Guild Wars 2

Just curious about that… the notes mention the Dragon Bash festival coming to L.A. but this sounds more like an annual event as opposed to a Living Story one… anyone have the skinny on that?

The Lionguard’s Inspector Kiel has been charged with quelling the violence so it doesn’t interfere with the upcoming Dragon Bash festival in Lion’s Arch. Kiel takes her job seriously

The speculated “Dragon Event” is pretty much confirmed

EDIT: Dragon Bash will release 11th of June

And I’ll say it again.

HOORAY FOR DRAGON FESTIVAL!!!!!

Wonder if they will bring back dogdeball….. =)

“The Lionguard’s Inspector Kiel has been charged with quelling the violence so it doesn’t interfere with the upcoming Dragon Bash festival in Lion’s Arch.”

What is this “Dragon Bash” festival of which they speak? (And why do images of the Canthan New Year’s festival come to mind…)

All you’re going to get is speculation at the moment. Everyone knows about the same as you from that phrase in the patch notes.

Here’s hoping it’s like the Dragon Festival in GW1.

yes I saw that too and thought yay!

Well, they moved this from General Discussion to here, so I fear this may be another Living Story temp… unless of course they use the Living Story to introduce what becomes an annual event (Holiday).

I could live with that.

VOLKON.1290:

Well, they moved this from General Discussion to here, so I fear this may be another Living Story temp… unless of course they use the Living Story to introduce what becomes an annual event (Holiday).

I could live with that.

Yeah I could go with this. Would be a nice ‘lasting impact’ sort of thing. Depending on how they present it/work it in.

Lord Fahren talks with her friend at the resort beach too, talking about politics in DR having problems with celebrating a dragon festival in the age of elder dragons. Maybe we will see something interesting there too? Starting the reconstruction of Canthan District?

Edit: I mixed his quotes in my mind, the ones discussing the Dragon Festival are the Captain Council at Lion’s Arc.

My predictions based on this dragon bash and southsun.

ColinJohanson.2394:

I posted this in another thread, but I’ll copy and paste here. Content like recurring holiday festivals are absolutely part of the long term living world strategy, though the story and some of the content may change each year a bit to provide variety. So the answer is really yes to both, it is living world content, and it could come back again in the future with new rewards.

What is the upcoming celebration and how does it play into everything? You’ll just have to wait and see, we have more Southsun coming first!

Can find the more detailed post on page 1 here ->

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Official-explanation-for-temporary-content/first

Heh, thanks Colin, I guess there’s still a little “getting used to” content being added in this fashion. Halloween, Wintersday… those were expected to continue as traditions of old from the original GW. The concept of new annual content being introduced in this format… from my limited experience you all are the first to do it in this fashion, so forgive the unfamiliarity. But, on that note, I like it. Please keep up the amazing work, it’s honestly and truly appreciated.

ColinJohanson.2394:

So the answer is really yes to both, it is living world content, and it could come back again in the future with new rewards.

My big question is if rewards from previous holidays will come back the second time around. It would be a shame for people who spent a lot buying certain items to suddenly find the value of those items plummet as they become far more common upon re-release.

Honestly, I think the problem people have with the living story is that they can’t have the rewards all the time. I think that’s precisely what’s neat about the living story from both a loot acquisition and economic standpoint. Rarity isn’t solely based upon a low RNG drop chance, but also on a time frame wherin things are actually happenning.

Yes, some loot will be super-rare. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. People complaining “I did 4,682 molten facilities and didn’t get a jetpack” are missing the point of the jetpack. It’s a rare thing, and it’s cosmetic. Without rare things, loot is boring. When rare things confer a gameplay advantage then you’ve got a grindy system. When your rare things are cosmetic you keep the fun of rare loot without putting those who don’t have it at a gameplay disadvantage.

You’re simply not meant to have all the things. Sometimes you won’t get the rare loot. Sometimes you will. It doesn’t horribly matter because you don’t actually need said loot to play the game, so if you don’t get the uber-rare this story, there’s the next one, and the next, and so on.

What you’re failing to realize is that unique rewards, like say the sentinel’s inscriptions or the chef recipies, while seemingly common and worthless NOW are the bulk of your actual tangible reward because they can do nothing but accrue value the longer you hold on to them. Each arc having a few pieces of common special loot and a few pieces of rare special loot creates an economy where stockpiling easy to get things is actually beneficial to you, the player, and that’s a concept that simply can’t exist if said items don’t have that limited one time window.

In addition, it’s FUN.

