spltscreen

Dear Cobras,

Rather quietly earlier this week, the guild went through probably its biggest change since its very inception.

@Bone and @Mold, who first formed NPC some 3 years ago, have decided to step down as guild leaders and pass the torch.

Don't worry. They have assured me they are not quitting the game. They'll still check in with us from time to time. But, as they've slowly reduced their playing time, it was important for them to entrust the guild to someone else.

And, that someone turned out to be me.

I already had the chance to do so personally, but I hope all of you join me in sincerely thanking both Bone and Mold. It's easy to take for granted the time and energy that's spent behind the scenes.  They have each invested so much into making this guild what it is today. It's something I treasure dearly.

So, my bags are extra heavy these days, carrying a little extra responsibility and quite a bit of feels.

But, I'm energized by all you. The true heart and soul of this guild. The progress you make in raids (shoutout to @Maia!). The playful banter (and killer puns!) in chat and TeamSpeak. The generosity of your hard earned resources for each other. The volunteer spirit to fill out a late night fractal or help with an achievement. The shared pride in completing a long term project and pinning it for all to see.

I'm sure there are concerns with any leadership change. But, really, I hope there is as little change as possible. I see myself more as a caretaker than anything else. NPC will always be your guild as much as it is mine. So, it's important to me that every voice is heard. Nothing will ever be off the table.

I'd like to also take this moment to introduce @Fred T W as our new second-in-command. Congrats, and thank you for taking on that role, buddy. 

With that, the floor is yours! We can use this space for anything you like. From parting wishes to airing of grievances.

And, if you feel like approaching me directly, my door is always open. I even cleaned out a few extra in-game mail slots! I welcome your thoughts through any format: the website, in game, or directly by email: spltscreen@gmail.com.

Thanks for your attention.

-- Ser

Ah, Mev. It's now your turn to make me laugh in bed. Well played!

NPC has officially entered the Golden Age. Long may the Shiny King reign! Ribbit, ribbit. 

Ah, the classic Valentine's Day dilemma for singles: delicious dinner specials available for one night only, but at the expense of all the trappings that remind you just how single you are.

My favorite local Italian restaurant put me in just such a predicament tonight. Shrimp bisque, crab-stuffed salmon, and chocolate cannoli cake. All specials that aren't normally even on the menu. What to do?

I posed that question recently in a calendar thread. When @Mold dropped a brilliant plan:

Quote

Get a table for two...order two identical meals as a "romantic gesture"...wait 20 minutes...take both home...dolefully accept the compassion on your way out.

Simply brilliant.

Now, mind you, I am not the sort of person that is good at keeping a joke. Once my lip starts curling, I cannot hold back the floodgates of grins and chuckles that immediately follow. Execution here is critical. I'd need to really sell the disappointment of having been stood up without betraying the glee of what was to come. I didn't think I stood a chance!

But, what I fear more is a good idea going to waste. No guts, no glory. And so, I executed what will forever be known as The Mold Maneuver.

Before:

After:

I think the extra glass of wine really sold the moment and earned me that sympathetic pat on the shoulder from the waitress as I departed. Somehow, I held back the tears (of joy)!

Mold, you're a genius.

With heavy changes to Mesmer, it will be interesting to see the impact to raid compositions. Please gather your initial thoughts and theories here!

Aww, that's a precious sight, Mev. Continue having a well-earned and fantastic time out there!

Hello Cobras!

For the past few weeks, we've been upgrading the theme for the site which had fallen out of date, causing several graphical annoyances throughout the site. Perhaps you noticed strange floating menu bars, missing "Like" buttons, and other bugs.

Those issues are now resolved with the updated theme: "Chameleon Dark"

While efforts were made to retain our customization of the old Chameleon theme, we may have missed a few things. Notably, the complete set of snake backgrounds were omitted due to time constraints. If you had a favorite background that is now missing, we can look into adding it back. In fact, if there is anything you see out of place or annoying, take a screenshot and post it in this thread. We'll try to work down any issues you find.

In the meantime, if you are completely fed up with the upgraded theme, you may manually revert back to the old one ("Chameleon old"), at the risk of experiencing broken site features again. The theme has always been controlled through a drop-down at the very bottom of the site, lower-left corner. See image below.

Thanks for your attention.

Now that's what I call a Guild Hall! 

Just kicking off a discussion thread to collect any early reactions and interesting findings as we wrangle about changes.

One last call for alcohol... gonna miss the ol' watering hole.

Not to speak for Fred, but he intended this to be a place to gather helpful tips on PoF completion.

In this case, this is a map location he discovered that reliably drops Late-Blooming Elon Lily

You need to collect 10 lillies to combine them into a Florid Bouquet, which progresses The Collection of Tribute. More importantly, completion of this gets those pesky things out of Ser's bags!

