Guild Wars 2

My revive orb has a 1 month, 2 week, 5 day cooldown between uses.

The leaves on the Blooming Druid Stone randomly vanish when viewed in front of certain objects, and it looks like they are actually being positioned behind the object. This is easiest to see with a transparent object, such as a body of water.

Screenshot 1 – the leaves are disappearing behind the warg.

Screenshot 2 – the leaves are displayed underwater, except where there are reeds, in which case part of the leaf is correctly displayed in front of the reeds.

I had the same this morning in a few maps – I can’t remember all the affected ones, but Bitterfrost Frontier for certain. I just put it down to me not waiting for the full download and jumping in as soon as it reached ‘playable’. At a guess, while last night’s update made no changes that directly affect us, it has made some transparent changes to those maps, perhaps some sort of optimisation of the map’s files.

In short, it’s almost certainly nothing to worry about, and just a consequence of last night’s update.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

They’ve said they thought about it and discovered something that made this harder to implement (than rune swapping). Unfortunately, they didn’t tell us what the nature of the issue(s) nor give us a time frame for coming up with an alternative solution.

In other words, it’s possible… but it’s not going to happen soon.

Actually, they did say in the AMA – they had concerns around the impact it would have on the market.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Purple dragon? The only dragon I’m aware of seeing as an ‘apparition’ was Aurene. And that wasn’t connected to the Current Event with the Sad Anomaly, as far as I know.

Otherwise, I guess I missed out…

I forgot about Aurene, she appears sometimes on being downed which I wouldn’t consider as a ‘quiet moment’. Also her apparition is more of a blue/green colour and there’s no ripple. From what the OP described, my money is still on the mail carrier.

Would those quiet moments include selling stuff on the trading post, or sending/receiving mail?

As far as I’m aware there is no apparition of a dragon through a purple ripple as part of the anomalies or shadowstone storyline, and instead it sounds a lot like the animation of the birthday mail carrier.

I’ve not seen it but heard about it – it’s floating in the boiling sea somewhere.

One compaint that came with elite specs last time round was that they took too long to unlock them, that people had hoped to use them throughout the new content and not just towards the end. Because of that, it don’t think it’s that unlikely that it’d be 250 points again, and anyone with that much already will be able to unlock on day 1. I’d expect them to require the 1st elite spec to be unlocked first, though.

Amaimon.7823:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Interesting. I would not have pinged Joko as the mysterious benefactor.

This raises a couple questions (how he knew of Zinn and the asura, how he got that powerstone used in R.O.X. and what, exactly, it was) and adds in a very important new point about Joko: This is the first time players are told that Joko had any interest outside of Elona.

chronologically speaking, when did Joko even have the chance? I mean, he was released during Nightfall, right after which the heroes move back to tyria to investigate the earthquakes. All this time Joko should’ve been focussing on reclaiming the Bone Palace and rebuilding his forces, I can’t think of a window of time for him to go to the Maguuma to trick Zinn into making golems to kill world leaders.. I mean, it would help agenda for world domination, but I don’t think he would’ve moved that far ahead when he only just got his palace back

There’s a window of up to 4 years, which doesn’t seem an unreasonably short period of time for Joko to pull this off. Nightfall takes place in 1075, and Zinn’s trail and exile occurred in the build up to War In Kryta, which takes place in 1079. Also consider that Joko’s Bone Palace is very close to the Crystal Desert – only a couple of maps in game terms, as you can travel directly from Crystal Overlook in Nightfall to Arid Sea in Prophecies.

Amaimon.7823:

During the recordings, Zinn makes a statement that getting tricked by Joko was his lowest point, but I’m having some trouble imaging a point in time where an asura in vicinity of the Maguuma interacted with an undead lich in Elona. When did this happen? and what did Joko trick Zinn for?

When we first encountered Zinn in GW1, he had been tricked into making 3 golems to assassinate the princes of Vabbi, which leads to his trial and exile. It was never revealed who he made the golems for, but Joko was certainly someone who would want the deaths of the princes.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Stitch.1794:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ayrilana.1396:

She was helping interrogate the ministers.

TIL catching out nobility in lies is Lady-like behavior.

Nobility != ministers. There’s an overlap, sure, but would you really want Lord Faren to be part of running Kryta?

Catching people in lies is Lady-like behavior? (fixed)

Much better – we’ll make a Lady of you yet.

Crossaber.8934:

I wish pre expansion2 players can receive a unigue weapon skin(come in set and choose 1) or armor skin, unoptainable by wardrobe unlock. It is not so much of a work and i will be very happy.

