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GW2: Heart of Thorns Zam Interview

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darkace.8925

Colin said: “Our focus is instead on a smaller number of maps that have an incredible amount of deep replay value.” The new maps will have an incredible amount of depth with a huge amount of content to discover and explore with more places that reach as you spend points into the mastery system. “We want that sense that as you are progressing through a map you are seeing all these areas and challenges and you are saying to yourself ‘I can’t wait until I can get there or defeat this!’” These maps were designed to have a huge amount of 3D space and content depth with an amazing amount of replay value so that players can always go back and play the map and while still progressing and building. “That’s going to be our focus. We want something that is meaningful and stands the test of time rather than a whole bunch of maps that you tear through.”

I pray this new region isn’t just Silverwaste 2.0 wherein we repeat the same content until our eyes bleed because we need X, Y, or Z items or because the farming is lucrative.

I also hope it’s not a map that relies on large number of players, because eventually the next new thing will be out and most of the player base will flock to that, leaving Maguuma relatively empty.

No new playable race? It makes me sad...

in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

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darkace.8925

I’ve seen more than a few people here and especially in-game saying new races don’t matter since they’re purely cosmetic. For the sake of this argument, let’s pretend that’s true (it’s not).

I wonder how many of the people taking such a stance have used a transmutation charge to change the appearance of their weapon? I wonder how many have used a dye to change the color of their armor? How many of them have spent money or gold to purchase a new weapon or armor skin from the gem shop? I’m wiling to bet most of them take more than a few seconds in the character creation screen when they make a new character. And I’ll bet they’re eager to see what the new Legendary weapons look like.

The point is this. In a game whose endgame is mostly horizontal progression, cosmetics become more than just aesthetics. They cease to be the paint job on the bus and become part of the journey and destination. Whether or not it’s worth the resources is one thing, but to pretend new races don’t matter because they’re just cosmetic differences (they’re so much more) is a rather silly argument against the inclusion of new races.

LOL'ed about copyright

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darkace.8925

I’m kind of surprised the copyright “Shake it off” was even approved in the first place.

If I’m not mistaken, the US Patent and Trademark Office tends to take a rubber stamp approach; they approve just about anything and let the courts work settle any subsequent disputes.

Home Instance Improvements?

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darkace.8925

It honestly looks as if they’re content with our home instancing being nothing more than a place we visit once a day to harvest they nodes they sell in the gem shop.

Mini Kasmeer in BL Chests instead...why?

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darkace.8925

It’s been more than two years now. We all know why. They know those of you who want it would happily pay $5 to buy it directly. They also know those of you who really want it will gamble until you get it. So they set the odds of the drop to average out so that they make more than $5 per potential buyer.

Races!

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darkace.8925

From a lore perspective I don’t see the Tengu giving up their isolationist ideals very easily. Yes they are unified and yes they have knowledge of the Elder Dragons but it isn’t that they are just ‘secretive’ they also just don’t give a kitten about anyone else other than themselves.

Their society as a whole is not going to suddenly change it’s ways when they have essentially been hostile or ‘removed’ from the rest of the factions for hundreds of years.

Sure, they’re isolationists. They’re walled up behind their great wall, letting the world around them deal with what they consider external problems. But Mordremoth’s vines don’t care about walls. Writing the tengu into the current story is as easy as some vines bursting from the ground to wreck some tengu buildings behind that wall.

Is the NPE worth no new races?

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darkace.8925

I recgonize that a big part of why we aren’t getting new races is that adding their content to the New Player Experience would be a bit hassle, with new voice acting and race specific content and so on.

It’s not that it’s a hassle, and too big of an under taking. A large part of why we haven’t yet is that story doesn’t allow for it yet. The NPE has nothing to do with the story at all, just hows it’s played. With the current events of the LS, and the story line of the PS, bringing in a new race at this point just doesn’t make sense. Of coures, maybe for season 4, they can shift the story to do just that, and make whatever race as part of that story arc. Like the Tengu for example. They haven’t been brought in yet as a playable race, because according to the story, they are locked away and refusing to come out. The current story doesn’t account for them just suddenly coming forward and being all “Hey! Sorry we were away from so long, but we are here now, so lets go!”.

