Guild Wars 2

I don’t think people get what Living Story is supposed to be.

Living Story has temporary content because Anet wanted to make GW2 like a living , breathing world. How can they do that if say the molten alliance stayed in the shiverpeaks and west ascalon? Having temporary content gives the option for developers to overlap or use zones more than once.

So what if new players won’t be able to experience Molten Alliance? As long as they play they will be getting new living stories.

Missing out on skins?? No bid deal IMO since living story provides players with new skins every content release every month or so.

Content does not equal vertical progression. Lets get that straight. Content is lore and exploration and new shinies.

If the player does not care about the lore or roleplaying then why even bother with Living story? There are definitely players out there that know better and don’t even touch living story because they don’t care about lore.

As long as Anet keeps pumping out living story content on a monthly basis no one should be complaining about temporary content.

Great assessment Chewablesleeptablet. Well said and a big +1

Definitely agree with every word. And the more they do it, the more refined and polished the content will be.

People will still complain though. It is what the forums are for.

Living Story and constant content does not fix the core problems of this game and why so many people have left and many more continue to leave.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

I don’t think people get what Living Story is supposed to be.

Living Story has temporary content because Anet wanted to make GW2 like a living , breathing world. How can they do that if say the molten alliance stayed in the shiverpeaks and west ascalon? Having temporary content gives the option for developers to overlap or use zones more than once.

So what if new players won’t be able to experience Molten Alliance? As long as they play they will be getting new living stories.

Missing out on skins?? No bid deal IMO since living story provides players with new skins every content release every month or so.

Content does not equal vertical progression. Lets get that straight. Content is lore and exploration and new shinies.

If the player does not care about the lore or roleplaying then why even bother with Living story? There are definitely players out there that know better and don’t even touch living story because they don’t care about lore.

As long as Anet keeps pumping out living story content on a monthly basis no one should be complaining about temporary content.

Just playing devil’s advocate here (I don’t care on either side)

Everyone here appreciates new content, but doesn’t it make sense that if you have new content, it should be here to stay? Otherwise it would be considered “New Content but for a Limited Time Only!”

Yes, well said.

The only problem is if there is a one time skin released that for whatever reason a player missed out on – in this way there should be some “archived” story section which allows a player to experience some of what has gone before, or even an alternative way in game of earning that skin (or through the gemstore).

Otherwise I am in agreement with the OP – as long as there are regular story updates throughout the life of the game, I believe the model can be a positive success.

Motoko.2875:

Living Story and constant content does not fix the core problems of this game and why so many people have left and many more continue to leave.

I wonder why people keep thinking Living Story is a “fix” and not a feature in itself.

how hard is it to add the things that have passed to FotM or design some way that new players can experience it? not that kittene would assume. I’m all for an evolving world, WoW has done it fine, through dungeons and lore. It’s been a year and the dragons have done NOTHING to the world. All we have is stupid filler content to allure the more casual players while alienating the much more serious crowd.

I just replied to a post about this! I like the temporary content. Years from now if I’m whispered “whoa cool backpiece where can I get it!!” I can respond, “Well years ago the Dredge and the Flame Legion banded together to try and take over Shiverpeaks and Ascalon. We had to fight our way into the Molten Facility and kill the two leaders of that group and the boss dropped this jetpack skin.”

“Oh, so can I get that skin?”

“Sorry pal, had to have been there.”

A) That person may end up being sadfaced because of that, but who cares
B) The longer you play GW2, the more unique your character can look (HUGE PLUS to me) with less of a chance someone can copy it.
C) Actually makes the world feel alive when things are legitimately in the past and cannot be done again. Definitely more realistic. They have to have repeating events naturally to sustain leveling up with some kind of novel content zone to zone, but this Living Story project is clearly designed to be ever evolving. If you miss it, it’s gone. Doesn’t bother me at all, I really enjoy it to be honest.

