Okami Amaterasu.9237

These are likely the main chapters of the story, considering they come out every other month with festivals in between. I do hope eventually there'll be more Visions of the Past, especially if it includes more of LWS1. Other than that, I'm looking forward to it and seeing where we're heading to.

I would personally like the Claw of Jormag to escape the snow landslide at 10% health instead of 6% so there's a little bit more time to fight it on its feet in that last section, but that might just be my preference.

Once the cage is broken/unlocked we'll hear more from Bangar personally. Jormag might even let Bangar speak freely for a little while, but most likely he'll end up being its vessel for smooth-talk persuading us in our ear or to Aurene. For now, corrupted Icebrood Ryland has become the more pressing antagonist short of Jormag itself waking up again.

Also, that was a befitting way to give consequences to Smodur's actions. He got what was coming to him from his murder in the previous episode. That ruthless pride and ego backfired on him, just as Bangar's has for now.

I'm looking forward to seeing more in the next episode or vision of the past. Not sure why a lot of people come here just to complain all the time.

Not sure why people are complaining about the story that much.

I like the twists for each character there at the end related to Jormag. I liked how there was a sudden shock moment half-way through that probably should have been expected considering the last episode, which is good.

I'm interested to see where we go from here, as always. Keeps lore enthusiasts like myself thinking about things.

How do the writers come together to work on future story content for, say, the Icebrood Saga and Expansion 3 when they're stuck at home? Do you have to come together in a group streaming service to talk with one another at once?

I'm curious what the challenges are for writing all of the story chapters when everyone is no longer in the same room to discuss it all. Especially dialogue since there is a lot of it, even for just mere open-world npcs, that is fantastic to listen to and experience. How does that work nowadays?

No doubt the Skimmer is going to be able to go underwater! Whoo-hooo! I'm going to dive right into Straits of Devastation, Bloodtide Coast, Kessix Hills, Frostgorge Sound, Mount Maelstrom, and Sandswept Isles for this ability - can't wait!

Guild Wars 2 is a fantastic game for many, and only "decent" for many as well.

I think it depends on how much you'll become invested in enjoying the fighting combat, grouping up with people, and exploring the world around you.

There are certainly problems every now and then, but I'll always be enamoured with Tyria until the game's time has come to pass, which for me will be years on from now.

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Hi all, I'm looking to see what you think about this idea for stealth and revealed:

**Idea 1**

What if all skills that disable your foe when they are stealthed cause them to be revealed? In this way, someone who is dazed/stunned/pulled/knocked down/knocked back/launched/etc. will have revealed applied to them as a result?

I think this would help out a lot of classes that don't have access to revealed, but plenty of hard CC.

I think quite a few hard CC skills do Require a target to be locked to use them, which can't work if your foe is stealthed since they're untargetable. So this change would mostly be of use to bigger AoE hard-cc attacks like Warrior's Hammer skills or Guardian's Shield 5 or Reaper's elite shout or Chronomancer's elite well, etc. etc.

After that there could be more stealth on the other classes, since only 4 (Thief, Mesmer, Ranger, and Engineer) even have skills/combos that provide stealth.

**Idea 2**

Change a bit how revealed works, so that it doesn't completely remove your stealth uptime - just negating the stealth effect for its duration.

If this were in place, along with the first idea that hard cc skills apply revealed, you could hard cc an area with an AoE, and if someone was stealthed there, they'll be revealed for as long as they're disabled, but then pop back into stealth immediately so they can get away if you're not quick to take advantage of their disabled state.

For example, a Scrapper using the Stealth Gyro has stealth for 6 seconds remaining total, is knocked down for 2 seconds with Revenant's Hammer 5 "Drop the Hammer", becomes revealed for the 2 Seconds they are knocked down, and then automatically goes back into stealth for their 4 remaining seconds.

I think this would promote a more active way to counteract stealth if you have some form of an AoE interrupt skill (which many classes do), instead of now just waiting around for their stealth to run out, spamming AoEs randomly, or using the few revealed skills there are in the game (not a single one for Elementalist for example).

I don't think just damaging your foe should apply revealed, only interrupts/disables. I think it also makes sense practically, as you shouldn't be able to so easily camouflage yourself if you're unable to move or take action. But I think having revealed completely remove your stealth uptime is also a bit too powerful, so hopefully this is a nice balance.

