Guild Wars 2

Royale.5863:

phys.7689:

In terms of new things gw2 future will remain unknown. Its not their company policy to discuss future plans.

What you can expect is living world season 2 to end.

Is this actual company policy? Appaling if true.

It’s not exactly that simple. What the policy is, says more like “we’re not going to talk about what’s coming up until we know it’s ready” as opposed to “let’s tease ‘precursor scavenger hunt’ and hear about it for eighteen months”.

Mmm, not exactly what I’m thinking of as “new content” when it’s just old content reheated with restrictions or extra stuff placed on it. That was my big problem with “Hard Mode” most of the time through GW1: except for the early areas, monsters barely changed except to be granted more health and defense.

I’d like new content to be, well . . . new.

Higher tiers of guild missions? Well, add tougher bounties to the mix, which could inherit the “lockout system” of the assault knights to keep crushing zergs from burying them. Make treks find more difficult spots to reach, requiring some knowledge of trivia and areas in the game. New guild rushes which require more effort split between the racers and the escorts, perhaps. As for new guild puzzles, not done those yet . . .

Or go ahead and recycle event areas like the Cathedral of Eternal Radiance, but mix it up. Perhaps the missions are set up differently:

Bounty: An Inquest krewe leader is trying to sneak in to set up an experiment which jeopardizes Pact forces. Go in and eliminate the threat! (Defense of the altar area, then cleaning out mechanisms around the rim of the area, then attacking the krewe leader himself.)

Rush: Become free Sparks and navigate through the course to shed excess energy to power Pact mechanisms keeping the Risen from overruning the Cathedral grounds.

Special Event: Once the guild has acquired enough notoriety over their presence here, turn aside a Risen Champion like Tequatl but behaving differently, landing in specific spots to fight for a time and trying more to disrupt the defenses for the other Risen to overrun the Cathedral. Its attack method changes depending on where it is, and when it’s in the center it leeches off the temple energy until chased away. Let it leech too much, and it wipes the Pact presence – failure.

Bri.8354:

Would you support a mechanic that required every player to pick up and use a bundle on a boss within a 3 second window of each-other? This is type of precise coordination I’m talking about. It’s less about teamwork or smart and skillful play and more about herding, which is one of the core issues many players have with the way Tequalt and the three headed worm were designed.

There are far better ways to design content for teamwork and coordination than that.

Hey now, Tequatl isn’t so . . . bound to precise timing. In fact, it can easily be made to work if your instance is just willing to listen to instructions. “Turrets, hit the head with #2, then drop #3 on where the zerg is standing. Cleanse each other too.” “Everyone defend the batteries, western kill tendrils, north stomp grub holes, east kill things.”

There’s no precise coordination needed, only communication. Not unlike the marionette event, which required communication rather than coordination.

Triple Trouble, well, I’ve tried it a few times. It seems to really require effort to time the kills closely and to handle the mechanics. It’s a different animal than Tequatl, as much as Tequatl is a different animal than the Shatterer.

And none of them are quite as time-consuming as a run at the Temple of Balthazar, which needs an entire zone to complete three separate event chains and keep them from falling apart until a fourth begins.

I’d say if we had raids, Marionette is a good model to start from. As is Tequatl. Triple Trouble is a good high water mark for precision of mechanics and communication. Temple of Balthazar/Straits of Devastation is a good high watermark for how to get an entire zone to be a raid.

ShinjoNaomi.1896:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Actually, I may be one of the few PC’s in GW1 that has an official ending for the character, that was recorded on film!

A massive group of players gathered during the Horrorween event, to summon forth a gateway, and send me and Miya back to our home world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=593AOo6-v6s#t=2m20

The players were instructed by Daniel Frozenwind (the snowman King) to dance around in circles, and fire off any festive items at their disposal, to energize the gateway.

As the players started running circles faster and faster, and Grenth’s Reapers channeled the energy into the shrine, a pillar of light started forming. And in one bright flash both me and Miya were gone, much to the surprise of an astonished audience (who had probably never seen anything like it in the game).

250 years later we returned, through a portal. For us, no time has passed, we are the exact same age as we were when we left. But time has not stood still for Tyria.

Dang… You all threw some serious parties back on GW1, didn’t you?
Quite cool to watch!
(… Darn it, now I can’t get that song, ‘Devils Never Cry’ out of my head… >.<)

Well, that party was certainly getting crazy.

Too bad the portal happened to drop you in during what could be the least interesting time for the Mad King.

Musha.4025:

Please stay true to the GW2 manifesto.

Stay true to the what now?

DrAntagonist.8623:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

DrAntagonist.8623:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Fair enough, I suppose it is your right to self-define.

