Guild Wars 2

Note also the font in which ‘Dry Top’ appears, which indicates it is only a region name, not a map name.

I suspect we’ll pursue the MoP through at least one map, and possibly multiple – remember the other gates in Brisbane.

There are also a number of hints from the people in the village about making shipments of copper to people further on (who I assume are bandits given the presence of Riot Alice who was a bandit in the original personal story).

During the CDI for LW we had nice proposals to unfold/unlock a map step by step. Maybe the devs took this concept and unlock more parts of the zone as the story leads us to them. There are strong hints for tis theory like the picture in this thread or the pictures of an area with Centaurs and their architecture. July 15th could give us the answer.

Naevius.3185:

Note also the font in which ‘Dry Top’ appears, which indicates it is only a region name, not a map name.

I suspect we’ll pursue the MoP through at least one map, and possibly multiple – remember the other gates in Brisbane.

You’ll notice that the name of the map does not show up when you discover a vista.

So yeah the name of the map has to be revealed. I bet the name will be spoilerific.

lordkrall.7241:

Did you expect them to release all of Maguuma at once?

Never underestimate what some of the players in this game expect…..it provides endless entertainment and disgust all at once.

OP is right to be mad, the whole “content” can be completed in 1h by playing ’casually" at best.

OH ya, but we get a few more jumping puzzles to compensate!

Any chef prefers to make food for a connoisseur over a glutton.

There isn’t enough content for you, because of you, not because of the developers. If they had added double the content you would have still blown through it as quickly as possible and been just as unsatisfied. And because of that, the developers aren’t designing the content with your demographic in mind, but for the (much larger and more contributive) demographics that can actually be pleased.

If you finished the story, then you know that the next installment will open up new territory.

It’s good that Anet is releasing the content in small pieces, it keeps the content locusts under control.

Finally, to the person that says the defenders of this policy are braindead, you’re offensive and frankly I don’t think your comments should be allowed on this forum. If you can’t refrain from name calling, please just shut up.

TurtleofPower.5641:

Considering how last season ended I’m going to say that there’s no way this is the only new area. Also notice that they’re selling the LS for gems, so how can they do that if it’s just a tiny bit of content? It’s definitely going to have big stuff in it.

What you get for the gems is the Story instances and then the Achievements. The area is available whether you pay or not.

dargosian.2704:

Ok I Did It.2854:

So the size of the new zone makes sense

What’s been added in this update isn’t a new zone. It’s a small area called Prospect Valley, which is part of the yet-to-be-fully-revealed zone Dry Top. It’s similar to the difference between the Thaumanova area and Metrica Province: it’s only a small chunk of the whole map.

Just clarifying for people who are confused. Nearly all zones (disregarding capital cities) in GW2 have been rectangles – fairly large ones, at that – and I’m expecting Dry Top to be the same in due time.

This is my thought as well. it’s an interesting area, but still feels a bit cramped. A lot of stuff going on in one area and ANet is trying to utilise as much of it as possible. Open areas with little to nothing in them aren’t all that bad if only since they add to a sense of scale.

Laylie.5703:

CharrGirl.7896:

Laylie.5703:

Kain Francois.4328:

You people rush your content too much. It’s like complaining that you beat a Sonic game in one day.

It took 3 hours to get 95% of the AP that is not rushing content at all. This was the most pathetic Living Story and for it being the start of Season 2 its hilarious. GG wait 2 weeks relog.

I think you’re in the minority with that opinion.

Don’t get me wrong the zone is awesome and I love it but the little amount of stuff you can truly do there that you can’t do elsewhere for either more money or more enjoyment is quite sad. And 3 hours for content that is supposed to last 2 weeks especially it being the first of Season 2 is down right pathetic like I said. I am not in the minority go look at reddit or other forums people are raging at the lack of content.

Seems someone doesn’t remember the start of Season 1. Well probably start gaining momentum as the Season progresses.

Laylie.5703:

Except that having content so hyped and having it last for less then a day when no patch or update for two weeks.

Yes after all that hyping… no wait ANet literally released 1 teaser and 1 trailer.

Belenwyn.8674:

During the CDI for LW we had nice proposals to unfold/unlock a map step by step.

Good to know we’re being listened to.

Dry Top it seems, like in GW1 is a small area that connects Tangle Root with the rest of the Maguuma. Technically it should be just the beginning, and I hope to explore the whole thing by the end of season 2.

Laylie.5703:

Previous LS have lasted 4-5 days all the way to the full 2 weeks with content

No they didn’t. They just had achievements and rewards that took 4-5 days to farm. Most releases had one small instance and a lot of open world farming of zerg beatdowns. This one has several connected story instances, unique achievements for each, and the same amount of scavenger hunting and special widget grinding as any other release. The difference is that it isn’t time gated, and doesn’t expect you to grind out achievements for a meta reward, both things that the player base asked for specifically.

You have to keep in mind that a lot of exploration there is not only horizontal, but also vertical. There’s really a lot of content in this small map, more than in other zones of this size I believe.

Laylie.5703:

Kain Francois.4328:

You people rush your content too much. It’s like complaining that you beat a Sonic game in one day.

