Guild Wars 2

I loved the peaceful look, didn’t got much time to explore it (so correct me if I’m wrong) but I’d love to see cemeteries on the refugee camps, also the destroyed thumpers around the world map as a grim reminder because I think they’re just all gone which is a shame.

Kudos to whoever voiced the woman at the western memorial. I saw some people in map chat saying they teared up a bit. That was a really cool speech (cool for lack of a better word… touching?)

Fluffball.8307:

Kudos to whoever voiced the woman at the western memorial. I saw some people in map chat saying they teared up a bit. That was a really cool speech (cool for lack of a better word… touching?)

Too bad she’s racist (but understandable)

I think it’s a good thing (interesting) she’s racist, although I get what you meant.

I really love the new music in LA. In terms of mood it reminds me of Quest for Peace B from Civ V.

I was startled by how moved I was…I found myself thinking “maybe I’ll find another survivor in this new tunnel or under some debris.” Good job devs.

And thanks for this down time to process the story (and perhaps grieve just a bit). It’s been a hectic run. We are human, after all. While it is a virtual game, it also becomes part of our reality.

Agreed. Despite everything, it was quite moving, and sad, to see the city in such a state.

I have to agree with all of this. As I was reading the missing and the lost and just listening to the music while wandering the remains of the city, I was quite saddened… Now that the battle is over, and I’m not getting a rush from every kitten ed Aetherblade I kill, it just feels like a hollow victory.

Dean Calaway.9718:

I loved the peaceful look, didn’t got much time to explore it (so correct me if I’m wrong) but I’d love to see cemeteries on the refugee camps, also the destroyed thumpers around the world map as a grim reminder because I think they’re just all gone which is a shame.

The ruined thumpers are still there. I come across one every now and then while running around. The refugee camps talked about having mass graves, I glad they aren’t shown. That would be a little to much I think. The memorials in Lion’s Arch are sad enough.

I like the ruined thumpers all over the place. I hope they remain, almost like the GW1 ruins you find all around. Maybe the ones around civilization could get cleared, but the ones in the middle of nowhere might be a bit overgrown and remain. Would be a nice touch.

Yeah I agree the fact that as a player a dedicated player of guildwars since 2005 and watching this city change over the 252 years only to see it all get torn down in just a few weeks really opens up some emotion inside of you – when I first came to guildwars 2 the first thing I wanted to do was find and explore lions arch now its all destroyed – there are people grieving there too which makes it feel quite alive- if I were in this world I too would be in awe – well done ANET I hope this makes people really see what the living world can be about – now time to kill a DRAGON

After watching Log Horizon anime i say: death to the NPC´s

It really does feel sad. I also felt like walking through the ruins and not running – running just didn’t feel appropriate.

While standing at one of the memorials, there was a pause between music where nothing was playing. It was a really quiet and eerie. Very moving.

Then I heard a lone bird chirp. I took it as a sign there’s hope of renewal/rebuilding.

The pieces of metal everywhere are a really nice touch. I hope the pieces left the harbor water will rust and make an excellent home for a brand new underwater coral reef. More signs of life returning.

I really liked this Aftermath LS. Quite emotional and fitting end.

There had better be a reckoning after this, with each of the captains council answering for how this could have been allowed to happen. There were warnings and not a single defensive measure was taken.

I`m with Evon on this – the blood of everyone really is on their hands.

There must be political consequences to what went on.

When I logged in yesterday and wandered through LA a bit, I was hit hard by how much the aftermath felt like my personal experience with Ground Zero, and the actual losses that happened to me there. I eventually had to leave the game for awhile, as it still hits a bit too close personally.

Regardless, a big /salute to ArenaNet for nailing this part.

Sungak Alkandenes.1369:

When I logged in yesterday and wandered through LA a bit, I was hit hard by how much the aftermath felt like my personal experience with Ground Zero, and the actual losses that happened to me there. I eventually had to leave the game for awhile, as it still hits a bit too close personally.

Regardless, a big /salute to ArenaNet for nailing this part.

Somehow I had never thought about it that way. I can imagine that would be quite striking and would hit pretty hard.

