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

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Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
Isn't there a EU version of the Gaf guild?

It collapsed

This is one of the only main active gaf guilds accross many mmos. Most collpase after 6 months.

The ping from euro to america isnt bad mine averages around 80 probs better than some in america lol
 

Hellers

Member
Ouch. Wanted to unlock reaper on my necromancer. Turns out I need 60 hero points and curse it I only have 45. Are we still getting one a level (Alongside the new mastery points?)
 

KC Denton

Member
So uhm. The only comment I got on my emblem design was a person thinking I had stolen it from another guild so I'll post it again with some explanation I guess.

This is an emblem I created this morning when I saw the discussion about changing to something else. I thought I got the sun thing discussed before, the colors of GAF and still something that looks pretty good on its own too.
f8tbPXF.png


It's on a banner because I prefer previewing it that way in the Emblemer.

Hm, I definitely like this. Really fits the GAF logo too.
 

MikeDip

God bless all my old friends/And god bless me too, why pretend?
I keep asking but no one seems to know. Where the hell can I find bone white dye? I assumed it was gonna be a Halloween thing but I can't find it anywhere. I don't think it exists, someone please help.

Please
 
Ouch. Wanted to unlock reaper on my necromancer. Turns out I need 60 hero points and curse it I only have 45. Are we still getting one a level (Alongside the new mastery points?)

You get 10 per Hero Point Challenge in Maguuma, but many of them are group content, others are just veterans or 'here's 10 points for finding me'.

Not sure if you still get them per level.
 
I keep asking but no one seems to know. Where the hell can I find bone white dye? I assumed it was gonna be a Halloween thing but I can't find it anywhere. I don't think it exists, someone please help.

Please

It's called Crushed Bone and it's not been released. It'll probably be in a gem store dye pack or a rare drop.
 

Mims

Member
I know I randomly stop playing after a couple of months but can I get invited into the guild?

Name is mimsx.3678
 

Spyware

Member
Hm, I definitely like this. Really fits the GAF logo too.
If we're gonna change the logo, then I prefer Spyware's.
Yay! :)

I keep asking but no one seems to know. Where the hell can I find bone white dye? I assumed it was gonna be a Halloween thing but I can't find it anywhere. I don't think it exists, someone please help.

Please
I'm guessing they will be in next week's Gem Store update. It's usually done that way.
 

Soulflarz

Banned
I keep asking but no one seems to know. Where the hell can I find bone white dye? I assumed it was gonna be a Halloween thing but I can't find it anywhere. I don't think it exists, someone please help.

Please

You were searching yesterday too and you still are? o_O
 

Ludovico

Member
Anet have done a good job of avoiding the issue of maps becoming empty due to population shifts, things like megaserver, map rewards, and other designed systems keep a healthy amount of players going through almost all maps, even Southsun.

Don't make too many snap judgements yet, the game can surprise you.

I've yet to finish LS2 and have barely experienced DT and SW. Afraid I may have missed my chance with the expansion now out, but I hope I don't get locked out bc of people deserting those maps.
 

Hellers

Member
You get 10 per Hero Point Challenge in Maguuma, but many of them are group content, others are just veterans or 'here's 10 points for finding me'.

Not sure if you still get them per level.

Ah. That sounds like it'll be fine then. 10 per hero challenge will be great. I must admit I did one earlier but didn't think to check how many it had given me.

I think I might play my Guardian a bit. I've already got the elite unlocked on him. Time to set some plants on fire.

I love the gliding.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.

Ashodin

Member
I've yet to finish LS2 and have barely experienced DT and SW. Afraid I may have missed my chance with the expansion now out, but I hope I don't get locked out bc of people deserting those maps.
Still lots of people running them because they're efficient.
 

Anno

Member
Still lots of people running them because they're efficient.

Also people will probably always want skins, and there are two sets that basically depend entirely on that zone. So long as people keep flowing into the game every map will probably have something going on. It's great.
 

