While you have yet to release a firm verdict on the possibility of expansion, you have stated numerous times that you do not intend to have one; that if living story works out, it will replace what would have otherwise been an expansion. This leaves the appearance that the matter is up in the air, however given your year end report ‘by the numbers’, it is clear that you do not care whether we enjoy the content, but simply that we log on to check it out. Doubtless, the number one reason people partake in living story, is not because they enjoy your hastily thrown together Swiss cheese; but that they want the achievements and rewards that come with come with completion. This being a meek point however, what you have not divulged to us, is if personal story will continue regardless of whether you chose to add an expansion or indefinitely pump out this living story crap. What I want to know is if our grand campaign against the dragons will continue, as I am certain, the majority of the player base is looking forward to it.
Devs, stop dodging the bullet
It’s not a matter of “if” we go back to dragons or not, it’s more a matter of “when”, and it will most likely happen when they feel they’ve built up the systems they wanted to, to go forward with a new dragon storyline.
It’s like you’ve never tried to put yourself in a developer’s shoes before. I’m pretty sure Zhaitan feedback was on the underwhelming side, and ANet is aware of that.
They’re not going to go back into the personal story/dragon lore making the same mistakes again. They need time to build systems up, and when they do go back to it, they want it to be good.
Living story is practice. Players may whine all they want, but down the road, things will just get more and more efficient as the tools they use get more and more refined. Both months of Southsun, were practice. Flame and Frost is practice. Bazaar of the four winds, and cutthroat politics are all practice. Clockwork Chaos is practice. SAB, while seperate from the game, is an exercise in game mechanics, which may inform future jumping puzzles. And most recently, the Tequatl revamp, is most definitely practice, and if ANet is to be believed, the would be the first exercise in better ‘major boss’ mechanics. They would practice with each of the existing world dragons (and maybe some new ones) and then they could go back and revamp the zhaitan fight, or have a completely new and polished, elder dragon fight.
And if you try and think of their alternatives, they really did go with the best route of action. You may say “Well, if this is all practice, then they should’ve practiced it before releasing, I’d rather have higher quality releases than this”. Sure, you’d be fine, but one hundred foaming players right behind your back will scream and shout “WHERE IS THE CONTENT ANET.” Or what if, let’s say they went with something more traditional – they announce an expansion, but that expansion will be exactly what an expansion would usually entail – more maps, higher cap, etc. There will be people screaming “SO UN-IMAGINATIVE BORING SAME OLD SAME OLD I COULD BE PLAYING insert other game here”.
OP, please get some empathy, and think in their shoes for once. They’re people. They have to answer to a playerbase who wants everything. They have to answer to NCSoft who only want a bottom line. They also have their own goals they want to see, ideas they want to see come to fruition. It’s not a matter of “if”. It’s a matter of “when”.
(edited by Dunan Atreides.5436)
OP, please get some empathy, and think in their shoes for once. They’re people. They have to answer to a playerbase who wants everything. They have to answer to NCSoft who only want a bottom line. They also have their own goals they want to see, ideas they want to see come to fruition. It’s not a matter of “if”. It’s a matter of “when”.
While you have a point, it is no surprise some people are disgruntled.
The quality of the current content hardly makes me think the supposedly ‘real’ content will be any good.
Until then I won’t be playing much GW2, if at all, and I’m not holding my breath for the ‘real’ stuff.
I enjoy the content personally
OP, please get some empathy, and think in their shoes for once. They’re people. They have to answer to a playerbase who wants everything. They have to answer to NCSoft who only want a bottom line. They also have their own goals they want to see, ideas they want to see come to fruition. It’s not a matter of “if”. It’s a matter of “when”.
Your words are reminiscent of the player base when Living Story was first released, that ‘it doesn’t matter if the content is good, because its just practice,’ or ‘Its too early to have an expansion, its better to improve the core game-play first.’ And I was fine with this, I was okay with waiting however long it took for an expansion; so that when they did release one, it would be the best quality gaming experience possible. But now we know there WILL NOT be an expansion, and that Living Story IS NOT practice, but instead, is the future of all content on GW2. This lets down my expectations as a player, for while GW2 may not have the greatest story, and perhaps it was poorly presented; I still enjoyed playing through it, watching it -more than that- I desire to see its conclusion.
Yet if they decide not to have an expansion, then how are they to release that conclusion? You could merge it with Living Story, however, that is not the type of content that can be temporary by any means. Or opposed to Living Story, they could release a Personal Story chapter twice a month in the same fashion. But regardless of the method, they have not stated IF they intend to continue Personal Story in the first place, instead choosing to pretend it doesn’t exist. This is where I find fault.
Yes, generally an MMORPG wouldn’t state, ’we’re going to continue personal story’, but then again, most personal stories are continued via expansions. So when an expansion is taken out of the picture, then the question pops up, a question, that they have failed to address.
(edited by Mia Lunarfang.5826)
I really enjoy the living world…
Achievements and rewards are just a bonus. Especially the super sword, i love that one :o.
Warning: link may contain traces of awesome.
Lyssa’s Grimoire – a guide every Mesmer should read.
I really enjoy the living world…
Achievements and rewards are just a bonus. Especially the super sword, i love that one :o.
