Guild Wars 2

To start, I am impressed with the new living story. I thought the story missions were well played out and at times more challenging than old stories which is nice. The new map has interesting new boss encounters and an entirely new aesthetic which is awesome! My only complaint is lackluster achievement points for LS achieves…I am a bit of an AP hunter so this was a bit of a let down.

But for all those complaining that they wanted/expected more… think of the Living Story as a television show; every week (2 in our case) there is a new chapter in the story to tell, you watch it, maybe rewatch it, and wait until the next episode. Some people don’t like to watch their TV shows that way – they wait for the season to complete and then watch it all at once. You can do that here too… wait several months for all the LS to come out and then do it all at once if that is your style.

Yes Dry Top is small, but it has a good bit of content stuffed into it. Also, judging by the “Regions” achievement tab….we can expect several new zones throughout the season I would imagine.

I spent several hours in the new zone and story instances last night. I actually listened to the character interactions and followed along with the story. I had a good time. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the new content. Don’t rush everything and then ask for more…

Well I didn’t complete everything in a day like a lot of the other living world updates so there seems to be plenty to do.

There are those who have though, and are already kittening that there should have been more….

Must be nice to play so many hours a day….

Sometimes I don’t understand people. Many of them just rushed through whole story, did everything else following guides, farmed a little bit of materials and say they’re done.

I mean, why not ignore all guides and figure out things by yourselves? Why not talk to NPCs, enjoy the view?

This content, unlike previous, won’t go away. Sit down, take your time, don’t rush and have a good time. We’ll have more in 2 weeks.

Sean.8274:

But for all those complaining that they wanted/expected more… think of the Living Story as a television show; every week (2 in our case) there is a new chapter in the story to tell, you watch it, maybe rewatch it, and wait until the next episode. Some people don’t like to watch their TV shows that way – they wait for the season to complete and then watch it all at once. You can do that here too… wait several months for all the LS to come out and then do it all at once if that is your style.

Except that over a 1 year period, compared to a GW1 expansion we’re still getting far less content & features. So all this gushing over how great it is is praising getting less.

Rym.1469:

Sometimes I don’t understand people. Many of them just rushed through whole story, did everything else following guides, farmed a little bit of materials and say they’re done.

I mean, why not ignore all guides and figure out things by yourselves? Why not talk to NPCs, enjoy the view?

This content, unlike previous, won’t go away. Sit down, take your time, don’t rush and have a good time. We’ll have more in 2 weeks.

The thing is, you don’t even need to be a super grinder to play through the content fast. After the storyline, there’s not much to do if you don’t prefer achievement hunting, and even those are relatively easy to get. I’ve already done most just by casual playing and the update was released yesterday.

If you purposedly have to to slow yourself down to artificially lengthen your experience, isn’t that a sign that there’s just not enough of content?

Imagine if an actual expansion were released. They’d probably finish it in a week and demand another one. People who blast through content on the first day will have to realize that they will never be satisfied with enough content to keep them occupied until the next release. Casuals would be so overwhelmed that they would never be able to catch up.

This is coming from someone who does go through the content quickly each time. I have other things to do and don’t need one single game to preoccupy all of my free time.

I didn’t “rush” through the storyline, but I beat in it maybe an hour and am pretty much done. I’ll buy the nomad stuff so I can profit off of it later.

I’m just being honest, I was personally disappointed—and I’m a Sylvari, so you know I’m a no BS, objective person.

2 weeks? I somehow remembered that the serious content packs will be released each month now and in the meantime we’ll be getting features and balance.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

There are those who have though, and are already kittening that there should have been more….

Must be nice to play so many hours a day….

Amen. To those of us with more limited playing time it sounds like a bunch of entitled whining from people with too much of a good thing.

Not to be too harsh or inflammatory, though. Just saying.

Asmodeus.5782:

2 weeks? I somehow remembered that the serious content packs will be released each month now and in the meantime we’ll be getting features and balance.

I don’t have proof, but I seem to remember that feature updates will be standalone from living story (ie: major feature packs like April) and living story will continue with the two week schedule. Perhaps a dev or someone with a piece of evidence can confirm or deny.

