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Guild Wars 2 - Heart of Thorns |OT| Welcome to the Jungle...

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M

Massicot

Member
Really like the map and the instances, and it's cool to see so many people visiting the old maps for legendary trinket collections. Had a huge blob doing the unbound guardian like it was 2016.

Can you be nostalgic about something that was only a year ago.?

I'm glad that I have taken in a lot of karma via wvw recently because the collections need a lot.
 
W

Wanderer5

Member
There were some fun in the instances and I like the map, but honestly I was pretty disappointed with this episode's story, especially being the finale to this season.

It really irk me that
they pretty much just threw in Livia and killing the actual Lazarus right there and then in the very last episode of this season, and that's it for that! Just feels like a rushed and forced detour from the main conflict. Don't even see Balthazar, who apparently just brings the aspect and leaves without us encountering him.
 
S

Sonicbug

Member
Wanderer5 said:
Enjoyed the JP for the new map. Was generally straight forward and not too hard, but still quite thrilling as you get pretty damn high.:p The end at the very top pretty cool and there is a dive master spot.
Click to expand...

For some silly reason, this was the first thing I did when I got to the new map. At least I have it over and done with!
 
M

Massicot

Member
Wanderer5 said:
There were some fun in the instances and I like the map, but honestly I was pretty disappointed with this episode's story, especially being the finale to this season.

It really irk me that
they pretty much just threw in Livia and killing the actual Lazarus right there and then in the very last episode of this season, and that's it for that! Just feels like a rushed and forced detour from the main conflict. Don't even see Balthazar, who apparently just brings the aspect and leaves without us encountering him.
Click to expand...

Yea I do kind of agree with this. The whole season had a bit of a "focus" problem, imo. I mean, just look where the new maps ended up: 1 in each Maguuma, Shiverpeaks, Kryta, Orr, and 2 in Ring of Fire. I understand that the decision to add a map with each episode is going to map it feel manufactured in a way no matter how well you write it though.
 
M

Massicot

Member
This patch also really cleaned up my bank space with the item that you port portal scrolls into and combining those Sentient thingers.

I might actually start converting my ascended mats now that it's a vendor interface (once you combine them) rather than having to pull them and the ascended mats out of the bank, click a whole bunch, and put them back.
 
M

Massicot

Member
IIRC most of them are gotten by collecting x/y things in the new maps. IE, Mursaat tokens in Ember Bay. Some of those are really annoying (ie, in the middle of the jumping puzzle.) I saw more than a few people whining in map chat there yesterday finishing up collecting the tokens, but also a lot of camaraderie as people were offering ports and such. Not hard, but definitely a chore.
 
A

Auraela

Banned
Massicot said:
IIRC most of them are gotten by collecting x/y things in the new maps. IE, Mursaat tokens in Ember Bay. Some of those are really annoying (ie, in the middle of the jumping puzzle.) I saw more than a few people whining in map chat there yesterday finishing up collecting the tokens, but also a lot of camaraderie as people were offering ports and such. Not hard, but definitely a chore.
Click to expand...

Ah right i did run into things i managed to get the anomaly one just by going through zone. Im guessing that was easiest one lol
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Well that was... anticlimactic.

Also I wonder if they'll remove that GO WATCH OUR UNVEILING after August 1.
 
E

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
Massicot said:
Not really. Hammer DPS is mostly about just autoattacking constantly to keep the symbol up.
Click to expand...

Feels slow, I feel with Sword/Focus and GS things go down faster than with GS and Hammer.

Granted this is Open World PVE, so I don't know if it changes on instanced content like dungeons/fractals/raid.
 
I

Isaac Otherworld

Member
Massicot said:
Yea I do kind of agree with this. The whole season had a bit of a "focus" problem, imo. I mean, just look where the new maps ended up: 1 in each Maguuma, Shiverpeaks, Kryta, Orr, and 2 in Ring of Fire. I understand that the decision to add a map with each episode is going to map it feel manufactured in a way no matter how well you write it though.
Click to expand...
Not worth it imo. Turning Bloodstone Dust into Toxic Focusing Crystals and selling them is much more profitable.

