Hypnowulf.7403

I personally disagree regarding Ryland. I find Ryland's exploration fascinating. I mean, he's one of the most interesting depictions of emotional damage I've seen—and how the community reacts to him due to whom he represents, whom he stands against, and that he isn't human is equally as revealing. Some of the things Guild Wars 2 does are eerily reminiscent of a social experiment. I want that data! I mean, seriously, Ryland is the result of being groomed by a dark triad psychopath with delusions of grandeur. He's been made familiar with his parents and he's had to witness their deterioration at the hands of Bangar's manipulation and gaslighting too. (Bangar gaslit both Rytlock and Crecia hard, proper gaslighting too. There's some very real psychology chops involved in this storyline.) Ryland growing up feeling as though he had no out from our least favourite charr Nazi's genocidal hate machine and then suddenly having one has... resulted in a character that I find exceedingly compelling. Of course, there are those who'd blame him but it's quite the zeitgeist's joie de vivre to blame the victim, spice of life that is. I don't want to watch Bangar do the same to the Commander/Aurene but I worry I'll endure that before this story is over. If it does happen, I do understand the necessity of its depiction regardless. It's just not something I'm likely to enjoy. A greater awareness thereof though would be sorely appreciated. I find that most don't understand that monsters aren't as easily spotted in reality as they are in fantasy—they're expert chameleons, charismatic, "nice" even to those whom they have use for. The peculiarity of the identities of Ryland and Jormag alike are visible so the assumption is that if they aren't familiar, if they're upsettingly strange, then naturally they must be the villain of the piece. The average person believes they're far better at spotting monsters than they actually are. So, yes. I would enjoy further exploration of Ryland, Jormag, and this story. That said, I would also enjoy seeing the return of Blish.

I don't see how it could cheapen it—that he had to go through that doesn't change and, to be frank, I feel rather blasé with the _suffering is beauty_ trope. I had enough of that from George R. R. Martin. I'm frankly a little fed up with it. I mean, not everyone in existence is some kind of dark triad monster. Some of us like it when a story ends on a high point where people can be happy and losses can be rectified. A brilliant example of that was .hack//SIGN, which did result in people being woken from comas, everything just worked out for the cast and it was brilliant. I don't feel that's any less emotional. I'd be very happy to see Blish return because that'd be a testament to hope rather than lessening the impact of Braham's romanticism. I feel that Blish was a figure of hope while he was there so him returning would be indicative of a turning tide, that we're actually beating back the Torment and progressing toward a future where the peoples of this once wretched world can be free from suffering. Guild Wars 2 is slowly wrapping up. I'd love for it to end on a high note. Happy endings all around! No, not that kind. Get your mind out of the gutter. Really though, I would love that. A world of peace under the guardianship of elder dragons. So, anyway, yes. Blish should return if they can swing that with the voice actor.

I've been musing over what a tengu engineer would look like. I wonder given their aesthetic if it would yield the power of wind—using special axes with rotary blades. That'd be pretty fun. Lots of crowd control and condition damage options. It would behoove them to have a Mary Poppins ability as well as an alternative to gliding down when tossed up into the air. I would be all for that. I'm also envisioning a support swiftness move with their axes held out in front of them. It'd look utterly ridiculous. Everything about this elite spec would and I'm already a little bit too into it.

If I recall, he simply shut down his higher functions. If my understanding of ausran technoturgy is correct, then his spirit would be bound in a sleeping limbo until either the golem's power fails or his higher functions are reactivated. Thus, if he were brought back, it would be as simple as a group excavating the remains of Kralkatorrik finding this odd golem and re-enabling those higher functions. As such, Blish could return entirely out of left field with little explanation necessary other than he was found and reactivated. If they can get the voice actor back, I find this approach much more appealing as he could just sort of stroll into the scene as though everything were as usual followed by Taimi and Gorrik just freaking the heck out and fawning over him happily.

@"Oxstar.7643" This is what frustrates me about the current storyline. The average, normative mind has it that dark triad people are their friends and HSPs are deadly enemies and it's very tiresome. I mean, you can see that in how billionaires are defended—it's the differently abled, immigrants, and foreigners who're the real villains. The way people look at the world is topsy-turvy and wrong. I mean, with Jormag, they're clear as day a traumatised, jaded HSP to me. All they've done is tried to defend their babies—such as Drakkar—and save lives. I mean, what they did with the charr war ended it quickly, decisively, and with the least amount of lost life. The collaring of Bangar was clever. If Jormag was a villain, there were far more harmful and destructive things they could've done whilst still maintaining a veneer of innocence. It's what they choose to do and how they go about it that tells me their truth. As an HSP myself? I've tried to help "normal" people. The problem is is that "normal" people don't believe that kindness motivated by empathy can exist. It's a manipulation, a means of control, or I'm trying to reduce them and take their place, I'm attacking them either directly or abstractly by attempting to replace them in regards to their social standing. This is the kind of world they live in, and it's... sickening. I mean, Jormag's only known norns who've been brainwashed by evil Spirits—who _eat children_—to throw away their lives in an effort to kill them. The Spirits want to eat Jormag, to take their place, so what do they do? "Oh hi norns, we're your Gods now. We say what it means to be a complete norn. So amuse us, almost die for us by attacking Jormag and their lot. If you do, maaaybe we'll bestow upon you your form and then you can be a true norn." We see this happening to Braham with Wolf in the Icebrood Saga itself. So on one side, Jormag is being hunted by the Spirits. On the other, Jormag is being hunted by a very abusive dragon with anger management issues—that'd be Primordus—and all they can really do is run and hide. Aurene noticed this when Jormag first woke up, that they're just running around in the Mists, they aren't eating, destroying, corrupting, or anything. They're just running scared. Even with Lake Doric, if Primordus had taken it it would've resulted in stampedes. So many would've died. Jormag saved lives. It doesn't matter, because an elder dragon can't be selfless. I mean, this thread even deals with distrust for Aurene. Why? Aurene is very "foreign," she's not very dark triad-y, so she's distrusted. We live in Topsy Turvia. I've been dealing with this my whole life as an HSP. I've made my mistakes—just as Jormag and Aurene have—but what I want is always to help. It doesn't matter because my kind of person can't exist. There always has to be some scheme, some plot, some vile machination. Meanwhile, dark triad persons—who're brilliant chameleons—continue to groom people into being ever more easily manipulated by them. It's very tiring. So, yes, Joramg's a traumatised, jaded HSP—but because HSPs can't exist and Jormag's a dragon? They're an evil, sociopathic manipulator, despite acting more like a neurodiverse person than any dark triad person I've ever known. I've known a few, and I've researched many more.

