Guild Wars 2

Rodzynald.5897:

Siege engines that our favourite humanoid cats have, are definitely something to reckon with, yet I am sure that a one, magic induced war-bear shapeshifter could handle a tank just right.

It’s not just siege engines. Look how much the charr have advanced technologically during peacetime. They have HELICOPTERS now. The charr and asura are lightyears away technologically from the other races – and they’ve started to learn from each other now, too.

I have to agree that the norn will have a tough time against the charr. Plus, the charr respect the norn – they won’t underestimate them. Instead, they’ll plan for the norn.

Had a thought this morning – If all five major Tyrian races went to war against each other, wouldn’t the humans be the first to collapse? They’re surrounded on all sides by various enemies. Their government is politically weak, and various elements would happily exploit any fracture even to the race’s detriment. And they’re completely outpaced in technology (both magical and scientific) by other races.

What do you think? In this scenario, are the humans doomed? How do you think it would play out?

Amaimon.7823:

I thought charr romance was mostly limited to displays of skill and wanted to breed the best of both parents.
A charr wants to find a capable mate to have capable offspring with. So the charr with the most achievements or skills is most likely to find the most mates.

I don’t think the charr are as callous and Darwinian as this. Otherwise, any officer of high rank would always get to choose the best mates. Tribunes would basically have a harem – we know that’s not happening, since the player frequently hangs out with a Tribune.

Charr have emotional connections, just not the same way humans do. We’ve seen some of that in the story already. They may be more casual about romance or less prone to monogamy, but that doesn’t mean they’re completely cynical and rational about what romance and mating is for.

Whatever pain you may have pales to the players actually trying to do a JP with their norn or charr.

I agree with folks here that the game is much better if you don’t hop to 80 right away. And it’s great when you find a supportive guild. It’s fun to explore and develop yourself, and the game does a great job letting you do that.

Sadly, the game doesn’t explain a lot of things very well. Finding a mentor in game (say, through a Guild) will definitely help your enjoyment.

There have been some examples of charr romance in game – just mostly on the side of things. I’d certainly be interested in the next front and center romance plot involving charr. As folks have said, since they don’t do things the human way – it’d be way more interesting.

Plus charr are awesome.

Zedek.8932:

The only thing I hate is the fact I have to get a group for the personal story in Orr. Since I can not and do not wish to play with total strangers (extremely bad experiences that really ruined my faith in gamers) I have no idea what happened except for some bits and conclusions I can make out when starting HoT. Suddenly, there are new characters, suddenly a fleet has crashed etc.

Yeah, for the most part they thankfully learned their lesson after Orr. There aren’t many points along the story path that require more than yourself after that. And the dungeons I recall in the Living Story (like from Flame & Frost) weren’t very long. (And, frankly, didn’t contribute all that much to the story in any event – just the climactic fight scene.)

Balrog, I’m glad you’re enjoying the game. (I’m also sorry some folks have coopted your thread!)

I also wasn’t an MMO guy but found a game I liked in GW2. Even long after I fully leveled up my character to 80, completed map exploration, and completed my personal story – and even though I sometimes put the game down for a while – I often find my way back to it.

I hope you and you friends make some good memories in the game.

Try Ice Flow Waypoint in Frostgorge Sound. The skelks to the south of there drop T5 & T6 bloods regularly. As long as that isn’t the only way you’re planning on getting your bloods (buying is of course quicker), you should be able to reduce your costs by spending a little while there now and again.

Lasagne.8045:

These forums crack me up.

First it’s complaining about F/U.
Now F/U is magically everyone’s favorite path.

There were plenty of complaints about F/U, but not because the path was bad. The problem was the boss was broken and the players wanted ANet to fix the bloody boss.

Instead of actually fixing their content, ANet instead chose to blow up what was otherwise and interesting and fun dungeon.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Keyboard and Mouse is the best way to go when you have to multitask with different keys. IMO, controllers don’t have as much ability to map the amount of buttons for serious play. On a side note, are controllers as accurate as a mouse when you want pinpoint targeting?

If you read about the Steam Controller in the link I provided, that’s exactly what it’s addressing. :P

From targeting:

The most prominent elements of the Steam controller are its two circular trackpads. Driven by the player’s thumbs, each one has a high-resolution trackpad as its base. It is also clickable, allowing the entire surface to act as a button. The trackpads allow far higher fidelity input than has previously been possible with traditional handheld controllers. Steam gamers, who are used to the input associated with PCs, will appreciate that the Steam Controller’s resolution approaches that of a desktop mouse.

