Guild Wars 2

Other than the guide to Southsun event on the official site, there’s no ingame mention that you need to talk to Inspector Kiel to finish this achievement. I browse these forums and keep up to date on event info and I stumbled on this by randomly because I like talking to NPCs for new dialogue.

I do like achievements that require you to do some exploration rather than have it pointed out to you. For example, I would have preferred the collection achievements to just tell you there’s 11 and not where they are, but most would probably disagree with me.I believe ANet needs to put that info in the UI notification or indicate it in the letter(which no one seems to read anyway) for players that aren’t aware.

The new yellow icon on Pearl Island should be a dead give away that there’s something to do really.

That yellow icon has always been there since the beginning.

Didn’t we get an in-game letter?

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Didn’t we get an in-game letter?

Yes. We got a letter. I think it was from Kiel.

If you followed the story then you would know where to go. There’s also a memo in the settlement by the queen that gives a good hint.

The letter only talks about protecting the settlements from wildlife. I’ve been following the story and reading memos/talking to NPCs. I’ve got time to figure things out and read up on what to do, but my friend who can only log on once a week doesn’t. The lore and rewards are not important to him. He just wants to log in to see what’s new and be pointed in the direction to do new things.

kokocabana.8153:

The letter only talks about protecting the settlements from wildlife. I’ve been following the story and reading memos/talking to NPCs. I’ve got time to figure things out and read up on what to do, but my friend who can only log on once a week doesn’t. The lore and rewards are not important to him. He just wants to log in to see what’s new and be pointed in the direction to do new things.

But if he did the new things last week (that includes the Canach-solo-instance) he would have known that Kiel is the one who wanted to deal with the contracts. And so it’s a good idea to talk to her first. Especially because she is the main-NPC for the “missions” the last weeks.

But with no mention in the letter that we should talk to Kiel, one could mistaken it for an epilogue event like the Rallying Flame achievement that took place at the very end of F&F. He would have logged in on or after the 11th and saw that Dragon Bash had begun and missed out.

kokocabana.8153:

But with no mention in the letter that we should talk to Kiel, one could mistaken it for an epilogue event like the Rallying Flame achievement that took place at the very end of F&F. He would have logged in on or after the 11th and saw that Dragon Bash had begun and missed out.

If this would have been an epilogue-event you also would have to make it till the end of the current story. As for this: Before the 11th. It’s the end of the current Southsun-“event”. As it was with the end of the F&F. The epilogue there was only there for a few days, like it’s here.
And only if one could think “oh it’s an epilogue-event” – why should he not talk to Kiel as soon as he is there? Can’t understand your problem, sorry.
You always can miss such a thing. No matter if it’s an epilogue-event or a dungeon like the one of F&F or whatever.

I get it. There was no indication that I actually had to talk to Keil. Just because Keil was the person of interest doesn’t mean she was the contact. Keil was in the cave with Canach, but she wasn’t the contact. The contact was just some guy. It also could have been taking place from anywhere, not necessarily on Pearl. A little heads up, like, “come talk to me about the contracts,” at the end of the letter would have been appreciated.

I’m not in game but what does the tooltip say when you hover the cursor over the achievement?

Ayrilana.1396:

I’m not in game but what does the tooltip say when you hover the cursor over the achievement?

Just that you helped out

FWIW I didnt receive a letter or any notification when I logged in today. Only talked To Kiel because I had a hunch about that instance being available now. Felt very haphazard but I may have missed something obvious.

Some people unfortunately did not follow the story. It was mentioned where to go and also in a memo that I stated earlier. Either re-do the Canach story instance or read the dialogue in the following article

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Canach%27s_Lair_

Ayrilana.1396:

Clearly some people did not follow the story. It was mentioned where to go and also in a memo that I stated earlier. Either re-do the Canach story instance or read the dialogue in the following article

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Canach%27s_Lair_

Thank you.
That is the important line:

Inspector Ellen Kiel: I’m going to fix this. All I need are reinforcements…and as much black powder as I can get.

This should hint everyone that they have to go to Kiel if they want to help with the contracts.

