Guild Wars 2

The fact that you made something as casual as collecting Cats for our Home Instance into something hardcore is plain disgusting. You are forcing everyone who loves Cats to do Level100 Challenge Mode just to get that Cat. Most casual players cant even get it or complete their Cat collection anymore.

For those who dont know, the newest Cat requires to eat an item that only drops from the Fractal 100 CM Chest.

The plot in this episode was pretty disappointing, it felt forced and rushed. Especially the sudden need to kill Lazarus and join the shining blade, there was no thinking about it, no build up. At least there won't be any repercussions from the awkward oath we took because we didn't find out anything worth telling. After the previous episodes it felt like we had left Lazarus to his fate as a set of horcruxes and then wham, lets just summon him at a convenient pentagram in this empty, boring shell of a reliquary and kill him, because why the hell not, Livia wants to and she's our new bestie! The whole Draconis Mons bombshell would’ve made a better finale.

I hope they nail the plot in the expansion and deliver it well, it could be great, but given their track record (still sore about how bad the whole Zhaitan thing is) with the story so far I’ve got my doubts.

As for the new fractal, it’s not as good as chaos/nightmare, shame it’s over felt like that story had more to give.

Episode 6 gets a 3/10 from me.

EDIT: If “PoF” doesn’t stand for Path of Fire/Flame, i’ll eat my socks.

Not sure if this is meant for the whole patch or just the story, but I’ll do the whole patch.

The story, a mess. I know that some people wanted to see these specific characters, but it truly felt like they were tossed in just because of that reason. It felt like the events of this episode had no correlation with anything else going on at the moment. I’m glad we didn’t go to the Shiverpeaks, but to put one of the actual current plots to the background in like 3 lines of dialogue and exhume two characters from out of nowhere only to simultaneously resolve both of their plots in the same instance was just… what?

The cinematic was rather disappointing as well, at least in comparison to the season 2 cinematic. It was short, pretty much just showed 3 settings with a red hue and fire. It’s hard to tell what’s going on in the cinematic, but if the title of the expansion is Prophecy of Flame or something the cinematic fits perfectly.

The new fractal was, weird but interesting. It’s good to finish up the plot for Aark, but the stupid “Are you ready?” box takes up the entire screen and I missed most of what happened after we finished the fractal.

No new additions to Guild Halls and most disappointing for me though I’m sure I’m in the minority is no new guild decorations. Something I always look forward to on patch days.

The new map is nice, so no complaints there. I do however wish we could have incorporated some more masteries from other maps into it, such as Oakheart because it seems like such a waste to only have it in one map.

I think all of the pros of this patch are just overshadowed by the con of whatever the story was in this episode. It was just a mess. For the entire episode to be about what happens in this chapter of the living story, and the living story to be whatever this was…

Last episode definitely felt like a much better lead in to the expansion than this. This just seemed like it was meant for the episode after Lake Doric and they already had it done, so they were like, “What can we add in to this to make it tie in to the current plot? Oh, let’s say that Balthazar has an aspect, but we’ll just leave the aspect lying around so we don’t have to go back in and actually add Balthazar. Oh, let’s have the eye show the cinematic, that makes sense right? Okay, patch is ready.”

Not sure if this is meant for the whole patch or just the story, but I’ll do the whole patch.

The story, a mess. I know that some people wanted to see these specific characters, but it truly felt like they were tossed in just because of that reason. It felt like the events of this episode had no correlation with anything else going on at the moment. I’m glad we didn’t go to the Shiverpeaks, but to put one of the actual current plots to the background in like 3 lines of dialogue and exhume two characters from out of nowhere only to simultaneously resolve both of their plots in the same instance was just… what?

The cinematic was rather disappointing as well, at least in comparison to the season 2 cinematic. It was short, pretty much just showed 3 settings with a red hue and fire. It’s hard to tell what’s going on in the cinematic, but if the title of the expansion is Prophecy of Flame or something the cinematic fits perfectly.

The new fractal was, weird but interesting. It’s good to finish up the plot for Aark, but the stupid “Are you ready?” box takes up the entire screen and I missed most of what happened after we finished the fractal.

No new additions to Guild Halls and most disappointing for me though I’m sure I’m in the minority is no new guild decorations. Something I always look forward to on patch days.