Live and learn, thanks Randulf. My Zeph lore is spotty at best.

I have absolutely no basis for this but aesthetically it feels like salvaged Forgotten technology. It just really has the look and feel of it. Considering that the Zephs are all about Glint, and Glint was all about the Forgotten, it's not a huge leap to wonder if perhaps they had access to some old Forgotten tech lying around that they buffed up, polished, and traded on. The Zephs trade a lot for the things they need to survive, as is my understanding, so if they found some Forgotten weapons tech they might actually sell it on to groups whom they believed were in need of such help, even though they'd be unwilling to interfere directly. Perhaps the threat of Joko was what allowed it to make it into a trade with the Elonians. After that, all that the Elonians would've had to do is retrofit it for use by humans with our own magical signatures and body types and they're good to go. With it being Forgotten tech it's a huge leap up from what engineers are normally using, hence the disparity and anachronism. This is all wild speculation of course but that's the best I can give you. The game's pretty vague with the wherewithal of holography tech. The way I look at it though is that this seems to be a little more advanced even than the asura were capable of—and who's more advanced with magitech than the asura? Only the Forgotten that I know of. I mean, the charr are making strides with technology—to the point where they have radio towers, radios, and electric dams now—but that isn't magitech like the Holosmith is. Ultimately, your guess is as good as mine—my guess is that it's Forgotten tech.

The narrative surrounding Jormag continues to upset me for a number of reasons. I mean, not least of which being _the liar sees liars everywhere_. This is a commonly understood truth in psychology and why sometimes I still feel like Guild Wars 2 is a bit of a social experiment. The way one sees the Elder Dragons is telling—because for all we know they could all be innocent. Even Primordus—being Jormag's abusive partner, to the point where Jormag can only see an escape from the abusive cycle by ending him—may be taken by the Torment. Jormag however, in particular, is as fascinating as they depressing in how they're viewed by the community. I've explained at length that often people are groomed to see very neurodiverse traits as dark triad ones. This is something that many an expert in the field of psychology has tried to undo but it's difficult because there's so much misleading misinformation out there. 9 out of ten listicles will actually couple neurodiverse traits with titles like "How to spot a sociopath." I mean, even stimming. I've said already that I see Jormag as an incredibly traumatised person—they show all the hallmarks of it, being defensive, having difficulty talking about trauma, deflecting—because yes, traumatised people can do this without being manipulative, it's not the same as _projecting_, which is something else entirely. They're also as jaded as heck as they believe that Tyria's actual manipulators will always succeessfully paint them as utterly evil, despite their powers of persuasion. On top of this, the desire to paint Jormag in a negative light has lead to a case of "I know better than the developers do." Narrative lead Tom Abernathy has not only said that Jormag doesn't lie—as was mentioned—but also that Jormag cannot manipulate. They've mentioned as well that Jormag truly does love Tyria. None of this tracks with the perspective of a destructive manipulator. As someone who's had to deal with dark triad persons before—narcissists and sociopaths—I'm all too familiar with their tactics and I can tell you that Jormag doesn't match them at all. You can find any number of articles on the behaviours of dark triad bad actors on sites like Psychology Today to better understand what they're like. The simple fact of the matter is is that the reason that neurodiverse people are often painted as dark triad is grooming, it's because it makes life easier for actual dark triad personalities if they can "educate" their followers into seeing evil elsewhere. It's grooming. Furthermore, dark triad personalities are masterful chameleons, you wouldn't see them. You have to be trained to be able to spot dark triad bad actors—you actually have to have psychology training to be able to do this, it's something that you have to really devote time and energy to learning. It's not easy to see through their act. In fact, most dark triad bad actors seem like good friends, nice, and helpful right up until you find yourself in their sights—or until they snap. Look into Ted Bundy as one example. The media perception of the lone wolf killer isn't very scientific—in the vast majority of cases, those with ill intent can mask perfectly as an ordinary, everyday extrovert. And unless you've been trained to spot them, you wouldn't know any better. Jormag's obviously strange behaviour is that of a neurodiverse (plural), traumatised, jaded as heck person who's just very tired. They're just a little bit sarcastic because they are just that tired of people being played—they see it happening all the time. They watch as dark triad bad actors like Bangar Ruinbringer the racial supremacist or the Spirits of the Wild who—I will state this until I'm blue in the face—eat children. That's what you're seeing. If Jormag was really a fantastic manipulator? You wouldn't see it coming. They'd be as nice, friendly, and personable as Aurene. If you can perceive them as being strange? You haven't "cleverly found a sociopath." I'm sorry. Now, I can just hear some saying that it might be bad writing—that Jormag is a vile manipulator, just the usual media portrayal thereof. I don't think so. I don't think so at all. Thus far, the writing team have been pretty on point with depicting neurodiverse states, including the pathos that some people can endure. There are some in the community who've picked up on this, with certain characters representing autism and the like. Gorrik, for one, very clearly. Another example is Kralkatorrik, whose Torment was almost certainly a depiction of invasive thoughts. As a person who's struggled through most of their life with those, it was a poignant experience. I do find it upsetting because by painting Jormag as a manipulator? It's no different than those listicles. It's as if that tainted "knowledge" has sunk so far into the consensus that any form of neurodiversity is going to be seen as dark triad and there's next to nothing we can even do about it anymore. It's tiring! I'll tell you that. Allow me a moment of bitter hyperbole where I wonder if Gorrik were to ever stim, there'd be tens of threads about how he's a sociopath? It's all too likely. What's most depressing is that no one is willing to consider that what they see in Jormag might not be what they've been trained to think it is—the lack of introspection is really disheartening. As I said, if Jormag's just an evil, sociopathic manpulator then what hope do any of us have? Yes, Jormag is persuasive, but it isn't in a manipulative way. It's in more of a begging, pleading, "Please listen to me" kind of way. It's always been that way. I've brought up other factors as well that are contrary to dark triad personalities. First of all is that they have no patience—Jormag has shown plenty. Secondly, they're incredibly greedy and they rarely turn to any form of generosity to try to convince people of their good intent, they use their charisma for that instead much as Bangar did. Thirdly, they have no chill, if they can't get their way then they try to break you down—Jormag has continued to do the opposite in building up Aurene's self-esteem. I mean, with that latter point, I could still be wrong and we're about to see Jormag beat Aurene into the ground but given all the other evidence? I doubt it. It doesn't fit their psychological profile. Jormag is as much of a "manipulator" as any abused and highly traumatised person I've seen. The really frustrating, vexing thing that gets me so passionate is guess what I've also seen? Due to the strange behaviours of traumatised people—and please research this, look into anxiety attacks, panic attacks, protection mechanisms, and the like—I've seen more normative minds throw that claim at them. I don't think it's the case. I stand by my initial assertion of dragons of pathos. Kralkatorrik had invasive thoughts and anxiety, Aurene inherited his anxiety and crippling fear, Jormag is heavily traumatised and distrustful due to abuse and being separated from those who could help them, Primordus has anger management problems which have lead to him being abusive. It's how I think they are. I think all of these dragons are tormented even if they aren't all specifically struck by the Torment. I suspect this will fall on deaf ears—and I may even get in trouble for talking about it—but this is a topic that _really matters to me_. All too often I've seen neurodiverse people fall prey to this. No, I'm sorry, if you think you can spot a dark triad person without the prerequisite training? You're being excessively egotistical. And yes, I do think that ArenaNet has the writing chops and psychology knowhow to pull off dragons who've got non-normative minds to illustrate the difference between that and dark triad persons. This kind of thinking is exactly why neurodiverse persons get targeted in the real world for abuse, whereas actual manipulators and abusers get away scot free. I will point out one last time that Tom Abernathy himself claimed that they aren't a manipulator. I would just ask why you think he'd say that? He isn't going to lie about it either. There's a reason for it. There's something ArenaNet is up to here and if I'm right—which I hope I am—then I deeply appreciate it.