That’s not really what this thread is about… I’m asking the Devs to inform us if they will continue personal story or not. And expressing my disappointment if they chose not to do so. Also, the living world content may be enjoyable, but the story aspect of it is crap.
Anet has already said they would release expansion like content. But they haven’t decided if they will make us PAY for it or released through the living story.
I think it should be expansion like content should be released through the living story. Many players are funding the content though the gem store, so it will be already payed for.
(edited by Onshidesigns.1069)
The reason they can’t go into specifics about whether they plan on developing an expansion or not isn’t because they just want to dodge the subject. It’s because they themselves haven’t really decided on whether they want to go ahead with creating one yet. There are still a lot of factors to consider like:
- Whether the level cap will be raised
- Whether crafting will go above 500
- What zones should be added and what level they would be
- What races if any should be added
- What professions if any should be added
They’re probably waiting to the release the game in China before they proceed with any big decisions. The thing with expansions is that they become the center of attention. I’m talking about other MMORPGs of course. All content updates will be exclusive to those expansions so if you haven’t purchased them you’ll be missing out. Factions and Nightfall were actually stand-alone games so you can’t really bring that into the argument.
The reason they can’t go into specifics about whether they plan on developing an expansion or not isn’t because they just want to dodge the subject. It’s because they themselves haven’t really decided on whether they want to go ahead with creating one yet. There are still a lot of factors to consider like:
- Whether the level cap will be raised
- Whether crafting will go above 500
- What zones should be added and what level they would be
- What races if any should be added
- What professions if any should be added
They’re probably waiting to the release the game in China before they proceed with any big decisions. The thing with expansions is that they become the center of attention. I’m talking about other MMORPGs of course. All content updates will be exclusive to those expansions so if you haven’t purchased them you’ll be missing out. Factions and Nightfall were actually stand-alone games so you can’t really bring that into the argument.
“So right now we’re not really looking at expansions as an option,” lead content designer Mike Zadorojny told me on his visit to London last week.
“It’s something that’s on the table but it’s not something we’re focused on, because what we want to do is – our idea here is that with Living World, we can do what expansions would have done but do it on a more regular basis.”
I pressed him to tell me whether there would be a Guild Wars 2 expansion this year and he shook his head to indicate no. What about next year, I asked?
“If we do this right,” he answered, “we will probably never do an expansion and everything will be going into this Living World strategy.”
This being said, they do not intent to have an expansion; Period. That’s why once again, I am asking if they will continue the main story line, or, ‘Personal Story’ as they call it, despite not using an expansion.
(edited by Mia Lunarfang.5826)
Anet has already said they would release expansion like content. But they haven’t decided if they will make us PAY for it or released through the living story.
I think it should be expansion like content should be released through the living story. Many players are funding the content though the gem store, so it will be already payed for.
Once again, I don’t know how many times I’ve stated this, but Personal Story is not the type of content that can be temporary. And Living Story is temporary, so releasing one through the other wont really work.
(edited by Mia Lunarfang.5826)
Anet has already said they would release expansion like content. But they haven’t decided if they will make us PAY for it or released through the living story.
I think it should be expansion like content should be released through the living story. Many players are funding the content though the gem store, so it will be already payed for.
Once again, I don’t know how many times I’ve stated this, but Personal Story is not the type of content that can be temporary. And Living Story is temporary, so releasing one through the other wont really work.
That what they will most likely do! The currency wallet was not related to the living story but it was still released with it.
Once again, I don’t know how many times I’ve stated this, but Personal Story is not the type of content that can be temporary. And Living Story is temporary, so releasing one through the other wont really work.
That what they will most likely do! The currency wallet was not related to the living story but it was still released with it.
The result of such a choice would be horrendous, as the Devs already stated they don’t have enough time to include all they want in Living Story; so how would they be able to make a quality Living Story and Personal Story chapter in the same release??? They decided the deadline, and they’re determined -despite player input- to keep it.
(edited by Mia Lunarfang.5826)
How long should we have empathy and be forgiving exactly?
This isn’t a new company, and this game’s not only a year old- but openly bragging about how amazing their game is.
Yet- we’re seeing overly lazy design, heavy grind based content, lack of interesting story- and even the difficulty is lazy. Yes, gauntlet was hard- but what was the answer to every fight? Stack up dps gear- why? Because every fight relied entirely on OHKO mechanics, burst damage to beat the timer, and single target. You’re telling me you can’t think of any way to make a challenging encounter other than total reliance on being killed instantly?
Nevermind poor camera angles and a floor choice that makes it more difficult than it should be to see red circles, plus poor telegraphs that are often covered over by the excessively explosive effects of your attacks.
All in all- this isn’t the same company that gave us GW1. This is a company that has realized that simple, repetitive tasks are both cost effective to produce, and keep people chugging at the slot machine longer. In all fairness, they are a company, and that’s the logical path to take.
Unfortunately for us- that means we won’t be seeing anything that doesn’t fit that criteria anymore.
You do know that there are other teams working on the game, other than the four Living Story ones, right? The Personal Story wouldn’t fall under the LS teams’ jurisdiction. It would probably fall under the Long Term teams’. They are the ones working on permanent content, like building/adding new regions and dragon content.
