Guild Wars 2

zeromius.1604:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Dante.1508:

This is pretty much it, I very much dislike Ascended and i use it because i’m forced to keep up, not because i want it..

I really do hope the populations decline again over this junk, not because i want the game to fail, but because i want Anet to get it through their thick heads that a lot (maybe a majority, not sure, seems so) do not want this stuff..

I guess time will tell..

I just hope they don’t pull another tier out until this time next year. 2 years is almost an acceptable timeframe, but then I don’t see them putting another tier in UNLESS there was an increase in level cap and new areas which would be harder.

A new tier of gear has already generated this much backlash. I can’t imagine ArenaNet wanting to release something above Ascended or have Ascended gear with better stats like tier 2 Ascended. It’s hard to say what they want to do with the level cap. If they raise it then it’s very likely there will be outrage over something called power creep and all the max level items becoming obsolete. It’s actually an ongoing problem with WoW expansions and I think ArenaNet needs to learn from this so they don’t make the same mistake.

The thing is, it is possible to do it and they haven’t ruled it out. (Of course, they have not ruled very much out, probably learned their lessons on that score.)

I’m more shuddering at the thought if someone decides to design “Legendary Armor”.

Durzlla.6295:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

HotHit.6783:

No.

I realise you find it slightly strange that the ranger has a non-magical, non-technological one handed ranged weapon. But for several ranger builds the axe fills a beautiful niché. It’s clear that guns have no place in a ranger’s toolbox and unfortunately rangers seem to have forgotten how to use staves and wands. Even so, I love my axe.

Wait, you wanded with a ranger before? I only did that when it was said I needed a “caster weapon” to trick AI. It was always good ol Recurve for me MAYBE I would use a Flatbow for pulling.

Yeah I’ve never wanded, staff? Oh yes, I’ve used that one A LOT, especially with WS builds. I’m more upset by rangers completely forgetting how to dual wield daggers, throw spears, and use 2h hammers though, I mean wtf? Hammers and daggers were a LOT more common in ranger builds than a kittening sword…

You don’t need to tell me about hammers. I ran “Bunny Thumper” for a short time, and so did Zho in the Norn Fighting Tournament. (Mhenlo also ran 55 Monk and that was hilarious.) I wasn’t blown away by anything spears could do, or daggers in a ranger’s hands.

Assassin/Ranger though . . .

Ashen.2907:

Even so a non farming build could generate 5k platinum an hour if a player was interested in speeding up the process of attaining those specific skins. A farming build, fairly readily put together for those interested in such could produce orders of magnitude more (my best yield, not counting specific one time ultra valuable drops, was measured in the hundreds of thousands of gold per hour). Ive seen nothing (not claiming that it doesn’t exist) to compare in GW2.

I don’t think so, based on my experience. My non-farming build could NOT generate that amount in an hour. I manged 2k during the end when I was gunning for buying parts for my Obsidian Armor. (And decided “screw it, I’ll go without”.) And that’s using farms and potential from GW1 at the end of its life cycle. In the first year with Prophecies, it wasn’t as easy and required . . . well, as you put it. It required knowing farm.

In fact, you pointing out the need to farm (even without a dedicated build) proves the point. You really needed to farm to get this “easy” gear.

Dante.1508:

TooBz.3065:

Yeah, they are on their path. You just have to decide if you want to go with them.

This is pretty much it, I very much dislike Ascended and i use it because i’m forced to keep up, not because i want it..

I really do hope the populations decline again over this junk, not because i want the game to fail, but because i want Anet to get it through their thick heads that a lot (maybe a majority, not sure, seems so) do not want this stuff..

I guess time will tell..

I just hope they don’t pull another tier out until this time next year. 2 years is almost an acceptable timeframe, but then I don’t see them putting another tier in UNLESS there was an increase in level cap and new areas which would be harder.

Ashen.2907:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Way easier than Exotics?

For both Gold, Req9 weapons “late” in the GW1 Nightfall campaign (Sunspear Sanctuary) and prestige armor (Sunspear Prestige Armor) I had almost as much “farming” to do compared to my Armageddon Armor of Balthazar I’m currently wearing. And my longbow fell into my lap at Fireheart Rise for map completion.
.

I’m not sure that it is reasonable to compare GW1 prestige armor to GW2 non prestige items such as exotics.

If you are going to use GW1 prestige items as your basis of comparison then you should use GW2 prestige items, such as tier 3 cultural armor or Legendary weapons, as well.

Even then there is the distinct possibility of breakdown in comparison.

All right then, let’s point out even easier:

Max armor was available in Nightfall at the Consulate Docks. This is almost criminally early for the campaign. By comparison, Prophecies had you slog to Droknar’s Forge which was . . . not all that easy unless you were “run”. Which was either expensive or chancy (scammers did exist and did make money off people).

This was non-prestige armor, and it still took some effort. I’ll go with Droknar’s because it was Prophecies and came first before Factions and Nightfall included comparative express trains to Lv20.

Droknar’s Forge armorsmith would make your maxed armor for 4k, 175 Cloth, and 28 Linen (a rare component, mind you). Or 4k, 175 Tanned Hides, and 28 Scales (more doable). Weapons all cost 5k and potentially some relatively expensive ingredients (Feathers, Granite, Steel).

9k required at the very least some farming OR lucky drops in Prophecies. It did become easier later, notably, but it was still going to lead into at least some farming.

I did comparatively as much farming to hit 400 Leatherworker as I would have to do to hit 9k right now in Guild Wars 1.

