A Rat Plays Games

A blog for making regular gaming posts in order to keep my main blog clean.

[dampgaming]

Ran same character through the HoT story and did the final mission, “Hearts and Minds”, with a random pug because that mission is always easier with two people. Because of this I learned something new.

In all my own runs, and the few other runs where other people took the lead, we always just slam that sword in right away. But apparently Trahearne has some rag doll agony vibrating he does if you’re slow to the trigger. How slow was she to the trigger? That’s a secret.

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Just took character through the core personal story, capped off with testing just how soloable City of Arah Story really is. Turns out the answer is “very soloable”. It’s a little bit of a trade off, though. On one had I feel even more connected to Destiny Edge, on the other hand there are sections that look their impact.

This scene against the dragon champions, for instance, used to be the highlight of the mission when playing with a group. Now? Just a thing that happened. The Zhaiten fight might be a bit more challenging, but only a little.

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You know, a lot of people complain about these side by side dialog scenes, but I’m actually somewhat disappointed we will never see them again. I mean, sure, it’s great we get the realism of talking to NPCs in the game engine. But I feel something is lost by discarding this tool; it should not be the only tool you use, but it has it’s places. Like in the open world other dialog and random mobs could extract you from the immersion of the moment. Kinda hard to suspend one’s disbelief when people keep on casually talking while I’m getting run over by a stray stone head someone kited into my story progression.

[dampgaming]

This is old news to most people, but I sometimes I struggle to find things to post to this blog. So when on impulse I try to glide onto an Orrian ship and find I can actually land on it, I consider it an improvement that I stop to take some screenshots.

I was very suprised to find the ship even had collision, though in retrospect when you find out how simple the collision is it makes more sense.

[dampgaming]

Part of the expansion coming in... just one week... is that everyone is running the old mete content before the maps become barren for at least a month. Of course, sometimes even with hundreds of people running these maps, we always don’t have enough commander tags. This is part of the reason I decided to invest in my commander tags, but even then I feel the pressure when I tag up. When the zerg fall behind in blighting towers undoing the boss teams hard work... you can’t help but feel at fault. Thankfully, the boss team were pros.

With that said, I still need two to three more runs of Dragon Stand and a week to do them. Most likely will do them early next week as I want to pick up the last two plated weapons.

[dampgaming]

I finally finished getting scribing to 400. As such, I managed to mostly finish my little home/closet in WEH guild hall. I could probably use a few dressers to store my cloths, but those don’t exists so I just added more books. Considering adding more/upgraded lighting, but it is otherwise set.

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While lining up to get one of the last Tarir Defenses I needed, I was very surprised to run across one of WEH guild’s more elusive leaders: Kuya. I didn’t see him around during the actual South Gate event, so I can only assume he relocated to one of the other gates. Still, it’s nice to know he’s still alive.

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Of all the things I noticed in the demo, the fact that Elonian musicians were playing charr citadel bass guitars had to be the strangest. I mean, maybe they are just saving the cultural appropriate instruments for release, but honestly... I can see it not changing. Charr, taking over Tyria through rock concert domination.

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In the process of getting my Dragon Stand quota in before Path of Fire, was very surprised to find myself running with a Dev. Strangely, no one was distracted from the meta to bombard her with question. Just shows how focused the last minute content rush is.

[dampgaming]

Part of my motivation for restarting this blog is Wooden Potatoes new contest, signal boosted previously. I was somewhat hyped for the contest, with the idea for subject matter, twists, humor, and well timed visuals... and then I realized I could never put something like that together with zero video editing skills.

Still, my inability to compete doesn’t change the fact that Guild Wars 2 is a great game in need of some grassroots evangelizing. So the obvious altruistic thing to do is let my words do the talking and to write out my idea without witness or reward... and failed Doctor Who quotes.

So what is the twist with a top ten list? It’s the fact it’s not a top ten list, but two top five lists. The top five things great about Guild Wars 2 and their achilles heels, and the top five worst things about Guild Wars 2 and their silver linings. Nothing is perfect, and if I send you charging into Guild Wars 2 it’s all sunshine and roses you’ll just come trudging right back out the second you get a thorn in your paw.