Self-define what? You aren’t even making any sense.

And self-demonstrating too! Excellent.

No you legitimately don’t make any sense. You can’t read basic English and you can’t speak it either, then you make a big fuss when people don’t understand your random cacophony of words.

Please, go on. I’m delighted to hear what you have to say and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

DrAntagonist.8623:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Fair enough, I suppose it is your right to self-define.

Self-define what? You aren’t even making any sense.

And self-demonstrating too! Excellent.

chemiclord.3978:

Crazy idea…

Considering how many times players have speculated, hyped themselves up, then got furiously mad at Arena.net when the reality didn’t meet those speculations… you just… not hype yourselves up with rampant speculation?

Mmm, much like ArenaNet having interesting ideas and having troubles implementing them to work as they envisioned . . .

I suspect this is something you just can’t get away from.

Fair enough, I suppose it is your right to self-define.

yoyi.3469:

Greens and blues

And maybe some Rares.

I expect asura-based silliness, Braham bashing things, and Rox to still have anime eyes. I also expect I may . . . may . . . have finished Mawdrey by the time it ends.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Nighthawk.6453:

About Open world vs. Instanced GH: what if we sort of combine both? Guild claims some structure in the open world, unused by events, PS and NPCs and it becomes entry point for instanced Guild Hall. Non-guild players can see some basic decorations, like tag and icon, and props tied to upgrades.
Players of the guild that owns the building can enter it’s instanced version. Instanced version is “bigger on the inside” and has interior tied to location, i.e. asura lab or sylvari leaf house for building in Maguuman, human tavern or house for building in Kryta, etc.
Pros:

• GH has Open World noticeable representation.
• GH are spread around the world.

Cons:

• Limited amount of buildings in each area (can be solved by adding more houses, or zone part specifically for houses) .
• Guild members can’t see the exterior without leaving GH.

This is a really good idea.

Chris

Didn’t I already suggest this up-thread when talking with Devata?

Edit: Seems I did . . .

Sorry if i missed it Tobias. Sometimes ideas shine through more after evolution of the discussion.

Chris

Also, I don’t care entirely about full credit. I’m sure someone else brought it up well before me. Bad ideas are like that

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Re: “What happens to the alliance guild hall…”

The answer is simple: Alliances as an entity do not get guild halls but rather an instanced place to call home which does not receive upgrades (perhaps aside from cosmetic revisions) and thus nothing is lost if the alliance dissolves for whatever reason.

This doesn’t allow small guilds to work with others in regard to progression of the guild hall though.

Chris

I said “simple”, mind you. It is the simplest method and the one least prone to drama.

If you want, take the part with my idea of “resources” now being needed for upgrades (requiring work and effort) instead of Influence (which you can just dump Gems into) and append this:

Alliance Supply Agent: Your (guild leader/officers/anyone with permission) can now send resources through the Supply Agent to a unified stockpile, or alternatively direct to another guild in your alliance. For a small fee they can also send items from your Guild Vault/Stash/Trove.

Vayne.8563:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

DonQuack.9025:

I think a few people are missing the point.

. . . okay, level with me, because I’m not getting it. What’s the point here?

The point is the dodge tutorial doesn’t kill you and it’s very hard to die in it, because it throws you out. He’s not trying to say something bad about the game or anything. The OP is showing off after an accomplishment.

I wouldn’t have had that patience.

It’s just a fun thing to do. Good job, OP. lol

See, here I thought it was just trying to see if you could still die quickly. All the talk lately about how the NPE is “babying” new players, figured it was about ‘they can’t die’.

DrAntagonist.8623:

Because reading titles is hard.

Yes, the title “I died in 20 minutes” tells me exactly what I need to know. Oh, and the screenshot shows me something but . . . I had no idea what that was smart-aleck.

So, if you’re going to snark about me not looking at the image? Sure, fine, I’ll cop to that.

But . . . the title?

Get some better material.

DonQuack.9025:

I think a few people are missing the point.

. . . okay, level with me, because I’m not getting it. What’s the point here?

It’s much easier to die via falling damage quicker than 20 minutes. All you need to do is go east of Divinity’s Reach into the Shaemoor graveyard and climb the fence to drop down that cliff.

Also possible to die quickly if you go out of the Black Citadel to Barradin’s Tomb. Almost as quick.

Last, but not least, it is incredibly simple to die in Rata Sum via falling down the central infinite pit. Probably within ten minutes if you skip all cutscenes and dialogue.

Of course the game has a future.

Even if it winds up like EverQuest with more emulated servers than legitimate ones, it has a future.

