Guild Wars 2

I don’t mind at all. The way I see it, the early birds like me got to enjoy our items way before the rest of the players get it. It’s no different than early adopters buying the latest iPhone for a premium price, only for the model to get massive take up 6 months down the track when Apple lowers prices. I still had it and enjoyed for 6 months before anyone else did. That’s essentially what I paid extra for; I had my fun, so now everybody else can have their fun too.

Stability is more or less essential for beating her. I used my Ranger to kill her (RaO ftw!), but you might be able to get away with it by dropping lots of DoTs on Kieldia and doing your best to juggle Tornado and Armor of Earth if you get cornerd by the tornadoes.

I saw a Guardian beat Kieldia last night basically through luck as the tornadoes mostly hung out on the other side of the Arena.

Had 2500 Blade Shards saved up.

Got 25 Greens.

Yay? XD

OK, I ran two races last night. Both times I was present from start to finish, and both times I came first. Both attempts counted towards the Dedicated Sprinter achievement (2/10).

So it seems that you do indeed need to be in the top 3 (based on reported experiences) for it to count, and if you join in late enough (you get the message saying “this is a practice run. No rewards will be given”), you won’t get credit towards the achievement either.

Of course, this means that either the achievement is bugged, or the achievement’s tooltip is wrong. We’ll need more info from ANet as to which is which.

Trickeri.9871:

Here is a good example. I was showing some friends obsidian sanctum for the first time the other day while playing my ranger. I spotted some fool from another server ahead of us and used my longbow knockback to decimate his progress in the puzzle hahaa. Maybe if he’d been more aware of his surroundings he could have popped some stability but players in this game aren’t used to watching their back while doing solo PvE content.

Oh yes, if your suggestion is implemented, then I want the PvP flags to also work in Obsidian Sanctum. (Not in general WvW though.)

Exxxxcellent… Hopefully the day when I can get 10g for selling 100 gems will come soon.

Hopefully this is true. I finally managed to beat her last year after wrestling with the stupid camera, but the Light Up the Darkness achievement eluded me. I’m determined to get it this time around.

One important thing to do when fighting Liadri is to move in small circles around the center of the arena. If you try and fight in the middle or edge of the arena, you will have to burn dodges to escape the shadowfalls, and you WILL die after a while. If you stick to the center, the area between the shadowfalls and the safe spot is quite short and if you have an innate +25% speed boost, that’s still fast enough for you to hobble from zone to zone between shadowfalls. Dodge only if you absolutely cannot make it or if the shadow clones are about to catch you.

^ That. The official wiki itself states that Lion’s Arch is not politically governed by Kryta, nor does it have any official allegiance to Queen Jennah. It can best be compared to Vatican City, which is located in Italy geographically, yet is a functionally independent city-state.

Also, I’m sure others can point to the exact documentation, but the Asura hold exclusive rights to the operation and maintenance of the gates, charging fees for any traffic passing through it. Nothing stops the nations the gates are located in from setting up additional customs and border protection around these gates (and indeed, the Black Citadel shows that the Charr have measures in place in case the gate were to ever be used for a hostile attack), but as far as the Asura are concerned, they just keep the gates running and collect fees. What happens next to travellers as they exit the gate is of no concern to them, and they stay out of it; this neutrality is how they built their gates in every single nation even when Kryta and the Charr were still at war.

OK, so let’s try and narrow this down to give ANet more information to fix this bug. For people who DID manage to get credit, did you:

1. Finish in the top 3 positions?

2. Participate in the race from start to finish (i.e. you didn’t join into a race already in progress)?

3. Anything else you can think of that might cause problems (e.g. back when the bug was still active, you got killed in the Sprint via sigil on-swap effects)?

This is a really well done set, in my opinion. Lots of detail on the weapons, and the particle effects are eye-catching without being excessive about it. A bit tempted to grab the Phoenix Rifle for my Warrior…

maha.7902:

You do poor damage, pull aggro from melee-ers and don’t support your team. No, they shouldn’t be rewarded for being a complete detriment to the party. Bad play should never be rewarded.

