Guild Wars 2

See, if we just avoid “holodeck malfunctions” then I’ll just look at it like said piece of technology on the old Enterprise.

Something to fit in between what actually is important and happening, for entertainment purposes.

At least it’s not another festival, huh?

Tachenon.5270:

Elbegast.6970:

What is meant by ‘constructive’, exactly?

Constructive criticism consists of offering well-crafted and thoughtful advice and/or possible alternatives to something one finds less than satisfactory, even though such advice and/or alternatives, no matter how well-crafted or thoughtful or even ingenious, are rarely taken into consideration by the creator(s) of the less than satisfactory thing. For example:

Constructive: ‘If only you would tell good stories instead of bad stories, more people would enjoy them.’

Not constructive: “As I watched the story unfold, I could feel my brain cells attempting to flee in terror as the massive ridiculousness of it all began to crush them, one by one. Some made it as far as my left nostril, prompting a passerby to say, ‘You have a booger.’ Oh, the the look on his face when I replied, ‘No, sir. That is my brain.’”

One must also endeavor to express one’s criticisms in a positive manner. Like so:

• ‘You guys create really good examples of poorly-developed characters!’

• ‘If there was a Guinness Book of World Records record for creative ways to avoid actual growth in an MMO, you guys would be in there for sure! Kudos!’

I hope these examples will help others construct more constructive criticisms.

And those are examples of what sound constructive and helpful while being infuriatingly vague. Also the kind of stuff I hated receiving as critiques when I was in my writing workshops trying to learn how to do that wonderful and beloved thing such as writing.

Bright.9160:

Mini Polar Bear wasn’t attached to dungeons though, only to wintersday.

Still was connected to the instanced dungeon runs, so I count it.

I personally think those items were a good part of the economy, because they fueled supply-demand, which caused people to go out of their way to do harder dungeons. Imagine BDS dropping in Arah, don’t you think that more people would attempt doing Arah instead of not touching it with a 10 foot pole.

Not sure what “BDS” is meaning here? I first thought “blue dragon scale” then the part of my brain which tried to kill memories of NetHack rose up and told me to drink again.

And to be honest, I would love for the sort of dungeon skin drop we had in GW1 if only because of what you cited here. Because it would drive people to run those dungeons more. On the other hand, given the kind of nasty behavior we’ve seen called out on Arah runs . . .

I think it could make it worse.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Also, trash mobs dropping “unique crafting materials” is kind of not entirely true unless you’re talking about the Obsidian Shards and Globs of Ectoplasm. I suppose you could make a case for Glacial Stones, Destroyer Cores, Diessa Chalices, and Golden Rin Relics . . . it was almost never worthwhile to kill certain groups for what they “might” drop, especially running HM. Kathandrax kinda was a bit problematic that way, if I recall. Also Slaver’s Exile.

Globs of Ectoplasm, Obsidian Shards, Jadeite Shards, Amber Chunks, Rin Relics, Chalices, … There were plenty of examples. In EotN they weren’t worth killing yes, but in FoW and UW there was a reason why people farmed trash mobs when they were waiting for other terra’s to be done.

See, if you had just said Shards/Ecto I would have understood. And yes, we wiped everything on our trips I attended. Except smite crawlers, those things we tried to kill ONLY as many as we needed to.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Because if you wanted anything worthwhile in GW1 late-in-cycle? 100 plat to start, or start talking ectos.

Actually, no. A lot of skins were nigh-worthless. q9 storm daggers were like 15-20e, Froggies and BDS’es, unless in the right attribute with the right req were like 30e. Pretty much all the skins dropped a lot. The only thing that kept their value were the uninscribable shields from GW:Factions and some from Prophecies (Magma’s, Deldrimor Warlord etc) with good stats.

Depending on where Ecto was at at the time, 30e could translate to 50-70 platinum. Far more precise were Armbraces, but that’s a whole ’nother can of worms. From what I recall, good inscribable Zodiac weapons could fetch a decent price.

. . . but this is getting far afield in remembering things. Point is, by the standards of the economy back then it was roughly on par with getting anything except a Precursor/Legendary in the GW2 economy.

I really don’t think EQN is going to do what EQ did for the genre. That is, push it to another step. For instance, just how much of EQ1 are we still using and how much do we look back and groan at the fact they thought it was good design?

Not to mention EQ also spawned “working as intended” as a sarcastic bite every time players found a quest which did not work and could be demonstrated not to work, then get stealth-patched to work and GMs would pretend it was always fine.

By the way, the whole “poll the players” you mentioned EQN is doing? I really think this is either going to be a horrible trainwreck waiting to happen . . . or something mediocre which makes fans of the old games go “WTF?”

aspirine.6852:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Alchemist.7523:

But today I see the new update and it felt like a slap to face Sopranos ending.

. . . you mean Lost’s ending, right? Or that terrible show with Scott Bakula? I forget what the name of it was . . .

Quantum leap was a brilliant series!!!

No, no that other one. Quantum Leap was good, though I still didn’t like the implications of the ending.

Gehenna.3625:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

snipped for length

As much as I might agree with your individual assessments (and I largely do agree), I am not convinced that we represent a majority of players here.

Why do I think that?

Well, most players who left and think this game is crap are not posting here. Just a few like myself who still have an interest in the discussions. Also most people who are positive about the game do not post here, they are playing the game.

So as much as I know that I would need some changes for me to play this game again, I do not presume that I am part of some majority. In fact I consider myself a minority compared to the people who are enjoying the game as it is.

Perhaps on the total of the 3.5 million copies sold I might be part of a majority who got disenchanted with the game, but that’s a guess. And even if more than half of the players quit, most of them have moved on and stopped caring about GW2 entirely. So they don’t matter for GW2 anymore because they are mostly lost for good.

In spite of the big numbers posted, the current numbers are smaller. Smaller sales in 2013, lower concurrency, slow growth of player numbers after the big dip etc. It’s all about stabilising what is there now.

The next big numbers will come from China and if they stay big they will determine the future of the game more than we do. Dunno if you ever considered this, but if China is a success then that’s where the money will be for them and the opinions of those customers will inevitably have to become leading. Not yours or mine. So China could be a great thing for the game, but could be a bad thing for the players depending. I’m not sure yet either way.

I know I’m not in the majority, I just read, listen, and try to collate what I can get. So far that’s a losing battle because every time I think I know what the deal is, someone goes and drops a load of crazy mutterings on me.

