Guild Wars 2

Elbegast.6970:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

CETheLucid.3964:

Elbegast.6970:

BobbyStein.2315:

I’m voting for Kiel. You should, too!

I’m happy for you. Now, please, go write something that has nothing to do with merchants, crabs, politics or pirates.

But merchants, crabs, politics, and pirates make for a great story.

How else did “Deadliest Catch” get so popular?

Because the viewers, not-so-secretly, were hoping that a regular cast member would fall overboard or that one of the featured vessels would meet an untimely end at the bottom of the Bering Sea. It had nothing to do with crabs and everything to do with commonplace voyeurism.

You take all the fun out of light sarcasm, you know that? Heh.

CETheLucid.3964:

Elbegast.6970:

BobbyStein.2315:

I’m voting for Kiel. You should, too!

I’m happy for you. Now, please, go write something that has nothing to do with merchants, crabs, politics or pirates.

But merchants, crabs, politics, and pirates make for a great story.

How else did “Deadliest Catch” get so popular?

Verata will be there. And his entourage is a crazy dangerous thing to take on when Vanquishing

Elbegast.6970:

I laugh at all whom purchase items from the gem store. You are only harming yourselves with such endeavours.

Nah.

I bought my infinite axe, pick, and sickle so I could stop worrying about whether or not I had forgot my Copper Logging Axe was in hand when I was moving through Orr, or when trying to snipe the Orichalcum node at the top of the Karka hive with a Mithril Mining Pick.

I considered all three very nice purchases. If only for the convenience factor of no longer carrying five gathering tools in a bag so I didn’t “waste money” with a Mithril Pick while in Queensdale or Wayfarer’s Foothills. Or waste gathering in Orr or Frostgorge . . .

Holy Whirlwind.2067:

The only person to blame is yourself, the table did not change.

Well in this case the (drop) table did change so . . .

Look, this isn’t hard. This is reminding me a lot of my Magic days and the people telling me to quit buying boosters if I was after a specific card. Rather, save the money I was spending on boosters and get the single card from a store selling it. Or trade stuff I didn’t use for it.

If you want the skins . . . get the skins directly via the Trading Post. Turn that $50 in Gems into gold.

Rottaran Owain.6789:

As I recall, the fractals were funded by the consortium, and introduced at the same time lore-wise.

Also, the black lion trading post held no influence (outside of stocking gem store items) on the living story until this update, so as far as we’re concerned, anything goes with the living story.

The Consortium didn’t fund the Fractal research, the gate they were setting up to Southsun Cove malfunctioned and dumped people into the Mistwrought Observatory. Dessa decided to just make use of the people filtering in to do her research on the handful of “fractal realities” in the Mists so she could start to figure out how they came into being and what they were.

What we know of outside of the game is the Fractals are the past, or perhaps an alternate present, but not the future. (Currently anyway.) They are echoes of what once was.

Thobek.1730:

sure there has been plot progression, but that doesn’t make it a good story. That’s what all the complaints are about. Also the fact its poorly deliver and boring doesn’t help.

that being said there are some little gems in the story which give me a spark of hope, unfortunately they extinguish it the next patch with more dribble.

Here’s the thing -

Ask around, and you’ll probably find any game you could hold up as an example of a “good story” would have detractors who would disagree. Nitpicks, technical details, or plot holes which make no sense due to various reasons . . .

We haven’t seen a game yet which really and truly tells an excellent story and at the same time is an excellent game. We’ve had games which had a good story but barely a game (Xenosaga, and there were many other issues which dragged it down), we’ve had games which were great games but really blew it on the story (Portal).

First and foremost, the question always does have to be: is the game fun to play? If the answer’s no, then you need to step back and figure out how to make it fun. If you want to tell your awesome story, write it but not as a game. Or at least do the game first, THEN figure out how to get a story in there.

But you know what the Living Story reminds me more of as it unfolds? Someone’s tabletop RPG world where a couple people who know the creator run game sessions each with their own story arc, which may or may not affect other sessions/groups.

I like Captain Ellen Kiel for a point I made in another thread:

As leader of the Lionguard effort against the karka, she managed to get it done in four days when the Pact took forever to just get to Orr. The karka aren’t a threat outside of Southsun Cove while the Risen are still a credible threat in some parts of southern Tyria.

