Guild Wars 2

The Story So Far…

Shadow of the Mad King
500 years ago, a tyrannical Krytan king was slain by his own people, those who had suffered greatly during his reign of lunacy. It is said that this king’s body was chopped into pieces, and his spirit was banished to the Underworld, but that he can return to the mortal realm for just one day a year: on Halloween. Yet, it had been 250 years since the last recorded sighting of the Mad King Thorn.

Adventurers received a mail from Captain Tokk of the Captain’s Council, asking them to assist the Durmand Priory, and that strange doors have begun appearing across the land. Magister Tassi asks them to help her find the missing parts to a biography of the Mad King. To help, she provides a new device: the Candy-Powered Matter Meter, and asks that you first use it on the ghost standing next to her.

The adventurers proceeded to travel from ghost to ghost, gathering clues and the missing biography of Prince Oswald Thorn. They learn of the tricks that young Oswald Thorn played, or the violence he used, that resulted in the death of his brother and first wife, as well as several others. Meanwhile, the strange doors across Tyria began connecting brave adventurers to the Mad King’s Realm, proving that the Mad King did exist.

Magister Tassi asked adventurers to continue looking for a second volume, which details his continued reign of lunacy and terror on his subjects and “another wife”:, his eventual murder, and the steps taken to hide his body.

Throughout this searching, the Lion’s Arch statue had slowly been becoming cracked and crumbling as mysterious energy seemed to be building up inside. Finally, the statue itself shattered and the Mad King Thorn emerged into this world. The Priory, however, fought him back and adventurers entered into the Mad King’s domain to fight him.

Their efforts resulted in the Mad King’s power being diminished, returning him to his previous limitations of visiting only on Halloween, and only for fun. The Mad King traveled around Lion’s Arch providing occasional games of his old pasttime: Your Mad King Says…

Lost Shores
Immediately following Halloween, new ships appeared in Lion’s Arch bearing a strange mark. The Consortium had arrived in the city and were advertising a new resort. Meanwhile, whales started beaching themselves on the shores of the city. Rumors began to circle about sea monsters.

Head Researcher Levvi appeared with her krewe and began researching strange readings, signalling that something big was out in the ocean and incoming. She tried desperately to convince Captain Magnus of this, but unless something attacked Lion’s Arch or threatened the trade, he would do nothing.

Then the karka attacked. Brave adventurers fought back, and provided samples to Levvi’s krewe, until they drove the invaders away. Inspector Kiel was tasked with finding out who riled them up, whereas Levvi searched for a way to defeat them. Meanwhile, karka attacks continued in Garrenhoff and Morgan’s Spiral.

Kiel’s investigation utilized the adventurers, discovering links from wreckage on the beaches to the Consortium. After intimidating Levvi’s ex-boyfriend at the Consortium Lion’s Arch HQ and then Subdirector Noll at Hanto’s Trading Post in Caledon Forest, we were led to Canach, a sylvari secondborn, in Garrenhoff who filled us in and we notified Kiel to take him into custody. Canach had been in charge of an expedition to an unknown and recently discovered island as part of a Consortium group. They were forbidden from interfering with the wildlife, but he saw a loophole in the plants. This apparently aggravated the local creatures, and they tracked him down. It is believed that the attacks on Garrenhoff and Morgan’s Spiral were the attempts by the karka to reach Canach and Subdirector Noll (respectively).

Meanwhile, adventurers asked Miyani and Zommoros about the karka, finding out they’re an old race who used to live in deep waters from ages ago, but seem to have been recently driven to the surface. Adventurers were told to check with the aquatic races: the quaggan, the hylek, and the largos. After reminding her of the past, Pastkeeper Saballa gave a scroll that held their knowledge of the karka. Gukumatz helped create a powerful solvent using hylek alchemy, and Fahd al’Eshadhi provided a sample of the karka shell after adventurers proved themselves in combat. All of this was provided to Levvi for research.

Lost Shores cont.

When the karka attacked a second time, adventurers were armed with the powerful solvent and fought them back much easier. Kiel forced Canach to reveal his and the Consortium’s involvement, and took the fight to the karka under Magnus’ orders. She brought the adventurers along as we took the beach and blazed trails across the island. Halfway there, the Consortium split off to find their lost expedition in Pearl Islet. The Lionguard force continued on and ended at Camp Karka in Captain’s Retreat, preparations began for the final assault on the Ancient Karka.