• What changes to influence and guild progression should happen to make it more intuitive if we went with buildings?

For some ideas of buildings, scrap Influence’s . . . influence entirely and make it necessary for a guild to earn and work for their changes. Like the above Library concept. For others, revise Influence so the costs can be brought down and shared to other currencies or methods of unlocking – again, it can be suggested materials can play that role of forking over planks, bolts, or ingots to be needed in some amounts relative to the size/scope/level of the upgrade.

Or, if we shoot for the sky, let’s trash the whole Influence system.

Build in new Dynamic Events (and potentially revamp old ones) whose purpose is to provide guilds with resources for their upgrades. Create a “Guild Architect” whose job is to keep track of these resources and direct players to events (from low level to high level) which can yield them. Therefore to get the upgrades, the guild has to go out in the world and do things.

Or, if they’re not interested in helping Tyria and are focused on the Mist War, they can earn resources from taking/defending supply camps in the Borderlands/EB. (Not on the Edge of the Mists.) Or they can do sPvP for a reward track for resource gain. Boom, three modes of play, three methods of accumulating resources. Just try to balance them out so it’s equally advantageous.

• How do we build customization into this upgrade system where there currently is none? Someone suggested this and there were some talk of separating clear core functionality from the unique customized features, but that is sort of where we stopped.

A couple levels to the concept. First, when you pick out your new hall, you choose a motif. Charr, Norn, Sylvari, Human, Asura. This motif dictates how your hall’s general shape is and what arrangement it is in.

Now for customization. You can opt to side-grade rather than up-grade to move a modular feature (any basic functioning room) to another spot it could take up. Or you can opt to use some of the resources to alter what your base looks like. Say you picked a Sylvari hall, but for some reason you prefer it to look like a Nightmare Court settlement – no problem! Get proper resources and do a little work against the Court and now you can opt to redecorate with those assets.

Heck, maybe you can get yourself bonafide pieces of ancient Tyrian history if you find the proper events and gather resources enough. Who wouldn’t want an inactive Searing Cauldron in their meeting hall? Or how about some (carefully cleansed) Orrian architecture, as it was meant to appear in the glory days of that country? How about, just for giggles, a replica of one of Zinn’s “masterpieces” to stand and occasionally chatter?

Even better, pull the “trophy hall” idea from the old horizontal progression CDI which I know I floated as part of a discussion over player housing and bring it to life – the guild can use its influence (not Influence) to start a world boss which does not generate a bonus chest but instead allows a special furnishing to unlock and be used. Come on, Rox cannot be the only one allowed to have a genuine chunk of Tequatl’s tail, no matter how much it stinks.

[2/2]

JonPeters.5630:

I’d love to see people just blue sky take a crack and fleshing out some of these ideas and then I would be happy to summarize which ones I think gel well together and try to combine them into a more cohesive design that we could then begin discussing the pros and cons of.

Jon

Okay, I could try to shoot for the moon with ideas but . . . this is going to sound harsh.

• People have suggested a few ways to break those upgrades down but none too specific.

That’s because I don’t have the interest in going fully into designing this to “setting the place settings on the tables” . . . that sort of thing isn’t what I thought we were supposed to do. I assumed, much as in the last round, something more vague and less defined is desired. I know in my post, at least, I gave a vague categorization but it should be good to go from there to a listing.

• We need to discuss how the building system would incorporate old upgrades but also provide new ones.

What new functionality should be added? I can’t think of any necessary additions to functionality which could take place without stepping on already-existing content. Or potentially adding imbalance into the game due to the additions. I can, indeed, brainstorm about seven:

• What kind of new upgrades would be possible because of the system turning into buildings?

Library: A guild member can use a consumable item which will then ‘tag’ all enemies they kill for a short period of time. These enemies carry “lore tags” which can then be collected and collated into various books to read over which would tell more about these enemies. The more entries you complete, the better your Library looks over time and the more respectful some visiting Priory scholars might be to you.

Practice Yard: A space where guild members can try out weapons against specific targets. I mentioned this before, basically being like the ancient Battle Isles’ area where you could attack vs heavy/medium/light targets or at various ranges.

Banquet Hall: A guild member can lay out a feast food item which will last until a reset timer happens. Similarly, they can buy feasts of more basic or more exotic types to host which can function as banners but with other effects (and some may or may not stack with banner effects). When a feast is not active, it’s possible to get a basic “Nourishment” buff off the table not unlike low-level food effects without paying for it.

Orrery: If you don’t know what this is, it’s an observatory with large moving parts representing celestial bodies in motion and is supposed to be used to discern what exactly it may mean. What’s this for, then? Why, horoscopes. Think of the Lunar Fortunes of old Cantha, and crank it up. Pay the person in charge a small pittance for a long-term effect which can effect your character in a number of ways . . . or barely at all.

