[2020] “Flashpoint” devs here – ask us anything!

Originally posted by Kcquipor

Any news on WvWvW improvements ?

Originally posted by TEGG_2859

Regarding legendary armors:

How do you address the backpack hovering on light, the tail-clipping on medium, and the undyeablility on heavy?

Originally posted by Harambe_Was_Right

Hey guys, just wanted to say great job on the update!

Only one question, will we be able to use the new mastery outside of the new map?

Originally posted by noodle_bear

I just want to tell whoever made that jumping puzzle that you're an absolute madman.

In all seriousness though, after trying to find my way around for around 3 hours, I finally finished it! I loved it. Especially at the end where I kept using my charges on the grappling mastery and realizing there was yet another room after I should've saved them for.

Never stop making this kind of content!

Originally posted by -Cubie-

People are experiencing issues where their Shadow Abyss dye makes their Heavy Legendary Armor silver rather than black.

Originally posted by noodle_bear

I just want to tell whoever made that jumping puzzle that you're an absolute madman.

In all seriousness though, after trying to find my way around for around 3 hours, I finally finished it! I loved it. Especially at the end where I kept using my charges on the grappling mastery and realizing there was yet another room after I should've saved them for.

Never stop making this kind of content!

Originally posted by -Cubie-

Hey, I've got a couple of questions.

Will you, for upcoming maps, include meta-events like Auric Basin or Verdant Brink that require coordination and teamwork? The coordination and teamwork required in AB and VB metas make them so much more fun, interesting and challenging to beat, unlike DS and TD which is mostly "get enough people to each lane, and do the events that pop up".

Will we see more 'vertical' maps such as the new one or VB? I quite enjoy the change of pase these maps give over flatlands like most of the original maps. And if so, will we see the new Mastery in upcoming maps again?

Originally posted by noodle_bear

I just want to tell whoever made that jumping puzzle that you're an absolute madman.

In all seriousness though, after trying to find my way around for around 3 hours, I finally finished it! I loved it. Especially at the end where I kept using my charges on the grappling mastery and realizing there was yet another room after I should've saved them for.

Never stop making this kind of content!

Originally posted by Charrikayu

About legendary armor, as the resident Charr armor advocate:

As I've mentioned in other threads, I really applaud the hard work and technology that went into creating these sets. It seems like no small feat and I don't want to diminish that achievement. That said, I think the achievement is self-diminishing in that it contains some of the same problems which have plagued armor in GW2 for years. Hoods needs to be designed for Charr. Asura also suffer from this problem, their ears unconvincingly "tucked" into the hood. There's also the matter of tail clipping on medium, as well as the mask for the light armor, but I don't want to build of a litany of problems rather than speak to my actual point.

That point being: why? I really feel like this was the one time that any non-cultural armor set could have gone above and beyond, and yet it's still weighed down by these issues. Why not adjust the design to accommodate multiple races? Or why not select a design that can better accommodate multiple races with less work? Charr can wear hoods but they need to be designed for them. I know Anet is capable of this. As recently as the wedding attire it's been proven that when the races have outfits and armor designed specifically for them they fit anatomical considerations splendidly. I really notice the difference between things like Rox's female outfit, designed on a Charr, and the male outfit, designed on a human.

I'm not oblivious to design costs or trade-offs. I understand that work has to go into these things, and it's time-consuming. It just really bothers me that this was the one instance where so much time was spent on the particulars of animating the armor, and we couldn't even get the basics of making sure the armor fit all the races to a T. Don't get me wrong, I really like the armors otherwise and they're really splendid, but I feel like you ran a marathon and tripped at the finish. This was an opportunity to say "look at how far we've come with our armor technology" and heap praise on it, and instead it's weighed down by "yeah, but Anet is still putting human armor on non-humans."

So I'm asking, because I've never really had a direct response to this subject in my four years of advocating for it, why not focus on making sure the design fits all the races before animating? Why not choose a design more beneficial to all the races? And, will this problem ever be addressed or resolved going forward? Not just for legendary armor, but in general. It gets very tiring to have to hope for cultural armor to have these grievances addressed, and it feels especially hopeless when even legendary armor can't accomplish it.

All we're asking is for armor for our Charr and our Asura that looks as good on them as it does on humans. I'm really proud of the awesome work that legendary armor got. It's some seriously intense advancement in animation and the game is going to be better for it. I just really hope that one day we can have as much attention given to the anatomical particulars of our favorite races.

Originally posted by Hajiishere

What inspired you into making MMO's?

Originally posted by Hajiishere

What inspired you into making MMO's?

