Guild Wars Wiki:Requests for research

Requests for research

[edit] Celestial Haste

The description says "For 15 seconds, your entire party has 50% fast casting and all skills recharge 25% faster."
What does that mean? Having reached 10 of 20 possible ranks in fast casting, or when i am able to cast my spells 50% faster - which would relate to 15 ranks in fast casting?
There is also a lacking mention of faster signet casting - that wasn't something fc could do when this skill was born. Maybe others do not actually have fast casting, and the description simply wants to say that your party casts spells 50% faster instead... —ZerphaThe Improver 15:25, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Ok, i tried it out with my mesmer. I had 0 Fast Casting, used the skill, and still had 0 Fast Casting. I activated Healing Signet under the effects of Celestial Haste and could not notice any faster casting. So i suppose the description is simply bad, and wants to express "For 15 seconds, your entire party casts spells 50% faster and all skills recharge 25% faster." —ZerphaThe Improver 13:38, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

The description is ambiguous. 50% fast casting means that your fast casting is cut in half, which is not at all hasty. More likely, the intent was +50% fast casting (or more accurately 150% fast casting). In either case, the 0 Fast Casting would be unaffected because 0 * 0.5 = 0 and 0 * 1.5 = 0. To really test this you would have to put your FC at 4. If the skill works as implied, then you should be casting as if your FC was at 6. --Ronduwil 17:08, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Does it apply only to spells, or all skills? poke | talk 12:19, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

I had the attribute/skills panel open when using the skill and didn't see an increased fast casting attribute once i tried it with more than 0 fast casting as far as i can remember.
As well, i tried using signets while this skill was active and couldn't notice a decreased casting time. As i said, i strongly suppose "fast casting" is only a bad description for "casts spells 50% faster" —ZerphaThe Improver 19:31, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

If your "entire party" has 50% fast casting this could all be cleared up by taking someone who wasn't a mesmer with you and seeing if they cast spells faster. Misery 11:58, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

It shouldn't matter if your fast casting is 0, unless this is even more ambiguously implied to mean half of the maximum Fast Casting, in which case this just got a whole lot dumber. (I doubt it got a whole lot dumber.) I tested with 0 FC and got the same results as Zerpha. HCT of only spells. I'll try out with 12 fast casting and see what happens then. --70.158.147.46 22:03, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Tested with 12 FC (according to the Fast Casting page, about half cast time) and got ~1/4s cast time for 1 second spells. We proved in the first test that it doesn't take your FC and multiply it *1.5, and in the second we found that it doesn't increase your actual fast casting attribute bonus: it would have to be rank...well it's pretty high. I'd call this case closed, but feel free to prove me wrong; I certainly didn't time anything. --70.158.147.46 22:18, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Charr or not?

Someone with a Charrslayer weapons could use Wild Blow or other steady damage skill to attack these enemies to determine if they are affected:

• Charr Effigy ->
• Charr Hunter Beast ->
• Devourer Catapult
• Armored Saurus (during quest, when it's hostile)

Tested Charr Effigy on CoF-HM with Candy Cane Bow (doing 2 damage) and Ebon Battle Standard of Honor at r8 (doing +13 damage for a total of 15). Not charr according to the test.--Fighterdoken 07:55, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Tested Charr Hunter Beast using Rebel Yell, confirmed not charr. ST47 22:28, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

• Pyre Fierceshot

I wonder if the charr hero and henchmen are also affected by these weapons. -- Karasu (talk) 10:02, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Ice Golems, Siege Ice Golems and Stone Summit Badges

Do these still drop Stone Summit Badges, or did they stop when they started dropping Icy Lodestones? -- Gordon Ecker 03:48, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Ice Golems do not - having gotten 7 icy lodestones, and no badges. ST47 23:14, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

I believe the badges are still dropping, will confirm next time I go in MystiLefemEle 08:14, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Duncan's Defense

Confirmation is required about this skill reflecting or not the damage from Backfire, Spoil Victor, Spiteful Spirit and Pain Inverter.--Fighterdoken 05:13, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

