http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/blog.php?174553-Gorani-s-Blog Guild Wars 2 Community Site en Sun, 26 May 2013 01:45:52 GMT vBulletin 60 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/blog.php?174553-Gorani-s-Blog http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?2223-Brain-storming-for-GW2-character-background-lore Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:36:10 GMT "We live. We are the world."

"We are alive, we are one. We are offspring of the world."

"We are one, but not the same. We can't reach everywhere. Why?"

"We dream the same dream. Our dream is the past of the world. We are not alone in this world."

"We think in our dream. We feel. We have a center. The Pale Tree. The world is Tyria."

"We hear voices or our brothers and sisters, of others. The sap of life is flowing through the Pale Tree, is flowing through us."

"We hear dreaming voices and awakened voices. We are part of the Pale Tree, but not whole."

"We listen to the voices of the Dream of Dreams. We remember. We learn. We grow."

"We understand the Dream of Dream. We understand time. We listen more. We are seeds."

"We see the others in this world. They are old, we are new. We are saplings, we keep growing."

"They have names for everything, they are not one in the Dream of Dreams. We feel the sap of life flowing through our veins. We can stretch to the sun and root in the earth."

"We are Sylvari and I am one of them." ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?2223-Brain-storming-for-GW2-character-background-lore http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1955-Toothless-Tiger-Hidden-Game-Part-1 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:51:24 GMT Hello GWO community members, just players of GuildWars or newcomers to either this site or the game. This post marks my first blog entry in the upcoming series of GWO Bloggers, here on the new/revamped site. All bloggers will try to focus on certain aspects of the game as far as we can plan ahead... Hello GWO community members, just players of GuildWars or newcomers to either this site or the game.
This post marks my first blog entry in the upcoming series of GWO Bloggers, here on the new/revamped site. All bloggers will try to focus on certain aspects of the game as far as we can plan ahead now, so read all of them to get the full picture or chose your favorite.

Canthan new year has passed

Last week marked the appearance of the Celestial Animal at the Canthan new year festival - a Tiger.
(For the clueless and intrigued: Every year since 2007 the Canthan New Year is a special in-game event, hosted in and around the Shing Jae Monastery in the GuildWars campaign of Factions. People have to gather certain items to create a dish for the Celestial Animal. If they succeed, they are rewarded by one-shot items that create fireworks in your guildhall and a festival lion's mask)

Festivals and in-game events both mark assets and drawbacks of both the community of gamers and the game itself.

An asset certainly is the new stuff that gets created by a team of programmers (the "Live Team", headed by Linsey Murdock) for the events. This is something we should not take for granted, as GuildWars is not a pay-2-play game and ANet got our money a long time a go. This year the team gave us Summoning Stones, that conjures up a beast in form of a celestial animal.
Another asset is the tradition of "sponsored districts", which - at least what I could witness - was the strongest year since the beginning of the event. Guilds and alliances of players provide the ingredients for the dishes, so everybody in the instance can enjoy the benefit of the rewards.

There are drawbacks, too. The most prominent is the AFK'ing of the event in the boardwalk games. You buy lots of tickets for those games and leave your character standing there without really active play.
Why do people do this? Because losing and winning games contributes to two titles in the game, that can't be completed without either endless, mind numbing grind - or standing AFK in boardwalk games, if you can afford to burn your wealth that way.
Personally, I hope for more diverse methods of getting some titles in the future.

The waiting game for GuildWars 2

This is where GuildWars 2 comes in. GuildWars 2 is the follow-up to GuildWars and its current three campaigns and one expansion. ArenaNet, the developer of GuildWars has promised GuildWars 2 a long time ago. Initially there should have been a Beta version of the game by the end of 2009, but the release was delayed a lot since that first announcement.
Some people even began to whisper the words of "vaporware" (but not in Duke Nukem proportions), but ArenaNet released a trailer with in-game graphics in late 2009 and lifted up the spirits of waiting players, like me. Unlike Blizzard has done with Diablo 3, ArenaNet is very quiet about what will be in the game and what it will look like (with the exception of the pretty "The Art of GuildWars2" book). So there is much room for speculation and divination in the year 2010.

Next week I will take a look and talk about things I will do, to keep myself interested in GuildWars, so I can bridge the gap to new information about GuildWars 2 and to migrate to the new game without turning my back on the series and leave the world of Tyria forever. ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1955-Toothless-Tiger-Hidden-Game-Part-1 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1924-Throw-us-a-bone-Anet! Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:27:54 GMT I was just talking to Indigo about how I miss Linsey in-game and on the wiki. When she was more active there, earlier in 2009, I really had the feeling that the Live Team is interested in keeping close to the community and trying to keep as much players as possible to be hooked on the game. Same... I was just talking to Indigo about how I miss Linsey in-game and on the wiki.
When she was more active there, earlier in 2009, I really had the feeling that the Live Team is interested in keeping close to the community and trying to keep as much players as possible to be hooked on the game.
Same with Regina. She never was an "in-game person" like Gaile and I still think she does a good job, but she too doesn't give us a "vision" on what to expect next.