Sean.8274:

Asmodeus.5782:

2 weeks? I somehow remembered that the serious content packs will be released each month now and in the meantime we’ll be getting features and balance.

I don’t have proof, but I seem to remember that feature updates will be standalone from living story (ie: major feature packs like April) and living story will continue with the two week schedule. Perhaps a dev or someone with a piece of evidence can confirm or deny.

Yes, they have separated features from story. It was in several interviews they did.

When they discussed the journal via twitch, it was stated that some LS releases may have longer than the 2 week window, although that didn’t straight out say that there wouldn’t be an update every 2 weeks.

Pretty unreasonable to expect content to be released so quickly that hardcore players won’t run out of stuff to do.

It’s always faster to read a book, watch a movie or play a game than it is to write/film/program one.

The only way to extend playtime to that length is requiring a bunch of grind and/or time-gated activity (short of hiring thousands more programmers, but that’s probably not in the budget for a B2P game).

HyruleanHyroe.1473:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

There are those who have though, and are already kittening that there should have been more….

Must be nice to play so many hours a day….

Amen. To those of us with more limited playing time it sounds like a bunch of entitled whining from people with too much of a good thing.

Not to be too harsh or inflammatory, though. Just saying.

Except you can get all the AP and map completion as well as do the story and those achievements in about 4-5 hours. For content that was supposed to be good for 2 weeks that is a sad amount. I don’t care if you barely have time to play that is your problem not mine. I am not being an entitled whiny kitten when I am complaining it is a legit complaint because it was a pathetic amount of content for the launch of their Season 2. There is absolutely no way to defend them at this point.

/end discussion.

We waited over 4 months for 1h of story content with poorly scripted encounters, a tiny new area you can cross in over 2 minutes and a few more jumping puzzles.

Excuse me if I am feeling upset and disappointed right now.

Anet needs to realise more of the same does NOT make a great game, it makes you lose players faster

Laylie.5703:

Except you can get all the AP and map completion as well as do the story and those achievements in about 4-5 hours. For content that was supposed to be good for 2 weeks that is a sad amount. I don’t care if you barely have time to play that is your problem not mine. I am not being an entitled whiny kitten when I am complaining it is a legit complaint because it was a pathetic amount of content for the launch of their Season 2. There is absolutely no way to defend them at this point.

/end discussion.

Well if it takes 4-5 hours to do…. it’ll take me at least a week…. Not all of us play 6+ hours a day, and shouldn’t get the short end of the kitten stick because we don’t.

Had they given you the whole kitten season people like you would still be on here kittening that it wasn’t enough to satisfy the locusts. MMO content simply cannot be developed at the same rate in which it is consumed, so they impose gates to slow our kitten down. Don’t like it? Go play a different type of game then.

Rym.1469:

Sometimes I don’t understand people. Many of them just rushed through whole story, did everything else following guides, farmed a little bit of materials and say they’re done.

I mean, why not ignore all guides and figure out things by yourselves? Why not talk to NPCs, enjoy the view?

This content, unlike previous, won’t go away. Sit down, take your time, don’t rush and have a good time. We’ll have more in 2 weeks.

Couldn’t agree more! Enjoy the ride

Talking to npc’s is really rewarding and gives you a sense of immersion.
I’m loving it so far!

Compare GW1+22 months to GW2+22 months content-wise. Sure they are 2 different games, but the same company, different business model. The GW1 model offered more and more importantly, better content for cash.
While in GW2, we get less and inferior content (compared to GW1), for free.

I love the GW franchise and i am willing to pay for quality content. The way things are, i will still play the content, but refrain from buying any gems with real money.

Asmodeus.5782:

2 weeks? I somehow remembered that the serious content packs will be released each month now and in the meantime we’ll be getting features and balance.

Really? Mmm I was rather hoping it would still be 2 weekly.

Bunmaster.9734:

Compare GW1+22 months to GW2+22 months content-wise. Sure they are 2 different games, but the same company, different business model. The GW1 model offered more and more importantly, better content for cash.
While in GW2, we get less and inferior content (compared to GW1), for free.

I love the GW franchise and i am willing to pay for quality content. The way things are, i will still play the content, but refrain from buying any gems with real money.

