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[Retro]

How did we manage at the 3pm LA?

The best I've ever seen it done. We were over 300 before we hit the 10 minute mark and it went straight on from there. If we had been a little more coordinated, we might have hit 1500. As it was, we hit 1200 with time to spare.

Edit: SBI Mainflow just now cleared 1200 again.

 

[Hawkian]

Beautiful, I've still never seen over 1200 personally, but awesome job guys

 

[shysaursoft]

Today I discovered just how stupid powerful the Guardian offensive book is in low-level areas.

Edge of the Mists. <3

 

[Retro]

I hope when we get to the Far Shiverpeaks, they make it a point to not try and make a whole zone with smooth transitions between elevations. I would be okay if we have tons of negative space between huge, soaring peaks connected by icy bridges, perilous rope causeways and tunnels. Whatever is down in the valleys and crags is either not worth exploring or can be its own separate zone underneath.

Also, I demand a Star Fox-esque Rush from one peak to another through a series of rings.

 

[Jira]

So if any of you have seen it, I had posted the large list of things that Miktar considers (as well as myself) as pros in a thread on reddit. As you were saying earlier, it seems gaming culture now only cares about what is wrong about a game rather than focusing on what makes a game good. There's always room for constructive criticism, but these types of people will bitch and complain about the smallest of issues just for the sake of bitching. No game will ever make them happy and to be honest they should just stop gaming all together. For example, the RAAAAAMMPAAAGE guy bitches about any little thing he possibly can. I highly suggest installing

http://redditenhancementsuite.com/

and ignoring the jackasses as I have done for a long time now. So for as large as the GW2 subreddit is (8th largest single game subreddit) I only have about 15 people ignored. So really, as it has been said before, it's always a vocal minority who think they're the majority when that's so far from the truth.

I should also point out that if those people were indeed the majority, they would be upvoted to the top of every page but instead they're downvoted into oblivion cause they're the vocal minority and nothing more.

 

[Lunar15]

I hope when we get to the Far Shiverpeaks, they make it a point to not try and make a whole zone with smooth transitions between elevations. I would be okay if we have tons of negative space between huge, soaring peaks connected by icy bridges, perilous rope causeways and tunnels. Whatever is down in the valleys and crags is either not worth exploring or can be its own separate zone underneath.

Also, I demand a Star Fox-esque Rush from one peak to another through a series of rings.

I completely agree. Honestly, every time Anet has designed a new area (Fractals, Bazaar of the Four Winds, Molten Facility, Aetherblade Stronghold, and Edge of the Mists) they've REALLY knocked it out of the park.

I'd love to see more areas in the game that took some ideas from Bazaar of the Four winds with its verticality. You don't get a whole lot of dynamic verticality in MMO's, that's for sure.

 

[Ashodin]

So if any of you have seen it, I had posted the large list of things that Miktar considers (as well as myself) as pros in a thread on reddit. As you were saying earlier, it seems gaming culture now only cares about what is wrong about a game rather than focusing on what makes a game good. There's always room for constructive criticism, but these types of people will bitch and complain about the smallest of issues just for the sake of bitching. No game will ever make them happy and to be honest they should just stop gaming all together. For example, the RAAAAAMMPAAAGE guy bitches about any little thing he possibly can. I highly suggest installing

http://redditenhancementsuite.com/

and ignoring the jackasses as I have done for a long time now. So for as large as the GW2 subreddit is (8th largest single game subreddit) I only have about 15 people ignored. So really, as it has been said before, it's always a vocal minority who think they're the majority when that's so far from the truth.

NO ONE DOWNVOTES THE OMLECH

Yeah those dudes are SUPER SUPER visible because they post a lot. They are not the majority in any way.

 

[Jira]

I completely agree. Honestly, every time Anet has designed a new area (Fractals, Bazaar of the Four Winds, Molten Facility, Aetherblade Stronghold, and Edge of the Mists) they've REALLY knocked it out of the park.

