Guild Wars 2

I’d kind of forgotten about this idea after release, but I think this is probably something that could be beneficial now more than ever with the living story style content.

Scrap the My Story focus of the My Story tab and switch it to something far more useful. A broader, more utilitarian style all-purpose game story tab. Forget trying to avoid the whole quest log resemblances, and just go with it, sort of.

The newly renovated Story Tab would become an essential adventurers’ log for both the story-driven and the loot-driven. (Heck, Adventurer’s Log might be an apt name for it.) It would roll out into a panel like the Achievements Tab.

The Adventurer’s Map:
The Summary Pane would be modified to instead be an Adventurer’s Map, with easily selectable regions, that would then become easily selectable areas. I.e. Metrica Province > Soren Draa.

The map would then allow you to hover over the relevant icons of the area and see the usual information as you would in the world map or minimap, providing a great in-between for those that want to decide where to go or what to do while still chatting with their friends. It would also display the number of currently proceeding events in the area, at least of those you’ve discovered.

So from the world map, you might see each region and an orange starburst icon over it with the number of events beside or below it that you’ve found ongoing. 0 meaning none, with any other number indicating activity.

In the columns beneath, you could have it divided out into:
World Activity, Region Activity, and Recently Encountered/Discovered Events.

World Activity would indicate the number of ongoing events across the world based again on from what you’ve explored and discovered, alongside a listing of major ones displayed when active, while Region Activity would indicate your occupied region’s activity in the same manner, with major/meta ones taking the topmost spot when active. Recently encountered events would have a log of the said events and possibly your involvement (i.e. rewards).

The Categories Sidebar:

My Story: This is where the current personal story stuff would go.
Living Story/World: This is where all past events and on-going events would appear. It would fall into subcategories based on the naming of the event. I.e. Bazaar of the Four Winds, related backstory stuff (including short stories posted on the site) would display upon clicking, Queen’s Jubilee, etc.
Private Mail: This would remove the renown hearts/personal story/living story spam from your inbox and instead keep it archived here, also allowing them to be navigated according to those qualities. This would basically be a copy/paste of the mail window, just way more convenient and easier to keep a handle on.
Experienced Events: This would generate a record of all encountered events alongside some descriptive text. What might also be of interest here is the possibility of, upon completion, being able to log their frequency of occurrence, allowing for an in-game tool to alert you to their occurrence. This would allow players to then either continue current behavior of rolling repetitively through areas for the events so as not to miss them, or explore the world and drop back by to redo a beloved event when the game tells them. (This is where the loot-driven comes into play. =P)
Anything Else: This wouldn’t be an actual category, this would simply act as an area where they could add in any additional categories as they see fit.

Which also compels me to again request the implementation of some kind of collectable scrolls/tablets/books under an Artifacts category that would then be organized by region they were discovered in. These would just be some fun little lore bites to better flesh out the world more than anything else.

What do you all think? What would you add or remove from this renovation of the story tab?

~revive~ …This is a sad place of neglected visions, isn’t it? =(

I 100% support this idea.

There are good ideas in this OP.

Heart quests should be transferred automatically to the “adventurer log” after being read in the mail and took the reward. They won’t never be deleted from there proving the “deeds” you have done.
Clicking the heart in there should bring up a description plus the location button for going into the map (show me) plus what the NPC is selling

Ronah.2869:

There are good ideas in this OP.

Heart quests should be transferred automatically to the “adventurer log” after being read in the mail and took the reward. They won’t never be deleted from there proving the “deeds” you have done.
Clicking the heart in there should bring up a description plus the location button for going into the map (show me) plus what the NPC is selling

Oh yeah! That’s an even smoother implementation than I had considered. The Private Mail category was something of an afterthought as I was writing upon logging in to check how the Achievements Panel functioned and seeing my new mail.

I mentioned this in the other thread, but I guess it’s worth posting and pushing this thread here:

I like some parts of that log, not sure about others though. Making it possible to see every ongoing (found) event in a zone makes you even more using the waypoint system. I don’t like that because i’m not happy with the constant teleporting, would be nice to find a system which encourages exploring the world more instead of jumping from A to B to C.

