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.)