The new map is nice, so no complaints there. I do however wish we could have incorporated some more masteries from other maps into it, such as Oakheart because it seems like such a waste to only have it in one map.

I think all of the pros of this patch are just overshadowed by the con of whatever the story was in this episode. It was just a mess. For the entire episode to be about what happens in this chapter of the living story, and the living story to be whatever this was…

Last episode definitely felt like a much better lead in to the expansion than this. This just seemed like it was meant for the episode after Lake Doric and they already had it done, so they were like, “What can we add in to this to make it tie in to the current plot? Oh, let’s say that Balthazar has an aspect, but we’ll just leave the aspect lying around so we don’t have to go back in and actually add Balthazar. Oh, let’s have the eye show the cinematic, that makes sense right? Okay, patch is ready.”

Can we please get an option to skip the ‘Shining Blade Secrets’ mission? I really don’t like the idéa of my character taking an oath to protect just Kryta over any other nation just because Anise doesn’t want to tell what she wants with the aspect of Lazarus (which might not even be significant). I mean I’ve barely interacted with the Shining Blade before and countess Anise hasn’t really given me any reason to trust her.

Story – Mediocre. Confused, incoherent, too focused on GW1 lore.

Voice Acting – Wooden. Sub-par. Lackluster. Noticeably more so than any previous episode.

Dialog – Stilted. Unnatural. Ironic humor entirely inappropriate for circumstances. Again, noticeably worse than usual.

Instances – Tedious, repetitive, annoying. No different to usual. Puzzles were okayish but I would hugely prefer only to use my character’s class skills at all times. Combat less awful than some previous instances but fights too slow, long-winded and repetitive.

Instance design – Good, if somewhat reminiscent of previous instances in places.

Map – Very good. Personally, I would take two maps like this (or a larger map) and no instances every single time.

Fractal – Don’t do fractals.

Okay, that’s the short version.

My main complaint is the complete removal of agency from the player character. There is now no point at which my character feels like I have any say over what he says or does. He’s entirely and completely a plot device and what’s more his dialog now reflects that in an irritatingly post-modern, self-referential way. I get the strong feeling that whoever is writing the PC dialog has lost interest in even paying lip-service to pretending it’s a player character. It’s a plot device, nothing more.

Luckily I was playing my Asura – any “oath” he took is going to be about as binding on him as the promises Taimi gives Phlunt. If I’d been playing my Charr I’d probably be shopping for a new monitor about now.

I realize this isn’t BioWare and we don’t get dialog trees but is it really too much to ask that whoever writes this stuff follows some very basic guidelines at least? If you’re going to veer off in these completely unexpected directions, at least give us the chance to get off the bus without having to give up on the Living Story altogether.

Now that LS3 is over, there’s so much to say ! Sorry for wall, I’ll keep things clear.

Siren’s land
This map did overall make a good impression.

• Art and layout nice. Clean map, enjoyable to navigate ;
• Reknown hearts not so interesting but less tedious than before : good point ;
• Wyvern at Dwayna’s reliquary : boring fight with too much CC ;
• Wurm at Balthazar’s reliquary : impossible to melee, and that’s a big pity ;
• Again, too many mobs with insane skills, insane confusion and burn stacks. Are you designing things for your enjoyement, or for the players’ ?

Episode’s instances and story
This episode probably was one of the worse episodes in the season, story and game-wise.

• First instance : mostly good. I enjoyed the puzzles : they were a good change.
• Second instance : that one is a huge shame for whoever designed this. Namely :
  • That oath part is an absolute nonsense for all non-human races
  • As the commander of the pact, I’m fed up with being treated as a noisy brat, because 1 – I’m not Braham 2 – I took an active part in slaying two dragons. That stupid shining blade is not happy I’m willing to take part ? Well, I’ll decorate her head with my hammer !
  • I fought Mordremoth who tried to use my doubts against me too ! And I won. And I still have so much doubt that a puny human mesmer can use it against me ? I’m the commander of the pact, and with my background, I should have been able to snap out of this mess in a shrug.
  • And all this for what ? What kind of secret and intricate plot is the Shining Blade hiding against such big oath mumbo jumbo ? They want to kill Lazarus. NO WAY ! Is that all you've got ?
    Moreover :
  • Friends can’t take part in the fight
  • Grenades are ridiculous : they don’t deal any damage
  • You can’t hit the ground where White Mantle comes from the balcony because of LoS issues. Are you actually testing your stuff before release ? It clearly seems not !
  • Fight with the doubt is boring and tedious, and the achievement seems even more tedious.
• Third instance : Mostly fine. Lore and storytelling are terrific :
  • How did this aspect end up here ? Wasn’t the White Mantle supposed to have gathered them all ? Wait... Livia did ! _Deus ex Machina_
  • Lazarus and Livia are nice to meet again. Yet, for players who didn't enjoy GW1, it must have been messy.
  • Are we supposed to understand we’re heading to Crystal Desert ? I didn’t…

