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Guild Wars 2 |OT5| We've got fun and games

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Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Wow, just joined a taco earlier. Felt pre-specialization patch. It's so good.

Crits. Crits everywhere.
 
M

MattyG

Banned
Explored 2 or 3 more areas today, and finally made it to Lion's Arch. HOLY SHIT, is that a bit city. Rata Sum is still my favorite so far in terms of aesthetic, but LA is close. I still have 1 or 2 more starting zones to explore and I'm about to hit level 30, so I'm moving along quite a bit. There's still tons of shit to do in the zones I explored today, so that'll probably level me up quite a bit too.

Oh, and what are Fractals? I saw that in Lion's Arch, but I assume they're dungeon-like content or something?
 
R

Retro

Member
MattyG said:
Explored 2 or 3 more areas today, and finally made it to Lion's Arch. HOLY SHIT, is that a bit city. Rata Sum is still my favorite so far in terms of aesthetic, but LA is close. I still have 1 or 2 more starting zones to explore and I'm about to hit level 30, so I'm moving along quite a bit. There's still tons of shit to do in the zones I explored today, so that'll probably level me up quite a bit too.

Oh, and what are Fractals? I saw that in Lion's Arch, but I assume they're dungeon-like content or something?
Click to expand...

That's the new Lion's Arch too, here's what it used to look like before the end of Season 1, when a deranged Sylvari named Scarlet Briar blew it to hell; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0MzZyZ-ty8

Fractals are basically miniature dungeons that you run in sets of three followed by a special boss fractal, all randomly selected. Each time you complete a set, your Fractal Level increases, which means a higher challenge but also higher rewards (including ascended rings starting at level 10 and a unique set of Fractal Weapons later on). Here's a trailer; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGZPSBod6d4
 
S

spiritfox

Member
I think the main problem I have with the design of new LA is the big open area around the jellyfish Grand Piazza. It's too big and empty, it makes the city services too far from each other, and it just does not seem to fit with the rest of the city, which is more tightly fitted. I guess it's so that more peope can fit there, but people Are still crowding around the bank and the toilet anyway, making it a useless space.
 
R

Retro

Member
spiritfox said:
I think the main problem I have with the design of new LA is the big open area around the jellyfish Grand Piazza. It's too big and empty, it makes the city services too far from each other, and it just does not seem to fit with the rest of the city, which is more tightly fitted. I guess it's so that more peope can fit there, but people Are still crowding around the bank and the toilet anyway, making it a useless space.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure the Grand Piazza is where they're going to center all of the holiday events from here on out, you're right in that it's too empty of a space between everything important which makes a lot of sense for temporary use.

I can't wait to see it set up for Halloween.
 
S

Spyware

Member
Sooo... what happened to the charselect screen?
The angle and lighting is waaaay different. The characters look less like they "fit in" on that screen now. More like a non-perfect green screen? Sort of?

I do like that sylvari, norn and humans are now different heights. Started on a sylvari that looked almost like before. Jumped over to a human and she really looked like a norn because she was sooo much bigger than the sylvari. Clicked a norn to see what they look like and BOOM. Tall!
Most asura just look silly with the camera position being so far above them tho. Same with charr. Their heads look so big.

Ugh. I dunno. Why change it at all? :O What is going on? :O

Edit: Bah. My first thought was something about making charr fit better on the screen since many people have complained over that. But now I clicked on a male norn and they REALLY don't fit on the screen now. This makes no sense.
 
S

spiritfox

Member
Retro said:
Pretty sure the Grand Piazza is where they're going to center all of the holiday events from here on out, you're right in that it's too empty of a space between everything important which makes a lot of sense for temporary use.

I can't wait to see it set up for Halloween.
Click to expand...

Oh I understand, it just feels out of scale compared to the rest of the city. Than again, so is the lobster.
 
W

Wallach

Member
MattyG said:
Explored 2 or 3 more areas today, and finally made it to Lion's Arch. HOLY SHIT, is that a bit city. Rata Sum is still my favorite so far in terms of aesthetic, but LA is close. I still have 1 or 2 more starting zones to explore and I'm about to hit level 30, so I'm moving along quite a bit. There's still tons of shit to do in the zones I explored today, so that'll probably level me up quite a bit too.

Oh, and what are Fractals? I saw that in Lion's Arch, but I assume they're dungeon-like content or something?
Click to expand...

