What does this vanquishing image mean? - Guild Wars Forums

lakatz · May 02, 2007, 05:41 PM // 17:41

In the screenshot expo for vanquishing pics, I've seen mostly gold helmets, a couple of silver and gold helmets, and one like this. This is the only picture I see when I vanquish an area on all three continents, so I wonder what is it's significance? And what is the significance of the other two pictures?

Thanks!

lakatz · May 14, 2007, 03:10 AM // 03:10

Does anyone know yet why different images appear for different people upon vanquishing of all foes in an area?

Kuldebar Valiturus · May 14, 2007, 03:16 AM // 03:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakatz

Does anyone know yet why different images appear for different people upon vanquishing of all foes in an area?

Unless Anet did something entirely different than normal, those images are Campaign based. However, since "Vanquishing" is a newly released form of play, there may just be one image for all locations. And, like any icon, they are there just to represent something.

lennymon · May 14, 2007, 05:03 AM // 05:03

Or it just depends on exapctly when you take the screenshot, or it's the day of the week, or the screen settings are different...

lakatz · May 14, 2007, 08:02 PM // 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by lennymon

Or it just depends on exapctly when you take the screenshot, or it's the day of the week, or the screen settings are different...

I see... so you're saying you think I should ask the dev team since there's nothing on the guild wars site or either wiki site about the different images.

Done... I just sent an email to A-Net. Anyone care to learn the answer... besides me?

Numa Pompilius · May 14, 2007, 10:18 PM // 22:18

That's a graphics bug. The helmet and swords are occluded by what would have been the lighting effect of the "flash". It could be a problem with the capabilities of your graphics card, or a problem with the driver.

lakatz · May 14, 2007, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

That's a graphics bug. The helmet and swords are occluded by what would have been the lighting effect of the "flash". It could be a problem with the capabilities of your graphics card, or a problem with the driver.

I guess I'm not making myself very clear. Sorry. Here are some examples from the screenshot expo thread for "Post Your Vanquishing Area Pics!"
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10146934

This one is gold:
http://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gw138hm0.jpg

This one is silver and gold:
http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gw131wc4.jpg

And this one is silver and gold w/ three swords like mine:
http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gw578kd2.jpg

One of the posters got the gold helmet in one area and the silver and gold helmet with three swords in another area, both in Tyria.

Another poster shows one gold helmet in one area and two silver and gold helmets in two other areas and all of them are in Elona.

I've got all silver and gold with three swords, three in Tyria, five in Cantha and one in Elona.

I strongly suspect that these images don't appear randomly and that they do have some kind of significance which apparently is not campaign specific nor relative to GMC or Protector titles. Go figure. I've got an email into support at PlayNC.

rohlfinator · May 15, 2007, 03:10 AM // 03:10

It's been a while since I've vanquished an area, but to me it looks like those screenshots were taken at different stages of the same animation. I think the helmet first shows up as gold, then flashes silver, then the three swords appear.

Maybe someone who has vanquished recently can confirm this, but that would be my guess.

lakatz · May 15, 2007, 08:34 PM // 20:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by rohlfinator

It's been a while since I've vanquished an area, but to me it looks like those screenshots were taken at different stages of the same animation. I think the helmet first shows up as gold, then flashes silver, then the three swords appear.

Maybe someone who has vanquished recently can confirm this, but that would be my guess.

It's a good guess. I thought of this as well and watched closely for this kind of image morphing/animation a few times and didn't see it. It doesn't mean it didn't happen. It may have. I just didn't see it. I asked a friend of mine here at work what he sees, and he said he never noticed the three swords when he vanquished an area, but I don't think he's really vanquished that many areas, and I don't believe he's paid attention like I have.

I just tried to get an answer from A-Net/NCSoft, and that turned into a Kafka-esque experience. First I emailed community @ arena.net thinking the staff there could ask the dev team like Gaile does. I received a prompt nicely written response that "the matter about which you have written us is not something that our team can address" and they referred me to "the ask a question tab" at the Guild Wars support page. Okay, fair enough.

So... I followed the links to the PlayNC support form. And that's when it all became more than surreal. I input all the appropriate information, asked my question and mentioned that I'd been to the GW site and both guildwikis numerous times and can't find any information.

The form letter I received last night (from GM Oghma) said they couldn't answer individual game play issues and referred me to the GW site, the guildwiki sites and the fansites.

I wrote back and asked him to please read my question as it was apparent he hadn't since he referred me to sites I'd told him I'd been and asked him if he would kindly ask the dev team since they created the interface in question. I added that I'd posted here in this forum and wasn't getting any answers, just speculation.

