| 1 | * AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Lots, but the big one is probably the Nightmare Court. Cases can be made for BlueAndOrangeMorality, NecessaryEvil, ObliviouslyEvil, and even ForTheEvulz. It really comes down to which version of their back story and motivation you believe and the credibility of who's telling it. That being said, they do have some very literal KickTheDog moments. |
| 2 | * ArchivePanic: The game has ten years worth of story - meaning that for a newcomer? There is a ''LOT'' to get caught up on, and the story is told in a very linear that expects the player to have been keeping up in chronological order. While the game does not outright ''require'' players to play all seasons of the Living World, three expansions, and the Icebrood saga to get caught up, ''not'' doing so can cause a [[ContinuityLockout lot of confusion]] to a newcomer. |
| 3 | * AngstWhatAngst: Charr characters lose all but one member of their warband -- something similar to losing their entire schoolroom class, close friends, warrior compatriots, and not-blood-siblings -- by the time they're out of the tutorial, and part-way through the game they've also had to put down an undead version of their previous leader. No matter your character's disposition or text choices, they don't get very glum over it. This is a pretty common trait for the species; NPC Charr get mad or get even, rather than depressed. |
| 4 | ** Human characters of the Street Rat origin don't act as if they care much if [[spoiler:Quinn gets killed by Two-Blade Pete]], after the initial rage wears off anyway. |
| 5 | * AntiClimaxBoss: |
| 6 | ** For such a hyped up BigBad, the fight against Zhaitan is an incredibly impersonal battle where you never get to face him directly, the final phase of the encounter having the players bombard him from afar with artillery while he spews poison breath attacks and undead dragon tentacles all over the ship. While initial bugs in the encounter that prevented him from attacking were fixed you still never feel very invested in the battle. Although to be fair, the idea of "facing Zhaitan directly" is borderline absurd because he's ''the size of a small mountain.'' |
| 7 | ** Some world bosses are just too limited in their scope to be any threat to any reasonably cautious force of players. The Shatterer was a particularly JustForFun/{{Egregious}} example, since almost every player just congregated on a small hill on the right side of his head and bombarded him with stuff until he died, because ''[[ArtificialStupidity he could neither move nor turn his head to attack that area.]]'' Others, like the Fire Elemental that appears in the Thaumanova Reactor in Metrica Province, are more dangerous, but not designed to scale to the MASSIVE parties of players that gather to fight them- the Fire Elemental in particular is infamous for having a long and tedious preparation stage that takes over ten minutes (not hard, just ''long''), only to die in 30 seconds or less. Fortunately Anet are slowly working on improving the bosses and have already massively reworked the Shatterer encounter to be a serious challenge again. |
| 8 | ** The final boss(es) of the Icebrood Saga may be even worse than Zhaitan as, instead of fighting [[spoiler: Jormag and Primordus directly]], you instead fight their "champions", [[spoiler: Ryland and Braham,]] until they're knocked out, then fling yourself in front of either [[spoiler: elder dragon]] and spritz their face with a little magic beam a few times until the game makes you repeat the process and [[spoiler: they ultimately [[TakingYouWithMe take each other down, themselves]]]]. It sure doesn't help that you'll be repeating this fight many more times, due to the daily rewards being fairly generous. Mercifully, it ''only'' spans a good 10-15 minutes with a good group. |
| 9 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: With a beautiful soundtrack for the game's original release, Music/JeremySoule strikes again! The post-release music has been fantastic as well, with suitably epic instrumentation for your adventure. |
| 10 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOMQxVtbkik "Fear Not This Night"]], a beautiful and uplifting vocal version of the Sylvari Grove's theme. |
| 11 | *** An instrumental version plays in the last part of the final personal story mission, quite fitting and tear jerky since [[spoiler:Orr has finally been cured of its corruption.]] This version plays again, softly, when [[spoiler: Trahearne asks for Caladbolg, so that the Commander can kill him.]] It is utterly heartbreaking. |
| 12 | *** The last half of the trailer for "A Bug in the System" has a remix of "Fear Not This Night" done in a minor key with a male singer. This, combined in part with the horror theme in the trailer, got such positive response to the song that fans started asking for a full version. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilN1fylw3zY Their wish was granted in May 2018]]. |
| 13 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryv7GWYJ490 "Raven Speaks"]], the primary boss theme in the game, played during many encounters with epic world bosses such as the Claw of Jormag and high dramatic points of story missions such as the final battle against Zhaitan, as well as in many of the trailers. A more epic and bombastic piece of music it's hard to imagine, absolutely ''dripping'' with high-fantasy grandeur. |
| 14 | ** The remixed 8 bit soundtrack for the Super Adventure Box event is perfect for the quirky game-within-a-game. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px77b35urqA "Sunny Glade"]], for instance, is an adorable reprise of Krytan themes you hear in the human regions. |
| 15 | ** Scarlet's last stand in Living World Season 1 was blessed with this epic, haunting track: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC1xopc4TXs "Battle on the Breachmaker"]]. |
| 16 | ** Ever since Maclaine Diemer has taken up the mantle of being the new main composer of Guild Wars 2, he's getting mostly praised for the tracks he does for the Living Story, with some arguing he stands for a major improvement over the series' previous composer Jeremy Soule. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxvVchpukb8 "Heart of Thorns Main Theme"]], present in-game during BETA events, is probably the most notable example. |
| 17 | ** Also from ''Heart of Thorns'' we have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-fee1rP48I "Attack on Tarir"]], a multi-part piece which plays in the Auric Bain as players try to expel the Mordrem from [[ShiningCity Tarir]]. Bonus points for [[VariableMix switching between different instruments]] based on what phase the fight is in. |
| 18 | ** The raid boss music is top notch, pumping you up for the toughest challenges in the game. Take [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbPU5mXJ4a4 "Vale Guardian"]], for instance. |
| 19 | * BestBossEver: |
| 20 | ** The fight against Palawa Joko in season 4 of "Living World". Unlike the past champions that were [[DamageSpongeBoss walls of health]] that [[MarathonBoss took forever to kill]], Joko feels very much like he's taking damage from you. He will try to keep you on your toes by throwing AreaOfEffect attacks and requiring you to constantly use the Illusion Signet (Which dates back to the first game) to bring him back to the stage and avoid walls of death he sends at you. All while he continues to trash-talk you. The cherry on the top however happens at the end... when [[spoiler: Aurene flies in and literally just ''devours him'', causing him to [[KilledMidSentence be killed mid-gloat]]. It's just as awesome as it is hilarious]]. |
| 21 | ** The fights against Kralkatorrik in Living World Season 4 are considered to be some of the best if not ''the'' best fights against Elder Dragons if not the entire game. The first is against a ''giant'' dragon - bigger than an ''entire zone''. The second? Another BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind - but this time you have ''Aurene'' at your side. CrutchCharacter aside? You're still basically fighting it your own. It's a [[spoiler: literal manifestation of his torment. All while Kralkatorik comes to terms with his impending death]]. Season 4 of the "Living World" has in general been seen as one of the game's highlights. |
| 22 | ** Despite being somewhat contentious (See AntiClimaxBoss above), the DualBoss (Technically Quadra-boss) fight against Primordus, Jormag, and both their champions, Ryland and [[spoiler: Braham]] is very much this the first time you do it. You have to knock down both of the champions at around the same time, then [[AttackItsWeakpoint hit the elder dragons]]. It ends up becoming ''quite'' frantic like any elder dragon battle should. |
| 23 | ** The fight against Mai Trinn in ''End of Dragons'' specifically because [[spoiler: She reveals she's a Revenant and Scarlet Briar herself is coming back for one last hurrah]]. Humorously, she also does it while completely smashed. |
| 24 | ** [[spoiler:Ankka]] ends up becoming a DiscOneFinalBoss in ''End of Dragons'' - and ends up being a nice callback to Joko in terms of gameplay. You're fighting against a boss who will summon necromantic [[spoiler: and ''void'']] energies and try to sap the life out of you, which ends up becoming ''quite'' fitting since [[spoiler: She wants to end ''all life'' on Tyria]], and you're the only one standing between them and their goal. The fact that [[spoiler: She [[HeelFaceDoorSlam killed Mai Trinn]], you'll definitely want her head on a pike.]] |
| 25 | ** The final boss in ''End of Dragons'' is a FinalExamBoss where you have to face all the Elder Dragons in descending order of which you defeated them. Yes, this means you actually get an idea of what facing Zhaitan might have been like - all while you are in a deliberatly overpowered mode. What's more, then you get two final stages... [[spoiler: Soo-Won and the Dragonvoid itself]]. |
| 26 | * BestLevelEver: The community considers the Metal Legion concert from the release of Bound by Blood to be one of the most creative events Arenanet has released for the game. |
| 27 | * BreatherLevel: ''End of Dragons'' is basically a breather ''expansion'' after ''Heart of Thorns'' and ''Path of Fire'' being much more difficult. |
| 28 | * BrokenBase: |
| 29 | ** The change to the waypoints in the Dungeons. One camp feels that it's a good change, claiming that it makes people improve instead of relying on an exploit. The other camp feels that it's a bad change, claiming that casual players will be left out of dungeon runs as a result. |
| 30 | ** There has also been a ''great'' deal of argument within the fanbase with regard to the changes from ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' to ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', particularly skill and combat system. Some feel it's good that things have been simplified and streamlined without the complexity of Guild Wars's massive number of skills. Others argue that combat has been too "dumbed down" because a greatly reduced emphasis on "builds", skills being tied to your weapon, the removal of the dedicated healer, and the change from the more complex Guild Wars system of hexes/enchantments/conditions to simply boons and conditions. |
| 31 | ** The Cutthroat Politics Living Story event was fated to become this by its very nature. It split the fanbase in two, between players voting for Ellen Kiel (a BaseBreakingCharacter in and of herself) and Evon Gnashblade. Points of contention included which Fractal dungeon people were more interested in (Thaumanova Reactor Explosion or the Fall of Abaddon), and which perk was better (cheaper waypoint costs or Black Lion Keys). No matter what happened, half the player base was going to be unsatisfied. |