Zero Day.2594:

@Tobias
not going to argue with you, but you had to level up both LW and huntsman (resources,time), cool one fell into your lap from map completion (RNG, luck) just like you could say one fell into your lap after you beat a campaign in gw1 (gw2, you get a rare? geee thanks!). Dont remember how i got my weapons…. but if i dont means it was nothing special, not hard, not easy (though greens from bosses, were, very, very, easy), if you were going for the looks then yeah some skins would cost quite a bit.

i think you’re missing the point that, getting max stats in gw1 was easy…. going for the looks was hard.

So you’re not going to argue with me, then you proceed to argue with me? Awesome.

But as to “the point” I am missing? No, not really missing it, I’m pointing out it’s remarkably similar in scale when you consider the lengths of the two games. GW1 was short to max level (VERY short, even for its time) and GW2 is . . . not.

GW1 it was also incredibly easy to get max weapons with unique skins early on. Buy the GOTY edition. Woo! Problem solved

There’s a sidepoint to this too, which is simply not being talked about. GW1 was never meant to be about PvE when it was released. PvE was a training ground (so to speak) for PvP.

Elbegast.6970:

Seasons
Better Weather Effects
Dark Nights (no, not Christian Bale)

Well darnit, there goes my suggestion for who to voice the next male in the Living Story to go up against Scarlet.

Seriously though, if we could get seasons and weather effects, this would be awesome. I don’t think it’s quite simple to work with . . . but if they could get it right before Minecraft’s modders . . .

Purchasable Real Estate
Player Owned Shops
Player Owned Farms (for Livestock and Produce)

. . . you know that puts it two seconds away from “Farmville” comparisons?

Fishing, Hunting & Farming Professions

Or one line.

In seriousness, I would like to have a farm or such to cultivate cooking ingredients difficult to find in the open world, OR as a means of cultivating some Fine crafting ingredients.

Player-Generated Dynamic Events

CoX did that, and with predictable results: events designed specifically to be farms.

HotHit.6783:

No.

I realise you find it slightly strange that the ranger has a non-magical, non-technological one handed ranged weapon. But for several ranger builds the axe fills a beautiful niché. It’s clear that guns have no place in a ranger’s toolbox and unfortunately rangers seem to have forgotten how to use staves and wands. Even so, I love my axe.

Wait, you wanded with a ranger before? I only did that when it was said I needed a “caster weapon” to trick AI. It was always good ol Recurve for me MAYBE I would use a Flatbow for pulling.

Zero Day.2594:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Well max stat gear was very easy later in the game, but not so much easy to get it dropped with a sane Requirement and extra bonuses which you wanted. Such as Energy +5, Armor +5 . . . Health +30 . . .

like mrstealth said… the cost/effort of getting them is way easier than exotics (oh let’s not forget that they too need runes… and with ascended they will need infusions(time gated? lauries?))
Even say for a very specific set, 55monk or 55necro… even if you built/get the gear for you can use it farm out what it cost you. But that’s another issue….

Way easier than Exotics?

For both Gold, Req9 weapons “late” in the GW1 Nightfall campaign (Sunspear Sanctuary) and prestige armor (Sunspear Prestige Armor) I had almost as much “farming” to do compared to my Armageddon Armor of Balthazar I’m currently wearing. And my longbow fell into my lap at Fireheart Rise for map completion.

Even if neither had been the case, I had all necessary parts and skill for Exotic Leatherworker and Huntsman last December . . . I just hated the look of it.

Wukunlin.8461:

VoxShatterfall.5470:

Allowing completion players like you or I to get what we want after 100 hours of grind, without a gate, is like allowing a child access to any sweet they want all at once. While I think most completion players are able to put a halt on the game so they don’t burn out, I think some are just like me who feel good with completion and will stop at almost nothing for it. Time gating is the ONLY way to help manage this compulsive behavior, outside of professional help.

Reminds me of the GW1:
“You have been playing for x hours. Please take a break.”

edit: I still hate time gating

I once left my game running doing Lucky title in Nine Rings with four stacks of tickets.

“You have been playing for 16 hours. Please take a break.”

. . . and I still didn’t get very close.

mrstealth.6701:

Zero Day.2594:

@stale , sad but true…. GW1, your builds werent locked in by your gear… like i use pvt/zerker for most standard builds, condition builds would require a complete different set…. just feel nostalgic by the name.

The difference was max stat gear was very easy to get in GW1, much easier than exotic in GW2. I’d say somewhere between masterwork and rare gear, in terms of cost/effort.

I thought exotic was a bit much, at first. But after playing for a bit, I didn’t have any issues with the effort in getting exotic gear.

Well max stat gear was very easy later in the game, but not so much easy to get it dropped with a sane Requirement and extra bonuses which you wanted. Such as Energy +5, Armor +5 . . . Health +30 . . .

Nuka Cola.8520:

TheDaiBish.9735:

Nuka Cola.8520:

Meglobob.8620:

Casuals spend the most $ on gems because they having paying jobs.

Hardcore players or players who put the hours in use gold to buy gems.

Without casuals no GW2.

how could this be true is the game sold 3.5 mil? where did that money went to?

• Recuperating costs of developing the game
• Wages
• Bills – Building, Electric, Water
• Equipment maintenance + Server costs
• Profit

3.500.000 do i need to add anything else? Its not 500k we’re talking about but 3.5mil………… this is just sad excuses

Well he didn’t list equipment upgrades, which can cost a lot if you have to do them in a large bulk and at a high enough level. Also, as someone DID point out it’s likely it’s not ANet that gets the money, it’s NCsoft who gets it and hands back what they feel is needed for an operating budget.

