Hey folks, as those who are regulars will know, the Sunday mission schedule may get a little hairy for a while!
6th March Missions as normal. (Hugely important concert for my orchestra in the afternoon, but shouldn't be late.)
13th March Lea's Birthday Missions!
Well.. birthday's on the Saturday but I'm running D&D all day...
I'm out in the day for the spa, but will hopefully be back in plenty of time. Best birthday present would be a huge turnout!
20th March - 3rd April I'll be on honeymoon! The other officers will endevour to cover, but no guarantees for all weeks having someone to run. It's worth noting that Daylight Savings starts on the 27th in the UK, usually offset from NA
10th April I May be in a fit state to run - will depend on how bad the jetlag is. Hopefully be okay!
You can see major bugs that are being investigated as they happen. IT IS NEAT. Especially if you are a QA nerd like me.
*e* If there's a bug that is bugging you (hurr) and it's missing from that list, report it either via the Bug Reports Forum, the in-game reporter, or on Reddit
Every software company would do well to provide that. It garners a lot of good will from anyone who would bother looking for such a page. That's admittedly a small portion of a typical userbase, but I contend that it is a much larger portion of a game's userbase; they're used to looking for patches and especially bugfixes. Even if their pet issue isn't on there yet, they can see that the devs are making progress and working on stuff.
Almost any bug-tracking software can generate static reports like this, and some can even generate a live feed. It's a shame that so many software companies seem to think that showing your QA progress like this is a sign of weakness.
Every software company would do well to provide that. It garners a lot of good will from anyone who would bother looking for such a page. That's admittedly a small portion of a typical userbase, but I contend that it is a much larger portion of a game's userbase; they're used to looking for patches and especially bugfixes. Even if their pet issue isn't on there yet, they can see that the devs are making progress and working on stuff.
Almost any bug-tracking software can generate static reports like this, and some can even generate a live feed. It's a shame that so many software companies seem to think that showing your QA progress like this is a sign of weakness.
They actually mentioned on Reddit that interestingly enough they have to put these reports up by hand instead of generating static reports, because doing it automatically would post [spoilers] (there's no real way to separate "shit that's currently in the live client" from "shit we're working on in the dev client" for that sort of thing)
I know that guild recruiting in this thread is a little weird, but this is explicitly a side guild with a highly specific purpose, so I feel it's OK to post.
If you guys are trying to get up there this PVP season for whatever reason and having trouble doing it, I've joined a casual guild called End The Streak [ETS]. The idea is that it's all casual PVPers but that you're guaranteed to never have anyone who AFKs or disconnects because they're idiots. The skill levels are pretty varied overall, but it's been helpful and it's how I got to Sapphire (finally!) (now I just have to get to Ruby...)
This also has the advantage of that people aren't total assholes in team chat even if you lose badly.
If anyone's interested, message masterfoo.6320, Geri Fear.7128, or Eater of Peeps.9162 in game with a join request.
03/08/16 – March 08 Release Notes
Release Notes:
NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT
Raids
Salvation Pass
New information regarding the whereabouts of the missing Pact squad leader has come to light. Follow the trail deeper inside the mysterious bandit complex, but be prepared for anything, as strange creatures and grim discoveries litter your path to the truth. Fight your way to the temple on the hill to uncover the mystery of how it all began.
Form a ten-person raid squad and enter Salvation Pass from the northeast corner of Verdant Brink. Take on epic encounters and demanding challenges of skill in your journey for legendary armor. Thanks!
Some members of the following guilds had access to the raid at various stages of development. We’d like to thank them for their time and feedback.
[Att] Attuned
[DnT] Death and Taxes
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
[KING] Immortal Kingdom
[NA] The Sickest Guild
[SC] Snow Crows
[vC] Vis Invicta
BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH
Raids
Spirit Vale
General
Removed adrenal mushrooms near waypoints.
Cooldowns now automatically reset for players when they revive after their squad is defeated in an encounter.
Spirit Woods
You Will Join Us: Doubled the warning time of this environmental attack during the second portion of the Spirit Woods event.
Gorseval
Gorseval now properly focuses attacks on the player with the most toughness.
Updated Gorseval’s Ghastly Prison skill to be easier to evade as well as prevent it from hitting gliding players.
Fixed a bug that caused Gorseval to execute its World Eater attack early.
Sabetha
Added a client-side audio cue for players who have been targeted by Sapper Bombs.
Rewards
The achievements for killing bosses in Spirit Vale now award a Box of Raider’s Supplies. Players who previously earned these achievements should get the rewards the next time they enter the map.
Spirit Vale bosses now award ascended armor in a box that allows players to choose the armor type and stats.
Ascended jewelry awarded by Spirit Vale bosses will now be available for purchase from the Priory Scholar vendor for 250 magnetite shards.
The Priory Scholar vendor in Spirit Vale now sells boxes of ascended armor that include the new stat combinations introduced in Heart of Thorns™.
Unwanted raid miniatures can be traded for 40 magnetite shards at the Priory Scholar vendor in Spirit Vale. These do not count against the weekly cap of magnetite shards that can be earned.
