borgs.6103

Well, that's just like, your opinion, OP. I like open-world leveling with friends. I let them be and explore as a group. I don't lead, I just follow and help if they want or need. As a vet it gives me an interesting way to learn new classes. Sometimes my friends find places in odd nooks and crannies I've never even been to after years of playing. I play **with** my friends, not with **my** friends.

I used to equip it for the WvW memes. The burst had the potential to instagib unsuspecting roamers. Then they nerfed the trait. Then they nerfed the whole thing during the competitive split. Now it's the big brother of the Warrior's off-hand Sword.

As long as you have the Crystalline Heart icon on your boon bar, you'll get credit. You need to be "protected" from floor damage at MO, and not just use protect whenever. Rigom has to die on you (he'll do an AOE explosion) before he gets rooted near Samarog.

> @"Kossage.9072" said: > Interestingly if we select Crecia once she appears as an NPC around the EotN war table after "Primordus Rising" story step, she has the title Acting Blood Legion Imperator. I could've sworn she was just called Blood Imperator when "Champions" first released and the title was subtly changed since, but I didn't have any screenshots of her title from that time. What I've seen is that her title's been changing between Blood Legion Imperator, Imperator of Blood Legion, and Acting Blood Legion Imperator. I hope the devs have chosen a title that sticks for now rather than moving between these variants depending on what instance she appears in. > > As for the legitimacy as imperator, it's hard to say for sure if that old blog post's lore about imperators needing to be direct Khan-Ur descendants and having Blood, Ash etc. in their name was ever considered to be canonical even though it was written from an authoritative standpoint. Ever since the narrative team comment "All lore is malleable" from Season1/2 days on the old forums, players have had to reevaluate dev statements during blog posts, interviews, videos, guild chats etc. During Jeff Grubb and Ree Soesbee's tenure lore consistency ruled but as they gradually distanced themselves and let others take the lead during Season 1 time and beyond, the rules of what should and shouldn't be considered canon became more flexible. Basically since those days, the golden rule by devs has been that what's in the game overrules any other statements made elsewhere if there are contradictions, so in-game canon overrules interview/guild chat canon as the devs might be misremembering lore during such segments etc. This is fair, though, considering how vast Tyrian lore, so I wouldn't be surprised if the charr blog post's suggested ideas underwent changes over the years. > > With that said, I do like that Crecia is now listed as Acting Blood Legion Imperator, which means her title isn't final and there's still the issue of who succeeds Bangar. While Crecia was the primus inter pares among the tribunes due to essentially being Bangar's right paw, her Flame Legion heritage may be a hindrance to her ascension. As we've seen with there being human haters in the allied Iron Legion, there's no doubt that the surviving Blood Legion members would have to consider their stance about Crecia's ascendancy and if they'd want someone with Flame heritage ruling Blood, especially if Cre can't prove being a descendant of the Khan-Ur (assuming that this rule was ever valid to begin with). > > However, looking at charr politics and how they operate, Julia Nardin did specifically state the charr legions being like the four Mongol hordes during the Toluid Civil War period and beyond: the sons of the Khan divided their father's empire into for autonomous khanates, each with a different ruler descended from the Khan. The culture and ideologies of the four legions are fundamentally different to this day, and each imperator is said to have their own city-stronghold from which they rule even though we've only visited two of them so far (Black Citadel, and Citadel of Flame...Frost Citadel is kind of an outlier due to circumstance). Another example for this charr nations' collaboration could be like the Iroquois League in its early decades: not quite a confederation yet but still the different factions/tribes are tied together enough to work together for a common goal while retaining their respective hierarchies. The legions and the imperators are collaborating and have even signed treaties to ensure cooperation, but that doesn't mean Iron has any say in Blood matters or vice versa regardless of what their imperators think (although there still is that unresolved mystery of whether Bangar or Smodur was the true mastermind behind Rytlock's demotion, arrest and tribunal in Season 3; if Smodur had had the authority to do such a thing to a Blood officer, Bangar could've declared war against him, and in Season 2 there was never any indication that Smodur and Rytlock had bad blood so