Guild Wars 2

… when Trahearne said “fffffiiiiiiiiire….”.

I couldn’t take much more after that.

Soloing out in the world and exploring is great in GW2. Team content just isn’t fun to me. Maybe it’s been improved since the last time I played. I just enjoy the Trinity. I loved healing with my monk back in the day and healing with my Paladin in WoW. The most fun I’ve ever had in a game was running around with a buddy and leveling on a PvP server in WoW. Guild Wars missions and elite areas were so much fun with friends. I just haven’t ever gotten that with GW2.

Removing the holy trinity was a big fail. It’s the reason you get such amazing game play like stacking in a corner to kill a boss.

It wouldn’t really surprise me at all. Arenanet has been over-hyping mediocre content since launch.

Crystal Desert.
Cantha.
Elona.
Holy Trinity.
25 new dungeons.
5 raids for 10 or 25 people.
Several new armor sets.
Several new weapon sets.

Permanent content.

If Arenanet wants to try and tell a story as well as Bioware has in the past then by all means…. Proceed.

Belenwyn.8674:

Melfice.5091:

Belenwyn.8674:

Expansion started July 1st.

LS is not even close to an expansion

LS + Feature Pack is much better than expansion.

Season 2 is one of the major projects they worked behind the stage. Season 3 is another one.

I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt since none of us really know how much content will be unveiled during the course of Season 2.

Belenwyn.8674:

I did never expect the journalism in this sector works like Chinese whispers or telephone game. The authors broke obviously the most important rule: always check your sources and ask for confirmations.

Nat.4029:

Time for an expansion I’d say.

Expansion started July 1st.

Lolz!

Time for an expansion I’d say.

Xenon.4537:

Nat.4029:

What happened to doing a cool quest line or killing a difficult boss to get a weapon skin in games?

You get that from the good ole sub-based games. Anet has to keep paying the rent, so the Gem Store is what we get.

Actually in those “good ol’ sub based” games it’s always about grinding 9001 hours of something to earn the item. Why? To make you pay for 9001 hours of subscription time. You want to earn a reward for beating a challenging boss? Go play Dark Souls. Single player games are the only ones that still truly design around challenge, because replayability is important when the game is paid for only once. Persistent games always come with time-based caveats.

The whole point was that in sub-based game, all the weapon skins and other gear is all obtainable in-game and not from a cash shop. You kill dungeon bosses, they drop certain loot. You kill raid bosses, they drop certain loot. Of course, this all comes with the price of a sub. Some would much rather pay that than buy things from a cash shop for instant gratification. Instant gratification just isn’t my thing. And 9001 hours is a bit hyperbolic.

I totally agree with you on your point though. If challenge is your reward then play Dark Souls.

Nerelith.7360:

Nat.4029:

infantrydivEU.9670:

For the rewards

Seriously, pretty soon this game will have more weapons/armor originating from the gem store than from the actual game.

Oh well, the woes of a F2P game I suppose.

Are people OK with this? I’d actually almost prefer at this rate to not have new stuff added if it’s only gem store based.

What happened to doing a cool quest line or killing a difficult boss to get a weapon skin in games?

You get that from the good ole sub-based games. Anet has to keep paying the rent, so the Gem Store is what we get.

I can mention another game that was launched as " No sub".. was revolutionary in it’s time, it based it’s business model on selling you expansions, just because Gw2 is centered on the gem store, does not mean that is the only business model that works.

That other game included a gem store at some point, although it was so unobtrusive that I only found out about it, by reading about it on these forums…

For years, after Prophesies, Factions and Nightfall, I still had no clue it had a Cash shop.

So no, I don’t accept that " Gem Store is what get" It’s more Like " Gem Store is what we are being given." and " gem Store is what a Lot of us are willing to accept, and be happy with."

This game is much MUCH more costly to maintain than the original GW was. I want an expansion just as much as the next guy, but the Gem Store is their necessary evil at the moment since they aren’t charging a sub.

I’m hoping it’s not the only area, but considering Anet’s track record, we’ll get another new zone by 2016.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

interesting mechanic with the reward-tiers. I don’t get it yet 100% but it will come, a lot of achievements to do here – I like it. The sandstorm keeps it dynamic…

I wonder what the future holds for the map, I don’t think it will stay the same.

The map will probably change constantly because they won’t be adding another zone for 2 more years.

What is all in the zone? Just events and waypoints?

infantrydivEU.9670:

For the rewards

Seriously, pretty soon this game will have more weapons/armor originating from the gem store than from the actual game.

Oh well, the woes of a F2P game I suppose.

Are people OK with this? I’d actually almost prefer at this rate to not have new stuff added if it’s only gem store based.

