This isn't news, but DAMN it is amazing

I don't want to cover news on this blog. You can read about the news anywhere. But I have to post these and how awesome they look. Basically, ArenaNet started last week revealing the Elite Specializations for professions coming with the Heart of Thorns expansion, which is going to released later this year. They started last week and posted an amazing picture of a Mesmer with a Shield, and today they posted an amazing picture of a Guardian with a longbow. These are AMAZING looking and an amazing way to tease the elite specializations and get people excited. I'm going to link to them below.

Week 1 - Mesmer w/ Shield a.k.a. the Chronomancer

Week 2 - Guardian w/ Longbow a.k.a. the Dragonhunter

Week 3 - Necromancer w/ Greatsword a.k.a. the TBD

Guild Wars 2 need an epic 1-hour plus encounter

I've done World Boss trains, and most bosses die rather quickly. I've been in WvW, and you basically run around in cirlces retaking stuff that was taken from you a second ago.

Guild Wars 2 needs epic battles that take an hour to do. That involve large amounts of land, not standing still, and a huge enemy/s.

Something that isn't farmed, but if you can last the entire event, you can get a pretty sweet prize.

Okay, here is a great idea!

[RANT] Can ArenaNet release Legendary gear? Should they?

None of my characters in Guild Wars 2 wear any kind of ascended gear. I've never had the urge to go after it, just as I've never had the urge to go after a Legendary weapon.

But, I've thought about Ascended gear multiple times. I have a ton of laurels from when laurels used to be easy to get, and I've never spent them. I could get a bunch of ascended jewelry with them. And I've recently gotten many crafting disciplines to 400, some 450, with plans to get them all to 400 soon.

I've seen studies where the stat difference between Ascended (pink rarity) and Exotic (orange rarity) is about 14%, meaning for every 100pts of stats Exotic provides, Ascended provides 114pts. Slight but possibly noticeable difference.

Then I saw a study today that tabulated the costs of making a set of Ascended armor, and I quickly reaffirm that I probably will never go after ascended armor for my characters.

So happy this game has limited vertical progression

Guild Wars 2 does so many things right. I could write multiple articles about it. But I guess this one is about limited vertical progression and a focus on horizontal progression.

I know some people would rather have smaller vertical progression, or even no vertical progression whatsoever, since the game already downscales you in lower level zones. The original Guild Wars only had lv1-20, and Guild Wars 2 chose to go from lv1-80.

Either way, it doesn't take too long to reach max level.

I enjoy going after gear, not because of stat bonuses, but because of how awesome it looks. Heck, a huge part of the game has you trading currencies for armor skins that have no stats whatsoever. It really allows you to customize how your characters look.

I haven't tried going after Ascended gear, but I've experienced the majority of the game without it, and that is a fantastic thing. That I can experience the majority of the game, quite possibly the entire game, in just Exotic gear is amazing.

In one of the last PvE zones, you can buy a full set of Exotic gear from karma vendors. Or if you do WvW a lot, you can get a full set for badges of honor. If you just want to do structured PvP, you don't even need to buy anything.

It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

I don't want to go play another MMO.

What I'd like to see each profession get as a new weapon in Heart of Thorns

So each profession is going to get an Elite Specialization in Heart of Thorns. Each Elite Specialization will give the profession access to a new weapon the profession normally doesn't have access to.

We already know of four of the combinations. Ranger/Staff, Engineer/Hammer, Necromancer/Greatsword, and Mesmer/Shield have all basically been confirmed by video or imagery.

So, here are the professions and the weapons I'd like to see the rest get.

My proposed skill interface

I'm not a big fan of the circular skill unlock interface that ArenaNet showed that would be coming to the game slightly before the release of the Heart of Thorns expansion. I really dig the new streamlined trait interface, and I think this could borrow from the linear horizontal design.

As the original system, the player would click the + button to spend Hero points to unlock skills. The number next to the + button would explain how much the next skill would cost.

I feel this is a better use of space. Instead of each type of skills having their own page, everything can fit onto the same page. If more skill lines are added in the future, a simple scroll bar on the right side of the page can be added.

Post-HoT, 9 professions but only 8 crafting disciplines?

