Guild Wars 2

I don’t like the “zerg kills everything before I can get to it!” effect, but that’s attributable to the initial rush of interest whenever new content comes out. It’s nice to see existing content get woven into the current LS, but I do agree that having broken/bugged events are inexcusable. The only saving grace of these bugs is that sometimes they draw attention to events or content that have been bugged for ages (e.g. the Slaying potions making you take MORE damage rather than less), resulting in them finally getting fixed.

Taken from the short story “What Scarlet Saw”:

“Professor Omadd, Headmaster Emeritus of the College of Synergetics, anxiously twisted his ear as he waited for the sylvari woman to wake. She had been thrashing violently in the isolation module for days now, crying out random syllables and howling in…pain? Ecstasy? Omadd wasn’t sure. Even a genius of his caliber could only guess what was happening inside that leafy green head.”

Now, I’ll grant that this “isolation module” may not necessarily have been the mind-opening machine itself, but the later paragraphs do suggest that it is the same machine.

I’m baffled at the logic that running while trailing a parachute-like kite behind you somehow makes you run FASTER. XD

As the others have said, there’s two main reasons why you’d want to buy one of the unlimited tools:

1. Convenience. Once you have one, you never have to bother about replacing the tool ever again, or (if you’re a real penny pincher) switching out different tools of different tiers when you go between maps. The hassle this saves you can be immeasurable.

2. Aesthetics. Some of the tools might be “perfect” for your character concept. You might have a CoF armor wearing Charr using fiery weapons and who now has a fiery mining pick to match, for example. This is of a distant secondary concern to me, but it may mean a lot to another player for whom looks are paramount.

Now, that said, there is one anomalous tool called the Watchwork Mining Pick. This one has an approximate 20% chance to give you a Watchwork Sprocket with each mining strike. The Sprockets themselves sell for about 3+ silver (I sold another stack of 250 for 3.5 silver each just last night. Made almost 7.5g from it), and due to my playstyle, I harvest a LOT on any given day. I’ve already earned enough sprockets since the time I bought them to pay for almost 2 Watchwork Picks by now; the characters with these tools are now basically making 3+ silver for me every time they get a Sprocket.

If your playstyle is like mine, the Watchwork Pick can be a real moneymaker, but if you’re not much of a farmer, then you won’t really see much of a profit from it.

The Watchwork Pick also means that there is every possibility that new logging axes or sickles may be released that have additional bonuses too, so you may want to keep that in mind when making the choice to buy one of the existing unlimited tools.

Well, I bought the Zephyrite Rescue Pack for the 15 keys to try my luck. No Permanent Hair Stylist, alas, but I did at least get 6 Ticket Scraps and a Black Lion Salvage Kit, along with a new Rare red dye, so I guess it wasn’t too bad a return.

Supported. The Home Instances should all be equal.

Getting all those NPCs to fit in the Dreamer’s Terrace might be tricky though…

Good find, Mork. I don’t need Crests anymore, but that’s a good tip for any new players who might be after those stats.

I mainly just raised this issue as a matter of consistency with the other Crests. If Opal Orbs do the exact same thing as Crests of the Assassin, maybe they could be retired from the game.

All a matter of taste, I guess. I personally find lots of the armor and weapon skins to be very visually appealing, and most of them are not even super-expensive skins.

Well, I bought the Zephyrite Rescue Pack for the 15 keys to try my luck. No Permanent Hair Stylist, alas, but I did at least get 6 Ticket Scraps and a Black Lion Salvage Kit, along with a new Rare red dye, so I guess it wasn’t too bad a return.

This is why I never use the grey market. Too much risk of getting scammed. If you want to be 100% safe, stick to the TP. Even if that person was genuine with his inability to afford the TP tax to sell his Precursor, tell them to just knuckle down and earn the gold to sell it. (It’s not like the Precursor is going to get cheaper, after all, judging by price trends. :P)

I’d definitely send a report to Support with screenshots and proof. That way, the scammer will at least get banned. You won’t get your money back, but at least justice will be done.