I’m shocked so many people complain about temporary content and treat it like it isn’t real content or that Anet is lazy. (which makes absolutely no sense, if anything it is the opposite of lazy to constantly release new temporary content. It would be lazy if they left it permanent. Seriously, think about it? It takes more effort to coordinate the removal than it would be to do absolutely nothing and leave it there forever)

My thoughts are that people wanted a WoW clone, but not too close to WoW, but also not too far from WoW. The hard-core raiders are sadfaced that they can’t continue to play like basement dwelling neckbeards and get the same e-phallus recognition they would get in other games when they would waltz around in the latest tier gear. Therefore they say the game is broken, sucks, etc. and spend their time posting on the forums about a game they dislike.

Too bad the world feels no more alive than it did 6 months ago, and places like Southsun are actually worse off because of the horde of locusts so eager for something to actually DO in the game move on immediately.

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs honestly. This is all you’ll get from me on the subject, because there are already 100 other threads out there about this very topic, no need to spam general with more of them.

Motoko.2875:

Living Story and constant content does not fix the core problems of this game and why so many people have left and many more continue to leave.

Touche ,

Motoko.2875:

Living Story and constant content does not fix the core problems of this game and why so many people have left and many more continue to leave.

After reading the OP, I am not sure how these comments add to the discussion in this thread. The OP was not discussing core problems or populations issues.

The post simple lays out an opinion of how the Living Story provides continual new content. This content, even though temporary, is still content no matter whether you miss past events ot not. New content is always coming, whether you enjoy it or not is another story.

i just hope that some day they get over the “press this thing/get knocked down/kill spowned mobs/get chest/rng for skins” kind of thing.

every living story is the same thing with different skin and lore… boring

Quality over quantity, I rather have 1 good update each 3 months than constant small trivial updates.

Draknar.5748:

We had to fight our way into the Molten Facility and kill the two leaders of that group and the boss dropped this jetpack skin."

Because I was one of the lucky 0.1% of people that it dropped for. Or alternatively “I bought it off the TP, so that someone could put 10% of the gold required towards his legendary”. Wow….“Epic”

Draknar.5748:

“Oh, so can I get that skin?”
“Sorry pal, had to have been there.”

Or maybe.."You had to have enough money to buy it off the TP when people were selling it for crazy money because it was one of the few “lucky drops” in the game that actually meant anything.

Draknar.5748:

I’m shocked so many people complain about temporary content and treat it like it isn’t real content

Really? Having bashed 150 pinatas, gambled on a pointless race and killed 300 minions etc etc and then sat through what was essentially three two-minute solo instances you think thats enough to keep a game going? Not going to argue…I gave it up. But I don’t consider that real content by a massively long stretch.

Draknar.5748:

My thoughts are that people wanted a WoW clone, but not too close to WoW, but also not too far from WoW. The hard-core raiders are sadfaced that they can’t continue to play like basement dwelling neckbeards and get the same e-phallus recognition they would get in other games when they would waltz around in the latest tier gear. Therefore they say the game is broken, sucks, etc. and spend their time posting on the forums about a game they dislike.

Or maybe they wanted it to be different and everything it was originally promised to be and got very disappointed when it turned out to be just like WoW only with more grind, no rewards for your time and less skill required?

Truly sad.

Let me answer this from the point of view of someone who hasnt played GW2 for a few months now.

I don’t like the living story. There have been some times in the last few weeks where I fired up GW2 again, only to find that I have no idea why everyone suddenly was in Southsun, why I should care about refugees or where they came from.

I’m sure living story is fine, when you are around to experience it. But if I were to log in today, I would have no idea what the previous chapters were. Who the main characters were. What happened at the dragon bash festival. And there is no way for me to relive it – I can only try to find some info on the wiki – but where is the immersion in that.

Playing GW2 for me right now is like walking in the cinema in the middle of a movie. You don’t know the story, you don’t know the characters. As a result, it’s just… meh.

And THAT results in me not really caring to log in anymore at all. There is no way to catch up, no way to feel that immersion in the story.

If they put in some way to relive the old stuff, even if it’s only the storyline, it would be much more fun for me – and newbies in the game. Hell, just throw in some old fashioned quests if that’s what it takes.