LS3 story :
Overall, it’s messy, confusing and disjointed.

• Episodes 1-4-6+5 = White Mantle’s arc. That should have felt more like the spine of the story because that’s what it’s supposed to be. The plot twist came too late (ep.5), and so it felt hurried, while episodes 1 and 4 work very well together.
• Episodes 2-3 = The usual dragon hunting and slaying things. Considering the turn taken with the story, those eventually feel useless.
• Episodes 3-6 = Braham’s drama. A too long cutscene, and one single line of dialog of Taimi’s are almost worth slaying an Elder dragon... ? Better not should have talked about this at all.
• Episodes 5-6 = Balthazar’s whereabouts. And what do we actually know ? Nothing. The whole episode 6 was about chasing big B, for what ? Where did he go ? We’re not sure. What did he want ? We don’t know. Why did he go in Abaddon’s reliquary ? We don’t know. A whole episode chasing ghosts.

Miscelleanous

• What about Aurene ? What about the Pale Tree ?
• What about Rytlock ? What about Zojja ?
• Our own guild is now… Taimi ! That said, I’m happy with how she’s now.
• The new mastery is a pleasant nod to players asking for a bard profession. It’s mostly useless though.

Good map, ranked second after Draconis.
New way point system bad
Loved boss fights and puzzles
Mastery: nice lore, bad implementation. Simple, boring buffs.
Story: all LS3 episodes are fine, but they don’t fit together very nicely. Its like the different living story teams didn’t interact with each other as much as they should have. LS3 felt like multiple stories instead of one directed story, not good.
Last cinematic fell short compared to LS2.

well, I liked the story, the voice acting and especially the map. It is gorgeous.

I am confused about the hostile reactions ‘my charr would never… my asura would never…’

Really? Asura, having the chance to glimps into an old order and ‘research’ its secrets? Asura are known to do anything for knowledge. Charr, after being booted out from the legions, being part of some order, the pact, fighting side by side with humans, even seraph, and you have a problem overcoming speci-ism? Then you were unfit to be a pact commander in the first place. Good thing one was replaced as one…

Norn should not have any problems, first norn to join this exclusive group? Good for the legend. Sylvari are doing everything for the experience… so no problem either. The interesting part is, when those secrets show up in some other sylvari’s dream.

The puzzles were not too hard. The fights were not too hard. The map is nice to explore. I liked the story and the dialogue. Some think that the Priest of Balthasar acted like a child – ever seen an adult bully, filled with adrenaline and excitement? Yes, they act like that.

The only thing that is more or less meh is the new mastery. Could be great but at the moment it is klunky and hardly worth it.

Fluffball.8307:

She is not you, and it’s not a RPG.

From wikipedia:

“Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSOFT. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, blah blah blah”

Turtle Dragon.9241:

The fact that you made something as casual as collecting Cats for our Home Instance into something hardcore is plain disgusting. You are forcing everyone who loves Cats to do Level100 Challenge Mode just to get that Cat. Most casual players cant even get it or complete their Cat collection anymore.

For those who dont know, the newest Cat requires to eat an item that only drops from the Fractal 100 CM Chest.

Oh… just as well I gave up on the cats after the SAB bumblebee one. Say, any chance the item is tradeable? I’m guessing not.

Brief points!:
Everything I hated about Livias personality in GW1 was greatly exaggerated for this game. But that’s not really bad writing or anything. Just personal preference. I just wanted to get off my chest that I always thought Livia was overrated and annoying.

But personal hang-ups aside, I thought A net did a pretty good job. (Even with Livia) Continuity is solid, the new map was good, story instances…did seem a little rushed at times I guess. I didn’t mind the puzzles. Really. It’s a good break from the monotonous “here’s your enemy, hit him and tank his damage!”

