Guild Wars 2

As a long time devotee of GW1, this has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in a video game.

Thank you.

I agree. It was fantastic and I hope that THIS is the new direction of the game.

I had two real OMG moments: Entering the hidden part of the Priory (and alllll the stuff in there, I swear, the quote from the end of Raiders came to mind “Top … men.” ) and entering the final section after being told “Hey, it’s ok to touch that.” So many screenshots, so many many many.

Then I got to hear two guildies on Mumble as they experienced those moments.

Really a nicely done chapter.

yup. same feelings here. many screens. loved it!

If you’ve played through Guild Wars you’re going to finally feel treated and enjoy “Hidden Arcana”. I only wish they would have their writing team put together some detailed lore and stick it in the priory, as opposed to the short excerpts. It could be a great opportunity to further bridge the community between GW1 and 2 as well as answer some questions I’ve had for almost a decade.

On the topic of Dragons lair I would really like to see it become a full fledged dungeon where a group of five have to go through all six lanes or Element,Nature and Chaos lairs are added as a fractal. It’s too good to pass up.

The only downside about this content is it reminds me how we all got screwed out of the Abaddon fractal for that rubbish Thaumanova reactor.

MORE GUILDWARS 1 CONTENT!

IIvIIozzie.9250:

On the topic of Dragons lair I would really like to see it become a full fledged dungeon where a group of five have to go through all six lanes or Element,Nature and Chaos lairs are added as a fractal. It’s too good to pass up.

The only downside about this content is it reminds me how we all got screwed out of the Abaddon fractal for that rubbish Thaumanova reactor.

MORE GUILDWARS 1 CONTENT!

Actually I really agree with this. Although Im not a fan of the last boss, the area itself is STUNNING and really large!. It seems such a waste not to use it for a new dungeon or something.

Actually i saw a failed opportunity.

They could have used “Get to the CHOPPER!” but failed.

Did you catch the old relic in an open crate? Speaking of crates, why is it that no one has brought up all of the text on them?

Same here, this patch is absolutely mind-blowing. Not only in content size but also quality. The new zone especially is phenomenal, constantly keeping you on your toes due to the barrage of events going on.

This patch was great. I’m really impressed and I hope this standard of quality perseveres.

Haven’t played the story yet, but the new map is great fun. Keep up the good play, ArenaNET!

Agreed wholeheartedly! With a single stroke, ANet rekindled my love for Guild Wars!

I got to Glint’s Lair, and I cried. I admit it. Then listening to Jory and Kas talk about “what it must have been like” yup, memory lane. The music loaded and was playing before my screen loaded, and that was a kicker for me.

Still though…. an egg? We had an actual baby dragon in EotN. What happened to it? Did it die? Is it safe and growing somewhere under the care of someone else? This egg would have needed to have been from a much later clutch to have given (as an egg) to the Master of Peace. Maybe I missed something somewhere? But I plan on playing through it again another couple of times, so I guess I’ll look closer next time.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I got to Glint’s Lair, and I cried. I admit it. Then listening to Jory and Kas talk about “what it must have been like” yup, memory lane. The music loaded and was playing before my screen loaded, and that was a kicker for me.

Still though…. an egg? We had an actual baby dragon in EotN. What happened to it? Did it die? Is it safe and growing somewhere under the care of someone else? This egg would have needed to have been from a much later clutch to have given (as an egg) to the Master of Peace. Maybe I missed something somewhere? But I plan on playing through it again another couple of times, so I guess I’ll look closer next time.

Really just only speculation, but when the master of peace receives the egg, a deep voice talks to him, which might be the “baby” dragon grown up. Someone had to protect right after glint died, before the zephyrites got to her lair.

dsslive.8473:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I got to Glint’s Lair, and I cried. I admit it. Then listening to Jory and Kas talk about “what it must have been like” yup, memory lane. The music loaded and was playing before my screen loaded, and that was a kicker for me.

Still though…. an egg? We had an actual baby dragon in EotN. What happened to it? Did it die? Is it safe and growing somewhere under the care of someone else? This egg would have needed to have been from a much later clutch to have given (as an egg) to the Master of Peace. Maybe I missed something somewhere? But I plan on playing through it again another couple of times, so I guess I’ll look closer next time.

