Guild Wars 2

Yep. Those crazy stats on the amulets suggest that they were likely used for internal PvP testing.

While I wish they’d picked a different waypoint to destroy (I find that crafting/banking spot to be the most convenient), they probably picked it because there are two other waypoints relatively close by.

I have noticed that Rare and Exotic drops in Dry Top use the Aureate and Ceremonial skins, yes. BUT… I did once get a Tribal drop there too from a lockpick chest, so it might not be a sure thing. (Unless the lockpick chests use their own loot tables.)

Vayne did what I did. After they became account bound, I kept my 5 different sets simply because I didn’t want the hassle of changing them out on my characters each time.

I’m not sure how it will work in the future, but currently it seems the Mordrem events spawn whenever a character at the right step in the Living Story talks to the appropriate NPC. For example, I’m headed to the NPC for the Wolf. As I get near him, I see the event for the Wolf pop up; he’s almost dead, and he dies right before I talk to the NPC.

Talking to the NPC gives me the response about how “I just missed it”, but if I click through the conversation and talk to him again, the Wolf event immediately respawned. That tells me that it was triggered by me talking to the NPC; it’s not possible that the same event would respawn a mere 5 seconds after completion under normal circumstances.

I’ve seen this happen for the Gravelash event too.

Yeah, that’s a strange bug I’ve noticed on occasion too. I can’t figure out why that happens. On the 4 or so attempts I did to get the achievement (all of them on the Ranger), sometimes the tower guys would be under attack, sometimes not. I couldn’t discern a reason for the difference.

The one you really want to kill ASAP is the Tendril. That poison volley it launches is capable of one-shotting the NPCs. Reflects can help with this, but the Tendril has ver few tells before it launches said volley. The best way to keep the NPC safe is to draw the Tendril’s aggro onto you (or your pet) so it fires the poison volley at dodge-capable you rather than the “I tank everything!” NPC.

You also want to get down to the river ASAP to save the Caravan Guard. The Thrasher does a lot of damage and the Guard will stupidly chase the Thrasher around through its poison trails. CC the Thrasher as much as you can with Fears, knockdowns, pulls, anything.

The third NPC up in the tower is pretty safe, so after rescuing the two at the base (you may be able to kill the Tendril, one of the roots, and then leave Braham/Rox behind to mop up the last one) head over to the Caravan Guard. The other NPCs have long “Adrenaline Rush” durations and are usually in no danger.

Crossplay.2067:

The one problem with this is money. Buying one permanent tool for each character gives more money to Anet. Having all characters only needing one of each between them is a considerable loss of profit. I too would love to have every toon share permanent gathering tools but it’s just not a logical move for the company to make.

Basically this. While I’d love to be able to get a refund for my multiple tools, ANet got $150 (for 5 sets of the three tools) out of me as opposed to just $30, so why would they change what’s working?

I did it on a Ranger. Having an innate +25% speed boost, a pet that draws instant aggro from enemies, Healing Spring for condition removal and regen on the NPCs, and a 1500 range Longbow to start attacking enemies from a long way away all helped.

As does Southsun Cove. But as I said, it counts towards Krytan kills. :P Dry Top being part of Maguuma makes more sense than Southsun Cove being part of Kryta.

Yeah, once the patch hits, unless Protect Me is buffed, I’m dropping it for Signet of Stone. Lightning Reflexes and Signet of the Hunt/Signet of Renewal will continue to be my other 2 utilities.

Mmm, so the key to this bug occurring seems to be that the hammer bearer is in combat when they die? (Just trying to narrow down scenarios for the QA staff who review this.) A couple of weeks ago we got Cliffside, and the hammer bearer fell and died. A wipe reset the hammer normally, but we weren’t in combat at the time. (He fell right before reaching the arm seals.)

Yeah. Logically I know that would almost certainly never happen, but it was a fun theory. XD

Sword for Mesmer is the same as Sword for Thief; it’s our only cleave weapon, which is why just about every player carries it, either as their primary weapon or as a backup.

Personally I use Scepter/Pistol most of the time, but I will swap to Sword for dungeons and certain Fractals.

