Guild Wars 2

I was a little disappointed to learn that Trahearne spent the past few months, much less the past year, of Scarlet’s rampage twiddling his thumbs down at Fort Trinity.

While I understand that, from a military standpoint, she presented no significant threat requiring The Pact’s support up to her involvement in Kessex Hills, from the Marionette to Lion’s Arch she presented a massive threat to Tyria! Her armies killed thousands and threatened even more.

Wouldn’t the Commander (the player character) have had any say in the matter? We learn from Laranthir that he had to coerce the All-mighty Marshal to send at least one ship to check things out… after the battle was over! From a public relations standpoint, and to steal a line from the Firstborn himself, “this won’t end well.”

Frankly, I think this little amendment to the Living Story is cheap and yet another poor storytelling element to a woefully pitiful story arch. While the end result is greatly welcomed (namely, we got a Dragon – finally), the entire journey has been one big bed of coals we’ve had to suffer walking over. Trahearne has become one of my least favorite characters of all time with this move.

Nilkemia.8507:

How about no? This theory’s even dumber than the “Sylvari are actually dragon minions” theory.

So you’re saying its plausible? :P

Typical of most gamers, who fail to see how their suggestions are one-dimensional, this would end up causing a ripple affect that would affect (nerf) multiple classes. Aegis duration would have to be nerfed significantly (1-5 sec duration) to balance this, and that would just upset everybody.

Matthew Oswald.3082:

There will be plenty of new story content needing cinematic moments.

Matthew:

Will future cinematic moments included the player characters speaking as well? One thing I’ve missed from the Living Story is Jennifer Hale’s voice acting (I play a sylvari female).

As someone “in the industry,” I know how expensive voice acting can be, but I’d like to hope that we’ll once again hear our characters interacting with the world – instead of being the mute protagonists.

Awesome! Thank you for the reply!

I was curious if any NPC in the Edge of the Mists were considered “Guards, Lords [or] Supervisors” in order for the WvW infusions to apply their additional damage.

My first inkling is “no” and the Infusions’ only work against the current NPCs in the standard WvW maps; but, I’d like to hear some confirmation (perhaps from a dev).

Thanks!

Karl McLain.5604:

• We expect that in the most extreme power DPS focused builds this change will account for a maximum reduction of about 10% damage.

There’s been some confusion about this.

Is this 10% less Critical Damage? (i.e. 120% critical damage down to 110%)
Or 10% less damage overall? (i.e. 5000 attack down to 4500)

Thief was hardly mentioned during the Jan 17th Ready Up stream, much less any changes discussed concerning them.

BrunoBRS.5178:

i liked the journal, and i liked how she sounded during the marionette event, buuuuut… sorry, the direction you went with the voice during the journal reading was really out of place, and kind of over the top.

Scarlet clearly wrote her journey when she still went by her sylvari name, Ceara. This is what she sounded like before she “saw the Eternal Alchemy” and went mad.

I love listening to Ceara’s voice and, if they had introduced this sooner, I would’ve loved Scarlet more as a tragic character.

As I write this post, I’m standing in Sparkfly Fen looking at an untouched Tequatl encounter. The first spawn after reset.

Meanwhile, my guildmate in Bloodtide Coast is watching as three asura from The Vigil venture off on their own to learn about a Great Jungle Wurm.

This is the issue I see with “elite” content in GW2. Shortly after they are beaten, interest immediately drops and remains so long after the content has been released. In the case of Tequatl, occationally groups (like TTS) come and destroy the beast. Nevertheless, according to API numbers, less than 3% of all Tequatl spawns end with a kill!

The culprit? My bet is on the rewards.

While there is a “small chance” at getting a unique Ascended weapon or armor, the percentages are meager – especially considering the difficulty of coordinating these encounters. Getting a handful of green-quality items for a hair-pulling, adrenaline-induced fight is a slap in the face of anyone returning, hoping for a chance for something unique.

Why is the loot and rewards in this game so terrible? Why are greens salvaged away with only the consolation of additional Magic Find, which doesn’t contribute to chest rewards anyway?

If rewards don’t consistently match the difficulty of the content, Guild Wars 2 will have a hard time retaining players when more rewarding games come to market.

