Bast.7253

It's nice seeing the new weapons though they don't seem to make much of a difference. And at the end of the day pvp matches, even unranked, are still the same spam queuing 20 or so cartel members as when I left months ago. I think we will be seeing a massive drop with this paid living world release. That being said I was excited to see this change and now that I have I know I don't have to worry about spending any money. 🙂

Doesn't matter. Cartel decides balance and the population has dwindled. Log in for the first time in like 4 months and do matches to test out the beta - Guess who is here. Cartel grinding those unranked queues for an ego boost. Can someone please make sure they're not chained to their computer?

Difficult to produce the expansion we're used to when staff has been shuffled off to other projects. New weapon proficiencies aren't going to be enough for me, personally. I'm glad they're doing a beta weekend so I can see everything I won't be missing out on.

I think there is a lot of neat build potential but without trait reworks and finding ways to integrate specific playstyles so that they're effective at the moment they're just thematically interesting. Like a staff wielding specter is pretty cool in theory but the spec just isn't designed for it. Nice to have more options but I don't think they make much of an impact or open up drastically different playstyles. At the end of the day people will just wait for the most optimal build for their game mode on metabattle and stick with that, imo.

I think the request for this patch was: Make the turtle relevant. And they stopped there.

I wouldn't know because I'm stuck on Emotional Release. Spoke to Taimi once and now the story step has just completely halted. Given what I've read in here I guess I'm not missing out so I'll check out the rest of the map and call it a day. I definitely don't feel like dropping the story and waypointing 4 times just to press F and rehash story beats for the 18th time in the past 2 years.

Well hopefully I’ll be able to complete my hellfire set after the achievement point rework. Still missing a few k for the final pieces. And opening up elite spec weapons for other elite specs and core will add a lot of build diversity. Still hoping for some new weapon access without elite specs across the board though.

Doubt they will rework anything like this. I still think a gang war fight on a moving train platform around the city would be cool for a meta event. Have a bunch of those holograms in the background, make the night time look like actual night with lit up holograms and stuff everywhere so it looks like a flashy neon city like Tokyo or something. Unless the mini expac also takes place in Cantha and we see more drowned Kaening. Then they could factor some reworks of Kaening and have it be the launch point for the new mini expac or something. Don’t see them having the resources or bandwidth for anything like that though.

I’m sure this is just the same third party contractor designing skiff skins. Don’t think there was much of an art team left to divert anywhere as most are on the new ip or maybe the mini expac. I don’t think they have a dedicated gemstore team anymore and just stick with contractors.

Maybe towards the end. In the season 4 finale guild chat they implied they didn’t really have an origin story in mind for the elder dragons. They just said “mother” might be a plot point worth noticing. Given they immediately jumped ship to IBS without an expansion planned I don’t think Soo Won being the elder dragon mother/creator being was really defined. I mean you hear waves in the fight if you listen closely so they might have had an idea that they wanted mother to be the deep sea dragon but I’m not confident they had much beyond that.

I don't know that that's the best example for the void but it was definitely a concept by the time Path of Fire launched. The Kesho? cinematic explained the intention behind Glint's prophecy with Aurene and Vlast fulfilling the empty roles. Granted even that seemed like it wasn't really finalized as eventually Aurene became the sole solution to the magic imbalance. At least as far as we know but given how quickly they resolved the elder dragon plot toward the end I'm assuming they're not backing down or continuing with that plot.

