Guild Wars 2

I think Anet finally hit their stride. In the mountains of unhappiness and salty wining I would like to commend them on this new patch. I am so pleased and we’ve been given fixes and quality of life improvements that we’ve been asking for since launch. The story, so far is wonderful. The disconnects are expected.
Good work Anet.

I just finished the story of the first episode of LW S3 and this is what I currently see: we had a story that can be beat in an hour, a new, very small map with no new armors and no new weapons. If I say I wanna do the all achievements, then maybe this content will be good for 1 or 2 weeks…

Arenanet said the new episodes of the living world season 3 episodes will come in every 2-3 months. So this means this content with Bloodstone Fen should be enough to solve the recent content issues in PvE and it should be enough until the next LW patch, wich will come 2-3 months later and until it, the game will just vegetate just like it did in the last half year?

I really hope I just misunderstood something here, because this amount of content is maybe enough to keep anyone entertained for a 2 weeks, but not for 2-3 months. And don’t get me wrong, all the changes Anet made are great, the story and the new map is great, but is this serious that this was the all big update for the next 2-3 months, while we got the same exact amount of story with LW Season 2, just with every 2 weeks?

Are you not entertained?

Pretty good episode as far as I’m concerned. The Ele nerf, on the other hand… :p

SimBilly.8047:

The Ele nerf, on the other hand…

was needed.

Looking forward to trying the new stuff later tonight.

Ubi.4136:

SimBilly.8047:

The Ele nerf, on the other hand…

was needed.

Looking forward to trying the new stuff later tonight.

Not really. They could have adjusted the DMG without screwing around with the traits/cooldowns :p

welcome to gw, where ppl complained that bi-weekly releases too often. now they got what they wanted.

SimBilly.8047:

Ubi.4136:

SimBilly.8047:

The Ele nerf, on the other hand…

was needed.

Looking forward to trying the new stuff later tonight.

Not really. They could have adjusted the DMG without screwing around with the traits/cooldowns :p

The same could be said for the chill damage on reaper, but instead they totally changed it to something else. ANet always just uses the bigger hammer approach, I am just glad us necros didn’t see the underside of the bus (too badly) this time.

Bazs.1470:

I just finished the story of the first episode of LW S3 and this is what I currently see: we had a story that can be beat in an hour, a new, very small map with no new armors and no new weapons. If I say I wanna do the all achievements, then maybe this content will be good for 1 or 2 weeks…

Arenanet said the new episodes of the living world season 3 episodes will come in every 2-3 months. So this means this content with Bloodstone Fen should be enough to solve the recent content issues in PvE and it should be enough until the next LW patch, wich will come 2-3 months later and until it, the game will just vegetate just like it did in the last half year?

I really hope I just misunderstood something here, because this amount of content is maybe enough to keep anyone entertained for a 2 weeks, but not for 2-3 months. And don’t get me wrong, all the changes Anet made are great, the story and the new map is great, but is this serious that this was the all big update for the next 2-3 months, while we got the same exact amount of story with LW Season 2, just with every 2 weeks?

2 weeks for this release is really high for what it really is. I’ve finished in the first 5 hours 12 of 18 achievements, finished the story and explored the new map to 100%. Heck, I even had time to play twice the new PvP map and to play Chaos Isles in that time as well. This update was high quality, but insulting low quantity.

egzius.9031:

welcome to gw, where ppl complained that bi-weekly releases too often. now they got what they wanted.

On the bright side, new areas.

That was underwhelming in size. Once again gated to a mastery to proceed beyond the first chapter. Lore bombs aside … I was expecting more story, like at least two LWS2 episodes worth of story.

Remember this?

Mike O Brien.4613:

Some of you may look back nostalgically at 2013 when we shipped updates every two weeks. That year we shipped a wide variety of things: nine or ten releases that we’d today call a Living World episode, plus updates to systems and content for other parts of the game, plus festivals. So it was the extreme unbundled version of this. It was nice that there was always something new, but I’m personally not wistful of that cadence, because we sacrificed so much to be able to ship that frequently. With Season 3 our goal is to deliver content sustainably, at quality, establishing a pattern we don’t have to take breaks from.

