Mike Z Interview - All Can Be Destroyed
It would be nice if they put the destruction on such a large scale in the hands of the players. In other words, if the players fail to stop Scarlet, the results is something like L.A. getting destroyed.
Meaning I could visit another server and it would look different? Interesting, not sure what kind of a nightmare that would be for the design in the future.
On a simpler level, it could be game-wide. That’s how it was with the Ellen/Evon event.
Or they could rig it like the tower of nightmares destruction where everything is predetermined, but the players have an illusion that they are affecting the world.
That, more than anything, is likely what will happen, which is just.. hollow.
“A lot of the focus of these final releases will be putting the player character at the centre of the story again. For the personal story it was all about the player’s journey and during the last year we’ve been telling the story of the world. Now we want to get back to why the player matters in the story,” Mike again foretold, with the promise that Tyria won’t be the same after this current season wraps up.
Just out of curiosity… does anyone think that our characters are going to “matter” so much that they actually speak?
I’m tired of being struck mute.
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
“A lot of the focus of these final releases will be putting the player character at the centre of the story again. For the personal story it was all about the player’s journey and during the last year we’ve been telling the story of the world. Now we want to get back to why the player matters in the story,” Mike again foretold, with the promise that Tyria won’t be the same after this current season wraps up.
Just out of curiosity… does anyone think that our characters are going to “matter” so much that they actually speak?
I’m tired of being struck mute.
ha ha our characters stopped being the center of the story a little before Claw Island got invaded or did the author of this article actually make it that far? He didn’t really question the lead designer about how Trahearne kinda stole your story from you when that was mentioned.
This article is a nice advertisement, all aboard the Hype Train.
(edited by MastaNeenja.1537)
Better take all your screenshots of LA folks, cause it’s gonna get invaded by a dragon and destroyed ;|
Where does it say that?
As for the article itself, its pretty standard suck up to arenanet.
Miranda Zero – Ele / Twitch Zero – Mes / Chargrin Soulboom – Engi
Aliera Zero – Guardian / Reaver Zero – Necro
So they basically confirmed what most of the people already knew? How brilliant…
“A lot of the focus of these final releases will be putting the player character at the centre of the story again. For the personal story it was all about the player’s journey and during the last year we’ve been telling the story of the world. Now we want to get back to why the player matters in the story,” Mike again foretold, with the promise that Tyria won’t be the same after this current season wraps up.
Just out of curiosity… does anyone think that our characters are going to “matter” so much that they actually speak?
I’m tired of being struck mute.
ha ha our characters stopped being the center of the story a little before Claw Island got invaded or did the author of this article actually make it that far? He didn’t really question the lead designer about how Trahearne kinda stole your story from you when that was mentioned.
This article is a nice advertisement, all aboard the Hype Train.
Agree, it’s hype and that’s a double-edged sword because failure to deliver on the hype (again) can attrit those players ANet is hoping to lure back.
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“The point that we’re making is this – Guild Wars’ Living Story is finally beginning to pay off and over the next four releases players, be they returning or long term, will get to see everything that ArenaNet has been working up to for the past year without the need to plonk down any extra money. Many MMO developers would either charge a subscription fee or force the player to snap up an expansion in order to enjoy this extra content, but instead ArenaNet are giving it away for free in the hopes that they’ll hook you into their game for the long term.”
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I found this particular paragraph telling, because that particular “free” content has turned a lot of players away from the game with Scarlet’s story dragging on without any real depth (see multiple long threads.) Many players are just counting patches, waiting for the whole debacle to be over in the hopes that more serious content may be addressed (again, see multiple threads over multiple forums.) And then there are all those discussions debating whether GW2 would have been better off – quality/content wise – if it actually had been used a subscription model.
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“Inevitably the trade of for this kind of event-driven update cycle is that the really meaningful story content won’t stick around for long, but then isn’t that what the term Living World is all about? Giving players an opportunity to explore meaningful moments that are finite and unreplayable, offering them ownership of said moments, empowering them to tell there friends ‘I was there way back when…’. You know, like you would in the real world when something momentous happens!”
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I don’t understand what ANet believes is the motivating factor behind “I was there”. Status? Bragging rights? Meaning? I don’t believe players have “ownership” of those moments. ANet does. Those of you who actually enjoy the temporary content, do you feel “empowered”? Is the content more meaningful because it’s finite? I’m actually trying to understand this viewpoint.
That part of the interview is now taped to the wall above my PC to remind me why GW2 is not an MMO (in the traditional sense). It is a good reminder that ANet will never have my loyalty or long-term business; it reminds me to continue looking for a replacement game that is subscription based and one that exemplifies what an MMO actually offers: a persistent world. Not a series of snapshots strung together.
