Celeste, Allona, and UltraSpecialGuest Chris celebrate episode 100 of Guild Wars Reporter! They discuss the mega load of news from ArenaNet this past week AND have entertaining musical interludes!

Audio Version:

What We Did This Week (and the previous week)

Allona:

• 
  
• Tailor to 500!
  
• 9,500 AP chest!
  
• Played alts a fair bit prior to patch … and post patch as it turns out.
  
• Tour of LA: extremely sad feelings (Aftermath is right!)
  
• Dead End Bar scene brought (much needed) laughs
  
• ~whispers~ key farmed a few times
  
• Finished the Garnet Sanctum and thus ALL the jumping puzzles!
  
• Squee-ed muchly at the recent blog posts
  
• Happy birthday (sort of) to us!!!!
  

Celeste:

• 
  
• Mourned for Jaf Radlay the best diver in Lion’s Arch. He taught me everything about being cool.
  
• Did all the vistas in LA and ran around on a tour
  
• Dead End bar scene (i have the feeling marjory’s sister is going to die in brisban wildlands or we’re opening up the bandit camp asap)
  
• Got march monthly done and 79% MF
  
• Temple runs
  

Chris:

• 
  
• Cathedral of Flames a bunch. Got my chest piece, and working on the rest. I don’t like ANY other armor.
  
• Continuing with world completion
  
• Leveling my Guardian
  

 

Report from Vigil Keep

 

Battle For Lion’s Arch: Aftermath

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/march-18-2014/

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-March-18-2014

• 
  
• Upon entering the game, players who are level 30 and above will view a short cinematic based in the city. The smoking ruins of Lion’s Arch can be found where the city once stood.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: This was truly traumatic.
    
  
  
  
• …players can join her and Marjory—as well as Rox, Braham, and Taimi—to discuss the ramifications of Scarlet’s attack as everyone takes a hard-earned rest over some drinks.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: I quite liked this scene. When Braham made that joked and I realized I was legitimately laughing along with the rest of the biconics. And of course the Taimi/Braham interaction was delightful.
    
  
  
  
• Rumors tell of a merchant interested in items from major events in Tyria’s recent history, including Blade Shards. Players are encouraged to hold on to these items if they are interested in trading with her when she appears.
  

 

April Feature Pack Previews (AKA I wish we had more to talk about this week…)

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/feature-packs/

• 
  
• https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/traits-unleashed-forty-new-traits-and-more/
  
  • 
    
  • New Traits!
    
  • http://www.guildmag.com/new-grandmaster-traits-revealed/ all grandmaster traits revealed during an episode of ready up
    
  • All traits are available online for those that might be interested in seeing what’s coming to the game
    
  
  
  
• https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/runes-sigils-and-balance-updates/
  
  • 
    
  • Rune Changes
    
    • 
      
    • As it stands from the mathematical standpoint it’s prudent to mix it up by using more than one set of runes
      
    • They’re sweetening the deal on the 4, 5, and 6 values of runes in order to facilitate people finding a set that works for them
      
    • This is basically just so that there is transparency for new players
      
    • There are runes that have a “proc†like the Rune of Nightmare’s 5% chance to cause fear on a hit. That’s being upped to 50% to entice players into build diversity
      
    
    
    
  • Sigils
    
    • 
      
    • Sigil rules are now going to be more upfront
      
    • 2 Sigils on 2-handed weapons
      
    • Changes to make sigils more in line with each other as far as viability
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/learn-about-critical-damage-changes/
  
  • 
    
  • Ferocity
    
    • 
      
    • “At level 80, it will take 15 points of ferocity to gain 1% bonus critical damage, which means that there will about a 10% decrease in overall damage for a full “berserker†build.â€
      
    • “Celestial gear, which provides a moderate boost to all stats rather than a significant bonus to a few stats, will be hit harder by these changes compared to other gear, since it provided relatively high critical damage values compared to other stats given out. To compensate, we’re increasing the overall effectiveness of Celestial gear by improving all stats by 6% of their current values.â€
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-wardrobe-system/
  
  • 
    
  • Wardrobe! WARDROBE! WARDROBE!
    
  • Equipping gear will be the same, but you can transmute the way it looks by using the wardrobe.
    
  • Account wide and progressive unlock system. Meaning yes, if you have Eternity you’ll get: Eternity, Sunrise, Twilight, Dusk, Dawn and any other skin you may have transmuted to for stats before they became selectable.
    