Hellers

Member
I love the new music on the character select screen. I wish Arenanet would put out a new OST for sale with all the new music since launch. I'd buy it.
 

Fishious

Member
Right. Neat. My experience in VB was just hours chasing after tags because I couldn't find anyone. If I ever visit again, maybe I'll try that. Could be fun. If it's solo/duo able.

It's duo able. A friend and I ran around Verdant Brink all yesterday and typically we'd pick and hold 1 rally point alone. It got pretty dicey at times, but we always held out.

So far I've been having a blast and I haven't even left Verdant Brink yet. I've unlocked Gliding 2 and Itzel Lore 2 so far. I'm taking things slow so mastery gating hasn't become a problem for me. I like how there's several long event chains going simultaneously, but even if the map were low population (which obviously isn't the case right now) there's still the option to just push one chain and make progress.

I remember some people here a few days ago defending the 400 hp requirement because it wasn't a big deal. You could just get all of in the jungle. Since all hp were 10.

I wonder what changed in just 2 days. I mean it is not a big deal, right?

Since I was one of the people who said 400 HP was fine, I'll give my thoughts after playing ~8 hours of HoT. I've been playing on my necro and already had 200+ HP so I was able to unlock about half the elite spec from the get go. I've played my entire time in Verdant Brink as Reaper so far and it has been workable in this form. Since the greatsword and new shroud are the main draws it may be workable even with only the base 60 HP. I can only speak for the Reaper though, as other elite specs may feel terribly incomplete without more points in them.

I am still of the opinion that all the traits should have been at the front of the line, so even with only a partial unlock the player isn't forced to choose between an elite spec with few or 1 trait and their normal specialization.

I freely admit that some of the Hero Points in HoT are problematic. I think the ones hidden behind progress through an event chain are fine, as assuming months from now the map is barren (which I doubt due to megaservers), a handful of people can do that 1 event chain where it's hidden. The issue are the timed group event fights. They're an issue because a lot of the ones I've found so far are kind of hidden away so you can't expect someone to just waltz by and help you. In every case I've done one someone else has shown up, but I doubt that will be frequent occurance a year later when most people already have done these challenges. For the ones that spawn champs it's taken a minimum of 3 people most of the time. Even for a very skilled player the time limit will probably prevent solo attempts for the majority of the game population.

My proposed solution would be, similar to WvW, adding in additional systems that essentially let you earn Maguuma HP challenge completions by doing other content. Maybe a special "infinite" mastery unlocked after completing the story that each time you complete it gives an acount bound scroll that awards a Maguuma HP.

On the whole I'm happy with the implementation, but I recognize issues that might crop up once maps aren't always full, people have already gotten their HPs, and potential alt fatigue. My stance before was wait and see, so this is my stance now that I've had some time with the content.
 

Wanderer5

Member
I love the new music on the character select screen. I wish Arenanet would put out a new OST for sale with all the new music since launch. I'd buy it.
I been taking notice of the music in the new zones. There some really nice one indeed. I they just started to post some music at SoundCloud.
 

Retro

Member
I've yet to finish LS2 and have barely experienced DT and SW. Afraid I may have missed my chance with the expansion now out, but I hope I don't get locked out bc of people deserting those maps.

People are still doing them like crazy because ArenaNet purposely made some of the guild hall upgrade requirements require items from those zones. When I was in DT / SW this morning grabbing some Hero Points on my thief, the DT I randomly jumped into was at Tier 5 favor and the SW I was in easily cleared breach / vinewrath.

Old zones don't die in Guild Wars 2.

I love the new music on the character select screen. I wish Arenanet would put out a new OST for sale with all the new music since launch. I'd buy it.

Check out the ArenaNet Soundcloud; not everything is there but quite a bit is;
https://soundcloud.com/arenanet
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
So uhm. The only comment I got on my emblem design was a person thinking I had stolen it from another guild so I'll post it again with some explanation I guess.