I don’t get why people keep comparing GW1 releases and GW2 releases… they are two very different games and I would imagine building content for GW2 is significantly more difficult than its predecessor.

Don’t get me wrong, I have my own beef with Anet (mainly the ‘support’ staff) which makes it so I (or any of my guild) will never buy gems again…. but I don’t see the development staff sitting around not trying to push out good new content to us. They obviously listen to the complaints and have made big changes to the game because of it. I like the changes which are being made and new direction to the LS and look forward to what will be put forth in the future.

I am not saying everything is perfect and that the development team has it spot on… but give them a break, I am sure they are working hard to give us a great game. But apparently (and I will steal a term from another poster) you can’t ever please the locusts. They will always want more.

Fuin.8361:

Asmodeus.5782:

2 weeks? I somehow remembered that the serious content packs will be released each month now and in the meantime we’ll be getting features and balance.

Really? Mmm I was rather hoping it would still be 2 weekly.

Actually, it might be just wishful thinking on my part. As a former QA tester I just do not believe anyone can properly check such a large piece of content in less than a month. No matter the amount of people, it’s just not possible. Too many variables, coding traps, balance issues. I just prefer quality over quantity.

Rym.1469:

Sometimes I don’t understand people. Many of them just rushed through whole story, did everything else following guides, farmed a little bit of materials and say they’re done.

I mean, why not ignore all guides and figure out things by yourselves? Why not talk to NPCs, enjoy the view?

This content, unlike previous, won’t go away. Sit down, take your time, don’t rush and have a good time. We’ll have more in 2 weeks.

People WEREN’T RUSHING! There is literally not enough actual content. Even the most lax and casual player can do everything there is to do in 2 evenings of play….And the guides aren’t even out yet or fully completed!

Talk to the NPC’s?? YAY I clicked F and got a one line repeated response AWESOMEEEE!!!!!!

Guys if you want GW2 to survive..we need FULL proper content..Not this bi weekly crap that drip feeds just like LS1…Have anet Learned anything?? Not much it would seem.

Mitch.4781:

Rym.1469:

Sometimes I don’t understand people. Many of them just rushed through whole story, did everything else following guides, farmed a little bit of materials and say they’re done.

I mean, why not ignore all guides and figure out things by yourselves? Why not talk to NPCs, enjoy the view?

This content, unlike previous, won’t go away. Sit down, take your time, don’t rush and have a good time. We’ll have more in 2 weeks.

People WEREN’T RUSHING! There is literally not enough actual content. Even the most lax and casual player can do everything there is to do in 2 evenings of play….And the guides aren’t even out yet or fully completed!

Talk to the NPC’s?? YAY I clicked F and got a one line repeated response AWESOMEEEE!!!!!!

Guys if you want GW2 to survive..we need FULL proper content..Not this bi weekly crap that drip feeds just like LS1…Have anet Learned anything?? Not much it would seem.

I would say something witty, but I decided against it.
Look, the update is better. I agree that the amount of content was less than I expected, but the content that was released is interesting and new: the bosses actually require you to move around. The crystal event is a race against time – you move. And then the sandstorm. Only certain events pop up when the sandstorm isn’t active, and visa-versa.
I honestly think ArenaNet is actively attempting to ween the gamers off of zergs and stacking, which is great. The map is difficult to memorize, it has multiple paths to different areas.
The fact that your completing it fast isn’t a problem for anyone else, it’s a problem for you. Hell, I did the story by myself in 2-3 hours (while going afk multiple times) and got the Adventurer’s Mantle by 5AM. But I still legitimately enjoy the bosses – Moa, Devourer Queen, that half-Chimera thing. The jumping puzzle is challenging – I have never gotten so mad at this game, and then Nochtli. I have never seen a group beat it, much less attempt it.
I commend ArenaNet for releasing this – it’s a multi-level map, with stuff to find and interesting boss fights. Loot to find, places to discover. And this is only one little part in this season. By the time Season 2 is half-way done, we’ll still be running these bosses because they’re fun.
No dungeon is fun anymore. Three-Toed Tootsie? Fun. Engaging. A moa boss. Are you kidding me?