Danikat.8537:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Diviner.7405:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Diviner.7405:

So I never really understood this logic.

Why cater to casuals?

I have heard claims and claims that there is a larger casual base than a hardcore base…. but is this really true?

Now I might be wrong here, but I would imagine casuals are the people more likely to move from game to game after 1 month or so then a hardcore player.

So what I see Guild Wars 2 doing is:
Most casuals move on to other games in 1 month or so no matter what you add to the game. It is just their nature.

At the same time, hardcore players are alienated and leave.

So the outcome is that you are losing on both sides. Would it not be better to keep the hardcore fan-base, so you are at least winning on 1 side?

Maybe Im missing something here…. hmmmm

Yes, you’re missing something. You’re making assumptions with no facts to base them on.

My assumptions are based on my years of gaming and stuff posted in this very forum. While these could not be facts necessarily, they are merely observations that I have seen demonstrated which seem to be aligned with the truth.

I could say that you have no facts to disprove my assumptions, but that may be a little convenient for me, so I will try not to take that cope out, but we will see.

If your assumptions are correct, why do most MMO developers cater to a demographic that you say leaves after a month? Perhaps they know something you don’t?

Why are most MMOs struggling and/or shutting down relatively quickly, or going free-to-play and attempting to draw in more causal players?

More importantly, why are so many MMOs assuming people are going to stop playing a game they’ve been playing and paying into for years to play the new, shiny, and untried game which may not be any good?

I know a fair number of people who would try games for a couple months, then go back to what was the most familiar or where they had been spending their time. For MMOs it was EverQuest or WoW. Why? Because that’s where their stuff is and they worked SO hard to earn it, it feels like a waste to cut the cord.

Anymras.5729:

Well, they’ve already got it in Fractals. It’d give them an easy option to start branching it into non-Fractal content, which would help force people into crafting Ascended gear for the Infusion slots.

Well, only in a sense. Personally, if I had a LS segment I was adding Mursaat . . . with Agony, because I’m not adding Mursaat without their Spectral Agony . . . either:

1. It’d be a region with a crier before you enter going “Wait, you’re not going in there are you?! That’s suicide!” to explain the need to prepare for Agony. Note, you CAN survive low-scale Agony if you’re keeping an eye on your health. You make the “Jade Mursaat Weapons” drop in there however you like, and you have a reason for players to get geared to go in there. Maybe have them drop not the weapons but crafting recipes at 400+.

2. It’d be an instanced “dungeon” you run through with a few boss Mursaat throwing Agony around enough to require high skill without Infusion to beat. (Note: You could technically kill them without Infusion in GW1 too, it was just REALLY HARD.) Again, make the reward something worthwhile without being “too good to do without”.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

It’s already being used. I mean, I don’t see that many people stomping the remains anymore. In Frostgorge this morning I saw a portal event with four silver Twisted Nightmares. Yeah, we just let that one go.

I assumed most people didn’t stomp because they were all too busy making sure they tagged all the mobs!

To be honest, it wasn’t full of a lot of people as it was like 6am CST

I’m pretty sure most people weren’t stomping because there was already stuff there, rather a lot of dense concentration of Twisted Reavers.

DarcShriek.5829:

When compared to it’s peers, GW2 is very successful. They must be doing something right.

Putting on my “unfair critic” hat:

No they don’t need to be doing something right, they only need to catch all the people bored with WoW and subscription-service MMOs who still want something to play which looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and gives loot like a duck.

It’s already being used. I mean, I don’t see that many people stomping the remains anymore. In Frostgorge this morning I saw a portal event with four silver Twisted Nightmares. Yeah, we just let that one go.

mrstealth.6701:

morrolan.9608:

ASB.4295:

Fun Fact: The only reason there’s no direct gear progression in GW1 is because Anet at first didn’t regard their PvE content as anything else but a lengthy tutorial for what they considered was going to become endgame for every single player: PvP

Yet GW1 survived for 7 years and is still going.

I don’t see GW2 lasting that long if they stay on the current direction.

Ultima Online still is running via emulation in some places, and I think is still officially online. So is EverQuest (both officially and via emulation). And despite a hiatus, I know Meridian 59 was online about six to twelve months ago.

Longevity isn’t a measure of success, it’s a measure of how dedicated the players are to your game. Or rather, what they did in your game.

Viking Jorun.5413:

With these types of names I’d assume ANet was taking inspiration from the childrens’ series, The Magic Treehouse!

Placeholders, mostly, but also with an awareness. As far as I can tell asura are named with two consonants and females end in a vowel sound. Sylvari seem to have names sounding like they’re out of old European legends. Krytans used to have somewhat Mediterranean sounding names, I thought, so . . .

Besides, I came up with this in 12 hours without time to sit and polish everything including the dialogue. I also had challenged myself to come up with the rest of the content of it too, with the assumption large amounts of art assets weren’t going to be made available or authorized.

Yes. I know it’s not awesome. I could probably do better given some time but I really don’t have an intention to.

I just hope the weapons are things I’d actually want to be seen with and not, you know, the Pistol of Zillyhoo . . .

Anymras.5729:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Anymras.5729:

, and the dialogue (of particular characters, such as Delaqua or Scarlet) painful.

Dialogue is always hard.

Tobias: Hey, that looks pretty good. Brings existing lore back into the limelight, which is always a bonus.

It’s a slow start with no real payoff, and I approached it under the idea there would not be many new art assets to work with, and only one new temporary zone (the dungeon). It expands on potential if . . . for instance . . . I decided it was okay to use that broken bridge in Lionshead Outcrops? Or if there was indeed a green light to bring back a Mursaat.

