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Posted by: Axelwarrior.9084

Axelwarrior.9084

Anyone else feeling pretty sad about the ending?
We have defeated Scarlet (which also makes me sad, personally) and all we have left is ruins and casualties. (and a new threat)

Though it’s impressive that the Living Story made me develop feelings, no matter what feelings they are, I wish I felt a bit better about the outcome (or felt that my contribution actually helped save some people).

P.S. The soundtrack playing in LA now is a very fitting addition, good job on that.

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Posted by: Sophiera.1209

Sophiera.1209

All of Salad race is getting the blame in the eyes of some people too

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Posted by: Kalavier.1097

Kalavier.1097

It’s realistic. Not often does war end pretty and nice. Battles ruin towns and scar them for a while.

It’s one of the things I said during Escape and battle of LA updates to people here and ingame… People LOVE to talk about “Oh, if we had X this would never have happened! LA would be fine!”

Gravity is cruel. Wreckage causes just as much damage. The Bombardments ruined LA, and the breachmaker exploding caused worse damage simply from large chunks of debris flying everywhere.

We won, and perhaps for once (In GW2 maybe, Gw in general perhaps, or even general fantasy) we look around and we see just how little is left standing.

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in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: mjhungness.8059

mjhungness.8059

This one affected me more than my first time walking out into the ruins of Post Searing Ascalon. That first time, with my first GW1 toon, I honestly didn’t know what was happening when it happened and I hadn’t really adopted much attachment to Pre-Searing Ascalon. It was still a shock.

This time around, the city that I’ve come to call my GW2 home is ruined. Me and a few guildies were running around last night, trying to find familiar buildings and markers amidst the ruins and I just felt sad. Gone were the areas we took our in-game Christmas screenies for two straight years. Gone was the plaza in Fort Mariner that my thief practiced her teleporting skills. Gone was the little cove on the east side and tiki bar up on the hilltop west of that. Gone was the grand hall of the TP where I agonized over my armor upgrades for seemingly hours across all my toons. Gone was the Lion fountain where we all stood around in our Mad King outfits listening to his silly jokes. Gone is the Mystic Forge where I stood for hours with a mixture of dread and nervous anticipation, hoping beyond hope that I’d get a mystic clover instead of some more leather scraps. Gone was that first moment of exhileration when I found the old lions from GW1 in the bay.

Yeah, last night was a little heartwrenching. After the smoke and red haze disappeared, I realized that a chunk of happy times was now going to be a memory. Great job for doing all that in a game! Touches like the note boards and grieving citizens – wow. Just nice job!

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Posted by: Seras.5702

Seras.5702

<snip>

Agreed. In GW I missed the beautiful pre-searing Ascalon, but eventually moved on as I discovered just how small my idea of the world was. Also, though I spend a considerable amount of time in pre-searing, I certainly didn’t spend a year and a half making it my home like I did with GW2’s LA. We became so comfortable with LA for so long that its destruction really hits home.

Flixx Gatebuster, Orwynn Lightgrave, Seras Snapdragon
[TTBH] [HATE], Yak’s Bend(NA)

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in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: Grump.7069

Grump.7069

Not everyone made LA their home, i avoided it like a pest, but then again in real life i dislike too crowded cities as well :p
Doesn’t change the fact how nicely anet put the destruction of it, and the destruction of the breachmaker as well. Although i’d have left bigger chunks of the thing near the point it was drilling the past weeks (for irony it’d been nice if there was a diving point from the tilted breachmaker).

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Posted by: Sarie.1630

Sarie.1630

All of Salad race is getting the blame in the eyes of some people too

That would be interesting if they explored it in-game. Suddenly Humans, Charr, Norn and Asura turn on Sylvari because, after all, in 25 years one went bad so perhaps the rest will follow. You could see new voice acting between NPCs discussing how shifty a Sylvari looked as it wandered past, new text dialogue for the player explaining how NPCs no longer trust this relatively new race.

