Author: Ravious

Hitherby some spoilers

The Edge of the Mist is quite possibly the most beautiful map in Guild Wars 2. The only negative I have is I’m a bit unsure of all the clouds getting in my way. Otherwise I am just in awe. The land is so rich. I stop and stare at some statues with tattered flags, and get run over by a zerg. The landscapes in Guild Wars 2 continue to get better and better.

Edge of the Mists, the new World vs. World (“WvW”) map is also rich in secondary mechanics. For instance, one can turn into an invincible ball of light for a few minutes to scout. Or, sick of your professions lack of awesome? Turn into a Kodan with all new skills that make the current kings of Guild War(riors) 2 jealous. There are bridges to destroy, pre-built cannons to fire, and it feels much more like a huge sandbox instead of the comparatively sterile environment of WvW proper. I like it a lot better, but I am going to have to spend significant time to understand it all. Initial reports say it is amazing for small scale PvP, and bring your stability and knockbacks because falling deaths are what’s on tap. Continue reading [GW2] Stories in the Mists

It took me awhile to see a problem with the Marionette. It wasn’t until the weekend warriors arrived that I felt that ArenaNet pushed too far with the Marionette.

The Marionette in a closed box is a really fun experience. The lane fighting seems really balanced because it pushes the lane defenders just enough. If there isn’t a champion watchwork getting close to the gate then a champion Aetherblade is running amok in the back lines. Then during the “arena” boss phase the intensity of the fight increases ten-fold as the lane lives or dies based on the performance of one of their five platforms.

The problem is on the platforms. There are new boss mechanics that are perfect for the action-oriented Guild Wars 2. The first boss has front-arc immunity so one player has to basically “tank” so the others can wail away on the back. The second boss has immunity until it can be lead to run over its own mines. And so on.  Continue reading [GW2] The Intense Marionette Academy

Yesterday was a rollercoaster of emotion in playing the Origins of Madness update in Guild Wars 2. There was good; there was bad. There were shouts of joy and tears of rage. And, it all happened on the hour. Every hour.

The basis of the update are a Tequatl-difficulty wurm battle, a less difficult Marionette battle, a story instance, and a secret lair instance. The two battles happen on rotating hours (Wurm = odd server hour, Marionette = even server hour), and the two instances are player invoked. I’ll run down the line.

Triple Threat

The wurm battle, Triple Threat, is… good. It’s bad for a pick-up player filled Living World, but I feel that it is a fine accompaniment to Tequatl and dedicated guild/commanders heading forward on these challenges. The map needs to split up into three equal parts, escort one snappy Asuran triplet to the wurm site, and take down their wurm. The wurms are invulnerable until a burn phase, and each has a different mechanic to opening it. Crimson is easiest, Cobalt is just a tad harder, and Amber is going to be the hellgate. Continue reading [GW2] Welcome Back Wurm Juice

The first hints to this year’s Living Story kickoff dropped this morning with an ominously voiced video showcasing the major content of next week’s Origins of Madness. The Origins of Madness chapter is one of the last four for the first season of the Living Story. I think maybe we will learn about Scarlet’s origins? That’s mostly unclear with the official preview page not up yet. I am hoping for some personal story-ish content as well.

Massively, and others, got a press preview of the next chapter. It focuses on two major boss battles. The non-permanent addition is fighting a stories-high Twisted Marionette, which has testing cycles as it seemingly descends from Scarlet’s UFO to stomp on players. The permanent boss battle involves gigantic jungle wurms in Bloodtide Coast.

I am pretty excited. Open world boss battles have become pretty core to my favorite things in Guild Wars 2. I play Tequatl as much as I can, and the Temples and other world bosses are pretty much go to content when Mrs. Ravious and I ask what’s next… especially when we are bit too wound out or wine’d up to play in WvW. (Though, playing drinking games based on commander… uhh, commands is pretty fun. Protip: do not take a sip every time someone yells “stack”.) Continue reading [GW2] Living Story Season 1 Startup

Okay, so my family unit has changed in the past 500 days, but so has Guild Wars 2 and ArenaNet. The first year ArenaNet said they needed to transition to the Living World output. Now, ArenaNet Director Chris Whiteside says they are on the Death Star level of content output. They are also pushing forward with a lot more player communication having community initiatives and forthcoming community interviews. Looking back… 