What happened to doing a cool quest line or killing a difficult boss to get a weapon skin in games?

You get that from the good ole sub-based games. Anet has to keep paying the rent, so the Gem Store is what we get.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. I “believe” Jeremy Soule was scoring Skyrim at/or around the same time that he was scoring Guild Wars 2. Skyrim as we all know, has one of the greatest soundtracks ever composed. Guild Wars 2’s original soundtrack is very mediocre for the most part. It’s always seemed to me that Soule gave everything he had to Skyrim. Perhaps he scored GW2 after Skyrim, and GW2 suffered from his exhaustion. Because after creating that masterpiece, I can understand him being exhausted.

Wasn’t Dry Top the smallest zone in GW1 to vanquish? If I remember right it didn’t even have 100 enemies.

I’d much rather have a “reputation-type” grind for a mount than a gem store purchase. Doesn’t feel like I’ve earned it, if I just purchase it.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I wouldn’t be too sure about land mounts though. Mounts have been introduced in GW1 after all, even if they were restricted to specific zones. There is no reason why that wouldn’t work in GW2. But I think you’re right that a lot of people are set in this “Mounts = WOW” mindset. It’s very narrow minded thinking really, since there are infinite alternative ways in which mounts could function.

That’s the only logical reason I can think of as to why people HATE the idea of mounts so much. I guess the other reason being, would be the mount clutter, which I can understand some people hating. I love mounts though. It was fun riding them and also fun collecting them from certain achievements, dungeons, or raids. It adds a lot more fun to the end-game.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Flying mounts would indeed be a problem, since not a single explorable is decorated beyond what we can see from the ground. They are basically just giant boxes, surrounded by an empty void with water beneath it. That is why we have gateways to adjacent explorables; because they aren’t really adjacent at all. If you were to fly up into the air in Queensdale, you wouldn’t be able to see Kessex Hills in the distance.

Yeah that’s the sad part. I think most people hate mounts just because they are in other games, particularly WoW, and they’ve never even played it. I love taking off on a dragon in WoW and checking out the world from up there. And it doesn’t “kill the exploration” for me. I explore everything on foot before I ever take off on a mount in WoW. But like we’ve said, flying mounts will never exist in GW2 because it’s not seamless. Ground mounts would be possible, but they’ll most likely never exist either.

I might actually play if so. It’d be nice to have a new zone to play around with on the 4th of July weekend. (for us Americans anyway)

Wizzey.7845:

Vissarion.6509:

Chyanne Waters.8719:

Why do people want mounts?

Because they are awesome???

Ok I can get behind this. Although I prefer waypoints over depending on them mechanically, purely cosmetic mounts are awesome (there’s already a few).

I’ve always liked going places on a mount. It’s much more fun to me than using a waypoint. The waypoints are a convenience for sure, but I’d much rather have mounts to travel on. Of course, GW2 isn’t a seamless world so mounts will probably never be, at least flying mounts that is.

Zone.1275:

Nat.4029:

draxynnic.3719:

You were expecting something OTHER than a massive tease? How long have you been playing? :P

Yeah I’ve been playing since beta so I should know better. Now I’d like to see if the zone will be a FULL zone with hearts and all.

EDIT: Hopefully not another Southsun.

Hearts were one of the most tedious things in the game. What would they even add to a new zone that probably won’t count towards map completion?

I’d rather the new map had a lot of dynamic events, fun enemies, and a cool boss fight.

It’s the completionist in me I guess.

LeDuc.1436:

my reactions to the trailer:
there goes the Zephyrites.

Oh kitten they got shot down

that jungle looks massive, but the Zephyrites!

wait…. crystal desert confirmed?

Where did you see the Crystal Desert? It’s on the other side of the map from Maguuma.

edit: If you’re talking about the “deserty” looking areas in the trailer, a lot of the old Maguuma from Guild Wars looked that way.

khani.4786:

Nat.4029:

draxynnic.3719:

You were expecting something OTHER than a massive tease? How long have you been playing? :P

Yeah I’ve been playing since beta so I should know better. Now I’d like to see if the zone will be a FULL zone with hearts and all.

EDIT: Hopefully not another Southsun.

Full zone with hearts & all. Yes.

But I like Southsun!

Yeah I never really cared for it. I guess because I was so used to the way all the other zones were at the time that Southsun was released. So it felt empty to me.

draxynnic.3719:

You were expecting something OTHER than a massive tease? How long have you been playing? :P

Yeah I’ve been playing since beta so I should know better. Now I’d like to see if the zone will be a FULL zone with hearts and all.

EDIT: Hopefully not another Southsun.

