Guild Wars 2

I gotta admit…I was worried about the LA rebuild since I really liked the pirate/ship theme from the beginning so much…but the new LA is absolutely amazing.

The town feels more open than ever and I imagine it’s even better for roleplayers with things like the wedding arch and stage.

If anyone from ANet is reading this, please give the designers of this area a hug for me (or at least a high five, lol).

Figured I’d log on to the forum to check out all the threads praising the new Lion’s Arch, but there were none so I guess I’d make it then.

Just wanted to say thank you, developers, for the new Lion’s Arch! It looks amazing!

My anger with the HoT price tag and lack of character slot has been alleviated.

I have to agree, the new LA is simply incredible. I spent an hour and a half walking round, exploring every bit of it and enjoyed it all. This is the first time I have really explored a zone completely in one go and I have to say I did not regret it. The attention to detail and the complete change in the mood of the place is amazing. Well worth the year and a half wait since it was destroyed.
My one complaint would be that the merchants are quite spread out and less convenient than when it was in its destroyed state though. Very minor though and does not change my opinion on the city at all.

um… what can i say… I like the fact that it no longer looks like crap, but i feel as though it could have been more grandiose and epically awesome. now, in my opinion, it looks like a generic medieval castle town. but thanks for reassembling it.

I just want to say that I think it looks gorgeous now, and I love all of the new ambient conversations there are to find. (The girl and boy playing “Investigators,” was a particularly fantastic treat!)

It reminds me of Epcot Center.

But much less expensive to visit.

No waypoint for the Traders Forum means why bother going there.

The city looks great and is now my favorite city. Excellent job ANet.

Shadow.1345:

The city looks great and is now my favorite city. Excellent job ANet.

What was your favorite city before?

I have to join on the bandwagon. Amazing job ANet. Kudos to the team that bred this new city.

It’s… spectacular.

It is indeed amazing. ty and well done Anet!

Yeah, really cool. The harbor reminds me a little of barcelona haha.

It has a very modern feel like Divinity’s Reach with the washed marble with a borderline greco-roman influence, really liked it. Spent the whole of the first hour of the game flying around in my magic carpet observing the map, just goes to show what hardwork creates, Anet can be proud!

I like it, but have chosen to call it Seaworld instead of Lion’s Arch.

I disagree. As one who appreciates the lore they lost sight of the fact it was suppose to be a Krytan city, not sylvari…

It looks fantastic. Seriously gorgeous work all. Pat yourselves on the back.

P.S. – I would however like to speak with the Council about holding all the gold I gave them during the Pavilion Event for the rebuilding effort all those moons ago – I am sure the interest they collected was a pretty penny and I’d like 25%.

It is beautiful. Thank you for this wonderfully designed New Lion’s Arch!

Kamara.4187:

I disagree. As one who appreciates the lore they lost sight of the fact it was suppose to be a Krytan city, not sylvari…

The new lions arch is a mix of all the races architecture.

Leon Heart XIII.4609:

Kamara.4187:

I disagree. As one who appreciates the lore they lost sight of the fact it was suppose to be a Krytan city, not sylvari…

The new lions arch is a mix of all the races architecture.

Which is why I said it was homogenized. I’m not calling the work bad. The content developers are very talented, but the lore took a hit in my honest opinion. And if it was a mix of all races I’m not seeing anything that looks close to Norn-ish

The city does look great, loving the attention to detail.

Only Arenanet could know the true purpose for making the new “Lion’s Arch” an artless boring an expansive swath of concrete, the likes of which will probably be forgotten.

I don’t see the reasoning. Guild Wars 2 already had several cities that looked just like new “Lion’s Arch.”

The old Lion’s Arch was the most imaginative and creative piece of video game architecture I have seen. Themed for a seafaring city, it being made of old ships hulls was a creative application of existing materials. While result was not always sound architecture, in that some of it would have been structurally unsafe, it did represent that video games can be a meaningful art form.

When it comes down to it, it is a struggle for anyone to arrange a collection of zeros and ones to create a virtual environment that conjures an emotional response in a person. The previous Lion’s Arch was one of the few such collection of triangles and textures that, to me, was art.

In the destruction of Lion’s Arch, the players were supposed to hate Scarlet, but with the rebuilding of Lion’s Arch and the removing the more artful aspects, I am taken out of the game, and it is not Scarlet I hate so much, but ArenaNet.

It’s your game. You can manipulate the zeros and ones to do anything you want from it. It’s up to me to decide whether or not I am going to pay money to observe your future effort.

I remember watching the release and pre-release videos of Guild Wars 2. I remember seeing the Lion’s Arch. I bought your game. Now, I feel there is no city in Guild Wars 2, that is the old Lion’s Arch’s creative equal.

Never liked the old lions arch, very glad to see this massively improved version.

Differing opinions aside though, what are these several cities that look the same? Black Citadel, Rata Sum and Hoelbrak def not. Divinitys Reach and Pale Tree share some tiny similarities, but otherwise LA is pretty unique in the game

I could make no sense from your arguments.

the old one was indeed more original, but I love the new design, it reminds me of Gaudi a bit, love the wavy architecture. it looks surrealistic.

I wish they’d kept some of the old ship buildings, but overall the new LA has a much cleaner, grander feel to it – like a main hub city should. Old LA was kind of ugly in comparison…

I actually feel like they’ve done a good job of making it look new whilst retaining the essence of the original. It’s still got the roofs shaped like ships hulls, the sails and nets and other nautical themes dotted around and some of the haphazard design of the original.