that forced demotion and arrest, and Rytlock's reluctance to return to the citadel, felt off unless he was aware that Bangar was behind it all somehow). > > While Bangar should've been bound by the treaty of non-aggression, he was still a legitimate imperator when he and his loyalist followers went rogue and when he deceived the rest of the legions (even though he claims he always spoke the truth despite funding Renegades behind everyone's back all along). The only "traitors" in this instance would be defectors from the other legions who joined his Dominion, while Crecia and her followers were the rebels who decided to rise up against their rightful imperator. > > The question thus becomes what happens to imprisoned imperators in charr society. Historically charr have been shown to slay anyone who's shown weakness (see e.g. Pyre Fierceshot executing a Flame shaman who was begging for his life), so there probably weren't many high-profile prisoners of war...at least not for long. Bangar being kept alive raises the question if he should still be considered the de facto imperator despite being beaten (technically he only lost the battle in the Frost Citadel because Jormag "subverted" his expectations when he had already incapacitated the Commander's team), or if there's some unknown charr law that allows him to be stripped from his title and claim now. We still don't know what the rest of the Stone Warband, and whatever other tribunes that remain besides Rytlock and Fierhan Sparwind think about these developments. Fierhan was suggested to be an old school charr loyal to Blood but presumably he's still alive in the Citadel; is he going to support Crecia or deny her right to ascend while referring to her Flame roots? It's possible that the rest of the Blood tribunes died during the civil war, leaving their primus centurions to ascend as new tribunes, but sadly we have little to no information about what's going on with the charr beyond a few teases in dialogue here and there. > > Regarding other would-be imperators, the game seems to suggest that Efram and Mia Kindleshot may be ascending as the new Flame and Iron Imperators. If the Khan-Ur descendant rule still applies, however, both of them would have to prove their legitimacy. Maybe Efram could be a descendant from a lesser bloodline (possibly even being related to Gaheron himself) while Mia might be revealed as Smodur's daughter. Still, there would be other claimants contesting them for their thrones. We still don't know if Crecia's evil shaman sire lives and if he leads some Flame faction not affiliated with Dominion, but there would be shamans or tribunes who would never accept Efram as the de facto imperator, especially when Efram only leads a splinter group of peace seekers that was significantly weakened by mass defections to Dominion. > > Lorewise Mia would be opposed by the popular Iron tribune Fume Brighteye who despises humans. Fume would no doubt have significant support as she's among the three most popular Iron tribunes, and we've seen in Drizzlewood ambient dialogue that several allied Iron charr openly mock and threaten their human allies, so the poison Smodur mentioned still runs deep in the legions. Maybe Fume could champion the idea that future imperators no longer need to be related to Khan-Ur and should rise at their own merits so Fume could use that clause to her benefit in case she has no way of proving her Khan-Ur bloodline. She could be using the likely popular state funerals (by pyre if charr still burn their dead) of Almorra and Smodur as a public political stage to rally mourning and vengeful charr (and maybe even some Vigil?) behind her with populist speech about bringing the murderer Ryland to justice for the two charr heroes' deaths and demanding Bangar to be released from Aurene's custody or else. Fume might also separate her politics from Bangar's Dominion by claiming that she only has beef with humans while being ok with having peaceful relations with asura, norn and sylvari so she wouldn't be alienating everyone with her hatemongering. > > As for the Khan-Ur candidates if there ever will be some, we know from *Ghosts of Ascalon* novel that the candidate has to earn support from all the legions, wield the Claw, potentially be related to Khan-Ur, *and* succeed at a specific military type of feat. The Flame Legion attempted this with finally taking over Ascalon City before the Foefire ruined the imperator's plans. Currently the only charr who has achieved truly great things (besides Smodur and Malice working for the peace treaty) would be Rytlock who's helped bring down three Elder Dragons, a deposed god, and a lich king. No matter what the other imperators do, they would never match Rytlock's feats. However, Rytlock isn't considered a typical charr anymore as he's fallen from his glory days by interacting too much with the other races, and he wouldn't want the position anyway even if he got unanimous support. > > As for Rytlock's other