Hypnowulf.7403

There's a solution I can see (I like solutions), and that's to compile Wine64 for Intel architecture under Rosetta, and then to run Guild Wars 2 via Wine via Rosetta. If Apple's Silicon is as good as they say, it shouldn't struggle too much. I'm not being ironic or sarcastic there. This should actually be a viable solution if the chip can pump out enough performance. A lot of the legwork has been done getting Wine to run on Catalina by stripping out the 32-bit elements. This means you won't be able to run 32-bit apps, but thankfully GW2 has a 64-bit downloader, launcher, and client. So that's a non-issue. I imagine that anything that can be compiled for Intel Catalina can be compiled with Rosetta, yes? This is what I've managed to piece together after some cursory looking around. For those who're already on Intel Macs and don't plan to upgrade soon, I'd recommend running Guild Wars 2 via Wine. It'd be a bit of a fiddle to setup but the performance should be alright there, too. I believe DXVK support is coming along nicely too, so that makes the situation even better. What I will recommend is downloading the entire client first. The performance can be terrible if you don't do that, just as a warning. It's not guaranteed to be terrible, perhaps especially if you have a high-end SSD, but it is... likely. I don't own a Mac, mind you. I just like researching things. _Here comes an edit._ > @"loseridoit.2756" said: > Linux players probably have a better GW2 experience than many Windows players. Just wanted to add... Yes. This is actually true. Guild Wars 2 runs better on my Linux partition than on my Windows one. It loads faster, it has less frame dips in crowded areas... It's weird. I can only guess it's down to Gallium9, but I dunno!

I don't have too much to add here as I agree generally with the consensus. My thinking is this: Jormag—being a smaller and less powerful elemental dragon than the others—evolved to be clever. There's something that clever animals do that others don't: cooperate. As Jormag took an interest in mortals, they found that there was that which they wanted to preserve, they saw them as more than just merely an army that they could use to survive. At one point, they said in anger that they would freeze the world to stop the cycle if need be—to preserve the vulnerable from the wars. Jormag speaks of a cycle. This is the dragons waking, warring to consume magicks, then sleeping again. In these cycles, civilisations have fell, entire cultures and socities have been lost to the sands of time to sate the dragons and their need for magic. Above all else, Jormag has made it clear that they find this untenable. They're really the only dragon we know about who thinks this way. Thus far, it's fairly clear that this isn't true of Primordus as their awakening has wrought fiery death upon whomsoever was unfortunate to be caught in their wroth—which is a different word than wrath, but that too! The other dragons appear to be very invested in the wars. I'm inclined to believe that this, in part, is due to the torment. I believe that, similar to Aurene, Jormag has found a way to remain free of the torment. Why the attack on Vigil Keep, then? That doesn't seem especially rational. I'm... not actually inclined to think that was Jormag in the first place. Ultimately, yes, certainly we were fighting the forces of Jormag as they have a self-preservation instinct the same as anyone else. However, there's some introspection to be done, here: 1.) Why would Jormag suddenly choose to do this; 2.) If indeed it was Jormag who committed this act, why would they call the Commander to the Keep; 3.) The whole thing had an illusory atmosphere that isn't really Jormag's bag, power-wise. Now Jormag has made mistakes in understanding the desires of mortals before, we've found texts that show this. What I would posit, however, is that it isn't really their way to attack unprovoked. So why, then? It would've behooved Jormag to try to make peaceful contact with the Keep, so in my opinion there's something else going on there. What I believe happened is that the spirits of the wild got scared, so they staged this attack with the intent being to pin the blame on Jormag for it. Why, though? The spirits are very animalistic creatures and even more focused upon survival than Jormag is, for one. The second point I'd share is that they aren't perhaps quite the "noble" beings that some would believe them to be. They eat children. There's lore supporting this, I'll let the other loremasters explain if they wish but it is true. That's not exactly the act of a benevolent spirit, they have a malignant element to them that shouldn't be openly trusted. With two dragons awakening? I suspect that their fear lead them to try to wield the will of mortalkind to end the most pertinent draconic threat to them—Jormag. They had an idea that the mortals would challenge Primordus as the will of the dragon of fire is one of open hostility. He cares not for cooperation or the survival of mortalkind, thus they had little to fear from him initially. They knew that before Primordus came from them, he'd have to deal with both the mortals and likely Jormag first. This made Jormag their primary concern. We've seen magicks like this used before by Joko. I'd say that it's very likely raven was responsible for the illusions that lead to the downfall of the keep, aided by eagle. They're afraid that should mortals know their true nature, even the norn might not necessarily care that Jormag had a taste for them. They've done some things that the mortals would not approve of, whereas Jormag hasn't done anything—thus far—of ill-will. The actions of the ice dragon have either been out of generosity or survival. As I said, sometimes Jormag had made mistakes regarding mortals and their desires but that doesn't mean ill-intent. It just means that they're an ancient creature that perhaps didn't fully grasp that mortals don't always actually know what they want. Jormag's modus operandi seems to be to appease with generosity in the hope of gleaning the cooperation of mortals. This has been twisted to become "you think how they want you to think," which isn't necessarily true. Jormag's power is persuasion, not control, and I think it's clear by this point that their goal is cooperation. I have a... particular interest in them myself as their personality comes across as very autistic, and they're confirmed as a plural state by Tom Abernathy. They share their mind with their branded. This is a different approach from other dragons who tend to enslave their branded—as I've pointed out, the Frost legion clearly aren't, and unless we really want to argue that Svanir were ordered to sit around and relax in hot springs, their will is intact as well. When Jormag says something like "what we all want," the point in and of itself is _survival_. Jormag wants to survive. We want to survive. Aurene would quite obviously like that too. Logically, cooperation is the best way to achieve that. As stated prior—they see value in other life, and other life having agency in order to create the incredible things they do, so cooperation is the best choice for the survival of everyone. This includes the mortals they'd wish to see survive. What I find interesting is that Jormag may wish for mortals to be longer-lived as well, to have more of a chance to express themselves. In the world as it is now, mortals are easily manipulated and they throw away their lives for foolish, pointless goals (see: The Dominion). I think that collaring Bangar was a way to show that they aren't like the other dragons. How do I explain this? Alright, let's say you're faced with a dictator. After a long war, you've finally managed to capture them and you have them within your custody. What do you do? What is about the dictator that made them so dangerous? Why did their enablers follow them in the first place? I suppose we'd have to look at the real-world for that. If I had to guess, I'd suggest it's all down to dopamine flow and the protection thereof. Humans tend to be very tribal by nature and their tribalism is focused on protecting their dopamine flow. If you were to give a junkie some heroin, they'd be your best friend. Humans feel rewarded by doing things that empower the in-group, they feel rewarded by social success and by being a part of an effort that a lot of others agree upon. This is something that can be exploited by a clever speaker. So the real danger? Charisma. Charisma is what you'd have to deal with. So how do you do that? Do you throw them in a dark pit and toss away the key? Do you kill them? Do you try to punish them in some near-mortal way that will have them think twice before doing that again? Or... Do you remove their capacity to use their charisma to wield groups of people, and monitor them to ensure that they can be of no danger? With all of these options considered, the lattermost is hte most compassionate. By collaring Bangar, Jormag was showing Aurene that they're capable of compassion. Not only did they end Bangar's ambition to take over the world—which could have easily cost umpteen millions of lives—but they did so in a way that didn't harm him unncessarily. They were showing Aurene _their_ way. I see Jormag as a bit of a helicopter parent versus Aurene's permissive approach where anything goes as far as mortals are concerned. I find Jormag to be a very compelling foil to Aurene's position and it's something that they—as a young and very inexperienced dragon—sorely need. They both agree on the value of cooperating with and preserving mortalkind, yet they disagree on teh best way to do that. I feel that their interactions wil make for some of the best storytelling we've seen in Guild Wars 2 thus far. I'm looking forward to it. In the end, I see Jormag as a steadfast ally. There's just going to be some rockiness between now and then thanks to their ideological differences. The point is: Jormag isn't tainted because they were more clever in how they do things. They evolved to be that way due to being a smaller dragon of lesser power, and the only reason they've survived thus far is due to that cleverness. And being a clever dragon, their chosen means is cooperation. None of this is conducive to them being taken by the torment in the way the other—more predatory—dragons were. Footnote: Just to have it on the record, I do believe that the purpose of this story is also to further learn the nature of and challenge the torment. I think that we'll free Primordus from the grip of it and bring them into balance with Jormag by the end. That's what I think the goal is. This brings the story to a point where the dragons themselves are no longer the threat—End of Dragons. Not the end of the dragons themselves, per se, but the end of the _dragon threat_. This opens the story up to the true villain of the piece: the torment.

I'd love a library too! That won't stop me from carrying my favourite books around, but I'd still love one nonetheless. Perhaps even if only for the aesthetic as there are few places where I feel more at home, outside of my home, than at a library. I'm very much the classical geek. So huzzah to libraries!

