Guild Wars 2

7/10
I really like the menacing glow look you have going on at night, but I don’t like the armor set as much. Here’s mine:

Oh I really hope they fix this…I was planning on getting the Selfless on my Asura Elementalist because she would look adorable with it…but if it’s THAT unnoticeable…nyehhh.

Anet please fix this!

Rainbow Sprint.3215:

So I have a theory on Scarlet that I’m not sure if anyone else has thought this. I havent gone though all 15 pages of this thread and though i’ve seen it, i’ve never really followed it, but here I go. Scarlet isnt a bad guy.

After gathering a large army, including a disposable force she can easily replace (Twisted minions), Scarlet starts drilling in LA for a dragon resting below the city possibly Primordus, in a fight against Primordus not only would a army made up of 5 different races and a force of disposable minions be useful, but the flame legion who are a mastery of controlling fire and the dredge with a knowledge of the underground. As well as Scarlet having her own personal brigade of airships to fight a dragon.

The same could be said about the krait with a knowledge of the sea if Scarlet wanted to also take on the deep sea dragon. The sylvari with the immunity to a dragons corruption would be useful for most dragons except Primordious who isn’t known for corrupting living beings anyway.

This theory has been stated before, both with Primordus and Mordremoth, but there are a few problems. We KNOW for a fact from this current patch that she is drilling under LA for an intersection of leylines, not a dragon. The other problem with this is why does she need to go murdering everything? Why not just collaborate with the other races to fight the dragons? There’s no point in killing everyone if your goal is to save them. There’s just a lot of weak points on that theory. If she is doing it because “no one will believe her” or something along those lines then it is a weak argument.

As patches keep coming it just seems less and less likely its a dragon. In all honesty, I’m starting to think she’s going for a Thaumanova Reactor incident version 2. Just like at Thaumanova, there is an intersection of leylines. She might try to use chaos/dragon magic right this time and…do something? Scarlet said that the Inquest mixed the magics wrongly at Thaumanova, not that they couldn’t be mixed. Perhaps she is going to create a stronger magical being that was the final boss of Thaumanova?

Jeez, this thread again?

Ok, here’s my perspective: I don’t like Ascended gear. I dislike how expensive it is and how it isn’t gained through new content but rather the same content just with different icons for materials. However….

I dislike games that FORCE vertical progression on me. You DO NOT need Ascended to play content in this game. Yes, it does make you more efficient, and if you are that crazy on numbers, fine; leave the game because of it. But I don’t care about those numbers. I don’t need Ascended armor to run dungeons. I don’t need it to go into WvW. I don’t need it at all. I can play the game and still enjoy it without Ascended.

Really, I think people over exaggerate too much on this topic. Does the introduction of a 5-15% damage effectiveness really suddenly make the game completely un-enjoyable in everything you do in the game? Everything becomes un-enjoyable just because of numbers and text and you quit because of it? Someone shed light on that question please…

To be precise, i’m not talking about Abaddon controlling her. I understand that he is gone for good. What i’m talking about controlling her is something that chased the God’s out from where they came from. That, or something extremely powerful from the mists/universe. So to be clear, my theory on the Abaddon fractal was that we would learn something relating to the universe/mists-most likely the entity that is controlling her. So far i’m right on the drilling of leylines, then again so are many other theories.

There is a reason why dyes are bound per character.

If they were account wide, the value of each dye would eventually, as the game progresses, go down. It would basically make dyes non-valuable and worthless because once a person gets it, they have no incentive to buy it again. Meaning as time goes on, less and less players start buying the dyes. As a result their markets just crash and end up being worth next to nothing. Sure, everyone can buy the dyes whenever they want and only once, but if someone gets an abyssal dye in this system instead of freaking out and getting really happy they kinda just go “meh” and might sell it for the much lower price it would be at currently. If it were character bound, they might go “oooh time to make a profit!” or “I’m gonna use this on my alt”.

There would be no distinguishing between people who spent money or time playing the game earning dyes, as a new player could easily acquire all of them. It’s a short-term happiness but long-term negative consequences.

Of course, this system also makes Anet lose more money. This doesn’t suddenly make them an evil corporation whose sole purpose for this game is to monetize it. There are reasons why things are put in place, often than not more than one reason. Dyes ATM are a sort of vanity thing, where if you get a rare one it makes you feel relieved or nice that you have such a nice/expensive dye. Sure, I don’t like paying 20g for a certain color, but it makes me feel worth it since I will enjoy it.

EDIT: I’m talking about the original 400. I honestly believe that the new ones should just come in packs that are guaranteed to come with them. RNG isn’t fun on the gem store.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I see a big flaw in this theory, and that’s with the probes. You see, some of the probes are self destructing. If their purpose was not to locate something, but to redirect leylines, then why place them somewhere, and then self destruct them?

Also, remember that the one probe in Lion’s Arch turned green. Why did it turn green? Why didn’t any of the others turn green?

It could be that she simply didn’t want people to re-direct the flow of leylines after she had done so. That or so that no one started researching her probes and trying to gain information from them.

Also, I believe the one in Lion’s arch turned green to indicate that it was done connecting/redirecting the leylines. She may be establishing more so a channel rather than pooling it into one area. It may be that Lion’s Arch is beneath a greater amount of leylines and where she decided to choose her spot using probes to connect other leylines; somewhat like a river perhaps. Although I do see what you mean, with my theory it is quite odd.

Miss Sugarific.8471:

I’m sure you hit the nail on the head here and there. But there are some things unanswered. I’ll throw a random one out there… Scarlet’s red thorn vine.

Where did it come from? She didn’t have the creeping vines before she entered Omadd’s machine. In What Scarlet Saw she observed the Pale Tree and saw a red vine snaking around the pale tree and squeezing the life out of it. Then, she WAS the vine itself.

Now that can mean a few things, but to me that screams mind control. Whatever peered back at her and is speaking in her head perhaps unlocked a part of her mind (DNA?) that perhaps all sylvari’s have…

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

It’s more than just a part of her mind. She literally grew poisonous thorns, and then proceeded to strangle Omadd with them. Since when can Sylvari do this? Was she given special powers by the entity she met?

I’m pretty sure Sylvari have been able to do this since…forever. If you look at the Sylvari cultural skills, they are able to sprout seeds that then grow into plants to heal people, use vines to entangle foes, and can even root themselves in the ground. I’m just pretty sure they were never used or mentioned like how they were in Scarlet’s story. Perhaps the entity also did something to her. After all, Sylvari who join the Nightmare Court do show changes in appearance.

As for her being the red vine, I think it’s just an analogy of her being the fruit from the tree of knowledge (the Pale Tree), yet said knowledge kills the tree that grew it.