| 32 | ** The announcement that the first expansion wouldn't be increasing the level cap, a rarity for an MMO, caused a lot of split opinions. Those in favor of it saying that it will help them create better, balanced content by not having to worry about re-weighing stats to accommodate increased levels as well as the new class, specialization system and new status effects. Those against feel that, as a whole, an MMO ''needs'' to increase levels with expansion-level content to prevent stagnation, and that the newly announced specialization system isn't going to make anywhere near the impact it needs to. |
| 33 | ** Related to the Heart of Thorns Expansion, any time a new weapon for Elite Specializations is revealed, you can expect many heated arguments for or against the weapon that's been given to each class. The most heated arguments so far are the Guardian's Dragonhunter (Longbow) and the Elementalist's Tempest (Warhorn). The Elementalist receiving a warhorn was especially exacerbated by leaked information datamined months earlier that had strongly hinted at them receiving a sword instead and had heightened many players' anticipation of getting a sword for their Elementalists. When the reveal confirmed that it was actually going to be a warhorn, those same players became VERY vocal about their disappointment. |
| 34 | ** Inevitably, the deaths of [[spoiler:Eir Stegalkin and Trahearne]]. With the former, between people who believe it was an inevitable end to a character whose story was pretty much wrapped up anyway, and those who found it cliched or a case of [[StuffedIntoTheFridge fridging]]. With the latter, between those who [[spoiler: considered Trahearne a scrappy or were glad to see him go, and those who were actually part of his fan base (or just considered it poor writing)]]. |
| 35 | ** Mordremoth's design [[spoiler: during the mindscape battle]], leading to some debate as to whether it is actually what the dragon looks like, or simply a convenient avatar. |
| 36 | ** While rarely to the level of other examples, the fact that no new races have been PromotedToPlayable or added to the game. Particularly in the Tengu - which were actually a fairly popular request for a playable race since ''VideoGame/GuildWars Factions''. Some sides think this is some wasted potential, others think it makes no sense and [[RememberTheNewGuy would cause some odd additions to justify]]. Some acknowledge that it is wasted potential, but point out just how much ''work'' this would be for little payoff as the race ''of'' the commander largely stops being relevant once every Personal Story paths converge. Adding to this is that racial skills aren't considered very useful in the long-run to avoid balance issues that some [=MMORPGs=] encountered. |
| 37 | ** The mechanics of flying mounts. You're limited in how much altitude you can gain at once (thus requiring you to land on a nearby platform to regain stamina) unlike most [=MMORPGs=] wherein flying mounts behave like helicopters. Some think this is a little restrictive and is more comparable to [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory1 Falling With Style]]. Others think it's fine the way it is and just requires some getting used to. |
| 38 | ** The FinalBoss of the Icebrood Saga - on one hand? Some people view it as one of the games highlights and a genuine BestBossEver, perhaps the only redeemable act of the Icebrood Saga's final episode. Others view it as somewhat of an AntiClimaxBoss, especially from a story perspective and think it's somewhat of a tedious MarathonBoss. Some take a neutral ground - that it was alright the first time, but doing so multiple time(s) for the rewards killed its enjoyment. |
| 39 | ** While many felt "End of Dragons" was a good expansion, others felt its post release was a bit lackluster. Living world Season one was revamped to be more up to par with the modern standards and cut out much of its filler. On one hand? Many appreciated this as Living World Season one was unavailable for ''years'' and this created some ContinuityLockout. On the other? Some felt that this took away from what ''could'' have been a "Living World Season" length story of its own, exploring much more ''of'' Cantha since only its northern peninsula has ''ever'' been seen.[[labelnote:*]]To put it into perspective? The post "End of Dragons" storyline is only about three chapters long - while the "End of Dragons" doesn't really go to many ''new'' areas that weren't introduced in ''Guild Wars Factions''[[/labelnote]] |
| 40 | * CatharsisFactor: |
| 41 | ** Those who felt Braham was feeling irritating in Living World Season 3&4, [[spoiler: being able to beat the shit out of him at the end of the Icebrood Saga]] ''multiple times'' was a well needed exercise in this. |
| 42 | ** For those who felt that Cantha's heavy [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City Kowloon]] inspiration in ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' was ugly, it's absolutely ''gorgeous'' in ''End of Dragons''. Additionally, Vizunah Square and Tahnhakai Temple (both ThatOneLevel in Guild Wars) are at the bottom of the sea now. |
| 43 | * ClicheStorm: The trailers. Cool visuals, cool screenshots, "Now is the time! Claim your destiny! Forge your legend!". |
| 44 | ** The banner ads that went up when prepurchases started continue this fine tradition, with such catchy phrases as "Lead the Rebellion," "These are dangerous days to be different..." and "Rise Up!" none of which seem to have anything to do with the game. |
| 45 | * ContinuityLockout: An unfortunate side effect of a game having multiple story arcs that have lasted over ten years. This is aggravated by the fact that (prior to End of Dragons) the first season of "Living World" was largely unavaialble to newcomers, other seasons must be purchased separately as they aren't packaged their expansion (See ScrappyMechanic), and players can jump to any expansion (or living world season) they own. This unfortunately has the side effect of making newcomers confused - since many [[CallBack call backs]] and [[AsYouKnow recaps]] end up getting lost on them. |
| 46 | * ComplacentGamingSyndrome: |
| 47 | ** Initially, the game was balanced with a "no meta roles" philosophy in mind, meaning that, in theory, any group composition would work just fine, so classes were made to be independent and self-sufficient. As the years passed, however, it steered back to groups necessitating a quickness/alacrity provider, with either/or being a dedicated healer and DPS. That said, [[DownplayedTrope this is a downplayed example]] as, if you're not necessarily LOOKING to play efficiently, you don't ''need'' either requirement, with them serving mostly as a means to speed damage up and provide mechanics-ignoring buffs, but good luck convincing your [[PickUpGroup PUG]] to forego all of that. |
| 48 | ** Despite their [[ScrappyMechanic irritating targeting mechanics]], grenades are far and away the dominant choice among damage-dealing Engineers. |
| 49 | ** Racial abilities were nerfed in order to avoid this trope happening, but it still happened just in a different way. As a result? They're never used, unless the player wants to have a little bit of fun every now and then. |
| 50 | ** As of "End of Dragons", most if not ''all'' Engineers will be using the "Mechanist" elite specialization, due to its relative ease-of-use and certain builds fitting 'very nicely' into the meta. |
| 51 | * CompleteMonster: |
| 52 | ** Season 1: [[ItsAllAboutMe Scarlet Briar]] is a rogue Sylvari who sought to bend reality to her will and remake Tyria [[InTheirOwnImage in her own twisted image]]. Upon discovering her people were created to be living weapons by Mordremoth, she planned on awakening the Elder Dragon and unleashing him to destroy [[GenocideFromTheInside her own people]] and [[OmnicidalManiac the rest of the world]] out of spite. Creating alliances between various villain factions, Scarlet uses them to kidnap and enslave innocents to build her machines, assault population centers, and [[WaterSourceTampering poison the main body of water]] in human lands. This all leads to her final assault on the city of Lion's Arch where she kills much of the populace with a deadly miasma, and, in her dying moments, ensures the rise of Mordremoth and all the devastation the Elder Dragon later brings. |
| 53 | ** Season 3: [[CorruptPolitician Lord Caudecus Beetlestone]] is the leader of the Krytan government under the Queen and perhaps the greatest single threat to the remnants of humanity. Seeking to overthrow the monarchy [[AmbitionIsEvil for his own power]], Caudecus funds the human separatists to reignite war with the Charr; uses ruthless bandits to terrorize his own people; and massacred the family of the centaur chieftain to manipulate his horde into ravaging the kingdom. Later murdering his own [[TilMurderDoUsPart wife]] and [[OffingTheOffspring daughter]] when they discover his plans, Caudecus takes command of the White Mantle cult and uses their magical blood stones to [[KillItWithFire rain cataclysmic fire]] on the human capital of Divinity's Reach. In the last days of his life, Caudecus was content to destroy the last bastion of mankind if he couldn't rule over it. |
| 54 | ** Season 3 & "Path of Fire": [[ManipulativeBastard Balthazar]] is the god of [[PlayingWithFire fire]] and [[WarGod war]] and proof that Abaddon wasn't the only monster in the human pantheon. Imprisoned for wanting to bring war to the Elder Dragons, Balthazar swore death and suffering on his fellows and manipulates the Charr Rytlock into freeing him. Disguising himself upon his return, he tries to manipulate the [[PlayerCharacter Pact Commander]] and steals a machine to kill two Elder Dragons when that fails. Not caring that the deaths of the dragons would destroy the world, Balthazar travels to Elona for the last Elder Dragon, but not before torturing the souls of his followers and forcing their spirits into machines to become the Forged. Sending his Forged to rampage across Elona, countless innocents are given traumatic deaths so that Balthazar can remake their spirits into new Forged. Later kidnapping the infant dragon Aurene, he uses her as a LivingBattery to try to kill her Elder Dragon grandfather, and ultimately reveals that he knows full well that Tyria would be destroyed but there would always be more worlds to conquer and raze. |
| 55 | ** "Path of Fire" & Season 4: [[SorcerousOverlord Palawa Ignacious Joko]], though appearing in the first game, is [[NotSoHarmlessVillain truly awful here]]. He formed an empire based on genocide, slavery and mass destruction, a {{dystopia}} where even failing to worship him could result in being murdered and turned into an undead slave. With one of the few who might oppose him, Joko severed her hands and tongue, eventually cursing her to become undead, with [[AndIMustScream her consciousness persisting in an immobile body for centuries]]. Later returning to seize control of the world, Joko imprisons a young girl in a golem to suffocate while she fights her own friends, plotting to ravage the world with the Scarab Plague so he may take control. Torturing others to death in his spare time, Joko even [[SerialRapist keeps an abused harem]] of all races and genders, with seemingly no end to his ego or depravity. |
| 56 | * CryForTheDevil: Kralkatorrik's final moments are tragic, despite being responsible for claiming countless lives. |
