Guild Wars 2

Nageth.5648:

Frankly, I think this fan made one is truer to her character.

I love this one. LOL!

Wow! So many good photos!

Here’s my main character, a Level 80 Engineer named Lapis N. Lazuli. I tend to switch out armor when I get bored, so my character has more than one set of clothes.

Notes on each picture (from top to bottom)

1) Lapis is on the left (of course). I used this outfit for WvW Season 1
2) Same outfit with the mask on!
3) Current Armor — set 1
4) Current Armor — set 2 (This outfit makes me think of James Bond.)

Taku.6352:

Finally got around to leveling my engineer.

You’ll never guess who her mentor was.

Oh gods! That’s the third Pro-Scarlet Asura I’ve seen this week! Are you absolutely sure that’s not Scarlet’s lab-created love child? LOL! Two thumbs up!

RedSpectrum.1975:

How useful is this elite? I’ve never used it really, well once, I notice it gives blood and poison and can even crit, and makes my sylvari say “Let us fly!” but is this an actual useful elite?
EDIT: And keeps you in combat -_-

It’s good for distracting a baddie. My engie has used it in the CoE dungeons alot.

Okay! My turn!

Score for names:

Larenthir — 10/10 (definately very fitting; He sounds like a regal character)

My character names:

Lapis N. Lazuli (Fire / Condition Damage Engineer — Dusk bloom / Order of Whispers)

Sweet Lazuli (Longbow / Greatsword Ranger — Dawn bloom / Priory)

Yes, my two salads are happily married. My engie took his wife’s given name as his surname for paperwork reasons. I love it when people accidently refer to him as “Mr. Lazuli”! LOL!

fuyuko.3705:

Largos..How many of you guys love Largos? I know I do! If I had to choose the next playable race I would defiantly choose the Largo race.

Yes, you heard me correctly. I choose Largos over Tengu.. why? I choose the largo race because of their incredibly amazing appearance.

They have beautiful wings and blue skin sort of like a demon or a succubi. Ears sort of like a elf or a dwarf. They are well known assassins and trained undersea fighters. How cool is that? Why just explain these amazing creatures when I can show them off? There is a picture of a very nice largo in attachments.

So, All in all I want to see others opinions about them. I would also like to ask anyone who is willing to answer – >Why are Tengu more anticipated than Largo?< Cause quite honestly, the fact people like the eagles more saddens me.

I’ve only played Sylvari characters, and I’ve never encountered the Largos. I’ve only seen one Largos NPC in Timberline Falls because my second Sylvari character is a member of the Priory. Which race do I have to play to encounter these guys and their story?

If Largos have as much lore as the Quaggans or Sylvari, I’ll definately support the idea of these guys becoming PCs.

Dos.7052:

please support chinese font input in eu/us clients ( both simplified and traditional), since there is no “asian servers” , there are many players from taiwan, Hongkong and mainland of china even Chinese students aboard play at eu/us server, but gw2 dosen’t support chinese input (both simplified and traditional) quite well.

it is not a difficult issue, please support chinese language input so more player will benefit from the change.

thank you very much.

I understand.

There is a logical reason why Anet hasn’t done this. First off, people need to communicate with each other, and I’ve been in PUGs with a mix of Chinese-speaking and English speaking players. People who only know Chinese have trouble communicating with the English speakers in the dungeons, fractals, and WvW. Communication is critical in these events. When player speak / write in different languages, it can hurt the team’s performance and cause frustration among the serious players. Some angry English speaking players will boot people who don’t speak the language or report the player for botting. There have been a couple times in the game when I’ve had to mediate situations between English speakers and folks who don’t know the language well. There have even been times when I’ve had to warn the Bot Police that players who look like they are botting may be folks who speak another language.

Just so you know, there are many folks in the US who speak Spanish, and this game doesn’t have support for Spanish speakers either. I’ve met many Latin American players on the Tarnished Coast server, and similar situations have cropped up.

I think someone mentioned that China will be getting their own version of the game very soon. It’s just a matter of time when that will happen. Please be patient.

Cactus.2710:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Dos.7052:

please support chinese font input in eu/us clients ( both simplified and traditional), since there is no “asian servers” , there are many players from taiwan, Hongkong and mainland of china even Chinese students aboard play at eu/us server, but gw2 dosen’t support chinese input (both simplified and traditional) quite well.

it is not a difficult issue, please support chinese language input so more player will benefit from the change.

thank you very much.

American is the official language of GW2.

“American”??

LOL … and I’m an American.

I’m sure this person meant American English.

Phantom.8130:

Zaxares.5419:

I’m very certain that LA will be open for business again at the end of this Living Story. Change will come, but it won’t be as drastic as some might hope.

i think you’re right about that. it would be pretty counter productive to remove a city they ended up building everything around. i can, however, imagine them redesigning that city to house even more. if you notice on the map, directly to the left of LA is a blank area. they could easily just expand LA out to fill that unusually placed gap.

It would be great if they added open world player housing too. But I don’t know if that’s feasible.

Oh well, one can only hope.

Yimiko.8524:

I don’t think the lore has as much impact on bringing in new players as the gameplay, and the whole RP scene is entirely in the hands of the RPers. Head to the queensdale hunter’s lodge in TC and you’ll see just how little Anet gets involved in that. I will say this, however…If you are a roleplayer, and your character is involved in all sorts of wacky events in the game, and you just dismiss those as not being a part of your story…you’re kind of a crappy roleplayer.

I made a similar argument recently to 3 majorly influential Rpers on the Tarnished Coast server.

According to these people, I had also committed the heinous taboo of using an NPC when writing a background scenario for a fan-made event that I was planning. The event in question was going to be related to the Escape from Lion’s Arch update. I wanted a SWAT team / Undercop RP scenario (involving both the meta and RP) , and I did an interest check in the unofficial roleplaying forums to see if anyone would be interested. I’ve done an unplanned version of this event before with the Marionette event and WvW. This time, I wanted this event to be planned. Anyways. I was confronted by 3 RPers who are pretty influential and their scolding / trolling scarred off the other RPers who would of been interested. The sad part is that these people didn’t even know the details of my plan before they bashed it.

