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ArminBarkas, Doppleganger... Doppleganger, ArminBarkas.
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ArminBarkas, Doppleganger... Doppleganger, ArminBarkas.
When will we see the uprising of the Choya?
What makes you think they aren't already?
The Commander tells Taimi about Vlast early on, in one of the first remote communicator exchanges.
And a shameless plug: once the story is complete, there's one final call Taimi makes back to Rata Novus that is, IMO, one of the finest things we've ever done. And it's partly the words she says, but mostly because Debi Derryberry (Taim's VO actress) kills it.
UI
QuestionWishlist
With the new toys added as Casino Blitz prizes, can we have a Toy tab in the Hero panel to keep everything neat and orderly?
Ditto for tonics.
Interesting ideas.
This is a bit of a nerdy request to any of the audio designers if they're around for this AMA (apologies if they're not!).
I've always liked the voice effects in Guild Wars 2, from the sound of the golems in Rata Sum and M.O.X., to a lot of the big bad antagonists (Ensolyss, Mordremoth, Balthazar...), to Taimi's radio/Scruffy voice, and even in Path of Fire with things like this (spoiler).
As an audio producer myself who loves playing around with voice manipulation, I would love some techy or even layman's explanation on how some of these voices were produced and what kind of effect chains went into them.
Thanks for listening and asking the question! I have been working on the voice processing since we launched GW2. It is such a rewarding task to accentuate the wonderful voice acting and make these characters come to life. My goal is to ensure intelligibility and offer hand crafted detail while delivering large amounts of voiced lines. To do this we have created a dynamic procedural system that adapts to the each voice line. Effect plugins and mix volumes can then be manipulated for much greater detail. Let's take an example, Taimi's backpack voice. At the start of the line I add a little static like she is tuning in. To distort the line I am using a bit reduction plugin and applying more or less effect as she talks, this also drifts to offer more randomization. There is also a reverb of an impulsed small speaker to worldize. To go another level of nerdy we are not chaining a set of plugins. For example, taking the dry line, pitching up or down, adding distortion, then adding re...
Read moreRead moreSo I had two intentions when introducing that choice. I've always been interested in blurring the lines between the story instances and the Open World, and the idea that you could make a decision that would perminently change one of our main open world hubs was appealing to me, and where i focused a good part of my efforts.
The choice was also designed to help naturally reestablish the viewpoints and values of your party members. Kasmeer and Rytlock's positions both tie into their central conflicts during expansion - Rytlocks historically stubborn self-reliance, and Kasmeer's faith.
I did try to call back to this choice in the epilogue pretty substantially - who attends the party and Imann's attitude towards Utumishi are very different based on your choice. As I said, it was more about the future of Amnoon than yourself - and that may have lasting impact.
The backpack was actually added as part of the choice later - and I'm really glad it was. It's fun to be...
I actually have the stats as to how many signed up for what.
Spoilers: 100% of all players chose Joko, and you should too.
Story QuestionAlso are you planning to change the Firebrand tome animation as alot of people have suggested? Lastly why while getting the gryphon mount the Library of Kormir is filled with Shades and Aatxes instead of Abaddon minions?
The Commander tells Taimi about Vlast early on, in one of the first remote communicator exchanges.
I just wanted to thank whoever wrote the small exchange with Turai Ossa's ghost, and the conversation with Kossan after earning the Redeemer's Friend achievement. And let's throw the Last Spearmarshal's whole saga in there, too.
I know we can't just reach back through time and connect with old heroes - old friends - centuries gone, like it was the good old days. But this came pretty damn close. So as someone who found all of their fondest memories in Nightfall, thank you. The desert remembered.
(I'm looking forward to Season 4, because I know exactly who I'll be remembering when I toss Joko into a volcano.)
Thanks. Getting Turai and Kossan in the game was one of my endeavors. Happy to hear you enjoyed reconnecting with them. Make sure you go to the Lair of the Forgotten as well. You can thank Rob S for the Last Spearmarshal.
When will we see the uprising of the Choya?
You ask as though it hasn't already happened....
This isn't specific to Path of Fire, but I've always enjoyed that ArenaNet employees have the option to turn on the ArenaNet tag within game, and that plenty do! It's always a treat to see them in game and know that many are players just enjoying the game with the rest of us.
Out of curiosity, when/if you play in your free time, do you prefer to roll with the tag on, off, or a mix of the two depending on your mood? Do you find that the tag draws too much attention, is it mostly positive attention?
Thanks for all you do!
I tag up in ArenaNet guild events like WvW roaming, during meta events or world bosses. I do tend to run around not tagged, to get more of a perspective on how people feel about the game from the raw emotional standpoint. People tend to behave differently if someone who is tagged up is around.
Happiest: Seeing the choya in game for the first time.
Biggest heartbreak: Having to cut Palawa Joko's big musical number.