Massicot said:
Yea I do kind of agree with this. The whole season had a bit of a "focus" problem, imo. I mean, just look where the new maps ended up: 1 in each Maguuma, Shiverpeaks, Kryta, Orr, and 2 in Ring of Fire. I understand that the decision to add a map with each episode is going to map it feel manufactured in a way no matter how well you write it though.
Click to expand...

I'm actually generally okay with the direction LWS3 has taken in this regard. Guild Wars 2 has had a focus problem in the opposite direction since it's release that feeling a bit more scattered is honestly a great change of pace. Everything is laser focused on the elder dragons. The best moments from LWS1 were smaller side stories like the opening of the Queen's Jubilee, Dragon Bash and the reveal of the Aetherblades and Cutthroat politics. Expanding the world so that it isn't all Elder Dragons all the time and telling smaller stories is a huge plus and makes the world seem bigger.

All of LWS2 was about Modremoth awakening. All of Heart of Thorns main story dealt with Modremoth itself. And all of them took place in relatively small regions of the world with a few times where you dipped back into older locations.

I think all six of the maps from LWS3 are some of the best they've ever made and all of them are unique from other maps in some form. One of my biggest problems with Guild Wars 2 is how little variation there are in the biomes you visit. Just think of how many areas in the game are tropical locations. I can think of 16 out of about 35 zones. Anything that gets us exploring more and more varied locations is a good thing in my opinion. There's just so little variation in the world. Maybe I'm unfairly comparing it to other MMORPGs but most other games I've played have started out with far more varied worlds than GW2 at their launch.

I've always wanted to explore the Ring of Fire islands. GW2 has never had a great classic lava level like WoW had with the two Black Rock Spire locations. I don't even really need a story reason to do so. I just want to explore and experience these areas. I've always wanted to go to the crystal desert. GW2 has never really had a proper desert area than Drytop and Silverwastes, which are more badlands than true deserts. I've always wanted to go north of Queensdale and Divinity's reach and I would have been happy going to these places regardless of whether we got a story reason to do so.

Anyway I'm rambling

TL:DR With an MMORPG the world itself is always going to be more interesting than any direct narrative you can tell, so let the world expand and shine and the game will be much better for it.

Regarding the season finale, I definitely feel like the exact last moment was kind of a dud?
So you get the final encounter and you get the vision and that's all well and good. But the last line being "Well. I guess I'm off to the crystal desert then." is a flat way to end the season. What the game should have done is have an epilogue where you gather your allies and tell them what the deal is with Balthazar and giving a rousing speech for a campaign towards the Crystal Desert. As opposed to "WELP *shrugs*"
 
G

Goldrush

Member
A bit disappointed that the last episode is a side story, but I kind of understand why they did it. Hyping up Lazarus and ending with a fakeout did left me a bit unfulfilled. Balth makes for a more interesting story, but Lazarus was what I was picturing for the final boss with the first episode. Considering the White Mantle is gone, there's no room for a Lazarus fight post-Season 3. I am a bit surprised that Livia seems to be a one-shot, though. Maybe since we're going out of Kryta, ANet might not have seen any other opportunity to use her.
 
M

Massicot

Member
Quick note: Anyone who wants to make the Legendary Trinket will have to go to all of the new Core Tyria mastery points as part of the collection, so don't bother going ahead of time. Save yourself some headache and only do Scavenger's Chasm once :p

Edit: Got my Trinket Precursor. Maybe I'll be able to put it together tomorrow :eek:
 
G

Goldrush

Member
About the new fractal:

Not quite sure about Fractal lore. What exactly happen to the original Arkk and Dessa? Did they turn into the mist? Are there "real" version of them still in the mist? Did they escape and the fractal we're playing through is just a "repeat" with a changed ending due to the two no longer being real?
 
M

Massicot

Member
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-message-from-the-game-director/

Mike O'Brien said:
I think with Season 3 we've hit a really good balance. We're shipping meatier episodes, with deeper stories and new open-world zones to explore. The new zones are each a slice in time, so we get to put world-changing events in the open world, without having to destroy old content to release new content in its place. Finally, we've used the 2-to-3-month release cadence to elevate the quality of everything we do. I think and hope that this year's releases have been the best work we've ever done.
Click to expand...