I like that she managed to give the Consortium a black eye over their duplicitous use of the refugees without actually making it seem like she did anything. Remember, she didn’t take any actual credit for anything there other than keeping people safe. We all “know” it was Canach who did that dirty deed and he’ll be made to answer for it. (Heh.)

I like that she does things with authority and confidence as opposed to “I’m not sure this is going to work…” I like the fact she approaches problems intending to solve them, with a decisive effort.

I also like that people are going to be complaining about her more than Trahearne if she actually wins.

I’d support Evon solely, except great-great-great-grandpa Trueflight would come back as a Foefire ghost to slap me around for backing a charr. And if he was better at it than Master Ranger Nente, I don’t wanna tangle with him.

Besides, I like Captain Kiel. Remember the time she basically kicked the Lionguard into gear to reach Southsun Cove faster than Trahearne could move the Pact on Zhaitan? I mean, sure it’s a nasty stretch of rock with overgrown crustacean heckspawn on it, and we all regret every minute we had to spend on it . . .

. . . but we got there, blunted the threat of the karka to the outside world in four days. The Pact can’t even keep the Risen in Orr, or the Icebrood north of Frostgorge Sound.

Zenon.4328:

If you want someone to stop treating you like cattle, then stop acting like cattle.

People who complain about RNG are seriously the people that are paying the money to fuel RNG. Those people also say they will quit RNG, but a month later or when the next shiny gets release, they go running back to it and then running back here to complain.

Arena Net should make a separate forum for people to complain about RNG.

Isn’t there one for the Black Lion Trading Company?

I expect we’ll see something of a cutscene difference, but for the short term we’ll get away from Lion’s Arch and into other matters while the Living Story teams digest the results and figure out what happens from here. I bet there is a vague idea of what will result but nothing concrete until they know for sure which one’s winning.

However.

I would see Captain Ellen Kiel continue on as Magnus’ helper to work against threats to Lion’s Arch. Now with an airship, of course, so she can realistically do fast-response if needed.

Captain Evon Gnashblade would likely rage about the unfairness of it all until picketing players remind him about his silly chest scheme and he grumbles off to plan ventures for greater profit. Like making the Consortium buckle under serious actual competition rather than “aren’t they cute? they think they’re competing” type comparisons.

Where did you get it as a drop? This is . . . interesting

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

VOLKON.1290:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Yeah, I’m unfortunately on the other end of the scale.

For me, the new content is unplayable. Not unenjoyable – literally unplayable. I can’t make any successful jumps at all, so I can’t get up to the airship and all that.

:(

Sounds like it may be a system issue on your end perhaps? How are other aspects of the game?

Very little lag (ping of 50 last time I checked), with occasional lagspikes (they happen), but the rest of the game is behaving normally.

The problem I have (and have always had) is with the SAB jump pads, which were later recycled for Dragonball, Aetherblade dungeon and jumping puzzle, and now the aspect skills. I have insane skill lag just on these (my normal skills are unaffected), and every single time I use them wihtout fail. By the time I see the jump animation, server-side I’ve already fallen to my death, so I have zero control over the movements.

It could be something not your internet connection, but something else in the background? Or control lag? (I have a known issue with my mouse entering “sleep” sometimes without warning).

I’m tempted to agree, Claw Island was a big pile of infant cats to deal with. Difficult to handle, slightly off on timing, and loads of Risen to plow through.

I don’t mind Trahearne as much. His job is over now, it’s our turn to be the “specialist” at work fixing things around the Living Story pieces

dronzer.8392:

heart was a lame power! I remember watching this show and everytime I thought how useless is heart! that’s probably why it was the last power to be called when he summoned captain planet!!

CAPTAINN PLANEETT! he’s the hero!! gonna take pollution down to zero!!
good times…

Heart is an amazing power, and Aquaman is not nearly as much of a joke if you really think about either of them.

Oh, by the way, might say Molten Alliance counts as Earth and Fire. After all, most of the stuff going on was underground.

Ellen Kiel was also around during the events of the karka attack on Lion’s Arch which destroyed the old lighthouse. She organized a Lionguard effort to spearhead into Southsun Cove and establish several minor base camps in an effort to discover how to neutralize the threat.

