Guild Wars 2

I personally would like it if I could sell the Blade Shards (making just one for my collection, don’t need any more as I’m not that big a fan of the look), so yes, I support the OP’s suggestion.

I TOTALLY want a complete Toxic armor set.

^ I like this suggestion. +1’d.

I agree that the Watchwork Pick (and the Airship Pass) aren’t P2W in the traditional sense, but they ARE a pay-for-advantage, and represent a slow power creep in the convenience items available from the gem store. If this trend continues, we will likely end up in a situation where you have Player A, who has kitted himself out with all unlimited tools (each one giving an extra bonus), the Airship Pass (allowing himself quick access to all services in a single double-click), and possible other bonuses such as a “mount” that gives him an innate speed boost, a “Frequent Gate Traveler” pass that gives him discounts on waypoints etc. Player B, on the other hand, is relatively new to the game and poor on cash, so he can’t afford any of these bonuses. The gulf between both players would be wide indeed, and it’s hard not to see that the two players basically belong to two entirely different “social classes”.

I just don’t want ANet to end up creating a situation where we have the “haves” and “have-nots” in GW2. I want all players in the game to be on equal footing, or if not, to have the benefits offered by gem store items to have only minimal effects outside of cosmetic or convenience benefits.

Good to know, Khisanth!

I feel your pain, Ohoni. I crafted 5 Ascended backpieces (using the Yakkington/Thousand Arrow recipes) for my 5 characters recently. Set me back about 400 gold, mostly tied up in purchasing the 1250 Vicious Claws. >.< (Prices for those have gone up by 33% too, so double ouch if you’re joining the race now.)

Still, that’s way cheaper than going the Dwayna/Grenth backpiece route. I haven’t done a price comparison, but the Spinal Blades backpack may be easier in the sense that all of the ingredients are spread out over various types, so you don’t need to buy whole stacks as with the Yakkington/Quiver recipes.

Yes, I was thinking that too. Gift of Wine = r500 Cooking item? I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this means that Ascended Chef/Jeweler is coming in the next patch.

The Keeper recipes are dropping from the Ultimate reward bags for rescuing 1200+ civilians. This has depressed the recipe prices as a result (picked up the last one I was after for 25% of the normal price!) Now’s a good time to buy if you still want some.

What mercury says is correct, to some extent. The “meta” in GW2 is heavily skewed towards damage, damage and more damage. (I feel this is a flaw, but that’s the way the game’s evolved due to the rules put in place.) There’s nothing wrong with playing a tanky character, but there’s also no need to go FULL tank defensive as normal enemies won’t be able to hurt you much anyway, and powerful bosses have one-shot attacks that will probably down you no matter how tanky you are.

Instead, what you want to do is to build yourself so you’re sturdy (since obviously that’s what you like to play), but still able to deal decent damage. Having a set of Knight’s armor is fine, but consider padding it out with more offensive trinkets, weapons and runes. (The most popular offensive rune are Superior Runes of the Scholar, but they’re pricey. If you’re after cheaper substitutes, Sup Runes of Strength or Sup Runes of Hoelbrak can also serve well in most scenarios.)

Finally, with regards to dungeons, there are a subset of players who do what are called “speed clears”. These are specific team builds designed to complete dungeons as fast as possible for farming purposes, and as a Warrior, you’ll be expected to go full-on glass cannon for these runs. If you want to join one of these teams, then yes, consider building a Berserker armor set specifically for this purpose. Otherwise, your standard gear should serve you fine in normal dungeon runs.

I’m very certain that LA will be open for business again at the end of this Living Story. Change will come, but it won’t be as drastic as some might hope.

^ Exactly! The majority of players tend to just buy/wear whatever is “in fashion” or that shows off their wealth. (If you’ve ever played GW1, remember all those characters running around in black/white dyed Obsidian armor with Chaos Gloves?) I used to see so many players wearing the Holographic Wings; now I usually only see one a day in hub towns at the most. The Shatterer Wings are even more rare. Having more cosmetic options means that people can instead opt to wear something different that they personally like. Variety is good!