  • Town clothes changes:
    
    • 
      
    • Some will be tonics, some will be equipable (pirate’s outfit)
      
    • Which items will be tonics still isn’t very clear
      
    • “Town clothes sets such as the pirate captain’s outfit will become one-piece account unlocks known as ‘outfits’ which can be toggled to be displayed on your character instead of armor, even during combatâ€
      
    • “Some promotional town clothing, such as the dragon emblem t-shirt and the hoodies, will become endless tonics which will allow you to continue to wear the clothing in non-combat situationsâ€
      
    • Single items (Fuzzy hats, scarlet’s spaulders, etc) will unlock for your account and for all armor weights
      
    • https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Wearable-costumes-in-combat/first#post3808902
      
    • If you are unhappy with an item being turned into a tonic you can ask for a refund for the item after the update occurs by contacting support
      
    
    
    
  • Transmutation stones will carry over 3 stones per charge (3:1), Crystals (the blue ones) will carry a 1:1 ratio, transmutation splitters are 1:5 ratio.
    
  • Account vault tab for all armor skins
    
  
  
  
• https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/dyes-in-the-new-account-wardrobe/
  
  • 
    
  • Account bound dyes!
    
  • All dyes will be unlocked across all characters
    
  • “If you already have the same dyes unlocked on multiple characters, when you log in on additional characters, you will receive one unidentified dye for each duplicate dye already unlocked on your account.â€
    
  • Preview dyes by hovering over the dye channel on your armors
    
  
  
  
• https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/social-play-improvements/
  
  • 
    
  • Guild Panel: last login date for members, guild-based group improvements
    
    • 
      
    • Celeste: There’s no real idea as to what this means so far, we can assume this is something that’s still not super solid?
      
    • Allona: Maybe seeing guild members who are in the same map?!
      
    
    
    
  • LFG: Different borderland filters, main language selection
    
  
  
  

 

Tilion’s Review of LW S1 AND Our Reviews

https://twitter.com/DragonSeasonCom/status/441771034320977920

• 
  
• Celeste: I agree with a lot of what he had to say. I absolutely 1000% think that there needs to be a Test Krewe for the living world. I don’t care if there are leaks. If they take out the dialogue bubbles in the “instances†or whatever I think there will be minimal leaks. Especially since the previous Test Krewes have been under strict NDAs. This would also mitigate the amount of spoilers that would be found in the main client’s .dat. I definitely agree that the story spoilers are the bane of my existence along with bugs putting the kibosh on a smooth launch. With regards to the personal story being retired, I understand but I don’t think this is a good idea. I think it’s unlikely that we’ll see it continued but I doubt that it’ll be going away completely anytime soon.
  
• Allona: I do think they need to do something with the Personal Story, but I’m just not sure what. Someone on reddit suggested it be done in a more ‘flashback’ manner, which I think could work. It would sort of be like the Bonus Mission Pack from GW1. You knew you were doing past events going in. Finally, I don’t agree with his assessment that Anet’s marketing approach is failing. I, personally, do feel like they are invested in the players.
  
  My review, though, is pretty basic. I liked S1 of the LW. Did it have growing pains? Sure, but ArenaNet does listen and they figured out a lot of stuff along the way. Basically I am super excited for S2, which means S1 was a success in my eyes.
  
• Chris: Overall, I loved the story, but was so disappointed and frustrated at missing parts.
  

 

Season One in Review

http://blacklionchest.co.uk/posts/season-one-in-review

• 
  
• Favorite Release
  
  • 
    
  • Celeste: Zephyr Sanctum, the lore nuggets and a new area
    
  • Allona: Yeah, the Sanctum … but also the intro to Southsun … and also everything since the beginning of the year.
    
  • Chris: Zephyr Sanctum
    
  
  
  
• Biggest Disappointment
  
  • 
    
  • Celeste: Tequatl, I’ve yet to beat the sucker.
    
  • Allona: RNG dye suckage (my own fault really for keeping trying [gambling?] with the limited edition dyes, but still smarts to get multiples of the same colours — which are all common — in the same item).
    
  • Chris: Battle for Lion’s Arch – too zergy for me.
    
