Guild Wars 2

Chapter 29 – Nightmare Vine

Meanwhile, in another part of the jungle

Elder Chicatl enters the learning chamber pushing a cart typically used by vendors to hawk their wares. On the cart was a single object, about a meter cubed and covered with a coarse, leather blanket.

“Everyone grab your facemasks and gather round, my little tadpoles, for today’s lesson may be the most important in your brief lives.”

The children move toward Chicatl at the center of the chamber, some quietly snickering to themselves. Chicatl, though brilliant, had a tendency to be quite overly dramatic and the children knew it. The last ‘most important lesson’, had to do with the semantics of action and reaction as it applied to the pray of a constrictor snake. Before that it was the lesson about how various floras had a kind of intelligence without a brain. Donning their facemasks, the children gather in a circle. Chicatl addresses each child in turn, checking the fit and making adjustments to each child’s mask as needed. When satisfied, he returns to the cart at chamber center, and with a flourish usually associated with street magicians, he snaps off the veil.

Beneath lies a glass enclosed cubic terrarium, and within it just two things. A dwarf Banyan tree, its canopy full even with its diminutive size, and intertwined in its branches, a web of sickly, pale vines supporting a structure of grey, bulbous pods hanging downward.

The Professor clears his throat as the lesson begins. “Students, you are about to witness the intricately-lethal workings of one of the most dangerous plants on Tyria, the Nightmare Vine.”

Pausing to gauge the reaction on their mask-scrunched, frog-like faces, he continued. “This vine has been grown to its current size in just two moons. The spores were introduced two nights ago, and the pods formed last evening. Now that may not be very impressive to your young minds, but what you are about to witness will surely astonish you.”

The split lines develop in a spiral; as they wind around the pods, he continues, “Without light, the vine, once reaching this maturity stage, goes dormant. Who wants to get a Rootrat from the cage?” A multitude of wiry arms shoot into the air. The Professor nods to the quickest to fetch the rat as he carefully lifts the glass lid. “Plop him into that far corner,” he notes as the student drops in the rodent. After replacing the glass, he notes, “Now keep one eye on the rat and the other on the pods.”

The rat scurries about, checking out its new environment. The first pod silently splits along the spiral lines, and a midnight black lily-bloom springs forth. Sharp intakes of breath come from various covered mouths around the scene, followed by an “oooooo”. The petals unfold, showing the slick violet fronds inside.

By the time the fourth pod opened, the rodent had become noticeably slower. “Now, watch the rat,” the Professor said, knowing full well what was to come next. It lay down as a sudden desire to sleep overcame it. Soon its little legs started to twitch, not in violent spasm, but more like it was trying to run.

“It’s dreaming now,” the Professor said in barely a whisper.

 
                                                                   *****

If you are talking about a candy corn ‘mining node’, then yes it can potentially happen. There has been a bug since Halloween, (not sure which Halloween) that sometimes a mining node can appear as a candy corn node for a brief time and then go away. I have only seen it happen in Open World PvE, but I guess it could happen in your personal story.

GW2 Junkies: Guild Wars 2 has some amazing character models, ranging from gigantic norn to tiny asura. With any competitive MMO, players worry about hit boxes and how character models affect gameplay. Since a player can get hit by stray damage, how have you designed the hit boxes for all the varied sizes and shapes that GW2 has to offer—asura are short, norn are tall, charr are wide (and low to the ground when they are running), etc.?

Eric Flannum: Every player character in Guild Wars 2 has the exact same sized collision cylinder. For asura this means that the cylinder is larger than they are and for norn it means that it is smaller. Very early in the process of making the game we knew this was going to be the case, so the min and max sizes of our races are heavily influenced by this.

http://www.junkiesnation.com/2012/06/28/guildwars2-junkies-interview-with-lead-designer-eric-flannum/

Chapter 28 – Hostile Deep

With Cobalt unsheathed in my lap, I begin to row in a somewhat-straight line towards the perceived center of the lake in an effort to cross as expediently as possible. The surface is relatively calm, periodically disturbed by small, concentric ringlets from drops of hidden stalactites above. Though rowing is somewhat awkward, it doesn’t seem completely foreign to me. A glance over my shoulder yields a potentially unsettling sight. Midnight is leaning over the starboard bow staring down at the water below. A low, guttural growl rumbles in her gullet. I start to scull faster. The boat rocks as if struck by something large below. My arms are pulling wildly as the boat comes crashing to a halt. We seem to have struck something, hard. Releasing the oars, I spin around; the bow gunnel is splintered and the boat is taking on water. Midnight is no longer in the boat but standing on what looks to be a stone dock, the apparent cause of our watercraft’s demise. I scramble up with Midnight and peer at the boat as it slips effortlessly below the surface.

“Well girl, it looks like we are committed now.” I say, somewhat relaxing, as I put my hand down on the back of her head, scratching unconsciously.

Holding Cobalt aloft for a better view I begin to turn and examine our situation. Just then a spike-encrusted tendril leaps from the depths below and strikes me squarely on the left shoulder, knocking me down on the stone dock. Blood spatters everywhere; unfortunately, it is mine. Looking up I see Midnight maul the attacking thick vine of dripping spines. Rising, I bringing Cobalt to bear.

Dark as pitch, streaks of lightning boundless
Bittersweet rage casts a blazing sheen across perception
Hack and parry
Echoes of battles long forgotten
Slash, slice, stab and counter
Deeply summoned force
Sap and blood

Lifted from limbo, my stupor abates. Had it not been for my new-found armor, the outcome of this battle may have been quite different. Midnight limps back to me and I tend to her wounds. Blood flows from my shoulder, left arm and both thighs mixing with the yellowish green spew of the lifeless aquatic tendril lying across the dock. After Midnight is taken care of, I address my various leaks. Though mostly superficial they bleed quite profusely.

“What in all the Winged Ones deem most holy was that monstrosity?” I say to Midnight with a glance.

With help from Cobalt I work the heavy vine off the side of the dock. “Back from whence you came,” I snort as the remains sink into the depths.