I can see the arguments of those who dislike the change, but to them, I say simply “be patient”. Lion’s Arch will almost certainly become the world’s game hub again in the future once the Living Story is concluded. In the meantime, use your WvW Borderlands for crafting.

I think the bigger issue here is that ANet has offered a new gem store item that basically supersedes the Royal Terrace pass. It has a Black Lion weapon merchant and the Daily Activity NPC, both of which are missing from the Terrace, and it can also be accessed from anywhere in the world. It’s superior in all aspects to the Terrace pass except (possibly) for aesthetics. It’s this “power creep” in the Watchwork Pick and now the Airship Pass for convenience items that has me worried.

The Thugs also stack Might on themselves. They are very, VERY dangerous foes. If facing one alone, I always have to use kite and shoot tactics rather than facing them head-on.

I think it’s a good thing. While I can understand the disappointment/frustration of those who bought old, rare skins for exclusivity and/or investment, I think this is outweighed by the need for ANet to attract/keep interest from newer players who have joined the game, see an old skin that they like, and have the item be of a price that is a reasonable level of entry. If cool items from the past are all at exorbitant prices, it starts to create a feeling of the “old guard” vs “newer players”, and that feeling tends to drive away new players. New players are the lifeblood of any game, since older players will inevitably drift away eventually as they get bored with the content or their interest is captured by other games coming out.

I’ve just bought the 3 Gift of Blades recipes for my 3 crafters, so now I’m accumulating Obsidian Shards. Yes, karma is “cheaper”, but I have plenty of the other supplies.

I got a Sentinel Exotic armor piece (didn’t manage to get the insignia from it, sadly), so I can confirm that Sentinel gear DOES drop, but I personally don’t believe that Sentinel recipes drop. (More likely the Wiki is wrong in that regard.)

I am also grateful that the Keeper recipes drop from the bags. It crashed prices on the one last recipe I was after very nicely, and I snapped it up.

Overflows can get it too. I’ve gotten 1200+ rescues 5 times now; 3 in Tarnished Coast main and 2 in overflows. You just need a decent amount of people going around rescuing civilians, and not just camped out at the Trader’s Forum farming.

But yes, 1200 seems to be just right. It’s hard, but definitely doable if you just have people willing to rescue.

Heal-o-Tron discovered that the miasma is countered by “sub-aether harmonics in an energy field”. That suggests that Scarlet’s minions each possess a device that combines Aetherblade and Molten technology that renders them immune to the miasma.

What’s weird is that none of us are dragging out the corpses of slain Alliance to look for the source of their immunity. :P

DarcShriek.5829:

Zaxares.5419:

The Marionette likely wouldn’t be feasible due to the sheer number of people needed for a kill, unless they turn it into a special kind of guild mission that could be started up “as needed” and therefore could take steps to gather up enough participants beforehand.

But that said, I see no reason why all the “story instances” couldn’t be available for replay through a Historian NPC. This includes other soloable instances like when Braham recaptured Cragstead or the fight against the Toxic Hybrid.

I like the guild mission idea for the marionette battle. It would be cool if it was available as an instanced guild mission. However, people would complain about it being only available to large guilds.

That’s why I think it should be like the existing guild missions. Only guilds can start it, but once opened anybody in the map can join in. This allows smaller guilds to also do some advertising in cities (“Doing Marionette guild mission in 30 mins! Whisper for an invite!”) or just announce it in the map to get some extra bodies.

Meh, we all know that the real drivers of the economy are us adventurers who go out and harvest all the raw materials for the artisans (who are also players). As long as the BLTC (or a rival like the Consortium) remains in business so we can continue trading, I think the Tyrian economy will be just fine.

I actually have a suspicion now that Gifts of Wine may be something that’s created at r500 (or 400+) Cooking. Ascended Chef (and Jeweler) incoming soon?

