Guild Wars 2

Rhaps.8540:

Gehenna.3625:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I’ve never seen it either, mostly because most other MMOs want you to grind your way through those first twenty levels. But I do have to point out I’ve seen other MMOs where the first twenty levels were nowhere near as interesting as the end-game after a while.

Well that certainly wasn’t Anet’s intention from what I gathered…you know the whole idea that you’re doing endgame from the start and all. There are games that have very generic or should I say uninspired leveling processes. I guess I just never expected Anet to indirectly admit to that (as I see it).

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Personally, I think no matter what they stuck in the Birthday Gift people were going to raise holy heck over it. Might as well just make it something as pointless as that scroll

Hehe, I do agree people would’ve moaned, no matter what. I just don’t get why they did the scroll unless they have their metrics showing lots of characters with very low levels sitting there. Maybe I’m wrong, I could very well be, but at the moment it just seems like the most logical reason for them to do something like this.

I think you guys are totally forgetting the players have always haf the option to skip the first 20 lvls of open world lvling. WvW, you can lvl from 1-80 in zergs easily and crafting you can go from 1-80 without ever having to leave town. Its always been in the game since day 1. This scroll is just the equivalent of maxing one crafting skill. It doesnt have any implications to how Anet intended players to level. They want you to do it your way, so thats why there were other options from the get-go. This is nothing different, if anything it’s true to form.

Also how is the giving out of the xp scroll in any way ‘draconic’ ?

WvW upscales you, but if I recall you don’t get the benefit of Traits and you definitely don’t get skill points to get new skills (or slots), NOR instant mastery of your weapons.

In short, WvW before level 20 is for the hardcore

Gehenna.3625:

Hehe, I do agree people would’ve moaned, no matter what. I just don’t get why they did the scroll unless they have their metrics showing lots of characters with very low levels sitting there. Maybe I’m wrong, I could very well be, but at the moment it just seems like the most logical reason for them to do something like this.

. . . I have six character slots, and three of them are under level 25 because I use them primarily for storage. Also, I did not like playing either the elementalist or engineer. I have not been able to get the hang of my thief so she is sitting there doing nothing also.

Yeah I can believe there’s metrics of people having a lot of alts at low level. Simply for storage reasons.

Gehenna.3625:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Gehenna.3625:

But ok, you say you are serious. Skipping the first 20 levels, arguably the most interesting of the leveling process, is a good thing in your mind. You are indeed free to have that opinion and I shan’t contend that.

Well, you find it interesting, and others do also. I find it blows by a little quickly when I know what I’m doing and in all cases I usually end up under-equipped without aid from my main (specifically, crafting up some armor/weapons/jewelry) and under-skilled (not having had time to “lern 2 play” the class as if I had been slower leveling).

I recently started a thief and she’s almost level 17 now just running Queensdale hearts, events, and doing map completion there . . . DR, and Wayfarer’s when a daily wanted Shiverpeak kills (and Queensdale was a little too . . . zergy . . . for my tastes that day). I still don’t have a clue how to play her well.

Yeah ok, but I’ve played various MMOs and still do and I always had multiple characters…wel lots of characters. But the lower levels are always the ones where more changes, they are more dynamic as you build up skills etc. You have things to look forward to that are only one or two levels away. It’s always at the later levels that I would want to speed things up, not at the lower levels.

Sure GW2 has a flat xp curve so higher levels don’t take longer, but instead they made more of them. I understand people who say that they’d rather have a +20L scroll instead of a L20 scroll.

In the games I’ve played I certainly never saw any of them do something as draconic as poof you’re level 20, specifically when the game’s been out for just a year.

It could be that it’s just that I am shocked at Anet and at Vayne’s commentary because I have never seen anything like this, but it just seems so out there.

I’ve never seen it either, mostly because most other MMOs want you to grind your way through those first twenty levels. But I do have to point out I’ve seen other MMOs where the first twenty levels were nowhere near as interesting as the end-game after a while.

Personally, I think no matter what they stuck in the Birthday Gift people were going to raise holy heck over it. Might as well just make it something as pointless as that scroll

Holy Whirlwind.2067:

Not sure if this has been asked/mentioned elsewhere but:

I’m assuming Scarlet’s character and story will be tied in to the new Fractals that we will get based on the voting results. The new Fractals deals with the eternal alchemy correct?

She was already headed down the wrong road by breaking in and stealing stuff from Rata Sum, and then after seeing the eternal alchemy she changes here name to Scarlet and kills her teacher.

The new Fractals we’re getting are already determined. Presumably they are the Aetherblade Retreat, the Molten Facility, and Thaumanova. If she turned out to be a factor in Thaumanova’s explosion I’ll be disappointed. (Mostly because she doesn’t NEED to be involved in that. Maybe learning from the aftermath, but not in the actual explosion.)

LotharFreund.7456:

Well that short story was interresting. To quote a famous River (Spoilers). We will have to wait & see what happens next.

If we’re quoting famous Rivers?

“Also, I can kill you with my brain.”

Mesmers totally can, too.

Gehenna.3625:

But ok, you say you are serious. Skipping the first 20 levels, arguably the most interesting of the leveling process, is a good thing in your mind. You are indeed free to have that opinion and I shan’t contend that.

Well, you find it interesting, and others do also. I find it blows by a little quickly when I know what I’m doing and in all cases I usually end up under-equipped without aid from my main (specifically, crafting up some armor/weapons/jewelry) and under-skilled (not having had time to “lern 2 play” the class as if I had been slower leveling).

I recently started a thief and she’s almost level 17 now just running Queensdale hearts, events, and doing map completion there . . . DR, and Wayfarer’s when a daily wanted Shiverpeak kills (and Queensdale was a little too . . . zergy . . . for my tastes that day). I still don’t have a clue how to play her well.

Namica.2951:

I’m quite aware what the term means.

