Perisemiotics.4579

> @"SweetPotato.7456" said:

> > @"AlexxxDelta.1806" said:

> > It's my favorite map from LS 3 and 4. While I wish we could get more new environment and model assets, they did an amazing job using existing ones in different ways. Not to mention immersive touches like moving Kraik looming in the background and Shatterer (I think) battling airships up in the sky. And finally a map wide meta that's both fun and rewarding.

> >

> > Makes me hopeful that in a season with allegedly reduced map count we can get 2-3 in the same vain as this, but with more new stuff.

>

> Go stand on Kralkatorrik's Tail. when it moves you get flip upward into the air :D

lol I did go up there and waited (I think it rattles up every 10 mins) - would've been great to add a hidden achievement for this.

Edit: I agree, the physical map is wonderful (though for achievements I still think Jahai Bluffs with Sun's Refuge was the best one) above all because the dragon that's been around for many years, elusively branding lands and peoples is actually present here (unlike Mordremoth who even during the meta is somewhat hidden away) and his body is a living part of the explorable environment; from his _Shackled Grasp_, that hanging wing-garden we took part in doing to his huge moving tail, it makes this map absolutely unique - the initial instance was not only fun but drew us in to *create* the map itself... brilliant.

Yeah, this one is required for the Mastery meta achievement; I was hoping the hidden Skyscale collection achs. would get added onto the Mastery list (like the ones for Requiem armor in Ep. 4 were) but nah.

> @"starlinvf.1358" said:

> (...) and Female Sylvari for "This rose has thorns" every 30 seconds.

aoe-burst melts all mobs, "Here they are!"

Norn female everything, though - particularly the default-appearance Elementalist. Make one and you will see why.

> @"holodoc.5748" said:

> The node is apparently sold by the "Bloom" volatile magic vendor. However, I've been trying to unlock access to them since patch release by doing all kind of events throughout the map and they still refuse to unlock.

>

> Given that the update is currently plagued by bugs it could be connected to them. I'll wait for the first couple of bugfix patches to try again.

You need to do events in the respective areas; for the Crystal Bloom faction it is to the west, Ember Forest areas. Go to their outpost to the NW of the map and look for the scout there, they'll tell you which events are underway and by clicking on each they'll get tracked for you on the UI - these are the events that count for the respective Volatile vendor back at Pact Outpost.

I have to agree with the sentiment here... though i personally don't mind too much waiting out a few days, this game has been about offering an enjoyable experience for casual players, not a min-max system that's very typical of vertical-progression games and in the end only thwarts and stresses people out; but on top of that we have the Spirit Shards XP bar locked out... this is really bad.

Try it when the daily 4 events in Desolation comes up, I'd say you'll have a very good chance at completing at the least the Maw one.

Isn't even there an achievement - with a title - for crafting the same legendary twice?

> @"Randulf.7614" said:

> > @"Perisemiotics.4579" said:

> > Whaaaaa no one wants fishing?!...

>

> I do, but it's not a big enough feature for an expac compared to gliding and mounts

Yeah certainly not on the same level but still a meaningful system that could also be used for events and even integrated with future _fishing mounts_, for example. Not just another craft - really a system with a lot of expanding potential.

This daily reward system as it is today is the best I've seen in any MMO - the dailies are usually effortlessly done and even when I (rarely) don't have time I just log in to progress on the daily calendar for bonus rewards. It was bad without a cap, ANet fixes it and people still complain... they offer 2g both pre and past the cap, JPs, dungeons, xpack dailies, etc., people still complain... honestly guys, I think you're missing the point - this isn't why you should play, the best reward is _playing the game_ for the fantasy, story, combat mechanics, animations, build-crafting, exploration, what have you... this here is the _metagame_, side systems maybe interesting and fun to dabble in but by no means the core of the experience.

Once you start focusing and worrying about these side, bonus systems an incredibly huge and diversified game feels no better than Solitaire and discussions like this really only obfuscate what THIS game is about.

> @"Magnus Godrik.5841" said:

> Well this episode o hope we go to the char homelands. Maybe see rytlocks abandoned children. As far as next season i want to say northern shiverpeaks or underground tyria. The norn and asura needs thier dragon stories more fleshed out. Cantha seems more like expac material.

The Asura are all over the place really with several fully fleshed-out characters, the Norn on the other hand after Eir's death are pretty much left aside and forgotten. Braham always seemed like a side character to me, he's grown over the past few episodes yet can't build anything around him - he'd be great to tag along but any storyline about the Norn would need a few other main, stronger, deeper characters. One such could be Gaerta who's been absent, wandering the wide world since release - her return could trigger a lot of interesting plots.

Yeah, the rationale of linking a raid item to LW makes no sense.

Whaaaaa no one wants fishing?!...

I really liked Phlunt too!

> @"Randulf.7614" said:

> Hopefully a return to form. Ep5 was the weakest yet for me and whilst I look dubiously at the stunted model of Kralk in the trailer, I hope this is the episode to get things back on track for me.

