Guild Wars 2

I tend to be long-winded, but I’ll keep this short.

Story: Too little build up to the reveal and way too short. Humans should have very different dialogue.
Collectibles: Finally, we can put all those LS3 currencies in Materials. Thank you!!! Big hug to the devs!
Mastery: Awesome new mastery. Having fun being spiderman
Map: The mini-map really needs some degree of improvement for the multi-level maps like this and Tangled Depths. The new map is awesome though.

Best episode so far in both map and story. Or in other words, the only episode I actually enjoyed in S3.

Story wired and twisted but yet nicely done with not too much lag in the first part of it till you get to the map itself.

map very badly done looks like a copy and paste job mixed with 8 bit areas making the map very bad

tied to hot stuff yet again making it much more worse . not able to reach the second area of the storyline at all if your not got hot masterys . making it very unplayable

the water very bad could have been so much more instead you die very fast .

after all that could not take it any more .

Feedback thread started less than 12 hours after release? Of course you’re gonna get plenty of positive response from the type of players that rush through everything in a few hours.

Personally, the map is yet another “How do I get there from here?” multi-layer mess. “Lessons learnt?” more like “lessons weren’t”

Time for a break, methinks.

Another Tangled Depths style map? I had hoped you learned your lesson after the last few maps …. some people love that style and others hate it with a passion. I doubt this map will last long once the ‘ooh, new shiny!’ has worn off which is a shame because obviously it took a lot of work. I also thought the mastery was disappointing unless it will be used on other maps, we basically have to spend 5 MPs to get whatever the episode 6 one is.

So with that out of the way I loved getting a mini of Taimi now. The reveal in the first instance was unexpected to say the least too! Fortunately the fight was better than some of the other initial instances …. no broken armor this time!

AMAZING

- Is amazing that after so many complains regarding the vertical maps and especially Tangled Depths, ANet came with an even vertical map. By comparation TD is a very logical map. Verdant Brink can be completed without masteries. This map cannot be completed without masteries. The map consists in several zones separated from each other. The only way is via a jump using Thermal Tubes. A JP at map level.

- Is amazing how far the ANet team is now from the original Manifesto. “No need to prepare for fun as in other games”. Remember this? Well, now put yourself in the shoes of a new player, who only started to play yesterday. I saw a lot of complains regarding the need to buy the episodes from LS if you bought HoT after the free login period expired. But let’s imagine a new player. He discover that if he want the previous 4 episodes he must pay (again). Well, at least he can play the last episode. He can?? NO. Without thermal tubes mastery / complete gliding mastery / the new mastery from this map a new player cannot even dream to see a vista. Well, it seems that a new player should prepare for a loooong time to have fun in this map.

- Is amazing how twisted the logic of some designers / developers from ANet is. That they had something against the veterans, I can understand. Sometimes you think is better to renew the playerbase. But by hurting the new players in this way…. I don’t know how ANet is hoping to bring players back with this cynical attitude: You cannot have the previous LS episodes because you bought HoT too late. Still you can freely access this episode. But you cannot play it. Because you need masteries from the previous episodes.. AAA – and to have the mastery from this map, you also need the previous masteries.

The map (and the idea behind this map) can be described in one word: AMAZING

It seems Collin’s ghost is still haunting the game.

The map looks pretty but it bored me an hour into it. There’s little else to do than trying to navigate it. Apart from the event champions, the mobs are all just boring, minor speed bumps you’re better off avoiding by means of the many alternatives to walking. I only killed to fill hearts, avoided everything else, without ever feeling threatened or breaking a sweat.

The story? I’m so fed up with the ever present magi-technobabble, sensor, machines, anomalies and energy whatsits, I don’t even read or listen to it anymore. I just go through the motions, chasing green stars in my mini map until they stop popping and I know I’ve finished another chapter.

I spent a lot of time during the last fight looking for my mouse arrow against the background…

It speaks volumes about ANet management priorities that after almost 7 years, the mouse arrow issue is not solved yet.

