Guild Wars 2

Vol.7601:

A R W E N.6895:

Yay, new permanent content.

But but, now lets all hope that this new permanent content is high quality permanent content.

Yeah all the high quality content from previous living stories were all large scale. In fact, all releases were pretty much large scale…I can’t envision how that works with these journals.

My guess is that each episode creates an instance of that map for everyone who’s replaying this episode. Pretty much like starting instances for new characters (which are shared by several people, just in case anyone appeared in an empty one), but on a large scale.

It’s not really different from zoning into megaservered Brisban Wildlands from megaservered Caledon Forest, except that it’s zoning into megaservered Brisban Wildlands (Corrupted by Dragon) from megaservered Brisban Wildlands (Pre-corruption).

Sounds interesting. The fee is also a good idea, IMO. Active people can just log in and get the story for free. People returning after an absence – like me – can still catch up for some small cost.

I do wonder how they will handle the large fights, like the end of season 1? Will you fight the 3 marionettes by yourself? If they did some scaling and fiddling with mechanics that could be a cool fight!

I like that they are going to make this material permanent but I’m really not impressed that the story line is monetized in any way. In my opinion that is a step in the wrong direction.

Mattargul.9235:

Sounds interesting. The fee is also a good idea, IMO. Active people can just log in and get the story for free. People returning after an absence – like me – can still catch up for some small cost.

I do wonder how they will handle the large fights, like the end of season 1? Will you fight the 3 marionettes by yourself? If they did some scaling and fiddling with mechanics that could be a cool fight!

I think how they handle large scale zone events – like the marionette or scarlett invasion – is the one biggest question about this new system now.

Love the idea and think it will make alot of people (including me) really happy, but am curious about how this will work.

Will we be able to replay everything – including large scale fights (which many of us love) – or will this system be limited in any way. Either way Im happy for the change – just curious.

lordkrall.7241:

Indeed, I am personally a bit worried that this will mean nothing large-scale (such as Marionette) in Season 2, since those things would be rather hard, not to say impossible, to do on your own.

It seems rather that content like that will be permanent.

Malchior.5042:

Here’s the real bits and pieces!

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-story-journal/

As for large open world changes…I think we could still see them. Think about it…bits of the Tower of Nightmares is “permanent.” We’ve seen a permanent change to Kessex Hills.

I can see zones (both old and new) having a period where they are filled with stuff for the active release, but then maybe they go into a “normal” or “less-active” state once the 2-week period is over.

Only the 2-week period might have the massive boss fight, akin to Marionette. Of course…if we can have a permanent Marionette, then I’ll squee like a schoolgirl.

I’m hoping the story stuff is repayable (and or some other stuff) and that the open world content becomes permanent (that’s the feel I was getting in anycase).

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

I love the fact that the missions now have achievements tied to it. Difficult achievements you probably won’t finish on your first try. AWESOME!! Replay the mission until you’ve mastered it, exactly what I was missing until now from the achievement-system.

THANK YOU ANET!

Yeah the two week thing did have a bad habit of forcing ANet to balance difficulty with achievability (with the limited time). So thumbs up.

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

I like that they are going to make this material permanent but I’m really not impressed that the story line is monetized in any way. In my opinion that is a step in the wrong direction.

If you remeber to just login it does not cost a thing. Only players that bought the game after these releases will have an issue. And 200 are even easily made with gold too if you are an 80 LvL player…So as far as monetizing is concerned its pretty friendly..

“With this addition to the story Journal, content from Living World episodes will be a mix of new story steps and open world content. Story steps will work just like existing story steps in the game today by taking you on a journey specific to your selected episode, which ties into a broader narrative from the season’s continual story progress.

Open world content additions to Living World updates will permanently expand or change the world of Tyria and will tie to the theme and story of the episode. This means you can play the open world content and the story content (if you’ve unlocked that episode) anytime you want, on every character you ever make on your account! You’re no longer limited to completing the episode during its two-week release window. This means that going forward, all of the content and all of the rewards for Living World will be permanent."

We will most likely be able to replay the story missions in each episode. However the Open world content is replayable aswell (or atleast permanent), and fights like the Marionette would fall into this category.

I guess we will find out how all of this will work in just a months time. However i think we should all be grateful for the fact that Arena-net has actually developed features based on the wishes of its community.

