Sylum.1806

Anyone else getting this bug where the voiceover sounds so distant that's it's barely audible whenever it's the commander speaking or anyone speaking through the communicator?

"The Icebrood Saga: Champions is a multichapter Living World finale..."

So 1 episode worth of content split into 4 parts spread over the course of more than half a year?

 

"...featuring new story, repeatable gameplay content, rewards, achievements, and masteries."

So no Strikes then? Because if new Strikes were under repeatable gameplay content, there'd be no reason to not make a big mention out of it right? So yet another content format abandoned in the name of experimentation?

 

"This timeline is independent of our announcement and release plans for Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons..."

So now that there's a new expac in the pipeline, I guess we can expect to have no more "expansion-level content" to be released in Icebrood Saga?

 

(1:30:51. Time stamp doesn't work with the embedding here) "We've not forgotten about World Restructuring. We're really excited to talk about that in the coming months." - Jason Reynolds, Aug 30, 2019. Pretty interesting definition of "coming months".

 

No mention of Visions of the Past, Alliances or Legendary Armory. Real exciting road map.

 

Living World Season 2: 8 episodes. July 1, 2014 to January 13, 2015. 7 months.

Living World Season 3: 6 episodes. Jul 26, 2016 to Jul 25, 2017. 12 months.

Living World Season 4: 6 episodes. November 28, 2017 to May 14, 2019. 18 months

Icebrood Saga: 1 Prologue, 4 Episodes, plus 4 Chapters. September 17, 2019 to May 2021. 18 months.

 

My only hope is that the 4 Chapters added up amounts to more content than a standard Episode. And even then, it would be a marginal improvement over the productivity of Season 4.

I'm honestly baffled as to why Legendary Armory was announced without Wardrobe ~~Templates~~ Loadouts. Let's face it: the ONLY demographic Legendary Armory is relevant to, is a small group of players who a.) have legendary equipment AND b.) have more than one character. Suppose we take it to the extreme and propose that legendary weapon skins are the most awesome things around and that players who have them won't ever wanna transmute them to something else. Go a little further and suppose that also applies for Legendary Backpacks. Now does ANYONE believe that there is even a minute fraction of the players who can and will use the legendary armory will settle for multiple characters wearing the same skin for legendary armor?

If right now ArenaNet comes out and says the long development time and radio silence are because they have become aware of this glaring issue and are figuring out a best possible solution to this, then I'll be happy to wait.

> @"Jackeroo Sundown.7526" said:

> > @"Dante.1763" said:

> > Im a RPer myself and the block function that exists in game is fine enough for me, if you are doing RP so seriously that the model of the player is ruining the scene it may be best to keep it to private instances. In an MMO one cannot and shouldnt expect to be able to avoid players, one has to adapt, and that includes being able to ignore characters intruding on ones session.

>

> I feel like hiding from the entire community is a pretty awful way to solve the problem. You must haven't had someone stand on you spamming bright particle effects that shake your screen for hours, which I'm happy you haven't had that happen. It happens in DR weekly, at least.

 

I don't know man, DR being RP-central is pretty common knowledge. Not to excuse jerks for being jerks and suggest that you guys should give way to the jerks by going somewhere else, but in the grand scheme of things, this is unlikely something that ANet would actively intervene so you might wanna consider RP-ing in other maps. The game is 8 years old and into season 5 of living world, there's plenty of public dead maps around if you don't want to confine your RP to just private instances. Besides, the random events might introduce some spontaneity and improv into your play.

> @"kratan.4619" said:

> Hopefully, they are never removed. This is just your opinion man. No different than saying, "I do not like these so I also want nobody else to have them.

 

Except that's not even what the OP was saying.

 

1. OP accuses ANet of being obsessed with buttcapes.

2. OP is begging ANet to be less rigid to their weight-class style guides and create non-buttcape skins IN ADDITION to the usual fare, if fashion is really supposed to be the endgame. The dogmatic adherence is severely crippling the potential of one of their core features. OP never sought to deprive those who like buttcapes of their fashion.

 

Hope you're not deliberately misquoting OP in an attempt to middle the discussion here.

> @"Blackwolfmetal.3640" said:

> This used to be a very pure, friendly and nice community

 

I stayed away for from Crucible of Eternity for almost a year before finally trying it again (and thankfully learning it) because I got abused and kicked repeatedly by toxic players who didn't want to be inconvenienced a minute more carrying the inexperienced back in 2012. So I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. This community had and still has a mixture of good people and jerks. Same with every other MMO and every society.

