anet doesn't make maps like it used to

[Poormany.4507]

7 hours ago, Morvran.8265 said:

No two maps felt the same in GW1 Cantha, and even within maps we've had visually distinct sections. They've reduced entire regions to a single map in GW2 and somehow made them less diverse than some of the GW1 maps. They even used the same architecture for 3/4 of the maps, GW1 Cantha had ~6 different styles (5-7 depending on how you want to count Kaineng).

tbh while GW1's Cantha maps were distinct from each other, the individual maps got very boring/dull very quickly with the same textures (grass, slums, jade) copy-pasted repeatedly to the point where I just remember maps by those descriptors and nothing else. The incredibly frustrating navigability compared to GW2's version (largely due to lack of vertical motion) did not help. I personally prefer GW2's Cantha map design over GW1's. I just wish we'd gotten more GW2 Cantha maps rather than abruptly jumping to SotO.

Edited June 22 by Poormany.4507

[Gehenna.3625]

On 6/21/2024 at 10:40 AM, Astralporing.1957 said:

Unfortunately Kaineng City was ugly enough to offset everything else.

Truth. And another thing that irks me about EoD is that there are altogether too many bandits in EoD. Echovald, for example, used to be a dark but magical place in GW1. And now it's essentially the playground for gangs... I mean, wtf, aren't there enough of you in the first two maps? (the correct answer is there are already too many in the first two maps)

[Lighter.5631]

On 6/20/2024 at 5:46 PM, Freya.9075 said:

I remember playing EoD for the first time and getting lost in the details I saw around the maps. Just like the time I played the game for the first time when I was a new little rat running around in metrica provence. EoD brought that feeling back for me. The movement of the grass, the vibrant colors and details in nooks and crannies. Looking into jade and see creatures stuck inside really blew me away. And coming across the little grave to pay respect to the poor little kitten that got murdered in a live stream. (We will never forget 👀) 

I don’t feel like they lost their touch with the beauty of map design. It may not be to your liking, but that’s subjective. I don’t like how the new maps in SotO looks like, but that doesn’t mean the design is bad. Others like it and that’s good. We all have different taste when it comes to things like this. 

i'm surprised by " lost in the "details" " you didn't get overwelmed by the amount of structure clipping, poorly connected assets textures and the extremely un-travel friendly lay out of the maps

and completely random platforms with no purpose with no way to access other than flying mount and NPCs standing on it, all these wasted resources while the actual streets are actually empty

it's a human city with no mounts, yet it is literaly untravelable without mounts and boats or swimming(for a human city!) which is crazy.

what's also crazy is with the amount of times the window asset is reused, there's literally 0 variants of window textures, they literally only have 1 window textures and used it for every single window of the entire city.

https://i.imgur.com/8YgdrWN.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/rASzQWI.jpeg

Edited June 22 by Lighter.5631

[Lighter.5631]

duplicate

Edited June 22 by Lighter.5631

[Lighter.5631]

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Edited June 22 by Lighter.5631

[Freya.9075]

1 hour ago, Lighter.5631 said:

you didn't get overwelmed by the amount of structure clipping, poorly connected assets textures and the extremely un-travel friendly lay out of the maps

Nope not really. I found the maps beautiful and interesting. 

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Edited June 22 by Freya.9075

[Freya.9075]

I decided to take a trip to Divinity's reach and look at the beauty of the older maps. And there are some flaws in your statements. 

3 hours ago, Lighter.5631 said:

i'm surprised by " lost in the "details" " you didn't get overwelmed by the amount of structure clipping, poorly connected assets textures and the extremely un-travel friendly lay out of the maps

Clipping in this game is everywhere. New maps, older maps, even armor we use as skins. This is not something new, and will always exist in games. When you look for these things you will find them everywhere. Unless trees grow through bricks and concrete with no cracks and holes irl that is. It's been a while since I touched grass, so perhaps it has changed lately.  https://imgur.com/a/FwAdwX8 

3 hours ago, Lighter.5631 said:

and completely random platforms with no purpose with no way to access other than flying mount and NPCs standing on it, all these wasted resources while the actual streets are actually empty

This got me curious actually. What do you suggest this platform is for in Divinity's reach? Peeping toms? https://imgur.com/Wc6b84G

Now, don't get me wrong. Gw2 is a beautiful game. Both old and new maps. I can filter a lot of flaws in games and focus on the beauty and work developers put into games. My point with this post is to show you flaws already existed in the maps. If you got "overwhelmed" by these things in EoD it would "overwhelm" you elsewhere too. Or you had your "I hate EoD" glasses on.