Kalarchis.8635:

At the time this comment was made, hardly anyone was suggesting that she was under the thrall of an elder dragon. Those theories have become increasingly popular in the intervening time b/c of additional info released in the LS. If you look at it now and forget when that dev comment was made then it’s easy to reach the conclusion you did.

Look, this is a game about defeating elder dragons. Plain and simple; just look at the logo. It’s well past time to get on with the next major story arc for the game and that means a new elder dragon. And a dragon makes plenty of sense. What makes you think Scarlet is disobedient? The line about “You’ve been taken credit for everything I’ve done…but I wasn’t doing it for you, I was doing it for me…get out of my head” suggests exactly the opposite. She may think she’s her own master, but everything she’s doing is playing exactly into the plans of her controller. And she’s going for a leyline, armed with expanded knowledge (from Thaumanova) on how to do something huge involving dragon energies and a leyline. Something like waking up a dragon. And there’s a big dragon painted on top of her lair, one that shares visual similarities with the concept art of the jungle dragon.

I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but anyone that thinks it’s not an elder dragon at this point is just deluding themselves.

See the thing is that the theory of Mordremoth has its flaws too. There are more than one Trees that grow Sylvari (one you meet in the personal story instance for Sylvari) who don’t have The Dream and aren’t evil. So how come they aren’t corrupted by Mordremoth? If Mordremoth is attempting to wake, why doesn’t he just do so? Why does he need a champion to wake? Why does he need one champion and not multiple? After all, it has been confirmed that there are other Trees without the dream who create Sylvari, so why does he not use them? Dragon’s feed on magic, so why does he need Scarlet to feed on the ley lines? If he is beneath Lions Arch why does he need the city to be destroyed to wake? Zhaitan lifted a whole country when he woke and Kralkatorrik rose from the ground and Jormag rose from mountains, so why can’t Mordremoth break open a city when he rises? Or is he just extremely weak for some reason? If she is trying to kill him, why does she need Ley lines? We killed Zhaitan with cannons and the 2 button, so why does she need magical ley lines. She already has enough fire power.

I realize mine has flaws too, like the dragon on Scarlet’s Lair (although I do believe that is just meant to either throw people off or to imply she is going to use dragon magic).

There are just as many flaws in that theory as there are in mine. They are theories after all. Saying that it is “obvious” that this theory is correct and anyone who disagrees is delusional is an insult, especially since it hasn’t even been confirmed. If the Mordremoth theory is right, come back and call me delusional all you want, but there’s no point in calling me so before it has even been confirmed, you’re just trying to pick fights.

Also, the Primordus theories surfaced before the Dev announcment and people were relating Sylvari to Mordremoth long before Scarlet even came into the picture.

As the Scarlet arc has gone by i’ve been enjoying it more and more. Anet is really starting to get good with the living story (Tower, Marionette, and Edge of the mists were all good imo). I still dislike the Scarlet storyline in general but I’ve been coming to like it more due to the higher amounts of storytelling. I just wish they had done that from the start.

That being said…If the “change the face of Tyria forever” is ONLY the destruction of Lion’s Arch, i’m going to be very disappointed as I would be expecting something much more.

webtoehobbit.4201:

Basically what Vorpp said was that the machine didn’t expand her mind per se, but rather looked into her mind, and opened doors that were closed, and that whatever she saw or encountered in the “Eternal Alchemy” was brought in by her own mind. And that whatever contacted her had been carefully walled off in her mind, as if to protect her from it.

So it comes down to this I suppose, either all Sylvari have this piece of their mind from exiting the Dream that is walled off for their own protection, or something possessed Scarlet and…. carefully walled itself off?

This was another part that I forgot to explain because I was tired and it was already an essay of an theory. We don’t know much about the Dream, but since it is similar to the mists perhaps it is connected to the universe, and therefore every Sylvari is also connected to the universe in more than one sense. So perhaps the creature didn’t come from her mind, but rather had always just existed.

Think of the Dream like a big room with two doors. You open one door and enter the room and there is a bunch of cool and unique things in the room to keep you entertained (The Dream itself). Then, all the way across the room is a door that says: “Do not enter” and is signed by the Pale Tree (she doesn’t want you to go into it because she says its a no-no). If you decide to open the “Do not enter” door well…you get whatever is on the other side. What’s strange is that the Pale Tree knows things that others don’t about the universe (she warns Scarlet not to go further). So maybe the Pale Tree warned Scarlet not to go any further because she knew what would happen-she would encounter something she shouldn’t have.

Still open to discussion around my whacky theory =P.

Why I don’t think its Elder dragons

The main reason for this is that it doesn’t make much sense. Why would an elder dragon choose a lieutenant that is disobedient and extremely risky? It doesn’t make sense to me. Why not just gather a whole army, rather than one lieutenant like Primordus, Zhaitan, and other Elder dragons? I also don’t believe that she is attempting to free her people from Mordremoth. This is because Scarlet’s actual goals are very selfish. She simply doesn’t want to have the Dream looming over her head and having someone control her (another reason why I don’t believe in the dragon theories-even if she may “believe” she is in control) and so she wants to get rid of the Pale tree.

Remember, Scarlet is fascinated by complex ecosystems and how they must evolve to survive, so Scarlet wants to change the ecosystem (aka Tyria) and be free of the Pale Tree and show off to everyone that she can and will do well on her own. This is also why in the instance in Dead End bar during the audio recording, Scarlet emphasizes that she is doing this for her not the entity.

Well that’s my whacky theory -essay done-. It is obviously very heavily based around the Cutthroat politics update, mainly because I feel that something didn’t add up there, and so Anet may have been doing something sneaky in the background. Feel free to discuss the theory, I know it has flaws, but then again, so do the other ones.
Only time will tell who is right =)

Now I know what you are thinking: “But Scarlet doesn’t have anything to do with Abaddon! That would be lore breaking!”. Ah, but the Devs announced that the Fall of Abaddon wouldn’t have anything to do with his defeat in GW1. It would be his original fall (meaning how he turned evil or why he turned evil) and when he attacked the other Gods. It also, doesn’t necessarily have to relate to Scarlet either.

At this point it has been confirmed that Scarlet saw “something” and she talks to it in her head (whether its her lunatic side-split-personality, we don’t know) but many have perceived this to be the Elder Dragons. What if it is something different though? We know from lore in the previous game and in this one that the Six Gods fled from their old home. From what, we don’t know exactly. But I stumbled upon something interesting in this wiki page: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Orrian_History_Scrolls

Of particular interest are the volumes of The Six. The two important volumes are namely the one about Abaddon and Lyssa. It describes Lyssa as “While the other gods focused on building Arah and beginning a new future, Lyssa gave them joy and helped them forget the past.” From that sentence, one would think the “them” refers to humanity. However, the subject in that sentence is the other gods. Meaning, something terrible happened in their past and Lyssa, using her magic of illusion, helped them (or perhaps forced them) to forget.

