Guild Wars 2

Lishtenbird.2814:

Vexander.9850:

All kinds of games have Cat People or Dog People. Let’s branch out a bit.

Fox People. That’s right, make Kitsunes a playable race! They’ll fit in nice and good in Cantha!

Yes, please! I will be the first one to make a red-haired one named Holo. Who cares she’s a wolf anyway!

I’d have about four people join up just to play with me as kitsune in exile from Cantha if they existed. But I’d have to transfer to TC then . . . hmm . . .

Edusd.7893:

I just wanna know how a pirate ship got into a hill side in Harathi.

The same way the Black Rock wound up on the island in Lost?

The writers put it there.

You want which prince? Prince Rhaegor Targaryen? Prince Josua Lackhand?

Personally I’d rather see it be Emperor Gregor Vorbarra.

Substance E.4852:

Gotejjeken.1267:

Allie Murdock.8152:

Perma stow wouldn’t make pets OP. In rebalancing for permastow, it would make those that still want to play with the pet op. THAT IS, unless we design something that gives the player a boost to balance it out.

The aspects I think were a little different. They talked about having specific bonuses based on the pet that the player was using. That is different from just giving a damage boost, which could end up being difficult to balance.

I think the reverse of this was used as the reasoning behind nerfing pets to begin with, wasn’kitten That is, the ranger and the pet did ‘too much damage’ so the pet was nerfed to compensate.

My fear with permastow is it will break things further in the balancing process. No matter what, playing without a pet would win out. Even if on paper a ranger + pet would theoretically do more damage, the pet AI is so bad at hitting things that it would not matter.

Basically, beastmasters will be seen as a huge liability. Instead of just hating rangers in general, people will start to hate based on what kind of ranger you are, which is IMO worse. Why would anyone want a person with a lackluster AI that cannot stay alive and draws huge amounts of aggro around when they could just ‘upgrade’ to the non-pet option?

Probably the same reason we all already play with “a lackluster AI that cannot stay alive and draws huge amounts of aggro around” instead of just rolling a new class. Using the pet would become like using bearbow in dungeons. It’s your choice to play something that is ineffective in the current situation so don’t complain when people call you out on it.

Perma stow gives us the tools to at least end the general hate on the ranger and let us play a way that is viable in situations where the pet clearly isn’t. (WvW, world bosses ect.)

Thing is, there was this in the past when GW1 had the option of rangers not using pets . . but they still caught flak. Especially if you saw a ranger who hadn’t loaded D-shot.

In any game there’s been a ranger class? They’ve been hated on. In any game there’s been pet classes? They’ve been hated on.

. . . I got used to it a long time ago.

Late to the topic, but . . . if we’re sharing.

My mother has recently developed (i.e., last two years) serious leg issues pretty much necessitating she take it easy and this year she’s pulling for retirement and disability if she can. She (most days) cannot walk without a cane, but she makes the effort to do a renaissance festival twice a year (one March, one November) and does not like to think of herself as unable to have a good time.

(That said, I got to watch her pay for it the night after the last faire – she stuffed her purse strap in her mouth so she wouldn’t scream.)

And I found out this is probably going to start with me in five to ten years since both sides of the family have records of arthritic breakdowns in joints. I kind of already feel it, on really long days.

It’s nowhere near the same stories as everyone with nervous conditions . . . but the sort of frustration of your body not being able to do what you need it to do? In this household, it is known.

Anyone reading this? Stay well, find something which makes you happy . . . and hold on tight. Doesn’t matter what it is.

PS: Yes, someone get Christina a Taimi mini, account bound naturally

Fext.3614:

no real human beings can be such a bunch of annoying drama queens like the Destiny Edge.

Clearly, you have not been around tabletop gamers for very long in your lifetime. Trust me . . . there’s worse which inhabits your Friendly Local Gaming Store.

Stormy Dragon.9210:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

But they do not register as well as Keiran/Gwen or Koss/Melonni.

Kerian/Gwen made absolutely no sense to me. They fight constantly, spend no time together (to the point of actively avoiding each other’s company), and then suddenly they’re getting married..

They made sense, but you didn’t pay attention that closely. Here’s a rundown:

First time we notice is when Lieutenant Thackeray wants to do something for Gwen for Wintersday and comes up with the idea of a charm necklace. Then he takes it a step further with some norn work to get it blessed in a way. After the initial shock and reaction Gwen finally defrosts a little . . . it’s still not love since Keiran still has more of a crush than anything.

Then he tries to get closer with a picnic (by the way, some of the funniest lines there from “reject” items) and Gwen blows him off at the last minute . . . and he blows up over her doing it yet again when there’s little reason they can’t relax. (Note: Gwen is the one keeping them from spending time together on the basis she has too much to do.) After that the War in Kryta starts and he’s still sore about it and figures she’s not interested so get over it . . . only for her to act shocked he’s volunteering to leave.

Keiran doesn’t really start changing his mind until he’s had time to think about it and she keeps coming back to mind. The rest of the Ebon Falcons comment on it sometimes. It’s interactions with Miku and his time having to be on the run alone (Hearts of the North) which mature and temper him a bit to push the young man into something more respectable. Gwen getting to see this through the scrying pool is what changes her mind on it.

So they’re not exactly badly developed. Really I just wonder if on their honeymoon Gwen wasn’t staying up wondering if she should be skinning charr rather than relaxing.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I agree btw that not being able to operate siege equipment in Urban Battlegrounds is a missed opportunity. Once you’ve taken out some guards, it would have been great to turn their catapults on the enemy.

