[GW2] GuildMag Blog Carnival - Learning to Wait

It’s been 5 years since we first heard concrete confirmation that we would not be receiving another Guild Wars expansion, and would instead have Guild Wars 2 to look forward to. And half a decade on here we are – still waiting eager eyed and slavering at the mouth, but not for much longer.

Rather frustratingly, the 5 year development of Guild Wars 2 has been somewhat “atomic”. Not just in its explosive rise to one of the most anticipated games of the new decade which we’ve seen over the past year or so; but also in its composition – vast amount of wide update-less space punctuated by the occasional proton of news or neutron of a blog-post.

My life is drastically different to what it was like 5 years ago. I was in the final year of my undergraduate degree – studying hard... *cough* no, REALLY! I was living in a flat in Durham with a couple of friends, watching daytime TV and playing Guild Wars while sitting on a purple plastic chair with a broken back. Unfortunately, the announcement of Guild Wars 2 and, with it, Eye of the North coincided with the most intense part of my dissertation write-up (“Under the Eye of St Cuthbert: Surveillance and Self-Surveillance in Durham Cathedral” 72 points – first degree honours. * breathes on nails, polishes on shirt* ah-thank you). The fact is I didn’t have quite the time to squee as much as I’d have liked, but the excitement was still palpable at Guru when I visited (back when the community was at least tolerable).

It seems I didn’t miss a whole lot though, from what I could tell at the time all we’d been told was “it’s coming” and not much else.

The years that followed are what I fondly refer to as the “When it’s ready” years. Three years of pretty much nothing: the occasional scrap of information, meagre sustenance for hungry Guild Wars players who were squeezing every inch of playtime out of the game they’ve loved for years but of which they were slowly growing tired. We were assured that behind the shroud ANet were harnessing the power of lightning to reincarnate the flesh of the long dead; building time machines, teleportation devices and rocket-boots; they were growing ears on the backs of rats. The game was coming, and while ANet tinkered, we waited.

I waited and filled my Hall of Monuments. I waited and got GWAMM. I waited and played new games. I waited and got a job, a house, bills and responsibilities. I did all those things, but ultimately I was, underneath it all, still waiting.

The most common thing I’ve heard since the start of August has been “I can’t believe it”. Whether its “I can’t believe it’s almost time” or “I can’t believe I’m going to get to play it as much as I want in just a few weeks” or even just “I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!”, disbelief is totally understandable – things which are this long coming have a nasty habit of fading away into nothing. There was the ever-present fear of the game becoming vapourware, ArenaNet going out of business or NCSoft pulling the plug. Now, with release just on the horizon, it’s up to us as supporters and players in conjunction with ANet to make sure the game stands up to the new challenges every game faces in the current market. With SWTOR, Rift, DC Universe etc all struggling in the current mire, there is a real threat that Guild Wars 2 will get caught in the intergalactic pull of the MMO black-hole. We, as players, can only really do a few things to keep the game running – keep playing, promoting, blogging, vlogging and building a community which welcomes new players and supports the game over the next few years. If we do this effectively, if we ensure that our stoic patience has not been in vain, we might see Guild Wars 2 love a life as long and as fruitful as the Guild Wars 1.

Changing the Game, and Letting the Game Change You

ArenaNet’s latest blog post talks about the adventure (in-game and out) taken by Katy Wells – a girl inspired by the game she loves to bring the journey from the screen into the real world and go on her own voyage of discovery.

I know that for many people being a gamer is something about which they can be loud and proud. Accepting or ignoring all chides and criticism, they balk (or embody) the ever-present “basement dweller” stereotype and wear their gaming passion on their sleeve.

But I believe that, for many of us, gaming is something which we might never feel comfortable sharing with our co-workers, family or (less likely) friends. I work in an office where I can almost 100% guarantee that if I revealed my fanaticism for GW2 I would be met with raised eyebrows and sniggers followed by “but you’re 24, not 14!”. It isn’t that they aren’t nice people, I just don’t believe they’d understand (I told a couple of my co-workers last year when I covered Eurogamer for Talk Tyria – and I’ve still not really heard the end of it). It’s a shame that I don’t feel comfortable enough to share my passion with the people with whom I spend most of my time.

I’ve talked about the stigma attached to gaming before. I think what I said was “Gaming is our crossdressing”. Katy’s adventure is just one example of the many ways in which games can not only enrich our lives, but also be great vehicles for positive change, I hope that such examples can help to not only reverse the negativity which other people attribute to our passion, but also help us to re-evaluate our own acceptance and perpetuation of the stigma as gamers.

Thankfully, this September I have the chance at a new start. I’m quitting my job and embarking on my own 4 year adventure (and at the end I’ll be Dr Knight). I will be starting a PhD course at the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute in Nottingham. Aside from doing very interesting, multi-disciplinary research in a field which I am really interested in, I also have the chance to start again personally – to approach this new group of colleagues/fellow students with an openness which I don’t feel I have with my current job. Gaming and blogging has been a secret part of my life for so long, I’m not sure how I’m going to change, but for better or worse I think it’s time to bring my passion into the open.

ArenaNet Reveal the Me.. Oh, Engineer!

The Engineer

This is the class I've been waiting for ever since the profession reveals came out. To be perfectly honest I thought they'd save this one for last, but ho'no they decided to blindside me whilst my internet is still down. Well, you can't stop me, ANet; I'm at my parent's house - mooching internet and free meals! Adulthood? SCHMADULTHOOD! *

I'm in your forest, droppin'' bombz!

The Engineer is the "environmental objects" class that ArenaNet staff have been talking about all this time; with the ability to place turrets, kegs of explosives, mines, oil slicks and all manner of dastardly items to mess up your opponents. The rather tasty looking videos up on the Guild Wars 2.com Engineer page show a shmexy Norn lady dropping a mounted machine gun to hold off a hoard of Devourers (she also employs the ever important "cool guys don't look at explosions" rule).

 

Vitally important not to look at explosions, of course, otherwise major cool points can be lost. 

We also see the use of a Grenade Satchel - which comes with equipping a Backpack kit. This ability allows the Engineer to hurl grenades of all shapes, sizes and functions. Think of CoD4 grenade spam, but add more trolls (actually, there are probably fewer trolls in the MMO market... lolololol... *ahem*). 

Roland Rat wouldn't stand for this kitties' bullcrap

It also seems that the Engineer can employ weapon kits and tool kits to further enhance and change their abilities. 