When I read “extreme unbundled” of “nine or ten releases that we’d today call a Living World episode, plus updates to systems and content for other parts of the game, plus festivals” I expected that a less extreme unbundle version would contain several episodes of content as well as system updates, not just one.

I’m pretty sure it’s every 3-4 months and not 2-3. And to answer your question yes this is it. I am perfectly fine with that. Sure it’s not content every 2 weeks like the old days but at least we are getting this AND future expansions getting worked on as well. I prefer this vs small updates every 2 weeks that only give temp content and no future expansion on the horizon that will bring perm content.

I’m curious. Why do you think it’s 3 to 4 months, rather than the repeatedly-stated 2 to 3 months? A source, or just lack of confidence?

Playing devil’s advocate here, but to be fair, most of this update was actually focused on Quality of Life and bug fixing, and they did A LOT of that; they have fixed things that were around since the kittening release (like the getting stuck after dodge roll bug which ruined my PvP since ever), added things like salvage all fine/rares and a lot of small tidbits that we won’t notice after some time but makes our life that much easier/entertaining.

They could have released more content if all that polishing happened before release, but here we are, and it is what it is. At least they’re not fooling us that much anymore, for Mo explicitly said it would be quality big, not quantity big, and it is, indeed, very high quality. Furthermore, it is the nature of GW2 as a game that it will always seem to have less content than other MMOs, because in other games 80% of everything is comprised of gear treadmills, which I personally hate because it makes the game seem too empty (get gear, beat boss of corresponding gear, get next gear, etc.). In GW2 I play less, but play better, if that makes any sense. That was an hour of story but it’s an hour of a unique and well thought story, not just another excuse to grind on the gear treadmill.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I’m curious. Why do you think it’s 3 to 4 months, rather than the repeatedly-stated 2 to 3 months? A source, or just lack of confidence?

Not a confidence issue, I’m sure I read it the other day, I will try and find the source.

Pretty much this:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Living-World-Season-Three/first

MO clearly states they will be similar to the “quarterlies” but they will try and do better/sooner. So to me that’s 3-4 months.

It was pretty a pretty small LS episode, even if you do the achievements you can easily do it in one evening. I do not have any guides for this, but finished most achievements already. Replayability is zero and any map specific reward is a huge grind because there is almost no variation on the map. Definitely preferred SW and DT over this.
Did not try the fractal or pvp map yet
Also very disappointed that we do not have any progress on the legendary armor

Well, the Quarterlies were every 3 months, hence the name (four times a year). Sooner would be every 2 months.

Thus, every 2 to 3 months. =)

Palador.2170:

Are you not entertained?

/em FlingsSwordAtAudience

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Well, the Quarterlies were every 3 months, hence the name (four times a year). Sooner would be every 2 months.

Thus, every 2 to 3 months. =)

Well yeah “if” they pick up the pace, sure they could but I’m not taking that for granted.

Besides I’m in no rush for them too, tons to do here still and tons of alts to do it all on! And lastly if I am thinking 3-4 months then I get a nice surprise if/when it’s sooner, so I’m actually being positive here lol!

According to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/4urm84/out_of_the_shadows_developer_ama_summary/

the Devs stated in the AMA the releases would be every 2 to 3 months.

Of course, we can only wait and see if the releases stay at the usual 3 months, or they come faster, at two months between. =)

What have the devs been working on over the past year because it can not just be this incredibly tiny patch?

I am already finished, story done, map done, achievements done.

They added no new armor, no new weapons, no rewards to work towards, nothing to keep me loged in.

What they did add was great but it was way to small. I thought MO said this patch would be roughly the size of 8-9 old Living World chapters? This felt like the size of one!

Not only was the size of the content small but the polish was bad too, compared to Season 2 and Dry Top and SIlverwastes this map, the achievements, the rewards, feels like a massive step backwards.

Arnath.2319:

What have the devs been working on over the past year because it can not just be this incredibly tiny patch?

I am already finished, story done, map done, achievements done.

They added no new armor, no new weapons, no rewards to work towards, nothing to keep me loged in.

What they did add was great but it was way to small. I thought MO said this patch would be roughly the size of 8-9 old Living World chapters? This felt like the size of one!

Not only was the size of the content small but the polish was bad too, compared to Season 2 and Dry Top and SIlverwastes this map, the achievements, the rewards, feels like a massive step backwards.