When it came time to go back there and handle the issue of the refugee camps putting pressure on the Lionguard stationed there, Inspector Kiel was dispatched again and showed some devious problem-solving with understanding why that mess was going on and how to solve it neatly.

The Dragon Bash events were slightly different – she was tasked with a simple relaxing guard post. Then things went wrong and she started calling in favors from adventurers to come look into matters.

I’d like to hear about what Captain Evon Gnashblade did, other than start the Black Lion Trading Company . . . which can stack up against someone proactive and resourceful like Captain Ellen Kiel

Johje Holan.4607:

Hey Tobias come join us in WvW more often – not just the JP. Come fight with us and die with us.

I do I mostly, due to my trouble getting PvP to work for me, just escort yaks or run supplies to repair. Or I do the next best thing – take camps nobody’s watching.

I also die a lot. A lot. No, more than that.

captaincrash.6528:

I’d like to pick Evon. Don’t know why they portrayed him as a shady character in that cutscene, the Black Lion Trading Company were portrayed as good guys before in contrast to the Consortium.

. . . please note, “good guys in contrast to the Consortium” there. Also, the Black Lion company has it’s shady side too. Haven’t you heard they’re price fixing the precursors?

I like Ellen since I ran into her before with the Lost Shores event. (Someone who started pulling aside adventurers and going “hey, you, can you get to the bottom of what the heck just rolled the Lionguard like we owed them money?”) I like Evon’s pragmatism and general attitude just from the cutscene starting this month’s Living Story.

I’ll wait until I see what they offer, then back which one appeals most. It’s how I chose Kurzick/Luxon

Waffler.1257:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

- I’m already a free kill; I’m a ranger :P

Rangers are one of the most powerful classes in 1v1 and have some of the best mobility in the game. If you are a free kill, then it’s of your own making.

I can sometimes get away from the fight, but I haven’t been able to win a 1v1 against the types of things I come up against. People keep saying rangers are awesome PvP classes but I’ve had more evidence suggesting they’re only good when they can choose their engagements.

Much like thieves.

. . . but I also freely admit I’m either terrible (or “moderately capable” at best) at PvP type combat in every game I play, so.

Chris.3290:

I remember quite a few times being attacked by SBI and CD in the JP.

It’s a PvP zone and the rewards directly aid the opposing force.

I’d be sympathetic but it’s unbelievably easy to get 500 badges. I get ~150 badges a weekend.

I’m not there for the badges. I’m there for the kite this week. That’s it.

You beat the puzzle for the achievement and get 500 badges, you are welcome to go back to PvE.

Considering that CD has been able to take every BL at least once, you guys should have gotten your map completions done as well.

I’m so tired of the EB JP carebear crap.

I’m not CD, I’m SBI. And I come and go from WvW from time to time, generally late late nights when I have nothing else to do. I got map completion for the WvW lands after the fourth rotation, way back when SBI was really strong and had no problem taking Stonemist and holding it for almost an entire week. Heck, I prodded some guildmates into getting it done that week since “you don’t know when you’ll get another chance”.

. . . and I’m tired of “carebear” crap overall, also. I was so tired of it when that crap started. I don’t know why being interested in PvP (or the reverse) makes someone better than anyone else or more worthy. I don’t care, I just know I’m crap at PvP (and pick crap classes/builds) so I steer clear of it if I can. I know I won’t win and am just cannon fodder. I haven’t been serious about PvP since UO, and even then it was just to know how to spot and get out of ambushes.

I don’t want the Obsidian Sanctum made “100% safe” (I stopped asking for things I know aren’t going to happen ) . . . I just want a mesmer access at this point so I can put it behind myself. Though good news, after last night I think I can just about clear it with an hour of no disruptions . . .

Azure Prower.8701:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

To the people from SoS who I was lighting up the Dark Room for: Thanks for not killing me. Thanks especially for not mistaking for an attack the mud which drops out when I fall, and thanks for in turn showing me a few of the jumps.

To the people from SoS who proceeded to turn around and spike me dead in the arena? Please find something better to do. It took about ten minutes for a small knot of us to begin to question if it was going to stop, then when we did fight back and got to the top about three of you kicked us back down. Two of you waved “all clear” before bombarding me dead on the first chandelier.

I get it. It’s a PvP-allowed zone so you’re entitled to this. There’s rewards at the end including Siege prints, so it’s okay to deny us those.

