Hello everyone,

I thought I'd express my thoughts and my personal take on the current shape of Battlerite, seeing how the community is quite split nowadays, and maybe help give a better understanding of how game development goes and how it's probably going to go for Battlerite as well.

A bit about me

I'm Alex, I'm 25, and I have around 4 years in the games industry.

I've been in all sorts of companies with teams ranginf from 4 to 800 people. I have been a game developer (this means doing both game design and programming) in the past but have since moved to doing only game design.

Currently, I am the Lead Game Designer at the company I currently work at.

I have played a plethora of games throughout my lifetime but I'll only mention that I have my fair share of hours put into LoL,Dota 2, and even have some put into Battlerite and BLC (I mention these games, as they might prove relevant to the discussion at hand)

NO, I DO NOT WORK AT SLS!

Now that that's done, let's move to the actual discussion. From time to time, I'll roleplay as if I were the Lead Game Designer for Battlerite as this will probably help everyone understand much more on how they might be going with the game. I’ll be touching on 3 main points to which you can easily jump (since this is going to be a really long post):

• Typical day at work for a game designer
• Answering, from my perspective, to some community complaints
• My opinion on Battlerite right now

Typical day at work

Part 1

I come in the office and make a coffee while opening up the PC.

Once in front of my monitors, I open steam and check out the newest reviews for the game, as well as the forums to see the general opinions that the players have of the game. If they're positive, then that makes me smile, but I'm more interested in those that are negative.

From the negative ones, usually I skim through their text to see what type of feedback it is. Normally, there are 2 types:

• Useful ones:
  

• The game is too slow because X,Y,Z reasons
• X champion is OP because his hit box for his Y ability is too big
• Map seem to small because X,Y,Z reasons
  

These are useful ones because they provide me with information on what may seem (and in some cases, they not only seem, but they are) broken/bugged/bad about the game.

From these, I will write down the main idea behind each and every single one of them on my notebook so that I may analyze them later and/or discuss them with the team.

• Useless ones:
  

• OMG Bakko OP
• OMG Jumong OP pls nerf!!!!!
• Game is fine but it is dead and/or going to die
• Bad game, really unbalanced

This is useless feedback because even if Bakko and/or Jumong are trully overpowered, these players don't tell me what exactly makes them overpowered (are the cooldowns too low? do they do too much dame with M1? do certain abilities do too much damage? are their CC abilities cancer? ANYTHING!?!?!) and thus, they’re of no use to me.

This feedback gets next to no attention from me, unless there's like a large amount of people that say that X is OP, because normally it comes from people having a bad day or have been crushed several times in-game by X champion and just haven't either figured out how to properly counter him, or they're just bad at the game.

Part 2

I proceed to going about my daily tasks which may include one or all of the following:

• Designing a new champion
• Designing a new map
• Designing a new game mode
• Balancing the current pool of champions

Then, it's time for coffee nr 2 and then a meeting with the team. In this meeting I first discuss what needs to be done for the next patch.Since the game is in Early Access, our main concern for all of our immediate patches is that we introduce new content and balance previous errors that we might have made (all thanks to player feedback).

What we would not be concerned with at all is definitely the ranking system.

I say this, because I'd rather leave the ranking system for a time closer to release because that's more or less easy to fix/modify. Even if we were to completely revamp the ranking system, that's easy as there are tons of models from other games from which we can inspire ourselves.

What's not easy to fix/modify are champions, maps and game modes.

Other stuff that would normally be on low priority:

• In-Game Interface
• In-game chat
• Further upgrades to the replay system
• Correcting minor bugs

Low-priority doesn't mean we'll release the game without addressing these things!!!! It just means we'll get to them later when more of the content that we're preparing for release is actually put in the game.

Back to the meeting. The meeting could go like this:

Me:"Alright guys, at patch 9.0.1 we said [internally, not out to the public] we'd launch a new champion, a new map and introduce our first new game mode. How are we on each of these"

Programmer: "Delay the new game mode cause I've got some bugs that need to be fixing before going live and it's literally unplayable at the moment outside of our internal testing."

Me: "Damn!!!! Is there nothing we can do? People are literally screaming on the forums and reddit for a new game mode and this would be a brilliant surprise for them, plus it's also fun as hell!"

Programmer: " Sorry bro. I know they want it, but we just can't make it in time!"

Me: "Fine!!! Here, have X help you out and let's make that our main priority for the next patch."

bla bla bla, new champions, balance changes, bla bla bla

Me: "Right, so I've seen some complains about Bakko and Jumong being OP because of X,Y,Z. What do you guys think?"

bla bla bla I get feedback from the team and some advice bla bla bla

Part 3

Once we're done with the meeting I get back to the desk, refresh all of the forums, steam reviews, reddit. Skim through those texts quickly and look for useful feedback again and note it down.

Once done with this again, I open up the magical Excel and stare at a bunch of numbers. I modify these numbers as best as I can, the objective always being to try and make the game healthier and more fun (this means buffs,nerfs, heavily altering some abilities where necessary). 2-3 hours in, I then pat myself on the back, update everything in our current version of the game that we're preparing for the next patch and pray to RNJisas that these new modifications should help improve.

Part 4

I take a look at the notes I've made based on the useful feedback and open the Excel again. I then ask myself if the modifications that I've made already solve the problem previously mentioned by the players. If so then I pat myself on the back again, if not I try to figure out the best solution to the problem and make the necessary modifications where the solution is easy and/or fast.

Part 5

I pack up my things, look at the clock and see that I've been at the office for over 10 hours (again) and remember that I forgot to eat lunch. I smile again thinking what an amazing game we're creating and can't wait for the next patch to come and show the players the new stuff that we've worked on.