Applying the original meaning of something perfect that’s shoehorned in and takes the story away…

The original meaning agreed upon, though an unsubstantiated one, was a self-insert character whose flaws only strengthen the character and reinforce their special-ness. It’s become something of a catch-all for “impossibly perfect character” anymore, and lots of people do try to apply “X Sue” to characters which don’t fit so well.

zamalek.2154:

Sitkaz.5463:

[snip] is over the top racist. A lot of people in-game and out don’t mind throwing around the gentler “salad head” term.

They laugh it off though – because Sylvari are awesome like that. They are just really awesome at everything. Sylvari are basically aesthetically appropriate pink ponies and unicorns in the GW universe (from a recent interview: “… and I’ll see you in my Dream!”).

Sylvari laugh it off not because they’re awesome, but because they don’t care as much. Most sylvari I recall meeting are task-oriented with whatever they’re up to, and as such are practically invisible as a sylvari underneath it all.

Of course, are we going to talk about the sylvari pair who went to look into the matter of the Eye of Zhaitan and one went temporarily insane? They’re not immune to dragon magic, just the corruption which threatens the other races . . . and they’re only “immune” in that they die rather than become Risen.

Namica.2951:

PetboyJoshua.3108:

“Immune to magics of the series main antagonist (dragons).”

Well… They don’t get corrupted, but die instead if a dragon tries to corrupt them… so it’s not really a valid point, no ?

It sorta gets rid of the dragon’s primary weapon. The dragons we’ve seen in action so far, their primary means of being a threat is corrupting and raising armies from those they corrupt.

The only one who doesn’t do this, I think, is Primordius (thats the destroyer one right? I’m terrible with names).

They’re not immune, they just die rather than wind up corrupted into Risen/Icebrood/Branded. Though I might just be assuming that about the Branded since I don’t recall sylvari out that direction, mostly Sentinels, Vigil charr, and Ebon Vanguard.

Sieg.8439:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sieg.8439:

WhiteFox.9432:

I “like” her. I admit it. So there.
She has totally lost it. Totally. I don’t need a super villain who says: “All your realm shall belong to me, you fools!” It’s been done before in plenty of games.
So has the seducing seductress. And the cool macho. Or the old dark and sinister caped wanderer.

She lost it, it’s that simple. And we all know how crazy pure geniuses can get. Nutty professors ftw! Unless they turn evil, like Scarlet.
And it’s kinda scary, because we don’t know what she’ll do when she really gets mad. There are nu rules, no boundaries, nothing to crazy.

Good lord, just stop. >>

Manuhell.2759:

Now we just need an alliance between her and Mad King Thorn for Halloween. Oh, that would be fun.

No. The Mad King is madness done well. Scarlet is just another generic, “crazy” character.

So to speak?

So was the Mad King back in the day. It was complete lunacy one day out of the year and nobody minded it then. Everything about that holiday was cartoonish and it wasn’t until the recent “Mad King’s Shadow” where he became instead more sinister in cast with the method of his reveal.

That’s not why the majority of people who hate her, hate her.

The majority of people hate her because she has shown no weaknesses other than a lolshot at cannonballs. She’s wildly unrealistically good at everything, graduating from all three asura colleges and mastering combat styles from just about every race in what? Ten years, maybe? Yeah, okay.

Good, but not excellent, she didn’t master things from the charr or master blacksmithing. She learned what she wanted to, declared the rest irrelevant and moved on.

“Beigarth tried to dissuade her, eager to pass along the full slate of his smithing knowledge to such a unique and promising student, but she left him with a wave and a breezy smile. She didn’t need to be a master smith to forge the kinds of creations she envisioned.”

“When Ceara had learned all the lonesome soldier’s secrets and declared her intent to continue her studies elsewhere, the charr veteran cursed her for a feckless cub and threatened to gut her with a rusty blade.”

As far as “no weaknesses” . . . no, she has plenty. The fact the rest of the world wants to see her dead and can make it happen if she makes one misstep is a tremendous weakness

milo.6942:

ElSargento.6718:

1.-The minipet: It says “from 150+ minis at this point of the game we’ll give 1, buy the others”
2.-The Birthday Booster: The sole existence of boosters –of any kind- says one thing “the sum of your level and all your equipment is not enough to get by, achieve accomplishments or anything in this game, you need a little extra, buy it”
3.-The Experience Scroll: It says “Oh! Players that leveled all their chars “manually” are suckers! Now level to 20 with one click! Who cares if this is a MMO and leveling is an important part of the structure of the game!
4.-The fact that every character gets the same is just nonsense redundancy.
In sum, there is no re-playability

some good points
everything in this game speaks to a core message, a spirit, a feel
this message is different from its predecessor
it used to be something like “play when you like, no buy-to-win, player creativity is rewarded, player skill is rewarded”
and now it’s like “play when we say, check out the overpriced gemstore, buy gold for a legendary, creativity is overrated, skill is overrated”
there are lots of other “messages” but i think the rest link to the gemstore and how they encourage you to spend money

- “Play when we say” is more like “Play daily, please”. Which they wanted at the end of GW1’s lifespan because it was getting kind of barren at times not related to special weekends. GW1 did, indeed, become “play when we say” in that sense; and they said “Double Lightbringer weekend!”

- “Check out the overpriced gemstore, we have shinies” . . . and it’s still not buy-to-win so what’s your point?

- They encourage you to spend money because they need to cover operational costs. They’ve been rather up front about that part of things

Seras.5702:

Wow, good observation. On top of that we have Teyo (female) being the leader of the Inquisition & Faolin (female) leader of the Nightmare Court. Both villains, but both in positions of power. Especially Faolin, who has sway over even Caithe.

Whilst playing, I thought that Anet was doing a good job of making female NPCs that had important roles in the game. They weren’t creating endless damsels in distress and their females were strong and it was refreshing.

However, it seems that they’re having a hard time creating a strong male character that isn’t a leafy pacifist. I can’t think of many male characters that are impressive. Maybe the Vigil Warmaster…and Tybalt was cool, albeit a bit goofy.