Well, two things: First, it seems like it’s a small bite of WvW type fighting. You can’t use the other servers’ siege gear in WvW. (Though I so want to capture unmanned Omega Siege Golems….)

Secondly, this was a charr rush on a city. The idea seems to be they were intent on basically a Blitzkrieg. Hit hard, hit fast, and move through defenses no longer an issue.

The Lost Witch.7601:

While I would like to play through this, I wouldn’t want to see it in fractals.

After a while it would just become something we would want to get over with, so we can get to the actual fighting. Whereas it would be great fun to try out the multiple ways in which this could fail. I would prefer this type of thing in either a personal story setting or through the living story.

That’s why I suggested it could be accessed separately from the usual Fractals rotation earlier on. You can have your “vanilla Fractals” experience untouched, but you can also walk in and go “let’s do something different” and tell Dessa to take you to something else.

Like it’s said earlier – there’s room in the Mists for anything and everything if you want it.

Nike.2631:

Wethospu.6437:

The gameplay is designed around combat.

Except for the parts that aren’t. And there are LOT of them. I’ve never had to kill a vista point for example and some of my best loot has come from map completion.

I have had to kill in order to reach a Vista though. Or at least do a healthy amount of “creative evasion” for the vista in Stonemist on one character

I agree – since getting my crafting stats to 500 is how I’ve made 7 pieces of ascended gear, while killing things for weeks in WvW has only gotten me 2 Ascended chests.

Crafting is definitely a combat stat .

It combats my bad luck getting gear drops also, since I can just build stuff for my alts instead of needing to hope a greatsword drops for my warrior to get a new one. Cause he’s still hauling around a Level 53 greatsword at Level 66 . . .

Puzzles scale too. Its not exactly hard to lower the time limit to do X, Y, and Z. In the example put forward earlier of out-climbing a rising lake of lava, you can change the rate at which the lava rises. Poof! Scalability.

If they can scale that, can they maybe scale the Mad King Clock Tower back some so I can actually finish the darn thing? By the way, also think the Winter Wonderland one scales too since people running ahead of me can ruin my ability to do the jumps through the exploding present sets.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Laurelinde.4395:

I don’t support Evon Gnashblade being a devious manipulator,

Hang the Kiel supporter! Raaaaargh! -angry pitch forks-

Hey, no, bad Queen. No derailing the topic with the Cutthroat Politics stuff. Back in the penalty box.

Well here we go with an option perhaps for a limited-combat one? Taking this off slightly from one of the missions in Nightfall (Tihark Orchard).

Nike.2631:

Part for the charm is bypassing protection without removing it or helping your allies hit harder. It’ll be interesting to see players with protection prioritizing rangers …

It feels like it could be difficult to include and balance. But I’d have to play with it.

Beastmaster’s Might is too easily skipped. Combining the two should encourage a little less passive gameplay even without the grandmaster capstone.

Bearing in mind I enjoy the passive of Signet of Renewal, I do agree it’s nice to have a benefit to blowing your signets.

I’m want to move ‘archery’ traits out of Skirmishing (and into Marksmanship) where possible to reduce the overlap with traps. I think of those as our most iconic set-up and right now you cannot build traps/short bow because they both have Skirmishing line grandmaster traits.

Valid point, but I think the idea was for Skirmishing to be close-range and Marksmanship to be long-range.

The limited list is mostly because broad condition stripping is not essential to skirmishing, while a couple of boons just destroy our prospects for “witling” foes down. either way, I like making ranger traited warhorn more of an “evil twin” to warrior’s traited warhorn with its condition cleanse effect .

Trait it for Fear (3s). Maybe then we can give the Juvenile Wolf a different effect?

I believe the coding is possible. And while I’m in favor of more vulnerability-application as a general ranger theme, the ability to strip regeneration is even more crucial to effective skirmishing. Once you work someone down you have to have the tools to keep them down until you actually end them. Poison already helps against direct heals, stripping regeneration is simply finishing the job.

I want less of help whittling them down and more of “no, don’t run, I’m not done with you yet”. I really do need to start experimenting with Path of Scars.

I’ve been thinking the range comes down. Initially I was looking to align with the axe/short bow range, but a radius of 600 will still deliver on the premise.

I agree. 600 range is right about what I’d want out of it.

I’m really pleased with that one – it would be SO NICE to be more certain my pet will actually be able to carry out my instructions…

I generally find they do if you’re paying attention to them. But Stability means the enemy can’t just throw a casual stun/launch their way when they see a pet winding up a skill.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

The writers have stated before that they look up to Game of Thrones as an excellent example of story telling, and I agree. But no relationship in Game of Thrones is disconnected to the story. There are no fluff relationships, it’s all part of the plot or a character arc.

. . . to the point where it can be where you start your stopwatch until the character has it backfire on them, yes. I admire a lot of things of A Song of Fire and Ice, but that isn’t one of them.

In Game of Thrones, characters do not fall in love and kiss for no good reason. They do so because their relationship causes problems, and makes good people make bad decisions. This directly drives the plot forward.

I would like to see the relationship between Kasmeer and Marjory drive the plot forward as well.