It took 3 hours to get 95% of the AP that is not rushing content at all.

i have played around and didn’t even unlock any of the achievement, you’re clearly rushing to get AP’s.

sorudo.9054:

i have played around and didn’t even unlock any of the achievement, you’re clearly rushing to get AP’s.

You complete the story to unlock the achievements for the story. I think the zone achievements were open since the beginning?

Obviously, everyones’ mileage about “casual play” may vary but honestly, I didn’t really need to go out of my way to get them. At least if we compare to previous LW releases.

we got dry top…..

next stop is wet bottom…….

Will they leave in this season’s story line embedded into the new areas or remove the playable story at the end like Season 1? (which would be a mistake imo)

In GW1 you had to complete a part of the story in order to progress to the next area giving a goal for friends to focus and come together to complete the mission to get there. It seems like Anet put themselves into a position to do this and I for one hope they do.

Imho they should restrict all upcoming area/zone’s portals from this point on until the player has completed each previous area’s story line as a prerequisite. We should advance through and with the new territories rather than “running” them like rabid dogs shredding all content in our path, only to look at the story line as a side note.

I think it’s obvious we are going to get more maplets released throughout the season. But, it’s a valid complaint that this maplet is frustrating, because the way all the original maps worked so well compared to this. One of the reasons that there are a lot of us still playing 2+ years after release is how big the game feels and the replayability of all the areas. Concentrating us into a corner of the map until the next release will only mean that we won’t have any need to return to that maplet once the next one comes out. They could have released an entire multi-map area on day one of season 2; on release of the game initially, there were 31 maps that were entirely open and access was only limited by the level and skill of your character.

I understand that they are trying a model that will generate income for the company in the form of episodes for sale and I support that. A game like this needs income so that more content can be developed. I don’t entirely understand if releasing the map in tiny bits is a decision based on generating revenue, but if it is, I think they could have come up with a better way to do the episodes for sale thing.

Eshady.9146:

Will they leave in this season’s story line embedded into the new areas or remove the playable story at the end like Season 1? (which would be a mistake imo)

The story is permanent. You should have had a splash screen that would direct you to the Story Journal when you first logged in. From there, you can replay the episodes.

Dry Top isn’t even complete yet. You can jump your way out of the map and see the rest of the zone that will open up soon. A couple of my guild mates have done it, and there are SS’s floating around this forum and reddit as well.

They could have released the map for the whole of LS2 and kept the story line on the 2 week timer and everything would have been just fine….people still get their events on the 2 week timer but you also have things to do inbetween with exploring, new meta chains, new world bosses, etc.

LS1 started out with the release of the game, TONS of zones to explore and things to discover, then the LS1 episodes brought new meaning to these zones, bringing us back to them to enjoy them in new ways.

If they keep releasing these tiny zones in 2 week chunks there is not going to be any reason to come back to them because everyone will have beaten the zone like a dead horse so much they won’t want to come back.

We all know that more is to come, that is a given, so please don’t argue that “this isn’t the only zone that we will get” cause that isn’t what people take issue with….what they take issue with is being locked out of content so Anet can make is seem like we are getting a lot by stringing it out over a long period of time and saying “more to come”.

I expected the living seasons to be the equivalent of expansions, but I guess I was wrong. Instead of a chest of toys we have to be satisfied with playing the ball in cup game for two weeks before we can move on to the next toy.

I’m just tired and frustrated to be allocated to doing the same things I have been doing in game for the last 2 years. Give me new space to explore that will keep me busy for more that an afternoon.

Eshady.9146:

The general consensuses is this area to start LS2 is below expectations.

Curious as to where you have seen the numbers/percentages of all active players that lead you to this assumption.

If you’re just talking about the forums, well then might I offer this:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/s2/Big-Improvment

And there are also other threads where there have been lots of positive comments about the new patch.

So other than possibly wishful thinking, where are you coming up with this "The general consensuses is this area to start LS2 is below expectations. "???

Laylie.5703:

…snip/…. I have a friend that can play 2 days a week for like 6 hours and he already beat it so you can’t use the point that were rushing content.

There’s your problem right there. You’re looking to ‘beat’ this game. You try and do that with this kind of mmorpg and you will end up being nothing but frustrated.

I am taking my time through the new area and finding it very interesting especially the story mode as it hides many interesting plots. I can’t wait to see what will happen.

I expect we’ll unlock more areas as LS2 progresses. For those who never played gw1, dry top is only a small region of many other regions in that area. Here is the map to get a glimpse of what will possibly come during this ls.

http://billywr.com/guild_wars/imgs/map.jpg

Guardian Of Tyria.6397:

LS1 started out with the release of the game, TONS of zones to explore and things to discover, then the LS1 episodes brought new meaning to these zones, bringing us back to them to enjoy them in new ways.

Wait.. so LS1 is allowed to count all of the original zones in the game (despite none of them actually was created specifically for the Living Story) but LS2 is not?
That is rather silly.

LS1 had 1 permanent zone that was directly released due to Living Story, and that was Southsun Cove.

