Promises, updates, content and reality

I don't even count the discussions about the expansion content anymore. It seems that each day there is a new thread discussing whether we got enough content, when's the new one coming, speculations, hating, raging, hyping...

Why's that?

First of all, I think I got my money's worth from HoT. Did I expect more at launch? Maybe. The thing is, Anet did a pretty good job describing what we'll get. Many things were however promised to come later. That's not bad. I just think that Anet maybe didn't realize that they may have made things worse for themselves.

The winter patch has come and we got our first quarterly update. I expected the start of the Living Story 3. It was about 2 months after HoT release. But ok, its absence was no that bad. There were some really nice improvements but again I expected more. Overall I was satisfied.

Now it's the end of the February and people again discuss the lacking content. Why? Well we have been promised so much that waiting 2 more moths for a part of it seems like a lot. It was a good decision to change the big updates from frantic 2 week tempo to quarterly updates. It's good, however people now expect much more than from a biweekly update, and rightly so.

LS3, new legendaries, WvW overhaul, fractals and many more. I have to say that I am very curious about what the spring update will bring. We were already told that raids and LS3 will come in between, they won't be in the quarterly updates necessarily. We're getting new raid wing at the start of march. That's nice.

As a pve player that likes the story, I will be very disappointed if the LS3 won't come with the spring update. If it will take longer, then even I will start ranting. So far I still have a lot to do ingame, but in two months? Well, I don't know. The same problem I have with new legendaries. Again I expect them to come with the spring update. If these two features won't come even then, I think it will be time to reconsider whether all promised things can be delivered in time.

I'm not even talking about fractal legendary backpiece  or other things. Mainly because I'm not that much interested in them but I agree with people asking for them.

So far, I have still faith in Anet and that these people, that are so passionate about this game, can deliver. The time will tell.

I don't want to be disappointed.

WP WHEN DEAD episode #3

HOW SHALL GRIM DEAL WITH STEELBANE? INFLUENCE THE STORY AND VOTE HERE: http://strawpoll.me/6936020

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wpwhendead.tumblr.com

For more info, updates and my ramblings, check out my twitter: twitter.com/Levi4than

WP WHEN DEAD episode #2

Second episode is out!

WILL GRIM CATCH THE SKRITT? INFLUENCE THE STORY, VOTE HERE: http://strawpoll.me/6862651

wpwhendead.tumblr.com

For more info, updates and my ramblings, check out my twitter: twitter.com/Levi4than

Palawa Joko

Painted while watching the Pro League

WP WHEN DEAD episode #1

First episode is out! I'll always upload a high res version here, but the comic will be primarily presented on wpwhendead.tumblr.com

As you can see, the story will unfold slowly, mainly because I have a limited spare time each week and 5-6 pictures/episode seems reasonable. Nevertheless, I'll try to create an interesting story. 

I hope that you'll like it. 

For more info, updates and my ramblings, check out my twitter: twitter.com/Levi4than

Should outfits be customizable?

It seems that each week, there is a new reddit or forum thread asking Anet to make outfits more customizable. Players want to add the headpiece of their own, some even suggest making gloves, shoulders and boots customizable.

I'm not against that, I'd rather all outfits to be converted to armor skins, however I understand quite well, why the outfits are like they are.

Let's think about it. To create an outfit, you need at least 5 versions of it, one for each race. Let's say that there will be a different version for each gender. So now we need to create 10 versions of one outfit. Each race has at least 5 different body types. We can double it for each gender again.
Now there needs to be at least 10 proportional versions of 1 outfit for each gender of race. So far we need to test, tweak and check 100 versions of one outfit.

Seems like a lot for one outfit, doesn't it?

That's however not all, because of specific proportions, heights and body types, there needs to be an extensive testing and checking for clipping. Thanks to the pieces not being customizable, it's quite easy in comparison to the armors because you test one skin configuration and you don't need to care about other skins clipping through.

There are roughly 80 different armor sets for each armor type. The process of creating an armor is in comparison to creating an outfit roughly similar, however the testing is MUCH more time consuming. You can imagine how much longer can it be if instead of one armor set you need to check for the issues with all other 80 different ones.