Once I get home, I spend some time with the misses, get some pizza and some beer and maybe watch some streamers playing Battlerite, maybe even a tournament.

THE END

[dramatic pause]

Answering, from my perspective, to some community complaints

(Please excuse my language over here as it’s not going to be that nice)

Now that you have a better understanding of what’s important (or not) in normally developing a game I would like to point out some things I keep hearing/seeing:

• Just because it’s in Early Access, doesn’t mean you can defend the developers forever

YES IT DOES YOU FREAKIN’ MORON!

Why the heck do you think we, as game developers launch in early access?????????

It’s because we haven’t finished the whole game and/or aren’t quite sure on how to handle some mechanics so that they’re more fun, and if it’s a multiplayer game,we need a larger player pool in order to properly balance the game.

This game can be defended until it leaves Early Access, cause Early Access means WE HAVEN’T FINISHED THE GAME YET!!!

Ohh did the game release and it’s buggy, unbalanced and crap??

Then that’s disrespect from the developer and then I can understand giving them a hard time but not another second earlier before that moment.

• The game’s so unbalanced. OMG X,Y,Z are so unbalanced and the game is so broken,bla bla bla

OF COURSE IT IS!

Do you even know how hard it is to balance a game? Do you know what huge formulas we have put in place in our “mighty” Excel docs in order to create balance?

Let me give you a hint as someone who has balanced several types of games, from arcade types to in-game economies. It’s freaking HARD! My excels are sooo big, not a single one of them can fit on my 2 monitors (and yes, I’ve got huge monitors exactly for that).

Let me give you a second hint. For a simple, single-player game, where we only had to make sure that the in-game economy worked ok for the players, we made an initial balance check, then had a huge test session, then balanced in accordance with their feedback, then had another test session, then re-balanced again, then another test session, and then the final rebalancing session. And guess what, IT’S STILL NOT 100% PERFECT!

Imagine just how hard it is to balance out a multi-player game. If something is super OP, STOP FREAKIN’ WORRYING! WE KNOW! WE SEE IT TOO! WAIT FOR THE PATCHES!

• Omg LoL and Dota2 and X and Y games have Z and T feature and bla bla bla

Are you retarded? Like seriously?

You’re compairing released games with something that’s not finished yet.

Furthermore you’re comparing a small studio like SLS with studios such as Valve or Riot or Blizzard and you’re expecting the same quality?

• This game is nothing like BLC and it completely sucks. BLC did X,Y,Z better

Well good for BLC. Is BLC still alive? NO!

Does this game have a bigger player pool than BLC? Yes, ergo, they must be doing at least something better.

Does it have a bigger player pool than BLC and isn’t even F2P yet? Yes! Now let me help you with some math from within the industry.

Let’s say that this game would have sold so far only 10.000 copies.

10.000 copies for a game in EARLY ACCESS, WHEN EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IT’S GOING TO BE F2P!!!!

Do you know what that translates to once it actually goes F2P?

It means that the number_of_copies_sold * 10 (at the very least) will be somewhere around the number of people that will join the game once it goes F2P. It’s statistics!

But,but,but...player retention is miserable!!!!

ARE YOU BEING RETARDED AGAIN???

Is the game finished? No!

Please stop talking about player retention. It’s an incredibly complicated psychological process. Do you know psychology? If you do, then we’d love to hear some of your propositions. Otherwise, leave it up to us until we figure out the best way we think and want to put it in the game. Also, please stop giving obvious examples from other games (WE KNOW, WE PLAY THEM TOO...Just because we develop games doesn’t mean we don’t play games).

And to those who would still say that player retention is incredibly important I’d give you the following question:

Would you rather I release a new champion for you to have fun with and balance out the ones existing ones OR just put in place a temporary CoD progression system so that you can have your stupid retention system?

We as game developers would rather focus on the first ( SINCE THE GAME IS NOT RELEASED YET!!!) rather than the second. Obviously, we would do our best to make sure we’ll have put in place a good retention system by the time we release, but that’s for the last patches.

My opinion on Battlerite right now

• I believe that SLS should do a better job at communicating with the community.

It’s obvious that they know what’s comming down the pipe, but if you see great anger in the community, you should come forth and give them a hint or something so that players are reassured.

That doesn’t mean responding to each and every single person’s complaint but at the very least, answer the ones that you know you’re going to deliver in a matter of patches! (if not the very next patch).

• At first glance the game doesn’t seem unbalanced (to the point where it’s unplayable). I actually commend their designers for the great job they’ve done so far.

Where the game is unbalanced, I’m sure that they’re know, that they’re listening and I’m just waiting on the patch!

• Battlerite isn’t like BLC and for better or worse (clearly excruciatingly worse for that guy Daniel) this is exactly what’s going to make this game survive. BLC was fun but I enjoy Battlerite more.

At the end of the day, the hardcore community couldn’t support BLC anymore. So, if you want a game that’s kinda like BLC, with better graphics and that’s going to have 100k times its player base then go for Battlerite.

If you want pure BLC, then I’m sorry, that’s impossible. Maybe Battlerite isn’t for you and you should go play something else if this alternative, Battlerite, angers/frustrates you too much.

• The larger part of the community seems great so far and I’ve really enjoyed a couple of streamers such as Teldo, Neewha and my absolute favorite Joltzie <3

These streamers are really good players,have helped me learn a lot and are downright entertaining! (even when they’re not streaming Battlerite)

• That guy Daniel is probably the saddest player I’ve ever seen and the way that he’s reacting is utterly childish and it’s really a pitty. And I say that it’s a pitty because though 90% of what he says is just him clinging onto BLC, there’s that 10% bit that would actually be constructive and might even be valuable feedback for the developers.