For some reason or another, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. I still get the sense . . . well. Let’s hope their wedding goes better than the Tully kid’s.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Rox/Braham shows the conflict of charr loyalties and pride versus their fire-forged friendship, with Braham’s immaturity and abandonment issues putting additional stress and doubt on Rox’s goals. This is interesting, because it tells me about the world of tyria while also establishing dynamic and unpredictable relationships in which further stories of equal quality can and will be told. I don’t know how Rox/Braham is going to end or where it is going, so from the air of mystery, conflict, and activity I have a vested interest. The similar air of mystery and conflict exists with the Logan/Jennah relationship, which in-game wise exists mostly to provide an interpersonal conflict to resolve in Destiny’s Edge.

You mean Logan/Rytlock when you’re talking about the conflict of duty and friendship. That was_their_ whole issue. Logan/Jennah is more “Woman In The Queenly Mask”, as she cannot currently appear to show anything back to him, no matter how much it hurts him for her to be distant. Countess Anise knows, and seems to prefer it if Logan stop letting it distract him from his duty.

But more importantly? Rox/Braham isn’t romance. It’s friendship of two people who have fought side by side enough to form a bond.

But Jory/Kas are… cute? Honestly I think that if this wasn’t a same-sex relationship, their romance would’ve been universally panned.

Hm, no. I mean, I get your point here but . . .

I find the sheer simplicity of it is preferable to trying to milk it for drama this early. And right now, despite all we can make of this? It’s still only them dating so far as we know. (And no I don’t want to know if they have to leave a “DND” sign on the door, please please please please please. . . . )

It’s refreshing for it to be . . . simple . . . in a genre (gaming) where it seems game writers seem compelled to make it complicated. Being a couple is complicated enough past the dating period, oh merciful gods, is it ever so much more complicated.

Kas/Jory has nothing to cast that shadow. Kas/Jory, for all intents and purposes, seems to exist solely to press the social issue. Or exploit it… maybe both.

Maybe. It’s intriguing (for myself) how it didn’t come off as exploitative to me. Though . . . I think I can sense something of “a thing to say”, but it’s not there yet. We’ll see later.

Zera Allimatti.2541:

True… I just wanted her dead because she was so unworthy to be called a real villain. Lion’s Arch deserved a better villain. Regardless, I prefer this option over the insanity card.

I wanted her dead so people would stop complaining about how awful she was. She was introduced with some missteps and I really think they were better about handling her after the break for Halloween.

But that start . . .

RedStar.4218:

They did worse. They played the “we don’t care for her motives and you’ll just going to have to guess” card. That’s kind of like playing the insanity card.

Let’s be fair – most of the players posting here or elsewhere didn’t care either they just wanted her dead and gone.

Mission freaking accomplished.

I was almost certain this was Commander Shephard taking time off after finishing the Reapers. Especially with “I gotta go” being said when I left the merchant.

Who would win between a norn and a charr?

The asura.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

They tried to give Braham a bit more to do in Edge of the Mists, where he was interacting with Taimi. And that was nice. Although it was a bit of an odd pairing, since Taimi had only just been introduced. So I really didn’t see why Braham, who had been established months ago, was suddenly chasing after this new Asura character.

Because Logan put her in his care, firstly. Secondly? It’s in the culture. Wolf demands one care for all members of the pack, not just the ones you like. Braham follows Wolf.

I save all my dislike for Taimi and Evon. One’s a naive child who is more intelligent than wise, the other is incredibly selfish . . . no matter where he started from, he’s now out for himself first unless he sees a way he can gain . . .

Oh, and Scarlet. But not for the character, for how she was handled early on. It was better handled in the Tower of Nightmares and forward but before that? Wow.

Kasmeer and Marjory register much better for me than, oh, Cynn/Mhenlo did back in the day. But they do not register as well as Keiran/Gwen or Koss/Melonni.

digiowl.9620:

Nikaido.3457:

Most action games are like this. Dark Souls feature tankier gear and stat selections, but you can finish the game at lvl 1 (zero levelling) with an upgraded club if you know what you’re doing. Ultimately points in vitality and endurance are only there to make the game easier for you. But people coming to gw2 act like they expected a game like WoW. This isn’t WoW, and if you want WoW you should know where to look at.

In other words, GW2 is a action game in MMORPG drag. The interface is classic MMORPG with a few “tweaks” but the underlying mechanics are more in line with a third person shooter.

Still want to call it as more Monster Hunter than third person shooter. Especially with the dodge mechanic being part of it.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

As a side note, while I do agree that they did a decent job at writing Kasmeer and Jory’s romance, it’s a pity that the writers didn’t really give them an arc. They face off against Scarlet, Jory almost dies, Braham gets injured, Kasmeer wants revenge. Then Scarlet dies, and Kasmeer and Jory kiss. None of them changed as a character. Kasmeer was still having the hiccups throughout it all, and it didn’t really come across that her revenge against Scarlet changed her in any way as a character. And I think that is a pity.

Still early to see what Scarlet’s death did to her. I know there was dialogue in Lion’s Arch where Marjory mentions Kasmeer’s changed in the time since she started working with her and become a tougher, more firm person.

Braham didn’t seem changed either too much after clearing the Molten Weapons Facility, but it did show he was less hung up on turning to others for help and more independent.

Also, those hiccups . . . probably aren’t something which can just go away, depending on how deep they run into her head.

I realize there’s only so much that can be squeezed into these living story updates, so I have to be reasonable. But I do recognize a lack of character arcs. I wonder why that is.