Edited June 22 by Freya.9075

[Sweetbread.3678]

On 6/21/2024 at 1:36 PM, Randulf.7614 said:

To an extent you are right, esp in map storytelling. I will defend Amnytas though. It quite an exceptional and unique design despite some copy/pasting and performance issues. Nayos is pitiful though. The Citadel was the only notable area and that could have been so much more too

7 hours ago, Vayne.8563 said:

And while I know that Inner Nayos isn't everyone's cup of tea, I love that zone and think it looks great. It feels like a demon realm to me.

I don't like Amnytas for a number of reasons. It does look like a wizard university campus though, which is probably what it most closely functioned as.

Yeah, I actually like both of those maps, but I think they suffer from the same problem as maps like Kaineng or Echovald where like 90% of the issue comes down to asset reuse without switching up the color theming. Like Nayos and Amnytas would probably read a lot better if the different subzones had different lighting/color grading, or if Amnytas simply had different accent colors (or different foliage colors or whatever) for each of the bastions. Same for Kaineng, so much could be done even with the reused assets if they just switched the coloring on a few of the signage props and then color graded each neighborhood to read as the diffused atmospheric glow of a different dominant neon color; instead the whole thing is just this ubiquitous sort of brown-orange haze that makes it all blend together.

[voltaicbore.8012]

14 hours ago, Andy.5981 said:

Older maps were little worlds all on their own, things happened, NPC's chatted, some needed help with a quest and ran off after you did it, only to reappear somewhere else and continue an event chain. Funny stuff happened, the world appeared to be fleshed out. The story was secondary not the be all and end all for the map to exist.

This is what I've been saying for a while now - this is what initially hooked me into GW2. The magic of core maps is that they feel like they exist on a level apart from whatever players are up to. Nowadays, as several people have already noted in this thread, maps feel like old-school video game levels (in a bad way). There's usually no depth to them beyond serving as a shallow backdrop for the Commander's shenanigans. Functionally, they might as well be a flat 2D sprite behind a side-scrolling adventure.

New Kaineng is the single greatest offender. The "slum" of Grub Ward is only a slum because they added NPCs audibly complaining about it. We never actually get a look inside (aside from Mai Trin's little pigsty during the story) typical residences or Ministry offices. It's just a giant movie set, filled with things that are only supposed to look like real things. To be fair that's what game maps/levels actually are, but old city maps like DR or the Black Citadel masterfully give us the illusion that they're more than that.

I've given up on getting that old magic back. You see flickers of it here and there in maps like Amnytas, where there's the map room and other facilities that you could imagine being used for something other than a "kill X mobs for Y minutes" event, but the completely unpacified nature of the map prevents us from being able to experience it. It's all about pushing out the next bit of content to force meta farming/grudging player engagement. I'm not sure the current team (if they're even capable of doing what early GW2 Anet made) is in a position to make anything like that ever again.

[Fipmip.7219]

Older maps were more compact and content rich. you can find a new cave, settlement, puzzle, miniboss or event around every corner just by walking, not riding around. this is because they were built around walking. post HoT maps got a lot larger and with more frequent areas of barren land populated with long range, high damage mobs. presumably because of mounts. That not to say there arent any nice areas, like amnoon, or the sand jackal run in the desolation. but they are few and far between, separated by areas that are meant as nothing more than speedy traversal.

I think some people don't notice because they cant help but just rush from one objective to the next. but if you need help understanding, i suggest taking it slow the next time you start a new character. Progress through the core story, S1, S2, and HoT, and as you move to the next objective, detour and check out NPCs, events, interesting structures or terrain, and see how much denser the detail is in those maps compared to "mounted" maps. Imo this type of design peaked in HoT. and then fell off ever since.

[Noidea Incognito.9607]

I personally think with game companies that do mmo's your much more bound to make savory and unsavory choices along the way; of wich many are related to the game's lore, design, feel. Its like a ever evolving living organism wich does what it needs to survive.

