Guild Wars 2

The Asura have been working on a beta time travel machine with the aim of allowing Tyrians to revisit and relive monumental moments in history. Now the Dragon Bash and Mad King are just a bizarre contraption away.

You get the point. This suggestion will allow new and old players alike to revisit and enjoy all the previous “temporary” content introduced to the game via “time travel” instances; complete those missed achievements, unlock those unique skins to complete their collection, and above all, increasingly more content to enjoy forever more. Let not that content be lost in history.

Bare in mind of course that it is only a beta time machine and will not take you back to the events exactly as they happened, nor to the same scale or magnitude – but rather a distorted reality where the events can be experienced to a lesser degree within smaller, concentrated instances. Here the story can still be told and all rewards and achievements obtainable.

This more or less already exists

Honestly, I think the time-sensitive nature of the living world is part of the appeal, immersion-wise. We can look back at things and say, “oh, do you remember that?”, which’d never be possible if the living story were just a personal story with extra missions continuously being added. The fact that some content is temporary encourages players considering trying out the game to buy sooner rather than later, and keeps veteran players continuously logging on. I like the idea of it. The execution, on the other hand, what with making the personal story make sense with it, communicating exactly what was happening, and balancing the in-game rewards with gem store items has been tricker than I’m sure was initially anticipated.

EDIT: By the way, if it’s a catch-up on the story that you’re after, then there’s a good one here, on the wiki. I’m currently trying to think of a way of making it somehow more prominent on the wiki, to make more people aware of its existence. Let us know if you have any ideas!

I think that making such content time limited is a horrible idea. There is currently nothing to do of importance in PvE and it could really use some living story reliving. It especially sucks when you’ve bought the game after it all happened and there is no way of living it ever. There is absolutely no appeal in it at all. Do you like picking up TV shows in the middle? I don’t. I’m pretty sure that what people think when seeing they’ve missed a bunch of really cool content they won’t ever be able to play isn’t “Oh shoot, I better start playing fast!”, but “Well, that sucks a LOT”. Starting off with a resentment toward a game isn’t a good thing.

It weighted against the game when I decided whether or not I should buy it, because who the hell likes to pick up a story in the middle? I don’t. When I play a game or a series of games, I start with the first one and play them in chronological order because THAT is how you get immersed. Are you saying that new players shouldn’t get the chance of getting as immersed in the universe as old players? Because that’s exactly how it is right now and you seem to think it’s a good idea. To make it so only a handful of players can go “Oh, do you remember that?” at the expense of all new players? It’s a horrible idea.

What I think Anet should do is put these reliving events on schedule and make them happen once or twice a year before new living story content comes out.

Welp, how about 2 things get fixed with one strike?
Remove the molten facility and aetherblade base from fractals and implement them back to the game as fully accessible dungeons.

Why is this fixing 2 problems?
Because Ellen Kiel (this traitor) has fooled us all with an void election promise. we did not got new fractal maps, but recycled Living world content instead. 4 maps (2 of which are boss maps) that are nothing “new”. Get rid of this joke and give us actual new maps. The thaumanova fractal was a good start, even if it is not really exiting as it is (arcade boss? seriously?)

The second solved problem would be accessibility of gw2 lore to new players which were not playing the living world content. Make the current new fractals into story-mode for a regular dungeon and extend them with additional paths for lvl 80 runs. In that way you could also add 2 new exotic weapon and armor skin-sets to the game. Add 2 new types of dungeon badges for obtaining the mentioned new skins and everybody will be happy. (And since an aetherblade dungeon would make bladeshards better accessible even new players could farm the backpack in a reasonable timeframe.)

An additional idea would be a “history mode”.
Give guilds the option to research items that would open the nightmare tower, the lions arch escape event (one version that requires to save civilians first and then goes to a final battle against the storm knights and Scarlets holograms), the marionette and also mega-events from future LS updates for all their members and every other participant joining in.
That would give guilds the awesome option to start PvE raids on a frekkin huge scale (seriously, dungeon-runs /fractals with max 5 players are nothing but boring for gw2 vets) and accomplish something together, while also keeping the previous season in the active memory of the community.

Kasima.8143:

I think that making such content time limited is a horrible idea. There is currently nothing to do of importance in PvE and it could really use some living story reliving. It especially sucks when you’ve bought the game after it all happened and there is no way of living it ever. There is absolutely no appeal in it at all. Do you like picking up TV shows in the middle? I don’t. I’m pretty sure that what people think when seeing they’ve missed a bunch of really cool content they won’t ever be able to play isn’t “Oh shoot, I better start playing fast!”, but “Well, that sucks a LOT”. Starting off with a resentment toward a game isn’t a good thing.