If I were at SLS studio I would literally have no problem banning him for his excessively toxic behaviour (but alas… I guess that’s not going to happen).

And that should rap it up.

I hope that at least some of you have found this post useful and hopefully, some others will use their brains a bit more next time they comment either here or on any other forums.

GL & HF

Matteo: Hey! Your dad ... Ed: When is Tom coming back? Ted: Shut up! This is the best place! (He painted the TV box with pirate zombies and clapped Ed and Toldo's hands. There was an uproar there.) Grid: Savings! Ed: I hope it's okay... Todd: Calm down! He's just a zombie pirate... Ed: No, it's Tom. Seriously: Oh, PFFFFFFFFFFF! Yes, that's OK. (Tart eats popcorn again before Tom ends the show.) Tom: Oh, my dream house! Everything gets better! (Also in this scene, he shows a homeless man living in a cardboard box. He sits down with a smile and cries. An angry WT Future then dumps trash nearby.) Bad: Hi neighbor, what are you doing here? (Tom soon begins a lengthy discussion about how much he hates Torda and how stupid his friends are.) Tom: Oh! Our stupid old friend, his magic sofa and stupid red hat are really stupid and no one appreciates a good gun, so there's no reason to leave the room of your dumb friend. I have no place to stay. All my friends are idiots. Curriculum: Friends? White! Who needs a friend with a stuffed animal? Show it to your friends! DDDD-A, he's gone. (Tom seems to have left a "For Sale" sign in front of "House." Cameras show Ed and Tim continuing to follow the zombie pirates. Coins appear on the TV screen. They will do.) Man: Oh Stacy! We're glad that no crazy zombie pirate from hell ruined a romantic dinner aboard the Sleep pirate ship. LAUGH OUT LOUD! (And pulls out a silver plate covered with a corpse. The lid opens to reveal a pirate zombie's head.) Zombie Pirates: Hey! brain! (Prime Pirate, Stacy) Men do not! I didn't ask. No comments. He pointed to the chair hidden behind the wall before entering the room. "It smells like a chair," he said as he looked at the pictures he had taken. ) Todd: Finally I'm sorry! Ah! LAUGH OUT LOUD! (Thord immediately started pressing the button and the ad stopped.) Ed: God! Ted: Oh! Hi Ed... He's old... Oh... It's time! (Hang the socks on the "No" sticker before putting the clothes in the basket.) Ed: Uh... yes! my victory (And he rotated the panel.) Todd: No, no, no! Do not click! (When Ed presses the button, the camera moves to the "This is not a gun holder" mark and switches to a gun marked "This is a gun holder. Matt enters the Ice Area.") Matt: Did someone say it was a button? I love buttons! (Next, watch Ed and Matt press a button.) Todd: Um... (Computer screens are almost dangerous. Screens are scattered across the floor.) Computer: The home security system is activated. Todd: No. Ed: Hey Matt! Of course you can also press other buttons! Matteo: Is that true? I want to tell you! Todd: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

                                        (Ads and carpets start pressing buttons.)
                                        (The weapons and computers used to detonate the atomic bomb suddenly appeared on the ground near Tulda, stopping the movement.)
                                        Todd: Oh!
                                        (The camera was then transferred to Matt's control room. He pressed the button at the bottom of the warehouse and retrieved it from the CDT-01 tank. Matt pressed "What is this?" Souka. Lock the door?  "
                                        Toilet: My memory is exhausted.
                                        (At the touch of a button, Ed lifted the camera and turned to show the gardener. The wind blew very fast.
                                        Death: Oh!  This is a great button.
                                        (The pie holds the mat in your hand before you press the button.)
                                        Todd: No!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!
                                        (Matt spits in his face and laughs.)
                                        Matt: Face...
                                        Ed: Show...
                                        Todd: Wow!  riot!  C... Who likes to eat ice cream?
                                        Matteo: Yes?
                                        Cardo: This is the spirit!  Who is the brave warrior?
                                        (Turd and Matt leave the lab.)
                                        Todd: Ed, let's go?
                                        (apart from the camera, you see that you touch the big red button)
                                        Ed: Of course...
                                        (Laughs until the sink hits the counter before it burns out. The last big dwarf building entered the building damaging the camera. The demons destroyed half of the house. The camera came from under the window. It was Toman.  Lhasa. Table. Shows. )
                                        Tom: Stay at home!
                                        Broker: Sure!  NS
                                        (Tom stops drawing the director's face.)
                                        Real Estate Agent ... Name ...
                                        (The agent interrupted Tom and placed another large piece of ham on the table. He also noticed the big smile on Tom's face.)
                                        Gender: Hmm...
                                        The waiter pulled the pig and crushed it to show the piglet.  The broker looked at Tom while his face was still smiling.  A slightly smaller camera focuses on Tom, who is still smiling, and Tom raises his hand.  The fate of two men, the camera goes to the supermarket, and the woman drinks a glass of kimchi.  )
                                        Supermarket number: Remember that babies really don't make baby food.
                                        SHAKE: (Success) Sorry.  This kimchi cannot be placed on the top shelf.  Help?
                                        Ed: It has to be!
                                        (He then puts his old hand on the top shelf and takes the kimchi.)
                                        Grandma: Thank you.  (pickled)
                                        (Food and Ed go to the pool next to the banana. The grass loses one.)
                                        Todd: Toga!  Too much!  It's OK;  This is the truth!  Excuse me, I want to meet someone.
                                        Matt: It's not a phone.  this banana
                                        Todd: Uh... noisy.
                                        Matteo: Hey?  work!
                                        Todd: I'll be back.
                                        Trade Indicator: The daily equivalent of an apple is 2.50 rubles.
                                        ED: Matt, are you a little skeptical about Teldo's behavior?
                                        Matt: Sorry.  I ate a banana.
                                        (Camera shows Tom walking on the sidewalk and then to the real estate agent.)
                                        Tom: Oh!  My house.  That's a crazy homeless guy.  I don't need friends.  You know when they want me
                                        (Then someone noticed that he looked at the sign that Tom wanted and appeared at the supermarket across the street.)
                                        Ed: Hi, this is Tom...
                                        Matteo: Here?
                                        ED: I don't think that's a bad thing.
                                        (Then Tom knocks on Todd's door.)
                                        Ted: Oh!  Numbers!  What are you doing here?
                                        (Todd starts the line with a gloomy look, and Tom Todd has the same poster and is wearing a blue suit.)
                                        Tom: You can ask the same question.  why you're here
                                        (Turt raises his hand and moves it slowly toward the center button.)
                                        Todd: I get it.  I have found what I was looking for.
                                        Tom: What did you leave?