Ascended gear awarded from raid bosses will now give magnetite shards when salvaged. These do not count against the weekly cap of magnetite shards that can be earned.
Accessories awarded from Gorseval are no longer unique.
Sabetha’s crucible back items can now be infused in the Mystic Forge.
Energized Loop rings from the Vale Guardian can now be infused and attuned in the Mystic Forge.
World vs. World
Trebuchet: “Fire Rotting Cow” attacks now display a red ring at their impact site where the poison field is active.
Lowlands Keep: Increased the size of the Guild Objective Aura radius to at least slightly extend past all of the walls.
Valley Keep: Increased the size of the Guild Objective Aura radius to at least slightly extend past all of the walls.
Guild
Players can now harvest from resource nodes in the guild hall if they are not representing.
The gramophone decoration now displays the correct size before you place it.
Fixed the collision of the basic pedestal decoration.
BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions
A new Classical Glider is now available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 400 gems.
A new set of Dominator weapon skins is available from the Black Lion Weapons Specialist for 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket for a limited time. Tickets and ticket scraps are available from Black Lion Chests. Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store.
Ten new and exclusive hair colors have been added to Total Makeover Kits and Self-Style Hair Kits, which are available in the Services category of the Gem Store.
The March Every Day Sale continues today with the permanent Captain’s Airship Pass available in the Services category today only for 850 gems, a savings of 15%.
Improvements
Captain’s Airship Passes and Royal Terrace Passes can now be used while in a guild hall.
Players may now jump or glide from the “Havoc’s Heir”—safety railings have been removed from the airship.
The Wizard’s Hat headgear skin can now be dyed. Use dye remover to return the hat to its previous color.
I feel like they've been really bad about promoting the March sale. I forget it's even going on most days, and I don't think their Twitter has been mentioning it much.
I feel like they've been really bad about promoting the March sale. I forget it's even going on most days, and I don't think their Twitter has been mentioning it much.
I somehow missed the one that had Glint's Gaze. I swear I didn't see it being promoted on the Gem Store, and I log in everyday to at least do my gathering nodes.
I still need to do the HoT story.... aaaand I haven't done any of the first wing of raid bosses yet. :P
But knowing nothing of what happens, I still like what I'm seeing there.
Edit: I guess what I need is a raid group that's less "be here at this time we are all depending on you" and more "if you are here at this time we will raid but if you can't make it it's not the end of the world, real life happens"
I played this briefly back when it first released but then stopped due to other commitments. I've decided to give it a go while I leave SWTOR on the backburner for a while, at least until they finish releasing all of the expansion chapters. If there is room I would like an invite to the PA guild, if I'm going to commit to a new online game I'd rather do it among people I'm comfortable with.
For those of you who, like me, still can't find anyone who will raid with you (or for whatever other reason, don't want to or can't raid), but are also super interested in the lore behind the raid, especially for how it ties to GW1...
The second raid wing has an ending cinematic.
I have spoilered it, because obviously it's a big fucking deal and huge huge huge spoilers.
Why can't you raid with Sage's group? Schedule doesn't work?
Every time I've asked I've been told that they just don't have room for me. I could easily make my schedule work -- I'm online when they are -- but @Kylindra has told me there's a huge waitlist and no room for me.
I played this briefly back when it first released but then stopped due to other commitments. I've decided to give it a go while I leave SWTOR on the backburner for a while, at least until they finish releasing all of the expansion chapters. If there is room I would like an invite to the PA guild, if I'm going to commit to a new online game I'd rather do it among people I'm comfortable with.
My display name is The Brayster.1794
Invite sent! If you've never joined a guild before, hit G to bring up the guild interface and then look for the NICE invite and hit Accept. Then hit Represent to benefit from our guild stuff! You can be in up to 5 guilds and see chat for them all, but only rep one at a time. We have a fairly decked out guild hall, with full tavern buffs and gathering. To get to the guild hall, hit the button in the upper right hand corner of your guild interface. (You may need HoT to use the hall? Not sure).
Welcome to NICE! Check out the OP for our guild Teamspeak info, mission schedule, and other helpful info.
Its a fun fight! He doesn't have much HP at all, but you move around way, way more than you did even with VG, and they don't even really need an enrage mechanic for him - they put one in anyways, I guess to put a hard stop to 10-druid runs :bigfrown:
So after craving a MMO, and trying several over the weekend that I had never played before, GW2 managed to be the only one that lasted more than a few hours of play.
At first I was a little unsure, but then I decided to check out what this 'vista' thing was on my map. Oh, it's a jumping puzzle! I like 'billy goating' as my husband calls it! Then, still not 100% on the game, I found another jumping puzzle by a thing marked 'hero point' on the map. After jumping up the leaves, over the branches, up the rocks, over the floating rocks, up and down some more branches and mushrooms and gaps... I finally reaches a ledge with a chest on it, full of loot for me! And when I made the final jump and approached the chest I heard my character say 'I earned that!'
Ok, any game that gives me optional rewards for spending ten minutes billy goating gets an extended trial.
So any advice for a level 10ish noob?
Decomposey on
Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
Take your time.
Ignore the level cap.
Explore everywhere (what could be in that deep looking pool? Is that a path I spy in that cliff?)
