Path of Pirates? I don't think so.

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

I have a little issue with this next living story arc in GW2. The main plot involves chasing a pirate (who killed a pirate during a pirate festival in a pirate city) to their pirate base (dungeon party required) filled with pirates and if you are fast enough can shoot down a pirate airship. Outside that I can go grind pirates in the open world, pirate the pirates hiding in jumping puzzles (all of which I've done before) for their pirate caches or retrace the steps of a sailor (cough pirate cough) who lived in the pirate city which is a hook for the a book ANet are trying to push forward. Most likely about or containing pirates. Oh and the overall reward this time? A mini pirate.

Previously I could see the merit in helping the pirates against the risen threat from Orr, aiding them in rescuing refugees (aka cowards) from the Molten Alliance (and then bashing both them and the refu-cowards at Southsun) and even saving them from an insane supernatural entity that enjoys wearing a flaming pumpkin on his head for some reason. This time it looks like it's just in-fighting amongst a faction I would personally prefer to nuke into non-existence.

Really wondering why ANet decided to make these people "good guys" in the first place, AND give them the main capital (hub) of the world. They don't even pay well for the trouble I go through for them (seriously, 1 gold coin max is insulting) and there's literally no in-game or out of game lore posted by ANet as to how the all got mass redeemed or something other than "band together to face Zhaitan!". Yah well Zhaitan is dead. Officially. That's why the Orr zones were toned down and risen made weaker.

Truce is over criminal scum.

So help the pirates? Not this time. Someone else can go sort it out. It's not like Logan Thackeray (or anyone else) paid ME specifically to identify and catch a murderer. I've got better things to do elsewhere... in other games.

Your reward is Crabs

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

As the "Secret of Southsun" draws to a close I can only speculate on the many questions left unanswered by this living story arc, mainly "WTF was this crap?". With the cowards (ahem, refugees) from the previous storyline relocated into Consortium slave-labour of Southsun Cove all the action was taking place on that not so little island paradise/hell. Quelling riots and running about re-exploring the island for weird flora samples were actually the highlight for me, but really there was not a lot of quest direction given at all so for achievement hunters the best bet was still to go ask Dulfy. A new PvP game called Crab tossing was also introduced where you basically use the young of the highly dangerous local crustaceans as a ball which for me was ok entertainment but got dull really quick since I'm not a PvP sort of guy.

Story-wise there were basically only two main things to do: recapture the sylvari terrorist Canach personally (because the Lionguard and Consortium are completely inept) and escort the contract papers out to a waiting ship, which is a little weird given there was a working asura teleporter right there. Both of those were solo quests which is great, and the second one was actually pretty fun and had a good twist. The first one was quite crap, given that regardless of your class/previous experience in the game - the only thing you needed to be now is a minesweeper. Literally. Canach was on god mode, and the only way to beat him was with his -own- mines. If that doesn't make sense, wait till I tell you about the new Karka Queen Mega-Meta event where the only way to remove her armor is by throwing her own eggs at her. On second thought, I won't bother. It's amazing people are paid to make this stupidity.

His defences are down NOW! Attack quickly before he gets a towel!

I guess the storyline was successful in that it managed to bring people back to the island, but if people are going to voluntarily stay there afterwards despite the terrible wildlife and faecal rewards (an ANet staple as they have a serious aversion to handing out gold, or letting people gain wealth other than from the Trading Post) is another matter as there are easier places to get already. Coming up next, the Dragon Festival in the only city that matters to Anet: Lion's Arch... again. Starting to wonder why they bothered making the other cities to begin with. They could always cycle the location of the festival/events but nope.

Week #13 - Out of Content

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

Less GW2 this week as I finished off Dawn of War II: Retribution and the Walking Dead. Both of them were very cool but it is unlikely I'll play through them again as I feel it will be unrewarding to just be covering  the same content as before which is exactly the problem I'm having with GW2 - there's no real drive for me to do anything since I've already played through most of the story with one character, fully explored the map, and am not really interested in pvp, crafting or grinding dungeons. Also I'm in a timezone that doesn't suit their "one time events" which just further turns me off so we'll see if ArenaNet manages to hold my attention.

