Showing Posts For Lemony.9180:
I’d like to start by congratulating ArenaNet on the presentation of Season 3. For me, the instances introduced in this past season were some of the best in terms of gameplay and I absolutely love the way our characters talk without cutscenes. I’m really happy with the quality they’ve hit in terms of the design of the instances this season. (Although Team 3 still need to get their kitten together because they made some of the worst instances in this season.)
However, while I feel the instance design itself was good over the season I feel the writers lost focus.
Dialogue: To start, it is clear that something with the writers in Episode 5 and 6. I’d say the dialogue was not pretty engaging, well-paced, and sometimes touching in what were my favorite episodes 1, 2 and 4. Playing through the season again I realized that around episode 5 the dialogue becomes vague, imprecise, and fails to feel nearly as witty and self aware.
Narrative Arc: In the first episodes of the season, the narrative direction seemed clear and engaging. Primordus and Jormag are active, the White Mantle is on the rise, Lazarus might be a threat or an ally, and Aurene hatches. These four plot lines were all well set up and developed in the first half of the season. I was extremely satisfied with how we take down Caudecus even if the fight itself was overly punishing and the instance where Aurene hatches was impeccably designed.
I was even okay with the reveal that Balthazar was Lazarus up to a point. To me, Balthazar feels completely shoe horned into the story. It’s as if they had the story of the expansion pretty much figured out but couldn’t quite figure out how to bridge the gap between Season 3 and the expansion.
One of the biggest frustrations for me was that clearly the notion of Lazarus’s aspects was a big part of the story and yet it was only introduced halfway through the season. I’d like to see more planning and seeds planted much sooner.
To me, the way the two dragons at once plot line concludes felt entirely disappointing. From what I understand Taimi developed Omadd’s machine so that it could be used to kill both dragons at once. Then, Balthazar used the machine in an attempt to kill both dragons, failed, but got away with some magic. To start, I still don’t understand why Balathazar tried to find Primordus to use the machine. Clearly both dragons didn’t need to be present as Jormag wasn’t there so why did he have to go find Primordus? I feel like the whole business with the machine wasn’t properly set up. The notion that dragon energies could be lethal to each other was well explained but the idea that Taimi could create a machine that could easily kill two dragons was a pretty big leap.
Further, the way we treat Jormag going to sleep feels like the biggest plot hole. Taimi says, “Yeah, Jormag probably went to sleep.” And we just go with that. And the whole business with Braham seems like biggest misstep. I didn’t actually have so much of a problem with Braham being an angsty teenager but I did at least want some sort of conclusion. He shot the tooth and a big group of Norn are probably going to go after the ice dragon. But let’s put that aside for the next year because we didn’t properly plan out the story.
And then we get to Episode 6 which was a big disappointment to me. Episode 6 doesn’t feel like the conclusion to Season 3 but rather the opening to Season 4. And I wanted a conclusion to Season 3. And I think I might have liked it more if the narrative was well written. But instead, our big idea for finding Balthazar was looking for a random unnamed acolyte of Balthazar in Divinity’s Reach. That story step only existed to get us talking to Anise so we could be put on her little quest. Then, we get Livia and the Eye of Janthir and Lazarus and the Crystal Desert in quick sucesssion. That’s four new plot points introduced in the final episode of the season. That just doesn’t feel right to me. None of this was seeded from the start. There is no foreshadowing.
Transitions: While at the start of the season transitions between episodes fit really well. Taimi tells us Primordus is awake and we go talk to her. Aurene hatches and we spend some time with Aurene. But they fall down halfway through the season. Especially criminal to me seem the transitions between episodes 5 and 6 and the transitions between episodes 6 and the expansion.
Reasons to go the maps: Each map we go to should feel like an organic part of the story. I don’t feel going to Draconis Mons was an organic part of the story. I still don’t understand why Balthazar set up his base there and what his plan was if he didn’t secure Taimi’s machine. When we’re chasing after people it often seems to bring us to new and interesting places. That’s boring. I’d like maps to feature as an organic part of the story such as in episodes 1 and 4 where the maps tell the story as much as the instances.
For me, the biggest plot point I still don’t understand going into the expansion is why Balthazar has given up on killing Primordus and Jormag. Why did he turn his attention to Kralkotorric? Logic holds that a weakened Jormag and Primordus might be easier targets than the probably powerful Jormag. Unfortunately, I’m a little concerned I’m going to have a hard time buying the premise of the next expansion.