Amateur work.

Not meaning that as an insult, it just really really comes off through this whole thing that this was really the first time the teams were trying their hand at putting this together and gameplay or other ideas were coming before the story or the pacing. I’m grateful they didn’t start Kasmeer/Marjory earlier – with the way the disjointed topics were bouncing around I’d have been gnashing teeth over it.

Zaxares.5419:

Actually, are people still getting Blade Shards from the sprocket node? I haven’t gotten a single one for the last 3 days, which makes me wonder if perhaps they were removed.

I did Monday after 6pm CST. I’ll check shortly.

Edit: Yes, I got one from each three strikes of a Copper Pickaxe. So you still get them there. And if you don’t have one, make friends with someone who does and you can mine it in their instance.

Nike.2631:

WAY OF THE SKIRMISHER: TIME IS ON MY SIDE

Okay, this is an interesting idea, but it also. . . well, it brought something to mind. ( Link — Warning: Homestuck )

Marksmanship IV: Perfect Aim (NEW) – The damage from your attacks is not reduced by protection. (fills slot vacated by Signet Mastery; coding note – equivalent to +50% damage against targets with protection)

I don’t know if I’m keen on this being in the Adept Trait slot for being basically nullifying a common damage mitigating boon.

Marksmanship IX: Mighty Signets – Activating signets grants might and signet recharge time is reduced 20%. (combines Signet Mastery & Beastmaster’s Might)

This one being in Master rank makes me less unsure about it. And it might make us use signets more.

Marksmanship X: Marksman’s Speed – Longbow and short bow attacks pierce and recharge time is reduced 20%. (combines Piercing Arrows & Quickdraw)

Interesting, but I’m not sure if it works out for a “feel” of the trait lines so much as it is just squeezing a min/max.

Skirmishing VI: Hunter’s Horn (NEW) – Horn skills also randomly remove one of Retaliation/Swiftness/Vigor from up to 5 foes in range. (fills slot vacated by Agility Training)

Set it to remove one random Boon, why discriminate? IF that’s too powerful, cut it back to 3 targets and realize we have two horn skills we could rotate.

Skirmishing X: Nature’s Venoms (NEW) – Each time you or your pet poison a foe, that foe loses regeneration. (fills slot vacated by Quickdraw)

Can . . . can we actively target one particular Boon for one Condition? Though I’d be more interested in seeing something else here instead of this. Something on the level of Toxicity? Give Vulnerability when Poisoned?

Wilderness Survival VI: Wilderness Knowledge – Using a survival skill removes a condition from both you and your pet and survival skill recharge time is reduced by 20%.

I was going to protest but then I saw the Survival skills . . . nope, this makes Lightning Reflexes less useless when Immobilized.

Wilderness Survival X: Martial Mastery – Critical hits with sword, greatsword, and spear attacks apply vulnerability (one stack; 5 seconds) and recharge time for these skills is reduced by 20%.

“Internal cooldown of 5 seconds.”

Beastmastery I: Speed Training – Pets move faster and their basic skill recharge time is reduced by 20%. (combines Agility Training and Speed Training)

Hmmm. Could be a problem if the pet skills get a face lift.

Beastmastery III: Hunter’s Call – Using a shout reveals up to 3 foes within 900 and shout skill recharge time is reduced by 20%. (renamed Shout Mastery)

Not sure about an Adept Trait being capable of this.

Beastmastery VI: Commanding Voice – Pets gain stability for 4 seconds when you press f2 and f2 skill recharge time is reduced 20%.

I like it.

Miroe.2054:

I’d say lets mind control them with inquest technology and then force them to fight at the front rows in the battle against Mordremoth.

Because.. you know.. We are not the Heroes that Tyria deservers, but the ones it needs right now.. or.. wait.. we are the heroes, that Tyria wants, but not the ones it deserves… who its supposed to be looking for, but not who it finds in the end? Not the wrong ones, but not the right ones either? Nah… its complicated…

So, we’re Torchwood?

What I’m saying is that including homosexual relationships is no different, so when one set of people are arguing that it’s value-pushing as opposed to the above, they will never reach resolution because they are arguing fundamentally different points.

But on the other hand, I’m saying this is a fascinating discussion and we are getting at least some interesting things to talk about here. Yet . . . we are discussing fictional characters and not real people. Kasmeer and Marjory? They don’t know or care about what’s going on out here where it’s still almost something to be ashamed of more places than it’s not.

These people are not in the real world. These people do not live down the block from you. We do need to recognize we are not crusading for real rights or real intolerances, we are talking about two characters in a work of fiction. bullyrook can talk about all the values he wants, and how he doesn’t like this, or other people can talk how it doesn’t belong because they don’t want it in their game.

But this is not real, and nobody is forcing you to change your values or your orientation. They’re not out to convert you any more than when they have charr shouting “there are no gods for the charr!” they’re trying to make us atheists. All they’re asking you to do is feel for the characters/setting and understand why things happen. Or not, that’s your prerogative as a viewer/reader.

It is extremely important for people to be able to see themselves represented positively in the media they consume. I’m fully aware that Jory and Kas are not real people, but their sexual identities and relationship represent the experiences of a set of real people, so excluding them amounts to being exclusive of part of your player base. It’s the same reason it’s important to have good/numerous female characters, and characters (where human xD) of diverse races.

