Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone, I hope I am posting this in the right section, I do not post much around here, but a fellow player has pointed out in a reddit topic that he liked my idea and that I should post it here. Also, English is not my mother tongue so I apologise in advance for any mistakes.

History of Tyria

An additional tab in the hero panel would be called History of Tyria. When opened, you would see a panel similar to the collections where you need to collect certain items to complete it.

This would tie in with all the zones we have in Tyria. The current system is that you complete the zone you are in by doing heart quests, skill challenges etc. This would all stay the same, but with some extra quests for the lore fans. I was thinking of 5-10 zone lore quests in a form similar to the personal story, but for each zone. It would not count towards map or world completion, it would just be some kind of a side quest for your own personal satisfaction if you want to know the history of the zone you are in. These quests would include information about: history of the zone, how it was created, when, who were the first settlers, major events throughout history, the threats in the zone, about the flora and the fauna, sacred grounds, monuments, relics etc. you get the idea.

I know you can get some information from scouts in the area, but it’s just more of a short description.

There would be rewards, achievements and titles for it, of course. So if I give an example:

• You open the History of Tyria tab
• There you can find 33 badges/emblems that represent each zone (I think there are 33 altogether?) on the left side and the collections panel on the right side
• You can click on each of the badges to expand them and see the lore quests you are required to do to complete them. There would be a number on them similar to the one in achievements like 3/5 completed
• When you complete one, you get the title, achievement and one kind of relic that’s specific for that zone to put it into your collections

And when you finish the whole collection there’d also be an honorary title and a grand prize for it.

I hope I didn’t complicate it too much, sounds fine in my head

Tell me what you think and if there are any potential problems that could arise with such an implementation. Also, this is just more of a quality of life idea, it’s not something that it’s necessary, but it would be nice.

Cheers!

That’d be nice. My biggest complaint (that I can think of) is that we have all this cool stuff lying around and absolutely no explanation as to what it is most of the time. I remember getting all excited when the game first launched, rushing to places I visited in GW1, such as Granite Citadel only to get there and it’s just a point of interest on your map. No one to tell me what the citadel was, what it used to be or who used it and for why. Just 2% to your map completion.

I really like this idea!

Why not a scavenger hunt, so you collect items, take them to the priory to have them appraised and add them to your journal to piece together tyrian history?

Could have different chapters attached to different achievements with a meta-title reward and maybe a unique skin per chapter or something.

E.g. History of the Shiverpeaks, could involve shiverpeaks as well as items dotted around mount malestrom and sorrows embrace etc could make them difficult to get (boss drops, jump puzzles, event rewards), then you have to appraise them which could cost karma, that fills out a specific piece of the history of the dwarves.

Maybe what you would have to do is work through from simpler chapters and they get more difficult as you access later chapters. So maybe 6 chapters in which they get progressively harder, so start with ascalon, shiverpeaks, kryta, maguuma, crystal desert/orr and ring of fire.

We don’t necessarily have to have those areas unlocked as it could be information left behind by previous heroes in all sorts of locations, this could give some feasible implementation.

Could have each chapter give you a specific crafting item, and once you get the meta-achievement, you could get a pattern for a satchel/box/bag of unique light/medium or heavy armor. Maybe even an armor set from Guild Wars 1, something maybe like Obsidian armor (which was THE prestige armor in Guild Wars 1 for those who don’t know) http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Obsidian_armor.

I think I’m getting a little over-excited at the idea lol

I was thinking of something similar when the collections acheivements came out. Create a new tab for a codex, and bring back the Creature Codex books, but expand them to include newer creatures, more creatures, allied NPCs (PS, LW, dungeon, and open world), events (historical and modern), and locations. The items themselves are just for collections, otherwise useless, but as you unlock the item in the collections achievement, they also become unlocked in the new codex tab, where more information is available in a style akin to the Story Journal.

This can range from anything as descriptive texts as you’d find in the wiki, to journal-like entries, to actual short stories.

But I don’t think Anet will ever do such. Lately it’s been feeling like they’ve joined the ranks of companies that sold their soul. Hopefully the updates starting again (beginning tomorrow) will change my mind.

As much as I’d like to see something like this in-game, I am a bit sceptic about the “world-wide” (per zone) concept you propose her.

Trying to be realistic…
ANet seem to have all their focus set to LS s2. If they were to add more written lore text to the game, it will probably have to be in some relation to the LS story.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be “new gw2 stuff” though. It can just as well be background info on The White Mantle, Abaddon, Mursaat, etc.

No more short stories?
Colin said during the last POI they had learned during s1 that short stories like “What Scarlet Saw” needed to be ingame. I hope he meant it literally: adding the possibility to find and read books and short stories through a new “book UI”.
From long complex books at the Durmand Library. To short notes scattered around the world (ref. Dry Top).

What I think he meant is: converting the content of the such stories into gameplay instead. A nice thought, the more story we get through gameplay: the better. But you can never replace the depth in quality you’re able to get through written text.

Bottom line:
I support your main intentions (as I read them): implementing more lore text into the game 100%. But I’m sceptic about the implementation itself.
For me, it’s important that we either get long pieces of stand alone texts (complex enough to make it on their own). Or smaller pieces of text, but presented in a very coherent context.

I think more background info and written lore into the game is both wanted and needed – for players and developers alike.

A good story (in gameplay) needs proper (written) foundations to stand upon.

I always point back to the disfunct Warhammer Online and how they did the whole Codex thingy.

If you visited a place or found a place of interest its background would be written down in it. It got expanded, the more info you collected about this place.
Sometimes interacting with certain enviroment pieces unlocked more information or completing an event offered the same.

Creaturefamilies and unique enemies were also collected. You got background information to wolfs, undeads, etc. which expanded the more you fought them.
Something that started as a little snipped, expanded to include different branches of the family for example (you also unlocked a damage bonus for them, whichw as a nice touch)

There was also armor and PvP collection, but that offered no lore if I remember right.
Doesn`t matter anyway, as Region and Creaturelore would be enough anyway.

Overall it offered access to passive buffs, titles and other fun stuff…

I like it, players have been suggesting similar things in the past since just shy of release. It never really got much traction, or at least ANet never really seemed interested in it. But hey maybe!
I guess ANet probably doesn’t see the value in enriching game play experience when compared to crafting new experiences via new content.