First Contact: The Kryptis and Rift Hunting

[GeraldBC.4927]

Also another thing I forgot that is very important: The rewards for bounties are basically nonexistent, which is why they flopped outside of legendary bounty trains, which people don't really do anymore either. It's one event's worth of rewards, at which point you can go to any map, complete random events and get a better use of your time out of it. 

Make sure that the rewards for rifts factor in not just the time spent fighting the enemies, but also the time spent traveling to the rift. 

[idpersona.3810]

2 minutes ago, GeraldBC.4927 said:

Also another thing I forgot that is very important: The rewards for bounties are basically nonexistent, which is why they flopped outside of legendary bounty trains, which people don't really do anymore either. It's one event's worth of rewards, at which point you can go to any map, complete random events and get a better use of your time out of it. 

Make sure that the rewards for rifts factor in not just the time spent fighting the enemies, but also the time spent traveling to the rift. 

While I generally agree with you, Legendary Bounty trains most certainly still happen. Literally every day I've checked for them.

But I do think the Rifts are going to fail or succeed on the balance that goes into them (both on loot and difficulty). I'm really hoping they're worth it longer term.

[Poormany.4507]

5 hours ago, Krajtin.8956 said:

The difference between HoT enemies is that although their animations or models are similar, their skills and mechanics are interesting, like as the chacks. In the video I see how he seems to do exactly the same skill as the forged skateboard.

What will be the next to use? Deimos as a villain of this expansion?

Agree - The reuse of the main antagonist enemies and mechanics is becoming so blatant and boring since EoD. EoD had literally reskinned previous dragon minions as the main enemies with no new unique abilities. SotO seems to be reskinned Forged/Risen with no new unique abilities from what we've seen so far. SotO Rifts are pretty much copy-paste mechanicswise to Branded Rifts. The enemies in HoT and PoF genuinely felt unique from each other, now if feels like every enemy is a hastily slapped on reskin. What on Tyria are they spending all their time/resources/people on...?

The Kryptis were one of the coolest things from the Expac I was looking forward to and this preview was so underwhelming 😞

Edited August 4, 2023 by Poormany.4507

[Duglaive.5236]

Earlier in this thread I commented that from the blog post description, it seemed that Anet was heavily borrowing from a feature of Trion's Rift MMO.

After watching the rift trailer released on Twitter/X, I take it all back.

What Anet is serving up doesn't even qualify as a pale reflection of Trion's effort. The non-hype is oh so very real for me.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I'm wondering about Rifts in maps outside Secrets of the Obscure maps.  What do players that haven't acquired Secrets of the Obscure see when someone opens a Rift?  Do they see the Rift or do they just see another player(s) fighting something invisible?  Or do players that open Rifts suddenly become invisible? 

Inquiring minds want to know! 

[Woop S.7851]

Speaking of rifts, there was this event from the Norn starting area with the "Champion Svanir Shaman" who opened blue ones with monsters coming out:

• Depending on where the rift opens (near a keep? castle? town?) Objectives could change dynamically, such as defend town, save survivors etc.?
• Scope of armies coming out might need to be based on the terrain/map they spawn at, are there choke points (bridges, forests, tall buildings)? If terrain is flat but has choke/bridge, Rift spawns 100 melee Zerglings while players defend it, giving a feeling of invasion?
• What if rifts open under water too? Giant Kryptis sharks? Can you fight it using a Siege Turtle mounted on the Skiff/boat?
• How about environment effects such as a collapsing cathedral or constant falling meteors (interrupts) due to multiple rifts opening while fighting a boss (like below from GW1?):

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by Woop S.7851
typo

[Woop S.7851]

Additional comments/feedbacks:

A. PvE mode mounts/weapons/skills:

• During Kryptis events, while in range of rift, allow profession weapon skills + utility skills while riding on mounts
• Example: player while riding in backseat of a turtle can toggle turtle cannon skills or their profession skills, creating more combat variations & experiences in big PvE fights against large Kryptis mobs
• Imagine a Longbow Ranger rapid firing from the Turtle's backseat, or a Staff Elementalist mage spamming water heals & sending down meteors on enemies
• PvE only: Will 'Spears' work on land? And not be restricted in water?
• If not, can spears be tossed (as a ranged weapon) while mounted in PvE during rift combat? (similar to Dragon spear)

