perilisk.1874

One thing that I've thought might be nice is to use reverse scaling for allies, in lieu of a hero system. That is, fill certain OW area with groups of greens with a mix of skills/roles (like GW1 encounters), who patrol and fight reds in the absence of players, with probably a slight advantage to the reds to encourage players to jump in. But, as more players show up and the numbers and strength of enemies scale up, allies get weaker, stop spawning, and despawn when killed instead of being revivable. I think it could make it easier to balance content around having certain numbers of good guys/bad buys and some degree of balance between DPS and support.

Just quit the game until Icebrood Saga is done, then buy the whole season in the gem store and binge it. There you go.

Bah, I knew I forgot something. Good catch.

Not to rain on the diversity parade, but isn't that comment pretty obvious, since all the dragons are basically sapient piles of elemental magic which are in no way related to sexually dimorphic biological entities, and that any concept of gender previously attributed to them has been a result of the mortal races anthropomorphizing (Nornpomorphizing, whatever) them, or on them imprinting on mortals and mimicking an inapplicable concept? The gender of an elder dragon is like the color of a sound.

I guess the main question is, what exactly do people expect to get out of an expansion, but not out of an episodic format. Aside from new maps, story, skins, and achievements (which LS also provide) the expansions introduced: HoT: Mastery system [expanded by LS and PoF]Gliding system (noted for much larger impact on game than other masteries)Adventure system [expanded by LS and PoF]E-spec system [expanded by PoF]Guildhalls [expanded by PoF]Raids [expanded at its own pace outside of LS or expansions, but tied to expansion ownership]PoF:Mount system [expanded by LS]Bounty system [expanded by LS]Both LS and expansions build on existing systems. Major new systems have been introduced outside of expansions (fractals and ascended crafting, wardrobe, progression/trait revamps) but more often in expansions. However, that was more true of HoT than PoF. Things that have only been introduced within expansions so far: new guildhalls, new e-specs, new ranger pets (I think?). So, what does LS require to be the equivalent of an expansion? A guildhall, a major new mechanic like mounts, a minor system like bounties, a couple of pets, and a set of e-specs? Or is less about what content is introduced, and more about the pace and price at which it is provided? E.g., is it a question of cinematic versus serial story pacing.

They're definitely more than natural forces, since their alternate spheres are related to mortal psychology. Why would a living blizzard on a planet without sapient beings need the power of Persuasion? The second spheres seem a little vague, though. Aren't fury and persuasion both part of mind? "Madness" seemed better and more precise for Mordremoth. The pattern is also a little off. Three of the four have a sphere of mental/spiritual trauma or corruption. Madness, Seduction, Fury. Bubbles is probably related to Dread or Terror. Primordus is anyone's guess, though I think despair would be an interesting choice that would explain nihilistic destruction. As the firstborn, pride might be another good one -- it doesn't relate to corrupting mortals, but that actually works, with Primordus mostly just making his own minions. But then there's Jormag, breaking the pattern. I guess Shadow could be treated as a mental thing -- ignorance, blindness, secrets, etc. But it's a stretch.

Hopefully so.

Well, there were always people clamoring for Easy Mode or Story Mode versions of Raids. Sounds like they're just going the other direction, and making Raid mode versions of story. Also, hopefully cutting down on the time to find a group, if not the time to find a good one. If the story versions of fights can actually properly introduce the mechanics, it might be a good idea? No need to rely on the benevolence of other players to train for mechanics, and you always have golems for rotations.

Jormag was stated. Ice and Persuasion. Kraalkatorik was Crystal and Fury. Primordus's description was not capitalized, so those are probably not the official spheres, unless he is the Dragon of Fire, Conflagration, and Redundancy.

At a stretch I am guessing the Strike Missions are what they think will pass for expac type content... trouble is there is so little to go on we simply have no idea., which is why I fear they might end up being nothing more than an instanced twist on World Bosses and Bounties. Judging by the new magazine, strike missions are basically just 10-person challenge modes for LS bosses? Ex-pac content: New content types (adventures, bounties) - Strike missions would probably count?New systems (mastery system, guild halls, mounts) - Remains to be seen. There have been smaller scale additions, like Ascended cooking, legendary sigils, and the upcoming build templates. It remains to be seen if something as major as masteries or mounts could be added through LS. Maybe they can repurpose combos for something groundbreaking.New specs/skills - remains to be seenNew maps - of course we always get this. Some people might feel that expacs have better quality, but I think LS4 was on a similar level as PoF, on average (though some maps were subpar). But there's no real reason that maps can't be expac quality.New story. Here, there is an unavoidable issue -- episodic content (LS) requires a certain type of story pacing. Expac can afford a more cinematic story progress and can afford to trade quantity for quality. Perhaps if LS introduced the necessary maps and systems, it would be possible to end the season with a final episode focused solely on story missions of that level of quality?