> @"Skotlex.7580" said:

> > @"Super Hayes.6890" said:

> > No item that is account bound should be rng only. That is just stupid by design. It is literally possible to kill teq every day the rest of your life and not get this drop.

>

> This is where the discussion should have ended. Collection rewards and one-time-only drops are fine as account rewards. Everything else that has a rare/rng drop rate should be tradeable.

>

> Unfortunately ANet does this even with BL chests now. I had just today a guild member raging about the stupid rng behind a skin that is BL chest drop rng + account bound. This is even worse, as it might be deemed a predatory business practice.

>

> In the case of sunless weapons there isn't even a financial reason to keep it that hard.

 

Geezus, that Vermilion Tail Feather... Predatory is an apt description.

> @"Tumult.2578" said:

> Having looted Teq's Horde 2 days in a row, and having several taking up bank space, I can't agree with a change.

 

This is the equivalent of "I was born to a billionaire. I can't agree with change that doesn't diminish my current privilege except help those in poverty."

 

Buddy. You do realize that if they implement a non-RNG redemption option without removing the RNG drops, you don't have to partake in the redemption if you don't want to right?

> @"Friday.7864" said:

> > @"Clyan.1593" said:

> > People love to oppose things. It's fun. Especially when there is clearly nothing to get from it.

> > It's also called white knighting, something people do so they can feel important because their stance lines up with what the people in charge supposedly want.

> > The best of the best then say stuff like: WeLl, I dOnT cARe, sO I aM aGaInST iT, yOu sEe?

> > In reality they just want things to stay difficult for others.

> > I remember when the wardrobe was added how some people got stinky because some skins were brought back to the game - like that S1 tentacle backpiece for example.

> > It's just people being kitten.

>

> That is so true! o:

> It's really off putting and makes the forum appear toxic and unwelcoming when old players turn practically hostile towards often sensible suggestions.

> They did it the hard way so it has to stay like that for anyone attempting to do the same - even if they have years of catching up to do.

> Best example was the shatterer achievement - someone kept shooting down the opener for suggesting very reasonable changes, kept calling the event easy and posting on and on against any changes... Told them to go show the opener how to do it since it's easy... Suddenly they stopped posting. Quite sad tbh

>

> On topic: The skins should be purchasable, the actual ascended can stay a drop imo.

 

I've been playing since launch and I agree that the RNG has become a problem for rewards that can still function as very effective retention incentives without the RNG, and still preserve their prestige.

 

Sunless, Scion, and Broken Voice weapons should NEVER have been ascended from the start. The appeal is the skins themselves. Most egregious is Tequatl which still regularly drops one non-Sunless Ascended Weapon Box every other spawn for a lucky participant in the zerg.

 

I want to make it clear that I'm not advocating for less RNG because I got the short end of the stick. My account for some reason after nearly 10,000 hours in the game has ZERO precursor drops but extraordinarily insane luck with Ascendeds. I've had Ascended Armor Boxes drop for me in 2 successive days of Triple Trouble two times in my GW2 career, gotten nearly two dozen ascended boxes from Tequatl, not to mention from reward track chests in PvP AND WvW. Other than crafting 3 weapons early on when Ascended was introduced and crafting 3 armor sets for achievement, every other Ascended equipped on my fully ascended 9 characters (some even have two template sets) came from drops. They drop so frequently for me, I've yet to touch my 98 Grandmaster Marks.

 

Despite my veteran status and luck with Ascendeds (I'm 5 or 6 Hoards away from completing the Sunless collection) , I would still advocate for non-RNG acquisition for such skins because there's just no justifying 9-10 years of trying to complete a collection in the name of player retention and engagement.

 

It's like ArenaNet keeps churning their GDs with no clear direction what to do when it comes to rewards. What they did with Pact Machetes was perfect. Earn them doing Dragon Stand events or buy them with currencies earned from other HoT Maps. Yet when it comes to Mistborn Keys, they couldn't implement the same. I know enjoyability is subjective, but Dragonfall feels less fun than Dragonstand. With only one skin guaranteed for the first 1000 coffers opened instead of this being a repeatable achievement, I'm not about to break my soul farming Dragonfall ad nauseum for the hope of completing the Scion collection. The 1000 coffers for Scion weapons thing needs to be repeatable and Mistborn Keys need to be sold by merchants for all S4 map currencies the way Pact Machetes are sold.