The last time I fought him, damage from Pain Inverter and health loss from Spoil Victor didn't get reflected back. I'm not sure about the other skills. -- Gordon Ecker 06:41, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Me and a friend fought him a few days back, we had 2 heroes putting hexes on him (on Normal Mode, btw) and they were constantly receiving damage, and my friend said he was taking damage (and he didnt do any except with Pain Inverter). Think that proves that it does recoil hex damage now.. 86.90.30.175 19:32, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Damage calculation: percentile damage reduction and damage multipliers

How do percentile damage reduction and damage multipliers fit into the order of operation for damage calculation? I suspect they take effect at some point before additive and subtractive damage modifiers. -- Gordon Ecker 00:45, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Testing with Frezy, the Lightbringer buff and Mending against Heralds of Nightmares using Shatter Enchantment confirms that subtractive damage modifiers take effect after damage multipliers. I'm marking this as resolved since determining whether multipliers take place before, during or after the armour effect may not be testable depending on when rounding is done. -- Gordon Ecker 02:28, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually there's still an unresolved issue. Is bonus damage from attack skills calculated before or after damage multipliers? -- Gordon Ecker 02:32, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Order_of_damage_modifiers is up and like 95% complete. ~Shard 11:36, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Southern Shiverpeak Grawl

Are they weak against lightning damage? [1] — ク Eloc 貢 20:29, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Its relatively inconclusive, but running a basic fire build on my ele did about the same as an air build. I don't see much of a difference. -- Wandering Traveler 19:37, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I just did some testing. Southern Shiverpeaks Grawl have 20 less armor vs. lightning damage, Ascalon Grawl have no elemental vulneribility. I didn't test Charr Homelands Grawl since they're out of the way. I don't think it belongs in the Glimmering Mark article, however I do think it's relevant to the Grawl and lightning damage articles, as well as the individual monster articles. -- Gordon Ecker 01:59, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

So shall we remove the note from the article then? — ク Eloc 貢 02:10, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Done. -- Gordon Ecker 04:24, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

How do the Barbed Grawl react? Backsword 00:40, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Golems' attribute levels in Temple of the Ages (explorable area)

What are the Golems' different attributes set in Temple of the Ages (explorable area) during Deactivating R.O.X.. — Seru Talk 22:43, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

I've listed those that can be directly derived from damage. Others have randomness or are not displayed. Backsword 03:05, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Cathedral of Flames

Can someone test the second to last bug noted on the Cathedral of Flames page? Either its a bug or a coincidential Life Sheath. -- Wandering Traveler 16:21, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I did some testing of my own. I found nothing of the sort on these charr groups. I had one guildie watching for menders and life sheath while I alternated attacks between all charr with another guildie. 5 run throughs with this method showed no sign of the bug. I'm going to remove that note from the Cathedral of Flames page until further proof is given. -- Wandering Traveler 18:37, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "Find Their Weakness!"

Are all deep wounds caused by this skill self-triggering? Description of effect and method of testing can be found here. Recommend using Keen Chop at zero axe mastery on a low health target to test. Misery 10:29, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

I tested your thing out with Keen Chop and "Find Their Weakness!", but I don't quite understand what you mean by self-triggering. — ク Eloc 貢 15:17, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

If a deep wound reduces someones damage to less than 0 health they will not die until they take some damage, i.e. until the deep wound is triggered, that is why it is common in PvP to put a fast activating attack after a deep wound causing skill. A self triggering deep wound will kill the target. Misery 12:03, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Guild hall

NPC positions and number counts need to be updated for all guild halls since update. Ideally maps such as for Frozen Isle should be made, but current information is likely incorrect, although I haven't had a chance to check in game yet. Only way to do this is scrimmages, matches or observation mode. Is there an update tag or something that can be put on the page to indicate that current information is out of date? I think all of those articles are out of date and I will probably start updating them today, but a tag would help me remember which ones I have fixed so far, otherwise I will just stick with a stub tag. Misery 08:43, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't think we have any such template, but I've tagged all the guild hall pages with "{{notice|This page contains information which may be outdated after the [[Game updates/20081009|October 9th, 2008 update]].}}". -- Gordon Ecker 09:49, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Actually we do, I've replaced all the notices with {{outdated info}}. -- Gordon Ecker 09:58, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Casses Flameweb

