Guild Wars 2

Bazompora.2635:

The Greyhawk, you’re saying the Pale Tree is not the parent of the sylvari,
but a mad genius, cloning cannon fodder, designer puppets and other test subjects,
after all?

No. I Didn’t say that in any way shape or form. Kindly Stop Putting Words In My kittening Mouth.

Conversing with you has to be one of the more surreal experiences I’ve had outside of mind-altering pharmaceuticals and epileptic clonic tonic seizures.

I specifically said “From a Mechanical perspective” as in how The Tree works on a physical level. The In-game story line does show the Tree as viewing the sylvari as her children, having genuine affection for them and going out of her way to NOT treat them like cannon fodder.
You’re statements about incest being hazardous to a families and society as a whole, while something I wouldn’t argue against in regards to Humans, is utterly irrelevant to the Sylvari since They don’t have actual families.

To try to condense this, for all intense and purposes…its not incest. Sylvari aren’t actually siblings regardless of the fact they have a single source. From a mechanical perspective, the Pale Tree is their maker, their creator, not a parent in the sense that humans…that Animals have parents. While there are a many things about the sylvari that are similar to humans, there are just as many thing that make them completely alien to us. And in the end you can choose to accept this or to not.

Curious though why you linked to that ancient Guru thread…

Do we actually know for certain that the “All” image is three dimensional? This has been asserted multiple times but where and when is that stated ingame? I’ll accept that I may have missed this fact myself but all the same I’d like citation on this of some kind.

draxynnic.3719:

If thief came in with an offhand sword and used it as a spellcasting focus, the thief players who’ve been demanding dual swords since release will riot. :P

As one of the people that wanted said offhand sword, I’d be quite happy. Not sure why you think people would “riot”.

Going by my previous example of mesmers using the offhand sword mostly for spell casting, I think it’d work pretty well for a sin/caster thief (anyone got a better name for this?). So “spells” instead of melee attacks for the most part.
I do think you guys are getting a little hung up on how “silly” a dagger main hand with sword off hand might look. Initially I found the idea of shooting magic laser beams out of a greatsword to be incredibly lame. I got over it. Plus, the main hand dagger is only one of three options, the other two weapons aren’t going to be an issue imo. In the end, an off hand sword just fits better thematically than a focus.
On another note

I think at least one profession will become a new pet training class – most likely Guardian, with Braham/Garm being the catalyst/story justification.

I also expect engineers to be the next healer class given how little they are played in higher end pve (the same reason rangers got the druid spec last expansion). Not sure the lore tie in, but a “medic” would make sense as an engineer elite.

I’m inclined to disagree on both points. For the latter, Engineers already ARE medics, they have multiple ally healing abilities. Maybe they aren’t as strong as druids, but that kind of thing is subject to change as skills get buffed and nerfed.
As for guardians…unlikely. For one thing, Garm has been sticking with Rox so far, not Braham (iirc). So no direct foreshadowing within the lore as of yet. But more importantly, I find unlikely that Anet will give Guardians a second Ranger based elite specialization, and honestly even the idea is a fair bit perturbing as well. You’d effectively replace regular rangers with a heavy armored type of ranger that has all these party buffing abilities. Also, we’re talking about a class mechanic, not just a weapon skill set or a type of skills like traps. These are supposed to remain mostly unique to their respective class. While almost all of the classes have summons or “pets” of some kind (including the ones guardians all ready have) animal companions should remain something exclusive to rangers.

At some point, you have to accept that you aren’t going to like everything in a game. The Ageis animation is there to specifically to show that a character is under its status effect, something that is arguably necessary for certain combat situations. Its probably that few people are bothered by its appearance and as such is unlikely to be a priority for Anet.

I don’t get it….you don’t want Guardians to work right just because of a skill animation?

Rognik.2579:

Daniel Handler.4816:

Speaking of plot devices, Aurene has foreshadowed greatness and people are already theorizing about her absorbing/expelling magic.

This one is slightly more credible, as we saw the egg absorb at least part of Mordremoth’s energy after his death. We haven’t learned of any other creature (besides the new destroyers and that one icebrood) absorbing the magic of defeated dragons.

Actually, I recall when Teakettle got buffed and reworked, Anet gave the absorption of power from Zhaitan’s death as a lore reason for said buff.