It a pitty…

• Map artwork: another home run — beautiful!
• New mastery/skill — absolutely love it. And the fact that you can use it while gliding makes it even better. Would love to see more skills available while gliding, like you did in Bloodstone Fen.
• Story arc — combination of cliff-hanger and confusing — is this headed anywhere or is it a dead end, story-wise. So kinda meh there. May have benefited from a bit more development/elaboration as part of the story.
• Story fights — just the right level of difficulty/complexity for solo play.
• Map navigation — a bit confusing, but I’ll need to explore more. I like the verticality of it, but trying to find the way around while doing the story without the new mastery gets frustrating at times.

A couple suggestions:

• When there’s lots of overlapping “layers” like we have in the new zones (especially this newest one), the mini map loses a lot of its usefulness. When things are on different layers (like waypoints, etc.) the mini map doesn’t help much. Maybe add a mode to the mini map so that the “interesting spots” (poi’s, waypoints, vistas, etc) display on the minimap regardless of the layer that they’re on, and highlight them somehow whether they’re above/below/at the layer the player is on.
• Navigating in the new map was a bit of a challenge without the new mastery. Perhaps including elements in future stories that help you learn some of the ways to get between the layers of the map as part of the story step itself (like how the personal story takes you all over Tyria). At least just enough for a basic way to get around the different layers until you explore the rest of it later on.

Overall: nice work!

RedBaron.6058:

I spent a lot of time during the last fight looking for my mouse arrow against the background…

It speaks volumes about ANet management priorities that after almost 7 years, the mouse arrow issue is not solved yet.

It a pitty…

Yolomouse fixes it for you. I use it pretty much everywhere it works Its not only anet that decided for a good looking mouse cursor and against a more visible/functional one ^^ Others do the same.

The episode was a bit short, but very intense with lots of surprises.

New map is great. Though I found 2 places already where you can get stuck inside rocks. Doesnt distract from the fun of it though

Artwork is very good. I might not agree with the legendary armor, but doesnt change the fact, that its a unique and beautiful design. Map and story artwork are as always very good.

So far, my experience with navigating the map is more of a pain due to GW2’s classically bad collision detection on slopes. Getting snagged on small hitches in the terrain really needs to stop, and there needs to be proper differentiation between climbable and nonclimbable slopes.

tl;dr – If you’re going to make “jumping puzzle zones,” refine the collision detection first. -_-

To where I am so far:

First fight was bleh. Needing to simultaneously tank (keep damage away from golems) and damage threats surrounding targets put me at odds to objectives. Not ‘hard,’ just dragged on for conflicting reasons.

“Big reveal” left me nonplussed and questioning why there was a need for earlier deception. Patiently waiting to care. Not that it’s helped by the big reveal being Big B, as I’ve learned to hate that name after Auric Basin.

Y’all hate underwater activity that much, do you? :\

New mastery is fantastic, I would love to see this used in future updates / even the HoT maps.

The new map ( after the lighting fix ) looks amazing, really good job.

My only concern here is, after the story and map exploration what is there to do on the map, the loot is next to nothing / poor, when you compare the new map to the likes of Bitterfrost/Lake Doric, I would say in a couple of weeks the new map will be empty, as there really isn’t anything to keep you coming back,

The events are few and far between, also you are heavily punished for clearing the destroyer events that spawn the 2 legendary bosses, as you are so far away from them, you either WP north and work you way to them, or try and navigate your way to them, which is no easy feat in itself, compared to other maps where you are able to get to the final boss fights fairly fast.

I feel like trying to release a new map with every LS episode represents too big of an effort that affects storytelling and gameplay. Map is huge, and even though is hard to navigate (like Tangled Depths), I find it enjoyable. But if I manage to finish the episode and get map completion in a single afternoon, there’s little incentive left to keep playing the map besides some missing achievements and the new currency.

As some people stated, the storytelling was “meh” at best. Very important events happening too fast, very little buildup for these and some questionable decisions (Kasmeer comes back after months and then she goes “sorry I can’t”, and vanishes again? xD).

Even with that, I found the last instance really enjoyable, and having that “presence” in the background felt pretty cool.

This may be only personal preference, but I believe it might help to alternate LS episodes where there’s a new map (like this one, which story is kinda short) with episodes that use existing maps, but feature longer & better developed story/gameplay. These could work as a build up for next episode, where a new map is unveiled, improving storytelling overall. But the fact that I can finish 3 months work worth of content in a single afternoon (maybe 3 if you go for all the achievements) is a bit disappointing.