It weighted against the game when I decided whether or not I should buy it, because who the hell likes to pick up a story in the middle? I don’t. When I play a game or a series of games, I start with the first one and play them in chronological order because THAT is how you get immersed. Are you saying that new players shouldn’t get the chance of getting as immersed in the universe as old players? Because that’s exactly how it is right now and you seem to think it’s a good idea. To make it so only a handful of players can go “Oh, do you remember that?” at the expense of all new players? It’s a horrible idea.

What I think Anet should do is put these reliving events on schedule and make them happen once or twice a year before new living story content comes out.

Just one question: did you buy all the Guild Wars campaigns and expansions, before buying Guild Wars 2?

I think expecting GW2 to release all Living World content is a little like paying for cable TV, and expecting a show to start from the first episode on demand.

Tamias.7059:

Kasima.8143:

I think that making such content time limited is a horrible idea. There is currently nothing to do of importance in PvE and it could really use some living story reliving. It especially sucks when you’ve bought the game after it all happened and there is no way of living it ever. There is absolutely no appeal in it at all. Do you like picking up TV shows in the middle? I don’t. I’m pretty sure that what people think when seeing they’ve missed a bunch of really cool content they won’t ever be able to play isn’t “Oh shoot, I better start playing fast!”, but “Well, that sucks a LOT”. Starting off with a resentment toward a game isn’t a good thing.

It weighted against the game when I decided whether or not I should buy it, because who the hell likes to pick up a story in the middle? I don’t. When I play a game or a series of games, I start with the first one and play them in chronological order because THAT is how you get immersed. Are you saying that new players shouldn’t get the chance of getting as immersed in the universe as old players? Because that’s exactly how it is right now and you seem to think it’s a good idea. To make it so only a handful of players can go “Oh, do you remember that?” at the expense of all new players? It’s a horrible idea.

What I think Anet should do is put these reliving events on schedule and make them happen once or twice a year before new living story content comes out.

Just one question: did you buy all the Guild Wars campaigns and expansions, before buying Guild Wars 2?

What, are you going to say that my post is somewhat invalid if I tell you I didn’t? A reply like yours was so previsible that I actually called it the moment I clicked Reply on my previous post. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy#Perfect_solution_fallacy

Heraldusluminare.2946:

I think expecting GW2 to release all Living World content is a little like paying for cable TV, and expecting a show to start from the first episode on demand.

That’s why I don’t pay for cable and use Amazon and Netflix instead. There is absolutely no reason why GW2 can’t be like Amazon or Netflix with its content.

I verly much like Arantheal.7396’s suggestion above of making it a guild thing. It would give some purpose back to guilds that they lost with the megaservers.

Kasima.8143:

Tamias.7059:

Just one question: did you buy all the Guild Wars campaigns and expansions, before buying Guild Wars 2?

What, are you going to say that my post is somewhat invalid if I tell you I didn’t? A reply like yours was so previsible that I actually called it the moment I clicked Reply on my previous post. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy#Perfect_solution_fallacy

Well…

When I play a game or a series of games, I start with the first one and play them in chronological order because THAT is how you get immersed.

So…yes?

The Living World is just that: living. Stuff happens, and then it’s over. Do I wish more of that stuff would have a permanent impact on the world? Yes. Do I wish that I could go back and play through the events that caused those changes? Hell no! That’d just be another personal story. That, to me, is immersion-breaking, and destroys any appeal that a “Living World” would have in the first place.

So the problem is different people find different things immersive, so as a developer, going back to what you said about the nirvana fallacy, there’s no way you’re going to be able to please everyone. So you have to make a choice. That is the nature of all games.

By the sounds of it, you knew what Guild Wars 2 was before you purchased it, that is, a game with a Living World. So to me you have less of a claim to being aggrieved than those who bought it earlier, to whom it was not advertised as a Living World because that idea had not been yet thought up. You bought the game in spite of what you knew about the Living World (meaning that other aspects must have been weighted enough to tip you in favour), and then you come to the forums asking for that feature, which you had known about before purchasing, to be changed?

So yeah, you can’t play through the instances of the Living World season 1, any more than I can’t play through the Exodus of the Gods or the charr rebellion. But that, to me, makes it all the more immersive. There are plenty of story summaries and YouTube videos—it’s not like you’ll ever not know what happened.

Kasima.8143:

Heraldusluminare.2946:

I think expecting GW2 to release all Living World content is a little like paying for cable TV, and expecting a show to start from the first episode on demand.

That’s why I don’t pay for cable and use Amazon and Netflix instead. There is absolutely no reason why GW2 can’t be like Amazon or Netflix with its content.