These RPers also had a problem with me using NPCs as writing prompt for my characters’ profile and I was shunned for doing this. I play 2 young Sylvari (who woke up shortly before the GW2 storyline began). I argued that Sylvari NPCs are a huge part in many sylvari PC’s lives in this game, and each PC has some sort of connection to the major players in their storylines (including connections to the infamous Scarlet Briar). Unlike the other races’, there is no way to get around that fact.

I’ve played many RPGs, and this is the first time that I have ever heard that a player can’t use an NPC as a writing prompt for background scenarios and character profile.

Oooo! My turn!

Piccie captions in order:

1) Naked Sylvari dance party in downtown LA — My main character (the engie in the Temple Armor) doesn’t look amused or excited
2) Arcane Crystal Joke — Mount Maelstrom
3) Ogden… um, Hello? I’m up here!
4) My second character with her dog — I took this after defeat of the Marionette
5) A quiet moment alone — My engie meditates in the Dreamer’s Terrace

CureForLiving.5360:

MisterElliott.2481:

If you can’t write a decent story, blow something up.

Hey it works for Michael Bay.

And the funny part is people pay $15 a person to see his movies and all of his movies make millions.

pdemo.8312:

Is this game a popular game and is the population stable or dying

This game is much loved, but alot of people are on the busy servers like Jade Quarry and Blackgate.

jweez.7214:

This could be boneheaded but I wanted to bring it to you guys. Maybe you can help solidify this theory or help to debunk it. Please with either option be helpful and respectful.

[spoiler]

BOMBSHELL! You’re definitely on to something with #1. If you look at the Elder Dragons section in the same article, you’ll notice it states, “The natural role of the Elder Dragons is to keep magic balanced by consuming it and drawing it into themselves.”

Magic and dragons are connected. If Scarlet succeeds in her goals, she could release another dragon for the PCs to kill, and if all the dragons are killed, magic will cease to exist.

In the Sylvari personal story line, the PC’s Wyld Hunt (in all 3 storylines) revolves around killing dragons. The Pale Tree’s goal is also about saving Tyria from the dragons.

I definitely agree with you on this one. I’m also going to add that all Sylvari PCs want to remove magic as well because their Wyld Hunt is to kill the dragons.

I think if we have enough people posting reports about the disconnect, the excessive lag, and denial of service attacks, I think Anet will be prompted to do something about it. This is just a suggestion.

Jski.6180:

Karizee.8076:

They are not attacking the games directly, they are attacking the internet backbone that these games are hosted on.

I do not get the WHY for all of this is it realty that much of a rush to troll? Is empathy no longer with the human races?

Folks like this do it for lulz and because they can.

Eleir.9325:

Lawl. I wouldn’t be mad at the Guild Wars 2 team. There is really nothing that they can do about this. This is all in the hands of the cloud storage company they use. Don’t worry they can’t keep up an attack like this for too long.

Oh, I’m not mad at Anet. I’m just concerned. Like I said, I saw this happen in RO.

I hope Anet fixes things really soon.

[b]Oops… I’m now realizing I posted this in the wrong section. Sorry about that. Mods, feel free to merge this with the same post in the Game Bug section.

I had meant to post this as a bug report. when I saw the responses to the post, I felt bad about deleting this post.[/b]

Hi! I’m currently experiencing issues with GW2 right now. (FYI— It’s 7:50pm North American Server Time) At this time, I’m not able to log back into the game.
I’m constantly being disconnected every few minutes on GW2. I was in the middle of RPing in the Grove. Before the disconnect, I experienced lag, and the rest of the group I was with experienced the same thing. I even saw my other online in-game friends & guildees connect and disconnect constantly.

I also experienced the same thing early this morning (midnight Server time) on the EB wvw map. I was zerging with the TC zerg when the same thing happened to the entire zerg. We even had a skill lag and a freeze before the entire group disconnected from the game. The zerg continued talking on mumble chat, so that’s how I know that everyone was experiencing the same thing.

I’ve seen this problem with another game I played a long time ago. That MMO was called Ragnarok Online, and the problem was related to hackers breaking in to the servers. The constant disconnect problem eventually caused alot of people to leave that Korean MMORPG. I suggest that Anet should have a security team check the Tarnished Coast server and the other servers who are experiencing the same problems. I’m concerned that people are trying to hack the game and disrupt stuff for lulz.

Malakin.3601:

So yeah. I’m prepared to be utterly lost. Figured I’d come here and introduce myself while it’s downloading. It’s been awhile since I’ve done the ‘mmo thing’. I’m a veteran of WOW; I played for 4 solid years and just got worn out on it. Also got tired of the monthly fees. I was attracted to the ‘pay once’ model of GW2. And it doesn’t seem to be a pay to win scenario. So, here I am. I know I’m late to the party, but, it seems a lot of patches have happened and a lot of things have been tweaked for the better. I’m excited to jump in and get involved. Not sure what to expect, but hey, for 40 bucks, I’m not going to be too crushed if it’s a letdown.

Welcome friend!

One thing you’ll need to know: Don’t be afraid to ask questions on the forums about Living World’s storyline. Unfortunately, there is no way for new players to catch up on the Scarlet Briar story events in-game. Like you, I came in late to the game, and it took alot of investigating to get to know the where, when, and why of the Living story events. I still don’t know everything about the Living Story, and I’ve been bugging the devs to fix this problem.

Ever since Edge was added to WvW, I’ve been noticing that my character freezes during battles involving A.O.E.s The problem often shows up in the Edge map, but it sometimes appears in the regular borderlands maps as well. Before the Edge of the Mists update, I had no problems dodging away from AOEs .

Example: In a normal game, my character dodges out of the way when I push the Dodge button + one of the arrow buttons. I usually dodge when I see my character in an AoE circle.

Lately, my character doesn’t respond when I push the dodge button during a massive battle between hundreds of players on a map.

I’ve turned down my graphics for WvW, and my FPS is usually 24 to 45 fps. I also recently upgraded my internet service to Comcast Extreme, the fastest internet for MMORPG gamers. I can’t think of anything else I can do on my side to improve response during competitive gameplay. I do think that this may be a GW2 gameplay bug.