Really just only speculation, but when the master of peace receives the egg, a deep voice talks to him, which might be the “baby” dragon grown up. Someone had to protect right after glint died, before the zephyrites got to her lair.

Possibly, I’m hoping they expand on it. It could have been glint herself before she died too, knowing DE was en route and Kralk was waking up. One of those ‘just in case’ things.

It could have indeed been Glint herself, since she died only 7 years ago.

As someone who has not played the original gw. I find this recent living story patch amazing. The new map I find amazing, because of the:

-nice keep upgrading/defense events
-rare(legendary) mobs around keeps every now and then
-new goal to go towards(shoulder piece),
-great music both in story instances and new map
-a lot of extra lore to be found and read
-achievements that don’t require restarting the whole story instance if you fail
-animation and the overall design of the new map and especially Glint’s lair

Overall I’m very happy with this patch. Of course there were/are some minor bugs, like not on my watch achievement and some sound dialogue bugs during story instance, but there will always be bugs.

Thank you.

I just wanted to chime in and also show my support for this patch. This was a great improvement, and I loved the lore and the music. If Anet can keep up this quality of patches in the future then I will be impressed.

I would like to see more zones though. I’m really looking forward to more jungle zones as those are some of my favorite. It looks like we will be pushing further in, I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.

I have to chime in too. We were just blown away, and I really REALLY love that it seems like it is changing depending on what order you have. As priory, I felt like at home, I knew things, people knew me, and reacted to me as another scholar. That was really something I appreciated!

Also, good dialog, good plotting, good pacing, good voice acting, interesting and not too easy encounters…

You brought your A-game this time around, and I have hardly begun to explore the new zone…

I kept getting distracted by the zone.

“Ok I need to get….over there for the story…. Oh shoot, that bull’s gonna die”

“Ok where was I……. OMG (insert sudden swarm of Mordrem here)”

Not a bad thing, just wasn’t expecting wvw to come visit my generally calm pve. It will definitely keep you engaged if you let it.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I kept getting distracted by the zone.

“Ok I need to get….over there for the story…. Oh shoot, that bull’s gonna die”

“Ok where was I……. OMG (insert sudden swarm of Mordrem here)”

Not a bad thing, just wasn’t expecting wvw to come visit my generally calm pve. It will definitely keep you engaged if you let it.

Yeah, it took me about an hour and a half to get to the Caithe story step because I kept getting pulled into escorting bulls, defending forts, and driving off Mordrem.

I loved every minute of it. The Silverwastes is really showing off the power of dynamic events.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

dsslive.8473:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I got to Glint’s Lair, and I cried. I admit it. Then listening to Jory and Kas talk about “what it must have been like” yup, memory lane. The music loaded and was playing before my screen loaded, and that was a kicker for me.

Still though…. an egg? We had an actual baby dragon in EotN. What happened to it? Did it die? Is it safe and growing somewhere under the care of someone else? This egg would have needed to have been from a much later clutch to have given (as an egg) to the Master of Peace. Maybe I missed something somewhere? But I plan on playing through it again another couple of times, so I guess I’ll look closer next time.

Really just only speculation, but when the master of peace receives the egg, a deep voice talks to him, which might be the “baby” dragon grown up. Someone had to protect right after glint died, before the zephyrites got to her lair.

Possibly, I’m hoping they expand on it. It could have been glint herself before she died too, knowing DE was en route and Kralk was waking up. One of those ‘just in case’ things.

At first i thought that it might have been glint indeed, but the heavy male voice just doesn’t seem right in that case. Even in gw1 her voice was clearly female, so i don’t think it was glint that gave the egg to the master of peace.

Also, another note, if she foresaw what was about to happen and wanted the zephyrites and ogden to protect her offspring then why only one egg? why not all.

dsslive.8473:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

dsslive.8473:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I got to Glint’s Lair, and I cried. I admit it. Then listening to Jory and Kas talk about “what it must have been like” yup, memory lane. The music loaded and was playing before my screen loaded, and that was a kicker for me.

Still though…. an egg? We had an actual baby dragon in EotN. What happened to it? Did it die? Is it safe and growing somewhere under the care of someone else? This egg would have needed to have been from a much later clutch to have given (as an egg) to the Master of Peace. Maybe I missed something somewhere? But I plan on playing through it again another couple of times, so I guess I’ll look closer next time.