Well there’s Rytlock, once he gets over Logan. There’s Agent Ihan during the human personal story, there’s Minister Caudecus (and yes, he’s a villain, but still a strong character), but since everyone hates Logan I’ll have to leave him off the list.

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.

Shiren.9532:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Aedelric.1287:

You left your `Lord´ Faren and Marjory Delaqua.

I think these two represent the approach Arena Net have had with the two sexes in the Living Story, it paints the picture exceptionally well. Which is why we need a better more relatable male character introduced in the future.

Obviously not to take away from any female character, but in addition to them.

Really? Huh, Lord Faren was in the Personal Story (Human Noble). Disqualified, thank you

Marjory Delaqua and Lady Kasmeer Meade barely registered to me at all, but if you insist? Marjory was interesting as a necromancer investigating murders by asking the dead questions. Which seems like something you’d have seen earlier in Tyria, but . . .

Kasmeer barely registered because she’s like that vase of flowers in my front hall. Pretty, but has absolutely zero impact on anything. You might as well list one of the Vigil crusaders with a name who has no purpose other than to be a training dummy or sell things as a character in the game.

The topic is the portrayal of males in the Living Story. I don’t discount anyone for appearing in the Personal Story (or in a book) but I am specifically looking at their portrayals in the Living Story. Rytlock, Logan, Anise, Jennah and Faren all count, but I’m only considering the way they’ve been written for the Living Story. I’m also considering prominence in the Living Story (maybe it’s just a long time since Flame and Frost but I believe Logan to be more prominent than Rytlock due to heavily being featured in the Queen’s Jubilee while Rytlock has appeared a few times, it’s only as exposition).

Yes, well, Rytlock is in it almost as much as Lord Faren or Captain Magnus.

Also, that response wasn’t to you about them “not counting”, it was to the person I quoted who said they were only considering the Living Story.

Events which take place prior to the Living Story (such as Logan and Rytlock’s relationship or Logan’s decision to abandon Destiny’s Edge to aid the queen) I will bring up but only if they specifically reflect on something in the Living Story. For exmaple, the recurring theme in Logan’s actions and decisions involving the queen which a better story probably would have shown character growth from, but the writers have the character repeat the same mistakes instead. I get that good characters have flaws, but no-one wants to see the same flaw appear and being prominently featured in significant events yet the character doesn’t grow from them.

Logan does grow from them, or rather he did decide to go out and start dealing with it. But after Zhaitan was defeated he went back to Divinity’s Reach until there was a plan for the next dragon. (He is not the leader of Destiny’s Edge, after all.) Same for Rytlock, who has duties as a Tribune to attend to.

Lord Faren is an example of a noble with more money than sense and more heart than brains. Yet from what we see? Even though there was danger he did move forward to help when it was needed. And in the Personal Story (if you care to know about it) he did offer to help. He may be a bumbling fool, but he tries to be better.

Captain Magnus I already covered.

Canach, likewise, I covered as we have very little to do with him.

Subdirector Noll is a “corrupt corporate executive” as the tropes go, and as such is an obstacle to be overcome. He also barely does anything other than act as a motivator for events.

Braham is a young idiot in some senses, but a wiser person than appears. In Flame and Frost he knew his limitations and still went after the Molten Alliance because nobody else was apparently doing so.

Fordel.3208:

My complaint with Path of Scars is I can’t seem to throw it ‘up’ reliably (or at all). I would LOVE to troll people off of keep walls with it <3.

Silly, that’s what Scorpion Wire and thieves are for, right? (Also why I started one. Because it’s hilarious.)

DarksunG.9537:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

And of course “they created the world” as according to some human myth. Only, I don’t remember it saying that in my copy of the Manuscripts.

In fact I just pulled it out . . . and there’s no mention of the world creation . . .

You didn’t read very far.. first page:

Well, you know, I do have to give the nitpickers something to do

Besides, it’s far more entertaining to listen to these things when we had very little of the mythology present in the beginning we had even after Nightfall. They literally were making a lot of it up as they went . . .

Also, we can get up in arms about the nature of magic and the gods, but not about how Mad King Thorn makes absolutely no sense within the history of the game, at all?

Domino.1359:

chemiclord.3978:

Elbegast.6970:

The short story was released three days after the patch. If it weren’t a retcon, why did they not release it on patch day?

You know, they also did a post-release story on Canach as well. There is no difference. I personally don’t see a problem adding lore after the fact.
And what forum backlash do you refer to?? I have yet to notice backlash to scarlet’s back story…

Check out the merged “Villain sue” thread. Also the ones over in “Lore”, there’s a couple people who are really steamed the “three asuran colleges” didn’t turn out to be wrong.

Ed of Death.4819:

After reading Scarlet’s story. I’m starting to wonder if that red vine may have something to do with the unseen earth dragon. Perhaps she doesn’t know it but maybe she’s the dragons champion? Perhaps it found a way to corrupt her?

It has more to do with “Grasping Vines” (Sylvari racial skill) than that. It can’t be the ranger “Entangle” since she’s possibly (most possibly) an engineer.

Forzani.2584:

mistsim.2748:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Forzani.2584:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Skady.5916:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

mistt.3698:

Kasama.8941 you are idiot i must say we dont have chill immobolize or pull

The “Path of Scars” offhand Axe now pulls doesn’t it? So does mainhand Axe 3.

As for Immobilize I have a spider or devourer for that

mainhand axe doesnt4 pull.
offhand axe pull only good against runaway noobs

Skills 4 and 5 are offhand skills when you have two one handed weapons . . . and I don’t use offhand axe that much since I prefer to run with a warhorn for the burst effect instead

At least during invasion events. Stepping into those combo fields and putting the horn out is fun

Axe 4 is Rangers best burst imo

Axe 4? “Path of Scars” or do you mean “Whirling Defense”?

he means PoS. 2.5-4k damage one way, so up to 8k damage in a line. problem is it only pulls 3 targets. WD does something like 2.5-4.5 but over 5 seconds. it’s there for the reflect and vuln. for WD to be viable, it need to be cast over 2-3s, and that vuln need to stack much faster. standing still in zerg fights is suicidal without traited Signet of Stone.