Jorvych.3064:

Mitch.4781:

Rym.1469:

Sometimes I don’t understand people. Many of them just rushed through whole story, did everything else following guides, farmed a little bit of materials and say they’re done.

I mean, why not ignore all guides and figure out things by yourselves? Why not talk to NPCs, enjoy the view?

This content, unlike previous, won’t go away. Sit down, take your time, don’t rush and have a good time. We’ll have more in 2 weeks.

People WEREN’T RUSHING! There is literally not enough actual content. Even the most lax and casual player can do everything there is to do in 2 evenings of play….And the guides aren’t even out yet or fully completed!

Talk to the NPC’s?? YAY I clicked F and got a one line repeated response AWESOMEEEE!!!!!!

Guys if you want GW2 to survive..we need FULL proper content..Not this bi weekly crap that drip feeds just like LS1…Have anet Learned anything?? Not much it would seem.

I would say something witty, but I decided against it.
Look, the update is better. I agree that the amount of content was less than I expected, but the content that was released is interesting and new: the bosses actually require you to move around. The crystal event is a race against time – you move. And then the sandstorm. Only certain events pop up when the sandstorm isn’t active, and visa-versa.
I honestly think ArenaNet is actively attempting to ween the gamers off of zergs and stacking, which is great. The map is difficult to memorize, it has multiple paths to different areas.
The fact that your completing it fast isn’t a problem for anyone else, it’s a problem for you. Hell, I did the story by myself in 2-3 hours (while going afk multiple times) and got the Adventurer’s Mantle by 5AM. But I still legitimately enjoy the bosses – Moa, Devourer Queen, that half-Chimera thing. The jumping puzzle is challenging – I have never gotten so mad at this game, and then Nochtli. I have never seen a group beat it, much less attempt it.
I commend ArenaNet for releasing this – it’s a multi-level map, with stuff to find and interesting boss fights. Loot to find, places to discover. And this is only one little part in this season. By the time Season 2 is half-way done, we’ll still be running these bosses because they’re fun.
No dungeon is fun anymore. Three-Toed Tootsie? Fun. Engaging. A moa boss. Are you kidding me?

#ReassuranceThread

“The fact that your completing it fast isn’t a problem for anyone else, it’s a problem for you”

Oh really?? I guess you’re ignoring a lot of comments in game and on all the forums then lol. Talk about Ostrich in the sand thinking. (No pun intended lol)

The best part was when you said that Anet is weening people of Zergs, yet you need zergs or at least a decent handfull of people to even do the bosses…Try soloing the moa on your own or doing Nochtli on your own without stability.

Infact on my map, most peopel were only doing the quicksand and lama achieves as part of a zerg lol.

You consistently contradicted yourself throughout that response. If you’re going to defend mediocre content, you’re gonna have to do betetr than that.

While it is short and small. It is a good opener to set the scene. You get enough content to show you a few paths it could lead and an sample of the rest of the maps that’ll be coming. If they gave is a massive update full of content in one go. There would be so many bugs and issues that it would cause more hassle. If you think about it. This is a brand new region. With new mechanics running off megaservers. They’d want to make sure that this works before realising anything big. considering they have had server crashes from this small region. It is a good thing they have done it this way so they don’t have to take the whole game offline to fix servers. I genuinely am excited to see what comes next!

i can see both sides, but ultimately, i’m fine with the amount of content. its basically adding a new zone (smaller than typical zones, but pretty much loaded with as much stuff to do…..standard zones take about an hour to complete) and several story missions (much better/more involved missions compared to the original personal ones).

if they add comparable content each episode (maybe not a new zone, but new skills/trait unlocks, or a new dungeon w/ unique armor/weapon skins, or a new race/class weaponset), then by the end of the season, along with whatever is added by feature/balance patches, you’d have a pretty nice amount of content for free (probably half of a genuine expansion pack).

you aren’t going to get the equivalent of an expansion pack for free. if that bothers you, or if its not enough to keep you interested in the game…..you really should move on.

I dunno it just that I expected something and got something completely different. I know it says “Gates” of maguuma and not the whole area. But when they said the Gates of Maguuma are opening, I thought that I’d be given access to the entire continent. I’d be happy to wait much longer for the whole area. Oh well, I’ll just a couple months since it’s part of the personal story and it wont go anywhere for a bit.

