NorthernRedStar.3054

There is only one Shatterer at a given time, and the ones chasing Aurene and getting killed by Almorra's forces are one and the same. Just speculation, but the collective "cloud" of undead dragons in Orr's skies are "Zhaitan" as a whole. In the actual encounter, we already see Zhaitan consists of numerous smaller dragons, per say, and Tequatl gains a power boost after his demise. Lupicus were a collective species that were wiped out during the previous dragonrise. There is nothing to suggest that the singular specimen stranded in Orr is related to Zhaitan in any way other than being reanimated by them. Plus, it is on the smaller side compared to the Lupicus bones found over the world, suggesting it hadn't reached full maturity - every other "herald" is ancient by comparison.

The (previous) elder dragons predate The Six. This is stated in the lore and dialogue a number of times.

Not much to add here, really. Smodur was (character) assassinated for the sake of "stakes and drama". His position could've been taken by someone in the Ash Legion, because playing the "long, long game" in this manner and fashion suits them better, at least IMO. They practically turned him into a GW1 charr after all the character display we got in base and season 2.

Doing the season 2 story achievements amidst "return to" -achievements. The Mystery Cave section is the first achievement romp that's honestly made me feel like the devs wanted to be mean. I consider myself an avid dodger, but this is something else entirely: RNG combined with tight hitboxes.

This. Hand of Abaddon is so well made. It's one of the most satisfying JPs out there. It's "difficult" without being unfair. Same goes for Mad King's Clocktower and Wintersday Wonderland (albeit those are thematically and fundamentally different, per say). Just imagine how much better (read: clearer, less frustrating) either of those Fire Island JPs would be if their pathing was hinted/marked by something as simple as unbound magic orbs?

Lawnoff Myget sounds like a legit name, even for a human.

Fastest methods to make gold, for new players: - Selling festival-specific loot bags (trick-or-treat bags, wintersday presents, etc). - Doing Triple Trouble and/or Tequatl daily for ~3-4 gold, each. - Doing your dailies for a swift 2g. If you're into it, I'd recommend playing one game of PvP, which yields you this in 10 minutes, on top of currency and mats for future combining and crafting. - Keeping an eye out for Daily Mystic Forger, which yields a Mystic Coin (~2g), as well as doing Ley Line Anomaly after Tequatl for another ~2g. Ley Line Anomaly spawns every 2 hours between 3 different maps, which you can check up on the wiki. The one after Tequatl post-daily reset ALWAYS spawns in Timberline Falls. Once you gradually get better and find yourself interested and invested in fractals and raids, then those net a lot of gold for the time it takes to complete them, for experienced players. Farming Silverwastes is also an apt strategy (albeit not the most interesting one), once you reach that part of the map.

Spoken like a true sylvari!

Not exactly an armor set recommendation, but I found out mixing the deldrimor infusion with the toy-shell one brings about a very nice plant-stone composition look. You will wield stone armor, but your character's skin will be wooden. Definitely try it out if you can afford those.

As a general advice, for any JP you find (more) difficult, move your camera as high towards the ceiling as possible. This gives you a far better idea of distances when the distance between jumps is not (as) fixed. Also, if you have ground-targeted movement skills (such as Vault), you can use that to slowly but surely progress through the entire JP with pinpoint precision. Granted, you're limited in terms of speed by the cooldown(s) of said skill(s).

There are many things you can do in GW2 that you can't specifically do in other MMOs. The game looks very stylized when mastered and, to an artistic spirit such as myself, that is very satisfying to witness.

In most open world events, you don't want to be using immobile add-on units (such as banners or spirits), since the locale and context tend to move around quite a bit. Personal DPS and effectiveness is more useful by numbers alone, most of the time.

Well said. Personally, I do think the more 'war-esque', large-scale approach to the Elder Dragons feels more realistic (in a fantasy RPG, I know) and high-stake. In that sense, I think the instances and story surrounding Mordremoth nailed it. What's more interesting, I'd say, is comparing the tone of the narrative and dialogue. I'm not a professional writer, by any means, but there's a fairly noticeable change between core + season 2 + HoT and season 3 onwards.

There are no clues or evidence (within the in-game dialogue or environment) to suggest that Balthazar looted Lyssa's reliquary.

Stealth is good for the game, as it adds tactical depth and variety. But it must come in small doses, and with clear trade-offs - i.e. ranger longbow and initiative-based stealth stacking.

Norn kids don't count-

If you were an orphan, would you prefer cake or cold, hard cash?

General tip with ground-targeted special action skills: aim at the feet of the target, not at the body. You'll find this useful when applying for sous-chef...

Core trait lines, some weapon sets and underwater combat.

Bitterfrost Frontier aka season 3 chapter 3. Berry farm > onion farm. Dragonfall from season 4 chapter 6. Drizzlewood Coast from IBS. In this order.

GW2 has a low skill floor. But the skill cap is extremely high. The difficulty jump between core game and HoT has generally been agreed to be the big for newer players. Mobs hit harder, and the areas contain far more veterans, elites and champs. Some ads, such as Mordrem Snipers, also have heavy-hitting burst skills that can oneshot you under certain circumstances. Knowledge and experience are power. You take more damage in Berserker mode, which is amplified by the aforementioned point regarding mob difficulty. This becomes even more pronounced if you're running raid/fractal gear, which emphasizes damage over survivability.

Too expensive? You can net hundreds of gold just by selling wintersday presents. And, as others have said, it's only ~600 gold.

Skip achievements, skip unlockable skins, available events and encounters, etc. etc. Rush --> take the shortest available path. This game has an insane amount of open world content, and I doubt many people even realize this because they're tunnel-visioning.

Only if you just rush through the story.

I'd imagine at least SOME of the new strikes will be similar to Visions of the Past: Forging Steel, albeit shorter in length. I firmly believe this was Anet testing out how the return to a more GW1-esque mission-style model of playing works out and is received by the player base. Thanks to the CMs, it's easier to adjust the difficulty, too. If designed and handled well, it can be the best of both worlds for both (casual and more hardcore) parties. The biggest issue comes in the form of replay value: will the casuals have the patience and attitude that enables them to repeat and potentially learn and improve? Will the more hardcore base become bored or not?