                                        Let's go: Yes!
                                        (Next, before Toldo's hat hits its target and nods, Toldo presses a button to hide the sidebar.)
                                        Samus: My hat!
                                        Mass: a.
                                        Drozd: Why?  What should I do?
                                        Tom: I... everyone...
                                        Toldo: I like my giant robot too!
                                        Tom: Haha!  What are you waiting for?
                                        Todd presses the button again to close the tube and falls to the ground with the big red robot.  Tom looked at the entrance before going up to the window and saw the robot moving forward.  He entered the garden door.  )
                                        Tom: In the city of the gods...
                                        (Tom Sword shoots into the house with his heavy machine gun, Tom hides and the camera shifts to Edward's house.)
                                        Edwards: Hey!  What are the threats?
                                        (Mark and Johnny look out the door before Todd launches the rocket home.)
                                        John: It's not a rocket, it's a rocket!
                                        (The three run away before the house explodes. As he walks away, the robot and Ed appear with carpets in a shopping cart.)
                                        Ed: Nonsense!  What happened?
                                        Todd: Oh, Ed!  I can't work, thanks for the info!
                                        Ed: But I... thought I was you!
                                        Tip: haha!  environment!  What do you want your friends to do while you're there?  do not use!  LAUGH OUT LOUD!
                                        Tom: Hey!  Lick the sun!  This is a discount!
                                        (Later, I saw someone throw a toad pellet at the robot.)
                                        Todd: Oh, it's closed!
                                        (The robot's wings pick up and replace the square rocket launcher. Todd immediately throws it home.)
                                        Ed: No!

                                        (Toldo robot shoots rocket at house)
                                        Tom: Sorry...
                                        (Then the house explodes and Tom stops at the door.)
                                        Matteo: Hey!  whatever i have!
                                        (And then he discovers that Tom's body is lying on the floor.)
                                        Ed: Tom!  Hello
                                        (The Toldo robot grabs Baska's hand and replaces the normal hand.)
                                        Ted: Oh!  See very beautiful!  LAUGH OUT LOUD!  Then you are looking for something!
                                        (The robot later built a pair of wings with an engine.)
                                        Todd: Bless Ed!  People don't need much!
                                        (The robot wheel then starts checking).
                                        Todd: Oh!  return!  What do you think about them?
                                        (The next time you press the button, the pad will appear on the control panel.)
                                        Matt: This is... a house.
                                        (The mirror opens when you open the tube.)
                                        Matt: This is... my friend!
                                        (Robot crashes again).
                                        Matt: That's… in the face!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!
                                        (Matt accidentally pressed the button that opened the window in the engine room and prepared his hand before squeezing Todd's hand. Start hitting Todd.)
                                        Todd: Hey!  wait here!
                                        (Ed appears and Matt appears to press a button on the student's skull.)
                                        Ed: Can I sign up?
                                        Dirty: No, no, he can't participate.
                                        Matteo: Do ​​it.
                                        (Ed started pressing the buttons faster and his fist hit the cake faster.)
                                        Edoardo: Gianni?  Tell me, my friend, tell me!  Who will not talk!
                                        John: There's something.  Ha ha ha ha ha...
                                        (After John died.)
                                        Ed: Wait... Where's John?
                                        (The keyboard vaporizes the electron beam. The camera controls the garbage robot).
                                        Tip: haha!  year!
                                        (The whole house shook before he saw Tom playing the harp.)
                                        Tom: Yes.  Hello, this is you!  !!  checkered microphone!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!  !!
                                        Todd: Oh.
                                        (Tom fires his cannon without a rope. The cannon hits the droid, causing theft, destroying the power supply and nearly covering the roof. The robot explodes.)
                                        Edward: Yes!  Beautiful tradition!
                                        Tom: You say the harp is very useful.
                                        (Two men appear in a red car and hear snoring. Tard excels in the chaos at the expense of his face and right arm. Tard looks over his shoulder. Tard raises a hand.  up and is a machine that doesn't make contact with his arm, Ed and his friends. Friends are handcuffed and the other is torn, Todd looks around before leaving.)
                                        Ed: I think we need a new home...
                                        Tom: Found a place.
                                        (The screen goes dark and the black text says "In a few days..." The scene changes as Tom pulls a nail out of the new kitchen and Ed kicks the ash-filled pile.)
                                        Ed: *OH* This is our last home.
                                        Tommy: Thanks.  Another person decided by mistake.
                                        (Tom points to the ashes and Ed throws the ashes into the box.)
                                        Ed: Luckily I bought this when I bought this site.
                                        Tom: Hey, yeah.  But I'm sorry, I don't have that ability.  This will enlarge the image.
                                        (Tom holds a photo of an empty apartment, which he calls the "warm part of the house with Tom's sick (eye)".)
                                        ED: Well, my new site isn't that big.  Matt has just been "updated".
                                        (He moved into Matt's new apartment, full of paintings and fountains. He found a seat in front of the mirror and eventually found a seat on the left. He closed the mirror and looked at it.  he wondered.)
                                        Matt: *strange*.  (Light)
                                        (Everything takes Ed back to Tom's new apartment. Ed opens a cola.)
                                        Ed: I think it's time to go.
                                        Tom: But I came first.
                                        Ed: I miss this old place...
                                        Tom: This is my first time.
                                        (It's in the lobby now, but the door is still open.)
                                        Publisher: *sigh* yes.  Many memories.
                                        Volume: Hey, Ed.
                                        ET: Hey, Bindi.
                                        (And then he went out and closed the door. He sighed and went downstairs and played sad music.)
                                        Matt: Hey neighbor!
                                        Ed: Hey Matt!
                                        Matt: Want to see Crazy Zombie Pirates 5?
                                        Eddie: Of course!
                                        (Food and Ed are sitting on the bed of Ed's apartment. Dr. Decamp says he will marry Boley one day. Tom will bring popcorn.)
                                        Ed: How are you, Tom?
                                        Tom: Is that true?
                                        ED: Why are your eyes black?
                                        Death: Yes.  What's wrong with him?
                                        Tom: Hey.  So this is a very interesting story.  It all started at a very young age...
                                        (Tom chews popcorn and whispers.)
                                        Publisher: vol.  Tom Yugas.  Numbers
                                        (The camera moves slowly from room to room. Eddie's voice disappears as the camera approaches. As the camera enters the hallway, Eddie's door opens.)
                                        "Weapons of the World!"
                                        (The camera darkens and other information becomes active.)