For now the guns lay silent, no more will we hear them roar. For reasons yet unknown, we are tallying up the score. Names on shreds of paper, families torn apart. They know not when it ended, just when it got its start. Out of a clear Tyrian sky, a deadly beam found each, building, wall and spire, heard as far away as Divinitys Reach. I won’t forget the faces, the blood curdling screams, as the city that survived the centuries, was tearing apart at the seams. They came from the air, the land and beneath the sea, to ravage and destroy those like you and me. The air befouled, as the buildings burned, medieval were the pyres, even in the mornings calm, you still can smell the fires.

Now its time to gather those that cannot rise any more, and lay them beneath their beloved soil, they won’t suffer anymore. We’ll miss them each in many different ways, with the coming of each new dawn and ending of each new day.

Answers will be slow in coming, all any of us will know for sure, is the once clear waters of Lions Arch are tainted forever more.

To quote Gwen in “Eye of the North GW1” – “this time it’s personal”…

I just wanna agree with everyone that the aftereffects are amazingly upsetting. During the Escape/Battle releases, it was insane how wrecked everything was, but it didn’t feel too sad—because there was a battle going on and we had to focus! But now, seeing all the damage in the cloud-covered ruins and especially the characters who are struggling afterwards is overwhelmingly upsetting. I also wanna commend that music. The scene would have a great impact regardless, but that music is beautiful and sad and blaaaaah. First time in a while the game music has given me chills.

That last message on the missing-board broke my heart and I had this overwhelming need to go and find that virtual child so I could adopt them (pretty please?). Just writing this now makes the tears sneak back in my eyes. So thank you Anet, awesome work. Though I feel kind of silly now.

Edit: Braham could surely handle another child following him around. Right?

Si vis pacem, para bellum, if you want peace, prepare for war.. Time to take down another Dragon..

I was crushed the first time I walked around in LA. All this senseless destruction… whatever Scarlet’s motives were, nothing could possibly justify THIS.

The memorial walls for the dead and the missing… the woman who lost her father … the mournful variation on “Sands of Kryta” that starts playing … it brought tears to my eyes.

Since there are people repairing stuff, I plan to go there every day (patch or no patch) to mourn for those who died, and to see if there is any progress with the restoration.

(… and also to listen to a totally beautiful variation on one of my favorite songs from GW1).

Way to go Anet! Thank you for making this, and congratulations on totally outdoing my imagination on what a warzone actually looks like after the conflict.

PS: Please please please let there be some sort of quest / activity / thingamabob to help rebuild LA. Rejoin lost relatives, repair a bridge, find shelter for returning refugees, bring food to nearly starved survivors (there is little food in the city), adopt a child…

Nornaea.6925:

congratulations on totally outdoing my imagination on what a warzone actually looks like after the conflict.

Kind of a weird statement, unless you meant for ‘rated T for teen Tyria’ only. In our world, it’s quite a bit more horrifying, at least according to the several soldiers I know with PTSD. Thankfully all I’ve seen are pictures.

chronometria.3708:

There had better be a reckoning after this, with each of the captains council answering for how this could have been allowed to happen. There were warnings and not a single defensive measure was taken.

I`m with Evon on this – the blood of everyone really is on their hands.

There must be political consequences to what went on.

Hopefully what happens is most of the council gets gutted, leaving Kiel at the helm, with Evon getting a seat. That would be the best of both worlds

Not only can A-Net do a Living World story, they can do a Dying World story.

All the NPCs who fell during the Zhaitan storyline…well, they can be re-experienced on another character. Sad, but impermanent.

For the continuing story arc, those people are gone. The places are gone. The consequences are “real,” as much as they can be in a virtual world. We’ve seen this in miniature form already with LA’s fountain: Mad King Thorne broke it, the community helped rebuild it, and it took months.

As much here as in the real world, death makes all that remains more precious. I know that, for future Living World updates, I really don’t want the opposition to succeed. It’s not a matter of “saving” some respawning nameless NPCS. Anyone in the game world may be a target, and this update has underlined the impermanence of virtually anything. I’m fighting for the Tyria I’ve known and loved.

