Guild Wars 2

I’ve forgotten how beautiful the zones are… Divinity’s Reach is stunning, haven’t been there for months. It shouldn’t feel grindy to go back to those zones (like the effigies), the story implementation here is exactly how it should be… awesome!

I love the writing too and I assume the writers could do a lot more with it if the rest of the studio could keep up. Given how many personal story instances they made in five years, it’s hard to understand why there haven’t been many more voiced story instances during these events.

Each step along the chain should have had cut scenes and they could have done some instances with some action as well. It’s ironic that these things are called Living Story because the writers aren’t given much of a chance to actually tell a story during any of them.

I agree whole heartedly, made my own topic too. after the horrible mess up that canche was at southsun, this is a breath for good fresh air…

Give the writer responsible for this living story event a raise and a desk, keep him around because he needs to be writing for you Anet.

Honestly… I’m not impressed yet. Kasmeer’s role in this has been somewhat bipolar and Marjory just held some asuran technology spouted technobabble. Yay? Plus Logan. Double yay.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

I’ve forgotten how beautiful the zones are… Divinity’s Reach is stunning, haven’t been there for months. It shouldn’t feel grindy to go back to those zones (like the effigies), the story implementation here is exactly how it should be… awesome!

^ this. I actually stopped to take some screen shots. Lots of people running around that alley outside the bar, the musical contraption in the background, the confetti rainging down. Stunning. I hope to see Anet use Divinity’s reach more in the future.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Now hopefully it won’t get predictable with Mai Trin being the villain. Because that would be way too easy.

My prediction (and hope) is that Kasmeer is the villian. Nobody can be that powerful and beautiful and not be a kitten!

process execution.8014:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Now hopefully it won’t get predictable with Mai Trin being the villain. Because that would be way too easy.

My prediction (and hope) is that Kasmeer is the villian. Nobody can be that powerful and beautiful and not be a kitten!

Clearly, it is Chauncey von Snuffles III using a tonic to look like Lady Kasmeer! Totally!

The cut-scene where logan meets the detective was one of the best ever!

process execution.8014:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Now hopefully it won’t get predictable with Mai Trin being the villain. Because that would be way too easy.

My prediction (and hope) is that Kasmeer is the villian. Nobody can be that powerful and beautiful and not be a kitten!

I do think so, she’s going to need this unshakable buff for something…
http://i.imgur.com/2YauWF3.jpg

Everything was so much better this time around.
Im actually able to follow the story, I know what is going on and I feel like I’m part of it.
The concept-art cinematic was great, and it fits the gw2 universe perfectly.
For once, I’m actually a little bit excited for the next part of the story, and i rarely do anything beside WvW and PvP.

It’s good to see that there is some things that the vast majority of the community appreciates.

I also found the unfolding of the story very nice this time (not that I minded the last one).

I’m sure somewhere at ANet’s there is a whiteboard with a “things they liked”/“things they didn’t like” listing of living story elements.

I’m really looking forward to whatever happens next.

:)

I do think there may be more to Kasmeer than we think. Maybe she isn’t such an airhead after all.

I’m liking the story, especially how it unfolds day by day, almost in real time.

The cut scene in the tavern was great : ).

Want more.

First of all i wanna thank ANet for this event that has been proving himself different from the others.
And that video of Logan and the other character talking man i was like oh my gawd this is like Sincity ( with no violence version :P) but still pretty impressive.
Keep them coming =)

I agree with Mad Queen et all, excellent writing loved the noir feel to the cut scenes. Hope Anet give the writers more time to do work like this. Anet please don’t rush to get things out as fast as possible I’m sure everyone would rather wait a couple more weeks for a good update like this than a so so one like southsun ended up.

Jam’s right love the day by day unfolding, great pace not too quick but not as dragged out as some things have been.

Only downside so far was the effigies, rather than 50 that you could just jump too or run out of lions arch every half hour to repeat the near by ones, say 20 or 30 non repeatable ones that make you explore the base areas again.