As a reader/viewer, I’d agree wholeheartedly it’s important to have wonderful representations of all the colors of the rainbow so to speak. You don’t want to make it look like you say “that has no place here” even without saying anything, but just through exclusion.

As a writer, I’d argue the story is much more important. If you want a strong female character but you stink at writing them, it’s better to leave them out rather than write a cliche which some could see as parodying their gender. If you want homosexual characters but the best you can do is Carmen Ghia from The Producers? Rethink if you really need it.

Again, if your stance is that “it’s just a game”, “it’s just fiction” and representation doesn’t matter, then that’s another point for mutual disagreement so I won’t push that, but I did want to clarify what I meant.

I do get what you mean. Please, please don’t misunderstand me.

I like this relationship mostly because it felt better than the other active one we know of (Logan/Jenna) and seemed to say “yes, the writers can write romance if they put their minds to it”. But we’re not discussing actual flesh and blood. We’re discussing characters. Furthermore . . . we are discussing Guild Wars 2, a game where there’s simultaneously Scarlet Briar and her forces laying waste to Lion’s Arch . . . and there’s a whole-plot-reference of the Goonies. There’s a part of the personal story where you get drunk and have to rescue a noblewoman while drunk off your boots, or where your norn got so drunk they misplaced a tank. And given the botch they threw getting the Living Story rolling, and the other general faulty bits? I’m just grateful the romance came off as well as it did.

Whether they’re homosexual, heterosexual, pansexual, doesn’t matter so much as me going “oh thank Lyssa they didn’t botch it”. You can be inspired seeing homosexual female characters portrayed in a way other than valley girl, man-hating tomboy, or shrieking harpy. I’ll be inspired they got characters which feel . . . well, human.

2/2

@Faowri, I unfortunately hit the text limit but I wanted to make a good case. Two posts coming.

Faowri.4159:

Why do we have heterosexual relationships in storytelling? Simply because they are a facet of real life and representative of real life experience that readers/moviegoers/gamers also experience and enjoy seeing reflected in the media they consume, right?

From a viewer/reader standpoint, sure why not? We all like to see that true love can conquer anything, or that we can all find that special someone to share the rest of our lives with. Or, for less romantic love and more familial love . . . that we are loved enough by our friends and family, that they would go to the ends of the earth and beyond for our well-being.

And it’s good to see a homosexual relationship we can find someone we know in, yes? It validates it as a mirror of reality, and it loans the story an air we can connect to emotionally because it resonates.

From a writer’s standpoint? They’re there for one reason only – loading a gun to be fired later. They make a cute couple, right? They really love each other and you can see hurting one hurts the other. So . . . that’s what it’s for. You are loading this relationship so you can pull the trigger and end it later somehow. It is your trump card to generate drama later, however you need to, even if you have to write out one or both of them.

It sounds cynical and cruel, partly because it is. And partly because as the writer these are not real people but constructs of your imagination to play out the drama/comedy for people watching/reading. It’s your duty to make things work out so they do react when you have death or disruption hit your lovely couple who just said they’d be together forever. This is your job, and pulling that trigger is perhaps the quickest way to bring that emotional connection and make it work.

1/2

Should we mention David Crosby for instance? I know about that one only through general trivia games from a bar.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Thanks for the feedback Spoj. Personally I am not a huge fan of puzzles but I tend to be a bit of an impatient gamer who just likes to smash things. What does everyone else think?

Chris

I’m a big fan of puzzles as content, but then I grew up with King’s Quest and I was the first in my house to finish Myst and its sequel Riven. So, I’m biased

I think, as you said before, Fractals or the world of Tyria at large is big enough for this sort of thing. There is the one treasure cave (the one with the Tears), though it needs some more checks on bugginess . . .

If you want to add Fractals like that, perhaps side attractions to the actual “vanilla” Fractals experience? Such as allowing a solo or small group puzzle instance. I could sketch out a few, or at least make a proper proposal post soon if it’s of interest to add them and not impact them directly into the standard Fractals run.

bullyrook.2165:

I deflect the conversation because my goal is not to prove that individuals of that persuasion are wrong. I am not the one on the offensive in this discussion, I am the one on the defensive.

You cannot prove me wrong, any more than I can prove you wrong.

I don’t care about proving you “wrong”. It’s an opinion. Opinions aren’t right or wrong, they just are. The most you can be is mistaken about a fact, but if you “just don’t like it” . . . there’s nothing wrong with it.

Want proof? Try substituting ice cream flavors.

“Oh man, this cherry vanilla is awesome!”
“Nah, I don’t like vanilla.”
“You’re so wrong it’s disgusting.”

. . . see? Doesn’t work. Now if we were talking about a fact like 2+2=6 ? Then I could/would call you wrong.

urdriel.8496:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

urdriel.8496:

Stealth doesnt have a counter -> Thieves can spam stealth -> profit.

Stealth does have a counter, or at least there are ways of handling those perma-stealthed thieves. I think there were threads about it all over Reddit and the forums ages ago discussing how to handle it.

The general consensus was “don’t panic and try to anticipate”.

how to handle means that doesnt have a counter, you cant counter what you cant see, you can guess, but guessing is not a counter.

I call counter a reveal skill.

Well, last time I played a game with PvP where such a thing existed (negate invisibility/stealth) it pretty much made it near pointless to do one or the other. That game was UO, where “hiding” and invisibility had a counter in “detect hidden” (which wasn’t as useful as it sounds) and “Reveal (spell)” which was more useful (could not fail) but still had the same limit the skill did. Namely, it was so small a target effect it didn’t really help.

