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Last Legendary crafted in Lion's Arch

in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Moot and Dreamer – because legendaries are srs bznz.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

L.A's Downfall. Feelings? (Survey)

in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

D: Nuuuuuu! But that’s epic. Out with the old, in with the new.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Lion's Arch is not the target

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Question: why don’t all the dragons wake up at the same time?

Presumably they would wake up once they have “bled” enough magic into the environment. This is not stated in the canon but is a reasonable conclusion.

Wiki

the dragons wake and consume everything in the world, thereby reducing the world to a low level of magic, before going back to sleep. Then the magic they have consumed bleeds out into the world

At the very least it is never said that they release magic into the environment at a constant/universal rate. I’m going to err on the side of “there being no statement about that implies that they do not all release magic at the same rate.”

My attempt at a reasonable explanation would be that magic could be acting under a pressure gradient much like fluids do in real life. The more magic being consumed near to the beast (or through a ley line connected to it) the steeper the pressure gradient and therefore the faster it bleeds its magic. One could assume that the ley lines do a very good job of keeping the magic distribution uniform over Tyria but they wouldn’t be able to do a perfect job (and hence there are slight local variances).

Alternatively all we know is that Primordius started moving before any of the other dragons. We don’t know whether they all awoke at the same time and are simply biding their time. 50 years is a long time for a human – it’s nothing to an ED who has been alive for thousands of years (and expects to be alive for thousands more).

Another theory could be that not much is actually known about the EDs and there is a marginal possibility that there is some form of pecking order (most definitely not a hierarchy in political terms) – Primordius could be the most powerful of them and may have first preference.

Finally, it could be some sort of “magical signal” (whether benign or artificial) that permeates its way to each of the dragons – it would likely not reach them at the same time.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

That moment when...

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Whether or not you are viable as an upscale depends on:

  • Your exact level, typically when I level an alt I refresh my armor at 10-level increments (and equip whatever I pick up thereafter). Sadly this means that at levels x7 – x9 I am under-armored for my skill level (don’t get me wrong, there are a good many players who can play with armor 9 levels below their character level).
  • Player skill.
  • If you are good at positioning.

Upscaling is actually somewhat unbalanced – in the way that upscales have an unfair advantage (this peters off at about level 70 or so – 70-80 should be PvE exclusively if you care about your team) – so long as you are not level 40 with e.g. level 20 armor (that’s where upscales get their bad name).

So a disciplined upscale (who knows their limits) should be fine in most cases, however; most upscales are newbies who just want tower caps to level – and that’s why you have a problem with them.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

The New CDI Topics

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Well, if you look at their tournament announcement they do address most concerns from season one

Finally, someone who knows how to talk about this like an adult.

, though they are still incentivising blobs, coverage and transfers.

Agreed, but to be fair I wouldn’t know how to address this:

  • The only answer the community has come up with for blobs is to increase the AOE cap – which would actually buff blobs and make them even more lucrative.
  • Again, no viable suggestions have been made (that wouldn’t adversely affect PvE – like it or not ANet have to cater for both areas of the game). One might be to have your reward tied to the server you were in before the season was announced.

Either way…

Destructible bridges.
Double oil.

In one of the other CDI threads Chris said to hold back on actual feedback until the “official” threads on Monday.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

I just love these "guild raids"

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Apparently some people have bad guilds.

Or just bad PUGs in general. If your server has a weak PUG skill pool you are going to have to work harder to skill them up to “guild level.”

“OMG you guys suck! Didn’t I just tell you what field you need to put down! Why don’t you stick up with me?”
2 players rangers kicked from guild.
Raid over.

You also need actual leaders leading guilds. Also, fixed that for you.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

The New CDI Topics

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Why are you even continuing with “CDI” threats that pertain to WvW?

