Guild Wars 2

The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now. I think lots of people, myself included, could really use a break for something a little more lighthearted.

And it’s not like Scarlet is going away. She’ll still be invading zones after the current LS ends, just with less frequency. The point is she’s still at large.

Nothing but parties and festivals… that all ended in death, destruction and mayhem. As stated, it would be nice to have something that isn’t a mysterious plot against the world, even if just for 2 weeks.

PMilkos.9103:

DaMunky.6302:

The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now.

Are you entirely sure you’ve been playing GW2? Because with this update we complete 4 straight months of nothing but parties and festivals.

And we haven’t had a festival in which the aetherblades didn’t try to kill everyone since Christmas.

Although to be fair, we did shoot down their airships at the Bazaar, so they didn’t really have much to do there (except try to get their gold back)

DaMunky.6302:

The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now. I think lots of people, myself included, could really use a break for something a little more lighthearted.

And it’s not like Scarlet is going away. She’ll still be invading zones after the current LS ends, just with less frequency. The point is she’s still at large.

?? What? In the last year we have seen absolutely seen nothing even closely releated to "GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING ". Nothing about the Elder Dragons. Nothing about Palawa Joko. Nothing about the Mursaat.

Just festivals, parties, more festivals, and the occasional overestimated wannabe-terrorist. If we just keep partying, the Elder Dragons might go back to sleep because they just can’t be bothered to interrupt yet another festival.

codingCaptor.9428:

PMilkos.9103:

DaMunky.6302:

The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now.

Are you entirely sure you’ve been playing GW2? Because with this update we complete 4 straight months of nothing but parties and festivals.

And we haven’t had a festival in which the aetherblades didn’t try to kill everyone since Christmas.

Although to be fair, we did shoot down their airships at the Bazaar, so they didn’t really have much to do there (except try to get their gold back)

Well, they never managed to actually stop any of the festivals, so I don’t think I can take them seriously… The entire time it feels like we’re in the Pokemon anime series and they play the role of Team Rocket…

DaMunky.6302:

The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now. I think lots of people, myself included, could really use a break for something a little more lighthearted.

And it’s not like Scarlet is going away. She’ll still be invading zones after the current LS ends, just with less frequency. The point is she’s still at large.

I am sorry where was the gloom? Pirates shouting yar? Politics? Dragon Bash? Queens Pavilion?

Alchemist.7523:

I love Guild Wars 2 , I love every living story , I feel like I am par of it and story is happening in front of my eyes. I loved Scarlet and the event and couldn’t wait for next week. I was so exited what will happen again , what threat we will see, what will she do again.

But today I see the new update and it felt like a slap to face Sopranos ending. I understand it hasn’t ended yet and it will probably continue. And I will enjoy SAB of course but… I just can’t help but feel , let down, it is another semi Festival event, nothing major happening as far as we know. I really hope something else will happen.

Thank you Anet for the great work and amazingly paced content with this B2P game. I love the game but would like to see more seriousness to the world and the lore.

Yours truly

Alchemist

Better festivals than zerging and I guess there’ll be more festivals due to the fact that Anet’s plotwriters are going back to school.

Alchemist.7523:

I love Guild Wars 2 , I love every living story , I feel like I am par of it and story is happening in front of my eyes. I loved Scarlet and the event and couldn’t wait for next week. I was so exited what will happen again , what threat we will see, what will she do again.

But today I see the new update and it felt like a slap to face Sopranos ending. I understand it hasn’t ended yet and it will probably continue. And I will enjoy SAB of course but… I just can’t help but feel , let down, it is another semi Festival event, nothing major happening as far as we know. I really hope something else will happen.

Thank you Anet for the great work and amazingly paced content with this B2P game. I love the game but would like to see more seriousness to the world and the lore.

Yours truly

Alchemist

The Sopranos ending was great. It lets the viewer make up his own ending.

If you ask me, Tony and his whole family got gunned down by that shady guy you saw go to the toilet. There’s an Israeli made Uzi in the toilet cistern. The guy takes it out, locks n’ loads, aims for Tony and shoots him and his entire fam, dead. – OR – He aims for Tony, but shoots his whole fam dead, Tony survives, then gets locked up for life. Or he survives, his fam dead, he kills himself.

Either way, there’s so many good endings the viewer can come up by himself, and that’s what the writers of the Sopranos had in mind for the ending of the series.

Kapish?

