Croc.1978

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> Here's a guide for the Grawnk Munch and For the Children achievements:

>

> Good luck.

I just did the collection with the help of Tiffy's video walkthrough you linked. The whole "jumping puzzle" part took maybe half an hour total, no problem at all.

For most of the grubby packages doing JPs is not even required (there are normal open world chest alternatives).

I agree. It is one of the few outfits that is not completely overdone.

> @"Linken.6345" said:

> > @"Croc.1978" said:

> > Same here, got 50 stacks or so of emp fragments laying around.

> >

> > I just hope that gobbler will gobble them up faster than they accumulate.

>

> Already got this one?

>

> https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gleam_of_Sentience

No use for me, because I need my bloodstone dust and dragonite ore for Ascended crafting.

I only accumulate empyreal fragments since I currently play in "maintenance mode" (dailies only).

Same here, got 50 stacks or so of emp fragments laying around.

I just hope that gobbler will gobble them up faster than they accumulate.

> @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> > @"Croc.1978" said:

> > > @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > > > @"Croc.1978" said:

> > > > On the other hand, one adapts to circumstances.

> > >

> > > Orr mobs were actually buffed later on. They added the Risen Nobles that deal high amounts of damage (probably the highest damage potential of all mobs in Orr) with their shadow teleport skill that creates a symbol, and then they also changed how Risen Drakes work, leaving pools of poison behind them when they charge. Both abilities weren't available on release. Anyway, everyone remembers the "nerf of Orr" but maybe forgot the "buff of Orr".

> >

> > Interesting. From my memory the numbers of the Risen in Orr maps were much higher at release though. But my memory could be mistaken.

> >

> > BTW, do you happen to know what's the deal with Champion Risen Knights? Their ground AoE does rather ordinary damage for a while and then suddenly it spikes you for 20k - 30k. I can't remember that obvious bug being there when the game released.

>

> I spend very little time in the core game, but if those are the flying undead guys I think they move toward their target dropping multiple circles. If the circles stack on where you're standing you can be hit by multiple at once.

OK, but that doesn't really explain the extreme spike (yes, those are the flying guys). I've fought them with 25k health, 3k armour and 12% damage reduction and got insta-downed by a single pulse from almost full health. Happened to me twice.

I guess I will try to reproduce it to check the combat log afterwards.

> @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > @"Croc.1978" said:

> > On the other hand, one adapts to circumstances.

>

> Orr mobs were actually buffed later on. They added the Risen Nobles that deal high amounts of damage (probably the highest damage potential of all mobs in Orr) with their shadow teleport skill that creates a symbol, and then they also changed how Risen Drakes work, leaving pools of poison behind them when they charge. Both abilities weren't available on release. Anyway, everyone remembers the "nerf of Orr" but maybe forgot the "buff of Orr".

Interesting. From my memory the numbers of the Risen in Orr maps were much higher at release though. But my memory could be mistaken.

BTW, do you happen to know what's the deal with Champion Risen Knights? Their ground AoE does rather ordinary damage for a while and then suddenly it spikes you for 20k - 30k. I can't remember that obvious bug being there when the game released.

> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> > I'm not sure I agree that the only issue with PoF is the aggro range. Take that away and change nothing else and you'll still have huge, empty maps with not much going on. Apparently, that's what some players enjoy, but I think the persistent activity of the HoT maps is evidence that players enjoy that sort of group activity.

> It's not just about that. HoT maps weren't doing all that well either until Anet significantly increased rewards all over, instead of condensing everything just to the last map meta and until difficulty of some metas (like Gerent) got nerfed.

>

> PoF not only does not have a good level of intermediate rewards, but is severely lacking in the very rewarding big event chains. HoT metas, as they are now, do not require from players all that much, and are still very rewarding. PoF metas on the other hand are either non-existent, or offer poor rewards while requiring a lot of effort and engagement (see Serpent's Ire). There were some metas added later, in LS4, that had a "good" (according to many players) effort to rewards ratio - and those were _very_ popular. Too bad Anet didn't use any experience from this to improve the situation of main PoF maps.

>

It seems they are contempt now with players mostly going to PoF maps to do story missions/collections, unlock mounts, get easy HPs etc. If people did metas there all day long, it would certainly not improve the lag issues we already have.