I survey our current state of affairs as I walk down the dock away from the lake. As I near the shore I am greeted with quite the sight. The dock ends at the bottom of a flight of stone stairs which ascends about ten feet to a landing. As I climb the stairs I make out the shape of a huge closed door, which surprisingly seems to be constructed of solid destabilized ectoplasm. I consider, now that’s a sight you don’t see every day.

As I approach the stairs, Midnight bounds up on the landing. I pause on the first step with a concerned glance over my shoulder; luckily no spiny tendril from the depths is attempting to pursue us. I continue up the stairs but the wary feeling deep down, does not abate. Once on the landing, I get a better view of the crystalline door. The huge pull ring imbedded at its center would surely require both hands to budge this incredible bulk. I sheath Cobalt’s light to get a slightly different view. A soft, rose-tinted glow seems to emanate either from within the translucid door, or shines through from beyond. In sharp contrast to the stark, lithic feel of the surrounding hewn structures; completely covering the walls around the gate are some sort of pale, sinewy vines, so densely intertwined, as to completely obscure the walls beneath. The vines seem to terminate in many large pod-like structures, as they reach the crystal door.

Throwing caution to the wind, I grab the ring firmly and give it a mighty pull. Its massive occlusion silently laughs at my effort. I continue in like fashion for the next minute or so, to no avail. Exhausted, I release the ring. Panting violently, I bend forward, hands-on-knees, to catch my breath. Though I am sweating profusely, I remain quite cool. Looking at Midnight through drooped eyes, I can tell she is fast asleep. I slowly relax against the face of the door, backpack sliding across its crystalline structure. As I sit on the stone floor, my mist-clouded mind finely realizes, the trap has been sprung. I struggle to draw Cobalt but I am only able to barely clear the tip past the sheath-throat. I lower the brilliant blade to rest across my outstretched thighs and look up.

Panic should have welled up from the very depths of my being, but alas, all I can muster is the pleasant admiration of the deadly, beauty above me. From each pod terminated vine sprung a black as night bloom. The downturned Lilly-like bells yield numerous deep purple glistened fronds, their gentle mesmeric sway, enthralling. My eyes, weighed shut, another sad victim of the infamous, lethal plant.

In a labored whisper, “I should have known, Nightmare Vines”.

 
                                                                   *****

1) I like the grace period idea but I see two issues:

• It depends on how far the game kicks me out, as to how long it takes me to get back in. Best case, it bumps me back to the character select screen, getting back in from there in a minute is feasible. If it shuts down the game and I have to fully log in, then there is little chance making it back in one minute. Then of course there is my last two disconnects which forced a reboot, no chance getting back in a minute in that case.
• When you do come back in and the map is full, what que do you want the game to put you into?
  If you are at a big boss event, there is a likelyhood that the map will be full. Now if you go into a que for the map that you just left, chances are that when you get back in it will be because the boss is dead and everyone is leaving. I have had this happen with Claw and Teq and there is no chests cause you are not there upon death. Now I guess the game might give you credit for the kill even though you were not there to issue the final blow but then how long does it grant you that? For a certain amount of time after death, or for a certain amount of time after the chest goes away, or for a certain amount of time after the people leave and you get back into the map.
  The other option would be to put you back on an active boss map instead, that way at least you have a chance to kill the boss. However it could put you on an active map that has no chance in completing.

Sometimes even the seemingly simple solutions are unfortunately not so simple.

I notice it mostly in DR, usually when I come out of my Home Instance. My screen goes dark then fades back to normal. This started happening about 2 builds ago.

BuddhaKeks.4857:

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

Who: Grenth,

Grenth was at no point the villain (well maybe Wintersday in GW1, but there it was more playful than serious) and also he is a god and thus atleast as strong as an ED probably stronger. I don’t think he makes sense at all as example. Abaddon maybe, but he is more in the category above. Actually I think the ED’s should be in the demi-god category, as they are still locally confined, while Abaddon easily spread his corruption on all continents. And that when he was beginning to get his power back.

Yes, I was having rough time coming up with examples for that one. Grenth was maybe a bad example. I didn’t pick Abaddon because well, I killed him in GW1 so how powerful was he really? As for the ED’s, yes they are somewhat locally confined while sleeping and when they wake up it might take them decades just to roll out of bed. Also, they where around way before the Human Gods showed up and the last time they awoke didn’t almost ALL of the civilized world at the time perish?

I guess it is just a matter of perspective, I am not saying that all the Villains in GW are in the correct Tier. This is just an exercise in Villain consideration.

Jerus.4350:

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

Majic: I feel your pain.
I don’t like Dungeons or PUGs so the daily Fractal has been a bane of my existence since they were introduced.

My problem for me is that 5 Pristine Fractal Relics are needed to make Maudry II and I desperately need to start getting rid of Bloodstone dust, so I had to reevaluate my Fractal attitude.

Just last week on the Fractal daily day, I ran a Fractal for the first time ever. I did Level 1 and I did it Solo. It took me about 30 minutes to complete (since I died a couple of times) but I got through it. I received an Ascended ring for my effort(among other goodies). I also got 1 Pristine Fractal Relic from the daily.

Since then I have soloed a Level 1 Fractal 3 times and have gotten the run down to less than 20 minutes. Got my 3rd Pristine Relic today.

Feel free to chat me in game if you are interested in trying this and want some tips. I am clearly not an expert with only 3 attempts under my belt but I will try to help where I can.

Sorry but gonna have to call bullkitten on this. You don’t’ get rings from level 1-10 The rings start at 11-20

Well, you can call it a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g your little heart desires but when I walked into the Level 1 Fractal I had no Ettinband in my inventory and when I walked out, guess what… yep, you guessed it, I had an Ettinband in my inventory. Imagine that.

Maybe it is not real, just a figment of my imagination. I better check my inventory again. Yep it is still there.

Shall I take it to a Master Jeweler to get appraised I wonder? Oh, silly me, I am a Master Jeweler. Yep I certify its Ascended authenticity.

Thank you for your interest in the possibility that ANet might be pawning off some faux Jewelry on me. Your concern is indeed touching.