While reading the talk pages, and searching for the skill this boss carries I found that Casses Flameweb doesn't appear at the point that he's shown on the map... the second time I played the mission, I went a little farther and found him here: http://topolla.net/images/gw/1.jpg . So, I guess I'm wondering... does he in spawn all the time at different places or was the spawn point changed, etc... Chrono 21:36, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

As far as I know, all prophecies bosses (most, at least) have randomized spawn points. So this could have been one of those instances. -- Wandering Traveler 21:37, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Are you talking about maps like this?

Don't they only spawn like that if they share spawnpoints with other bosses of the same creature type? There aren't any other Lava Spitter bosses in the Ring of Fire mission. Chrono 21:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't think its limited to creature types, rather any boss thats in the area. -- Wandering Traveler 23:12, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Actually it usually is based on species. For an examle, see the map of Perdition Rock to the right. Many areas in Prophecies have sets of boss spawn points which share a boss pool. Each spawn point can only have a single boss, and each boss can only spawn once. Often, all the bosses in the same pool belong to the same species, but that isn't always the case, for example Ettin and Hydra bosses in Perdition Rock share a pool. Sometimes there are two spawn points right next to eachother, for example each of the Ring of Fire Islands missions has six Mursaat / Jade boss spawn points arranged into three pairs, and Perdition Rock has Phantom boss spawn points right next to the Cursed boss spawn points. Sometimes an area has more than one boss pool for the same species, this is fairly common in Sorrow's Furnace. -- Gordon Ecker 02:51, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Casses Flameweb is one of the very few mostly stable bosses in Prophecies. Tested during many multiple runs of Perdition Rock on 5 Dec 2008(which, not coincidentally, also involved skill farming); Casses showed up in the same spot each and every time except once, when he showed up roughly 20 paces forward. --Trailsong 03:13, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Hmm... well, not sure if this ever got resolved, however 2 other people reported finding him at the location I posted... See: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Talk:Casses_Flameweb#Spawn_Points (I found him here http://topolla.net/images/gw/1.jpg ). I'll probably edit the image to reflect the two points regardless... Chrono 18:52, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Dajkah Inlet

This article is missing quite a bit of additional information.

• How many versions of Corsair Commander are there?
• Which skills does each Corsair Commander use?
• In what round does each type of Corsair Commander start spawning?
• How does group composition change per round?
• Which skills do Corsair Ghosts use?

-- Gordon Ecker (talk) 03:19, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Animal companion damage types

Resolved11:33, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

• Albino Rat
• Black Moa
• Black Wolf
• Crane
• Hyena
• Iguana
• Jahai Rat
• Jingle Bear
• Mountain Eagle
• Polar Bear
• Raven
• Tiger
• White Crab
• White Moa
• White Tiger
• White Wolf

The above animals need their damage types tested. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 05:52, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

I have almost all the animals and would be willing to test them if you can tell me how to tell what damage type they do. Kallisto 07:47, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

→ moved from #Pet damage types

The following pets need their damage types determined:

• Albino Rat - Piercing
• Black Moa - Slashing
• Black Wolf
• Crane
• Hyena
• Iguana
• Jahai Rat
• Jingle Bear - Blunt
• Mountain Eagle
• Polar Bear - Blunt
• Raven
• Tiger - Slashing
• White Crab
• White Moa
• White Tiger
• White Wolf

-- Gordon Ecker (talk) 02:36, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

These were that I have observed; Alb.Rat/BlackMoa/Jingle/PolarBear/TigerMystiLefemEle 09:10, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

