Guild Wars 2

So, experiencing the world of GW2?
- I hear a lot of people saying that GW2 has better gameplay, that it is a world we want to be engaged by and so forth. I also hear some of the “WoW had some secret sauce.”
- Well, people, I am gonna let you in on what I personally think that secret sauce is.

I just bought the Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition for about 38 dollars.
- I watched the Behind the Scenes DVD and something that I notice is that they are very focused on how people are going to experience the world, which impressions they are going to get and such.

GW2 does without a doubt implement some cool new features, cool new gameplay and of course, a very nice look.
- The one thing that I’ve found it to lack is the experience of the lore, in other words, how we experience the world.

People talk about the quest-hubs as a bad thing, but personally that is not my experience. Now, I am not suggesting that GW2 should implement the quest-system instead of the task- and Dynamic Event system, but I do think that there should be more tasks in an area that people can do.

Think about it this way:
- When you go on vacation to some far off country, there are two ways to go about it.
1. You remain in one particular city or place for some time, getting to know the culture, the people and all this stuff that basically made this particular place somewhere that you wanted to go.

2. Then there are those “Tourist” kinda vacations. A lot of pictures, no real experiencing the culture and such.

I’m sure that nobody really does go on vacation like that, I don’t know, but as long as you get my point then it’s fine.

For future content, I’d like to see ANet really focusing on how the player experiences the world and not just the gameplay elements.
- One thing for sure, the gameplay in general is great, still room for improvement, but I think that they should expand and integrate instead of trying to balance the classes too much. Basically, because they can never balance it completely, and because that players will pick a profession which playstyle suits them.

Hope you enjoyed the post, and feel free to comment and/or add to it, if you feel that there was something that I forgot.
- Keep in mind that I’m not trying to go “Make GW2 like WoW” but merely trying to say that it is important how the player experiences the world. I think it would be something to consider when designing future content.

Take the commercial elsewhere, not interested.

Oh, and pass this on for me woulda, OP?

Karizee.8076:

Take the commercial elsewhere, not interested.

Oh, and pass this on for me woulda, OP?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ytzOmjzfKM

Have you even read the post?
- People have been leaving GW2, and you think that they shouldn’t respond to that?

GW2 should not be a WoW replica, and I don’t even state that it should be, but it should make the experience more integrated into the history of Tyria.

I make examples to WoW, yes, but Blizzard does have a team of people, who are very talented when it comes to creating atmosphere, getting lore integrated into gameplay and such.
- Even though their lore seems to be… broken at times.
The gameplay elements that GW2 offers are an new, fresh and an interesting alternative to the traditional way that people used to play MMO’s. I think it has great potential, but also that they still have things that can be improved.

What I’ve observed from other peoples’ reactions or feedback, if you will, is that it seems hollow, at times. The great gameplay that GW2 offers grows stale over time. What people seems to be missing is more integrated story. They don’t know the history of the place. Not just what is happening now, but also what has happened before.

I think that it is important that ANet considers how to best implement it.
- It is part of their world, and if they want it to be living and breathing they need to have history from which they can expand.
If people don’t know the history and cannot get the knowledge from within the game, then it won’t always be clear to them why these things might be happening.

GW2 can still improve. I have a brother studying Medialogy and Game Design at one of the most internationally acknowledged universities. He also thinks that the integration of story into the world, and having players integrating themselves into the world could be more engaging, and definitely being something they should work on.

The point is not to offer destructive criticism, but rather constructive criticism that will help the world and the game evolve.

As many people have pointed out every time this topic comes up there is a lot of lore in GW2 and background to every single event.

The problem is that it takes some getting used to how it’s presented and apparently a lot of people haven’t managed that yet. You won’t ever be presented with a single text box or cut-scene giving you all the background and lore to an event. Instead you have to spend some time in the area listening to and speaking to the NPCs before, during and after the event.

A good example are the “bunny events” in Wayfarer Foothills. The way most people play GW2 you get to the top of Hangrammr Climb, an NPC suddenly wants fur, you collect it, she runs off, you protect her for a while, you get 2 event rewards, end of story.

But if you listen to the NPCs you can get the full story behind it. In brief there’s a small group of norn who, for reasons I forget (but you can learn if you ask them) have decided to worship the spirit of Hare (or Bunny) and to do so by caring for a group of rabbits found at the top of the cliff. Something has been mysteriously killing off the rabbits and they’re convinced it’s a yeti but need proof, so you help them collect fur samples.

Then they perform the ritual of the jackalope to summon a champion of Hare to help them take down the yeti, subdue (exhaust) it to prove themselves worthy to Hare and then it guides them to their foe (which turns out to be a jotun and not a yeti, but still).

