Guild Wars 2

There was also a free trial weekend recently + a sale on GW2. That could mean lots of new players who can’t get into the Full servers, so they go to the High servers.

@Aereniel: The simplest, most reliable way to get gold from Laurels is to buy the Heavy Crafting Bags. Each one gives you 3 random T6 fine materials, which means on average you’re earning about 1g/laurel.

Hmm, OK. It does seem like a bug then. Hopefully a dev will see this and come post here.

I really, really want a full Toxic armor set.

I guess it would depend on whether or not the Lost Scrolls were a powerful magical artifact created by Abaddon, or whether they drew on even more ancient magic. The Cauldron of Cataclysm, for example, the one given to the Charr by the Titans to call down the Searing, supposedly pre-dated even the Six Gods and might have called upon dragon magic. (Kralkatorrik would be my guess, if we can make a connection between the Searing crystals and Kralkatorrik’s area of influence.)

Interesting info, RoseofGilead… I wonder if this is perhaps linked to the NPE. Does anyone know at what level underwater gear/weapons are unlocked?

As someone who has no intention of getting any of the current Legendaries, but who’s got a small and growing stash of Mystic Clovers thanks to the PvP Reward Tracks, I agree it would be nice if there was something we could do with them. No big issue though; at the current rate of acquisition, I’ll be playing GW2 for at least another 3 years before I have a full stack of them.

No objections from me, but like some of the others here, I have no reason to buy it. Barring a new race being released, I won’t be creating any more new characters, and I have 10+ Experience Scrolls and almost 100 Tomes of Experience so I could level that new character instantly to level 80 anyway.

I don’t want to derail the thread too much, but I guess MF IS tying into RNG, so…

From my personal experience, MF DOES make a difference. I now have 175% (or thereabouts) MF, and it’s now rare that I don’t get at least 1 Rare a day just from standard play. Exotics are still few and far between, but my drops have had a noticeable improvement from the days when I used to run around with 0% MF.

The key here is this; MF only benefits certain types of playstyles. Because they do not affect chests or Champ Bags, MF will only benefit you if you kill lots and lots of trash mobs. It thus benefits farmers, and people who like to slaughter everything in their path. If you’re the kind of player who skips lots of mobs in dungeons, who do the World Boss train but only sit and wait at the boss spawn point, or just run straight from location to location when map completing and ignoring enemies along the way, you will not see much benefit from MF.

I’d still say that 1 Deldrimor/Elonian/Spiritwood would be too expensive for the stations. :P Instead, I’d rather that it got changed to require T6 mats instead. Might be one way of improving the value of Hardened Leather (and Thick Leather, as a by-product).

Unless you have your heart set on the clown gun that is Quip, yes, I’d craft Zojja’s pistol too.

Nah, Chaos Weapons would be the way to go for them. That + all Radiant armor.

Yeah. There’s a difference between being “OK, he’s running an unusual/sub-par build, but he’s still pulling his weight” and “WTH are you doing?!” I’ve been in PUG runs where people were clearly using non-Exotic gear or strange builds, but we were getting through the content fine. And then there’s runs where you get people who keep on attacking the wrong targets, insisting on meleeing/ranging a boss when it’s suicide to be using that method, or just aggroing everything in sight and then pulling them back to the group. (I don’t mind full clears, but in measured portions please! Don’t go popping all the eggs in Fyonna’s room and then pulling them to us while we’re still fighting her.)

How would that affect you? It’s just a physical memento of the event, like a photograph. If a company decided to re-print the T-shirt, or if somebody made a digital scan of your photograph and then prints more copies of it, or if another original attendee decides to sell his T-shirt to a younger fan who wasn’t there, does that suddenly mean that your attending the event is now invalid or worthless? No, of course not. You still have your memories and the knowledge that you were there.

I really don’t get the objections some people have to old items coming back.

There are actually very few vistas where there isn’t a safe way back down or you’re forced to waypoint out. Some backtracking might be needed, but it often takes only a few seconds.