The other volume of interest is Abaddon. It mentions him as the God of Secrets. What secrets exactly? Perhaps the secrets of the God’s pasts? This is only reinforced by the following quote: “Among them was Abaddon—once secret-keeper, now betrayer. How you have fallen from the glorious days of old. What passed beyond in the Mists, only you remember”. Keep in mind this wouldn’t be when he was in the Realm of Torment, as the other five would have remembered this, they were the ones who imprisoned him. So the question is as follows then: What did the Six run away from and why does Abaddon know it?

Perhaps then, that would have been the piece of information we could have gotten from the Fall of Abaddon fractal if it was going to be made, that there is something else out there that is just as strong, if not stronger than the Six. So what does this have to do with Scarlet? Well, if you tie this back together with Scarlet, Scarlet went into Omadds machine and went beyond the mists and into the universe itself. The Pale Tree warned her not to do this, as she would unleash the forces that shape us. It may not have been necessarily talking about how Mordremoth shaped the Pale Tree/Sylvari, after all, the universe is before her, not the Dream. So, maybe, in Omadd’s device Scarlet made contact with something other worldly. In her journal she describes it as containing “so much power” and it could be an Elder Dragon, but my bets are on the other worldly being.
So, what is she trying to do then? Well, I will firstly say that I do not think the probes are for locating Ley lines and that the green probe in LA has detected a strong current of them. Why? Well…Marjory and Kasmeer have made it clear that Scarlet wanted to get a seat on the council with Mai Trin. However, there is a contradiction. If Scarlet needed the probes to locate the Ley lines, how did she know a large current would be located in Lion’s Arch prior to having the probes? It just doesn’t make sense. If however we say that she already knew where the ley lines were from studying them at Thaumanova Reactor, it would make more sense that the probes are not locating ley lines, but redirecting or connecting them. I believe she is setting up a channel and flowing a bunch of Magic beneath Lion’s Arch. Then, using the giant drill she has made, she will drill a hole into the center of LA. Notice how when the Marionette comes down from the (drill?) machine, it is longer than the machine itself. So, it is most likely a portal that Scarlet made (she does have access to that technology after all). I believe the top of the drill will be a portal and once the hole has been complete, she will flip the switch and absorb all the different types of magical energy there and fuse them to make a portal in reality that will open the way for this entity to come to the world. Maybe the entity was what we saw at the Thaumanova reactor, just a weaker version. Keep in mind, she said mixing dragon and chaos magic was tricky, not that it was impossible, so perhaps from Thaumanova she knows what to do.

Then, once the entity drastically changes the world she will use her loyal watch work machines to help her rule what is left of it.

This is my personal theory on what Scarlet saw and what she is trying to do. I won’t go into every little detail of everything she has done, as when I originally drafted that it was a really long paper. So i’ll just go over my general idea and you can basically connect the dots from there.

Two things sprung up this theory: Firstly, the Devs announced that only one in every 10-20 thousand people have gotten the ending right. Yet there are two current popular theories about Scarlet being a dragon minion of Primordius/Mordermoth. So, I concluded, that these can’t be right theories since they are so popular, so I decided to formulate my own. The second is the release of cutthroat politics update. So here we go…

The Hypothesis
My current hypothesis is that Scarlet is attempting to summon an being just as powerful as the Six Gods if not more powerful. How you ask? Well, here’s where I came up with this. In the Cutthroat politics update Anet promised the playerbase that whichever NPC won, a fractal would be built. Kiel would be Thaumanova Fractal and Evon would be the Fall of Abaddon Fractal. Obviously, Kiel won and they made the Thaumanova Fractal. Many were shocked/appalled when Anet had Scarlet involved in it and then started to make conspiracy theories that the elections are skewed and that Kiel would have won no matter what. What does this have to do with my theory you may ask? Well, keep reading.

These conspirator theories struck me as odd. If Anet really intended on only releasing the Thaumanova Fractal, why bother making a competition and alienating parts of the player-base? It just didn’t seem like a smart move to me. Something else struck out at me: Let us assume that Evon won the election and the Fall of Abaddon fractal was made (assuming that Anet was true about what they meant). This would mean we would have never figured out Scarlet’s involvement in Thaumanova and about Ley lines. Meaning part of the LS plot would have been cut out. That is when an idea struck me: What if both of those fractals contributed to Scarlet’s story? What if Anet simply wanted to decide what the player base would get indirectly as a result of their choices?

You do realize that the color takes into account where you are right? Colors don’t just remain bright under shade and different materials show color in a different way. The armor isn’t mysteriously changing color because it’s “bad” its changing color based on how metals and the color white act under light source. It would look terrible if the colors never changed, regardless where you stood.

Yargesh.4965:

Zelkovan.2630:

The thing with GW2 is though, the game is dependent on DEs to level up. In other games, you don’t need other players to level you up, as questing is a solo experience. In GW2 you need to do hearts/DEs to level up normally or quickly. That is where the problem comes in, as most DEs don’t get done or are hard to do solo and as a result the leveling process is slowed.

I just leveled a warrior to 80 last week it took in total a month of casual play. Did not use crafting except to get a daily. Only needed 40% total map completion. Never had a problem with map completion when I actually bothered completing a map. It is not an issue unless an individual player makes it an isssue.

To be fair, it depends on what class you level or what maps you choose. I had no problem getting my guardian to 80 (was a breeze actually) but I had significant trouble with my mesmer because they are fairly weak until they can put 30 points into traits b/c they are trait dependent. Also, i’m not complaining that it’s an issue, it just looks bad for new players and can make them discouraged to play.

It’s not the champ trains that cause dead maps guys (maps were dead long before they even started). It’s just a common problem in any MMO. After a few months/years of release date, the population gets split. There are many at high level who don’t need to level anymore, and the rest are the ones leveling up (and the others who left the game). Go into any MMO that has been released for a year+ and go to any mid-level zone and it will be dead or very empty. Take the WoW for example. If you go to a level 40-50 zone, it’s probably empty. However it may not look empty because chances are you will see players gathered around inns because of hearthstones/quests/flight paths, whereas in GW2 they will be spread about the map; it’s still the same problem.

The thing with GW2 is though, the game is dependent on DEs to level up. In other games, you don’t need other players to level you up, as questing is a solo experience. In GW2 you need to do hearts/DEs to level up normally or quickly. That is where the problem comes in, as most DEs don’t get done or are hard to do solo and as a result the leveling process is slowed.