And that’s just a small 3 event chain. You get much more depth with bigger ones. Spend some time around Gods Lost Swamp and you can learn how and why the Shadow Behemoth appears (kind of amusing if you ever played GW1, especially if you did UWSC) and why we have to defeat it.

There are also a lot of non-event “quests”. NPCs will mention missing friends, or rumoured hidden treasure nearby or ask for help with a task, or simply hint that something significant might happen in a particular area. The game will never tell you that you must, or even should, help them but you can, just like you would in other RPGs.

I think you haven’t been paying attention.
GW2 is now the fastest growing MMO ever made.

Your poorly masked Pandaland commercial ($38 hah! You forgot the $180 sub fee + expansion packs + added services, can’t pay for anything in that game with ingame gold) won’t have much of an effect on the phenomenon that’s happening here.

Truly ppl have not been leaving GW2 in fact we been getting more ppl to the point of them making the servers bigger. The big problem with WoW is that jumping is pointless you cant jump up some where to find out new things where in GW2 you can jump up things to get a new view on the world that you play. The thing about lore in GW2 is its not handed to you its something you need to work out what going on. Its hinted at what going on and what wrong. Where in WoW your given a lot of texts that most players simply skip over for the rewards. That is the way of it when a game just simply give you a lot to read ppl simply skip it yes there are some ppl who read it but truly most do not. By hitting at what going on it makes ppl think and in effect make the story up them self.
That the idea GW2 is about being part of the story its making the jump from just being a reader of a story but a player in the story and lore. This is where the living story comes from and the one time events.

Look at it this way if you where not there for the first one time event you will have to ask players or npc what happened to the light house in LA. In effect the players are giving you the story of what happens in that one time event. They can too tell you about what happen in Southsun Cove from a story point of view. This is true becoming part of an rpg vs just simply having an npc tell you every thing that going on part of a scrip. Yes you play out the part but so dose every one else over and over the same thing.

Better yet look at WvW in GW2 this is pure player generated lore. In FA we have a blood feud with TC. This is from the great dolyak massacre. This is not true for any other world but they too have there own story made by the players fighting and working together. In effect we are living the lore much like in real life history IS everyday life.

(sry i keep adding more to this)

While I’m certainly not opposed to more task hearts dotting the landscape. I certainly haven’t felt deprived of lore centric quests, and that’s the sort of gamer I’d classify myself as… A quester.. What with the smattering of hearts dotting the landscape surrounded by random events that continue to surprise me, I’ve found there was almost always something not only to do, but that draws me further into the lore and landscape of my current setting.

As a quester, I’m actually very much opposed to “Quest hubs”. They sorta break the immersion for me. I mean, ask yourself, what would you really do if you found a guy frantically screaming his head off because orcs or what have you just stole his wife. Do you rush off to save his wife before she’s eaten or worse.. Or do you mozy over to the next desperate looking individual so that while you’re out searching for the other man’s wife you might also pick some berries so that this sweet old lady can make a pie for her grandson. While also picking up a bounty on buzzards to maybe pick up some extra change while you’re out there searching…

One could grab one single quest, immerse oneself in it and go off to accomplish this, waiting until you’ve finished saving the mans wife before you agree to go pick up berries. But let’s face it, no one does that. It simply doesn’t make sense, you’ll be running right by those berries and having to kill the aggressive buzzards anyway. The whole idea of the “Quest hub” is based on leveling convenience, not lore. It rewards you with faster leveling for breaking immersion.

I much prefer the guild wars system where I might be helping someone pick apples when all of a sudden, spiders attack. Since the event is more urgent, I break off my apple picking to combat the spiders, but then low and behold after we decimate the spiders, it’s discovered that a cabal of evil spider loving necromancers has been unleashing these creatures on the town, and a posse is formed to take them down. Upon finally destroying the evil necromancers I learn they’re only a sub-sect and that I can expect future antagonisms from their parental branch based in Lion’s Arch or some such.. (Note: To my knowledge there aren’t actually evil spider loving necromancers based out of Lion’s arch. But you get the idea). Following this harrowing escapade, I’m ready for a little relaxation in the apple grove again. That whole process is far far more immersive to me than running around in a small area clicking on exclamation marks. Even though ultimately they can amount to the same thing.. I.E. Picking up apples, killing spiders, and defeating necromancy cults.

Again, I certainly won’t argue against more events and tasks.. But I’m pretty happy with everything I’ve gotten so far. Then of course there are the story events.. How I love those.. I digress though.

Ok… so from how I read the OPs post is this GW2 has no lore.