Have you been to the Black Citadel (Charr capital)? I just started up a new Charr Engineer tonight, and not having been back there in months it reminded me how bad ass that place is.

Fractals are a weird set of mini-dungeons that you run in sets of three, which are randomly selected from a larger pool of fifteen. After you successfully complete all three there's a fuckin' weird boss fight that is always the same, and you get some neato rewards.

The gimmick with Fractals is that there's a difficulty scale which you can increase by 1 each time you successfully complete a tier. Once you get above difficulty 10, you start running into a new condition called Agony which in a bunch of cases can't be avoided and it does percent-based damage that is not mitigated by anything in the game except Agony Resistance, which you get by slotting little items called Infusions into pieces of Ascended gear. The higher in difficulty you go, the larger the % ticks are of Agony which require higher levels of Agony Resistance to deal with. The rewards for the Fractals themselves get better the higher you go in return. Particularly crossing that difficulty 10 threshold is worthwhile since that's where you start potentially getting Ascended rings or Fractal skins from the daily reward.

They're pretty interesting to experience at least for the first few times, and Agony is not really a big deal as if you work your way up you'll basically get handed the stuff you need to gear up in Agony Resistance by the time it becomes relevant. Not something I'd worry about until much later though, as they're definitely designed for max level players.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Spyware said:
Sooo... what happened to the charselect screen?
The angle and lighting is waaaay different. The characters look less like they "fit in" on that screen now. More like a non-perfect green screen? Sort of?

I do like that sylvari, norn and humans are now different heights. Started on a sylvari that looked almost like before. Jumped over to a human and she really looked like a norn because she was sooo much bigger than the sylvari. Clicked a norn to see what they look like and BOOM. Tall!
Most asura just look silly with the camera position being so far above them tho. Same with charr. Their heads look so big.

Ugh. I dunno. Why change it at all? :O What is going on? :O

Edit: Bah. My first thought was something about making charr fit better on the screen since many people have complained over that. But now I clicked on a male norn and they REALLY don't fit on the screen now. This makes no sense.
Click to expand...
Almost as if they were planning on releasing a new background for heart of Thorns :)

(I hope!)

@Wallach: there's new boss fractals. It's not the same every time now!
 
M

Morokh

Member
Spyware said:
Sooo... what happened to the charselect screen?
The angle and lighting is waaaay different. The characters look less like they "fit in" on that screen now. More like a non-perfect green screen? Sort of?

I do like that sylvari, norn and humans are now different heights. Started on a sylvari that looked almost like before. Jumped over to a human and she really looked like a norn because she was sooo much bigger than the sylvari. Clicked a norn to see what they look like and BOOM. Tall!
Most asura just look silly with the camera position being so far above them tho. Same with charr. Their heads look so big.

Ugh. I dunno. Why change it at all? :O What is going on? :O

Edit: Bah. My first thought was something about making charr fit better on the screen since many people have complained over that. But now I clicked on a male norn and they REALLY don't fit on the screen now. This makes no sense.
Click to expand...

Before the patch the character selection portraits were way too bright, now they look fine but it's everything else that is too dark, had to check if I didn't have some SweetfX/Reshade files laying around cause it looks so strange ...
Charrs are off-center too.
 
S

Spyware

Member
Ashodin said:
Almost as if they were planning on releasing a new background for heart of Thorns :)

(I hope!)
Click to expand...
Maaaaybe... but why change the angle and make male norn too big to fit on the screen?

Morokh said:
Before the patch the character selection portraits were way too bright, now they look fine but it's everything else that is too dark, had to check if I didn't have some SweetfX/Reshade files laying around cause it looks so strange ...
Charrs are off-center too.
Click to expand...
That too bright thing was actually just a bug for some people. Checked to see what people said about the change on the official forums and found talk about that. Tried to figure out what they were talking about since I hadn't seen it. Then someone mentioned it was just a bug for some people.
 
R

Rawk Hawk

Member
ColtraineGF said:
OT: Next goal: maybe Mawdrey. Gotta get rid of all this dust.
Click to expand...

I don't have an ascended back piece yet, but sort of thinking of working towards that as well. Don't really have a lot of extra dust laying around, but just like the skin of Mawdrey for my purple-ish themed Necro.

I've been away for a while and missed basically both seasons, seems like I'll need to purchase season 2 to get access to the Mawdrey materials? Or is there a way to get them without season 2 that I haven't found?
 
