New Wardrobe and Dye Systems OMG!!

Read this: Introducing the Wardrobe System.
And this: Dyes in the New Account Wardrobe.

To sum up the main bits:
1. All armor and weapon skins will be unlocked account-wide.
2. All dyes are unlocked account-wide.

This is shocking to me. I'm stunned. I'm excited and confused also. And nervous. And happy. And disappointed. And ... a bundle of emotions!

Shocked and stunned that such a huge change is coming after the game has been out for so long.
Excited because I love dressing up!
Confused because they didn't explain it all, or else I read it too fast and didn't absorb it.
Nervous that I will lose what I've already unlocked.
Happy to see this fine print: "If you already have the same dyes unlocked on multiple characters, when you log in on additional characters, you will receive one unidentified dye for each duplicate dye already unlocked on your account."
Disappointed that all my hard work and gold getting skins and dyes is now pretty much wasted. Everyone is going to have it sooooo easy from here on in.

New Wardrobe UI. I'm staring at it, trying to figure out how it'll work.

QUESTIONS:
What is a transmutation charge? How much will those cost?
The article says, currently owned "Transmutation Crystals can be directly converted into charges, and Transmutation Stones can be converted at a three-to-one rate."
So does that mean the charges good for all levels? Will there be level restrictions? Like, could a level 10 noob put level 80 gear on his toon? (Makes it  less awesome to have level 80 gear if all the noobs are wearing it.)
Can we switch armor types? Medium to light, etc? (Edit: No, not gonna happen.)
Can we switch cultural armor? Can my Charr wear Asura cultural armor?
If unidentified dyes will no longer drop. how we will craft some of the legendary items that require 250 of them? (I think it's Bifrost.)

The forums are going crazy. The TP is crazier. I'm heading into game to hear some mapchat.

Alts and Other Time Well Spent

Time for another screenshot folder dump! This one focused on the strange things I've seen in my travels, plus the abundant number of alts I've played with while key farming. Enjoy.

Me and my friend, Grave Lord Nito, as a miniaturized blonde asura.
He's since moved to Henge of Denravi to have more success in WvW.

It looks like a tie game, but they actually won it. Grrrr.

Did you know there were snow butterflies?

Have you been to the old Marionette fight location yet?

Garm and a wolf pup tearing around in the snow at Eir's house. So adorable!

Planking, Tyria style.

Frustrated by an invisible wall that keeps me from getting to a cool cave opening.

Swam down to this fabulous chest, fought off a bunch of pirates,
and then the darn thing wouldn't open. 

One of the most realistic and funny things I've seen. Girl walking in the woods, checking out a curious raven, not noticing a GIANT moose hiding in the bushes. (Welcome to Canada.)

Quaggan jumping puzzle, Coddler's Cove.
This lovely dame was singing to the babes.

Now for the alts! I tell ya, if you ever need to come up with a toon name, let me know. I seem to have an endless reservoir of monikers in my head. Pointless talent.

Miss Magicpaws

Needlefoot
(couldn't believe that name wasn't taken)

Norm Dullspoon
(making fun of all the dudes named
Awesomix RazorScythe and such)

Aerie Skyborn

Idina Wolfsong

Schnozelda

You know you want her.

Willow Kitteh
(designed after my real life kitty, Willow, who is in fact much fiercer than a Charr. I have the scars to prove it.)

Anna of Arendelle, based on the movie Frozen

Mel Eficient
(designed after Angelina Jolie as Maleficent)

Liezle

Screwturner Khyjji

Spiral Minime

Bechemelle

And finally, Flaxi Barnborn.
She is going to stay! I love her so much, I'm deleting my
male Sylvari warrior to keep her instead.)

Smoke Has Cleared

The Battle of L.A. seemed to go by in a flash! Was it two weeks? So crazy that it's done.
I was going through my screenshot folder, and it seems I took very few pix of my adventures. Yes, I did kill Scarlet. A bunch of times, actually. Totally satisfying. Got lots of loot, had some hilarious chats with random players, got frustrated with Knight fights, got angry at AFKers, helped stuck folks with my mesmer portals, all that jazz. Excellent finish to an epic Living Story.

Kasjory --- cute and nauseating in equal measures. 

Heal-o-Tron was redeemed! Very happy.

Now that the smoke has cleared from L.A., it's even more depressing! I went in first thing after the patch with just a handful of other peeps who were lucky enough to be playing GW2 on a Tuesday afternoon. We chatted as we explored and it was very interesting. I wish there was an ability to retrieve chat logs so you could see how we swung from humor to sadness to curiosity and back to sadness.

The bottom of the Big Screw hole. Nothing there.
That's probably a good thing.

I spoke to the few NPCs wandering amidst the ruins, and they all told such sad stories. One was looking for his son's body to give it a proper burial. One was in disbelief that he had lost everything. A woman sobbed by the shore. Workers dug graves. Looters looted.
A Charr and I dove to the bottom of the Big Screw hole to see what was there. An Asura and I threw insults at the "chicken-people" behind their big stone gate. Everyone was overcome with the Feels reading the missing person wall. The Feels intensified with the help of a new melancholy soundtrack. The whole city was bleak, and yet impressive. The Guild Wars 2 creators have caused us to have such a passion for a virtual place, and to feel such empathy for imaginary people. It seems silly when typing it out, but to see it all in front of your eyes, these places that you've seen a thousand times before, and they're so empty and charred and black and broken, it hurts. If there was a quest to pick up garbage and clear out debris in L.A., I would be doing that. Every day I would be doing that to restore my city. I would VOLUNTEER. No reward required.

