Guild Wars 2

The wife and I took a second set of toons through to the end of the personal story and Zhatain met his demise. The first time we completed it was long ago so we quite well forgot the anemic rewards at the end but at least it was worth a chuckle.

Trahearne in his final speech tells us, the Commander, that all of Tyria is in our debt and as long as he is Marshall he will do his best to see that the debt is paid. The final rewards included those ultra rare unidentifiable objects as well as gears or what is commonly known throughout Tyria as vendor trash. Did the person responsible for selecting a reward for the Commander pocket the good stuff? Why would it ever include vendor trash? The total rewards for being the person most instrumental in saving Tyria and bringing down Zhatain if changed to coin would amount to 2 gold….maybe. Even the armor you get although an exotic piece was for a level 18 character. I highly doubt anyone has made it through to the end of the personal story, killed Zhatain and was only level 18!

So we do have 7 more sets of characters to run through the rest of their stories but when you look at the risk versus reward plus the time it takes to run the final chapter and compare those rewards and the time required to kill a champ in Orr’s champ train or Tequatl for that matter is the personal story really worth completing more then once?

No one plays the PS for the money.

Mental Paradox.3845:

No one plays the PS for the money.

And that is why it is not really worth doing more then once. The final chapter in the PS is the same for everyone, no matter what path you take to get there so completing that final chapter more then once is a waste of time.

Those items are part of a mentor’s kit…..

For your next character!
(since you just beat the game on that one)

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Those items are part of a mentor’s kit…..

For your next character!
(since you just beat the game on that one)

Lol…I have 9 level 80 toons, all with 100% map completion and 2 with PS completion. I have a stack of “mentor” items in the vault collecting dust.

However the point is my toon that just finished the personal story, saved tyria and all that jazz is the one that should get a commensurate reward, NOT my next character.

I think the main reward is supposed to be the Pact weapon skin.

I have played since headstart but have only compleated the game with 2 chars… I though do not care about the rewards, I just wait for new friends to play the story with and enjoy the game together with friends. I play it slow but sure and I always play for enjoyment, if it’s not fun I don’t play… In my opinion, better rewards is not fun.

How many times have you compleated Super Mario Bros.? If you compleated it more that two times, why did you do it? Did you do it for rewards/Score? Or… Was it just*fun*.

Mental Paradox.3845:

No one plays the PS for the money.

This.

The PS “climax” and game-play in GW2 is akin to a wet fart. There are WAY better moments to be found earlier in the PS imo.

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

How many times have you compleated Super Mario Bros.? If you compleated it more that two times, why did you do it? Did you do it for rewards/Score? Or… Was it just*fun*.

Well to tell you the honest truth I never played Super Mario Brothers….

Theftwind.8976:

Mental Paradox.3845:

No one plays the PS for the money.

And that is why it is not really worth doing more then once. The final chapter in the PS is the same for everyone, no matter what path you take to get there so completing that final chapter more then once is a waste of time.

Depends entirely on your definition of “worth”. If to you, the worth of your playtime is measured in the amount of shinies you can collect during that time, then finishing the personal story is probably not high on your list. If to me, finishing my character’s story and enjoying a nice time with friends is what makes my time in game worth it, then suddenly the final story chapter is much higher on my list of things to do. I play to have a good time, not to amass (virtual) shinies.

Theftwind.8976:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Those items are part of a mentor’s kit…..

For your next character!
(since you just beat the game on that one)

Lol…I have 9 level 80 toons, all with 100% map completion and 2 with PS completion. I have a stack of “mentor” items in the vault collecting dust.

However the point is my toon that just finished the personal story, saved tyria and all that jazz is the one that should get a commensurate reward, NOT my next character.

I’ve got 11 toons, all of which have their PS done….. and back in my day, we didn’t get any fancy rewards…. except a pact victory token and a few boxes with yellow ribbons that always contained green items 100% of the time (I’m pretty sure they still give you those same boxes as part of the reward, but you can actually get masterwork OR HIGHER gear now).

I have done the PS two times since the update to the rewards, and I must say that compared to what they used to be, they are pretty nice.