W

Wallach

Member
Ashodin said:
Almost as if they were planning on releasing a new background for heart of Thorns :)

(I hope!)

@Wallach: there's new boss fractals. It's not the same every time now!
Click to expand...

Oh, word? I haven't done Fractals in like... a year maybe, so I've only ever fought Jade Tapewurm.
 
C

ColtraineGF

Member
Rawk Hawk said:
I've been away for a while and missed basically both seasons, seems like I'll need to purchase season 2 to get access to the Mawdrey materials? Or is there a way to get them without season 2 that I haven't found?
Click to expand...
Yeah, you need season 2 - at least one of the items required comes from Dragon's Reach pt. 2.
 
R

Rawk Hawk

Member
ColtraineGF said:
Yeah, you need season 2 - at least one of the items required comes from Dragon's Reach pt. 2.
Click to expand...

Thanks, everything I found suggested the same, but nothing on it is very recent. Was sort of holding out hope they dropped the items into a laurel vendor or something, haha.

Maybe I'll look into another piece for now, not sure if I want to drop the gems on the season or not. The Mawdrey does look pretty cool though.
 
R

Retro

Member
Wallach said:
Fractals are a weird set of mini-dungeons that you run in sets of three, which are randomly selected from a larger pool of fifteen. After you successfully complete all three there's a fuckin' weird boss fight that is always the same, and you get some neato rewards.
Click to expand...

This was a good summary (I left out Agony and Instabilities to keep it from being too much at once), but they've changed things since you maybe played last; there's 11 fractals, not 15 (it's 15 if you count the observatory and bosses though), and there are now three boss fractals instead of just the Solid Ocean boss; they've added the Molten Duo and Mai Trin from Season One as bosses now.

Still pretty bad, when they were first announced I was sure they were going to add a new batch of fractals into the rotation every 4-6 months. Since Fractals are meant to be short and wildly free of any context, it seemed like they built it on purpose to just throw wild ideas out there on a fairly consistent basis. One of my bigger disappointments with the game, but... the "Give me an expansion!" crowd kind of won the argument and tied up all their resources.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
I blame the media outlets. They constantly ran articles about "where's guild wars 2's expansion?" and "things I'd like in an expansion" and the like. So the news made it seem like it was a fucking heinous crime that GW2 didn't release any news of an expansion and that the, you know, insane cadence of releases wasn't novel enough for them.
 
R

Retro

Member
Ashodin said:
I blame the media outlets. They constantly ran articles about "where's guild wars 2's expansion?" and "things I'd like in an expansion" and the like. So the news made it seem like it was a fucking heinous crime that GW2 didn't release any news of an expansion and that the, you know, insane cadence of releases wasn't novel enough for them.
Click to expand...

I kind of agree, yeah. A lot of MMO sites also just flat out stopped reporting Living Story releases simply because they were happening so often (I think Massively was the only one that kept up, I'm pretty sure TenTonHammer and MMORPG stopped for long stretches). Which is ass backwards because most MMO news sites are always packed with fluff and editorials since the real news (previews and updates on content) doesn't happen that often. GW2, in theory, would be easier to cover because something was legitimately always happening or about to happen so there was no need to make up fluff.

Hell, ArenaNet was even mailing cool stuff like pocket watches, metronomes and stuff to media outlets to give them stuff to write about and most of it was just "I got a GW2 thing" without reporting what the context of it was later. I think because so many sites just stopped reporting the deluge of news, casual observers just believed the game was dead.

Nothing gets people excited like an expansion, sadly, because if the entire company had been brought to bear on the Living Story it might have been insane.
 
M

MattyG

Banned
Retro said:
That's the new Lion's Arch too, here's what it used to look like before the end of Season 1, when a deranged Sylvari named Scarlet Briar blew it to hell; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0MzZyZ-ty8

Fractals are basically miniature dungeons that you run in sets of three followed by a special boss fractal, all randomly selected. Each time you complete a set, your Fractal Level increases, which means a higher challenge but also higher rewards (including ascended rings starting at level 10 and a unique set of Fractal Weapons later on). Here's a trailer; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGZPSBod6d4
Click to expand...

Wallach said:
Have you been to the Black Citadel (Charr capital)? I just started up a new Charr Engineer tonight, and not having been back there in months it reminded me how bad ass that place is.

