Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone. In this thread I’d like to raise awareness of an issue that has plagued temporary content thus far, as well as discuss possible suggestions that could solve this issue. (If this is in the wrong sub-forum please transfer).

First of all, I’m going to list some of the crucial issues that many see when facing temporary content. Note ~ When I say “loot” I’m referring to exclusive items that can only be earned by participating in temporary content.

• New players to GW2 find themselves at a disadvantage. Having missed previous historical temporary content they will never have the opportunity to earn past achievements and loot.

• On the other end of the spectrum, veteran GW2 players who had the chance to play historical content and enjoyed it, will most likely want to play it again.

• The casual player often feels penalized for not completing temporary content before it’s time passes. They want to play at their own pace.

• Players generally feel pressured to drop what their doing to partake in temporary content, due to it’s temporary nature. I think I speak for all my friends when I say we dislike the constant “Play it while you can because it won’t be here for long” mentality.

• Players want to be able to experience all the content, earn all the achievements and find the rare loot, even if they can’t abide by ArenaNet’s temporary content release schedule.

Possible Solutions/Suggestions

• A “Storybook” feature(perhaps purchasable from a scribe/historian) . This would allow players to visit past content. (Apparently something like this exists in the original GW).

• Re-introduce the content on an anniversary date(annually?). This way the content is still “temporary”, but players can rest assured that even if they miss something, it will eventually return at a later date.

• Expansions. Allow players to purchase earlier content that they’ve missed.

Positives of Revisiting
Aside from the obvious- allowing players to do/earn things they’ve missed, I’d like to note a couple of additional positives to the suggestions listed above.

• By making temporary content repeatable players will not feel the need to speedrun the lovely content in order to earn all the achievements before the content is removed. Ideally players should be able to play at their own pace and not feel penalized for it later.

• Repeating temporary content could fill gaps while brand new content is being created.

I have read Colin’s latest articles where (to my understanding) he speaks about introducing more permanent content in addition to temporary content, possibly repeating some content(festivals), and seeing more permanent impacts occur as a result of the content.

I do agree that repeating festivity content and more permanent content would be beneficial. However what I would like to see is all past and future temporary/historical content either repeat or allow players to revisit them in some way. This way players may eventually return to experience the content and earn the achievements/loot they have missed, as well as possibly encounter new additions. I would love to see stories/events many of us have missed return.

SO,
What would you suggest to be done/implemented to mend these issues?
Is there anything I overlooked?
Is their anything you would like to add? Thanks for reading

I support this a million times over. I’m a more casual player, and it seems the pace of living story events has been coming out more and more quickly, and with balancing my job, my house chores, and taking care of my mate, I simply don’t have the time I want to devote to Guild Wars 2. And being a total completionist, to see these blank achievements sitting in my living story categories is driving me up the wall. There needs to be a way to revisit past temporary content.

I suspect things like Halloween, Christmas, and the Dragon Festival will be annual staples like they were in the original Guild Wars, but for events like Southsun Cove, Flame & Frost, and others like that, I think there needs to be some kind of way to replay them both for old players who either missed it or simply didn’t have time to complete it all, and for new players who never even had the chance.

This post basically nails the coffin related to the issues with the temp LSs. Cannot upvote enough.

This is what I got from the LS’s so far. ArenaNet, do you see a problem?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Living-World-The-Story-So-Far/first#post2461909

Zylonite.5913:

This post basically nails the coffin related to the issues with the temp LSs. Cannot upvote enough.

Felkes.2759:

I support this a million times over.

Thank you so much. I think this really is a viable issue and it needs more attention. Also Felkes, I find myself in a very similar position. I too am a pretty casual player but also a total completionist, suffering because I can’t always abide by ArenaNet’s silly content release schedule.

