Guild Wars 2

I’ll start by saying that I love this game. It’s cool, is fresh, it’s stunningly beautiful, and it’s the first MMO i want to play for years to come. I think ANet did most of the things right, but there is one that I find insufficiently explored. And that’s lore.

I understand ANet’s philosophy of not forcing people to read, of making everything easy and having things presented in a visual manner. And it’s cool, I won’t criticise that. I just wish they had a little something for those of us who want more. I know that some people will tell me: do the hearts, talk to every npc in a location, but I’m already doing it. I also check what the scouts have to say, when they’re not bugged. However, even so, there seems to be very little information for someone who hasn’t played Guild Wars 1. I know some things because I’ve watched all kinds of lore videos on youtube or checked wikia.

My suggestion would be to add some sort of text to the points of interest maybe. You get there as a player, mark the point on your map and maybe afterwards when you mouse over that point you get this little floating text with bits of lore. Or maybe even better, add something like the codex in Star Wars: The Old Republic. It would be something optional, people who don’t want to read those things are free to ignore them, but the lore nerds will be mad to collect all that information.

I am not sure what the best method would be, but I feel there is a lack of lore in an amazing game with an amazing history, and it feels a bit like ANet ignored the backstories of it’s own universe. Yes, there is the personal story, but it doesn’t tell me much about the lore, it’s telling a present story, or I am interested in all kinds of crazy deeds from the past, old heroes and places, who build Divinity’s Reach and when, how many wars did it witnessed, what wars were fought in Gendarran Fields and so on. It would add a layer of depth to this great game that I would very much like to see.

Not sure if enough people feel this way in order to justify a change, but this would be my suggestion so thanks for listening.

There are quite a few books in the game (for example, in Orr, around the camps in the Straits, Malchor’s Leap and The Cursed Shore are books highlighting the lore of Orr. Also, around Ebonhawke, there are books highlighting how Gwen and Keiran founded the place) as well as other titbits (Pyre and Jora’s statues, for example). I feel the Story Mode cut-scenes do a good job at giving lore as well (absolutely love the AC cut-scene).

However, as someone who enjoys lore in games, I agree it’d be nice to have even more. Attach some lore to the Points of Interest (why are they Points of Interest isn’t always clear), attach lore to the Legendary weapons (why are they Legendary? I feel this would aid in making very individual creation processes for each Legendary as well: a story-driven process, unique to each weapon.).

Maybe even an Achievement to go along with finding out about different parts of Tyria / histories of races?

There are books, but you read one and then what? There should be some kind of personal library that lists every book you have read and the contents of it. This list should also contain the name of every book you haven’t read, but not the location; you have to find it on your own, or consult the inevitable list that will appear on the web for the lazy people.

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robinsiebler.3801:

There are books, but you read one and then what? There should be some kind of personal library that lists every book you have read and the contents of it. This list should also contain the name of every book you haven’t read, but not the location; you have to find it on your own, or consult the inevitable list that will appear on the web for the lazy people.

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We got a personal instance. Stick a library in there.

TheDaiBish.9735:

robinsiebler.3801:

There are books, but you read one and then what? There should be some kind of personal library that lists every book you have read and the contents of it. This list should also contain the name of every book you haven’t read, but not the location; you have to find it on your own, or consult the inevitable list that will appear on the web for the lazy people.

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We got a personal instance. Stick a library in there.

While they’re at it, stick in an on-screen guide to the game’s alphabet so that I can actually read those posters all over Lion’s Arch.