felid for short

I decided to try to sort my ideas and whats canon regarding my ocs with this and ITS PERFECT. IT ALL FEELS SO CONRETE. and i sure as hell AM Going to continue to use this with every single OC I have until google drives is set ablaze- Just!!!!!!!!

THEYRE NO LONGER STUCK IN THE OBLIVION OF BETA THEY ARE HERE!

(with screenshots)

I come with screenshots, and also want to say that the WARP discord server is public. You can double check any of this and verify it. All I've done is block out some usernames and it's not hard to get those.

The concrete information I have gathered from reading the entirety of the AI channel in the WARP server is:

- a WARP dev made the channel and utilizes a currently-growing AI creator, using screenshots and uncredited art.

- other members of the server use various pre-made AI art programs of varying dubious quality

- one member actively programs and creates AI art functions, and they focus on charr which they have actively made two programs for, scraping both art and screenshots. It is hypothesized by many people that the charr program was trained on the art of @vateo (Vateo if you confirm the resemblance I'm so sorry this happened under your nose)

- tumblr has been mentioned by name as a *suggested* good source but with no confirmation of its use or not. It could be, but I'm not going to make assumptions past fact in this.

- the dev of WARP is actively interested in and asking about AI rp bots, but has not actively created one yet.

Screenshots directly from the server are below the cut

FUCKING BRING BACK FORUMS. THEY RUN ON BASIC WEB SERVERS. IT JUST NEEDS PHP/MYSQL. THEY STILL EXIST. THEY DEPLOY OUT OF THE BOX. STOP ALLOWING THE MODERN WEB TO MAKE MONOLITHS.

TECH PEOPLE ESPECIALLY. FUCKING RUN YOUR OWN SHIT.

Meet the Harbinger

Meet the Willbender

You’re invited to the first elite specialization beta event! 🎉

The first

Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons

 elite specialization beta event begins next week! From August 17 to August 21, log in and play three of the brand-new elite specializations.

You don’t need to prepurchase the expansion to join the fun—everyone with an account in good standing is invited. Create a free Guild Wars 2 account today, and you too can be on the cutting edge of Canthan combat techniques.

How to Play

When you log in on August 17, you’ll find three dedicated elite specialization beta character slots on your character select screen. Use these to create fully equipped level 80 beta characters and take each of the new elite specializations for a spin.

Please note these limitations on beta event characters:

Beta characters are temporary. After the event ends, they will disappear as mysteriously as they appeared.

Your gameplay progress will not be saved. When your beta character vanishes back into the Mists, all the information recorded on your account while playing them will disappear as well. Your permanent Guild Wars 2 characters will still earn progress normally as you play them.

You can play in existing content. You’re free to experience Tyria through the eyes and weapons of the new elite specializations in current open world content, instanced content, Player vs. Player, World vs. World, and the Maiden’s Whisper tavern. Other Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons content won’t be available for play during the beta events.

Meet the Elites

Join us on the official Guild Wars 2 Twitch channel this Friday for an in depth look at all three elite specializations and how they play. We revealed the new mesmer elite specialization, the virtuoso, on our Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons First Look livestream—now get ready to meet its relentless and audacious beta event comrades!

Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons First Look Livestream

Save the date! Next week on July 27, join us for an in-depth look at our third expansion, Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons.

We’ve got a tidal wave of fun content lined up, including expansion features, a new trailer, details on the story and setting, elite specialization beta information, interviews with the development team, and more.

The stream begins at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) with our preshow, hosted by ArenaNet Partner BirdOfChess.

Program

Twitch:

8:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7)—Preshow

YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook:

8:45 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7)—15- Minute Countdown

9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7)—Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons First Look Livestream

Stay tuned for the postshow following the livestream.

(And I do just mean the tumblr fandom. I’ve not really noticed the fandom as a whole having this problem.)

So full disclosure before I talk about what I’ve noticed personally and why I think this jazz is happening: I’ve never been the most active in this fandom. I’ve tried to be in the past but even at my peak I’ve always felt a lil outside of everything? I’ve been playing GW2 since launch and I’ve been making a Gw2 comic at @torasteals for the fandom for almost 5 years at this point. For most of that time I’ve felt like some weirdo tossing shit into the void and only vaguely being aware of what else was going on in the tumblr fandom beyond the few blogs I followed. I want y’all to keep this in mind cause it does paint my perception of what I’ve seen as different from someone who may have been far more involved in the fandom than me.

Okay with that in mind…

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

The death of engagement within the GW2 fandom as I’ve noticed it seems tied to at least three things: Tumblrpocalypse of 2018, the migration to FFXIV, and the Pandemic of 2020.