I really wish the higher ups in the ANet marketing department would have learned the trick of teasing us with small stuff.
We don't want a steak! Just throw us a bone!

>> Introduce the weekly wallpapers again on the GW2 site
>> Necro the idea of a developers diary, even if we just see devs hiding behind screens and folders
>> Tickle us with a vague outlook of upcoming costumes (for free!)
>> Conjure up some omens about possible new things on Canthan new year
>> Post a feature about the Test Krew's work even if it is "they are testing the balances on Tactics that we already have announced.

Come on, it isn't that hard to keep us happy.

*end rant, feeling better now* ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1924-Throw-us-a-bone-Anet! http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1919-Gorani-s-Chest-research Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:33:26 GMT Ratio 33% to 66% Lock picks ratio: When I should experience a 58% retain rate, I had 63% When I should experience a 60% retain rate, I had 58%...]]> These are my numbers from opening chests (since I started recording, not total chests opened):

Normal mode, 600gp chest:
369 Gold & 762 purple ==> Ratio 33% to 66%

Lock picks ratio:
When I should experience a 58% retain rate, I had 63%
When I should experience a 60% retain rate, I had 58%

I did all farming with lock picks in Fronis' Lair. ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1919-Gorani-s-Chest-research http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1793-Wii-Fit-Plus-01-November-2009 Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:58:07 GMT I got the Wii Fit Plus two days ago and I want to write a dhort review for you, if you are considering buying the "expansion".

Yes, you heard right, it is an expansion to the original Wii Fit and now it is what the first game should have been a year ago.
The Plus replaces the original game and adds new features:
>> a few new Yoga & Workouts (3 each, so no big deal)
>> a total of 12 new games
>> an automated training program

First, the games: They are fun like a new improved "marble board" or the snowball fights. There is a jump & run game, which I find pretty difficult. There a quite a few games where you have to walk on the Balance Board and although that piece of equipment is sturdy, I fear that those games might reduce the total lifetime of the board.
The automated training program is nice, because you just have to say that you want to train e.g your waist and legs and the program selects a workout for you

If you already own a Wii Fit game and liked it, consider buying the Wii Fit Plus. If you plan to buy a Balance board, try to get one with Wii Fit Plus and not with Wii Fit. ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1793-Wii-Fit-Plus-01-November-2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1770-Tidy-up!-06-Sept-2009 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:19:09 GMT With the new term beginning soon, I had to tidy up my home office to get rid of some stuff and prepare for the following weeks.
I couldn't believe what kind of crap I found and I have throw away a lot of papers and things I probably haven't touched in years and most likely won't touch in the next few years to come. It was not just "teacher stuff" for school, but also a lot of things around the computer. You won#t believe how many Shareware CDs I have horded in the shelves and various boxes. I dumped everything that wasn't at least dated to 2008 without taking a second glance at the things.
I plan to continue my sweep later today and tomorrow as I think I should use this cleaning frenzy to throw more stuff away. :grin:

Day 2: Even more CDs & DVDs went into the trashcan. I think I reduced the pile to 1/3 of the original amount. ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1770-Tidy-up!-06-Sept-2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1753-Wii-Resort-MotionPlus-First-Impression-24-July2009 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:23:24 GMT I was lured by the fact that I could sword fight (and who isn't :wink:), so I thought to give it a try.
WiiResort comes with the WiiMotion+ add on for you Wii Remote, which enhances the ability of the remote to pick up your movement.
Wii Resort has 12 games total. I haven't tried all yet, just a few:

Sword fight: Yeah! There are three types of game play here. First one is a duel. You chop at your foe with the remote, just like you would hold a kendo style sword. You will do more damage if you take larger swings, but of course you are slower that way. holding the B button, you can go to parry mode. It works really well.
Second game is slicing object with different swings into pieces, and I think twelve year olds on Ritalin will do really well there, because the computer starts slow, but gets fast very quickly. The Marathon in just a monster bash for survival. You get three hits and you are out. With the use of combos (1,2, A,C & Z buttons are not yet used) I can see the future of nice hack & slash first person "shooter" games with this.

Frisbee: Nice too. You have to throw a frisbee and have your dog catch it. You really screw up your throws if you make small wrist moves while throwing.
You can unlock Frisbee golf, which is the same as the golf course, but you throw the frisbee.
PS: I got 750 points in the "catch mode" on the first try and hardly get half the points now...beginners luck.