My black day in Guild Wars 2 was in the beginning of Flame & Frost. Before that, my close friends were playing Guild Wars 2. They were warily on board with the whole update scheme, and then they left with the all the problem associated with Flame & Frost. Namely, the slow tempo, meaningless and grindy gameplay, and unclear story were just unappealing to folks used to expansion-like content (many hailed from LOTRO). I did my best to rope them back with the Molten Alliance Facility dungeon, but they had virtually checked out. Using conjectural statistics, I can only assume that this was the case for many, and then coupled with ascended items, whole crops were lost (conjecturally). Continue reading [GW2] 501 Days

My Guild Wars 2 account turns 500 days old today. It seems like a nice round number, and a good reason as any to write some thoughts. I’ll start with a not-so-hyperbolic statement: Guild Wars 2 has made a serious impact on my life. These 500 days, plus everything before that has changed the course of my life and my family.

500 days ago I was alone in gaming in my family. My wife appreciated my hobby, but she didn’t understand all my running (LOTRO) or all the killing (TF2). My two girls understood a little more. I actually had my eldest (4 or 5 at the time) do a basic LOTRO skill rotation. She also liked going around on the horse. Still, LOTRO was incredibly hard to explain to anybody not a gamer. Continue reading [GW2] 500 Days

I was getting a little squeamish with my Christmas gift for Mrs. Ravious because she was fast approaching enough gold to buy the Leaf of Kudzu legendary precursor, and she was hellbent. I embellished some rumors I saw about ArenaNet adding precursor crafting as a Guild Wars 2 holiday gift (rumors which I did not make up), which made her cautious enough for me to jump in and buy the precursor (516 gold).

Thank you so much to those that donated. I told Mrs. Ravious about your help and she was extremely grateful and thought it was the coolest thing that it was a communal effort. It was also a communal effort in my household as my girls were in charge of making the “card” for her gift. My 7 year old drew the picture on her own (we are still amazed at her drawing ability), and my 4 year old made up the story. I edited the story because otherwise there would be a three page tangent on the astronaut’s adventures. I did my best to keep her focused on “mommy” and “the flower bow” during her telling.

Happy Holidays To All!

–Ravious

In a moment of clarity, the obviousness of the connection apparent for years to most, I saw that Guild Wars 2 vistas must have been a nod to Assassin’s Creed’s viewpoints. In both games there is a player-initiated cutscene to showcase the environment. Cue panoramic music. Cue widescreen format. Except… there’s a difference, and it actually took me until Assassin’s Creed 3 to notice.

In Assassin’s Creed 3 the viewpoint scene gets a little more dramatic with a quick-pan/slow-pan combo angling around Connor (the player) who is standing dramatically above the earth, defiantly against the landscape. In Guild Wars 2, I was lucky to find my player in most of the vistas. I remember one of my favorites that I did a doubletake on to get a proper screenshot was where my character was clearly in small view on a fort in Fields of Ruin. Looking back, I am surprised to find that this was such a rare occurrence.

In 2014, I want Guild Wars 2 to have a little more player-oriented focus. I want my characters to have more screen time, and I want other players to have more screen time. Continue reading [GW2] 2014 Focus Wish – Eye’s On Me

A few turns of the moon ago I wrote about Guild Wars 2 having structured PvP (“sPvP”) as an insulated game separate from the first game. This last update has made one slight (from a gamer’s perspective) change that I feel is going to start felling that wall of insulation separating the first game (PvE et al.) from the second game (sPvP). The change is that sPvP is now part of the Guild Wars 2 economy.

This morning I did a very brief test. I played two rounds of sPvP on a random server (8v8). I lost one round and won the second round along with getting a bunch of top player points (more Glory). I made about 25 silver and around 300 Glory and change. (I meant to do more, I apologize, but a Scarlet Invasion and then Toypocalypse stole most of my time last night.)

Getting a dozen or so silver each match is a new thing. It does not compare to PvE champ farming or dungeon speed-running, but it is also a non-negligible amount. The most important thing is that the umbrella currency of gold does not become stagnant simply because one wants to play sPvP. Continue reading [GW2] Insulation-Breaking Gold in sPvP