Showing Posts For zamalek.2154:

Abaddon fractal considered in future

in Fractured

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

While I would like the Abbadon fractal a more correct way to say it would be “I would like the Abbadon fractal without Scarlet.”

Having her in the Abaddon Fractal would however not make any sense whatsoever, seeing as that took place over thousand years before the Sylvari even existed.

Next thing you know, turns out, Scarlet is actually Abbadon – and he/she is doing all of this because he/she is kitten ed. How is Abbadon not dead? Easy: “Scarlet did it.” Alternatively she is a Margonite and is out seeking revenge because of us dispatching Abbadon. The fractal doesn’t necessarily have to be one that far in the past; it could have been us preventing Scarlet from resurrecting Abbadon or something. Another way to get her into the fractal would have been to retcon the whole Abbadon fiasco (it was done with the Krait).

There are no two ways about it – no matter how silly it seems that she would be involved the reality is she would have been jammed into it somehow.

In scenarios like this remember: the lore isn’t important, Scarlet Briar and the Sylvari are.

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

We Do Not Like Scarlet Briar

in Fractured

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Trying to stay constructive.

Saying that there are more players who like her; or, conversely there are more players who don’t is conjecture. No matter who says it: us or ANet. Any statistics about how many players do the content are also useless (because loot, levels and AP are other reasons players could engage in this content).

How do we get out of this sticky situation and have a final word on how the playerbase feels about Scarlet? Put it to an in-game vote at the end of the Scarlet arc.

As an example: Shodd has performed more work on the Infinity Ball and has found two new realities. He can use the device in one of two ways:

  • Imprison Scarlet in a reality not to different from hell. She may be able to find her way back to our reality at some point in the future. This is the option that players would choose if they like Scarlet. “Justice in the form of revenge.”
  • Everyone escapes to a reality where the EDs had successfully wiped out intelligent life, Scarlet remains in the original one alone. All permanent Scarlet content (<cough> Thaumanova) is reworked to exclude her, this is the option that players would choose if they don’t like her. “Justice in the form of solitude.”
Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
wooden doors with fireballs and it’s working
.

Abaddon's vs. Aurora vs. Gandara

in Match-ups

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Dear Mr Silver Veteran [VV] AG Thief […] I would like to duel you 1vs1. […] [BORD] […]

I’ll pass your sentiments on to this good man. He’s a roamer that a few people in AG have loads of respect for – your work is going to be cut out for you.

Also [BORD], thanks for the fun fights on Gandara BL last night. I’ll post a vid of your “ballista surprise” when I get round to editing it.

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

Official state of skill lag and server optimizations

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Curious to see if you, as players, have noticed the impact

  • Skill lag has completely disappeared.
  • It seemed that last night there were scenarios of server overload on Gandara Borderlands (nothing happening, and then the fast-forward scenario while the server catches up with the load, all the skills that I spammed in panic would still pop).

From a playability standpoint I feel that server overload isn’t the worst thing in a game like GW2. As long as my skills go off I’m a happy camper (even if the blobbadons skills all go off under me at the same time and I am suddenly on top of 10287213 AOE rings).

Good work guys. Keep it up, I’m looking forward to seeing further improvements. The only criticism is that I find that battleping.com still improves the reliability of my in-game experience quite a bit (I think that might always be a problem as I have 300ms ping).

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

Game unable to start since 11/13 mini patch

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Another option Luke is to use -repair when starting the client to check for corrupt files: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Command_line_arguments

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

Skill Lag

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

What did you do ANet? You “broke” skill lag.

Good job! I am assuming you made a change that you didn’t tell us about. Just did some roflzerg vs roflzerg in EB and had zero skill lag.

I’m interested to see how a SM 3-way goes, but this is looking a lot better than before.

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

Stealth and Speed Hacks in WvWvW

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I hate hacks.If you’ve posted a name of a hack, or a link to a hack, please remove that info, it’s against the ToS.

Name and shame videos and screenshots are also against the ToS.

What we really need is a way to directly send links of videos and screenshots to ANet; there-by avoiding the public humiliation aspect of it while still giving them proof of the hacking.

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

Angel McCoy Interview

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I think what is causing your grievances with the Asura in GW2 is that, like all the other races, they are living in the shadow of the Sylvari. What gives me hope about the Asura is that their impotence is not as pronounced as all the other races – they might be have weak plots at times, but at least they actually have plots (once in a blue 8 bit moon). The other races are so insignificant at this point that any involvement from them would be, in itself, weak storytelling – “why are the Charr all of a sudden doing something important? This makes no sense.” Until the 6th race comes along and mixes it up I honestly think that the Asura are the only way to progress from the current slump – they can be used by the writers to write themselves out of this mess (because they are in the sweet spot where they are still somewhat undefined but not completely insignificant 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
.

Angel McCoy Interview

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

[…]It’s just more evidence that the retcons are done just because the writer(s) personally didn’t like the old direction.

[…]But this apparent disdain for the old lore from GW1 is really frustrating.

REMOVES tin foil hat. I’m really not being sarcastic here.