So far a big thumbs up! Keep up the freat writing.

This is living story, Anet!

An update which includes events that get unlocked and unfold day by day over a period, it keeps me logging in, keeps me gripped by the story.

The previous attempts were bulk updates with the whole chapter of a story unfolded and then nothing for 2-3 weeks and then another bulk update and again wait… it was too easy to do the story, forget it for 2 weeks then return to it and not remember or being able to follow.

Now it’s like taking part, love it!
Hardly need any reward even if this were to go on for a month… short fragments of storytelling sifted to you everyday and provide you with a bigger picture as more events unfold.

Kudos!

Seems like my faith in the Living Story so far is going strong.
The previous events all had some faults, but I kept hope that every chapter after this one would only get better and build up the story.
Seems like you guys are doing well with this one.

I hope the next one will do just as well.

This one has been much slicker and the cut-scene in Divinity’s was awesome. My only (and very minor) criticism is that after the first 3 suspects are found you could get Elen Kiel to tell you where the other two were but if you travelled there they were nowhere to be found. I know… wait for the next email. We figured it out.

I certainly am impressed with this and cannot wait to see how it all comes together. I love the feel of this story and is reminiscent of those old radio shows back in the day, I am sure just a few of you can recall I was totally blown away by the writing in this story & highly amused! I enjoyed how Thackeray came off in this one but Marjory was totally amazing, such excitement So glad to have this event which has gotten me to explore zones I have since long forgotten. Throughout this event I have been roaming these areas day after day, killing everything, hitting any & all events & of course gathering the nodes such as iron, silver and herbs which you don’t find in higher level areas where we tend to spend most of our time. Great story, great plot, great event & hope Anet keeps stories and events as pleasing or even better.

I love how Marjorie looks (Yay, another favorite character in GW2!). Also, I agree that the way the cutscenes were presented were awesome! One more thing to take note of is that the missions in the patch is freaking epic So much action and life! Can’t wait to see the end!

P.S. Marjorie is freaking hot!!!

Already +1000’d this on another thread, but doing so again here … this was indeed a breath of fresh air! Engaging, intriguing, you name it, it was here … and definitely give the writer behind this a big kittening raise and a corner office and an admin and anything else he/she wants so long as this type of content keeps coming. First time in the game ever, and I’ve been playing since the first beta, that I reached a point where I was like “Aw, c’mon! I can’t track down the other two suspects tonight! I hafta wait? But I don’t wannnnnnaaa!” … That type of edge-of-the-seat anticipation has been lacking, but was there in spades with this living story installment.

And I have to give a big thumbs up to the voice actress for Marjory … regardless of how cliched aspects of her character might be, it was FUN, and the voice actress nailed every beat:

Investigator Ellen Kiel: No kidding.
Marjory Delaqua: Not even if you ask nicely.

Bring us more!!!

The crime noir and mystery direction is a good one, really liked the effort put into the storyboard cutscene too, very suitable for the theme. Not all of the dialoge is so great, there were a couple of really cringe worthy lines, but it would disingenuous to complain about that when in about 5 minutes you outdid the entirety of the southsun event.

I like to think some of the cringe worthy stuff is part of the noir charm.

I agree 100% with the OP! I love, love, love, love, love, love, love this living story. I enjoyed the southsun events to some extent but this is like 1,000,000 times better! Finally, some truly interesting characters with personality, great voicing, and intrigue. A good character is never just thrown at the audience but slowly revealed with just enough information to keep you interested. Ellen Kiel, Marjory Delaqua, and Lady Kasmeer. Now we need some interesting male characters! (I don’t count E since he’s just a letter in the mail. :P)

I was a little disappointed that we can’t catch the villain yet… But I’m looking forward to it in the next update. (Soon hopefully!) Keep up the good work guys!