^ Exactly this. Remember that the LFG tool actually fills rather quickly. It might be possible for a new group to form, get filled and disappear before your browser actually updates. I’ve never really had trouble forming or joining “all welcome” PUGs for dungeons or Fractals unless I’m playing at really quiet hours.

Let the elitists play how they want, and form your own groups to play how you want.

I think someone actually espoused the theory that, by going into Omadd’s machine, WE have become corrupted by Mordremoth. This whole idea of getting all the leaders into one place so we can discuss what to do? It’s what Mordremoth is TELLING us to do, so that he can launch an attack against the Pale Tree and kill all the Tyrian leaders at once.

The true warrior respects his opponent, and feels no need to flaunt his superiority at the vanquished. He is also troubled not by taunts or barbs from others, for are they but merely words?

How about this:

Since everybody wants to be on the winning team, resulting in them simply going back to Spectator mode if they get autobalanced, we increase the benefits of being the person that gets autobalanced. They currently already get the winning team bonus, but what if we DOUBLED the reward for being autobalanced? (1000 rank points for a win if you’re autobalanced, as opposed to 500 if you’re not.) That would basically negate any real desire to switch teams back after getting autobalanced, unless they were absolutely focused on getting a real win (as opposed to just a “win” as far as the achievements are concerned.)

I don’t think it’s good value either, but therein lies your solution. Since we feel it is not a good bargain, don’t buy it. ANet will take note of the low number of sales, and either adjust the price appropriately for future items, or fill it with more appealing goods.

Omar Aschi Popp.7496:

I need to know what that scribbled child’s drawing of what I think are a human and charr being friends is.

That was a reward way back during Flame and Frost. It gave 5000 karma for “eating” it. :P

Many of us roleplayers decided to keep it permanently as a memento instead of using it.

FenrirSlakt.3692:

Obtena.7952:

FenrirSlakt.3692:

Certain someone is making me want to bash my head against a wall until either one of them breaks.

Don’t stop on account of that … PLEASE ;P

Kinda off-topic, but pick one:

• Democrat.
• Republican.

I won’t go any further or deeper into this. I’d just like to know it for reasons.

Not American, but Democrat.

Yes, it should be obvious to anyone who’s played the game for a while that ANet wants us to do the dungeons in a certain way. They don’t like skips for instance, as evidenced by the fact that they fixed certain “jumping puzzle” paths in some dungeons. They just can’t be too draconian about it without driving off a lot of dungeon players, so you won’t see things like “locked gates that won’t open until all previous enemies are slain”.

Nah, with Megaservers there’s no server-specific maps anymore. If ANet doesn’t release a hotfix patch, then our only hope is to wait for the map to overflow and spawn new instances (probably when Jormag is up), then head in to try and get into a new instance.

Not to mention that it’s a mockery of an exchange rate. Given the rarity of the Fossils, do you REALLY think that they’re worth only 3 greens? When you know that, based on player comments, players will likely pay anywhere from 50 silver to 1 gold+ for each?

Well, I just got stuck in my LS completion last night due to the Breaking the Ice meta-event in Frostgorge Sound getting bugged. There weren’t enough people on to spawn a second map copy either. I really hope this gets fixed soon. I don’t want to have to wait till the weekend to finish Dragon’s Reach.

The “trembling” effect was nice, but it was kinda ruined by the fact that Taimi’s still smiling. :P

Crovax.7854:

Sariel V.7024:

Crovax.7854:

Zaxares.5419:

Maybe it’s still “ultra-challenging” to the majority of the player base? It’s mostly casuals that make up the GW playerbase, you know.

Since when does ‘casual’ mean ‘bad’?

Apparently since you expected it, as he didn’t say it.

Zaxares.5419:

Maybe it’s still “ultra-challenging” to the majority of the player base? It’s mostly casuals that make up the GW playerbase, you know.

I bolded the part, that implies casuals find achievements, that are trivial at best to someone using common sense hard (‘ultra challenging’), so you have an easier time understanding

Or, looking at it from the other direction, maybe it just means that you’re much better than the average player and you should feel proud about your skill?

Yeah. One would think that Southsun would be part of its own region, like “Sea of Sorrows”. But instead, it’s in Kryta…

I still think it would have made more sense to have Dry Top be part of Maguuma rather than the Maguuma Wastes. Maguuma and Ascalon are the only two regions that do not have level 80 maps.