If there are machines that do that, I’m certain they will be removed from the floor VERY quickly. No business will tolerate a loophole that loses them money.

None. Legendaries have the exact same stats as Ascended weapons. Legendaries do, however, have the ability to change their stats on the fly, and ANet has guaranteed that Legendaries will always have top tier stats IF they ever decide to introduce new gear tiers. (Which I sincerely doubt they’ll do. There was a MASSIVE backlash against them when Ascended gear was introduced, and Ascended gear is already grindy/expensive enough that most players just stick with Exotics.)

I also run Arcane Brilliance as my heal, so it’s “throw up Earth 2, switch attunements, throw down fire/lightning/water field, jump inside, activate Arcane Brilliance+Arcane Wave for 3 simultaneous blasts”.

Yeah, Torga Desertgrave isn’t the Ash Imperator (that’s Malice Swordshadow). Each of the capitals of the three Legions has one or more Tribunes stationed there as attaches and advisors, in addition to commanding their Legion’s troops in the capital. Rytlock is the Blood Tribune assigned to the Black Citadel, but I’m fairly certain I’ve seen another Blood Tribune in the area before. I just can’t remember who it was.

Can you elaborate more on how you would like to see guaranteed drops included? Would it be a system where, for example, killing centaurs will always drop centaur-skinned weapons (which still has some RNG), or that certain Exotics will only drop from a particular boss (and thus opening up the route of intensive farming, but is still partially reliant on RNG), or an even more definitive system of “If you want X, go kill Boss Y. He drops it 100%”? I’m pretty certain the last would never occur since it means supply would quickly outstrip demand and the majority of Exotics would quickly become worthless once players unlocked the skin.

… How much for my mails to be delivered by a Mini Shatterer?

Thanks Maclaine! Would be awesome to be able to add those tracks to my personal playlist too.

I’m honestly surprised TC and JQ didn’t team up to take on BG again during Weeks 1 and 4.

As others have said, they’re the next set of AP weapons after a player fully completes the Zenith set.

Yeah, I think that if people are complaining about precursor acquisition, we need a slow, somewhat grindy, but achievable method of getting them, similar to the token acquisition for dungeon gear or SAB skins. Something that players can look at and go “OK, I don’t want to gamble, but if I complete X, Y and Z hard content, which will take me maybe 6 months if I play every day, I’ll get my Precursor anyway.” I don’t think that altering the factors behind the RNG would be a good solution.

One thing that needs to be taken into account is that a lot of the Charr’s current military success rests with their great, steam-powered siege engines. However, there’s no direct route to bring those mighty machines to Kryta. They’d either have to bring them over the Shiverpeaks (cold weather wreaks havoc on steam machines, meaning that a lot of them would probably break down or be unable to cross the mountains), or they’d have to ship the parts by sea to Lion’s Arch, or another major port, and reassemble them there. That would provide Kryta with a huge advantage by allowing them to prevent the Charr from even landing there in the first place. (And I suspect Lion’s Arch would not allow its docks to be used as a beachhead for landing war machines, so the Charr would need to conquer them first. The combined forces of the Lionguard and the Seraph might be able to hold off the Charr armies for a very long time.)

I thought the Charr in the RoT were there because of their exposure to the Titans, whom as servants of Abaddon, meant that the Charr who had direct contact with the Titans were also exposed to Abaddon’s corruptive influence and thus got shunted into the RoT when they went into the Mists.

That could technically mean that, had our Heroes not dealt with Abaddon personally in Nightfall, they could very well have ended up in the RoT too after they died thanks to fighting the Titans and Shiro. (Although with the latter it’s unclear whether Abaddon’s influence would have leaked through Shiro into the Afflicted and Shiro’Ken.)

Thanks for starting this conversation, John! I think it’s a topic near and dear to the hearts of many players (as evidenced by the fact that we’re already on page 3 despite this thread being less than 8 hours old!)