Thats a MAJOR reason why a new race hasn’t been introduced. The mechanics, skins, etc. are all just fluff.

It has nothing to do with the story. Any writer who can’t write a new playable race into the game isn’t worth having on the payroll. It’s a simple case of cost and benefit. The developers weighed the cost of adding a new race (the work that goes into it isn’t trivial) and deemed it not worthwhile.

More Bags.Inventory is fast full with 8 bags

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darkace.8925

I can’t fathom 150 slots not being more than enough for everything you’d possibly need. What are the 70-90 items you’re carrying around that you can’t do without?

Is the NPE worth no new races?

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darkace.8925

The NPE has nothing to do with their decision not to implement a new race. They’ve simply deemed the cost (man hours, money, etc) to be more than the benefits a new race would bring to the game. That’s unfortunate for those of us wanting a new race, but that’s the way it is.

New legendary weapons :D theme guessing?

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darkace.8925

I want a Pistol like the Laser or Plasma Energy Weapons in Fallout. :>

I’ve always thought something akin to the ray gun from Call of Duty, World at War’s zombie mode would be a fun legendary.

New legendary weapons :D theme guessing?

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darkace.8925

I’m hoping we get two new legendary staves. I’d personally like to see a wind-themed staff for my elementalist and something appropriately dark for the stereotypical necromancers roaming Tyria.

I’d also like to see a shotgun-esque rifle since so many of the engineer’s rifle skills are hipshots. As far as theme, a clockwork or steam-powered rifle seems fitting.

Races!

in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

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darkace.8925

From Colin’s own mouth…

“For this one, we looked at what we would get out of adding a new race and what benefit it actually brings to the players from a gameplay standpoint. It’s very limited in Guild Wars 2. A new race adds a racial skill or two and a little bit of story, but it doesn’t give that much meaningful gameplay in the grand scheme of things. The race is more context for the early story that you experience. So we wanted to focus things that would provide a lot more gameplay and address parts of Guild Wars 2 that we felt like we really wanted to be able to make a better experience and grow. So right now, we didn’t feel that a new race was a key need for the game, whereas the other things that we’re adding really provide fundamental building blocks for the future.”

Honestly, after reading that, I’m rather certain we’ll never get a new race. It’s a costly endeavor to add a new race. From writing them into the personal story to paying to have them voiced to ensuring every existing weapon and armor fits their frame during attack animations, that’s a lot of money and man hours for something that ultimately has relatively little impact on the game. As a guy who’s had an empty character slot reserved for a tengu thief since shortly after launch, I now have zero expectations I’ll ever get to make one.

PAX: Not one, but ALL precursors unlockable

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darkace.8925

If you’re going for the Twice Told Legend title…. You’re still screwed.

Honestly, if you can’t afford a precursor from the Trading Post or Mystic Forge then you probably shouldn’t be flushing the resources for a second Gift of Fortune solely for an achievement and/or title.

So how many Revenants...

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darkace.8925

Because of specializations, maybe not as many as you might think? There will no doubt be legions of them, but there are also going to be druids, etc, running around too.

Revenant

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darkace.8925

No one on the forums was even close to guessing this class beforehand, if someone can prove me wrong please link.

I posted six months ago:

“I’d like to see a profession that uses spirit magic. I’m no lore nut, so correct if I’m wrong, but Tyria’s oldest form of magic (and the only one not governed by the Bloodstone) is spirit magic, or the type of magic practiced by Ritualists. I’d like to see a heavy armor profession added to the game, but I feel such a profession would be too close to the Guardian if it wore heavy armor.”

What you wrote about back then was a heavy armour ritualist. Seen atleast 100 times on this forums. That is not the revenant. I am talking about the inspiration from old gw legends, not seen before.