Originally posted by HeavyTankZA

to the armor devs, love the work on the legendary armor, however my playtime is very limited and unable to do the raids due to real life commitments (I am sad missing this content), will there be another set down the line to go for? say via a very long sequence of gee I dunno, 20 or so subsequent collections?

Originally posted by Teranas

Honestly, this is the best episode you ever created.

Originally posted by SergeAzel

People have been throwing a lot of salt about the new armor but I gotta say I love it - and if these things are able to be ironed out, even better!

Thank you!

Originally posted by Rylen_018

The heavy armor is too "shiny" and metalic so most dark dyes look lighter than they should.

Originally posted by InspiringCalmness

Im really impressed with the new map!
Did you plan on making it that big or did it kinda just ended up with that size after you implemented everything you wanted to be there?

Originally posted by EdhelGaladhrim

Hi! Firstly, I want to thank you all for the hard work that you guys do and everything you put up with. It's truly remarkable and your guys' game is simply breath taking. Secondly, as someone who's studied Latin for five years, I was wondering why you chose the name Draconis Mons for the new map. Also, do you all have a Latin expert, or did you use the internet to come up with the name? (If the latter is true, very impressive because Latin is quite the difficult language)

Originally posted by Mireles

Just wanted to say great job on the armor.

The ability to swap upgrades and stats without destroying them and creating multiple sets of gear is a much needed feature in the game.

I was wondering if we are going to see legendary trinkets and the upgrade swap option expanded to weapons?

Also is the whole rune swap to inventory the ideal solution or is this just something easy to implement to hold us over on a more convenient solution?

Originally posted by [deleted]

[deleted]

Originally posted by GaileGray

Anything from the Halloween Festival that isn't already available in the guild hall. I <3 Tyrian Halloween soooo much!

Originally posted by Help_Im_Trapped_

About the ending to FlashPoint

Originally posted by CrystallineSugar

Paul Ella, is there any chance we'll get sigil swapping on legendary weapons?

Originally posted by kemzan

Hello. I may be wrong,but the mastery for the new map fall under exalted magic,and that is unlocked by a map that I don't have because I came back to the game earliear. Is that correct? Any plans on changing that so the new map unlocks exalted magic too?

Originally posted by EdhelGaladhrim

Hi! Firstly, I want to thank you all for the hard work that you guys do and everything you put up with. It's truly remarkable and your guys' game is simply breath taking. Secondly, as someone who's studied Latin for five years, I was wondering why you chose the name Draconis Mons for the new map. Also, do you all have a Latin expert, or did you use the internet to come up with the name? (If the latter is true, very impressive because Latin is quite the difficult language)

Originally posted by Captain_Ozone

Any time table other than by end of year? Are we going to have to wait for the expansion for it?

Originally posted by regendo

I realize you won't be able to talk about major story topics and your reasons behind the quite disliked direction the story took in this patch so I'll spare you that question. There's one smaller detail that I noticed though that surprised me.

At one point in the story, while we're on comms with Taimi, the player character talks about . That's news to me! They're nature spirits alright but I wasn't aware of any connection like this.

Is this new lore that we just didn't know about previously?

Originally posted by Help_Im_Trapped_

About the ending to FlashPoint

Originally posted by toaster_messiah

Currently, Juggernaut's armor-coating effect doesn't work with any kind of armor piece if you have a legendary armor piece equipped. (At least this is the case for heavy armor)

Is this an intended behaviour (though I suppose not, since it completely makes the weapon irrelevant with legendary armor); and if not, can we expect a quick fix on that. I just crated my breastplate (still need more of those sweet sweet provisioner tokens) and honestly have regrets because I love my Juggernaut.

Originally posted by EdhelGaladhrim

Hi! Firstly, I want to thank you all for the hard work that you guys do and everything you put up with. It's truly remarkable and your guys' game is simply breath taking. Secondly, as someone who's studied Latin for five years, I was wondering why you chose the name Draconis Mons for the new map. Also, do you all have a Latin expert, or did you use the internet to come up with the name? (If the latter is true, very impressive because Latin is quite the difficult language)

Originally posted by Olmega

will there be any more alterations to legendary armor in terms of looks or are we gonna get additional functionality to allow for transmutation charges to not be consumed?

Originally posted by fearne_ib

For the Living World team: after Braham's change in A Crack in the Ice and spoiler do you have plans for a lot more character development of the NPCs in future LW/expac story? Previously NPCs seemed to keep the same personalities as the plot progressed, but as bigger and bigger events happen, will we see more changes in our friends and allies?

