Guild Wars 2

I have really enjoyed current living story so I hate to be pessimistic about it. Quality of LS2 is way above LS1 for both content and story, but I find it hard to believe that ANet can keep this up. At the moment it seems that ANet is using old resources from original development of the game:

1. First maps of Tyria at novels Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny included square markers on map for Ascalon Catacombs, Flame Citadel, Crucible of Eternity, Arah, Ruins of Denravi and Bloodstone Fen.
2. Brisban Wildlands bottom left corner (now Tangle Root) has always been somewhat designed, northern tower has always been visible on the map.
3. LS2 story is heavily tied to ”old” Guild Wars lore, unlike LS 1 that always brought something new and unheard. From the trailer for Dragon’s Reach part 1 it seems that we will have connections beyond trivial Maguuma lore.

Seems that ANet has always had plans for Maguuma Jungle/Wastes areas, but those were cut for launch from the game during original game development. So much of the lore for Maguuma has already been designed and they are just now using it.

What I find most interesting is fate of Magdaer. It has been lore mystery, that might have been explained in cut dungeons Ruins of Denravi or Bloodstone Fen and might have been more convincing way to develop relation between Logan and Rytlock than ”we’ve been talking”. Now that we are going for Maguuma it seems somewhat logical that we are seeing story related to it.

So I hope that they can keep this quality up, but I won’t be holding my breath just yet.

To answer the question in the title:

Because LS1 was a test. They were experimenting on stuffs that had not been done before, and as such they didn’t have a clear line about where to go.
They got loads of feedback during that time and as such they could change stuff to work better with the player-base.

As for the post: The lore of most things in the game was probably decided upon more or less before release or soon after.
But having lore for something doesn’t really mean much, seeing as writing lore most likely take way less time than building a map. Or programming a new kind of fight. Or creating new mobs or events.

I find it rather unlikely that they had plans for adding most of Maguuma as early as release. Since that would basically mean that most of Tyria would be available right at the start, with very little to expand and build upon.

1.)
I don’t really see your point. You mean, the appearance of the Bloodstone Fen implies an addition to the accessible Maguuma areas?

2.)
Possible – now that there’s an additional area (Tangle Root) I really can’t remember how that area looks before. I only went there because of map completion and I can’t remember if that valley to the new camp was always there or if there was some path block or anything.
But general, I guess that there are a LOT of those already designed areas ingame where Anet could easily add a new area / a gate to a new region.
I don’t think that they get problems (in near future) with no space… so many “portal dummies” are already there.

3.)
You’re right, and there is many many lore left that they ckittene in the future.

In general, I’m enjoying LS2 much more than LS1, too. Of course it could be just some sort of lucky start, but I really hope/believe that they already planned the whole season 2 and that all episodes are somewhat similar in regard to story and gameplay.

How do we, as human beings, get good? We practice.

LS2 is good, but at the cost of messing up the PS flow. So far LA is rubble and now Concordia is splintered wood. So unless you played from launch you will never be able to play the PS “as intended” dew to the, or what at this point seems to be, mishmash of overlapping story’s in the open world. ANet have already said they don’t know how to “fix” it so you done lose the feel of the story. But as it stands now if your not playing LS2, things are going to look really odd.

I think the personal story “this area doesn’t make sense” issue isn’t actually as big a deal as it could be. Anyone starting understands that they are coming in a long time after launch, and any confusion can easily be cleared up via wiki or map chat. So for most people it would probably be an “oh, ok, I guess I’ll find out more about that later” and then move on. If I were actually new, I’d be more excited to know that things can actually change within the game.

^This. Although a few ambiances might seem slightly off, new people won’t be saying, ‘Oh, how I miss the old Lion’s Arch, Concordia, etc.‘, because they can’t miss what they have never seen (in-game, anyway).

It’s not like there aren’t any areas in the game where some oddities occur, whether said area has been touched by the Living Story or not.

Remember, one of the big sells for this game currently is the Living World. So, I would think that is what new people come in expecting: Change. A game world that changes.