I find this rather an odd statement. Let me ask these questions:

Do you do the personal storylines?

Do you do the story part of the dungeons?

Do you actually listen to the NPC near you?

One thing this game has is a TON of lore.

You will hear mention of events that happened 200 years ago (Guild Wars)

You will hear that due to Guild Wars: Factions we now find the world messed up like it is now with the return of the dragons.

This game doe not follow the old (!) quest system. This game has Renown Hearts that are meant for those use to the old quest system and to educate them on how to look around for quests that are throughout Tyria.

By the time you go into Orr the Renown Hearts are gone. You will actually have to go out look for quests. Listen to the NPC who try to get your attention and help them out.

When you do this. Guess what happens.

You get to learn more lore.

Krosslite.1950:

Ok… so from how I read the OPs post is this GW2 has no lore.

I find this rather an odd statement. Let me ask these questions:

Do you do the personal storylines?

Do you do the story part of the dungeons?

Do you actually listen to the NPC near you?

One thing this game has is a TON of lore.

You will hear mention of events that happened 200 years ago (Guild Wars)

You will hear that due to Guild Wars: Factions we now find the world messed up like it is now with the return of the dragons.

This game doe not follow the old (!) quest system. This game has Renown Hearts that are meant for those use to the old quest system and to educate them on how to look around for quests that are throughout Tyria.

By the time you go into Orr the Renown Hearts are gone. You will actually have to go out look for quests. Listen to the NPC who try to get your attention and help them out.

When you do this. Guess what happens.

You get to learn more lore.

I know how the game works, man.

- Basically, to sum up my opinion on GW2 is that the gameplay elements are some of the best that I’ve seen, but as to getting into the lore or presenting it. Storytelling, if you will, seems somewhat vague to me.

I’ve been disappointed when talking to some NPC’s. They didn’t offer much conversation, and it is hard to get into what the history of the places are.
- I played GW1, did all three campaigns and EotN, and I have a fairly good idea of the lore and such, but my friends, who have not, are left with a sense of a hollow world, to some degree.

- I think the main villain for this is the accommodation to the Quest-system.
I have been out talking to NPC’s and trying to get some lore out of the zones, but man, is it hard to get to. There is only very little at a time.

- Also, I think it should be stated, that some of the lore that I am looking for, is what has happened during the last 250 years. Not as such the current story, but the history of each place, but NPC’s and how the whole world seems to work is focusing on the now.
It is important, yes, but without background story, properly implemented, to expand upon, the world will to many people seem hollow.

- It is hard for me to find the kind of lore that I want to base my character on (in RP terms) when going around the zones in the game. And it would be a daunting (or rather: A grind) to go around trying to find the story that interests you, which your character could be focusing on.
- I think that GW2 could do more to engage people with the lore in-game.
It has a rich lore, and I want it to make more note of it in the game.

But from what you guys say, I guess I have to try harder.
- And yet still, if the game has left practically all my friends with a sense of “no lore, only goofy style going on here”, then I think it needs some tweaking.

I still want them to remain true to their concept and game designs, but as many others, I’d like for them to improve on it so that the world is engaging its players more.
- It seems to be quite a big deal to many, and we always get the “Have you even listened to the NPC’s?” comment thrown at us.

And if I may answer: Yes, I have. And I rarely find them saying anything that seems truly interesting, so that I eventually will just stop listening and I miss out on that lore, which might have been interesting.
- Therefore, in my opinion, there could be done more to engage people into said lore.

Keep in mind that it is because I want the game to improve that I say this.

One thing I miss from how GW1 did story, was that it tended to be a lot more political. In Prophecies, the main bad guy seemed like an ally until the very end. Kaineng is an enormous city where millions live in utter squalor, allowing a magical plague to easily take root. Elona wasn’t just Elona, but comprised of the culturally distinct Istan, Kourna, and Vabbi, each with their own societies.

Here, it seems like you have the Dragons, who aren’t interesting antagonist. They’re insane, godlike monsters that want to corrupt the world, transform it in their image, blah blah blah. Might as well be Arthas or Sargeras or Deathwing, I’ve seen it all before. Other factions don’t even matter, Bandits, Flame Legion, Nightmare Court, Svanir, Inquest etc, are all mooks ( http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mooks ), unable to even deal with moronic, obnoxious dilettantes like Zojja and Eir. No one here has an actual human motivation.

In GW1, you could relate the problems you were solving to these world-scale events and political situations. A farmer who wants me to gather apples and kill bandits doesn’t relate to anything, and I have no more capacity to solve his problems on a permanent basis than I do to reunite Mankrik with his wife.

WoW definitely has more of a focus on lore than Guild Wars 2.