> @"TheNecrosanct.4028" said:

> > @"Strider Pj.2193" said:

> > The stats on sunless May be perfect for necros as you deem, however, the skin is just that: a skin.

> >

> > The stats, which make the weapons ‘perfect for necros’ can be obtained in many other ways.

> >

> > There is no problem allowing skins to be obtainable by RNG.

>

> He never said anything about stats. This is purely a skin issue. And yes, it does take years to get a fair amount of the weapons. I've done Tequatl on a daily basis for about 3 years, round and about, and have 6 Sunless skins in total. That's 2 per year on average. Considering there are 19 skins, it'll take about 9 to 10 years to get them all.

>

> I understand his frustration. But I agree there's nothing wrong with having skins that are only obtainable through rare RNG drops. It just sucks for OP that it just so happens to be a skin set he wants. I have the same issue now with Scion weapons. But I'm not advocating for a more guaranteed way to obtain them. Some things should require patience and dedication. This is an MMO, after all.

 

If you think 9-10 years is considered a fair and reasonable measure of "patience and dedication", then you've pretty much lost all but the most hardcore crowd which I'm fairly certain ArenaNet didn't intend for completing this collection to be much harder than crafting a dozen legendaries.

Hey guys. If you're based in Asia, and your lag issues started since April 18th, I have probable explanations and effective solutions for the lag.

 

 

Heads up: It has nothing to do with ArenaNet.

> @"Kanok.3027" said:

> I say no thanks. If things are rare, then it feels a lot more accomplishing to get them when I finally do, even if locked behind RNG. Same thing happened in Korean MMO's where the grind was far worse and the rewards became obsolete the moment something new came out (vertical progression). At least here, you get something worthwhile like skins or a weapon you can use that stays relevant.

 

Wow, okay...benefit of a doubt this comment was made more in the spirit of a straw man argument than out of sheer masochism. First, NOWHERE is it explicitly stated or implied by either my original post or every other subsequent comment that there is a desire to make the rewards not rare. Less difficulty to acquire? Technically, yes, but it's also arguable that if your luck is good, the alternative is certainly more difficult.

 

What we are all proposing is SOME modicum of predictability in the time required to obtain these rewards.

 

Here is an example:

 

Tequatl Rising was released on September 17, 2013. Since then, more than 6 years has passed. Though I only have a sample size of 1 (myself), having done this daily from the release of that content until I finally stopped at the end of last month, I have at least 6 years of personal results to go by, which is at least worth considering even if not definitive. I get an average of 1 Tequatl Hoard per month. That's 1 per every 30 Exotic Dragon Chest. Let's assume that's a very lucky rate. A reasonable non-RNG alternative in this case would be at least double that effort. If it's trading in Tequatl Tail Pieces which can be obtained more than once per day per account, I'll suggest requiring at least 100 per weapon. That's more than 3 times the average time it takes for me to get a piece via RNG. If you want it to be even more grindy, move the Tail Piece to the Exotic Dragon Chest which can only be obtained once per account per day. That's a 100 days per weapon, 1900 days or more than 5 years and 3 months to collect all 19 pieces! If that still isn't enough retention, I don't know what is. By not implementing this, we risk having a segment of players who just give up because I've heard more than once from players who do this daily for a year without a drop. That isn't the ArenaNet way of respecting their players' time.

 

I'm not sure if it was your intention, but comparing GW2 to common Korean MMO fare and saying that our grind is good enough and doesn't need more improvement is frankly insulting. Again, I want to emphasize that adding a non-RNG alternative to these premium rewards will not diminish their prestige. So long as the GDs get the balance right, it can still be a very long, retention-beneficial, grindy achievement. What we want is just some way of being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

To the devs, I sincerely beg of you to consider what Deroir and Teapot discussed in this video:

 

Section referred to starts from 12:52 (If you play the embedded video, the time skip doesn't work)

 

Regarding the replayability of Open-world meta-events in Living Story and the RNG of its most prized rewards. Speaking specifically about the Weapons of the Scion ascended weapons from Dragonfall.

