Guild Wars 2

So ArenaNet has not yet decided that Living Story needs to throw in the towel. As season 1 winds down to a conclusion, season 2 is incoming.

I am not certain season 2 will be markedly different from the last release of season 1 to the first release of season 2. I WANT Anet to show us how they would expand the world, add content, maps, permanency, however it seems to me there are two things going on in the living story that would prevent them from doing that.

1) Anet provides gem store services which benefit from the living story releases.
2) Nobody would buy the living story as is.

Up until now I have not played a living story release which has had a lasting impact on my game experience. Fractals comes close, as they are permanent additions outside of the release content provided in the box.

Why is that? Is it easier to provide carrots in the form of achievements and collectibles to draw attention, giving traffic to the gem store? Sure. Why not? Anet needs revenue. I’m not against that.

But then why not generate gem store items that speak for themselves? That exist outside of RNG?

Why not produce quality content that remains permanent?

The answers are the same. Cost. It is cheaper to provide one time missions to drive players back to GW2 And subsequently get eyes on the shop.

I have been guilty of the same mistakes since GW2 was announced. Namely, I let hype course through my imagination and am continually disappointed by the product presented to me.

TLDR
Living story may be getting a new season, but will it be getting a new image? I think not.

What do you expect from Living Story Season 2? Greatness? CDI adjustments? More cash shop marketing?
I’m curious where the player base sees the direction going.

pswendel.8179:

What do you expect from Living Story Season 2? Greatness? CDI adjustments? More cash shop marketing?

Nice answer? I expect nothing.

Honest answer? A kittenload of rubbish. An incredibly stupid story, mindless zergs, tons of grind, no permanent content, lack of balance updates … exactly the same stuff we know from Unliving Story Season 1.

Im sure a lot will change since no other game has done this before and now they know what works and what doesn’t work.

I hope the antagonist for season three at least shows up in season 2. I think the biggest problem I had with Scarlet is that she came from absolutely no where. It would be nice to already have some familiarity with the season 3 antagonist when the season starts.

I’m looking forward to Season 2. I don’t share your concerns about temporary content and gem store offerings. I’m fine with both of those things.

My expectation is that ANet will apply what they have learned from Season1 to make sure that Season 2 is the best possible gaming experience they can deliver. I’m willing to forgive Season 1 mistakes and call it a learning experience.

I pretty much expect Season 2 to be much better than Season 1, and I can’t wait to see what ANet does with it.