This really appeals to me. I like the look of the UI. I like that I unlock it if I log in during the two week period. I like that if I am out of town and can’t log in during the time period, I can buy it! I like that it is permanent and unlocks for the entire account!

If this works like I think it will, it removes my objections that I had to the previous living story. My main objections were that it put pressure on me to complete things quickly rather than enjoy my time and that it was temporary.

As far as the monetizing goes, I would love to purchase the parts of season 1 I missed because I was out of town or buried under my work.

Mattargul.9235:

I do wonder how they will handle the large fights, like the end of season 1? Will you fight the 3 marionettes by yourself? If they did some scaling and fiddling with mechanics that could be a cool fight!

More likely this is open world content, the vast majority of which will be permanent. (For example, future marionette-scale events would be just like the Three-Headed Wurm or the revamped Tequatl the Sunless.)

I’m not eliminating the possibility that they could still make some content temporary, though (like the Battle for Lion’s Arch). Some of those things (like the Scarlet Hologram battle perhaps) could be adapted into fractals.

Going to post some speculation here.

A lot of people have been asking about how this will affect big events like the Battle for Lion’s Arch, and if it will even be possible to have those types of events anymore, because they require groups. The journal post states that the story portions of the Living Story are made permanent through the journal and then there is also the open-world Living Story content that will expand or change the world.

Using the Battle for Lion’s Arch as an example, this means the following portions of it would be available to replay through the journal:
1. The cutscenes when LA is attacked
2. Any solo story instances with Braham, Rox, Marjory, Kasmeer, etc.
3. The final battle with Scarlet

The following would not be replayable, as it is open world content that would be classified under “content that changes the world”:
1. The battle for LA events
2. The retaking LA events
3. The Prime Holo battle

So the open world content will fall into three categories:
1. Content that expands the world and remains there permanently. (Will always be playable by going to those areas in the open world)
2. Events that change the world permanently (Won’t always be playable, the events are removed but the changes are permanent)
3. Temporary holidays and festivals

WOOT!!!

I am excited!!! Looking forward to this. Think it’s a great idea! As far as the large scale events, well we’ll just have to wait to see how its going to be implemented. Although I cen see it similar to the megaserver system. Everyone who wants to replay the marionette, for example, would activate it on the journal, and be sent to a megaserver shard with everyone else who wanted to do the event. It doesn’t seem that complicated really, as I’m sure there will be lots of players, old and new, who wouldn’t mind going back to replay some of those events.

I am going to keep my pessism to a minimum when it comes to implementation, we don’t know how thats going to play out, and commenting negativly about it now isn’t very constructive.

BobbyStein.2315:

Malchior.5042:

skullmount.1758:

Hmm, so if LS is going to be using the green star like the PS, what happens to those of us who haven’t completed the PS? Do we just select that in the story panel and it basically hides the PS one/step?

Going from what Colin described, that seems to be the case.

Colin Johanson

To go along with this change, we’re modifying the story Journal in your character’s Hero Panel so it will track all of your character’s story steps. From that panel, characters who are level 80 will be able to select between playing their personal story and the Living World story. For the Living World story, you’ll be able to select which unlocked episode you’d like to play. Characters under level 80 will be able to see the available episodes, but will not be able to play them until they reach level 80. Think of the Living World story as the constantly expanding continuation of your character’s storyline once they reach level 80.

Once you hit level 80 you can switch between your Personal Story and your unlocked episodes of Season 2.

Thanks. Yeah got that as I finished reading it (posted my question before fully reading it).

Can you (or prod someone in the correct pod/department to) happen to give us any examples (not necessarily actual ones to be released) of either what to expect with the achievements? And rewards, are they more like zenith skins so we can get multiples of the rewards (mainly for minis, since skins would be in wardrobe, with 0 t-charge requirement) or just one time rewards again?

Thanks.

I’m quite happy with this addition. While I can certainly spare a minute or two to log in, I haven’t always got the time to actually play, so I appreciate the move to give us a way to replay content.

The achievements also sound interesting. As someone in another thread said, it’ll allow them to come up with more challenging content now that they don’t have to balance it with availability.

I nearly spilled my coffee over 200 gems for older episodes. LOL

CC Danicia.1394:

Howdy all!

We’re going to make this one the official feedback/questions thread. Please stay on-topic and respectful throughout. Thank you!