I’m generally satisfied with how some loose ends were done. Im glad we can stop speculating who is actually Livia. (And go back to thinking everybody is Lyssa I guess)
I think a lot of people expected Lazarus to be more significant due to hype from previous chapters and wild speculations, but I think he was given the proper amount of attention. He really wasn’t that special in GW1 either. Just slightly smarter than the average Mursaat.

I’m also pretty excited about the expansion. Crystal Desert was my favorite region in all of GW1. And I liked most regions.

Brief points!:
Everything I hated about Livias personality in GW1 was greatly exaggerated for this game. But that’s not really bad writing or anything. Just personal preference. I just wanted to get off my chest that I always thought Livia was overrated and annoying.

But personal hang-ups aside, I thought A net did a pretty good job. (Even with Livia) Continuity is solid, the new map was good, story instances…did seem a little rushed at times I guess. I didn’t mind the puzzles. Really. It’s a good break from the monotonous “here’s your enemy, hit him and tank his damage!”

I’m generally satisfied with how some loose ends were done. Im glad we can stop speculating who is actually Livia. (And go back to thinking everybody is Lyssa I guess)
I think a lot of people expected Lazarus to be more significant due to hype from previous chapters and wild speculations, but I think he was given the proper amount of attention. He really wasn’t that special in GW1 either. Just slightly smarter than the average Mursaat.

I’m also pretty excited about the expansion. Crystal Desert was my favorite region in all of GW1. And I liked most regions.

Quick blurb on the jumping puzzle.

Not a fan of many of the pixel jumps involved. Kinda unfair to Charr/Norn, as usual.

HOLY KITTEN CAN WE GET THAT CHECKPOINT SYSTEM IN ALL THE LONG JUMPING PUZZLES. It’s greatly appreciated for “fail faster” stuff like this. Great thanks to the team for putting that in.

Stop with the comedy quips and snark. When it feels like literally every line of dialogue has to have some of that you’ve gone too far.

It’s okay to be serious sometimes.

Here are my thoughts:

• I really disliked the forced Shining Blade oath. I wish we had a choice in that. The pc didn’t get much out of it while having to commit quite a lot. My character is sylvari, and the oath seemed like it should be for a human pc only.
• Just personal taste, but I am not fond of Anise
• I didn’t play gw1 and so could have used a bit more background for the ending

The Shining blade ritual was outstanding, well written and executed. This from a long time Wiccan who has lead many rituals. The Lazarus fight was frustrating.

Super tough villians do not drama make. Getting hammered for 1/2 an hour on the final fight really kinda spoiled things.

Overall fine, writing still suffers from not enough time to actually flesh out characters.

Only real complaint goes out to the foley team. Please reconsider the jumping puzzle lily pads sound, the condom filled with water is very jarring.

Story: Bad. Disappointing. Storytelling needs to step it up. The story is trying to focus on too many things at once and failing. Season 3, as a whole, is just incoherent and all over the place. Lazarus, Shining Blade, Balthazar, Dragon’s Watch and the dragons. Its just confusing to me and I’m sure many others when the direction of the story constantly changes direction. Also, tone down the wit and snark. Episode 6 was drenched in it. Everybody’s got jokes! Everyone’s trying to be witty. I didn’t mind it as much earlier in the season, but now it’s just making me angry. My human PC makes me want to punch him in the face every time he talks. Taimi, too. Gw2 story just feels like a sitcom now. Like who writes this dialogue?

Gameplay: Good! A lot of interesting encounters and puzzles. Orr looks fantastic! Much better than Draconis Mons.

My favourite thing about it was the jumping puzzle. I could see where to go and how to get there with just a quick look-around (mostly)
Honestly some of the most fun I’ve had with a jp. I’d love more like this!

I guess I should start by saying that I have not fnished the episode yet and I am not sure I will anytime soon (especially if it is true what I read about the amount and need of jumping puzzles … please, please, please keep such things optional and also please, please, please reduce the vertical-map thing. I know you are proud of that mechanic but cut it down to some managable level). Eventually, maybe, but who ever designed that iniciation-part of the mission did not knew what he/she has been doing.
I apologize for being that harsh here, but my overall disappointment with the episode is only part of what, in my opinion, plagues GW2 from the very beginning. And this is the absolute lack of good storytelling.