Gehenna.3625:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

olleandersson.9408:

I have to agree with OP. I’d much rather run around with items contained by completing challenging content than running around with my legendaries, making players think ‘’Wow, he managed to get that weapon.. how the *?!’’ Rather than ‘’Oh well.. yet another guy who’s playing around on the trading post a few hours a day..’’

Legendaries aren’t hard to get. Time consuming? Yes, but challenging? No way. We need items that are actually hard to get your hands on without having to spend thousands of gold.

And i’m saying this as a trading post freak…

Just saying? GW1 with it’s weapons to be traded often brought comments of “how much did you have to pay?” rather than “where did you get that?”. This is not new to GW2

Sure but then we didn’t really have legendary weapons and the really expensive weapons were a lot harder to come by than here.

I remember also that weapons had level requirements. And some skins were only available in oldschool stuff. Man, the pride I had for having a -5/+28 gold Echovald shield and it wasn’t even perfect stats.

I just don’t get that feeling from anything here. Somehow it just all feels meaningless.

They didn’t have level requirements, they had Attribute Requirements (which were a whole different kettle of fish). Also, I think a lot of the ZChest skins which were rarer to see could indeed command awesome prices.

Also fun, tracing back the value of things like the green weapons. Totem Axes anyone? For a long time they were pretty valuable. Inscribable Jade Swords were actually pretty hard for me to find cheap, if at all, but I did get one . . . solely out of respect to wear with a couple people I ran alliance events with.

Now, translate it over to GW2 and the price of some Precursors or specific rare Exotic skins. Like, say, “Final Rest” until it was more widely known how to get it (that clocked in over 40g at some point). How about “Dawn” or “Dusk”? “Foefire’s Essence”? All of these are multiple hundreds of gold, which would put them about on par with some of the more specific rewards back in GW1. Like “Elemental Sword Q9”. Or Celestial weapons with inscription slots.

Edit: I just got told those were always junk, but you know I didn’t have any problem selling them when I was cleaning out some alts in the mad dash to try to maximize my HoM score before GW2 hit I dunno, there was a wild fluctuation to a few things and I tended to either have something valuable and not know it . . . or think it was nice and it was really crap.

olleandersson.9408:

I have to agree with OP. I’d much rather run around with items contained by completing challenging content than running around with my legendaries, making players think ‘’Wow, he managed to get that weapon.. how the *?!’’ Rather than ‘’Oh well.. yet another guy who’s playing around on the trading post a few hours a day..’’

Legendaries aren’t hard to get. Time consuming? Yes, but challenging? No way. We need items that are actually hard to get your hands on without having to spend thousands of gold.

And i’m saying this as a trading post freak…

Just saying? GW1 with it’s weapons to be traded often brought comments of “how much did you have to pay?” rather than “where did you get that?”. This is not new to GW2

Bright.9160:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Yeah, but then I expect to hear about how “I did The Crystal Dunes in Hard Mode and all I got was this T-shirt” from the forums.

Or not… Look at how dungeons and elite dungeons worked in GW1. They were challenging, and offered cosmetic rewards that were selleable so people that completed them could make some money out of it. Trash mobs also dropped unique crafting materials etc, making killing trash actually worthwhile in some places.

People were still doing UW, FoW, DoA, Deep and Urgoz in 2012, 6 years after they got released, that says quite a few things about how well they were designed.

Not to mention, the only thing that you missed out on if you didn’t do the elite areas were some HoM achievement points. Other than that, it didn’t matter in the slightest if you did them or not.

This is very true, except the point where some of those were well-designed. I really ran into people who said specifically the Foundry of Failed Creations (DoA) was one of the worst experiences they tried. I ran into people who railed against Underworld runs due to some of the fail conditions kicking the group out. It, and Fissure of Woe, cost money to attempt each time where later ones did not.

Notably, part of the insanity in the GW1 economy came from the demand and supply of those cosmetic items. Seriously, no fooling around, how many people could make bank on a couple Elemental Swords (Req 9)? Or a Froggy? How about that ugly skull-on-a-stick Saurian Scythe? That’s before we get to the minis where it was even crazier what a Mini Polar Bear was going for when I stopped.

Also, trash mobs dropping “unique crafting materials” is kind of not entirely true unless you’re talking about the Obsidian Shards and Globs of Ectoplasm. I suppose you could make a case for Glacial Stones, Destroyer Cores, Diessa Chalices, and Golden Rin Relics . . . it was almost never worthwhile to kill certain groups for what they “might” drop, especially running HM. Kathandrax kinda was a bit problematic that way, if I recall. Also Slaver’s Exile.

(By the way, Slaver’s Exile was both an interesting design and incredibly frustrating to deal with the mobs inside. I applaud the difficulty but hoo boy . . . )

But you’re right about one thing. If you didn’t want to do them, you didn’t have to and there was nothing worth going in there for. But if you did happen to go in there and get lucky you could make bank for years off a lucky chest drop. Which was why people felt forced to do certain ones even if they didn’t like it.

Because if you wanted anything worthwhile in GW1 late-in-cycle? 100 plat to start, or start talking ectos.

Gehenna.3625:

Everybody expects the game to cater to themselves and them alone. The fact that others like some of the same things you do and are therefore like-minded is merely convenient, but gives no higher qualification than “I want”.

People should talk more in “I want” and “I feel”…it would make these discussions a lot more honest in the end.

Okay, but bear with me for a moment: The game needs some focus on what ANet wants to improve on.

Right now, the more I think of it and sit here listening, the more I realize there are all these parts here of a game many many people want to play. Except for some reason there’s this lack of focus on these parts. This is all from just . . . listening, and trying to grasp what people are saying.

- There are dungeons, but they’re either too easy to run for rewards or not rewarding enough to bother with for the difficulty. Every time they work on it, the gap gets wider. People still gravitate to Citadel of Flames Path 1, as you can do it quickly. People don’t do a lot of the other dungeons due to them being too difficult, too weird, or just too much of a hassle.

- There are World Boss events, but a lot of them scale poorly and have evolved into a rote pattern where the players (in massive numbers) cause the “death of a thousand cuts”. Then they collect their loot, check the timers, and move to the next one they want.

- There is sPvP, but a lot of people just plain don’t like it. From listening to people, nobody likes it. They do like the “Locker” and wish it was in PvE.