Donna, I love you.
Now with the questions:

1. Can we expect big event chapters like much acclaimed Marrionette or The Tower of Nightmares?
2. If so, how will we deal with the 5 men instance limit?
3. Will there be temporal rewards/tittles or will they all be obtainable forever?
4. What will happen with fractals from now on?
5. What will be the balance between instanced and open world content for LS now?
6. Will we still get temporary Open World stuff aside from festivals?

Thanks.

I will now proceed to sacrifice an inoccent rabbit so Colin appears in this thread and answer my questions.

MakubeC.3026:

CC Danicia.1394:

Howdy all!

We’re going to make this one the official feedback/questions thread. Please stay on-topic and respectful throughout. Thank you!

Donna, I love you.
Now with the questions:

1. Can we expect big event chapters like much acclaimed Marrionette or The Tower of Nightmares?
2. If so, how will we deal with the 5 men instance limit?
3. Will there be temporal rewards/tittles or will they all be obtainable forever?
4. What will happen with fractals from now on?
5. What will be the balance between instanced and open world content for LS now?
6. Will we still get temporary Open World stuff aside from festivals?

Thanks.

I will now proceed to sacrifice an inoccent rabbit so Colin appears in this thread and answer my questions.

If the rabbit doesn’t work, you may need to proceed to sacrifice a (baby) quaggan. If that doesn’t work, proceed to sacrifice a baby dolyak.

Wow, literally want I’ve been wanting all through season 1.
In fact, I made a thread several months ago asking for exactly what they’re adding (though that’s not to say it was “my idea” or anything as ridiculous as that).
This is great, can’t really see anything wrong with it. They even plan to add the season 1 stuff to it later down the line. It’s permanent, it’s replayable, you can do it at your own pace, the journal allows for more clear and concise tracking, and they added a means for those who missed the time sensitive stuff to “acquire it”, and for pretty cheap at that (kinda reminds me of dungeon defenders content, get it for free if you’re there for it’s release, or pay a bit if you want it later).

Vol.7601:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-story-journal/

I don’t quite get the concept of charging 200 gems for previous releases.

I don’t mind it in concept – after all, it’s a ‘convenience’ fee for accessing something you did not experience in the 2 week period, but who would pay 200 gems for a story instance that lasts no more than 10 minutes?

Firstly this motivates people to login during events. Secondly it offers ANet another revenue stream from late comers (content does cost money to make and severs don’t run on hope and good wishes, depending on what they’re offering for 200gems it might be a decent deal or a rip-off so we’ll have to see).

Vol.7601:

How does this affect the development of future living stories. Does this mean we no longer have living stories with temporary map content, like Pavillion, BoTW, SAB or the holiday themed ones? You can’t exactly ‘replay’ those because you need other players to experience it with. Or does that mean any sort of living story content that requires mass participation is now permanent content?

There seems to be a stronger separation between living story and holiday. Pavillion will as such most likely fall under holiday and will be annual but temporary.

Vol.7601:

For example, let’s take the Marionette release. It’s definitely in the top 5 best releases for Anet.

If Anet were to come up with a similar type of fight for L2, like fighting a champion of Mordremoth, how could this play with journals?

My concern is Anet will sidestep this type of content entirely and move towards smaller scale encounters.

Might be wrong, but it seems massive open world content becomes permanent. Story around said content need to be unlocked (as well as associated achievements). So in the case of marionette it would stay permanently, but you’ll have to buy or unlock the story / achievements.

Corpus Christi.2057:

I like the “unlockable with 200 gems” part of it.^^

The implication of course that it will have to be worth 200 gems is the part I like, i.e. bad content won’t get picked up so ANet has a reason to ensure quality.

CharrGirl.7896:

To me it seemed logical to offer to play past releases for a small fee, so exactly what are we paying 200 gems for?

My understanding? Story instances and achievements. What story instance contains unsure. Might be instanced content, it might be 10-15 minutes of dialogue. hopefully not the latter since, as I’ve previously noted, people won’t pay 200 for something like 10 minutes of dialogue and some achievements.

lordkrall.7241:

To be fair it is rather unlikely that most people will be so busy so that they can’t login for 10 seconds once every two weeks.

And the price is so low that it doesn’t really matter much anyway.
You can get the gold for it within a couple of days without much trouble.

Most likely aimed at new players… Not sure how they’d experience it though. Buy the game and then have to buy all the old content? Maybe ANet can package the season together or market it properly (no you can use in game gold, you don’t have to etc.).