You cant compare it to let say; a single player games wich have a solid frame/ fixed path/goal that doesnt req much diviation of the original plan;

When a single player is complete its done, its out there, they only need to patch  and tweak a bit, but other then that; its done)

This is not the case with mmo's; it keeps expanding, expanding.  Those old maps you felt excited about; that was pretty much the very beginning of GW2, the game dev's where also hyped about this new adventure; wich resulted in a great channeling of postive energy aka "Lets do this!", so these have alot of soul/passion of the original crew.

We are now many years further; The game have evolved, but so has the crew; wich also resulted in some unsavory choices that had to be made ( layoffs of veterans for example).

Perhaps there was no other choice, or if it affected the overal pool of quality/knowledge/creativity. we just dont know as the 3rd party.

But here we are now in 2024. Perhaps the new expansion will ignite that excitement that you felt in those older maps.

At the very least there are absolutely still devs at anet that have the Passionate Fire/spirit thats reminiscent of those core map designs. 

Believe Neo. o7

Edited June 24 by Noidea Incognito.9607

[Vayne.8563]

On 6/23/2024 at 11:59 AM, Fipmip.7219 said:

Older maps were more compact and content rich. you can find a new cave, settlement, puzzle, miniboss or event around every corner just by walking, not riding around. this is because they were built around walking. post HoT maps got a lot larger and with more frequent areas of barren land populated with long range, high damage mobs. presumably because of mounts. That not to say there arent any nice areas, like amnoon, or the sand jackal run in the desolation. but they are few and far between, separated by areas that are meant as nothing more than speedy traversal.

I think some people don't notice because they cant help but just rush from one objective to the next. but if you need help understanding, i suggest taking it slow the next time you start a new character. Progress through the core story, S1, S2, and HoT, and as you move to the next objective, detour and check out NPCs, events, interesting structures or terrain, and see how much denser the detail is in those maps compared to "mounted" maps. Imo this type of design peaked in HoT. and then fell off ever since.

Or they could be high damage mobs because of power creep and we all know how to play them game now, or should, at least. Saying they put harder, high damage mobs in expansion content, is like saying the creatures in EotN in the original Guld Wars weren't harder than mostly anything in the core game. There really wasn't a comparison.

[Fipmip.7219]

11 hours ago, Vayne.8563 said:

Or they could be high damage mobs because of power creep and we all know how to play them game now, or should, at least. Saying they put harder, high damage mobs in expansion content, is like saying the creatures in EotN in the original Guld Wars weren't harder than mostly anything in the core game. There really wasn't a comparison.

just throwing them in for the sake of "erm its the expansion it needs to be harder" is just nonsense. What's the purpose? they're not intended to be farmed because of anti farm mechanics. They are not hard, they just have a lot of hp. They just stand there in the open, staring off into the distance, waiting to try and dismount you. They exist to make every point on the map into a fight. Sometimes there are NPCs you need to talk to literally surrounded by aggressive mobs. Its just purely to be annoying.

If you contrast it with other open world games like skyrim or elden ring, mobs are much more grouped around areas they make more sense in. if you see a field, it's likely got a few rabbits, maybe a boar. not 15 guys standing motionless and spaced apart evenly. if you see an outpost, that's where you'll find numerous enemy soldiers. This is something guild wars has always struggled with but at least on old maps, they didnt aggro you from 50 miles away. If you want hard mobs, fine. but dont make your maps a chore to get through.

[Vayne.8563]

28 minutes ago, Fipmip.7219 said:

just throwing them in for the sake of "erm its the expansion it needs to be harder" is just nonsense. What's the purpose? they're not intended to be farmed because of anti farm mechanics. They are not hard, they just have a lot of hp. They just stand there in the open, staring off into the distance, waiting to try and dismount you. They exist to make every point on the map into a fight. Sometimes there are NPCs you need to talk to literally surrounded by aggressive mobs. Its just purely to be annoying.

If you contrast it with other open world games like skyrim or elden ring, mobs are much more grouped around areas they make more sense in. if you see a field, it's likely got a few rabbits, maybe a boar. not 15 guys standing motionless and spaced apart evenly. if you see an outpost, that's where you'll find numerous enemy soldiers. This is something guild wars has always struggled with but at least on old maps, they didnt aggro you from 50 miles away. If you want hard mobs, fine. but dont make your maps a chore to get through.