legitimacy concerns, it's curious how there's been lengthy history between him, Crecia and Bangar ever since the fahrar. Why would Bangar care for a random future tribune like Rytlock as to watch his progress from cubhood, so much so that Rytlock's speech post-confrontation in "Bad Blood" even implied that his relationship with Bangar may have not always been so sour at least in the early fahrar years. I wouldn't be surprised if Rytlock was revealed as Bangar's son, which would explain Bangar's abnormal obsession over him living up to the charr ideals and even being willing to let Rytlock kill him to prove a point. We've seen how obsessed Bangar is about his song Ajax after all these years, so it'd make sense for Bangar to harbor similar feelings for his "black sheep" son Rytlock if that's the case. > > The only true heir of the Khan-Ur left at this stage (if not counting the imprisoned Bangar) would be Malice. She has already played her cards right by making the three would-be imperators indebted to her: she helped Crecia with imperator business and showed her support for Cre, she accepted Efram's Flame into the United Legions and encouraged him with half-hearted comments, and she would no doubt be able to manipulate Mia from Iron too by revealing that she was the true force behind the Ebonhawke Treaty and not Smodur. With all her imperator rivals either dead or imprisoned with the other legions' leaders being indebted to her for her leadership, Malice just needs to acquire the Claw from Black Citadel, win the other legions over to accept her leadership, and perform a great enough feat to prove her worth. Perhaps slaying Jormag and/or Primordus would give her that authority if she actually desires the position of Khan-Ur. I could easily see Malice preferring to play the role of grey eminence as a shadowy power behind the throne while acting out the ostensible role of advisor/vizier, however, and install some gullible fool as a puppet Khan-Ur. > > It's been interesting that the Commander's lines in the aftermath of "A Simple Negotiation" had them question Malice not mourning Smodur's death. The dialogue was eerily similar to when the Commander began worrying about Smodur's ambitions in "A Race to Arms," so I wonder if this is one last red herring to make players distrust Malice until she proves yet again that she's no threat to us, or if this is actual foreshadowing that Malice can finally set her plans in motion now that all her rivals are gone. It was said to be rather suspicious how quickly Ryland located the camp to assassinate Smodur although Malice quickly brushed accusations aside by pointing out that finding the cave would've been inevitable. If the writers ever revealed Jormag having been behind Smodur's surprisingly disrespectful actions (him dissing the Commander and Rytlock, and executing a helpless prisoner during negotiations), it wouldn't be impossible for Jormag to also manipulate Malice's ambitions as well without Malice initially realizing it. So far Malice, apart from holding information from us and sending double agents without telling anyone, has shown herself to be worth her reputation as a seemingly honorable leader, but I can't help but wonder if we'll also see bits of a broken pedestal in her after the other three imperators have been dealt with. > > While the story of the charr seems to suggest, as per Crecia's dialogue, that the charr need a strong leader to unite them right now and that we may see a new Khan-Ur rise eventually, I wonder if the whole Khan-Ur stuff might be subverted and actually have the charr abolish it, and possibly the imperator titles, in the end if Malice's ambitions for the throne turn out to be just as dangerous as the other imperators'. Maybe the charr could smelt the Claw to destroy this priceless artifact and then declare that the charr should no longer follow the whims of bloodlines but build their own reputation with their strength and cunning. Maybe we could see the charr embracing the Roman Republic that preceded the Roman Empire: the charr senate could consist of tribunes and/or elected representatives from all charr social circles, including social pariahs like scrappers, gladia, and plebeians so every voice in the republic (from the downtrodden to the highly respected) can be heard in a mostly democratic fashion. Make these terms as senators temporary so there's a balance of power in check while each legion has more than one representative in this senate-council (to prevent another imperator wannabe from rising), and the charr might finally be able to move the legion rivalry behind and focus on using their respective strengths to their advantage to truly advance their society. :) You. I like you. You understand and know your lore. I like the idea of the Charr society and governance change from four independent Legions in a temporary ceasefire agreement to becoming a united Republic. Then maybe they rise to power again and finally conquer the world.