  1. No company has ever done this type of thing before. Therefore there is no pre-existing framework that they can draw on to streamline the process. They are figuring it out as much as we are.
  2. Things take time to implement and test. In a recent interview ANet said that some of the results from the earlier CDIs are in development but a ways off from release. They always stated up-front that there were no guarantees on the results of the CDIs anyway. Keep in mind that EotM was in development before the CDIs.
  3. The WvW team have always been one of the more transparent and engaged teams – even before the CDI. They have also been punished for being transparent by the community. Give them a break.
  4. You are living in a reality distortion field. ANet is making an effort that nobody else is – even if you don’t like the results of the CDI at least they make an effort. You have been treated far too well for far too long and you may be out of touch with how other game developers are treating paying customers. ANet are by far one of the best examples of how to treat customers. Even I rage at them sometimes, but all it takes is to go and try and play a game of BF4 – with the crashes and outright denial that said issues exist – and I start appreciating what I have very quickly.

Chris/Josh/Devon: I definitely don’t want that discussion yet. I think what may have happened is that people said they liked EotM which was confused with wanting to talk about it. Maybe suggest a list of topics and let us vote for one?

The rest of the topics sound awesome though.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

3 out of 4 players is either war or gaurd

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

6) Engineer

Naaw bro, ‘nades – make’s things nice and easy. Either way I mostly agree with your list. I feel that Engineer is the absolute sweet spot for risk/reward (which is why I play it the most). Pity ANet are semi-nerfing it in the upcoming patch.

I think that’s the problem – the first 2 or 3 get more reward (loot bags being the metric here) for that virtual “no risk” you are talking about. My warrior is, quite honestly, hurrdurr-spec and my engi is a fine-tuned beast from hell: still more lewts on the warrior.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Lame to see this happen on my server..

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Cut out the bit where you mouse over his name – that will land you an infraction. In EU silver we don’t really have this problem (I have seen a hacker once) luckily.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

NCSOFT 4Q and Yearly results

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Any news how Gw2 is being received in China?

As far as I know, still in beta but there is good hype (hear-say from one of Wooden Potatoe’s recent videos).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

NCSOFT 4Q and Yearly results

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Yay! Though doubtful, maybe this will put some of the ‘this game is dead/dying’ rhetoric to rest.

Not really. It was doing well but it was mentioned that sales are down. The question is does that change or will sales keep going down.

They will definitely continue to go down. That is the natural evolution of game sales. It’s extremely hard to beat your first year because in that year you had the purchases of your initial playerbase.

The Gem Store is not representative of how well the game is doing – it is only representative of how much people are willing to spend on cosmetic items that are released in the game (against how much money the players have). Nothing more, nothing less. Example: Imagine for a second that, for some strange circumstance, every player in GW2 simultaneously went broke in real life – there would be no revenue from the Gem Store even though the vast majority of those gamers would continue to play the game. Additionally, imagine that ANet removed all items from the store and the only item you could buy would be [Spikes] — the Gem Store would do poorly even if there were vast amounts of players in the game.

If GW2 was subscription-based sales would be a better metric of how the game is doing (especially in terms of subscription cancellations). For a once-off payment model the only way to measure how well the game is doing is through player engagement (how many hours players spend on the game in total).

The only thing that these figures mean is that ANet is doing acceptably financially. Nothing more, nothing less. Comparing the two isn’t even an error of “correlation does not imply causation” because there is no correlation to begin with. This is more of a case of “the wood chuck chucking wood does not prove that the sun is yellow.”

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Eirsson and Norn Naming Conventions

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Not really, norns use “english” titles, like Asgeir Dragonrender and Knut Whitebear

I raise you “dottir” and “sson”.

Apparently both are used. Either you must have missed the humor in my post.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Eirsson and Norn Naming Conventions

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Braham Scarletslayer has a nice ring to it.

Remember the “title” is Icelandic in nature: Braham
Scarlet slay: Scarletdrepr.
Bacon lover: Beikonelskhugi.

Another one that has a nice ring to it is Scarletveiðimaðurinn (Scarlet hunter).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

CDI- Process Evolution 2

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

It would also be nice if players weren’t punished for trying to communicate with ArenaNet by the forum moderators.