I don’t mind the temporary content either.
Back in GW1 (before it went automated and the live stuff team left) I saw various holiday hats I could never earn because they were last year’s designs. It didn’t bother me because all that stuff is cosmetic. All the fancy stuff the story gives out is cosmetic as well.

@Pricer. Didn’t you say you were done with the forums on another thread? Back to taking out your frustrations on other posters I see.

That’s the problem – the principle of a “living world” is great, however the actual goals set for each section have been on the whole, a grind.

Dragon bash – I didn’t really bother with this at all because I wasn’t interested in the skins, and most of the achievements are monotonous grinding – eat x amount of food, kill x amount of holographic minions…

So while I agree with the living story in principle, it needs to be made far more engaging than its current state.

Draknar.5748:

The hard-core raiders are sadfaced that they can’t continue to play like basement dwelling neckbeards and get the same e-phallus recognition they would get in other games when they would waltz around in the latest tier gear.

Had to add this. Actually this isn’t true, because I have the following (by your logic) e-phallus gear:
Full T3
Fused Greatsword
Jade Greatsword
Jade Shield
Jade Staff
Volcanus
Vision of the Mists
The Anomaly

And yet I don’t feel special or epic. Or have any kind of “e-phallus” pleasure in them. You know why?

Because any old idiot could get all of that, without having done one single solitary thing that was difficult or in any way demonstrated his skill, or even his dedication. He merely played for a long time. Hell you could spend 2000 hours in the starter area and accomplish that.

You could not say the same about a legendary weapon in WoW, or someone who had one of the “world first” achievements.

jheryn.8390:

@Pricer. Didn’t you say you were done with the forums on another thread? Back to taking out your frustrations on other posters I see.

I’m done arguing, you have your point of view and I have mine..and I’ll put it where I like. Having just finished Dragon Bash and once again walked away feeling completely and uttely underwhelmed and cheated. I am once again feeling in a mood to complain.

Done. Cya and thanks for your input.

Curunen.8729:

That’s the problem – the principle of a “living world” is great, however the actual goals set for each section have been on the whole, a grind.

Dragon bash – I didn’t really bother with this at all because I wasn’t interested in the skins, and most of the achievements are monotonous grinding – eat x amount of food, kill x amount of holographic minions…

So while I agree with the living story in principle, it needs to be made far more engaging than its current state.

I have to agree with this statement. I want so badly to get into the living story but find much of the content very much a grind. So I just do the parts of it that don’t feel like a grind.

I hated poping the pinatas, that was just pointless. Even though the burning of the effigies could have been a grind I actually walked from dragon to dragon completing events along the way. This made it much more fun for me, while going through areas of the game that I hadn’t seen in some time.

Living Story is so amazing! /sarcasm
It’s so amazing we run around pressing F on objects and repairing sign posts for 1 month.

The idea behind living story is great. It’s another approach to keep the world literally alive. But so far the implementation has been… lacking. Since they want to push out a living world episode each month, well that’s a lot of work that has to be done. And as a result, quality suffers. There’s barely any good story, barely any interesting mechanics or “quests” other than “Kill 300 of this” and “Press F 100 times on that”, and because of the concept good dungeons like Molten Facility were destined to vanish.
And on top of all that the most wanted content, which makes your character unique (as stated by previous posters), is barred behind horrible RNG + Cash.

I really don’t know why it has to be an update each month, especially if the quality suffers so much. Perhaps there’s pressure to earn money, hence RNG. Perhaps it’s just working well so they keep it up. Who knows. But what was once an interesting approach to keeping the game alive was destroyed by all that. Now having thought about all that makes me sad.

I am interested in where this living story concept is going. There have been ups and downs and a poorly implemented start but overall I like it. I have no problems with them continuing with it.

Living Story is more like extra side chapters in a story. It should not be interpreted as a starter pistol shot to begin the rat race to the skinner box every month. This game was never meant to be the “omfg time to get back on the grind treadmill” when it comes to new events. Such an approach will just lead to rage and failure.

So in terms of adding temporary or minor activities, I have no problem with that. However…

The main problem is that the living story only works if it has a solid worldbuilding to add too. Which the game really doesn’t, unless we count that personal Trahearne story. The result is extremely detached happenings that have no lasting impact on anything. And nobody cares.