GW2 seems to have been designed with the sort of people who don’t care about lore in mind.

No quest dialogue boxes to skip through. You can just run to the circles on your map, kill mobs and interact with objects within the circle until you’re told the Heart quest has been completed or the event is over, and move on to the next circled area on your map. Repeat until you hit level 80.

The good thing about GW2 is that it has no sub fee, so I can play both WoW and GW2 at once. WoW is where I go for engaging stories and teamwork, whereas GW2 for me is where I go when I feel like zerging around a map doing events and observing the chaos.

Sinifair, I read your post and I agree with you that the lore can be difficult to catch on to at first, but there are a few things I would like to point out for you:

1. A. In WoW you are forced to level the way the devs want you to. You are not allowed to level the way you personally prefer while being equally rewarded as everyone else.
I will not go into detail about this, cus if you truly have played WoW you know exactly what I am talking about.

1. B. In GWII there is a massive difference. You can level the way you prefer.
Do you want to level up just by exploring? You can do that.
Do you want to level up just by doing PvP? You can do that in World vs. World.
Do you want to level up a bit just by crafting? You can do that.
Do you want to level up just by doing quests/hearts/dynamic events? You can do that.

2. A. GWII is supposed to be a completely different experience than other MMOs, so you have to do away with the usual leveling mentality.
2. B. WoW is really outdated and the devs are too stubborn and ignorant to put in ANY time and effort to change the leveling system for the better. Greg Street even said in an interview(I don’t have a link to it unfortunately, but I read it on MMO-Champion a few monts ago) that if they didn’t force people to go out into the world, then they simply wouldn’t do it.

3. GWII is not your standard MMO in any aspect, it will take a lot of time before the majority get used to how the lore is presented in this game, especially if they don’t pay attention to the dialogues in the personal story or what NPCs around the world say.

Actually I prefer the way ArenaNet has gone about with the lore in GWII. It is not showed in my face, if I am interested in it all I have to do is pay attention to what happens around me.

The problem isn’t that the lore isn’t there it has more to do with how its prasented. I have been playing since beta and it was only a few weeks ago since i sall the joten that tells the story of his people in Hulbrec. Something like that would be far more in your face in wow.

GW2 is chock full of lore; I noticed this once I started to slow down and actually listen to what the NPCs are saying instead of rushing from reward to reward.

In my opinion you have to be blind to not find the lore behind anything here o.O

Are you all just so accustomed to have big fat text spouting out all the details about everything?

Going through Divinity reach for example. A lot of Books to read lying around. Guides will tell you about certain districts. Going to the places there will be people explaining what it is. Every human god has a priest explaining its meaning.

I have to agree, it is fractured. But do you get every bit of information from one random person in the real world? Not really. Only if he is specialised in that topic.

Basicly you have to go through the world with an open eye and ear and piece together everything. It is not that hard to be honest.

Also some pointers:
- Items sometimes have a fluff text written on it.
- Look for books
- talk to namend NPC in front of any point of interest, vista, heart or whatever.
- follow the main story.
- don`t rush, let yourself get immersed.
- Don`t expect to find everything at one point.
- explore the world with an open eye.

I really have to ask the question of what is depicted as “not enough lore”, if almost every npc can tell you what is going on here right now, or where you are.

“Stay a while and listen” – Decard Cain

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

GW2 is chock full of lore; I noticed this once I started to slow down and actually listen to what the NPCs are saying instead of rushing from reward to reward.

But there should still be some implementation of lore as we are on the go.
- There should be a why as to those we are helping instead of us just being omnipresent.

I know that there is a lot of lore, I have played the first Guild Wars and there is a lot to know about each place, but are we then forced to stand still and wait until we actually hear some lore that we find interesting?

I think it worth investing some time in, so that players will get more out of the lore than they are presently doing.
- I don’t want to just wander aimlessly around to hear what other NPC’s has to say about the lore, I want to be part of it myself, and I think that ANet can pull it off.
- As little a thing as it might be, putting in some text when the cursor hovers over a Point of Interest that will tell us why this point is particularly interesting might be a start.

Jaken.6801:

Also some pointers:
- Items sometimes have a fluff text written on it.
- Look for books
- talk to namend NPC in front of any point of interest, vista, heart or whatever.
- follow the main story.
- don`t rush, let yourself get immersed.
- Don`t expect to find everything at one point.
- explore the world with an open eye.

I really have to ask the question of what is depicted as “not enough lore”, if almost every npc can tell you what is going on here right now, or where you are.

“Stay a while and listen” – Decard Cain

Thanks for the pointers, mate.
- I have been out listening and such, reading books and all that (I think that when reading a book there should be something else than the traditional “Conversation” box that we also get when interacting with NPC’s).