> @"Perihen the Thawk.9527" said: > > @"borgs.6103" said: > > He's not replaced though... Only those with the bloodline of the first 4 of the Khan-Ur's children can be Imperators. > > Yeah, that's why every country on Earth is still a monarchy under the original bloodline of rulers. > > Oh wait. > > Things change, she just led the Legion through a civil war, this isn't that weird. Some Charr are surely grumbling about it, others aren't. The traditionalists were disproportionately already marching under Bangar anyway, so they're going to get less of a say now. > Sad. You don't get it. This isn't about real world. This is about lore. I'm all for whatever they do, heck, I wouldn't care if they put a human Imperator, but at least explain or show why because ever since the Charr has an established lore, it has been that way. And now suddenly it isn't, with no one even acknowledging this lore-breaking shenanigans. Well, whatever. This game has more pressing issues that its bastardization of lore and this is not the first time they retconned themselves anyways.

> @"subversiontwo.7501" said: > https://boards.greenhouse.io/arenanet/jobs/2516806 > > Finally :3 Maybe CMC turned in his two weeks notice.

> @"Pifil.5193" said: > If the president of a country is replaced then they're no longer the president of that country. If that leader was a traitor then they sure as hell shouldn't keep the title of president. > He's not replaced though... Only those with the bloodline of the first 4 of the Khan-Ur's children can be Imperators. He's not a traitor as well. He's the leader of the Blood Legion. How can you be a traitor to your own leadership? > Bangar didn't go AWOL. Bangar betrayed the Blood Legion when he left and formed the Dominion. When he abandoned the Blood Legion he lost any right to the title of Imperator and left a vacuum that Crecia filled. That was quite logical given that she was his second in command and _didn't_ betray the legion. > > I mean you surely don't think that he, a traitor that incited mass mutiny from the legions, formed a new nation and caused a civil war that devastated the legions, should remain in charge of the Blood Legion just because he was in charge of it once? That makes absolutely no sense. > > I'm sure that most loyal Blood Legion charr (and quite a few Dominion members at this stage) would love his head on a pike over the death and destruction that he caused. They sure as hell don't want him back in charge. Again - Crecia doesn't have the Khan-Ur bloodline, so she can't be an Imperator, unless she just suddenly is. And you can't betray if you're the top dog. Who are you betraying? Bangar may be an absolute monster as a leader, but he's still the leader. Blood Legion owes their loyalty to their Imperator. Charr Legions were at war with each other before, This is nothing new. If anything, the non-Blood Legion Charr that joined him are the traitors. Him creating the Dominion and a lot of Charr joining only proves that he's got the charisma to lead. I'm with you with that it doesn't make sense Crecia suddenly becoming Imperator. It's like we just time-skipped some Charr politics and suddenly there's a non-Khan-Ur lineage Imperator and everyone's just fine with it. What a way to ruin an interesting lore tidbit for the Charr there.

> @"Tyson.5160" said: > > @"anninke.7469" said: > > > @"Tyson.5160" said: > > > > @"anninke.7469" said: > > > > > @"Fueki.4753" said: > > > > > > @"Eloc Freidon.5692" said: > > > > > > The way this is released, it doesn't make sense for the Ebon Vanguard to be here without the story and dragon response to be available. > > > > > > > > > > There is a number things in this episode that don't make sense. > > > > > Everyone, except the on-the-way-to-be-redeemed boy Braham, being ok with suddenly siding with Jormag. > > > > > The commander _not_ murdering Ryland on the spot for being responsible that Jormag is awake. > > > > > The business decision behind releasing such minimalist content, which obviously had no chance to be liked by most players. > > > > > The Destroyers reverting back to being fire-only, rather than making use of the dead Elder Dragons' magic. > > > > > The new Destroyers being able to take damage from Burning. > > > > > > > > And Crecia being Blood Imperator just like that. > > > > > > Well Bangar went AWOL, so Crecia took over, her title went from acting imperator to the actual imperator. > > > > The problem (as I see it) is that it happened sneakily off-screen whith no official announcement, no ceremony, no explanation. And no one, including Bangar when she calls herself the imperator right in his face, has a word to say about it. With her camped in the Eye I hoped we would be able to at least ask her about it. But no, she only offers more blabbering about Ryland... > > My guess is because they were in the middle of a civil war, so it makes sense why it was so sudden and no ceremony. Just like if your boss just went AWOL and you were the second in command and got to take over due to chain of command. But he's not on AWOL. He's being held as prisoner by our merry band of Dragonwatchers. That's like imprisoning a leader of a country and purposefully replacing said leader with someone on our side. Whatever may happen to him, even at his current position, he's still alive and should still be the Imperator of the Blood Legion. You may say _"but he's now one of Jormag's minions!"_ Then what about us and Aurene? What will the Blood Legion feel about that? Isn't the reason for the Civil War in the first place is because of us? This only solidifies Imperator Ruinbringer's actions. This storyline has gone bonkers. I just can't take it seriously anymore.

