Guild Wars 2

What weapon do I want for my ranger?

. . . swordchucks.

StinVec.3621:

But this thread (and several others) are not about P2W… some people just insist on derailing the threads with constant posts discussing nothing but P2W (mostly its definition) instead of the question posed and topics outlined for discussion in the opening post.

biscuit.7540:

IMO, it’s definitely p2w. It would be fine if it’s only skin and effect but actually gaining more stuff is really bad design no matter the value of the item gained. Bad precedent.

So, if this thread isn’t about “pay to win” why do we keep getting posts like this?

Charr have to have the best story development. Why? They were basically furry orcs in GW1 pre-EOTN. There wasn’t anything to them, they appeared savage yet cunning and just an overwhelming force to beat down the human kingdoms because they got lucky.

So we’re going from paper-thin to something more fleshed out. Of course they have strong development.

Asura, I don’t agree with having any development at all. They were silly, stupid, insular geniuses before. They still are but their penchant for screwing things up now is global.

. . . I mean they made Scarlet. Case closed.

Mamma mia, here we go again . . .

See, I would have gone with:

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and your O.K.
Money it’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I’ll buy me a football team
Money get back
I’m all right Jack keep your hands off my stack.
Money it’s a hit
Don’t give me that do goody good bullkitten
I’m in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet
Money it’s a crime
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie
Money so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it’s no surprise that they’re
giving none away

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Iirc, Doern was actually the spokesman because he was the only Preceptor who wasn’t needed to help clean up the mess after the Risen attack- the Chantry of Secrets took a lot more damage than Vigil Keep or the Durmand Priory. So he was there because at that moment, he was the least important.

This is what the Order wants you to think

Shinzan.2908:

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

And the Order of Whispers does not employ sylvari in highly sensitive jobs because they suck at keeping secrets . . . secret.

This is off topic, but what? There’s no sign of any such discrimination. Heck, the sylvari Preceptor is in charge of handling the entirety of the Order’s information and analysis departments. It doesn’t get more sensitive than that.

Probably referring to the fact that sylvari have a shared memory via their dream.

Referring to an offhand comment made over in the Grove’s rather open recruiting station for the Order of Whispers. This is the perception I gathered – they do not approach the sylvari with any clandestine mannerisms, and they use them for various things . . .

. . . but the spokesperson for the leadership is human and I’d hazard a strong guess the Master is as well.

Obsidian.1328:

Well I could find loads of redux’s that are general considered failures if you want. The medium doesn’t really matter all that much, art is art.

What does this have to do with the topic of lore in the game? So far they’ve kept the required retroactive continuity fixes to a minimum developing the current Tyria. There are precious few yet which truly break things in terms of the previous accounted story.

And most of those are minor details at best. I am having trouble coming up with more than one (“Glint was a dragon champion”) which reshaped how I could look back at the events of Guild Wars 1.

What did Glint tell me?

You’ll need to be more specific about when. At the first meeting, when speaking to her vision, or later?

Lord Kuru.3685:

angelpaladin.7921:

I think its pretty much obvious Anet being silent on this for the past 3 days shows they really don’t care about us or the community. Take from that what you will but I will personally take it as a massive slap in the face and a sign of things to come.

The silence means this isn’t an “oops, we never thought of it like that” problem.

It likely means they think it’s perfectly ok with P2W and are hoping silence will cause people to give up discussing this issue. At best it means they are internally debating the issue, but that’s even bad because it means some people think the item is ok.

I think it looks more like “figure out how many people are really kittened off about this, how many are riding the anti-ANet karma train, and figure out an appropriate suggested fix and course of action before we speak up”.

They have been hit with broadsides before over “we’re going to discuss this” responses before. They may have decided to move from “let them know we heard” to “show up with all our ducks ready”.

I do not like the idea of my Hearts resetting because I would like not to have to play under time pressure to 100% the world.

BobbyStein.2315:

DarksunG.9537:

But telling us we can’t have any opinion on what we’ve played over the past year is totally unfair. I’m not sure it even makes logical sense.

When did I ever say you can’t have an opinion? I’m just asking that people reserve judgment on the next release until they’ve played it and absorbed the story components.

Respectfully . . .

Get out now before they provoke anything more out of you. You’ve said your piece about reserving judgement of the next release, but by now there’s enough people who were unhappy with the preceding material . . . they just aren’t pleased with the whole.

I am personally looking forward to what comes, not because I think it will be the most awesomest thing ever but because it intrigues me how things tie together and what the impact left behind will be. Living Story Season 1 was not as successful as it could have been on several fronts, but if it finishes strong it might just leave hope the next run will be better.

If I can use the television series metaphor? Earn your second season with the final few episodes. If Fringe could do it, so can you guys

BobbyStein.2315:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

By the way, still taking bets on who’s dying this time when we do take down Scarlet. Rox, Kasmeer, Hobo-Tron, or Taimi.

I guess you’ll have to wait and see what happens.

