Jimbru.6014

Why not? Never forget that ArenaNet took the best villain in the entire history of the GW franchise (Joko) and basically deleted him in a single LW episode. Or how they've summarily executed almost every genuinely likable and interesting female ally The Commander has ever had, while saddling us with "friends" like Anise, Caithe, Braham and Joon, none of whom I would tolerate in real life. Never put it past ArenaNet to just KILL OFF good characters for the sake of whatever "vision" they have.

Before this patch, I ran a standard Viper staff/staff CDPS build. When I was on Alac duty, I swapped my food and utility buffs from DPS stuff to Concentration stuff (Soul Pastries and Toxic Maintenance Oil) and that was comfortably enough for perm Alac. So I was giving up at least a little DPS to do the Alac role, and most importantly to me, it was a simple and enjoyable style to play. Now, I'm not sure what to do. Every build site I know now recommends something different in terms of gear and amount of Concentration. Some recommend full or almost full Ritualist; others are some mix of Ritualist and Viper. Some are using Concentration food/utility buffs like I used to (which are hecka lot cheaper than changing gear) and others aren't. So confusing...

Mirage is still viable as a full CDPS build, but not as Alac. Follow the bouncing ball. - Maximum base Alac duration with 3 clones is now 2.5 seconds. - It's not mathematically possible to get 100% boon duration, or at least not possible without making major sacrifices. I've tried. - Which means Alac Mirage is now down to something less than 5 sec total duration, depending on how much you've committed to boon duration. - Add in cooldowns, the limits of lag and human reflexes and so on. - All that means Alac can no longer be kept up permanently, and any extra duration you do get is at the expense of already middling DPS. Which means Alac Mirage is effectively dead compared to other Alac givers like Mechanist. It was too much of a nerf. I hope they undo it and find another way to make it more balanced.

Gem store request: the Jade Dye Kit has only been available ONCE, for a few weeks this time last year. Those are almost the only dyes I don't have, and I could build a legendary weapon for their prices on the TP. Please bring back the Jade Dye Kit. Thanks. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Jade_Dye_Kit

10+ years of spaghetti code gonna do what spaghetti code does. Ain't no thing. Thank you for fixing it.

The "personal" story after level 30 is almost entirely the same for every character. It therefore should be an account wide unlock and not have to be replayed just to get an alt to the same place as your main. For example, let's say my main is having trouble completing a particular achievement in a particular story chapter, but I think one of my alts could do it more easily. Unless that alt has already completed that chapter, I will have to play that chapter totally over again on my alt to get to the same point as my main to attempt the achievement. That is dumb in multiple ways. 1. The story should not be so tied to individual characters. It should be integrated with the game as one time content for the entire account, which is totally optional to replay on individual characters. The fact that it isn't, has been cited as one of the bigger obstacles to adding race changes, which people have only been asking for since approximately day two after release. 2. There shouldn't be so kitten many achievements in the story to begin with. Ideally, just finishing the chapter should be the ONLY achievement in the story.

One particular build was overperforming in a minority of content, so ANet destroys an entire class play style instead of listening to the players on how to fix the problem. Why am I giving this company my money again?

Mesmer scepter has needed a rework for years. I can't immediately think of any Mesmer build that uses scepter once you're past core leveling, and even then there are much better weapons for that purpose. Giving Mesmer scepter a makeover to provide quickness or alac with a trait based on its attack cycle, like Mechanist mace does, would be a strong step in the right direction.

1. Because (many uncomplimentary things about the human race deleted). 2. Because game companies have become too greedy and scared to take chances, especially in the MMO genre, so they don't bring much new to the gaming world anymore. They just bring more of what players are already paying for in XYZ games, without realizing that "more of the same" isn't going to retain players who have already sunk time and money into XYZ. So players jump into a new game, play it for a few weeks and realize it's just the same old XYZ repackaged yet again -- "Oh look! Yet another anime MMO with action combat, overly sexualized characters and a mountain of microtransactions. Yay." -- and move back into their holding pattern until some game company eventually relocates its spine and brings something new and unique to the table.

Some language and mature content, but even so, this is awesome. If this guy isn't already an ANet partner, he should be.

1. Alac shouldn't be tied to clones. 2. Once again, because one particular build is over-performing in a minority of content, ANet is overreacting and nerfing a whole class play style. There are other games coming out later this year, and believe me, I'm looking for somewhere else to take my money if this crap continues.