Honestly? I’d like to see an off-hand sword. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no good at coming up with viable skills, but if a mesmer can use an off-hand sword to cast spells, couldn’t it also work for an assassin based thief? If I recall correctly there was supposed to be a link between Mesmerism and sin magic.
Regardless I actually do want to see more use of the Thief’s unique Dual Skill system.

Please no Foci for thieves. Pretty please. I still have trouble accepting that a stick is supposed to do more damage than a stab directly to the heart. Go for GW1 sin inspired magic to your heart’s content, but not with a focus.

Anyone else getting disturbed by the direction this thread has taken?

Westenev.5289:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

But she isn’t this end-all-be-all powerful figure. She cannot foretell the exact future, especially not at all times (else she would have foreseen the attack on the World Summit), and she doesn’t show any mental capabilities beyond her ties to the Dream which is literally an insignificant portion of the Dream that expands barely beyond the sylvari’s collective memories (the only cases of her knowing more than sylvari know is with A Light in the Darkness and with her ties to Mordremoth).

Or maybe she is, and simply played out a series of calculated losses to unite the world against her former master. Would the pact have gotten as much support as they did without the attack on the world summit?

That’s an interesting point. If true, she may have jeopardized her own life to get the nations to work against Mordy. That takes balls.

Bazompora.2635:

It’s kinda problematic to have only straight-haired beards to fully cover up bulging European chins.

You really come across as having a chip on your shoulder, among other things.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Not to mention the PC claimed to have seen their own role in The All (which is also rather interesting and not yet answered, unless the role is slaying the orbs and throwing The All out of balance… WE ARE THE HARBINGER OF DESTRUCTION! ALL SHALL BOW BEFORE US AND DIE! FIRE AND CHAOS FOLLOWS IN OUR WAKE AND NONE CAN STOP US IN OUR CRUSADE OF ANNIHILATION!)

………..I like this…….I like this a lot.

Side question: When do the Forgotten “combine” their power, as you stated in a similar or comparable fashion to the Dwarves?

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Conncept.7638:

The Greyhawk.9107:

Arenanet has stated (repeatedly) that there will not be a ‘race change’ available in GW2.

No they have not (ever).

They have stated that because of the work it would require to make new systems to carry over equivalent progress between the characters that they are not currently going, nor have any current plans, to work on a race change.

Can ANet not, ever, say that they are “not working” on something and not have sweeping overblown assumptive misquotes made by the playerbase about the subject?

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t count on it OP, since nearly all of the game story content, achievements, cosmetics, and even the top tier of gear are all account bound; it is very easy to delete and recreate a character, get them to level 80, and gear them up; having lost basically nothing but map completion progress and whatever your current personal story step was.

Delete/remake is likely to remain this games version of a race change, and in the case that you want to keep your characters name, it is reserved for 24 hours after deletion.

At one point ANet did say race changes “will not be an option”

Source
Thanks for asking. To change the race in the Gem store will not be an option in Guild Wars 2.

As well as these quotes that only specified current policy

1) I am afraid that the team does contemplate different possibilities and new features for the future but this one is not among those. Source
2) There are a lot of far-reaching consequences of allowing one character to play through every race’s personal story or equip any cultural armor/weapons. For now, we feel that it would take away from the experience of Guild Wars 2 for the majority of players. Source

^ This.

Daniel Handler.4816:

The Greyhawk.9107:

Ok, I get that you think Taimi won’t learn anything useful or whatever, but what was all that stuff in the middle that you pulled outta yer kitten?

Perhaps it was too dense. Let me simplify it.

There are two types of spellcasters.

Group A: Gods/Dragons/Champions

• they can solo cast permanent changes

Group B: everyone else

• they can’t solo cast permanent changes
• instead they use combined power (Dwarves, Forgotten, Hive Mind)
• or artifacts/technology (Caladbolg, Sanguinary Blade, Kudu’s machine)

Scarlet saw the All and she didn’t become as strong as the pale tree, even with her engineering to boost her.

Taimi may surpass Kudu, but she won’t surpass Caladbolg. She can’t succeed.

Firstly, about your assertion about spell casters and whom can and cannot “cast permanent changes”….how do you know? I don’t remember that ever being stated definitively in lore.