It is not enough. I like a lot of things about the new content, but releasing it in tiny little chunks is somewhat disjointed from the rest of the game. Take any of the original maps, they have tons of areas to explore, tons of events and hearts, tons of different resource harvesting. When you first play gW2, you don’t get limited into tiny little sectors. You are only limited by how long the particular character you chose can survive as you traverse into more difficult areas. Find an area that you cannot survive in? Backtrack and go a different direction. This mechanic makes you want to spend time in the area suited for you.

But if you zoned in and were entirely boxed in, it would take a lot away from the big feel of the game. And that’s unfortunately what they did here. I don’t see how there would be any drawback to opening an entire area on day 1 of season 2. It would work just as fine as it did with all the other original areas. I was envisioning a 4-5 map “area”, just like the original areas. To accommodate for characters of all levels being concentrated into one area, I imagined that they could do some clever map design to have viable regions for levels 1-80 in the area.

Map two could be 1-30, map two could be 25-40, map three could be 35-50, map four 50-70, map five, 70-80. Or something like that. Of course, there would be appropriate level downscaling in all regions, just like every other map.

Of course, this is day two, so I am hoping that this is some sort of small prelude to a bigger release. But the fact that it is a level 80 area with character upscaling doesn’t support that. Does this mean that the entire area will be level 80? I like cursed shore, but a level 80 area gets tedious after a while, even with full ascended gear. It’s kind of nice to play around in the lesser maps and move around without getting put into combat and/or CC’d every 10 feet.

When are we going to get actual content instead of this carebear living world crap? I understand its a free-to-play game, but kittenit.

People will NEVER be satisfied with the amount of content. I remember that in the first two weeks people hit level 80 and such. I personally never finished the PS till last winter. It’s not the amount of content it’s (can’t believe I’m about to say this) it’s that certain people have too much free time on their hands. I finished the content in three days but I spent those three days doing nothing else. And honestly that is just sad. Go outside, do something! Got to the god kitten beach or something and not cry on the forums.

I’d say the content was well worth the zero dollars I paid for it.

If you disagree, feel free to show me how productive you are at the office. I’m sure your employer will be keen to know how much work you can accomplish in 2 weeks.

I think it’s a good start actually and hope with their current plans for Episode updates that they continue opening up more. If that’s the case then Season 2 is shaping up much better than Season 1.

Rym.1469:

Sometimes I don’t understand people. Many of them just rushed through whole story, did everything else following guides, farmed a little bit of materials and say they’re done.

I mean, why not ignore all guides and figure out things by yourselves? Why not talk to NPCs, enjoy the view?

This content, unlike previous, won’t go away. Sit down, take your time, don’t rush and have a good time. We’ll have more in 2 weeks.

Don’t take this the wrong way cause I’m not complaining nor do I feel that I’ve rushed.. I don’t use guides at all but I’m already done with the zone; I’ve found 30 coins, opened about 10-15 chests, found the llama and convinced the skritt to llamafy me.
I had a ton of time to play these past 2 days so I did, finishing up the zone wasn’t such a long endevour but I’ve yet to begin working on the “challenging achievements” that they’ve put in..

In short tho: The amount of content is fine, would I have wanted to see something larger? Sure, but theres enough content to keep people busy for awhile longer and thats good enough. Lets see where they go from here.

Hello community

i was reading all the comments and i decided to comment saying what i think about season 2.

First of all i like Gw2, i like the combat and the gameplay in it, i like to explore the map do achievements and jumping puzzles. I wanted to write this before i got more serious.

I respect the ppl that say that was enough content and they are enjoying the game season 2 right now, dont get me wrong i liked to do the new story and the achievements but i must agree with some that say its almost new 0 content.

