Guild Wars 2

You travel into a land that has had all hope stripped from it. There, a new “vision” is manifest. It is a land of fear, and with that weapon, darkness will strike at your heart. What do you fear?

Answer 1: I have always been afraid that already-finished content would be removed. That characters I cared about would disappear, and that I couldn’t save them.

Response 1: You are a good person. That you seek to protect these characters shows your gentle heart. Hold fast to that earnestness; it will also be your strength.

Answer 2: My greatest fear is that all of the story that shows that my character is fallible would be removed; a failure so grievous that it would cause the loss of the respect of my comrades. That it would disappoint my companions and become a source of dishonor.

Response 2: It is good to hold oneself in high regard, but better to remember that a hero who is always perfect is shallow and two-dimensional. Keep this in mind, or you will find yourself alone.

Answer 3: I worry that my duties will cause me to continue to watch something I truly care about be condemned to agony. Knowing that I’d been unable to voice my concern sooner because I did not know what was coming would be more than I could bear.

Response 3: Your heart is courageous but also kind. Hold fast to that, and remember that mistakes can be repaired, if you are strong enough to face them.

I need some time to consider my answer, Mother Tree. Give me a moment to reflect.

Thank you, Pale Tree. I will remember your wisdom.

RIP Lionguard Apatia: We knew we would lose you, but never thought it would be like this.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Apatia

Please bring back the Personal Story plot points that have been removed. They are an already-finished product (an already-invested production cost) and I felt like these were the most important moments in my character’s life. Seeing them gone from my character’s Story Journal in the Hero Panel makes me feel like a part of their history is gone. And when I read that the Feature Pack would make story “more compelling” I waited to continue story on alts who had not yet finished it. Now I feel like I should have rushed them through before the update, as now they will never get to meet the characters who I thought were most important to my story.

-A Devout GW2 Fan

I cried when I heard they had cut this. I refuse to log in until the PS is fixed, and I will continue to talk about it on the forums until I get an answer from the devs. I mean, what even possessed them to get rid of it?

I made a similar mistake – I had a character near the end of the saboteur branch of this arc, and decided to wait for the patch. Now it’s locked and, if I understand things, I won’t be coming back to it.

Shouldn’t there be a warning in the patch notes: if you are doing this arc your progress will be wiped out

Thia.4891:

I cried when I heard they had cut this. I refuse to log in until the PS is fixed, and I will continue to talk about it on the forums until I get an answer from the devs. I mean, what even possessed them to get rid of it?

They also rearranged the core plot steps towards the end. Now you do the Source of Orr and kill the Sovereign Eye early on, then you go to the Temple of Abaddon and discover that Eyes of Zhaitan exist…

…

They screwed up the personal story in Orr in yet more ways, sadly not just removing the greatest fear storylines.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences and for the info about the rest of Orr getting confusingly mixed up in a not-so-good way.

I think it’s worth remembering that a good novel, or really in any storytelling setting, a character faces challenges and overcomes them, and that challenge results in the character growing. Losing Apatia (in-game as part of the plot) really hit home for me and felt like something my character had to deal with to move forward. It was, I think, the biggest “character growth” moment in the storyline. I’m very confused why such an excellent part of the storytelling that made my character feel more believable has seemingly been wiped from their past entirely. If my character is now an infallible demi-god who never makes mistakes and who just punches everything down with fists of ultimate power, that’s great and all, but how am I supposed to care about that character? I really loved the “Greatest Fear” part of the story for the reasons already listed, and I find it incredibly confusing that no character gets that now…

…plus, you know, like I said in my OP, they already hired the voice actors and everything, so it’s extra confusing because they’re throwing their investment down the drain too… I guess I just don’t understand their direction anymore. Must be too far above my head because I really don’t “get it.” :/ What do you all think?

Whaaaat? Why??? Why on earth would they cut this? Who could it possibly benefit?

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Mr Snotty Pants.3980:

Shouldn’t there be a warning in the patch notes: if you are doing this arc your progress will be wiped out

If you were on the storyline pre-patch, you’ll still be on it post-patch. (Thought it might not be visible until you reach L70, since it’s in Chapter 7.)

