Monday, May 27, 2013

Wot We Did On Our Holidays : GW2

 Southsun Cove. The very name conjures up images of moonlit beaches, waves gently lapping the sands as soft music drifts on the night breeze. The tink of glass on glass, faint laughter from across the bay, lantern-light reflected on the water. Sun, sea, sand, romance and relaxation, Southsun Cove has none of that at all.

Oh alright, yes it does. Kind of. It has sea. Filled with sharks and skelk, but undeniably sea. Swim in it, go on, I dare you. Then there's sand. Plenty of that if you don't mind sharing it with crabs the size of carthorses and yet more skelk. Whatever a skelk is. Sun? I think I saw it once. At least the rain must be warm because people stand around in it in their bathers day and night. Romance? Maybe just a hint in the brittle banter between Lord Faren and Lady Kasmeer. With luck the pair of them will hit it off so well they'll vanish on Lord Faren's private yacht and we'll never, ever have to meet either of the insufferable boors again.


No, contrary to what The Consortium would like you to believe, Southsun isn't about having the holiday of your dreams. Of course it isn't. It's a place of mystery, adventure and intrigue.

Kidding! I'm just kidding! It's all about the loot.

But you knew that, of course. Why else have there been overflow servers ever since the event began? Why else are zergs criss-crossing the island like packs of wild dogs day and night? Why else would Trading Post prices be tumbling as blood, scales, Rares and Exotics pour out of people's packs onto the market in a flood?

Oh, there was a day or two there at the beginning when all anyone wanted was to tick those boxes. Sample this, visit that, talk to him, help her. In a short while all but the stragglers had been there and done that and everyone settled down to the real business at  hand: farming.

A good farmer craves efficiency, though. It wasn't long before the best spots were identified and mercilessly codified. Woe betide any adventurer who attacks an Instigator out of sequence and sets the Kiel/Glass axis spinning out of synch. The whole point is to get the two of them timed so that you can shuttle between them all day long with nary a moment's downtime, other than to clear the odd incursion at the camps along the way.

There are those who swear by the crazed karka raids. Before the dreaded Diminishing Returns kicks in those waves do drop loot-bags like confetti and there's always that slim chance one might contain the craved Southsun Crate. Not that there'll be anything in it. Just some fruit and shells, a flower or two. Still, better link it in map chat so everyone can urge you to open the box. It's like Hughie Greene never died.

The community spirit, so strong at the start, is starting to feel a little ragged round the edges. Self-appointed Instigator Coordinators flounce off to guest on servers where people pay attention and don't argue all the time. Mesmers tired from lifting people up the cliffs day after day begin to wonder openly what's in it for them. And yet, and still, by and large people remain good-hearted, events are called, the downed revived.A good time is had if not by all then at least by most.

It's been a very good week. What? Two? Really, has it been that long? Well, it doesn't seem like it. It's been both fun and profitable. How often can you say that? If this is going to be the model for the Living Story from now on then it's a decent start. Could be better, sure, but that's what the famous Iteration is for.

Go on then. Iterate that.

7 comments:

  1. Hah, you must be unlucky with the weather on Southsun - it's always bright sunny day when I go, in fact it's probably the most blinding map of them all and hurts my eyes a little. :D

    I am not really a very efficient farmer, but I've heard people guesting around just to do the events there over and over...I still have karka-phobia from the Lost Shores event, so I better take it easy.

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    1. After I read the above I paid close attention to the weather during the 90 minutes I just spent in Southsun. I never saw the sun once! It was either raining hard, or gloomy with the sky filled with cloud or it was night time. Looking at the vast number of screenshots I've taken during the event, it's a rare shot that's sunlit.

      I have noticed that the white pools in the center around Driftglass do seem to get some sunshine, but on the coast it never stops raining!

      I wonder if the weather differs at all server by server?

      Delete
  2. Well, I want add some points.

    IMHO, we will see Lady Kasmeer again. She is more that she appear be and she is not a "maid in distress" and Lord Farren said she know how to fight. Inspector Kiel had to suspect her when she feel that Lady Kasmeer's hands "know hard work", but I think Inspector Kiel had more dare concerns and not saw that clue.