Dude, what game have you played where creatures don't get harder as you progress. The idea that game difficulty stays the same as you progress is nonsense.  

Hey, get this, Orr enemies are harder than Queensdale enemies. You know why? Because you're higher level. And in expansions you have elite specs. In EoD they even give you a jade bot to give you more health and buffs. Honestly, the power creep in this game has made it too easy not too hard. The balance is the open world is barely challenging at all to a moderately decent player. 

As far as making sense, this isn't a single player game, it's an MMO, and the games that you say make sense are all single player games.  MMOs have different sensitiblies and it's harder to make the open world make sense. In fact, the open world makes more sense in this game than most open world games I've seen. But regardless, the idea that expansions shouldn't have harder content is wrong. 

People can learn to make a decent build. They can learn to take condition removal and stun breaks. They can learn to use a different weapon. That's the game mate. 

[Fipmip.7219]

1 hour ago, Vayne.8563 said:

Dude, what game have you played where creatures don't get harder as you progress. The idea that game difficulty stays the same as you progress is nonsense.  

Hey, get this, Orr enemies are harder than Queensdale enemies. You know why? Because you're higher level. And in expansions you have elite specs. In EoD they even give you a jade bot to give you more health and buffs. Honestly, the power creep in this game has made it too easy not too hard. The balance is the open world is barely challenging at all to a moderately decent player. 

As far as making sense, this isn't a single player game, it's an MMO, and the games that you say make sense are all single player games.  MMOs have different sensitiblies and it's harder to make the open world make sense. In fact, the open world makes more sense in this game than most open world games I've seen. But regardless, the idea that expansions shouldn't have harder content is wrong. 

People can learn to make a decent build. They can learn to take condition removal and stun breaks. They can learn to use a different weapon. That's the game mate. 

why do most responses on this forum come from people that do not read the post? your first paragraph is literally regurgitating what i just said.

Mobs can be harder and yeah maybe they should be. but what they've done is change the entire design philosophy of their layout to just be simply more annoying. And yeah, they're not even that hard anyway, when pof came out they just took more time to kill. nowdays i oneshot them with my bladesworn. they never had a reason to exist. you cant farm them, they dont drop stuff you cant get anywhere else, and they dont pose much challenge. their only purpose is to slow you down. so why? its pointless and it makes the maps into a chore like i said. also your whole reasoning with "erm, its an mmo dude they have to be placed like that"  needs elaboration. modern mmos dont do it and they know its because they dont need to. so again i ask why? read your own comment and see if theres a satisfying answer in there.

[Vayne.8563]

36 minutes ago, Fipmip.7219 said:

why do most responses on this forum come from people that do not read the post? your first paragraph is literally regurgitating what i just said.

Mobs can be harder and yeah maybe they should be. but what they've done is change the entire design philosophy of their layout to just be simply more annoying. And yeah, they're not even that hard anyway, when pof came out they just took more time to kill. nowdays i oneshot them with my bladesworn. they never had a reason to exist. you cant farm them, they dont drop stuff you cant get anywhere else, and they dont pose much challenge. their only purpose is to slow you down. so why? its pointless and it makes the maps into a chore like i said. also your whole reasoning with "erm, its an mmo dude they have to be placed like that"  needs elaboration. modern mmos dont do it and they know its because they dont need to. so again i ask why? read your own comment and see if theres a satisfying answer in there.

When Orr launched, people had the exact same complaint you did. The only thing that's changed is your memory. People complained about knockbacks and stuns and how annoying Orr was, before there was ever an expansion. Shrugs.

[Fipmip.7219]

29 minutes ago, Vayne.8563 said:

When Orr launched, people had the exact same complaint you did. The only thing that's changed is your memory. People complained about knockbacks and stuns and how annoying Orr was, before there was ever an expansion. Shrugs.

so you have no answer. got it.

[Vayne.8563]

40 minutes ago, Fipmip.7219 said:

so you have no answer. got it.

I have an answer, you're just not interested in reading it. 
Did mounts  change the game? Unquestionably. And most people think that mounts are a net positive. It's pretty obvious with even a little thought that the addition of mounts make some things that had been done previously untenable. Did the game evolve?  Hell yeah.