Dante.1508:

Agreed Op i gave up Wvw on rangers its a joke and a waste of time..

All these Rangers are awesome in Wvw what a crock of Kitten, go play another class in WvW and see how bad they make Rangers look, i don’t even login to my Ranger much these days as its a waste of effort..

i also main guard and necro. my frontline ranger does more damage than my guard, and the damage variant of that build brings more utility than the typical well necro. you likely dont know how to gear and spec your ranger, have a look at my thread/youtube.

Correct, path of scars……and it can do a lot more damage than you listed depending on spec. Which is why I think it is part of a Rangers best burst damage.

Something new to mess around with then Awesome. Thanks for the tips!

Dante.1508:

Throwing an axe should give stacks of Torment and Confusion, the Winters bite Should freeze targets solid like the Svanir Hammer guys do.

. . . I could see this being hella-OP.

See, the problem is that anyone can stand up and say “I can do a better job than those hacks” much like anyone can be a well-loved critic by just getting a microphone and a YouTube account. Or, failing that, a blog space.

Talk is cheap.

The only reason I’d not question someone saying that is if they’d been published. The question would still be “let’s see what you come up with”, but I’d be less predisposed to skepticism.

Man In Zero G.8312:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

DarksunG.9537:

It’s hard, man.. I don’t like a lot of the lore changes from GW1 to GW2. The main ones are the HUUUUGEEE retcon on the gods.. they went from the gods that created tyria & everything on it to semi-powerful beings that only the humans even talk about & they aren’t even in the game any more.

Oh, they’re in the game. At least, Grenth does make an appearance. And of course “they created the world” as according to some human myth. Only, I don’t remember it saying that in my copy of the Manuscripts.

In fact I just pulled it out . . . and there’s no mention of the world creation . . .

-snip-

“A lie”? Okay, what was the lie, other than one of omission about Abaddon?

It is also a Charr myth, and yes, in fact, the Guild Wars Manuscripts did say the gods created the world. They were still in the process of creating the world when the Forgotten came to Tyria- in fact it says the gods summoned them in the first place to be custodians of the world “while the gods continued to create the world around them”. It’s the first paragraph in the “History of Tyria” section. On page 26. And again mentioned on page 28.
So yes, yes the gods were retconned from the creators of Tyria to merely some kinda-powerful beings that are basically ignored by everyone but humans.

And the lie he’s referring to, I believe, is the whole “creation” thing, since it is no longer true.

You’re going to make me do it again aren’t you? I pull out my copy of the Manuscripts and . . . gee, right there at the end? It’s a human historian writing this.

Forgive me for saying, but writer bias crept in pretty quickly with this, and it is woefully incomplete if there’s no mention of WHY the Crystal Desert exists.

Man In Zero G.8312:

That’s the definition of a retcon.

It’s the definition of “unreliable narrator” in regards to the sources. Which is never the actual lore writers but characters in the world. And they’ve always maintained there isn’t 100% reliability with what historians in the world are saying.

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Wayfarer’s Reverie event – GW2 anniversary celebration (in GW1)

For completing the main quest for the event, you get your choice of:
1 – torment weapon (if you didn’t get one last year)
2 – Rytlock mini
3 – everlasting Rytlock tonic
4 – everlasting Rytlock summoning stone (one skill point per use)
5 – bag of a bunch of consumables

How does that compare to your GW2 birthday present? lol

How did my first year present in GW1 compare to this one? I got minis I Dedicated once I got Hall of Monuments, then chucked in the trash.

Forzani.2584:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Skady.5916:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

mistt.3698:

Kasama.8941 you are idiot i must say we dont have chill immobolize or pull

The “Path of Scars” offhand Axe now pulls doesn’t it? So does mainhand Axe 3.

As for Immobilize I have a spider or devourer for that

mainhand axe doesnt4 pull.
offhand axe pull only good against runaway noobs

Skills 4 and 5 are offhand skills when you have two one handed weapons . . . and I don’t use offhand axe that much since I prefer to run with a warhorn for the burst effect instead

At least during invasion events. Stepping into those combo fields and putting the horn out is fun

Axe 4 is Rangers best burst imo

Axe 4? “Path of Scars” or do you mean “Whirling Defense”?

I use Axe a lot for mid-range combat. It’s great for tagging during a crowded event with Auto-attack (“Ricochet”)

“Splitblade”, #2, the spread throw actually will work with combo fields. I used to use Axe/Torch and throw a flaming spread. Shorbow #2 does not pick up flaming that I recall, and is straight poison. I think Burning is a better damage for conditions?

“Winter’s Bite”, #3, inflicts Chill and a followup pet attack gives Weakness. I use this a lot. Especially on Champions if my pet is in melee range, which is often.

Skady.5916:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

mistt.3698:

Kasama.8941 you are idiot i must say we dont have chill immobolize or pull

The “Path of Scars” offhand Axe now pulls doesn’t it? So does mainhand Axe 3.

As for Immobilize I have a spider or devourer for that

mainhand axe doesnt4 pull.
offhand axe pull only good against runaway noobs

Skills 4 and 5 are offhand skills when you have two one handed weapons . . . and I don’t use offhand axe that much since I prefer to run with a warhorn for the burst effect instead.

At least during invasion events. Stepping into those combo fields and putting the horn out is fun

Mel ryuzaki.1402:

That is your opinion, wich only agreed with minipets and stack use option? That’s more downing other opinions. This lack of feeling for a true amazing experience wich they “sold” us when we bought gw2 hits some players, like you. You like GW2, yes just like that, it’s some game you can spend your hours on.

There’s reasons for why, but why give them with a response like this? I give my input, and would give more but why? Why bother?