I use Power GS Mirage as an open world build. I adapted it for the purpose from the Metabattle tagging build. Virt may be higher damage, but the evasiveness and LASERS!!!! of Mirage are just too fun.

Sorry for the edit, didn't want to blast everyone by doubling your wall of text. 🙂 I feel there are two strong points against Anise being E. - IMHO Anise's personality doesn't fit E's letters. She is nosy, aggressive and arrogant. Not nearly subtle enough to be E. - More importantly, Anise says at one point that she received a letter from E. It would be odd for her to be sending letters to herself. I have wondered if "E" could be a simple cover identity not for Jennah herself, but for someone acting on her behalf. I say that because LS3E6 makes it uncomfortably clear that the Shining Blade are a cult loyal to their vision of Kryta, not to Jennah personally. Jennah is smart enough to know that and hedge her bets by having her own agents outside the Shining Blade. Jennah even drops hints about what she knows about Anise's plans, implying that Jennah has her own means. People she can trust personally to give her unfiltered information and follow her orders, not Anise's. E could be that person or persons. I doubt E is Eive for one significant reason: Eive seems narrowly focused on Shining Blade affairs and particularly Lazarus, while E's letters clearly show broader interests.

You could think of the Nightmare Court as much like ISIS in real life. They came out strong at the start, were a force to be reckoned with, carved out their own turf. Then all the enemies they made got fed up and the course of events turned against them, and they lost nearly everything. Now the Nightmare Court and ISIS are both greatly reduced in number and are keeping a low profile to avoid being hunted to the last man. They might still make noise every now and then just so they're not totally forgotten, but they're nowhere near threat they once were and the world is happier for it.

Camilla is our nerdy otaku, an obsessed fan and borderline stalker, nothing more.

The last conversation I remember having about E, we had settled on Lady Wi as the strongest candidate. PROS: - Lady Wi is a mesmer and member of the Mesmer Collective. Illusions galore. Masquerading as male? Child's play. - Lady Wi is a senior member of the Order of Whispers, so she's doubly skilled in matters of secrecy and espionage. E shows knowledge of Whispers methods in at least one letter. - Lady Wi is a Minister's wife and one of Jennah's confidants, placing her in the position of strong inside knowledge that E's letters consistently demonstrate. - Wi (pronounced "Wee", long E) and "E"...Lady Wi, Lady E...not a huge jump. CONS: - High visibility. Lady Wi is a Minister's wife and there's only so much time in a day, so her public life limits her freedom to get away and do sneaky stuff. That seemingly would make her a poor candidate for E. But then again, such a gilded cage could be why E has only ever been seen in person once (off screen by Marjory) and communicates indirectly by letters. All these parties and paparazzi...oh, the price of being a rich celebrity with a secret identity! I'm sure Bruce Wayne would sympathize. Now, an important question: if Lady Wi is E, why haven't we heard from her since LS3E4? Yes, ANet has given up on E's story for now. But if Lady Wi is E, there are legitimate reasons for her silence: - Family life. After LS3E4, repairing her relationship with Valette and supporting her husband require more of her attention. An added complication is that her husband doesn't know she's Whispers, which is an extra mask to wear. - Politics. After LS3E4 shook up the Ministry and re-asserted Jennah's authority, no doubt Kryta has more than enough "smoke filled room" shenanigans going on to keep E busy with relatively mundane internal affairs, not of concern to Our Heroes who are busy with much bigger things. That's my take, anyway: E is Lady Wi. YMMV.

I have wondered if the Jade Sea thawing out and Shiro's magic that bound it becoming loose might have some effects, such as a return of the Afflicted, but so far no signs of it. That said, we're still way early in post-EOD content, so who knows what could happen.

My character that I usually use for daily stuff (Asura Mechanist) uses the golem gathering tools with Glyph of Reaping for herbs (get a whole garden in one swing) and Glyphs of Industry for mining and logging. Industrialized efficiency.

Hero point trains run regularly in all three expansions. They are squads led by experienced players, who will take you to all the hero points on the map, and often many of the waypoints and mastery points along the way. They're a great way to jump start exploring and get your abilities unlocked so you can really start digging into the game. If you're having trouble, just join one.

This wasn't just an "Oops, misplaced a semicolon," kind of coding issue. It was a complex interaction of several things that likely has the coders scratching their heads wondering how it was even possible. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they have a solution this week. In the meantime, I don't play Weaver anyway, but all the noise has made me bring my Tempest out of semi-retirement and update his builds. Having much PVE fun with Celestial Condi, Marauder Fresh Air, and Aura Healbot builds. YMMV.