How dare ANet bring back SAB for those who loved it! Grab your pitchforks, folks!

Alchemist.7523:

I love the game but would like to see more seriousness to the world and the lore.

I get that. Honestly, I feel like the whole game is getting, or even started out, too cartoon-y for me. I come back every so often to see if it’s got some interesting (read “serious”) stuff going on (SAB is next, so, no I guess). I even played a fair amount of the recent living story content because it felt more important to the game than the actual storyline. Ha.

I guess it’s hard to play a hero when nothing going on feels all that dramatic, important, or heroic. Surrounded by nearly one dimensionally violent charr who, for some reason, are wearing fluffy backpacks and firing unicorn weapons…inescapable, of course, as the world is open. I stop caring about the story and all I’m left with is a gear grab. eh.

I just feel like the lore is weak, even into the actual storyline. I really wanted something that had some sort of meaningful connection to the original Guild Wars, which I felt was excellent. I suppose it is meant to, but it sure doesn’t feel all that connected to me.. At best, it’s sort of a caricature. It’s a finely made game to be sure, and people love it, but it went in a way that’s lost me personally. Of course, I bought it sight….uh, unplayed, so you win this round A-Net. I’ll have to keep looking for the stuff that interests me in it.

Alchemist.7523:

But today I see the new update and it felt like a slap to face Sopranos ending.

The guy got shot as he turned around.

You are welcome.

People loved SAB, so it’s nice it’s back. Besides, the Living Story has just been really terrible — if more time to work on the next chapter would give us better content, then this break hopefully will help.

Off Topic: IMO Sopranos ending was great.

Shpongle.6025:

Alchemist.7523:

I love Guild Wars 2 , I love every living story , I feel like I am par of it and story is happening in front of my eyes. I loved Scarlet and the event and couldn’t wait for next week. I was so exited what will happen again , what threat we will see, what will she do again.

But today I see the new update and it felt like a slap to face Sopranos ending. I understand it hasn’t ended yet and it will probably continue. And I will enjoy SAB of course but… I just can’t help but feel , let down, it is another semi Festival event, nothing major happening as far as we know. I really hope something else will happen.

Thank you Anet for the great work and amazingly paced content with this B2P game. I love the game but would like to see more seriousness to the world and the lore.

Yours truly

Alchemist

The Sopranos ending was great. It lets the viewer make up his own ending.

If you ask me, Tony and his whole family got gunned down by that shady guy you saw go to the toilet. There’s an Israeli made Uzi in the toilet cistern. The guy takes it out, locks n’ loads, aims for Tony and shoots him and his entire fam, dead. – OR – He aims for Tony, but shoots his whole fam dead, Tony survives, then gets locked up for life. Or he survives, his fam dead, he kills himself.

Either way, there’s so many good endings the viewer can come up by himself, and that’s what the writers of the Sopranos had in mind for the ending of the series.

Kapish?

Never Watched the show , just knew the ending was cut black so had to make the joke :P

The slap in the face isn’t SAB, it’s “oh, here’s a new tier of weapons that make the 100+ you already own obsolete, and btw they’re time-gated.”

Lord Kuru.3685:

People loved SAB, so it’s nice it’s back. Besides, the Living Story has just been really terrible — if more time to work on the next chapter would give us better content, then this break hopefully will help.

Off Topic: IMO Sopranos ending was great.

IT wasn’t about the quality of the ending but that it was cut black was supposed to be a joke :P

I think they promoted the update the wrong way around.

To me, Legendaries update and 500 crafting is the big update, and SAB is the ‘in other news’ kinda update.

Nar.8327:

The slap in the face isn’t SAB, it’s “oh, here’s a new tier of weapons that make the 100+ you already own obsolete, and btw they’re time-gated.”

Eh, we already knew they were coming. They already said ascended weapons and armor by the end of the year. Must be you didn’t read that article…

skullmount.1758:

Nar.8327:

The slap in the face isn’t SAB, it’s “oh, here’s a new tier of weapons that make the 100+ you already own obsolete, and btw they’re time-gated.”

Eh, we already knew they were coming. They already said ascended weapons and armor by the end of the year. Must be you didn’t read that article…

Does the fact that we knew they were coming make it any less a slap in the face?

Stop thinking Ascended is MUCH better than Exotics. I’ll keep my exotic stuff, I don’t mind about some 4% difference…

Yeah, I agree with you, I hoped SAB wouldn’t return before 1rst of April as a recurring activity. It would make it much more awaited. I’d prefer just have a simpler LS, like Flame&Frost chapter one.

