voltaicbore.8012

Good call on doing PoF masteries before hitting HoT. While the story ends up a bit out of order (this is assuming you skipped everything after getting the glider and went straight to PoF after that), having raptor with the long jump and the springer with the high jump is an amazing tool for being in the jungle. Let me know (via whisper or mail) anytime you want a hand reaching masteries or HPs. If I'm on and not in a pvp match, I'll gladly help you. In fact, you'll be helping me! I've been looking for ways to feel more excited about playing again, and I feel like being more helpful will go a long way with that.

> @"Zboard.5019" said: >I dont mind if they keep 30s per plan, but at least let me queue 500 catapults and actually go and play the game... I think this is the real point, and I find it quite reasonable to ask for. It's like ANet... doesn't care about guilds _or_ WvW! What a surprise. Seriously though, I think this change would be a good thing. I don't even do Guild Siege manufacturing, but I can easily imagine what a pain it would be.

> @"Bazsi.2734" said: > This is a perfectly topical forum post... for early 2018. Since then the playerbase deteriorated too much for this change. Lets say teamQ is separated, even if all current pvp players join a team(which is definitely not going to happen, only a precentage of them), you'd get like 50 teams on EU, less on NA. > If this change went through, I wouldn't play the gamemode because I know something like this would happen: > I get into/make a team, we're obviously nowhere near to where we could be with enough practise, so we start Q-ing, and... first opponent is one of the top contestants of winning the monthly. We get curbstomped, but lets say we keep on playing... somehow most of our matches turn out like this. Because the veterans of the tournament system(those playing organised 5v5 for years) would stick to their own skill level while making teams, and Q-dodge each other for safe/slow rating farm. > New teams would have a horrible experience, seasoned tournament veterans would be bored by lack of competition, and with players leaving (why play if it's not fun?) the gamemode would completely die out within a month or two. > > So sadly the "population is low" argument is valid, no matter how stupid you think it is. Until EoD releases, it's just slow decay for us. I think this is 100% exactly what will happen. There's just not enough of us playing to give the matchmaker opportunities, and announcing team queue is probably not going to magically pull in hundreds of previously absent players. At least the ATs, being at set times, prevent the queue dodge to an extent. Even there, teams entering pretty much know that if you're going in with friends, it's just for the entry (and maaayyyybe 1 win) reward. Team queue will likely be the exact same lifeless domination that ATs are.

I see that their tag is [WoH] and they have an emblem, but the only info I have comes from [here.](https://guilds.gw2w2w.com/guilds/warriors-of-hades). I would concur with @"Randulf.7614", it's entirely possible someone made the guild but it's now just languishing with no logins or activity. Best of luck finding someone.

> @"Gotejjeken.1267" said: > The sensible thing would be to put skill 2 back but invert like it is now (so monarch leap => hornet sting) and put serpent's strike back on skill 3. That way you have a primary leap for engage / disengage and then an on demand evade in skill 3. Then still have hornet sting recharge monarch's leap if it hits , so you could potentially jump in => out => out for more distance. If that's not possible, then just make it three charges, same effect. I'd prefer this over the current sword setup, that's for sure. Not having the on-demand evade kind of sucks, although I've managed to learn to pre-emptively queue up the evade-on-flip so I have sword 2 and dagger 4 evades ready to chain. Needless to say, this sword/dagger build is horribly niche, and I run it for personal challenge.

> @"Kurrilino.2706" said: > I don't gain anything or favor a certain team, if my team wins, i am already good with that. Merely "favoring" one side cannot possibly be the standard for match manipulation. If you fight hard to win, you are obviously favoring your own team, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Equally obviously, "match manipulation" must then refer to something other than "playing hard within the rules so your team can win." I would argue that "match manipulation" as a concept _precisely_ applies to the kind of thing you say next: > **It's just more efficient to aim for a loss than for a victory.** By going for a victory i just extend the game by lots of minutes. You are _intentionally_ seeking to make your team lose. And for some bizarre reason you still go on to say >I play the game different than you do. Nothing in the rules makes your or my way to play illegal. Check [#22 of the GW2 Rules of Conduct](https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-rules-of-conduct/), which specifically states: "This also includes disrupting other people’s game experience by not actively participating in matches in good faith, a.k.a leeching." My way is fine, yours is not. The real problem is that ANet probably has issues taking action against someone who is merely performing the behaviors you are doing in-game. I mean, it's entirely reasonable for a new an very conservative-minded player to think that they're actively helping the team win by protecting the home node, especially when the team seems to be strugging all over the map - makes sense to at least hang onto what you have, right? But hilariously, you basically said out here in the open "nah, I'm not just new or misguided, but I intentionally do this to make my own team lose faster." Sure, play however you want, but your conduct is not defensible.