But I wasn’t attacking you, and at least two others with me were just trying to get to the kite. At least, I didn’t until you made it clear you weren’t going to stop.

So. I’m planning on waiting until I know a mesmer is in the JP doing portals because I’m not going to run into the jaws again. I will, of course, continue to not attack anyone from other servers in the JP proper and identify myself with waving and bowing. Why? Because I ask the same courtesy of you folks.

I usually don’t attack others in the JP when passing by them. The difference between me and you?

I’m always ready for a fight and expect those with red names to always have hostile intentions. A ‘wave’ means jack to me.

Learn to not be a free kill nor mope about it on the forums and you’ll do well.

Though unless they /invite you to party and come to a clear verbal agreement. Only then it would be a jerk move for them to turn around and spike you.

Well . . .

- I’m always ready to die, especially in WvW. I can’t take anyone 1v1 unless they’re incredibly weaker than me (read: upleveled very far), and fights in WvW areas are rarely 1v1. Therefore, once I take some hits and can’t escape? I just resolve to get killed.

- I’m already a free kill; I’m a ranger :P

- I’m not moping about it on the forums, I’m venting frustration over the events. Moping about it would be to bring it up unbidden each time I posted. No, I mope about how people hate Kormir and Trahearne. This? I’ll stop caring about this in another four hours

To the people from SoS who I was lighting up the Dark Room for: Thanks for not killing me. Thanks especially for not mistaking for an attack the mud which drops out when I fall, and thanks for in turn showing me a few of the jumps.

To the people from SoS who proceeded to turn around and spike me dead in the arena? Please find something better to do. It took about ten minutes for a small knot of us to begin to question if it was going to stop, then when we did fight back and got to the top about three of you kicked us back down. Two of you waved “all clear” before bombarding me dead on the first chandelier.

I get it. It’s a PvP-allowed zone so you’re entitled to this. There’s rewards at the end including Siege prints, so it’s okay to deny us those.

But I wasn’t attacking you, and at least two others with me were just trying to get to the kite. At least, I didn’t until you made it clear you weren’t going to stop.

So. I’m planning on waiting until I know a mesmer is in the JP doing portals because I’m not going to run into the jaws again. I will, of course, continue to not attack anyone from other servers in the JP proper and identify myself with waving and bowing. Why? Because I ask the same courtesy of you folks.

Meriem.3504:

When I read the history of GW, I never played one, it sounded pretty interesting to me, but in game the storys been -_-

Yeah, to be honest? The first game’s story was mostly that way as well, including some part somewhere which kitten ed at least one person off enough to ragequit FOREVAH.

Prophecies was bland and never intended to hold water, just connect the dots and train you up for PvP. More people liked PvE than was anticipated, so it became a focus.

Factions was by-the-numbers with very few surprises, and was better at atmosphere and setting than in the story.

Nightfall had some interesting things but it wound up focusing a fair amount of the story on the NPCs, some of whom were interesting or entertaining and some of them . . . not. Also, Kormir and Varesh.

Eye of the North had story which sprung almost entirely from Prophecies, and had a somewhat disconnected feeling despite being an expansion even Canthan or Elonian native characters could go through.

Really, in my opinion, “Beyond” was the best stuff for Guild Wars 1. Mechanically, thematically, and writing-wise.

I would like to thank you for a difficult dungeon as well, but difficult in the sense of “I’m needing more practice” or “I’m going to need to figure this out” rather than “get a better/Zerker party”.

. . . and no, I didn’t complete the dungeon. I tried twice and one group plowed headlong into Frizz and failed continuously on the wall and beam segment. After roughly an hour, we called it. The second time, didn’t make it quite so far as the gate fight wiped us twice and people ditched.

It felt a lot like my first run through Urgoz’s Warren way back in the dawn of my time with a proper guild Carnage, pure carnage and tears. Then we got better.

My regret is the Retreat is gone now.

StarbornStriker.6493:

In GW1 there were no items and weapons that were yanked out of the game forever after introduction and never able to be found/achieved/farmed again. I get the idea of not wanting everyone to be able to get everything easily. I really do. I’m not asking to have something handed to me – before everyone starts to scream ‘entitled.’

Yes there was. There were several Prophecies items which were available only for a short time. I think there was a weapon out of Henge which was highly wanted, and some other collector items which were removed before Factions was released.