Could we also get an offical statement concerning

a) the removal of the “fear” storyline, and

b) the Tarantino-style rearrangement of chapters 7 & 8 of the personal story?

or are you not allowed to address these points? Will they get addressed eventually? I think I’m not the only one who’d be happy to get at least a glimpse into the thought process behind these baffling changes.

I rather ANet say, “Its a bug. We’ll fix it.”

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Mr Snotty Pants.3980:

Shouldn’t there be a warning in the patch notes: if you are doing this arc your progress will be wiped out

If you were on the storyline pre-patch, you’ll still be on it post-patch. (Thought it might not be visible until you reach L70, since it’s in Chapter 7.)

I just wanted to say thank you for coming here to post. I know it can feel like a thankless job sometimes, and I know it can be especially hard because people who come here can often be quite passionate about what they post.

I am quite passionate about the story and lore of the Guild Wars universe, and have always held the Personal Story very near and dear to myself.

I remain confused about the current state of affairs, but I did want to thank you for coming here and adding to the thread and discussion. This kind of open communication is vital to success. I just wish we as a playerbase had been given the opportunity to comment on the idea of cutting out parts of the personal story before it happened. Some useful feedback might have been gleaned from such an opportunity.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Mr Snotty Pants.3980:

Shouldn’t there be a warning in the patch notes: if you are doing this arc your progress will be wiped out

If you were on the storyline pre-patch, you’ll still be on it post-patch. (Thought it might not be visible until you reach L70, since it’s in Chapter 7.)

Thank you for that. To clarify, does that mean that only people who were in the midst of that arc can still access it?

As a personal note, I won’t miss this arc at all. I really felt like the NPCs kept coming and going so quickly I could just never bring myself to care about any of them (except Trahearne, whom I hate with a passion. Limey Brit…) The underwater combat in the Apatia arc was just awful.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Mr Snotty Pants.3980:

Shouldn’t there be a warning in the patch notes: if you are doing this arc your progress will be wiped out

If you were on the storyline pre-patch, you’ll still be on it post-patch. (Thought it might not be visible until you reach L70, since it’s in Chapter 7.)

Thank you for leaving that option open, if you were in that section.

I have a Norn Warrior sitting there to reserve the end sequence (I should probably just go and record that). My mother’s side of my family is of Norse decent; due to that, I had found Apatia’s small story to be the most tragic (and touching) of everything you had done around the Norn lore.

I do understand why (technically) you had to remove that step, and why it was chosen. And overall I’m OK with that. But the outpouring regarding Apatia’s RL ‘loss’ shows how well you did this particular story.

/salute

This is so sad Apatia’s storyline was one of the most touching to me during my playthrough of the personal story, and certainly one of most memorable. She’ll never be forgotten </3

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

If you were on the storyline pre-patch, you’ll still be on it post-patch. (Thought it might not be visible until you reach L70, since it’s in Chapter 7.)

I know chapter 7 will open when I reach 70. But, if Greatest Fear is no more, I assume it can’t be the same chapter 7 I was on.

The progress I made on Greatest Fear is gone, right? When I hit 70 I unlock the new chapter 7?

Sungak Alkandenes.1369:

I have a Norn Warrior sitting there to reserve the end sequence (I should probably just go and record that). My mother’s side of my family is of Norse decent; due to that, I had found Apatia’s small story to be the most tragic (and touching) of everything you had done around the Norn lore.

…the outpouring regarding Apatia’s RL ‘loss’ shows how well you did this particular story.

Thank you for sharing. And please do record it. It might be the last opportunity for people to see what I also thought was a sequence done right and that made you feel for a character. I know some have said here that they didn’t feel the loss of Apatia, but I know I did. :/

Lliwen.4837:

This is so sad Apatia’s storyline was one of the most touching to me during my playthrough of the personal story, and certainly one of most memorable. She’ll never be forgotten </3

I will remember her too. It is still baffling for me why they would remove this (on top of the reasons, which I have trouble understanding, also for the fact that the section is already completely paid for, produced, and finished).

runeblade.7514:

I rather ANet say, “Its a bug. We’ll fix it.”

