Guild Wars 2

As I was next to the toilet in LA, I look around and realize I really missed the old LA.. even the broken one! This new version is so freaking flat and theme park! It doesn’t feel like a city!! Please destroy this gw2 sea world city and give me my OG LA back! Or at least bring the old version back in some festivals events or something! Please?!

BloodyPanda.6789:

As I was next to the toilet in LA, I look around and realize I really missed the old LA.. even the broken one! This new version is so freaking flat and theme park! It doesn’t feel like a city!! Please destroy this gw2 sea world city and give me my OG LA back! Or at least bring the old version back in some festivals events or something! Please?!

It’s still there partly in the story missions. Can’t say i like it much though… way too gloomy for me.

I do like how it is now. The large light spaces and the beautiful houses in white with green(ish) roofs. Very pretty.

To each their own i suppose

I love the new Lion’s Arch.

If you move away from the Bank/Mystic Forge/TP area it’s much better. Unlike the old Lion’s Arch there’s actual buildings (which aren’t balanced precariously on top of pillars), lots of little winding streets and courtyards.

The area around the waterfront just south of the bridge is a favourite of mine, it reminds me of various seaside towns I’ve visited, particularly around south Devon and Cornwall.

The problem is for most people there’s not much reason to go beyond that little courtyard area, which for whatever reason they made look like a theme park.

BloodyPanda.6789:

As I was next to the toilet in LA, I look around and realize I really missed the old LA.. even the broken one! This new version is so freaking flat and theme park! It doesn’t feel like a city!! Please destroy this gw2 sea world city and give me my OG LA back! Or at least bring the old version back in some festivals events or something! Please?!

I think an event of that scope again would be amazing. Anywhere. Ummm they could nuke and sink Southsun, wouldn’t break my heart. The Old LA had more character. But, progress..

Danikat.8537:

The area around the waterfront just south of the bridge is a favourite of mine, it reminds me of various seaside towns I’ve visited, particularly around south Devon and Cornwall.

I can see what you’re saying as I’ve been around those areas a few times in the past although, to be honest, more of the northern half Lynton and Lynmouth have a particular place in my heart.

But back to the OP, I much prefer the original LA as well. To me, it had more of a “port” like feel and the architecture was inspired – ships on arches? Luvvly!

I wish there was a way of choosing which version of LA you could access but I’m thinking that’d create all sorts of issues, ha!

I would say that the thing I dislike the most is the huge open area around the bank. Including the plaza. There is no streets there, nothing but a few ferns and alot of unused space, that makes it just too empty.

I do like edge towards the water and the backstreets ner the consortium lots better.

But the plaza is just sadly empty.

The new LA is better than the old one IMO, but we should still be able to access the old one in someway. I don’t know why they didn’t do a searing-style setup for it. Everyone talks like splitting the player base is a bad idea, but, honestly, I don’t really see why it matters when you’re talking about pre-80 and 80.

If the Guild Bank and Trading Post were near the Bank, I’d be happy.

@Evon Skyfyre: I like the JP right inside the portal to Southsun. Makes it easy to park one of my many alts there for quick login rewards. So I vote no to nuking Southsun!

I would love it if there was another event / story arc that could give an excuse for a-net to hit the reset button on LA!

I doubt we’ll see the original back, but if it was destroyed again and rebuilt as something new again I’d be happy with that. Any new redesign & restyle can’t be worse that the current lifeless mass of dull greyish concrete, that feels about as atmospheric & soulful as a deserted soviet city! Sadly I don’t see it happening, but we can hope.

I despise the current LA so much I go out of my way to avoid going there, I don’t even do fractals that much because it means having to go to LA first. Though that’s also partly because LA takes longer to load for me than anywhere else, so I get put off at the thought of a long loading time, just so I can then load into fractals (why can’t we join from anywhere in the world & cut out loading into LA?!)

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put ’em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half to seem ’em

No no no
Don’t it always seem to go,
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away the DDT
I don’t care about spots on my apples
Leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey, now they paved paradise
To put up a parking lot
Why not?

Listenin’ late…

Big Yellow Taxi

Endless Soul.5178:

I love the new Lion’s Arch.

Seconded

I just wish they would put in more lion statues and bring back the amazing fountain that we had.

The old Lion’s Arch was unique, organic, original. The new is a hymn to the power of concrete, and just as lifeless.

I loathe the new Lion’s Arch with a passion! Theme Park? Yeah, that about sums it up. I liked it better when it had a shanty-town fishing village look to it, complete with lots of quaint little alleyways and inlets. I loved the LA that replaced the one from the classic Guild Wars and there were times when sitting on the dock, such was the ambience that it was possible to ‘smell’ the low-tide, the sand, salt, fish ready for the market. Not anymore.