Honestly, a CDI on BLTC + Communication Issues + Forum Moderation would be nice. I think that a lot of the anger players have comes from the instructions the moderators have been given (to be fair, in recent history they have generally only moderated threads that have turned into flame/troll wars).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

CDI- Process Evolution 2

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Personally I think a CDI on the BLT would be good to do at some point.

Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato? That would be a delicious CDI and I’m sure Braham would approve.

Suffice to say, I don’t think a CDI on the pick is needed (I personally think the pick is fine – the drop rates for sprockets are unbelievably dreadful anyway – 10 seconds at the sprocket generator likely beats 4 hours of gathering with the pick) – a CDI on communication around matters like that is needed (how you handled the situation wasn’t fine).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Lion's Arch is not the target

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Lore of EotM

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I think just like fractals its […] without any real or meaningful lore.

Fractals do have real and meaningful lore. Some explanations are even in the name.

However, EotM not so much – although ANet did give enough information about it for people to come up with viable conjecture around it. My take on it.

WvW/Mists War: Part of what the mists is, is the fabric connecting all realities (basic lore canon). If you read into that (why would they mention “other realities”?) it could mean that the other realities are actually the other servers. There were some explanations as to why the portals shift on a weekly basis – but I can’t even begin to remember where I saw it and what it was; still it made sense and I remember liking it.

What is the EotM creation story?

Sadly quite literally anything in the mists has the same creation story (well, mostly) – random chance. The mists does have “volumes” (called areas by most, but I see them as n-dimensional) that do behave differently (Underworld etc.) and I would assume that EotM would be in the same volume as Mists War.

EotM does seem to have some interesting behaviour of its own (specifically the overflows).

Overgrowth has lots of ruined human architecture. Reminds me of the Aquatic Ruins fractals more than any known human kingdom. But the grawl have it.

Random mists congealing into random stuff – or – in some reality not our own (or any of our server’s own) that’s the case, the grawl conquered humans – possibly in a dance-off.

The three race choices are also interesting: kodan, grawl, and ogre. None of these are of the five ancient races (mursaat, jotun, seer, forgotten, dwarves) or the five currently dominant races (PC choices).

Again, random. That’s how the mists work. Reality, non-reality, memories, echoes of memories: everything goes into a mixing bucket.

What is up with the airships? Are they purely Aetherblade airships, or Mist-ized fragments of them.

It seems as though the Aetherblade stumbled into EotM, maybe (your theory about how they got there is actually pretty kitten ed good) – they might have made it their home.

Another thing for the “no lore” naysayers: the EotM portals are special – they are “unstable” which would account for why you get placed into a random overflow. Thought does go into this: ANet just like being scarce on some answers.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

"E" - Your theories [Possible spoilers]

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

The likeliest conclusion is that we haven’t met E – in a way that they are not even represented by an NPC in the game yet.

Personally I think it may be a tip-of-the-hat to Half Life’s G-Man. Guild Wars has a lot of [intentionally] unanswered questions in the lore, I think it would be great if there was one unanswered question that was right in your face (like G-Man is).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Lion's Arch is not the target

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

That strategy has two very major flaws- first the logistics of making explosives to level a major city and fitting them all into your ships in a way that won’t end spectacularly,

You know, if she can build a giant marionette with a death-ray, I think she can load a bunch of simple bombs on board an airship. It’s really not as complex as you make it sound. Certainly not in light of all the other absurd things she’s already built.

Additionally her bombing LA is completely plausible despite all the complexities of bombing because, wait for it, it’s a game that is built in a fictional universe. If anyone would like to dispute the carpet bombing theory feel free to read my signature.

Even then if it’s still a problem, then all she would need to do is plop one of her super-duper-handy-dandy portals (so realistic) on the bottom of her airships and get people to lob bombs through them from the other side (although I think Malafide would prefer her pour rotting Mesmer corpses through the portal).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

3 out of 4 players is either war or gaurd

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

This was posted by arenanet on reddit earlier now you can see how wrong you are.

What’s wrong with GW2 players? Why all the male characters?