> @"Kurrilino.2706" said: > As example, i do my dailies mostly in ranked PvP because of the skill level. The best way to do that is to stay at the home base. > The assumption is that the game is done faster when i don participate. As faster the game is over as faster i have my daily. > My character is constantly called Bot and i am reported. Not that i ever got a notice from ANet because they know. > So, in reality people accuse someone of being a bot without evidence because the just assume. > ANet is fully aware of that and leave players alone. Like you said, bad behavior ingame doesn't mean botting I guess they should be reporting you for match manipulation instead. I never mind if everyone is at least trying but my team just gets outplayed. But specifically choosing to interact with the match as little as possible so as to lose faster crosses the line for me. I guess I'd make an exception for someone staying in spawn because the team is getting camped, but it sounds to me like you're just staying at home node from the very beginning for this exact purpose.

> @"TheThief.8475" said: > This is not what i meant, I mean they can introduce some mechanics from strike bosses to story bosses, like aoes to dodge, "drakkar style" waves that you can jump over, this kind of things that involve more the player (they usually add new mechanics that you can't often see or understand at first glance- instead of using some of the mechanics that players know already- and are fun to play). > The last thing I want is more hp for last bosses (they are already more than enough, if you think about mordremoth story fight) Dunno man. When I see you say stuff like this > @"TheThief.8475" said: >The solo story bosses is a format that doesn't work imo, makes it feel like the BIG END BOSS of the expansion is just a stupid dummy that you can face alone and easy win with little to no effort during the fight. > > A "strike mission style" last chapter would be great. Imagine creating strike mission for big bosses like mordremoth and balthazar. Not only the end of the story would feel much more epic and significant, we also would have more end game contant that remains and is replayable. Great idea my friend. it seems pretty clear that (1) you don't think "solo story bosses" work, and (2) you want something that is NOT "solo story bosses", which presumably is "strike mission style" fights done in a group. But I guess now you're saying you never really wanted the group aspect of (2), and what you _really_ want is just more of the strike mission _mechanics_ ? That would be nice, but I'm not sure ANet has ever shown us that they know how to do an interesting solo fight. It's not that I disagree with your desire - I, too, would like to see more interesting boss fights. But I just don't think ANet can pull it off. One of the few times they did with the pre-nerf Caudecus fight, apparently enough people cried that they pulled back. So to answer your question more clearly: yes I would like to see more interesting things in boss fights, but no I do not want ANet to even try to do it. I have no faith that I will like the outcome.

