Guild Wars 2

Dear ArenaNet,

Story and writing have been big points of contention recently. I have my opinions, but suffice to say I was pleased to hear that the Origins of Madness update contained an instance that introduced a new character and focused on dialogue. I was further excited to hear that it was pretty awesome.

The instance in question though (A Moment’s Peace) has since been removed with the introduction of Edge of the Mists. Having been unable to play for a while my only recourse for experiencing this content is apparently a YouTube video.

I don’t want to get into subjective views on writing style, but one has to question how much a game can value storytelling when the content is not even preserved. I couldn’t even give you an opinion on it if I wanted to.

Obviously I could watch the youtube video, but upon learning this was my only recourse I cant help but feel frustrated, like I’ve missed the start of a movie. A game by definition involves interaction, and a youtube video is far from it. Not only do I loathe having to watch the video, but I find playing through any proceeding story content in-game frustrating and disjointed. No matter how good the recap, watching one is never the same as actually playing it. That’s simply the nature of the medium.

Why is it that this instance, among other story content, is consistently removed after its time in the “Open World” comes to a close? I hear a lot of people answer with regards to temporal consistency, and there’s validity in that – its an immersion breaker and part of the Open World concept. But what good is this Open World consistency when the story itself is literally unplayable? I don’t go back to Surmia in GW1, see Prince Rurik and exclaim (spoiler alert): “By the Gods man, I thought you were dead!” and proceed to get really confused. These sorts of idiosyncrasies are certainly less immersion breaking than skipping entire chapters of the story.

As such the point of this rant is to request, with respect, that you really reconsider what vehicle you intend to use to deliver story content, and that it has some form of permanence. After all as with any good story, I would love be able to experience it at my own pace.

This point has been brought up a few times, and I agree. ArenaNet has mentioned on a number of occasions that this year they’re going to be reworking how the living story is delivered somehow, but we don’t have any details yet. I can only hope that means that they’re making as much of the story content permanent as possible, so that people who don’t play often can still catch up on what they’ve missed.