Akin to every other profession, the Engineer has a bit of everything. Some healing through Elixirs and crazy healing chimneas, but also a crapload of damage from a great number of environmental weapons. One of the things I worry about with GW2 is whether it will really kick off with the hardcore crowd - those who love the numbers. The strict rules of the healer/tank/DPS system allow those players who are so inclined to calculate damage per second, to finely tune their skills and gear to suit a specific situation. GW2 has done away with these rigid restrictions, and so players will have to think on their feet and take into account all of the surrounding factors as well as the parameters personal to their character when entering a battle. I really hope the system is robust enough to stand up.

I have to admit, the info on the Engineer is rather sparse, so I'm hoping we get a blog posts up about it fairly soon to further enhance all the stuff we've already been served (and also, to answer some of the questions being posed). Although, all the info I've seen so far has been very encouraging, I'm seriously considering dropping the ranger in favour of this class upon game release.

With this reveal coming second to last it makes me wonder what exciting things they might have in store for the Mesmer. We all know he's coming, and we all know he's going to mess with our brains. We just aren't sure how yet...

*I'm actually now at home, this statement was a lie.

We Gon' Flux it Up Like it's your Birthday

Guys? Really? I go away for like... 4 days and we get Guild Wars updates up the hoo-hah, DDOS attacks on GvG players and the opportunity to become a Guild Wars 2 Ambassador?! Anyway, quick update before I take a look at the Anniversary stuff:

• I still don't have internet access at home - the landline becomes active next Monday and then my broadband provider will have the internet done by the end of that week. So, it's going to be a little longer than I thought before I'm back to daily blogging.
• In addition, apparently the people I work for have read the strict instructions of "you cannot increase the workload" as "increase the workload". So I'm currently facing one hell of a week.

Right, admin out the way - onto the meat of the matter.

  

Recently Guild Wars hit its 6th Anniversary. As Ravious has said over at KTR, it is impressive that Guild Wars is still going strong after so many years and as much as the vocal end of the playerbase might complain after each and every update, there are countless other players who still enjoy it on a daily basis (I've been known to fall into both camps). This year, ANet shook it up a bit with their updates - full details can be read over at the developer update page. Along with Hard Mode quests, Razah becoming some kind of "super" hero and Costume/hat makers being added to presearing - there were a few interesting updates in there - Birthday Tonics, Mutual Friends lists and The Flux.

Birthday Tonics

With each anniversary previous to this one, ANet have released a new set of miniatures and players whose characters have reached their birthday for that year would receive a gift which contained one of those new minis. The upshot of this was that the mini market would grow gradually each year - become ever more diversified and bloated. I imagine there aren't a huge number of new accounts being created each year, but as each player's characters mature and reach their birthdays the market becomes ever more filled with tiny little Rurik’s and Wind Riders. Frankly, the mini market has always confused me and I'm glad they've drawn a line under it.

This year ANet decided to drop the birthday mini and instead release a tonic. Now, when I first saw this I thought - well, that’s just another aesthetic item, just the same as the minis. But actually it's quite clever - it has no effect on gameplay, it doesn't impinge on their costume selling business, it doesn't affect the mini market, and the tonic market is relatively small in comparison. The tonic transforms the user into a legendary NPC or monster, it is everlasting and tradable (so people can liquefy it into money if they so choose it).


Mutual Friends List

Another nifty introduction is the mutual friend list. If you and your friend both have each other on your friend list, you will be able to see where they are at that moment. Its not groundbreaking stuff, but it’s a pretty useful little mechanic. I haven't had a chance to see this yet - but I also imagine it will let you know who your real friends are (as you'll be able to see who has you on their list too) and then you can stop pestering that one monk you met back in '06 who never really seems to want to reply to your PMs. WHY WON'T YOU TALK TO ME!?


The Flux

Probably the biggest change (and the one which has caused the most controversy) has been the introduction of the Flux. The Flux will be an ever changing Meta mechanic which will affect all PvP (from AB/JQ/FA right up to monthly GvG tournaments and HA) - it will change monthly. For example, the first Flux is "Lone Wolf":

Lone Wolf: "If you are not within earshot of an ally, you deal 10% additional damage and take 10% more damage."

Now, where the Flux comes from will take a little bit of lore knowledge so here goes: last October when the Lunatic Court attempted to release the Mad King Thorn from his realm into Tyria all sorts of odd goings on... went... on. Apparently, in their haste to emancipate him, a number of seals were broken and cracks began to form between Tyria and the "Mists". The result of this has been growing instability in places where Tyria and the Mists are closest (i.e., all PvP arenas) - and so, the Flux has occurred (or is occurring, or will occur? Not sure of the tense...).

Now, a lot of people are very excited about this update, and a lot of people are very worried/angry about it. Those who are worried/angry see it as another mechanic which counteracts the balance to which all PvP should be striving - where all skills, builds and professions are equal and all player vs. player interactions are decided on player ability alone. I can see where they are coming from, but I have a counter argument:

You know what I think about balance? Balance is BORING. Balance stays at home on a Saturday night, collecting stamps and watching Antiques Road show. Balance could spend an afternoon alone in a room with a tea cosy and not even consider putting it on his head. Change, however... now that’s where the excitement is. Change spends his Saturdays drunk on rice wine, having hot tub parties with playboy bunnies, snorting coke off an anaconda's back and dancing to hard techno. Change would wear that tea cosy like a boss.

I understand the compulsion to work towards balance, but with 10 professions, numerous primary and secondary profession combinations, hundreds of skills and millions of skill combinations, finding ultimate balance would be nigh on impossible - particularly considering the size of the GW Live Team. The only way to truly create a fun and dynamic PvP environment is to embrace the chaos that all those variables creates. ANet will know sort of what will happen when each Flux is released each month, but they won't know for sure - whatever is dominant in the meta might suddenly become hugely impractical. Eg, if you are running dual E/D Mind Blast spammers with Aura of Restoration, Fire Attunement and Mirage Cloak and then the Flux switches to: "All hexes and enchantments last 50% shorter" you're going to have to rethink your strategy. The Live Team know that they cannot release monthly skill updates to keep the meta fresh and to sort out any kinks which came with the previous update, they simply do not have the time - but they know that with the Flux at least the game will change every month without fail. If players want to be successful in PvP - they will have to learn to ADAPT.


I realise this post is getting on a bit, so I'll wrap it up:
ANet have stated that they are using Guild Wars as a proving ground for mechanics they will be slipping into GW2. So, expect the mutual friends lists and Flux to make its way into the finished product as long as they are well received. If you aren't fond of any of the updates, it's worth voicing your concerns to those in power - they probably won't remove the feature just for you, but they will certainly take your opinion into account.

