Guild Wars 2

All complaints or compliments regarding gameplay, bugs, and services aside, I’d just like to give props to Anet for the story they’re bringing to Tyria.

I don’t really like Scarlet, but only because I find her obnoxious. It’s probably a good thing I don’t relate with a supervillain. That being said, I love the entire Living Story arc thus far. It’s so refreshing to play a well-crafted MMO with multiple running storylines occuring in different areas to different people, all of which have a permanent and recognizable impact on the game world. I think the destruction of a major hub is a bold move and totally in line with the behavior of a psycopathic magical terrorist. I also cannot WAIT to see if my prediction regarding what lies beneath Lion’s Arch is correct. I understand that not everyone goes for this sort of thing, but Anet has stated clearly many times that they want a world with real permanence where cooperation is encouraged, and story has been a top priority since GW1. I applaud the work they’re doing.

This lies beneath lion’s arch.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Beneath_Lion's_Arch

I hope they do keep it in mind moving forward

I had a lot to say. I’ll condense it.

The game, indeed, was “well crafted” but their insistence on merely overlaying new over old without integration is not well crafted. Destroying and retconning their own lore is not well crafted. Destroying areas of the game in a futile attempt to make a laughable villain somehow believable is not “well crafted”.

Enlighten me about what part of temporary content is permanent? And High Fantasy? This story is more Mel Brooks except they weren’t trying to be campy or funny.. it is a bad parody of High Fantasy, worse since it was unintended.

Saint.5647:

This lies beneath lion’s arch.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Beneath_Lion's_Arch

I hope they do keep it in mind moving forward

IIRC, that was a bit northeast from old Lions Arch, whereas the drill (breachmaker) is currently over the ruins of old LA.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

I had a lot to say. I’ll condense it.

The game, indeed, was “well crafted” but their insistence on merely overlaying new over old without integration is not well crafted.

Guess I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Existing characters are integrated, existing races/armies are integrated and ultimately changed, nothing breaks canon in any significant way that I’ve noticed. Are you saying you want concurrent stories instead of progressing chronologically?

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Destroying and retconning their own lore is not well crafted. Destroying areas of the game in a futile attempt to make a laughable villain somehow believable is not “well crafted”.

I guess I wouldn’t call Scarlet ‘laughable,’ though I do dislike her. Villain aside, as I said, acts of terrorism are right in line with her character, and I don’t believe Lion’s Arch was destroyed for any reason other than for the sake of the story they are telling. It is a central conflict. It is the low point before ultimate victory, where all seems hopeless.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Enlighten me about what part of temporary content is permanent?

Temporary content isn’t permanent. That’s what temporary means. Consider yourself enlightened.

Lost Shores brought us a permanent new zone with new characters, enemies, events, etc, not to mention Fractals. Flame & Frost gave us permanent characters and story progression and uprooted entire communities, driving them to Southsun. Sky Pirates of Tyria killed a council member, added a new area to Gendarran Fields, and ultimately led to the running and election of Ellen Kiel (Should’ve been Evon!). Queen’s Jubilee revealed Scarlet and upshifted the whole shebang, as well as introducing the watchwork knights and twisted watchwork. Tower of Nightmares completely decimated Kessex hills and continues to do so. Origins of Madness introduced a new epic group event fighting a giant three-headed wurm in Bloodtide Coast. Edge of the Mists uncovered a whole new realm hidden within the mists. And now Lion’s Arch is gone, and I will be truly surprised if Anet just brings it back after a few months. There is plenty of permanence in the game, and I think this is the pièce de résistance.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

And High Fantasy? This story is more Mel Brooks except they weren’t trying to be campy or funny.. it is a bad parody of High Fantasy, worse since it was unintended.

High Fantasy means the subject in question is set in an alternate, fictional world and displays ‘epic’ qualities of character, theme, and plot. Wikipedia, son.