Heh, I love the Human Female Guardian shouts. She sounds like she actually puts emotion into them. “Save yourselves!” is a good example. The Human Male equivalent is like a “Meh, save yourselves. I’m going home to get drunk.”

I’m not sure if the Mysterious Vine is enough to make my Sylvari give up her Fervis Censer, but the purple aura on the backpiece should match Nightmare weapons really well, so I’m eager to have it for that reason alone.

I actually think you guys are on the right track. A lot of ANet’s updates have had the secondary goal of trying to get players interested in different game modes, such as the Fractured update, or Taimi getting stranded in the Edge of the Mists. I wouldn’t be surprised if subsequent LS chapters have us trying to rescue Rytlock after he was pulled into the Mists, going via Dessa’s lab, or maybe even showing up in WvW.

Have Rytlock’s Critter Rampage on-screen as a playable mini-game while you wait.

It’s a very mutable situation. Hard to give a correct answer since it depends a lot on the individual circumstances.

For example, say I see somebody downed and I’m running over to help. Is the downed person attacking an enemy that’s almost dead? In that case, it’s best to kill that enemy so the downed guy instantly rallies. No time needed on ressing them.

Is the situation the same but the downed person is almost dead and the enemy still has enough health that you don’t think you can kill them in 1 – 2 seconds? Then you’d better res the downed guy first since it’s likely the enemy will kill them before you can kill the enemy.

Dead people should generally be left dead unless the fight (usually with a Champ) is well in hand by other players and you’ve already done enough damage to get credit. Then, if the dead person is in a safe enough spot, you can get them up.

And of course, sometimes you’ll just be in a situation where it’s not safe for you to res someone that’s dead or downed. It’s better to have one person dead and one alive than two people downed.

While I think the amounts might need some tweaking, I like the general idea behind this (especially the alternate use for Gifts of Battle!), so I’d support this.

Hmm, I’d have to play the fractal again then, since I don’t recall hearing any particular music after killing the Anomaly. Usually everybody just grabs their loot from the chest and hits “Ready”. :P

Did you really expect ANet to rework most of the Hearts, events, NPC dialogue, ambient dialogue and the Ascalonian Catacombs dungeon? O.o Not to mention it would feel extremely weird to a new Charr player who just came out of the catacombs fighting Barradin’s ghost and suddenly everybody’s talking about how ghosts were put to rest years ago.

The best we could have hoped for was that the attempt to break the Foefire curse only freed SOME of the ghosts, removing/replacing certain Hearts or events.

ShinjoNaomi.1896:

Remember the uproar and hyperbole that was thrown up here in the forums when the Watchwork Pick was released and some people started throwing tantrums, saying how badly it ‘devalued’ the Molten Pick they had bought, when in reality, it didn’t give any real advantage?

Depends on how you use it. Personally I’ve already harvested enough Sprockets to pay for 1.5 Watchwork Picks. That first pick is giving me pure profit from here on out.

It’s also new Living Story Day today. I dare say a lot of players are off doing that instead of PvP or WvW.

Kirby.9138:

*Fun fact: Everyone on your team is a “noob” when you’re losing.

Likewise, everyone on the winning team is a jerk using overpowered builds like Hambow.*

Pure truth.

Luckily I haven’t bought the Zephyrite Rescue Pack yet. I’m going to try my luck tonight.

If I didn’t already have a mule parked in Divinity’s Reach to mine my HI nodes, I’d actually have bought it. As it is, I think I’ll just continue to go to WvW Borderlands for all my crafting/banking needs when I’m out in the field.

The Monkey Tonic is already in, so chances are the chests have indeed been updated. It’s just very, very, VERY rare.

I’m actually going to buy the Zephyrite Rescue Pack tonight to try my luck with this. XD

Definitely a nice QoL update. Thanks ANet.

If it’s going to be account bound, then I’d like the Precursors to be bumped up to Ascended stats and you can choose what stats it will have. I don’t really like any of the current Legendaries (save for Kudzu and Kraitkin, but I don’t use them because they don’t suit the aesthetics I have chosen for my Ranger and spellcasters), so if I got an account bound Precursor, there’s really no point in me having one.

They are used in crafting the new Mysterious Vine backpiece.