Small disclaimer before your baptism by fire, these points are only my opinion and not supported by any statistical data outside of my experience. With that aside, prepare yourself for twenty opinions on the best and worst of Guild Wars 2.

Best #1 Open World Cooperation

In Guild Wars 2, you don’t need a group to play together. In fact, the most common form of playing together is often just running competing events in zergs of various sizes. Squads and Commander tags are used and encouraged on certain maps, but on the individual level they aren’t required. Head out into the map, do hearts, complete events, and play the game other people.

Achilles Heel #1 Alone in a Crowd

Just because it’s easy to play together doesn’t mean it’s easy to group for for all challenges. Personal Story help, Living Story Achievements, dungeons... it’s sometimes very hard to get people together to do the little things. Even with a guild it’s hard to get help at times, as often if it isn’t daily reset or weekly Guild Missions your guildies just might not be around. This isn’t game breaking, but it’s certainly less... fluid than following the zerg.

Best #2 Joy of Movement

Latest buzz word for the up and coming expansion, but it applies to more than just the soon to be released mounts. Guild Wars 2 is all about movement. The combat is like an adventure game, where even when you can just stand still and auto attack you find yourself strafing just a little bit to be ready to dodge out of something. Add onto that jumping puzzles, guild rushes/puzzles, and various movement related masteries... you’ll quickly find yourself mostly standing still when you need to park yourself for a bio break.

Achilles Heel #2 Eight Fingers and Two Thumbs

Everyone has their limits. Some jumping puzzles are just hair pulling frustrating; one is literally called the Chalice of Tears. Every once in awhile you’ll run into a mob that will stun lock you if you make a mistake, wait for you come back with stun breaks and stability, and just stun lock you once those are all on cooldown. And don’t get me started on PvP; the cyborg age must already be here because some of those people can’t be using human hands to maneuver around you the way they do. Challenge is great, up until the point it breaks you.

Best #3 Fashion Wars 2

Everyone wants to be a pretty snowflake, and while those starter dyes you use in character creation might seem stifling, you’ll soon grow past them. The base dyes in Guild Wars 2 is simply huge and very encouraging for you try out new things. The wardrobe system is a bit more limiting, as they (mostly) require transmutation charge, but there are a decent amount of ways to get those for free. There are also various ways to earn otherwise premium items for free as well, though your mileage may vary with those.

Achilles Heel #3 Those Pants You Never Wear

All the various customization options are great, spectacular and wonderful... and you’ll very likely end up not using even a tenth of it. Seriously, sometimes you’ll find just the right skin to slap on your hard fought for ascended weapon or armor, but often you’ll leave it either as is or stick to certain staples across all characters. And the amount of times you actively work for a skin only to never use it... it’s mind boggling.

Best #4 Horizontal Progression

While there is value in being able to do something over and over again, there’s also value in doing something once checking it off the list. Horizontal progression provides for this need. Wardrobe skins, dye unlocks, achievements, and masteries. All are important aspects of Guild Wars 2 were you need progress just once and then it’s unlocked for good. Some complain about masteries at times, but nothing is more rewarding than jumping on an alt for a hero point train and having all your various jungle movement masteries right away.

Achilles Heel #4 Elusive Stat Perfection

Guild Wars 2 has a level cap of 80, and as part of Horizontal Progression that isn’t changing. The armor you should be wearing will change, and that will be trail of tears. Ever since they triple tapped with the nerf hammer on leather, crafting exotics new exotics is a pain. Crafting in the new stat combination that is just right for you even more so. And yes, changing ascended equipment is easier, but you still need to be at the point where ascended armor is a thing for you. Not to mention be will to reacquire all the runes and sigil, and sink another half dozen transmutation charges. If you solo one character to perfection, that may be workable. But if you’re an alt-aholic... be ready for disappointment when a change in the skill craft invalidates your current gear in playing the way you want to play.

Best #5 You Can Play For Free

Guild Wars 2 has always been buy to play, with no subscription fee. With Heart of Thorns they retired the ability to purchase the base game in lieu of free accounts... and we should really just focus on the no subscription fee thing. Yes, the new model where you buy either expansion to upgrade a free game into a full game is nice, but the only thing to upsell free accounts is the fact you can log in every few months to unlock the Living Story Episodes for free. Even the major ability to trade gold for gems from Arena Net itself is locked out to free accounts, so you can’t get everything and be completely free.

