Guild Wars 2

Hi, I have as most of you spent the past months in the world of Tyria, and I do have to admit Guild Wars 2 is a great game. Many of ArenaNet’s changes to the generic MMORPG genre is for the most part pleasing. However! In my opinion ArenaNet have fallen prey to one major mistake. Their use of music. The problem is not with the songs, for they are in fact very well done.

Let’s take World of Warcraft as an example. When you enter a tavern, town, village swap, jungle or snowy peak in World of Warcraft it truly delivers a feel and really merges the player into the world, and you’re left with nostalgic feelings afterwards. After playing Guild Wars 2 I was tremendously disappointed with the way ArenaNet approached the use of music.

For instance, while playing Guild Wars 2 you will be listening to the same exact track regardless of your position. Weather you’re on a snowy mountain top, at the bottom of the ocean or in an epic story-quest the music stays the same! Now, I didn’t really pay too much attention to this in previous adventure games but you truly notice when it’s lacking. Music is all about playing on the listeners’ feelings, and is a major part of a game. It’s really hard to make the player feel like your in Tyria without proper music to set the mood.

It’s a shame, being that Guild Wars do have beautiful music. And again, it’s very hard to merge into the environment when the music is absent and doesn’t set any “mood”. So, ArenaNet, this truly is a cry for help. Please add different tracks for different regions and large scale battles (story quests) because even though the standard “adventure theme” is catchy as it is. You WILL get annoyed after 120 hours of ArenaNet trying to nail it through your skull.

Hmm, everytime I am in Kryta I constantly hear Pre-Searing music from GW1, which gives me a lot of Nostalgia for human stater area. The same for the Shiverpeaks, I always hear the music of the Shiverpeaks from the previous game, as well as new stuff that speaks to the Norn as a people. I do not honestly know what you are hearing.

Well, for some reason I find the background music tremendously anonymous. It puts me in no real mood and only feels like some elevator music, put there because well, they can… No offence

I have to agree with OP.
Yes, every region in game has specific music for it…but it doesn’t change. Shiverpeaks have a few repeatable tracks, some are even from GW1…though it hardly ever changes. You enter combat, the music switches to combat and afterwards it’s back to the same track over and over again…yes, it does get a little boring. Though I have to admit that out of all areas, I love the music in Shiverpeaks, since it’s nice and serene.
Also in Queensdale…I only hear Queensdale official music and sometimes Pre-Searing music, but to be honest, Pre-Searing music is getting on my nerves after spending soooo much time in it…
I bought the Official Soundtrack and I have to say that it has amazing tracks! Yet more than half of them aren’t implemented in the game!
I was expecting if you like enter a certain jumping puzzle that the music changes…in personal story too…whether it’s dynamic or not, it doesn’t change…sometimes you just hear ambient music playing on and on and on…
I like the fact that when I enter the swamp areas, the music changes there…to a more depressing theme, and I give a big plus to that…and I can freely say that it’s one of my favourite tunes in GW2, as well as Ascalonian night music with the wonderful chorus…it reminds me of something out of LotR.
Speaking of Ascalonian music…I can’t stand it. During daytime in Ascalon, the music is too heroic, too cheerful, too annoying (In my opinion)…Considering the fact what happened there, it should not be so heroic! When I go there with my human, I just feel like crying outloud. The theme for this region should be something more mysterious, something which would give you goosebumps, since it ’’breathes’’ with history! I understand that the Charr have claimed it, but hearing the heroic theme constantly really annoys me greatly…I thought I would be spending a lot of time in Ascalon, but this just puts me off…that is why I prefer to play without music there…it’s so much better.
What I also find ridiculous is the fact that Maguuma Jungle music plays when I am in Divinity’s Reach…(Asura theme too)…it just loses the nostalgic feeling…and areas lose their uniqueness.
Anyhow, the music in game is wonderful, there’s a lot of tracks that still need to be added and I sincerely hope that ANet considers this in the future. The game itself is MAGNIFICENT! Adding more variety to music would certainly improve the feeling while playing!

Just a fyi: you can change the ingame music and theres a thread somewhere in the music thread.

Audio thread* and here it is https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/audio/A-guide-to-custom-playlists (Not an edit btw :P)

I have to change my statement on this matter. Although I stick with what I have said about the GW1 music and where it was implemented, I have started to notice some things myself that seems really out of place. A few weeks ago me and some friends were playing Twilight Arbor and during a cinematic with Faolain the game started playing some Rata Sum/Metrica Province technological music. I thought this weird but shrugged it off. Later I was in the Dragonbrand showing a friend the Shatterer for the first time (for him) and while we were romping about waiting for the Shatterer to arrive the game started playing Logan’s Journey (Divinity’s Reach music) in the middle of the Dragonbrand. Now I could understand Logan’s Journey within the open air environment, has an adventuring style sound to it, but it definitely doesn’t have the feel of what the Dragonbrand represents. So yes, I do agree with the OP that some things do need to be tweaked in order to give areas the level of nostalgia that they deserve. I will never forget the Pre-Searing, Kryta, Shiverpeaks, or Crystal Desert in GW1 because of how their distinct soundtracks effected me, and GW2 territorties should be the same way.

Yea the music was a major disappointment for me. The songs were well done but just don’t have enough energy. I like music that when you are in a spooky place it makes you freaked out even from the other side of the screen, when you in a battle your blood boils to pounding drums. The songs suit many situtations in game but just don’t cut it for the intense bits. I know that they play different tracks for different maps but frankly after the first map I felt like I had heard them all, which is sad. yea great songs just not enough variety or energy

Agreed, needs better suiting music. Skyrim’s was top-notch; look at them for inspiration.

I would like to post that Skyrim’s and Guild Wars 2’s music were both produced by Jeremy Soule.