First, MO never said that ever. So dont know where u got that from. Also I can not take you seriously when you call Bloodstone Fen a step back . Even though its small on the map, the verticallity makes up for it, if we are counting the landmass together it is bigger than southsun and bigger half of DT. The rewards are cool where as you get gliding combat skills. I can not take what u said with a straight face.

warbignime.4610:

Arnath.2319:

What have the devs been working on over the past year because it can not just be this incredibly tiny patch?

I am already finished, story done, map done, achievements done.

They added no new armor, no new weapons, no rewards to work towards, nothing to keep me loged in.

What they did add was great but it was way to small. I thought MO said this patch would be roughly the size of 8-9 old Living World chapters? This felt like the size of one!

Not only was the size of the content small but the polish was bad too, compared to Season 2 and Dry Top and SIlverwastes this map, the achievements, the rewards, feels like a massive step backwards.

First, MO never said that ever. So dont know where u got that from. Also I can not take you seriously when you call Bloodstone Fen a step back . Even though its small on the map, the verticallity makes up for it, if we are counting the landmass together it is bigger than southsun and bigger half of DT. The rewards are cool where as you get gliding combat skills. I can not take what u said with a straight face.

And don’t forget we can mine Blood Dust now, can feed our eaters more often now!

Also a super easy map complete for an easy exotic and chance at a bltc key. Send all your alts out there now before they nerf that key chance!

Why are people keep saying it’s a small patch? We get a new map, even though it looks small on first glance but the verticality makes up for it, if we count the playable land mass together excluding air portion the map is still around the size of southsun and certainly bigger than half of DT. We also get a new pvp map, a new fractal and tons of qol changes. I dont get why are people complaining.
lets see s2 for example, 2 weeks with huge breaks delivers way less content than this in period of 2-3 month. As well as considering the quality increase in story, voice acting and map quantity.

Paulytnz.7619:

And don’t forget we can mine Blood Dust now, can feed our eaters more often now!

Actually, a lot of Mawdreys are going to go hungry for a while. The new vendor eats up a lot of Bloodstone Dust :P.

A friend in game told me that GW2 is casual and not a game to be played as your main game. This was a slap to the face to me as I have been playing since launch, have 16 legendaries, over 20 characters across 2 accounts and too many thousands of hours to admit.

I decided to play WoW (ive played many other MMOs, but never WoW) and I realized how much I miss this gear grind. It occurred to me that ive been wearing zerker armor on about 14 toons for over 3 years and never really had to change much, I just spend money on cosmetics.

Im not… I accept that this game is digital gi joe, dress em up and play type of deal, I get it, but im also into the story and its been coming so slowly that im really losing interest in this game. Im happy people are excited, im excited, but I was halfway through LS3 today and turned it off to fire up Overwatch. This game has lost its hold on me and some of my close friends. I dunno, im REALLY hoping this season turns it around, ramps up the difficulty (I found the new map enemies HARD, but this games community will demand a nerf its just how it is) and goes heavy with story.

warbignime.4610:

Arnath.2319:

What have the devs been working on over the past year because it can not just be this incredibly tiny patch?

I am already finished, story done, map done, achievements done.

They added no new armor, no new weapons, no rewards to work towards, nothing to keep me loged in.

What they did add was great but it was way to small. I thought MO said this patch would be roughly the size of 8-9 old Living World chapters? This felt like the size of one!

Not only was the size of the content small but the polish was bad too, compared to Season 2 and Dry Top and SIlverwastes this map, the achievements, the rewards, feels like a massive step backwards.

First, MO never said that ever. So dont know where u got that from. Also I can not take you seriously when you call Bloodstone Fen a step back . Even though its small on the map, the verticallity makes up for it, if we are counting the landmass together it is bigger than southsun and bigger half of DT. The rewards are cool where as you get gliding combat skills. I can not take what u said with a straight face.

Yeah, maybe the map is big vertically, but it doesn’t makes any change about I still managed to explore the whole map in 1 hour. The gliding skills are cool rewards, the only problem with them you cannot use them anywhere else, just on this tiny map, so they basically worth very little.
This content is a massive step back from what we get at the Silverwastes or Dry Top and Anet keep thinking this is acceptable quantity of content. After they basically did nothing for half a year, only raids, wich were developed by a small team, this won’t save PvE. If the next expansion pack won’t blow out everything they did before, the boat will sink really really quickly.

