Guild Wars 2

Yes, that’s exactly what I mean, darkace. With the original maps, there was very much a more relaxed pace, where you could just stroll along, take in the sights, and occasionally finding a small, out of the way location that turned out to have interesting information regarding lore or world building.

In the new maps like Dry Top or Silverwastes, it seems like there’s an event going on EVERYWHERE. There’s no place to really just sit back and enjoy the view.

Well, yes and no. It DOES work on the stuff like “Legendary King Adelbern Loot Box” from the reward tracks, because those boxes are meant to simulate dropped loot from foes. it does NOT work on the actual Exotic (or lower tier) Champ bags or loot bags that come from those boxes.

Sadly, Capricorn got removed before I started doing PvP, so yeah, I would like to see it back just so I can know what I missed.

Still, the direction from ANet makes it highly unlikely we’ll ever see underwater combat back in PvP.

+100% MF applied to 1% chance of getting a Rare is still only 2%.

I’m not entirely sure, but it’s probably a statue of Kalla Scorchrazor, the Charr who led the female uprising against the Flame Legion shamans that broke their hold on power over the rest of the Charr High Legions.

Kalla has another statue in the Black Citadel itself, so an easy way to check would just be to head over there and compare the statues.

Scepter basically has two roles:

1. It’s a condi weapon.

2. It’s a clone generator.

Accordingly, if you love using Scepter (as do I), you’ll do best using builds that focus on one of the two above. I run Scepter/Pistol, using a condi build with Sharper Images, with Staff as a secondary weapon. It focuses more on getting Phantasms up and then loading up enemies with conditions while I kite them around. (You could, of course, go the other way and just use it to spawn clones quickly for Shatters.) It’s remarkably good at soloing Champs and other tough enemies. (In dungeons, however, I switch out to Sword/Focus.) It does struggle a bit in areas that have lots of high density mobs, however, such as parts of Orr, so be ready to adjust your weapons/build as needed.

It’s still there. If you have Debilitating Dissipation, your illusions will explode in a cloud of smoke. If you don’t, they have the standard mirror shatter appearance.

Ironically, I actually dumped DD BECAUSE of the smoke. I prefer the mirror shatter effect. :P

Eh, in my opinion, you shouldn’t care how or when another player got their Legendary; all that matters is how YOU got yours, because it is the journey and memories that make it meaningful to you. If somebody bought their Eternity and then trashes it a year later because it meant nothing to him, isn’t it his own fault for wasting all that money?

Trust me, nobody else in the game (except maybe your close friends) cares about how you got your Legendary. Most of the time, they’re not even looking at you. They’re too busy wondering if other people are paying attention to THEM. Getting stuff just to impress other people is always a losing strategy in the long run. Get something because YOU like it, not because you think other people will like it.

It is annoying, but often does it happen, really? Most of the time it’s just players using a couple of scrolls. Only once in a long, long while does someone decide to use, like, a whole stack of them.

I still have 0 Legendaries. But that’s because I either dislike the look of the current Legendaries, or they just wouldn’t suit my character’s aesthetics. (My grim, gothic Necro wielding a rainbow staff? Err, no.)

However, I’m close to having all the mats needed to craft full sets of Ascended armor and weapons for my 5 mains. If I liquidated all the mats I’m hoarding in my Bank, I could probably afford 1, maybe 2 Legendaries. (However, that’ll never happen. I like my dragon’s hoard of shinies. XD)

The trait unlock system just needs to be more streamlined. Instead of giving out a specific trait, completion of various things in the game should give out Trait Points, which can then be spent to unlock traits. More difficult tasks give out more Trait Points.

TPMN.1483:

Two year old but orders sometimes get fulfilled…. Let’s just say I got a particular weapon for 158g a few weeks ago that the sell later prices are / were listed at 3000g.
Cancelling all old buy orders is not great.
Removing prices sub vendor makes sense that should not be fulfilled.
I often have outstanding buy later prices which may take a year to fill – but it’s also a form of saving

You were probably a beneficiary of someone’s account getting hacked and the hackers just straight up liquidating everything in that poor sap’s account. (They sell immediately to buy orders, because ANet could detect the breach and lock the account at any time. They therefore want to get their gold as fast as possible so they can transfer/sell it off.) You haven’t done anything wrong, of course, but just saying that’s the most likely reason.

I do agree that the Watchwork Pick is an anomaly and I’m frankly surprised ANet let it stay. However, rather than nerfing it I’d prefer to see the other unlimited tools get buffed so they also have special drops.

Silverwastes will likely remain popular; it’s by far THE most profitable map ANet has ever introduced. However, I am afraid that Dry Top may go the way of abandonment. The only really unique resource it offers is Quartz, and that can be bought fairly cheaply on the TP.