| 57 | * DemonicSpiders: |
| 58 | ** Risen Plaguebearers. From a distance, they can hit you with some devastating spells that cause a lot of damage ''and'' stack several bleeding conditions onto you. They can and will kill you and your allies really quickly and often come in large groups in personal story missions. |
| 59 | ** Also Risen Putrifiers. Wanna run away from a big group of the Risen because you're wounded? Too bad, the Putrifier will just pull you over to it in hugging distance even if you're far away from it and make it even more likely for you to get killed. |
| 60 | ** Almost anything Risen will be this for someone. |
| 61 | ** Inquest Mega Blasters are surprisingly deadly for their size. They can shoot- nay, ''spam'' energy balls that will follow you even when you dodge, and take off a huge chunk of your health. Thankfully, they only appear in the Crucible of Eternity. |
| 62 | ** Karka, especially the veteran ones. Normally veteran enemies are GoddamnedBats at worst, but Karka are a special kind. The Young Karka have an annoying ranged attack that cripples you, with the Veteran variant even having a knock-down rush (very problematic as Karka appear in swarms, so you're pretty much vulnerable from other Karka while downed). The Veteran Karka (the big, adult ones) have many knockdown effects, can lay hatchlings that explode and give you conditions, leave acid pools, and for some odd reason can EVADE your attacks most of the time. And what's worse? They have two phases of health - one with armor and one with broken armor! They also always have buffs in them, like Regeneration and Might, but one in particular is annoying to players - Retaliation! |
| 63 | *** Special mention to the Karka Hive Defender, the Champion enemy you need to defeat to reclaim the Camp Karka settlement. Not only does it have the usual Veteran Karka annoyances (stomps, lays eggs of kamikaze Karka Hatchlings, and spits acid), it magnifies them. The stomp will immediately down the player since it hits twice and it hits hard. It always moves erratically all over the settlement and trying to hit it can become a chore because it frequently leaps to an area that can only be reached by walking through a small opening, blocking most ranged attacks. It frequently spams Retaliation. And it recovers a full health bar in its second, weakened armor state. This thing is potentially more dangerous than the ''Legendary'' Karka Queen. |
| 64 | ** The Heart of Maguuma (the region added in Heart of Thorns) is an entire ''subcontinent'' of Demonic Spiders. Creatures that would be Demonic Spiders everywhere else barely qualify as GoddamnedBats there. Of particular note are Mordrem Guard Snipers (do massive ranged damage, leave painful ground damage fields that last a long time and stealth when you try to focus-fire them down), Coztic or Mordrem Bladedancers (have a stun-and-kill melee combo that tends to oneshot glass cannon types as well as a stealth ability), Shadowleapers (very rapid, powerful ranged attacks, evades ranged attacks, has an evading attack, and can leave a persisting poison pool which poisons and damages you - pretty annoying if they are cornered and you are meleeing them and they leave a poison pool on their spot), Bristlebacks (if you're caught up in their stupidly long-reaching [[MoreDakka barrage of scales]] on an open area, chances are you're defeated right there, unless you can block or deflect projectiles) and Smokescales (teleport around madly and drop smoke fields that make them invulnerable as long as they're sitting in them). Particularly annoying in Veteran, Elite or (for the terminally masochistic) Champion varieties. |
| 65 | ** As of Living Story 3, the restless spirits and bloodstone-infected White Mantle. Besides being a pain to kill (''especially'' the clerics and mesmers), they have a ridiculously high respawn rate and will chase you further than most enemies. If you get caught by more than one to begin with, it's easy to find yourself overwhelmed. |
| 66 | ** Jade Constructs. They fight in packs, they have both ranged and AOE attacks, they have a stupid high hit count, they are nearly impossible to stun, and they are ''relentless''. Unless you can summon minions/allies or go after them in a group, kiss yourself goodbye and be prepared to trek across the isle again. |
| 67 | ** And the cousins of above, the Jade Armor variants in Ember Bay. Not only are they all in Veteran rank, but they have have a mandatory invulnerability phase that you MUST stun them out of by breaking their defiance bar. They also have an unnaturally high aggression range and have mobility-impeding attacks. Oh and they come in groups too. |
| 68 | ** Of all Joko's minions, the single most annoying is the Awakened Canid. You only get a one-second AOE ring warning before it pops out of the ground, it has Bleed, Stun, Disorient, ''and'' Knockdown skills, and once it gets you off your feet, it can just whale on you for the cooldown period before you can get up to fight again. Oh, and it's very good at hiding in crowds of other Awakened, so you don't always know one is around until it knocks you flat, leaving you open for its friends to beat on you while you're stunned. |
| 69 | * DifficultySpike: The first expansion, Heart of Thorns, was a ''considerable'' jump in difficulty over most of the content that had come before it. While the story missions themselves weren't a ''huge'' jump up, the open world was ''far'' more dangerous- almost all the enemies in the Heart of Maguuma were DemonicSpiders, and the maps were larger, more complex and more dangerous than anything from the core game. Path of Fire, by comparison, was considerably easier to manage- perhaps most notably, combat-based hero points were no longer all group events that required you to fight champion-level foes and could once again be soloed relatively easily. |
| 70 | * DisappointingLastLevel: "Champions", the final episode to the otherwise-well-received Icebrood Saga, was universally agreed upon as the worst part of the saga and perhaps one of the worst set of chapters in the whole game. Culprits include a total and abrupt shift from the intriguing "Charr civil war" plot to yet another "destroy the Elder Dragons" scenario [[spoiler:with an incredibly underwhelming and abrupt finale that sees both Jormag and Primordus killing each other after only a few chapters of build-up]] and the much-loathed "Dragon Response" missions, which consist of an incredibly formulaic three-phase mission practically copy-pasted over the length of 10 chapters, with key plot dialogue and elements haphazardly plastered in them. [[WordofGod According to ArenaNet]], IBS was initially supposed to be more fleshed out, but upper management suddenly greenlit a new expansion, ''End of Dragons'', to be made, hence they had to shift resources to that and had no choice but to punt the final episode out the door. |
| 71 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: |
| 72 | ** Tybalt Leftpaw is quite adored. Maybe because its so rare to find an {{Adorkable}} Charr. |
| 73 | ** Marjory Delaqua gained a quick following after her animated introduction (complete with PrivateEyeMonologue) was played during the Dragon Bash event. |
| 74 | ** Evon Gnashblade became popular for being a shady, greedy but AffablyEvil charr, especially among people who found the perks of voting for him during the Cutthroat Politics event to be better than Ellen Kiel's. |
| 75 | ** [[http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hobo-Tron Hobo-Tron]], a Golem NPC at Divinity Reach, has gotten a lot of fan adoration and appreciation due to its humorous dialouge between many other [=NPCs=], its cute appearance, and its ChewToy[=/=]ButtMonkey[=/=]TheWoobie status. Some speculated that Hobo-Tron is Job-O-Tron from the May 2013 Southsun event. [[https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/livingworld/jubilee/Hobo-Tron-Appreciation-Thread/first#post2576749 This is confirmed]] by WordOfGod himself. Hobo-Tron has since become Ho-Ho-Tron (for the Wintersday festivities), Heal-O-Tron (as a support unit during the siege of Lion's Arch) and finally, Hero-Tron for the stripes it has managed to earn there. |
| 76 | * FanNickname: Tequatl the Sunless -> Tequila Sunrise |
| 77 | ** Another one, used by [=ArenaNet=] and subsequently adopted by the userbase, is Taco. |
| 78 | ** The Sylvari are often referred to as "salad" due to their plant-based nature. |
| 79 | ** Players who don't like Trahearne sometimes refer to him as "Rear Admiral Rutabaga". |
| 80 | ** The [[NoNameGiven Deep Sea Dragon]] was nicknamed Bubbles. After the first letter of its name was revealed - ''S'' - the nicknames changed to [[SdrawkcabName Selbbub]] or ''Steve''. This continued on for nearly a decade before her name was finally revealed to be Soo-Won. |
| 81 | ** Steve is also the commonly used name for the chainsaw-wielding Horror that shows up in the Mad King's Labyrinth every Halloween event. |
| 82 | * FridgeLogic: During the penultimate Personal Story mission, the Eye of Zhaitan taunts you by telling you that your [[spoiler:lost order mentor (Forgal/Sieran/Tybalt)]] is "waiting for you under the dragon (i.e. Zhaitan)'s wings". For [[spoiler:Forgal and Tybalt]], sure, this makes sense, but the fact that [[spoiler:Sieran]]'s entire race cannot be corrupted into Risen - which both the PlayerCharacter (as Commander of the force fighting Zhaitan) and the dragon itself (having tried and failed to corrupt Sylvari corpses) would know by that point - makes this claim a bit of a stretch in her case. |
| 83 | ** Easily explained: The Elder Dragons ''lie''. The Risen Priestess of Lyssa for example claims that Lyssa was devoured by Zhaitan, with the rest of the Six suffering similar fates. This is proven absolutely false in ''Path of Fire'' as the gods [[spoiler:left Tyria rather than fight the Elder Dragons]]. The Eye and Priestess were trying to break the will of its enemies with those taunts, even if it meant lying. |
| 84 | * FridgeHorror: This may hit you when you go into Hoelbrak's main building. In the center of it, you see a massive triangular blue object around five or six times the height of a Norn (So around 50 feet). Then you're informed that it's a TOOTH. JORMAG'S TOOTH. [[OhCrap Now start thinking of the size of the creature it came from...]] |
| 85 | ** According to the official [=GW2=] Wiki it is estimated that Zhaitan's model (a fellow Eldritch Abomination) is aproximately 500 meters (1640 feet) long. It could be estimated, that Jormag is somewhere in the same tier. |
| 86 | ** Kralkatorrik could actually be seen in Guild Wars 1. It was half-buried in the Dalada Uplands, with part of its spine protruding from the ground. Where could you see it most easily? ''[[http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/f/ff/Kralkatorrik_map.jpg On your goddamn MAP!]]''[[note]]It's that blue spiky thing to to the left of the position marker. That's ''part'' of its spine. [[http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/f/fe/Kralkatorrik.jpg Here]] is an actual screenshot.[[/note]] And then in Living Story season four, the Dragonfall map showed that his full body is bigger than ''the entire city of Divinity's Reach'', one of the two biggest cities in the game map. |
| 87 | ** Primordus looked huge from what little we could see of his head in Season 3, but it was hard to gauge his size, especially in comparison to Balthazar. And then the concept mockups for Icebrood Saga came out and showed that Primordus ''dwarfs'' Mordremoth, Zhaitan, and Jormag ''all put together'', and even ''Kralkatorrik'' was only roughly 2/3 his size. |