You do know that there are other teams working on the game, other than the four Living Story ones, right? The Personal Story wouldn’t fall under the LS teams’ jurisdiction. It would probably fall under the Long Term teams’. They are the ones working on permanent content, like building/adding new regions and dragon content.
That they are working on Personal Story at all is pure conjecture, more than that, it wouldn’t make sense, as continuation of the main story-line is generally assimilated with the release of an expansion.
Devs, stop dodging the bullet
in Super Adventure Box: Back to School
Posted by: WilliamDaBloody.2591
They will re-do the world bosses next, starting with Tequatl in 14 days.
Don’t hold your breath for an expansion. It will come when GW2 daily login numbers are getting lower and lower and the game needs a boost to bring former players back. I doubt this will happen within the next 12-18 months.
That they are working on Personal Story at all is pure conjecture, more than that, it wouldn’t make sense, as continuation of the main story-line is generally assimilated with the release of an expansion.
Generally being the keyword. Anet has already stated, numerous times, they are going to try something different. That they are going to try to advance the storyline through the LS. That means that any type of content usually done by expansions(added regions, furthering the personal storyline, new races, professions, and cities) would be the combined work of the LS and Long Term teams. Living Story teams has to get the game’s narrative there, and the Long Term teams actually provides most of the actual new content.
If that fails, they will most likely make an expansion the next go around.
It’s not a matter of “if” we go back to dragons or not, it’s more a matter of “when”, and it will most likely happen when they feel they’ve built up the systems they wanted to, to go forward with a new dragon storyline.
It’s like you’ve never tried to put yourself in a developer’s shoes before. I’m pretty sure Zhaitan feedback was on the underwhelming side, and ANet is aware of that.
They’re not going to go back into the personal story/dragon lore making the same mistakes again. They need time to build systems up, and when they do go back to it, they want it to be good.
Living story is practice. Players may whine all they want, but down the road, things will just get more and more efficient as the tools they use get more and more refined. Both months of Southsun, were practice. Flame and Frost is practice. Bazaar of the four winds, and cutthroat politics are all practice. Clockwork Chaos is practice. SAB, while seperate from the game, is an exercise in game mechanics, which may inform future jumping puzzles. And most recently, the Tequatl revamp, is most definitely practice, and if ANet is to be believed, the would be the first exercise in better ‘major boss’ mechanics. They would practice with each of the existing world dragons (and maybe some new ones) and then they could go back and revamp the zhaitan fight, or have a completely new and polished, elder dragon fight.
And if you try and think of their alternatives, they really did go with the best route of action. You may say “Well, if this is all practice, then they should’ve practiced it before releasing, I’d rather have higher quality releases than this”. Sure, you’d be fine, but one hundred foaming players right behind your back will scream and shout “WHERE IS THE CONTENT ANET.” Or what if, let’s say they went with something more traditional – they announce an expansion, but that expansion will be exactly what an expansion would usually entail – more maps, higher cap, etc. There will be people screaming “SO UN-IMAGINATIVE BORING SAME OLD SAME OLD I COULD BE PLAYING insert other game here”.
OP, please get some empathy, and think in their shoes for once. They’re people. They have to answer to a playerbase who wants everything. They have to answer to NCSoft who only want a bottom line. They also have their own goals they want to see, ideas they want to see come to fruition. It’s not a matter of “if”. It’s a matter of “when”.
I think this was very well put
That they are working on Personal Story at all is pure conjecture, more than that, it wouldn’t make sense, as continuation of the main story-line is generally assimilated with the release of an expansion.
Generally being the keyword. Anet has already stated, numerous times, they are going to try something different. That they are going to try to advance the storyline through the LS. That means that any type of content usually done by expansions(added regions, furthering the personal storyline, new races, professions, and cities) would be the combined work of the LS and Long Term teams. Living Story teams has to get the game’s narrative there, and the Long Term teams actually provides most of the actual new content.
If that fails, they will most likely make an expansion the next go around.
But the content of Living Story has absolutely nothing to do with the main story-line (Personal Story), and even if they decided to pull it back on track, even if they merged LS and PS, from what we have seen of their releases, they will not have enough time to make the story as intricate and vivid as PS should be. Because lets face it, plot wise, LS has been weak. And it cant be helped, they stated themselves that there content is not as good as they would like it due to deadlines. But who imposed the deadlines? They did, and they refuse to grant themselves the time to make quality content, despite players begging them to do so.
Then of course, there is the other reason PS and LS cant merge; simply, PS CAN NOT be temporary. A new player who completes PS up to the fight with Zhiatain, but missed the campaign leading up to the epic battle with Jormag, wouldn’t be able to understand how he got there, nor would he be able to enjoy the battle since he wasnt able to experience the journey leading to it. Or worse, he could have joined GW2 after the battle with Jormag, and never get the chance to do it. Likewise, a veteran player could go on vacation and miss out. The content of PS is just too important to be temporary.
(edited by Mia Lunarfang.5826)
I think this was very well put
No, it wasn’t, because Devs made it very clear, that there will likely be no ‘When’, so his whole argument of ‘its not a matter of IF, but When’ is invalid.