Keep in mind those are for PvE, WvW and sPvP. I think those graphs could be skewed a bit for WvW. To be realistic I would estimate around 65% of players are either Guardian or Warrior (in WvW) – 9/10 is a complete exaggeration (although 65% is still a problem).

Again, realistically, I have alts for all classes (except ranger, ick) and WvW spec on all of them and frequently play them in WvW and what it boils down to is: Warrior is low risk and high reward (especially with a hammer in large groups) – I wouldn’t say OP, it’s just far too rewarding.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Gift of Battle rank requirement update

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I’m for increasing it. 30 ranks is chump change.

I’m a PvX player with a slight tendency toward PvE; and despite that all of my alts are above rank 30 (including my in-progress level 40 necro). I have 5 alts, none of them have world completion but all of them have the WvW requirements.

Yeah rank 30 is nothing: especially with the upcoming WXP merge; you will only have to reach rank 30 once.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

SteamOS/Linux Port

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

ANet is relatively small – compared to Valve and so forth.

I would think that Valve is moving to Linux as a sort of loss leader – they can afford to take a risk like that (and use money/reputation to change market perspective). For Valve, if the push to Linux fails they stand to lose a lot; but likely not everything. I’m not sure if ANet could afford to throw their weight behind such a big risk.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be able to play games on Linux (and I hate that I’m stuck using Windows) – I do think it’s a bit unreasonable to ask someone like ANet to invest in it right now. In other words: I would much rather have GW3 than a failed attempt at Linux.

Also, I heard that Wine was pretty stable for GW2?

Also as far as the existing Mac OpenGL IP goes, from what I read on the forums Mac users have no end of problems – it looks like the GW2 OpenGL renderer isn’t as stable as the DirectX one.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Lion's Arch is not the target

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Support the Mad Queen as your new regent of Lion’s Arch for 2014

/signed. Scarlet wouldn’t know what hit her after your emote spams.

On a side note, have humans even developed air defenses yet? The Charr and Asura have their different types of turrets, and the Sylvari might have some if they can grow the plants big enough.

As MQM said all of the turret tech is relatively primitive – ironically I think Scarlet would be the one person who would be able to cobble something together. Given how things typically went down in the living story: Priory will likely know about some artifact, Vigil will acquire it and Whispers will modify it.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

[Theorycrafting] Races of last ED cycle(s)

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

You’re suggesting that, at the core, all native life on Tyria are dragon minions? The issue is that dragon minions 1) cannot reproduce and 2) are made of elements. There’d be no flesh and blood (except rotting flesh and putrid blood) in dragon minions.

Hmmm… I would be really interested to hear if you had conjecture around this. Again, assuming that Glint was being very literal about dragons consuming everything.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Lion's Arch is not the target

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Wow I missed this thread completely, I agree. You beat me to the theory, but here is my thought dump:

Marjory and Kasmeer continually question if whether Scarlet is deceiving us (although, given, they don’t explicitly state it). Scarlet has left loads of clues with really nice big and red cross-hairs directly over LA.

I definitely think that, while it will likely be a victim, LA is not the primary target.

Scarlet has created a ridiculously strong toxin. If her plans just involve blowing up or invading Lion’s Arch, then there is no need for such a potent toxin.

There are two targets. Either the crosshairs over LA are an outright misdirection and she is attacking two other cities; or LA will be targetted in order to dilute defensive forces.

So here are some conflicting theories if you want food for thought.

Scenario 1:

Scarlet is after LA and LA alone (current lead theory on this thread). I originally didn’t like this idea because it lacks strong motive. DaShi has given me yet another reason to dislike it. If it is the actual plan: yuck – foo on the lore writers.

Scenario 2:

Scarlet is actually after Pale Tree – attacking The Grove with the poison would make perfect sense considering how the poison was conceived (edit to clarify: it would logically be very potent on plants). What cannot be explained is the attack on LA except for the logical “dilute the forces.”