Of course I have to wait and see what happens

But I’m going to make a ton of gold in the process betting with Evon on this. I’d try to bet with Kiel but she keeps telling me I’m lucky to still have my spleen.

sorudo.9054:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

sorudo.9054:

one question, how is this gonna fit in terms of lore?
the 5(6) abandoned the world quite a bit, would you allow someone to enter your realm if you want nothing to do with them?

Lorewise there’s not an issue with that. Grenth responded to prayer in the heart of his cathedral in Orr, and sent an avatar to speak with the priestess. Kormir, Dwayna, and Lyssa also answer prayers (Human racial skills).

So it’s not they “don’t want anything to do with the world”, they simply stepped back. And the reasons or that are either more theologically appropriate (“Gods help those who help themselves”) or . . .

. . . fear of being caught by the Elder Dragons and devoured or destroyed like Owl.

giving a power is one thing, showing a portal to their own world is another.
as you said, they are afraid to be devoured or destroyed (maybe), i don’t think you would let everybody in when there is a chance it can go wrong.

Unless something already went wrong . . .

I thought they were “unidentifiable objects”, as in “I really have no clue what this is/was but it’s got gold and silver in it so screw it, sell it for scrap value”.

sorudo.9054:

one question, how is this gonna fit in terms of lore?
the 5(6) abandoned the world quite a bit, would you allow someone to enter your realm if you want nothing to do with them?

Lorewise there’s not an issue with that. Grenth responded to prayer in the heart of his cathedral in Orr, and sent an avatar to speak with the priestess. Kormir, Dwayna, and Lyssa also answer prayers (Human racial skills).

So it’s not they “don’t want anything to do with the world”, they simply stepped back. And the reasons or that are either more theologically appropriate (“Gods help those who help themselves”) or . . .

. . . fear of being caught by the Elder Dragons and devoured or destroyed like Owl.

kokiman.2364:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

kokiman.2364:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

You know they’re not going to explain everything, what they’re going to do is wrap up Scarlet to where she’s no longer a lingering/loitering threat.

W-what? Why? And what does that even mean? They always said that later on we will understand why she did certain things.
I really hope we won’t end up asking ourselves “Hm so why exactly was [for example] Tequalt part of this?”

You’re going to have questions like that, like “so, how did Moto figure in?” and “when is the next Bazaar of the Four Winds”, and most importantly:

“What’s next for Hobo-Tron?”

Seriously that’s what I expect. The Living World concept, from what they’ve alluded to, is not meant so each season answers everything which went on within it, so they can build off it later with call backs, recurring elements of minor or major importance, and otherwise allow for some persistent threads to move through what they write later.

All we know for certain is this will finish Scarlet’s role as a threat.

In short? I expect it to be almost exactly like a season finale of Lost.

But we already had enough of that in GW1 and those questions are still unanswered :/ Welp that’s frustrating

And we had a lot of it with Lost too. And there were dangling plot/character threads at the end of various other series which never got resolved. And similarly in movies. Sometimes this was by design (Tad Williams, for one example, paraphrased: “oh I put that in there not to mean anything in the scope of the story but to let it be seen the world doesn’t start at the first page of my first book or end at the last page of the last book. It still continues." . . . )

Sometimes it’s an oversight by the writers (“We forgot all about that guy until we finished the last scene, oops”).

Sometimes it’s a writer leaving themselves room for a sequel if they ever want to. (Note, J.K. Rowling really tried not to do this with Harry Potter.)

It’s not always bad writing or failed planning.

kokiman.2364:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

You know they’re not going to explain everything, what they’re going to do is wrap up Scarlet to where she’s no longer a lingering/loitering threat.

W-what? Why? And what does that even mean? They always said that later on we will understand why she did certain things.
I really hope we won’t end up asking ourselves “Hm so why exactly was [for example] Tequalt part of this?”

You’re going to have questions like that, like “so, how did Moto figure in?” and “when is the next Bazaar of the Four Winds”, and most importantly:

“What’s next for Hobo-Tron?”

Seriously that’s what I expect. The Living World concept, from what they’ve alluded to, is not meant so each season answers everything which went on within it, so they can build off it later with call backs, recurring elements of minor or major importance, and otherwise allow for some persistent threads to move through what they write later.

All we know for certain is this will finish Scarlet’s role as a threat.

In short? I expect it to be almost exactly like a season finale of Lost.

kokiman.2364:

maddoctor.2738:

Domain of Anguish (especially that Foundry of Failed Creations) was actually ELITE and HARDCORE content, UW wasn’t.

I guess you never played UW pre-heroes

It still wasn’t really very hard, but it required some focused builds. Even “Hard Mode Underworld” could be handled just fine.

Similarly, Domain of Anguish required some serious attention to detail but if you were taking it slow and not rushing ahead it wasn’t that bad. Except for the Foundry. That place is the spawn of nightmares.