- There is WvW but it’s in a strange balance of “siege vs zerg vs nightcapping” if you listen to enough people. The tactics are usually simply “zerg it til it falls” and if that fails “zerg where they’re not at until they come defend, then go somewhere else”. Also, nobody likes it either and it’s a waste of time and server space.

- There is nothing to do as a guild unit. There was the option of Guild Missions to work towards but as they require a lot of resources pooled together it was determined they aren’t meant to be played. More concerns are a lack of fine controls with guild leadership, and the fact “guild halls” were mentioned once and have not been seen or heard from since other than “we’re still thinking on it”.

- PvE is uninteresting and poorly balanced; either it is impossible to do in a small group (1-3 people) or it is trivialized by bringing a larger group (25+ people). The rewards are either unnecessary or too much of a crapshoot (i.e. “we’re not getting exotics but we’re getting blues”) to bother with.

- There’s no point to doing anything, since it can’t cause permanent effects on the world. Lost Shores happened, and poorly thought-out timing issues combined with underestimation of what traffic would be pulled into one zone all at once across all the servers caused issues. Everyone wants to avoid a repeat of Lost Shores, but still apparently wants the same sort of thing to happen.

- Living Story is badly written, badly acted, and just plain bad. Except for the Molten Facility. Which was only sort of bad. Nobody can agree on how to fix it, other than to stop trying. Also, it may be sexist towards females. And sexist towards males. And racist against charr.

- Class X is broken, and will always be useless. Class X changes depending on the latest patch, but is never Warrior or Guardian. The only one mostly agreed upon is engineer, which is agreed to be useless by the majority of players. To a lesser extent, people want rangers to roll warriors instead.

- Precursors are too expensive to buy from other players and too difficult to get via “normal play”. This means Legendaries are “impossible” to achieve for the average player. People not amused by the idea Legendary weapons may be easier to attain than Ascended weapons.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

marnick.4305:

You don’t need a single piece of gold for full BiS.

The only value of gold is cosmetics, and I like it that way.

and armor repair fees, way point fees, well, crafting have some vendor fees involved too.

but since we are getting so much gold so easily, it doesn’t matter much anymore.

Unless I am seriously screwing up, one loop of Dynamic Events through a zone of my choice will cover costs. If I do some WvW, I might make more than the cost of repairs for that night.

Bright.9160:

Vayne.8563:

Bright.9160:

Vayne.8563:

Nuka Cola.8520:

No endgame August 28th 2012, no endgame August 29th 2013.

The best reason to play in my opinion. This is what makes this game better than every other MMO. Thank you so much for sharing this positive opinion.

I don’t enjoy endgame, therefor, they shouldn’t put it in the game, because this game is just for me.

Got it.

You’re quite close. Let’s look at this closer.

I don’t enjoy end game. Other people besides me ALSO don’t enjoy end game. We don’t know how big a percentage that is, but clearly other people do feel the same way. There are whole lot of MMOs out there already focused on end game. There are relatively few MMOs (none of the ones I’ve tried) that don’t focus around end game.

Some posters feel ALL the MMOs should be for them. Some of us feel it’s about time that at least one AAA title was for us.

I don’t really see that as unreasonable. It’s far more unreasonable to say that all MMOs should be the same.

So you accuse us of feeling that an MMO should be made just for us, while at the same time expecting the exact same thing from this one? I’m sorry, but you’re being quite the hypocrite.

Not to mention, it wouldn’t hurt your gaming experience in the slightest if they added elite end-game content for the people who enjoy it, seeing how they won’t make a gear treadmill out of it anyway, and the rewards would be purely cosmetics.

Yeah, but then I expect to hear about how “I did The Crystal Dunes in Hard Mode and all I got was this T-shirt” from the forums.

Calae.1738:

TL:DR To summarize, the piling up ‘daily’ and time-gated content is just a shallow attempt to keep people coming back, and to restrict those that play many hours a day, causing GW2 to feel like a chore.

It’s what happens when players consume content faster than it takes to build it.

The sandbox “player created” content is the holy grail of MMO’s but; we have yet to see a company accomplish this and keep millions of people playing. Gear treadmills and time-gated content are cheaper to produce and known to be effective.

It’s already happened, from what I hear EvE Online is pretty much all player-driven and all the companies do is make sure it’s all legit and tune the servers now and then. Not being attracted to a game where I might be blown up just for the lulz, I can’t attest to this personally so . . .

The downside to solely “player created/driven content” is that it’s in the hands of the players. Like it or not, they are running it. And if you get enough trollish/jerkish behavior rolling it can become a nightmare for someone who just wants to drop in and kill time with something enjoyable.

Astralporing.1957:

(…pain inverter made some hard encounters a joke, for example)

Hey, you remember when you could kill the Great Destroyer in roughly 30 seconds with Pain Inverter, D-shot, and some good healing keeping you standing up? Good times.

Palador.2170:

This makes me want to laugh, bitterly.

Hi. I’m Palador, and I’m a former long-term player of City of Heroes, which was run by Paragon Studios. THAT was a group that knew how to work with their community to improve their game and actually make friends. And then, one Friday, NCSoft came in and fired everyone. The next big update which was pretty much ready to go was never released to live servers. Game servers shut down 3 months later.

I don’t intend to take this out on ANet, even though they also work for NCSoft. However, NCSoft IS the reason I don’t hold back on what I say to them about what’s wrong with the game. CoH and Paragon Studios were just the latest in a series of games that NCSoft has killed off and swept under the rug, never to be seen again. GW2 could very easily become their next victim.

They don’t get nice from me because they can’t afford it. If they don’t meet whatever goals NCSoft has dreamed up for them, then one morning they’re going to get the ax so fast that ANet will have no chance to split off to become its own company. The game will disappear, and that will be that.

If someone’s playing with fire, you don’t kindly suggest that maybe they might want to consider precautions to avoid getting burned. You either yell at them, or you grab some popcorn and grab a seat to watch.

You know, I got a friend who would be playing GW2 if it weren’t for NCsoft in the background. For similar reasons (former CoX player) . . .

Just saying.

Moss.5371:

GW2 is going in the exact opposite direction of GW1. In every single aspect of the game. Which is incredibly sad for all the GW1 fans.

Actually, I would like to know if there’s any GW1 fan that likes GW2 better as a whole.

. . . yeah, but it’s difficult for me to say WHY without getting into topics way far afield. And potentially hypocritical if taken out of context to be flung back at me later so let me just say:

Yes. I like GW2 better at this time than GW1.