| 88 | * GameBreaker: |
| 89 | ** Chronomancer is the first Mesmer elite specialization that was released with Heart of Thorns, with the unique ability to use Continuum Split, a class skill that creates a window of opportunity where skills cast during the continuum split will revert back to being off cooldown when continuum split ends allowing you to cast them twice. This combined with Chronomancer's ability to give itself and allies quickness (50% increased attack speed) and Alacrity (Originally a unique class buff that provided 66% faster recharge on cooldowns)made it pretty powerful. And that's when people realized you could combine it with core mesmer abilities Signet of Inspiration, and Lesser Signet of Inspiration, which would give you two additional pulses of quickness to allies. The end result was a class that would give permanent quickness and very high alacrity to the group. Chronomancers gained a stranglehold on raids with their ability to single handedly skyrocket the entire raid's DPS, with two of them being a staple for 10 man content for years and years. This is on top of their unique quality of life they provided to raids like sharing invulnerability (Later nerfed to a single block), to immense ability to stun bosses during breakbar phases with Moa form, made Chronomancer an insanely valuable addition to any party. This was summed up with the phrase "There is no Meta without Chrono." To this day Chronomancer and mesmer have received more drastic reworks than any other class or elite specialization with Anet gradually trying to chip away at their all-in-one group utility and make the class less mandatory. |
| 90 | ** In [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] Chronomancer also proved to be a balancing problem child at multiple points in the game's life span. On release there was a chronobunker. Between its near unkillability, ability to share invulnerability to their ability to quickness resurrect downed allies resulted in a build that could prevent kills and stall out entire games consistently. It got so bad that Arenanet not only heavily nerfed Chronobunker in particular, but deleted all primarily defensive stat combinations from [=PvP=] to prevent unkillable bunker gameplay from ever truly being a thing ever again. |
| 91 | ** During Path of Fire mesmers received a rework which changed phantasms from somewhat weaker minions that would attack repeatedly until they were sacrificed by the mesmer or killed, to only doing one attack before becoming a standard clone. All of them had their power adjusted so that mesmers got a lot of value on par with other classes's more powerful weapon skills per cooldown. However, two of these phantams from the rework were heavily overtuned for [=PvP=]. Phantasmal Disenchanter was changed into a phantasm that ripped boons and would do more damage if they hit an enemy with no boons. It was not uncommon for Disenchanter to crit players for half their health. Phantasmal Defender would taunt an enemy,enter a blocking stance, and when it finished blocking would explode and do more damage for each attack blocked. This could go up to absurd one shot levels especially in team fights with lots of attacks flying around. This combined with Chronophantasma, which was changed so that after the phantasm did its attack and would turn into a harmless clone, it would instead respawn once and do its attack a 2nd time. And this combined with the healing skill Signet of the Ether, which would completely recharge the cooldown of all phantasm skills and Continuum Split which let's the chronomancer potentially double cast any of their spells. This meant a Chronomancer could potentially throw out 6 OHKO attack back, to back, to back even while being one of the most survivable builds in the game. It was not uncommon for players to get slammed down by nine extremely lethal AI minions or more all at once from one chronomancer. The damage on this spec and these abilities were nerfed. Hard. And Signet of the Ether was nerfed to only provide 50% reduced recharge on phantasms. |
| 92 | ** The Necromancer Elite Specialization Scourge was this when Path of Fire came out in [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]]. There was nothing too complicated. They just did immense condition pressure and boon corruption, both at range and around themselves at the same time, in wide area of effect on top of being an extremely [[SkillGateCharacters easy build to pick up and play]]. A scourge using the Desert Shroud ability could truck into an entire enemy team and melt them before they even knew what hit them. Scourge damage was reduced over time from insane to merely really high, and they always struggled against more aware players spiking them down with coordinated bursts, but they remained one of if not the best team fighting damage build in the game when paired with a support to help keep them alive and safe from crowd control abilities. |
| 93 | ** Related to the scourge was Firebrand on release. Its new tome mechanic, specialized kits with limited ammunition, and mantras immediately made it the best support build in [=PvP=] on release. Its defensive tome gave it and allies block on auto attack, a reflect bubble and resistance to condition damage while its healing tome gave it tons of healing and condition cleanses and vigor. Also there was a guardian trait that meant aegis healed players when it blocked an attack. Firebrand scourge as a team fight duo defined [=PvP=] for the first year of Path of Fire's release, with both of them providing that the other lacked and having incredible synergy with each other. Their only weakness was their slow mobility, forced to slowly jog across the map. But when they reached their destination, they won. Firebrand+Scourge won Guild Wars 2's first 2v2 tournament. |
| 94 | ** Condition Mirage might be the [[HighTierScrappy most hated build]] to ever exist in the game's life. Mirage's mechanic is their ability to [[{{Intangibility}} both dodge and use skills at the same time.]] Want to interrupt a mirage that's casting his heal skill? Chances are you can't because they're using their intangibility. Want to counter pressure the mirage while he attacks you? As soon as he's in danger he can become intangible and still attack you at the same time. Combine Mirage's unique ability to phase through attacks while attacking at the same time with mesmer's ability to hit you with a brick wall of condition damage, especially confusion, [[DoppelgangerSpin spamming the screen with clones]], [[ConfusionFu going invisible, and teleporting around]] and you have a recipe for an extremely oppressive build to fight against. And that's to say nothing about its performance in [=PvE=]... |
| 95 | ** Mechanist in [=PvE=] fits this - the Mech has tens of thousands of health (more than the engineer themselves), keeps the heat off of the Engineer, and inflicts a ''lot'' of damage. Practically allowing them to ''solo'' champion enemies, especially combined with a gratuitous amount of condition damage since Mace+Pistol lets you stack up a ''lot'' of conditions at once. Their heal skill also heals both of them gradually - and oh boy does it heal. |
| 96 | ** A rare game-breaking item that's a ''non-combat'' utility item is the Candy Corn Gobbler, a Halloween-exclusive gem store item that consumes 3 candy corn each use to ''give you magic find, karma or EXP boosters'', which can be stacked ''indefinitely'', only limited by your supply. The fact that candy corn is near-ubiquitous during the event means you'll have more than enough to fuel the gobbler without spending money on boosters ever again. And the best part is that it's VERY cheap to buy on the gem store, only costing a ''mere'' 300 gems, which is chump change, gold-to-gem wise or [[BribingYourWayToVictory money-wise]]. A later update retooled it from having a 5-second interval each use to functioning the same as the other holiday gobblers, basically turning it into effortless boosters. |
| 97 | * GoddamnedBats: The Krait. They haunt the most spacious watery places on the map. More often than not, you'll have to fight them underwater, which limits what skills you can use. It's impossible to move through their territory without attracting attention, and they can come at you from just about any angle. Worse, players seldom actually stay in their areas for long, so don't expect much backup when dealing with them or their Dynamic Events (on the plus side, Krait slaying sigils might be the only ''useful'' racial targeting upgrade, and on the underwater weapons that don't see much use elsewhere). The Risen are another example for most of the game, being extremely annoying but not particularly difficult to defeat. Then you reach Orr and they become DemonicSpiders instead... |
| 98 | ** Wolves. They go down easily enough and don't really cause a lot of damage...but they have a move that allows them to summon ''another wolf'' that you have to kill. And they often hunt in packs. If you don't take them out quickly enough, then you might yourself stuck fighting several of the beasts at a time before you can finally take a breath. Fortunately, summoned wolves ''cannot'' summon others. |
| 99 | ** Barracudas combine the aggravating qualities of Krait - water, so limited skills, rarely-used weapon skills, little backup, all around you, hard to avoid attention - and wolves - summoning others, usually found in groups. Plus they inflict [[StatusEffects Bleed]]. Fortunately they are the easiest of the three to take down. |
| 100 | ** Anything that can frequently knock you down, stun you or daze you. You're unable to do jack while the enemies beat you up. |
| 101 | ** Imps. They vary in elemental mastery (Fire Imp, Shadow Imp, etc.) but all are equally annoying. They can inflict major damage that causes a condition, they have a long projectile range, and they move fast. |
| 102 | ** Pocket Raptors in Maguuma are weak individually, but there's usually 8-10 clustered up together. If you're not actively fighting them and they notice you, prepare to get taken down. Especially if you don't have any ranged or AOE attacks. [[note]]For the 10th anniversary of the game, [=ArenaNet=] ran some statistics -- at that time, pocket raptors had been responsible for more character deaths than ''any'' other foe in the game. Yes, that includes the Elder Dragons themselves.[[/note]] |
| 103 | ** Half the Crystal Desert bestiary. Most of them see you from farther away than you would be used to from other maps and tend to attack if you're already fighting something. Plus they have a bunch of annoying abilities, like blind, torment and stun. Special awards go to Scarabs and Sand Lions though. The first ones notice you from really far away, spit poison, and in melee create a constantly blinding sandstorm that turns a fight against otherwise weak monster into long tedious ordeal. And if you fighting just one scarab, consider yourself lucky, there are normally several close nearby. Sand Lions hunt in packs, each lion has a knockdown pounce attack, so good luck running away, and they like to surround themselves with sandstorms that not only blind melee attackers, but also block ranged ones. To say they are annoying would be an understatement. |
| 104 | * GoddamnedBoss: |