From the personal story in the beginning, over the various seasons and the actual overarching story of the entire game you keep having great ideas and story hooks, but you never fallow up on them. You never keep things stringent and logical and almost every episode … and this is worse in season 3 … seem like it was written and done by people who had, at best, only some vague idea what the past episodes have been about. And I am not sure anyone making those is aware of or cares about the actual lore, because the mental gymnastics needed to justify a Charr joining the shining blade is simply mind boggling.

But you keep doing it. The personal story, the Elder Dragons, the Mursaat and now the Gods. You keep bringing things up and toss them aside to chase the next bigger thing only to toss it aside again without proper resolution.
Now I am not one to look at the past with rose colored glasses and prise everything in GW1 as the best thing ever. I actually think GW2 is the much better game. But it still lacks in one VERY important aspect and GW1 was much better there. And this is the story.

GW1 kept their story on tracks in the expansions. And through all the expansions it kept the overarching story on tracks as well. It had a beginning, it had a middle and it had a proper end. It did not simply abondoned everything to go for some totally different directions.

Where are the choices and where is the impact of the personal story? Where are the orders? Where is the Packt? Where are the Elder Dragons? Where is the old group of heros, and where is the new one? And the next will be: where are the Gods and why have they actually showed up in the first place?

Nothing has any significance in the story of GW2 as I am sure the next expansion will turn everything around again and suddenly nothing that happened before will ever be mentioned again. After all the Elder Dragons turned out to be totally insignificant apparently and the human Gods are in danger of suffering the same fate.
You are throwing out any good hook for a story away here! Don’t do that please! Use it instead. Build something out of it and keep to it until it has run its course.

I am not sure where the problem happens. Maybe it is the writers or maybe it is the director who gives out the guidelines. Or maybe it is someone else who looks at the money and has decided to gut any possibility of good storytelling in order to increase the profit margins … I can’t know that. That is something for you to figure out. But please for the sake of this game, figure it out! Fix it, change it, give us something this game deserves!

Well, this is what I can give as feedback to the episode. It might be more of a feedback to the entire game, but for me, the episode kind of showed all the problems I see with it.

At this point, I would apploud if you if you announce to pull the episode and release a proper, corrected version of it in two weeks or so (maybe with the option to slap some sense into Livia … that is another great thing you had but instead of expanding on it, you abondoned it: choices in conversations).

Please .. please .. please .. do better next time.

Not too big a fan of Inception levels of secret society. The story itself isn’t bad, I really have no complaints about it.

For gameplay I have a ton of suggestions. I’ll keep it short.

Less add heavy bosses, a few are OK but every boss isn’t fun. What gear and skill set is this for? What quality of gear is needed, how quick are they required to adjust to new zone specific mechanics, and is this cohesive with solo play.

The last one is the big one for me. This is by far the worst of LWS3 for solo play.

Second to Lake Doric this is also bad for Class/Trait exclusion. Where Doric was heavily anti projectile this is heavily anti minion master. Too many zone mechanics wipe minions.

Turtle Dragon.9241:

The fact that you made something as casual as collecting Cats for our Home Instance into something hardcore is plain disgusting. You are forcing everyone who loves Cats to do Level100 Challenge Mode just to get that Cat. Most casual players cant even get it or complete their Cat collection anymore.

For those who dont know, the newest Cat requires to eat an item that only drops from the Fractal 100 CM Chest.

So that’s how you get it?

I plan on doing it eventually so I don’t mind the exclusivity, but I’m also wondering if this cat is actually modeled after a dev or something’s real life cat and this is a memorial to them. In that case I completely understand why they made it a little extra difficult to get and kudos.

This whole post is probably a spoiler. The story was bad. Very bad. I wasn’t uninterested, I was actively angry about how bad it was.

1. The whole deal with the Oath is ridiculous. My thoughts during this boiled down to, “Who the hell do these people think they are, who is this Kerida person, why is she talking to me like an actual child, why is the Shining Blade inducting me into their inner circle, why is any of this necessary, and your big secret is that you want to kill a mursaat?” Is this a joke? You want to throw rocks at me, threaten me with death, and, frankly, go way too far with bringing me into your organization, when you could have just been like “Hey, want to kill the last mursaat? It’s on the way to where you’re going.” I don’t see any reason the PC would have a problem with that. Not to mention how laughable this becomes with non-human characters. There was no reason for this section to exist.

