Guild Wars 2

Snowden. Doing an escort with a level 20 char in full green, level 20. I’ve done this escort a lot, always solo, you get a couple Vets attack, but do-able.

Not now. Sonic Periscope aggroes on the escort and pulls them, and if you happen to get a Veteran Molten spawn, forget it. You have to try and take the scope out.. it will stop any rez efforts on the caravan. You have to dodge the scope and the Vet.. hardly doable at this level. I drew a Protector, who stopped damage to the scope. Oh, and if you try to pull the Vet out of the KD range of the scope, it will reset.

You cannot bypass this periscope, the Caravan will not pass it without resetting or dying to Moltens. It is in range of the next ambush, Grawl with a Vet Shaman.

This is not a group escort mission. It is normal gameplay, disrupted and made impossible by unthinking placement of Living content. I do not feel I should have to log a Level 80 to clear the area so my Level 20 doing a level 20 escort could continue it.

I hope that Anet employees will learn and remember now that bad game design like this is and should be completely unacceptable for (future) Living Content.

Quite funny this really.
People complained about the lack of stuff that actually effected the world and so.
Now that ArenaNet added a few of those things people complain about how they effect the world.

Isn’t the point of the Living World’s Flame and Frost content to actually interrupt the areas they invade? I’m pretty sure this is intended to get players to ….participate in the content.

You think you have it hard? What about the refugees that have lost their homes and/or loved ones? Or how about those kidnapped by the Molten Alliance, having to be rescued by Braham? All those people have it much harder than some guard on the route of a salesman’s Yak route. Plus, in taking the contract to be the bodyguard of that person, and their Yak, you’d agreed to handle any and all troubles (expected or otherwise).

P.S. ALL content in Guild Wars 2 is “group content”. The only content that is not group content is…hmm..er, nope, all content is Group Content. Sure, you ‘can’ solo it; but where’s the fun in that? Taking guild members, friends, and random strangers in the map along to make things much more fun and enjoyable. I recommend doing the following: /map “Anyone for Yak escort on north path? Need help to pass Sonic Periscopes”. Unsurprisingly, Guild Wars 2 players are far more helpful than in other MMORPG’s.

You are not ‘entitled’ to finish this escort. If world events cause players some problems then it means that world events are actually meaningful and interactive rather than just another activity where players can kill and plunder.

all this and more…like u cant finish Black Citadel exploration cose of the Living Story, point of interests inside Command Core, u simply cant get to the one cose of LS, u will be pushed away/knocked back. I hope u gona fix that.

To the people that tell me to “group up” guess what.. it’s still a solo thing for a high level, even downleveled.

It is only “group” for characters who are actually appropriate level for the zone.

Sorry, that is bad design, adding content that is not “group” labeled to a zone that people of that level can’t do, because of lack of traits and skills.

You can rationalize and preach all you want about “roleplaying” or “entitlement” and it does not excuse the poor placement of these scopes and molten spawns.

I cannot believe, not for one moment, that this content was tested using level appropriate characters.

zmaj.4107:

all this and more…like u cant finish Black Citadel exploration cose of the Living Story, point of interests inside Command Core, u simply cant get to the one cose of LS, u will be pushed away/knocked back. I hope u gona fix that.

The point is only blocked until you get past that bit of the story. Then it is back as it was unless you replay the content.

I haven’t seen the Periscope spawn on that path, but I imagine it would actually be EASIER with the caravan NPCs drawing fire from the Periscope, since the Periscopes can only attack one target at a time. The trouble would arise if a Molten Alliance event spawned while you were attacking it (seems to happen about 25 – 30% of the time, when you get the Periscope’s health down to 50%), since I agree that the Molten Vets are unusually tough for their level.

I agree that it’s a bit much for a lowbie to handle on their own, but if it’s proving a problem, why not put a call out in Map chat for help? I see people do it all the time for help with Jumping Puzzles, Group Event Champions or particularly tricky skill points, and if I’m in the area, I will certainly swing by to lend a hand.

Soo… the bad guys are -not- meant to disrupt the good guys? I for one think this is an excellent example of where the molten alliance should be messing with their enemies (us). Ideally they put more interfering stuff around, though granted the spawn that comes with the periscope should be region friendly (no level 80 champs in Wayfarer’s Foothills for example, they can use instanced stuff to go nuts with that).

Plains of Ashford, Victor’s Presidium

The DE “Find the missing scout and escort her back to Sharptail”
The Wiki labels it a lvl7 DE

The path/route this scout takes back to safety leads right through, or closeby, a Perisocope and a Molten Alliance mob, with a Vet.

Yes fun, walking into that solo, not.

I believe this is intended gameplay, as Living Story events rank higher in event priority than the standard events happening in the locale afaik. If this is intended, a small improvement to the notifications/UI would be nice as a form of reminder that a living story is currently ongoing in a specific region of the map.

What you are asking here for OP is:

“Please make the living story content less living!”

