User talk:Linsey Murdock/Questions6

Genius Operated Living Enchanted Manifestation
By following the blue path you can exterminate all of the Destroyers before the mission start's thus making the mission extremely easy in Normal mode and Hard Mode, I'm not sure if this is a bug but more of an exploit that makes doing the mission easier for some people. Baddock
 * This does really nothing to change the difficulty of the mission. It doesn't stop the Destroyer waves that spawn once the npc's have been triggered, in fact in some ways it makes it more difficult because you don't have the golems to help you fight the destroyers there. I have done the mission both ways, and really see no difference in the numbers of destroyers that need to be killed, it's just a matter of them being killed before defending the golems or after. --[[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png | Wyn's Talk page]] Wynthyst 23:36, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
 * You don't need the GOLEMs for this mission, I have H/H this mission around 10 times for HM books and just clearing the area, camping the H/H near where the destroyers spawn, run back and trigger the mission, run back to aid the H/H and then clear out everything that comes for you. All you really need to do is make sure it updates properly.  Several times I have killed the boss Destroyers quite fast and the game didn't update [I didn't go and get the beacon either], other times it works without a hitch [without the beacon].  A lot of the Eye of the North missions could have been better.  000.00.00.00 09:12, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

D'Alessio Seaboard
So I was kicking some but in the D'Alessio Seaboard in Hard Mode on the way back from completing the bonus on the way to finishing the mission when what should happen? Confessor Dorian manages to get himself killed while I was on my way to Dinas this was after i got the completed slash on the quest log for protecting Dorian. So you can see why I'm upset. Anyway I just thought that I'd warn you about Dorian's unfortunate suicidal tendencies. It appears that extra groups come after the discussion with Dorian. BTW I was in the FOW today and am now suspicious of a certain Admiral Saidon the Eternal An NPC with no apparent purpose. I'm thinking mini pet scavenger hunt all over again. :) Baby Turtle mini pet or a penguin lol. -- Primeval Sentinel    Talk  09:48, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
 * It has always been that way. The extra groups are pop-ups you can kill by traveling south (the way the assault on Dorian comes from) after you saved Dorian from the hordes. Go past some "wooden gate". After you killed all emerging undead, Dorian is safe after you left for Dinas. Gorani 19:34, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
 * That's my whole point I left for the bonus and on my way back he randomly died on my way to Dinas. -- Primeval Sentinel  [[Image:User Primeval Sentinel user icon.jpg|19px]]  Talk  19:37, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Nundu Bay Confusion.
Out of curiosity, since the game isn't very clear in this, do we enter into Melonni's nightmares to fight the Harbingers of Nightfall or does Marga Coast actually become Nightfallen? That is, much in the same way the Garden of Seborhin is if you take the Jennur's Horde path. If you have or can get an answer that would be wonderful. Thanks ahead of time! Gmr Leon 18:30, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
 * No there are both real events in the game. At the end cinematic of Nundu bay you will see Varesh saying the ruptures have stopped refering to the nundu bay mission just completed Fox007  [[Image:User Fox007 sig.png|User:Fox007]] 18:49, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
 * That would be all well and good if not for the fact that Varesh says that at the end of both Jennur's Horde and Nundu Bay. This is what creates the confusion with the Nundu Bay mission and whether or not it occurs in Melonni's nightmares or actually happens. Gmr Leon 21:39, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
 * The reason that Varesh says that at the end of both is that you are technically only supposed to do one of those missions until you beat the game. Much like with Margrid and Masters, except that you don't need to get to the end of the campaign to get the other hero.  Kelvin Greyheart 15:44, 12 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I always thought that Nundu Bay Mission was the nightmares that Melonni was having coming true, so really the nightmares were a prophecy of the future, not just nightmares. Especially since until you finish the Nightfall storyline, The Garden of Seborhin becomes Nightfallen and populated with foes from Abbadon. It's just that Nundu Bay doesn't have a similar alteration. And I believe that another NPC is having similar nightmares to Melonni's. (Though, if it's just in Melonni's head, that's pretty cool.) 75.146.48.190 22:28, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
 * See, that's the problem. I had thought the same thing the first time through. Technically though, it wouldn't be Nundu Bay that got the alteration, rather it would be the Marga Coast. Yes, there is another NPC who is having nightmares and she is exiled from Ronjok as a precaution by the villagers. It becomes clear that demons enter into the physical realm of Tyria through nightmares brought on by Abaddon through that event. Still makes it difficult to determine whether or not the events in the Nundu Bay mission really happen. There should be some kind of ritual or something to enter into Melonni's dream to make it clear if it's that case; if it's not that then just have the characters run outside and see it Nightfallen. Gmr Leon 23:10, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it is inconsistent, but likely the time and coding required to make it clear in game vs. the need for it to be changed probably makes it unlikely to have any changes. Getting an answer from Anet on it is more likely.75.146.48.190 19:05, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Place where we can report scammers out of game?
Found some interesting videos on youtube :P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-uCwWzvu5M&feature=related
 * Curious - [[Image:User Linsey Murdock sig.jpg]]Linsey talk 19:18, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Wouldn't you have some sort of alarm go off if someone went far out of limits like that? I figure there would be a heuristics flyer that would be obvious.  Anyway, I hope you get the sucker, should it be legit. --Ravious 16:54, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Nevermind, ignore the idiot. :D --Ravious 17:03, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Monthly Cool Stuff
Anything you can discuss yet? (Also I think the date on your journal is wrong?) Can't wait to see what mark the esteemed Linsey will make on this game. :D --Ravious 16:56, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, we have the PvE + unused elites skill balance coming up next month which should be cool. After that there isn't much I can talk about. We are planning to take a look at the way some titles are achieved later this year. Other than that, mums the word. - [[Image:User Linsey Murdock sig.jpg]]Linsey talk 01:40, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Cool, thanks Linsey. Looking forward to that update and future ones as well. ;) --Ravious 10:06, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