In that case, the question that needs to be addressed is “why is ranged play inferior to melee range?” Having a class of players who the game favours mechanically over every other build is a sign of a badly balanced (at best) game, or a broken game (at worse). If there is absolutely no area of the game where melee characters cannot outperform ranged characters, what point is there in even having ranged options? ANet might as well just delete bows/rifles/pistols/staff/scepters and be done with it, the same way they just removed underwater combat from PvP.

Three stacks of torment/bleed a second and hard hitting cleave attacks? Do you even think these ideas through? That’s not discouraging melee, that’s just flat out preventing it, and there’s no need for that at all. All this would do is encourage five warrior groups starting the fight with berserker’s stance melee then just afk pewpewing with longbows until the stance goes off cooldown (if it lasts that long).

Eh, some of the Guild Bounty bosses can do stuff like that. It’s not exactly new.

And I see nothing wrong with having bosses where attempting to use melee is almost impossible. We have bosses that are flat out immune to ranged attacks. Or that going ranged on them will result in the boss using extremely dangerous attacks that could wipe the party. If one side can have it, why not the other?

If this ends up in groups with 5 Warriors using the tactics you mentioned for speed clearing, and you dislike that thought, then don’t join speed clear/PUG groups. The speed-clearers can kill the boss in under 30 seconds, while a PUG may take 3 mins; that’s really no different to what we’re seeing between speed-clear and PUG dungeon groups now.

The fact that (unless unlucky) your team eats all of the attacks and aggro while you just chill in the back and dodge every now and then so you can feel like you’re actually doing something.

And what about bosses where one player needs to be at a distance for mechanical reasons? (e.g. the lever puller in Dredge fractal, or the fan monkey in Uncategorised) Are those players sitting at range not contributing just because they’re using a ranged weapon to deal what damage they can from their spot?

I’ve heard that it may not update unless you come in the top 3 spots for the race. Something you may want to try.

No, Trahearne was the very first Sylvari to be born. I forget where I heard it from, but he was born much earlier than the rest of the Firstborn (13 hours, if I recall correctly).

Lion’s Arch is not officially part of Kryta, however. It is an independent city state. Back during GW1, it was (and it was even the seat of Krytan royalty), but following Zhaitan’s rise and the destruction of the old Lion’s Arch, it was repopulated by people who held no loyalty to Kryta.

Nicholas is right about one thing though. Control of Lion’s Arch is important insofar as it is a central transit hub for trade and travellers. However, the move of the Asura gates to Vigil Keep proves that the Asura can quickly move this hub to a different location if needed. As such, Lion’s Arch itself is mostly irrelevant apart from its role as a port (which is admittedly not a minor thing). If Kryta were to take over Lion’s Arch, I suspect that traders would just move to a new central trading hub (if Krytan taxes on trade proved unfavorable), and that new location would end up being the new “melting pot” city. (I vote for the Labyrinthine Cliffs! )

Well, foo. Hopefully we can get ANet to look at this too. Having the runes that come from salvaged account bound dungeon gear be soulbound is really stupid.

The most recent patch should have fixed it. Shame that it took this long (and another “it affects the Living Story! We must fix it!” situation) to get it done though. >.>

So now that Dungeon Weapons and Armor are account bound instead of soulbound, does anyone know if dungeon runes also became account bound? I’m at work now and can’t check for myself.

Ah. Thanks for the explanation. Luckily it makes no difference for me then. I do have multiple weapon sets, but I’ve structured them in a way so my landbound stacking sigil was always equipped.

Vol.7601:

Sadly I may have overestimated the difficulty of Liadri. With the ferocity changes and introduction of ascended gear, Liadri seems to be much easier now ;/

They apparently also removed the glass ceiling and changed her AoE circles to the new orange ones, making it much easier to spot.

