Guild Wars 2

(Skip the first paragraph if you don’t want to read QQ ;P)

I’ve been playing this game since closed beta. The first 30mins were phenomenal. I adore unlocking skills, and to be honest it’s probably the most fun I have in this game. However, I quickly found myself searching for something to enrich my gaming experience. I tried all the job classes, and realized very few were truly effective (at least for my playstyle). I ran the dungeons, and discovered how little strategy was needed aside from, ‘Keep yourself alive!’. I looked into the loot, well I wasn’t at all impressed by the equipment offered (though the designs are beautiful, they don’t feel unique without class specialty gear: ie Thief Armor, Mesmer Armor, etc). Lastly, the story just fell flat when I realized how little I was going to learn about my character, because of Trahearne stealing the show (I’m a little self-centered when it comes to my character! ).

Every other zone was just a means to an end for my leveling. I’ll find myself rushing through zones as quickly as possible.

Yet, this all changed the moment I stepped into Frostgorge Sound.

First of all, I was taken back by how crisp the atmosphere felt. Between the crunching ice as I drove between the giant sparkling crevices within the glaciers, to the brisk wind while swimming through iceberg littered waters. I was thrilled to find new animal life swimming about as well (particularly the sharks).

Secondly, the writing for the Koda’s truly touched me. I’m not at all ashamed to share I teared up quite often as I read the journals of Icehammer, Snowcaller, Quatermaster, Voice Attendant, and the Guard. The writing was so touching, and so deeply emotional; whoever wrote for the Kodas should absolutely do more for this game. Never have I cared, and felt such empathy than I have while reading the Koda’s great journey south.

Lastly, typically when I play an Elder Scrolls game I generally point my camera up to the beautiful starry filled sky, and just wander about (usually spamming my spacebar for acrobatics ;P). Never have I done this in any other game, especially an MMO, except for Frostgorge Sound. I wasn’t obsessively checking my xp bar desperate to hasten my ventures through this land, neither was I dozing off from boredom; I was captivated by this zone.

ArenaNet, you did something so right with Frostgorge Sound. Thank you for this wonderful experience

P.S.: Unless I missed it… where are the giant squids?! Definitely should be added asap!

All the Norn areas are beautiful and easily my favourite parts of the game, too.

I agree with this. I mained a Norn and the areas i encountered were beautifully detailed, very active and fun. I had a blast leveling up in that area. Lornars pass was also very fun, especially the secret whispers base. That was awesome.

In my opinion these are the two best type of areas in the game currently. Norn/snowy areas and Human areas. With human areas like Queensdale, gundarrfields, and Divintys reach, the player and npc interaction is phenomenal. Especially in Queensdale. These are the only areas that I felt my dynamic events had an impact and the enviroment/textures complimented tremendously. I hated the Asura area and Slyvarri area. I’ve done some exploring/questing in the charr and their areas were terrific. It was all about raging war. Every part of the map, I felt i was walking with an army. It was a great experience in those areas.

I don’t want to go to Orr when I level my second toon. Frostgorge Sound is much more beatiful and relaxing than the three maps in Orr. It contains a wide range of life inside the map despite the threat of the Jormag.
Inside Orr there is only undead, which is very dull.
At least you won’t get killed in a town when you AFK a bit.

I went to FSG for the first time the other day to do the map completion on my Thief and was taken back at the shear beauty of this area after leveling 3 characters through Orr.

I enjoyed it so much I took my Necro there as soon as I got my map completed and did it on him as well, then, I started with my Ranger.

Don’t get me wrong though, I enjoy Orr for what it is, a battle zone for the eminent threat that is Zhaitan and his army of unforgiving, relentless undead. It’s battered and broken landscape captures the struggle of war and death very well, but FSG is one of the reason I love this game, it’s just visually stunning.

But I think the best thing about FSG for me was fighting the claw of Jorlag, I mean Jormag. Although the fight was laggy, chaotic and brutal as a first timer to dragon fighting outside of the personal story of Claw Island, I enjoyed it through all 5 frames per second of it (There were aproximately 50 people there the 3 times I did it, maybe more).

My next character is a Norn warrior, I think I will just hit up FSG and avoid Orr on him until he is level 80.

Yes, all the Shiverpeak areas are great to play in (I even go back to many of them to just wander around in) and Frostgorge Sound was definitely an exemplary area.

I personally also found many of the Krytan areas to be pretty nice looking; however, they also tend to be low level, and have nothing to offer to higher level players (other than just chilling I guess? Which can be done in other areas that provide more beneficial rewards lol).

I would love to see them add in some reasons to play in many of the “lower level” areas again.

And I must agree, the first like 30 minutes of the story were great… then Trahearne comes and steals the show lol.

Agree with Sollith, if I could make a wish for a future region, it would be a Krytan high-level zone.

I don’t know, base it around D’Alessio Seaboard and a pocket of the White Mantle attempting a resurrection where you could assist the Shining Blades once again. Would love to see the Mursaat return in GW2, why not put your Agony and Infusion to the test in a new lvl 80 zone?

But as OP stated, love the Norn areas, Shiverpeaks FTW

Totally agree. The norn areas are epic

I usually don’t like snowy areas in games because of the glare giving me headaches, but the shiverpeaks in both flavors of guild wars look amazing.

I wish there were more reasons to go back to the earlier ones, too, because the early norn zone is so awesome.

Just adding to the love about the Norn areas. They are by far the best zones in the game. Frostgorge Sound and WvW is really my entire endgame because I find those two the most fun to play, personally. Sadly the best loot is elsewhere…in the most boring and repetitive areas…