Guild Wars 2

Q: Bigger stories and bigger events, the scale of the events have been getting bigger with last couple updates, can we expect them to be even bigger in the coming updates?

Angel: Maybe? Yes we are going to be telling bigger stories. We have not forgotten the dragons. Scarlet is quite a cosmic villian and she will have her fingers in a lot of different pots That is all I can tell you at this point.

From the Anniversary Bash Q&A: According to Angel they have not forgotten about the dragons, and it sounds like they will have bigger events like the invasions going on now. So we’ll have to wait and see what format the next elder dragon story will take.

I agree with Xillllix. I think HelloKitty has too much time on her hands. And she also likes to brag about being super prepared.

Q: How with the Living story can we link to the previous stuff (Cantha, Elona)?
Angel: Cantha is a part of Tyria and the residents that are still living there are sealed off. I think it would be impossible to tell the full breath of Tyria without at least talking about Cantha/Elona. We know players love Cantha/Elona, they are still part of the world, part of the story, nothing is off the plate of possibilities.

This is from the Anniversary Bash Q&A. Angel states exactly the same thing as Zadorojny that it is always a possibility. But since they are going forward with the Living Story format instead of an expansion, I doubt we’d actually be able to go and explore Cantha or Elona. We might get a story with an instance that features Canthan/Elonian characters. I wouldn’t expect much more than that.

TheDaiBish.9735
Nothing is certain as to whether Cantha (and Elona, for that matter) will be returning.
However, they haven’t been completely ruled out.

Zadorojny interview referred to by TheDaiBish:
He further stressed that the game has added what he considers to be an entire region’s worth of content since its launch,

I hope Zadorojny is not implying that “an entire region’s worth of content” is the same as adding a new expansion because it clearly is not. An expansion is content around a new zone (usually) with a related theme and new quests, races, mobs, skills, areas to explore, etc. I’m thinking of Eye of the North and how that was a lot more fun to play than an equivalent amount of content that was distributed in bits and pieces here and there.

I can’t believe that Crystal Desert, Elona, and Cantha aren’t at the top of their list of priorities in developing new content for GW2. This game was suppose to keep everything we loved about the original game. Surely we loved more than just the first campaign. Please bring back those areas to GW2.

I believe the word sad should be replaced with “ironic.” Some people may have taken this thread to be a complaint about SAB. It definitely was not. For me the OP’s observation is rather interesting. As I recall, Paul Belz created SAB as a side project on his own time whereas the Living Story has dedicated teams especially created to produce Living Story content. In that sense it is ironic that (for some players) SAB is more popular than the LS events we’ve been getting.

From Sirendor: The story however is so weak that it barely conceals the fact that arenanet is just throwing a random item at you and asking you: play (=farm) for 1 week more and you can have it! People finally see this and ask themselves “why are we doing this?”

I really identified with this statement. It does feel like we are given a to-do list which will keep you busy for a week and then you get a reward at the end. But for me that desire to get the reward is fading. I only did enough invasions to complete the Scarlet instance. I don’t care about the tonic. I’m one of those oddballs that does enjoy the story in a game; unfortunately in GW2 it seems secondary to the achievement based activities. For me one of the best events was Bazaar of the Four Winds. It had so much potential for a really interesting story especially with the crystals having a tie to Glint:

From the Trek of the Zephrites: I write with some confidence that once we leave this forsaken desert landscape, I will never return. It’s everything we are not: inhospitable, lifeless, and cruel. We’ll take her to a resting place with fresh breezes and gentle sunshine. She deserves nothing less.
She was as old as the Shiverpeaks, older than the gods. None will ever hear her true name spoken properly. And so we will remember her only as Glint, the one and only dragon who fought the destruction of our world. While we live, she will never be forgotten.

Mike O’Brien Why did we get rid of quests? We got rid of quests because it forced the world to not change. Every new player that comes into the game has to do the same quests in the same order. How do you try to do that and have the sense that a player’s actions can change the world? Sure my actions can change the world to a certain degree, but not in the sense of ever changing a quest or the circumstances that are causing a quest-giver to say they need your help. So we thought that the kind of content that you release into the world needs to be the opposite of that……..If you want to be able to have players impacting the world around them, not just progressing and leaving the old stuff behind, then all of your content needs to be about impacting the world."

