Guild Wars 2

I just want to start off by saying that this post is not about the problems with the Living Story and its lore. It’s been recently brought to my attention that Bobby Stein has addressed that Arena Net is aware of these problems, and is working towards them. However, we will probably not see changes for months until the next chapter of the Living Story is released.

When you already have something good, don’t mess it up. I guess this is what I’m implying in the title and this post.

Nightfall was the final chapter in the Guild Wars Trilogy. While it had a story of its own, it wrapped up the major loose ends of the saga. This campaign however, was by far the best writing that Arena Net has produced in any release to date. It was built almost entirely from already established lore. It had multiple subplots, and while most concluded at the end, some of them didn’t and are still inconclusive in Guild Wars 2’s time.

There was themes such as romance, slavery versus freedom, blindness versus true sight (metaphoric and literally), secrets versus truth, trial and error, and many, many more. These ultimately played with your emotions, really giving you the feeling of immerse in the vast world that Guild Wars was by this time. If Guild Wars Prophesies and Factions were good, Nightfall was fantastic.

That being said, if Arena Net mastered it with Nightfall, why has there been so much disappointment in the Personal Story and Living Story? Granted, there will always be disappointment from some players, but the presence in these two parts of Guild Wars 2 is undeniable.

The answer is because they’ve drifted away from the good things that they already had. Not just in lore, but in story design as well. Whether it was from hastily trying to get the game out, budgets, or simply opting to try something different, no one know besides the people in the studio. I certainly don’t, but one thing I do know is that Guild Wars 2 has yet to produce such emotions as the Guild Wars trilogy did for me. The Personal Story had it’s moments, but it didn’t live up to the five years worth of high expectations. The Living Story just feels like a bunch of disjointed plots where some don’t even feel right in the Guild Wars universe to begin with.

So I’m asking Arena Net to please go back to your previous works. Study them, strengths and flaws, and use them to produce the best writing in the Guild Wars universe in the next chapter of the Living World. You really have a great world to work with. Stop trying to change it, and go back to building upon and solidifying it.

I don’t have much to say other than I completely agree with you on all points.

One could however argue that said loose ends tied up with Nightfall was also created by Nightfall.

What we need is a zone based on the Gate of Fear(a jungle filled with Spiderwebs and decapitated grey Caterpillars in a greenish lighting) preferably in Magus Falls, a zone based of the Domain of Fear(filled with half burrowed grey Caterpillars climbing mountains, a Giant Spider corpse as a plataeu and a Centipede bridge)preferably in Maguuma Wastes and a zone based off of the Depths of Madness(in other words a mountainous zone covered in Blood) either in the Mists or on Tyria.

Jeff.4680:

I just want to start off by saying that this post is not about the problems with the Living Story and its lore. It’s been recently brought to my attention that Bobby Stein has addressed that Arena Net is aware of these problems, and is working towards them. However, we will probably not see changes for months until the next chapter of the Living Story is released.

When you already have something good, don’t mess it up. I guess this is what I’m implying in the title and this post.

Nightfall was the final chapter in the Guild Wars Trilogy. While it had a story of its own, it wrapped up the major loose ends of the saga. This campaign however, was by far the best writing that Arena Net has produced in any release to date. It was built almost entirely from already established lore. It had multiple subplots, and while most concluded at the end, some of them didn’t and are still inconclusive in Guild Wars 2’s time. There was themes such as romance, slavery versus freedom, blindness versus true sight (metaphoric and literally), secrets versus truth, trial and error, and many, many more. These ultimately played with your emotions, really giving you the feeling of immerse in the vast world that Guild Wars was by this time. If Guild Wars Prophesies and Factions were good, Nightfall was fantastic.

That being said, if Arena Net mastered it with Nightfall, why has there been so much disappointment in the Personal Story and Living Story? Granted, there will always be disappointment from some players, but the presence in these two parts of Guild Wars 2 is undeniable. The answer is because they’ve drifted away from the good things that they already had. Not just in lore, but in story design as well. Whether it was from hastily trying to get the game out, budgets, or simply opting to try something different, no one know besides the people in the studio. I certainly don’t, but one thing I do know is that Guild Wars 2 has yet to produce such emotions as the Guild Wars trilogy did for me. The Personal Story had it’s moments, but it didn’t live up to the five years worth of high expectations. The Living Story just feels like a bunch of disjointed plots where some don’t even feel right in the Guild Wars universe to begin with.

So I’m asking Arena Net to please go back to your previous works. Study them, strengths and flaws, and use them to produce the best writing in the Guild Wars universe in the next chapter of the Living World. You really have a great world to work with. Stop trying to change it, and go back to building upon and solidifying it.

Quoted for truth!

Bump.

Jeff.4680:

So I’m asking Arena Net to please go back to your previous works. Study them, strengths and flaws, and use them to produce the best writing in the Guild Wars universe in the next chapter of the Living World. You really have a great world to work with. Stop trying to change it, and go back to building upon and solidifying it.

emphasis mine… Stop trying to change it. that’s a great suggestion. I feel like with GW2 they were somehow embarrassed by GW1 & tried to do everything they could to hide the old stuff. I mean is even visually unrecognizable. The characters just feel weird with maybe the exception of Tybalt & Fulgar. dunno… the world looks absolutely amazing, but everything feels off.. kinda started with EotN, but…

DarksunG.9537:

Jeff.4680:

So I’m asking Arena Net to please go back to your previous works. Study them, strengths and flaws, and use them to produce the best writing in the Guild Wars universe in the next chapter of the Living World. You really have a great world to work with. Stop trying to change it, and go back to building upon and solidifying it.

emphasis mine… Stop trying to change it. that’s a great suggestion. I feel like with GW2 they were somehow embarrassed by GW1 & tried to do everything they could to hide the old stuff. I mean is even visually unrecognizable. The characters just feel weird with maybe the exception of Tybalt & Fulgar. dunno… the world looks absolutely amazing, but everything feels off.. kinda started with EotN, but…

Look at even how much they’ve changed things from EotN and Beyond! It’s not for the better..