I file jerkery like this under, "People gonna people." As Sid Meier famously said, given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of any game. GW2 has a LOT of that, especially among the "meta" crowd raiding and running fractals, that they want X exact combination of classes with Y DPS and Z number of KP and whatever else. This is just one of several ruinous reasons why hardcore players should never, ever be used as the basis for game development. They'd rather kick somebody out of a group -- even the leader who started the group -- rather than the run take an extra minute or whatever because somebody wasn't "optimal". There's a lot more I could say about what I think of hardcore gaming and people in general, but I don't want to get banned again so I'll stop there.

Correct that most of them have much more important things to do, except maybe Snargle, who I can easily imagine taking in a fashion show. The fact that they're mostly non-interactive also makes me suspicious. I don't think most of them are who they look like; in fact, I'd bet they're just illusions. Mesmers gonna mesmer.

If I could make one suggestion to improve the W3 Test Mode level, it would be to add a checkpoint on the path to the third red bauble, on the broad ledge between the waterfall section and beam section of the path. "OK, you made it past the waterfall; we reward you with a checkpoint. Good luck with the next section. HAHAHAHA!" It would reduce the frustration of having to redo the WHOLE KITTEN THING for every failure, without reducing the challenge of getting through all those tricky jumps.

Various thoughts about W3Z1 or whatever you want to call it... This level is bare bones, no extras. There are no shops, so make sure you stock up on heal potions before coming in. I did some digging and tossing bombs in what I felt were obvious places, but didn't find any secrets; I suspect there probably aren't any except for the achievements. There is no glitch that I found, no ooze farmer or anything else. In terms of simply getting from start to finish, I think it's easier than W2Z2 or W2Z3. The path wraps around itself a few times at different altitudes, but for the most part, it's not hard to decipher where you need to go. The enemies are tougher than W2 (most take 3 or 4 hits with your 1 skill to kill) and there are some tricky jumps, but there also are checkpoints on the way to save your progress, which helps. The bauble achievements are where things get difficult. Six of the green baubles are in visible places; you just have to figure out how to get to them, which for the most part wasn't too bad. The other two are hidden and I had to use a Youtube guide to find them; one is behind a waterfall, and another is behind a pillar that you have to make a tricky blind jump around. Three of the green baubles also mark starting locations for finding the red baubles. The first red is easy, just hidden behind a waterfall. The entrance is marked by a green bauble on a beam; grab it, then just turn 90 degrees and jump into the waterfall. The second red is in another hidden area behind a waterfall, also marked by a green bauble. In this area, you have to use crystals to raise platforms to create a jumping path. The timing of the crystals was the tricky part and took me several tries, but overall wasn't too bad. Toss bombs to trigger the crystals at range to save yourself time running to the platforms before they drop. The third red is giving people nervous breakdowns, self included. This section was legit one of the hardest things I've ever done in GW2. To get there, go to green bauble #7 and walk cautiously through the waterfall. You have to make a long series of tricky jumps from rock to rock across, up and around the waterfall. At the end, you'll be above where you entered; go back through the waterfall into a "bottomless" room with beams and posts and more tricky jumps. I made it all the way through on the first try thanks to an extreme combination of luck and paranoia; best jumping I've ever done, but I was literally shaking so bad afterwards from the stress that I had to log off. A trick I learned for jumping around the posts is to leave a little space between you and the post in front of you, so you can jump at an angle and "swing" yourself around the post without hitting it. There is also one tricky short jump you have to make during the third red, from one beam to another sticking out of the wall. It is VERY easy to jump too far and fall. What you do is walk to the free end of the beam you start from, then jump to the wall end of the target beam, so you have a better jumping distance and the wall will be your backstop to keep you from falling. Hope all that helps.

Maybe I'm just being confused by the reuse of Void graphical assets and demons like the Aatxe in Gyala Delve, but... It has never been explained to my knowledge exactly what the Shadow Behemoth, Aatxe and other such shadowy demon creatures actually are, where they're from et al. We meet them very early in the game in Queensdale and Kessex Hills, and have never seen again that I can recall until Gyala. At least visually, they seem to have some kinship to the Corrupted Void. It IS clear that the Void is different and distinct from the Shadow Army creatures we fight in Dragonfall. They are servants of Menzies from Torment, and we haven't seen them in Gyala. No connection there.