Guild Wars 2

What I found much more interesting was what Kasmeer and Marjory said about the Tower during the final story instance. They were implying that the plant was intelligent, possibly even sentient. That got me thinking… Where did the Seed for the Tower come from? Could it possibly have been the same species as the Pale Tree, only corrupted by Scarlet’s experiments? (Or alternatively, it even represented a “pure” form of the species, whereas the Pale Tree is a mutant due to having grown up away from the influence of the rest of its kind.)

I’d been thinking of using the Charged Quartz to level up past 400+ too. Ah well. At least I still have 78 Charged Quartz in my bank, and by the time I’m ready to started levelling past 400 I SHOULD have enough to craft 1 suit of Exotic armor on each profession and a few weapons.

Interesting strategy. The strat I used last year was to build ice walls in between the “pillars” to stop toys from getting to the Dolyaks, and then line the outer circle with Catapults. What usually happens is the toys rush the walls, then get smashed to pieces by massed Catapult fire.

Of course, that was last year when you needed to keep all 5 Dolyaks alive for the achievement. Now that only 1 needs to stay alive the Walls are likely no longer as necessary.

Meh. Would have been nice to have lots of Charged Quartz to level up 400+ crafting, but I’ll deal. Still got about 3 or 4 free Charged Quartz out of it, so I guess I came out ahead.

The funny part is that in the early, early days of Prophecies, infusing armor pieces also had to be done one at a time, meaning you had to do the Iron Mines mission at least 6 times for a full set of armor.

Not to spoil the party, but I’m pretty sure Kasmeer was joking about being naked. She’s probably wearing real armor, but the armor’s appearance is disguised underneath an illusion, hence its appearance not changing.

Now if Kasmeer’s swimsuit back on Southsun was just an illusion… Gotta tan evenly, you know!

The Eternal Grace.3157:

I disagree. I thought it was a great idea. If you played through the first part of SAB like everyone else, you got rewarded for it in a way that no one else could after that. If you really want the skin, there’s the TP.

Then what does a player do when they come in, say, 3 years into GW2’s release, wants a blue SAB greatsword, but there’s none left on the TP? All available copies have already been bought and used.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

I think being able to obtain all the skins for last time is a terrible thing. Like you said, the event happens every year, so why do they have to recycle the same things, too? It’s not about exclusivity, it’s about a collection. What good is a coin collection if every coin made in the 1800s was still made today? It’s what makes you stand out from the crowd and be able to say “Yeah, I’ve been playing since Christmas 2012” or at least prestigious enough to be able to say “I had enough money to buy them.”

A collection does not need to be exclusive. The point of having a collection is to collect everything in the set. “Gotta catch ’em all!” to quote another popular video game. I agree with Nilkemia here. Wanting to deny other players the chance to complete their collection smacks of someone who, having made it to the top, now wants to set up roadblocks to ensure nobody else (or only a select few) can get there.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

It’s not “I don’t want anyone else to be able to get it!”, it’s a simple factor of “I don’t want everyone to have it”…especially with how the market was already flooded.

And not EVERYBODY will use it. Sure, the market is flooded with enough skins that everybody who wanted a Princess Wand skin can get one, but ask yourself this. How many people do you actually SEE wielding one? Just because everybody has access to a skin doesn’t mean they’ll use it.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

For example, what would be the point of using my fiery dragon sword skin from GW1 HoM if everyone was still able to get it in GW2? There wouldn’t be a point, because probably everyone would have it. It adds uniqueness and prestige to your items.

I sure as hell would still use mine. I have fond memories of my FDS from GW1 and I’m using it in GW2 because I’m roleplaying it as an heirloom handed down from my GW1 Warrior to my GW2 Warrior.

I couldn’t care less if 1,000,000 other players used the FDS. All I care about is that I like the way the item looks on MY character. Why should I care about what other people are using? They could all be using Bolts or Wooden Swords and it still wouldn’t make a lick of difference to me; I don’t like either of those skins, so I won’t be using them. End of story.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Sorry for the double-post, but if it is an argument for exclusivity, like you said that’s what it really is, why can’t I get the achievements from previous living stories (especially last Wintersday)? Why can’t I get the mini from a previous meta? Why can’t I do the dungeon from the Flame & Frost (other than bits in Fractals, obviously)? Because this game really is all about exclusivity. It’s the right to say “I was there at [insert time] and did [insert accomplishment].”