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > > > @"Dante.1508" said:

> > > > > Hot is not "easy to solo" gliders and mounts help a lot.. try soloing without them.. New customers have to.. Classes are so unbalanced a Engi, Necro and a Guardian can storm through the maps while Warrior, Ele and Mesmer get killed every second.. Even Rangers and Revenants have some issues..

> > > > >

> > > > > No you aren't right op.. sorry but you are very wrong.. you are a niche in this game.

> > > > > > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > > > > > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > > > > > > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > > > > > > Honestly most of the issues described here would be fixed by introducing better core game tutorialization that forces you to learn your abilities and counter mobs.

> > > > > > > Perhaps, so, but I don't really like things that are 'forced'. /shrug

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Why even bother playing the game if you do not want to learn its mechanics? How is the game going to make you learn gameplay if you can indefinitely avoid it?

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Obviously it does not have to be a per character thing, can just be once per account thing that you can repeat as needed.

> > > > >

> > > > > Its not the mechanics to learn i'm on 250ping as an Aussie and hot is inundated with cheap shot mechanics designed to bully customers to death.. not fun in the slightest to play.. Even as an 8 year vet i try to avoid Hot and i've only ever completed pof once.. its just not a fun aspect to deal with daily..

> > > > > > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > > > > > @"Croc.1978" said:

> > > > > > > Yes, difficulty in HoT is fine as it is.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > That said, there's really nothing that prepares players for what awaits them in the green hell before they enter it. They probably intended Silverwastes to be that preparation, but it doesn't work. And nerfing Orr post-release was a mistake.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > I guess the best advise you could give new players now is:

> > > > > > > - play Orr

> > > > > > > - play Silverwastes (not RIBA) for a while

> > > > > > > - start PoF and get at least Raptor with canyon jump

> > > > > > > - enter Verdant Brink

> > > > > >

> > > > > > I think the best advice is toncomplete pof and play hot as a prequel.

> > > > >

> > > > > That wont help you need minimum Glider, Bunny and a Flying mount to avoid a good chunk of deaths..

> > > >

> > > > I have played through that same content with high ping as well, and do not feel bullied in the slightest. I also have a plenty of 300 ping AUS and asian friends who do not struggle with the content.

> > >

> > > You dont need flying mount or glider in pof.

> >

> > Eh? Confused as to how this is relevant to anything. You indeed do not need those for PoF. Nor mounts for HoT.

> >

> > > @"Dante.1508" said:

> > > > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > > > @"Dante.1508" said:

> > > > > Hot is not "easy to solo" gliders and mounts help a lot.. try soloing without them.. New customers have to.. Classes are so unbalanced a Engi, Necro and a Guardian can storm through the maps while Warrior, Ele and Mesmer get killed every second.. Even Rangers and Revenants have some issues..

> > > > >

> > > > > No you aren't right op.. sorry but you are very wrong.. you are a niche in this game.

> > > > > > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > > > > > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > > > > > > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > > > > > > Honestly most of the issues described here would be fixed by introducing better core game tutorialization that forces you to learn your abilities and counter mobs.

> > > > > > > Perhaps, so, but I don't really like things that are 'forced'. /shrug

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Why even bother playing the game if you do not want to learn its mechanics? How is the game going to make you learn gameplay if you can indefinitely avoid it?

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Obviously it does not have to be a per character thing, can just be once per account thing that you can repeat as needed.

> > > > >

> > > > > Its not the mechanics to learn i'm on 250ping as an Aussie and hot is inundated with cheap shot mechanics designed to bully customers to death.. not fun in the slightest to play.. Even as an 8 year vet i try to avoid Hot and i've only ever completed pof once.. its just not a fun aspect to deal with daily..

> > > > > > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > > > > > @"Croc.1978" said:

> > > > > > > Yes, difficulty in HoT is fine as it is.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > That said, there's really nothing that prepares players for what awaits them in the green hell before they enter it. They probably intended Silverwastes to be that preparation, but it doesn't work. And nerfing Orr post-release was a mistake.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > I guess the best advise you could give new players now is:

> > > > > > > - play Orr

> > > > > > > - play Silverwastes (not RIBA) for a while

> > > > > > > - start PoF and get at least Raptor with canyon jump

> > > > > > > - enter Verdant Brink

> > > > > >

> > > > > > I think the best advice is toncomplete pof and play hot as a prequel.