I mean, themepark MMOs, in general, include a lot of wasted space. Old content, abandoned, sucking up server resources, and frustrating new players because that group thing over there can’t be tackled because everyone is mobbing about the last 20% of the game. The idea of a revolving epicenter of PvE, which is designed to be accessed by all levels is a fantastic one specifically because it avoids the “dead zones” problem that only gets worse with each content addition when every single bit of content is permanent. Not only that, getting new adventures on a regular basis is a lot more fun for both the casual and hardcore player. The hardcore guys can have a new farm every few weeks, which keeps it fresh, and the casual players can have a fresh and new experience every few weeks that other people are actually playing, and then move on with their lives/other games/whatever until the next update.

All in all i really enjoyed F&F after its slow start, I enjoyed the feeling of permanence, that blowing up those molten facilities really did blow them up eventually. I enjoyed going back to cragstead and seeing all of the people I saved and knowing that they really were saved in a global sense. it made my time playing feel much more worthwhile and accomplished because i was part of something that was larger than just a chain of instances related to me.

It’s different, yeah, and not everyone is going to like this kind of content delivery mindset and that’s okay. Not every game has to be the same and there are a lot of other games that are really great and do things differently, but I like the fact that this one is doing things this way and want to see it continue.

So let me get this right, after Southsun living story is done, we’ll geat Dragon Bash which i’m guessing is annual because of the Dragon Festival back in GW1. Correct me if i’m wrong, but isn’t the Dragon Bash something very asian and Canthan? NCSoft said to not add Cantha, but yet they let you create “asian” content?

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

There is a reason why it’s called ‘Dragon Bash’ and not ‘Dragon Festival.’ All will be revealed in due course.

That either means we’ll be getting a “Dragon Festival” at some point, or that the name itself infers the bashing of a dragon during the time of the festival.

Personally, I’d like to see a big dragon piñata hung up in Lion’s Arch so we can all “bash” it…and then loot bags fly out…to which we may be eligible for a random roll on a new “Dragon Tail” back piece…

Food for thought…

Exroyal.9053:

So let me get this right, after Southsun living story is done, we’ll geat Dragon Bash which i’m guessing is annual because of the Dragon Festival back in GW1. Correct me if i’m wrong, but isn’t the Dragon Bash something very asian and Canthan? NCSoft said to not add Cantha, but yet they let you create “asian” content?

There are still PLENTY of people of Canthan descent in Divinity’s reach. Those old traditions don’t just magically go away when your family is stuck on another continent for a few hundred years due to the ocean becoming a deathtrap.

PopeUrban.2578:

Exroyal.9053:

So let me get this right, after Southsun living story is done, we’ll geat Dragon Bash which i’m guessing is annual because of the Dragon Festival back in GW1. Correct me if i’m wrong, but isn’t the Dragon Bash something very asian and Canthan? NCSoft said to not add Cantha, but yet they let you create “asian” content?

There are still PLENTY of people of Canthan descent in Divinity’s reach. Those old traditions don’t just magically go away when your family is stuck on another continent for a few hundred years due to the ocean becoming a deathtrap.

We’ve all seen what being isolated from the world does to your culture in terms of China and Japan. It becomes nearly stagnant. If the Canthan culture was isolated for that long, barring any sort of major catastrophe, it should be stronger than ever…right?

Deified.7520:

My predictions based on this dragon bash and southsun.

Predictions

hide spoiler

Consortium are looking for something. The hidden cave by their headquaters in Lions arc with that box, more of those boxes that look like that on southsun. They have maps with arrows on them, seem to be tracking something. I dont trust them one bit.

New weapon skins. Seem very un-natural like. Could be from Leviathen (elder dragon of the sea). This southsun story seems to be leading up to dragon bash. Adding in a new elder dragon would be great at the time of a holiday called Dragon Bash.

When I saw the consortium accepting refugees in FnF, told my friends I will bet you money that they’re going to use them for labor to help find something. Now I dont know if they’re looking for something through the guise of expanding tourism, or just using them for cheap labor, this recent rebellion by one of the settlers is clear that they’re oh so nice attitude at lions arc during FnF wasn’t so true. Another thing was that when they were interrogating the FnF prisoners in black citadel, one of them talked about a city goer with a sharp tongue. Consortium is pretty known for having sharp tongues and being your typical businessmen.

Still stand by my prediction that I had weeks ago. The consortium is bad/connected to this and it is either the entire organization or just the person in charge using everyone.

I like the theory. Everyone else has good and bad, why not Black Lion (good) and Consortium (bad)?

It would be awesome if we could have our characters join the other side too.

Ema.4953:

It would be awesome if we could have our characters join the other side too.

This is one of those thing that goes against “your character is a hero” philosophies which is a core theme of this game to Anet.

Folks may wish and dream of this but it is one that will never be

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

There is a reason why it’s called ‘Dragon Bash’ and not ‘Dragon Festival.’ All will be revealed in due course.

I still want Dragon Festival one day, please?