Yeah, dialogue can be difficult. I think the voice acting in those parts may have something to do with it, as well – but the pseudonoir airs they tried just didn’t work anyway.

Hey, a slow start is still a start – and not every Living Story has to have some great world-changing payoff. If they okayed bringing back a Mursaat, that’d definitely be a “Oh, crap.” moment for people who’d played GW1.

Bonus points for also allowing Agony to creep in :P

Same as last year, with maybe a few more things there. Another “chapter” to Mad Memories, an item to replay the “Mad King destroys the fountain” cinematic like we have the other two items thus far . . .

. . . pumpkin chunking with trebuchets in WvW . . .

Scoobaniec.9561:

Well tell me whats the point getting ascended weapon if their damage will be on par with exotic? +3 power bonuses? Anyone im asking ingame is actually happy thakittens coming out..Forums seems to think different. I don’t know..will 50 more atk change a lot? In pure zerker in actually getting 3962 attack with bloodlust stacks and 0 might.

Infusion slots.

Assuming higher-tier content is coming (“Hard Mode” or a specific set of areas set to be 80+) there is a potential for Agony to be involved. If it’s in an open world event, that Agony may be made to scale up to kill . . . I mean meet . . the power of the zerg.

In that case, anything you could possible manage to fit Agony Resistance into is good, and the more options of where to put it the better.

If crafting Ascended gear follows the same crafting “rules” as Exotics?

I don’t think there will be a problem on picking which one to make, and depending on how the materials and amounts is set it may be feasible to do multiples.

Sardonia.8196:

The question I have is, what will be the cost of one piece of ascended gear? First you must level to 500? I have a feeling that is going to be quite costly. Secondly then you must make the T7 mats which probably will not be cheap.
I would love to know the cost. My guess 50-100 gold a piece. who knows.

I’m thinking there’s less “level to 500” and more “they start at 400 with some forms and increase in availability to level 475 where everything opens up and 500 is the cap because 00s are easier to work with”.

Narcemus.1348:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

(Author’s note: this started as a joke in an IM chat with Thalador. Originally meant to just be the joke about Faolain and Caudecus, but turned into this.)

You know there’s a chance that as long as this remains on here, it will become the plot line of GW2…

There’s a greater chance it will not happen.

. . . the challenge of including something made by a fan into official lore THAT central as opposed to, say, just a couple NPCs or a conversation? And I don’t mean writing or coding challenge, I mean legal issues.

(And yes, I know there are ways around it entirely but I’ve found many companies prefer to steer away from those rocks rather than wholeheartedly try to sail through.)

Anymras.5729:

, and the dialogue (of particular characters, such as Delaqua or Scarlet) painful.

Dialogue is always hard.

Tobias: Hey, that looks pretty good. Brings existing lore back into the limelight, which is always a bonus.

It’s a slow start with no real payoff, and I approached it under the idea there would not be many new art assets to work with, and only one new temporary zone (the dungeon). It expands on potential if . . . for instance . . . I decided it was okay to use that broken bridge in Lionshead Outcrops? Or if there was indeed a green light to bring back a Mursaat.

I really wish enjoying this game wasn’t met with people telling me I shouldn’t enjoy it, or trying to push labels on me.

I enjoy this game, or roughly 66% of it.

I don’t do Fractals all that much I don’t do sPvP at all, I do dungeons only with guild groups, and I barely commit to WvW. I only just now today bothered getting my second piece of Ascended gear, and it was because I wanted a quiver and finally had most of the parts for it.

I enjoy hopping on and doing the Invasions, primarily because I am often testing out stuff rather than going for “teh lewtz”.

I enjoy the Living Story because, hey, it may not be amazingly groundbreaking with the story but it’s at least not a daily routine of “same old thing, different day”.

I enjoy playing this game because I don’t need to “cash” to be useful, I just need to TRY and learn how to play my class. And maybe adjust my style somewhat now and then. (I need to remember to try running TeamSpeak/Mumble on this rig and see if it causes massive crashes again.)

I enjoy hunting for those things which are kind of neat to me and make the discovery worth the time put into looking for them.

Most of all, I enjoy the days . . . few as they are . . . when I can spend time with my guildmates. I enjoy not feeling like I NEED to be in every day or else (on the other hand, I do enjoy feeling that I accomplished something when I logged in, rather than just spinning my wheels farming or poking stuff for nothing).

First, nice to hear someone has a nice big family affair playing the game. Always great to see something that brings a family together to have fun. Or share the frustration (that makes it more bearable, I find).

Second, not gonna make a big deal out of it but maybe she’s a bit young for a lot of things? I hope it’s not too much for her.

Lastly, as people have said . . . it gets easier if you get together and focus. You only need credit with one Twisted Watchwork portal to get credit for taking part in the Invasion on that map. If you want that tonic, a good way is to hit up the Daily for Clockwork Chaos (check the symbols on the achievement tab) as it also counts. These are, often, very simple . . . such as to kill Aetherblades, or to get at least bronze in a portal closing.

It is a lot easier to get credit for doing stuff if you specifically target NOT champions or vets, but the normal enemies. She should be able to get kill credit on one or more of those . . . which should in turn allow Bronze.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Sometimes we get a bit carried away with our clever theories though. It is also quite possible that it simply is as straight forward as it is presented to us:

Maybe there is a wizard named Isgarren, and maybe it is just him and no one else. No Inquest, no White Mantle, no Arcana Eye. Just one wizard, taking people up to his tower for some sinister/mysterious purpose. It would be boring (I like Konig’s hypothesis better), but I wouldn’t put it past the GW2 writing team.