--This does make me nervous about whether I am wasting items on character titles that are going to be made into account titles......

Vekk doesn't have the Corsair Model
During the BlackTide Den mission sometimes Vekk doesn't get the corsair model, it's not really a game altering experience but I wonder why the Corsair haven't noticed that I have a 3 foot elementalist running around. Vekk's Model Baddock
 * What do you mean "sometimes"? It doesn't always happen? - [[Image:User Linsey Murdock sig.jpg]]Linsey talk 16:59, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Haven't tried it again, so I don't know, I'll test it today.[[Image:User_SirBaddock_Sig.jpg|19px]] Baddock
 * What Linsey alluded to there Baddock, is that non-human heroes (such as Zhed Shadowhoof) do not adopt those Corsair (human) models by design. Vekk is supposed to remain in the form that you witnessed. ;) -- WarBlade 03:08, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
 * But but but but! :P [[Image:User_SirBaddock_Sig.jpg|19px]] Baddock
 * Haven't you heard of the imfamous midget corsairs? With their large armada of heavily armed canoes and rowboats? 75.146.48.190 22:30, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Just wondering.
What would it actually take in order to run a GW server for a small amount of people on a LAN? Would it take a large amount of space or computing power? Would all it take was software? Are some small servers like the one i described used already for testing? Mashav 17:20, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
 * There was a project to bring GW to a private LAN, but it has been shut down for reasons unknown. From my understanding, the computing power for a small server isn't that much, but would require a clone of the GW server software, which I highly doubt they will ever release.--Pyron Sy 20:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
 * As long as the GW servers are up and running there is no need to, but when eventually the GW servers are brought down it would be great to see the game open sourced. It's age old technology at that point anyway so it's not a massive minus, I think. But that's after many long years, so no need to think about it yet. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:Gem (talk).
 * Due to the fact that they will support it way past GW2, and that there is so many copyrights...going opensource is a wild guess. Dominator Matrix  00:31, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

