Tyria's Point of No Return

[Karizee]

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/t...-of-no-return/


Tyria's Point of No Return

by Colin Johanson on October 20, 2014



A Living World

The return of Living World Season 2 is rapidly approaching. When the season resumes on November 4, we’ll see the story pick up from the cliffhanger that left one of the world’s leaders fighting for survival, and the races of Tyria preparing for war against the Elder Dragon Mordremoth.

For Tyrians, the awakening of each of the previous elder dragons led to catastrophic world events: earthquakes, tidal waves, and the raising of a long sunken continent are just some examples of the destruction left in their wake. These have seared their marks into the face of Tyria.

Now another elder dragon stirs deep in the heart of the jungle. The world’s leaders have agreed to turn their attention to this new threat and attempt to destroy it before it can wreak the havoc they’ve seen other elder dragons sow. As season 2 returns, we turn our eyes towards Mordremoth as our next target. We also ponder the meaning of the vision given by the Pale Tree and the role that legends of Tyria’s past may play in a story that is yet to unfold.


Holiday Festivals

As we’ve done in the past, there will be festival releases interweaved into this coming Living World season. Let’s take a quick look at our festival calendar for the remainder of 2014.

This coming Tuesday, October 21, the Mad Realm returns with our annual Halloween release. On December 16, we’ll release our usual holiday-themed festivities with Wintersday. Both of these releases will feature the same content as last year but with refreshed rewards, giving you fun new festival-themed items to earn.


Into the Jungle

The road to war is paved by points of no return. Tyria has already decided to take the battle to Mordremoth. As we go on this journey we’ll learn dark secrets of Tyria’s past, venture into stories with roots deep in the very heart of Guild Wars lore, and visit places that have only been rumored to exist.

Season 2′s final episode will feature an unforgettable end for all of you who go on this journey with us. So make sure to jump in and join the ride starting on November 4.

We’ll see you in game!

[Fencers]

Would be cool to finally see all of Magumma.

[Arlee]

But I want more things now! QQ

Sad to see both Wintersday and the Halloween event will be the same as last year Not the worst thing ever, but still.

[SgtSnuggleButt]

Nothing really is changing is it? We are getting recycled events with new rewards and a new dragon. GG

[Arlee]

Eh, I wouldn't write it off as nothing is changing yet. We don't know what will happen after the Living Story picks up again. If you want some idea of what might be changing go wander around Kessex or Lion's Arch some. Whatever change it is, it should be bigger than any of the change that happened during season 1.

[Valeron]

We will see more new areas, I'm sure of that. But nothing will change for the holiday events it looks like and that makes me sad a little bit.

there has to be something big in the works, I mean they have around 340 employees working for them and most of them we haven't heard from in forever.

[Svifnymr]

But I want more things now! QQ

Sad to see both Wintersday and the Halloween event will be the same as last year Not the worst thing ever, but still.

I'll run around a bit, but I got a month sub for SW:TOR that ends on Nov 2nd, so guess it'll keep me over until something actually "new" comes around.

I am curious how folks are liking the content rate of season 2 though. This year has been very dry compared to last year.

[Arlee]

I am curious how folks are liking the content rate of season 2 though. This year has been very dry compared to last year.

I don't like it Once they started the 2 week cycle last year that was awesome. I'd like the rate to be that more consistently.

[Valeron]

I am curious how folks are liking the content rate of season 2 though. This year has been very dry compared to last year.

I haven't played for almost two months, and I'm generally pretty positive about the game. So yeah, not liking this content update rate.

[Deleted]

I've been playing 2(it's 2 right?) years, and missed the Halloween event both times due to other commitments (namely, school). I'm OK with it being the same :P

Really not liking the rate of S2 though. I feel like I haven't played GW2 in months, whereas in the first patch cycle I was coming back each month to do the new stuff.

IDK, I'll take more frequent over more "epic". I don't feel like there's much more actual gameplay to be had in the season 2 patches than there was in season 1 overall. It really just amounted to a grind for a back piece after the story content, which is kinda meh and I haven't done it.

[Svifnymr]

I've been playing 2(it's 2 right?) years, and missed the Halloween event both times due to other commitments (namely, school). I'm OK with it being the same :P

I didn't mind last year being 80% the same-ish, with some new twists. This year being mostly the same won't bother me if there's even a slight bit of new stuff to it. It'd be nice to provide an avenue for those that have the incomplete book-backpack to get the complete one though, but it doesn't affect me. I'd also love a chainsaw greatsword.

Year 1 was discovering about Mad King Thorn, Year 2 was discovering his kid, Year 3 shouldn't be discovering his kid, even if it's the same battles between them that take stage.

Really not liking the rate of S2 though. I feel like I haven't played GW2 in months, whereas in the first patch cycle I was coming back each month to do the new stuff.

IDK, I'll take more frequent over more "epic". I don't feel like there's much more actual gameplay to be had in the season 2 patches than there was in season 1 overall. It really just amounted to a grind for a back piece after the story content, which is kinda meh and I haven't done it.