Really the key of GW1’s “elite dungeons” was knowing how to tackle places . . . and there were multiple ways of doing it . . . but once you had done it a few times? Few places really became a problem. And all of it became easier if you were patient and cautious.

kokiman.2364:

I am sceptical especially how you are going wrap up and explain everything in those 3 remaining updates.

You know they’re not going to explain everything, what they’re going to do is wrap up Scarlet to where she’s no longer a lingering/loitering threat. I can see that happening easily enough after Edge of the Mists launches and the two following updates present us first with her ultimate goal, and then allowing us to foil it or otherwise ensure her reign is over.

And then we feed her into a charr-made wood chipper.

You know, it’d be nice if it was introduced in the next season of the Living Story as a section of the Mists not directly related to Grenth like the Underworld is. (Face it, they aren’t going to really want to develop a human-centric region where the other four races are blatantly told “this is the land of the human God of the Dead”. )

But I could see it happen and if inclined write up an entire idea for not just how to link in the Underworld, but parts of the Mists havrouns travel to, though someone at ANet would have to come up with something for asura and charr who are decidedly atheist and don’t have a thing in mind for ‘afterlife’.

General idea? You could acquire “Underworld Tokens” as mentioned above and travel there using them. (Consumable item, either purchase a 5 pack in the Gem Store or they can be found in chests, daily rewards, Champion bags.) Once there, you are met by a Reaper of Grenth to explain how the Underworld has problems with dragon minions having pushed in seeking a foothold. One section has Destroyers trying to overwhelm the Twin Serpent Mountains, one section has the Icebrood fighting the Ice King and his elementals, one section has the Branded trying to fortify the Chaos Plains, and Risen in the Spawning Pools.

And perhaps curiously, Dhuum has stopped trying to break free and his minions have pulled back to the Hall of Judgement to fiercely try to keep ANYONE from getting in there, dragon minion or not. Dhuum knows fear at last, knowing if the dragons can devour magic . . . he might actually be vulnerable.

Only the Labyrinth and the Forgotten Vale have some moderate amount of safety, the Forgotten Vale being the safe harbor where players can respawn via waypoints (there are others but they are always contested unless the Reaper is there to control it) and can sell/repair. Or exchange reward tokens for new Ascended gear (unique to the Underworld, either dropped from events or traded for, NOT crafted and NOT available otherwise, everything from new unique rings/trinkets/back items to new armor/weapon skins).

Grenth’s Reapers will occasionally start event chains to push out dragon minions and a failure causes a Legendary champion to spawn in the region which was taken over. Killing that champion will allow the Reapers to try again. If all the areas fall, the dragon minions will try to storm the Labyrinth one group at a time. Whichever one wins will have a Legendary champion posted there which needs to be killed before the Reapers try taking anything back at all.

On the other side (a total player victory), if all the Reapers secure waypoints, then a bonus chest is given to anyone who has credit for the event chains and remains in the Underworld when it is fully conquered. One hour after the total victory, all dragon minion swarms will attack the four areas at once and the total victory bonus is on lockout for two more hours unless the Labyrinth falls.

CETheLucid.3964:

The queen would never be so foolish.

While I agree with this, I would also say I don’t know if any following rulers wouldn’t. I could also see some of the ministry members deciding to stir up trouble for political or personal gain . . .

. . . and, it should be noted, not all Ascalonians recognize the Krytan throne as the reigning authority. “Jennah is not our Queen! Our king fights on even in death.”

If you don’t see charr thieves, they are doing it right.

Honestly, the confusing ones are charr necromancers and/or elementalists. You’d think they’d have kicked those professions out for being almost linked to Flame Legion.

mythil.9416:

Lasica.5068:

I dislike a lot of the personal story as it makes your character play second fiddle to some random NPC. That does happen a lot in MMOs though.

The Living Story seems better because while it has a group of NPCs involved in it they don’t take a lead role. It is your character taking the lead still.

Pretty much this. People would rather defend Trahearne even though he is terribly written, terribly put into the story and if you are any other race other than the Sylvari it makes no sense whatsoever.

I’d rather defend Traherne because he’s not the problem, he’s a symptom of the problem.

He’s not poorly written more so than other parts of the personal story, such as a moment when Forgal or Tybalt at the end of a chapter of the Personal Story basically break down going “how can we fight the dragons when they’re so powerful?!” and don’t talk about it later.

Logan is handled unevenly throughout the first three chapters of the human personal story and later encounters. Seriously, his behavior during my human commoner’s story does not match his behavior in Minister Caudecus’ Estate and when meeting Rytlock again in Lion’s Arch/Twilight Arbor.

Certain NPCs don’t recognize when they resurface you even though they should. Crusader Deborah is Tobias’ sister but she has no clue who he is when I meet her again in Orr.

Traherne’s rapid integration is a symptom of the issue – the Personal Story seems to have been written by several different teams and nobody proofread the final product.

I don’t want to launch a personal attack on the writer(s) or anything but it’s very much publicly obvious they want to do more with the Sylvari and just brush off the other races, that’s what’s frustrating too.

Really?