Did manage to finish off the last of the jumping puzzles in the game with Scavenger's Chasm being the damn long finale for them. Not real good rewards for going back to any of them but there are 8 chests all up that are pretty easy for a thief (6 if non rogue) to get to daily, not counting the ones in WvW. 3 at Lion's Arch, 1 at Straits of Dev (just swim around that forcefield), and 4 at Southsun Cove (2 per jump puzzle - the second in each is guarded).

Guildwise I went with DL, Yue and Thaldir on separate occasions to run Ascalon Catacoms story mode (again), and 2 exploration paths to fight the Howling King and Ghost Eater. It was pretty fun, but what would be MORE fun was if the entire dungeon was another "world" map that everyone could enter. Mandatory instanced stuff works ok for scripted story but there was nothing in the explorable paths they couldn't do with their already set Dynamic Event system. Anywho we also made a play for Zhaitan on the weekend, miraculously getting a full party only to find the dragon had wised up to our plans and bugged/froze the quest chain leading up to opening the gates to Arah which meant no finale for us.

Frustrated, I took it out on his minions instead who were also frozen in the quest chain, sending endless waves of their number at a particular Pact position only to be met by a small army of players (and one robot I think) farming them for high level supplies. Apparently it had been this way for a number of days now said one of the farmers, and not just on my server if the forums are to be believed. Beginning to doubt Arenanet's capabilites in general if they can't sort out something so trivial.

Week #8 - Miserable Mesmer

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

As the title suggests I was not having a lot of fun using my mesmer. I found him weak, his illusions kinda useless and in general a slog to level up. It's almost like you are required to weapon swap using him and long story short, you need a lot more key presses to kill an enemy. To be fair, they have some really nice long ranged attacks but the minute you gain a tactical advantage (like stand where an enemy cannot hit you) the game makes your target invulnerable (even in instanced missions). THIS IS STUPID. If it is a method of anti-botting then sorry, this just kills the entire game for ranged classes.

Found a good vantage point? Too bad. It's useless!

Stuck it out with him and pushed to level 28 still, hitting storyline missions way above until I finally needed help to retrieve a sword made from Jormag's blood. DL's assistance was required to finish that and upon completion the mesmer completed his job of gaining me the Priory banner, meaning he now goes into the barracks. It will be my warrior's turn next to get me that last banner but he's just level 6 and still working on an anti-ghost rifle.

Main story wise DL, Thaldir and I (main thief) killed a Mouth of Zhaitan in a very buggy mission. Open the doors from ON TOP of them if you get stuck here too. Since that took us long (due to the bugged doors) that's all we got done apart from smashing events at the Straits of Devastation. The first part of the Halloween event also started up but I found Lion's Arch way too laggy to participate. Nice to see the place all dressed up though.

Fastest 100% World Completion

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

Now that I've done it myself I thought I would write up a guide to help others complete their own 100% world completion achievement the fastest way possible.

Be like Snake! :P

The Scout:
Fastest paced character from what I can see is the Thief. Remember your mission is to scout, not to fight every critter that happens to be in your way. I won't go into traits as you will be able to work out what you like best with this, but the skills you'll want to be using are:

Steal covers a lot of ground and useful for escaping mobs if you use your targetting correctly.
Hide in Shadows is useful when things get hairy, go invis.
Signet of Shadows but never actually activate it. Passively it will give you +25% speed continously.
Shadow Refuge - Switch out with Signet of Shadows when you are going for a commune or combat skill point. 7 seconds invis is more than enough to commune!
Shadow Trap is useful as distraction while you flee, or as another damage dealer if you choose to fight.
Thieves Guild the same as above but x2.
Roll for Initiative - gets you much needed init and more importantly is another -moving- skill you can use to escape.

Gear to Bring:
Double Daggers works well for mobility, since you can Leaping Death Blossom "through" incoming enemies and cloak and dagger into stealth for an additional escape. Remember, you run faster -out- of combat though and if you are fighting try land your first strike from hidden to your target's back for maximum damage. A shortbow is handy too to help with some heart tasks, like shooting dredge turrets and such but if you prefer something else go for it.