 

First off, credit to the idea of a guaranteed drop after opening 1000 Mistborn Coffers. This is a very thoughtful consideration to mitigate RNG. However, even for the hardcore players who wish to complete the collection, the timeline could be indefinite given the RNG involved in getting another drop. I for one would like to get more of those skins as they really do look incredible. I hope the devs can consider improving these rewards to further improve their engagement and retention metrics.

 

1. Dragon's Stand offers a good model for how to access such rewards. Like Pact Machetes, Mistborn Keys that open Coffers can be sold by merchants for Season 4 currencies. Example: A key can cost a total of 75 Kralkatite Ores, 25 Diflourite Crystals, 25 Inscribed Shards, 25 Lumps of Mistonium, 25 Branded Masses, and 25 Mistborn Motes.

2. Make a new repeatable achievement that guarantees a Scion weapon with every 1,000 Coffers opened.

 

I'm suggesting this because some predictability on the time required to acquire a skin will get me back to playing Dragonfall regularly because presently, the design of the event is just not interesting enough for me to do it again without the lure of an attractive reward. Dragonfall does have that reward. But I don't plan on doing it ad nauseum for an indefinite amount of time in the hopes of getting only just 1 piece, especially when the meta is nowhere near as engaging as Tequatl or Triple Trouble. My suggestion will also encourage more engagement with all prior Season 4 content.

 

Right now, completing the collection of Sunless, Scion and Broken Voice weapon skins are among the most prestigious achievements a player can do. Offering an extraordinarily tedious non-RNG alternative to completing these collections shouldn't diminish the prestige. The amount of time required to complete would have more than achieved its (I suppose) objective of engagement and retention. An on-theme cape or infusion for completing these collections would be great for directing awareness to these endgame rewards.

 

Moving forward, it'd be even better if such rare weapon skins can drop as skins instead of Ascended Weapons and Armors. All 9 of my characters have multiple sets of Ascended weapons and armors almost all acquired from Tequatl and Triple Trouble. It would be healthier for the economy if moving forward weapon sets like the Sunless, Scion and Broken Voice can be in the form of skins instead, thereby requiring players to have to farm or trade for materials to craft them instead of getting them outright from drops.

Exciting, the amount of communication there is, but your silence on Alliances is deafening. The death of Fractals may have been greatly exaggerated, but what about Alliances? Two updates in two years isn't a good look.

> @"Sovereign.1093" said:

> hire this guy

 

Worst sort of GD hires are those who:

1.) Propose ideas without giving regard to scope and feasibility. Just the built-in VOIP and 15-man GvG matchmaking alone will probably cost man-months of UI, client and server engineering.

2.) Don't understand the reason behind previous design decisions. The level limit is not just because the WvW environment is a lot less forgiving to a player who isn't even familiar with the basic mechanics and navigation of the game and their own build. It's also to prevent abuse such as players from setting up new free accounts to spy on enemy worlds or use it to afk and clog enemy world queues.

> @"Blocki.4931" said:

> > @"Blude.6812" said:

> > Is maintenance mode just around the corner?

> >

>

> Why would it be?

>

> > @"Addiction.9685" said:

> > He's not the only one leaving. After playing the GW franchise for nearly 20 years it's time for me to say goodbye as well.

>

> Because devs who were most likely not working on GW2 left? Okay then, rationality seems to be lost on some

 

Rationality ends at time travel. Apparently this person played at least 6 more years of the franchise than any of us did.

> @"Vavume.8065" said:

> This is AltWars 2, if you are playing on a single character you are doing it wrong...

 

Maybe they meant not having to create more than 1 character per profession?

> @"CETheLucid.3964" said:

> I've been down this road with some folks back on the old forums. Some people are outright religious about the events of Ascalon from GW1. I'm not sure if they're role playing or they have a legitimate fanaticism about it half the time.

 

Gonna go out on a limb and suggest these people are projecting their own real-world ethno-centric righteousness and frustrations into the game lore.

> @"witcher.3197" said:

> > @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> > ArenaNet isn't saying "the charr were in the right to retake Ascalon", they're saying "the charr believe they were in the right to retake Ascalon."

>

> They do. They 100% do. One of the earliest cinematics of GW2 introduces us to the Ascalon Catacombs, and what are some of the first lines in there?