I forgot that I already posted this. I've merged the two topics. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 04:18, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm marking this as resolved due to the Zaishen Menagerie, however I'm starting another request based on pets with multiple damage types. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 11:33, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Stun on Critical Hit

Which giants and wurms have this skill? Which other monsters have it besides Fungal Wallows, Rot Wallows and Abyssals? -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 06:43, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Stone Reaper do. Ɲoɕʈɋɽɕɧ 10:26, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Temple Guardians appear to. --Jette 10:48, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Hill Giants do. Ɲoɕʈɋɽɕɧ 19:19, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Holding Canthan Outpost with Faction

There isn't any clear data on how an Alliance can buy/hold a town and what extras they recieve (fireworks, lockpicks,..). -- Karasu (talk) 10:13, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Town/Outpost			Fireworks
House Zu Heltzer	1	-
Altrumm Ruins (outpost)	2	-
Amatz Basin (outpost)	3	-
Tanglewood Copse	4	15
Saint Anjeka's Shrine	5	14
Lutgardis Conservatory	6	13
Brauer Academy	7	12
Vasburg Armory	8	11
Durheim Archives	9	10
Harvest Temple	10	9
Seafarer's Rest	11	8
Leviathan Pits	12	7
Eredon Terrace	13	6
Bai Paasu Reach	14	5
Breaker Hollow	15	4
The Aurios Mines (outpost)	-	3
Zos Shivros Channel (outpost)	-	2
Cavalon	-	1

As far as I know, outpost control is heavily related to Alliance Battles and the Kurzick/Luxon border shift, as well as Guild/Alliance faction. See, outpost control is determined by how many faction your Alliance has with the Luxons or Kurzicks. Faction can be donated to your Guild (and thereby to your Alliance), and each night at a set time (though I do not know which) all Guilds' faction decreases by 10%.

To control an outpost, your Alliance has to have quite a decent amount of faction with the Luxons or Kurzicks. Outpost control is determined by the "rank" your Alliance has in the faction "ladder", for lack of a better word. If your Alliance is the one with the most Kurzick faction, your Alliance will be granted control over HzH. If there are two Alliances who have more faction then yours, your Alliance will control the Amatz Basin. See the table at the right.

One tricky thing is the Border shift. See, for both sides, control of outpost 4 to 15 is determined both by Alliance faction and the state of the war between the Kurzicks and Luxons, the Alliance Battles. If I remember correctly, the Kurzick/Luxon border is updated each three hours (though this might be incorrect. Research needed). With it, both the map in which Alliance Battles take place, but also which side controls which outposts changes. The first three outposts (Towns and Mission Outposts, actually) of each side can never be claimed by the other side.

In other words, as I am writing this, the Kurzicks are kicking major ass in AB. The border has been pushed way up North, and some Kurzick Alliance now owns Bai Paasu Reach with about 9.5m faction. Breaker Hollow is still owned by a Luxon Alliance, with 26m faction. Bad luck for all those Luxon Alliances who worked so hard to archieve ~20m faction. Their outpost got conquered by the Kurzicks.

Outpost control is not as dynamic as it seems though. As the border changes (presumably) every 3 hours, so does outpost control. I remember one day, when the leading alliance TLS, who had owned HzH for about 6 months, was overthrown by the CAT alliance. CAT members simultaneously donated about 200k faction, and passed TLS in faction. They did not own HzH for the next hour though, as they had to wait for the next border shift before town control was updated.

Of the benefits that come with owning an outpost, I am not entirely sure. Some outposts have a fireworks master, see the table. Of course members from the alliance owning HzH and Cavalon have free access to Urgoz and the Deep, respectively. Each outpost also comes with a merchant, where you can buy any item, including salvage kits, ID kits and lock picks for 80% of their normal price. This means alliances who control an outpost can buy lockpicks for 1200g, and ID kits for 80 gold. Hence why people want to own outposts. It looks awesome, but you can also buy lockpics for 1200g and power trade them for 1250g or more. If I remember correctly, that is. — Why 16:24, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Wow, that's quite the explanation! Thank you for all of this. We'll wikify the information and research some of the finer details. The 10% drop in faction is around 04 AM (GMT) if I recall correctly. All that has to be determined is the exact benefits of owning a town and the exact influence from AB battles (or other competitive missions) to this border. I'm pretty sure the Jade Quarry and Fort Aspenwood have something to do with at least a small part of the border. -- Karasu (talk) 16:57, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