Why not, “i LOVE GW2”, “i’m so looking forward to play it today!” No, you haven’t got that…

I look forward to every couple hours of time I get to spend on the game off my job, off my other job, off my house-related concerns, and away from the petty crap which my family shovels on me to take care of.

I love having the game to toy with, but then again . . . it’s not perfect. I’ve said it before. I just don’t think my ideas are worth bringing up because I do not do game design, I have not done game design, I am merely an end-user and consumer. I don’t try to design things without experience, for a larger audience than “six guys or ladies I can con into a tabletop RPG session once a month”.

Even then I really don’t know what the heck I’m doing. I’m not Chris Perkins.

Need more teams for new content besides living story? You didn’t understand that topic, people in general are tired of living stories wich lasts for 1 whole year while not prioritizing other most interesting things.

Oh, so this is a “I hate the living story” topic? I am totally sorry, I definitely did not understand we were supposed to be tearing into it on this topic. I would have never posted if that was the case.

If you want “monthly” new Fractals/Dungeons and content without abandoning the Living Story? It’s going to need more manpower than the Living Story and . . . frankly, I doubt it can be done even if there were two teams for it mashed together out of the entire LS team personnel.

There’s time constraints involved, and you can’t get around there being 24 hours in a day, with the need for sleep, with the need for the nice developers we want to do this all for us to have lives outside of work.

. . . as for the testers? Pfft, let’s run them ragged until they start missing rudimentary bugs and glitches. I mean, it’s only supposed to be perfect and bugless so we don’t have to patch it four times on release day. Am I right?

Exclusive drops from bosses/dungeons aren’t even worthy of being called so. They should be rare, good stats, stylish, that would make them costy and something to strive for.

Ehhh, I’m going to disagree. “Good stats” is subjective, but if you mean to say “Berserker stats” then you can go ahead and say it. Nobody’s really going to care. See, I’d just want skins to be applied to something you have. Or cosmetic items like the Desert Rucksack or “Dreamcatcher”-type backpacks from the Bazaar of the Four Winds. This game is not supposed to be grinding for gear, supposed to be grinding for skins and cosmetics, isn’t that what keeps getting said? Why make the gear important and not the skin?

CheckeredDeath.3849:

For each bar you complete is how many bags at the end you get. Finish the first wave and aethers. You get two bags and so on and so on. Other than getting five bags there’s next to no reason for the need of the complete.

. . . and those bags are pretty much like Champion Loot Bags, I will say. So, decide as you will. I’ll be back to doing a few invasions tomorrow After my DR goes down again.

mistt.3698:

Kasama.8941 you are idiot i must say we dont have chill immobolize or pull

The “Path of Scars” offhand Axe now pulls doesn’t it? So does mainhand Axe 3.

As for Immobilize I have a spider or devourer for that

Touchnshuv.2790:

…point 2, we have nothing to be excited about.

Speak for yourself. I am completely excited about Goedulf. Now I can get a juvenile wolf and a wolf pup following me around! With four more rangers we could have our own wolf pack.

And yes, I’ve been trying to set it up

Mel ryuzaki.1402:

Hi all, here i share some ideas players give wich i find really interesting.
The main topics are:

- GvG ( Not only the battle itself but guild ranking, also items that only can be given with certain ranks , exclusivity).

“Guild Leaderboard” is a better term then?

- Town claiming ( due to xx patterns guilds could own towns giving the G. privilleges).

Done in GW1: Factions. Not sure how useful it was as it was rather expensive to do.

- Dailies converted to weeklies/monthlies ( Gives freedom to players and availability to be flexible to play).

Not as good an idea as it was in the past with them being stored in your quest log. Since there is no quest log, I don’t know how well it could turn out. The only opposition I have to this is the reason Daily quests exist – to entice people to log in daily and be active together.

If you can find a way to fill that void, I might support this more for “seven times a week” rather than “once per day”.

- Exclusive weapons and armors from bosses/dungeons drops. ( Keeps players up for the challenge of getting one or can just achieve one from another player, still focused on exclusivity)

I think we’re getting closer to that through the Champion Bags, but some bosses in dungeons do have unique drops. They just aren’t that good. And World Bosses sometimes have drops. Look up: “Melandru’s Bloom”, “Breath of Kralkatorrik”, “Arctic Ring”, “Charred Back Warmer” . . .

- Monthly new fract/dungeon.

This would be quite labor intensive and would require a lot more manpower to develop alongside the Living Story teams. Not to mention a testing period.

- The so awarding Cantha or new expansion.

Please, people. Stop bringing up Cantha as though it was the most awesome campaign setting of Guild Wars 1. I’d much rather see the Far North Shiverpeaks again (the domain of Jormag).

- Living story heavily reduced and/or given secondary priority to it. ( Give priority to new armors, dungeons, weapons, apply exclusivity).

Frequency of it reduced, perhaps. Not the actual content, because then you will undoubtedly get into “what’s the point of it”.

- New weapon skills/skills.

This really really was a problem in Guild Wars 1, having WAY too many skills and many of them never used except in gimmick builds. Plenty more never used period.

- Minipet slot

- Option to use all consumables same time ( Instead of clicking 250x times)

These two quality of life adjustments I can definitely get behind. Having recently had three stacks of Liquid Karma to get through.

I would just like to thank people who come to forums to share their opinion, who face the hypocrites fanboys and show GW2 staff the good way that most of the people see.
If you like something you have to speak the truth and strive to make it better.

Thanks Community, to Admins

Please don’t pretend to speak only for “the good”, nor label those who you don’t agree with. People have different opinions, and some change their minds over time, and some just really enjoy playing the game as is.

I like this game, I don’t lie about my feelings, and while I don’t strive to make it better, that’s because I don’t think my ideas will make it better for everyone else. Otherwise, I’d make the ranger the most kill-stealing, DPS-cranking, toughest son-of-a-skritt class on the game.