My thoughts about this episode? Mhhh…. RELY ON IRON NOT FALSE GODS! >:D

Acnologia.6934:

My thoughts about this episode? Mhhh…. RELY ON IRON NOT FALSE GODS! >:D

Why did they not give different dialogue to the different races? This would have been the absolute perfect time to do so!

Easily the best episode released yet. That includes seasons 1 and 2.

The story is actually interesting now. I never really cared much for having EDs be the antagonists because they have zero personality. I’m glad we’re fully recognizing them as a necessary part of nature.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t played GW1 or the human personal story, but I don’t really give a kitten about the supposed inconsistencies. I think people are jumping the gun on judgment for this anyway since we still don’t have very much information.

The map is definitely the best of the season. I’m glad they did another multilayered map that requires masteries to most effectively navigate. With how much some people moaned about the HoT maps, I wasn’t expecting another map like this. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

Awesome job devs. Keep up the great work.

Love the map. Verticality is rich and fun when it’s open, like this or VB (although I despise the Habitrail maze of Tangled Depths, with only one right way to get to any given point).

Story… you’ve got NPCs discussing the problems with the big reveal. Scripted, voice-worked dialogue. So I’m keeping faith that you will follow up with the exposition such a huge development deserves.

The map design is fantastic, I absolutely love the new mastery and hope to see it used more in the future. This is a great example of how the mastery system should add new things to the game.

The story presentation is also pretty good, and showing improvement. Not a long time just standing around listening to people if I don’t want to, but plenty of opportunities to do so if I want the added dialog.

The story itself still needs a lot of work in my opinion. Big reveal itself was ‘ok’ but the motivation is paper thin and feels forced and artificial.

Liked this episode a lot. The previous episode, I enjoyed the story, but didn’t like the actual content (those fights…). This time around, I’m enjoying both, though the map feels too big.

Two pieces of feedback, one more subjective than the other:
1- Please stop destroying Dragon’s Watch. You made me care about these characters and now you’re making them all hate each other. Pls no.
2- The endings for most of the episodes this season have felt really abrupt. We get a big reveal or a cutscene or something and then we’re just left standing by ourselves with the mastery point for completion. Example: Braham cracks the tooth, “Story complete, see ya in three months.” Same with yesterday’s story, though this wasn’t AS jarring as the Braham episode since we chatted some with Taimi after.

Trying to stay less than 75 words as requested. I can tell a lot of work went into E5. I got so far as the new map and explored around for a while. The map style isn’t my thing a pain to navigate. Variety is good and many seem to like it so I don’t have a problem with it. I just won’t spend much time there myself. Thanks for map currency deposit feature.

I’ll just state my one technical issue and my suggestion for a minimal fix.

I found the final battle extremely frustrating (again) for one that’s going to attempted by mostly solo players. Yes, it’s difficult and challenging, but increasing the amount of time the hounds are downed would fix it without changing the challenge level. I was able to dodge fire, etc. fine but getting the orbs and all within the time they were incapacitated was a bit much.

I understand gliders are here to stay but I feel the game is shifting to make it over the top with the gliders which makes it way to difficult to navigate in a lot of newer maps, this one being one of the tougher ones. The story I don’t mind it still follows gw lore, just please go back to more linear maps and less vertical. also not a fan of pocket raptors.

The new map we got is amazing, it’s not too hard or not too easy and I’m saying this as an solo player. Personally I like the numerous of layers which some people might find rather annoying, but I like complexity.

Games should have some sort of challenge and shouldn’t hold your hand all the time. Story was solo friendly as well, I didn’t have any problems with it, the final fight was fun with that epic scenery. Overall the final instance was really well made.

I adored the new map, I feel like it’s the best one that’s landed since Verdant Brink. It was also aesthetically brilliant. The final fight felt well balance (challenging but diverse enough to not cause build hell) and the narrative twists worked for me.

My only disappointment would be the aerial combat skills not returning, but that’s a small thing.

Dear Anet, one more thing that came to my mind while playing new map!