I’m not hardcore but playing normaly with some friends we did all the content in 3/4h… the only thing left me to do is repeat the story ( that i dont need because i already did the achievements ) or farm events that i dont like to do it since its got bored after 1h… so after 4h more or less i go to sleep and when i login in game i lvl my alt from 50 to 72 by exploring maps and in the end i did one fractal… i didnt play more the new season 2 because i dont have nothing more there to do… only repeat and farm…

so yeah i like it but it was really almost 0 content, in my case i would prefere them to remake some dungeon boss’s that require 0 skill to them, its more dificult to get to them then kill them…

what i would like them to do when they open this season was that they put this content with it…

- Remake some dungeons especially most of the boss’s.
- Remake World Boss’s, like they did with tequatl.
- Remake some rewards from Dungeon Boss’s.
- New fractals and maybe a new fractal set.
- The healling pop up making ppl see that they are getting heals from other players like they did when you are suffer from conditions.
- and ofc the beggin of Season 2.

with this they make ppl playing the new season and after ppl could play old content but having the felling that is new 2.

for the future new class, new profession and new season 2 content…

sorry for my english hope you guys undestand and well this is what i was waiting for after 2 months since the last content update and after 2 years where you only got in pve fractals, 2 new maps, season 1 and ascended gear.

best regards

This release is one of the best they’ve done so far, but I do want to see more quantity in the future. Keep up the quality, but find a way to stretch out the size of the maps and the length of the content in general.

I’m not going to say any of you are right or wrong, but one thing here is really surprising to me. “I did all the new content in ~4 hours.” This boggles my mind. Did you use a guide for the Dry Top achievements, or are you not counting those?

Find 30 Lost Coins.
For many of these, you’ll just stumble upon them, but to get them all you really have to spend some time exploring every nook and cranny, just like Thomas’ English Muffins! I’m doing this now, I’m on 28/30 and it’s taken 3-4 hours, who knows how much longer to find the last 2? I like this kind of thing so I’m enjoying the time it’s taking. But hours worth of adventuring time becomes 30 minutes when you’re using a guide to connect the dulfy dots on your map.

Jumping puzzle and dive goggles.
Again, this took a couple of hours on it’s own. You finally make it to the goggles only to find out that it’s going to take 2-4 tries to get the dive just right for the achievement. Are people doing this, or are you ’mesmer’ing the content?

Story episodes.
I enjoyed these and it took me a good hour to go through all of it, maybe more. I’m interested in the story, so I actually read all the dialog along the way.

New events.
There are actually a lot of new events in Dry Top, you’ve tried every one of them at least once?

Zone completion.
Really this just gets itself done while you’re doing everything else, and even if you had to purpose to do it, it wouldn’t take long. But the place looks amazing, maybe it would take a little longer if you hide your UI and stop to smell the roses along the way.

Story replay achievements.
Not even going to ask about this one because I don’t see how it would be possible to do everything else in 4 hours, let alone all of that and all of these achievements.

So I guess what I’m getting at is that there are at least two groups of players in this thread:

Group 1: Doesn’t really love the story, exploration, open-world events angle and so they went through the content at a brisk-ish pace and aren’t interested in getting the story replay achievements. These people wanted more gear to work toward, and a new more dungeon to do it in. Or something along those lines (?)

Group 2:
These people are either casuals with less time, or are intentionally taking a slow pace trying to get as much as possible from each piece of fresh content. Not saying these people don’t care about gear or dungeons. I see myself as falling into this category for the simple reason that I love this game, I’ve been bored with it lately, and now I have some fresh content so I’m going to milk it for all it’s worth.

i was doing it in a group of friends i didnt play alone.. i dont know how many hours was but it was that time more or less… if i played alone for sure that would take me way more time… the only part that take me some time to do was the jumping puzzle (without the powers in the story more) and even that it didnt take me that long … at last for me, for some friends we laugh kitten team speak since they keep falling xD like i said i like this new season way more then in the begining of the season 1 but for me it was almost 0 new content… i dont know if i did all the dynamic events i did all that i find and open all the chests that i could since i dont have any more keys… i actually prefere right now to lvl my alt and maybe do 1 fractal or dungeon instead of going back and play more in the new map… since the only thing good there now for me is the chests… i dont need new dungeons since i feel that they should improve the old ones before going to make new ones maybe 1 or 2 new fractals but not dungeons at last for now… the rest was what i said before …

EDIT: http://i.imgur.com/D4s6VzO.jpg maybe this will help you

regards

Facepunch.5710:

So I guess what I’m getting at is that there are at least two groups of players in this thread:

Group 1: Doesn’t really love the story, exploration, open-world events angle and so they went through the content at a brisk-ish pace and aren’t interested in getting the story replay achievements. These people wanted more gear to work toward, and a new more dungeon to do it in. Or something along those lines (?)

