What A Pleasant Suprise....
no, that would be horrible
Are you Shpongled?
That’s why we don’t have a livestream preview before The Nightmare Within launches, actually.
I don’t mind the immediate opportunity for spoilers. If I want to take my time with it, no one is forcing me to look up a guide, and I’d much rather have a chance to see what all there is to see/do, so I can make a plan for how I’m going to tackle it.
This is one of many cases where simply choosing not to do something in the most optimal way would provide the experience being asked for, or close enough to it, without having to put restrictions to slow everyone else down. It doesn’t have to be a race to the finish, and there’s no reason to sprint if you’re going to have more fun jogging.
~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~
no, that would be horrible
No that would be amazing, i’m tired of people getting upset at you if you don’t know exactly how to do some piece of content the first day it comes out on your first try.
I shouldn’t be told to read about a new update on dulfy to know all the ins and outs of it before the update even comes out.
And thus make the little lore that comes out even harder to find…personally, I’d like more background, not less.
If you can read this then it is proof that ArenaNet’s moderators just, kind and fair.
Just don’t look at the websites for 10 days and don’t look at the achievement lists for 10 days and you’ve got exactly what you want.
Just don’t look at the websites for 10 days and don’t look at the achievement lists for 10 days and you’ve got exactly what you want.
True, but which regular player doesn’t visit the forums or read the patch notes – I’m certainly not that disciplined despite the fact that it would make the game more exciting.
Anet needs to try this at least once, lets have Scarlett or a Dragon with a horde arrive unannounced in the middle of Lions Arch and take over the place.
Certainly my original suggestion is at the extreme of where we are at present and given the fact that many players still can’t deal with the living world in its present form, the idea of things happening without warning isn’t going to go down well with everyone, but I strongly believe that in the long term, players will be encouraged to log on, play and explore if content was being added that was ‘hidden’ until players discovered it in-game.
(edited by Daroon.1736)
And thus make the little lore that comes out even harder to find…personally, I’d like more background, not less.
Lore comes out in an update release page? I wasn’t aware. Any of the lore found there isnt also found ingame, it just isnt much.
Just don’t look at the websites for 10 days and don’t look at the achievement lists for 10 days and you’ve got exactly what you want.
Theres more to patch notes than just LS updates. I need to look to see what they nerfed about what class. Or in eles case, what they screwed harder this patch.
But think about when you get a new game, you want to play it because you don’t know anything in it. Theres a sense of exploration to it. Unlike Daroon i’m not saying it be completely hidden. Obviously we need something to point us in that direction (like an ingame mail saying come to such and such place, or just a screen shot of it, and nothing else), and then we discover things along the way. Maybe even disable waypoints until they’re rediscovered so we have to walk to the place like anet intends.
(edited by Rainbow Sprint.3215)
True, but which regular player doesn’t visit the forums or read the patch notes – I’m certainly not that disciplined despite the fact that it would make the game more exciting.
From the amount of people asking questions in map chat around the release of every new LS installment I’d say that more people don’t read the forums/patch notes than do.
Just don’t look at the websites for 10 days and don’t look at the achievement lists for 10 days and you’ve got exactly what you want.
True, but which regular player doesn’t visit the forums or read the patch notes – I’m certainly not that disciplined despite the fact that it would make the game more exciting.
Then get more disciplined. Even if you just want to look at the patch notes for fixes and class balance updates, it’s easy to skip over the LS updates.
Anet needs to try this at least once, lets have Scarlett or a Dragon with a horde arrive unannounced in the middle of Lions Arch and take over the place.
Sounds a bit like how Clockwork Chaos was promoted as “The Queen’s Speech,” until launch day, and then they sprung the real release on us. They still posted the details in the patch notes on launch day, but you have to appreciate Anet’s effort to keep some mystery and suspense in the build-up to it. If you had the self-control to log in and go to the speech without looking up the patch notes first, Scarlet and her invasions were a significant unexpected twist.
I strongly believe that in the long term, players will be encouraged to log on, play and explore if content was being added that was ‘hidden’ until players discovered it in-game.
I’m…less convinced. If a player wants to log-in and discover new content organically, they still can, but if they only have a limited amount of time to play within the release window, I don’t see anything wrong with them looking up the parts they want to do at the speed of the internet, do them early, and then not have to miss anything because, say, they had a paper due the second week of the release, or they get swamped at work, or whatever.
If a player doesn’t have time to wander around and discover things organically, it’s very likely they’re just not going to discover them at all.
~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~
I remember when I first started playing an MMO – it was Ultima Online, I would spend hours wandering around exploring every corner of the map in the hope that I might discover something that no other player had found. Sadly my naivety was quickly dispelled after soon realizing that the world was a static unchanging thing.
As Rainbow indicated, when GW2 was first released, those first few days of discovery are probably the most enjoyable a player has in a game – the community comes together trying to work out, how to create legendaries – Every area you visit is new and fresh.
The living story is the tool that can break that mould but not in its current form. If Anet really wants to push the boundaries and get players ‘playing’ the game again rather then chasing achievements, I can’t think of a better way than dropping in content that remains undocumented until PLAYERS discover it for themselves and events happening in populated areas unannounced.
I’m…less convinced. If a player wants to log-in and discover new content organically, they still can, but if they only have a limited amount of time to play within the release window, I don’t see anything wrong with them looking up the parts they want to do at the speed of the internet, do them early, and then not have to miss anything because, say, they had a paper due the second week of the release, or they get swamped at work, or whatever.
If a player doesn’t have time to wander around and discover things organically, it’s very likely they’re just not going to discover them at all.
Yup, this is a solid argument and one that would probably be supported by many players- The issue of time to do things and ‘missing out’ on content is a valid one but it is something which the entire concept of a living story goes against. To attempt to try and create a living changing world by default means that some content is only going to be available for a pre-determined period – my point is why do we have to be informed about it beforehand? Make it available for longer and let players have the thrill of discovering it for themselves.
They did actually do this with the Kessex stuff. There weren’t notes, players found the new camp and the weird miasma in the lake, the chopped down trees, etc. I loved it!
However, I don’t think they should do a -complete- surprise out of the blue. At the very least they should let us know something’s happening on a particular day so people can plan to be in game. Patch day works for this, come to think of it. We know patches are coming. So they could do something big and unannounced on one of those days.
Which would hose me, since patches are Tuesdays and that’s the day I almost never can play, but would help all the people who make a point of playing when new builds are coming.
The trouble with putting resources into content, and then not advertising it, is that they’re not getting the same bang for their buck that they otherwise might. That’s great if you’re graffiti artist Banksy, but not so great if you’re an MMO company who wants to get players excited and playing your content.
Any content a player doesn’t see is content that, more or less, is not part of the game for them. The temporary nature of LS content is already limiting enough that I think it’s better for the game as a whole to encourage people to play and complete the LS content as much as possible. They don’t have to do everything, but I think it’s good for them to have the option of being aware of everything.
Edit: The build up to Tower of Nightmares was a great example. It was easy on required resources, they still advertised the release as it got closer, it made the world feel alive, and it didn’t hamper people’s ability to do the content once it rolled out.
Edit Edit: Come to think of it, didn’t Lost Shores roll with a “big surprise coming at this time, be there or miss out!” event with the attack on Lion’s Arch? That was a big surprise, but it was also a social and technical disaster as far as I’m aware.
~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~
(edited by Redenaz.8631)