Guild Wars 2

I wonder if after this patch we are gonna see cemeteries raised where the refugee camps currently are.

An NPC in one of the camps actually mentions a common grave where bodies are apparently being piled up, that was probably a bit to grim and that’s why we don’t actually see it, but grave stone fields would be “nice”, specially since around Tyria there are plenty already.

I wonder about this as well. Many people died fighting for their lives, fighting to defend the lives of others. If heroes are measured with dead villains, and villains are in turn measured with dead civilians and innocents,…then heroes can measure themselves against dead civilians and dead innocents as well.

I think a funeral fits an evolving world and could be designed celebrating compassion and valor. Recognizing the efforts and sacrifices of the NPCs would strengthen the principle pillar of a living world; that the story is the world’s story.

Perhaps an escort event that starts from each Vigil entry point and progresses along the roads towards their respective headquarters. Players defend the funeral progression collecting rewards towards memorializing the fallen.

The size of the memorial could vary (Order, Race, Lion Guard) or be a single server wide memorial.

How the rewards are collected is very flexible. I would love to participate in an event where participating changed all the items I received in the zone into a currency I could only apply to the memorial.

I’ve seen it said that 45,000 people died in the attack. That’s a huge impact on the populace, a history-changing disaster. There are going to be social, cultural, and individual traumas galore from this.

There should indeed be markers and memorials.

It should wait until Lion’s Arch is “saved”, but I do think some kind of memorial event needs to happen in-game.

It shouldn’t be a big event with fighting and missions, though. It should be a quiet and personal thing for the most part. Lighting torches or fires at various points in and around LA to remember those who fell there. Maybe services or speeches every now and then in LA, each of the orders’ bases, and each of the race cities.

It should happen every year at the same time, as well.

Hell, I’d even say that the gemstore should shut down for those two weeks. Or offer a free “Memorial Torch” or something. Just NOT make a profit off of it.

Palador.2170:

It should wait until Lion’s Arch is “saved”, but I do think some kind of memorial event needs to happen in-game.

It shouldn’t be a big event with fighting and missions, though. It should be a quiet and personal thing for the most part. Lighting torches or fires at various points in and around LA to remember those who fell there. Maybe services or speeches every now and then in LA, each of the orders’ bases, and each of the race cities.

It should happen every year at the same time, as well.

Hell, I’d even say that the gemstore should shut down for those two weeks. Or offer a free “Memorial Torch” or something. Just NOT make a profit off of it.

Yes, I like this a lot. A lot a lot a lot. All the plus ones.

GW2 has shown it’s got more to offer than just interesting combat as far as gameplay goes. Lighting torches (or even funeral pyres/viking style boats, uuugh my heart), helping compose speeches, maybe finding the right seeds and soil to plant memorial gardens, gathering event materials to assist in rebuilding homes… there’s a lot beyond a dps race they could do here that would make the atmosphere feel thoughtful the way a memorial ought to.

Though you could do a decent defend event if it was an NPC visiting the places outside LA they and their fallen friend would visit — which just happens to be populated by normal map mobs. You’d have to have some mechanic beyond this to make it interesting, but I don’t think this sort of normal aggro would be too out of place if it was part of something bigger with other mechanics mixed in.

Or you can just dig the dead body out of the grave and rez them, save taxpayers alot of money and put more bodies into the workforce.

kimeekat.2548:

Though you could do a decent defend event if it was an NPC visiting the places outside LA they and their fallen friend would visit — which just happens to be populated by normal map mobs. You’d have to have some mechanic beyond this to make it interesting, but I don’t think this sort of normal aggro would be too out of place if it was part of something bigger with other mechanics mixed in.

Yeah, that could work.

Or turn it around backwards. “My friend once said that the best thing he ever ate was an apple pie from an orchard in Queensdale. Would you be willing to get one for me so I can place it at the memorial during the remembrance?” And when you get there, you have to do some small thing in exchange for the pie, and then bring it back to the person that asked for it.

It needs to tell stories. Show little hints of those that have been lost, who they were and how they’re missed.

