XiraMint.3162

Personally I'm (more casual now and) nowhere near the meta yet. I'm more interested in trying new specs, which will keep me busy for a good while. I still enjoy a variety of the legacy world bosses and haven't even done the whole Drizzlewood meta yet. And I've been playing for a couple years before a break. Got frustrated by the skyscale quests and have recommitted to my griffon, so I'm feeling "whatever" turtle or no turtle after all that. There's more than enough to do if you really like a few things, and hopefully the expac will draw in more players to reinvigorate community around some old ones too. Hope they fix your meta one of these days though.

Juggling games lately and just getting hero points for a few specs so far... Two cents, or a few. I like the maps, with particular approval for Seitung, which is a joy to fly over... And except for Dragon's End where I'm not sure if it's much outside the meta beyond a very open, rather empty battlefield waste yet. For a "final" zone, DE didn't wow me at all compared to say Dragon's Stand or Drizzlewood... Maybe LW will be more exciting. But at least DE isn't locked behind an event like DS. I like being able to visit a zone and decide early if I want to commit time to it. I also like that a full spec of hero points felt much more soloable than sometimes was the case in PoF. Seitung and Echovald are really thick on greens -- and I do love green but -- I wouldn't mind if there were a few other colors a little more often to make it easier to differentiate stuff. Not sure how I'll feel about all the darkness of Echovald after more hours there, might get old but even Tangled Depths has its fans. So generally feels new and has some very attractive spots at least.

I've been wondering about this too. My instinct is always to rush to the apparent border and see if I can go any further. I'm not sure they really feel any rush to decide, though. Perhaps they just like to have some sort of realistically "open" terrain horizon "frame" around the playable areas regardless, and they may have gotten a bit carried away with that stretching into broader chunks of map. Perhaps they just didn't want to have to carve holes in the map (although in that case, it's funny how some regions overlap in places too). Or maybe they purposefully left some edges tempting but haven't completely decided yet what's going on there. Then naturally yes, some LW has just not been released yet. Personally I'm mixed. Somehow I'm less frustrated by the edges that are over oceans where I could imagine that you would not want to go that way indefinitely anyway... But I feel a little claustrophobic if there are sheer slopes or walls everywhere that can't be scaled. Probably partly because in actuality I love to climb but not to swim? Anyway. I also hate gates that are just "no entry sign" X'ed out due to story: I wish they would just hide those or make them a different shade/color or something until they're open. It feels too "in your face" nagging somehow and also ridiculously modern, similar to NPC's who speak more like office staff come to think of it.

To the people who thought the OP was acting overentitled, someday somewhere it will be your issue that they claimed to appreciate and fix but didn't, and then you might just maybe have a change of heart. But on to more productive thoughts. Are you certain there isn't a 3rd party app out there that might be allowed? I don't know about this particular condition, but it seems to me there are some shader apps that are widely used. Just in case, also consider that while Anet will (from my very limited personal experience) go out of its way never to appear to actively approve of 3rd party apps and thus they may not offer you any certainty, that does not mean that they are against them all either. Just googling quick, I see a very old post that mentions that colors shift with luminance, or in simpler language the time of day causes changes in colors too. I don't know if that complicates the problem because you would need more than one custom filter to reduce greens, but I wonder if it could help you toward a solution too. Perhaps some of the custom filter apps could even be set to change greens into a more acceptable color? I'm not sure if such a feature exists or not, but I seem to recall they had quite a few settings out there. Sadly I don't know what could be done for motion sickness. But if changing colors helps and your choice is between not playing the expac at all or placing your bets on some 3rd party app being allowed, there you are I guess. Hope you find something that works!

So it's not a massive amount of money, but it's still a reasonable enough question whether there is any reasoned point to the difference. Although I suppose from the extreme "love it or leave it" fawning or "There is no time for anyone else's questions" point of view, one can always declare just about anything unreasonable if one so wishes. While I do appreciate knowing what cheaper alternatives exist as a matter of facts, I don't appreciate the posts trying to use them to wave away the original question. Insisting that alternatives should make the question completely irrelevant, leads me to wonder whether all the people taking this line would agree among themselves about which combination of daily and weekly behaviors exactly everyone "should" pursue, in which order such as to forestall various questions like this thread? Do you all completely agree about whether we must always do dailies, or whether it's more "logical" to take an extra step in our travels to reduce costs, or whether we "should" complete story before doing anything else possible? I highly doubt it. Yet it's somehow apparently so comfortable to criticize the OP for having an opinion regarding a small amount of currency or an extra bit of time.