Two more unconfirmed changes are that the orbs pull you much less often and the shadows are slower now (which should give you more time to grab and throw light orbs).

^ That. I’m sorry for your loss, but that’s part and parcel of speculation.

Well, it seems that the mass influx of mats from the Pavilion didn’t eventuate (ANet is silent so far on whether the lack of drops there is a bug or not, but I’m inclined to think it was intended), so I guess anyone who has stockpiles of Fine mats is safe as far as investments are concerned.

^ Basically this. The “balance” part of me is still twiggy about the Watchwork Pick being different to all the other tools, but it likely isn’t in the game in enough numbers to really make a difference on the economy as a whole. As long as ANet doesn’t go back to more power creep for tools, I can let it lie.

So you need a copy of the stacking sigil on an equipped land weapon, and a copy of the stacking sigil on an equipped underwater weapon, in order for stacks to persist from one medium to the other?

I don’t mind. The extra effort I put in to get my skin early is no different from early adopters paying a premium price to get the latest Apple gadget before everyone else. I had my fun with it, and if ANet now wants to make it easier for the masses to get, go right ahead. I see no reason to prevent latecomers from enjoying the same stuff I’ve enjoyed; it doesn’t make a whit of difference to the enjoyment I got out of it.

ANet introduced Champ bags because before, nobody was bothering killing Champions or doing Group Events with Champs because the time and difficulty needed to take one down wasn’t worthwhile in terms of reward.

The problem was that people then twigged onto the idea that on a map with lots of Champions, one could just farm them in a rotation non-stop for lots of rewards and minimal risk (in a zerg). ANet likely don’t mind players killing Champs a few times, but farming the same Champs for hours on end? That was unhealthy.

Personally though, I’d have introduced diminishing returns on Champ kills to encourage players to move on after a few times.

1. The first two times you kill a specific Champ, you get an Exotic Champ bag.

2. The 3rd and 4th time you kill a Champ, you get a scaled Champ loot bag appropriate for the map you’re on. (So in Queensdale, you’d get a white Champ loot bag, while in Sparkfly Fen, you’d get a yellow Champ loot bag.)

3. On 5th and subsequent kills, Champs no longer drop loot.

Good post. I’m not sure that in the larger picture, the problems you’ve laid out will eventuate, however. Here’s why I think so:

1. Yes, the Champ trains were a great source of T5 materials, and they helped inject supply of T6 and Lodestones into the economy as well. However, they also created inflation alongside it by the flat silver they gave out per Champ bag. That meant that an increase in mat supply went right along with greater purchasing power, effectively neutralising the benefit.

In the short term though, the Champ train is likely to just move to another map. Any map with a fairly high concentration of Group Events is likely to have many Champions to kill. So, while we may see a brief spike in material prices, it likely won’t stay high for long.

2. This is a a personal opinion, I must say. Levelling up, I actually thought I gained levels TOO quickly. I frequently outlevelled my gear faster than I could replace it, and I eventually just settled for using whatever dropped for me and only replacing gear if it was 10 levels or more below my current level.

Visiting all the low level maps in turn will give you a LOT of XP. I completed Queensdale/Wayfarer’s/Ashford/Metrica/Caledon before moving on to the next tier of maps, and by the time I was finished, my characters were level 35.

On average, you will gain 1 level for about 1 hour’s worth of play. I feel this is quite fair (and indeed, extremely quick by most MMO standards).

3. This I will agree with you about. I think that nerfing the Champs to Veterans was a bit too much. Making them Elites so that newbies will struggle to beat them alone, and introduce them to teaming up for Group Events, would have been a better move.

That said, not ALL Champions have been affected. The bosses at the end of meta-events such as the assault on Svanir’s Dome are still Champions (although Horace is a notable exception). So it is still possible for players in low-level zones to get experience fighting Champions.

4. Maps with World Bosses won’t really have this problem. Level 80’s will continue to visit starter maps for the Shadow Behemoth, Maw Shaman etc. Plains of Ashford should also still get traffic from players visiting for Ascalonian Catacombs. I often still visit low-level maps to keep my girlfriend company as she levels alts, and I’m sure that many other players do the same for friends and family.