Without it, we can’t really appreciate the details of what really goes on. Refugees on Southsun. They ran all the way there, but erm, why do people care again?

Therefore, Living Story in itself isn’t bad. But the problem is that you need to tell the story better.

Humans do not create ex nihilo, we create after ourselves. Hence, models from our life experience are often helpful. If I wanted to create a “living” world I would immediately consider our own world and those aspects that make it “living”. A key feature is its persistence. MMO’s took this concept directly from our own experience of living in a living world. A living, evolving world always remains after evolving. Though there is constant change, there is the perception of general permanence (I said perception—don’t mean to challenge our Buddhist friends here) when we consider our day-to-day experience.

This is the problem with temporary content—it doesn’t contribute to our experience of a living, evolving world. And, sometimes, as with the SAB, it positively detracts from it by emptying the world. A world needs living players to feel “living”.

I don’t include here the celebration of seasons. I’m talking more generally about how I would evolve the game. I wouldn’t do it through temporary content, but rather content that remains and becomes part of our living history. This also would allow people coming in new to explore and experience all the lore and history of our shared experience. I really don’t like the focus on temporary content.

Draknar.5748:

I just replied to a post about this! I like the temporary content. Years from now if I’m whispered “whoa cool backpiece where can I get it!!” I can respond, “Well years ago the Dredge and the Flame Legion banded together to try and take over Shiverpeaks and Ascalon. We had to fight our way into the Molten Facility and kill the two leaders of that group and the boss dropped this jetpack skin.”

“Oh, so can I get that skin?”

“Sorry pal, had to have been there.”

A) That person may end up being sadfaced because of that, but who cares
B) The longer you play GW2, the more unique your character can look (HUGE PLUS to me) with less of a chance someone can copy it.
C) Actually makes the world feel alive when things are legitimately in the past and cannot be done again. Definitely more realistic. They have to have repeating events naturally to sustain leveling up with some kind of novel content zone to zone, but this Living Story project is clearly designed to be ever evolving. If you miss it, it’s gone. Doesn’t bother me at all, I really enjoy it to be honest.

I’m shocked so many people complain about temporary content and treat it like it isn’t real content or that Anet is lazy. (which makes absolutely no sense, if anything it is the opposite of lazy to constantly release new temporary content. It would be lazy if they left it permanent. Seriously, think about it? It takes more effort to coordinate the removal than it would be to do absolutely nothing and leave it there forever)

My thoughts are that people wanted a WoW clone, but not too close to WoW, but also not too far from WoW. The hard-core raiders are sadfaced that they can’t continue to play like basement dwelling neckbeards and get the same e-phallus recognition they would get in other games when they would waltz around in the latest tier gear. Therefore they say the game is broken, sucks, etc. and spend their time posting on the forums about a game they dislike.

this
I am loving the Living Tyria. I find the Stories fun

As for temporary cosmetics-even now I get stared at with my Wintersday Ventari just because you never see them around any more- I even run around in my Anet cap from launch

and great post Op

I love the idea of living story, even if I don’t always participate in them. I also can see the draw of “one time only”.

I do wish, though, that we could all go back and experience the content again. I imagine at some point they will add some sort of “time machine” component to allow instanced versions of the content. Why wouldn’t they? That’s a lot of work to just let rot on the “virtual” shelves.

I think if they gave those that participated in the story one time only achievements and rewards, but allowed “time machine” to those who missed out, without all the cool rewards (maybe just gold/farming stuff), everyone would be happy!

I have thoroughly enjoyed the living story. I love having new achievements to earn each month, and trying to complete them all before they’re taken away. While I haven’t found any of the rare RNG drops, I did manage to get many of the things I wanted. I look forward to each new update to see what’s next, and hope that the living story will eventually lead to fighting more dragons!

You know, I’ve been picturing the Living Story as a sort of endgame for players. Instead of it being a gear grind (stat-wise of course), it’s more of a lore/task-grind. We’re being moved all over the world, doing tasks for NPCs, fighting new enemies (or old ones), and all the while obtaining new shines for doing so. I mean, it’s better than running around doing events in Orr which have been nerfed to the floor.

