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[GW2] The Battle for Wychmire Swamp

Each race’s starting zone has a capstone meta-event that ends the zone in a nice bang. Of the five, I have played every one but the asuran one. The sylvari starting zone finale, The Battle for Wychmire Swamp, is by far my favorite. It also provides a really good starting point for what to expect as far as open world “raid”-like content.

The meta-event kicks off unassumingly when the Nightmare Court (evil syvlari) attacks a small warden encampment, Falias Thorp, in the swamp. After the camp is defended, Gamarien pokes his head out and asks players to escort him as he checks for more Nightmare Court activity because he believes that some summoned husks are harbingers of a greater foe. The summoned husks are tree-like elementals clearly twisted by nightmare. Then players escort Gamarien in a loop around the swamp to eventually land near the center, where chaos begins and Gamarien flees. I would call these first two events, the defense event and the escort event, the prelude to the battle. Continue reading [GW2] The Battle for Wychmire Swamp

[GW2] How to Level in GW2 Without Really Trying

I have earned that last bit of xp and leveled by:

  • completing an event
  • completing a heart
  • rezzing people
  • gathering crafting materials (3 levels in a row)
  • crafting a bag
  • finding a new area
  • WvWing
  • viewing a scenic vista
  • completing an achievement

But as of yet, not just from the xp of killing a monster.

: Zubon

This week’s theme brought to you by Anjin, the letters G and W, and the number 2.

Dear Bookah

Dear Bookah. You bookahs don’t waypoint here anymore; I’ve noticed that this year, you seem to shun the place. Maybe it’s the genius of the asura coupled with our sheer force of unbridled will to tame this tarnished coast. Perhaps it’s me. When he first travelled here, Drojjenny wrote that the jungles were filled with the chaos of magic and life and bookahs seeking the druids lived in this jungle. A hundred years later, even they have departed. Continue reading Dear Bookah

[GW2] Creating Community by Serving Crow

The other day on Reddit’s Guild Wars 2 page, a discussion was had about a Guild Wars 2 Guru forum thread about the three-day bannings regarding names and speech. Most of the smarter comments with people that wrote like they knew what they were talking about seemed to suggest that there was little difference between a stonewall ban using form letters and writing a personal “This is why you were banned” letter. I tended to agree.

ArenaNet decided that it would be better to air some dirty laundry. The effect? It appears that they are reinforcing how they want their community to be, and people appear to be rallying behind them in force. I won’t reiterate them here, but a few are absolutely golden. The way ArenaNet presents them is so deadpan. “Name: OK Chat: Not OK [some horrible thing where your mother would slap you until you bled].

I realize that different people have different jobs. For instance the valiant(s) behind ArenaNetSupportTeam are not the people fixing the Trading Post. Still, I was initially amazed that they could spend the time checking into people’s accounts, and responding so publicly. Hopefully what this really does is give a few more people pause before making a character based on something crass.

At the same time, ArenaNet Zeus, Mike O’Brien made sure to clear the air that the first player to reach level 80 did so with ArenaNet’s good graces. It’s interactivity like these that makes me an ArenaNet fan. I can’t wait until the Guild Wars 2 forums open up. I expect a lot of good developer interaction.

–Ravious

[GW2] Full of Love

Hearts are Guild Wars 2’s upgrade to quest hubs. While “I need help…” usually means “…killing [these things],” I have also filled hearts by:

  • returning wayward chickens
  • engaging in synchronized military practice
  • activating golems
  • turning into a snow leopard
  • rezzing fishercharr
  • rezzing soldiers
  • brawling with drunk soldiers and then rezzing them
  • rescuing wolf cubs

    • Continue reading [GW2] Full of Love

Dear Bookah

Dear Bookah. I sometimes feel as if I’ve given birth to this Province. Somewhere, between the verisimilitudes of the jungle and geodesic batteries a split opened up and order evolved here. No matter how hard I ponder, Metrica Province remains a singularity, an alpha point in my life that refuses all hypotheses. I return each time making my mark in this zone that I hope, in the blinding glare of my genius, will have blossomed into progress beyond this anomaly.  Continue reading Dear Bookah

[GW2] All There in the Manual

Many people have wondered how those combo attacks work in GW2, because something is apparently doing something in all those explosions during the event. Conveniently, the GW2 manual was posted and has a section on combo attacks. It says almost nothing and recommends experimenting. (If you are reading this in 2016, and that link gets a third sentence, hello people of the future!)

The wiki, as expected, actually explains things, and does so in a beautifully simple table with links to what skills create those combos. (If you are reading this in late 2012, and the wiki is reliably available after the crushing launch week traffic, hello people of the future!)

This explains all those “Area Healing” pop-ups during that “fight the champion giant” event.

: Zubon

[GW2] Quality of Life Improvements Since Beta

I am sure there are more, but I was too busy playing to note them all. Feel free to contribute your own. It flows quite nicely. Not new, but there is a special joy from every person you tell about the “Deposit All Collectibles” button.

: Zubon

[GW2] Crafting Tools

To harvest crafting materials, Guild Wars 2 uses a system functionally identical to LotRO, but it feels different. In both cases, you need to have a crafting item equipped to harvest, say a mining pick. In both cases, there are three; in GW2, you can wield all 3 at once to start, while you must manually switch in LotRO until you can build a multi-tool later in the game (advantage GW2 for less switching between tools). In both cases, they have different tiers of tools for the different tiers of crafting, although in LotRO the tiers matter for crafting rather than harvesting (advantage LotRO for less switching between tools).

The difference is that you buy explicit charges in GW2, while you have an item that needs repair in LotRO. Both are goldsinks, and in both cases you need to spend X gold every Y harvests to maintain your tools. GW2 gets the advantage for making it explicit how many charges you have left, rather than wondering how many more swings 4 durability will get you in LotRO. Maybe this just comes from having played LotRO for years, but it feels wrong to have “charges of pickaxe” rather than owning a pickaxe. From GW1, I accept that salvaging kits wear out, but it feels wrong when my sickle disappears. I will probably get used to it.

I have yet to run the numbers on whether you lose something in selling partially used pickaxes. In LotRO, you would naturally repair your crafting tools while in town, but you cannot just throw in another 200 charges of pickaxe in GW2.

Request to developers: can we have a visible indicator that a trade tool is low and/or out? Maybe it exists but is too subtle for me to notice. It stinks to move between nodes and discover that your sickle silently shattered on that last carrot.

: Zubon