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Guild Wars 2 |OT3| Two Week Updates, One Box, Zero Subscriptions

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Retro

Member
Today's Black Lion sale is Black Lion Keys:
1 Key for 106 gems (was 125)
5 keys for 292 gems (was 450)
25 keys for 1785 gems (was 2100)

Hey GAFGuild! Do you guys still run guild mission make-ups at Sunday 3PM EST? I've been neglecting them for months now but want to start running them again.

Thanks. (Pocket Knight)

As others have answered, yes, we do. But I'm also using this opportunity to note that next Sunday is the start of Daylight Savings Time. This does not affect Mission times (they will still be run at 9pm Saturday and 3pm Sunday), but it will affect the in-game reset time (it will now be 8pm instead of 7), so just be aware that you have an extra hour now.

If only the blade shards weren't account bound. I have something like 3000 sitting in inv. I have so many backpack skins that it's hard for me to justify wasting other resources to finish it. Any chance of them being useful for something else? Otherwise will likely just start trashing them tonight.

I'd wait until the next update at least, that's the most likely time they'll add something.
 
There's very little distinction between classes in terms of melee/ranged/caster here. Guardians have a ranged weapon (scepter), Rangers have some melee. Sword Mesmer is melee-ranged, as is Dagger are Necromancers and Elementalists. Everybody does a little of everything.

Some of the weapons are little unusual in the way they behave, though. Guardian Staff despite being ranged, is a short AoE. Elementalist Daggers, while they can be used close up, are actually short ranged attacks. Necromancer Axe is a ranged attack. Mesmer Greatsword is ranged and gets weaker the closer you are whereas Staff is stronger in close because of how slow the attacks are. It really depends on the weapon and the class.
 

Retro

Member
Some of the weapons are little unusual in the way they behave, though. Guardian Staff despite being ranged, is a short AoE. Elementalist Daggers, while they can be used close up, are actually short ranged attacks. Necromancer Axe is a ranged attack. Mesmer Greatsword is ranged and gets weaker the closer you are whereas Staff is stronger in close because of how slow the attacks are. It really depends on the weapon and the class.

Yep, the way that each profession uses weapons in their own way is one of the things I love about GW2. Especially Mesmer Greatsword being a casting weapon, that just feels so damn right even though it sounds wrong.

I didn't want to dive into too many examples since I was responding to a new player and this game is already overwhelming as it is.
 

Ceres

Banned
I just wish warhorn speed buff would be consistent on all professions. I'm used to it being the s5 on my ranger but warrior uses s4 and necro s5 which I've been switching between to level both. I'm constantly hitting the wrong skill depending what I spent a bunch of time playing lately. I mean, they made it so that skills could be used more as muscle memory but then this seems like a huge oversight.
 

Proven

Member
I just wish warhorn speed buff would be consistent on all professions. I'm used to it being the s5 on my ranger but warrior uses s4 and necro s5 which I've been switching between to level both. I'm constantly hitting the wrong skill depending what I spent a bunch of time playing lately. I mean, they made it so that skills could be used more as muscle memory but then this seems like a huge oversight.
That's fine for me, because I don't look at weapon skills in a vacuum. I don't think just "warhorn," I think "Warrior Sword/Warhorn" or "Necromancer Dagger/Warhorn." But then when it comes to certain utility skills and my brain just melts if I even swap two of them with each other. Usually the first utility has a low cooldown that I don't mind spamming, and the second or third is my "oh fuck! stunbreak!", the exact position depending on how often I need to use it. But because utility skills are often multi-purpose, and you usually choose them individually more than as a group, swapping classes can cause a lot of issues...
 
I just wish warhorn speed buff would be consistent on all professions. I'm used to it being the s5 on my ranger but warrior uses s4 and necro s5 which I've been switching between to level both. I'm constantly hitting the wrong skill depending what I spent a bunch of time playing lately. I mean, they made it so that skills could be used more as muscle memory but then this seems like a huge oversight.

I run Sword/Pistol on my Thief and spam #3 a lot. Then I switch to my Mesmer, and the equivalent Sword skill is actually #2. Takes me a few minutes before I stop pushing the wrong buttons.
 

Retro

Member
So, final bets:

Will Lion's Arch be quickly restored or is it out of commission for a while?