The primary content in any game is going to be the narrative. I could speculate on why this is but it'd be madness. I mean, most games wouldn't be fun to play unless they had a good narrative. Even games with mechanics as interesting as the older Thief titles might not have been so compelling were they not rife with interesting tales and wonderful characters. I think it's because if a person plays a video game that isn't just a run-of-the-mill triple-A mainstream title, they're probably playing it for escapism. I'd imagine this could suggest what's generally a more introverted audience who're less competitive on average. I see competition more commonplace in titles more geared towards extraversion. I think this is something that the industry has noticed going by the games they're making now. It's my opinion that—moving forward—any new MMOs probably won't deal with PvP, WvW, or anything of its ilk. I will stress here... *Disclaimer*: _This is all my opinion and speculation based upon observations._ The only thing I can tell you for sure is that it's obvious that raids, PvP, and WvW aren't that profitable. That's what we can observe for certain. The reason why? I can only guess, I suppose that's true for all of us. We can only guess. If we look at the evidence, however, it's obvious where the profitability is based upon ArenaNet's focus. They can clearly tell which content is played most, which is the most profitable, and thus which is the most popular. On top of that? They can probably use the data they have to link who pays more money with what content is played. I can't imagine they wouldn't have that data. I've interviewed PvPers and raiders, even casual raiders, and there's one conceit that I found quite commonly—they don't buy gems, they convert gold. So what of PvE players and roleplayers alike? They buy gems. I buy gems and I am of that latter group! There are things I wish they would add as well to profit upon their most profitable users, since what their data can't tell them is what we want to _buy_. What I'd like to see is more dragon outfits and armour for roleplaying—suited to all of the dragons, including Aurene, as the largest contingent of roleplayers in GW2 seems to be dragon-branded. It's hardly surprising. On top of that? I'd like to see player-housing. I think that guild halls are a bit of a failure and this is one thing that both ESO and FF XIV did better. Player-housing is a better commonual space than guild halls. Anyway, no amount of sound and fury on the forums is going to change ArenaNet's data. As someone who wants to see this game survive, I offer this: If you want your favourite content to become more popular? Put your money where your mouth is. Buy gems. That's all I have for you. If you never put any money towards the ongoing needs of the game—to sate the greedy corporate beast that is NCSoft—then don't you think it might be a little obnoxious to make demands and hand down edicts to ArenaNet about what they should or shouldn't be developing? The reason they aren't focused on the game modes you like is because... _they aren't profitable_. That's all there is. It's logic. If what you wanted was profitable, ArenaNet would be working on it already because their data would tell them that it's profitable. That their data is saying the exact opposite is what you need to deal with. And if you don't care to put your money where your mouth is, your favourite content will continue to be unprofitable because you make it that way. This is what every MMO develope rhas to realise in the end, either that or they sink—like WildStar. I don't want Guild Wars 2 to be another WildStar, so I'm personally glad that ArenaNet has their priorities in order. You can't blame them for this. As I said, they have a greedy corporate Master to appease, there's no avoiding or getting around that. So it's up to you to fix how profitable you appear. It's clear that right now? It isn't very. As of now: The people who play PvE and roleplay are the most profitable groups, those who crave the escapism of Guild Wars 2 and are happy to pay for the experience. The reason I'm here is because people who're happy don't bloody post, that's a really troublesome human habit. People only post to air dissatisfaction. ArenaNet knows what's profitable, so they ignore it, but _you_ don't. That's why we keep getting these threads of sound and fury, from posters who have to know they'll result in nothing. You have to know a forum post won't change things, right? You can take this as an attack, if you like, but I'm actually trying to help. Well... I don't like raiding because operant conditioning chambers are unhealthy and the addiction cannot be maintained over time, as I've explained elsewhere. It leads to new difficulty modes being added until the ceaseless climb becomes unavoidably ludicrous. Hard, Very Hard, Super Hard, Ultra Hard, Mega-Ultra Hard, X-Edition L33T Hard... It doesn't stop. That's how it is with any drug, you just need a bigger hit. It's unsustainable and a bad idea. PvP however, whilst it can still be quite toxic due to bad actors competing, it doesn't have the inherent insustainability of raids. For raiders, I'd suggest just... chase the inverse-meta. Find the most ludicrously underpowered builds and win with those, then brag about it on YouTube. It's not profitable or sustainable for ArenaNet to produce ongoing raids. Even strikes will die soon, I can guarantee that. That's someone pushing for this content in ArenaNet despite their lack of profitability. I worry they'll have the sense to realise before it hurts them. The thing is? NCSoft wants money. They're a business, a publisher, one full of executives that see the bottom-line as their only consideration. They killed City of Heroes because it wasn't profitable, they killed off WildStar for the same reason. They've been good about Guild Wars 2, but I can only guess that's because thus far it's managing to be profitable. So that's something we can feel fortunate for. This is also why, to wit, it's harmful to you to be negative about whales. They're the ones sating and appeasing the appetite of the ever-hungry NCSoft. A good portion of GW2's profitability comes from them. I whale whenever I can afford it. I know the cold, hard truth of capitalism. I don't like it, but I want Guild Wars 2 to survive. So to say this until I'm blue in the face: ArenaNet must do what's profitable. If they don't, the game dies. Living World is profitable, expansions are profitable, any story-based content is profitable. The next most profitable content is open world. After that? Errr... Nothing. Raids aren't. PvP isn't. WvW isn't. That's not ArenaNet's fault, that's the fault of those who take advantage of being able to convert gold to gems and never put out any money on the game. I'm trying my best to explain this. All ArenaNet can do is look at their data and think_ah, these are the players who give us the most money, and this is the content they play_. Right now, that's story content. it's clearly story content. If you want PvP or WvW to be profitable? Make it so. Only you have that power.

Oh please, yes. I mean, they have a mechanic in play for this already. Just fwoop you back to the last stable platform you were on before you got to the border. It's one they've been using more in open world maps of late, I think that—ongoing, at least, as I understand it's costly to go back and fix all the old ones—they should just use that instead. If you go outside of the border? Fwoop! Back you go. I'm visually disabled so I don't always see the border on the minimap. Compound this with movement abilities such as jumping and teleports and it can become quite easy to get far out enough into the red to not be able to run back fast enough. This can be hilarious too in instances where they allow and encourage mount use... _I haven't used the roller beetle in those and you can't prove anything._

For what it's worth? I agree. I'm all about accessibility, it's something I rant about regularly on my nobody Twitter account that absolutely no one reads. Which is fine! I mean, I'm socially anxious, I'd probably not like to get too popular. So I'm all about this. Do we have colourblind options yet? If not, that'd be a good include, too. Honestly, I'd even go so far as to say that it's time for ArenaNet to open up their back-end—so to speak—and give us access to everything. I'm suggesting a lua-based addon system, which has become so popular in so many MMOs. This game, admittely, has a beuatiful UI. It has some very intelligent choices in it so not too much would need changing... _However,_ there are accessibility concerns. I don't know if it's realistic for ArenaNet, right now, to be able to include them all as much as I'd want that. I do want that. Sadly, it's the corporate suits who're always in the way here. If it was the choice of anyone else? Sure. The suits only see money, and they'd see this as an outgoing cost, which would have them weigh the gain. _For them,_ the gain wouldn't be great enough because hooray for capitalism and greed. It's short-sighted too, really, since it'd allow more differently abled people to play. I think the better sell would be to ask for UI addons. The case can be made here for how successful it is in other games, and that competitive spirit can be played upon to point out that this is something that their games have that yours does not. I feel that there we might gain traction. If we did, then we could fix these accessibility issues ourselves. I'd help! I've done this sort of thing before.

I'll give you this—it's a really funny mental image. I'm not invested enough to vote, but I was reminded of the old countryfolk in Grothmar... Just some frazzled old farmer with a janky old gun and an attack dog. It wouldn't be Ranger's greatest moment, but it would make for some funny characters. I'm not invested enough in any profession other than Mesmer to have any say in this but... It is funny.

I have very little to offer beyond what has been stated by others prior to now: It would erode the identity of one of the most unique RPG classes I've ever played, alongside that there are so many other mechanics tied into it you'd pretty much have to create a new class. It'd be like removing the teleport-dash-punch from Vanguard in Mass Effect 3. On top of that? I actually really enjoy the rhythm of shattering clones and then recreating them—It's one of the most thrilling things about the profession for me. I suppose I'd not be able to put my finger on exactly why, but it has much to do with the aforementioned novelty of it. I haven't played anything else that's really like that, why dismiss that which has worth?

I haven't laughed that hard in a while. I mean, I've been looking at these and the only race where the heels actually connect with the floor is... the asura! I'm so, so sorry. Hopefully they can fix the angle of the heel for those who want it.

This thread is a bizarre one—it shows that despite everything, there are still old-guard Ascalon obsessives who loathe the charr for no good reason, who believe that all charr should be beholden to their desires or put through a painful genocide. Why is this so? Why not simply let the charr be their own people? Yes, they've had their problems—much as any race has—but the recent storyline has been dealing with just that, ousting their toxic leadership and challenging problematic old traditions. It's also shown us the Olmakhan, a charr culture from before the Six's incursion into Tyria. There's clearly, obviously room for the charr to grow and evolve. I will say, up front, that I'm not a fan of fantastic racism embodied by players. It often comes off as too passionate, to the point where it feels like it's based off of other, more real bigotries. To reiterate: I'm not a fan. There is no logical, rational reason to single out the charr, there is no sensible reason to do so, there is no valid reason to do so. This all derives from what happened in a game released over a decade and a half ago. Can we lay it to rest? There's something that I value called empathy. It's nice, empathy. It means that you can accept differences and appreciate that people like different things. I play charr, do I hate humans? No. Do I hate any of the races? No. In fact, more recent developments have only continued to endear the majority of Tyria's races to me. I enjoy their presence. There's no need for animosity. The way this is going down? It's almost like the charr were responsible for something terrible that happened in our world—they weren't. Tyria is a fiction, a narrative, it wasn't and isn't real. It was written by humans situated within our phase, our reality. A lot of them, a vast number of different ones, all bringing their own ideas, beliefs, perspectives, and nuances to the story. The world changes and so must you. It's folly to hold these ancient grudges. No matter how you feel about the charr—people do play them and they enjoy doing so. By going on like this, all you're doing is making charr players miserable. If you do have any empathy, understand that this is all best put to rest. Charr players are tired of hearing all this. It is best put to rest. (It's really something when you actually feel you have to point out that the charr narrative is written by humans, and not giant-hyena cats sitting at mountains of broken keyboards because giant claws.)