Thelgar.7214:

You only get one power core. At the end of this Living Story, Cat-a-lys-tron appears and reveals that he created Scarlet to destroy Lion’s Arch to allow new cities to prosper and grow. But, he no longer believes her to be capable of serving her purpose. He’ll give you three options of how to stop her. The choice you make will determine the color of your power core.

So… Destroy, Control or Synthesis?

Most likely they will become available in the next 2 week update.

Wait, so you can’t bring this station with you, and nobody else can use it?

Forget that! I’d rather just pay 17silver for a Potent Maintenance Oil instead. :P

I wouldn’t be against the Largos as a playable race, but there’s several strong reasons as to why I don’t think they will be.

1. A large part of the appeal of the Largos comes from their mystique; the fact that they are secretive, reclusive, and that we know so little about them. Once they become a playable race, this mystique will disappear. We’ll know how their society is structured, why most Largos seem to go around assassinating people, and what they look like beneath their masks. It’s hard to think of Largos as cool, grim assassins anymore once you’ve seen a couple strolling down Lion’s Arch or Divinity’s Reach, wielding Bifrost or shooting rainbow ponies.

2. Largos are an aquatic race. This means that they’d have an underwater capital, and their starting zone would most likely be mostly or completely aquatic. Personally I like underwater combat, but the vast majority of players seem to loathe it with a passion. Moreover, from a lore perspective, it would not make much sense to suddenly see hundreds of Largos just wandering around on land, anymore than it would to see Quaggans suddenly wandering around in places like Fireheart Rise.

3. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Largos wings would be a clipping nightmare for the armor artists. They already have enough problems with Charr tails, and those only have a single point of contact with the body frame. Can you imagine trying to design armor for a race that has two huge wings sprouting from their back, clipping with armor, weapons and backpieces?

The Aetherblade Thugs hit ridiculously hard compared to the other Aetherblades.

I got 500 luck just from one run in LA from the child drawings. XD

The problem with the Molten miasma event is that people always neglect to kill the Protectors first. Their fire shield makes all mobs within the radius immune to damage (but not to existing conditions), but often the zerg does not prioritise killing the Protectors above everything else, instead opting to go for Champs (that are immune to damage anyway thanks to the Protectors).

^ Agreed! We badly need more sources of Obsidian.

Yeah, I can understand why that would hurt, but that’s kind of the way things go in the real world too. There’s always situations where you buy at the wrong time; the only way to deal with it is just appreciate what you have and never look back. You’ll just keep on nursing regret otherwise.

Malediktus.9250:

Zaxares.5419:

Malediktus.9250:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

If you just have them to collect, why do you care what they’re worth?

I dont enjoy collecting worthless items. They loose quite a bit of their bragging value if you can buy them for a pocket change.

… Weren’t you just complaining the other day in the BLTC forum about how people don’t need to have “too much gold”? :P

Indeed people dont need thousands of gold, especially if they manipulate the market with it.
But I dont see how owning 1 of each miniature has anything to do with being a market manipulator (aka trader, they are one and the same for me)

Well, if minis were to continue to remain rare, it WOULD take thousands of gold to purchase all the miniatures. (You just said yourself above that your mini collection dropped by almost 1000 gold, implying that you spent thousands of gold building it.) That means that only a very, very select few (the ultra-wealthy) would have a complete collection.

Wouldn’t it be better to have cheaper minis so that it’s easier to complete the collection? That way, there wouldn’t be more incentive for people to hoard that much gold in the first place.

It’s cosmetic upgrades for Ascended gear. Of COURSE it’s going to be a massive gold sink.

Let the Blessed Breachmaker into your heart! … Ow OW OW!

Would be nice if I could sell them, personally. I’m making one set just for my collection, but that will only take me about 500 Blades. I’m already closing in on that number and it’s only day 3!

There’s no Grawl at any of the refugee camps either. Did the Grawl all decide to make one last valiant stand against Scarlet’s armies? Buying time for the other refugees to flee with their lives?