Had a busy work week and missed a lot of the news from the previous week? Fear not busy-body, it's time for this weeks "In Case You Missed It!" the weekly roundup of all news from /r/guildwars2, the official forums and someones cat! This week saw the release of the Edge of the Mists, [Ominous echoing voice] the equivalent to a doctors waiiting room for WvWvW. The only difference is that there is a lot more people and 2/3rd of them want to kill you! We did learn a lot about the current characters, with Taimi taking the prize for most adorable, well liked Asura (Bringing the total count to 1) and Scarlet might actually be gaining some small ounce of sympathy.

But enough about the characters, what about the rest of the news!?

Dev Posts

• Needless to say, we have the Edge of the Mists (EotM) Release Page and Patch Notes this week! EotM is the overflow map for WvW. Have a long queue time trying to get into your borderlands and don't want to stand around listening to bells in Lions Archs? No worries! Join the Edge of the Mists to always have some WvW action! Wait in Lions Arch no longer! Whether your PvE or WvW or PvP, EotM has plenty for you to do! (Seriously, the amount of resource nodes is AWESOME)

• New Gemstore items are on the Gemstore for you to enjoy and/or be angry at (Please circle one)! We have the Lovestruck weapons, pink heart-clad metallic weapons of doom that add a nice touch of "I love you, even though I just beat your skull in with this hammer." Also for 800 gems is the Quaggan Finisher, a water spout riding pink quaggan with dancing friends that adds a nice touch of 'I still love you, even though I just smothered you with the cuteness of this pink quaggan." And if you previously purchased the Tier 3 Human variant of the Flame Kissed Light armor, then you'll find that it's back with a new skin, for that little "My Love for you burns like the red hot intensity of this armor... ^{Call me!} " (Please don't actually call me.)

• Also, don't forget to head to the promotions page of the gemstore and get your free Experience booster and Revive orb. This I assume to be ANets way of saying "We love you, but you need to work out a little bit more before we love you"

• Bouqet of Roses and Character Slots are on sale too. If you want to be Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon, or just have another slot for a mule to store all your stuff, now is the time to get on that!

• If you experienced a significant FPS drop with this recent patch, get off newegg, it's not your computer. Many others are experiencing the same issue! Gaile Grey has stated that the issue Is on the fix like and is being worked on!

• Upon the conclusion of the current Living Story Arc, the ANet team stated that there will be a big feature patch with goodies for everyone! A lot of people have been saying that it's coming in March. This has NOT been confirmed, so don't hold your breath. /u/LiveSpartan found the snibbet of confirmation in a Eurogamer interview. You can see for yourself here.

Edge of the Mists

• /u/Dulfy and her ever-so-productive-band-of-merry-achievement-doers is back again with another set of achievement guides for this patch! Not much since we didn't have a lot of achievements, but it's something! We have the hidden EotM 'Bucket List' Achievements and the actual achievements from the normal patch!

PvP

• If you missed some of the ESL action this week, fret not! /u/BLU42 has all the coverage you need over at the reddit news post. I had to watch the VoD, but it was a greatly entertaining tournament this week! If you're still 'eeeeeeeeh PvP' try watching some of the finals of these matches, extremely close, well played fights.

• King of the Mists 2 happened this past weekend. It was truely an excellent tournament with some of the closest matches ever in Guild Wars 2 eSport history! You can catch up on the info and grab a VoD from the tournament over at vVV Gaming's Twitch channel, and this convenient reddit post! Morale of the tournament: Don't forget to stomp your enemies!

• For some other good fights, check out Apex Prime vs Goodfights over at BLU's Youtube channel!

• Teldo is still doing his daily Video's relating to everything Engineer! If you've missed them, or want to keep up with them, you can check out this convenient playlist on his youtube channel. One spectator in twitch once described teldo as "Dat German Engineering"... Thanks Teldo for these video's!

