Guild Wars 2

I have followed the Guild Wars franchise since 2006. With this new Sept Feature pack revelation, the game is not looking good. They’re “leaving money on the table” when it comes to us vets. There is very little in the Sept Feature Pack for long-time players. We shall see how GW2 fares against its giant American and Japanese competitors in the next few months. The US competition has a major expansion coming out this November. After what I’ve seen in the expansion’s trailer, Blizzard is looking to grab GW2 fans to their side.

Two years and no GW2 expansion in sight. Worse, Guild Wars 2 is taking the very risky Asian-MMO-route in North America. I’m old enough to have seen many Asian MMOs fail in the US. The only Asian MMOs that made it here financially are Final Fantasy 14 and MapleStory. I know that MapleStory had to make major adjustments to its game to appeal to NA players.

We shall see how this all pans out. I love this game very much, and I don’t want to see it fail. Let’s hope there is something really good in future updates!

Behellagh.1468:

@kta – But it’s a waste of time to discuss a topic that they have no interest or ability in ever implementing. I mean why waste time on mounts, duels, raids, trinity, etc. if it violates their vision or would require a large amount of coding to implement. The devs know the code base. The designers know what features violate their philosophy. So instead of wasting time on topics that will never come to pass, it’s better to talk about what they are willing to do.

I can think of a few subjects that wouldn’t violate the GW2 vision.

Here are some subjects I’d love to see covered:

—Guild events (We really could use new bounties, new missions, new rushes, and the return of Guild vs Guild. For those who never played GW1, Guild vs Guild was a WvW-styled capture the flag game. )

—Dungeon design and exploits (I’d esp. love a discussion on Arah explorable as well as a talk about creating new dungeons)

—Super Adventure Box (I have an idea on how this could become part of LS. I’m also disturbed that an Infinite Coin was sold via the gemshop during the last event, and Anet has no idea when they’re going to bring back SAB. I never played SAB or bought the coin. I do buy from the gemshop at least once a month.)

—In-game communication tools (We really need Alliance chat for the guilds. Roleplayers need a separate RP chat because Say chat / map chat is used by regular gamers on busy maps.)

Oak da Vite.9054:

Great topic!

Now it is important to know how the CDI will work. The last CDI’s were partly horrible because…

1. In many CDIs there was no feedback on the ideas. Everybody posted his/her idea without reading the forums wheather this topic was alredy mentioned or discussed before.

I understand where you’re coming from. I think we have to be a bit more realistic about this.

Sometimes there is feedback, but the feedback is negative. I don’t mean constructive criticism either.

Sometimes the CDIs get so large that people can’t go through 10 or 20 pages of ideas. I remember that this happened with the last Fractal CDI months ago. In a thread that is 2 pages long, it’s easier to read all the posts and respond. Not so in a giant thread.

Many of us have real life obligations outside this game. There are lots of folks who don’t have several hours to devote to reading every comment in a giant 20 page thread. For example: I’m an animator in real life. I’m not a teen with gobs of time to waste. I’ve got to concentrate on my drawing, family, job search, school, and writing. I take time out of my day to come onto these forums, share ideas, point out problems, and come up with possible solutions. There are days when I only have time to respond to a couple threads.

Just something to consider and think about.

Zoso.8279:

Voting is over. Tip for the forums try to read full topic before writing. “We” players have to learn to read what developers post and not just type what we want.

Sorry if I “sound” like a D*** re-reading my post kinda feels that way but not trying to be!

Don’t worry about it.

I’m really surprised to see the answers in this thread because folks were so ticked at Anet a couple weeks back. They felt the devs weren’t listening to them. The players wanted the power to influence the game, and Chris gave it to them by re-opening the CDIs. Now these players just want to give away their power by letting Anet pick the topic? Who plays the game more: the players or the devs?

Some of the devs play the game. I’ve noticed that they tend to design the game from a dev POV instead of a player POV. That’s terrible because it has led to bad game design. unnecessary nerfing, exploits, and banning folks for playing the game. The Arah explorable dungeon paths are a very good example of this.

If Anet takes over and people start to complain on the forums, I will refer folks back to this thread. I will say, “YOU gave away your chance to influence things. Don’t complain. This is what happens when you give away your power. Remember that.”

There are alot of areas in the game that have been ignored for too long. I really think that players need to take the floor with this new set of CDIs regardless of the votes. I don’t want to see another riot and troll-fest.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Hi All,

The CDI is starting up again. How would you like the topic/s to be chosen for this round.

Here are you options for now:

1: Anet chooses.
2: You list your number 1 topic and the one with the must number of votes wins.

Note: This isn’t a call for topics just asking how to pick them(-:

Chris

I choose NUMBER 2. The number one topic is Super Adventure Box!

