Slartibartfast.5416

Addressing the entire topic of what people consider or don't consider "chill" runs. Some people seem to think that unless they are allowed to succeed without having to change ANYTHING from what THEY want to do, then it isn't a chill run. That leaves me shaking my head a bit.. Maybe it's a product of the participation trophy generation, I dunno. Case in point, in map chat last week there was this guy complaining about how rude these people were because they booted him from some strike mission. So, people in map chat were sympathetic, saying yeah, that's rude. People shouldn't do that. Then the guy goes on to explain that just because he is a druid, they shouldn't boot him. Map goes, well, druids are useful healers. The dude then says he doesn't use any heal skills or abilities. He refuses to. He wants to play a staff druid in a pure dps role. Because he wants to. And it's rude for other people to not let him. Because Anet says play how you want with the class you want, so that's what he's doing. At that point the entire map chat was shaking its collective head at him. The point being, you have to make SOME effort to contribute to the success of the meta or whatever content you're doing. I mean, just like with Teq and the others, I'm sure a critical mass of the population will get to a point where fails are very rare, and most maps will be able to carry people who don't think they should have to change anything or put in any kind of extra effort, and still win. Actually, 2 days ago we did a DE meta, and some guy in the chat thanked us very much, as we just got their 10 year old child their turtle egg on their first try. So that indicates to me that we're actually getting to that point. So those are the options.. either wait for that point, or change up the playstyle and build a bit so you can contribute more. We have build templates now. Just make a build template with a "raid" build, or an alac build, or a high dps build or whatever, and just use that template when doing this kind of content, then go back to whatever your preferred build template is afterward. You're not forced to remain in the useful build forever. It takes less than a second to swap templates.

You only get stunlocked for a minute if you keep spamming 1 to heal yourself and prolong it. Don't. That's a noob thing. Just die as quickly as you can and use the jump platform on the airship to get back into the fight. That's the quickest way to get out of it. Bubbles are easy for others to get you out of, whirlpools are not.

There are a couple of suggestions I can think of to reward those who have done the meta or will do the meta. Have a difference between the "free" turtle and the meta turtle. Give it a new skin or something. Maybe a snapping turtle. With wings. I dunno. Something that looks really sharp, and will make people still want to do the meta to get some turtle related content, while still making the turtle available to those who don't have the skills to do the meta. This will allow those who got the turtle the "hard" way to at least feel they got something for their efforts. Another suggestion is to give the meta version turtle slightly enhanced skills. Maybe they can fly a little bit higher due to consuming slightly less endurance or something.

I'm not invalidating your experiences, Kuro. And of course my opinions are subjective. I never considered them to be otherwise. I agree that Anet should work on an Accessibility option in the graphics settings, though. That's a good idea. And finally, I never said your opinion doesn't matter. Nor do I consider myself to be more fortunate than you overall. Maybe in that I don't have colour issues, sure. But I'm sure there are things you can do that I cannot, too.

10 hours.. luxury. 😛 I have over 40 hours of failed attempts. I just kept spamming the meta until eventually I got into one that worked. And for those who are wondering what kind of a team we had where we finished with 2:30 left on the timer, we went in with mostly condi specs. Having to jump, dodge and run around doesn't hurt as bad because condi is the gift that keeps on giving through all that. Power specs have to stop their dps to do that. Condi does not. Anyway, that's what worked for us. Your mileage may vary. The tweak they implemented yesterday makes the meta more doable without really nerfing it too much.

I see a lot of posts here explaining in detail exactly why EoD is not fine. And that's fine.. the only issue I would take with those posts is they present their opinions as if they are objective, and not subjective. Just because THEY don't like the aesthetics or zone design, or metas, or whatever, doesn't mean everyone doesn't. To me, I like the zones. They look big without actually being that big. And the design is great, in my opinion. You can really tell that a lot of people put a lot of work into the vision that they had for EoD. Whether you like that vision or not, that's just you. They've put a ton of great work into this, and they deserve to be recognized for it. Yes, there are bugs and issues as there always are in a new content release. To be expected, and frankly I won't get on their case about that. I prefer to focus on what they've accomplished than the few things they messed up on. They'll address the issues. Now, I have a post or two here regarding the Dragon's End meta, and the turtle collection gated behind it. Personally, that's not a particular design decision that I liked, but it is what it is. The meta is very doable now, after the tweaking they did yesterday. I did 2 or 3 metas after the tweak, and we failed. And then late last night I did a meta and we finished with something like 2:30 left on the boss timer. So yeah, based on that, I'd say the tweak they did was sufficient. I think a big factor in a lot of metas is some bad luck RNG towards the end. When we finished with 2.5 mins left on the timer, the RNG just happened to favour us that time. Sometimes it doesn't. Bottom line, it'll happen eventually. So I'm okay with the Dragon's End meta now after that tweak. It addresses the biggest complaint about that mechanic, which was the green circles and the ability for a troll to cause a fail and make 50 people waste 2 hours of their time. So, good for Anet for seeing what the real issue was there, and addressing it. They kinda should have known that a troll could cause an issue there, but they never thought about it. Another thing they could tweak is the tail mechanic, maybe. But then that's it, don't do anything else to nerf the mechanic. And it's debatable if they even need to tweak the tail. Just a matter of people responding quickly enough. And a bit of RNG. Anyway... NOW that I have my turtle, I can go back to doing the story, going through the zones and discovering stuff and basically just enjoying the game again.