B. PvE Beach Landing Scenario:

• Retaking an Kryptis overrun stronghold using Skiffs/boats (when rift spawns in an area surrounded by water), possible map: Isle of Reflection
• In a squad or party, add 'Shield Wall' skill or even borrow 'Shield of Life'
• Skill button only appears for parties/squads when huddled together, once activated, add +300 toughness against damage by Kryptis, button would be located in the same place as Rally the Crowd above skill bar. To balance it, squad/party movement speed decrease by around 25%? It would encourage players to stay together as a group (holding against coming fire)
• A player using Turtle mount can mount on Skiff, providing covering fire from cannons for land infantry charging the Kryptis overrun stronghold island
• Kryptis enemy units can then be scaled to higher ratios (A guild/alliance of 10 or 15 versus 300+ Kryptis that's taken over a stronghold)
• Add Kryptis Rift effect: Flying disabled in range (to encourage invasion by skiff/sea)
• Spawn public mounts/skiff taxi for players without mounts when rift opens (similar to Shing Jea starter zone)
• Further Design Approach: categorize all current maps based on factors such as elevation, size, terrain, water vs. land, outposts, keep etc.
• Scope/Conceptualize possible scenarios of what happens on these maps when rifts spawn, then stitch mechanics together (turtle, skiff, Dragonspear etc.) based on current map designs/terrain, providing unique experiences for players
• It would also allow re-use of past maps such as start zones
• More resources can be spent on the user experience (not just creating new maps)
• The possibilities would be limitless due to variety of current maps in Kryta/Elona/Cantha

Edited August 4, 2023 by Woop S.7851
typo

[Omega.6801]

How many of these Rifts will a player have to hunt for the legendary relic, given the player already has 7 legendary runes? No need to be specific, just tell us if we're talking tens, hundreds or thousands. 😛

Edited August 4, 2023 by Omega.6801

[Sobx.1758]

Ok, so it really might be less like the awakened -and other similar- rifts and more like bounties with a portable pocketboard. Which does make it a little better imo since it -hopefully- skips the filler trashmobs. That said, I still think it will be rather dull, probably provides no actual control over scaling because other players will just either be around or they won't and in the end it will end up being a zerg-fest train ""content"" where your input basically doesn't matter. I'll be happy to be proven otherwise, but somehow doubt.

[disForm.2837]

6 hours ago, Omega.6801 said:

How many of these Rifts will a player have to hunt for the legendary relic, given the player already has 7 legendary runes? No need to be specific, just tell us if we're talking tens, hundreds or thousands. 😛

Meanwhile, Anet dev wickedly laughing "it's tens of thousands, my boy"

[Dante.1508]

More and more i'm not feeling this expac..

[Gazrul.3086]

Looks great! I look forward to trying out all tiers of rifts!

[ugrakarma.9416]

Dragon Age -  Inquisition had a very balanced rift event, and rewarding.

[Balsa.3951]

On 8/4/2023 at 10:06 PM, Woop S.7851 said:

Additional comments/feedbacks:

A. PvE mode mounts/weapons/skills:

• During Kryptis events, while in range of rift, allow profession weapon skills + utility skills while riding on mounts
• Example: player while riding in backseat of a turtle can toggle turtle cannon skills or their profession skills, creating more combat variations & experiences in big PvE fights against large Kryptis mobs
• Imagine a Longbow Ranger rapid firing from the Turtle's backseat, or a Staff Elementalist mage spamming water heals & sending down meteors on enemies
• PvE only: Will 'Spears' work on land? And not be restricted in water?
• If not, can spears be tossed (as a ranged weapon) while mounted in PvE during rift combat? (similar to Dragon spear)

B. PvE Beach Landing Scenario:

• Retaking an Kryptis overrun stronghold using Skiffs/boats (when rift spawns in an area surrounded by water), possible map: Isle of Reflection
• In a squad or party, add 'Shield Wall' skill or even borrow 'Shield of Life'
• Skill button only appears for parties/squads when huddled together, once activated, add +300 toughness against damage by Kryptis, button would be located in the same place as Rally the Crowd above skill bar. To balance it, squad/party movement speed decrease by around 25%? It would encourage players to stay together as a group (holding against coming fire)
• A player using Turtle mount can mount on Skiff, providing covering fire from cannons for land infantry charging the Kryptis overrun stronghold island
• Kryptis enemy units can then be scaled to higher ratios (A guild/alliance of 10 or 15 versus 300+ Kryptis that's taken over a stronghold)
• Add Kryptis Rift effect: Flying disabled in range (to encourage invasion by skiff/sea)
• Spawn public mounts/skiff taxi for players without mounts when rift opens (similar to Shing Jea starter zone)
• Further Design Approach: categorize all current maps based on factors such as elevation, size, terrain, water vs. land, outposts, keep etc.
• Scope/Conceptualize possible scenarios of what happens on these maps when rifts spawn, then stitch mechanics together (turtle, skiff, Dragonspear etc.) based on current map designs/terrain, providing unique experiences for players
• It would also allow re-use of past maps such as start zones
• More resources can be spent on the user experience (not just creating new maps)
• The possibilities would be limitless due to variety of current maps in Kryta/Elona/Cantha