Charr Week Summary

*Staggers into room*

*Pant...*

*Deep breath*

Don't worry! I'm here! Am I late?! Damn.
Well, I'm going to write a post on the charr anyway. Sit down. Oi. Get that mouse away from the address bar.

So, Charr week slinks off into the darkness. The charr have made a decent impression on me - not quite the whirlwind of joy that Norn week was - but a good impression nonetheless.

Monday brought us a textual tour of the village of Smokestead. We've heard a lot about the iterative approach that ANet take in their production, I think for someone who might not have encountered this idea before this post might have been a nice introduction to how they create their environments/events (although, I think Jeffrey Vaughan's post during Norn week was a little more interesting). Other than the focus on the iterative process - Devon Carter also attempted to walk us through the village - I found this a little odd as we couldn't actually see any screenshots of the village itself - but the description was pretty interesting:

The first thing you’ll notice when you get to the Village of Smokestead is the sheer amount of metal. It went from a small village with a few metal buildings to a village so full of metal it would make Mötley Crüe blush. You’ll then see metal structures and a metal highway taking you out into the world.

  I have to say this was probably the weakest article of the week - thats not to say I didn't enjoy it anyway - but it was let down by the lack of screenshots of the area he was talking about.


Tuesday was audio-day. Just like the other race weeks, we heard a few snippets of conversation from the Black Citadel and beyond. Out of the voice packs we've been introduced to so far, this was the most encouraging (if you've read my other posts for Human/Norn week you would know I've been rather disappointed by the middle of the road American accents that most of the voice actors seem to be sporting).

In the audio snippets in Scott McGough's article each of the actors seems to have taken a leaf out of Steve Blum's book and gone for the deep and gruff style of kitty-purr. I liked them. Particularly: "Beer is for cubs... I want whisky!"

Awwww... widdle kitty want a dwink?

There has been a niggling worry at the back of my brain however, throughout each of these audio blog posts. I'm hoping once these faceless convo snippets are attached to an NPC that they will begin to look and sound more natural (at the moment it's kinda easy to tell that they are separate lines recorded, probably, on seperate days and then mashed together). I have every faith that ANet can make it work - but I know they have to be very careful with audio as you are constantly walking the line between too cheesy and too casual. Many an MMO dialogue has been lost in uncanny valley.


Wednesday's blog post was a sort of Q&A with ANet artists and designers - Katy Hargrove, Kristen Perry, and Kekai Kotaki. It was interesting to hear about how they negotiated the original design of the charr (even narrowly dodging the pitfall of "cuteness") and how the final concept was forumulised.

A lot of the article was dominated with a discussion on the design of the female charr. Female charr didn't really feature in Guild Wars 1, so it was always going to be a bit of a rocky road trying to feminise such a masculine race without pandering to the WoW-style "big-boobs and pointy ears" crowd:

...initial designs explored the tension between an acceptable human notion of beauty and an animalistic design that is cool, but just too “creature” for the average player to find engaging. This exploratory process brought about one model design that was indeed more humanoid and catgirl in appearance. It had the back leg joint articulation of the charr, but stood much more upright, had a human neck, slender arms and almost hand-like paws—and, yes, breasts. The problem with this design, though, was we were trying to find a solution between both goals, which meant we didn’t really satisfy either. The human part of our charr catgirl wasn’t human enough to be cute, and the charr part of her wasn’t charr enough to be fierce, let alone look like a female of the same race. So while this experiment was very important for visualization, in the end it didn’t give us the result we wanted.

I think they've done a decent job of striking the balance between beauty and practicality. Although, I have to admit, if I'm going to play a charr its going to be a 8ft tall man-beast! The article was topped off with Kekai being awesome:

Q: Kekai, how did you approach the charr design for Guild Wars 2?
Kekai: My approach was simple: make the charr badass. And then make them even more badass.

 Thursday saw the charr page at Guildwars2.com get updated with lots of juicy info, including:



Finally, Friday saw Ree Soesby (*Swoon* - I should stop doing that, right? WRONG) post on the legions of the charr. Ree released some interesting information about the structure of the charr - the Imperetors at the top of each cohort of charr  (Ash, Blood, Iron etc) - below them, the tribunes, then below them the centurions (each commanding a number of warbands - a company) then commanding each warband a legionnaire. Charr without a warband are called Gladiums and have next to no support - to charr, their warband is everything; a family, friendship group, fellow soldiers etc.

I think the most interesting little snippet we recieved during the article was:

Some say that Smodur demands the return of the legendary weapon so that he can use it to bolster his authority and claim rulership of the charr. Other rumors imply that the unconventional imperator wishes to melt down the Claw and destroy the legacy of the Khan-Ur, in hopes that his people will continue moving forward and never look back.

Ree is referring to the Claw of the Khan-Ur - the weapon retrieved from Ascalon city during the Ghosts of Ascalon book. Each race, so far, has had an internal conflict which (I think) is likely to define the personal story of a character of that race. The humans had the internal politics between the Vigil, the Ministerial Guard and the Shining Blade. The Norn had the conflict between the Sons of Sanvir and the Norn themselves. The Charr may have the battle over the role of Primus - the overall leader of the charr.

So - Asura week next. (oh, come on - you know it won't be Sylvari week... right?)

The Charr - From Enemy to Ally

Ok, picture this. You spend the entirety of your first game telling your players:

"Watch out for those Shark-People over there! They're total douchebags and they will eat your children and delete your Mario saved games."

and you're all:

"Hey, well, that sounds fine. I'll avoid them. CURSE YOU SHARK PEOPLE!"

And then, when you come to releasing your next game you're all:

"Hello, remember when I said to avoid the Shark-People? Well, forget that. They're your friends now. Go frolic!"

That's what ANet have done with the Charr. It's a pretty brave move. In Guild Wars: Prophecies the charr are the voracious marauders who destroyed your homeland, killed half of the human population of Ascalon and essentially f'ed everything up for you.

That's me, dead.

The charr are a bipedal race of feline-like people. They have large teeth, four large horns and two sets of ears (all the better to hear you with) and are slightly hunched over with a hairy hump on their back (it is interesting to note that the "upright" charr type which you found in Guild Wars 1 - often as casters; monks and elementalists - seems to have disappeared from the race). They tend to stand taller than humans, but slightly shorter than the gigantic Norn. In-game, when you run with your weapon sheathed your charr will fall to all fours and gallop like a lion.