I have no problem with living story as an idea but I would prefer a proper expansion-like content soon no?
And 1 problem with stories so far is that they have pretty forgettable characters ,example. Southsun, i never ran Canach dungeon nor I knew who he was – the game didn’t suck me into it, and most people I know didn’t even bother with it because the new chars and lore are not presented in a interesting fashion.
Except the cutscene with Marjory and Logan, that was COOL. Even tho we had no idea who she is I immediately got interested.

Introduce more of original DE to the story please. We can’t get invested in the new stories and characters if it vanishes so quickly and if you didn’t develop storytelling enough.

oh and you said about new skins. Sure but most of them can be acquired only through RNG…which sucks. I opened over 600 dragon coffers and still got no ticket. How am I experiencing the content to its fullest then, if trivial things like new weapons skins aren’t available for all?

pricer.5091:

jheryn.8390:

@Pricer. Didn’t you say you were done with the forums on another thread? Back to taking out your frustrations on other posters I see.

I’m done arguing, you have your point of view and I have mine..and I’ll put it where I like. Having just finished Dragon Bash and once again walked away feeling completely and uttely underwhelmed and cheated. I am once again feeling in a mood to complain.

Done. Cya and thanks for your input.

Really? Done arguing is what you said? I highlighted a part of your post from that other thread below.

pricer.5091:

You know what Jheryn and Guns and Giblets…you are absolutely right. My frustration is based on the fact that I (like many other people) want change, so I come on the forum to highlight what I believe is wrong and I (much like everyone else) get no response from the developers at all, but a bunch of angry comments stating that “you are playing the game wrong”. Indeed. I certainly am, because I’m not playing it…I’m arguing about it on the internet, which as everyone knows is a really special way to prove your intellectual superiority. And I’m quite frankly bigger than that.
So with that in mind, being a creature of simple needs and easy frustration. I quit the forums. Au-revoir, bon-voyage, abiento and goodnight. You might see me in game whacking away at the latest version of a pinata….sky-pinata or something probably.
Have fun.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/pricer-5091/showposts

That’s a wrap. Glad you came. Your incongruity is noted.

Deleted and infracted. So Ill summarise it politely. Yes, previously I said I was quitting posting. Today I said I was quitting arguing. You win the internet. Congratulations.

Either way the last content release was still utter and total pants.

Draknar.5748:

I just replied to a post about this! I like the temporary content. Years from now if I’m whispered “whoa cool backpiece where can I get it!!” I can respond, “Well years ago the Dredge and the Flame Legion banded together to try and take over Shiverpeaks and Ascalon. We had to fight our way into the Molten Facility and kill the two leaders of that group and the boss dropped this jetpack skin.”

“Oh, so can I get that skin?”

“Sorry pal, had to have been there.”

A) That person may end up being sadfaced because of that, but who cares
B) The longer you play GW2, the more unique your character can look (HUGE PLUS to me) with less of a chance someone can copy it.
C) Actually makes the world feel alive when things are legitimately in the past and cannot be done again. Definitely more realistic. They have to have repeating events naturally to sustain leveling up with some kind of novel content zone to zone, but this Living Story project is clearly designed to be ever evolving. If you miss it, it’s gone. Doesn’t bother me at all, I really enjoy it to be honest.

I’m shocked so many people complain about temporary content and treat it like it isn’t real content or that Anet is lazy. (which makes absolutely no sense, if anything it is the opposite of lazy to constantly release new temporary content. It would be lazy if they left it permanent. Seriously, think about it? It takes more effort to coordinate the removal than it would be to do absolutely nothing and leave it there forever)

My thoughts are that people wanted a WoW clone, but not too close to WoW, but also not too far from WoW. The hard-core raiders are sadfaced that they can’t continue to play like basement dwelling neckbeards and get the same e-phallus recognition they would get in other games when they would waltz around in the latest tier gear. Therefore they say the game is broken, sucks, etc. and spend their time posting on the forums about a game they dislike.

This post makes me sadfaced.

