Guild Wars 2

“Man I wonder why the Humans and Charr hate each other? It can’t be that they have fought for several hundred years in the past that GW1 tells us about.”

Lore is not just the ruins of famous buildings. It sets up this game and its history without, I doubt they would have as big of a world or as diverse.) It affects how the NPCs treat each other, why the Destiny’s Edge hated each other, and even map completion. ie droknar’s forge, the original searing cauldron that killed so many people.

Yeah, destroying the ruins of old LA was really pointless and stupid unless they did it to pave the way for something bigger, which could be the case.

If you want a game just like GW1, then go play GW1.

This issue reminds me of how people originally hated Final Fantasy 8, 9 and 10 because people were still reminiscing about 6 and 7.

GW1 was a fun game, but some of it is still there in GW2. They still might open the Crystal Desert in the future, they still might open certain areas from GW1, or stories from it. Its not like Lion’s Arch was actually the only thing that tied the two together.

Besides, I’m glad they’ve made the changes they have. My gf could never really get into GW1 too much because it was much harder and took some hardcore effort to do much of the bonus content. It also bred a community of really elitist people, to the point where PvP was ruined for me because of all the “hardcore” people who dwelled there. As someone else said earlier, it was becoming a bit of a toxic community that drove off new players.

I like that GW2 is newbie friendly. More of my actual real life friends are willing to play it now.

The fact that you care so much about LA and are hurt to see it go means that ANet did their jobs. You have an attachment to these places. They’re important to you. And when an enemy that you have no respect for trashes the place, you don’t like it one bit.

Congratulations, you now know what every culture or nation that has ever been invaded feels like. No one likes to see their home destroyed; that’s the point. ANet didn’t do this in order to sever ties with GW1 or anything like that. They did it to pull on your heartstrings, and boy did they succeed. Kudos ANet.

By the way I’m getting really tired of all this “this is Guild Wars in name only” nonsense. Yes the mechanics and execution are different. But it’s the same world. Same lore, same peoples, same history, same culture. The fact that the world changes (as it is wont to do!) and you don’t like Scarlet doesn’t make any difference. It’s still Guild Wars.

Sekhmet.6153:

If you want a game just like GW1, then go play GW1.

No one in this thread is asking for “a game just like GW1”. I’m not sure where that came from. Okay, I lied, some randoms jumped in and made it about that, but OP had a great point. People are sad because they feel like history and lore are being wiped off the landscape (physical and story-wise) of GW2.

The ruins were a nice nod to everything that came before without being intrusive. It’s disappointing that they were destroyed. Unless something really cool rises from the ashes, it seems like a waste. Maybe the spot was super magically powerful and Scarlet is drilling there to bring up some artifact or will raise a dragon that will raise even more extensive ruins…? That’s my hope.

ETA: And I’m willing to bet the above poster is right, that it was intentional to make us feel emotional about the invasion like we did with the Searing. But idk, the absolute shock of the searing can never be compared to imo. It came as a complete surprise, hitting me like a truck. I don’t think the structure of the living story releases and their promotions of them ahead of time allows for a surprise like that.

zaced.7948:

gw1 anet =|= gw2 anet
most people who worked on gw1 already left the company so obviously their “touch” on the game would also disappear.

This is your answer.

Sekhmet.6153:

If you want a game just like GW1, then go play GW1.

This issue reminds me of how people originally hated Final Fantasy 8, 9 and 10 because people were still reminiscing about 6 and 7.

GW1 was a fun game, but some of it is still there in GW2. They still might open the Crystal Desert in the future, they still might open certain areas from GW1, or stories from it. Its not like Lion’s Arch was actually the only thing that tied the two together.

Besides, I’m glad they’ve made the changes they have. My gf could never really get into GW1 too much because it was much harder and took some hardcore effort to do much of the bonus content. It also bred a community of really elitist people, to the point where PvP was ruined for me because of all the “hardcore” people who dwelled there. As someone else said earlier, it was becoming a bit of a toxic community that drove off new players.

I like that GW2 is newbie friendly. More of my actual real life friends are willing to play it now.

What a giant hyperbole rooted in a strawman argument. Way to go, guy! Next time, try to comprehend the argument before opining with a long-winded rant.

Ruin is Guild Wars lore. If having the drill coming that close to the old fountain has ellicited this level of reaction from you, then they’re doing their job. This is a company that designed the starter area in gw1 last, so it was the prettiest, then burned it to the ground. I think many people forget that under all the pretty in these games we’ve always been on the precipice of doom. The living story setup gives us a chance to experience it as it happens instead of as a historical event. Several years game time passed between pre and post searing. We’ll get to experience that gap this time if they hold true to their course.

