Guild Wars 2

THANK YOU!!!!

Patch notes:
Magister Ela Makkay of the Durmand Priory has been busy chronicling Scarlet’s War (known outside of Tyria as Living World Season 1). She’d like to share her research with you when you’re ready. Simply activate “Season 1 History Lesson,” located under Scarlet’s War in your Story Journal, to learn more. (Note: You must use a level 80 character to access this recap.)

I know it’s not replayable (yet) but at least there is now something in-game that we can use to get a recap of season 1. I know this is something that many people have been wanting for a long time. Can’t wait to check it out!!

Thanks again!

if this is a lazy way to throw in season 1 then i’m getting really moist and salty :c

cupcakesandcatnomz.3924:

if this is a lazy way to throw in season 1 then i’m getting really moist and salty :c

I don’t think it’s a lazy way to throw in season 1. They’ve already said that it is something that they would like to do at some point. And I am sure they are planning on doing it, but one of the major obstacles in implementing season 1 as replayable is the scale. Everything was massive and open world. They’ll need to completely rework everything to be done either solo, or with a 5 man party.
So far the best idea I’ve heard to do it, would be to add it as part of Fractals. That is, if they can scale down a fight the size of Vinewrath to be either soloable, or with a party. And that takes a lot of work and a lot of time.

But this at least gives those who missed it an in-game option to at least recall what happened instead of search the wiki and reading about it, or finding some youtube videos.

While I would love to play LS1 again, I agree that for now, this at least bridges the gap between PS completion and LS2.

Great idea, Anet!

after watching the amazingly short cinematic that doesn’t do it justice really, i must say that i’m really glad that its confirmed that we’re getting season one as playable content, at least that’s what i hope, yeah it’s probably gonna take some sweat and tears but that’s part of the the job isn’kitten
and to be honest, season 1 is ten times better than season 2, not bringing it back would break the game just as much!

(appreciation comment) I would just like to thank the devs for this awesome patch it made me so happy, like happier than usually patches do. Thank you for your work during HoT development which takes most of your resources!

cupcakesandcatnomz.3924:

and to be honest, season 1 is ten times better than season 2, not bringing it back would break the game just as much!

Yeah, more than a year of unexplained alliances to finally fight that vegetable, that was super fun…
In a way yes, I was so much happy at the end of season 1, seeing the worst enemy in GW history finally dead.

I preferred season 2 by far, better explanations, better narration.

Concerning the recap, that is great, but it would be better if other languages than English could get theirs too…

edit: ok I didn’t say anything about other languages, French has its version, the patchnote in French said that it was only in English for the moment but it is in French.

I really like BUT there is ONE tiny crucial detail missing!!!

While its true that the B-iconics helped us defeat Scarlet, the recap forgot to mention 2 more critical characters: Captain Ellen Kiel and Heal-o-Tron.

Other than that nitpick the cinematic was perfect. Thank you A-net.

To sum up entire living story 1 in few minutes was very dissapointing there was so much fun and time invested. I think you should have put MUCH more effort in recap this seems like it had 1 developer for 2 weeks. For those who didn’t play it this doesn’t help at all…

BobbyStein.2315:

That’s coming in a future update. We have all the localized VO and subtitles ready to go but ran into a tech issue that was preventing them from triggering and displaying properly.

Yes, that’s what is written in the French patchnote. Nevertheless and strangely, the cinematic is in French xD

A bit off topic, but I just watched the Season 1 recap on Youtube, and I noticed their wasn’t anything on what happened in Southsun. I know the two events that happened there have nothing to do with Scarlet, but perhaps you could add a recap of those two stories in the future? Maybe from Canach’s perspective since he’ll be playing a larger role in HoT?

Too short recap

Well, Having played through most of season 2, with no clue what any of it was really about when I started, I think that this cinematic is vastly better than nothing at all. Would I like more? Sure, but this is very nice to have.

A couple of notes:

The “I’ve seen things” achievement has no text.