Really just only speculation, but when the master of peace receives the egg, a deep voice talks to him, which might be the “baby” dragon grown up. Someone had to protect right after glint died, before the zephyrites got to her lair.

Possibly, I’m hoping they expand on it. It could have been glint herself before she died too, knowing DE was en route and Kralk was waking up. One of those ‘just in case’ things.

At first i thought that it might have been glint indeed, but the heavy male voice just doesn’t seem right in that case. Even in gw1 her voice was clearly female, so i don’t think it was glint that gave the egg to the master of peace.

Also, another note, if she foresaw what was about to happen and wanted the zephyrites and ogden to protect her offspring then why only one egg? why not all.

There are a lot of unanswered questions, either way you look at it.

Everything was top-notch. This was head and shoulders above past stuff. The library was amazing. The Lair was handled fantastically. I am really thrilled how the story is being handled. This update and last update I finally feel like Jory and Kas are being handled properly. Their relationship was so ham-fisted before. Now, they are two characters in a story. The cut scene with Belinda and the sword was so good. Seriously. Pat yourselves on the back for that one. If this is the direction this story is taking I am all about it.

Keep up the top-notch work!

+1 op

Content is top notch, had a blast last night.

Thank You

I just managed to kill one of the bosses in the new map after fighting for the keeps, this map is really awesome and reminds me a bit of the Straits of Devestation, except due to story, the rewards, smaller map and structure it is a much more fun. I wonder what happens if all 5 bosses are defeated, that giant plant inside the cavern did look as if it would be the end boss when I did the story mode.

The story instances were also the best they have made yet, the library section and the lair were really cool. I took almost half an hour to read and look at everything in the library when I first went in there. Zhaitan’s tail even hangs by the ceiling along with many other hidden objects scathered in the library.

This is exactly what I hoped GW2 could be when I bought the game.

I recently started playing again (About a week ago) from about a year break. I did some of the halloween stuff but it was pretty standard fare. I had my eye on the new spoiler videos and stuff of this update and was impressed but knowing how hype has gone in the past I wasn’t getting my hopes up too much.

I was pleasantly proven wrong.

This patch is amazing. The new zone feels like it’s ALIVE, it’s like they’ve finally accomplished what they wanted to when they said they wanted to create a “living world”. Everything you do here has an effect, from picking up rubble, repairing barriers to killing massive champions. Enemies force you to spread out instead of just pushing everything to a wall and zerging it down.

The living story itself is, right next to the Molten Facility and Aetherblade Retreat, some of the best instanced content. Not only are the aesthetics beautifully crafted but the story actually makes me care a little about the lore (Which hasn’t been the case yet) and the enemies have interesting mechanics which don’t just require me to stand there attacking them.

I’m really looking forward to the rest of the LS updates now. Don’t let me down.

The map is distracting sometimes, there is so much to do. I had to give myself tunnel vision to get through the story and I still made pit stops to defend forts.

I really hope they find a way to have Dry Top and Silverwastes make sense after Mordremoth is defeated, and considering Orr is still alive and kicking, I’m not really worried about the content changing too much.

As for the story, I think the best book was the one alluding to Althea’s Ashes. Brought me back!

Glint’s Lair was fantastic, the lore was fantastic. For the first time since launch I felt like I was playing a sequel to Guild Wars, and I mean that in the best way possible. I actually had to take a few minutes after completing the story to process how awesome everything was before I continued to participate in the Silverwastes’ events.

The NPC’s had just enough air time, and it was actually nice to have some individual responsibility in these story quests. I like that everyone kind of has their own agenda. I’m excited about the assimilation of Destiny’s Edge again as well. Things are starting to become more coherent.

Again, I don’t think I could be more pleased with this update if I saw a portrait of my original GW character himself in the archive. The work that was put into Echoes is greatly appreciated.

the crystal world reminds me final fantasy 9.. i m felt a kid

Also in the library I believe there was a Sylvari exclusive book that references your character’s dream of the plant dragon you have at the beginning of the game as being the only reliable clue leading to Mordrimoth. It even uses your full name

Posting after many months..
Playing after many months..