Krosslite.1950:

Ema.4953:

It would be awesome if we could have our characters join the other side too.

This is one of those thing that goes against “your character is a hero” philosophies which is a core theme of this game to Anet.

Folks may wish and dream of this but it is one that will never be

True and a little off topic (sorry moderators) but imagine if your actions caused you to go down a darker path, only to have those you helped (destiny’s edge for example) come to help you redeem yourself.

Redscope.6215:

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

There is a reason why it’s called ‘Dragon Bash’ and not ‘Dragon Festival.’ All will be revealed in due course.

That either means we’ll be getting a “Dragon Festival” at some point, or that the name itself infers the bashing of a dragon during the time of the festival.

Personally, I’d like to see a big dragon piñata hung up in Lion’s Arch so we can all “bash” it…and then loot bags fly out…to which we may be eligible for a random roll on a new “Dragon Tail” back piece…

Food for thought…

Given the inflection in Regina’s wording, I some how don’t think that we will be the ‘bashee’ and are more likely to be the ‘bashed’ ;-)

I, for one, welcome our new dragon overlord!

biofrog.1568:

Given the inflection in Regina’s wording, I some how don’t think that we will be the ‘bashee’ and are more likely to be the ‘bashed’ ;-)

Wouldn’t the “bashee” by synonymous with “bashed”? I think you mean “bashee” and “basher”.

I just figured that keeping the name “Dragon Festival” would sound like a celebration of the elder dragons, while the people would much rather “Bash” them than celebrate them.

PS I really hope Dragon Arena makes a return appearance, and that it hasn’t changed too much.

Will the Dragon Festival be included under “Festival” achievement tab or under “Living Story”?

In other words, will it be included with the seasonal events that also add to the main story but you know will be back, or will it be a one time thing?

In GW1 it was a seasonal event, but we haven’t had seasonal events since the Toymaker.

PS: Was it Hao Len’s idea? He is from Canthan origins and is part of Lion’s Arc Captain Council.

Actually, if the Captain’s Council “corrupts” the traditional Dragon Festival because of the Elder Dragons, and I was of Canthan heritage, I’d be greatly annoyed that some arrogant, pesky strangers twist such a fundamental part of my culture due to current political agenda.

The Dragon Festival celebrated the Celestial Dragon, who appeared before Emperor Hanjai after his father was slain by Shiro and the Jade Wind ruined much of the Empire, giving him the strength and the inspiration to start the reconstruction process that saved Cantha from utter destruction. (Off-topic: I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there’s a seventh, benevolent Elder Dragon in Cantha tied to stars and celestials, with Kuunavang being his champion.)

However, if they make a distinction between the ED and the dragons of Cantha that were wise, honorable creatures until the Jade Wind, I guess it will be okay.

Yes, distinctions are important…

Another thing that might be in play here is that traditionally the Dragon Festival has, essentially, been a celebration of surviving some disaster. First, it was the Jade Wind. Then, Nightfall. If it’s been adopted by Lion’s Arch but not Divinity’s Reach, it may have been celebrating the rebirth of Lion’s Arch after Zhaitan’s tsunami. Now, it’s celebrating the defeat of Zhaitan.

Essentially, it’s possible that it can now be related as a kind of Tyrian Thanksgiving, albeit one that’s tied to a different American holiday calendar-wise.

I would hope either way, though, that the Captain’s Council are taking care not to associate the dragons of Cantha with the Elder Dragons – at least until there is evidence that such an association is justified.

I’m a little worried they will mess this one up. I’m worried it will have nothing to do with Dragon Festival whatsoever.

Instead, I kinda like the idea of a controversial festival celebrated by Canthans about the “Celestial Dragon”.

Since dragons are currently a symbol of hate in Tyria, they could have filled Divinity’s Reach with protestors and bandits trying to sabotage the festival.

I kinda like the idea that there are “good” dragons most people do not trust.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

There is a reason why it’s called ‘Dragon Bash’ and not ‘Dragon Festival.’ All will be revealed in due course.

I know this is a little late, but that’s kinda dissapointing. I was hoping for the Dragon Festival GW2 style..

Kain Francois.4328:

I’m a little worried they will mess this one up. I’m worried it will have nothing to do with Dragon Festival whatsoever.

Instead, I kinda like the idea of a controversial festival celebrated by Canthans about the “Celestial Dragon”.

Since dragons are currently a symbol of hate in Tyria, they could have filled Divinity’s Reach with protestors and bandits trying to sabotage the festival.

I kinda like the idea that there are “good” dragons most people do not trust.

On that matter, I would like to see some events that aren’t primarily based in Lion’s Arch.

Glint, for instance, is called a friend to humanity in EoD by Jennah – commemorating her sacrifice would be one way to create an alternate Dragon Festival.