Sadly though I think developer created fictional racism would be a step too far for many people. It would be a natural progression of events though, perhaps. Sylvari are new, and one went bad. How long until the rest do; they wont, because of player characters, but that’s fairly by-the-by.

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in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: CureForLiving.5360

CureForLiving.5360

Yeah, when I went through the ruins it hit me. When we were battling Aetherblades, Toxic and Molten Alliance it didn’t really settle in, but now that the dust has settled it really feels like a ruin.

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Posted by: Ashabhi.1365

Ashabhi.1365

There have been posts in other threads that noted how the destruction gave some people flashbacks to 9/11.*

Things that were taken for granted are gone. People we knew are simply no more (where are you, Raisin face?) Walking around drives the total destruction home in different ways for different individuals.

I just hope that we don’t log in one day and find that it has magically reappeared all shiny and new. I hope they take their time and rebuild it little by little so we have more invested in the “New LA” as we did in the old.

*One may insert any destructive force such as Loma-Linda quake or the Joplin tornado (of which I am intimately familiar.)

Level 80 Elementalist

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Posted by: Arnon.1563

Arnon.1563

Maybe it’s cause I have a toddler and pictured him saying it, but the Note “I can’t find my Mommy or Daddy” got to me.

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Posted by: Konrad Knox.5162

Konrad Knox.5162

I would feel more immersion into the emotion of the story, if it only was written like an actual war. What we had instead is “war” being played at. Half the decisions by the good guys were pretty much deliberately made to cause a failure. Lion’s Arch was effectively surrendered and committed suicide, with nobody bothering to assemble appropriate backup. It was a disaster, brought about by politicians and poor tacticians, when a whole force of players (tactical geniuses and heroic warriors) were sitting on their kitten unable to help or turn the course of events.

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in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: Electro.4173

Electro.4173

All of Salad race is getting the blame in the eyes of some people too

That would be interesting if they explored it in-game. Suddenly Humans, Charr, Norn and Asura turn on Sylvari because, after all, in 25 years one went bad so perhaps the rest will follow. You could see new voice acting between NPCs discussing how shifty a Sylvari looked as it wandered past, new text dialogue for the player explaining how NPCs no longer trust this relatively new race.

Sadly though I think developer created fictional racism would be a step too far for many people. It would be a natural progression of events though, perhaps. Sylvari are new, and one went bad. How long until the rest do; they wont, because of player characters, but that’s fairly by-the-by.

It wouldn’t be a “natural progression” at all, as I imagine the majority of people realize that a few bad people does not an entire evil race make. And if it does then every race is evil. There might be a few kneejerk reactions to the extent of Sylvari being evil (like there already are, with characters like Elynor Grady and apparently even Marjory if you went into the Aftermath party instance without killing Scarlet) but you’re talking as though the majority of characters from every race would just suddenly start despising Sylvari.

I don’t think it’d be a great idea to make a chunk of the playerbase feel unwelcome in the game, either.

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Posted by: CureForLiving.5360

CureForLiving.5360

I would feel more immersion into the emotion of the story, if it only was written like an actual war. What we had instead is “war” being played at. Half the decisions by the good guys were pretty much deliberately made to cause a failure.

In hindsight if people had made the correct decision at the correct time we wouldn’t have had any wars, ever.

It was a disaster, brought about by politicians and poor tacticians, when a whole force of players (tactical geniuses and heroic warriors) were sitting on their kitten unable to help or turn the course of events.

Iin general wars are the result of politicians and poor tacticians… In the real world a lot of blood shed could have been avoided if the world had better politicians and better tacticians. And the kicker, there are actually competent people in this world, it’s simply that those people are rarely the ones with the power and authority to stop bad things from happening.
Also we players did help, we saved hundreds if not thousands of civilians and helped regain LA.

It wouldn’t be a “natural progression” at all, as I imagine the majority of people realize that a few bad people does not an entire evil race make.

The closet things we can use for comparison is the real world. Unfortunately in the real world very few people make the logical connection that a few doesn’t necessarily represent the many. Especially if they themselves have in some way been harmed or slighted.