I think that this cinematic should be the first step of LS2 ep 1.

Two issues with the cinematic:

• “No one at first knew why she began her reign of terror. Some say she peered into the very fabric of the universe and went insane.” — Omadd’s machine isn’t shown until Season 2: Entanglement — The Machine, so why is it included to show what she saw? It ruins the build up to discover what really happened to her.
• “Her attacks began in the northeast and spread like fire.” — this shows a map of the original Guild Wars, which Scarlet had nothing to do with (I hope…); she’s a Guild Wars 2 character.

BobbyStein.2315:

Headcase.4618:

A bit off topic, but I just watched the Season 1 recap on Youtube, and I noticed their wasn’t anything on what happened in Southsun. I know the two events that happened there have nothing to do with Scarlet, but perhaps you could add a recap of those two stories in the future? Maybe from Canach’s perspective since he’ll be playing a larger role in HoT?

Yeah, the current recap focuses exclusively on Scarlet’s main objective so a lot of the finer details of each release were left out. This was to keep the cinematic at a manageable (and watchable) length and also present the most relevant details that bridge the Personal Story to Season 2.

That stated, I agree that it’d be cool for people to be able to learn more about the other releases from Season 1, since there were bits of plot and character development in each one. We’ll keep this in mind for down the road. Thanks for sharing.

I’m glad I could help.

BobbyStein.2315:

cupcakesandcatnomz.3924:

if this is a lazy way to throw in season 1 then i’m getting really moist and salty :c

Nope. It’s just something to fill in the story gap between the Personal Story and LW Season 2 for right now.

So, Are you saying Scarlet is also the one Behind the Great Fire in Ascalon 255 years back in Time? If not, why would you use the GW1 Map then? This either is supposed to be an easter egg, or someone did a very, very sloppy Job there. Then Cutscene is nice and all, but i just skipped to End after that bit.

BobbyStein.2315:

Yunielesca.2850:

Concerning the recap, that is great, but it would be better if other languages than English could get theirs too…

That’s coming in a future update. We have all the localized VO and subtitles ready to go but ran into a tech issue that was preventing them from triggering and displaying properly.

So, I just watched the cutscene, in german with german audio and subtitles. What’s up with that note?

BobbyStein.2315:

Think.8042:

BobbyStein.2315:

Yunielesca.2850:

Concerning the recap, that is great, but it would be better if other languages than English could get theirs too…

That’s coming in a future update. We have all the localized VO and subtitles ready to go but ran into a tech issue that was preventing them from triggering and displaying properly.

So, I just watched the cutscene, in german with german audio and subtitles. What’s up with that note?

Good to know!

So…

about that Prophecies Map in the Cutscene…
whats up with that?

Wait does it mean that the items that could be received at the LS1 become available again in the future? (Stuff like assualt knight cores)

cupcakesandcatnomz.3924:

if this is a lazy way to throw in season 1 then i’m getting really moist and salty :c

Players were asking for this! Players were suggesting this.
This is just Anet listening to the players.

And I for one am very glad that ANet has at least done something, they can always expand upon it later.

Mora.3967:

Two issues with the cinematic:

• “No one at first knew why she began her reign of terror. Some say she peered into the very fabric of the universe and went insane.” — Omadd’s machine isn’t shown until Season 2: Entanglement — The Machine, so why is it included to show what she saw? It ruins the build up to discover what really happened to her.

There was a short story, outside of the game, but very much made available during S1.

CureForLiving.5360:

cupcakesandcatnomz.3924:

if this is a lazy way to throw in season 1 then i’m getting really moist and salty :c

Players were asking for this! Players were suggesting this.
This is just Anet listening to the players.

And I for one am very glad that ANet has at least done something, they can always expand upon it later.

Mora.3967:

Two issues with the cinematic:

• “No one at first knew why she began her reign of terror. Some say she peered into the very fabric of the universe and went insane.” — Omadd’s machine isn’t shown until Season 2: Entanglement — The Machine, so why is it included to show what she saw? It ruins the build up to discover what really happened to her.