He responded in 11 minutes with the same exact form letter. Do you know what would happen to my job if I was so lax? I would have to kiss it goodbye.

I responded in 3 minutes saying "Please please please please please please read my question. Please!"

He responded back that basically the answer is for them to know and me to find out. I quote, "They also prefer for players to learn about the game through exploring and experiencing it, rather than simply be given the answers." I'll translate for you: He means "I don't know, and I'm too lazy to find out." This is not an answer than can be learned "through exploring and experiencing it. It can only be speculated "through exploring and experiencing it." He clearly hasn't had much experience himself with people who can see through rhetoric, or he wouldn't try to pass that 'stuff' off as an answer.

I'd rather butt my head against a brick wall. The results would be more definitive.

tommarrow · May 15, 2007, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Did the different pictures matter depending on what the max number of people in a group were for the area like 4, 6 or 8? Maybe it depends on how fast you clear the area. Do the helmets look different on the map or just when it pops up on the screen?
The 3 swords are usually for the level of completeness for a mission in Cantha or Elona.
ANet loves to throw in little things that make no sense which they will never give the community a answer to like the Gwen items or the reset clock for the treasure chests.

tifaRockheart · May 16, 2007, 02:10 AM // 02:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakatz

First I emailed community @ arena.net thinking the staff there could ask the dev team like Gaile does.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakatz

and asked him if he would kindly ask the dev team since they created the interface in question.

lol. wow. This sort of reminds me of the time a player found Gaile's work phone number and called her about some questions while she was on her way to an important meeting with the devs.

Now I’ve never worked for the industry, and so I’m making assumptions as to how they do things as you are, but instead I don’t think the support and community staff should ask the devs questions whenever a player has one.

The devs are (or at least should be) busy people. So let’s say a dev is working on some part of GW:EN and all of a sudden a community staff member comes in and says “one of the players would like to know why the tattered girl’s cape was removed.”

Assuming that the dev actually answers the question, the dev would spend some time answering while the community staff records what they’re saying and then leaves when they’re done.

Once finished, the dev would have to look back at his computer, take a few moments to remember what he was doing, how he was doing it, and what he was planning on doing. Remembering what they were doing after a conversation on another topic isn’t easy at times since some parts of development can get quite complicated. And once the dev has started back up again, another question can come in restarting the whole process decreasing the time spent on updates and new games, and increasing frustration on the time constrained devs.

If the staff did end up sending you a response to your question of curiosity, then I would start emailing the staff my questions of curiosity (such as what was the original purpose for the tattered girl’s cape). If the lore loving part of the community finds out that you and I were able to get answers from emailing the staff, then the devs would have to spend even more time answering questions. Eventually more and more people will email them and it would turn into something like a Gaile chat, which, if you’ve ever been to one, is pretty horrible at times.

The whole situation can then get ugly when the deadlines start coming closer leading to the devs blaming the community/support staff for so many interruptions. And in a choice between a not so easily replaced dev and a bit easier replaced community/support staff member, who would you choose to fire to ensure the deadline isn’t missed again? If I were a community/support staff, I would try my best never to interrupt a busy dev.

Oh and break time should equal break time.

Better way to deal with this: meetings. The dev would then have an allotted time for gathered questions so that they aren’t interrupted at random times for community related questions. Of course an allotted time can’t be too long, and so the community staff would have to choose what they feel are the “better” questions from the community.

The only time a community or support staff should contact the devs outside of a meeting is for the seldom major bugs found.

At this time, I think that community questions about necro's and mesmers, along with GW:EN and GW2 outweigh yours. Plus we don't know how often they have meetings, so your question might not even reach the devs for a month or more. So the staff member you contacted was right in telling you and leading you to understand that he/she couldn't answer the question.

Your question in the OP also seems to relate to the lore (possible importance of places). The people who figure things out with lore usually just use the hints they were given and tie things together on their own without direct answers from the devs. This goes along with what the staff member responded to you with.

As for what I think it is, I think what you are seeing in the OP image is just a bug. If I were to guess, the hole in the helm is probably due to a low graphics setting and the way transparent textures are sometimes shown to cut through things (but that's not what you're asking about). The 3 swords, as far as we know, shouldn't be there, and so had some glitch/mistake for being shown. Again, this is what I think, and so yes, can be very wrong.

Also, I’m curious as to what you are speculating about the differences in helm images. If you’ve gone as far as emailing the community staff about it, you must think it to be very important. I hope what I’m typing isn’t taken negatively because I truly enjoy reading speculation (which is all we can do at the moment), especially when speculation becomes truth. In other words, I enjoy seeing how people figure things out without a direct answer from the creators.