I don’t know about this. Maybe I just don’t understand this concept of impacting the world. If it means to make some sort of difference, then I would have to say I don’t think I have done that in GW2. All the events just keep repeating, everyone is standing in the same place as before, Orr is still crawling with undead even though we defeated Zhaitan. There’s a village of Hylek that I have saved so many times from the krait, but everytime I go back it’s been taken over again.

I was also disappointed to read that they aren’t working on any expansions. I guess that means we won’t be seeing Elona or Cantha any time soon. I just don’t see the Living Story being able to deliver the sort of update an expansion brings. Sure over time in bits and pieces it adds up to a lot of content, but is that the same as what we might see in an expansion with a unified theme? I’m thinking about Eye of the North here with the addition of new races, skills, factions, lands, quests, etc but all around a central theme unfolding in the Northern Shiverpeaks and Tarnished Coast. I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.

Onshidesigns.1069
It’s not your decision what the lore is for GW2.

I never said it was and I never claimed to have created any lore! Anet created all the past lore of Tyria … nowhere in any of that lore has there ever been anything like SAB. Based on the world Anet developed it seems out of place. If you think it fits just fine, that’s your opinion. Anet can create any lore they want to; it’s their game. That doesn’t mean I can’t find it out of place.

Just don’t put words in my mouth!

Yup I agree with the OP. Living Story has been a huge let down. And now SAB – something that doesn’t even fit into the lore of the game except by a tricky tie-in with the Azurans. I thought we were going to see more permanent content coming along and some final resolution to the whole Scalet affair. This is a huge disappointment for me.

I’m glad a lot of people like SAB; so for them I’m happy that they will have something they like to play.

Worst news ever. I don’t like SAB because it doesn’t fit in with the lore of the game. The devs forced it to fit. I’m glad people like it. But not me.

I agree with the OP… everyone is entitled to their opinion. I won’t be rude or put anyone down for having a different opinion either unlike some people in this thread. However, the lore of Tyria is hardly the place for SAB legoland critters. Anet can force it to fit by somehow tying it into the Azurans, but no one can deny that it doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the game.

I understand that it is fun for many people. I definitely want them to include SAB for those people. But like the OP said we don’t need to see it all over the map.

For those who love SAB, great .. go play it in Rata Sum. For those of us who don’t care for it, let us continue to enjoy the rest of Tyria without it looking like a Nintendo 64 game.

You don’t need to win for that achievement, just get credit for an ending (of an invasion, not single portal) on each map.

I’m not sure this is true for all achievements. I know you still get loot, but I didn’t get credit for Vorpp’s achievement. I’m still at 2/5, so I’m not sure how I can get that if the event fails. I haven’t seen a clairification from Anet about all of this. If you know of one, please post a link. I’m still confused.

I agree there seems to be a problem with completing the invasion successfully. I’m not sure if it’s just due to afkers, farmers, general lack of understanding about how to complete these efficiently, no organization … it’s just a big bunch of people running around for 45 min. I just did one and never saw Scarlet; so I don’t know what happened.

For me this is the worst living story event, and yes the combat is mindless. These invasions are time consuming and getting credit seems to have some luck involved. The prospect of having to do hours and hours of these invasions to complete the challenge isn’t my idea of fun; so I’ll probably pass on this event.

Very poor story and very poor event.

I’m not clear about how to get credit for Vorpp…. I’m at 2/5. If the invasion fails then you get no credit I assume. So you have to basically get lucky?? Keep doing invasions until you get lucky and complete one? But also you have to be where Scarlet is right? So if you don’t get there in time, you don’t get credit. I am confused. Seems like an awful lot of variables that can’t be controlled as far as getting credit is concerned. Help there must be something I’m not understanding.

What if Scarlet turned out to be Abaddon seeking to regain power after Kormir stole his.