I was hoping with all the discussions, complaints and such that they would pull it for now. Guess not. I am gambling that it will cost 100gold to make on of these. Leveling to 500 and then crafting the materials to make something. Just a guess.

Well there’s going to be a second release in September, and as I’m assuming SAB will be all month long (like it was in April), then I’m sure there’s plenty of time for something terrible to happen to SAB or something else.

Well maybe its time for an easy update, I will try the SAB but it’s not something I want in an mmo game. MOre like an april fools thing.

Odd, I feel the depth of the SAB storyline is just as deep as some of the Living Story stuff we have seen.

Plus it’s a ton of fun.

I will miss Tyria when SAB will be open again

This isn’t just a living story though this time. It’s The SUPER ADVENTURE BOX!

It’s more than just a story. It’s… it’s an adventure! O_O

I fail to see how new FREE content could possibly be a “slap in the face.” But to each their own.

I don’t really see how SAB is a festival. Its a fun activity, but lore-wise its an Asuran teaching invention.

I guess I can see it being non-serious but I don’t see why you say “another” non-serious event as if the game has been nothing but that the last few months. The last few updates have had a celebration aspect to them initially (Zephyr Sanctum, Dragon Bash, Jubilee) but had serious aspects added to them during the second update of the month with the initial Aetherblade appearance / council murder, the election, and Scarlet’s reveal and invasion.

Seems to me they’re mixing the “fun” upbeat content and the threatening content pretty well at this point. They alternate between the two pretty consistently lately. I guess maybe if you want nothing but dramatic event content then you’d be disappointed, but I see nothing wrong with having both fun and dramatic content personally, and that would seem to satisfy the greatest number of people.

I don’t like admitting it but I agree. I want to know more about Scarlet and the whole aetherblade/thaumanova/molten thing, and we get another kiddie activity. I mean I really liked SAB but GW2 needs more interesting stories. So far the story telling has been really bad.

It’s called a “Breather episode.” It’s an old tool in story telling. It gives the viewers (or players, in this case) a chance to “catch their breath” from the usual drama.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreatherEpisode

And I was expecting the rise of the next dragon for the game’s first anniversary. I thought it was gonna be epic. Sad penguin is sad *sigh

Elder dragons? Ya gon sleepin again? We wakin you up wiz all these mini games and parteeey!!!

Are people going to start arguing about the definition of “festival” again? Is that necessary? I think you know what people who complain about festivals means.

I’d normally be a bit frustrated about another release that fails to address any of the regular conflicts in the game (like the Centaurs, Flame Legion, Dragons, etc.), but I’m starting to expect it now, and SAB should at least be a good “festival” release the whole way through.

I’m starting to think that maybe releases every 3 weeks or more may not be so bad. Maybe they’ll have time for fuller, more significant releases then.

wookiee.4631:

I’m starting to think that maybe releases every 3 weeks or more may not be so bad. Maybe they’ll have time for fuller, more significant releases then.

Yeah. Too much of something is bad, too.

Although I’d rather have frequent updates to keep the game interesting, the bi-weekly update kinda gives me some sort of stress in the long run. There’s no breathing room. And they’re like pollution to the original and existing content. I think once a month update of juicy and relevant to the existing lore/dynamic events kind of Living Story update is better than bi-weekly update of either bland and cliche stories or circus type of mini games updates.

PMilkos.9103:

codingCaptor.9428:

PMilkos.9103:

DaMunky.6302:

The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now.

Are you entirely sure you’ve been playing GW2? Because with this update we complete 4 straight months of nothing but parties and festivals.

And we haven’t had a festival in which the aetherblades didn’t try to kill everyone since Christmas.

Although to be fair, we did shoot down their airships at the Bazaar, so they didn’t really have much to do there (except try to get their gold back)

Well, they never managed to actually stop any of the festivals, so I don’t think I can take them seriously… The entire time it feels like we’re in the Pokemon anime series and they play the role of Team Rocket…

Well, I now know what I’ll be thinking every time an Aetherblade gunship flies away… “Team Rocket is blasting off again!!!”

Yup I agree with the OP. Living Story has been a huge let down. And now SAB – something that doesn’t even fit into the lore of the game except by a tricky tie-in with the Azurans. I thought we were going to see more permanent content coming along and some final resolution to the whole Scalet affair. This is a huge disappointment for me.