  
  
  

 

Ermahgerd, best review.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/livingworld/lwd/Narrative-Lessons-From-15-Months-of-Scarlet/first#post3801178

 

Terry of the Traveller of Tyria

http://thetravelleroftyria.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/tell-me-a-story/

 

Verene from The Pale Tree

http://thepaletree.net/2014/03/19/living-world-wrap-up/

 

Anatoli Ingram from Massively

http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/03/11/flameseeker-chronicles-guild-wars-2s-season-finale-doesnt-qui/

 

Ask An Asura

 

Hi This is Blacklightcharlie

I’ve been listening for a long time. I love the show old and new cast. I had some questions that are dumb.

• 
  
• Allona: Thanks Blacklightcharlie! Personally, I don’t think these are dumb questions in the slightest. If you’re asking them, there’s probably several other people who have the same questions and are glad you put them forward.
  

1) Is there anywhere that you look to for builds on the inter-webs? I am a LV 80 warrior and I can’t decide on a build and I’m a noob.

• 
  
• Allona: I will try answer this to the best of my knowledge because I don’t really research builds an awful lot. I do tend to prefer watching YouTube guides however. The official forums and reddit are really good resources as well — players will write their play tactics out and usually link to a build editor where you can check things out. I think the thing to be aware of is when any build is posted; if it’s on the older side then the info in it might be out of date. In your case, I would google “warrior build gw2″, whatever gamestyle you’re interested in (PvE, PvP, WvW, general PvX), and then refine the search by “past month” or whatever timeframe fits to be within the last patch cycle. Oh! another good resource is the arenanet official YouTube channel, they have beginner guides on professions (which wouldn’t apply to your level 80, but I think they’re interesting regardless).
  
  Now, as I mentioned, I don’t really follow builds. I’ve tried and they take a lot of the fun away for me. So I guess I’m pretty noob-ish too in that regard. Other than one epically awful dungeon run, I haven’t had much of a problem playing the game decently. Sometimes I certainly have to rethink my playstyle and strategy, but so far no major overhauls…
  
• Celeste: Guild Wars 2 guru forums or youtubes
  

2) I’m not familiar with the lore of guild wars so can you tell me any about Ferguson’s crossing  I’m assuming that each server is named for Lore and I can’t find any on it granted I don’t have tons of free time to research it as I’m sure you don’t  either

• 
  
• Celeste: Ferguson’s Crossing was actually named for a developer. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mike_Ferguson  Most servers are named for Lore things and only a handful of them are named for people that exist(ed) in real life.
  
• Allona: According to Peter Fries (who I totally ambushed on twitter with your question) there have been “several members of the Ferguson clan who have worked here [anet] over the years.† He mentioned Mike and also Sean Ferguson.
  
• Awesome lore videos from Wooden Potatoes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL00553A085339802C
  

3) I’m not really sure how the home instance works can you explain

• 
  
• Allona: Like dungeons, the home instance is its own contained zone separate from the surrounding areas you generally share with other players. There is one in each of the major racial cities, it is where a lot of the early stages of your personal story take place, and where some things you have accomplished in your PS are represented.
  
  It can also have items added to it that can be mined or interacted with; either through LW rewards (candy corn, quartz node, watchwork sprockets, obelisk shard [which I wish would reset the trait commune every month]) or gem store purchase (basic mining node). These items can be used by you — and any party members that enter your instance — once per day per account.
  
  Pre-launch there was talk from Anet about having your home instance be a lot more personalized… statues of you being erected, trophies (which one might argue is what the LW rewards are), that sort of thing. I know a lot of players never go in to their home instance once they’re through with their PS, I like the mining though so I go in every day.
  

P.S am I the only one gets all misty listening to the Quaggans by Vigil Keep? I hope to be able to join you Live for the 100th Episode. Hip Hip  Ho rah  Thanks Allona and Celeste or should i say Cellona.

• 
  
• Allona: No, not just you. Those quaggan are so heartbreaking. But at least they have each other!
  

 

Feels and Meanderings

https://twitter.com/OneBigPear/status/446095639676346369

• 
  
• Allona: I was delighted to have responses from anet peeps!
  

 

Tales of Tyria

 

Blogger is hit for 144 characters ;)

https://twitter.com/HuntersInsight/status/445774530125254656

• 
  
• Allona: Hunter wins the twitter
  

Golem Tribute

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/20w05l/the_rock_and_pool_is_nice_and_cool/

Jordan on the HoD FB group shared his tattoos and they’re awesome

http://imgur.com/a/fwFwL

• 
  
• Allona: That is some serious dedication! I’m impressed.
  

 

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Allona: @onebigpear

Chris: @almazar

 

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