According to the story, the pale tree knows about Scarlet’s plans and even tells her not to go further in her pursuits. You would think the Pale Tree might have mentioned this to Trahearne or someone. Scarlet is obviously as great a threat to Tyria as Zhaitan, yet the Pale Tree just lets Scarlet go about her evil ways without a word to anyone??

Although the story is interesting, it does seem to have been written without taking into account existing lore, personal story missions, the fact she’s never mentioned by anyone although she has accomplishments that surpass those of the greatest minds in Tyria.

But of course it can all be easily explained away: She is recreating the universe and omitting the things she doesn’t want revealed…..“poof” no more problems with the story making sense against the background of Tyria.

Lianu.1390
Just putting in my support for the OP.
I’ve been rather disenchanted with the latest Living Story due to the mandatory zerg-fest.
In original Guild Wars, there were some really crazy, challenging, and amazing massive fights using only a team of 8 to fend them off. You had to use strategy, change your builds around to manage the 10-to-1 odds, and even use the environment (funnel points, catapults, etc.) to win.

I agree that the “zombie zergs” aren’t my idea of fun. Running around from one group to another, getting in a few hits here and there, hoping you get there in time for Scarlet is only fun if you like action packed-content and don’t care about much else.

In the original Guild Wars game, the Battle for Lion’s Arch is a perfect example of a really epic battle. I had been hoping we’d see something like this at Divinity’s Reach.

I think she will say that since the aetherblade attack at the Queen’s Jubilee, the Seraph and Shining Blade have been investigating the incident. She can now reveal who the mysterious Scarlet person is behind it all, but of course just then Scarlet appears again and we find out about her nefarious plans to take over Tyria.

Now all the pieces of the puzzle begin to make sense: the dredge and flame legion disruptions, incidents at Southsun Cove, Canach and Kiel’s involvement in her plans (willing or unwilling), and the story behind the aetherblade pirates.

Of course, it will be time for a dungeon where we will have to defeat Scarlet and her army. On our side we’ll have watchknights, Rox and Braham to help us in the battle.

I think she will say that since the aetherblade attack at the Queen’s Jubilee, the Seraph and Shining Blade have been investigating the incident. She can now reveal who the mysterious Scarlet person is behind it all, but of course just then Scarlet appears again and we find out about her nefarious plans to take over Tyria.

Now all the pieces of the puzzle begin to make sense: the dredge and flame legion disruptions, incidents at Southsun Cove, Canach and Kiel’s involvement in her plans (willing or unwilling), and the story behind the aetherblade pirates.

Of course, it will be time for a dungeon where we will have to defeat Scarlet and her army. On our side we’ll have watchknights, Rox and Braham to help us in the battle.

From Vayne: I’m pretty sure Anet believed cosmetic rewards would be sufficient for most people.
Anet was wrong.

I agree with this completely. I know it’s true for me. I don’t care for dungeon content in most games, but I will do them if I think it will help my character. I did the Mines of Moria dungeons for LOTRO because of the armor. (I never, ever want to do Forges again.)

In GW2 instead, I’ve only done a few story dungeons for the monthly achievement. Other than that none of the dungeon armor appealled to me and I have plenty of gold; so no need to run dungeons.

I’ll repeat what I said in an earlier post. A company cannot blame customers for any perceived lack of interest. You can’t make money selling snow tires where it doesn’t snow. If you try that and your business fails, you can’t blame people for not buying your tires.

Providing people with goods and services that they need/want is the key to success. Did Anet provide us with a game that would appeal to players over the long haul? For some the answer is yes, for others no.

Anet wanted to be innovative and I can respect that. They experimented with new ideas like no trinity, dynamic events, living story, wvw etc. Now if they are finding that the response to their ideas isn’t what they had hoped for it’s time to reconsider what course to take moving ahead. Keep what’s working and revise what isn’t.

I loved the original Guild Wars game. It was my favorite game ever because it really matched my play style. Sadly, I can’t say the same for GW2. But I think if the devs take feedback from players along with their own metrics/ game data, they can make significant improvements that will move the game forward.