I really like Ellen Kiel so far. Her somewhat sarcastic, yet heroic personality made me interested in her during the last bit of the Southsun story. However, she really began to be interesting in this living story!

Azraeel.1238:

The cut-scene where logan meets the detective was one of the best ever!

I very much agree.

Hard-boiled Tyria. I am in heaven.

[Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/zWwuZQC.jpg)

(My hard-boiled private eye character meeting up with his contacts in the Dead End. I have been waiting for this! How did ANet know?)

This thread is a joke, right?

One of the best known figures in Divinity’s Reach walks into a seedy neighborhood bar with the intention of nobody knowing he’s been there. As a patron of many a seedy neighborhood bar, I guarantee you with the hour everybody in that neighborhood knew he’d been there.

I do agree with Logan on one bit…what the hell was a noble woman doing in a dive bar?

Then we get to the crime scene, and lo and behold our cheeseball detective has managed to bring an unusual piece of equipment that happens to be exactly the right thing. Of course, since she explains this amazing bit of foresight on her part by calling it intuition, that’s supposed to make it make sense? No. It makes insulting to the intelligence of the reader.

I’m also a big fan of noir and hardboiled fiction, and this is neither. This is a superficial take on a single hardboiled trope that is missing all the cynicism and character depth that define those two genres. Just having a detective narrate a cutscene rendered in black and white doesn’t make it hardboiled. It makes it cheesy.

Now, if they’d gone with cheese, I’d have been, “Okay. Cool,” cuz cheesy riffs on hardboiled can be fun. But nothing in this part of Dragon Bash indicated anything that the fact that the writers are making a serious effort at making a hardboiled crime story and failing spectacularly in the attempt.

I also think this has been the best storytelling in Guild Wars 2 so far.

There will always be people who don´t like it, like Xavori in this case…
But the fact that there´s so little negative criticism shows that ANet seems to be on the right way here.

“attitude” & “people dying”.. this is good writing to you? That doesn’t even have anything to do with writing.

I think the actual writing skill is fine, but the over-compensating women in GW2 are getting old. I think the writers in GW2 put female humans in more “i’m gonna kick your butt!! rwaaar!! I am woman!” situations than Male Norns.. Who should be able to break all the other races in half with ease. What’s the point of making the dudes massive & “Legendary” if you give most of the tough-guy roles to a female humans?

Harlekin.2981:

I also think this has been the best storytelling in Guild Wars 2 so far.

There will always be people who don´t like it, like Xavori in this case…
But the fact that there´s so little negative criticism shows that ANet seems to be on the right way here.

But that’s the thing. It may be a lot more interesting writing than what one’s used to in GW2, especially considering the downer that the Southsun finale was, that doesn’t make it stellar, though.

I did enjoy it, but going around claiming this is the best writing so far only shows how the usual writing is.

Personally, I think Anet is merely experimenting with different things and wrapping in up nicely in Living Story content. Maybe even letting different writers have a go and then see what people liked best and maybe use that for an expansion at some point.

And for clarification, I do like the Living Story arcs in general. I liked the integration of NPCs and story in Flame and Frost, I think the achievements in Southsun really added to the game and the atmosphere, and I liked the tone of Dragon Bash. But they all have their flaws and I hope Anet will learn from feedback and improve on those flaws and keeps progressing and giving us even better and more enjoyable content.

It’s a tiny slice of hard-boiled, and I’m very grateful for it. For me, it’s great because I’ve got months of RP and stories behind my character and RP community that are more fully-developed hard-boiled plots/characters. I’d be doing that anyway (and did, because, honestly, I never thought there would be anything remotely like “she had legs that went from here to Orr and back again” in this game).

It’s not Chandler. It’s not “Yours Truly, Logan Thackeray”. But I’m grateful for what it is. I’m also happy that it’s a mature hook that shows a degree of sophistication. I mean, seriously, look at some of the other games out there and the hooks that they introduce into live events. We get a smokey bar, a tough dame (with a nice little backstory), and a floozy with more to her than meets the eye.