It was bugged again tonight on NA servers. Defend Coiled Watch was stuck at 9/10, but no more enemies are spawning. The 3 Boomyaks are ready to go at the crossing too, which makes me think that the game thinks the event is done, even though it’s not.

I’d like to see more racial themed finishers. We have the Golem and Megalaser for Asura, the Thorned, Toxic and (sorta) Ley Line for Sylvari, and the Ascalon Leader, Storm Wizard and Sanctified for Humans, but very few finishers are in theme for Norn or Charr characters.

Running orbs can actually be the fastest way to gain points depending on your build. While stealth, teleports and Swiftness all don’t work when you’re carrying the orb, gap closers and innate +25% speed boosts DO.

I can run an orb from the start to one of the side points within 10 or so seconds on my Ranger and Warrior, then make it back down to the start point to do it all again within another 4 seconds. Unimpeded, I can win a match within a few minutes doing nothing but running orbs if the rest of my team + the enemy team are busy fighting over the far/mid point.

Of course, if everybody else is having a slugfest at the orb location, then it’s much smarter to go off and cap the points while they’re fighting. It all comes down to the match’s individual circumstances.

There’s both good and bad points to getting rid of specific roles. On the plus side, it means no more waiting for hours in a map yelling “LF 1 Healer to go!” On the bad side, it also means that the classes all start to blur into each other, and the intricacies of game balance mean that one or more classes will eventually become superior to the others, leading to “tiers” that, while fine in fighting games, are really out of place in an MMO or RPG because it promotes classism.

It also creates a sense of uniformity that can make it harder for players who favour certain playstyles to stand out. It’s one of the worst mistakes that D&D 4E made, in my opinion. All the classes basically were self-sufficient, which also meant that everybody were basically the same character, just with different flavorings thrown on top.

They might have meant it as “we are a map that is trying to get to T4/5”, and trying to get more people in to accomplish that. It could be described better, but I don’t think these people are lying maliciously to get people into the “wrong maps”.

It’s compounded by the fact that sometimes the people you taxi in just want to go use up their geodes and end up not helping the map to get to T4/5, resulting in wasted map capacity.

Yeah. Against retaliation, slow but hard-hitting weapons like Hammer, or light damage, condi-based weapons shine.

And of course, being a Veteran, CC the sap out of that sucker.

After the Pale Tree’s (not so surprising) revelation that it is indeed her that is protecting the Sylvari from Mordremoth’s influence, I really do think that Aerin was referring to her when he was talking about a leader falling, and the rest falling into line.

I don’t think he’s more powerful than the other Dragons. Mordremoth’s actions so far have been consistent with the initial devastation caused by each of the Elder Dragons when they awoke. I liken it more to, say, a bear’s initial ravenous hunger after waking from hibernation. Mordremoth needs a big meal of magic and he needs it NOW, hence him going after the waypoints and magical artifacts.

Like Primordus, Mordremoth seems to have largely created his own army instead of corrupting existing creatures, although the Sylvari seem to be an exception. I still think that my theory that the Mordrem (along with the Sylvari and the race of the Pale Tree) were ancient minions bred by Mordremoth eons ago to serve him, but being living creatures, they were able to keep on reproducing and growing even when he was asleep, leading to the possibility of them developing free will without the direct corruption of Mordremoth.

I’m still waiting for those Paper Bag helmet skins. :P

You’re going along the right path. It’s almost exactly the same thing I’m doing. (Except that I’m advancing 5 characters at the same time.) If you intend on doing crafting, I strongly recommend storing up any crafting materials you get like cloth scraps. You never know if you’ll need them down the line.

Long-term, crafting is the only reliable way to acquire Ascended weapons and armor. If you enjoy having the highest tier of gear in a game, then this is something you should start saving for now. However, it is perfectly possible to get by with Exotic gear; since Ascended gear is extremely expensive compared to Exotic stuff, only go for it as a long-term goal.

Join my casual PUG Fractals. I play whatever Fractal we get as the first one, whether it’s Swamp, Aquatic, Ascalon or Uncategorized.

I found the start of their reconciliation to be quite endearing. They’re not immediately getting all huggy and “all is forgiven!”, which is right, but it’s nice to see them building bridges after all these years.

