Aetherblades and Jade Heroics

Last night I finished up the second part of Living World Season 1. I enjoyed it mostly, but there is still this part where you are dumped into Bloodtide Coast and told to fill a bar. I am fairly certain that this is bugged because it took me somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 events to fill the said bar. Other folks were in chat talking about it as well, so I am hoping that some sort of patch drops to resolve this for the rest of the folks who will likely experience it on the weekend. [Edit] – It appears the patch that dropped while I was doing Tequatl last night addressed this. As far as the actual content… it was a bit shallow. This part seemed much faster than the first drop. Essentially you have some content in Lion’s Arch, followed by some running around and finding a bunch of people, then the Bloodtide Coast sequence, and finally a big set piece instance. If my recollection of part one is correct we got two different set piece instances, but I am guessing they wanted to limit this story arc to only involving Kas and Jory.

The other piece that I was not quite prepared for was the fact that I had already experienced this “dungeon”. I had heard along the way that a lot of the fractals were based on instances from Living World Season 1, but I was not exactly prepared for them to just exactly be those same instances. As a result, completing this area felt probably shorter than it actually was, because I had done it a few times now as a fractal. I guess I did not make that connection quite so succinctly during the first part, though I had also completed that instance as a fractal. All of that said I am still very happy to now have access to this, and I think it is pretty great that we seem to be getting a 20 slot bag for completing each step in this chain. I am wondering if this occurs only the first time you complete it, or if all characters that you run through this sequence are now going to end up fully equipped in bags as a result.

In other news, I have finished my process of leveling every profession in Guild Wars 2 to 80. Most of them, however… are in no condition to actually play. At this point, I feel pretty confident about Warrior, Necromancer, Ranger, and Engineer. All four of those are fairly well geared and have a reasonable build. My Mesmer is getting pretty close but I still feel like I need to do some tweaking. Thief is the one that I finished leveling the last and is a complete mess as is Elementalist. Revenant could be played in a pinch but really I need to get some elite specializations unlocked to make that a more enjoyable experience. I am not sure WHY I decided I wanted one of each, but it is a thing that I have completed nonetheless. Ultimately I am probably going to start doing map completion work on them while I sort out how best to play them.

Right now I am devoting my time to getting Dragonhunter unlocked for my little Asura Guardian. This is likely going to be the next character that I “figure out” and get some viable gear and a build that is enjoyable. Essentially I am abusing my addiction to World vs World to unlock Elite Specializations on the various alts that are still in progress being figured out. Heart of Thorns is my least favorite of the content drops and as a result, are the Hero Points that I am least interested in chasing. So every time I get a Skirmish Chest I am spending it on Testimonies of Jade Heroics, which I then spend at the Heroics Notary for Notarized Scrolls of Maguuma Heroics. Over time this allows me to unlock elite specializations on characters that I am not really actively playing. It might seem cheesy but it is all part of my process and I am very thankful that the game gives me an easy way to work on my alts… while not actively playing them.