> > > > >

> > > > > That wont help you need minimum Glider, Bunny and a Flying mount to avoid a good chunk of deaths..

> > > >

> > > > I have played through that same content with high ping as well, and do not feel bullied in the slightest. I also have a plenty of 300 ping AUS and asian friends who do not struggle with the content.

> > >

> > > Great and i have a lot that say otherwise. we go round and around.. even yesterday i saw customers angry an frustrated in hot.. that isn't good gaming imo. Also i don't know if it was my time zone but for me Tangled Depths was beyond empty mostly.. not even events.

> >

> > Then perhaps it is time for all these individuals to look into what they can do in order to improve their own gameplay, instead of demanding for content to be nerfed.

>

> Someone someone suggested that you need to get the raptor so you should do the first part of pof before hot which to me seeks weird. You want to have some kind of narrative structure so doing 1 part of pof going back to hot and then going back to pof to finish it seems weird to me.

It is indeed weird. But I think it's the best way we have to get new players accustomed to HoT's difficulty and keep them from getting frustrated, quitting the game and/or creating threads like the "Dark Souls" one. That's why I suggested it, narrative structure be damned.

Sure, in a perfect world ANet themselves would fix the problem by adapting the (pre-HoT) content. But let's be honest here - that train has left the station. At the current point of the game's life, they will not commit anymore development resources to those things.

> @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > @"Linken.6345" said:

> > > @"Makaloff.7912" said:

> > > > @"Croc.1978" said:

> > > > Yes, difficulty in HoT is fine as it is.

> > > >

> > > > That said, there's really nothing that prepares players for what awaits them in the green hell before they enter it. They probably intended Silverwastes to be that preparation, but it doesn't work. And nerfing Orr post-release was a mistake.

> > > >

> > > > I guess the best advise you could give new players now is:

> > > > - play Orr

> > > > - play Silverwastes (not RIBA) for a while

> > > > - start PoF and get at least Raptor with canyon jump

> > > > - enter Verdant Brink

> > >

> > > as a relatively new player to GW2 i wish i was told this way earlier. Orr was a bit of a pain (mostly beacuse the amount of mobs packed litterly everywhere) but it was atleast doable even if i never want to repeat that storyline again. Then i head into HoT since i didnt have the living world seasons and all i can say its not been a fun ride. Everything from HP being either 1 mile above or under you, or in a cave somewhere to mobs ripping you apart or knocking you off platforms. continue with the story and it doesnt really get any better when you get to the maze for example that 1 shots you if you arent quick enought. Dont get me wrong, i dont mind a challenge but HoT so far have been frustrating from start to finish, its not something i want to repeat again which is a shame beacuse i do like storybased games. but unless you play something with a personal tank like ranger or full plate armor with full exotics, its not going to be a fun experience. I dont expect to be powerful but HoT have taken it a bit too far sadly this have lead to im taking a break from the game beacuse i just get frustrated when im supposed to have fun. I know that i dont play perfect but the difficulty spike truly is off the charts if you compare it with the base game.

> >

> > Yes and if you think Orr now was a pain thats nothing compared how it was at release before the nerfs.

>

> Orr was never "hard", just "annoying". Orr was a pain on release because most mobs had CC abilities, cripple, immobilize, pull, chill and inflated health pools, but Orr mobs don't do much damage. You can kill any normal Risen mob only with auto-attacks, without ever dodging, using blue/green gear, that's how low their damage is. But since it takes quite a while to kill them with blue gear, they used to pile up quickly and combined with their higher density it made Orr a considerable slog to move through.

To me Orr at release felt both hard and annoying. Annoying because of the things you mentioned and hard because you could easily be overwhelmed if you were not careful about what you aggroed (was playing melee Warrior).

I remember very well my first time on the "wrong" side of the Straits. I found myself there all alone, with large groups of Risen in every direction around me, ready to kick my ass. Really scared the shit out of me. On the other hand, one adapts to circumstances. And a few weeks later I was doing daily Orichalcum gathering runs in Cursed Shore without much worry.