I don’t see why it would need to be unobtainable – we get it for free, new players get it at cost (whether that’s in game or real world). We’re still getting a bonus for being long term players.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ayrilana.1396:

She was helping interrogate the ministers.

TIL catching out nobility in lies is Lady-like behavior.

Nobility != ministers. There’s an overlap, sure, but would you really want Lord Faren to be part of running Kryta?

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Blude.6812:

Of course they will make the people that have been here from day one and bought gems with real money pay full price again.

What alternative do you propose? That it be more expensive to get more players into the game? Isn’t that the sort of logic that leads to fewer new players?

I’m all in favor of ANet including something sweet for veterans; I just don’t think it has to be a reduction in price for the base expansion.

I felt they missed a trick with the last expansion, given the new class, by not automatically including a character slot for owners of the core game, so that they got something extra for paying twice (yes, they did eventually, but only to those who bought within a specific window, and only after complaints and bad PR). This time round, assuming there is no new class so a character slot may not be desirable to all, perhaps they could include a small gems bundle (equivalent to the cost of a slot), to owners of previous versions.

Sublimatio.6981:

I have an observation. If Balthazar would be allowed to absorb all of Jormags and Primordus’s magic, this magic wouldn’t leak out into the world so there would be no side effects, yet Taimi claims Tyria would still collapse. So that doesn’t make sense.

Is he absorbing all their magic though? It looks like the machine was absorbing a portion from one and sending it to the other, then doing the same in reverse. It looks to me like Balthazar was absorbing the magic by sitting in the stream and skimming some off the top, but not absorbing all of it. We see Primordus being hit with beams of blue magic that have come from Jormag, and we see beams of red magic from Jormag being sent up from the machine past Balthazar.

You’re also assuming that it is being drained that kills the dragons, but if it is a blast of the other dragon’s magic that strikes the killing blow, then the dragon would still have some magic left. That would presumably be released in a burst in multiple directions (following ley-lines?), just like with Mordremoth’s death. In that case, Balthazar might not absorb all of the magic released by Primordus’ death, just that sent in his direction, and none released by Jormag’s.

It’s worth noting that in the HoT first instance (the prologue in the Silverwastes), she is also Lady Kasmeer Meade, before losing the title again for the rest of HoT. Because of that, I’d been waiting for her to show up to see what name she was using.

There is a converstation between Kasmeer and Anise at the end of Party Politics in LS2 where she is invited to be part of Jennah’s entourage at the council in the Grove, and Anise mentions it would make a good opportunity for her to plead her father’s case. Reading between the lines, she was being offered a chance to re-earn her title by making herself useful to the Queen. Maybe that has now played out off camera.

Alga.6498:

Anyone else wondering why there was no Bubbles’ (water dragon) creature along with the other test subjects?
I was hoping to see it aswell but nope..

I suspect that was intended to tease us about his name… again. This was the same LS team that teased us with Taimi trying to remember the name a few episodes back.

Also, as far as we know, we don’t currently have any contact with Bubbles or any of his minions to have caught one.

Hesacon.8735:

If Jormag and Primordus are each other’s weakness, and Mordremoth can be attacked through his mind, what’s Zhaitan’s weakness? Giant lasers?

I’d always assumed it was the laser, as the Mega-LIT cannon is the first thing we see do major damage to Zhaitan, although it’s not clear cut given the number of other fronts he was attacked on. Light dispelling shadow, his second sphere.

That, combined with how Mordremoth died made me think that the dragons’ weaknesses are via their secondary sphere of influence. Not knowing Primordus’ or Jormag’s, it could be possible that it was their secondary spheres that cancelled each other out, and not the fire & ice. If we can find out what their second spheres are, it might give us a clue.

Or, like how they create their minions, the form of the their weakness could vary from dragon to dragon.

Yes, I too thought Lost as soon as I saw the polar bear. ArenaNet do have a history of sneaking these references in, my favourite being the story instance where Tybalt sounds suspiciously like Walter White.

It might be useful to post a screenshot of the items you’re trying to turn in, and what happens when you try.

Look by the entrance – literally right next to it, just to the left as you face the portal. She should have a star over her head even if it’s not showing on the map.

Look on the 4th or 5th tab, the first book is Forgotten Brilliance.

I’d be surprised if we get any new races that require a new model at all, especially now we’ve got the legendary armour, and the time it took to get released. That would rule a lot of races out, possibly including Kodan, but certainly the more unusual races like Largos (which is a real shame because I would love to see them as a playable race). Tengu I suspect are also out, even if they share a frame with the Charr, as the head pieces as a minimum would need to be different for each armour to accomodate their beaks.