Aedelric.1287:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Really? Huh, Lord Faren was in the Personal Story (Human Noble).

I never played a human noble, so that bit of information slipped past me.

Strangely, that was one of my BWE backgrounds while I was playing around . . .

I still like human commoner the most.

Aedelric.1287:

You left your `Lord´ Faren and Marjory Delaqua.

I think these two represent the approach Arena Net have had with the two sexes in the Living Story, it paints the picture exceptionally well. Which is why we need a better more relatable male character introduced in the future.

Obviously not to take away from any female character, but in addition to them.

Really? Huh, Lord Faren was in the Personal Story (Human Noble). Disqualified, thank you

Marjory Delaqua and Lady Kasmeer Meade barely registered to me at all, but if you insist? Marjory was interesting as a necromancer investigating murders by asking the dead questions. Which seems like something you’d have seen earlier in Tyria, but . . .

Kasmeer barely registered because she’s like that vase of flowers in my front hall. Pretty, but has absolutely zero impact on anything. You might as well list one of the Vigil crusaders with a name who has no purpose other than to be a training dummy or sell things as a character in the game.

Anymras.5729:

I doubt we’ll end up with anything worse than Scarlet Briar and her amazing ability to be retconned into everything, and have studied with everyone (including the Asura, who somehow never mention that one random sylvari zipped through the Colleges, and the Hylek, despite them having absolutely nothing to teach her, by the author’s own admission), in order to seem interesting.

As for the possibility of labor-intensive stuff…well, maybe they’d have a disclaimer regarding keeping new mechanics to a minimum and ‘Any mechanics suggested may or may not be used. Don’t take it personally if it’s the latter.’

Personally, I wouldn’t even want a reward for it. I’d just like to see some better-thought-out villains, with more interesting plots, and I’d jump at the chance to write a thing and have it used; after all, it would not just be a little bit of “Woo! My stuff is in a game!” but also possibly lead to future opportunities, if the right people happened to like it well enough.

Having judged story contests before?

Your capacity for optimism, with regards to player-generated content confounds me :P Not meant to be insulting but I really have seen worse than Scarlet Briar as often as I’ve seen things LIKE her (shoehorned into gaps in data rather than having data rewritten to suit her).

It is very rare I see anything resembling “decent writing” in a contest. I’ve seen a definite potential for more OUTSIDE of contests, but generally when you start running a contest the people with the capacity for excellence don’t enter. I don’t know why.

Mesket.5728:

You know… sometimes its even better not to give a present if you don’t know what to give:

. . . I give gift certificates/cards for places I know the other person visits. Or I make them dinner. At the VERY least I will ensure they have nothing to be concerned about that day which I can possibly step in and keep from disrupting them having fun however they choose.

I also do not criticize presents people give me with the sole exception if it was clearly intended to be insulting or not really for me. If I’m living with my parents and they get me a television as a present, then hook up a VCR to it and use it to record shows they want to watch rather than let me use it? It’s not a gift for me.

In this case, it’s a gift, but not what you wanted. It’s fair not to be overwhelmed but it’s not fair to throw it back in their face. It’s not nearly as insulting as that first-season Simpsons example you linked :P

Zeldain.5710:

This goes to show that more is most certainly not always better, and if care isn’t taken to handle returning players it can be a catalyst to quitting.

I’d rather have many fewer but much more substantial actual content updates.

I’d rather have Twilight Sparkle or Rainbow Dash as a mount so I could convince about two thirds of my friends to join and play along. That’s not happening.

But seriously? I seem to recall there was a clamor for more stuff to do in the game, and that Frost and Flame moved too slowly and needed to move faster. Now it’s a problem that it’s going too fast.

I’d totally support no more updates ever at this point and go back to just balance patching.

Astralporing.1957:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Quarktastic.1027:

DarksunG.9537:

It’s hard, man.. I don’t like a lot of the lore changes from GW1 to GW2. The main ones are the HUUUUGEEE retcon on the gods.. they went from the gods that created tyria & everything on it to semi-powerful beings that only the humans even talk about & they aren’t even in the game any more.

I think you need to brush up on your lore before you start making criticisms.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Gods

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Exodus_of_the_Gods

The gods did not create the world of Tyria. The creation of Tyria by the gods is a human myth. As for the gods no longer being on Tyria, this has been the case since before the events of GW1. The gods left Tyria a very long time ago.

They officially decided to stop interfering at the end of Nightfall, after Kormir’s Ascension to fill the Sixth position.

yes. Apparently it was Kormir’s idea and she managed to persuade all the other gods to accept it. Proving, again, that nothing good ever comes from her involvement.

Apparently it was Kormir’s idea.

. . . seriously, citation needed for that one.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

But with the current direction, I feel that players could produce far better stuff.

They could, in theory, produce something much much better than this. Of course, in the same theory, a thousand monkeys might accidentally create something much better than this.

What we’ll get is more likely to be worse or so labor intensive they won’t be able to be used at all . . . such as battles with the Elder Dragons requiring complex boss mechanics

Aedelric.1287:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Rytlock is a decent character.

As I said and the topic states `Living Story´. I say Rytlock does not count or any from the normal story, for that matter he only had a very small cameo int he Living Story, same for Logan.

Then why do we keep hearing about Logan/Anise? I’ll stop bringing up Rytlock if people stop bellyaching about Logan. Because neither of them are terrible characters, they just have their moments of “whyyyyyyyyyyyy?!”

Braham seems to have potential. He’s young but he’s actually not all that different from how a player character behaves (“brawling and battles? Sign me up! Booze? Heck, just try to stop me.”). He also makes wisecracks better than anyone else did among NPCs.

Evon Gnashblade was just plain not well worked with. He was barely a character at all, seeming more interested in increasing his own political power than actually doing anything good. I did his Candidate Trial (for the achievement and shinies) and there wasn’t much redeeming in there. “Hehe, the gold will be useful funding my campaign.”