Secondly, where was it stated that the goal of Omadd’s machine was to make Scarlet “as strong as the Pale Tree”? That wasn’t the point of the thing. While knowledge IS power, having it isn’t supposed to change you at a physical level.

Thirdly…surpass Caladbog? You say the strangest things.

You keep using the term “The All” in both of your threads, but we actually DON’T know if Omadd’s machine actually does show the Eternal Alchemy. I forget the asura’s name, but an NPC made the assertion that Omadd’s machine only shows what’s in your own mind.

Secondly, if it does indeed “show the all” or whatever you want to call it….why would putting the entire Sylvari race into the thing (one at a time too!) be a good idea?

Ok, I get that you think Taimi won’t learn anything useful or whatever, but what was all that stuff in the middle that you pulled outta yer kitten?

What the….I don’t even…..

Arenanet has stated (repeatedly) that there will not be a ‘race change’ available in GW2.

Honestly can’t see the point of this.

Leiloni.7951:

Most games rarely if ever get new hairstyles so the fact that GW2 does them so frequently is definitely unusual. I feel like they should focus on other things.

But if they add anything to character creation, I want new face and body options. Give me prettier, more normal Sylvari female faces and bodies so I can really make it a pretty, elegant elf style plant thing. And add more cute faces and bodies to the Asura so I can truly make something cute that doesn’t look like a goblin rat thing.

I’d LOOOVVEE if they did that. Then I’d feel like we actually had more character creation options. I mean there IS a reason why there are so many Human Females out there.

They also need to add race changes into the shop. No reason why they can’t honestly. Just switch the story over to the new race’s story, maybe via player choice. Or don’t even, I don’t think it matters.

Actually, its not just as simple as “switching it over”. Basically, from whats been explained, the coding for the PS is pretty much fubar and just about any time they make a change to it, something in it breaks. Its the main reason why its not re-playable (on a character that’s already finished it).
Anet’s been quite clear that “race change” will never be a thing.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

That’s not what I said.

That fan-made map is based off of ArenaNet’s world maps (from GW1). Not the other way around.

They used what was originally a fan-made map (the artist could have been hired by ArenaNet for development of GW2 for all we know) and heavily altered it for the one singular globe. The map has been greatly expanded from the fan-made map – as you can tell by looking at the links I provided.

All other globes and world maps are completely different from that one, however, and much more detailed. Showing that the one singular globe is not intended to be accurate, since only Tyria/Elona is even shown on the thing (so the aspects the fan-made map got wrong – like the placement of Cantha – is not canon).

OK, I’m sorry, just please stop hitting me.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

That map’s been known since launch. The funny thing is that it’s taken from a fan-created map of GW1’s playable areas but altered for GW2’s changes to Tyria (but not Elona). There was a dat taken image of it but it so greatly differed from the one from the OoW globe and the later added Priory basement floor folks ended up ignoring it.

Found the globe’s texture, pulled from the dat file – as you can see, it differs drastically from the other two dat textures. It should be noted that the Guild Portal is a full globe of the map that utilizes the same map design as the OoW globe and the Durmand Priory basement floor map (that_shaman said that it’s the exact same design as the Durmand Priory basement floor texture, no improvements or alterations made to coastlines etc.).

In other words, I doubt that anything visible (and not) on that globe model is meant to be accurate to what the world looks like – at best, just what humans of Kryta think the world looks like (which would be weird given the educating aspect of the Durmand Priory).

But, originally, as said it comes from a fan map of GW1.

Wait, Arenanet based the “world map” off of one of the fan made maps? The kitten is wrong with them?

draxynnic.3719:

It’s actually 1330. The year ticked over for the last release.

Ghosts of Ascalon is probably the best reference: it takes roughly a day for the group to get from Ebonhawke to the southern part of Plains of Ashford, then roughly another day to get to Ascalon City itself. This suggests that the distance between Ebonhawke and Ascalon City is no more than 60 miles, probably less.

This indicates that, while what we see ingame has been scaled down from what’s actually there, the nations of Tyria are still pretty small by modern standards, likely more along the lines of city-states. Current-day Kryta, for instance, is unlikely to be more than a hundred miles in either direction, making it smaller than Belgium, although Divinity’s Reach, if to scale with the rest of the map, is probably bigger than Brussels.