> @"TheThief.8475" said: > > @"voltaicbore.8012" said: > > > @"Blude.6812" said: > > > > @"TheThief.8475" said: > > > > > @"Blude.6812" said: > > > > > > @"TheThief.8475" said: > > > > > > > @"Dawdler.8521" said: > > > > > > > > @"Linken.6345" said: > > > > > > > > > @"TheThief.8475" said: > > > > > > > > > > @"Linken.6345" said: > > > > > > > > > > > @"TheThief.8475" said: > > > > > > > > > > > > @"zealex.9410" said: > > > > > > > > > > > > Imo lw and expansions would imrpove if story missions were solo/group content like drms. Extra point if they have rare drops and achievements to promote replayability. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Also strikes, major fights in story could then be strikes for groups. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I agree with that. The solo story bosses is a format that doesn't work imo, makes it feel like the BIG END BOSS of the expansion is just a stupid dummy that you can face alone and easy win with little to no effort during the fight. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > A "strike mission style" last chapter would be great. Imagine creating strike mission for big bosses like mordremoth and balthazar. Not only the end of the story would feel much more epic and significant, we also would have more end game contant that remains and is replayable. Great idea my friend. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The end for core story was story mode of the dungeon Arah, players dident like that they all of a sudden had to group to finish story so I doubt Anet will make that mistake again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I remember the last core story boss fight is a single player content, and i can remember the horrible fight with zaithan where u just press one key on the cannon to damage and kill him, and who in the world would prefer this horrible content to a strike mission where u have a real epic fight against zaithan? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > People didn't like to play arah story mode as "final chapter"(i can't remember that but it was in 2013, so might be my memory -404 memory not found). > > > > > > > > > People don't like a lot of contents in gw2 but yet we have it. Players will never have all the same tastes, but they can focus on what players that play the game a lot of time want (players where they get most of the money from) . And i suppose you are saying that anet wont do this while you would like it, am I right? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > They changed it at release it was a 5 man dungeon instance. > > > > > > > > Yes there was alot of complaints that their story ended with a party instance. > > > > > > > Mostly because it was a kitten ending. Having multiple "commanders" didnt even make sense in your own story finale. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Strike missions for last boss fight in story chapters really hype me a lot, but i guess the problem is real. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > But i think they could solve the problem if they want! The question is "will they consider a strike mission for the final boss fight in the story"? I hope so :D > > > > > > > > > > Hope not!!!!!!!!! > > > > > > > > > > > > > So you prefer to spam 1 :confused: > > > > > > LMAO! You really have no idea at all how I play. I do know that forced strike missions are something I don't want. > > > > > > > +1 from me - I don't spam 1, but I also do not feel like having forced strikes for story completion. I'm not looking for _great_ gameplay when it comes to story instances, I'd prefer something more engaging than Zhaitan but nothing close to the time-padded nature of DRMs. I actually really liked the pre-nerf Caudecus fight from LWS3, and would welcome more story bosses like that. > > I kinda agree with cadecous fight. I don't understand one thing tho: do you dislike strikes? I mean you would not like a "strike mission" boss fight even if you could play it solo? Strikes are fine, and DRMs are fine - I just don't want them in story, period. Soloing things is not a problem. I solo all the DRMs, and I solo both dungeons and fractals (the ones that are mechanically soloable, anyways. Still haven't found workarounds for Deepstone). ANet has proven that it doesn't really know how to scale things between solo and 5-man content very well (if at all) - even if a soloable strike mission was added as a story boss, it would be a pointless gigantic HP sponge. It wouldn't be interesting gameplay, and it certainly wouldn't add story value. It would, in fact, be a waste of time for all involved.

> @"Blude.6812" said: > > @"TheThief.8475" said: > > > @"Blude.6812" said: > > > > @"TheThief.8475" said: > > > > > @"Dawdler.8521" said: > > > > > > @"Linken.6345" said: > > > > > > > @"TheThief.8475" said: > > > > > > > > @"Linken.6345" said: > > > > > > > > > @"TheThief.8475" said: > > > > > > > > > > @"zealex.9410" said: > > > > > > > > > > Imo lw and expansions would imrpove if story missions were solo/group content like drms. Extra point if they have rare drops and achievements to promote replayability. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Also strikes, major fights in story could then be strikes for groups. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I agree with that. The solo story bosses is a format that doesn't work imo, makes it feel like the BIG END BOSS of the expansion is just a stupid dummy that you can face alone and easy win with little to no effort during the fight. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > A "strike mission style" last chapter would be great. Imagine creating strike mission for big bosses like mordremoth and balthazar. Not only the end of the story would feel much more epic and significant, we also would have more end game contant that remains and is replayable. Great idea my friend. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The end for core story was story mode of the dungeon Arah, players dident like that they all of a sudden had to group to finish story so I doubt Anet will make that mistake again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I remember the last core story boss fight is a single player content, and i can remember the horrible fight with zaithan where u just press one key on the cannon to damage and kill him, and who in the world would prefer this horrible content to a strike mission where u have a real epic fight against zaithan? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > People didn't like to play arah story mode as "final chapter"(i can't remember that but it was in 2013, so might be my memory -404 memory not found). > > > > > > > People don't like a lot of contents in gw2 but yet we have it. Players will never have all the same tastes, but they can focus on what players that play the game a lot of time want (players where they get most of the money from) . And i suppose you are saying that anet wont do this while you would like it, am I right? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > They changed it at release it was a 5 man dungeon instance. > > > > > > Yes there was alot of complaints that their story ended with a party instance. > > > > > Mostly because it was a kitten ending. Having multiple "commanders" didnt even make sense in your own story finale. > > > > > > > > > > > > > Strike missions for last boss fight in story chapters really hype me a lot, but i guess the problem is real. > > > > > > > > > > > > But i think they could solve the problem if they want! The question is "will they consider a strike mission for the final boss fight in the story"? I hope so :D > > > > > > Hope not!!!!!!!!! > > > > > > > So you prefer to spam 1 :confused: > > LMAO! You really have no idea at all how I play. I do know that forced strike missions are something I don't want. > +1 from me - I don't spam 1, but I also do not feel like having forced strikes for story completion. I'm not looking for _great_ gameplay when it comes to story instances, I'd prefer something more engaging than Zhaitan but nothing close to the time-padded nature of DRMs. I actually really liked the pre-nerf Caudecus fight from LWS3, and would welcome more story bosses like that.