Shrine: Depending on what motif you choose for your guild hall, you can get your very own shrine to one of the Six Gods, Spirits of the Wild, Pale Tree, or charr heroes. Interacting can grant a single-shot buff to Karma/Experience on the next event you succeed in. (Note: Despite rumors, there is no Spirit of the Wild named ‘Silver Monkey’.)

Research Lab: A small chamber where an NPC is available to help you work on those Trait Masteries you either don’t want to do, or can’t complete. Call this the “hotfix” for that mess and never touch Traits again. This is strictly another alternative method to earning Traits.

[1/2]

Re: “What happens to the alliance guild hall…”

The answer is simple: Alliances as an entity do not get guild halls but rather an instanced place to call home which does not receive upgrades (perhaps aside from cosmetic revisions) and thus nothing is lost if the alliance dissolves for whatever reason.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Nighthawk.6453:

About Open world vs. Instanced GH: what if we sort of combine both? Guild claims some structure in the open world, unused by events, PS and NPCs and it becomes entry point for instanced Guild Hall. Non-guild players can see some basic decorations, like tag and icon, and props tied to upgrades.
Players of the guild that owns the building can enter it’s instanced version. Instanced version is “bigger on the inside” and has interior tied to location, i.e. asura lab or sylvari leaf house for building in Maguuman, human tavern or house for building in Kryta, etc.
Pros:

• GH has Open World noticeable representation.
• GH are spread around the world.

Cons:

• Limited amount of buildings in each area (can be solved by adding more houses, or zone part specifically for houses) .
• Guild members can’t see the exterior without leaving GH.

This is a really good idea.

Chris

Didn’t I already suggest this up-thread when talking with Devata?

Edit: Seems I did . . .

So, wait, are we now arguing that conditions need to be removed or arguing they need to be improved in how they function, or are we arguing conditions are useless . . . ?

Zaxares.5419:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

The Tengu are not the good guys.

Talon Silverwing begs to differ.

And neither were the Charr, but look where we are now!

. . . they’re still not good guys, they just happen to be working with us currently. Like Pyre.

Guild Hall Function Breakdown

- Basic Guild Hall: Basic in the sense of functionality; it doesn’t have to be a shack in the middle of nowhere! You have a structure which is based on a theme you choose when you build the hall (say, you want a norn look to it, or maybe a charr characterization). Inside you have the basic ‘functions’; a vault/stash/trove system represented by different structures which evolve out of the main hall. A crafting area where you can get your emblem-inlaid armor and weapons when you purchase that upgrade. Any upgrade you can get will be reflected here, so you don’t lose access to functions . . . but they may be in odd places. Every guild is guaranteed a Basic Guild Hall.

- Ornate Guild Hall: For a modest investment in Influence, Merits, Gold, and Materials one can begin the work of making the Basic Guild Hall over. First you can start getting architects, carpenters, stonewrights, et cetera who can be tasked with remodeling certain aesthetic aspects. For this ‘level’ of guild hall, this is pretty much all you can do – make it look different and add things. Basic functionality is not severed, and there is no tangible benefit from this level.

- Master Guild Hall: Through a process of steadily achieving more and greater activity, you can unlock this level of guild hall. What you get is the ability to reassign spaces to different functions, such as deciding you don’t like the armory where it is and moving it upstairs. There will be certain aspects you can’t rearrange (no moving the Guild Lord if GvG is a thing) but for the most part the whole hall becomes modular and able to be puzzled out as far as the guild wishes to work on it.

Desirable Functions

- Supplier and Armory: Where you can get your guild emblem gear, along with other merchants you can upgrade over time.

- Vault: A room with a large iron vault not unlike that the Black Lion Company used to have. The banker politely refuses anyone access if they’re not allowed.

- Stash: A secondary vault somewhere else in the structure. A guard at the door stops players who aren’t allowed in there, and tells them to take it up with the officers if they want access.

- Trove: Hidden deeper in the guild hall, guarded by a couple humorless guards who turn away those not authorized.

- Training Room/Practice Range: A place where you can use training dummies to test things out, including a firing range for those who love their ranged weapons. Add in siege weapon training potential if GvG becomes a thing – don’t want players to be unfamiliar with the defense and offensive siege weapons!

- Lord’s Chamber: Placed at the top of a turret room, or otherwise separated from the rest of the hall. Important only for GvG.

- Meeting Hall: Generalized area which everything connects to where guild meetings can take place, or where trophies can get displayed.

