Astral and Stellar weapons sets

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

> @"Vavume.8065" said:

> I hate the stellar set, once again Anet forcing pink and purple down my throat, it seems like every single weapon they make these days is pink or purple, I'm just waiting for the day when they remember how to make masculine weapons...

 

Then you should like the color pink for males since pink used to be masculine and blue feminine. (Red was warlike and pink is a lighter red. Blue was considered to be a dainty color suitable for girls). So you can use the Stellar weapons with pink effects, and still be a man.

[Khisanth.2948]

But they are purple and not pink ...

[Tails.9372]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> You mean you exchanged them to the NPC for something? They can’t be sold directly for gold.

Of course they can, only certain items can't be sold but Kralkatite Ore isn't one of them.

[Ayrilana.1396]

Since branded are purple/pink, are they feminine enemies since purple/pink weapons are feminine?

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

Too brass looking for me in the top picture.

And way too much glowing in the bottom picture.

 

Not for me I would say. That and the blue is only in purple.

[Vavume.8065]

> @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > @"Vavume.8065" said:

> > I hate the stellar set, once again Anet forcing pink and purple down my throat, it seems like every single weapon they make these days is pink or purple, I'm just waiting for the day when they remember how to make masculine weapons...

>

> Then you should like the color pink for males since pink used to be masculine and blue feminine. (Red was warlike and pink is a lighter red. Blue was considered to be a dainty color suitable for girls). So you can use the Stellar weapons with pink effects, and still be a man.

 

Except I don't live in the past...

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

> @"Vavume.8065" said:

> > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > > @"Vavume.8065" said:

> > > I hate the stellar set, once again Anet forcing pink and purple down my throat, it seems like every single weapon they make these days is pink or purple, I'm just waiting for the day when they remember how to make masculine weapons...

> >

> > Then you should like the color pink for males since pink used to be masculine and blue feminine. (Red was warlike and pink is a lighter red. Blue was considered to be a dainty color suitable for girls). So you can use the Stellar weapons with pink effects, and still be a man.

>

> Except I don't live in the past...

 

I kind of agree.

When I think of pink, I can only think of feminine.

 

Mood slime is female, right? My 1st thought when I think of pink is mood slime.


 

[Erasculio.2914]

Ugh, I hate the way we get those weapons.

 

* First, we have to do a time-gated collection. There's pretty much no reason for the time gate; it's just a way to very artificially increase the game's longevity

 

* Amazingly, ArenaNet has found a way to add FedEx quests to the game. Each step in the (time-gated) collection requires the player to do a trivial, annoying activity, between "kill X branded" and "fetch this item for me"

 

* Then, once the collection is done, it's time to craft the weapons. Each Astral weapon requires 500 - yes, 500, two full stacks - of both Krak ore and Powdered Rose Quartz. Now, right now the only source of Powdered Rose Quartz are the meteors. Which means...

 

* Meteor hunting time! And really, this has to be one of the worst kinds of content in the game. The meteors fall more or less once every 20 minutes (different times at different maps, unlike most meta events, so no timers for them). To get the rarer materials, more than one player need to tag the meteor site with the gizmo's skill 5, which costs 3.000 volatile magic. Which means, to have a reasonable chance to get a small amount of that material of which you need 500 (for one weapon), you need more than one player who have paid 3000 volatile magic hunting the meteors that fall every 20 minutes

 

* And once you have overcome the time-gated grind, the FedEx grind and the meteor hunting grind... Each Astral weapon (those are the exotics, not the ascended) require 55 globs of ectoplasm. 55! For a single weapon. You can buy your ectos, but just for the records, they are one of the grindiest materials in the game - with a random chance to drop after salvaging a rare item

 

I'm sure ArenaNet is patting themselves on the back for making such a "fun" "scavenger hunt", but really, those weapons are just a massive, poorly disguised grind.

 

A few of the skins are nice, but the Stellar weapons are very weird - the purple/pink glow doesn't really fit the golden/yellow weapons.

 

Do you know what would make the insane grind somewhat worth it? If we could actually dye those weapons, just like we could dye weapons in the original Guild Wars. Not even the purple/pink effects, just the weapons themselves.

 

This is not an example of great content implemented in the game - it's one of the worst pieces of "content" (read: grind) to ever be implemented in the game. How far have we fallen that people are congratulating themselves over having this instead of the skin being a BLC exclusive.

[DarcShriek.5829]

> @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > @"Vavume.8065" said:

> > I hate the stellar set, once again Anet forcing pink and purple down my throat, it seems like every single weapon they make these days is pink or purple, I'm just waiting for the day when they remember how to make masculine weapons...

>

> Then you should like the color pink for males since pink used to be masculine and blue feminine. (Red was warlike and pink is a lighter red. Blue was considered to be a dainty color suitable for girls). So you can use the Stellar weapons with pink effects, and still be a man.