Levels of Villains
Ok here is my take on the Big Meanies

Bad guys come in many shapes and sizes, from the grandiose, to the lowly bully. All have their place in the story and all have differing levels of interaction. Problems start to arise when the Villains exposure moves outside their interaction level. In the samples below I will try to give some in popular fantasy culture examples.

Devine – This is the Godlike villain.
Interaction: This bad guy should never have direct interaction with the player.
Why: This villain is the personification of evil, meant to shape the overall evil and strife in the world. They are way too big for the characters to have direct contact. Since they can squash the entire world with a thought the only interaction should be through stories, rumors and evil underlings.
Examples: Morgoth/Meldor, Cthulhu,
Who: GW2 Dragons

Worldly – This is the Demi-god villain.
Interaction: At this level there should be very little, if any, interaction with the player
Why: Though they cannot just destroy the world on a whim, they can spread their evil worldwide with little effort. Interaction should only be through hushed whispers for fear of drawing any sort of attention.
Examples: Lucifer, Vecna
Who: Grenth, Dhuum,

Regional – This is a villain who spreads their evil across a worldly region or a large part of it, like Tyria, Elona or Cantha .
Interaction: This should generally be the highest level of Villain that most players should ever meet.
Why: They do not have godlike powers but any interaction with the player, group of players or army of players will most assuredly fail. This is an end of story Villain who the players will hopefully overcome in the end
Examples: Sauron, Lord Voldemort, Darth Vader, Kas the Bloody-Handed
Who: Scarlet, Palawa Joko, Shiro Tagachi

Area – This is a villain who spreads their evil across area or map section.
Interaction: Players should be fearful of interaction with these meanies. Solo interaction would normally be near instantly lethal. Group or even Zerg battles should have questionable success.
Why: They’re big, they’re bad, and you know it.
Examples: Smaug, Sith Lord
Who: Tequatl, Three Headed Wurm

Local – This is the elite villain.
Interaction: There should be fear of death for these encounters at the solo or group levels but they can be easily vanquished by large groups.
Why: These are your common big bads which players would normally encounter in standard game play.
Examples: Uruk-hai, Jabba the Hut
Who: Champions, World Bosses

Summary: So there are plenty of places to put Villains in the game. You just need to be careful how you implement and what kind of interaction you encourage. No matter how you slice it though if they don’t have a well written, believable back story the result will be… a Fail. Put your hand down Ceara

Ahhh Mimics, yes fond DM memories.

Not quite as good, but almost as good as Rust Monsters and Level-sucking Undead!

Chapter 27 – Strange Sight

I start to laugh. Not entirely because it is funny, ha ha, but more so because it is peculiar. Floating not far from where I stand is an old wooden rowboat. Hiking up my breeches, I wade out to retrieve the odd offering and bring it ashore. What a curious thing down here in these secluded depths of Tyria. I pull the boat up on the rock ledge by its broken leader so that it doesn’t meander away of its own accord and stare. A boat, down here, just wandering its way around this sequestered basin? I shake my head, confused. Ever since I have stepped foot into the ravine’s mouth back on the surface, I have been greeted with various oddities which seem curiously out of place. Luckily, knock wood, to date such peculiarities have been personally advantageous.

Further exploration of the lake-shore yields one other peculiarity. Hidden by the side of the traversed falls where we entered, maybe not so much purposefully concealed but more likely missed due to my lack of observance, lies a carefully laid out pile dyed leather. Upon further examination I find it to be a well-maintained full set of emblazoned armor. I look around for someone snickering at the look of utter surprise most assuredly plastered across my face, but to no avail. This time, unlike my backpack offering, I don the armor without question or hesitation. Curiously, once cinched into place, it all fits me like a well-oiled glove. Why my mysterious benefactor would leave a full set of exotic armor just lying about is thoroughly beyond me.

I look at the lake, and then over to the boat; hopefully my future exploration would not involve swimming. It seems that I am averse to putting my head underwater; the thought of being completely submerged is rather unsettling. In an unusual contrast, being forced to endure a bit of surface-swimming Ascalonian-crawl style does not strike me as quite disheartening. I walk over to the boat and Midnight hops in. Our aquatic adventure begins.

Majic: I feel your pain.
I don’t like Dungeons or PUGs so the daily Fractal has been a bane of my existence since they were introduced.

My problem for me is that 5 Pristine Fractal Relics are needed to make Maudry II and I desperately need to start getting rid of Bloodstone dust, so I had to reevaluate my Fractal attitude.

Just last week on the Fractal daily day, I ran a Fractal for the first time ever. I did Level 1 and I did it Solo. It took me about 30 minutes to complete (since I died a couple of times) but I got through it. I received an Ascended ring for my effort(among other goodies). I also got 1 Pristine Fractal Relic from the daily.

Since then I have soloed a Level 1 Fractal 3 times and have gotten the run down to less than 20 minutes. Got my 3rd Pristine Relic today.

Feel free to chat me in game if you are interested in trying this and want some tips. I am clearly not an expert with only 3 attempts under my belt but I will try to help where I can.

Question 1) I am not qualified to evaluate your mental state of being with so little data to go on, but let us go under the default assumption that you are not crazy until more data is available

Question 2) I use my strafe keys all the time and have not noticed a change in speed. Granted over the past patch or two my running is somewhat choppy but that seems to include just plain forward running too.

Revenant: I spent Friday on my Revenant trying to see if it impressed me any more then the last beta test, the Shiro add was nice but the class did not really do it for me. Now granted I am not a melee type of player(Don’t have a Thief, War or Guard) so maybe it is just not my type of class.

Tempest: Yesterday I rolled a Tempest and used that for the rest of my testing. I did all of my testing solo in case that matters. My Non-Beta Main is an Ele so I had some high expectations for the Tempest but I must admit the Tempest left me somewhat flat. The variety as compared to a standard Ele was barely noticeable. I don’t feel that (at this point in testing) it offered me much ‘shine’ enough for me to consider switching over to Temp from Ele. I do understand that from a mechanics standpoint you don’t have to “switch” but right not I would just continue playing my Ele as is. So my overall feel for the Temp=Lukewarm

New Map: I really liked the new map. I spent the first part of my testing exploring and opened up all the shrouded areas. The layout takes some time to get used to but was not much of a problem.

