PseudoNewb.5468

> @"Stand The Wall.6987" said:

> so world restructuring will make this idea irrelevant. just wanna start out with that, for reasons.

>

> so what if all of the wvw maps worked like a megaserver. eb is always open. then, if the smallest server (this is determined by metrics taken every half hour or so) has a queue, the biggest servers bl opens. this way the small server can attack without worrying about defending, making the most use out of their smaller size. this also completely destroys band wagoning and stacked servers, since they will have hour long queues if they want to play. guess how long it will take for them to unstack.

world restructuring will make it irrelevant, but considering the timeline perhaps it's implementation is simply failing, so any other idea is just as welcome in my opinion...

I think is a great idea to scale maps to ensure appropriate population.

But,

To avoid queues. Ditch the 3 teams on all for maps per match-up approach.

Big server has queues? open a map with **any** other servers that also has queues.

A server can't hold a map? Close the map, remove the loosing server and create a new map match with another server that is holding a queue and needs more maps.

Scoring would be messed up, but... does that even matter at this point?

I doubt server population issues can be fully fixed, especially across time zones (does OCA weekday prime time really need all 4 maps to play on?), so they should just balance the maps themselves.

Anet needs to market their product... when they have a product to market. I feel like they are doing a better job at trying to let the world know they still exist. Before they didn't seem to care if people knew about the game. But now... they don't have anything more to show when they say "Hi , we exist...".

Maybe we expected too much from a live event, because they don't usually do that. And the problem is that this even seems exceptionally special because they are abnormal. They had a live even with HoT skipped it for PoF, we simply don't know what to expect from an event like this.

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> Why would a creature suddenly increase in size when bearing a larger rider?

The current implementation already does this with the player size bar (and only the player size bar) affecting the mount size...

Even the smallest norn and charr are a bit over-sized on their mount, in fact, i bet the ratio of rider/mount size is exactly the same.

They would have to re-rig and check animations to change this, but they should have originally made that adjustment in the first place.

> @"Stephane Lo Presti.7258" said:

> ## World Restructuring

>

> World restructuring, commonly referred to as the Alliance system, remains our top priority for WvW. We’re not going into details on this post, since a lot of detail has been released previously. We are still not in a place where we feel comfortable releasing a target date, but we are still working on it.

Can you give any comment on how confident you are in this feature progressing further? You are not comfortable with releasing a target date, but what does that mean?

Do you believe your current theories/algorithms have been successful in making balanced alliances based on however you test/simulate them, and are moving to implement the calculations?

Are you working on prepping the tech needed to move people onto teams with guilds and other considerations?

Are you working on interface? Is there any serious risks for alliances simply not working in balancing the teams?

If your testing/simulation is failing to get good results:

- Are you confident that you can write logic that succeeds?

- Are you willing to concede that team balance may not be workable.

- Have you considered other ways to improve how WvW is played, or is alliances a must succeeded feature with no alternatives?

Next few months is.

LW Season 5 Prologue.

Includes new type of content, Strike missions.

Maybe build templates, they are on the way.

Further out.

Maybe a progress update on alliances, and other PvP stuff.

Additional releases, continuing Season 5. Including new world bosses.

A road-map is just a collection of intended content in some sort of chronological order, that they want to announce. It won't look any different than what we already know, because what we know, is already everything that they want to announce.

So we don't simply need a road-map. There are specific questions people have. A road-map doesn't necessarily answer them, and players shouldn't beat around the bush about what they want to know.

What is your intent with additional class specializations?

What is your intent with raids/strike missions?

How satisfied are you with your progress on WvW/PvP updates?

I am neutral. I Hoped that they have more to announce than what we know, and hope that they can push the game in some sort of way. But I understand that they are limited in what they can do and on the tech they have so far.

And also, they want to make getting into the game a single purchase, but they don't fully commit to it. If they want to make the game easier to buy, they need to include the living world seasons too. Gems aren't free, gem to gold continues to shift more expensive as more 'free' gems are put into the exchange than taken out. Buying GW2 is incomplete. That is disappointing, because I think making buying content complicated is self defeating. I hope Season 5 included with PoF means it, and not have the addendum, only if you are an active player during the season, because... i just don't get it.

These are fantastic and all, but I just can't shake the sense that some characters are still missing.

I just can't quite say anything specific off the top of my head [?](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/420046/#Comment_420046 "?")

I would have used one on Augury Rock if I realized that meta phase needed to be open, but I already sold it... Also, now that Augury Rock is on a schedule... it no longer requires waiting an arbitrary length of time depending on your map. It is no different than the world boss ones, and it is on the wiki too.

