Guild Wars 2

Huh, I didn’t know about this… If I did try to create my own Legion, I’d probably create a new magic-using Legion, advertising itself as a place where all magic-using Charr can come and be welcome, free to practice their magic without prejudice or suspicion, but taking pains to emphasize that we are not affiliated with the Flame Legion and reject their hostility towards humans or the other High Legions.

Sleuth.7964:

Zaxares.5419:

SAB: Back to School has Tribulation Mode, said to be to JP’s what Liadri and the Gauntlet was to PvE combat. Test yourself against it when it comes out.

Read my post and you’ll see thats not what i asked for.

And if the King Toad/Storm Wizard skins are only available from doing SAB in Tribulation Mode?

Ah. I’ve never visited Orr myself yet, so I was just going off what I heard from guildies a long time ago. There is a Rich Orichalcum Vein in the Obsidian Sanctum, but the last few times I was there, it only allowed 3 harvests before being exhausted.

My guess is that crafting items with req 400 will advance crafting beyond 400, same as it did before, but there are new recipes that are 400+, and at 500 you can craft Ascended items.

Yep, that’s what I’m doing too. I managed to beat Liadri, but I’m leaving the Light Up the Darkness achievement for next time when I’ve managed to twink out my gear a bit more.

While I do think the OP could have phrased his/her post better, I actually agree with them. (And note that I’m a rabid SAB fan and can’t wait for it to be back. ) There’s no need for the 8-bit monsters and chests to be scattered across the world again. I’m happy with SAB remaining just in Rata Sum.

The Centaurs have some nice lines when they kill you or when you run away from them:

- “You flee so well!”
- “Now you do not offend me!” (when you die)

Now go do Last Day Dawns and summon Rytlock as an ally to help King Adelbern and watch his head explode. XD

SAB: Back to School has Tribulation Mode, said to be to JP’s what Liadri and the Gauntlet was to PvE combat. Test yourself against it when it comes out.

I think there’s one each in the Orr maps, as well as in Frostgorge Sound. However, the location changes every day, so unless you scour the entire map every day you could easily miss it.

Harvesting with the Consortium sickle is already faster than using normal ones. (It’s about 1/4 of a second faster.)

Can the Desert Rose skin still be obtained? I thought it’s no longer possible to get it from playing Southsun Survival.

Mmm, I may be misremembering. It has been several months since SAB was last here, after all. I’ll go stand in Rata Sum for a while come Sep 3rd and re-listen to what he has to say.

The SAB is whimsical content, but I don’t see why it can’t co-exist alongside the “actual” game. To me, going into the SAB is no different from going into the Fractals of the Mists, or the Crown Pavilion with its illusionary-clad Watchknights, or Keg Brawl. Our characters are engaging in a form of entertainment within their world, and nothing the SAB does actually breaks that immersion.

I thought Moto did actually sound tempted by the thought of having a Super Adventure Box “in every home across Tyria”, but he still hesitated out of concern about what the Consortium might actually do with it if he licensed his technology out to them.

It seems safe to say that all Ascended gear*, in keeping with current trends, will be account bound on acquisition. However, we don’t know for sure yet what all the ways of acquiring Ascended gear will be. Personally I’m hoping that WvW players get an option to purchase Ascended gear with Badges of Honor or some other WvW-only resource.

*Barring Legendaries, of course.

I’d find it rather amusing if the Sep 3rd patch changed it so that you now require PLATINUM Doubloons instead of Silver Doubloons for the Juggernaut.

I would actually love it if September had just the SAB for the entire month. No “OMG calamity!” moment as Molten Alliance/Aetherblades/Karka suddenly attacked SAB and we had to fend them off. For once, can we just have a quiet, peaceful month where nothing happens?

The wording on the release page isn’t very clear, and “complete your collection” could be interpreted both ways. Personally I would prefer if the Super skins became available again (they’re allowing people to complete the World 1 Achievements again, so why not the skins?), but there does seem to be enough supply to go around that if you really want one of the old skins, you should be able to obtain one.

My gut feeling is that yes, the Super skins WILL be available again, since now that the King Toad and Lighting King skins are released, everybody will be clamoring to get those instead.

Grump.7069

Queen’s gauntlet would like to say hi to you (ASCENDED REQUIRED if you wanna do the harder achivs like the gambit achivs)

Not exactly true. I defeated Liadri and completed all of the Gauntlet achievements except for Light Up the Darkness with a Warrior who was still using level 78/79 Masterwork gear. It was much harder than it needed to be and I don’t recommend it to anyone in the slightest, but it is possible.

That said, I can understand where your concerns are coming from. Someone with a full set of Ascended gear WILL have a noticeable increase in power over someone in full Exotics. At the moment though, outside of very specific challenges like high-level Fractals, there’s not much content in the game where Ascended gear is a necessity for victory. (WvW is a different kettle of fish, and hopefully ANet will also include ways for WvW-only players to get Ascended gear.) Therefore, you can get by fine in all Exotics, which judging by sPvP, is what end-game balance is designed around.

My guess is that they won’t change, but then again, they did include a recipe to upgrade the Triforge Amulet to Ascended, so who knows?