Well look on the bright side, if they did that there wouldn’t be many complaints about retconning and shoehorning in new lore in the place of the old.

Oh who am I kidding . . .

I’m sad to say, I have worked on it but the bulk of the time was spent checking things and sizing it up to something more technically fleshed out than story fleshed out. But I have finished most of the central dialogue in a rough sense here.

It hurts having set this up when I had to sleep for a few hours in the middle But —

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/fangen/Hypothetical-Living-Story-Bandits-of-Brisban/first#post2719390

And no, it’s not all that good or fleshed out story-wise. But it is something which has been percolating ever since I spent time doing completion in Brisban.

Middle Scenes: Brisban Hideaway

[Shining Blade Investigator]: Well, this is something. I didn’t think any place like this could be so thoroughly hidden but here we are. The White Mantle have a nice hole here and it’s time to smoke them out. Be careful, I don’t know what’s in there but I’m sure you can handle it.

(The hideaway is a series of caverns, which both rise and descend through tunnels and a canyon where a rope bridge is over the ravine. Falling in is death, naturally. Brambles are found in patches, which will give Cripple and two stacks of Bleeding if you move through them. Standing in them will stack more Bleeding and refresh Cripple.)

(Eventually there is a room where a force field prevents progress, and a side-tunnel will lead to a small Inquest laboratory where Terre has set herself up. Inquest groups patrol this tunnel and protect the entry into Terre’s lab.)

— When confronting Terre.

[Terre]: Hey, you’re not supposed to be in here. This is why you don’t let bookah run security. You’re going to be sorry you intruded on my research.

[Terre]: (Dying) But I almost . . . had it . . .

[Terre’s Console]: An unfamiliar symbol is visible here along with various notes about the fragments having auras which don’t match anything in the Arcane Council database.

(Beyond the force field there are more tunnels and an upwards passage full of brambles and vines. At the end is a cavern with an open ceiling and Nightmare Court patrolling. At the top is an opening into a cavern where brambles coat most of the floor and Othello can be found with a dead human corpse on the floorl)

— When confronting Othello

[Othello]: You know, I was hoping for more practice, and it just walks right in through the door. Thank you for volunteering. Hold still, this won’t take long.

[Othello]: (Dying) Well . . . played . . .

(Down the other path is something of a ruined temple and a few chambers with fallen ceilings and collapsed hallways off in various directions. At the end, there is an altar of sorts with a large purplish stone obelisk in the center, and a human commoner is in a knockdown position at the base of it. In front of it are three White Mantle leaders.)

— When confronting the White Mantle Leaders

[Confessor Piers]: Unseen Ones, we grant you the blood of this sacrifice so that you may show us your presence. Accept our offering, and return to help us cleanse the land of the Unbelievers.

[Inquisitor Garth]: I think they’re here finally. I told you not to trust those asura, or the plant-lovers. They couldn’t stop a wild moa.

[Justicar Dalana]: Do you think you’re playing the hero, intruders? Just you wait, the Unseen will have a special punishment for you when they return.

[Confessor Piers]: If we leave you alive long enough to witness their glorious return, that is. Garth, Dalana, let’s show our intruders how we deal with our enemies.

— After the battle

[Commoner]: Oh thank goodness you came in time. Those people were crazy, talking about unseen things, chosen ones, and worse! If you hadn’t gotten here I don’t know what would have happened. Please take me back home to Shaemoor!

Altar
+ [Examine (F)]: You get the sense something is watching you, but you’re not quite sure from where. There is simply an overwhelming sense of malice.

Opening Scene: Going West

— Countess Anise is in the Seraph Headquarters standing across from Logan at the desk.

[Logan Thackeray]: Is it possible you’re over-reacting, Countess?

[Countess Anise]: Captain Thackeray, is it possible you’re not taking this seriously enough?

[Logan Thackeray]: Bandits in the Brisban Wildlands is hardly something new to consider. I’ve had Seraph looking into the matter for years now and never really gotten anywhere with it. It’s simply too far from Fort Salma to get much done. Even the Lionguard don’t have anything-

[Countess Anise]: Allow me to stop you right there. I received a missive from an anonymous source which requires at least some investigation. It states there is something going on in the Wildlands between members of the Inquest, the Nightmare Court, and the White Mantle.

[Logan Thackeray]: The White Mantle?

[Countess Anise]: I take it I have your attention now. I’ve sent an investigator of my own to the area, and I hope I can convince you to send someone of your own.

[Logan Thackeray]: As I said before, Countess, it’s not close to any support. In case there is something serious happening, there’s nowhere for any help to come from. The closest is Fort Salma, and that’s not very close. However, it seems I have another option which just walked in the door.

— Cutscene ends.