Whole genres of games that were previously only playable with a keyboard and mouse are now accessible from the sofa. RTS games. Casual, cursor-driven games. Strategy games. 4x space exploration games. A huge variety of indie games. Simulation titles. And of course, Euro Truck Simulator 2.

In addition, games like first-person shooters that are designed around precise aiming within a large visual field now benefit from the trackpads’ high resolution and absolute position control.

To multitasking:

Every button and input zone has been placed based on frequency of use, precision required and ergonomic comfort. There are a total of sixteen buttons on the Steam Controller. Half of them are accessible to the player without requiring thumbs to be lifted from the trackpads, including two on the back. All controls and buttons have been placed symmetrically, making left or right handedness switchable via a software config checkbox.

This is a PC controller developed by a well-regarded PC company, after all. They know what type of games they’re building this for.

Hey all -

I know ANet so far has chosen not to publish GW2 on Steam, but do you think they will/should support the Steam Controller announced today?

(For those who haven’t heard the news about the Controller, it’s announced here: http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamController/)

GW2 has always, IMHO, screamed to be played with a controller, especially given the dodge mechanism. And a Controller that’s been designed by Steam specifically for PC games just seems like a no-brainer fit. (Yeah, I know that there are folks who have created ways to use an XBox controller in GW2, but I personally didn’t care for the set up much – ground targetting was especially tough.)

What do you folks think/predict?

I’m curious: OP, if you’re not doing the Living Story…what are you doing in the game? Aside from the Living Story, it seems there’s really not much else for a level 80 character to do once you’ve played through what the initial game had to offer.

I love the charr. They’re so much fun.

Seriously, if you play belcher’s bluff, one of the quotes from charr is, “Ridiculous. Charr would never do anything silly.” Charr know they’re hilarious.

I’m surprised to hear folks suggesting charr and rangers are a “neutral” fit lore-wise. One of the main characters in the Living Story (Rox) is a charr Ranger.

There are Rangers all over charr territory – who do you think those devouerers in Ascalon are being raised for? The charr may love iron, but they do have a strong connection to nature and to animals. Charr Rangers are a different fit than Sylvari, but they are a natural fit.

In Cursed Shore, if you start at Shipwreck Rock WP and work north – through Meggil’s cave in Demina’s Hallows, then up the shoreline between the Shipyard and Compass Plaza, then into the Harrowed Sea – you’ll hit most of the Ori and Ancient Wood nodes even without checking gw2nodes.

Evans.6347:

Well I recall that on the dungeon forum the developers actually commented on looking into it, which is apparently a big deal there.

It was a big deal because the devs NEVER go into the dungeon forums and there had been around 50 independent threads asking for a F/U nerf. And with the departure of Robert Hrouda from ANet, it certainly seemed like ANet was saying they didn’t give a flying kitten about dungeons. It was a shock to see Colin finally comment on the problem.

And F/U is a problem. The boss is a ridiculous difficulty spike; the boss’ mechanics are very badly signaled (if you don’t know what the tree shaking means – since the tree shakes for just about every attack it does in any form); the boss punishes you severely for failing (i.e., no learning the boss through wiping); and the boss is not appropriate for a level 55 dungeon. I know folks like to claim that dungeons are all end game content, but Twilight Arbor is not. Level 55s are encouraged by the game to try Twilight Arbor, and it was not designed – and should not be – Arah or CoE. This is not a level 80 dungeon and the expectations and rewards should be commensurate to what you can expect from a level 55 character.

Given how otherwise light this patch seems to be compared to many of the others, I have to assume that a F/U patch is indeed coming.

Hopefully we’ll discover Caithe has actually learned how to fight and not just go splat at the first sign of a boss…

Dodging NPC thieves, that would be a miracle.

Did this event chain the other day again – got caught my my tail becuase I was in my chatbox messaging guildies. I went down and there was a vet on top of me.

The Iron Legion targeted me FOUR TIMES. Not the vet, the AoE was centered on ME. When the vet was inside the circles, it didn’t even effect him.

I hate those kittens. I wish they weren’t my “allies” so I could stab them and do without their “support.”

I do play charr. And only charr. I love them. So amazing looking, assertive and that cultural silliness. I honestly have trouble understanding why someone would play a fantasy game and then choose to play as a human. That just seems ultra boring to me.

Interesting that so many folks cite armor as the reason they don’t play charr. I guess even non-charr acknowledge that ANet needs to fix their art designs.