> > I guess the best advise you could give new players now is:

> > - play Orr

> > - play Silverwastes (not RIBA) for a while

> > - start PoF and get at least Raptor with canyon jump

> > - enter Verdant Brink

>

> Silverwastes mobs were destroyed with the release of HOT, which is really puzzling all things considered. Why make the content that leads to the expansion significantly easier when you release the expansion?

Didn't know that since I was not around when HoT released. Oh my, so many mistakes by ANet.

> @"moony.5780" said:

> After playing GW1 again...i really really miss hardmode in GW2 :( I love running around in the old GW2 maps...but i wish i could at least choose to be 5 lvl below instead of 2 lvl above. It would already be enough for me to have then +50% more Magic find for that debuff :)

Since hard mode ala GW1 will never happen (it would split the player base), I like the idea of choosing to be downscaled by 5 levels or so as a workaround. As compensation for this "hard mode", just give all the events a reward chest (like HoT and onward) and I'm in. Sorry, but +50% MF is not good enough for me.

I also think the development costs for that would be rather low.

> @"DeanBB.4268" said:

> > @"Croc.1978" said:

> > > @"Goettel.4389" said:

>

> > I want to slaughter them by the thousands. And I want a "Quaggan killer" achievement like we have with bandits etc.

>

> "Killer Whale Killer" title?

Count me in!

Heck, If there was a raid wing where you could kill those disgusting fishheads, I would start raiding just for that (do you hear that, Anet?).

> @"Goettel.4389" said:

> Please don't, I'd rather have story turning all of them evul so I can just murder Quags all day - that's how much I hate 'em!

You, my friend, are my hero.

I want to slaughter them by the thousands. And I want a "Quaggan killer" achievement like we have with bandits etc.

Yes, difficulty in HoT is fine as it is.

That said, there's really nothing that prepares players for what awaits them in the green hell before they enter it. They probably intended Silverwastes to be that preparation, but it doesn't work. And nerfing Orr post-release was a mistake.

I guess the best advise you could give new players now is:

- play Orr

- play Silverwastes (not RIBA) for a while

- start PoF and get at least Raptor with canyon jump

- enter Verdant Brink

To all the people who think that Skyscale is not worth the effort:

Get it! It really is a perfect complement to your Raptor for moving around in the maps:

- Raptor for easy terrain (speed & precision) and for combat (tail-spin faceroll)

- Skyscale for difficult terrain, for flying over mobs when you don't want to aggro them and for safely AFKing mid-air

Once you got accustomed to it, you will love it!

Remember that you have to do the unlock crap only once and remember that you can take all the time you want.

Hmm, is this really a problem at the moment? My experience in the last couple of months on EU has rather been a bit different:

- while doing an event, the vast majority of people in core maps stay unmounted

- when leveling alts, many if not most people refrain from using their mounts all the time, in contrast to what they do in Lvl80 maps

- I see people all the time holding back in core maps so that others may get event participation as well

- when I **do** witness reckless playing it's usually when the map in question has the event daily

Right now I am leveling an alt (using mounts only rarely, e.g. to reach a vista) and I cannot confirm your experience. Sure, one often comes too late to those kill-that-single-veteran events, but this is a matter of a badly designed / badly scaling event not of the players.

> @"Kaleygh.1524" said:

> I also noticed in certain maps that characters appear, hit a resource node once, then vanish. At first i thought it was lag, but then i noticed others doing the same. I couldn't even click on the character to report them fast enough, because they usually vanish before i can even take a screenshot. Cant this be patched so people cannot use hacks to farm like this ?

Are you sure this is not just people having parked alts at a resource node? I do that for instance at the Rich Quartz Node in Crystal Oasis.

> @"choon.6308" said:

> You just mentioned a bunch of tools and utilities of the mount, this is about the disappointing low speed of the mount not "look what my skimmer can do"

OK, but did you really expect it to have the same speed underwater as over water/quicksand/sulfur?

> @"Randulf.7614" said:

> > @"otto.5684" said:

> > > @"lokh.2695" said:

> > > Previous releases have made me very un-hype-able when it comes to this game. Will sing its praises if the expansion is playble and I like it.