I don’t think it’d be a great idea to make a chunk of the playerbase feel unwelcome in the game, either.

True enough.

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in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: HellsPriest.6745

HellsPriest.6745

Where is this speech you all speak of, on a western wall?

Ahlou – 80 Sylvari Mesmer
Founder of TTS [TTS] gamers
“How do you feel about killing?” …I don’t.

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in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: Kycoo Grim.9463

Kycoo Grim.9463

I spent a good amount of time in LA, but never though of it as my characters home, more of a gathering place of great history. My favorite place was Old Lions Arch that is under water, and now all that’s left is a giant hole, with even more in ruin than before, and it’s almost unrecognizable.
To be honest though, I hope they never fully repair that area, and leave it as a scar on the land that I can show my brothers when they finally get the chance to play again.

Just a filthy Casual, move along.

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Posted by: ProtoGunner.4953

ProtoGunner.4953

Not really, I feel a lack of emotion here. Although I loved the new music played in L.A. but if you want to feel real emotion play Final Fantasy X where they play ‘To Zanarkand’ (also part of the intro) – now THAT’S emotional…

‘would have/would’ve been’ —> correct
‘would of been’ —> wrong

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Posted by: sorudo.9054

sorudo.9054

the only think that makes me sad is that i can’t get as exited about GW2 as i did with GW1, the connection is lost and the game doesn’t feel like i am doing anything more then rush through everything.

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Posted by: Olvendred.3027

Olvendred.3027

All of Salad race is getting the blame in the eyes of some people too

That would be interesting if they explored it in-game. Suddenly Humans, Charr, Norn and Asura turn on Sylvari because, after all, in 25 years one went bad so perhaps the rest will follow. You could see new voice acting between NPCs discussing how shifty a Sylvari looked as it wandered past, new text dialogue for the player explaining how NPCs no longer trust this relatively new race.

Sadly though I think developer created fictional racism would be a step too far for many people. It would be a natural progression of events though, perhaps. Sylvari are new, and one went bad. How long until the rest do; they wont, because of player characters, but that’s fairly by-the-by.

Jennivere Borden (an NPC) at the refugee camp near Vigil Keep says,“I can’t believe what some people here are saying about the sylvari, saying they’re all killers and lunatics like Scarlet.”

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Posted by: Solandri.9640

Solandri.9640

I would feel more immersion into the emotion of the story, if it only was written like an actual war. What we had instead is “war” being played at. Half the decisions by the good guys were pretty much deliberately made to cause a failure.

In hindsight if people had made the correct decision at the correct time we wouldn’t have had any wars, ever.

Not every situation resolves into a universal “correct” and “incorrect” decision. Do you want vanilla or chocolate ice cream? For the people who like vanilla more, the “correct” choice is vanilla. For the people who like chocolate more, the “correct” choice is chocolate.

If you think about it, wars are caused by people making what they think is the correct decision, and the decisions of different people being mutually exclusive. That is, wars don’t happen because people failed to make the correct decision; they happen because two or more sides reach incompatible decisions and each side is convinced theirs is correct and the other is wrong.

My respect for Anet grew a lot with how they’re handling the denouement to the Scarlet arch. Too often people fail to think through the consequences of these enormous decisions which lead to conflict and war. I partly blame TV shows – after each episode everything reset and all damage undone. Or they jump to the happy ending after a big conflict and don’t show the enormous amount of work that’ll need to be done to clean things up. A few people are complaining about the wrecked state of LA and how they can’t get back to playing the game as usual. They think this precisely because they’re used to TV shows which don’t linger on this aspect of war. The show is over, so they expect everything to immediately go back to normal.