So, in general then, who do we blame? No one really. It happens in all games. You can’t do “true scaling” of players to fix this either because theoretically, if loot scaling worked perfectly (e.g. T6 mats drop from all mobs) then no one would leave level 1-15 areas because they can just kill level 5 pigs rather than level 80 or 56 mobs and get what they want faster. Underflow/Districts would be a better solution, but it seems that those won’t be possible. So, unfortunately, you have to deal with empty maps.

Yes, I do actually. The idea of coordinating with a whole army of people and having this massive pack move in a bunch is very enjoyable to me. It’s also pretty fun socializing with people before the event too. If I wanted to play 5-man content all the time, I’d go play League, Diablo, or any other co-op game.

This content isn’t just “zerg bum rush kitten kitten ” content either. My server tried that the first time (we all clumped up) and we lost instantly. The second time we actually communicated beforehand, ran through strategies, and actually managed to get 3 chains before losing. The rewards are pretty nice for failing too. Also, you to all those complaining about waiting, you don’t’ have to wait there all day. Just ask when the last spawn was and come back around that time, or just sit there alt-tabbed and do other stuff while you wait. Not that difficult.

Despite my personal grudge (among others) against Scarlet and how she never really stuck to the me or a big part of the player-base, I will say that the Tower of Nightmares LS story was very well done. The content lasted a while, contained a mix of solo play and group play that was enjoyable to do and could be done in various group sizes, nice rewards, and hints towards Scarlet’s motifs, extremely well done ending cutscene and a permanent change to Kessex hills (both visually and gameplay wise with heart changes and tri-color keys).

Yes, I know, many people were grumpy about this LS story, but kitten it has probably been my favorite so far. Despite all the negative nancies around here (not saying I haven’t been one =P) the Tower of Nightmares was very well done! Can’t wait to see more like it!

It isn’t a problem with the game, it’s just something that happens with MMO’s in general. Go to any level 40-50 wow zone or any mid-level zone in any game and it will be just as empty. It’s because the population is spread out between high levels and low levels, the middle ground are players who are either leveling alts or who just recently got the game.

Problem is there is no solution to it. People suggest making it really rewarding to go to lower level zones; the problem with that is that people will just stay in the 1-15 areas to get all the loot. Why bother going to a level 40 area to do event chains if I can get the same reward (or slightly less reward) from a level 6 event? It’s already happening w/Queensdale.

The only real solution that many (myself included) have suggested is an “underflow” sort of system, where barren maps are merged into more populated ones. Of course that likely won’t happen, but hey, we can dream…

Y’know what’s funny? Months ago the forums were complaining about RNG boxes and saying that they would much rather purchase new armor/weapon skins off the gem store. Lo and behold, Anet does that, and what does the forums start doing? Complaining that the armor skins are in the gem store.

It’s like a baby who wants candy but when she gets the candy she starts crying and wants to give it back.

Anyways, idk about you OP, but I would gladly shell out 10$ to purchase armor if it keeps the game running. It is MUCH better than them being locked away via RNG or having stupid grind amounts to get them.

The main reason why not many people enjoy Scarlet (myself included) is because we know so little about her when she apparently has done so much.

She has created two organizations (Molten Alliance and Aetherblades) but we have NO idea why she did it. Many are also frustrated because it took us months to figure out who formed these organizations-yet we still don’t know why they were created or what their purpose is/was. From the players perspective, she is a character that seemed to pop out of no where and does stuff for giggles. We know very little about her backstory and she doesn’t appear to be such the big threat she is since we thwart her every time and because everything she does is so random (Starts MA, then aetherblades, tries to get Mai on the Captains Council, attacks zephyrites, attacks the Queen in the Queen’s Jubilee). Notice how out of all of what I said in parenthesis right there, only one of them we know why she did it (Queen’s Jubilee-she wanted to prove humans weren’t “all that”).

To add further insult to injury, she seems to just ignore the previous lore from Guild Wars. She unites two races that rarely ally with others (which we, once again, still don’t know how or why). She also seems involved in allying the Krait (another xenophobic race) with the Nightmare Court (although this is to be seen-no one knows yet), which if it does, goes against even more lore.

Wanna know what would have been, IMO, a much better way to introduce her as a main villain? Instead of kicking off the LS with Flame and frost, we could have helped Trahearne cleanse Orr in the following months of F&F. In those months we could have been introduced to Mary Sue/Scarlet (who was sane then) who wasn’t really sure what her purpose was and simply went along to see if she could find what she wanted. You become allies as you cleanse Orr w/ Trahearne as the months go by, you learn more about her and her complexion about not wanting to really have someone decide her destiny (her Pale Tree complex). However, during the cleansing, she slowly over time gets corrupted (without you knowing-the story gives slight hints at these things from her dialogue). Then, perhaps, she saves you from a hoard of undead in a final push to cleanse Orr-making you think she dies or alternitavely you cleanse Orr in one final battle and she leaves.

THEN the LS kicks off with MA and all the stuff we have had so far. Imagine what our reactions would be when we discover Mary Sue, who we befriended in the cleansing of Orr, suddenly turns up all crazy and behind all the recent events? How the reason why she went nuts is perhaps Mordremoth or some of Orr’s corruption rubbed off on her, causing her complex about the Pale tree to go to a whole new extreme? IDK about you guys, but that would be a complete twist on my emotions and I would probably care a lot more than I do now.

In general, its not that we dislike her personality/characters, it’s just she was kind of shoved in our faces for no rhyme or reason, from what it appears to be simply for the fact of “plot”. I know devs said that in the few coming months we will learn about her, but it shouldn’t take 5-7 months to do so =/.
Sorry for the long post btw, I got carried away =P

Is…quite random actually. I thought Scarlet would be interesting of a character and we would finally figure out why in the hell she made the molten alliance, aetherblades, and everything else up to this point.

Instead we are still left hanging without answers to these and instead of being a cynnical villain with some mild sort of reason behind what she’s doing, she just seems like your typical baddy who just does stuff for the sole apparent reason of being “evil”.

Or is there lore I missed somewhere? All I know is that she basically saw “everything”, went coo-coo and then started making alliances and steam-punk machines for….what exactly? I feel like we’re fighting something that is “supposed” to be super evil and we need to stop it, but Scarlet doesn’t make me feel like that at all. Instead I feel like i’m fighting against a small little child who accidentally snapped a part of her cerebral cortex and is just doing things for the lels.

So…is there any lore i’m missing or did i hit the gist of it?

Much applause to OP, but I can almost guarantee that Anet won’t tie this into the Living World/Story. Isn’t to say I wouldn’t mind being COMPLETELY wrong, since you know, we actually want nicely driven stories but…

What Anet seems to do is introduce lore of characters/factions that is are very interesting and instead of expanding on that they either remove it or don’t’ ever mention it ever again (e.g. the Zephyrites and how many thought the “secret” they were guarding was Glint’s offspring)

So far the invasions have been superb. The amount of coordination that is needed and the rewards being vast and nice make it an amazing addition to the living story.