As Game Director, it's been my job to represent you—our players—making sure we put you in the center of every decision we make, and making sure we reinvent ourselves when we need to for your benefit, or push ourselves further when we need to. When you think about it that way, it's really not much different from the job of a studio head. I've loved acting as your GD, and I'm not going anywhere, but I know that eventually my other responsibilities will require more of my time, so I'm going to introduce you to someone else that I know will put players first: Mike Zadorojny, also known as Z, the lead designer of the second expansion. You'll see a lot of him in the lead-up to the expansion release, and then he'll join the Live side too, and I expect he'll eventually take these reins. Z has been working on Guild Wars® for over a decade and on Guild Wars 2 since the beginning, and he loves the game as much as anyone in the world. He'll do you proud.
Click to expand...
 
G

Gamerdude99

Neo Member
Hey guys, so I played this hardcore back at launch for almost a year, but then stopped and havent played since. I have about 5k gold, a level 80 character, and no ascended items. The ascended stuff came out about the time I quit. What is the quickest way I can rise to be a viable WvWer/PvPer/Raider? Is it still like at launch, where all of the top tier gear has an even spread of stats?

I have a warrior and before I specialized in two handers.
 
M

Massicot

Member
Gamerdude99 said:
Hey guys, so I played this hardcore back at launch for almost a year, but then stopped and havent played since. I have about 5k gold, a level 80 character, and no ascended items. The ascended stuff came out about the time I quit. What is the quickest way I can rise to be a viable WvWer/PvPer/Raider? Is it still like at launch, where all of the top tier gear has an even spread of stats?

I have a warrior and before I specialized in two handers.
Click to expand...

Well, you're viable in exotics (Orange). But if you want to get back into the swing of things:

If you have a Warrior, here are the vogue builds : http://qtfy.eu/build/warrior. Especially for Condition PS. Pretty much no one will ever kick a decent Condition PS (CPS) from any party. Power PS will be easier to gear quickly though. The quickest way to be "viable" would just be to match these trait/skill sets pretty closely, even if you can't do the gear exactly right. Though in a non-group setting, PS builds are less useful. But it's a good starting point.

Edit: You'll have to play a bit of the expansion to fully unlock the Berserker Elite Spec. You'll need 25 Hero Points. You can find "trains" in the lfg pretty often.

"Is it still like at launch, where all of the top tier gear has an even spread of stats?". Yes. Just now that top tier is Ascended, not Exotic.

As for Ascended Gear. The "Viper" or "Sinister" gear for a condition class is a bit harder to obtain, especially in the case of Trinkets. It will involve playing the Living Story Season 3 maps or raiding in most cases. (There are ways to get them via PVP and WVW now too, but not necessarily any less time consuming)

As for armor and weapons...since you dont likely have any PVP/WVW/Fractal currency for the cheaper crafting options, you might have to craft them the old fashioned way. Luckily you have enough gold to do this pretty easily. Use gw2crafts.net to get your armorsmith/weaponsmith to level 500 for pretty cheap, and then you can craft whatever set you want. You may have to make a few trips to the trading post since you won't have gathered enough of the materials on your own, but it'll be doable.

Edit Edit: This is for PVE. For WvW I don't know what the vogue builds are, I'm guessing Maruaders but I don't really know. For PVP it doesn't matter, it's not based off your gear, but rather which "Amulet" you equip.
 
W

Wanderer5

Member
The legendary trinket looks alright. Not my favorite aura effect, but the balls of light are bit of a nice touch. I wouldn't work towards this one, but maybe more will come out.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Man that build site is neat. I actually got some extra tips if I want to change my build sometime.

I found out also I'm running a build close to what they think is good too, that's kind of cool.
 
I

Indignate

Member
The five orbs you get on the new map as part of the new mastery is a much better effect/backpack then anything else they put out.

Would have much rather had that.
 