The new map is the smallest in the game, and because there are no rewards tied to it there is no reason to play it more than once, which i already have.

The story is nice but predictable, no achievements tied to it like Season 2 stories did so there is no reason to replay it, already finished the story.

Fractal is cool but again no new rewards to work towards so doing the fractal once and i’m done.

So that is it, i am now extremely bored again for 3-4 months.

warbignime.4610:

Why are people keep saying it’s a small patch? We get a new map, even though it looks small on first glance but the verticality makes up for it, if we count the playable land mass together excluding air portion the map is still around the size of southsun and certainly bigger than half of DT. We also get a new pvp map, a new fractal and tons of qol changes. I dont get why are people complaining.
lets see s2 for example, 2 weeks with huge breaks delivers way less content than this in period of 2-3 month. As well as considering the quality increase in story, voice acting and map quantity.

The voice acting was average, even sub par for Lazarus and his introduction. The story was rather short, and fewer instanced based parts made it seem even shorter. Some of the AI was boring, disconnected, and rather unresponsive in my opinion (looking at you Caithe and Canach).

I believe the main reason that disappointment is being expressed, is because we’ve had NO living story content since the HOT release. While we did get plenty of other content, those of us waiting mainly for the story end up with very little to do in between 2-3 month periods of content drought.

The new map is cool, content is super easy however, sucks that there is mastery gating (even thought it’s super quick to complete). I have yet to check out the new fractal, but I’ve heard good things. Aside from the nerfs to engineer’s and ele’s, the balance changes were also fairly disappointing. No build templates… STILL.

All in all, the quality and quantity seem pretty average. All of the new content doesn’t really make up for the steamy kitten that is the first episode of LS3. I’ve played since the original GW, and ever since HOT’s release new content patchs are just becoming more and more disappointing.

Guess I’ll be back in a few months, better things to play.

warbignime.4610:

Arnath.2319:

What have the devs been working on over the past year because it can not just be this incredibly tiny patch?

I am already finished, story done, map done, achievements done.

They added no new armor, no new weapons, no rewards to work towards, nothing to keep me loged in.

What they did add was great but it was way to small. I thought MO said this patch would be roughly the size of 8-9 old Living World chapters? This felt like the size of one!

Not only was the size of the content small but the polish was bad too, compared to Season 2 and Dry Top and SIlverwastes this map, the achievements, the rewards, feels like a massive step backwards.

First, MO never said that ever. So dont know where u got that from. Also I can not take you seriously when you call Bloodstone Fen a step back . Even though its small on the map, the verticallity makes up for it, if we are counting the landmass together it is bigger than southsun and bigger half of DT. The rewards are cool where as you get gliding combat skills. I can not take what u said with a straight face.

“Some of you may look back nostalgically at 2013 when we shipped updates every two weeks. That year we shipped a wide variety of things: nine or ten releases that we’d today call a Living World episode, plus updates to systems and content for other parts of the game, plus festivals. So it was the extreme unbundled version of this.” -MO

Mo did say that.

The map is tiny, the verticalality tricks you into thinking it’s larger than it actually is. The rewards are terrible, another ugly backpice, some minis that wont show up in a map because they get auto hidden, and a bunch of useless glider skills that can only be used on this one pointless boring map.

AegisFLCL.7623:

warbignime.4610:

Why are people keep saying it’s a small patch? We get a new map, even though it looks small on first glance but the verticality makes up for it, if we count the playable land mass together excluding air portion the map is still around the size of southsun and certainly bigger than half of DT. We also get a new pvp map, a new fractal and tons of qol changes. I dont get why are people complaining.
lets see s2 for example, 2 weeks with huge breaks delivers way less content than this in period of 2-3 month. As well as considering the quality increase in story, voice acting and map quantity.

I believe the main reason that disappointment is being expressed, is because we’ve had NO living story content since the HOT release. While we did get plenty of other content, those of us waiting mainly for the story end up with very little to do in between 2-3 month periods of content drought.

This.
If they had released this patch three months after HoT launch i would be very happy, but after nearly a year? This is not enough.