It's crazy.

Creation of the outfits is just much easier and much less time consuming. There are much less clipping issues. And less time spent on creation of the outfits is more time spent on creation of armor.

I too was a little disappointed by the number of new armor sets, introduced in HoT, but now that I thought about all this, I can understand. (Though I hope that we'll get at least 3-4 more in LS3 ;) )

And for those mentioning, how much more armor there was in GW1, I say: are you that stupid? There were only humans. One race! 5 times less work! Of course there were much more armor sets!

To conclude this topic, I'd say that I'll rather have the outfits that are not customizable, though it would be so good! Slayer shoulders, Noble Count's chest, Mad Scientist's headpiece... but I'll rather see the devs spend time solving clipping issues for ingame-obtainable armor than gemstore stuff.

Just a quick sidenote: if anyone from Anet reads this... please remake the town clothes tonics into outfits at least ;)

Story after HoT

For a long time, I've been thinking about how I want the story to continue. There were some hints ingame, like for example Trahearne talking about attacking Kralkatorrik. I also want the Tengu to be playable in the next expansion, but they have no connection to Kralk, so I made a workaround, that will make it work. :) So check it out!

CAUTION: WALL OF TEXT AHEAD!

The story begins in Hoelbrak. There occurs a big funeral of Eir and Hoelbrak is full of heroes that came to honor her. The funeral is suddenly interrupted by the series of earthquakes. We get the messages about the earthquakes happening and new volcanoes erupting around whole Tyria. Two of the messages are especially troubling. A new volcano has erupted in Heart of Maguuma in Auric Basin. Another one reports Kralkatorrik's move from east to west, which has created a new Brand in south.

We rush to Tarir and find it in ruins. Exalted are fighting with the Destroyers. At least half of the city is destroyed and Glint's egg has disappeared. It seems that Primordus minions got an egg. Braham leaves to Rata Novus to check on Taimi.


Another bad news reach us in Tarir. Logan sends us the message that the Queen Jennah has disappeared in the occuring chaos. We leave Rox in Tarir to look for the traces of the egg and rush to Divinity's Reach while Rytlock leaves to help Black Citadel.

Queensdale has been changed to the land full of fire and destroyers that constantly attack human city. We fight through and meet up with Logan. Together we search for the queen but she has disappeared without a trace. Even countess Anise has no idea, where the Queen is. Humans need a ruler and so Minister Caudecus is voted the King Regent in queen's absence. He recognizes us from the time when we disrupted his plans in his manor. Because of this he refuses to help us and the Pact with the search for the egg and containing Destroyers and Branded.

We meet in Lion's Arch with Zojja just in time to welcome the Tengu delegation. The Tengu have been hit from both Primordus and Kralkatorrik. They come to ask us for help and in return they promise to join Pact. We make a deal with them and divide the forces so that one part of the army goes to the Black Citadel to help with the Branded and another one goes with us back to Maguuma.

We travel to Rata Novus and meet Rox on the way. She confirms that the egg was indeed stolen by the Destroyers. When we reach Rata Novus, we find Taimi and Braham in company of Inquest. They reveal that their base was close to Rata Novus and reveal that they are tracking the destroyer army, travelling with an egg. It seems that they are bringing the egg to their master. The Inquest are shady but they seem to get along with Taimi, so we decide to trust them.

Rytlock come to Rata Novus with the news. The Pact has defended the Black Citadel and they are marching south to deal with the Kralkatorrik. Across all Tyria there are fights between the Branded and Destroyers. Inquest have a schematics of flying fortress that could be a great help in fight against the dragons, so we send Taimi with Zojja and Inquest to Rata Sum. Meanwhile we pursue the Destroyer army and get reports of Branded force coming the same way.

While we prepare our offense, we get an unexpected visitor - Palawa Joko. He reveals us the exact location of the egg and promises us help if we let him control Orrians. After the defeat of Mordremoth, we don't have much at our disposal, so we don't have any choice but to agree. 