EDIT: "corrected" bug theory

VitisVinifera · May 16, 2007, 02:36 AM // 02:36

I don't think I've seen three swords, I believe they've all been 2 swords

Eldin · May 16, 2007, 02:39 AM // 02:39

I'm pretty sure the helmet starts out as one color and fades, and the final helmet is gold and silver.

Not sure about the swords. When I vanquished Griffon's Mouth in Tyria, I believe I got 3.

Aphrodate · May 16, 2007, 01:32 PM // 13:32

My guess is that it's maybe the same as Standard, Expert and Masters when you finish a mission? Like in NM where you get one sword for Standard, two swords for Expert and three swords for Masters.

lakatz · May 16, 2007, 04:57 PM // 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

As you can see the silver & gold helmets are part of the same animation. The swords are mission completed and mission bonus completed; I would assume that the third sword in some of the pictures are from Canthan or Elonian missions, and show Masters, whereas pictures of vanquish-helmet without swords show a vanquish of an exploration area.

Wow... thank you so much for your efforts. Your pictures add a lot of information that I didn't have. Actually I haven't done a mission in hard mode yet. I've only done explorable areas... on all three continents and I've always only seen the three swords on all of them.

I have Legendary GMC and Protector of all three. I wonder if that's a factor.

Again... thank you thank you thank you!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tifaRockheart

Now I’ve never worked for the industry, and so I’m making assumptions as to how they do things as you are, but instead I don’t think the support and community staff should ask the devs questions whenever a player has one..

I DO work in the entertainment industry of which gaming is a part, but I don't work in gaming. I work in film and television (and have for many years

) for a profit-oriented company that happens to be the biggest and the most innovative in our field

. We are busy because, as is the word on the street, we are getting the lion's share of the market

. But if any of us were to be caught responding like the person who responded to me we would, at the very least, receive a verbal warning

. But then again we also have a rep for being friendly and helpful

.

Was there an answer to my question in your post

? I only got as far as to read enough to realize that you were giving your opinion of my choices which, of course, is not my concern. So, if there IS an answer to my question, I'd love if you'd highlight it for me. Thanks!

Numa Pompilius · May 16, 2007, 07:38 PM // 19:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakatz

Wow... thank you so much for your efforts.

My pleasure. I was curious myself.

Quote:

Actually I haven't done a mission in hard mode yet. I've only done explorable areas... on all three continents and I've always only seen the three swords on all of them.

I have Legendary GMC and Protector of all three. I wonder if that's a factor.

It quite possibly might be. As it happens, I'm protector of Tyria and Cantha, but not Elona.
It would be very interesting if you'd vanquish the doppleganger at Augury Rock - he's no smarter in hard mode than in normal mode - and check if you get three swords.

tifaRockheart · May 16, 2007, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakatz

Was there an answer to my question in your post ?

yah, it was at the bottom. I apologize for the long post

Quote:

Originally Posted by tifaRockheart

As for what I think it is, I think what you are seeing in the OP image is just a bug. ...(some not important text)... The 3 swords, as far as we know, shouldn't be there, and so had some glitch/mistake for being shown. Again, this is what I think, and so yes, can be very wrong.

Also, I???m curious as to what you are speculating about the differences in helm images.

My further input:
When I matched up the little map area shown in the OP picture, it looks like it's the explorable area Sunqua Vale. So I went out and vanquished it.
(me ending in about the same location was a coincidence)

As you can see in the image, I did not get the 3 swords, and it shows the color transition like Numa showed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakatz

I have Legendary GMC and Protector of all three. I wonder if that's a factor.

I also have those

Only (important?) differences I can think of...
this was my first vanquisher for an explorable area, and my character is Tyrian born (only mentioned just in case your character isn't).
I do have a couple Missions done in Hard Mode, but they are in NF and Proph. None for Factions

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakatz

I only got as far as to read enough to realize that you were giving your opinion of my choices which, of course, is not my concern.

Although I'd like to get a bit further into it

, you are right that this thread is about something else, and so I shall say no more on that topic.

Enko · May 16, 2007, 10:55 PM // 22:55

i've never gotten swords when vanquishing an area, only when completing a mission. for vanquishing, i've been getting helmets that flash silver then fade into the normal gold color.

lakatz · May 17, 2007, 08:30 PM // 20:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

...It would be very interesting if you'd vanquish the doppleganger at Augury Rock - he's no smarter in hard mode than in normal mode - and check if you get three swords.