The old lore isn’t good enough because the Sylvari wouldn’t easily fit into it – in all seriousness it seems as though the Sylvari are being set up as the new god race in GW2. A pre-existing god race would directly compete with their supremacy.

Which is a massive pity; the human gods had a lot going for them – the only thing the Sylvari have are a very interesting and well-executed art direction: Scarlet has been called a Mary Sue many, many times on these forums; I would venture to say that the entire race is.

This is a big pity – if you really want to avoid too much story telling in terms of GW1 races, there is another very-competently written race that is basically completely un-involved in the living story: the Asura.

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

Just saw a bot patrol in Diessa Plateu

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Next time you see it try and find out how it reacts to a champ or veteran being lead to it.

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

Abaddons Mouthwash/ Fort Knox/ Apollo Glade

in Match-ups

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Seeing AG people getting mad because we put up ACs on newly capped wooden towers and kill their group is incredibly satisfying.

Hey man if that’s what you have to get kills then I guess you don’t have a choice.

Seeing group of 40 run from a group of 20 is also pretty satisfying. I guess a true veteran knows their limits.


FR <3 – you guys are good fun.

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

Collaborative Development Topic- Living World

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

can you elaborate, please?

You can also unlock it with 50 (Marjory shop unlock) + 250 (Marjory shop cost) pristine spore samples. That qualifies as a scavenger hunt of sorts (although a very weak-mind-numbingly-brainless-badly-designed-lazy scavenger hunt, your concept of finding the parts is far more interesting).

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

Official state of skill lag and server optimizations

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I would be interested to know what you did technically; if you are able to share those details (if not here then on gamedev or something – it’s been a while since us indie devs have had anything more than the Age of Empires and Halo network coding postmortems to mull over).

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

Collaborative Development Topic- Living World

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

The new skill could have been the reward for a scavenger hunt type of content.

You can also unlock it with 50 (Marjory shop unlock) + 250 (Marjory shop cost) pristine spore samples. That qualifies as a scavenger hunt of sorts (although a very weak-mind-numbingly-brainless-badly-designed-lazy scavenger hunt, your concept of finding the parts is far more interesting).

I assume the skillpoint stuff was there for people who either didn’t want to do the toxic events, or, people who wanted to use the spore samples for something else. Furthermore from the perspective of an altaholic I appreciate the 25 skill point unlock route (it’s not 50). It also caters to the players who join the game after this part of the LS is removed (or if they don’t remove it, when players stop doing it in general and the toxic events become impossible).

I agree that more interesting content could have been done for the grind unlock; the rest of your complaint is ill informed though.

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

Collaborative Development Topic- Living World

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Chris decided to extend the deadline to allow more people to add to this particular discussion. If anyone has more to say on this topic, please post your comments.

Kinda meta-discussion, but hearing:

  • What you have taken from what has been said (there are a lot of posts here, it would be nice to see a summary of what you feel are the important, good or recurring suggestions).
  • What you initially plan to do about what players have said.
  • If you want to be super-transparent: on-going posts about the ideas you are throwing around the office that stemmed from this thread. The player-base has repeatedly burnt you and punished you in the past when you have been transparent, I wouldn’t be surprised if you skipped this one – we don’t deserve it.
  • Remind us, when you make the changes, that we asked for them by citing the suggestions in this thread.

Would be nice.

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

condi duration affecting immobilize anet why

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Immobilization is a cc

It’s a condition. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Condition#List_of_conditions – probably because it doesn’t completely disable you.

Honestly, even with this change, the times I DON’T die to it far outweigh the times that I do. I do sympathize though, depending on your build and situation an immobile person is usually a dead person.

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

Stealth and Speed Hacks in WvWvW

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

shadow legion tool kit

Is this still around?

No. Nearly all of the PvE/karma weapon bundles have been disabled in WvW since approx. Jan/Feb (saying that, I don’t know of one that does work – but you never know).

I have seen people getting more and more daring with hacks since the leagues started (having almost never seen it before the leagues). Flying golems, impossible spam attacks, speed. It’s definitely a problem. It’s also usually the servers that don’t participate on these forums.

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

The Extinction Theory Reexamined

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Did a quick skim over your post, will get more into it later. Some things that sparked my interest though:

Think of the dinosaurs. Where did they all go and who is most likely responsible for their demise?

I think Giganticus Lupicus are exactly that – the GW-version of dinosaurs.

In particular, I wanted to categorize the nature of (at least some) Elder Draconic corruption:

Very, very, interesting… My over-analytical mind says we are missing an ED under one of categories. If it’s Mordremoth we are talking about maybe she reanimates rotten plant matter (e.g. the champion rotting oakheart in Queensdale); again bringing to question this Sylvari immunity that they all seem too overconfident and flippant about.

That would give GW2 a nice over-arching theme of undead.