AcidicVision.5498:

Perhaps “nothing is sacred” applied to characters more than places. And how would it change the face of Tyria if all of the sudden players knew that key, likable, NPC characters weren’t fixed parts of the world?

I think that Anet has been making Kasmeer and Taimi way too likable as of late. And they are also trying to draw on player sympathies with different personal tragedies for each character.

You see this in movies all the time. Support characters that have overcome something out of the ordinary and who go out of their way to be endearing with every appearance end up being spectacularly killed in order to stoke that emotional investment the audience has. Then each new character that comes along has that added mystique. We know now they can die, so all the moments of suspense are just a little more suspenseful. Out of the three new characters, which one will make it to the end?

So I fully expect either Kasmeer or Taimi to be Scarlet’s final victim at the end of the finale. Maybe it will even be player choice. Similar to the the election. Players have a week to choose the left path or the right, the choice determines who we save and who is left for dead. How will Majory or Braham react towards players in the future based on that decision?

That last bit might be a little darker than Anet is willing to go. It will probably be some heroic sacrifice that leaves their companion devastated.

Either way, someone is going to die.

That has been the pattern in this game. NOTE TO ANET: YOU GUYS REALLY NEED TO GET RID OF THIS CLICHED PATTERN. THIS IS NOT GAME OF THRONES! I will be extremely angry if any harm comes to any other couple in this game. The lack of ongoing romantic relationships is so irritating, I took matters into my own hands: I RP my two Sylvari mains as a married couple who work together and have similar Wyld Hunts.

This pattern is getting too repetitive and shows a lack of imagination on Anet’s part (no offense intended). For all those who think romance has no place in an RPG: I refer all of you to Final Fantasy and other JRPGs. Yes, a game can with romance can sell very well in the Western countries, if it is done right. That’s why I hope the whole Majory x Kasmeer storyline will keep going.

If you’ve played the Sylvari storyline, the whole killing-off-another-person’s-lover happens way too much. Let’s count the broken relationships (romantic & platonic) in the Sylvari PS story (SPOILER WARNING):

Cormac.3871:

Delvoire.8930:

Mordremoth can’t have control over the Sylvari like that. If he were to awaken, all the Sylvari would then be his minions, right?

Perhaps one of the Gods planted the seed for the Sylvari. Thus creating them. The dream by the Pale Tree is connected to the God’s protection. With that gone, then an Elder Dragon did invade Scarlet’s mind. Or perhaps a Champion of a Dragon.

But if something has control of her, and she’s fighting that, would they not know she’s planning this attack on them? It does seem like she’s actually going after the voice in her head and Tyria is just the collateral damage.

We know who planted the Pale Tree. It was Ventari. He got the seeds from a cave, and nurtured the tree and placed a tablet at its base. What we don’t know is how he knew the seeds would create living beings and how the seeds got into the cave in the first place. I personally think that the sylvari were intended to be servants of Mordremoth, but were corrupted by Ventari (in a good way). The seed was not planted before the Gods’ exile.

You’re both wrong. The Pale Tree seed was planted by Ronan. Go to http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ronan

All Ventari did was be a mentor to the Pale Tree, and he’s the guy who created the Ventari Tablet.

Signed,

Lapis <<<—- Loves Sylvari so much that she plays 2 of them.

Ronah.2869:

Neural.1824:

I think the problem for many who don’t like GW2 is they paid money for an MMO, and recieved a gem-store driven theme park.

For 50 bucks they received so much content as in 10-15 single player games

I agree. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess had more content that this game. I play $20 for LoZ:TP and got 60 hours of content. I also like the storyline and gameplay so much that I’ve replayed the game. I breezed through most of GW2’s content easily by casually playing a few hours every week. I hesitate finishing the PS because I know there aren’t any more stories after that. Alot times, I log on to talk with my current guild or RP with people instead of playing the game.

Black Dragon.3784:

Really guys.. It’s a pay to play not pay monthly and you expect so much? Anyways I get where many are coming from, I just think you all need to take a break and come back in a year until the story develops more… I like the living story but I do think it’s about time to continue with personal story and thanks Anet for not taxing us to play your wonderful game

YAY! I knew there had to be more players who felt the same way.

It is time to continue the PS.

If only Anet would listen to us…

Kartel.2561:

So why not “know your audience” and just continue being awesome like before?

I have a feeling these guys changed staff and their business structure at some point. The current staff may only have experience with MMOs and other games that offer the traditional grind.

Ohoni.6057:

A different rating. Hunger Games is for a mass audience. You could just as easily compare The Collector to A Royal Affair, European film-makers do not have a lock on death and violence. There actually was a US remake of Funny Games in 2007, and while I’ve seen neither, I highly doubt the remake is tamer than the original. Again, you’re comparing American apples to European oranges and insisting that the distinction is where they came from, when in fact Europe has apples and America has oranges too, and when you compare the apples to apples and oranges to oranges the distinctions are minimal.

You have never, ever seen either movie I mentioned??? Why are you commenting on the films if you’ve never seen them? The two films have the same theme: serial killers who make a game out of killing innocents. Anyways, I’ve already explained my position. I’m not commenting anymore about this.

BTW, US remakes of foreign films don’t count. I was only referring to the original version of Funny Games to make my point.

…Continued from the last post…

The current problem with the Scarlet Briar storyline is very similar and make the problem extremely obvious: they plop the PCs in a situation and expect us to know what is going on. That idea works in French art films (which my instructors have had me watch for homework), but those films are niche films that are understood by art buff. [b]When it comes to story, audience members like me have to be given a reason to care, and we have to relate to the situation. In regards to GW2, I ask:

—What causes my character to get involved in the LW story? Answering this question will identify the catalyst of the story.
—The villain has to prove they’re frightening too. We have to slowly discover the villain’s motivation and goals over the course of the story.
— And why should my hero fight the villain?
—What is my hero’s motivation to fight?
—What are the stakes?[/b]

[b]If people can’t relate to the characters or the situation, the problem is with the writing. The audience has to be able to relate to what is going on. If an idea is very new, the writer needs to slowly introduce the idea and educate the audience. [b]The Japanese do this really well with their games, and we all know how vastly different Japan and America are.