Demolition teams planted charges, and adventurers found and drove the Ancient Karka back to the hive. After blowing the charges and firing siege weapons, we finally collapsed the ground underneath, dropping the karka into lava. Inspector Kiel and Researcher Levvi remained on the island to learn more about the karka and help prevent future issues, but Canach escaped during the chaos.

Flame and Frost

Charr and Norn refugees began fleeing from the north and started flooding into Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel. Adventurers attempted to help the refugees by clearing their way and rebuilding signs, helping wounded, gathering momentos of the dead, and finding lost items. As the numbers become overflowing, the refugees even started entering Lion’s Arch, where the Consortium begins providing shelter and supplies and enticing them to travel to Southsun Cove where they will build new homes. Many refugees found that to be a tempting offer.

It was discovered that an alliance between the dredge and the Flame Legion, known as the Molten Alliance, is forcing them to flee by razing their villages in the Shiverpeaks. Destiny’s Edge members request adventurers to help Rytlock with a counteroffensive. He sends Rox, a gladium, to the North Nolan Hatchery to stop an invasion there, and asks adventurers to help her out. This mission is a step for Rox towards joining the Stone warband, Rytlock’s own warband. Meanwhile, a norn named Braham, a brash young man who turns out to be Eir’s son, asks for help taking his home of Cragstead back from the Molten Alliance. After failing to get any help from Rytlock, he travels to Hoelbrak to ask Knut Whitebear, who also says he can’t help. The adventurers learn that although Braham is Eir’s son, they are not close as he was raised by his father. He asks any adventurers to help out, as the racial leaders are unable to do so…or, to him, unwilling.

Rox enters the Hatchery with help and defeats the invaders, but discovers that several prisoners were taken. She also finds an albino devourer that latches onto her. She decides to keep him as her new pet. Braham enters Cragstead with help and defeats the invaders there as well, but also discovers prisoners were taken…including his crush, Ottilia. Adventurers also help collect dead drops from an undercover Whispers agent, and players learn there’s internal strife between the two factions, that something pushed them together, and that the alliance is creating very dangerous hybrid weapons of technology and magic.

The Vigil discovered the locations of several Molten Facilities throughout Ascalon and Shiverpeaks. Braham and Rox enter and, with additional help of adventurers, free the prisoners, and defeat the Molten Alliance. As they leave, Rox sees explosives they use to collapse the facility, although she is not very enthusiastic about that. As new facilities are discovered, the pair enter and help destroy as many as possible. After finishing that, celebratory bonfires are started in Hoelbrak, Lion’s Arch, and the Black Citadel while Rox interrogates prisoners. We learn that the alliance was instigated by an unknown third party. Braham confers with Knut and states he’s returning to Cragstead to rebuild.

Secret of Southsun/Last Stand at Southsun

Several of the refugees took up the Consortium’s offer and traveled to Southsun Cove as settlers. All was not good, though, as they discovered they were not there to live normally, but to work as near slaves for the Consortium. The settlers were bound there, however, due to the contracts they signed when accepting the offer, leading to unrest and frustration, as well as riots. In addition, something was riling up the wildlife, causing crazed animal attacks on a daily basis.

The Consortium moved ahead with their plans to turn the island into a resort, despite the settlers and wildlife, and invited several nobility to the new island beaches, requesting help with their issues from the Lionguard. The Lionguard, who still have a presence on the island, called on Inspector Kiel again to provide security for the nobility, notably Lady Kasmeer and Lord Faren. Kiel deputized any willing adventurers to help out.

Adventurers found Consortium Memos that showed the Consortium’s plans were to use the settlers and indoctrinate them into slavery.

Researcher Levvi enlisted volunteers to take samples of local plantlife anomolies, while Settler and Consortium negotiators asked for help in quelling the instigators of violence while they try to deal with the unrest. A journal was found, showing the mindset of the trapped settlers. Kiel interrogated a settler after one particular animal attack and determined that Canach may be behind it. After intimidating Subdirector Noll, she discovered that the targets are the settler contracts holding them to the island, and that all other copies of the contracts have already been destroyed. Another memo surfaces noting that Noll is being ordered to secure all contracts and return them to the home office.