Ehh, I wouldn’t bank on that. You also need to consider the popularity of the weapon skins themselves. If they are regarded as unappealing or uncool, they just won’t sell. From what I’ve seen, reception of the Mordrem skins has been rather lacklustre, aside from the Staff. (Which is basically a reskin of Kraitkin.)

I like the idea of the new map being vertically integrated, and of being much more content rich, buuuuut… I do admit that I would like to see more maps simply out of a sense of having more “land” to explore. New terrains, new vistas (not the in-game sense), new horizons.

I don’t really follow the PvP scene, so I didn’t watch, but I appreciate the Call of the Mists bonuses nonetheless. Makes my reward tracks go that much faster.

Lord of Madness.2603:

• New Players finding their way into Unranked and Ranked could cause a bit of a fuss. But when it comes to reporting it would be easy for a Dev or a Mod to look at a players match history to determine if its a False Report or not. Did the Player get exactly 10 points? did they die 30+ times? Where these suicides (which you actually can get in any map) or player kills?

• In this Thread I am not advocating or suggesting things be done to hotjoin. I’m in fact asking for this report feature because people are mainly doing this in Ranked and Unranked which hurts a players overall leaderboard ranking. So in the end we are not funneling them into Ranked or Unranked because we are reporting them in Ranked and Unranked which would deter them from doing it again in those settings.

• I agree that these people should be trying to win in hotjoin as it is a better way to get Rank Points than losing Ranked and Unranked. But Feeding is not all about efficiency. sometimes its do to laziness. Perhaps they could easily win in Hotjoin but the are just way to lazy to do so. So in this case they just join Unranked and die over and over while watching TV or playing another game in another window.

Just looking at points probably wouldn’t be sufficient. For example, when I play Bunker, it’s not uncommon for me to just cap Home or Mid and then sit there for the rest of the match. (Remember, I mostly play Hotjoin, so there’s usually no need for me to go assist other points.) My damage is pretty terrible, so unless another teammate comes along it’s quite possible that I won’t get any more points from kills for the entire match duration.

Your secondary idea of having “rank criteria” in order to play Unranked or Ranked has some merit, I think. However, as most of us know, Hotjoin isn’t really a representative situation of true Conquest PvP, so I think having rank criteria might be a hassle for competitive players wanting to play a proper PvP match. It’s ANet’s call though; personally, I would not be opposed to rank criteria. (Just bear in mind that rank does not necessarily indicate skill. You could have a Dolyak rank requirements for Unranked and still get lots of terrible players.)

Regardless, we are in agreement that the Feeders/Leechers should not be doing that in Unranked/Ranked. They really should keep that sort of stuff to Hotjoin.

Yeah, it’s nice when players from other servers realise you’re not there to fight and give you space. The other day I was waiting at the Warg spawn point when a Silver JQ player came along and took up position on the other side of the valley. Obviously we were both there for the same thing.

Sadly, two other JQ players came along and attacked me. I gave a good accounting of myself (almost downed both of them), but they got me first. The other Silver JQ just jumped around and didn’t attack; maybe she was trying to tell them not to attack me, but I appreciate her non-interference in any event.

Anyway, I did manage to tag the Warg (which spawned while the JQ were attacking me) and I got credit for it at my spawn when the JQ guys killed it, so I accomplished what I came to do. XD

I actually really like that idea where the dolyak can be revived if it has a Guard escort and the escorts are still alive. Currently the escorts are laughable as you can just focus the dolyak and the guards despawn as soon as it is dead. Implementing this would mean that enemies would be forced to deal with the guards first before killing the yak, thus forcing a greater time investment from snipers.

You see this more often during the WvW Tournaments, where winning/losing a week’s match-up could affect their final score. As a result, you could sometimes see double-teams on the strongest server to ensure they didn’t get too far ahead and lock competitors out of first place.

But outside of tournaments? Players tend to simply go after soft targets.

Consumables and siege in OS will almost certainly not come back. It was far too imbalanced.

That said, with ANet’s recent announcement of adventures and Masteries, we may possibly see Obsidian Sanctum get tied to that. I wouldn’t get your hopes up, but it’s a possibility. However, unless the core issues of conflict between the PvE/PvP crowd are resolved, I guarantee you that even if OS gets a boost with HoT, it will become abandoned again once the PvE/JP crowd have gotten their achievements/Masteries and then never come back.

I still say the best solution would be to split Map Completion into “Map Completion: Tyria” and “Map Completion: the Mists”. Doing either one gets you a Gift of Exploration, so if you do both, you’d still end up with two per character.

Tyria map completion is simple and straightforward, but very time consuming. Mists map completion is a lot shorter, but you’re more reliant on colour RNG and whether or not your server has enough people to capture the points you need. It seems like a fair trade off to me.

Congrats, OP. The Imbued Shaman transform is the coolest one of the lot, I feel. (It’s probably also the BIGGEST tonic transform in the entire game.)

