Guild Wars 2

With respect to animations and smoothness, the new version does quite well. However, I feel like after looking and playing around with the interface for a little bit I would use the prior version were the choice available, overall.

- "Learn More" is probably not the best choice. "Show Me" would seem more fitting.
- The purchase buttons on mouse-over in the home screen view are annoying. It complicates what was a simple item+cost display for no real reason.
- There appears to be less on the screen at a time from what I remember, likely due to slightly larger display images for items. And larger purchase buttons.
- Text showing the normal price of an item appears to be overshadowed by the large purchase box with the current price right above it. (e.g. the Scruffy backpack currently on sale). Could use some more spacing.
- The mouse-over "preview" of the tabs seems redundant -- why try to use the relatively small area there to look at, say, promotions when I can use the whole BLTC window by clicking?

The roll-over to quickly access preview is nice, so I don’t have to use the style tab to see how anything might look on a character. The package details addition is nice, as well, for the very explicit breakdown of what’s included. Add these to the prior interface for a win, I’d say.

Djinn.9245:

There aren’t timed events that I’m trying to get to but end up missing in cities…

synk.6907:

been to explore the map first — without explicitly trying to rush to events or the story steps — and get the overall feel for the layout

If you’ve already explored and are still not sure how to get to events, perhaps take a moment to look around the waypoints and see what they provide quick access to and possible paths between them (e.g. lava tubes, updrafts, leylines)?

We had a good laugh about the medium set in guild chat the other night as folks previewed the sets. One guildie said it looked pretty good, and then another told him to turn on the combat mode. Reactions were great; it is so terrible.

WvW is really not bad, even if you are a PvE only player. Honestly, the method described above about using the guild vendor badges sounds horrendous.

You can earn ticks on the WvW track through flipping camps and minimal PvP, for what it’s worth. All you need to do is handle ~3-5 NPCs at a time, which shouldn’t be a problem. Of course, if your server population isn’t desolate (and hopefully your server matchups and combinations help ensure activity) just find the ball of folks and help capture towers and keeps. Kind of easy to earn points in the zergs.

Alternatively, you can progress the track, albeit at a lower maximum tick value, in Edge of the Mists, where it’s almost a 100% guarantee there will be people to zerg with through a rotation of objectives to keep up participation.

I sometimes wonder how the people who dislike this style of map feel about some of the city areas. For example, the stacking that is Rata Sum or the central portion of the Black Citadel present multiple layers, and you didn’t have waypoints until you explored it.

TD and this map can certainly seem daunting, but my recommendation to people has been to explore the map first -- without explicitly trying to rush to events or the story steps -- and get the overall feel for the layout. Lava tube and gliding masteries will definitely help (as the wallows will in HoT maps). I dunno, after I did that I felt I had a good handle on where things were and how to get to events, and I’ve only been in there a couple times.

getting wammo mending vibes

I like the four-legged run.

But for gameplay balance it’s no faster than any other race’s regular autorun pace, which I think makes it a little silly. I can’t outrun a human when down on all fours? Hence why I feel it could be neater as an animation for when your speed is buffed, rather than when you are autorunning or meandering around a city.

The animations themselves and everything are terrific, yes, and it’s nice to have charr be further different from the other races.

What it really should be is upright/2-legged animation for normal running, all-fours for boosted running (i.e. swiftness).

Still won’t fix NPCs, as they never run on all fours.

Personally, I don’t see the point of hidden achievements. Anyone who wants to know what they are ahead of time will find guides easily.

I dunno why you advocate caps, though. I mean, APs are useless, but to limit those who like to chase them doesn’t seem to confer any benefits.

"I need at least six reliefs of my face. No, no, bigger. Like eight feet tall."

He’s been a favourite of mine for a long time, but currently both that line and the voice actor’s delivery are top notch.

FWIW, if you are actually finding this fight difficult, kill the adds that spawn in when the room stops spinning before breaking his bubble. He doesn’t do much while in the bubble, and this way you only have to fight him alone when you break it.