Anyway, moving to cheerier topics, I also took a jaunt over to the Dead End Bar and sat through a rather lengthy but fascinating conversation scene with the ... hmmm... I just realized. Do the Scarlet-fighting team have a guild name? I mean, Marjory, Kasmeer, Braham, Rox, and Taimi. Are they a guild? Do they have a name? At any rate, it was cool, and if you haven't done it yet, go do so. It's long though, you've been warned. There are big portions where it gets quiet and they sit for a bit doing nothing, but if you wait, a new conversation will start up. You'll know you're done when you get a reward.

Prince Charr Ming is back on "his ledge". He was pleased as a cat in cream. :)

So we had only two days to catch our breaths and ponder our fate. Which dragon will wake? Will Alain be involved? Will the gate to the Crystal Desert be opened? Which new hairstyle looks cuter on me? Where do I store all these damn Blade Shards? What did you say about WvW?

And then BAM, today brings news about a feature patch on April 15. The first blog post talks about a huge trait rework: resetting traits, adding new traits, and confusing me even more, all in one shot! We'll see what other insanity they are planning over the next few days.

So take this brief time to hoard your gold, gather your mats, clear your bank slots, and curse the gods/devs that relish in shaking things up. There are more battles to come: virtual, mental, and theoretical! (I'm not making any sense, am I? Ha! Just go with it.)

In other news, I actually found a new place, a spot I've never been before. Have you been here? 

Scarlet Battle Music

I was browsing the forums, procrastinating from work, and found a post about the great music that plays during the last fight with Scarlet's hologram inside the big screw. Great music? What great music? I was listening to Paramore. :)
Long long ago when the earth was green, I turned off my in-game music. It just gets repetitive. I mean, I love the music but I can't listen to it looping all the time, especially since sometimes it makes me stressed out during fight.s
Anyhoo, forum poster, Nouvel, gave the link to Guild Wars 2's SoundCloud page and the track: GW2 Battle on the Breachmaker. I gave it a listen and found it very interesting. I really enjoyed the very, very deep instrument at the beginning, plus the spooky piano/choir part. Now I want to go back and fight Scarlet again with my sound on, just to hear how it interacts with the fight. I'd better do it today; tomorrow is update day and I think it's all going kapoof. What will be next?
Ugh, back to work.

L.A. up in flames.

Dead dead DEAD!

Female Armor Explained

Check out this comic. The secret is out, women of Tyria!
http://imgur.com/gallery/8TWlU

Escape from L.A. Screens

I think it's a good sign that I haven't blogged because it means that I've been too busy having fun in game! The Escape from L.A. event is quite fun to do, although I actually don't care for the rewards. I think the Spinal back piece is ugly, and I'm not interested in either a halo or floating horns. Not sure what I'm going to do with all the mats I've collected from L.A. though. Wish they were not account bound.
I'm just going to toss up my screens from the past two weeks and make some Spiral-esque comments for you to enjoy. :)

Honestly shocked and sad to see Lion's Arch burning. They did such a good job on this event. The sound of citizens screaming in the distance, plus the lurid red flames, plus mobs freaking EVERYWHERE, plus the rush of the zerg, added up to a horrifying and exhilarating experience. (The first dozen times, at least.)

The zerg at work/play

Champ fight... what a mess of graphics. Kinda sucked that most fights were like this, just a blur of colours and me smashing my buttons. Did have to have some skill to dodge out of circles, but mostly just stick with the group.

Poor statue has to be rebuilt again. Would be funny if they just put it back up with duct tape. :)

Thought it was cool that even the entrance to L.A in Gendarran Fields shows the burning. Nice touch, ANet.

These two little mo-fos escaped... but where is Raisin-face? Someone said the "squished and weird" Charr was in the med tent. Did he rescue Raisin-face?

In my previous post, I showed you this vista before the attack. Quite a change. :(

Another view of L.A. Can you smell the burning wood and toxic miasma? Feel the hot wind fanning the flames? Hear the people screaming and buildings collapsing? 

Some fun with Chazdy and Pol! I'm the blue Quaggan on the left. So adorable. 

I had a very interesting conversation with some dudes around a campfire in the refuge camp. I think they were role playing, but not quite sure. A formidable Blood Legion Charr was asking "Why should we bother saving them?" His Norn friend wasn't sure, so he decided to call out to me as I was running by. I answered, "Possible food source?" They laughed. So then I said, "Quaggans are basically small whales so I'm sure the Norn can think of some uses for whale oil, blubber, meat and hides." He said, "Oh, sure. Food, lamp oil, boots... decor." I LOL'd!

Great things about Escape from L.A.:
1. They saved the NPCs.
2. They gave the NPCs great dialogue, both naturally spoken and responses to you talking to them. I spent quite a bit of time talking to any NPCs that was clickable, plus standing and listening to conversations. Kasjory's in Lornar's Pass was quite interesting, if a bit gag-me-sweet.
3. They gave unique rewards that, fingers crossed, won't be available later to anyone who wasn't there. I like this tactic, although having spent 8 months away from the game, I now regret not being there for previous releases such as Aetherblades and Queen's Jubilee.Limited time loot is very appealing.
4. Speaking of loot, mobs in L.A. were handing it out like candy at Halloween. Even worse than that! They were handing out loot like fleas at a circus. My bags kept getting full!
5. The event started like clockwork every hour, with 10 minutes break. No long wait, no super long fights.
6. They had a variety of achieves to, errr, achieve.

Things I didn't like:
1. No involvement of the Tengu.
2. Evon Gnashblade saying he wished Ellen Kiel was dead. Rude!
3. AFKers in L.A.
4. Most stuff account bound.
5. No crafting stations in Vigil Keep.

Okay, that's enough blathering for now. Gotta get back in game and enjoy the last day of this event. Tomorrow, we take back Lion's Arch!