Aerulight.7250

The patch notes said: "To purchase rare armor from a dungeon merchant, players are required to complete the dungeon story mode associated with the armor. To purchase exotic armor, weapons, and legendary gifts from dungeon merchants, players are now required to complete the dungeon explorable mode associated with the item. Note: Accounts that have already completed any story mode or explorable path before this change are exempt from this requirement." (emphasis added by me) And yet, on an account that is as old as the game is, which has repeated each dungeon story mode and explorable path on multiple characters dozens of times (even getting all dungeon collections to 60+% if not already 100% complete) over the last decade... I suddenly now have no access to the items I did have access to mere hours ago prior to the patch. All items are now greyed out and the vendor is treating me like a new account, requiring 7 repeats of each dungeon to gain access to their wares. This should not be. Additional note to really reiterate my point: Dungeon Frequenter 98 total paths counted Achievement completed 12 times Hobby Dungeon Explorer 848 total explorable paths counted Achievement completed 169 times Why is the vendor asking me to do these all over again???

UPDATE: A Return! TBT's are back on the menu! A regular time slot for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Sundays of every month, as well as a new Purple Blitz route for the occasional 5th Sunday are now available. Please see iHop's Google Calendar for the full schedule (now with automatic time zone conversion! woohoo!). As always, you are welcome to visit us in our Discord to get those sweet, sweet notification pings before a tour starts. The Flawless Kills record can also be found there as well. If you are interested in joining us regularly, please hop in there and give yourself the Hunter role. See you there!

So much of this is still very vague and confusing. Alliance/world cap and guild cap as far as we know currently is going to be set at 500 bodies. What about queues as a solution to the changing number of guild members/alliance members playing? Let the map queue system solve this conundrum. Attempt at an example: Example Alliance has 3 guilds in it, each with a roster size of 250 bodies. At any given time only 500 of those 750 total bodies can load into the mists to duke it out against enemy alliances/worlds at the same time, and how many on the same map of the mists can be handled by the map cap so that inevitably the teams will need to spread out across the available mist maps. The natural eb and flow of player's available gaming time should mean that the cap will rarely cause an issue of someone being left out - and those able to make static schedules can decide on what hours they need to cover in discussions within their guilds/alliances. That would hopefully also address the concerns of guilds of any size, but particularly the smaller ones, who are spread out over multiple time zones or servers as presently available, struggling to be able to play together at all in the current, soon to be replaced, system, who probably don't have any data for the sorting system to take into account because of the lack of opportunity/support for playing WvW outside of mega guilds/servers. Another option is to have a queue based on squad size so that at any point in time each guild in an alliance can only load in up to 50 bodies into the mists. So the 500 cap would mean alliances could reach connections of 10 guilds of any size as a rough maximum, without much trouble and the coordination of when their squads or teams are covering things in the mists can be done via discussion in alliance chat - Alliance Chat is a tool we will need. The ability to choose our own alliance guild connections is a tool we will need - the vagueness of available information is making it sound less and less like we will actually get to choose our allied guilds. The ability to set our alliance's own name and not use a premade name is also very, very important. Part of the reason WvW has declined is because the mega-server destroyed server pride. We need a banner we can fight under and be proud of and nothing is worth fighting for more and being more proud of than a banner and name of our own choosing. Leave the auto-generated names to the auto-created alliance/worlds made from the solo runners and unaffiliated guilds. Edit: Finally finished getting through the MightyTeapot stream, and some of my questions or concerns were addressed, but also not? Some things ended up being contradicted and I am still no more clear or sure on what we can expect or try to prepare for as guild leaders, especially those of us with smaller and/or spread out multi-server guilds who have not been able to effectively participate since the mega-server rolled out. I'm concerned that the lack of data on our types is going to skew design choices and the oft circumstances of being unheard for being "too small/new/casual" pick your favorite derogatory poison flavor, will not be helping remedy that missing data. You can't have data from those who haven't played for not feeling able/welcome. The Alliances restructure should be able to fix this, but not if an influx of players returning from the swamps of disillusioned despair aren't accounted for. If Alliances is intended to make WvW a core game mode again, it needs to enable all players to participate. How do I be sure all the members under my care as a guild leader are being included, together, without limit? How will we get to control our Alliances? Perhaps the first tool we need is a new glossary of terms. We need to know what Anet means by the terms they are using; what is being depreciated, and what is being added or redefined. Maintaining a pinned thread in this WvW area of the forums where they list these terms and definitions would be a decent solution.