During OccupySAB2014, we’re the ones who demanded to have communication with the devs. We players should be the ones choosing the topics. Plus, we spend more time playing the game than the devs. (No offense intended). There are many areas of the game that have been neglected because of the devs’ attention to LS and the Sept Feature Pack.

There are some things with SAB that should be rectified before turning our attention to the other GW2 topics.

Nightbringer Tenchi.5794:

Number 1) at the start of the vision we see a face shaped by branches, and now with Points of Interest concluded for now we know 1 thing to be certan. Faolain is involved. the branches shape almost the shape of faolains face, Scarlet seemed to act in a way similar to the Nobles in Twilight Arbor and the armor from that dungeon is composed of vines, thin leaves and thorns, resembling the tendrels of mordremoth.

I’m going to disagree with this until more evidence shows up to prove that Faolain is behind this. Here are my reasons:

(1) Last month, Angel McCoy said, “We make every effort to say only truth in our interviews, but the reality is that interviews are simply not as reliable as what you see in the game.” You can find her entire forum post here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/lore/lore/Interesting-things-in-Scarlet-s-Room-Spoilers/page/5#post4193104

Points of Interest is a very good show, but it’s only meant for entertainment. The devs could give us a red herring during any of these interviews. The only reliable story information is what we players find in the game.

(2) If Faolain wants to murder her mother, what is her motive? Why would she want to be Mordie’s champion? Faolain is a firstborn with a domineering personality. Heck, she dominated Caedyn, the founder of the Nightmare Court.

In the White Stag / Where life goes Sylvari storyline, we learn that the Nightmare court wants to turn the Pale Tree to the Nightmare. The last time the Sylvari PCs saw her was in the Light in the Darkness personal story step. Non-Sylvari last saw her at the end of the TA dungeon story when Caithe told off Faolain. I haven’t seen anything in the game that indicates the Duchess of the Nightmare Court wants to kill her mother or be Mordie’s champion.

TO EVERYONE: If you haven’t played the Sylvari storyline, I recommend doing so. You’ll get alot of info on the Nightmare court and their mission. You’ll also get to see the first time the Shadow of the Dragon shows up in the GW lore! I recommend picking the White Stag storyline and making your character’s philosophy “Where Life Goes, so too, should you.” If your character is cycle of dusk or cycle of night you’ll get access to some extra information during the early parts of the story as well as info in the Grove.

If you decide to go with the Moon Storyline, you’ll get to see the inner workings of the Court

I’m going to be laughing if Modremoth really does look like Audrey II!

Mawdrey backpiece stage 1: Complete!
On to stage 2!

Rauderi.8706:

Gawd, if they can’t get Charr armor right, what makes you think Jellyfish will get stuff that doesn’t clip with every tentacle?

/fake-rage

Nah… they won’t need regular armor. Jellyfish have natural armor based on what they eat!

Holding weapons is a whole other story tho. I can hardly wait till they release the Jellyfish Engie!

Shivan.9438:

Nah nah nah.. Dave Willis, as the voice of Meat Wad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Definately! Dave Willis has the perfect male Jellyfish voice! Now we need the perfect FEMALE jellyfish voice!

I think Jellyfish PCs and a Jellyfish Personal Story will be perfect for April Fools 2015! Make it happen, Anet! <3

And they’re squishy too! We already have a few squishy classes. Do we really want a squishy race?

Squishy race + Squishy class = “This won’t end well.” :P

BrunoBRS.5178:

on today’s points of interest, peter fries confirmed that scarlet will be brought back, and ally herself with trahearne.

Wait a minute… I thought the whole Scarlet-comes-back-to-marry-Trahearne-and-have-his-babies was supposed to be a joke!

If that ever does happen, it will be hilarious to see the reaction of the Scarlet haters! LOL!

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Getting dangerously close into territory of “calling out an ANet employee” . . . can we trim it back some?

Done! D…. censorship! If it’s still not good enough, let me know.

I’m still shocked about the writers’ backgrounds tho.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Considering Josh said he made it on his spare time, I’m not sure how much he was paid….

I’m also not sure that saying it won’t be released again during Living Story Season Two makes it long-term or permanently abandoned. I thought players were up in arms over how short Season Two was supposed to be, seeing it’s on ‘mid-season break’.

But, if people want to ‘riot’ about it…..not much can be said to people in that state of mind. /shrug

The best part: The in-game riot was very entertaining to watch! I loved taking screenshots of the action too!

I was hoping for Anet to pop their tags in Rata Sum on the TC world but that didn’t happen.

The riot showed how much people love this game.

You can find all my screenshots here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Super-Adventure-Box-merged-1/page/6#post4307970

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Super-Adventure-Box-merged-1/page/6#post4308018

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Super-Adventure-Box-merged-1/page/6#post4308056

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Super-Adventure-Box-merged-1/page/6#post4308089

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Super-Adventure-Box-merged-1/page/6#post4308136

lordkrall.7241:

Interestingly enough not many people did seem to miss SAB until the interview yesterday, and yet now it seems like it is the most missed thing ever released in the game.