An update for Pre-Searing.
I (and probably others) would appreciated it if you checked out this thread. http://www.presearing.com/forum2/index.php?topic=20413.0 Thanks! Naru 10:00, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Presearing is a delicate issue. A lot of people would like to see it preserved, so we have to think a lot about any changes before we make them. - [[Image:User Linsey Murdock sig.jpg]]Linsey talk 18:49, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, a Pre-Searing "Hard Mode" doesn't seem like a bad idea. Far better than death-leveling Charr for 100 hours.Perrin42 15:34, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Just a thought, but how hard would it be if ANet did two seperate instances of Pre-Searing? One for the prophecies newbies and another one for those that want to access pre with their dervishes. -- Ezekial Riddle 15:55, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * That wouldn't make sense to the storyline Ezekial. But u gave me an idea, 2 seperate instances of pre;
 * One for the starters of GW
 * The second one will require some small stuff. What I was thinking was, to access the other pre you need to have at least a lvl 20 character and have finished the prophecies campaign on your account. If the requirements are met, upon creating a Tyrian character, you will be asked if you would like to start from the normal Pre, or the Advanced Pre (or a better name :P). --M age [[image:user MageMontu sig.png| ]]M ontu 12:04, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It feels like that would just break the story immersion of Pre - [[Image:User Linsey Murdock sig.jpg]]Linsey talk 17:44, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, how about an Asura invented time travel (through an asuran gate)? You could add a quest in EotN in which you must travel into Pre-Searing in order to prevent Gwen from
 * being killed. After that, you could travel into Pre-Searing at any time. As a side effect of the time travel trade with Pre-Searing characters can be disabled (or maybe allowed
 * from Pre-Searing char.-> Post-Searing char. (because with tricks you can do this already)).As a further side effect of the time travel all of your equipment is degraded
 * to the max. stats as of Pre-Searing (in order to prevent disruptions in the time-space continuum, because the time travel technique isn't fully developed, yet).
 * --Kali The Devourer 01:55, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Dragon Festival 09 Plea
I'm not sure if you are the right person for me to talk to about this, or how early these things are decided so I'm writing now in the hopes that its Early enough. Please for the love of everything good and cuddly, can we stop with the demon masks and actually have a dragon mask for the DRAGON festival in 2009. After all it is the dragon festival, not the demon festival. -- Salome 21:56, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Salome, I'm with ya. -- Wolf [[Image:User Great Darkwolf User Image paw.png|19px| ]] 22:04, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I want a Torment Claw hat first. ;p -- WarBlade 22:27, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Aye I agree. Redesigning of the Dragon Festival is needed to honor the real purpose of the festival, meaning, the survival of the Empire of the Dragon after the jade wind, and not to remember what demons has done in the first dragon festival, and to spoil the storyline for new comers (by revealing the new goddess). Here's an idea, change the mini missions to show what Shiro has done all those years ago. It's not a spoiler since the jade wind is mentioned rly early in game, and shiro killing the emperor even earlier. --M age [[image:user MageMontu sig.png| ]]M ontu 22:38, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, there was a dragon mask for the 2006 Dragon Festival, so it's unlikely that they'll revisit it again. (Cause, if they do, they really, really really need to redux the witch's hat from the first Wintersday in Nightfall.) 75.146.48.190 22:44, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure how it would be done, but maybe we could include a few "back-in-time" quests that relate to Shiro and the bringing of the Jade Wind. Methinks it would be formatted like the BMP, controlling a certian character other then your own and completing certian objectives. If anything, that would bring some interest into the new Dragon Festival. --[[Image:User Wandering Traveler Oie User Wandering Traveler Sig2.png|19px]]  Wandering   Traveler  22:45, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Very much so. -- Wolf [[Image:User Great Darkwolf User Image paw.png|19px| ]] 22:48, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I'd say the Ritualist that get's killed in the official trailer, The one that gives the alarm to the Kurzicks and the Luxons, for one of the missions. At least we would play with someone who died at the end rather than being victorious all the time. --M age [[image:user MageMontu sig.png| ]]M ontu 22:49, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Heh, take control of Vizu, or one of the Kurzick/Luxon champions (depending on your faction allegiance, maybe?) to fight off shiro. Could be interesting.... --[[Image:User Wandering Traveler Oie User Wandering Traveler Sig2.png|19px]]  Wandering   Traveler  22:53, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah was thinking of that aswell, but remember that the festival has more than 1 mini mission. --M <font color="#330000">age [[image:user MageMontu sig.png| ]]<font color="#CC0000">M <font color="#330000">ontu 22:54, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * If I was going to play as someone destined to lose, I'd rather be Shiro.
 * Anyway, the changes you guys are talking about are a lot of work. A LOT of work. Don't expect something like this, but I'll not discount it. - [[Image:User Linsey Murdock sig.jpg]]Linsey talk 23:06, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * People dress like Demons FOR FUN! In other real life carnivals like this some people dress as the "good guys" and some as the "bad guys". We already had a Dragon Mask, and there are a lot of demons still (looking at the NPCs). Why not? Oh, and if we're going to have the same Dragon Mask as the 1st festival had, I want the 1st Halloween and Wintersday hats. (Why did I stop playing GW back then? Why? T.T) &mdash; Poki#3 [[Image:User_Poki_Signature.jpg|19px|My Talk Page :o]] 23:18, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

