Guild Wars 2

It’s official, living story has killed holidays. Starting with halloween, more content was removed than added but at the very least we got a new reward for the meta achievement. Now Wintersday 2013, the same exact event as last year, with the same exact rewards? No new anything? The only new items are 500 gems each, much more expensive than the santa hat last year… Why should I buy gems and pay for a grenth mask when the only thing being added is ascended armor which nobody wanted in the first place?

Living story is getting way too much attention, holidays should have new stuff to do as well as the previous year’s stuff (other than the rewards obviously)Theres another update on christmas eve according to the 2 week cycle but during halloween we had a second update which had nothing to do with it so I have no hope for a second part.

They made it quite clear last year that the holiday events will largely be the same each year. This has nothing to do with the Living Story.

Also keep in mind all the rage about them having a new story for Halloween this year compared to last.

lordkrall.7241:

They made it quite clear last year that the holiday events will largely be the same each year. This has nothing to do with the Living Story.

Also keep in mind all the rage about them having a new story for Halloween this year compared to last.

No it does have to do with Living story. They put no effort in to the holidays anymore since their main concern is to try and make living story work. People were mad on halloween because the solo instance was a kittening joke compared to the scavenger hunt which was actually interesting and fun.

Madora.9340:

God, give it a day. You can’t make such an assumption the very day the patch releases, it’s just the start of things. Good grief, can you wait at least a day before trying to make this patch look like the spawn of the Devil himself?

Don’t be silly, the patch is coming out in 6 days!

Da Sonic.6521:

Madora.9340:

God, give it a day. You can’t make such an assumption the very day the patch releases, it’s just the start of things. Good grief, can you wait at least a day before trying to make this patch look like the spawn of the Devil himself?

Don’t be silly, the patch is coming out in 6 days!

My point still stands; stop making claims like you know what’s going on when the patch hasn’t even released yet!

Madora.9340:

Da Sonic.6521:

Madora.9340:

God, give it a day. You can’t make such an assumption the very day the patch releases, it’s just the start of things. Good grief, can you wait at least a day before trying to make this patch look like the spawn of the Devil himself?

Don’t be silly, the patch is coming out in 6 days!

My point still stands; stop making claims like you know what’s going on when the patch hasn’t even released yet!

did you not read my post? the patch is the exact same as last years i already know what it consists of

Anet has never really changed their holidays up

I missed it last year so I’m not complaining. And next year it will have been a whole year so I doubt I’ll care then.

I do agree that they need to work on adding more new armour to the game itself. This game is still very young so I understand the smaller pool of armour, but I’d like to see them working on adding things so that one day we can have that “mature” pool of armour with lots of things and surprises in-game not just limited-time gem store stuff (which is fine, but I feel like the in-game-acquired armour needs love too, to make the whole game richer and more interesting). Same goes for weapons.

Ugh Wintersday… it’s just like Christmas. Stupid holiday and decorations are the same every year for hundreds of years… how dumb is that?

(/end sarcasm)

Dr Ritter.1327:

Madora.9340:

Da Sonic.6521:

Madora.9340:

God, give it a day. You can’t make such an assumption the very day the patch releases, it’s just the start of things. Good grief, can you wait at least a day before trying to make this patch look like the spawn of the Devil himself?

Don’t be silly, the patch is coming out in 6 days!

My point still stands; stop making claims like you know what’s going on when the patch hasn’t even released yet!

did you not read my post? the patch is the exact same as last years i already know what it consists of

Yes, exactly as ArenaNet said when they started with the holiday events.

Holiday events will stay the same with not too many changes. They even said that themselves.

A lot will be recycled, we knew that it would be this way. However as it often is AN leaves things out of the preview because its just that, a preview.

I think we’ll see 1 new thing or so. There is a new meta so we know there will be something different to go for. Plus there have been a few things data mined like a HO HO Tron mini. This might just be gem store stuff but right now we have no idea.

Madora.9340:

God, give it a day. You can’t make such an assumption the very day the patch releases, it’s just the start of things. Good grief, can you wait at least a day before trying to make this patch look like the spawn of the Devil himself?

Apparently, you didn’t get the memo. Complaining about GW2 has officially been registered as an e-sport. The earlier and more frequently a participant complains about GW2, the more points he gets. Also, if you complain about fixes you asked for, then you get bonus points. The more points you earn, the higher your position on the leader board. Everyone knows that the all the kool kids occupy the highest places on the leader board.

Da Sonic.6521:

Madora.9340:

God, give it a day. You can’t make such an assumption the very day the patch releases, it’s just the start of things. Good grief, can you wait at least a day before trying to make this patch look like the spawn of the Devil himself?

Don’t be silly, the patch is coming out in 6 days!

My. my, my, where does the time go?

Hey guess what? Christmas is basically the same every year too.