 

So what if pink used to be masculine it isn't now. Just like the internet used to not be available, but it is now. Things change. We send email on the internet, not letters through the post office.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

> @"DarcShriek.5829" said:

> > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > > @"Vavume.8065" said:

> > > I hate the stellar set, once again Anet forcing pink and purple down my throat, it seems like every single weapon they make these days is pink or purple, I'm just waiting for the day when they remember how to make masculine weapons...

> >

> > Then you should like the color pink for males since pink used to be masculine and blue feminine. (Red was warlike and pink is a lighter red. Blue was considered to be a dainty color suitable for girls). So you can use the Stellar weapons with pink effects, and still be a man.

>

> So what if pink used to be masculine it isn't now. Just like the internet used to not be available, but it is now. Things change. We send email on the internet, not letters through the post office.

 

It changed within the life of people still living and could change back again within the lives of people living now, since it’s an arbitrary designation. Which means guys who don’t want to used pink now because it’s “feminine” might be complaining later in life that the game they play has too many feminine blue weapons and not masculine pink.

 

(Or maybe they’ll realize at that point that assigning gender to wavelengths of photons is silly and use whatever color they like best)

[Lunarlife.5128]

Personally I think they are awesome, rewarding, and cool even if I never will do one.

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"Erasculio.2914" said:

> Ugh, I hate the way we get those weapons.

>

 

I agree that getting them involves a grind that at-times isn't fun at all (waiting for meteors to drop)

Making it easier to know when a meteor drops would allow players to participate in the other activities on the map, without the need to constantly check the tool if a meteor fell or not. That would take away my most serious complaint about the weapons.

 

That said, I prefer getting weapons in-game rather than the gem store, and adding a subtle lore quest in getting them is a very nice touch. I applaud the decision to add them, and use such a method of acquisition, although the grind part does need work.

Of course not everyone would like the skins, as many made it clear in this thread, however that's true for the black lion weapons too. I can't remember when was the last time I liked a black lion weapon set, because most of the time they feel disconnected. The astral and stellar skins are very well themed for a reward of Astralarium, plus they have a constellation particle effect.

[lokh.2695]

It's a set on par in flashyness to the stuff they usually put on the gemstore and it's a "complete"(I assume there are no UW weapons to this set) set. I'm very happy with this, wether I like the skins or not, this is a positive developpement. Of course it's a material/gold sink, it has to be. There have to be these sinks so the virtual things you collect have any value at all.

I like that there are some collections behind it and that you need to spend some time on the new map. It gives the weapons a bit of story and personality down the road, when you'll see someone with that skin in a year, you will either remeber Istan or maybe ask where the skin is from and make the person remeber. Far better than "Oh yeah, I bought the skin off the gemshop some time".

Maybe the grind will tone down a bit, depending on how the LS continues and how LS maps will work in the future. Maybe Meteors will continue to be a thing in other maps, maybe there will be more large events like Palawadan and Great Hall to farm materials and magic. Who knows?

[zealex.9410]

Tfw the game has gotten 3 weapon sets and alot of other cosmetics in 2 updates and ppl are complaining.

[Corvus.2831]

They need to learn to make better bows.. no moving parts in the bow... longbow is like longsword or staff or greathammer, a big weapon that should have all the bells and whistles of the set. I like the style, but i am dissapointed by the bow... as asura ranger both mechanical and magical bow look would be cool to have.

 

Also as of the curvature, reflex bows look more interesting than standard and the middle weight point of the bow should be arroudn the handle, with the arms not bending forwards enough before they bend backwards to make an arc the bow would be a bit unwieldy

[Zaron.1987]

> @"Corvus.2831" said:

> They need to learn to make better bows.. no moving parts in the bow... longbow is like longsword or staff or greathammer, a big weapon that should have all the bells and whistles of the set. I like the style, but i am dissapointed by the bow... as asura ranger both mechanical and magical bow look would be cool to have.

>

> Also as of the curvature, reflex bows look more interesting than standard and the middle weight point of the bow should be arroudn the handle, with the arms not bending forwards enough before they bend backwards to make an arc the bow would be a bit unwieldy

 

I for example love the style of the stellar bows and i want to say ty anet for the awesome look !

 

Taste differs!

 

So pls don't overgeneralize it

 

 

[Corvus.2831]

> @"Zaron.1987" said:

> > @"Corvus.2831" said:

> > They need to learn to make better bows.. no moving parts in the bow... longbow is like longsword or staff or greathammer, a big weapon that should have all the bells and whistles of the set. I like the style, but i am dissapointed by the bow... as asura ranger both mechanical and magical bow look would be cool to have.

> >

> > Also as of the curvature, reflex bows look more interesting than standard and the middle weight point of the bow should be arroudn the handle, with the arms not bending forwards enough before they bend backwards to make an arc the bow would be a bit unwieldy

>

> I for example love the style of the stellar bows and i want to say ty anet for the awesome look !

>

> Taste differs!

