Guild Wars 2

ophidic.1279:

I can see Skyrim/Morrowind, maybe Two Worlds or something being a good alternative, or even GW1.

That reminds me I never did finish Morrowind, I got way sidetracked doing . . . stuff. Random, gloriously uninteresting stuff like trying to scour the countryside for caverns/dungeons/shrines and tearing through them with Umbra.

declan.3968:

Why don’t you just use Orichalcum picks for everything? They cost 4s a pick, or 4c per mine. As long as copper ore cost more than 2c per ore, you won’t lose money while mining.

A very good question. Here’s an honest answer:

Because I don’t sell my resource gathering proceeds. I make use of them. Though I have yet to find a really good use for the butter.

MisterEction.9382:

I’d prefer if the axe and sickle were linked to other events with animations relating to those events rather than two more that relate to flame and frost. Or at least have the axe be related to the frost part.

Are you reading my mind, because that’s what I’m expecting here. End of the next Living Story arc, they release a sickle for 800 much the same way . . .

penatbater.4710:

It’s gonna pay for itself in years, eventually. That’s why it’s so expensive. When we get to the stage gw1 is (like 7 yrs), you’ll say “I’m so glad I bought that permanent pick, saved me probably almost 500g by now”.

I’m saying right now “boy am I glad I don’t have to haul around 2-4 picks on my main, more room for blueprints”. I don’t know, but I did run quick math and determined that comparing it to Ori picks was not reflective of how I spent on picks – I get a lot of mileage out of my Ori picks, but Mithril and Steel picks are my purchases. And I wind up blowing through them fairly fast so . . .

clay.7849:

Otherwise, I would be quite content to discuss what I think this game does well, what it doesn’t do well, why, and how to make it better.

I love discussions on that vein, the problem is what people think would make it “better” isn’t always the same. There’s always someone talking about mounts, or raids, or other stuff to make the game better.

For me? I want stuff honed. ArenaNet has a potentially great game here if they can polish and tune it. (I won’t go so far as to say it’s on my Top 20 but it’s still great.) There’s a lot of things they included which didn’t work properly and had to be fine-tuned, or removed outright. I’d like to see them figure out how to put them back in, or to complete what potentially could be there.

New races? Professions? New areas? I can wait on those . . .

Give me the Living Story with a monthly story arc which starts big, ends big, and moves on.

Give me occasional (occasional!) diversions like the Super Adventure Box, Wintersday, Shadow of the Mad King.

Give me some WvW play which rewards those who sit back and do defense or support work (you know, so people actually feel like it’s not a waste of their time/gold).

Give me another method of earning Ascended Amulets. A sane one.

Give me more crafting options at 400. Like alternate skins, because I don’t like Pearled :P

Ultimately, all I really care about is that PvP become as good as it was in GW1. For this to happen, combat needs to be better and we need some new objectives. Fortunately, I think these things could actually happen if the devs decided they wanted to do them. Unfortunately, I don’t know that these things are a priority. But, I’m sure someone will come along in their infinite wisdom and say something like PvP doesn’t sell and dismiss the whole idea before it gets started. THAT is the kind of thing I despise.

Eh, you’re on a section of the game I don’t touch and probably won’t. Frankly, I lack proper skill to PvP on any level. I didn’t experience it much in GW1 either, other than to find out a solid build meant nothing when my team’s opponents were halfway decent. I never did see the Hall of Heroes . . .

gkrit.9416:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I’ve repeated a lot about what I felt about the Manifesto: it was a goal, an ideal to strive for. This is what they want to do when they make a game, as best as they can. They missed. That doesn’t make it a lie, and people repeatedly trying to take single sentences out of context annoy me more than the people labeling it as “one great marketing lie”. (Half right, it was a marketing ploy.)

This is pretty funny.

But what exactly has been taken out of context in this situation?

It’s not this situation per se, as I’m not going to bother poring over posts not directed at me over this. I just get tired of the Manifesto being held up like it was TEH LAW and any deviation from it must mean ArenaNet are cheats, liars, and only our for our money, yo.

Like I said, I may be the only person who saw it and said “isn’t that nice, let’s see some gameplay”. And who didn’t commit until I had people who played the BWEs to give me some feedback. After I picked their brains for details, I bought my game and that was that.

And when I’m no longer enjoying myself, I’ll take a break. I have before, from the utter perfection which was Guild Wars 1 (or so you’d think it to be, reading these forums) when all I had left was Lucky and Zaishen Supporter :P

I spent the cost of the digital distribution back for BWE2 after seeing several videos of BWE1 and talking with some guildmates over their experiences. Add to that: I recently shelled out a little for a Molten Alliance Pick. Any other Gems have been bought through gold, not cash.

I have spent more on a couple iOS titles than on this game.

Vayne.8563:

When I go into WvW, I hardly ever 1v1 anyway, but when I do, I win about as often as I lose. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. I have no clue what the other guy is wearing. He could have full ascended gear and he could not.

Are you playing a ranger? If you are, how do you win, because I have yet to actually win a 1v1 match in WvW

clay.7849:

The customer is always right…

As someone who has worked in retail, I hate this phrase. As someone who works currently in food service? Oh I really hate this phrase. It inevitably has been corrupted into being used in ways unintended by those who created it. I prefer the other format used by Cesar Ritz: “The customer is never wrong”. While logical examination of the two phrases says they’re the same, in reality they’re subtly different.

Judge Banks.9018:

For those who never wanted to face the reality, read up on it here

Okay, what reality are we supposed to be facing? Because the reality I started facing a long time ago is simple: trailers are common to misrepresent what actually is. I mean, they try to make Friedberg and Seltzer movies look appealing.

I’ve repeated a lot about what I felt about the Manifesto: it was a goal, an ideal to strive for. This is what they want to do when they make a game, as best as they can. They missed. That doesn’t make it a lie, and people repeatedly trying to take single sentences out of context annoy me more than the people labeling it as “one great marketing lie”. (Half right, it was a marketing ploy.)

phys.7689:

I think the point hes making here is not that you shouldnt have an opinion. I think he is saying that simply dismissing everything as opinion is worthless in terms of actual problem solving. Hes saying dont just say nothing matters because everyone has an opinion.

Say i have this opinion based on these factors, heres where i think something is strong, and heres where i think something is lacking. The point is to have a discussion that may give deeper understanding or bear fruit. The topic is do you find the game fun. Of course its going to be an opinion, but theoretically by discussing why yes, and why no, someone seeking solutions maybe able to glean useful information on why people are happy, or not happy, and better allot their resources towards making the game over all, better.