I'd definitely take housing as the new signature feature introduced in EoD. I'm happy with the mount system as it is, and I'm not sure what new mobility niche could be filled with a totally separate system (the way that mounts were essentially separate from gliding until the midair dismount became a thing). Player housing was one of those things I never understood the appeal of until I tried it in another game. It adds a shockingly high amount of immersiveness, and as others have said, it becomes easier for the devs to add in new rewards to old content without having it touch powercreep in any way whatsoever. I think if ANet should ever implement player housing, they should be very careful to make sure that we are able to choose from among a variety of different locations, and that our choice makes us invest into that region of the world somehow. The simplest thing I can think of is that having an residence unlocks 3 extra dailies every day, and those would be the gathering/vista/events dailies for whatever region your home is located in.

The game folder is almost 50GB. I don't know what your bandwidth limits are, but frankly the decision should be almost entirely down to how well that fits (or doesn't) within your budget. If you can afford to let 50GB get eaten by the gw2 download one month, almost no harm in letting that happen (as others have said, there's really no way to truly know until you get back in-game yourself). If 50GB is beyond what you can allow for this sort of thing, then regardless of how bright the game's future looks, you probably shouldn't do it.

What makes garbage stinky and universally despised? If you've ever taken a look at what goes into your own/your community's garbage, you'll notice that everything in there was either useful and desirable to us, or at least part of something else that was useful and desirable. It becomes garbage when we throw it in a heap with a bunch of other pieces of formerly useful stuff, and we leave it to rot. This is more or less how I feel about how the Saga turned out. I like almost every individual piece of it, and feel that the vast majority of what they introduced has a ton of potential. Charr civil war? Great potential for exploring how a society utterly defined by warfare and military organization handles the evolution of conflict and threat. The Norn (especially Jhavi, descended of both Jora and Svanir) having another crack at Jormag? Also awesome, especially given that ANet was willing to let characters speak directly with the Spirits for the first time we've seen in-game. Ryland? Sure, he's just kind of dumped on us as Bangar's very own Mary Sue, but he allows us to explore the relationship between Charr parents through the lens of our buddy Rytlock and the very interesting new arrival Crecia. All of these, if given the right amount of space to breathe and get properly developed, could come together to make a compelling narrative whole. And that is precisely what did NOT happen. Instead of doing each of the narrative justice, ANet has just breathlessly piled then on, one after another, without really tapping into their potential. The result? Garbage. Things that could have worked well together are instead just smushed into a container way too small for them to fit, and they all just fester and rot in there together. Champions is like the lid of the garbage can- it feels so rushed, as if they are stumbling toward concluding the story just so we can put a lid on it and walk away from it all by the time EoD comes out. I am so very disappointed, but still hopeful that EoD will be nothing like the Saga in terms of the problems I described above.