Yes, Logan is an idiot to come into a dive in full uniform and then brainlessly declare he’s incognito. I think that was part of the humor. Seriously, Logan’s never been a brain trust.

Xavori.3768:

Then we get to the crime scene, and lo and behold our cheeseball detective has managed to bring an unusual piece of equipment that happens to be exactly the right thing. Of course, since she explains this amazing bit of foresight on her part by calling it intuition, that’s supposed to make it make sense? No. It makes insulting to the intelligence of the reader.

Not really an issue with the writing, thought it is poor storytelling.

Xavori.3768:

I’m also a big fan of noir and hardboiled fiction, and this is neither. This is a superficial take on a single hardboiled trope that is missing all the cynicism and character depth that define those two genres. Just having a detective narrate a cutscene rendered in black and white doesn’t make it hardboiled. It makes it cheesy.

Have to agree with you, but it is at least an attempt at something interesting and better than the last stuff. Its something that shows there are designers working on GW2 who havent had all the creativity drained from them yet. How well they are able to achieve the things they try to do is another matter, but I wish them well with it.

Xavori.3768:

Now, if they’d gone with cheese, I’d have been, “Okay. Cool,” cuz cheesy riffs on hardboiled can be fun. But nothing in this part of Dragon Bash indicated anything that the fact that the writers are making a serious effort at making a hardboiled crime story and failing spectacularly in the attempt.

Im not entirely sure that this level of cynicism is warranted. For starters, they would have to be nuts to actually seriously try to do a proper hardboiled crime story in a kid friendly, cult of the clean cut hero style game like GW2. I think that honestly they just wanted to try and use a little bit of the trope and the aesthetic and work it into their concept. So if anything, its probably intended to be pretty tongue in cheek for those of us who know better and impressive enough for those who dont.

As it is it already features more interesting characters, a more compelling hook, and better storytelling than all the Southsun stuff. I will always be in favour of steps in the right direction.

Okay, the presentation of the story is a million times better, the cut scenes, the art, character interaction, chat boxes and dialogue with detail, for once you are actually showing us a story. I am vastly impressed, and the experience was very enjoyable, both the portions that you watch and the ones you play, however…

*Lady Kasmeer- what the point of her character? This is the second time she’s come in -with no apparent connection to the events at all- and did nothing, disappearing behind the scenes as if she were never there in the first place. So far all she’s served for is fan-service.

*Marjory Delaqua- don’t get me started, you set her up as a sexy sophisticated and intellectual hardball, her dialogue voice and appearance a very epic cliche of badass, and then she does NOTHING!!!!!! As a detective she didn’t even track down the location of her suspects, not to mention interrogate or search for clues, she simply relied on Asuran technology and no skill of her own. In fact, she didn’t even use the technology, the player does. She just sits there prattling off first class rhetoric while everyone else solves the mystery; all talk and no bite.

Mia Lunarfang.5826:

*Lady Kasmeer- what the point of her character? This is the second time she’s come in -with no apparent connection to the events at all- and did nothing, disappearing behind the scenes as if she were never there in the first place. So far all she’s served for is fan-service.

Kasmeer’s always been an investigator working out of Divinity’s Reach with “Jory” (who we now know is “Marjory”). She may be aristocracy, but she’s got a side business, too. It’s in the Southsun diaglogue and the backstory introducing Kasmeer: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/welcome-to-paradise/

mosttoys.6192:

Mia Lunarfang.5826:

*Lady Kasmeer- what the point of her character? This is the second time she’s come in -with no apparent connection to the events at all- and did nothing, disappearing behind the scenes as if she were never there in the first place. So far all she’s served for is fan-service.

Kasmeer’s always been an investigator working out of Divinity’s Reach with “Jory” (who we now know is “Marjory”). She may be aristocracy, but she’s got a side business, too. It’s in the Southsun diaglogue and the backstory introducing Kasmeer: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/welcome-to-paradise/

That still does not dispute the fact that her sudden and random appearances are followed by a sub-sequential lack of subsistence and relevance.