Sleuth.7964:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sleuth.7964:

Guild wars 2 will come out when its ready

Guild wars 2 will come out when its ready

when its ready

So, feeling like answering any questions or addressing anything in my reply other than leaving a sniping, snide little comment? Please? I did you the courtesy of treating you like an intelligent counterpart, please do the same.

I’m basically saying in short we got bait and switched.

Yeah, but you’re still not talking to me. You’re making a case for everyone else to listen to you, but you’re not addressing anything I had to say in response.

Sleuth.7964:

Guild wars 2 will come out when its ready

Guild wars 2 will come out when its ready

when its ready

So, feeling like answering any questions or addressing anything in my reply other than leaving a sniping, snide little comment? Please? I did you the courtesy of treating you like an intelligent counterpart, please do the same.

Gehenna.3625:

Professor Marvel.7584:

That right there is what I’ve been saying all along as well. ANet will make the game that the people want, and if the people want to play Farmville Wars 2 then that’s the game they will get.

If you don’t want that kind of stuff, stop doing that kind of stuff.

The problem isn’t the developers, it’s the players.

-PM

I think the biggest problem started when they made GW2 for a different type of player than GW1 was. You kinda get that when two games share the same name.

Also the marketing of MMO makes any MMO sound like it appeals to everyone. It’s sadly common practice. It generates big box sales at the start and a mass exodus within a couple of months. GW2 is no exception there either. Marketing is simply the ability to make people believe something without actually saying it. That way everybody thinks the game appeals to them and feels lied to when they don’t actually like it.

Anet didn’t invent that type of marketing, but they also didn’t shy away from it. Who does really?

Mojang?

Derreck Trueflight (1275 AE – 1320 AE) carried the family name, bearing three children. None of them survived the events of the Ogre Revolt, though that skips ahead considerably in the timeline. There is little of interest here other than he was a squad leader until he retired to a posting within the city as a liaison between the Ebon Vanguard and the Fallen Angels. It is unknown currently if there exist any descendants from the other children. It is known he later perished protecting part of Ebonhawke during the Ogre Revolt.

(Lightbringer’s Notes: It’s not worth pursuing at this time. Tobias Trueflight is more than adequate for what we require him for, there is no pressing need to bring his extended family into this.)

The lady Evelyn Trueflight was born in 1298 AE and is known for being the first female heir in the family to carry on the name and legacy. While her father did not ascribe to the way of the ranger there were ample opportunities for her to train in the arts and do her duty within the Ebon Vanguard. During some point in a mission in the place known currently as “Sniper’s Woods” she conceived her firstborn to an unknown father and later in the year 1316 AE gave birth to Tobias Trueflight, second of his name, before marrying Lieutenant Patrick Khybin. His daughter Deborah was older than Tobias and seemed to be something of a positive influence until she left for Divinity’s Reach to enroll with the Seraph. We are not sure the circumstances of this event and would need to pry into it should it interest the Order.

(Lightbringer’s Note: Do not intrude on that poor girl until it becomes entirely necessary. She’s been through enough.)

The man familiar to us, Tobias Trueflight, is a likewise interesting case.

In 1320 AE, the events of the Ogre Revolt tangled records only slightly. Evelyn Trueflight was called to the front and entrusted her children to a friend of the family who fled through the asura gate to Divinity’s Reach with the younger Tobias Trueflight and fell into the limited protection of his older sister Deborah. They remained close together until she was recruited into the highly decorated Falcon Company. After a mission went awry and the unit was all but wiped out, Tobias Trueflight took his legacy more seriously and pushed to study the ranger’s ways in Shaemoor. As of recent events, he is known to the locals of Divinity’s Reach as a Hero of Shaemoor for having stood with some of the locals against a Tamini attack.

(Lightbringer’s Note: Indeed, and Tybalt’s reports have been full of glowing praise thus far. I have no reason to believe there is a significant danger posed by Tobias Trueflight to the Order, but neither do I believe he is essential to the continuation of the Order. It’s my judgement he be treated no differently than any other of our Agents.)

(Master’s Note: Lightbringer, due to the skills Tobias possesses, it is remarkably short-sighted to relegate him to a position anyone else could do. He has connections within Divinity’s Reach, Hoelbrak, and even a grudging respect which has built up around his exploits on the Plains of Ashford fighting both the Foefire specters and Flame Legion. Not to mention former members of Destiny’s Edge seem to hold an interest in him as well. As such, he is far more valuable than “any other Agent” and it would be prudent not to assign him as such.)

(Lightbringer’s Note: By your will, Master, though I find it perplexing you are taking a personal interest in this matter.)

(Master’s Note: Every member of the Order receives my personal interest when they join and rise within the ranks. If we must discuss this in private, Lightbringer, I shall have to expose several things I know about you and events surrounding a stretch of the shattered Wall. I believe the information would be of interest not only to you but certain Iron Legion Legionnaires who might appreciate details in that matter. If I have to discuss this matter with you anymore then thinly veiled threats will not be my first course of action. This is your only warning on the matter. Observe Tobias Trueflight, but his sentencing is left for people other than yourself, and ultimately within my hands.)

This is a second draft, having written most of this between games and added the part on Tobias after having passed through most of the Personal Story. As such some details may appear self-centered but really they were the only way to reconcile events without wholesale denying they ever happened.

Still a work in progress, so to speak.

= = = = =

Lightbringer,

You requested the full file on one Tobias Trueflight as well as the background we could dig up about his family. Order operatives therefore were dispatched to Divinity’s Reach and Ebonhawke to begin investigation. What was uncovered was interesting, but in and of itself not terribly unique or compelling. We have, as usual, done the tasks assigned to us with prompt timing and attention to details. As there are no particularly kitten ing secrets of the Order present in this file, sealing this is not necessary and left to your discretion.

I shall start at the earliest bit of records we could recover. Tobias Trueflight is the second person bearing that name in the family records we could find, The first person to bear that name was an active member of the Ascalon Vanguard, which as you know ceased to be after the Searing and the exile of Prince Rurik. As few Ascalonian records from before the Searing (1070 AE) remain available we must rely on what we know afterwards.

It is known from consulting records kept at the Ascalonian Settlement in Kryta that Tobias Trueflight (the first) did survive the travel over the Shiverpeaks and was instrumental in several events surrounding what we know are “the Flameseeker Prophecies”. Without firsthand accounts, it is not known what Tobias’ place was within those events but it is known he had at least a small role to play in how they became resolved. He received a citation from Captain Greywind for bravery in the face of a Titan incursion but after that the next mention has to deal with an evacuation during the Battle of Lion’s Arch in 1079 AE.