I second (third?) the suggestion of trying Hizen's build if you're trying to solo stuff. Basically any build that uses a few Command skills + the Beastmastery trait Resounding Timbre gives you infinite regen and swiftness uptime, which might better approximate what you were doing on guardian. The Hizen build linked above of course includes this. Hizen in general has a thing for traits that convert Toughness into more damage, which results in his builds being great on both the survival and damage aspects if played right. Also, since that Toughness-into-damage is always a passive trait, that makes his builds that much easier to manage. I personally run a more defensively oriented [Trailblazer build](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAwiVlRwsYPsJ2JWWP1P3SGXUA-zRJYkR3/hUgIIFlQISAFOA-e) that I first made for WvW roaming. Shortbow offers a lot of disruption/CC utility, and I don't really enjoy _not_ running shortbow on condi ranger. I didn't fill in infusion slots and such, but you get the idea. Between the all-Trailblazer stats and merging with the spider pet (which gives you extra HP), you're going to survive the vast majority of what comes your way in terms of incoming power and condition damage. This allows for the selection of slightly more offensively oriented traits and utilities. Like the Hizen build, this leans very heavily into high and constant application of poison damage to trigger the life-siphon-on-poison trait in the soulbeast line. Unlike the Hizen build, this doesn't have Commands + Resounding Timbre, so you lose the perma regen. However, it retains the Rugged Growth passive regen from the Wilderness Survival line, and the Bear Stance heal (when traited) is a very handy condition cleanse. I'm constantly making small changes depending on what I run into. For most PvE solo purposes, I actually drop Leader of the Pack in favor of Oppressive Superiority, and sometimes I even drop Live Fast (and thereby losing a nice source of quickness + fury) in favor of Unstoppable Union if I feel the need to get more protection and mobility-preservation. You can also switch the Trapper Runes for Scavenger Runes. While the stealth from Trapper detargets you and the superspeed allows for great repositioning, Scavenger synergizes well with the extra HP you'll be running and boosts your poison damage - always a welcome element of this build. I prefer Trapper because I used to almost exclusively play tanks in trinity MMOs, and am obsessed with the ability to reposition effectively, and also because I run 2 traps along with the trap trait in this build. Defensively speaking though, the primary way I get sustain out of this build is actually with chaining dodges on the sword/dagger set. It sucks that the old sword 3 dodge-on-demand is now hidden behind the first stage of sword 2, but it's easy enough to learn how to pre-emptively use sword 2's first ability to queue up the dodge hidden behind it. Also, if you mess that up and your dodge goes on cd before you can use it, you can use sword 3 when enemies are in melee to disengage backwards and refresh sword 2 for another try. Dagger 4 has always been a nice, relatively short cd dodge-on-demand, so I reserve that for when sword 2 and 3 fall through and I just want to avoid a big hit. All of this can be done without burning a single normal dodge, and Wilderness Survival gives you +25% perma endurance regen anyways. Also note that the sword 2 dodge and dagger 4 dodge both apply poison on strike, which of course procs the life siphon from Predator's Cunning. The Flame Trap slot is flexible for me. I tend to run Flame Trap simply because it's hard to outperform the burning condition, but it only really works if you're confident you can root your target into eating all or most of the trap's pulses. That's where the spider's merged F3 pull ability shines, as I can yank most escape attempts right back into the center of the trap, while also giving myself quickness and fury. I run the Spike Trap or Frost Trap in WvW if I run into an enemy roamer more often who I really need to lock down in order to kill, and in PvE if I need yet another margin of safety I run the Protect Me command for an extra stunbreak, protection, and barrier. It's defensive overkill, really. As for the elite, I run Entangle in WvW or xPvP situations, again because of the importance of rooting targets into my traps and spider-merge-F2 poison field. In PvE I'm often going with Strength of the Pack for more stability and might, or with One Wolf Pack if I'm confident I can keep enough quickness uptime and multi-hits to make it worth it. Entangle also works in PvE as well, if you want to root a number of targets to either keep them off you for a bit, or if you want to make sure they stay in your traps and die. In PvE though I would recommend using spider merge F3 (Prelude Lash) to gather up mobs into a trap. Finally, I generally don't run this build in group content. When i do, it's only for when I am carrying someone and we're duo-ing what should be done normally by a group of 4 or 5. It has enough area damage to steadily wear down packs of mobs, and of course is loaded with enough defense to make almost any PvE activity extremely safe. Sorry for the rambling wall of text - it's late, and I kinda lost track of what I was saying lol. Hope this gives you some ideas to solve your survivability problem. Consider it a starting point to draw some survival ideas from; as-is, this build probably doesn't do nearly as much damage as you'd like. To get anywhere near the right arcdps numbers for damage output, you'll likely have to run torch and the Quick Draw trait to get more access to burning.