Let's look at a few key points, here. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] Guild Wars 2 has a retention problem [...] What a point to open on. It invites two very important questions. _Does Guild Wars 2 have a retention problem?_ That'd be the first one. The thing is though is that the answer to that mightn't really matter. So a better question to ask then is: _If Guild Wars 2 has a retention problem, does that matter?_ This isn't a subscription MMO. The number of overall players doesn't really matter so long as those players are profitable, I think that ArenaNet shot themself in the foot by being too bizzarely kind with allowing one to convert coins to gems. That was a silly move from an economic standpoint. I appreciate it for its kindness because empathy is awesome, it's just that in a world like this where so many people are self-interested, you'll find that far too many won't spend money if they can grind and get the same result, or better. So this leads us to the only question that truly matters here: _Does Guild Wars 2 have a profitability problem?_ Yes. Yes it does. This is something they're trying to figure out as an ongoing process. I wonder if it would help them by removing the ability to convert gold to gems, I think that it might. Either that or perhaps have some kind of fee involved. I appreciate the generosity but they're just too small for that kind of generosity. It means that not enough people will spend money. I've sometimes spent beyond my means as I know that NCSoft is eyeing ArenaNet due to this, they've done managerial reshuffles in order to try to make Guild Wars 2 profitable. So what else can be done to make Guild Wars 2 profitable? You could appeal to another audience. There's one country out there with a very large audience for online gaming that's quite economically stable: China. Isn't it interesting that the next expansion is going to Cantha? That's a very intelligent choice. I applaud it. It's not a setting I'm personally interested in as I'm more drawn to characters of the non-human persuasion, but I understand that they need money to stay afloat and NCSoft can be a greedy, bloated thing of a thing. So long as I'm able to interact with dragons, I'll be happy at the end of the day. I'm easy to please in that regard, I suppose, but then how many games have we had of late where we've been able to interact with intelligent dragons? I mean, you could count Skyrim from 2011, but there were all of one in that that you could hold a very short conversation with and that dragon was Paarthurnax. Plus, I prefer six-limbed dragons. I know there's a shortage of those in Cantha but I'll make do. So long as I can have Jorms and Aurene about, I'm happy. Aurene at a push, I suppose... We'd have to see, as I am very fond of Jormag. As I said, I'm easy to please and I've spent a lot of money on this game. I know though that what I offer is a drop in the ocean compared to what would appease NCSoft so... Cantha for China! > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] the constantly shifting priorities and inconsistency of the developers [...] This is, again, to do with the attempt to make ArenaNet profitable before NCSoft gives them the boot. I think they're on a good path right now, though. I certainly haven't lost any confidence in them. Like I said, I think that Cantha to draw in a Chinese audience is very much a clever choice. It could be the shot in the arm that Guild Wars 2 needs. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] or new players coming in. I'm not convinced of that, really. I've never seen a game where new players coming in have any sense of the economics or internal politics of the game itself, nor will they until they become a part of the old-guard. It's only really a certain facet of the old-guard that gets embroiled with this. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] capturing very little imagination [...] Speak for yourself. The current storyline, from LWS4 onward, is the most interested I've been in Guild Wars 2 for quite, quite some time. The intrigue, mystery, and shenanigans surrounding the Elder Dragons and the torment is quite compelling for me. I know this is divisive—but that's what it is, divisive. There are those who loathe the current storyline, and those who see it as the best ArenaNet has ever written. Again, the former tends to be of a certain facet of the old-guard that doesn't want anything to ever evolve or change. Everything must remain in absolute stasis. It's a bizarre behavioural quirk I've seen in many a certain kind of MMO player. It's a strange desire, I think, to want to be frozen in time and yet to also want more content. What is this content to look like if it doesn't evolve and change? Times change, and both ArenaNet and Guild Wars 2 changes with them. > @"Lily.1935" said: > The situation to me looks like End of Dragons is a desperate move by the developers to retain what they have of the community. Strong disagree. It looks like an attempt to expand the Guild Wars 2 audience by attracting Chinese players. It's a smart move. It also doesn't do anything to alienate most existing players, either. So that it can work to appease most of the existing community whilst expanding into a new audience? I'd say that's a good move. > @"Lily.1935" said: > Don't mistake me. I'm excited for EoD as much as anyone else but I can't help but feel it just wont offer enough. What are you looking for? I mean, what are you actually looking for? What desire or need have you, so strong, that must be sated? What is it you really seek? I worry this is going to come down to raids or PvP, which have historically proven to be unprofitable, toxic, and even unhealthy in the case of raid addictions. Of course, I might be barking up the wrong tree. So let's read on... > @"Lily.1935" said: > [New content is] one thing [...] I'm confused by what you're saying here. The edit is mine to illustrate this point. New content is new content, a lot of players are going to have fun running a number of their characters through this content as it's going to be, well, new content. When you buy a new video game, that's new content. It's going to be about PvP or raids again, isn't it? I have this sinking feeling... > @"Lily.1935" said: > 2Arena net needs to do some major work for the players in all game modes and this is a monumental task I'm skeptical of arena net's ability to deliver on that. What does this actually mean? What is it you want? You aren't actually saying anything. I mean, you've said a lot but I can't ascertain what it is you actually seek. I mean, yes, you've made it clear a number of times now that you fear ArenaNet's ability to deliver "it," but it's like you're almost afraid to tell us what "it" is. Which game modes? In what way? How would they achieve this? Details are very important. > @"Lily.1935" said: > I feel as if the company of Arena net need to shift their philosophy of the game from their new toy in old toy forgotten and really go back and take a long hard look at the systems and modes of play they have now and really buckle down to refine those to a silver polish. What does _that_ actually mean? This is very political. I mean, it's words! It's a lot of words! What does it mean? You aren't really asking questions or posing solutions. It's just a lot of oration with no real goal. Why is it a toy now? Why was it not a toy before? Which systems? Which modes of play? > @"Lily.1935" said: > Arena net has been so quick to abandon content [...] _What content?_ > @"Lily.1935" said: > We have a fairly fragmented experience with guild wars right now [...] Do we? How so? Can you explain that? How is it "fragmented?" How could it not be so? I don't see it as fragmented. It might not be what you want, but that doesn't mean it's fragmented. This is really just a lot of words. If you're upset that people don't play the unpopular forms of content, you would be better served by just saying that and exploring why those forms of content are unpopular in the first place. If the content you want to have more players in it doesn't, that means that it has no audience and it isn't profitable for ArenaNet to develop. I'm just taking shots in the dark here though as this is all very vague. > @"Lily.1935" said: > The game not only does a poor job of bringing new players in but the high level of convenience it drops into their lap outright distorts and breaks the experience of the new players. What does _that_ mean? You say these things but you don't extrapolate upon them. I mean, for the first part, we have to examine whether the game does do a poor job at introducing itself to new players. I wouldn't say it does in my opinion. I was actually surprised upon returning to the game to find out that the beginning is a much more structured, guided experience. They don't overload you by letting you into the city immediately, and they even teach players how to dodge-roll now. What's actually so bad about it? You'll need to cover your thoughts and positions as to where the introduction is lacking in any given way. The only barrier to entry that I can think of right now is that engineer is a bit complex if a player chooses that as their first class. I'd give you that, but beyond that I'm really at a loss as to what there could be that negatively impacts new players. The next statmenet is a truly bizarre one to me. A high level of convenience is bad? It pains me a little as it sounds almost like saying that accessibility is bad—accessibility is never bad. It's almost like you're saying that you feel that those coming into the game have too much, that they're allowed to do whatever they like to enjoy themselves... and that this is somehow bad? Why is being able to play a game your way bad? I'm sorry if you feel misconstrued here but I'm trying to understand. The vagueness really doesn't help you. > @"Lily.1935" said: > I have my own philosophies on what would make Guild Wars 2 a much better game, but all my ideas start with fixing the core game and the foundational game modes. Okay: _What are your philosophies?_ It'd be nice if you could tell us how to fix the things that are wrong with Guild Wars 2. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [i want PvP] That's basically all the next section says. I'm sorry, it isn't a popular mode. It isn't a profitable one. They tried. It failed. It was a failed effort. It's entitled to expect them to devote resources and manpower to something that only a tiny minority of those who're playing the game actually engage in. What have you for recompense? What amount can you offer commensurate to what they would have to do to meet your desires? Are you willing to fund this new PvP revitalisation out of pocket? All of this just to get to where I had a strong suspicion it was going to—I knew it was going to be about PvP or raids, and the entitlement that some players feel toward that which just doesn't bring in any money. I'm sorry, but ArenaNet is a business. I know it sucks. I'm socialist, so I get it. I know capitalism sucks. So we're faced with the very inevitable and unavoidable truth that they have to do what's profitable. If they don't, NCSoft—their owner—will eat them alive. Do you want a repeat of City of Heroes? > @"Lily.1935" said: > [i want harder content] I discussed this in another thread. This can't happen. Operant conditioning chambers—also known as Skinner boxes—never work out. It's because this addiction is a drug, and like with any drug you're always going to need a bigger hit. Today it's harder content, but what does that mean? It means bigger numbers. You want the enemies to have those, which in turn means that to get your dopamine buzz you'll want bigger numbers to reward you for your efforts. What happens then is that the game becomes too easy for you. Why do you think that they haven't added new armour tiers? It's because they seem to understand this, they have that awareness. Whenever an MMO does this, it gets to the point where they're unable to increase the difficulty or the rewards enough to sate the addicted. This makes their addicted players angry, so they end up stuck between putting ever-increasing resources into this problem or appealing to new customer demographics. The more you get the game that you want, the less that new players can play it because it becomes inaccessible. This is why your prior statement was confusing, you talk as though you want it to be inaccessible. I think you'll find that most don't want that, that's why it isn't profitable. I'm sorry that it isn't, but it isn't. They can't fix the "power creep," because no hardcore group out there wants just harder content. If they did? They could fix it themself! It's easy! Use weaker armour, use very odd builds which are unlikely to succeed. It isn't difficulty you seek, it's difficulty that implies better rewards. This becomes a cycle of difficulty and reward that's unsustainable. Every MMO developer has had to come to this conclusion. ArenaNet has chosen to break this cycle. Heh. Sorry. It's true, though. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [i want the game to coach players into joining our operant conditioning chamber] That's never going to happen for the reasons I just went over. I can see your angle now so at this point I'm just spelling it out. It was a lot of noise and empty words to get to this point, but this is your angle. You want your dopamine hit, via PvP or raids, via haves and have-nots. It's not popular! It's not profitable! You have to accept this. ArenaNet isn't coaching new players to get addicted to operant conditioning systems because it just isn't profitable. World of Warcraft was the flash in a pan magic that worked all but once, and only because people believed it had to be that way. Now we all know better. The MMOs that have survived are those which are very friendly to both solo/small group and casual play. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] weaving strikes into the leveling process where they would serve the players best, Except strikes aren't popular. The only ones that get played regularly are the easiest ones that can be soloed. It was the last gasp from the voices in ArenaNet who're ardent raid fans. Yes, ArenaNet has raid fans amongst its number but the undeniable truth is is that this content is not popular. Hard strikes aren't played. Try to find a strike group for any strike that can't be soloed! This has _nothing_ to do with players needing to be coached and _everything_ to do with how it just isn't popular. The majority don't like it. As I've said and I'll say again: The only MMOs that have survived are those that have become friendly to solo/small group play and casuals. You don't have to like it, you're not obliged to give ArenaNet your patronage, but you're also not entitled to be entitled. You're not profitable. If you were profitable, the game would be all about strikes and raids. The evidence can be found easily, here. Like I said, there are people like you within ArenaNet fighting for this, but it's not profitable, and they're having to face that too. Raids and strikes would sink ArenaNet. We'd all just go elsewhere if that was the only option and the game would lose 99 per cent of its audience overnight. Please let me stress one more time that this isn't hyperbole or exaggeration: If these could be successful, they would've been successful. If they could be profitable, they would've already been profitable. They're not. The harder strikes will be retooled to be soloable soon too, and they'll be quietly dropped as a failed experiment. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] forcing the players [...] _Noap._ Stop right there. You aren't entitled to demand that other players be forced to do what you like. Yes, that's how MMOs used to work, but to say this until I'm blue in the face—_that isn't profitable_. If it were, there'd be loads of operant conditioning chamber MMOs still alive, still addicting you, still trying to give you your dopamine hit. It's not ethical or empathetic to try to get others hooked on your addiction either, by the way. "Force the players" is the number one way any game will fail. I was confused ealrier about why you'd demand that people not be able to play as they want to, and here we are. Addiction. It's always addiction. It's unhealthy, you know? And it's unfair to expect others to join you in that addiction. It's wrong. I'm very passionate about this. I'm passionate about this because in chasing this magical unicorn, World of Warcraft resulted in suicides, loss of life, and even mothers letting their children starve. This is what an addiction does. An operant conditioning chamber is no different than any horrible drug. You lose sight of your life, your friends, your family, nothing matters beyond the addiction. No one should be "forced" into that. I'd say more, but I'm afraid I'd have stronger words than I'd be permitted to use here. I don't like encouraging addictions, especially not by force. Please just accept that these addictions need to die. I mean, all of the games that catered to these addictions have either moved on or died. Have you played WildStar recently? > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] if they do they should be rewards to dedicated players. Everything should be for the haves, nothing for the have-nots. That's going to be very profitable... Well, not really. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [the old levelling process] made you try things out. No... It really, really didn't. It just forced you to find a cookie-cutter build that was best suited to grinding through it. If you really want to try things out... _Try things out!_ You don't need an impetus. You have an imagination, use it. There are myriad madcap builds hardcore players have left untapped that would give them more challenge, variety, difficulty, and whatnot. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] I'd personally lock the player out of the PoF mounts and gliding until they reach level 80. _To what end?_ What would this accomplish? This is about dopamine again, isn't it? This is just more haves vs. have-nots. You want to prolong the status of the haves as long as possible in order to feel social superiority. That'd give you a dopamine buzz. The thing is? Feeding these addictions? It's not profitable! You talk a lot of empty words about the ongoing survival of ArenaNet, yet you want them to do everything that would alienate thier most profitable demographics. This is manipulative entitlement, it's framing the unprofitable desires of a minority as everything but. This would actively hurt the game. What about those new players you mentioned? Oh, they'd all be happy, would they, if when they started playing all mounts and gliding were shunted up to 80 and locked there? Oh yes, that'd make them happy. I'm being very sarcastic here if that isn't obvious... It would alienate them, they'd leave. > @"Lily.1935" said: > [...] no flashy abilities that was available to level 1-79 players [...] Which is just another appeal to being a have and forcing other players to be have-nots to feed your addiction, to get that dopamine buzz of social superiority. Not only is this unhealthy for you, it's unethical, it's unfair, and it's _not profitable_. > @"Lily.1935" said: > Could even be used as a part of the advertising campaign. How do you imagine this would go? Let's try... "As a part of its new initiative... Guild Wars 2 has locked everything fun behind the highest level of the game! You could glide at a much earlier level before, you could also have mounts with cool traversal abilities earlier too! Now you can't. Because hardcore players don't want you to. And we think that hardcore players know what you want!" That'd go down well with new players, I'm sure. > @"Lily.1935" said: > Advertising is another major weakness of the game. Everyone has to be told what to think by advertising. That worked out well for CD Projekt RED. > @"Lily.1935" said: > I want EoD to succeed. Do you? Do you really? I don't know if you know what you want. That's the problem. You have this weird disconnect and you don't seem to realise how unprofitable all of your demands are. The sad truth is is that End of Dragons would have a greater chance of success if it did the opposite of everything you've said. From an empathetic perspective? I don't like anything you've laid out. Enforcing a system of haves vs. have-nots so a minority can feel socially superior? Forcing players to wait arbitrarily to get things you have? Forcing players to get addicted to operant conditioning chamber schemes? Forcing players to group when they don't want to? Spending money on PvP systems that only a minority play? How will any of that "save" End of Dragons? > @"Lily.1935" said: > Arena net has broken promises before [...] ArenaNet has been a lot of different people. Execs, artists, writers, programmers, janitors, you name it. A number of reshuffles and big firing events have occurred. I was actually surprised that a certain exec whom I was never that fond of got fired too... So if they made those promises, you can't hold ArenaNet accountable. That's not how that works. They may not even know of the promises you think they've made. They're going to do whatever's best for the company. Hopefully that aligns with that I want from the game—but even if it doesn't? That's fine. I mean, I'll just stop playing and giving them money. I won't demand that they develop the game I want. I mean, I want the narrative to play out in a way where Jormag—and even Primordus, if possible—are okay. I like dragons. Even if they kill Jormag, though? It'd hurt me. I'd say that, yes. What I wouldn't do is demand that they tell the story that I want. I may not agree, but I wouldn't demand. That's the difference. I don't feel entitled to demand that they do what I want. They have to do whatever keeps them afloat. There are people at ArenaNet who have fairly stable jobs. I'm fond of a good number of them, especially on the creative team, so of course I want it to stay that way regardless of my feelings. I'd rather they have jobs than spare my feelings. That's more important. I've been told, in a roundabout way, that I needn't worry about the upcoming story. I won't hold them to that though because they might not have the authority to stay true to it if they get an executive mandate to change things. If there's a reshuffle, it may just entirely change the story. I can't make demands. They do what they think is best. That's the thing. I've seen promises too but I understand this. > @"Lily.1935" said: > There are problems in all game modes across all content in those game modes. Repeatedly stating something doesn't make it true, especially after coming clean with what you mean by that. > @"Lily.1935" said: > Glaring problems. And like it or not those problems are going to be some of the earliest things new players are going to face. Repeatedly stating something doesn't make it true, especially after coming clean with what you mean by that. I'm being a little tongue-in-cheek by repeating myself. Really though, what you want doesn't benefit new players in the least. It's actively detrimental to their health since you want to get them addicted to your drug. I think I'll leave it at that.