I don’t expect one NPC to fill me in on every little detail, but I’ve found it hard to really find all the gold lying around.
- I’m not good at wandering aimlessly around, just listening to NPC’s, I guess, but I try to get as much conversation in as I can find.

I don’t know whether or not you, or you other guys agree, but personally, I feel like that I should be getting the story as I proceed on my journey (not just the Personal Story, but also the NPC’s that probably should have some errands for me to run, if I so choose. More PvE content, I mean).
- But that is also what I mean, when I say that I feel GW2 as more of the “Tourist” vacation. The hearts make it difficult for me to stay in one place and get acquainted with it. “Quest-hubs” had you running errands for people, and there were many people who needed your help.
- I feel like I’m more just going in, saying “Hello, let me help you all out briefly” and then I’m on my way.

Naturally, I don’t want the old quest-system implemented. I like the new gameplay designs and concepts that ANet has implemented and they should stick by it, though still improving.

Note:
- Perhaps more Dynamic Events that can be triggered when talking to NPC’s might be a suitable suggestion? I’d like to get something out of this discussion that I can use on the suggestion page and I want it to be something that people are OK with.
So what would you guys say to that?

Naus the Gobbo.5172:

Sinfair, I read your post and I agree with you that the lore can be difficult to catch on to at first, but there are a few things I would like to point out for you:

1. A. In WoW you are forced to level the way the devs want you to. You are not allowed to level the way you personally prefer while being equally rewarded as everyone else.
I will not go into detail about this, cus if you truly have played WoW you know exactly what I am talking about.

1. B. In GWII there is a massive difference. You can level the way you prefer.
Do you want to level up just by exploring? You can do that.
Do you want to level up just by doing PvP? You can do that in World vs. World.
Do you want to level up a bit just by crafting? You can do that.
Do you want to level up just by doing quests/hearts/dynamic events? You can do that.

2. A. GWII is supposed to be a completely different experience than other MMOs, so you have to do away with the usual leveling mentality.
2. B. WoW is really outdated and the devs are too stubborn and ignorant to put in ANY time and effort to change the leveling system for the better. Greg Street even said in an interview(I don’t have a link to it unfortunately, but I read it on MMO-Champion a few monts ago) that if they didn’t force people to go out into the world, then they simply wouldn’t do it.

3. GWII is not your standard MMO in any aspect, it will take a lot of time before the majority get used to how the lore is presented in this game, especially if they don’t pay attention to the dialogues in the personal story or what NPCs around the world say.

Actually I prefer the way ArenaNet has gone about with the lore in GWII. It is not showed in my face, if I am interested in it all I have to do is pay attention to what happens around me.

I know exactly what you are talking about and I agree with you all the way through.

Still, I’d like to point out, if Greg Street said that players wouldn’t go out into the world unless they forced them to, what then shall make the players want to go out into Tyria?
- You see the potential problem there?

- I’d like to make it clear that when it comes to gameplay aspects and how I can play the game, GW2 is my absolute favorite, no doubt about it.
- When it comes to presenting Lore, I think that ANet can do so much more to get their players engaged.

As I’ve stated in another comment here, I think that maybe implementing more Dynamic Events that can be triggered from NPC’s might be one way to go about it.
- I would think that there is more than just one NPC with a heart over his or her head that could use my help out in the world. And I think that the Dynamic Event system is powerful enough to engage people even more than the quest system.

My first experience with the Dynamic Event system was in Queensdale. I was going up to Divinity’s Reach for the first time when I suddenly heard some NPC’s saying that they felt sick and the water supply seemed to be poisoned. I went to talk with them, and they told me where the water came from, so I went to investigate.
- The whole process of it, how I talked to NPC’s and they just gave me directions and not an order in the form of a quest, the feeling when I went to find trouble at the pump and was able to deal with it? It was all so much more rewarding than the quest-system in terms of the experience.

I also think that more Dynamic Events would add more variation to the happenings in the world and make it feel more alive, if you can follow me on that.
- I think that is what I can conclude from this post currently.

IN CONCLUSION

I thank you all for commenting and giving me feedback.
- Some of you have the “WoW sucks” attitude on, which I feel you should give up, because it doesn’t give me any feedback but merely suggests that you consider me a WoW fanboy with little more than saying “GW2 sucks in comparison”.
- And I’m not like that. I think GW2 has fantastic gameplay designs and concepts which is still very young and it can still improve on itself.