- Alliance Meeting Chamber: An instanced place where a guild in an alliance can go, basically a large chamber which connects to all guild halls of the alliance but you need to go through this chamber to reach them.

- Asuraball Field: A place to play the sport which was invented solely for the entertainment of the bookahs!

JonPeters.5630:

I like this, but would want to make sure we don’t deny access to core features. Someone suggested guild hall upgrade trees as guild hall structures. I think you could make an argument for structure types. Ones that contain core features vs more unique specialized structures that guilds must choose some number of to build.

I can field this, give me a bit to type but I think I have an idea.

Could be a false alarm though.

JonPeters.5630:

Conski Deshan.2057:

JonPeters.5630:

Actually it hasn’t been talked about at all. I’ve seen a lot of basic suggestions, but what I am suggesting is that we flesh something out here in this thread. I’m choosing the upgrade system because someone actually started breaking it down. I think the first question(s) I have is:
Are the current upgrade categories the ones we would use or would we break it up differently? If not, how many categories would you think make sense? Specifically what would your categories be?

Jon

I find the current upgrade system quite stagnant and boring, you get your influence passively, click a button then wait a week.
(no offense intended to the creator of the system)
Maybe have the initial guild hall unlock under architecture say level 2/3 but past that an active system is needed.

On Categories for upgrades ,I’d see it breaking down something like this: (I may have what you meant by this wrong?)
Structures:
-Towers -halls -corridors -entry halls -Misc rooms
Defenses: (could be just graphical)
-Trebs -Cannons -Hot oil -Misc
Interior:
-Seating -Tables/cabinets -Rugs/banners/flags -Wallpapers/wall -statues/monuments -Misc
Exterior (wouldn’t actually limit it to placement outside as I’d like water features in the command room)
-Fountains -Trees -plants -training grounds -Livestock -Misc
NPCS
-Functional -Decorative -Alts
Glory or Rare category (this section would have limited placement (i.e once per guild hall or 10 per guild hall) basically the more prestige and high end stuff.
Limited Section for limited items i.e reward from once off events or competitions like a new Christmas tree each year.

This is a great break down, but I was speaking more about categorizing guild upgrades. Let me give an example to help get things started:

• WvW
• PvP
• Guild Missions
• Dungeons

This would tie the upgrades more to game mode than to the current arbitrary categories.

Categorize them?

I think the current categories are fine, but need to be better defined and less haphazard.

Architecture – Now relevant to guild hall upgrades, Guild Stash and such now being reflected in the building.

Art of War – WvW and PvP bonuses; though what PvP bonuses would exist is another question entirely (as well as should they exist…). Also perhaps GvG if that is added, Art of War controls how buffed your guild hall is to attack in a GvG environment – higher the level of AoW, higher the level of NPC defenders and the tougher it is to take apart walls/gates.

Economy – Banners for cost-reduction and convenience features move here, as well as generalized buffs which reduce costs. For the Hall, Economy upgrades can improve the wares of merchants stationed here, or summon their merchants to the field for anyone to use.

Politics – Guild representation such as emblems, special weapons and armor (which already exist), Influence gain boosters, that sort of thing. Could also institute a few other things to reflect how the guild is seen by the world – say, using Influence to reduce waypoint costs to (and within) a particular region.

Missions – Separate research tree for Guild Missions (as should have been done first…) where you start at the bottom with Training for each of the four types and have to earn through for each tier up. Like, “Tier 0: Training, Bounties” needs to be done so you can open Tier 1 Bounties. Add in the ability to spawn guild instances for world events such as Karka Queen, Tequatl, Evolved Wurm, Orr Temples) but not restricted to only guild members – they can invite people in to take part even without the guild tag.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Kormir’s problem, especially later, was how she was coded to be an ally without necessarily being in the party. Hence she didn’t attack and wasn’t attacked, which was a rather significant problem in earlier campaigns. Then they fixed the structure in EOTN where they would auto-revive and not immediately fail missions, without going back and throwing that into the earlier campaigns.

Her problem was she was coded to behave like a useless twit. And so . . . people latch on to that.

You forgot that she bodyblocked players – which was especially annoying in the final mission, where you have a thin path to get to Abaddon’s vulnerable point with a limited time to both do damage and get away from taking damage.

Wouldn’t know about that, I played Ranger main so I didn’t have an issue with body-blocking

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Trahearne’s problem is the story doesn’t help his case at all, and then moves too fast to really properly develop him. And the fact he’s not played by a person means he has the same problems as almost any NPC ally in awareness and targeting.

Points to the underline. A major problem with the entire GW2 story – personal story, and Season 2 (arguably Season 1 too, but at the same time there were points that were drawn out which were hated much more than the rushing feeling of plots).