I’m glad a lot of people like SAB; so for them I’m happy that they will have something they like to play.

Brave Sir Ryan.1240:

How dare ANet bring back SAB for those who loved it! Grab your pitchforks, folks!

This.
Jesus, ANet brings back what is probably the most liked piece of content, updated with new rewards and people still complain.

Hah, gloom and doom
5 minutes of gloom and 5 seconds of doom for sure.
Endless hours of the rest was party. No wonder Zhaitan attacked. He must have agents at Anet and wanted to end it before all this… this crap.
Now after his jolly defeat joyful heroes do nothing but dance and prance and massacre helpless mobs. What dragon would want to attack THAT?! Better to not be involved…

Sieg.8439:

Brave Sir Ryan.1240:

How dare ANet bring back SAB for those who loved it! Grab your pitchforks, folks!

This.
Jesus, ANet brings back what is probably the most liked piece of content, updated with new rewards and people still complain.

I’m going to put on my super negative kitten hat for this one (it’s a notch up from my usual negativity).

Guild Wars 2 is a current gen, “AAA” active combat MMO that boasted dynamic events and challenging combat and an epic story. The fact that people are saying that an April Fools joke piece of content which is a rip off of 8 bit graphics and yesteryear Nintendo games is the most liked piece of content, that’s a truly pathetic reflection on the quality of the Living Story (I don’t believe this is the case). I don’t agree that it’s the most liked piece of content, it’s the most polarising and the most flamboyant, but I don’t think it’s the most liked. It’s unusual and thus draws more attention and it doesn’t compete with superior existing content (nothing else in the game is like it, so when people have a bad experience with it they don’t have superior exisiting content to compare it to, the rest of the Living World is competing with existing content, a lot of which is a lot more polished).

This is an MMO. This isn’t the new Legend of Zelda RPG, it’s not the latest Mario Brothers, it’s not Banjo and Kazooie 3 – if you want to play those type of games, they exist in other genres. It’s an active combat MMO. There is a place for SAB in the game but if SAB ever becomes the best piece of content GW2 makes, somewhere along the lines people forgot what GW2 was supposed to be.

If SAB is the best content the Living World has put out, it’s time for them to do some serious thinking about what it is they are doing and the kind of game they are trying to make.

Sushihammer.4813:

Alchemist.7523:

I love the game but would like to see more seriousness to the world and the lore.

I guess it’s hard to play a hero when nothing going on feels all that dramatic, important, or heroic. Surrounded by nearly one dimensionally violent charr who, for some reason, are wearing fluffy backpacks and firing unicorn weapons…inescapable, of course, as the world is open. I stop caring about the story and all I’m left with is a gear grab. eh.

I just feel like the lore is weak, even into the actual storyline. I really wanted something that had some sort of meaningful connection to the original Guild Wars, which I felt was excellent. I suppose it is meant to, but it sure doesn’t feel all that connected to me.. At best, it’s sort of a caricature. It’s a finely made game to be sure, and people love it, but it went in a way that’s lost me personally. Of course, I bought it sight….uh, unplayed, so you win this round A-Net. I’ll have to keep looking for the stuff that interests me in it.

you dont see what the rainbows do, do you?

We are the Sylvari, lower your defenses and prepare to be assimilated into the dream, resistance is and always has been futile.

shoot rainows pony’s to add your mind and knowledge to the dream weapon isnt called “The Dreamer” for nothing:D

but i do agree, we need more living story that builds on existing lore.

Sorry but i disagree with you OP entirely.SAB was awesome and i loved every aspect of it.So what is the problem that it’s a festival?To me it doesn’t matter AT ALL

PMilkos.9103:

DaMunky.6302:

The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now.

Are you entirely sure you’ve been playing GW2? Because with this update we complete 4 straight months of nothing but parties and festivals.

I think you might have missed the different invasions going since January. Especially June and August were harsh.

People in Tyria are living on the edge. You must be selectively blind if you don’t see that.

JK Arrow.7102:

Odd, I feel the depth of the SAB storyline is just as deep as some of the Living Story stuff we have seen.

Right there. The problem with the Living Story. The awkward moment when platform minigame storyline is actually better than true LS where there’s actually space for some decent storytelling…

Nothing against SAB, just talking about the state of the main game. Minigames are fun, but it feels like a distraction from the real deal. And by that I mean dragons and the lore goodies from GW1.

marnick.4305:

People in Tyria are living on the edge. You must be selectively blind if you don’t see that.