Why would they mess with condition duration? Most folks agree Condition builds need a buff, not a nerf…

From your results chart, it seems like you’re guiding everyone to be an elementalist.

I’m not sure what in my answers seemed to scream elementalist at all. They’re one of the classes I’d least want to play.

Dustfinger.9510:

All legions utilize all classes. They just have preferences and tendancies based on their particular battle philosophies. So Ash may well have a smaller force of front line warriors, but they do have enough to hold battle lines while their rogues and saboteurs hit the real targets.

I’ve always assumed that charr Guardians use their teleports a lot and are sent in with small groups for buff support and emergency medics.

Mesket.5728:

a. After dodging

I suggested “On Evade” because I figured if you could get might “on dodge” or something you’d just do a quick dodge at the beginning of every fight. haha. If you actually had to dodge something, that seems a bit more fair.

The “On combo” is a good idea. Anet really needs to support that mechanic more.

Wethospu.6437:

To be honest, I really like the boss. If you think and try figure it out you can get it done very easily (prechage all traps).
If it didn’t reset people would just mindlessly suicide against it.

I like the boss, too. It has its issues, though.

As I explain in my post, I don’t think without the reset people would be able to “mindlessly suicide” the boss. You still have to set off the traps to hurt it in the first place, and the boss heals itself if you mindlessly attack it while it’s in ghost form. The reset just forces you to repeat the mechanic of the fight endlessly if you don’t quite get it perfect and you end up too far from the boss or wiping. I really don’t think that’s necessary.

Broadicea.8294:

Can anyone point out where Colin or any other dev ever said you’d be able to sleepwalk through DUNGEONS with any comp and any build you felt like.

Your reductive response is neither cute nor helpful to the topic at hand. No one is asking for a sleepwalk. Or a cakewalk. Or even a runwaywalk.

Nowhere in those quotes does Colin say that a dungeon should somehow preclude a specific class composition. A team of skilled and organized players at level 55 of any class should be able to do this content – that is what people are asking for. And TA F/U does not reasonably provide that.

The higher level dungeons like Arah should be a higher difficulty, because level 80 players have access to all or most of their skills, have advanced experience, and have access to superior equipment that provide new tactics. Those should be the challenging end game for highly skilled players, and the rewards should be commensurate. But a level 55 dungeon should be geared toward a difficulty level appropriate for level 55 players, and not difficulty spike at the boss in a way that requires certain set ups of classes or skills players may not yet have access to.

So, I’ll preface this topic with this: I like Robert Hrouda’s changes to Ascalonian Catacombs prior to his leaving Anet. I think the story within the dungeon makes more sense now. (“Why do we need this NPC?” or “Why did we need to collect those sticks?” have much better answers when they’re part of the mechanics of the boss fights.) The boss fights are less of an HP sink and more require more thought and some strategy.

Still, having done the Ghost Eater several times now with some mixed groups of newer players and people who know the boss, I wonder now if this boss needs to reset and gain all its health back like most other bosses in the game do.

First, the boss requires a ton of organization. You need someone kiting the boss, someone lifting the ectos, someone pulling the ectos into the correct trap, you need someone leading the boss to the trap, you need that idiot to stop attacking the boss when its in its ghost form, you kitten idiot…! /ahem. This is all well and fun, but the problem is that Guild Wars doesn’t really give you great tools to do that kind of organization. Things will go wrong. And it’s hard to type in chat while you’re being hit with vulnerability AOEs. (Or, better yet, getting stuck in the chat window so you can’t move or enter commands to your character while being attacked.)

Sure, a group of veterans at this boss who know each other well, or guildies who have access to a voice chat, are probably not going to have a terrible time with this boss. But most dungeon groups aren’t like that, and the in-game doesn’t offer very good tools for tackling a boss that requires so much group coordination.

Second, the boss already heals itself, so it’s not like wiping on the boss won’t be punishing.

Third, AC is the lowest level dungeon. Yeah, the explorables should be a challenge. (And for the most part they are!) But that challenge (and the rewards) should be commensurate with the level of the players that should be expected/are allowed to play the content.

If you’ve managed to set off a one or a couple of traps, IMHO, and then most of your party wipes, I really don’t see why this boss should get all its health back. You’ve proven you understand the concept of the boss, even if you can’t execute it perfectly. And executing the mechanics of this boss gets old very, very fast. The Ghost Eater resetting just adds to player frustration, eats up time, and can really hamper a group that may be suffering from one inexperienced player/dingbat they need to carry.