After reading Woop S.7851's post of a similar yet distinct plea regarding Squad functionality needs, I have determined my thoughts are sufficiently different and intertwined with a different and specific content experience it merits its own concise post. Based on observations I've had while running the Twisted Marionette's almost perfect squad level content, and my experiences leading Bounty Tours and other similar large squad activities, here are some adjustments that seem much needed for Squad/Commander Tag functionality: Firstly, Squads need to be larger. Please increase the player limit in Squads to at least 75 (if not 100). This will allow for 3 (up to 4 if set to 100 total) people per platform in the Boss Phases of the Twisted Marionette (instead of the current 2 per platform maximum) and enable better group engagement in any future, equally complex content you wish to release. As far as I can recall and determine, Champions were never meant to be solo'd or even duo'd, they were the original Group Content and I believe it is reasonable to hold onto that design choice. Which means we cannot limit the Boss Phases of Twisted Marionette to 2 players per Champion, there must be at least 3 people for it to be considered a 'Group'. (A larger squad size enabling tiny groups of at least 3 per platform during the Boss Phases will help avoid scenarios where players are excluded from the content if they are not running a specific class and build, IE an all-Scourge squad, which runs contrary to GW2's philosophy of play what you enjoy.) For implementation: I ask that this upgrade be applied to the Catmander Compendium purchase, and not to the general Commander Compendium (leave that one at the ability to lead 50-player sized Squads). Ideally, the Catmander Compendium should require one to already have the Commander Compendium - which should still cost the 300g as has already been designated as the value for being able to lead 50-player Squads - while the Catmander Compendium would then continue to cost an additional 150g + 250 Badges of Honor, as has been set as its designated value. This will provide a stronger value/reason to get the Catmander Tag in addition to the general Commander Tag by granting a gradual increase in Squad capacity and potential in reward for the player exerting more effort/funds to acquire it and therefore more merit for said increase and the responsibility that comes with that. This will mean that the total price to unlock the capacity to lead a 75-player squad would be 450g + 250 Badges of Honor, which is a reasonable requirement given the current arrangement. (Make it 600g + 250 Badges of Honor for the ability to lead a 100-player Squad if you see fit, that would still be reasonable under current standards and maintain a decent gold sink in addition to encouraging at least experiencing the gameplay of both PvE and WvW game modes.) I saw recommended elsewhere that the Gate entry timer during the Boss Phases of the Twisted Marionette needs to be extended, or at least not started until at least one player is loaded onto each of the 5 platforms. This suggestion I would like to second as a reasonable final tweak in addition to the Squad size increase request which will likely resolve the majority of concerns regarding this content. Now for improvements that are needed regardless of squad size: We need 1 more Marker (affectionately known as Rainbow Rights). Alt+0 can be used to clear all instead of Alt+9; giving us a total of 9 lights instead of 8. Orange is a good choice for the presently missing color, and a Diamond, Trefoil, or Pentagon would work well as a distinct shape option for it. Also regarding Markers: Object Markers need to stay where they are placed until removed rather than the current range based fall-off. It often comes to pass during activities/combat that the Commander gets too far away from where the Object Marker was placed and it disappears, causing a loss in coordination. Next, the in-world Nameplate and allied Map Dot colors need better distinction. For Guild Members the Nameplate, Guild Chat, and Map Dots are Gold. For Party Members the Nameplate, Party Chat, and Map Dots are Blue. For Squad Members the Nameplate and Map Dots need to match the Squad Chat color: Pale Green. This is a distinct enough shade from the Teal of non-grouped allied players and the Dark Green of friendly NPCs that it will make a massive difference in distinction and coordination during fast-action, high on-screen information scenarios. Subgroups of a Squad should remain the same Blue in Nameplates, Chat, and Map Dots as regular Party colors already are. In need of particular loving support: Lieutenants. Lieutenants need an in-world Sub-Tag and a Chat Window designator to distinguish them as the assigned sub-leaders that they are for a Squad's chosen activities - the symbol on their name in a sea of up to 50+ name squares/bars is not enough to set them apart as voices worthy to follow. When a Commander speaks in chat, say myself, it would say in the chat window: [00:00] [Squad] Commander Aerulight: example text here. A Lieutenant should be discernable in the same manner: [00:00] [Squad] Lieutenant McTrustworthy: example text here. Give them a Chevron/Tag that is at least half the size of the Commander's Tag, is visible on the Map, Mini-map, and in-world to only those players who are Squad Members (this prevents map icon clutter), and which has its own assignable color selection to aid in distinguishing them from the overall Commander for optimal tactical coordination. Example: in Twisted Marionette the Commander, while providing overall direction, has split the squad into 5 subgroups and has chosen a Red Tag to specifically lead Lane 5 with. They have appointed 4 Lieutenants, each in charge of 1 of the 4 other Subgroups, and assigned them to lead Lanes 1-4 respectively. Each of these have chosen the colors Green, Orange, Blue, and Yellow for their Sub-Tags. This arrangement then makes it more efficient and effective for the squad to coordinate and rally to the correct places during the chaos of combat. And Lastly: Please, oh please, set the ability to merge squads via LFG as a Commander only privilege with an Approve/Decline pop-up to finally resolve the constant headache of, what I hope are only accidental, merges of teams on entirely different maps with entirely different content goals. The option to merge squads is an excellent feature if it is placed in the hands of Commanders willingly coordinating, and not at the mercy of any random player's accidental click. Thank you very kindly! 🙂

