Guild Wars 2

Steve Hwang mentioned in todays POI that almost all events in the new zones are themed with the focus on Mordremoth and the war against him (correct me if I’m wrong). He compared it to Queensdale where only half of the events were themed on the battle against the Centaurs.

I wonder if this is a good choice.

When I remember back to when I was exploring new maps, the things that I remember best are those small stories that aren’t related to “the big war”. Remember the story in Wayfarer Foothills where a Norn child was summoning a bear-horde? Or the event about that witch in her house with all the huge spiders around.

These are the stories you don’t expect happening, that are so interesting.

When looking at Drytop I really loved that Sparring-frog guy. I want more of those hidden unexpected stories, not only big events about “the war”, that really aren’t that interesting storytelling-wise imho.

I know what you mean and I like them too, but would it really fit? This is an area almost completely taken over by Mordrem and we are going there with a sole purpose to take on his forces. I guess in the same way as Orr, where everything revolved around Zhaitan.

Randulf.7614:

I know what you mean and I like them too, but would it really fit? This is an area almost completely taken over by Mordrem and we are going there with a sole purpose to take on his forces. I guess in the same way as Orr, where everything revolved around Zhaitan.

And Orr stinks. It’s horribly annoying to play in, the spawn rates are too fast, the aggro radius way too large, it’s generally unimaginative and uninspiring, and the rewards (especially after the loot nerf!) are poor. More of that theme will not be welcome…but at least I dont have to play it if it’s in a buy-to-play expansion!

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

As a big fan of Nochtli myself I’m here to tell you that there’s still going to be plenty of unique and unexpected things happening in the jungle. I think Steve’s point was simply to illuminate the premise that we’d like to build on our epic map stories with events wherever possible. That doesn’t mean crazy hylek won’t play a role in say, surviving in the jungle.

yay, thanks for clarification

Spook.5847:

Randulf.7614:

I know what you mean and I like them too, but would it really fit? This is an area almost completely taken over by Mordrem and we are going there with a sole purpose to take on his forces. I guess in the same way as Orr, where everything revolved around Zhaitan.

And Orr stinks. It’s horribly annoying to play in, the spawn rates are too fast, the aggro radius way too large, it’s generally unimaginative and uninspiring, and the rewards (especially after the loot nerf!) are poor. More of that theme will not be welcome…but at least I dont have to play it if it’s in a buy-to-play expansion!

That’s a different issue entirely though and not directly related to the “theme”.
As for the uninspiring, well perhaps in places yes. But, Anet have shown great improvement in how they narrate their events in a zone recently so I remain positive this wont be a problem here.

I agree with the OP, having a theme is all well and good but it can create a really, really, boring, tedious zone after a time.

The 3 Orr zones were kitten horrible compared with Queensdale, Wayfarer Foothills and Frostgorge Sound.

Remember you got 10,000’s of posts complaining how horrible Orr was…don’t make the same mistake again!

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

As a big fan of Nochtli myself I’m here to tell you that there’s still going to be plenty of unique and unexpected things happening in the jungle. I think Steve’s point was simply to illuminate the premise that we’d like to build on our epic map stories with events wherever possible. That doesn’t mean crazy hylek won’t play a role in say, surviving in the jungle.

Thanks for the clarification. I was actually thinking about this as well. As cool as the new way of doing things looks, I believe it would feel mechanical and less alive if we didnt have other more random events, as well as event chains and content unrelated to the fight with Mordremoth.

Meglobob.8620:

I agree with the OP, having a theme is all well and good but it can create a really, really, boring, tedious zone after a time.

The 3 Orr zones were kitten horrible compared with Queensdale, Wayfarer Foothills and Frostgorge Sound.

I actually quite like the Orr zones. The theme might be the same across all it’s events but what you do in those events is pretty varied. Contrast that with the Silverwastes or even Dry Top.. Those zones get repetitive real fast.

Spook.5847:

And Orr stinks. It’s horribly annoying to play in, the spawn rates are too fast, the aggro radius way too large, it’s generally unimaginative and uninspiring, and the rewards (especially after the loot nerf!) are poor. More of that theme will not be welcome…but at least I dont have to play it if it’s in a buy-to-play expansion!

/opinion ^^

Orr is one of my favourite regions. Lots of loot, challenging enemies and amazing, unique structures.

/opinion ^^