The artifacts you mention would do such a thing. These spawn all over the world in (semi)random locations and people will want to run through the same area again and explore it even more while stumbling over known and new events.

Absolutely YES for implementing the website-shortstories in there! And as much lore as possible.

Well, the hopping from point to point thing is more of a player issue in a way, isn’t it? You might be surprised, really, if players can track them, they may form into more of a zerg from event to event ignoring the waypoints. I’m pretty sure that’s happened in the past, and with an easier way to see where they’re occurring and when, it’d probably happen even more.

That’s both good and bad in its own right, but hey, that’s a matter for another topic.

Gmr Leon.1846:

I
Anything Else: This wouldn’t be an actual category, this would simply act as an area where they could add in any additional categories as they see fit.

Which also compels me to again request the implementation of some kind of collectable scrolls/tablets/books under an Artifacts category that would then be organized by region they were discovered in. These would just be some fun little lore bites to better flesh out the world more than anything else.

I gots an idea for stuff to add on!

People Met

• This Catagory would list all of the Important people you met on your travels through Tyria, whether through your personal Story, Living Story, Dungeons, or Events. It would display basic information about these characters, and would be updated as the game updates with content that these characters are Involved in.
  (example, we would get an Entry for Ellen Kiel way back in November, then in Secret of Southsun it would update us with information to her whereabouts, what she’s doing there, and would update each time we meet her through the current release.)

Bosses

• This Catagory would list all of the Important Bad Characters, Bosses, Dragons you met or fought on your travels through Tyria, whether through your personal Story, Dungeons, or Open World Events. It would display basic information about these characters, and would be updated as the game updates with content that these bosses are Involved in, or,…you know, if you kill them, the entry stops right there.

Bestiary

• This Catagory would list all the different Types of Creatures and Enemies you can come across in Tyria. When you first fight an enemy of this type, it opens up the entry that you can read.
• Then a sort of scavenger hunt opens up, where in order to keep reading, you have to track down, and defeat different types of those enemies. (Example : You kill a Black Bear and the specific paragraph for bears opens up for that creature, as you kill the Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Murellow, Arctodus, etc. the other paragraphs become readable)
• Once you unlock all the entries for a specific Enemy, a new entry will open that tells you the location of a Secret Boss (in this case, a Bear type boss)
• You go Kill the Secret Bear Boss, and you will Automatically recieve an in-game mail (maybe from the Tyrian Hunter’s Society or something?), and you recieve a Special Weapon or Armor Recipe (In the Case of the Bears, it could be the Bear Mantle Recipe, which would be unique shoulderpads that are shaped like large Bear Paws)
• Each different Type of Enemy would have a unique recipe to find.

There’s my ideas…

This would be awesome.

Chrispy.5641:

Gmr Leon.1846:

I
Anything Else: This wouldn’t be an actual category, this would simply act as an area where they could add in any additional categories as they see fit.

Which also compels me to again request the implementation of some kind of collectable scrolls/tablets/books under an Artifacts category that would then be organized by region they were discovered in. These would just be some fun little lore bites to better flesh out the world more than anything else.

I gots an idea for stuff to add on!

snip

hide spoiler

People Met

• This Catagory would list all of the Important people you met on your travels through Tyria, whether through your personal Story, Living Story, Dungeons, or Events. It would display basic information about these characters, and would be updated as the game updates with content that these characters are Involved in.
  (example, we would get an Entry for Ellen Kiel way back in November, then in Secret of Southsun it would update us with information to her whereabouts, what she’s doing there, and would update each time we meet her through the current release.)

Bosses

• This Catagory would list all of the Important Bad Characters, Bosses, Dragons you met or fought on your travels through Tyria, whether through your personal Story, Dungeons, or Open World Events. It would display basic information about these characters, and would be updated as the game updates with content that these bosses are Involved in, or,…you know, if you kill them, the entry stops right there.