A major issue that the main story of GW2 has is pacing. Some elements are passed by way too fast, without any proper development to them (such as all the deaths in Chapter 7 and 8 – ORIGINAL chapter 7 and 8 – of the PS; leading players to feel a “why should I care about NPCs?” feeling; this came about again with Belinda, who was so poorly developed before her death that it was painfully obvious she was meant to die from the second time of three we met her), and then others – like Scarlet’s only-able-to-get-away-with-things-because-of-idiot-ball plot concept – was drawn out too long.

Agreed, the pacing is still a serious problem.

Thobek.1730:

don’t be sorry, I know there is a lot wrong with the story but this just one thing that really annoys me. And instead of attacking how bad the other characters are I thought it best to focus on bringing a new likable male lead.

You’re going to have to explain to me how “no strong male lead harms the story” – as that’s what you’re basically saying – does not sound sexist at all. Or how it’s true.

I’m pretty sure that’s what Tobias meant by feeling sorry for you, though I can easily be wrong there, so I’ll just be blunt about it with what I mean.

No, I’m sorry because there is a lot worse with how the story is handled than gender roles.

There are characters who come in and disappear with no real point other than to exist. The mentors are of the “obvious sacrificial mentor” type, and two of the three are downright annoying with their habits and personality. The first half has some things set up which go nowhere as the second half moves on to fighting Zhaitan. Everything moves so fast, that when you get promoted in your chosen organization it doesn’t feel earned, merely thrown to you as a condolence for your mentor being lost (“Hey now we have an open spot, you can move up now”). The Pact doesn’t have a lot of establishing going on when it should take longer to gel and get in motion with three orders trying to figure out how to play nice with each other.

The “fact” there’s no strong male character or “likable” male lead? That’s small potatoes. I’d say it’s more a problem how nobody seems to like any of the leads we have.

Thobek.1730:

Templar.3418:

Need a strong male character. All the ones we currently have seem to be wusses….

He should be a tragic hero that is kittened off and full of conviction! Complex!

Sounds somewhat generic but I’m sure he could be molded into something great.

Anyway…Welcome and good luck. :P

omg! 100% this!! we have no strong male characters. Currently all males characters are being dominated by females or are just pathetic! can you please fix this I beg you!

please put this game back on the right path and give us a strong male lead. Just one or maybe two? One dark and aloof and one loud and brazen with a quick wit.

. . . if you think that’s what’s wrong with the story, then I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

NoTrigger.8396:

Beldin.5498:

And hey .. don’t you have experienced it yourself in Wildstar what the problems were
with raiding ? Either don’t find the right people .. or having to deal with ex-WoW Elitists ?

there is no problems with raiding. there is only problems with some peoples mentality. but that doesnt make me run to my mom and cry.

Doesn’t make me do it either, but it does make certain things enter the “might as well not exist” for me.

Like Fractals.

Odyssey.2613:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The only reason why people hated Togo, Mhenlo, and Rurik were due to mechanics – them running off and dying, forcing the party to restart the entire mission.

The hate on Kormir, however, comes from the story, not (entirely or mostly) the mechanics.

You are wrong.

Instead of typing 10 paragraphs…

Fighting for your life and fate of the world only to look back and see dingbat Kormir twirling her hair.
this

Oh god that video is terrible. Not to mention inaccurate for the sake of beating the joke into the ground with a fish. And not a useful one, a dead smelly one.

• Rurik was an oblivious rich boy.
• Togo was an annoying creepy do-gooder.
• Mhenlo was world scholar snob that was doing you a “favor”.
  Certainly more than simple mechanics.

Tahlkora was the oblivious rich person, not Rurik. Rurik actually got off his rear and tried to do stuff as opposed to his father who just stood still and tried ordering the tide not to come in.

Togo’s worst quality was his voice, which is the only thing coming off as creepy. Everything else was mostly okay with regards to the rest of Factions . . . which was pretty terrible. Someone handed Shiro the Idiot Ball and he hung on to it with dear life.

And if that’s what you think the problem was with Mhenlo, then I can’t really help you.

If you’re defending Kormir and Trahearne then thank god you do not write for Anet.

Kormir’s problem, especially later, was how she was coded to be an ally without necessarily being in the party. Hence she didn’t attack and wasn’t attacked, which was a rather significant problem in earlier campaigns. Then they fixed the structure in EOTN where they would auto-revive and not immediately fail missions, without going back and throwing that into the earlier campaigns.

Her problem was she was coded to behave like a useless twit. And so . . . people latch on to that.