I hope you’re wrong, cause that’s a little depressing. Sorry to anyone from Belgium, but that’s fricking small, I was hoping for at least something like UK sized or something. From eye balling the map, that would make Tyria roughly the size of Montana. Its a big state, but its kinda small for an epic fantasy land with multiple races, monsters, and Lovecraftian Dragons. Dunno, just the idea of Tyria being so little is just kind of lackluster.
(Mind you, I’m aware of the maps that show how much more there is in the world, but at this point do any of you still think we’re going to see any of that?)

Darkstar.7839:

The way caudicus phrases it ’i’ve swapped the artifacts’ seems like he did it personally. I appreciate what bauer wrote but it could be caudicus intended on swapping two to be certain.

Unlikely, as Caudecus had been Queen Jennah’s “Guest” for quite some time now, so its unlikely that he’d been able to personally steal from where ever Xera was keeping the artifacts. Nor does it seem like he was able to do so either before his time at the palace or afterwards when he revealed himself to be the leader of the WM.

draxynnic.3719:

Tiny Doom.4380:

Video games will almost inevitably take over from movies, novels and other forms to become the primary narrative platform of the 21st century. That, however, will happen with an entirely different set of mechanisms, not the legacy combat-related systems we are used to from what will soon come to resemble (at most)the “Silent Era” of cinema.

I disagree with that. It may seem that way from the perspective of computer gamers (like, everyone in this forum…) but I think there will always be people who prefer to sit back and listen/read/watch rather than take part in an interactive story, and even times when a gamer would prefer to do that rather than play a game. Just as movies didn’t displace novels, I expect both will continue as video games evolve.

Agreed. I myself will often switch between playing and reading something. I don’t doubt that gaming will only become more popular over time, people will always want to just read something instead of interact. Same goes for movies and the like.
I also greatly question the assertion about “legacy gaming systems” and how we’re in the “Silent Era”.

Eh, compared to a fair amount of other games, GW2 isn’t so bad with its Walls. Try BnS some time, the walls there are terrible.

Fluffball.8307:

Ironically Greyhawk did the same when he said “most like DR just fine”.

Neither have anything other than gut feeling to back it up.

How was that the same? I made no statement beyond what does seem to be the popular opinion and nothing more (and this thread itself provides more than just “gut feeling” as back up). That’s a completely different statement than what Ardid replied with.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Rauderi.8706:

Well, it’s not really a “lake” anymore. :P
(Because ANet doesn’t want to have underwater anything as a reminder that underwater skills especially Revenant are unfinished)

…as a reminder that underwater combat, especially the 3D positioning parts, are actually pretty terrible given the vision and movement controls of MMOs available today, so it’s not really much fun for anyone.

Fixed that for you.

Speak for yourself. I – and I know many others – love underwater combat (and exploration even more so) in GW2. It has kinks, but it isn’t the 3D positioning or controls that’s the main problem.

The main problem is the skill and trait balance, the lack of switching traits between above/underwater, and the lack of skills/weapons options.

Agreed, for the most part. I do enjoy the exploration that UW gives and moving around isn’t half as bad as people like to complain, but the combat itself does need a lot of tweaking.
And they need to start giving us at least a few need skins for UW weapons, this is getting fricking annoying.

EVERYONE loves Canach.
“Brutish man with aggressively unsettling facial hair? Yes.”

Ardid.7203:

The Greyhawk.9107:

Ardid.7203:

I really hope DR gets a full overhaul and a lot of fire. I simply can’t like the place.

Unlikely, for the reasons Konig already stated. Plus you’re rather alone in your sentiments, most like DR just fine.

I know, most people follow the human safestandarized way.

Of course, if anyone disagrees with you, imply they are sheep or use some other kind of pejorative.

Chad.6104:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Beldin.5498:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Practically everyone would like to see new armor sets. Currently, ANet says it takes them 8-9 months to release a full set of armor that’s similar across races, so we’d have to assume 12+ months for armor that’s distinct for each race. The community is already impatient at the pace of new armors; I can imagine we’d put up with additional delays.