Maguuma huh? Pretty cool. Didn’t really show a whole lot, but it looked a good bit like the old Maguuma.

They’ve actually got me hyped up to see what’s in store for Season 2. Supposedly in 5 minutes, we’ll get a preview. What will it be?

EDIT: Gates of Maguuma

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I’m not against 5-man endgame…. if they give me back my kitten heroes.

I’d love to see this, but the AI needs MAJOR improvements before this could happen.

Eight Samurai.6840:

You guys do realize they will probably do this the same way they did your Personal Story. You can go at it alone if you want, OR you can get a party and have them all enter an instance with you. Everyone is worrying about nothing. Besides Anet tried to do massive world events for LS and 90% of them fell apart due to tasks being too easy, too hard, too long, not enough reward, etc. I hope they go back to their roots of GW1 with these missions. Grab a group of buddies and beat your story.

GW1 missions were much more fun than any personal story/living story quest that I’ve done in GW2. Some of you may remember missions like Thunderhead Keep, where a team had to work together to get the mission accomplished(and fail a lot in the early days.) It was a good design and very fun. Zerg fest events with 200 people running around pressing 1 isn’t my idea of fun.

Chyanne Waters.8719:

Why do people see the need in trying to change the game into what they think they want?
Why do people complain about the game so much?
Why do people want mounts?
Why can’t people let Anet do their jobs instead of trying to do it for them?
Why do people want to make this game into their old game?
Why do people want expansions, When living story will add more content for free over time? https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/

This game has taken a new route on MMO’s that others are afraid of. GW1 did the same thing. This game has to be different from all other games including GW1. From what I understand about GW1 is this. If Anet had the resources to create GW1 as they wanted to, GW2 is what it was suppose to be. They did not have the resources so they created a great game GW1 using instanced content instead. Now they have that ability and have learned a lot from GW1 in how to back ground updates, make changes without kicking everyone off for hours, and giving us a great game to play.

Do they take ideas from other games well yeah of course. All games do this, but are not always successful. Does GW2 work with other games on how people play yes of course, there is no subscription fee. This gives anyone who plays and does not have the money to play two sub games a lot of choice.

Stop trying to make GW2 into other games. Make suggestions that work with this game not because it comes from another game, but because it will work with this game. Suggestions Like new weapon skills (not weapons) with existing weapon skills giving new builds to try. Not suggestions like we need the holy trinity back. *

GW2 has the most potential for changes over any game out there because of design. Changes pretty much on the fly any time they want. Sometimes announced sometimes not. If you want to farm constantly in the same place Aka endgame this game may not be for you. If you like a constantly changing game with new things to farm or do then this game is for you.

P.S. Anet or any other MMO developer does not owe the players anything in particular to what they think they deserve. They only try to give them the best experience they can for the type of MMO it is.

This is not being a fanboy I have respect for all games, because I know I do not have the ability to make them. I also know that to develop them it takes a lot of people.

I’ve said before that I don’t really mind losing the Holy Trinity. What I hate is the lack of build diversity that stems from weapon skills. This is a spot that could use a major overhaul in my opinion. GW1 had it right. Each weapon had multiple skills that could be swapped out. This is what GW2 needs. Using the same 5 two handed sword skills with my Guardian becomes very tedious after a while. It’d be nice to be able to swap them out. I understand that it would be a kitten to balance when adding several more skills for each weapon (for each class), but it would be awesome to have that option.

Dondarrion.2748:

BrotherBelial.3094:

Nat.4029:

BrotherBelial.3094:

I’m sorry you can’t find the 2 mins it takes to log in to get the content for FREE. Sucks to be you. But with that said. I’ve not played WoW since cat. And if I started to play that again it would cost me around £60-70 pulse sub. So guild wars 2 is the cheaper option.

I’m sorry that you can’t look to see when a thread was posted….

Well looks like you where complaining for nothing then. Funny. I didn’t know I had to check every active thread for when it was stared. Sorry if you feel like you QQ for no good resin. Now would you like a hug?

Sorry mate, but you come in guns blazing about the Journal feature announced YESTERDAY when OP’s thread is a week old before we had any idea it was coming and this was a much needed feature.

If you’re even going to bother contributing to a forum, please check posting dates before you try to criticise/troll someone, because you just failed miserably with both your posts.

Nat, I’m glad your “prayers” were answered yesterday – it will be awesome to have the journal in-game to ensure replayability and let people who missed stuff get access to it. And it’s fully reasonable with the 200gem cost for a missed chapter, if you can’t be bothered (or are otherwise unavailable) to log for 1 minute in the space of 2 weeks, that’s about 10-15g to unlock it.