As far as I know it is just AB, though it's been a while since I was into faction farming, and back then nobody ever did those missions. — Why 17:06, 8 January 2009 (UTC) Ah, by the way, I just found out, according to the Kurzick Merchant and Luxon Merchant articles, the discount is indeed 20% :) — Why 17:11, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

My guild has just joined an alliance with a fairly decent amount of factions, and I expect us to start holding towns soon. I will keep you posted if I find out any more. — Why 01:29, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

The 10% deduction occurs at 0:00 GMT. Faction Alliances refer to it as "tax time". :P — Why 21:33, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, that be about right. Considering it would be 4pm Pacific Time. Thx Why for the input.. MystiLefemEle 10:24, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

I've updated both the Alliance article and Kurzick-Luxon border. The problem now is that there is information about town control on both articles, and both articles host different information. Would it be easier to merge the two bits of information as a separate page? (Terra Xin 14:14, 23 March 2009 (UTC))

I would suggest creating a mini page and including it in both. That way if there are updates to how Town control works, it gets updated in one place and stays consistent on both. (the way the collector information is done etc.) -- Wyn 04:12, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Skill icon resize formula

Does Guild Wars use cubic or linear, or another interpolation to resize skill icons in-game? --Jette 00:56, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Random generation of explorable areas

As far as I know, the wiki lacks an article about how drops, chests and monster patrols and so on in explorable areas are generated. As far as I know certain elements of explorable areas are set the instant you enter the explorable area. I found a rumor like this on gwguru (iirc) and me and my sister tested it by entering the same explorable area on the exact same time. After a few unsuccessful tries, we managed to enter synchronisedly, and while clearing the area (me and my sister were farming Fahranur with a 330-Rt and a 55SoJ-Mo, respectively) we noticed that between our versions of the area, each mob consisted of the same monsters doing the same things. Also, each goldie that dropped that run and the consequent synched runs, dropped from the same monster with the (exact!) same stats for the other player as well. So it seems monsters and goldies are set the moment you enter an explorable area.

The purple items were a different story though. Of the purples that dropped, half had the same stats, and the other half seemed unrelated. Also, chest locations and drops didn't match, nor did gold, blues and whites.

I'll try to dig up a couple of screenshots of those runs. — Why 22:35, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

I heard that same rumor too a while back, and saw some absolutely incredible screenshots (the two brothers had emptied their inventories from a Fahranur run in HM side by side (with space in between). The items were exactly identical, save for a single trophy item or two. They then moused over the stats for each. Identical. If we did document this, we'd need to run dozens of trials in-game, as synchronizing in-game is very difficult. We'd also need to ask the designers more than a few questions about how that mechanism works. calor (talk) 02:18, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

You're probably thinking about this thread on guru? Pretty amazing stuff really. Did a bunch of synced runs myself when I saw this, tried to test the effect of kill-rate and heroes presence on drops...I should have the screens on a disc somewhere if anyone's interested (never did get around to uploading them on the guru thread).Nate 00:42, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

It makes sense that the monsters and their drops are created as the instance is, probably based on a random seed using the time the instance was created (so two instances created at the same time would be identical). Chests spawned differently, which is weird, but the drops being different is expected, unless you opened the chests at the exact same time. ~Shard 03:51, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Gwen (Prophecies)#Notes on leveling up

ResolvedTennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 09:29, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