Yeah .. thats why they started to develop the game 1960 already because else they
could have never provided us all the armor sets that were in the game at release
and those we got in the first year after relase.

I know right. Unless the armors are made by a single unpaid intern who only works when he decides he wants to, there’s no way one armor takes 12+ months to develop. That’s absolutely ridiculous. If that was true then the game would’ve taken decades to create.

Heart of Thorns which had about two new armor sets per armor class + Mistward armor would’ve taken like 7 years at least.

I guess ArenaNet is in possession of the TARDIS.

I don’t have the quote but I saw a discussion some years back. Apparently when the game was in the design stages they hired temporary staff of designers and artists that were let go after the game was launched and they were no longer needed. That could be why they were able to design more armor back then if they had a larger group of people that were dedicated to armor creation.

That sounds probable. They really should have kept more of those people on. They certainly should have hired more people when HoT was in development (more than they did anyway).

Ardid.7203:

I really hope DR gets a full overhaul and a lot of fire. I simply can’t like the place.

Unlikely, for the reasons Konig already stated. Plus you’re rather alone in your sentiments, most like DR just fine.

I’ve no clue what you just said or what you’re asking for.

Azoqu.8917:

The Greyhawk.9107:

And lets be frank, if there is one class that causes the most “visual noise” its Guardians.

As a Guardian, I want my Dragon’s Maw to stick around again because it looks cool. Unlike the kittenty ring you can’t see at all. When I face Guardians in PvP, either as a Guard or another class, I would love to know that there is a knockdown spot instead of pretending to know where it is.

Make no mistake, I’m not actually advocating for the Guardians visuals to be reduced, but it does smack of incompetency when the worst offenders of “visual noise” aren’t touched when things like ele’s Auras and engie’s flamethrower become pretty much invisible.

First thing that comes to mind is the charr NPC ‘Pitmaster Genus Porterskmoke’. He’s based off the late Gene Porter, the proprietor of a BBQ joint located near-ish to Arenanet. Porter was something of a legend thanks to a sauce he referred to as “The Man”, which was probably very close to ghost peppers on the Scoville scale. Porter would only let customers try s small dollop.
The NPC Portersmoke also has a hot sauce your character can try….doing so causes Knockback, lights you on fire, and puts a status effect that says “Met the Man: you tried Pitmaster Genus Portersmoke’s famous hot sauce and lived to tell the tale”.
If nothing else, ya gotta love Anet’s real life references. Made me make my one and only real contribution to the GW wikis by making a page for this NPC.

UnsungGlory.5380:

All in favor? Gaile, I will beg. I am not a pretty crier. I need this. <3
kthxbai!

Gaile’s not in charge of any of that stuff, she can’t help you.

Hitman.5829:

Linken.6345:

Hitman.5829:

OriOri.8724:

Hitman.5829:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I’ve unlocked hundreds, if not thousands, of items. So, basically, you want anything in the Wardrobe to be accessible at no cost? Or, just a really, really large bank carried around with each character?

Good luck.

The idea is simple. I don’t know why you guys don’t get it. The gear wallet will allow you to select a weapon with specific stats that you have unlocked. You don’t need a really really large bank to access gear stats. Based on this link https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats

There are 32 gear stats.

If its so simple then why can’t you use shared inventory slots? These are your exact words below:

Hitman.5829:

This will diversify play and will allow us to experiment with different builds.
Currently, if the gear is account bound, I have to un-equip the gear, send it to the bank, log in with the other toon, have the other toon go to the bank, look for the gear and equip it. SO, if I decide to play with the toon that I removed the gear from, I will have to do the same thing.

Either you are asking to be able to share equipment between characters more easily than going through the bank (which is possible with shared inventory slots), or you are asking for the ability to acquire a piece of equipment one time and have as many copies of it as you could ever want, which is beyond absurd. So which one are you asking for?

Share inventory slots are expensive and do not help at all the cause. I don’t want to move gear from 1 player to another.

Well then bite the bullet and craft more gears for your other characters.

mmmm no, your suggestion is outrageous. There is no way you can explore the game play if you have 10+ toons and you want to experiment with different stats combinations.