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

Collaborative Development Topic- Game Modes

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Just to throw some more ideas into this thread. I’ve been playing some Battlefield 4 and some of their modes seem like they may have a place in GW2:

Rush: The idea here is that the “attackers” have a certain amount of respawn tickets. The “defenders” need to prevent the attackers from blowing up objectives. The objectives unlock in pairs of two after the previous set of objectives are destroyed (the map also becomes larger when the objectives are destroyed). There are 10 objectives in total. Each team has a turn attacking and defending on the same map (the relative progress of the previous round determines who wins).
GW2 Rush: There are a set of keep walls (barring the attackers from progressing) on the map, each wall has 2 indestructible gates with a capture point in front of it. Once an objective is claimed by the attackers the defenders cannot reclaim it or neutralize it. Once both capture points are held by the attackers the gates open, allowing the attackers through to the next set of objectives. Each match lasts “2 rounds” (where the teams take turns attacking) and the round have a time limit. The first round runs the “default” duration (say, 7.5 minutes) – the second round runs the duration it took the first round attackers to succeed (or 7.5 minutes if they did not). If both rounds are 7.5 minutes the victor is the team that captured the most objectives. If the first attackers capture the final objectives the second attackers must beat their time.

Obliteration: Each team has a number of targets on the map. A bomb spawns at a random location on the map and has to be carried to one of the opposing team’s objectives. The team that destroys all the objectives wins.
GW2 Obliteration: A one-use weapon bundle spawns at a random location on the map. One player must carry this to an enemy structure and destroy it. Interesting side-thought: You might try use the Colossus Fractal mechanic – the player carrying the bundle must score a kill before being able to attack the objective with the weapon bundle. Additionally with that mechanic the weapon bundle might only remove a shield from the objective, but the objective itself must be destroyed by the players (whether or not the shield regenerates after some time would need playtesting, but I would err on the side of no regeneration).

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

[Merged]1year post launch. How Anet feel on Trinity?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

The reason they shamed the trinity is goes it bit further than “lol trinity sucks.”

The logic behind the trinity is that it is designed for damage soaking (tanks) and damage undoing (healers). DPS is, well, you know. That type of gameplay is great for people who enjoy the mastery behind it. One of the joys of the trinity is predictability, if your team is this |<——>| good there is a good chance they will always be and you can rely on that.

The logic behind GW2 (remember there might be other ways of going trinity-less) is damage avoidance. The idea is that your HP pool never takes the damage that would have been soaked up by someone else or the damage that would have needed to be healed. Sometimes you have roles that have an analogy in GW2 (buff guardians are very similar to tanks, but instead of being the sole focus of the damage the help others avoid it). The joy of the GW2 system is that it’s unpredictable, every fight is extremely unique (at least, say, compared to the samey nature of trinity raids in other games).

Neither is more skilled than the other: they are entirely different types of skills. Trinity players are not noobs and nor are GW2 players. It comes down to personal preference.

GW2 is a place for players who want to enjoy an MMO experience, but despise the trinity system. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s not out to prove that the trinity is silly in any way. At least in my opinion.

If you don’t enjoy damage avoidance than you are probably playing the wrong game: don’t play a game for its graphics alone (to be honest there isn’t really anything with acceptable graphics for trinity-style players at the moment). Stick to what you enjoy: it’s why you play game – to have fun.

My personal opinion: hate the trinity.

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)

Scarlet and a Piece of Krait obelisk

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I’m personally guessing that Scarlet went above the Krait’s head on the matter, and she personally went to their leadership first, the Oratuss. […]

Everything makes sense now, thank you.

The likely reasoning she gave the Oratuss is that she knows how to relocate the obelisks (even if she doesn’t in the scenario where what she saw was a hallucination and not the eternal alchemy, she still thinks she does) – because from what you guys have told me (cough corrected me) the obelisks aren’t exactly something the Krait can just decide to build at any old time.

From my perspective the problem would be that “you can’t physically relocate a whole obelisk,” but if she suggested that they relocate bits of it (the shards) and combine the shards with the magic of another species they might be able to create something just as good. And have a mass sacrifice as a bonus (the people killed by the spore creatures).

Keep in mind that we were told that the Krait are transporting the obelisk shards and they are all located in areas connected to the sea – this means that theories like Scarlet simply using portals to acquire them from the “DSD danger zone” probably won’t be sound – in the same way I am not sure if submarines could pull it off either. Getting creative with airships would probably only be marginally more successful.

Conjecture: one thing she might have done during the previous living stories is acquire some powerful magical artifact (while she had us occupied with what looked like pointless attacks) and could have used it to temporarily lure DSD away from the parts of the sea bed where the obelisks are located. That still doesn’t explain what she’s trying to actually achieve with the tower of nightmares though. Maybe my one theory stating that “the obelisks are tools of ascension” instead of “the tools of calling the ascended” (as the krait believe them to be) and Scarlet is trying to ascend by creating an accessible one so that she can ascend.

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

Collaborative Development Topic- Game Modes

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

For the GAME TYPE, people seem to be asking for:

  • 2 lords. If you kill their lord you win.
  • There are obstacles in the way (a lot of people use the MOBA analogies of having NPC’s or towers in the way…you defeat these in order to get to the opposing guild lord).
  • I assume there’s a time limit?
  • Do we do VoD again to stop people from turtling?