why would any player ever again dismount if anet implement such a op feature

[Batalix.2873]

We are closing rifts that we opened ourselves.

Mechanically, the rifts can't/won't open without our help.

The rifts would not have needed closing if we didn't go open them.

Why are we even doing any of this?

(I am sure there is an in-game explanation for all of this, but man the synchronicity between gameplay and worldbuilding has gone to kit)

[Zaraki.5784]

How are those new rifts events any better than every single (boring) rift event we have had over the past years?

Edited August 6, 2023 by Zaraki.5784

[TheThief.8475]

11 hours ago, Zaraki.5784 said:

How are those new rifts events any better than every single (boring) rift event we have had over the past years?

This is a legit question and Anet is to blame for putting together that horrible teaser trailer that doesn't answer this and many other questions at all.

They only showed how you can search for a rift, close it and immediately start with the following, nothing more was shown 

And they already told us that in the blog post, so I really can't understand the why of that trailer

Edited August 7, 2023 by TheThief.8475

[Linken.6345]

49 minutes ago, TheThief.8475 said:

This is a legit question and Anet is to blame for putting together that horrible teaser trailer that doesn't answer this and many other questions at all.

They only showed how you can search for a rift, close it and immediately start with the following, nothing more was shown 

And they already told us that in the blog post, so I really can't understand the why of that trailer

Well to be fair X is to people outside of gw2 most likely so they would not have read the blogpost.

[TheThief.8475]

10 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

Well to be fair X is to people outside of gw2 most likely so they would not have read the blogpost.

If that is the answer they surely did a terrible job at promoting their game

I would not want to try the game based on what they've shown...

[Mistwraithe.3106]

Wow. The negativity is strong here.

Personally I'm really looking forward to SOTO. I've enjoyed reading the information we have been provided and a couple of interviews on SOTO which I found in the gaming press. I think Relics are going to open up quite a few more options and I'm looking forward to the new legendary armor set. Furthermore the story sounds interesting (not that we've been told too much, which I'm fine with, I want to experience the story in game rather than in advance). I like that they have dropped the normal main cast and are going to be mixing things up more. From what I've read I definitely got the sense that the Arena Net design and development team are quite excited about having a cleaner slate to design future content now that the cycle of dragons is complete.

[wolfof.1842]

new picture of Kryptis in blog post (skyscale collection skin)

Quote

"After you complete the Flight Training Mastery line and the Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure skyscale collection, a new collection will open up that awards a Kryptis-themed skyscale skin."

Kryptis-themed skyscale skin

[idpersona.3810]

35 minutes ago, wolfof.1842 said:

new picture of Kryptis in blog post (skyscale collection skin)

Kryptis-themed skyscale skin

That thing is real ugly.

[solzuul.6294]

56 minutes ago, idpersona.3810 said:

That thing is real ugly.

In it's defense, I think that's the point. The wizard's griffin is its pretty counterpart. 

[GeraldBC.4927]

On 8/4/2023 at 7:40 PM, Omega.6801 said:

How many of these Rifts will a player have to hunt for the legendary relic, given the player already has 7 legendary runes? No need to be specific, just tell us if we're talking tens, hundreds or thousands. 😛

My guess so far is that there will be a currency that's very similar to elegy mosaics. And whether it's the armor or the relic, you'll need a lot of them to make it. 

 

On 8/8/2023 at 8:48 PM, wolfof.1842 said:

Kryptis-themed skyscale skin

This is the aesthetic all the kryptis should have. And I maintain that they probably already made Kryptis models that look like this, but someone that's anti-fun decided to veto those designs. 

[Ashantara.8731]

On 8/7/2023 at 1:20 AM, Zaraki.5784 said:

How are those new rifts events any better than every single (boring) rift event we have had over the past years?

I doubt they will be any better. It is going to be a boring grind for sure.

That's the one thing about SotO I am not looking forward to.