Beyond that, I’d only expect to see new races if they fit the existing models very closely- possibilities I’ve suggested in the past were non-Tyrian humans when expansions take us to Elona or Cantha, or creatures from the mists like Razah (assuming he’s not unique).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Taimi did explicitly say that, yes. The whole fight at the end was to prevent _one_ Elder Dragon's death, not two.

I have to disagree with you here.

It’s not in the last story instance, but the first. It covers the period from when the mirrors are repaired until Lazarus is unmasked, during which there is an Eligible for Achievement buff. However, it only seems to count if you are the owner of the instance.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The gods left Tyria in Year 0. That is 1078 years before Primordus even began to wake up. There is no “broadly in line”. They only stopped talking in 1075 – three years before Primordus began to wake up.

Furthermore, we were explicitly told, numerous times, by developers, that the Six Gods remained in contact solely because of Abaddon, so with his death they lost all reason to keep communication going. They left to “let humans stand on their own” but also because when they intervene, kitten hits the fan (Bloodstone/gift of magic and the incited wars that followed; the war against Abaddon that turned a sea into a desert and verdant coastline into a toxic wasteland, etc. etc.).

So your first point is definitely not the case.

Fair enough – I was referring to the full loss of contact since GW1, not physically leaving Tyria in year 0, but I’d never come across Abaddon’s death being the reason behind that. Out of interest do you have a source for that (not doubting you, just intrigued as to what the devs said on the subject)?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Stitch.1794:

Balthazar has a line of dialog that suggests he has been weakened by the dragons (can’t remember it exactly and it’s not been added to the wiki yet). Otherwise there’s no reason we should have had any chance in the first or last instances.

Again, he says THEY, with zero context as to who “they” refer to. We don’t know who or what weakened Balthazar, just that he was.

Fair enough, but the dragons seems to me by far the most likely explanation, for a couple reasons. Firstly, the timing of the gods retreating is broadly in line with the dragons awakening. Secondly, Balthazar’s determination to see the dragons killed, even if it means destroying Tyria – that came across as a personal vendetta.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The main thing you’re confused about, OP, is twofold:

Firstly, you think that we’ve been trying to get the two dragons to directly attack each other. This is false – Taimi’s device, as shown in this episode, was to siphon the energies from the Elder Dragons and exchange them, paralyzing and killing the two Elder Dragons.

Secondly, the killing would be simultaneous. If any Elder Dragon were to absorb their magic, it’d be Kralkatorrik and the DSD. Which by Taimi’s theory are opposites so she was just going to use the machine on those two next.

But this wouldn’t work for reasons Taimi brings up in this episode.

Show Spoiler

hide spoiler

Basically, after the machine is stolen by Not Lazarus, she runs a simulation of what would happen if the machine is used since she couldn’t run a small-scale test a second time, and it turns out that Tyria will go bye bye if even one more Elder Dragon is killed.

So we have to stop Not Lazarus from using the machine, and that’s the plot of episode 5!.

Does it explicitly say that? Taimi didn't simulate killing one more dragon, she simulated killing two simulataneously, as you said. So it shows killing both together would destory the planet, but did it really show that killing just one would also destroy the planet?

Amaimon.7823:

Ogden is the Great Dwarf with all his brethren, sworn to keep the Elder Dragon Primordius in the .. wherever it was they left him..
If an elder dragon got past them.. don’t you think we would’ve gotten a message from Ogden in any way one or another.. I doubt Ogden would’ve just .. forgotten about his races’ duty..

I would think his involvement with Glint and with the Priory are his version of his race’s duty – assisting in the fight against all dragons, not just Primordus.

As for why Ogden didn’t let us know, I can think of a couple of reasons. He’s show a tendency towards a need-to-know approach to sharing info – for example not revealing who gave the Master to Peace the egg because we’re not ready to know yet. The other reason is, would he know? The general assumption is that the dwarves have died out fighting destroyers over the centuries, and even if they haven’t, are there any line of communication between them and Ogden?

Randulf.7614:

Stitch.1794:

Randulf.7614:

It’s difficult to know since it is stated they have returned to “pre-awakened energy levels” That would suggest asleep.

Would Taimi have that information, as it was years ago, before she was born? She started tracking dragon energy levels using the map found near Tarir, so it seems to me more likely she is comparing to their energy levels before they became active at the start of LS3, because that’s the only data she has to compare with.

Then that’s what the tech should have stated – “before recent rising”. Plus we collect Primordus and Jormag energy in the instance as part of an achievement, so we know they lose energy. I’m inclined to trust the tech she’s developed from Rata Novan research as accurate, otherwise it’s just poor writing.

