Hofulu.7325

huge props for each limb properly curved to the surface. Turtle sounds, looks and feels like the most 'grounded' direct extension of the player offered so far by the Joy of Movement suite. biggest draw has been the fact that engage doesnt dismount you. this mount has immediately become my go to simply because whether or not i waypoint first, this is our first permamount. it kinda feels like everyone at anet was waiting to make this one haha. i have been finding myself in some alien version of subnautica just hanging out in the waters around sandswept isle just begging for pests to act tough. its honestly been like 2 hours since i did anything land based, this has been a completely refreshing way to experience underwater. the overall suite of water mechanics grew on me exponentially as i watched them all come together and then remembered elevation increased slam dmg. bouncing off the water like a skipping stone as a party trick is surely to be something somewhere. i keep forgetting to even look for ppl to ask if anyone wants to hop in gunner seat so i can see what thats like. im honestly hooked on its solo capabilities but im sure slam damage will have continued fine tuning before and after holiday break. overall, the gw2 experience as of today is honestly bringing me back to those abstract childhood dreams made of all my favorite games and worlds my single improvement suggestion would be increase the forward grip on its underwater walk but decrease its speed, then we can still game the sliding around mechanic for maximum slide, or focus on maintaining tight grip movements while tapping w in walk mode perhaps. the devs have done an amazingly consistent job synergizing the timing of movement and animations in-engine so that what we interact with on screen is as reliable as can be learned.

if this episode is september, then we wont find out any hints to this question until january of 2020 if we are lucky, otherwise later

What makes this occasion different from any of the others? To be clear: I'm not a fan of ANet's marketing or communication choices. It's not how I'd run the company. Then again: if I were in charge, there's a good chance the company would be out of business, because it's easy to second-guess advertising strategies and it's incredibly difficult to build a smoothly-playing game that millions can enjoy for hundreds or thousands of hours. If I only cared enough about the game to spend 10 bucks like once every 6 months, and to log in just to snag something I don't have to pay for, so that I can continue to have something to do without having to spend any money, then where is the support for this game coming from? It's coming from people who are more passionate than that. But Arenanet seems to be catering to those kinds of people, who just want something to do without having to pay for it. I am honestly surprised their models for the future tell them that those types of people could actually support the future of their company, and because I love this game and the stories they tell, I hope they are correct that they can sustain the current studio with a majority playerbase who seem to be only passively interested.

CLARIFY: By not respected I mean by Management and Advertising. You know who NEVER logs in to actually see whats going on? Anyone from Management and Advertising. Know who I see, being friendly, engaging with the community, and making my time in game even more enjoyable? The Devs who actually care about this game in ways other than strictly money. Also, to those saying im not a client. Another example of people who aren't clients but pay to use a service is a sandwhich shop. Say they have this menu that lists all these items, but you can only get like 2 of them on the whole list, and when you ask them about the others, they aren't allowed to say whether or not they do have it in stock, but it still says available on the menu, but they can't say anything about it. Say one day they switched the meat in your favorite sandwhich (strike modes) but when you asked them about if the other meat will be available again soon, they aren't allowed to tell you, even though the menu still says that meat is in stock. Its the best way I can describe how annoyingly confusing their silence about critical parts of the game is. It's like they try to build their menu while improving / changing the ingredients of some items over time, and then when people ask about the other menu items its like they aren't allowed to say anything or the boss will do something terrible to them (dungeons, fractals, polishing old content, improving the graphical quality of old maps, player race graphical improvements, warcalw map breaking bugs, why the invisible walls in DR and nothing to stop the WvW exploits, 2v2 queue, etc.) Its like all of those things are actually sitting on the menu, and they aren't crossed out, but when you ask for them they say sorry we are out of stock and have no idea if or when any of those things will even have an ingredients list we can discuss. Over the course of 7 years they have consistently been able to actually discuss less and less items on the menu, without saying their is a reason why, without saying whether its going to affect the other items on the menu, without being able to tell customers who see it on the menu and inquire about it whether its something that is going to change. I'm getting tired of this lack of transparency about the other items on the menu. And there are ALOT more, very valid inquiries about this menu than just "reeeee WvW NOW reeeeeeee PvP everything every other pvp game has NOW reeeeeeee" And I forgot to even mention, those items that they WILL talk about are priced way less (living world), essentially free if you are just standing in the shop while they are putting them on display. The actual substantial money they are making in this shop is from charging for the optional toppings over on that other counter. The menu items haven't actually lost ingredients or topping that come with them by default, but holy kitten is that toppings table getting bigger (gem store). I have been a sucker for toppings, I was fooled into thinking I NEED toppings on my sandwhiches to enjoy them but have been finding that is less and less the case. Now I just buy toppings because I'm afraid that if I dont the entire sandwhich shop is going to close. Actively trying to understand and clarify the future of the game I want to spend money on has been repeatedly futile. Do their business models really tell them that the entire studio's future can be maintained by a majority of people who don't even log in until their is something free to do, in hopes they will once in a while say "oh this is cool hey Anet heres 10 bucks after 6 or 7 months, thanks." I really hope that is the case, because I want them to succeed above all toxicity and above all expectations. I spent years playing this game so actively and spending my money almost equally as actively, but I don't understand what kind of future I am supporting anymore if the current plans have already been funded to the point of getting the green light. Every year, it has gotten harder to feel confident that I know what the future of the game holds, is there some way other than deciding to care less about the game that that sentiment could actually make me feel better? In a weird, twisted way, could caring less about the game actually help them maintain a steady ship? Is the passion I wish could actually bring the potential of this game to life nothing more than toxic tsunamis that make it harder for Arenanet to stay above water? How do I change my behavior in a way that doesn't only harm them, when I cannot convince anyone to play who doesn't already by talking about it so passively? This part below is debatable given I do not have any information to tell whether internally this helps them or not, its just the perception that it doesn't from an outside perspective, but I'll keep it anyway for people to dissect and discuss should they want to. What people have done to rubi bayer, and others in the gaming industry since before gw2 as she has pointed out, is horrible, unacceptable, and not in any single way justifiable by any means, whatsoever.I don't think a truly professional response to that is 7 straight years of treating people like me, who could never think of doing any of the things she described, as one in the same with all of those horrible people, and trying to communicate with people like with the same level of caution and reservation. I understand its hard if not impossible to talk to one group without opening an avenue for the other group to talk anyway, but I would have rather Arenanet said that season 5 will not happen until they, the company, are stable enough to bring true and real transparency to the community that has sat quietly waiting for that repeated promise to be fulfilled. I, someone who has defended the game and its developers for 7 years, feel ignored and disrespected by this continued silence. Morsels in the form of a post about potential things that could end up on the table at some point before the lifespan of gw2 meets its end is not a respectable way to silence concerns, and after 7 years, I am starting to realize that it feels like that is all that has ever happened; a thread here and there when the toxic minority spikes. If it is toxic to feel that way, then it is toxic to have more than passive passion for this game. I come here to ask questions, my accusations are directed at Arenanet, the company. Treating me like I single out individual people when my concerns are about the company as a whole, is a flavor of toxic to me. Treating players who play game modes that don't put food on the table for Arenanet with carrots on sticks so as to avoid having to directly tell them the status and future of the parts of the game they play, is what stings the most. This announcement should not have happened until Arenanet, the company as a whole, felt ready to truly bring the level of transparency and detail that I have been waiting for, for 7 years now.