You have this amazing Ley-Line Anomaly event that travels across several old Tyria maps. Consider making similar but perhaps more complex event that would switch daily between LS3 maps!

I know, I know. It would be very hard to implement cus every map is different. But please just consider it. When LS3 is over, people will start to leave these beautiful maps (you’ve put so much effort to make them!). With such meta-event which would occure daily on different maps, you would not only bring more life to these maps so they would stay relevant, but it would also encourage new players to buy episodes from gemstore.

Wondrouswall.7169:

One thing I can give feedback on that I hope will change soon™ is the Oakheart’s Reach ability to become a special action key instead of replacing your weapon. It would make traversing the new map much more fluid so the player does not have to drop it to engage in combat.

I thought about this as well. I figured they did it the way they did for a couple of reasons. They wanted to keep the Oakheart’s Reach something you had to choose to do (see the AMA answers for the various implementations of the skill they debated). And there could be conflicts with other special actions, there being only one Special Action available at a time. For instance, if you buy the arcane detector thingie off the heart vendors, when you use it you get a long lasting special action to ping for Zinn’s stashes. (Not that I found a single one of those stashes using it; either it has no vertical range limit or I already found them just by looking around and they never respawn for the account).

My feedback: Story — it feels like we’re back to being given a few tastes of a much more complex story the writers know is going on behind the scenes and don’t have time to tell us. I still enjoyed it, lots of omg’s in guild chat and on Discord as I bit my tongue to avoid spoilers, lots of lore implications, and I’m eager for the next bit.

Map — fun, if rather complex to figure out. My fallback is to get up to the Apex and glide down from there to where I need to go. Definitely varied, big, and full of interesting stuff.

Mastery — winner! Really fun to use and to figure out interesting applications for.

And the main thing I want to thank you guys for, that I don’t think anyone else has mentioned, is the short bit in the patch notes that gave us closure on the DR situation. Just a couple of sentences and we have enough to build on for followup RP. Given your structural limitations on presenting such details in game, it was very thoughtful to provide us those plot beats that way. Thanks!

Last fight was really slow and had huge lags. When I was able to finally collect both powers and shoot my target, they were woke up and, it was like spitting the hot rock.

It is funny, how GW2 is the only game on the market which makes me curse like a sailor. And this episode last fight was so bad experience, that I used all those curse words what I know (and I know them a lot). Even sailors would have been blushing if they would have been hearing me.

Map – interesting – reward meh: 7/10
Story – short but because of Taimi points get so high: 6/10
Mastery – Fun: 10/10
Last fight: 3/10

Kind of sad that the episode did not start with a certain persons funeral. :/

In terms of what kind of medium legedary armor i would have liked:

http://www.guildwiki.de/gwiki/images/2/24/Assassine_Elite-Kurzick-R%C3%BCstung_Weiblich_vorne.jpg

http://www.guildwiki.de/gwiki/images/9/9c/Assassine_Obsidian-R%C3%BCstung_Weiblich_vorne.jpg

These kind of armors and not another trenchcoat. :/

Apart from that:

- new map is nice
- new masterie is cool
- Story was ok (Episode 4 was better imo)
- the first “reveal” was suprising, in both a good and a bad way ^^
- we saw Primordus

- BIG twist at the beginning. Left my jaw hanging open.
- Would’ve been nice to have a memorial to Demmi open this episode.
- Yay Kas! Boo, sidelining her as soon as she reappears (and like... was she drunk at the end there?)
- Different races should’ve reacted to Balthazar in different ways – missed opportunity.
- Overall, episode felt very short and ended abruptly.
- New map was cool, still need to explore. A less-frustrating TD.
- Would’ve been nice to go underwater.
- Final battle was great, but convoluted. So much going on at once dialogue, UI, and battle-wise. The battle was only "hard" because I couldn't figure out what to do first "scan the machine" or "scan the corpse" or that I had to beat down the dog before the flying phase. Also with so much chaos on the actual platform, it was hard to aim the bomb at the downed dogs (couldn't see target reticle very well).

Final thought: not as well developed as episode 4, but big controversial revelations that have my head-spinning on where the series is going. I just hope this plot with B/the 6 is going somewhere interesting.