That would be an interesting experiment. Thank you. I'm going to try it... first I'm going after standard time with the doppleganger, then after the bonus time to see what happens... because now, thanks to all the great input here, I have a theory to test out.

It would seem logical that completing the mission bonus in Tyria would earn one two crossed swords behind the helmet. And then earning expert in Cantha or Elona would trigger the two crossed swords while earning masters would result in the three crossed swords. And...

what tifa said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by tifaRockheart
As for what I think it is, I think what you are seeing in the OP image is just a bug. ...(some not important text)... The 3 swords, as far as we know, shouldn't be there, and so had some glitch/mistake for being shown. Again, this is what I think, and so yes, can be very wrong.

and then what Enko said...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enko

i've never gotten swords when vanquishing an area, only when completing a mission. for vanquishing, i've been getting helmets that flash silver then fade into the normal gold color.

This very well could be a bug.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tifaRockheart

Also, I’m curious as to what you are speculating about the differences in helm images.

The whole point of this thread is to avoid speculating. To speculate is to reason based on inconclusive evidence. And the evidence I had was definitely inconclusive. So I asked. And look at all the additional evidence and input you and others have contributed in answer. Thank you!

Next I'm going to do some experimenting and see what happens in mission areas because, as you said, the three swords are probably not intended for explorable areas and this could very well be a bug. I think I'm probably only supposed to see a helmet and no swords in explorable areas like Enko sees.

May 02, 2007, 05:41 PM // 17:41	#1
lakatz Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jun 2006	What does this vanquishing image mean? In the screenshot expo for vanquishing pics, I've seen mostly gold helmets, a couple of silver and gold helmets, and one like this. This is the only picture I see when I vanquish an area on all three continents, so I wonder what is it's significance? And what is the significance of the other two pictures? Thanks!

May 14, 2007, 03:10 AM // 03:10	#2
lakatz Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jun 2006	Does anyone know yet why different images appear for different people upon vanquishing of all foes in an area?

May 14, 2007, 05:03 AM // 05:03	#4
lennymon Forge Runner Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Seattle Guild: Odin's Hammer [OH] - Servant's of Fortuna [SoF] Profession: R/	Or it just depends on exapctly when you take the screenshot, or it's the day of the week, or the screen settings are different...

May 14, 2007, 10:18 PM // 22:18	#6
Numa Pompilius Grotto Attendant Join Date: May 2005 Location: At an Insit.. Intis... a house. Guild: Live Forever Or Die Trying [GLHF] Profession: W/Me	That's a graphics bug. The helmet and swords are occluded by what would have been the lighting effect of the "flash". It could be a problem with the capabilities of your graphics card, or a problem with the driver.

May 15, 2007, 03:10 AM // 03:10	#8
rohlfinator Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2007 Profession: R/	It's been a while since I've vanquished an area, but to me it looks like those screenshots were taken at different stages of the same animation. I think the helmet first shows up as gold, then flashes silver, then the three swords appear. Maybe someone who has vanquished recently can confirm this, but that would be my guess.

May 15, 2007, 09:46 PM // 21:46	#10
tommarrow Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Dec 2005 Guild: Shyft Machine [MYTH] Profession: E/	Did the different pictures matter depending on what the max number of people in a group were for the area like 4, 6 or 8? Maybe it depends on how fast you clear the area. Do the helmets look different on the map or just when it pops up on the screen? The 3 swords are usually for the level of completeness for a mission in Cantha or Elona. ANet loves to throw in little things that make no sense which they will never give the community a answer to like the Gwen items or the reset clock for the treasure chests.

May 16, 2007, 02:36 AM // 02:36	#12
VitisVinifera Banned Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Northern California Guild: HoTR Profession: N/Me	I don't think I've seen three swords, I believe they've all been 2 swords

May 16, 2007, 02:39 AM // 02:39	#13
Eldin Forge Runner Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: America. How about you, commie? Guild: Fellows of Mythgar [FOM] Profession: R/Mo	I'm pretty sure the helmet starts out as one color and fades, and the final helmet is gold and silver. Not sure about the swords. When I vanquished Griffon's Mouth in Tyria, I believe I got 3.

May 16, 2007, 01:32 PM // 13:32	#14
Aphrodate Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2007 Guild: Blue Shadow Masters Profession: E/	My guess is that it's maybe the same as Standard, Expert and Masters when you finish a mission? Like in NM where you get one sword for Standard, two swords for Expert and three swords for Masters.

May 16, 2007, 10:55 PM // 22:55	#18
Enko Forge Runner Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: VA Profession: Mo/	i've never gotten swords when vanquishing an area, only when completing a mission. for vanquishing, i've been getting helmets that flash silver then fade into the normal gold color.