My point, which you are ignoring, is that we've always had these complaints from day one. People complained before mounts that Orr was too hard, because of the mobs, which were annoying. They complained when HoT came out that the maps were too confusing and the mobs were too  hard, and that you couldn't solo every hero point. They complained in POF because you didn't have enough mastery points to get to mounts you needed to navigate the zone, which was off course ludicrous. 

But the core game had tons of issues that no one that's complaining about those other things talk about. Power creep has now reduced the core maps to walk throughs. They represent no appreciable challenge unless you're new and leveling for the first time and even that's a maybe. 

Sure mounts changed the game. There are less waypoints for example, but people care less, because we have mounts, and I wouldn't trade them to replace them with waypoints. And moreover, they make navigating HoT easier, which takes away one of the complaints some people had.

The core game was great for its time. But it had its problems even at launch.

Edited June 25 by Vayne.8563
removed an unnecessary apostrophe

[Fipmip.7219]

33 minutes ago, Vayne.8563 said:

I have an answer, you're just not interested in reading it. 
Did mounts  change the game? Unquestionably. And most people think that mounts are a net positive. It's pretty obvious with even a little thought that the addition of mounts make some things that had been done previously untenable. Did the game evolve?  Hell yeah.

My point, which you are ignoring, is that we've always had these complaints from day one. People complained before mounts that Orr was too hard, because of the mobs, which were annoying. They complained when HoT came out that the maps were too confusing and the mobs were too  hard, and that you couldn't solo every hero point. They complained in POF because you didn't have enough mastery points to get to mounts you needed to navigate the zone, which was off course ludicrous. 

But the core game had tons of issues that no one that's complaining about those other things talk about. Power creep has now reduced the core maps to walk throughs. They represent no appreciable challenge unless you're new and leveling for the first time and even that's a maybe. 

Sure mounts changed the game. There are less waypoints for example, but people care less, because we have mounts, and I wouldn't trade them to replace them with waypoints. And moreover, they make navigating HoT easier, which takes away one of the complaints some people had.

The core game was great for its time. But it had its problems even at launch.

Yes i remember Orr being my least favourite area in the game due a bunch of tanky zombies standing around taking forever to kill and covering every square inch of the map. Yes i don't complain anymore because i can kill them much faster now. Does that mean they were actually fun during that time? i was just too blind to see it? no dude. just the same way that same design in PoF times 11 isnt fun now. idk why you're going of on this unrelated tangent about mounts being fun. i like them too. my point, which you're ignoring, is the placement and range of them drag down the whole experience. 

[Vayne.8563]

1 hour ago, Fipmip.7219 said:

Yes i remember Orr being my least favourite area in the game due a bunch of tanky zombies standing around taking forever to kill and covering every square inch of the map. Yes i don't complain anymore because i can kill them much faster now. Does that mean they were actually fun during that time? i was just too blind to see it? no dude. just the same way that same design in PoF times 11 isnt fun now. idk why you're going of on this unrelated tangent about mounts being fun. i like them too. my point, which you're ignoring, is the placement and range of them drag down the whole experience. 

They were fun for some people who had better builds, were better players and learned to kill faster. Even before it was nerfed I liked Orr. The fact that you didn't is your opinion. That's sort of my point though. People didn't bother to learn how to play the game and then they come and complain that stuff is too hard or too annoying or too whatever. It wasn't that hard and it only annoyed people that didn't understand the game. Instead of learning the game, changing their build, and prospering, they just complained until Anet changed the game. Worked out great for them when HoT was launched and half of them stopped playing, huh?

[Fipmip.7219]

15 minutes ago, Vayne.8563 said:

They were fun for some people who had better builds, were better players and learned to kill faster. Even before it was nerfed I liked Orr. The fact that you didn't is your opinion. That's sort of my point though. People didn't bother to learn how to play the game and then they come and complain that stuff is too hard or too annoying or too whatever. It wasn't that hard and it only annoyed people that didn't understand the game. Instead of learning the game, changing their build, and prospering, they just complained until Anet changed the game. Worked out great for them when HoT was launched and half of them stopped playing, huh?

again just ignoring what i said. i can oneshot pof mobs with my bladesworn. is it fun now? no, they still aggro from miles away and dismount you as you try to travel. they still tag you as you try to swap mounts to get up a cliff. the world is still ugly and barren with large stretches of areas dedicated to nothing but these mobs. again, they're not hard. they're annoying and pointless.