Over in the resort, adventurers learn that Kasmeer is in Southsun Cove doing fact-finding for someone named Jory, while Faren is escaping a near riot after judging a cat competition and not finding the local cat the winner. They discuss various topics from Faren attempting to woo her to their backstory, including the various reactions to the upcoming festival.

Inspector Kiel tracked Canach down to his secret lair and he was captured by adventurers. Canach has had a hard life since he escaped justice. Noll has sent multiple decommission teams to kill him for practically destroying his career, but he’s managed to survive. When he heard of the Settler’s problems, he saw this as both a twisted sense of justice and a chance to get back at Noll. During his time in hiding, he entered and helped destroy a Molten Facility, and sees himself as a sort of champion of the weak Canach tracked Noll down via Subdirector Blingg, destroyed the contracts, and came to the island to finish his plans and get revenge on Noll.

Despite his capture, the plans he formed were already underway to use the crazed animals to completely destroy all the contracts. Kiel decides to resolve the issue permanently. Accompanied by settlers and Consortium guards, she helps the Consortium load the contracts onto a Lionguard ship. However, Kiel had planted charges onto the ship and ordered the Lionguard to abandon it. The ship is destroyed shortly after leaving, eliminating all existing copies. Kiel reports back to Magnus, who commends her on her improvised solution to clear the way for the upcoming festival. The settlers are now free to leave if they want.

Meanwhile, Rox is still undergoing the trials for joining the Stone warband. She remains at North Nolan Hatchery, training her new devourer Frostbite. Braham, on the other hand, is rebuilding Cragstead. He and Ottilia found each other in Hoelbrak during the celebration.

Dragon Bash

The Captain’s Council decides to hold a festival, modeled after the old Dragon Festival from Cantha, honoring the defiant spirit of Tyria against the Elder Dragons with a celebration of fireworks, festivities, and new commemorations of the founding of Lion’s Arch. Festivalgoers can be found around the city, each with the own view on the event. Some of the population aren’t very happy about the festival, and a small group of protestors can be found in the Grand Piazza. Inspector Kiel, fresh from Southsun Cove, is there to provide security.

The celebration kicks off with an effigy ceremony, a celebration the adventurers were encouraged to attend by an unknown person. Magnus brings representatives from the various races to burn effigies and remember those already lost to the Elder Dragons. During the ceremony, though, an arcane explosion kills the charr representative and wounds members of the Captain’s Council. A woman named Mai Trin asks to help, and is directed to try and help the charr representative. Kiel loads the councillors onto a dolyak transport and they are brought to Fort Marriner, but are attacked by pirates called Aetherblades on the way. With the help of adventurers, they make it, and Kiel opens an investigation, noting that one of the councillor’s wounds are particularly bad.

Over in Divinity’s Reach, Logan Thackery hires a private investigator, Marjory Delaqua, to help the investigation. Theo Ashford of the Captain’s Council died from his wounds after the attack, and Logan wants to hedge his bets on finding the culprit. Adventurers are directed to help out by the mysterious person named E, whom Marjory notes has helped her before. Lady Kasmeer is also asked to come along, Marjory being her business partner (the “Jory” mentioned from Secret of Southsun).

Marjory comes to the scene of the crime and aids Inspector Kiel with a device she calls the Tassi Box, which reveals arcane residue. She determined that the explosion occurred after several components were added to the effigy, causing an arcane explosion. The only witnesses that are determined to have arcane residue are the charr representative and Mai Trin, but she is given the benefit of the doubt because she was attempting to revive the charr representative. Four of the representatives cannot be found, though, and adventurers are asked to find them.

After locating the missing representatives, one of which was found dead and the others with Aetherblades nearby, adventurers returned to the scene of the crime. Marjory tweaked the Tassi box to locate a combination of the residue from each of the representatives. Only the culprit would have handled all the components. Mai Trin is revealed to be the culprit, saying she planned to take control of a seat on the Captain’s Council after one of them died. Before the Lionguard can arrest her, though, she calls her Aetherblade allies in to cause a distraction while she escapes.