That’s the kind of lore they’re working on now it seems. Very player centric “I was there” kind of stories. Stories where we win, but maybe not without the damage of our foes actions there to remind us. They really need a good in game codex/library set up to keep this kind of experience in line though. It would help the new players understand where people are coming from when they are told these kind of stories and see the depth of actions in perspective.

The real world can change a lot in 250 years. We had a beautiful terminal station in my hometown that was demolished about 30 years ago. No one who has recently moved here would have known it even existed if not for the pictures and stories of the locals. That’s the kind of thing I think they’re shooting for.

250 years is a long time slick. You only need to look at the U.S from 250 years ago, weird huh?

Mr Bimble.2764:

What dragons?

Oh you know, Zhaitan, the claw of jormag, the shatterer, tequatl, etc etc. I know, they’ve only been there since the beginning, they are easy to miss.

Xiahou Mao.9701:

lazarus.1639:

Even the Great Northern Wall might not survive this year.

Stop destroying the old lore please.

I hope you can look back at what you wrote and see the irony there.

What is the ‘lore’ of the Great Northern Wall? Well, it just so happens that in the original game, it was destroyed by the Searing. For you to complain now about the potential destruction of something that was already destroyed in the game you’re nostalgic for is more than a little silly.

If anything, this attack on Lion’s Arch is very much staying true to Guild Wars tradition. Things get destroyed. Everyone has fond memories of ‘pre-Searing’, the peaceful Ascalon that is lost once you reach a certain story step and that can then never be accessed again with that character. But the Searing happened. The game went on. Now it’s Lion’s Arch that’s being scorched. This is the kind of ‘nothing is sacred’ approach that the original game embraced. So why can’t you embrace it now?

Amen!

Zylonite.5913:

My heart is already broken and I never even played GW1. It must really suck for you guys that loved GW1. I hear many good things about it that I am very close to buying the whole thing on steam….and switching to it….even on solo…at least maybe I get a bit of story out of it….because 2k hours of GW2 and I still have no clue what is going on….

Thats odd. I followed the entire personal story from several different characters. It seems pretty obvious what’s going on.

PeterThomas.7243:

Zera Allimatti.2541:

The issue I have is that there is very little left of the original game for continuity’s sake, and it seems that the game is no longer about the player on an individual level…

To be fair, the game IS set two hundred years after the first game. A lot of stuff can happen in-between. The way the game was at launch seemed to fit the lore just fine.

With that said, though, I do agree with your sentiments about how the Living Story is ruining the game. I would be fine with them destroying Lion’s Arch if it was part of a story that made sense, but unfortunately that’s not what we got…

I also agree that the game is just becoming a big zerg fest (think: Tequatl, wurm, marionette, mad king’s labyrinth 2.0, tower of nightmares, clockwork chaos, and now escape from L.A.). When was the last time they added content that was friendly to casual players or small groups? Twilight Assault? That was nearly five months ago… The new way of doing things seems to be open world zergs, where you become a faceless number in a swarm of 100+ people while you spam your first skill. It’s really not satisfying.

Hm.

You may have a point. But they wanted the Living Story to effect the entire world. What would you want, more stuff like the personal story?

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

My question is…. why was the destruction of the ruins deemed so necessary? What point does it make?

If is was done to make Scarlet somehow more villainous, it failed. She is still a joke, and I blame the people who scripted it. Fact is, my resentment at all the destruction, kessex, LA, is laid at the feet of the writing team. Scarlet is too shallow, too unbelievable, too much godmod to ever take seriously, and so my animosity that should be pointed at her, isn’t.

All I am seeing is what looks like a desperate effort to make her believable. Blow up and destroy enough, and we will take her seriously? No. There isn’t enough content in this game you can destroy, there aren’t enough likeable NPCs to murder, you just cant DO enough “bad” things to make Scarlet anything but ludicrous. You are destroying for nothing.

GG

Scarlet is basically the Joker. Joker is cool, IMHO. She’s not only doing the same thing, she even has a marginally passing resemblance.

I do kind of dislike the fact she is so uber with everything she does: a super “scientific” genius who also excels at getting all these disparate factions together.

However, that being the case, I do not find her two dimensional, silly, or boring, any more than I do the Joker.

But to each their own.