Good day fellow Tyrians! As EOD gets closer and LWS2 is about to be re-released, it is now time for a change of focus. Going forward these Bounty Tours will be moved to 'Upon Request' status. Here are the Flawless Kills records we attained so far: LWS3: Kryta: 6/11 LWS4: JB: 2/4 + DK: 5/5 + DI: 3/5 | 10/14 POF: DH: 9/18 POF: CO: 10/18 COMBO: ER: 5/12 + SI: 5/12 | 10/24 POF: DES: 7/18 POF: DV: 12/24 In the last 5 months I have seen the wonder of how we all were able to learn and adapt to this challenging content and win some truly worthy bragging rights. Several of these Flawless Kills were against Legendary targets like the Facet, Daol Brol Shiol, Starcaller, Troopmarshal Olori Ogun, and more. We even reached a Perfect Blitz in the Domain of Kourna! We've helped each other stay alive and on our feet for maximal slaying fun while simultaneously getting each other many a needed achievement completed. Well done everyone! Best of all, we did it all with a flair for true kindness, we learned how to appreciate each other's needs and how to share this content so that all could enjoy it. We remembered and reclaimed what makes GW2 the best game on the market: Us. I am deeply grateful to this community for asking me to turn this into a regular activity, and then pushing me even further out of my comfort zone and asking for a guild! Thank you for sharing these opportunities to grow as individuals and as a group together. Thank you for spending your time with me and hearing my calls as a Tag, for making these tours smooth and delightful. You gave me and each other a little spot of time and space to belong, and that is a victory even greater than our Flawless Kills. Let us now bring this same gusto for awesome to the upcoming Living World re-releases! Myself and iHop will remain available in the same time slot we've been running TBT's to support the re-released LW content and aid in tidying up goals in preparation for the release of EOD. Hope to see you all at the Marionette once again someday! May the loot always be with us! ^_^

With the new forum features updates, I have been able to tidy up the posts in this thread a bit and finally fix the name (yay!). The guild Discord server for this activity has also been tidied up for improved clarity. A new link to the server has been made and corrected in all previous posts. The tours have been restructured a bit and the schedule has been adjusted to account for a new guild missions offering. Present Offering: Mondays: [iHop] Guild Missions (bonus time slot at 10pm/22:00 UTC ) Wednesdays: Total Bounty Tour Fridays: Total Bounty Tour As always, these activities will start at 5pm/17:00 UTC (server time), and squads begin gathering 30 min prior. Tours will rotate offered zones in the following order: (current Flawless Kills Record included) LWS3: Kryta: 6/11 LWS4: JB: 2/4 + DK: 5/5 + DI: 3/5 | 10/14 POF: DH: 9/18 POF: CO: 10/18 COMBO: ER: 5/12 + SI: 5/12 | 10/24 POF: DES: 7/18 POF: DV: 12/24 In April we were able to break Vabbi's record and move it to a solid 50% Flawless, well done everyone! We have also grown the community surrounding this specific activity to over 50 people in-game, and over 85 people in the Discord server. Wow! I would like everyone to know that the impact we make as a team and as individuals both inside these squads and outside them as we adventure forth carrying our hallmark kindness along with us has been strong and it does make a difference in every life we touch no matter how brief and inconsequential it may seem in the moment. As the Tag bearer, I have received some touching earnest letters regarding this, so please let me pass on to you the gratitude that exists out there from the many whose days had a little bit more brightness in them as we shared some of our time together.. Thank you for making GW2 a fun and friendly place to relax and recover from the myriad pains we face in our world. You matter. Thank you for you.

