#I LOVE CHARR AND IVE LOVED SEEING EVERYONE'S CHARR ON THIS POST

[beresaad]

REX RUINFANG is kinda too fuck-ugly to be based on any real cat jdkfjhlk;sdfh but i can totally see caracal or a liiitle bit of mountain lion

CASSIUS CACKLECLAW is based on hyenas - mostly spotted hyenas but a couple pictures of striped hyenas suit him too!! but i also like this specific picture of a king cheetah for him cos of the mullet it's rocking

CLAUDIUS RIMEHEART is an albino lion!! but if the albino lion got icebrooded kfjdsldjldhd

FURIA SCORCHSTONE isn't really based on any real cat either but i can totally see snow leopard for her just . with no spots fldjdldj

What cat, big, small, wild, domestic, etc. are your guys charr based on / inspired by, if any?

Aikarico is a mix of mountain lion and snow leopard!!

[xaeneron]

On A Bug in the System

I have been (and continue to be) stupidly busy, so sometime I’ll post something, I swear.  I’m sorry, I’m not dead ;-; (I think).

I did spend some time on the new release, and overall I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Sandswept Isles are beautiful and have a bunch of new things to take a look at and tidbits to find, which is super neat.  I think I find it actually more engaging than Domain of Istan, which I kind of floated through on nostalgia and then never came back to after Palawadan farming became a thing.  I had a lot of fun with the story, and breaking the story (completely on accident).  

As usual, bullet points beneath the cut :>

On General Updates:

The new branded mounts are so pretty.  Still tempted to buy them.  But I also have a lot of other mount skins ;-;

The Claw of the Khan-Ur is a pretty legit dagger.  Besides the fact that I’m just not generally a fan of the shape, it’s detailed, it’s clean, it’s not overly flashy, but it’s still distinct - definitely things I dig about (legendary) weapons.  I know some people think it’s boring, but I like it.  Unfortunately I probably won’t make it since I have the Incinerator :V

The fractal instability shuffle is...interesting.  I think it’s a neat concept and could mix up fractals week by week.  I’m glad that they’re monitoring it and seeing if things work well, but some of these combinations look downright silly.  Like add-heavy fights with toxic trails, last laugh, and afflicted.  Eew.

Chubby health bars :3

On Sandswept Isles:

I actually really like Sandswept Isles a lot.  The first view of Rata Primus during the story was legit, and the zone itself feels...I’m not sure, interesting, distinct.  There’s a lot of different things going on, and the divide between the Olmakhan lands and the shitshow of Rata Primus is an interesting way to present the zone.  I like it quite a bit, although I wish there were just one more waypoint.

I never get tired of exploring a zone for the first time.  We were running around shouting about suspicious bushes and falling off cliffs.  Exploring fresh new maps and finding all the little nooks and crannies will always be one of my favorite pastimes.

I know the “Surprise! Tricked by Joko!” bounty mechanic was a thing in Istan, but we never really got around to bounty training Istan because we all kind of got tired of the zone in about a week.  That being said, it’s a stupid mechanic as currently implemented.  If it still spawned the bounty or immediately put it back up on the board instead of resetting its respawn timer, or spawned the awakened during the bounty or something, that would be a lot more interesting.  As it is it just makes us not want to do bounties because it’s depressingly common how often it happens.

I don’t think that lowering the spawn rate of these is the solution, Anet. :V

The specimen chamber meta event is easily farmable, very quick, and very easy.  I find that I like it quite a bit for whatever reason, and the champs (at least for now) are more funny than they are annoying.  I also appreciate that things aren’t scaled to hell like they have been in the past.

This was kind of what killed Istan for me honestly.  Palawadan farm is long, annoying, and completely dominates the zone.  I was never a fan of it, and despite the nostalgia goggles I had for Istan, it kind of ruined the zone for me.

The special action key boost skill on the skimmer race is really entertaining.  I want it back.

The bag collection with Efi was super sweet.  I really enjoyed Efi and the cultural aspects, and that the collection wasn’t supremely bugged.

I need to know more about Zohaqan and Rakis pls.

IG-6417 is ridiculous. xD

Bugged event is bugged. I want to get rid of these recordings taking up a bag of my inventory pls ;-;

On A Bug in the System:

I enjoyed sneaking in the first instance.  Although doing it with friends just makes it broken easy.

No for real. Although people got stuck accidentally and then things went south and it was quite funny.

I really like the Olmakhan.  It’s interesting to see a completely different set of charr from the legions, and listening to Rox interact with them (including being completely aghast at the idea of raising children instead of using fahrars) was an interesting contrast.

We bugged the golem fight at the end of A Kindness Repaid quite hard - the elder’s bubble stayed up, and the golem didn’t lose stacks, so we just...hit it for a very long time and thought the fight was exceedingly boring. 

Also when everyone was mourning said elder, we were confused because he was standing upright still in casting position.

Thank you Anet for not making doing the hearts mandatory for the main story.  Although I did them all anyway before finishing :V

I hate the special ley-lines in one of the labs. REEEEE stop sending me into walls

RIP Lonai.

I do love that these heroes from GW1 keep popping up.  It’s a nice touch for people who do remember their names.

The surprise teleports to DR and Frostgorge and Mount Maelstrom were pretty silly, but pretty amusing.

THAT AWKWARD TALK WITH BRAHAM. Boi. Boi pls. 

We managed to hear male sylvari, male charr, and female human, and I’m still a huge fan of the male sylvari delivery of “Oh thank the Pale Mother.” It was beautifully sassy and relieved and precisely the tone Ive would have. 

I do like that Braham is seeing some character development here (and to a lesser extent Rox). This release had him facing the greater consequences of fighting Elder Dragons, and seeing the impact of things outside of just that.  He’s still an angry brat, but he’s learning more about the world around him and understanding that he’s not seeing the whole picture.  There’s also the whole fact that it’s kind of problematic for him to not be able to kill Jormag since Taimi and the PC sent it back into hibernation, but ayyyy

Ive is still mad at him though.  More tired of him than anything, but Ive is tired of everyone these days and takes shit from no one.

I feel like we’re being set up to ship Taimi x Blish.  Blish is adorable so I don’t really have complaints, but gee that was blatant, Anet.

I am quite interested in Taimi’s progression.  I do want to see how she deals with all this pressure, and how she’s going to work moving forward.

Also those FMA feels with Gorrik and Blish.  If a golem or something named Nina shows up I’m done.

S C A R A B  P L A G U E.  I’m interested that this is the direction they’ve chosen to go in, but if Joko wants to kill everyone and resurrect them as his undead minions around the world, I guess the Scarab Plague is a pretty efficient way to do it.

I think he might still be a bit salty over being left in the Domain of the Lost.

No, no praise Joko.