It is SUPPOSED to interfere with the daily routine. It is SUPPOSED to be harder then normal content. It’s the freaking dredge and flame legion technology and magic combined. These things make the world more dynamic. I for one actually like events, that don’t play out the same way every time.

Side note: I have an alt, an lv18 Engieneer. You know what I did when I encountered events that were too hard for me on Wayfarer Foothills? Asked for help…

Bubi.7942:

What you are asking here for OP is:

“Please make the living story content less living!”

It is SUPPOSED to interfere with the daily routine. It is SUPPOSED to be harder then normal content. It’s the freaking dredge and flame legion technology and magic combined. These things make the world more dynamic. I for one actually like events, that don’t play out the same way every time.

Side note: I have an alt, an lv18 Engieneer. You know what I did when I encountered events that were too hard for me on Wayfarer Foothills? Asked for help…

And how do you so firmly assert how ANYTHING is “supposed” to be in this game unless you designed it? Link to a Red name please, or remind yourself that it is only your opinion.

Dynamic. rofl. Yes, that scope was back up in 3 mins. Dynamic all right. World changing. And guess what.. things play out the same, over and over, all day long.

Why would ANYONE design new content that is “supposed to be harder” only for level appropriate chars in a zone? New chars. My 70s and 80s swat this “supposed to be harder” content like bugs. Not hard, not at all. The “supposed to be harder” theory only effects a very small part of the population.. those from 5-25 who are “supposed” to be in those zones. What logic is this?

There is “harder” content designed for low level players, and in the mission I mentioned, 3 “normal” Veterans ambushing the escort. So why such a magnitude of difficulty increase for only low levels who do not have the skills to cope with it. Normal “Veterans” in these zones don’t begin to have the difficulty.

Also, the part being missed.. Not complaining re the Living Content being hard or not. I don’t care. The point is, poor placement of it makes other, unrelated content harder or even undoable for actual low levels. They cannot bypass this stuff in some areas. My complaint is that it impacts low levels just attempting to do “normal” quests, and doesn’t impact a high level at all.

Also, I am done with the zones, this is my 8th char and they are finished. I am not asking for myself, in any way, as I don’t need to be there. But things like this need pointed out.

And done with this thread. Obviously Anet could feed some of you maggots on a cracker, call it a pizza, and you would rave about the meal.

More Newby Fun. Note that trying to examine the tracks for the second Norn Personal Story mission puts you solidly in range of a thoughtfully placed periscope.

Yes, fans, I can see now that what this game needs is harder “track examining”. This was just too trivial before, and now, getting flounced like a ragdoll while doing it adds life, dimension, sheer brilliance and depth to “track examining”.

So what if its in a level 4 area, and interferes with Personal Story, right? This track examining is nothing compared to the dynamic living periscope spawnage, and also shows me how unimportant saving a Spirit of the Wild is compared to such riveting, drama filled content such as this. Duh, its a sonic periscope!!

So.. how living and meaningful would the Flame & Frost storyline be if it did not, in anyway or form, effect anything?

lordkrall.7241:

So.. how living and meaningful would the Flame & Frost storyline be if it did not, in anyway or form, effect anything?

Oh yes, it would have been so less living and dynamic, so much less, had the added content not been placed to grief level 4s. Without that, the entire meaning of the story would be lost, and become nothing. Without this periscope, placed EXACTLY where it is, the story would have lost all meaning. Totally. Everything hinges on this particular scope rolling newbies around.

/facepalm

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Oh yes, it would have been so less living and dynamic, so much less, had the added content not been placed to grief level 4s. Without that, the entire meaning of the story would be lost, and become nothing. Without this periscope, placed EXACTLY where it is, the story would have lost all meaning. Totally. Everything hinges on this particular scope rolling newbies around.

/facepalm

Good job completely missing the point.

The areas in question are invaded by enemy forces. Wouldn’t it be quite logical for said enemy forces to do as much as possible to disturb everyday life in said areas?

But then again I suppose we could have moved all those periscopes to Orr or something like that, since that wouldn’t “grief level 4” players.

lordkrall.7241:

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Oh yes, it would have been so less living and dynamic, so much less, had the added content not been placed to grief level 4s. Without that, the entire meaning of the story would be lost, and become nothing. Without this periscope, placed EXACTLY where it is, the story would have lost all meaning. Totally. Everything hinges on this particular scope rolling newbies around.

/facepalm

Good job completely missing the point.

The areas in question are invaded by enemy forces. Wouldn’t it be quite logical for said enemy forces to do as much as possible to disturb everyday life in said areas?

But then again I suppose we could have moved all those periscopes to Orr or something like that, since that wouldn’t “grief level 4” players.

Lets talk about missing the point. Above point in Personal Story, daily life is being disturbed by rampant berserk hordes of mad Minotaur. No mention of scopes, Molten Alliance, nothing. Eir is oblivious to it. No.. “and watch out for nasty scope things”. A level 4, on this mission, has one objective, to track minotaur and find out why they are wreaking havoc. Period. Now, how “living” is it to deal with another, separate, unmentioned story threat right in the middle of this, brutally injecting itself into the story line. This is not like grawl, svanir, or local wildlife. This is another story, a later story, hamfisting its way into an unrelated personal story.