While I understand the need and importance of RNG for MMO games as a way to preserve longevity and the thrill of getting a “windfall” now and again, I very much agree that an equalizer device to help flatten the bell curve of drops would help solve player frustration over either extreme streaks of bad luck, or envy at “lucky players” who basically just won the lottery. After all, a lot of us play games to get away from the inequities of real life; the perception, rightly or not, that some people can bypass the work and toil we put into getting our cherished items is one that can easily poison a game’s culture and community if left unchecked.

I heartily endorse your #2.5 option, and I’d like to point out that you guys have actually implemented something like this before. It was the reward system used by the Super Adventure Box (SAB), and I feel that it provided rewards to all players in a manner that was regarded as fair and equitable.

1. There was a chance for a player to get a Rare skin from the chests at the end of each level. This rewarded Luck, and it preserved the windfall feeling that’s important to some players for getting a good item as a lucky drop.

2. You could also acquire the skin you wanted by repeating the content several times and accumulating enough tokens to buy an account-bound version of the skin. This rewarded Dedication, and it soothed players with the knowledge that, even if they had the worst luck in the world, if they kept at it long enough, they WOULD get what they were after.

3. Finally, if you really want a particular SAB skin, but don’t like jumping puzzles, you had the option of buying the skin you want from one of the players in category 1. This rewarded Trade, and it has the dual benefits of giving player 1 extra money, and rewarding player 2 for their efforts that they’ve spent elsewhere in the game.

SAB’s reward system was a very neat, effective system for giving players what they want, and I strongly encourage you to adopt similar mechanisms elsewhere in the game.

This might be a new bug introduced during the 9/9 feature pack. I’d report it (both in-game and on the Bugs forum) to ANet asap.

That’s why I’m making my Ascended gear set to be as generically useful as possible. (It’s going to be a mixed stat set, with a bit more emphasis on Zerk.) For niche builds, I’ll just be sticking with Exotics.

That’s because Halloween 2013 actually REMOVED content from 2012. Reaper’s Rumble was gone. Ascent to Madness was gone. The 2012 skins were no longer attainable. Titles from 2012 like Pumpkin Carver were no longer achievable despite the fact that pumpkins were still around and carvable.

In its place we had an OK (but a bit short) story involving the Bloody Prince, but despite the build-up, all the Bloody Prince and King Thorn do is sit in the Labyrinth and trade insults.

Farming in the Labyrinth also seemed to have gotten a major nerf, and that meant that once players got their achievements, they abandoned the Labyrinth in droves. (Players inevitably only stay in a map if it’s rewarding to be there. See the collapse in popularity of the Crown Pavilion after its return for another example.)

To make it worse, Halloween 2013 cranked up the sinks for Halloween items to an insane level. 1,000 Candy Corn for a Cob? And 10 of those for a mini or a bag?? It made players very angry that what was supposed to be a fun, “treats for everyone!” festival had turned into a grindfest.

You actually don’t want TOO many people at Riagan though. The more people there are, the more Risen that spawn, including the dreaded Plague Bearers that are the biggest culprit for one-shotting Riagan. If you attempt it solo, or with one or two other people, only one or two Plague Bearers spawn per spawn, and you can pinpoint and quickly spike them down before they reach Riagan.

The Risen Abominations are also ones to watch out for, if they happen to get Riagan in their charge path.

I haven’t checked myself, but I have heard some other people report that Spears (and possibly Harpoon Guns) have a new bug where their recipes are simply missing.

As Vergil points out above, we HAVE actually seen Jennah fight before. During the Crown Pavilion opening ceremony, she did actually pull out a one-handed sword and get physical. (She didn’t even use Blurred Frenzy though. Noob!)

I do agree that Giant Eyes could be made a little easier to acquire. My idea:

All Giants now have a chance to drop Giant Eyes when killed. The exact drop rate probably needs to be determined by ANet, but I’m thinking a 1% chance from Veteran/Elite Risen Giants and a 10% chance from Champion Giants (like the ones in Diessa Plateau or Harathi Hinterlands) might be appropriate. The Legendary Sand Giant in Dry Top has a 25% chance to drop one (to give players a bit more incentive to fight him. He’s woefully ignored in most Dry Top instances due to the sheer amount of time necessary to kill him if you don’t have a massive T5/6 zerg).