I love Dry Top and look forward to the expansion further into Maguuma, but the story instances have been so-so. I can understand they can't add a new zone every patch, but maybe they should have designed more/smaller story instances to spread across the timeframe.

- - - Updated - - -

So yeah, identical to last year with some system tweaks it seems. Still supposed to go "investigate" Prince Thorn.

The new tux/dress is nice though. Too bad I hate the gem-conversion UI and the rate sucks anyway...

[barackopala]

Okay, this is seriously a point of no return, i dont want to return to this game arenanet in it's current state, thanks arenanet for the new gem system that has proven us that it's anticonsumer.

[carnifex2005]

Okay, this is seriously a point of no return, i dont want to return to this game arenanet in it's current state, thanks arenanet for the new gem system that has proven us that it's anticonsumer.

I was just coming on to say the same thing. I'll still be playing but I won't be buying gems anymore. Since this pretty much is the last fantasy MMO I'll be playing for a very long time, I'll be waiting around for Star Citizen or Elite - Dangerous for my MMO kick in the near future.

I personally blame the massive flop that was Wildstar and NCSoft trying to recoup some money in the NA market. That being said, GW2 has been in maintenance mode for a while so they better be announcing an expansion pretty damn quick or they'll be losing a lot of players.

[Valeron]

the gem conversion change is pretty idiotic. not sure anyone can defend that decision

[carnifex2005]

Also they are hiding the historic gem to gold / gold to gem rates now with the new interface. "Coincidentally" there was about a 20% bump in the exchange rate soon as the patch went online (though that could have been because people wanting the new outfit in the store). Guess ANet really does need the cash now.

[Fernling306]

Also they are hiding the historic gem to gold / gold to gem rates now with the new interface. "Coincidentally" there was about a 20% bump in the exchange rate soon as the patch went online (though that could have been because people wanting the new outfit in the store). Guess ANet really does need the cash now.

I don't follow the history of gem conversion rates at all. Do you know if a 20% change is typical right after updates?

[barackopala]

I don't follow the history of gem conversion rates at all. Do you know if a 20% change is typical right after updates?

tbh the rise in the Gem/gold ratio is quite regular for feature patches, nothing new, but the idea of taking it out and making it shady makes me feel somewhat uneasy due to the possibility of anet borking the system, when the system is not transparent enough there's aaaaalways a bit possibility that there are shady deals to get more revenue.

[Karizee]

There's always a spike in the gems/gold conversion when they add new items to the gem store. Always. This isn't the biggest one, not by a long shot:

http://www.gw2spidy.com/gem

Biggest spike was over the 10 day 2014 anniversary sale when they offered these items:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gem_...niversary_Sale

Things they added today that would have spiked the conversion are the Noble Count outfit (vampire attire which was looked forward to by many), Phantom's Hood, Devil Horns and most likely the Foil Wrapped Candy. The candy is also a controversial item since you use the wrappers off the buff as an entry to win the highly coveted 2012 Halloween weapon skins like the Ghastly Grinning shield and the Chainsaw sword.

Now you can still get the candy as drops, they are in the Trick or Treat bags as well. The ToT bags are selling for almost 8s apiece atm, I'm averaging a wrapper off every 100-150 bags. So you can use gold to buy the ToTs for a chance at a wrapper or convert gold to gems for guaranteed lots (500 gems for 25 wrappers) or simply farm your own bags. There will only be 1000 of the weapon skins given away, they will have some kind of drawing from all the ticket entries at the end of the festival.

Back to the gems/gold brouhaha:
They have not changed the way you buy gems for cash, that's still the same as when the game launched - $10 for 800 gems. What's changed is trading gold for gems - before you could convert as much or as little gold as you like, you now can only do it in multiples of 400 gems. I'm not terribly up in arms about it, I always have a certain surplus of gems on hand and see it just as another type of currency. If peeps were going to be mad about this, imo they should have been mad waaay back when the game launched about the $10 per 800 with no option to buy fewer gems for cash if you wanted to. Since we are talking about different kinds of game currencies I don't see the enormous big deal.


Edit to add: They've also not changed the way you exchange gems to gold, that's still has all the variability it always had. You can exchange as much or as little as you like.

[Kelimbror]

Edit to add: They've also not changed the way you exchange gems to gold, that's still has all the variability it always had. You can exchange as much or as little as you like.

While you made sure to highlight exactly what didn't change, you conveniently skipped what everyone has been complaining about. That is that people who want to use only their in game activities to buy gems are now limited in how they can do it. The only intended outcome is to drive people into farming more to buy more gems (that they potentially don't need) or else force people to pay for it. There is no positive reason for the change at all. It's not defensible.

It personally doesn't affect me or change my opinion of the game at all, but I can understand why everyone is rightly upset about the change.

[Valeron]

at the very least they should make it into 100 gem increments, not 400