Palador.2170:

kimeekat.2548:

Though you could do a decent defend event if it was an NPC visiting the places outside LA they and their fallen friend would visit — which just happens to be populated by normal map mobs. You’d have to have some mechanic beyond this to make it interesting, but I don’t think this sort of normal aggro would be too out of place if it was part of something bigger with other mechanics mixed in.

Yeah, that could work.

Or turn it around backwards. “My friend once said that the best thing he ever ate was an apple pie from an orchard in Queensdale. Would you be willing to get one for me so I can place it at the memorial during the remembrance?” And when you get there, you have to do some small thing in exchange for the pie, and then bring it back to the person that asked for it.

It needs to tell stories. Show little hints of those that have been lost, who they were and how they’re missed.

So pull a Lightning Returns type quest? Where you go off to do something for somebody, only to find out more about the person who requested it as well as the person who died?

RyuDragnier.9476:

So pull a Lightning Returns type quest? Where you go off to do something for somebody, only to find out more about the person who requested it as well as the person who died?

Yeah. (I assume, as I’ve not touched any of the recent FF stuff.)

Basically, the story would be the real reason to do it. The “fetch quest” or “escort mission” is there to give you a reason to encounter the story. They’re not the real focus, the story is.

And this needs to be a story about loss. About those who are gone, and those who are left behind.

Palador.2170:

It should wait until Lion’s Arch is “saved”, but I do think some kind of memorial event needs to happen in-game.

It shouldn’t be a big event with fighting and missions, though. It should be a quiet and personal thing for the most part. Lighting torches or fires at various points in and around LA to remember those who fell there. Maybe services or speeches every now and then in LA, each of the orders’ bases, and each of the race cities.

It should happen every year at the same time, as well.

Hell, I’d even say that the gemstore should shut down for those two weeks. Or offer a free “Memorial Torch” or something. Just NOT make a profit off of it.

Sounds like a perfect setting for a LS instance.

I like the idea of a memorial. An eternal flame burning. Perhaps it could be placed on the highest peak above the ruins of the city where no players could reach. on either side two statues of Lion Guard keeping eternal vigil over the ruins. The ruins them selves would become a new “questing zone” with new hearts and perhaps a new perm dungeon with a LA theme. The hearts could center around the Priory trying to reclaim lost artifacts, and the vigil trying to keep ne’er do wells out.

Grieving widow’s veil and memorial candles for 800 gems the whole set, next on the gem store! Because we don’t have a soul.

I cannot tell you how much I agree with you with words alone. ANET needs to do this. While the bloodthirsty I NEED ACHIEVEMENT spammers won’t appreciate this, it still needs to be implemented. For a story to have impact we need contrast. Every. Single. Arc. we’ve been building up and building up. They keep trying to hype up each patch and add more chaos and random inane bullkitten.

Give us that solid, maybe even brief moment, where the weight of what happened can collapse on us. After we finally get rid of scarlet’s (frankly ridiculous) plot armor, and complete this. Give us a small Living Story where we see the Refugee’s reunite and the Captains Council holds a memorial. A single large monument to stand the test of time in order to be a constant reminder of their hubris.

Soft, depressing background music. NPC’s crying, consoling one another. The ability to talk to every one of the Captain’s council members and hear them apologizing to us for not listening. Names of lost NPC’s scrolled on the monument.

Commodore Lawson giving a speech with the other Captain’s about the tragedy and, listen now this is key, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. Make the NPC’s recognize they were the one’s who let this happen. A key thing to add onto this, please for the love of god make them write out something heartfelt. Not some hamfisted POS speech like Treaderp’s “Does yous guys feel that? Them dragons be afreed of us”.

ANET you have to realize this:

I’ve been a fan of the LS idea. Even with the consistant missteps I’m holding true and saying “Give them the first season to test things”. We, for the most part, as players, can handle not winning. Not in the way you’ve forced it down our throats either. Scarlet has been a series of missteps but you’re trying something new, I can respect that. Everytime we “ruin” a plan and it goes along with her plan is bad storytelling. You also force LA to be destroyed instead of giving the players, say, a weekend long battle to ‘try’ and save it and then losing. The illusion of choice is much more important than choice.

At this point just recognize this much:

We lost.
LA is lost.
Lives have been lost.