People have been telling Anet to re-release a permanent SAB since Christmas 2013. The SAB threads have been popping up alot between then and now. Just because there wasn’t an SAB thread every single moment of every day doesn’t mean that people forgot about it. Yesterday’s protest proved that folks are waiting for it.

Mckeone.9804:

To be fair, Jeff Grub was involved with GW: EOTN and also has a much deeper background in writing fantasy novels. Angel McCoy wrote a lot of source material for Changeling and other White Wolf products, and a handful of short stories IIRC.

Okay so this is Jeff Grubb’s second cRPG and Angel’s first cRPG.

That’s really not enough experience when it comes to making video games. There is a big difference between computer RPGs and D&D. The only really successful D&D video game ventures have been Baldur’s Gate and Planescape Torment. Those two games barely made a profit even though they were awesome. Final Fantasy and Zelda were way more successful than either D&D game back in the 90s. FF and Zelda remained king of cRPGs until WoW came along.

Video games are very different from other mediums. cRPGs require a different approach since people are used to the instant satisfaction that games like WoW and Final Fantasy give to players. It helps to regularly play video games (even foreign ones) to learn how games affect the players and study the game mechanics.

Major NPCs, major items and most of the quests in the player character’s environment are used to tell the story in a cRPG. A good example was the spinal blade backpack. We needed the spinal blades to enter the instance where we could peg Scarlet. Even the blueprints pushed the story and mystery forward by having the following words printed on it:

“Caithe, someday you’ll see. Tyria needs me.” — Scarlet

People who played the Aetherblade dungeon know that Caithe and Scarlet had a conflict with each other. It’s well known that Scarlet knew Caithe’s secret. The spinal blades reminded the players about the conflict. That’s why we’re still talking about Caithe’s secret on the forums. It’s very important to the storyline. It also made the audience care.

In contrast, the Mawdrey backpack doesn’t have any storyline or any importance to the current tale. Neither do the insect weapons. We’re just making it for the sake of making an item. Why do we need to make the backpack? How important is it to the character? Will it unlock some hidden area? Wll Maudrey become like an NPC hero and help us in our fights? Will the insect weapons give us cool, unique powers to help us fight Mordremoth? Will either item provide protection against Mordie’s Torment status attacks?

As a writer, if something doesn’t push a story forward, I’ll cut it. Learning how to self-edit is just as important as writing.

CrashTestAuto.9108:

The nasty threads have become more prevalent because people are becoming angrier at the way the community as a whole is being treated, as well as many of the directions the game has taken.

Regardless, ignoring the whole customer base because a proportion of it behaved badly is not appropriate. There are many perfectly polite paying customers whose concerns should be addressed.

Agreed. Plus the SAB protesters feel cheated. They bought the Infinite Coin from the gemshop, and Anet has no intentions of re-releasing SAB. That action alone is causing these people to lose trust in Anet.

I do think the SAB announcement is a way of punishing fans, but it will come back to bite Anet financially unless they rectify it. In my view, a permanent SAB would be a quick way to make money and generate interest in the game. It also provides an alternative to those who don’t like Living Story.

Sethren.8472:

…A vocal minority’s nastiness does not justify ANet “taking their toys and going home.” ANet should be the bigger person and continue talking anyway. The trolls will be ignored, they won’t get the reaction they’re wanting, and they’ll get bored and leave. ANet’s silence isn’t doing them any favors. Throwing the baby out with the bath water is never justified, no matter how you twist it.

One of the first lesson I learned at the Art Institute of Seattle was this: Develop your rhino skin because you will get criticism no matter what you do. Some of that criticism will hurt, but it’s always up to us to determine how we react.

As I explained in another post, there are always complainers (esp. on American jobs). Every job I’ve ever been on has them. In fast food, I got customer complaints about cold food and missing happy meal toys. In medical, patients complained and tried to manipulate me when the doctor refused to issue them another Vicodin prescription. In animation, I had a teacher verbally tear me apart for having a sucky portfolio (I had too many cartoons and not enough realistic art). On a telemarketing job, I had an a supervisor that complained that I wasn’t making 10 sales a week (I was making 3 sales a week which was average for Time Warner). I had a co-worker complain that I wasn’t sad enough when she criticized me. Some of the complaints were true. Others were false. There were plenty of nasty complaints that hurt my feelings too. How did I handle it? If the complaint was true, I learned from my mistake and moved on. If it was false, I made the complainer feel as if I heard them, and I moved on with my life.

Mckeone.9804:

That sad part is, Jeff Grub is on the writing staff. He should know better. He used to write DragonLance novels for TSR, and the original DragonLance trilogy by Weiss and Hickman is one of my favorite fantasy series in terms of characterization. I thought the authors did a great job of showing how a group of people changed in response to events; struggled with insecurity, stereotype, and desires; and ultimately developed as separate individuals over time.