Masteries: This was a bit confusing. I had 2 points from completing the first storyline but I couldn’t do anything with them that I could figure out. I spent a lot of time clicking on everything I could find just to get something to happen, to no avail. I dinged on my level during a fight and a help box kept popping up telling me gliding was available. Thank you for telling me but I am in middle of a huge battle and can’t take time to look at the UI right now. No need to keep telling me with every new kill.
{Possible Bug:}Once the Mastery bar was full it didn’t look like my kill experience was registering till I applied a point, then it went to zero and started working again.

Gliding: Kind of a bad start here. When I first got onto the map I plummeted to my death trying to glide before I realized I did not know the gliding basics yet. Ok, my bad, I thought it was going to be turned on from the get go but no biggy it will come soon.
Now I finish my Gliding Training and apply a point. When I was running down small slopes the gliders were kicking in automatically. Ok that was fine, so I figured that once I jumped off a cliff they would kick in and away I’d soar.
So off the cliff I went and plummeted to my death. Hmm, the Gliding Basics said I should be able to glide now so WP, run to the cliff… splat again. I must be missing something. Checked the Mastery again for an on switch, nope. Checked my backpack for a glide option, nope. Tried running off the cliff 3 more times, splat, splat and splat.
The last time after I died a tooltip popped up saying ‘space bar for glider wings’. Ohhhh now you tell me. WP, run off cliff, spacebar, woosh out they come and away I soar.
Now, once I got the space bar tip, (would be nice to see that on the Gliding Basics somewhere), Press the Spacebar to Gain access to the glider so that you can glide like a squirrel across the highest points of the Heart of Maguuma. everything was fine from there.
Gliding was Awesome! I spent the next hour or so just jumping from the highest spots I could find and soaring for as long as I could; usually resulting in 1 million points of damage but that was just fine, WP, Jump and away I go. Repeat, repeat, repeat…

Mob Difficulty: As a soloing Tempest set up with 70% Zerk/30% Soldier with mostly Strength and Force upgrades, I found no problem with the single Mobs including the Vets. I was usually good up to about 3 in a group without much issue. So the difficulty seemed fine to me.

Mob Respawn: Some of the respawns seemed a bit fast. There were battles where the dead ones behind me were respawning quicker than I could kill the ones in front of me. Sorry I do not recall specific mob types where this was happening. It was not everywhere on the map just certain areas. I will try to note where next time.

Events: Most of them were not working for me. The escort events worked fine. The flagpole event was not active the 6 times I check it as I ran by. The Feed the villagers event seemed to just go on forever stuck at 9/10 till I just left. I did complete one event that I did not have a clue I was even doing.

Overall: I’d say it was a successful test. Some expected problems to be sorted but all in all, interesting.
Next time, Druid please.

When celestial came out, I was not sure if I wanted to use it or not but just incase I started charging crystals as I got them.
Now I have hundreds of charged crystals in my bank. And it didn’t cost me anything but a little patience.
I have not to date made any celestial items but due to just a little planning, I could make a full set at any time.

I agree with the OP, it doesn’t seem right that one exotic type is gated while the next one is not, but the workaround was quite simple.

Many of us have purchased multiple harvesting tools for different characters instead of swapping them through the bank which is a bit of a hassle to me.

Two problems with your suggestion.

1. All of us who have multiple versions of the same tool on different characters would get hosed for the gems we spent on each one after the first.
2. ANet would loose a ton of future sales

If you have 3-6 characters and don’t have time to waste on swapping, just dust off the coin purse and buy more for each of your characters.

Menadena.7482:

Belzebu.3912:

Menadena.7482:

You can also get it as a random drop. On Shatterer I once got a Charzooka, which is an ascended rifle with a huge skin.

Charzooka is exotic, not ascended.

Hmm, I will need to check the stats then. I remember them being the same as my ascended rifle. If it is exotic I will just move it to the bank tab where I keep exotic weapons for any of my characters to take from as needed.

As stated previously Charrzooka is an Exotic
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Charrzooka_%28weapon%29
Maybe you put the Charrzooka skin on an Ascended Rifle and just forgot. Otherwise once you equipped the Exotic on your character it became Soulbound so putting it on a bank tab to be used by other characters won’t work unfortunately.

Purely speculation but there are some official changes coming to Guilds with HoT (Guild Halls etc.) so you might see something then.

Callandria.2038:

Thanks all for your responses….Honestly we enjoyed the game and doing dailies as the start of our gaming day on GW2 especially with topped out characters. Maybe we need to reup for one month and try GW2 again with a different perspective of daily actions…..

Again thanks for the replies!

Not sure if I understand your “reup for one month” statement. Reup is usually associated with renewing a subscription, but GW2 does not have a subscription. You don’t need to set a Monthly time limit, just log in and play for as long as you want.

Coulter.2315:

People would just reroll until they got an easy one like they do on fractals. Might be fun for an event but I don’t think it would function as a permanent fixture.

How would they know to ‘reroll’ if everything is random? Rerolling would just give them another unknown random encounter.

Guzzi: Could it simply be a matter of population?

I personally don’t know which regional group of servers is as a whole more populated, but ‘if’ NA is in fact a more populous than EU, maybe that is why you see more resurrectors and more chat/calling events and more help there.
Solely due to the fact that there would be more opportunity to do so.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

What I don’t understand is why is it needed in the first place?

• All your other armor works just fine underwater why doesn’t your helm?
• Oh and let’s not go down the “The breather allows you to breath underwater” road.
  Take your breather off its equipment slot and put it in your bag inventory, now jump into the water. Guess what, you breath juuuust fine.

Originally, it was needed for going underwater. But they removed that mid-development because they felt it was an unnecessary hindrance to exploring the game.

My point exactly “Originally, it was needed”. Keyword: was

What I don’t understand is why is it needed in the first place?

• All your other armor works just fine underwater why doesn’t your helm?
• Oh and let’s not go down the “The breather allows you to breath underwater” road.
  Take your breather off its equipment slot and put it in your bag inventory, now jump into the water. Guess what, you breath juuuust fine.

