Your Feedback Sought: English

air of enchantment, so badly worded

*confused* Quotation marks are always outside of commas and periods, so that looks perfectly fine to me. Am I missing something? Maybe I need the full description to understand better.

Excellent point. I believe that Knight's and Ascalon Armor were bugged, may still be bugged. Let me inquire about that.

Thanks to all of you for the feedback so far. Please continue to add your input on this, as we're very interested in clarification and correction, when it's necessary! It would be helpful if you would please include the wording that you feel is in error, rather than simply commenting that something is poorly worded. If you're able and willing to do that, the review and correction process will go more quickly and smoothly!

One of the MAJOR things in the game is the inconsistency in wording of various skills that work similarly.

Warrior:
Cyclone Axe - "all adjacent opponents." Since when did you use the word 'opponents' instead of 'foes'. Every other skill in the game refers to them as 'foes'.
All Deep Wound Causing attacks except Swift Chop - "suffers from Deep Wound, lowering your target's maximum Health by 20% for [x] seconds." This can be shortened to just "suffers Deep Wound for [x] seconds." No other skills actually explain what the condition they cause does - why should these?

Belly Smash - "...strikes a foe that is on the ground, the resulting dust cloud..." All of that filler garbage can be shortened to simply "...strikes a foe that is knocked down, your target and all adjacent foes are blinded for [x] seconds." No other skill trys to rationalize WHY they cause a condition with a story.

Fierce Blow - The desp. is backwards compared to other similar effects. They usually read out like "If it hits, you deal +[x] damage. If it strikes a foe suffering from Weakness, you deal +[x] damage".

"I Will Survive" - again the desp. doesn't match with similar skills. Should just say "For [x] seconds, for each condition you are suffering you gain +3 Health Regeneration"

Signet of Strength - "Your next [x] attack deals +5 damage". Since the number of attacks can be more than one, you should put "Your next [x] attack(s) deal +5 damage." to signify that there can be more than 1 attack effected.

Savage Slash - "extra damage." every other skill in the game says "additional damage" or "+[x] damage." Just a wording inconsistency.

Drunken and Desperation Blow - Same skill, except one of them as a comma before "and your target suffers" and the other doesn't. Pick one or the other....

Ranger:
Bestial Mauling - It has already been discussed, but this skill claims to do something that is impossible to achieve in the game. It claims to interupt a knocked down foe, but in this game, if a foe is knocked down they cannot be casting anything or attacking.

Revive Animal - Wording inconsistency again. Should just say "...animal companions with [x]% Health"

Archer's Signet - Just like Signet of Strength, since more than 1 attack can be effected "bow attack" should be noted as "bow attack(s)"

Broad Head Arrow - "You shoot a Broad Head Arrow that moves slower than normal." That is very vague as to what it actually does, because what it actually does is just give the arrow a high flight arch (much like a flatbow).

Savage Shot - "you strike for [x] damage." Should say "additional damage."

All Spirits - Some specifically say "Non-Spirit creatures" get effected by it, and some do not. This was fine last year, but ever since last August, spirits were changed to where NONE of them effected each other. So this extra wording on some spirits is now an inconsistency.

Antidote Signet - "Cleanse" is a wording inconsistency, and it does not accurately tell which conditions it cures (it cures more than those three).

I'll post alittle later on the other classses, this post is quite long.

It may be a long post, but it's golden. If I could give you a Cookie of Gratitude, I would do so! This is precisely the sort of information we are seeking, in both English and in Localized languages as well. Thanks!

Not skill fixes, but minor annoying textual inconsistencies.

1) In the "Captured" quest description that shows up in the quest log, there is a line about "an imperial guardsmen"

2) One of the Homeless Canthans who are part of the "Luxury Goods" quest uses a "~" instead of a "-" in his greeting speech

3) Jamei uses her "We shouldn't stand around too long or Cynn will get riled up" speech bubble even if Cynn is not in the party

Minor things like this are really annoying to me because I edit a literary magazine at my college and it's effectively my job to look for them there


EDIT: Remembered some old, Prophecies ones that never got fixed.

1) In Abaddon's Mouth, the bonus NPC says in her speech bubble that she's heading east, while in reality the location she's trying to reach - and the location she walks to - is west.

2) In the final cutscene in Hell's Precipice, Glint says something along the lines of "Unless you wish to share [the Lich's] fate, then I suggest you make a run for it." Then should be removed from the above phrase, and from Master Togo's similar phrase in the final cutscene for Zen Daijun mission: "If this means what I think it means, then we could all be in great danger."

