Guild Wars 2

For example, as of current, we’re all aware Orr is in a bit of a time warp, because Zhaitan is dead, and according to a few NPCs, the Risen are on the decline, and Orr is being slowly cleansed, but this isn’t represented in Orr at all, in-fact, the only progression Orr has had post-PS is the Tequatl Rising patch.

After Mordremoth is dead, will the Silverwastes still be inhabited by Mordrem? Will vines still be ripping up Fort Salma, Concordia and The Village of Scalecatch? Because I really, really don’t want to see any more areas “frozen in time” as seen in the personal story.

If the effected parts of the world I mentioned above froze in time post-Mordremoth story arc, I feel it would be more detrimental than Orr freezing, because Orr is an isolated area, and I don’t have to care about it, but if Mordremoth’s influence is still present after hes dead, it’ll be more of an immersion break, when im walking through Kessex, Timberline or Iron Marches to see a load of vines, left behind by a dragon I beat up 24 months+ ago. Mordremoth’s influence has spread all over the world.

In short, what steps is ArenaNet taking to ensure we don’t get Orr 2.0?

That would still present the issue that new people join the game later on.

It would make very little sense to play the story about Mordremoths awakening and all the terror we hear about around the world with vines and deadly creatures spreading around killing everything in their path, without those things actually happening, simply due to someone starting playing later.

That is a bit of the issue with open world games. Which crowd should they cater to?

lordkrall.7241:

That would still present the issue that new people join the game later on.

It would make very little sense to play the story about Mordremoths awakening and all the terror we hear about around the world with vines and deadly creatures spreading around killing everything in their path, without those things actually happening, simply due to someone starting playing later.

That is a bit of the issue with open world games. Which crowd should they cater to?

I suppose they could confine the destroyed parts to story instances, so if I were to replay LS2 for example, it would still be all thorny, but if I were to leave that instance, the world would reflect the current state, so after Mordremoth is dead, it would be “normal”.

But then that arises the issue of things like the Silverwastes events, which I guess could only be replaced by something else with similar mechanics. Maybe the bandits try to re-take the area or something, and all the Mordrem are replaced with bandits.

And yet it would be quite weird as well. Walking around in a camp full of happiness and sunshine and then join the instances where it is suddenly completely destroyed with dead people everywhere and so on.

I believe it is also a matter of technical stuff, they can’t have multiple versions of the same map up, and the instances uses the same maps as the open world (which can be seen in the Personal Story in LA, which looks rather funny ^^).

I would rather minor immersion breaking with maps stuck in time then having them be removed/having a high amount of resources used up simply to restructure the map. Some of the minor stuff like the Forts would be fine to change imo, but whole maps like SW….no thanks.

it would be cool if there was some sort of map generation based on story progress. Keep the events and stuff the same, but say for people who haven’t completed the story, Orr will still be messy and dialogue will be the same. For people who have completed the story, Orr will look a little better, NPC’s dialogue will adjust accordingly.

Not sure if the tech behind it is sound, but it’s an idea.

Wow had multiple variations of the same map with lich king depending on how far you were in it. Why can’t gw2?

Brother Dulfite.5793:

Wow had multiple variations of the same map with lich king depending on how far you were in it. Why can’t gw2?

It splits the playerbase up too much unless you are in the final stage of the zone. In WoW this doesn’t matter because in general you don’t want to meet other people (they steal your kills and if they are on the opposing side try to kill you). However, GW2 places a strong emphasis on cooperating with other players. Even if you don’t say a word to each other having other players nearby is almost never detrimental.

In addition unlike WoW, GW2 is focused on quests/events. There is little reason to go back and do a previous quest in WoW, but never being able to kill Vinewrath or even go back to the basic mechanics involved in the SW map would be awful. Solution to this would be to allow you to go to either the old or new map, but that would still split the playerbase and would require a large amount of resources to remake the layout of an entire map (which could be much better spent elsewhere).

Brother Dulfite.5793:

Wow had multiple variations of the same map with lich king depending on how far you were in it. Why can’t gw2?

Did WoW move away from phasing after that because of all the problems it caused?

A lot of it has to do with being able to play with your friends, even if they’re not quite as far along as you.

Brother Dulfite.5793:

Wow had multiple variations of the same map with lich king depending on how far you were in it. Why can’t gw2?

Elder Scrolls Online had intense phasing to ensure the world around you was always consistent with your story.

it was heavily criticized for that, with people saying “i’d rather be able to play the game with others and experience all the content than have the story dictate what i can or can’t do or who i can or can’t play with”.

The Silverwasted most likely aren’t goint to loose their mordrem after Mordremoth’s defeat. Reason being that a lot of achievements and even skins are locked behind killing certain mordrem and collecting their entrails.

Other maps might be freed from the mordrem and vines, however the mordrem in iron marshes for example are required for replaying LW2. My guess is that anything that’s required for replaying any part of the story will stay.