It’s never too late to survey the players and get their feedback. Forum posts only represent a small section of players. So one thing I propose as the one year mark approaches is to send out surveys to players and take their responses into consideration as they make changes. Iteration is the “name of the game.”

The whole issue of challenging content has been discussed repeatedly on these forums. Several solutions have been proposed to accommodate both ends of the spectrum. I think having a regular mode and a hard mode in this game would do wonders to allow players of different levels to experience the content and include challenge for those who like harder content. In the original guild wars the missions were set up that way and I think it worked out very well. Obviously the rewards would have to be increased for the harder version.

Some people will still complain about an easy/hard mode system, but the current set up isn’t working well. Time to try something new. I wonder why Anet doesn’t want to use this system in GW2. Or at least they haven’t expressed any plans to do so.

Any good company should do some marketing research to get a good understanding of their customers before they create their products. In the example of the Anet Chefs (OP’s scenario) and their failed restaurant offering exotic dishes, here’s where they made their mistake. Before deciding what dishes should be served, they should have done their homework to find out what types of foods people in their community enjoyed the most. Then they would have known that exotic dishes would not be successful in that particular community.

If a company wants to be successful, then it is up to them to do their research and offer a product that will sell. You can’t make a product and then complain about the customers if people don’t want to buy or use a product that doesn’t fit their needs.

So no I don’t think Anet is disappointed in the players. If people aren’t doing the events as Anet intended, then that’s feedback that they can use to improve the game.

Excellent ideas Tower Guard… I agree completely.

I liked that there were actual story segments to complete in DragonBash Festival. It almost felt like a series of small quests or missions. In that respect I think it was the best update so far. I did like all the activities for Bazaar especially Sanctum Sprint. But Cutthroat Politics to me is just a set of mini games/instances that are only marginally related to story content because they are supported by a particular candidate. So I agree that I"d like to see more story missions like the ones in Dragon Bash and less mini games.

But I guess in the end it depends on what keeps people playing. Anet will market the game to the majority of players. If metrics shows that the majority like mini-games and releasing content every two weeks, then that’s what we’ll get unfortunately. I hope this is not the case.

It’s plain and simple .. the real culprit is frustration. When people get frustrated they can choose different ways of dealing with it and one of those ways is complaining. The OP is frustrated with other players and is here venting his frustration. Other players are frustrated with certain aspects of the game and they vent their frustration.

Society has changed tremendously just in the last decade. I’m 65 years old and when I was growing up there were no fast food restaurants, we never had a phone until I was 10 years old, and no tv until I was 8. Sending a letter to Italy took 2 weeks and then 2 weeks for the reply to get back to us. Now instead we have instant everything. With iphones people can communicate instantly and be in touch with the rest of the world. If you are bored with a tv program you change the channel and there are many to choose from. We live in a world where people don’t have to wait for things and have not learned to deal with the frustration that comes with that.

I believe this is why Anet is going with living story content being released every 2 weeks now. People will get bored and “change the channel” or game in this case. It’s an unfortunate consequence of mass communication, technology, internet, transportation and the society we live in today.

Players are just a reflection of our society for good or for bad.

Wow… I feel like I shouldn’t have to do this but apparently I do.
There is no such thing as “GW1 Lore” or “GW2 Lore”.
There is just “GW Lore”.
Both events are of significant interest to an actual lore fan because they both contain new lore.

Of course, all the lore together from both games constitutes Guild Wars Lore. Just like there’s world history but we can divide that history into different periods .. Greeks, Romans, medieval, renaissance, etc.

In the same way we can divide GW lore into two eras for the purpose of discussion (lore introduced in GW1 and lore introduced in GW2.) much like ancient history and modern history. I don’t see the problem.

@Erasculio … I think you over analyzed people’s comments in this thread .. “delusions of grandeur” … lol. Obviously, people don’t expect him to come here and post comments on this thread.

Anyway, I think it’s a reasonable question given that he was quite prominent in the promotion of the game and even into the first few months after it went live. I always enjoyed listening to his comments and perspective on things. I imagined that we would continue to see him in future publicity announcements from Anet. So I think that is the motivation for the question raised by the OP.