Here's a better question: _Why do we need **another** hostile entity when we already have one already that's pulling the strings?_ We witnessed it in LWS4. Unless we just believe everything we're told at face value as an objective truth—and no one should do that—it's kind of obvious from the story we experience ourselves that the torment isn't just "corrupted magic." It's an entity in and of itself. It's a brain parasite. For all we know, Mordremoth and Zhaitan were tormented. Kralkatorrik was the first time we saw what was driving dragons to be like this. What if Primordus is tormented? What if the deep sea dragon is tormented? What if we find a way to force the torment out of them, so that they ally with us? This could force the torment to find another way to enact its goal—entropy. The torment seems to seek the destruction of all things for the release of entropy, which might be its food source. All that it does could be towards this end, it's a parasite that destroys Universes in order to feed upon the release of entropic energies. An abstract predator. What is the torment, then? I think it could be the manifest will of the realm of torment. With all that's happened there, I wouldn't be at all surprised if a malevolent gestalt will had arisen. And it just wants to make suffering and death happen so that it can feed on the release of energies. What could happen following the freeing of dragons from torment is the torment playing its hand. Essentially, to defend its realm, the torment calls to the fore every tormented entity out there. This could include the Inquest, it could include the human Gods, it could include the Separatists. I mean, thanks to Jormag, the Renegades have been dealt with. The point is is that there could be an underlying reason for everything that's been occuring in Tyria, that reason could be torment. So the End of Dragons isn't about the death of dragons but rather their freedom from the grip of torment and their allegiance to our cause. When the torment plays its hand, it could be very interesting to find out just how many it's turned and tainted. It could make it a very difficult foe to fight since, in actuality, it wouldn't be the fault of those afflicted with torment—they're just puppets. That'd be an angle for the drama of dealing with the torment and why yet more flat-out murder isn't the answer. It might mean that we require more clever approaches, moving forward. Just a thought.

