Project exa.3204

If the latest update has taught players anything, it's that sound is one of the most important senses in games to get right. Seeing & hearing are the two cardinal senses that drives immersion....and if those aren't done right, then the story falls flat on its face. Musical instruments have always ben a "hey cool I can do that" thing, but it could be so much more. I'm really hoping (at the very least) Anet can bring musicality into the game.There's so many ways it can be done, without making players feel disheveled. Quests that let you play with some of the instruments that are in the gem store without buying themEvents where you have to learn a siren song or calm creatures with musicAncient musical halls, with objects that players interact with to make sounds & multiple people interacting can make a songHidden things that are revealed when a certain song is played at a particular locationConcert halls in cities or elsewhere, where players with instruments can play music to a crowd Going along with this, some of the instruments need to be fixed. Bass Guitar - the auto strum layer needs to be taken away completely. Nobody ever uses it, likes it, or has produced anything good sounding with it. It should also allow you to play chords instead of trying to slapstick a keyboard & have it not really do it either. Chords would make bass guitar a LOT more appealing. Flute - If you have fast fingers this is not the instrument for you, because you'll get interrupted & all notes go on a 1 second cooldown? Remove the CDLute - The chord layer should just be removed. Nobody really likes it, or makes good music with it, and it sucks when you're playing lute + accidentally go into the chord layer to have it interrupt things. There's no reason for it to be in there. -=Sheet Music=-This is starting to stretch now, but it's just one of those things that I know is possible so why not ask. We have build templates, equipment templates, why can't we have a code that can be shared so that players can instantly pick up new songs? I've seen others going out to external websites & using auto hotkey to play songs...but why should they? Why should any player interested in the fun-ness of music (who is not musically talented) have to feel like they need to go to some external website + have some external controller in order to make the sounds in GW2 come out ok? There's so much potential in musical instruments. I love playing The Minstrel, but most people would not be interested in a legendary musical instrument because they just can't play (or can't play without macros) -- I have found that many people LOVE hearing others play music, and would love to play if they had the means. If they were taught to play a few riffs through quests or events, it would without a doubt increase instrument sales & enjoyability in the game for many players. -Eros of Ascalon

In March it was understandable. In June it was understandable. In July, it was still understandable. It's August 21st now, and the lack of voice acting makes whatever story is trying to be told now feel completely flat. I don't know if I even care anymore.We're fighting frost legion, ramping up against Jormag, and have sustained some heavy losses...but you feel nothing. You're just going from one green waypoint to the next one and reading dialogue trying to imagine their voices which absolutely kills the immersion. In No Quarters the random cutscene with voices was so out of place that you are taken aback as if "Really??" If Anet doesn't have the voice acting for the new seasons, STOP releasing them unfinished. Players would rather wait for a finished season, than not wait for an unfinished season and then feel literally nothing at the story along the way. The gem store bones being thrown out there only go so far. I'm taking a break from Guild Wars 2 PvE again. Whenever the voices come back I'll give the new story a shot, but it would be an absolute waste to ruin the experience without the finished product. The remote recording kits should have been mobilized within the first month of lockdown, but the sense I get is that some people up top didn't think the voice acting was that important & opted to release a 75% complete update. That just goes to show the poor corporate decision making, which makes me want to play less and less. Thank goodness there's more players in HoTM now to fight, or else I wouldn't be playing at all.-Eros

Will the 3v3 allow a Core Ranger, Druid, and Soulbeast all on the same team?

But what about the droid attack on the wookies??