I verly much like Arantheal.7396’s suggestion above of making it a guild thing. It would give some purpose back to guilds that they lost with the megaservers.

Amazon Prime and Netflix are both streaming services with monthly fees. Again, what you “want” from Guild Wars 2 seems to be antithetical to the fundamental principles behind the game’s design, so of course you’re going to be disappointed.

Stop pretending like what ANet is doing is the norm for MMOs. In most cases, new content in other MMOs remains in the game and can be played by future players or with alts etc.

Regardless if you enjoy it or not, the living story is very different in terms of implementation and personally I don’t see them ever doing something to replicate the original experience of these patches. I think they’ve stated in the past that it’s not what they wanted to do with it, and it seems to me like small additions to the fractals is pretty much what we’re going to get.

So… that special thing about GW2, namely that the world is constantly in flux and changing with time pertinent content you would like to change so that the world is always the same and nothing has a sense of urgency because those events would give you something to do because the 10 dungeons with 3 variations each, 50 levels of fractals with various hard modes, WvW maps, Edge of the Mists Maps, and SPvP not to mention a world that is consistently updating and changing isn’t enough content for you?

It would strike me the second they implemented the change you asking you would also demand a cherry on top and blame them for not having enough whip cream.

“So… that special thing about GW2, namely that the world is constantly in flux and changing with time pertinent content you would like to change so that the world is always the same and nothing has a sense of urgency because those events would give you something to do because the 10 dungeons with 3 variations each, 50 levels of fractals with various hard modes, WvW maps, Edge of the Mists Maps, and SPvP not to mention a world that is consistently updating and changing isn’t enough content for you?”

No, what I want is exactly as stated in the original post, a way to relive the story/content of the living world and acquire the achievements and skins I missed either because A) I’m a new player and those events happened before I started playing or I was around during those events but being a casual player did not have the time to accomplish it all on top of typical daily activities.

Making previous content accessible in a limited form does not mean the world does not continue to change. Core players will likely have already accomplished most of what those previous events had to offer and so they will always be seeking the next big thing.

To say that making previous living world events replayable would diminish the urgency of the present story is no different to saying the 10 dungeons with 3 variations each, 50 levels of fractals with various hard modes, WvW maps, Edge of the Mists Maps, and SPvP would diminish it – it is all simply alternative content to enjoy to keep you entertained.

I don’t believe Anet should purposefully reduce or control the amount of playable content in the game for the sake of making the available content more populated or urgent feeling, especially not with the megaserver implementation, as it would hardly be noticeable in most cases. The more content the better in my opinion, and since it has already been developed, why waste it.

Tamias.7059:

Do I wish that I could go back and play through the events that caused those changes? Hell no! That’d just be another personal story. That, to me, is immersion-breaking, and destroys any appeal that a “Living World” would have in the first place.

Well that’s easily fixed right? You wouldn’t have to replay it if you don’t want to. So what would it be to you to let those who want to replay it be able to do so, seriously? You’re just being anal about a concept that is just flawed and disadvantages every new player for absolutely no good reason other than… principle?

Tamias.7059:

So the problem is different people find different things immersive, so as a developer, going back to what you said about the nirvana fallacy, there’s no way you’re going to be able to please everyone. So you have to make a choice. That is the nature of all games.

This doesn’t go back to the nirvana fallacy. The nirvana fallacy doesn’t apply to what you say here. What applies here, is a false dilemma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma because you imply that it’s impossible to please both when it is. You wouldn’t have to replay the living content if that doesn’t please you and those who it would please would be able to do so. Please make better arguments than that. Your arguments have been empty so far.

Tamias.7059:

By the sounds of it, you knew what Guild Wars 2 was before you purchased it, that is, a game with a Living World. So to me you have less of a claim to being aggrieved than those who bought it earlier, to whom it was not advertised as a Living World because that idea had not been yet thought up. You bought the game in spite of what you knew about the Living World (meaning that other aspects must have been weighted enough to tip you in favour), and then you come to the forums asking for that feature, which you had known about before purchasing, to be changed?

Yeah? So what? How the hell is this relevant to whether or not letting people relive living story is a good idea? Nice argumentum ad hominem there. If you can’t argue with anything other than empty logical fallacies, please stop arguing. I’m not responding to you again it’s a stupid waste of my time.

I’d like to promote this Suggestion for a cohearant plan for reliving LS without too much trouble and still keeping most of it’s feature etc. etc. etc.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Suggestion-Yakkington-The-Historian/first#post3969176

Best thing about this update? Well, beside the fact that it will allow newcomers to get up to date with the story…
It will kitten off people like Tamia.
:D