There was a short story, outside of the game, but very much made available during S1.

There was a story, but that didn’t showed what scarlet saw into the eternal alchemy. I tonly saw he got into omadd machine, and got out of there crazy.

CureForLiving.5360:

Mora.3967:

Two issues with the cinematic:

• “No one at first knew why she began her reign of terror. Some say she peered into the very fabric of the universe and went insane.” — Omadd’s machine isn’t shown until Season 2: Entanglement — The Machine, so why is it included to show what she saw? It ruins the build up to discover what really happened to her.

There was a short story, outside of the game, but very much made available during S1.

Short Story: What Scarlet Saw — This simply tells readers that she saw something, just like the quote that went with the section. But including the actual cinematic that brought a lot of excitement/speculation to the community when it was released seems like a completely unnecessary spoiler just thrown into the recap.

It’s only a spoiler because you know what it means. Hinting at something, and then revealing it fully in the course of a narrative IS NOT a spoiler. My favorite manga ever showed a scene in volume 1 that eventually ended up being shown fully in volume 24. Was that a spoiler? No.

Spanish subs work. Confirmed by me and a guildie. Didn’t understood the note either.

However 1 big possible problem: IF you are in group with someone, and that someone triggers the cinematic, it doesn’t matter if you are in the mistic forge or whatever,t he cinematic triggers for you as well without warning or without accepting a popup, which is confusing and could lead to trolls bothering random people.

So are you supposed to get the recap reward chest on every toon you do it on? Cause while I got it on my main, I didn’t on my mesmer. Just the XP, which she, at level 80, frankly doesn’t need >.<

BobbyStein.2315:

Headcase.4618:

A bit off topic, but I just watched the Season 1 recap on Youtube, and I noticed their wasn’t anything on what happened in Southsun. I know the two events that happened there have nothing to do with Scarlet, but perhaps you could add a recap of those two stories in the future? Maybe from Canach’s perspective since he’ll be playing a larger role in HoT?

Yeah, the current recap focuses exclusively on Scarlet’s main objective so a lot of the finer details of each release were left out. This was to keep the cinematic at a manageable (and watchable) length and also present the most relevant details that bridge the Personal Story to Season 2.

That stated, I agree that it’d be cool for people to be able to learn more about the other releases from Season 1, since there were bits of plot and character development in each one. We’ll keep this in mind for down the road. Thanks for sharing.

oh! oh! Another living world event that was not mentioned (which has nothing to do with the “Scarlet War”) was the story arc of ellen kiel and also the queen’s jubilee arc. I am confident you will add it in the future.

Where is the main character Heal-O-Tron? I’m not even kidding XD. Would’ve loved a cameo.

Thank you though for getting this in the game. Even though my girlfriend doesn’t care much about the story, she still is trying to finish it. We have almost finished the personal story together, and this came at a perfect time. I got to play during season 1, but I didn’t pay much attention as I was new to the game and busy exploring other elements of the game. (same reason I’ve never tried SAB, my favorite thing in this game are the jumping puzzles, so you can imagine how sab this makes me)

Loboling.5293:

Where is the main character Heal-O-Tron? I’m not even kidding XD. Would’ve loved a cameo.

Thank you though for getting this in the game. Even though my girlfriend doesn’t care much about the story, she still is trying to finish it. We have almost finished the personal story together, and this came at a perfect time. I got to play during season 1, but I didn’t pay much attention as I was new to the game and busy exploring other elements of the game. (same reason I’ve never tried SAB, my favorite thing in this game are the jumping puzzles, so you can imagine how sab this makes me)

I feel your pain brah, Im confident they will add the golem to the story recap in the future though.

Wow didnt know they even where working on this, thanx!! would love tho do this again!

