Guild Wars 2

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to write a quick forum post to express my views on zone specific music and to see how many other people out there feel the same way as I do.

To start off, Guild Wars 2 is a beautiful game and has some incredible music to boot. However I feel that the one thing that lets GW2 down over GW1 and several other games, is it seems to have shyed away from the use of specific music, in specific zones.

I quite commonly find that I may be running around places such as Orr and hear music that should only be played in places such as Queensdale or Gendarran Fields. Now even though the particular music may be fantastic, when you hear happy music playing in a place the represents death and despair, the mood get’s completely ruined!

I remember the days back In GW1 when you’d enter the crystal desert and be presented with that fantastic sound track that was only played in that area. There was no looping of other music to fill the gaps, just the one desert themed sound track that really set the mood for the entire time you were there. This was common place for every single zone in GW1 and as such really created a memory for where you were, not just because of the visuals, but because of the music as well!

GW2 has a tendency to keep playing the music of the zone you just exited and waits for it to finish before playing some music for the new zone. I’m unsure whether this was an attempt to create a fluid transition between zones, but I believe it breaks the immersion of the new zone you’re entering, not the other way round. I don’t feel that cutting/fading the music of the previous zone and starting the new zones soundtrack is an issue, but is instead a fantastic way to set the tone for where you have entered.

I find myself disabling the music in the game as it just breaks the Immersion to much for me in certain situations due to all of this!

It would be great to see zone specific music return to the world of Tyria, whether through a feature pack or as part of the Heart of Thorns expansion. An MMO is all about the immersion and music is a massive part of that!

Let me know if you guys feel the same way and hopefully we can get some Dev’s looking in on this as well!

I have to admit…I miss zone-specific music, as well. Whenever I hear tracks from GW1 playing in GW2, it takes me right back to whatever place it originated.

pitchBLACK.5479:

GW2 has a tendency to keep playing the music of the zone you just exited and waits for it to finish before playing some music for the new zone. I’m unsure whether this was an attempt to create a fluid transition between zones, but I believe it breaks the immersion of the new zone you’re entering, not the other way round. I don’t feel that cutting/fading the music of the previous zone and starting the new zones soundtrack is an issue, but is instead a fantastic way to set the tone for where you have entered.

I find myself disabling the music in the game as it just breaks the Immersion to much for me in certain situations due to all of this!

It would be great to see zone specific music return to the world of Tyria, whether through a feature pack or as part of the Heart of Thorns expansion. An MMO is all about the immersion and music is a massive part of that!

Let me know if you guys feel the same way and hopefully we can get some Dev’s looking in on this as well!

Ehh? That’s not really all that jarring. Then again, I don’t value “immersion” with things I’ve already experienced. It’s just another day in Tyria, to me. I only have HoT to renew that drive as of now.

EDIT: Actually, I like it when the music continues to play. It allows me to continue to enjoy some of the pieces of the soundtrack I like before they end and play the current map defaults.

Yes, please! I also tried to suggest this a long time ago.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/suggestions/Customizable-zone-music/first#post196224

Giving each area a unique identifier like this really serves to make the experience more memorable. Although I can definitely appreciate Geneaux’s point about wanting a specific piece to continue, not being cut off by a zone change. It would be nice to have a simple toggle in audio for “Zone Music”. That would allow those who prefer the current system to simply leave it unchecked. And also allow anyone to still take advantage of the customizable music. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Customized_soundtrack

Geneaux.9547:

Ehh? That’s not really all that jarring. Then again, I don’t value “immersion” with things I’ve already experienced. It’s just another day in Tyria, to me. I only have HoT to renew that drive as of now.

EDIT: Actually, I like it when the music continues to play. It allows me to continue to enjoy some of the pieces of the soundtrack I like before they end and play the current map defaults.

I agree that the transition of the music isn’t “Jarring”, but it also doesn’t set the tone for the new zone. Even if the music were to finish and then play the next maps track, that’s fine… the point is, the music that plays in a lot of zones, doesn’t reflect the zone you’re in. It’s as though it’s a big playlist for the whole world of Tyria, with only a few extra songs thrown in for different zones.

They have a large repository of Music that they can pull from (GW1) and they seem to be developing some fantastic new tracks for the game as well… yet they still throw in a few songs from Kryta, etc into the new zones/wrong zones.

A lot of other games have area specific music and it’s great! Pubs/taverns is a good example of this… say you walk into a tavern in Norn territory, you should hear some kind of Irish music or something, clapping of the hands of Norn, or people dancing to set the mood of that area. But no, nothing.

I wouldn’t think it’d be a great technical feet to be able to put this is place. They already have music playing in certain zones, just remove the stuff that doesn’t suit the area, add a few more if needed and chuck some music for area’s like taverns and I think the feel of immersion would go WAY up.

I’ve seen plenty of posts of this already and It seems to have gotten ignored for this long, so It probably won’t ever change which is a crying shame!