Eros of AscalonThe commander we know and love has her roots as a spoiled noble brat. Lines can be easily drawn from her to the Flameseeker Prophecies, and some scholars speculate her lineage draws all the way back to Melandru. It can be seen that in almost every great or important event in human history, there was a Slaystealth on standby. Legends, tales, and rumors spread, that the Slaystealth's were descendent from the goddess of nature herself. The presence of a Slaystealth was said to inspire humans throughout the ages that the human gods were still with them. Tyrian lore is littered with Slaystealths, but the earliest one to rise in prominence was the legendary Ascalonian, Moros Slaystealth. There are few remaining stories prior to his ascension in the crystal desert & victory over Kryta's unseen gods, but the agreement is that he was definitely among The Runners guild & legendary cartographers that helped all heroes of that time reach Droknar's Forge. Droknar's Forge was a popular destination for aspiring heroes, since the dwarves were the finest smiths known in Tyria. He was also the earliest tie the Slaystealths had to the elder dragons, since he was the first human friend of Glint. We know for certain he must have existed because Canthan lore makes no small mention of him either. FactionsWhen Shiro Tagachi returned & the afflicted began running across Cantha, Moros was one of the first to run to the aid of Emperor Kisu. He played a pivotal role in Shiro's defeat, and was the first to bring back the legendary phoenix; which were not sighted since before the Jade Wind. This caused him to become known as the "Phoenix Ranger." After the Phoenix Ranger became Weh No Su lore says he fell in love with an Envoy. The two conceived a son, who was bequeathed to the Dragon Emperor on account of some Canthan prophecy regarding the elder dragons. Krytan scholars mostly regard the unnamed son as a literary device--mostly because this half-human half-envoy could not have been raised as a royal (since the Empire of the Dragon was well documented). The Krytan consensus is that the son was a myth related to the season of the phoenix, and was used to tie the Slaystealths to the Dragon Empire to secure their reign. NightfallWhen Moros returned to Lions Arch, he fell in love with a surviving Ascalonian priestess of Dwayna. Her name was only written in old Ascalonian, and there are no translations currently. Their daughter, however, was written about extensively. Eros Slaystealth was a ranger widely regarded as a goddess walking amongst mere mortals, and was whom our beloved commander was named after. There's all kinds of solo adventure tales involving Eros, from the Underworld to the Fissure of Woe to the Realm of Torment. One story says she was the one who released Palawa Joko back into the crystal desert, to enlist his assistance against the fallen god Abaddon. The story goes further and says she was one of the legendary sunspears that aided in the Abaddon's defeat, and that she was there when Kormir became the Goddess of Truth. Eye of the NorthEros was one of the first humans to venture farther up the northern shiverpeaks, and is among the first humans to show up in both Asuran and Norn folklore. The Norn tales make light of her short but voluptuous stature, and recount her ferocity in battle as "Slayer of All". The Asurans also regard her highly, and at least said she was "Not Too Shabby"...which in itself was a major compliment coming from the Asurans. She died of old age amongst the last dwarves, and even assisted them with performing the Rite of the Great Dwarf that helped defeat The Great Destroyer. It is unfortunate that this was the same event that caused the latest dragon rising. Some legends say she never died at all, and instead retired (alive) to the Hall of Heroes. The rest of the commanders story starting in Shaemor is all recent history.

Regarding soulbeasts and squads I understand the damage output is going to be less than other classes. I tend to shift my thinking into being a useful team asset in places that I can be. With Axe / Dagger & Dagger / Axe + Ambidexterity, a lot of different things can be done. Couple that with strategic stance sharing, and the soulbeast actually provides decent value to the team in smaller-mid skirmishes. But I tend to be more of a scout / driveby team assist than anything else to help the big squads.-Eros of Ascalon

Add Bookshelves.It might feel kind of stupid....but I'd actually like to have a place to put all my books that I've collected, and for others who might join my home instance or maybe guild hall...to be able to check out all of our books. Bring back the title:"I have many leather bound books"-Eros of Ascalon

The only way I'd agree with this is if they made the spear combat long-melee. Really change things up for warriors, and make the spear weapon skill range like 500-700. If not (and it has to be thrown), just give it to rangers because throwing spears and ranged stuff is first and foremost a ranger thing.-Eros of Ascalon

thief would have the highest stealth detection, and also give them the ability to disarm traps I like this even better--disarming traps would be a nice mechanic, and add some more interest into thief 1v1s at contested points.-Eros of Ascalon

Does anybody else agree / disagree that changing a few mechanics would put new thief builds back into play and secure their niche in general ranked pvp? I think giving them the ability to strike through invulnerability or shields is not a HUGE ask or would be too out of character for thiefs. This makes their team viability much better, and would force enemy teams to actually address the thiefs before a snowball occured To resolve the stealth problems, they could give each class a new indicator above their utility skills for "there's a thief stealthed in your vicinity."--The "stealth detection" ability would be different depending on classes.--Rangers would have the highest stealth detection, while classes like warriors would have the lowest.--The closer they get to you the higher chance you have of detecting them before they can backstab--At the very least it gives people an idea of "I should be ready to evade as quickly as possible" Thoughts?-Eros of Ascalon

That may be true. I've known quite a few thiefs that now play ranger or other classes, but that's really unfair to ask from a gamer that likes the way a class works to change their class just because it's only got 1-2 usable builds. If that's happening with the top mat players--just think about all those average and not so good players. They're the majority of the pvp community, and I can tell you (if you haven't been in Gold or below in a long while) that they get SO MUCH HATE from other players telling them what to they're supposed to be doing--or to just not being at the right place in that curve to really help the team & causing losses. Sometimes if you like a class you just have to suffer through seasons. I expect there's going to be a better balance patch in the next 1-2 seasons, now that the coefficient patch is fully realized. Can't tell you how many seasons I was pigeonholed into certain ranger builds because nothing else was really viable. I miss the days of being able to run around with spirits, (and those days are never coming back) but I still am not really changing all my gears and going other classes just because the things I wish could work. I just love the way ranger plays too much, and if it means I can't break out of Gold 3 because I don't want to always play the main viable meta builds...it's just what has to happen. But this also means that I'm demolishing thiefs in the lower ranks with impunity, so I can't really blame someone for wanting to throw in the towel. I'm also not the same as most players, and I definitely feel for the average players that are bright-eyed and want to pvp...and then just get the light snuffed out of them. I'm starting to think more and more that some skills need to be very separated between mAT, sPVP, and WvW. It would be more work on Anets part...but having that line drawn will enable more players at all levels to have more fun. That's the main thing that should matter (the fun) not "how good is this going to be in the mAT?"-Eros of Ascalon