Not that it mattered much if it could detect hidden things screen-wide. Very savvy players made finding them when hidden to be a moot point. Much like how savvy players right now both make stealth incredibly useful . . . and not.

It should be worth noting if there is a “reveal skill” and it’s given just to Rangers? We’re going to run into a problem since it almost completely hoses one family of Thief builds and more than a few “save me!” buttons the Mesmer can use to get out of problems. And, well, the usefulness of a one-shot Reveal on someone who can pop stealth again quicker than we can Reveal makes it almost a waste of skill. Especially . . . if they’re in stealth, they’re not attacking. If they’re not able to stealth and are attacking then there’s no need to worry about a Reveal. It’s time to worry about staying from getting downed.

(Because once downed, they stealth and stomp while in stealth with no chance of breaking that up.)

digiowl.9620:

CHIPS.6018:

Getting hit is unexpected. So they will hurt a lot. The game is pretty much Devil May Cry in “Dante Must Die” mode.

Heh i recall seeing early video of a thief 1v1-ing a dungeon boss, and quipping how much it made me think GW2 was multiplayer Devil May Cry thanks to all the acrobatics and evades.

It made me think more of Monster Hunter, where evades/blocks at the proper times is important but so is standing ground and attacking when possible. Though Monster Hunter is kind of . . . well, all boss fights.

(And Plessy.)

bullyrook.2165:

No, the core question is “why must I agree and/or support you?”

No, seriously, the real concern now is why you keep ducking the question or deflecting it. That’s getting irritating to watch continue, so either decline to answer it or leave it alone. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t really have a personal problem with your posts yet.

Faowri.4159:

From this perspective, it should be much clearer to understand why advocating the exclusion of homosexuality from games because some people don’t agree with it or like it is in no way equivalent to including homosexuality because it’s a representation of reality and is inclusive of the experiences of many gamers who will consume the content. Thus, you are not arguing for values you disagree with to be excluded from a game – you are asking for real people with a particular identity to be excluded from a game, and are asking for their life experiences to be perceived as invalid or unworthy of representation.

Sorry, I find myself arguing on the other side here because they aren’t real people. They are characters, a work of fiction. With no more actual reality than Twilight Sparkle, Daryl Dixon, or Tywin Lannister.

(Yes. Ponies, Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones in the same post. For those playing reference bingo, you’re one Godwin away from winning.)

The characters may be partially based on reality, or they may be “written about some guy I knew who lived down the hall in college”. But they’re not reality, so trying to shift the discussion to make it about real people isn’t . . . it just won’t work.

Now. That said.

It is asking for one set of values to be excluded from the game as being “wrong”, and generally it’s a sticky business . . . because it can always be argued this one particular thing can’t be excluded or else X, and Y must also, or vice versa. Usually things picked to be X and Y are so inappropriate or inflammatory there’s the reaction of “What? NO!” and thus the point is proved “valid”.

Here’s the serious limitation: there are some things which cannot be put into the game because it would be exceedingly disadvantageous to selling it. Thereby harming the company. If the game was evangelizing a particular religion and decrying all others as wrong. If the game took a particular and unnamed real-world attempt at genocide (and you’ve got more than one to pick from) and show it as having positive value. If it utilizes human biological waste as an actual weapon . . .

. . . wait, nevermind, they made that game already. Scratch that one.

Point is, there is a list of things they cannot do both for political reasons, sociological reasons, and for rating reasons (you will not see graphic dismemberment or anatomically correct animals).

This particular thing is not on that list. So it can be put in. Whether it should or not . . . whether it has a place or not . . . this is an issue which bears more of the real people rather than the fictional people. Because the answer is “it’s fiction, who cares if it’s legal to marry your sister in Cantha?” rather than “it’s not right”. At least when discussing whether or not it can be done.

It’s never going to be a balanced discussion due to that fundamental disagreement on principle – that homosexuality is a ‘value’ to be pushed as opposed to an element of real human behaviour to be represented with equal validity in storytelling. Even when both parties are perfectly polite, it will always end in an agreement to disagree.

It’s not the sexuality as a value, it’s more as the values supposedly attached to the behavior. At least, this is the usual stock reply to that point. I’ve been to too many discussions about this.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

So what you say is, to ignore all feedback everywhere as everyone is trolling anyways. No matter of ingame, here or on other boards.
Wouldn’t you think that something might be seriously wrong if the feedback is just bad everywhere?

Nope, everything looks good to me, so all is fine.

No, what I said was different. Maybe you should read it again.

Psychol.5783:

About skins, I think GW1 had more pleasant weapon looks, in GW2 weapons are too fluffy. Dragon Bone Staff, Frog Scepter, BO Staff, Voltaic, Obsidian Edge, Eternal Blade – these were my favourite

I hated most of those skins though . . . of course, I don’t like much of the Gem Store skins either. Except for Dragon’s Jade and Tormented, I haven’t really felt a burning need for any.

DarcShriek.5829:

It’s ok for me to kill countless mobs, but if I’m forced to watch two hot chicks kiss then my values have been sacrificed!

Hey Anet, if your gonna force me to sacrifice my values, could you at least make the chicks nekkid. Make it worth my while.

This naked enough?