The Japanese devs take time to explain new concepts by showing them in their games. Final Fantasy 6 is a really good example of this. When the game came out in the US (under the name of FF3 btw), the concept of a villain defeating the heroes and becoming a god was very new to Americans. Not only that, the villain, Kefka, separates the heroes and sends them to different parts of the globe. Of course, the heroes eventually make a comeback and pulverize the psychopath’s godly @___.

Also keep in mind that 80% of Americans are Christians, and in the Christian worldview, the idea of an evil person becoming a god is impossible.

Kefka’s story was introduced slowly in FF6. We meet him, and we’re led to believe that he is the typical dumb criminal who want to be the leader (like Starscream from Transformers). His crime spree starts small (he burns a castle). He eventually moves on to bigger and bigger crimes (like poisoning thousands of people and committing genocide). We get to know his personality and philosophy over time. His path to godhood is slowly introduced as well.

Scarlet Briar, on the other hand, is a character that we don’t know very well. I started back in October, and the first Scarlet LW story I played was The Nightmare Begins. Since the previous updates weren’t permanent, I have no idea what went on before. I don’t know Scarlet’s personality or philosophy. I only see an anarchist who destroys things. She comes across like a bland cartoon villain. The villains in Warcraft are better than her. The Nightmare updates don’t drop hints about her goals or her motivation. My hero has no real reason to go after her. My character is just dropped in an LW scenario and he’s expected to destroy things. That’s not much different from a Mario game.

Ideally, I want to have my hero discover Scarlet’s background by starting from the beginning of Scarlet’s story (before she becomes evil) and then run through the previous events when she starts causing chaos. Telling me her story via blogs and in-game scholar characters isn’t the way to introduce any character.

Ohoni.6057:

This is a bit nonsensical. The player is clearly just an assistant to Trehearn, just like Shepard is to Anderson in Mass Effect. There’s a chain of command, and you aren’t at the top of it, there’s nothing particularly “British” about that. Why do you feel the need to take certain elements and insist on making them “foreign,” when this is a game that was designed by Americans, for Americans?

I got a few questions for you Ohoni: Have you ever served in the US Military? If you haven’t, have either of your parents served?

My answer is based on personal experience with the American military. I’m familiar enough with the culture which is very different from civilian US life. I come from a military family. I myself (a woman BTW) was in Army JROTC with intentions going to Westpoint until an accident during my junior year in high school. My father served in the Navy during Vietnam. My grandfather served in the Army during WW2. The rest of my male ancestors in my dad’s lineage served in the military. The officier / assistant relationship that was illustrated in the video link I showed you doesn’t exist in the US military. If you had watched the video, the people in the documentary did state the Officier / Assistant military relationship is purely British. I hate to break this to you, but there really are some cultural differences between Americans and Brits.

Plus military folks in the US earn their ranks via hard work or by graduating from a military college like Westpoint. Americans don’t gain ranks because of their lineage or because their parents are important. Well-known, powerful military families often send their kids to military college so they can succeed their predecessors. John McCain is a good example of this.

If I’m supposed to see Trahearne as a Grand Marshal, he has to earn the position. BTW, my main character is a Sylvari, and during the course of the Sylvari PS, Trahearne never earned his position. There is no set of quests to indicate that he has earned his ranks. Mommy just gave the sword and the position to him. That just doesn’t fly where I live.

Simply put, I couldn’t emotionally relate to the last part of the PS (aka "The Trahearne Show). I wasn’t the only one who felt this disconnect or had a negative reaction to it. If there was a few previous quests that educated the audience members like myself, then I don’t think I would of had such a negative reaction.

To be continued…

Rebound.3409:

U think Scarlet is over?

Well i have news for u…she has a sister…and it will occupy 3 story arcs! + bonus content another 3 story arcs about her puberty! Scarlet Wars 2 inc!

No no no no NO! You’ve heard wrong. That’s not Scarlet’s sister. It’s Scarlet’s love child with Kefka Palazzo — You know, the villian from Final Fantasy 6! (http://kotaku.com/5976002/why-final-fantasy-vis-kefka-is-the-best-video-game-villain-of-all-time) The two fell in love because they have alot in common:

— He’s got magitek knights; She has watch knights.
— Both are crazy
— He says “Destroy!” and she says “Die! Die! Die!”
— Both have giant armies and access to powerful evil allies.
— Both look and act like clowns
— Both are considered freaks and were originally underestimated by the good guys.

I know the average salad can’t have kids, but Kefka is a god. He can use his divine powers to make what he wants.

Now back to the original discussion…

I’m all in favor for a GW2 expansion. God knows we need it!

Aveneo.2068:

I think Lord Faren became a vegetarian so he can imagine eating Scarlet instead of the other way around.

ROTFLMAO! TMI! TMI!!!

This would probably explain why Scarlet let him live! I knew she had a crush on someone! LOL!

Theundersigned.4761:

It’s bizarre how many people hold their money over ArenaNet’s head like some kind of carrot.

Video games are a business, and business needs money to thrive.

Syrpharon.7491:

Because she uses technology that looks advanced even for a golemancer?

Surely her sudden appeareance is suspicious.

Add to that fact that she claims to know Brahm..

So no, you’re not crazy! That would make the story very interesting. I hope you’re right!

I understand where you’re coming from. My second character is a Ranger. I did Marionette with her and her Fern Hound. It’s alot more challenging to do this event as a Ranger. It was tough to keep my character alive during the encounters with the Wardens.

If I were you, I would just ignore the comments. That’s what I do when people have a problem with my characters in-game. Those people are just frustrated. If they’re griping at you, then you will need to hang with other people or guest on another server.

If it makes you feel better, there are people who hate engies (esp. on WvW) and Sylvari. I love my gun-toting, elixer-obsessed Sylvari engie (aka my main). I still play my main character even if people don’t like him.

ROTLFMAO!

Latency or an old fashioned spanking? I wonder which is worse?

Donari.5237:

…. Americans don’t like death in their media? Watched anything out of Hollywood lately? Plus we’re super insulated from the death in our wars, unless you mean back to WWII, of which most gamers of today have no personal memory.