Oooh look at me, I'm a badass.



Following the events of Guild Wars: Prophecies; where the players successfully exposed the charr's gods as nothing more than the evil "titans", and Eye of the North - where Pyre Fierceshot staged a rebellion against the Shaman caste and their new gods The Destroyers the charr have changed dramatically. Having once again been burned by their zealous dedication to false gods, the charr once and for all denounced their religion and have since turned much more to technology to guide their way, casting out the Flame Legion and their Shamans.

Meanwhile, the charr continued to flood into Ascalon until only the capitol city remained. In his desperation, King Adelbern enacted the Foefire - an ancient magic which killed every charr and human in the surrounding area, but brought the human's back as ghosts to protect the city even after death. The charr were unable to retake the city from the ghosts and so turned their attention to the final human settlement in Ascalon - Ebonhawke (founded by Gwen the "Goremonger" and Keiran Thackery). The charr sieged Ebonhawke for many years, but the human's held out.

When the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik awoke and flew over Ascalon, burning the dragonbrand across the land, the charr army quickly became overwhelmed by the twisted creatures it created. In an insane move, Logan Thackery released the charr prisoners from the Ebonhawke prisons in order to fight alongside the charr and humans against the dragonspawn. Having defeated the dragonspawn, the charr and human's agreed to a tentative truce.

The charr are interesting because, unlike a lot of the other races, the have totally rejected their spirituality. They rely on the strength of steel and fire - and from what I can tell, their homeland will reflect this.

A lot has happened since you fought the charr at the Northern wall, but old wounds heal slow. I'd like to say that ANet are going to have to work hard to win over those of us who have played through Prophecies and Eye of the North. Those of us who have killed (and been killed by) countless charr over the years and have learned to fear their roving warbands might have been reluctant to accept them as a viable ally. However, it seems, the fervor for the charr almost eclipses all other races - people are so happy with how they have come out in game that they can't wait to get their hands on them.

I'm hoping that, much like Norn week, Charr week will win me over to them.

They do have super-sweet rocket launchers.

The Sylvari Redesign: Taking a Leaf out of Guru's Book

One of the largest threads on GW2Guru's Tyrian Assembly board is the one focused upon the redesign of the Sylvari. Every player seems to have an idea of what they want (and do not want) the race to end up looking like. The original Sylvari design gave them an appearance which very much reflected the innocence of their character:

Notice: childlike appearance, "Elf" like pointed ears and green complexion.Whilst I see why ANet went down this route, I believe that they can do far more with the race than simply depicting them as "green elves" or "children" of Guild Wars 2, which is what I see above. Whilst the Sylvari are essentially a "new" race in Tyria, they are borne from the Pale Tree with all the working wisdom of their race and I think this needs to be communicated in their appearance.

There are several routes ANet could go down with the redesign, each with their benefits and their downsides:

Make them more "Planty"


Perhaps Avatar of Melandru
could act as inspiration?



This is an idea I really like. In order to distinguish them from humans it might be a nice idea to play on their horticultural origins and give them a far more plant based look than before. With branches and leaves for hair, and stems and shoots growing from the skin, they would be a truly unique MMO race - one which would stand out amongst all the dark elves, dwarves and goblins out there. Quoting Kymeric:

As far as innocence goes, I don't see the need to make them look like wide-eyed children. In fact, I like the tension between something that looks woody and gnarled, but is innocent in heart and mind... A race that looks as ancient as the tree they were born from would make it interesting when they are actually childlike and filled with wonder.

There is, however, a balance to be found - it would be difficult to fit armour over all those branches and twigs. Similarly, we already have a decent description of the Sylvari from Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny, so we can't stray too far.

Make them more "Nightmare Courty"



Look at me, I'm a badass.



One of the most interesting elements of the Sylvari culture is the shady Nightmare Court. The Sylvari are guided by dreams and visions from the Pale Tree, within these dreams there also exists nightmares. These nightmares go largely unexplained by the Sylvari - the Nightmare court embrace the nightmares and attempt to understand them. Their embracing of this terrible way of life corrupts the Sylvari who choose to join the Nightmare Court, and their appearance is suitably changed.

Some players have asked whether some of the concept art for the Nightmare Court might act as inspiration for the Sylvari redesign. Giving them a wholly more dark and gothic feel.

Whilst it might be interesting; there are obvious problems with this suggestion. There is a need to visually distinguish the Sylvari from the Nightmare court, in the same way as we need to distinguish the Sons of Sanvir from the regular Norn. Without this distinction, it would be difficult to tout the Nightmare Court as truly corrupted. They might appear to be nothing more than Sylvari with a different point of view.

Make them more "Elfy"

Ever got halfway through a forest walk
and realise you've forgotten your trousers?

The Elves have been a staple of fantasy stories since Tolkien said "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if there were people who were like humans, right? But better. And with pointy ears". The original Sylvari design was pretty "elfy" to begin with, and a number of players are hoping that ANet haven't totally axed the Elf root entirely. I can see the attraction, the standard fantasy elf has a great deal in common with the Sylvari - an innocence, a connection with nature and a lithe, quick and lean air about them.

The Sylvari could easily be akin to "Wood Elves" or even "High Elves" of Elder Scrolls fame.

ANet have always cleverly danced around the subject of Elves in the past and I've always respected them for that. I believe that going further down the Elf route would be a bit of a cop-out. I hope that ANet have balls enough to do something a little more daring and not pander to the crowd (plus, can you imagine the Charr on Sylvari Elf-porn? No thanks).

Make them more "Bowie"

Have you seen his codpiece in Labyrinth?
 Jesus.

Just kidding.

That would be awesome though, right?

In the end, the new Sylvari design is likely to be an amalgamation of all of these ideas, at least I hope. Players have come up with some really interesting and innovative ideas for the race over the past few months, from TedTheShred's pollen roots whereby the race would have a constant pollen trail leading into the ground to symbolise their link to the Pale Tree, to Ammanelle's photosynthesis depicting flowers and leaves opening up on their skin whilst under the sun to invigorate the Sylvari with greater health regeneration. ANet would do well to listen to their community as they consider where they want to go with the race, they have a real opportunity to do something very exciting with them, I hope they don't pass it up. 