This is an emblem I created this morning when I saw the discussion about changing to something else. I thought I got the sun thing discussed before, the colors of GAF and still something that looks pretty good on its own too.
f8tbPXF.png


It's on a banner because I prefer previewing it that way in the Emblemer.
I like it better than the other options presented so far :)
 

Arcteryx

Member
Not enjoying all the gated content in the new areas. Don't have the mastery to participate, but need the XP to get the mastery unlocked...gg Obama.
 

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
It takes hours to even level a third of one of the masteries. What the hell? This is at Lv1/2, how the hell are you supposed to reasonably level anything?

Am I missing something??
 
After running around for 5-7 hours I have to say I am very impressed with the layout of the jungle.



The PvE is hard. It's unlike anything I have ever played before. The mobs hit hard, and you really have to be on your guard when not in a big group. I was in several zergs that wiped.

I've never felt this sense of uneasyness walking around. In central Tyria you are never on your toes. It's a casual experience. In this one you don't want to die.
I did an event where we where 5 guys that assisted Laranthir getting to Skybreaker. He ran incredible fast through these mass of ruins and we could barely keep up. It felt like you got downed in 4-5 shots.

At first it feels outrageous that this is intended, but I have never been so excited and not wanted to die, and having to respawn 5-10 minutes away at the start of the map. The navigation is super challenging and there are powerful mobs everywhere.
Dodging is essential, stacking is essential, cleaning is essential. Healing saved my ass many times. particularly by the new pull-downed-player-to-healer.




Amazing experience really. The mobs are incredible too. I expected the experience to be like Silverwaste but it plays unlike that at all.
There is this sense of hopelessness running around. I can't use the mushrooms, I can'get speed boosts, I can't use a gush of winds, the Exalted won't let me into the golden city, I can't even talk to the vendors. All I've managed to do is get on my glider as I try to find competent commanders.

It's clear as day that this rise in difficulty bonds people together because it's effectively not solo content. It's not group content, but you really shouldn't be doing the majority of this alone. The events are better in story, and they are much better written. You know now what is going on. It's pretty incredible.


What I like most about it is that it doesn't invalidate central Tyrias content. The mastery system while not a casual experience, does not increase ones power directly, and so I think some people will skip this. Many players don't want a challenging experience, so good for them that they can do the regular stuff and not feel left behind.
I'm just glad that both is now an options. I died 2 minutes after setting food in the jungle. I ran over to a pocket raptor, kicked it in the face, and 5 beams of light appeared as out of an anime and I was downed 30 seconds later as the pocket raptors friend crippled and bleed me to date. A arrowhead dinosaur thing appeared and did a sideways barrel roll over me, and it was over.

That's how I feel about the game. I'm doing sideways barrel rolls and it's really fun.
 

Seel

Neo Member
It takes hours to even level a third of one of the masteries. What the hell? This is at Lv1/2, how the hell are you supposed to reasonably level anything?

Am I missing something??

yep.they should reduce the XP requirement to level them up, its insane.
 
It takes hours to even level a third of one of the masteries. What the hell? This is at Lv1/2, how the hell are you supposed to reasonably level anything?

Am I missing something??

I recommend mixing it up.

As you explore at random, do what comes up. Participating events yield progress towards the meta-event xp, but find the vistas, the hero challenges, the adventures, the PoIs and do the story sequences. When done together. it helps.
The thing is, a mass amount of people need to explore the content. due to the nature of dynamic events many people could run through the entire expansion, miss 80%. They have done this to make people seek out the events. Many of the events are too difficult with small amounts of players. Scaling won't compensate in some of them.