Yeah, and that's cool and all. Top 3/4 teams of mAT will always be in the top 3/4 teams. If Anet only cares about the top 1% of players that type of mentality is 100% ok.Not talking about the top 1% of players, because no matter what they're going to make classes work. Talking about the 99% of players who jump into thief thinking it's going to be fun, and end up getting rekt because the learning curve is so steep or because they are expected to have a singular purpose & don't understand fully how to play it. Do you disagree? You think that top 3/4 teams of mAT discredit the fact that thiefs (in general)--especially in solo or duo queue ranked where the majority of players play, makes the discussion points somehow NOT an issue? I don't.-Eros of Ascalon Thief is already a must have (pretty much) in high tier games. If you buff it for the mediocre people, it will just steamroll everything in high tier. We don't want a repeat of pre patch meta with double SA one shots.Here's my philosophy. mAT players and hardcore players are ALWAYS going to probably have a thief, because they've already reached the learning curve pinnacle and can maximize the usage. They're already at that level, so buffing them further (like how I mentioned to make them strike through invul or possibly shields) really only just secures their utility. Is it honestly fair that if you want to play pvp as a thief you better learn to play REAL GOOD and do mAT's because the ranked queues will throw you with some mixes that are extremely disadvantageous? I honest to gosh think the focus on mAT causes a lot of problems in the pvp community. There's a much much smaller % of people playing mATs than solo or duo queue.Anet can keep nerfing metas that are abused in the mAT, but (with the exception of the coefficient patch) they've never tried to bridge that gap between new players WANTING to be better at pvp--and hardcore players stomping them / snuffing the fun out of them before they ever get the chance. Hardcore players will always always find builds that work, but new players and average players give up so easily. Those are the folks I think about the most...and to that point OP is right. There has to be a place where thiefs belong that isn't just a +1 or point decapper in the majority pvp world. They have to be able to REALLY assassinate classes, to trade off for all the relative squishiness the majority have. Will this cause the ultra thiefs to feel stronger? Heck yes, but that's where it should rightfully be. As a Soulbeast I'm fine with the classes being toned down further if it means that there's greater balance / purpose to the specs. Thief is SUPPOSED to be that singular murderer that your team HAS to consider, or your team is going to get killed. It's not right now at all for the majority of bronze - gold games. That's the area that I care about, personally (not mAT)-Eros of Ascalon

Yeah, and that's cool and all. Top 3/4 teams of mAT will always be in the top 3/4 teams. If Anet only cares about the top 1% of players that type of mentality is 100% ok.Not talking about the top 1% of players, because no matter what they're going to make classes work. Talking about the 99% of players who jump into thief thinking it's going to be fun, and end up getting rekt because the learning curve is so steep or because they are expected to have a singular purpose & don't understand fully how to play it. Do you disagree? You think that top 3/4 teams of mAT discredit the fact that thiefs (in general)--especially in solo or duo queue ranked where the majority of players play, makes the discussion points somehow NOT an issue? I don't.-Eros of Ascalon

Chiming in as a lifelong ranger here, I'm not sure what needs to be done, but killing thiefs of any kind seems to be easier than ever. There are some super gimmicky playstyles out there right now that might get a win or two here and there...but overall thiefs seem to be comparatively much weaker post-coefficient update. I don't know why anyone would play one unless the only thing they wanted to do was decap points and be a +1. The 2v2 season was just a preview, and a buddy of mine stopped playing his thief almost all together. Running a thief in 2v2 in the mini season was like running into a brick wall for any team that capitalized on combos. The proper 5v5 matches exacerbate the combo problems now. Now, post coefficient patch, the power creep is a little more noticeable. Rangers at least probably are rightfully due for a big nerf in the future. Just about anything a thief can do, I feel a ranger can do better somehow. Power? Check. Condi? Check. Survivability? Check. CC? Check. Mobility? Close enough to not notice. Even stealth? Rangers have it too & can abuse it if they really tried. Thiefs may still be workable with certain builds to get wins, but if the only thing the thief can really do is decap points & pray there's no bunker...that definitely is not fun or fair to require from people that want to play thief. The last patch did a lot of things, but really benefitted rangers the most. It unlocked so many new different builds that are viable now. Thiefs? The opposite happened. There are less viable builds now. This might be possibly TOO radical....but if Anet just made thiefs capable of killing through invulnerability or more unblockables--it would allow for many different thief builds to be put into play. It would be a perfect fit for a thief to cancel out a shrinking engi, or a guard, or a signet ranger AND it would make playing thief more fun again. Just my two coppers!-Eros of Ascalon