To be honest I kinda expected Ep5 wouldn't be _that_ great because we always judge them against the previous one and Jahai Bluffs was really good, all around - it set the bar too high so there was no way Ep5 would live up to it, which doesn't mean it's bad, I like many things about it, just not on the level of Ep4.

> @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> Trader Keys: nearly useless. The only way to open up completely random chests is if you're wandering aimlessly through every corner of the PoF maps. Which... people don't do. Players waypoint to specific places for a specific reason, for which they have none to be here.

I guess I'm no people then because that's exactly what I do, especially in the Crystal Desert maps. This whole expansion was designed around a different theme, mood even, that players should just laze around and take their time with every nook and cranny.

I won't discuss the rewards themselves which you're probably right about but to talk about how this event or that practice of just running around harvesting and opening chests "nobody does" is a gross generalization. Anything about how to play the game is subjective; I have actually run out of Keys many times and the mat return they give is quite valuable. And no, I don't waypoint at all unless I'm in another map or the wp is pretty close to where I want to go. I enjoy traversing the maps, evading mobs and terrain with different mounts, taking the sand portals and so on.

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"Einlanzer.1627" said:

> > > @"AlexxxDelta.1806" said:

> > > > @"Einlanzer.1627" said:

> > > > The problem with PoF maps isnt' really meta rewards - it's extreme difficulty/tedium traversing them to attain those rewards.

> > > >

> > > > They need to nerf mobs and mob behavior. Period.

> > >

> > > HoT maps are harder to traverse, with deadlier mobs and yet its metas are more popular.

> >

> > Since when?

>

> October 2015

September 2017 actually.

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> So basically, there’s now no more need to use Springer.

Nah, plenty of places you'll **need** Springer, like platforms without a base wall to climb on - besides one Springer jump being possibly much faster (and easier) than a series of climbing steps.

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > @"kiranslee.4829" said:

> > Im a bit worried for it not to become WoW mount , aka , destroyer of map exploration, i really hope they will have and continue to have limitations and not make springer or griffin outdated.

>

> I assume it will have similar restrictions to previous mounts and won't be totally free flying like WoW mounts. It's hard to tell from that video how far it can fly, but I suspect it will be similar to gliding and flying the griffon where it will gradually lose height over time so you can't keep flying forever.

>

> I'm intrigued by the wall jumping mechanic though. In that video it doesn't look like it jumps very high, but the combination of flight and wall jumping means it might be able to reach some places the springer/griffon currently can't. I don't think it would be anything game breaking, but just cool places I currently can't get to.

I got a feeling the moment we're about to reach that one sweet spot atop a tower or peak... BANG ! invisible wall.

> @"Randulf.7614" said:

> (...) It hovers above the ground higher than the skimmer (...)

>

Not really... one key functionality of the Skimmer is to be able to go over obstacles on endurance so the base hovering height has to be fixed or the system breaks, whatever the skin - this one just has the half front upstanding but the tail is the fixed reference for that constant base height.

> @"Thornwolf.9721" said:

> > @"Blocki.4931" said:

> > Check the very bottom and you'll see it's a joke

>

> yea I know, and now im just even less motivated to stick around because I know all this will never happen. Like im 100% sad, sucks I guess but then the things I want in this game were never something the community would want or handle so~ Whatever. Have a good one.

Don't be so negative lol, underwater mounts for sure are going to happen. Whatever else we get that isn't on this mock page will be just as good if not better, as both expansions brought new features and content into the game.

> @"Ashamray.7416" said:

> Season 5 next?

> A whole year of 4 nothing-to-do-in locations, 1-2 fractals, 1 raid and 1 mount?

3 fractals and 2 mounts... plus a lot of different, reworked and new stuff... but yeah, if all that didn't entertain you...

The "Cultural Armor" was too cheap for an x-pack though, lol but the design is lovely, love the icons for the new elite specs (especially the necro one) and the mounts, damn... and that Largos capital city, such tease.

here's my theory: if you trace a line from each racial city to the center of each map, many of them pass through or "close enough" to the Dominion of Winds! the catch is, that's especially more so true to the Asura and Sylvari cities... what does that tell you? those two were the "new" races in GW2 - and they have their city-lines more aligned with Tengu city, therefore next new race is?.... yes!

> @"Eloc Freidon.5692" said:

> Its gross and its distracting.

>

> Also that left part of Dry Top can be revealed. Don't know how you don't have it.

I think Xenon was referring to the _bottom_ part, which is blurred because it isn't a part of Dry Top as it is today.

Just a minor issue I've had with some achievement collections and this release has one such again... the 40 Jahai Coins - when designing these large, same-item type collections, please try to not just number them 1 through N and make a plain list out of it. This not only devalues the items or the fiction behind them (in this case they were meant to be _coins_ which would be _rare_, lol) but gameplay-wise it becomes tedious and unfriendly... we have no hint about the location for each item so unless we play it combing the map terrain thoroughly, coming back later will mean to have to look in most places all over again.

The way I think would be fitting for this type of collection is how the Mursaat Tokens were done in S3E2 in Ember Bay, with unique hints for each that actually made exploring the intricate geometry of the map enjoyable - you could even add a bit of lore, reference and humor in the flavor text of the hints.