>

> _This was originally Charr land. The humans pushed us out and built Ascalon on top of it. Over 200 years ago, we took our land back._

>

> I know what your response to this would be. "But that's just how the Charr see it, Anet isn't trying to do anything here" - I'd like to point out that it was one of the earliest introductions to the lore of GW for a potential new player, before the release of GW2. This line is also fairly irrelevant to the actual dungeon, but they put it in for a reason. Why do we have to know that it was originally Charr land? What does that have to do with fighting 200 year old human ghosts? They could've just focused on the Foefire instead.

>

> I'll tell you why. Because Anet wants to drive home the narrative that humans = evil, charr = good guys who just took back what's theirs. Anet wants us to forget GW1's version of the story, they want to put the whole thing on new foundations so this is what new people will take as fact, and this is what they'll defend to the bitter end. See this thread.

>

> When was the last time GW2 players were exposed to the wrongdoings of the Charr commited against humans? Was there even a time? From what I recall we were supposed to take the Charr's side each and every single time.

>

> > And humans don't "have to just concede it". Part of the peace treaty with the charr has been humans regaining some lands of souteastern Ascalon (namely that bit nestled between the Dragonbrand and Blazeridge Mountains). Humans are conceding the majority of Ascalon **because they're losing,** not because "the charr deserve Ascalon more."

>

> Are they losing though? Last time I checked the Charr couldn't do anything with Ebonhawke for hundreds of years and were starting to fall apart because of having so many enemies (humans, ghosts, flame legion, dragons) and no allies. Bangar too realizes, along with people in this thread, that the Charr are weaker than ever.

>

> Humans are conceding because Anet wants Charr to be playable. Simple as that. Otherwise it'd be the perfect opportunity for a counterattack. Humans beat the Charr by killing the Khan Ur and dealing with the divided legions, they are even more divided now.

>

> > And "who Ascalon belongs to" is the core of the "amnesty to the charr" situation, since the core part of that "amnesty" is the charr taking Ascalon. And humans are not being painted as villains anywhere.

>

> By amnesty I meant we're supposed to forget every wrong they ever did and just sue for peace.

>

> The only people who don't see what Anet is doing here are those who simply don't want to.

>

> **I want to clarify something.** I don't just see the Charr as pitch black, and I don't hate them in that sense. Pyre is one of my favorite characters in GW1 and made me want to roll a Charr ranger for GW2. I think the Charr have great potential for the lore. But to me it seems like Anet wanted to tell a "greyer" story in GW2, making the Charr not be purely antagonistic. My problem with this portrayal is that they went completely overboard with it, ended up continously favoring the Charr version of the story and making Ascalonians seem like the villains. They really did Ascalon dirty in GW2.

>

> Basically in GW1 we get to see Ascalonians as the good guys, in GW2 we see the Charr as the definitive good guys. This doesn't make the story grey, only gives the vibe that GW1 doesn't matter and we should roll with GW2's version because that's the most recent and Anet's known to retcon the lore when it suits them. I think they missed the mark.

>

> What I'm trying to say is, if the intention was to make things grey in GW2, they should've _painted it grey in GW2._ What they are doing instead is just flip which side is bad in the sequel and stick with it, without ever showing the other side. **This is either intentional and Charr favoritism, or a botched attempt at a grey story. Either way currently it's only going to alienate some long time fans.** Since it's been consistent for 7 years, I'm going with the former for now.

 

1. You keep repeating ArenaNet is spitting on GW1 and "Ascalon" (I'm assuming you're referring to Ascalonian Humans and the Human kingdom of Ascalon, and not the land of Ascalon) but you forget that you can only play as Humans in GW1. Of course the POV is gonna be pro-human and anti-Charr.

2. Characters not being able to have their own distinct POV is bad writing. Which you only seem to begrudgingly acknowledge in your later responses after more reasonable people pointed out how ridiculously narrow-minded and personal your original post was.

3. The real evil of war is that all sides are convinced they are on the right side. Everyone thinks they are the protagonist of the story. It's messy, it's nuanced, it's complicated. A good story-teller is supposed to show that, not tell it to you point-blank. You are having dissonance because you are confusing the subjective POV of the Ascalonians from GW1 and the Charr from GW2 as the objective POV of ArenaNet and that is pretty blinkered. To then blame them for having a personal agenda when they are depicting how two sides see the same conflict differently in a very realistic manner (not so different from our real-world tribal conflicts) when YOU are the one taking this personally is beyond ridiculous.

> Stabilizing Matrices are sold in large numbers on the trading post. Globs of Dark Matter and Fulgurite cannot be. Just because you happen to have lots doesn't mean they are an appropriate currency for legendary upgrades. Given your own stock of Globs of Dark Matter you could make 4 Runes or Sigils.