So who cares about getting new players and getting them to play the game? Anet does I’m pretty sure. I don’t think they want new players to be sadfaced But as long as some players get their e-phallus cosmetics, they can laugh at all the sadfaced new players. I really don’t see a difference in this attitude compared to how some raiders might treat people who don’t raid.

When you have a MMO, it’s smart to add value to the purchase for later adopters so that there is something in it greater than what other MMO’s may offer in the future. Living Story or temporary content doesn’t do this. I’m shocked some people do not realize this. I’m so sadfaced.

Making the world seem more alive with temporary updates is nice and all, but the permanent content in the game is also in need of improvement. That seems to fall by the wayside more and more.

The Halloween patch was still the best they made in my eyes. Interesting temporary content, new skins and gadgets, and a whole load of improvements to the permanent world. The November update would’ve taken that price if Southsun had been finished at the time instead of barren, and I assume fractals alone makes that most people’s favorite addition.

They said at various points before and after release they aim to increase the variety of events in all zones over time so each event comes up less often. I have not seen any effort towards that goal really, and eliminating the repetitive nature of quickly cycling events would go a long ways to maken open world play more interesting. Additional permanent events came with Halloween afaik, some of course with the southsun release and now it’s make-over. There are many zones that havent been touched and we’re closing in on the 1 year mark now.

I dont know how much work it takes, but couldnt they set aside the time to add one new dynamic event per region (Ascalon, Kryta, etc) in each of the monthly updates? Cant be that much effort, and after a year you’d have a dozen more events each region to increase variety. Otherwise, just make it a point to include one multi-part event chain per update at least and pick a different region to bolster each month.

It’s not unlimited. It’s time limited.

People want more content in those zones. Even without players, the Wayfarer foothills were better with the molten alliance in that zone. Currently it’s worse off once again. There’s no reason for the southsun content to be gone. If they revisit those zones in 10 months, maybe that’s a good moment to remove the really old content.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Living Story has temporary content because Anet wanted to make GW2 like a living , breathing world. How can they do that if say the molten alliance stayed in the shiverpeaks and west ascalon?

It makes no sense to have part of the content be ‘living’ while the rest is, for lack of a better term, ‘dead’. Static. Unchanging. It’s like having one wheel of a car turning while the rest have wheel locks on them.

So what if the molten alliance is gone?

Other enemies and enemy groups remain unchanged. Events involving them repeat. Exactly the same, every time. The Shatterer events, for example. How many times have you (the generic, all-inclusive ‘you’, that is) heard these words?

“Look at this place. Titans, gods, dragons. They’re all the same. All they know is destruction!”

“When crossing the Brand, it’s best to walk softly and carry a big boom stick!”

“Some hate this duty. Not me. We’re the last line of defense against corruption. I take that seriously.”

I say the old, permanent content is the infinite content, as it keeps on going, and going, and going, while the temporary living story content… is temporary. Which is (ahem) not infinite.

Which begs the question: can something be infinitely temporary?

Some days ago i had to tell someone who asked at LA how to get a fused weapon ticket that he couldn’t get one. I literally could feel his disappointment – i can’t understand how people who got lucky through RNG and got a ticket could feel better when seeing someone realizing he can’t ever get one. That’s just Schadenfreude and not pride about any “achievement”.

I stopped playing the Living Story content, the only thing that made the world feel alive for me was Flame & Frost (which i liked very much) and everything since then felt like it had a lack of quality. And the constant RNG leaves a sour aftertaste.

Is the Living Story content infinite? There is the potential of an infinite amount of new Living Story updates, but all are temporary. The world of Tyria is currently static as very few Living Story content is permanent, and only an advance of the main theme of the game, the fight against the Elder Dragons, can change that. But such content won’t be infinite.

To sum it up, the Living Story is not infinite content, and most of it doesn’t even qualify as content.

Draknar.5748:

“Well years ago the Dredge and the Flame Legion banded together to try and take over Shiverpeaks and Ascalon. We had to fight our way into the Molten Facility and kill the two leaders of that group and the boss dropped this jetpack skin.”

“Oh, so can I get that skin?”