Gather all the things, this will earn you a nice bit of money (unlike other MMOs every profession can gather everything as long as you have the appropriate tools equipped).
Try all your weapons out.
Don't worry about stealing credit/nodes from people. Virtually everything is shared, if you hit a mob someone else is hitting you will both get XP and loot.
If you see an orange circle on your map take a wander over there, it is an event that's popped up.
But mostly wear sunscr take your time and enjoy your first time in Tyria.
Also, if you post your account name here, it'll look something like Tavalisk.9463, you can be invited to the PA guild, where you can harass the denizens of [NICE] with any questions you have.
Take your time.
Ignore the level cap.
Explore everywhere (what could be in that deep looking pool? Is that a path I spy in that cliff?)
Gather all the things, this will earn you a nice bit of money (unlike other MMOs every profession can gather everything as long as you have the appropriate tools equipped).
Try all your weapons out.
Don't worry about stealing credit/nodes from people. Virtually everything is shared, if you hit a mob someone else is hitting you will both get XP and loot.
If you see an orange circle on your map take a wander over there, it is an event that's popped up.
But mostly wear sunscr take your time and enjoy your first time in Tyria.
Also, if you post your account name here, it'll look something like Tavalisk.9463, you can be invited to the PA guild, where you can harass the denizens of [NICE] with any questions you have.
And if you haven't already, go into Options and turn on AoE loot and whatever the other thing is called that makes you take all things from a container. You don't need to spend any time picking up loot and choosing what to take since it'll make you take everything, and you can spend more time having fun.
But yeah, what Hermit said.
Edit: and that gear icon at the top of your inventory screen? Click it then click Deposit Materials. Gape in wonder at the magic having all crafting materials moved to your bank. Get back to exploring.
go into Options and turn on AoE loot and whatever the other thing is called that makes you take all things from a container. You don't need to spend any time picking up loot and choosing what to take since it'll make you take everything, and you can spend more time having fun.
But yeah, what Hermit said.
Edit: and that gear icon at the top of your inventory screen? Click it then click Deposit Materials. Gape in wonder at the magic having all crafting materials moved to your bank. Get back to exploring.
Ok, THIS is super useful. AOE looting will keep me moving and after 1 day of playing I already have an inventory choked with crafting materials.
Though no one needs to tell em to explore everything. I do that anyway. Back in the pre-flight Warcraft days I even managed to get into some incomplete and unbuilt areas with my exploring. So believe me I will be climbing every mountain and diving every pond.
Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
So after craving a MMO, and trying several over the weekend that I had never played before, GW2 managed to be the only one that lasted more than a few hours of play.
At first I was a little unsure, but then I decided to check out what this 'vista' thing was on my map. Oh, it's a jumping puzzle! I like 'billy goating' as my husband calls it! Then, still not 100% on the game, I found another jumping puzzle by a thing marked 'hero point' on the map. After jumping up the leaves, over the branches, up the rocks, over the floating rocks, up and down some more branches and mushrooms and gaps... I finally reaches a ledge with a chest on it, full of loot for me! And when I made the final jump and approached the chest I heard my character say 'I earned that!'
Ok, any game that gives me optional rewards for spending ten minutes billy goating gets an extended trial.
So any advice for a level 10ish noob?
Instead of advice I'm going to tell you a secret. Vistas are not jumping puzzles! They are little bit-size snacks, while real jumping puzzles are a MEAL. If you ever want to see a REAL jumping puzzle, give me a shout. Taking people to jumping puzzles who have never done them before so I can say "BEHOLD! Look upon this in all its glory!" is basically my purpose in life.
So after craving a MMO, and trying several over the weekend that I had never played before, GW2 managed to be the only one that lasted more than a few hours of play.
At first I was a little unsure, but then I decided to check out what this 'vista' thing was on my map. Oh, it's a jumping puzzle! I like 'billy goating' as my husband calls it! Then, still not 100% on the game, I found another jumping puzzle by a thing marked 'hero point' on the map. After jumping up the leaves, over the branches, up the rocks, over the floating rocks, up and down some more branches and mushrooms and gaps... I finally reaches a ledge with a chest on it, full of loot for me! And when I made the final jump and approached the chest I heard my character say 'I earned that!'
Ok, any game that gives me optional rewards for spending ten minutes billy goating gets an extended trial.
So any advice for a level 10ish noob?
Instead of advice I'm going to tell you a secret. Vistas are not jumping puzzles! They are little bit-size snacks, while real jumping puzzles are a MEAL. If you ever want to see a REAL jumping puzzle, give me a shout. Taking people to jumping puzzles who have never done them before so I can say "BEHOLD! Look upon this in all its glory!" is basically my purpose in life.
Sage is indeed queen of jumping puzzles
I am pretty bad at JPs, but I am the resident unofficial lore hound / historian of the guild, so if you ever are like "Wow, what's the history behind this ruin I just found?" I can give you a very long-winded and rambling explanation of What Be The Haps.