> @"Knuckle Joe.7408" said: > Malyck would be a great male character to bring back and put into a positive light. > Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas a thousand times for this. The Malyck story is one particular thread I really wish ANet picks back up in some form. He also lacks the baggage surrounding the other characters mentioned in the thread.

> @"Svennis.3852" said: > Crecia isn’t wrong though, either. And yes, the interaction does highlight some cultural traits ingrained in her as a Charr. Exactly. I never said she was wrong about the need to move on, and as many have stated, it's not at all unusual or unexpected for a Charr to give the utmost priority to strategic needs. After all, the fahrar system places military indoctrination into the Legions over basic family ties, so I get that Crecia would see things the way she does. > I feel like Kasmeer helped paint a pretty balanced picture, gently but firmly rejecting the notion that their fear was entirely unfounded. It didn’t feel one sided to me at all. This was a piece of dialogue I was missing from both the chat box and audio on my first playthrough. I finally got to hear it on my third run through on a different character, and I agree it very much softened the divide. I had to repair my client afterwards, and it appeared in all subsequent run-throughs without issue. I just think it was a poor choice to have the Commander unquestioningly wag a finger at Ebonhawke in that tone of shallow exasperation, as if there was absolutely no reasonable justification for people to feel that way. The Commander doesn't have to be a master diplomat and orator, but they also don't have to be crassly naive either - I think that line was exactly the latter. As this thread shows though, it seems so far most of you guys didn't really have a reaction to that line from the Commander, so I'll consider myself the outlier here. Thanks for the responses!

> @"Teratus.2859" said: > Charr are not humans, for the most part they don't care about feelings, especially foolish and self harming ones (by their perspective) > Randulf is correct that this is a cultural difference and there's plenty of that in race as well as between races, even in reality between nations etc > Can't expect everyone to think and feel the same way.. that wouldn't be a good thing at all and would cheapen the world. > > What would be the point of having Charr, Human, Sylvari, Norn, Asura, Grawl, Hylek, Kodan, Tengu etc etc if they were all the same? > Their differences is what makes the whole working together thing so interesting. You completely missed the point. I wasn't taking issue with the fact that there are differences. I had a problem with what I thought was the writing very clearly judging (quite negatively, I might add) the Ebonhawke skeptics for being different from Crecia. Several subsequent playthroughs showed I was missing a lot of dialogue on my first playthrough, and it turns out ANet wasn't being _quite_ as judgmental as I thought. That being said, there's still a remarkable lack of sympathy for a people who live as a minority far from their home civilization, as refugees suffering generations of physical attack from people who don't want them there. I find that to be a poor narrative choice.

> @"deatine.2498" said: > > @"Randulf.7614" said: > > As she says, she Black Citdael - ie the Charr - would not feel this way if the table were turned so she doesn't expect or understand why humans have this emotional reaction. > > We are not talking about the _humans'_ reactions though, we're talking about _Ebonhawke_. Ebonhawke is comparatively tiny and stands alone in charr territory. It still had renegade charr attacking at the games for the last 10 years. Crecia belonged to the imperator who actually backed the renegades. Of course Ebonhawke is careful and stubborn. > If Crecia were sitting in some hicktown between human and centaur territory, with human separatists attacking regularly because it's an easy target, she probably wouldn't welcome a human delegation with open arms, either. That's something I forgot to consider as well - Ebonhawke is an outlier, and has weathered renegade assaults before, during, and after the treaty process. That being said, on my third playthrough, I finally got significantly more text/audio that showed me I wasn't getting the whole picture. Specifically, Kas asks for understanding of the Charr-uncomfortable folks, and there's a significant amount from Cre at the end noting that the treaty is, in fact, just a piece of paper, and that trust is what matters. None of that played in audio or the chat box on my first playthrough, and I stayed in the instance to make sure I didn't miss it/get the MP. I still find it annoying that every single person you rally to fight is a Separatist, thereby indicating that only an extremist/sympathizer would not be totally fine with Charr military presence, and frankly I still cannot stomach the Commander's "ugh guys you're so gross, it's been TEN whole years since we signed a piece of paper so forget your history and ongoing struggles" tone. I'd sooner see my city burn than grovel for help from such people. **But credit where credit is due:** the missing dialogue that I finally heard convinced me that ANet was attempting a less judgmental position than I initially thought. Now I have to go repair my client. NPCs are cutting their own story dialogue off with chatter, and I'm getting a weird mix of audio dialogue with nothing in the chat box, and chat box without audio (although the latter happens all the time in other places as well). Pretty clear something might be up with my client.

