Author: Ravious

Creep is a dirty MMO word. Yes, there are creeps who should be reported for saying things that would make any mother smack the scheisse out of them, but this is different. This is when a developer tries to make things more awesome and toes outside the earlier line of power, content, etc. and leaves the priors behind.

Creep in its worst sense is an erosion of the importance of earlier content. The most notable creep is power creep. In updating an MMO will add more levels or more gear tiers thereby lowering the importance of earlier accomplishments.  Another might be feature creep that gives people the new ability (with expansion purchase) to fly anywhere.

I feel ArenaNet’s expansion is going to be one of the lowest amounts of creep we can possibly see for an MMO expansion. The reason: compartmentalization. Continue reading [GW2] Creeping HoT – Maps and Masteries

The Vinewrath is one of Guild Wars 2 open-world “raids”. Compared to most conventional raids the mechanics/roles are pretty simple, but they do exist. For example, someone in the lane needs to keep an eye on the backline because I’ve seen slingers wreck whole lanes with rock bombards. A couple people in the thrasher champion fight need to deal with pustules. Many lane wipes have occurred from pustules.

Each Vinewrath fight so far had felt full with people map having been hopping between instances of Silverwastes like locusts. Nobody appeared to know the recommended population for fighting the Vinewrath. Players even felt pressured to do the content now! Now. Now! in case it became difficult later on when the active population moved on.  Continue reading [GW2] Scaled Raiding

‘All you, necromancers,’ Colin implied at yesterday’s PAX South Twitch stream, ‘can now be as mighty as Trahearne by using a greatsword.’

I would buy the expansion for that single feature, I decided. Continue reading [GW2] Heart of Thorns Expansion

The short of it is: it is a vast improvement over Season 1. There is more permanence, more cohesive, apparent plot, and a strong heading. ArenaNet seems to have gone from “too many cooks in the kitchen” to “yes, chef” in one Living World season. Also spoilers.

Permanence!

The most objective improvement is that almost everything is now a permanent fixture. Every launch period (2+ weeks) a player can log in to snag the personal story chapter for free. Thereafter it costs 200 gems ($2.50), or 20 something gold. After that, whatever instances and achievements that come with the chapter are at the player’s whim. There are no timed achievements. Either the achievements are tied to the story instances or to the zones themselves.

ArenaNet also chose to devote most of their attention to permanent zones rather than instanced, temporary pop-up areas, such as the Tower of Nightmares, or temporary activities to zones, such as the Marionette. The debris left behind by the temporary activities and areas makes areas of the zone feel unfinished. Continue reading [GW2] Season 2 Living World Review

There is a lot to talk about with the latest Guild Wars 2 update, which closes out Season 2 of the Living World story. I am going to go from least spoiler’y to most spoiler’y in my posts about the update. First, I am going to talk about the Silverwastes and its boss.

The latest two zones are what I would consider highpoints of MMO zone design because each zone has its own rhythm and life. My least favorite MMO zones are ones where there’s a bit of everything, and none of it really ties together. My favorites are ones where when I enter the zone I know what the cadence will be. Dry Top is an event farming zone with handy dandy hourly timer and reset. Silverwastes is more chaotic, and also more rewarding. Continue reading [GW2] The Vinewrath

Mrs. Ravious is now the proud owner of two legendaries. It definitely helped that the RNGhost in the Machine decided to give, ironically, Mrs. Ravious the Leaf of Kudzu precursor for the holidays. Her Christmas gift last year was the Leaf of Kudzu. This year it was put up on the auction block with the proceeds turning in to Dawn, the precursor for the legendary greatsword Sunrise.

Then for the holidays she farmed well… everything, and I led her through Ascalon Catacombs a dozen or so times. I now stand next to my wife like a filthy casual.

I kid. She hates that I don’t have a legendary, but I don’t know which legendary ArenaNet made to look good with necromancers. Wait, yes I do. None. They made none legendaries for the stepchild class of PvE. I guess if I want to be some anti-necromancer, bubble-gum angel holding-a-rainbow… necro like Noscoc I could do that. Continue reading [GW2] Double the Legendary, Double the Fun

Before this I had played enough PvP in Guild Wars 2 to make it to a ways in to the Deer rank. This is very little, honestly, compared to the amount of WvW and PvE I have done. I was still okay with my necromancer, mostly in condition form, and I enjoyed watching PvP tournaments and streams on Twitch.

Then they changed things. No longer could I really hide in a server with 8-10 players on a team. Now they were getting pretty strict about PvP being a 5v5 ordeal. Being a 20%+ reason why your team lost is a lot more scary than being able to hide in a crowd.

What got me out of my shell was (1) the understanding that there are a lot of players hitting that PvP button a lot worse than I was, and (2) the Wintersday reward track being really good. So, I went in to PvP once again with a goal because, afterall, I had a carrot I had to chase. Continue reading [GW2] Where I PvP, Again

Season 2 of Guild Wars 2 finally feels expansion-y enough to talk about in a way where I can review it beyond “this update is cool or bad”. It’s strong enough to see a trajectory in design by ArenaNet. The storytelling is different. The goals are different. And biggest and most noticeable of all, we have new zones. We have zones which feel as important as the core zones, excluding Southsun Cove. That is what I want to review. Continue reading [GW2] Maguuma Wastes Review