I'm guessing EoD sales were strong enough to convince NCSoft to go back to working on the unannounced projects. I'd wager they spent quite a bit of resources into them initially before the layoffs and didn't want a heap of technical debt sitting around, unused assets etc. They're prioritizing those projects right now and using Guild Wars 2 to fund them, thus the new model while they're low on staff and resources. The real question is the timeline/release projection of the unannounced projects. Is this new model meant to tide Guild Wars 2 community over while they finish development on the others and then reshuffle again or are they sticking to this model and shifting total support to the new projects? I think they've just been burned by decisions from higher ups to the point it's probably difficult to support Guild Wars 2 now and most of the people that were working on it have lost valuable talent/friends/colleagues and just aren't as passionate about this project anymore. I mean we still have Ruby, Bobby, Cal, and a few others that I think genuinely are excited and passionate about Guild Wars 2 because of how long they've been working on it and with the studio but I'm also just naming people that actively engage with the community whether it's their choice or mandated I have no clue. Bottom line is, if you were disappointed with the latest release I wouldn't expect anything beyond that for the next few, at least the quarterly updates. They'll likely go through a few different iterations until they find something that receives good feedback and stick with it for the "blueprint" of what releases need to look like in this new model. So if anything, I'd expect more of what we've had since EoD. I also would rule out elite specializations as the expansions will be smaller than EoD and likely not have the scope to tackle major game-changing combat features like new specializations. At least for the next mini-expac or 2, however long it takes them to gather the metrics they need to see if this is sustainable or until some new project gets shipped and takes the spotlight.

It wasn't really flowing in the ley lines to Soo Won though, it was drifting in the sky towards Cantha. Did we get any explanation as to why? I just assumed it had something to do with Joon and her machine + Soo Won pulling it somehow. If it was specifically travelling via Ley Lines I would have thought it would go underground. I mean I guess it could have been and they just opted to show it in the sky to create spectacle and speculation + budget cuts and not having the artist that made the cut scenes like we had post Mordremoth's death. But the story and Soo Won's involvement was so dismally short and hand waved in the expansion it's kind of difficult to surmise much outside of jade tech jade tech jade tech.

I highly doubt they have more than one team anymore. I'm sure they break it down into different aspects like voice acting/narrative/map design/game design/modeling etc but it's probably a significantly smaller amount of people than you might expect. I would think they would still have a game director or a project manager or something communicating between them though. Having NOTHING to do with each other would be a really bad sign. lol From what I've gathered from guild chat streams etc I think the narrative team works pretty closely with all aspects of releases at least. New specializations, maps, sound engineers and on. I feel like it would be impossible in this game, especially for a studio of this size, to not have high communication. Again though, I don't think we're talking about 4-5 groups of 5 people. I suspect many, at least veteran employees, wear MANY different hats during content development at this studio.

So if the bloodstone already existed and the divine magic is undefined, could they be leading into a plot that links the bloodstone magic to the same thing in the current story? Perhaps splitting the stone diluted the magic enough to only make consumers go "crazed." Whereas here we are dealing with the potential source/origin point of the bloodstone. Could the magic of the bloodstone be what led to Abaddon's fall? Given how we're seeing examples of ordinary humans turn into Oni.

King of the cartel. you realize it would just be the same people camping this 24/7 right? this might actually cause some of these players to develop a blood clot from camping their computer.

Forgot about that one! And yes - definitely. I'm sure they'd have to set somekind of limit but I would honestly love to have a giant Ascalonian tree in my guild hall. Or somekind of tree besides the Drizzlewood trees (that are great and I wish they did more decorations like this) but something way larger like a world tree in WoW. Could use some of the nice wooden platforms we got recently and scaffold an entire huge tree house. This is making me sad now. 😞

I'm not expecting it because I don't think they have the resources for it but I hope to see this as one of the systems they overhaul. 1. New decorations - decorations converted to craftable tokens that can be sold/purchased on the trading post. New decorations can just be tokens sold from a vendors across Tyria. (Converting in-game assets to decorations as there are tons and it probably wouldn't be too heavy unless collision works differently and they don't already have it. 2. Scribing/recipe rework so it isn't some russian nesting doll of planters within planters within planters. Things that make sense and are hopefully cheaper. 3. Decoration tool rework to allow rotation of decorations on more than one axis - and the ability to plant decorations in midair - possibly like a target tethered to your character. 4. Guild Halls updated to include recent expansions music that is currently missing. 5. Guild Halls updated to be cheaper - this might kitten off a lot of people that spent a ton of rl money upgrading one or more. (I did and I still advocate for them to be cheaper because they're a really great feature but many won't get to experience them even if they pretty much stopped development on them shortly after they were released.) 6. Perhaps give them more activity in general - a new building or mechanism that allows for an invasion of some-kind with unique rewards. This would suck for people that don't have many people in their guild but if they made the rewards good enough and increased the number of guilds you can rep - you could at least participate once a week to get whatever you want with whichever guild has it available. There really are a ton of ways to improve this but at this point I'd bank on them trying to salvage the tech they have to create personal housing or something with it on a smaller scale. (I highly doubt something like this will ever happen either at this point.)