You’re going to have to explain to me the difference between deriving power from spirit of Tsungrai and deriving power from the spirit Jalis, because I’m just not seeing one.

Tengu didn't make it

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darkace.8925

When is the Tengu going to be released. In a living world update after/before Heart of Thorns or in the next expansion?

Tengu is impossible to release to the current story campaign, any attempt to do so would be a waste of resources and would probably result in failure.

Why is it impossible?

No new playable race? It makes me sad...

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darkace.8925

I’ve still got an empty character slot reserved for a tengu thief.

What does Maguuma mean for future regions?

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darkace.8925

I hope they don’t make all the maps into mazes. Sometimes a maze map is ok, but having to take circuitous routes all the time gets old quickly.

Agreed.

Revenant

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darkace.8925

No one on the forums was even close to guessing this class beforehand, if someone can prove me wrong please link.

I posted six months ago:

“I’d like to see a profession that uses spirit magic. I’m no lore nut, so correct if I’m wrong, but Tyria’s oldest form of magic (and the only one not governed by the Bloodstone) is spirit magic, or the type of magic practiced by Ritualists. I’d like to see a heavy armor profession added to the game, but I feel such a profession would be too close to the Guardian if it wore heavy armor.”

What features do you wish were included?

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darkace.8925

i see darkface played EQ2, i’ll second the player housing and furniture craft, but most of all i wanted to see Tengu <3

The only other MMO I’ve ever played was FFXI.

New profession weapons

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darkace.8925

i hope they rework some weapons like guardian shield

That would be most welcome. I loathe that the guardian’s shield plays like a focus and the focus plays like a shield.

What features do you wish were included?

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darkace.8925

- new race (Tengu)
– player housing
– new crafting discipline (Carpentry – makes furniture)
– Cooking and Jewel Crafting caps raised to 500

Expansion pack = end of living story?

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darkace.8925

God I hope so. I wouldn’t mind period content added to move the world forward in time a few months (like the cleanup and restoration of Lion’s Arch happening over time), but I’ve had more than enough of the episodic content delivered through the Living Story that, in my opinion, falls WAY short of what ArenaNet is capable of.

My Predictions for Specializations

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darkace.8925

I can see rangers getting a sniper specialization, allowing them to use rifles. I’m hoping they get a marksman/sharpshooter/archer spec that allows them to ditch the pet in exchange for more personal damage output.

On Races

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darkace.8925

The solution for the PS problem is an easy one for tengu. If I’m not mistaken, there are a few tengu already a part of the Pact when they establish Fort Trinity. So the PC tengu could simply disagree with their leaders’ isolationist policies and strike out on their own to join the fight against the Elder Dragons.

What race will be your Revenant

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darkace.8925

Canthan. I’ll wait.

No new race?!

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darkace.8925

I don’t believe they’ll ever add a new race. It’s just too complicated to fit in with the way the personal story works and they’d have to do a lot of retrofitting of existing armor to get it to work with something like the tengu.

If ArenaNet let a little hard work get in the way of progress you’d all still be playing Guild Wars.

Hang Gliders!?

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darkace.8925

I wonder if someone who has this ability can hang glide in present area. I assume that they will be able to.

If not, all that particular branch of the Mastery system amounts to is a gated gimmick. Imagine having to unlock the ability to use the aspect crystals in Dry Top or the skritt tunnel systems in Silverwaste under the pretense of “character progression”.

Precursor prices after HoT announcement

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darkace.8925

There are new ones coming… you’d be nuts to make an old one now.

Indeed. It’s also a possible that the precursors we can obtain via Mastery are only those for the new legendaries.

