GW2: Deeply Tangled Roots

My Sylvari Ranger’s Personal Story presented me with the first moral dilemma I’ve come across in this game.

After working to help a fellow Sylvari track down his kidnapped love, she refuses to be rescued.  She has fallen under the spell of The Nightmare Court and no longer wants to return home.

Her love Tiachren still believes in her, and wants to rescue her.  She is leading an assault on a small village.  

Your choice is to go and help the villagers defend against the Nightmare Court, or go with Tiachren to try once more to pry her from the grasp of evil.

You are warned by your mentor Caithe that no one escapes the Nightmare, and that Tiachren will only be drawn in.  She is so cold and unfeeling, though (luckily your character sees that and calls her on it) that she doesn’t seem quite trustworthy.

I just tortured over this.  I had been fighting at Tiachren’s side through several scenarios, and I liked and respected him.  Love conquers all, so I do generally believe.  My best instincts said go help him.  

I couldn’t let a village of innocents die though, particularly if he also fell to the darkness, which seemed the most likely outcome given what I knew.

So I chose to help the village, and there he was, a being of darkness at his love’s side and I had to defeat both of them.

As it turns out, there isn’t a different end to the story whichever choice you make.  You’re a hero and the “Pale Tree” is all proud of you.

I don’t know if the game has things down the line that result differently from this, but I hope it does.

Yet Another Adventuring Weekly Roundup

World of Warcraft

I sent 22 characters through the Darkmoon Faire.  I usually only send my crafting characters but everyone moved forward a few inches this week.  

Getting back on the Pathfinder track, I did a garrison mission Assault on Darktide Roost.   I had tried one of these previously and just got pounded, but this one was really easy.   So many eggs, so little time.

Guild Wars 2

My Ranger got all the play time this week.

She has a skill that is much like the Wow Hunter skill Barrage  where she just fires arrows rat-a-tat-tat.   I love it on the Hunter and I love it for her.  Both can have the unfortunate effect of pulling in nearby foes, however.  There is a really long and wide spray effect.

I rather like the environment of the Caledon Forest, all deep green with wild shots of color.

Black Desert Online

I really don’t have the time for another game at this time, but Black Desert Online has sounded so interesting by every account I’ve seen.  I liked what people were saying, that it is a very different and immersive world.   When they described the pure pleasure they were getting from playing, well, I haven’t seen that in awhile so I purchased the Traveler’s edition.

I think thirty dollars is very reasonable as a base price for a game.  You can try it out and get quite a bit of game play for your money.   I’m reading with interest the posts about the cash shop.   Unless the cash shop stops me cold from playing and advancing my characters, I’m not likely to pay any attention to it.  I never do.  I’ve yet to buy a single thing from one.

Character Creation

I downloaded the game and then created a Ranger on the fly when I should have been getting dinner ready.  You know how that goes.   It didn’t appear to me that some of the cosmetic choices made any  change to my character’s appearance.   In a hurry or not, she ended up looking like she was twelve,  I didn’t like the name I chose, and I really didn’t like the family name.

The next day when I had some time I decided to just delete her and try again.  Good lord, it takes 24 hours??? to delete a character.

Reading ahead, I was expecting 5 character slots with the “base game” but I’ve only 4.

Because I was too impatient, I ended up creating a Sorceress with the unfortunate family name, but at least I liked the character and her name.  Yes, she does look like a vampiry Kristen Stewart.

While I was creating her, I noticed a clothing option.  How cool, there were all of these different outfits you could pick.  So I thought.   I get into the world and she’s not wearing that outfit by a long shot.   Not the one I picked for sure. The feathery dead chicken thing on her right arm is really annoying.  Would not have selected dead chicken.

Create another Ranger finally, and was careful to look though the choices and pick one….

I carefully create my character and there she is in the world with the lace topped stocking outfit, obviously stock outfit number 1.

Why show all of those if you can’t select one?  Am I supposed to buy one of the others in the cash shop?  Are those the $29.00 outfits I’m reading about?   How odd.  It would be better to let me have one of the cool ones, then if I wanted one of the others,  I’d perhaps buy one.   You have to give people something they want more of, you can’t just dangle possibilities in front of us.  Particularly during character creation.    The Sorceress had some really great outfits  (in the creator), and I find it unusual that a game even offers such well designed armors.  We’re all out there in mismatched “clown armor” for the longest time in many games.

Combat

I haven’t taken my Sorceress out yet, but I got the first Ranger to level 7 easily fight imps and weasels.   I like that she can pull one mob at a time from a group.  I think it’s odd that her melee moves seem to consist of leg kicks and hand chops.   Everything does go down quickly though.

There was this pop up message You’re in a Combat Zone that had me worried. Was I vulnerable to PVP? No npcs or mobs seemed aggressive at all, but would they all suddenly attack here?  Apparently I’m safe till level 45 when my characters are cannon fodder for PVP so I guess I’ll not worry for now.

Gathering

To pick up any loot from a body there is the longest animation I’ve ever seen.  Before I figured out I could just move forward to break the animation, I was crouched in the road getting run over by horses and wagons like mad.   Cone of shame city.

Movement

What is it with that weird stuck in place thing after interacting with someone?   I know I read somewhere a solution to it or comment on it but can’t find it again.  Maddening.

The Black Cloud

The brief intro to the game has an ancient artifact wiping out a trade city with a black cloud. The whole place and everyone in it disappears.  Poof.

Once you land in the world, who doth mock you but your own personal screeching little black cloud!   Am I supposed to be alarmed?  Like I trust this little shrieker.  In fact, I hate him.  I just hate him.  I hope he goes away after the tutorial parts.