Right sounds like you are asking for some clarification here. As I said a pure MOBA will probably flop, I think some adjustments will need to be made in order to MMO-ify it; that being said here’s how MOBAs generally work:

  • 2 “killable things”, yes, let’s say it’s a lord. They are tanky as hell and don’t regen health.
  • There are stationary obstacles in the way (the towers) that deal massive damage. Towers behind the current “front line” (and the lord) are invulnerable in most MOBAs: you need to do them in order.
  • The mobs/NPCs do a death march toward the opposing lord in waves (waves are typically spaced at 1 minute apart and have 4 melee and 1 ranged mob). They meet in the middle and will generally wipe each other out (if not the next tower will). During early-mid game it’s the players’ job to disrupt this balance.
  • There are usually 3 lanes – the towers and the mobs follow (or are placed along) these lanes.
  • There isn’t a time limit in pure MOBAs.
  • Turtlers don’t do well in pure MOBAs because of the RPG aspect of them.
  • Players typically can’t take on towers – they need the mobs as a meat shield. This can change at the end-game depending on the hero+build in question.

So some of my ideas on how to MMO-ify it:

  • Lords, towers, mob waves in the typical 3-lane setup. As a start. I’m not sure about how frequent the waves should be, if you make them squishy enough you could probably do the on-the-minute waves.
  • Don’t regenerate the lords’ health (even out of combat). Instead killing mobs in the field will heal your team’s lord a tiny bit. This actively counters turtling during the endgame.
  • It’s rather difficult to impose a time limit on the game. Considering that you probably won’t have the “temporary progression” (starting at level 1 each game) that is present in MOBAs you can probably get away with additional rules. For example, every 2 minutes your front-line towers could take 25% damage. Every 5 minutes you lose a single mob out of your wave spawns. This means that the game will push itself eventually coming down to just the players and the lords (with no way to heal the lords). This will also heavily penalise turtling.
  • Don’t allow the players to boon the lord whatsoever (make him a structure like Tequatl maybe). Restrict certain boons, such as heals, on the mobs (I think – not sure about that one, could have some interesting meta).
  • There does need to be some form of “temporary progression” but for the life of me I can’t figure out what it would be. Maybe have each creep kill give you an “effectless” boon that can be redeemed for other permanent (across death if GW2 allows it) boons at your base.

Just some ideas, might be bad, might be good – but it’s an attempt to try and fit a MOBA into GW2 (instead of just directly translating the concept, which I don’t think will work).

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

Collaborative Development Topic- Game Modes

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

It would end up in players farming minions for the first 20 mins to unlock skills or buff their toon in whichever way would be implemented and then bashing on eachothers towers for the next 15-25 mins.

Why all the anger?

If that’s your view of MOBAs you have been playing it with the wrong people. If done incorrectly your perspective could happen; but in general MOBAs do a lot of balancing effort around the risk and reward of killing players versus killing mobs. Mobs are reliable xp/gold but certainly won’t win you the game. As I said, MOBAs haven’t been done in MMORPGs before so we will have to feel this one out – but I do think there is the possibility of potential for a great and interesting game mode there.

Or it could be horrible. Saying either is guaranteed to happen is short sighted – which is why I’m a big fan of the iterative approach; because it’s the only way to determine if any of the new game modes are actually worth anything. CTF could be absolute junk as well, for all we know (because we don’t – it hasn’t been playtested).

If they would seriously consider having such a large team size mode as competitive mode [… good stuff …]

Agree completely. The current PvE/WvW balance is great for GvG. GvG arenas in PvP were merely a stop-gap or a cop out for dealing with this aspect of the game in WvW (one that I actually suggested or agreed with in the past). Now that they announced the Obsidian Sanctum GvG arena I don’t think this is one that the PvP developers need to bother with; the concept of GvG in HoTM has become completely obsolete. To add more fuel to the fire, how do you even allocate rank for GvG’ers? What happens when a rank 20 GvG’er who has never played 5 man team games joines the solo q?

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

Why are the Largos not helping?

in Tower of Nightmares

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

The Largos are uncooperative (or rather very secretive) race. The only reason Sayeh al’Rajihd helps Trahearne (and by association, you) is because she had previously declared herself indebted to him; not because of Zhaitan. While Sayeh knew what the obelisk (wasn’t it actually an orb?) was during the PS; she didn’t help out of interest of the orb – she was helping because of her self-proclaimed debt to Trahearne and Trahearne was interested in the orb. Don’t make the mistake that her helping Trahearne was normal by any stretch of the imagination. Whatever happened to the two of them must have been pretty crazy.

The Largos aren’t xenophobic (like the Krait) just completely disinterested in other races.

If the Krait pose a threat to the Largos they would deal with the Krait on their own. We wouldn’t hear about it either.

Unless Scarlet the Slayer of Lore gets involved and retcons the lot.

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)

Waypoints in WvW.

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

when contested, a waypoint will open up (briefly) between the expiry of one “contest” and start of a new one. Is this working as intended?

In my opinion it somewhat is. Here’s the theory. The current event for defending keeps is something along the lines of “repel the enemy invaders.” Question is, how has you “succeeding” at the event made any difference if the timer simply starts again? Right now the difference you make is that you have held off the attackers until the main force or reinforcements arrives.