I'd rather they at least be up front about it if they're going to make a major change. If it's really intentional, then people will just move on to debating what is the next "too easy" thing to be removed from content. It was an awful lot of time involved to get one little shiny item out of the store, particularly at some of the going prices and with limited availability cycles. But it made a tiny bit of fashion pursuit much more exciting for those with the hours (more like day or several) to put in. That was a unique draw for me. Hope this was a glitch and not permanent or intended.

Fwiw, you're not alone. Right there with you.

I believe it's almost over, since you're quoting mine. I don't put together an unfamiliar spec in mere minutes. Ymmv? I do wish it had been more than a few days per preview though.

I guess I'm late to updating this thread ~ can't find the latest beta specs one. But I felt like Virtuoso played more like I had expected Thief to play in the first place. I never felt very proficient with the Thief melee sword/dagger, but the Virtuoso ranged ones have a good flow and some nice defense or burst options on cd with the bladesong and utilities.

I didn't get to all of them, but I liked Bladesworn, Mechanist and Virtuoso. I love elementalist but Catalyst was a real puzzle (hammer timing especially felt ungainly), at least as of the first beta showing. Tried a couple of the others and wasn't immediately inspired, or couldn't get into the flow yet. Overall, I don't think they are as clean or memorable as HoT and PoF specs ~ It feels to me more like they are offering every class a little bit of every role. I do appreciate having more weapon choices and more options in functionality. There are still some decent smacky/speedy options. Thematically though, I wasn't so sure what they are actually supposed to be about.

I happen to think a Tengu would provide some fun, potentially even stylish variety. It's an arbitrary choice, yes. So could lots of other things but that doesn't change my curiosity. There are many things in the game that could or (for taste) might be done a little stronger, artistically or for completeness. I go back and forth on when the game looks cool and when it feels a touch aging or weird. That's just its distinct style by now in my book. But largely being willing to play the game as it is, and noticing it has a pretty substantial following still (which is a happy thing)... I think it's entirely reasonable for some of us to argue: I would be thrilled with more selection in this basket of race goods regardless, even if the style of many things so far aren't always quite a 10/10 on my scale. It seems like a hard genre to find a 10 in never mind to please "everyone," okay? But one or two more races that hit a 5 to 7 like the rest can manage for me aesthetically, let's say. , even with more limited features (maybe not everyone gets to be in every part of the story, yes fine make some set of armor fit like banded basically works on charr at least and lemme play this thing). Skimming parts of the thread, I saw lots of claims that a new race would require drastic changes in previous story or endless world design changes. I"m not so clear why any new thing that's introduced has to be a story piece or have every single feature others in its class have. We have some existing races that don't have entirely unique animation sets, don't we? If a new race has to upend the entire story, did adding skyscales cause some cataclysm in the nature of Queensdale? Yes I know they're mounts and "originated" from Dragonfall timewise but logically wouldn't their capabilities have some massive disruptive impact on everything else ~ particularly after we quest through characters chasing them all over the world to get one? Yet, they managed to add a new, useful thing to the game and the existing world didn't fall apart. And people seriously enjoy adopting them, to the point that they go through pretty extensive quest chains to get one. This world is already full of strange, map by map timeline rules and exceptions anyway isn't it? I don't quite see the anomaly in having one more; I'm already desensitized to that stuff. Now if you just assume people are going to want everything to be the same as everything else of its class, I can see some possibility but I also see proponents here saying no that isn't actually required. They've set expectations pretty low by not adding many races at all for so long. Granted I will be happily surprised if they did it. But I also feel race selection is one aspect of the game that grows a bit stale.

Somehow I was drawn to the professions that are often described as more challenging. I've spent the most time on Elementalist (though I was originally daunted), A lot of time on Revenant (the first one I chose upon returning, but also took me forever)... And more recently, I've finally come to enjoy Engineer. Also play most of the other professions more occasionally. I still wouldn't claim to be perfect at any of them, but I think that's mostly a good thing. I do believe it's going to be a trade-off between having a range and having some really sharp focus. Same goes for whole profession versus playing a single setup really, really efficiently ~ it all takes practice.