I am truly impressed by the artists of ANET. I don’t know what you eat to come up with such beautiful concepts and then interpret them on canvas.. err computer the way you do.

When I entered Glint’s lair, I really thought I got lost in a painting. It was THE MOST beautiful experience I have had in a fantasy game. I was lost in it. Literally. Many kudos to you for bringing back something that was awesome 9 years ago and even more beautiful 9 years after.

Well done indeed.

I may be in the minority but I’m not really impressed and this is not negativity.

The artist did a really great job with the levels, the lair looked wonderful. But under all the GW1 fanboy nostalgia it still was a run here watch this content patch. And the part I really did not like is I casually finished this in less than four hours.

Again not negativity just if it really takes two months to make about three hours of content which a lot of was already developed how long will it take to pencil in all the dragons?

Just my opinion but I hope in another year or so they just go the route of actual expansions like in GW1. The only times I have logged in the last few months have been for the previous LS, and this one. I’m not really interested in grinding maps.

Lethal Njection.8741:

Also in the library I believe there was a Sylvari exclusive book that references your character’s dream of the plant dragon you have at the beginning of the game as being the only reliable clue leading to Mordrimoth. It even uses your full name

The book isn’t exclusive to Sylvari. I read it on my charr necromancer.

However, an actual name in the book is unique to Sylvari characters.

Right, thanks for clearing that up.

Gnat.9405:

As a long time devotee of GW1, this has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in a video game.

Thank you.

I agree 110%. If GW2 keeps going in this direction, it’ll have a bright future.

Underscoring what the folks above had said. This update is good stuff. I wish the story/lore pieces could have been longer. I felt like I was just getting into a good novel only to find out it was a short story. But that’s not a complaint – I know more is coming. Just don’t want to wait!

The only thing I’d ask of the team is to allow NPCs to make a reference to a human character being decended from the Heroes of the past that took down the great destroyer and/or met Glint as one of the chosen, especially if the name was inherited from a GW1 character. Naturally this requires the presence of a GW1 linked account and certain monuments placed.

Other than this, this was a great patch.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Love, love this thread. In fact, I had my own “OMG moment” when I read it.

Thanks, guys!

I will share with the team, with pleasure!

I haven’t seen Gaile since GW1, and since GW1, I have never been as impressed with content as I have during the Hidden Arcana part of this Echoes of the Past. Anet did some very impressive work this living story update, it’s my favorite content in the entire GW2 game to date. Take your time and keep up the good one, Anet.

Indeed, Echoes of the Past is a segment worth savoring.

Thanks for stopping by Gaile

All the hard word has not gone unnoticed, if this thread is any indication!

This Episode has done a lot to mend my strained “relationship” with the game and its lore. Well done ANet.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

dsslive.8473:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I got to Glint’s Lair, and I cried. I admit it. Then listening to Jory and Kas talk about “what it must have been like” yup, memory lane. The music loaded and was playing before my screen loaded, and that was a kicker for me.

Still though…. an egg? We had an actual baby dragon in EotN. What happened to it? Did it die? Is it safe and growing somewhere under the care of someone else? This egg would have needed to have been from a much later clutch to have given (as an egg) to the Master of Peace. Maybe I missed something somewhere? But I plan on playing through it again another couple of times, so I guess I’ll look closer next time.

Really just only speculation, but when the master of peace receives the egg, a deep voice talks to him, which might be the “baby” dragon grown up. Someone had to protect right after glint died, before the zephyrites got to her lair.

Possibly, I’m hoping they expand on it. It could have been glint herself before she died too, knowing DE was en route and Kralk was waking up. One of those ‘just in case’ things.

To me, the voice sounded too deep to be Glint’s. While they may not have been able to get the same voice actor, from memory Glint’s voice has always been described as feminine – so I’m fairly sure the voice is someone else.

Regarding the egg being of the same clutch – it is mentioned somewhere in an instance (did you talk to Ogden after returning to the Priory?) that the egg was kept “in stasis”. For some reason, it was prevented from hatching earlier.

To bring some negativity to this thread: In a way it is a very bad patch. After experiencing Silverwastes, how can you ever enjoy the other maps again? Except of the art gone into the landscape (which remains fantastic) events in – say – Lornar’s Pass seem now bland, uninspired, disconnected. In my country there is a saying which translates to “the better is the enemy of the good”. Such a case just occured.

