Rata Sum: Before and After

The asura have been busy little bat-mole-people!

Melandru's Shrine

Verdant Cascades

Today I have a new screenshot for you… this time it’s Verdant Cascades from Eye of the North. While playing Eye of the North you begin to understand ArenaNet’s design philosophy: that it’s not about pushing pixels or polygons, it’s about the art. That’s what allows Guild Wars to run on middle-range PCs systems.

Unless you’re specifically focusing on it, you tend to overlook the low-polygon trees and flat leaves… and see the environment as a whole, designed to provide atmosphere and opportunities to explore.

I expect we’ll be seeing more focus on the jungle environments with the introduction of the Sylvari.

Kurzick Tribute

I do quite a lot of Fort Aspenwood. It’s pretty much all I do in GW these days. When I’m not running through angry Skale and fighting Mursaat while uninfused, I am either blasting down the Orange gates at the Fort, or protecting Gunther beyond ridiculousness.

And even though all my Kurzick faction goes to the Alliance, I decided it was time for a new armor set. The Z-Keys and Luxon Jade I had built up was enough to pay for my new Kurzick Elite Armor (Jesus, they really put the Xunlai Chest out of the way! Nearly 3 radar diameters away from the Armor crafter! Rather than run all the way across the dead outpost, I mapped to GH and then back to the Armory.) :

Does it make me look fat?

House zu Heltzer

ch-Rarr!

I remember, way back when, I used to buy stacks of Wood Planks around Lion’s Arch and Droknar’s Forge, go craft Parchment, and sell it for a miniscule profit. I had Excel worksheets and calculated sales vs cost of sales. I thought it was an ingenious way to make money. I was so stupid back then :P After a while I discovered 8-man Fissure of Woe farming, and did Life Barrier / Life Bond protection, then Blood is Power with my dedicated battery necromancer, “Mana Machine”. The rewards were enough to get max armor for all my characters, and later a set of Mesmer Elite Enchanter’s from Marhaan’s Grotto. Those were the days.

Oh, and a final word… this Ritualist is so gay!

I have a rainbow belt too! <3 Rainbows

Port Sledge

This bustling port supplies the Dwarves with much of their goods and supplies. The dockworkers are kept busy with a constant flow of ships coming and going, and the market is always filled with exotic and practical wares. The cold temperatures, heavy snowfall, and frozen waters make no difference to the hearty Dwarves, but travelers are wise to bring heavy coats and plenty of warm blankets.

- In-game description, via the Guild Wars Wiki

Port Sledge is another of those borderline-useless outposts. South-east of Droknar’s Forge, it’s a quiet, neglected place with ruined bridges that you can’t walk on, and a massive boat that (perhaps sensibly) decides to stay offshore.

Please enjoy another photograph-screenshot (I’m trying to get better at them in anticipation of GW2 coverage):

BYO spit-roast dolyak.

Grendich Courthouse

It’s one of the most out-of-the-way places in Tyria. Featuring stunning vistas of dead trees, black tar pits and smoking Mesmer corpses, Grendich Courthouse is the perfect place for your next Tyrian honeymoon.

“You must be this tall to enter the Courthouse. Sorry.”

This little guild-less Ranger was following me around.

Lion's Arch

Maybe someday we’ll be swimming from this position up to the free city of all races, the future Lion’s Arch.