis for creating an armor set that stands apart and is distinct in appearance. However, after reading your feedback, we agree that the Flamekissed armor is not visually distinct enough from Human Cultural Tier 3 armor.

We will do a few things to address this issue.

• We will temporarily remove Flamekissed Armor Skin from the Gem Store.
• Players who have purchased Flamekissed Armor Skin will keep the skin.
• We will make new art for the Flamekissed Armor Skin that achieves our goal of making a visually distinct and attractive armor set and does not closely resemble the Human Tier 3 Cultural armor.
• Once this new artwork is completed, we will then update the Flamekissed Armor Skin so that all existing sets that players have purchased get the new art. We will also offer the Flamekissed Armor Skin for sale again at that time.
• When we update the Flamekissed Armor Skins with the new artwork, any player that has already purchased the set and who does not like the new, updated look, can get a full refund by contacting Customer Support.

Note that there is no ETA on when this change will happen. We need to work with the Character Art Team to determine when we can have a new armor skin ready, and this could take some time.

Thank you everyone for providing your feedback. We appreciate that you took the time to let us know how you feel about the new armor set.

I’m very disappointed that this is the way that was chosen to handle this situation despite many alternatives that take a little more effort and do not involve taking the new Flamekissed skin away from players who wished to have it, have already purchased it, and are very pleased with it.

bAss ackwards.7205:

The Flamekissed armor is awesome! I love the animated textures and particle effects on it.

Very nice!
I opted for putting the Flamekissed set on my Sylvari Mesmer since I already have the Human Light T3 on my Human Necromancer I posted on page 3.

Anyway, we need to enjoy it while we have it, they’ve stated that they are going to take it away once a new design is finished to replace it. If we don’t like the new design we can request a refund of the gems, but no matter what this Flamekissed design we have now will cease to exist once it is replaced.

Covis.6037:

no. read my text. there is NO section for dragon jade weapons anymore, its gone. no patch notes about it.

As Silberfisch mentioned in their post, you must have the claim ticket in your bags for the tab allowing the purchase of Dragon jade weapons with a claim ticket to even be offered to you.

Without the ticket in your bags, no tab is available to be selected that allows you to purchase it with a claim ticket.

• Place the dragon’s jade weapon claim ticket into your bags
• Initiate dialogue with the weapon specialist again
• Go through the tabs to find the one that is now available that allows exchanging the claim ticket for the desired skin

Pro Re-skinning
First I would like to state that I am not only completely fine with having alternate versions of cultural armor (or any armor), I actually encourage more alternate variations to be released that have different elements removed or added. Options for appearances are crucial to myself any many other players to fully enjoy this game. Ideally I would prefer the alternate appearances and elements of cultural armors to be able to be toggled off and on as well as being fully dyeable. I do not see offering alternate forms of existing armors (re-skinning) as being lazy, but as a way to offer us, the players, with many more options to achieve the look we desire within existing armor designs. I fully understand what goes into designing an entirely new armor set in this game and I do not mind the long time it can take when creating them, but take your time and do them right to justify the gem cost (non-human character elements fully considered; charr horns/tail, asura ears/toes). While new designs are being created, offer us more variations of existing designs and a way to customize elements of them so they are not simply cookie-cutter static designs.

Anti-Cultural Armor
I’m actually against the concept of cultural armor as armor designs should have already been culturally designed from the start. An armor worn on a charr should not have the same appearance as that armor on a human only stretched out to fit their non-human body. I’m not saying that every single armor in the game should have a uniquely designed appearance based on the species/gender wearing it, that would take forever to design. However, that human armor could easily have slight tweaks made to it to make it appear more like what a charr would actually wear; remove the sleeves and show off those powerful furry arms, remove the backs of the legs so they’re more like covers/chaps and not form-fitting and fur-constricting pants. Give each piece of an armor design (base human most likely) one hour of attention and it can be made more appropriate for non-human species, thus removing the need for “cultural” armor and allowing all armor for that species to be appropriate for them.