It may go slower as a result, but you may find it more manageable if he’s giving you trouble. But perhaps y’all are already doing that and are still having a rough go of it. If that’s the case, give yourself some space from him - he does some decent damage in melee range. Reflects can help, too.

Those of you without the mastery, yeah, go get that Not going to have a good time without it.

Every time I’m trying to take a character through a quest or mission or whatnot and a quaggan is involved (especially the ones in Bitterfrost!), I feel like Judy Hopps at the DMV. Complete with ANet standing there with Nick’s smug grin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY73vFGhSVk

It doesn’t help that I haven’t liked them from the start.

Behellagh.1468:

Forum Bug, she’s on it.

Nice reference!

Duke Nukem.6783:

i didnt work hard buying most of these skins so that everyone could have them.......it is important to have unobtainable gear in game to fill new players with wonder and awe and envy.

lol

You can swap the superior sharpening stone for a bountiful sharpening stone to get 72% before the sigil boost.

When originally playing the HoT story, I thought something along the lines of, "Huh, so Mordy encroached on Zhaitain’s territory?" I think it’s better that the LS explicitly linked it to the latter’s death.

Gorr should be all over this, but I guess Taimi’s the only asuran researcher these days...

feels like it should play this sound

The video made the animations look smooth, so kudos to whomever was involved in that. I will definitely not be after this set, though. It brings to mind something dreamed up in some kid’s sci-fi anime fanfiction.

I don’t understand the choice for making these hearts function like this when they could have done any of the following:

- un-pair heart status with map completion for this new heart style, enabling them to be re-done every day but map completion to be recorded separately, per character, as with the "vanilla" hearts

- make use of a tiered vendor unlock like in Dry Top or the Silverwastes based on map / specific area activity

- make use of the map participation elements used throughout HoT

For sure the hearts are not difficult, and map completion isn’t at all tough to get. It’s an odd mechanic choice, though, to introduce.

With karka, are you really evaluating your build or your ability to play a build/know the fight mechanics? Either way, I agree they are a good place for testing.

Their difficulty relative to other veterans rests solely on their frequent use of retaliation, in my opinion. The rolls and poison are probably a decent test for "can the player move in a fight and use dodge when needed", I suppose, if you haven’t already figured that out. If you burn yourself down on retaliation that’s not really a build’s fault. Even if you have some boon stripping it likely won’t be off cooldown enough for the fight.

I like the idea of seeing how much health you come out of the fight with as some kind of measurement, but that still should be tempered by what one aims to achieve. A tankier set of skills and armor could easily pass that metric, but the fight might take a long time for just one enemy. On the other hand, a DPS-focused build will defeat the vet far more quickly but pose a risk of getting downed much more easily.

So it depends on what you’d like from the build. If you want to prove you can sustain through a tougher fight, seeing if you can maintain high health easily through farming vet karkas is great. If you want to do better damage and then find yourself not always winning or often having low health, it’s a good fight to work on getting better and/or learning to adapt your utilities for the area and foes you will be facing.

If you are on the same step, it should give all who aren’t the instance owner the option to accept progress.

Be warned that, if you choose different forks, it is possible to get put on the wrong path temporarily (e.g. I had a character swap Orders for a few story missions), unless that was ever fixed. [attached -- doing a mission with both Forgal and Tybalt]

So make sure you want to accept progress and pay attention to options/paths. No harm in just swapping who’s the lead player and replaying missions, either. A friend and I did that for a while -- when we didn’t elect to choose the same paths.

The moment I first equipped a staff on daredevil and revenant I was simultaneously disappointed and unsurprised.

It’s not a hammer.

I will say some of the stances taken between and during attacks are great. It’s too bad about the run and idle ones.

Ideally, something like how many of the outfits haven been handled would be nice -- still use the female styles for female characters, but don’t apply rounded areas where there are none on the character.

For example, the wedding outfits, the Exemplar Attire, the Imperial outfit, and others look perfectly fine and nice using the female style on charr and asura instead of the male without also attempting to apply human breasts to the character.

That said those aren’t "boobplate", so perhaps they are not fair comparisons.

In any case, it’s my opinion that the male version would be a better choice than what is currently presented.