2. Livia and Lazarus. No one that didn’t play Eye of the North cares. Even worse, players who don’t know/care about her will have no idea why this random woman, who was just introduced, is talking to their character like it’s a chore. Even WORSE, the PC acts like an idiot the entire time, basically justifying it. It’s antagonizing to the audience, and robs players of the fantasy that maybe, just maybe, their character has some kind of personality.

3. So, Balthazar is doing… what? Why? Because reasons? Even the tiniest hint about what the hell is going on? No? I am, however, happy that it was at least acknowledged, via the scene in the Divinity’s Reach temple, that an actual god popping out of nowhere is a big deal. Kasmeer losing her mind when a god appeared in the flesh last episode is probably the most reasonable reaction to that, but most everyone else seems to be like “It’s just your mythical god, bro, why are you freaking out? Don’t be a kitten.” Really?

4. Braham. I’ll buy that he’s gathered an army off-screen, Game of Thrones-style. That’s fine. Actually pretty dope. I’ll buy that he’s marched north. I can’t buy that he already “surrounded” Jormag, and was totally about to kill it, but then got robbed by the PC’s actions. Can you just roll up on an elder dragon now? Is Jormag not the reason the Norn had to flee south to begin with? Did the Norn rally that much strength, or did Jormag get that weak? This raises so many questions I don’t even know where to start.

5. More loose threads than a cat with a ball of yarn. It’s completely understandable, and expected, that major plot points are being saved for the expansion, but instead of generating interest and excitement, this season was more like running around in circles, blind, confused, and frustrated. If anything, this lowered my expectations for the expansion.

Gameplay was tight, though. Challenging and engaging without being artificially difficult. A+ on that. F on storytelling.

It feels like we’ve been served leftovers.

There is a difference between annoying and challenging.
The challenge here is to try and not get too annoyed, because so far that’s all i got. From figuring out puzzles, to fighting some over power counterpart, to disappearing updraft. One of the most awesome feature in this game is dodging, but its pretty much useless in the final fight. It felt more like ‘’Caudecus revisited’’ then anything.

On the good side, lots of GW1 lore and no lesbian love affairs.

So i went through all of living world seasom 3 episode 6 one path ends. And found it enjoyable. Wasnt dissapointed though i did expect it to be 2 to 3 times harder. The last fight did remind me of the eye brawler boss from wow. You guys do do a good job of emersinv your char in the story i like how you defeat the boss. Though still should be harder imo im also a advanced gamer. Checked out sirens landing and i like it. I like the events fairly easy to get around looks fajtastic. Id have to say my fave thing though is abadons ascent jp. Best part of e6 imo whoever constructed that did such a fantastic job its epic give us more of that in expansion. More jps thier so uniquely gw2 one of the reqsons i left wow for gw2. Keep it uo. Sincerly tick

I only have this to say: We’ve come a long way since season one.

I must conclude that everyone who hates this season is looking back on the past with rose-tinted glasses, and doesn’t remember what it was really like.

Hannelore.8153:

I must conclude that everyone who hates this season is looking back on the past with rose-tinted glasses, and doesn’t remember what it was really like.

Everyone who hates this episode hates it because the plot and execution of it is terrible. As for the past that was similarly terrible, there are no rose tinted glasses, it’s just that the story in this game continues to be a resounding disappointment.

EDIT: IMO

EDIT II: Been thinking about this over my lunch break; the season up until the Balthazar reveal was okay, I really enjoyed the first Lazarus reveal and was looking forward to him being the next big bad (had this been the case I think it would’ve worked out better). Anyway, from Balthazar on things started getting messy, but bearable (Flashpoint would have made a pretty good season finale IMO) and then episode 6 killed my hype.

PROS – Really good map design, simple (not as complex as the last one). Story was fascinating (howerver I expected a more epic cinematic at the end because it is considered a first teaser trailer for the expansion).

CONS – Some story achievements (for example: not hit by lighting) I found them extremely hard. Huge cost for each piece of legendary trinket, need to be reduced. Expected the release of all the remaining legendary weapons… it’s been 5 years since the release of Guild Wars 2 and Greatsword, Longbow, Scepter, Warhorn legendaries are old enough.

