Guild Wars 2 Dev Tracker

Power vs. Condition.

There are a a number of factors coming into play here and it could easily take up all the time available to this AMA. I'll try to reply with some of the theory behind what is going on.

Power is intended to be more spike damage-centric. Condi more ramping sustained damage. Currently there are some issues with how quickly condition damage can be spiked up, negating the benefits of power damage.

If I presented you with a power skill that dealt 1,000 damage instantaneously and a condition one that dealt 1,000 damage over 4 seconds there wouldn't be a question about what build to choose; you'd go with the instant option every time. Not counting other effects, condition skills must inflict more damage over their duration in order to make power vs. condi into a real choice.

Moving forward we'll be aiming changes to bring a bit more parity between the options through the ramp time and using that to emphasize some of the differ...

One of my favorite things about working here is that we are encouraged to interact with the players as ANet employees in the game (and on reddit, etc.). Nearly all of the interactions I've had with players while tagged have been very positive.

I usually tag up if I'm just running around doing events or map complete, and only turn it off if there's something very specific I'm trying to achieve and want to focus.

We take inspiration from a lot of different places. Life, movies, games (video and other!), anime... a lot of concepts, presentation and styles can help shape the things we make. Thus, I can’t say that Full Counter has been inspired by the anime. I can, however, say that everyone on the team has seen the Seven Deadly Sins. :)

Thank you! It's always a pleasure to talk with players who've been with us since GW1. You love Tyria as much as we do, and your support makes this all possible.

Mo

You speak as if this was a problem. Once you have shown your loyalty to our glorious god-king by undertaking his divine pilgrimage, make the ultimate statement of commitment to him by joining his Awakened army! Feel secure in the knowledge that you'll be praising our father-king for the remainder of your unlife.

Happiest: Watching the announcement live with all of the players. There's something special about getting to finally show off all of your hard work after pouring so much passion into it. It's even more special when you get such a positive reaction like PoF did.

Biggest heartbreak: Spoiler

Glad you noticed and enjoyed all the call backs to GW1 we put in. Just like when we planned the maps for original release of Core Tyria, we would look at the GW1 worldmaps and ask what was memorable and what could've survived 250 years and how would it be changed. As Tirzah said, we try to keep landmarks in the same locations. I'm one of a handful on the team who helps make sure locations line up pixel perfect if possible. That said, perceptive players will notice that we had to shift landmarks around, such as Augury Rock, which is slightly south of its original location.

All our environment artists are amazing in how they have translated Crystal Desert maps and Elona 250 years into the future. Some like Justin F, Jesse C, and Darrin all worked on the original GW1, so they know those areas well.

Yes, in a way of speaking. Glint was created by Kralkatorrik as his scion. (While "scion" technically means "son" the story team is using it to mean any offspring, son or daughter).

Thanks!

Pssh, that's not weird at this point Clay, it happens all the time!

A horned Viking helmet. I know it's not historically accurate, but it's made of real metal and real horn and it serves as both defense (head protection) and offence (goring attackers headfirst like an angry bull).

I can't remember the name off-hand but the piece with the epic choir singing (I think it plays in Highlands?) is definitely my favorite.

To follow up on this a bit, there are some thoughts for how to handle mounting up while in certain transforms, but they will all require a fair bit of internal rejiggering and that tends to be an expensive undertaking.

Thank you <3 No really, that instance was going to be my early death. We worked really, really hard on it, practically up until the very last minute, bc we knew it was important to get it as right as we could.

Story spoilers

I appreciate all the discussion here, on the new decorations. There are definitely some compounding factors which make them take a lot of effort/time, and we can probably make some small changes to alleviate some of that stress.

As one of the designer coordinators who worked on season 1, I would personally love to bring back that content. Dragon Bash and the Escape from LA especially hold a special place in my heart. But who knows if what the future will hold.

No guarantees or promises at this point, but it's on The Table™.

Praise Joko!

You may also notice some content changes that accompany the weather.

The entire Narrative team really got behind the idea of these two very sharp, very dark personalities taking shots at each other in both a sort of competition and mutual grudging respect. They're kind of like brothers that way (at least, like me and my brother), or at least, brothers in arms. They may not always like each other or agree with each other, but when the fighting starts they know they can at least count on each others' abilities.