My guess is that Trahearne and Destiny’s Edge will probably be woven into the story missions for HoT, and as such we won’t really see them out in the open world.

And yeah, while we always knew that some Sylvari won’t fall to Mordremoth’s corruption (first Canach, and now Laranthir), it’s nice to have confirmation of it. Interestingly, both of them are Secondborn. I wonder if the age of a Sylvari has anything to do with increasing resistance to Mordremoth’s call. (Obviously Faolain is a notable exception.)

^ Khisanth is correct. Just enjoy the extra 1 or 10 silver they give you.

Yeah, several others have reported similar issues. The cause of the bug seems to be when people choose their dungeon weapon/armor while still within a PvP match. To avoid this occurring, wait till you’re out in the Heart of the Mists before opening those chests.

It’s the part on the north-east side of the boss arena, where you would normally jump up there to reach the upper ledge. (Out in the open world, the upper ledge usually holds either an Ancient Wood node or a Rich Mithril Vein. It’s guarded by a Veteran Lashtail Devourer.)

I should add the caveat that this method worked back when I did this achievement when Seeds of Truth came out. It’s entirely possible that ANet has patched it so that the wind walls now hit that area.

I just want to ensure that innocent newbies who stumble into Unranked/Ranked (because that happens ALL the time) aren’t unfairly banned or harassed over this. You’re never going to completely eliminate people wanting to game the system; it’s an unfortunate part of humanity that’s never going away. That’s why I’ve always advocated against removing or clamping down on Hotjoin, because that would just force the Feeders/Leechers into Unranked/Ranked. It’s the lesser of two evils, funneling the people who just want to farm Dailies or ranks as fast as possible into an area where they won’t bother the players who want legitimate PvP competition.

The thing is, Evan Lesh’s recent posts suggest this is already the case. It seems as though a loss in Unranked/Ranked actually gives you LESS progress than a full-time win in Hotjoin. So really, all those people screwing around in Unranked/Ranked shouldn’t be there; you’d be better off doing all that in Hotjoin instead, in “Daily” or “Farm” servers. It’s faster, with no queue time, and you don’t annoy players wanting to legitimately PvP.

Togonn’s earth spikes do NOT invalidate the achievement. I can also confirm this from personal experience. However, your complaints regarding lighting is well justified. It IS rather difficult to spot the sand pools on the lighter ground portions.

I also echo the advice of others suggesting that you group up for this achievement. One person is Caithe, while everybody else just equips ranged weapons and stand up on the little rock ledge that leads to the higher ledge. (Don’t go ALL the way up. This will teleport you back into the arena and cost you the achievement.) The wind walls don’t reach there, and since the sand pools only spawn where the Earth Elementals are killed, there is no risk of getting hit by them as long as the Elementals keep following Caithe around.

I don’t like the Feeders or Leechers (as you term them) any more than you do, but enforcement of this is going to be pretty tough. The players who want to throw matches will probably just start doing it more intelligently. Instead of running to the enemy base, the Feeders will just start running into 2v1 fights (or fighting Chief/Svanir and losing) and only using a handful of skills/not dodging etc. The Leechers will just start following another allied player around and double capping. And without any kind of verbal confirmation from the suspect themselves, or a GM to actually observe events, it’s next to impossible to prove that these players are doing it on purpose, and not just very bad PvP players.

^ That’s an interesting suggestion. I think it could work to pop up Autobalance if the teams are unbalanced and the overstrength team has a significant point lead. However, if nobody else joins the match, you could get into a silly situation where the teams have 3/2 with Red leading. Autobalance puts one Red team member onto Blue. 2/3 until Blue leads, then Autobalance kicks in again. Possibly repeat ad nauseam as the score continues to flip flop between whoever has the higher number of players.

I wouldn’t mind that sort of game, but then again, I’m also the type who doesn’t care which team I’m on, and I always instantly volunteer for Autobalance the moment it pops. I think this system, while it has its merits, could seriously annoy other players who don’t like being forcibly team swapped.

Yes, it does. You can test this quite easily by joining a match in Hotjoin right at the start and playing it out to a win or a loss. From my experience, you definitely do get more reward track progress for a win as opposed to a loss.

The interesting thing some people are reporting is that a full-time win in Hotjoin actually gives more reward track progress than a full-time loss in Unranked. I had thought that it was the same.

Fixing the forum page bug.

@Buddha: That was just me being flippant about how they look like Heket. In all honesty, I think we don’t have enough info yet to speculate on what the Itzel are. The IGN interview had ANet stating it was “new NPC races”, but it could refer to “lost tribes” of Hylek or Tengu, or a completely new species. For all we know, those glowy beings we all assumed were Mursaat are actually the Itzel. (Or the Itzel may be the true name of the Mursaat race. The term “Mursaat” may refer simply to Itzel who belong to a particular faction or belief system, similar to the Qunari from Dragon Age.)