Taking the Pee outta PvP: ANet's WvWvW

Nowadays we are spoilt for player vs player gaming. Not much more than 7/8 years ago the majority of games were primarily single player, with the possibility of multiplayer (if you had an additional controller or friends who were willing to cart their xbox and an extra telly over to your house and remember all the cables). Multiplayer was an addition to the single player campaign, I played Medal of Honor through without "pwning" anyone but Nazis. I played Black and White online once but my creature made friends with the enemies' monkey and we agreed to kiss and make up. Good times.

With ArenaNet keeping suspiciously quiet about how their WvWvW player vs player instances will work, I've been thinking about my experiences in the multiplayer online arena and how my absolutely ideal PvP games would work.

Objective Based Gameplay

Some people like to drop themselves into an arena and just hit their opponent. These people play Team Deathmatch on Black Ops and Random Arenas in Guild Wars. I totally understand the need to taste the blood of thine enemy, but when it comes to the crunch, I'd much rather play Domination or Jade Quarry. Objectives add an extra spice to PvP, in many games you get praise for being an "objective player" as opposed to a "kill-whore" who just hunts enemy players. I'd like a PvP system which rewards both of these types of play, but encourages objective-based players. For example:

Perhaps we could have an arena with strategic outposts to capture (in strategically advantageous positions or applying advantages to the side which holds it). Obtaining and controlling these outposts would give the players points (it's important to reward not just capturing the point, but also defending it). Players would easily get their fix of death and destruction whilst battling to an outpost and whilst defending it, but more strategic "objective" players can fill their boots with identifying key outposts and capturing/defending them.

It's also important that the outposts mean something. This was a problem I had with Alliance battles; from a lore standpoint, I couldn't see why we were capturing the points. In Jade Quarry, we were making sure that our turtles could mine Jade from the seabed, in Fort Aspenwood we were breaking down the defenses of a Kurzick stronghold in order to stop them producing their final weapon. In AB we captured points because... well, because the game said we had to. In my ideal PvP there would be a justification for us fighting to the top of a hill to capture a shrine or a windmill etc. Perhaps us fighting to the entrance of a mine would allow our catapults to reload faster due to a more abundant supply of boulders for yacking?

Ongoing Struggle

I'd like my battles to feel like they mean something, not just for my stats or for the thrill of victory, but for my actions to have a lasting impression on the battlefield. In the traditional "arena" type battles, you fight your enemy, perhaps you win, perhaps you lose and when the dust settles all you have to show is a certain number of points (depending upon whether you won or not). There is no lasting impression and all your hard work doesn't really mean anything once the timer runs down.

ANet have promised large scale World vs World battles with ongoing battles which players can drop in and out of. This sounds exactly what I'm looking for. I like the idea of an expansive battlefield, which could house large scale battles and sieges, but also allow for small groups of players to employ flanking and stealth tactics to gain ground behind the enemy lines (this would really utilise the Thief/Ranger's stealth abilities). For example:

World A are sieging World B's fortress, B are holding strong but they can't last forever, they are being picked off slowly and they are having trouble finding the resources to keep the gate repaired. B send out a group of Thieves to flank the enemy and capture a nearby watermill to help increase production and get their catapults/gates back up to full functionality. The flanking group are able to sneak past the sieging forces and capture the mill, but in doing so World A's army becomes aware that they have escaped, sending their own counter force out to recapture the outpost. Now, having had to split their forces, A's army is weakened and B are able to push them further back from their walls.

That kind of flowing battle awareness would be far more exciting than the long slogs of the Aion fortress captures or pinning the enemy in their base in Guild Wars' Alliance Battles. Over time, World B might push World A further and further back - different players dropping in here and there and employing different strategies each time (capturing cliffsides to gain a height advantage, setting traps and lying in wait for their enemy - see my Mesmer post for my ideas on this!). Players would feel empowered because their decision to come up with an inventive strategy might have a real impact upon the outcome of the war.

Skill Based Gameplay
Guild Wars did a brilliant job of removing the advantage given by "epic gear" or having a higher level. I understand that you can still create a PvP character that will be on equal terms with other players in the arena and I'm glad ANet haven't abandoned the level playing field entirely despite the higher level cap in Guild Wars 2. Success in Guild Wars 1 PvP revolved around having a better build, knowing how to use it and playing a tactically better game than the opponent.

The most "serious" I ever got in GW PvP was playing ladder matches in Hero Battles (I was in the top 200! Although only like 2000 people ever played it). In HB you directed your 3 AI controlled heroes to shrines and attempted to outplay and out maneuver your opponent and his heroes. A lot of players didn't like HB because it resembled too closely the AI controlled elements of PvE - but those who played it knew it was actually an incredibly strategic game. You needed to know which of your heroes could survive against/kill which of your opponents heroes - you needed to learn when to back off and concede a shrine and when to rush and collapse on a single unwitting hero.

I liked HB because you knew that every other player had exactly the same tools available to them as you did, but you played a better game. You ran your heroes better than him and planned your tactics more efficiently. Your victories weren't as a result of your luck in getting "uber blue gold helmet drops" it was because you outplayed them. It was less WoW, more Chess.



So, there it is. Objectives, Strategy and Equality. My three tenets of a good PvP battle. I'm hoping that ANet have adhered to at least a couple of them in their new formats, Aion almost got there, but their fortress sieges were just gank fests and the "Abyss" was just a PvE area with roving bands of angry Asmodians...
Ultimately, if ANet can create a PvP environment which feels flexible and immersive, then I'll be a happy Sylvari.

Or Norn.

Or Asura.

...

The Mesmer's "Hook"

Now that the second adventurer profession has been released (the Thief - just in case you aren't into Guild Wars, or you are an have had your head firmly lodged up a large animals back passage for the past week) the Guild Wars 2 community train has once again stopped at speculation station, shoveling information coal into our logic based steam engine, taking on idea passengers and creating rather stretched and stilted metaphors about outmoded forms of transport. Choo choo!

The community has largely agreed on at least one thing: we are getting a Mesmer. The Mesmer is one of the more complex professions in the first game focusing on using interupts, hexes and energy denial to turn their enemies skills and attacks against them. There's a whole host of concepts, literary references, pictures and ideas which support the claim. There is little point in me listing the evidence here, really, we all know its coming and we know its just a few weeks (months?) away.

What will be truly interesting will be the "hook" that ANet choose to assign to the Mesmer. By this, I mean the defining characteristic or mechanic which sets the class apart from the others: for the Warrior it was adrenaline, for the Elementalist it was attunements, for the Ranger its the pet, for the Necromancer its death shroud, the Guardian has virtues and the Thief has initiative. Each of these mechanics complement the profession's skills perfectly, and should allow each class to perform certain roles better than any of the other classes.