I agree there’s more concrete in the new version but even that I’m ok with. It actually reminds me of various European seaside towns.

If you’ve only checked out the area around Trader’s Forum and the Grand Piazza then I can see where you’re coming from, but if you venture into the Commodore’s Quarter, the streets along the waterfront around the docks, or Western Ward I think you’ll see a lot of the old LA is still there. And of course Farshore Ward and the other outlying areas are relatively unchanged.

Love it also really well made

I should think that Lion’s Arch now has the bare minimal of nautical to even claim it has any. Orr is way more nautical now.

pleaase uninstall this game if you get this up in arms about artwork of a city… I don’t login to this game (or any game) to stand around in a city, play dress up, and look at the design/artwork.

Other than the artwork and programing code, you are just sending packets back and forth across the internet.

Please allow me to continue to express my opinion and feedback in an appropriate place.

sorry. maybe they’ll capture your complete vision the next time the city is ransacked.

I love the new LA. It looks amazing!

lion’s arch could have looked more epic, but it looks more like a generic medieval castle town. GW2 is supposed to be this stylized art type game, and it seems like they kinda threw that out the window with this new lion’s arch. yeah LA still has uniqueness as a city in GW2 but in my opinion they could have done a better job. At least it’s not a trash heap anymore

New lions arch feels so much bigger than old lions arch and the improvement and scale as well as small details now feel like the first time i explored Divinities reach and Black citadel. Its telling a story on its own and im loving it.

Its extremely impressively done and i give my props and high praise to both the art team, dev team, design team and any other teams i might have forgotten.

I knew i was going to find complainers here on the forums but i say well bloody done.

I don’t think it just that, as Lion’s Arch’s rebuilding, does coincide with the expansion release.

My issue is: I like artistically designed video games. The problem is: how can you encourage anyone to put real art in a video game, if even the spirit of it does not endure?

I’ve once worked in a video game company. I don’t work there now, and have no affiliations, and own nothing to that company. Moving past that…

A producer once tried to get me to understand the commercial aspects of commercial art. It’s art for money—right? Anyway, to prove a point, he took a stack of concept drawings, crumpled them up, and threw them on the floor, as I stared with disgust.

Now, it comes back to the fact, that I like creativity in my video games. I pay good money for it. As I said, I thought that old Lion’s Arch was a good piece of video game art. The new one, not so much.

If anything can forever be replaced with anything else, what is the point of putting art into it?

I love it,I really love it,I wish I could live there lol.

But one thing I noticed is that some areas are heavily based on Sylvari architecture,which is okay I guess,but it isn’t one of my favorite.

art is subjective, as our tastes.
Just because you don’t like the new LA as much doesn’t mean it’s less of a work of art than the old one.
This one has plenty of beautifl stuff around, and a solid concept I enjoy.
Expecting them to rebuild LA to be like the old one was not really realist.
Even according to real history. When something important is destroyed, people don’t rebuild it just like it was, they prefer to build something different, because it means a new beginning.
When the WTC was destroyed they didn’t rebuilt the twin towers. In here it’s similar (other than LA being just in a game of course).

I love the new LA. I think Anet did an absolutely wonderful job on it!!!

I LOVE the new Lobster’s Arch (as my map dubbed it, this morning). I seriously spent most of the morning in awe, listening as people called out all the new things to see. I’m shocked that anyone can find this to be generic or lacking in nautical theme. There is a building shaped like a squid, your argument is invalid.

The old one had a better theme with lore backing it up, but this new one is easier to navigate in.

I am no expert but I feel like I am in some 5 years old kids playground or an aquatic park, I expected something more majestic castle like with some asuran advanced tech stuff.

Anet crew put a lot of work into the new LA.
But imo the old one was much better before it got destroyed.

I like the new LA.
The only thing that bothers me is that the Mystic forge/vendor/bank/TP are so far apart

I think a lot of the concrete structures, (bridges, etc.), are supposed to be Breachmaker wreckage that’s been plastered over. The scratch marks everywhere seem to imply that something older is beneath the concrete.

No art… weeeeeeeell, let’s see, seashell trading post, octopus bank with fish tank, four fountains that spit into each other, the raining memorial with jade waves, the Comodors street in which the buildings are very old lions arch style crafted from boats with nets and hulls, the seaweed seaworld lIke honning that spreads overy the maim plasa… this new LA is very much grounded in modern art, while at the same time being larger, more open, and ten times more fortified, with 90% less junk. It still very much has a nautical theme, even the doors between each room of the vault are decorated sea themed. This very much looks like a tie in between a port city, a castle town and a modern art exhibit. How can you complain about there being no art, or it not being nautical enough, are you even on the same map? This has ten times more art value than the junk heap of old la

I agree, much larger, more open, less junky, still has a hint of old LA boat style, more homes, honestly old LA didn’t feel like a city cause there were so few buildings, more fortified for lore, and great modern art interpretation, absolutely blew my mind

I agree. I like it. A bit ‘Southsun’ for me, but given who the builder are . . . it makes sense. They did a good job overall. But I sure miss that old fountain.

Really? I found it to be better than the ruin it was for months and months. Lacks the character of the old Lion’s Arch, I admit, but I like it all the same.

Love the addition of the Quaggan pool, complete with Hatchlings!

i love it to sadly don’t have much time to see it
also was omg they ad a wedding area

but stile great job Anet