Also, having been forced to see Lord Faren in nothing but underwear . . . twice . . . I’d rather ask them for reparations for that.

redslion.9675:

I know they don’t have a choice, but I’d expect Charrs to see this as a much more private matter than humans, for example.

It’s very likely it is a private matter and we don’t hear about it because of that. I suspect it’s a lot like how we don’t hear about exactly what goes on behind closed doors and between consenting adults.

Aside from stuff I probably blocked out because I neither want or need to know about it.

Something that you feel, but shoudln’t feel. Like human’s desire to eat treats. We shouldn’t do it, but we can’t help ourselves. But it would not be something to show with pride.

For one charr, apparently talking shop with human rangers about pets is one of those thing “So your Krytan Drakehounds…” “Totally useless. Get a moa. You can at least eat a moa if it misbehaves.”

And Charr have a much higher sense of duty than asuras.

I don’t know, I think charr have a much higher sense of a chain of command and more regimenting than asura do. Oh, sweet Dwayna, asuran politics and chains of command . . . seems to be “how do we circumvent the bureaucracy today to break the laws of nature/physics/magic?”

But that’s another show, er, topic.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Also, I don’t want this thread to be entirely about pets. We’ve seen a ton of great feedback about them, and I would like to hear more about utilities that need help (and aren’t viable unless spec’d into) as I haven’t seen as much on that front!

Thanks all

Sorry Allie but . . .

We’re talking about pets so much because they are a huge issue and we have heard from some red names how it is a big undertaking to revise the pet behavior. Therefore, we spend time talking on it. I know I talk on it because it is the first thing I think of when I go “what could I stand to improve in my class”.

It’s not, initially, DPS issues or traits, or other things. It’s how the pet is really useful when alone and doing non-champion fights but not as useful in larger battles. They get plastered to the ground too fast, and there’s no way to get them back short of waiting the timer out . . . compared to other classes and their F# mechanic, we’re punished quite harshly for that.

So if I focus on the pet, it’s because it is #1 with a bullet for what I think needs to get fixed. And not fixed as in “yank it out”. My catalytic converter fails on my car, it’s not going to make the car run better if I just go without it.

redslion.9675:

But if they don’t care about their cubs, shouldn’t they aswell see long lasting relationship as nothing more than a leisure or -worse- a weakness?

Part A does not fit into Slot B here.

Mostly because we’re talking about emotional attachments, and you don’t always get a choice in those how to behave or react rationally/logically.

This should particularly go for all relationships that don’t have reproduction as an end.

Saying that, shouldn’t Charr culture see a relationship as a waste of time?
I don’t think that there is any situation where this comes out, but maybe I just didn’t find it.

Asura, I understand, put exactly that kind of spin on relationships. Work and science first, anything else second. Not to say they don’t care for each other but they do have a skewed sense different from how human beings view things. I present to you Exhibit A: Gadd and Zekk.

bullyrook.2165:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

bullyrook.2165:

I dare not quote any of the above threads. They are all laced with intolerance.

I certainly hope you wouldn’t consider my posts as such. I think I’ve been quite respectful.

No, you’ve actually been the odd man/woman out. I thank you for that, even if I resent your calling me irrational.

Well I’ve been respectful too, but you are being irrational about it. It’s okay, though, just so long as you realize this is something you are reacting emotionally to rather than thinking on.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

bullyrook.2165:

I simply believe you are wrong. The same way you believe I am wrong.

No I don’t think we believe you are wrong in the same way. We have good arguments to think you are wrong. But I’d like to hear arguments from you, why you think you are right.

Your argument is simply that you have the right to do as you please. That is not giving a reason for you to be seen as “right”. It only suggests that you are not “wrong”. One does not necessarily imply the other.

I actually somewhat agree here, but . . .

There is no “right” or “wrong” because there’s no absolute morality (or moral authority) in this particular instance. The only way this could be “wrong” is if (and this isn’t demonstrated) Marjory did not return the same affection. But that’s a different type of “wrong” than what you are discussing.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

bullyrook.2165:

I will not move on this view, not for you, not for anyone. And you’ll just have to, “let it go” as you so often say to individuals such as myself.

That is not a healthy position to take on a discussion forum.

Are you willing to move on your view? I somehow doubt that.

If you’re not willing to entertain the other side’s opinion as valid, discussion can only go so far. That’s what she means by “unhealthy position”.

urdriel.8496:

Stealth doesnt have a counter -> Thieves can spam stealth -> profit.

Stealth does have a counter, or at least there are ways of handling those perma-stealthed thieves. I think there were threads about it all over Reddit and the forums ages ago discussing how to handle it.

The general consensus was “don’t panic and try to anticipate”.

Ankas.9023:

Here is a thought. Since Ranger class is stuck with the pets and we are lacking damage because of them, why not have both hear me out here!

Divide pets into 2 groups. support/defensive and damage/aggressive.

Based upon what kind of build 1 wishes to play ranger damage will be based upon. Example if ranger chooses with supportive pet that pet will NOT do any damage to enemy’s but provide boons and survivability to the team and player, but going that rout player gains increased damage himself. That would solve the problem with solo players that don’t wish pets as their damage source and want to deal damage while having some survivability.

Players that choose to do aggressive pets would be divided on damage (like it is now) with the pet with much improved pathing /AI for the pets for that burst damage that rangers are lacking to par with warriors exc…

Interesting . . . might work well, but would need some tuning.