Underwater primarily use a spear. In close quarters and one on one, you should be unstoppable (unless you are poking a megalodon you idjit). Spam your block attack (3) to regain initiative then (5) to spend it all while dodging.

The Zones:
This may seem counter productive but do not scout zones geographically - like, don't start at Rata Sum and work your way across to the Blazeridge steps. The level difference can hinder you quite a bit if you are not in an appropriate zone. It's easy enough to work around though. Your first rule is to never move on until you've completed a zone entirely.

Now to your actual scouting sequence: Start out by completing each city - including Lion's Arch.

Then use this listing here.
Do all the lowest level zones. Then do the next lowest level and so on, leaving the level 80 stuff for last. As you complete each "tier" (like all level 1-10 zones) return to Lion's Arch for some crafting for a small level boost. You'll be able to gauge when to do this anyway since your bank will be filling with mats as you go - this is if you are harvesting majority of nodes on the way (and you should especially if they are unguarded).

Hearts:
Always chat to the heart person first as half the time the fastest way to complete a heart is a non-combat method. A good rule of thumb for "collection" stuff is get 10-15 items first before heading back to hand them in.

Skill Challenges:
Memory Test - easily accessible for anyone anyway
Food - if it is guarded, throw down a shadow refuge AT the food as you are running at it. Take and eat it, stealth out.
Commune - Same as food. If it is very well guarded throw a thieves guild and shadow trap to keep the enemies busy on your approach. Underwater you will need to kill the guards. You can still bring thieves guild if there's a nearby shore.
Fight - Use thieves guild and shadow trap followed by steal if you have "thrill of the crime" as your NPC pals also get the bonus. Follow up with cloak and dagger and backstab. If the enemy survives just kite while throwing daggers (and/or caltrops) and stealthing until your thieves are ready again. In cases with many opponents just aim to kill one at a time then flee/recover. They hang around for awhile anyway so don't rush.

The Mists:
As the old adage goes: If you can't beat them, join them. Make use of the free server transfer and hop onto the dominant of the 3 warring realms. You need to move fast though as the landscape of who holds what is prone to change. Dedicate at least 2 hours to finishing everything here and hop between the three borderlands and the eternal battlegrounds each time you hit a "block", coming back later to see if your side has retaken what you've not yet scouted.

Week #1 - Where am I?

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

Arrived in Queensdale (Gunnar's Hold) with my standard rogue class and after the "tutorial" mission began exploring the countryside and unlocking my weapon skills on various hapless creatures. The graphics are pretty damn good, and I quite like the art style for the cutscenes with what I call "reserved animation". I also find the dynamic events to be really fun and a good innovation to mix things up while travelling through a zone, the highlights for me this week were helping the Norn in a full on assault on the Sons of Svarnir with my brothers and DL and I getting wiped out by Krait slavers in a particular village. Best of all I like how low-cut the Queen's dress is! ;P

Something like this!

My brothers (DL and Jim) also assisted me with my "story" missions a few days in, which involved rescuing Riot Alice and convincing her to stop working for evil bandits then stopping said evil bandits from poisoning a well at the cost of an idiot's life (sorry Quinn you had it coming) and finally killing the bandit boss. I do like the that we were given the "choice" of what to do though. Proceeded to then look for missing kids at the circus and passing clown college (very fun) to track down a crazy hypnosis inducing ringmaster. Later on I helped Jim infiltrate some mole men WMD construction plant via pretty funny costume wearing. As interesting as it is, the story mode didn't seem to yield as much xp as plain old exploration though so I left mine alone at that point to go wandering and get some easy exp's exploring the main cities.

The vista thing is a nice concept (which seems stolen from Assassin's Creed) but some jumping puzzles are just annoying - deadly annoying. Anyway, by the end of the week I had 100% completion on Divinity's Reach, Queensdale, Hoelbrak (barrel brawl was fun), the Grove, Rata Sum (mess to explore), Black Citadel (even messier), and the central hub of Lion's Arch where I completed the Ghost Pirate's cave too as a bonus. I know I'm probably still missing treasure chests in some of those areas but I can always go back for those. Finished up on Level 22, while fellow guildmate Rammy had already reached Level 80 (though he did start a few weeks earlier). Our guild also gained 1 new member.