| 105 | ** Kuraii the Cruel in the Crown Pavilion is a CowardlyBoss who periodically runs away from the players, often halfway across his region. This wouldn't be so bad except that his arena is a series of random, narrow paths filled with invincible packs of randomly patrolling centaurs who will knock down and stun anyone who gets too close. And if other bosses, especially Hablion, die before him their effects will make the already small boss fight area a killzone. |
| 106 | ** Sparcus Firesplash has much the same problems as Kuraii, teleporting between random platforms throughout the fight and gaining powers from other bosses. In addition to that, his arena is a series of rocks in a lava pit which will cause significant damage if he knocks you into it; his teleport will damage and knock down anyone between him and his destination; and worst of all, essentially half of the fight he has up a shield which reflects ''all projectile attacks''. |
| 107 | * GrowingTheBeard: |
| 108 | ** Season 2 of the Living Story has so far been considerably better received by the fanbase than Season 1. There's a clearer plotline to follow with the new dragon, as well as some decent attempts to hearken back to some of Guild Wars' original lore [[spoiler:(The Krytan Locket that purports to show the true heir of Kryta, the ghosts of Ascalon getting a revisit in the Dragon's Reach: Part 1)]], which was mostly discarded during Season 1. |
| 109 | ** Path of Fire storyline and first Season 4 chapter have been praised for awesome dynamic storyline with incredibly epic showdowns and engaging characters. |
| 110 | * HarsherInHindsight: |
| 111 | ** At the end of the core story, after the Pact has finally destroyed Zhaitan and proven that the Elder Dragons are ''not'' indestructible, there is massive rejoicing with everyone talking about how they're "one down, five to go", discussing which one to go after next, and swearing oaths that one day all the Elder Dragons will be destroyed and the people of Tyria will be able to live in peace forever. [[spoiler:Fast forward to chapter 5 of the Living World Season 3 and Taimi reveals that the Elder Dragons are {{Cosmic Keystone}}s and if any more are destroyed (after you've already destroyed Mordremoth as well) then the entire world will probably be annihilated. Not only have all your efforts towards destroying the Elder Dragons been AllForNothing, but the climax of the chapter actually forces you to ''[[SaveTheVillain stop]]'' the mad god Balthazar from destroying Primordus and Jormag.]] |
| 112 | ** Another moment in this same chapter is when Taimi calls in to check in with the commander about their temperature level [[spoiler:while they are rescuing the druid spirits in exchange for a fire-resistant shield of protection so they can face Balthazar in the volcano]]. They have a hilarious exchange about the Commander possibly hallucinating and 8 voices, but if your character is a Sylvari and so soon after the events of Heart of Thorns [[spoiler:it might a little too soon to start hearing voices and seeing delusions again, especially since Mordremoth was [[MindRape messing up their head]] the entire story]]. |
| 113 | * HypeBacklash: The Untamed was subject to this. Many players who had played the original ''Guild Wars'' absolutely ''rejoiced'' at the prospect of Rangers getting access to two handed maces - thinking one of its popular builds of "Bunny Thumper"[[labelnote:*]]A Ranger-Warrior who would use two handed hammers and spam crowd control abilities while commanding their pet to DPS[[/labelnote]] would return. Unfortunately, the Untamed is seen as somewhat of a LowTierLetdown due to being relatively tough to play and being outclassed by Soulbeast. |
| 114 | * IKnewIt: |
| 115 | ** Though the professions were revealed over a period of 18 months or so, all of them were guessed from concept art after the first reveal. The last profession to be revealed (the Mesmer) was the most popular guess for the last profession for about 10 months before it was actually shown. Of course, it was [[CaptainObviousReveal pretty much obvious]] that Mesmer would be a playable class, as it was the most unique and arguably iconic of the original 6 classes to appear in the first ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' (compared to the more generic Warrior, Ranger, Necromancer, Elementalist and Monk) so leaving it out of the sequel would have been outright ''nonsensical.'' |
| 116 | ** The fact that everyone knew the mesmer was the eighth profession for so long without official confirmation actually caused some problems for the official wiki, with the rampant speculation filling discussion pages and hindering actions to document the information that was available. |
| 117 | ** In regards to the Queen's Jubilee Living Story event, many speculated that someone will attempt to assassinate Queen Jennah, but PlotArmor demanded her to be alive. This is especially true when during the Clockwork Chaos Living Story content where [[spoiler:Scarlet Briar, who led a group of Aetherblades attacking the Opening Ceremony, shot a rocket towards Queen Jennah during the Closing Ceremony. Luckily, Queen Jennah survived thanks to the fact that she created an illusion. [[ButtMonkey Lord Faren]], however, wasn't so lucky (although he does survive the fall).]] |
| 118 | ** Many people had already come up with the theory on their own, the season finale of Living World Season 2 confirmed that [[spoiler:Sylvari are indeed minions of Mordremoth, which may be why they were immune to other dragons' corruption]]. |
| 119 | ** Upon seeing the initial ''Heart of Thorns'' promo, most people had guessed that the mesmer's elite profession would be time-based, and some even thought it would be called "chronomancer". This was later confirmed on April 30, 2015. |
| 120 | * ItsHardSoItSucks: Unusually enough? Both ''Heart of Thorns'' and ''Path of Fire'' were criticised for their high difficulty curves - namely the very ''very'' high DifficultySpike going from leveling to ''Heart of Thorns''. Loads and ''loads'' of DemonicSpiders and GoddamnedBats in ''every'' zone with every boss being a total wall of health, to the point where going through them with certain classes or builds (ie anything Elementalist) was seen as a SelfImposedChallenge. ''End of Dragons'' was praised ''for'' having a much lower difficulty curve - and not just by people forged in the fires of the Maguuma Jungle or Elona. |
| 121 | * ItsShortSoItSucks: This is how some people feel about the post "End of Dragons" story, as it is only ''three chapters long'' instead of a "Living World" season exploring new area(s) ''of'' Cantha. Some extended this towards "End of Dragons" as a whole - since its lifespan was the ''shortest'' of all Guild Wars 2 expansions. |
| 122 | * LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: |
| 123 | ** Played straight AND subverted in the very same moment. The reaction to Rytlock's attempt to lift the curse of Ascalon. Players who doubted its success cited the unreasonably large development effort that would be required to redo all the outdoor Ascalon zones to remove ghosts. Naturally, he failed... and disappeared into the Mists in the process, ridding the charr players of their racial ambassador/hero for a very long time. |
| 124 | ** Some still thought the same when it came to [[spoiler: Aurene's Death in Living World Season 4]] simply because this would result in an ApocalypseHow. |
| 125 | * MemeticLoser: |
| 126 | ** For the longest time, spanning a few years, the Elementalist has been seen as one of the most abused classes, balance-wise, due to [=ArenaNet=] hitting it and its elite specs with heavy-handed nerfs, despite its DifficultButAwesome play style. For a while, it was joked that Elementalists were the best "down state" class, due to their status as overly-difficult [[GlassCannon glass cannons]] that were prone to dying. This sentiment has been dying down as [=ArenaNet=] has laxed on the class and even buffed it in certain respects, with the Weaver and Tempest specs, in particular, sitting amongst the current top meta picks as of 2023. |
| 127 | ** In terms of player character customization, the Charr race is seen as this by many, due to [=ArenaNet=]'s seeming neglect of the Charr PlayerCharacter when it comes to new cosmetics, and the [[CreatorsPet general narrative favoritism shown to other races, ESPECIALLY the human race.]] As well, they rank among the lowest race usage for [=PCs=] and are frequently used in advertisements as the stock "bad guys", barring exceptions like Rytlock Brimstone. |
| 128 | * MemeticMutation: |
| 129 | ** Due to the nature of the game and [[WelcomeToCorneria constant repetition of certain lines,]] there's quite a lot of lines that catch on with players, whether positively or otherwise: |
| 130 | *** Watch the ledges. [[labelnote:Explanation]][[WelcomeToCorneria Repetitive]] line uttered by Pact Researcher Darrin whenever the high-level Claw of Jormag boss summons {{Mooks}} in its third and final stage. Since the third phase is generally the longest part of the fight, players hear this line and comment on it a lot.[[/labelnote]] |
| 131 | *** You heard Krast. '''HOLD THE LINE!''' [[labelnote:Explanation]]In Ascalonian Catacombs, all explorable paths will go towards the center with the ghost of Krast as a boss. The line is uttered whenever a player first approaches that area. Of course, because it's a party, the line gets repeated, often cutting "You heard Krast!" into a loop.[[/labelnote]] |
| 132 | *** '''NO NO NO! WE SHOULD GO TO THE ARMORY!''' [[labelnote:Explanation]]In Sorrow's Embrace explorable path 3, you are teamed up with Koptev. He will yell this repeatedly at you as you actually proceed to the armory.[[/labelnote]] |
| 133 | *** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyg_Vjw1xaQ "CITIZENS!"]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]One of the first patches to the game brought the Fractals set of mini-dungeons... including one NPC who, thanks to a hilarious case of GoodBadBugs, would call out to every '''single''' passerby to check them out.[[/labelnote]] |
| 134 | *** ''I can outrun a centaur!'' [[labelnote:Explanation]]Female Humans will say this when getting a speed boost. Since you'd be using a speed boost as a way of getting around, you'd be hearing this ''a lot''. Especially if you're a mesmer with an Inspiration Signet (a signet that grants a swiftness and one random boon every 10 seconds.[[/labelnote]] |
| 135 | *** If Mordremoth could attack the Mother Tree in the Grove, it can attack anywhere. [[labelnote:Explanation]]This is one of the NPC voice lines in the Silverwastes, a popular zone for farming materials and gold. Anybody who has spent time cleaning up their inventory while in Camp Resolve will have heard the nearby NPC chatter over and over again.[[/labelnote]] |
| 136 | *** "Wow. That's quality armor." "THANKS" "THANKS" "THANKS" [[labelnote:Explanation]]The entrance to Heart of Thorns zones has [=NPCs=] trying to call attention to the new armor rewards, but the line is repetitive, and involves several [=NPCs=] shouting 'thanks' nearly simultaneously, making it sound all the louder, causing it to be quite the joke.[[/labelnote]] |
| 137 | *** Due to Dragonstorm's lucrative daily rewards and incredibly repetitive nature, expect some players to quote certain lines during the event verbatim, especially [[spoiler: Jormag's shout of [[SayMyName "PRIMORDUUUUUS!"]]]] |
| 138 | *** "This is a place of refuge! Not a den of iniquity!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Arborstone, one of the new hubs added in ''End of Dragons'', has one particular Tengu NPC who is in close proximity to the central gathering area who shrieks this line (or others if you do not have your Arborstone mastery maxed out) ''every time you go near him'', which you are liable to do, especially if you're buying your weekly Ancient Summoning Stones. Cue immediate annoyance and ironic quotage from the player-base.[[/labelnote]] |