Anyhow, what I’ve been able to conclude from this post and your comments are that we got a lot of history lying around in books and conversations with NPC’s.
- However, to get people engaged in the lore is a different story, and if one player’s playstyle is not wandering aimlessly around, listening to other people’s/NPC’s conversations then there should be an alternative to him also.

THE APPARENT SOLUTION
- More Dynamic Events. More NPC’s that needs your help. I think that if more NPC’s in a town or village have something they need help with, rather than that you just deal with all of them through a Task (Heart-quest), it would add more variation, the world would come more alive and we’d get more acquainted with the town or village, and of course the zone in itself.
- Of course, it should be optional to do them, but it gives us more reason to interact with NPC’s and the world around us.

- Thank you all for your feedback.
Feel free to comment, if you have things you want to add.

Treadstone.2564:

WoW definitely has more of a focus on lore than Guild Wars 2.

GW2 seems to have been designed with the sort of people who don’t care about lore in mind.

No quest dialogue boxes to skip through. You can just run to the circles on your map, kill mobs and interact with objects within the circle until you’re told the Heart quest has been completed or the event is over, and move on to the next circled area on your map. Repeat until you hit level 80.

The good thing about GW2 is that it has no sub fee, so I can play both WoW and GW2 at once. WoW is where I go for engaging stories and teamwork, whereas GW2 for me is where I go when I feel like zerging around a map doing events and observing the chaos.

You guys can’t be serious… Do you ever talk to NPCs? You do know that if you talk to Heart NPCs before you do their event, they will tell you what they want done and why?

There is so much lore in this game in every nook and cranny, you need to explore more. Arenanet didn’t force it because they know many players have the attention span of a gnat, but the lore is there if you look.

Sinifair.1026:

My first experience with the Dynamic Event system was in Queensdale. I was going up to Divinity’s Reach for the first time when I suddenly heard some NPC’s saying that they felt sick and the water supply seemed to be poisoned. I went to talk with them, and they told me where the water came from, so I went to investigate.
- The whole process of it, how I talked to NPC’s and they just gave me directions and not an order in the form of a quest, the feeling when I went to find trouble at the pump and was able to deal with it? It was all so much more rewarding than the quest-system in terms of the experience.

This is exactly what people have been talking about all the way through this thread. Every single dynamic event has something like this – NPCs who will tell you (with varying degrees of urgency/anxiety) what is going on and why (or sometimes that they don’t know why, in which case you’ll probably get the chance to find out in a following event).

But you have to find them. You can’t assume they’ll be dropped in your path with some type of quest/lore marker to let you know they’re worth speaking to. Sometimes they’ll shout a phrase or approach you for help, but that’s it. You have to be looking if you want to find them.

Same with heart quests. If you talk to the NPC before completing it they will tell you a bit about the area, what they need help with and why each task you can do to complete the heart is helpful. In this case though it’s even easier because they do have that giant marker over their heads to tell you to speak to them.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

GW2 is chock full of lore; I noticed this once I started to slow down and actually listen to what the NPCs are saying instead of rushing from reward to reward.

The lore you get is still very limited and you have to go out of your way to experience it.
They shouldn’t just toss everything in your face but some basic stuff about the world should be easily available for the players.

To give an example: why isn’t there a flavour text or popup for POIs? Why do I have to go google the lore of the game to find out why POI #234 is a point of interest in any way?

Also when comparing lore in GW to WoW remember that WoW had 11 years and 3 games (plus expansions and books) head start over GW.

I personally don;t care about the plot, GW2 could be about anything for all I care.
I am personally Interested in epic battles and fights only. Some evil dragon and zombie lore doesn’t interest me. Of course GW1 was different, well, cause it was much much more interesting.

Sinifair.1026:

- But that is also what I mean, when I say that I feel GW2 as more of the “Tourist” vacation.

To me, WoW was like the tourist vacation where you get on the bus with a tour guide, you are led around from point A to B to C to XYZ with no deviation or choice on your part. Your day is planned, ordered, orchestrated, dull – dotted with little yellow exclamation points along the way.

GW2 is like going on vacation without a map and finding the local spots, the smoky little underground nightclubs where everyone but the tourists hang out. Exploration is rewarded and the journey is rich with discovery. By far the superior choice for those who love MMOs.

Kasenai.9418:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

GW2 is chock full of lore; I noticed this once I started to slow down and actually listen to what the NPCs are saying instead of rushing from reward to reward.

The lore you get is still very limited and you have to go out of your way to experience it.
They shouldn’t just toss everything in your face but some basic stuff about the world should be easily available for the players.

To give an example: why isn’t there a flavour text or popup for POIs? Why do I have to go google the lore of the game to find out why POI #234 is a point of interest in any way?

I would like flavour texts for POIs.