Fractals are a weird set of mini-dungeons that you run in sets of three, which are randomly selected from a larger pool of fifteen. After you successfully complete all three there's a fuckin' weird boss fight that is always the same, and you get some neato rewards.

The gimmick with Fractals is that there's a difficulty scale which you can increase by 1 each time you successfully complete a tier. Once you get above difficulty 10, you start running into a new condition called Agony which in a bunch of cases can't be avoided and it does percent-based damage that is not mitigated by anything in the game except Agony Resistance, which you get by slotting little items called Infusions into pieces of Ascended gear. The higher in difficulty you go, the larger the % ticks are of Agony which require higher levels of Agony Resistance to deal with. The rewards for the Fractals themselves get better the higher you go in return. Particularly crossing that difficulty 10 threshold is worthwhile since that's where you start potentially getting Ascended rings or Fractal skins from the daily reward.

They're pretty interesting to experience at least for the first few times, and Agony is not really a big deal as if you work your way up you'll basically get handed the stuff you need to gear up in Agony Resistance by the time it becomes relevant. Not something I'd worry about until much later though, as they're definitely designed for max level players.
Click to expand...
They sounds awesome, thanks for the info! There's way more stuff in this game than I thought, can't wait to get to the higher levels so I can do it all!
 
M

Morokh

Member
I hope they made the necessary changes to stronghold with every new build being so bursty, or my interest in sPvP will definitely be reduced to a negative level.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Here's articles asking for the expansion: (only a fraction)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-guild-wars-2-will-ever-get-an-expansion-pack - March 2013

"Yes, yes, it all sounds very good. Those four teams should achieve their goal of "a persistent MMO that is still very much alive", as Mike Z (as he's referred to) put it, and ArenaNet as a whole may be more reactive and experimental as a result. With the numbers ArenaNet has, Guild Wars 2 should evolve considerably.

But what about making money? Guild Wars 1 survived on paid expansions, editions, add-ons, whatever you want to call them - are we to believe that the boxed sales of Guild Wars 2 and micro-transactions are enough to sustain such a large operation?"
Click to expand...

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/8293/An-Expansion-in-2015.html - March 2014

"So is 2015 a realistic date to expect a Guild Wars 2 expansion? It will have been at least two and a half years or so since the August 2012 launch – longer than most MMOs go before launching their first full expansion"

"All of the speculation leads to this simple question: Do players want an expansion? Most would say “yes,” even the ones who like the Living Story and how it adds content to the game. Those who dislike it want an expansion even more. Then again, as accustomed as people are to having no subscription fee and tons of free content, will the “shock” of a paid expansion – probably at least $40 and maybe as high as $60 – feel too steep?"
Click to expand...
Some prophetic shit here

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/guild-wars-2s-april-update-a-paid-expansion-without-the-paid-part - April 2014

"A host of gameplay changes and a world that has literally been torn apart by the events of Season 1. While Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 don't have subscription fees, the former game did have the occasional paid expansion. I asked both gentlemen why this wasn't a full boxed expansion."
Click to expand...

http://www.mmogames.com/gamearticles/the-tyrian-chronicle-does-guild-wars-2-need-an-expansion/ - August 2014

"The trouble is how it would mesh with the Living Story content. If an expansion released, it would have to be in the interim period between Living Story seasons. On top of that, how does ArenaNet push the Living Story forward for players that do not purchase the expansion? If they plan to continue the story and just pick up from where the previous season leaves off, won’t players that bought the expansion feel cheated?"
Click to expand...
This is one of the big questions still on the table.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/are-arenanet-working-guild-wars-2-expansion - November 2014

"To reinvigorate said playerbase, attract highly sought after new players and to earn a significant spike in revenue, an expansion pack is the only answer.

A large part of World of Warcrafts success is because of its expansion pack model. At $45 for Warlords of Draenor and the 5th expansion pack from Blizzard, it has once again created an unrivalled buzz about the game. The launch day hype combined with new features is guaranteed to not only secure a sale for almost every player currently subscribing but also players on the fringes. I haven’t played World of Warcraft properly since 2011 (I logged into Mists of Panderia for 5 minutes recently) and even I’ve parted with my money to pick up Draenor."
Click to expand...
Guy dips into WoW terms, figures

There's already articles starting up about asking if there's "enough" in the expansion.
 
R

Retro

Member
That first article isn't really asking for an expansion so much as saying "Hey, this new Living Story thing means they might not need expansions!" but with the game only being slightly over 6 months old, even the casual comment about an expansion seems so absurd.