Hey I’ve been dissappointed with Halloween too. Mostly, because I haven’t been able to complete the Story achievements I didn’t complete last year. Instead, we got new ones. But what bugged me the most was the missing scavenger hunt….

I was SO hoping to get a Chance to get the burning book I couldn’t get last year because my main was too low in Level. No, nothing… :S

As for the Minis this year… well… I was hoping for new toys, as we had a Chance to buy them all at the gemstore last year.

The only Thing I could use maybe would be the toy Golem for my new Asura. And guess what? They’re random… -.-" And I bet they won’t be tradeable so that you could Exchange them with someone else who’d like to trade his for another… I can only hope That I’ll be lucky enough…

I really loved Wintersday last year, I loved how Tix arrived in each town on a different day, until he went to LA. Seems like that won’t happen this year though.

At least Anet fixed the unbreakable bell. It now Plays for one hour instead of 30 seconds each time you pull it out. I have asked for this for so Long, and then they did that without even mentioning it. I just found out about that by accident.

lordkrall.7241:

They made it quite clear last year that the holiday events will largely be the same each year. This has nothing to do with the Living Story.

Also keep in mind all the rage about them having a new story for Halloween this year compared to last.

Anet said the idea was that they’d use holiday (and festival events) as a buffer for releases because they already had a foundation that they could improve on. They didn’t say they’d just reuse the old events and not add anything new.

I’m PLEASED that Wintersday is mostly the same as last year. It means that new players get to experience the event in all its glory, older players can revisit whatever content they most enjoyed in the past, and because it lasts for 6 weeks, that’s plenty of time for people to get festive at their own pace, while not feeling pressured to dump everything for the Living Story.

All we need now is confirmation that past achievements can still be completed by those who missed it the first time, and I’d call this a perfect update.

hehehehehehehe, what if scarlet came and played the grinch of christmas? XDDDD

JohnnySupernova.9182:

lordkrall.7241:

They made it quite clear last year that the holiday events will largely be the same each year. This has nothing to do with the Living Story.

Also keep in mind all the rage about them having a new story for Halloween this year compared to last.

Anet said the idea was that they’d use holiday (and festival events) as a buffer for releases because they already had a foundation that they could improve on. They didn’t say they’d just reuse the old events and not add anything new.

They also didn’t say they would be updating it every time the event rolled around either. This event goes for 6 weeks, so who knows what is in store for us this time around and a patch or two in.

Personally I think an update to the event (new activities, rewards, etc) every other year is reasonable. What I don’t want to see is these turning into static events where nothing changes within 4-7 years like another game I shall not mention.

Dr Ritter.1327:

did you not read my post? the patch is the exact same as last years i already know what it consists of

This patch will also last 3 living story updates (6 weeks), one of which is this Tuesday, the next is Christmas eve, and the last soon after the new year.
So this patch is the same as last year (as Anet planned and stated, might I add…) doesn’t mean the one on Christmas Eve will be.
There may even be a ‘new years’ themed patch going off what they said on the release page: “Celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next in this six-week winter festival!”.

And even if this is the only Christmas themed patch we get, it still has nothing to do with the living story. The original intention (which Anet did tell us) was to re-release holiday patches(adding to them here and there) so that they can focus on what ever else they’re developing at the time.

Edit: it would seem there will NOT be an update on Christmas eve (not entirely surprising now that I think about it). Rest of my post still stands.

Geez. People complain that content leaves and they have no chance to ever do it again, and people complain that content comes back and they have to do it again.
For pete’s sake.

Yeah, I’m also in the “glad they’re repeating a lot” camp. Spending resources developing something that is by nature “traditional” would seem like a waste. I agree that Halloween wasn’t as good as the first year but, well that was because it was the second time I did it. Next year I won’t be expecting much new and it’ll just be nice to see the JP again, alongside whatever the actual LS content is.

The only thing I do think they should do is (contrary to other opinions) have more stuff that is one off like the Mad Memoires. I like having a unique souvenir from the first event, and it’d be nice to have one from this one too (the candy corn mini and mask were kinda… meh). To be honest even if they’d just recoloured the flames on the backpiece that would have been cool enough. That way the original is still special, and the new players still get one like it.

Dr Ritter.1327:

It’s official, living story has killed holidays. Starting with halloween, more content was removed than added but at the very least we got a new reward for the meta achievement. Now Wintersday 2013, the same exact event as last year, with the same exact rewards? No new anything? The only new items are 500 gems each, much more expensive than the santa hat last year… Why should I buy gems and pay for a grenth mask when the only thing being added is ascended armor which nobody wanted in the first place?

Living story is getting way too much attention, holidays should have new stuff to do as well as the previous year’s stuff (other than the rewards obviously)Theres another update on christmas eve according to the 2 week cycle but during halloween we had a second update which had nothing to do with it so I have no hope for a second part.

i enjoyed the wintersday content last year more than any other “christmas” or winter event from any other game or MMO. It is slightly disappointing that there doesn’t seem to be anything new here. It won’t stop me from enjoying all that content over again though! I loved the jumping puzzle and the bell choir was fun too. Even if we don’t see anything new i think a lot of people will appreciate some time to work on their Ascended armor (if your one of the people working towards that). Regardless im still looking forward to this awesome content making a return!