Active defense is overpowered. Should be more blocks and less evade, and each block should absorb a limited amount of damage, based on Toughness. Dodges shouldn't even be normal evades -- it should only grant an evade if the most favorable point of the dodge would have put you out of range of the attack (so, dodging out of circles = fine, dodging from one side of a circle to the other = not), which would at least force some less favorable repositioning at times.

She needs a giant needle to really pull it off. And Scruffy should be retrofitted for fighting Bubbles.

I thought there was nothing worse than Rox/Braham shipping, but you sure showed me.

what? What Perilisk means is that after half a dozen metas + champ runs of the Dragon fall map, you potentially can end up with hundreds of yellow unidentified gear, which of course translates to hundreds of ectos if your luck holds on the salvaging. After just over a week of not doing it religiously, I already have 300 of these waiting to be salvaged @Klipso.8653 said: what? What Perilisk means is that after half a dozen metas + champ runs of the Dragon fall map, you potentially can end up with hundreds of yellow unidentified gear, which of course translates to hundreds of ectos if your luck holds on the salvaging. After just over a week of not doing it religiously, I already have 300 of these waiting to be salvaged Yeah I get between 30 and 50 ectos across per map run (start to finish) Oh great! Now i want to farm DF even though i'm trying my hardest to forget about that legendary :s Considering the fate of other farms that had such a dramatic impact on the economy, I'd suggest you don't wait too long.

600 ectos? What is that, 4 or 5 goes of the DF meta?

"Krait" are renegade nagas that appropriated krait culture. They don't have their (massively annoying) metamorphosis ability, so they're clearly not actual krait.

Could be that mind is the more generic term, and madness is the corrupt Mordremoth take on it. Like Kormir and Abaddon are both gods of knowledge, but one is about Secrets and the other is about Truth.

My takeaways: 1, now I can farm BFF for harrier's and grievers, so yay?. 2, I pity the poor player who comes back after a two-month break and can't figure out why their character is underperforming so badly.

No, the Skyscale should just be improved until it's worthy of the effort required to get it.

Now that the Shadow Army has been reintroduced, it might suggest a desire to revisit the fate of Menzies? Even if it's just a raid or side story.

As I stated earlier, either a mother in the true sense of the term, or it refers to "Mother Earth", i. e. Tyria. They could always get crazier, some sort of Elder Scrolls-ish lore with the Dragons as corrupted Aedra and Tyria as Lorkhan. Of course, lots of cultures had "gods create the world from remains of defeated proto-god", it's just usually not a very literal thing in a fantasy setting, except maybe in a throwaway setting like a Final Fantasy. They could even play two parallel stories -- the Six and Balthazar's father, versus the six dragons and Thyria, for different takes on the same theme. Anyway, Aurene's energy sort of resembles ley energy, maybe? Could indicate that ley energy is balanced magic, and she can restore that -- but, if we're going with the crazy plot, ley-lines could effectively be veins of a sleeping super-dragon or something (kinda shades of GotG2?). If they do go that route, we'd probably have to prevent Aurene from following whatever path drove the Elder Dragons to turn on their creator (which, given the attempts to humanize them in LS4:6 and elsewhere, could have well been justified).

Considering that crystal smurfs are not biological and should not be affected by biological ailments, Taimi dying would suggest that Aurene is a real kitten.

Palawa Joko nearly did the Commander in through trickery and deception. It took an Elder Dragon scion coming out of literally nowhere to save the Commander. Strength isn't everything, and the Commander may be strong but they're still mortal and still pretty kitten reckless. If a lich could get the upper hand against the Commander, then so could others. It's still a shame Joko's plot ended so quickly, and Lazarus' as well. They could have been good, full-plot worthy non-cosmic foes for the Commander, like Scarlet (as poorly written as she was, she's the only villain besides Balthazar to get an adequate amount of screen time). The Commander's strength (like Aurene's) comes from their connection to other people. Same can be said of the Pact. A villain that was able to attack that (through manipulation and deception, turning people against one another) would be a pretty credible threat -- even if the Commander wasn't dead, they would be impotent, and the races and Orders would spend more time tearing each other apart than their true enemy. Moreover, if the bond between Aurene and mortals was severed, it would risk her corruption and possibly the end of the world. Could be the basis of a villain arc -- Lyssa, for instance, could play that role well, as much as I don't want to see another fallen god plot.

In the last instance, we fought three sub-bosses: Facet of War and Fire, Facet of Roots and Madness, Facet of Death and Shadow. It certainly seems to suggest the Crystal Dragons had taken both spheres from each slain dragon (also, that Balthazar still had access to the same magical spheres he did as one of the Six -- though that isn't surprising, since Dhuum is still a death god in motif).

Wait what? Link? He doesn't have an alternate personality he has a sentient magical overlord? Why would that suggest "sentient" magical overlord. I don't even know that it's an alternate personality (in the sense that people normally mean), just a dominant aspect of personality -- nihilistic, self-destructive hunger.