Not much love for reptiles or the moletariat. Shame.

You're not the only one to have noticed it—my partner and I have thought it odd, too. A lot of the weaponry leveraged against Primordus is water-based too. So to say that you're completely off-track would be to ignore some obvious evidence to the contrary. There is something going on, there. I don't know what it is because I don't have enough evidence to say, though this is an interesting theory. There has been many of references—visual and otherwise—to water lately so I'm of the opinion that _something_ is going on beyond what we see. It could just be playful on teh writer's part to hint at the upcoming content, as it might've been when Bangar namedropped Cantha. It's difficult to know though as this entire storyline has been shrouded in strangeness and intrigue. An interesting theory, nonetheless.

It's always interesting how neurotypicals seem to support and worship psychopathy. I mean, if that weren't the case we wouldn't have the Judge Rotenberg Center so I don't have to prove that... I do find it vexing, however, that they never move beyond it. I mean, even though I want to see Primordus redeemed—I'd be the first to notice that Primordus is flaying people and burning them alive. I'd also be the first to notice that he's targeting the most vulnerable settlements to cause as much suffering and death as possible. That was covered fairly well in one DRM. We also know that Jormag is by far the less powerful of the two as that's been stated repeatedly as well. I mean, what Jormag did at Lake Doric was obviously out of desperation—no denying that—but they didn't actually kill anyone. And we saw at the end of Jormag Rising that they can free people from ice without harming them. If Primordus had taken Lake Doric, there would've been many lives lost as there have been in other DRMs. Yet Primordus is the innocent one—scared of Jormag? I mean, really Draxynnic? Really? You can take being a poster-child for the neurotypical worship of psychopathy too far. Again, I want Primordus to be redeemed but to claim that they're the victim here is insanity.

Okay, first of all: There's a little word called entitlement, it's a bad word, it's something we should try and avoid. Secondly? They were forced to shift their focus to an expansion by NCSoft, ArenaNet didn't have a choice in the matter. They actually restructured their management to make sure this happened. So the team working on the Icebrood Saga is tiny. They're doing the best they can, but you're expecting too much from such a small team. It wouldn't have been my first choice either. I don't agree with the executives at NCSoft, I think an expansion was the wrong choice—I think the game would've been healthier if they'd stuck with Sagas and gone to Cantha eventually as a Saga, at a much later date. This decision forced from above has likely resulted in crunch and a lot of unhappy workers. This is what happens when your company is owned by a publically owned corporation whose shareholders only care about their bottom-line: the profits. Those at ArenaNet right now though aren't responsible for making the bad decisions of its original leadership. They're just doing the best they can in a less than ideal situation. And NCSoft is just trying to appeal to their shareholders by attempting to make Guild Wars 2 more profitable. So, there's not much anyone can do. I don't mind the Dragon Response Missions, mind you. I think they're fine. They're not as compelling as new zones, obviously, but they're fine. I enjoy them well enough. I'm kind of surprised we're getting as much as we are. Yes, it'll be nice if we get another map before Cantha, but I could understand if they were unable to make that happen.