Also, I am always happy to come hang out & adventure randomly, so, feel free to friend TealDeer.4217
Related to "Don't rush the level cap" and so on, the thing about GW2 is that when you're level capped, you get downscaled to the level of whatever zone you're in. Your gear and skills still makes you a good deal beefier than lowbies in the same zone, but low level areas don't become boring, irrelevant wastelands of nothing going on. While you'll finish Renown Hearts (GW2's version of quest hubs, basically), Dynamic Events (big orange circles on your map) will keep happening over and over again basically forever, so you can always return to a low-level zone and find stuff to do. There's often really good reason to do so, too -- low-level mats are used to create the very highest tier of gear, Ascended (which -- don't worry about that even when you DO hit 80 -- it's only relevant for Fractals and hardcore raids, which is to say, not relevant to 90% of the population), so lowbie loot drops & mats are still quite valuable.
Basically, every piece of content in the game outside of Renown Hearts, Vistas, and Points of Interest are 100% repeatable, and you'll still get loot and EXP for it! You love a jumping puzzle? You can get that loot chest once a day from it. It's not a one-and-done thing. This means that low-level zones are pretty well populated.
Finally, PVP -- there's two types. World vs World is the big huge groups of like 300+ players wailing at each other and trying for zone control. Unfortunately, the game mode is a mess right now due to some really ill-advised changes by ArenaNet, and while your level doesn't count (you get scaled to the level cap), your gear does, so it's really hard to be effective there at low levels.
However, there's also sPVP (Structured PVP), where you're scaled to the level cap and get standardized level cap gear to play with. Unranked sPVP is a great place to get a feel for how classes work at max level, and through Reward Tracks you can still get loot that works for PVE.
Now the hardest part will be getting my husband to play it.
Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
So late last night I cleared the rest of the wing, but it was really late and didn't remember to take pics.
Overall, the second wing feels a lot more fun than the first wing. None of the fights are DPS checks, but the difficulty is roughly the same - its much more movement oriented, and the composition required is a lot different. Shifts away from focusing condi engis, hammer guards and elementalists, and more towards reapers, Druids, and overall tougher classes that can handle conditions. There's not a need for a dedicated tank, but a lot of the bosses have less health so it's definitely feasible to toss on some survivability. Which is great, except most of the mechanics don't need it because the toughest mechanics to deal with are basically one-shots or do enough hurt that messing one up is essentially a wipe.
Fun stuff though, can't wait for the full clear this week. Hopefully I'll actually remember to take pictures this time
So late last night I cleared the rest of the wing, but it was really late and didn't remember to take pics.
Overall, the second wing feels a lot more fun than the first wing. None of the fights are DPS checks, but the difficulty is roughly the same - its much more movement oriented, and the composition required is a lot different. Shifts away from focusing condi engis, hammer guards and elementalists, and more towards reapers, Druids, and overall tougher classes that can handle conditions. There's not a need for a dedicated tank, but a lot of the bosses have less health so it's definitely feasible to toss on some survivability. Which is great, except most of the mechanics don't need it because the toughest mechanics to deal with are basically one-shots or do enough hurt that messing one up is essentially a wipe.
Fun stuff though, can't wait for the full clear this week. Hopefully I'll actually remember to take pictures this time
dammit now I have to start getting Asc. gear for my Reaper I guess
I'll admit, I'm not convinced engis don't have a place. It's just that our group comp didn't need one at the time. I'll talk mechanics at some point when we're on, for the most part this wing is more about problem solving and less about banging your head against the wall making DPS higher.
I'm serious btw, sloth has like 1/10th the HP of most of the wing 1 bosses and Matthias has like a 10 minute enrage timer with the enrage being "he does a little more damage on his attacks that already one-shot you".
Hey guys, with the time change, Shatterer is no longer at guild missions time (it's an hour later). My plan is to just start missions right at 8PM EST. See you then!
So late last night I cleared the rest of the wing, but it was really late and didn't remember to take pics.
Overall, the second wing feels a lot more fun than the first wing. None of the fights are DPS checks, but the difficulty is roughly the same - its much more movement oriented, and the composition required is a lot different. Shifts away from focusing condi engis, hammer guards and elementalists, and more towards reapers, Druids, and overall tougher classes that can handle conditions. There's not a need for a dedicated tank, but a lot of the bosses have less health so it's definitely feasible to toss on some survivability. Which is great, except most of the mechanics don't need it because the toughest mechanics to deal with are basically one-shots or do enough hurt that messing one up is essentially a wipe.
Fun stuff though, can't wait for the full clear this week. Hopefully I'll actually remember to take pictures this time
dammit now I have to start getting Asc. gear for my Reaper I guess
Oh look, My Reaper already has a full Valk armor set!
Now if I could only stop playing Disgaea and end my reunion tour with Warframe, I might be able to come back and take advantage of that :P
So after craving a MMO, and trying several over the weekend that I had never played before, GW2 managed to be the only one that lasted more than a few hours of play.
At first I was a little unsure, but then I decided to check out what this 'vista' thing was on my map. Oh, it's a jumping puzzle! I like 'billy goating' as my husband calls it! Then, still not 100% on the game, I found another jumping puzzle by a thing marked 'hero point' on the map. After jumping up the leaves, over the branches, up the rocks, over the floating rocks, up and down some more branches and mushrooms and gaps... I finally reaches a ledge with a chest on it, full of loot for me! And when I made the final jump and approached the chest I heard my character say 'I earned that!'