I'd love to see more areas in the game that took some ideas from Bazaar of the Four winds with its verticality. You don't get a whole lot of dynamic verticality in MMO's, that's for sure.

Yeah, IMO everything they've done since launch has been head and shoulders above the initial content. Lornar's Pass is the most vertical zone and I loved it. Can't wait to see their first new full sized zone since they've had so much time to learn from how they designed Southsun.

 

[hockeypuck]

Finally found 30 Heirlooms just so I can finish the meta by the end of the weekend. Took a while, even with using the guide referenced on Dulfy's website. I might be showing my age, but these type of fetch quests aren't that fun any more. It detracts from the zone's meta-mission and you can't really enjoy the exploration aspect anyways because of the mob density (it's more concentrated than Orr's). Contrast that with collecting Sky Crystals during Bazaar of the Four Winds; still a fetch quest but the challenge was more getting to them using special skills as opposed to finding them. I found that more rewarding. Can't imagine having the patience to find 250 Heirlooms for the tonics-- kudos to those who get them.

I find the Selfless Potion's description ironic, given the nature of how you collect them during a meta event focused on evacuating civilians: "For those who put others before themselves in this time of need."

 

[Xevren]

Would it be possible to get a guild invite? Been playing again in between games, thinking of trying a new class.

Xevren.8397 is the info needed I believe. Thanks!

 

[Lunar15]

I still really love temporary areas in this game. I know the community may not want that, but one of my favorite things about the Bazaar is that it was temporary. When you went there it was always full of people doing stuff and it felt like we were all explorers finding something new.

 

[Bl4ckSunsh1n3]

The best I've ever seen it done. We were over 300 before we hit the 10 minute mark and it went straight on from there. If we had been a little more coordinated, we might have hit 1500. As it was, we hit 1200 with time to spare.

Edit: SBI Mainflow just now cleared 1200 again.

SBI main hit ~1250 at 2PM I think...it might have been 1, I can't recall which.

 

[Lunar15]

Also, this has been my Escape from Lion's Arch theme song for running around the destroyed Lion's Arch:

DKC:TF - Scorch N' Torch

Based David Wise.

 

[xeris]

Would it be possible to get a guild invite? Been playing again in between games, thinking of trying a new class.

Xevren.8397 is the info needed I believe. Thanks!

Got him in tonight

 

[Jira]

I still really love temporary areas in this game. I know the community may not want that, but one of my favorite things about the Bazaar is that it was temporary. When you went there it was always full of people doing stuff and it felt like we were all explorers finding something new.

Ultimately, whether temp or permanent, people will always jump to the newest content the second it comes out so in some sense it feels like it doesn't matter which direction they go in. I feel like a mix of both is the best way to go about it cause the temporary stuff adds to the whole living world and permanent stuff obviously gives people more to do as a whole. Though it's important that temporary stuff has some kind of marker or sign that it existed and isn't just pulled away without a trace. Holiday stuff is fine but all LS related temp stuff should always leave behind something so that people who come across it later knows something went down.

 

[Proven]

Finally found 30 Heirlooms just so I can finish the meta by the end of the weekend. Took a while, even with using the guide referenced on Dulfy's website. I might be showing my age, but these type of fetch quests aren't that fun any more. It detracts from the zone's meta-mission and you can't really enjoy the exploration aspect anyways because of the mob density (it's more concentrated than Orr's). Contrast that with collecting Sky Crystals during Bazaar of the Four Winds; still a fetch quest but the challenge was more getting to them using special skills as opposed to finding them. I found that more rewarding. Can't imagine having the patience to find 250 Heirlooms for the tonics-- kudos to those who get them.

I find the Selfless Potion's description ironic, given the nature of how you collect them during a meta event focused on evacuating civilians: "For those who put others before themselves in this time of need."

You didn't have time to do any of the daily achievements during the week? I got the meta on Wednesday or Thursday with a few achievements missing from the panel, the Heirloom one included.

