任是无情也动人

http://www.arena.net/blog/mike-obrien-on-the-guild-wars-2-beta#more-8044

"To that end, we’ve announced a Stress Test on Monday May 14th to test some changes we’ve implemented. This 7-hour test event, which runs from 11 AM to 6 PM PDT (-7 GMT) is open to all players who have pre-purchased Guild Wars 2. The good news is that we’re not wiping characters for this test; we’re using the same build that we used in the first Beta Weekend Event, so you’ll be able to pick up right where you left off."

ADksdjfdjhla Dammit work... ><

I guess I should've stuck around more on the norn areas? Here's an awesome demo of a dynamic event chain (narrator's accent aside) from a norn area. Loved the detail that went to each of the NPCs involved. I guess coming across any one of the events in the chain would've seemed like it was a solo event or a series of solo events. If you don't stick around, you don't see how they actually chain together.

Also, some funny glitches:
Elementalist snowboarding/skiing
Mesmer portal trolling AFK'ers

I need to write some of this stuff down so I don't forget for the next Beta (which sounds like it's going to be at the end of May).

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Remember this screenshot I posted on Tumblr?



Someone reblogged it with a comment that explained what it is: An "arena". With a "net" over it. "Arenanet". Get it? Get it?



Ah-heheh...heh... -_-;

It was getting too long as an addendum on the previous impressions post, so I'm moving it to it's own entry. (This list will grow as more things occur to me.)

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This.

This why I wasn't worried about trying out crafting in the beta. Cuz other people will do all the work for me and then I can just check the references when the game officially releases. XD

Also, stuff like this makes me want to try out the mesmer as well.

Some of the awesomeness that is Lion's Arch. I have some screenshots of these places, but the video is much better.

Some of the unlockable dye colors that someone got with the free gems this Beta.

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So, to add to the list from last night - pets are another big area that needs a lot more improvement. I don't just mean with the artwork. Their AI and stats need work too. Right now the pets die way too easily and it's a pain to have to stop and rez them all the time. They also don't seem to add enough damage to really justify themselves as the "special ability" for rangers. Meh.

Also, found a list of juveniles on the forums. ( List )

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LOL, I guess Anet decided to try and head off the rush at 12 PST by sekretly opening the Beta over an hour before the official start time.

Here are some live streaming of the Beta online:
http://www.guildwars2live.com
http://www.livestream.com/guildwars2live
http://www.twitch.tv/directory/Guild%20Wars%202 (list of livecasts on twitch tv)
http://www.own3d.tv/game/Guild+Wars+2 (list of livecasts from own3d tv)

Things noted so far:
* 5 character slots to start with.

Smart phones are awesome things. I don't deny that. What I hate is the kiddies on Chinese forums who post stories on baidu with their smart phones - one sentence per post. Often with many double-posts depending on connectivity and double-clicking. Needless to say, these are very painful to read.

Also, these are kids who self-confessed to be doing this (reading and posting to forums) on their phones in the middle of class. Really? Really? Has the quality of Chinese schools/education taken a drastic dive from what I'm familiar with? (I feel old now.)

And while I'm on the subject of ranting about Chinese fanfic authors, the amount of copycats and general lack of creativity is just so depressing. It's pretty much to the point where you can predict any number of things that will happen in a newly posted fic. I'm speaking more specifically for the Bao Lian Deng fandom, but I bet it could apply else where...

Memes I've grown tired of:
* Erlang will be severely wounded/killed/mostly killed at Mt. Hua, despite the fact that in the actual canon he had a happy ending. Why do people bother remaking the ending of the canon show into the tragedy it never was even when they are trying to make a happy-ending (or even comedy) fic? Why?
* The heavenly gates (南天门) is the second most heavily featured casualty, being smashed/spliced/splitted open any number of times by the usual suspects here to avenge Erlang.
* The 12 disciples of Kunlun/昆仑十二仙 will be out collectively for blood, despite the fact that the actual canon only showed the two of them as having anything to do with the outside world and neither being all that buff (power-wise) as to be a valid threat.
* The Jade Emperor & Empress are sekretly good guys, even though the canon has stomped all over their characters beyond much hope of recovery...Either that or they are still bad guys but are now sekretly 10000x more competent than they were in the canon.
* If it's a crossover, then the sliver of consciousness Erlang used to manipulate Ding Xiang will reincarnate into Zhan Zhao (75) or Li Qunhuan (小李飞刀) or another character played by the same actor.

...Etc and so forth. *sigh* Now I remember why I left this fandom last time...

Anet has posted up the list of "homeworlds" that your account represents in WvW. I definitely want a Canthan homeworld. Has to be on a US server obviously.

There's no Shing Jea, unfortunately, which would have been my first choice. Not sure about Kaineng, since the pretty of the palace is balanced out by the ghetto-ugliness of the rest of the city in GW1. My faction leaning in GW1 is Luxon, but it's not like I dislike the echovald forest.