I guess it’s not too late, even if it was a conscious decision. At this point I would rather they tell me this even if it wasn’t how it was at the start and re-add the story. I feel like there is becoming a trend that “subtracting things is adding to the game,” but for people like me who thought this game (in the state it was in when it was launched) was a masterpiece worthy of those “Over 1000 Awards & Accolades” the front page of the GW2 site still advertises, it just feels like they’re taking away the Mona Lisa’s smile and other important artistic elements bit by bit. It just breaks my heart.

…I’m really sorry, everyone, I’m trying to keep a level head about this, I really am. But I just don’t understand what’s happening to GW2 anymore. I’m sorry.

So those missions where removed?

Such a shame

Hear me, Hoelbrak. I sing of Apatia, and the legend she forged. She was many things: a Lionguard, a soldier, a hero, a friend.

She joined the Pact because fighting one dragon was not enough. She was determined to fight them all: Jormag, Zhaitan, and any that follow.

She repeatedly proved her valor and worth at Claw Island, killing scores of undead and saving hundreds of innocent lives.

Moreover, she helped recover an artifact that now shields Fort Trinity from Zhaitan’s influence. She gave us the footing we need to strike down the dragon.

Apatia’s life ended on that mission, but her glorious legend lives on.

Let the bards sing and the skaalds proclaim her glorious name forever. Join me now, until the Shiverpeaks themselves ring with the sound: Apatia!

AirimirOfGondor.9081:

Let the bards sing and the skaalds proclaim her glorious name forever. Join me now, until the Shiverpeaks themselves ring with the sound: Apatia!

…wow. I had forgotten about this. I guess the skaalds have already moved on and forgotten… just…

Oh dear, seriously? What was the reason this time? 10 year old payers couldn’t live with such failure? Was Anet afraid they would be forced to pay for their counselling?
I don’t want my characters to be almighty heroes. I want them to be human.

Yenrah.8532:

Oh dear, seriously? What was the reason this time? 10 year old payers couldn’t live with such failure? Was Anet afraid they would be forced to pay for their counselling?
I don’t want my characters to be almighty heroes. I want them to be human.

I think you mean a normal person^^
But yeah failure happens in life. And if they are removed from the storyline of this game its like we are playing a real bad written fairytale with obnoxious main characters.

Seems like nothing but an absolute waste of assets.

Waste of voice acting.
Waste of animators.
Waste of programming.
Waste of storytelling.

Waste of time.

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Straylight.7529:

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Mr Snotty Pants.3980:

Shouldn’t there be a warning in the patch notes: if you are doing this arc your progress will be wiped out

If you were on the storyline pre-patch, you’ll still be on it post-patch. (Thought it might not be visible until you reach L70, since it’s in Chapter 7.)

Could we also get an offical statement concerning

a) the removal of the “fear” storyline, and

b) the Tarantino-style rearrangement of chapters 7 & 8 of the personal story?

or are you not allowed to address these points? Will they get addressed eventually? I think I’m not the only one who’d be happy to get at least a glimpse into the thought process behind these baffling changes.

Awwww your exspecting a responce. How cute.

Straylight.7529:

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Probably is because that content wasnt good for the China version. Just take in consideration that the Great Fear story line involve dead people you are directly responsable and probably atached, remember the fate of some norn.

And yeah, they shipped us the Chinesse version…

I was fortunate enough to play through the set of quests alongside Apatia even after post-patch. The fact that I could no longer replay that with a brand new character does make me feel angry as I have yet to experience everything involving the Personal Story. The fact that certain bits have been removed despite them seeming to be complete features just doesn’t feel right at all and I hope that you will get this remedied, Arenanet.

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Probably is because that content wasnt good for the China version. Just take in consideration that the Great Fear story line involve dead people you are directly responsable and probably atached, remember the fate of some norn.

And yeah, they shipped us the Chinesse version…

The great fear storyline involved dead people? yeah, it did….so does the whole continent of orr which is literally crawling with dead people. But they didn’t cut out that part did they? If they can keep orr in the china-version with all its zombies and dead people, I’m sure there is no reason to cut out the “fear”-part.