nothing. i play alot, im just hoping more official information comes out to make up for the fact that the 45 minute living world presentation was squeezed into 15 minutes and then supplemented by promotional items, ending in 35 minutes. i just think it should have been 45 minutes of what they repeatedly said it would be, and hope they are willing to talk more about the things they mentioned since that 45 minute presentation didnt really end up happening.

very satisfied with what they did show us, very unsatisfied that they repeatedly advertised a 45 minute living world presentation, and we only got 15 minutes total of living world discussion. that part stung, and then they had to end the stream with merch information that should have been a blog post. the decision to include HoT with path of fire now is an absolutely amazing way to get new players into the game, but again, thats not what they repeatedly advertised this stream would be about. they seemed to think the surprise factor would win above the fact that they failed to deliver what was repeatedly promised for today, no matter how satisfied i may be with the living world stuff they did discuss. the presentation could have at least lasted the full 45 minutes that people literally paid for travel and lodging to come see

What they did end up talking about was great stuff from my perspective, but im not that happy because on top of what is being said here about the expansion level content not being present in like any way, also remember that:people paid for travel and lodging to see a 45 minute living world discussion, not 15 minutes of living world and 20 minutes of advertisements and special expac deals. everything they showed us was really awesome, but once again, how am i supposed to feel waiting all week for a 45 minute living world presentation, to have only 15 minutes spent on what i tuned in for, and the total time stopping ten full minutes short. last time they had a presentation, they delivered on what they said they would be talking about. This time, they not only failed to fully deliver the presentation they repeatedly advertised, but they didnt even make the allotted time before running out of things to say about the future of the game.

unless i have no information about their process, she says they just looked at questions in the forums to influence what they decided to talk about, rather than asking the players what they would like to see talked about. What was discussed was great, but people paid for travel and lodging to see a 45 minute living world discussion, not 15 minutes of living world and 20 minutes of advertisements and special expac deals. everything they showed us was really awesome, but once again, how am i supposed to feel waiting all week for a 45 minute living world presentation, to have only 15 minutes spent on what i tuned in for, and the total time stopping ten full minutes short. last time they had a presentation, they delivered on what they said they would be talking about. This time, they not only failed to fully deliver the presentation they repeatedly advertised, but they didnt even make the allotted time before running out of things to say about the future of the game.

Once again, it's up to the amazingly hard working devs who seem to love this game more than management AND advertising, to continue making it amazing, because management AND advertising have failed once again. Anet, the company, needs to start talking. I am not angry with the devs, I am absolutely furious with how management AND advertising has chosen to utilize the hard work of the devs. The devs DO NOT need to explain themselves at all, its management AND advertising that needs the shake up this time.

this was supposed to change with the alliance system, so people on different servers could more easily play together. now we know that we would be lucky to even get it in 2020.

