Guild Wars 2

Enjoying The Story

stargrace September 7, 2012 3 Comments

I love the little details I find in Guild Wars 2, like the random mail I get from my old Asura mentor, Zojja. She’s always keeping me updated on what’s going on with her, and she’s never forgotten any of my own deeds, no matter how far from home I may be when I’ve accomplished them. Makes my little Velours a bit home sick, to be honest. She hasn’t been ‘Savant’ for quite some time, now she’s called Commander. I wish there were more ‘stories’ within the game that didn’t rely quite so heavily on GW1 lore, because I haven’t explored everything GW1 has to offer (yet). It’s on my list of things to do (along with a number of other things, that list seems to be growing longer every single day). By stories I don’t mean that everyone doesn’t have their own little one, they do, but I wish my character felt more connected to the world as a whole aside from her personal story that I follow through the zones.

That’s what I’ve been working on lately, her personal story along with finishing off the 70-75 zones, except there are a few skill points that are currently bugged. Hopefully they get fixed before too long (I’ve heard loads of people complaining about this in the map channel).

What is everyone else up to?

A lot of people that I know have been busy with alts – and I find myself a bit of an outsider this time around because while I am normally the queen of alts (I have a VERY long list of them) I have felt no inclination this time around to play one what so ever. I tried playing a few of them off and on, but none are above level 3 at this time. I’m still just too involved with my little guardian.

I don’t know how much longer that will last, but I’m enjoying it while it does, that’s for sure! As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Ding 80, and 400 in Cooking / Jeweler #GW2 #GuildWars2

stargrace September 6, 2012 5 Comments

The road to 80 really is just the beginning of GW2, just like it is in GW1 (except their road is a lot shorter, it’s level 20). People can talk about how there’s no “end game” content all they want, but the whole game is end game content, especially since you level down to the appropriate level for all of it. I’m glad that I’m 80 now, and I’ve never been one to complain about lack of things to do. In fact now that I’m 80 the list of things I want to do has grown significantly. People who are used to the ‘push forward and gain levels’ mentality may not be keen on this aspect of GW2, but I’m going to enjoy it.

Getting to 80 was pretty simple. I crafted for the majority of those levels, I’ve reached 400 in two disciplines, cooking and jeweler. I’m debating now whether I want to learn ALL the crafts on one character, or split them between alts. I still haven’t had any inclination to play alts.

As soon as you hit 80 you learn two things that come as quite a shock. Number one, you can NEVER have enough karma. Literally. The level 80 cultural weapons are 68,000 karma each slot. The level 80 (and mind you, these are rare armor pieces, not exotic) cultural armor is 10-35g depending on the piece.

There are legendary weapons in game. Each weapon requires 2 crafted components (each of those recipes costs 10g each for the crafter), along with an item that costs 200 skill points (you continue to gain skill points after level 80, you’ll earn experience as though you are leveling beyond, and it will convert into a skill point) and an exotic weapon (which is currently on sale on the trading post for about 60g).

So what is next for me? I’d like to complete 100% of the map with a single character, and I’d like to be able to farm karma and gold in order to purchase the recipes needed for legendary weapons. This will all (of course) take a LOT of time. Tyria is MASSIVE. Even though I’m level 80 I’ve only completed 29% of the map. I MAY start playing an alt, casually, but again I haven’t felt a pull to play one at all, so we’ll see. I’d like the other two banners that you see on the log-in screen that indicate you’ve joined all three orders. So far I’ve just got the tapestry for the Whispers.

I’m also dirt broke now that I’ve reached 80. I am not upset about that, it’s because I purchased a lot of gear and craft goods from the trade post in order to get my skill ups. Food doesn’t sell back to vendor at all, and you can’t earn any coin back by selling karma ingredients (they are bind on account)  so it’s been hard to earn money back with that one. Food itself doesn’t sell for much to other players unless it’s the +magic find food, that type sells pretty well.

All in all? I’m happy. Being level 80 (to me) just means that I can play the game without having to worry about whether or not a zone or dungeon is too high for me. It’s basically ‘unlocking’ the game. I would have been just as content if they had only 20 levels, too.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

A Problem With Armour #GW2 #GuildWars2

stargrace September 5, 2012 11 Comments

The topic of armour (graphics) in any given MMO, especially armour for females, is a long and hard argument that comes up every few months. How on earth do women fight in that, look at how much skin is showing, etc. For the most part I’ve ignored both sides of the arguments because it’s a matter of personal taste and it’s so subjective that you’re never going to be able to ‘win’.