I kinda had another idea for playing as shiro. Also to continue with what poki said, "In other real life carnivals like this some people dress as the "good guys" and some as the "bad guys"." Ok fair enough, but we've been the good guys twice, three times if you count the original one, let us be the bad guys now to change a bit :P --<font color="#CC0000">M <font color="#330000">age <font color="#CC0000">M <font color="#330000">ontu 23:51, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not discounting anyone's ideas, as i think they are all great and I do agree that the festival has shifted somewhat to a reanactment of the first festival rather than a festival to celebrate the dragon empire, however personally I would be happy with just a new design of dragon mask. I'm not asking for the first dragon mask back again, but a different type of dragon mask, maybe a more western dragon mask, as honestly the demon masks are fugly. -- Salome[[Image:User_salome_sig.png|19px]] 11:09, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It should NOT be the old Dragon Mask, it has to be something different, maybe similar but easily distinguishable. And no other old hats should ever be released again, that would kill their uniqueness, the fact they're the only way for oldschool players to show that they really were there. Everything else can be bought.--<font color="#D09010">Yawg [[image:User_Yawg_Pumpkin_Crown.png|Yawg]] 01:38, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Would be cool to see a more European dragon mask, somethign that looks like glint or so. -- Wolf [[Image:User Great Darkwolf User Image paw.png|19px| ]] 01:45, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I think it'd be nicer to at least have the mask not be some monster's head for the Dragon Festival all the time. Or at least not only demons. A margonite mask would be pretty neat. Or some other asian theme animals like a phoenix or fox or tiger (A nice fox hat, well yeah I'd be wearing that all the time.) Something that gets people a bit more interested would be better, even if it was a different kind of dragon mask. And there's already two different pumpkin heads. Yukiko [[Image:User_Yukiko_Sig.png]] 02:15, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
 * How about that eastern style cone shaped hat that some NPC's (like Suun) are wearing? Those would be awesome. 145.94.74.23 09:59, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Off the Wall Mechanic Questions I hope you can answer for the curiosity in me.
Hi. I have some pretty crazy mechanic questions I would like answered, and you and the programmers are about the only people who can answer them obviously. I'm pretty curious, and this sort of stuff would soothe my curiousity...;) These are semi-pointless (though a few are probably important), but I would love you forever if you could answer them. :)

1: In the unfinished area known as Ahmtur Arena, you can clearly see from the map (easily seeable on a PC that doesn't have shader support so the map fog doesn't display), that there is a pyramid, and from players who played there when it was accessible on the live servers, you can go up the pyramid. Now, knowing that arrows do more damage if they hit a lower target (about the only applicable thing closely resembling a Z axis in the game), assuming a ranger was on the top of the pyramid and someone was in reach of the bow down below, how much damage would that hit for? o.O Basically, I'm trying to ask if it is possible to insta-kill someone with a bow, if you somehow magically got up to a place super high. Or does the damage have a max? I think it would be pretty funny to hypothetically shoot an arrow and strike a player for like 1,500 damage. :P