Chapter 26 – Deep Delve

Well, the difference between the first few sections and these last two is that the last two are completely new to me. It strikes me as strange that I may have read only part of this book in the past. Plus, its content is by no means standard light reading. Unfortunately, the illumination for which I seek remains poised elusively beyond my grasp.

Midnight returns from her wanderings and looks to me with that quizzical feline expression as if to say, ‘So, what’s next?’ I glance back to the old falls, having already made up my mind to follow the backpack owner. Gathering my meager belongings, refilling my waterskin, and folding up the few remaining pieces of fish from breakfast, I shoulder my newfound backpack and we walk toward the back of the ravine. On the way to the old falls, I notice that the backpack fits quite nicely; almost as if it was made for me. Well, at least I know if and when I meet its previous owner, I can expect them to be pretty much my size.

Three quick jumps put us down to the next level of the ancient river. Outside a scattering of leaves, the continued path shows very little variance. Ahead, I can see a pile of rocks over towards one side wall looking as if they had been let loose and tumbled en mass to my level. Immediately I became wary and scan overhead for any precariously balanced overhangs. As I approach the rock pile, I can see yet another dry cataract lay directly ahead.

Standing at the rocky cave in, two things catch my eye. First, it looks as if the impact of the fall caused a section of the floor closest to the edge to give way into the darkness below. And second, a battered skeleton lay unceremoniously at the piles edge. The unfortunate soul before me looks to have been dead for quite some time. The squishy parts are long gone, subject to the unrelenting workings of nature. Closer inspection shows no signs of being consumed by any carnivore of note either. Human, I would guess, by the head shape. It had a body size somewhat similar to mine, though that is where the similarity ended. I wonder if this could be the backpack’s unlucky owner? Though now that I think about it, the apparent time of death does not seem to correspond to the recently-used campfire above.

I hold Cobalt over the edge of the drop-off and peer into the darkness below in vain.
“It looks like that option is out”, I say glancing in Midnights direction.
She proceeds to wander over to the other side of the rubble pile and without warning, leaps over to a ledge. This ledge works its way down the side wall, where she sits and waits.
“Well, quite the adventurer you are.” I say, as I leap to the first step of our pending descent.

We continue jumping from ledge to ledge as we work our way down the tunnel’s wall. Our final jump to the tunnel’s floor looks to be about six meters down. Doable, yes but it runs the risk of a possible injury, which I am not sure I want to chance down here. Not to mention the problem of Midnight getting down. Then it comes to me. I pull out the coil of rope from my backpack and tie it off to the base of a hearty stalagmite. I will climb down and scout the area ahead before attempting to rig up some kind of harness for Midnight.
“I’ll be right back.” I assure her, glancing over my shoulder as I walk away. To my surprise, however, she is standing right alongside of me.
“You are quite the puzzle solver aren’t you?” I say with newfound respect for her skills. “All righty then, off we go.”

We continue further along the tunnel for a ways, and as it makes a sharp right turn, it opens on a huge domed chamber. An underground lake which sits at the center dominates almost the entirety of my vision. Scrambling down the final cascade, we stand at its edge.

Please stop the Underleveled Exotic rewards

Very few things in this game raise my ire more than after a few weeks of drought; I finely get an Exotic drop, only to find that it is Level 76-79.

All my characters have been level 80 for a few years now and I usually go weeks without an exotic drop. So when I see that orange border around the icon in my inventory, I get giddy as a school girl. Then, I have my hopes dashed when I hover over my coveted gift from the RNG gods and see it is less than L80.

I mean sure, I check the TP and sell it, if it is worthwhile, or chop it for another RNG attempt for Dark Matter and/or Ecto. But when I finely do get an Exotic drop and it is not realistically useable (being underleveled), or worth very little on TP and then chops up to one Ori and a 3SP Sigil, needless to say, it is quite unfulfilling.

Just to put things in a bit of perspective: I have ~5000 hours logged since launch, 16k+ in APs, 170% Magic Find and yet never have I had a Pre, Ascended or Etched item drop from a Mob OR Mystic Forge. Wait… check that… I have indeed had One Etched Weapon drop in the last 3 years and you guessed it, it was level 78(unable to be converted to a Corrupted Weapon)the exhilaration was brief till I was crushed back to underleveled reality.

As you can see, Lady Luck and I are not on speaking terms in this game, so when I finely do get a potentially good drop it is very exciting and then frequently demoralizing.

P.S. The same holds tor Rare rewards but at least due to the sheer number of those I receive, at least half of those are level 80

x21.0083 – .0101

^sTART !initialize x.21.0083

From upon high, O winged soul, traverses great expanse.
Fates unplayed card, once veiled in sleeve, lay Tyria’s second chance.
A hero’s trek, divine decree, the stoic ambles on.
Hope’s favored Knight, on noble quest, from fabled once upon.
The untamed lands, ‘neath wildwood, the worldblood flows to source.
Exalted power, it rests in wait and ponders future’s course.
The time is come, our worldly fate, within the talon’s hold.
A savior’s rise, a coup de grace, an augury thrice foretold.

On threshold of serendipity, stands the crystal door.
Fate deals aces over eights, turning less to more.
The plasmic gate stands true and firm, ignoring chances call.
A single soul allowed permit and enter shielded hall.
Retracing steps, familiar path, never once pre-tread.
A balance twixt, a moment next, last living yet first dead.
Tempus loop, returns refrain, the strands of fate align.
Conundrum’s path has many routes and reticulating splines.

