Update - Thursday, February 9, 2012 (Winds of Change Part 3)

can we start documenting what's coming out of these lockboxes? also I've heard at least 2 new minis, are these in the lockboxes or random drops from npcs?

You troll sir.

I'd like to see a picture of the golden scepters =)

You didn't beat it in HM yet.

confirmed.
Zei Ri is a new Rt hero, obtainable after finishing the chain in HM.

WHAT? You have to go all the way in HM to unlock a rit hero?

Here's the scepter. It has a lot of red lighting that swirls around it and leaves a snappy glitter trail in the same color, when you run.



Here, from the front you can see the two big balls.



Focus...Not as flashy as scepter, but the ball is much bigger.



Some pretty classy shizz, IMO.

oh really..its funny how they added miku to wiki but i dont see this guy. so pics?

Now, CLEARLY I didn't do any of the WoC (my HoM is done so there's absolutely no reason to do anything in GW unless I find it particularly fun and there's just nothing about WoC that would scream "fun"), so I can't tell if this is true or not, but the idea of putting one of the best heroes in the game at the end of a HM chain sounds pretty insane. It's the people that won't be able to do the chain that are in the biggest need of this hero, because the strength of the rit options might mean the difference between defeat and a victory, whereas for the people that are able to do it - getting the guy means they'll be able to shave off a few seconds off their already fast times of blazing though the game. Getting the assassin hero as a HM reward would make sense - they are completely useless, so it would make for a perfect vanity reward.


I am all for a new rit hero, just not as a HM reward.

Something isn't adding up right. The Anet blog said there would be 9 new quests. I count 7 as part of the final chain, and 1 given by Lei Jeng ("redemption of the lost")... which makes 8 total. Are we missing 1?

It could be that "memories of purity" is the 9th quest, but that doesn't really have an objective... i'm thinking it just controls whether there are WoC spawns in cantha or not.

Lei Jing offers two quests, the other is "finding Jinni." It involves Zenmai, so you might have to recruit her as a hero first.

i thought miku gave "finding jinnai". redemption of the lost does involve zenmai, i've completed that.

In Calling All Thugs, would advise against calling Lady Ulga cute, everyone decided to attack me then. That's what I get for being nice...

Wow, a hero for completing WoC in HM. I'm guessing a LOT of players will be unhappy about this. I completed up to Minister Cho's Estate in HM just to see what all the fuss was about with this quest's difficulty. I can't imagine most players being able to complete WoC in HM.

Fortunately, I still have additional merc hero slots I'm not using so I don't care about Zei Ri. However, this has got to suck for a lot of players.

Lei Jeng is actually offering two quests Redemption of the Lost, and Vassal States.

Um, didn't they just rebalance the quests though? So it might be more viable now. Anyway, he's a Rit. Do we really need a third rit hero? 2 seems optimal to me. Of course, this guy frees Razah up to do something else.

OMG... you're right. I didn't know they nerfed this that much. Granted I only tried one quest right now but it seemed MUCH easier than before. I just took a casual build I normally use in HM missions and was able to complete a HM WoC quest with ease. Before, taking a casual build into HM WoC quest got me slaughtered. If the remaining HM WoC quests are like this in difficulty, then it seems doable for casual HM players.

I'm still not sure I want to try to get Zei Ri, though. It's not that I didn't enjoy WoC quests. It's just that completing all three parts for all 10 characters is a drag. It was a drag completing all NM WoC part 2 quests for 10 characters and I don't look forward to doing this for part 3. After that, thinking of doing it all over again from part 1 for all 10 characters... Though if the upcoming balance changes for the remaining professions seem fun, that would give me reason to go through WoC again.

I'd like to see some constructive examples, as i believe it's NOT possible to introduce anything outright new without changing/breaking the existing mechanics. What else, besides some new (or recycled, taken from NPCs) skins they could add? A new weapon type? A hammer with six mods?

The bolded parts fully answer the issue and provide the only needed explanation. It's like whining that HM DoA yields more gemstones than NM DoA.

@down: oh, it is. In the end, the 'problem' is that you get a better hero after beating the quest chain in HM than you get after NM. Party-wise, you get a better reward for beating a harder obstacle. Story-wise, Miku being for everyone and the rit being only for those who invest more time for the cause also seems plausible.

More so, you don't HAVE TO do it. You don't get anything but the hero himself, not even an additional statue for HoM that comes (not) along with the new heroes.
So you may treat WoC HM as something you might come back to in a few months, when you feel like playing GW again.

It's nothing like that.

ah for some reason i thought that was part of woc part 2... silly me, thanks for clearing it up