Ok, any game that gives me optional rewards for spending ten minutes billy goating gets an extended trial.
So any advice for a level 10ish noob?
Instead of advice I'm going to tell you a secret. Vistas are not jumping puzzles! They are little bit-size snacks, while real jumping puzzles are a MEAL. If you ever want to see a REAL jumping puzzle, give me a shout. Taking people to jumping puzzles who have never done them before so I can say "BEHOLD! Look upon this in all its glory!" is basically my purpose in life.
I'm working on doing all the jumping puzzles. I try to knock them off as I clear each zone. Only 14 to go! Please never ask me about Troll's Revenge though. I still have flashbacks...
So after craving a MMO, and trying several over the weekend that I had never played before, GW2 managed to be the only one that lasted more than a few hours of play.
At first I was a little unsure, but then I decided to check out what this 'vista' thing was on my map. Oh, it's a jumping puzzle! I like 'billy goating' as my husband calls it! Then, still not 100% on the game, I found another jumping puzzle by a thing marked 'hero point' on the map. After jumping up the leaves, over the branches, up the rocks, over the floating rocks, up and down some more branches and mushrooms and gaps... I finally reaches a ledge with a chest on it, full of loot for me! And when I made the final jump and approached the chest I heard my character say 'I earned that!'
Ok, any game that gives me optional rewards for spending ten minutes billy goating gets an extended trial.
So any advice for a level 10ish noob?
Instead of advice I'm going to tell you a secret. Vistas are not jumping puzzles! They are little bit-size snacks, while real jumping puzzles are a MEAL. If you ever want to see a REAL jumping puzzle, give me a shout. Taking people to jumping puzzles who have never done them before so I can say "BEHOLD! Look upon this in all its glory!" is basically my purpose in life.
I'm working on doing all the jumping puzzles. I try to knock them off as I clear each zone. Only 14 to go! Please never ask me about Troll's Revenge though. I still have flashbacks...
Finally you probably don't need this until you hit max level and go "Ugh getting Ascended gear costs so much money ;~; " but this website is pretty awesome too: https://gw2efficiency.com/account/overview
Basically it lets you know a whole lot of data about your account. Most of it is stuff like "just how much are those crafting mats sitting around in my inventory worth, anyway?" but there's also "how much do I suck at PVP" and other info.
Pffft, like I need a website to tell me how much I suck at PvP.
Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
+2
ZoelI suppose... I'd put it onRegistered Userregular
Actual WvW news. Go vote on when you want reset time.
I'm still praying, quietly, that WvW comes back, because I miss you, and I miss annoying people with you.
I appreciate it, but I am firmly retired.
Mojojoeo is farming in Queensdale, his sword gathering dust. Maybe the corn will grow taller this season. Time will tell.
coVn is done too.
In fact almost everyone is done in WvW. I was one of the last people out of the door. There are some EU holdouts in tier 2 if you want to play midday US.
The changes are too little too late. If they'd announced this stuff BEFORE the AMA then they had a shot, but the AMA was basically "yeah your game mode is dying and we have 70 people working on an expansion."
Ok well bye.
Zoel on
A magician gives you a ring that, when worn, will let you see the world as it truly is.
However, the ring will never leave your finger, and you will be unable to ever describe to another living person what you see.
0
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
Actual WvW news. Go vote on when you want reset time.
I'm still praying, quietly, that WvW comes back, because I miss you, and I miss annoying people with you.
I appreciate it, but I am firmly retired.
Mojojoeo is farming in Queensdale, his sword gathering dust. Maybe the corn will grow taller this season. Time will tell.
coVn is done too.
In fact almost everyone is done in WvW. I was one of the last people out of the door. There are some EU holdouts in tier 2 if you want to play midday US.
A true tragedy what this game became.
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
+1
ZoelI suppose... I'd put it onRegistered Userregular
edited March 2016
It's not a tragedy. Any life well lived is worth living.
6667 hours isn't a failure by any stretch of the imagination. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on this game. So did a lot of other people. It wasn't a commercial failure.
It just, like so many other things in life, ran out of steam.
It's time for another game with other ideas to get a shot at that niche. For now I'm playing BDO. It has some promise but if it turns out to suck and I just have to chill while I wait for something to come out, that's cool.
edit: I guess if you asked me what I thought about guild wars 2 and my time there I would say
I will miss it. It was fun.
Zoel on
A magician gives you a ring that, when worn, will let you see the world as it truly is.
However, the ring will never leave your finger, and you will be unable to ever describe to another living person what you see.
I'm gonna say like I always do that for all ESO's other faults, their open-world PVP is fucking awesome if that's your jam. It basically does almost everything I wanted WvW to do. Them arc-targeted siege weapons...
Unfortunately I think you do have to be max level with max gear to do it which is a problem
Posts
Hey folks, as those who are regulars will know, the Sunday mission schedule may get a little hairy for a while!
6th March Missions as normal. (Hugely important concert for my orchestra in the afternoon, but shouldn't be late.)