But, I can see you are just fine with it. It would be interesting to find out how many Level 4 players in the upcoming free trial are also “fine” with it, share your view, and buy the game.

And noted your use of ’we could have moved". Are you a developer? Do you work for Anet? Or just take it for granted you speak for them?

I must have missed that personal story (did level a Norn quite recently) but as far as I am aware the personal story takes place outside of the open world and therefore should not be effected in anyway by these open-world spawns?

The idea of the periscopes and what not is great and its fine/fun for high level characters. Low levels in the area starting out however can get majorly screwed over and its annoying. Luckily when I was blocked from a vista by a scope and then a flame event in wayfarer I was able to get two people in map chat to help. Aother game did something similar, Secret World and the Mayan Zombies. New players would get harassed everywhere, even in places they thought were safe or previously were safe(like these events in GW2 are doing, that vista never had anything to prevent me from getting to it before.) Good in concept, bad in execution, but only this part of the events, personally I’ve enjoyed it all despite this annoyance. If anything, take from this and try and alleviate the problems seen here.

From my perspective, the Living Story would not have been degraded, at all, if Periscopes had been placed not to aggressively intrude upon other quests and objectives. Their buff icon exceeds their range anyway, and would have alerted players to their presence. They did not have to be placed in unavoidable areas to new players. They did not have to be placed covering roads, vistas, unrelated quest goals, etc.

They are supposed to be listening devices. The “being listened to” icon and effect should have been enough to cause investigation of them, not some brute force KD effect to get attention. They did not have to be in ambush locations nor add considerable difficulty to new player DEs, Hearts, and other new player content.

It should have been the choice of a Low level to investigate and destroy these scopes, not something forced upon them to achieve unrelated content, content designed for low levels.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Eir is oblivious

Could have left it at that, for that matter…

Jokes aside, some of the placements of the periscopes do confuse me. I think the idea that the periscopes were placed in such a way as to intentionally disrupt activity in the invaded zones makes sense, but how they get there doesn’t particularly make sense in some cases. There’s a periscope that spawns right outside the armory in Plains of Ashford’s very low level area in the northwest… do none of the Charr sitting right outside their home city care about the invasion? How did that periscope get set up without any interference? There are no Molten Alliance troops in the area to defend this periscope in the heart of Charr territory. There are other examples of this, but that’s the one that sticks in my mind.

The living part of this story feels very one-sided, and it sticks out like a sore thumb when I think about it; only the enemy seems to care outside of the story instances inside the Citadel/Hoelbrak.

The dredge made a tunnel underground and placed it without ever being on the surface? ^^

I enjoyed that the current events affected the game world at large. It makes the world more real (for a fantasy game). I guess in 30 years the retired guards will tell a large tale of how they had to make due on tree bark for a month because their supplies didnt get through those kitten dredge and flame legion incursions. At least your character can tell them that he tried his best. =)

And yet again the Molten alliance rampages onwards while the so called “heroes” argue with eachother that the “gods”(ArenaNet) have placed an obstacle on their path.

“There are no gods!” exclaimed the Charr. “This is merely a challenge for us to solve through raw combat and team work!”

“But I used to be able to walk alone through this area, enjoying my day in the snow, happily skipping around and drinking beer with my caravan buddies!” complained the fresh champion of The Great Hunt.

“You have alot to learn about the world, young norn!”, laughed the Charr. “This isn’t your homestead any longer! The Molten alliance are here to make our day miserable! We should show them who’s boss!”

“I don’t like a challenge so close to my home town,” wimpered the norn. “The periscopes here already messed up my armor, they shouldn’t be so intrusive and aggressive.”

“But surely you are norn?! You guys are all about making your legend, and taking on every challenge!”

“There shouldn’t be any challenges so close to my hometown, it will prevent other new norn legends to rise up”

“Legends are born through feats of combat surely! Have you no fighting spirit?”

“It’s just a game, dude.”

Charr: “????”

I don’t know if people considered it but . . .

Has anyone considered asking for help? I’m halfway sure there are people who would be willing to help in Wayfarer’s Foothills (there’s always people hanging around). Or Diessa Plateau (just not for the Nageling Giant). Generally I found if I say in /map “Molten Alliance event near X”, I get a couple people coming around.

I might . . . might . . . have to grab my ranger and keep “roflstomping” the periscopes and events in these areas until people complain I’m not letting them do anything.

Thanks to Anet for addressing this and changing the blowout/kd for low level areas.

This whole invasion thing is terribly inconvenient, isn’t it? Hmph! :-)

Noviere.7309:

This whole invasion thing is terribly inconvenient, isn’t it? Hmph! :-)

ANet fixed the scopes. That tells me more than any snotty comments from forum fans.