Guild Wars 2

(Improvement suggestion to ArenaNet)

Background:

ArenaNet have been very good at writing interesting lore and short-stories. The GW universe is filled with so much detail and depth, which has made the game quite loveable amongst its lore-loving players.
However, at the same time they are often criticized for not presenting their lore in a good way and/or not presenting it in-game. We have a lack of good presentation and a lack of “lore immersity”.

In-game books:

In game, you’ll find quite many interactive (and non-interactive) books scattered around.
However, these are presented in form of tedious and boring UIs (dialogue boxes). One sentence at a time, you need to click “next” to read more. And you’re very seldom given more than 3-4 short sentences per book.

The Elder Scrolls series are well known for their massive library of in-game books. And these are often 20 pages (or more) stuffed with both text and illustrations.
Guild Wars 1 did the same (+more) with their Storybooks. And I was really quite surprised they didn’t transfer and further improve this way of presenting books into GW2.

Public library

By “public”, I really mean public. Renovate the libraries in the basement of the Durmand Priory. Open the doors, and make it the first international (cross-server EU&NA) district, like those we had in GW1.
I think this will be absoultely necessary in order to create a “living, breathing world that bustles with energy”. (I think this is what ArenaNet should have done with their entire server system (maps and cities alike) to keep population dense. But that discussion doesn’t really belong in this thread…)

This would put us next to Mr Wooden Potatos and Konig Des Todes, and we could create a living breathing in-game mini-forum. “Hey, look at what I found. What do you think of this? Does anyone know…?”.
If you limit it to the current server-system, it would quickly feel lonely and empty. And that would take away the interest and immersiveness of being here rather than reading books of the internet.

“Why read books, when you could watch the movie?” aka Nanosuratechnology

This guy is probably not the average player, let’s admit that. So, in order to keep most players from turning out the door the minute after they arrived at our “public library”, we need to do more than just adding a few illustrations and pretty fonts.

With magic and the latest Asura technology, I think Scholar Wikki should be able to add a summary page with active video content for the most important books.
Those lazy bookahs could get the outlines explained from a cutscene similar to those we’ve seen in-game. While the full texts, and ‘less important’ books, will of course add more readable details for those specially interested.
P.S. I don’t want to overuse this type of feature. But simply start out adding one and another. The Living Story could get its own book series “Tyria anno 1326 AE (LS season 1)”, “Tyria 1327 AE (LS season 2)” etc.. And the first book is already more or less completed.

If one prefers to keep a few books in its original language (e.g. New Krytan), this same technology could be also used to give an oral English translation (it could also be possible to add voiceovers also for the English texts).

There’s no such thing as GW1 and GW2 in lore…

I refuse to believe that all copies of books like History of Tyria and An Empire Divided (and many more) has managed to disappear completely. The Durmand Priory have actively been collecting data and books for the last 220 years. So, tear down the wall between GW1 and GW2 in lore, and put these books up on a display stand!

Library sections:

• “Fact-based fiction” = short-stories written in the fiction-style.
• “Nonfiction litterature” = facts. History of Tyria, An Empire Divided, The Ecology of the Charr, Those Sneaky, Sneaky Skritt, etc…
• “Fiction” = Possibly a future extension, where ArenaNet can add some of the best works of fiction content produced by players.

A community effort

ArenaNet can’t do everything on their own. And to “steal” a little bit of fan-created content shouldn’t be considered a shame.
If they create simple-to-follow guidelines for how books should be created. Which fonts and what art content that can be used, players would be able to submit their versions. E.g. on the fan-generated content forums for ArenaNet to use and implement.

For someone who is interested in creating such content, it would be the biggest honor to see some of their work be added to the game.

Unlocking books

I really think the library should be public, in the sense that all players can access most of the books from the very start. But, to encourage the library to be used, some books could require you to do certain things before you can access them within the library. A typical example would be The Founding.