If the game were headed by sadistic maniacs, I’d be too afraid to go on. But A-Net is in charge, and they’ve done right by the community for years. I trust them.

Well done, devs.

Visited today and walked through the city. I put on my town clothes out of respect. I actually got heckled by another player for “Role playing” lol others told the complainer off so no big. mmoRPG ya know. It’s strange what the scene conjures up from my memory. Even memories from GW1. With all that died there, could we ever celebrate Wintersday or the Madd King again.. I can’t really say..

I was listening to my GW2 soundtrack just today, and was unexpectedly hit hard by the “Sea of Sorrow’s” song that played in Lion’s Arch all the time previously. I actually felt gutted by the idea that it’ll be months if not a year before Lion’s Arch has the same serene feel that it had in the past.

R.I.P LA

R.I.P. Lion’s Arch’s fallen

I walked around LA for a while as well (instead of running.)

I was not at ground zero for 9/11. I can only imagine the feelings of those who were.

I was, however in Joplin May 22, 2011. Rest in Peace, the 158 people who died.

Things I had seen for most of my adult life were simply gone. Oddities like the slides at McDonalds still standing, only the rest of the building was gone. The wall with a lone couch in front that everyone who came by signed. The ruined hospital. The bulletin boards with names of people who simply wanted the world to know they are alive. and as far as the eye could see was nothing but destruction.

I did have to leave LA for a bit until I could get my emotions under control. I am better now, and plan to go back in soon to simply walk and pay my respects to a city that will forever be changed.

Oh… and I am not a Roleplayer, but after GW1 for years and GW2 since beta1, it’s till like losing a friend.

I walked through Lion’s Arch after the storm had passed, I did not run, I walked.

I saw the heartbreak, saw the sorrow and heard the mournful melody of antiquity playing in the breeze, the experience saddened me.

This had a profound effect, to quote a heroine of old; “Now the danger runs deep.”

This is true, both from a personal side as I have called Lion’s Arch home for more than 250 years and now to the menace that threatens Tyria from below.

It will not stand. We will descend to the depths to rise ever higher.

Ze Dos Cavalos.6132:

After watching Log Horizon anime i say: death to the NPC´s

Moonlight Sculptor is 5x better. Log Horizon is very slow paced.

I pay daily visits to the graves in Lion’s Arch. I walk all the way. Then I kneel there, light some candles, and say a prayer to Grenth. And a lot of players seem to get in the same spirit.

The graveyard and the Memorial were the first things in-game to prompt spontaneous RP from me in ages. Many other players about me were doing the same. Kudos, ANet.

Backward Sass.6791:

Crude scrawls fill the paper. “I can’t find my mommy or daddy.”

RIGHT IN THE FEELS.

Yes, this. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a piece of debris in my eye…

I stood in Lion’s Arch for a long time.. and it was definitely a visceral moment.. I do believe they did this perfectly.. and the score. It’s so hauntingly beautiful. Lion’s Arch Lament

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Si vis pacem, para bellum, if you want peace, prepare for war.. Time to take down another Dragon..

Aye. We will use the quiet to mourn and to prepare.

Gotta say this. For a game I thought really missed the mark on capturing the atmosphere they were trying to create in the world in both PS and regular PvE, I thought Lion’s Arch was phenomenally done.

I think the moment I walked in and the music started and little rays of light shone through the clouds. The ruins of a once great city now cleansed of enemies just became so apparent it was exactly the kind of atmosphere I was craving for GW2. It felt real.

That’s how to do it ANET thumbs up

Backward Sass.6791:

Crude scrawls fill the paper. “I can’t find my mommy or daddy.”

RIGHT IN THE FEELS.

T___T

My Guardian wants a dynamic event where I help that kid find mom or dad.
Make it a “Last of us” style of mission if you have to ANet.
I want to give that kid some closure, after all we had something like that for a fisherman during the Toxic Tower events.

Atlas.9704:

Backward Sass.6791:

Crude scrawls fill the paper. “I can’t find my mommy or daddy.”

RIGHT IN THE FEELS.