| 139 | ** [[CurseCutShort f]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]Players often rush forward to open the reward chest of Tequatl the Sunless before someone can {{Troll}} them with a Mesmer portal or suchlike. Tequatl spawns [[ActionBomb Bloated Creepers]] which down players regularly with their damage. If there are any left when the boss dies, they perform their 'explode' action immediately, leading to at least a dozen players dying if any Creepers are near the chest at the time.[[/labelnote]] |
| 140 | *** Greed kills. [[labelnote:Explanation]]SpoofAesop reaction to the above.[[/labelnote]] |
| 141 | ** "Excuse me, do you know anything about a lost city located somewhere in the Riverlands?" [[labelnote:Explanation]]At one point in the Path of Fire story, the player has to run around the map trying to find a clue about a lost city connected to Vlast. Cue running around aimlessly and backpedaling to ask the same question to the same [=NPCs=].[[/labelnote]] |
| 142 | *** "How do you lose a city?" [[labelnote:Explanation]]A particular Asura who often derails on the subject of hand has some hilarious things to say. If someone says this, expect the whole conversation to follow.[[/labelnote]] |
| 143 | ** PRAISE JOKO![[labelnote:Explanation]]Players basically treat Palawa Joko with utter reverence, akin to praising a cult leader. Mimics the [=NPCs=] in the Domain of Vabbi.[[/labelnote]] |
| 144 | ** Necromancer with a gun.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Upon the release of a silhouette depicting the End of Dragons Necromancer Elite Specialization wielding a pistol, the playerbase nigh-immediately started making memes and fanart of Necromancers using guns, including references to other gun-related memes such as [[ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}the monkey with a gun]] and [[{{VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate}} Joker wielding a gun]].[[/labelnote]] |
| 145 | ** "Falling/Gliding With Style" [[labelnote:Explanation]]The way flying mounts work in this game, in contrast to other [=MMORPGs=], requires the player to move in a direction to gain altitude and limits the amount that can be gained at once. This has caused some players used to games like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' or ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'''s "Helicopter" style mounts to compare flying in Guild wars 2 to be comparable to the line from Woody in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' of "Falling with style"[[/labelnote]] |
| 146 | ** Due to the popularity of running the map in "Heart of Thorns" for hero points on Saturday Nights, people have referred to Saturday nights as "Train night", "Saturday night Trains" |
| 147 | ** "So when do I have to unlock flying again?" [[WesternAnimation/Invincible2021 "That's the neat part - you don't!"]][[labelnote:Explanation]]Unlike ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' which makes you unlock flight one zone at a time, and ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' which time-gates flying, unlocking your flying mounts via Skyscale or Griffon in this game only needs to be done ''once''.[[/labelnote]] |
| 148 | *** "An expansion pack that ''doesn't'' take away flying?!" due to a lot of [=MMORPGs=] trying to find some way to either take it away or time-gate flight. |
| 149 | ** Human female meta [[labelnote:Explanation]] While this isn't a phenomenon unique to ''Guild Wars 2'', there's a disproportionately large amount of player characters that are human females for ''various'' reasons. The playerbase has taken notice and has jokingly declared that race/gender combination as the ''true'' meta.[[/labelnote]] |
| 150 | ** Rangers will ''never'' get guns. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Many have found it quite odd that Rangers have never been given access to pistols and rifles - which seems to be the most natural fit ''for'' the class.[[/labelnote]] |
| 151 | * MoralEventHorizon: The playerbase has generally agreed that Palawa Joko crossed this in the Living World episode Daybreak, with his attempt to [[spoiler:kill Taimi by sealing her inside Scruffy 2.0 and setting it to suffocate her slowly.]] Good luck finding a player who don't want Joko's head on a pike after this mission. |
| 152 | * {{Narm}}: |
| 153 | ** True to any [=MMORPG=], this can be forced by the player using transmutations to give them really silly or {{Stripperific}} looking clothing. |
| 154 | ** Palawa Joko's [[spoiler: death scene]] is hilarious for two reasons. One of which is [[spoiler: Aurene eating him mid-sentence]]. Another is the fact that the player character is held in stasis and is ''completely'' frozen. Which can be humorous for anyone ''except'' a human or a Norn because Joko will be justifying why you are too dangerous to live... without even ''looking at your face''. |
| 155 | ** Some of the player cries and taunts upon receiving a condition or a boon can become weird given when they play. When they are fighting a climactic opponent and suddenly are saying "I can outrun a centaur!" and "''ARMOURED UP''!" |
| 156 | %% ** The male Asura PC is voiced by Steve Staley... using the ''exact voice'' that he used for [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Neji Hyuga]], [[VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia Jay the Unseen]] and [[VideoGame/TalesOfGraces Hubert Oswell]]. |
| 157 | * NoYay: Players took note that Joko's particular flavor of hate towards The Commander comes off very much like a WomanScorned, especially in dialogue. To say it's creepy is a massive understatement. |
| 158 | ** Canach and the Commander have this reaction in-game when they discover that [[spoiler: Minister Caduceus has a painted portrait of Logan in his office/''bedroom''.]] Players agreed. |
| 159 | * PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: If you followed the relationship between Braham and Rox in Living World Season 1, you'd think for ''sure'' they were being positioned as the game's first InterspeciesRomance. Instead WordOfGod states that they're JustFriends... which doesn't explain why they hit so many [[GreenEyedMonster romantic]] [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy couple]] tropes in Season 1. |
| 160 | * PlayerPunch: A lot of these can happen during the course of the Personal Story, though the most notable happens during The Battle of Claw Island. [[spoiler:Not only do you lose the fight, but your Order mentor (Lightbringer Tybalt, Magister Sieran, or Warmaster Forgal) who you fought alongside for the past 20 levels, dies to cover your escape.]] |
| 161 | ** Another ''*huge*'' one happens in Path of Fire, borderlining on [[spoiler:GutPunch]], probably the harshest one in Guild Wars 2 so far. It's a given that player characters [[spoiler:have some heavy duty PlotArmor and that they will never fail. Sure there will be some losses in battles storywise here and there, but the player would never die, they're the main character after all! Well...]] In Path of Fire, [[spoiler:you as the Commander get ambushed and boxed in by Balthazar, where you fight a CurbStompBattle that's impossible to win. Despite your best efforts to whittle down Balthazar's health, he shrugs it off and ends up fatally wounding you, toying with your life as you struggle to survive for a few more precious seconds. You might think, hey, [[DeusExMachina something is going to come save me at just the right time right?]] Cue Aurene flying in and it looks like you might be saved after all!...But you weren't. In fact, the exact opposite happens. Aurene fails to save you and you get to watch in quiet shock as Balthazar captures Aurene and blasts you in a face with a fireball, before you finally succumb to your grievous wounds and the fire. The dark, empty screen as you realize that you ''actually died'' and then respawning as a ''ghost'' really sells it.]] However, [[spoiler:the Plot Armor is thick enough for you to come back to life, but just the fact that you ''died'' was a real shocker to many.]] |
| 162 | ** Living World 4-5 brings another in the form of [[spoiler:Aurene's death at the hands of Kralkatorrik. She's been a focal point in the Commander's story ever since ''Season 2'' of the Living World, and was built up as not only a trump card, but as a trusted companion. Everything falls into place during the battle with the Elder Dragon, the two of you put your best foot forward... and you still fail.]] At the end of the instance, your companions ask what the Commander's next course of action is, and their response is a broken, cracked, "I don't know." |
| 163 | ** The punches started even ''before'' the game even began. Early material flat out stated that Palawa Joko's EnemyMine with the players in ''Nightfall'' would have consequences - which included Joko essentially taking over ''all'' of Elona, while the Sunspears are relegated to an underground order. ''Path of Fire'' finally lets players see just what happened to Elona, and it's ''not'' pretty. Joko was portrayed as somewhat of a bumbling villain, but here he's easily a CompleteMonster. What's more, Koss (The first hero players recruited) was resurrected and went into hiding so Joko couldn't subjugate his will... and the Herald of Balthazar? None other than Devona. |
| 164 | * QuicksandBox: |
| 165 | ** Early testers of the game reported feeling lost in the game without traditional quests to guide players, even with the Personal Story. Renown Hearts and the compass were added to help guide the players. |
| 166 | ** During Path of Fire, one of the hearts is to help the choya. Unlike other hearts, the description for the heart gives almost no indication of how to actually help them. |
| 167 | * TheScrappy: A vocal part of the fandom does not like Trahearne due to him being perceived as taking over the role of the hero in the personal story, with the player relegated to being just his second-in-command. He doubles as a ReplacementScrappy since he [[spoiler:replaces your Order mentor, who dies shortly beforehand.]] |
| 168 | ** Ellen Kiel is getting this treatment within the fandom in a similar way that Trahearne is getting: boring character and taking credit from major Living Story events in Southsun Cove and [[spoiler:hunting down Mai Trin, leader of the Aetherblades]]. |
| 169 | ** Scarlet Briar has gotten a lot of flak for being a flat and badly written Saturday morning cartoon style villain who is unbelievably smarter than Asuras. She could be described as having [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Harley Quinn's]] general look and attitude, the [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Joker's]] main villain status and deadly competency, and [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman's]] intellect and planning ability. All popular characters on their own, of course, but combining them into one villain that appears out of thin air with all of those traits? The only thing that the fandom can agree is good about her is [[Creator/TaraStrong her voice]], which sadly doesn't redeem a Scrappy. |
| 170 | ** Kormir [[spoiler:has been one since ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', much like Trahearne was, but fairly worse. The very fact that she abandons the mortals to presumably prevent a bad confrontation with Balthazar makes her seem like a coward trying to avoid responsibility.]] |