I’m a filmmaker. I think there is a difference between how we American filmmakers portray violence vs how European filmmakers portray violence. European films, such as Funny Games (a 1997 Austrian film<— Don’t watch this if you’re under age 18), do portray violence in a gory, grotesque manner. Most people in my film classes couldn’t sit through a showing of this movie. It bothered people despite the fact that it’s a piece of fiction. Contrast this movie with Hunger Games which everyone in my class could sit through. So what was the difference?

Funny Games made me feel helpless. There was nothing I could do but sit by as a small family was victimized by 2 serial killers who had a magical remote that can cause them to go back in time and the torture the family over and over again. To make matters worse, the bad guys get away with their crime. I don’t like feeling helpless, and I like to see bad guys go down. In RL, if I see someone in trouble, I automatically try to help them. That is a value that my elders taught me when I was young.

Hunger Games, on the other hand, has Katniss, a protagonist that refuses to be a victim of the system. Through the course of the story, she rebels against “The Man” in small ways (like shooting an arrow at the distracted sponsors or saving the life of another contender). In my mind, I was thinking, “I don’t have to worry. Katniss will stop this BS.” I also found myself rooting for her.

How does this apply to GW2? People want to be proactive and save the day. We don’t want to feel helpless.

Ohoni.6057:

This is just nonsense. Those things may be too mature for you, but they are by no means too mature for the US audience in general. I’m not a fan of the Marionette wipe-out exit, but that has nothing to do with puritanism.

[b]Hey, don’t make false accusations. I made it very clear that I’m not against the event at all.

The event made me think of every European art film I’ve seen in film school. It does come across as European, and I’m entitled to my own opinion. That opinion isn’t threatening anyone. We can agree to disagree, but what I said isn’t puritanism. If I were a Christian Extremist (aka modern puritan) I wouldn’t be playing this game. [/b]

sorudo.9054:

MastaNeenja.1537:

lordkrall.7241:

kta.6502:

Regarding future LW content
Also, make the future content PERMANENT with animated cut scenes. Ditch the visual novel storytelling style that was used too heavily in the PS. There is a reason visual novels don’t sell well in the West: They don’t allow the characters to convey body language, facial expressions, and actions that heavily used by English speakers

The issue with that is that animated cut scenes take a rather massive amount of time and resources to create, which would either mean much less story in each update, or less updates overall.

How can we have less story? We barely have any story with each update, you can cram a lot of of info into a short cut scene, let’s say under one minute.

We would also get less updates over all? You mean we could get thought out cut scenes that better explain what’s going on and because of that we’d get less update spam? What’s the downside here? Sounds like we are creeping away from quantity and into quality where do I sign up for that?

so instead of fixing the gameplay you want to make it a cinematic interview?

Nope. Balance between story line and game play. This is the challenge when it comes to RPGs. The audience has to be emotionally involved with both the PC and the major NPCs. Legend of Zelda (A Link to the Past and later incarnations), the earlier Final Fantasy games (FF6, FF7, FF8, and FF9) and ChronoTrigger do this beautifully. GW2 is modeled after Baldur’s Gate and Planescape Torment. Both of those Western RPGs balanced the game play and the story line.

Another important part of RPG is the pace of the story. The pacing was done really well with these earlier games, which is why these games eventually became the standard in the industry. Without the existence of these games, there would be no World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, or other modern RPGs we know today . In the video game classes at my school, teachers often tell the students to play these games if they want to create RPGs. Playing and studying previous video games is part of being a video game designer.

There is no need to re-invent the wheel when it comes to RPGs. We just have to pimp the ride.

natzmc.2895:

kta.6502:

This is very easy to explain: In some parts of the world, death is taboo. The United States is one such country. That’s why some RPGs, like Call of Cthulu, never became popular in the mainstream. Plus it doesn’t help that the US has been through 2 wars and that has made people more sensitive to death. Some people may have even lost loved ones so scenes in which everyone dies bother these individuals. The ending of the marionette was not something that is expected by the Americans playing this game. I know for a fact that some teens playing this game were distressed when they saw the ending. It’s too simillar to events in the RL War on Terror.

To me, something like this comes across as “too European”. Scenes where everyone dies and the naked Marionette is not appropriate for the T rating in the US. If Anet continues this, they’ll need to consider changing their game rating from T (for Teen) to M (for Mature) for the North American market. Let’s face it: Europeans love seeing death in their media. I’ve seen enough films, games, and shows from the other side of the Atlantic to know this. If I had been part of the dev team for this event, I would of included an alternative event for people who don’t like Cthulu-styled RPGs and placed a warning for those folks who are too sensitive. This is what happened in the past with D&D’s Tomb of Horrors as well as the old PnP version of Call of Cthulu. It’s only fair to warn people.

FYI — I’m not against the Marionette event. I do have enough experience to explain why this event doesn’t appeal to everyone.

I really hope you are trolling.

Nope. That really is my opinion. In the past, I’ve known people who run RPG PnP events where characters are supposed to die, and potential players were warned that their characters would experience Perma death. Why tell players this? Because some players don’t like RPGs that have Cthulu-type elements or Tomb of Horrors type material. One Game Master (GM) had policy that only players who were 18+ could be part of his Cthulu game. The goal of any RPG is for people to have fun, and some people don’t find Cthulu type games to be fun.

Another thing: Notice that when you’re GW2 character runs out of HP, the game says “You are defeated.” It never mentions death. Why? Death is taboo!

There also seems to be a culture gap situation with GW2. I realized this after comforting some kids during the first day of the event. There is just some stuff in the game that American folks like myself don’t quite get. In my case, I know people who can explain stuff to me. Other gamers might not have anyone to reference if they don’t understand something. A good example would be the whole Trahearne show event in the PS. I was informed that the event is modeled after the British military concept of the Officer and his Assistant (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlT1mRYlXZg — At 22:13 the video explains this concept) . I had no idea about that. I’m an American from the Pacific NW, so my understanding military relationships is in the form of comradeship (Example: Stargate SG-1). For many people, including myself, the military is a second family and a second home. From my POV, my PC was a slave to Trahearne. From a British person’s POV, my PC was in a normal military relationship.