As for the Selfless Potion, that's for people that just rummage through rubble while saving civilians, slowly gathering up after each daily reset and with the bunch of Group Effort bags. If you're just going to go only for Heirlooms then you can get the other potion...

 

[Sajjaja]

Any place to get this game for cheap yet? Been thinking about getting it. But I don't know if I'm just falling for hype D:

 

[Ashodin]

Any place to get this game for cheap yet? Been thinking about getting it. But I don't know if I'm just falling for hype D:

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/us/en/pc/games/mmos/guild-wars-2-digital-edition-na/

$39.99 instead of $49. Heroic Edition too!

 

[Sajjaja]

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/us/en/pc/games/mmos/guild-wars-2-digital-edition-na/

$39.99 instead of $49. Heroic Edition too!

Out of stock though.

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

As I level up my mesmer, i'm starting to really notice how weird the world drops versus crafted items are around 50-65 or so.

In terms of crafted items, lv 55 marks the first time you get items with three stats instead of 2 stats. Yet, world drops continue to be two stat items, even when they are masterwork quality, until about 65.

Also noticed that the Forge can produce items that are normally Karma purchases from hearts. I wonder what the exact item table it's using is like.

As for the LS event? I'm really liking how this has turned out. What looked like a zerg is actually a pretty interesting attempt to get players to spread out, and work on separate tasks, something the playerbase seems to have responded to. Only thing I really wish they would do different is ensure players who are out saving civies receive the same number of item drops for the time as folks doing the champion zerg.

It seems counter intuitive to have a rewards system for the meta event based on spreading out, but then reward players for zerging with more rares/exotics, and all the same meta rewards as the rescuer players. Maybe add something that gives you a bag for every X people you revive/cheer on/etc?

 

[BrettWeir]

Is there a guide anywhere for people to get their graphics as kick ass as Miktar's? I looked on the first post and didn't see a guide. I'm running a R9 280x.

 

[Nemesis121]

Is there a guide anywhere for people to get their graphics as kick ass as Miktar's? I looked on the first post and didn't see a guide. I'm running a R9 280x.

He's using tweaks like Sweetfx and something else, personally never use any add on for MMO because I never know if some cunt puts a key logger into it..

 

[Slightly Live]

Is there a guide anywhere for people to get their graphics as kick ass as Miktar's? I looked on the first post and didn't see a guide. I'm running a R9 280x.

He's definitely using something not in-game. His colours look awfully washed out though.

 

[Lunar15]

As far as I know, Miktar is using DarkD3. Not sure what settings he's using.

Personally, I use SweetFX because I want more vibrancy, but there's merit in washing it out like Miktar does. It's unique, to say the least.

 

[Complistic]

I've tried dardd3, and it makes for awesome looking screenshots but I personally hated actually playing the game with his settings. There is no color. Ever. I do like the sharpness though, so I kept that.

 

[Lunar15]

I make a lot of dye sets, so I thrive on vibrant color. GW2 naturally has a slightly faded look, so I like to saturate it a little bit.

Here's the result of my spy-photography run in Edge of the Mists.

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

Sorry for cutting out a bit early on sunday makeups, had to run some errands for the wife.

Was a lot of fun though. Surprised we got the char supply mission taken care of with so little issue. We rocked that thing.

 

[Proven]

They tried the compromising solution where everyone can get what they want. People just looking for loot can get loot, and people looking for a large scale cooperative minigame can get that too.

The problem is how they would fix the event. No matter how hard you make the event to accomplish, and how much better you make the loot table for getting max citizens saved, there will always be some AFK'ers. You can go the other way and make the event easy to accomplish, but then it goes back to being a zerging only event unless you set the time out to make as many simultaneous events as possible (and even then, that won't change the perception of it being a zerging event).

You could try and make it so that each person has an individual citizen's rescued counter, but then people would be fighting each other over raising their own counters. If people actually ended up being nice about those counters instead of fighting, you introduce the chance for botting. If you make the citizens or some other counter increment instanced to each player, then you definitely introduce botting unless you make the area a lot harder to run around in by increasing mob difficulty, which would then go back to encouraging zerging.