I havent been on the map long but so far i like it.
The story was a bit short but fun and the puppies were easy once i caught on the mecanic of it.

The new mastery… i like it !!!

SPOILER:

I enjoyed the story but had problems with it. If that is all we are going to see of Balthazar, that is just sad. Also he was pretty “meh” as a god. Weak and uninteresting. Reduced to a bit player easily defeated.

I love the new map. Probably one of the best in game! Kudos to the design team.

[Spoiler]

Thank you for proving me wrong this episode. All this time i thought the HoT failure has made anet unable to provide epic content, but this episode had me scaling a giant volcano only to descend the giant blood stone to fight dogs of the god of war in front of an elder dragon with infinite flight and the fate of the world at stake.

THANK YOU

The new episode was absolutely spot-on, easily my favourite so far. I loved the map, I loved the story, the last instance was insane. The new mastery is incredibly fun, made navigation on the new much not just easier, but enjoyable, espcially because you can shoot that thing while gliding. I kinda feeling sad about I see a lot of people don’t like labirynth-like maps like this, but I do hope you will make more like this in the future, because it’s so awesome I found something new every time I run around.

And finally, a shoulder skin for the achievement that looks neat and not farts out sparkles and start.

Thank you, Arenanet. Nice work.

Not a fan of the new map.

Is it just me thats hallucinating or is Taimi huge in this LS? Maybe it was too long since I did the other stories but I recall her being much smaller. Unless Asura have growth spurts I suppose… or a streching golem. Probably the golem.

[SPOILERS] Love it! Very good: final battle with the pooches, the scale of Primordus. I experienced awe, fear, goosebumps, excitement, disbelief, and now anxiety as to how I shall be received by humans when they find out I ‘may’ have killed their god. Final instance volcano throat is just magnificent in scale. I did feel like story made a bit of a jump with lazarus then balthazar, but I suspect you wanted to tell Mantle story and close that before moving on into Dragons -> Gods transition, so all in all loving it. New mastery can be gained by doing story + couple hearts, no problems there. Map is gorgeous. Love new water mechanic but still hoping this won’t be water from now on, that is in some new maps i’ll still be able to go underwater? In conclusion: can’t wait to tell Braham! XD
Edit: Oh also I loved the gliding mechanic in final story step. It made things very immersive, having to zero in on those balls. How am I supposed to 75 words this
Edit2: Love the new friend I made, golem in the homeinstance! Vine mastery is great! Lore all over map great. Love how thermal tubes are required for the map (creates progression). Inquest base great. Oh and Phlunt dialogue when he commands his subjects to battle? I’ll bring up the rear, put your bodies in front of my research – very good.

Enjoyed the story albeit very short and the final fight was challenging but not frustrating this time.

I didn’t like the new map but that’s just my personal opinion, layered maps to me are frustrating to navigate and make me not want to continue. I get that some people enjoy them which is fine.

The new map is amazing and mostly memorable. If you wish to continue multiple elevation maps, I recommend having a better system to find your party members as navigation and finding allies is a pain and has always suffered difficulties.

However, it was an excellent adventure and a good time was had by all!

Pro.
1) I was like a kid with the reveal Great to finally see a God.
2) M.O.X. I was over joyed to see him, and he might be joining us! I had to fight a squeal.

Con.
1) The map is not to my taste. I really don’t like maps like this at all.
2) the story was way too short. it felt like it was cut short to force a cliff hanger.
3)unless you like minis there is nothing on this map to keep you on it.

Pro.
1) Map is amazing (size+, starting difficulty – feel like it needs another mini map layer)
2) The daily runestone is nice, forcing people to play instead of playing TP/afk wars 2 after one playthrough.
3) map is amazing
4) M.O.X. offering to be my butler value
5) Map is suuuuuperr

Con.
1) deus ex reveal
2) deus ex taimi
3) for being the ‘most important’ LS3 chapter, it’s also the absolute shortest
4) DEUS EX MACHINA REVEAL! Holy cow we are entering LS1 garbage tier story telling at the speed of pixels/sound.

Positive:
- Well written
- Interesting new map concept
- I like the new mastery. Feel like Link from Zelda.

