b k.1648

There's still not another passable MMO that I'm aware of that took the risk on anything like charr. I don't play anywhere near as often as I once did, but playing something that fun to jump around with is what keeps me coming back.

I don't mind some slower bits for exposition. I usually finish them pretty early regardless, so I'm good with taking my time. I'm skipping this one until the voice acting is finished, though.

UE5 is based on a 30-year-old game engine, and it seems to be doing just fine. It doesn't matter when it was first written, it matters whether it's been properly maintained.

I think it's safe to say the current development cycle will be sticking around for a while, given that it has finally reached a point where it's looking sustainable (with normal seasonal variation). Probably helped to have a number of people shopping around for a new MMO over the last few years, too.

The discussions around homesteads only started after the feature was announced. Two months before release, the content for JW has to be over 90% done to make the deadline. So, what we say now is way too late to have any effect on the scoping of features in this expansion.

So long as individual rewards aren't allocated based on which time slice you're playing in, I couldn't care less what the server points are. I'm seeing outnumbered on every map most nights anyway, so I have bigger problems to think about.

That's what LoD is for. You can use lower-detail meshes and textures for other characters until you get close to see the difference (or not at all, if you choose). To have the player's own character rendering at highest detail all the time is not a significant hardware burden.

There's a third flaw to the season model - an individual player is rewarded over an outcome they have almost no ability to influence. World restructuring might prevent the servers being as lopsided as they were in 2014, but you'd still have to be in the right place at the right time to get the best loot.

Reworking this game to be more like one you haven't played for 16 years is an interesting thought exercise.

Agreed it'd be preferable to make the missiles more effective - the only thing I currently use it for is large AoE splash, which is situationally useful in WvW for applying pressure on wall siege. Maybe it could find another purpose, but for me, I'm not sure removing its only use case is helpful.

I note that back at launch, Moa wasn't considered that good, even though it had a longer duration then. It has a more significant effect against builds that can't stay alive without cheese, so it tends to be a mirror of how broken the game is at the moment.

Skyscale add-ons were nice. I also liked seeing the alternate reality fractals, and the character writing for Isgarren. Otherwise, this wasn't really my expansion. Hoping the next one has something I can get into.

Someone's been digging through a certain Irish artist's catalogue, I see.

Dead game

Henchmen, or some other system with a similar result, to make much of the dead content in the game playable again.