T___T

My Guardian wants a dynamic event where I help that kid find mom or dad.
Make it a “Last of us” style of mission if you have to ANet.
I want to give that kid some closure, after all we had something like that for a fisherman during the Toxic Tower events.

Wait, the fisherman was still running during Toxic Tower? His family died LONG before then. It’s kind of weird, cause it changes the context of the event.

I tough i would get some sorta epic emotion but didnt liked the dps festival under 6 minutes and people blamming non zerkers.

P.S this one was far better guys…
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/The_Battle_for_Lion%27s_Arch

The first place I went to was the place I called home in LA: the old lighthouse. I remember sitting at the top looking out to the sea as i was still able to get in withiut the bridge and enjoying the merrymaking of the city as I walked through it. But now… all there is now is sorrow and dread. We thought we were safe, but we were wrong. As I made my way to my make shift home at the lighthouse, all the emotion was a little overwhelming. Then as I arrived at my destination, I’ve became saddened as my home was no more. Even though I am disheartened at what has happened as many of you are as well. We should honor the fallen and enjoy the light for as long as we can, for there is a darkness on the horizon that will bring a worse fate than the one we just experienced.

Thanks Anet for giving us this living story. Even though it had a little rocky start it came out and ended beautifully. Waiting for LS season 2.

CC Danicia.1394:

Playing it internally, we’re all paying more attention to taking notes, writing up bugs, and whatnot. When I first hit this on my personal play account, on my home server, I stood around…and as you all say…was overwhelmed right in the feels. I love working with this team!

And that’s what ANET needs to continue to capture in the world because at no point did anywhere else capture that emotion or feeling that was meant to be felt being in that part of the world, or doing X part of X story. LA is a good starting point. I want to feel immersed in the world, atmosphere, story again. If ANET keeps this up, they are on the right track.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Wait, the fisherman was still running during Toxic Tower? His family died LONG before then. It’s kind of weird, cause it changes the context of the event.

As best as my memory serves, yes it did.
I’m not sure if he’s still around now though.

Backward Sass.6791:

Crude scrawls fill the paper. “I can’t find my mommy or daddy.”

RIGHT IN THE FEELS.

T___T

I started crying when I read that one. It feels worse when you realise you couldn’t save everyone in LA, and that maybe that child’s parents were among the ones you couldn’t save.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could adopt a kid from LA for a sidekick? After playing my ranger and minion necro, I always feel a bit lonely running around with other chars without a pet or companion. I think I miss the sidekicks from GW1. A kid sidekick who knew how to run away from danger, but needed some help and guidance could be interesting. And have them carry some loot, heh, heh.

Pyx.1906:

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could adopt a kid from LA for a sidekick? After playing my ranger and minion necro, I always feel a bit lonely running around with other chars without a pet or companion. I think I miss the sidekicks from GW1. A kid sidekick who knew how to run away from danger, but needed some help and guidance could be interesting. And have them carry some loot, heh, heh.

You’re thinking of Gwen and her red cloak.

Ashabhi.1365:

I walked around LA for a while as well (instead of running.)

I was not at ground zero for 9/11. I can only imagine the feelings of those who were.

I was, however in Joplin May 22, 2011. Rest in Peace, the 158 people who died.

Things I had seen for most of my adult life were simply gone. Oddities like the slides at McDonalds still standing, only the rest of the building was gone. The wall with a lone couch in front that everyone who came by signed. The ruined hospital. The bulletin boards with names of people who simply wanted the world to know they are alive. and as far as the eye could see was nothing but destruction.

I did have to leave LA for a bit until I could get my emotions under control. I am better now, and plan to go back in soon to simply walk and pay my respects to a city that will forever be changed.

Oh… and I am not a Roleplayer, but after GW1 for years and GW2 since beta1, it’s till like losing a friend.

Indeed, seeing the blown out buildings and such in Lions Arch, reminded me of the aftermath from Hurricane Andrew. Didn’t even hear birds chirping for quite sometime. That and thinking about the families and how we lived for weeks with no power, or running water, marshal law, curfews.. 250,000 victims.. Funny how a game can trigger real world memories..