I'm more invested in how Jormag is playfully goofing around with Aurene, frankly. It's adorable and I can't deal with it, especially since Aurene reciprocates. I've been wondering for the longest time what this weird vulnarable energy is that I've felt streaming off of Jormag since we first met them. Yes, they're obviously terrified of Primordus but it's more than that—something that would explain their unusual behaviour. Then it sort of clicked. I think it was when Jormag referred to interlocution. That's a very interesting word. Jormag is an old, lonely Elder Dragon who's never had anyone to talk to beyond mortal norns. If I'd been in that situation, I'd be crying out for an intellect to converse with as well. It's funny though because if we think of Jormag in the sense of one dragon making an effort to befriend another without knowing how? A lot of things fall into place. * Why was Jormag initially acting skittish? * Why did they take a champion? * Why do they have a negative opinion of mortals? * Why have they been quietly building Aurene's self-esteem? * Why have they been so careful about what they've said? * Why have they been trying so hard to look cool? * Why do they seem concerned with what Aurene thinks of them? If you've ever known the joy of pieces falling into place? This was that. Oh, and that Aurene reciprocates too? That's delightful. The age difference means that this isn't _that_ kind of relationship, however I do see Jormag chasing a companionship—a lasting friendship. Being as old as they are, they'd make an interesting mentor for Aurene, and a legitimate foil to Aurene's innate naïveté. I don't think things will go as most think since I see Jorms having a friendcrush on our dragon of prisms. They seem so eager to try to please or impress Aurene that... I don't see this going the edgelord-y way that most would think. I mean, besides, with our world going to hell it'd be nice if something could work out for a fictional one we care about. So that's where I am right now. Considering that they'll be expanding the Eye of the North in an upcoming update... I wonder why they're doing that? I admit, this blindsided me. I was too busy feeling defensive of Jormag considering how they're a.) oddly vulnerable, and b.) very autistic. I've all too often seen neurotypicals jump down the throat of people and assume they're psychopaths just for having neurodiverse or even anxious traits. So whenever neurotypicals freak out about something being "evil," I feel inclined to dig a little deeper. And I like what I found. I just wish I'd spotted it sooner. I'm very happy about this if I am correct. **Addendum** I figure I should asnwer some of these in case my point isn't clear. * Why was Jormag initially acting skittish? They were being careful not to offend Aurene as they knew this was a delicate situation and they didn't want to screw it up. * Why did they take a champion? "I took a champion too! Am I cool yet?" * Why do they have a negative opinion of mortals? Envy. Aurene is paying attention to mortals more than Jormag and Jorms finds it frustrating—they want to be worthy of Aurene's attention. They want to prove that they're far more interesting to talk to than the little scampering creatures. * Why have they been quietly building Aurene's self-esteem? They actually value Aurene and they might be hoping that she'll eventually notice. What Jormag has been doing is building the foundations for Aurene to have more faith in herself, to feel less neurotic. This is very different from, say, insincerely boosting a person's ego with valueless platitudes. * Why have they been so careful about what they've said? Oh, I kind of repeated this one. They're being careful about saying something that might offend Aurene and hve her close herself off from Jormag—Jorms is dealing with the fear they hold for Primordus, but they're also having to manage a very valuable thing to them. Their first friendship. * Why have they been trying so hard to look cool? I mean... Yeah, this one speaks for itself. A lot of nerds do this, they try to seem impressive, to have mystique. It's just something we do socially, and so apparently do Elder Dragons. That or Jormag is simply copying mortals as they don't know how else to go about it. * Why do they seem concerned with what Aurene thinks of them? They value her opinion of them—this is probably the way that Aurene could wound Jormag the worst, by continuing to see them as evil or a problem. Frankly, it's charming my socks off. It's really endearing and I love it. It's made me like Jormag even more, the giant frosty nerd.

Isn't that surprising? I mean, mathematically you have to account for who visits and forum and why. In any community the majority of forum-goers are going to be those who complain and wish to dominate with their will by being the loudest possible. That's the top spot covered, then. What I find interesting is how close it is even if we account for the differential of voices on an Internet forum. Usually, those who post on a forum don't do so with positive intent. Adjusted for that, this is a surprisingly positive outcome. Interesting! I figured thatt this content was more popular than the consensus of the forum would think but there's a growing voice of positivity here contrary to that. That's what I find so fascinating. I expected the complainants to dominate the polls, which ultimately they did but not by the margin I'd expected before seeing the results. Hmm! How interesting that is.

The problem seems to be that whilst the scaling is better for health and defence, due to the upper echelons of what a person can grind for the damage potential isn't scaled enough. This is what happens when you appeal to that kind of power creep by adding options via harder content—it alienates casual players who're on other content as any raider with good equipment can roll in and decimate the place. I can see why this is a problem for ArenaNet. If they reduce the damage potential across the board then that means that the majority of players who aren't raiders will be far too underpowered in lower-level areas, probably even way more underpowered than when they initially went through that content. The only thing I can think is that some sort of curved scaling for older content is needed—where higher potential merits a far greater reduction of damage output to create a more level playing field. So the more damage you can put out, the harder you get hit by the scaling. This may upset a small number of players but with the way things are now it's only going to alienate new players coming into the game and that's bad for the long-term survival of the game. This thread demonstrably shows this problem exists. At this point I'm given to wonder sometimes if it would be healthier for the game to do something equivalent to what The Elder Scrolls Online did and scale-up, or effectively just make all players level 80 out of the gate. It would lose some money on boosts but it would also fix a lot of problems. It would also make it far simpler for ArenaNet to then introduce more playable races, which would further increase the appeal of the game considering that they could target other demographics. I'm not sure what's reasonable for them to do to be honest but... the game has lasted this long, they're smart, I'm sure they'll figure something out.

This is unrealistic. I mean, besides, it would only further grow the MAGA* crowd and that's the last thing ArenaNet wants given how much they've been trying to deal with that narratively in the story. It's an ancient game—play it for what it is or let it die. It's never going to see support again as only a tiny, very unprofitable niche plays it. No amount of entitlement is going to change that. Look at it this way: If you can fund the development of the first Guild Wars out of pocket? Do it! Try to get in touch with NCSoft and tell them that you want to bankroll the rebirth of the original Guild Wars. I'd be the first person to say that capitalism sucks but that is the world we live in. ArenaNet is owned by NCSoft, NCSoft is a publically owned corporation, publically owned corporations are beholden to their shareholders. In order to gain Guild Wars 1 support, you'd have to convince their shareholders of the profitability of it. Right now, GW1 exists only in NCSoft's good graces as it generates PR. They seem to break even regarding server costs and the bare minimum of maintenance so they keep it running. Can you see where this is going, perhaps? I hope so. The point is this: The more you clamour for content? The more you endanger the game. It makes your demographic seem discontent with GW1 and if there's no PR in just keeping it running? If you aren't happy with that? There's no reason for NCSoft to keep it running. We don't even know what the profits look like for it. For all we know, as I said, the only reason they're running it is because they think it might be marketing for Guild Wars 2. That the money generated by your playing of this game grants the original some worth. If that isn't the case, they could just sunset it. In other words, you're hammering the nails into your own coffin. Entitled fans tend to be their own self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. Just keep in mind that it isn't us you need to convince, nor ArenaNet for that matter—you need to be talking with NCSoft and their shareholders. All this is doing is making it look less and less worthwhile to keep Guild Wars 1 running. For every thread like this, you're really adding a nail to that coffin. If NCSoft execs see this, they might just shrug and decide to pull the plug and you'll have done that to yourself. If you really enjoy Guild Wars 1—and I don't, so I am telling you this for your sake—then the best thing to do is quietly enjoy it while it lasts. * _Make Ascalon Great Again._