Canach was interesting, mostly sound as a character, but ultimately not someone I’d pal around with if his first instinct was to start a murder frenzy to solve a problem. Also if you count “Lost Shores” not being a part of the Living Story then he’s exempt anyway.

On the other side . . .

Rox is interesting, and handles herself well. But there’s that whole “hero worship of Rytlock” thing people seem to miss.

Queen Jennah and Countess Anise, we can also discount since they’re part of the Personal Story and not Living Story. So like Logan and Rytlock, they don’t count. No double-standards.

Inspector Ellen Kiel is an interesting case. Whomever wrote her standard idle welcome needed to really rethink it, but overall I think she came off as a strong, loyal, dutiful character. Just not necessarily female. It could have been “Allen Kiel” and not much would have changed. Seriously. Again, since she showed up in “Lost Shores” she may be exempt from consideration.

Mai Trin is not a good character, being a pirate and outlaw, and only out for herself. There was only a short time you got to know anything about her, and then it was gone.

Scarlet then is the latest female and while she’s not a terrible character she is not a good one either. And not a good portrayal of female. I’d say she’s more a crazy eggplant lady than a female character, unless she gets some development in the future (in the game).

Quarktastic.1027:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Personally, I found the Mursaat weak and ineffectual when I wasn’t playing HM or stupidly charging into the middle of them. After you get Infused, they’re really easy to deal with. I find Scarlet not really a challenge with the “group” intended to be fighting her.

So, in both cases? I wouldn’t say she’s more powerful than the Mursaat. I’d say the Mursaat still are more powerful among the things potentially still around in Tyria.

The Mursaat might be more powerful than Scarlet, if there were any of them left. The only Mursaat who is suspected to still exist on Tyria is Lazarus the Dire. That’s not to say they can’t come back. After all, they left under their own power.

The only Mursaat we know of, mind you, as there were some active in the Battle for Lion’s Arch. Supposedly there were eight left including Lazarus. Four were destroyed during that battle for certain. Koril the Malignant died at the Temple of Tolerance, Aily the Innocent died in Shaemoor, Willem the Demeaning died during an assassination in Riverside Province.

But we don’t know if any others exist, and were not directly involved in the Krytan Civil War.

Quarktastic.1027:

DarksunG.9537:

It’s hard, man.. I don’t like a lot of the lore changes from GW1 to GW2. The main ones are the HUUUUGEEE retcon on the gods.. they went from the gods that created tyria & everything on it to semi-powerful beings that only the humans even talk about & they aren’t even in the game any more.

I think you need to brush up on your lore before you start making criticisms.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Gods

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Exodus_of_the_Gods

The gods did not create the world of Tyria. The creation of Tyria by the gods is a human myth. As for the gods no longer being on Tyria, this has been the case since before the events of GW1. The gods left Tyria a very long time ago.

They officially decided to stop interfering at the end of Nightfall, after Kormir’s Ascension to fill the Sixth position.

Aedelric.1287:

We have had many great female characters and I do not want that to change, but how about throwing in a decent male once in a while.

Rytlock is a decent character. Male character, that is. I’d also say Captain Magnus is fairly decent, having the best intentions for his city at heart when he acts. (Also, he gets a lot of respect from me for pretty much mobilizing a huge effort when the karka attacked the city and he had the first clue of where to go. No “let’s send a small force to check it out”. No, he sent two ships and set about making base camps.)

DarksunG.9537:

It’s hard, man.. I don’t like a lot of the lore changes from GW1 to GW2. The main ones are the HUUUUGEEE retcon on the gods.. they went from the gods that created tyria & everything on it to semi-powerful beings that only the humans even talk about & they aren’t even in the game any more.

Oh, they’re in the game. At least, Grenth does make an appearance. And of course “they created the world” as according to some human myth. Only, I don’t remember it saying that in my copy of the Manuscripts.

In fact I just pulled it out . . . and there’s no mention of the world creation . . .

Then Scarlet came..

I’m trying to be respectful here but also be true to how i feel about this character. I’m not trying to make a personal attack, I don’t think anyone should be fired, etc.. that’s just idiotic.
That’s being said.. Scarlet is the stupidest character in all of GW. She’s annoying, not menacing, not witty, looks stupid, she’s Sylvari (can we get off the Sylvari for once) her back story is not believable(tbh, the more I find out the more ridiculous she’s becoming) and her power-level makes great, mysterious enemies like the Mursaat look wimpy & ineffectual. Worst of all, is her actual personally. The sassy, “crazy”, rebellious teen is… its annoying.

Personally, I found the Mursaat weak and ineffectual when I wasn’t playing HM or stupidly charging into the middle of them. After you get Infused, they’re really easy to deal with. I find Scarlet not really a challenge with the “group” intended to be fighting her.

So, in both cases? I wouldn’t say she’s more powerful than the Mursaat. I’d say the Mursaat still are more powerful among the things potentially still around in Tyria.

Other things like the gods retcons can be begrudgingly accepted. They still feel wrong, but the story can move forward. For Scarlet i feel like the only way to fix it is to make her back story a dream, or a lie (like what was done with the gw1 gods lore) or an illusion that someone put on her. & the Alliance of the 3 armies? maybe someone else actually did it.. but leaving things as the are.. I’m gonna believe scarlet is non-canon, just ignore the actual story from now on, or just move on till scarlet blows over.. And know more about a character’s background doesn’t make them better. Sometimes the mystery makes them cool, so explaining more & more doesn’t make her not annoying.

“A lie”? Okay, what was the lie, other than one of omission about Abaddon?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

They just no longer get assets they got before.

The word you’re looking for is “funding”, I think. Considering from how I understand it, ArenaNet does not handle the pursestrings . . .

Gandarel.5091:

Nah no need to explain. I know about the references. It’s just that there are many unfinished and untold story plots in GW1, and they don’t pick any.

Mursaat, Razah, Evennia for example.

You pick those?