Pretty cool design and animations, but… he’s basically out of place in the world. >.> It’d be like getting a Commando tonic.

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.

Yeah, I’m going to buy the Zephyrite Rescue Pack just to try my luck. It was already an almost decent deal. The chance to get a Permanent Hair Stylist contract is the icing on the cake.

Although, in future I think I’m going to hoard up my Black Lion keys until special bonuses get added to the chests.

Is it this one?

Hmm, that’s a good point. They might indeed be separate instances, but I feel they’re not, due to the fact that a bug meant you could still complete the cannon/steam ogre achievements for the Ley Line Hub on a new character even though it hadn’t completed the story version first.

Could someone tell me what are the new stat spreads for the Temple armor? I’m presuming they still use the same rune sets on the appropriate armors too.

Ahh, so it’s Rytlock. I still haven’t done the new story yet, but looking at the achievements I knew instantly that a male was going to die/disappear. Given our limited cast, it was either going to be Rytlock or Braham.

I’m sure that he’ll be fine though. He’s Rytlock! He’s probably just gone to kick down some poor kid’s door and tell him to buy a SAB Entertainment System.

Yeah, I saw Rox in some weird Spanish guild when I was doing the On Swift Wings achievement earlier. XD Amusing bug, but I hope ANet fixes it soon.

Anybody else tickled pink from the “Clay Bricks” crafting material? XD After all these years, FINALLY those Clay Bricks have shown up and have a use!

Well, it’s a start. I think the Fossils are more valuable than 3 masterwork bags, but at least players who don’t want the Ambrite weapons can do SOMETHING with them now.

They still need to implement a way for players with terrible RNG luck to get them though, by maybe trading a large amount of Geodes for them, or by making it a possible drop from killing the Legendary Sand Giant. (Which would increase motivation to kill him. He’s mostly ignored in a lot of maps that I’ve been in.)

Yeah, there’s nothing saying ANet has to update the old kites to also give the speed buff.

That said, it would be a really nice gesture and a great way to build player goodwill if they did.

It worked for me. Here’s what I did:

1. After you finish securing Concordia, pick your ally and then head to the markers on your map, ending up at Magister Lindsey’s cave. (You can ignore all the mobs along the way.)

2. Kill the mobs inside the cave and talk to Lindsey. It doesn’t matter if the NPCs in here die. (Don’t think they CAN die, anyway. They just go into a 0 health dazed state like Rox and Braham.)

3. Once the quest updates, exit the cave and head back south to the tower. There will be 3 NPCs here to save, 2 on the ground and 1 up in the Tower. If they’re under attack by mobs, kill them all (kill the Tendril first, since it’s poison volley does a TON of damage), then talk to the NPCs and order them to retreat. They must be out of combat for them to retreat.

4. Head SE to a Caravan Guard being attacked in the water by a Mordrem Thrasher. This guy is the toughest one to save since the Thrasher does a TON of damage and the stupid guard likes to follow the Thrasher around and take damage/Torment from running through the poison trails. If you’re quick enough with Step 3, you’ll arrive here while the Guard still has his Adrenaline Rush buff and rescuing him will be easy.

5. Head N to find Crusader Brice. He may be under attack by vines, but his Adrenaline Rush buff lasts fairly long and he should be in no danger when you reach him.

6. Head SW to find two more Priory NPCs in front of the Grawl Cave entrance. (Note that this is NOT the same cave Lindsey was in.) These guys are usually under attack by a single Mordrem Wolf when you arrive, but between the two of them they are at no risk of dying. Help them kill the Wolf and talk to them to finish the achievement.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT go up to Goldenlight Hallow if you are trying for “On Swift Wings”. The achievement is instantly invalidated once you head to the final location. You must rescue all the NPCs before heading there.

Now, what Bloodstealer is reporting sounds like a completely different bug. Are you sure you haven’t already completed the achievement? (Check the Entanglement category.) If it’s not complete, but the “eligible to get achievement” buff isn’t showing up, that sounds like a completely separate bug that should be reported.