 

This is the only thing I find remotely reasonable in your litany of ridiculous responses. Yes, my suggested materials are account bound compared to the tradeable Stabilizng Matrices. I'm not sure if you've addressed how that in itself could be a problem. Also, I am not in favour of myself or most people having enough stock of Globs of Dark Matter to make a full set on Day 1. These are Legendary stuff, they shouldn't be easy to make.

 

> No, because they don't all require, for example, 75 globs of dark matter or large numbers of other account bound materials (some of which are locked behind HoT).

 

Just the fact that you can say that and forget that Mystic Clovers, which you need 77 of, are account-bound and that all those Legendaries I mentioned are locked behind expansions show that you have no idea what you're talking about. (And don't start with the: "But you can buy the stuff that makes Mystic Clovers" argument. You can buy exotics and salvaging tools to get the Dark Matter too.)The ONLY Legendaries that an account without access to expansions can make are Gen 1 weapons, WvW and PvE Legendary Armor, Warbringer and Ascension (I suspect Ad Infinitum requires a Fractal Mastery before you can buy some of the required ingredients).

 

> Requiring people to get, for example, 1,500 Fulgurite for a set of runes would simply prevent them from being able to make them if they don't own or haven't extensively farmed HoT. This is a simple statement of fact.

 

This is how insane you sound: "Requiring people to get 7,880 WvW Skirmish Tickets for a set of Legendary Armor would simply prevent them from being able to make them if they haven't extensively farmed WvW. This is a simple statement of fact." I won't address the issue of expansion ownership again as I've already done so in the previous point.

 

> If you want to believe that a legendary rune or sigil should require the same amount of effort as a legendary weapon then by all means, believe that, I do not agree.

 

No, I don't believe Legendary Upgrades should require the same amount as other Legendaries, and neither do I believe Legendary Upgrades should be infantilized like the way you're suggesting by setting the effort required below what befits a Legendary under the pretext of "accessibility".

> @"TheGrimm.5624" said:

>

> I maxed storage and if they raised the cap I would do it again. I also agree that materials should have multiple purposes and be sought, it adds more fun to gathering and loot drops. That said ANet shouldn't use people that are capped as guidelines for material syncs, I think instead they use more measured metrics such as usage, in and out of play. Sticking with those lines I think will lead to more balanced recipes for the entire player base.

 

For content that the game designer(s) (GDs) would like everyone to go for and obtain, yes, they shouldn't use people who have been playing 7 years as a guideline for costs. I absolutely agree. My question is how many people agree that Legendaries are meant for everyone, or that they should be as achievable as, say collecting every piece of Requiem Armor?

> @"Pifil.5193" said:

>

> Yeah, I don't think they should use the content of _your_ bank to determine the cost of these upgrades.

>

> These are terrible ideas especially given the quantities you propose. Several of the materials you mention are locked behind either Heart of Thorns or Path of Fire or come from a relatively low drop when salvaging exotics (using Black Lion Salvage Kits you would have to salvage on average about 75 exotics to get 75 Globs of Dark Matter, you'd need 150 using a Master Salvage Kit).

>

> All that your idea would achieve is preventing people from being able to make legendary runes and sigils.

 

1. I don't claim to represent the entire economy, just that given my relatively commitment to the game in terms of hours but casual play-style (I rarely run fractals or dungeons, never do Raids, make one Legendary weapon about once every 3.5 months, don't play the trading post, made Ascension from sPvP, made Legendary Armor from WvW, made Aurora and Vision), I'm suggesting a personal opinion of what would be a.) a reasonable amount of effort for Legendary Upgrades, b.) a means to reinvigorate the economy and some long-neglected items. Also, you do realize that outside Fractal Daily Achievements, which themselves are time-gated, the only other means of obtaining Stabilizing Matrices that doesn't involve buying them is salvaging an Ascended trinket to get 1-3 Matrices on average (Very rarely do you get 7-10)?

2. All Raid-based Legendary Armor, Aurora, Vision, Coalescence, and Gen 2 Legendary Weapons qualify as "terrible ideas" under your definition.