As I conclude writing this post, Tequatl just destroyed another Vigil Megalaser. Such as waste…

I would +1 your post, Hostility, except you’re clearly still playing “those other MMOs,” where passive mitigation is a thing and you can AFK while facetanking.

Meanwhile, in GW2, the name of the game is active mitigation – as you mentioned already with blocks and evades. In WvW, going full bunker isn’t going to save a player. What will save a player is a good ratio of Effective Power/Health and active mitigation through mechanics and abilities.

If your counter to Thieves is more defense, you’re gonna have a bad time.

And yet if it was so intuitive, you wouldn’t feel challenged and would say the content is too easy.

Kids these days.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Wow, 6 weeks to prepare the Living Story without any other content in the way.

Because god forbid anyone else but you take a holiday vacation.

I did the math and the cost of one Primer was three times the amount of gold I would spend to make 24 Bowels of Curry Butternut Squash Soup! Not worth it.

I thought it was more Pacific Rim because of the Omega Golem fighting the Twisted Watchknight in the trailer video.

A friend and I two-manned Toypocalypse last night (thinking it was the last time we’d be able to play it). The initial wave was tough, but once we were set up with ~10 catapults and snowmen on the east and west side of the dolyaks, the rest of the encounter was smooth sailing.

Our “strategy” came down to: Break things. Build in place. No upgrades.

Basically, we built only catapults and snowmen wherever we found scraps and snow. We tried to space them out a little so that Toxx didn’t break them all in one fell swoop. The catas and snowmen handled Toxx with ease while we busied ourselves filling in gaps. We beat it without any issue.

TL;DR, 2-manned it so very likely soloable once you’re past the first wave.

Bucket Lips.5017:

Gratz on PVD!, way to show dem leet skillz

The same skills we use to kite FA zergs around the map like so much Benny Hill.

If you’re making Ascended armor you should be aiming for high level Fractals. If that’s so, then you’ll need the extra Infusion slots for Agony Resistance. In which case, you go full Zerker, as that is the Meta for all PvE classes. You should do some research on your own about this, but in short: the idea is to kill the boss as quickly as possible; avoid major attacks; toughness draws aggro; everything one-shots you at higher levels, no matter how much toughness/vitality/healing power you can possibly stack.

If you’re not planning on doing high-level Fractals, then stick to your Exotics. The pitiful stats gained from the insurmountable cost (approximately 1000g at the time of this post) upgrading for a less than 5% increase is not worth it.

Dulfy has put up a spreadsheet to show the breakdown of Ascended stats to Exotics here:
http://dulfy.net/2013/12/12/gw2-ascended-armor-stats/

TL;DR don’t waste your money on upgrading to Ascended unless you plan to do high level Fractals – if so, go full Zerker.

Painted the Mag BL green last night with the help of the STUN zerg and the FLUX/PACT havoc squad – even taking both Bay and Hills. Nether FA or Mag knew what hit ’em. :P

Hrm, the Reveal is annoying but I can’t say its ever gotten me killed. As a matter of fact, Last Refuge has saved me on more than one occasion.

phaeris.7604:

D/p thieves do give me some hassle, but due to my damage being so huge, it becomes a reactionary game, as if they put one foot wrong i can take them from 100-0 in one combo.

I have the same experience when it comes to battling D/P thieves as a D/D thief. While they are considerably more frustrating to fight (as they should be), I know how to counter them and even Cloak and Dagger them while they’re in stealth (auto-attack to confirm location and quickly CnD into Backstab for a quick down).

Its far more challenging, but also far more rewarding, to fight a D/P Thief as a D/D thief. Outside of that, D/D handles 1vsX exceptionally well.

Warriors have the ability to stat offensively but trait defensively, making them surprisingly dangerous.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Players can’t damaged a gate that’s true…

Challenge Accepted!

Spirit Ranger, eh?

I can’t count the number of times a Spirit Ranger owned me in WvW, mainly because a Spirit Ranger as never been a contender in tier 1 WvW. Their Spirits are Cloak-and-Dagger fodder, at best, and they lack any sort of utility to escape or put pressure on me. At worst, they’re a minor annoyance, plucking away at their bow or swinging their sword merrily.

