If you have a thing against the afflicted (who doesn’t?), then head over to Kaineng to talk to Initiate Zei Ri and to start with the cleansing process. Also, check out the new costumes, as well as new items to be gained (I’d wait for parts 2-3 before getting items though, to see all the skin choices).
More details at http://www.guildwars.com/windsofchange/
Weapon bar for the Guardian
I’ve been looking at the Guardian skills… And I’ve been seeing some patterns in the weapon skills. A quick look at the Elementalist supports these patterns, and I suspect the same patterns are also present in the other professions.
These patterns help understand not only how the gameplay will be like, but also what kind of design decisions went behind these decisions and why.
Following the recent developer update looking at loot in the game, John Hargrove and Eric Flannum have posted a follow-up Q&A tackling some of the more common questions that have arisen after their original update on loot. Topics include crafting, armor, gathering and the recently revealed Transmutation Stones. If crafting is something you enjoy and you like a bit of tailoring then you’re in luck.
Another week, another great update to get stuck into from the ArenaNet team, and this time Kristen Perry discusses the dye system in-depth. If you thought it was all about slapping a few colours together to come up with the dye system then you?Eurore very much mistaken. As the update stresses, the Guild Wars 2 dye system is highly complex with dependence on material type and numerous other complex factors and even the introduction of Sets. Check out the full article. Here’s a quick snip on Sets.
In Guild Wars 2, weight classes determine the profession distribution and the seam rules for our armor coordination. We realized there were times when we desperately wanted to break those rules, so we developed a solution to do so. For example, town clothes work similar to the light armor system. There is a waist seam that allows mixing and matching to work relatively smoothly between pieces, which gives the player as much creative freedom as possible. But for clothing, it would be a travesty to never have a long trench coat, which has a seam overlap that would follow medium armor seam rules.
To solve this dilemma, we have created sets. Sets are two or more sections of armor fused into one to prevent mixing troubles that allow us to design with far less seam constraints. For example, we could have an outfit with a large trench coat, an inside vest and shirt, and pants. You?Eurove seen this before in my previous clothing blog post. That outfit is one piece. However, because we know there?Euros so much fabric real estate, three dye channels aren?Eurot enough. In cases like these, we have allowed four dye channels. This will allow a remarkable amount of control over the parts of the outfit without having to require the pants to dye the same as some part of the coat.
Another week, another great update to get stuck into from the ArenaNet team, and this time Kristen Perry discusses the dye system in-depth. If you thought it was all about slapping a few colours together to come up with the dye system then you
If you have been following my blog, and have been doing your homework (yeah, right), you should now have a list of goals. That list should have been modified from it?Euros original form not only so that bad goals are removed, but also so that the ways you reach those goals are more fun-oriented. The current blog contains a bunch of rules you should impose on your gameplay to ensure that this philosophy of ?Euro?fun is more important than virtual wealth?Euro? is strictly adhered to.
1) Recognize the signs of grind-induced fatigue.
Games, especially RPGs and online games, generally have a complex array of addictive mechanisms built-in to keep you playing… if only so that the game builds a player-base via word-of-mouth. If done well, these mechanisms will be invisible to most players. However, it is much easier to recognize signs of grind-induced fatigue (1) playing even though the game got boring, (2) not being able to take a break, (3) feeling your thoughts wander to other things, (4) feeling that you need to stick with your investment, (5) impatience or irritability…
If you feel these, it may be time to take a break… but also to use that break to think about the reasons why you kept playing. Ask yourself ?Euro?what would I be doing if there were no rewards to my gameplay??Euro?
2) Renounce the boring grind.
If you?Eurore doing something that you find boring, stop, and ask yourself… ?Euro?Is there a way I can achieve the same goal but in a way that is more fun??Euro? And when you ask yourself that, do consider that that alternative way may be slower, but that shouldn?Eurot stop you.
Take the Kurzick/Luxon titles for example. Each is very long to complete… but each can be completed using any combination of vanquishing (speed clear or regular), casual PvP (Fort Aspenwood, Jade Quarry, Alliance Battles), missions (via books), challenge missions, elite areas (The Deep, Urgoz?Euros), repeatable quests, and I might be forgetting something. By trying the different ways, you get to experience more of the game. And as a bonus, you can use alternative ways to keep it fresh, or to suit your mood.
Anything that cost money also tends to get people to adopt farming or running as income, but those can get boring fast (not always though, some people enjoy those). Fortunately, almost anything you do in the game gives you gold directly or indirectly, especially if you do it in hard mode. So, although I mainly have gold-based titles left that I care to do, I have decided not to farm beyond the amount of farming I can do while still having fun (which is not much). Sure it takes longer, but I am having fun doing it.
3) Find a way that stays fresh
Sometimes, an activity can stay fresh by itself. For example, I do most of my gold grind by picking zaishen missions or zaishen bounties and doing those. So every day I end up doing something different. Zaishen combat would work too if you enjoy PvP. I am also playing my characters through the campaigns to unlock access, or through quests to unlock PvE-only skills, and that too keeps the game fresh.
Next week, I?Euroll start a topic on how to keep the game fresh… so until then!
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