But…Will this have an impact on the actual world? Meaning, will there be NPCS and events that stick around, maybe perhaps reminding us of this event or events that are still trying to deal with the problem? Or will it be like F&F where everything disappears as if it never happened?

I ask this because while this addition of the living story is great so far, it will be very disappointing if nothing is left after and makes it seem like it didn’t have any impression on the world.

Gmr Leon.1846:

When the fun fades away, it’s time to take a break and play something else. “I don’t want to!” Well, you’re making things unnecessarily difficult on yourself, like me not going after optimal gear, farming mobs or doing renown hearts (the ones I’ve finished have been mostly incidental except for a few cases), quitting my personal story before level cap, exploring areas I was too low level for, and trying to fight in WvW without being at the level cap. I don’t complain about any of the inconveniences I encounter throughout this (much) because I know it’s all my own choice, and that I’ve made things take much longer and be much harder because I decided I didn’t want to do some things.

The people farming and grinding away at some of this stuff just need to own up to the fact that they’re making it all even more tedious than it needs to be by trying to be efficient and repeating the same silly stuff over and over again. Most of the stuff they’re after isn’t going to just disappear from the game overnight, there’s no need to get it right now, so just play off and on whenever you feel like it and do whatever. The game doesn’t need to reward you with anything other than enjoyment and fun, it doesn’t need to give you a sense of purpose for your fun. When you cease to experience those, and feel like your fun needs purpose, it’s really just time to step back for a little while.

The purpose of fun is fun. There is no need to repurpose it. No need to excuse it. Simply experience it while it lasts, and seek another source when it diminishes.

“If our society seems more nihilistic than that of previous eras, perhaps this is simply a sign of our maturity as a sentient species. As our collective consciousness expands beyond a crucial point, we are at last ready to accept life’s fundamental truth: that life’s only purpose is life itself.”-Chairman Sheng-ji Yang of the Human Hive.

I think you mis-interpreted my post and brought up the argument that most people use: If you’re not enjoying it then don’t play, otherwise you’re a grinder/farmer and ruining the game and/or making life hard for yourself.

To clarify, I still play the game and still enjoy it (alt-aholic here), but when people say “only play for fun” I kind of don’t agree. What I meant in my previous post and in this post, is that while playing for fun is indeed a merit of itself, you have to understand that MMO’s are repetitive by nature. They have to be. An MMO is different from a single player RPG, like Skyrim. MMO’s need playerbases to thrive and something to keep them playing. In GW1, it was all the vast amount of skills you had to unlock.

I mean, if the game is all about the fun and experience, why do we have armor types? Why do we have classes and leveling? To hell with it I say! We must explore the world and enjoy it in our underwear because it is enjoyable to stare at scenery and repeat events over and over! When people say “play for fun. Don’t grind/farm do whatever bro” (or something along those lines) you’re essentially saying: Play this way, because any other way shouldn’t be the way the game is played.

People enjoy working for a task, because it makes them feel like what they did was meaningful. That’s why very little people play sPvP, or why many complain WvW is lacking, because there is little rewards that actually make it feel meaningful, that make us say “Wow, I want to do that again because not only did I enjoy myself I got cool shinies too!”. Rather than, “Wow I enjoyed myself, but i didn’t get anything…I guess i’ll play this one or two more times for the fun of it and drop it when I get bored”.

It’s a little hard to explain my point without going into very big detail, unfortunately.

People keep saying that a majority of players only play for the “shinies” and never play for the fun aspect and that is what is “killing” this game.

It’s not that players don’t enjoy doing fun things, it’s that they want to FEEL like what they are doing is going to be rewarding. As said earlier in this thread, Mass Effect 3 was AMAZING, but then the endings were terrible and made it feel like all you did was for naught. Things become repetitive after a while and lose their fun factor. Sure I can run a dungeon, or explore a zone, or do a event chain. But after people experience these things, the “fun” factor diminishes the more they are replayed because they already know what’s going to happen and what they are getting themselves into.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy doing fun things, it’s that we want to feel like the fun things we are doing actually have a purpose instead of just doing it for the “fun” factor which eventually will fade away.

That is a light armor set that is called Acolyte. It is the exotic version, as there is a similar set that shares the same name. So you can’t get it on your gaurdian.

Well, If they were account bound, there would be multiple problems. Would all the hearts/vistas/waypoints/POI be completed on every single character, therefore making it much harder to level? Would Waypoints/POI/Vistas only count, not making it map completion and also reducing the amount of exp you can earn significantly (as all that would be left would be hearts)?

What if you wanted more than 2 gifts of exploration? How would we go about getting those?

It’s too many problems that can cause flaws or complications. Honestly, it’s fine the way it is. Plus for every alt I level I wouldn’t mind the exotic or two from 70+ map completion.

How to get: 100 globs of ectoplasm + 2k Achievement points per armor piece.

I seriously hope it’s not like that…

So pre-patch i was running a conditionmancer build of 0/30/20/20. Now with the recent patch and the strong conditions we can place by going 30/30/10, is this stronger?

I know I lose out on survive ability by losing the toughness/vitally but is this strong or viable for just general PvE (dungeons, etc). Just need some thoughts and opinions.

Basically what the OP said…Progression is certainly one of the core things that keeps people playing MMO’s, but since there is a lack of a gear treadmill that switches to reward, which is currently non-existent.

Why bother killing champions when i’m going to be rewarded with a blue or green equipment? I can trim the Shatterer’s toenails and I’ll get something better.

I don’t mind if Anet sells the armor in pieces. Hell I don’t care if they sell it in sets. What is ridiculous about this topic is that the OP is complaining about an armor set and that he can’t buy certain pieces. Even so, the minimum quantity of gems you can buy is 800, so assuming you just wanted gloves and they were sold for say, 200 gems, you would still be paying 10 dollars except you would be getting only gloves. I understand what he wants and what he means, but to complain about it is just stupid.

It’s like a 5 year old complaining at his mom that he wants the buzz-light year wings from one toy in a toy store, but he doesn’t like the rest of the toy so he wants to only buy the wings but because they sell the toy as a whole, he is upset and doesn’t want to get it.

Seriously? First you guys cry about RNG boxes and how you want armor sets/weapons on the gemstore. Then when they finally deliver them you complain that you only want a piece?

What’s next, you’re going to complain that you can’t buy gems in quantities of 50?

