Recovering from Big Disasters
We killed Zhaitan over two years ago and we haven’t even begun to see Orr change or any pattern change with the Risen. So likely not.
We killed Zhaitan over two years ago and we haven’t even begun to see Orr change or any pattern change with the Risen. So likely not.
This is a good point. Because Zhaitan was THE story of the game though, I’ve let it lie. New players still always have Zhaitan as their story line.
Everything else has been extra though.
My mate reminded that after the Mad King’s arrival there was a short living story event where the citizens came together to repair the statue. I think this kind of thing is good and should be given more attention. Tyria was beautiful, and still is in many places but after these big disasters normally nice areas like Kessexs Hills and Lion’s Arch are getting, just destroyed and left that way.
There’s the occasional NPC hammering away at rubble in Lion’s Arch but are we ever going to see it repaired?
I think a lot of it has to do with ANet’s ambition being too large for their relatively small teams leading this kind of content. They have huge ideas like blowing up LA, but then they have to be on to the next one. There’s no time to account for how that mess will be cleaned up because it isn’t actively part of their trajectory (at the moment).
Mind you this is just my opinion, but it seems like they have a ton of climaxes with very little ramps, because they are under such strain to get that bombshell to live servers.
Lion’s Arch is slowly being tidied up. I’m guessing that by the start of LS3 the new Lion’s Arch will be mostly in place.
We killed Zhaitan over two years ago and we haven’t even begun to see Orr change or any pattern change with the Risen. So likely not.
Yeah but that’s a technical issue. Orr isn’t living word, it’s personal story and new players need to see it like it is to experience the fight to get to Zhaitain. Orr is locked in time due to design decisions.
The idea of creating an alter version of the map that’s healing splits the player base, which Anet doesn’t want to do.
I think a lot of it has to do with ANet’s ambition being too large for their relatively small teams leading this kind of content. They have huge ideas like blowing up LA, but then they have to be on to the next one. There’s no time to account for how that mess will be cleaned up because it isn’t actively part of their trajectory (at the moment).
Mind you this is just my opinion, but it seems like they have a ton of climaxes with very little ramps, because they are under such strain to get that bombshell to live servers.
I’m inclined to agree based on what I’ve seen; big ambitions, but a difficult time making them a reality because… well, let’s face it… doing big stuff in a live MMO is just hard.
Or words to that effect.
We killed Zhaitan over two years ago and we haven’t even begun to see Orr change or any pattern change with the Risen. So likely not.
Yeah but that’s a technical issue. Orr isn’t living word, it’s personal story and new players need to see it like it is to experience the fight to get to Zhaitain. Orr is locked in time due to design decisions.
The idea of creating an alter version of the map that’s healing splits the player base, which Anet doesn’t want to do.
That’s the argument, and I don’t deny that it’s a good point, but it’s hard for me to believe that they didn’t consider the issue of time-lock while making the personal story (and in all honesty, who am I to say they won’t address it, or didn’t discuss it?). I just don’t want to see a game with a lot of unfinished business, so to speak, two or three years down the road. Orr, Kessex, LA, and now Mordremoths damage – and we are only one and a half dragons in. Primordus is going to cause all kinds of chaos when we encounter him, most likely.
For all we know, this is their plan – to obliterate their landscape so that in a few years from now we can look back and say, “wow, look at all this destruction that the dragons caused!” And admittedly that would be cool. But as time goes on, and as new players come in, and as people get restless, threads like this are going to continue to emerge as people want answers as to why the game world is not progressing. I think they have a plan, and I hope it works, but I can see why people are starting to question ANet’s priorities. And even as I say that I bite my tongue because I know that there are multiple teams doing a lot of different things and so on.