That’s not to say there aren’t problems. I think some buildings should have a longer timer (e.g. garrison and SM). The game should also be transparent to the invaders about what the timer is, give them the timer in their event information as well (“Reinforcements arrive in: xx:xx” or something). The waypoint should also open for longer. I am not sure what it is at the moment, but the spam clicking we have to do is a bit silly.

I like the concept of waves of reinforcements, but it does need work.

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

Collaborative Development Topic- Game Modes

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I think the more important (despite what I want) modes would be plain and simple team deathmatch. Personally I probably wouldn’t play it, but it is the most straightforward mode to get into and can be re-used for “RP’d” modes (1v1, asuraball, etc.).

MOBA Mode

This is the one I want. You guys did do the MOBA last year for Halloween, so you have had some experience with it. I think you would have to be really iterative with this and keep it simple for the start (normal PvP with towers and AI mobs) – then branch out into other ideas such as unlocking skills as the game progresses and see what our feedback is regarding those. We all have ideas as to how the MOBA would work, seeing as MOBA has never been done in an MMORPG we are in new territory here – we are going to need playtesting by the playerbase in order to see what works.

Whichever modes you choose I also think that the new game modes should be released as betas – by that I mean there would be no reward on completion of the match. Let us playtest them with you and give our feedback about which ideas we think work and which ones we don’t; without having people get mad when the modes are unbalanced or glory is farmed or something. Possibly sync up your releases with the Living Story and keep iterating every two weeks on the current game mode. We would probably be able to provide better feedback once we get our hands dirty with the game modes. Maybe some of the modes we come up with, while good on paper, are bad in the game.

Allowing us to help you playtest early on (without risking messing up glory or rank) is really a great way to collaborate on development with the community.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
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Nightmare Tower (Spoilers)

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I was talking to an IRL friend about this all; he gave me a very good example of where this happened in reality and it does make the Krait collaborating with another race very plausible.

Adolf Hitler’s original “religious mission” (if you could call it that) was to eradicate anybody on the face of the planet that was not of the Aryan race who he believed were the master race (seeing similarities here?). The antisemitism was merely a result of him believing that the Semitic race was the most dangerous opposing race and the genocide there was merely a part of his ultimate plan. The movement associated with Hitler (which would probably be censored on these forums) believed that Slavs were not Aryan (Russians were also believed to be the Slav race by him and his movement). However, it is a pretty well known fact that the Axis (the alliance that included Hilter’s forces) included the Russians.

So the group of people that most would probably agree are the most xenophobic people ever seen in real life, did create an alliance with their aliens in order to further their motives.

There’s some RL lore for you all .

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
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Toxin Cleanse Working as Intended? (*PVE*)

in Tower of Nightmares

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I’m purely referring to the Tower of Nightmares aspect of Antitoxin Spray here (the toxin cleanse only). This isn’t a thread about the balance or the “normal” effectiveness of the ability – it’s just about how it interacts with toxin-based stuff.

I tried it out during one of the spore offshoot events, and while it did remove the toxin the spore re-applied it to me in less than a second. Apart from healing me for a bit the antitoxin provided no benefit for these events. I was completely expecting do at least get some form of boon/status that protected me from it for a few seconds (“Antitoxin Residue” or something?).

Is this working as intended or not?

I assume the ability will become important later on, but at the moment it’s pretty pointless.

Auroraglade
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Krait and Dominion of Winds

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

After the patch one could conclude that the Dominion of Winds is also having problems with these spore offshoots – it could be the starting point for the Tengu personal story.

Edit: I guess justification is needed – the Dominion of Winds is also adjacent to Kessex hills.

The krait religion is based on massive obelisks of a unique, dark stone that can be found exclusively and rarely on Tyria’s ocean floors.

Exclusively on the ocean floors. I wouldn’t call a lake an “ocean floor.”

That’s a historical document, though, Konig. The krait would be forced to adapt because they have been forced away from that sea floor by bubbles, they wouldn’t just abandon the concept of summoning their prophets back to Tryia.

Either way now we know it’s a weird krait obelisk tree people hybrid thing.

Auroraglade
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(edited by zamalek.2154)

Nightmare Tower (Spoilers)

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Krait numerology?

“Numerology is any study of the purported divine, mystical or other special relationship between a number and some coinciding observed (or perceived) events.” (Emphasis mine)

It’s merely an accurate word for the krait and their mathematical predictions of their prophets’ return. It hasn’t been used in-game, or by ANet (as far as I know). I have always just understood the word as a religion or myths surrounding mathematics and numbers.

Basically, from what I understand, the krait are supposed to be extremely good with mathematics and they have attempted (and failed) to use it to predict the return of their prophets. I am assuming that we will learn that Scarlet has somehow mastered their mathematics and was able to use it to manipulate them. Basically, another thing/race that she has mastered. Blegh.

Auroraglade
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(edited by zamalek.2154)

Nightmare Tower (Spoilers)

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Spoilers ahead.