I’m not following. She’s down in Southsun fact-finding for Jory because there are references down there to the schism in the Captain’s Council regarding the upcoming Dragon Bash festivities. Lord Faren’s down there by coincidence (maybe—I still think that festivalgoer with the atrocious fake mustache and vague cover story in Lion’s Arch is Faren—I mean, no one can REALLY be that much of an idiot? Right?) Magnus from the Captain’s Council is down there and so is Ellen Kiel (both as part of their association with the Lionguard).

The Captain’s Council schism and the upcoming Dragon Bash festival hints dropped in Southsun are just foreshadowing for the current storyline. Now we are seeing where those hints lead.

It’s not deep literature, but I don’t see it as being random. She’s an investigative partner on assignment. It would be odd if she were not doing her assigned investigation and odd if she were not with her partner for an important meeting.

mosttoys.6192:

I’m not following. She’s down in Southsun fact-finding for Jory because there are references down there to the schism in the Captain’s Council regarding the upcoming Dragon Bash festivities. Lord Faren’s down there by coincidence (maybe—I still think that festivalgoer with the atrocious fake mustache and vague cover story in Lion’s Arch is Faren—I mean, no one can REALLY be that much of an idiot? Right?) Magnus from the Captain’s Council is down there and so is Ellen Kiel (both as part of their association with the Lionguard).

The Captain’s Council schism and the upcoming Dragon Bash festival hints dropped in Southsun are just foreshadowing for the current storyline. Now we are seeing where those hints lead.

It’s not deep literature, but I don’t see it as being random. She’s an investigative partner on assignment. It would be odd if she were not doing her assigned investigation and odd if she were not with her partner for an important meeting.

I seriously doubt that her meeting with potential customers had anything to do with the dragon bash case, as Marjory wasnt involved in the incident until Logan paid her, and while you could say she knew something was going to down but wouldn’t get involved until cash exchanged hands, you have to remember Kasmeer’s surprise when she was asked to go to lions-arch with Marjory.

But lets say for a moment that Kasmeer was reporting back to Marjory about what she learned in Southsun, and that it did have something to do with the dragon bash incident. We still see nothing of Kasmeer during the crime investigation. If perhaps her character is important, it is paper thin never the less.

so is Kasmeer just a plot hole or what? She goes to LA, Marjory says she needs her “special talents” I was thinking I’d be working WITH Kasmeer as a sidekick in some quests,

But she’s just gone. Never mentioned in Lion’s Arch.

Which the only explanation is that she’s Marjory’s lover and her “special talents” were just something to keep Marjory occupied in the bedroom.

Devildoc.6721:

so is Kasmeer just a plot hole or what? She goes to LA, Marjory says she needs her “special talents” I was thinking I’d be working WITH Kasmeer as a sidekick in some quests,

But she’s just gone. Never mentioned in Lion’s Arch.

Which the only explanation is that she’s Marjory’s lover and her “special talents” were just something to keep Marjory occupied in the bedroom.

YES! For the win!

DarksunG.9537:

“attitude” & “people dying”.. this is good writing to you? That doesn’t even have anything to do with writing.

It does in the context of the writing we’ve seen in the personal story. One of the biggest problems with that, was that they didn’t take any risks. There never was murder or betrayal, just people sacrificing them selves for the greater good, and then in some cases popping back up at the end. A lot of the characters were void of any personality or edge. And the same could be said to the story overall.

Now with this new living story they seem to be trying something with a bit more excitement in it. They dare write characters that aren’t little goody two-shoes. Marjory is flamboyant, funny and a bit of a tongue in cheek nod to film noir. She’s a bit of a rogue, and a sharp contrast against the bland Logan, who always is just the good-guy. Kasmeer is sexy, -but a bit of an airhead. Although there are hints throughout the previous living story and this one, that she’s sticking her nose in a lot of stuff that someone of her position normally wouldn’t.

