Guild Wars 2

I just noticed that with Tequila Sunrising we are having the second continuous update which is not related to the Living story. And, I gotta say, I actually really like it!

How about get rid of calling it a ‘living story’ and simply call it a ‘game update’.

You’ll be famed for updating the game at such a high frequency, and each content update is appreciated for it’s own merits.

Any game update which progresses the ‘living story’ could be called a ‘chapter’. That way we might go several weeks with just regular game updates or temporary events. And then periodically get a story-related event thing which would usually change the game a bit more permanently (Queens Pavillion added/ Invasions added/ Jumping puzzles added etc).

It’s fairly arbitrary changing the name of something. But I think it makes a huge difference.

If they just call them ‘Game Updates’, they can work on the actual story chapters to contain more substance, and true to intention maybe add things that are more permanent to the world.

What do you think?

Tldr;
Call them ‘Game Updates’ instead of ‘Living Story’ updates and you remove the expectation for tangible story and tangible permanent additions to the game. Game updates could be as small as an event-type celebration of world bosses (Tequila), or bi-weekly events like SAB.
When they have it ready, a living story ‘chapter’ could come out periodically, and since they have more time, it could add something more permanent. I.e add Queens Pavillion, or add periodic invasions, or add a new jumping puzzle from a broken down area of the game or something.

I really doubt that’s going to be the end of the Living Story. For one thing they left it on a bit of a cliff hanger with Scarlet escaping from us, so they’ve got to finish it off at some point.

But I would be very happy if they shifted to doing an update at the start of the month with temporary Living Story or festival content and then another one 2 weeks later with permanent content.

That way people who have a lot of time to play and have already completed the main game will always have something new to do, even if it’s a new take on old content like the Tequatl fight, and people like me who have limited time to play can keep up with the temporary stuff and do the permanent stuff later as and when we have time.

It’s your own fault for associating living story with something different than a game update.

Leave it as is.

RE: Danikat
I’d have to agree that this would be a good “middle ground.”

Well, I don’t like living story. At all. Getting rid of living story is a step in the right direction. Next would be achievements..do we really need a set of new achievements each patch? Stop this. Pressures the player to get it all done. Third would be ascended gear…re-think it entirely.

Then people like me would come back.

cesmode.4257:

Well, I don’t like living story. At all. Getting rid of living story is a step in the right direction. Next would be achievements..do we really need a set of new achievements each patch? Stop this. Pressures the player to get it all done. Third would be ascended gear…re-think it entirely.

Then people like me would come back.

I’d very much prefer Anet constantly release and refresh content than leave it stagnant to appease folks like you.

After all, you don’t play anymore and you don’t contribute. Why aleniate those that already play the game and appease those that don’t?

Vol.5241:

cesmode.4257:

Well, I don’t like living story. At all. Getting rid of living story is a step in the right direction. Next would be achievements..do we really need a set of new achievements each patch? Stop this. Pressures the player to get it all done. Third would be ascended gear…re-think it entirely.

Then people like me would come back.

I’d very much prefer Anet constantly release and refresh content than leave it stagnant to appease folks like you.

After all, you don’t play anymore and you don’t contribute. Why aleniate those that already play the game and appease those that don’t?

I’d prefer a middle ground.

Maybe some day, with practice and a more fleshed-out and balanced game, they can do a release every 2 weeks and do it well. Right now? They’re kind of flailing and dragging the game down with missed potential and bad writing. They need to keep trying, but back off a bit and give themselves more room to work with.

Yeah, definitely middle ground here. I don’t want Anet to give up on storytelling, but I like the ‘chapter’ idea where it is far less frequent and far more in-depth, permanent, and alive. I’m totally burned out on temp content with temp AP and a living world that comes and goes every couple weeks.

They simply need to give themselves a longer development cycle that will allow them to think through the content and give players a break from a needless frenetic pace. My life can be fast-paced at times, and I actually enjoy a bit of relaxation in my gaming.

more scarlet story…. BLEEEEEEEEH. That character is already as boring as a twig.

She is the Disney villain that goes, “muahahahahha, I’m sooo evil! I love destruction and chaos.”

Holy, can your writer write something more mature or complex character? Anti – hero or whatever?

Basically repeat events will be Mad King Thorn (halloween), Winter’s day (Christmahanukwanzakah), Super Adventure Box (at least till world 4), Dragon Bash (summer festival), Zephyr Sanctum (random festival), and Queen’s Jubilee (yearly anniversary).

Non-repeat events are Flame and Frost, Sky Pirates, and Clockwork Chaos (at least not in their previous forms).

Aside from these though, they mention there will be more meaningful and permanent updates to living story from this point on. This past year was basically building a foundation to continue off of with the various storylines and holiday events. SAB actually has an interesting plot beneath the 32-bit exterior if you read Shadow Box and meet the Genie in world 3 .

Hell Avenger.7021:

more scarlet story…. BLEEEEEEEEH. That character is already as boring as a twig.

She is the Disney villain that goes, “muahahahahha, I’m sooo evil! I love destruction and chaos.”

Holy, can your writer write something more mature or complex character? Anti – hero or whatever?

Scarlet’s problem is more in the writing of the dialogue and presentation.
It seems if Anet tried to make an anti-hero we’d get a brooding edgy whiner of a character.

Mistro.3059:

Queen’s Jubilee (yearly anniversary).

Not all anniversaries are jubilees. A jubilee celebrates a milestone anniversary, like for example for Jenna it was her 10th anniversary. You also have 25th, 50th, 100th etc in that kind of fashion.

Vol.5241:

I’d very much prefer Anet constantly release and refresh content than leave it stagnant to appease folks like you.

After all, you don’t play anymore and you don’t contribute. Why aleniate those that already play the game and appease those that don’t?

Actually, he does contribute. Providing feedback to ANet via the official forums is a way of contributing. You may not like what he has to say, but that’s neither here nor there.

For the record, I agree with him on the matter of Living Story. I hate having to do content on ANet’s schedule. It makes everything feel rushed and tense. They should release new content when it’s ready (not when the calendar says it’s time to push out their newest buggy lag-fest.) and players should be able to play said content when they are ready to.

You’ll no doubt be happy to know that I’m not playing the game right now either. But, since I am a paying customer, I will continue to make my feedback heard.

That is my contribution.

Well yeah, they said the Living Story updates will change the world, that players determine the direction of the game.

So for that reason they need more dev time to think about how to make that particular update last after it has gone. Change the landscape, change something, keep event’s in once every few hours randomly perhaps.

Also, we’ve been seeing a story unfold, but not really having a choice it how it unfolds. The personal story was great because you had to choose between two ultimatums and wouldn’t ever experience the other possibility. Do that with Living Story too. For example you could choose to go after scarlet, or choose to save the captives.
Game play wise you’d either happen to rescue the captives by chance, or happen to meet scarlet so both choices would be the same. But story wise it’s different and dialgoue would be different.
Anet could tally up these results of what people chose and even throw in dialogue in future chapters that would throwback to the player’s choices. The captives could have upset dialogue that they weren’t your first choice, or they could be overwhelmed to see you every time.