I like it. The end of LWS4 and The Icebrood Saga was what drew me back in. It was the writing, generally. I mean, for the first time in the game's history they've been trying to write something different and I find it very compelling. The story is quite unlike... If I'm honest, it's unlike anything in video games right now, not even just the mainstream. It feels abstract, strange, and unusual. It has a certain dream-like quality to it with how fantastic it can be, whilst also having a certain soulful depth. It's difficult to articulate precisely what's so enthralling to me—beyond just Jormag, because it's no secret how much I adore that ice dragon—but... It speaks to me. This is the most "hype" I've been about Guild Wars 2 in a long, long time. Fantasy always retreads the same bloody stories, over and over. There are only a few subsets of fantasy tropes, if I were being cynical I could narrow it down to three and say that if you've read one? You've read them all. They all follow the same basic narrative path. Sci-Fi has the same problem if I'm being true to myself—simians in sardine cans, and the sardine cans have windows! Transparent materials are heavy! I mean, in an advanced setting, you'd expect morphological freedom and for everyone to have gone completely off the rails. Frankly, by the time we start to colonise I... strongly suspect that due to growing ecological concerns, we'll have shed our bodies in preference of living in virtualised spaces that can house many more people with a smaller footprint. Where was I? Oh yes. Fantasy tends to be very... predictable. It grants the average mind the same plot points every time. It's a world of horrors where everyone is a psychopath, oh the political intrigue; It's a hero's journey through an untamed owrld of magic; et cetera. 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. I'm not even certain if the finer nuances have been picked up on by a lot of players. I enjoy it, though. Who really invaded the Vigil Keep, was it actually Jormag? Why trust the spirits when they eat children? Drakkar actually is a baby and we haven't really given them a chance, so why is the Commander so desperate to murder them. Why is the Claw of Jormag so deathly afraid of the United Legions? I get the feeling he's only there since he's worried that a gaggle of abominations are about to slaughter his mother. It's an interesting play on perspective. Certainly, we might be the hero—yet we might also be a murderous tyrant, acting on tribal instinct, one who doesn't bother to logically consider the evidence available to them. It's a refreshing change of pace as it sidesteps the usual glorified human sanctity that so many fantasy settings direly need to move away from. I mean, we're not narcissistic sociopaths, we don't need to be told how fantastic our species is every few minutes. A sin that the original Guild Wars was also all too guilty of. There are many things GW2 does that I find very refreshing. So I disagree. I'm very "hype." I have all of the positive energy. Even if their resources are limited as they develop an expansion, this is the most interested I've been in a fantasy book, film, or video game in some time. The last time I was this pleased was when a man yelled the names of various sciences at a demonic entity to defeat him.

I'm adding my voice to supporting Linux. You can get some distros that are quite Mac-like. Lutris makes setting up Guild Wars 2 a doddle—if not of British descent, a more recognisable parlance would be "piece of cake." _Here are some recommendations to note._ 1.) Download the entire client! It's really important, downloading in the background can impact the game's performance, sometimes gravely; 2.) Try Gallium9 and D9VK, find out which works best for you as it tends to vary depending on the hardware; 3.) Glorious Eggroll's proton build has been said to yield a small framerate boost versus a default WINE install, so give that a try too; 4.) Make sure you're using ACO (do some research on this) as the consensus seems to be that it yields better performance.

I have raised awareness of this elsewhere but I will do so here too, succinctly, for the sake of notice. Where is the Frost legion? All is not as it seems.

This has become a bit of a ghetto, hasn't it? Sound and fury changes nothing. I don't think that the average man-on-the-street consumer of Apples has any concept for just how different Metal is from other APIs. I don't think they grasp just how desperate Apple is to be special—so they blame the developer. Apple was entirely responsible for the death of Flash. Do we blame Flash game developers for that? That'd be silly, wouldn't it? Well, that's what this is too. It isn't only the change of chip architecture—which might be more manageable—but rather that Apple is going to murder OpenGL on their platform because that's what they tend to do. Both Apple and Google are really bad about that sort of thing. APIs need a degree of similarity for decent cross-platform porting, it's helpful as well when these APIs exist on a variety of systems as well. This is why Vulkan has seen adoption, because it makes things easy to port. Apple could've chosen to move from OpenGL to Vulkan. Instead, they created their own elite club API which no one else is allowed to use. This is Apple's treehouse, peasants stay out et al. It's folly and inanity to blame developers for that. I have to stress here—not only did Apple refuse to move to a more accepted API like Vulkan, but their Metal API handles things in ways that are intentionally different to be hostile to porting efforts. _I am not joking about this._ It's to encourage exclusivity, I suspect, but that isn't going to happen. Apple's always lived in their own world. Not only is Metal special in regards to porting things that rely heavily on OpenGL, but it's more strict as well. In other words, Apple is forcing one of two binary outcomes. Outcome 1: ArenaNet rewrites the entire engine from the ground up to work on Metal instead of OpenGL. Outcome 2: ArenaNet ends support for the Mac client. I mean, if Apple were really serious about the adoption of their API? They could drop bags of money on companies to subsidise it. I mean, you know Apple is loaded, I know Apple is loaded, it would be effortless for them to pay for ArenaNet to bring on all the staff necessary for them to do this. So why not ask Apple and see what they think?

No one noticed, then? How interesting. There's an obvious absence here, a presence that ought be felt yet is nowhere to be seen. Where be the march of icy-blue digitigrade legs? Have no others missed the sass and playful conceit of our most recent ally? It was the first thing I noticed—not a sign of them. That in and of itself would suggest that something is afoot, a clawed a-foot. There's no Frost legion, loves. That's a mite bit strange. Thus, I exercise my right as a buffoon to call _shenanigans_. I vehemently call shenanigans. I know not what the goal is but the story once again has my attention, for I want to know what Ry-Ry and his frost-bitten brigade are up to! Indeed, the question is to be asked whether these Svanir act trully in the name of Jormag. One might ask whether they've been duped, or if there is something more... duplicitous going on here. Pun intended, if you get my drift. Needless to say, I still have faith that Jormag does indeed stand with us despite what this trailer portends. As to why I think so? Well, time will tell. I admit, I have no idea if my crackpot theories will play out but I do wonder.