Group 2:
These people are either casuals with less time, or are intentionally taking a slow pace trying to get as much as possible from each piece of fresh content. Not saying these people don’t care about gear or dungeons. I see myself as falling into this category for the simple reason that I love this game, I’ve been bored with it lately, and now I have some fresh content so I’m going to milk it for all it’s worth.

I appreciate that there will be plenty of people that are happy with this release exactly how it is. But to say that those of us who think this is too small fall in to group 1, and that we don’t like exploration and open-world events is inaccurate. The reason why I feel the tiny map does not work that well is because I love the exploratory aspect of the game.

Think back to when you first started the game; what if every time you made it to a new map, you were stuck in an area 1/6 to 1/4 the size of that map and limited to that area for a specific period of time? It would detract from the open world “exploratory” feel that a lot of us love this game for. You would very quickly get to know every nook and cranny of that small area, and once the next section opened up, you would have little reason to return. And to have all of the new area that will be released be upscaled to 80 really detracts from the natural progression that the rest of the game has. I think the downscaling that anet implemented in all of the other maps really works well, but upscaling to 80 is a drawback to the feel of the game.

The original maps have so many paths through them to so many different destinations, with events spread out over a big area, resources to gather, vistas, hearts, etc, that it takes a lot of runs through a map to see everything. I’ve been playing for almost two years, and I still find things I never saw before in the original maps.

So a lot of us expected a new map or area to mean what that means in the context of the rest of the game, and its a bit disappointing. Again, I see a lot of positives in this new content, but the size issue is a big negative for me.

I see your point Mantis. But it seems clear that ANet will be expanding Maguuma in increments with coming updates, so you’ll be getting that vast area to explore. Given that you are aware of what type of content release you’d enjoy most, maybe you should wait a few months to do this content, then do it all at once so you have that experience of a vast, new region to explore.

Facepunch.5710:

I see your point Mantis. But it seems clear that ANet will be expanding Maguuma in increments with coming updates, so you’ll be getting that vast area to explore. Given that you are aware of what type of content release you’d enjoy most, maybe you should wait a few months to do this content, then do it all at once so you have that experience of a vast, new region to explore.

That’s definitely an option for me, but the reality is that I play this game every day the way that some people watch TV every night, and I think most of us are that way. So, when any new content comes out, I am likely to be checking it out as soon as I have a chance. I just think that they could have implemented a regular map/area release and still gotten the episodic feel they are going for; they did it with the personal story lines quite well in my opinion.

The other thing with this method is that the maps will inherently have a compartmentalized feel, even when the whole thing is available. If this is how the entire release is going to be, then the new maps will be made up of 4-6 geographical compartments.

One thing I always found a little jarring was the rectangular shape of the original maps; I understand why they are like this and do not hold it against the designers, but it does slightly detract from the natural feel of the environment. Now that rectangular feel will be on a much smaller, harder to ignore scale.

There are certain things done in an expansion which add replayable content or major changes. Dungeons, not just one, or a path, but several. A new race or class. Several maps.

The problem is we are getting none of these things and likely will never get any of them if things continue as they are. We are basically getting some storytelling machinima type stuff and no real gameplay advances.

I appreciate the story, of course, but when this is introduced and in a day or two everyone goes back to grinding citadel of flame paths once again, you know something has gone wrong.

Thrashbarg.9820:

It’s always faster to read a book, watch a movie or play a game than it is to write/film/program one.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Id say just be glad we get a new map. And that map is expanding based on the story you are doing. The more the story progresses, the more the map expands and upgrades to a more full map. Also we have a whole region the whole season in which we will get one or two new permanent dungeons, something we haven’t seen since fractals (not gonna count aether path). The story so far is ok and a lot more explanatory than most of the stuff in season one, adds more stuff for lore fans like myself to put together and thorize and even discuss on the forums, and we have not seen many new maps in season one. This is all pretty much an upgrade from ls season one in my opinion. Though I do have my look on downsides,
1. not alot of cheevos as we had in season one content.
2. Anet could have allowed the season chapters reward like a daily with some geodes and a lockpick and a champ box to make them enjoyable enough to replay.
3. Needs more Kormir.