I’m also against the retaining of armor weight class restrictions in a non-trinity mmorpg, but that’s another argument entirely.

Pro-Class Armor
I am, however, completely for armor designs that are restricted to only being available to each class through their class trainers. In their current form, having an individual trainer for each class serves absolutely no purpose. Players do not learn new skills from these trainers and the trait manuals are completely generic in that any class can use each manual tier regardless of where it was acquired (TP/a manual my thief got from their trainer can be used by my mesmer). Class trainers also do not even offer a unique service of resetting traits. There are ‘Trait Reset’ NPCs whose only purpose is to reset traits regardless of your class. And with the new single-use trait reset items, one does not have to even visit an NPC to reset their traits.

Where Do We Go From here
Removing the human t3 cultural armor from the gem store and from players who purchased it is never going to happen as much as many may wish it could be. It would be a logistical nightmare to remove it from sale, refund the gems to players who purchased it (not sure about refunding money back to cards/banks for the gems if they even do that), remove the skin from every single item in the game that the skin was applied to and replace the skin that was previously on those items, other issues not thought of.

Due to this ‘can of worms being opened’, they must focus on addressing this cultural armor issue in its entirety. A bonus for the players is that other issues can be addressed at the same time for the benefit and fairness of all.

I’ve outlined my proposal to resolve this situation here.

[…continued]

Switch From Cultural To Class Armor:

• “Class Trainers” become “Master Thief/Guardian/Mesmer/etc”
• Masters offer tips that are related to the class and its unique mechanics and are actually informative and useful to players new to the class.
• Masters offer class restricted armor skins of only the armor weight type usable by that class (no chance of picking a skin that you can’t use).
• The old cultural weapons are made into weapon skins only available through Masters.
• Masters will only offer the player weapon skins of the type usable by that class (no chance of picking a skin that you can’t use).
• One Class and Weapon Skin is available from the start (T1) with new variations (T2, T3) made available coinciding with the levels associated with trait tier unlocks.
• Class Skins are unlocked and acquired from Masters unlimited times just as Hall of Monuments skins are infinite use and acquired from Kimmes the Historian at will.
• Skins from Masters are only available to that character that earned them. (transmute ‘workaround’ that would allow alts to get these skins without unlocking them is finally corrected by making common and fine items soulbound on use like every other quality armor)
• In the future, Class Masters can once again offer new skills for the class if that is the route you decide to take for introduction of them or even of additional weapon usage for classes.

As a bonus idea for premium features of Gem Store armors:
Gem Store Armor Design Element Toggles

• Include tick-able on/off check boxes for the “Additional Elements” of the proposed “old cultural armor” and future Gem Store Armor Skins that can turn some people off from purchasing them. Knowing that these excess elements that may not be to a player’s taste can be toggled on or off can remove that element of hesitation to purchase from the player. I am not only completely fine with having alternate versions of cultural armor (or any armor), I actually encourage more alternate variations to be released that have different elements removed or added. Options for appearances are crucial to myself any many other players to fully enjoy this game. Ideally I would prefer the alternate appearances and elements of gem store armors to be able to be toggled off and on as well as being fully dyeable. I do not see offering alternate forms of existing armors (re-skinning) as being lazy, but as a way to offer us, the players, with many more options to achieve the look we desire via variations of existing armor designs.

Any thoughts on this proposal or how to improve it in a way that can make all players happy and still be possible to be considered by Anet as a possible resolution to this situation?

[…continued]

This isn’t completely fleshed out to cover all possible issues and potential situations, but it seems like a step in the right direction to me. I even included the high gem prices that most may consider outrageous, though they are actually low in comparison to other armor skins as evidenced by the current cultural armor cost vs gem store variation cost situation.

I’m still working on the mock-ups to help visualize the changes I propose, but I really wanted to get this up here in the meantime for feedback.