Q: Bigger stories and bigger events, the scale of the events have been getting bigger with last couple updates, can we expect them to be even bigger in the coming updates?
Angel: Maybe? Yes we are going to be telling bigger stories. We have not forgotten the dragons. Scarlet is quite a cosmic villian and she will have her fingers in a lot of different pots That is all I can tell you at this point.
From the Anniversary Bash Q&A: According to Angel they have not forgotten about the dragons, and it sounds like they will have bigger events like the invasions going on now. So we’ll have to wait and see what format the next elder dragon story will take.
I would definitely like to see more personal story added in relation to the main storyline. If ANET were in the works of doing so, which they most likely are, then I would think that their best opportunity to do so would be in the upcoming year. ANET has stated that once they established their “core” annual events they will be able to start work on larger projects.
When I think of projects larger in content then what we’ve seen so far, I think of new maps, new abilities, and personal story. We will probably see a rotation of content somewhat like this : annual event, living story, annual event, large content update, annual event, etc. ANET will probably alternate between small living story arcs and large content updates between their annual events, since they will have more resources and time to develop them.
The Living Story isn’t suppose to deal with the main storyline, the player’s fight against the dragon. At least for now anyway. The Living Story and Personal Story are two separate entities.
Personal Storyline is the players fight against the dragons. So, like you said, it’s going to be permanent content. That is why I said it probably falls under the Long Term teams’ jurisdiction, since they seem to be working on new regions and dragon content.
The Living Story deals with Tyria, not the player, and what is happening in Tyria as of right now. That is why it is temporary content.
I love the Living Story, I hope they continue with it and with more permanent content as they have promised.
But soon I would like to see a sequel to the presonal story, I would like to fight more dragons.
Guild Leader of Alpha Sgc [ASGC]
Q: Bigger stories and bigger events, the scale of the events have been getting bigger with last couple updates, can we expect them to be even bigger in the coming updates?
Angel: Maybe? Yes we are going to be telling bigger stories. We have not forgotten the dragons. Scarlet is quite a cosmic villian and she will have her fingers in a lot of different pots That is all I can tell you at this point.
From the Anniversary Bash Q&A: According to Angel they have not forgotten about the dragons, and it sounds like they will have bigger events like the invasions going on now. So we’ll have to wait and see what format the next elder dragon story will take.
Eww, more events like the invasion…. don’t get me wrong, the invasion was fun at first, but it requires the map to be full and for all players present to cooperate, its too lengthy and repetitive, and it pulls players away from other world events and metas, making the other maps ghost towns. If this is the direction they’re heading in, they’re going to drive themselves into the ground. As for them not forgetting about the dragons, it would be nice if this were true. I am interested to see how they will pull the next one off if they get themselves off this random tangent of theirs.
That they are working on Personal Story at all is pure conjecture, more than that, it wouldn’t make sense, as continuation of the main story-line is generally assimilated with the release of an expansion.
Generally being the keyword. Anet has already stated, numerous times, they are going to try something different. That they are going to try to advance the storyline through the LS. That means that any type of content usually done by expansions(added regions, furthering the personal storyline, new races, professions, and cities) would be the combined work of the LS and Long Term teams. Living Story teams has to get the game’s narrative there, and the Long Term teams actually provides most of the actual new content.
If that fails, they will most likely make an expansion the next go around.
But the content of Living Story has absolutely nothing to do with the main story-line (Personal Story), and even if they decided to pull it back on track, even if they merged LS and PS, from what we have seen of their releases, they will not have enough time to make the story as intricate and vivid as PS should be. Because lets face it, plot wise, LS has been weak. And it cant be helped, they stated themselves that there content is not as good as they would like it due to deadlines. But who imposed the deadlines? They did, and they refuse to grant themselves the time to make quality content, despite players begging them to do so.
Then of course, there is the other reason PS and LS cant merge; simply, PS CAN NOT be temporary. A new player who completes PS up to the fight with Zhiatain, but missed the campaign leading up to the epic battle with Jormag, wouldn’t be able to understand how he got there, nor would he be able to enjoy the battle since he wasnt able to experience the journey leading to it. Or worse, he could have joined GW2 after the battle with Jormag, and never get the chance to do it. Likewise, a veteran player could go on vacation and miss out. The content of PS is just too important to be temporary.
Anet has different teams doing different tasks. There is no reason that they couldn’t assign the PS to a team and give them the resources they need to to the task and release it as part of the living story. Not every needs to be on the 4 month to release schedule. Its totally possible to release anything that would normally be released in an expansion with the LS release schedule. There are too many individuals on these forums that can’t quite grasp the concept that different teams can have different schedules and that a good project manager can coordinate them so that they can release this with the LS. I’m confident that at some point new permanent areas will be opened under the LS release schedule. I also believe the dragons will be back. I’m not so optimistic about the PS, because it’s not really needed any more. I also sense a Destiny’s Edge 2.0 is coming.
Q: Bigger stories and bigger events, the scale of the events have been getting bigger with last couple updates, can we expect them to be even bigger in the coming updates?