Erasculio.2914:

Switch the idea around, though. Keep Defiant exactly as it is. Add an ability that players HAVE to interrupt, or they fail the encounter. What’s the result? Players are forced to take control abilities, and they also need some team coordination to use the interrupts at the proper time.

The example above is extreme, but the idea behind it is true. The issue isn’t with Defiant; it’s how boss encounters are badly designed so interrupting the bosses is irrelevant. The same applies to common enemy encounters – common enemies don’t have Defiant, but no one bothers to use control abilities since it’s faster and easier to just kill them.

There are actually quite a few bosses that contain 1-shot abilities that can completely kill a player in 2 shots. The most extreme that comes to mind for me is Arah path 3, the first boss. The problem is, you cannot interrupt the ability because of Defiant, so if anyone gets immobilized by the hunter, they are good as dead, which further proves my point as to why DPS is king, because if you can kill the boss quickly you won’t have to worry about being 2 shotted.

I do agree though that boss encounters need to be a little more dynamic in attacks/combat.

Neb.4170

Content that is designed to be ‘doable’ by full teams of DPS will always make full DPS teams the meta. Full DPS teams will always achieve faster results, thus most people will gravitate towards them.

Until Anet changes this design philosophy, this isn’t going to change.

Honestly the design philosophy of not needing a healer/tank in a dungeon should stay that way. What Anet needs to work on is the pros and con’s of going a full DPS comp. For example, they should be very vulnerable to bosses and should watch out for Bosses/mobs unleashing a chain of combos of abilities or ganging up on one person. The pro would be that if they do manage to get off their abilities they can put a world of hurt onto bosses and mobs.

This however needs to be improved with boss AI (as they will need to learn to not just auto attack) and also needs to just make the boss more flexible rather than just taking 100b to the face every time. It isn’t that Full DPS is overpowered, it’s that the mobs don’t bother to dodge or move out of it, likewise they don’t really try to interrupt people when they use all of their abilities.

If the mobs/bosses worked like that, Players would actually need to coordinate their attacks and help one another, rather than just walk into a dungeon and just AA or use the occasional hard-hitting ability.

This topic is mainly to debate and discuss about people’s attitudes towards the current state of the game (PvE wise). So keep it clean guys~

In GW2, there exists a trinity of control, support, and DPS. Currently, both control and support are near useless while DPS reigns king. This is due mainly to poor mob AI and bosses containing the Defiant/Unshakable buffs. Because of this, control mechanics (knockdowns, stuns, fears, etc) are virtually useless as a target can ignore it. There is a purpose to this, however, as it is to make sure control does not become too powerful (knocking bosses down over and over again) however because this buff is so strong, control is currently under-powered and not even close to being up to par.

Likewise, support is also lacking in that it is most often not worthwhile to pursue due to heal scaling being somewhat lackluster and boon duration also being quite lackluster.

As a result, DPS in this game is the strongest and has little risk associated with it. Sure, you are less tanky and more squishier, but using the dodge mechanic a player can easily keep themselves alive (a group managed to kill lupi in 40 seconds…that really shouldn’t be possible). Because support and control are most of the time useless and due to mob’s not bothering to dodge any abilities DPS is the strongest role to go as it contains more strengths than weaknesses. Period.

What do you all think of the current PvE meta? What would you do to improve it and what would you like to see? Me personally, I think Defiant/unshakable needs to be reworked so that control is actually useful in dungeons, while buffing support gear/abilities. Currently the game is way too favorable towards DPS builds in that they can very easily do everything with little risk and just completely tear through mobs.

Like the title says, once Dragon Bash is over will Coffers still retain the Jade weapon tickets and will the npc still be around to obtain them?

Fully agree with the OP. The fact that control is useless in boss fights can be VERY hindering to complex and nice game play. That and the fact that condition builds are also useless when compared to damage makes the dungeons and PvE in the game even more of “I NEED MORE DMGS!”.

Yeah, I’m not too sure why Anet does that. They say they don’t mind farmers, then they nerf farming spots.

Unfortunately the forums is anti-farmers and labels them as the devil’s spawn-who burn down and destroy MMO’s, so you won’t get any sympathy. They’ll just tell you to play their way by walking around doing what they consider good for the game, regardless if you enjoy it or not. Honestly people, farming isn’t bad in a game.

So i’ve decided to get a lidless eye…now my question is does anyone know farming spots/good ways to get giant eye’s?

Apparently they are EXTREMELY rare to find which is kind of a downer because farming events over and over for the silver and then buying off the TP seems much less rewarding than actually getting the materials yourself. But if i have to resort to that…so be it…but yeah, anyone know where i can farm these?

Narcemus.1348:

My only problem with this idea is playing with friend. Back when the game first started everyone was in dozens of overflows because of the fact that everyone playing the game was doing so in 1 of 5 starter zones. For that first month or so it was terrible trying to play together with your friends and all get into the same overflow together or to decide to join the regular server or not. In the end I like the way it is currently with servers. I agree I hate the lack of players, but I do not personally think this is the way to do it.

While there were issues like these, they were later addressed and is now not a problem (since all you can do is just right click on your friend and join the instance). If that didn’t work, you could always just switch overflows via the menu if A-net added it.

Gustoril.4195

I think I will sum this up and simply say that Guildwars 2 is a screwed up when it comes to this problem, because they released a vertical leveling system in a game that’s apparently meant to be horizontal.
So of course lower level zones are going to be empty when there’s higher level zones suited for high levels, also the loot system is connected to this, why farm ore or blood in the low level zones (Which is designed for low levels), when your recipe for crafting requires ore or blood from a high level zone / creature?
Arenanet wanted to make this game so unique and yet, they have used the generic design for this. Someone clearly didn’t think it through.

This is typical for any game and isn’t so much vertical progression but lack of better rewards. Realistically speaking, if you got T6 mat drops from level 1-15 zones, the opposite would happen. People would abandon higher level areas as they have now found an lower level area in which they can easily face-stomp and receive the same amount of high quality items items.

killcannon.2576

snip

While this is indeed the issue I could counter-argue that your issue is simply a solution. The reason is because players will always seek the best way to make money, regardless of how boring/repetitive it is (cof 1 is an perfect example). Which is indeed, one of the problems but it isn’t a community/design problem-that is just human nature. The problem with your approach is that: A) A-net doesn’t seem to enjoy getting nice rewards/money from events as they have nerfed many events in the past (plix/shelters for example). B) If downscaled worked perfectly and you got level 80 drops at 1-15 zones (I would assume that would count with the difficulty too because harder content doesn’t make people more likely to go to other zones), the higher level zones would become empty (even more so the upper level zones) and now there are much more people in lower level zones (1-15 as 15+ wouldn’t be worth it) as they are now killing everything that twitches. C) It is much effort that will take months/years to make the entire world and maps with meta chains worth it with a chest at the end.