I agree completely.
I have more time on my hands than my boyfriend. He rarely plays at all any more. His exact quote?
“Why should I bother? As soon as I have the time to do any of this, it’s 2days before it’s over and it’s pointless.”
On my frustrated personal view:
I started playing about a week before the end of Flame & Frost. I was in a new Game, new Mechanics, new Everything. Noob. Totally.
How was I to know that the only way to get Sentinel’s Gear was to run Molten Facility 9k times for the Insignia/Inscription drops? There is no recipe for these. Only the items, and only attainable from this dungeon.
So what it’s turned into is those ‘Veteran’ Player’s now have cornered the market on these items. If you can find any they individually (for Exotic quality) run anywhere from 18-40g (sometimes more) for the Crafting Item. Actual Crafted Exotic Gear is even more insanely priced. At the last I looked, an entire set of this gear would’ve cost around 200g.
So this punishes me, a new player in three ways:
Those who came before me were able to acquire the loot.
Those who have the loot are exploiting the fact that it is in no way any longer attainable, and driving the cost to ridiculous amounts.
Stacking the deck against me by giving others means of profiting not just from sales that are just not available to me but also from gear stats that I simply cannot afford to buy. As a Guardian, this does actually apply to me. -Not items I was too lazy to farm, Unskilled enough to get, Decided I wasn’t interested in participating in ‘X’ to receive as reward- etc… But that are simply no longer available in the game to get. That isn’t based on savvy or skill. That’s an unfair advantage due to … I couldn’t afford the game a month sooner?
Also, will this end up the same with the Crystal?
I have the Gift of Quartz, currently there are oodles of Quartz on the market, due to farming nodes in the LabCliffs and the Kite Baskets.
What about after the LS is concluded? What about those who either A) were unable to get the Meta for the Gift – or begin playing after the LS Event is over?
Sure, there will be Crystal on the market for a while… As the number of them dwindles, and the players who have Gifts only receive 3 a day… What will happen to the cost of Crystal at that point? Will we then become as those with the Sentinel’s Items are now?
I know I don’t want to be like one of them. There is no real way to prevent it now, is there.
You say “But you can not gouge for those items on the TP!”
Yes, but you’re still Flawed. Taking a bakitten Murphy’s Law of Averages and Statitics, I’m gonna go w the figure of 80-90% of any Crystal I’d choose to post on the TP for an insanely low cost (as opposed to the insanely price gouging costs) would not be picked up by some poor Noob player, or one who just simply started after the Bot4W LS Event… But by some other Player who will then re-post with their insanely price gouging cost. And don’t think for a second that’s in any way inaccurate.
You can say “Then just don’t sell them on the TP at all!”
Again, that’s defeating the purpose of economy, supply and demand, and being a decent human being.
If i just vendored those Crystals… How is that in any way providing them to those who weren’t here to get the Gift, or Baskets, or LS? It’s simply acting as if I myself didn’t have it. The few silvers it netted me could be had by vendoring trash from a days killing.
So- There is a problem with non-repeatable content specific items, and the inability to revisit expired content.
Will anything be done about it?
I hope so.
But I’ll look like Quaggan if I hold my breath waiting for it.
Edit:
It just hit me…
The Quartz, and the Celestial Recipes… are limited to this LS. The Charged Crystals, and the actual gear the recipes make are Account Bound.
If new Players come in after this LS event, this Celestial Gear will be entirely Unavailable to them. Period. There wont even be a gouged market. I can sell my Crystal to them… But unless there are Gouged Recipes still floating on the market (that will run out) the average New Player will just Never be able to have Celestial Gear.
And any argument of “Celestial Gear Sucks” is Invalid. It has it’s uses, and whether it’s useful to you or not in no way exonerates it from the massively heinous Oops scenario the LS and un-replayable content has brought us.

Agreed, Agreed and Agreed.

This is the reason why I’m losing interest very fast in GW2. It’s full of temporary content and I don’t like feeling forced to do certain tasks in a limited time. I like to take my pace in a game where I’m supposed to RELAX AND HAVE FUN.

Sometimes I may not be immediately interested in the living story and want to save it for later, with the way ANet works I’m always on my toes and it’s no fun at all. New content may feel “fresh” but to me it also leaves an unforgettable stench.

Fractal was good content, people still love it to this day and it’s still a populated activity.

I know that now I’m gonna bring up GW1 again and things at ANet have changed a lot.

When Grenth’s Footprint and Sorrow’s Furnace were introduced it was permanent content. – Still there to this day.

The Mini Stories for GW like War in Kryta, Hearts of the North, Winds of Change etc. – Still there to this day.

When Nightfall was released they added Domain of Anguish – Still there to this day.

All the work ANet made was almost all permanent on GW1. GW2 could have been so much better if they followed the same formula. The Flame & Frost dungeon was good and with more “Paths” it would add some more variety in the game, The Aetherblade dungeon was also good.

All we got in the end is a forsaken jumping puzzle that’s not worth doing anymore.