Author: Ravious

I think this two-week period in Guild Wars 2 is good. A lot of people are returning to school, and honestly a break is a good thing. Whether intended or not, I think ArenaNet has given many the break with the return of Super Adventure Box. There’s still plenty for the casual hardcore to do in the way of working on ascended weaponry, but there’s no push to keep beating back invasions.

Ascended Offense

Ascended weaponry is a good point between exotics and legendaries. It requires a substantial commitment, but nowhere on the order of chasing a legendary. The time-gating is rather light compared to getting that daily laurel for ascended trinkets. However, it is a commitment. It takes a commitment to get to crafting level 450, but players need to salvage exotics anyway for the Glob of Dark Matter (account bound exotic “glob”). It takes commitment to mine or chop a couple hundred tier 5 nodes (or buy from the trading post). And, the biggest hurdle I see, is it takes commitment to do more Guild Wars 2 content, specifically those that give empyreal fragments. Continue reading [GW2] School of Hard Knocks and Impressions

There is nothing that I can write that can compare with some other sites’ fundamental previews of today’s Super Adventure Box update for Guild Wars 2; so I want to head in another direction: What I got from Josh Foreman who guided the preview tour of Super Adventure Box: Back to School.

In one sense it’s “more of the same”. There’s a cute, Notchian world filled with harsh jumps and old school mechanics. The setting is different with World 2, Zone 1 having been previewed last Super Adventure Box, and World 2, Zone 2 being high in the clouds with the school of assassins. It is a nice change from the dark, canopy covered swamp of the later part of World 1. Still, World 2 is part of the Super Adventure Box as a whole. Players know approximately what they are going to get. Continue reading [GW2] Super Adventure Preview: School Loops

My biggest fear when Guild Wars 2 was launching was not that it would flop. It is a different  MMO beast. ArenaNet has a clear vision of what kind of MMO they want it to be, and it is not much like World of Warcraft and its ilk. It is also a success. Over 3.5 million units have been sold, and that is not divulging their cash shop info, which they hint is very sustaining. (An expansion hitting retail or a Steam release would easily be on the cards if it wasn’t.)

No, my biggest fear was my own. What would become of my blogging? For months and months it had been about speculation and excitement. It had been about dreams and not reality. What would happen when that reality came? What kind of payment would I have for the piper? I was actually worried that some golden age was dimming with the release of Guild Wars 2.

Clearly, I had nothing to worry about. Continue reading [GW2] Year One

For gamers, scaling seems easy. You know when we just ask for features like “why can’t you just add this feature?” And the developer hears “why can’t you sleep under your desk so you can spend every waking hour coding and rewriting tools?” Scaling is one of those things.

It’s just not the tech required, but the actual design. How much scaling? What about players that suck, and equally what about players with perfect stats/builds? The amount of variables can be mind-boggling. Most importantly, where is that sweet scaling spot to keep things fun?

Scaling has been one of Guild Wars 2 jewels since launch, but I feel that at launch it was a gem not well cut. The amount of moving variables seemed to be smaller than what one would dream for scaling. In Orr, events would simply add more undead balloons to pop instead of actually making it harder for a zerg of farmers. My eyes would glaze over as 20 bandits per wave would attack a windmill in the level 2-3 human area.

Throughout their first year ArenaNet has been adding more ways to scale. The most obvious change is scaling upwards to veteran and champion status enemies. With this latest update though, I feel ArenaNet’s scaling jewel is now very well cut. Guild Wars 2 has achieved mastery in scaling their content. Continue reading [GW2] Mastery of Scaling

A whole zone upended on the hour, every hour. That is what the latest content patch in Guild Wars 2 brings in Clockwork Chaos. The mad genius Scarlet Briar is attacking Tyria, and at the beginning of the hour a zone becomes her violent playground. Any zone above level 25 except Orr (locked in time) and Southsun (locked in… karka?) is fair game for her madness.

Mechanically, it works like this. For 15 minutes there is calm in Tyria as many players are emptying their bags of loot from the last invasion. Right on the hourly dot, the Living World UI will say there’s a new invasion in a zone, let’s say Harathi Hinterlands. Interested players teleport to a random place in Harathi Hinterlands at that moment. Once there it will be apparent where the events are. There are 3 waves of twisted clockwork creatures and the latter 2 waves are supplemented by either a Molten Core invasion or an Aetherblade invasion, which also have to be dealt with. If all waves are defeated players can fight the boss, Scarlet. If the players can’t work down all the waves in 45 minutes, the meta-event still rewards players pretty well for progress made. Continue reading [GW2] Tick Tock Assault

Each month in Guild Wars 2 the Living World seems to be a little different. Two months ago the Dragon Bash had a formulaic, festival feel, but was followed up by one of the best dungeons Guild Wars 2 has seen. Last month there was an amazing, playground of a mini-zone coupled with a swath of instanced activities (a couple of which are now in the daily rotation). This month was another festival, which raised the hackles of many. Anthony Ordon, who graces the Guild Wars 2 forums quite a bit (thankfully), did his best to curb too much speculation on what made a Guild Wars 2 festival.

He’s right. Queen’s Jubilee is not a festival in the relaxing click-about-town sense. It’s a blood-filled, armor-breaking gladiatorial arena. And, in my opinion it was the best opener for a month-long Living World update, but perhaps not for what you would think. Sure, the rewards are amazing. Everybody is watching gold fall from the sky. The Crown Pavilion is full of high energy. The permanent features, the currency wallet and daily activity rotation, are very welcome additions. But, those are not the main reasons I really like Queen’s Jubilee. The main reason is…

Queen’s Jubilee went back to its roots of playing core Guild Wars 2 to set the stage for August. Continue reading [GW2] The Core of Queen’s Jubilee

Queen’s Jubilee is the first release for the August content release in Guild Wars 2. The Queen’s Jubilee is a festival centered on the human capital city of Divinity’s Reach. This guide is written for those just buying Guild Wars 2 now or returning after a long break. Any level character may participate in the activities below, unless otherwise noted. Continue reading [GW2] New Player’s Guide to Queen’s Jubilee

ArenaNet did a few things differently this time around with the press preview for the upcoming Queen’s Jubilee. Instead of being granted full access, which allows some to write full guides and spoilers, ArenaNet prepared a private Twitch stream. The main reason seems to be that this next update is chock full of story happenings, and the team did not want anything spoiled. So my first impressions are going to be narrower than previous ones.

Anyway, the human queen decided that a hole in her capital city was not a good symbol of human resilience and triumph, and so she decided to make it in to a fierce battleground, the Crown Pavilion. The Crown Pavilion is a new sub-zone in Divinity’s Reach split up in to a 6-piece pie shape. All around the Pavilion are the mechanical representations of humanity’s enemies (the new Watchknights with a layer of mesmer magic).

Continue reading [GW2] Come Together for the Queen’s Jubilee