The thing to consider... is that this isn't the only content that ArenaNet is working on right now. Indeed, they're also chipping away at the Canthan expansion. This was—quite unfortunate as it is—an executive mandate from NCSoft. ArenaNet wanted to continue with sagas from this point onward, which I believe might have been the right choice, but the bigwigs at NCSoft are all about their bottom-line as a publically traded corporation so an expansion was foisted upon ArenaNet without aught in the way of warning. Thus, they have limited resources at hand. It isn't their fault that they find themselves in this position. Just as it isn't their fault Apple made continuing development on Mac platforms impossible. There are just a number of undesirable factors in confluence right now and they've no power to decide elsewise. I'm not pleased about what's happened as I believe that the Cantha expansion could've happened at a much later date, I worry about crunch. I don't blame ArenaNet, though. I mean, this is what capitalism does for better and worse. I am impressed, however, by what they've managed to achieve as I quite enjoyed the DRMs. Then again, my drive is for story, I don't find ephemeral numericals or "cheevos" as compelling as I reailse many do, so perhaps the ward system requires tweaking as they say. I wouldn't know. I do, however, agree that the bosses are a touch spongy. As a narrative experience to be taken as part of the greater whole of this Saga? I enjoy them. It was nice to see Taimi again and—shameless Icebrood cheerleader and Jormie proselytiser that I am—I was very excited to romp around alongside Ry-Ry. I might just be easy to please, especially where this storyline is concerned. This, of course, brings us to the pricklier part of this assembly's proceedings: The obvious disenfranchisement of the hardcore. I have discussed this topic at length. Raiding is a dopamine addiction, there's no end-point. I mean, it isn't just the drive for more difficult content because if it were, then one would chase the inverse-meta. One could equip sub-par items and utilise a strange, suboptimal build. This is about rewards and how they must be earned—if a reward is earned, it results in the dopamine hit that raiders simply _need_. However, this increases their power potential which means that future content must be more difficult. It's a never-ending cycle of difficulty vs. reward, and the further you strive down that sordid path, the less accessible to casual players your product becomes. So here's the problem: Casuals are money, hardcore players are not. In the hardcore mindset, the need for reward dictates that ArenaNet should be doing all they can to sate that desire for the raider's "hard work." There is little concept of recompense that I have borne witness to in raid culture. What this means is that any product that isn't _that one_ (World of Warcraft, yes) is doomed to bankruptcy. See: WildStar. It's a matter of logistics. You have to consider the number of hardcore players (very few compared to other demographics), the cost of producing content entirely for them, and the profitability of that demographic. Unlike casuals, hardcore players are not money. This is especially true in Guild Wars 2 where you know as well as I do that you can convert gold to gems—and who has the most gold? Raiders, the hardcore players. If you can convert gold to gems, you have no need to buy gems, and in conversing with any of the raiders I've met? They don't buy gems! Why would they? They can convert their excess masses of gold so why bother? ArenaNet has actually created a scenario in which hardcore players are even less profitable than they would be in other scenarios. On the flipside? Casual players are money, as stated. We spend a lot of actual money on gems. ArenaNet needs _actual_ money, not gold. I don't mean to be especially sardonic and patronising here (only a little) but NCSoft isn't interested in an ephemeral numerical. They care naught for however much gold you might have, their concern is only for filthy lucre, real world money to sate the ravenous hunger of their shareholders. If you've chosen to not be a source of this lucre, your words have no weight. So this is a two-pronged issue: It's expensive to develop content for only one audience at the expense of all others, and that audience is the least profitable audience of all. That's why they've been throwing bones at best, it's why they're reusing content. You simply aren't profitable. You don't buy gems and what you want is unattainable. Look at it this way: When you get to the point where ArenaNet can no longer deliver unto you that juicy, delectable, cajunga dopamine hit that you so desperately need, you'll all leave Guild Wars 2 in droves. This is what raiders do. They'll turn up at some game's doorstep as a minuscule yet ceaselessly chirruping mob, and they'll have unreasonable demands. I've seen it before so many times. Yes, trying to force any developer down this path—a path to bankruptcy—is unreasonable. So you're not profitable and eventually you'll all leave anyway. NCSoft is a corporation interested in their bottom-line. Where's the profit to be made from appealing to you as a potential audience? Where's the money? The not-gold money? Raid culture is its own self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. The problem is is that like gambling, operant conditioning chambers are addictions. If you really want an MMO to appeal to you above all else? Here's what you have to do: First of all, learn to temper yourself so that your addiction doesn't rule and ruin you. In order for this to be in any way sustainable, you have to be willing to accept a decreased dopamine flow. Next, remind yourselves that you're customers partaking of a product. You have to be profitable. If you're not? You won't get anywhere. This is something I've explained countless times. The most profitable group is casual players who play in groups of 1-3, 3 as the upper-limit. 1-2 will be even more common an amount. This is why the content is focused around appealing to them, whereas other demographics get table scraps. Blame capitalism if you want, I mean that is fair. That's a good start as you could try to fashion your own product. If you do, though, be sure to teach these lessons to your customers or you'll end up just as bankrupt. You have to meter yourselves and you have to be profitable. It might make you angry but that's the reality we live in. This is why MMOs have failed so often. Only the original—World of Warcraft—stands as an appeal to the hardcore raider. Every other MMO that has managed to survive caters to a more casual audience. I mean, it makes sense. It's why outfits and mounts are sold rather than gated behind content one has to grind for—it's also why they're the best looking in the game. Casuals are money. If they weren't, content for other demographics would be the focus. > @"Tazer.2157" said: > DRMs can be designed to be group content [...] This is a very bad idea. The core profitable demographic doesn't enjoy forced grouping, that's a raid thing. In doing this, ArenaNet would alienate their paying customers. I mean, you have to realise that. This is why they _don't_ do it. You could say that they could develop a system where players could replace NPCs, and certainly, they could do that! However, that costs development time and money (and time is also money!). The truth of the matter is, as I explained above, the raider demo isn't really a profitable one. In order for them to take their _very limited_ resources away from developing other content, it would have to be towards a profitable goal. They might do this in Cantha as it would be a less expensive way to keep their raider audience around. They can develop single-player content where AI characters hold the other roles, and then multiplayer content where players step into the bodies of other characters. That's something they might do, but you can't count on it. You always have to consider the looming monolith of NCSoft. If ArenaNet does anything that really displeases them, it could mean a reshuffle and lost jobs or even the closure of their studio and the sunsetting of Guild Wars 2. If you want that to change—as I've said—be profitable and be patient! If the data shows that your demographic is profitable, that's something ArenaNet can show. As it stands, there are only table scraps because there are voices at ArenaNet that do enjoy more hardcore content—just as you do—but it's a bad idea to make too much of it when it doesn't increase the value of ArenaNet or Guild Wars 2.