Liked:
-Livia’s dynamic with the PC
-the wyvern event & Dwayna area in general
-the jumping puzzle
-the manifestation of self-doubt fight, reminds me of GW1 doppelganger; liked having to rethink my build to get both achievs.
-unlocking the shrines! res shrines! so much easier to get around!
-the new map generally
-easy, fast ways to do hearts
-puzzles in story instances
-putting to bed the Lazarus thing FINALLY
-no Braham

Didn’t like:
-the new mastery, too much tomfoolery with it
-the boss fights in the story instances are too frenetic and kind of hard
-Livia dies too much
-haven’t attempted them, but probably going to be a nightmare to try not to get struck by lightning and doing the boss in 9 minutes (I hate “Don’t get struck by X” achievs.)
-can’t see the pages until you’re right on them—I get if you don’t want to have something’s name viewable, but at least give it sparklies, a more noticeable visual, better clues, or sound effects (like the LA karka thing from way back when)—it’d be nice to be able to figure these things out instead of just go to Dulfy

Please for the love of Tyria just fix the oath, my Charr centurion PC can not be part of that club honorary or otherwise.

Likes –
New Map Interesting new take on Orr, like that the area is starting to regrow normally
Instance 1 Good mix of puzzles and combat, love the fact you can skip 70% of the jumping at the start with mushrooms.

Dislikes –
Instance 2 It's already said by many others, "Blood Oath" is totally out of Culture for everyone bar Human (and maybe norn).
Instance 3 If I wanted to play a bullet-hell I'd buy one. The Lazerus fight is nothing but irritating; Livia dies too quickly if you can't heal, Lazerus has too many AoEs, and the front cone attack is a death sentance for any melee characters. This is something I'd expect from a raid boss, not a story one.

Overall – 3/10

Great story telling! But once again I am “saving the world” by myself. I hope in season 4 that boss encounters are meta events like found in DM. The meta there makes the story end disappointing. I hope that, while the improvements to story and encounter design are well done, stories will revolve around a series of metas for their evolution.

Don’t have time to read the thread and haven’t got to the story yet so…

Is this another case of a new map being locked behind a story step?

Liked:
- Mistlock Sanctuary (especially the Fractal portal)
- Living World Portal Tome
- Account unlockable shrine ‘waypoints’
- Abbadon’s Ascent JP – one or two ‘blind’ jumps, but otherwise a well-done JP
- Siren’s Landing map – good visuals and fun gameplay
- A new Fractal
- Updated bank-depositable materials

Did not like:
- No tome for lounge passes yet
- Story felt a bit contrived – the Shining Blade oath portion was not necessary
- Lack of prior masteries (thermal tubes, oakheart reach) in Siren’s Landing

Overall much more to like than to not like!

Story was absolute crap! I have no hope the expansion will be any better. Sad state of affairs.

Let’s see:

Liked:

• The new map
• The new Mastery
• The map story
• First instance concept
• Legendary Sword design
• The Portal Tome
• Enemy mechanics
• Last Bossfight and instance.
• The story idea….

Dislike:

• The story execution
• The forced way the story is handled
• The lack of any former introduction to the Livia stuff
• That this story part felt unneccessary in light of curent story events
• The forced blood oath, without any good reason and no player input
• The constant snark and witty comments from all people. Ironicly Taimi was the calm one this time

Bottom line, liked the release, hated the way the story was handled. I know what they tried to do, but the execution is rushed, forced and very unpleasant to sit through. I really hope there will be proper explanation on why it is that way in the behind the scenes video, because that was the worse than Braham turning emo.

1) Did not like the story. I thought is was unengaging, irrelevant, added nothing of any value to address anyt ongoing “paths” and made no sense as part of the LWS3 story. What kind of egomaniac would bring back the real Lazarus in order to kill him or die trying? This is the kind of bad writing you guys need to replace. Look to SW:TOR (and please, not WoW, their writing is horrible) for engaging story content, if your writing staff need inspiration.

2) I liked most of the other additions in the patch, but have not done the JP on the new map (not normally my thing, anyway) or the new Fractal. I normally hate the new fractals because the difficulty levels are absurd and even 3 months after the addition, it is difficult to find pugs able to do the content. But we shall see. I am hoping you have made some design changes after the last 3 mistakes.

