Guild Wars 2

I’m not a big fan of the new LA. The design is pretty, but it doesn’t really fit the city and feels kinda weird and themeparky. Also, the layout of stuff is a lot less convenient then it was a few days ago.

Overall I find the new Lions Arch to be really disappointing. The walls all seem to blend together in a grey concrete mess. It seems to be lacking in any interesting coloration choices along walls or houses, save for an occasional pot of flowers high up on a window.

Also, i find the ‘Dock Lobster’ Starfish and enormous Stingray to be beyond awful. Looking at them takes me so far out of my immersion in the game it is jarring. My first reaction on seeing them was ‘I cannot believe they actually put that in game’. Others have summed it up well, it does look like Seaworld.

I miss the old Lion’s Arch, she was all roars and jungle. She deserved her name.

New Lion’s Arch should be renamed Squid Playground.

I think the artwork is very nice, but overall I don’t like it. The design is all over the place, giving it a theme park atmosphere. I don’t spend a lot of time in LA anyway.

I like the new LA. Especially the little things like the LW quaggans who finally got a family and a home, and the reappearance of Hero-Tron ^.^

P.S. gives us a mini hero-tron plz! XD

I really don’t care about the art style – both new and old Lion’s Arch had their pluses and minuses – except there are no city centers. All the merchants are miles away. In the old Lion’s Arch, I could guarantee that everything was close by. Possible to create city centers like that again?

The new Lion’s Arch are pretty cool, but it is lacking on some fundamental aspect to make it a good city.

There are way too many parts of the city feels dislocated from the city. Case in point, the buildings seems to be clustered in the map, it somehow feels disconnected between each other. The pathway is curvy and sometimes confusing. The roads feels cheap because you still step on dirt instead of a proper stone pavement.

In terms of coloring scheme, I really love the white color lined with gold and some pretty blue/green glasses. The idea of Romanesque Revival that is presented is well done.

The parthway of certain vendors seems to be lacking, and REALLY inconvenient for the players to move around. For example, the dungeon vendor is located far away from a waypoint on Fort Mariner. And the character feels unimportant, just standing there and even without a booth. I think you should review on location of NPCs in the map.

The Asura Gates is well placed. No problem on that.

Now the biggest problem with the map is… the Grand Plaza. It feels REALLY barren compared to the lion and fountains in the old LA. I am really hoping that is not a final design. And also, the curvy, sylvari-ish pillars of the large canopy just does not fit with the “blocky” design of other buildings.

Grand Plaza is the main datum, a high hierarchy venue amongst all places in the game for all people to idle and do social stuff especially for guilds before starting a GM or anything. It is so underwhelming compared to other buildings like the lobster or the really awesome lighthouse (props on that one). I recommend adding some lighting. Some lions statue or a really nice fountain+lasershow. Do something!

LA is really good and wonderfully done, but the fundamentals of a good city is lacking. That’s it, regardless I like this place.

You can give a little more life to the city? I mean to introduce some ships coming and going from the port, or pact airships flying through the sky. I would also like to see some cranes in the port moving, as if the workers were loading or unloading merchandise.

Also would be nice to see pact airships flying through the skies in other maps of the world; as if they were somewhere.

THE new JP is the most painful thing i have ever done i fell so many times im ready to cry. that aside i love the new city design

LA QOL suggestion: Map Icons

Hello! I just wanted to bring a few minor suggestions in addition to the already incredible changes done to Lion’s Arch

1. Include more than one locatable repair merchant on the map

Currently the only repair merchant visible on the map is a quaggan by the Crow’s Nest that is in a very out of the way place considering where most activity is. There is an anvil by a Kodan merchant between the TP and Bank, but it’s unmarked on the map and easily missed. Please mark it! Additionally, consider having another anvil/repair merchant by the Mist Portals.

2. Add an icon for the Fractals of the Mist gate similar to the other Asura Portals on the map

Previous versions of Lion’s Arch have had a marker and made it easier to find. Map chat often has questions asking where it is.

3. Change the icon for the new Dungeon Token Merchant and/or add a better descriptor on the map

Currently it’s a generic merchant icon that gives no idea to anyone what type of merchant it is.

The vendor stands without any displays or a merchant stall, something the other vendors used to have that gave a visual clue to what they sold. It’s great the tokens can be redeemed all to one vendor now, but it looks just another random person (or salvage kit/tool vendor) standing around in an obscure corner and is easy to miss.

There have been questions rolling in LA map chat every few minutes since the LA patch asking the same thing, “Where is the dungeon token vendor?” and it doesn’t have to be so!