MauricioCezar.2673:

CureForLiving.5360:

cupcakesandcatnomz.3924:

if this is a lazy way to throw in season 1 then i’m getting really moist and salty :c

Players were asking for this! Players were suggesting this.
This is just Anet listening to the players.

And I for one am very glad that ANet has at least done something, they can always expand upon it later.

Mora.3967:

Two issues with the cinematic:

• “No one at first knew why she began her reign of terror. Some say she peered into the very fabric of the universe and went insane.” — Omadd’s machine isn’t shown until Season 2: Entanglement — The Machine, so why is it included to show what she saw? It ruins the build up to discover what really happened to her.

There was a short story, outside of the game, but very much made available during S1.

There was a story, but that didn’t showed what scarlet saw into the eternal alchemy. I tonly saw he got into omadd machine, and got out of there crazy.

You can’t expect a historian to capture suspense. They will fill you in on what happened with information they’ve gathered after the events.

Honestly the game is in desperate need of new content right now, not videos of past content that was removed.

But the hp and damage of every creatures in dungeons by 200% and make an hardcore mode or something that can serve as an endgame.

Mora.3967:

• “Her attacks began in the northeast and spread like fire.” — this shows a map of the original Guild Wars, which Scarlet had nothing to do with (I hope…); she’s a Guild Wars 2 character.

Noticed and was bothered because while likely just an oversight, it’s one that should have been noticed and, more importantly, feels like it’d just be fuel for the fire of Scarlet being retroactively involved with everything – including how everyone ‘jokes’ that she’d have ended up in the Abaddon fractal.

CureForLiving.5360:

There was a short story, outside of the game, but very much made available during S1.

The short story’s depiction is nothing like the cinematic from The Machine – it was all about Scarlet conversing with the Pale Tree (echoes of the conversation barely audible during The Machine’s cinematic, however) and becoming a ‘red vine’ that began choking the Pale Tree before moving past. Once Scarlet ‘moves past’ the Pale Tree, the short story stopped – and The Machine’s cinematic picks up.

We had no indication of what Scarlet saw beyond the Pale Tree border (which we pass in The Machine’s cinematic) – there was no sign of The All in the short story like there was in The Machine.

That said, I don’t think it’s that big of a spoiler as without Season 2 there’s no context for it. It’s just a bunch of orbs.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Noticed and was bothered because while likely just an oversight, it’s one that should have been noticed and, more importantly, feels like it’d just be fuel for the fire of Scarlet being retroactively involved with everything – including how everyone ‘jokes’ that she’d have ended up in the Abaddon fractal.

Oh, come on – the map from Guild Wars 1 wasn’t an oversight, it was a stylistical choice. I think it is better to use an old map to indicate a region in the cinematic than the map we use in the interface. Just like the maps we see at Order of Whispers or Durmand Priory are not like the map on our interfaces.

Seeing our interface map in the cinematic would be like seeing the NPCs clicking their skill bars, kind of immersion breaking. Also annoying, because they use mouse.

Just want to say , it’s that it? It’s that the best you can do, ANET?

Xillllix.3485:

Honestly the game is in desperate need of new content right now, not videos of past content that was removed.

But the hp and damage of every creatures in dungeons by 200% and make an hardcore mode or something that can serve as an endgame.

There are enough new players that it was needed to bridge the gap between Personal Story and Living Story Season 2, the introduction to the story featured in Heart of Thorns.

Not to mention for all of the new players that Heart of Thorns will bring in.

SirDrygan.1823:

Just want to say , it’s that it? It’s that the best you can do, ANET?

It’s a placeholder for when they work out the kinks of making Season 1 replayable.

I can’t imagine how hard it is to turn a world boss into a personal story instance and still maintain the same level of difficulty.

But they realized they needed to put something out there for new players who did not get the chance to play Living Story Season 1. So they came up with the cinematic.

Elrey.5472:

Spanish subs work. Confirmed by me and a guildie. Didn’t understood the note either.