Achilles Heel #5 Your Mileage May Vary

As stated above, free accounts are more for trying out the mechanics to see if things like combat and movement in the game are things you can enjoy. No map chat for asking for help, limited bag space, and denied access to the currency exchange... yeah, it won’t get you much for actually playing the game. Currency exchange also takes sacks of gold to get decent purchases, so be ready to cook up a gold making routine if that is a path you want to take.

Worst #1 They’ve Given Up On Underwater Combat

Underwater combat hasn’t has a major balance pass in years, choices are limited to any and all of the underwater weapons your profession has, and a good chunk of utilities that might be critical to your build are turned off underwater. Reverents in particular are limited to just two of your legends underwater, which with one weapons means you know exactly what a Rev will bring to the table for underwater combat. Heart of Thorns didn’t have any underwater sections of note, and Path of Fire takes place in a desert... so yes, it looks like we aren’t going to be taking on the Elder Dragon Steve any time soon.

Silver Lining #1 It’s Better Underwater Combat Than Any Other Game

You have not fought underwater in a video game till you’ve fought underwater in Guild Wars 2. The unique skills and lack of breath meter are both amazing. If anything the problems are mechanics clashing with aesthetics. Barracudas, for instance, were pocket raptors before pocket raptors existed. It’s visually pleasing to see certain enemies traveling in densely packed groups... less so when they hit as hard as their solo strength counterparts. Weapon diversity in regards to power and condition damage needs to be addressed as well. And hopefully they will be addressed when we are ready to fight where the quaggans called home.

Worst #2 Raid Contamination

Raids have come to Guild Wars 2, and they’re single handedly the reason one of my guilds don’t do Guild Missions anymore. Spirit, we always joked about you being the raid mom, but now that raids are actually a thing we miss you. (Yes, I know you moving to Australia was also a factor, but still...) But yes, raids are a thing, and even with the legendary armor being unlocked for WvW and PvP, there is still a lot of things locked behind that raid wall. Not least of which is story.

Silver Lining #2 Stories We’d Only Get With Raids

It has been said by the developers, that if it wasn’t for raids we would not have gotten the conclusion to Saul D’Alessio’s story arc. Similarly, while the story of the White Mantle was told in Living Story Season 3, it’s prequel story was told in raids. A prequel story that was cool on several levels... but realistically might not have been told at all if not for raids, and the game would be lesser for it.

Worst #3 Solves Surpluses With A Triple Tap

Sometimes there is an imbalance in the economy that results in too much of one resource in circulation and costing comparatively nothing. The proper reaction is to take one action at a time gradually to nudge things back into equilibrium. Arena Net has on more than one occasion done multiple solutions at the same time. They did it with cloth, and then they did it again with leather. It really needs to stop.

Silver Lining #3 Always Monitoring The Economy

First thing, overreacting is better than not reacting at all. Nothing is worse than watching the economy spiral into disrepair. Second... they will eventually correct an imbalance created by their actions. We did eventually get a leather farm to help get the leather we desperately needed. Yes, we would have prefered if some of their previous actions were undone rather than waiting several months for an injection, but help eventually came.

Worst #4 Spam 2 To Kill Elder Dragon

The Core World Personal Story has all kinds of small things wrong with it that just add up to a big frustration. Certain parts of the endstory only make sense if you play multiple characters of multiple races and select almost every single story path, with many of those paths not paying off the personal connection when the time comes if you selected that path. When they revamped the story for the Chinese release, they cut an entire chapter for several months before adding it back.

But most of all, the battle with Zhaitan is just the underwhelming use of an environmental item, taking aim and spamming skill two. After eighty levels of content and several grand sub bosses, and then suddenly the big bad can be auto attacked away. Arena Net has said that they are unlikely to come back to this, with the maybe acceptable reason it would take a team the size of a living world episode to work on for about the same time as a living world episode to do right. With that said, it isn’t going away on it’s own and hangs like an albatross over Guild Wars 2’s neck.