After that there are records from Ebonhawke telling very little about the older Tobias Trueflight. He was traveling with his wife Cersei Jubari as one of the armed members of the Ebon Vanguard. (She is a native of Istan, but records for her are currently quite difficult to obtain; until a request for further study on her, we have limited our scope of investigation to how she plays a part in all of this.) There were at least three children accounted for, one of whom was Alpheus Trueflight. He took up the practice of being a ranger is his father’s footsteps and served as one of the few dedicated guards for Ebonhawke’s early history. He passed away in 1099 AE during a charr probing attack (aged approximately 39), survived by his widow who died in 1113 AE (age listed as 47).

(Lightbringer’s Notes: This inaccuracy reflects badly on the Order. I will need to weigh this matter and look into matters. Cersei Jubari’s name is known within the records kept during Nightfall and the Kormir Ascension, but it’s not been worth pursuing. I will have to review those files sometine in the future.)

Alpheus Trueflight married an elementalist named Persephone (last name not available in the records) who bore him two children. The youngest son Colin Trueflight (born 1116 AE) proceded to put effort into training as a warrior who specialized in anti-charr activities and gathered his own squad from members of the Ebon Vanguard for an expedition to scout out possible locations for new expansions later. He married a priestess of Lyssa named Tristesse Laron and had one son – Joshua Trueflight (Born 1139 AE). After Colin was lost on patrol in 1145 AE, a warrior named Gerard Harand helped raise Joshua.

After this, there are several generations of descendents and precious little information on what they were up to. However, the residents of Ebonhawke keep decent enough census records. The generations following Joshua Trueflight have very little remarkable to them, and there is ample evidence of plenty of familial offshoots which could be long-distant relations. After the asuran gate was constructed to reach Divinity’s Reach, tracing the genealogy of the family became considerably more difficult. It’s sufficient to say there are two other families who are entwined with the Trueflight family: the Kereminde family which entwined with the Trueflight name with Lorelie Kereminde (born Erica Trueflight, 1112 AE) who married Ezra Kereminde (born pre-Searing and thus lacking a firm birthdate) and thus the family has blood relation to the Trueflight family. There are later instances of intermarrying, and there is evidence they remain closely tied. The second family to show some connections are some Istani expatriates who bear the Therin name. There is only one instance of marriage inside this relationship (Tara Therin, born 1234 AE in Lion’s Arch and married to Tristan Trueflight in 1254 AE.

Favorite?

I’d have to say the fun times hosting districts for Canthan New Year.

Sleuth.7964:

2. Don’t compare jumping puzzles to real content for hardcore players

So sorry, what exactly is “real content” then?

5. In raids like 25 mans or 8 mans in SWTOR or any game with raids 1 person could wipe EVERYONE so it is about YOU even if it is in a large group EVERYONE has to work together.

You cant understand this because I honestly think you’ve never experienced a real raid with a guild and killed a boss to were it was killing you over and over again and learning from your mistakes and finally taking it down feeling awesome.

I have had that experience. I’ve had that experience in PvP combat too, where if one person goes down too early then everything else becomes a domino effect until one side is all on the ground dead.

I don’t really miss it, because when you succeed you might feel great . . . unless the reward is nothing. You know, because you didn’t have enough DKP to bid on an item you really needed and some dingbat bid on it for an alt they never play. Or when you wipe another guild in an open-world battle and you know, you just KNOW it’s only a temporary reprieve because their alts are going to come next and you’ve still got “a man down”.

Some people live for that kind of thrill and enjoy it, and I really leave them to it because if I don’t get anything out of it other than four hours of wasted effort or a crosshair on my back in guild politics, I’m really going to have to pass on it.

6. I want that feeling in GW2 and sadly it lacks it as of now. Its not fun shooting fireworks at the elder dragon

Not gonna lie, that part of the fight was underwhelming. Really hope they do better next time.

Sleuth.7964:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sleuth.7964:

Okay let me ask you this its a yes or no question

Should Guild Wars 2 introduce more hard content for hardcore players?

Oooh, that’s not fair. Complex issues require complex answers.

That is not complex at all

Its a simple yes or no

It is a complex issue, and wanting a simple “Yes/no” answer makes me want to answer “Blue” just to spite you.

ArenaNet needs something for the “hardcore” crowd, but there’s no definition of what you mean by that. It could be the people riding the bleeding 1% of the top tier players. In which case, they really need to work on challenging them somehow.

Do they need something in the open world which only those aforementioned “hardcore” can pass? Well what’s the point of putting it there if everyone can try it but only 1% can pass? What exactly is the challenge, and is it something which is a gear gate, a skill gate, or just a test of how long you can stay in a fight before you die?

ArenaNet also needs everything they put out to be at the very least something every player can (in theory) try. They can’t cater to solely the hardcore (as defined above), because they’re such a minority in the player numbers it’d be a worse outcry than when Guild Missions were introduced (and that even had an “escape clause” for allowing anyone to do them).

If you define “hardcore” as people who play every day, religiously, and collect all the possible stuff they can? I really . . . REALLY . . . don’t think they should be the sole targets anymore than the top 1% “elite”. Mostly for the same reasons as above.

So while there should be something for the “hardcore” to do? I’d much rather not see them catered to exclusively. I watched that with EverQuest, and it was painful.

Elbegast.6970:

What is meant by ‘constructive’, exactly?

I see QQ/Rage/Rant posts that are far more ‘constructive’ than others in which the OP may be calm, cool and collected. I would rather see angry posts that bring to light the game’s problems (even if they offer no solution) than to see posts that do nothing but gleefully compliment the game and it’s creators.

I don’t come to the forums to pat people on the back or to sing heartwarming campfire songs. I come to the forums to complain about the game’s flaws in hopes those problems will be rectified.

You may see the rant posts as ‘negativity’ but I see them as the exact opposite. People wouldn’t be coming to the forums to complain if they didn’t care a great deal about the game and it’s direction. Our passion for the game is what spurs on our forum rants.

I don’t think it’s the negativity which bothers me as much as "Guild Wars 1 was never this grindy’. Or “Prophecies was freaking awesome and there were never any problems ever.” Rose-colored nostalgia glasses annoy me a lot more than simply calling out flaws in Guild Wars 2.