So while yes, reward vs risk is a problem, but unfortunately the solution you suggested is unlikely to happen. Yes, the overflow system is also unlikely but it has a higher chance of making it as it already exists within the game.

chucky.4798

And there are lots of problems and background works:
- Home server, on overflow u don’t see WvW, and do buffs work correctly on overflow?
- Guild system, that is a big problem now, the guild is half-serverbound half-global, that is not good. They should be transformed into a fully global. If players play, the guild got the influence, doesn’t metter where are they playing: which home server, which overflow.
- Erasing borders, not necessary Guesting.
- Everything global (materials, chests, etc) should not get an advantage by switch between overflows.
- Party transport UI play together

Not sure if WvW buffs work on overflow and yes the WvW would be a problem. Once again though, if you just join your server’s version of the map and it wouldn’t be a problem and if it’s full you can queue for it. I wouldn’t see how materials get an advantage over switching overflows as switching from low population areas to high population areas doesn’t make people want to farm/kill more stuff. Care to evaluate?

I do see the point with chests, but the loot from chests is usually/mainly comprised of equipment relative to that level area (keep in mind the daily bonus chest is bound to per account, meaning if you do Shatterer once, even if you kill it again in a different overflow you won’t get the bonus chest).

Keep the feedback/support coming!

Now then, for the issues that many may argue or bring up I will resolve them here:

What if i like playing alone and don’t enjoy other people helping me? Well, A-net could add a little box in the upper-right hand corner that has a drop down menu. From this menu you can select different overflows to choose from and you can join any of those overflows. It can even sort them from high population to low population (this would also help with lower-end PC’s).

Let’s say my friends and I get into separate overflows, then what? Well, keep in mind you can right click them and select join overflow. Even if that doesn’t work, you could always use the drop-down menu suggested above and choose an overflow of that particular map.

What about my server? I think of it as my community. Well, to be fair, I don’t find servers my community but rather my guild. I mean heck, you can guest to other realms, people in other realms can be in the same guild as you, and they can even join your dungeon! Then again, this is also subjective to the person and what they believe is their community. Overall i think it wouldn’t be too bad, since you get to see more faces rather than the occasional 1-3 you see on one map.

What about Guild missions? Well, assuming you can now easily jump from overflow to overflow, it would make large guilds have more people joining for guild events (as those who are limited to guesting can still aid them). What if the overflow gets full of players then of said guild and other guild mates can’t join? Well, keep in mind, this system already exists (if there are too many players in one map they get put in an overflow) its just that the threshold for players is high enough to support many players in one map should that ever happen.

What about high-population places like Lions Arch? Would there be multiple overflows? No, not necessarily. A-Net could make it so that cities have VERY high population overflows-meaning there can be a bunch of people in one overflow. Or, they could not have any overflows for Cities, making them the “true” area of your server.

If every map is an overflow, what about WvW? Won’t servers have no meaning? This wasn’t really an issue in the early months of the game (when there were many overflows) as people easily identified who they were. Either way, A-net could always make it so that you are put in a queue the second you enter the map to be put into your server’s version of that map (like they currently have it set up, but instead set it so that you always enter an overflow for default instead of the other way around).

What about world bosses? Won’t those be a pain to keep track of? Well, not if the system was done this way: Let’s assume every map has 1 overflow for each server and is named after it (e.g. Crystal Desert Blazeridge Steppes Overflow-this would be the title of the overflow). Boss tracking would work the same, you go onto your timers and just select your server. It would also make it easier for people to actually be able to attend these world events. For example, let’s say Bob is a busy working man. Bob can only play 1 hour a day and gets home at 8 p.m. When he gets home, he notices all the world bosses just recently died 10 minutes ago. With the current system, he wouldn’t be able to get to do those bosses. However, if with the overflow system he merely finds an overflow in which the boss will spawn soon, he can simply warp to said overflow and do it. This gives busy players more opportunities to do daily bosses.

Why not just use an underflow system? Well, there are a couple of problems. The basic concept of underflow is that if a zone meets a too low of a threshold of players, it is merged into an overflow. The first question would be when does the threshold of too low players get reached? The second would be what would happen to players already in the zone? Would they get warped and teleported (perhaps not getting to finish the event they were doing?). Overall it is too complicated compared to the already current overflow system.

Post your opinions and thoughts below and I will do my best to respond and debate with you and if you agree, +1 this thread!

NOTE: Warning! Walls of text ahead! This was pieced together after long days of thinking and from other points made in other suggestions. Please keep this thread constructive on the topic! If you disagree with these suggestions then please explain why in a polite manner! If you agree +1 this post! Thank you!

Some Background/The Problem:
So there has been a problem that has started to slowly creep up on Guild Wars 2. The issue is a slight issue that upon first glance isn’t too menacing, but can really downgrade the game and if scrutinized can seriously hamper the game’s progress to becoming better. The problem is empty lower level zones. So first of all, I need to give some reference here to help explain the problem. Yes, i will mention WoW (gasp!) not because it is “the best” but because that is the only other MMO I’ve played extensively.

After the GW2 hype had died down and all the one timers, rage quitters, everyone else, and the general population hit 80 and spread out, lower level zones (20-70) became emptier. This is normal in any MMO (even in WoW it is very common to find a mid level zone just completely empty of people except for the occasional few). So no, the game isn’t dying because of empty zones but rather this is a typical issue in MMO’s. So what’s the problem you might ask?

Well when someone compares many of the typical quest-hub genre’s of MMO’s and Guild Wars 2 you notice something different. Guild Wars 2 quest system is structured differently and is more about cooperation and others helping you via hearts and dynamic events, while as in quest-hub games you are relatively independent and can do most of the quests by yourself with no trouble. Here is where the problem starts to occur. In games like WoW you can easily level up from level 1 to max level all by yourself. This is easy, as quests are centered around your character alone, meaning you don’t need the help of someone else. GW2 is different. GW2 promotes and rewards cooperation between players in hearts and events. During the early months of the game, I flew to level 80 in a breeze because of how the game works. You work on hearts and other players will come along to aid you, then if you are lucky an event will spawn nearby and then you and your rag-tag team of players would finish the event and it’s possible chain-leveling up considerably. It was quite enjoyable.

However, because most zones are empty with only a few (1-5) players spread across ONE map, the leveling is extremely hindered. Since cooperation and help with dynamic events speed up the leveling, when no one is helping you the leveling is slowed down tremendously. I’ve had multiple occasions on alts where it can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to complete one event because no one comes around to help (even if i point it out in map chat). Or I simply can’t do the event because it is too difficult to handle by myself. One could say to ask your guild mates for help, while I have done so it still doesn’t address the issue at hand (either way, why would my guild mates come to help me when there will be only 2 silver rewards? That won’t even cover their teleporting fee! It’s more like a band-aid rather than a fix to a problem). Other events are simply just left there and are finished once every couple of hours or days if no one comes around. It puts a huge slow-down on the leveling process and makes it much more of a grind than it really is. A side-affect of this is that many events never get to see the light of day, as they are never completed or rarely finished.