Flytrap.8075:

Akisame.9508:

And no, the ranger class has never before used pets, the pet inclusion was something created by WoW if I remember correctly and adopted from there on other games.

Rangers could use pets in the original Guild Wars by slotting a specific skill onto your action bar, but they were by no means required to do so.

In fact, most Rangers decided not to use pets unless they were on certain team comps that were tailored towards minions.

EverQuest had at least one instance of a high-level weapon early on which gave Rangers a “pet” which was little more than a temporary summon which attacked. “Scimitar of the Mistwalker”.

Rangers also were “warrior lite” in that game due to archery being broken relatively early (arrows needed to track to hit and often would miss just by virtue of network latency issues) and even when fixed . . . counting each arrow you fired so you had to keep some on hand.

Interestingly, D&D at that time also was sort of embracing rangers as the same.

Aggrostemma.1703:

Tobias and Wolfyrk: thank you for your intelligent comment and not calling me a noob!

It’s a common mistake about thieves; they stealth so much and have so much which triggers of stealth . . . but then they also have stuff triggering on Steal. It’s why I’ve not been able to really embrace my young lil thief.

Tobias: About your comment: every other profession has absolute control over their class mechanic or signature ability by choosing to NOT press a button. Apart of loosing some utility/damage for a few second they are not punished for too long. Nobody is forcing a necro to stay in the shroud as long as their life force depletes. Nobody forces the thief to use any ability just to use the initiative or use the steal on cooldown. Even if you are a Fresh Air ele nobody holds a gun against your head to switch attunement. You have control over your class abilities.

Missing Engineers and toolkits, which is almost more of the class than pets are to Rangers. And Guardians and their Virtues, which mind you they don’t need to press a goshdarn thing to make useful.

And this is what I (we/they) want. To have a bit more control over my class mechanic.

Darn straight. I don’t want it gone, I want it working. If it’s going to be always on and not going anywhere I want to be able to take care of it.

You said that I should let my pet die and summon the second one when the time comes… Why not just keep the pet alive?

This . . . is not always an option currently. I know I’ve managed it but that’s usually a fluke. I would like the pet to stay up but we are talking about zergs. I don’t think we could legitimately get a pet which could survive and not be OP with it outside of zergs.

Why must I loose my class ability for only being there?

Well, let’s be honest, the question is “why be there at all” since I find you can do more damage in WvW with a small group while zergs are busy colliding. Take 2-5 people and you can drop most targets while a zerg is busy trying to beat down somewhere/someone else.

I somewhat make my WvW career out of it “Zerg at hills huh? Give me someone else with supply. I got rams. Let’s go knock over a tower or two. If we’re lucky we can snatch Bay.”

I do hope that you understand my point of view. It’s like if an elementalist manages to survive a zerg… put their attunement swap on a minute cooldown. Or a warrior couldn’t use adrenaline for 60 seconds… I think you can understand my point better.

I don’t need help understanding the point, I get the point. I was saying how to mitigate the problem currently for our pet usage. I’d rather we didn’t have that level of issues but it’s better than running back to the zerg (which is often the case if I play my warrior or guardian – they’re upleveled).

Lydell.8713:

Brutal Arts.6307:

The audience for GW1 isn’t the audience for GW2. This game is aimed at the people that would spend hundreds of dollars on farmville or other casual facebook games.

So, you spend hundreds of dollars on farmville or other casual facebook games?

No, but I have spent $200 to date on various games on my iPad and “casual” games on Steam. (Humble Bundle helps keep the number up and the cost down though.) Oh, and the donation to some people doing mods for Minecraft, do I count that or not?

Devata.6589:

Some like the LS many seem to not like it. Same for temporary content. That is the indication you get when checking forums, talking to people ingame and seeing mapchat in LA.

Well it was map chat in LA, now it’s in Gendarran. Now map chat in LA is asking if X is still bugged with Y. Sometimes even if Y was never an issue.

But map chat was always also full of people just trolling (at least once someone logging on multiple characters in order to agree with himself how thieves were OP) or just to join in on the “fun” of bashing the game. Most people who disagree would just /ignore or turn off the map chat.

As for the forums, Reddit, Guru, whatever . . . each of those three is not the same group of players, is not necessarily a substantial selection of players, and in two out of the three it is not required they actually have played the game at all to have an account to post.

It’s also the Internet. If there’s any lesson of the Internet it is this – it largely exists to share pornography of various types, funny animal videos, and to complain about things you don’t actually care about.

Faolain kinda . . . left after Caithe told her to go away with lots of sharp weapons. And the Nightmare Court had the next people in turn all turn on each other trying to come out on top (as the Court was designed).

All Scarlet had to do was show up and beat them into following her or just promise to free the sylvari from the Dream, without saying she intended to not use the Nightmare.

Pie Flavor.1647:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

kgptzac.8419:

I dare ArenaNet make a poll for every player to rate the first “season” of Living Story, the anticipation of the next season, and publish the result.

The sample size might be too small to make it a valid poll…

ANet does not really want to know what people think of their LS, they prefer to stay somewhere over the rainbow with unicorns pooping rainbows.

so the sample of “people who experienced living story” is too small to make it valid to analize “opinions of people who experienced living story”?

The sample size of “people who actually fill it out” or “people who don’t just log in to troll the poll”.

Seriously, how many people would come back to their accounts JUST to put down all 1/10s for content they didn’t play in a game they don’t want to come back to otherwise?