Niyo.5920:

Ayrilana.1396:

Clearly some people did not follow the story. It was mentioned where to go and also in a memo that I stated earlier. Either re-do the Canach story instance or read the dialogue in the following article

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Canach%27s_Lair_

Thank you.
That is the important line:

Inspector Ellen Kiel: I’m going to fix this. All I need are reinforcements…and as much black powder as I can get.

This should hint everyone that they have to go to Kiel if they want to help with the contracts.

Except it still doesn’t. Keil has always had a yellow star and has always been interactable with important information. But she was never an actual key person for starting anything, despite being a main character even in the previous instances. There is no indication that she starts the instance until you happen to talk to her. Having something that specifically said she was the one would have been appreciated.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Niyo.5920:

Ayrilana.1396:

Clearly some people did not follow the story. It was mentioned where to go and also in a memo that I stated earlier. Either re-do the Canach story instance or read the dialogue in the following article

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Canach%27s_Lair_

Thank you.
That is the important line:

Inspector Ellen Kiel: I’m going to fix this. All I need are reinforcements…and as much black powder as I can get.

This should hint everyone that they have to go to Kiel if they want to help with the contracts.

Except it still doesn’t. Keil has always had a yellow star and has always been interactable with important information. But she was never an actual key person for starting anything, despite being a main character even in the previous instances. There is no indication that she starts the instance until you happen to talk to her. Having something that specifically said she was the one would have been appreciated.

Just for you a second time:

Inspector Ellen Kiel: I’m going to fix this. All I need are reinforcements…and as much black powder as I can get.

What do you need more?
If people aren’t interested in the story it could stand there in shining red letters and still there would be people whining about that they couldn’t have known this.

How about those who are having issues suggest Anet to do what they did in SAB for infantile mode. You select an achievement and little hands point you where to go every step of the way until completion. .

It’s just coming off to me that people want their hands held. I don’t mean for that to sound offensive to some but it’s just what it seems.

It happens to me that I overlook perfectly obvious information and then wonder how to go on. It’s embarassing and afterwards I ask myself how I could be so blind. What I don’t do is whine on the forum about it.

Another suggestion is to have them treat only the story elements of the living story like they do with the personal story. There will be the story icon that shows on the map where to go. As you progress, the icon goes to the next step. Once you’re done with what is available, the living story section at the top right of the screen disappears until the next batch of story events are implemented.

They can also add a narrative in the menu under the one for personal story that details/recaps the events for the living story. People then won’t have to go to the wiki unless they want specific details.

Where was I whining? I stated that I followed the story and kept up to date. I have no problem with them doing this. I like the fact that you have to figure things out by yourself. I’m pointing out that it’s not clear that you could talk to her for the instance.

As for that line of dialogue:
Inspector Ellen Kiel: I’m going to fix this. All I need are reinforcements…and as much black powder as I can get.

How do we know it doesn’t take place in Lion’s Arch harbor on the 11th as an epilogue instance where we are waiting for the ship to arrive with Kiel and it blows up before reaching port?

Ayrilana.1396:

Another suggestion is to have them treat only the story elements of the living story like they do with the personal story. There will be the story icon that shows on the map where to go. As you progress, the icon goes to the next step. Once you’re done with what is available, the living story section at the top right of the screen disappears until the next batch of story events are implemented.

They can also add a narrative in the menu under the one for personal story that details/recaps the events for the living story. People then won’t have to go to the wiki unless they want specific details.

That’s a good idea. Put those green story icons over the heads of NPCs.

kokocabana.8153:

How do we know it doesn’t take place in Lion’s Arch harbor on the 11th as an epilogue instance where we are waiting for the ship to arrive with Kiel and it blows up before reaching port?

Cause the Southsun-part is till 11th… so it’s logical that the last story-part (like the other achievements) have to be done till that date. Noone said that the last achievement could be made after the end of this story-arc. I don’t even know how someone could even think about something like this.

Like I said on another gameforum before: Everything would be so much easier if people started to think more logical and less complicated.