Concerning Warriors, Warriors present the biggest problem in my tier. Either they’re a balanced DPS build or full PVT; either way they present a problem. They can put on a lot of pressure solo in any spec, but if they’re backed by a team they can serve as an anchor. Underestimating a tier 1 Warrior is a big mistake!

Frankly, Prysin, I see your comp as lacking and misleading. Spirit Rangers are strong in sPvP, but they’re best left out of WvW.

According to Cepha’s Constant, sylvari rank second in importance in the Eternal Alchemy – asura being the first, of course.

Source: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/A_Bold_New_Theory#Dialogues

Even with traited Meditations, Litany has a very long cast time for its base and potential heal. Even when traiting for Meditations, Shelter is still a better option due to the minor that gives Might on blocks.

Your conclusion that the Scarlet Briar story should have shown some proof of her insanity is correct; your conclusion that the story should have shown significant development and reveals is also correct.

In the recent The Nightmare Ends release, players are finally shown the most evidence to Scarlet’s madness to date… HOWEVER, IT IS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE!

The process that is Scarlet is akin to having a bandage torn off very, very slowly. It has been long, painful, and will leave a red mark once it is removed. The storytelling was sloppy, disjointed, and the character was poorly introduced throughout the past year.

One of the biggest flaws was preventing the player characters from interacting with the antagonist. I don’t count the times Scarlet appears for the final bonus event during an invasion, because she doesn’t leave any loot nor is she actually defeated (killed). The player has foiled her plans again and again, but hasn’t. Each time the players are informed by Scarlet that they failed to defeat her, effectively jerking them around for over a year. This isn’t fun gameplay; this is being a kitten.

Players want to see progress of victory. Sure, Scarlet can get away, but we want to know our victories are getting to her. We want to know we’re picking away at her ego and unraveling her confidence. Sure, we’ve been told exactly twice that we’re upsetting her: once with an exploding “gift,” the other in a cinematic, stating that we should watch our backs. Nevertheless, these threats are empty and show no signs that we’ve put a kink in efforts. This is boring!

I’ve given all the care I wish to give to critiquing the Living Scarlet Briar Story. Frankly, whenever the topic comes up, it tires me out. I know ArenaNet is listening, even telling us when this disaster will be over, but I feel the damage has been done. Folks are upset at what could have been a brilliant story telling technique. Judging their feedback to the community, I believe they’ve learned a lot and have a good idea what to improve for the next living story. Hopefully the message is clear enough, we want to fight the Elder Dragons!

LoneWolfie.1852:

Quite frankly, my death rate has gone up about nearly 500% without sword ‘2’.

500%?

Really?

500% you say?

So you die five times more often because of a quarter of a second cast time? You haven’t tried to use any other stunbreak abilities the rest of us mortals are using, like Shadowstep? You literally die more often because of a fraction of a second?

Buddy, lets be honest with one another: this isn’t really about Sword 2 is it? I mean, come on, are you admitting you were using it as a crutch this whole time? I think its time to take the training wheels off and try a new method.

Despite the fact that I do not enjoy zerging, I do not subscribe to the idea that it is a flawed tactic. There is a place for large armies and larger numbers in warfare, and there is also a place for havoc groups that work asymmetrically. I run with the latter, in small 5-10 man groups. I know what happens when zerg commanders lack the support of roamers, yakslappers and havoc groups: it makes it harder for them to take major objectives, like keeps or castles.

Let the zergs roam free!

Besides, I love having my 5-man lure away an 80-man zerg from Stonemist Castle, allowing my server to take it for the tick.

lakdav.3694:

So…Kasmeer was around the Nightmare Tower, was getting tired, exhausted, and amidst all that mental burden, she could still maintain that illusion.

kitten, the freakin world is in danger! Put some cloths on and reserve your powers for kitten that really matters! Maybe if you stoped concentrating on that loose excuse of mental garment, you could have figured out what to do up there without me pouring the only interactive object on the only obstacle in the chamber.

Well if you want to get all RP about it (and I’m all about RP), she is one of the most useful friendly NPCs in combat that we’ve seen to date. Her Phantasms are larger than other mesmers and they actually help protect the player/party better than say, oh, Logan Tanksthefloor Thackery.

So as for keeping her illusionary clothing on during heated battle, she’s doing just fine. Pity the ESRB will never let us find out what would happen if she lost her concentration.