In the next to last item, it says "if you bring her with you often enough, she will begin to level up and will start to heal you for larger amounts of hp."  As I noted on the associated discussion page, I have not been able to make that happen.  Could someone check this please.      mtew 05:07, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I remember something that she will heal you better if you give her more flowers - but have no source for that either. poke | talk 15:37, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I've heard the flowers thing, but nothing about her leveling up. calor (talk) 21:05, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I should have checked this earlier: this is part of a block added 2008-02-09T18:57:54 by Backsword.  Maybe he has more information.  As for giving her flowers, I have given her a large fraction of the flowers I came across up to level 11 with no effect on the amount of healing.      mtew 02:39, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I didn't add that, I was just moving stuff around. Personally, I doubt there is any truth to it, given tghe special code that would need to be added. Backsword 12:51, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

First, thank you for looking into this.  I will look at even older versions of that article.  If you can remember which other article it came from, it would help.  While the part about extra code is a good point, the fact that she follows you around and provides healing when needed without becoming a party member indicates that there is extra AI code specifically for her.  The question is how extensive is it?      mtew 13:50, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Long time ago. Don't remeber the details. Possibly part of Santax' article split. If he were still around, you could ask him. Backsword 23:18, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Wouldn't her level reset every time you reentered the zone to get her in the first place? It's a none-peristant game world, seems odd to make her the only persistant thing in the whole game. -- Salome 00:39, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

However there are a number of persistent things about Gwen: her flute, her cape and if she is following you.  With at least that much persistent content, there could be any of a number of other persistent attributes.  Either someone has to see her level up or simeone with enough credibility to be believable (ArenaNet? NCsoft?) has to say 'it ain't so'.  However, there has been enough time for any positive reports to come in to conclude that the accuracy of this myth is very questionable.     mtew 18:44, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

(Reset indent) I am prepared to say that Gwen does not level. In pre-Searing, with Gwen accompanying, animated minions leveled from L1-L2 while Gwen did not. (This is a much easier test than using DL.) Arguably, Gwen might not get experience unless she was healing the main character, so she might require 5 times as many kills as the minions. Even if her experience gains are persistent, it's easy enough to get her to zone with you 5 times...and still she doesn't level.

So, even if Gwen can level, for all practical purposes, no one playing the game will be able to take advantage of it. And, therefore, I think we can put this particular research puppy to bed.   — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 04:22, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Agree MystiLefemEle 08:19, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Pet tier evolution costs

Resolved Gordon Ecker (talk) 03:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Could someone check these? At tier 5, the next tier costs 3 Silver Zaishen Coins and 100 gold or 2,000 Balthazar Faction. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 05:54, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

And 3 Silver Zaishen Coints plus 100 gold or 2,000 Balthazar Faction to go from tier 6 to tier 7. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 05:57, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

1k faction or 1 SZC + 100g for tier 1 → tier 2. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 11:05, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Unlocking tier 5 costs 2SZC + 100g or 1,500 faction, only tiers 3 and 4 are still needed. I've added the information to the Helena (Zaishen Keeper) article. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 01:00, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

MadHatters has filled in the missing costs in the article, marking as resoled. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 03:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Mysterious Summoning Stone

Most of the unique summons still need articles, and the summon list may not be complete. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 10:47, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Pets with multiple damage types

Resolved23:24, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

How does this work? According to Silavor, the Zaishen Naturalist, the pets fit into the following groups:

• Always piercing: black widow, dune lizard
• Always slashing: black bear, hyena, jahai rat, jingle Bear, lion, lioness, lurker, lynx, melandru's stalker, polar bear, reef lurker, white tiger, white wolf, wolf
• Blunt while unevolved, slashing while evolved: warthog
• Piercing by default, slashing if aggressive (and dire?): raven, white moa
• Piercing by default, can be trained to do slashing under unspecified circumstances: albino rat, crocodile, iguana, white crab
• Slashing when unevolved, piercing when evolved: flamingo, phoenix
• Slashing default, can be trained to do piercing under unspecified circumstances: crane, moa bird
• Slashing default, trainable for other unspecified damage types: mountain eagle
• Varies with evolution, details unclear: Rainbow Phoenix
• Unspecified: black moa, moss spider