Niyo.5920:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Niyo.5920:

Ayrilana.1396:

Clearly some people did not follow the story. It was mentioned where to go and also in a memo that I stated earlier. Either re-do the Canach story instance or read the dialogue in the following article

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Canach%27s_Lair_

Thank you.
That is the important line:

Inspector Ellen Kiel: I’m going to fix this. All I need are reinforcements…and as much black powder as I can get.

This should hint everyone that they have to go to Kiel if they want to help with the contracts.

Except it still doesn’t. Keil has always had a yellow star and has always been interactable with important information. But she was never an actual key person for starting anything, despite being a main character even in the previous instances. There is no indication that she starts the instance until you happen to talk to her. Having something that specifically said she was the one would have been appreciated.

Just for you a second time:

Inspector Ellen Kiel: I’m going to fix this. All I need are reinforcements…and as much black powder as I can get.

What do you need more?
If people aren’t interested in the story it could stand there in shining red letters and still there would be people whining about that they couldn’t have known this.

In what way does that say, “And so come and talk to me later to start the next instance”? It doesn’t. Litterally anyone and anything could have been to entrance to the next instance and she would just be there.

I get letters all the time from the members of Divinity’s Edge saying they’re going to do stuff and I should come help, but not one of the dungeons starts by talking to the member of the guild. You just find them inside. That’s what I was expecting, not that she was the actual contact to start the instance, or even that there would BE a contact to start it.

It may be “hand-holding” for some, but I also didn’t see any indication of what to do next (other than on Dulfy’s site – seems to be a theme here, if you want to find content go look at other sites). The in-game mail didn’t really drop any hints and since I already talked to every npc before I wasn’t really looking for new stars on the map or whatever.

Next time a quest objective stating: “Go talk to Kiel at Pearl Islet” would be nice. That said the instanced quest itself I found very good.

Of course, the new instance could have been in the Hall of the Raven in Hoelbrak for whatever reason. But if one doesn’t know where it is, wouldn’t the NPC that must be involved be the first place one would look? It would be for me…

ASaturnus.4980:

Of course, the new instance could have been in the Hall of the Raven in Hoelbrak for whatever reason. But if one doesn’t know where it is, wouldn’t the NPC that must be involved be the first place one would look? It would be for me…

You mean one of the many versions of the NPC inside the giant anachronism that Southsun Cove currently is?
I personally did check back with Kiel (the one at Pearl Islet). That was a week ago, after the Canach Dungeon went live. When the latest patch went live I didn’t check, simply because there was now indication that at that specific time the contract event went live and therefore I do agree with the OP that ANet could have done a better job of comunicating said fact in game.

CorneliusCoffin.3169:

You mean one of the many versions of the NPC inside the giant anachronism that Southsun Cove currently is?
I personally did check back with Kiel (the one at Pearl Islet). That was a week ago, after the Canach Dungeon went live. When the latest patch went live I didn’t check, simply because there was now indication that at that specific time the contract event went live and therefore I do agree with the OP that ANet could have done a better job of comunicating said fact in game.

“Contractually Obligated: Complete the story finale instance between June 4 and June 11 as described in the above section.”

The guide was a pretty good indication, I would say.

CorneliusCoffin.3169:

When the latest patch went live I didn’t check, simply because there was now indication that at that specific time the contract event went live and therefore I do agree with the OP that ANet could have done a better job of comunicating said fact in game.

1. You could have thought about it that the contracts have to be there now, cause that was the last patch for this story-part.
2. You could have asked in map channel like the hundreds of people who did that the weeks before. I would be rich if I got 1s every time I answered that question to one who was asking.

Niyo.5920:

CorneliusCoffin.3169:

When the latest patch went live I didn’t check, simply because there was now indication that at that specific time the contract event went live and therefore I do agree with the OP that ANet could have done a better job of comunicating said fact in game.

1. You could have thought about it that the contracts have to be there now, cause that was the last patch for this story-part.
2. You could have asked in map channel like the hundreds of people who did that the weeks before. I would be rich if I got 1s every time I answered that question to one who was asking.

that’s just silly, spamming map chat and guessing that the contracts might be there now because of it being the last patch.

How about actually informing players that the event is there and this is where you need to go. All this guessing is not good design.