So, TL;DR:
We’ll see.
actually they consolidated their teams and that’s why living world hasn’t sucked this year.. adventure box took a hit though, which i could care less for because it is total fluff content and so did dragon bash sad to have nothing on this as it ties into lore and is off putting that they couldn’t implement some fireworks, a bonfire.. or even a dragon piñata? next there will be no more norn moots and asurans won’t build golems. . reason? umm, scarlet and/or dragons. . i guess
seriously though, to be more on topic.. they supposedly have things storyboarded a year in advance.. i’m sure development is a bit adaptable but not to the extent that player concerns are going to influence it.. if they didn’t think of it, it’s not getting done..
arena net boasted this intricate living world and i doubt they have the resources.. i really would have liked to see the holo-projector replace the lions statue and for the place to get a new name and mascot.. this is past tense as i have no confidence towards such things anymore.. i will patiently wait for new living story installments and not be surprised if certain things remain un-polished
We did get to see the sinkhole in Divinity’s Reach made into the Queen’s Arena. So that’s at least one instance where a damaged area got restored (even if it was damaged before the start of the game).
An entire city being outright destroyed isn’t something that is rebuilt quickly. It’s rebuilding SHOULD take years. And when it is it won’t be the same Lion’s Arch we remember.
That doesn’t mean they’ll leave it the same. We’ll probably see small changes over time that slowly add up.
We killed Zhaitan over two years ago and we haven’t even begun to see Orr change or any pattern change with the Risen. So likely not.
Yeah but that’s a technical issue. Orr isn’t living word, it’s personal story and new players need to see it like it is to experience the fight to get to Zhaitain. Orr is locked in time due to design decisions.
The idea of creating an alter version of the map that’s healing splits the player base, which Anet doesn’t want to do.
That’s the argument, and I don’t deny that it’s a good point, but it’s hard for me to believe that they didn’t consider the issue of time-lock while making the personal story (and in all honesty, who am I to say they won’t address it, or didn’t discuss it?). I just don’t want to see a game with a lot of unfinished business, so to speak, two or three years down the road. Orr, Kessex, LA, and now Mordremoths damage – and we are only one and a half dragons in. Primordus is going to cause all kinds of chaos when we encounter him, most likely.
For all we know, this is their plan – to obliterate their landscape so that in a few years from now we can look back and say, “wow, look at all this destruction that the dragons caused!” And admittedly that would be cool. But as time goes on, and as new players come in, and as people get restless, threads like this are going to continue to emerge as people want answers as to why the game world is not progressing. I think they have a plan, and I hope it works, but I can see why people are starting to question ANet’s priorities. And even as I say that I bite my tongue because I know that there are multiple teams doing a lot of different things and so on.
So, TL;DR:
We’ll see.
This is how it’s done in most games, though. Guild Wars 2 is the exception, not the rule.
There’s a town in Rift that’s being attacked by elementals. But it’s not a dynamic event. No matter when you go there or what you do, the town is always being attacked by elementals even though you get through that town and move on. Go back the next day, it’s locked in time. Go back the day after, same thing. Jump ahead from the beginning. The same.
There’s a quest hub nearby and you need the quests in that town to level, so that city must remain burning. So people can level.
Guild Wars 2 is different in that there are no quest hubs, per se and you can level anywhere. But the idea that everything needs to change has a problem.
Changing an entire zone takes time. We have to actually decide if we want the focus to be on rehashing old zones, or making new ones.
As cool as it would be to see Orr born again, I have to say I’d rather just see new zones.
Concerning Orr:
Orr is pretty ingenious because it serves both old and new players to the storyline and it works well. For new players, they confront Zhaitan’s Undead and progress through the encounters. After Zhaitan is defeated, Orr becomes a mop up enterprise, after all, all those undead didn’t just disappear when Zhaitan was destroyed, they have to be put down.
Additionally, Orr will be centuries in recovery, because it was submerged undersea for centuries and until all the Risen are eliminated, it’s not exactly a great place to build a summer home.
Concerning Lion’s Arch:
It’s being slowly rebuilt, there’s little changes every now and again after patches. I think the Devs are taking their time with the New LA, players adjust as they always do, when LA is finished, I am sure it will be very popular again.
It’s a win/win for the game; right the players seek out other cities and are coaxed out of their usual haunts.