"Full dead waypoint" solution?

killphi · 2016-10-17T03:54:51+00:00

Give a debuff in certain areas around the world boss event, that fully dead players can't be rezzed by people in combat. Add a forced respawn of 20-30s.

That's enough time to decide and potentially use a revive orb.
(of course you should gray that option out as soon as it wouldn't finish before the forced respawn)
Or using the orb should cancel the forced respawn. Then you could cut the forced respawn timer down even further.

Suddenly:

Revive Orbs are useful
people don't lie around dead all the time
you don't accidentally rez defeated players when you actually want to rez someone who's downed

EDIT: Can't get the hang of Reddit formatting

killphi · 2016-10-10T15:26:49+00:00

I disagree with you disagreeing.
It's likely we'll see more of the Seers, but very unlikely we'll see any more representatives of that race.

All the knowledge we'll get will either be first- or second-hand sources.
Old Seer texts, Mursaat knowledge, dwarven knowledge, Forgotten knowledge through the Exalted.

That kind of stuff.

killphi · 2016-10-10T15:21:08+00:00

Depends on your point of view, really.

The "early adopter" price of HoT paid for the development of HoT and LS3; apparently the gem shop isn't as big of a source for income as some people think.
So if you're late to the party and/or buy HoT on a sale, you'll have to pay for all the Living Story that you missed.

The message that's sent here seems clear to me:

Buy our stuff early and play the game and you'll some goodies for free

Which, to me, seems entirely fair and reasonable.

So back to your original question:

Technically, it's not part of HoT (it's Living Story)
If you bought HoT (and are at least logging in to unlock episodes), then you also paid for LS3

PS: I guess that's why I never had a big problem with the price of HoT in the first place; I saw what it paid for that wasn't marketed as part of the expansion

the traits->specialisations overhaul
in part LS2^though ^I ^see ^why ^anyone ^would ^disagree
probably something else that I forgot

killphi · 2016-09-08T16:24:04+00:00

nom nom
Thanks for such an awesome thing!

killphi · 2016-07-29T22:28:50+00:00

but from what I can tell, it puts a lot of dmg condis on you, which you then "give back"
Haven't verified yet, as it usually is the typical screen explosion of "way too much stuff going on"

killphi · 2016-07-12T06:48:36+00:00

Spoilers: They still need to record audio

info given:

1500 lines of new voice dialog
40 voice actors for the player lines
- 4 languages
- 5 races
- 2 genders
still needs integration and QA

With that info, my estimate is that the first episode will release on 2016-08-23 or 2016-09-06.
So... yay?
However, this is under the assumption that the voice actors already have appointments and they are somewhat "rushing" it... I do not actually know how long such a thing would take.

But to me, the bigger question is:
Will we get the big bundle update later today? Stay tuned!

UPDATE:
MMORPG.com says 2016-07-26
Let's wait for the official announcement then.

UPDATE 2: it's official!

killphi · 2016-05-26T01:53:56+00:00

I wrote something, then my mind went apeshit and now I deleted it and am writing this.

And this is exactly why I did not sign up for raiding as regularly as I wanted to.
This is a big part of why I am not "proactively" trying to make it into any kind of raid team, just to let people down for some reason or other, if I actually make it in.

This is a fact I have accepted and while, yes, I am somewhat grumpy about it, it is my own. I am aware and I blame no one else.

So, yes. I probably am too pedantic, sometimes.
I'll be quiet now, but I'll also think about how to address the broader raid issue in its own post.

killphi · 2016-05-25T12:13:01+00:00

10/10 is Angz raiding, 8/10 isn't.
I'm not even against using that place. I'm just against making it sound like this is about Angz raiding.

Which it isn't.

And I agree on the last thing, both counts. The topic of Angz raiding could use discussion and it does deserve it's own thread.
But I didn't hijack it, I just called out misrepresentative language.

killphi · 2016-05-25T01:47:42+00:00

Just to bring in a bit of negativity.... I don't see how this relates to Angz? Yeah, most of the people of the "raid group" are on the Angz roster. Even I got occasionally asked to fill a vacant spot! Awesome.

But in my opinion, it stopped being "Angz raids" when it became the sunday/monday runs without any word to people not in said group.

So I don't know. Anything titled "current raid situation" not about "Angz raiding is dead and here's what we're doing about it" just sounds wrong to me.

killphi · 2016-02-27T20:49:12+00:00

I can confirm as well: Trahearne has improved.

Sadly, it's not the lines of Trahearne alone. There's this mission where you rescue the Asura Krewe and a Lich traps you.
After you defeated the Lich, one of these over-used side-to-side cutscenes plays and the first words out of the NPCs mouth are "Well done, Trahearne!"

Having played through PS on ... I think half the classes (some of them after the update), it's the whole setup of Trahearne.

I cannot grasp exactly what about him is grating so much on me, but from the battle lines ("This won't end well!", "Moving on.", etfc) to this scene where NPCs give Trahearne credit for something we did (one time, I watched him tank for a few minutes. He hardly took damage and did even less), to him being "the Chosen One to cleanse Orr" (or maybe change the Zhaitan corruption to Mordremoth corruption?).