The letter you receive doesn’t even mention the contracts. How about the letter telling you I’m going to need some help getting these contracts off the island – come visit me when you have the chance. Now was that too hard to include in the letter?

this chapter was so poorly done, and very boring. Hopefully they are going to step it up a lot for the next chapter!

Well, maybe ArenaNet thought that players would think for themselves for 5 seconds. It’s possible that they will learn from this mistake.

ASaturnus.4980:

CorneliusCoffin.3169:

You mean one of the many versions of the NPC inside the giant anachronism that Southsun Cove currently is?
I personally did check back with Kiel (the one at Pearl Islet). That was a week ago, after the Canach Dungeon went live. When the latest patch went live I didn’t check, simply because there was now indication that at that specific time the contract event went live and therefore I do agree with the OP that ANet could have done a better job of comunicating said fact in game.

“Contractually Obligated: Complete the story finale instance between June 4 and June 11 as described in the above section.”

The guide was a pretty good indication, I would say.

See, that’s just exactly what the OP meant. That is outside the game.
To put it in scientific terms, a lot of the games’ narrative takes place outside the plot, where it could easily be integrated and that’s very disrupitve. It’s counter-immersive, if you will, because it keeps throwing you out of the game world. I think that’s valid constructive criticism.
Again, none of us has said that it was impossible to find Kiel and/or the contract mission, because if it was, we wouldn’t be here talking about it. The criticism is that the whole experience could have been a lot more seemless.
Of course if you’re just busy hunting trophies and farming gold, that’s none of your concern, but please respect that there are people who are actually enjoying the story and the plot and who are trying to make this a better experience for everyone to enjoy.

Niyo.5920:

kokocabana.8153:

The letter only talks about protecting the settlements from wildlife. I’ve been following the story and reading memos/talking to NPCs. I’ve got time to figure things out and read up on what to do, but my friend who can only log on once a week doesn’t. The lore and rewards are not important to him. He just wants to log in to see what’s new and be pointed in the direction to do new things.

But if he did the new things last week (that includes the Canach-solo-instance) he would have known that Kiel is the one who wanted to deal with the contracts. And so it’s a good idea to talk to her first. Especially because she is the main-NPC for the “missions” the last weeks.

I did the Canach instance and I didn’t know Kiel had anything to do with contracts. The story is so disjointed as to make no sense. I’ve done nearly everything and I still have no idea what is going on at Southsun or who any of the NPCs are.

It’s true that they really could have done more to make the story a more enjoyable experience. There simply should be more information from the NPC. More cutscenes or more dialogue. I was not around for the first Southsun event, so I did not know any of the NPC yet (e.g. I had no clue at all who Canach was). I could piece together the most important info about the whole Southsun settler situation from the dialogues, yes, but it took the short stories here on the website to really make me understand what was going on (and I do not visit the website regularly, so it was pure luck that I actually found them).

As for this last instance which started at Kiel – Kiel herself always had a “living story star” over her head and the in-game mail did not specifically instruct people to go there. The end dialogue from the Canach solo instance could just as well have meant that Kiel wanted to blow up some Karka nests to save some settlers from Canach’s plan (in fact that’s how I understood it first), of course now in hindsight it makes sense that she was talking about the ship. The instance could just as well have started at some random other settler camp by talking to some random other NPC involved in the contract stuff. Or maybe by talking to Kiel who could have popped up after you get the Karka queen achievement. Anyway, I knew “there is something new”, ported to pearl islet and clicked on all the NPC, and eventually found the new option in Kiel’s dialogue. But that was more trial and error.

To sum up: the story needs more actual story – in game, not via a website most players do not visit regularly, and definitely not by having to visit fan websites where people post guides.

When I got the last letter I read it and then instantly ported to Southsun. First I have done when I came through the asura-gate was to go to Kiel and see if there’s anything she can tell me about how the story moves on. I did that instinctively. So I can’t understand the problem.

Niyo.5920:

When I got the last letter I read it and then instantly ported to Southsun. First I have done when I came through the asura-gate was to go to Kiel and see if there’s anything she can tell me about how the story moves on. I did that instinctively. So I can’t understand the problem.