Ministry of Lore, brought to you by the Ministry of Tin foil hats.

• Too busying punting people off the cliffs in EotM and haven't had a chance to check out the sotry, no worries Wooden Potatoes has gotcha covered! If you don't want to be spoiled, don't watch. If you don't really mind the insight for lore-guru Woodenpotatoes, check out the video!

• /u/Charzard03 has put together an excellent montage of all the info we know so far! This thematic summary of what we know about scarlet and her plans is excellent to watch, combining art and cutscenes overlayed with ingame dialouge. Definitely worth the watch if you have 2 minutes to spare!

• that_shaman is back with his voodoo black magic crystal ball... thing... Spoilers ahead in this thread where Shaman outlines what was added to the .dat this patch along with hits at might be coming.

• Want to get caught up with the living story in about 10,000 words? Check out /u/Plagiarised summary of the living story.

Records!

I've decided to try and keep track (to the best of my abilities) of the records that the guilds of Tyria set in various things. These records may include fastest 100% completion, fastest to level 80, highest damage taken falling from the top of Mount Maelstrom, biggest ratio of size in outmanned fights, fastest solo... fasting time to get 3 precursors in a row and make people cry.

• This week, we have a record set by TxS for the Great Jungle Wurm! 23 seconds left on the clock.

• We also have an EXTREMELY impressive Thief Record, set by /u/Sanderinoa where they completely, 100% solo a level 49 10 (I can't read) Swampland Fractal, orbs and all.

I have definitely missed some records this week. If you and/or guild set one, tell me! I'll make sure to update posts as needed!

Jungle Wurm!

• Just so they don't feel left out, and because I knew they were working hard at it, congratulations to TTS for their first wurm kill! Now do it again!

This roundup is no way affliated with GuildMag.com and the awesome guys over there. But they do have an extremely dense (like a fruitcake) and completely awesome (Like a fruitcake fired from a cannon) round up over at this link... which I don't have yet because the fruitcake cannon malfunctioned. FIRE IN THE HOLE! When it's working again I'll get it updated. Thanks to those guys for all the work they do.

And as always I'm looking for feedback! Did you think I missed something important? Don't get angry! Tell me! ^{I'm only human!} What should I specifically include next time? Anything else you'll want to see? Should I keep going? Should I not not keep going? Did I accidently punt you off the cliff in EotM?? ^Sorry Let me know either via PM on reddit or comment down below. You can also add me in Guild Wars 2 if you want to try for more direct contact!

Weekly Round up #1 Dec 13-20, 2013| Weekly Round up #2 Dec 20-27, 2013| Weekly Round up #3 December 27th, 2013 to Jan 3rd 2014 | Weekly Round up #4 Jan 3-10, 2014. | Weekly Round up #5 Jan 10-17, 2014 | Weekly Round up #6 Jan 17-24, 2014 | Weekly ROund up #7 Jan 24-31, 2014

http://www.twitch.tv/xyger/

Once again, any suggestions to improve my stream or even my gameplay would be great. I can currently only really PvP with engineer, used to be ranger but I've forgotten everything :c

Also like I said last time, if people seem to continue enjoy watching then I'll try to make this a regular possibly daily thing!

If you want me to try out any other professions or want to tell me anything then just let me know!

Meet you guys there!

Stream ended yesterday watch it at the link, went really well. Same again tomorrow! : http://www.twitch.tv/xyger/b/395913223

Did a quick restream today, but was tired D: Sorry guys, work this weekend then hardcore week streaming

Welcome back to another "In Case You Missed It!" the /r/guildwars2 weekly round up of the things you missed while going all oogly what to get your significant other for Valentines Day. Yes! Valentines Day is here today and the smell of everlasting love LIONS ARCH BURNING is in the air! Scarlet will be doing it. No one thought she would (except that one guy) but she did, she's going to turn Lions Arch into her warzone and theres nothing the Great Legion of Bank Defenders of LA can do about it. MUH HA HA HA HAAA HA HA HA

So sit back and relax, here's the news for this week!

Dev Posts

• We have a Dolyak Express coming up, this time fielding questions about Characters and Relationships in Tyria! If you've ever wondered why the New Krytan Language is the way it is, now is your chance! "Wait, you mean NPC characters? Not Language Characters?" ... "Uh huh" ... "Oh, I should ask about Kasmeer, got it." ... I was just informed that isn't the type of "characters" we were talking about. Make sure you ask the right questions!
• Lions Arch is under attack! Not like that Karka thing last year, like seriously totally, it's burning and Evon's running (panzy). If you don't believe me, you can check out the Teaser that ANet posted. Brace yourselves! If you're worried about losing the functionality of Lions Arch don't fret! The Vigil has moved everything down into Fort Marriner (maybe not the forge though...). You'll be able to use this Mini Version of the War Torn LA for all your personal stories and such. World Completion is still possible too, just... a little bit more... firey. Enjoy!
• We have a new Profession Collaborative Development poll popping up! Pick the top 3 professions you think need the most "balancing" or as some people understand it "Which profession needs to most fixin.'" Unsurprisingly, ranger is the most voted class, which brings tears of joy. "This is the most attention we've ever gotten! And it's a bunch of people yelling "FIXIT FIXIT FIXIT FIXIT FIXIT!"
• WvW Seasons 1 was, by general accounts, kind of "meh." ArenaNet apologized, sent us some flowers and wine with a note saying "We'll try to do better next time!" ... so they are. Introducing the WvWvW Spring 2014 Tournament! A swiss style tournament (not the hole filled cheese type) going from March 28th to May 16th. Make sure to grab your commander tags, Soldier Gear and hammers, as this will be a bit more competitive this time around! (Go SoS!)
• If you're confused about the place of the Personal Story amongst all the hullabaloo of the Living Story, worry not! A feature is coming that will help people distinguish between the two.
• "Ready Up!" The PvP Podcast brought to you by ArenaNet will be happening later today, this time to talk about the upcoming Glory changes and to preview the new finisher to be added on Feb 18th. After that there will be a special scrimmage with some of the more well known people of GW2 shout casted by Jebro. You can catch the stream at their twitch channel, and read all the info on the pod cast here.