I think Kanaxai is a red herring. I doubt we will see him. Yeah we are dealing with demons but we might find out how Kanaxai got there in the first place which would be more interesting to me. I’m wondering if the giant black hole in the middle of the map has greater significance. I’d love to circle back around and link some of the old plot threads, like the voice in the dwarves ruin fractal rather than just recycle some guild wars 1 entity like Kanaxai but if they’re looking to keep the story smaller in scope for a bit they might. I also vaguely remember some spirits of doubt, etc, in Malchor’s Leap that were always hinted to be associated with the deep sea dragon but tying them into the new theme of this map release and demons/Ai could be cool. Then we also have Isle of Janthir and the demons from Bastion that I’m sure people would love to see more of. Really so many plots to explore now the elder dragon stuff is done. This map seemed very void themed which was strange considering the resolution with Aurene and the dialogue that she would sense changes in magic. Having ley lines be the resolution to the energy crisis also seems off but perhaps they could tie the Chak into being related to the Jade Maw. idk. Just spitballing potential points that don’t necessarily focus on regurgitating past villains while also tying into some items in the past. I feel like there’s so much they could do without even touching the void story for awhile.

I think the game plan moving forward is the other half of this map before/during summer. A strike mission in the fall in between other festivals and maybe some qol changes. Then perhaps winter/early 2023 will be the mini expansion. I’m guessing the two maps, drowned Kaening and the snow palace area Togu’s estate? Will be the mini expansion maps. They will use this time plus that mini expansion to gauge the success of this business model to determine if they want to keep it or if it’s profitable enough. This way they can keep the story smaller scoped, in Cantha, and gauge metrics for their new model before committing to some larger story. Technically this would normally be a living world season 4 size patch x 2 but I think that’s the goal of the new model. No elite specs next mini expansion but MAYBE a new mastery. Likely dealing with demons/vampire ministry and we may see one minister introduced in the next half of the map. Perhaps Chul Moo will tie into this plot and be an enemy in disguise, or he’ll be killed off. That’s my best guess and it would likely be the most efficient way to push out a rapid mini expansion to test the waters as they likely already have those two maps at least semi fleshed out or a game plan for them. One thing that bothers me about their roadmap and reasoning is insisting they want to use the resources gained from committing to smaller expansions and living world to update existing systems and other game modes, but then give no insight into what that might look like or what systems they hope to target. Or course I’m sure they’re not wanting to broadcast specifics given players will say something was “promised” but if they make it clear that the items they hope to tackle are a wishlist of sorts, it’s really on the players. But if they do fail at updating some of those systems communicating why, the technical challenges, etc, would be a great way to alleviate concerns. I just want to advise that this is likely the type of content they’re hoping to produce for interim and I wouldn’t expect the mini expansions to be on the same par with EoD which is imo lower quality than PoF in terms of features and significantly less content rich than HoT. If you don’t like this content then speak with your wallet, not complaints on a heavily censored forum filled with senseless emojis. If you enjoy this content, then congrats and keep enjoying it. That being said addressing specific concerns in terms of gameplay, map design, etc is still a good thing to voice. Just saying, “this sucks no masteries patch is weak” isn’t going to give them data to iterate in for future releases.