Besides those I am practically ok with the way season 2 started. It could be worse, they could have just added the extra area to brisban wilds, made us go back to areas we been to over and over again in the world map to figure out more about scarlet because at this point your character is still not over scarlet, add 20 more achivements, and said “here is your content. wait for more in two weeks. Same Kormir time same Kormir channel. Also player character is a loser.” and been done with it. I say be glad we are getting an expanded map instead of just running around lornars pass or playing CSI Labrinthine Cliffs without any idea if the ship of zehpyrites are still alive or not.

Traveller.7496:

Rym.1469:

Sometimes I don’t understand people. Many of them just rushed through whole story, did everything else following guides, farmed a little bit of materials and say they’re done.

I mean, why not ignore all guides and figure out things by yourselves? Why not talk to NPCs, enjoy the view?

This content, unlike previous, won’t go away. Sit down, take your time, don’t rush and have a good time. We’ll have more in 2 weeks.

Yes. I would like very much some grinding options for thiose people. Why not more rewards? More skins? Make them grindier if it’s hard to program more in time. Make more use for geodes…

The thing is, you don’t even need to be a super grinder to play through the content fast. After the storyline, there’s not much to do if you don’t prefer achievement hunting, and even those are relatively easy to get. I’ve already done most just by casual playing and the update was released yesterday.

If you purposedly have to to slow yourself down to artificially lengthen your experience, isn’t that a sign that there’s just not enough of content?

When the patch was released, I logged it, checked the map for few minutes and logged out. As someone who doesn’t care about exploration or lore, there’s just nothing for me, no reason to play the new map. I couldn’t care any less abou new mini pets, those glasses or APs.
Personally, I’ve been doing high level FOTM runs all week and I would much rather see new updates to this game mode plus I like what they did to Mai.
Other than FOTM, there’s nothing for me to do in this game. Glad that there’s still WvW, but even that is getting pretty stale due to lack of updates and balance.

There is not much material in this one as there was expected because

1. We were promised less frequent but larger Living Story updates .
2. I did the story instances easily and some of the achievements over a period of two days and yet had more trouble with some LS 1 updates
3. This actual Living Story update is just a short story and small area again with large amounts of achievements bulking the new area out to make people repeat stuff.

SO as far as I can see its no bigger than the largest Living Story 1 episodes but its all we have to go on for a much longer period than 2 weeks. Who knows, maybe another month or two. You can denigrate me all you want but I have an fps and new MMO to play so it suits me whatever insults are thrown at me because this game is moving off my radar anyway as it is for many folks and if no one wants to know why people are leaving let the game suffer in ignorance.

DarksunG.9537:

Sean.8274:

But for all those complaining that they wanted/expected more… think of the Living Story as a television show; every week (2 in our case) there is a new chapter in the story to tell, you watch it, maybe rewatch it, and wait until the next episode. Some people don’t like to watch their TV shows that way – they wait for the season to complete and then watch it all at once. You can do that here too… wait several months for all the LS to come out and then do it all at once if that is your style.

Except that over a 1 year period, compared to a GW1 expansion we’re still getting far less content & features. So all this gushing over how great it is is praising getting less.

It’s not relevant what GW1 did and you’re also getting GW2 releases for FREE.

Obtena.7952:

It’s not relevant what GW1 did and you’re also getting GW2 releases for FREE.

Don’t you get it that people want more, bigger, better content and WILL pay for it. Anet obviously aren’t doing as well as they say from this games free to play model or we would have had a large zone with a full list of events and bosses and a world boss yet after 5 months of repeated festivals and promises of less frequent but larger updates than LS 1 we get another Living Story episode that doesn’t even equal the largest LS 1 update of Southsun Cove. What a joke.

Obtena.7952:

It’s not relevant what GW1 did and you’re also getting GW2 releases for FREE.

Keeping the TV theme up (which the devs have chosen), it’s like expecting Game of Thrones on HBO but getting The Erotic Adventures of Hercules on Showtime. But it’s ok since what we get is FREE.