I’m replying to this thread to voice my own disappointment at the removal of the the Greatest Fear plotline as well as the reordering of events in the Orrian part of the Personal Story. I support the suggestion that the storyline be restored to how it was prior to the September 9 Feature Pack.

The Greatest Fear added so much depth to both the plot and the player’s character. It gave a chance for players to further customize their toons and not in any shallow, cosmetic way. It allowed players to delve deeper into their characters, to shape their personality and history. It was dark but appropriately so- our true natures are revealed most in how we act during times of hardship, defeat and loss.

It also introduced to us to some great characters whose lives and sufferings and deaths added more to the weight and pathos our characters went through. We are all shaped by our interactions with the people we meet and deal with. That our characters met these NPCs- even an Orrian illusionist out to discredit our character- gave so much color and character development to them.

On the other hand, the removal of the Greatest Fear from the Personal Story does nothing more than rush the story ahead, removing details, development and explanation. Without it, people don’t have any idea about the explosives the Pact uses, who Tonn is, what’s up with the blue orb and glowing thorn fencing keeping out the Risen, as well as other details.

In addition, why was it necessary to reorder the cleansing of Orr and the defeat of Zhaitan? Now the events and dialogue becomes confusing and messy. They just don’t make sense.

ArenaNet, I understand somewhat the thinking behind level gating the different Personal Story chapters. However, doing it this way- removing and reordering content that was already working, coherent and consistent- does nothing but make the Personal Story a terrible experience.

This is an RPG. As much as mechanics is an important part of regulating and running a game, the story takes just as much primacy. Great mechanics can’t hide plot holes. Plot holes ruin books and movies. Don’t allow the plot holes introduced by this patch to ruin this game. If you do, it will be enough to turn off most of even your most loyal customers even if the game is otherwise fun and sound.

My main is a Charr Guardian of the Blood Legion. He has had to face the prejudice of his kind towards magic-users. He has had to rebuild his warband. He found greatness in the Vigil and in the Pact, but his encounter with Syska brought him all the way back to being doubted and judged.

My Warrior was already at the Forging of the Pact when the patch rolled in. I know I’m going to be able to do the Greatest Fear but I don’t look forward to not seeing it and its lessons in my Personal Story log. I want the lessons from Apathia’s fall to be part of his life.

As for my last toon, my Necromancer, he’s never going to see how an innocent can die and never feel the sorrow it brings.

I BEG YOU, ARENANET, RESTORE THE PERSONAL STORY TO HOW IT USED TO BE. I don’t mind if it’s still level gated; just don’t take this away from us.

Straylight.7529:

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Probably is because that content wasnt good for the China version. Just take in consideration that the Great Fear story line involve dead people you are directly responsable and probably atached, remember the fate of some norn.

And yeah, they shipped us the Chinesse version…

The great fear storyline involved dead people? yeah, it did….so does the whole continent of orr which is literally crawling with dead people. But they didn’t cut out that part did they? If they can keep orr in the china-version with all its zombies and dead people, I’m sure there is no reason to cut out the “fear”-part.

Read the complete sentence…. Didnt want to put spoilers, im refering to Apatia and Tonn deaths. You go to rescue Apatia and she ends been a undead… Your friend Tonn get killed in an explosion when both of you completed a quests and his wife blame you.

Associated that to things like skulls in the centaurs pikes from the heart in queendales been removed for the China version….

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Probably is because that content wasnt good for the China version. Just take in consideration that the Great Fear story line involve dead people you are directly responsable and probably atached, remember the fate of some norn.

And yeah, they shipped us the Chinesse version…

The great fear storyline involved dead people? yeah, it did….so does the whole continent of orr which is literally crawling with dead people. But they didn’t cut out that part did they? If they can keep orr in the china-version with all its zombies and dead people, I’m sure there is no reason to cut out the “fear”-part.

Read the complete sentence…. Didnt want to put spoilers, im refering to Apatia and Tonn deaths.