For those curious about the origin of our TS server password, I present to you a scene from ReBoot, a beloved show from my childhood.

ReBoot is a computer animated TV show that enjoyed a 4 season run across several networks during the mid-to-late 90's. It starred a cast of colorful characters who lived inside a computer and frequently butted heads with the villains who were computer viruses, naturally. I enjoyed it for all the great computer puns: they lived in the city of Mainframe; the city looked like a stack of hard drive platters and was divided into sectors; citizens of the city were called binomes (and looked like either 1's or 0's); other characters had names like Dot Matrix, Megabyte, Hexadecimal (just to name a few).

For all its computer punnery, it also paid homage to a lot of pop culture. Many of my earliest references to famous people, music and films are thanks to this wonderfully wacky show. I've still been known to say "hey, this is like that scene from ReBoot!"

Like a lot of great things, it was perhaps a bit ahead of its time. It broke new ground as the first regularly running animated show to be produced using 100% computer graphics (CGI). It pioneered a lot of the earliest lip-syncing technology to match voice actors to their characters. And it famously had one of the largest and most expensive rendering server farms of its time, which still took days to render just one 30 minute episode.

A lot of computer animated works we take for granted today (looking at you, Pixar!) owe their existence to the pioneers behind ReBoot.

Coming up on two years of raiding, and hours of sweat and intensity, have taken their toll on my headset. The earcups were disintegrating and were generally nasty. I thought it was going to be a chore to track down a specific replacement part, which is why I lived with it for so long. But, as it turns out, these tend to be easily replaceable with universal replacement earpads. Here's the model I picked up:

https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Hybrid-Memory-Foam-Earpad/dp/B00ZGGG3KY

Even though they appear oval, they stretch to fit my circular earcup size. You might want to check the reviews to get additional confirmation on the fit for your model.

I cannot stress enough how instant the gratification was with this simple replacement. The memory foam and velour contact surface is absolute bliss!

It's a bit of an IQ test to remove and install the pads, as no instructions were provided. Hint: they slip on and over a plastic lip. But its a quick install in the end. And for the quality of life improvement, it may be the best $30 I've spent in a while.

Link to the upcoming balance changes:

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Upcoming-Stat-Changes-in-the-Q3-Balance-Update

Let's collect our theories and analysis here, specifically as it affects the raid encounters. Thanks!

Really appreciate the attention you gave this, Maia. And a big thanks to all our generous contributors! Roll out the papyrus and get to work, scrubs -- err, scribes!

Awesome write-up, Fred! To help get us organized, I rearranged the furniture in the guild bank, and cordoned off a special area to collect these mats. If you don't have permission to deposit directly into this area, I opened up some free slots in "Ser's Stash", and one of the officers can relay them over.

Inspired by Bone's recommendation of one of his favorite seasonal dishes, I set out to create my own version. This was my first experience cooking orzo, but it came out very well.

I was winging it most of the way, so unfortunately I don't have a precise recipe to share. But, I took a lot of hints from Bone's ingredient list and a recipe I found here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/mediterranean-orzo-salad/

The dressing was a mix of the olive oil from the sun-dried tomato jar (for that extra flavor) and juice from a whole lemon, salt and pepper to taste.

The supporting cast: kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, chick peas, capers, parsley, and a variety of cheery tomatoes .

All the kids in the pool. That bowl is one serving size, no?

Mold's got a point...

If anyone is interested, I've come up with an alternative recipe for your 10 daily trade-ins using weaponsmith crafting. I'll follow Mold's layout above and substitute the equivalent pieces and materials required.

I switched to crafting weapons instead of armor about a week ago after exhausting my stockpile of leather. I also have a LOT more mithril and elder wood in my reserves, and happen to feel these are more frequently recovered in salvaging, making the weapon recipes more economical for me. But, as they say, your mileage may vary.

Note: You may need to buy the recipes for the inscriptions before crafting. The Recipe: Giver's Mithril Imbued Inscription can be found on the TP for a few copper, but the others are all karma buys from the weaponsmithing vendor.

Step 1: Assemble Your Mats

The tier 5 mats are the same as Mold's section above. You'll just be crafting inscriptions instead of insignias. So, instead of cloth and leather, you'll use Elder Wood and considerably more Mithril:

• 98 Mithril ingots (196 Mithril Ore)
• 52 Elder Wood Planks (156 Elder Wood Logs)

Step 2: Craft Some Stuff (Weaponsmith)

20 Mithril Plated Dowels

Search: "mithril imbued" in your Weaponsmithing crafting panel:

(purchase inscription recipes as needed)

1 Assassin's Mithril Imbued Inscription

1 Berserker's Mithril Imbued Inscription

2 Carrion Mithril Imbued Inscriptions

1 Cleric's Mithril Imbued Inscription

1 Giver's Mithril Imbued Inscription

1 Knight's Mithril Imbued Inscription

1 Rampager's Mithril Imbued Inscription

2 Valkyrie Mithril Imbued Inscriptions

Search "elder" in your Weaponsmithing crafting panel:

