Guild Wars Reporter

Guild Wars Reporter


Guild Wars Reporter Episode 110 - Journal Jubilation

June 13, 2014



Celeste and Allona are as happy as the rest of the GW2 community with the news of the upcoming story journal.


Audio Version


What We Did This Week

 


Allona



  • Guild beach party with WoD! I won prizes in the scavenger hunt! But somehow, couldn’t manage to finish a dolyak race (so pathetic). Died hitting a sandbar where everyone else jumped easily in to water. They were amazed at the mad skillz.
  • Mini dungeons! Vexa’s Lab and Tears of Itlaocol.
  • Pig Iron Mine JP, notable for my hitting the rocks and dying while attempting to jump in the water, like everyone else had already effortlessly done.
  • A couple more boss blitzes, still no gold for me. Sad panda.
  • Oh, and was unable to work last Thursday because Anet dropped an amazing bombshell… more on that later!

Celeste



  • Figured out a big armor change for my ele, which lead to…
  • CM paths 2&3
  • Thanks to a listener who was SUPER awesome and sent me a Desert Rose Skin. All the feels for it.

 


Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter.


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Report from Lion’s Arch

 


Story Journal!

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-story-journal/



  • Starting with Season 2, each new episode of Living World will use the same UI as your personal story. A green star will mark locations, and a green story UI in the top-right side of your screen will summarize the current step your character is on. The gold star UI we previously used for Living World will only be used for holiday festivals in the future. When your character is actively on a Living World story step, you will have one single green star leading you to the next step in the world and the top-right UI will reflect that step, just like you experienced in your personal story from levels 1-80.



    • During the livestream they showed off a purple star locator that will be active when you’re replaying a story episode.



  • Chronologically, the Season 2 story will take place after Season 1, which in turn occurs after your character’s personal story and the story of Zhaitan in Guild Wars 2. For dialogue purposes, NPCs in Season 2 will assume your character completed their personal story and Season 1, even if they did not. You do not need to complete the personal story on a character in order to play the Living World content, although it will make more sense if you do!




      • Celeste: YAAAAAAAAAY~! No more clueless pact members who say they weren’t available to help LA in its hour of need!
      • Allona: Oooh! Hopefully we can have an awesome chronology! I liked the chronologies that were in GW1. And! And! Does this mean that Orr will start looking different? Because that would be crazy awesome.




  • To go along with this change, we’re modifying the story Journal in your character’s Hero Panel so it will track all of your character’s story steps. From that panel, characters who are level 80 will be able to select between playing their personal story and the Living World story. For the Living World story, you’ll be able to select which unlocked episode you’d like to play. Characters under level 80 will be able to see the available episodes, but will not be able to play them until they reach level 80. Think of the Living World story as the constantly expanding continuation of your character’s storyline once they reach level 80.


  • Celeste: This means that the big endgame of GW2 is now what they said it was going to be, story expansion and horizontal progression (though they haven’t said horizontal was still really happening explicitly). If you’re eager to get the rewards on a lowbie you can always use the wardrobe after you get it on a lv 80.



  • To unlock an episode and have it added to your story Journal, you simply need to log in to the game during the two-week period that the release is live to be given permanent, free access to the storyline of that episode. Once you’ve unlocked it by simply logging in, you can replay that episode’s storyline on any character on your account as many times as you like from your story Journal forever. Past episodes will be available for purchase for 200 gems. (Don’t forget you can earn gold and purchase gems to unlock the episode for your account).




      • Celeste: They’ve said that as long as you login and say on the character select screen for a few seconds it will recognize the episode as available.
      • Allona: Wait. Is it any character or any level 80 character?




  • Story steps will work just like existing story steps in the game today by taking you on a journey specific to your selected episode, which ties into a broader narrative from the season’s continual story progress.


  • Open world content additions to Living World updates will permanently expand or change the world of Tyria and will tie to the theme and story of the episode. This means you can play the open world content and the story content (if you’ve unlocked that episode) anytime you want, on every character you ever make on your account! You’re no longer limited to completing the episode during its two-week release window. This means that going forward, all of the content and all of the rewards for Living World will be permanent.




      • Celeste: SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
      • Allona: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!




  • Because story steps for your personal story contain choices that permanently alter your character, we will not be allowing the replay-story-step functionality for the existing personal story at this time.




      • Celeste: I think the “At this time†is a little misleading. I doubt this functionality will ever be on the table as a true possibility.
      • Allona: I don’t know, I think if they lock you in to the same decisions, replaying could be possible.




  • Also, because Season 1 of Living World was not built with the Journal in mind, it will not be available in the story Journal on initial launch when Season 2 begins. We do hope to add Season 1 to the Journal in the future.




      • Celeste: For those that are staying away until they can play Season 1 in its entirety you’ll be waiting for a good long while. Sorry folks.
      • Allona: Yeah, Colin was pretty up front about not having anyone working on it; but I have faith! It will be available eventually… and then I can finish Sky Pirates! ~insert maniacal laughter~

    • Festivals: They will not be in the story Journal, and they will remain as temporary content that comes in each year for a period of time and then packs up and leaves when the festival has completed.

      • Celeste: Still going to see all the fun stuff with halloween, winter, and dragon bash. Prediction: There will be little to no story developments/interactions during those holiday activities.





  • In Season 2, we will be moving away from the concept of meta-achievements entirely and modifying how we handle rewards and achievements for Living World content. Completing the storyline of an episode will grant you a reward at the end of the episode, and a variety of new rewards will be available through the open world content added via each of the episodes.




      • Allona: Yay




  • Achievements within story steps from episodes will operate very differently as well. Once one character on your account has completed an episode in their story journal, every character on your account will have access to a set of challenging achievements.