Everything seems to be ready for the battle. With Inquest's help, Taimi has found out the weakness of Primordus and the flying fortress has been finished. Right before we attack the Destroyers, the Branded attack them first with Kralkatorrik in the lead. Primordus crawls from under the ground and the dragons start fighting each other. We try to contain both forces but the flying fortress is damaged in the fight and crashes down on Palawa Joko. 

Zojja is gravely wounded and tells us to command the whole army to run from the fortress as far as we can. She explains that the fortress has a selfdestruction mechanism strong enough to destroy an elder dragon. She's dying so she offers do it.

It's our choice which dragon to hit.

We don't have any better option so we reluctantly agree. The fortress explodes and the beam of magic hits one of the dragons. The second one grabs the egg and escapes to Elona. 

We send the remains of the army to set up the offense in Elona. The risen army has disbanded after Palawa Joko's death but Rytlock offers to channel Joko's legend as revenant. We need that army.

We travel with him to Arah. While he does that, he explains to us how he got into the mists and how he became a revenant there. He's successful, Joko appears as the spirit and reveals to us that his risen army has taken Zhaitan's body to Elona and that he serves the elder dragon, who will revive Zhaitan as his lieutenant and by doing this, controlling not only his minins, but also Zhaitan's minions. He tries to stop us from leaving, but E appears and helps us escape the Arah through the secret tunnels. 

E is revealed to be Kasmeer's father. He tells us that he has found out that the Joko had an agreement with Caudecus. He has no idea why would Joko do that but at least he knows the location of the Queen - Elona. We rush to Elona to find it under the control of Joko's and dragon's minions. We rescue the queen but we are too late already. The dragon has destroyed the egg and with the newfound power, he revived Zhaitan. Elder Dragon flies away to Divinity's Reach. If he consumes the bloodstone, it will unleas an incredible cataclysm and we will have no chance to stop it.

We hurry to stop him but first we need to kill Zhaitan that has been transformed into a "dunediver". We pursue the dragon on charr tanks and defeat him for the second time. We muster everything and everyone, we can find and rush to Divinity's Reach. It's under the attack of the elder dragon. E gives us the Scepter of Orr that he has managed to steal from Joko but noone of us is able to control such powerful weapon. Anise reveals that she is Livia, she takes the weapon and we manage to defeat the dragon with her help. 

There is a peace again, at least for a while. Caudecus is brought to justice. Taimi joins inquest despite our objections. We take a journey back to Maguuma to finally bury Trahearne with honors and find out a celestial avatar near his place of demise. It's revealed to be a spirit of Eir, who has returned in this form because she has been learning druidism before her death. She warns us that soon we need to expect Jormag's attack because he has got a ton of new magic from the deaths of Kralkatorrik and Primordus.

***

So, what do you think? I think that this could be really exciting. 

Also with Tengu coming as a playable race, this could offer us another part of the story. The Tengu would be accessible only to those that finished the story of Zhaitan and HoT because their story arc would start after that. Levels 1-30 would be their story of being attacked by two dragons and about them trying to survive. After 30, the story would continue with their arrival to LA and offering to join the Pact.

The number of maps therefore would be higher than in HoT. Tengu would get 3 starting maps + the map of their city. Together with these, we would get 5 more maps in Elona. 8 new maps (+ city) would be IMO an optimal number.

WP WHEN DEAD - Teaser 2

A new character enters the story! Teaser 2 :)

WP WHEN DEAD - Teaser 1

First teaser! (There will be at least one more ;)) And yeah, you can see that the first episode will be released on the 13. Feb. Stay tuned :)

I'm still missing some things here

State of the Game blog has just been released. I am mostly satisfied, though I'd like to see at least release date for Living Story 3. The story of HoT has finished abruptly, and LS3 can't come soon enough. I say this from the perspective of a pve player. I know that wvw and pvp have huge issues. Still... 

This post is not about whining. It's awesome that Anet is revisiting Shatterer. It's great that we will be able to glide anywhere (though I can't find so many high spots in the old maps). New fractals? Awesome! Tybalt being a new mist champion? I fear that the other champions won't be used so much because of how much people love him. :)

So what is this post about, you ask? It's about things I'd like to see also in GW2. Some are small features, some are big. So let's get to it.