If you don’t want exclusivity, I’d honestly say don’t play GW2.

I WOULD like to see achievements from previous Living Stories return, if it made sense for them to do so. (Like Pumpkin Carving from Halloween. The Pumpkins were back, so why not the achievement or the title?) I would have preferred it if, instead of creating Fractals for them, ANet instead puts in a Historian NPC that lets you replay the dungeons in all their former glory, allowing you to get the achievements and rewards at your own pace. And it would not in any way invalidate your own experiences. You know you were there at [this time] and did [this achievement]; what difference does it make to your gaming experience if another player were to repeat the content 6 months later?

I play GW2 because I like what ANet has created, but I do miss the way GW1 used to do things. Everything there was achievable by anyone, anytime.

It seems that the frames really have no use now unless you want the Infinite tonics. While Glue and Stuffing can still be bought on the TP, Mystic Cogs are no longer obtainable, so you can’t create the toys from the frames anymore. (Still, I’ll probably hang onto them until the end of Wintersday 2013, just in case.)

On the other hand, you can pick a mini from Tixx’s Toybox, so if ANet repeats this process in future years, you can get all the minis eventually.

I think the changes have made it slightly harder since last year, but it’s still extremely easy with some experience. I always grab the checkpoint at Tixx since you only get 2 more Giant Gifts bringing the present to the end; not worth the wasted time you have to spend again if you make a mistake at the exploding boxes.

I do agree that the puzzle is much more fun seeing other players though. I wish there could be a way to make the Clocktower show other players again without unfairly penalizing players with smaller characters.

I wonder what the people who stocked up on Ugly clothes thinking the quantities needed for Wintersday rewards would skyrocket like it did for Halloween are saying right now. XD

Either way, yeah, I’d just trade them for more Giant gifts (or the smaller ones, if you’re after different Snowflakes) and try your luck.

Yeah, there’s two separate bugs at work here.

1. Recipe: Light of Dwayna was NOT tradable, and it SHOULD have been. This has been fixed, but the TP is still partially bugged and not showing it in search results unless you already have one. (Similar to the Mini Toxic Hybrid bug a month ago.) Hopefully ANet will fix this soon.

2. The Shadow of Grenth final backpiece WAS tradable, and it SHOULDN’T be. All Ascended items are supposed to be account bound.

Wintersday has been announced to last for 6 weeks, meaning it’ll go till Jan 21st. I expect NiO will only last for 2 weeks, however.

Definitely the Dolls. All those boon stacks and those Confusion stacks make them a pain to deal with. Golems are a close second with their annoying chain knockdown/stunlocks. The Toy Soldiers do a surprising amount of damage, but reflects usually sort them out.

Silly Evon. If you truly care that much about Lion’s Arch, bring your concerns to Ellen and work WITH her. The two of you together could do so much more to safeguard your city than nursing your grudges separately.

P.S. I STILL haven’t gotten my Black Lion tickets in your chests, Evon. You’re still not getting my vote.

This happened yesterday to me too. Was using a Ranger with 1500 range longbow, WELL out of range of the Berserker. Only hit I got during the entire battle was one random flame hit from the Firestorm. No achievement.

I wonder if there IS a bug… Or if something like “your pet/clones/minions getting hit by the shockwave also negates the achievement”… For those that tried and failed to get the achievement, what professions were you playing?

I think you can complete the story instance multiple times. Each time gives you 5 Spores. (Not sure if it’s per day or per character, but I’ve done it 4 times on 4 different characters and gotten 5 Spores each time.)

Heh, amusing convo, but the guy who made the suggestion is actually correct. Here’s some tips on getting the shockwave achievement:

1. Try and get everybody to stand on the same side of the Wurm, preferably in a narrow line. This increases the chances of all shockwaves coming in the same direction. Players who already have the achievement should stand further back so the Wurm doesn’t spit poison right at her feet (makes it easier for the guys in front to survive).

2. If you need the achievement, stand right in front of the Wurm, then start jumping when you see her raise her head for the slam. This will give you at least 1 shockwave credit each time. I got all 5 of mine in a single event this way.