I’m not suggesting the tech is inaccurate, just that Taimi wasn’t using it at the appropriate time to know what true pre-awakening power levels were – I’m assuming the tech will show energy levels now, not at any period in history you so desire. I’m suggesting a heavily sleep-deprived Taimi simply used a poor choice of words by saying pre-awakening rather than pre-recent activity.

Randulf.7614:

It’s difficult to know since it is stated they have returned to “pre-awakened energy levels” That would suggest asleep.

Would Taimi have that information, as it was years ago, before she was born? She started tracking dragon energy levels using the map found near Tarir, so it seems to me more likely she is comparing to their energy levels before they became active at the start of LS3, because that’s the only data she has to compare with.

Amaimon.7823:

Danikat.8537:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Walhalla.5473:

Divine magic is immune to dragon consumption and corruption

Do we know this for sure? Got a source for that?

I thought it was the opposite – the most common explanation I’ve heard for the gods withdrawal from everyday human life is that they knew the Elder Dragons were awakening and left Tyria to protect their magic (and by extension themselves). Much like the mursaat did the last time the dragons rose.

Didn’t they leave because of Abaddon, who by meddling with the bloodstones caused the Great Guild Wars (after which the series is named), causing the gods to withdraw because they realized their presence did a lot more harm to the world than good

They physically left Tyria for that reason, yes, but they were still active and it was still possible to contact them – Favor of the Gods, the blessings from their statues in GW1. In the years since GW1, they have retreated further, with no contact with them at all for years.

Nick.6972:

It gets better. Apparently, the fact that we barely took down a weakened human god in GW1 – Abaddon, doesn’t matter anymore. Screw that. Out heroes are capable of soloing Balthazar. Wonderful continuity.

Balthazar has a line of dialog that suggests he has been weakened by the dragons (can’t remember it exactly and it’s not been added to the wiki yet). Otherwise there’s no reason we should have had any chance in the first or last instances.

Amaimon.7823:

okay.. hold up.. ten.. no .. hundred steps back..
like.. all the way down the volcano, back to the submarine, back to rata sum.. steps back..

Did we just put the strongest, most violent, and most destructive dragon back to sleep?
We just ended it’s cycle..

what?

I mean, I get the story didn’t want us to kill it.. but all the hype from GW1, all the hype from GW2, and the first time we see the elder dragon is when he goes back to sleep?
And we don’t even get to see Jormag, just Taimi saying “And Jormag propably as well”

..

what?

I don’t think they’ve gone back to sleep, as in for thousands of years between dragon rises, bit back to their less active state, as in for a few years between periods of major activity. They’re still awake and still a threat, like they were prior to the start of LS3.

For Hero Points, if you don’t want to do the HoT maps, there is a currency earned by ranking up in WvW (Proof of Heroics) that can be used to buy hero point. You get 5-10 proofs each rank, and can be used to unlock a random hero point in the original maps (at a cost of 1 proof) or in HoT maps (at a cost of 10 points).

Transmutation charges can be earned a few ways
– 3 charges once every 28 days from the log-in rewards
– PvP and WvW reward tracks
– map completion – you may get 1 each time you complete a map (unless you get lucky and get a black lion key instead), including the six cities which are typically the quickest to complete
– black lion chest

Phaelaenopsis.4209:

I went to go start the mistward armor collection, but half of it isn’t unlocked on my character – regardless of the fact that she’s a revenant and has all of her specs unlocked.

Is anyone else having this issue? Is there anything I can do/any way to fix it?

This has always been a bit buggy – shortly after HoT launched they added an NPC to Heart of the Mista who would unlock collections for anyone who had the bug, but I believe they’ve since been removed. Perhaps they should be brought back…

Anyway, your best bet is to raise a ticket with customer support, and hopefully they can sort it for you.

I’ve found it’s generally easier to ignore the shield – I just keep moving while using CC to break him.

I’d been struggling to find a clear way to fit Tranton into this – I really like the idea that Burden of Choice is a secret poll where the character the most players gave the shadow stone to would be involved, but I’m not sure that the timing events works out for that to make sense.

Tranton being a White Mantle mole is interesting, but if so, why would he give the Commander a shadowstone (albeit in need of repair) and help cure them? Having the Commander going mad would surely have been a major distraction that the White Mantle could have take advantage of.

Something else to consider with Tranton – I’m still inclined to believe his fluctuating appearance is a bug, but could also be a clue that he can appear as different people…

If you want to know now what it is:

It’s a feature – next time you see it, run up to it. If you get close enough, you’ll unlock an achievement which starts a storyline that explains what it is and why you’re seeing it.