Just proves that people are never happy with what they have, I guess.
 
N

Nemesis121

Member
I wanted an expansion 6 month in, already created a legendary by then, i was completely bored with GW2, by September 2013 i quit playing, then i slowly stating playing in Feb 2014 around the time i join GaF guild, and if they didn't announce this expansion i would have quit again, right now i am ready to quit until the expansion, but thanks to the Spec update having fun again.. but once i get bored i will just log for login streak award..
 
P

Proven

Member
Living Story Season 1 was available to all even if you didn't complete the Personal Story. Same with Season 2. It's possible Season 3 will be very much the same way, with it not requiring you to own or complete the Heart of Thorns Personal Story. However, there's the matter of locations; if Season 3 involves doing things in the Heart of Maguuma, then it's only available to those with the expansion by default. On the other hand, Season 1 and 2 focused on maps in Pact Tyria while avoiding going back to Orr, so the same might happen with Season 3 while we head in the direction of a different dragon.
 
R

Retro

Member
Proven said:
Living Story Season 1 was available to all even if you didn't complete the Personal Story. Same with Season 2. It's possible Season 3 will be very much the same way, with it not requiring you to own or complete the Heart of Thorns Personal Story. However, there's the matter of locations; if Season 3 involves doing things in the Heart of Maguuma, then it's only available to those with the expansion by default. On the other hand, Season 1 and 2 focused on maps in Pact Tyria while avoiding going back to Orr, so the same might happen with Season 3 while we head in the direction of a different dragon.
Click to expand...

That would be my ideal situation; HoT's "Personal Story" covers all of the crap going down in the Maguuma Jungle while Season 3 deals with the fall out from it in another region. I don't think S3 will start too soon after HoT releases so that'd give people plenty of time to beat the story and get ready for what's next. Expansion people keep on trucking, non-expansion people still get to play along (something most MMOs simply don't allow, but I can see it working here).

Edit: In case anyone is curious, the update that just went live was "Adjusted formulas for attribute-granting traits so that they grant more appropriate values when upscaling and downscaling."
 
M

MattyG

Banned
Just hit level 30 and did all 3 dailies for the first time. I couldn't do them before now because I hadn't explored any of the zones I needed to go to for them, but I'm exploring much quicker now that I'm not going renown heart to renown heart.
 
S

Shiokazu

Member
WvW been helping me out with my mood issues. Sometimes i try to think why does getting there and being part of a blob lighten up my feelings.

maybe its because im part of something, maybe its just the engagement, maybe i just like showering fire upon people?
 
R

Retro

Member
MattyG said:
Just hit level 30 and did all 3 dailies for the first time. I couldn't do them before now because I hadn't explored any of the zones I needed to go to for them, but I'm exploring much quicker now that I'm not going renown heart to renown heart.
Click to expand...

There are also WvW and PvP dailies as well as PVE ones, you could probably have done some of those too. I usually dip into WvW for some of the easier ones (Land claimer, Master of ruins, Guard slayer) just for the extra WXP items if some of the PVE ones aren't interesting or nearby.
 
M

MattyG

Banned
Retro said:
There are also WvW and PvP dailies as well as PVE ones, you could probably have done some of those too. I usually dip into WvW for some of the easier ones (Land claimer, Master of ruins, Guard slayer) just for the extra WXP items if some of the PVE ones aren't interesting or nearby.
Click to expand...
I've actually never played WvW or PvP. l kind of know what they both are, but I've never actually played them before. I'll have to give them a shot tomorrow.
 
N

Nemesis121

Member
MattyG said:
I've actually never played WvW or PvP. l kind of know what they both are, but I've never actually played them before.
Click to expand...

WvW is fun, defend/take keeps or castles, run around in huge groups and annihilate people, or get annihilated by even bigger groups, WvW has so much to do, PvP not my cup of tea...
 
W

Wanderer5

Member
The hell? What going with gaf? Guild W*rs 2 |**5| We've g** fun *nd g*mes? It just sudden happened.

Edit: And just like that it back to normal lol.
 
M

MattyG

Banned
Wanderer5 said:
The hell? What going with gaf? Guild W*rs 2 |**5| We've g** fun *nd g*mes? It just sudden happened.

Edit: And just like that it back to normal lol.
Click to expand...
I saw the same thing on two other threads. Weird. It looks like certain letters got temporarily banned or something.
 
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