My Proposal (not dependant upon PvE Wardrobe implementation)
Groundwork

• All Cultural Armorsmith and Cultural Weaponsmith NPCs are removed from the game.
• Gem Store Armors become purchasable on a per piece basis to maintain the individual piece purchase ability of existing cultural armors while finally offering an option that many players have asked for.
• Purchased Gem Store Armor Pieces are added to the Account Unlocks section of the Achievements Panel (or receives its own panel).
• Account Unlock area (or new panel) gets redesigned to be similar to the Collectibles Tab storage slots but allows displaying of unlocked skins by skin or by item category; boots, etc.
• All available Gem Store skin piece unlocks will have a grayed-out slot until it is unlocked.
• Players can preview individual armor pieces via right-clicking on these item slots and hitting Preview.
• Players can also purchase skins directly from this panel for gems just as character bag slots and bank tabs can be purchased without being required to first go to the gem store.
• A Gem Store purchase history query can verify previous skin purchases and unlock them upon first login to the game following this proposed change.
  This will compensate for past pieces of gem store skins that players destroyed due to the past requirement of having to purchase a whole set just to get the one piece they wanted and unlock all skins purchased in the past through the gem store

Existing “cultural” armors:

• Have their species restrictions removed and are converted to skins instead of armors
• These ‘Base Skins’ (all current “cultural” armors) are made available on the Gem Store across the board for 1,500 gems for the full set (250 gems per piece).
• Purchasing these Base Skin pieces unlock them for infinite use via the Account Unlock Panel.
• Players who already purchased pieces of the base skin from the cultural vendor in the past can simply drag and drop their existing armor item that has the skin on it directly onto the Account Unlock Panel (similar to dragging and dropping an armor item into a transmutation window) and it will then unlock that base skin for that armor piece. This way they have it unlocked and infinite use without having to purchase the base skin again from the Gem Store or go through support to have their purchase history checked and the pieces unlocked manually.

“Base Skin” Variations:

• Variations of base skin pieces that are made available in the Gem Store (ex. ‘Flamekissed’ version of Human Light T3) remain as single use skins.
• Purchases of each piece of the Variation Skin will add “1x” to the skin piece slot in the Account Unlock Panel just as Finishers have on their panel.
• Players can also see in the Account Unlock Panel a tiered “Unlock Infinite Use” arrow by the desired armor piece that points to the Base Skin armor piece.
• Purchasing the Base Skin piece while the Variation of that piece has a supply of “0x” due to having never been purchased, causes the future purchase of that Variation skin piece to have unlimited use of it due to having already purchased the Base Skin unlock.
• Purchasing the Base Skin piece while the Variation of that piece has a supply of “1x” due to purchasing the Variation before the Base Skin, causes the Variation to become unlocked for infinite use.
• Purchasing the Base Skin piece while the Variation of that piece has a supply of “0x” due to the purchased Variation Skin being used on an armor piece, means the player must drag and drop the armor that has the skin on it into the Account Unlocks panel to then verify the previous purchase and unlock that Variation Skin piece for infinite use.
• If the Base Skin for the variation is unlocked, then the additional variations become infinite use as well.
  This will compensate for the situation of players having already purchased the Flamekissed armor knowing that it was single use and allows them to make it infinite use by purchasing the Base Skin piece unlock for current and future purchases so players who purchased pre-existing skin versions from the cultural NPCs do not feel cheated. To get infinite Variation Skins the Infinite Base Skin must first be purchased, which players who purchased from the Cultural NPCs already did.

[continued…]

The situation

• Many players are upset that cultural armor is no longer restricted to individual species due to the unprecedented release of the ‘Flamekissed’ Human Light Cultural T3 armor into the gem Store.
• The ‘Flamekissed’ Gem Store cultural skin includes enhanced design elements and sells about 68 gold (current gold to gem conversion amount), which is nearly half the price of the ‘generic’ version from the Cultural Armorsmith and also does not require the 6 transmutation crystals needed to apply the skins to existing armor pieces.