A MERCHANT OPTION TO BUY MORE PIECES OF AN ITEM

This together with removing the bags in bags in bags is in my opinion very necessary. It's a standard in other MMOs, why it isn't in GW2 from the start, is beyond me. Basically, I'd like to click much less. Much less. Same with consume all option. I trust Anet to gradually implement this for all other items, but just for sure ;)

INSPECT

This may be a controversial feature and we want to keep our friendly community and this would promote elitism and so on. You know what? Add a dps meter with it! Now if people want to see what you wear in dungeon/raid, they'll ask you to ping your armor anyway. I doubt that the community would suddenly become bad. Sure there would be some bad apples, but there  are already some. In general it would benefit the game because people could improve and get advice. Also you wouldn't need to whisper somebody, what's the name of his/her gloves.

DUELLING

As I said, I'm a pve player. I play pvp rarely and wvw extra rarely. And still I'd like duelling. It's fun. Many people like it. To prevent from being spammed, just add an option to opt for getting duelling requests or to automatically block them and that's it. People that won't want to duel will just check this and they won't be bothered. Everybody will be happy.

HOUSING + REWORKED SCRIBING

Proper housing. With scribing redone to be normal affordable profession. With decorations lootable across the world. This has so much gemstore potential for Anet if they'd implement this system correctly. Both players and developers would be satisfied. 

Wildstar has introduced an awesome housing system. I played that game only for it (and also for being able to play as maniacal evil hamster). If it's too difficult to implement, I'd suggest an easier system from LOTRO. Each house had a number of spots for the decorations. But I'd definitely love the WS system where you can put anything anywhere at any size.

TAXIDERMIST PROFESSION

I'm thinking again of LOTRO. Almost anything had a rare chance of dropping a special item that could be redone with taxidermist into a house decoration. This was huge! Even farming for specific mobs was exciting when you wanted each type of bear or some specific animal in your house. Each boss had also a chance to drop a special decoration trophy. Why not design a crafting profession around this? With affordable scribing, I'd never go back to any other crafting professions than these two.

FISHING

I'm suggesting this because of the Taxidermist profession and also because it can be a lot of fun if done right. Farming for the mentioned different bear trophies was not so exciting as fishing for some rare huge fish that you could hang on your wall. And also it was a great relax. GW2 has already enough water for this. I'm sure that people would love it. It also could be an alternative option of getting some mats for jeweler (Pearls etc.)

MORE ARMOR AND WEAPON SKINS

Obtainable ingame of course. HoT has brought some great looking skins, however I think that there should be more. Damn, if it were me, I'd gave each map a set of unique armor and weapons. Seriously, we need more of those. I understand Anet's position and why they develop a lot of skins for gemstore, but for each 2-3 gemstore sets, we should get one set ingame. I may sound entitled a little bit. Oh well.

For this, there is quite an easy maybe temporary fix - remake town clothes tonics into universal armor skins. Those skins were so awesome. I still dream of my asura engi using a Leather Hoodie. 

MORE MAPS

I'm 90% certain that we'll get new maps in new Living Story but seriously, 4 maps is not much. They are huge, they are interesting and they are beautiful. But after a month you are done with them. And if you're like me and you also grinded  mats for new legendaries there, then you are already sick of them. At least two more, Anet. And please implement them with Living Story. (Yeah I want them ASAP)

NEW RACE

Tengu, Kodan... Yes, I miss them, don't judge me! I know it's an expansion content. I know that introducing a new race requires a lot of development. I want to play as them. Their lore is very interesting. Seriously, I want them playable. I just hope that Anet won't make Largos playable as first. It would be a lazy solution IMO to introduce a human butterfly. Meh. 

CONCLUSION

I won't talk here about promised features that are still at works (legendaries *cough cough*). I know that eventually they'll be implemented. Funny thing is that suggested Taxidermy, Fishing, New race or Housing are even more important to me than new story. Maybe because they offer a huge incentive and replayability.

Let's hope that Anet will implement those some day. Or you know, Soon TM ;)