Then I got the breastplate above on my Asura. Purchased off of the trade post – hey ArenaNet, you need to be able to PREVIEW items before you buy them!

See, that grey colour behind those seat-belt type straps, is my characters skin. Either Asura have no breasts, or there’s no need for any protection at all. In either case, something is hideously wrong with her armour piece. Every time I stare at the image, I want to adjust those straps. What exactly are they covering? NOTHING!

The first thing I did after taking a few screen shots and laughing it up with the guild was run to my Hall of Monuments and re-skin the outfit with my GW1 HoM heritage gear. It would bug me to play a character who actually ran around looking like the above. I’ve no idea how this piece looks on everyone else, but please, gaming companies, keep in mind that not everyone is a human-type character, and some pieces just don’t look right on other races in your game.

** Side note ** because people seem to be confused as to my issue. My problem is with this specific piece, and how it looks on Asura. I don’t have an issue with ArenaNet and their armor, or their graphics, or anything else.

It’s a WvWvW Sort of Life (Or Not) #GW2 #GuildWars2

stargrace September 4, 2012 3 Comments

I’ve spent a fair amount of time participating in World vs. World vs. World since Guild Wars released, and while I’ve had a LOT of fun in it, and it’s incredibly intense, there are also a few factors that bug me.

The number one issue I have is the queues. It can take you the better part of a few hours during prime time before you’ll get to see the inside of the zone. For a game that has tooted PvP since the get-go, this is frustrating.

Aside from that, WvWvW is actually a part of the monthly achievements you can rack up. The problem is that they’re kill achievements and the only way the achievement actually counts your contribution as a “kill” is when you get (and complete) the “finish them” move standing over your opponents body. Not so great for casters, and also not so great for those of us hanging back to provide heals and rez fallen allies. I’m up to 46/50 at the moment, which will fulfill my monthly quota, but it’s still annoying.

The game itself is quite simple. There are events like protecting whatever outpost or area of the map you ‘own’, repairing walls and building siege weapons, escorting the ever-so-slow moving Doylak to their supply delivery point, and holding down the fort while the enemy batters their way through your defense. It can be a bit of a nuisance to figure out where the action is taking place so speaking up and asking is a good idea. Little organization means confusion everywhere, and a lot of deaths.

I find it a bit frustrating that you take regular damage to your gear when you die, and you make very little money participating in PvP in order to combat those costs. You may also feel like you’ve ‘wasted’ your time if you hang back from whatever action is going on because you won’t see much in the way of rewards. GW2 PvP really promotes being RIGHT THERE on the front lines of the action.

I also find that being a melee is a bit of a disadvantage to the ranged casters who are always eager to ping you off, standing upon their castle walls sneering down at you. That being said, I’m still learning and it will take some time to get comfortable with this sort of combat.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend in their game of choice, and for those who had an extra long weekend, have a great fake-Monday!

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Ascalonian Catacombs #GW2 #GuildWars2

stargrace September 2, 2012 7 Comments

Last night the Combat Wombats met up in the homeland of the Charr to take on the level 30 story-mode dungeon ‘Ascalonian Catacombs’. Our greatest challenge was trying to get everyone into the zone, even when we all started from the same instance. Some how we got bugged and we all had to log out before the game would let us in. 20 minutes after pounding at the gates they let us through. Fixed? Not so much.

I learned a few more things this dungeon run. Rangers are not nice. Elementalists die first. Boulders are not an exploit, bring them and use them EVERYWHERE.

I also learned that if you really want to get the best benefits from a dungeon, you should try to do them when you’re level appropriate. While the gear that I got from every chest and drop was for level 57-58 (my level) the final dungeon chest rewarded a helm that was level 30.

To say the dungeon was easy would be a complete and utter lie. It took the Wombats about mid way through for us to finally find our groove. Once we adjusted traits and got comfortable with each others play style things went much easier, but were still really hard. Because dungeons scale you just like the rest of the world does, there will be no running off to solo instances that I can see, unless some sort of mercenary NPC is added further down the road.

Once you’ve completed story mode you’ll have the option (as long as you’re the right level) to either re-enter story mode, or move on to exploration mode. Apparently exploration mode is MUCH harder than story mode, so you’ve been warned.

Still, it was a great evening and I had a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to seeing what our next adventure will be.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!