Nick.6972:

Couldn’t care any less, still haven’t finished personal story beyond level 30 or something two years after the launch (6 characters all 80).
The lore just isn’t that good in my opinion.
But hey, I guess it’s a great tool for those who enjoy the story,

You can skip the dialogue :P
Should take more than a day or two to breeze though it with a 80.

Naevius.3185:

Marionette, Battle for LA – it seems to me the best parts of LS 1 were group events. But there are no group events in the personal story, for obvious reasons, so presumably there will be none in LS 2.

No the article specifically says there will be.

Vol.7601:

A R W E N.6895:

Yay, new permanent content.

But but, now lets all hope that this new permanent content is high quality permanent content.

Yeah all the high quality content from previous living stories were all large scale. In fact, all releases were pretty much large scale…I can’t envision how that works with these journals.

My thinking. Remember the original pavilion? We had a intro story with some gameplay and we had a mini dungeon. I’m guessing the intro story (perhaps a outro) and mini dungeon will fall under story, while the pavilion like content will be open world and free.

Lankybrit.4598:

I nearly spilled my coffee over 200 gems for older episodes. LOL

Hey they gotta make money somehow. Just hope it’s worth 200 gems. Then again they sold eye-patches for 400 gems… Still I’ll be positive.

Uhm I hope there will still be open world bosses and zergs cause I love those

So we know there will be new achievements tied to the journal, but what about the current meta ones? Will we still have some for the open world content (in addition to the journal ones)? (Though sounds like rewards go with journal achievements/instanced stuff).

200 gems will definitely be worth it this time around, even if the instanced part is just dialogue, because those 200 gems unlock the achievements as well, and they said that each achievement will contain a reward for completion in addition to just the points (so an item, title, etc.). 200 gems is $2.50, the price of a candy bar and a soda. Assuming there is at least 10 achievements per update (a safe assumption) that means 200 gems would get you access to unlocking 10 items, titles, etc.

Though honestly the majority of players will never even need to worry about the 200 gems. The best part about the 200 gems is it is giving players an incentive just to download the patch and log in, which is the hardest part of getting people back into the game. Chances are once they log in to unlock the content, a fair percentage of them will play for a bit anyways.

Love the idea.
Cost is fair if it is for an entire “episode” like the Tower of Terror.
How will you find enough people to participate?

It is the implementation and getting enough people to make it worthwhile that will be what I want to understand more.

Also, will all loot and rewards be available?

I totally hate this idea. It goes a complete 360 from season 1. What happened to you miss it, well too bad you don’t get to experience it. I think though you should be able to do all of the releases, but NOT be able to get the rewards since they are supposed to be exclusive to that release.

Darkchief.5468:

Going to post some speculation here.

A lot of people have been asking about how this will affect big events like the Battle for Lion’s Arch, and if it will even be possible to have those types of events anymore, because they require groups. The journal post states that the story portions of the Living Story are made permanent through the journal and then there is also the open-world Living Story content that will expand or change the world.

Using the Battle for Lion’s Arch as an example, this means the following portions of it would be available to replay through the journal:
1. The cutscenes when LA is attacked
2. Any solo story instances with Braham, Rox, Marjory, Kasmeer, etc.
3. The final battle with Scarlet

The following would not be replayable, as it is open world content that would be classified under “content that changes the world”:
1. The battle for LA events
2. The retaking LA events
3. The Prime Holo battle

So the open world content will fall into three categories:
1. Content that expands the world and remains there permanently. (Will always be playable by going to those areas in the open world)
2. Events that change the world permanently (Won’t always be playable, the events are removed but the changes are permanent)
3. Temporary holidays and festivals

I have exactly the same thoughts. That is how I understood the new system as well.

Unless I am misreading. It would seem to me that the Megaserver system was set-up for this new function of living world. Now, once you activate a previous living world element, I imagine you will be placed into a world in which the living story is occurring with other players who also have that specific living story selected. In the past, there would of been too few people, and there may still well be in some living world content, but many of them will be full of players completing the living story element.

I think this change is awesome, especially for someone like me that only started playing last crown pavilion.

I think what you are paying for is the story instanced content not the open world versions, so stuff like the marionette and ToN wouldnt be available but living story instanced events like us helping Rox and Braham defend the home and hatchery probably will be. Sorry for punctuation

“The achievements will be much more difficult to complete than those traditionally found in Season 1, and are intended to be challenging achievements for skilled players to overcome”

Kill 5000 monster not just 50! \o/

Turin.6921:

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

I like that they are going to make this material permanent but I’m really not impressed that the story line is monetized in any way. In my opinion that is a step in the wrong direction.