Precursor prices after HoT announcement

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darkace.8925

Depending on how difficult the quest will be. And wether or not it’s repeatable.
If it’s evry difficult and not repeatable, I don’t think the prices will drop very much, just a little

I’m very interested in knowing whether or not it will be repeatable, as prescursors are the only things missing from me instantly crafting two legendaries. I noted that he specifically said Masteries would allow us to craft “precursors”, as in plural. I’m not sure if he said that as in one person could craft multiple precursors, or that we collectively can craft multiple precursors at a rate of one per account.

Cooking and Jewel-Crafting to 500

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darkace.8925

Was there anything announced during the presentation that even hinted that these were on the way?

"HoT is our vision for character progression"

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darkace.8925

They apparently believe that the problem with the game is lack of progression. Do you agree that this is a problem?

People, players, have been telling them that since the game launched.

I’ve seen far more people complain about stagnation than a lack of progression.

No new race?!

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darkace.8925

I’m not surprised that they haven’t mentioned a new playable race. Doesn’t mean there isn’t one necessarily, there is a helluva lot they are holding back. Still, I’ve long held the stance that a new playable race wouldn’t fit into the story right now.

Though, with the addition of new civilizations, this also offers up new potential playable races in a future expansion.

I can’t believe they wouldn’t use that platform to announce something as big as a new playable race. If we get one, it won’t be in HOT.

Revenant

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darkace.8925

It’s nice to see the Ritualist is making it’s way into this game in some form.

No new race?!

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darkace.8925

Bummer. I’d rather have had a new race than a new profession.

Live Heart of Thorns Pax forum thread

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darkace.8925

“your max level characters with max level gear is still going to be like that tomorrow”

“I think you need more character progression”

Abilities used as gates for progressing PvE…

That’s what I thought. From the sound of things, they’re gating Maguuma Jungle’s equivalent of aspect crystals and calling it character progression.

History of GW2 from Launch..

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darkace.8925

There’s more stuff added like jumping puzzles and stuff, mini games, but you know that’s not content because you said so.

I promise you my list of WoW additions wasn’t comprehensive, but I don’t see you crying foul on that. I wonder why that is.

History of GW2 from Launch..

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darkace.8925

I count 4 new PvP maps. Courtyard, Temple of the Silent Storm, Spirit Watch and Skyhammer.
One which includes a new PvP mode.

Edited.

If you are going to compare, at least compare truthfully.
You also seems to include stuff for the WoW count while ignoring stuff for the GW2 count.

If you’re going to accuse me of lying, you should have the decency to explain why you’re doing so. What, I ask, have I forgot to include for GW2?

History of GW2 from Launch..

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darkace.8925

The two most successful subscription-based MMOs that come to mind (EQ, WoW) put out less content than ArenaNet does, without requiring monthly dividends. I fear for your long-term memory; you can’t forget very nearly a release every two weeks for the past year and a half, can you?

26 months after release, World of Warcraft had received:
– 2 new playable races
– a new battleground
– new PvP modes
– flying mounts
– an increased level cap
– 45+ new skills
– 11 new zones
– 8 new dungeons
– 1 new crafting profession
– a new campaign

In the 29 months since release, Guild Wars 2 has received:
– 3 new PvE maps (whose combined area is about that of a standard map)
– 1 new WvW map
– 4 new PvP maps (one of which is a new PvP mode)
– 9 new skills
– 1.33 new dungeons (that’s counting Fractals)
– two new mini-campaigns (one of which is no longer available)

Comparing the two, it looks to me like World of Warcraft received significantly more content is less time. So, what was it you were you saying about long-term memory?

(edited by darkace.8925)

you're the writer: Trial for Caithe?

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darkace.8925

All asura are dangerously incompetent and untrustworthy with any scientific experiment greater than testing gravitational acceleration with a pebble. I mean, just look at Thaumanova . . .

Need I remind you that Scarlet, a sylvari, was responsible for that. As much as I loathe that she was written into the Reactor’s lore at all, she’s now canonically responsible for that disaster..

Worst thing that could be announced at PAX?

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darkace.8925

Heart of Thorns is a PvP only expansion. eSports!!!!!!

