Okay, so as I understand it Fractals have never influenced anything in the open world, but the Fractals themselves reflect influential events of the past. Considering that, why are we bothering to think anything will come of either Fractal being made other than yet another little dungeon-esque experience being added to the game?
If anything, it seems almost like people are suspecting that this election is the conclusion of the story arc concerning Lion’s Arch affairs, without much evidence to support it, to my knowledge. If it is the conclusion, it’s unlikely the Living Story will continue with either Fractal having related to the next stage, but instead either something we’re not considering (looking at the coming soon image, seems most likely) or something relating to recent elements added to branch off of, i.e. violent flying faction/peaceful flying faction (if the Aetherblade haven’t been completely shattered, this is also a viable possibility).
It will give us a glimpse into lore (Either something we know or something we dont). Some people actually like the lore in the game.
As I recall, the fractals were funded by the consortium, and introduced at the same time lore-wise.
Also, the black lion trading post held no influence (outside of stocking gem store items) on the living story until this update, so as far as we’re concerned, anything goes with the living story.
It will give us a glimpse into lore (Either something we know or something we dont). Some people actually like the lore in the game.
Have any of the Fractals ever given any decent glimpses into the lore?
Have we ever known which fractals are what specifically? All we know is what the urban battleground fractal is.
This time we know what we’re going into.
It will give us a glimpse into lore (Either something we know or something we dont). Some people actually like the lore in the game.
Have any of the Fractals ever given any decent glimpses into the lore?
We know people in Tyria love themselves a nice rave party. Imho that’s an important insight!
Have we ever known which fractals are what specifically? All we know is what the urban battleground fractal is.
This time we know what we’re going into.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but aren’t they a tad randomized in terms of how you encounter them? In that case, wouldn’t it be incredibly silly of them to put anything of lore significance in any of them?
the fractal are glimpses of the past,present and future, and may give a glimpse into past lore (charr searing) or possible futures (the asura sky fractal) “abandoned, you cant be here” did humans leave the world and abandon the asura? when did mossman and Bloombury exist?
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but aren’t they a tad randomized in terms of how you encounter them? In that case, wouldn’t it be incredibly silly of them to put anything of lore significance in any of them?
I’m sure if we try really hard, we’ll be able to think of a type of game that is heavily focused on storytelling, yet the outcome of nearly every action is randomized. Where could GW2 have gotten this idea from? Hmm… what type of game could an online role-playing game possibly be trying to emulate? I’m stumped.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but aren’t they a tad randomized in terms of how you encounter them? In that case, wouldn’t it be incredibly silly of them to put anything of lore significance in any of them?
I’m sure if we try really hard, we’ll be able to think of a type of game that is heavily focused on storytelling, yet the outcome of nearly every action is randomized. Where could GW2 have gotten this idea from? Hmm… what type of game could an online role-playing game possibly be trying to emulate? I’m stumped.
Fractals aren’t heavily focused on storytelling. They are cool moments in Tyria. They are primarily a way to experience events which don’t fit into the world as we know it today. Most of their design is in creating a compelling gameplay experience that is able to scale in difficulty after repetition, not in delivering a story.
There is almost no story in any of the fractals. They aren’t much different from pictures. The simple fact that they aren’t even real events prevents them from having much story telling potential. You may as well be playing a dream.
the fractal are glimpses of the past,present and future, and may give a glimpse into past lore (charr searing) or possible futures (the asura sky fractal) “abandoned, you cant be here” did humans leave the world and abandon the asura? when did mossman and Bloombury exist?
\\Sorry for my bad English\\
Fractals NEVER shows the future, only the past!
“Scott McGough
Narrative Designer
We’re not ready to reveal the whole truth about the Uncategorized Fractal yet, but I can tell you that it does not represent a potential future for Rata Sum. All of the other fractals represent discrete sections of the past, recreated. We have the ancient past, more recent past, and mythic/lost to history past, but there are no futures in there.