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Good luck to all those who are excited by this latest information! Enjoy the new coming content! I actually envy those of you who can embrace what ANet is doing.
Why do we think it’s Lions Arch??
I can’t speak for anyone else, but there was a screenshot (and I use the term lightly) of a broken Asura Gate that looked suspiciously like the one for the Humans at the hub in LA.
Having said that, if they rearrange LA, there is that other set of gates that they have been slowly “repairing” since the beginning of the game. I have noticed that some of the less complete alternate gates have now been completed, as well. When that happened is anyone’s guess, but I saw them when I was doing LA completion on an alt. Some have even posted that at reset every day, they glow like the regular gates, but I forget where they posted it.
My thoughts on the matter are that if it’s a new dragon, then it could lay waste to a lot of territory if it were to rise. Look at the Dragonbrand. It covers a swath from the north of the map all the way to the Crystal Desert.
I can hardly wait!
Looks like Scarlet found Zhaitan’s copy of Aenima.
Once upon a time there were Dragons. Now there is Scarlet.Boring,uninteresting,and not part of an interesting story.So why do we have to have it?
People mention that stuff can’t be destroyed because of the PS.
But there’s one thing they forget. -Nothing- is sacred, -everything- can be destroyed.
ANet has about 300 employees or something. There are 4 LS teams and each of those has guestimatingly 20 people. That leaves 220 people. Plenty to create a whole new PS to replace the one that’s destroyed.
With a new dragon, there needs to be a new PS. They destroy LA, they take down the old PS and move the pact into the new PS to fight the new dragon.
The PS has 2 versions, one for new players and one for players who has already done the old PS, somewhat like what they did for Factions in GW1 where prophecies players had a slightly different story than the factions players.
Easy peasy, solves all the problems.
I don’t believe that anything that has impact on the personal story line of any race will be affected. I read in one interview way back during the Queen’s Jubilee that they entertained killing Queen Jenna, but she was involved in the personal story line so they couldn’t. (Don’t ask me where or who. I don’t remember.)
I can see non-story events and areas destroyed. Maybe the MAW or Fire Elemental or areas of cities that do not impact personal characters or the like.
That’s the sucky thing, Anet painted itself into a corner there. So we can’t see them really taking liberty doing things because of these limitations.
I don’t believe that anything that has impact on the personal story line of any race will be affected. I read in one interview way back during the Queen’s Jubilee that they entertained killing Queen Jenna, but she was involved in the personal story line so they couldn’t. (Don’t ask me where or who. I don’t remember.)
I can see non-story events and areas destroyed. Maybe the MAW or Fire Elemental or areas of cities that do not impact personal characters or the like.
That’s the sucky thing, Anet painted itself into a corner there. So we can’t see them really taking liberty doing things because of these limitations.
Fortunately, its not that hard to write around them and still give the story some meaning.
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
do NOT touch my lions arch. Dont you dare…
Nuke Lions Arch and burn it to the ground please. I hate the place, its chock full of AFK’ers and extroverts who want attention 24/7. And thats just the NPC’s!
No but really, KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Give LA a kicking, move the Asura gates to………………….oh I dont know how about Rata Sum, ya know the place where they were invented? Like an Asura is going to give up a monopoly on world wide transit though its City as a main hub.
That or put the fractals gate in Rata Sum, since ya know the Asura are the ones doing the experiments in fractals “rift”. And they would want to be close to home for spare parts, new theorems and be home in time for dinner.
But to tldr; KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Nuke Lions Arch and burn it to the ground please. I hate the place, its chock full of AFK’ers and extroverts who want attention 24/7. And thats just the NPC’s!
No but really, KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Give LA a kicking, move the Asura gates to………………….oh I dont know how about Rata Sum, ya know the place where they were invented? Like an Asura is going to give up a monopoly on world wide transit though its City as a main hub.
That or put the fractals gate in Rata Sum, since ya know the Asura are the ones doing the experiments in fractals “rift”. And they would want to be close to home for spare parts, new theorems and be home in time for dinner.
But to tldr; KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Sorry to break it to you but asura are selling gates and Lion’s Arch just so happens to have bought several gates from them and connected them permanently to the 5 cities.
Also it’s the Consortium that’s running the fractals.
Furthermore.
Asura would definitely rather be left alone than have their city as a main hub. They see themselves as supreme and want as little as possible to do with any of the other races.
So no, you’re completely wrong.
That said, it would be very interesting to see Lion’s Arch burn. Just to see what happens.
Edit: Also the gates weren’t invented in Rata Sum. They were invented more than 250 years ago in the depths of tyria in the asuran tunnels somewhere.