Yeah.. this. I've wasted 2 hours several times a day for the past 3 days. At first, I put the fails down to noobs. Maybe people don't speak English. Maybe they're dyslexic and can't read. Whatever the reason. But a couple of attempts today, yeah... Definitely trolls standing in the green circles to waste 2 hours of everyone's time. Anet can't do anything about the trolls. All they can do is change the mechanics so that one troll doesn't kitten it up for everyone else. Either remove the wisp phase entirely, which is the nuclear option and so they won't do it.. or shorten the cooldown. Or make that phase only happen once, not twice. That would mean stuff happens every 25% instead of 20%. Doable. Would definitely mitigate the effects a troll has, especially when people are screwed out of 2 hours that are completely wasted with nothing to show for it. That does not make people enjoy content very much.

I wish it was 1 hour. It's 2. Each frigging time.

Just to comment on the thread in here about the "teenager" dialogue.. I noticed that as well, and of course they would have had their reasons for writing that sort of dialogue. Maybe the writers are just young, and this is how they talk? I dunno. Like, in the story where Taimi gushes like a school girl and actually says "amirite?" Now, maybe it's because I am far from being a teenager and so this sort of dialogue doesn't click with me. But I can't help but think this sort of dialogue won't age well. I mean, remember back in the 90s or whenever, when the "cool" teenagers were talking like valley girls? "Grodie! Gag me with a spoon!" Yeah.. that sort of stuff never ages well.

The term Waypoints in the name can be a bit misleading, if you expect them to last forever like regular waypoints. Don't look at it as a waypoint, so much as it is a portal. Because it's a 1 time use on a cooldown, it has far more in common with a portal than a waypoint.

Most maps fail in the teens. ONE map failed at 1%. One friggen percent. And that was using the thing where only 1 dude stands on the green circle. But most pug maps, with pugs being pugs, there are always some noobs who don't listen, don't pay attention, and stand on the green circles and bam. ANOTHER 2 hours wasted. This is why we can't have nice things.

People have learned the fight by now. Or at least, they know what happens. Being forced to pug Dragon's End meta reminds me why I'd rather kitten with a cheese grater than be forced to pug content. All I want is the turtle. That's pretty much it. I made a turtle guild before EoD in anticipation. I didn't know they'd hide turtles behind 2 hour content that forces you to pug and hope for the best. Hoping that there are more people who know what they're doing than noobs. After failing this meta 15-20 times, this stopped being "fun" a long time ago. Good for you, OP. You enjoy this kind of content. For me, the focus is on the kitten turtle. The content is just in my way. I'm ignoring all other content in this game until I get that kitten turtle. And once I do, I don't think I'll ever be back to Dragon's End voluntarily. If the turtle wasn't locked behind it, I'd probably be fine with the zone. Now I actively dislike it.

So any map meta should unlock it, doesn't have to be the Dragon's End map meta?

Ah... The Dragon's End map meta, then? Will unlock siege turtles after that?

I just unlocked Arborstone mastery track last night.. What I'm really waiting for is figuring out how to unlock siege turtle track. Haven't seen any hint so far. Is it something you get at the end of the story?

A hidden "fun" mount might be a possibility, but I consider it to be remote. Now, what would you think if they were managing to keep tengu as a playable race under their hat? Best kept secret of all Arenanet time. Now that would be nuts.

I dunno.. I like my black stone dude. Or not black.

We're not a serious guild, you have 4 other guild slots for that! This guild is meant to be your red-headed step child guild. With turtles. Guild theme is lightly based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Our mission statement is to see just how much content we can do from turtle back. We're brand new, so are looking for like-minded, fun-loving individuals. If you are a veteran of Guild Wars 2 and love to help where needed, you may be good officer material. Contact me if interested in that. And for the rest, what are you waiting for! Less than 2 weeks left before the Turtle expansion! Join now and reserve your spot in the best turtle guild!

I hope they have The Undercity in Cantha in some way.. whether it be a dungeon or something open world, I don't care.. as long as they have it! If they don't, I'll be a bit disappointed.

Seriously, this has been requested NUMEROUS times over the past 8+ years. Just about every other MMO on the planet does it, I have no idea why Anet refuses to. I play with people who do not speak English that well. They rely on being able to copy what they see in chat so they can translate it. So seriously, either implement an in game automatic translator, or give people the ability to copy text. Or do you believe that having to alt-tab out to Discord every couple of seconds to send messages to people, copy responses, translate them in Google or DeepL, and type back your response, then come back to the game, is that a really good game experience in your opinion? It's awkward enough having to use an external translator, but that's at least doable if they're able to copy text from chat. Or do you prefer that people just use a 3rd party chat program like Discord, and just don't use the in game chat at all? Because we can do that, too, if that is your design decision. They won't be able to understand what goes on in map chat, but what the kitten. It's mostly a Barren's chat experience, anyway.

Just came back a few days later to see if they've fixed this thing, yet. Nope. Shocker.

Yeah, it's been resetting on me for the past 3 or 4 days since I've been noticing it. I opened a bug report, but have heard nothing back. I can only assume that they are fixing it. But even if they do fix it, we've lost all that progress and time. it's getting a bit irritating this issue has been going on for days, and nothing from Anet on it. Like, at least tell us you realize it's a bug and you're working on it, or something. Are they going to replace our lost progress?

Logged in just now, got excited when I saw it updating.. I thought, "Finally! They've fixed sunken chests!" Nope.. not a mention of them in the patch notes. :-/