Of course nothing may come of it, but eh point of a forum is discussion, why not try.

I don’t bother too much with “trying” very hard for a couple reasons:

- I don’t find Trahearne to be a crazed glory hound out to steal all the credit for everything ever done around him.

- I like playing the game when I have the time.

- I don’t feel the need to go get things which I don’t have the time/requirement to have.

- I don’t mind paying for something I actually want, even if it’s largely “it looks neat”.

- I don’t think this game is the bestest thing evar, nor the puppy-beating spawn of the devil.

- I tend to change my opinions rather than stick to them even after I no longer believe them anymore.

This generally puts me at odds with 90% of forum residents.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

]It’s not that funny, unless you’re laughing at your own silliness. You’re taking a few aspects of a in-game culture and relating it to a single rl culture, while completely ignoring other cultures which share that same aspect.

I think that’s the universal confession for “I was just trolling” but it could just be my time on other forums speaking there.

Shiren.9532:

Sounds like they’ve designed a really kittenty harvesting system in the game and are charging you 800 gems to make it on par (for one character only) to the system WoW has used for over eight years now.

Right, only I understand WoW doesn’t allow more than one player to harvest a node? Or did that change recently?

bri.2359:

Aveneo.2068:

Now if it was a full set (pick+axe+sickle) it might have been worth the $10/20gold.

Exactly!
Better yet would be an omni-tool, one unlimited harvest tool that collects all mats of any type. I would pay the 800 gems for that …

Won’t happen.

It only happens in Minecraft through mods, and even there it’s kind of lame.

CLICKS.5986:

Geotherma.2395:

I have 11 alts, I bought one. Enjoying the volcanic animation as I play ^^ I don’t need my other 10 alts farming ore. Cheap $10 purchase, can’t wait to see more cool animated items ideas from anet.

Fan boy, nothing wrong with us wanting either a little cheaper or account bound. I have spent roughly $200 on this game so don’t call me cheap. But I want to feel I’m getting my money worth. Worst exchange rate ever in gems to gold and this is over priced as well. Everything else so far in the Gem shop is reasonable.

I bought one because I realized I could get 3-4 inventory slots back, and I have the worst luck tracking pick uses or which pick is equipped. Four times in the last two weeks I’ve left my Steel pick on when trying to run around Southsun Cove’s steam-vent plains for Orichalcum and Mithril and wasted my time. I generally carried Copper, Steel, and Orichalcum picks, and from time to time an extra if one was less than 20 uses left.

The only other reason was because I’ve been saying a lot that I want to support the game even a little and decided to put my money where my mouth is. Eight months, one Gem purchase . . . yeah I can live with that frequency of spending real money

Nemmar.8491:

Lets be honest, this game isnt fun. It was easy to tell that the first few weeks as long as you werent in denial.

Okay, wait . . .

So I was having fun for the first month, a lot of fun. Exploring, checking out Vistas, seeing how some of the areas were done, trying WvW (and initially being turned off of it). I must have been heavily in denial to have had any fun at all, then?

Look, it’s okay if you didn’t like the game, but saying that anyone who does like it is in denial is a bit much. I loathe the Madden games, I don’t really like the Halo franchise, and I think Farmville is a big waste of time . . . but I don’t run around insulting fans of these games. They’re just not for me and it’s okay.

Matt.3284:

Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” . . .

. . . is over-utilized and worn down so thin it’s not worth using as a template for your story. I want writers to stop using it as a checklist or a map of what points need to be hit while you’re writing your story. It’s not meant to be a primer for you to follow, it’s meant to be an examination of myth and legend.

So anyway. What makes me feel like a hero? From a few other games:

- Hearing the MIDI of “Clad in Darkness” kick in and knowing things are going to go very badly for someone.
- Climbing Darm Tower to the top and destroying anything in the way.
- Delivering the mother of all beat-downs to a Rathalos.
- World 1-1 to 8-4. no warp zones, a Saturday afternoon, and only a break for dinner.
- Zelda: A Link to the Past. Two hours, 100% completion, no deaths.
- Saving Aribeth.

In Guild Wars 2?

- Showing someone how to do something and making it look easy.
- Diving in at the last second to revive someone trying to do one of the world events and standing them up.
- Two words: Searing. Cauldron.

Essarious Quw.8946:

However… I do agree that it has been whitewashed. In a multicultural metropolis such as this, cut off from outside influence etc, the regressive traits such as pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes would be the ones in the minority. This is probably more to do with marketing and less to do with lore however.

Are you sure they’re more common? I’ll need to look but I’m fairly certain there’s not a visible majority of blonde blue-eyed caucasian-type people running around Divinity’s Reach.

No, not even Ebonhawk. From what I recall, Ascalonians were pale but not notably blonde. And around the Ascalonian Settlement, there’s still a predominance of dark hair from what I recall. And the odd platinum-blonde . . . no, wait, those are players.

clay.7849:

It is funny to me how video games are one of the only products that can be released before they are really finished, just to make a profit, and people defend that position.

I can’t think of any other industry where if you released something early, and it wasn’t really ready for public consumption, that it would get defended because the company needed to start making money. In most industries the company and the product would get absolutely torn apart by the media as well as possibly being the target of recalls, refunds or a class action lawsuit.

Just amazing really.

It’s not JUST video games. Other software can be done that way. And music. Music and movies can be done that way (George “Special Edition” Lucas, I’m looking at you. And Peter “Extended Cut” Jackson, you’re second in line). Heck, books can be pushed out before they’ve been polished . . . “Goblet of Fire” needed about two more months of editing, I think . . . as can a lot of other media. Entertainment gets a pass in general, in short . . . the most people can do is rail about it in reviews.

But why software, in particular, since we were talking about games here? Well, it’s simple. Anything physical or mechanical released “unfinished” would be unusable or unsafe to rely on. Software? It’s this ephemeral and untouchable thing which exists in no physical state you can examine. It’s something which is just data. And it’s much more complex than a story, a movie, or music. It’s also not quite like a sensitive mechanism which either works or it doesn’t.

Anyway, lots of thought here but not much defense? Yeah, I don’t have defenses for this. Just thoughts that maybe it was released too early. But as I said earlier, with the concepts being thrown around? I doubt it would ever have been “finished”.

Rizzy.8293:

Have you cleared Diessa Plateau?

That map has the most annoying POIs and Vistas, more annoying than Arah.

No, I found I hated other areas much more than Diessa.

- Malchor’s Leap. That northwestern segment? Hated it with a passion. Next time I’m convincing people to come with.

- Timberline Falls. A bugged Heart or two had me scraping minor progress because events hadn’t finished properly. Hopefully it’s not stuck the next time.