Gating things is never fun, but it is a dilemma for this expansion. It has no power creep, it has no new levels, they spend all this time building this, and how do they ensure people replay and exhaust the content enough? Maybe there is a way but I'm not sure I can see it right now TBH.
I think a thing they should ensure is that people get access to the first 60 points of their elite spec early in the jungle. Perhaps after an hour or two. I'm halfway through my elite spec and had 150 points when I went in. It's been pretty fun only having access to a little of Berserker. The later traits make a big difference, but it also made it even harder fighting with only a minor trait. Berserk mode is too fun not to use tho>:)



Also remember- some players have forgot to switch to a new mastery when they have unlocked one. If you don't pick a new track when you qualified for a new mastery, all the xp go to waste. The game does tell you that in a popup but it still sort of confused me:)
 

Anno

Member
It takes hours to even level a third of one of the masteries. What the hell? This is at Lv1/2, how the hell are you supposed to reasonably level anything?

Am I missing something??

Which are you trying to do? If you're just out in Tyria I've been having a lot of success just map completing alts that are level 80. Do whatever events pop up and you rake in a ton of XP.

Given that they're account bound I don't want them to go by too quickly. I'm happy to just have them on in the background slowly accumulating into something. The story ones in the jungle might be a different thing I guess.
 
You get 10 per Hero Point Challenge in Maguuma, but many of them are group content, others are just veterans or 'here's 10 points for finding me'.

Not sure if you still get them per level.

there are hero challenges that seem to require other masteries to be able to activate them.

Seen 3 in VB.

2 with these toxic vines that kill you when you get close.
1 with Nuhoch who says "You are not worthy!"
 
Tizlak
is awesome. And has
excellent hearing.

there are hero challenges that seem to require other masteries to be able to activate them.

Seen 3 in VB.

2 with these toxic vines that kill you when you get close.
1 with Nuhoch who says "You are not worthy!"

I'm okay with that. I wasn't planning on finishing the xpac in one day, after all.
 

Smiley90

Stop shitting on my team. Start shitting on my finger.
okay this is gonna sound weird, but can someone please tell me my charcter's name? I know I had a few of you guys on my friendlist back in the day... so if anyone still has it, please send me a PM... i need to reset my password and most definitely don't remember the name of a character i created 2 years ago -.-

edit: ha! nevermind, found it in a really old gaf post
 

Smiley90

Stop shitting on my team. Start shitting on my finger.
Okay now that I'm re-downloading. Do people that bought the game before it went f2p get anything special?

I have a level 40-or-so Nord Guardian still kicking around I think, but I'm probably just gonna start over. Bit sad that all the living story stuff is like, once-in-a-lifetime and old players can't experience it, but I guess I have nobody to blame but myself and will just have to read up on the lore for it.
 
Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
How long from now till the guild hall thing?

Im working but hopefully can join in time
 

nataku

Member
So uhm. The only comment I got on my emblem design was a person thinking I had stolen it from another guild so I'll post it again with some explanation I guess.

This is an emblem I created this morning when I saw the discussion about changing to something else. I thought I got the sun thing discussed before, the colors of GAF and still something that looks pretty good on its own too.
f8tbPXF.png


It's on a banner because I prefer previewing it that way in the Emblemer.

I like this one. Fits the GAF logo and still looks nice.
 

Syril

Member
Okay now that I'm re-downloading. Do people that bought the game before it went f2p get anything special?

I have a level 40-or-so Nord Guardian still kicking around I think, but I'm probably just gonna start over. Bit sad that all the living story stuff is like, once-in-a-lifetime and old players can't experience it, but I guess I have nobody to blame but myself and will just have to read up on the lore for it.
Free players actually have only two character slots and severe restrictions on chat/trade/travel that ease up as you level.

Only the first season of the living story was once in a lifetime. Honestly it had a lot of issues and I imagine there are videos of it being played from back then to watch. The second is all personal story-esque instances and can be played at your leisure, but you have to buy it with gems if you weren't there when the episodes were originally added.
 

Smiley90

Stop shitting on my team. Start shitting on my finger.
Free players actually have only two character slots and severe restrictions on chat/trade/travel that ease up as you level.