I do appreciate the attempt to tie in existing Open World content into the Living Story. As CureForLiving says, it was a nice way to get us to revisit old maps and areas. What I didn’t like was how many of the events ended up being bugged or scaled completely out of whack. (Seriously, that Gravelash has WAY too many hit points for an Elite mob. These days I only bother fighting him if he spawns as a Veteran.)

… Seriously? They’re the most chatty NPCs in the whole of the map. XD They were sitting next to Prosperity Waypoint during Gates of Maguuma. They’re currently now at the centaur camp waypoint. 2 humans and a hylek. Go check them out.

I think the achievement difficulties are just right. Some are easy, some are tricky, and some are tricky if you don’t have the right build/skill set. For example, the JP achievements in Gates of Maguuma. I did it on my 2nd attempt after learning the route to get up there, but my poor girlfriend just could not get up there on her own and needed me to portal her up there.

Then, in Entanglement, I first attempted the Fort Salma boss on my Mesmer. She excels in single target fighting, but she struggled with trying to protect the Bone Minions, killing the Wolves AND damaging the boss all at the same time. (Curse the Mesmer’s lack of an innate speed boost!) My girlfriend, however, breezed through the fight on her Ranger. (We both did it solo.)

There is always room to grow and improve your skills when attempting achievements. But, if you absolutely cannot get them due to your own limitations, join up with a group. The LS2 achievements are usually much easier when you have others to help.

EDIT: I do, however, strongly agree with the OP about getting rid of the nonsense about achievements being locked until your character has done them once before. At the very least, once unlocked, the achievements should be unlocked account wide for all your characters. Forcing each character to do the story before they have a shot at attempting the achievements is pointless busywork and hampers the player’s ability to try different characters and builds.

Yes. It’s weird how Dry Top doesn’t count towards Maguuma Killer despite being in the Maguuma region.

Southsun Cove counts towards Krytan Killer. Labyrinthine Cliffs also counts towards Maguuma Killer. Strangely, Dry Top does not, which means that it either counts towards its own distinct region we haven’t discovered yet, or it counts towards some weird region like Ascalon/Shiverpeaks/Orr.

The other day I had the most hilarious kill where I got downed on a point, used Mesmer downed skill 2 and landed right on the far edge of a portal. For some reason the Warrior who downed me ran over to stomp me, standing right on the breakable floor, which promptly broke and sent him falling to his death before he could finish stomping me.

I’m guessing he must have been new to Skyhammer. XD

My Norn Ranger chose the Priory, for RP reasons. She’s always been a bit of a loner (a bit of a traumatic past), and the thought of having a job where she could travel to distant, unexplored lands, far away from other people, really appealed to her.

Also factor in some extra gold to get your various crafting disciplines up to 500.

I’d also recommend GW2. Despite the increases in complexity of late, I feel that GW2 is still a lot easier to get into than WoW is. GW2’s community is, on the whole, much more friendly and safe than most MMO’s, although if this is her first MMO, I’d still monitor her activity for a few months and teach her safe online behaviour.

If after 3 or 4 months, she’s still really into the game, then consider purchasing an account for her own and let her join you on your adventures.

You have to use a bit of mental fudging with this, because the capabilities of Norn in a lore sense doesn’t match with what you see in-game. Norn are supposed to have superhuman strength. Like, bend steel bars into a pretzel strong, if not stronger. They are also supposed to become even stronger when changing into Bear form. With that kind of advantage, a trained Norn Warrior should be more than a match for any singular opponent they face, unless they were the absolute top pugilists of their kind.

You won’t see any of this in-game, of course, because game balance dictates that an Asura Warrior must have the same offensive capability as a Norn Warrior. But in a lore fashion, that Asura, unless he was using something like a Power Suit, would have no chance of ever matching a Norn in hand-to-hand combat.

With Charr in JP’s, your feet position are always centered on your hind legs. When starting to do JP’s on Charr, I used to get tricked out all the time by the way Charr “stretch out” mid-jump. After I learned to use my hind legs as my anchor point, doing JP’s becomes much the same as with other races. (Except for tight-camera ones like Troll’s End. Gawd, that was annoying on a max-size Charr.)