Rinbox.2570:

Dr Ritter.1327:

It’s official, living story has killed holidays. Starting with halloween, more content was removed than added but at the very least we got a new reward for the meta achievement. Now Wintersday 2013, the same exact event as last year, with the same exact rewards? No new anything? The only new items are 500 gems each, much more expensive than the santa hat last year… Why should I buy gems and pay for a grenth mask when the only thing being added is ascended armor which nobody wanted in the first place?

Living story is getting way too much attention, holidays should have new stuff to do as well as the previous year’s stuff (other than the rewards obviously)Theres another update on christmas eve according to the 2 week cycle but during halloween we had a second update which had nothing to do with it so I have no hope for a second part.

i enjoyed the wintersday content last year more than any other “christmas” or winter event from any other game or MMO. It is slightly disappointing that there doesn’t seem to be anything new here. It won’t stop me from enjoying all that content over again though! I loved the jumping puzzle and the bell choir was fun too. Even if we don’t see anything new i think a lot of people will appreciate some time to work on their Ascended armor (if your one of the people working towards that). Regardless im still looking forward to this awesome content making a return!

I’m in no way saying the wintersday content is bad, i think it is some of the best stuff in the game. But not adding anything new to it is a mistake especially when the game is still pretty new. As for the ascended armor, i’ll have enough mats to acquire it first day but nobody wanted the gear treadmill to start with

Dr Ritter.1327:

lordkrall.7241:

They made it quite clear last year that the holiday events will largely be the same each year. This has nothing to do with the Living Story.

Also keep in mind all the rage about them having a new story for Halloween this year compared to last.

No it does have to do with Living story. They put no effort in to the holidays anymore since their main concern is to try and make living story work. People were mad on halloween because the solo instance was a kittening joke compared to the scavenger hunt which was actually interesting and fun.

What’s more, they could have found a way to leave the scavenger hunt in the game. Festivals in GW1 always used to compound quests from previous years.

Give people a different back item skin for it each year and I’m sure it would give people an excuse to play through it again with very minimal work. Also it wouldn’t feel like content was being removed needlessky, never again to be seen and keeps the previous year’s back item unique and special.

I’d like to see one additional feature added to the festivals each year just to make it feel like they’re getting bigger year on year, just like the GW1 events always did. Maybe that’s too nostalgic of me?

Not to mention the grind this year to have any memento (other than the official ones for completing the meta) of Halloween. May we have snowflakes and toys in abundance, but given their recent track record I’m not expecting it. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised, rather than cynically vindicated.

Sarie hit on my main comment – each year’s festival should have a unique skin available for every level toon without a lot of work. Like keeping a ticket stub from a concert to prove you were there. It doesn’t have to be something wonderful, just unique. I loved that about GW1’s festivals. Pulling those old skins out of inventory and prancing around with them in the current festival made me feel a little special. If you want to offer past hats or masks or whatever for gems or festival tokens, for collectors, I’m good with that too. Otherwise, I like the yearly festivals to have the majority of the content repeated, with a few new things, but not necessary.

Actually Halloween has a ongoing story tied to it, with the Mad King.

Every year, that story will move forward.

But I’m not sure if the same can be said for Wintersday, there’s not really an ongoing story tied to it, is it?

What I’m worried about with Wintersday this year is that they’ll do what they did with this year’s Halloween, which was making it worse. The story dungeon with the Mad Prince was very lacking in comparison to last year’s Mad King dungeon. Also, the Reaper’s Rumble and the scavenger hunt were removed for some odd reason.

Like it has been said living story has nothing to with wintersday content. Let’s also wait until wintersday is over 6 weeks from the 10th to see if anything new is introduced.

lordkrall.7241:

They made it quite clear last year that the holiday events will largely be the same each year.

Citation needed, if you are going to make a statement like that then you are going to have to back it up.

lordkrall.7241:

Also keep in mind all the rage about them having a new story for Halloween this year compared to last.

No one raged about new story, they raged about content being removed from last year, which is perfectly reasonable.

Aedelric.1287:

Citation needed, if you are going to make a statement like that then you are going to have to back it up.

No one raged about new story, they raged about content being removed from last year, which is perfectly reasonable.

I’ll see if I can find the quote somewhere, it should be in one of the blogposts or interviews tied to the first year. But since no one else seems to demand a citation about it it would seem like more people remember that it was said.
Nonetheless I’ll try to find the post.

Oh, I saw quite a bit of people raging about not being able to do the Scavenger Hunt, which was due to the new story. And also people raging about how bad the new story was.