I'd love to see something based on kitsune folklore for the Mesmer. An elite specialisation that revolves around being tricksy, monkey's paw shenanigans, and illusory shapeshifting. Something that could really push the angle of _mesmerism_, allowing the Mesmer to be a true force of chaos on the battlefield. It's unlikely to have anything with mechanics as complicated as that would require, but it would be fun to see how far crowd control could be pushed.

I am pleased that ArenaNet were clever enough to separate the balance of PvE, PvP, and WvW. This is a highly intelligent choice that I wish any other MMO would've made. I've left titles before for trying to "balance" PvP and ruining PvE in the process. The problem is this: _Balance is an illusion._ Balance simply isn't real. What balance actually is is a very clever way of giving everyone their time in the sun on a rotation; This way, everyone gets to feel powerful for a while, underpowered for a while, and middle-of-the-road for a while. This is what every "balancing" team has ever done in any game I've ever played, it's about keeping the baying, braying masses docile by ensuring that no particular class—or profession—feels powerful for too long. The only true balance is rock, paper, scissors. This is why Pokémon and 1v1 fighting games fare so well. Indeed, if there one has a powerful means, that powerful means has a weakness or can be nullified by something else. This is the only way that any kind of balance can be achieved because all it does, really, is place balance within the hands of the players. It's up to the players to ensure there are enough rocks, papers, and scissors present within the field. I'm sure this is why any game that isn't focused around this venerable approach is probably envious of those that are. This is why tradeoffs won't work. It would break the cycle, you see. Whilst Jormag and I alike are all for the breaking of cycles, it would result in chaos, it'd leave the majority very upset, and the docility fashioned by the rotation of power would be lost. This is all that "balance" does for the most part. "_Okay, who's powerful in PvP this month? Right, let's jiggle their numbers up a bit and jiggle the numbers of major threats to them down a lot._" That's an oversimplification, yes, but that's ultimately all it is. I feel like I'm lifting the veil here and that that might be rather dangerous but... It's the same reason why cries for nerfs are ignored until it's that class's turn to be depowered in favour of some other class. It's the rotation of life, and it rules us all. Well, not _all_. Not PvE players. Thank Cael. You get the idea though.

The raider perspective is an interesting one and perhaps one not so commonly shared. I think the most genuinely interesting takeaway from the three years prior when this was posted was an assumption that one mightn't want to play "easy mode," as it were, indefinitely. That we should all want to ascend eventually. A curious notion. It's as though there isn't any reason to play other than for the sake of competition and to watch one's numbers growing ever bigger towards some kind of orgasmic finale that never truly occurs. It feels like raiding leaves one in a constant state of blueballs and perhaps that's the reason for the lack of interest—as the effort moves from play to work, and the joy deteriorates into chores, the pay-off then must be so remarkably great, unlike anything seen e'er before. Such a thing is unlikely, yes? At the end of the day, all one is left with is the operant conditioning chamber effect of watching numbers grow higher and that growing, encroaching, inevitable predator looming just over the horizon—the feeling you've been conned, that you've wasted your life, that this was a fruitless endeavour, and that perhaps a video game should never be mistaken for any act of worth. I'd imagine that most would play for other reasons. Curiosity, perhaps; simply for the fun, the novelty. Others might find they've become enthralled with the narrative. There are reasons beyond comeptition and numbers. I, myself, am a steadfast advocate of "easy mode" as a game is a game, and what worth hath a game if you're not having fun? The only assumption I can make is that this is felt by many, and thus why raiding lacks impetus or motivation for most. What, then, does this experience offer but a pale imitation of what can be done elsewhere? One tarred with frustration and marred with hostile interactions with others whom one might otherswise enjoy the company of. I'm sure that some might hear the sickly call of the raid, yet I'd surmise it isn't the desire for challenge they have, but rather lore, narrative, and novel experiences. They seek new content, not more difficult content, and if raids are indeed the last vestige of that once all else has been exhausted, even those who dislike them might become a little curious. I'd say that, indeed, adding an "easy mode" to existing raids and focusing on dungeons henceforth might be to ArenaNet's benefit. Gauche it might be to say, yet I will repeat myself, all raiding can do is lead to a case of blueballs—this operant conditioning chamber is akin to a drug. You need more. You will always need more. The challenge will never be enough, and the reward can never match what you feel you have earned, so only withdrawal from this addictive path lies ahead. It's not healthy, it's quite toxic, and in lesser games it has lead to deaths. Indeed, in World of Warcraft, a mother became so ensorcelled by the ways of the raid that she forgot to feed her children. It was a sorry fate that befell them, and I'd personally not see that soon repeated. To wit, the question must be raised: Is raiding healthy? Is it worth the cost? What is it that you truly get from the experience that you couldn't gain elsewhere? And indeed, its vile nature ensures that others are indentured to this task. Wouldn't you say that's a little unfair? When can they walk away? When it affects their job, their family, their health, their life? Questions like these are why clever companies have moved away from the raid. It brings attention that you sorely do not need. Entitlement was spoken of—indeed, that must be met. Truly, no one is entitled. So why is one entitled to a raid? Why is one entitled to bind others to the service of a guild for the purposes of these raids? The further we investigate, the more questions asked, the greater a folly it seems. This is why most do not raid. To bring down the difficulty of content that would lead to health concerns would only benefit ArenaNet's bottom-line. Yet to add difficulty, to create this indentured servitude, to have others bound to the point of poor health? This can only lead to bad press. If it is truly difficulty you seek, why not create your own? It's a fair question, yes? After all, I know it's a simple matter to _reduce_ one's numbers. If one were truly in it for merely the challenge alone, then one could seek the inverse-meta, find the least likely builds with which to brag about successes with. You could do that, yes? Except it isn't challenge you seek. If it were, you could do this. You could master the unlikeliest of champions—your task could be to find new, varied, and interesting ways in which to limit yourself. This isn't about limitation though, it's about excess... It's about the dopamine hit accompanied by rising numbers. Yet as I've said, this can only ever dampen over time... The next hit has to be ever greater, far more potent than the last. What then? Very hard? Extreme? Ultra-Extreme? X-Edition L33T? Where does this sordid road end? An addiction is an addiction and it is never healthy. There are already eyes on both mobile and online titles alike—to invite addiction and the poor health of players isn't really something ArenaNet would reasonably want to court, it wouldn't avail them of aught, this process could only be to their detriment. You must examine what it is you think you want, and then ruminate on whether you truly do indeed want it. The road to raid is paved with pathos, so let's not?