The similarities between the two maps cited is more a function of asuran architecture having common elements rather than a story-related easter egg. In other words, the maps look similar because they were designed and built by like-minded builders with similar design aesthetics, not because they represent the same place at different points in history"
Source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/The-Uncategorized-Fractal-is-Rata-Sum
Fractals is not true history!
“ArenaNet (Jeff Grubb) : One of the things with Fractals is because they’re in the Mists, they are echoes. They are not true history, they are basically the resonant history.
ArenaNet (Scott McGough) : Exactly, yes.
ArenaNet (Jeff Grubb) : So therefore you’re seeing a lot of combined feelings coming in sometimes. Maybe there is a place that had that Ascalonian Elonian crossover area. But just as easily, it may be the effect of the Mists.
ArenaNet (Scott McGough) : And, check me on this guys, the Mists as we define them – the Mists by definition: anything that can be there, or has been, can show up in the Mists. So we get some strange pairings sometimes. Sometimes, for examples, in the Urban fractal, it’s a recreation of the battle for Ascalon, but it’s not – it’s a recreation, not the actual – there’s no time travel involved, you’re not taking part in the actual battle.
ArenaNet (Ree Soesbee) : If it was just the actual battle, if it was just a very precise rendition of history, you couldn’t go fight there, you couldn’t do things there. The Mists very much are flexible because they’re like memories – you can go back in your own minds and sort of write someone into a memory where they weren’t there and what would have happened ‘if this person went to the movies with us.’ And the fractals are very simpler, the Mists are very simpler."
Source: http://www.guildmag.com/magazine/issue9/interview.htm
As I recall, the fractals were funded by the consortium, and introduced at the same time lore-wise.
Also, the black lion trading post held no influence (outside of stocking gem store items) on the living story until this update, so as far as we’re concerned, anything goes with the living story.
The Consortium didn’t fund the Fractal research, the gate they were setting up to Southsun Cove malfunctioned and dumped people into the Mistwrought Observatory. Dessa decided to just make use of the people filtering in to do her research on the handful of “fractal realities” in the Mists so she could start to figure out how they came into being and what they were.
What we know of outside of the game is the Fractals are the past, or perhaps an alternate present, but not the future. (Currently anyway.) They are echoes of what once was.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but aren’t they a tad randomized in terms of how you encounter them? In that case, wouldn’t it be incredibly silly of them to put anything of lore significance in any of them?
I’m sure if we try really hard, we’ll be able to think of a type of game that is heavily focused on storytelling, yet the outcome of nearly every action is randomized. Where could GW2 have gotten this idea from? Hmm… what type of game could an online role-playing game possibly be trying to emulate? I’m stumped.
Maybe I’m being dense here, but if you’re trying to suggest to me RPG, then you’re pretty wrong, if I’m understanding you properly. The majority of RPGs do not permit randomized actions. The crucial actions and decisions are all heavily framed and designed to ensure you either do them or make them to move the underlying plot forward. If you miss any of those actions or decisions, you end up just wasting your time in the same locations fighting many of the same enemies ad infinitum without seeing any story progression.
Even larger open world RPGs, which are the closest comparison you could make to GW2, follow this structure. There are side adventures here and there, but few if any of them do much to reveal anything of the world that’s of any interest, in my experience anyway.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but aren’t they a tad randomized in terms of how you encounter them? In that case, wouldn’t it be incredibly silly of them to put anything of lore significance in any of them?
I’m sure if we try really hard, we’ll be able to think of a type of game that is heavily focused on storytelling, yet the outcome of nearly every action is randomized. Where could GW2 have gotten this idea from? Hmm… what type of game could an online role-playing game possibly be trying to emulate? I’m stumped.
Fractals aren’t heavily focused on storytelling. They are cool moments in Tyria. They are primarily a way to experience events which don’t fit into the world as we know it today. Most of their design is in creating a compelling gameplay experience that is able to scale in difficulty after repetition, not in delivering a story.
There is almost no story in any of the fractals. They aren’t much different from pictures. The simple fact that they aren’t even real events prevents them from having much story telling potential. You may as well be playing a dream.
This is what I suspected was the case. With that being the case, then, it’s really a bit of folly to expect much of anything big in terms of lore from either.
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