Then explain to me why china wants to censor dead people you’re attached to opposed to dead people who you’re not attached to.

You can spoiler all you want. Those storylines are gone afterall.

Probably considered by the Chinese as anti government propaganda..you know, people go missing and never return. However, I thought they would fork the game over these issues, rather than remove full pieces from the US version. Although we might have a free and open society in the West, NCSoft is based in the East and accepts these types of changes without care to possible business outcomes.

Straylight.7529:

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Probably is because that content wasnt good for the China version. Just take in consideration that the Great Fear story line involve dead people you are directly responsable and probably atached, remember the fate of some norn.

And yeah, they shipped us the Chinesse version…

The great fear storyline involved dead people? yeah, it did….so does the whole continent of orr which is literally crawling with dead people. But they didn’t cut out that part did they? If they can keep orr in the china-version with all its zombies and dead people, I’m sure there is no reason to cut out the “fear”-part.

Read the complete sentence…. Didnt want to put spoilers, im refering to Apatia and Tonn deaths.

Then explain to me why china wants to censor dead people you’re attached to opposed to dead people who you’re not attached to.

You can spoiler all you want. Those storylines are gone afterall.

Sorry, you are right in the spoiler part, just hoping it come back again, still i edited my post. The China version sensures great part of the gore, etc… having a history that makes the player feel responsable for the dead, connect them and put a real sad ends as Apatia can be too much for the China polices, so getting a specific rate of age for the gam e could be more difficult.

Example of Chinas situation in gaming:

“At the youth’s home, police found a rope. Additionally, police found some online games on the youth’s phone with bloody scenes, and have hence extrapolated that the youth may have been imitating video games and fallen by accident.”

Link: http://www.gamesinasia.com/wtf-chinese-police-blame-youths-suicide-on-video-games/

The entire plot line is genuinely removed? Not just rejiggered into another spot?

That is…unfortunate, if so.

Roybe.5896:

Probably considered by the Chinese as anti government propaganda..you know, people go missing and never return.

No, nothing as silly as that. It’s just the entire generation of leaders in China are about as ignorant about video games as a certain disgraced Florida lawyer (Jack Thompson), so they have some extremely draconic laws about the amount of time internet cafes are allowed to let people play games, limitations on explicit content in entertainment, etc. etc.

Removing the arc would be a hamfisted solution if true.

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Probably is because that content wasnt good for the China version. Just take in consideration that the Great Fear story line involve dead people you are directly responsable and probably atached, remember the fate of some norn.

And yeah, they shipped us the Chinesse version…

The great fear storyline involved dead people? yeah, it did….so does the whole continent of orr which is literally crawling with dead people. But they didn’t cut out that part did they? If they can keep orr in the china-version with all its zombies and dead people, I’m sure there is no reason to cut out the “fear”-part.

Read the complete sentence…. Didnt want to put spoilers, im refering to Apatia and Tonn deaths.

Then explain to me why china wants to censor dead people you’re attached to opposed to dead people who you’re not attached to.

You can spoiler all you want. Those storylines are gone afterall.

Sorry, you are right in the spoiler part, just hoping it come back again, still i edited my post. The China version sensures great part of the gore, etc… having a history that makes the player feel responsable for the dead, connect them and put a real sad ends as Apatia can be too much for the China polices, so getting a specific rate of age for the gam e could be more difficult.

Example of Chinas situation in gaming:

“At the youth’s home, police found a rope. Additionally, police found some online games on the youth’s phone with bloody scenes, and have hence extrapolated that the youth may have been imitating video games and fallen by accident.”

Link: http://www.gamesinasia.com/wtf-chinese-police-blame-youths-suicide-on-video-games/

So if this is because of China then can’t we have it so that it is just censored in that country and not the rest? I really enjoy these character choices.

Cant help but think back to the time when the Charm/Dignity/Wrath values were removed from the Hero panel. We didnt take that too seriously, hell, i know i didnt. It was just a small thing, totally irrelevent. I actually didnt quite like the fact that my grumpy but genius engineer was called Barbaric.