It also bothers me when hyperbole creeps into complaints and it goes a bit far, such as to declare one thing “the worst thing they could ever do”.

It bothers me when people take as fact the ANet devs either are only out to take from their wallets or ruin a game their company is pretty much riding on.

People complaining about drop rates, farmers, CoF runs, thieves needing a nerf in WvW, warriors needing more nerfs everywhere, the sylvari are ruining everything forever, and King Adelbern’s crown is the wrong shape don’t bother me nearly as much

Sleuth.7964:

Okay let me ask you this its a yes or no question

Should Guild Wars 2 introduce more hard content for hardcore players?

Oooh, that’s not fair. Complex issues require complex answers.

Sleuth.7964:

Vayne.8563:

Sleuth.7964:

DarcShriek.5829:

eisberg.2379:

Guild Wars 2 brought in $25Million in sales in the last 3 months, going by the quarterly, after all expenses and taxes, that is ~$6-7 Million in profits in 3 months.

Financially the game is doing great.

I don’t see as many GW2 is dying posts anymore. They always make me laugh.

if this game is doing so great then where the hell is the content PERMANENT content.

Arguably if you’re doing badly you’d want ALL your content to be permanent, because you don’t want to keep making stuff. Making stuff costs money. Having four teams working on 2 week release schedule costs money. You can’t afford to do that if you’re not doing well.

In fact, many MMOs when they are doing badly, introduce an expansion (which is all permanent content) to get some money back into their coffers. Apparently Guild Wars 2 is doing well without having to have that permanent content.

That said some content is always permanent. For example the current invasions won’t be leaving the game when the event ends (though they will be less frequent).

Sigh there is just no convincing people like you

You’re not even really trying, so I don’t blame him for being unconvinced. For the most part, this game is what the devs are trying to make it. For better or worse, they’ve decided to put their work behind this Living Story. Is it awesome, awe-inspiring, revolutionary?

Heck no. It’s not new but it is the first time I’ve seen a development team focus almost entirely on delivering “episodic content”. (Disclaimer: It may have happened before, but this is the first time in the games I’ve played.) So at least they’re serious about it, rather than half-heartedly throwing it out there.

However, I’m enjoying the content, even if it doesn’t keep me riveted to the game playing it. (Mostly because I run into Diminishing Returns really darn fast doing invasions.) But it’s been fun, entertaining, and better than the stuff in the last MMO I played.

I hope it gets better, because it really does need some better polish before getting sent out to get beaten on by disillusioned fans.

SlaYer.2138:

Solid Gold.9310:

minbariguy.7504:

Sirendor.1394:

The game is at this very moment a chore and everything that was fun about it, became a grinding nightmare.

+1. Nothing more to add.

+ another +1

+1 Exactly. Guild Wars 2 has turned from an entertainment into a job that pays its players monthly with cosmetics (and achievement points for completionists).

Really? Because, you know, I have to work a lot harder at my job than I do playing this game. I also have to grind my teeth and get along a lot more, swallowing things I dare not utter even in anonymity.

You know what it reminds me of more? Booster Draft at Friday Night Magic. You’d never place “in the money” if you were too casual unless you were really lucky, but it took a lot of studying and a good amount of effort to get the local metagame down enough to do better by skill alone.

All this for $12 a night. You can see why I stopped going. (At least I got to keep the cards.)

Dustfinger.9510:

Lokheit.7943:

I didn’t say they all are, I said this raises the bar and now there is potential for that and more because Scarlet is canon and she is the most outstanding IQ we’ve ever seen, making an unprecedent evolutionary leap from her own race (this is closer to a mutation than simply high IQ if you consider how big it is and her feats) that puts her even far ahead of the most intelligent asuras.

the other possibility is that she is just an anomaly like when RL humans kids graduate college. She may just be the Bobby Fisher of the sylvari.

Why couldn’t she be the Rainman of sylvari instead?

Anymras.5729:

Thanks for the feedback, everybody.

Tobias: Yeah, I had it formatted properly (indentations and all) in OpenOffice, but it broke when I copy-pasted it. Tried to pseudoformat it by putting a few spaces in front of the first word of several lines, and it ended up ignoring it. Bit of a pain, that. Will have to look into sorting it.

Getting the characters mixed up is something I definitely need to work on, though.

As for the question: Nope. Okka’s a character I came up with entirely for this story idea, which also became the Living Story idea I had. Thinking I might write more Okka stories, though – and probably incorporate some ideas I’ve had for Asura Engineer Turrets into them if they ever get actiony.
My actual GW2 character’s Veirkan, who I named before I knew anything about Asura names besides that they seem to be short and sharp. Never bothered ascribing a personality to him, likely never will, so there’s not likely to be any Veirkan Tales or anything.

Only asking because I might now be compelled to drop in the little write up about Tobias here. Guaranteed not sue-ish.

Fungalfoot.7213:

Somebody needs to kill Trahearne so the rest of us necromancers can have greatswords. Stupid salad doesn’t want to share.

It’s worse than that. He destroyed it for some silly plant effect which we don’t even get to see.

I mean if you’re going to get rid of a unique legendary sword, at least salvage it and screenshot what you get so we can have a laugh.

Well the formatting makes it hard to read and the dialogue often gets a little mixed up over who says what. But as I said way in another subforum, dialogue is always kind of tricky to get right.

Question, however: Is Okka your actual GW2 character?

mrstealth.6701:

The Traveler Gifts aren’t really that similar to Black Lion Chests. The items required to get gifts were usually fairly easy to come by in the area he was collecting them. Black Lion Chest Keys require real money/gems, doing certain personal story steps, luck with map completion/daily chests (pretty rare), or an extremely lucky random drop (I’ve had this happen two, maybe three, times over a couple thousand hours of playing).

Well . . . yes. And you could buy Traveler’s Gifts off people. But the RNG was really bad for things like, oh, Inscribable Icy Dragon Sword? Mini Yakkington (I think?), or the later Vampiric Dragon Sword?

Also, Keys are kinda easy to get if you have the stomach for churning new characters on a Personal Story first section you really like. Also, the random drop chance stinks, indeed

SkylightMoon.1980:

But they still have there limitations. Look at Meta-Event DE’s. Those are chains and the closest things to chain quests. But again, they have there limitations. Because of the fact that they are on a cycle and the story behind the DE has to make sense so it can be completed frequently every 10 minutes or so. Like the Gates of Arah.
The entire Meta-Event makes sense because it demonstrates the back and forth(trench like) warfare between the vigil and the risen.