However 1 big possible problem: IF you are in group with someone, and that someone triggers the cinematic, it doesn’t matter if you are in the mistic forge or whatever,t he cinematic triggers for you as well without warning or without accepting a popup, which is confusing and could lead to trolls bothering random people.

If you are forming parties with trolls there is a very simple solution for the problem.

I highly doubt we will see season 1 as a playable instance. It would require so much work, just as much work that went into developing the actual season 1. Personally I think this was the best solution. The only thing that I think could be improved are perhaps a tour where you would enter the different zones where the story took place and interact with something to see a cut scene. There are a lot of landmarks that the living story created which could be used for this. It could be a small story itself and guided by the green stars when activated and have some type of 5 point achievement for doing it or some type of reward like a mini scarlet or something. Just my two cents.

But thanks for doing this anet it’s pretty cool.

DDCarvalho.2071:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Noticed and was bothered because while likely just an oversight, it’s one that should have been noticed and, more importantly, feels like it’d just be fuel for the fire of Scarlet being retroactively involved with everything – including how everyone ‘jokes’ that she’d have ended up in the Abaddon fractal.

Oh, come on – the map from Guild Wars 1 wasn’t an oversight, it was a stylistical choice. I think it is better to use an old map to indicate a region in the cinematic than the map we use in the interface. Just like the maps we see at Order of Whispers or Durmand Priory are not like the map on our interfaces.

Seeing our interface map in the cinematic would be like seeing the NPCs clicking their skill bars, kind of immersion breaking. Also annoying, because they use mouse.

They have a multitude of maps of Tyria that are all drawn and artsy. This one shows Ascalon just after the Searing. It is no accurate depiction of the lands Scarlet threatened.

Andraus.3874:

I highly doubt we will see season 1 as a playable instance. It would require so much work, just as much work that went into developing the actual season 1.

ArenaNet has stated time and time again that they have full intentions of bringing Season 1 back as permanent content in Season 2’s style. They just don’t want to divert resources from finishing HoT to do so, so we won’t get it until after HoT is released.

The one thing I consider a flaw in the recap provided is the character that dealt the final blow towards Scarlet. By default, it seems that the Pact Commander portrayed here is a Norn female. Can be quite contradictory to those who do not main a norn female. Still, this moment was just a couple of seconds, but still, it’s just a flaw I thought I should point out.

Malkavian makes a good point. I’d suggest showing the character, but on the other hand, that might be confusing for players seeing themselves doing something that they haven’t done…

A good compromise might be “A Pact Commander…” instead of “The Pact Commander.” However, if the cinematic can check the player’s achievements, it can then put in the player’s character if the account has the In A Cage Made Of Steel And Lunacy achievement, and shows their character if they do.

Another thing I found a little annoying was that if you ask about the NPCs, Makkay gives you the spiel by voice… in an open-world instance, and in great detail and length. That sort of information is possibly better given by text, so that one player isn’t interfering with another to have their questions answered. (Unless the voiceover only applies to the player who asked the question, of course.)

Broom.2561:

So are you supposed to get the recap reward chest on every toon you do it on? Cause while I got it on my main, I didn’t on my mesmer. Just the XP, which she, at level 80, frankly doesn’t need >.<

The reward seems to be for getting the achievement for viewing it, which you can only get once per account.

BobbyStein.2315:

Makkay’s VO is played client side, so every player will hear the right lines regardless of how many people are interacting with her. Also, all her lines are logged to chat so you can read it afterward. It’s new tech that we plan on using more often in the future.

I like it!

Majic.4801:

BobbyStein.2315:

Makkay’s VO is played client side, so every player will hear the right lines regardless of how many people are interacting with her. Also, all her lines are logged to chat so you can read it afterward. It’s new tech that we plan on using more often in the future.

I like it!

Me too, this is pretty awesome. Good new tech!

I played all of Season 1 except the Nightmare Tower. But I also enjoyed the recap. Appreciate Arenanet adding it to the game.

Hopefully, it will help brand new players connect with the story and new characters.