Each profession's "hook" is comparable to a primary attribute in the first game; a trait that only that single profession could utlitise. Primary attributes were very important in the first game, because when any class can use any skill (if their secondary profession would allow it) there needed to be a way to ensure not every player in the game would just run the most powerful elementalist build or whatnot. In GW1 the Mesmer's primary attribute was Fast Casting - an attribute which decreased the cast and recharge time of Mesmer spells considerably, allowing the Mesmer to quickly throw out powerful spells one after another.

I can't imagine Fast Casting making its way over the precipice between GW1 and GW2. It doesn't feel like it fits with the overall ethos of the game - strategic and thoughtful combat. I can imagine Mesmers having the ability to slot in traits which might decrease cast time on their spells and such, but in a game where all of the professions are very mobile and active during combat, I can't see Fast Casting as coming as much of an advantage. Also, I'd like to think that ANet is more imaginative than that.

Here's just a few ideas:

Illusory Visages

The Mesmer has the ability to create 2 or 3 illusions of themselves which last 30 seconds. They move and cast and look almost exactly like the player (perhaps surrounded by a purple/pinkish glow when up close - or even with luminescent eyes!), when you target them they can be attacked just like the player but they die after 2/3 strikes - disappearing in a puff of smoke. They are limited in their skill bar (possibly to one or two skills) which do minimal damage but still keep up the facade that they are the player. After one visage is killed there is a 30 second timer before you can summon them again.
The player would be able to equip traits to increase their damage, health or even possibly give the player the ability to summon an extra visage. (This is inspired by Queen Jennah's actions at the end of Edge of Destiny)

Illusion of Haste

The Mesmer could have the ability to move at +50% movement speed for 8 seconds - leaving a visage of themselves behind and trailing a purple haze in their wake. Before the end of the timer the player could choose to warp back to their original position or to stay at their new location. If they chose to warp back to their original position, a similar visage would be left at the location they warped from. The visages would stay active for 5 seconds after the end of the timer and would be subject to similar rules as the illusions in my first suggestion (except I don't think they would attack). The Mesmer could slot traits to increase the timer length, reduce the recharge on the skill or the increase the health of the visages created (This is inspired by the Mesmer's Illusion of X skills in GW1).


Mirage Cloak

The Mesmer could create shimmering barriers on the ground behind which all players are obscured. Mobs and enemy players standing on one side of the barrier would see just a shimmering wall and the landscape behind, whereas the wall could in fact be cloaking any number of characters. Before placing it, the Mesmer could choose to bend the wall - not all the way round but around 45 degrees - in order to obscure themselves from further angles, or to spread it out straight to obscure over a wider area. This would be really interesting for creating ambushes and luring enemies into traps - as long as the AI would recognise that players behind the wall were not visible. The wall would not be impenetrable and any player or monster could just walk through it. The Mesmer could slot traits to increase the length of the wall or increase its duration (this is inspired by any movie where an army of hideous monsters has walked through an ephemeral wall - see Stargate).

Obviously, these are ideas are a bit off the wall - but that's what we are looking for, right? RIGHT?... right.

Dear ANet: I hate you

Dear ANet,

Are you freaking kidding me? I mean, are you actually joking? I could have handled it if the pistols created a sound akin to a pea shooter (ala DC Universe Online). But they sound like blunderbusses, blasting out hot molten fragments of joy:



I mean, the Ranger might still have stood a chance if they couldn't use bows... or even if their uses of bows was laboured and thrown in to appease the old school ninja fans. Instead, they fire explosives? Like Rambo?! What are you trying to pull? This isn't fair. I'm a Ranger through and through... he's so cute; just look at him... all tiny and harmless and then wham explosives in your face! And he uses the bow to shadow step! To shadow step, people!



Perhaps their melee damage will be lacklustre and uninteresting, yeah, that'll do it - then I can retreat back to the safe haven of the Ranger. But no - your mockery is relentless. Shazam, Leaping Death Blossom. I mean, I saw it in the video which Rubi had posted - but, but... its so beautiful. These guys didn't stand a chance:



Oh yeah, and thanks for bringing back childhood nightmares of watching Home Alone - remember that bit where the the fat one in the Wet Bandits steps on a nail?



I want to do that to people. I want that. It's so deliciously vindictive.

Then, the coup de gras... the predator-esque stealth mode. I'll be stalking my enemies, and they'll be all like
"he's in the trees..." 
and then the other guy will be all
"no, he IS the trees..." 
and then one of them will shout

GET TO DA CHOPPA

By that point, its too late... no amount of rippling muscles smothered in mud or bamboo spikes will stop me. I'll snap the first guys left leg off below the knee and use it to beat his friends to death.




I hate you ANet. You've just made my profession choice that much harder.

Kindest regards,

Will
xx

A Sneaky Peak: The GW2 Thief

ANet have tantilisingly dangled a few images of the upcoming thief release to us today:

Oh lordy - read the entire article here: http://www.arena.net/blog/pax-east-countdown-a-glimpse-of-the-thief

Skin-Tight-Black-PVC. Thats all I have to say on the matter.

Fewer Attributes: More Freedom

A while back I came across a thread on GW2guru which was attempting to predict the stats of the remaining professions by plotting where each point would be placed on the attribute board. For example, the original poster postulated that each professions would be able to slot 6 points over each of the attributes we were aware of at the time (Strength, Agility, Perception, Intelligence, Vitality and Willpower). So, the Warrior class would slot 2 points into Strength, 2 into Vitality, 1 into Agility and 1 into Perception. The poster then went on to say that you could attempt to predict what composition the new profession would present by looking at which set up of attribute spread hadn't been covered yet and using a bit of logic (Assassin - or Thief - would present with 1 in Strength, 2 in Agility, 2 in Perception and 1 in Willpower).

At the time I bought into the way this system seemed to be working, but it did always strike me as somewhat clunky. Perception would obviously be a well sought after attribute - criticals are vital in Guild Wars (and other games, just look at Aion and their characters slotting nothing but Crit Chance modifiers on their armour). Intelligence and Willpower were obviously the more caster-based attributes, but Willpower always came over as the weaker of the two (any decent Guild Wars player knows that having effective energy management is better than having a larger energy pool). What really bugged me was the separation of Strength, Intelligence and Agility. This made an arbitrary distinction between Melee and Ranged damage - it complicated things past the pure idea of what the attribute should be about - "Damage".