So, in addition to many players being upset over the principles involved of making a “Cultural Armor” design available to all other species, many players are also upset at having previously spent double the amount of gold (plus transmutation crystals and other related expenses) for the ‘generic’ Human Light Cultural T3 armor and now feel cheated due to the new (arguably better) version that has been made available and without warning or precedent.

What Cannot Be Done

• Due to thousands of players having already purchased this skin (with real money or converted their gold into gems) and have likely applied these skins to existing armor items, it is near if not impossible to now remove the armor from the Gem Store, refund the gems to the thousands of players who purchased it, everything involved with refunding money spent on the gems back to cards/banks if you even do that, forcibly removing the skin from every single item in the game that the skins were applied to and replacing it with the skin that was previously on those items, and many other issues I’m sure I am not including. This is simply not an option.
• It is also not a proper fix to the situation to simply offer an entirely new and unique armor design to replace the Human Light Cultural T3 armor and put the current ‘generic’ design onto the gem store along with the new enhanced variation. True, this would appease many by making all cultural armor restricted to their respective species once again, but many players who spent the large amount of gold on this existing cultural armor in the past will still be left feeling cheated now that it would be available at a fraction of the cost in the Gem Store. Dealing with the many requests to be reimbursed for the difference, entitled to one or not, will cause a high volume of tickets being made that must then be addressed, as well as sour feelings being propagated throughout the community especially if these requests would not be granted, or some being granted and not others. It’s just a really bad way to go about fixing the situation.

Due to this ‘can of worms being opened’, you must focus on addressing this cultural armor issue in its entirety. A bonus for the players is that other issues can be addressed at the same time for the benefit and fairness of all.

Class Trainers
As has been requested by many for quite a long time, I, too, am completely in favor of armor designs that are restricted to only being available to each class; Class Armor. In their current form, having an individual trainer for each class serves absolutely no purpose:

• Players do not learn new skills from these trainers (yet)
• Trait manuals are completely generic in that any class can use each manual tier regardless of whether it was acquired from the BLTP or even from a different class trainer via an alt of a different class; my mesmer can use a manual my thief got from the thief trainer.
• Class trainers also do not even offer a unique service of resetting traits. There are even ‘Trait Reset’ NPCs whose only purpose is to reset traits regardless of your class. And with the new single-use trait reset items in the Gem Store, one is not even required to visit an NPC to reset their traits.

Gem Store Skin Unlocks/PvE Wardrobe
I know it has been stated by Colin (PAX 2013) that a PvE version of the PvP Locker will be addressed in the future, however, you may need to bump that up to an immediate priority due to this cultural armor situation. I can see why it would be desirable to place cultural armors into the gem store as a way to encourage the use of gems to acquire them directly instead of converting gems to gold or straight up gold acquired from playing (I see many things that could easily be shifted into the Gem Store from the game world, though many of them shouldn’t be). However, even if it would be easy to shift cultural armors into the Gem Store while retaining the species restriction on the skins, this can no longer happen due to this human cultural armor skin variation now being made available to non-humans (the reasons I mentioned above support this not being a viable solution). Now, the PvE Wardrobe does not have to be implemented to fix this situation, it would just be highly desirable to make the situation a little easier with my proposal below.

[continued…]

Absolutely happy to help!

Also, I highly recommend that you copy your entire installation folder to another location on your hard drive as a backup copy (or even just the Gw2.dat and Gw2.exe files). In the future, if there is a problem with your game to where you must uninstall and re-install it, then you can just copy the backup of the game over instead of having to re-download the entire thing again. As new updates get released frequently, you can either keep replacing your backup with the new files, or leave them alone and they’d only need to get the latest patch or so worth of files…still better than a full re-install and re-download.

thesnowman.5471:

Hi StinVec,

thanks for your help

however i am still experiencing the issue after completing both of those tasks

Alright. I wanted to make sure that those two areas of interest were covered ahead of Ashley’s return tomorrow so they could be out of the way in the event that they did not fix the issue.