I also found a lot of the side characters of the Captain’s Council a lot of fun. And they had witty dialogues. Hopefully we’ll see more of them in future content.

Now I’m hoping the Aetherblades have some good motives for their meddling. I hope it’s not something as simple as “they want to take over Lion’s Arch”. One mystery should lead to another mystery, and another… and another.

I have to chime in with most of the praise in this thread. This storyline is a lot better than all the other living stories combined. A small event every day works better than a few missions giving at once and then 3 weeks of nothing. And then there’s the bar cutscene! It had its faults but I still loved it immensely! That’s how all cutscenes should be!

Speaking of faults…

Logan went into a seedy bar in Divinity’s Reach, where he’s already a living legend, while wearing full Seraph armor. Said armor that was glistening dramatically in the sunlight behind him as he seemed to relish in his own grand appearance not even a minute before he insisted, “no names”. That was cringe-worthy. He should have been in jedi-like robes with a hood and whispering while talking to Mahjory. Then, when she was about to speak his name, his line and the entire scene would have made a lot more sense.

As for the investigation, that was done poorly. There’s a scene in the original Knights of the Old Republic where the player is in jedi training and has to settle a dispute between two locals. The player had to pay attention to the facts, figure out where the inconsistencies are and choose specific options to figure out the mystery. The jedi master was there for guidance but was really a game mechanic for giving hints to stuck players. If Mahjory would have said, “I already know the answer but I’m going to let you twiddle your thumbs for a while,” and let the player solve this while she acted like the jedi master, that whole scene would have been a lot better.

As for the sky pirates, I feel that not enough was revealed. They gave no clue as to who they are or what they hoped to accomplish by their actions during dragon bash. Those two things should have been stated clearly before this part of the story was over. You’d get mad props if they could be pieced together while figuring out whom the killer was.

All said in done, I would say this was a decent living story addition with the cutscene making it tapdance on the border of “good”. With just a little more planning and insight, it could easily jump that border.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

DarksunG.9537:

“attitude” & “people dying”.. this is good writing to you? That doesn’t even have anything to do with writing.

It does in the context of the writing we’ve seen in the personal story. One of the biggest problems with that, was that they didn’t take any risks. There never was murder or betrayal, just people sacrificing them selves for the greater good, and then in some cases popping back up at the end. A lot of the characters were void of any personality or edge. And the same could be said to the story overall.

Now with this new living story they seem to be trying something with a bit more excitement in it. They dare write characters that aren’t little goody two-shoes. Marjory is flamboyant, funny and a bit of a tongue in cheek nod to film noir. She’s a bit of a rogue, and a sharp contrast against the bland Logan, who always is just the good-guy. Kasmeer is sexy, -but a bit of an airhead. Although there are hints throughout the previous living story and this one, that she’s sticking her nose in a lot of stuff that someone of her position normally wouldn’t.

I also found a lot of the side characters of the Captain’s Council a lot of fun. And they had witty dialogues. Hopefully we’ll see more of them in future content.

Now I’m hoping the Aetherblades have some good motives for their meddling. I hope it’s not something as simple as “they want to take over Lion’s Arch”. One mystery should lead to another mystery, and another… and another.

Eh, in some regards I agree, however I still firmly believe that Marjory is presented as a brilliant rouge detective, but fails to live up to her words/voice/appearance that established her as such. As all she does is sit there while Kiel and the players do all the sleuthing. And while Kasmeer supposedly has an important role behind the scenes (given the comments from Marjory) we neither hear of nor see her in action, making her so called ‘talents’ no more than words and her oh so important role paper thin.

Didn’t like the story at all. Shallow and predictable starting where the main antagonist first opens their mouth.

Art was nice in the cutscene though. Other than that, was a let down after reading the praise it got from this thread. I completed it in about an hour.