So what do you do? It's not really the answer but I could blame the playerbase (not just the AFK'ers) that is looking more at spending their time in the game for the purpose of rewards and increasing their own wealth then to having a fun cooperative experience that won't be here forever. They don't look at it as something different to do, but rather as something to make gold off of so they can go back to doing something else. And if they couldn't make gold off it then numbers would have dropped dramatically early on anyway.

Or you can just say that whenever it takes X amount of engaged time in-game to get Y, there will be people always trying to reduce X, but since you can't always just aim mechanics at blocking X from being reduced without hurting everyone else you might as well make the most of it.

 

[shysaursoft]

Is there a guide anywhere for people to get their graphics as kick ass as Miktar's? I looked on the first post and didn't see a guide. I'm running a R9 280x.

I run Ultra, with post-processing off, and the Hardcore version of DarkD3. I really don't like the oversaturated colours of GW2, I feel they're artificially boosted, perhaps a last-second course-correction to try and ape the "toon" look that's so popular thanks to WoW. DarkD3 pre-sharpens, so textuers regain some of their detail from being filtered out by the engine, and it colour-corrects the whole scene towards liver (blueish), which isn't to everyone's taste, but I prefer it that way. If I turn it off while playing now, the whole world becomes superflat and ultrabright, eye-seeringly primary colour assault. I'm acclimated to my settings, as many are acclimated to the "natural" way it looks.

I run SLI x GTX 560 SEs, 8GB RAM (which I really need to raise), and an i5 clocked from 3.8 to 4.2.

But mostly, turn off post-processing in-game. It washes everything out with too much bloom, and makes fights almost unreadable.

 

[Complistic]

They tried the compromising solution where everyone can get what they want. People just looking for loot can get loot, and people looking for a large scale cooperative minigame can get that too.

The problem is how they would fix the event. No matter how hard you make the event to accomplish, and how much better you make the loot table for getting max citizens saved, there will always be some AFK'ers. You can go the other way and make the event easy to accomplish, but then it goes back to being a zerging only event unless you set the time out to make as many simultaneous events as possible (and even then, that won't change the perception of it being a zerging event).

You could try and make it so that each person has an individual citizen's rescued counter, but then people would be fighting each other over raising their own counters. If people actually ended up being nice about those counters instead of fighting, you introduce the chance for botting. If you make the citizens or some other counter increment instanced to each player, then you definitely introduce botting unless you make the area a lot harder to run around in by increasing mob difficulty, which would then go back to encouraging zerging.

So what do you do? It's not really the answer but I could blame the playerbase (not just the AFK'ers) that is looking more at spending their time in the game for the purpose of rewards and increasing their own wealth then to having a fun cooperative experience that won't be here forever. They don't look at it as something different to do, but rather as something to make gold off of so they can go back to doing something else. And if they couldn't make gold off it then numbers would have dropped dramatically early on anyway.

Or you can just say that whenever it takes X amount of engaged time in-game to get Y, there will be people always trying to reduce X, but since you can't always just aim mechanics at blocking X from being reduced without hurting everyone else you might as well make the most of it.

They just need to up the auto afk kick for that map. You stand in one place for more than 5 minutes, BOOM, you're out on your ass.

 

[Lunar15]

I run Ultra, with post-processing off, and the Hardcore version of DarkD3. I really don't like the oversaturated colours of GW2, I feel they're artificially boosted, perhaps a last-second course-correction to try and ape the "toon" look that's so popular thanks to WoW. DarkD3 pre-sharpens, so textuers regain some of their detail from being filtered out by the engine, and it colour-corrects the whole scene towards liver (blueish), which isn't to everyone's taste, but I prefer it that way. If I turn it off while playing now, the whole world becomes superflat and ultrabright, eye-seeringly primary colour assault. I'm acclimated to my settings, as many are acclimated to the "natural" way it looks.