Angel: Maybe? Yes we are going to be telling bigger stories. We have not forgotten the dragons. Scarlet is quite a cosmic villian and she will have her fingers in a lot of different pots That is all I can tell you at this point.
From the Anniversary Bash Q&A: According to Angel they have not forgotten about the dragons, and it sounds like they will have bigger events like the invasions going on now. So we’ll have to wait and see what format the next elder dragon story will take.
Eww, more events like the invasion…. don’t get me wrong, the invasion was fun at first, but it requires the map to be full and for all players present to cooperate, its too lengthy and repetitive, and it pulls players away from other world events and metas, making the other maps ghost towns. If this is the direction they’re heading in, they’re going to drive themselves into the ground. As for them not forgetting about the dragons, it would be nice if this were true. I am interested to see how they will pull the next one off if they get themselves off this random tangent of theirs.
The invasions are supposed to pull players away from other events and make other maps ghost towns. If they didn’t, then what would be the point of the invasions.
Q: Bigger stories and bigger events, the scale of the events have been getting bigger with last couple updates, can we expect them to be even bigger in the coming updates?
Angel: Maybe? Yes we are going to be telling bigger stories. We have not forgotten the dragons. Scarlet is quite a cosmic villian and she will have her fingers in a lot of different pots That is all I can tell you at this point.
From the Anniversary Bash Q&A: According to Angel they have not forgotten about the dragons, and it sounds like they will have bigger events like the invasions going on now. So we’ll have to wait and see what format the next elder dragon story will take.
Eww, more events like the invasion…. don’t get me wrong, the invasion was fun at first, but it requires the map to be full and for all players present to cooperate, its too lengthy and repetitive, and it pulls players away from other world events and metas, making the other maps ghost towns. If this is the direction they’re heading in, they’re going to drive themselves into the ground. As for them not forgetting about the dragons, it would be nice if this were true. I am interested to see how they will pull the next one off if they get themselves off this random tangent of theirs.
The invasions are supposed to pull players away from other events and make other maps ghost towns. If they didn’t, then what would be the point of the invasions.
Which in effect makes it hard for people who need a skill point or want to buy karma armor that is located in a temple. Whats the point of content if it makes all other content irrelevant? You could say that after the chapter is over, people will go back to populating the other maps and playing the other events, but that is not so, because by then they will have another massive event that drawls everyone to one place. New content should not come at the expense of old content.
I think this was very well put
No, it wasn’t, because Devs made it very clear, that there will likely be no ‘When’, so his whole argument of ‘its not a matter of IF, but When’ is invalid.
Quite the opposite. They specifically stated that it is a matter of “when” and “how”, not “if”. They intend to give us everything we’d expect from full expansions, but they hope to do it through Living Story type smaller incremental releases. That includes new personal storylines, new dragons, new areas, possibly Cantha and/or Elona. They haven’t completely ruled out expansions (even though they currently don’t plan on having any), because they are not sure if they will be able to do everything they want without going that path.
Personally, I think they will fail. Living Story releases are just not up to the task of handling major content additions when lot of stuff needs to be introduced at the same time, instead of piecemeal releases. Once they’ll finally realize that, they will either start thinking about expansions again (a good option), or they will continue on the Living Story path, and downgrade their own plans (the bad option). Which it will be, time will tell. I’m pretty sure they themselves don’t know at the moment.
Remember, remember, 15th of November
The invasions are supposed to pull players away from other events and make other maps ghost towns. If they didn’t, then what would be the point of the invasions.
Which in effect makes it hard for people who need a skill point or want to buy karma armor that is located in a temple. Whats the point of content if it makes all other content irrelevant? You could say that after the chapter is over, people will go back to populating the other maps and playing the other events, but that is not so, because by then they will have another massive event that drawls everyone to one place. New content should not come at the expense of old content.[/quote]
That brought one thought into my mind. Anet was bragging really loud about new vision of endgame (which is for me, something like semi-broken endgame from GW1, but who cares). That scaling makes all content an endgame content and in conclusion it will lead to maintaining healthy population in all zones (because playing everywhere is somewhat similar rewarding). Plan was good, but it fall short – happens. So what Anet did? Tried for short time to re-balance system to make it work (Orr wakitten from one side and other several times, mid-zones stayed dead for whole shabang, and starting zones were vacuum cleaned and player-sprayed over and over again), and then loose it all and pushed (not so gently) players into zergs, to populate flavor of the week map. Well – with last update it was flavor of hour map (still better than hanging in southsun cove for whole month). This system definatly has it perks… if You have low population in Your game, and You want to maintain illusion of inhabitation.
And that… that just leaves me with bitter taste in my mouth.
Once again, I don’t know how many times I’ve stated this, but Personal Story is not the type of content that can be temporary. And Living Story is temporary, so releasing one through the other wont really work.
That what they will most likely do! The currency wallet was not related to the living story but it was still released with it.
The result of such a choice would be horrendous, as the Devs already stated they don’t have enough time to include all they want in Living Story; so how would they be able to make a quality Living Story and Personal Story chapter in the same release??? They decided the deadline, and they’re determined -despite player input- to keep it.
One team is working exclusively on expansion like content. This was in one of the live streams.