And there were some minis which were given out as specific prizes or promotions for a specific time and only a limited amount (by the nature of it being a printed promo code or a rewarded item) were available to the entire world of players.

Then there were the more forgiving “one time only quest rewards” such as the Banana Scythe or a Grim Cesta with specific stats which could never be replicated. If you needed one, you’d need to roll up a new character and complete the quest. If you happened to lose it some how, well . . . new character!

And for the LONGEST of times you could only get the festival hats on the finale day of the festivals. Got sick? Had to work? Maybe you just blanked on the date? Tough luck, no hat for you.

Sorry if this got asked before but I lack the time to sift dozens of posts, however!

- What is going away after the event changes to the next one? I know Canach’s Lair is going away, but what else?

- What is staying at Southsun that I can do on my day off Tuesday?

Tobias
Not really. That might carry weight if it were the same writers but it isn’t. None of the writers from Proph and Factions are still with ANet I believe, and as far as I know Jeff is the only one since Nightfall. If you wrote a novel, and I came along and used all of your characters and setting for my own book, and then changed the style, direction, and tone and claimed mine is actually how it really is…would you take issue with that?

Bad example, because you’re forgetting one detail.

“Say you wrote a novel for someone else and then later I wrote a novel for the same person using the same world and characters . . .”

If I was no longer working for them, and the characters/world notes are their intellectual property due to contract . . . whether I take issue with it or not is irrelevant. It’s not mine to deal with anymore. That’s the case here, with any “Expanded Universe” material from Star Wars to Forgotten Realms to World of Warcraft.

I don’t know why this is so hard to understand. The original writing team don’t own the rights to the characters or story. The company does, and if they want to hand it to someone else, then that’s their right to do so and it doesn’t matter what the original writers think of it. It’s not their call.

Now, if you would be so kind, start listing off cases in which GW2 lore completely rewrites something which existed in GW1. It’s not as often as you think.

Tower Guard.5263:

Omnoms only grow in Orr right?

It must taste like the undead, but it will find the magic for you.

They also grow in the Eternal Battleground, rarely.

Obsidian.1328:

It’s eternally amusing to me how players here try to justify taking GW1 lore as bogus by saying either one of two things:
1) New lore trumps old lore. Period. End of discussion.

New lore trumps old lore. Always. End of discussion, and there is no debate about this.

It’s a known . . . I hesitate to say “rule” but it’s a known thing about fiction that authors and writers tend to change their minds later on, or get ideas thinking “you know, this could work but this little detail is getting in the way. Well I’ll just over-write it and say it was wrong before.”

Any writer who goes back to their older work will inevitably have this happen even in smaller details. And I have yet to meet a writer who didn’t get either sarcastic or defensive if someone brings up the “inconsistency”. For many writers, internal consistency within one piece trumps internal consistency over all pieces in a setting. Especially true when you have multiple people working on something, and the old writers may not be available.

Evidence? “Forgotten Realms”, “Dragonlance”, Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkein (one of the more eminent examples!), George Lucas (one of the more infamous examples), and many many many others.

Jemmi.6058:

Morten.5387:

Jemmi.6058:

I agree with you, but I feel no sympathy for your story. ANet clearly stated that the items were a rare chance. Previous content definitely suggested that spending a lot of money != getting what you want. Finally there were PSA about not doing this very thing.

However, I agree that these skins should be directly purchasable, and not in chests. Spend a few dollars and get the skin you want. If it worked like that, waaaay more people would do it. It’d be happier for players and increased revenue for ANet. This system hurts both, and I am unsure why they continue to use it.

They continue to use it because as it is, 1 person will spend 100$ gambling to MAYBE get a skin, as opposed to say 5 people paying 10$ to get it for sure. As a conservative example, of course.

Obviously neither of us have the supporting data, but I would bet that the total money received would be greater if they gave a definite skin at a low price. My guesses would be something more along the lines of for every 1 person spending $100 now you would have 100 spending $5 on a $5 skin that is guaranteed.