There actually have been some times when they added vines that would spawn randomly and cause minor damage to people around the usual AFK area. The downside was that most parties use that area, AFK and not alike. Active runners sit there because it has the best view toward all of the different possible spawn spots. AFK boons need to tag the active ones, so they are all there too. Everyone clusters there in a huge, often tight crowd so you could be wide awake staring at spawn areas and waiting, but you'd get dismounted (and slightly damaged over time) regardless. Getting dismounted during bauble is very bad because it often becomes a race to get a hit on the stoneheads for everyone who is not playing boon duration herald (at least with large groups, which are common enough). The stoneheads aren't actually super durable. A simple party of 2 to 5 can usually kill them in time for the usual next spawn no problem. Instead, we have groups of often 10 to fairly often a full 50 and someone is usually not holding back. I started running herald boons not to AFK (AFKers don't get rewarded compared to runners), but so that I would usually get credit for running after the stoneheads even if these speed demons killed the thing before I could hit. I personally wouldn't suffer that much if they made the stoneheads a little more difficult and gave larger rewards for each, making it more appealing for larger groups to be active and actually throw more at them. But it would reduce access/incentive for those with less time to play (both more casual visitors and ones with work or other diversions, all who won't hang around for longer tests).

The problem I have with this sort of simplistic reply is that it's a lot of tossing around nasty words. What constitutes "leeching"? What if someone else says you should only have 2 or 5 minutes to join every meta, or you're leeching? It's like saying fire everyone who's unprofessional. Anyone can use it to rip down the whole place. Or rather, lots of people will all want to tear out separate pieces.

I"m thinking you could easily play catalyst with a scepter. Combo fields are pretty big, and you don't have to stay in one spot. Speaking more generally, a lot of the tirck to surviving as ele exists is making use of the mobility or defensive skills imo. Though I wouldn't complain if there was more of an impressive offensive staff spec either.

There are some outfit "parts" that are sold as skins with more than one body part in a set... I'd like to see more of them too, to be honest. In my case it's especially because you can't save separate dye choices for all your different outfits across all your characters, which is frustrating to say the least. But yes I would like to mix and match more pieces, also. 700 gems though? That is the cost of many new whole outfits, so it ought to be more than one part at that price imo.

While I can sort of understand the sentiment, I still feel it's a plus for the community as a whole to make some bits of currency accessible to people who have busier lives. (They also might sometimes even have more disposable income to invest hard currency in impulse buying, for a separate commercial argument.) Your argument that made me wonder was more about just the number and duration of AFK's in one place. One option might be to tighten up how many of those are allowed specifically during the meta? I might also be open to some discussion of making the AFK timer, or (maybe better?) the timer allowed on revives before kick let's say, somewhat shorter. Perhaps there would be some downside to that ~ the game already kicks me off when I was letting my character stand around too long while flipping to the wiki to sort out a spec. But perhaps for non-home regions and deceased or something, there's a middle ground there.

Two cents. Or a few. 1. I'm not clear on how people who complain about it are defining their preferred events as more "active" than others. In order to even launch the stoneheads for VB bauble, someone at least has to complete the pre-event which starts with two cycles of a fighting event under Shipwreck and progresses through about 15 minutes of a train moving between linear locations with some serious champs and bottlenecks. (Yes a lone super-necro might hack it, but that's more about the OP status of necro. And it doesn't necessarily happen that one shows up who knows that whole drill.) Those who do these things both help actually make the bauble run longer, and get a handful more baubles themselves. True anyone can join the bauble after that, but aren't there quite a few other activities that anyone can join late and get some portion of easier loot later? 2. You need to stay active to get full credit in bauble farm. If I'm not mistaken even herald boons on full duration don't cover the whole field 100% of the time. AFK bauble farming doesn't pay well compared to actively running with the group. Even AFK farming requires checking in periodically to make sure your boons are up and your character is still alive. (Sometimes the dinos run them over.) Many would-be AFK bauble farmers don't make a quick study of how to do it all very well, either. More subjective, but I also think it's nice for the game to have a few little things that people with busier lives can do for a small periodic burst of currency if they put in a limited amount of time checking back in. 3. If you just don't like anything being too "easy," where does this end? Isn't it relatively easy to run between packs of mobs on the southern half of Drizzlewood Coast, where I'm told much of the profit is in that meta? Isn't it pretty easy to follow a big train around Silverwastes again and again? How much of the game needs to be torn out before you are satisfied here? I think there is a good range of choices with a little variety, and the difference in profit isn't always that huge if the metas are done well. Perhaps the rewards for some of the other metas ought to be increased to make them competitive with these popular ones instead? Even if we somehow could agree on all events having the same selection of tasks (although that sounds like removing attractive variety to me)? For some of those metas to be done really well with full profits for most participants... I think you would find many people specializing in fewer "serious" metas anyway. They might still not have time or energy to be wandering around just to try out the particular meta you want them to be pushed toward instead.