Quite the opposite. They specifically stated that it is a matter of “when” and “how”, not “if”. They intend to give us everything we’d expect from full expansions, but they hope to do it through Living Story type smaller incremental releases. That includes new personal storylines, new dragons, new areas, possibly Cantha and/or Elona.
That was never stated. "…our idea here is that with Living World, we can do what expansions would have done but do it on a more regular basis.” They don’t reference anything regarding lore or personal story at all, for all we know their idea of ‘expansion’ is more maps and events like Southsun. For while in the past expansion may equal the continuation of the main story plot, given their new stance on gaming, you cant rely on old premises.
They haven’t completely ruled out expansions (even though they currently don’t plan on having any), because they are not sure if they will be able to do everything they want without going that path.
Personally, I think they will fail. Living Story releases are just not up to the task of handling major content additions when lot of stuff needs to be introduced at the same time, instead of piecemeal releases. Once they’ll finally realize that, they will either start thinking about expansions again (a good option), or they will continue on the Living Story path, and downgrade their own plans (the bad option). Which it will be, time will tell. I’m pretty sure they themselves don’t know at the moment.
I agree here, that LS simply cant take the burden of PS, but regardless of whether they realize it or not, they will likely continue on this path, as it seems to rank in a higher cash flow.
One team is working exclusively on expansion like content. This was in one of the live streams.
They also stated that all of their story writers were transferred to LS teams, so who’s to design the story, game designers? At this moment the most the Long Term team is capable of is adding features like the ‘account wallet.’
All in all- this isn’t the same company that gave us GW1. This is a company that has realized that simple, repetitive tasks are both cost effective to produce, and keep people chugging at the slot machine longer. In all fairness, they are a company, and that’s the logical path to take.
Just out of curiosity: when playing GW1, did you by any chance complete the Legendary Cartographer or Legendary Vanquisher title tracks?
One team is working exclusively on expansion like content. This was in one of the live streams.
They also stated that all of their story writers were transferred to LS teams, so who’s to design the story, game designers? At this moment the most the Long Term team is capable of is adding features like the ‘account wallet.’
They also stated that not all living story will be temporary story elements, and that some stuff in the future will be permanent.
As a side not, GW1 was doing the same tasks over and over repetitively. But it felt a lot more cohesive and fun. IT made me really sad when they announced that all development work on GW1 had stopped.
Devs, stop dodging the bullet
in Super Adventure Box: Back to School
Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350
All in all- this isn’t the same company that gave us GW1. This is a company that has realized that simple, repetitive tasks are both cost effective to produce, and keep people chugging at the slot machine longer. In all fairness, they are a company, and that’s the logical path to take.
Just out of curiosity: when playing GW1, did you by any chance complete the Legendary Cartographer or Legendary Vanquisher title tracks?
You pick those?
Lucky
Unlucky
Treasure Hunter
Wisdom
Friend of the Kurzicks/Luxons
Zaishen Supporter
Gamer
Please, do go on about how the Vanquisher and Cartograhpers are repetitive and boring. The above listing is much worse, especially “Gamer” from what I experienced. (I at least finished Cartography and Vanquishing.)
It would be nice if they made the living story events more serious and lore based, rather than just bizzare, irrelevant and completely unessesary gimmicks.
The queens jubilee was a little better, and the trading bazzar was alright too, but they could and should take it much further and make events more tied to the lore.
Doesnt require much, if any, more work and would make them far more enjoyable and feel less like cheap marketing events.
For example.. Instead of making up a new enermy in the molten alliance, they could have just made us go north and fight minions of the ice dragons and defeat one of his champions in the end. Would have been exactly the same event just set in a different place with more purpose.
Gunnar’s Hold
(edited by Cufufalating.8479)
while i liked the first release of SAB (within the context of an april fools joke) the fact that they’re releasing it again just after 5 month proves just how thumb sucked all this LS content is. they really should’ve held this particular content back for longer.
What is up with all of the rude people? Living Story is really nice. I enjoy it for the story and surprises that come with it. People begging for expansions should really calm down.
I trust ArenaNet and I would like to see where this is going. – don’t ruin this, please. They have spent far too much time on this game for people to just go around calling it undeserving names.
Am I the only one who is happy never having anymore PS? LS for me, is my personal story. I have witnessed so many things over the past year, which are all culminating and coming together. NPCs recognise me for those things that have happened and Angel stated that they are working on more way for your character to feel that level of passive involvement.
For me, this past LS update was exactly the kind of stuff I want to see. The world is turning, events are happening which I am there to witness. I have no intention of being the cause of these events, the one person everyone turns to to save the day. I am simply a guest in this dynamic world which will continue without me if I stop playing.
I don’t want instanced story which I can come back to a month later if I decide to take a break. I want to come back and find the world has moved on without me, main players who have come up don’t recognise me because I haven’t been around, I need to reintroduce myself, offer help where I can.
Simply put, I don’t want to be “the hero” I want to be “a hero” in Tyria who does everything she can to help, and makes friends along the way. I want to be able to team up with other heroes without feeling like we’re all supposed to be “player 1” with the exact same storyline. Over the years we will have all completed a different experience.
