So here are some ideas for Anet that I had on maybe a basic outline on how they should approach the LS.
First I feel environment, enemies, and feel of the LS should be somewhat similar and stay similar through the LS. You failed to do this with the current living story and I feel it is adding to the general idea that the story is not connected.
Environment- We went all over the world in a weird fashion. One story we’re in shiverpeaks, then all of a sudden in southsun, then a new zone, then LA, then caldeon, etc. We jumped around way too much in the sense how drastically the environments changed. Prophecies, Nightfall, Factions, Eotn, all of these had similar environmental themes that they followed. When the environmental theme change, it had a good reason. The searing, the jade wind, nightfall itself, you see my point. Often the actual change in environment seemed a bit random. Scarlet was always the reason behind the change and the reason she changed it is one that you never really hinted at. Some people have their theories with proof, but till we see it play it out I wont bet on anything being true.
Enemies- Players need to form a connection to what they are fighting. You changed enemies so much with the alliances is that it really caused players to disconnect. One minute we’re fighting flame shamans and dredge, then karka, then aetherblades, then nightmare, toxic, etc. Again the reason behind the change in these was the same as environment, scarlet needed to change for some reason that we dont know yet. I would much rather have had scarlet get one alliance and then the players see the alliance evolve and get more advance/strong as the story progresses. Not radically changes like alliances. This change of course needs to be tied into the overall arc/reason and could also be a way for players to theorize on why they’re evolving and how this hints at scarlets plan.
The feel- The entire LS was based on this master plan that scarlet had. The problem with the LS and usual storylines is that the players are forces not to find out right away.
We can’t pull an all nighter and figure out what happens. We’re force to wait. This means when you do such drastic changes stated above and have them all depend on the eventual END of the LS, players get bored. A way to do this is take the masterplan, split into smaller plans, then let the players find out what these smaller plans were. An example could be the molten alliance. Why did she form the MA and attack. What were her motives? Reveal to the players through character chat, translation, and combat that it was for (not the actual reason, just an example) making weapons that will give her special access to energy for something. This lets the players know that ok, these past few months she was harvesting energy. We know that, but we dont know what he end game is. We never had this kind of conclusion to the story in any of the arcs. So far the entire LS has been based on speculation and nothing every really answered. We need more Whys answered. We dont need the master why answered, but the smaller whys. So far everything is being based on the answer of the master why.
So I hope you get my point on these three things and why I think these lead to the bad opinion of the LS connection so far.
Finally as a side note. I loved the voting things. You should think about combining this mechanic and the anti toxin mechanic. What I mean is that for example this LS. We have 3 good characters. Canach (chaotic good), Kiel (lawful good), and Majory (neutral good). Each of them have a plan to take out the tower. Canach would have escaped Kiel so he would be a criminal (so he should be hiding, some mentions of kiel hunting him, vice versa, etc). The players can perform any of these actions. By the end of the LS which ever action was performed the most would affect how this LS has a permanent affect on the world. Canach would tried to destroy it, but his way causes the water to become polluted and nearby inhabitants sickly if eated, quaggans sickly, etc. Kiel would have coordinated with Wardens and captured the tower in a engagement and hold it while the wardens purify it. The purification causes slyvari in the area to become buffed from the new “flower”. This also means nightmare court in the area. Majory would have used her current way and it would cause the tower to be destroyed with no effects (positive or negative). However, the anti toxin being injected into the tower and spread out to the surrounding area could have effects on the population in the zone some how. You get my point.