Izzy Cartwright recognised this problem in his latest post at the ANet blog:

You could make a warrior carrying a sword and bow in your two weapon slots, which was not uncommon for players to want. Unfortunately, if you split your attribute points between strength and agility, you were less effective overall than someone who carried two melee or ranged weapons and specialized appropriately... The other problem we found was that this system limited experimentation and discovery. We want players to have fun trying out new weapons. If a player with a warrior locates a rifle, we want them to enjoy testing out its different skills and possibly working it into their active weapon set. We discovered this experimentation isn’t nearly as much fun if you didn’t spend your attributes properly to take advantage of this new weapon.

I know that when the game hits the ground I am going to want to run a character who uses both a ranged and a melee weapon (I'm hoping for dual pistols/sword and offhand) and I would much rather be able to do decent damage with both rather than having to heavily spec into one and then be gimped with the other.

Later in his post, Izzy reveals the new attribute system - far more streamlined and manageable than the spectrum of 6 we had seen before:

• Power—increased attack damage.
• Precision—increased critical strike chance.
• Vitality—increased health.
• Toughness—increased defense/armor.

The new attribute system effectively means that, short of different trait slotting, you can be fairly efficient with any weapon you pick up as long as you're able to wield it. What this also means is that the character you play will be less based upon which points you slot where, but on how the character feels. Having a tighter attribute choice frees up the player to get a feeling of what its like to play with each attribute. The player can more effectively get a grip on how their character plays with a high "Power" attribute much easier, rather than attempting to factor in Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Perception. I think this new system will allow us to more effectively play the game as we want.

Oh ANet, you tease!

Oh the woes of living in the UK! This looks exciting beyond belief - anyone want to get me some swag and ship it over here for me?

Please?!

Guild Wars: Feature Build Drops Tonight!

John Stumme has confirmed that the Embark Beach/7 Hero Build/Title update for Guild Wars 1 will be uploaded later today (although Martin Kernstein has stated that they won't say a specific time, and I predict it will fall at 11:59 - Baker Island time).

This is the most anticipated Guild Wars update (at least for me) for a long time, the run down of the updates is as follows:

• Introduction of the outpost "Embark Beach" (EB). EB will include links to all Mission outposts - with sections for Tyria, Cantha and Elona. Similarly, all mission outposts will now have a zaishen "Scout" added to allow teleportation back to Embark Beach.
• Seems EB will also be the new home of the Zaishen Quests - and will have additional daily tasks added with the introduction of the "Zaishen Vanquish" option.
• 7 Hero update - eagerly awaited. Self explanatory really, they are increasing the hero cap from 3 to 7; to allow full parties of NPCs. UI updates are coming in to handle this. A new option to allow greater control over party allies (necromancer minions etc) is also being added. 
• Mercenary Heroes - I haven't had a chance to properly look into this one. But the sounds of it are that you can pay a nominal fee and have one of your own playable characters adventure with you as a hero - sounds AWESOME to me. Can't wait to party with a party of ME.
• Dailies in Pre-Searing (apparently, there will be nine every day!). Pre-Searing Ascalon has always been a rather insular community, and the players who are going for/have achieved Legendary Defender of Ascalon (LDoA) have always been an odd bunch. Because LDoA requires you to reach maximum level before you move off the starter area, and the level which the monsters reach around that area only reach high enough to produce EXP up to level 16 or so, the LDoA title involved allowing yourself to be killed over and over again by a monster in order to increase its level and then eventually killing it when it was a sufficient level as to produce EXP. This process was incredibly time consuming, and often involved leaving your computer running overnight. With the introduction of daily quests, pre-searing players are now given another option to get the much coveted title. I can see the anger rising on the horizon for those who worked their ass off to get the title when it was a complete bitch. Personally, I'll just be happy to get another title under my belt.
• An historian NPC will be added to presearing to allow pre players to add titles to their Hall of Monuments.
• Undisclosed changes to the LDoA, Survivor, Drunkard, Party Animal and Sweet Tooth titles.
• Shit will hit the fan.

Sweeping changes, its going to be a rocky few weeks on Guild Wars as the prices of items skyrocket in response to increased demand (depending on the exact changes made to the Party, Drunkard and Sweet titles). Similarly, I foresee a lot of whining and bitching about the changes to the more time consuming titles.

Drop in tomorrow for a full run down of the aftermath - I'll be all 7 heroed out by then I fear. I'm literally quivering with excitement.

EDIT:

From the horses mouth: John Stumme tells us about the updates:

Guild Wars 2: Norn Week Summary

So, Guild Wars 2 Norn week slopes off into the distance. What have we learned? Never piss off a snow leopard, because they don't sleep? That Jora's brother wasn't called Sanvir, or indeed; Svanvir - but Svanir? No, we haven't learned either of these things; we have learned that I am having to reconsider my choice of playing as a Sylvari due to the awesomeness of the Norn!

Day One started out with an article by David Wilson entitled "Legend and Legacy" and really set the scene for the following week. The norn are described in their typical guise - loud, proud and boisterous. As it did with Human Week - the first post of the week contained a number of audio clips (once again with a smattering of generic sounding American voice actors - see this post for details!) but this time with a shot of gruffness thrown into the mix. Just to Norn it all up a bit.
This article essentially showed lots us what we already know about Norn - most of which we learned from EotN (the importance of individual glory etc). However, we also gleaned a very important new element in their story: we'd already heard of the Sons of Svanir in previous stories; but until now we'd assumed they were a KOS enemy. Wilson's article added an interesting twist as it introduced the SoS as just Norn who are seen to have chosen the wrong path, but are tolerated and allowed to exist in the society nonetheless. One particular audio clip is from a bartender reasoning with a patron as to why he still serves Sons of Svanir. I believe that will be a very important concept in the Norn personal storyline in game.
In addition to this article, we also saw a short piece by Martin Kerstein called "Go Big or Go Home". The sole purpose of this article was to emphasise the importance of size in general Norn culture and specifically in their architecture. Kerstein stated that the two images below show a Norn female standing and posing like a sexy goddess (left) and then the same female standing at the entrance to the Wolf Lodge (right).

Day Two (and my personal fave for the week) was by Jeffrey Vaughan called "Designing and Redesigning Events". Vaughan talked us through the iterative process of creating a dynamic event in GW2. The iterative process the whole team goes through when creating the events seems at once exciting and collaborative yet also open to individual brilliance. I'm very very excited about the dynamic event system, and I must say that, alongside the cross class combinations, it's the element I am most eager to try out in game.