G

Gamerdude99

Neo Member
Massicot said:
Well, you're viable in exotics (Orange). But if you want to get back into the swing of things:

If you have a Warrior, here are the vogue builds : http://qtfy.eu/build/warrior. Especially for Condition PS. Pretty much no one will ever kick a decent Condition PS (CPS) from any party. Power PS will be easier to gear quickly though. The quickest way to be "viable" would just be to match these trait/skill sets pretty closely, even if you can't do the gear exactly right. Though in a non-group setting, PS builds are less useful. But it's a good starting point.

Edit: You'll have to play a bit of the expansion to fully unlock the Berserker Elite Spec. You'll need 25 Hero Points. You can find "trains" in the lfg pretty often.

"Is it still like at launch, where all of the top tier gear has an even spread of stats?". Yes. Just now that top tier is Ascended, not Exotic.

As for Ascended Gear. The "Viper" or "Sinister" gear for a condition class is a bit harder to obtain, especially in the case of Trinkets. It will involve playing the Living Story Season 3 maps or raiding in most cases. (There are ways to get them via PVP and WVW now too, but not necessarily any less time consuming)

As for armor and weapons...since you dont likely have any PVP/WVW/Fractal currency for the cheaper crafting options, you might have to craft them the old fashioned way. Luckily you have enough gold to do this pretty easily. Use gw2crafts.net to get your armorsmith/weaponsmith to level 500 for pretty cheap, and then you can craft whatever set you want. You may have to make a few trips to the trading post since you won't have gathered enough of the materials on your own, but it'll be doable.

Edit Edit: This is for PVE. For WvW I don't know what the vogue builds are, I'm guessing Maruaders but I don't really know. For PVP it doesn't matter, it's not based off your gear, but rather which "Amulet" you equip.
Click to expand...

Hmm..

thank you. So thats a long term goal. So I am wondering, what should I be doing when I am logged in? I am totaly lost. Do pvp? Fractals? finish the stories?
 
M

Massicot

Member
Gamerdude99 said:
Hmm..

thank you. So thats a long term goal. So I am wondering, what should I be doing when I am logged in? I am totaly lost. Do pvp? Fractals? finish the stories?
Click to expand...

I would just focus on finishing the story and unlocking your elite spec and making sure you have a coherent gear/sigil/rune/trait setup first. Then work into fractals, starting at lower tiers.
 
T

Tech-Wolf

Member
Boss Doggie said:
weird, how do I trigger the buff
Click to expand...

triger it by walking to an echo Aka those big light sphere seen around the map. they spawn randomly and periodicaly. After that you gain a speciific god song where to activate it you have to use your special action key.

Also they added a tutorial to said mastery because it was tricky to understand.
 
M

Massicot

Member
Finally did the new fractal. I think...I love it. It's like 3 mini raid boss fights. I guess that would make it a mini raid huh.


And the ending is kind of...sweet? Sorta? Who knew I would talk about the "ending" of a fractal story.

http://i.imgur.com/khuPnKo.jpg

Not embedding because spoilers (???) whoa

Unfortunately haven't been able to spend a lot of time in CM yet. One thing at a time.

Edit: There's also a cat in it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/6pjqyw/i_found_a_new_cat_in_the_shattered_observatory/
 
I

Isaac Otherworld

Member
So what's everyone's favorite LWS3 map? I'm biased towards Bloodstone Fen and Ember Bay. I love volcano lava levels in about every single game and Ember Bay is particularly striking at night. And while a pain to traverse, the Mursaat Ruins are spectacular looking.

Bloodstone Fen is just the most bleak zone in the game. GW2 has some tone issues with it's story where everything has to be super quippy and sassy and it's great to see a place completely devoid of that. Also the bizarre locale reminds me of the Abyss in Aion which was at least a really interesting place aesthetically.

Bitterfrost Frontier might have won if 75% of the zone was the forest.
 
A

Auraela

Banned
I enjoy sirens alot to be fair its just straight up fun everything is easy to get too its not overly complex or full off gimmick stuff. Its a nice change from everything having some gimmick stuff or just plain annoying sometimes
 
S

spleenpoker

Member
Hey all

I'm about to jump back into GW2 since being absent since just after launch

Is there a good Youtube channel to watch gameplay for the Elite Specializations?

Not to sure what class to roll.

Thanks

Edit: Not just gameplay but a rundown of how the Class/Elite Spec plays etc.
 
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