There is also a very rare chance for Basilisks to drop Giant Eyes, but it’d probably be along the lines of “Charged Lodestones from Sparks” rare.

No information so far, but I certainly hope that it, along with the plain version, are available again.

I think the Cultural and CoF Heavy armors look very nice on a Charr. I only have a Charr Warrior though, so I can’t comment on other professions.

I’ve only got 5 classes, but this is how I’ve currently got them:

AC = Elementalist (to make sure we always have Ice Bow for the burrows. PUGs these days tend to be good enough in DPS that Ice Bow isn’t strictly necessary, but you never know.)

CM = Mesmer (we don’t always get a Thief, so with my Mesmer I can at least chain stealth the party long enough to get past some rough spots)

TA = Ranger (any profession could do this, really)

SE = Warrior (any profession could do this, but reflects do help. If I wasn’t already using my Mesmer for CM I’d bring her for SE)

You can already harvest Quartz Crystals every day by going to Dry Top. There’s also plentiful supply of it on the TP, so acquiring Quartz itself shouldn’t be a problem.

I don’t like the missing Charr tails either (and think they should be put back in), but I can rationalise it as them disappearing due to the illusionary magic that makes the legs look like goat hooves also covering up the tail. The tail’s still there, but it’s just invisible.

To add to my post yesterday, I was in Mount Maelstrom on my Ranger. Soloed both the Aquabase Champ Inquest and Fluffy using only my Armored Fish pet and never even swapping him out. He was just so tough that Signet of the Wild + Troll Unguent meant that both bosses couldn’t outdamage his healing. (I had to come in close and fight Fluffy with my Spear instead of my Speargun though. I was in more danger of killing myself with my reflected shots than from the boss itself!)

Cheers for that info, Bhawb. Even though I’ve used MM since launch, you still learn something new every day.

Yeah, my healing ability goes way down underwater since I don’t have any water fields to blast. But Earth 5 gives a nice blind field that helps with staying alive while you rack up crazy amounts of Bleeding on foes with Earth 1+2. Swap to Fire occasionally for Boil and to blast it for Might, and then hop into Water for Water 3+4 when you need to withdraw.

Like Kravick says, my Necromancer is an absolute beast underwater. (They’ve only gotten even more powerful now that Wells can be used underwater.) My Mesmer and Warrior also rarely have problems. And Ranger? Well, if you die underwater as a Ranger you’re doing something seriously wrong.

Fool! You NEVER smack-talk devs. :O

TC has roleplayers! But we still manage to hold our own pretty well in T1 despite that.

Err, Legendary Defenders are invulnerable and one-shot any player. Any objective with one of them basically becomes uncappable by the enemy team, because there is always one friendly inside to stop the cap.

While I do support the idea of badly outnumbered servers getting access to extremely powerful NPC allies (imagine being in a Keep and then suddenly seeing the Legendary Sand Giant striding up to your gates!), those NPCs can’t be absolutely invincible.

While I think this is rare enough that it’s practically a non-issue, I do think it was strange how ANet didn’t implement standard enemy models throughout all of PvP. This issue could be easily fixed by expanding the enemy models to all PvP modes.

I agree that the story should be reverted to how it was. Split off the final assault on Zhaitan into a new Chapter 9, if you must.

He’s got you there, John.

And yeah, I can confirm that those lucky streaks DO happen. It happened to me just last weekend. After getting basically nothing the previous two runs, this Sunday Fractal run ended up giving me 4(!) Exotics, 2 Globs of Mist Essence, a Fractal Spoon and an Ascended Ring at the end. It was downright incredible.

I must admit I’m a bit baffled by the missing Charr tail on the outfit, but I guess I can rationalise it being due to the same illusionary magic that makes the males legs look like goat hooves.

Still, my self-respecting Charr isn’t going to hide his tail. :P