^eND !finalize x.21.0101

My response to a similar thread from a year and a half ago, nothing has changed.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/What-happened-to-the-manifesto-2/page/12#post3504027

Does anyone know if Druids are going to get different or at least additional pets unique to Druids?

x21.0041 – .0063

^sTART !initialize x.21.0041

The time of crisis has come
The sylvan parasite pollutes the flow
Yet from its contagion rises hope
Tyria’s fate stands at future’s door
Key dimensions speak of the past
Present may exist over and again
On the threshold sleep is the guide

Usher in the Mo Zing
Sanctum’s child like savior will rise
Hidden from the seeing sylvari eye
With foresight that may not be known
Reflection erased by choice
Native tongue shatters glamor’s spell
And crystal gate shall yield

Within the dark path is filled with light
Hovering on the brink of disruption
Divided by three fold time
Perched on the keepers pedestal
The final battle is waged
Behemoth’s maw bears witness
Echoes weaken obfuscated truth

^eND !finalize x.21.0063

Chapter 25 – Salvaged Goods

I wake from an uneventful sleep, fully rested. No guests graced us with a visit over the night. Midnight is gone but I do hear her splashing about by the river. She soon returns with a fishy breakfast. After finishing and a trip to the stream for a bit of grunge and stink removal, my eyes come to rest on the backpack. With one final, unsuccessful scan for its owner, I sit by the pack and undo its belted closure. Inside I find various items one would expect in a travelers backpack and one item that they wouldn’t. Some rations, a coil of rope, tinderbox and some spare clothes, all fall into the expected category, but the journal entitled Abridged: The Seer’s Scrolls Vol. 327 by Scholar Rolla certainly did not. Maybe this will give me some enlightenment as to what happened to its previous owner; at least that’s what I tell myself, should I be caught red handed poking around their backpack.

I start reading a few pages of Rolla’s scripting, and it comes off to me as a somewhat touched person’s prognostication. I read through the first three passages and I get the distinct impression that I had read or at least heard this before. An eerie feeling of déjà vu sends a quick chill up my spine. It seems odd, as this prophetic yammering is not something you would likely soon forget. It was clearly written by an asura, but judging by the apparent fit of the backpack, the writer and pack owner were obviously two different people. I set the book down, then stand, stretch, and walk down for a drink.

At the water’s edge, I survey the area. Midnight is nowhere to be seen. We can either continue following the rivers course or follow in the backpack owner’s footsteps over the old falls and down the gorge. At least the gorge path offers the possibility of meeting the backpack’s owner and seeing if they can help me out or vice versa. I go back to camp and pick up the book once again, but this time as I start reading, I notice something has changed.

czechu.5471:

insanemaniac.2456:

just wear a hat

/15rogaines

monk in a hat – on a desert or jungle hmm… maybe :]

I think what Insanemaniac is inferring is that, wearing any hat removes your hair under said hat. So you would in fact be bald.

I can’t say that it induced any headache on my part. I did give that skill quite a workout, as I found it to be my favorite skill of the Revenant.

Thank you Danikat.

Yes I tested it with Gold, Consumables, and Transmutation Charges and the Beta account seems to be a snapshot of your normal account upon creation. From that point forward they function fully independently.

I understand that items which drop for the Revenant (like Weapons or Gold) in the Beta, go away after the Beta ends, and that is fine.

But I wonder:

• Do items that I take out of my bank and use on the Revenant, go back into the bank after the Beta is over?
• Do items that I use on the Revenant during Beta (like Transmutation Charges or Gold) go back on my account when it’s over?

Does it go both ways?

It seems a little unfair for you to drain your account while testing and in the end have less stuff than when you started.

Chapter 24 – Morning Dawn

I wake in the early morn. The lingering mist from yesterday’s rainstorm rendered everything in various shades of grey. Midnight being an earlier riser, must have done a bit of exploring for I am greeted with the present of a sizeable fish on the floor of last night’s shelter. Just as I start cleaning the fish with my utility knife, Midnight ambles in. As a rule she would have already eaten but I offer her a piece out of respect. She sniffs and declines; all the more for me.

After I finish breakfast, I call Midnight over. I have always found common tongue somewhat difficult to verbalize so my training of her is entirely in my native-speak. We engage in a bit of rough-and-tumble for a while, which as usual ends with her maw playfully at my throat professing all too well who the winner is. I yield to her triumph, so she rolls over and submits to the customary ‘belly rubbing of the victor’.

The mist starts to burn off, leaving us with just a hot and muggy day. Once down on the forest floor I am able to see a clear path of Midnight leaving and returning this morning in the wet soil. We sojourn down that trail toward the expected water source. Though an asura might not have an issue with these cramped animal runs, I certainly do. Thankfully, Cobalt makes it much less of a problem than trying to negotiate on hands and knees. After only about 15 minutes or so I hear the sound of running water. Pushing on a bit further, the path opens to a stream bank.

As I step down to one of the nearest backwater pools, I can see it is teaming with fish. The upstream path looks somewhat less hospitable than the downward one. Plus, I would expect there to be a better chance for finding some civilization following the downstream route. I pause and reflect. How could I possibly know that? Without an answer I shake my head, shrug my shoulders, and move on. We pause at the river for a drink and a bit of cooling before we are off to continue our adventure.

In midafternoon, we happen across a spot where the stream used to cut into the rocky side of the ridge, forming something of an open-top gorge. It should offer us some shelter from the heat and a likely defendable position. We cross the river and enter the ravine’s mouth.

The first thing that jumps out at me is that we may not be alone. Leaning against the wall a few feet in is a crudely made spear. Not one crafted by some skilled artificer, but a makeshift pointed stick whittled by someone desperate for some added protection. The next item of note was a recessed nook with a recent campfire, cold, but only by a day or so. Haphazardly stacked aside the fire is a miscellaneous pile of both tinder and kindling. Now, these were all things I would expect to find at an abandoned campsite, but the thing I did not expect was an unadorned, oiled leather backpack.

The sheltered, dry gorge bed goes in about 20 feet before dropping off into a small, long dead waterfall. The tracks lead all around the area, but the most recent ones are at the side of the falls to an area that would allow a few jumps’ access to the bottom. As sunset is about upon me, I decide to hold off any further exploring in that direction till tomorrow’s light. I go back to the front of the shelter and take a seat, waiting to see if my unknown campmate returns. Wasting no time, Midnight starts fishing for dinner. Not too long thereafter, we eat. Though I would love to see what is in that pack, decorum dictates I at least wait till tomorrow before I go rummaging. Time passes with no sign of anyone’s return, so after a bit, we turn in for the night.