I admit, sometimes I don't understand Apple's business practises. I mean, I have a bias for Vulkan because I game on Linux as well but here's the thing: A good number of developers have been using Vulkan on Windows, Nintendo uses it on their Switch console, and its adoption is rising. Not only that, but it's the successor to OpenGL and a natural way to evolve from anything that uses OpenGL. If Apple had decided to support Vulkan instead? You'd have a better Wine experience. However, shifting from OpenGL to Metal at the same time as switching from x64 architecture to ARM was... foolish. ArenaNet isn't the only developer who simply just does not have the resources to make these changes. You have to understand that it would require a substantial recreation of much of the code running within their currently used engine to work moving forward. On top of that—ArenaNet would be forced to choose between supporting x64 (Intel) architecture or ARM architecture. So they'd likely have to abandon one of these anyway due to their limited resources, which would still make some fans happy. Let me try to put this in perspective a little bit, if I may? Asking for an Apple Silicon port of Guild Wars 2 is like asking for a Raspberry Pi port of Guild Wars 2. Now, Linux users don't have a native port—they use Wine. As I understand, a lot of progress has been made with the performance of both Wine64 and DXVK on x64 Macs. So do what Linux people have had to do since day one and use Wine64. If you don't want to compile it, you can probably find precompiled binaries out there for your platform, I imagine. The same would probably be true for DXVK. Just use a guide for setting up a Wine64 environment and use that to run the 64-bit Windows client for Guild Wars 2. This is your best option moving forward. If you have chosen to use Silicon? Well... The capacity seems to be there to run Guild Wars 2 in perhaps not the most performant way but it is there. The Catalina version of the client runs under Rosetta. I wouldn't mind betting, if I'm honest, that performance might actually be better under Wine64 than it is with the native Catalina client. At the end of the day though, the ball rests in Apple's court and it's entirely unfair to blame anyone else. The problem is is that ArenaNet is owned by a publically traded corp who's always going to fixate on their bottom-line for their shareholders. If it's hugely unprofitable to sink money into developing Metal-based (which is a dead-end API, of that there can be no doubt), then ArenaNet has to make the call to abandon Mac. Otherwise they might make their company look undesirable to NCSoft. This is a point I bring up a lot. An investor corp recently bought a dominating share in Intel and now they're making demands that Intel stop making their own chips. This is what you have to deal with as a publically traded company—you're beholden to your shareholders. And the kind of leaders that shareholders want are often the cut-throat types who'll maximise profits above all else. Forward-thinking isn't exactly their forte. So whilst it might be possible that Mac would lead to more profitability in the future—maybe even the distant future, if Guild Wars 2 lives that long—it would take a big hit to profitability in the immediate future. This is something that would be untenable to their shareholders. I know, I hate capitalism too. This puts a _very small_ company like ArenaNet in a difficult spot. They have to upset their Mac fans, they don't really have any choice. Their hands are tied. The only choices they have available to them are a.) Abandon Mac because ARM and Metal are simply too expensive to develop for, or b.) Sink their own ship trying. In all honesty, I'd like to think no one's greed is great enough that they'd want to see so many people lose their jobs, especially when they're happy working there. I'm not saying this as a manipulation, but simply as a matter of fact. ArenaNet is one of the good developers, and you can see this in how happy those working there are. The current leadership seems to be doing well, by both NCSoft and their employees. Please understand that Apple did something that's actively hostile to game developers of their own volition. Instead of adopting industry standards, they took the hipster, status-symbol path of adopting fancy new technologies before they were even nearly ready. Both Silicon and Metal are half-baked and I doubt they'll last. It isn't because I don't think that chips like ARM are the future—to the contrary, I could easily see that being the case—but rather that _now_ wasn't the time to adopt them. Compounding the adoption of ARM with a graphical API that only a niche Apple audience would patronise? That's a bad decision. What I'm getting at is that only the big names with big money are going to be able to bankroll the development of anything for ARM and Metal. See, this isn't like making a Linux port because both Linux and Windows have OpenGL and Vulkan available to them, just as Linux and Windows use x64 chips. The only difference between the two is the operating system: Windows or Linux. What Apple has done is made it far more viable to develop for Linux instead. Now, when Mac was running on x64 and had access to OpenGL, it had these portability paths. Does that make sense? OpenGL is on other platforms, it's well known and easy to use. The biggest pool of gamers is on x64 architecture. It made porting to Mac a small expenditure compared to what it would be now. The way ArenaNet looks at it is that it's better to cut off Mac fans now rather than deal with demands for Silicon, it's better to deal with this now rather than later because of the expense. ArenaNet is looking at a shrinking market of users on Intel architecture chips, a vanishing market, and NCSoft will be paying close attention to that too. Why continue to spend money on a tiny market that's shrinking by the day? Apple has made it so that it's no longer viable for small companies to even support x64 Macs as they're now a dead platform. It's like continuing to support the XBox One X after the release of the XBox Series X. None of this is the fault of ArenaNet—they have to keep NCSoft happy. The thing is—and I'm sorry to say this—is that for a long time Apple users will be heading back into the dark ages of the Apple computer. That isn't the fault of anyone but Apple for rushing to adopt half-baked technologies that _simply aren't ready_. This is something that Apple does. I mean, sure, it's nice to feel like you're some kind of fancy elite, but you're a fancy elite that doesn't play PC video games—you're a fancy elite that plays mobile games in desktop environments. These feel like some sick burns but it isn't intentional, it's just reality. I've tried to explain this to friends before but many don't seem to understand what it's like to be a company that's owned by a publically-traded corporation. So please try to understand. Moving forward, you'll see an initial burst of interest from the biggest names. This will probably have something to do with Apple quietly handing them big bags of money in the background. That won't last. The market share is big enough to develop for an environment where only the operating system is different, but it isn't big enough to be worth the cost of developing for both a new chip architecture and a new API. You're going to see indies and smaller devs drop off first as they can't just cross-compile. It won't be a simple matter of porting anymore as the portability paths won't be there. There's no valid path for going from x64 and DirectX/Vulkan/OpenGL to ARM and Metal. It's too big of a risk. Before, it was a throwaway effort and now it isn't. How do I explain this? I know people like car analogies so let's try that. Let's say that there's a company that creates car interiors to a Universal standard that's been adopted by numerous car manufacturers. Suddenly, they switch to something else that only they're using, the layout is different, the size and shape of the seats, none of it fits the existing standards being used by car manufacturers. Now, since this maker of interiors is desirable, one or two big car manufacturers might start a production line of cars designed for these new interiors but most won't. In the long run though it might not be profitable for even them to do it so even some of the biggest might decide to pull out early due to the costs of building all those extra production lines. That's effectively what Apple has done. There are existing Universal standards which everyone uses that they've chosen to shirk. I don't know if anyone is going to bother to read this but being angry at ArenaNet is pointless. You could be angry at NCSoft's shareholders, I suppose, but they're doing what shareholders will always do—protecting their bottom-line. Money is dopamine. That's not going to change. You can't be angry at ArenaNet because they have to do whatever makes NCSoft happy, that's just the way of it. The only ones to be angry at are Apple for, once again, adopting half-baked technologies—of both hardware and software—that absolutely no one beyond hobbyists is using. Guild Wars 2 is just going to be the first game gone. This is the beginning of a long, long drought of games, a dry period where almost no desktop games will be released for Mac platforms and the only options will be mobile games. If you want desktop games, you have to adhere to the standards—they eixst for a reason. Like it or not, this is a capitalist world so you want the most customers. That isn't going to be people using Apple devices running on ARM and using the Metal API moving forward. In fact, Apple's desktop market is likely to shrink as it did in their silly PowerPC drought. This is just the PowerPC days all over again and... It's Apple being Apple. They do this. If you buy an Apple device, this is what you're buying into. It's going to lead to a lot of Apple users—because of the coming drought of desktop games—switching to PCs with x64 architecture again. This is Apple's choice. They had to know this would happen. It's all about being a status symbol and making their home machines an elite club again. It really is Apple being Apple. You can't blame anyone but Apple for Apple being Apple. Ask older Apple users what the PowerPC days were like, and consider jumping ship.