> @"Maria Murtor.7253" said:

> It's not that bad. Every time a new map is created after the Meta, all Bridges have to be rebuild. So you can hop on your Mount and run to the Bridges. It's enough to give the NPC 1 metal scrap to participate on a event. So, I recommend that go to the bridge to the south (Jungle) first, give the NPC one piece, and then go to the northern bride (Burning Forest). Maybe you can make it to another bridge - I dont know. But you should be able to make progress every time a new map is created.

That is news to me. I've been through multiple map resets and have not seen un-built bridges consistently. I've done the escort for Logan and Rytlock several times, and every time they just walk up to the bridge and confusingly, Rytlock says, "breaks over" as the bridge is always already built.

You'd think they'd fix black-holing exp in any situation as a general fix rather than having to rely on remembering to implement the hiding 'fix' for any and all locked masteries they introduce in the future.

Both Aurene and Krallk exhibited the behavior to absorb mist portaling/walking by absorbing Balth magic, not sure how that worked either... But is litchdom a specific kind of magic or simply the result of mastery over life/death magic? Not sure, maybe Aurene also absorbed Joko's knowledge and therefore was able to perform whatever ritual before hand. But obtaining another's knowledge would imply soul eating or ascension like integration of will.

>! I expected Aurene coming back and her Ascension would be near or tied together and occur at the end. Instead it starts with one and ended with the other... But... in retrospect, Aurene is the only thing that can pull Kralk from the mists, so I guess that is the best the story could do without getting too off the wall... and... besides... we finally got to ride the dragon.

If you play this season in one go though... I can't imagine it flows very well. Requiem would fit nicely in to space apart the events, but unfortunately that is not in game content.

>! I feel that the brand spike through her heart completely silencing her being and magic is a stretch. Both Caith and Zafira said they could not sense Aurene at all, even though they both became attuned to her. Perhaps only to dramatize her death. Oh! her whole entire being remained where she fell the entire time, the brand spike just hid it ?

There where only 2 instances and a pair of back to back open world segments. Previously they have don'e 3 instances tied together with open world segments so I wonder if something had been cut to ensure the content that did get released was good quality.

If the dragons have opposite, or related axis of balance, it might be sheer luck that we killed Zhaitan and Mordremoth, the two parts of a single axis on the balance of the All (they are vaguely aligned with growth and death, or perhaps plant vs animal life)... If the All has a three dimensional balance, it may suffice that removing or damaging one axis allows it to remain stable, but damage along two could be what throws it off. In that case restoring one of Moredremoth or Zhaitan still wouldn't allow us to kill another dragon. Not sure how the balance of the All works, since Taimi's research seems to be quite vague.

Just saying living dragons >= 4 might not be the only condition for balance.

If there are a enough other players with you, some of us will do a hard rez no matter how inconveniently slow it is. Sometimes AFK people in the wrong spot get hard rezed until they are naked :grin:

At least it can now be used at long range 601-1200 without a broken bouncing mechanic. At some point in the past, they increased it's range, but left it's bounce distance alone. That means, that if you cast it at a lonely target from max range it would only do 1/5 of it's possible effects because it would have no valid bounce targets.

One on one and within the bounce range, it would proc damage three times and regen twice, so it does seem like, with 2 casts, they make it slower to use, and they seemed nerfed the number of offensive hits every 15s from 3 to 2, and then the seem to have nerfed the vulnerability stacks per hit too.

Seems like they changed it's focus from, causes vulnerability, to draw life force.

Field of view and camera distance, while being technically different, are somewhat visually similar enough to be not be distinguishable from each other except in areas of constrained space. I suggest setting the max FOV, and the minimum Zoom Sensitivity, then learning to freely use zoom steps to enjoy the maximum breadth of view options.

And... now that I am reminded about the camera. Is there a reason, that Charr standing animation offset their models to the left of the center of their center position? It always bugged me that the camera doesn't point dead center of their model (with neutral offset settings) from all directions. Always pointing closer to their right arm, whether viewed from directly front or back. They also don't stay centered when rotating in the character select screen. It has always bugged me....

The timer specifies the location for which a new rifstalker instance will put a player at it's conclusion. Any instance created inside of each 10 minute interval will put the player at the specified destination on conclusion. It does not matter from where or when a player enters an instance once created.

You can not completely control if you enter an instance that started in the previous 10 minute interval or the current interval. If a low player count instance carries over into the next interval long enough, some players from the new round of open world events will be added to the old instance, and upon conclusion be returned to the world based on when the instance started, instead of when the instance was entered. However, the game will try to back fill any leftover instances before creating new one, so, if you want to ensure an instance for the current interval, don't be the first one in.