Edit: Murder and death have very little meaning in the story. Who was this person who just died and why should care? No emotional attachment what so ever.

Please keep making cutscenes like this and not like the two-person shenanigans we were forced to endure throughout the personal story.

These cutscenes, and some of the more notable ones such as the intro after character creation and the ones when joining an Order and hanging out with DE, really make use of the beautiful art of the game and are actually a pleasure to watch.

Great job on that, whoever’s responsible. For once a part of the living story felt really engaging, film noir cliches and all. Thanks, Anet.

synk.6907:

Please keep making cutscenes like this and not like the two-person shenanigans we were forced to endure throughout the personal story.

I loved the Marjory cutscene, but mostly I did so because the comic style does suit the 1950’s noir theme.

I wouldn’t want ALL cutscenes to look like this. The dialoge style ones are perfectly acceptable for dialogues between two characters (it only gets awkward when more characters are involved) plus I like that they allow me to take a good look at NPCs (and players’) faces and armour. (For instance, it was awesome for me to be able to see all the design detail on a dredge, for once!)

I think diversity is the way to go: I think a healthy mix of comic style, dialogue style, rendered live cinematic cutscenes, and whatever they come up with next.

I just wish Logan (or Inspector Kiel) had said something like this: “One thing’s sure: councilor Theo Ashford is dead — murdered — and somebody’s responsible!”

I’d like less human characters, or female for that matter. Keil, Marjory, Mai, Kasmeer (what happened to all the males in Tyria?). Wasn’t there supposed to be five playable races and two genders? This is a Festival in Lion’s Arch, why are all the main characters human females? Save that for Divinity’s Reach. The screen shots for the next content patch also heavily favour humans. I get that we had Flame and Frost not that long ago with the norn and charr (there really weren’t many characters involved tbh) and Noll and Canache last month, but a story arc focused around Lion’s Arch, the interracial capital of Tyria, should not stacked with human females.

The Living Story is developing a serious lack of male heroes featured prominently. So far all we’ve had was Braham, with Logan, Rytlock and Knut simply used for exposition and Magnus as a platform to praise Keil. Canache was a good antihero but he was barely featured. It’s also becoming dangerously focused around humans. I hope the coming content eliminates both of these trends.

I liked the characterisation of Marjory and I liked the cut scene as well but I didn’t really think it made the story interesting. It makes Marjory interesting and it gives flavour to her character and her role in the world, but the murder mystery was blatantly obvious before anything even happened (all you had to do was look for named NPCs that looked out of place).

I get that they are building Kasmeer up for something but she has done absolutely nothing this whole time (including the Secret of Southsun). I assume she is doing stuff behind the scenes, but why isn’t any of it shown? Why was Magnus just part of the scenery? He’s supposed to be an important character in Tyria but so far Keil gets all the “screen time”.

I didn’t like the staggered release. I found myself forgetting details between the instances and struggling to remember/figure out where to go next. It didn’t help that my mail was bugged and I didn’t receive it. Had the instances been more substantial (they were essentially just dialogue, almost no gameplay) I can understand staggering them, but given how short and small they were, I don’t understand why they staggered. In my experience it disrupted the flow of the story and made it harder to follow (I miss the personal story green arrow/star telling you where to go next). I did like that the NPCs in the open world were being attacked by Aetherblades. That was a nice touch to emphasise the story through gameplay (despite the gameplay being trivial).

My biggest issue is that most of this is just story and no gameplay. This is an MMO and I’d like to see the Living Story become a lot more adept at telling the story through gameplay. Most of this seems to be a teaser for the next content patch – which comes with a dungeon – but I miss actually fighting when I’m playing the Living Story.

I thought the same, but then I remembered Canach, Braham and Rox (!).

I think every race (and gender) is going to get their slice of story-cake, just the last few weeks were very human-centric. It could be coincidence!

But I’m all for balance, an I hope future stories will feature Asura and Charr more.