NPC Dialogue:

(If human)
[Countess Anise]: Welcome, <Charname>, I’m please to see you’re doing well. I’m also not surprised to run into the Hero of Shaemoor this close to another situation about to develop.
(If non-human)
[Countess Anise]: I take it you have an interest in these matters? I could definitely use fresh eyes on this matter. I can’t promise you rewards for your effort, though.
– What’s going on?
[Countess Anise]: An anonymous informer has told me there is some involvement of the White Mantle in bandit activity out in the Brisban Wildlands. The Shining Blade has to take some interest in the matter.
– Who are the White Mantle?
(If human, with "Unknown Parents)
[Countess Anise]: Did you forget already? I wouldn’t blame you, the White Mantle aren’t quite as active as other threats to Kryta. A long time ago, the White Mantle were a group of fanatics who ruled Kryta. They followed powerful beings called the Mursaat, and were only stopped at great cost to the people of Kryta. Since then they’ve been active now and then but never to the same level of threat as before. Mostly as minor nuisances to travelers.
(Otherwise)
[Countess Anise]: You’re not from around here, so it’s unsurprising you don’t know who they are. A long time ago, the White Mantle were a group of fanatics who ruled Kryta. They followed powerful beings called the Mursaat, and were only stopped at great cost to the people of Kryta. Since then they’ve been active now and then but never to the same level of threat as before.
– Why are they more a threat now?
[Countess Anise]: Because, for once, I don’t know what they’re up to out there. If they’re solicting aid from potential allies, that means they could put together a considerable threat to Kryta and the Queen. I need someone to look into it, and someone to keep the investigator safe.
– What are the Brisban Wildlands?
[Countess Anise]: It’s a portion of Maguuma west of Fort Salma in the Kessex Hills. Kryta doesn’t have any official presence very far into the Wildlands, but I understand there’s a few asuran laboratories set up in there so maybe they know something more if you ask them about it.
– I’ll get right on that.
[Countess Anise]: I’d be very grateful if you lend a hand. Feel free to go to the Brisban Wildlands near Fort Salma and the Seraph camp there. I’ll mark it on your map so you can find it easier. Be careful, there’s a reason it’s called the Wildlands.

(If human)
[Logan Thackeray]: Hello again, my friend. I wish we could meet under better circumstances, but duty seems to have a way of showing up unwanted and unexpectedly.
(If not human)
[Logan Thackeray]: Welcome, please excuse me. This matter might require further attention. If you need anything, Lieutenant Groban can help you.
– What’s going on?"
[Logan Thackeray]: That’s a good question. Countess Anise is telling me the White Mantle may be involved in bandit activity out west, but I don’t have anyplace to work from past Fort Salma which is secure.
– Who are the White Mantle?
[Logan Thackeray]: A nuisance which continues to be something Kryta has to deal with. If they’re out there, then it’s important we look into it. I can’t spare any more of my Seraph, but if you wouldn’t mind checking it out?
– Why don’t you have any Seraph to spare?
[Logan Thackeray]: Because of recent events, I simply have too much to keep track of in Divinity’s Reach to send a large contingent out to the Wildlands. Hopefully, it’s simple enough to nip in the bud and we won’t have to worry about anything further.
– I’ll look into it for you.

Anymras.5729:

I’ll write something, though, between now and 7:15 AM EST. Something I’d been intending to do tonight got canceled anyway, so I might as well put the time to use.

I’ll see about getting something out by 7:30am EST myself. (I had an unfortunate interruption which will eat a nice amount of my time later tonight. Suffice it to say, never let anyone pour hot beef fat down your garbage disposal and leave it . . . )

. . . extra dungeons like in D&D Online you could spend some Gems on to access through the Fractals lobby.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Kiriwar.7382:

My problem with Scarlet is that, if someone is so smart, such a genius and the FIRST SYLVARI to graduate all three ASURAN colleges at the top of the grade – why have we -never- heard of her? Why haven’t we heard NPCs in Rata Sum talking about this sylvari that was smart but ‘something happened’ and she was kicked out?

As the story mentioned, she was stripped with all titles, thus was never mentioned.

We haven’t heard of a horrible murder of an asuran professor who made a machine to freaking see the Eternal Alchemy!

That’s easy. Asura dies all the time in some freak accident so it doesn’t cause an alarm when an Asura dies while tinkering with their machine.

We haven’t heard any ambient chatter about her whatsoever, which makes her place in the world very unbelievable and shoehorned.

Perhaps it’s a taboo among the Asuras to speak of her since it will highlight their biggest mistake in allowing a non-Asura to graduate from their colleges.

Good options, but there are other reasons why the asura would never talk about a sylvari who went through the three colleges.

Pride.

Someone who wasn’t an asura, who then wound up ditching them for the Inquest when she felt it wasn’t good enough?

I can almost hear Maurice LaMarche.

“And let us never speak of this bookah again. Agreed?”

Narcemus.1348:

Moto didn’t seemed interested in anyone’s offers.

I know, but at the same time, one of the “concerned asura” which showed up to rant to him was frankly quite hilarious.

. . . what were we talking about again? Oh right.

Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Scarlet anywhere near this one.

tolunart.2095:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I dunno, I think the third group (“we don’t care, we’ll get it if we need it”) is bigger than both combined.

I’m certain of it. For good or ill, Anet tries to include something for every segment of their player base. What happens is that pleasing group A will kitten off group C, while Group B doesn’t care either way. Group B is generally larger than A + C, so overall the game itself and the players are not affected by any of the changes.

If you enjoy character progression and want to improve your numbers over time through dedicated play, then Ascended gear is for you. If you don’t like this aspect of the game you need to recognize that some players do like it, and let them have their fun.

I have been, and more notable are the ones screaming “Berserker or nothing” instead of “Ascended or nothing”.

But that’s another topic, which also barely interests me more than “will they ever give me a chance to pwn some Mursaat again”.

Astralporing.1957:

TooBz.3065:

You have no more reasonable basis for saying “most of the players do not care” than we do for saying they do.

Oh, i actually agree with that points. Most of the players do not care – but it doesn’t matter because those players will never get ascended gear anyway. What does matter is whether the number of players that want ascended gear is bigger or smaller than the number of people that are against it. From what i have seen so far, it’s the second – there seems to be way more people against ascended than those that want them.