Epic is in the eye of the beholder, I’ll grant you that. You certainly don’t have to like the story. But between city-sized dragons, racial conflict, a team of magical uber-warriors, armies joining forces to lay waste to the world, travelling between dimensions, flying pirate assassins, battles between armies of hundreds of players, and now the siege and demolition of a major city, I’d say GW2 has ‘epic’ covered.

And I would disagree vehemently. I am 57, female, and don’t call me “son”.

I’ve read “High Fantasy” most of my life. This story isn’t, not by a long shot. It is a poorly done episodic childrens story in a “High Fantasy” setting.

Wiki also lists examples of “High Fantasy” along with the simplistic definition. “The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Wheel of Time” Having read them all, I see nothing in the LS story remotely resembling good story or what I would consider “High Fantasy”, much less “At its finest”.

Epic. No, just no. I’m fully aware of the laundry list of barely palatable tripe that you trotted out, and Epic isn’t a term I would use for this, save in combination with “failure”.

Have a nice day.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

And I would disagree vehemently. I am 57, female, and don’t call me “son”.

I’ve read “High Fantasy” most of my life. This story isn’t, not by a long shot. It is a poorly done episodic childrens story in a “High Fantasy” setting.

Wiki also lists examples of “High Fantasy” along with the simplistic definition. “The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Wheel of Time” Having read them all, I see nothing in the LS story remotely resembling good story or what I would consider “High Fantasy”, much less “At its finest”.

Epic. No, just no. I’m fully aware of the laundry list of barely palatable tripe that you trotted out, and Epic isn’t a term I would use for this, save in combination with “failure”.

Have a nice day.

Expecting the LS content to rival or be better than a list of what is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the Fantasy genre is more than a little naive. If you would like to overwhelmed by the writing, back story, and plot points, might I recommend reading a book?

Berethor.6142:

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

And I would disagree vehemently. I am 57, female, and don’t call me “son”.

I’ve read “High Fantasy” most of my life. This story isn’t, not by a long shot. It is a poorly done episodic childrens story in a “High Fantasy” setting.

Wiki also lists examples of “High Fantasy” along with the simplistic definition. “The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Wheel of Time” Having read them all, I see nothing in the LS story remotely resembling good story or what I would consider “High Fantasy”, much less “At its finest”.

Epic. No, just no. I’m fully aware of the laundry list of barely palatable tripe that you trotted out, and Epic isn’t a term I would use for this, save in combination with “failure”.

Have a nice day.

Expecting the LS content to rival or be better than a list of what is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the Fantasy genre is more than a little naive. If you would like to overwhelmed by the writing, back story, and plot points, might I recommend reading a book?

I’m not the one stating this LS is “High Fantasy at its Finest”, am I? Guess you missed that, it is the topic title.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

And I would disagree vehemently. I am 57, female, and don’t call me “son”.

I’ve read “High Fantasy” most of my life. This story isn’t, not by a long shot. It is a poorly done episodic childrens story in a “High Fantasy” setting.

Wiki also lists examples of “High Fantasy” along with the simplistic definition. “The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Wheel of Time” Having read them all, I see nothing in the LS story remotely resembling good story or what I would consider “High Fantasy”, much less “At its finest”.

Epic. No, just no. I’m fully aware of the laundry list of barely palatable tripe that you trotted out, and Epic isn’t a term I would use for this, save in combination with “failure”.

Have a nice day.

Seriously?

Books and games are far apart from each other. Don’t compare a book to a game. Compare a game to a game.

And just because you dont like it doesn’t mean its bad, any more than if someone else likes it means its good.

Here’s a bit of info for you: a lot of people are loving it. You don’t. So, what makes your OPINION that it sucks more valid than all those that are loving it?

Don’t confuse your OPINION with FACT. They are not the same thing.

HyruleanHyroe.1473:

All complaints or compliments regarding gameplay, bugs, and services aside, I’d just like to give props to Anet for the story they’re bringing to Tyria.