A re-think would not be that bad – simply remove the huge pointless domed areas and pack them with more town features and add overhead gantries – that made it interesting! I used to love getting up high and seeing the sight of the bay from the rock spires. I also miss the smashed hulls of the pirate ships which lay around … so much which gave it real character is gone now and even the original city is wrecked, torn apart by Scarlet’s drill.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put ’em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half to seem ’em

No no no
Don’t it always seem to go,
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away the DDT
I don’t care about spots on my apples
Leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey, now they paved paradise
To put up a parking lot
Why not?

Listenin’ late…

Big Yellow Taxi

Applicable in the case of the world having depth and meaning.

To be quite honest, new LA is devoid of all emotion and also devoid of all logic in its construction.

The old city felt like a city. New LA is pretty but feels absolutely nothing like the harbor and economic powerhouse that it’s supposed to be.

The BLTC is supposed to be a no-nonsense business center – the Lionguard and their grit, and the very real possibility that things like pirates are part of the world and so on in the story portrayed this excellently and really fit well. New LA looks like a place people would retire to. Unlike beautiful monuments which mourn the losses caused from major battles/attacks, there is no sense of respect to the fallen, no sense of real personality, behind the new LA. It honestly looks like the designers were perfectly happy with the total annihilation of a large quantity of people and infrastructure as an excuse to make HappyLand: the place where everything is pretty and safe.

It is possible the new LA is sparce and open for a reason. When the game launched the traffic in LA was high and lag was frequent. It could be they anticipated it would get worse so the new version was implemented to reduce future issues?

Abakk.9176:

BloodyPanda.6789:

As I was next to the toilet in LA, I look around and realize I really missed the old LA.. even the broken one! This new version is so freaking flat and theme park! It doesn’t feel like a city!! Please destroy this gw2 sea world city and give me my OG LA back! Or at least bring the old version back in some festivals events or something! Please?!

It’s still there partly in the story missions. Can’t say i like it much though… way too gloomy for me.

I do like how it is now. The large light spaces and the beautiful houses in white with green(ish) roofs. Very pretty.

To each their own i suppose

That doesn’t count since you can’t explore it at all. For all intents and purposes, old LA is gone from the game unless there is some way to get an instance where you can explore the entire city.

I think the key (lore related) reason it looks the way it does now is so nothing can blow it up. At least not as easily.
Seriously, I get that people like the pirate theme. I personally, don’t, but whatever. Personal taste. But not EVERYONE does. I actually like the new design better, and it makes more sense. Rotting boats from a bygone era of sea piracy (Tyria has made boats pretty much obsolete for anything other than fishing) make for a terribly dangerous city to live in.
Wooden boats forced to stand in odd positions they’re not designed for would require constant maintenance to keep upright. They have no chance against any kind of attack. But most importantly, the aesthetic just does not fit anymore. In a world now full of magitech and steampunk marvels of engineering, the richest trade hub on the continent is a bunch of people squatting in ancient boats. It’s weird.

IF this Background-Pic we got with the Release of HoT is anything to go by, it will be destroyed sooner than later…

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/assets/images/content/mastery/cover.jpg

Actually the chance of it being attacked again makes sense. It’s a port, a hub of commerce.

That said, it needs ships coming and going.

Squee.7829:

I think the key (lore related) reason it looks the way it does now is so nothing can blow it up. At least not as easily.

Well, that and the Consortium helped fund the reconstruction.

Squee.7829:

I think the key (lore related) reason it looks the way it does now is so nothing can blow it up. At least not as easily.
Seriously, I get that people like the pirate theme. I personally, don’t, but whatever. Personal taste. But not EVERYONE does. I actually like the new design better, and it makes more sense. Rotting boats from a bygone era of sea piracy (Tyria has made boats pretty much obsolete for anything other than fishing) make for a terribly dangerous city to live in.
Wooden boats forced to stand in odd positions they’re not designed for would require constant maintenance to keep upright. They have no chance against any kind of attack. But most importantly, the aesthetic just does not fit anymore. In a world now full of magitech and steampunk marvels of engineering, the richest trade hub on the continent is a bunch of people squatting in ancient boats. It’s weird.

I don’t see why it’s any less-prone to being blown up than before. If we had Scarlet V2 invade the same damage would happen; it’d just look less catastrophic because there’s simply less around.

When you consider the cost of running and maintaining seafaring vessels for bulk trading and constant transportation versus whatever the top-of-the-line innovation of transportation is, it’s far cheaper and safer to distribute via more traditional means. Comparing military airships to BLTC trading boats is like comparing aircraft carriers to barges. The operating cost is thousands of times higher on the former and isn’t practical day-to-day.