> >

> > I am with you. Until there is a release date, the expansion is nothing more than pipe dream.

> >

> > Anet has history of building false advertising and building hype over nothing. Until the expansion date is determined and we know what are the features in the expansion, my hype level is zero.

>

> A seat will be saved for you on the hype train just in case ;)

>

>

>

Something feels awfully wrong here. Left-hand traffic? Is this Australian?

No, it's 68% faster than unmounted swim speed.

You get a mount that works underwater, significantly increasing your speed.

You can now stealth for a whopping 8 seconds UW, this is more than enough to escape any combat you don't want to participate in.

You can now dodge everything for half an eternity UW (using Skimmer hover, increased by using Bond of Vigor).

And you still complain? I seriously don't get it ...

I guess it's the "Tsunami" artwork, isn't it? Looks really cool, though a bit over-the-top (a wave of that size would utterly destroy and kill everything for many miles inland, nothing left to rebuild).

As kharmin said already, this would make no sense from a business viewpoint. Instead of blocking the boost for new players, the focus should be on making the gaming experience after using the boost as positive as possible.

For instance, they should switch the exotic Soldier's gear you get for free when you use the boost for something more reasonable (e.g. Marauder's). I used the boost I received from buying PoF on an Elementalist and was pretty irritated when I realized I just got a full set of Soldier's for a class predominantly used for squishy ranged builds. Sure, I want lots of toughness on my ele so all the mobs will head straight for me (/sacrcasm)! For most classes this prefix just doesn't make sense at all.

> @"Aru.4156" said:

> I actually quite love this new feature as it lets me traverse underwater speedily and avoid combat for the most part in favor of admiring the environment. I can now take a proper look at what's underwater without getting horribly bored and frankly fearful of getting into combat. Has definitely made my underwater experience more enjoyable and satisfying for my curiosity. :)

Yes, and don't forget that now you can even stealth for ~~5 second~~s 8 seconds underwater.

Edit: it's 8 seconds, of course, not 5. Totally forgot the V2.0 mount stealth.

> @"Asum.4960" said:

> If the game gets a flood of new players with the Steam release, it's going to be a nightmare of bugged and stalled events for all those new players and I doubt they will ever make it to the expansions or proper fun and engaging content like Fractals and Raids, considering how poor the core game experience is at this point.

Before the steam release they MUST fix at least all the events that something else depends upon. And they MUST fix the insane lag spike issues so many people experience in LW4 maps and WvW, or it will become a disaster. People on steam will just review bomb the game into the ground.

It really scares me that it's only 3 more months (at best) to go.

Well, expect a lot of flak mobs shooting you off your Skimmer/Skyscale from 5000 clicks away.

Kinda like Drizzlewood.

> @"Tiger Fu.6524" said:

> ... New race ...

I think this is very unlikely, since it'd mean they had to adapt all the existing armor pieces and outfits for the new race. This would probably cost them millions of dollars.

But if they indeed create a new race, I just hope that **for Heaven's sake** it's not Kodan or Quaggan! Those wise-ass wannabe Kung Fu master philosophers are just annoying to no end. And don't get me started on those morbidly obese fish with the personality of a 5 year old child! They are so cuuuute that they make me want to use my shotgun on my monitor when I have to deal with them. ANET, I swear, if you have us defeat the Deep Sea Dragon by replacing it with Slooshoo I will personally show up at your HQ with a torch and a pitchfork!

What I'd like to see in EoD:

- one new espec per class

- 8+ cool new maps

- difficulty like HoT, in some places difficulty above HoT

- mob aggro range as in pre-PoF

- new weapons

- some new metas as cool as those in HoT maps

> @"jokke.6239" said:

> Open world dungeons and world bosses

- ^^This. Though I deem it unlikely as well, since they seem to have abandoned both of these concepts

What I realistically expect to see in EoD:

- one new espec per class

- 4 - 6 cool new maps

- difficulty like PoF

- mob aggro range like PoF

- no new weapons

- new facial options for humans (Asian appearance)

- 2 new complete armor sets

What I would **absolutely hate** to see in EoD:

- Kodan or Quaggan as playable race

- Heroes/Henchmen

- gear tier with stats above Ascended