      • Allona: HARD MODE EFF YEAH!




  • Each achievement will award both achievement points and material rewards.


  • “I’d suggest you pop in and catch up with Rox, Braham, Marjory, Kasmeer, Taimi, and the rest of the gang at the festival before Season 2 roars into full action.â€



    • Celeste: On the livestream Colin suggested that “get your mountain dew and doritos ready. July 1st, It comes.â€


 


Custom Arenas with Gold instead of gems

Though it seems as though if you exchanged you could do that already


https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/buy-custom-arenas-with-gold/


 


Bobblehead! Lute!

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/musical-lute-and-bobblehead-laboratory-in-the-gem-store/


 


Ask An Asura

 


#GW2Tip from Prof. Enzo

https://twitter.com/profenzogw2/status/476112365541683200


If you are looking for the fastest way to level, you’re doing it wrong. The journey, not destination.


 


Dodging! The basics.

I have a friend who has had GW2 since launch, but he plays very little (basically not at all). While chatting about the game recently he was explaining some of his challenges during his personal story, and I mentioned it sounded like he needs to dodge more, to which he said he never dodges. What!?


If you want to stay up and in the fight — or run for your life — in GW2, dodging is extremely important and I’m not sure how well the game does at explaining that to new players.


I remember before GW2 came out; reading about dodging and active combat, and being very worried that it would be too complicated for me (I’m still terrible at kiting, but that’s another thing entirely).


At its simplest dodging is getting out of telegraphed damage areas, like red circles which you should alway be on the look out for. As you get more comfortable with the process, start learning the ‘tells’ (animations that indicate an attack is imminent) of PvE foes and later the ‘tells’ of other players in PvP or WvW — something I certainly can’t do very well.


Dodging is connected to your endurance (which, in turn, is connected to a boon called vigor). You can dodge twice in quick succession — each one uses 50% of your total endurance, after which you need to wait until it regenerates to at least above the 50% mark before you can dodge again.


There are traits for every profession that can enhance dodging — boons, extra endurance, damage, etc. (thieves have tons… literally tons of traits that can do these things). I’m a pretty big fan of ‘on dodge’ traits and tend to use them a lot. More detail of these can be found on the official wiki. Some food items can buff your endurance and thus your ability to dodge more frequently. And upgrades! Don’t forget upgrades! Anything that grants vigor helps you dodge more. ((There are also some skills that do what is effectively a dodge, Ranger: Hornet Sting, Elementalist: Burning Retreat, Mesmer: Phase Retreat… ))


Now, after all that, how do you dodge?


The first way most players learn how to dodge is by double tapping any movement key. The second is usually using the default keybind of ‘v’. The third — and one I found by accident not too terribly long ago — is by clicking the endurance bar which is located above your health pool — that big red circle at the bottom of your screen. I’m sure there are players who use and love that option, but it feels clunky to me.


I was a happy ‘double tapper’ for a long time. Oh yes, happily double tapping my way off cliffs and platforms to my doom. Unless you have laser-like reflexes and never have finger spasms, do yourself a favour and disable ‘double tap to dodge’. The dedicated keybind of ‘v’ (or whatever key you prefer to change it to) is your friend.


If you’re standing still you will dodge backwards, otherwise you will dodge in whatever direction you happen to be moving. This is good to know since dodging straight through mobs will help avoid random attacks to hopefully allow you to escape unscathed.


And finally, if you want to get extra fancy, jump dodge is achievable by pressing space and ‘v’ at the same time! It’s let’s you dodge farther while you have aggro, but I’ve never been able to pull it off successfully. Regardless, it’s super fun to do and looks cool. Totally check it out.


So remember, ‘v’ key is your friend, red circles are not, and being able to dodge effectively (with or without the help of traits, upgrades, or consumables) will keep you alive and far less frustrated while you play. As you get more familiar with dodging, you will learn how and when the best times are to use it.


And that’s about it, dodging in a nutshell (which isn’t something I recommend, nutshells are very confining).


PS: Dodging underwater is a thing, do it.


 


Awesome Google doc guide to getting on the right road to a legendary weapon

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kvRxe1yGYwekVt4HifkeojpX1EsgjDX9SguCCrjNUy0/edit?usp=sharing



  • Celeste: It’s not a game changer but it does help you streamline the ways you play to get as much profit as you can while doing things you’d likely already be doing. Special thanks to Sarah of facebook for creating it and answering whatever questions people may have!

 


Tales of Tyria

 


Shadow Armor & Peacemaker GS

http://nataku-de-lahar.deviantart.com/gallery/48436550/Guild-Wars


 


Great Sylvari drawing

http://nyanlatte.tumblr.com/post/88319396013/so-i-heard-its-kiris-birthday-tomorrow-happy


 


Still haven’t gotten a Gold Boss Blitz? Follow some GW2 peeps on tumblr?

http://forthepanini.tumblr.com/post/88461573613/tumblr-boss-blitz



  • Allona: NEED!

 


“I FIGHT FOR THE USERS!â€

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/27sp30/burn_gold_seller_busted/



  • Kortz.3960

    Hello, My friends account got suspended few day ago, he did submit request #669498 ticket, please help him with get back to game.
  • Chris Cleary, Game Security Lead

    Thank you for appealing for your “friend†that was responsible for Payment Fraud. Please do not attempt to appeal on these forums, we take Payment Fraud very seriously.

    Closing this thread, your account, and your 384 other accounts.


  • Allona: I love that the dev, Chris … posted a link to this in the reddit forum: http://youtu.be/DkTb7Pe2MtY?t=2m15s  And! I love all the commenters talking about Dhuum banning people in GW1. Loved that so hard.

 


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