But i digress. The point is, that Charm/Dignity/Wrath thing was, i think, the first to go amongst the small things that still managed to make me believe that there is an RP in that MMORPG. Character customization, a personal story, not just the customizable looks of your character.

So that morality system was gone, but it wasnt much of an issue. We could and still can answer in such manners where they were written into the initial release of the game. I dont think you find it in LS releases though. But still, it wasnt that much of an issue.

But now… the personal story, the PERSONAL story is getting outright cut left and right. The greatest fear plot was the major turn where we had our character have a story and a personality as we wanted it to play out. Character-development. Working through personal issues as they are reflected in the world…

When i argued in threads about the Roleplay aspects of the game, its potential, and the lack of support for the roleplaying community that endures every change as it comes, through all that utter disregard for the players wanting to roleplay their characters as they want, mirroring that famous “what is your story?” catchphrase they tried to hammer into every review and trailer of the game, through all that..

I never thought that ANet would go this far, outright deleting variations of their own story. Not my story! Not the story what i Roleplayed with friends on Piken Square! Not something we brainstormed for our enjoyment! But the story that ANet themselves wrote, THEIR story that they made me half-way believe was my story because they actually had me choose it…

Did those things actually happen? Did someone go with Apatia to get the orb? Or did the Pact just find it? Does it actually exist? Hell, maybe Apatia is alive now because appearently that whole arc never happens and never happened?

The lore community was pretty disturbed when Anet said that if something is not in the game itself, its open to iteration and change.

And now as i see even things in the game are open to not just iteration and change but obliteration and erasing from history.

Twilight Arbor Path F/U
Personality
Now an entire chapter of a story.

What next?

Probably Charr.

Talonblaze.3175:

Twilight Arbor Path F/U
Personality
Now an entire chapter of a story.

What next?

Probably Charr.

My bet is all the female characters. For the sake of new players. Women are so confusing…

Talonblaze.3175:

Twilight Arbor Path F/U
Personality
Now an entire chapter of a story.

What next?

Probably Charr.

Or to get a bigger hold in the middle eastern countries all too much revealing armor for females will be removed.

BUMP.

And I am going to continue bumping until we get an answer. We already got some explanation on level gating so let’s hope we get one on this as well.

So, the question:

What happened to the personal story and the Greatest Fear missions in particular? Is their inaccessibility and the general mess that the personal story has become around that level a bug? Are you planning to cut this content or is it just botched because of the re-grouping of missions?

If we just had the story blocks start at level one, we’d have room for this removed block. Simple.

Chameleon Dude.1564:

If we just had the story blocks start at level one, we’d have room for this removed block. Simple.

Actually, if we get story in blocks, there’s absolutely nothing to limit the quantity of chapters. Why should a bigger block be any problem?

Exactly! Even if it’s in chapters, why remove a whole line? Why rearrange the events? It makes no sense. This is YOUR story GW! If you don’t even care about your own content then why should I?

Please, please, please give us back Greatest Fear and restore the late Personal Story steps to the order they’re supposed to go in.

How could you even consider making Source of Orr anything other than the finale of the Personal Story? It’s like showing the final episode of a TV show completely out of order. It’s ridiculous. It’s insulting and depressing to those of us who like or care about the story. It makes me feel like you guys, the developers at ArenaNet, actually don’t care about the story at all.

I’m not under the illusion that people are going to quit in droves over the Personal Story, but for me this is a dealbreaker, the last nail in the coffin. I feel like people like me, people who were here for the story and lore – roleplayers – are just flat out not wanted in this game.

Very, very disappointed in this change, especially coming as it did without forewarning. The first season of the living story was stated clearly and often to be temporary. The removal of the Raid on the Capricorn map was announced ahead of time as well. In this case, there’s a blog post about re-ordering the personal story at high levels, but nothing about the outright removal of whole chapters.

I had a character sitting at the start of the Concordia mission before the patch, having recently finished up the Claw Island segment, with the intent of playing the “fear of letting an innocent die” storyline for the first time. I (foolishly, as it turned out) waited for the feature pack’s release, to see what the new, compelling rewards for personal story missions were like.