“Sorry pal, had to have been there.”

slow clap
pretty much what the living story is about creating a history for tyria you can pass on (and torment others over)

Arc DLad.2194:

Draknar.5748:

“Well years ago the Dredge and the Flame Legion banded together to try and take over Shiverpeaks and Ascalon. We had to fight our way into the Molten Facility and kill the two leaders of that group and the boss dropped this jetpack skin.”

“Oh, so can I get that skin?”

“Sorry pal, had to have been there.”

slow clap
pretty much what the living story is about creating a history for tyria you can pass on (and torment others over)

I think this is a bad example, as the jetpack (unlike many other special reward items) is actually tradeable, so you don’t have to have been there. And even if you were there, you had to be super lucky (I wasn’t, despite daily dungeon runs). So players who were there feel exactly the same torment.

killcannon.2576:

Draknar.5748:

I just replied to a post about this! I like the temporary content. Years from now if I’m whispered “whoa cool backpiece where can I get it!!” I can respond, “Well years ago the Dredge and the Flame Legion banded together to try and take over Shiverpeaks and Ascalon. We had to fight our way into the Molten Facility and kill the two leaders of that group and the boss dropped this jetpack skin.”

“Oh, so can I get that skin?”

“Sorry pal, had to have been there.”

A) That person may end up being sadfaced because of that, but who cares
B) The longer you play GW2, the more unique your character can look (HUGE PLUS to me) with less of a chance someone can copy it.
C) Actually makes the world feel alive when things are legitimately in the past and cannot be done again. Definitely more realistic. They have to have repeating events naturally to sustain leveling up with some kind of novel content zone to zone, but this Living Story project is clearly designed to be ever evolving. If you miss it, it’s gone. Doesn’t bother me at all, I really enjoy it to be honest.

I’m shocked so many people complain about temporary content and treat it like it isn’t real content or that Anet is lazy. (which makes absolutely no sense, if anything it is the opposite of lazy to constantly release new temporary content. It would be lazy if they left it permanent. Seriously, think about it? It takes more effort to coordinate the removal than it would be to do absolutely nothing and leave it there forever)

My thoughts are that people wanted a WoW clone, but not too close to WoW, but also not too far from WoW. The hard-core raiders are sadfaced that they can’t continue to play like basement dwelling neckbeards and get the same e-phallus recognition they would get in other games when they would waltz around in the latest tier gear. Therefore they say the game is broken, sucks, etc. and spend their time posting on the forums about a game they dislike.

This post makes me sadfaced.

So who cares about getting new players and getting them to play the game? Anet does I’m pretty sure. I don’t think they want new players to be sadfaced But as long as some players get their e-phallus cosmetics, they can laugh at all the sadfaced new players. I really don’t see a difference in this attitude compared to how some raiders might treat people who don’t raid.

When you have a MMO, it’s smart to add value to the purchase for later adopters so that there is something in it greater than what other MMO’s may offer in the future. Living Story or temporary content doesn’t do this. I’m shocked some people do not realize this. I’m so sadfaced.

I’m liking the abundant use of sadfaced lol.

It is smart to add value for later adopters, and as far as I’m aware new players can access the Living Story content as well, just the new stuff not the old stuff. What difference does it make to new players that they can’t access the old temporary content? They will still get the same value added as we’ve all been getting, they will just be getting in on it later, thus it will be value added less the previous stuff that they simply were not around to experience, but relative to them it is no less value added.

Is your concern that people will see skins on people they can’t have and choose to quit over it? Are players really that sensitive?

I personally would rather have Living Story content (keeping in mind the 300 hologram kills and 250 candy eating aren’t the actual content, that is tangent to the content they are adding and something they put in to keep the OCD achievement hunters busy) to do every month than to run the same stupid raid instance over and over and over and over and over, then when the next one is released, run that instance over and over and over and over. People honestly think that’s the only way end-game is supposed to work. No joke, people really think this. WoW has ruined people.

They added FoTM to appease those people and yet they are still unhappy because all of the BiS doesn’t come from that dungeon so they can’t feel like elitists because they are on FoTM 60+, which absolutely NO ONE cares about lol.