As a heads up, she may ask for DirectX Diagnostics information, or cleaning and re-installing graphics drivers if you’ve not done that yet, or also checking your RAM to see if there are any issues with a stick going bad and causing memory errors. If you haven’t yet, you may want to consider (re-)installing the latest DirectX as well as your drivers for your graphics card to see if those help fix the issue and to have them out of the way for her to proceed to another step in assisting tomorrow.

edit
Also, I don’t know if it may be attributable to causing this sort of issue, but the local.dat file has been known to be related to several other issues to where deleting it and letting it get recreated has helped resolve them.

If you want to give it a try then it is in the same folder that the ArenaNet.log file was:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Guild Wars 2

Be aware, though, that deleting this file will also cause you to lose your saved game settings (graphics, stored login data, etc.). If you rely on your stored login info to log in, make sure you can recall what your login info is as the stored login info is also cleared.

Risingashes.8694:

What if: Instead of Scarlet appearing for 5 seconds and monologue-ing at the end of the fractal we were escorted through the instance by a young Sylvari called Ceara. Fresh out of the academy we and Ceara battle through the facility to get her to the core, that she explains she has the knowledge to prevent from going supernova.

She helps us with tips for the puzzles, and explains why a Sylvari is in a place you’d expect only to have Asura (actually get some of that short story in to the game).

You battle the anomaly with Ceara’s help. She explains that the facility was built too close to magic laylines, and future facilities should be built as far away as possible.

You bid the helpful Sylvari farewell, and are able to talk to her after the rest of the party leaves for some backstory/foreshadowing.

That is quite an impressive, quickly constructed, and well-thought out idea. Very nice.

• Close your game completely.
• Ensure your game is set to Run As Administrator in the shortcut’s Properties > Compatibility tab.
• Ensure the ‘Read Only’ attribute is not set in the right-click > Properties for Gw2.exe, Gw2.tmp and Gw2.dat files in the installation directory.
• Then re-launch and see if the issue persists.

__
You may also consider running a repair on your client if you continue to encoutner the issue.

Check the game for errors and repair it

• Close your game completely.
• Next, make a copy of your Gw2 game shortcut and rename it “GW2 Repair” or to something that you will recognize it for being only for running a repair on your GW2 installation.
• Now, right-click this “Gw2 Repair” shortcut and click on “Properties”.
• On the “Shortcut” tab look in the “Target:” field, you should see:
  “C:\Program Files (x86)\Guild Wars 2” or wherever you have Guild Wars 2 installed.
• After the closing quotation marks in this line put a space and then add -repair
  It will look like this but with your GW2 install location:
  “C:\Program Files (x86)\Guild Wars 2” -repair
• Hit OK after making this change.
• Run this repair shortcut. Your game will run through a repair cycle and fix any damaged files it finds.
• After it runs through, start the game using the normal GW2 game shortcut (not the repair shortcut) and see if your game can start up properly.

• Close your game completely.
• Ensure your game is set to Run As Administrator in the shortcut’s Properties > Compatibility tab.
• Ensure the ‘Read Only’ attribute is not set in the right-click > Properties for Gw2.exe, Gw2.tmp and Gw2.dat files in the installation directory.
• Then re-launch and see if the issue persists.

It sounds like your game does not have write permissions to files that it needs to update which leads to it thinking it has to re-download the whole thing again to replace the files it needs to replace.

• Close your game completely.
• Ensure your game is set to Run As Administrator in the shortcut’s Properties > Compatibility tab.
• Ensure the ‘Read Only’ attribute is not set in the right-click > Properties for Gw2.exe, Gw2.tmp and Gw2.dat files in the installation directory.
• Then re-launch and see if the issue persists.

