Guild Wars 2

As game designers the universe is under your complete control, the sky can be purple and the trees can be made of gold. The only limitation is your imagination.

Then WHY is orr the most ugly area of the world? WHY is the only level 80 area in this world completely hideous?

I just don’t understand, ok so zhaitan is based around undead, and he rose Orr from the depths.. well why does it have to look like a wreck? A MAGICAL dragon MAGICALLY raised a MAGICAL city, and you assume it has to look like a toilet that hasn’t been flushed for 20 years.

Imagine Orr with beautiful temples of the gods, awe inspiring, that really do the gods justice and is exactly what you expect from from the old home of of Dwayna and pals. Imagine fighting your way up the stairs to Arah in an imense temple-like setting, with magic spewing from fantastic statues. Imagine doing plinx, where enemies spawn through magical rifts located in preserved ancient shrines and tombs.

I could go on rambling but the point is, the universe can be anything, and you make the only level 80 area look terrible because it fits the stereotype of undead better, I would prefer to spend my level 80 time in a beautiful ressurected Atlantis rather thank you very much.

I just hope you do not go down the same path for future level 80 explorables, I want to enjoy the environment, not “put up with it”.

:D

I’m tired of killing Risen all day, I wish they add a new lv 80 area without undead in the area.
It’s sad that the whole Orr has only 3 enemy types. I checked – Risen, elemental and ooze.

I actually love the design of Orr. I love that it looks like it’s been dredged up from the ocean and isn’t Orr in its prime. It has a much stronger resonance that way. Arah is a broken place, not an awesome place. Everything it was, has gone and that’s the way it should be.

Of course, the mobs wreck it. I can’t look at the areas I find appealing or tragic without spending twenty minutes clearing dozens of Risen in every direction.

You talk about things being preserved and resurrected, but that’s not the case. They were cursed with undeath and have been rotting underwater for centuries. Zhaitan isn’t a magical dragon in the shiny, arcane way. He’s a lich – an undead necromancer. You’re asking for Orr in it’s heyday, which just wouldn’t look right given the lore surround present day Orr.

But Orr isn’t the only 80 area. There’s also Frostgorge Sound, which has some beautiful scenery.

Zeus CM.1692:

I’m tired of killing Risen all day, I wish they add a new lv 80 area without undead in the area.
It’s sad that the whole Orr has only 3 enemy types. I checked – Risen, elemental and ooze.

Yeah, it’s not like they’ve already confirmed that content exactly as you described is on its way in less than a week.

Quaz.4931:

As game designers the universe is under your complete control, the sky can be purple and the trees can be made of gold. The only limitation is your imagination.

Then WHY is orr the most ugly area of the world? WHY is the only level 80 area in this world completely hideous?

I just don’t understand, ok so zhaitan is based around undead, and he rose Orr from the depths.. well why does it have to look like a wreck? A MAGICAL dragon MAGICALLY raised a MAGICAL city, and you assume it has to look like a toilet that hasn’t been flushed for 20 years.

Imagine Orr with beautiful temples of the gods, awe inspiring, that really do the gods justice and is exactly what you expect from from the old home of of Dwayna and pals. Imagine fighting your way up the stairs to Arah in an imense temple-like setting, with magic spewing from fantastic statues. Imagine doing plinx, where enemies spawn through magical rifts located in preserved ancient shrines and tombs.

I could go on rambling but the point is, the universe can be anything, and you make the only level 80 area look terrible because it fits the stereotype of undead better, I would prefer to spend my level 80 time in a beautiful ressurected Atlantis rather thank you very much.

I just hope you do not go down the same path for future level 80 explorables, I want to enjoy the environment, not “put up with it”.

:D

You have the most unrealistic veiw I have ever seen. Any area that is wrought by war and destruction is gonna look ugly so cry a river and biuld a bridge and get over it. Another thing try spending ages at the bottom of the sea and see how you will fair. There is nothing gonna spend ages at the bottom of the sea rise up and look marvelous as if the ocean didn’t touch it. It makes for an unrealistic, unbelievable story. And who are you to have the audacity to assume you are entitled to beauty. If an author of a book did just as you wanted I would be asking for my money back. Even a ship lying at the bottom of the sea will not come up looking pristine.. Sorry unbelievable and not happening.

@Safer I would have agreed with you a month ago, the first time I saw that giant lyssa temple in Malchors I certainly took a breath. But in terms of replayable areas, I would much prefer to be in Queensdale or Lonar’s Pass, the brown mud and corals are so dull after a while. Imagine running Ori through the volcano in Mt Maelstrom or through the Maguuma Jungle?

@Kana You are trapped in the stereotypes, who says a lich needs to be grimy and dirty? Why cant he be tidy and mystical? Who is to say the magic that sunk Orr didnt also preserve Orr? Maybe Zhaitan ripped Orr up to the surface removing the magical preserving barrier guessing some structural damage, but it is still a beautiful city? The only thing that says that is stereotypes, and that limits the potential of the universe if game designers stick to that.