I didn’t know there’s a Dragonlance author on the Anet writing team.

I remember reading a few Dragonlance novels in my early 20s. Never could get into the series because the stories had very slow character development. I’m more of a Planescape / Legend of Zelda /Final Fantasy / LOTR fan.

So now we have two people on the writing team who are used to writing regular stories (Jeff Grub & Angel McCoy). That means this game is their first time writing CRPGs. That definitely explains:

—why we have DE 2.0 in the first place and the vast departure from the GW1 storytelling.

—the slow character development

—Why GW2 sometimes feels like it’s Dev vs. Player. GM vs Player is a common thing in D&D.

Alice.8694:

Fairly sure this is a none issue, they will definitely offer a refund if they conclude they aren’t going forward with SAB. I even seem to recall they said the life of SAB was solely based on how popular and useful it becomes. So you can’t say they didn’t warn anyone.

Anet never offered refunds when they took away peoples’ town clothes and turn them into tonics. I was one of those folks who never got a refund. I doubt they will refund the money the SAB fans spent on the coins.

Alice.8694:

I don’t personally think Anet should be moderating chat outside of abusive behavior anyway… But if a lack of chat moderation is the price to pay for fuller and more viable areas in the world. I’m okay with this…

I disagree on this one. It’s not okay. There are minors that play this game, and it’s well known that online bullying does cause some kids to commit suicide. As an adult, I’m mentally and emotionally strong enough to handle bullies and trolls. A teenager is a whole other story.

Alice.8694:

It took them a few months to cut down on sellers and bots but when they did the effect was profound. Give them time on this one.

It’s true that I’m seeing a decrease in sellers, but I’m still getting gold seller whispers whenever I RP. Grrr…

Alice.8694:

I facepalmed pretty hard at this one… Never gonna happen, don’t be absurd.

Want to bet? Please see: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Impending-Character-Death/first#post3611600

Six months ago, Anet did have plans to kill off Jory. See these links:

(1)http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/20w3zg/spoilers_how_the_living_story_ending_was_changed/

(2)https://soundcloud.com/that_shaman/from-the-cutting-room-floor

Then a bunch of fans (including me) complained. I made a list of every romantic couple that got killed in the game’s Sylvari storyline. I’m not a fan of the the human girls, but there were alot of folks who loved Jory & Kasmeer at the time. I do love seeing romance in a game story, and I was tired of seeing death cliches in the storyline. I remember how happy & surprised I was when I saw that my words had impact on the game.

I’m starting to see the attack on the Pale Tree as revenge for saving a human homosexual couple’s lives. The devs (esp. the QA and Programming devs) know that my main and second are Sylvari. I even had the opportunity to talk to them in-game, so many know that I’m a Sylvari fan / RPer. The current situation with the Pale Tree makes for great drama. On the other hand, I don’t want to see the Sylvari RP community die either. It’s a small community that has to rely on party, whisper, and guild chats to RP thanks to the megaserver troll.s

I’m glad you agreed with me on the Progression issue, Alice. Now if only we could get the devs attention to that particular issue…

Smokey.7652:

ANet was originally very open about their development, but the vocal negative minority of the community crushed that and forced ANet to be more selective with what they release to the public.

Dev Player communication is a two way street of respect, the community dropped the ball early on and now we have to deal with the consequences of that.

They also have to be quiet for legal reasons too. They can’t promise something until it’s almost time for release.

As for Dev / Player communication, just thank God that we’re not in Japan .I’ve seen fans from Japan have meltdowns when a game is not living up to expectation. What we’re seeing on this forum isn’t all that bad. The community here is alot more tame.

In the US, everything from fast food to medical has its share of complainers. I’ve experienced alot of this and worse in my working life. If everyone quit because of a complaint, the US wouldn’t be operating right now.

Here’s the positive way to look at this game’s situation: If people really hated this game, they would of left by now.

Yargesh.4965:

I really agree with this. People are upset sure but they are coming across as throwing a hissy fit in public so mom and dad get embarrassed and give in to threats. Sorry guys won’t happen.

I don’t see it as a hissy fit. There are legit problems with the game, and fans have taken time out of their day to communicate the problems to the devs. Just like last April, we’re all getting ignored while the devs implement another giant patch. There is no confirmation that the devs have heard every one of our opinions. In-game, many of us are getting slaps in the face despite our patronage. Let me count the ways:

— the 800 gem($10) SAB infinite play coin. SAB fans can’t use it because there isn’t any more SAB.

— No moderation since megaserver was implemented. I’ve gotten kitten threats (aka sexual assault threats) since the megaserver was installed. One person even told me to go commit suicide! I’ve also witnessed Anti-American messages being posted, and the devs do nothing about it. When a parent came on the forums recently to ask if this game is appropriate for her 11 year old girl, I had to say “NO.” I would hate to see a kid getting the same messages I’m receiving in the game. FYI — Both RPers and non-RP guilds are getting trolls harassing them all the time. I’ve seen my guild and our allies getting trolled alot.