My partner had some interesting titbits to share regarding this apparently controversial topic too, I think I'll try and pass those along. I'll try and best explain their words as my own—they have even greater social anxiety than I, so I do this because they're often quite insightful. They brought to the fore women's suffrage—they made the point that the charr being unable to change their political systems would be akin to claiming that because women couldn't vote at one point, they shouldn't be able to vote now as all is immutable and nothing changes. The imperatorship system is a social construct—the charr becoming an ever more increasingly progressive race will soon turn away from tradition ever more toward pragmatism instead. The charr are incredibly pragmatic. I've pointed out prior—admittedly just to see how deep the Ascalonian fetishism runs—that the charr fahrar system is an incredibly clever, practical, and sensible one. Their flaw is separating children from their parents. However, if their parents aren't fit to raise a child then even _that_ is a worthwhile endeavour. I'd say though that if a couple can raise a child, they shouldn't get cut off. If you remove that particular aspect of the fahrar system, what you end up with is socialism. You have well-trained teachers and nannies whose job it is to raise young charr. There are aspects of charr culture that are absolutely prepped for evolving into systems highly reminiscent of socialism. If you look at how their social structures work now—even the lowest rank, plebeian, has entitlements. I'd say that a person without anything might do far better for themselves in the Black Citadel than in modern America. It's a hot-take but the treatment of people in America is poor. Whether it's healthcare, handling homeless people, or what-have-you. Very little spending. The point is is that there's a certain kind of care and sense to charr culture that doesn't have much truck with tradition. It's often tradition that leads to ritual sacrifices, drilling a hole in someone's head to let the evil spirits out, and other forms of foolishness. In most cases, tradition serves little to no purpose other than being a toxic factor within any culture that degrades its sense. I feel that this is a topic being discussed within The Icebrood Saga now and how the Spirits of the Wild (who _eat children_ I might add) have brainwashed the norn with all of this brain-rot about dying to become a legend. They've over-expressed the importance of traditions and superstitions as a means to control the norn. I think that this is why—now having been given the choice—Jormag chose a charr champion. Jormag seems to be fond of sensible, rational thinking and they do not like tradition or superstition. Yes, I admit they can be helpful tools for learning but their importance is always so excessively over-emphasised in any culture that relies on them. They're a crutch. Traditions are what you do if you don't have any better ideas than those a thousand years outdated, which is a little... Hm. A woman not being able to vote was a tradition that made little sense. It's since changed. The charr forcing women into kitchens made little to no sense, so that changed—Effram sees the sense in this as the women of his branch of the Flame legion are free to choose for themselves, you hear their thoughts being shared regarding this in Grothmar and the general consensus is that they're very happy about having basic free will. The charr aren't biologically compelled to obey someone of the khan-ur's bloodline. It's not biological. It is just a social construct. A tradition. They change, laws change, times change, people change, everything changes. The charr are better than needing traditions like that to decide their leadership, so this would be a good time to discard those very pointless old traditions in favour of better systems. Riddle me this: If the outcome of choosing by bloodline results in Bangar and Smodur, what worth has bloodline? Frankly, I wouldn't even be surprised if Malice isn't of the bloodline, either. Being Ash, she could've easily fudged it. I really want that to be a thing and I hope it is, that young Malice snuck into the legion's records rooms and added herself to the list of charr supposedly derived from that bloodline in order to give herself a shot at imperatorship. That's a very Ash legion thing to do. I'd love that. The point is is that the blood of the khan-ur might not be quite the hot shit it's cracked up to be. So choosing leaders via other means going forward would probably be better. This isn't a retcon, that's like saying women's suffrage was a "retcon." It's the charr peoples changing as a society, as a culture. It's progress. Progress isn't a retcon. Progress is life. If you're not moving forward, you're dead. Yes, there's definitely a good case to be made for not rushing things, but after the amount of time the charr have been using this sytem I wouldn't exactly say they would be rushing into something different. For me, this is actually really cool! I mean, how often do we get to see the evolution of a species in a video game? Often, they're very one-dimensional and one-note. I mean, look at any Elder Scrolls race. ESO did a little to fix that but it's still leagues behind what Guild Wars 2 has achieved. It's tiring to have nothing change—In World of Warcraft, nothing's relaly changed and they keep retreading old glories, that's how it is in most of these games. It's nice to have one that does acknowledge that change exists.

Gosh, this is an interesting thread. Nice post, Kossage. I once had a friend that said that the majority of video game loremasters make for poor historians—the reason they give for this, as a historian themself, is that loremasters oft look at information given to them in a purely objective way. A historian has to realise that much of the accounts they'll read are very subjective depictions slanted by the perspectives, biases, and politics of the writers. A while back I called ArenaNet on this. In fact, I called out Tom Abernathy very directly. I was all "Hey Tom! You guys write subjective lore to drive people nuts!" and he said "100 per cent!" True story. I mean, it's up to you if you believe it or not. I've seen this with many games prior—the belief that anything written provides an objective truth that's writ in stone as a commandment from the deity of lore their very self and cannot—under any circumstances—be perceived in any other way, changed, or rewritten lest one commit the sin of retcon! It's silly. I think it's silly. I've been told that I need to specify when it's that I think something even though this confuses me as all I think is what I think, it is my mind thinking it. Neurotypicals are strange. The point I'm making here is that were one to look at human history, it is indeed a measurably mutable thing that twists, turns, and shifts with every new piece of evidence we discover. This is true of all aspects of reality. I mean, can you imagine that anyone ever really believed that wolf packs had alphas? That was so ludicrous, anyone who'd ever spent any time with a pack of wolves would know so. Very silly. Just as silly as believing that you wouldn't find a woman on a viking ship. It's silly now because we've learned better, but at the time some would've sworn that. Humans often get attached to strange ideas as objective truths up until reality bashes them over the head with evidence that suggests they were wrong about everything. This is something that a good scientist is always prepared to accept—times change, and so do we, so must we. So must all. Reality, too. Every thought you've ever had is in the past, we move forward at the speed of light. Getting too attached to what you believe has any sense of objectivity is folly. I mean, objectivity in and of itself is a subjective assumption agreed upon by the gestalt, isn't it? What else could it be? A fact is just the best idea we have, and nothing more. I wouldn't normally have such a philosophical discussion—yes I would, I live and breathe these, so I can't say that—but I feel it's necessary here to point out that the Ecology of the Charr doesn't matter. _It does not matter._ It's nothing more than an idea of how people were. In that sense and only in that sense it's useful, but it's an idea of how something _was_ a long time ago. It's so easy to become outdated and outmoded if you allow yourself to become attached, that's why I'm still hip and radical with the youth these days. Probably not. The point is—which I do like to say a lot—that the charr are a people and people change, times change, the world changes, everything changes around the charr so the charr too must be mutable and they too must change. Much has already changed for the charr, they've met the Olmakhan, the Flame legion has returned to the fold, and I strongly suspect that there might soon be a Frost legion as well—I think this dichotomy would amuse the ArenaNet writers too much to resist and I support them wholeheartedly in their endeavours as a Jormag proselytiser. That said, I am uncertain as to whether Crecia will be the Blood legion imperator. I do wonder if that's going to end up being Rytlock once he retains his confidence. I mean, it might be, I don't know, but I wonder if a greater station awaits Crecia. Crecia has a level-headedness that I admire. Yes, she got hacked by Bangar to breathlessly defend him but so do a lot of people. Neurotypicals seem to have no defence when it comes to the manipulations of psychopaths—I imagine a lot of that is that you have what I'd describe as Psychopathy Target Error, you perceive autistic and socially anxious traits as those of dangerous intent without realising that a predator would perfectly evolve to predate upon you, they wouldn't behave in such unusual ways. Where was I? Right! I don't blame Crecia for what happened with Bangar because that's something I've observed quite often. Hopefully she knows better now. No, I suspect a loftier station might wait for Crecia, she has my vote for khan-ur. Will there be a khan-ur? _Why wouldn't there be a khan-ur?_ Is it because there hasn't been? Why is that a good reason for there to not be one? Times change as so too must the charr, the world is quickly evolving around them and they have to evolve with it. I mean, that's the point isn't it? They can't be all _Ecology_ forever. They're changing, everything tends to do that. All living things must. You aren't the person that was born with your name, after all. Everything in your body has changed and you are no longer that person, you're a new person with the name and the identity but everything in your body has changed. We all change all the time. I feel like I'm about to go off on a Matt Smithian ramble about the evolution of identity but I won't. Just... Matt Smith's regeneration is a good touchstone for this. Moffat was quite exceptionally good at relevant speeches. History doesn't really matter in any sense other than to understand who we were—we do need to understand that, yes, otherwise we'll be the worst of things again. However, at the same time we cannot be chained by history. It isn't an objective thing that exists in a constant state of stagnancy. Even Jormag is changing; After all, they now know what it feels like to do a wheelie in a doom buggy and I envy them. Lucky Frost legion engineers. That looks like so much fun. So, yes. The charr mustn't be chained by the _Ecology_ or any other source. They decide upon what's right for themselves, as a people. To be wound up in superstition and lore to the point where you can't think outside of that box is... unfortunate. It isn't so much that the writers are "discarding the holiness of the objective lore," but rather that they're also quite cognizant of how the charr are an evolving people who needn't obey every little pointless tradition.

I mean, if ArenaNet were up for adding new weapons, it'd be entirely valid for them to have crossbow gauntlets if Assassin was added as a class or elite specialisation to Cantha. Or do we already have Assassin? I forget. I don't think we do? Do we? Hm. Anyway! Yes, crossbow gauntlets—or _wristbows_, if you are so inclined—are a thing, actually a thing. They've been picking up popularity of late. Even the werewolf fellah in that new game about werewolves and the environment—Earthblood—uses one. It would—I would imagine, at least—be quieter than a pistol and probably more appealing to the whole Assassin aesthetique. It'd certainly make a lot more sense than spring-mounted blades popping out from where a chopped off finger might otherwise be. That's very silly. I mean, it might be actually based upon something for all I know... though it's still rather silly. Though who am I to talk being a dragon-worshipping humongous cat-hyena beast? Finger knives for everyone! Though, less facetiously? Silencers wouldn't be unheard of. ...which is a really funny sentence that I didn't actually intend but I'm owning it and running with it. Haa. I really shouldn't laugh at my own unintentional jokes. Where was I? Right! Rule of Wonder, I suppose. I mean, with all the shenanigans and whoziwotsits that we have running arounds-and-abouts in Tyria right now? Silencers wouldn't be out of place. I think the Luxans pioneered cannon technology so they might've done pretty sweet things with gunpowder-barrel weapons in the interim. Or they might've stagnated and tehy're using crossbow gauntlets now! I'm sorry, I'm not sure why I'm fixating on those. It's not like I'd actually ever play anything other than some flavour of Mesmer. I'm an emotional baby... I'm not going to _kill_ anything, no it's just taking a forced nap. I'd be a really bad Assassin. So, yes. Live your dream. I couldn't see why silencers wouldn't fit. I mean, like I said, Luxans love their gunpowder. They were called Luxans, yes? I'm not entirely invested in most of the human lore beyond the Elonians so I'm not certain if that's what they were called. Hey, Draxynnic? Luxans, yes? Luxans? Cannon-people? Yes? So, there you go. Fat lot of good this post was. Sorry, I'm more interested in dragons.