> @"Randulf.7614" said: > DIfferent cultures. Crecia is showing no tolerance for holding such old ideas so long after the cause because in her military mind it's long time to move on and it is obstructing her from protecting them and others. As she says, she Black Citdael - ie the Charr - would not feel this way if the table were turned so she doesn't expect or understand why humans have this emotional reaction. And that difference between Charr and humans is what they were highlighting. > > They didn't get much right with this episode, but they got that spot on. Anything else would have made no sense EDIT: subsequent playthroughs changed my mind from when I posted this. Hard disagree with you there. I actually missed that comment from Crecia, which I admit does increase the narrative value of her judgmental comments. However, if it really was merely a "highlighting" of cultural differences, I think I should have noticed a more "try to understand" set of responses. Instead, we get a lot of snide dismissal (Crecia sarcastically says something to the effect of "just look at how far we've come",) or apologetic sweeping aside (instead of telling Cre to actually, you know, think about how others feel, Kas/Commander just promise to try to get those silly backward Ebonhawke folks ready for her arrival). To me, the balance is clearly, clearly tilted towards labeling any human discomfort in Ebonhawke regarding Charr as backwards and straight-up wrong. I'll give it another playthrough on several other characters, but as of yet I'm completely unconvinced by "oh it's just highlighting different cultures."

> @"Maulclaw.4365" said: > And the fact that existing players won't be able to migrate is incredibly moronic. SWTOR and TERA did it without breaking a sweat. Not being well-versed in game development, I personally would not be so quick to judge. I don't know how long you've been playing SWTOR, but the way that game and GW2 handle accounts has been radically different over the years. An enormous proportion of upgrades/features/conveniences are account-wide in GW2 by default, whereas it took a decade for SWTOR to start letting some simple things get shared on a legacy-wide basis. Yes, certain buffs were already legacy-wide, but they were far more limited in scope than what we've long enjoyed in GW2.

This isn't BDO - grinding mobs really isn't the way to make cash or get drops. Most of the worthwhile items are crafted or collected through the achievement system. I would personally recommend getting into fractals, as that is a great source of ascended gear and gold, and will also be a good primer on what high level group combat in this game looks like (at least when you reach t4 fractals). The gold should help you get what you want out of the trading post for the most part.

> @"Hypnowulf.7403" said: >Guild Wars 2 is the only setting I've seen in a long time that dares to be a little less... predicable, that has the courage to tell a story outside of the usual comfort zones, something a little more risky. I appreciate it. As much as I hate the Saga, I agree with you here. In general, I appreciate GW2's willingness to strive for something other than generic fantasy formulae. However, the problems I have with GW2's writing at times is when it begins to mirror ANet's bad habit of chasing new things without sufficiently developing what they've already put on the board. The story as of late reflexively defaults to "omg we can only win with the power of Togetherness and Friendship and Diversity yay" and seems utterly allergic to exploring how deeply tied particular threats are to particular races. They started an incredibly interesting dark horror mystery motif in Bjora that went absolutely nowhere, and turned the Spirits of the Wild into sideshows. There was yet again another botched chance to have a compelling "rally the Norn" moment that could have seen Braham more directly confronted by (and seek redemption from) his people, rather than have two random Svanir and Jhavi mention (but fail to discuss at any depth) the perception that Braham abandoned his people. The story is immediately swamped by the Charr Civil War and its miniature twin, the Cre/Ryt/Ryland story... which in turn is giving way to Primordus, Primordus (potential) new champion Braham, and the mess that is Dragon Response Missions. I get that chaos can be effective storytelling at times, especially with a manipulative power like Jormag at play. Having us yo-yo from one thing to another might be what Jormag wanted all along, to direct (or misdirect) us. I just don't credit ANet for doing this on a narrative chaos basis. Instead, I can't help but see this as a narrative version of their gameplay ADHD. So many promising systems are introduced, then abandoned, never to be touched or iterated ever again. I see the current story, lurching from one thing to the next without really addressing the stuff it puts out, as much the same thing.