If you get put in an old and undesirable instance, you may be able to find another map where the rift entry event is still active to enter a fresh instance with the desired exit. But you are left to the whims of the megaserver to put you in an open world instance with a still active entry event.

The branded Riftstone can create a new rift instance, if there are no available instances when it is used. It will then have the exist set based on when the riftstone was used. For example, if you use a branded riftstone at X:09. It will likely create a new instance for the interval starting at X:00, and you will be alone in it. However, at X:10, new open world entrances will appear and the first to enter from there will be placed in your instance. These people might be annoyed that they got put on an 'old' instance and get the wrong item/exit at the end ?‍♀️. I figured this out the hard way, after also joining an 'old' instance but getting a rifstone from it :confounded: then using it.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> Another possibility is that Kralkatorrik targeted the Commander because he knew Aurene could just fly around and dodge his attacks as she had been doing the entire time before, while the Commander couldn't. Forcing her to defend the Commander would effectively immobilize her, thus allowing him to easily target and overpower her.

Good point. But does that mean that Kralkatorrick has knowledge and understanding of Aurene's compassion and emotional foundations? In order to formulate such a plan, he would have to have much more knowledge of the things beyond himself. Which is quite interesting considering how he is portrayed. I wouldn't expect him to have such tactical... Wait, he has the gift of prophecy. He doesn't need to understand why Aurene would voluntarily immobilize herself to protect the Commander, he just knows it will happen.

I wonder if that encompasses Kralks being, tracing and fulfilling the lines of prophecy without having the types of intelligence and knowledge to understand the full depths of causality in the chain of events he lays out. It would be an interesting "defect" of the dragon.

>She stood in front of those weaker than herself. She died protecting the commander. Protecting us.

I don't know why Zafirah would exactly know this detail, maybe the Commander has told her so. Not sure that statement is a direct reference to Kralk's final attack, but I think it is, and it confirms something I noticed something after studying last episode's end scene. Kralkatoric was seemingly targeting the Commander with that final blast before Aurene stepped in between. In that scene Aurene starts to the left, but jumps back. While doing so Kralk's gaze remains fixed, seemingly on the Commander. Aurene, re enters the scene on the right side, presumably making a lap around the Commander and failing to draw Kralk's attention. With Kralk still charging his attack towards the commander, she finally steps forwards to perform her own attack that finally diverts Kralk's attention to her and away from the commander.

What exactly this means? I am not so certain. Some people think Kralk left because Aurene died and was no long a threat to him, but I am not so sure. It is still maddening, because Kralk, while initially targeting to kill the commander, is afterwards, depicted as backing away and leaving the fainting Commander alone. Even if his destroyed eye socket is bleeding all over the place, I can't imagine him not being able to take one last chomp at the commander.

Since the most informative peek is the title itself. I have to say, War Eternal, at first makes me think of a time/fractal loop, as they have been portrayed in Ep. 4. But... The title is a bit mashed up in my view. Lets take a look at an alternative. Eternal War, or The Eternal War. This would be the grammatically normal way to describe a time loop creating a ceaseless conflict.

So what is War Eternal. Well for one thing TIL that there is a term, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpositive_adjective. Postpostivie adjectives don't have any definitive meaning, and it could just be poetic use. However, the word "war", is also one of the very annoyingly special words. "War" is one of those words that can be both concrete or abstract, and in either case is spelled exactly the same. (don't worry there is a wiki explanation of that too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun#Concrete_nouns_and_abstract_nouns).

So Eternal War, would lean heavily in interpretation to being a singular, war that is eternal, but War Eternal, make me pause (and not just because of a reflexive break I have when I say those words in that order), War, Eternal.... It makes me think, war is eternal.

Whelp... There goes any meaning I can parse from the title.

and finally, who said war meant physical war of battling armies. war is also one of those terms, that, well, can be liberally used.

> @"Irenio CalmonHuang.2048" said:

> To answer a few questions that have arisen:

>

> ---

>

> 1. Regional drops are on their own separate tables. So the uniqueness of things like Krytan weapons is preserved by those only being available on the appropriate maps.

But you are adding Reclaimed Weapons, previously regional to the heard of magguma, to the unidentified gear drops? So what, in the future is going to be considered regional drops and what is being re-classified as non-regional? Specifically, is Elonian and Sunspear weapons, and Spearmashal armor, previously found in unidentified gear, considered regional to the crystal desert, and therefore being moved into the loot table as separate drops? Or are they treated the same as reclaimed weapons and are going to be found in unidentified gear from any region?