| 171 | ** Braham has started to become this, especially after Living World Season 3 and enhanced in Living World Season 4, especially for his [[IrrationalHatred unwarranted hatred]] against the Commander, the player character. Many find his attitude edgy, selfish and annoying and his accusations again the Commander, who doesn't even attempt to defend themselves, bad character writing. [[spoiler:Even a majority of the fandom are looking forward to knocking him in the head or even ''killing him''.]] |
| 172 | * ScrappyMechanic: |
| 173 | ** The grenade kit for Engineers does an ''amazing'' amount of damage even ''before'' the sheer amounts of vulnerability stacks that can be inflicted on enemies. Unfortunately? There's no autoattack (like literally every other weapon) and every ability has to be aimed manually - meaning you're ''constantly'' pressing buttons and clicking. |
| 174 | ** Underwater encounters. While swimming isn't annoying at all thanks to a ''load'' of AcceptableBreaksFromReality, what ''is'' annoying is that you have little way to affect your build due to the sheer number of abilities just just don't work well underwater (if they even work underwater ''at all''.) AreaOfEffect abilities can be a little difficult to aim underwater as well, especially if you're not close to the ground. |
| 175 | ** The sheer amounts of enemies that are ''on the main roads'' in some areas. While ''Path of Fire'' gave you mounts that can jump or blink past them, if you aggro them or are out of stamina they can easily take your mount's health down to nothing and force you off - and then you have to rely off of your own utility abilities or just fight to get away from them. |
| 176 | ** Guild Wars 2 is... quite stingy when it comes to money earned in-game. Some think that this is a way to push microtransactions (as you can literally purchase gold with gems). While there are ways to get gold without using gems, it's way ''way'' faster and more reliable to just exchange gems for in-game gold. |
| 177 | ** The "research notes" system, introduced in ''End of Dragons'', is a *huge* one. To wit, crafted items can be salvaged for "research notes" needed for expac-exclusive content. There are ''multiple'' problems with the system, such as the ambiguity of what can be "researched", the disproportionate amounts you need, and the retroactive removal of certain food items in holiday containers simply due to [=ArenaNet=] not wanting anyone to "cheat" the system due to said items counting for "research". |
| 178 | ** If you miss the window for when a Living World chapter is released? You have to purchase it separately. While Arena net on ''occasion'' releases chapters for free to all who log on during a certain timeframe ''after'' its content, players might not always know this. This not only creates ContinuityLockout for newcomers, but can also make some players feel as if they are punished for taking a break for whatever reason. What's worse, Living World Season one was largely unavailable for years after its release. |
| 179 | * ShockingMoments: |
| 180 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDpzAUWmklA This trailer for the Living Story Season 2, Episode 3.]] It starts off quite unassuming and quiet, showing scenes of the Mordrem encroaching across Tyria, a few frames with Eir and Braham... and then we're suddenly treated to a small scene showing ''[[MoodWhiplash Rytlock attempting to break the Foefire's curse with Sohothin.]]'' The trailer didn't actually show if he succeeded or not, but even before the actual release, that part of the trailer had already set the lore section of the community on fire with speculation and excitement. |
| 181 | ** On a more meta level, the fact that one point, Lion's Arch was ''destroyed''. And for a while it was literally ''in ruins'' before later being rebuilt. Very ''few'' {{MMORPG}}s even ''did'' this. |
| 182 | * SpecialEffectFailure: |
| 183 | ** Content made around the game's release can very much fall victim to this, even to this day. A lot of story beats had to make do with a low budget and recycled animations, making what ''should'' be dramatic moments in your personal story look like shoddy high school play affair. |
| 184 | ** The game tries to place characters flat on the ground. While most incline angles are subtle enough that you wouldn't notice, sometimes sharp changes in elevation may end up with your character standing at a bizarre angle - especially notable when you're playing a smaller character like an Asura, human, or some Sylvari. |
| 185 | * SpotlightStealingSquad: One of the fandom's major complaints against Trahearne, since the player ends up being his second banana for a good chunk of the core game. |
| 186 | ** [[spoiler:Caithe is now being accused of this in Season 4 since ''she'' gets the shiny mind-bonding upgrade instead of the player after the player has gone to hell and back for Aurene.]] |
| 187 | * StrangledByTheRedString: The reveal that [[spoiler:Bangar and Almorra used to be in a passionate relationship]] comes completely out of nowhere and serves zero purpose except to escalate the conflict between the two. |
| 188 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Some riffs of the songs you hear in Heart of Thorns (Specifically for Auric Basin) actually sound like the opening notes to "Once upon a December" in ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}''. |
| 189 | * TheWoobie: Despite the sometimes silly nature of the game and the fun that can be had, there is more than a fair share of suffering as well. |
| 190 | ** The (Pact) Commander really does go through a ton of terrible unavoidable tragedies, awful deaths, and suffer from broken friendships, not the mention the often unwarranted guilt from past decisions they've made, yet they shoulder it on quietly. They never really let anyone know how they really feel, except in a passing comment at small moments. They help everyone else feel better, sometimes at their own expense, but no one really stops to listen out their worries at all. Instead they [[IronWoobie face their troubles as they come]] and doesn't seem to outwardly show it. |
| 191 | *** This gets doubled in the Hearts of Thorns storyline if the commander is a Sylvari. Their slow descent to falling [[spoiler:under Mordremoth's influence]] is NightmareFuel at best, but they always insist that they are 'fine' to their comrades, only hinting that the call might have been becoming too much for them in a conversation with Canach. |
| 192 | *** Gets tripled again in Path of Fire, where the commander [[spoiler:''actually dies'' in an agonizing battle against Balthazar. They wake up in a dark and depressing land, having become a Lost Spirit due to the brutal nature of their death.]] They may have [[spoiler:managed to cheat death by using the Eater of Souls's power to return to life, but they have to live with the fear that if they fail, their being would just cease to be. Also, how's the fact that they just experienced the worst possible death and afterlife?]] |
| 193 | * ThatOneAchievement: There are a number of infuriatingly difficult and time-consuming achievements in the game: |
| 194 | ** Any of the achievements which involve killing a large amount of enemies with a certain weapon. Depending on the weapon, the classes you use, and the content you play, it can either be something you can work on over time or basically impossible without focusing on them. Special mention goes to off-hand utility weapons, such as the shield, focus and warhorn, whose abilities veer into "support" with little/no offensive capabilities, and the aquatic weapons, due to the incredibly limited underwater content. |
| 195 | ** "The Wayfarer's Henge", an achievement collection in Draconic Mons, is one of the more infamous collections as it's one of the few true "timegates" of the game due to multiple steps requiring Druid Runestones, of which earning them are capped at ''once a day'', and the entire collection requires ''16 of them'', meaning that, assuming you farm all Runestone Fragments every day, it effectively takes a little over ''two weeks'' to complete. The fact that this is a mandatory achievement to craft the legendary trinket, Aurora, makes this especially painful. |
| 196 | ** "Seasons of the Dragons", a meta-achievement that consists of completing a majority of ''every achievement and story chapter from Living World Season 2 all the way up to The Icebrood Saga'' to complete. It is an absolute endeavor to partake in, to say the least, but the final reward of [[InfinityPlusOneSword a "free" legendary Amulet]] makes it extremely worth the pain. |
| 197 | ** "Leave It To Me", from the Heart of Thorns mission 'City of Hope', which requires you to defeat the Alpha Mordrem Wolf in your bunny form. It's physically impossible to isolate the Alpha into a 1v1 fight while the wolves remain alive because of their patrol routes and aggro radius, and while your headbutt dodges attacks while you're executing it, it does puny damage, has a distressingly-long cooldown, and has [[HitboxDissonance an extremely wonky hitbox]]. Thankfully, the Alpha is the only enemy that doesn't regenerate health whenever you die and respawn, so you can [[DeathByAThousandCuts wail on it slowly but surely until it dies]]. There ''are'' a few tricks to expedite the process [[note]]a consumable item that summons a pet like Fire Elemental Powder or a Pocket Jade Armor can bypass the removal of all your normal skills to let you get a combat-capable ally in without disqualifying yourself from receiving the achievement[[/note]] but it's still an absolute slog. |
| 198 | ** A lot of the challenge mode achievements count, often requiring you to either play perfectly in a difficulty that's ''very'' easy to mess up in, or even [[ViolationOfCommonSense deliberately fail certain mechanics that make the fight harder]] to earn them. If you ever want to get into high-level fractal/raid/strike groups, you ''have'' to do some of these, as they often give you titles that are a minimum group requirement to stay or otherwise get booted. |
| 199 | ** "The Legendary Facets of Aurene", which might be the [[SerialEscalation most insanely, mind-bloggingly, pants-shittingly]] expensive and expansive set of achievements in the game, bar none, as they require you to build '''a full set of legendary weapons, at minimum, and ultimately six variations for each of them'''. To give you an idea of how bad it is, crafting just ''one'' legendary weapon is a feat by itself, and just ''one'' variation is a grind and a half. While [[BribingYourWayToVictory you can outright purchase the base legendary weapons]], you ''cannot'' purchase the variations, meaning you're still in for a hell of a grind no matter what. |
| 200 | * ThatOneBoss: Enough to fill [[ThatOneBoss/GuildWars2 an entire page]]. |
| 201 | * ThatOneLevel: The three Orrian zones (Straits of Devastation, Malchor's Leap, and Cursed Shore) are hated by much of the fanbase. The landscape is [[{{Mordor}} gloomy and utterly dismal]] and half of the waypoints can often end up contested if there's not at least a devoted number of players around to defend them. This leaves players stuck having to hike across huge swaths of the map, which are absolutely congested with DemonicSpiders and GoddamnBats that hit hard and can crowd control you easily. |
| 202 | ** At least one fractal from the Fractals of the Mist dungeon will fall under this although what fractal that is varies based on luck and level. |