- Brisban Wilderness, that perma-bugged Seraph Observers’ Camp where the bandits keep spawning. Some with exploding kegs. Annoying as all heck.

- Queensdale. “Is SB up?!” nonstop. More of a player problem than game issue. Please note, this is the place I find the worst about it. Wayfarer’s Foothills isn’t so rabid about Frozen Maw.

- Caledon Forest, Dark Reverie jumping challenge. I do not like this one and find it annoying to do solo. Mostly because I have to climb the Spiral again to get into it.

- Southsun Cove. Veteran Reef Riders. No, no no no no no no no no no no no no.

Guns and Giblets.9308:

Vayne.8563:

What I do know is no new game is going to compare to a game that’s 7 years old, in terms of content and updates. The game needs to mature for that to happen.

Or maybe they just released it too quickly, without enough thought or resources going into many of the game mechanics and content.

Sequels are compared to their predecessors for a reason. With a similar staff, the second title in a series should build on the previous concepts and successful elements of the first title. It’s completely fair to expect much of what was learned in the first game to be applied to the second. Expectations are going to be much higher, just like they were for Diablo III as compared with Diablo II.

I’ll agree, it feels like it could have used some tightening down before release. Unfortunately, I also get the feeling even if we’d given them six weeks, six months, or whatever . . . we wouldn’t have gotten it ironed down. The overall feel of the design is a plenty of good concepts and the sense there was not enough focused manpower on them. It was ambitious.

If people want to deem it a failure because it missed the ambitious ideals? That’s their choice and their right. I may be overly jaded but I don’t really believe media hype with “the most awesome next game ever!” type hyperbole. I think this is quite a fun game . . . I also think it’s capable of not being as much fun after you hit “what do I do now?” . . . exactly like the original Guild Wars.

Hector.8479:

Taking a break. Might go back to another MMO for awhile

I’m quoting this because it’s not a bad idea.

Look, it’s very possible to hit burnout and get bored. I’ve hit it twice, coinciding with a VERY busy work schedule on the weekends leaving me disconnected from people I normally chat it up with. I’ve played a lot, am enjoying my time when I do get a chance to sink a couple hours into it. I still have Explorer achievements to finish, but once those are done I don’t know what will keep me.

I mean, I know I’ll log in to hit up the Adventure Box now and then. I know I’ll hit one or two bonus chest events. (But not more than that, it feels too much like whack-a-mole then.) I know I still want to do a few things but that list gets shorter the more I focus on ticking the boxes.

I’m not paying for this game monthly. I can afford to take a break and come back later. There isn’t anything I think I’ll really miss by not logging in religiously.

Well, except Laurels, which means that cat tonic will never be mine. Curses, foiled again.

Rizzy.8293:

Back in the days, Kryta was a simple small fishing settlement themed after south east asian culture, where most people were healthy shade of tan to brown.

Kryta was? In what, Beta? First time I found Kryta it was a nice chunk of real estate from Scoundrel’s Rise west to Talmark Wilderness, and then south to Twin Serpent Lakes . . .

These days Kryta is big masonic buildings very reminiscent of medieval Europe just like Ascalon was.

Ascalonians did settle there, and mix into the populace. Strangely, the style doesn’t match Pre-Searing Ascalon. The Lionguard Havens (worldwide) all have their own distinct appearance while the Krytan villages across the countryside still feel “right”. Garrenhoff is probably the only oddity worth mentioning, but it’s also wedged in a tight canyon so some design differences were to be expected. But those settlements on Viathan Lake (Kessex Hills) definitely remind me of older Krytan settlements.

Wait. So for 800 Gems, I now never need to carry around three picks (Steel, Mithril, Orichalcum) and keep track of their uses left while hunting Ori nodes?

. . . when does this leave the store? I need to wait for my next paycheck.

I’ve had three drop, and two come from Daily Rewards.

I would like the drop rate increased, but I’d really like the price dropped to about 2/3 of what it is now. As it is, I simply don’t feel like going to town on Keys for what’s in the chests. Well. . . maybe for Karma Boosters, but that’s because I like making nearly a 90% return on Lost Orrian Jewelry Boxes!

The tonics I don’t care about, most of the boosters I don’t use, and the other items I find less useful. Trader Express? Not interested. Portable Merchant? Only maybe found use for one while in Fractals even numbered levels and only when I didn’t clean out my bag beforehand. Bank Vault access? Marginally more useful. All three of these can come from Daily Rewards bonus by the way.

The chests don’t have much worthwhile for me to blow Gems on them. And . . . to be honest I don’t want them to have “Truly Awesome” boosts/assistance in there. I’d like them to have skins in there, sure, at a decent rate. Say, transmutation objects for random pieces of armor or weapons, palette swaps of weapons (since we can’t dye them) . . . you know, stupid cosmetic things. TOWN CLOTHING. I would definitely buy Keys if I could get Town Clothing at a decent drop rate.

I’m going to have to write “I will not get into a religious or political debate on a web forum” a hundred times on the chalkboard, aren’t I?

Substance E.4852:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Fyrebrand.4859:

Aside from maybe the grawl (and I’d have to research that more to be sure), I can’t think of any group in the game that has an unfounded belief in something supernatural. Everybody’s gods and spirits are totally there, actively making stuff happen. Isn’t there anyone whose faith goes unrewarded?

The Searing-era Flame Legion-led charr. Look it up, that faith was a “path of inspiration” type racket where the Flame Legion shamans would use their magic and “favor of their gods” (read: we’re stronger than you and possess magic) to do whatever they liked.

Of course, their “gods” didn’t care about their worshippers at all and they were just tools to facilitate events. Or in the case of the Destroyers, simply something which existed . . .

The Charr got the Searing Cauldron that nuked Ascalon from the Titans they worshiped before the events in prophecies.

Right. But after the Titans got loose? Didn’t need the charr anymore, and later on when in the Realm of Torment, you can see just how little the Titans cared.

Turial.1293:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

. . . and we got derailed talking about Robin Hood, Die Hard, and many other terrible terrible movies.

You think Die Hard is a terrible movie? GET OUT!!!!

I dropped a number, I meant the first sequel. Die Hard 2 was practically just “Die Hard 1, now in an airport”. The third movie was much improved, but I blame that on the villain actually being fun.

Fyrebrand.4859:

Aside from maybe the grawl (and I’d have to research that more to be sure), I can’t think of any group in the game that has an unfounded belief in something supernatural. Everybody’s gods and spirits are totally there, actively making stuff happen. Isn’t there anyone whose faith goes unrewarded?

