#time to spam some dragon age stuff ive been doing

[xaeneron]

On Daybreak

Living World Season 4 is here and I guess that means it’s time to babble a bit about the first episode, Daybreak!  

Overall, the patch was a solid release, not without its bugs, but a solid release.  I’m super glad to have something new to do (a lot of new things to do), especially with a new raid wing out 9 months after the release of Bastion of the Penitent.  I am curious enough to stay tuned to see where the story goes, but I was definitely more distracted by the nostalgia factor than anything.  The new zone was incredibly nostalgic for me as an old hat GW1 player, but before we start bullet-pointing, let’s put in a line break to avoid spoilers front and center.  

In General

THANK GOD KEYRING.

QoL Astral Force refilling to full automatically after a party wipe in fractals and raids is a godsend.  No more asking for corpses before every encounter/after every wipe.  I am a happy druid.

The Binding of Ipos wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it’s an incredibly nice-looking focus.  I like the floating book, but the demon hand is a bit of a deal-breaker for the characters I would use the focus on (i.e., Eet).  Oh well.  It’s detailed and has great animations, which is nice.

On Fractals (Twilight Oasis, instability changes, Deroir)

I find it really amusing and fantastic that the new fractal vendor is named after Deroir.  Props to him; he’s done a lot for the fractal community and it’s awesome that he got recognition like Dulfy and WP.

The new fractal relic sinks are hilarious and ridiculous.  When they said sinks, they meant sinks.  I have a few months’ worth of everything saved up (infusions, [pristine] fractal relics, integrated fractal matrices, pages, etc.) and I was only able to afford the first level of mist attunement.  So much raw stuff.  

The karma one seems most useful to actually max though.

I wish they had introduced more things to buy with cosmic essences (from Shattered Observatory CM), or trades for them.  I have almost enough for an infusion and a tonic, but I want neither. ;-;

Fractal Vindicators are actually a bit of a threat?  More than Fractal Avengers anyway.  

I haven’t tried the Molten Boss rework yet, but the Mai Trin rework is amusing.  And I’m glad that you can push through the timegate cannon section.  

Not having Social Awkwardness on Nightmare and Shattered Observatory is hilariously nice.  Like seriously they’ve honestly gotten easier.

Speaking of, SO still has a bunch of bugs.  SURPRISE.  Although it sounds like the fractal dev found the problem, so...we’ll see?

Twilight Oasis was...dark.  Like twilight.  /shot

Okay but really.  Playing as Sunspear traitors and helping Palawa Joko by slaughtering Sunspears and villagers is dark.  And you get an achievement for stomping all the injured people.  

Dying and being resurrected by Joko was confusing but pretty great?  Also boing.

Dervish feels.

That ending doe.

On Hall of Chains

NEW RAID.  IN THE UNDERWORLD.  I AM A HAPPY HUMAN.  SALAD.  MIDGET.  THING.

I’m super excited about the Underworld and Dhuum.  Stuff that hasn’t been touched on in years, and a good bit of lore that I’m glad that they were able to find a way to visit again.

Also the encounters, particularly Dhuum, look legitimately challenging.  I’m so excited to go hit Dhuum and die repeatedly.

We’ve been poking the new raid this week and I might post some progress stuff later on?  We only have a few bite-sized sessions each week so we can’t spam it for hours on end like others, but we’re making progress and it’s exciting!  Having new stuff to do is fantastic.

We have a lot of stupid deaths (including dying immediately on flying in because someone didn’t take the champion buff) already and it’s amazing.

I saw the ending cutscene.  I have so many Underworld feels.  Dhuum’s fight seems very reminiscent of his fight back in GW1, which is pretty clever.  And nostalgic.

I kind of wish Anet would hide Glenna’s vendor items tied to each boss in her inventory instead of just having them greyed out.  You can spoil the whole wing by scrolling down and seeing there’s a Dhuum mini.  Oh well.

Hi Gwen.

On the Domain of Istan

There are so many “Praise Joko!” and “TO VABBI!” references.  When we found out that you could drink from the fountains of Joko in the main hall before destroying them and would shout “Praise Joko!” every time, we kept clicking them repeatedly hoping for a hidden achievement.  rip.

Nostalgia feels everywhere.  I didn’t think I missed Istan, but I guess I missed Istan.  Also super exciting that they kept most of the geography the same.  Kamadan/Palawadan is set up essentially the way it was in GW1, except it’s been Joko’d.  They’ve been consistent about doing that for a lot of things now, things like the location of the Temple of the Ages and Droknar’s Forge and things like that), but seriously.  Kudos.  I’s happy.  xD

I find the zone pretty and interesting to run around in.  There’s a lot of random little achievements and random places to make use of different mounts. 

Bunny-hopping all over the cliffs is life.

So is griffoning.  Good god it’s nice to griffon places and just fly around and look at things.

The meta events are amusing, and I enjoyed running into Amala again (after Twilight Oasis and the story).  Also raiding Palawadan.  Fun events with a relatively forgiving timer.

Although I’m disappointed that people are already “multilooting” these.  You’d think Anet would have learned their lesson from AB multiloot and made account caps on the chests per cycle.

On the story (Daybreak)

Hi Aurene.  You got bigger.  And less cute.  But still Aurene.  So.  pls come back ;-;

Rytlock and Canach continue to amuse.  Best bromance 10/10.

I said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not sure why anyone would be surprised that Kralkatorrik is now obnoxiously powerful.  Letting it absorb a couple Elder Dragons’ worth of magic will do that.

I know some people get upset with all the one-liners, and honestly sometimes they are a bit to much and could be done without to keep tension going, but I appreciated a lot of them.  Especially since the characterization of the PC is very close to a general perspective of how Ive normally reacts to things - with dry humor and snark to prevent himself from getting overwhelmed.

“I died once.  It’s overrated.”

KOSS.  OMG KOSS.  Another sad fate for a GW1 hero (alongside the fate of Tahlkora), but nice to talk to him again.

Although the encounter definitely shows that the story instances are tuned to 1-2 people.  We did it with 3-4 at various times looking for achieves, and absolutely murdered him before his first breakbar showed up.  Welp.

References to a bunch of old characters from GW1 ayyyy

I love the fact that the prison cell break is unique per class.  I didn’t think much of it because Ive is a thief and picking the lock just seems like the reasonable thing to do, not the thiefy thing to do, but they’re class unique!  I replayed it with Cyra (my adorable sparkle charr) just to see the Legendary Prisoner Stance (Palawa Joko). 

Fahranur.  Oh my god.  From the ibogas outside to the giant smashy bells.  Nostalgia everywhere.  I love that these elements came back.  

Seriously Joko wtf.

What are these bugs you’re experimenting on.

Joko pls.

That’s a lot of dead Inquest.

Hi Braham.  No, I didn’t really want to see you again.  Thanks for acting like it’s all my fault.  Which it honestly is, but hey.  Still a grump.  At least Rox is here?

I am curious that Anet brought him back here and now.  But I’m willing to see what they planned for him.

Also news that Awakened are portaling around Tyria is mildly stressful.

Taimi’s voice actor, Debby Derryberry.  A+ work.  That sense of fear and dread from Hero of Istan through Fahranur, the First City was well done.  Probably one of the highlights of the release.  Happy that Taimi didn’t die though :>

...to Vabbi?