Glint’s egg, Mhenlo and Cynn, who built the Eye of the North, Majesty’s Rest, Wizard’s Tower, the Bloodstones, Tomb of the Primeval Kings, the Ring of Fire, whatever that strange tower was in Wizard’s Folly . . .

DoctorOverlord.8620:

But for all the crowding in LA, it’s still something to see a wave of players rolling over a hill as your small group is struggling with a Clockwork boss. The game is far more impressing with culling off and I’m glad to see it gone.

It’s just as impressive (and gut-sinking) to hold Stonemist and see a similar wave coming your way at a wall you’d just been repairing. Knowing the bulk of people were out responding to hits on supply camps or to grab more for repairs or defensive siege, and there is no way the 20 people inside can hold out right now.

To OP:

Not quite sure what to tell you. I’d say you missed a heck of a party while you were away but I missed most of “Secret of Southsun”/“Last Stand at Southsun” myself and anything after that (until recently) was mostly feeling like a alternately-tuned Halloween or Wintersday . . . intended, from some of the dev comments, that they wanted some festivals to fall back on.

I’m not sure about the new Achievements menu either, but I do like the ability to set specific ones to “watch”. Also, the Zenith skin system is neat. Can we please get it expanded upon to store other skins? Pretty please?

The lack of culling hurts my performance (low end on the SysReq) but it does make me feel better. Already planning on going for a stronger computer for Black Friday, mostly because I also have about nine games I want to play but can’t due to system requirements.

Beetle.2476:

Narcemus.1348:

I think the problem here isn’t what the individual Sylvari might know upon awakening, but instead what the Pale Tree herself knows through her connection to the dream.

I would assume the Pale Tree gets the same things sylvari do, just from many other angles. Shes basically what would happen if about 1000000 insanely stupid skritt formed a scratch. Because of this, she connects them all and cam occasionally see a missed connection- IE the attack on the Chantry of Secrets.

I assume the Pale Tree knows much much more than it tells the sylvari or allows to flow through the Dream. I also know very little about what the sylvari are capable of with their connection to plants and nature, given I’ve seen at least one merge with a plant and others seem to bend them to their will in odd ways. (Morgan’s Spiral for instance.)

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Then what was the point behind the Molten Alliance?

Or the attack during Dragon Bash?

Really? Well all right then.

The point behind the Molten Alliance as to start moving pieces to a place she could step in and control them. They were far too strongly idealistic at the start, believing themselves much stronger than they were and got beat down for it. (By an immature norn and a gladium, plus some riff-raff who may or may not be Commanders of the Pact.)

The point behind the attack on Dragon Bash was that it wasn’t the plan; Plan A was to insert Mai Trin into the Council later, but that was screwed up when Marjory proved to have some means of unmasking those involved. Plan B seemed to be poking at Lion’s Arch and their machines and seeing just what use they might be. After the Aetherblade Retreat was stormed, Mai Trin was a sacrificed pawn to make it seem like there weren’t many more Aetherblades and we were done with it.

You can easily say the same thing, but Scarlet’s been hiding herself and her forces until making a big strike. All for the purpose of saying “you are not safe”? Seems possible but given Scarlet’s personality shown, odd as all hell.

I did imply the big strike now was an opportunistic move, more a case of “I just can’t resist the drama here”. Scarlet seems very impulsive in both the story and the event.

Not to mention that putting Mai Trin on the council would be pointless – unless that wasn’t part of Scarlet’s plan but her coying Mai and the Aetherblades into her ranks. Similar to her convincing the dredge and Flame Legion to work together for improvement of technology (dredge needing fire magic; Flame Legion needing technology).

Putting Mai Trin on the Council would not be pointless if it had happened rather than been disrupted. Of course this assumes there was an actual goal to put Mai Trin there rather than Scarlet just telling her that was the plan and having something else in mind (namely, making the Aetherblades desperate enough and leaderless to fall in under her will).

There’s too many unknowns to do more than play “what if” for a long long period when most of what we know is Scarlet is a threat who was not necessarily blunted after this whole section of the LS.

RedSpectrum.1975:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

SirDrygan.1823:

You all should ask, why target Divinity’s Reach? Why didn’t she attack the Grove instead?

Maybe she can’t attack the Grove, due to one reason, the Pale Tree is stronger than her and her army or she knows the Pale Tree is dying………which would make it pointless for her to attacking it…..

It’s more simple why DR was attacked.

Queen Jennah made a big show of how humanity still was strong and wanted to show off their creations. What better way to hammer down some enemies than spoiling that? Which, notably, is already done. Win or lose, the watchknights supposedly meant to be a fine creation became one rampant threat after another. And she proved the city is still vulnerable.

Again, win or lose, the point was made: “you are not safe”.

Quite possibly to destroy self-esteem too. The main thing humans have going for them is their will and confidence in themselves. If that’s gone, then they’ll start to fall apart.

If she says the line “You all sound like pages from some self-help leaflet!” I’m gonna have to take a long break while I hunt down the writer who snuck it in and first congratulate them then give them a dope slap for it.

I have my doubts Kerrsh saw part of the Eternal Alchemy, but he did get a response from the Facets in a sense . . .

. . . hmm. I remember that quest, never finished it but remember looking at the ciphered lines at the end having been translated and going: “Huh”.

Going to rewatch this a few times to try to get it all but something is not sitting right here.

SirDrygan.1823:

You all should ask, why target Divinity’s Reach? Why didn’t she attack the Grove instead?

Maybe she can’t attack the Grove, due to one reason, the Pale Tree is stronger than her and her army or she knows the Pale Tree is dying………which would make it pointless for her to attacking it…..

It’s more simple why DR was attacked.

Queen Jennah made a big show of how humanity still was strong and wanted to show off their creations. What better way to hammer down some enemies than spoiling that? Which, notably, is already done. Win or lose, the watchknights supposedly meant to be a fine creation became one rampant threat after another. And she proved the city is still vulnerable.

Again, win or lose, the point was made: “you are not safe”.