I could go on and on about similar situations I’ve experiences with anime and Korean dramas, but I’ll stop here. Bottom line: What is understood in one culture may not be understood in another. What exists in one culture may not exist in another culture. I do think there are some things in GW2 that are not translating well to American gamers. I believe that alot of the complaints stem from this fact.

On the positive side, these mistakes helps us learn something new!

DeathWraith.6341:

Shadowcat.6752:

I’ll say my piece here.
The events themselves I’m not doing. I’m not against them or the LS. Such large scale things are not for me, but that’s not the issue.
My gripe is the zone-wide death upon failure, and the subsequent armour damage.
To me, that seems a little unfair.
Example: I was further north doing a dynamic event against grawl. I was doing well as I know this one. Suddenly the big LS one fails, a green beam shoots from the sky and kills me. Why?
I was not in the immediate area and was not participating. To me it seems unfair to be punished for something I had no involvement in.
I hope ANet changes that. As a roleplayer who was doing that grawl event in-character, it was fairly immersion breaking.

How’s it it immersion breaking for a role player? It’s a huge marionette that is suppose to kill everything the area of the map. You were in the map and died. Just because you role played to ignore it doesn’t mean it role plays to ignore you

This is very easy to explain: In some parts of the world, death is taboo. The United States is one such country. That’s why some RPGs, like Call of Cthulu, never became popular in the mainstream. Plus it doesn’t help that the US has been through 2 wars and that has made people more sensitive to death. Some people may have even lost loved ones so scenes in which everyone dies bother these individuals. The ending of the marionette was not something that is expected by the Americans playing this game. I know for a fact that some teens playing this game were distressed when they saw the ending. It’s too simillar to events in the RL War on Terror.

To me, something like this comes across as “too European”. Scenes where everyone dies and the naked Marionette is not appropriate for the T rating in the US. If Anet continues this, they’ll need to consider changing their game rating from T (for Teen) to M (for Mature) for the North American market. Let’s face it: Europeans love seeing death in their media. I’ve seen enough films, games, and shows from the other side of the Atlantic to know this. If I had been part of the dev team for this event, I would of included an alternative event for people who don’t like Cthulu-styled RPGs and placed a warning for those folks who are too sensitive. This is what happened in the past with D&D’s Tomb of Horrors as well as the old PnP version of Call of Cthulu. It’s only fair to warn people.

FYI — I’m not against the Marionette event. I do have enough experience to explain why this event doesn’t appeal to everyone.

Xenon.4537:

If you are going to boil everything down to simple brightly colored geometric shapes, why bother animating at all? Is it the goal in the industry right now to phase out animators and utilize gimmicky visual effects to save money on development? Is Anet really willing to sacrifice artistic quality just because some other game is doing it? I would be appalled if indeed Anet has decided to emulate other MMOs “just because.” Anet always talks about pushing the envelope and pioneering ground that no one else is covering. If that’s true, then Anet should be sticking to their guns and remain true to the quality of art they have been putting forth thus far.

Up & coming game devs and animators UNITE!

You’ve got a point about those circles. IMO, they also make the Marionette fight way too easy. If I had been involved in this project, I would have VFX in place of the orange circles. It would have to be beautiful, frightening, and related to the Clockwork.

Phasing out animators is never good for any projects. We Westerners have to have awesome games in order to compete with Asia.

I hate to say this, but there are games on the market that surpass GW2 in terms of beautiful art. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is one. Aura Kingdom (a Chinese MMO) is another.

If I were Anet, I’d work on content like animation, better quality stories, better story pacing, adding VFX to the game, and adding more variety to the gameplay (of course)! I would build on the available lore. I would also flesh out the races and the various Orders by creating quests and storylines for them.

Another thing I would add if I were a dev: Allow people to choose between being a good guy and a bad guy. After completing the Thermanova Reactor Fractal, I’m itching for a chance to play as an Inquest character! Being a Nightmare court member would be interesting too. Allowing people to RP baddies would add another interesting element to PVP and WvW. It would also make the game last longer, and it would complicate the heroes’ dragon hunting quest.

BTW, don’t worry about the WildStar MMO. Cartoony animation isn’t standard in the American industry. Every animation job in the US requires that animators have to show off their ability to do life drawing as well as render realistic stuff in Maya. Realistic fine art drawings are a standard. Anime & Cartoony stuff isn’t. Very few US companies look for artists who specialize in cartoony or anime art.

Vol.7601:

Qaelyn.7612:

Some nice snippy little responses there, which may make you feel smug and clever, but don’t actually address the bottom line.

And that is that, even though I usually enjoy most of the LW releases, I don’t enjoy this one. I’m not alone in that.

I have a few hours a day to play GW2, at most, and I don’t want to spend them standing around, constantly trying to switch overflows. And the times I’ve participated in trying to kill the marionette we have coordinated and planned.. and then failed usually because of issues such as 1 or 2 people being put on a platform.

But by all means, please pretend it is my fault for not somehow single-handedly controlling the behavior and ability of 100 strangers, while also having to fight against some very poor game design that often makes success as much about luck as it is about skill.

You want them to address it? Then add some constructive criticism and suggestions. Otherwise this post is a one-sided complaint, and Anet can’t do anything about those.

My little ‘snippets’ show that your comments just scratch the surface and weren’t thought through at all.

Nothing against you. As a creative professional, I have an issue with this suggestion. First off, Qaelyn’s post isn’t one-sided. It’s okay to say that something doesn’t work. It is true that the Marionette event, while interesting, does have its set of problems. It also isn’t for people with a short amount of time or kids who are looking for quick thrills. On the first day of the event, I had to comfort some kids who weren’t prepared for “failed event” scenario.

As for suggestions to fix the stuff, I wouldn’t go as far as making detailed diagrams of game scenarios and animatics. Ideas cost money, and many of us need money to survive. If a person has really awesome game ideas, he/she would be better served by creating an original game then fixing someone else’s project. The only time I recommend that anyone give a video game company ideas for their projects is when that person is working for said company and getting paid for their ideas. Giving ideas away to Anet means that you’re allowing Anet to make money off your ideas without getting a paycheck for the work. It’s like being Trahearne’s “right hand man” all over again: Your PC does all the work, while the weakling Fern Boy gets the magical sword and all the credit.

lordkrall.7241:

kta.6502:

Regarding future LW content
Also, make the future content PERMANENT with animated cut scenes. Ditch the visual novel storytelling style that was used too heavily in the PS. There is a reason visual novels don’t sell well in the West: They don’t allow the characters to convey body language, facial expressions, and actions that heavily used by English speakers

The issue with that is that animated cut scenes take a rather massive amount of time and resources to create, which would either mean much less story in each update, or less updates overall.