I’d spend on town clothing, if I had money to spare. You know, and something like the Pick wasn’t being offered at the same time :P

(muttermutter)

Calcifire.1864:

Meglobob.8620:

But the loots still rubbish and the +200% MF boost just proves how rubbish MF is when you still don’t get any rares, never mind exotics or something even remotely good…

Good job I don’t play GW2 for the loot…

I’ve been enjoying the GF buff instead, I got 5 silver from one young karka

it’s like farming CoF, but it can be done by people who aren’t zerker warriors and mesmers, and is actually fun :P

Also try the Champions inciting riots

KyoHanakaze.8145:

Probably just an oversight, since, AFAIK, the omelette was already an item in the game.

Oh yes it was, a Karma purchase off Owain after her event.

Lynith.1650:

One of the things ANet has always been famous among their fans for is the ability for everyone to participate in events. Southsun Cove is no different, with players being up-leveled to 80. Which is great, if you have friends that aren’t 80 yet and don’t wish to rush.

However, the item for completing “Southsun Omelette Gourmand” requires you to be level 75.

If we were to finish all the achievements, and they were to keep the Omelette in their inventory, would they be able to complete that 25th achievement say… months from now when they hit 75 and thus get the backpack?

Common sense says “yes” since the achievement doesn’t require temporary content to complete. On the other hand, I’d like someone official to weigh in.

notebene.3190:

…may I get rid of my Sample Detector if I got all 11 samples and my yellow flower (which technically only needed 10)?

Or is this going to be one of those things where we better hang on to it just in case they code something at the end of the month that hands out 1000g if you click on a bonfire at the end celebration and happen to still have the Sample Detector on you?

Levvi should give you another one if you ask.

Mordalus.8146:

I love GW2. I purchase a monthly allotment of gems that I never really use. So I’m a paying customer. I diligently worked through all of the Living Story achievements but ran into a bug for the Lost and Found achievement. The last item would not spawn for me. I submitted a support ticket and basically got a canned response stating to submit a bug report blah blah blah. So I submitted another support ticket asking to have the achievement advanced since it’s bugged. They said NO. So basically all the time and effort I spent on the achievements was for naught since I cannot get the gauntlets.

I’m in the process of asking for refunds for the game and gems I’ve purchased and closing and deleting my account. ANET would rather let a paying customer go than provide a workaround for their bugs.

So for anyone else that values customer service, this is what you will get when you run into a bug that ruins your gaming experience. Honestly, I had better customer service with EA than with ANET. Imagine that!

Honestly, I had far better with ArenaNet than most companies not run out of some guy’s basement. Sony/Verant was incredibly poor at times (due to rules they had to operate under, which I understand but still . . .), EA treated me as guilty of pirating (when all I asked for was a replacement disc due to it not reading), Blizzard doesn’t have a phone number for me to actually get in touch with someone who can help (and I’m still waiting on them to respond for four years), and Microsoft . . . I won’t even begin.

On this specific topic, didn’t they extend the period Lost and Found could be completed on already, once they knew there was a problem with the items spawning?

pandas.9450:

Well, guessing they were not the smartest bunch of gods

No, there’s not really a whole lot to point to them being infallible or incredibly intelligent. Pantheons rarely do have gods which are always all-powerful, all-knowing, et cetera. They generally tend to fall into “imperfect” at best, or “tantrum-throwing little kids with cosmic powers” at worst.

Darkorical.9213:

While others point out his arrogance his deadpan personality and his voice acting. there are things to consider. He takes credit for the acts of his subordinates, not because he wants it (as is noted by his absence from the party)

. . . sorry, what? When did he take (sole, “I did this”) credit at all?

blakkrskyrr.7413:

kittening annoying. im sorry. but this is kittening annoying and less fun.

Then stop doing it? You only need to participate once at minimum for the 25 Achevement award.

blakkrskyrr.7413:

not new to soutsun. im talking about crabtoss dude. dodging is fine, but with 3 in such a tight area and the possibility of them all gang banging you one right after another, plus the apparent singling out of the hatchlings, it’s freaking aggravating

I’m talking about crabtoss too. There were two in the arena and I didn’t get flattened all that much. I guess it’s from having fought them a lot. A lot. A LOT.

EverythingXen.1835:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

The reef riders are a pain due to the bouncing attack and their penchant for stealing boons. Reef drakes can pull and knockdown in a pool of poison. Veteran karka are a pain to fight (but can be done alone if you’re practiced). All the monsters are, in general, nasty and unpleasant.

However, the rewards are actually pretty well worth pursuing.