I run SLI x GTX 560 SEs, 8GB RAM (which I really need to raise), and an i5 clocked from 3.8 to 4.2.

But mostly, turn off post-processing in-game. It washes everything out with too much bloom, and makes fights almost unreadable.

Kind of funny that you think that way since I felt the colors weren't saturated enough, and opted for SweetFX. To each their own.

Completely agree about post processing, though. It's unnecessary. I also don't like the "ultra-shiny" highest setting on shaders. I leave it off.

 

[Nemesis121]

They just need to up the auto afk kick for that map. You stand in one place for more than 5 minutes, BOOM, you're out on your ass.

I wish we could report afkers like GW1, leeching in GW1 was bannable, i see at least 6-7 leeching bastards at each exit..

 

[Hawkian]

I make a lot of dye sets, so I thrive on vibrant color. GW2 naturally has a slightly faded look, so I like to saturate it a little bit.

Here's the result of my spy-photography run in Edge of the Mists.

That's gorgeous.

Kind of funny that you think that way since I felt the colors weren't saturated enough, and opted for SweetFX. To each their own.

Completely agree about post processing, though. It's unnecessary. I also don't like the "ultra-shiny" highest setting on shaders. I leave it off.

I like Miktar's gritty look and some of his shots feel almost real, but I also use SweetFX's vibrancy personally to levels that would drive him insane. But to me while GW2 has very little in common with WoW stylistically, it does look to me like it's a painting come to life, and splashes of color make me oooo

I just realized I probably do have post-processing on though, ought to give that a shot.

So what do you do?

Honestly they did just fine with this one. All of this discussion centered around "ArenaNet needs to learn how to design rewarding content" is just academic this time around as far as I'm concerned. People are having a blast.

 

[shysaursoft]

Kind of funny that you think that way since I felt the colors weren't saturated enough, and opted for SweetFX. To each their own.

Completely agree about post processing, though. It's unnecessary. I also don't like the "ultra-shiny" highest setting on shaders. I leave it off.

Ironically, if there was a way to force the game to use almost no textures, and give everything a proper cell outline, then I'd be all for bright, primary colours. But I feel the quality of the art and the tone of it, is at odds with the bright neon colours of some areas and armour. It's all personal preference, of course.

Sometimes it feels like GW2 had no main art director. It had a lot of incredibly talented artists working on it, individually, but it lacks a kind of cohesion that I can't quite put my finger on.

 

[Ceres]

They just need to up the auto afk kick for that map. You stand in one place for more than 5 minutes, BOOM, you're out on your ass.

Would be nice but people already use macros to prevent a logout that is not going to happen.
On one trip in I ran by a guy running into a sewer wall on several occasions with a long enough time span to know it wasn't someone DCing. That same instance had some guy spamming /sit every minute by the north WP. I won't lie. When I saw the guy, I clicked on him and reported him for botting.

 

[BrettWeir]

I run Ultra, with post-processing off, and the Hardcore version of DarkD3. I really don't like the oversaturated colours of GW2, I feel they're artificially boosted, perhaps a last-second course-correction to try and ape the "toon" look that's so popular thanks to WoW. DarkD3 pre-sharpens, so textuers regain some of their detail from being filtered out by the engine, and it colour-corrects the whole scene towards liver (blueish), which isn't to everyone's taste, but I prefer it that way. If I turn it off while playing now, the whole world becomes superflat and ultrabright, eye-seeringly primary colour assault. I'm acclimated to my settings, as many are acclimated to the "natural" way it looks.

I run SLI x GTX 560 SEs, 8GB RAM (which I really need to raise), and an i5 clocked from 3.8 to 4.2.

But mostly, turn off post-processing in-game. It washes everything out with too much bloom, and makes fights almost unreadable.

Thanks Miktar. And thanks for everyone else who responded.

 

[Atrophis]

As for the LS event? I'm really liking how this has turned out. What looked like a zerg is actually a pretty interesting attempt to get players to spread out, and work on separate tasks, something the playerbase seems to have responded to.