I understand. This is exactly why I often tell my teachers & fellow developers in my area that realism isn’t cost effective. It takes too long to animate the stuff successfully. Realism is great for movies and companies who can afford giant staff.

One cost-effective solution to this is the Baldur’s gate-styled story instances, like the one that is in Lion’s Arch right now.

Also the Anet offices are located in Bellevue, WA. There are two animation / video game schools within a few miles of them: Art Institute of Seattle & Digipen. They could always recruit students from the schools to help with the animated scenes. Would it be possible to get students to do the stuff or is that just too risky?

Finally, I’d rather play a high quality game vs a low quality game. Story is necessary for Guild Wars, and the devs keep inventing characters like Trahearne. One of the reasons the fern didn’t sit well with players is because the visual novel scenes didn’t allow the Western audience to connect to him. A movie-styled animated cut scene would of better conveyed the fact that he has PTSD as well as his complex mysterious, enigmatic character. Western players need to see his actions in order to better understand him. Planescape Torment had subtle complex characters. In that game, the devs used Baldur Gate-styled cut-scenes to convey the plight of characters like the Nameless One and Fall-From-Grace. As a player I could emphasize with the demonic band of heroes because I saw their actions played out on screen.

BobbyStein.2315:

Azure Prower.8701:

… onto the compost heap.

Are we going to get SAB returning shortly after?

Because lets be honest. This is the only living world update the majority of people enjoyed.

Actually, we have metrics on every LW release. While SAB was indeed successful in terms of participation, so were the other releases (Scarlet ones included). I understand that forum feedback can color perception on which releases were the most popular/best received/most enjoyed but opinions on this are largely anecdotal. Please keep that in mind.

Now to your question: will we see a return of SAB? That’s not for me to say, but if it were to come back, what would people like to see from it? Harder/easier content? New world? More/no Moto story?

Or would you like future LW releases to cover other topics? Share your thoughts, but please keep it constructive. Thanks.

Regarding future LW content
Also, make the future content PERMANENT with animated cut scenes. Ditch the visual novel storytelling style that was used too heavily in the PS. There is a reason visual novels don’t sell well in the West: They don’t allow the characters to convey body language, facial expressions, and actions that heavily used by English speakers

Finally, I thought Scarlet was going to be the GW2 version of Kefka Palazzo, the villain from Final Fantasy 6 (see http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Kefka_Palazzo for more info; Please play this game when you have time. Kefka is one of the most frightening FF characters in existence. The only one worse than him is Sephiroth from FF7.). Both Kefka and Scarlet have simillar mottos. Kefka’s motto was “Destroy, destroy, destroy!” while Scarlet’s motto is “Die! Die! Die!” Instead of going down a truely frightening, demonic path with Scarlet, your staff decided to make her into another dumb lettuce head on the level of Faolain. The only difference is that Faolain’s character was established long before we fought her in TA dungeon, so it’s easier to be more emotionally involved with her than Scarlet. Also, just because Scarlet created a giant Exorcist-styled robot with a “Call of Cthulu” mode, doesn’t mean that she is worthy of being a villain. At this point, she’s just another anarchist troublemaker. It’s sad to see a character with great potential go to waste.

Worse, I can easily predict that Taimi, the new Asura Destiny 2.0 member, is just going to kill Scarlet, then take over as the Big Bad. She’s just an Asuran version of Trahearne waiting to happen. Please don’t do this to us. One Trahearne was enough. -.-;;;

BobbyStein.2315:

Azure Prower.8701:

… onto the compost heap.

Are we going to get SAB returning shortly after?

Because lets be honest. This is the only living world update the majority of people enjoyed.

Actually, we have metrics on every LW release. While SAB was indeed successful in terms of participation, so were the other releases (Scarlet ones included). I understand that forum feedback can color perception on which releases were the most popular/best received/most enjoyed but opinions on this are largely anecdotal. Please keep that in mind.

Now to your question: will we see a return of SAB? That’s not for me to say, but if it were to come back, what would people like to see from it? Harder/easier content? New world? More/no Moto story?

Or would you like future LW releases to cover other topics? Share your thoughts, but please keep it constructive. Thanks.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to answer your questions, Mr. Stein. As a creative professional, I was hoping for a chance to discuss LW and general GW2 stuff with the devs. I saw you guys put the Suggestions forum in the Archives section, so I was under the impression that you guys didn’t want any more feedback from the fans. I’m glad I was proven wrong.

Before I continue, I must say that folks on the GW2 staff will need to be trained on how to deal with the criticism. If there is one thing I’ve learned from animation school it has been this: Criticism is part of the American video game market. It is normal for gamers in this country to be passionate when giving feedback because they’re used to high end content. Plus it is normal for American gamers to compare your game to games from other companies as well as games from the past. It saddens me that the in-game devs are so scared of popping their dev tags because of harassment from the gamers. It seems to me that the in-game devs aren’t prepared to deal with the critiques. Another solution to this would be to have someone do the public relations stuff. They could answer questions, acknowledge complaints, and thank people for their comments. This is what other gaming companies do. I think alot of GW2 players just want to know that you guys acknowledge their comments & suggestions. When we fans don’t hear anything back, people assume you guys don’t care.

Now onto the questions…

Regarding Super Adventure Box — I actually missed doing Super Adventure Box during the last free trial period last autumn, so I would like to see it come back as an LW event just to try it out. If you do bring it back, there has to be a storyline associated with the event as well as a story within the SAB. You’ll also need more than 2 levels in SAB. Also, add both easy levels and hard levels. The easy levels would be for impatient and/or younger players. The hard stuff would be for adults and/or patient players with alot of time on their hands.