(Hint: Support the settlers by talking to their negotiators. Trust me.)

Good hint. Do it before Anet “fixes” it.

I don’t think it’ll be “fixed”, I think that’s intended. For a month period, and in one area only?

LHound.8964:

I’ve passed more than 1 hour on portal duty with my Mesmer due to the difficultly of the said JP to some of my friends. Check if a Mesmer is in the end, and ask for a portal.

And tip them. Seriously, tip Mesmers if you want them to hang out and help with jumping puzzles

The reef riders are a pain due to the bouncing attack and their penchant for stealing boons. Reef drakes can pull and knockdown in a pool of poison. Veteran karka are a pain to fight (but can be done alone if you’re practiced). All the monsters are, in general, nasty and unpleasant.

However, the rewards are actually pretty well worth pursuing.

(Hint: Support the settlers by talking to their negotiators. Trust me.)

blakkrskyrr.7413:

too many karka’s in the crab toss. freakin annoying. sometimes they roll into you all 3 one right after another after you stand up. freakin annoying. please reduce to 2, or increase the cooldown on their roll

Hi, you must be new to Southsun, where the karka roam free and wild . . . and keep most other life from existing wherever they are dominant. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with ways of avoiding them while enroute to whatever destination you choose.

- Rolling attack. Dodge to the left or right from the direction they are rolling at you from. Generally this attack will be more difficult to dodge the closer you are, due to the speed at which karka travel. Do not be intimidated, due to that speed they will also not be close should you be hit.
- Hatchlings. Trip your friend. Otherwise, wait for them to latch on and then dodge to shake them off or crush them under you.
- Sticky shot. Dodge away as soon as you see the first one, but do not dodge towards the karka. This will inevitably end in tears. If you happen to be hit, then simply wait a few seconds before dodging immediately when control is restored.

If all else fails? Carry some Southsun Punch in crab toss in case you need a pick-me-up. It will rejuvenate your health and endurance, allowing you to last longer and steal more crabs.

Stop drop n’ roll isn’t just for fires anymore!

grifflyman.8102:

I play on SBI and you guys are putting up a good fight. We don’t seem to have the numbers we used to and I wouldn’t be surprised if Stormbluff eventually falls down a tier.

People just don’t seem interested in WvW when you play against a server in a different time zone.

I just can’t play at the same time as a lot of people and get tired of watching things slip away because there’s not enough defenders to turn back a zerg. Yes, even with the new and improved arrow carts.

Draymos.5489:

Fantasy mmos/worlds have use rifles/guns before in game. World of Warcraft for instance has rifles, pistals I believe?

It’s better than the world of Filgaia. It’s better not to own a gun when you’re there.

Frankly, black powder weapons, or magically-driven rifles I can handle. I remember some game where magic weapons were designed to basically be braced under an arm, but can’t remember for the life of me what it was.

Neural.1824:

I’m surprised the RNG acolytes haven’t shown up yet.

All hail the Random Number God, or it shall smite you with bad luck on your drops until your penance is done.

. . . in all seriousness, I stopped running Magic Find when I realized I cared less about finding “better stuff” than finding specific stuff. Which MF doesn’t help with, so instead I just wear what I like. My play got a whole lot better after that.

jmatb.6307:

Hopefully the Whispers part of the story in the future is more serious, because while I really like Tybalt, it is hard to imagine the Order as being this all-encompassing, world traveling, super spy network right now.

I don’t find it all that hard, but then I’ve met about a dozen of those embedded spies keeping an eye on things and having decent information about what was going on in an area. You’d be surprised at how many people you can come across . . . not all of them are on the wiki yet.

tolunart.2095:

Vayne.8563:

I mean Rift had some crazy bad decisions even with the public test server. It didn’t seem to help at all.

Aside from catching some bugs, it won’t help. The players on the PTS are still players, and view the game as such. If you like playing a thief, then your feedback will be biased towards thieves remaining powerful, etc.