His suggestion is outrageous? Sir/ma’am/it, what you are suggesting is whats outrageous, it could (in the extreme unlikelihood it got implemented) would pretty much break the game for good. It certainly would destroy the economy. Earning or making more items for your characters is a basic and intrinsic part of this game, or any MMO for that matter. And not wanting to take the time to stick an item in the bank, switch toons, then pick it up again? Weak.

So you can’t “explore” the game’s different combos on 10+ characters? So what. That’s your problem for making more characters than there are classes. Almost no one else does that. The majority of players stick mostly with just a few as there main classes.

“…see the visual noise reduction bullkitten undone!”

The Greyhawk is not amused.

Lyp Sao.1375:

Llethander.3972:

I definitely liked not being able to see anything.
I don’t mind things as they are now, honestly.

Your image: Who cares that player 42 (lower right side) is using skill 6 in this zerg blob? Or that player 12 (upper left behind player 26) wears his fancy nice amor? This is how PvE should look like. Effects and colors and fireworks.

In PvP .. they can use text messages (combat log): “Xx Warrior Xx hit your Highness with 50k damage”

I want my visible flamethrower back

OriOri.8724:

Llethander.3972:

I definitely liked not being able to see anything.

I don’t mind things as they are now, honestly.

I agree with Lyp Sao that this is how PvE should look. Even if you disagree with us though, there are two (I imagine easy) solutions to this that should make everyone happy.

• Have a toggle in your options (defaulted to off) where you can toggle the “messy” and loud visuals on for all skills that have them, or

• Only make your own skills visually loud and messy.

Agreed wholeheartedly.
Frankly, Anet doesn’t seem to know what its doing here, they keep targeting all the wrong classes and skills to “Reduce visual noise”. Last year when they turned Fireball into a lit charcoal briquette, they didn’t bother diminishing the impact animations, which were the REAL problem. And lets be frank, if there is one class that causes the most “visual noise” its Guardians. And I don’t believe they’ve been touched.
Arenanet, if your going to try to “reduce visual noise” for the players that don’t understand that PvE is supposed to be chaos, you need to do a better job. You need to figure out which skill animations and particle effects actually ARE the biggest culprits, but more importantly you HAVE to give us the option to choose whether or not we want our skills Visually Nerfed.

Chad.6104:

No backpacks, but there is the Phoenix Glider.

That does look kinda cool. Musta missed that one when it was available.

OriOri.8724:

The Greyhawk.9107:

No to the dodge one, that one is murder to people with bad pings. Used to drive me up the wall trying to get it.

The great thing about dailies is that there is a ton of variety and you only ever have to do a small fraction of them to get the AP, gold and spirit shards.

Didn’t used to be that way. Back when the dodge one was used, it was all or nothing. Obviously that’s no longer the case, but all the same its kinda a stupid task.

No to the dodge one, that one is murder to people with bad pings. Used to drive me up the wall trying to get it.

So the infamous Visual Nerf was never fully undone? That whole clusterkitten made me mostly quit for the better part of ’16…wanna make it another year as well, Anet?

Actual flame, or just colored like flame?
Either way, wing backpacks are kinda overdone a this point, I"d like to see more backpacks that fit the actual style of the game.

Not that I in anyway actually disagree with the sentiments of the OP, but why did this need a thread?

BcParadise.4021:

The Greyhawk.9107:

You know, I have wondered how safe it actually is to have a piece of an elder dragon in a high population area like that. Mayhaps its somehow inert?

Possibly. I was thinking if it’s inert, then it’d be by Jormag’s design. If it’s not by design, then I suppose it’d have something to do with how Aesgir managed to knock the tooth out.

If its in-fact inert, I’m thinking more the later than the former. Given the size of the thing and how mere physical force can’t scratch it, Aesgir musta done something super natural to even break it off.

That leads me to another question though, what is it about Jormag that makes even a fragment of it more indestructible then either Zhaitan or Mordy? I get that we learned how to starve Zhaitan and in Mordy had recently awakened, but was that enough to explain the dependency in how seemingly comparatively easy to defeat they are as opposed to Jormag’s fricken tooth?

(Edit: Was writing this while Konig was posting his response, didn’t see his until after finishing mine. Leaving this up all the same.)

You know, I have wondered how safe it actually is to have a piece of an elder dragon in a high population area like that. Mayhaps its somehow inert?