First, you appear to be using a 32-bit version of Windows, but have 4 gigs of RAM installed. Due to a limitation in 32-bit Windows only 3.3-3.5 gigs of RAM are recognized. Basically, you are not using all of the RAM you have installed. You should consider switching to Windows 64-bit to take advantage of all the RAM currently installed.

Regarding the inability to install:

• Close your game completely.
• Ensure your game is set to Run As Administrator in the game shortcut or game executable’s Properties > Compatibility tab.
• Ensure the ‘Read Only’ attribute is not set in the right-click > Properties for Gw2.exe, Gw2.tmp and Gw2.dat files in the installation directory.
• Then re-launch and see if the issue persists.

Also, uninstalling and re-downloading should be a last resort option to solve an issue due to the time it takes to re-download. Instead you should consider running a repair on the client to see if it can fix the issue. Also, after you download and fully patch your game, consider making a backup copy of the game directory someplace else on your drive so you do not need to re-download the whole game again if you must re-install and can just copy the backup over.

If restarting your client did not help correct the issue, then you may want to clear your game cache as well as repair your client to see if that will help fix the issue.

Clear the game cache
In addition to ‘Running As Administrator’ helping with many issues other than just the TP, most TP-specific issues are primarily related to some temporary GW2 files where removing them will allow them to be recreated and the TP to function properly again.

The quickest way to clear the GW2 Cache is to:

1. Ensure your game is completely closed.
2. Hold your “Windows Key” and press “F” to open Windows Search on your computer.
3. Search for “gw2cache”
4. It will find a folder called “gw2cache-{bunch-of-letters-and-numbers}” at:
   “C:\Users\YourComputerUserName\AppData\Local\Temp”
5. Delete this “gw2cache-{bunch-of-letters-and-numbers}” folder that is shown in the results.
6. Load up your game normally and your TP should now function properly.

If your search for “gw2cache” does not produce the folder I mentioned, then you will need to enable hidden files and folders in order to delete this cache folder.

Make hidden files visible and clear the game cache

1. Close your game completely.
2. Browse your My Computer to: “C:\Users\YourComputerUserName”
3. Then in the window menus, click on “Tools” then “Folder Options…”
4. In the window that pops up, click the “View” tab
5. Select to “Show hidden files, folders and drives” and click ‘OK’ (attached image #1)
6. You should now see a folder in your file listing called “AppData”, open this folder
7. Inside that folder open the “Local” folder
8. Inside that folder open the “Temp” folder
9. You should now see a folder called “gw2cache-{bunch-of-letters-and-numbers}”. Delete this gw2cache folder.
10. Load up your game normally and see if the issue is fixed.

—note—
By “window menus” I mean up at the top of the window where it says “File Edit View Tools Help”. If that bar does not display in your window for you along the top, then click the drop-down arrow next to the word “Organize” and then click on “Layout” and select “Menu bar” to enable showing of the menus (attached image #2).

Another way to do Steps 3, 4 and 5 to make hidden folders visible is:

• Click your Start menu and then open Control Panel
• In your Control Panel, if items are sorted by “Category” then select “Appearance and Personalization” on the right side, then in the second bottom area under “Folder Options” click on “Show hidden files and folders”. This will open the same options dialogue box shown in attached image #1.
• Otherwise, if Control Panel is sorted by Icons, simply click on “Folder Options” from the list to bring up the options dialogue box shown in attached image #1.

Check the game for errors and repair it

• Close your game completely.
• Next, make a copy of your Gw2 game shortcut and rename it “GW2 Repair” or to something that you will recognize it for being only for running a repair on your GW2 installation.
• Now, right-click this “Gw2 Repair” shortcut and click on “Properties”.
• On the “Shortcut” tab look in the “Target:” field, you should see:
  “C:\Program Files (x86)\Guild Wars 2” or wherever you have Guild Wars 2 installed.
• After the closing quotation marks in this line put a space and then add -repair
  It will look like this but with your GW2 install location:
  “C:\Program Files (x86)\Guild Wars 2” -repair
• Hit OK after making this change.
• Run this repair shortcut. Your game will run through a repair cycle and fix any damaged files it finds.
• After it runs through, start the game using the normal GW2 game shortcut (not the repair shortcut) and see if your game can start up properly.