What do folks think?

tl;dr: What is almost certainly the least-run boss in Ascalonian Catacombs would be more palatable if, once you have proven you understand the mechanics of the traps in the fight but then wipe (or partially wipe), the Ghost Eater didn’t reset and gain back all its health.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

azureai.9764:

1. Because the dungeon content should be able to be done by any group composition. And not all players have alts (particularly of every class).

Besides the fact that it IS able to be done by any group composition, where do you get the idea that it “should?” Why “should” it? Because you want it to be so? Seriously, I want to know why it “should.” What is the intellectual justification of this ridiculous statement?

Well, this thread has degraded fast.

Content should be able to be done by any class composition, because that’s what the game promised. This isn’t 4-Warriors-and-a-Mesmer Wars. Sure, not every group composition is going to have an easy time of it, and some classes have access to skills that will make certain bosses easier. But that shouldn’t preclude a group of any class composition from doing the boss with a reasonable amount of work.

And the boss for F/U isn’t reasonable. Not for the level of the dungeon, not for the ridiculous difficulty spike it introduces at the end of an otherwise serviceable dungeon, and not for the adds that do not despawn if you fail to grasp to badly-animated mechanics of the fight on your first try.

Your comments above betray a shocking lack of empathy for your fellow players. Were you never new? And do you really look forward to the point where you’re de facto banned from content because of the class you rolled? That doesn’t at all sound like a game I want to play, nor is it what the developers envisioned when they were designing and promoting Guild Wars 2.

What if ANet introduced a new type of Sigil? What would you like to see?

Right now, there are four types of Sigils:

1. Static Bonus Sigils;
2. Activate on Critical Sigils;
3. On-Kill Effect Sigils; and
4. Activate on Weapon Swap Sigils

What other activation types can you think of that would interest you? I think activation on evade would be very handy, or an activation when a mob has a certain stack/duration of a condition.

Just curious to see what people could come up with.

Just FYI – You may have better luck with insight into builds from the Engineer forum, since they discuss that a lot over there. I don’t often see help-me-with-my-specific-build threads get much traffic on the general PhP forums.

Best of luck! And enjoy yourself!

Broadicea.8294:

So you refuse to run better group compositions, you refuse to organize enough to chain reflections, you refuse to gear yourself properly. Tell me why you are entitled you 60 tokens again?

1. Because the dungeon content should be able to be done by any group composition. And not all players have alts (particularly of every class).

2. Because a group new to the dungeon might not know what to expect by the time they arrive at the boss, and the game should allow for newer players.

3. This dungeon is not Arah. It is a lower-level dungeon and should allow for a learning curve.

I could go on, but those answers should be enough for your out-of-hand dismissal. Reflections should not be required to finish a boss.

Alex.9567:

As it was in GW1, casters were upright, melee hunched

Charr can stand upright (they do in various emotes), but it’s uncomfortable for them. Do you want an uncomfortable charr? :P

I don’t think most charr players are demanding a redesign, but just some consideration. It doesn’t take that much thought by the artists to add ear and horn holes in new helmets for charr, or a tail hole for pants. It’s really not that hard, ANet.

Not to mention one of the Living Story main characters, Rox, is a charr ranger in the Blood Legion.

Why would the charr even want to expand into Orr right now? The charr got most of what they wanted out of their war with the humans, and now have internal empire-issues to manage. Unless there are resources in Orr that the charr need/want, I don’t see why they would care all that much about settling over there.

Takarazuka.3025:

I was basing that off assumption from what you see around Ascalon and in the Black Citadel.

You can meet several Ash Legion contingents, even in the low level areas of Ascalon. For instance, I can think of the Ash Legion warband that attacks the Decimus Stones in Plains of Ashford. And running the Ash Legion story certainly makes it seem as though your warband is a standing contingent of the Ash Legion.

You likely just don’t see many Ash Legion milling about the Black Citadel because Ash Legion tend not to hang out in the open. There’s no in lore statement that the Ash Legion doesn’t maintain a standing army of some kind or doesn’t have a home base like the other Legions.

I often do the chain of events to stop the Flame Legion Shaman at the Noxious Castrum in Sloven Pitch in Fireheart Rise. It’s an easy way to Ascalon Events or Veterans daily, and I get to hang with charr.

The only problem is that the Iron Legion there are kittening morons. After the Iron Legion set up their mortars (the first event in the chain), I swear they are targeting me with their AoE blasts, and not the Flame Legion. And, worse, often the mortar blasts won’t even effect the Veteran Shamans they’re supposed to be targeting. Frankly, the idiots in the Iron Legion popping off their mortars are the most dangerous part of the entire event sequence – especially at the end, when they’ll knock you off the platform during the final fight.