Also I dont think Plinx hangs out in Frostgorge :P

@Elad, It’s fine to have your preferences, I am afterall just listing mine and hope I get some nicer lvl 80 areas to play in the future. But in a fantasy world, as long as the rules are explained properly, nothing is within the realms of unrealistic if you are creative enough.

I agree that Ruins of Orr are a bit dull and lack variety. The obscene amount of CC and super fast mob respawn times don’t help either.

Frostgorge is much better. I hope the next expansion takes us into Far Shiverpeaks to fight Jormag.

+1 too have other 80 zones with a more fantasy look since not all areas are affected by the war & Zhaitan, by fantasy I’m referring to something similar to the new Maelstrom jumping puzzle with the huge tree.

Okay, I already said this soo.. seriously, has NOBODY been anticipating the Lost Shores update? It’s EXACTLY what you’re asking for. -_-

@Aliette then this post shows that if Lost Shores will have a beautiful lvl 80 explorable, then it is something I approve of and encourage! It’s not out yet, so I cant judge it :P

@ Quaz The story of Orr says that it wasn’t preserved. The Charr invaded Orr and ruined the city in their attack. One of the Orrians used a forbidden scroll in an attempt to destroy the Charr army. He succeeded, but the explosion he created sank the city as well as killing the Charr.

The city was a wreck before any undead were even there. Rotting underwater just made it worse.

@Kana, well I could argue that as Zhaitan is a ressurector, he could have also ressurected Orr. Maybe making it similar to Orr in its prime, but the evidence of corruption. Pretty statues spewing oily muck, pulsating grime covering massive paintings. This is the kind of thought pattern I am on. In a fantasy world, don’t assume anything is out of bounds.

They will add more level 80 maps in future.
I heard something like that coming 15th Nov so no worries.
I’m sure there’ll be more in future updates and expansions.

Personally, the reason why I avoided Diablo 3 is for the same reason.
I don’t favor grinding in dull and run-down places.

I’ve no problem with the design. I love the design as a whole.
The environment psychologically made me feel down if I play in it too much.

Using magic as the reason for everything makes a game DULL! Using as much realism is perfect. I like Orr, it is a war torn location that spent years under water. An entire island sinking then being brought back up, you should be glad that what survived…survived at all.

I like fighting in Orr because it looks exactly like what is expected. If you want pretty and prestine, you don’t want a game with the word war in it. War destroys everything that is pretty. All high level zones involving the dragons should look corrupted, destroyed, consumed…the dragons are not magical and intelligent. They are regularly described as acts of nature, large beasts, destroyers of civilization. They build nothing, consume and destroy everything, their mere presence corrupts everything living or dead that is not strong enough to resist them.

- We have an undead dragon that raised an island and created an undead army, the land looks properly rotted without any life (notice the coral looks dead and there isn’t even grass).
- There is a rock dragon out there that brands things creating crystaline creatures. Expect the land to be turned into a giant crystal geode of a place.
- We have a dragon that creates frost and ice, this place will be snow covered and ice encased with enemies like Jormag’s claw that appear skeletal yet are made entirely of ice.
- there is even a 4th dragon out there that is plantlike in some form if you listen to some of the nightmare court chatter around the game, it would seem that if you put it all together that the nightmare is originating from a dragon. Should this be the case expect a twisted and darker version of sylvan lands…could be pretty-ish if you overlook the endless barbed wire looking thorns and corrupted light effects.
- let us not forget the dragon of the deep that is apparently fire/demonlike and sews chaos in this form (either this one or the crystaline one is responsible for the fact there are no longer any dwarves). I would expect this place to look like the inside of a volcano the size of colorado.

If you want endless pretty, Hello Kitty is available. This is a game about war and survival. Pretty should come in small doses and be precious, the majority of high level areas should show the battle scars of the various races fighting just to survive.

@Runiir that’s cool and all, but I am gonna start using other games as examples of war with fantastic scenery:
Halo
Assassin’s Creed
Final Fantasy
Call of Duty: World at War looks nicer than Orr (yes WWII, that big war thing that happened some time ago, THAT had nicer sceneries than this)
Skyrim

How aout I also drop in one of the most acclaimed fantasy triologies in book and movie history: Lord of the Rings

Arenanet aint gonna backdrop New Zealand for Orr, that’s for sure!

If you prefer to gritty muddy blown up areas to grind in for weeks on end, then that is your preference that is no problem. For me though, that scenery gets boring real quick, most effective when I don’t have to wait in those areas for too long.

Pretty doesnt mean lollipops and rainbows. Pretty means everything in the “Theme” of the area blends all together and compiled it is a beautiful scene. Which is what I think of orr, it is beautiful, in a dark way since its full of risen. Im sorry, but not all maps can be lollipops and rainbows for you, if you want that, go to brisban or caledon.