Friendly fire, in this case, is very friendly and totally legit.

Initiative regeneration feels good. In WvW, I never ran with Infused with Shadow because I preferred having Cloaked in Shadow (Blind) and Shadow’s Embrace (condition cleanse), so this was a significant buff for me.

For PvE, Pistol Whip feels a lot smoother but I really feel the difference when I want to lay down Black Powder back-to-back on trash and maintain over 6 initiative for the 10% damage. Sword 2’s “nerf” hasn’t affected me at all.

I’ve never used the other traits folks are complaining about, and quite frankly I had to look them up to see what the fuss was about. Venoms bore me to tears so the new heal doesn’t appeal to me at all. Overall, the int buff was great and I feel just as mobile and evasive as before.

Madora.9340:

Would you guys still be mad if she showed up under your tree dressed only in a ribbon?

I would likely go blind after my eyes bled out and, after weeks of recovery in a hospital, be transferred to a psychiatric ward where I would be treated for PTSD. My loved ones would come to visit me every week for over a year, weaping and consoling one another as they left, unable to cope with how warped a creature I had become. Eventually, when my scarred psyche reached its breaking point, I would become the image of the monster that appeared under my Wintersday Tree. I would reek havoc across the face of Tyria until I was finally subdued by a band of brave heroes, my body burned and ashes scattered to the wind. Tales of my horrible life would echo throughout eternity as bedtime stories to frighten naughty children. Shiro Tagachi would have nothing compared to me.

Wait, you think making Ascended items is all about standing around a Crafting Station?

Alright, well then, allow me to enlighten you:

Where do you get the wood, metal, leather and cloth to make your Ascended items? Did you buy it all from the Trading Post? Or did you go out into the world, through various level 20-80 zones to farm it all yourself?

Where did you get the Empyreal Fragments to make your Empyreal Stars? Surely not the Trading post. You should have found them on bosses throughout Tyria and the Mists, especially at the end of every dungeon and Fractal.

And speaking of Empyreal Stars, what about your Dragonite Ore to make your Dragonite Ingots? Did you buy them from the Crafting vendor near your Crafting Station? Or did you get them from World Bosses and Legendary Lords in the open world and WvW? You might have even gotten the bulk of it by doing Guild Missions with your buddies!

Gee willikers, sir/ma’am. It sure does sound like you got to see a lot of the world in your effort to craft an Ascended item. Its certainly nice to know you didn’t spend your entire time standing in front of a Crafting Station to make it. In fact, you probably did a lot of content to get there and may have made a few friends along the way.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

…Scarlet Briar.

No. No not really. I know a lot of us have been expecting Ascended armor for quite some time; in fact, Ascended equipment was intended to be in the game at launch.

Frankly, if you’re worried folks aren’t going to play with you because you aren’t sporting head-to-toe, best-in-slot Ascended weapons, you really ought to consider hanging out with a different crowd of people. Besides, Ascended gear for the current explorable dungeons (note: not high-end Fractals) is overkill – anyone who says otherwise is not worth your time.

For WvW, yes, I will certainly be grinding out a set; however, I need to see how it will be rolled out in order for me to plan logistically.

There has been some talk that the armor will be like a set of boxed armor, with all six pieces of one stat set. If that’s the case, that would require me to make two sets, Berserker and Soldiers. This would be considerably expensive and develop into a long-term goal for a short amount of stats.

There is also the talk that Ascended armor may include an additional slot for something other than Infusions – perhaps a second Rune slot. Ascended weapons were exceptional upgrades due to their min-max damage that greatly improved power builds (but not condition, unfortunately). If Ascended armor only increased armor rating by 5%, that would be disappointing.

In short, I would love to eventually upgrade to Ascended (reskinned) armor, but depending on cost-effectiveness, I would either build a set quickly or take my time.

I found it strange to read your comparison between Thief and Ranger. I’ve recently switched my main from a Ranger to a Thief (took me over a year to finally make the choice). The sheer amount of damage and tools a Thief has makes a Ranger pale in comparison. I now understand why Thieves used to focus me in WvW as a Ranger.