Arnath.2319:

The new map is the smallest in the game, and because there are no rewards tied to it there is no reason to play it more than once, which i already have.

The story is nice but predictable, no achievements tied to it like Season 2 stories did so there is no reason to replay it, already finished the story.

Fractal is cool but again no new rewards to work towards so doing the fractal once and i’m done.

So that is it, i am now extremely bored again for 3-4 months.

What you mean no reward tied to it? There are new stats swapable ascended gear with bloodstone capacitor, also did you get all the gliding skills? And again its 2-3 month.
Saying its the smallest map is just simply not true, how about we take all the playable land mass excluding the playable air space and compare to other map or like half of DT. Saying BF is smallest map just based on how big it is on the word map is just…. wrong.

Arnath.2319:

a bunch of useless glider skills that can only be used on this one pointless boring map.

Gliding started in the HOT maps and made its way to Central. It could happen again.

It’s a minuscule patch. I finished living story in less than 2 hours. It took almost a year to produce this? Seriously?

And for what. another DE farm map with boring hp sacks for the zerg to spam autoattacks at?

Could have saved yourselves development time on this useless map and made more instances/missions and fractals.

Not a single new armor/wep, instead the new armor canach is sporting is on the gem store. lolz.

warbignime.4610:

Arnath.2319:

The new map is the smallest in the game, and because there are no rewards tied to it there is no reason to play it more than once, which i already have.

The story is nice but predictable, no achievements tied to it like Season 2 stories did so there is no reason to replay it, already finished the story.

Fractal is cool but again no new rewards to work towards so doing the fractal once and i’m done.

So that is it, i am now extremely bored again for 3-4 months.

What you mean no reward tied to it? There are new stats swapable ascended gear with bloodstone capacitor, also did you get all the gliding skills? And again its 2-3 month.
Saying its the smallest map is just simply not true, how about we take all the playable land mass excluding the playable air space and compare to other map or like half of DT. Saying BF is smallest map just based on how big it is on the word map is just…. wrong.

what would you think is the smallest map

Zenith.7301:

It’s a minuscule patch. I finished living story in less than 2 hours. It took almost a year to produce this? Seriously?

And for what. another DE farm map with boring hp sacks for the zerg to spam autoattacks at?

Could have saved yourselves development time on this useless map and made more instances/missions and fractals.

Not a single new armor/wep, instead the new armor canach is sporting is on the gem store. lolz.

Then people would complain about no new map, content is content, just because you do not enjoy certain type of content does not discredit dev’s hardwork. After all it is your opinion and represent no one else.

Azure.8670:

warbignime.4610:

Arnath.2319:

The new map is the smallest in the game, and because there are no rewards tied to it there is no reason to play it more than once, which i already have.

The story is nice but predictable, no achievements tied to it like Season 2 stories did so there is no reason to replay it, already finished the story.

Fractal is cool but again no new rewards to work towards so doing the fractal once and i’m done.

So that is it, i am now extremely bored again for 3-4 months.

What you mean no reward tied to it? There are new stats swapable ascended gear with bloodstone capacitor, also did you get all the gliding skills? And again its 2-3 month.
Saying its the smallest map is just simply not true, how about we take all the playable land mass excluding the playable air space and compare to other map or like half of DT. Saying BF is smallest map just based on how big it is on the word map is just…. wrong.

what would you think is the smallest map

Southsun probably, maybe SoD excluding underwater portion.

Azure.8670:

warbignime.4610:

Arnath.2319:

The new map is the smallest in the game, and because there are no rewards tied to it there is no reason to play it more than once, which i already have.

The story is nice but predictable, no achievements tied to it like Season 2 stories did so there is no reason to replay it, already finished the story.

Fractal is cool but again no new rewards to work towards so doing the fractal once and i’m done.

So that is it, i am now extremely bored again for 3-4 months.

What you mean no reward tied to it? There are new stats swapable ascended gear with bloodstone capacitor, also did you get all the gliding skills? And again its 2-3 month.
Saying its the smallest map is just simply not true, how about we take all the playable land mass excluding the playable air space and compare to other map or like half of DT. Saying BF is smallest map just based on how big it is on the word map is just…. wrong.

what would you think is the smallest map

Claw Island

Zenith.7301:

warbignime.4610:

Zenith.7301:

It’s a minuscule patch. I finished living story in less than 2 hours. It took almost a year to produce this? Seriously?