Glad I wasn't the only one thinking this! lol

Ever since the latest LW stories I've had the thinking that some of the elder dragons are misunderstood. We know Kralk was not intentionally as evil as he appeared, and was instead tormented. Jormag has offered and invitation for assistance, and wants to help Aurene. Can she be trusted? Absolutely not. Can she be a useful ally against the remaining elder dragons? Absolutely. I think that with everything we know about the elder dragons, and how little we know about bubbles--kind of tell us about what kind of dragon bubbles might be. One that is patient, waiting, and manipulating. We know that when an elder dragon dies the other ones get more powerful, so presumably bubbles would have gotten a powerup from Mordremoth, Zhaitan, and Kralk. Bubbles absolutely COULD have showed itself to the world...and we know that the krait and largos fear it, but nobody on land knows about bubbles or even his/her name. Primordius seems like he's possibly the most cunning of the dragons--but I would not be super surprised if bubbles managed to manipulate everything so far. I can reasonably see Primordius underestimating bubbles, while Jormag is trying to hedge her bets by forging a temporary alliance with Aurene. Jormag might know its in her self interest to work with Aurene against the elder dragons--who are mostly hungry for each others power.We might perceive Jormag as a bad dragon (reasonably too, considering the slaughter of Jora's keep) -- but Jormag might see herself as building a fortified army to....save the world?

This would be my only ever QoL request. If you had Guild Wars 1, and you've beaten the latest Living World and made it to the new Eye of the North....PLEASE!! Let the Hall of Monuments portal stone take you to zone that looks like the one at the end of the latest icebrood saga!

As a Soulbeast this resonates with me. I don't mind admitting that SB has exceeded its original role and needs to be dialed back.The pet meta sucks right now, because rangers pigeonholed themselves into [smokescale, Jacaranda, Siamoth, Gazelle] for maximum dps / sustain. The only ranger nerf I've ever really disagreed with was the GS evasion swing change to enduring swing.I also agree that mechanically there's something imbalanced about why no ranger in Gold++ does not pack Wilderness Survival.I know I'd love to play with skirmishing again, but I can't because WS is just too useful. Aside from SB that leaves only one trait open. SB/WS/MM or SB/WS/BM-Eros

No. They're far too weak. You could double the life value and give them 100% prot uptime, and a Reaper post patch would still down them all in a single Shroud 4. I'd be all for making the spirits share HP with the ranger if that's what it takes.

As a lifelong ranger in PvP I support all of these changes, and look forward to the new and interesting metas.We debated this in HoTM today and everyone generally agrees the ranger dial backs were for the best, as will also enable other pets and specs to be playable.--Will we FINALLY see spirits in conquest again?!!

This is all good stuff! Hoping 2020 is a big year!

Aside from WvW and some AT matchups there still isn't really "true Guild Versus Guild"?I still don't quite understand why though, since the foundation seems to be all there--With guild halls there's the potential to be something really special. :Things that GvG could involve / introduce:1) The ability to challenge other guilds to a fight in their guild hall or fight over neutral one--The guild halls we have now are massive, so this should be capable of handling up to 2x 50 person squads at max--Should probably enable an option for style of matchmaking (5v5, 10v10, 25v25, 50v50) 2) Meta Guild Hall events--To separate from just WvW or regular PvP...GvG could incorporate some PvE style elements--Meta events would take 5-10 players to complete, and benefit the team that completes them somehow (boons? weaken enemy?)--A match could be won completely by doing events that repel attackers or accomplish objectives 3) GvG Consequences and Rewards--Defending guild halls could risk some of their upgrades being destroyed by the enemy team--It should be increasingly difficult to destroy upgrades as they become higher level, and offer no rewards (except troll satisfaction)--Rewards should be scalable to the fight size, and give potential ascended drops on events or wins 4) Alliances--Guilds should be able to form alliances so they have more people to pull from / help with events--Matchups should only involve players currently repping a guild or in that guilds alliance--This would also potentially allow for more larger scale battles 5) Open World Impact--Bring back outpost claiming feature from GW1 for alliances--Allow alliances to claim / control almost any of the waypoint locations across Tyria (such as an alliance claiming Vigil Keep)--Make contesting outpost claims a GvG event requiring at least 5-10 people, and scaling for size Wishful thinking, but it's a new year!