The solution: Simple yet effective:
GW2 has a unique system (which I don’t know why they use more often). This is the Overflow system. Basically, when there are too many people in one map on your server you are sent to an overflow- a mish-mash of other people from different servers. You are then put into a queue for your server’s map and can join if you want to when it has room. My question is this: Why don’t we use this system for all the maps? Do away with server based maps and make them overflows. Let each server have multiple overflows for maps. This concept has also been addressed as “underflow” in other suggestions. Let me get a little more in depth here and show an example:

Let’s assume i want to go to Blazeridge Steppes to level up. When I enter the portal, the game could use an algorithm to determine where I end up. It will first check to see if i have any party members in one overflow. If i do-it puts me there. If i don’t it checks to see if i have friends/guild mates. If i do- it puts me in the one with the most and if i don’t meet any of those requirements-it puts me in the highest populated overflow. This ensures that I will always end up on a map with large amounts of people in it. Ta-da! Now whichever zone i go into, i can always expect to see a lot of people in there.

To the people who are arguing on this thread that we are all apparently bad and don’t know how to play necro -cough Jknifer and Somoe cough-, please teach us how to play. Tell us all the specifics of what you do, what gear you run, etc in another thread. Please, do tell. I want to learn to play this class from the pro’s who can call out everyone on this thread to be bad. Please teach me how every spell is supposed to be used and how we are all seeing it wrong.

Don’t have anything to contribute because you don’t feel like it? You sure you don’t wanna tell us? Get out then. You are bringing needless rage and flame into a thread that wants to get attention so that the Necro’s issues are fixed. Why are you guys even complaining in the first place? If you are this good with the class, buffs will help you even more. Some of the stuff you say make me even wonder if you play necro’s, especially when you mention that we have instant teleports. Dark path isn’t an instant gap closer if we need a target and it actually needs to land.

That said, i agree with most of what this thread has talked about. Necro’s on a whole need a serious examination. Unfortunately we were promised love 4 months before the game released, still have yet to seen much love since then.

I really hope they respond to this thread…When i first hit 80 getting loot was so nice and common that i actually enjoyed going around killing things in Orr just for the fun of it. Now to hear that you only get porous bones and a blue occasionally (been only playing lower level alts atm), just makes me sad….If this is the new norm then screw it. I’m not going to waste money JUST so i can make virtual money in a game which will be consumed in seconds.

Well, this would explain why my lower level character’s hardly get anything from champions, vets, and other mobs. I remember back in the beta and first week of release killing a champ and getting a blue/green or getting some blue’s and green’s off of mobs. Now i am lucky to get a white off of one mob, let alone a blue off of a champion.

Please Arena Net, your community needs a response, we can’t just be left here in the dark.

Shadowlancer.7102:

@ UnderdogSMO.9428

This is irrelevant, Arenanet has admitted to the lag and apologized about the event and its major problems that affected the majority of the community base. You do realize your opinion only makes you a minority right?

Woah, woah, woah. Slow down here….Because someone voiced their opinion its a minority and you disregard it, but you come stomping into the general discussion forms with your panties in a bunch whining about why an asura is going to be like santa but your opinion is better than everyone else’s?

Shadowlancer: I MAKE SO MUCH SENSE.

Anyways, regarding the lore, so what? He’s an asura, okay? Charr or Sylvari can’t fit the theme, Norns don’t seem suited to this as all they can think about is ale and hunting. Humans or asura were the best options and they picked asura. I don’t think its a giant flying gollem, but rather a huge big air balloon. I mean hell, in the last part of Arah story you are on a giant airship but having one shaped as a golem isn’t lore friendly?

And no, the recent patches haven’t been only about asura. The halloween event was about human’s and their past lore and ghost ancestors, then the kankra that affected the quaggans, hylek, and other underwater races (which you had to talk to throughout the entire event). But dear god, the asura have ONE person related to the last update and now they have something to do with Christmas and you are going nuts?

Sorry i had to voice my “minority” opinion.

I don’t know why the hell people are complaining about zones being empty, i’ve played tons of other MMO’s and their lower level zones were empty as well (including you-know-what) and it seemed no one ever cared. But dear god, a patch that shows up that people overreact over and now apparently it’s broken the game and everything is going to hell.

As for my server, there are definitely people playing in zones. Just the other day i ran with a huge zerg of people in Kessex doing hearts and events. Orr in itself just isn’t very solo-able at all, plus the fact that they nerfed Orr makes it even worse.

To be honest, i think the Axe is really not in a “defined” spot of what type of weapon it is. It applies vulnerability and gives a cripple, so you think it would be a burst weapon given that you can stack vulnerability and kite with cripple. Yet the damage is so low on the axe, that in order to significantly boost it you must go full into offensive stats (spite trait line) and even with the traits that specifically pertain to it, the damage doesn’t go far.

On the other hand we have the Vitality trait line associated with the dagger, so you think that would be our weapon for survivability. Turns out, not only is it that, but it does more damage than the weapon you trait in Spite for. So to be frank, we can’t really decide what the axe is meant for. It’s damage is too low to be worthwhile in terms of a power build, and should you focus defensively the staff or dagger works far better than the axe.

Keep posting feedback so that Anet can buff up this weapon, it needs some love!

Reshbal.8369:

I think the axe’s lower damage is meant to even it out with the vulnerability it applies and its medium range, but even so, it is rather weak. However, I think both attacks 2 and 3 for an axe main hand are very useful, and that skill 1 is the only glaring problem. Perhaps it could be improved to a usable level with a number of ways though: An attack power increase, an attack speed increase, or even an increase vulnerability stack.

I believe the dagger is supposed to be our strongest and fastest weapon, so that’s not too strange. It’s close range and single target are the drawbacks to using it.

While the dagger is meant to be our strongest weapon because of the risks of close range, its damage can double or even triple the axe in certain cases, which makes it seem odd that even with the Spite trait line, axe doesn’t even come close.

The purpose behind the axe seems to stack vulnerability so you can hit harder, however, the damage increase from vulnerability is so slight you don’t even notice it. Plus, the max stacks we can normally keep up is around 12-14 (assuming you use only the axe abilities).

I would like the idea of a cripple as well, but that won’t fix the axe. As stated before it needs a nice damage buff/speed increase.

Keep posting constructive feedback.