Good for you. I was in Southsun already. I read the letter and clicked the show me and it showed me all settler camps. I then scanned the map looking for new stars, like the two that appears when Canach entered the story last update. There were none and I found no other information about it. It did NOT occur to me to talk to Kiel for new information because that was not instinct. My instinct was to follow the path, but there was none. So again, good for you, but your report of your obvious brilliance and skill does nothing to further the discussion nor help those that apparently lack it.

CorneliusCoffin.3169:

Again, none of us has said that it was impossible to find Kiel and/or the contract mission, because if it was, we wouldn’t be here talking about it. The criticism is that the whole experience could have been a lot more seemless.
Of course if you’re just busy hunting trophies and farming gold, that’s none of your concern, but please respect that there are people who are actually enjoying the story and the plot and who are trying to make this a better experience for everyone to enjoy.

I think those who are really enjoying the story don’t need a colored marker on the map to point them in the right direction. The guide is there for people who want concise information without investing too much time ingame. I think it’s entirely ok when a guide (that you don’t need when you follow the story closely) is not in the game itself but on the official website. That’s actually better for immersion.
Honestly, visiting Kiel was the first thing I thought about when I finished downloading the patch.

@Elbegast
We know that you have a reading disability that interferes with following the story closely since it has too few cutscenes. You can complain that ArenaNet doesn’t do enough for people with reading disabilities, but please spare us the trope that there was no story. It’s getting boring.

ASaturnus.4980:

CorneliusCoffin.3169:

Again, none of us has said that it was impossible to find Kiel and/or the contract mission, because if it was, we wouldn’t be here talking about it. The criticism is that the whole experience could have been a lot more seemless.
Of course if you’re just busy hunting trophies and farming gold, that’s none of your concern, but please respect that there are people who are actually enjoying the story and the plot and who are trying to make this a better experience for everyone to enjoy.

I think those who are really enjoying the story don’t need a colored marker on the map to point them in the right direction. The guide is there for people who want concise information without investing too much time ingame. I think it’s entirely ok when a guide (that you don’t need when you follow the story closely) is not in the game itself but on the official website. That’s actually better for immersion.
Honestly, visiting Kiel was the first thing I thought about when I finished downloading the patch.

@Elbegast
We know that you have a reading disability that interferes with following the story closely since it has too few cutscenes. You can complain that ArenaNet doesn’t do enough for people with reading disabilities, but please spare us the the trope that there was no story. It’s getting boring.

I’m enjoying the story very much. I understand what’s going on and who the players are. Therefore as the exact person you’re talking about I can say truthfully that you are wrong. Having something obvious about the next direction to take would, in fact, have been appreciated.

Why is it so KITTEN much trouble for people to accept that a little TINY bit more information would be a good thing. As most people said, including me, one line in the letter of, “Come talk to me,” would not have ruined anything and would have been a very obvious thing to point to. “You don’t know where to go? Read the letter, it tells you.”

Alright, maybe there are people who enjoy the story and need a colored marker on the map. But tell me, if you care and undertand so much of the story, why do you fail every single time to wright the name of the NPC we’re talking about here correctly and invent things like “Divinity’s Edge”? Mistakes happen, of course, but the impression that leaves isn’t of someone who follows the story with much concentration.
And no, it’s no trouble to accept that a little more information may be usefull. No one would have a problem with it if the letter said “come talk to me”. But I assure you, there would still be people here in the forum who would complain that it’s not clear and they need better directions.

Let’s cool it with the insults. I made this thread for constructive discussion.

I noticed in yesterday’s patch they added an indicator in the Island Control meta info about whether the Karka Queen is ready to spawn or not. I think they can make a minor change by making Inspector Kiel do an emote like waving at you to come over similar to other event NPCs when they want you to talk to them.

A little more broad, but relevant…

Maybe people should expect a little less hand holding. It seems anytime there is something in the game that is done through story leads, contextual clues or environment items then a wave of people gets upset they didn’t get some kind of indicator or announcement shoved in their faces.