3) I liked the new map. The design was up to the usually high standards (i.e. the awesome Ember Bay map). The content was engaging in terms of events, exploration and gathering opportunities, although I am mystified by the absurd addition of so many single-chop ancient sapling nodes.

4) The “Legendary Trinkets” are a bit of a sore point for me. All indications are there is only one, not a matched pair. This is not common sense. Please consider your decisions carefully when reviewing/approving content like this in the future. For example, a collection for a single legendary ring? → Pointless. Rings are used in pairs.

Overall summary : my feelings on the patch content are decidedly mixed. The story was not up to the LWS3 standard in my humble opinion. The new map and material storage additions were clearly the positives in my opinion.

Before this Episode I loved every aspect and variation of gliding. But I hate the gliding in Dwaynas reliquary to the top of the waterfall. The distance to the disappearing updrafts is hard to see and they disappear mostly right in front of me, and the updrafts around the waterfall are nearly invisible for me because of the spray of the waterfall.

I can’t believe my progress is being halted before it hardly begins by that &^%$ bloodstone prison puzzle in the hideout in Brisban in Where’s Balthazar. I’m embarrased. But I’m also really angry.

Self Doubt (story instance). Awful. Possibly one of the worst and frustrating , if not the worst, fight ever.

Sorry, but I didn’t like it. Pretty much for all the reasons already mentioned. Hope this isn’t a preview for the expansion.

New map was good. New mastery was a bit confusing, I’m not sure I understand all the functionality even now. Release was a bit buggy, had to repeat final battle a number of times due to boss bugging out. new node was missing for me until yesterday. The opening acts didn’t lend themselves to going through with a group of friends. Watching one person struggle with aspect of self doubt without being able to help was a bummer. Watching asura friend crushed by boulders to allow my norn ranger access to the blades was priceless. Good work little asura, well done. A solid B+

After an hour of throwing rocks in a little room and using every pet I have (which is all), my ranger cannot break-bar the Eye of Janthir (Story quest). I’m stuck in a room not getting hurt nor hurting the boss. No clues..no hints, just rocks. I’m going to try one more time, and then the story line ends for me…too frustrating for a solo ranger. The breakbar on the Eye is impossible.

I was liking it up until that point…..

poochz.4507:

After an hour of throwing rocks in a little room and using every pet I have (which is all), my ranger cannot break-bar the Eye of Janthir (Story quest). I’m stuck in a room not getting hurt nor hurting the boss. No clues..no hints, just rocks. I’m going to try one more time, and then the story line ends for me…too frustrating for a solo ranger. The breakbar on the Eye is impossible.

I was liking it up until that point…..

It has nothing to do with the class you’re playing.

Pick up a rock, have the EoJ go near the Keepers. Toss Rock at EoJ.

I’ll just start off brutally:
I did not enjoy this episode or the map. Both felt very flat and shallow.
The story felt very linear. What I enjoyed especially about the Flashpoint episode was all of Taimi’s cute moments, i.e. when you heard her crashing over things to get to the transcommunicator or when she starts to say “Well what do you know, I was wrong—” right before a machine explodes. But your partner in One Path Ends doesn’t have much depth to her, her backstory is unoriginal, and her voice is annoying ;.; she sounds like she’s heavily condescending (but that could just be me).
The map also feels very blah. All of the hearts are basically the same and the map is literally flat except for the updrafts area and the jumping puzzle. And it’s really grey (which I understand is an appropriate theme here). But everything combined just makes this episode a disappointment.
Do more things that you did in Flashpoint/Draconis Mons in the future!

just as state it above….. hope.. i still have a bit of hope for the expansion, or im a gonner

Just played the story, up to the oath taking. My thoughts so far:

Thank you for the merging of the Sentient eaters, the Portal Tome and the material storage additions. All wonderful improvements. Thank you also for the new core mastery points. I didn’t need them but it always feels good to get more points and they were places in places that previously had no particular use so well done there.

On the story:

I thought this was the weakest chapter by far (in an already weak season). No real strong connection with the next xpac and the actual missions were very much NOT fun. Especially the first two. Those were torture and you gated the new zone behind those awful missions. >_<

I would have been happy if Laz escape so the chase continues. I can of hate it when writers dispose of an excellent villain rather than letting them scurry away so they can be a thorn in the hero’s side at some later date.