—Gold sellers over-riding the game’s block system. I’ve gotten whispers from gold sellers who are on my block list.

— Nothing is being done about the various exploits and bugs in Arah and Orr. If a new player unknowingly uses the exploits, they could get perma-banned from the game.

— The possibility of the Sylvari race being erased from the game. If the Pale Tree dies, that means the Sylvari would go extinct according to the game’s lore, and it would also mean destruction of the Grove. I’m glad that I never bought the 900 gem Home Portal Stone from the gemshop (You can find it if you click the Services tab). It will be useless for me & other Sylvari players if the Grove were to disappear. Destruction of the Sylvari race will destroy the entire Sylvari RP community and discourage new players from rolling Sylvari.

—Lack of Progression after lv. 80. The backpacks are cute, but they’re not enough to keep regular gamers playing GW2. Many of the folks I’ve known have left the game because they maxed out everything (including getting all the legendaries and high-level PvP / WvW ranks).

EDIT: I forgot a couple things…

— Alliance chat. Our guilds need alliance chats to keep them together. This is needed esp. for the WvW guilds.

—RP chat. Yes, we RPers could use Say chat and /me chat when no one else is using it. It’s a problem when others are using Say chat to communicate with regular gamers on the map. /ME chat is attached to say chat. If I deselect the Say chat, I won’t see any of the messages from /ME chat. Large groups of RPers (anything larger than 5 people) can’t use squad chat because non-RPers are trained to flock to the blue dorito. Having our own RP chat will cut down on non-RP distractions while still being a part of megaserver.

To me, these are the main problems atm.

If this keeps up, “This won’t end well.”

IvanTheGrey.2941:

You simply DO NOT MATTER to ANet or NCSoft, unless you’re buying gems.

Ah! Ah! ah! Not so fast!

Myself and my AARM guildies have been buying gems for months. Some of our members have even been in this game since launch. Anet doesn’t listen to us gem-buyers either.

You’ll find more TC server SAB protest pics here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/SAB-Protest-going-on-right-now/first#post4307970

Protesting some more..

And yet more pics!

At least the Peacemakers sent out one person to keep the peace… kinda… sorta…

More piccies!

Even the Hulk joined the group to show his support for the protesters!

This group has been growing since today’s sad announcement regarding Super Adventure Box (SAB). The last time I saw this many angry people was when TTS protested the new World Boss Timer last April.

Quick! Someone call the Peacemakers!

Scroll down for more pics! Feel free to add your protest pictures here!

Andred.1087:

I think it’s worth pointing out this game isn’t made for adults. Obviously not saying adults aren’t part of the target market, but surely not the largest part. There’s a reason it’s rated T, and it probably isn’t because the writers wanted to spent their days writing the cheesiest dialogue since, well, yes, Scooby Doo.

Alot of us here talking about the game’s story because we all bought the game for the story. Plus the Anet team did use the game’s story to advertise the game.

The bar is set very high for RPGs, thanks to Teen-rated games like:

Baldur’s Gate
Planescape Torment
Divinity original sin
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 8
Final Fantasy 9
ChronoTrigger
The Last Story

There are even some E-rated RPG games that have high-quality, endearing storylines too :

Legend of Zelda (everything from A Link to the Past to Skyward Sword has an endearing storyline)

Kingdom Hearts

Just because GW2 is an MMORPG doesn’t mean that it can’t have a good storyline. Even WoW’s Mists of Pandaria has a pretty good general storyline.

Yes, there are plenty of adults who like all of the games I’ve mentioned.

My guess is that the writing team is limited to only a handful of people. This game is way too large for a small group of writers to take on. IMO, what Arena Net needs are writers who can submit game manuscripts to the company. Hmmm… I think I’ll contact Anet’s HR and ask them about that.

If this were a TV show, I’d be writing spec scripts and submitting them ASAP.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Everyone! Stop crafting the new backpack of Mawdrey and Mawdrey II! It’s a trap, a trap to doom Tyria!

Don’t you think it’s odd? ArenaNet, before Season 2, began said that they want player choice to be bigger in Season 2 than Season 1 (where we had the election). But where is that choice? It certainly isn’t obvious. But what can ArenaNet monitor so well that not everyone doing the main story will do? It’s obvious, right? It’s the backpacks! Crafting, or not crafting, the backpacks will affect the future of the Living Story. How, you might ask? Why would this bring about the doom of Tyria? Because they’ll overgrow us and take over in the name of Mordremoth!