I think its designed really well and the player base cottoned on to spread out and not zerg pretty quickly. Funny looking at the thread about the update with people dismissing it as another zerg fest. I only zerged the first time I went in. You get shouted at if you try it now.
It feels great running around in a 5 man group personally rescuing people and you can do it in a different area each time you head in to keep it fresh.

 

[LiveSpartan235]

German site Buffed.de posted this article about ArenaNet launching a new site tomorrow that will reveal some of the secrets of GW2

http://www.buffed.de/Guild-Wars-2-P...g-am-Dienstag-ab-15-Uhr-hier-bei-uns-1110867/

 

[Retro]

Courtesy of Google Translate:

On 25 February is launching a new website where you can reveal some secrets for Guild Wars 2. Go by 15 clock to the home of Guild Wars 2 In addition, we are giving away exclusive on buffed.de suitable for promotion code cards and Gems for the Item Shop. Stay on the ball

On 25 February is launching a new website with a special campaign for Guild Wars 2 At 15 clock we go. [Source: See picture gallery] For Guild Wars 2 ArenaNet has planned a special action. On 25 February falls by 15 clock a new website at the start, on which there is to discover some special and exclusive secrets. If you would like to find out what things are hidden behind them should keep an eye on your buffed.de as the official German partner and the official home of Guild Wars 2. In addition, we are giving away a few codes and small packages with the shop currency.

Currently controls the first story arc of the living history at a furious finale and Scarlets minions have Löwenstein already in her hand. Will Scarlet in the end view but that was her way wrong? Or the Oberschurkin comes through with their antics and Lowenstein is permanently lost? Please share your opinion in the comments. And do not forget: Tomorrow I'll be 15 clock on the official website of Guild Wars 2 and buffed.de going on.

Lowenstein = Lion's stone, interestingly enough.

Anyways, google butchering notwithstanding, it sounds like there will be some kind of teaser site for the next update instead of a full video with some kind of hidden element players need to uncover. 15 O'clock is, I assume, 15:00 or 3pm, but there's no time zone listed. However, since it's a german site, I'm going to assume they mean 3pm Central European Time, which is 9am Eastern (they are 6 hours ahead of us).

 

[LiveSpartan235]

Another site this time a spanish site wrote about the same thing
http://www.zonammorpg.com/2014/02/24/guild-wars-2-presentara-manana-un-nuevo-sitio-web/

 

[Retro]

Google being helpful again:

Attentive regular players of Guild Wars 2. ArenaNet and NCSoft submit tomorrow a new site related to the game where we can find information, details about the game and its history, and also players can interact with the site to discover some hidden secrets .

For our part ZonaMMORPG be collaborating exclusively with ArenaNet to bring you all the information on these developments will be presented tomorrow at 15:00 Spanish time.

If players are attentive and Guild Wars 2 tomorrow together discover what is hidden ArenaNet.

Edit: 15:00 Spanish time is still 3pm CET, so yep... 9am tomorrow!

 

[Lunar15]

Lowenstein = Lion's Arch.

Sometimes it feels like GW2 had no main art director. It had a lot of incredibly talented artists working on it, individually, but it lacks a kind of cohesion that I can't quite put my finger on.

I'm going to have to disagree with this. I think Anet nailed the look they were going for from start to finish. I'm probably one of the pickiest, snobbiest people when it comes to in-game art, and I think GW2 is one of the best looking games I've ever seen. (barring some bad textures, of course) I would honestly say that compared to most MMO's I've seen, GW2's art has the most vision behind it. I think that technically speaking, it's beginning to show its age, but visually it's going to last a long time. That's due to the strength of its art direction.

The only problem I've had, art wise, are the names for their dyes. I mean really, some of those names are just horrible.

 

[Proven]

Oh yeah, tomorrow's Tuesday. So if not patch day, then news day.

 

[shysaursoft]

Lowenstein = Lion's Arch.