I dunno, I think the third group (“we don’t care, we’ll get it if we need it”) is bigger than both combined.

I also still hold the opinion the power bump isn’t really going to cause incredible problems PvE side (except maybe shave 1 minute off CoF1), sPvP side it won’t matter, and WvW it may matter but the siege will balance it all out. (Arrow Carts for everyone!)

Konig Des Todes.2086:

“Somewhere” being nowhere.

No, a little more than nowhere. They managed to leave an open door to talk with him again, thanks to being more polite and less . . . slimy.

data.4093:

Remember when you could get max gear and customize all your characters? Guild Wars 1 remembers.

. . . I can get max gear now too, and customize my character. I’m quite pleased with what I have on him right now. He very much resembles the character he was back in the day (with his armor redyed to represent his chosen order). Well, except I’m still missing my Mursaat Recurve Bow. I really want that back

I can craft any jewelry/accessories I need up to Exotic and if I really felt like it I could have done Ascended trinkets. I just didn’t care. I can still do it, if I really find that I need to.

But if we’re going to talk about remembering Guild Wars 1? Hey, you remember when you needed to really grind your face off to get a sane amount of Ectos? But you needed insane amounts to get that lovely Obsidian Armor? Remember when Black Dye was ugly as sin but incredibly expensive to acquire? Remember what a Req 8 maxed Elemental Sword would run you?

I do. Oh god I do.

Narcemus.1348:

Anybody wondering if, with next month being Super Adventure Box, Scarlet will make an attempt at another piece of technology?

Well last time the Consortium already made an attempt and got . . . somewhere . . . with it.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@Tobias: While he didn’t claim to have seen the Eternal Alchemy, he says to have a better understanding – which is more or less the same thing, seeing how the Eternal Alchemy isn’t a thing, but a concept to describe the meaning of life.

I mean, if you want to get technical, what Ceara saw couldn’t have been the Eternal Alchemy, but at best a representation of the Eternal Alchemy.

Kerrsh was going to have a “better grasp” after what happened, because he had a glimpse of what the Six Gods could do and might possibly be. It could be said to be the same as teaching algebra to someone – they will have a better grasp at math, but they don’t have nearly all of it understood. See, now there’s calculus and differential equations they still have to learn.

It wasn’t even a representation of it, it was a view of a part of it which could have hinted at a greater mechanism in motion. And that’s if you believe the Eternal Alchemy actually completely exists at all.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Seiran wasn’t a great character, but neither was Tybalt and Forgal – too limited in interaction for proper development.

But Seiran and Ceara are worlds apart. Ceara being far, far worse.

I find myself saying this a lot.

Ceara (or many other characters/events) REALLY needed some foreshadowing and presence before this happened.

Maybe having been put in at the first update of Frost and Fkittenomeone the players could talk with. We get to see she’s bright, proud, and wants to be self-made in a way which almost is unsettling if you think about it too hard. Then she disappears without warning and we only had a lack of information as to what happened.

Then she pops back up later, having gone around the bend like this, and we hear she went through . . . something . . . which caused her to lose her grip on sanity.

It wouldn’t stop people from criticizing it, but it could have made it easier to work with.

Sankofa Jimiyu.1567:

I would venture to say that the entire Guild Wars storyline has been following some matriarchal undertone.
The original Guild Wars, from King Adelbern's and Prince Rurik defeat at the hands of the Charr to the to Gwen's establishment of Kryta as what would become the new homeland for humankind, women have come out from under the usual shadow cast by male counterparts.
As for Logan’s ineptitude, this also could be a build to an actual relationship with Queen Jennah. It seems to mirror Keiran Thackeray’s courtship of Gwen enough to make it very romantic, if only in a comedic way right now.

The defeat to the charr was inevitable, and if it had been a female character we’d be hearing about how women can’t succeed. I’m serious, there was no way Ascalon could win after the Wall was breached and the charr were able to march like they did. They could barely survive. Also, Rurik’s defeat was at the hands of the Stone Summit leader as the refugees from Ascalon were trying to make it through the Frost Gate. Which was successful so it wasn’t a failure it was a heroic sacrifice.

Your spoiler marking detail is factually wrong; I think you have the wrong person in there. Not saying you’re completely incorrect – Kryta turned definitely a tad matriarchal after the War in Kryta, but the responsibility/honor was on someone entirely else.

Keiran’s courtship started off “inept” because it was a subordinate trying to bring a little cheer to his commanding officer. Then he was a little more personal than he probably should have been and ran full on into Gwen’s little . . . obsession, and got verbally slapped for his efforts. It wasn’t until he was MIA after the War in Kryta Gwen began to think otherwises, and it was efforts by a stranger and events forcing Keiran to “man up” which made him change her mind to actually consider his proposal.

Logan’s thing with Queen Jennah has many, many, more thorns in the mix. It’s not just a commanding officer, it’s the queen and he’s (presumably) not a noble in the hierarchy of things. He has the duty to Destiny’s Edge to juggle when (not if) it comes to the forefront again. While they’re not fighting a guerrilla war, they are fighting off at least two sets of enemies as well as whatever else happens to crop up. Without the luxury of mobility to keep themselves out of reach should anything go really . . . really wrong.

Anymras.5729:

Even with a timeframe and strings, they should be able to come up with an interesting villain. It’s not that hard. Anything in that link I posted, for example, I came up with in maybe an hour, not counting time spent writing it out – it was an idea I had while trying to go to sleep.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say . . . you’re not entirely correct.