Anet hasn’t been shying away from this. They’re going out of their way to make sure each of us feels the impact of this in some way, whether it be an emotional tie to the NPCs or mere inconvenience that LA is down for maintenance. It is only when people fully appreciate the enormous cost to rebuild after a war, that they can accurately decide if it’s worth going to war in the first place. (And no I’m not a peace nut saying war is always wrong. As long as there are principles and values worth dying for, there will be wars worth fighting. Refusing to fight any wars is simply dumping responsibility for your freedom onto those who are willing to fight for it, or consigning yourself and everyone else to a lifetime of oppression and slavery. But without a proper understanding and respect for the true cost of war, one can make the mistake of thinking a certain principle is worth dying for when it really isn’t.)

Iin general wars are the result of politicians and poor tacticians… In the real world a lot of blood shed could have been avoided if the world had better politicians and better tacticians. And the kicker, there are actually competent people in this world, it’s simply that those people are rarely the ones with the power and authority to stop bad things from happening.

That’s partially true – no leader is perfect, and everyone will always make some poor decisions. But the vast majority of armchair quarterbacks who think they’re competent really aren’t. Giving them power and authority would actually make the situation worse. If you ask people if they’re an above-average driver or above-average in intelligence, something like 90% of them will say they are. Obviously that can’t be true, but people constantly overestimate their own competence.

Our systems aren’t perfect, but they do a pretty good job of putting reasonably competent people in authority. The vast majority of criticisms I’ve seen slung at our Presidents (both D and R) and other world leaders are made in hindsight – after you know the outcome. Well, yeah, if you have a crystal ball showing you the exact consequences of your decisions, the making competent decisions is easy. The trick is to make the right decisions before you know if they’re actually the right decisions. That is competence.

Before the second Gulf War, I asked a bunch of people opposed to it if they would state for the record that they knew there were no WMDs. None of them would. Even the guy in charge of the UN weapons inspections in Iraq would only go so far as to say, “It will be interesting to see if they are really there.” A few years later after no WMDs were found, these people were stating that of course they knew it all along there were no WMDs. In fairness, none of the people who thought there were WMDs would state it for the record either. That’s how insidious hindsight works – your mind forgets the times you’re wrong, and exaggerate the times you’re right, incorrectly elevating your estimate of your own competence.

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Posted by: Evon Skyfyre.9673

Evon Skyfyre.9673

The cannons may have fallen silent, and the bodies cleared away, but come the inevitable sunrise, new possibilities are hatched and going astray..

(edited by Evon Skyfyre.9673)

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Posted by: Hygric.2705

Hygric.2705

First time I felt sad in this game was when I saw all the trees chopped down in Kessex Hills. Now Lions Arch. I feel sad. :-(

10 out of 10 for the game designers! Brilliant work. Just maybe remember to fix bits of the world as well or in a year or two we will be left with nothing but wasteland and ruin to play in.

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in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath

Posted by: cheshirefox.7026

cheshirefox.7026

don’t forget the captains council, tengu, and the pact all did absolutely nothing “useful” while lion’s arch was being destroyed.. i wouldn’t mind seeing in game resentment toward them as well as sylvari.. i’m interested in where the storyline is willing to go from here and how involved the players, the races and the established lore of tyria will be involved, if it will be at all.. other than lore based imagination, i feel almost no remorse for lion’s arch being destroyed.. simply because for me there was nothing special about it, other than thousands of people supposedly living there who i never really interacted with.. so, i do feel ‘sad’ mostly on principle but not so much because of the living world of tyria.. not to sound rude, but many of the living world installments had a “what does that have to do with anything” ‘flavor of the week’ feeling to them.. anyway, this game has a lot of evolving to do and i hope it moves past the destruction of lion’s arch with some very interesting installments.

i can outswim a centaur!
when i’m done on an issue
i start talking in nerglish

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Posted by: bullyrook.2165

bullyrook.2165

Just the powers were useless? Try every single NPC in the game except Taimi.

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Posted by: SlothBear.9846

SlothBear.9846

The lighthouse keeper’s daughter’s prayer at the memorial really got to me. Go listen to it in game if you haven’t heard it. As typical, the ambient dialogue beats the hell out of anything that’s put front and center in the story.