Catalyst: I do love elementalist and I've spent months exploring the previous specs (to be fair), but I was less certain about catalyst so far. First, I wasn't actually drawn to the hammer. Apart from skill 2, it is full of longish cool downs and finishers are too rare for the fields Jade Sphere brings. The hammer visuals also didn't wow me like most of the previous weapons really have done. Okay they're swirly and slightly thumpy but they didn't feel as dramatic or unique at first blush. I gather that catalyst could either provide a few small bursts or one big one... (Is that the theme?) And maybe smoother runs of support at 100% boon duration? If you go for Empowered stats, then you need multiple, specific fuel-up steps (auras, disables, dodge etc.) and finally only get a few seconds before your ten stacks fade right back down. You get five seconds on each of your augments and nearly all the augments are offensive ones. Rewards repeated auras and ongoing boons, but boon duration will sap stats you're supposed to be proc'ing and you have to rotate like crazy to keep combo finishers in play. Okay, it could generate endless Might from the sphere (" Hmm, did you miss what you took out of the Fire trait line earlier?" anyway)... But there's no shortage of that in the game. I would try catalyst more with other gear choices, but (like previous ele specs somewhat, yes) it requires hours of preparation to hit just fleeting moments of power. ~~~ (one more for now) Bladesworn, I have been enjoying! The off-hand pistol 5 has a lovely little explosion visual. I found lots of existing traits and utilities that clicked with the new traits. There is ready access to heals, new cc powers and many different sources of flow. The new traits augment some effects of existing weapons, before you even get to the dragon or gunblade options which is really a powerful feeling. (Please don't remove that.) The dragon blade bundle itself is useful and fun. Somewhat awkward for me: I was not too clear from the UI about when or how fast Flow should convert to charges, and often found myself slipping from Dragon Slash to Trigger Guard and out of Trigger Guard without being clear about whether or where the Trigger finishers were released. But perhaps that's trying out two new bundle kits in a hair-trigger sequence under pressure for you. When they did come off, they were certainly powerful. ~ Thank you for all your work and keep producing amazing content! I still haven't quite mastered all of the previous professions or even all of the beautiful maps after a couple years on, but it is a wonderful range to try.

What really loses me is when they spin around repeatedly like a toy top... As if the thing doesn't weigh anything and there's no air friction or point in aiming. The axe animation on warrior feels silly to me in the same way. "Swing" implies to me you actually have to build up a little momentum, not just spin wildly like the energizer bunny. So yes, there is a little bit of drag starting out in reality. The thing isn't weightless, is it? I'm not sure if that is part of what the OP is thinking about or not, but it's all in the general category of "this does not look realistic at all"... My female charr guardian does it too, btw. Only the ranger greatsword (and mine also is female, sylvari) feels natural enough to me.

I'm a semi-casual but somewhat regular player (largely PvE) in GMT+7. So I play on N.Am (Northern Shiverpeaks), but I'm often on a few to several hours before reset. I do a lot of solo, but love to share ideas pretty frequently or sometimes do a group event. I'm pretty happy to periodically help individuals with events or pieces of quests if I can. I have a character leveled in almost every profession, but have been playing less than a year and still often enjoy trying out new builds and discussing however this busy system actually works. So specifically LF a guild with a lot of chat about builds, and lots of Open World PvE ones. I'm neither a ruthless min-max'er nor an "Anything goes, who cares it's open world" type. Humbug. I want stuff I can stay alive with but also really enjoy playing. Final caveat: I don't like to spend much time on Discord. I really, seriously prefer lively text chat now and then. Constantly hearing references to everything being on Discord, frustrates me because I honestly dislike the interface skin and find the culture around much of it immersion-breaking. If your guild does more text chat than Discord, I'd be cozy. Thanks!

Currently not showing any amulets, accessories or rings for me. Armor displays normally. Same on the menu TP and the npc in LA. (Edit) Oh! Just saw Gary's post above. That appears to be true for me too - at least, for the locations where rings and earrings are misplaced.

Hi! Hearing, but I really prefer text chat and I'd like to see how the guild is.Am in Asia, but a night owl (more pre-reset hours)... I do mostly PvE (mainly open world) and am still just exploring/sorting a lot, but I try to help with ideas or quick runs at times.Cheers.