He is most likely involved with getting it off the ground over in China. I’m sure that requires a lot of coordination and decision making – just the sort of work a ceo would be doing.

Lol ….. I agree Dresden … he’s got to be kidding right. Since we’re here for a good laugh I know you’ll get a chuckle from this story. I had never played any online games; so I didn’t know all the terminology. I heard people talking about “farming” in Tyria, and I thought, “Wow, farms. Can’t wait to get there and build one for myself.” Well, when I went over the Shiverpeaks and looked around, I saw no player farms. After paying closer attention to chat, I realized what they meant. It was my first introduction to the concept of farming in an online game. I sure know what it means now. I’ve done it enough times. =)

Yes I know that, but I believe the limit is 15. Now if I"m trying to survive to the end and I die late in the game my chances of finding 15 motes is much less. So I’m saying that in addition to finding motes, setting traps, or killing players, I think you should get points for the amount of time you survived as well.

Why would ANET rig the election? They are the ones trying to collect data which character we want to see in the future.

Obviously, Anet already has in mind which fractal they want to build. Everything else about the election doesn’t matter. The only thing that will affect the devs is which fractal to build. They are going to build Thaumanova; that is obvious since it ties in better with GW2 lore. Many current players don’t care about Abaddon because they didn’t play GW1. So how to ensure that Ellen Kiel wins and therefore Thaumanova gets built….. make sure the votes show her as the winner. Simple.

elections already rigged since you can’t even see the progression

I agree about the election being rigged. Anet has already predetermined which fractal they will build and I’m sure it’s Thaumanova. They don’t want to revisit GW1 lore anymore….that’s obvious. Will we ever see Elona, Cantha, Crystal Desert? I don’ t think it will be any time soon if ever.

In my opinion Cutthroat Politics is one of the poorest and leaast interesting updates we’ve had.

Try to see the bigger picture for once! Abaddon is probably the most important part of GW1’s lore and you are willing to let it past by for lore we will get eventually anyway?
Make the smart decision, #VoteEvonGnashblade

Excellent point .. unfortunately I believe the results of the whole voting event was predetermined by Anet and it matters not what we vote. They will make sure that the “right” candidate wins for the fractal they already have built.

Thaumanova will just be inquest, golems, and portals with weird creatures coming through them with lots of hp that will take forever to kill. Is that what you guys really want? More of the same old same old. A fractal about Abaddon AT LEAST has the potential to be something different….a refreshing change to what we have now.

I agree with the OP. Right now it’s been very hard for me to score points. I usually end up with no weapon at the start making it hard to kill anyone for points. As a ghost, again it depends on finding a survivor and getting them to trigger the trap you set. So at the end of the game even though I managed to survive to 4th or 3rd, there’s no credit for that. I end up with 10 pts per game. I know I’m not good at this game, but I do think some points for surviving any length of time would be reasonable.

You won’t get maximum score this way though… Anyhow. I have to admit I hate southsun survival. I usually like the minigames and I really like the new aspect arena.
I’m usually at least decent in minigames but for some reason I’m absolutely horrible in southsun survival. My arrows always miss and I always fail to dodge enemy arrows. I never find food. I never manage to scavenge anything without someone killing me or triggering a trap even though I try to keep eye on them.

I know exactly how you feel because that describes my experience so far to a T. Even when I tried hiding in a good place wouldn’t you know it….some ghost had enough motes to spawn a karka on top of me. Oh well, this is why I don’t pvp either. But I’m glad a lot of people are enjoying it.

I’ve actually heard rumors that there may be problems in regards to tax collecting in Lion’s Arch. It appears that some individual tax collectors have been targeting Evon Gnashblade’s business with the intention of making it more difficult for him to get certain permits. I wonder if Ellen Kiel is behind this dastardly scheme. The head of council insists that this was just a matter of clerical errors by certain individuals. I think this calls for an investigation.

Thanks Xiao Haishou for your suggestions. I’ll try to use those in the next game.