I'm going to have to disagree with this. I think Anet nailed the look they were going for from start to finish. I'm probably one of the pickiest, snobbiest people when it comes to in-game art, and I think GW2 is one of the best looking games I've ever seen. (barring some bad textures, of course) I would honestly say that compared to most MMO's I've seen, GW2's art has the most vision behind it. I think that technically speaking, it's beginning to show its age, but visually it's going to last a long time. That's due to the strength of its art direction.

The only problem I've had, art wise, are the names for their dyes. I mean really, some of those names are just horrible.

Oh, don't get me wrong. The art is amazing, the environments some of the best. Their concept artist has produced incredible work, that has translated very well into the game. But somewhere between concept art and in-game assets, that translation process, I feel there's a mild disconnect between a lot of the disparate pieces. That a lot of things were adjusted and tweaked to fit the moment, rather than the gestalt. I'm not saying the art is bad, in any way: just that looking at it holistically, some pieces jut out when compared to the rest. It happens a lot on projects that have so many artists.

Hate to bring Ms. Anime Eyes, but Rox is a rather good example of this, on the more immediate scale. She in no way, matches the "feel" or look of the Charr, from concept art all the way to initial in-game models. She's a style adjustment to fit the character/mood they were going for, and so she seems very out of place, visually.

 

[Retro]

I missed this comment earlier, sorry if it seems like you're getting dumped on, Miktar!

Sometimes it feels like GW2 had no main art director. It had a lot of incredibly talented artists working on it, individually, but it lacks a kind of cohesion that I can't quite put my finger on.

I'm gonna have to disagree here too. There are other games that are graphically superior to GW2 (TERA is an immediate example) that just look like garbage because of GW2's art direction. TERA is technically superior, but visually GW2 shits all over it because of a strong, unified style. Everything in GW2's word 'fits', even the neon-y bits (thinking mostly the Asuran structures and some of the Sylvari 'pods'.

I dunno. If anything, I feel like GW2's visuals have more cohesiveness than any MMO I've played with the exception of LotRO (where, let's be honest, apart from the more grandiose Elven and Dwarven structures, was mostly ruins and barns).

Lowenstein = Lion's Arch.

I know that's what the site means, but the translation is literally "Lion Stone".

Hate to bring Ms. Anime Eyes, but Rox is a rather good example of this, on the more immediate scale. She in no way, matches the "feel" or look of the Charr, from concept art all the way to initial in-game models. She's a style adjustment to fit the character/mood they were going for, and so she seems very out of place, visually.

I feel like this was intentionally done to make her stand out more as an individual. Humans are very good at recognizing different people based on subtle things like the shape of the face and the placement of the features on it. For a pure fantasy race, that's just something we're not attuned to. I think a conscious decision was made to give her a distinctive look not to match any character / mood but so people could see her and instantly recognize who she is.

 

[Atrophis]

I need an engineer.

 

[shysaursoft]

I know it's subjective, and at some point I'll find better examples. In the mean time though, I guess I just can't shake the disconnect between this:

vs this:

I know concept art vs in-game assets rarely match up (except in environmental design usually), but the "toonification" of things in GW2 is pretty obvious. Not saying it's a bad thing, just that it feels at odds sometimes with the rest of the universe.

And then there's this, which I'm posting only because it made me laugh.

 

[Hawkian]

hahahaha

I see what you're saying, but I think GW1 had a similar spectrum of serious to cartoony, and it doesn't detract from cohesion to me. Not all Charr look like Rox, not all Charr look like Rytlock. Quaggans and Kodan don't match up particularly cogently in style, but I also don't have trouble believing them in the same universe from a visual standpoint.

 

[Lunar15]

To be fair, Rox is supposed to be younger than most of the Charr that we had met up until that point. They also needed to ensure that she had a really expressive face since she was going to be the first Living Story character we met. I follow you, though.

 

[shysaursoft]

I dig Rox. And they totally gave her over-accented features to make sure she stands out and is relatable. Just like Kah-brahm's... hair, or something. I'm more talking from just a pure visual design perspective, is all. Artsy fartsy stuff.