I can’t help but wonder, did ANet intend for the Iron Legion to be such a bunch of morons during this event and intentionally making things worse? Are they trying to get all Blood Legionaries killed (which they always do)?

Also, it’s worth noting that for some reason the Embers in this area never attack at all, which is pretty hilarious to watch.

Anyone else a little surprised by how cute Colin is? I guess I was kind of expecting a baldingfatman, but Colin is very much a good-looking dude.

As usual, the OP’s point seems to have eluded posters who fail to read the original post. The OP’s frustration is with the major camera issues faced by charr and norn.

Frankly, the OP has a right to be frustrated; the camera veering into a wall or into the back of the character model (or flipping out and jumping spastically between those and a normal view) during a jumping puzzle – or, worse, during a fight – is an oft cited complaint that one would hope would get some attention. It does seem like ANet’s testers must not being using some of the bigger character models.

I’m having this trouble, too. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been getting massive server-side lag. My skills (especially ones I’d want to use in quick response to an attack) won’t fire off for several seconds after I hit the button. The skill just flashes until the game finally decides to activate it (after I’ve taken massive damage, usually).

This was happening to me a lot in the areas where the clockwork zerg was going on, but it happens in areas where no one is around, either. A couple of days ago, I was collecting Ori in Orr with a friend, and he watched as my character would just sit there in front of the node, doing nothing, after I’d pressed F to gather. The game just sat there. I’ve also lost connection to the servers a few times, but it wasn’t my internet that kicked.

My internet isn’t top of the line crazy, but from what I’ve checked out, it doesn’t seem to be a problem on my end. And my FPS rate is just fine. What the kitten is going on?

At this point, I’m going to put down the game for a while. It’s truly unplayable with this lag.

Mileinnor.7125:

… Looks like I opened a can of worms huh? I won’t get infracted for this right?

I don’t see how. What you’ve posted doesn’t seem to violate the terms of service. It’s not different than any other news.

Charr plushie backpack.

That really is sad news. I certainly wish Robert all the best. He was often helpful on the forums, and it was nice that he kept such an open line with the players.

I guess that clears up why ANet has been ignoring the Dungeon forums for the past few months. Hope they find someone as open and communicative as Robert to take his place; those are some big shoes.

Yeah, I wish they weren’t bound. I’d gladly give one of my four to the OP.

Seriously, what am I gonna do with 4 of these things? I didn’t even want one, personally. And I can’t even sell them to vendors.

Ashes.9586:

Silly NPC.

He’s just a bear that wishes he were a charr. Who can blame him?

We should go hang out with Rytlock next time. Heck, we could just go visit him in his office and drink his Brandy.

Are you part of a guild? In my guild, I’ll often craft exotics for nice guildies so they can join me on dungeon runs. I’ve found folks who will do that kinda stuff for folks in several guilds.

Tetonica.2819:

My guardian: Level 67, played 86h and 21m. Died…. 158 times. I’m bad at this game and I feel bad lol

You really shouldn’t. It’s very easy to die early in the game. (And Guardians have arguably the worst downed skills of any class.)

As you progress and learn the game mechanics well, you’ll die less. And then you’ll meet Lupi and Alpha the first time… :P

ColinJohanson.2394:

TA is high on the list of dungeon candidates as our permanent dungeon revamp/updates begin to start back up again as themes for some of our living world releases.

A dev in the dungeon forum?!? And Colin Johanson, no less. I guess now we know where a thread count hits critical mass. Thanks for the update, Colin. Hope it happens soon.

The problem with Forward/Up isn’t that it’s a hard boss that can’t be taken down by a good number of group compositions. (Though that last part is a problem.) The problem is that the difficulty spike of the boss is unreasonable – especially in a in a level 55 dungeon. Yeah, a mesmer and a group of DPS guardians/warriors can probably easily do this boss, but there are legitimate reasons why groups wouldn’t enjoy the boss and not just that they need to “LTP.”

What about crafting Explorer items now? What stat spread will Opal make for Jewelers after the change?

Invest in crafting early on. Some of the best items in the game can be crafted, but it takes time. Buy the gathering items (mining pick, ect.) and hit any node you see nearby (you get experience for gathering, too).

You may have trouble keeping up with multiple crafts, but if find a craft you like and stick with it until Level 80, you should be able to keep yourself clothed/fed/bejeweled in things relatively near your level.