@Shiren: It’s likely that Masteries will be earned in a similar fashion to traits now. They are unlocked via a combination of completing story content, achievements, doing specific events, or maybe even via completing certain Collections.

I’m also on Telstra Cable. ADSL2 etc. is out for me because the copper phone lines in my area are absolutely godawful. Even my landline is prone to static and drop-outs. Lag is present, but no more unusual than connecting to a US server from halfway across the world.

Rauderi.8706:

I’m just glad the Dreamer isn’t a longbow. Could you imagine the absolute irritation of Ranger Longbow 2? neighneighneighneighneighneighneighneighneighneighneighneigh
Followed by NEIGH-Knockback? …I really do hate that bow.

… I’m sorry, but now I DESPERATELY want to see a Dreamer version of the Legendary Longbow. XD

“You thought you had become inured to the PBS knocking enemies out of your stack. Well, BEHOLD THE NEIGH-KNOCKBACK! All is vain AGAIN!”

Yeah, I didn’t get a good look at the big dinosaurs in the back, but the large one that enters stage left and attacks the Raptors looks like an ankylosaur. It could be a beefed up version of a GW1 Angorodon, I suppose, but I doubt it.

ANet did say it was a “new NPC race”, so while it could be an undiscovered tribe of hylek/heket or Tengu, I’m also leaving the possibility open that it’s a completely new species. For all we know, the Itzel could be that adorably bumbling mushroom guys we saw, or maybe the glowy beings we all assumed were Mursaat are actually the Itzel.

My guess is also around August or September. We’ll get a first look at it in March, after which it goes into beta, which will probably go for a month or two. Factor in another two to three months after that for final polishing and bug fixes, and we’re looking at August/September for release.

Ironically, toxicity tends to be fairly low in Hotjoin, where I typically play. Most people there are just there to farm their Dailies, and if the match is totally lopsided, they just leave (or stay, because they already got their Autobalance credit). Nobody really cares what goes on in Hotjoin; it’s widely acknowledged as the “kiddy pool” where people can just 1v1, fight off point, triple cap, zerg rush, whatever. Getting mad over it is like getting mad that your kid’s team lost in their elementary school’s Saturday game.

They respawn about every 5 minutes. The easiest ones to get to are the Warg and the Harpy. Just head out from your spawn on the enemy BL and just wait in your safe zone until you see them spawn.

Oh boy, the Heket are back! XD

It’s a bit too vague to draw any conclusions yet. For all we know, the Masteries might be something like “deal extra damage to Krait.” Yes, it works for the Krait in the Underwater Fractal, but it does the same for Krait everywhere.

Still, it is promising news.

Yeah, the name makes me think that the Itzel are either a hylek tribe, or possibly a Quetzal relation, in which case they’re Tengu. Thing is, ANet specifically said that they are a new NPC race, so we might be looking at a completely new sentient race.

It’s a lag issue, not related to the race you’re playing. Unfortunately there’s not much that can be done aside from crossing your fingers and praying you get into a good instance. :/

Alright, you have a fair point with me saying “almost 20g” was not really the best choice of figures. (Although keep in mind that the various API sites only use sampled figures and the true figure could very well have spiked higher than 18g. It just wasn’t displayed.)

Nonetheless, the point that I was making remains. The price of Damask has consistently fallen since September, and if you observe the supply/demand graphs, supply of Damask is actually getting close to the equilibrium point where supply matches demand, meaning that prices are likely to fall even more. (And also bearing in mind that for many goods, a lot of demand on the TP are actually extreme lowball bids that will never, EVER get filled. Like the people trying to buy 255 Bolts of Damask for 81 copper. It’ll NEVER happen. This means that supply probably exceeds “real demand” right now.)

The funny part about all of this is that I actually AGREE with you that Damask is disproportionately hard to get compared to Elonian Leather or Deldrimor Steel. I WOULD like to see the Silk requirement get reduced to 50 Bolts, and for the supply of lower tier cloth to be increased. I’m just pointing out that ANet has moved to increase supply of Silk via the Silverwastes; the only problem was that they didn’t increase supply for the other tiers enough to compensate for the increased demand for Damask once players were getting a lot more Silk (which in turn spurs them to start trying for Damask).

I’m actually pretty happy with the Scepter now since Torment got added to the AA (and the clones), but I would still like it if the 3rd attack got sped up by 1/4 of a second.

I personally love my male Asura’s voice acting for Elementalist. Nothing quite beats the combination of “Seems I need to teach you a lesson…” + “Rocks and stones will break your bones!”

@Mithran: I read what you wrote and I can’t stop thinking of Charr siege tanks. XD Make it happen, ANet!