> @"Hesione.9412" said: > > @"voltaicbore.8012" said: > > > @"Hesione.9412" said: > > > > > tl;dr information such as mastery points is not a marker of player ability/knowledge of the game. > > > > Eh. > > > > I was speaking about probability. It is far more likely that someone at cap knows certain basic elements of group play and fundamental combat. Yes, you can get carried through a number of achievements. That being said, I doubt that anyone cared enough to ping every single mastery without learning basic things about how fighting and this entire game generally works. So yeah, a hard disagree with you on this one. It _is_ a marker. It's just not a maximally precise or guaranteed one, and I never pretended it was. > > You can't talk to probability, you have no evidence either way. I do, though I haven't documented it. Read the rest of the post.

> @"Hesione.9412" said: > tl;dr information such as mastery points is not a marker of player ability/knowledge of the game. Eh. I was speaking about probability. It is far more likely that someone at cap knows certain basic elements of group play and fundamental combat. Yes, you can get carried through a number of achievements. That being said, I doubt that anyone cared enough to ping every single mastery without learning basic things about how fighting and this entire game generally works. So yeah, a hard disagree with you on this one. It _is_ a marker. It's just not a maximally precise or guaranteed one, and I never pretended it was. > @"Danikat.8537" said: > Fortunately I can either specify if I'm creating the group or look for 'everyone welcome' and other wording that implies they're not expecting a speed run and then discuss what we're doing. Another eh. I guess your reaction was somewhat my fault because I thought further discussion of how I list things in LFG was tangential at best. I solo a lot of dungeons faster than working groups, but sometimes post in LFG anyways just to change things up. I rarely list any requirements on either end of the "all welcome" and "experienced only" spectrum, and therefore l treat every single one of my postings as an "all welcome" run. What this really means is that I never actually get to preemptively take advantage of my own mastery heuristics, but instead am always checking with everyone all the time anyways. It's precisely this check-with-everyone procedure that confirmed, for me, many of the details I mentioned my earlier post. And yes, I _have_ run into 349s who are not into speeding through things. But guess what? Without exception, they have all known how to handle combat and working with the group. In fact, many run interesting builds to compensate for their preference (and in some cases, their disabilities) that perform admirably.

> @"sorudo.9054" said: > it still says nothing, someone with 200 can just get them from doing everything with others, someone of just 100 could just be 10X better but doesn't care as much. > the same goes with AP, someone with 20K+ AP just might have gotten it from mindless grinding while someone with 5K AP could be a master but simply doesn't care about AP's. This is true, and that's also why I don't even pay attention to it outside of people at the very high or very low end of mastery. When I play, I still run dungeons a lot, and it helps to have a quick way to assess where people are to avoid unnecessary pug drama. So if I see low AP and single digit mastery points, it's safe to assume they're newer to the game and don't know any of the expected speed/convenience strategies. That gives me a chance to ask if they want to learn the big-boy methods, or if they'd like to take it slower. If I have a group of 349s with a 341 mixed in there, I know the 341 has done every mastery point except for raids, and there's actually a good chance they would absolutely bristle at the group if we just wordlessly did all the speed clear tactics. Again, seeing that specific 341 number gives me the chance to check with that player to see what they want out of the run. Of course, the easiest is with a full team of 349s. Chances are they know the game, and know the dungeon. Even if they're clearly running some meme build, that won't matter to me, because it's _very_ likely that they know basic things about not breaking stealth, stacking with the group, cc, and all the other little things that go into making a smooth run regardless of builds. I don't even have to bother to ask anyone anything, we all just know what to do and expect. But outside of either end, I agree that especially in the 100-250 range it's a real mixed bag and tells me nothing at a glance. I don't think that's reason enough to encourage getting rid of the display entirely, it's just the nature of having a wide range of numbers.