I did end up tossing the armor pieces, but the tomes I’m saving for my next 80.

Theftwind.8976:

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

How many times have you compleated Super Mario Bros.? If you compleated it more that two times, why did you do it? Did you do it for rewards/Score? Or… Was it just*fun*.

Well to tell you the honest truth I never played Super Mario Brothers….

You could replace that example with any game where the ‘reward’ for finishing the game was that you’d finished. Which is most non-MMO games.

When I was reading this topic I was actually thinking of the Zelda games, and Ocarina of Time in particular, one of my favourite games and frequently considered to be one of the best ever made. By MMO standards you really get screwed over when you complete it. Unlike all the other bosses in the game defeating Ganon rewards you absolute nothing. No heart container, no new item, nothing but a cut scene and some credits. Even worse you can’t even keep playing afterwards, if you want to do anything else you have to reload a save file from before that fight.

And yet that’s the point people are working towards throughout the entire game and very few people would be satisfied that they had finished it without beating him.

They don’t do it to be awarded with a new virtual item or money. They do it for the fun and challenge and to see the end of the story. And many people do choose to do it multiple times.

Whether fighting Zhaitan is fun or challenging or interesting is entirely subjective. But it’s really not that unusual and shouldn’t be surprising that gamers choose to do it even if they know they won’t be awarded a special item or a pile of gold.

Taken by itself the personal story rewards would not be an issue which is why I never really noticed it the first time around. However since that time I have done everything from WvW to Tequatl to 100% map completion 9 times, etc. Going back now to complete the personal story on my second toon is not really worth the effort when you take everything else into consideration. It is not the “shiny” factor that has me bugged….it is the story itself where the hero of Tyria is rewarded by a measly 2 gold. It just does not “fit”.

Even a statue of yourself, in your home instance, would be something more fitting as a reward for your heroics.

I’m pretty sure a huge amount of resources were used to kill Zhaitan. What do most soldiers end up getting at the end of wars…even heroes?

War is hell. Now we know why.

Rasimir.6239:

If to you, the worth of your playtime is measured in the amount of shinies you can collect during that time, then finishing the personal story is probably not high on your list. If to me, finishing my character’s story and enjoying a nice time with friends is what makes my time in game worth it, then suddenly the final story chapter is much higher on my list of things to do. I play to have a good time, not to amass (virtual) shinies.

Agreed but I would add the quality, hand in hand with replay-ability, of said story also have merit. I’m not a “shines!!!!” type player either but after playing this story through twice I skip everything I can now.

Story is a big deal for me, more so than having the biggest glow stick.

It’s all totally subjective but certain games stories, much like music, film, literature, etc, etc can be played dozens of time through, some never get old.

I’ve watched Dawn of the Dead hundreds of times, it scares me the amount of times I’ve watched the first Star Wars trilogy. I’ve read David Gemmells first novel “Legend” more times than I care to recall and in saying game wise I could say the same in regards to Half-Life, Baldur’s Gate, Skyrim, City of Heroes, etc, etc and while the game was good it was often more than not the enjoyment of replaying the games story that kept me coming back.

I just don’t get this connection or enjoyment of replay-ability from GW2 mainly because I have zero issue with lack of item reward if the story conclusion and game-play work as reward enough after the first play-through. Especially in a genre where it will obviously be played more than once.

For me personally they don’t nail this in GW2, it was an anti-climax to the point where I have little to no plans to repeat it outside the XP and skip every “talking head to talking head” cut-scene as soon as I can because after the first to second play-through it’s pretty paper thin and clear how linear it really is..

Welcome to October 2012.
Juvenile story, 3 silver ultimate reward, choices didn’t matter.

So after sleeping on the issue I would like to play with one idea I posted a bit more, namely a statue of the player completing the personal story in the home instance. Friends visiting your home instance or other characters on your account would get a buff equivalent to a guild heroes banner but limited to once per day. The hero would get the same buff but is able to access that buff as many times as he wants, after all the statue glorifies him.

To build the statue anyone who completes the personal story would visit the home city of each of the 4 races where he is gifted.