In 4 months time, when ArenaNet has had a chance to analize the results and build upon them, the backpacks will grow and the lies of their description being kind and cuddly will be revealed. They will stretch those tendrils around our characters necks and strangle them like they have done to so many NPCs around the world, and our characters will not be revive-able – for they are no longer knocked out like the defeated state, they are dead, and resurrection magic doesn’t exist anymore. Then with the heroes of Tyria gone, Mordremoth’s forces will spread ever eastward, a new day a new zone! And if most instances of the map doesn’t push back Mordremoth’s forces, they’ll take over. But because of all the backpacks, there won’t be enough level 80s to eliminate the threat in Dry Top, our characters that we’ll have to remake will be too low level to do anything in Brisban, and when they reach Rata Sum – no more asuran characters! When they reach the Grove – no more sylvari characters! Divinity’s Reach? The same! Hoelbrak and Black Citadel! You guessed it! And then, when Mordremoth’s forces inevitable encroach on the last bastions of Tyria, Ebonhawke and Deathblade’s Watch, and they fall, the PvE servers, and the game will be nothing but WvW and sPvP. The world of Tyria will be Mordremoth’s vineyard.

ROTFLMAO!!! I really can’t believe that cute little Mawdrey is the key to our doom! Our little plant pet even gives us gifts in exchange for bloodstone dust! How can you not trust our spiky friend? Even the ladies love and trust him! :P

Let me guess: You’ve been hanging out with Eiddolen (aka Wreaver), haven’t you? This sounds alot like one of Wreaver’s hypothesis. If you haven’t met Eiddolen, you guys should meet in-game. I’m pretty sure your characters would have alot in common!

You and Eiddolen are two cute little peas in a pod! LOL!

To answer the OP’s question: Prepare for cataclysm.

I’m concerned that the devs want to destroy the Sylvari. Pale Tree is the only one protecting them from Mordremoth’s influence. Worse, she is the only one who can give birth to new Sylvari.

Durzlla.6295:

What’s with all the hatred towards the Pale Tree and Sylvari O.o?

They don’t play Sylvari. The haters only play human warriors. There are some types of MMO players who try to get game devs to ixnay certain classes & races they don’t like . All their anger is unfounded. If these folks actually play all three Sylvari storylines, they would better understand the game’s storyline.

I’ve seen these types before. WoW has a similar breed of players who try to get Blizzard to get rid of the Pandarans, but at least Blizzard is smart enough to ignore them. I’m not so sure about Anet tho.

Another reason some people are hatin’: The LS seems to be really focused on the Sylvari, and that frustrates those who choose to play other races.

Nageth.5648:

Do only Sylvari see Caithe? I mean she walks right in front of you if you stand near Taimi after the procession. She is standing just south of the gate before that, really hard to miss. She completely vanished after that, though.

I doubt she would be responsible unless she snapped since we last saw her. She seems to want to protect the pale tree every other time in the past, I have no idea why she’d suddenly want to kill the pale tree when she had plenty of opportunity in the past.

It could be that those instances were bugged. I went through Episode 4 two times: Once on my main and the second time with my guild (a human character opened the instance). I didn’t see Caithe at all. I did hear the Quaggans mentions her, but that was it.

I’ll go through again for achievements. If I don’t see her, I’ll take screenshots and post them in the bug forum.

More Piccies!

Lazuli, my second character, visted her ailing mother this morning!

BTW, the dialog for the Avatar of the Pale Tree says that she is breathing. Mama is in a coma.

Lazuli: “Mum, I’m here for you.”

Autumnmane.3574:

Is in any coincidence that everywhere Bloomanoo and Penelopee go, things get borked? The tower of nightmares, Lions Arch, Fort Salma and now this? <.< >.>

Our poor Quaggan couple is cursed…

I thought that was weird too. Only the wardens and Sylvari PCs showed concern.

You’d think that the Firstborn would scream and run to their mother’s aid. Instead, they’re nowhere to be found when the PCs are fighting the dragon.

Maybe Anet just forgot to add their reaction to the scene OR there might be foul play at work. Just a thought.

(Some people are saying that they saw Caithe in this part of the episode, but she was non-existant in my instance. Hm…)

“Mum…” ;_;

sob… sniffle… sob…

“A moment of silence please…”

((You can find more pics here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/s2/SPOILERS-NOOOOOOOO/first#post4290036))

Gany.1793:

THEORY: At the end of Tower of Nightmares Scarlet retrieves something from the Toxic Hybrid cocoon and then dashes off to places unknown. Perhaps what she retrieved was a seed. A seed she took back to her leyline hub lab, where she had been mining Ley Line Infused rocks to make a Lay Line Infused Clay pot. She then plants the seed and packs it with some yummy food and stashes it in the pool of leyline energy. She then uses her thumpers to find a pool of ley line energy that will polarize the clay pot so her seed will bloom when it comes into contact with it. She then uses her giant drill to access that pool and sends a shockwave through it to send its special polarizing nature through the ley lines to her waiting proto plant. Of course, the waves doesn’t just stop there and, bonus, she wakes up a sleeping dragon. The purpose, however, is just to give birth to her seed.

