Update the world according to mordremoth
I don’t think you are the first to mention this, but still a valid point.
Only problem I can see for changes in low level areas is the possibility of LS spoilers.
Private retriever of runaway NPCs
Mistband[MIST] – PVP Training guild EU
Mordrem have been attacking for a week or so at most I would say. Which would most likely not the enough time to capture and transport a infected minion half way across the continent.
Krall Peterson – Warrior
Piken Square
Even at release, not all the zones in the Open World were happening at the same moment. Story-wise, the lower level zones were happening earlier than the higher level ones.
And is you played through your PS at the same time as you explore the world, things were falling quite nicely in place (except now since they cut out a part, but let’s not go over there).
Then came the LS and things started getting confusing. The idea was “it’s stuck in time until LS hits the zone”.
Now regarding the Infinite Coil Reactor. Story-wise, first we did all the events leading to opening the dungeon, then did the story followed by explorable (we had to get out of it). So right now, that place should be completely empty. At the current GW2 time, there shouldn’t be any inquest left over there.
I’m not sure on how to deal with the idea… It would be quite illogical to update places from 1325 to look like what they are in 1327. Yet, it happens in-game (PS in LA happens in a post-Scarlet LA…), so I assume that a slow evolution of the landscape, even if it spoils LS, is acceptable.
Son of Elonia.
- The Crucible of Eternity takes place in 1325 AE, not in 1327 AE. Having Mordrem in there now wouldn’t make much sense, as it’s stuck in time (unlike the open world which is a “stuck in time until updated” scenario).
- The Great Jungle Wurm still isn’t confirmed to be influenced by Mordremoth, technically. It’s only been speculation, and still is. In fact, the rise of Mordremoth and lack of any “Blighted” implies that the Great Jungle Wurm is NOT influenced by Mordremoth.
- What RedStar said.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Only problem I can see for changes in low level areas is the possibility of LS spoilers.
Or we could call it foreshadowing
- The Crucible of Eternity takes place in 1325 AE, not in 1327 AE. Having Mordrem in there now wouldn’t make much sense, as it’s stuck in time (unlike the open world which is a “stuck in time until updated” scenario).
That’s not entirely true. TA already established precedent; the start of the exp dungeon now talks about events that canonically took place a year apart as if they were happening concurrently. Either ANet’s already decided the dungeon timeline doesn’t really matter, or the exp dungeons don’t have a fixed date. (Unlike the story modes, I don’t believe we have anything that places the explorable modes anywhere more specific than “sometime after the story mode”).
All that said, I really don’t think changing CoE for the reason given is a good idea. There’s still the problem of the dragon minions being left over from Kudu’s work, which unquestionably ended two years before we first encountered Mordrem.
TA, like all of Season 1, is a clusterkitten.
The Story dungeons do have a fixed date, regardless, as they all precede the fall of Zhaitan – confirmed to be in 1325 AE – and while we don’t fight the plant creatures, we certainly see them in story mode. And after story mode, the place is basically on lockdown due to a reactor meltdown (just like in Thaumanova, though whether it’s a reaction to the players’ actions is Kudu’s is unclear) – it wouldn’t be logical for it to receive advancements.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
You are focusing too much on Coil I am aware that the timeline is hard to manipulate with Living World around. Coil was just the first example that came to my mind.
1 – Two separate versions of dialogue from a NPC, one for character that completed something and one dialogue for other character that did not.
2 – Slowly change the maps. Make a team that will slowly change the maps in a way to feel like the map is evolving. For example you could change hearts in which you fight risen to simply clearing out the last risen (Before – Defend against the risen / After – Drive out the remaining Risen from this area). It is a small change, but the details are what matters.
3 – Make the players know where is the map located on a timeline when they enter.
These are just a few solutions that came to my mind while writing this. They are just rough ideas but I think you understand what I mean. Make the players who completed Their Personal Story/Living World that they did completed them, that’s what it is all about.
I would like to see a slow reduction (but not eradication) of risen in the open world. Especially the maps further away from Orr. Though, making too many changes with groups that are so heavily tied to the PS is tricky (risen in Kessex Hills’ swamp is tied outright with Chapter 3 of the PS for humans, and somewhat for Chapter 3 for sylvari)
But it’s tricky.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
Thats what I thought LS was suppose to do. Slowly change the landscape to reflect that time keeps moving forward. They should create separate instances for PS so they can do whatever they want to the open world. I just hope they start making content again.
They should create separate instances for PS
Word (for PS and LS).
witness our wonders and cry out in astonishment and humble themselves.
Beware our mighty works.
Thats what I thought LS was suppose to do.
It’s what ArenaNet proclaims, but they barely touch upon what the term and their definition of “Living World” actually is.
It’s not a living world, nor a living story. It’s an expanding story/world.
The only time they update the world is when it is directly relevant to the primary plot. If there is no relevance, then the world is ‘stuck in time’ or the events ‘are still happening’ (like the centaur war and the human/charr peace treaty negotiations).
If Anet was really doing a living world, then every zone would be slowly updated simultaneously alongside the main plot.
Of course, doing this would irrevocably create an issue with new players going through the personal story – though given how they flubbed up on the PS’s order already, and don’t care about Concordia’s destruction (when they could have easily attacked a different nearby fort by the name of Caer Evermore that has no place in the personal story), I doubt they really care about that anymore – as players will see the open world for their ‘current state’ but the personal story is in a ‘previous state’, creating a potential confusion.
The only real means of fixing this would be to create a phasing structure of the world maps, which would divide players – though this shouldn’t be too great of an issue now given megaservers.
However, such an action would prevent their plan of biweekly releases for 2 months then a 2 month break. But then again, such a plan won’t sustain them, in my opinion at least.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
They should create separate instances for PS
Word (for PS and LS).
Not exactly sure what’s being referred to here since all (well I can think of like one exception, but all still seems the fitting word) personal story does take place in instances and a lot of living story as well. I’d imagine you’re referring to different instances of the pve world depending on the players progression in terms of PS and LS (sort of like what happened in GW1). ANer however doesn’t like the idea of needlessly separating players, which such a system would involve. Some mild phasing maybe.
The PS and LW instances utilize a map used elsehwere – usually the open world map (exceptions are cases like when the Chantry of Secrets is attacked by risen). This means that any changes to the world map will affect any personal story step that takes place in the same location – for example, Forging the Pact now takes place in an utterly destroyed Fort Concordia, even though it’s presented (even by dialogue in the open world, thank you developer oversights) as if it’s a new structure, and not destroyed.
What Medicarejunkie and Titus are asking for is for the PS and LW instance to have their own map copies. Which wouldn’t take much size if they’re trimmed down to just what’s visible and one dupe map per zone per alteration (at which, until all Season 1 maps are permanent, there’d just be 25 or so additional maps – one per zone; add in 1 for Southsun, and 3 for LA and 1 or 2 for Kessex when S1 becomes permanent) – and even then, most maps haven’t been changed (Timberline, Kessex, LA, Dry Top, and Iron Marches are the only maps which have alterations that may affect the pre-altered instances, and even then I’m not sure for Iron Marches) so you only need to create copies as the maps are altered with the landscape itself.
They don’t refer to phasing like you mistook, just copies of the maps that only exist for the instances, rather than using the open world map.
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.