(I would also like to have the patience to read every single heart letter instead of just taking the coin and deleting them… I’ve missed out on a lot of lore mostly through my own ignorance.)

Danikat.8537:

There are also a lot of non-event “quests”. NPCs will mention missing friends, or rumoured hidden treasure nearby or ask for help with a task, or simply hint that something significant might happen in a particular area. The game will never tell you that you must, or even should, help them but you can, just like you would in other RPGs.

I love listening to ambient dialogue … seriously, it’s one of my favorite things to do in the game. There’s all this setting flavor, hints about mini dungeons or just hidden chests; rumors about monsters what turn out to be champions just waiting to stomp on you, talk about religion, politics, entertainment. There was (not sure if there still is) this thing going on in the Reach (Divinity’s Reach for those of you what haven’t been brainwashed into calling it that yet) were you’ll hear people mysteriously leading guards off alone into buildings and you’re left to wonder just what that’s all about. There’s that human priest in Hoelbrak preaching about the human gods to the Norn while everyone tries to ignore him; the women on the bridge talking about how the Dragon is trying to weaken the Norn by killing off the men (or something like that) and has this great look at women in Norn society that comes with it. (and a great little joke about kids playing with imaginary guns)

Then you got the books – I read every book I run into in the game – and the engravings on statues or tombstones (the graveyard in Hoelbrak for foreign heroes is pretty neat) or in ruins, every chance I get. Tonight I’m swimming around Malchor’s Leap and I run into this half done statue of Dwayna signed by Malchor and it makes me ask tons of questions about its history and who Malchor was. (which you do find out)

The Lore is there, you just have to be get-up-and-go about finding it.

Karizee.8076:

GW2 is like going on vacation without a map and finding the local spots, the smoky little underground nightclubs where everyone but the tourists hang out. Exploration is rewarded and the journey is rich with discovery. By far the superior choice for those who love MMOs.

I approve of this metaphor. ::slaps her stamp on it::

Sinifair.1026:

THE APPARENT SOLUTION
- More Dynamic Events. More NPC’s that needs your help. I think that if more NPC’s in a town or village have something they need help with, rather than that you just deal with all of them through a Task (Heart-quest), it would add more variation, the world would come more alive and we’d get more acquainted with the town or village, and of course the zone in itself.
- Of course, it should be optional to do them, but it gives us more reason to interact with NPC’s and the world around us.

- Thank you all for your feedback.
Feel free to comment, if you have things you want to add.

One thing Anet said it would do is evolve the DE system. As of yet I have not seen it happen, but the game is still young. It is now into it’s 8th month.

Programing does take time, plus we have to remember this is a B2P game. This being said; many of the things you wish to take place may not happen til an expansion pack is released since this is a good part of where Anet gets it funding from.

Due to this game success we have seen several things change in get placed into the game. Many I would say soon then what folks are use too. To me; they are right on track.

As Jaken said slow down and absorb the content. You will in time get the lore you are seeking out.

Danikat.8537:

Also when comparing lore in GW to WoW remember that WoW had 11 years and 3 games (plus expansions and books) head start over GW.

But GW has the entire first game to base lore upon.
- The wiki page is full of lore that I have not encountered in game yet, or rather “heard” of in game yet.

- There needs some better implementation of it.

Krosslite.1950:

Sinifair.1026:

THE APPARENT SOLUTION
- More Dynamic Events. More NPC’s that needs your help. I think that if more NPC’s in a town or village have something they need help with, rather than that you just deal with all of them through a Task (Heart-quest), it would add more variation, the world would come more alive and we’d get more acquainted with the town or village, and of course the zone in itself.
- Of course, it should be optional to do them, but it gives us more reason to interact with NPC’s and the world around us.

- Thank you all for your feedback.
Feel free to comment, if you have things you want to add.

One thing Anet said it would do is evolve the DE system. As of yet I have not seen it happen, but the game is still young. It is now into it’s 8th month.

Programing does take time, plus we have to remember this is a B2P game. This being said; many of the things you wish to take place may not happen til an expansion pack is released since this is a good part of where Anet gets it funding from.

Due to this game success we have seen several things change in get placed into the game. Many I would say soon then what folks are use too. To me; they are right on track.

As Jaken said slow down and absorb the content. You will in time get the lore you are seeking out.

I know that the game is still young and that programming and making it work takes time.
- My brother is studying game design, animating, programming and such, and I’m more of a hobbyist with Blender, which is an open-source 3D software.