I know, I just making excuses to have LA nuked from orbit.
Sue me.
:p
I just want the tengu wall to be destroyed and we finally get to see what the Domain of the Four Winds looks like, the drill in L.A. is pretty close to it, just underwater. Or they can destroy some ground where we can go to the tunnels beneath Tyria, or make holes in the mountains so we can see the Northern Shiverpeaks, Blood Legion Homelands and Ash Legion Homelands. Maybe the quakes all around Tyria scared the band of bad sentient beings into finishing those portals to the Maguuma Wastes destroying their temporary camps along the way. Maybe, if the underground thing is true, we can revisit the Central transfer Chamber and update it with modern asura-tech and then visit ancient asura/dredge/dwarf/scritt cities, and we might see more stone dwarfs battling the servants of Primordius. There are a lot of possibilities not just redecorating in a ruin manner the city of L.A. (even though it will happen, because they hinted at it in the trailer)
I hope they are not just changing the Look of Lions Arch, adding a ruin here and there…
So the jungle dragon is controlling her. How original.
They won’t give up on trying to make the majority of players like her. I mean it’s at desperation jar jar binks time with Scarlet.
This is what I want, Scarlet to show up. Act all tough and then Destiny’s Edge shows up in a giant Asuran made air craft and it cuts to a scene with Logan narrating this: “Destiny’s Edge has arrived, and it is now that we fulfill our charge. In fealty to Tyria (our sacred home), and by the grace of the Dwayna, I declare exterminatus upon the City of Lion’s Arch. I hereby sign the Death Warrant of an city, and consign a million quaggan souls to oblivion. May Kormir’s justice account in all balance. Balthazar protects.”
Then boom no more Scarlet or Quaggans running around bugging you for help. >.>
This is what I want, Scarlet to show up. Act all tough and then Destiny’s Edge shows up in a giant Asuran made air craft and it cuts to a scene with Logan narrating this: “Destiny’s Edge has arrived, and it is now that we fulfill our charge. In fealty to Tyria (our sacred home), and by the grace of the Dwayna, I declare exterminatus upon the City of Lion’s Arch. I hereby sign the Death Warrant of an city, and consign a million quaggan souls to oblivion. May Kormir’s justice account in all balance. Balthazar protects.”
Then boom no more Scarlet or Quaggans running around bugging you for help. >.>
Nooooooo, not the Quaggans!
Once upon a time there were Dragons. Now there is Scarlet.Boring,uninteresting,and not part of an interesting story.So why do we have to have it?
Dragons dragons dragons.
Did your personal story & Zhaitan’s death teach you guys nothing?
No matter how big and scary-looking the stereotypical villain looks, there are ten thousand more important factors to how a good story is written and delivered.
“You can’t have more than 10 HS decks because that would confuse people”
“30 fps is more cinematic”
I want the Tengu and Ascalonian walls be destroyed because: all in all it’s just another brick in the wall. LOL
http://i.imgur.com/9AqfEzD.jpg
Just saying
Resident Thief
http://i.imgur.com/9AqfEzD.jpg
Just saying
I know, right? the probe is there! the wall is near, just a small distance away.
Soon…
It was speculated earlier this week or last week that LA could be destroyed, but many said that this would be very difficult to handle since it would interfere with the personal story and map completion
Maybe not, you don’t have that much personal story playing in LA and some of it might still work post-whatever.
LA can’t be destroyed because a ton of personal story steps use it. And use it intact (i.e. we need to save it from Zhaitan.)
Personal Story is a giant detractor from Living Story. Zhaitan is forever alive, Orr is forever corrupted, LA is forever untouched. If PS wasn’t there, imagine the possibilities. ANYthing could change. We could literally cleanse Orr forever, sort of like the Karka event.
LA can’t be destroyed because a ton of personal story steps use it. And use it intact (i.e. we need to save it from Zhaitan.)
Personal Story is a giant detractor from Living Story. Zhaitan is forever alive, Orr is forever corrupted, LA is forever untouched. If PS wasn’t there, imagine the possibilities. ANYthing could change. We could literally cleanse Orr forever, sort of like the Karka event.
Nothing says ANet cannot have players go into an instanced version of the old LA (e.g. leave the personal story absolutely intact and have players deal with the inconsistency of the “old” LA versus whatever changes the LS may bring.)
If players are willing to buy into all the stuff that the LS causes, they can buy into discrepancies between the changed world and the personal stories. Hasn’t ANet already asked us to “suspend belief” several times with Scarlet?
I don’t want more things to be destroyed. I was dismayed enough that beautiful Kessex Hills has been marred quote/unquote forever by the Tower. Now they’re hinting that other parts of the world are going to be destroyed? Not cool. Don’t make the world LESS beautiful. Is all of Tyria going to be shattered wasteland?