You guys are doing amazing work, that can't be denied by even the saltiest players. It's just a shame that we have to accept this game is going in a much different direction than what I originally bought in 2012. In many ways that's totally fine, but in other ways it just makes me sad. Will the core game ever be re-polished. How did you reason adding invisible walls to core tyria while ignoring the warclaw exploits for the entire summer? How are alliances still not ready to be announced? So many things that hinted at today being for us, but it seems to have been geared toward pulling new players in. Thats fine, but please don't shorten the presentation and then halve the amount of time actually spent on the things we were repeatedly told it would be about. Thats not as cool.

"guild wars 2 development will remain unaffected". It doesn't feel that way, it feels like their new, fully focused team is still churning out season 4 sized content, on the same schedule, as if nothing actually changed.... maybe they were telling the truth then. Then they shouldn't have said they had a renewed focus, since it feels about the same.

Q&A means letting players ask you questions, not preemptively selecting easy to answer questions, that's just the A part. You can still do a real, serious, legitimate Q&A if you want, but I don't think you ever wanted to at this point..

the announcement of the announcement of the announcement of the announcement of the.......

Since I know that investors prevent that question from actually being answered in any meaningful way, let me ask you something else. Do your metrics really tell you what, BESIDES THE GEMSTORE, will keep this game alive? Was Rubi Bayer lying when she said during the anniversary stream that Arenanet will even be in business still in 7 years? I mean it feels like this announcement today was advertised to established players, but designed for prospective players. There is so much that the established player base was expecting from an announcement that was repeatedly highlighted to be about Living World, and then nearly half of the presentation time was spent on special deals and merchandise. Of course the special deals and the merchandise looked amazing, I will definitely be buying some, but I was NOT excited to see it taking up what little time were were led to believe would be strictly about Living World and content for the game itself. I am not worried about living world or the future of good pve content, I am worried about every single other aspect of the game. Polish improvements, WvW, PvP, UI updates, literally every other thing beside PvE I no longer have a reason to believe you "fully staffed team" is looking into. If these "surprises" that will be coming aren't story spoiler related, then you should have talked about them, since it's clear that what you do for PvP and WvW is would be completely and entirely separate in nearly every conceivable way from PvE development, were it not for the Warclaw making that statement "technically" incorrect.

I'm really not sure, but they are doing everything they can to make mounts look less and less useful in core tyria maps where all the prospective free players roam, while ignoring the broken state that the warclaw puts WvW in. Its really weird seeing them have no ability to prioritize logical game design. I now expect season 5 maps to have more invisible walls than tangled depths and dragons stand.

Warclaw is breaking WvW as we speak and they think it is a better use of their time to put more arbitrary walls in pve maps that do absolutely nothing but make the explorable area INSIDE the map boundaries even smaller and more difficult to navigate. Are they preparing for some kind of gemstore item to get rid of these new walls? Absolute waste of resources blocking harmless exploration in pve when they wont even respond on reddit to the multiple documented ways to completely break out of WvW borderlands with the warclaw. Why did they put walls around the inside of Divinitys reach BEFORE making sure they eliminated as many ways to break a competitive game mode as possible? This is carelessness in my eyes, how could it not be? Why did they even give us the griffon and the skyscale, and let us fly up to the top of the glass ceiling in the middle of the city, but we cant go over the walls that are lower than this spot, when we already used to be able to? These invisible walls are killing my desire to explore and make me question why they even gave us mounts when they wont even go back and remove some of the worst and most obstructive ones from the actual PoF maps that were literally designed for mounts. For every place in world v world you can still break out of, I can show you two fully meshed and textured cliffs whose tops are blocked for no reason, and are lower than AND surrounded by cliffs that are fully explorable. What the actual f. It makes no sense. It really makes no sense. EDIT: I just had to edit this post to say that I found ANOTHER invisible wall to get stuck inside, by simply flying around at the height I was placed at by the very volatile magic trails we can trigger with skyscale that ANET DESIGNED THEMSEVLES. they are literally handcrafting ways to get stuck inside their egregious invisible walls. I can't believe this actually happened. Take the trail that brings you over the hilariously useless invisible wall over the biggest jahai fortress dome, and then fly around on the griffon. Now there are two ways that Anet has designed THEMSELVES to get stuck inside the insidiously stupid invisible walls that they seem to have no intention of going back and fixing. This is so sad and infuriating at the same time to see such a complete lack of care for their own designed game features. The second one im referring to IS EVEN EASIER BECAUSE ITS WHERE THE TRAIL BEGINS, on top of the displaced tower. Just fly in any direction toward the cliffs that are lower than the magic trigger for this trail, and you are almost guaranteed to get stuck in the walls they put on both sides of these lower cliffs. It just makes negative sense.

My biggest concern with these skins is that some of them are great, but none of them are rewarding or worth showing off. I didn't earn the mount I'm riding, I didn't even choose it, I just got lucky. What's that say about me?