The lack of replayability of LS1 should be on Anet to make up to its players, so I sincerely hope Season 1 is added as a gesture of goodwill when they get it in the format so it fits with the new Story Journal.

Yeah Belial’s observation skills aren’t exactly top-notch. And I agree with you about the 200 gem cost. That’s pretty reasonable, especially if season 2 really does add up to an expansion’s worth of content. If for whatever reason I’m not able to log in during those 2 weeks, I don’t mind paying 200 gems. I’m just glad that I have the opportunity to do that now. And I can play it a year from now if I want to.

BrotherBelial.3094:

Nat.4029:

BrotherBelial.3094:

I’m sorry you can’t find the 2 mins it takes to log in to get the content for FREE. Sucks to be you. But with that said. I’ve not played WoW since cat. And if I started to play that again it would cost me around £60-70 pulse sub. So guild wars 2 is the cheaper option.

I’m sorry that you can’t look to see when a thread was posted….

Well looks like you where complaining for nothing then. Funny. I didn’t know I had to check every active thread for when it was stared. Sorry if you feel like you QQ for no good resin. Now would you like a hug?

I’ve never been happier to be wrong. As stated above. A hug from the Lord of Lies? No thanks.

Lucretia.8507:

Not sure if anyone has already said this, but you don’t have to keep playing GW2, you only have to log in ONCE during the two week periods and you will have the episode unlocked forever. If that’s just too much trouble for you then I don’t know what to say, pay the 200 gems and stop complaining.

Once again…this thread wasn’t posted this morning after the announcement was made. It was posted 7 days ago. Come on people….

BrotherBelial.3094:

I’m sorry you can’t find the 2 mins it takes to log in to get the content for FREE. Sucks to be you. But with that said. I’ve not played WoW since cat. And if I started to play that again it would cost me around £60-70 pulse sub. So guild wars 2 is the cheaper option.

I’m sorry that you can’t look to see when a thread was posted….

Yaos.4528:

Don’t worry, people will now complain about the 200 gems per episode if they miss the LS content when it’s current.

You won’t hear it from me. I’ve got no problem logging in for a few minutes to unlock something. I just don’t always have time to dive into the content. But now, all I’ll have to do (barring some kind of crazy emergency) is log in, unlock, and then I can play it whenever I like. Very nice work, Anet.

Yep they changed it exactly the way I was hoping they would. Now if I don’t necessarily have time to play, I can at least log in and unlock everything and be able to play it whenever I’d like.

" You’re no longer limited to completing the episode during its two-week release window. This means that going forward, all of the content and all of the rewards for Living World will be permanent."

:) Thank you Arenanet. /thread

lordkrall.7241:

They are also limited by the Teen rating the game have, which means that they can’t past certain lines even if they are fully capable of it.

This is no excuse for a mediocre storyline. There have been many games with Teen Ratings that have had awesome stories. Knights of the Old Republic? Morrowind? Baldurs Gate 2? None of those are MMOs, but saying that a Teen rating is hindering a writing staff is a bit of a stretch.

Look. The Living Story is fine if that’s the direction they want to keep moving. I paid $60 and probably another $40ish on gems, and I can honestly say that I’ve gotten my money’s worth from this game. My problem, as I stated in the OP, is that I get burned out and/or have to take extended breaks from the game due to real life happenings. In the most recent case it was the birth of my son. I like knowing that a developer is adding content to a game and once I come back, I can play it. That’s just what sucks about the LS. Sure I can log on and play whatever is happening at that certain time, but anything before that is just gone. Yes yes….it’s a living world…and it’s like real life. That’s all well and good. I’m just telling you what I like in a video game, and what I like is that they are an ESCAPE from real life.

Unless they’ve hired new writers, I don’t see it getting much better. The personal story writing and voice direction was below average. Granted, I didn’t do even half of the LS content, but what I did play didn’t impress me in the least. Playing SWTOR during my downtime from GW2 didn’t help either. The story/voice acting in SWTOR is far superior. It makes me sad because they had some really good voice talent. Troy Baker, Jennifer Hale…. It just goes to show you that it really is all in the writing and direction. Troy Baker as Logan Thackery was just a borefest. Now Troy Baker as Joel in Last of Us? Outstanding!

Bob F It.5701:

lordkrall.7241:

And there we are at it again.
You somehow feel like the game should cater to people like you, that don’t actively play, rather than those of us that plays at least a couple of hours a week, which is most likely the vast majority of the playerbase.

I know that you will counter with the whole: “Ah but they can make it permanent!”, but that isn’t really a solution either. Making stuff like S1 living story fully permanent would take away a rather major part for at least me and a couple of other people I know. The part about the world actually moving rather than being static (which is the case if everything added just stays forever).