Quaz.4931:

How aout I also drop in one of the most acclaimed fantasy triologies in book and movie history: Lord of the Rings

Arenanet aint gonna backdrop New Zealand for Orr, that’s for sure!

Lord of the Rings has some beautiful scenery, just as GW2 has plenty of pretty lower level areas. But Orr is the equivalent of Mount Doom. Sauron is the “end boss” in his fortress zone filled with hordes of orcs and nothing but ash, smoke and lava in sight.

@Kana, they didn’t spend 2 hours a day for 3 weeks in mount doom, did they? Some of the fortresses where a lot of fighting took place were just stunning (fort trinity has nothing on them!) I wouldn’t mind doing plinx in front of them for a while!

@Teva I would go Brisban or Caledon in the drop of a hat, if they were level 80 areas with decent DEs

Which locations in those games are you talkign about? Orr is the heart of the war. For WWII, don’t think france (thate would be Sparkley Fen, which is pretty) and think more the bombed out and totally leveled Germany (which if you find that pretty you should love Orr as even in CoD it was an ugly mess).

Really? You are going to bring FF into this? Which one? The locations of full on war even in those games have always been ugly messes when you reached the heart of the war.

Orr is not the outskirts, it is the place that is bombed, wrecked, destroyed, leveled, burned, etc, etc.

If you want places like Queensdale, stay in Queensdale, you are not penalized for doing so other than you will only net lvl 80 drops 20% of the time or so. If you want to fight in the very heart of a war, expect it to be full of craters when you bring artillery into a game.

CoD…look at the foxhole fighting (ugly scenery, virtually all mud) or the invasion of Germany fighting (ruined burned out husks of buildings, smoked wreckage, and bomb craters everywhere). Neither were pretty.
Halo…again…for the firts one, try the last 3-5 level…flood everywhere, the land is messed up, craters dotted the landscape, the very air seemed to hint that the flood was near, none of it pretty.

If you are trying to pontificate about Orr and draw similarities with other games, than you must draw those similarities of when your character is in the thickest of the fighting, on the enemy’s doorstep, or in the locations of heavest bloodiest fighting. No matter the game, it is NEVER pretty.

Also, as has been said, go to Frostgorge if you want lvl 80 specific content that isn’t Orr. While it is not ALL pretty…it is a winter wonderland, most of it is pretty.

@ Quaz Frodo reached the Morgul Road on March 9 and the ring was destroyed on 25th of March 3019. So he spent the entire day and night in Mordor for 2 weeks.

As for the other fortresses, they aren’t equivalent to Orr (the main enemy’s heartland).

But there are similar areas in game already. The big hall in Hoelbrak looks like something the Rohirrim would approve of. Divinity’s Reach looks quite similar to Minas Tirith.

I actually like the occasional oily rainbow colors in Orr.
on the other hand, the general rugged scenery does get boring easily.
still, the Mordor around CoF appeals much much less to me.

However, I think everything should be left as it is, I bet there’s gonna be enough additional content for different looking, beautifully creative regions.

@Runiir, ok this sounds like fun ^^

Before I start though “If you want places like Queensdale, stay in Queensdale, you are not penalized for doing so other than you will only net lvl 80 drops 20% of the time or so” hahaha “you are not penalized, you are just penalized 80% of the time” c’mon man :P

I am going to struggle to remember/name the exact areas but here goes:
WaW: Pretty much all missions between Japan and America, you have palm trees, sea, sand and springfields. One mission starts in a swamp and then quickly transitions into a bomb site (kinda like going from Queensdale to Orr) which is very cool. Russia also had some nice sceneries, although a lot were in ruined cities – still the ruined cities looked better than Orr.

Final Fantasy: 8 – Late areas include 1: a highly advanced city (Esther) 2: A floating comet 3: A nightmare castle 4: A deep sea research facility (old and abandonned, still beter than Orr)
Final Fantasy 9: Using the portal in the Lifa tree, everywhere is weird but still looks very nice
Final Fantasy 10: Everywhere looks nice, inside Sin is a bit whackey but also incredibly epic (esp Jecht fight)

Halo: Last Mission of Halo 3? Snowy mountains, and grand control tower. Even more impressive when it all blows up at the end.

The point is, in these games there are also areas that look miserable and destroyed, but you dont spend forever in them. End areas should also look even more impressive whether you spend a lot of time in them or not (Story Mission Arah as an example of how NOT to do it → muddy caves and clouds yay!). And why people assume the longer you get into the game the worse it has to look is beyound me, Final Fantasy 7 for example starts in broken slum and the area around it is polluted (still looks better than Orr), then they get out and they explore the beauty of the world.

I like muddy bomb craters and smelly dead fish as much as the next guy, but not for long periods.

If there were more events in Frostgorge I would go there for sure, they did a good job with it, it also shows how you can mix beauty with destruction for a better effect. Dredgehaunt Mountain is also a very good example of mixing beauty with destruction. Arenanet already does it, I just want them to do it more! Specially for level 80 only areas.