I recommend that the GW2 staff who work on SAB study the Nintendo games (past and present). The Nintendo company is an expert at taking the same old content and creating new interpretations of platform games. Like it or not, Mario and Zelda sell out after all these years because Nintendo keeps reinventing their gameplay content. They also add humor to the games. You will need to stay away from the whole damsel-in-distress thing though. Come up with a unique reason our heroes should go through SAB. Give my Sylvari characters (and other non-Asura folks) a good reason they should enter the SAB.

Regarding future LW content: I’d like to see more LW stories and gameplay content that relates to the Personal Story:

What happened to the Pact after Zhaitan?
—-Will the different POV of the Orders tear the Pact apart?
—-Did we really kill Zhaitan or did we just kill its’ son? (Let’s face it, the fight with Zhaitan was way too easy. He’s an Undead dragon. The undead don’t go down easily because they always regenerate due to their unholy abilities. The only thing that can take down the undead are the divine power of the gods. Last I checked Trahearne isn’t a god and he’s a necro. Necromancers can’t permanently end the life of the undead because their powers aren’t holy. They can only subdue the Risen for awhile. IMO, Trahearne’s ritual is a temporary band-aid on a bigger problem. That means it’s time to search for Dwayna, Balthazar, and the others. If the gods refuse to come back, the create Ascension quests that will grant god-like powers to the heroes.)

Before I go into what this post is about, I thought I should share this funny GW2 moment with all of you fellow fans.

At the beginning of one of the Marionette events, my fellow guildees and I were talking on Teamspeak about Scarlet’s new creation:

Me: (upon seeing the Marionette for the first time) D___, that Marionette’s b____ are spikier than Madonna’s were back in the day!

Fellow guildee: (sings) Like a v____ … touched for the very first time…

Everyone breaks out in laughter.

Me: Thank you! That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about since the Nightmare Tower! Toxic fumes = Love Potion No. 9… Scarlet toying with the heroes and then running away… She goes easy on all of us Engies… It all means one thing: Scarlet is desperate for a few good men! I mean, she’s going to need a bunch of engies to keep her machine empire up and running once she conquers the world… IF she conquers it.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

So that lead me to write this post. From this point on, Scarlet Briar’s official anthem is Like a V___ from Madonna. I can definitely see Scarlet singing this song to that picture of Omadd that she has at her hideout. LOL. Personally I plan to play this song every time I have to fight that marionette.

Has anyone noticed that all of the Scarlet events feel more like a sports team try-out? Every time I fight her, I can’t help but think she’s testing the heroes to see who she can lure to the other side. It’s almost like a twisted form of the NFL tryouts.

Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas! If you have a better song for Scarlet’s anthem, I’d love to know about it.

QUAGGANS! They have to be the 6th playable race. They’re cute, cuddly, and have lots of lore behind them.

Aerlen.5326:

What sense does it make for a woman to run around with her thighs exposed and cleavage popping out while her male cohorts are wholly armored? Why is the T3 medium armor top just a scrap of material while the male isn’t exposing any skin on his chest at all?

Please either give female characters some wholly covering, flattering armor, or start making armor that leaves the male characters looking like eye candy too. And for the love of the Six, fix the Vigil armor.

No offense, but ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? I guess you’re not from around these parts.

The Medium armor sets are some of the most conservative sets in the game. For females, you have a choice: dress as a cowboy or dress in hot pants. Most sets have the entire body covered up. The only thing these sets are missing are face-covering headpieces. Medium armor is designed for the adventuring classes (engineer, ranger, thief) who can’t wear baggy clothing due to the job requirements.

FYI — I happen to be a 37 year old liberal feminist who resides in the US. and I don’t find these sets offensive. There do need to be more choices because everyone has a different concept for their personal player character. What the medium armor sets needs are more girly options (like skirts) for those of us who want girly characters. For example, I wanted my female Sylvari ranger to be modeled after the Greek goddess of hunting, Artemis, who does wear a skirt. The only girly armor I could find to what I’m looking for is the Magitek armor which has a cute pleated skirt.

Hi! I have a question for the Anet Devs: Are you guys planning to release a continuation of the Personal Story during the 2014 year?

I’m one of the gamers who play for the storyline, and the PS doesn’t feel as if it is finished. Now that I’m near the end of the PS, I feel as if there isn’t anything else. The Living Story (LS) doesn’t fill the need for a good tale in the way that the PS did. (Okay the Halloween 2013 story did have my attention for awhile, but the other LS stuff doesn’t have much of a storyline from this new player’s POV. If you need to know, I started GW2 back in October 2013.)

I’ve done the dungeons but one needs to have read the book, Edge of Destiny, in order to be emotionally involved in the situation. FYI— I’’m one of those people who have to care about and be emotionally involved with the characters in order to care about what happens to them.

Fractals may be interesting but there isn’t much of a storyline associated with them. It’s as if the dungeons are designed for power players and min-maxers not story players like myself.

It’s going to suck if I have to retire this MMO because there is nothing else to do. I really love the characters I’ve created, and I would love to see them go on more adventures.

Just so you Anet people know — If there aren’t any new stories for 2014, I’ll be force to retire this game. The other content in this game is too reminscent of MapleStory and other penny-a-dozen Asian MMOs, and it isn’t enough to keep me playing GW2.

I disagree with ghost.3208. Everyone knows there has to be a body to confirm a death. Sorry that’s just how it is. In Tybalt’s case, he had a prosthetic arm. Even if he used that special poison to disintegrate himself to avoid becoming a Risen, his metal arm would of been all that was left of him. When we retook Claw Island there was no pile of ash nor a prosthetic arm anywhere.

All we got is some Risen charr who brags about killing Tybalt. Anyone can brag to start a fight.

No body, no metal arm, and no zombie means that Tybalt is still alive. He may be a Charr but he is a Whispers. That means that he would have some “trick” or two up his sleeve that would help him escape.

Tybalt did explain that after he lost his paw, the other Charr back in his homeland shunned him for not dying with his warband. Talk about harsh! If I were in Tybalt’s shoes, I would fake my death and start over under another name. Of course, his love for apples would eventually give him away.

I also agree with other players who have stated that Tybalt is the real Master of Whispers. I think the lady who claims to be the MoW is a stand-in.