> @"TexZero.7910" said:

> Why do we have magic find at all at this point if it's seemingly having whats left of it's value removed ?

It still affects every single item dropped by defeating enemies. They just don't seem to want magic find boosting on any loot roll that you can trigger on mass, except for lucky envelopes. It makes sense, because magic find would presumably be intended to boost rewards when they are dropped by an enemy during gameplay, and have consistently been restricted from containers.

Although, mysteriously the description of Unidentified Gear gear says affected by "account magic find", but research shows that bossing magic find does work for Unidentified Gear. Account magic find is not affected by magic find boosts/attributes so the description, or in game results seem wrong. Was this a bug all along, and the fix is to simply remove magic find on the item because it was determined that the game can not differentiate between account magic from boosted/attribute magic find?

I also read that the way the the Silverwaste perseverance magic find boost works for lost bandit chests, is that is applies an attribute magic find boost, for one second while opening the chest. Presumably you can use that 1 second attribute boost to affect unidentified gear too, because attribute bonuses are being applied. It seems like adjusting magic find for specific loot is not possible in the current game's code.

> @"PookieDaWombat.6209" said:

> While we keep thinking of all elder dragons as bad, what if we are wrong. What if the real answer is that Bubbles is actually the elder dragon that is meant to bring about balance and we will find that out and help it (since Kralky is kinda stronger than he should be) and in some kind of epic twist take care of restoring balance in that way. Either that or the human gods get their collective heads out of their nethers and come back to actually help turn the tide.

So here is my crackpot theory in the vein of bubbles saves the day for what it is worth. The speculated concept art of the deep sea dragon, is a serpent with it head weirdly separating into two. I speculate that that dragon has the domain of chaos, which having a mercurial form and creating an unpredictable future. This is a direct countering to Kralkatoric's presumed domain of prophecy. In Ep. 5 we counter his crystalline body with itself, and in Ep. 6 the commander finds they can use the powers of chaos to overcome prophecy and along with whatever remains of Aurene transforms Kralkatoric into a benevolent entity of Tyria. Thus reversing Kralkatoric's vision of a future without him, but also sorta validating it, because the new entity is unrecognizable as Kralkatoric.

So where does the commander get chaos? Well lets go deeper down this crackpot theory. The commander is quite something in history, now, being a catalyst for many events of change in a tumultuous time of constant transformation. As Joko un-succinctly points out, the commander has already thrown the world into chaos. And he knew, as well as Odgen (one of the three signs) and Glint, that the only thing that could end his hundreds of years reign, was the force of chaos from the deep sea dragon. He fancied conquering and eliminating the force that would end his life, but deep down, knew that it could not be stopped. That is because he knows the commander is a dragon's champion, but not the champion of dragon of prophecy, not the champion of a baby dragon (because how can a not elder, juvenile dragon have a champion? more like a caretaker.), but a champion of chaos and the deep sea dragon. So when Glint's legacy, talks about bringing together the Scion and Champion, she is talking about the restoration of balance, by introducing the cooperation of the forces of two opposed dragons. A champion of chaos and scion of prophecy, one ripping at the treads of time and the other reforming into something new.

Wrapping up this theory... Of course, as is the nature the deep sea dragon, it's own champion will find it hard to know what it is, people randomly forgetting the dragon's name in the presence of the champion, other's refusing to acknowledge it when they see it, and most others simply oblivious, chaos bolstered by unknowing. So In Ep. 6, "Destiny's End" the commander will face Kralkatoric one last time to rewrite the future, confused but un-deterred by newly discovered abilities. In Season 5, we turn towards what is known to be the last potential threat the deep sea dragon, not knowing, neither the road blocks in the way, nor what such an endeavor will lead the commander to discover...

If they are looking for a Lead, and looking to bolster their senior positions too, then what is their current server infrastructure team anyways? :expressionless:

The least Anet could do is make an easy to buy package, for each expansion, that includes all content associated with the expansion. Living world is a bit bizarre with two requirements to play. One is to buy the associated expansion, then it is to get an unlock that is free at first, then costs something through the gem store, at a future date. And it doesn't help, that, depending on when you buy or login, you will have a different arrangements of these unlocks for the current season already available to you. I also think buying gems is inconvenient for some people. A S2 + HoT complete pack can be made right now (although core players who have logged in diligently over the years won't need this :confounded: ), PoF is a little weird in that it is still possible to get 2/6th of the associated living world unlocked for free at this point. Now is S5 going to have a PoF requirement? ?‍♀️

From my perspective. It is more complicated than it should be. I personally don't care too much about the price (I get the free unlocks for now). But this system is a bit convoluted.