And for what. another DE farm map with boring hp sacks for the zerg to spam autoattacks at?

Could have saved yourselves development time on this useless map and made more instances/missions and fractals.

Not a single new armor/wep, instead the new armor canach is sporting is on the gem store. lolz.

Then people would complain about no new map, content is content, just because you do not enjoy certain type of content does not discredit dev’s hardwork. After all it is your opinion and represent no one else.

Oh, do be quiet.

This expansion released with 3 new maps and no new fractals/dungeons until this kitten recycled fractal that just released now. Raids took a year lkater for 3 wings to be released, with 3-4 month intervals.

You PvE open world zerglings have got enough. It’s not like you’ll do this map over grinding the AB meta.

What you mean 3 new maps? Why are you discounting DS just because it’s attached with a huge meta event? You speak of raid release like its a bad thing when in fact it can not be considered slow what so ever comparing to other mmos.

Again just because u personally does not like certain type of content doesnt disqualify it as content. After all, It’s just you.

I would say that theyre literally killing it. Nothing has really brought the game “back to life”. Seems like they just ran out of ideas and have no idea wat to do…

SwiftFishy.2643:

I would say that theyre literally killing it. Nothing has really brought the game “back to life”. Seems like they just ran out of ideas and have no idea wat to do…

I dont know where you’re getting that from, lol. All this seems highly pre-meditated Gw1 lore tied in with Heart of Thorns/Raid story. Everything mechanics wise of new map seems really promising.

This patch was pretty meh, not really surprised. The living story episode was very short, felt rushed and highly predictable. While the new fractal was alright at best for using rehashed stuff. It’s not saying much since we haven’t had a new one since 2013 ish ? And we won’t get anything more for another several months. I haven’t logged on in weeks and thought maybe anet would release something decent for this patch, wrong as usual. It’s back to other games for another 2-3 months. I honestly don’t know why I even hope to expect anything from anet but shallow crap. I don’t know why ppl didn’t like the bi weekly releases in 2013 , to me it was the most fun I’ve ever had in this game with scarlet and all that . Guess I’m just hanging on to false hope and good fun and memories with the guild mates that used to login . This game is going downhill bad.

SwiftFishy.2643:

I would say that theyre literally killing it. Nothing has really brought the game “back to life”. Seems like they just ran out of ideas and have no idea wat to do…

Ummm what? Anet implemented so many good changes this patch, what are you talking about?

SoulEater.2689:

This patch was pretty meh, not really surprised. The living story episode was very short, felt rushed and highly predictable. While the new fractal was alright at best for using rehashed stuff. It’s not saying much since we haven’t had a new one since 2013 ish ? And we won’t get anything more for another several months. I haven’t logged on in weeks and thought maybe anet would release something decent for this patch, wrong as usual. It’s back to other games for another 2-3 months. I honestly don’t know why I even hope to expect anything from anet but shallow crap. I don’t know why ppl didn’t like the bi weekly releases in 2013 , to me it was the most fun I’ve ever had in this game with scarlet and all that . Guess I’m just hanging on to false hope and good fun and memories with the guild mates that used to login . This game is going downhill bad.

Have you tried the new map? People nowadays look back with nostalgia goggles forgetting the glaring flaws of S1 and S2. This patch brings a full new maps packed with content as well as fully voiced story instance, which is so much more than S1 ever could offer in half a season.

egzius.9031:

welcome to gw, where ppl complained that bi-weekly releases too often. now they got what they wanted.

Wrong. We wanted bigger updates and wouldn’t mind waiting longer.

Giving human females the old norn looks? Norns now get the old female looks? This is part of the new content update? I’ve been sitting on two makeover kits for months; guess I’ll be sitting on them longer. Too bad we can’t trade/sell these things.

Bad form Anet.

Vix.6730:

egzius.9031:

welcome to gw, where ppl complained that bi-weekly releases too often. now they got what they wanted.

Wrong. We wanted bigger updates and wouldn’t mind waiting longer.

And we got it, this update was big, BF was at least bigger than half of DT when we it comes down to playable space as well as fully voiced story instance.

There’s already a thread for this.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/New-cosmetic-hairs-are-lazy/first#post6258777