Negative
- Wait, it’s over already? 3-4 months of waiting and it’s how long?
- Legendary armor problems.
- New map has lots of confusing nooks and crannies that make it frustrating to find POIs

Talking about the map:
Really loved the aestus and ignis fight, the mechanics on the vulcan , destroying floors, differente kind of fire attacks, the fact that you can do the pre events alone. I’m more a instanced content player but you really did a great job on this, hope to see more open world events/boss like the Aestus and Ignis.

This time, I have to pitch in.
Good stuff first:
- ABSOLUTELY AWESOME instances. So many small things to find and try. Favourite lines: "I can't believe I didn't notice that was a door." And "Taimi the magnificient..." Made me burst in laughter. Great VO too.
- Great map, tough to navigate, but mastery helps. A lot of places to explore, astonishing setting.
- I really liked the final fight.
Now some critique:
-Story, story, story! Overall it felt inconsistent and rushed. Did we seriously just Dispatched 2 elder dragons?? Like... That's it? They are no more a threat? I loved both of the dragon fights and hoped for some more. I also felt that Primordus had a lot of personality. Putting them to sleep was way too fast. I hope we get more of Jormag along with the Braham storyline. Having him killing Jormag anyway and having to deal with the consequences on Tyria would be my favourite! But I at least want to actually see Jormag.
-Lack of my human character response on the big revelation. I am also sad about you not playing all the cards you could have with Lazarus, his character could have been much better!
-The episode felt really short.
-I hoped that profession specific interactions would continue to be part of the instances.
-When are we going to see Aurene again? I miss her in the story, it’s been half a year

Oh, I just want to add:

Balthazar should have some extra dialogue if you’re a human and use one of your racial skills. I summoned hounds of balthazar during balthazar’s fight… and it just worked normally.

Gah! Disappointing chapter.

First, the reveal. There’s no build-up, it’s just…bam. I didn’t even believe it myself at first! IMO, a monumental reveal such as this needed to be at the end NOT the beginning.

Second, the ending. Bad. Bad. BAD. Deus Ex Machina all over the place, NPC screeching objectives in my ear while I’m fighting just downright ruined the immersion and epicness of the occasion.

4/10

Episode 5 leaves me wanting another expansion even more. I love the Draconis map, and I love that you added a new spiderman skill, it makes me feel like I’m playing a new game and gives a sense of adventure and exploration.

It’s such a waste that there’s no meta event on the map similar to VB/AB/TD/DS.

A few thoughts:

The new map – Fantastic job! I’ve been waiting for another map more similar to bloodstone fen and the original HoT maps. A map with some verticality to it. You not only delivered that but one of the most interesting landscapes in the entire game. It does have quite a bit of empty/unusable space, so I’m sure it will suffer from being too little map just as with bloodstone fen even if the area feels larger. But overall I’m really impressed with the new map.

The storyline – The reveal on who Lazarus is seemed out of nowhere. It wasn’t so much an interesting moment in the story so much as a “Where the heck did this come from?” moment. I’m hoping you guys really pull it together in the final installment. However, I’m not sure how confident I should feel after such a short episode this time around. On the plus side, it was fun to see Taimi out in the field again.

Rewards – Another way to earn pieces I can already earn in other maps. Not too impressive. The grow tonic was a nice touch. And there may be other rewards that will compel me to spend more time on this otherwise excellent new map. That’s been the issue with these maps for me. The available reward pool is pretty shallow and there is overlap between maps, so I find myself not spending much time in these maps.

The new mastery – Great job! It’s new, it’s fun, and it definitely makes itself useful with the terrain in this map. I do wish it were a little bit more convenient. Perhaps add a new button like we have for the counter magic mastery? And maybe let us store charges? I hope this won’t be the last we see of this mastery.

Also, thanks for adding the currencies to material storage.

Map: quite good – Big an confusing on the first look, but few hours later funny and exciting. I just don’t like it’s look on the Worldmap.

Story: Too fast – I really don’t like that Balthazar was Lazarus. But maybe more explanation and background could fix this. unsure about the sleeping dragons part

I like the map, it is beautiful and nicely designed. I hope the future LS maps can be designed with similar quality.