I like having to figure things out or take the intuitive path (like porting to the location of the person that just mentioned getting contracts off the island and needing help) without being explicitly told.

This is not much different than people spamming chat asking where the Karka queen spawns. If they were to look at their radar or their map and take one moment to make one intelligent guess…it would probably lead them to the giant kitten treasure chest and correct location.

Doesn’t matter how much context there is or how obvious the clues are. Some people would just rather be guided step by step. If they have to deduce anything for themselves then they are just totally lost.

And that’s ok. There are folks in the game that like helping those people out and will answer every question or offer to run people around. But the game shouldn’t make design concessions to those that want to be led because it ends up trivializing the content for those that want to play.

kokocabana.8153:

Let’s cool it with the insults. I made this thread for constructive discussion.

I didn’t mean to insult anyone. I also didn’t mean to say that those who didn’t realise that they should talk to Kiel are in some way stupid. I only believe that they didn’t follow the story very concentrated. It happens to me too, in fact I can be scatterbrained like the best of us.
But I also think that there shouldn’t be a colored marker on the map for every step of the story. Some things should be left to be figured out. And for those who don’t want that, the guide should explain everything.

ASaturnus.4980:

Alright, maybe there are people who enjoy the story and need a colored marker on the map. But tell me, if you care and undertand so much of the story, why do you fail every single time to wright the name of the NPC we’re talking about here correctly and invent things like “Divinity’s Edge”? Mistakes happen, of course, but the impression that leaves isn’t of someone who follows the story with much concentration.
And no, it’s no trouble to accept that a little more information may be usefull. No one would have a problem with it if the letter said “come talk to me”. But I assure you, there would still be people here in the forum who would complain that it’s not clear and they need better directions.

Are you for real? Did you seriously not understand the connection to the how the Dungeons and Divinity’s Edge are handled compared to how this story mission is handled? And then you belittle other people for not grasping what you concider to be obvious? Really?

At least if they actually put in a specific direction if anyone came here complaining about it all you would have to say is, as I already pointed out, “Did you read the letter? It said specifically, go talk to Kiel. So maybe follow direction?” At least when you’re being rude to other people that didn’t get it you would have more to back you than, “Well I figured it out, why didn’t you?”

AcidicVision.5498:

A little more broad, but relevant…

Maybe people should expect a little less hand holding. It seems anytime there is something in the game that is done through story leads, contextual clues or environment items then a wave of people gets upset they didn’t get some kind of indicator or announcement shoved in their faces.

I like having to figure things out or take the intuitive path (like porting to the location of the person that just mentioned getting contracts off the island and needing help) without being explicitly told.

This is not much different than people spamming chat asking where the Karka queen spawns. If they were to look at their radar or their map and take one moment to make one intelligent guess…it would probably lead them to the giant kitten treasure chest and correct location.

Doesn’t matter how much context there is or how obvious the clues are. Some people would just rather be guided step by step. If they have to deduce anything for themselves then they are just totally lost.

And that’s ok. There are folks in the game that like helping those people out and will answer every question or offer to run people around. But the game shouldn’t make design concessions to those that want to be led because it ends up trivializing the content for those that want to play.

I am totally ok with this where appropriate. Where appropriate would be like the refugee item recovery. There was almost nothing involved in that except a line saying, “There might be someone in Lion’s Arch who wants this.” You then had to find the refugees, without any real guidance, and then figure out who it belonged to. That was fine and I enjoyed it.

Where it’s not really appropriate is for a mission instance, which is why every mission that has ever existed has been marked in some way. The problem, in this case, remains that the instance marker had already been marked previously, meaning there was no indication it had become such. So I maintain, why is it such an imposition to people that they add some minor insignificant method to specify the change ingame?

Would it really detract somehow from the whole experience? Would it seriously dumb down the game? Would it effect you or anyone else in any real way, except to remove most, if not all, of the ambiguity assotiated with this specific situation? Does this really need to be argued against, really?

Kal Spiro.9745:

Are you for real? Did you seriously not understand the connection to the how the Dungeons and Divinity’s Edge are handled compared to how this story mission is handled? And then you belittle other people for not grasping what you concider to be obvious? Really?