Sky Pirates of Tyria

Inspector Kiel discovers the location of the main Aetherblade base, which is right in Lion’s Arch. She asks any and all adventurers to help take down the Aetherblades, deputizing anyone that wants to help. The Aetherblades turn out to be a combination of pirates and Inquest, armed with brand new weapons never seen before. After fighting through the Aetherblade base, past an Inquest lab of electric walls and through a storm, adventurers confront Mai Trin and her first mate, Horrik, at the dock of one of their airships.

Mai Trin was apparently taking orders from someone named Scarlet, but knows that they will likely be killed before they can escape. After the fight, Kiel takes Mai Trin into custody and the airship is confiscated by Captain Magnus. Later, another Aetherblade base is discovered right outside Lion’s Arch where adventurers were called in to plunder their treasures. At the end of the celebration, Magnus informs Kiel that Ashford’s second was killed back in the Molten Alliance fiasco, and they will be holding an election for his seat. He wants her to go for it, promoting her to captain and giving her the airship they commandeered from the Aetherblades.

Meanwhile, Braham is struggling to build his relationship with Ottilia, but she doesn’t have the same outlook on Cragstead as he does.

(Placeholder for BotFW)

(Saved for CP story)

Saved for future story (can I even do this?)

thanks for the effort, really highlights how boring the story is.

wish they would turn up the excitement dial a couple of notches.

I have to agree. It’s either taking way too long (waiting like 2 weeks to get a few new sentences) or is plain out boring/ generic …or both.

I can see Tyria is full of potential and history but so far the most I see from that is from blog posts or GW1 players. The game should tell the story, not external sources,
but at the moment it feels just like that.

Very helpful and all, but if I might direct everyone’s attention here:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Summary

Very nice summary! I had skipped the Sky Pirates update, so it was nice to catch up on what I missed. You did skip over Wintersday, though.

Wintersday doesn’t seem to have much of a story, more of just a setup, so I skipped it for now.

Many thanks for this post…I didn’t know what the LS story is actually trying to explain.

This was my personal summary until I read the post: (got the game during frost and flames LS. So missed everything before that.)

• Flame and Frost

During the Frost and Flames I was searching for some actual new area/map that is different than the current world. Some hidden path somewhere?. Then I realized that it is just fixing some post signs and reviving some NPC. I was new to the game and didn’t know much at that time…

• Secret of Southsun/Last Stand at Southsun

OK time to kill some karka crab and talk to some NPC and collect some samples and some impossible jumping puzzles (where is my mesmer best friend?)…I guess it is all related to some dragons eventually. Oh yeah…the chick on the beach looks hot and jumping in the water for some achievement is very cool…Thanks ANet

oh yeah. Some molten dungeon which had a cool boss fight. I guess that is related to some crabs or dragons somehow too…

• Dragon Bash

Wow…LA looks beautiful. Some glass dragon flying in the sky of L.A, and some NPCs talking about stuff…oh yeah..who can forget the hot chick you talk to in the bar? what was her name? not sure, but really cool cutscene…I guess we have to find a spy since someone got assassinated.

• Sky Pirates of Tyria

Some pirates show up in the world…how or where? who knows/cares…but it has some more JPs to get to the ship. awesome…this is the fun stuff! oh wait..rage quit after falling to my death 100 times….

kitten this dungeon is hard and a afk dodge ball game….oh well…I am sure it will come together somehow…

• BotFW

So much credit to the ANet Art team for designing this gorgeous place. The kites looks amazing….and the whole JPs are now doable…oh wait! JP in WvW? Why….

back to the story? ummm there is a story here?

PS. My post is not trying to criticize LS contents. This is basically what I understood from the story considering I completed all the meta achievements for the LSs.

A well-written summary of the story so far, though I have to agree with some of the viewpoints that it’s not the most compelling series of events I’ve ever experienced.

Very nice summary, Vahkris. I actually disagree with the others here; when summarised concisely, there actually has been a fair bit of plot progression. It’s just that there seems to be two main plot arcs happening at the same time (the Consortium and Southsun Cove, and the mysterious Scarlet and her intricate plans for sowing chaos in Tyria. Aside from a few crossovers like the refugees heading to Southsun to become settlers, it seems that the two plot arcs are completely unrelated).