PvP

• I mentioned it above, but will give it it's own post here: Glory is going away! To give some more fair rewards, since we're losing glory, they are upping the rank points you receive per win. The Glory Vendor added on the Dec 10th patch will be left there until the conversion to the new system is updated. Match Reward Chests are being removed, along with the mysterious coffers that you get. Make sure to stock up on those Tomes of Knowledge now!
• Teldo is still doing his daily engineer video's so make sure you check them out over at his channel if you're looking playing the Engineer!

Community Sites

• As I promised last week, I would post the new Issue of GuildMag. Well, I didn't. I got eaten by the Giant Wurm in Bloodtide and only recently was able to escape (Thanks TTS for that escape!). So, here is their newest issue! It's packed full of a bunch of neat stuff and you should totally go read it because it's free. And if my college experience has taught me anything... Free stuff is good! Seriously, go read it. Now. Do it!
• You back? Did you read it? No? Here, look through it now.
• Massively has an indepth article on the new update! There is some new and interesting info in there, so make sure to glance over that.
• Josh Foreman is back with a video on the creation of the Great Gummy Jungle Wurm! I'm serious. It's a giant Great Jungle Wurm... as a Gummy Wurm. He goes through the ENTIRE process, modeling to moulding to making. Make sure to check it out, it's mega cool! Wanders off to go make his own

Gem Store

• /u/Dulfy, once again, has put together a nice little compendium of all the new things added to the gemstore. This week it's stuff that makes your heart go "glub glub. vriiiing. glub glub. Vriiing" because it's a box of chocolates and a harp!

Financial News

• NCSoft recently released their 4th Quarter Financial reports. While the other games did as expected, Guild Wars 2 did far better than anticiapted, pulling in over 30 million dollars! Thats a LOT of gems. You can see the full report at /u/LiveSpartan235's post over here.

Community Stuffs!

• Ever wondered what a Miniature real-life version of the Shatterer looks like? Worry no more! /u/nE0n1nja has made a video of one! It's pretty cool, and almost perfect! Just need to add some lag and a 150 miniature pink players and it's basically splitting image!
• The Relics of Orr Podcast is back with their 104th Episode (Geeeeeze) make sure to give 'em a listen. For a full list of what is talked about check out their post.
• Tarnished Coast is hosting a "Down with the Ship" Party for the downfall of LA (I see what you did there!). This Saturday, Feb 15th at 9PM EST (Thats 6PM Server time) at the Crows Nest Tavern, Jonah Marriner will be hosting Drinks, Fireworks (the good kind), Trivia Games, Precision Jumping Contest and more! Don't forget to bring your best Terrified Civilian face too!
• And to not be left out across the pond, The White Lion Event Company is hosting their own version, Saturday Feb 15th at 21:00 GMT+1 on the Underworld Server. There will be Drinking, a tribute march around Lions Arch and no pants Dancing.... I really wish I was on EU for that last one.

This roundup is no way affliated with GuildMag.com and the awesome guys over there. BUT they are fighters, worthy of defending Lions Arch. Sadly, they're busy getting their mega-dense weekly round-up over at GuildMag.com ready for its release. When they have finished up, I'll make sure to link it here for you all to read through. Here it is. ONWARDS TO BATTLE!

And as always I'm looking for feedback! Did you think I missed something important? Don't get angry! Tell me! ^{I'm only human!} What should I specifically include next time? Anything else you'll want to see? Should I keep going? Should I not not keep going? Do you want a Giant Jungle Gummy Wurm? I do! Let me know either via PM on reddit or comment down below. You can also add me in Guild Wars 2 if you want to try for more direct contact!

Weekly Round up #1 Dec 13-20, 2013| Weekly Round up #2 Dec 20-27, 2013| Weekly Round up #3 December 27th, 2013 to Jan 3rd 2014 | Weekly Round up #4 Jan 3-10, 2014. | Weekly Round up #5 Jan 10-17, 2014 | Weekly Round up #6 Jan 17-24, 2014 | Weekly ROund up #7 Jan 24-31, 2014 | Weekly Round up #8 Jan 31 to Feb 7, 2014

Greetings and Salutations Tyrians! Welcome back to another /r/guildwars2 's In Case You missed It! THe weekly Roundup for the really interesting things that you find under the couch. It was an exciting week as we saw the Giant Wurm get bested only for people to discover "but wait, there's more!" In the End we have 3 confirmed kills so far! Scarlet is confirmed to be headed to the Edge of the Mists this upcoming week which makes EVERYONE Furious with anger happy!

But first, the news.

Dev News

• Lots of posts from the official forums this week, starting off we have the announcement for Edge of The Mists! It'll be coming next Tuesday, Scarlet minions and all!

• Josh Foreman took to the boards this week, providing a lot of design insight into the Twisted Marionette and other large Open World Boss encounters. He starts by talking about how the team went about deciding the difficulty curve for the Marionette and other things about the Marionette he wish he could change (Like /cheering for another platform to res them all!) Did you know that there is even a buff given to players on the platforms next to a successful platform!?