Shadey Dancer.2907:

Ok so this wont go down well with the champ farmers, but its about time someone said something. The amount of champ farmers on the second phase of Jormag is, well, a lot.
This morning at Jormag, there must have been 3/4 of the entire server just farming champ bags and doing little else.
Nothing against the farmers, but when it impacts the other players trying to do Jormag, by scaling it through the roof and not contributing to the event, except to get the kill at the end, it bites kind of hard.

(tin foil hat on and waits in dugout trench for flack)

Consider:
During this event(in Phase 2), if everyone only:

• Farmed the Champs (Keeping Champ Mob away from the Golems)
  OR
• Destroyed the Ice Pillars (Allowing for all Golems to reach Claw)
  And then
• Swarmed him during the stun phase

The Defeat the Claw of Jormag event would get completed much faster.

Reasoning:
Attacking Claw outside his ‘Stunned’ phase is mostly worthless. His vulnerability and subsequent massive hit point reduction happens during his stunned phase, so it pays to have the stun phase (generated by the Golems) as quick and often as possible.

Conclusion:
Therefore, if all the Bazooka users would grab a Flamethrower and clear the area of Ice Pillars instead of plinking Claw with a pea shooter, the event would be done in no time.
Now a completely different group of players looks to be scaling up the event.

Lordwafflez: Just to put things in perspective, I have been playing for about 5000 hrs now and I am still waiting for my first Ascended chest to drop. So I would not put much faith in RNG presents if you really want ascended items.

Here are some tips for the Luckless.

• Ascended rings drop from Fractals of the Mists daily reward chests.
• Amulets, Rings and Accessories can be bought with Laurals(buying in WvW for Laurals and Badges of Honor is most efficient)
• With a concerted effort you can craft to 500 in just a few hours if you have the materials and gold. There are numerous guides on fast crafting available.

Remember: Ascended are only ~5% better than Exotics(and ANet just recently changed their mind on upping it to 10% so I wouldn’t expect that to change anytime soon.). Unless you are hardcore PvP, Ascended items are just not needed.

Now, that being said, I only do PvE and my main character is in Full Ascended armor, weapons, backpack and trinkets. Why? Just because it was there I guess.

Yes, all sound advise thank you. I guess I will be starting my Pre-Druid now.

So I was thinking that I would like to make a Druid once the option is made available but I am not sure if it makes more sense to:

• Wait for HoT, Tome it up to 80 and play from scratch on expansion day one?
  or
• Start the character now as a plain Ranger and switch it over to Druid once I am able to do so?

Just FYI, I already have a Ranger and I am content with her play style as is so I have no desire to change her over to a Druid. I do understand that you can swap back and forth between Ranger and Druid but from a roleplaying perspective, that is just not an option. Swapping Specializations all willy nilly just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Thanks for the help.

Chapter 23 – Tyria Firma
Consciousness unclouds to the hot breath of Midnight, licking my face.
“Hey girl”, I mumble in a wavering tone.

It seems I have returned from my ethereal jaunt. I run my hand across the back of my skull revealing a lump the size of an egg a goose would be proud of explains the bass drum beat. I pull my hand away and thankfully there is no blood, but a knock to the noggin is never a good thing; might clarify why I have no idea who I am or what I am doing in the middle of the jungle. The odd thing is when I fainted, I recall falling forward. Why I have a lump on the back of my head will require further pondering. Just then, the thought of a tower bell comes to mind. A fractured memory, as if a muted peal rings forth from a distant source and is then rendered silent.

I scan my surroundings. With the exception of Midnight gnawing at the back of her paw, there is nothing else of particular value in my foliage-confined space. I take a quick overview of my assets or lack of such. Well, no armor is somewhat disheartening, but Cobalt strapped to my back gives quite a bit of comfort. A small utility sheath-knife on my belt and strangely enough, a few walnut-sized stones in my pocket flesh out the extent of my belongings. For all I know, these are the entirety of my worldly possessions.

As it is too dark to safely navigate, I draw Cobalt. Its ghostly blue light yields two new items to consider. One is the evidence that someone has been here before me; and second, they left through a well-worn animal path. A recent rain has reduced the prints to a mere trampling, but clearly it is more than just the beastly sort. Utilizing my glowing, makeshift machete, we set off down the path. Hacking my way through the undergrowth allows me to somewhat keep up with Midnight in the lead.

Our path quickly leads us to a downed tree leaning up against a rocky outcrop about thirty feet high. A brief climb and a few jumps put us at the crest of the bluff. With a bit of exploring, I find a rocky leeward shelf which would offer some shelter if needed. As if on cue, it starts to rain. Midnight and I scramble into our makeshift hovel. It is a bit cramped for the both of us, but it succeeds in keeping us dry as the sky opens and unleashes its torrential assault. I am able to sufficiently drink from a steady stream of rainwater which is flowing from the edge of the shelter roof to stave off any threat of dehydration, for the next few days at least. Though I am not currently hungry, pangs will surely be a concern within the week. Sheathing Cobalt, we settle in for the night.

Now that the final battle is changed to being able to be soloed, I figured I would give it a try.

I was able to get through with little problem till the Mouth of Zhaitan which took me quite a while to figure out the mechanics to damage him but then it went smoothly till the final battle with Zhaitan.

Once I got him to about 25% left. I ran to the 1st cannon on the right side and when I hopped into the cannon I bugged and couldn’t move. It looked like I was partway in the air between the deck and the cannon. It wouldn’t let me do anything.

• couldn’t leave the cannon cause it said I couldn’t drop bundle in the air
• couldn’t WP cause I was in combat
• couldn’t fire the cannon cause it wan not entirely in the operator’s seat yet.
• I had to just sit there and hope that something would kill me so I could hopefully WP.
• Finely one of the Fingers downed me and I was able to Mist Form out of combat area and was resed by one of the NPCs.

After spending more then an hour, I was finely victorious.
Sorry I did not take any screenshots or file bug report during the battle, I was too concerned with having to do the whole thing all over again. Lucky that did not happen.

~Yalora

People tend to forget the Sonic Tunneling Tool is mountish too.

Mightylink.3816:

It’s a really missed oppertunity imo, mounts are always the best selling cash shop items in any game, they could be making a lot more money with this.

But isn’t it ANet’s intention to go out of its way to try to make GW2 Not the same as every other game?