Still not sure why a plant could explode, but eh, the story instance was fun and the cinematic was cool to watch. The NPC dialogues back at the camp are probably the best part though! Bloomanoo+Peneloopee flirting, Kasmeer’s armor “revelation”, and Braham’s flirting with Marjory were all hilariously awesome. Kudos to whoever’s writing their dialogue!

I’m pretty certain it will go away once the Nightmare Tower arc is over. I was expecting the chest to no longer be available once the Tower was destroyed; ANet surprised me by keeping it around a bit longer.

She does scale up to Champion status now, apparently.

Also, the easiest way to get the shockwave achievement is to stand right in front of the Wurm, then start jumping when you see her raise her head for the slam. This will give you at least 1 shockwave credit each time. I got all 5 of mine in a single event this way.

Try and get everybody to stand in the same side of the Wurm too. This increases the chances of all shockwaves coming in the same direction. Players who already have the achievement should stand further back so the Wurm doesn’t spit poison right at her feet (makes it easier for the guys in front to survive).

No idea what happened there, but you can replay the story instance by talking to Helper Dee at Thunder Ridge Camp. That will let you see all the cutscenes and experience the instance.

Maybe put it as a dot point with ‘—-’ after it for more indents?

Might be useful, yeah. Some of us have small stockpiles of T2-T4 mats and knowing how much more we need to accumulate could be handy.

The official page about it has a disclaimer down the bottom that explains why:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/announcing-the-holiday-gifting-event/

“My promotions manager would like me to clarify that this is a one-for-one basis. If you send the same gift to three friends at once, your next three personal purchases of that item will be discounted by 40%.”

So it seems the patch notes were misleading. It’s a “gift one, get one discount” offer.

Looks like the same bug as what happened with the Mini Toxic Hybrid. Give it a day and I’m sure ANet will have this cleared up by tomorrow.

?

/Fifteencharacters

Maybe we should rename this thread to “German vs Russian Tanks”. XD

That’s fair enough. But also consider the point of view of another caster who DOES want armor that looks like “armor” as opposed to eveningwear. (Not me, but I’m sure there are players out there that do.) That’s why I support having as big a variety of armor options as possible, so there’s something for everyone.

I’m not complaining. It IS exactly what I wanted.

It’s just that whenever something new is released, it’s usually different factions of players complaining. When they’re happy, they don’t speak up, but when something is wrong, that’s when the screaming starts.

It’s also why forums seem to be relentless pits of negativity, because happy or content customers usually don’t say anything.

The Ascended armors aren’t to my tastes either, but the people saying the armor is hideous or that the person(s) who designed it need to be fired are overreacting. The amount of detail in each of the armors is incredible. The embroidery/embossing on the armor pieces actually has depth; it’s not just a texture painted onto a surface like some of the existing armors. It’s obvious to me that a LOT of effort has gone into the armors. If you don’t like it, that’s fine; personal taste is a subjective thing. Just keep in mind that your opinion is just that.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Zaxares.5419:

I’m personally pleased that Wintersday is much the same as last year. I’ve never been a fan of exclusivity. A new player should have the same opportunity to get an item as an older player. The move to allow old event skins buyable via Black Lion Weapon tickets was a stroke of genius, in my opinion. (Which makes it all the more strange that the 2012 Halloween skins weren’t added.)

The old achievements not returning is unfortunate, but I suspect it’s due to the way ANet coded the achievement system; it just can’t be done at this point due to technical reasons. Maybe in the future they’ll find a way to revamp it.

If a newer player wants a skin from a previous event, I think they either should have been playing at that time or pay a price on the TP.

That’s why I said the Black Lion Weapon tickets were a stroke of genius. They’re expensive enough that their “prestige” isn’t destroyed (for those who are concerned about such things), but it allows all players who may not have been around at the time to still have the chance to get it. IMO, all other event skins should get this treatment.

Hmm, maybe it has the same bug as previous stuff. Try buying another copy of the recipe from the TP, combine it with yours, split it again and see if they become sellable?

The meta itself was called Fractured!, yeah. But each of the individual achievements in it was labelled as “Fractal Fortnight”.

Convert them to Obsidian or skill points? Buy more 20 slot bags for alts/mules? Gear them all up with Versatile Agony Infusions?