Feedback about nightmare tower.

1: Nailed it
Sort of. The toxin is causing the effect, but it is related to ascension and/or prophets.

I like the idea of the krait prophets. […] a component of the process of krait ascension that is recently re-acquired knowledge, previously forgotten due to the oral nature of krait lore. Basically the queen is trying to ascend […]

2: Krait Cooperation
I’m really sad to see that Scarlet is behind this one, again. However, a very reasonable explanation is given. If you were to ask me if the krait would ally with someone on the premise of acquiring parts of an obelisk, I would honestly have to say “I don’t know, but I will err on the side of: they wont.” I guess I have the answer to that now.

So I’m not incredibly charmed that they are now in cahoots, but I am happy that at least an explanation was given. It would have been far better to not get them involved with each other at all. There is no reason that we couldn’t have had the krait doing this out of their own accord and Scarlet doing something by herself while we are otherwise distracted – it would have been beneficial to her either way.

I’m waiting for us to learn that Scarlet also mastered krait numerology.

3: Explanations
I really like the inclusion of Ela Makkay. Instead of dodging around the issue of the krait being xenophobic you openly admit it.

Overall
I think out of all the options getting the krait and the Sylvari and/or Scarlet was by far the weakest way to introduce this. However, credit is due for explaining it. I’m not annoyed at all with her involvement, however I really wish she wasn’t behind this. I guess I am trying to say I have mixed feelings, which is an improvement over my previous perspective of “The Slayer of Lore”.

Edit: Once again, Sylvari getting their leafs on everything – that still really annoys me.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
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(edited by zamalek.2154)

Do we need a Clean Orr map?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

while PS completers can choose to enter the Cleansed Arah.

I really like this idea as a nod to players who have done the PS.

It doesn’t really have to be an option though, arah EXP is done under the presumption that arah has been cleansed etc. (even if you have not). Some small changes like greenery and life would be nice (the undead remnants still make sense, so there would be no need to change them) – just artwork, nothing functional.

Auroraglade
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.

Why is this being released Oct. 29?!

in Tower of Nightmares

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Halloween: Seasonal Event
Tower of Nightmares: Living Story Episode

Halloween doesn’t progress the overall living story – it progresses its own living story (which we only see once a year). Wintersday will probably be exactly the same.

I was actually expecting this to be the case.

Auroraglade
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Homophobia & the Ignore System

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Some constructive feedback. I don’t think homophobia is the only issue here: you could have people who are insulted by, say, blasphemy, antisemitism, patriarchy, matriarchy or elitism.

Why not add a user-editable words list to the game (a censor.ini file in the GW2 My Documents directory or something), for example:



 # Turn just the word(s) in to kitten.
[kitten]
jesus
god
holy mary
idiot

# Censor the entire message. Either never display it (probably best) or turn the entire thing into "kitten".
[message]
gay
jew
noob
kitten

This would be a list of words that are ALWAYS censored (despite what you select on the UI, some people might find words they use in their lists as offensive while they don’t have a problem with the usual swear words that ANet have provided). Leave the power in our hands to censor what we don’t like to see, if you fix the issue that Zaoda has (by censoring homosexual synonyms in the universal censor list) you might still have threads from others with their own issues – and those would probably erupt into pointless “get over it/grow up” conversations like this one has.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
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Collaborative Development Topic- Living World

in CDI

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

A lot of unreasonable people don’t like the Living Story because it has nothing to do with dragons. I completely agree with your position on that argument: adding significant area to the game dilutes the playerbase and turns existing areas into ghost towns. Feedback: Stop talking about dragons. This is creating the false perception that a new one is coming really really soon: just look at everyone loosing their nuts thinking that the Nightmare Tower is Mordremoth. Talk about dragons when they are on the project plan – not before.

I think the more reasonable people have problems with Scarlet (or possibly the Sylvari in general – far too much of the living story has them as central characters). That’s the impression I get at least. I don’t really know how you could fix her either. The quote in my signature basically sums up what I think is the problem with her (she’s the Jar Jar Binks of Guild Wars 2) and I really don’t know how you can write yourself out of that one. A lot of people have been saying “kill her off,” while I don’t think that’s really constructive I think it might be along the right lines. Maybe have her go on a sabbatical and kill her off in the books between GW2 and GW3 – that way you don’t really destroy the temporal stability in your game.

Or make her get really personal: at least for now maybe you could build up some more healthy hatred (the type that people have for Joffrey in Game of Thrones). It’s a bit of an controversial example (and I have stated it before) and I don’t know how the players would react, but one thing you could do in an upcoming living story is allow her minions to attack players wherever they might be (the entire overworld map, minus dungeons, instances and cities) – and ensure that these minions would kill a lone person. Players would have to group up just to move around (we would actually be intimidated) and we would want to do something to get rid of that harassment. While it’s not something that is necessarily a good idea I think it would be a nice break from her current SOP.