>

> So pls don't overgeneralize it

>

>

 

Really? Taste differs you say? Well imagine it this way, you can have diferent swords but all of them make sense only when the edge is sharp. This translates to bows in such way that when the overall shape isn't well profiled the weapon would be unwieldy. Its supposed to be believable to an extent, and so a weapon such as a bow should look like it can hold alot of kinetic energy when strung just as a sword should have a mean looking edge. To me the stellar bows lack that extra moving element and a bit better profiled shape to be perfect. I think the bow designer doesn't know much about bows because many of longbows seem to flat, too back bent, too small... Look at images of a longbow. it should be around the height of the user... Everyday world of tyria has physics like our world since its a colorised medieval fantasy setting and most things should be more or less in line with those physics to look "right" at a glance.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"Corvus.2831" said:

> They need to learn to make better bows.. no moving parts in the bow... longbow is like longsword or staff or greathammer, a big weapon that should have all the bells and whistles of the set. I like the style, but i am dissapointed by the bow... as asura ranger both mechanical and magical bow look would be cool to have.

>

> Also as of the curvature, reflex bows look more interesting than standard and the middle weight point of the bow should be arroudn the handle, with the arms not bending forwards enough before they bend backwards to make an arc the bow would be a bit unwieldy

 

Many of the bows in game would break in reality ... some even contain design elements that look like what someone might put in to reinforce a spot to prevent it from bending.

[Zaraki.5784]

They are way too expensive.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"Corvus.2831" said:

> > @"Zaron.1987" said:

> > > @"Corvus.2831" said:

> > > They need to learn to make better bows.. no moving parts in the bow... longbow is like longsword or staff or greathammer, a big weapon that should have all the bells and whistles of the set. I like the style, but i am dissapointed by the bow... as asura ranger both mechanical and magical bow look would be cool to have.

> > >

> > > Also as of the curvature, reflex bows look more interesting than standard and the middle weight point of the bow should be arroudn the handle, with the arms not bending forwards enough before they bend backwards to make an arc the bow would be a bit unwieldy

> >

> > I for example love the style of the stellar bows and i want to say ty anet for the awesome look !

> >

> > Taste differs!

> >

> > So pls don't overgeneralize it

> >

> >

>

> Really? Taste differs you say? Well imagine it this way, you can have diferent swords but all of them make sense only when the edge is sharp. This translates to bows in such way that when the overall shape isn't well profiled the weapon would be unwieldy. Its supposed to be believable to an extent, and so a weapon such as a bow should look like it can hold alot of kinetic energy when strung just as a sword should have a mean looking edge. To me the stellar bows lack that extra moving element and a bit better profiled shape to be perfect. I think the bow designer doesn't know much about bows because many of longbows seem to flat, too back bent, too small... Look at images of a longbow. it should be around the height of the user... Everyday world of tyria has physics like our world since its a colorised medieval fantasy setting and most things should be more or less in line with those physics to look "right" at a glance.

 

To be fair the bladed weapons of this set have equivalent problems. Those bits on the blade is going to reduced their effectiveness for cutting. Many are also excessively thick, wide or both. Many of the firearms have neither sight nor scope.

[Ashen.2907]

> @"Corvus.2831" said:

> > @"Zaron.1987" said:

> > > @"Corvus.2831" said:

> > > They need to learn to make better bows.. no moving parts in the bow... longbow is like longsword or staff or greathammer, a big weapon that should have all the bells and whistles of the set. I like the style, but i am dissapointed by the bow... as asura ranger both mechanical and magical bow look would be cool to have.

> > >

> > > Also as of the curvature, reflex bows look more interesting than standard and the middle weight point of the bow should be arroudn the handle, with the arms not bending forwards enough before they bend backwards to make an arc the bow would be a bit unwieldy

> >

> > I for example love the style of the stellar bows and i want to say ty anet for the awesome look !

> >

> > Taste differs!

> >

> > So pls don't overgeneralize it

> >

> >

>

> Really? Taste differs you say? Well imagine it this way, you can have diferent swords but all of them make sense only when the edge is sharp. This translates to bows in such way that when the overall shape isn't well profiled the weapon would be unwieldy. Its supposed to be believable to an extent, and so a weapon such as a bow should look like it can hold alot of kinetic energy when strung just as a sword should have a mean looking edge. To me the stellar bows lack that extra moving element and a bit better profiled shape to be perfect. I think the bow designer doesn't know much about bows because many of longbows seem to flat, too back bent, too small... Look at images of a longbow. it should be around the height of the user... Everyday world of tyria has physics like our world since its a colorised medieval fantasy setting and most things should be more or less in line with those physics to look "right" at a glance.

 

Unfortunately the, "its supposed too be believable to an extent," may not actually be part of the design philosophy. It might be more accuurate to say, "it might be nice if it were believable to an extent."

[Narrrz.7532]

I guess it's possible that noone realised, but the bulk kralk ore purchase from the karma vendors is per character per day and gives 25 ore. 3 heart vendors means 75/day/character, as long as you're willing to put in the time (i found it to be around 20 mins per character; i'm sure that could be pared down further with skill & practice though.

 

I just finished the set of stellar weapons. not planning on doing the astral as well unless they both cut down the price & add a collection for them (really; why is there no collection for these weapons?) but getting the kralk ore from the heart vendors make it very possible to get all these weapons, much less just the specific ones you might like.