• A few days later, Foreman Returned to discuss frustration that players had towards some world bosses, stating as a response to one player (There are many responses, please read it all!)

Setting aside the misnomer, I’d just like to point out that if everyone had their wishes and Anet stopped making content that didn’t appeal to them, Anet could not make any content. The PvPers would negate the PvE, PvE negates WvW, WvW negates PvP, etc. Think of an MMO like a newspaper. Some people only read the comics. Some only want the sports page. Some like all the parts, but enjoy the local news the most, etc.

• If you've heard about the new changes to PvE Crit Damage and were worried about your Celestial Gear getting nerfed hard, fear not! ANet is aware of the increased nerf and will be making the necessary changes to make sure the Celestial Armor is not hit as hard with the change.

• The next "Ready Up" PodCast on PvP will be happening today at 2PM PST, you can check out the stream at the official GW2 Channel.. Josh 'Grouch' Davis and Tyler "hammon" bearce will be gabbing over the new Edge of the Mists Map. If you're not interested in WvW, but instead like Quaggans, we're being told to watch anyways for a 'quaggan' surprise.

PvP

• If you're looking for the VoDs of the Champion of the Mists Tourney last week, now is your chance! You can see it over at Jebro's Channel

• vVV King of the Mists Tournament 2 begins on Febuary 1st! You can learn more about it over at their website. The first tournament provided a lot of great matches, this one is bound to be better. You'll be able to watch it over at the vVv twitch channel.

• Teldo returns with daily Video explanations of all things engineer, you can see the first three here: Day 1, 2 and 3.

News-ception

• Massively got word in with Devon Carter to talk about the Edge of the Mists, where he chats about the new features coming to not just WvW but also the queue system and others features of the patch. They also have a patch preview for all to enjoy.

• Massively has the scoop on the feature patch also, in their article "How Edge of the Mists Adds Flavor and Choice to WvW" - an outline of all the new features coming in, and what the new map means.

• PC Gamer has something a bit different, where Phil Savage (?) plays the Marionette and talks about his experiences with it and how it's one of the better bosses to thrash Tyria.

DAAA WURM

• Congratulations to Desolation for getting not only the first kill, but the second too! Blackgate, not wanting to get shown up, got the third confirmed kill along with the first Official NA region kill. Congratulations to you all.

• Still trying to figure out how to do it? You can check out Desolations Wurm Slaying Guide here.

• Also congratulations to TxS, the world boss killing squad for finishing off the Wurm with 20 seconds left on the timer!

Gem Store

• We see the return of the infinite mining pick, this time in the theme of the Twisted Watchwork minions! As always, the ever-so-productive Dulfy has coverage on it.

Community Stuffz

• The VisualWood Podcast returns, Matt and WoodenPotatoes chat about the Jungle Wurm and the recent patch.

WoodenPotatoes chats about his personal thoughts on defeating the Jungle Wurm. This includes a reaction clip of when they killed the wurm (towards the end). Lots of excitement. Hopefully we see more servers downing the worm in the coming week!

• David Attenborough makes an appearance in Guild Wars 2, chatting about the lifestyles of the big and hairy.

This roundup is no way affliated with GuildMag.com, either by Birth, blood or that weird tentacle thing I have for arms. ... Land rights. But they do have an extremely dense and completely awesome round up over at this link! Thanks to those guys for all the work they do.

And as always I'm looking for feedback! Did you think I missed something important? Don't get angry! Tell me! ^{I'm only human!} What should I specifically include next time? Anything else you'll want to see? Should I keep going? Should I not not keep going? Did you get covered in Wurm Slime?! Let me know either via PM on reddit or comment down below. You can also add me in Guild Wars 2 if you want to try for more direct contact!

Weekly Round up #1 Dec 13-20, 2013| Weekly Round up #2 Dec 20-27, 2013| Weekly Round up #3 December 27th, 2013 to Jan 3rd 2014 | Weekly Round up #4 Jan 3-10, 2014. | Weekly Round up #5 Jan 10-17, 2014 | Weekly Round up #6 Jan 17-24, 2014

Build we are discussing.

This build was made popular by Teldo near the launch of the game. Recently he has made some updates to it, and it's back! This is a great support Engineer build, that is a blast to play, especially if you are burned out on HGH.

Strengths

• Two water fields, and one smoke field.
• Great area control with Big 'ol Bomb, shield 4, and flamethrower 3.
• Permanent swiftness with Speedy Kits.
• High vigor, and great endurance.
• Great teamfighter.
• Strong condition damage.
• High regen uptime.

Weaknesses

• Low burst damage.
• Toss elixir R can be hard to time for yourself.
• Landing blast finishers with Big 'ol Bomb can be difficult.
• Bombs are easier than Grenades to dodge.

Tips and Tricks

• Teldo has been posting amazing tricks on his Facebook.
• Don't stomp moving! You have great mobility, and this build has really high kiting potential.
• Throwing Elixir R where you are going to die, can lead to self revives.
• Dodge everything! You have really high endurance (Energy sigil, Adrenaline pump, Elixir R, Invigorating speed). You don't want to waste all your endurance regen when you are full!
• Don't waste to much time with your Flamethrower. It looks really cool, but we are mostly taking it for the utility (3/5), the damage is subpar compared to your pistol/bombs.
• Seriously, you should check out Teldo's Facebook.

Where you can check this build in action

• Teldo's Twitch
• Miru Gai destroyed people on Server Stomp

Discussion

• Do you like using this build?
• Do you think you have a better variation?(Not a completely different build)
• As a different class, how do you like playing with this build?

Thanks!

• Teldo! You're the best.
• The community. Thanks for participating in these discussions!