13th March Lea's Birthday Missions!
20th March - 3rd April I'll be on honeymoon! The other officers will endevour to cover, but no guarantees for all weeks having someone to run. It's worth noting that Daylight Savings starts on the 27th in the UK, usually offset from NA
10th April I May be in a fit state to run - will depend on how bad the jetlag is. Hopefully be okay!
17th April onwards Back to normal!
http://help.guildwars2.com/entries/98802888
You can see major bugs that are being investigated as they happen. IT IS NEAT. Especially if you are a QA nerd like me.
*e* If there's a bug that is bugging you (hurr) and it's missing from that list, report it either via the Bug Reports Forum, the in-game reporter, or on Reddit
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Almost any bug-tracking software can generate static reports like this, and some can even generate a live feed. It's a shame that so many software companies seem to think that showing your QA progress like this is a sign of weakness.
They actually mentioned on Reddit that interestingly enough they have to put these reports up by hand instead of generating static reports, because doing it automatically would post [spoilers] (there's no real way to separate "shit that's currently in the live client" from "shit we're working on in the dev client" for that sort of thing)
STILL. They are Doing the Thing, which is neat.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/
If you guys are trying to get up there this PVP season for whatever reason and having trouble doing it, I've joined a casual guild called End The Streak [ETS]. The idea is that it's all casual PVPers but that you're guaranteed to never have anyone who AFKs or disconnects because they're idiots. The skill levels are pretty varied overall, but it's been helpful and it's how I got to Sapphire (finally!) (now I just have to get to Ruby...)
This also has the advantage of that people aren't total assholes in team chat even if you lose badly.
If anyone's interested, message masterfoo.6320, Geri Fear.7128, or Eater of Peeps.9162 in game with a join request.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-March-8-2016
Release Notes:
NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT
Raids
Salvation Pass
New information regarding the whereabouts of the missing Pact squad leader has come to light. Follow the trail deeper inside the mysterious bandit complex, but be prepared for anything, as strange creatures and grim discoveries litter your path to the truth. Fight your way to the temple on the hill to uncover the mystery of how it all began.
Form a ten-person raid squad and enter Salvation Pass from the northeast corner of Verdant Brink. Take on epic encounters and demanding challenges of skill in your journey for legendary armor.
Thanks!
Some members of the following guilds had access to the raid at various stages of development. We’d like to thank them for their time and feedback. BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH
Raids
Spirit Vale
- General
- Removed adrenal mushrooms near waypoints.
- Cooldowns now automatically reset for players when they revive after their squad is defeated in an encounter.
- Spirit Woods
- You Will Join Us: Doubled the warning time of this environmental attack during the second portion of the Spirit Woods event.
- Gorseval
- Gorseval now properly focuses attacks on the player with the most toughness.
- Updated Gorseval’s Ghastly Prison skill to be easier to evade as well as prevent it from hitting gliding players.
- Fixed a bug that caused Gorseval to execute its World Eater attack early.
- Sabetha
- Added a client-side audio cue for players who have been targeted by Sapper Bombs.
- Rewards
- The achievements for killing bosses in Spirit Vale now award a Box of Raider’s Supplies. Players who previously earned these achievements should get the rewards the next time they enter the map.
- Spirit Vale bosses now award ascended armor in a box that allows players to choose the armor type and stats.
- Ascended jewelry awarded by Spirit Vale bosses will now be available for purchase from the Priory Scholar vendor for 250 magnetite shards.
- The Priory Scholar vendor in Spirit Vale now sells boxes of ascended armor that include the new stat combinations introduced in Heart of Thorns™.
- Unwanted raid miniatures can be traded for 40 magnetite shards at the Priory Scholar vendor in Spirit Vale. These do not count against the weekly cap of magnetite shards that can be earned.
- Ascended gear awarded from raid bosses will now give magnetite shards when salvaged. These do not count against the weekly cap of magnetite shards that can be earned.
- Accessories awarded from Gorseval are no longer unique.
- Sabetha’s crucible back items can now be infused in the Mystic Forge.
- Energized Loop rings from the Vale Guardian can now be infused and attuned in the Mystic Forge.
World vs. World- Trebuchet: “Fire Rotting Cow” attacks now display a red ring at their impact site where the poison field is active.
- Lowlands Keep: Increased the size of the Guild Objective Aura radius to at least slightly extend past all of the walls.
- Valley Keep: Increased the size of the Guild Objective Aura radius to at least slightly extend past all of the walls.
Guild- Players can now harvest from resource nodes in the guild hall if they are not representing.
- The gramophone decoration now displays the correct size before you place it.
- Fixed the collision of the basic pedestal decoration.
BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORENew Items and Promotions
- A new Classical Glider is now available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 400 gems.
- A new set of Dominator weapon skins is available from the Black Lion Weapons Specialist for 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket for a limited time. Tickets and ticket scraps are available from Black Lion Chests. Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store.
- Ten new and exclusive hair colors have been added to Total Makeover Kits and Self-Style Hair Kits, which are available in the Services category of the Gem Store.
- The March Every Day Sale continues today with the permanent Captain’s Airship Pass available in the Services category today only for 850 gems, a savings of 15%.