Yes, I’m for real. Yes, I understood your comparison between dungeons and this instance. I even actually know that you mean Destiny’s Edge when you say Divinity’s Edge (you probably confused it with Divinity’s Reach). But your comparison is irrelevant, because this instance isn’t a dungeon. It’s not permanent. And even if it were the same, it has to be started somewhere. So all you had to do was think about “where could the instance in which we help Inspector Kiel destroy the contracts possibly be started?”. Tell me just how the idea “at Inspector Kiel’s place” can not come up? This is what I don’t understand.

ASaturnus.4980:

kokocabana.8153:

Let’s cool it with the insults. I made this thread for constructive discussion.

I didn’t mean to insult anyone. I also didn’t mean to say that those who didn’t realise that they should talk to Kiel are in some way stupid. I only believe that they didn’t follow the story very concentrated. It happens to me too, in fact I can be scatterbrained like the best of us.
But I also think that there shouldn’t be a colored marker on the map for every step of the story. Some things should be left to be figured out. And for those who don’t want that, the guide should explain everything.

I’m very much in favor of figuring things out by yourself. I’ve been making threads about getting rid of achievement “quest” checklist. If I had it my way, I would have simply added the Living Story stuff with no mention of it in patch notes. Let the players explore and figure out everything on their own. Let the players spread the word of new events occurring in game rather than the developers. Players will make guides and youtube videos regardless. But this isn’t my game and I know players like us who hate handholding are in the minority and not who ANet is trying to appeal to. So if they are going to do it, they might as well do a good job of it.

It’s why I liked the super adventure box so much. There wasn’t any handholding(besides the infantile mode) and you had to explore the zones to find all the baubles and hidden areas. ANet put it out there and said have fun.

ASaturnus.4980:

Yes, I’m for real. Yes, I understood your comparison between dungeons and this instance. I even actually know that you mean Destiny’s Edge when you say Divinity’s Edge

Holy crap… I seriously did that, twice even… that is terribly embarrasing.

ASaturnus.4980:

But your comparison is irrelevant, because this instance isn’t a dungeon. It’s not permanent. And even if it were the same, it has to be started somewhere. So all you had to do was think about “where could the instance in which we help Inspector Kiel destroy the contracts possibly be started?”. Tell me just how the idea “at Inspector Kiel’s place” can not come up? This is what I don’t understand.

My rediculous brain farts aside, there was no indication that this even actually involved an instance. Again, it could have been anything and anywhere. Kiel was already marked and no indication was given that she might have new information. The last time I talked to her nothing had changed, so why should I think that would have this time? So I was looking somewhere else. I tried Kiel’s settlement, since it is actually involved in the situation pointed out in the letter, while Pearl is in no way involved.

I will also qualify this by say, again, that I was already in the zone. It never even occured to me to look at Pearl, let alone go there. If I had not been it is possible I would have thought to look at Kiel, but I have no way of knowing that for sure. Simple fact is, there was nothing directly pointing at her as the “entrance,” especially concidering people are usually NOT entrances, even if one was for Canach, that is a unique situation. So again, I had no reason to believe I was looking for a person rather than a place.

I will ask again, therefore, why it is apparently so important to you that this not be the case? Why it should be the case is obvious, so it’s not ambiguous and no one has to actually ask in chat what’s going on or go out of game to seek information. So why is it that this should not be the case? What exactly is gained by it being the way it currently is, rather than having made it explicite that she needed to be talked to in order to continue?

As I said before, it’s not important to me. If the letter said that we should talk to Kiel at Pearl, that would be fine for me. What I’m trying to explain is that it wouldn’t help. Maybe you would have found it then right away, but others wouldn’t. Maybe you would be on our side now, saying here in the forum that it was perfectly clear where it was, but there would still be two sides.
It’s completely ok to say ‘maybe the letter from Kiel should have been a bit clearer’. Maybe it should have. But the reason I’m wrighting in this topic is that people are saying ‘we had no way of knowing this’. This is obviously not true. We did know it, so you could have, too. No big deal that you didn’t, but you could have.