3. Referring to your statements on "...come from a relatively low drop when salvaging exotics...", and "...preventing people from being able to make..." You might need re-evaluate your definition of accessibility. Legendaries are meant to require legendary effort. Whether it takes time, skill, investment, or buying expansions. Trying to argue for lowering the difficulty bar under the pretext of accessibility is intellectually dishonest. Legendaries are majorly unnecessary vanity projects that cater to the Achiever type. (https://elearningindustry.com/types-of-gamers-and-learner-engagement-4) Lowering the bar for Legendaries, making it more common would only alienate the target audience this content was made for.

I have one request:

 

Please use this as an opportunity to sink materials that are not getting sufficient uses despite their supposed rarity:

 

1. Globs of Dark Matter (I have 306, barely using 1 every few months, this is ridiculous. 75 per Upgrade like Stabilizing Matrices would be a good number)

2. Obsidian Shard (Wasn't a problem at launch, too many low-effort sources added since. Constantly having more than 1,000 in storage. This should consume 250 per upgrade.)

3. Glob of Ectoplasm (Prices are less than half it used to be thanks to too many rare equipment loot from farm-oriented meta-events, have over 2,000, this should also be 250 per upgrade.)

4. Fulgurite. Please use lots and lots of these. 250 per upgrade would be reasonable.

5. Pile of Putrid Essence. These are Tier 6 yet see almost no relevant use. (I have 232 after playing 7 years, and 796 piles of Vile Essence to refine into Putrid with Elonian Wines. A fair amount for players with 1-3 years playing experience seems to be 25 per upgrade.)

6. Spirit Shards. Goodness I have over 6k of these useless things that people can earn faster than they can craft Legendaries to sink them. (Consume 250 per upgrade, more if they are used to purchase an ingredient that is tradeable.)

7. Common stuff that can be used to forge a unique material like Fulgurite for Legendary Upgrades: Piles of Coarse Sand, Milling Stones, Congealed Putrescence, Eyes of Kormir.

8. Less common stuff that nonetheless lack relevant use and demand that can be used to forge a unique material like Fulgurite for Legendary Upgrades: Sliver of Twitching Forgemetal, Ley-infused Sand, Mordrem Lodestones, Evergreen Lodestones, Resonating Lodestones, Watchwork Sprockets, Karka Shells, Charged Fossils, Charged Thorn, Sheet of Ambrite.

 

The stuff above are barely part of the economy due to limited, infrequent or non-existent uses so I beg of you kind folks at ArenaNet to make it exciting to acquire them.

Let me preface this by saying I've just completed the episode so I haven't started on the Skyscale yet, and what I know is limited to what I've read on reddit so far.

 

The GDs probably had the best of intentions but this was really frustratingly misguided. The implementation of Aurora was perfect. The idea that you get a legendary as a payoff for your dedication to an entire season's content of Living World. Since there's no legendary trinket this time round, the Skyscale should have been Season 4's Aurora. I know there's a portion of the process that is similar, requiring players to revisit season 4 maps, but it's not quite the same.

 

My point is this:

That the Skyscale should have been the payoff for a player's dedication to an entire season's content of Living World. And that those who have been diligently playing the season, completing major achievements, should have a minimal task of going back to the Season 4 maps, killing objectives, finding stuff and relatively smoothly completing the process of getting a Skyscale.

Why? Because there are several achievements in Season 4 that are already timegates in and of themselves. Such as the Golem Y backpack.

 

You know, I did most of the Season 3 achievements as and when they were released and so when Aurora came out, I had almost half of the process done. That was such an awesome payoff for my dedication. But I also realized that my procrastinating on the Wayfarer's Henge came back to bite me because that timegated backpack was necessary to getting Aurora. Lesson learned.

 

So this season, I made sure to finish the Golem Y backpack. But no payoff this time. I believe a certain degree of predictability is a cornerstone of good game design. In my case, I felt trolled by the developers. I'm sure that's not what you intended but it is how it feels right now. This timegate nonsense won't put me off the Skyscale or the game, but I really think the formula for a well-deployed Living World season epic reward is already there. You don't need to reinvent the wheel and you certainly should not go against your manifesto of respecting your players' time.

Between this and the recent release of the third party DX12 proxy tool that basically disproves the "marginal gains in performance" statement from ArenaNet regarding transitioning from DX9 to DX12, I'd say it's been a pretty demoralizing two weeks for the community.

 

While I pretty much agree with the idea of not hyping up unreleased content until they ship, more communication on topics like command line arguments and engine optimization are definitely welcome.