Trahearne’s problem is the story doesn’t help his case at all, and then moves too fast to really properly develop him. And the fact he’s not played by a person means he has the same problems as almost any NPC ally in awareness and targeting.

Tachenon.5270:

This seems like a good place to repost this screenshot.

. . . you are going to get us shut down for 18+ content! It’s too much!

NoTrigger.8396:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

if tougher content gets added I’ll just resign myself to never seeing it since rangers aren’t hardcore enough to take part.

this is false. rangers are just as good as other professions. only necro is lacking.

. . . yeah, can you please copy and forward to everyone who still thinks rangers only exist in “bearbow” format? Thanks. I’ve stopped doing PUG work mostly due to the aforementioned attitude.

And I’d bet you a shiny gold doubloon if we had raids added, rangers would be less welcome to come along than warriors unless there was a specific need for something they have.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Hi All,

I was going to jump in today but this morning I took our Golden Retriever to the vets and he was put down.

We are all very upset and i need to spend time with my family. Hopefully this will be the end o the issues we are facing and I will be able to give you my full attention.

Sorry,

Chris

oooh.

My condolences, I’ve had that experience . . . even with cats, it wasn’t pleasant.

Beldin.5498:

NoTrigger.8396:

as if it would change anything. he believes he is the most important person on planet earth and only his opinion counts.

Hearing this from someone who wants exclusive content/rewards that only maybe 1% of all players can beat .. sounds a little funny.

I don’t even care about that – we have that already with the 1% of people who have certain weapon skins and/or Legendaries.

I’m more entertained by how there’s little to the line of posts other than “he’s an idiot” and not much other substance.

tigirius.9014:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Chasind.3128:

On a serious note, why not have marriages or something? Housing please?

Okay, better question…

Why have marriages?

Marriages are generally an extension of housing or guild halls, they could incorporate that into their guild halls development.

Right, sure I get that can happen . . .

. . . but why does it need to be a mechanic?

NoTrigger.8396:

as if it would change anything. he believes he is the most important person on planet earth and only his opinion counts.
and again he only sees what he wants to see. he doesnt even know that wildstar is already working on another 20 man and 40 man raid.

And, if I may be so bold, are you telling me now your opinion of him is the only one which counts and therefore must be correct?

I rather agree with his sentiments, though if tougher content gets added I’ll just resign myself to never seeing it since rangers aren’t hardcore enough to take part.

I don’t like trench coats at all, or rather . . . I don’t like the design of half of them I can use. I did like the old Monument Armor.

Huh, I was about to respond here but apparently it’s a “let’s bash Vayne” thread so I’ll use the door. Still on the left, right?

Astral Projections.7320:

Malediktus.9250:

Rezzet.3614:

I Demand Crossdressing to be allowed

O tempora, o mores.

I dont think that would be appropirate for a PEGI 12 game at all.

It would mean women wearing male plate armor. I can see that shocking impressionable young people.

(That’s cross dressing also you know)

/sarcasm

In the past, women wearing pants was shocking, immoral and lewd. Women were arrested and fined for wearing men’s clothing. Keeping this in mind, the prohibition against men wearing women’s clothing is a cultural feeling, not a “natural” one.

I think it’s more the idea of male characters in frilly lingerie.

. . . which now I need to dress my asura in, then my sylvari, and finally my charr because it needs to be stated how absurd it is to hold the whole of the game accountable for what one race might actually look like in armor.

Two races lack notable defining characteristics of gender, and a third is almost decidedly non-gendered except in the case of aesthetics. Of the two left, almost everyone seems to think norn are ugly no matter what, so . . .

We’re really only complaining about humans.

NoTrigger.8396:

beldin everyone knows by now that you hate everything that could be just a little bit of a challenge…

I’m poring through his post history and that’s not what I’m seeing.

Red Queen.7915:

Malediktus.9250:

Rezzet.3614:

I Demand Crossdressing to be allowed

O tempora, o mores.

I dont think that would be appropirate for a PEGI 12 game at all.

Wait, what? Why? oO

Yeah, I mean, my charr wears female armor all the time.

. . . it helps most charr armor is unisex.

Chasind.3128:

On a serious note, why not have marriages or something? Housing please?

Okay, better question…

Why have marriages?

Tuomir.1830:

Ohoni.6057:

Well, in games, Scarlet wasn’t sexualized, nor was Faolain, or Teoh. I can’t think of a ton of female game villains though, sexualized or otherwise.

I wasn’t talking about GW2, but of games in general.

. . . are we on the same page here? For every time I think of a female villain type, I can think of another two which weren’t sexualized. The best ones weren’t.