Yeeeep. I remember all too well the dozens of Monks with Obsidian Armor and Chaos Gloves in Kamadan and elsewhere. XD It was pretty obvious that most of them were getting that combo just to show off their wealth, not because they actually liked the look.

Brave Sir Ryan.1240:

Being a collector is hard when ANet keeps grossly manipulating the price of minis…I like to have them, but I also hate to hold on to something that can drop in half at any moment.

Are you buying the miniatures for your collection or as an investment?

If the former, it shouldn’t matter what prices the minis are. If the latter, considering that the mini market is subject to such volatile swings, I can’t recommend miniatures as a good investment portfolio.

Vol.7601:

They should give everyone, one time per year, 5 free ticket scraps.

That way people will be enticed to gamble on keys to get the last remaining 5.

I’d have preferred one full Black Lion Ticket for the annual birthday present, seeing as how you’d still need an average of 4 more for a yesteryear weapon, but I suppose I could live with 5 Scraps.

The weird thing about the Watchwork Pick is that the in-game description doesn’t mention anything about the bonus chance to get sprockets though. It was mentioned only in the press release. You’d have thought such a big “hook” would have merited a mention in the game.

Perhaps ANet did shoot themselves in the foot by offering free upgrades to account bound. It DID give players the impression that their permanent tools would always remain “BiS” (which no matter how people try to argue it, the Watchwork Pick IS objectively better than any other unlimited pick). Likewise, the Airship Pass IS also objectively better than the Royal Terrace because the Airship can be accessed from anywhere in the world, while the Terrace requires the player to be in Divinity’s Reach first.

It may not be P2W in the traditional sense, but it IS a Pay-for-advantage. ANet has to tread a very careful balance that, over time, the advantages doesn’t become overt enough that it divides the player base into the haves and have-nots.

Orrrr… He’s like a dealer trying to hook players on his “drug” so they’ll try to complete their collection and end up buying more miniatures.

But regardless, thanks for bringing this offer to our attention.

Malediktus.9250:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

If you just have them to collect, why do you care what they’re worth?

I dont enjoy collecting worthless items. They loose quite a bit of their bragging value if you can buy them for a pocket change.

… Weren’t you just complaining the other day in the BLTC forum about how people don’t need to have “too much gold”? :P

Wow, didn’t know about this. Have to remember to grab it tonight when I get home.

It’s even funnier if you’re doing the Personal Story steps that involve Risen attacking LA too. “Oh great. So we have Scarlet, Dredge, Flame Legion, Krait, Nightmare Court, pirates AND undead here. When are the Centaurs, Branded and Sons of Svanir getting here?”

digiowl.9620:

Sounds like we may have a tengu rebellion to look forward to…

Well, if they become a playable race, we WILL need a hostile Tengu faction to fight against (a la Bandits/Separatists, Flame Legion, Sons of Svanir, Inquest, Nightmare Court).

Tengu Isolationists has a nice ring to it.

Cheers, Imago. I’m thinking of putting together a post later today to serve as a Guide for how to get to 1500, with recommendations for dedicated rescue teams, miasma stoppers, escorts etc. Hopefully I get time.

The event finishes just before the Wurm appears, I think. I got credit for mine (including All Bets are Off) about 10 seconds before the Wurm spawned. (And I think the moas despawned before it started attacking.)

In peacetime: “By Ogden’s Hammer, what savings!”

Fleeing LA: “By Ogden’s Hammer, my savings!”

At refugee camp: “By Ogden’s Hammer, what a saving!”

You do get XP for ressing someone. I think that you should also get a bit of karma for ressing people. That would encourage ressing AND help make it easier for people to get karma.

“Health-tip: Vitamins-should-be-taken-orally.”

Err, yes, Heal-o-Tron. How DID you think we were taking vitamins into our bodies?

I still haven’t managed to catch that. Whereabouts exactly in Fort Mariner does she show up?

And where exactly is Magnus in Bloodtide Coast? I can’t find him in front of the portal to LA, nor is he at the refugee camp.