As long as Scarlet is still on the loose, Queen Jennah is still in danger, so the Queen’s Speech has been postponed indefinitely until further notice.

Not to mention there’s a HUGE glut of Watchwork Sprockets on the TP right now. The invasions really injected a massive oversupply of them into the economy. We probably have enough Sprockets to last us for the rest of GW2’s lifetime!

The Pavilion runes are more powerful than other minor runes, however. For instance, you’ll notice that even the minor runes give the same level 1 / 2 bonuses as a Superior Rune. That’s probably why they have a higher level requirement than other minor runes.

I’m guessing that the “special reward” for completing all the World 1 achievements is a Mini Moto.

It will more than likely be a cut-down version of its original form though.

DeWolfe.2174:

I have no clue where Anet get’s it’s demographics from? To think gamers have THAT kind of disposable income to spend. How about charge less and make it up in volume? It’s not like you have reproduction cost, it’s virtual!

:)

You’d be surprised at how much money some people are willing to dump into virtual currency. There was a thread over in General Discussion about mini collectors who were peeved that Mr Sparkles was a (potential) Gamescon exclusive and therefore it permanently ruins their ability to complete the collection. Some of these collectors have spent thousands of dollars on gems to get all the minis. Likewise, we don’t have any concrete figures, but I’m willing to bet that those Legendaries selling for thousands of gold on the TP get bought too.

I remember reading an interview from Zynga (the makers of Farmville) who said that less than 5% of their players spent any money in their cash shop, but the 5% that did, spent MILLIONS. If that’s a reflection of what the gamer demographic is like, it’s not hard to imagine that the people pumping money into the gem store far outweighs any sales in bulk that ANet might pick up by pricing these goods cheaper.

Interesting… The Bank Space and free 200 gems Anniversary gift sound especially appealing.

Yep. People have tried to corner the market on Precursors before. All have failed. Just give it time.

Zaith.9132:

I just realised the unicorn’s haunch is branded with the Anet logo…

Me too. :O

Add the Queen’s Champion killing ALL the Charr in Butcher’s Block (Diessa Plateau) to that list. I’m sure THAT won’t have any impact on the Human-Charr peace talks at all!

Maybe the Completers should be more explicit in their instructions then. Instead of phrasing it as general requests to all players, say something like, “Completers, focus on Twisted portals. Leave Aetherblades/Molten to the farmers since they’ll progress it anyway.” Completers can then form groups of their own and use Party chat to head to specific zones to fight Twisted mobs there. (Nothing’s stopping them from completing AB/MA events along the way too, of course.)

Dystopiq.5218:

It could be because of this.
:P
http://puu.sh/49pDO

O.O That’s so mean!

…

…

Wish I’d thought of it first. XD

I would love to be able to summon a minion that looked like the Twisted Nightmares, but made from flesh and bone.

I was hoping for a Reddit link or something similar.

I’m with you though. I would LOVE an Armor/Weapon wardrobe for PvE similar to what PvP gets. By all means, make it so that you need to pay Transmutation Stones/Crystals to switch skins, but it at least frees us up from having to lug around multiple sets of armor at one time.

Hmm, good point. I’m not sure if their sexist attitude would have translated to all females though; the Sons of Svanir certainly don’t think any better of my female human or sylvari when I chat to the ones in Hoelbrak.

They are working for the sylvari supervillain!

The one outside of Shaemoor in Queensdale is the one I normally visit.

You could also park someone in Ebonhawke at Fields of Ruin and visit Gwen’s Grave. As an added bonus, there’s bank access just a short distance away too.

What changes to stone use are you talking about?

You know what I would have loved to see in my birthday present? 1 Black Lion Weapon Claim Ticket. HINT HINT ANet!

So far we have information about two sources for T7 mats:

1. Colin posted just a few days ago that T7 materials can be obtained from JP’s and mini-dungeons, which is intended to make these areas more rewarding to visit.

2. The blog post that revealed the coming r500 crafting also stated that T7 mats are crafted from lower-tier materials and are time-gated, like Charged Quartz.

Both those answers suggest that T7 materials won’t be harvested like T1 – 6 materials, so I think it’s fairly safe to go ahead and buy the unlimited tools with the expectation that they will work on everything forever. I know I certainly did, on 5 alts no less.

Behellagh.1468:

And who buys level 80 rare armor for their character anyways.

You might be surprised. I know a couple of VERY casual players. One of them has recently hit 80, but since they play very rarely, and don’t plan on doing dungeons or other high-end content, just went for level 80 Rare gear since it was within their budget.

I actually wonder now if it was indeed Scarlet who brokered the alliance between the Dredge and the Flame Legion. Scarlet’s definitely erudite, but she seems more borderline crazy than “silver-tongued”, and I think the Dredge and Flame Legion, both of whom don’t have very high opinions of females, would be inclined to listen to someone who seems mighty unstable. I’m starting to think that it might have been Mai Trin who actually approached them, on orders from Scarlet.