What do you think? I'm not sure if this is merely a passing thought, an actual good idea, or just a terrible idea, so I'm looking for your feedback.

There is very beautiful artwork and map design (especially Tangled Depths and Desert Highlands for exploring) and I also love the amazing combat system (I especially love Necromancer's 5 Core Specializations being able to twine and weave together in interesting ways).

But my favourite thing has to be the music. I listen to GW2 Music while I'm at work (along with swing jazz of course), and every time I hear tracks like Enter the Fire God or Dragonflight or Rata Novus or Fear Not This Night, I get goosebumps and it really gets me in the mood to play more as soon as I get back home.

I will never forget the amazing moments in this game (even the little ones) that the music helped create and bring to the next level. So thank you Arenanet for all you do and I can't wait to see what's on the horizon! <3

(Holy Kitten, I just saw the Trailer for Ep. 2 of the Icebrood Saga and I want that music right now in full. Hot kitten, that was some good kitten.)

I try to make the most out of the game as my time allows me. I try to make a big investment when creating a character and learn their personality and their role in this world. I plan to have 2 of every race, male and female, and all 9 classes (plus one duplicate). It takes a long time, as right now I'm only starting the beginning of my 3rd character, so I plan to stay for a long while until they'll mature and fully flesh out. Eventually I'll have to place them in their own spots in the world (HoT Maps, PoF Maps, etc.), but that's what fun about a recurringly updating game like GW2 - plenty of new places to explore as time goes on. I already have too many chores in real life to worry about, so GW2 is great way to relax and enjoy the free time while I can. Also, there's no monthly fee so there's no need to feel stressed about not playing constantly! I love that kitten.

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So here's just my quick thoughts on Thief and its Stealth and Shadowstepping in its current form to see if that will improve the game in the future.

I think it's better for both PvP and WvW for those two class mechanics of Thieves (Stealthing and Teleporting/Shadowstepping) to be more exclusive from one another. I don't think it's fun for anyone to fight against a class that can stealth and then teleport away while stealthed to heal up or even get out of combat and not have enough counters for it.

I don't think it's healthy balance when a Deadeye can jump back with Death's Retreat several times in a row, stealth for over 10 seconds straight, and then be able to one-shot your class if they're using a one-shot power Amulet, without having enough counters for it since there isn't enough Revealed on weapon/utility skills or traits.

If you don't have revealed, the counter to someone Stealthing is just waiting for it to run out on them. The counter for shadowstepping/teleporting is anticipating it (which is difficult on its own for Thief's Steal and Sword 2 since they don't have obvious tells) or simply try to move and catch up and cripple/chill/immobilize them, or attack from afar if you have a good enough ranged weapon on your class.

The problem is when they're both combined: you can wait for someone to come out of stealth but they never do because they're already at least 1200 range away after stealthing, or you can try to catch up after they teleport away in view but then they stealth and you have no idea if they're coming back towards you or running away further, etc. etc.

To make it simpler, I don't think that "Shadowstep" and "Shadow Return" should be Deception skills and that Sword 2 shouldn't be as easy to use back and forth and back and forth. I also think Deadeye needs a different Elite Skill - being able to remove Revealed from a class that can stealth on a dodge just isn't balanced.

Also every profession should have at Least 1 skill that applies Revealed, not only to help counter Thieves and some of their perma-stealth builds, but also the occasional Mesmer, Ranger, or Engineer if they're using stealth. For example, no Elementalists or Mesmers can apply Revealed on any of their skills, so they should at least have 1 available somewhere as a buff.

Perhaps in return Thief can have a slightly higher HP pool to start out with? Maybe that's giving too much, but yes Thieves are a bit too squishy and one-shot-like when they finally get caught, both in PvP and WvW.

Hopefully that all made sense.

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You can try giving this a shot in sPvP if you'd like.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQNAV5nnXMfNSumvJRbzJlss5jSY38SJ4burkFUlKNAGgG4PEXxYUtC+gSA-jJhAAB6XGAgnAQHXEAY2fAA

I'm already seeing more and more groups doing PoF Meta Events tonight than ever before! I hope they stay and try crafting Legendary Weapons with the Elegy Mosaics from Metas and Bounties instead of always returning to Dragon's Stand (not that I don't like Dragon's Stand of course :) ) Looking forward to doing more and more of PoF from now on!