I the _Rule of Wonder_ applies here, and it all comes down to how well it's implemented. I'm not sure if that rule actually exists, mind you! I surmise that it does. There are rules of Cool and Fun. If it does not, use TVTropes or a similar analogue and fashion your own supposition as to how a Rule of Wonder would work. The point is? Wonder is the dominating force. This is an extremely vertical tank with a lion face. How does it stay upright? Dunno! It doesn't matter, really, as the rules of another reality need not match our own. So long as _internal consistency_ is on point, anything can and will be possible because that's just more compelling to the kinds of people who enjoy these settings. In fact, at one point there was no "Fantasy" genre, there was only "Science-Fiction." The Tolkienesque perspective of separation came later. I know Tolkien isn't to blame for this directly as he didn't create this separation; He did, however, popularise it. Earlier settings would play around with the concepts of Fantasy and Science, often blurring the line. A truly fantastic example of this is Anne McAffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, where whether the setting is perceived as Fantasy or Science-Fiction would be down to which era you were reading about. Such as—caveat lector but five decades is long enough to not have to worry about spoilers, I'd think—_before or after_ they discovered that there are spaceships and that dragons are genetically engineered creatures. In more recent years we've seen the lines blur again as I feel most have become tired with the... _stark_ separation between the two, desiring a _merging of the realms_ if you will. (No one's going to get that reference, even were I to belabour it to say it's been a _journey_ getting here.) Hm. There have been clumsier applications of this creative amalgamation, popularising the combination of the two as though it were an original idea, and they've paved the way for stronger examples of how the genre used to be. Loathe as I am to admit it, World of Warcraft likely played a large role by... Well, ripping off Warhammer wholesale. Blizzard's always been better at marketing the stolen works of others than their original creators ever were. So, what does this gun do? Does it make sense? Rule of Wonder. There's probably some in-Universe explanation that doesn't have to have anything to do with ours. How did that norn leap five miles across a gorge, at such a bizarre trajectory, only to land gracefully on their feet without breaking their legs? I mean, I don't know if that's actually happened in Guild Wars as it's hyperbole, but knowing the norn it _probably_ has. How does this spell work? How do you summon food out of the aether? How does this gun work? Rule of Wonder. Guild Wars 2 has played with some interesting perspectives of this as well as there's th dark side of the Rule of Wonder. If you're playing with things you truly don't understand, it might just blow up in your face. It might just blow up into a very ornery, upset, and murderous flame elemental. I think the asura might know a thing or two about that. I'd say lately they've gotten better about their scientific practises when dealing with dangerous and poorly understood forces. There is a dark side to wonder indeed. I think this is represented by the torment and the tumultuous nature of magicks and magical creatures within the realm of Tyria. I mean, I would trust the norn Spirits of the Wild as far as I could throw them. Skeevy doesn't even begin to encapsulate tehir manipulative, narcissistic, and sadistic mores. This tumult has lead to questioning whom can be trusted where magicks are involved. I know that we all have our opinions about that! That's how it is, though, with so little understood it always invites an air of mystery and you will have to suspend your disbelief with what's possible because with warped physics and magicks in the mix there's no essentially valid comparison to be made between our reality and theirs. If you can shield yourself in magic and leap great distances, there's no reason not to throw yourself at a tank. If you can get a lanky tank to stand upright so that it can fit through all but the tightest of alleyways then you might as well do that too. If you can have a metallic car with giant, equally metal wheels do wheelies then _why the heck not?_ All bets are off. The point is is that anything we could draw from our reality probably isn't directly applicable to theirs due to the massive number of different and new variables in play. If the charr managed to figure out quantum computing due to quirks in their reality that enabled them to do it quicker than we have in ours, it can't really be questioned because—to say it again—such comparisons aren't useful. It's like being irate that the charr have evolved so quickly in technological fields without taking into account the differences in physics, physical reality, and magicks that's come over silly to me in the past. We can't expect things to just work the way they do in our reality. The part I find especially fun is how the Rule of Wonder applies to technology as well as magicks, much as it has in some of my favourite settings, which is always worth taking into consideration. How can you throw a fireball? Rule of Wonder. How can that fireball be withstood by a tank? Rule of Wonder. There's probably some material that has anti-magic properties. This is, in fact, true. Materials in Guild Wars have been shown to have either magical or anti-magical properties—ghosts cannot pass through black iron, which is precisely why the Black Citadel is made from the stuff. So warfare systems in our world might not be applicable. If you were to have trenches, it'd be a simple matter for an Elementalist to flood them with lava—or water! Plain old water is good too. _But then you have to consider that the charr could also probably drive one of their super-lanky all-terrain tanks down into enemy trenches as well, since it'd fit._ It's just a funny mental image, it makes me giggle, you wouldn't want to be in trenches with one of those. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Black Citadel can transform into the bloody Technodrome. I think that this is why the most applicable warfare types just seem to involve a mix of guerilla tactics and everyone just scampering off everywhere in a mad free for all because it's just chaos. That's just how it is. It's more fun that way, I think.

Hm. The art fits in with a new direction that I've had an inklling that ArenaNet is taking for a little while, now. One that's at once more compatible with an Asian audience, but also a younger Western audience as well. The audience they've courted up until now with the stories the old narrative team were telling had lead to a lot of stagnation. The shift really began with LWS4 and it's been on course ever since then. It's a very different direction than the original, vanilla game intended and even Heart of Thorns. There were hints of it in Path of Fire but that was still—I feel—a transitionary period. It's a good move, I feel, since in the current climate it's more desirable to have a setting and story that's less edgy, dark, and focused on horrors and suffering. I feel that people have had to face how problematic our own world is lately, so a more positive bent on storytelling would be perhaps a little more welcomed. It's a hunch, but it's definitely the feeling I get. They've been a little bit experimental on their way there but... I do think that's the destination. I trust them with it.

I think the point of all this is to put an end to all the petty squabbling. Those who lead the narrative at ArenaNet now aren't those who once did, which is why things are so different. At the time of launch, the team of yore seemed to revel in the in-fighting between the races, even encouraging players to think in the same ways. This had further ignited the hostility toward charr from those who were only given the very one-sided, human-focused Ascalon perspective in the original Guild Wars titles. This hostility was one factor that lead to people bouncing out of the game, another was that the charr at launch—whilst very industrially advanced—were very one-dimensional and focused upon war. This meant that very few people played the charr. I feel that what we see now is a new narrative team trying to fix the errors wrought by their forebears, so they've laid the foundation for a new path for the charr. From what I've seen, I feel much the same is true for the other races as well. This might be a bit of a hot-take but... At launch? I couldn't stand the asura. They were all annoying sociopaths with "yo mama" jokes who'd slit one another's throats to steal their research, no empathy whatsoever. Admittedly, the asura in the original Guild Wars didn't fare much better, but it was as though they took their worst qualities and just amplified them excessively, to make them as obnoxious as possible. I mean, this was true of all races, it wasn't just the asura who got the short end of the stick. The charr were industrial edgelords, the sylvari were pure chosen ones, the asura were obnoxious corporate brats, the norn were moronic alcoholics, and the humans were self-important, narcissistic, bumbling nobles. It wasn't a good look for any race, if I'm honest. It wasn't a good time and I wasn't really a fan of it—I feel it lead to everyone trying to argue that their race was the least bad. At least I'm not as bad as X. That's not an especially engaging experience. I do feel that the current narrative team has been left to clean-up duty and I feel bad for them. What I will say though is that they've come leaps and bounds with really changing the perspectives of each and every race for the better. I mean, Path of Fire alone did so much to fix humans—of all ethnicities. I loved the Elonians especially though, they were wonderful. Taimi, Gorrik and more recent asura encounters have been a far, far more positive experience, taking what was likable about them and amping that instead. I'm a massive fan of Taimi and Gorrik—especially considering that I'm autistic myself and they feel spot on. Taimi's almost excessive empathy tempered only by rationality is... Let's just say that I appreciate it. They've done so much to improve the asura that they've since ended up my second-favourite race behind the charr. I didn't think I could like the asura before more recent events and Canach's fantastic showings but... I do. That Heart of Thorns laid off the chosen one angle a bit helped. This brings us to the charr. The charr have been advancing rapidly with industry and technology especially, I think that this is to show in-part that there's more to their race than just war. The Olmakhan existed to prove this point as well, by having a gathering of charr who were focused around nature magicks—or, let's not beat around the bush, that were hippies. They were hippie druid charr. I was there for that, too. I'll admit that early charr were very one-dimensional, as I said, so they needed a lot of rounding out. The current storyline is to take away the old, tired, tired, old, tired, belaboured, old, tired, tired, and old, and tired, and belaboured, and tired, and belaboured—as much as this sentence is—narrative of charr and human hostility. Any charr that might've been a threat to the treaty is gone. The most warlike charr leaders are gone. The leaders we have now—Mia, Malice, Crecia, Rytlock, Effram, and Ryland—are much more level-headed. The focus on technology is meant to show us explicitly that there's more to the charr than war. Their advancements through industrialised technology rival those of the asura's through magicks. And whilst we're seeing the best side of all of the races, we're also seeing that past animosity has been left firmly in the past. There are bigger problems to deal with than political squabbles fuelled by the narcissism and sociopathy of egomaniacal leaders, it's folly to focus on that when the world has bigger problems to be dealt with. I'd say it's idiocy at best. The races have been helping one another and they stand on more equal footing, there's no longer a case of any one race being the chosen race. This is also why it was incredibly important—and clever—to use the charr for both the antagonists of part of this story, but also as the heroes. It needed to be that way, much in the same way that we needed a charr dragon champion. I feel that's a trend we're going to see continue as time goes on. As we find a way to purify, redeem, and bring dragons into balance, it'll help further unite the races by the examples of their respective champions. It's my hopet hat Jormag is on the level, just as it is that Braham will be taken as the champion of Primordus only to help us purify that dragon later. I mean, after a fair share of drama first of course. The thing is? Aside from certain kinds of personalities, for most I don't think it's fun to be at odds. I don't want to be and I don't think most do. I look at outliers like the Ascalonian fans as just that, outliers. I don't think everyone is quite nearly as obsessively fanatical. I'm really, really happy about this. So no, we don't need to worry about conflict between the charr and humans any longer because that's a tired, old, old, tired, belaboured, old, beating-a-dead-and-necrotised-horse-only-to-have-Joko-raise-it-again-to-beat-it-again-and-having-a-Chronomancer-lock-this-event-in-a-temporal-loop-of-forever-beating-a-dea—_let's not_. The five races are cool with one another, and the five races are cool. So let's let that be that. They're all family now. They've accepted one another's differences and they're forging onward toward a better future. It's a good example to follow.