The Searing-era Flame Legion-led charr. Look it up, that faith was a “path of inspiration” type racket where the Flame Legion shamans would use their magic and “favor of their gods” (read: we’re stronger than you and possess magic) to do whatever they liked.

Of course, their “gods” didn’t care about their worshippers at all and they were just tools to facilitate events. Or in the case of the Destroyers, simply something which existed . . .

ZenonSeth.5739:

Did you know that modern kevlar armor, while designed to stop bullets (at least certain types) cannot stop an arrow shot? Yet people don’t use bows that often anymore.

Doesn’t kevlar also not stop sniper rounds? Just a thought . . .

WreckSC.1835:

The whole magic thing as stated does complicate things, hence disregarding it for the purposes of this post, more just thinking of the physical aspect of it.

Sorry to point this out, but leaving magic out of how Tyria functions is sort of missing the point. Magic does exist, and is a tangible force. Elementalists, mesmers, and necromancers all do impossible things and if they were used in military organizations (which they are in some cases) then you’d see they’re much more potent than some guy with a rifle or bow.

One of the favorite things about the mission in Guild Wars: Nightfall where you storm Gandara was that your magic-users contributed a lot. The necromancer found “reinforcements” at one point

Tolmos.8395:

GuzziHero.2467:

The 6 ‘Gods’ are not gods at all. If they have or had any real physical presence, they are physical, perhaps superphysical, but they are not Gods. Gods are completely supernatural, not bound by laws of physics. Their works may be physical, but they themselves are beyond what we would call structurally defined.

IMO, that’s the incorrect definition of a god. A god is anything that people choose to worship. For all we know, Zeus may have been a real guy at some point, and his legend just grew out of control over time. It makes him no less of a god in his religion. There are modern religions that also revere living gods… in fact, one of those gods was born about 10 years ago or so, if I remember correctly. It was all over the news.

I can’t help it, I’m sorry.

“Ray . . . if someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES!”

I, personally, see no reason why the game world should be required to work on a different ruleset to this one. There are religions that I don’t believe in at all in this world. I’d be perfectly ok with such unbelievable religions existing in the game world, too.

There are, mostly around the grawl and the Flame Legion. Balefire is worshipped as a god, and the grawl worship . . . okay, they pretty much go “Cargo Cult” on anything.

CETheLucid.3964:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

. . . what sexuality? They’re gender-neutral and have . . . have nothing to . . . suddenly my brain hurts trying to grasp this.

It’s not very hard to understand. The sylvari are not gender-neutral…

Sorry, I should have been better.

When talking about the race, there is absolutely no reproduction taking place and what little I have found suggests the forms of male/female might as well not matter. In my own . . . personal lexicon, that is “gender neutral”. I should call it “gender irrelevant” but so far this is almost the only case in fiction I ran across.

. . . I still prefer Beta Colony as an example of a place where it’s just plain weird to think about how things happen there. It also makes my head spin a little trying to think too much about it.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Just made me scratch my head at that use.

The usage is quite literal: feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base. In this particular case, “characterized” is the active usage.

Not a standard usage I’m used to. Got it

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Anyway, religion and faith are different things, much like how cars and fuel emissions are different things, but don’t kid around: they go hand in hand with each other. Unless a distinction is made to say otherwise, commenting on one speaks profoundly about the other. It is unfortunate that I can’t recall ever seeing this distinction, from fictional works to the beliefs held by people I know personally. As forgiving as I am, I won’t inject a divide into a story where there clearly isn’t a divide.

Blame Kevin Smith’s movie “Dogma”. Wherein it goes pretty much as irrevereant as you can while at least trying to carry positive messages. It’s a mess, but I was young and one conversation separating “faith” from “religion” stuck with me. Also a couple talks with various religious leaders . . . but we get off track rather fast.

Let’s just say it’s been reinforced and there is a distinction in my current world view. I speak no more of it here since it’s definitely way outside the topic.

On topic, I’d just say there is “faith” in all the races of Tyria, though not necessarily religion. Even the charr, their “faith” is more in each other than any deity. The asura have the Eternal Alchemy, which is to me, similar to people who speak of ‘destiny’ or ‘a divine plan’.

However, the only organized religions we can see are the worship of the Six Human Gods. The Spirits of the Wild are treated less as deities and more as forces of nature to which a face and a mind can be attributed, and as such “I pray to the Spirits of the Wild, but they rarely answer”.

To borrow/mangle a phrase from another fiction: “Wolf is not a tame wolf to come when its called.”

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

And people call me indignant for being a creationist. Guess I’ll give perspective from the opposite end of the spectrum.

Indignant?

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Just made me scratch my head at that use.

#1: The story is a thinly veiled allegory against Christianity, religion, and/or religious people.
#2: The purpose of the work is designed to inspire detrimental behavior in its audience (note: not exclusive to Christianity, religion, and/or religious people).
#3: Central and/or critical plot points depend on the falsehood of Christianity and/or real world religion specifically.

I’m curious how you would view the Shin Megami Tensei series, especially “Nocturne”.

Me, I find it intriguing because I find “religion” and “faith” are distinct things. I know plenty of people who claim one religion or subdivision of such . . . and willingly act against principles central to it (“Do unto others…” for instance).

When someone writing a fiction wants to pick up the idea of blind devotion being wrong? I’ll stand behind the story on that note, because you should never default to “because I was just following policy” for how you live your life.

And GW2 does none of these things. Though it does skirt the line with sylvari sexuality at times, it isn’t explicit or severe, and can be understood readily in other ways.

. . . what sexuality? They’re gender-neutral and have . . . have nothing to . . . suddenly my brain hurts trying to grasp this.

I don’t have anything more to say to your post, so to go back to the OP.

- – - – -

It’s really hard to try to talk about religion in a fiction not making sense when there is tangible proof in-setting that they actually have a presence and power. In the real world, it’s rather easy to do for people. (Don’t bother debating me on this, I won’t do it.)

In a world where you could in the past seek an audience with the Five Gods and speak to their avatars by showing some sign of respect and offering a small tithe . . . where you could travel to the Underworld (domain of Grenth, god of death) to fight back the former holder to the position . . .

Arguing that religion is “passe” is kind of missing the point, don’t you think?

Starbird.4029:

Naturally. But you can get balance to a pretty reasonable point where all classes are viable in all spheres and moderately balanced without sacrificing too much variety. Assymetric balance and all that.

You’d really be fine if your class was 1000% weaker than all the others in the aspect of the game you enjoy? It wouldn’t bother you at all?

Again, nobody should feel like they rolled the wrong class.