Lahmia.2193:

Kralkatorik minion is my bet. Remember the other dragons now have death magic/ability to create stuff from the dead.

It might not be as straighforward as that – it took while to find a modified ice brood, theorised to be because Jormag was further away than Primordus and therefore less of the magic released by Zhaitan’s and Mordremoth’s deaths reached it, suggesting Jormag has lesser plant and death abilities than Primordus. We don’t know precisely where Kralkatorrik is, but it could be further away again, and therefore have received less death or plant magic.

Oh I don’t know, it looks like there’s scope to add a scroll bar to it if they wanted to add more tiers.

I sincerely doubt one panel on the UI dictated the scope of the story, seems a bit like the tail wagging the dog.

Acnologia.6934:

Trident. Did you see the submarine? Trident i say!!

I’m assuming you’re joking, but just in case – it was confirmed back before HoT released that gen 2 would consist of just the land weapons, there’ll be no underwater ones.

All the skins unlocked via achievement points can be obtained as a consumable via the Hero panel – scroll right to the bottom of the achievements tab. Even if it’s missing from your wardrobe, you might still be able to withdraw the skins that way, and might help re-unlock then.

Also, just to confirm – you have at least 29,000 AP? The last zenith skin unlocks at 28k, and the first pinnacle skin at 29k. If so, should be easy enough to prove to CS exactly what should be unlocked.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

So, the one suggestion I didn’t see there was: gw2efficiency.com (and a bunch of other sites) can use the API to search your inventories to find things. I’ve used that to answer the question “is X somewhere on a character?!?” in the past.

Scroll up a bit

Oh, you used the proper name, not the DNS name, and I managed to not put it together, haha.

It’s a good enough suggestion that it’s worth mentioning multiple times.

Have you tried using GW2 efficiency?

(Sorry, couldn’t resist)

It’s only been repeated once, along with the Zephyrites, as a prologue to LS season 2. There’s been no information either way on whether it could repeat in the future. Personally, I’m hanging on to mine in the hope it repeats again, as it’s only taking up one space in my bank.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Stitch.1794:

You actually said none could look like a living being, not very few, which is why I thought you’d overlooked Labwan.

Labwan doesn’t look like a living being, she is very much rotten – though there are mesmers (and not just Labwan – we see five in total; Labwan, the High Priestess of Lyssa in Arah, and three generic risen wraiths during Battle for Fort Trinity) who take the illusionary guise of another person. But they were all mesmers, unlike Lazarus, and those disguises were very short lived and, more importantly, not that deceptive (everyone in Syska’s party knew something was odd about her immediately, so she got rid of them).

None of them were capable of deception longer than a few minutes.

That could be more down to the fact the Labwan was impersonating a specific person while surrounded by people who knew that person very well – the deception fails people being able to spot when she starts acting out of character. The illusion itself is only dropped when we confront her and she knows the jig is up.

(On a side note, you’ve missed one risen mesmer that appears living: Lord Kitah)

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Stitch.1794:

I had a bizarre thought along those lines – large concentrations of unbound magic cause anomalies to form. Could an anomaly formed from the bloodstone explosion, and became somehow fused with the 4 aspects of Lazarus that were present, resulting in a sentient anomaly that looks like Lazarus, and even thinks it is Lazarus? Since then, it’s been drawn towards the nearest concentrations of ley energy – first to Tarir, and then to Rata Novus.

You’re combining two separate events. The ritual to revive Lazarus with the four artifacts was performed in the Twisted Castle – the final room in the third raid wing. The Bloodstone explosion happened days later, after Bauer had written about his “supreme leader” arriving in secret.

Do we know for sure which supreme leader Bauer is referring to, as it could be Caudecus or Lazarus. If the former, then first known sighting of Lazarus is after the bloodstone exploded, and the artifacts from a failed ritual could still have been in close enough proximity at the time.

Lazarus is on first?

Randulf.7614:

According to the last chapter, one of the artefacts was swapped, That means whatever spawned has connection to said artefact surely. I can’t really see it being an actual person impersonating Lazarus, rather something or someone who has become bound to the 4 aspects by way of whatever Caudecus substituted into the resurrection when he meddled

I had a bizarre thought along those lines – large concentrations of unbound magic cause anomalies to form. Could an anomaly formed from the bloodstone explosion, and became somehow fused with the 4 aspects of Lazarus that were present, resulting in a sentient anomaly that looks like Lazarus, and even thinks it is Lazarus? Since then, it’s been drawn towards the nearest concentrations of ley energy – first to Tarir, and then to Rata Novus.