The meat of my problem with this fight wasn’t the difficulty. I run T4 fractals and I’m always excited to see Nightmare come up even though it presents a distinct challenge. Nightmare feels intuitive and fair. This encounter did not.
Reading through the replies and II want to further clarify my perspective in this boss. Honestly the biggest problem is that the room is too small. The camera goes crazy too often and the AOE spam on the ground is annoying.
One thing that Anet should change now is they should add a repair anvil. I understand that at this point they don’t have the resources to go back and make further changes to the boss. By adding a repair anvil in the instance they will make it so players stuck on this boss aren’t forever stuck and unable to pass the story step.
To make the feedback more constructive I would suggest you offer fights you have enjoyed in the past and offer why.
Season 2 E8: Final Shadow of the Dragon fight:
Exciting escalation of conflict multiple phases that gives a nice pacing to the fight. Great variety to the fight because of the varying phases. Clear and easy ways to mitigate mechanics but at the same time it can be quite punishing if you don’t the required mechanics.
Season 3 E2: Final Instance
An exciting fight in terms of story. It was really great the way the mobs almost overwhelm you and Lazarus saves you. The fight with the Destroyer boss wasn’t overly complex but enjoyable with clear telegraphs and plenty of space to move around.
Heart of Thorns: Faolin Chase Sequence
Cool skills that you are taught how to use as the sequence begins. Decently challenging and you will fail plenty before learning the patterns.
Offer various other encounters or instances you’ve enjoyed in the game and why.
This is has been covered before but I think it needs to be covered again as ArenaNet may think they’ve fixed the issues with the fight. To be clear, it is better now. I played through it again and the fight is not as painfully bad. But it certainly isn’t good.
It isn’t clear to players they need to focus the adds down. There is no dialogue to cue players to target the adds rather than the boss and that they won’t just respawn. Thus, it is easy to ignore the adds until they become overwhelming and impossible to survive for more than a few seconds in the room.
The camera is bad. I know you’re excited to use “that room.” But if you wanted a complex and interesting fight you don’t put it in that room. Would the fractal team put a complex fight in a claustrophobic environment. Hell no! So why did you?
The AoE spam on the ground doesn’t make a fight good. There was a similar problem with the final boss fight in episode 3 (another bad fight). More AOE markers on the floor does not mean more fun.
The knockdowns are too long still. You will watch yourself be knocked down and then die to attacks this just simply isn’t fun.
Caudecus never actually phases. This fight is just the same mechanics over and over again. Further, the mechanics aren’t particularly new or exciting. You made interesting encounters at the end of episode 1 and 2. This was not.
It is to easy to come back and be one shot. You should not be one shot when going back through the portal. I was just watching a streamer play through this. She was consistently one shot or only survived a few seconds coming back through the portal. She was a mediocre player. Is a bad player just not expected to ever complete the fight?
More I just worry that the ArenaNet devs seemed so excited for this fight to be released. Any basic testing could have shown this to be true. The folks on the fractal team and raid team now how to make engaging encounters. If you’re on the Living World team, you ought to say hi to them once in a while. ArenaNet, the quality of the encounter design has been just bad in the last two episodes.
Revisit your process for creating these encounters. Revisit who is making them. Bring more testers in to play these encounters and give feedback. If you already have testers playing them, bring in new play testers. It’s hard yes. But it’s not interesting, fair, or fun.
I think you would probably have to balance it around 5 players instead of 10 since as you say, interest might be low in the long term. Redesigning it to be soloed would also probably mess up how the dialogue works as much of it bounces between party members.
I do think it would be worth the effort if only to show off all the VO, animation, art, and writing to everyone.
I don’t think anyone deserves the Raid rewards if they can’t complete the content.
I made this same post to reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/5e2vxo/a_plea_for_a_raid_story_mode/. This is intended as a response to Crystal Reid’s recent post.
Let me preface this by saying I don’t think that raiding has killed GW2. I don’t think that if ArenaNet releases more raids it will kill GW2. Raiding is a side activity; you can choose to ignore it. As long as there is content other than raids for players to look forward to, I expect the game’s population will remain healthy.