Edited June 25 by Fipmip.7219

[maxwelgm.4315]

Someone pointed out the post-PoF maps feel like "levels" instead of "places" and this is probably not only true but also accurate to the actual design process. After PoF released people praised HoT metas and criticized how PoF had no proper "metas" and were barren of farming content. Even if true, those are some of the most beautiful maps around the game and they do have activities, just indeed not something you'd farm nonstop. For better or worse, Anet took that criticism to heart and already the next Living World season maps started to become "proper" levels with specific meta objectives and locations that are obstacles first and places second. Given EoD metas were also reasonably successful until SotO released, I think they made the right call even though I enjoyed the map achievements and vibe in PoF the most. Compare Ebonhawke to New Kaineng to quickly realize which one has actual buildings that you could imagine being lived in and which one has player obstacles.

In short, Anet literally doesn't make maps like they used to and it seems to be purposefully so as to have level design take over landscape design. Inner Nayos is perhaps the most egregious example where the map doesn't even match the narrative and every path/road/cliff is merely a gameplay constraint (a "civilization" with "cities", "noble houses", and we can't even give it the "they're alien" card because Anet humanized them so hard). Though, this is not all bad because we get more enjoyable  or at least bearable and repeatable metas like Amnytas - and PoF is always there for the occasional bounty train and taking in the sights.

[Vayne.8563]

1 hour ago, Fipmip.7219 said:

again just ignoring what i said. i can oneshot pof mobs with my bladesworn. is it fun now? no, they still aggro from miles away and dismount you as you try to travel. they still tag you as you try to swap mounts to get up a cliff. the world is still ugly and barren with large stretches of areas dedicated to nothing but these mobs. again, they're not hard. they're annoying and pointless.

The world being ugly and barren is an opinion. Many people have raved about how PoF looks.  But you know, it's okay that you have an opinion, but that's just what it is, your opinion. And yes, the aggro is longer and some things can dismount you, but there are always ways to avoid things, if you pay attention.  At any rate, thank you for sharing your opinion. Mine is different.

[Noidea Incognito.9607]

@Fipmip.7219

We dont really know on what basis/criteria the Dev makes certain choices. Have you seen official survey's for the community to fill out? I havent.

But somehow they still managed to predict/have a good understanding of what the majority of the community would like to see in the GW2; so they must be doing something right to some degree. I get that its not an interesting subject to think about. In the end what matters to us consumers is usually focused on one thing; smell the stuff presented to us and consume what we find most appealing/delicious .

But again, this isnt a single player game wich has a path set in stone. Its not a  fixed diner course .

"I want more details" "I want less copy pasta" "I want next-level meshes"  "I want better optimalisation"  "I want more Variation" "I want less chaotic game design"  "I want a more uniform design" "I want more density" "I want less clutter" "I want more raids" "I want raids removed" "I want more Enemies" "I want less Enemies" "I wanna have more cosmetic infusions"  "I want less Particles" "I want more Loot" "I want less afk/bots/sellers/mb" "I want more collections" "I want less time gating" "I want more side stories" "I want less filler" "I want more miniatures"  "I want more titles" "I want more skins" "I want challenging mechanics" "I want Less complex mechanics" "I want more puzzles" "I want less puzzles" "I want tougher enemies" "I want less bullet sponges" "I want epic meta's" "I want a less  time-consuming meta's" "I want more elite specialisms" "I want less Powercreep"  "I want more Animations" "I want less Lagg" "I want bigger maps" "I want smaller maps"

I could go on. But see the complexities of getting a game "right" for every consumer. Thats just impossible.    If they can satisfy the majority; then they arent doing a terrible job?

But  regarding the concerns some of you have with GW2; do you people have any current examples of an mmo's wich does it better then GW2?

Explain in great detail if you have such an examples to mirror GW2 against.

 

Edited June 25 by Noidea Incognito.9607

[Astralporing.1957]

19 hours ago, Vayne.8563 said:

Or they could be high damage mobs because of power creep and we all know how to play them game now, or should, at least. Saying they put harder, high damage mobs in expansion content, is like saying the creatures in EotN in the original Guld Wars weren't harder than mostly anything in the core game. There really wasn't a comparison.

On the other hand, the hardest monster in the game was still Rotscale, from Prophecies.