The asura are completely the go-to people for technology, the charr make fantastic war machines (and “ghostfire”), but really it’s more noticeable how humanity does not offer much other than the will to stand against the supposedly-inevitable.

The sylvari aren’t perfect, and are a joke in some instances. Heck, commoners in Lion’s Arch almost chat about taking advantage of the fact a sylvari craftsperson can be counted on to make things cheap and well due to not knowing the value of their work. Sieran doesn’t understand danger to herself and others. And the Order of Whispers does not employ sylvari in highly sensitive jobs because they suck at keeping secrets . . . secret.

Personally, I don’t like him. None of the people I play with like him. I’ve show people the entire story who don’t play the game and they admit it’s just bad. If you like him then fine, but I really don’t. Despite what he does or doesn’t do the way he’s introduced to anyone who’s not Sylvari makes you FEEL like he’s pretty much the plot usurper

No, I never felt that way. I felt Zojja needed to get thrown overboard after killing Zhaitan. “Waypoint back up, Zojja. The bookah strikes back!”

Zaxares.5419:

BrunoBRS.5178:

Zaxares.5419:

… I would TOTALLY ship Ellen and Evon together. XD One rules Lion’s Arch by might and force of arms, the other by the power of coin and trade. They’d be unstoppable together!

…and then scarlet kills them. and kiel was 2 days from retirement when it happened too.

SCAAAARLEEEEEEETTTT!!! /fistshake

You have to do it right. (ahem)

“I’ve done far worse than killed you, Kiel. I’ve left you the same way I left him. Your worst rival with you, buried alive. Buried alive . . ..”

Mia Lunarfang.5826:

Traveller.7496:

I hope they at least try to explain why the Aetherblades work for her or where they come from. It’s implied so far she’s so powerful she can threaten hundreds and hundreds of henchmen into working for her.

She didn’t ‘get the Aetherblades to work for her’ she created the Aetherblades, and thus is in all regards their benefactor, someone to whom they own respect and loyalty. Sure the crew of pirates existed before she took the reins, but it was her tinkering that made their ambitions realized.

And anytime someone says in the mess hall in hushed whispers “I think she’s not all right”, they explode. That helps keep them loyal too.

Simply logic really, doesn’t even need to be explained. Getting the dredge and flame legion to work together… now that’s another story.

It’s been suggested she approached each and told them the other was already willing to sign on for the alliance. “Oh, well, they already agreed. But don’t let on I told you, they’re too proud to let it be known.”

BrunoBRS.5178:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

BrunoBRS.5178:

which leaves us with our oft-discussed couple.

. . . or Ellen Kiel and Evon Gnashblade.

Look, if they both go out together to save Lion’s Arch I will finally stop giving him crap about those taxes.

would be hilarious if they became a couple.

and then the fanfic writers would rejoice.

Not talking about them being a couple (though that would make the entire Cutthroat Politics arc hilarious in hindsight) . . . talking about who to offer up for the Required Dramatic Death Scene. Assuming it’s not Kasmeer or Marjory.

Shasha.2548:

@Tobias Trueflight
Sorry for misunderstanding then.

For those who’s blind : in fact we have lot of “P2W” item in gemstore.

I know, I know, we really do need to lobby for them to remove the most powerful item there is from the store. It’s too much to even give them away for achievement rewards. They must be strictly limited and rationed out only once a year . . . to the top Costume Brawl masters.

BUT, for someone who never open gemstore, its a bonus he cant find anywhere. Isnt cosmetic or convenience, its a direct effective bonus.

I agree there is most definitely something which is incredibly effective as a bonus. It covers up the unsightly Ascended back items, whose ugliness is the tradeoff for how gamebreakingly powerful they are.

(By the way, most of the boosters you can get through the store? Available through unlocking chests or Daily Achievement rewards rarely. The infinite gathering tools? Insanely overpriced to the point a break even analysis says it could take years to pay off at a Gold/Gem conversion rate much kinder than it was.)

BrunoBRS.5178:

which leaves us with our oft-discussed couple.

. . . or Ellen Kiel and Evon Gnashblade.

Look, if they both go out together to save Lion’s Arch I will finally stop giving him crap about those taxes.

KorKor.9452:

BobbyStein.2315:

You’ll have to wait and see how we integrated story into the release. I think it works pretty well but I’m biased. I am looking forward to the feedback we receive next week.

So far that has kinda been the theme about every post on Scarlet. Kinda thought being that biased was a bad thing really.

It is. Twice the room needed for toilets in the bathroom.

Now seriously? If they can do anything to salvage Scarlet from being doomed to be as much of a joke as Firiona Vie or Lanys T’Vyl I’ll be so very very happy.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

On the contrary design within constraints have led to some of the very best ideas I have seen/played.

Chris

One format reminds me of it: MTG Booster Draft Tournaments.

Alternatively, writing prompts. Wherein a writer is handed one word, phrase, or picture and told “write a story about this”.

Shasha.2548:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Asumita.2174:

I’m excited for the pick that gives me free ectos.