So we really are growing Scarlet’s little baby! LOL! I thought that backpiece looked too much like a bundled-up human baby.

I’m still hoping that the backpiece will be sentient! Yes, i’m being serious. For my Sylvari couple, it will be like having a kid! One can only hope!

Brannidus.4175:

It all makes sense now…

The alliance forming, the zone invading, showing up at every festival…

the alliances were her bots, the invasions were farming, and she attended every festival to get the rewards early so she could sell them on TP while they were still pricy.

She just needed money for all the plant food and foxfire clusters!

That definitely explains everything that happened in Season 1! LOL!!

Bumped because of this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Please-do-kill-off-Trahearne

Kain Francois.4328:

I REALLY want to see Trahearne at a moot, actually…

ANET, if you readin’ dis, make it happen!

Yes! I want to see drunk Trahearne in this game! I’m hoping that he will give us the details of his REAL relationship with Riannoc if he’s drunk. LOL! XD

Behellagh.1468:

Why do I see your 1-5 under “play the game your way” is all about the trait changes from April. Well that and discouraging degenerate play styles which caused them to nerf loot to keep inflation to a minimum and the intro zone champ trains.

I’m going to respond to this one.

What is being called “degenerate play styles” is called “Progression” in the United States. Almost every game here makes its money from players to go after champs and other monsters. It’s what Americans pay for when they subscribe to MMOs or buy access to a game like GW2. Yeah, i know that’s weird, but it’s what sells here.

The last time I saw a game like this was when Ragnarok Online was brought to the US. In RO, people leveled up their characters to the point where there was nothing left except socializing. In Japan and Korea, people are more willing to stick to such games because the gamers value socializing over progression. Not so in the U.S. where Americans thrive on endgame content. I know this from playing various MMOs (and simillar types of games) over the last 17 years on NA, EU, and Asian servers. The only thing keeping me in this game is the RP, the Sylvari storyline, and my need to see how the GW2 storyline ends. I also help the newer players when I can.

I’ve got alot of Progression-obsessed friends going back to WoW or heading over to ArcheAge. We’re losing alot of good guilds & players because of the situation with the content and progression. This is bad for newer players because there are less to people to teach others to master the harder classes like Mesmer and Ranger.

Lucky! I wish I got that stuff while farming. I only get greens and blues these days. My magic find is 117% too.

Shriketalon.1937:

For instance, the Arenanet writers loved Scarlet Briar. Obsessively. They loved her attitude, her army, her intelligence, her machinations, her steampunk theme, and her backstory. And that’s where we got the entire Scarlet problem in the first place: they always let her win. There’s a good Pixar storytelling quote that says that people admire a character for their efforts, not their success. We see struggle as a valiant effort, regardless of the outcome, and Scarlet never struggled at all.

You’re right about people admiring characters for their efforts. What you said about Scarlet is true as well.

Don’t forget that the Scooby gang doesn’t struggle when they are looking for clues. Oftentimes, they only find the bad guys through dumb luck. Shaggy’s & Scooby’s attempts to run away from the scary monsters often cause them to bump into the real bad guys. The biconics are the same way. That’s why I agreed with the OP’s analogy.

Dusty Moon.4382:

Most times they are not. Rift had this issue with the Saboteur profession at the beginning and Trion listened to the whiney players and nerfed that profession into oblivion. It was unplayable and it was originally a glass cannon but people wanted a nerf rather than learn how to play against it.

The same thing has happened in GW2 to Engineer & Ranger. Those two classes are the least utilized professions in the game. They’re easy to learn, but it take a long time to master. People (who don’t even play these classes) complained about these classes, and Anet did nerf them into oblivion last spring. Some players believe that warriors should be OP in all games. They couldn’t stand it when Engies and Rangers could easily compete with them. Engie’s original nickname is “the commando class” while Rangers are known as “warriors with pets”. Anyways, the excess nerfing is what caused me to come onto the forums in the first place. My main is Engie, and my second is a Ranger.

FYI — I can tell that Anet doesn’t ever beta test while playing an Engineer. I chose to remain an Engie because I can identify bugs and problems as they arise.

The solution to this problem: In-Game tutorials would help players learn their class better. Maplestory has picture tutorials in their game that shows the different abilities and combo moves of a particular class. I think if GW2 utlizes a tutorial, it would help players out. Guilds should help & require all players (esp. the youngsters) to master their class just like on World of Warcraft.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Astral Projections.7320:

There are Risen bulls. Why not Risen Bunnies? Bunnies have a right to be undead too.

Very true

Wonder if they’d explode like the chickens?

They could always be like the vicious Monty Python rabbit!

Durzlla.6295:

Zaxares.5419:

Raisin Face is almost certainly dead, unfortunately.