Bestiary

• This Catagory would list all the different Types of Creatures and Enemies you can come across in Tyria. When you first fight an enemy of this type, it opens up the entry that you can read.
• Then a sort of scavenger hunt opens up, where in order to keep reading, you have to track down, and defeat different types of those enemies. (Example : You kill a Black Bear and the specific paragraph for bears opens up for that creature, as you kill the Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Murellow, Arctodus, etc. the other paragraphs become readable)
• Once you unlock all the entries for a specific Enemy, a new entry will open that tells you the location of a Secret Boss (in this case, a Bear type boss)
• You go Kill the Secret Bear Boss, and you will Automatically recieve an in-game mail (maybe from the Tyrian Hunter’s Society or something?), and you recieve a Special Weapon or Armor Recipe (In the Case of the Bears, it could be the Bear Mantle Recipe, which would be unique shoulderpads that are shaped like large Bear Paws)
• Each different Type of Enemy would have a unique recipe to find.

There’s my ideas…

Some really good ones in there! I’d considered the bestiary too, but I’m not much of an animal person (more of the history/culture type) so I wasn’t sure how to flesh it out. I really like the ideas you have down for it. The VIPs and bosses are also really good ideas in their own right that didn’t occur to me at all for some reason.

Rangers already have to find juvenile animals to tame… Make this part of the log for every character, since some of the animals aren’t too easy to find.

log entry:
Find each of these juvenile creatures
checklist

Gmr Leon.1846:

Some really good ones in there! I’d considered the bestiary too, but I’m not much of an animal person (more of the history/culture type) so I wasn’t sure how to flesh it out. I really like the ideas you have down for it. The VIPs and bosses are also really good ideas in their own right that didn’t occur to me at all for some reason.

Well, The Bestiary wouldn’t just cover beasts and animals, No RPG ever does just that. I mean Bestiary as in, it covers every creature/enemy you fight in the game.

For another Example, if You can find and kill every type of Ice Brood in the World, you recieve lots of information on the Ice Brood, and information to a secret Ice Brood Boss. If you kill that Boss then you get a set of Recipes for Corrupted Armor (Who doesn’t want Ice Armor to go with their Ice weapons?). I am suggesting a Whole set of Armor instead of just shoulderpads because there is a much larger variety of Icebrood than bears, and it would take quite a bit longer to find and defeat them all.

Edit : Even better is if all of these secret bosses aren’t in the open world. Some of them should be in Instances that you go into only if you know about it, and so only you or a small group of people have to defeat that boss. There can be solo instances that you have to complete yourself, and larger group instances as well. Just like dungeons and the Queen’s Gauntlet, Anet can seriously go crazy on how they design these fights and make them something unique (just not impossible…)

And for another suggestion for another Tab…

Locations

• This Catagory would list all of the Notable locations you visit in the Game World. It would be divided into Areas, Landmarks, and Jumping Puzzles.
• Areas would tell you basic information about the area you are in, and you would get more information and history as you complete Hearts, Vistas, etc. When you 100% an area, then you have quite a bit of Lore for that area.
• Landmarks would be Locations that are so mysterious, or stand out so much, that they need an entry of their own. You only get the most basic information when you find a new location though. At Each of these Landmarks, Books, Tablets, Scrolls, Inscriptions, Engravings, etc. are hidden around, and as you find them, more is filled out in the entry talking about that landmark. Maybe some of these could have special recipes you can find if you can manage to find everything. Maybe you can uncover a secret area after discovering all the information about a landmark that teleports you to a secret boss.
• Jumping Puzzles would only give basic information when you discover the place, but when you complete the Jumping puzzle, more information gets added and you can read up on the Specific Lore about it. (Example : Whats with the Ruins at the begining of Griffonrook Run? What’s with the Chaos Crystal Cavern?, Etc.?)

Gmr Leon.1846:

Chrispy.5641:

Gmr Leon.1846:

I
Anything Else: This wouldn’t be an actual category, this would simply act as an area where they could add in any additional categories as they see fit.

Which also compels me to again request the implementation of some kind of collectable scrolls/tablets/books under an Artifacts category that would then be organized by region they were discovered in. These would just be some fun little lore bites to better flesh out the world more than anything else.