Zaxares.5419:

Very nice summary, Vahkris. I actually disagree with the others here; when summarised concisely, there actually has been a fair bit of plot progression.

sure there has been plot progression, but that doesn’t make it a good story. That’s what all the complaints are about. Also the fact its poorly deliver and boring doesn’t help.

that being said there are some little gems in the story which give me a spark of hope, unfortunately they extinguish it the next patch with more dribble.

Thobek.1730:

sure there has been plot progression, but that doesn’t make it a good story. That’s what all the complaints are about. Also the fact its poorly deliver and boring doesn’t help.

that being said there are some little gems in the story which give me a spark of hope, unfortunately they extinguish it the next patch with more dribble.

Here’s the thing -

Ask around, and you’ll probably find any game you could hold up as an example of a “good story” would have detractors who would disagree. Nitpicks, technical details, or plot holes which make no sense due to various reasons . . .

We haven’t seen a game yet which really and truly tells an excellent story and at the same time is an excellent game. We’ve had games which had a good story but barely a game (Xenosaga, and there were many other issues which dragged it down), we’ve had games which were great games but really blew it on the story (Portal).

First and foremost, the question always does have to be: is the game fun to play? If the answer’s no, then you need to step back and figure out how to make it fun. If you want to tell your awesome story, write it but not as a game. Or at least do the game first, THEN figure out how to get a story in there.

But you know what the Living Story reminds me more of as it unfolds? Someone’s tabletop RPG world where a couple people who know the creator run game sessions each with their own story arc, which may or may not affect other sessions/groups.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Thobek.1730:

sure there has been plot progression, but that doesn’t make it a good story. That’s what all the complaints are about. Also the fact its poorly deliver and boring doesn’t help.

that being said there are some little gems in the story which give me a spark of hope, unfortunately they extinguish it the next patch with more dribble.

Here’s the thing -

Ask around, and you’ll probably find any game you could hold up as an example of a “good story” would have detractors who would disagree. Nitpicks, technical details, or plot holes which make no sense due to various reasons . . .

We haven’t seen a game yet which really and truly tells an excellent story and at the same time is an excellent game. We’ve had games which had a good story but barely a game (Xenosaga, and there were many other issues which dragged it down), we’ve had games which were great games but really blew it on the story (Portal).

First and foremost, the question always does have to be: is the game fun to play? If the answer’s no, then you need to step back and figure out how to make it fun. If you want to tell your awesome story, write it but not as a game. Or at least do the game first, THEN figure out how to get a story in there.

But you know what the Living Story reminds me more of as it unfolds? Someone’s tabletop RPG world where a couple people who know the creator run game sessions each with their own story arc, which may or may not affect other sessions/groups.

It also reminds me of television shows with large story arcs where each episode has an immediate storyline to resolve, but also contributes to the overall arc in some way. They’re always slow at the beginning.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Here’s the thing -

Ask around, and you’ll probably find any game you could hold up as an example of a “good story” would have detractors who would disagree. Nitpicks, technical details, or plot holes which make no sense due to various reasons . . .

We haven’t seen a game yet which really and truly tells an excellent story and at the same time is an excellent game. We’ve had games which had a good story but barely a game (Xenosaga, and there were many other issues which dragged it down), we’ve had games which were great games but really blew it on the story (Portal).

First and foremost, the question always does have to be: is the game fun to play? If the answer’s no, then you need to step back and figure out how to make it fun. If you want to tell your awesome story, write it but not as a game. Or at least do the game first, THEN figure out how to get a story in there.

But you know what the Living Story reminds me more of as it unfolds? Someone’s tabletop RPG world where a couple people who know the creator run game sessions each with their own story arc, which may or may not affect other sessions/groups.

I agree that focusing on one aspect of the game can kill other aspects of it. Many games have suffered from this issue. The most relevant one was Crysis which had a core focus on graphics, while everything else suffered. Of course the developer blamed it on pirates for poor sales on it’s initial release. Which was a dumbfounding reason to say the least.

Yet I think there needs to retain a balance of everything. Game play, AI, story, and artistic direction are the major factors that makes a well balanced game. GW franchise thus far has excelled in artistic direction, and struggled with the game play over time. The two worse offenders has been the AI and the story. The practical example of the AI being dreadful is the pet AI for the ranger (in both GW1 & 2).