First, “interesting villain” is subjective. To put it mildly, everyone in the game . . . and I mean everyone . . . has their one thing they absolutely don’t care about. For me, it’s the asura politics. Couldn’t stand it back in GW1, can’t stand it now. So an interesting villain someone comes up with who slides into that part of the game? I won’t care about and they won’t be interesting to me.

For a lot of people, it’s the sylvari. They don’t want anything to do with them, and would cheerfully ignore they even exist. Seriously, it’s not hard to find about two dozen people right now on the forums who would see any sylvari character (protagonist, antagonist, even bystander) and simply not care. Come up with all the interesting things you can about them, it won’t matter.

For others, and this number is almost as much as the previous, anything even remotely concerning Logan Thackeray will get thrown out the window so hard it will bounce. Ditto Trahearne and Eir. I might go so far as to say there would be more people who would cheerfully ignore any LS material which involves Trahearne unless he was killed every hour on the hour and brought back to life so it could happen again.

So, there’s a consideration: there’s nothing you can create which will not instantly get a group of people going “this sucks and is completely uninteresting”.

Secondly, you don’t know what strings or restrictions, or even timeframes are set. Okay, say I told you tomorrow morning, with no advance warning, I needed a complete and fleshed out script by the end of the day. It can’t use anything this other team is using without their permission. (By the way, they have their own deadline they’re working under.) Why the time crunch? Well there’s time to get the script looked at and polished up, the artists to make up the assets we’re going to need to make it work (especially if nothing is reused), then the voice actors have to have their schedules checked against ours, then it’s time for the animation team to get to work on the cutscenes and then the testing krewe gets their hands on it to make sure absolutely nothing is going to break when it goes live. And this assumes the first thing you give me is good enough to go to work on it.

Lastly, and this is very important, more so than the other two . . .

It won’t make any difference how well you work on the holes in the lore, no matter how tightly it works with (and actually works with) what’s established? There’s going to be about three dozen players vocally tearing it all to shreds over retcons, colon-mining, and any possible detail they don’t agree with. And there will be retcons, colon-mining, and everything else even if they have to invent it.

You delivered the best written, most detailed, and comprehensive story you could possibly put together. It still will never be good enough to present to a group of MMO fans, let alone a whole group of fans AND the people who are just waiting to take a knife to it for anything and everything they don’t like.

And before you say it, no. I am not saying ANet laid the golden egg and nobody is giving them credit. Their story isn’t perfect (any of them) and there are flaws in just about every Living Story segment they’ve released. None of Guild Wars 1 was perfect either.

I’m saying there is nothing which can be put forward right now which isn’t going to be torn to shreds. And especially not anything which has to be done on a schedule and within a budget. And most especially something done solely by one person without access to the same resources as the team putting together the LS.

IF you want an example of it, I’ll gladly provide. I would . . . almost . . . put Gold down if I were to take 12 hours to put something together as far as a scripted opening event, middle event, and closing event for a Living Story segment? It would not be remotely as good as the Living Story.

Aedelric.1287:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I’m not against it. You’re really not reading what I’m saying and trying to put me into making an argument I’m not making.

I am not trying to put you into an argument, I just do not understand if you are for or against. You seem to argue against by saying we have strong male roles already.

That’s not an argument against, that’s a detail I feel people keep glossing over or discarding in favor of a point they want to make.

Check my other postings about this topic and you’ll probably see exactly what I think on the topic:

By all means, keep putting strong characters into the Living Story. Male, female, machine, whatever. Strong characters are welcome here. I prefer they be strong characters over whether they are male, female, or whatever.

Aedelric.1287:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

We do have well-done males in the story, and we have well-done females in the story. We also have weak characters of either gender floating around too.

We have a handful of well made relatable male characters, we have lots of strong well written females characters. It is quite disproportionate if you start to count them up, additionally, male characters seem to be cast as idiots such as Faren, Quinn, etcetera.

Hey, you said we can’t count PS characters in this conversation so no fair pulling Lord Faren and Quinn in

Make up your mind whether we’re talking PS and LS or not.

Asking for a couple more good lead roles is not an outrageous request, why are you against it Tobias? Can you honesty say you like the trend of Lord Faren like males?

I’m not against it. You’re really not reading what I’m saying and trying to put me into making an argument I’m not making.

Anymras.5729:

The only reason I posted the last two paragraphs is because I honestly don’t think I’m anything special – I’m certain that many of the people playing GW2 are quite capable of coming up with more interesting, developed, relatable villains and plotlines than the crap that we’ve had as Living Story right now, which is why it’s so baffling to me that Anet is paying people to write what they do.

I’m certain many people could, if we define many as “more than three”.

I’m also certain the ANet writers could do better, if they had an infinite timeframe and no strings attached. Unfortunately, that’s not really the case for any collaborative work.

ThiBash.5634:

Compare Scarlet to Seiran, and you’ll see the difference between a poorly and a well-written character. Seiran has talents and flaws, isn’t perfect at anything and is still struggling with worldly concepts like sacrifice.

Scarlet is a cartoon supervillan.

. . . you choose Seiran as a “well-written character”? Well, okay, I would have gone for Tybalt instead. Or Forgal. I’d even bring in Minister Caudecus. Or Ogden.

Seiran and Scarlet both have qualities which could easily represent them as members of your average “Saturday Morning cartoon characters” In fact, they could fit into My Little Pony well enough with just a change of species.

(Note, that’s not a slam against that show, but the characterization is a bit shallow to begin with over there. The writing, not so simple.)

. . . of course, Seiran can’t have any more work done to her, Scarlet can if they decide they want to. Won’t stop people from complaining though.