Now I find myself at the Battle of Fort Trinity after defeating Dzhudin Stormbreak, with its undead mesmer and water orb and no context for either of them. Had I known this was coming, I could have finished the Forging of the Pact before the patch and at least been able to play through one branch of Tonn’s story. But now I can’t, and I’m seeing no signs that I’ll ever have the opportunity to again. This situation is just frustrating and confusing.

The Angry Quilt.8054:

Very, very disappointed in this change, especially coming as it did without forewarning. The first season of the living story was stated clearly and often to be temporary. The removal of the Raid on the Capricorn map was announced ahead of time as well. In this case, there’s a blog post about re-ordering the personal story at high levels, but nothing about the outright removal of whole chapters.

I had a character sitting at the start of the Concordia mission before the patch, having recently finished up the Claw Island segment, with the intent of playing the “fear of letting an innocent die” storyline for the first time. I (foolishly, as it turned out) waited for the feature pack’s release, to see what the new, compelling rewards for personal story missions were like.

Now I find myself at the Battle of Fort Trinity after defeating Dzhudin Stormbreak, with its undead mesmer and water orb and no context for either of them. Had I known this was coming, I could have finished the Forging of the Pact before the patch and at least been able to play through one branch of Tonn’s story. But now I can’t, and I’m seeing no signs that I’ll ever have the opportunity to again. This situation is just frustrating and confusing.

It’s not merely frustrating and confusing, it is atrocious and unacceptable, and Anet are aggravating it by the minute with continually not responding to player inquiries about this. To be blunt, I can’t give two flying kittens about level gating when the stories of my characters, that I have already guided through the proper storyline, and grown attached to, are being kicked out the window by some kittened, obviously bugged changes in the name of “efficiency” or “flow” or whatever. If it turns out this was fully intentional, and we truly won’t be seeing those missions in the future, that will be the moment Anet loses all of my respect in one instant. I actually paid for that core storyline as well when I bought the game, and in my opinion the new dev team has simply no right to kitten on that and butcher established lore that has been part of the game since release.

I agree Slayer. And yeah, the worst thing seems to be that they won’t even comment on it. I am furious that they would even think about messing up the story, but it saddens me to see no dev comment on the outcry from fans.

Doesn’t cut the Fear plotline, also cuts the Apatia story which showed us the VERY big plot point about the krait orb that protects Fort Trinity from the Risen?

Well, so much for that lore!

Redlash.8053:

They just don’t care anymore. Plain and simple.

Then me, along with quite a lot of players (i. e. anyone actually caring about the story and trying to ROLEPLAY in a ROLEPLAYING GAME in some form or other) won’t care to play and feed their wallets anymore. Plain and simple.

Not that I personally have been a huge income source to them so far, but I know of people with as many as 25+ characters. I doubt that they had bought that many slots because they care only about the gameplay, which, incidentally, has also just been largely turned into crap by badly executed level gating. I know Anet are at least working on that, but some damage has already been done, and that won’t go away. A massive overhaul patch resulting in an obviously untested, chaotic bugfest is not good for any game’s reputation, even if they fix it afterwards.

You can’t go the “it’s our game, we do what we want with it” route with an mmo. At least not if you expect players to stay, which, incidentally, is supposed to be the motivation behind the massive changes.

Redlash.8053:

Thia.4891:

I agree Slayer. And yeah, the worst thing seems to be that they won’t even comment on it. I am furious that they would even think about messing up the story, but it saddens me to see no dev comment on the outcry from fans.

They just don’t care anymore. Plain and simple.

I rather doubt this, and doubt it is ever “plain and simple”.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Redlash.8053:

Thia.4891:

I agree Slayer. And yeah, the worst thing seems to be that they won’t even comment on it. I am furious that they would even think about messing up the story, but it saddens me to see no dev comment on the outcry from fans.

They just don’t care anymore. Plain and simple.

I rather doubt this, and doubt it is ever “plain and simple”.

I very sincerely hope you’re right. I can’t even believe this is the same Anet that has brought us LS S2 a month ago. I absolutely love Season 2 so far, story-wise.