I understand it might not be as easy to fix cutscenes as it is to fix speech bubbles and skill descriptions. I've found more than just the above over the course of my gameplay, so I'll post anything else that I find or remember (other than the obvious discrepancies between the boss and item names in Sorrow's Furnace and the like).

Now the next two classes (didnt want to double post)

Monk:
Divine Healing - Says "for [x] points." For consistency, should say "for [x] Health."

Spell Shield - (this information is from a friend) Supposedly when a spell fails to target you because of this, The same SpellBreaker message pops up (spell fails because of spellbreaker or whatever) when it is this spell, not SpellBreaker, that is causing the spell to fail. <I'll Test this in a scrimmage or soemthing.

Unyeilding Aura - Alot can be done to tame this massive desp. In the first sentence replace the bring back to life part with Ressurect target party member (this also makes it consistent with other resurrection spells). Second part, you can say "If this enchantment is removed in any way" instead of going into the different ways it can be removed (stop maintaining or stripped).

Watchful Spirit - Small fix, but "That ally" should be changed to "Target Ally" to be consistent with other skills.

Healing Light - "has an enchantment" should be changed to "is under the effects of an enchantment" or consistency reasons, and because as it is written now it can be misinterpreted as you gain the energy if they have an enchantment on there skillbar.

Restore Life - the bit about "return to life" should be "Resurrect target party member".

Amity - Horrible wording. This is the type of skill you wanted to hear about. It implies that the foe is only under the hex if he is adjacent to you (like if he moves he can attack again), and the second sentence can make alittle more sense. Something like "Adjacent foes are Hexed with Amity for [x] seconds and cannot attack. Amity ends if foe hexed in this way takes damage." The first sentence is not a inconsistency because some Elementalist hexes are worded like that also, and I refrained from using "that foe" in the second sentence.

Mend Ailment/Condition, Restore Condition, and Purge Conditions - Already discussed, but since they heal any condition (unlike Antidote Signet) there is no reason to list all of them off in the desp. (Purge Signet and the new spell, Extinquish, don't list them all off)

Reverse Hex - "inflicted injury" is a weird way to put it "that damage" or "inflicted damage" is a much more consistent wording.

Balthazar's Spirit - The Adrenaline part is very underexplained. It goes at length to tell you about the adrenaline bonus increasing, but doesn't say by how much or anything.

Light of Dwayna - Can be shortened to one sentence, "Ressurect all dead party members in the area with 25% Health and 0 energy"


Necromancer:

Blood Ritual - Discussed over and over. A simple "Target other ally" is in order.

Dark Fury - Well, atleast this one finally tells you how much adrenaline it gives, but it is not "nearby" range like it implies. and has a >4 or 50% success req.

Life Siphon and Life Transfer - Inconsistency between their skill desps. I think Life Siphon's is much better worded, so change Life Transfer to Siphon's wording "and you gain +[x] Health regeneration."

Oppresive Gaze - I think it can be worded better, like "Target foe and adjacent foes take [x] damage. Steal up to [x] health from foes suffering from Weakness."

Deathly/Vampiric Swarm - "flies out slowly" isn't a good way to show that theres a wait inbetween you casting the spell and the damage being done.

Defile/Des Enchantments - the conditional damage should be noted as "additional" damage for consistency.

Several "Plague" Skills - they refer to "negative" conditions. Seeings as ALL conditions are "negative" this adjective isn't needed.

Aura of the Lich - the way its worded ("lose half") it implies that it just damages you for half of your health, it should be worded as "Your maximum Health is reduced by half."

Rising Bile - Worded differently than similar skills. Should say "For 30 seconds, target foe is hexed with Rising Bile." (then it matches with things like Shatterstone) Saying it does nothing is alittle mean.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/List_of_skill_anomalies

This seems to have been introduced as a blanket catch-all in Factions. The same message pops up when you try to target an assassin with Shadow Form up, when you try to put an enchanment on a target hexed with Shadow Shroud, and when you try to cast a spell in The Deep while under the effect of the Aspect of Failure.

If the above is true and "spell breaker" is now a "category" rather than a "skill," it would be nice to see this information reflected somewhere.

Learned alittle from that page (just the Divine Spirit + Air thing)

I also totally forgot to mention Dust Trap. Dust Trap is a weird one...Its "Earth" damage is actually armor ignoring, and for some reason its the only one out of the chapter 1 traps where you can see the damage dealt.

Mesmer:

Complicate - "if that action was to use a Signet" is worded differently than similar spells (if that action was a spell, instead of if that action was casting a spell.)

Signet of Disruption - Last part could be worded better. "If that foe is Hexed, Signet of Disruption can interupt any skill."

Unnatural Signet - It breaks the tradition of skills refering to themselves in the third person. should be "Unnatural Signet recharges instantly."