2: How the hell did Confusion work? Was it a % chance? I remember that skill, but I don't know how it worked. :(

3: This one is fairly important. Nothing in the game uses below a .25 activation time, except stances etc which have 0. Then you have skills like Signet of Mystic Speed which say they have no activation time, but do on the player side and don't on the server side which causes rubberbanding if you use it while moving, then you have skills like Burning Shield which say they don't, but stop actions. However, if one uses +activation enhancing skills, it is possible to drop .25 activation below .25. Obviously, you will never ever reach 0 activation speed (that is mathematically impossible, obviously. Nothing times anything but 0 = 0, except for 1.) yet it is documented that you can reach "instant" activation times. Example: When Deadly Haste was bugged with the two values being swapped, you could instant cast Ice Spear. You could dance and cast it. Move and cast it. etc. Where does the game make this disctinction? Is anything below like say .1 activation instant? Or what?

4: Does the game engine use whole numbers or percentile tracking? I have been told it is the latter, which is what causes the energy bar desynch sometimes when you weapon swap from low/high sets and cast spells etc. Since it works in %'s, the server has a different % than the player from all their casting or something?? Something like that. Mostly interested in how numbers are tracked and stored really.

5: Titans_get_plus_Health_regen_and_set_enemies_on_fire_each_time_he_is_hit Is this really the longest skill name in the game?] NOTE: I am including all hidden skills we can't see too. Is there like a skill with 255 A's or something? :P

6: With the above skill and the other 2 well known ones (Monster_doesn't_get_death_penalty and Undead_sensitivity_to_Light), I have 2 questions: a) do all Monsters not have death penalty? and b) Do these effects automatically get used when they spawn, and are so fast (or are programmed in such a way) that we can't see the monsters actually use them?

7: If these really are skill buffs that they use (and are not enchantments, so we don't see the enchant buff etc), then that means that monsters can have more than 8 skills, correct?

That'll be all. :) Hope you'll answer. DarkNecrid 05:19, 29 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Sanity Tormentors have 10 skills we can see, and may also have invisible skills, so monsters definitely aren't subject to the 8 skill cap. -- Gordon Ecker 06:55, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
 * 1: Arrow damage has diminishing returns the higher you go. That is, the damage increase per distance unit gets smaller and smaller.  Even at 150 units (3 ward radii, which BTW there are locations in GW to do this) it only adds like 30% to your damage.
 * 2: Confusion probably chose targets like Sliver Armor does. I didn't use it when it was in the game.
 * 3: You can push skills below .25 activation time. If you cast something fast enough, it skips the animation, so you can cast while moving (or dancing, like you said).  The activation times for those skills were about 0.0625 seconds.  Stances are hard coded so that they "just happen."  Other skills are coded so players have to "cast" them, even if they don't have a cast time.  That's why non stance skills stop your actions.
 * 4: What are you talking about? For math, GW uses whole numbers, unless it's a percent chance to do something.  Nobody knows at what points between attacks/skills GW converts floats to integers.
 * 5: Yes. They're all in the dat.
 * 6: For monsters who have those skills, they're passive. Players only have access to one passive skill, Charm Animal.  These skills never get used, they're just "on."
 * 7: Monsters probably don't have a skill bar cap. If they do, additional skills can easily be scripted in, forcing those monsters to use them.  ~Shard  [[Image:User Shard Sig Icon.png]] 08:26, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I think Shard covered most of the answers to this. I have only one correction. Monsters do have a skill cap. - [[Image:User Linsey Murdock sig.jpg]]Linsey talk 17:33, 19 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Random thought i think it would a intresting if some skills were changed to be passive. and change some of the Mesmer skills and rit skills to be able to disable this passive stuff. also only allow one passive skill per bar. or even have it so you can turn pasive skills on and off, like rez sig so once some one dies it starts to use the skill. that would fix some of the ra problems or brake them even more it would be intresting to try and play around with imo......75.172.44.33 18:04, 22 September 2008 (UTC)