It’s obtained via the following:

- Waypoint to Blazeridge Steppes; Lowland Burns.
- Wait for the Shatterer.
- Stand to his right and autoattack.
- Collect your bonus chest for the day.
- Salvage the rare item inside with a Master Salvage Kit.
- Congratulations, free ecto in five minutes. Now on to SB, Fire Elemental, Golem, Flame Shaman, Svanir Chief, and Melandru.

So no problem if the axe give me precursor, cause boss can drop it ?

The question isnt if we can obtained sprocket in other way, or whataver you want. But a pickaxe with this bonus.

Well,

A – That’s not what I said, and nowhere did I talk about the tool offering Ectoplasm as a reality. OR about a boss dropping precursors vs a tool giving you one.
B – That’s more ludicrous hyperbole in a thread which doesn’t need any more.
and
C – It’s in response to sarcasm about needing Ectoplasm to be easier to obtain than it currently is.

I’ve said my perspective on the pickaxe, and how it would have been better if it was a potential drop OR a Gem Purchase. Or, alternatively, all the other tools had their own special drops (which could otherwise be obtained at a special point of the year, the tool just allows year-round access).

Seriously. Nobody has addressed that first option, and the second isn’t being discussed at all. Both are legitimately decent options to go with here, if sprockets are put into the rotation of other limited-time offerings dropping Quartz/Candy Corn/Snowflakes sometime during the year.

KyreneZA.8617:

BobbyStein.2315:

The story instance didn’t really have any pay-offs. It was really a series of character moments that are pushing them along their respective arcs. It’s also worth noting that they will not all resolve at the same time or in the same release.

Fair enough. A “no pay-off” could certainly have been misunderstood as a “failed pay-off” in my case. I would probably have been happy with the “come back to my place,” “I’ll never leave” exchange without the tears preceding it. The marionette fight was traumatic enough, that the added drama about Kasmeer’s dad’s birthday (or was it death anniversary?) wasn’t required to push one character to reach out to the other in such a way. It just felt a little jarring (or overplayed), regardless of the sexual orientation of the characters involved.

I guess I’m saying it just didn’t resonate (the scene itself, not the relationship growth it was meant to show) with this particular player. Not a big deal. I’ve been rooting for them to ‘come out’ for a while now, perhaps I’m just getting impatient.

Death anniversary. And Kasmeer was already feeling down before the fight from what I remember. Also, that particular detail, about her father? Is payoff of a different sort – there’s been suggestions she’s had reasons to look down annoyedly at Lord Faren’s demeanor of “hey, live for the time of your life! Celebrate what’s good to get over the bad!” (an admirable quality in him and paints him as less of a buffoon than I took him for originally).

Could it have happened elsewhere? Yes, but not any earlier than this. Any later and it might get in the way of more serious matters coming up rather than being a somber note in an otherwise lighthearted part (like if she was doing it during Dragon Bash).

By the way, still taking bets on who’s dying this time when we do take down Scarlet. Rox, Kasmeer, Hobo-Tron, or Taimi.

Honestly, my last bit of input I can think of right now?

- Set up the forum topics and aggressively delete completely off-topic posts (no infractions unless it breaks code of conduct). Topics which arise out of natural progression of conversation which wind up off topic get split into their own CDI thread with a link in the first post to the original thread so people can find context where needed.

- On the players side, try to be neat and concise with your ideas unless asked to elaborate. On the devs side, if you need elaboration ask via PM unless you intend to discuss it openly. This will prevent elaborations from bogging down threads and allow you to still collect the information.

- Announce CDI threads starting on the patcher screen so anyone starting the game is made aware they are being done.

- If possible, allow one (1) in-game session somewhere where a dev or two can log a chat so players in the game who don’t visit the forums may include their input. Alternatively, some way of in game getting people to put in their ideas without needing to come to the forum from the game. Something to do while waiting on the wurm/marionette?

- Definitely try to get all CDI topics to run concurrently and receive similar amounts of developer attention/input/feedback.

mrstealth.6701:

Nabrok.9023:

Well, I have a hard time defining what’s PvE and what’s not in WvW zones.

It is a rather fuzzy line, but I don’t think I’d consider a toxic chute event much more wvw-related if it just added a few points to the score. Maybe if it had some impact on the map or gameplay, similar to mercenary camps defending/assaulting supply camps. All they really did was spawn mobs along yak routes, but they just attacked any server’s yaks.

I think what I’d like to see out of the EotM content is an NPC defended keep. Let Scarlet take over a keep and try hold it with her large armies and siege weapons. That would have the potential to be a decent introduction into one of the major aspects of wvw.

“Who wants to kill Scarlet? She’s due to pop up in Edge of the Mists.”

I think we’d see karma trains stop running just to go kill her.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

BobbyStein.2315:

gidorah.4960:

BobbyStein.2315:

You’ll have to wait and see how we integrated story into the release. I think it works pretty well but I’m biased. I am looking forward to the feedback we receive next week.

you also thought scarlet was a good villain.