If there's anything left to rebuild, it will take a long time before it gets back to anything resembling the way it did before. That's assuming the area is safe (which I doubt) or that Scarlet's Drill / whatever she's drilling for isn't an even bigger cataclysm (which I think it will be).
 

Atrophis

Member
How long did it take to rebuild the fountain? No way they are going to suddenly put LA back to normal. The real question is, what will replace it? Or is this a way to make the capital cities see more use? I personally want to see a new hub city. Not having one seems to go against the user-friendliness of GW2s design.
 

Retro

Member
I'd be okay if every racial capitol had the amenities of Lion's Arch, so that which 'hub' you want to use is entirely a matter of personal taste.
Only Bookahs would pick anything other than Rata Sum, of course

To make up for the splitting of communication, I wonder if having a global chat for all 5 cities would work (it was disastrous in WoW, but I think that was only because the community was a disaster as well).

Personally, I hope Lion's Arch is either a smouldering crater or an uninhabitable ruin. The former makes the likelihood that LA is restored next to impossible (especially since the ocean would pour in again), but the latter gives us the opportunity to return later when it has been reclaimed by nature (have I mentioned how much I love that aesthetic?), preferably at a point where rebuilding would be a waste of time so we don't go and mess it all up.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Some of the weapons are little unusual in the way they behave, though. Guardian Staff despite being ranged, is a short AoE. Elementalist Daggers, while they can be used close up, are actually short ranged attacks. Necromancer Axe is a ranged attack. Mesmer Greatsword is ranged and gets weaker the closer you are whereas Staff is stronger in close because of how slow the attacks are. It really depends on the weapon and the class.
Mesmer scepter is almost best used as a melee weapon <3

Everything you just mentioned is stuff I completely love about the combat skills in this game btw
 
I think a good rule for Guild Wars 2 is "Don't buy anything in March until it's on sale."

Oh, I've had just random, out of nowhere, BLC key sales happen after I just bought some - with no warning there would be sales or anything. I ain't even mad, just find it funny.
 

Mxrz

Member
So, final bets:

Will Lion's Arch be quickly restored or is it out of commission for a while?

It will be normal in time for Halloween, possibly by Dragonbash. - I just don't have the same connection to LA 2.0 as I did the original Lion's Arch. Seeing the old one flooded would've done more for me. But its still neat that it happened.

Leaning towards Mesmer (over Elementalist for wvw alt) - Are any of the other 25% movespeed runes any good? Really don't want to dump 60g for Traveler Runes.
 

Proven

Member
It will be normal in time for Halloween, possibly by Dragonbash. - I just don't have the same connection to LA 2.0 as I did the original Lion's Arch. Seeing the old one flooded would've done more for me. But its still neat that it happened.

Leaning towards Mesmer (over Elementalist for wvw alt) - Are any of the other 25% movespeed runes any good? Really don't want to dump 60g for Traveler Runes.

All of the other ones are still over priced because they give a 25% speed boost, but not as overpriced as Traveler's because they aren't the absolute best for DPS in comparison. That's all.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Tough to look at any of this as cheap but they cannot possibly make everyone happy. I love Lion's Arch dearly and would like to see it slowly rebuilt over months but never be the same as it used to.
 

Katoki

Member
Is the SBI TS down?

Edit: should've checked the MOTD

I'm told the last one got one hell of a DDoS. It doesn't help that it was apparently one of the largest public TS servers out there which I'm not sure if was ours or the server that the SBI TS was hosted on.
 
It's time for anet to remove closed dungeons, you have nerf the rewards from dungeons, why should gamers have to open them? end that stupid crap and leave CoF and CoE open..
 

Grayman

Member
So, final bets:

Will Lion's Arch be quickly restored or is it out of commission for a while?
PVE combat zone but less intense than it is currently. May see some stragglers like pirates or an outpost in there but it is not going to be restored anytime soon.
 

Lunar15

Member
Tomorrow, we fight for...

12684285645_1e23b8f2b8.jpg


Our savings!
 

Mxrz

Member
Selfless potion
Another ascended armor piece/recipe
Made the new back item.

That was -40g in the blink of an eye or so. Good grief. Too many carrots. Dunno if I've ever wanted a game to stop adding new stuff for a little bit.