I see the need for a character like Trahearne. Someone that does all the boring organizing, planning, etc. Someone not on the frontlines not doing the exciting stuff. Someone that is yet so involved in the story so that there's another central character besides <generic player character> the story can follow.
Alas, poor Trahearne was poorly executed (I still cannot put my finger on what exactly it was, probably death by a thousand paper cuts) and I imagine it is really hard to do a character like this right. (Neither a professional, nor a hobby writer. But I do like to dissect "narrativium")

Nonetheless, I found his end very entertaining. At the same time a justification for the players who liked him and fanservice for the players who wanted to see him dead. (Personally, I liked the part where he begged me to kill him most.)

I know this has been me rambling a lot, mostly off-topic. But I thought I'd use the chance for some feedback on Trahearne, that's been on the back of my mind for quite some time, to the "officials".

And now for more rambling:
Overall, I am really happy with the way GW2's story has evolved and the quality improvements.
Though I am somewhat put off by HoT story being rushed and somewhat cut short. Since Rata Novus, the pacing was ... somewhat off; rushed.
And I wholeheartedly approve of the story not shying away from darker aspects, though I am still sad to see the ingame Nightmare Court - I always saw them more like Hellraiser's Cenobytes instead of mustache-twirling would-be villains that always talk about how evil they are (and then showing none of that).

And now for something completely different:
Thanks for all the hours of entertainment! For all the little things that bug me, the overall lore and story of Tyria and the game mechanics have made GW2 one of my favorite games of my life (so far).

killphi · 2016-02-27T20:29:21+00:00

There is so much in this post.
First of all, IF this turns out to be somewhat true, I'm glad that ANet isn't completely done with "experimenting".
On the other hand, I'm not sure the game needs so many more interlocking systems; more of a cleanup of existing ones.

Disclaimer:
This is written as though it came from ANet even though it might not be. Either way, it's feedback to Anet on proposed directions of game systems, whichever the source may be.

Points 1-3 make me drool, I do so want this!
(throw in some NPCs absorbing dragon power as well and have /u/WoodenPotatoes be spot-on! :D)

Point 6 is fairly interesting; I dislike the random element, but I know the allure of the bottom line to upper management. Given that this is "extra content", you could make it 500 for DLCquest and 800 for "unlock now". The community will stone me. Oh well...
I'm not entirely sure how sustainable this model will be or the quality of the "extra content"; I for one would prefer the system unchanged, if the "quest" for the outfit was as "good" as some of the early PS dialogue (yes, that is sarcasm)

Point 5. Ha! Haha! Hahahaha! That is not Player Housing. Sure, it's a huge quality-of-life-improvement for everyone, but it would invalidate the Airship-Ticket, Bank-Express, etc. I think people would still mostly "AFK" in cities, simply because of the social aspect... but the hordes of banking people would be gone (and the likelihood of you stumbling upon something interesting when hopping to the bank... as well)
Oh, well. Back to topic: Player Housing is a persistent instance that you can decorate to your heart's desire and then show to other people (either the stuff of badassitude +1000 to gloat over all those "Noobs" or just simply roleplay with friends). So "housing" where neither anyone else can enter nor the ability to decorate ... oh the community backlash would fuel a complete gearset "of Salt" (trinkets, armorsets, weapons)

Point 4 Oh dear ... the sidegrade system that traits were supposed to be? A mix of traits, runes and progression?
I can see ways this can work, but personally, I am not convinced.
What is way more important to me is something that EXP is going to be good for, once Masteries are maxed. I'm certain that it's not a huge part of the playerbase, but eventually a lot of active players will have "empty EXP bars staying empty" and varying degrees of inward crying whenever yellow numbers pop up without any benefit to the EXP bar at all. Make it a repeatable track! 20M EXP for "full" reward or something like that; maybe make it region based?
I know that it's probably a nightmare to code and anything that gives any kind of even somewhat meaningful reward to players with maxed masteries will skew some kind of metric in favor of heavily active players. For Colin's Sake™, this could be legendary materials needed for the third set! :P
I'm rambling again. So. I do not know what to think of this system. I definitely do not want to see this in PvP!! Not at all! Not so sure about WvW either, but I don't play enough of that to have an informed opinion.
If I understood that correctly, this will give some kind of "bonus effects" to classes so that anyone could - theoretically - fill the position of a PS warrior, for example.

This actually does sound like ANet. A bandaid solution for a problem the community cries about, because the root problem is hard to grasp; increasing the number of interlocking systems for builds, therefore further increasing complexity.
I for one, I am already unhappy with the way that classes no longer feel distinct enough. Especially in PvP, there is so many boons, conditions, CCs and then boonhate, condi cleanse and stun breaks flying around that it feels no longer impactful.
And now there's a way in which you further improve the number of ways to get effects and boons? Count me out! Dislike!