Which is why you could implement something similar to Personal Story and have each part of LS one-time per character/account. It wouldn’t affect your moving world, and new and returning players can get a bite of the content.

Exactly….but that wouldn’t be “groundbreaking” and “revolutionary”.

The Living World is what you get when your publisher will not fund an expansion. A Wildstar flop is all we can hope for.

Kalarchis.8635:

Nat.4029:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I wonder when the complaints about temporary content will end since Anet said already that Season 2 will be all permanent….

You have a link to this information? I’d love to see it.

Here

I’m taking everything said with big grains of salt. But kudos to them for actually getting a dev to talk. Whenever I see a dev in game, I can never get them to even respond to a “Hello.”

Grain of salt indeed. Sounds hopeful though. I’d just like to see the Living Story open up entire new areas instead of changing what we already have.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I wonder when the complaints about temporary content will end since Anet said already that Season 2 will be all permanent….

You have a link to this information? I’d love to see it.

Vesuvius.9874:

Can someone answer me this?

Take a piece of temporary content. Let’s say the Marionette. During the point in time when these events were taking place, we fought the Marionette in Lornar’s Pass. Time passes, say 2 months later, we beat Scarlet.

You decide to go back to Lornar’s Pass. What are you expecting to see in Lornar’s Pass?If you are one of those whining about “permanent content” and are expecting the Marionette to still be there, how would you explain its existence even though you have killed its master, Scarlet? Also, how do you explain what time you are in? Does going back to Lornar’s Pass mean you’ve suddenly moved 2 months back in time?

The whole idea of Living World is that time is constantly moving forward like in the real world. Events are happening everywhere and you need to be there when it happens to experience it.

People complaining about missing events is like complaining about "Ah crap! I missed World War 1 and 2 because I wasn’t born yet. Ok everyone, we need to get everyone together and fight two more wars because a lot of people “missed” it… "

How do you explain the Marionette continuously attacking once every 2 hours for 4 weeks, after being defeated multiple times. These events should occur one time and one time only. Also do not tell anyone what the event start times will be. That needs to be random as well, because……. real life.

The “permanent content” I’m talking about isn’t this LS stuff. I’m talking about multiple new zones (Crystal Desert, Fire Islands, Cantha?), new dungeons, dungeon gear, new skills, new race, new weapons, new weapons skins (that AREN’T for sale in the Gem Shop.) If content is added to the game, I want to be able to play it again a year or two from now if I want to. If my son is born and I have no time at all to play any type of video game, I’d like to be able to catch up on things I’ve missed, just like I can with other MMOs. Of course, zerg events like the Wurms and Marionette can’t be done solo unless they scale everything down and add in AI to help you with the fights. If the LS is the way they are going to continuously add the illusion of new content, then I’m out I guess. Changes to existing zones via a 2 week long event isn’t really “adding new content” in my book. Especially since it takes away old content.

NCSoft won’t give Anet funding for an expansion. Living Story is what you get.

Maybe I’m completely wrong. Maybe they’ll announce everything that is involved in Season 2 and it really will be an expansion’s worth. Such as, several new zones, new race, new skills, new weapons, weapons skins(that AREN’T gem purchases), new dungeons, dungeon gear….

If that’s the case, I’ll be the first one to say I was wrong.

I don’t really know why I continue to argue because the more I think about Living Story, the more I realize that the only reason it even came about was because NCSoft still hasn’t given Anet approval to develop an expansion. I’m hoping Wildstar flops, because MAYBE then NCSoft will decide to pump some money into this franchise and help it succeed. You can’t tell me that Anet would rather be doing this Living Story junk over large-scale expansions. The constant defenders will say “It’s revolutionary!” “There will be an entire expansion’s worth of content for FREE!”

No…. all it is, is a cheap way to add “content” to a game when you don’t have the necessary funding.

lordkrall.7241:

Lets make a better example then.

If I decide to go on a vacation, and during that time something really big happens in my hometown.
I would miss that big thing, because it happened when I was away.

Thats just how life is. Things happen, you miss things. Life goes on.

I understand the point here, but is this a real life simulator or a fantasy MMO? My son was born a few months ago, and I just can’t play MMOs right now. Diablo 3 works because I can play by myself and leave at any time without penalty, but MMOs are different. This is what I like about other MMOs like WoW. I can miss several months or even 2 years of the game’s life, but still be able to come back and play the things I missed out on when they were first released. That’s all I’m saying. If they can’t afford big expansions and want to keep the LS model going, that’s fine. It just sucks for players like myself.