Improvementshttps://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
I somehow missed the one that had Glint's Gaze. I swear I didn't see it being promoted on the Gem Store, and I log in everyday to at least do my gathering nodes.
I'm not saying anything specific, but I am saying that if you are a lore-hound like I am, it is time to GET FUCKIN HYPE
http://dulfy.net/2016/03/08/gw2-salvation-pass-raid-weapons-skins-and-minis/
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
I still need to do the HoT story.... aaaand I haven't done any of the first wing of raid bosses yet. :P
But knowing nothing of what happens, I still like what I'm seeing there.
Edit: I guess what I need is a raid group that's less "be here at this time we are all depending on you" and more "if you are here at this time we will raid but if you can't make it it's not the end of the world, real life happens"
I played this briefly back when it first released but then stopped due to other commitments. I've decided to give it a go while I leave SWTOR on the backburner for a while, at least until they finish releasing all of the expansion chapters. If there is room I would like an invite to the PA guild, if I'm going to commit to a new online game I'd rather do it among people I'm comfortable with.
My display name is The Brayster.1794
PSN: TheBrayster_92
The second raid wing has an ending cinematic.
I have spoilered it, because obviously it's a big fucking deal and huge huge huge spoilers.
GET HYPE GET HYPE
LAZARUS THE DIRE FINAL BOSS OF WING 3!?? maybe??? plz?
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Every time I've asked I've been told that they just don't have room for me. I could easily make my schedule work -- I'm online when they are -- but @Kylindra has told me there's a huge waitlist and no room for me.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Invite sent! If you've never joined a guild before, hit G to bring up the guild interface and then look for the NICE invite and hit Accept. Then hit Represent to benefit from our guild stuff! You can be in up to 5 guilds and see chat for them all, but only rep one at a time. We have a fairly decked out guild hall, with full tavern buffs and gathering. To get to the guild hall, hit the button in the upper right hand corner of your guild interface. (You may need HoT to use the hall? Not sure).
Welcome to NICE! Check out the OP for our guild Teamspeak info, mission schedule, and other helpful info.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
By the way, for anyone who is new or returning and doesn't know how to guild hall, here is my guide on that topic:
How to Guild Hall
Actual WvW news. Go vote on when you want reset time.
I'm still praying, quietly, that WvW comes back, because I miss you, and I miss annoying people with you.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Its a fun fight! He doesn't have much HP at all, but you move around way, way more than you did even with VG, and they don't even really need an enrage mechanic for him - they put one in anyways, I guess to put a hard stop to 10-druid runs :bigfrown:
At first I was a little unsure, but then I decided to check out what this 'vista' thing was on my map. Oh, it's a jumping puzzle! I like 'billy goating' as my husband calls it! Then, still not 100% on the game, I found another jumping puzzle by a thing marked 'hero point' on the map. After jumping up the leaves, over the branches, up the rocks, over the floating rocks, up and down some more branches and mushrooms and gaps... I finally reaches a ledge with a chest on it, full of loot for me! And when I made the final jump and approached the chest I heard my character say 'I earned that!'
Ok, any game that gives me optional rewards for spending ten minutes billy goating gets an extended trial.
So any advice for a level 10ish noob?
Ignore the level cap.
Explore everywhere (what could be in that deep looking pool? Is that a path I spy in that cliff?)
Gather all the things, this will earn you a nice bit of money (unlike other MMOs every profession can gather everything as long as you have the appropriate tools equipped).
Try all your weapons out.
Don't worry about stealing credit/nodes from people. Virtually everything is shared, if you hit a mob someone else is hitting you will both get XP and loot.
If you see an orange circle on your map take a wander over there, it is an event that's popped up.
But mostly wear sunscr take your time and enjoy your first time in Tyria.
Also, if you post your account name here, it'll look something like Tavalisk.9463, you can be invited to the PA guild, where you can harass the denizens of [NICE] with any questions you have.
GW2: Tavalisk.9463
And if you haven't already, go into Options and turn on AoE loot and whatever the other thing is called that makes you take all things from a container. You don't need to spend any time picking up loot and choosing what to take since it'll make you take everything, and you can spend more time having fun.
But yeah, what Hermit said.
Edit: and that gear icon at the top of your inventory screen? Click it then click Deposit Materials. Gape in wonder at the magic having all crafting materials moved to your bank. Get back to exploring.
I appreciate it, but I am firmly retired.
Mojojoeo is farming in Queensdale, his sword gathering dust. Maybe the corn will grow taller this season. Time will tell.
Ok, THIS is super useful. AOE looting will keep me moving and after 1 day of playing I already have an inventory choked with crafting materials.
Though no one needs to tell em to explore everything. I do that anyway. Back in the pre-flight Warcraft days I even managed to get into some incomplete and unbuilt areas with my exploring. So believe me I will be climbing every mountain and diving every pond.
Instead of advice I'm going to tell you a secret. Vistas are not jumping puzzles! They are little bit-size snacks, while real jumping puzzles are a MEAL. If you ever want to see a REAL jumping puzzle, give me a shout. Taking people to jumping puzzles who have never done them before so I can say "BEHOLD! Look upon this in all its glory!" is basically my purpose in life.