An interesting necro thread to be sure. I'm obviously in the camp of Jormyjorms. I found them fascinating from the very beginning of the Icebrood Saga. There was a certain... It's difficult to articulate and I feel it's something that only a highly-sensitive person who understands tone would be able to relate to but... I heard a hopelessness yet detrmination, bitterness, jaded, and yet a strong will to not give up despite that. I heard "suffering" and all I could think is that most neurotypicals will hear this and believe it's meant to sound intimidating—it doesn't, it sounds impained, like Jormag has somehow felt so many deaths and they can't get it to stop. They're a very tragic figure that I've felt much empathy for. The same tone can be heard every time they talk, but perhaps most pronounced in "Maybe you should listen." There's this idea that only glorious mortals could aid an elder dragon's development so they'd want to preserve and share magic rather than just devour the world—which clearly isn't true anymore as Jormag got to that point themself. The most telling thing was that instead of murdering Bangar, they collared him. Jorms understands that many people are wired to obey psychopathic charisma (this is true of real world humans as well, which explains the lack of interest in climate change, our corporate capitalist hellscape, pretty much every war we've ever had, among many other things), so with a charismatic psychopath like Bangar... his words can kill. His words are actual deadly weapons of mass destruction. Jormag could've killed Bangar but instead they collared him—this is an obvious statement of intent, I feel that Jorms wants to try and redeem Bangar so that that this charisma of his, this charisma that so many are wired—blindly driven—to obey can be used for more empathetic means. This has done much to show Jormag's nature, they have a strange interest in empathy and as I said I feel it comes from their power, a problematic power that allows them to touch the minds of others. It's not mind-control, mind you, nor is it any kind of influence. It's persuasion, the lead writer told us that much. Similarly, Jormag is incapable of lying and deceit, they're very straightforward in what they want. That people believe they're deceitful is reflective of a certain irony that I've experienced—a crowd of neurotypicals is more likely to believe a self-interested, greedy psychopath than a highly-sensitive empath. It's charisma. The way they smile (which always struck me as predatory), faux acts of generosity, and I've seen neurotypicals just fall over backwards, flailingly eager to obey. I mentioned that I find Jormag to be a tragic character and I do. I hope things will improve for them now that old prejudices have been set aside, they deserve that—The reason they're tragic is because the spirits of the wild are [censored]. No, they're really, deeply unpleasant creatures. I know, beautiful, lovely, noble animals... "Gosh, they absolutely must be good, right? They have to be! They're so pretty! So the monstrous dragon therefore must be the representation of evil!" That isn't shallow at all. Except what I've seen is that the spirits of the wild are crazed egomaniacs! "Throw your lives away for my amusement! Go off on quixotic quests and tilt at windmills, perhaps even die to prove that you're as strong as my totem's animal, as me! Yes, do this for me. For my ego. For my vanity. For my narcissism. Go and die. If you don't, you'll become a legend and claim my form!" This lead to a toxic culture amongst the norn where everyone was trying to outdo the next in throwing their lives away. Where their culture could've been dedicated to story, song, and sculpture, it's now a mess of violent, meat-headed toxicity. Thanks spirits! If I were an empathetic dragon forced to watch this mess, to endure the experience of all these deaths, to see all of this lost potential over the aeons as these fragile mortals just tossed themselves into the blender? I'd want to eat the spirits too! We learn from Asgeir's journal that it wasn't the spirits who lead the norn South, but rather Jormag themself. Similarly, I'd strongly suspect that Jormag was kodan too before the koda were stolen away from them by xenophobic paranoia. There are some kodan NPCs that wonder this themselves and I definitely think it's likely. Jormag has wanted nothing else other than preservation—they've been particularly specific about that point. They don't want to die, they don't want you to die, they don't want the kodan or the norn to die, they don't want anyone to die, they'd just like it if everyone could perhaps stop being so foolish. If you could all just stop obsessing about making others dead, that'd be lovely, thanks. Jormag has had to protect both themselves and their kids from a constant onslaught of idiot norns trying to be a legend. In the trailer I feel we hear some of Jormag's fears shared, that they will outlive all of those they have sworn to protect. That they might not die but all that they love and value might. The next clue in all of this is in the meta-event involving the Claw of Jormag. It's clear that the Claw is terrified of the players and the charr army, yet they don't want you to murder their mom. So they stand and fight even though they're scared out of their wits. Initially you see them hiding behind an icy pillar, and when that pillar is brought down they take to the skies in blind fear. Their wings are clipped and they're brought down, only to have an anxiety attack on the ground before they're murdered. I watched that event and I could never take part in it. It's just too painful. There's a point where you wonder just how common a lack of empathy is... It was really painful to see just how out of his mind petrified the Claw of Jormag was. Now, it's finally being accepted that Jormag can be an ally because they're just like Aurene. They didn't need a special upbringing for it, they just have empathy, they want to see life preserved because they can't stand the alternative. They loathe watching so many civilisations brought low as part of the broken cycle Tyria has endured for so long, they say as much. All along, they've tried to tell us that they just want to help but because of how they look, how they speak, and how their powers are? Well... There's just a strong undercurrent of prejudice there. I spoke with Tom Abernathy about this, the lead writer, to find out just how much of what I managed to glean was indeed correct. For what he could tell me, I was right about a few things. Jormag is meant to be representative of the plural state. For those not familiar with pluralism, you can look it up. As someone who is plural, I recognised this almost immediately. I also wondered if Jormag was meant to come across as autistic, he had said that this wasn't intentional but he's interested in the parallels. I feel that having heard Jormag speak in Champions, they've leaned into this as their matter-of-factness and jaded tiredness regarding small-minded tribal bigotries is... very autistic. Superstitions et al. I've found that I relate to Jormag and Ryland more than any other character in Guild Wars 2. I've seen a lot of loss myself, I know of the fragility of mortal existence, and how frivolous humans are with being ready to throw that away for the vanity of a sociopathic master. I've seen and experienced a lot of suffering myself and I would want to see it end as well, I wouldn't want to see more of either death or suffering... I'm tired of how little humans value life. I've come to love Ryland as well... "You'll see your city restored to you." "You can't promise that!" "'Course I can, I'm the champion of Jormag!" There's something about that that feels so pointedly fed up with how Dragon's Watch and Aurene tend to swerve between inaction and then war resulting in lots of death rather than being proactive and trying to deal with threats before they can get out of hand. Jormag's definitely a bit of a helicopter parent when it comes to looking out for these witless mortal children who're just so ready to obey charismatic psychopaths but I don't mind that. I enjoy their presence. I hope it won't be short-lived. So, Jormag then... For being so damn relatable.

Jormag: I'm not the real threat. Also Jormag: Hi, I'm not the threat, here. Jormag Again: Oh hi, I know you want to murder me and my kids for some reason that seems to stem from simple-minded black & white prejudice, but I'm not the threat. Jormag, Once Again: There's an actual threat that lurks just over the horizon and it isn't me. Claw of Jormag: I'm scared of you but please don't kill my mom. Jormag, Again Again: So, you may not have noticed but I don't want to fight you. A world-ending threat is knocking at your door. Hello this is Jormag, Again: Right, look, my brother is about to awaken and he's going to make a lot of fiery explosions happen and a lot of people are going to be very dead. Yes... Jormag Again: Will. You. People. Listen. Your inaction and tilting at icy windmills will result in so much d—Oh, too late. Here are the destroyers. I bloody tried to warn you. Honestly, I don't think that Primordus was any kind of surprise. Jormag has been telling us that this would happen since the beginning of the Icebrood Saga. It's just that the Commander is a bit dim. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I SHOULDN'T LOUDLY ANNOUNCE THAT YOU'RE A SPY NEXT TO A BUNCH OF JOKO GUARDS?" (I'll never let that go.)