Scenario 3:

Scarlet is not after any city at all. Certain cities may be attacked in order to create diversions (LA), acquire equipment (Rata Sum) or make a statement (The Grove). Scarlet, as expected, will be far from the fight attempting to raise/manipulate/generally-fiddle-with an ED – or something (<cough> Dhuum <cough>).

Scenario 4:

Count the equipment. ley line manipulation, poison, armies, what remains of the drill (I think we only kill the marionette?), stuff I have likely forgotten. Is it possible that she will be attacking all the cities at the same time? For example, LA and the ley lines – it would be logical to ‘nuke’ LA to quell one of the best defensive forces. The poison could be used on the Grove. She could distribute her armies between the other cities; while, again, she is somewhere completely different executing her actual plan.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

[Theorycrafting] Races of last ED cycle(s)

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Glint

I saw how they ate until there was nothing left to eat

If Glint is not using hyperbole here; it would mean that there was absolutely no life left on Tyria (except for the dragons of course). What was left for everything else to evolve from?

A less interesting answer would be the Gods kept reseeding life and the records of their actions never survived to recent history.

My poor, but interesting, attempt to answer that would be: dragon minions. I’m too tired to try and determine if none of the native sentient races fit the bill; but, isn’t it strange how most of the sentient races (especially the more primitive ones) tend to a specific element (if not magical, the element itself). I’ll list off a few strong candidates:

  • Dredge: they spend 90% of their time underground in the earth; this could be argued as a spin-off (or evolution of) the fire/earth dragon race (i.e. Primordius). Interestingly they also have acoustic magic – maybe some dragons went extinct never left minions to evolve (in this case the air dragons). Air could be a spin of ice, in theory.
  • Sylvari: they are such a good fit that we all question whether they are Mordremoth minions. Maybe Pale Tree Sylvari could be the first generation of minions that evolved past their ties to their dragon race.
  • Tengu: air (once again the missing dragon race).
  • Asura: possibly earth. Possibly a missing arcane element (an element which is magic in the most literal sense).
  • Norn and Kodan: I would venture to guess arcane once again.
  • Krait: water.

I’m really taking liberty with some of those, so this is likely a bad theory – but still worth sharing.

Some races may be mixes of the dragon elements. I’m going to ruin a thread with mentioning a certain name – maybe Scarlet’s experiments were centered around mixing these primal elements? Given her involvement with the Inquest – maybe a more dilute (but therefore more controllable) version of Subject Alpha?

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

"E" - Your theories [Possible spoilers]

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Eternal Alchemy?

/15charssittingonawall

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Is the Shatterar one of Glints Baby's?

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

the Shatterer

From what I understand. I’m a bit rusty of this part of the lore and can’t remember my sources.

Keep in mind that none of the dragon champions are “the same guy.” According to lore we do keep killing the Shatterer (…, Jorlag and Tequatl) – the reason that they respawn is their respective EDs select a new one and send them to be farmed. Every Shatterer you kill is actually a brand new (in-universe) dragon.


From the Arah story you will learn that there are actually an abundance of lesser dragons during the sequence where you need to fend off the two dragons attacking your ship – in the distance you can see many dragon battles happening.

That means that no single “The Shatterer” that we farm could be important to the lore in a way like this. If one of The Shatterers that we killed was indeed Glint’s child we would have long since killed it – permanently.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Theorycrafting on Scarlet

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

if you were expecting irate dragon minions at your job-site

Did you just call us dragon minions? :P

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Theorycrafting on Scarlet

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I stated it in spoiler tags, but I’ll state it outside of them. Marjory and Kasmeer continually question if whether Scarlet is deceiving us (although, given, they don’t explicitly state it). Scarlet has left loads of clues with really nice big and red cross-hairs directly over LA.

I definitely think that, while it will likely be a victim, LA is not the primary target.

Scarlet has created a ridiculously strong toxin. If her plans just involve blowing up or invading Lion’s Arch, then there is no need for such a potent toxin.

There are two targets. Either the crosshairs over LA are an outright misdirection and she is attacking two other cities; or LA will be targetted in order to dilute defensive forces.