/u/anet_connorf so very very very much wants to make this happen. at one point he might have even written lyrics. all i know is "genuflect peasant!" was key to the chorus line.
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I always enjoy seeing UI ideas that the community comes up with! (and that_shaman's mock-up for a radial menu was prettyyyy nice, not gonna lie.) To answer your question, we actually did look into a radial menu. Early in expansion development we explored several options for quick mount-selection, including a radial menu, and we went with the skill-select style menu because it would be the most familiar/friendly way to introduce mount selection. That said, a radial may not be available in the game now, but if there were enough player requests for it... ;)
I have to say this is one that's never made sense to me. Town clothes... your default clothing... you have to continually re-apply? Whyyyy?
Town clothes provided non-combat appearance, and tonics provide non-combat appearance, so that's why they got translated that way back in the day. I agree it's weird. It's one of those things that I'd love to improve, but probably won't, because it's not worth derailing a team that could otherwise be making great new content.
Another one that drives me crazy is that you lose the visual sense of your armor breaking if you wear an outfit over it. You have to know to look at the armor status icon; otherwise you'll start taking a lot of damage and not know why.
It's a big game. There's no end to the improvements we could make to these older systems. ^
Mo
How often do you praise joko?
I do not understand the question; it implies there are times I am not praising Joko in all his glory.
How many skritt kilts could a skritt kit quilt if a skritt kit could quilt skritt kilts?
Champion Chupa Chup the Choya Champ chided skritt kits for skritt kit kilt quilting quickly quashing skritt kit kilt crafting.
Hey, I love you all and all of your work, thanks for everything! I still remember the wonder I felt 3-4 years ago when my mum (a secretary at the time for you guys, IIRC) showed me the game, and I feel like in the long run, GW2 has lived up to everything I dreamed and more. The new Scourge spec makes me really feel like I'm a Commander, or perhaps a tactician, sitting in the backline and pushing out barrier and conditions to help my allies in battle, and Deadeye really feels like the heavy-hitting sniper I always knew it could be.
So, I guess since this is an AMA I should ask you guys questions - and here are mine:
During development, did you ever get an idea while playing the game that found it's way into the game? For instance, "Oh, but what if X did Y," or "Hey, wouldn't this be a really cool thing to see in GW2?"
And then secondly, what was the absolutely flat out coolest thing that was either planned, or in development but ultimately had to be cut?
...
I'm a pretty small software engineer working for Riot games, and I never really know how other devs work on big deal things like this.
Typically within my team, we all share the work, nothing is really owned by one guy like you've put here.
Is it really like that, that one person (say Trevor with the bounties) works on just that feature? Would they be the product lead for that item? Also what does that mean, are they able to complete the feature solo, or do they need to find time from the software engineers or artists to get the things needed to complete the feature?
So, I (Trevor) was in a bit of an interesting position where I'm an engineer by discipline, but was given the opportunity (and burden) to do some design work for this expansion. I was pretty much the end to end owner of the random skills system being used by the bounties. That said, I was not in it alone. The open world team took my system and plugged it into the world (and provided a ton of valuable feedback). The always awesome James Showecker helped with almost all of the messaging and effects. Duncan Kay did the icons. I was embedded in the creatures/mounts team so I leaned heavily on the expertise of Roy, Ben, Rick, and Hugh. Hugh also saved me by taking on the final balance and fine tuning work necessary to bring the skills up to our quality standards.
So yeah, all that to say, every aspect of the game is a team effort. I'm the owner of the random bounties skills, but I was not alone.
If you dive + flap with griffon you don't slowly go down like a glider?
Is that image also suggesting that you don't need to pull up instantly to maintain height you started with?edit: second image says "altitude buffer slowly decays while level" which mean first image is a lie.
And last question, is there a cap on altitude buffering?
My artwork is completely accurate (and also fabulous). Even without any altitude buffering system, your speed plus the climbing wing flap will let you get back to around your starting height after flying for a while, so long as you pulled level out of the dive right at the moment you reached maximum speed. The altitude buffer is just there to give you some slack so that you're not penalized for continuing to dive after reaching max speed. And yes, there is a limit on the buffer, though it is fairly generous.
We were very careful to present the name "Gleam" as something poets/bards coined to describe the first scion. When it came time to present Vlast in PoF, it was clear "Gleam" didn't fit his personality. We chose Vlast because it's sharper, more percussive, and closer to his mother's original name (Glaust) to highlight his wilder, rougher edged nature.
I don't have a question, but please let me just thank you, all of you, for this amazing journey. Since Pre-Searing Ascalon till Path of Fire. GW has been with me since 2006.
So. Yeah. Thanks.
Awesome to hear you've been a fan and have enjoyed playing in the world going back that far. It means a lot to me, as someone who has worked on GW since Prophecies.