Guild Wars 2

Trying to comment on a paticular problem of the Living Story, rather than Scarlet herself…

The problem with the 3 alliances ANET established, and why they are so lore-breaking, is because they cannot act as an independant force. All 3 alliances have Scarlet ontop, which takes away interest from the individual alliances themselves.

The story should have focused on the issues of the alliance, rather than Scarlet orchestrating them.

For example, we had the opportunity to expand on Krait culture and obelisks, and how the promise of their messiah from the Nightmare Court could’ve manipulated the Krait perfectly without help from Scarlet. This would’ve expanded lore on the Nightmare Court to show just how manipulative and sadistic they truly are.

Instead we had someone else above orchestrating the events from top, which takes away credit and story emphasis on the the issues Nightmare Court and Krait face together.

Then there are the Dredge and Flame Legion… WHY were they working together? No, seriously… WHY!? Whatever happened to the Moletariat? What about Baelfire!? Seriously, what the heck are their problems!?

The worst of them all, are the Aetherblades… We have an ENTIRE dungeon and fractal dedicated to them, and their CAPTAIN as prisoner…. Yet we still don’t know their motives? …What? Scarlet says: “They serve me because they don’t want to die”, but what the heck does that even mean? PLEASE, tell us, what is the lore behind Aetherblades? How did they form? Are they really the Southsun Refugees? PLEASE, just give us simple exposition for once, and tell us who the heck they are!?

Seriously, the most we know about the Aetherblades, is they hate festivals.

In short, the alliances explore very little lore behind the races involved themselves. Too much emphasis is placed on how Scarlet manipulated them, rather than how the alliances are working together to overcome their issues.

This is a good point. I think perhaps a possible solution would be to separate activities from story.

Every two weeks have activities for the people who need to be entertained with a task list and short term activities.

Then have a separate, in depth, living story that unfolds. Explore all the alliances, learn the back stories, get in to the lore and tell a good story. This part does not have a timeline. It adds layers of stories (that are permanent), adds zones and perhaps quality of life additions.

Two separate tracks, fast track keep them busy and coming back for more stuff track. And whatever time it takes to do it right track, tells the stories and adds permanent features and stories to the game.

Personally I would’ve liked to see more tension in the alliance. Dredge and Flame Legion arguing, for example.