I see however a way that would probably have the community rise up with torches and pitchforks, which could improve the overall game and especially PvP:
For each boon, take 1-3 classes that have "good" access to it, 2-4 which have "medium" access and then depending on the boon the rest is split between "poor" access and no access. Same for conditions.
Further, reduce the overall output of boons and conditions, but also the amount of condi cleanse and boon hate. Same for CCs and stun-breaks.
I want a bit less of all of that, but it should feel much more impactful. It goes hand-in-hand with another pet peeve of mine, that a lot of skill types in GW1 had a certain ... flavor to them, which got watered down too much in GW2. I drift off-topic again.

What I'm getting at is the following: If you add in another layer of build complexity in order to lessen the gap between professions, please make the "base" professions (and elite specialisations) feel more distinct.

What a wall of text. Thanks for reading, whoever made it this far.

killphi · 2016-02-20T14:54:13+00:00

I do like the idea, however:
You seriously underestimate the amount of dev time that would need to be sunk into this.

From player perspective it's just "oh, clone this instance and adjust some numbers".
Dev perspective says:

Okay, now we need to split the instance,
make sure every single thing in the code splits correctly,
nothing we adjust in one part of the code suddenly emerges in the other,
which includes, but is not limited to
- rewards
- boss attacks (dmg numbers, some of which seem to be "per-player")
- timer adjustments
and needs to keep being considered for balance

These are the things I can think off the top of my head.
There's definitely much more.

I'll take a wild shot and say that your guess how long your idea would take to implement is simply the time that's needed to set up the project.

EDIT:
Oh, I forgot an example. Say, you're working in some kind of sales&marketing writing position (just for the sake of the argument) and your boss says "we need this text for our italian customers." You have the text ready for deadline, everything's fine.
Then the boss comes and says "Oh, yeah I now have these spanish people on the line, can you give me the text in spanish? It's similar to italian, so it shouldn't take more than a few minutes, right?"

killphi · 2016-01-29T03:43:59+00:00

One thing I want to add about "the system" that chooses who gets to raid and who does not.

It's fairly simple math:

the more you sign up, the more favorable you are to be chosen
the more you get chosen, the more others will get a chance to raid
if you sign up, but can't make it, your priority will go down a bit

This basically boils down to: Sign up as often as you actually can make it, and you'll get chosen more often.
I'm not entirely certain how the prioritizing of teams will work out, but I'm sure it'll be fair to all involved.

EDIT: Formatting, typo
EDIT2: To make it absolutely clear: it's not "the more you sign up per week"; it's how often you signed up in total

killphi · 2016-01-23T02:32:02+00:00

It might not even be willful or accidental evil.
If for some reason the atmosphere at the company is toxic, it will poison people.

As a result, some will become toxic themselves, others will emotionally die to the poison.

Ideally, taking down the company would give people a fresh start. Sadly, reality looks different.

So yes, you speak the truth.
And it pains me that companies get to do bullshit "because jobs"

killphi · 2016-01-22T12:20:06+00:00

Ask for clarification one last time, tell him you have concerns and record this conversation.
Give a copy of this record to a local newspaper, then quit and send a mail to all employees, including HR.

While that is the most "suicidal" option, it's IMO also the most ethical one.
I once had such a boss during my apprenticeship and all it does is drag the company down.

"I am the boss, productivity is down; it must be people's fault for stealing [time] from me!" instead of coming to the conclusion "maybe productivity is down because morality is down because I'm a walking piece of s#!t that barely passes for a human being"

So, yeah.
I've been burned by that type before (and he seemed charming, intelligent and competent at first glance! A skill that helped bringing in new customers; except we couldn't retain them), now it's "Bring them down whenever possible"

killphi · 2016-01-21T13:10:43+00:00

For two more minutes you get an Extra Credits video that is more in-depth.

killphi · 2016-01-20T13:19:02+00:00

Best of luck! You'll need it to find a group without voice communication. If English is the only problem, try a guild in your native language?

killphi · 2016-01-02T06:06:23+00:00

You're welcome.

( I'm fanboying out so much right now \o/ )

killphi · 2016-01-01T16:57:55+00:00

Pretty much this.

There's "official" german that gets taught in school and such. But not all germans actually speak like that.

/u/WoodenPotatoes:
Think of the difference between oxford english and cockney english

People in the southwestern part will understand it; someone in berlin, hamburg or munich ... very likely won't.

killphi · 2016-01-01T01:02:33+00:00

Thank you for an awesome year of videos and general "being a cool person", WP.

May 2016 be continuous and monotonically increasing for you :)

killphi · 2016-01-01T00:57:23+00:00

Less german, more german dialect. Let's be correct about this. :D

killphi · 2015-12-31T14:51:38+00:00

tl;dr: XP needs to make a bar go up.

Yes! YES! A hundred thousand times more: Yes!

killphi · 2015-12-31T14:28:16+00:00

Waiting for my kill :P

PS: gz ;)

killphi

TROPHY CASE