I also know the entire plot a year in advance.

And you didn’t fix it? Shame on you. ^^

Of course he fixed it, it used to be much worse.

Though seriously, not all writers can see their work isn’t possibly the bestest idae evar after spending a year on it. That’s why you hand it to someone who hates you to give you totally accurate feedback.

Asumita.2174:

I’m excited for the pick that gives me free ectos.

It’s obtained via the following:

- Waypoint to Blazeridge Steppes; Lowland Burns.
- Wait for the Shatterer.
- Stand to his right and autoattack.
- Collect your bonus chest for the day.
- Salvage the rare item inside with a Master Salvage Kit.
- Congratulations, free ecto in five minutes. Now on to SB, Fire Elemental, Golem, Flame Shaman, Svanir Chief, and Melandru.

DarcShriek.5829:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

It feels forced? Really? Kasmeer left a lot of minor clues here and there, especially with Lord Faren hitting on her in Southsun . . .

Doesn’t everyone turn down Lord Faren?

Scarlet seems to have a fondness for him.

He’s too easy to kidnap, is why. Especially for noble human characters – he’s willing to follow them off a cliff

Arewn.2368:

The representation of gay relationships in the over all game seems okay/well balanced/appropriately representative, but there’s definitely a huge over representation of homosexual relationships among non-single important/main characters.
I don’t want to see every important character paired off, but they do need to increase the representation of hetero relationships amongst the main cast. It’s kind lame if they just make every non-single main character homosexual to draw attention/make them “special”.
I’ve no problem with homosexual characters, but as the OP alluded to, it’s starting to feel “cheap”.

Not that’s a very important/pressing issue though.

Eir had a heterosexual relationship. I can prove it too, just let me wave this bacon around and summon Braham. (It’s his favorite food.)

So that’s:

- A potentially homosexual relationship which isn’t entirely steady or permanent with Marjory and Kasmeer.

- A former homosexual relationship between Caithe and Faolain . . . which could arguably not be homosexual since gender doesn’t seem to have any purpose for sylvari other than aesthetics.

- A one-sided heterosexual crush which is embarrassing to watch between Logan Thackeray and Queen Jenna.

- A former heterosexual relationship between Eir and Braham’s father (I forget the name), which ended amiably enough.

So we’re two and two. Doesn’t seem too bad to me.

Nabrok.9023:

Absolutely. Things like map completion and achievements bring people into WvW that might never try it otherwise, and a lot of those people find out that they like it and become regular WvW players.

I play it largely because it’s less pressure (most weeks) than your typical PvP content in other games. Of course, as noted there’s still a ton of elitist “we don’t want those dirty PvE players in our match” which floats around.

Or, naturally, “you need to roll a warrior/guardian/elementalist/thief/mesmer/necro instead of your engineer/ranger/warrior/guardian/mesmer/necro/elementalist” . . .

mrstealth.6701:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Also, I hate seeing players who really like WvW saying they don’t want PvE players showing up in their game type. It’s basically saying “we don’t want new players in our format, we just want to retain the people who play there and screw those servers where it’s almost empty all the time”.

It just doesn’t seem . . . wise to keep going “we want X players only” while wanting the format to succeed.

I want to see new players getting into wvw, but that means players that are actually interested in wvw. Not players that don’t really want to be there, and are just after achievement points/living story rewards.

Yup, but I’m primarily a PvE player who wants to be useful in WvW and fails miserably every time due to general failure to be good at PvP material in any game ever (And my computer used to generally suck on toast when exposed to more than 50 players in a combat moshpit.)

I show up for the achievements, sure. But I’m not idiot enough to avoid doing necessary things like . . . yak escorts, siege refresh, gate/wall repair . . . just so I can go karma train with the rest of the server. (And my computer, again, used to melt a bit with said karma train.)

I’m not even rank 50 and I got my Ascended Longbow from a bonus chest somewhere in the 30s. It’s the only reason I actually have one.

Seed.5467:

Cyga.1246:

Scarlet in WvW. Worst evil character ever. Oh my god

Just imagine that you are taking an objective with your group and suddenly Scarlet drops by to say “HI”. Oh the tears….

In WvW? They’d stack, destroy her, and move on. No tears, just a ton of catharsis.

sminkiottone.6972:

It will be season 1 all over again, most PvErs don’t even bother to change build when they enter WvW lol.

I don’t. I use my WvW build most of the time for PvE – it’s not that crippling to me

Also, I hate seeing players who really like WvW saying they don’t want PvE players showing up in their game type. It’s basically saying “we don’t want new players in our format, we just want to retain the people who play there and screw those servers where it’s almost empty all the time”.

It just doesn’t seem . . . wise to keep going “we want X players only” while wanting the format to succeed.

sorudo.9054:

the reason is simple, they changed a game full of strategy (GW) in to a brain dead grind fest that only requires you to press random skills (GW2).