As far as the Living Story except the lore (that’s all Scarlet’s fault) I can’t really argue too much. You guys really mixed it up. I think you should re-evaluate certain repeating events based on perceptions you have created in the past. For example, look at the labyrinth this year – while it was probably as profitable as last year’s you set a different expectation with the crown pavilion. Players got their achievements and simply left. You should have at least matched the crown pavilion. The risk/reward (or effort/reward) was also completely out of whack in some cases, the clock tower has incredibly poor rewards. The only times I finished were for the initial reward and then because some guy trolled me and said “you get 5g for winning the match.” Even though it’s a lot of fun, it’s far too frustrating (especially with lag, it makes the last jump somewhat random) to get a few trick or treat bags at the end.

Your earlier living stories were FAR too grindy (the balloon riding and effigy lighting come to mind). It seems you have moved away from that: don’t go there again, please. There is nothing wrong with your players finishing the content in one week. The living story should be a break from the normal, not a replacement for it.

Regarding stuff like the TA rework: I think you could have dumbed it down for the duration of the living story fortnight. I know you wanted to introduce another more hardcore dungeon into the game (which is great!), but a lot of people felt left out. The fresh content should be puggable, increase the difficulty after the LS forthnight to the level you want it. Another example where you could have done this is Tequatl. (I got into [TKS] before the first kill but I really feel for others who didn’t have a group like this to work through it)

Coming back to the work/other commitments issues – be more aware of this please. I was a MASSIVE fan of tribulation mode, but world 2 was impossible for me because I simply didn’t have the time to sit there and figure it out (world 1, on the other hand, was completely doable and incredibly rewarding).

I think another place where the players feel as though you have failed is that it never seems as though we have made a difference (you have left permanent changes, which is a good thing – keep it up). Scarlet is a clown, so we don’t really feel like we achieved anything when we foil one of her plans. I don’t know how you would make anything we do feel significant, but you guys have a knack for, at times, giving me very pleasant surprises. I’m going to keep playing the Living Story until you figure it out, even if I do ignore/skip anything to do with Scarlet and sometimes get angry because the fun outweighs the anger/frustration (sometimes the frustration is the fun, tribulation mode was excellent).

Keep it up ANet, I like where this is going even if it can be a bit weak at times.

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)

Bloody Prince for Personal Nemesis?

in Blood and Madness

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

/signed

Make it more personal than the “world” and we have a winner.

Edit: while it makes sense to make him halloween-exclusive it might be interesting to bring him out once in a while outside of the season.

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

Can someone sum up the story for me?

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

[…]

I wasn’t sure if I would be infracted for making a post mentioning “that company,” but yes – it’s where all the evil originates from.

People should give ANet a break.

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

Scarlet, Slayer of Lores.

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

There are two things we need to make it more interesting. First, let one of her plans succeed, let us arrive too late or play right in her hands. To be a threat, she must achieve something against us.

Not much to do with lore, this is more mechanics.

I have been thinking a while of a more controversial way for Scarlet to succeed against us. It’s really controversial, but, allow her minions to spawn anywhere in the overworld/Tyria where a player is present (I think dungeons and instances would be taking it too far). This would encourage players to group up together (we would feel threatened) and we would hate her (and, sadly, probably ANet too).

While incredibly infuriating, that would really feel like a living story to me.

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

Trash talk

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I thought the method of chatting with enemies (without joining parties) was common knowledge. Oh well, I guess it should stay as uncommon knowledge for the overall health of the community.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
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I hate carrots, my desire to WvW is gone

in WvW

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Current situation (achievements a.k.a. carrots):

  • Player doesn’t like carrots ignores the carrots and enjoys the game.
  • Player does like carrots follows the carrots and enjoys the game.

Your ideal world:

  • Player doesn’t like carrots enjoys the game.
  • Play does like carrots doesn’t enjoy the game.

If you don’t like the carrots then ignore them, I really fail to see the problem here. Just because there is a Mc Donalds down the street doesn’t mean I am forced to eat there and enjoy it. I have a brain and are able to make decisions such as “I don’t like XYZ and therefore I will avoid it.” With threads like these floating around I am starting to think this is a superpower though.

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

Scarlet's fascination with mesmers

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

She’s just jelly that she’s not part of that guild that Kasmeer is in (“The Great and Gorgeous Mesmer Collective” if I recall correctly).

Because Scarlet thinks that beauty is more than skin deep and her mind is beautiful, in the way that a 3-legged dog not giving up is beautiful.

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

Why I think Mordremoth is next!

in Tower of Nightmares

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Scarlet is not acting as minion, but she can be a champion. Or is there some official rule that champion of elder dragon has to be a dragon?

Nope. http://www.guildwars2guru.com/uploads/gallery/album_163/gallery_3318_163_39486.png

Dragons can have multiple champions […]. The Drakkar Beast (the term I use – not official or final) is most likely a champion of Jormag.

“Drakkar Beast” is not really dragon-sounding to me: but that’s an assumption.

Shadow Behemoth’s Master perhaps? Madking Thorn’s portal during halloween is similar to the portals at Shadow behemoths swamp.

They lead to the same area of the mists (the underworld). Thorn is stuck there but not by choice. He has taken over part of it, but I don’t think he is directly related to the Shadow Behemoth in any important way – he just happens to live in the same prison.