Illusionary Weaponry - You don't "deal no damage" (implies a 0 popping up) - you don't even hit in melee.

Mantra of Signets - "Instantly" is a more consistent term.

Channeling - "from" implies that you steal the energy. Should be changed to "for"

Epidemic - The same "negative" condition thing.

(Congrats to Mesmer skills for making more sense)

Elementalist:
Ride the Lightning - only says you "ride the lightning" to their location. This should be identified as a shadow step, so it isn't confused with teleporting.

Crystal Wave/Ten. Crystals - heres that "negative" condition thing again. It seems ot be random whether they are called Conditions or negative Conditions in skill desps....

Incendary Bonds - maybe change "target foe" to "target Hexed foe"

Hmm...Couldn't find much on the Elementalist either.

Another one I came across (and started a thread about), I guess belongs here..

Guardsman Zing-something in Kaineng Center. He stands atop the exclusive area you get to after re-entering Kaineng from Divine Path. His dialog reads as follows:

We have business in the exclusive area.

Once you select this, you are sent to the general area, FROM the exclusive area. Is this a mis-wording or does this guardsman actually belong in the general area providing access to the exclusive area for those that have already finished the game?

Found a new one.

This is what Hylas told my male PC in the explorable Unwaking Waters (emphasis mine):

The other, Kurzick NPC in Unwaking Waters uses "you" rather than gender-specific pronouns, so replacing "she" with "you" in the above would work.

Found another inconsistency in Divine Path. The adepts who give green items for Amulet of the Mists show some items with diverging requirements and benefits. For example, Adept of Illusion carries the following Wayward Wands:

1) Chaos Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 9 Domination Magic)
Halves skill recharge of Domination Magic spells (Chance: 20%)
Energy +5 (while Health is above 50%)

2) Chaos Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 9 Illlusion Magic)
Halves skill recharge of Illusion Magic spells (Chance: 20%)
Energy +5 (while Health is above 50%)

3) Chaos Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 9 Domination Magic)
Halves skill recharge of Inspiration Magic spells (Chance: 20%)
Energy +5 (while Health is above 50%)

4) Chaos Dmg: 11-22 (Requires 9 Illusion Magic)
Halves skill recharge of Inspiration Magic spells (Chance: 20%)
Energy +5 (while Health is above 50%)

Are #3 and #4 supposed to require an attribute that differs from the attribute they enhance?

The same problem is present with Adept of Bone and Adept of Light.

There is a cut scene in Sunjiang District, I believe, where (again, IIRC) Master Togo says "up" when it should be "us".

eudas

Arcane Mimicry:
For 20 seconds, Arcane Mimicry becomes the elite spell from target other ally.

It's confusing. The way I read it, it disables target ally's elite skil for 20 secondsl.
Suggestion: For 20 seconds, Arcane Mimicry is replaced by target ally's elite spell.

These two are identical except that AE only works on 'spells' and has clause on ending with a skill, yet their wording is very different.

Suggestion:

Not every attribute has, or can have, a requirement thats the same as what it raises. Its nothing new. Same reason Healing Staves/wands have Divine Favor requirement. "Inspiration" isn't a valid requirement for wands apparently, so they offer wands for it with two choices of requirement.

Aera - If it said "of target ally" I'd see where you are coming from, but "from target ally" is perfect english. I do like the rewording though, be it actually needed or not.

If u check Arcane Theivery and Arcane Larceny on has a comma the other doesnt

Well, also in The Deep elite mission the aspect of failure cause all your spells to fail, but whenever u try a spell the spell breaker message pops up

offhand I'd say splinter weapon was a confusing description.. I had to go out and test it to see if it struck both the target and adjacent or just the adjacent foes

Scrolls for extra experience bonuses, or scrolls as an elementalist's off hand, maybe not both.

Epidemic: Transfer all negative Conditions and their remaining durations from target foe to all foes adjacent to your target.

The wording makes it seem like the condition is removed from the target, when actually it's just spread.

EDIT : A better wording would be:
"All conditions suffered by target foe are spread to foes adjacent to target"

If this is indeed what the developers intended, then it falls into the category of "why are there no Prophecies Healing staves that require Healing Prayers? Why are they all Divine Favor?"

Honestly, it's weird - why Inspiration and not Domination? Why is one attribute elevated over the other? I understand that Divine Favor improves Healing spells (in a roundabout way), but what does Domination do for Inspiration?

It looks like an error, or at least an inconsistency, which is why I posted it.

There were no curses wands before Factions either, but there are now. I'd say it looks like a bug.

I didn't read through the whole thread so I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet. In the Abaddon's Mouth mission, Vizier Khilbron says "Our allies await, but the Onyx Gate guards the main passageway into Adabbon's Mouth". I can post again with a screenshot of it if that would help.