Vaughan went on to describe a particular dynamic event involving 4 shrines, each one dedicated to a "Spirit of the Wild" - the 4 most important being Snow Leopard, Wolf, Bear and Raven. Each shrine had a different task attributed to it (and not all hack and slash "fight off 10 rats" kinda dealios - proper events such as raiding a camp or solving Raven's riddles) sounded very interesting and I can't wait to give it a go.


Day three brought with it the update to the Norn page at GuildWars2.com. As with Human Week - the info here was somewhat in layman's terms - obviously meant for those who want to know who they would probably most like to play and not much else. It did bring with it a lovely new tour around the Norn lands though:



Finally; Day Four brought more information on the spiritual life of a Norn from Ree Soesbee *swoon* called "A Spirit of Legend". Ree builds upon the existing knowledge of the Spirits of the Wild by bringing in some relatively new concepts - such as the preists who represent each animal: the "Havroun", who have the ability to pass between the normal world and the mists at will. Ree talks about the nature of the Norn's relationship with their Spirit guides, how it is not like the relationship between a Human and their Gods in that they do not represent abstract concepts such as "war" or "nature" but reflect the attributes of the spirit themselves:

Bear is the most revered of all the spirits, and she is seen as an icon of strength, insight, and wisdom. Snow Leopard is a solitary, stealthy spirit, much like her animal kin, and the norn respect the secrets she collects. Raven is the cunning trickster who loves riddles and wordplay, and Wolf is the spirit of teamwork, friendship, and family. Norn choose to follow the path of a certain Spirit of the Wild because they feel a kinship to the lessons it teaches.

Again, akin to the final article of Human week - Ree weaves a storyline into the bulk of the article. The story involves Viskar - a young boy seeking to avenge his father's death at the hand of a fearsome female Norn by the name of Grimhilde. Its well worth a read and I implore you to head over to the ANet blog and give it a go - along with all the other gubbins which has been plopped there recently!

Again, this week has obviously taken a huge amount of effort on ANet's part - and they deserve a lot of praise. Very much enjoyed it! Also very much looking forward to the coming weeks? Asura week in a fortnight's time? Perhaps?

ArenaNet Norn Week: Gargantu-norn!

And so the time of the norn is upon us. Unlike with human week, ANet haven't posted a schedule for the next few days - I suppose hoping we will tackle each coming blog post as if it were a wild boar shooting out of the frigid undergrowth. We'll wrestle those words to the ground, drive our eyes-daggers deep into the metaphorical neck of the article, sever the semantic jugular and sup the lore-blood that flows forth.

Bards shall sing of our conquest!

Oh, the daring audience
Had waited for norn week in silence
And when the great beast was 'pon us
They conquered the words with their mind-lance

Adaptation: The Difference between a Good Player and a Bad One

Before the explosion of online gaming, the video game world was a relatively static system. Sonic: The Hedgehog was a brilliant game; but I'm sure if we had to, there could be any number of gameplay criticisms which we could use to pick the game apart. Nevertheless; it was the finished product, it would never change so we just got on with it. With the advent of the constant change and feedback loop between players and developers which online gaming allows, gamers have come to expect flexibility in their games. If there is a bug or a glitch, players expect the developers to deal with it - and so they should.

However, in some situations I've found players to consider their game as a static medium and therefore any changes made to the game are met with hostility and fear. A good example is the CoD community's reaction to the changing of snipers in Black Ops.

In previous games (CoD4 and Modern Warfare 2 are prime examples) experienced players would use sniper rifles (ostensibly a long range weapon) in all situations because the "Aim Down Sight" (ADS) movement was so fast that they would kill most players with one shot at any range. In Black Ops, Treyarch changed the sniping mechanic so that the perks which a player could equip to accelerate the ADS did not affect sniper rifles - thereby largely eliminating the ability to "Quick Scope".
Similarly, with the update to the Dervish skills in Guild Wars, I've seen a backlash. ANet changed the Dervish from a hodgepodge of different roles (single target spiking, multitarget condition spreading, healing, runner, tank) and refined its purpose. Increasing the ability to manage energy and changing the statistics on their main weapon, the scythe, ANet were able to distil the Dervish into a pressure character, capable of spreading conditions quickly through the use of their "Flash Enchantments".

The changes made to the above games were necessary - quick scoping was a far too overpowered mechanic and it was using the sniper rifle in a way which was counter to how the developers wanted it used. Equally, the Dervish needed a sprucing up and anyone who had been to GWGuru could see how eagerly awaited (and how well received) these changes were.

However, both of these updates have been met with a bile-ridden uprising of trolls and complaints. The CoD sniping community raged that Treyarch were gimping the snipers by removing quick scoping, and they complained so much that after a month or so of the game being released Treyarch had to release a patch which somewhat went back on their changes and added a certain degree of speed to the ADS.

Similarly, I came across players on Guild Wars late last night complaining that ANet should now be dubbed "Fail-Net" (I know, I know - how do I come across these comedy whits? Where do they hide? Gosh, I couldn't imagine... under bridges, maybe?), due to their messing up of the Dervish with the new update. They were complaining that all of their old builds no longer worked and none of the new skills were half as good as the previous ones. Any argument I made against them was met with derision:

Me: "I can't see how they are worse... Avatars are permanently maintainable - have you seen Avatar of Balthazar?"
Troll: "Avatars are overrated"

Troll: "my old build doesn't work anymore - Zealous Renewal isn't the same! Its garbage. I can't maintain energy"
Me: "Ok, but you don't need as many energy management skills anymore, you have adrenaline skills to manage energy and Mysticism now reduces energy cost like Expertise. Similarly, you've got stuff like Eremite's Zeal"

Me: "Its also changed lots of skills and altered the scythe so it can't be abused by other professions"
Troll: "ANet have gimped Warriors, Rangers and Assassins - why use them now?"
Me: "Wait, so you are saying the new Dervish is better than those professions? I thought you said it was terrible?"
Troll: "Get off my bridge"

The video game is no longer an artefact stuck in its own time. It is a fluid medium and players must recognise that their game will change. It is inevitable. The real test of a player isn't "how well they shoot the gun" the record of a good player is how well they play the game - whatever that game may be. Being able to destroy people with an Intervention Sniper Rifle is a static skill - it is only indicative of your skill with the weapon and nothing more; being able to adapt to the changing climate of the game is an intrisic and fundamental advantage to the player and is a skill which you can transfer to any number of mediums.

If you want to be a good gamer; learn to adapt.