I don’t think GW1 had strategy as much as is thought since community builds drifted towards what amounts to “easy mode” where you practically cannot lose to content. The strategy component seemed to be more “how do we break the game so we don’t have to work” more than “how do we beat this?”

Seriously. I mean, my guild uses/used a minimum of cheese tactics in GW1 but I’ve been partied with some people intent on making anything (especially FoW or UW) a “walk through it and loot the remains” experience. There were people in LA even reminiscing over “nine minute FoW clears as R/A”.

What else can I say? That’s not strategy about how to beat it so much as strategy as to how to get the game to auto-dispense loot.

KyreneZA.8617:

I never felt that. Trehearne and DE was always dead or dying whenever they fought at my side, and Trehearne always deferred to my character when trying to lead us to victory.

Strangely, I never had any of that going on unless it was a total party wipe. I never had to pick up Traherne, or Logan. I had to pick up Rytlock on my charr’s story but then I was only lucky to rally instead of dying, THEN switch to Mace/Shield for a one on one against the opponent and stunlock them.

In short? They haven’t been a load. Even Logan.

My character was the one the Pact cheered, not DE or even the ‘chosen one.’ While Trehearne was a little bit of a Marty Stu, he was always eclipsed by my character.

(Snip)

Okay, that’s all I need for the next round of “Traherne stole my spotlight” conversations.

As for not liking them, yeah, about the only one I could stand was Caithe.

I like Rytlock, and Logan . . . when he’s not being Queen’s Champion with a head thicker than frozen mud. Eir I am mostly ambivalent towards, Caithe I don’t care about.

Zojja needs either some humility or to go follow Snaff.

KyreneZA.8617:

The ‘reveal’ could possibly have been a little more romantic and a little less dramatic, since not all players have been with the game from the vaunted beta days.

Please note, the “reveal” as you say is so far only done via an out of game comment. They haven’t yet said in game “we are a couple/dating”, they have just behaved somewhat in line with it.

Heck their behavior isn’t even dissimilar from close friends.

I was once again a little disappointed in the writing team, as the pay-off was less stellar than the build up.

It hasn’t even paid off yet either

Claudius.5381:

Btw: Black Lion Salvage Kits were the first pay to win items because of their 100% chance to recover runes and sigils.

. . . except for them dropping out of Daily completions some of the time. And potentially out of map completion. Oh, and out of the chests where you can earn Keys in game and never spend Gems on them.

Whew, wow, I am totally glad I spent no Gems at all for my Black Lion Kits and paid to win.

Raine.1394:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

So, does this all matter? Not really. Guild Wars 2 is doomed to fail due to simple, inevitable entropy. Eventually, at some future time, the game is going to shut down. Next week, next year, next decade. In the face of that inevitability, nothing matters.

I was right there with you right up to this. It does matter. It is the human condition that we oppose an inevitable entropy. Herein we are heroes.

It’s true, but really, as I just said to Gene, this is really just an indulgement in hyperbole like everyone else assuming that this pick is going to set the first step to ruining the game.

Depending on which detail about the pick you want to complain about, the precedent has always been there, and it’s simply in the hands of the developers and cash store team to not be overly lax on what they stamp on making available.

Final question: would we still be having this conversation if it was a 1% chest drop from a successful Marionette event or available from Cash Shop?

Gene Archer.8560:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

So, does this all matter? Not really. Guild Wars 2 is doomed to fail due to simple, inevitable entropy. Eventually, at some future time, the game is going to shut down. Next week, next year, next decade. In the face of that inevitability, nothing matters.

I had more responses to your points, but I deleted them after reading this, because;

>Asks me several times why I’m still here and playing this game
>Proceeds to play the “nothing ultimately matters” card

I don’t know whether you’re just trying to troll or not at this point, but I don’t really care. I’m done responding to you. You’re not going to agree with me, I’m not going to agree with you. Nothing more can be obtained from our communicating and nothing of value can be added to the thread or the discussion, especially from yourself.

I don’t agree with the particular point of view that ArenaNet is either incompetent or malicious in this addition and as a precedent it must mean there are further steps on this road.

I do agree there’s a precedent, though whether it’s set here or earlier depends on which part of this pick’s existence you want to label as a precedent.

I trust, perhaps foolishly, they’re not idiots to push the precedent everyone is up in arms about to a point where it becomes serious as opposed to sprockets.

(Stop telling me it’s not about sprockets. It is. It’s noticed because they’re a limited-time-acquisition item. If it doesn’t matter what “extra” is generated, then we have a problem from “Power of the Mists” and Gathering Boosters. Both of which were in at launch, both of which available without paying a single dollar beyond purchase of the game. If it matters because it’s sprockets, then I refer to my first post in this topic again about the myriad ways you can earn them. If it’s about the potential for something in the future being exclusive only to the gem store item, that’s a potential future we can’t realistically expect anymore than the gem store offering 250 Ectos for $50.)

If you really think this thread is that worthless, and that nothing ultimately matters, I would suggest you stop posting.