I just learned about the jumping puzzle in a deep dark cave in the SouthWest part of the Iron Marches that has Chaos Magic and other uncertainties within it. I think I need to go through Ascalon again on a Charr character to find all the cool things I'd otherwise miss just doing "map completion".

> @"Klipso.8653" said:

> The only reason I have duplicate classes is because it's a hastle to swap traits and gear. A sad day when templates come in to make wasted character slots obsolete.

>

> A waste of birthday gifts to delete, and a waste of gems to buy more slots.

It's not a waste if you find that rush to make a new character all over again! I've had to delete several ones I had grown fond of, but it makes me appreciate the ones I have made in their place and kept to this day. <3

And if that's how you choose to view it, then yes this is all a "waste" of our time/money but I like making the most of the things I love and enjoy in my free time because it IS free, non-productive time. All in the attitude, you know? =)

I'd like a solo or at least small-group version of Raids, or if not that, an Easy, Normal, and Hard Mode. I don't really care about Raid Rewards that much. I'd just like to someday fight Dhuum in the Underworld and see the inside of the Mystic Forge and all these other cool things Anet have created but I can't be a part of because of inexperience and player-driven exclusivity.

> We also have our sights set on a few features that have already been in development for some time. **Please understand that these are all works in progress, so details can change between here and the final version, and we don’t have a timeline for the release of any of these.** These features will ship when they are ready.

>

> * The rune and sigil salvaging release last year was in anticipation of releasing legendary runes and sigils—the final components of legendary core equipment.

> * Over the past few months, astute players have been noticing a trend of updates and improvements to how our skill-slotting system works and have accurately speculated that the **long-requested feature of build templates is in the works.**

> * We’d like to increase the max cooking level from 400 to 500. This crafting profession needs a refresh to make lower-tier foods important to the ecosystem and help reinvigorate various resources throughout the game.

> * We’ve mentioned in the past how important world restructuring is to our WvW initiatives, and that hasn’t changed. While the Programming Team is focused on this initiative, the team is also focusing on smaller updates that can temporarily change the game mode, like the No Downed State Week we’ve done in the past. We’re also talking about different types of reward structures for events.

> * Swiss tournament support is the next major feature the sPvP team is working on. This feature will be utilized by our structured tournaments moving forward.

>

My advice: take your time. There's no real rush to "end-game" in GW2. There's no gear-treadmill where you always have to be playing to get the max gear so you're "viable" or something. In GW2, Ascended Gear is the highest-stat gear, and even then it's only really Useful in Fractals. If you have Exotic Gear (the step below Ascended) you'll be just fine for 95% of the whole game. So, take your time exploring Tyria, going through the story, helping other players out when you can, etc. etc. Other than that, play however you want and welcome to Tyria!

Whenever I feel like I've "completed everything" or don't have enough to do, a simple idea I like to embrace is to create a new character again on a class I've never played before. That means starting their story all the way back to their beginning, figuring out who they are, how they'll look, how they'll fight; essentially creating another person I can fall in love with again. Considering I only have two permanent characters so far (with a **lot** of failed experiments), there is Plenty of time to play the game at my own, apparently slow pace.

What's also nice is if there's a particular Legendary Weapon I think would be befitting to that character, that gives me a long-term goal to reach, but only when my character has "earned" it after reaching level 80 and defeating Zhaitan and moving further on to Mordremoth, Balthazar, etc. In the meantime, my own life goes on, the game continues to develop, and I don't ever feel "rushed" to do anything (except during Holidays ;) ) I could never understand the people that create dozens and dozens of characters that they feel little attachment to, other than to farm gold and other things, I guess? You shouldn't ever feel "forced" to play a single game all the time, especially with so many other great games that could also use some love and attention. But again, it's up to you of course. :)

I dunno, maybe I just have a weird perspective on it.

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One of them is probably coming this Tuesday, along with the Warclaw WvW Mount and the Balance Changes. If not, then I don't know when exactly but I'd expect it to be before any news about the next LW episode, so there's still some time.