Originally posted by GlossGhost

Ella, I know the Legendary Armor is probably a really sensitive topic to talk about to you people who spent so much time on making them and implementing the system, but the majority from what I have seen seems to be on the negative side in terms of how those look. Is there any chance our future armors can be, oh I don't know, maybe the word "sleeker" is nice to classify as. Look at Duelist Coat for example for Medium, It is so beautiful and gentle, what about Carapace, it's incredibly good and I was so glad that armor existed in the game back when I was new to it, things along the lines. Now maybe you have a different philosophy when making armor like that, but I would still like to see some really stylish armors in the game. I can't help but feel the efforts you put into making them, although they have amazing baseline, rune swapping and stat swapping, proper animators for them, they could have been more, honestly, I feel like a more simplistic, yet beautiful, not-over-the-top approach would have served you well and I say that with all my love to your dear company that I adore so much.

To Sauter and Olson, there seems to be performance issues where if a lot of people stack up with them, let's say in a Raid Squad, things go downhill in terms of performance. Can't tell if it is like that for everyone though. Also I saw the new synchronized animation with the real distance traveled on the Lake Doric Tonic, I suppose you did that so the new one would not look silly but, I think the small one looks really silly now. :D

The new Legendary Torch has some nice tricks under it's sleeve like the wield animation, I had the pleasure to see it earlier already by a person who made it instantly and in addition to the sound and the bright and amazing footsteps, well done, things like that manage to shift my opinion about weapons and I actually want to smack people with candles now. And finally, to Arnold and Reynolds, you guys should be paid more. Lots more.

P.S. Please bring encounters with more heavy focus on celestial elements if it's possible to fit it in the theme. :3

Originally posted by boottspurr

Spoiler

Originally posted by [deleted]

I just want to thank you for

Originally posted by digitalruse

How do testers sign up? I have a Mac tired of dual booting ready, willing, and able to test!

Originally posted by Syphys

The main reason I am excited for living world updates is no other than the story/lore. I am amazed with the story and how it goes, but what make me sad is questions unanswered like plot holes... I really loved that you guys bought back about the problem of extinction of the Elder Dragons. It was one concerned question that was answered. Can I hope for more plot holes to be covered in the future updates? Do you guys have a team dedicated to answer people questions about the story? Because It really feels good when the final piece of a puzzle is complete. Anyways, great chapter, Thanks ;)

Originally posted by Seasniffer

Does the ArenaNet development team take iodine each day? I was told by the L E G E N D A R Y FASTCAR of Yak's Bend that it's essentially for everyday health. Lugol's is apparently the best, FYI.

Originally posted by Diokana

I absolutely love the new mastery that came today, maybe even more than I love gliding. What kind of challenges did you have designing the grappling hook?

Originally posted by ANET_Laevateinn

Dogs: This is a much-discussed topic among the team; I will take your interest as a vote for dogs but can't promise what the future may hold!

Originally posted by Bloodyscratt

Any idea of the "minimal requirement" for this client ?

Originally posted by PhoenixOfTheFire

First thing I wanted to say, I LOVED todays episode! Everything from spoilers and especially the map and the new mastery. Amazing job!

Secondly, I wanted to ask if you saw the recent suggestion of adding the year the zone takes place in, or slight lore tidbits about the zone to the loading screen (maybe even a loading progress bar). I really liked the suggestion and was wondering what you thought about it, and if it would even possible without some sort of drastic rework (cause a big rework for it wouldn't be worth it).

EDIT: Added link to the reddit post i referred to.

Originally posted by [deleted]

Posting for an friend of mine: In the book when Rytlock meets Ember Doomforge, he tells her that she has her grandmothers eyes ( Almora Soulkeeper ). Now since when do badasses or just guys ingeneral notice something as someones eyes unless they find them either attractive or love them? Am I onto something?

Originally posted by [deleted]

[deleted]

Originally posted by bobothereal

Any news on a fix for the Lighting bug introduced in april 18ths patch? Its quite a shame having every map be real dark or a disco, especially the new map as whenever things work as they should it looks kinda nice.

more info: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/665b0t/april_18th_lighting_bug/

Originally posted by Draxjon

Thank you for adding a special golem to our home instance ^{^}

Originally posted by Assistant_Hack

Oh boy spoilers about Flashpoint!

Originally posted by Knoppergal

Would those 4 big island have covered the entirety of the rest of the fire island chain? :O

Originally posted by RisingDusk

And a beedog.

Originally posted by Fanintu

whoever decided to Spoiler-ish is my new best friend <3 i love it!

i've had a blast in general, playing this episode's story and exploring the new map with the new mastery. who came up with it? it's loads of fun to use, reminds me of the grappling hook from legend of zelda a little bit.