Shhhhhh! We’ll have none of that treasonous talk around here! >.>

Haven’t tried Liadri again so far (still at work ), but some people have reported that Liadri’s actually easier this time around.

1. The glass ceilings are gone, eliminating a lot of the stupid camera issues if you fought Liadri zoomed out.

2. The AoE circles have been changed to the new solid orange models, making it much easier to see where they’re landing.

3. The gravity orbs pull you in much less often now.

4. The shadows are slower in following you around, giving you more time to position yourself or throw light orbs at Liadri. (Which should make Light Up the Darkness easier to obtain.)

I dunno. I kinda like the idea of being the leader of the Biconics. Hopefully this means the next Living Story is more about us, the players, rather than just being a follower for someone else.

…

Well, that’s a disappointment. :/ Ah well. I guess 20 greens is better than nothing.

Well, already got all of these except the Zephyrite Helms and the Station recipes. Depending on prices and how easy/hard they are to grind, I might pick them up.

GW1 and GW2 are two separate games. You can always log back into GW1 and enjoy the extreme rarity of your Mini Panda there.

Well, on the bright side, now that the bug is impacting the Living Story, maybe we’ll finally get this problem addressed.

Why shouldn’t they? If they are contributing to the fight and not afking in a corner, why shouldn’t they be rewarded?

And besides, my post was about introducing more bosses where fighting them in melee is discouraged. Imagine a boss with an aura around them that constantly inflicts three stacks of Bleed/Poison/Torment per second and a heavy hitting melee cleave attack; kiting him and fighting at range would be the safest strategy. Fighting this guy in melee would be tantamount to suicide unless you were ridiculously tanky.

From what I’ve heard, you need to open an average of 50 Black Lion Chests to get 1 full Ticket via Scraps. You could be lucky and get more full tickets from the chests, but do NOT count on this happening. Personally I’ve managed to accumulate 1 full ticket so far just by using keys that dropped for me; I haven’t been keeping track, but it’s definitely within the vicinity of 12 – 15 Black Lion Chests.

If you prefer not to take the risk, then I heartily recommend saving up gold and just buying the skin you want from the TP.

^ That’s actually a myth. Knights were fully capable of running, jumping and fighting on foot in full plate armor. Yes, they did need help to strap on their armor (the same way that ladies in modern dresses sometimes need help from a second party to zip up the back. There’s just some spots you can’t reach by yourself), but the idea that knights needed to be winched into their horses by a crane is untrue. If knights were that heavy, most horses would be too exhausted to carry their riders after 30 mins, tops, as well as putting them at serious risk of permanent injury whenever they went faster than a walk. Who would want to waste a horse every time they went into battle?

@OP: From a certain point of view, we ARE speed-boosted when out of combat. What if our in-combat speed is our DEFAULT speed?

^ Having enemies that attack frequently or more quickly would also make Confusion much more valuable as a condition in PvE. Something that would make my Confusion-specced Mesmer VERY happy.

Fundamentally, I don’t think that stacking is a bad thing either (although see my note below). What I would like to see, however, is more boss design that requires different tactics apart from stacking.

For example, General Zadarosky(sp?) in SE P3 is an excellent example of where stacking is the intended strategy. Having the players spread out means a greater chance of running into each other’s fire fields and taking damage.

On the other hand, what about a boss that has an unblockable lifesteal attack? The more players stack up, the worse it’ll be because you’re just giving the boss much more healing every attack he lands. In that scenario, players MUST spread out if they want to have any hope of beating him.

Bosses with dangerous auras (like Warden #4 for the Marionette battle) also discourage melee/stacking while giving ranged characters a chance to shine.

Stacking isn’t bad, but let ranged characters also have their time in the spotlight.

