Guild Wars 2

As a perfect example, I finally got around to trying the Southern Cover content only because I saw a massive star in the corner of the screen telling me to speak to a person in a location I had never heard of.

Did the game advise me how to get there and find this person? No!

I had to Google it.

Instead of having the Gold star point me towards Lions Arch and point me towards the person with a ship icon above his head… it did nothing… I had to leave the game world to find out what to do!

The same goes for the Christmas and Halloween content. They just add this stuff and expect us to guess where we go and what we do. I didn’t take part in the either event because I was stood in Lions Arch and couldn’t make head-no-tails of what was happening. I had to Google that too.

To make the Southern Cove content more confusion; once you do reach the island it turns into a guessing game what to do because the Gold star (which you would assume would update and change like any quest tracker) doesn’t change once you speak to Kiel!

Kiel tells you to speak to someone else, and once you find that person, it says you get an achievement but doesn’t update the gold star. It still says “speak to Kiel” despite Kiel telling you to find someone else!

Once you find that person (Levi I think), he/she asks you to scan for things, but no new quest tracker appears to measure this quest you were just given or direct you.

The same issue impacts HEARTS on the map, which ask you to do tasks but don’t give you at least a radius or general idea of where you’re target is. I have spent ages in game trying to find the required creatures to kill for some HEARTS, only to see the HEART vanish because I walked too far away as I found one.

I love this game to bits, but we need clearly direction or ANY direction on newer content or one off events. It isn’t fun having to leave the game to Google “what do I do?” to play a game.

Yep, went to http://dulfy.net/2013/05/14/gw2-secrets-of-southsun-achievement-guide/ to get a handle on it. Now I got the 2 back pieces and all I do is seem to run around in a circle with tons of others hoping that some crate or something good might drop (and it hasn’t and likely never will btw). Just dumb/boring after 30 minutes! I know others like the crab arena game (and I tried) but I found it not to my liking in any way shape or form. I think I have explored everywhere too, but the ingame map doesn’t show wp/poi/skill completion like every other map in the game—so who knows. May be Google again.

SNS.8713:

Did the game advise me how to get there and find this person? No!

I had to Google it.

Everyone was sent a letter from Kiel upon logging in after the patch. It quite clearly detailed where to go and how to get there.

In case you deleted it without reading it you can see a copy here.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Secret_of_Southsun

Yeah I agree with you, the letter you recieve was helpful and it directed you to the outpost but sometimes it still feels very unclear on how to progress, where to go and what exactly to do, especially after you get the sample gun thingy…..

Guildies mostly pointed out the activities but in the end I waited for Dulfy to release a guide and I followed that, their stuff is always very clear and helps makes sense of whats going on.

I think what would have made it clear is a “scout” or something that you commonly see in the other zones once you reach the outpost that explains to you what exactly you can do and how exactly you can help as alot of people tend to skim through text dialogues.

A scout to show key locations would be a good idea. Especially to those who haven’t previously been to Southsun and therefore have not unfogged the map. Like those in the other maps they could unfog and highlight relevant areas while a player was talking to them and then when the player moved on those areas would fog back over until actually discovered.

New events like this always have an element of mystery/discovery as to what you actually need to do, personally I find that part of the game play to be fun. I don’t just want to arrive in an area and be told “make you way here, collect this, kill that and then come claim your reward” I like to have some element of figuring stuff out. Anet have become better at giving out information in preparation and at the start of event sections, for me it is a good balance. Perhaps it is too much information for some and not enough for others? – everyone will have a different preference.

Lexy.3912:

SNS.8713:

Did the game advise me how to get there and find this person? No!

I had to Google it.

Everyone was sent a letter from Kiel upon logging in after the patch. It quite clearly detailed where to go and how to get there.

In case you deleted it without reading it you can see a copy here.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Secret_of_Southsun

i never got my letter on the character i took to southsun. i actually finished all the stuff i could do there then switched char and got one on it. so i never had a letter but i did finish it without a major problem. my only problem i didnt realize there was more then one faction and kept talking to both side til i actually looked at achievements but it was minor problem

@ricky markham – receiving mail on one character and not another has happened to me too, in past events, because one character’s mail box was full. Now before a big patch with new content I always try and clear out old mail so I know that won’t be what stops an information letter getting through.

If living story is to remain a thing its needs its own little bit of UI to explain things. Put it right next to the guild UI and have a living story botton.

Within said UI is two things – current living story and past living stories. Past living stories will be archived by date and contain the stories involved in those past events. On the other hand the current living story page would show what has currently progressed, what exactly is new, what has changed, directions where to go, and an other little extra helpful tidbits (for example for this one i would explain who to talk to for the buffs). In addition to all this it would also contain any of the extra story information that seems to pop up on the website so now that is in game.

Lexy.3912:

@ricky markham – receiving mail on one character and not another has happened to me too, in past events, because one character’s mail box was full. Now before a big patch with new content I always try and clear out old mail so I know that won’t be what stops an information letter getting through.

my mail is always empty so thats not the reason. i never received the mail and my box was empty on that day and still is

I have to disagree.
The content gets much more direct then in the past.

- beware dissapointet angry rant -

It apppears though, that some people just dont like to think. i mean, come on. everything is there:
- you get a big letter, telling you to go to southsun
- you have a big glowing star telling you: something is happening at southsun.
- The NPC to talk to is clearly mentioned in the text.
- NPCs are market with stars, signifying their importance.
- NPCs give you buffs, coresponding to storycontext
- The Buffs are labeled acording to their significance
- There are marks on the map telling you where to go.
- Archievments give hints on how to get them

Even if you dont get one of theas laeds, there are enough others to point you into the right directions. Heck we even got UI improvements telling you how long you have for the event.

What else do you want? Just follow the lead, it is not that hard.

If you dont like using your brain to put this simple concept together, then i cant really help you. This kind of “scavanger hunt” is part of this kind of games for a very long time.

You sound like you want an GPS guiding you to everything. Just hit strg and read the text people with a define name over their head are spouting.

How hard can it be to go: go to person A, which says go to person B, who Tells you to do favor C for them?

Furthermore: “not unfogged the map”… then go do it… its a small island. explore the thing. dont be so lazy. where is your urge to adventure…

(of course all of that means you need to have some kind of interest in the world, characters or story, instead of going: archievments and loot. Which of course is a legimate desire, however doesnt mean you can go around and ask to get it all on a silver platter just because you dont like the other stuff)

- angry rant off -

Short Version: There are enough hints. Read and follow the breadcrumbs -_-

This game is about exploring stuff and found out these cool things by yourself, not to get them overwith in 10 minutes using a guide, also if you actually read the letter you would see what to do, then when you came to Pearl Islet you would again be told what to do, then when you got to the third place he ALSO told you what to do, what’s the confusion part of this?.

And i am with Jaken here, he said it better than me.

People forgetting the ‘Show Me’ button on the letter, which takes control from the player and moves the world map, zooms in to where it wants you to go, all the while narrating why, how and where you’re (going to) do this.

I don’t mean to be rude, but you would have a valid complaint, but you didn’t read the text given to you, and that’s a big part of RPGs in general.

I think the only thing I took to the Googles for was finding my tenth sample. Everything else is fairly straightforward, I think. I had a good time with the content, though, I blew through most all of the main stuff in a couple days.