Guild Wars 2

Just some input in case large scale open world zerg events become a thing.

In the instance, Rox and Braham were so eager to go and fight the baddies. Logan Thackeray was called out by Anise for not being out and hunting down Scarlet. It would have been awesome to actually fight alongside them on the battlefield.

In more detail, this would have been my approach:

• Add Rox, Braham and Logan Thackeray to every “battle map”, including overflows.
• Make them super tanky with very high armor/hitpoints so they don’t go down all the time.
• Make them do low or no damage. They’re not supposed to do the fighting for us, just keep us company.
• Make them shout lines so players notice that they are there.
• Make them spawn in different locations.
• After an event, have them run to the nearest active event that doesn’t have an NPC presence.

Firstly, it would help splitting up zergs.

Secondly, how cool would it be to communicate to your party members that you are “in the Rox zerg” or that you have spotted Logan near this or that waypoint? NPC spotting could become a thing.

Thirdly, it would draw attention of new players or players who haven’t yet actively participated in the living story towards current events (through the NPCs shouting their lines). Give the living story some more, or better, exposure. So they don’t just see the epic battle, they also see/hear a little bit of why it is happening.
Establish a visual presence of the living story’s characters (the story is supposed to be about the characters, right?)

It would be a little bonus for players who are in this for the story, connect to the NPCs, want to feel more immersed, etc. etc. and further connect the living story instances with the open world events.

Optionally, you could expand on this some more:

• Possibly add more Seraph or other NPCs actively partaking in the battle.
• Add achievements for fighting one event alongside each one of the living story NPC heroes.

What do you think?

I personally enjoyed the previous LS instances where they did actually fight and were surprisingly a lot more competent/useful than any NPC ally in the game thus far. (I’m looking at you Trahearne!)

But yeah, I would like to see them a bit more involved. But this instance was a pretty short lived one to begin with and the difference between the Flame and the Frost and now is that they are representatives like most of the other races. So… them getting involved and a chance of dying wouldn’t go well with Kryta.
So, at least flavor wise that reason could satisfy some.

I really like this idea. Maybe they will see it and consider it for a future release.

Good idea. It was fun fighting alongside Rox and Braham again in the previous patch. And this would make the whole event feel more like a living Story than just one big rushed (although fun!) zerg event.

Talonblaze.3175:

But yeah, I would like to see them a bit more involved. But this instance was a pretty short lived one to begin with and the difference between the Flame and the Frost and now is that they are representatives like most of the other races. So… them getting involved and a chance of dying wouldn’t go well with Kryta.
So, at least flavor wise that reason could satisfy some.

I’ll give you this for Rox, who was at the Jubilee in official capacity, but not for Braham (her +1) and certainly not for Thackeray, who is supposed to be fighting this exact fight (as Anise points out), and probably bring a few dozen Seraphs with him.

:)

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Talonblaze.3175:

But yeah, I would like to see them a bit more involved. But this instance was a pretty short lived one to begin with and the difference between the Flame and the Frost and now is that they are representatives like most of the other races. So… them getting involved and a chance of dying wouldn’t go well with Kryta.
So, at least flavor wise that reason could satisfy some.

I’ll give you this for Rox, who was at the Jubilee in official capacity, but not for Braham (her +1) and certainly not for Thackeray, who is supposed to be fighting this exact fight (as Anise points out), and probably bring a few dozen Seraphs with him.

:)

Isn’t Rox eager to impress Rytlock for official recognition into the Stone Warband? How convenient that there just so happens to be a prime opportunity for her to raise the reputation of the Black Citadel, simply by lending a hand against Scarlet.

On a side note I actually liked them participating in the fight alongside me, even though Braham did prevent from me from stomping on the last two twisted minions.

Darkbattlemage.9612:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Talonblaze.3175:

But yeah, I would like to see them a bit more involved. But this instance was a pretty short lived one to begin with and the difference between the Flame and the Frost and now is that they are representatives like most of the other races. So… them getting involved and a chance of dying wouldn’t go well with Kryta.
So, at least flavor wise that reason could satisfy some.

I’ll give you this for Rox, who was at the Jubilee in official capacity, but not for Braham (her +1) and certainly not for Thackeray, who is supposed to be fighting this exact fight (as Anise points out), and probably bring a few dozen Seraphs with him.

:)

Isn’t Rox eager to impress Rytlock for official recognition into the Stone Warband? How convenient that there just so happens to be a prime opportunity for her to raise the reputation of the Black Citadel, simply by lending a hand against Scarlet.

On a side note I actually liked them participating in the fight alongside me, even though Braham did prevent from me from stomping on the last two twisted minions.

I agree that Rox has perfect reason to join the zerg fest. Thanks for pointing it out

Actually, I love how Rox, Braham and Logan all have different reasons to join the fighting, and their individual lines could easily reflect this.

good thing – sadly I’m affraid that there is not time to make this real

Lord Trejgon.2809:

good thing – sadly I’m affraid that there is not time to make this real

Yeah, but maybe next time… I think it’s safe to say that parts of Tyria will be invaded again, be it by karka, destroyers or whatever.

:)

This would introduce the need to protect objectives too which should really help split the zerg.

Especially if winning was where most of the rewards were instead of the mobs.

It won’t end well.

“We need speedbuffs, Logan is running again!”
“Wrong way Logan, come back!”

XD

i would like that. just make them immortal like in the story instance, it’s not like it’s feasible to complete the event relying solely on those guys. have them speed-rez people around and attack bosses on their free time.

they could even give some continuous buff to the characters within a 900/1200 range, to motivate sticking to them. nothing big, something like +150 to one or two of the base stats.

EDIT: of course, it’s likely too late for that in this release, but now that the idea’s been given, the designers can pick up on that and hopefully implement it next time they do something like that.

Could be interesting if it did actually avoid further clustering people together.

I have to wonder if you’ve been to any invasions yet though… low or zero damage? Fighting for us? LOL. The minions + whatnot already engage a lot of local creatures around the zones they spawn in, and I assure you they’re in no particular danger of losing. The only time I saw which wasn’t a total slaughter of the natives, they were fighting Flame Legion (though uh… why do they fight these guys?) and I couldn’t tell which was winning, because both sides had surprising numbers and it looked pretty messy. Then my attacking all of them simultaneously kind of threw it off, some other people showed up, and yeah.

Svanir guys failed, Branded creatures failed, Risen failed. I’d be curious to see them fight Karka. Reef drakes would be funny – I predict both sides taking turns at CC then all drop dead of massive confusion stacking.

Hm yeah something i miss from beta. those last hour big battle where you ran with one of the edge of destiny guys. was pretty neat

I like this idea. With the amount of stuff that spawns and the number of players involved, a few NPCs wouldn’t make a huge difference, even if they were especially beefy.

Swift.1832:

Hm yeah something i miss from beta. those last hour big battle where you ran with one of the edge of destiny guys. was pretty neat

I missed that, but yeah, that’s exactly what I was talking about. Sounds wonderful

Sounds like a good idea. Give us a sense that the NPCs actually have a purpose, and actually do stuff. Although I doubt Logan would go more than 5 feet within the queen.

Rainbow Sprint.3215:

Although I doubt Logan would go more than 5 feet within the queen.

He already got a scolding by Anise… he really should be doing his job. :P