I gots an idea for stuff to add on!

snip

hide spoiler

People Met

• This Catagory would list all of the Important people you met on your travels through Tyria, whether through your personal Story, Living Story, Dungeons, or Events. It would display basic information about these characters, and would be updated as the game updates with content that these characters are Involved in.
  (example, we would get an Entry for Ellen Kiel way back in November, then in Secret of Southsun it would update us with information to her whereabouts, what she’s doing there, and would update each time we meet her through the current release.)

Bosses

• This Catagory would list all of the Important Bad Characters, Bosses, Dragons you met or fought on your travels through Tyria, whether through your personal Story, Dungeons, or Open World Events. It would display basic information about these characters, and would be updated as the game updates with content that these bosses are Involved in, or,…you know, if you kill them, the entry stops right there.

Bestiary

• This Catagory would list all the different Types of Creatures and Enemies you can come across in Tyria. When you first fight an enemy of this type, it opens up the entry that you can read.
• Then a sort of scavenger hunt opens up, where in order to keep reading, you have to track down, and defeat different types of those enemies. (Example : You kill a Black Bear and the specific paragraph for bears opens up for that creature, as you kill the Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Murellow, Arctodus, etc. the other paragraphs become readable)
• Once you unlock all the entries for a specific Enemy, a new entry will open that tells you the location of a Secret Boss (in this case, a Bear type boss)
• You go Kill the Secret Bear Boss, and you will Automatically recieve an in-game mail (maybe from the Tyrian Hunter’s Society or something?), and you recieve a Special Weapon or Armor Recipe (In the Case of the Bears, it could be the Bear Mantle Recipe, which would be unique shoulderpads that are shaped like large Bear Paws)
• Each different Type of Enemy would have a unique recipe to find.

There’s my ideas…

Some really good ones in there! I’d considered the bestiary too, but I’m not much of an animal person (more of the history/culture type) so I wasn’t sure how to flesh it out. I really like the ideas you have down for it. The VIPs and bosses are also really good ideas in their own right that didn’t occur to me at all for some reason.

I do like these and the bestiary. I especially like it because it can be grouped by family, which helps for kill variety since creatures from the same family count as the same creature.

Chrispy, my bad, I did understand that it would extend beyond just the animals to actual creatures/monsters/races/etc. However, dependent on the info gained, again, it’s just not my thing very much. =)

Really like the landmark idea too. That’s definitely along the lines of what I was thinking for the artifacts.

Chrispy.5641:

And for another suggestion for another Tab…

Locations

• This Catagory would list all of the Notable locations you visit in the Game World. It would be divided into Areas, Landmarks, and Jumping Puzzles.
• Areas would tell you basic information about the area you are in, and you would get more information and history as you complete Hearts, Vistas, etc. When you 100% an area, then you have quite a bit of Lore for that area.

Looking over this again, I’m wondering, would we want just the basic area for that? Part of the reason I divided the world into region/area was so that we could get more specific information, even for the named areas in a region, i.e. Soren Draa in Metrica Province, and so on.

Sorry, I didn;t see this part:::

Gmr Leon.1846:

The Adventurer’s Map:
The Summary Pane would be modified to instead be an Adventurer’s Map, with easily selectable regions, that would then become easily selectable areas. I.e. Metrica Province > Soren Draa.

Chrispy.5641:

Sorry, I didn;t see this part:::

Gmr Leon.1846:

The Adventurer’s Map:
The Summary Pane would be modified to instead be an Adventurer’s Map, with easily selectable regions, that would then become easily selectable areas. I.e. Metrica Province > Soren Draa.

Er, your idea would still be very useful though, for those that don’t want to zoom in/out of the map or click the region then try to remember where the area is. That’s why I was wondering how it might be modified to fit in with this idea.

My guess would be to have the category list by regions, then just scroll through the list to the more specific area in it to get the info you were pointing out.

+1 for all the inputs. I am always supporting the good ideas.

fabiane.6027:

+1 for all the inputs. I am always supporting the good ideas.

=D Thanks! And I’m glad to see the other users’ suggestions directed at this as well.

i second this. currently, i have very little interest in the lore outside of woodenpotatoes videos because i have to actively search for the little tidbits of lore outside of game instead of inside of it. i think your idea would help bring it all together.