Imagine the outrage if Heart of Thorns was a new PvP map and the trademarked logo wound up being related to an upcoming invitational tournament wherein all matches were fought in said map.

2hander Axe vs Polearm vs land Spear

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darkace.8925

Spears are underwater weapons, axes are not. We have one and two-handed versions of maces and swords, but only one-handed axes. I’d like parity in that regard.

What do you keep in your inventory?

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Oh what I wouldn’t give for 20-slot bags whose content are shared across all characters equipped with such a bag. The ability to put all my account bound consumables (boosts, bank access, etc.) in a single bag and use them on any of my characters would be a most convenient one.

Ritualist Heavy GW2 (Idea)

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darkace.8925

As much as I like the idea of of a ritualist (thematically), I just don’t see what it would bring to the table that the guardian and engineer don’t already (mechanically) bring.

Kidney/Eye Extractors

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darkace.8925

There is a patch coming on the 27th, it will 100% include balance changes, but I suspect it will also include some sort of epilogue as well as the extra extractors.

As much as I’d like to believe that, because God knows I’m sick of banging my head against the brick wall that is rng for the last few eyes and kidneys I need, I doubt they’ll add them. Those rng-walled drops are probably the only thing keeping a lot of players in the zone.

Tengu Playable Evidence

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I have to believe the tengu would have been featured in some capacity in at least the finale of LS2 if they were going to be made playable in HoT. I could be wrong, but I don’t think ArenaNet would let such a golden opportunity to generate buzz pass.

So Malyck's existance just got weirder

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That’s the problem with writers not paying attention to established lore. They pull one thread, then another, and another. Then the tapestry starts unraveling to the point where repairs are needed, but tapestries rarely look as nice after such patch jobs.

12 years to kill the last dragon?

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If I were calling the shots, I think I’d handle the expansions and introduction of non-dragon antagonists in the following manner:

First Expansion – already in motion

Second Expansion – the Pact is in tatters and new allies are needed. We sneak into Elona via the Order’s hidden route to liberate the Elonians from Palawa Joko’s tyranny. They ally with us to fight Kralkatorrik.

Third Expansion – a naval strike on the Deep Sea Dragon is thwarted and the fleet destroyed. We wake up alone on the shores of Cantha. [file not found], and eventually defeat Bubbles.

Fourth Expansion – Jormag and Primordus realize they’re not invincible. They both lash out at Tyria, causing great devastation. They’re not working together, but both attacking at once overwhelms an already diminished resistance and much of Tyria falls to fire or ice.

I’m not sure how I would resolve the third and fourth expansions, but that’s the basic outline of how I would allow players to explore other lands and fight other antagonists while still giving the fight against the dragons the urgency it demands.

[X] better be punished [spoilers]

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This equivocation between what Logan and Caithe did is a silly one, in my opinion. Logan abandoned his allies in the heat of battle to save his liege. While his motives were selfish, he’s under no obligation to fight dragons. He is, however, sworn to protect his queen. Caithe, on the other hand, murdered her someone because she lacked the conviction to stand up to her psychopathic lover.

Anybody DONT want Pax to be an Xpac?

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I know it makes me the odd man out, but I’m quite satisfied with the monthly to bi-weekly updates of new content. No other game I’ve ever played gave me all that, for free

I’m glad that you like the Living Story business model, but I’m sure you recognize that after 2+ years of said model there is a lot it’s failed to deliver. For all the Living Story is, “an expansion worth of content” it isn’t.

at such a pace without bugs that broke the game,

If I remember correctly, the finale of Season 1 (or maybe it was the penultimate release) had at least several major bugs for 10 of its 14 day lifespan. The fact is a two-week release schedule means the developers must release content when it’s due, not when it’s ready; that means a presence of bugs and a lack of polish is inevitable.

so I kind of don’t get the complaints and demands for an expansion.

See the above two points.

Some people are just never happy.

The opposite is true too. Some people happy with whatever they get and they’ll never expect or demand more.