No amount of bartering, payback, or self righteous ending of scarlet can change that. We, as people in the world, were insufficient to stop her according to your story telling. Let us deal with that. You wanted to create an evolving world? Here’s your chance.

The Council needs to evolve.
Their hubris caused LA to be undefended.

The Capitals need to evolve.
Where is the support for LA and for us? We’re all incredibly important people in the story arc, why haven’t they given us a chance?

The People need to evolve.
React to what’s going on. I’m not saying record 239502 new lines of dialogue in 5 languages, frankly that’s impossible. Just have them acknowledge what’s happening in the world.

“WE” need to evolve.
Aside from the hamfisted “what do you fear most” question from the Pale Tree, we’ve never suffered a real loss. Even if it’s due to your forcing us down a set path, we failed. It’s our fault Scarlet got the Sensor Probes. It’s our fault that Mai Trin wasn’t executed on the spot. It’s our fault Scarlet was able to create an effective super virus. It’s our fault LA is undefended because we didn’t plee to the council (who know of our Personal Story Deeds). It’s our fault people died because WE couldn’t find a way to stop Scarlet. Till now we’ve been invincible and nothing could stop us. Writing aside, Scarlet has shown us otherwise. The player characters have to have time to understand that themselves/ourselves.

Give us a vigil for the fallen, the lost, the broken. Let us think about our actions and the consequences thereof. Let us grieve for the fallen Lion’s Arch. Show us you’re capable of more than Cliches and Explosions.

Trust me, for those who story matters, we can take it. For those who the story doesn’t matter? Give them a 5 point achievement called “At what cost?” when scarlet is beaten. Then 5 more at the vigil called “In Honor of the Fallen”

Let-us-change

Also…meant this to be a 1 paragraph thing but went on a tangent >_>" my bad.

TL;DR: There isn’t one. Patience is a virtue, read.

At work today, I realized that this is what will tell us if ANet is going to step up their storytelling for Season 2, or not.

I know that an event in a video game will never be close to a real life tragedy, but I’m going to compare it to one for a moment. A quick Google search shows that around 3,000 people died on 9-11. The horror and loss of that event changed the USA forever. Rebuilding is a long, slow process, and the victims are never forgotten.

If the LA death count mentioned earlier in this thread (45,000) is correct, then just think about it like this: That’s the 9-11 death toll FIFTEEN times. Just stop and think about that for a moment. FIFTEEN times the number dead.

The next update ends Living Story Season 1. If there’s going to be a period of mourning in the game, it will be at the start of Season 2. There should be grief, shock, fear, and even anger. (“Look what those sylvari did! I say we get rid of them AND that unnatural tree they came from!” Ugly, but someone should be saying it soon.)

This will be the point where we see if we have a living world, or just one where they update plot events every two weeks. No group, even in a fantasy world, can just shrug off a death toll of that magnitude. Those that would are not people, they’re monsters. So… yeah. This is it. ANet set it up, now we’ll have to see if they can deliver.

Agree here.

Show the weight of the situation. NPC’s everyday lives were annihilated. If the refugee portion of the Living story is any indication, NPC’s have been given the treatment of what I think would be a “at the very least” reaction to what they went through. Logical and feasible reactions to their situations. Some people would flee. Some would fight. Some would end up in South Sun with new lives.

Continue that train of thought. Patch in the holes with more information. Filling up the blanks with as much atmosphere as possible is in my mind a plus to story telling in this format.

One thing so far that has impressed me with game overall is the attention to detail. I go through periods where I just power through zones not paying any real attention to what the NPC’s say, what they do. Sometimes I even do events without actually even knowing anything about the purpose of it. I just see [Group Event] and dps/kill until I see Gold/Silver/Bronze and some xp/karma.

But, then there is the time when I just stop to take it all in. The dialogue, the view, the cause and effect and the motivation of actions set into motion. What’s great is that a lot of times…all these things tell these nice little stories that make the world feel like it has some depth and layers. Not saying these stories are what I want and are “R” or “M” rated, in fact many seem very “G” to me, but I appreciate that it’s there. The little things matter.

I say if I can wrap my head around it, then why not? A memorial for those lost in what seems like one of the larger tragedies in Tyria to date seems like a pretty believable step in the process. Hope we see this down the road.