I know that it takes time, but I think they might have focused on other things, such as balancing the classes, or so it would appear, as to what I can read on the forum.
- I think that there should be some balance, of course, but basically it is nearly impossible to completely balance all the classes, and in the end everybody picks a class/profession that suits their playstyle, not because it is absolutely overpowered.
- Many players that I know likes a challenge and will not pick the most powerful class unless it is what they really like to play. They pick a class that suits them.

And what I want you to get from that is that they probably should focus on gameplay that is more apparent, when they change or expand.
- I think that when GW2 expands with Elona and Cantha, whenever we will see them, the game will be different… or rather: It will have taken the concepts and gameplay designs and improved on them to the extent that the Manifesto will more or less be fulfilled.

I am excited about the future of GW2.
- And experiencing the world should only improve as they learn more about what works in their concept and what doesn’t (or maybe rather, what needs improvement).

I think that we all can agree on that we want to see the game expand and getting better.
- I hear a lot of people with the same issue, as I’ve explained OP, and thus I think it needs improvement. Not because I’m indifferent to the lore already in game, but because so many people miss out on it. Therefore one can assume that it needs some improvement. Not getting rid of the conversation, but adding more ways for players to experience the world and its lore.

Karizee.8076:

GW2 is like going on vacation without a map and finding the local spots, the smoky little underground nightclubs where everyone but the tourists hang out. Exploration is rewarded and the journey is rich with discovery. By far the superior choice for those who love MMOs.

But then again… it isn’t.
- The map is filled with hearts, points of interests (which doesn’t explain why they are interesting. Adding some panel or explanation to why this place is particularly interesting would be nice) skill points challenges, Vistas and Waypoints.

- I agree that if one chooses to just go out and explore, one can find a lot of hidden and indeed very awesome content.
- As for the conversation? Sometimes, like in Garenhoff, where there is a skillpoint challenge, two NPC’s will spam “I should’ve brought some marshmellows” when you fight a Fire Elemental. – I’m no fan of the local humor… well, not in Garenhoff, but it is a nice village. I like the floating castle there, it’s very nice, very enigmatic.

I think that the whole world, its lore, everything becomes a lot more engaging and interesting to the characters.
- The friends I have, who have played GW2, who wants to be engaged by it, have told me that (and it doesn’t matter how many times I tell them to get used to the new way of playing MMO’s) it is beautiful, but lacks story, some backbone, background story.

- I’d like to be able to get more “100 years back, this happened, which caused these problems to arise, which we are still fighting today.” Or maybe “These old dwarven cities hold relics that might tell us something about the Elder Dragons, and how that we might defeat them.”
- Just something that will add to the immersion without the silly “Magister Sieran” accent and personality (If doing humor, do it proper. WoW also has this so-called kitten character who, apparenlty, was used as a urinal by orcs for four years. The Bravo Company, or squad or whatever in Redridge mountains. Not amused).

- Apparently, people aren’t getting immersed for many different reasons.
The gameplay has become my absolute favorite. I’ve been playing some WoW to finish some Roleplay with a friend of mine, and the combat, the whole process of levelling up… well, I really like how GW2 has made it easy to team up with friends and go exploring… only thing is, where is the lore that we’d like to build our characters’ around? Well, we play, get some lvl 80’s… and we have to check the Wiki to find the lore?
- I don’t care to wait around, wander around aimlessly, hoping that some interesting conversation might start. I’m no stalker, and I haven’t really listened to other peoples’ conversations. But then I’d like to start a longer conversation with an NPC. Some depth to dialogue and such.

Sure, it takes time. But many people find it necessary apparently, so I think it’s worthwhile investing some time in.

Guild wars 2 does the vague storytelling better so far than the full on in the face story through personal story..

Ive greatly also enjoyed the type of storytelling a game like Darksouls gives and a game like the witcher and those two are pretty much opposite. Both can be great if done right, and gw2 is doing the vague get it only if you really pay attention kind of storytelling better, and i dont really mind. But on the other side the full on story could be improven upon by alot.

And OP i’m in no way a gw2 lore expert but theres lots of things you complain about which are in the game.. for example ‘’- I’d like to be able to get more “100 years back, this happened, which caused these problems to arise, which we are still fighting today.” Or maybe “These old dwarven cities hold relics that might tell us something about the Elder Dragons, and how that we might defeat them.”’’

There are ALOT of signs of the past… the whole of orr being one of them… or Ascalon.. and so forth.. these places are pretty much all about what happened there (insert time) ago.

There is lots of room to improve for sure, but even I(i’m more interested in dark fantasy not this fairytale happy land of gw2) have found plenty of lore out there. I dont think gw2 is lacking it. I like it more than WoWs lore these days (i loved warcraft lore up till wow came out, kittening christ did they butcher it as years have gone by)