The look of the new Lion’s Arch is good in general but it feels as if it has become more of a memorial city that you pass through than the central city of Tyria. Everything is sprawling, and there is only one area to craft, access TP and the bank (and it feels further apart). There are large open spaces that beg for something like a fair, festival, merchant stalls, Pact training center, water fountains that push you into the air, moa races…or something. Hope there will there be more additions with HoT or in the next few months.

Really enjoyed the karka hunting and the new JP

It’s a bit sad that LA was more convenient and easier to use when it was in ruins. The new Disney version of LA has clearly been designed for looks rather than for usability. The bank, trading post, vendors, crafting tables and waypoints are all spread out so far that I’m wondering if it was deliberately designed to be somewhat inconvenient in order to spread server load to more usable hubs such as DR and RS.

It looks nice but the performance is very bad in some places.

I get over 60fps most of the time – but some areas of the new Lion’s Arch completely cripple my framerate. The Mystic Plaza drops me to 45fps and the Grand Plaza drops me to 30fps. Not sure it’s worth such a massive drop.

And the city doesn’t really feel like a lived-in city anymore – there aren’t many places with ordinary peasant housing. Just a lot of wide open spaces.

Hurrakan.4259:

It looks nice but the performance is very bad in some places.

I get over 60fps most of the time – but some areas of the new Lion’s Arch completely cripple my framerate. The Mystic Plaza drops me to 45fps and the Grand Plaza drops me to 30fps. Not sure it’s worth such a massive drop.

And the city doesn’t really feel like a lived-in city anymore – there aren’t many places with ordinary peasant housing. Just a lot of wide open spaces.

seriously? 45fps is playable very very playable. Tons of people don’t get that ever in any area of the game. They also play with success.

45fps is only playable if you like tearing, which I don’t :p I’m almost considering limiting the frame rate to 30fps, to avoid these sudden drops.

It’s known that the engine is CPU-bound and not well-optimized for GPUs e.g. I just upgraded to a 970 from a 680 but it made virtually no difference to GW2 frame rate.

Redesigning Lion’s Arch was a good opportunity to minimise performance issues, but it seems to be worse now, in that respect.

I like many of the general concepts of the city. The living areas feel more like living areas, though they don’t seem nearly expansive enough for the supposed scale of the city. And really, the buildings need to be bigger. There are like 12 foot doors for buildings that (discounting interior wall thickness) look to be at most 8 feet deep.

I actually like the whole area to the north. It feels like a pleasant park, and a full-scale recreational zone of that size would be great. Not practical for what it is, mind you. That bank for example is… not very secure.
(Frog pond could also stand to be larger)

I like that the Black Lion facility has expanded, but it seems kind okittenward the way there are 4 spaces for random items in each room. Having a room with normal BLTC reps, and then a larger, more… department-store(?) type of presentation for the other items would fit better. Or a hybrid corporate/salesroom type of building. Other than that though, I’d expect a larger economic center in a town like LA, or at least something that feels kind of like a Bazaar.

The biggest criticism I’d give though is that the different areas don’t really mesh all that well. Some areas (Commodore’s Quarters) feel claustrophobic while the main area has everything extremely spread out and there’s not, for lack of a better term, a ‘comfortable transition’ there. Likewise, the ‘outskirts’ just sort of ‘happen’; I’d expect the path to the Guild Initiative, or to the lighthouse to be gussied-up a bit since they’re new construction. Granted, I like the natural look in some of the outer areas, but it doesn’t mesh too well.

That said, overall, I like the city far better than before. While there are some issues, it at least feels more like a ‘city’ than it did, in my opinion.

Now, if only the Grove could get a facelift. Though I guess redesigning a tree would require a bit more explaining… (But seriously, The design of that place feels kind of haphazard.)

The more I visit it, the more I dislike it. It’s called Lion’s Arch so where are the lions? Where is our big lion statue? Instead we get lobsters and octopus. It feels like Disney land. I want our pirate ships back.

Post-scarlett LA might have been a ruined mess, but one thing I loved about it was the small areas that were very compact with useful things. You had all the crafting stuff, bank, merchants and tp super close. It was great. And there were multiple areas in the city with these things so you didn’t necessarily have every one piled in just one place.

The city looks amazing, but the layout and placement of NPC’s is terrible!

It took me ages to find a repair NPC on the map, and even longer to walk there from the nearest waypoint (which was not close by at all!).

I don’t like how the dungeon vendors are all merged into one guy as well, it’s harder to find what you want to buy now.

Lastly, the loading screen is not very nice at all. I can see two lion’s and a load of colorful smeer that attempts to mimick the game arty style.

My personal city of choice is Devinity’s Reach because it has a nice loading screen, the layout is reasonable and it’s bright and clean.