Also, as mentioned, if you can spare anyone, anyone at all, the majority of armor clips tails terribly.

This isn’t 100% in the spirit of the OP, but I’ve wanted the following since about the beginning:
Magister
Warmaster
Lightbringer

The player character receives the appropriate title based on the chosen Order, but we never get to use them anywhere.
(Commander left out, as we can toggle that on and off with the commander system.)

For what it’s worth, I kept missing the time requirement for "It’s All About Timing" in Point of No Return and joined a group, but I did all of the rest solo. They all are doable, though you may need to take a recon attempt or two at first to get the mechanics down. A couple are easier to do separately, even if they are awarded in the same instance, so you can re-play one multiple times to attempt them separately. Being in a duo you may even find some of them much simpler than on your own.

I’ve still got several left from the first half of Season 2 that I’ve, personally, found more difficult to complete, if that comparison holds any relevant meaning for you. To be fair, though, I’ve not given them an honest attempt -- I don’t have much interest in Nomad’s gear and kind of forgot about completing them.

edit: If you wanted more info, such as tactics or the like, it would be easier to look up the various existing guides. I don’t have any video of my own to share.

Oh, then I am just dumb. I thought you could leave it prematurely and still benefit from the first pulse or two. My fault!

I may be way late to the party, since I don’t often keep up with the profession subforums. Can you folks give me a head’s-up as to why I seem to reveal myself if I don’t wait for Shadow Refuge to go its full duration? It appears to apply revealed whenever I exit the circle before the refuge times out naturally.

gunslinger.6084:

Ask and you shall receive, one of the attempts I had bug out on me in the post I mentioned above:

Thanks so much for humoring me!

Caithe definitely shouldn’t have still attacked you after the rift being open phase. haha man. At least, based on your description, you could still fight Mordy to push to the next phase.

I noticed you had some glider trouble while using the updraft in the NPC’s shielded area. I went to that one the first time I did this fight and had similar happen to me. I stopped using that one whenever a glider phase began, seemed to be a good idea. Your mileage may vary.

So now I’m in the same boat, sort of, as the OP -- not only was the name not reserved for me (it’s all the same account), waiting 24 hours has not freed the name. Hopefully whenever my ticket gets a response I might have some insight.

Edit/Update: Turns out I am just an idiot. I had spelled the name one way, but mentally spelled it and remembered it another.... Who does that? This moron, apparently.

What does "glitched on the gliding" mean? You couldn’t fly up? You did but couldn’t control where you moved? A lag-type issue where you saw one thing on your screen but then you rubber-banded (remember that in GW1? so frustrating!) to dead?

If the rifts are appearing on land that’s not there, it is quite likely the retry mote was used before the encounter was given time to properly reset, as mentioned above and in other threads. Braham, or anyone, going through the floor is a new one to me. What the heck...?

Lore-wise, guardians and revenants both pull from ritualist ancestry (and others). I doubt we’ll see monks or rits again, sadly.

Siobhan.5273:

then you’d hope it wouldn’t continue to happen if it’s such an inconvenience and you’d resolve the problem...

I just don’t understand it. This was an issue for me a few times when I was new to the game. I then learned about using the proper bags to prevent this issue, and paying attention to my menus.

But this is the modern age, where you sue people and complain so that you don’t have to have personal accountability.

Regardless, "Deposit" should be a button, as should compact. They should not be hidden behind an options menu. So good change, long time coming, and don’t stop there with UX improvements, please!

I’d love to see video of these glitched out attempts folks keep posting about. I’ve done it for 8 or 9 characters without issue, but I can imagine how frustrating it might be. Makes me curious to see.

Ah, I did not know there was a recent bug. I did submit an inquiry via support, but thanks for the suggestion regardless.

Ultimately, I suppose as long as I am on top of it when the 24 hours comes to a close I should be able to snag it regardless.

It’s too bad they don’t fold in when not in use (i.e. when not gliding), kind of like how the bat wings look as a backpiece vs. how they look as a glider skin.

For what it’s worth, someone’s "fine" may not be the full performance their computer is capable of handling / should be doing.

