Guild Wars 2

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1j48tn/new_interview_with_johansson_as_provided_by_us/
Some interesting stuff there guys.

A quote from the interview:

Quote

Hence, the Personal Story which, Johanson says, didn’t quite work out the way they had wanted. “I think, in particular, there’s moments in the end of your personal story, where it starts feeling like it isn’t about your character, that it’s about someone else and you just happen to be tagging along.”

Nice that ArenaNet understands that. But it’s an old problem in their games – in Factions we had Mhenlo, in Nightfall we had Kormir, in GW2 we had Salad Boy, and later in the Living Story we had Ellen Kiel.

One more:

Johanson tells me that the art team is in the process of creating a bazaar’s worth of new clothing and armors.

Nice. I hope those are available not through RNG, but rather being sold directly.

Well…i hope the new armour isn’t made for heavy only that can be transmuted onto light/medium.

Erasculio.2914:

A quote from the interview:

Quote

Hence, the Personal Story which, Johanson says, didn’t quite work out the way they had wanted. “I think, in particular, there’s moments in the end of your personal story, where it starts feeling like it isn’t about your character, that it’s about someone else and you just happen to be tagging along.”

Nice that ArenaNet understands that. But it’s an old problem in their games – in Factions we had Mhenlo, in Nightfall we had Kormir, in GW2 we had Salad Boy, and later in the Living Story we had Ellen Kiel.

I personally think the key thing they need to try to nail down is making the player feel like a hero alongside others. Making the player feel like a driving force, a big part of effecting change in the world, but not as an individual. After all, it’s unreasonable for every player to be The One in what is supposed to be a virtual world.

While this is easier in instanced content where numbers can be controlled (a band of daring heroes delving to defeat the danger, if you will), with the bigger content and an overarching story, you really are just another soldier. There isn’t much opportunity for the player to shine, thus they feel like another cog in the machine.

One thing they could have done is have different aspects to the Zhaitan fight, drawing on the various expertise of the Orders:

• The Vigil could hold off waves of undead, battling through. Maybe also protecting the Priory.
• The OoW could sneak past, setting traps that will debilitate Zhaitan, eventually causing him to land, or maybe assassinating key members of his army; generals, lieutenants ect.
• The Priory could set up weapons that will be used to cause Zhaitan to land.

Please note, these aren’t actual suggestions, just examples thought up in a minute to illustrate my point.

This way, you can make players feel like they, alongside other players, were a driving force (me and these guys killed one of Zhaitans Lieutenants, making it easier for the Vigil, since the Risen didn’t have any direction; me and these guys protected the Priory while they finished their weapons; me and these guys made the weapons that grounded Zhaitan) while keeping the immersion of not everyone being The One.

The player has little to no impact in the world currently. Even if you call them heros they won’t feel like one. I image that the personal story will always get in the way of world-changing events.

How do you sneak past air to set air traps to debilitate a giant dragon that’s bigger than your ship?

Esplen.3940:

How do you sneak past air to set air traps to debilitate a giant dragon that’s bigger than your ship?

Give some Asura 20 minutes, a stack of balloons, and some Charr whiskey as a fuel.
They’ll come up with something effective.

I never really remembered Kormir as being that much of a spotlight stealer, considering for the bulk of the story she wasn’t around, and we managed to break her out of jail, and were ultimately recognized with our name in the inscription on her statue as being her greatest champion. Considering the way the other characters deferred to you, even disagreeing with your choices at points, made it feel much more like you were the leader. Godhood would have been a neat way to end the game, but boy would it have made it weird to keep playing that character.

Anyways, I’m glad they recognize the issues with the story. I don’t think Trahearne was as bad a character as people make him out to be, he was just poorly received due to the plot being so firmly centered on him. If this were something other than a game, many people would probably like him.

Well i really hope some of these things come to fruition soon, especially new maps, i’m dying to see rest of Tyria or at least as much as possible. And yes! more story please! Can never get enough of stories, that’s what keeps me playing games.

I agree though, story parts like the Zhaitan fight could have been more interesting, things can always be better, especially after being scrutinized by millions of players, but still i think it was pretty epic when u consider they didn’t really have a lot of time to finish it b4 launch. Lots of people have made comments about cannon fight being lame, but how would u fight such a big monster in the air? cannons seem like a reasonable and sure way to bring him down.

But despite some poorly executed parts, there are some brilliant segments in the story chain and some of my favorites happen in Orr, l love Crash Landing for eg, that was so much fun. And outside Orr, Claw Island, especially the 2nd part, would have to be my favourite. I just wish there was more of it, especially those brilliant parts xD.