So here are some conflicting theories if you want food for thought.

Scenario 1:

Scarlet is after LA and LA alone (current lead theory on this thread). I originally didn’t like this idea because it lacks strong motive. DaShi has given me yet another reason to dislike it. If it is the actual plan: yuck – foo on the lore writers.

Scenario 2:

Scarlet is actually after Pale Tree – attacking The Grove with the poison would make perfect sense considering how the poison was conceived. What cannot be explained is the attack on LA except for the logical “dilute the forces.”

Scenario 3:

Scarlet is not after any city at all. Certain cities may be attacked in order to create diversions (LA), acquire equipment (Rata Sum) or make a statement (The Grove). Scarlet, as expected, will be far from the fight attempting to raise/manipulate/generally-fiddle-with an ED – or something (<cough> Dhuum <cough>).

Scenario 4:

Count the equipment. ley line manipulation, poison, armies, what remains of the drill (I think we only kill the marionette?), stuff I have likely forgotten. Is it possible that she will be attacking all the cities at the same time? For example, LA and the ley lines – it would be logical to ‘nuke’ LA to quell one of the best defensive forces. The poison could be used on the Grove. She could distribute her armies between the other cities; while, again, she is somewhere completely different executing her actual plan.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Pale Tree Conspiracy! (spoilers)

in The Edge of the Mists

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Thread belongs in the lore forum, possibly necro the original thread and merge.

Ceara saw something in Omadd’s machine that literally broke her mind.

Marjory’s conjecture is that she gained access to a part of her mind that was previously sealed off – i.e. “she saw herself”. This “sealing off part of the mind” is now thought (on the lore subforum) to be the action of PT within the theory: PT was supposed to be an ED champion (keep in mind that this theory has been discussed for a VERY long time, not simply before the current patch – it was less refined but has always been suspected).

I think he is the next dragon that we see in-game.

EDs are full-expansion-level content (ANet have REPEATEDLY stated that there will be no EDs until, at minimum, the next expansion): I would expect a lot of media/fanfare/etc. if they were going to drop the first expansion. I definitely agree that the story could be tied to dragons, but I seriously doubt we will be seeing one.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

EotM Thumper Theorycrafting

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Keep in mind that Dead End dialogue completely debunked my theories

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
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.

Another lesbian relationship?

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154


heartbreaking seeing your mentor die for absolutely no reason…run into their deaths just for the sake of making the scene more dramatic

Honestly I believe that Sieran is the only one who was used to push a “dramatic” agenda. The other twos' actions were completely believable – ESPECIALLY given their dialogue.

Edit: This post really looks like an NSA document.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

Theorycrafting on Scarlet

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I’m pretty pleased with how close my theorycrafting was.


  • Her mindset remains largely unexplained, but Marjory theorycrafts that it could be a dark part of Sylvari psyche that they are shielded from (possibly by PT?). The demon/mists-thing theory could still hold. It remains to be seen (but really is my favourite theory). Heck, maybe the Eternal Alchemy is the mists to the mists (the meta-meta-reality).
  • The dark areas may have been important. – the probes are there to find the ley lines (canon) so it makes sense she would have a map of their findings (well-founded conjecture). My theory that they were being used to access EotM is clearly wrong.
  • My demon theory also touched on the Kraits’ motivations for forming an alliance.

Either way my final bet is:


  • Ceara was saw something in the mists (or the eternal alchemy) and this corrupted/controls her. Likely Dhuum. (I like the demon theory the most and Dhuumstone)
  • She is using the ley lines to power a weapon – or – she is upsetting them in some way or another.
  • I’m going to go full controversial and say that Rata Sum is the first target (wut) – likely the only target she will have opportunity to attack given our actions. This is backed up due to the continuous reminders about deception during the Dead End sequence and her ties with the Inquest. The magitech in Rata Sum would also be very interesting if she could quickly take control of it.
  • LA will still, however, be important for the functioning of this weapon. It does seems as though the ley lines converge there (the arrows on the map).
  • Dragons are definitely not the goal – they are a means to an end to free Dhuum (Dhuumstone finisher content mining).
  • Marjory (or was it Kasmeer) is incorrect about it being a dark part of her psyche. The experiment may have been a hallucination but there was a touch of meta- (or meta-meta-) reality in it.
Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Anybody able to access the EotM map?

in The Edge of the Mists

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Edit: When I try to go to EoTM, I always get the same information about my firewall and some kind of errors occuring.