Golf: Has been in the original Wii Sports, but now the turning of the remote has a much bigger impact & putting is a lot more difficult. And it features a new golf course too (which is larger!)+ the original ones from Wii Sports.

PS: More things played

Archery: That one is great. You use the remote + nunchuck to actually pull the arrow. There is wind & range to take into account, which gets pretty difficult with longer ranges & stronger winds. Again, this sounds like nice way to use archery in a "fantasy game FPS".

Canoeing: You use the remote like a paddle to the left and right of your body. You have to keep the rhythm to keep going fast and of course you have to steer by using the paddles.

"Bonus stuff" You can get "stamps" for doing certain things (like in a lot of other games), e.g. by shooting three bulls eye's in one round of an archery round, or collecting all ducklings in the canoeing training mission.

The different games offer a lot of different movements and are a lot of fun so far. This game gets a: :thumbsup: ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1753-Wii-Resort-MotionPlus-First-Impression-24-July2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1742-Deadly-Creatures-on-Wii-04-July-2009 Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:49:04 GMT I liked the concept of this game when I first saw a trailer about it (got an award at last year's E3) and I thought I should give it it try.

You alternate playing either a tarantula or a scorpion in a desert setting. Throughout the chapters, you witness the story of two guys trying to find some treasure there. Both creatures play differently (e.g. a tarantula can jump, a scorpion can't), so you have to move through the maps differently too. Playing the same map twice, as you sometimes do, isn't boring at all, as the enemies vary & appear at different places too.



I'm about half way through the game and I think the level design is good so far and balanced, with lots of save points that spare you some frustration (*points to RE4 or Metroid Prime3*)
The only thing not well made are places you have to reach with your "web jump" ability as the distance you can access a web varies a lot.

I discovered one small "bug" (lol @ punn) so far. When you are saving sometimes a spawned enemy will disappear and you won't be able to get the fighting points (which you need to unlock moves). You also don't get rewards for enemies that fall off the walls when you attack them. I'm not sure if that will matter in the end, but you can replay each of the 10 chapters individually. That can be done on three difficulty levels (easy, normal & deadly). Normal is OK, even for people like me that suck at pushing combo buttons.

The unique perspective of the game is its biggest plus, as you crawl through bones of dead cows or a coffin, even rattlesnakes are huge creatures you have to fight in quick time events (like evading their strike so they push open a hole to escape in a wall blocked by petals of a cactus) ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1742-Deadly-Creatures-on-Wii-04-July-2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1736-Resident-Evil-4-on-Wii-29-June-2009 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:22:54 GMT RE4 was the last game I had borrowed from a friend to kill some time with the console. I thought I would have some fun with it, but I can't really enjoy the game.
Compared to Metroid Prime, the controls for your character are awful and the dull brown colours are really depressing, not because they are not "moody", but the low contrast makes things really hard to spot. Gameplay wise, I never liked mobs that spawn out of thin air and this game seems to feature a lot of that.
Not sure why my friend rated this game so high compared to Metroid.
I probably won't spend much more time with RE4. ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1736-Resident-Evil-4-on-Wii-29-June-2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1727-Wiki-update-for-my-page-13-June2009 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:19:26 GMT After a very long time I made a content update to my "official" wiki page, with adding a new Zera picture in her Elite Luxon, upgrading Sova from mule to full Mesmer character & creating new mule & PvP spaces.
I'm not sure anybody visits the page anyway, but I thought it might be better than giving the Necromancers a chance to make a minion out of it. :wink: ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1727-Wiki-update-for-my-page-13-June2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1726-Metroid-Prime-3-on-Wii-10-June-2009 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:54:41 GMT Since I have hoildays this week I decided to borrow some other games from friends and started Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on the Wii.

Well the gameplay is like the classic Tomb Raider series. Running around, killing spawns, solving "push button" riddles and fighting end bosses.
I like that kind of games...but I discover the same issues with them everytime:
>> Trial & Error: You have to blast a spot open, but only with a Morphball bomb. Any other thing doesn't work (Hypermode, Missiles etc), which is really stupid.(or vice versa)
>> Leap of Faith; Some of the distances you have to jump accross are pretty silly and you would not do it if a internet walkthrough would not tell you.(or you fall down and lose 2 heal th each time)
>> Save Points!!! Most silly thing in console games. You have to play for aeons to reach one (or you can't find one at all; I backtracked to my ship on Bryyon to save, because I couldn't find a single one for over an hour)

Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of fun, but I doubt I will have the stamina to play that one to the end.