-Tom

Actually, I think the "flies out slowly" means that it will go from one enemy to the next slowly. Most skills that hit more than one enemy do so at the same time - the two Swarms have a (somewhat long) delay between one enemy being hit, and the next, and the last one.

I would leave that description as it is.

Erasculio

re: "flies out slowly" - How about "hits upto 3 nearby targets within 3 seconds"?

Yet another one today. This is what Petra Brauer in Altrumm Ruins tells anyone who clicks his "What must I do?" dialogue option:

If who catches who? The highlighted "they" should be "you" for the sentence to make sense.

Considering how many things I've found already, maybe ANet should seriously consider hiring me as an editor. I mean, I've already sent in the resume

Enduring Toxin says "For 3 second" when it should be secondS

The commander in hero's ascent says "kill an enemy priest to recieve a morale boost".
The guy who tells you about what you have to do in Raisu Palace says "Devona will pitch in, in the fifth room" when it's Danika.

Better, but the description is wrong.
For 20 seconds, Arcane Mimicry is replaced by target ally's elite skill.

no, it does transform your damage into holy damage, the fact that most holy damage is armor ignoring is something else. but the skill does, for example not trigger mark of pain, or barbs

if you change the description to that, without changing the actual skill, things like the necromancers 70 base armor and +10 vs physical damage should affect it, which they don't

something slightly different, but the last time i did the Naphu Quarter (sp?) mission. There is an NPC in the 2 cutscenes, one when you first get to the mission and one when you beat the mission. its supposed to be the same person, but the they are actually 2 different models used. kinda funny.
it has been a while since i played this mission last, so forgive me if its already been fixed.

For those who have just started Factions or haven't played through it at all, there is a minor spoiler below. You've been warned.

This is what Guardsman Pei says in the Vizunah Square (Local Quarter) outpost in response to "Remind me again, what happened in Cantha?" dialogue option:

First highlight should be "Togo sent you to the city"

Second highlight should be "purged the land of the plague's effects"

This one is a bigger spoiler, so I won't quote it. There are several grammatical errors in the text of the last bottle for the "Messages, Messages Everywhere" quest on the Luxon side.

In the second paragraph, A kind, patient, woman has one comma too many (the one between patient and woman). Further in the paragraph, the wide, unending Sea is capitalized. It seems much more likely that the Jade Sea had another proper name before the Jade Wind rather than be called "the Sea." Since there aren't any other seas around, changing it to a lowercase "sea" would work.

Lamentation: Spell. If target foe is near any corpse or Spirit, that foe takes 10...82 damage. should be changed to 'any enemy corpse or spirit,' i think. if they actually meant the skill to work as described they need to fix it to do so.

Offtopic I guess, but let me explain this. This is not an inconsistency, it is intended to be this way. The Inspiration line of skills is (almost?) never used as the primary focus of a build. Rather, Domination or Illusion are. Inspiration is used for utility mostly.

Other examples: There is no Restoration weapon/offhand that requires Restoration, they all require either Spawning, Communing or Channeling.
Also, Healing Prayers and Protection Prayers equipment always comes with a Divine Favor requirement, because Divine Favor is used as the base attribute in any healing or protection based build. Smiting weapons, however, come with a Smiting requirement, because Divine Favor plays no role in Smiting builds.

But could it be that the Inspiration line isn't used because there isn't as much gear to support its use? Why should some lines get an "unfair advantage" over others if all builds should be equally valid?

As I said before, I understand how Divine Favor improves Healing and/or Protection monk builds, and I can even see how Spawning Power would improve various protective spirits that a Ritualist carries. But how does Channeling, which has no protective skills to complement a Restoration ritualist's skill bar, enable a Restoration ritualist to function better?

It's an old issue, I know, and probably one that won't be resolved, but I'd like to hear the "official" stance on this from the developers. If we conclusively know the weapons are intended to work that way, we may grumble but we won't keep thinking it's an error or an oversight.

Yeah, It's likely that they have been putting weapons/offhands in the game with this obvious flaw for about 14 months now.

Thanks for the /sarcasm, but don't you think the weapons could be improved to be in line with the other professions' items? I mean, the elementalist wands in Divine Path are tied to the appropriate attributes instead of Energy Storage, even though Energy Storage helps elementalists nuke the same way Divine Favor helps monks heal...

Except, elementalist weapons deal elemental damage according to their type, so they cannot be linked to Energy Storage... well they could, but that's against the game mechanics.

I agree with you though, it wouldn't hurt to change this behaviour, but then again, I can also see why they made it to be this way. Does it really matter?