That is what I keep getting as well.

This is what has happened in the past when a server/map was unavailable (crashed in most cases). All of us are getting that error.

Given how big the feature is I would say this has gone rather smoothly – most of us got to run around and explore the map a bit. Other devs would have screwed up worse and would have not only ignored their players; but would have kept them in the dark (if you want a current example: Battlefield 4 and the sound issue). kitten happens, at least ANet are keeping us in the loop and are working on it.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Flamekissed: Before and After

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Should I have voted with my wallet for a retexture of feathered? No.
Should I have voted with my wallet for other content that ANet continues to push out? Yes, they do ultimately deserve my support.
Do I like the look of the skin (even though the alt it now features on was already wearing feathered)? Hell yes.

Really though ANet, I think this would have been more acceptable in the 400-600 gem range. 800 is asking a bit much when the other armor weights got full models.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

EotM Thumper Theorycrafting

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I’m going to throw down some theories on this while I wait for EotM to open. I may flesh this out later – rush typing it so that I can zergy zerg in EotM. I have two theories:

Meta-reality Measurements
Real-life scenario: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gravitational-wave-ligo/ – more specifically – http://www.kipnews.org/2012/01/17/scientific-evidence-that-the-entire-universe-is-a-holographic-projection-around-the-earth/ (happily this theory has since been disproved – but was legitimate science at the time)

Scarlet was using the thumpers to locate the EotM by sending out seismic waves and measuring how they behave. Slight variances from the normal could indicate some form of pattern (that would allow a portal) into the meta-reality (Mists). The thumper turning green could indicate that a suitable location (or time) to open a portal. The interesting fact being that the Lion’s Arch one will/opened first – inclining me to believe that it was/will be the first appropriate location (based on there possibly being a permanent portal in LA).

This is also confirmed by NPCs talking about “measurements.”

The only problem with this is that it goes far beyond the level of physics the average person understands. This isn’t something I would present to a wide audience.

Gathering Energy

Scarlet could have been using the thumpers to (a) locate the ley lines and (b) extract and store energy from them. Ripping open a portal to EotM would presumably require substantial amounts energy (magic in Tyria). The one in LA may have turned green as it would have acquired enough energy to open the LA portal.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

Gargoyles mysteriously vanish from Ascalon.

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

As I remember it’s tribute to a specific player who [from what I understand] made lots of Youtube videos involving him/her farming them.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Update to Ascended

in The Edge of the Mists

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

You get the stats on ascended gear. You just don’t get the increased damage from the weapon.

So in terms of:

Damage done = (Weapon strength) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)

You are saying that the Weapon Strength is not being factored in? In which case I completely agree with the thread. I would definitely say not all kits should factor this in; I would actually venture to say that only Engi kits should factor it in (let’s be honest, who actually uses a banner as a legitimate attack weapon?) Certain kits should have the sum of your equipped items as their “ghosted” Weapon Strength.

Keep in mind that Power is still factored in so there is still a damage boost – but I have to agree, it’s only fair to engis. Ascended weapons are effectively 105% (additional 5%) and hence according to that equation we have an unfair 5.25% detriment.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Living (Story) in a Griefer's Paradise?

in The Edge of the Mists

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

team ed up on

That’s part of how to not get griefed.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Heavy Moldy Bags - 1499 opened (Giant Eyes?)

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I am at home…

I am not (and overworked) and therefore I find things such as more Giant Eyes than Porous Bones in the OP’s inventory amusing.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Heavy Moldy Bags - 1499 opened (Giant Eyes?)