It’s very simple, the people that are used to getting the best of the best from hours upon hours of dungeon running don’t think it’s fair that casual players can get almost the same stuff without having to play like basement-dwelling neckbeards. They want something that will differentiate themselves (the 6-8hrs/day players) from people like me (1-2hrs/day player). They will always be sadfaced because GW2 is trying to make a casual friendly game. You can’t please both groups and the hard-core ex-raiders are the minority and will always get put behind the casual player in this game.

So after reaching 80 on two characters, I felt the need to wind back on the amount I played. It wasn’t because of burn out, it wasn’t because I didn’t like the game. It was because there’s nothing to do. Living Story are drips of content. That’s it. They add some sweet dungeons and then take them away. What fun is that? I was excited to see the new patch but that excitement wkittentered when I saw the dungeon was only available for a short time.

It’s not fun feeling like I have to rush through new content. It doesn’t add depth – they’re just more daily events.

Personally, I’m not spending anymore money on this game until permanent content is released. I can’t get into it now. The game feels so much more shallow than I had hoped it would be at nearly a year old.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

As long as Anet keeps pumping out living story content on a monthly basis no one should be complaining about temporary content.

Anet started out with the vision that in GW2, you can play (1) as anything (2) with anyone (3) at anytime.

Limited content does not contribute to (3).

The story can progress of course, but why is the loot limited as well? Anet can easily leave a vendor for Fusion or Dragon Jade items long after the event has passed.

It’s obvious they are trying to increase value through scarcity.

You are absolutely right.I like the living story and how it is presented.

I think you dont give the Living Story detractors enough credit Chewablesleeptablet. A lot of people dont like it not because they dont understand what it is but because it lacks quality, and the bits of it that were good are gone, because they were temporary. I personally think Anet currently lack the resources to bring their vision for it to life. As a concept I really like Living Story, as it is in GW2 up to this point I have been pretty underwhelmed by it.

I agree with Webba.
- I enjoyed the Razing and Retibution but other than that the Living Story have been nothing but disappointing to me.

- My problem with Living Story is that it could be more thoroughly executed, instead of the grind of tasks to get items. I think having smaller events like the Lost Shores (I woudn’t mind if they played out over a couple of months, but give me something compelling and fun to do, that was part of what you, ANet, wanted with this game)
- So much resource is being used on the Living Story (modelling, animation, voice acting, etc.) to produce mediocre content instead of fixing some of the more important issues called the “Core Concepts” of the game.
- There is a lot of PvE that needs to be improved game design-wise. And having it improved and working efficiently, it will heave in new players and keep them hooked, and it will ensure that future expansions are produced more efficiently because they don’t need to sit there saying “OK, this part of the Dynamic Events didn’t work so well, how can we improve that?” because then it will already have been improved and we will recieve new and quality content quicker (and we all want that, don’t we? New and quality content that is vastly better than this).

- Still, I’m curious as to see how the next chapter plays out, but I would say it is better having us populating the whole world and not just the zone or zones which the LS is “forcing” us to do right now. Everything could go back to “normal” for a time, instead of that the world constantly needs saving.

Destai.9603:

So after reaching 80 on two characters, I felt the need to wind back on the amount I played. It wasn’t because of burn out, it wasn’t because I didn’t like the game. It was because there’s nothing to do. Living Story are drips of content. That’s it. They add some sweet dungeons and then take them away. What fun is that? I was excited to see the new patch but that excitement wkittentered when I saw the dungeon was only available for a short time.

It’s not fun feeling like I have to rush through new content. It doesn’t add depth – they’re just more daily events.

Personally, I’m not spending anymore money on this game until permanent content is released. I can’t get into it now. The game feels so much more shallow than I had hoped it would be at nearly a year old.

I pretty much feel the same way would like more permanent content then anything else. That is not saying I don’t like the living story but when Dragon Bash was released I was already tired of it. Really after two hours of spending in lion’s arch I got off the game.

The sad part is that I just bought a computer to run the graphics on guilds wars now and this never ending story killed my drive to play the game much.