If you remeber to just login it does not cost a thing. Only players that bought the game after these releases will have an issue. And 200 are even easily made with gold too if you are an 80 LvL player…So as far as monetizing is concerned its pretty friendly..

If you’re at home and not on vacation, it does not cost a thing. Returning players will be kitten outta luck, and will have to pony up to play. That wont exactly encourage players to return. Like I said, it’s a step in the wrong direction.

Whether or not the price is “friendly” is debatable. I would note that game gold to gem prices have never gone down.

In all it’s not a bad idea, but there is a fly in the soup.

I’m just glad its 200 vs. 800 gems. At least you can farm up 200 gems worth of gold if you really want to replay something. 800 is alot of time and/or money.

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

Turin.6921:

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

I like that they are going to make this material permanent but I’m really not impressed that the story line is monetized in any way. In my opinion that is a step in the wrong direction.

If you remeber to just login it does not cost a thing. Only players that bought the game after these releases will have an issue. And 200 are even easily made with gold too if you are an 80 LvL player…So as far as monetizing is concerned its pretty friendly..

If you’re at home and not on vacation, it does not cost a thing. Returning players will be kitten outta luck, and will have to pony up to play. That wont exactly encourage players to return. Like I said, it’s a step in the wrong direction.

Whether or not the price is “friendly” is debatable. I would note that game gold to gem prices have never gone down.

In all it’s not a bad idea, but there is a fly in the soup.

You can’t really say it is a step in the wrong direction, because objectively it isn’t. As of now there is no way to replay any of the old LS content, now there will be, just at a (very small) cost if you don’t log in during those two weeks. It is a step in the right direction, maybe just not as big a step as you were hoping.

No one will be forcing returning players to pay for the content though, and the open world changes will obviously be available to them for free, it is just the story instances and achievements. There will be nothing preventing them from watching or reading story recaps online and jumping right in.

Very excited for the new journal system. I think restructuring the way the living story is delivered will be a huge boon for the game in a number of ways, and I’ll be crossing my fingers for the inclusion of season 1 and the ability to replay personal story missions (along with trying out alternate paths that you didn’t select the first time, even if they don’t save to your character).

I have a question about the story steps that are going to be added with each release. So far, things have been kind of inconsistent with regards to living story instances being things that you can do with friends, or are purely single player. Are things going to be any more consistent from here on out? It would be really great if the living story steps are more in line with the personal story, where everything can be done either alone or with friends.

You’ve made part of the Living Story a Netflix, and I’m quite okay with this.
Yeah it will be inconvenient not having Season 1 initially in the journal, but I do applaud how steps will be made for it someday.

I do have a question, chances are it was already answered.
If you weren’t available to pick up three “episodes” of the story and had to purchase them individually can you pick and choose?
Meaning what if I don’t care about the earlier two, but want in that that recent one I missed out. Can people “skip around” in this mission TiVo?

If so, great!

I especially like that only Level 80s get access to these stories now.
It gives me incentive to actually finish leveling up my characters.

A R W E N.6895:

Yay, new permanent content.

But but, now lets all hope that this new permanent content is high quality permanent content.

Given their track record and their insistence on keeping the two week release schedule, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Celestina.2894:

It seems to be their way of making a payed expansion without actually forcing everyone to pay.

It’s a potentially nice compromise really. Monetizing the story is not new, and honestly, people have been asking for a payed expansion for months now.

We haven’t been asking for a paid expansion, we’ve been asking for content matching the quality and scope delivered through a paid expansion. We’re willing to pay for that quality and scope, but we’re certainly not adverse to getting it for free, either. The problem is the Living Story has yet to deliver anything approaching the quality or scope of what we’re asking for.

BEST. ANNOUNCEMENT. EVER.

Thats a big face door slam to those who were like “Q.Q Living Story sucks no permanent content you suck Q.Q”

Seriously. Best feature ever. Absolutely happy about being able to play past content again and the new achievement system.

I want to hug you all but I can’t

it took a year to realize quests would be a good idea…

It fills in a LOT holes GW2 was bleeding from and got me excited about the game again! Perma content 4president!