I always feel like I rolled the wrong class, in every game, no matter what. The best choice I made on my own was a Thorns Paladin in Diablo 2. And it still made me really think I rolled the wrong class.

Ever since then I stopped worrying and just got to work trying to learn how to do what I want to do with the class I pick.

I like my warrior. Currently it’s my second highest character, but I suffer from two problems with that.

First. It’s because I really enjoyed the charr storyline, and this is a charr warrior.

Second. My highest is a ranger. I suffer from severe skill shock trying to switch from one to the other after an extended period. My ranger cannot “face tank” anything. And my warrior doesn’t cut it at ranged as well as in melee with mace/shield.

The Brigadier.3847:

Given the fact that human are fighting on many fronts I don’t think that it makes sense to have bows at all when muskets are available. I disagree with when longbows would have been obsolete due to their massive investment vs their return. Personally the value of a weapon has to account for how easy it is to use and it’s overall utility.

Given what a human can do with a shortbow or longbow in Tyria, I really don’t think they’re that . . . obsolete. Also consider we don’t know how long it takes to fashion a rifle/pistol as far as in-story terms. (Yes. I know the crafting menu puts one together in 5 seconds. It also puts together a breastplate in 5 seconds. I know it takes more time to actually do that.)

So far as I can tell, rifles/pistols are single-target weapons. Bows seem to excel at more widespread attacks. (Seriously, when someone can use one bow and make it rain arrows in a 10ft radius circle? I’ll accept that over the cumbersome artillery.)

Benjamin.6235:

Vayne.8563:

It’s not unreasonable for a game to require BIS gear to be just a tiny bit hard to get. Exotics really weren’t. My dog could have gotten exotics just by saving her daily karma boosts.

And that was a great thing that set this game apart from others that a lot of people here don’t want to play. It was the game anet heavily advertised it to be.

This whole need vs want argument is preposterous and dishonest at its core. There’s no reason to deliberately misinterpret people. There are things I want from this game or else I’m gonna stop playing. That makes no sense. You know what sentence does make sense? There are things I need from this game or else I’m gonna stop playing. Ignoring the context and sticking to one of the many definitions of need only to try to invalidate complaints is the most dishonest part of this argument.

In PvE you don’t need Ascended gear for the strictest sense of the word. In the 1% of the game where it matters (Fractals 10+), it’s not just Ascended gear but Agony Resistance. And for some of that 1% you can still get by. Badly, but you can get by. Overall, it’s (almost) a non issue. This can change in the future but four months later it hasn’t changed.

In sPvP all stats on gear are normalized. There’s no issue here.

In WvW it’s a sticky problem and the potential boost of Ascended gear is somewhat lost when you consider the current metagame. Zerg swarm tactics are very popular and individual boosts are lost in the mess; small-squad tactics are not used often where I am, and even so they generally are used in a method (hit camps/towers where nobody is at) which negates any PvP type combat. I’m not going to say the potential issue absolutely isn’t important, but it’s definitely overblown in my opinion.

LordByron.8369:

this is just wasting time in reasoning.

My friend, everything I do here is wasted time. Whether there’s a well-stated point, something actually useful, all of it is wasted time. There is nothing meaningful in any large way to what I could post here.

You don t need a work, you don t need a family, you don t even need to eat or sleep…
If you want to play with philosophy you actually don t need anything in the world.

If you want to play with philosophy, you’d better come better prepared. You do need to eat, drink, sleep, and “use the restroom”. You need at least a mother or father (how else did you get here?) and they needed mothers and fathers so you probably have grandparents. You need some semblance of human interaction, for a healthy social mind.

You need, currently within society, to pay fees for most of these things. Utilities and food at the least. Unless you are provided for (lucky you, if so) then you need to be collecting money to pay for these things. So, that means you need some sort of income. A job? Possibly, but something has to be coming in.

If you want to be realist you NEED top tier gear to play a mmorpg……

Funny, I haven’t had top tier gear in any MMORPG I played, and I got along well enough. Yes, even EverQuest when I finally hit the Plane of Time. (Gates of Discord had come out, so it was no longer “best in slot”.)

As you can find ANET already buffed most PvE areas according to new stats possibly.

Did they? I have not noticed a significant change, other than them tweaking large group encounters for the massive crush of people showing up so the targets could stand half a chance of staying alive for all the people who showed up to get credit..

So if there is still someone that didn t understand the Whole concept of giving you the +1 sword to beat the GOBLIN with +1 resistance to damage well they should browse internet more about mmorgs.

This is not something we currently have in Guild Wars 2. Not “goblins” and “+1 swords”, but to the point of enemies requiring certain gear to damage. The closest we get is the 1% of the game (again, currently) where Agony arrives to slap around anyone who isn’t able to dodge/deal with it.

This isn’t D&D Online, where this stuff was actual, tracked, and important.

Worst thing is to repeat the same things for 10 years (yes that discussion its that old and seems the same existence of GW2 and the reduced grinding every new generation of mmorpgs speaks for themselves)…….

Repeat what for 10 years?

Would you play a chess tournament where your opponents have 2 queens and you don t have any?

. . . that depends. Amateur player? No. But I do know of some chess players when I was active who would “spot me a queen” by removing theirs from the board at the start. They would still handily beat me.

I play Magic the Gathering, my friend, you really have to dig deeper to convince me about people not wanting handicaps to play a competitive game

Milennin.4825:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

There is, unfortunately, one problem, and it’s increasingly evident the longer this discussion goes on. (Including talk about Braham and Rox, or Logan, or Caithe . . . )

What you might find interesting and fun some other people would find boring and cliche, or badly done.

Obviously, that’s with everything.

That doesn’t mean they can’t, or shouldn’t, try to create a character that’ll be likeable by as many people as possible. While not everyone may have liked Tybalt as a character, most people I’ve seen on these forums like him very much. Same goes for the other 2 Order mentors.
On the other hand, how many people actually like Trahearne as a character, vs how many people disliking him? Yeah, those numbers wouldn’t be pretty if it was possible to somehow get them. But the fact that this thread about disliking Trahearne has reached almost 500 posts, and is one of the largest threads in this section, should indicate that he’s not liked by the majority of the players (how many posts in here do you see people defending the character, really?).

Back to your point: That is why they shouldn’t make the player team up with the same one character for over half of their personal story. It’s not fun for those who don’t enjoy that character.

But on the other side . . . if the people like the character and he’s shuffled off rather quickly (someone mentioned Rytlock here) then it’s not satisfying.