Chapter 22 – Ever Falling

Falling, I am falling. Not some unrestrained plummet from a miss-stepped precipice overlooking a bottomless abyss; but a controlled glideslope, as a diving raptor sighted on its prey. Crisp, the night air futilely attempts to penetrate my emblazoned leather armor to no avail. Glancing to the side, I am thrilled to see that I have wings! Rigging, crossbars and stabilizing cables all supporting a skeletal structure covered by stretched taught sail. Shifting my weight, I trim my descent, leveling some 20 meters above the jungle canopy. The ocean of green leafy sheen brought to near luminescence by the pale silver moonlight, brings a whole new meaning to surreal. The view is spectacular and would be quite peaceful, had it not been for the fact that I am inevitably going to crash.

Gone are any ridge drafts or thermals, I am going in and I am going to whack hard. Desperately scanning the verdant tangle below for any sort of reprieve, my hopes bleed away quicker than my altitude does. There is just no place to safely land. In a last, desperate attempt, I angle toward a thin, black serpentine line which is surely too far away. Maybe if the river is deep enough, it might break my fall sufficiently enough to survive. But alas the Lady of Luck and I seem to not currently be on speaking terms, and into the jungle ceiling I plunge.

PSA Complements of The Pious Knights, we live to serve

Ooo I out ninja-ed McNinja

We found this on reddit and it fixed my problem
Add this to the end of your GW2 Shortcut Properties target
This is an NA server so will not work for my friends across the water

1. Right click on your shortcut
2. Click on properties
3. paste this at the end of your target line after GW2.exe" -assetsrv 194.25.94.170:80
4. Apply then Ok
5. Run

That worked for me

Evans.6347:

You did make a worst case scenario there though. I mean, just to be clear.

Sorry I could only go from memory with the Staff I use since I do not have access to the game.

Seyiwaji.4082:

This may be far too late,
but i saw yesterday that the stats change for ascended require only 10 Spirits Shards.
Due to the rarity of ascended, I guess 10 Spirit shards may be not enough.
I mean, it is a luxury to be able to change Stats from Ascended gear.
People will surely hate me for such a post, but we must be realistic. It should require more effort than 10 shards. [15/20 shards]

This also depends from the other items needed. Since i don’t know I can only post based on my knowledge.

Let us consider some of the other costs of changing your ascended stats this is just a quick and dirty estimate so don’t quote my numbers.

To get your new Ascended stats from the Mystic Forge for let us say 1 Ascended staff with new Berserker stats you would need

• Your old staff
• 10 Spirit Shards
• 5 Ecto @40sp = 2.2gp
• 1 Zojja’s Exotic Inscription = 6gp
• 1 Replacement Sigil (Strength) = 2.2 gp
• 1 Replacement Sigil (Force) = 7.8 gp
• 2 Infusions 2@ 5 laurels =10 laurels

So that comes out to a general cost of about 18gp, 10 Spirit Shards and 10 laurals. To change your stats one time.

To some that may be just a drop in the bucket to test other builds but that cost gets quite expensive if you do it a few times.

Silent, dark, foreboding, forsaken, soul’s essence seeps its way through the cracks of time.
A foothold, established tendrils intertwine with new semblance.
Sand through the hourglass alters reality’s perception.
Jungle depths wriggle and seethe.
Hero’s adventure begins anew.
__________________________________________________________________
Author’s Note:
This is the beginning of Book II of the Forsaken Soul Novella titled “A Path Familiar”. If you have already finished Book I, Forsaken Soul: A Path to Enlightenment and are looking to start the new chapters then you are in the right place; If you have not yet read the first book, then starting from here will undoubtedly be, quite confusing.

The previous Book I, can be found here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/creations/FanFic-Forsaken-Soul-A-Path-to-Enlightenment/first#post4559076

If you find this continuation of the Forsaken Soul Novella enjoyable, please put your (+1’s) on This First Post of Book II to better reflect your approval.
__________________________________________________________________

Table Of Contents:

Teaser:
Chapter 21 – New Beginning
Chapter 22 – Ever Falling
Chapter 23 – Tyria Firma
Chapter 24 – Morning Dawn
Chapter 25 – Salvaged Goods
x21.0041 – .0063
x21.0083 – .0101
Chapter 26 – Deep Delve
Chapter 27 – Strange Sight
Chapter 28 – Hostile Deep
Chapter 29 – Nightmare Vine
Chapter 30 – Nightmare Ride
Chapter 31 – Nightmare’s Snare
Chapter 32 – Nightmare Battle
Chapter 33 – Forced Will
Chapter 34 – Nightmare’s Outcome
Chapter 35 – Destiny’s Reckoning
Chapter 36 – Triple Time
_______________________________________________________________

Forsaken Soul: A Path Familiar
Chapter 21 – New Beginning

Pitch dark pierced by the occasional silvery shards filtered down from the opaque canopy above. The deep rich air of loam with every breath was near overwhelming. A high pitched trill seemed to emanate from everywhere. These were my first experiences, ever, or so it would seem.

Lying on my back, I stare at the forest ceiling. Through filtered silver light, I can make out the barest inkling of some sort of mangled, constructed device of what looks to be broken struts and shredded cloth lodged in the topmost branches overhead. It almost looks like a giant spider, patiently perched in web’s center, in anticipation of some unsuspecting quarry below. Luckily, its shattered structure takes it out of the category of worrisome predator, leaving me the relieved distinction of unconcerned prey.

Moving to more relevant matters, my personal inventory begins. Legs aching, arms same, in fact I hurt all over. As for my head, uhhh; there is a good chance I was in a Norn drinking contest last night and subsequently lost. Slowly I sit up and waver. Torso in relative working order and bones remain somewhat bruised yet unbroken, with no unexpected fluid leaks to be found. Overall body condition, abused. It feels like I have been trampled by a herd of stampeding dolyaks. Standing up yields two seemingly-unrelated outcomes; the high pitched trill goes silent, and my head starts pounding. My vision blurs, as I plunge into a cottony haze. With an utter lack of dignity, I swoon forward into night.

post edited: to add table of contents

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