Thank you GW2 community for the guild request and your enthusiastic support for this content. I am impressed at the level of openness and kindness you bring to these areas and your ability to learn and grow has been a delight to observe. The requested guild has been dubbed thusly: Ms Poppins Boppin Bunny Brigade [iHop] You've grown the in-game head count to over 40, and the Discord head count to over 80. Well done! And now an update on your Flawless Kills so far: LWS4: JB: 2/4 + DK: 5/5! + DI: 3/5 + SI: 5/12 = 15/26 DH: 9/18 CO: 10/18 ER: 5/12 DES: 7/18 DV: 11/24 Congratulations! You've unlocked the Perfect Blitz!!! bragging rights 😄 As you can see above, you have cleared all of the Domain of Kourna without a single death nor down for the entire zone! Wow! You've also broken the 50% threshold on one of the bigger zones, Crystal Oasis. Keep up the good work everyone, at this pace we'll reach Perfect Blitz in all zones in short order! ^_^

There have now been numerous requests for a guild to be made to support this content and more. If this is something you wish to be a part of, please visit the discord linked above to vote on the name of the guild, or reply here, or in game via whisper or mail with your vote or alternate suggestions. Thank you! Here are the updated Flawless Kills record as of today: LWS4: JB: 1/4 + DK: 3/5 + DI: 2/5 + SI: 3/12 = 9/26 DH: 9/18 CO: 9/18 ER: 4/12 DES: 7/18 DV: 11/24 The coordination and comradery so far have gotten many of the runs up to 50% Flawless, that's incredible! With that kind of effort, I believe it is possible for our community to see a Perfect Blitz in the future. Go for it! ^_^

UPDATE We've been running these for a month now and you have all done superbly well. Your friendliness, coordination, and cooperation are very commendable. You've brought excellent DPS and wonderful Healing - with top notch Rez-Response (love that so much). And extra great: you are getting very good at using CC's on the Blue bar only so that we have nice long burn windows, fantastic! Here are your Flawless Kills records so far: (the number of targets within the total number of targets in a zone which were killed without a single player dying or even being downed) LWS3: Kryta: 6/11 LWS4: JB: 1/4 + DK: 3/5 + DI: 2/5 + SI: 3/12 = 9/26 DH: 6/18 CO: 9/18 ER: 4/12 DES: 3/18 DV: 10/24 Fabulous work everyone! I hope you feel awesome about those numbers, because they are awesome! There is one change to announce: Going forward, I am going to drop the LWS3 Bounty Tour from the regular rotation. I will still offer the LWS3 bounty tour, but only upon request. This is because this one has a harder time getting enough people gathered to start it. However, it is a viable run when people are interested. Keep this in mind if you need Core Tyria Mastery XP or help with the Achievements associated with the Krytan Bounties. You can request this tour through whisper or mail in-game or in the questions/requests section of the discord: https://discord.gg/c82qBdSdXE Tours will still run every other day at 5pm UTC until the release of End of Dragons. I would like to get a perfect blitz by then, so know that challenge is out there to be conquered >:3 As always, thank you for joining us and may the loot be with you until we meet again!