I also feel Thieves bring a lot more group support than a Ranger, particularly in WvW. Often times I’ve saved a teammate or friendly from a stomp by covering them with a Shadow Refuge. As a matter of fact, I saved four people last night by doing that; each time the would-be stomper walked away thinking they were successful, then I came up to revive the poor guy or gal.

In terms of damage, Thieves can’t sit back and “pew pew” from a safe distance. They have to be extremely tactical in their approach, hit hard and fast and failing that retreat to set up for another attempt. I do find it extremely frustrating to play a Thief in PvE, especially when the mobs lock onto you in stealth and won’t allow you to hit their backs (stupid Hybrid krait). Additionally, in PvE, Blinds had a reduced effectiveness against Champions; but when you hit a champ for over 25000, you feel real good about yourself.

Josip.8267:

I Do Not Like Scarlet Briar

Here op, I fixed it for you.

Thank you, but I’m afraid you’ve missed the mark. As you can see, the “we” in the title refers to the many who have posted here expressing their dislike of Scarlet Briar. There are a significant amount of players who are giving good, constructive feedback which, hopefully, ArenaNet is reading (I always assume they are).

Whether players like her whole package or find her story unrelatable, the sort of feedback presented here hopefully serves as a good mark for developers to process and adjust to keep their audience satisfied.

To summarize this thread (up to this point), the majority of posters, both lovers and haters of Scarlet, feel that her popping up in everything is becoming overly redundant.

When Scarlet first appeared, she stated she saw the world as “broken” and that she needed to fix it. That’s great motivation for a psychopathic character! However, in the year she’s been in the living story, we have seen no development in her plan to change the world into her image.

In The Dark Knight, the Joker manipulated Gotham and caused wide-spread chaos, forcing people to do terrible things. In his mind, that was how the world worked and he wanted to showcase that. With Scarlet, we don’t have any of those developments and, in fact, the world continues to operate as it always has. Just as we defeated the Molten Alliance and destroyed their sonic devices, so too will we destroy the Tower of Nightmares and keep on doing what we did before. This is where the poor writing of Scarlet Briar’s story is flawed.

Scarlet created of the Mursaat, freed Shiro Tagachi, ate Kormir’s eyes, started the War in Kryta, lured the charr to Ascalon and brought humans to Tyria. Ultimately, she will be responsible for the development of a game called “Guild Wars 2.”

You think I’m joking? Just you wait!

That’s wonderful! Perhaps we may see bags that will sort rarity as well someday.

I’m glad ArenaNet’s developers are listening (unlike their writing team coughScarletBriarcough).

Please stop spoonfeeding us Scarlet Briar! For the love of all that is holy, we’re sick of her! She’s not a fun character, she’s not a “love to hate” type of villain. She’s bad and terrible and we want to fight Dragons again! Why is that so hard to write about? You left us hanging with Zhaitan after Arah? Why is it so hard to go back and continue that storyline?

I play a sylvari. I’m even a roleplayer. I appreciate the idea of a sylvari villain, but Scarlet is not a good character. She’s just annoying, so why did you inject her into Thaumanova’s story? The story of the Living Story is just not fun anymore. Please stop with Scarlet – lets kill her and fight the dragons (or even the White Mantle again), please.

Why the would you be standing in AoE to begin with? I mean, far be it for me, a lowly WvWer to question the vastly superior skills of a Tournament PvPer, but I find the concept of standing in “The Stupid” to be pretty universal: Don’t bloody do it!

I don’t get why everyone believes that every class should do everything well. Yes, I get that the original big deal about GW2 was that there is no Holy Trinity, that there are a variety of builds each class can do. However, when did that ever mean that every class can do everything another class can do and just as effectively? Each class has their own niches and Thieves have Stealth – deal with it or roll a class that suits you better!

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

…The weapons are skins now…

Does this imply they are also tradeable or able to be listed on the Trade Post? Or will they remain accountbound?

Salvage into Ascended crafted items.

Ouimette.5902:

I gotta say, that trailer got me so pumped for GW2. Even though everything shown was already familiar it was so well done. The trailer made it look like it was like a minor teaser for an upcoming expansion or similar.

Thumbs up Anet!

Indeed! I expected a lot more negative criticism of the video for showing the fractals we already know, but I’m glad others feel the same as I do: that video was exceptionally well done!