As for:

But the fact that this thread about disliking Trahearne has reached almost 500 posts, and is one of the largest threads in this section, should indicate that he’s not liked by the majority of the players

Some people, like me, post here a lot either for or against him. This isn’t a “one post per person” poll. And I wouldn’t trust polls online anyway – I’ve seen them invalidated way too easily. I would think there are more people who do not care about Trahearne one way or the other, or people who would make fun of him . . . than those who actually actively hate him.

Turial.1293:

I feel this is kind of like the famous Spongebob question.

“How do SB and Patrick breathe while underwater?”
“It is a cartoon about a sponge in a pineapple and a starfish in pants and you want to argue the realism of them breathing underwater?”

No, I’m finding it similar to a conversation with a friend once at a convention (over drinks, naturally) about how the world of Harry Potter was completely unrealistic and an example of hack writing.

Why? Because the existence of magic alongside the existence of technology should not be possible. The lack of people having put technology and magic together is unbelievable. The existence of several “minor” charms/spells should, in theory, greatly improve the quality of life and environment. There was about an hour of back and forth, many of the details are hazy, but it began and ended with Clarke’s Third Law being used liberally.

. . . it also ended when we all determined Alan Rickman made a very good fit for Snape, and we got derailed talking about Robin Hood, Die Hard, and many other terrible terrible movies.

Milennin.4825:

I want either more variety in the people in my personal story, or have a more interesting and fun guy hanging out with me throughout the majority of my story missions.

There is, unfortunately, one problem, and it’s increasingly evident the longer this discussion goes on. (Including talk about Braham and Rox, or Logan, or Caithe . . . )

What you might find interesting and fun some other people would find boring and cliche, or badly done.

ElenaDragon.8401:

FYI, they changed something last week to make WvW server position movement happen a bit more often. Sorrow’s Furnace has been the green server in T8 for months, but finally moved up to T7 last week. I am hoping this is helping other servers move around a bit more too.

What they did was put some tweaks onto tiers 7 and 8 to get some movement going since they were “stuck”.

draxynnic.3719:

There’s a Risen Commander that shows up for Tybalt. That’s interesting, though, since my Priory character has gone through there as well and the event didn’t spawn.

This is not something I have experienced, can we get more details? By “we” I mean “me” and “please post”?

Neural.1824:

I just finished cooking 400 last night. Where were you a week ago? :P

For the last week I’ve been checking things and trying this myself so this was written less from theory and more from actual practice. It was a minor project starting as me tracking discovery concoctions and ending with me just deciding to throw together a basic guide.

Great write up! While it’s a bit late for me, this should be really useful for people who are still looking to get things cooking efficiently.

Efficient is right. Cheap is also right, because you should not have to lean on the TP except to bring certain ingredients up to stock. I did this with a minimum of 20 of any ingredient, and even so I am less than five left for Rosemary and Chili Peppers. Vanilla Beans ran low too, but only because I checked out the cakes and frostings.

I did resort to mass production twice. One with “Roasted Artichoke” and another with “Eggplant Fritters” because the components were simple, and easy. Assuming you found a couple places to get some of Artichokes. Also “Eggplant Fritters” made a nice donation to the guild due to their nice Magic Find bonus. Similarly, “Orange Coconut Bar” (+ 22 Magic Find, + 20% Gold from monsters, + 10 Experience) and “Raspberry Peach Bar” (+ 26% Magic Find, + 30% Gold from monsters, +1 0 Experience) are good lower alternatives to Omnomberry Bars.

draxynnic.3719:

@kokocabana: Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything equivalent for the Priory or the Vigil. ArenaNet really does seem to have given Whispers the most love out of the orders – AFAIK it’s also the only order that has open world events that get triggered by personal story as well.

I don’t think they gave them “the most love” just the most care since they’re supposed to be a hidden order. A lot of their operatives (to a point) are simply not obvious. After the Pact forms (or is intended to have formed, in some regions), it’s no longer really worth their time to operate with secrecy that significant.

For instance . . . there are at least a dozen NPCs I have run into with special dialogue options for Whispers members. And in one case, it actually helps fill a Renown Heart.

4. Complex Cooking

You saw I mentioned that some dishes when “finished” an still be improved? Keep an eye at the bottom of their tooltips for “Chef (###)” which will let you know when you need to pull them out to try combining them again. Be sure to keep an eye on how many Discoveries you can make with it, and check for chain recipes. For instance, the humble “Cheese Pizza” can go a good distance and multiply quite well . . . into eight “Rare Veggie Pizzas” at the end if you don’t get rid of any of them. I’ll show you:

Cheese Pizza (75)
1x Ball of Dough
1x Jar of Tomato Sauce
1x Cheese Wedge

Mushroom Pizza (175)
(Makes 2)
1x Cheese Pizza
1x Mushroom
1x Portobello Mushroom

Fancy Veggie Pizza (250)
(Makes 2)
1x Mushroom Pizza
1x Shallot
1x Bell Pepper
1x Spinach Leaf

Super Veggie Pizza (350)
(Makes 2)
1x Fancy Veggie Pizza
1x Artichoke
1x Eggplant

Rare Veggie Pizza (400)
1x Super Veggie Pizza
1x Orrian Truffle
1x Snow Truffle

This is just the most extended chain I can think of, but there are others which are shorter and lead into “meals” with two dishes combining into one. Remember what I said above about “starch and protein”? Think of that when you have a finished dish and wonder what else it has left to combine with.

-=-=-=-=-

5. Final Words

It’s tempting to look at this as a failure to map a nice and easy road to 400 in under X hours with Y gold spent. However, due to the fickle nature of the Trading Post (and its tendency to fluctuate wildly when enough people jump on something hot) I approached making this guide to show you how to get to the end point rather than spell out each movement. Why? It’s simple. Plenty of guides once created are now outdated due to changes to how to find cooking ingredients, or changes in the Trading Post.

This guide is not as “useless” as trying to map out how to make Huntsman (400) . . . because for that, everything is pretty much mapped out for you already. Chefs have to actually do some work and digging to get their recipes, after all. So this is a good guidebook to figuring it out. As I warned at the start, this isn’t a safe or mindless pursuit. If you’re lucky you might actually make back what you spent on it once you make some master-level meals, but I would -not- expect to. The bonus of finishing Chef to 400 is for your own personal use; that way you are not at the mercy of the Trading Post for decent food effects.

Vegetable Mixes

Vegetable Mixes are important, so be sure to keep an eye on how many combinations there are. Making soups or stews is simple, just match the meat to the stock, add the vegetable mix and you should be on a good start (with only one possible Ingredient remaining). Stews operate the same way. Chili is a stew, by the way.