> @"Obtena.7952" said: > > @"The Greyhawk.9107" said: > > > @"AsPeeXXXVIII.9571" said: > > > > @"borgs.6103" said: > > > > Heck, why stop there? They could also apply this bundle for Achievements! Think of those achievements you've been wanting to complete but don't have the skill nor the patience to complete! Just buy a bundle from the gemstore and complete a random achievement! > > > > > > ...I did _not_ just read this. > > > > > > Are you seriously willing to completely throw away any and all sense of accomplishment? They're called achievements for a reason. They're there to reward players for doing things they wouldn't necessarily do normally. Some of the achievements you don't even need to actively work towards - the Slayer achievements, for instance, you get more or less automatically as you play the game. Making them purchaseable on the Gem Store would be letting players off too easy, and it'd be even stupider than in the case of Mastery Points, as was originally discussed. > > > > > > Imagine applying this same concept to Steam/Xbox/PlayStation/whatever-the-hell-else achievements. They're there for the player to (more or less) actively work towards should they wish to do so. They should be rewarded for completing the appropriate challenge, not for paying to unlock them. That's giving the player bragging rights for essentially nothing. > > > > My dude, I'm, well, reasonably sure that Borgs is being sarcastic. > > Except the sarcasm is lost because Achievements do not prevent progression ... not having MP's does. Oh! You just gave me an idea! New gemstore item so Anet can triple dip like the templates: **Achievement with Mastery Points Unlocker** Randomly completes an Achievement that rewards a Mastery Point!!11!!one!1eleven!! (Costs way more than the MP or Achievement Unlocker). Also comes in bundles of 5, 10 or 25! Surely, you can finally play the game after buying a bunch of these bad boys!

> @"Fenom.9457" said: > > @"borgs.6103" said: > > Through a huge Fire Elder Dragon corpse bridge that spans from Bloodtide Coast to Kaineng City > > > Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but Primordus' body falling and being so large it's the size of a whole new region in the game would be epic! Preferably over the ocean so it doesn't override areas we can already see on the map or may want to visit. Nope. Not at all. It would in my opinion be the perfect start to "End of Dragons". Imagine traversing a dead dragon the size of a continent as the first story instance. Its magic still lingering in its corpse, so destroyers all over the place. Familiar foes and factions going there to establish a settlement to harvest magic, experiment or study for Open World playthrough purposes. It could also be the reason another dragon rose from the deep, since its corpse landed on the ocean. A great tidal wave due to the impact of its landing in the water changed the landscape, granting access to Cantha.

Sure, why not? I totally agree with this! They could even sell it in bundles of 5, 10 or 25. Every use gives you a random mastery point from Central Tyria, HoT, or PoF! Heck, why stop there? They could also apply this bundle for Achievements! Think of those achievements you've been wanting to complete but don't have the skill nor the patience to complete! Just buy a bundle from the gemstore and complete a random achievement! Woohoo! Awesome!