Note: I DO think that the FGS single spot tactic is an exploit. It’s making the skill do much damage than it would otherwise normally do, which I feel is not what the designers intended.

My goto enemies for Daily Dodger are Wurms (adult ones) and Earth Elementals (the ones that spam the crippling earth skill). Wurm boulders count as two attacks, which add up quickly and are easy to see coming. You can dodge multiple times through the Earth Elemental lines for multiple evades; if you aggro up enough Elementals at once, you can even complete the daily in just 2 dodges!

Also, if Crab Toss is the Daily Activity, that’s a SUPER easy way to get dodges. Just use Skill 3 and dash through the rolling Veteran Karkas for 4 – 5 evades each time.

For Condition Remover, I seek out enemies that inflict multiple stacks at a time. Bears are a really good choice; their maul attack inflicts 4 stacks of Bleeding, and they like to use it as their opening move. Aggro up 5 Bears, then stand still and let them all Maul you at once. “Shake It Off!” and you’re done. XD

Barracudas and Sharks also stack lots of Bleeding if you’re underwater.

Been on TC since Day 1. I stay here for the RP and generally fun PvE atmosphere. The fact that we’re also a strong WvW server is just a bonus.

A nice compromise might be to automatically unlock these skins in your Wardrobe if your account has completed the achievement linked with that item.

Personal request: This should also work with the basic Mad Memoires skin. While it technically isn’t a progression skin, the player HAD to have completed and acquired the basic skin in order to get the Mad Memoires complete skin. It only seems fair to get the basic version unlocked if you have the flaming version.

Interesting idea, and I think it has potential. Final decision is up to ANet, of course.

Kalavier.1097:

I think the mistake is assuming the Charr can’t live without a war.

Well, they kinda do. As a militaristic society, where the most respected and admired members of society are the military, they need an enemy to fight. Currently, these enemies are the Foefire ghosts, the Flame Legion, and the Elder Dragons and their minions.

If/when those enemies are defeated, the Legions will need a new foe to conquer. Of course, it’s also entirely possible that by the time that happens, the Charr as a society will have evolved so they are no longer a strictly militant society, channelling their innate bloodlust and violence into more socially acceptable means of competition such as sports and gladiatorial combat.

Generally warbands are trained for one profession and then remain in that profession their entire lives. In Plains of Ashford, there’s a lone gladium who was assigned to keeping a lake protected and clean as a source of drinking water. Over the years all his warband died, and now he’s the only one left, but he says he’ll continue doing his duty until the day he dies. (He does hope that the Black Citadel sends somebody to replace him so he can die with an easy mind though.)

On the other hand, in Iron Marches there’s an old female Charr in the fishing village who says she and her surviving bandmate moved here to become fishers after her bandmate was injured in a mining accident and could no longer work. They managed to get accepted into a new warband, although the injured bandmate basically can’t do any work at all and is living off the support from her old bandmate.

So it is possible for warbands or gladiums to change roles/industries completely, but I’d say it’s not very common.

Korimor.2406:

@zeivu why not? I’m not ashamed by it. Some may say pve lord and what not. But truth be told I’ve probably on spent about 200 hours in pve content. My highest story mode is only about 55. And my time spent playing the TP only adds up to a couple hours probably, guessing about 15-20.

I think Zeivu meant that advertising that you’re so rich opens you up as a target to hackers, griefers and beggars.

Although personally I don’t think impact will be significant. Only a small minority of the player base visits these forums.

I honestly wouldn’t mind it as long as players can opt out. I think having a PvP and non-PvP version of the same map would run counter to ANet’s goals with the Megaserver though, which is to get as many people onto the same map as possible.

That’s one stinky bank. XD

I wouldn’t jump to conclusions yet. It could refer to many things:

- r500 Jeweler
- Legendary Armor/Trinkets
- Craftable Precursors

But yeah, if ANet introduces a tier even higher than Ascended, that’s where I draw the line too.

Just bring SAB back and make it permanent.

#RebuildLAwithBloodstoneBricks2014

;)