Just a few thoughts, Aisi x
All in all- this isn’t the same company that gave us GW1. This is a company that has realized that simple, repetitive tasks are both cost effective to produce, and keep people chugging at the slot machine longer. In all fairness, they are a company, and that’s the logical path to take.
Just out of curiosity: when playing GW1, did you by any chance complete the Legendary Cartographer or Legendary Vanquisher title tracks?
You pick those?
Lucky
Unlucky
Treasure Hunter
Wisdom
Friend of the Kurzicks/Luxons
Zaishen Supporter
GamerPlease, do go on about how the Vanquisher and Cartograhpers are repetitive and boring. The above listing is much worse, especially “Gamer” from what I experienced. (I at least finished Cartography and Vanquishing.)
Agree. But again – it was somewhat of endgame content to achive, not a 2week rotation gimmick to catch and finish before it’s gone.
Except for Gamer and Wisdom I think I had them all, but I can be wrong. Most of them acquired quite painlessly through the years.
Hmm. When I take a a step back and look at how content has been added in other games over time i can’t help but think a lot of the complaints come from experienced gamers who simply do not enjoy the pace of here one second gone the next content. Personally I prefer it. Quick turn over and free patches mean even if a patch does suck (I personally didn’t do much of Dragon Bash because i did not like it) it will be gone in 2-4 weeks. This system makes more sense to me than the big content update where it could be a complete miss and just ruins the player bases expectation. Hit or Miss they are learning what works and what doesn’t work. What more can we ask for? As much as I can complain/comment on balance etc content here is a cut above but I think the general burnt out demeanor of the MMO pop kicks in and the complaints get rampant. Compared to where we were a few years ago (lets not even go into a decade ago) we are in a much better place.
You may not realize it but the game is actually heading in the right direction for the overall population. I remember when I would play free MMOs from PWI I would always wonder why others wouldn’t use their economy system. If you do not know it is relatively the same as ours (except better in places actually). Right now from the richest players to the cheapest ones everyone is in the RMT economy. For this reason it is hard to say how much they are pulling in as factually they could be pulling in F2P money from the gem store. It wouldn’t surprise me either. If that is the case than a quick expansion (which might hurt the player base) would just kill their gains. Think about it a sec. How much money have you tossed in the gem store? How many gold coins have you converted to gems? For many of you it is more than you paid for the game in the first place.
Wrekkes-Engineer Kore Rok Thief-Asraithe-Ele
Possible Spoiler Warning
OP,
They just tied alot of living story content together and created a future new nemesis.
Alot can come of this new nemesis. Including new alliances, new maps, new monsters and races (which anet themselves said they saw the need to expand on)
I like the thought that future expanding of the game will come with living story. And you say thakittens only temporary, shall we discuss Southsun? (Its still there).
Fact is expansions take years to create and the vast bulk of players will finish it in less then ba month and be back to asking for another expansion.
Also, raising cap derails the original idea of making it less of a treadmill. Which by the way effects WVW, current dungeons, PVP and fractals, and current balances for classes Ascended Weapons and Legendary changes, plus the new stat changes are already going to cause several changes and hotfixes as it is.
Also note that only Weaponsmith, Huntsman and Artificing are currently going to 500, Since unless Armor Smith, Tailor and Leathersmith are getting Ascended Armor, they basically mean nothing. Jeweler and Cook take backburner.
Just understand expansions arent always the answer.
Possible Spoiler Warning
OP,
They just tied alot of living story content together and created a future new nemesis.
Alot can come of this new nemesis. Including new alliances, new maps, new monsters and races (which anet themselves said they saw the need to expand on)
I like the thought that future expanding of the game will come with living story. And you say thakittens only temporary, shall we discuss Southsun? (Its still there).
Fact is expansions take years to create and the vast bulk of players will finish it in less then ba month and be back to asking for another expansion.
Also, raising cap derails the original idea of making it less of a treadmill. Which by the way effects WVW, current dungeons, PVP and fractals, and current balances for classes Ascended Weapons and Legendary changes, plus the new stat changes are already going to cause several changes and hotfixes as it is.
Also note that only Weaponsmith, Huntsman and Artificing are currently going to 500, Since unless Armor Smith, Tailor and Leathersmith are getting Ascended Armor, they basically mean nothing. Jeweler and Cook take backburner.
Just understand expansions arent always the answer.
Unless Scarlet turns out to be working for one of the dragons than that new nemesis was completely unneeded.
And let’s discuss Southsun, how many people go there. The place is deserted as there is no reason to be there what so ever. So yes how is Southsun a good example of what they want to try and do with the living story. Well I’ll tell you it isn’t. They tried to correct the error and made it even worse.
They should have started to work on new zones months ago, proper new zones. They don’t have to make a new zone every month. If done properly they can keep 1 new zone relevant for months by telling a compelling and progressive story. They will have to hire proper writers though as the current batch wouldn’t be able to sell cheap supermarket romance novels.