Everything except the first two categories needs testing. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 11:33, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

What's the best way to test this out? -- Karasu (talk) 11:20, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

GvG scrimmages with +10 vs each type of damage shields. Unfortunately there are no fixed damage pet attacks so you have to take a few hits or watch for crits. Misery 11:28, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Ah right.. average the minimum, maximum and average damage over 100 hits and see what the effect is. I'd love to know the results of the damage reduction too - not just the type. -- Karasu (talk) 11:34, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

IMO it would be better to test it on a caster with a focus item and use the minimum damage to keep critical hits from getting in the way. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 07:08, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Actually it's pretty easy to trigger critical hits, just let them hit your back when you are running. As pets have an innate speed boost, most if not all hits by a pet on a running target should be criticals. — Why 15:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

If i am not mistaken pet crits don't always use max dmg like weapon crits so even then testing wouldnt be all that easy. Tenri 21:06, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Ah, allright, wasn't aware of that, ignore my comment please :D — Why 23:55, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

So, I just noticed this topic thread and I thought I'd tell you guys that I'm already testing this. See Talk:Animal_companion#Update_pet_damage_type for details. Although, if any of them actually do blunt damage, that will have to be tested seperately. Blood Red Giant 16:14, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

This has been completed; although, I do not know how to mark it as such. Blood Red Giant 22:46, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Use {{resolved|~~~~~}}-- Karasu (talk) 23:24, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Pet Locations

Considering the new pokémon feature, it would be a great help for pet collectors if we could map out the (easiest) locations to obtain the pets. Also we could map out the menagerie and add where you can find each type of pet in the new area. -- Karasu (talk) 11:18, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I've added some location information to some of the articles, and tagged some of them as needing maps. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 07:08, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

It looks like these are all filled in now, I think. Unless maybe someone can find a better location for the Hyena, though I know I haven't. --Jenosavel aka That Pet Lady 21:31, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Cracked Axe, Tattooed Blade, Swamp Club

Do these weapons still exist in-game? Were they renamed in an update? Do they no longer drop, but existing ones can still be found?

• Cracked Axe -> Heket Axe
• Tattooed Blade -> Tattooed Scimitar
• Swamp Club -> Ram's Hammer

Tedium 06:09, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Hall of Monuments and the maxed titles rank

Calling out to all those with Maxed titles rank of tier 4 and more. Could you screenshot or describe your Honor monument's light effect? This is to confirm whether or not this image is still accurate. See Talk:Maxed titles rank#Ray of Light. -- ab.er.rant 13:47, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Its been stated that you do not need to fill ALL the monuments. There's a screenshot of someone with r1 people know me, a wild rainbow phoenix, 2 destroyer weapons and 3 or so armours on the HoM talk page -- Karasu (talk) 09:02, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

File:User Snograt Tier 5.JPG --snograt 11:19, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Dragon Festival missions

The Dragon Festival version of The Fury needs the skills filled out. Additionally, the Dragon Festival versions of The Fury and The Darkness need their boss status and hard mode levels checked. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 01:51, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Signet of Binding

Can the newly buffed Signet of Binding take control of "special" spirits like the one in the Ebony Citadel (Tormented Soul (Ebony Citadel), Listless Soul, Demonic Soul, Shrouded Soul)? And if so, does it remove the environmental effect they cause? And if so, is that effect applied against the monsters themselves? --Jette 19:04, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

I am currently unable to test this as I would have to finish all of DoA again, but I think since it had worked in similar situations (Slaver's Exile Spirits and the Spirit of Portals from Sunjiang District) but now doesn't that they will have probably made it not effect the DoA spirits at all. As always I could be wrong, o would that I be wrong again. -- Tenri 05:25, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Shield requirements

I'm wondering if what is posted at Talk:Shield#It's not a HALF! is true and if it is then the Shield and Requirement articles should be corrected. --Silver Edge 22:27, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Hard mode

According to Hard mode#Differences from normal mode, enemies in Hard mode have "33-50% faster casting, movement, and attack speed as well as raised levels." Do the Hard mode enemies also activate skills (such as signets, preparations, traps) 33-50% faster or does that bonus only affect their spells? --Silver Edge 22:27, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Aftercast delay

Aftercast delay has a significant impact on spellcasters (and perhaps others), but it seems that either it is not well understood or not well documented. The information in our article is apparently out of date; the talk page includes untested claims about the effects.