So. Help me decide:

Kaineng
Jade Quarry
Fort Aspenwood
Vasburg
Eredon Terrace
Eternal Grove

EDIT: Lists of where some folks are going to be. Looks like no one wants Eredon. I'm thinking maybe Eternal Grove? Haven't actually decided if I want to do any WvW this beta but if I did I don't want to be on an empty side...

EDIT: Keyboard & Mouse controls for the game.

EDIT: Alternative to Fraps

Is there a difference between 寒梅 & 梅花? Or are they the same thing and "寒梅" is just a more poetic expression of plum tree flowers?

What about 腊梅? Image search turns up lots of yellow flowers for this one. Is it a different plant or just a different coloration of the same plant?

Are there any powdered art featuring 梅花 (red colored, possibly with snowy background)? Kind of like my IJ theme is currently featuring peony?

Flower language (Chinese)

In this picture, what is that thing the girl is holding at the end of that stick/string? 香炉? 灯笼?

Looks like part of the NDA for the in-game store/cash shop system has been lifted, or least is loose enough for someone to put up the following explanation for the economic model to be used in GW2.

Crossposted with complete image set on Tumblr



My favorite deity in Chinese myth - Erlang Shen (二郎神).

Erlang is very often hailed nowadays as a god of war. But I’m not sure I agree with that role. The more traditional war gods in Chinese myth are actually Xing Tian (邢天) and Chi You (蚩尤), and I’d even argue that deities like Nezha (哪吒) is a more proper diety of war/battles than he is. Erlang is probably more accurately a martial god/sage (武圣). He’s less about the leading armies part of war and more about the kicking of butts. =P Hence, why he was called in to fight the Monkey King in “Journey to the West” when nobody else in the Heavens could match the monkey. But he was not often shown as a front line army/squad leader during the Shang-Zhou war in “Canonization of the Gods”.

More traditionally, he’s the patron deity of the Shu (蜀) region of China, which more or less encompasses the modern Sichuan region. (Kinda like how Athena was patron deity of Athens and so forth.) He’s also a god of the waterways (possibly civil engineering?), credited with helping the historical figure of Li Bing (李冰) build the Dujiangyan (都江堰) Irrigation System.

On a less serious vein, I also think he should be a deity of domestication (or Pokemon trainers XD). IIRC he’s the only major mythical figure who is associated with a varied retinue of pets. The most famous is the celestial hound Xiaotianquan (啸天犬), and he’s also known to have a hunting hawk and a silver horse. Fun fact - in “Canonization of the Gods”, all the other gods have a tendency to have one or a few major arcane artifacts which they would often use in during battle as their ‘ultimate attack’, in an RPG sense. Erlang, on the otherhand, never bothered with any artifacts. Instead, in the middle of battle, he would fling his dog out of his sleeve to maul his opponents face - to great effect. Now remember, in ancient China, the only pure breed of dogs is the ancestor of the modern Pekingese (and not the large bloodhound/german shepherd type dog that is depicted in more modern art). I have to admit, the mental image of a fluffy pekingese assassin puppy getting tossed out of a god’s sleeve made for a very hilarious mental image.

http://www.arena.net/blog/the-beta-weekend-event-is-coming

Not NDA'ed, yay!

EDIT: So, options... should I play a single character over the weekend to get an in-depth idea of a class/race combo? Or play multiple races + professions equally far just a little bit to get an idea of the differences between them?

My initial thought is to try:
- Norn Ranger (since Sylvari isn't available yet, might as well check and see if this combo is good or if I should go with my plans of a Sylvari Ranger)
- Charr Guardian or Engineer (depending on how they look)
- Human Engineer or Guardian (whichever profession not used for the Charr)
- Some kind of caster class... probably Ele... maybe a male human ele?

According to twitter the first Beta weekend for GW2 will be near the end of the month. No date set yet.

“天之道，损有余而补不足。人之道，则不然，损不足以奉有余。孰能有余以奉天下？唯有道者，” 《道德经》

Came across this in a fic. I understand only 7/10ths of the words here, much less the meaning. Halp? T_T

So according to the details I found on the forums, the Mistwolf elite skill is only available at lvl 30 just like the other elites. Given that, there seemed no point in paying an extra $20 for it. So I bought the standard edition pre-purchase instead. Still $60. =P

There are some awesome, awesome fans out there who bring us much laughs out of the quality stuff that Arenanet comes out with. Plus, it's great to see they are still churning out new stuff for GW1.

(EDIT: Hopped over to the forums and of course there are also people whining about the April 1st stuff Anet is doing this year. Still can't get away from idiots no matter where you go, I guess. *eyeroll*)

Pre-purchase starts April 10...apparently this info was out for a while. (My fan-fu is weak T_T)

Quibbling on whether I should buy the Digital Collector's Edition...On the one hand - Beta Weekends access and 3 day head start...on the other hand, NDA might mean I explode from not being allowed to share. =/

Edit: Actually, looking at the bonuses give by the CE, not sure I'm willing to pay the extra $20 for. Three of the items are one time use, the minipet is not a pretteh one from my POV, making the elite skill the only thing worth getting...but not worth $20 by itself... Hrm.

I wonder, if aliens saw these, would they be impressed, horrified, or amused?