YOU CAN NEVER have a DE be used for a story that is one-time only. Like the death of a specific NPC. It just wouldnt make sense for that specific DE to be locked in time, on a loop, while the rest of the world progresses. THIS IS EXACTLY what the devs are doing with the Living Story Dungeons. They didn’t make sense to be stick around as an instance locked in time. Therefore they are adding them to the fractals of the mist.

This is exactly what this entire post is about. They can bring back missions/quests and implement them through the FOTM system because DE’s cant do them.

Well, I hate it when people say “you can never X” because that never sits right with me. Especially when we’re talking about something which hasn’t been tried yet, is a design issue, and not merely an issue of “the math don’t work”.

I mean, I don’t hate it when people go “you can never stand still for a minute AFK at Jormag under his permafrost and live”. I do hate it when people make statements like “ANet can never make an interesting part of the Living Story.” or “ANet can’t ever make permanent changes to the world.”

I’m pretty sure you can do one-shot DEs. They did it with the Ancient Karka, and probably wisely decided not to try it in that way ever again.

jcbroe.4329:

Am I the only one that remembers Ranger/Ritualist (R/Rt) Underworld Farming with SoS?

Yes.

I never tried it, and this is the first I remember hearing of it. Everyone I talked to wanted to insist Perma-SF was the only way to do it. ONLY.

silvermember.8941:

I always find it funny, because most of the people talking how guild wars 2 wasn’t grindy either are in denial or only played it after nighfall.

It was grindier after Nightfall.

Again, two words: Holy Lightbringer. Sure, you might be able to find a few efficient farms but they still were pretty pitiful.

Two more words: Traveler’s Gifts. Because if you thought repeating yourself for a limited amounts at a lottery box is bad with Black Lion Chests? Ooof.

zeromius.1604:

Crapgame.6519:

Out of the 11 or so “virtual” friends I’ve gamed with over the years dating back to StarCraft and Diablo online and started GW2, I’m the sole player to remain.

Couple went back to WoW, few others to console games and slowing down in general, few back to EQ2, Rift, and SwTOR…

It is what it is. If you ignore the fact they sold a bill of goods without every stating anything about ascended gear (saying Legendary and Exotics are it) you live in lala land. It wasn’t mentioned and thus the backlash. Now we are stuck and people will choose.

Plain and simple.

People chose to play games where there was more progression. Despite the backlash from Ascended gear, it actually still wasn’t enough for them. That’s why they left.

Well, to be honest, I think there’s actually more people playing Minecraft right now than games with progression.

Alchemist.7523:

But today I see the new update and it felt like a slap to face Sopranos ending.

. . . you mean Lost’s ending, right? Or that terrible show with Scott Bakula? I forget what the name of it was . . .

Zaxares.5419:

I, for one, welcome our new Leafy Demigod Queen.

If it’s Melandru, it can stay. If it’s not, go back to Maguuma. Or maybe just put the charr on it. Tell them the Pale Tree is pretending to be a goddess. I’m sure they can handle it just fine from there

Harathi Hinterlands is almost a precursor to Straits of Devastation. They’re both war zones and both have DE chains which rely on one side taking territory, holding it, then pushing forward. The story there is simple, and the NPCs have a good feel to them, especially the mercenaries in the SE corner pushing to the center of the map (Overwatch Camp). The spot in the SW corner on the beaches is fun as it’s a quick hit-and-fade against the centaur siege weapons to leave bombs behind and destroy the position then taking the nearby camp to support further pressure. There’s the Kol Skullcrusher event too . . .

Harathi is a lot of DEs done pretty well. It’s a shame there’s so few places in the game with a lot of similar “feel” to them. A zone-wide effort to really DO something, with multiple sections at work. Northern Kessex Hills is also pretty good, and so is Frozen Maw.

Malchor’s Leap and Cursed Shore are on the other edge of the coin. They’re a whole lot worse off since it’s much harder to push through alone than it is in Harathi and Northern Kessex Hills.

Flood the Grove.

No, seriously, it seems like that place would be much easier to maneuver around underwater.

Sleel.8365:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Yumae.7256:

I personally really hoped they were setting up Traherne to be another Pale Tree type thing. He sacrifices himself to cleanse Orr, and becomes a tree similar to the Pale Tree that gives life to the country again. Was actually very disappointed with the actual ending.

I’m fairly certain there’s a better reason for that than “we’re bringing him back again later for the next story arc”. I’m also . . . fairly certain he will get a heroic sacrifice later on. I can see no other end to his story arc if it’s intended he be a hero alongside the player and Destiny’s Edge.

I suppose another end could be him being killed off to prove a future opponent is very seriously deadly, but I think that could be a colossal waste of the character.

And how, pray tell, would killing him off prove an enemy was seriously deadly? When your average trash mob can take him out?

The average trash mob can take you out too if you’re not paying attention. (The AI frequently doesn’t seem to.)

But, if you insist.

Imagine if you will the next dragon campaign we undertake, the Pact forms up at a forward base again, and the repaired Glory of Tyria is there to make a show that we mortals can fight back. Destiny’s Edge and Trahearne (and the player character) are there to discuss what they know and then rally the forces to begin the first push. All looks like it’s going to be just another long campaign of pushing into the territory of, oooh, Kralkatorrik.

Only to have . . . say, the Shatterer descend with the intent not of winning but of doing as much damage as possible until it falls. It divebombs the repaired Glory of Tyria and rips out the mechanics so it can’t simply be repaired but must be rebuilt. Destiny’s Edge scramble to get people to the escape vessels and Trahearne tries to help with evacuating people from the lower decks with the player character. Only to have something explode and he falls out without something to catch him.

The next segment the Pact tries to mount a rescue mission and tension has regrown between the orders over who could not have seen this coming, and Trahearne is found broken in the midst of some Branded who have put his body up as a display to intimidate the Pact. “We can take even him out, at the moment of your brightest beginnings. What chance do any of you have?”

Hm, interesting question.

Unfortunately, that’s sort of the sylvari home and the Tree is a central part to their way of life. I think it would take a herculean effort to rewrite the world without the Tree to make sure they come into being, and take part in their Personal Story.

On the other hand, maybe if the sylvari are gone, we can turn our attention to stamping out the asura next.

Decisions decisions.