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Porous Bones are Soulbound on Acquire and I dont know what they have to do with Immobulus.

Did you leave your sense of humor at home?

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

Watchwork Pick: Non-inflammatory please

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

only available with premium currency

As previously stated it is possible to get a sprocket node in your home instance by completing achievements. Therefore the pickaxe is not the only way to acquire sprockets after Scarlet disappears.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Heavy Moldy Bags - 1499 opened (Giant Eyes?)

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

It seems as though Porous Bones are more rare than Giant Eyes. Indeed they are more rare than most T6 mats. <Rubs hands>

Thanks for the info. I guess that player who has the Immobulus on the wiki is a very lucky person indeed. At this point I would have to say that the Immobulus is in a tier far above legendary (which are far too abundant to be special).

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Watchwork Pick: Non-inflammatory please

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Keep in mind there was an achievement where you could get a mining node for these in your home instance. This is more along the lines of P2Lazy imo.

As another justification, take me. I was on holiday for most of the duration of the associated LS – finishing it is literally impossible (not enough days for the daily achievements) and so I don’t have the node that the rest of you have. Luckily I am now able to permanently acquire [free] sprockets by another means. Yes, in reality it should be tough luck but it’s nice to not be left out in the cold. They are also quite expensive and I would venture to say that not as many as you would imagine were purchased – they shouldn’t upset the market too much.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Living (Story) in a Griefer's Paradise?

in The Edge of the Mists

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

By that time Obsidian didn’t count for population limit anymore, you know.

By that time there were still JPs on the borders, you know. Also a queue backed up with players waiting to get into the JP is still ultimately a queue, you know? (The option to enter OS directly only came at the end of the season)

And the griefings happened even on servers with no queues at all.

That’s a leap of faith right there. Got any metrics to back that up? I would very much like to see the player engagement statistics involving “JP griefing;” it would very likely give me more ammunition against bad, or in this case out of context, arguments.

And the griefers didn’t intend to help their own side in WvW even a tiny bit

Did you ask them? The irony of the matter is that griefers on JPs helps all sides in WvW.

I would also like to hear your opinion on the matter regarding not fully contributing to the rewards that you likely earned.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

Living (Story) in a Griefer's Paradise?

in The Edge of the Mists

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

griefing on an unprecedented scale.

It’s going to be so much fun.

We’ve already seen this sort of thing happen with WvW jumping puzzles.

While the WvWers had no problem completing the JPs.

This funnels a constant stream of victims to the griefers, and removes the option to wait for them to go away.

I only victimize people who complain instead of adapting to their environment. There is a trick to not getting knocked off puzzles and generally griefed. I’ll give you the first hint that will lead you to this treasure, for free: ask how to avoid being griefed in map chat. You’re welcome. Also,

removes the option to wait for them to go away.

Wrong.

what information is available so far I am very, very concerned excited.

FTFY.

/signed PvE/WvW/PvP player.

Keep in mind from the WvW perspective you were griefing us – maps filled with PvEers doing JPs while we were losing PPT; you would disappear after you had access to the key/AP then would supply no further contribution to the podium finish (but would still earn the prize). Who is the actual griefer?

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

(edited by zamalek.2154)

Please no more living story about Scarlet

in Living World

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

AN is wrapping up this season of the living World -i.e. Scarlet’s arc- with 4 big updates, the last of which will (probably) release on the 4th of march.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Thoughts on EotM and PvE content

in The Edge of the Mists

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Why people talk like if there has never been PvE content in WvW? The living story always reaches WvW and all serious WvW players despise it.

They said in the stream that PvE content will be somehow out of the way – I’m guessing it’s going to be physically far away from the action but hoping it will be instanced.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
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GuestGate: the new LS Meta

in Living World

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Marionette

If your server has no skill I feel sorry for you son; I got 99 problems but dodging ain’t one. Either way, all LS content dies down toward the end of its life (which is today).

Wurm

Technically the Wurm isn’t LS content – the only achievement associated with it was the daily Boss Thumper (but that could be done with Marionette). Oops!

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.