Silver Lining #4 Constant Improvement

Quality has really picked up during the Living World and build up to where we are now. Season 1 had some growing pains, but from the get go they still had epic bosses like the molten twins, and the season ended with the epic battle for Lion's Arch. Season 2 was a little shaky at times, but we had two epic fights against the Shadow of the Dragon with the final death definitely satisfying. And while I’ve heard some people complain about HoT’s Mordremoth battle, I personally find it mostly perfect; we actually get to fight the thing, and when we finish him it is satisfying. Season 3 meanwhile started strong and had a chain of three epic bosses. I don’t know what lies ahead in Path of Fire, but I look forward to it.

Worst #5 Particle Spam

The best times is Guild Wars 2 are when you are running with the Zerg. The only problem with that is that two hundred players all firing attack skills on a mob... tend to obscure the action. Yes, one could argue that this flurry of blows actually is the action, but such arguments fall on deaf ears when you're flat on your face because you missed the bosses big stomp animation. They did introduce culling for particle effects that you can turn on, but it’s efficiency is sometimes debatable.

Silver Lining #5 Telegraphs Do Work

Arena Net are aware of particle effect spam, if only because two hundred players in one area is also a server load issue. Because of this, they have been designing around it. Giants make big bold clear actions that can be seen when they are literally on fire. Wyverns mouths light aflame just before they breathe fire onto the ground right in front of them. AoEs are now signaled partially with big huge orange fields rather than red fields for clearer visibility through the spam. Pay attention, and you’ll know at least what killed you if not how you could have avoided it.

[dampgaming]

Watch others become YouTube content creators.

First post in ages, and it’s mostly signal boosting Wooden Potatoes new contest... which I’m not participating in since I’m pretty certain I couldn’t operate recording software to save the universe.

But I can take screenshots and ramble, so I’m going to revive this blog. I have at one big writing post I plan on making, and of course there is going to be screenshots.

Of course at the moment I’m at my dad’s, so unless there’s some speed writing tonight do not expect much else till next week.

[dampgaming]

Oh, look! A post that isn't about Guild Wars 2. Who could believe such a thing could exist on a blog that is about gaming and not exclusively Guild Wars 2?

But, yeah. I started playing Flight Rising when during last Monday’s registration window. You can thank Naoren for bringing it to my attention. Mind you, taking screenshot of one browser game isn't going to be any more exciting as taking screenshots of another, but at least this one has pretty pictures.

Case in point, here you see me lair. My progenitors are waiting for the hatching to grow up already so they can start fighting in the Coliseum. I really don’t see myself real big on breeding or collecting dragons, so that just leaves me with raising a small army for RULE THE WORLD... or not. Not like there is any profit in owning a world.

[dampgaming]

Did you know Tequ actually flies around during the charging of the megalaser? More than that, his attack path for the northern battery takes him right over the jump pad back to the megalaster.

Of course, knowing this and actually getting a decent screenshot are two different things. Still, you can see him attacking not just north, but all the batteries from the northern defense.

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Killed Zhaiten on Azure, capping off all eight characters on the main story. While the battle is downhill once the Glory of Tyria is boarded, you have to admit that it is pretty pretty if you take the time to smell the toxic roses.

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Here we find evidence as to why you should consider NOT playing a minimal sized asura. In the middle of personal story cutscenes you can return to control of your character only to find yourself glitched into the middle of the scenery. Thankfully the NPCs where able to finish off the mobs and so I could equip a teleport to my bar and get out of there. But still... things like this shouldn't be a problem.

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Ever notice how the spot everyone decides to stand to fight the shatterer is also the spot he all but dive bombs during his main entrance. Seriously, I know adventurers are brave and all, but just standing there as a huge dragon gives you a haircut with the friction of his belly ribs is just... it takes balls.

[dampgaming]

Filling up my queue by cleaning out my screenshot folder. First up, we see here that Azure Bloodstone hit World completion just before the whole “farm till you drop” fiasco began. Seriously, beta portals...

But, yeah. Azure here now needs to complete her personal story, and then the second half of Living Story Season 2... and that is about it for her. Elementalist isn’t my strongest class, so while I want to stay in practice I don’t plan on maining her any time soon.