Rather people of WvW and SPvP are living on the edge… and ppl who expected serious content (what ‘serious’ mean for me I’ve explained in another topic).

Regardless of whether or not SAB is a ‘good’ thing for the living story, equating it to a “slap in the face” is so absurdly hyperbolic that it completely nullifies whatever merits your argument might have contained.

Stormleaf.1769:

Regardless of whether or not SAB is a ‘good’ thing for the living story, equating it to a “slap in the face” is so absurdly hyperbolic that it completely nullifies whatever merits your argument might have contained.

Did you read my post , the slap in the face occurs when an individual like me is excited about the LS that we have now with scarlet etc and can’ wait to see what will she do next but then you get an LS which has noting to do with the Last LS , cutting last LS off and leaving us hanging. ( as far as we know). It is like some one is telling you an awesome story and in middle of it they start telling you an different story.

Alchemist.7523:

Stormleaf.1769:

Regardless of whether or not SAB is a ‘good’ thing for the living story, equating it to a “slap in the face” is so absurdly hyperbolic that it completely nullifies whatever merits your argument might have contained.

Did you read my post , the slap in the face occurs when an individual like me is exited about the LS that we have now with scarlet etc and can’ wait to see what will she do next but then you get an LS which has noting to do with the Last LS , cutting last LS off and leaving us hanging. ( as far as we know). It is like some one is telling you an awesome story and in middle of it they start telling you an different story.

Yes, I did. It’s still not remotely similar to truly getting slapped in the face.

I love GW2,as it does so much right, but lets be honest the story has been a lame duck. The living story doesn’t work as narrative as it has too many new characters with no build up, thus meaning that you just aren’t really invested.

The recent voting release, who cares? Both characters were dull and uninspired and the fact that their was clearly a good and a bad one, well that’s just lazy clichéd story. Further to that, we have repeated events that start off fine and then a mystery twist where something goes horribly wrong but once again no one cares as the build up to it isn’t shocking, it’s just dull.

I’ve liked the zerging in the recent patch, I’ve felt part of a group in a full world and I’ve enjoyed that but from a story view point, it was just dull.

I hate to say this, but GW2 biggest weakness is its stories at the moment. (which is odd, as I would say GW1’s stories were its major strength, you really did care about the characters. I can remember loving Glint!) They are dull, clichéd nonsense and the writing staff really need to pick up their game to something we care about, as its letting down a truly beautiful and cleverly put together game.

I will never understand why GW2 abandoned missions! I understand it was instanced play, but as a story telling device they were amazing and really set GW apart from alot of other games. Story mode dungeons, like they have now, just do not offer the same content or feel. They seem too arbitrary and optional and one’s personal story again doesn’t have the same epic grandeur of the big reveal of the Lich, or facing Glint head on or trying to work out just how the hell to get 3 swords in Henge of Denravi Heroic mode.

BRING BACK MISSIONS AND THE ORIGINAL GW1 WRITING STAFF! (that’s what I say anyway)

If they did that, then all these frivolous LW updates wouldn’t matter so much, as it would be hung around a rich and vibrant storyline.

Stormleaf.1769:

Regardless of whether or not SAB is a ‘good’ thing for the living story, equating it to a “slap in the face” is so absurdly hyperbolic that it completely nullifies whatever merits your argument might have contained.

It was to be expected for smaller unrelated living story updates to be released during the main living storyline.

Alchemist.7523:

Stormleaf.1769:

Regardless of whether or not SAB is a ‘good’ thing for the living story, equating it to a “slap in the face” is so absurdly hyperbolic that it completely nullifies whatever merits your argument might have contained.

Did you read my post , the slap in the face occurs when an individual like me is excited about the LS that we have now with scarlet etc and can’ wait to see what will she do next but then you get an LS which has noting to do with the Last LS , cutting last LS off and leaving us hanging. ( as far as we know). It is like some one is telling you an awesome story and in middle of it they start telling you an different story.

Simple explanation special for you.

It is not a “soap opera” and 2 weeks patches are not new series (yes sometimes they look like it). Patches upgrade existing game – it is the main reason for them. Developers use Living Story to explain changes. If they want to add “raiding” content – they make invasions, they want to add another craft material – they make Zypherites etc.