First you would have to do the Speedy Reader achievement and collect all of the scrapped pages (currently they are placed in-game as books, but as I pointed out: I don’t really have much love for books that doesn’t contain more than 3-4 sentences). Then you could bring the scraps to Decimus who will compile them into the complete book (with illustrations and everything) that you can now find in the library.

I don’t know how they will make books appear to some, and be hidden for others, but this can’t be too hard to manage (I think my “international districs” would be itzybitzy harder to implement ^^). If nothing else, you could simply get “Sorry, you haven’t unlocked this book yet.”. I wouldn’t mind that too much.

Misc topics: book stands, other libraries, “book collectibles”

I’ve only been talking about the Durmand library. But the “book overhaul” is something that should be universally for all books and journals of course. But, should you be able to pick up a book from the local book stand for you to keep in your inventory? No…

I did have an idea about being able to buy books. Especially from the book stands. And I was thinking it would be great to be able to “collect’em all” in their very own collectibles tab.
But after some though, I understand that this would definately ruin the “public library” thought I have. If you have your books that easily available, there wouldn’t be much point in going to the Durmand library – and you would certainly loose a lot of the immersive feel and “living breathing world” that I’m looking for.

Therefore, I have in my suggestion instead decided to “force” players to go to the Durmand library if they want to read anything. I do think you could be able to buy some books though, or collect them at libraries – but they would have to be brought to the Durmand library and would be working like an unlock.
“Hey traveler. Please, could you help me deliver this book to Decimus the Historian at the Priory?”, said the librarian to the thief. :P

But if my big thoughts on a living breathing public library fails. Well, then I’d go for book collectibles instead!

.

Pros and cons, what are your thoughts? Could you give a bookahs kitten about books, or would this be something for you?

I am all for an in game library of books. Maybe even a home instance library collection we could fill out.

Maybe scraps to compile into books could be found in different zones of the world (depending on the book focus), to encourage players to go back to them?

Its a good idea

@Bullyrook:

Thanks! I don’t think this is a particularly new idea though? But I do hope and think that I give it a slightly different spin with my thoughts about having it totally public.

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@Sera:

A home instance library would be nice, but it would take away the “living breathing world” aspect (see my “Public library” chapter above).
I really think an in-game library must offer something more (at least something else) than what the web do, in order to be actively used and appreciated by the players.

Regarding scraps: I’m all for it (see my “Unlocking books” chapter above). I mentioned “The Founding”. Other examples could be the Mariner’s Plaques, except you’d be collecting “facts” instead of scraps. Then deliver them to Jituya Itemo. He then writes – and unlocks – the final book version for the library: “Sea of Sorrows (a biography of Cobiah Marriner)” by Jituya Itemo.

For LS releases and in-game implementation of ArenaNet’s wonderful short-stories, let me use The Trek of the Zephyrites as an example (“what the could have done”):
The 3 scraps of the story would initially been a part of the Bazaar patch content. They’ve been spread with the wind, and you’ll find them around the Zephyr Sancum (e.g. accessible via mini-JPs).

When you got all three, you must bring them to Durmand library where it gets compiled into the final book version. It will now be accessible for you here, and you might also get rewarded for the “Scrap Trek” achievement (or something like that :P).

After the patch, all players would get access to the book. As it has now been officially released by the Priory.

Wow. I would really love to see something like that in game. That’s some pretty nice ideas, thumbs up !

Thanks for the positive feedback!
Since this thread was originally posted on the lore forums, I’ll add the feedback it got there:

DaShi.1368:

I hope the Durmond Priory displays the Undead Sea Scrolls from the Royal Library of Arah.

kylwilson.9137:

It would be fantastic to have a cross EU/US ‘instance’ or however you’d like to label it, to talk about lore with other enthusiasts, with all of the in-game lore available in the one place, like as you say, a public library.

Also, Mr Wooden Potatoes recently published a video on The Arch or Nothing short-story where several people commented how they would love to see in-game books/libraries improved. And I’ve seen several discussions about it in-game.

It certainly seems that there is an interest for this sort of feature, but the response to this thread hasn’t exactly been overwhelming. Is this only wanted by the minority? Thoughts?