The Boss, Maleficent, Jenna Angel (though not sure if she counts), Takhisis, Director Isard, Cinder Fall, Olivia Dunham, Captain DuPree, Control, Utuk’ku, Lolth, Varesh Ossa, and the Lady of Pain.

Oh, and funnily I recalled a book by Jeff Grubb which had on the cover the “stereotypical stab-me-here” chainmail bikini – in story it existed only as ceremonial garb and the character herself commented on how pointless it was. Alias of the Azure Bonds.

Red Queen.7915:

Ohoni:
“It’s her signature look though. If she weren’t wearing it, then she would just be some random red-head, visually speaking. Eir at least has the tattoos.”

So you’re saying that, for a female charatcer to be recognisable as Red Sonja, she MUST wear a chainmal bikini? Which basically means that there is absolutely nothing else that defines this character? Are you for real?
Besides, Sonja started out with a chainmal shirt. The bikini came later.

Didn’t it come from one particular artist known for that sort of look and it stuck due to him being the only one doing art for the books?

It’s weird, I have a Conan comic book in my closet (it was given by a friend who didn’t want it) where he was stripped down and had to be rescued by Valeria. She wore sensible clothing most of the time. And so did he when he was in a parade as “General Conan”.

Also there was the TV animated series where he did tend to dress more sensibly than what people think of. So did the females.

Ohoni.6057:

Well, in games, Scarlet wasn’t sexualized, nor was Faolain, or Teoh. I can’t think of a ton of female game villains though, sexualized or otherwise.

Well, there’s Queen Jennah for foot fetishists . . . what? She never wears shoes.

We’re “poor” because all the farming of Platinum devauled it

Try to brainstorm ways in which Guild Hall acquisition could be fun.

While I was thinking, I came up with several ideas. However, I also came up with reasons why each one isn’t fun and people would complain.

- Simply buy it with money, like a land grant? “Promotes gold farming, and Gem sales.”
- Purchase through Guild Upgrades with Influence or Merits? “Bigger guilds have an advantage with more Influence gain, more Merits to burn, etc.”
- Require doing something a la quest or Event? “Required gating through un-fun stuff.”

There’s no method which is going to make it “fun” for everyone, so really I guess it boils down to combining them in my idea:

Purchase in the Guild Upgrades a special Mission (requiring only a particular Level in “Architecture”) and the Mission is adjustable on difficulty for a bigger/better Hall at the end of it. You can always upgrade the structure later by doing the Mission over with an additional purchase. Balance the mission so 5 people can easily do it, and design it so there’s a lockout on over 30 people zerging it (I know it’s possible, the Assault Knights did it).

And after you win, you get a “Guild Hall License” and now can work on whatever hall structure you decide to go with.

Think about some rewards a physical Guild Hall might give you that couldn’t be done without it and how the ability to give those rewards could create a version of an improvement to a system that previously was considered impossible and is now instead very simple, clear, and compelling?

Mostly I see rewards in intangibles and convenience, much like how I saw it in GW1 and in other games. Anything beyond those two things risks unbalancing the game in favor of those who have more to pour into Guild Halls.

What I’d like to see as a benefit is, well, a Bounty Board. It would basically update with Bounty Targets which have been “apprehended” and allow members to look and see where they are when the Bounty missions are started. Not exactly but they could see the general areas like how a Scout will show nearby Hearts, showing maybe at most the nearest waypoint.

Heck, you could even roll it in with some older and other options of having them pick up bestiary pages of sorts to describe them in lore-couched terms.

JonPeters.5630:

I think the only good assumption here is that we are talking about to bring up the positives and negatives of a system. What are the benefits to guild halls having a large cost? What are the drawbacks? I’m saying this because I think it has both and am wondering what your take is.

My take is no matter what you do, the forums will be on fire afterwards about how the decision is obviously wrong and ANet is “once again out of touch with what players want”.

There isn’t a way to do any of this which is going to get a 100% approval rating, no matter what you read here in the forums. I’ve inferred such to Chris several times before we started down these CDIs.

And so, I’m trying to think around that particular blocking thought – because it’s become an increasingly stressful problem on trying to come up with anything useful.

JonPeters.5630:

• What makes you think Guild Halls are difficult to acquire?
• Try to brainstorm ways in which Guild Hall acquisition could be fun.
• Think about some rewards a physical Guild Hall might give you that couldn’t be done without it and how the ability to give those rewards could create a version of an improvement to a system that previously was considered impossible and is now instead very simple, clear, and compelling?

Responding to #1 – I think the assumption is going to be “guild halls are limited by cost or number” until otherwise stated to be not the case.

I’ll respond to the other two as I think on it a little more tonight.