I just wanted to say I really love how alive Lion’s Arch feels.

Everywhere I go I see something so interesting or funny like the little asura and skritt who steal apples, or how travelers greet people as they arrive in the city from other portals, or the band I happened to see playing on a stage with backup dancers and things.

Whenever I feel sad I can always find some small detail that makes me laugh or at least puts a smile on my face c:

Thanks for all the hard work you do

Town planning at its worst.

Postern Ward was the best location in the game. Gone.

I like SeaWorld Arch. I think the cheapest fix for the spread out locations would be those tour guides. Instead of dropping personal waypoints on the map, just warp the player to the area they need. I usually liked hanging around the Mystic Toilet, but running back and forth to TP/Crafting stations and toilet can be a bit of a pain, even with the more convenient swiftness NPCs.

Lukhas.1962:

You can give a little more life to the city? I mean to introduce some ships coming and going from the port, or pact airships flying through the sky. I would also like to see some cranes in the port moving, as if the workers were loading or unloading merchandise.

Also would be nice to see pact airships flying through the skies in other maps of the world; as if they were somewhere.

I think one of the reasons that that isn’t going to happen is the amount of resources that would take.
Even though I would really like some more ships… even just static ones. The harbour is strangely empty for one of the most important ports.

Hurrakan.4259:

And the city doesn’t really feel like a lived-in city anymore – there aren’t many places with ordinary peasant housing. Just a lot of wide open spaces.

This is my primary problem with the otherwise great New Lion’s Arch. There’s too much empty space for a metropolis. It needs more peddlers, merchants, and traders. It needs more NPCs going about their business in the city, whether the residential areas or in the barren Trader’s Forum or Grand Piazza.

Why does LA not have the holo dancers from the Aetherblade fractal?

Surely we should/would have stolen that tech?

BrendaEM.2096:

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.”

“Several cities” you say? Yup. All that stucco facing in the Black Citadel and Rata Sum is SO overdone. Not to mention the sea-animal shaped palaces in Divinity’s Reach and the Grove. Ebonhawke maybe counts as a city, and I can see the resemblance there as well. That’s like, maybe 4 out of the 5 other cities in the game! DEFINITELY qualifies for “several.” [SARCASM]

Dark Saviour.9410:

I like many of the general concepts of the city. The living areas feel more like living areas, though they don’t seem nearly expansive enough for the supposed scale of the city. And really, the buildings need to be bigger. There are like 12 foot doors for buildings that (discounting interior wall thickness) look to be at most 8 feet deep.

I actually like the whole area to the north. It feels like a pleasant park, and a full-scale recreational zone of that size would be great. Not practical for what it is, mind you. That bank for example is… not very secure.
(Frog pond could also stand to be larger)

I like that the Black Lion facility has expanded, but it seems kind okittenward the way there are 4 spaces for random items in each room. Having a room with normal BLTC reps, and then a larger, more… department-store(?) type of presentation for the other items would fit better. Or a hybrid corporate/salesroom type of building. Other than that though, I’d expect a larger economic center in a town like LA, or at least something that feels kind of like a Bazaar.

The biggest criticism I’d give though is that the different areas don’t really mesh all that well. Some areas (Commodore’s Quarters) feel claustrophobic while the main area has everything extremely spread out and there’s not, for lack of a better term, a ‘comfortable transition’ there. Likewise, the ‘outskirts’ just sort of ‘happen’; I’d expect the path to the Guild Initiative, or to the lighthouse to be gussied-up a bit since they’re new construction. Granted, I like the natural look in some of the outer areas, but it doesn’t mesh too well.

That said, overall, I like the city far better than before. While there are some issues, it at least feels more like a ‘city’ than it did, in my opinion.

Now, if only the Grove could get a facelift. Though I guess redesigning a tree would require a bit more explaining… (But seriously, The design of that place feels kind of haphazard.)

I agree with just about all of this. I do love certain parts, but it doesn’t feel cohesive.

I love the housing and the mediterranean feel to it, really really like it. I also really like the mosaics and ocean themes, but I feel it’s a little overused. The plaza doesn’t feel right,
I think it’s the roof tbh. It feels claustrophobic for such an open space. I also can’t imagine it decorated for Halloween, but am willing to be amazed! The memorial is especially nice.

I really like the suggestion of having the BL weapon vendors standing in front of a display case, maybe have each vendor sell a few types and have them all in the same room because it is a little inconvenient right now. Then again, I don’t know what they have planned for that space going forward and the other capital cities still have a compact vendor.