I don’t think the thread is worthless, or question its value. I question the motives of people posting in it who seem to assume ArenaNet is automatically going to do the worst they can imagine and nobody can convince them otherwise. I question the conclusions of inevitable actions.

I point out this game is inevitably doomed to stop some day because, frankly, it’s no less ludicrous than “next year there will be a pick which generates Globs of Ectoplasm or Obsidian Shards 100% of the time”. Actually, it is less ludicrous because my statement is 100% correct with basis in fact.

SBI is a good server if you can get onto it, so is Tarnished Coast. Maguuma seems fairly active.

Of course, around 3am to 7am CST all the servers are rather dead that I’ve guested onto

Gene Archer.8560:

That doesn’t matter to the point being made. It has never mattered to the point being made. Why do you keep bringing up sprockets when sprockets aren’t what the issue is about?

The problem is that the pick generates anything extra AT ALL. That there is no item in the game itself that does anything similar. It doesn’t matter that it’s sprockets.

At this point you are purposefully ignoring the point being made and attempting to say the argument is about sprockets. STOP IT.

Nope. The point is about it being done at all, but it’s also the point this is something which is still available, and potentially realistically available year-round at a rate of at least three per day.

The point is people, and not you but in general, pouncing on this idea of it being an exclusively available bonus for cash. It’s not, and either you trust them to have weighed that at all or you don’t. If you don’t trust them to make decisions on their game, and think they are either incompetent or moneygrubbers . . . why are you still playing?

Furthermore, if you want to talk about precedent? There’s a precedent set. It’s been set for a while now, since some servers via points get more value out of gathering nodes also. It’s been set when unlimited picks existed in the first place, despite the big price tag, because it immediately washed away the need to spend silver on picks ever again.

If you’re going to pull the precedent card about this, why didn’t it get pulled on day one over Power of the Mists?

That is the position Anet has placed itself in with its customers through the actions they’ve taken in the past. From Ascended Gear to the Flamekissed Armor and what have you. As the company, their decisions have created this mistrust.

If you continue to focus on the hyperbole, you will always miss the point being made. Regardless of how hyperbolic anything being said is, it will remain truth that a precedent is set with this if it is left alone. You’re welcome to disagree on how severe it will be in the future, but you cannot argue the lack of a precedent being set.

No. Hyperbole is not “truth”. It is an exaggeration of possibilities to make a point. I will continue to focus on hyperboles being done if people keep doing it for the sake of sensationalizing the precedent.

Again. If you don’t trust the company to handle their game, why are you here?

I’m not even angry anymore, I just really am confused as to what people actually intend to come out of this if they expect this is either incompetence or malice, and it’s “exactly as usual for this company”. The tone of the discussion doesn’t make sense for the goals stated about this topic.

I’m not saying this is pay to win, though. The pick gives a distinct advantage. That is true. This creates a precedent that can be used later down the line. This is true. It breeds mistrust in the consumers because of the obsolescence of earlier picks and the thought of “why buy one now when the next will be better?”. This is true.

That’s all I’m saying. Never once have I called this pay to win. Vol didn’t really, either.

No, but it still gets banged on like it means something. And it gets more wearying the longer it happens.

Does the pick give a distinct advantage? This depends on whether you consider the lucky few who earned the home instance nodes have a “distinct advantage”. If so, the existence of the pick is irrelevant.

Does it create a precedent which could be later used down the line? No. The precedent already existed, in the form of “Power of the Mists” rewarding players on high-scoring WvW servers with several bonuses including Gathering Bonus.

Does this breed mistrust in the consumers over perceived plans to make each purchase obsolete? Potentially. But there’s mistrust being piled on for so much other minor stuff for the sake of internet drama, I don’t expect it means anything anymore. Every decision made by ArenaNet, which affects the game at all breeds mistrust in some non-zero amount of the players. And among those who those players decide to go on about how idiotic the company is.

So, does this all matter? Not really. Guild Wars 2 is doomed to fail due to simple, inevitable entropy. Eventually, at some future time, the game is going to shut down. Next week, next year, next decade. In the face of that inevitability, nothing matters.

BobbyStein.2315:

Nike.2631:

BobbyStein.2315:

What people don’t understand is that we wrote and voiced a lot of these moments throughout the year. Some scenes and story instances were cut or never implemented in the final releases, which is why this particular story instance was longer than the typical one and filled with lots of exposition.

I sincerely hope that over course of the year there was an opportunity to get the Hero Voice Actors back into studio and allow the players to be more engaged in the climax of the arc than as mute witnesses.

Scavenge some clips from the existing Personal Story library if you have to, but please don’t leave us completely silent in the face of these world altering events!

Funny that you mention player voice. I’ve had a few meetings recently about that. I can’t go into details but I will say that it’s on the list of things we’re looking to address. The current issue is more of a tech one and less of a “we don’t want the player to talk” decision.

I would expect it’s also a budgetary one to get those voice actors (all 10 or so) back for just that.