I don’t really like Scarlet, but only because I find her obnoxious. It’s probably a good thing I don’t relate with a supervillain. That being said, I love the entire Living Story arc thus far. It’s so refreshing to play a well-crafted MMO with multiple running storylines occuring in different areas to different people, all of which have a permanent and recognizable impact on the game world. I think the destruction of a major hub is a bold move and totally in line with the behavior of a psycopathic magical terrorist. I also cannot WAIT to see if my prediction regarding what lies beneath Lion’s Arch is correct. I understand that not everyone goes for this sort of thing, but Anet has stated clearly many times that they want a world with real permanence where cooperation is encouraged, and story has been a top priority since GW1. I applaud the work they’re doing.

Today I participated in my first Living Story events after the Flame and Frost ‘pick up the refugees and fix the signs’ event. I’m not sure what happened between then and now but I started off with a bafflingly minor ‘living story’ and am ending with a bafflingly major zerg.

I’m not a fan of zergs, primarily because I find it very difficult to believe that even meagre playtesting somehow missed that it is bad design. Zerg-like content has its purposes, don’t get me wrong, and in this instance there is a very real need for zerg-like content to really emphasise just what is going on here. But zerg-like is not a zerg.

A zerg has no room for finesse by design (or lack thereof), whereas zerg-like content has room for finesse. There could have been more, smaller events, or LA itself could have been set up so that only groups of 20 or so, randomly assigned or otherwise, were let into the besieged city with NPCs acting as meaningful filler.

There are ways to design better content, from the first bit of the Living Story to this last bit, and from what I’d experienced at the beginning and the end it just wasn’t done. With all of the problems Guild Wars 2 has, especially the long-standing problems, it’s very difficult to see ArenaNet doing something real to address various development concerns and move forward in a positive direction. The only positive thing that I can say is that at least they are not charging a subscription fee while they (hopefully) figure things out.

I don’t know, I really don’t…I came back after a little over a year and found things in basically the same state, with all of the same old problems. It’s not exactly easy to want to continue to play.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Berethor.6142:

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

And I would disagree vehemently. I am 57, female, and don’t call me “son”.

I’ve read “High Fantasy” most of my life. This story isn’t, not by a long shot. It is a poorly done episodic childrens story in a “High Fantasy” setting.

Wiki also lists examples of “High Fantasy” along with the simplistic definition. “The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Wheel of Time” Having read them all, I see nothing in the LS story remotely resembling good story or what I would consider “High Fantasy”, much less “At its finest”.

Epic. No, just no. I’m fully aware of the laundry list of barely palatable tripe that you trotted out, and Epic isn’t a term I would use for this, save in combination with “failure”.

Have a nice day.

Expecting the LS content to rival or be better than a list of what is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the Fantasy genre is more than a little naive. If you would like to overwhelmed by the writing, back story, and plot points, might I recommend reading a book?

I’m not the one stating this LS is “High Fantasy at its Finest”, am I? Guess you missed that, it is the topic title.

No, you’re the one saying the game is not high fantasy because it can’t hold its own in a literary contest with LOTR, SOT, or WOT.

High fantasy: (also referred to as epic fantasy) is a sub-genre of fantasy fiction, defined either by its setting in an imaginary world or by the epic stature of its characters, themes and plot.

Nowhere in that definition do the words, “It must be as good as (insert work of fantasy fiction here)” appear, in fact the only qualifications to be considered are :

1) set in an imaginary world – well Tyria doesn’t actually exist so CHECK
2)Epic stature of Characters: – well they have Dragons larger than buildings,they also have characters that considered to be the heros of their entire race in the war against the dragons CHECK.
3)Epic Theme: – The current theme is destroying an entire city by way of airborne invasion by a magically augmented combination of three different hostile races CHECK.
4)Epic Plot: -Current plot point being developed is the world’s biggest bad guy is destroying what is basically the effective capitol of Tyria CHECK.

So TL : DR what we have is a 4 point check list of what it takes to qualify as “High Fantasy” as it is currently defined and GW2 hits all 4, that makes it High Fantasy.

Now whether you feel it is good or bad High Fantasy, that is entirely up to you and your personal preference. No one is saying that GW2 is the literary equivalent of LOTR, mainly because it’s not. However, that does not effect what genre it belongs in.