I don’t like the game since I don’t enjoy pvp. However, I do understand that it’s the type of mini game that would appeal to some players. The main problem I see is the scoring system. I think points should at least be rewarded to people for staying alive longer. So second, third, fourth, etc. each get some pts as well. You’re better off dying and getting points for setting traps than trying to stay alive unless you have a good chance to win.

I’m not good at this game; so I don’t understand how to make 50 pts per game. I am not good at killing anyone because I usually end up with no arrows/weapon, so no points there. Even when I pick up motes and try to set traps, I still only get about 10 pts per game. Very slow ….. what should I be doing? Any help would be appreciated. It’s ok if I don’t get this achievement since there are others I can finish. I just wish I knew how to get better. =(

Ayumi … I doubt you were getting “many” kite fortunes since they are not considered a common drop. It’s still possible to get them, but let’s not exaggerate.

I think the devs love Azurans because they seem to be critical to every story so far. They were behind all the shenanigans with the settlers in Southsun. Tixx brought the airship to all the cities during Winter’s Day events. SAB was all about an Azuran who wanted to give kids an interesting way to learn. Now they want to build a fractal about an explosion at Thaumanova. Reminds me of Vekk’s poor father who died as we all remember. So Abaddon sounds a lot more interesting to me. Nightfall was a great campaign. I also agree that Evon has a lot more potential for character development in the future. He’s a little mysterious and probably has ties to all sorts of nefarious organizations.

I’ve noticed the same thing Hermes. So I’m wondering if we can still get Kite Fortunes in loot bags or drops. I’ve gotten a number of wooden chests today, but they all contained vote tokens. I’d like to get some official response as to whether they will still drop in the open world or not.

I did manage to get a kite fortune from one basket, but that was after several hours of killing stuff and opening other baskets. I bought some heavy loot bags and did get some kit fortunes that way. So it’s still possible to get them although the chance seems extremely low now. The other day I got quite a few recipes as well; today nothing.

The devs are probably all divided just like the rest of us. We have had many updates featuring the Azura including the SAB in April. They seem to be behind recent problems in Southsun Cove. Tixx brought us the airship at the Winter’s Day festivities. So I think the Abaddon fractal would be much more interesting than checking out an explosion at some Azuran reactor.

And of course we must remember that unfortunately there are some people who enjoy bashing others. The forums are full of condescending remarks, full of negativity. So even if Anet created some really amazing content, there would be those who would enjoy saying they didn’t like it just to be disagreeable.

You know there’s that saying: you can please some of the people some of the time…all of the people some of the time … some of the people all of the time .. but you can never please all of the people all of the time. There will always be someone who’s not happy.

Hopefully Anet has tough skin and forum-goers like yourself will be able to keep people focused on the positive.

GuzziHero that’s an extremely rude comment full of condescension. You must think you’re entitled to reprimand whoever you like. It’s not up to you to judge other people.

First of all the OP obviously tried many times. It’s not like they failed once and came here to rage. Second, the OP clearly states that they just had to get that out of their system. Lastly, the camera angles are a real issue in this puzzle that make it harder to gauge jumps in some spots.

Best advice I can give is that if someone is feeling too frustrated it’s best to take a break. Then go back and give it another go. I find that usually helps a lot.

Have you fought him before? He’s not like most veteran mobs. If so give me tips instead of assuming I’m underleveled. I am a ranger for one thing. Secondly, once he aggros on me I can’t shake him. That’s the problem. If I stop to attack him he’s on top of me with huge damage. If I kite him, my pet doesn’t seem to do enough damage and sooner or later I die. I have tried activating traps and rooting him but he seems immune or breaks loose almost immediately. So that’s the reason I’ve never made it into Vexa’s Lab. I’m sure a warrior or guardian would have no problems here.

No it hasn’t been solved. I went around and activated many projectors yesterday and still no pirates. The day before I had no problems finding them. Just seems odd that everything is fine one day and the next nothing. I don’t think it can just be due to people bypassing projectors. Only other explanation is that I had really bad luck.