Auroraglade
Epistemic.8013: Guys this is bullkitten a sentient plant creature is hitting these
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(edited by zamalek.2154)

New Playable Race and Lore

in Lore

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

The problem with dwarves is that there’s far too many dialogues and scripts speaking about them being a mystery.

That, and, have a look at how big The Deldrimor Front is on the map. That’s a lot of content to create just for a starting area. I don’t think it’s something ANet would do with their current iterative (Living Story) model.

However, it would make a great story – you would likely be finding a way to unstone yourself in the initial instance; the personal story would be about getting over the xenophobia and getting along with the pact. There is a lot of potential there.

I think they would be “full-blown expansion” content though – you would have to have them and Primordus appearing at roughly the same time. ANet have said no expansions for a while, so…

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

Why I think Mordremoth is next!

in Tower of Nightmares

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

ALL Risen are taken after death, not before

Except Kellach if we had left him alone – your argument is sound though. Zhaitan prefers to take the dead instead of the living. As Konig pointed out, in this thread or another, the dragons could potentially corrupt anything they please, but each prefer to corrupt in their own way and very rarely venture away from that preference.

The once scenario that could work is that one of the many queens we have killed has become risen and Zhaitan is using her to confuse the krait in that area. That’s a really weak way to tie Zhaitan to all of this though. Most likely scenario (if SB doesn’t get involved retcon all the krait lore):

Glowing green is just an indication of magic, not Elder Dragon power. Most likely their Abyssal lords doing something.

- or – the queen is up to no good. I’m still trying to figure out how they would benefit from building a massive weapon – possibly trying to perform a mass sacrifice (in order to summon the krait prophets and their armies).

Auroraglade
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Zhaitan is alive

in Living World

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

In Arah Explorable: Zhaitan is dead.
In Tyria: Zhaitan is alive.

This is the only way that the temporal stability that ANet strives for actually works. You can’t interact with other PCs in Tyria where you have killed Zhaitan and they haven’t (indeed, even NPCs in some of the dungeons). Therefore at all times assume he is alive, unless you are in Arah explorable or have just killed him in arah story.

just in case, a picture of zhaitan corpse…

Even though your picture lines up with my theory, ANet have repeatedly stated that glitched content is not at all canon.

Auroraglade
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.

Why Scarlet is amazing.

in Tower of Nightmares

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I’m all for equal rights but currently we have the villain scarlet (female) and the Krait queen/priestess (female) joining forces while Marjory (female) and Kasmeer (female) are looking into it. All we need now is Kiel (female) and Rox (female) to turn up and the sisterhood will be complete. I suppose you can include the dimwit Braham to act all stupid and the effeminate Faren for some comic relief…

Add the Sylvari to that, read the correct interview, and it will make all make sense – I promise.

Auroraglade
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Why Krait glowing?

in Tower of Nightmares

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

I like the idea of the krait prophets. It also occurred to me that the obelisks could have some effect on the krait – the obelisks could have been a component of the process of krait ascension that is recently re-acquired knowledge, previously forgotten due to the oral nature of krait lore.

Basically the queen is trying to ascend and the krait are causing that effect on themselves.

Auroraglade
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(edited by zamalek.2154)

Why I think Mordremoth is next!

in Tower of Nightmares

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

Does glowing toxic green Krait look normal to you?

We don’t know what krait inside of one of their obelisks look like. The obelisk causing the green glowies is just as likely as an ED or SB. Nor do I remember encountering Zhaitan corruption causing neon green glowies. Maybe one of the previous villains is involved, possibly Canach as he has already shown aptitude for chemically altering the psychology of entire races (any anything chemical is stereotypically green glowy).

We have never seen a race “corrupted” or “buffed” by that effect and any conclusions drawn from it are wild and fantastical conjecture. Conjecture is fine if you make it clear that you are making wild assumptions, but “get the point into your head” is a clear statement that you are not.

If you want a definitive answer: wait to find out. It would have been just as easy to tie Mordremoth to The Secret of Southsun and Primordus to Flame and Frost. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation

All of which is entirely off-topic to this thread. The chances of the LS being tied to the next dragon are remote: at least this close to when the Living Story system first released. If we do see any real drastic changes in the near future I would assume it would be the new race first, but I assume that is still a ways off.

Auroraglade
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.

What Happened to New Skills and Traits?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

In the ‘Whats to Come in 2013’ article, we were promised new skills and traits were going to be added on a regular basis. It’s nearing November, devs, can we get an update on what’s happening?

http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/editorials/sky-pirates-tyria-traits-preview-part-one

Auroraglade
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Next update: Tower of Nightmares

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: zamalek.2154

zamalek.2154

“Um… Her idea of “indirect manipulation” seems to be “they work for me, because they want to live”. She’s hardly subtle. And that should not work on krait.”

Really? Because that is not how flame and frost felt.

Flame and Frost wasn’t the Krait. These guys are really xenophobic. A slight exaggeration would be to say that there would be a better chance of an elder dragon agreeing to go along with SB than there would be with the Krait. It’s not much of an exaggeration though.

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