The reason they can’t go into specifics about whether they plan on developing an expansion or not isn’t because they just want to dodge the subject. It’s because they themselves haven’t really decided on whether they want to go ahead with creating one yet. There are still a lot of factors to consider like:
- Whether the level cap will be raised
- Whether crafting will go above 500
- What zones should be added and what level they would be
- What races if any should be added
- What professions if any should be added
They’re probably waiting to the release the game in China before they proceed with any big decisions. The thing with expansions is that they become the center of attention. I’m talking about other MMORPGs of course. All content updates will be exclusive to those expansions so if you haven’t purchased them you’ll be missing out. Factions and Nightfall were actually stand-alone games so you can’t really bring that into the argument.
“So right now we’re not really looking at expansions as an option,” lead content designer Mike Zadorojny told me on his visit to London last week.
“It’s something that’s on the table but it’s not something we’re focused on, because what we want to do is – our idea here is that with Living World, we can do what expansions would have done but do it on a more regular basis.”
I pressed him to tell me whether there would be a Guild Wars 2 expansion this year and he shook his head to indicate no. What about next year, I asked?
“If we do this right,” he answered, “we will probably never do an expansion and everything will be going into this Living World strategy.”This being said, they do not intent to have an expansion; Period. That’s why once again, I am asking if they will continue the main story line, or, ‘Personal Story’ as they call it, despite not using an expansion.
Your personal story is over. It is over. It ended. You beat Zaitan, the end. Well done. From here on out it’s not about you, it’s about the world.
It just seems to me you don’t really understand how the Living Story works. This isn’t your personal story and it’s not intended to be. This is the story of the world and the people in it. You’re just along for the ride.
I would very much like for them to expand on the Personal Story tab to express our actions in the Living World story so we can reminisce but other than that it’s not about us.
|Daredevil|Ranger|Guardian|Scrapper|Necromancer|Berserker|Dragonhunter|Mesmer|Elementalist
|Deadeye|Warrior|Herald|Daredevil|Reaper|Spellbreaker
…… Doubtless, the number one reason people partake in living story, is not because they enjoy your hastily thrown together Swiss cheese; but that they want the achievements and rewards that come with come with completion.
……..
Please refrain from telling the Devs what I do or do not enjoy. Your opinion on the matter is EXACTLY that….YOURS.
Very few like 100% of the LS content being released, but I do find much of the content enjoyable (or I wouldn’t play it). The parts I don’t care for, I ignore. It’s called personal choice and ANet IS providing that in this game.
If you are NOT enjoying the LS content, by all means, don’t play it and feel free to tell ANet why YOU don’t like it. Again, do NOT presume to tell them why WE don’t like it…..I’ll be happy to chime in and add myself to the complaints I agree with.
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That’s the way that lady luck dances
(edited by Brother Grimm.5176)
This thread’s title is quite ironic. If the devs were “dodging the bullet”, as per the figure of speech, they would be narrowly avoiding disaster. To tell them to stop dodging the bullet is essentially to tell them to kitten up and fail.
Am I the only one who is happy never having anymore PS? LS for me, is my personal story. I have witnessed so many things over the past year, which are all culminating and coming together. NPCs recognise me for those things that have happened and Angel stated that they are working on more way for your character to feel that level of passive involvement.
For me, this past LS update was exactly the kind of stuff I want to see. The world is turning, events are happening which I am there to witness. I have no intention of being the cause of these events, the one person everyone turns to to save the day. I am simply a guest in this dynamic world which will continue without me if I stop playing.
I don’t want instanced story which I can come back to a month later if I decide to take a break. I want to come back and find the world has moved on without me, main players who have come up don’t recognise me because I haven’t been around, I need to reintroduce myself, offer help where I can.
Simply put, I don’t want to be “the hero” I want to be “a hero” in Tyria who does everything she can to help, and makes friends along the way. I want to be able to team up with other heroes without feeling like we’re all supposed to be “player 1” with the exact same storyline. Over the years we will have all completed a different experience.
Just a few thoughts, Aisi x
So many things wrong with this. Foremost, saying you don’t want to continue PS; is like saying you love plot holes and half written stories without a conclusion. Do you really not want to know what happens with the other elder dragons, do you not want to experience and watch the road leading to them? And as for ‘its alright if the story moves on without me’ Its like you’re saying its fine just to read the end of the book. Well let me tell you something, the conclusion, is common knowledge, whether good or bad, its an overused cliche that is expected. Its the journey -the travels, epic battles, and heart wrenching twists leading up to the conclusion- that make it interesting, pump you up, and allow you to breath, ‘finally’. It is the core of the story where one finds the most entertainment, and you’re saying your fine with missing it? I am not.
As for not being the ‘only hero’ or ‘hero number 1’, its too late for that; you are already established as the ‘commander’. But to be honest, that’s just your perspective, and one that shows you’re not really taking everything in at that. Think of Fort Trinity, there are three paths that lead to rescuing it, and you can only pick one, yet simultaneously, the other two are likewise being completed. If you capture the orb, treachery is still occurring by Zhiatan’s spies that pretend to be pact soldiers. Simularly, if you chose to uncover the spies, the orb is still captured. This suggest that there ARE indeed other heroes, other commanders.
The last weakness to your argument, is your statement thakittens a living world, so you expect it to move on without you. Well if it were a living world, you would not be able to leave. So in retrospective, when you stop playing, time has froze; it wouldn’t make sense any other way.
(edited by Mia Lunarfang.5826)