Well, the rewards for the achievements and the rewards for completing the story are separate anyway. That argument would make sense if you could complete the achievement each and every time a new character did it, but that would be breaking the reward framework.

Note that the rewards for completing the story steps are mostly intended to replace the loot the enemies would have dropped as part of the story. (That’s why you can still get junk items like Spikes or Globby Goop from them.)

I’m not opposed to a Living Story reward track, but ONLY if PvE players can also get PvP/WvW-exclusive stuff like the Balthazar backpiece, Tribal armor skin, and Mistforged weapons purely through PvE.

(Really though, I would support multiple ways of access. I like giving players multiple avenues to achieving what they want.)

Totally agree with the OP. I could maybe accept the achievements being locked until the first time you complete it, but make it account-wide at least. Having to do the story on a specific character before that character can attempt to complete the achievements is a real pain in the rear.

Every single PC gets that same line.

But yeah, if I was Rox and Co. and they just heard my Sylvari spout that when she got out of the machine, I’d be pretty dang worried too.

I got the achievement just fine. Here’s what I did:

1. After you finish securing Concordia, pick your ally and then head to the markers on your map, ending up at Magister Lindsey’s cave. (You can ignore all the mobs along the way.)

2. Kill the mobs inside the cave and talk to Lindsey. It doesn’t matter if the NPCs in here die. (Don’t think they CAN die, anyway. They just go into a 0 health dazed state like Rox and Braham.)

3. Once the quest updates, exit the cave and head back south to the tower. There will be 3 NPCs here to save, 2 on the ground and 1 up in the Tower. If they’re under attack by mobs, kill them all (kill the Tendril first, since it’s poison volley does a TON of damage), then talk to the NPCs and order them to retreat. They must be out of combat for them to retreat.

4. Head SE to a Caravan Guard being attacked in the water by a Mordrem Thrasher. This guy is the toughest one to save since the Thrasher does a TON of damage and the stupid guard likes to follow the Thrasher around and take damage/Torment from running through the poison trails. If you’re quick enough with Step 3, you’ll arrive here while the Guard still has his Adrenaline Rush buff and rescuing him will be easy.

5. Head N to find Crusader Brice. He may be under attack by vines, but his Adrenaline Rush buff lasts fairly long and he should be in no problem when you reach him.

6. Head SW to find two more Priory NPCs in front of the Grawl Cave entrance. (Note that this is NOT the same cave Lindsey was in.) These guys are usually under attack by a single Mordrem Wolf when you arrive, but between the two of them they are in no risk of dying. Help them kill the Wolf and talk to them to finish the achievement.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT go up to Goldenlight Hallow if you are trying for “On Swift Wings”. The achievement is instantly invalidated once you head to the final location. You must rescue all the NPCs before heading there.

It was in response to Xill’s post.

Alas, no. I tried looking around for Strikka too, but there’s no sign of her anywhere. It seems poor Kritkri is alone now.

I’m reminded of this social experiment that was once carried out where a world famous violinist busked in front of a subway station for half a day. His total takings? Something like $30. Yet this same violinist would play at a concert hall two days later, where people would pay hundreds of dollars per ticket.

Barely anybody on the street recognised the musician, or grasped the depth of his talent. Yet odds are some of those same people might have gone to his concert and paid large sums of money to hear the same music they couldn’t even appreciate when they got it for free.

Is that a sign of how the unwashed masses can’t appreciate good art, or that good artistic skill is actually overvalued? I’ll let you decide.

Vol has it right. Technically, yes, it’s against the rules, and if ANet wanted an excuse to ban someone, they could use that.

In reality though? Unless the macro music players somehow start breaking the game or exploiting it somehow, they probably won’t see any action taken against them.

It’s like how the rules state that you, and only you, can play on your account. Yet we all know that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of accounts out there where players have let friends, kids and significant others share their account. Banning all of those accounts is not only unfeasible, but counter-productive. (Of course, if something goes wrong with those accounts, ANet is going to throw up their hands and go, “Hey, this is exactly why we advise against account sharing!”)

Still no word so far. Given that Dragon Bash seems to not be occurring this year, I’m thinking it’s probably the 2nd Year Birthday mini.