Try this:

Clear the game cache
Most TP-specific issues are primarily related to some temporary GW2 files where removing them will allow them to be recreated and the TP to function properly again.

The quickest way to clear the GW2 Cache is to:

1. Ensure your game is completely closed.
2. Hold your “Windows Key” and press “F” to open Windows Search on your computer.
3. Search for “gw2cache”
4. It will find a folder called “gw2cache-{bunch-of-letters-and-numbers}” at:
   “C:\Users\YourComputerUserName\AppData\Local\Temp”
5. Delete this “gw2cache-{bunch-of-letters-and-numbers}” folder that is shown in the results.
6. Load up your game normally and your TP should now function properly.

If your search for “gw2cache” does not produce the folder I mentioned, then you will need to enable hidden files and folders in order to delete this cache folder.

Make hidden files visible and clear the game cache

1. Close your game completely.
2. Browse your My Computer to: “C:\Users\YourComputerUserName”
3. Then in the window menus, click on “Tools” then “Folder Options…”
4. In the window that pops up, click the “View” tab
5. Select to “Show hidden files, folders and drives” and click ‘OK’ (attached image #1)
6. You should now see a folder in your file listing called “AppData”, open this folder
7. Inside that folder open the “Local” folder
8. Inside that folder open the “Temp” folder
9. You should now see a folder called “gw2cache-{bunch-of-letters-and-numbers}”. Delete this gw2cache folder.
10. Load up your game normally and see if the issue is fixed.

—note—
By “window menus” I mean up at the top of the window where it says “File Edit View Tools Help”. If that bar does not display in your window for you along the top, then click the drop-down arrow next to the word “Organize” and then click on “Layout” and select “Menu bar” to enable showing of the menus (attached image #2).

Another way to do Steps 3, 4 and 5 to make hidden folders visible is:

• Click your Start menu and then open Control Panel
• In your Control Panel, if items are sorted by “Category” then select “Appearance and Personalization” on the right side, then in the second bottom area under “Folder Options” click on “Show hidden files and folders”. This will open the same options dialogue box shown in attached image #1.
• Otherwise, if Control Panel is sorted by Icons, simply click on “Folder Options” from the list to bring up the options dialogue box shown in attached image #1.

The only green full character outlining I know of is from the Post-Processing graphic setting, which also mentions in its tool-tip about enabling character outlines.

Khisanth.2948:

StinVec.3621:

I’m also not sure if any Art of War guild bonuses to player health/vitality carry over to characters when not in WvW, or if those bonuses have an associated buff icon. You may want to see if your guild had any of those active in the guild upgrades.

Those only affect players within a certain range of the objectives claimed by your guild. It applies to everyone not just guild members.

Thank you, Khisanth. I do not participate in WvW and have not done any of the guild upgrades in the Art of War area so I was not sure of how that worked. Thanks again.

Increase your Post-Processing graphics setting, the addition of outlines is mentioned in the tool-tip for this setting.

As you do not mention how much time passed between taking the screenshots, it is possible that it is due to WvW bonuses for your server that may have increased/decreased or coincided with a bonuses reset.

Also, WvW bonuses are not granted to a player who recently transferred servers for 1-2 weeks following the switch. If that is also something you may have recently done, then the WvW bonuses kicking in after the delay period may account for some of that increase.

I’m also not sure if any Art of War guild bonuses to player health/vitality carry over to characters when not in WvW, or if those bonuses have an associated buff icon. You may want to see if your guild had any of those active in the guild upgrades.

That’s about all I can think of right now to explain it as it doesn’t appear to be related to possible trait changes you may have made regarding vitality bonuses.

You may be interested in my post in this thread regarding making your middle mouse button a toggle on/off for right-click activation. It should help you.