> @"Mokk.2397" said: > > @"borgs.6103" said: > > > Don't get me wrong. I'm all for new content in WvW, but at least test it first or ask for feedback before implementing them. > > How the heck do you test something and get feedback without implementing it first. A few programmers are bound to miss something .If the code looks good then that's pretty much all they can do. It's much easier to implement something as is and have thousands of people testing it during game time to find possible issues . Beta testing every add on to a game before implementation is simply not practical . Besides , many of the issues do get fixed eventually if they are deemed a high priority . > And to say nobody asked for mounts in WvW is incorrect. People asked for raptors when PoF came out . You cut out the part that before all the toxicity became meme levels, **WvW players play-tested the map and gave feedback but nothing came out of it**. And that was the last time Anet had a playtest for WvW. Also, they said EOTM will be the "play test" area for WvW, but never once did they tested anything there. Would be the best area to test Gliding, Mounts, Balancing, or any week-long event. Because over there, nothing matters. Well, nothing matters in the other maps as well now anyways. Many of the issues did get fixed, just that it took a really long time to at least do something about it. I don't think you were there when all WvW players have are 3 Desert Borderlands that have Barricades before you can even get your spawn tower, that have no Waypoints on Side Keeps , and well, everybody and their mother just lagged when the Middle Event happens. That went on for **months**. I'm honestly more surprised that people hang on and kept playing. Goes to show their dedication. Heck, I stopped playing for 6 months and when I came back, the issues were still there, and a permanent 2-digit queue on EBG. Please don't put words in my mouth. I said _the mount that nobody asked for_. I'm okay with mounts, but not that mount. Do you even have any idea how imbalanced that thing was at release? First few weeks? First few months? Until the current iteration? If they released it with just ONE Evade, not immune to conditions, doesn't finish 10(!) downed people on engage attack, won't launch you high enough that you can bypass gates and walls of objectives in certain terrains when you dismount, and just swiftness speed on friendly territory, then I personally would gladly welcome it with open arms.

Through a huge Fire Elder Dragon corpse bridge that spans from Bloodtide Coast to Kaineng City

> @"Mokk.2397" said: > Considering how toxic people became when new maps were introduced , I doubt ANET will fall into that trap again. Now if people excepted the new maps and maybe asked for a rotation instead of outright removal with anger then maybe the developers might have obliged . But when ever new content is offered its immediately rejected . Doesn't matter if its new maps , mounts , balancing , siege or events . I don't blame ANET or the developers one bit for ignoring WvW or peoples requests . The toxicity of this forum , which partially includes myself , was the nail in the coffin for WvW . That toxicity didn't come from nowhere. Before Desert BL was released, we actually had the time to play-test it. People gave feedback. A lot of feedback. But nothing came out of the feedback. They released the map as it was when it was tested. Left a really foul taste in WvW players' mouth. Even until they sort of dealt with some issues. (Barricades, WPs, Lagfiesta Middle Map event.) Then the voting. Oh that voting.... Where the options were: 1. Ditch DBL and no new maps forever 2. Retain DBL with ABL and get a new map eventually(HA!) Then the Gliding. Oh that gliding that screwed things up for months. Some objectives were downright broken since you could just glide to get in. They even had to change the layout of some of EBG 's Towers because it's giving a huge disadvantage to one side. Then the Warclaw mount. The mount that nobody asked for. Totally overpowered when released that they have to nerf it over and over and over, and have to add skills into itself to counter itself. What a disaster those few months were. I'm not even gonna mention those week-long events that pretty much made everything not fun. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for new content in WvW, but at least test it first or ask for feedback before implementing them.

It is P2W.

Some say because he was just suddenly introduced in their personal story. Sylvari characters have known him from theirs at an early stage. If you played the Sylvari story, you _may_ hate him less or not at all. Some say he stole our glory. But that's the price you pay for having a branched-out storyline that eventually merges at the end with a VIP character that has so many variables i.e. - the Commander's gender, race and class ranges from a male Norn Mesmer to a female Charr Thief. The whole Personal story, the dialogues and interactions has to have a character that NPCs can interact with and address as a static entity, and not just "Commander without a Pronoun." Trahearne is that anchor.

Dead? Nah, far from that. An _online_ game is only literally dead if it goes offline. Figuratively dead if it goes on to maintenance mode. Dying? Well... it depends on how you define _dying_. You could say it's dying: * When it has reached its peak in popularity and everything's all downhill from there. * When the concurrent online users have a downward trend. * When there are less players coming back to check out the newest content than the previous one. Those reasons are all subjective, of course. As long as you have a reason to play, do so until that reason is not there anymore. And if the reason's gone and you still have hopes that one day, a reason would come back, then you do you. After all, a coma patient can one day wake up as long as they're alive, a broken clock is still correct twice a day, and prisoner can still smile while incarcerated.

Every time this thread appears on the front page I get a glimmer of hope, thinking _"Wow! Finally a dev post about Alliances!"_ Then my day is ruined from immeasurable disappointment.