* Is Glory going away tomorrow? There a gaf recommendation on what to blow it on if so?
 
A day may come when the courage of players fails, when we forsake our patch notes and break all bonds of internet, but it is not this day. An hour of updates and shattered cynics, when the age of fanboys comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we patch! By all that you hold dear on this good forum, I bid you *stand, Men of Neo Gaf!*
 
A day may come when the courage of players fails, when we forsake our patch notes and break all bonds of internet, but it is not this day. An hour of updates and shattered cynics, when the age of fanboys comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we patch! By all that you hold dear on this good forum, I bid you *stand, Men of Neo Gaf!*

Perfect.

I will stand with you brother.


Update, please don't be meh after all this hype.
 
Tomorrow, we fight for...

12684285645_1e23b8f2b8.jpg


Our savings!

I think I might be one of few people who has played since betas but I have never stopped in LA to find out who was saying "By Ogden's Hammer!". The only reason I know that this NPC said that is because LA got destroyed.
 

Retro

Member
Today we fight for...zerg farming...again. Boring!!

If you were zerging in this last update, you were simply doing it wrong or in some overflow that didn't have a chance to start. Same with marionette, same with Tower of Nightmares, same with invasions. The only place zerging really works anymore is WvW and event trains.
 

Atrophis

Member
I'm pretty hyped up for the update today. I've been reading the official forums all day while sitting here bored at work...

Remind me never to read the official forums again.

I've lost track of the number of people crying over the imminent death of the game with the release of the widely criticised waste of space that is TESO.

Hilarious statements of the day:

"The $15 monthly for ESO means devs are constantly under pressure to provide/enhance content and bug fixes" - I dont really need to go into how hilariously wrong this is.

"I certainly think ArenaNet is developing this game at an absolutely glacial pace" - come to think of this I dont really need to comment on this either.
 

Proven

Member
To be fair, there is a type of WvW player I expect to be lured away by ESO.

* Is Glory going away tomorrow? There a gaf recommendation on what to blow it on if so?

Glory going away on March 18th patch. Hurry up and spend it.

Edit: I must be going crazy. I could swear that last week there were two different trailers for today's update, but right now I can only find one and not the other. Did I imagine seeing the interior of the drill? Maybe there isn't one and now I've hyped myself for the wrong reasons...

Edit2: I'm surprised no one has posted the many articles about today's update. The only thing is, no spoilers. ANet decided to keep tight lipped so most of the articles are just "hey, final living story season 1 update today."

But one article had a Q&A with questions from readers: http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=33929

Nothing big mentioned unfortunately. They do have pictures of three different colored versions of the new enemy type.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Hilarious statements of the day:

"The $15 monthly for ESO means devs are constantly under pressure to provide/enhance content and bug fixes"
I think we wanted to try and stay away from veering into mockery of sentiment on the official forums, but without being glib or dismissive... this concept is not just fallacious but actively harmful to those that shell out money under its pretenses.

The idea that a recurring subscription fee places the onus on the developers to do a better job- rather than a burden on the players to "make sure they get their money's worth" every month- has resulted in more ill-gained MMO dollars than even the most insidious gem store sale could ever hope to generate. The disconnect here is that there's no discrete allocation to correspond with quality. In other words you don't pay more if it's good and pay less if it's bad; you just pay or you don't, and the fact that the most active/involved players are necessarily generating roughly as much recurring revenue as the laziest ones in fact invites complacency on the part of a developer-as-service-provider.

Under this model design decisions that artificially extend playtime- irrespective of quality- are directly tied to financial incentive for the developer and publisher. There's no "we better do [x] so that we keep getting money from player [y]" (which is what the quote implies), just "let's ensure we keep player [y] playing as long as possible." The money comes regardless. Note that developers can counteract or eliminate these design decisions under a subscription model, but it means shying away from both a) the path of least resistance and b) commonly accepted practices in the genre.

On a slight side note, why is it $15 a month? That seems like a psychotic amount to me. Certainly it doesn't mean the same thing to every kind of gamer, but that's in excess of GW2's full price at retail in barely over 3 months of play. $1 a month puts it into "not for Hawkian" territory, but why wouldn't games trying to enter this completely saturated market try out, say, a $7.50/month base subscription as as a power position?
 
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