Here’s how I think the timeline might have played out:

1. After Scarlet views the Eternal Alchemy/has her conversation with the Pale Tree, Scarlet sets up the Aetherblades, funded by Inquest backers. At some point she recruits Mai Trin as her aide-de-camp and appoints her as the leader of the Aetherblades while she focuses more on research.

2. Scarlet instructs Mai Trin to approach the Dredge/Flame Legion to form the Molten Alliance, on the grounds that together they would have the technology and magic to kick out the Norn and destroy the other High Legions. They attempt to do so, but are foiled by the efforts of the players.

3. Meanwhile, Mai Trin attempts to gain a position on the Captain’s Council, perhaps with an eye to subverting the Council later (assassinating the other Captains and replacing them with more flunkies, or just leaving Mai Trin the only one in charge). Again, this fails when Ellen Kiel and the players thwart her plans.

4. Scarlet then attacks Divinity’s Reach. Her purpose in doing this is two-fold. One, she wants access to the Krytan Crown’s stockpile of Watchwork Knights, so she can corrupt them and turn them into her Twisted Watchwork army. Two, by killing Queen Jennah, she hopes to further her overall plan by creating anarchy and destruction across the civilised kingdoms, letting society tear itself apart before rebuilding it into a form more suited to her liking. (This is what she was trying to do with the Molten Alliance too, by destabilising the Norn and Charr lands.)

It’s a decent enough “Big Bad Plan”, I guess, but I still preferred my original theory of “Canthan Instigator sent by the Emperor to destabilise Tyria in preparation for a massive Canthan invasion”.

That’s true enough. And I usually only buy amounts of 5 – 10, to pad out whatever I didn’t manage to farm myself. If one needed large quantities of a particular material, it might be cheaper to transmute it yourself.

I’m divided on this. On the one hand, I agree that newly created characters shouldn’t be able to do end-game content immediately, which is what the Living Story is ostensibly supposed to be.

On the other hand, previous Living Story content like Flame & Frost and Lost Shores either took place in low-level zones, or scaled you up so you could take part in the content anyway. Queen’s Jubilee and Clockwork Chaos is a departure from that trend.

It wouldn’t concern me in the slightest but for the fact that nearly all of the Living Story is temporary content. If I was a new player, I would really, really hate coming to the party late only to find that there’s some things I will never get to experience because they were one time events.

I’m not a mini collector, but as a perfectionist gamer in my own way I sympathise completely with the folks who now have a gap in their collection. I think the fairest way would be to put Mr Sparkles up on the gem store for purchase; that way, people who were present at Gamescon or some other event can get it for free (which I think is fair enough, if people are dedicated enough to go to a con), and if other players want it, they still have the option of purchasing it for themselves. ANet gets more income this way too, so it’s win-win!

JK Arrow.7102:

So this prompts another question. Let’s say you have a map that’s either not fully populated or where the groups spread out perfectly to each event so that the twisted events do not scale up to great numbers. And as a comparison you have a full map that zergs the twisted events so that the enemy count scales up greatly.

If kills are what reduces the twisted bar, is it based on the number of enemies that spawn or is it fixed? Would they reduce the twisted bar at the same rate? Because most feel that not zerging and spreading out would be more efficient for these events.

It is based on the number of enemies that spawn, but there seems to be a cap on the number of minions that can spawn at once (about 10 or 12, from recollection). Beyond this point, the minions just get tougher, spawning more Veterans, Elites or even Champions. You ideally want to avoid this, because the Elite and Champion Twisted Nightmares take a LONG time to kill, even with a group of 5 – 7 players.

Having several groups of 5 – 7 players that each stay in a particular part of the map and do events in the area is the most effective way of fighting the Invasions, rather than having 2 to 3 zergs that waypoint around. This keeps the level of enemies to mostly normal and Veterans, with the occasional Champion when the event calls for it.

Yeah, there are only 3 things I would “fix” about the Liadri fight:

1. Seriously, the camera angle is horrible, especially on larger characters like Norn and Charr. The Arena should have been in open pits where players can zoom out the camera to get a better idea of the bigger battlefield.

2. The grill floor makes it quite difficult to see the borders of the Shadowfall circles. The “time-out-fall” mechanic is interesting, and funny in a way, but the floor should have been solid so the circles could be seen better.

3. Fix the “obstructed” bug when shooting at the Cosmic Orbs with ranged weapons. Some people have claimed this was intended, but I disagree. If the Orbs were not meant to be destroyed with ranged weapons, then give them a skill like Reflect that makes it obvious they are meant to be melee’ed.

Queen’s Jubilee and Clockwork Chaos will end on Sep 3rd. The Gauntlet and Crown Pavilion will also no longer be accessible on this date, but ANet has confirmed that both will be returning content similar to SAB and the Zephyrite Sanctum.

Unfortunately, yes. The Pavilion is mostly dead now because it’s much easier and more profitable to go farm invasions instead. On more crowded servers like Tarnished Coast, you can occasionally still get enough people to complete the events, but the bosses often stay alive for hours at a time now.

What surprises me the most is the number of Vets that still spawn given how few people there are in the Pavilion nowadays. You’d think their numbers/health would have dropped after the zergs left.