| 203 | *** The Underground Facility fractal can be very long, filled with an ever-increasing number of enemies as the players go up in level, and a boss that effectively requires one player to remove themselves from fighting and have the rest running and gunning the boss around a large arena. A patch later on made the trekking of this fractal shorter, and the enemies spawning fewer and less frustrating. |
| 204 | *** The Cliffside fractal is a long-hike up shoddily built scaffolds that are designed to make sure players fall to their death if their attention slips while having one player carrying a hammer that will slowly kill them. That alongside a few spots that require careful planning and execution to advance can make it frustrating. A patch was then added to make the travel less cumbersome by removing the boss fight at the start and altering the AI behavior of the last unsealing section. |
| 205 | *** The Swampland fractal. The party needs to carry three wisps to a few trees in a strict time limit (which starts as soon as one wisp is picked up), while there's barely visible traps everywhere that do anything to trip, cripple and slowdown the player, mooks everywhere to force you into combat, and even an invisible legendary mob (Mossman) around to kill you if he sees you (On higher fractal difficulties, the Mossman's axe throws will inflict agony on hits). Oh, and the terrain changes to prevent you from getting a wisp over to the trees so easily. Back when fractals were chosen randomly and were in four stages, people would reroll until they get this as the starting fractal because it is fast and easy to finish, so it was a nightmare for people who didn't like this fractal. What's more the fractal's final boss has been substantially reworked, turning it from a straightforward DamageSpongeBoss into a much more difficult fight. |
| 206 | *** The Volcanic fractal is rather short but ends with a very frustrating ThatOneBoss that can spell the end of a party if they are not properly prepared and geared for the showdown. |
| 207 | *** The Aquatic Ruins fractal is widely loathed for two reasons : it's set entirely underwater, which means a different gear (problematic for players who didn't think about upgrading their specific underwater gear) and some abilities that become unavailable, meaning that some character builds won't work at all (fortunately, it's quick and easy to switch to different specializations, but still annoying when some of the most powerful builds won't work at all), and one obstacle course section that can be randomly one of two things : a ridiculously easy course that just consists of grabbing items along the way quickly enough with barely any hindrance, and a bastard hard course that [[ForcedTransformation turns everyone into powerless dolphins]] having to navigate among enemies that lock you down and kill you in seconds from a distance unless you use a very clunky and inconsistent ability to lure them elsewhere. [[BreatherBoss The boss at the end of the fractal is a cakewalk in comparison]]. |
| 208 | ** Tangled Depths is one of the most hated maps in the Heart of Thorns expansion, primarily because of its twisting paths, multi-layered areas, and being a hassle for getting its map completion (more Hero Points that involve Champion fights, Points of Interests and Vista being not where you expect them to be, and being pretty much [[DemonicSpiders Chak]] zone). |
| 209 | ** Spirit Vale, the first raid wing released for Heart of Thorns. All raids are planned to be NintendoHard by definition, and it certainly fits the bill. All three bosses have BossArenaUrgency in the form of an Enrage timer that makes them a lost cause if not killed in time and OneHitKill attacks/mechanics that need to be managed carefully in order to avoid a wipe, making for a ''very'' challenging experience. |
| 210 | ** The Desolation in Path of Fire. It's a ''HUGE'' map full of rocky terrain that force the player to go through narrow hallways, or move through slowly with their Springer... and areas of Sulphur which cause near instant-death to players who are not using their skimmers. On top of this? There are multiple bottlenecks forcing you to either run past GoddamnedBats who [[SuperPersistentPredator chase you everywhere]], or take a slow way ''around'' them. The waypoints are also very ''very'' spread out - which means it can be a several minute ride to get hero points. |
| 211 | * TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Any major update to the game's system is going to get accusations of this trope happening. Complaints were particularly vociferous about the September 9, 2014 update, which set up a new "New Player Experience" system intended to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin make it easier for new players to learn the ins and outs of the game]], but received sharp criticism from many veteran players who asserted that starter areas had been "dumbed down", existing content had been removed (including a key part of the "Personal Story"), access to things like skill unlocking had been changed in ways that made it harder for low-level characters to fight, etc. |
| 212 | ** However, some criticism has been taken into account, because Personal Story has since been reinstated to its former order (thus making sense again) and the whole of NPE is continuously getting tweaked and edited one way or another. |
| 213 | ** In a broader sense, the game has little to nothing in common with ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' (which was an ''extremely'' unique MMORPG) from a gameplay perspective. The removal of the dual-class system and the 8-skill build system that came with it are often mourned as the biggest losses, although a lot of people like the weapon skill system as well. |
| 214 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: The general consensus among fans seems to be that [[spoiler: Mabon]] died far too early. [[spoiler: Not only was he the first truly friendly Mursaat in the storyline, but his OddFriendship with Isgarren - the two being from races with a long history of enmity - is left explored only in memory fragments and journals. They don't even get any screentime together.]] |
| 215 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: |
| 216 | ** Season 1 of the Living story is heavily criticized for its numerous {{Plot Hole}}s, {{Ass Pull}}s, TheChrisCarterEffect (It took fifteen MONTHS to wrap up the Scarlet arc, which everyone knew was going to lead to a dragon), and a big amount of FridgeLogic and failure to adhere to the basic ShowDontTell rule. The result was a messy, disjointed story arc revolving around a single plant that manages to acquire high-tech weaponry, amass a giant army, and rain down havoc on Tyria and get away with all of it without explanation. And this happens all while the Dragons continue to wreak havoc on Tyria. Now, can someone please explain why there's a dragon on the logo of the game? |
| 217 | ** After the reveal in Season 3 that [[spoiler:"Lazarus" is really Balthazar, the human God of War and doesn't care if he destroys the world by destroying the Elder Dragons]], one of the big questions going into Path of Fire was [[spoiler:what had caused him to turn his back on mankind and break away from the other gods]]? Unfortunately, once we finally got the whole story, the answer turned out to be the fairly anticlimactic [[spoiler:"because he's [[JerkAss a prick]] who [[ItsAllAboutMe simply doesn't care about anything other than what he wants]]"]]. [[GenericDoomsdayVillain Disappointingly shallow.]] |
| 218 | ** Most agree that, for all the shortcomings of the Icebrood Saga's final episode, one of the biggest was [[spoiler: [[DroppedABridgeOnHim the abrupt and practically unceremonious deaths of Jormag and Primordus]],]] ''two'' [[spoiler:elder dragons]] that have had immense impact on the world of Tyria and only a brief presence in ''Guild Wars 2'' before being booted off. The latter, in particular, was especially mourned as he didn't even have the luxury of new maps, events or scenarios fully dedicated to him, unlike [[spoiler:Jormag and the other elder dragons]]. To say that the plot potential for them was wasted would be a ''severe understatement''. |
| 219 | * ToughActToFollow: The Icebrood Saga was this to some, following Season 4 ending ''many'' lingering plots and subplots that had been in the game since launch. Still, many people did warm up to it. |
| 220 | * UglyCute: The Necromancer profession's Bone Minions look endearingly--and grotesquely--like a cheerful, skinned hybrid between a gerbil and a monkey. |
| 221 | ** Rox's pet devourer, Frostbite. It may be a giant two-tailed scorpion, but its huge eyes are rather charming. |
| 222 | ** This may surprise you, or it may just {{Squick}} you out, but the ''overwhelming'' majority of the reams of [[{{Rule 34}} porn]] that has been drawn of [=GW2=] is Asura-based. |
| 223 | ** [[spoiler:Aurene, the second spawn of Glint that hatches in Episode 2 of Season 3.]] |
| 224 | ** The Sylvari aren't much better; they look very human, but some of their plant features throw them right into this, whether it be growths on their heads or the different analogs for ears, or some of the different colorations over otherwise normal looking faces, they just look ''off''. Then again, this is deliberate on the artists' part - the sylvari ''mimic'' the appearance of humans, but are still fundamentally plants that only resemble humans. If you give your salad a coloration that too-strongly mimics human skin, then they can heavily resemble [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} ghouls]] with certain face styles and body patterns. |
| 225 | *** The Wintersday 2013 patch has introduced new faces in the Total Makeover Kit - 3 for each race/gender. Some of the new sylvari faces [[http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/gw2-total-makeover-kit-new-faces-sylvari-male.jpg lack noses, and have large beady eyes]]. Comparisons with aliens were made by the community almost immediately. The new asura faces are less uncanny, but feature a [[http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/gw2-total-makeover-kit-new-faces-asura-male.jpg rather...bemused expression]]. Stoned asura as a meme is starting to take off. |
| 226 | ** Sayeh al' Rajihd is a largos, so her body is humanlike, and she wears a face concealing rebreather. So she doesn't look like this trope at first... until you notice through her mask that not only does her eye make no movement at all, but she ''doesn't blink'' either. Which may have been a purposeful design choice. |
| 227 | * SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: This is honestly one of the most ''beautiful'' [=MMORPGs=] out there, with every map having multiple stunning views over all of the vistas and ''loads'' of detail. Even the maligned Maguuma Jungle gives you a sense of scale when you enter. |
| 228 | * WinBackTheCrowd: After the mass layoffs, a lackluster livestream reveal of the ''Icebrood Saga'', and the... controversial template update, the crowd had started losing faith in the game's future, with an increasing number even believing that it was headed into maintenance mode. This changed when Anet [[https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/looking-ahead-to-spring-summer-and-the-future/ not only confirmed in March 2020 that a third expansion is in development]], dispelling the rumors of the game heading into maintenance mode, but released early concept art that heavily teased, if not outright confirmed that the site of the expansion will take place in '''Cantha'''. |
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