PS: My fingers & wrist hurt after battling the Ice/Silver Surfer Boss for 20 minutes. *ouch* ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1726-Metroid-Prime-3-on-Wii-10-June-2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1714-Illuminati-or-not-29-May-2009 Fri, 29 May 2009 16:53:43 GMT I saw Illuminati two days ago and want to share my thoughts about the movie with you. *** SPOILERS AHEAD *** If you have seen The DaVinci Code - this one is better and far less boring. There have been a lot of alternations to the original story of the book, but they work with the story told.... I saw Illuminati two days ago and want to share my thoughts about the movie with you.

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

If you have seen The DaVinci Code - this one is better and far less boring. There have been a lot of alternations to the original story of the book, but they work with the story told.

The "lore" behind the Illuminati is plain silly, but you don't have to dig deep in history too (e.g. Gallieio chose English for his secret message because it was a language that was not read in Rome because it was considererd a language of free spririts like Shakespeare...*doh*)

The story is fast paced, because everthing happens on just one evening (a "24" effect") and there are no abyssmal actors involved. The scenes in the different churches are well done CGI (as the Vatican didn't allow them to shoot there)

I give it a 3 out of 5 - slightly above average. ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1714-Illuminati-or-not-29-May-2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1701-Star-Trek-by-J-J-13-May-2009 Wed, 13 May 2009 15:07:22 GMT I went to see "Star Trek" last night with some friends. Some are Trekkers, some don't and we thought to give it a try as a nice mid-week distraction from work.

First of all, it is a nice movie - pure popcorn entertainment - but if you start to think about it, it has some serious flaws

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

1. Time travel - Too many problems to start with. I can understand that you can alter the history of the Star Trek Universe to have some new possibilities for future Star Trek films, but blowing up Vulcan?

2. Kirk with daddy issues - Car chase scene with Kirk as a teenage boy is silly, I don't know why it made it to the final cut. And I think I saw the "your father was a hero" topic far too often *points at Top Gun*

3. Scotty - Everthing around that character was silly beyond compare: Dialogue, acting, plumbing scene ... aweful.

4. Red Matter - Did J.J. Abrams think we would not remember "Alias" ? Well I had to laugh.

5. Gung Ho Romulans - Nero's motivation and behaviour (for 25 years) is just unbelievable as he sits on a armed to the teeth mining vessel.

6. Everything that happend on the ice planet - Kirk gets dropped on an ice planet (because Enterprise has no brigg?), runs around and flees from a big red insect, runs into a small cave were future Spock (OMG we found a way to give Leonard Nimoy a role!!!) turns it with a torch and gives a silly speech abut what Kirk has to do next.

7. Kirk gets promoted from 3rd year cadet to spaceship captain - Yeah, OK, whatever.... ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1701-Star-Trek-by-J-J-13-May-2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1696-Lawnmower-madness-10-May-2009 Sat, 09 May 2009 10:57:48 GMT My neighbours are crazy. Well at least half of them, as they are continously mowing their 100 square feet of lawn they have for the past days. Everybody in the house except me is either away for work or on vactation right now, so I could sit outside in the garden and enjoy the day, but the crazy... My neighbours are crazy. Well at least half of them, as they are continously mowing their 100 square feet of lawn they have for the past days. Everybody in the house except me is either away for work or on vactation right now, so I could sit outside in the garden and enjoy the day, but the crazy people are driving their tanks over the backyards. I wonder if they think the next PGA tour or grand slam tennis match will be hosted there, so they need to keep the grass at a constant 5mm.

:angry:

Yeah, posting this really helped...at least until the next moron starts up his machine again. ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1696-Lawnmower-madness-10-May-2009 http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1688-Armour-preview-in-account-wide-HoM Fri, 01 May 2009 18:41:06 GMT First one is my Mesmer:



Hall of Monuments account armour for Sova
Only played for a few days and I want to get her more armour. Ancient looks great and the others are nice as well.

Second one is my Monk:



Hall of Monuments account armour for Tara
She owns Canthan herself, but all except the tattoos look gorgeous. The Luxon is especially lovely.

Third one is my Ranger:



Hall of Monuments account armour for Mira
Don't like the Ancient set, all others look kind of nice. Norn looks so buff, Luxon has its charm too. Mira's normal druid's set is dyed in "old" dye mixes, so the HoM can't handle that and displays basic colours.

And fourth is my Warrior



Hall of Monuments account armour for Jara
Granite Citadel missing, probably because Eles (Zera) don't have headgear. She has a Elite Canthan herself. Luxon looks aweful.
Same problem as with Mira. Armour has the old green, so HoM armour isn't dyed.

No preview for my Rit. The Ancient looks kind of aweful and the Norn is nice. Other armours ar not supported for Rits.
I will add the Norn armour sometimes later. ]]> Gorani http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/entry.php?1688-Armour-preview-in-account-wide-HoM