And it better not be the PALE TREE. As a sylvari, I would vomit sap.
The Wrong Crowd [bAd] Yak’s Bend
I hope they optimize it when it is rebuilt.
LA can’t be destroyed because a ton of personal story steps use it. And use it intact (i.e. we need to save it from Zhaitan.)
Personal Story is a giant detractor from Living Story. Zhaitan is forever alive, Orr is forever corrupted, LA is forever untouched. If PS wasn’t there, imagine the possibilities. ANYthing could change. We could literally cleanse Orr forever, sort of like the Karka event.
I hope they don’t restrain too much from doing something crazy because of the personal story. With the Trehearne take-over fiasco, level 50+ probably need to be redone from scratch anyway, and I’d also add the human, sylvari and norn first 20 levels of personal story as well because those races’ starting stories weren’t nearly as exciting as the charr/asura starter stories.
Ideally the personal story and the living world should be merged together. That would solve the issue.
Say, for example, in a living world update, Trehearne summons players to Orr. It turns out that Zaithan is still alive and the Pact is reassembled in an emergency. This leads to a temporary solo story instance that ends with a catastrophic defeat of the Pact and Trehearne dying. After that, the task to reform the Pact falls on the player’s shoulders. This opens the new level 50-60 personal story missions. (The old level 50-80 missions would be completely removed from the game, and the Arah story mission would be changed to an instance where Destiny’s Edge talk about the old Zaithan fight.) Then on the next story update, something happens in the living world, which opens up the level 60-70 missions of the personal story. And it would keep going like that, well past level 80. Until the culmination of the story that would end up with the real Zaithan fight. After that, expansion time and it starts over with another dragon, hehe.
That way of handling the personal story would use the episodic nature of the Living World to make the player wonder that will happen to him, what was the consequence of any choices he made in the story, and so on. A player who would have missed the events would have the missions but not the living world events that came with it.
I really hope Lions Arch gets leveled, its ugly and a travesty to the Guildwars version, i’d actually login to see it totaled, which says a lot as i really dislike Guildwars 2.
Lions Arch in Guildwars 2 is an eye sore and needs to go asap.
I don’t want more things to be destroyed. I was dismayed enough that beautiful Kessex Hills has been marred quote/unquote forever by the Tower. Now they’re hinting that other parts of the world are going to be destroyed? Not cool. Don’t make the world LESS beautiful. Is all of Tyria going to be shattered wasteland?
And it better not be the PALE TREE. As a sylvari, I would vomit sap.
This is a pretty good point. Reducing the aesthetic quality of the world isn’t a positive. Wandering around in “Lesser Orr” rather than one of the existing scenic places isn’t something I’m looking forward to.
I hope they don’t restrain too much from doing something crazy because of the personal story. With the Trehearne take-over fiasco, level 50+ probably need to be redone from scratch anyway, and I’d also add the human, sylvari and norn first 20 levels of personal story as well because those races’ starting stories weren’t nearly as exciting as the charr/asura starter stories.
Ideally the personal story and the living world should be merged together. That would solve the issue.
Say, for example, in a living world update, Trehearne summons players to Orr. It turns out that Zaithan is still alive and the Pact is reassembled in an emergency. This leads to a temporary solo story instance that ends with a catastrophic defeat of the Pact and Trehearne dying. After that, the task to reform the Pact falls on the player’s shoulders. This opens the new level 50-60 personal story missions. (The old level 50-80 missions would be completely removed from the game, and the Arah story mission would be changed to an instance where Destiny’s Edge talk about the old Zaithan fight.) Then on the next story update, something happens in the living world, which opens up the level 60-70 missions of the personal story. And it would keep going like that, well past level 80. Until the culmination of the story that would end up with the real Zaithan fight. After that, expansion time and it starts over with another dragon, hehe.
That way of handling the personal story would use the episodic nature of the Living World to make the player wonder that will happen to him, what was the consequence of any choices he made in the story, and so on. A player who would have missed the events would have the missions but not the living world events that came with it.
It would be a great idea if the LS is going to be an on-going “feature” (I assume it is), if the personal stories could be made to “match”.
Creating matching stories – the actual writing – however is the “easy” part of that “solution”.
The difficulty (time/scheduling/cost) is in the voice acting. Do you, can you get all the voice actors back? Do you not bother trying to match voices (ouch), do you redo all of the personal stories, do you scrap personal stories as part of the game content?
All of the above have associated costs. The last option has consequences.
More cost/time effective to leave PS intact and work around them.
So… Instead of giving us new content, they destroy the current stuff and replace it with different features? No thanks.