• Does aftercast delay (ACD) apply to all skills with a invocation time (aka casting time)? If not, are there rules of thumb to identify all the exceptions?
• Is ACD consistent at 0.75s (as ANet intended)? Or do some skills still retain non-standard ACDs?
• Is ACD consistent for PvE/PvP? Is it consistent across split skills?
• Is there anything in-game that shortens/lengthens ACD? Fast Casting, consumables, spirits, shouts?

When posting results, please describe how you performed your tests, so that (a) others might follow in your footsteps and (b) people can critique the methodology. Thanks!   — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 09:25, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Pretty sure most of this is well known. ACD is inconsistent. There are some skills which have no aftercast delay if activated during another skill's activation but have aftercast delay if activated while doing nothing (can't remember which skills now). Rule of thumb would be that everything that you cannot do during another activation has ACD, except attack skills. Ranger interrupts have an aftercast delay of 1.25 seconds. All other aftercast delays are 0.75 seconds. Fast casting doesn't shorten it. Nothing shortens it. It is consistent in PvP and PvE. It is consistent for split skills. I have no sources I can cite, I have no research methods. Most of the inconsistencies come for skills with the type "skill". You'll have to test them all individually under different circumstances if you want to know which ones are weird. Strange anomaly is Shadow Steps, they generally have aftercasts but iirc the defensive shadow steps (Return, Death's Retreat etc) have no aftercast and Shadow Fang has no aftercast, but they may have fixed that last one in an update, I forget. Misery 09:45, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

So, that strikes me as previously well understood, but not recently tested. All of the information stated above sounds like what was known before ANet made changes to ACD and we have simply assumed the only changes made were in the release notes. Since those notes were ambiguous at best, I guess I no longer trust that assumption. It doesn't help that ANet periodically adjusts more (or sometimes less) than intended, e.g. some PvP skill changes that also affected like-named PvE skills.

I'm willing to accept that we understand the mechanics. I'm also willing to accept w/o further validation that things are consistent in PvE/PvP and that Fast Casting has no impact. I'm 90% certain that any testing will show that nothing reduces ACD.

On the other hand, ANet has been tinkering with ACD: Shadow Fang unbugged, Wastrel's Collapse unbugged, PBAoE adjustments (but not whirlwind). So, I'm not ready to concede that we fully understand to which skills ANet has applied ACD. On the other hand, lots of peeps have played this game a lot more than I, so I would be happy to see the Aftercast delay article updated so that the stub and out-of-date tags can be removed.   — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 21:34, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Ok, so far as I understand, all you want tested are that all shadow steps now have ACD (which only really requires testing Shadow Fang was actually fixed), except defensive ones (I haven't tested all of these), and that all PBAoE has normal aftercast instead of its previously extended aftercast? I believe Whirlwind never had extended aftercast. Testing every skill in the game is not viable. Misery 18:39, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm basing my cynicism on two points: (1) we know that ANet goofs on these types of small details (not frequently, but not approaching zero either). (2) There's a lot less data posted on ACD than there is on other topics (salvage conversion rates, attack speeds, HM/boss skill boosts, etc.). So, I think it's more likely that we would miss inconsistencies for this. Of course, I don't expect a single wikian (or even 20) to test all the hundreds of skills in the game. I do think it's reasonable that we spot check a bunch of skills. I also think we should ask folks to post their general observations; better that we have some some non-systematic data than our current almost no data.

On the other hand, if others think that I'm overly-pessimistic, then let's remove the out-of-date tags from the article (and make any necessary updates).   — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 19:35, 31 October 2009 (UTC)