A quick note: only things stemming from the Risotto Base will need Rice wine.

Bowl of Staple Soup Vegetables (25)
1x Onion
1x Carrot
1x Celery Stalk
1x Potato

Bowl of Tangy Sautee Mix (100)
1x Onion
1x Head of Garlic
1x Jar of Vegetable Oil

Bowl of Fancy Tangy Sautee Mix (275)
1x Jar of Vegetable Oil
1x Shallot
1x Head of Garlic
1x Onion

Bowl of Risotto Base (275)
1x Bowl of Fancy Tangy Sautee Mix
1x Rice Ball
1x Bowl of Herbed Poultry Stock
1x Bottle of Rice Wine

Bowl of Winter Vegetable Mix (375)
1x Rutabaga
1x Parsnip
1x Turnip
1x Potato

- # # # -

Starches

I should explain the name with the dime-rate explanation. Chefs generally plan dishes around a few components: the protein (the meat, usually), the sauce, and the starch. The starch is anything like noodles, potatoes, et cetera. Since there are mixed ingredients which are for stuffing, it’s worth listing these here along with the assorted other things which fit into the category. Know this! “Loaf of Bread” has a lot of combinations, including set recipes you learn as you go. Having one around to “fish” for discoveries is not a bad idea. Every stuffing here will have one combination, but not generally more than that. Use sparingly if you can. “Pasta Noodles” will have a fair amount of uses, so if you want to think of uses for them also consider . . . ramen noodles serve the same niche as spaghetti: starches.

Loaf of Bread (0)
1x Jug of Water
1x Bag of Flour
1x Packet of Yeast

Pasta Noodles (50)
1x Jug of Water
1x Bag of Flour
1x Egg

Bowl of Sage Stuffing (100)
1x Loaf of Bread
1x Sage Leaf
1x Onion

Sesame Seed Bun (200)
1x Jug of Water
1x Bag of Flour
1x Packet of Yeast
1x Sesame Seed

Bowl of Eztlitl Stuffing (275)
1x Loaf of Bread
1x Shallot
1x Rosemary Sprig
1x Thyme Leaf

Festival Items

Realize that you will be called upon to use Candy Corn or Snowflakes for the recipes springing from these and avoid using them if at all possible for just raising your skill. However, it’s good to know these for reference should you feel like chasing the recipes down.

Bowl of Candy Corn Glaze (0)
1x Bag of Starch
1x Jug of Water
5x Piece of Candy Corn

Bowl of Ice Cream Base (25)
1x Glass of Buttermilk
1x Vanilla Bean
1x Egg
1x Bag of Sugar

- # # # -

Frostings

Frostings are really only used for cakes, so make them sparingly. Especially as every frosting starts from White Frosting and costs by default one Vanilla Bean.

Bowl of White Frosting (75)
1x Stick of Butter
1x Vanilla Bean
1x Jug of Water
1x Bag of Sugar

Bowl of Chocolate Frosting (125)
1x Bowl of White Frosting
1x Chocolate Bar

Bowl of Chocolate Cherry Frosting (200)
1x Bowl of Chocolate Frosting
1x Cherry

Bowl of Orange Coconut Frosting (275)
1x Bowl of Sour Cream
1x Coconut
1x Orange
1x Bag of Sugar

Bowl of Chocolate Raspberry Frosting (375)
1x Bowl of Chocolate Frosting
1x Raspberry

Bowl of Chocolate Omnomberry Frosting (400)
1x Bowl of Chocolate Frosting
1x Omnomberry

- # # # -

Sauces and Soup Bases

Once you get past the first couple sauces into more complex creations, you will find their uses narrowing down considerably. Do not over-create your sauces, but keep track of how many potential combinations there are for discovery before you make them.

Jar of Tomato Sauce (75)
1x Tomato
1x Onion
1x Basil Leaf
1x Head of Garlic

Bowl of Cream Soup Base (100)
1x Glass of Buttermilk
1x Bowl of Roux
1x Pile of Salt and Pepper
1x Bowl of Poultry Stock

Bottle of Passion Fruit Sauce (125)
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Passion Fruit
1x Stick of Butter
1x Vanilla Bean

Bowl of Dilled Cream Sauce (200)
1x Dill Sprig
1x Bowl of Herbed Poultry Stock
1x Bowl of Roux
1x Bowl of Sour Cream

Bowl of Simple Chili Base (250)
1x Pile of Simple Chili Seasoning
1x Jar of Tomato Sauce
1x Onion
1x Chili Pepper

Jar of Orange Sauce (250)
1x Orange
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Bag of Starch
1x Jar of Vinegar

Jar of Citrus Cream Sauce (275)
1x Orange
1x Lemon
1x Glass of Buttermilk
1x Bowl of Roux

Jar of Mint Sauce (275)
1x Bowl of Sour Cream
1x Mint Leaf
1x Chili Pepper
1x Bag of Sugar

Bowl of Tarragon Cream Sauce (375)
1x Tarragon Leaves
1x Bowl of Herbed Poultry Stock
1x Bowl of Sour Cream
1x Bowl of Roux

-=-=-=-=-

3. Mixed Ingredients

Now we get into trickier materials to work with. Basic Ingredients will only take you so far, so it is time to look into these mixed ingredients. You will need to use these with Discoveries more often than not, so note how many possible combinations there are as you work. Of further notice, some of these are only used for one or two recipes but can chain through several forms.

-# # #-

Basic Mixes

Ball of Cookie Dough (50)
1x Stick of Butter
1x Bag of Flour
1x Egg
1x Bag of Sugar

Cookie dough accepts a sweet fruit as a companion, with the exception of “Sugar Cookies” which will set the pattern.

Ball of Dough (0)
1x Jug of Water
1x Bag of Flour
1x Stick of Butter

There are roughkly 26 combinations for “Ball of Dough” so be used to using these. Mostly you will see these used for pies.

Bowl of Baker’s Dry Ingredients (75)
1x Bag of Flour
1x Packet of Baking Powder
1x Packet of Salt
1x Bag of Sugar

Bowl of Baker’s Wet Ingredients (75)
1x Glass of Buttermilk
1x Stick of Butter
1x Egg
1x Vanilla Bean

Dry and Wet Ingredients are used for making special breads and cakes. Generally? Chocolate + Wet + Dry + Frosting = Cake. Experiment with them, though, because there’s ample other combinations out there.

Bowl of Roux (75)
1x Bag of Flour
1x Stick of Butter

Useless cooking factoid: a “roux”, pronounced “roo”, is a paste used to thicken sauces. It is a lot like adding cornstarch to gravy, only easier to control and potentially better for flavor. In other words? You’ll be revisiting this one fairly often too at higher levels.