Definitely loving the change that allows us to convert Pristine Relics to normal relics. Now I have to decide if I want Obsidian more, or equipping my 5 characters with Ascended Rings… (Especially considering r500 Jeweler may allow us to craft our own Ascended Rings with a bigger variety of stats. Don’t want to waste my relics on Rings and Infusions if I’m just going to replace it down the line.)

I remember reading somewhere that the script that checks whether to give out the chest fires during a WvW reset. So maybe wait till this weekend?

Another player’s personal experience is that he gifted one copy to a friend, then bought multiple copies of the same item for himself, but only one of the additional copies got the discount. That suggests that the news announcement is the correct version; quite disappointing, personally, but I urge ANet to edit their patch notes so as not to imply misleading information which could affect player’s purchases.

But as far as encouraging people to buy more BLKeys, please do! Gems → gold fell short of the 100 gems for 10g threshold last time, and I’d like for it to push past that so I can sell some gems.

Looks like a combination of too many people stockpiling cloth prior to the update, combined with people looking at Ascended armor stats and deciding the cost isn’t worth it for such a minor increase in stats.

Doesn’t matter to me, as I’m not going to be going for Ascended armor for a long, long time yet.

Oooh, this is good to know, DarksunG. I was planning on picking up multiple copies of the Collection Expander after gifting one to my girlfriend, but I’m gonna hold off on that until confirmation over whether that’s a bug or not.

I don’t buy town clothes myself, but I have to agree this is a strange move by ANet. The most likely reason is that these items aren’t selling anymore, and ANet wants to remove them so players don’t have to scroll through long pages of clothes anymore, but it still feels like a wrong decision. This isn’t a brick and mortar store, where you have a limited shelf space. Digital items can be offered for sale forever. I would have preferred that ANet instead revamp the store layout so there are new subcategories within the Fashion line. For example:

Style:
- Fashion Only
— Headgear
— Chest gear
— etc.
- Armor Skins
— Light
— Medium
— Heavy
- Costume Brawl
— Halloween
— Wintersday
— Standard

And of course, put in a Search function.

Lucky.9421:

This is why I only bought enough for my own crafting. I thought it would go up too though. Oh well, glad I bought it around 6.5.

This is what I do too. XD That way, no matter whether the price goes up or down, I still end up with the final item I wanted at the end of the day.

Huh. I could see an Ele, Guardian or Engineer running Cleric’s, but a Warrior? Then again, I’d be in favour of ANet making it so a healshout Warrior is just as viable as a Zerk one. (If a bit weird to see in action. XD)

Oh, definitely. As I said, I want to get it legitimately if at all possible. But if months go by and I still can’t get it, I might just get together a guild group and take the plunge (literally). XD

Haven’t fought her since the update, so not a clue. Will definitely be heading over a few times each week for the new Settler’s Insignia though.

I understand that the Ascended armor look is not appreciated by many, but I think you should remove that first point about it “looking bad” since it’s entirely subjective. While I don’t like the look of it myself, I think the artists put an incredible amount of work into them considering how much detail the armors have. Maybe just provide a link to Dulfy’s Ascended armor gallery (http://dulfy.net/2013/12/10/gw2-ascended-armor-gallery/) and let people decide for themselves.

Oooh, so the Dwayna and Grenth backpieces allow you to choose stats for them? VERY nice.

Heh, they’re just long-term (like, 1 – 2 years long) goals for me. I’m not looking to outfit my 5 characters with them immediately.

What about slots? Do Ascended armor have 1 rune slot and 1 (defensive?) infusion slot too, similar to weapons?

This was the case with Exotics crafted with the new inscriptions too. Crafted items cannot be salvaged for their inscriptions/insignias. Only dropped Exotics, or those purchased from dungeon vendors, have a chance to yield their inscriptions/insignias.

And yet Silk Scraps are still only 17 copper on the TP. XD

@Marna: Interesting idea! Perhaps r500 Chefs can make dyes that replicate the exclusive colours from things like the Flame & Frost and Toxic Alliance. (Not guaranteed, of course. It just gives you a dye that has a chance to have the new colours. That would avoid crashing the market, but also bring down prices a bit by injecting new potential supply.)

Other than that, I think my idea of crafting Ascended versions of foods that last for 24 hours (or perhaps even longer) is probably what they’ll do.