Tumblrpocalypse of 2018

Does anyone else remember this shit? Tumblr had that change of policy around nsfw art and changed how they treat links that basically murdered a bunch of creators on tumblr? Everyone remember the mass exodus of artists and creators leaving tumblr for twitter? Yeah tumblr has definitely chugged along alive since, somehow miraculously, but the effects of this can still be felt to this day. We lost a large chunk of creators for the fandom during this. I wouldn’t be surprised if a large chunk of fans, who don’t create fan works, left for this reason as well.

Personally, tumblr’s changes in policy and algorithm during this time nearly killed my comic. I lost a lot of readers and a lot of engagement with my work. I wouldn’t be surprised if other artists went through something similar here.

Even so, I do recall there still being a lot of creators that held on during this time and who persisted to create works on tumblr. But then…

The Migration to FFXIV

From what I’ve seen, a lot of people, creators and just fans alike, have simply moved on from GW2 to FFXIV. Like, a LOT of them. Nearly every artist that I used to follow for GW2 content just doesn’t do that anymore. Nearly all of them have moved onto FFXIV (and sometimes some other game entirely, but it’s usually FFXIV). I don’t know what this says about the state of the game itself right now, but I’m not sure we’re getting as many new fans as we’re losing right now. That might change when End of Dragons is released, since expansions have always historically brought in an influx of new blood, but I’m no fortune-teller.

As it currently stands, I legitimately don’t know how many of us are left in this fandom. Hell, I still regularly make content for this fandom weekly and I can tell you I’ve been burned out on the game and needing a break from it for awhile now. I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t a common feeling.

Pandemic of 2020

I would honestly argue that this is what put the nails in the coffin for the fandom at present. I couldn’t begin to tell you exact reasons why, but I can tell you that as soon as shit really hit the fan last year, engagement in this fandom basically died. My posts that used to get a handful of reblogs, have turned to nearly zero over the course of this crisis.

My dashboard used to be littered in GW2 posts. So much so that even if I didn’t directly follow them, I could tell you who the big names in the tumblr fandom were. I can’t do that anymore. I have no idea who is big and popular on here anymore. It’s not just that people have stopped engaging, it’s that people have stopped creating as well. I’ve seen honest to god radio silence from creators who used to dominate the GW2 tag.

Again I’ve got nothing but guesses as to why this is? COVID has done a number on all of us I think. It’s harder to create and it’s harder to engage. It’s incredibly depressing on a number of fronts.

So is this it then?

I’d like to hope it isn’t?

I don’t really want to end this on such a doom and gloom note, and I’m sorry for that. I don’t think the fandom will straight up die forever but I do think we’re havin’ it rough right now. And there’s no guarantee of when shit’ll pick back up again as far as I’m aware.

I’ve just moved on to other games, especially FFXIV. Mounts were fun in PoF... but they were the only thing that was fun. I tried to get into raids and very quickly found they weren’t as approachable as raids in other games because a lack of any instanced content that got you actually raid ready in the first place. PoF’s story, for me personally, was dogshit and I hated almost all of it. Icebrood saga was meant to be Charr and Norn story and as it turns out if we’re being honest, it’s been fucking neither.

I still log into GW2 sometimes. Sometimes I even log in for more than just home instance farming and doing whatever stupid faction token is available in EotN. But I don’t play the game, really. There’s nothing for me any more. There’s no point me posting about GW2 any more because all I’d really do is be negative. I hate the state of the game right now and think it’s an absolute fucking garbage fire. I hate that ArenaNet decided to lie about Icebrood Saga in their presentation, 50% Funkopop and 40% outright lies about what it would be, with 10% stretched truth, and I realised that whoever this game is for any more, it’s not for me.

I hope End of Dragons can be good. GENUINELY. I mean that. GW2 used to be my favourite MMORPG and once upon a time I’d never have even imagined abandoning it for a game like FFXIV. But now, everything I played GW2 for... I can find in FFXIV, and I can find it there better.

Characters who are better written. NPCs who don’t get invented and then just forgotten about. Villains that actually interest me because they aren’t just constantly speaking Cryptic Bullshit and expecting me not to question anything. A game where I feel like my character progresses on a story level and on a gear based one that feels satisfying to me as a player (where GW2 just... doesn’t. Getting legendaries isn’t fun any more, and the cumbersome fucking lack of an account bound legendary system that we still haven’t heard a single update on makes my legendaries inherently less valuable purely because I have a lot of characters on GW2.) Mounts and mount skins I can earn in FFXIV as opposed to just hoping I get a lucky Black Lion Chest drop. And speaking of those... FFXIV isn’t plagued by their shitty gamble box that seems to be the only constant update we ever get out of ArenaNet these days.

I want GW2 to become fun again. I want to go back to The Before Times when the story was well written and characters at least decently written, instead of being thrown away for The Drama Of It All, when there were things I could legitimately work towards that weren’t just “spend all of your materials for a single token at a time” and such.