Ok, seems my attempt at negativity did not really work

Awesome patch.

I loved that they’re providing us with more dialogue options (even if they don’t really do anything, having the option is always nice). I think we’re still being a bit passive aggressive with Canach (although I personally think we’re being too passive in our aggression :P ) but other players apparently like him.

New map is awesome, new meta is awesome (I think there’s a lot of potential in this, the only issue is that there isn’t enough progression i.e. more defense levels, more varying tactics and enemy mobs). I guess what I’m trying to say is, give me even more

I think the map lacks a bit of the vertical-ity we saw in Dry Top although I guess removing the need to zypherite crystals was probably a right choice given the player responses. Still I’m hoping ANet continues experimenting, I’m kinda hoping that if we ever get to see more of the Tengu they include some verticality… they’re bird people after all). Do love that we got a bit of a larger map this time around (if ANet uses these maps as a measure of the bare minimum size, we can actually get to see even more of Tyria! Some interesting map stuff data mined here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK0SWR0ksD4)

Story was great, loved the library / archive, although I’d love to see it available outside of the living story, if only because I can see a lot of potential if the lore team keeps expanding and adding more things to read (although maybe ANet could also look at creating a better reading interface? The current dialogue interface is ok, but I can’t help but feel that it limits the amount of text and readability a bit. Maybe a book-like UI?). At the very least I do feel that adding more books is a relatively easy way (no need to do voice overs and what no) to add more lore to the game. Now if only we could have a lore journal (possibly we can unlock these books?) and/or bestiary accessible from the UI

The puzzle bosses was a lot of fun, I think we need more of these. Although I’m unsure how many people prefer these sort of bosses over the more ‘classical’ MMO style bosses such as the Shadow of the Dragon. I do think however that some of the appeal is lost once you’ve figures out the ‘how’ of the puzzle (after all the fun in the puzzle is figuring it out, and once you have the challenge is somewhat lost).

Claudius.5381:

To bring some negativity to this thread: In a way it is a very bad patch. After experiencing Silverwastes, how can you ever enjoy the other maps again? Except of the art gone into the landscape (which remains fantastic) events in – say – Lornar’s Pass seem now bland, uninspired, disconnected. In my country there is a saying which translates to “the better is the enemy of the good”. Such a case just occured.

Ok, seems my attempt at negativity did not really work

Awesome patch.

I’ve more commonly heard it as ‘the perfect is the enemy of the good’ – generally used in the context that it’s more practical to achieve something good than to strive for perfection and never get there. Improvements are never a bad thing in and of themselves – the problem is when you keep putting more improvements in such that a creation is never considered ready.

Yep, you guys did a great job with this update, both the story and the new area.

I just want to hop on the praise train. You guys really nailed this story episode.

- I love the Silverwastes, probably even more than Dry Top, specialy the idea that the whole map is almost a huge event area (I hope you can make it popular and insteresting beyond the achievement hunting that will keep people there)

- The new areas of the library were stunning enough alone, but my jaw dropped even lower when I moved forward the story

- The Hidden Arcana boss fights are fun and refreshing. Hope to see that area again later added to Fractals (or at least the very last part as a new boss level)

I was kind of getting away from the game lately, but this new LS just reminded me why I love to play GW2 so much. Thanks for the experience and keep up the good work.

I’ve spent sooo much time reading and rereading books in the library, so far I’ve played episode 5 three times just to notice everything I could have missed in the previous playthrough (and I missed some things).

I’m really confident next episodes and updates of the game will be like that, increasing in quality. Good job guys!

The Silverwastes is an excellent map. It’s full of character, gorgeous vistas and events that have meaning and cohesion. My only gripe, is that I think the defence events don’t scale up enough. Even with lots of players defending one fort you rarely see elite mobs or champions and it’s already getting a little too easy to succeed. Other than that, I think the Silverwastes are perfect.

The Living Story instances were also mostly brilliant. It seems that Anet has fallen back in love with the lore of their own making! I wasn’t a huge fan of the the attunement and crystal mechanics of Glint’s Lair as it was quite tedious running in circles waiting for buffs to be available or removed. But I guess it beats the usual dps fair.