I like the idea of the jade bot module, especially if this is a one off currency over the course of this expansion. The majority of the time we're salvaging unidentified gear for mats, then crafting things for research notes in the crafting window. Along with the ui gear we also get crafting mats. This would cut out the middle man and just give us an option to directly create research notes. The one thing I see impeding this is if they considered creating an endless kit in the gem store but without knowing their intention of this currency beyond the lifespan of this expansion cycle, it's difficult to say whether an endless kit would be of any real value long-term. (Maybe they already have one and I missed it?) Some people just like to endlessly browse the forum to vehemently defend/argue as if it's their day job. Not really sure why but I like this suggestion and it gives the jade bot a bit more use. I'm still a little disappointed they haven't iterated on improving it beyond plopping terminals in major capitals but this time next year people will likely forget it exists beyond the extra stam from the slot. Then again they could have added the filter system as a mastery line to the jade bot for this and they didn't so I'm guessing it wasn't in the budget. (Or they realized it was likely more work than it was worth for a one-off environmental effect on one map but then why not just make it a permanent buff you get account-wide from completing a story step prior to entering the map or something?)

I bought all 3 and all it did was knock me back down to 10/20. I think one has magic find or something attached to it? Felt like a... we want to haze to be in the map.. what can we do to make it more than an environmental effect! In reality they probably WANTED to make it a mastery or something but they just didn't have the resources/time/money/whateveritisthistime to make it a mastery so they created this mess of a system to interact with.

I think the story would have benefited from having more impactful instances. The first instance was a bunch of f pressing for dialogue and interactables, the haze and jade block scanning was fine and I honestly prefer the map integration of the story to be on the shorter end, and then we get one follow up instance with a boss fight. Having more action during the story instances might help but it’s a weird point with this release because it’s been so long and they wanted to reflect that in the story. I also just think the characters we have this time around are… not interesting. People seemed to like Rama despite him being a less funny/less interesting Canach, and then we have Yao who I had anticipated would get a bit more character development as the majority of their introduction in EoD seemed to solely be based on being non-binary. Here we get Gorrik acting terribly concerned about Yao and it’s like… uh… cool but why are we as the commander supposed to feel all this emotion for this character when we’ve had minimal interaction with them and have lost characters like Eir, Tybalt, Traeherne, etc. Yao to me just feels like a throw away character created in the image of a dev or significant other of a dev/writer and now they’re just… forcing them into the story despite Joon and Taimi making more sense as the front and center for this recent chapter. And yes, to the exploration/collectibles. Thankfully it’s a blessing to not have them here due to the filter system but there’s so much extra lore and story/speculation that comes from items like these collections that add more replay value.. like the coins in silver wastes. Throw a collection in there for them, do cool things with achievements that reward exciting things like combat tonics or unique armor skins. We keep getting these beautiful highly detailed maps and there are ways to creative more longevity with them beyond meta events and drowning players in unidentified gear. Either way, the filter system, the EoD fishing and jade bot masteries, tells me that whoever made IBS is still directing content creation and it’s just making matters worse. Are these systems made to be extra cumbersome to try and stretch out the content? Is it for immersion? Doing an event and not having keycards is also a pain. It’s not the first time this has been done as we’ve had numerous iterations of this over the years but each time they keep having to go back and modify it because it just doesn’t work. Like Gherent and the acid stuff, or the machetes - they all get buffed eventually because the system just doesn’t feel enjoyable. Yet we keep repeating it, not learning, and implementing something somehow even worse.

Uhh.... So the skybox is nice but you don't really see it. The multiple points of death like the giant black pit in the middle that just kills you if you go too far down, the haze, the pirahna section... combined with the general maze approach.. Definitely not a map I'll be returning to frequently if I even get the new skins or finish the meta achievement. I mean yeah, it's got a nice atmosphere and detail and I probably wouldn't mind the maze part but the whole certain parts are blocked off or you have to keep going back for your 0 cost filter system.. it's just dumb. It's literally just an unncessary trip to a specific terminal to get a buff. I don't really care about masteries because most of EoD's were bad, as were the RGB ibs ones. But for this you'd think adding a mastery track to the jade bot line that eliminates this need to revisit this vendor and purchase a 0 cost item with 30 stacks would be a decent, even if dull, implementation? That's really all I have to say. The story seemed like a... we don't really have anything to add so let's just toss in Tybalt, Eir, and Almora for nostalgia sake to try to manifest somekind of emotion from the player or something. And no we have ley lines as the major solution to the energy crisis? Because I guess they didn't exist? See ya in a few months I guess.

Wait, this map has loot?