7 Invasions getting the Scraps should get you enough to build the Shoulders, unless you beat Scarlet. In which case you can get it in as few kitten total successes.

The drop rate is less important than that, I’d say . . .

mrstealth.6701:

If I had to guess, I would say an entire set of GW1 equipment could be had for about 27-28k (in the last 3 years before GW2’s release), and that is including splurging on the superior vigor rune for an additional 9hp that costs you about 10-12k more than a major rune.

I’d say it was about half that if you stuck to what you could get off crafters. Face it, materials were cheap and simple. Especially if you pegged out where Artisans were to transform (mostly) plentiful simple materials into rare ones. The Vigor Runes and dyes were the expensive part, if you had expensive tastes.

I also say it’s much easier to pay something like $10 and buy the Bonus Mission Packs or the GOTY upgrade. The BMP gave you good max-stat gold weapons for a minimum of fuss. (Especially if you did Gwen’s Story or Saul’s Story – those two were relatively simple.)

Zindrix.1750:

Guys, this thread will get deleted if you keep talking about GW1 farming. That’s not what it’s about.

Sorry, what’s it about? Oh, right.

. . . meh. Ascended Gear looks to be about as annoying as the Reputation weapons/armor were in GW:EN. In short? Until I see details I’m not going to say it’s going to kill the game.

More dangerous to build diversity is the people answering build advice with “zerk or nothing”. And they’re not that dangerous either.

Dante.1508:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Tribio.8531:

And GW is losing a lot of its playerbase as well, my friend.. Get out of PvE from time to time.. ;-)

Except that we have been told, several times recently, that they are seeing an upswing in the player base.

And they are getting ready to release in China, which will further boost their playerbase.

rolls eyes

Lets cry gloom and doom some more because we aren’t happy.

Yes we may have an upswing now, but when this Ascended stuff gets added that upswing may very well change direction, its happened once it’ll happen again..

I think anyone who predicted the Ascended stuff being a pain has already either quit, made peace with it, or otherwise isn’t a factor in leaving. I really don’t see multiple people who hung around after last November going “I’m gone the instant they announce Ascended armor, even though they practically said it’s coming eventually.”

Ashen.2907:

No doubt there was some degree of effort in getting max possible gear in GW1. For me, and those with whom Ive played both games, getting max armor was easier there than in GW2. I do not find it to be particularly difficult in either game.

I pretty much said the same thing, just with details about why it didn’t take me that long. But then, I totally realize I might not be the median when it comes to players. I mean, I look up info on the wiki all the time. Where to get stuff, what needs to be met in order to get the Temple Armor, how much Karma I need to save . . .

. . . really wish there was a way of getting Exotic weapons other than crafting or luck. Though I don’t think they’re particularly expensive off the TP? Would need to get online to check and can’t currently, so I won’t say much other than it may be possible.

Getting prestige items…Difficult to really measure. I know someone who has been farming for a legendary for a year now without success. But I know people who never got their Dryad Bow.

I know my brother got ALL the prestige type weapons he wanted in GW1 in a month through smart selling and never hoarding anything he didn’t immediately need. In short, he was a GW1 version of a TP flipper

As to prestige armor skins…the amount of in game currency required to get the most expensive set (including the most expensive runes and dyes) in the game would take me less than an hour to earn (assuming that I did not have access to my “cash” reserves) using the most efficient farm I knew of over the course of my time in GW1.

I gave up on Obsidian due to how ridiculously farm-intensive it was. Either to make the money to buy the parts or to farm the parts themselves. When I got less than a dozen Ectos to actually drop for me in as many UW runs? I knew that was going to be more painful than I could tolerate.

To date Ive seen nothing to compare in GW2. Its pretty clear (to me at least) that Anet wants more of a lid on the most outrageous levels of farming in the newer game.

Two words: Legendary Precursors. Sure, not armor related but . . . noooo, Precursors give Obby a run for its money on expense.

And yeah, finding and getting to those collectors could be a challenge…but that was part of the fun for me.

I went for Grandmaster Cartographer without TexMod to help me until I hit ~95% in many lands and couldn’t tell what I missed. Finding the collectors was a matter of keeping a small notepad near my desk for who collected what and if it was of any value either to trade or break down.

Again, I’m not really a standard player

Dante.1508:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Dante.1508:

TooBz.3065:

Yeah, they are on their path. You just have to decide if you want to go with them.

This is pretty much it, I very much dislike Ascended and i use it because i’m forced to keep up, not because i want it..

I really do hope the populations decline again over this junk, not because i want the game to fail, but because i want Anet to get it through their thick heads that a lot (maybe a majority, not sure, seems so) do not want this stuff..

I guess time will tell..

I just hope they don’t pull another tier out until this time next year. 2 years is almost an acceptable timeframe, but then I don’t see them putting another tier in UNLESS there was an increase in level cap and new areas which would be harder.

I don’t want anymore Tiers, i didn’t even wanted this tier. I’m even considering Going to FF14 just to get outta this mess..

Yes probably FF14 is tread milled but at least it never claimed it wouldn’t be then made it so..

Yeah, not gonna lie, I’m less inclined to head to FF14 due to the things I heard about it. I’d be more inclined to find a Minecraft MMO server.

If my friends leave i very much will too, one has left already..

I do not blame you for this, and I’d probably get bored fast if my friends completely disappeared.

Ashen.2907:

I did not point out a need to farm. I did say that it was available for those wishing to get non collector armor quicker.

Droks armor was a level of prestige up from basic max level armor (as offered by collectors). Check out the requirements for collectors armor some time. Seven of something that mobs drop pretty readily for a piece of max armor is not particularly grind or farm oriented.

Depends on the mob But it’s still “easier” to build your own armor, and I’d say it probably was the first path people would take rather than a scavenger hunt for the right collectors.

Not to mention a few of those trophies would require farming to get the amounts possible. Sure, if I recall right . . . you could get most of this in Talus Chute. But it’s not guaranteed and might be harder than it looked. Especially with the Henchmen in the first year. (Oh my god those useless . . . )

Then the challenge of reaching some of these collectors. The one for boots? Ew. Oh, and then the one in Mineral Springs . . . oh wait, that was only Flame Eye for Fire Magic. So if you wanted a build other than Fire Magic, you’d have to craft. Then there’s one on the Ice Floe. With Mursaat. Hehe. Wow, I forgot how annoying hunting these guys down was for me the first time.