I know it’s personal taste, but I know I’m not in a small group of players when I state I preferred the old rustic feel to GW2 more than the magitech-driven worldspace that started going haywire with S2, and most notably, HoT. It begs questions about what GW2 was and what it’s become. That rustic nature really let GW2 stand out in the industry. The game environment feels super generic these days as a consequence of their change in heart about how the world runs. I recognize the need for a living world to have innovation, but it seems excessively quick and overly convenient a lot of the time.

It’s less prone to blowing up because of the simple matter that the important buildings are made of concrete. Not boats that have been rotting in the moist harbor for a century or more. Also, ships are not designed to stand on their ends like many of them did. They’re designed to float. Sea faring ships couldn’t even support their own weight like that.

I’m not really sure traditional sea-faring ships would be safer for trade. Would be cheaper at a glance, definitely, but as far as I know, there are no longer any threats to flying ships in and around LA. As for the ocean, there’s still a dragon out there. We’ll probably never see it in game, but as far as the story is concerned, it’s still there. And still eating boats. Ultimately, I think airships might be cheaper because of this. You don’t have to replace airships if nothing is breaking them (aside from user error and wear and tear) and you get to avoid the PR nightmare of getting your crews eaten.

Also, airships are not just being made by the military. The Zephyrites had an entire city made of the things. They’re coming into the game pretty quickly and seem to be getting pretty popular. And in the case of the Zephyrites, seemingly easy to make. Those things were just a patchwork of floaty bits. Far different from the majestic thing we used to kill Zhaitan.

Its a giant mall pirate theme…

We!? I did not have a part in destroying LA. I was on the defending side, not on the Scarlet’s side.

Do not roll me into this. I had nothing to do with LA’s destruction fam.

Make Lion’s Arch destroyed again

I didnt like the new LA at first but its grown on me. But to have it destroyed already? na. Think of the quaggans!

Khailyn.6248:

I didnt like the new LA at first but its grown on me. But to have it destroyed already? na. Think of the quaggans!

Exactly, I hate Quaggans. I vote we destroy LA just to get rid of them. They are the Jar-jar Binks of GW2, put in just to please the cutesy brigade. Nothing does more to spoil my immersion than to see or worse talk to a quaggan.

Back to the OP’s point. Maybe not totally destroy LA, but an attack that gives an opportunity to rework it slightly. I like the look of the new housing in the north west but I really think there should be more of it. The big empty plaza’s and amusement park flutey water spouts could go and be filled up with more buildings, terraces, towers etc. It would show progress as the population continues to grow after the Scarlet wipeout.

I like both Lion’s Arches. But I do agree to let the old one come back in an event. Maybe make all the past events replayable for a while in the future :p

The only part of the new Lion’s Arch that I don’t particularly like is the part where most players spend all their time. The Mediterranean-style terraces to the south and west of the main plaza are great; I just wish they comprised the trading and crafting district as well so it could actually feel like a city there.

The old LA was OK, but I like the newer one alot more, really beautiful and with all the greens.

I do not think LA will get destroyed ever again.

DeceiverX.8361:

To be quite honest, new LA is devoid of all emotion and also devoid of all logic in its construction.

The old city felt like a city. New LA is pretty but feels absolutely nothing like the harbor and economic powerhouse that it’s supposed to be.

The BLTC is supposed to be a no-nonsense business center – the Lionguard and their grit, and the very real possibility that things like pirates are part of the world and so on in the story portrayed this excellently and really fit well. New LA looks like a place people would retire to. Unlike beautiful monuments which mourn the losses caused from major battles/attacks, there is no sense of respect to the fallen, no sense of real personality, behind the new LA. It honestly looks like the designers were perfectly happy with the total annihilation of a large quantity of people and infrastructure as an excuse to make HappyLand: the place where everything is pretty and safe.

Exactly, Lion’s Arch is like the touristy parts of a capitol city all gathered together. The stuff you would normally expect in a working city (services, shoppes) are spread out and not convenient to each other in most cases. Even things like Disneyworld have a better layout.

These threads have come up a lot over the years. I agree that the old Lion’s Arch was beautiful in its own way. This game is beautiful. There are aspects about this Lion’s Arch that can also bestow beauty if you look for them. Everyone has a different perspective about what they find aesthetically pleasing right down to how you customize your character and this game in many ways really allows players to run wild doing it.

I too miss old Lion’s Arch. When I was running my Mesmer threw the personal story, the missions located in Lions Arch made me really miss the old layout. I was wishing the missions didn’t have walls and let me run around old Lion’s Arch again.

The new layout always came off to me as if Anet let their creative team have full reign in the redesign and they went crazy and no higher up ever came along and told them to stop.