Or, to be more fair, just based on your experiences as a thief and not indicative of how . . . say . . . a mesmer would find the fight. We had a nice big topic in the Personal Story and Players Helping Players forums about one fight in the Human Street-Rat storyline where “thieves were screwed unless they powerleveled” but other classes had options to handle it better. The kicker? A couple people who passed through it as thieves said “It’s tricky, and teaches you a couple things about your skills, but it’s not impossible.”

nethykins.7986:

I’m not a tester now, but I used to be for mainly Bigger studios on AAA titles and some lesser titles too. Mainly consoles. From my experience, these would be things that any decent tester would be able to spot.
Can you imagine this: “Hey, look we just added a few new things to the xmas event, lets just test the dungeon instance, and leave it there – we don’t need to test the recepies”

We’re not talking about “testers” though, we’re talking about players who want to poke at being testers. I was going to say “play” but I bet the ones who would show up would be at least halfway serious about it. Still, it can’t be assumed they’d have any experience testing, nor that they’d have a good idea of how to do thorough testing.

tigirius.9014:

If that were truly their goal they could move the types of loot we need to grind out the legendaries and to grind out the mats we need to craft our own gear to multiple locations but they haven’t done that have they, so that blows out of the water that theory that they are only trying to keep people from spending all day in 1 area doesn’t it because that would solve it instantly. There wouldn’t be a need for a single area for T6 mats or limiting them to WvW or making them solely available in dungeon runs would there?

Which means they REALLY aren’t on the side of or like the legit farmer players and are actually using these tactics to both get newcomers to have to purchase gems to catchup to their friends and to keep the economy manipulated so the prices are outrageous and extreme.

Holy heck, that’s a broad generalization. And incorrect. Tier 6 Fine Materials drop in at least three areas I’m aware of, in the sense of “they can be gotten here”. Tier 6 basic materials are either mined/gathered or salvaged and once you hit 80 you have the chance to salvage Tier 6 basic (gossamer, orichalcum, ancient wood) out of items.

There’s a small list I used to have, but Southsun Cove is a good spot for at least four of the Tier 6 Fine Materials. Frostgorge Sound has a couple others as overlap. Cursed Shore doesn’t have all the Tier 6 Fine Materials, but four of them are “very common” there. Then you can still get them all from various places in the Borderlands or Eternal Battleground, off the creatures there.

So, to be frank, there is “more than one place” you can go to farm those materials. You do have options to move and do other things. (In fact, sticking to any one of those three is less likely to fill things like “Kill Variety”, which you can’t actually fill with 13 in Cursed Shore.)

Also, newcomers don’t have to purchase gems to “catch up” with their friends. Their friends are more than welcome to send stuff as a helping hand. I know I’ve done my share of that for people arriving late to the party, along with advice, guiding, and in general answering questions. Gems are one heckuva shortcut but they’re also not a magic bullet to get anything you want via Gem to Gold conversion . . . because you will wake up one day . . .

“Why did I ever spend $200 on gems? Where did they all go?”

GrandmaFunk.3052:

Which goes back to my point, who would be there?

People who enjoy testing, or just messing around within a game world without the hassle of actually building their characters. Back in the day, my brother would only play on Ultima Online’s Test Server. Sure, every few weeks things were wiped clean but he’d start a new character and get to work playing PvP on it.

There’d be people playing on it, sure. But . . .

would the size of the player base willing to do this be significantly larger than Anet’s QA team?

Probably a mixed answer: if they were, they probably would not be as focused on a problem as the employees. They’d probably be more fixated on trying to prove something from their own theories.

also, having a public test server means leaking the content of game updates much earlier than currently… how do you stop it from having an impact on the TP?

You don’t . . . there’s nothing to stop those players from leaking to blogs or Reddit what’s going on on that test server.

nethykins.7986:

Yup…mainly because issues like The Great “Precieved Loot thread” that outlined a bug, – which the devs constantly stood firmly that nothing was wrong until looking at it closer – would be found and rectified before it went live.

I don’t think it would be. In that case, the devs probably . . . at least from what I was seeing from the outside . . . were looking at it with a myopic vision. See, they’d worked on that code and reviewed it so much at the request they probably were seeing how they expected it to work rather than as it should work. I said before, and I repeat: I don’t think a public test server would definitely catch it.

I think it would make it easier to test to see if that loot code was working as intended, assuming that test server was exactly like a live server, and that the devs had people on hand just to keep an eye on the loot as it dropped to verify it themselves. Which . . . is probably part of how it got caught finally.

Then again, I’m not a tester, nor a programmer. I just write stuff about stuff and hope to let it distract me from my actual paying job :P