LS2 have also had 1 permanent zone released, and it have only just started.

Teon.5168:

Curious as to where you have seen the numbers/percentages of all active players that lead you to this assumption.

If you’re just talking about the forums…

No not the forumS, just this thread at the time my op. As far as numbers/percentages go, well that’s the idea in having a general consensuses it isn’t exact.. generally speaking, but very unlike your dissension which is fact. In either case my personal stance has changed, but you know that as you undoubtedly read through the entire thread.

I do however still believe (with all my limited research) that the general consensus of the much anticipated new area to start the LS2 (size/amount of content/time of completion) is below expectations. I implore you or anyone else to make a poll link for this thread’s readers to prove otherwise once and for all. I will be checking the *Like box.

Guardian Of Tyria.6397:

They could have released the map for the whole of LS2 and kept the story line on the 2 week timer and everything would have been just fine….people still get their events on the 2 week timer but you also have things to do inbetween with exploring, new meta chains, new world bosses, etc.

LS1 started out with the release of the game, TONS of zones to explore and things to discover, then the LS1 episodes brought new meaning to these zones, bringing us back to them to enjoy them in new ways.

If they keep releasing these tiny zones in 2 week chunks there is not going to be any reason to come back to them because everyone will have beaten the zone like a dead horse so much they won’t want to come back.

We all know that more is to come, that is a given, so please don’t argue that “this isn’t the only zone that we will get” cause that isn’t what people take issue with….what they take issue with is being locked out of content so Anet can make is seem like we are getting a lot by stringing it out over a long period of time and saying “more to come”.

I expected the living seasons to be the equivalent of expansions, but I guess I was wrong. Instead of a chest of toys we have to be satisfied with playing the ball in cup game for two weeks before we can move on to the next toy.

I’m just tired and frustrated to be allocated to doing the same things I have been doing in game for the last 2 years. Give me new space to explore that will keep me busy for more that an afternoon.

The Queensdale champ train says if you give them loot, they will come over and over and over….

Eshady.9146:

Teon.5168:

Curious as to where you have seen the numbers/percentages of all active players that lead you to this assumption.

If you’re just talking about the forums…

No not the forumS, just this thread at the time my op. As far as numbers/percentages go, well that’s the idea in having a general consensuses it isn’t exact.. generally speaking, but very unlike your dissension which is fact. In either case my personal stance has changed, but you know that as you undoubtedly read through the entire thread.

I do however still believe (with all my limited research) that the general consensus of the much anticipated new area to start the LS2 (size/amount of content/time of completion) is below expectations. I implore you or anyone else to make a poll link for this thread’s readers to prove otherwise once and for all. I will be checking the *Like box.

My apologies. Guess I wasn’t vague and ambiguous enough for you. I will try harder next time.

lordkrall.7241:

LS2 have also had 1 permanent zone released, and it have only just started.

And this is just Episode 1 of Season 2. I suggest to people that don’t like this episode to, while periodically checking in every update to load up the next episode, come back a couple months from now so they can play multiple episodes in tandem.

lordkrall.7241:

Did you expect them to release all of Maguuma at once?

No… But I’ve expected something a bit bigger. It’s about 1/8th of the size of other maps.

They will probably release other zones when the LS gets to those areas. People have to remember this is only the very first part of season two, and we still probably have around eight months of the season left.

Sit back and wait.

TheDaiBish.9735:

Eshady.9146:

Will they leave in this season’s story line embedded into the new areas or remove the playable story at the end like Season 1? (which would be a mistake imo)

The story is permanent. You should have had a splash screen that would direct you to the Story Journal when you first logged in. From there, you can replay the episodes.

Players who however do not login within the period of this release (currently assuming 2 weeks) or players that join GW2 after this period will however have to purchase the story and achievements for 200 gems.

Teon.5168:

Laylie.5703:

…snip/…. I have a friend that can play 2 days a week for like 6 hours and he already beat it so you can’t use the point that were rushing content.

There’s your problem right there. You’re looking to ‘beat’ this game. You try and do that with this kind of mmorpg and you will end up being nothing but frustrated.

Yeah, GW2 is good for the casual. Doesn’t have nearly enough grind to keep the hardcore crowd satisfied long enough.

Erukk.1408:

They will probably release other zones when the LS gets to those areas. People have to remember this is only the very first part of season two, and we still probably have around eight months of the season left.

Sit back and wait.

S1 consisted of: 20 episodes (https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/) and 9 special events although those probably don’t count.
So we can safely assume anywhere between 10 – 20 more releases (I’m not sure if ANet will stick as heavily to the 2 week release schedule for S2 or if they plan to run S2 over a full year, although they imply that they will try to stick to the 2 week release schedule in https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-story-journal/)

I get the feeling Dry Top is bigger than we have access to right now. Most (all?) maps have their map name (in this case, “Dry Top”) at the center of the map which is (always?) rectangular. If you look at Dry Top in game, the map’s name is not in the centre. There seems to be areas for expansion to the North, North West, South and South West of the map. It looks like we’ve only been given access to the Eastern and central parts of Dry Top.