2 Large Elder Hafts

4 Small Elder Hafts

Search "mithril" in your Weaponsmithing crafting panel:

2 Mithril Axe Blade

1 Mithril Greatsword Blade

1 Mithril Greatsword Hilt

2 Mithril Hammer Head

2 Mithril Mace Head

2 Mithril Shield Backing

2 Mithril Shield Boss

1 Mithril Sword Blade

1 Mithril Sword Hilt

Search: "krait" in your Weaponsmithing crafting panel:

(or learn these recipes through the Discovery tab)

1 Carrion Krait Battleaxe

1 Rampager's Krait Battleaxe

1 Carrion Krait Slayer

1 Cleric's Krait Warhammer

1 Knight's Krait Warhammer

1 Valkyrie Krait Morning Star

1 Berserker's Krait Shell

1 Valkyrie Krait Shell

1 Assassin's Krait Machete

The one outlier is the Giver's Mace, which doesn't have "krait" in its name:

1 Giver's Mithril Mace

Step 3: Visit Some Waypoints

See Mold's table above. You'll visit the same vendors.

(Editor's note: The following is a re-post from our old forum, originally authored by Mold. Please see the 2nd post in this thread for an alternative recipe using weaponsmith instead of armorsmith, which may now be cheaper.)

Rumor has it that provisioner tokens are required for the soon(?)-to-be-released legendary armor. 50 tokens per armor piece, so they say. 300 in total.

But they are stuck behind a time gate, so you may want to get started on those now. You get one token by turning in one of a specific set of a rare weapon or armor pieces to one of the 12 Faction Provisioners, who are scattered around the HoT maps. They each give out one token per day.

I have a little system to do this fairly quickly, which I'll share here. Note that I skip two of the Provisioners because they require Apothecary-stated items (Karka shells are expensive). So, this gets 10 tokens per day.

Note: You may need to buy the recipes for the insignias before crafting. The Giver's Embroidered Silk Insignia can be found on the TP, but the others are all karma buys from the armorsmithing vendor.

Also Note: each vendor will accept any of 6 different items. I chose these 10 of the 60 possible for their relative cheapness at the time of posting and for the simplicity of crafting all with a single crafting profession.

Step 1: Buy Some Stuff

160 Thick Leather Section

81 Silk Scrap

62 Mithril Ore

120 Spool of Silk Thread (vendor; 12 stacks of 10)

15 Large Claw

30 Large Bone

30 Large Fang

15 Intricate Totem

8 Pristine Snowflake

15 Potent Venom Sac

15 Large Scale

15 Vial of Potent Blood

Step 2: Craft Some Stuff (Armorsmith)

Search "Mithril" in your Armorsmithing crafting panel

2 Mithril Boot Lining

2 Mithril Boot Casing

2 Mithril Chestplate Padding

2 Mithril Chestplate Panel

2 Mithril Gauntlet Lining

2 Mithril Gauntlet Plate

1 Mithril Helmet Lining

1 Mithril Helmet Casing

2 Mithril Legging Lining

2 Mithril Legging Panel

1 Mithril Pauldron Lining

1 Mithril Pauldron Casing

Search: "intricate silk insignia"

1 Assassin's Intricate Silk Insignia

1 Berserker's Intricate Silk Insignia

2 Carrion Intricate Silk Insignia

1 Cleric's Intricate Silk Insignia

1 Knight's Intricate Silk Insignia

1 Rampager's Intricate Silk Insignia

2 Valkyrie Intricate Silk Insignia

Search: "giver"

1 Giver's Embroidered Silk Insignia

Search: "gladiator"

1 Carrion Gladiator Boots

1 Knight's Gladiator Boots

2 Valkyrie Gladiator Chestplate

1 Carrion Gladiator Gauntlets

1 Cleric's Gladiator Gauntlets

1 Giver's Gladiator Helm

1 Assassin's Gladiator Legplates

1 Rampager's Gladiator Legplates

1 Berserker's Gladiator Pauldrons

Step 3: Visit Some Waypoints

The Provisioners have a special icon over their heads; the same icon shows on the mini-map.

Note: if they're not selling, you may need to complete a nearby event or (if you're in TD) finish the Chak Gerent fight.

In Verdant Brink:

In Tangled Depths:

And, here's a convenient copy-n-paste for all the waypoints:

[&BN4HAAA=] [&BOAHAAA=] [&BAgIAAA=] [&BO8HAAA=] [&BN0HAAA=] [&BAYIAAA=] [&BAIIAAA=] [&BAwIAAA=] [&BAMIAAA=] [&BMwHAAA=]

Looks like we need a new forum called "Snakeskin"!

Do temporary tattoos count?