However, i’d MUCH rather them kill Queen Jenna because of the disastrous consequences that’d come with her death. Aka huge power vacuum in the human kingdom when they need unity the most. And i know a lot of people are screaming for Pale Tree death, but in all honesty you can’t do that without completely and utterly destroying the Grove, which i don’t see happening anytime soon.

A lot of people seem to forget that The Grove IS the Pale Tree, the Avatar of the Pale Tree (aka the model we all see) is just how she communicates with people, it’s not her actual body.

Exactly! Jennah is story fodder. Kill her and you’ll get lots of drama and mayhem!

Unlike LA, the Grove won’t be rebuilt when the Pale Tree dies. I also want to find out her role in the Tyrian universe.

Astral Projections.7320:

Here is a leaked picture where Mordremoth’s about to chow down on Kasmeer.

Cuz I’m a mean and green, and I am BAD!
Bye bye Kassmeeerrr.

ROTFLMAO!!!

Next on LS 2: Mordie kidnaps Kasmeer and makes her into his lover! (See? There was a reason that Mordie killed Jory’s sister. He needed to distract Jory!)

I support this too!

Kain Francois.4328:

Reading Ask-Marshall-Trahearne Tumblr page and all the memes associated with him, really made me love Trahearne all that much more.

For any of you who didn’t know, Trahearne is a grumpy alcoholic who makes wonderful, drunken love with Riannoc.

How could you not like this guy!?

I’ve seen that page too! Trahearne has the same appeal as Grumpy Cat! If only he had been presented in-game as the Riannoc-loving, grumpy alcoholic! LOL!

Last season, I suggested to the devs that they should get rid of DE 2.0. At that time, they had a year and a half to develop the characters and make them believable. I even provided links to Writers Digest articles and books that could help the writing team’s work sparkle. It seems that they have ignored my suggestions.

There are lot of players who don’t care about these characters. In reality, the only characters the gamers care about are their own PCs.

I agree that DE 2.0 has gone the way of DE 1.0. Calling them a Scooby rip-off is a really accurate analogy. As I’ve said in couple recent posts, the writers are writing about characters that they have no interest in. When a writer is not creating what they love, the characters become one-dimensional and the story falls flat.

Job-O-Tron was a side character that I cared about. I learned about his story really late in the game, but I still love the little golem anyways. I hope we see him again.

You never know… It makes a Sylvari character look like they’re carrying a little bundle-of-joy on their back! LOL!!!

It might be a baby tree or a carnivorous plant (like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors). I’m really hoping that this plant will be sentient.

Kalavier.1097:

Frankly, if they went a “EVERYBODY DIES!” end scene for an episode, I’d be very unhappy. I HATE those types of endings, hence why I disliked most Call of Duty games I’ve played, because you reach the end, you defeat the bad guy, and everybody but you and maybe one or two others is dead. Way to make me feel like I won.

It’s a sign of the times. People like to watch characters die because of their exposure to the War on Terror. I don’t mind fiction that helps people process real-life events in a fantasy world like Hunger Games or Game of Thrones. The main difference: those stories carry a message while GW2 doesn’t really have one (unless you play a Sylvari).

GOT’s underlying theme is that power makes people crazy and the terrible consequences of searching for power over others. GRRM has a Christian background, so it’s not surprising to see him write an old fashioned Christian allegory. There are alot of Biblical references in them too. Hunger Games is a warning about what happens when a society doesn’t stand up for themselves. Suzanne Collins was inspired by various news reports to write this story. Yes there is death in them, but those deaths aren’t pointless.

IN GW2, the only storyline that has a good theme is the Sylvari storyline. The theme that is stressed is “unity”. It easy to see that in action in the Sylvari colony, in their interactions with each other, and in the Pale Tree’s summit that will take place soon.

Anmida.4058:

Simply put, Anet is very good at thinking many interesting character designs and personalities, but is extremely horrible at giving them any proper development in any way. The clutter themselves with too many things at the same time, then make a “Holding your hand forever” situation so that your character feels simply like a beholder, not a deciding factor. (The fact everything out there can literally be done regardless of whenether or not your character existed, as Personal Story tells us, being the prime example regardless of how much “We could have never picked those two bones from the floor without your help, commander/boss!” gets thrown around.)

TL:DR
Before this happens, they need to get the reins on their plot writting. They need to think less on the “what could be” and focus more in “what we can give the players and setting”, and translate that into their writting.

They won’t just yet, but I hope they will get down to it. Eventually.

I was thinking the exact same thing. The LS writers don’t have the interest in this game’s subject, and they don’t have the ability to write about political, social, and psychological situations. It shows in their writing. I can also tell that they’ve never written for a CRPG either. This game desperately needs a team of experienced CRPG writers. For example: an experienced CRPG writer makes sure most of the quests are part of the main storyline. That’s GM & Game Dev 101. I only know that because I like to spy on the game dev classes.