Yep.. love this new journal thing.. I wonder how many people suggested it?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Collaborative-Development-Topic-Living-World/3119208

Surely there’s more… Anyways, just another example that we’re being listened to and ideas are definitely being improved upon. I really can’t wait for season 2 to start… The fact that we’ll be able to do extra achievements after we’ve completed it.. sort of like the hard mode in GW1 missions or the extra objectives.. sort of what it reminds me of anyway.

I think this is a wonderful idea that solves one of my biggest gripes about the game. To be unable to play content at my leisure because it was removed from the game goes against everything I know and love about video games. I have friends who quit specifically over this issue! Maybe now I can bring them back to the game.

Please, please add S1 to the Story Journal. I have guildies that missed out on stuff like Tower of Nightmares and I would love to lead them through it. It would give us new things to do as a guild as well. Events like the Tower and Marionette were big parts of how I made my name as a leader on my server and the ability to take my guild back through them would really, really make my day

Eh, this is a step in the right direction, but now what should’ve been posted about first.

We want to hear about new areas, new weapons, races, professions, anything in that range first. This should’ve been middle or near end announcement.

How will these change impact events like battle for LA and Marrionette?

I like the whole thing! Good job Anet! people shouldn’t worry too much, I am sure Anet will make previous releases free for people who completed the meta.

It creates more holes in your pockets since you have to pay for past journals.

I just want to say that I fully support this idea.

This is a big step in the right direction, and it is fantastic to see that the developers are open to critism and are willing to adapt accordingly.

The feature pack almost made me quit and lose faith in the developers because of the changes to PvP, but hopefully this is a sign of better things to come overall.

2014 is indeed a big year for the game.

LordEnki.9283:

It creates more holes in your pockets since you have to pay for past journals.

I’m more than willing to pay for the Season One.

Anyways, great annoucement from anet. The living journal idea is GREAT.

No more missing story and content!! Yayifications!!

I may not have understood this correctly, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
Regarding the current Personal Story. This will now be locked away and only available for level 80 characters to repeat?
This means characters below level 80 won’t be able to play this, and level up with the XP from it.
It also means an end to key farming, unless you can replay the level 10 story for keys (which I doubt)?

LordEnki.9283:

It creates more holes in your pockets since you have to pay for past journals.

You don’t HAVE to pay.. just login when it’s actually running and you can get it for free. Otherwise, yea, you pay 200 gems to play content you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. If I miss something and that’s what I have to do.. so be it, as long as it’s good content and the achievements are real achievements and the rewards are unique… I think that’s more than I could have ever asked for.

Actually I like the recent updates we’ve been getting. I imagine this is basically their way to ‘answer’ a lot of complaints and requests that they’ve been getting. From a business standpoint I can see why they would wait until now to give players what they want without rehashing GW1 instead of doing it in while season one was still live. since season one is over it gives them more time to work on the ‘system’ and relax their ‘two weeks’ schedule a bit to allow for more polishing and whatnot. (Of course they also can’t wait forever exactly hence the festival to keep us game drones entertained while they work.)

Plus adding additional objectives feels sort of like both the bonus objectives from guild wars 1 as well as an achievement system they can put in for missions. (say you’re being shelled by large rockets and some of them don’t explode. you grab it and throw it back at the mortar that shot it before it explodes for the ‘hot potato’ objective. even being able to reward silly titles this way like ‘training dummy’ for managing to be hit with every single mortar shell fired.)

Overall I like the direction they’re going right now. sort of making up for past mistakes-ish.

One of the strengths of ArenaNet has been they’re ability to recognize holes or failings and take steps to fill them. People have been complaining about missing the past story lore and it’s cool to see them implementing a system to address that.

Heck, I might even try to finish those post-Claw Island missions on my PS now.

Tuathal.7208:

I may not have understood this correctly, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
Regarding the current Personal Story. This will now be locked away and only available for level 80 characters to repeat?
This means characters below level 80 won’t be able to play this, and level up with the XP from it.
It also means an end to key farming, unless you can replay the level 10 story for keys (which I doubt)?

Not what it means at all. Your personal story currently has a journal with the summaries of what you have done so far. This journal will now have a Living Story tab. If you want to work on personal story, you just activate the personal story section, and you will see the objectives for that. You can complete it same as before. If you want to do Living Story, you activate that section of it, and you will see those objectives instead of Personal Story.

Living Story season 2 will all be content for level 80s, so you have to be level 80 to experience LS season 2 it sounds like, which is a good thing because it means they can stop having to design content to include lower level players.