What I've done in Guild Wars 2 is set up each of my characters (I have one of each profession) with their own crafting discipline. My guardian handles armorsmith, my mesmer handles tailoring, etc. It fits perfectly with 8 professions and 8 crafting disciplines.

But when Heart of Thorns releases, we'll have a new profession, Revenant, but we're not getting a new crafting discipline. That's kind of weird.

I'm sure we could brainstorm some ideas for new crafting disciplines.

Need for Speed

Every profession needs to have a +25% speed signet.

My Mesmer wants to pursue his goals to become an Olympic runner and instead has to bag groceries at the local grocery store. SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE ARENANET? ;)

When Silverwastes is good, it's GREAT, otherwise...

When the Silverwastes is moving, when there is people running around, it is really fun. Defending the bases, fighting back the mordrem, protecting the supply dolyaks. And everything that comes after you've secured all four bases, the battle with the champions underground, the attack on the inner vine thing, and the fight against the mordrem bosses. You get a ton of loot, have a lot of fun, and it's awesome. Afterwards, you get to run around a maze and open little loot bags, which is fun and a bit irritating at times.

Other times, when the Silverwastes is silent, well... it's not so much fun. Lately every time I go to the Silverwastes, either I just missed the whole shebang or it's silent, and nobody wants to do anything. It's just depressing.

I wish Silverwastes could be as fun as it is all the time and not have these long down periods of inactivity.

Trading 10 Scrolls of Knowledge for 1 Tome of Knowledge

I've been playing a lot in the Silverwastes lately, and I've built up over 100 Scrolls of Knowledge. That is the consumable that gives a character 1 skill point. My level 80 character doesn't need it, but I'm trying to level up my alts and I could really use more Tomes of Knowledge. That is the consumable that levels a character up.

Tomes of Knowledge are pretty rare. The only real ways to get them are by doing Structured PvP or by the daily log-in rewards, in which you can get about 10 a month if you log-in everyday.

I really wish you could trade 10 Scrolls of Knowledge for 1 Tome of Knowledge. It'd really help level my alts. Sadly, in the newest ArenaNet article, it says they will be converting excess skill points into Mystic Forge crafting material. Yuck. Oh well.

[RANT] One minor gripe about the upcoming Specialization change

ArenaNet gives us an example of how to describe our character based on its specializations.

"I am a ranger specializing in Marksmanship, Wilderness Survival, and Beastmastery."
"I am a druid specializing in Nature Magic and Skirmishing."

The reason the second is different is because the druid part is an elite specialization. For those who didn't read the newest ArenaNet articles GO READ THEM.

Group Utility item needed for World vs. World

It's awesome when the commander in WvW can drop a group Food consumable item and everyone can get a great buff. The game really needs a similar item for Utility consumables. It'd really help to make sure every member has two great and very needed WvW buffs.

[RANT] What I like and dislike about GW2 Living World Season 2 design

I bought Guild Wars 2 at release and played it for about a year and a half. I really enjoyed it, but at the same time, there were a bunch of other MMOs coming out and like many MMO players do, I decided to take a break from GW2 and go try out one of the other games. I could always come back to GW2 thanks to it's Buy2Play model which didn't involve any monthly subscription fee.

A year later, about 5 months ago, ArenaNet announced their first ever expansion for Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns. I watched the video from one of the big gaming expos and I got excited for the game again. So I reinstalled GW2 and hopped back on.

Hello World!

Do people even read blogs anymore? I've been considering making videos on YouTube, because that is what seems to be the popular thing now, but I hate my voice and I feel I write much more eloquently than I speak. So, this is one of my many attempts to set up a blog about a topic I enjoy. 

Who am I? My name is Matt. And I currently play the MMORPG Guild Wars 2. I play it a lot. I really like the game, and there are a lot of topics pertaining to the game in which I'd like to talk about.

So I made a blog. If you haven't tried it, Guild Wars 2 is a game created by ArenaNet. Check it out at www.guildwars2.com . I think it's the best MMORPG on the market. Of course, I am biased and hate many of the other games and really enjoy Guild Wars 2.

If I can actually stay consistent with writing posts for this blog (small chance), expect to see all kinds of Guild Wars 2 topics presented in this blog. There is so much to the game and so much I want to talk about.

Thanks for the visit!