    Anyway, take the clue that Inspector Kiel, that we saw first from the Lost Shores living sotry, is returning this Living Story chapter, IMHO we will see more returning characters the following chapters (including an emo norn and an "anime eyes" charr).

    Yes, 2 weeks were enough for rag the communit spirit, now we just see farming parties, but one or other player is still trying to complete the achievements and they are looking for the samples.

    I saw some new guildies that had no idea that they can go to Southsun and get uplevel to level 80 and I say them for go to Southsun make there their leveling zone, get the two backpacks and farm some mats and money. IMHO, some players are loosing that event because had no idea that that zone is uplevel for some time.

    Finally, the new instance, solable and group modes, will open may 28th. I think that will bring a new breath to Soutsun living event. And making some spoilers

    /spoiler (read to your own risk)

    the Karka Queen event will start june 5th.

    /end spoiler

    From what I read I hope that will be a chain event that will be permanet and that will stay after Secret of Southsun living event ends. They said that dynamic event will have a nice chest, so I hope we get precursors. But if the reward is good, I too fear we will see a recap from the Ancient Karka event: monster lag and karka rolls making a carpet of dead players. Some people, like me, think that Ancient Karka event had problems but was fun, I just hope this time the event will be less problematic.

    Anyway, when this living event ends other one will start. And everyone that played GW1 know about the

    /spoiler Dragon Festival. /end spoiler

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know we are going to see more of Faren and Kasmeer... hang on, let me re-phrase that...

      I know Faren and Kasmeer will be making further appearances. I just wish they wouldn't. I don't find either of them a fraction as amusing as the writers and voice actors obviously do.

      I've deliberately avoided taking any non-80s to Southsun because it is indeed a leveling paradise right now. Leveling in GW2 goes too quickly as it is so I try to avoid any xp hot-spots.

      I also hope the Karka Queen sticks around. We could do with a lot more permanent dynamic events being added right across the world.

      Oh, and I played a fair amount of GW1 on and off and I never heard of the Dragon Festival. I know we're getting a Dragon Bash in GW2 though.

      Delete
  3. Faren is a character from human noble storyline. It is a comic character since the begining. Kasmeer is a new character, if I am not wrong, because I don't remember I saw her before.

    IMHO, Kasmeer is interesting because she is not what she appear be. But after seeing all 3 paths for human storyline (street rat, commoner and noble) and one or other personal choice, I know that

    /spoiler

    the Shining Blade and the White Mantle are making a secret war.

    /end spoiler

    So, Kasmeer is a chance to we learn more about that two factions.

    The Dragon Festival is from Cantha, if you do'nt played that expansion maybe you never saw it. End of june to start of july. I guess that where there are canthanese refugees living (LA and Divinity's Reach) we will see events. Maybe we too see some tengu NPCs participating.

    I hope Anet uses the Dragon Festival for start a long story (something that will complete in some years or in an expansion) for the tengu be a playable race. Take note that IMHO there is a long story linked to the last Halloween event, the Mad King wants to return to Tyria and the spells that hide his corpse parts are going weaker, and to the SAB, that had the charr and the Consortium asking for use that thecnology. So, IMHO, a long story that we see only during seasonal events is possible.

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  4. I must admit to participating in the Great Skelk Genocide of 2013. The map banter is always great. I just hearken back to my days spent farming in other MMOs, and I sometimes reflect on how FUN farming in GW2 is. It's a direct result of the wonderful loot-sharing mechanism GW1 originally invented. Still boggles me how gamers put up with the whole mob-tagging concept anymore (I'm looking at you, WoW.)

    Why do I farm? I really have no idea anymore. I continue to amass wealth without a goal. But eh, at least the process is fun (Unlike the soul-crushing grinds like in FF14 or Lineage)

    -Ursan

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  5. Patch notes today:

    "Added new island-wide meta-event where players defend and liberate the new settlements across Southsun Cove. If players hold all four settlements, merchants will become available with unique items, and there is a chance that an Enraged Karka Queen boss will spawn.
    The Enraged Karka Queen boss event rewards large boss chests like other world bosses and gives two guaranteed rare or better items once per day."

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