I suppose I am misunderstanding what "reserved" means, then. I thought that meant I’d be free to re-use it. Why should I have to wait until it’s released for everyone to use a name I already had?

edit: this is back from around launch, so admittedly old, but like as described here.

I just deleted a character on this account and attempted to make a new one using the same name only to get the error that the name is already in use. Hrmm.

Hyper Cutter.9376:

Also, the Blighted Pale Tree isn’t remotely tuned for solo players, or Anet thought people would really enjoy being knocked down literally every couple of seconds.

For what it’s worth, the Blighted Pale Tree won’t knock you over if you get in close range with her. Your choice is to deal with her knockback interrupt at range or dance between the rings in melee.

I would say stability would also be ideal, but I actually haven’t tried that — just closed to melee when she started integrating that with her attacks and dodged between the rings.

I had to log into GW1 to remind myself that we didn’t stow weapons in that engine....

I like it how it is, though. Figure it’s an enchanted sword, no reason why it couldn’t be "smart" enough not to harm the wielder.

Hmm.
I’ve taken a ranger to Teq this weekend and had my pet(s) run into battle his feet valiantly. Not sure what would be different for you.

That said, I noticed in the Silverwastes that standing just outside a vine crawler’s venom area left my pet standing right next to me despite being ordered to attack. If I sent it in after a mordrem enemy standing right next to the vine crawler, it happily oblidged. Maybe pet AI is being quirky?

edit for below: That makes a lot of sense, actually. I know some objects/enemies have that target spot above. Perhaps it creates a pathing issue.

I was pretty much on board with Mordy talking, especially since I chose to do the story with a sylvari first, until the final mission. He became a bit of a cliche villain with those lines, though in fairness to the writers I wouldn’t expect him to remain silent inside his own head. Still, it really tore away from the "force of nature" aspect of the elder dragons we’ve previously had.

On the other hand, one could argue that any lieutenant / champion of a dragon that is chatty is, in effect, a mouthpiece for the respective dragon. In that case, Zhaitan talked quite a bit, too.

This kind of assumes there’s such a thing as "revenant lore". As it is, we have next to nothing and can even create one and progress through a story with no mention of them until Rytlock returns as the first one, after us... But that mess is in another thread already.

Tentatively, I’d like to say it’s because you and the legend you are channeling are in synch. Realistically it’s probably merely that the game engine is animating the PC’s mouth for a skill-effect line, just like "I can outrun a centaur", etc. due to them not being given special handling (I had thought the legend was talking to you inside your head, as well).

As far as I remember, nothing you make as a chef is soulbound. Perhaps a few account bound items, but not soulbound.

Opened the thread to see if people disagreed about how much glow is too much / too little. Was not disappointed.

Mordy seemed to have taught Scarlet all about lanes, so perhaps a future dragon-related update may see a return of a tower.

Not to belabor a point, but still make sure you’re not confusing that Flamewalker medium skin with the "mage" wearable Flamekissed light skin before worrying about transmog’ing anything.

See above post.

Plus almost all of HoT gives a nod to your race, adding content for sylvari but noting when you’re not one as well. The fact that you can still command respect from your troops and get them to shape up when playing as a sylvari or keeping your troops in line/keeping sylvari in your sights as another race is a testament to the player character being given a better role.

All that’s missing is something unique for norn in one mission in particular and some charr chatter with Rytlock and Rox, in my opinion. Otherwise they did a decent job of bringing the player character into matters without, sylvari aside, explicitly referencing race.

Donari.5237:

I’ve also been hearing random people of all races uttering their "I’m confused" comments at odd moments, especially in the Pavilion during Wintersday.

When your character has a few too many to drink, such as the drinks in Wintersday gifts that lots of people are pounding for the snowflakes skin, these lines will get used.

I can’t help but feel that part of the reason for that is GW2’s community has put up various resource pages and sites, whereas in GW1 the community focused a lot of effort on the wiki (both of them).

As for editing, it’s pretty simple -- you don’t even really need to know HTML. Give this page look to start.

The content of what folks post is what matters here, not the quantity or rep.

200 words? So, an abstract?