I think whether strikes come back or not is all down to whether they're profitable. It's something I've said before but it bears saying again. ArenaNet has this data—it's a simple matter for them to look at it and draw a conclusion about what content will keep them afloat in the future. As I've also pointed out, NCSoft is their parent corporation and as it is whenever a business is owned, ArenaNet has to contend with their greed. If you look at a game like WildStar—it was a game entirely made up of forced grouping. It had no other content, really, it was very similar to classic WoW in a lot of ways and it flopped, hard. It's because the majority of players who want to play WoW will... Well, I mean they're going to be playing WoW, aren't they? It caters to them. That means that the people who enjoy forced grouping content are always a minuscule minority in any game other than WoW. It's become obvious that optional grouping is the way to go—that means open wrold events, story missions, and something like the DRMs. All of these are open to not only solo play, but small group play of 1-3 players. I feel that's going to be the most common group size, with 1-2 being even moreso as some will play solo whereas others will play with their partner. Another issue is that casual players buy things. I've spoken with people who tend to grind, even on the lesser end of the raid spectrum, and they have more gold than they know what to do with. So what do they do? They convert their gold to gems. By doing this, they remove themselves as a profitable demographic. Consider Guild Wars 1. It continues to be run only thanks to NCSoft's good graces. By not being a true MMORPG, it costs very little to just keep the servers running. The good will generated by those who play both it and Guild Wars 2 likely looks good enough on paper. I'm not one of those people, but I suspect they're worried they might lose paying Guild Wars 2 customers if they shut it down and the risk of shutting it down when its operating costs are so low aren't worth it. However, Guild Wars 1 has no new content being developed for it of any size. Why? It isn't profitable. NCSoft is very much about their bottom-line. That's not surprising if you consider that they're a publically traded company. This means that ArenaNet also has to consider NCSoft's bottom-line, because if they don't? A lot of people will be out of a lot of jobs. It's important to keep the game profitable so that these people stay employed. If strikes are profitable then they might very well return in End of Dragons. If they're not, then DRM style content might be the replacement for them as they can at least appeal to small group (1-3) players in this content in ways that they can't with strikes. I think the most preferable choice is for ArenaNet to continue to exist. It's a lot of jobs lost otherwise and I'm personally very fond of the stories they tell. That's why whenever I can I do tend to drop a lot of money on the gem store, whenever I'm in a position to I do that. I want to do whatever I can to help make that bottom-line look a little bit more rosy. I care about ArenaNet and their continued existence. Frankly, I've become very fond of the lot of them. So here's what I'll say: If your goal is to have strikes persist, even to flourish? Don't post on the forums about it. It doesn't change anything—there are long-time fans here who'll tell you that, it never does. The reason why is basically what I've already said, that ArenaNet can look at their data and link gauge the profitability of content-type. No opinion is going to be more compelling than that hard evidence. So what do you do? _Buy gems._ If you want your favourite game mode to do better, buy gems. Be profitable. I don't mind! I don't mind if you have more of a focus in upcoming content. I just want Guild Wars 2 to survive. I'm being sincere here. I don't care if it means less content for me so long as I can continue to enjoy the main storyline. I'm not telling you this because I'm entitled, it's... kind of the opposite of that? I'm telling you this because I understand my privilege. It's a privilege casual players have by being profitable. So be profitable! It's up to you, really.

I think it's worth trying to compile Wine64 with DXVK under Rosetta and running GW2 via that. If the Silicon is really up to it, that could provide even more performance given that—as I understand it—the Mac client is outdated and underperforming anyway. The nice thing is that if that works, it'll continue to work for as long as Guild Wars 2 exists. Linux users already have to do this, after all.