Originally posted by SynergizerSyd

Spoiler for final story instance

Originally posted by TheRocknight

I don't mean to criticize, but whats up with Lazarus just hiring a bunch of mercenaries to do his dirty work? there's not much justification used for that and I don't understand how he would have gotten the money to pay them, aside from outright stealing it. It seems very odd and I feel needs a little bit of justification.

Originally posted by [deleted]

If you don't mind me asking, what steps did you take into getting your job? I'm feeling a bit lost at the moment and would love to do something like that but I have no idea where to start.

Originally posted by GruntSq

LIVING WORLD/STORY - What are the consequences in divinitys reach and in the rest of kryta, Spoiler

What happens to the priesthood?

The german roleplaying community is strongly based in divinitiys reach, this information is invaluable to us. Thanks in advance!

Originally posted by Wiz-1543

I would like to be able to complete the home instance nodes, some black lion chests nodes are unobtainable. I love the quality of life for the map currencies the quality of the map is just amazing. The story is good. All in all good work!

Originally posted by TheCavis

It's well established lore that skritt get more intelligent in larger groups. If you had a skritt mesmer, would it get smarter as it summoned additional clones and phantasms?

Originally posted by anchuin

Really loved the story and map this time, it's even fun to get to remote places now with the new mastery!
However I fell into 3 holes I could not get out of and managed to get oob once and then got stuck there. Reported them all of course.
My question to Elizabeth Bergeron: How long was the map tested for? I know that you now can get to anywhere easily and that may have impacted testing.

Originally posted by disablestyle1

Question about the experimental envoy armor skin, I remember some time ago someone from Anet said, if you get the precursor skin / legendary, the experimental skin for the same weight will unlock. But as I crafted my medium legendary armor I saw that it didnt unlock the experimental skin as promised. ( I chose light as experimental, cause of that info) Now I am missing the experimental armor skin, is there a chance for a fix?

Originally posted by SynergizerSyd

Spoiler for final story instance

Originally posted by Syrio21

I have a question about legendary armor, so for Paul probably.

In the post about the armors you guys mentioned you had to make changes to the game engine to be able to make animated armors. My question would be, considering the changes are already done, does that mean the process of making the next Legendary Armor will be considerably faster?

Sorry if that was asked already

Originally posted by daireon97

As the Map is underground and under the ring of fire, can we expect to see/is it possible to see a different map directly on top of the new map? or is that complicated to work on the world map?

Originally posted by GruntSq

woops, sorry for double post. am new to reddit, I saw the answer!

Originally posted by Burningbeard696

Not a question but the new "thing" to get for your home instance in this patch is my favourite thing ever. Good work.

Originally posted by Quozex

I just finished the new JP and I have to say it was amazing. Just wondering how long it took to make such an elaborate JP. It's just really stunning I love it so much!

Originally posted by dannyus

Hey, Im just curious, is it intended that the Juggernaut effect doesnt work with legendary heavy armor? Also, the precursors for the armor are not unlocking (experimental envoy armor) even tho you have the legendary done.

Originally posted by marcustyphoon

Not the same thing. I definitely saw a post confirming the experimental skins would be unlocked by the refined armor (a la binding a precursor weapon unlocking the experimental/refined skins); I'll go look for it now.

Edit:

Obtaining a Refined Envoy Armor will unlock the corresponding Experimental Envoy Armor skin, so players wanting to unlock all of these skins will be able to do that by creating the Refined Envoy Armors when they have been unlocked.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Legendary-Armor-Information

Originally posted by Brogile

Why did he pretend to be Lazarus then? Ever since we first saw him appear he didn't seem to do anything to exploit the white mantle. Surely if he just pretended to be spoiler with the player character instead of a Mursaat with a bloody history we would have been more trusting of him. I mean, Lazarus was last seen promising vengeance against countless generations whereas spoiler. What did he gain from the player character by pretending to be Lazarus that he couldn't of gained by presenting himself as spoiler (but with more altruistic motives)? Why the double subterfuge?

Originally posted by YangZA

Can i bribe you with 🍰 To get early access?

Originally posted by anet_ester

The fix for this is coming in an upcoming hotfix.

Originally posted by bobothereal

Awesome! Tyvm for the reply as well, these AMAs really blow up and i miss half the stuff^{^}

Originally posted by Gaaroth

Dunno if you can / are able to reply again. Just to be clear you are aiming for the next LS release or just the next patch release when you refer to "next release". Thank you again for the reply and the awesome work!