When it comes to the story it’s been poorly delivered throughout GW lifespan. It has an excellent potential in it’s setup, but then it’s poorly executed. Out of the entire GW franchise the one that delivered the best plot narrative was Nightfall (even with it’s faults). It had characters I cared about, and did not carry a two dimensional personality archetypes everywhere. Second would be Prophecies which was convoluted but it was still decent. In third is EotN which actually suffers because it was rushed to be the end expansion for GW1. GW2 is in fourth place because it went back to repeat all the mistakes throughout GW1, plus it had those horrid cut scenes. In last place we have Factions which felt like a poorly made Japanese dubbed film. Which Arena-net poked fun at with Togo’s BMP mission It was a bit entertaining and was heavily influenced by Kill Bill.

I’m still hoping the A-net team learns from their mistakes and build an excellent story that tops Nightfall. I would even be more blown away if they deliver this engaging narrative when they actually start working on Cantha. So I can easily say this is how factions should have been (narrative wise).

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Ask around, and you’ll probably find any game you could hold up as an example of a “good story” would have detractors who would disagree. Nitpicks, technical details, or plot holes which make no sense due to various reasons . . .

Here’s THE thing,

I’m not even asking for all the little technical details to be fixed. All I am looking for is an exciting story. Plot holes shouldn’t be in there if they value themselves as competent writers.

compare the story arc’s of GW1 to GW2. One is high end epic fantasy the other is about menial tasks where the main hero isn’t you, or if it is the spotlight is quickly taken away by some npc.

Not only that but the delivery is poor, I see time and time again be confused about what is actually going on, where to go, how to complete X and the usual response is “you have to read the patch notes, you have to read this article to find out the background, you have to read this short story on the official website, you have to….” Have a method to read this in-game some where, a journal or sorts.

I have hope though as I have never experienced a MMO before where the company is constantly making changes which are improving the experience. I think in another 6 months the delivery will be much better and I’m hoping the storyline will be to. If we keep getting these sub par plots I feel like my GW2 days are numbered.

Personal preference is personal preference, honestly. I actually stopped playing several times in GW1 because large parts of that story were very boring to me, which prevented it from feeling as epic as everyone seems to say it is. I stop playing GW2 more due to burnout than I ever do from being bored with the story, so it’s pretty much the opposite for me.

Heralds, mails, talks with NPCs with the icon on above their heads, that’s how you find out what to do and most of the story/backdrop. Very little has actually been where you need to go outside the game to find out what to do (except perhaps how to accomplish certain achievements, which is not so much story).

If you came to this thread looking for an exciting narrative of the story, you’re out of luck. My point with the write-up is to be informative, to show what all happened and where that info came from in-game (or the few instances outside of it).

Per several requests, I’m moving the info from my posts above to the wiki page: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Summary

I was already working on it, but went ahead and just added the ones that were missing. I’ll update the others if something is missing.

i commend you on your work vahkris it is good summaries and you got down what i come across in the game and other sites. but my biggest problem i sort of see their someone behind all the garbage but not enough to keep me interested. its been too flip floppy and not good enough to keep me and funny thing i thought flame and frost was rather good and if they could have stayed closer to it and three or four chapters related to that before they moved to southsun id be ok. im sitting thinking the last few chapter sort of connect but its not enough they lost me when they finished frost and flame. yeah there has been minor updates(dialog updates) to rox and braham but really not enough to keep me hanging on. i mean serious we couldnt have delivered that big of a blow to the molten alliance for then to sit doing nothing for 6 months.. lets see more recon on them find out more about them they are just as mysterious now as in when we found out about them… another thing aetherblades just decide to fly away.. they attack then get slapped and run away… lets see something more about them… this is a story i think… what is the sanctum going to just disappear maybe 3 years from now itll visit again with its glint mysteries i want to know about… thats what ticks me of about the living story. it just does pieces when it could expand so much more for us

sorry about the rant i really like the game and see so much potential to be stellar but keep getting hit by just meh stuff.. it kind of kittens me off

Oh lookie a place on the wiki to catch up on the story.