UPDATE After a full week run and getting to run each tour at least once, I have better gauged what I can offer as my best self. So here is an adjusted schedule for my Total Bounty Tours:(And massive thanks to everyone who has joined so far, it has been a lot of fun! (Those flawless kills are adding up already, love it!)) Tours will be done every other day, (was originally daily) starting this coming Monday (01/18/21). The start time remains 5pm UTC. Please be sure to check the discord for the most accurate schedule: https://discord.gg/c82qBdSdXE Or conversely, you can always whisper me in game and ask which zone is next and on what day. 🙂 So far each run has gone smoothly and swiftly, clocking in at near the lowest estimated run time. Our best Flawless Kills record is already 5/26 for LWS4, followed by a tie of 3/18 for Desolation and Crystal Oasis. Well done! My present intent is to continue running these squads until the expansion EOD is released. Thank you! ^_^

Hello fellow adventurers and lovers of great lootness across Tyria! I am known in-game as Ren, and, upon popular request, I am committing to hosting a regular Total Bounty Tour activity for the foreseeable future. For the current schedule, full details of the activity, and helpful notifications on it, please visit this discord server: https://discord.gg/c82qBdSdXE. You may also query me directly in-game with this chat command: /whisper Aerulight.7250 (Do note that I won’t be able to reply to your questions if you are set to Offline mode.) And now a breakdown of what you can expect from these Total Bounty Tours: On each tour I will lead us through ALL the bounties in a select zone(s) for POF and LWS4 (Also LWS3). Each zone has anywhere from 1-4 areas with12-24 total targets for each run. First, I will collect a bounty notice and mark the target on the map for everyone in the squad to see; then I’ll link the nearest WP as needed and indicate which direction we'll travel to reach the target. We will rally at the marker (a big red X) and pre-clear any local mobs for a better fight. Rainbow lights will often be provided to help guide the way. Once 90% of the squad has arrived on location, I will trigger the target's timer and we will begin combat. I will also broadcast which of the target's random buffs we need to be wary of, including a general combat tip for how to deal with it. Once the target is defeated, the squad will hold position while I grab the next notice - we rinse and repeat like this until the whole zone is cleared of all bounties. I am a medium speed commander who does not like to leave anyone behind or downed. This influences our squad’s goals and methodology. Main Goal: bring a swift death to each target while keeping each other alive and on our feet for maximum fun and destruction. Uber Goal: obliterate each target without a single death or down! >:3 I am keeping a record of our Flawless Victories so you can revel in your accomplishments. This can be found updated monthly here in this thread, on the linked discord server, and in the squad message when you enter one of our squads. So far, we have all done very well, so I believe we’ll definitely be able to reach a perfect blitz in the future! Challenge accepted. Methodology pt 1: out-DPS these defensive buffs: Propagator, Restorer, Survivor. Methodology pt 2: heal well enough to ignore all the offensive buffs: Polluter, Scorcher, Ley-Energy Buildup, Sniper, Spinning Laser. What you need for optimal participation and enjoyment of the tour: Access to the maps and their waypoints for POF and LWS4. At least these 3 mounts: Raptor, Springer, and Skimmer. (Skimmer will protect you from zones effects) Ideally, the first 3 tiers on those mounts’ Masteries trained. Also ideally, 1 tier in United Legions Waystation Mastery trained, for the [Electromagnetic Pulse] skill to use on target’s Breakbars. One 900+ range weapon on swap for Phase-Shifting targets. You and your indomitable human spirit ❤️ Four notes on squad etiquette: Do NOT collect the bounty targets. The Tag will gather them for us to ensure the timers don't start before everyone has arrived. (Don't worry, you will get credit for the bounty by simply attacking it once we begin.) Rez your comrades before they die! (Alive = better morale and more DPS; more DPS = faster zone clear; faster = more loot/XP for your time.) If at any point you're completely dead, please WP and run back asap, because rez'ing from the defeated state has a slower channel than from the downed state - this risks wiping the squad. "Be Excellent To Each Other!" Each tour will begin at 5pm UTC. The zones are divided and grouped as follows: Desert Highlands (18 targets) Crystal Oasis (18 targets) POF/LWS4 Combo: Elon Riverlands & Sandswept Isles (24 targets) Desolation (18 targets) Domain of Vabbi (24 targets) LWS4: Jahai Bluffs, Domain of Kourna, & Domain of Istan. (14 targets) LWS3: Kryta (11+ targets) I look forward to adventuring forth with you all in the days ahead and to bringing our collective destructive might down upon these tasty walking loot bearers! To join the squad for this, use this chat command: /sqjoin Aerulight.7250 Thank you! ^_^