So why haven’t they implemented a story mode yet? Let’s try to understand Crystal Reid’s recent post. So, I agree with as Crystal Reid put it in her post raids ought to be the “most difficult content in the game.” Ultimately, Raids were designed to be one difficulty mode and I really like that they are one difficulty mode. Guild Wars 2’s raids are dissimilar to raids in gear oriented games like World of Warcraft where you progress on an easier difficulty level and then progress on the same bosses on a harder difficulty level. That moment where you have to progress through the same bosses again is a total drag and I’m glad Guild Wars 2’s raiding doesn’t feature that tiered difficulty system.
But just because you don’t have a tiered difficulty system doesn’t mean you can’t have a story mode.
In her post Crystal Reid references Fractals multiple times. However, this makes me think they don’t understand what I think a lot of players are asking for with regard to a story mode. I would never want there to be four tiers of Spirit Vale like there are for the recent Chaos Isles fractal. I just want a way for me to hop in and experience the story of the raid.
In this potential story mode all loot would be turned off. You would receive no achievements for defeating the bosses. I suggest that the developers release the story mode 6-8 weeks after the initial wing is released. Thus, that feeling of progression through the wing that so many raiders thrive on isn’t diminished. And ArenaNet would design the encounters so that a pick up group could easily clear the wing in an hour. The fights would be simpler and easier but still flavorful.
The players moving through this story mode could experience all the great Voice-Over, see all the cool models, and witness the important and dramatic lore moments. The very lorey Matthias fight, the cool ice storm moment in Wing 2, the epic model of Gorseval, Xera’s dramatic speech.
You know ArenaNet put a lot of effort into the story of the first Raid Wing. But I think it was a waste. While some raiders are there to enjoy the story others just play for the encounters. Why not open up the content so all the fans of the story can experience it?
As I see it there are two arguments against a story mode. One, that an easy mode diminishes the feeling of progression for players on the harder difficulty. Two, that developing an easy mode would take up valuable developer time. Ultimately, I think developing this story mode would be worth both these costs because so many players would get to experience the great content.
I was browsing YouTube the other day and randomly watched this bit from Mo our current Game Director: https://youtu.be/9GwKGbNKQHE?t=2m44s
The part that struck me was the bit where he says “we want to be our own audience.”
Are the writers on the Raid Team raiders? How did they catch up on the lore? Look, no player who had no idea what was going on the raid is going to be able to go into a cleared instance of the raid to pick up all the scraps and suddenly be all filled in. The writers on the Raid Team understood the lore of the raid because they wrote it.
I follow Bobby Stein on twitter. He’s a cool guy. He did the great writing on the raids. And let me be clear: it’s really great writing.
And recently he tweeted about how he needed someone to help him clear the raid content as he hadn’t yet. Look, Bobby Stein, you aren’t your own audience if you haven’t played the content you made.
Now, sure the raid content is kind of a side story. It does contain some important lore connections to Season 3 but I genuinely think Season 3 makes total sense without having played through the raid. But ultimately I’m really excited about the lore and story. I don’t care of it’s merely relevant story: you told a great story, Bobby, and I want to play it.
I don’t usually post but I have seen so many posts that do not seem informed about the current way WvW population is calculated. Please see this post: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/World-Population-Changes-Are-Coming
They have been calculating sever population based on WvW player data for more than a year.
I believe name of the person responsible for the attacks up to now is Scarlet. Before fighting Mai Trin she says: “Scarlet’s gonna have my noggin for screwing up.” This Scarlet woman is most likely Mai Trin’s superior and probably the person behind all the events up to now. Other than that, not much is known about Scarlet. Also interestingly Scarlet has a blank page on the wiki which may prove that she may be an important upcoming character.
It is a mysterious Scarlet. Mai says:
Mai Trin: This has all gone to crud. Scarlet’s gonna have my noggin for screwing up.
Champion First Mate Horrik: What now, Captain? It’ll take cannonballs to get out of here alive.
Mai Trin: Either way, I’m dead, so let’s wind our springs and ride this escapement to the end.
Mai Trin: You got it, I’ll undock the airships.
Mai Trin: You and your brothers give good battle, old friend. Now, let’s dig in before they show. I’ll raise the gangplanks.
This Scarlet woman must be the person behind Flame and Frost, Canach, and the Aetherblade