- # # # -

Pie Fillings

I’ll state this right up front: Guaranteed Discovery: Pie Filling + Ball of Dough = Pie.

Bowl of Blueberry Pie Filling (50)
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Blueberry
1x Bag of Starch
1x Lemon

Cup of Banana Cream Pie Filling (125)
1x Bowl of Baker’s Wet Ingredients
1x Banana
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Bag of Flour

Bowl of Strawberry Pie Filling (125)
1x Strawberry
1x Jug of Water
1x Bag of Starch
1x Bag of Sugar

Bowl of Grape Pie Filling (175)
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Bag of Starch
1x Grape
1x Lemon

Bowl of Cherry Pie Filling (200)
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Stick of Butter
1x Bag of Starch
1x Cherry

Bowl of Pumpkin Pie Filling (225)
1x Pile of Pumpkin Pie Spice
1x Sugar Pumpkin
1x Egg
1x Bag of Sugar

Bowl of Blackberry Pie Filling (275)
1x Blackberry
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Bag of Flour
1x Lemon

Bowl of Peach Pie Filling (375)
1x Peach
1x Bag of Flour
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Stick of Butter

Bowl of Mixed Berry Pie Filling (375)
1x Bowl of Blueberry Pie Filling
1x Strawberry
1x Raspberry
1x Blackberry

Bowl of Mango Pie Filling (400)
1x Mango
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Bag of Starch
1x Lemon

Bowl of Omnomberry Pie Filling (400)
1x Omnomberry
1x Bag of Sugar
1x Bag of Starch
1x Lemon

- # # # -

Master-Level Ingredients

If you plan on doing more cooking once you reach 400, these ingredients will be of interest to you. If your goal is only to reach 400, then you need not worry about these. However, Omnomberry items are considerably useful.

Ghost Pepper
You will only find Ghost Peppers in Orr or the Eternal Battleground. You need an Orichalcum tool.

Orrian Truffle
It should go without saying where you can find these, though you can sometimes find one in the Eternal Battlegrounds. You need an Orichalcum tool.

Omonomberry
The highest-level areas will have a small selection of Omnomberry plants in them, and they regenerate once per day. You need an Orichalcum tool.

Saffron Thread
Black Crocus (You will only find these in Orr or the Eternal Battleground. You need an Orichalcum tool.)

Lemongrass
Herb Patch (Straits of Devastation).

Seaweed
Underwater plants in high-level areas. You need an Orichalcum tool.

Bottle of Rice Wine (Note: This is not something you add to your collections tab, but you do not need much of it.)
Barkeep Weber (Lion’s Arch, Cloud Skimmer Tavern high above the Trader’s Forum)
Jen (Divinity’s Reach, Eastern Commons)
Bartender (Ebonhawk, near the Postern Gate)

Slabs of Red Meat
Most animals will drop this as part of their loot tables.

Slabs of Poultry Meat
Hunt raptors and moa for this. They must not be the “critter” type wild moa.

Eggs
Any egg-laying creature will drop these.

Sticks of Butter, Chocolate Bars, Orange
These will be found in loot bags left behind by intelligent enemies. It may be easier to acquire these off the Trading Post if you need large quantities.

Sticks of Cinnamon
Any sapling yielding “Green Wood Log” will yield Cinnamon Sticks.

Walnut
Any sapling yielding “Soft Wood Log” will yield Walnuts.

Clove
In Sparkfly Fen and Mount Maelstrom, search out Verdant Herbs and Mature Herbs.

Chili Pepper
Herb gathering nodes in Ascalon will all potentially yield Chili Peppers. Go out of your way to gather up a lot of these, because you will need a fair amount.

Grapes
Lornar’s Pass, False Lake: There is a small vineyard kept by some pirates.
Fields of Ruin, Wildlin Narrows: There is a small vineyard kept by some ogres.

Potato
Metrica Province, Akk Wilds: You will find a large cluster of plants on a floating garden.
Plains of Ashford, Loreclaw Expanse: The Separtists keep a nice plot of plants to the east of their camp near the jumping puzzle.
Wayfarer Foothills, The Osenfold Shear: The jotun camp will have a half-dozen plants inside or nearby.

Cabbage
Harathi Hinterlands, Wynchona Woods: There is a bandit cavern where you can harvest several plants.

Cauliflower
Sparkfly Fen, Orvanic Shore
Timberline Falls, Gentle River

Lettuce
Queensdale, Beetletun Farms: A huge field of this can be harvested. Bring a Copper Harvesting Sickle to spare your better tools.

Kale
Blazeridge Steppes, Fields of Ruin

Sugar Pumpkin
Iron Marches, Victum Moors: Hidden behind the Flame Legion stronghold in a canyon, you can find a small cluster of plants.
Bloodtide Coast, Risewild Hills: In a small alcove on a hill, you can locate a small cluster of plants.

Vanilla Bean
You may only find Vanilla Beans while harvesting in Maguuma areas, but they can potentially be found anywhere. Be diligent, as you will use a lot of these.

Strawberry
Diessa Plateau, Town of Nolan: Through an annoying and convoluted jumping path, you can find several hidden plants in a small garden.
Kessex Hills, Wizard’s Fief: If you go into the hills of Cereboth Canyon and around to the cliffside overlooking the town harbor, you can find several plants to harvest.
Snowden Drifts, Griffonfall: Near some nests of griffons, you can find a fair number of plants. Be aware, there are many griffons here.

Raspberries
Frostgorge Sound and Fireheart Rise are the only places to have these plants.

Spinach Leaf
Gendarran Fields, Provernic Crypt: Not inside the crypt, but you need to climb into the hills above it. There is a fair amount available here.

Butternut Squash
Frostgorge Sound, Arundon Vale: Near the grawl encampments, you will find several plants sitting around.

Snow Truffle
Frostgorge Sound. You need an Orichalcum tool.

Passion Fruit
Southsun Cove, Passiflora. They can only be found on the half of the island where steam vents are not found, and generally are close together. There is around 15 plants which reset daily. You may also, rarely, get a “Passion Flower” which can be turned into a jewel.

Piece of Candy Corn
Raw Candy Corn was only available during the Halloween event period, and currently are no longer be available. If you plan on using any, do so wisely. Candy Corn makes foods which have +15% Experience instead of the usual amounts.

Snowflakes
Snowflakes dropped as part of the Wintersday festivities, and currently are no longer available. They are an essential ingredient in ice creams (which grant a Karma gain bonus instead of an Experience gain bonus).