Sage is indeed queen of jumping puzzles
I am pretty bad at JPs, but I am the resident unofficial lore hound / historian of the guild, so if you ever are like "Wow, what's the history behind this ruin I just found?" I can give you a very long-winded and rambling explanation of What Be The Haps.
Also, I am always happy to come hang out & adventure randomly, so, feel free to friend TealDeer.4217
Related to "Don't rush the level cap" and so on, the thing about GW2 is that when you're level capped, you get downscaled to the level of whatever zone you're in. Your gear and skills still makes you a good deal beefier than lowbies in the same zone, but low level areas don't become boring, irrelevant wastelands of nothing going on. While you'll finish Renown Hearts (GW2's version of quest hubs, basically), Dynamic Events (big orange circles on your map) will keep happening over and over again basically forever, so you can always return to a low-level zone and find stuff to do. There's often really good reason to do so, too -- low-level mats are used to create the very highest tier of gear, Ascended (which -- don't worry about that even when you DO hit 80 -- it's only relevant for Fractals and hardcore raids, which is to say, not relevant to 90% of the population), so lowbie loot drops & mats are still quite valuable.
Basically, every piece of content in the game outside of Renown Hearts, Vistas, and Points of Interest are 100% repeatable, and you'll still get loot and EXP for it! You love a jumping puzzle? You can get that loot chest once a day from it. It's not a one-and-done thing. This means that low-level zones are pretty well populated.
Finally, PVP -- there's two types. World vs World is the big huge groups of like 300+ players wailing at each other and trying for zone control. Unfortunately, the game mode is a mess right now due to some really ill-advised changes by ArenaNet, and while your level doesn't count (you get scaled to the level cap), your gear does, so it's really hard to be effective there at low levels.
However, there's also sPVP (Structured PVP), where you're scaled to the level cap and get standardized level cap gear to play with. Unranked sPVP is a great place to get a feel for how classes work at max level, and through Reward Tracks you can still get loot that works for PVE.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Overall, the second wing feels a lot more fun than the first wing. None of the fights are DPS checks, but the difficulty is roughly the same - its much more movement oriented, and the composition required is a lot different. Shifts away from focusing condi engis, hammer guards and elementalists, and more towards reapers, Druids, and overall tougher classes that can handle conditions. There's not a need for a dedicated tank, but a lot of the bosses have less health so it's definitely feasible to toss on some survivability. Which is great, except most of the mechanics don't need it because the toughest mechanics to deal with are basically one-shots or do enough hurt that messing one up is essentially a wipe.
Fun stuff though, can't wait for the full clear this week. Hopefully I'll actually remember to take pictures this time
dammit now I have to start getting Asc. gear for my Reaper I guess
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
I'm serious btw, sloth has like 1/10th the HP of most of the wing 1 bosses and Matthias has like a 10 minute enrage timer with the enrage being "he does a little more damage on his attacks that already one-shot you".
Oh look, My Reaper already has a full Valk armor set!
Now if I could only stop playing Disgaea and end my reunion tour with Warframe, I might be able to come back and take advantage of that :P
I'm working on doing all the jumping puzzles. I try to knock them off as I clear each zone. Only 14 to go! Please never ask me about Troll's Revenge though. I still have flashbacks...
@Decomposey If you have a laptop/tablet I find it helps to have http://wiki.guildwars2.com/ to hand on a nearby screen.
Also, this: http://dulfy.net/2012/09/16/gw2-jumping-puzzles-guides-guild-wars-2/
Furthermore, in a general, not-jumping puzzle sense, http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/, ESPECIALLY the World Boss Timer and Map Timer.
Finally you probably don't need this until you hit max level and go "Ugh getting Ascended gear costs so much money ;~; " but this website is pretty awesome too: https://gw2efficiency.com/account/overview
Basically it lets you know a whole lot of data about your account. Most of it is stuff like "just how much are those crafting mats sitting around in my inventory worth, anyway?" but there's also "how much do I suck at PVP" and other info.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
coVn is done too.
In fact almost everyone is done in WvW. I was one of the last people out of the door. There are some EU holdouts in tier 2 if you want to play midday US.
The changes are too little too late. If they'd announced this stuff BEFORE the AMA then they had a shot, but the AMA was basically "yeah your game mode is dying and we have 70 people working on an expansion."
Ok well bye.
However, the ring will never leave your finger, and you will be unable to ever describe to another living person what you see.
A true tragedy what this game became.
6667 hours isn't a failure by any stretch of the imagination. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on this game. So did a lot of other people. It wasn't a commercial failure.
It just, like so many other things in life, ran out of steam.
It's time for another game with other ideas to get a shot at that niche. For now I'm playing BDO. It has some promise but if it turns out to suck and I just have to chill while I wait for something to come out, that's cool.
edit: I guess if you asked me what I thought about guild wars 2 and my time there I would say
I will miss it. It was fun.
However, the ring will never leave your finger, and you will be unable to ever describe to another living person what you see.
Unfortunately I think you do have to be max level with max gear to do it which is a problem
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/