Charr – a gift or iron exemplifying the iron resolve of the Charr pact members
Norn – a gift of silver to reflect the icy wastes of their homeland.
Asura – a gift of platinum which has so many multiple uses as do the Asura
Human – a gift of gold to honor the many sacrifices they have made

All these items are then put together to create the statue. Now that would be something that would be a constant reminder that that guy right there, faced Zhatain head on and saved Tyria and it would be ample incentive to finish it more then once.

Theftwind.8976:

So after sleeping on the issue I would like to play with one idea I posted a bit more, namely a statue of the player completing the personal story in the home instance. Friends visiting your home instance or other characters on your account would get a buff equivalent to a guild heroes banner but limited to once per day. The hero would get the same buff but is able to access that buff as many times as he wants, after all the statue glorifies him.

To build the statue anyone who completes the personal story would visit the home city of each of the 4 races where he is gifted.

Charr – a gift or iron exemplifying the iron resolve of the Charr pact members
Norn – a gift of silver to reflect the icy wastes of their homeland.
Asura – a gift of platinum which has so many multiple uses as do the Asura
Human – a gift of gold to honor the many sacrifices they have made

All these items are then put together to create the statue. Now that would be something that would be a constant reminder that that guy right there, faced Zhatain head on and saved Tyria and it would be ample incentive to finish it more then once.

What about Sylvari?

Oops my name is mud with my two Sylvari…..<insert duh moment here> Will edit!

Seera.5916:

Theftwind.8976:

So after sleeping on the issue I would like to play with one idea I posted a bit more, namely a statue of the player completing the personal story in the home instance. Friends visiting your home instance or other characters on your account would get a buff equivalent to a guild heroes banner but limited to once per day. The hero would get the same buff but is able to access that buff as many times as he wants, after all the statue glorifies him.

To build the statue anyone who completes the personal story would visit the home city of each of the FIVE races where he is gifted.

Charr – a gift or iron exemplifying the iron resolve of the Charr pact members
Norn – a gift of silver to reflect the icy wastes of their homeland.
Asura – a gift of platinum which has so many multiple uses as do the Asura
Human – a gift of gold to honor the many sacrifices they have made
Sylvari – a gift of various woods to make the plaque

All these items are then put together to create the statue. Now that would be something that would be a constant reminder that that guy right there, faced Zhatain head on and saved Tyria and it would be ample incentive to finish it more then once.

What about Sylvari?

The best GW ending imho was at the end of Factions. Some won’t know it so here it is, although my last viewing was maybe 3 years ago.

Kill final boss, same as every other game I suppose. Next you get to take quite a long walk along a pathway in what I think was the Royal Palace. Along the way the path was sometimes lined with soldiers other times by various NPCs you had met in the game. There was a Phoenix which could be tamed by a Ranger or a character whose second profession was a Ranger, the only place you could get the Phoenix until much later so a really cool thing to have. The reward was an Amulet which could be exchanged for one of many unique ítems.

For me it was like being the hero in an epic movie. I still have the screenshot with me, my wife and some NPC Heroes lined up. I remember having the pet, I had to repeat as a Warrior/Ranger to get that, but no idea which unique ítem I chose.

It is less about the reward more about the achievement. A one off opportunity to chose a unique weapon would be nice. Most important though would be something epic to happen. Think of the end of Star Wars Episode 4, some place filled with countless soldiers all there to salute you as you receive your Amulet.

If you played Factions you will know the kind of thing I mean.

Thord – pretty much the same thing happened at the end of every other GW1 campaign, and at the end of GW2.

After you defeat Zhaitan you’re sent back to Fort Trinity, all your (surviving) allies are there, along with a few surprising characters from earlier in the story congratulating you and celebrating the victory and Trahearne gives you a token you can trade for a Pact weapon (the only place these skins are available, although they are tradable), there’s fireworks and (if you hang around) dancing ghostly moas.

The only thing missing is the unique pet.

Imo it has become even more unrewarding after the NPE patch, at least previously you got rewarded with some very valuable superior sigils (inside green weapons with cool skins) during the 70-80 steps…