Over all, so many things to love and the art is fantastic, but feel the layout is a bit awkward and it’s overdesigned. Overall, beautiful, but it’s lost it’s soul. It doesn’t feel like the same city at all. I know that’s part of the purpose, but sigh I miss the character it used to have.

Sorry, I didn’t mean this to be a negative post, but I wanted to give feedback on my impression.

Old LA was my “conan the barbarian” coast city type in Tyria, dirty, chaotic and dark. But beatiful and detailed with its own style, a real place from adventures! I drop a virtual tear the day it was destroyed. New LA is a generic, souless place. Yeah, it have some good bits here and there, but i’m sure as soon HoT give me new a new city i totally forget new LA exist :/

love the new city and think that the new jp and karka hunt were both fun and amazing at getting me to explore it. hope you guys do more stuff like that in the future.

also another little note, that system you have for the karka hunt where you can actually see which ones you are missing could be really beneficial with the other similar map wide hunts.

In all honestly, I love the new Lion’s Arch. It is very pretty. Finally it feels more like an actual city, rather than a large harbor with some vendors. I also like the exterminator quest.

But some points of constructive criticism:

-Some npc’s still reference things from the old LA, this needs to be fixed.
-Many npc’s have no dialogue.
-The Trolls Revenge JP should have some checkpoints or better direction in my opinion.
-One or two of the karka are hidden in really annoying places that are nearly impossible to see and/or target.

And a final request: I would love to see the fountain of the old GW1 Lion’s Arch finally raised to the surface.

Gaile Gray.6029:

The best part.

Well, in my opinion.
And that of a certain amphibian friend o’ mine.

We are all waiting for you to bring him back.

Lion’s Arch is glorious! Beautiful! It reminds me of the old city, yet more modern & lively. Everyone, what say you?

It’s crap. What kind of amusement park doesn’t have any rides?

Where’s the big ferris wheel? The roaring roller coaster built with washed up debris?

Most of all, where’s all the deep fried food carts? All I see are apple vendors that won’t sell me their apples.

I give this park a 0/5 stars. ArenaNet really needs to shape up and get their butts in gear.

Sincerely,

Kappa Kappa

I think the new LA is beautiful. I had a more solid feel, which I’d expect if my last city was burned to the ground.

Lion’s Arch is fantastic! Glorious!

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

In all honestly, I love the new Lion’s Arch. It is very pretty. Finally it feels more like an actual city, rather than a large harbor with some vendors. I also like the exterminator quest.

But some points of constructive criticism:

-Some npc’s still reference things from the old LA, this needs to be fixed.
-Many npc’s have no dialogue.
-The Trolls Revenge JP should have some checkpoints or better direction in my opinion.
-One or two of the karka are hidden in really annoying places that are nearly impossible to see and/or target.

And a final request: I would love to see the fountain of the old GW1 Lion’s Arch finally raised to the surface.

Gaile Gray.6029:

The best part.

Well, in my opinion.
And that of a certain amphibian friend o’ mine.

We are all waiting for you to bring him back.

I would love to see remnants of OLD old Lion’s Arch again. Make it happen!

Ooo, I’ve not seen them yet. I’ll have to hang around there and wait for them.

I love all the detail in the NPCs in LA. Especially the ones thinking there’s a conspiracy going on between Kiel and Gnashblade.

Is this on the island where the house used to be? Um…in the southeast of the map?

and under the garden island is “Evon” Gnashblade

ChoChoBo.6503:

It’s crap. What kind of amusement park doesn’t have any rides?

Where’s the big ferris wheel? The roaring roller coaster built with washed up debris?

Most of all, where’s all the deep fried food carts? All I see are apple vendors that won’t sell me their apples.

I give this park a 0/5 stars. ArenaNet really needs to shape up and get their butts in gear.

Sincerely,

Kappa Kappa

Would be cool if we at least got some kind of Magiteck Monorail/Nonorail.

Hallowen this year can be great if they pull it in new LA, we have there many creatures-shaped building just during Mad King Thorn’ show make them lively.

Many travelers have descriptions like: freenzy or knockback so I count for more activities especialy in that shady place password-password.

Is Suriel training to become dragonhunter?

#Ships sailing [yes motion, dynamic, moving] there neeed, not only those docked. Maybe with HoT it will be more even more lively.

Now even average Pedestrian is aware that I’m famous. They call me Captain Famous and order to back to killing dragons.

I love how clean it looks now, but i sorta dislike the giant squid, lobster, and starfish. Those could’ve had a more steam punk-ish theme like the Lion tanks at Black Citadel (or that Charr place). They look too comical.

But i still enjoy the new LA, tho I’m gonna call it Seafood’s Arch for now

New LA is just super nice. Very well done.