Only the first season of the living story was once in a lifetime. Honestly it had a lot of issues and I imagine there are videos of it being played from back then to watch. The second is all personal story-esque instances and can be played at your leisure, but you have to buy it with gems if you weren't there when the episodes were originally added.

the whole
lion arch destruction thing
(do we still have to spoiler tag that lol) was first season though, right? So that I'll miss out on?
 

Jira

Member
It's kinda odd, I feel like the people who are complaining about their XP gain or what have you are doing an event chain expecting an entire mastery per chain or something. Seriously, if you haven't even left VB yet, your mind is going to be BLOWN. They have layered so much content into these zones that it's overwhelming and damn they are beautiful. The amount of pathways, nooks and crannies, valleys, vertical space, etc is just unreal. I keep asking myself how in the hell did they pull this off? People wanted stuff to do on their character at 80 and masteries/elite specs are those things. What do you think would happen if they gave you all the tools right away? You'd complain you had nothing to do and stop playing. The alternative to masteries is far worse in that increasing the level cap would invalidate everything you've done in the past 3 years. The mastery system and its metroidvania style of progression is genius because it keeps you wondering what will I see once I unlock X or Y? It's all very brilliantly designed.
 
the whole
lion arch destruction thing
(do we still have to spoiler tag that lol) was first season though, right? So that I'll miss out on?

The destruction of Lion's Arch was Season 1, yeah - the finale in a way. There's no way to see that, sadly, other than youtube.
 
It's kinda odd, I feel like the people who are complaining about their XP gain or what have you are doing an event chain expecting an entire mastery per chain or something. Seriously, if you haven't even left VB yet, your mind is going to be BLOWN. They have layered so much content into these zones that it's overwhelming and damn they are beautiful. The amount of pathways, nooks and crannies, valleys, vertical space, etc is just unreal. I keep asking myself how in the hell did they pull this off? People wanted stuff to do on their character at 80 and masteries/elite specs are those things. What do you think would happen if they gave you all the tools right away? You'd complain you had nothing to do and stop playing. The alternative to masteries is far worse in that increasing the level cap would invalidate everything you've done in the past 3 years. The mastery system and its metroidvania style of progression is genius because it keeps you wondering what will I see once I unlock X or Y? It's all very brilliantly designed.

I think many people are confusing Hero Points and Mastery. Many people don't realize that mastery points is account bound and only Hero Points are the ones every character needs.

I think many people are shocked at the difficulty, but things will settle down once we master this content, make efficent event trains and all that. This content asks a lot of players in terms of skills. So many people are dying left and right as they try and break bad habits like rezzing mid fight, or standing in AOE fields.
People just need to realise that they need to help everwyhere in the meta. I think people will settle down once we really get into it.
 
the whole
lion arch destruction thing
(do we still have to spoiler tag that lol) was first season though, right? So that I'll miss out on?

It's been immortalized in this great music video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gHsliMTzhg


That's what MMORPGs is all about. a living, changing world. Great memories. Development, progression, changes. Don't worry about the past. A lot of learned lessons and frustrating things have amassed into the great game you play before you today;D
 

Arcteryx

Member
It's kinda odd, I feel like the people who are complaining about their XP gain or what have you are doing an event chain expecting an entire mastery per chain or something. Seriously, if you haven't even left VB yet, your mind is going to be BLOWN. They have layered so much content into these zones that it's overwhelming and damn they are beautiful. The amount of pathways, nooks and crannies, valleys, vertical space, etc is just unreal. I keep asking myself how in the hell did they pull this off? People wanted stuff to do on their character at 80 and masteries/elite specs are those things. What do you think would happen if they gave you all the tools right away? You'd complain you had nothing to do and stop playing. The alternative to masteries is far worse in that increasing the level cap would invalidate everything you've done in the past 3 years. The mastery system and its metroidvania style of progression is genius because it keeps you wondering what will I see once I unlock X or Y? It's all very brilliantly designed.

Not really. I'm most miffed about the gated story. Having to run trains > to get XP > to get mastery unlocks ...isn't super enjoyable for me. It's even worse when you need a specific mastery to even do an event...
 
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