Guild Wars 2

OP here ..

Just wanted to login and say, Rox doesn’t look half-bad ingame, anymore. I like the way she looks now. I’m going to assume that you scaled her eyes down, and if you did, thanks for listening to your players.

Good day,

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/march-2013/

Genuine question .. are Rox’ eyes going to look like that? Right now, she looks like a comic-stylised character. I’ll have a hard time taking her serious, and importantly; immerse myself in the lore you’re writing into the game.

Thanks.

I think it might be new.

Safer Saviour.9685:

Superpal.4961:

I can’t possibly express how much I want Cantha back in the world. Factions was the strongest expansion pack, in my opinion. It struck me emotionally more than mmos ever did before. It’s ironic that universal means ONE culture and artstyle. That’s the antonym meaning of the word. (curious, since there are Elonians in the game, and the Ossan Quarter is not hiding anything)

Even my character, a Vasburg, is devoted to Kurzick culture and lore; a story that was compelling and interesting. The Luxons and Kurzicks made their way into the heart of many players.

Isn’t NCSoft Korean? I have so many puzzling unanswered questions.

Crossing my fingers for rationality and a reborn Cantha.

Bit edgy to name your character Vasburg. I have a character whose family swore fealty to the Vasburgs, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go with that.

If that works for you.

I don’t recall any official number on the House members. There’s a gap in time after the end of Factions, where logically new members were born. Who’s to say a father or mother, or both, weren’t adventurous and went on to Kryta with House Ulrikar? Yes, there were infighting between the Houses, but with the Ministry of Purity and the short time of peace after Shiro’s second death, it leaves a time open for questions on whether immigrating is a better idea or seeking a stronger political standing with the other houses; and potential roleplaying. There’s a lot of speculation that rules nothing out. Especially because, as previously mentioned, there are no numbers. You’d have to think that the families were marginally bigger than represented in the game, simply because it is a video game. Vasburgs were also the second most influential House, and likely the second or largest one considering they were purely the military vanguard.

Completely off topic here, but I imagine seeing people discussing 7 year old lore is a positive effect.

I can’t possibly express how much I want Cantha back in the world. Factions was the strongest expansion pack, in my opinion. It struck me emotionally more than mmos ever did before. It’s ironic that universal means ONE culture and artstyle. That’s the antonym meaning of the word. (curious, since there are Elonians in the game, and the Ossan Quarter is not hiding anything)

Even my character, a Vasburg, is devoted to Kurzick culture and lore; a story that was compelling and interesting. The Luxons and Kurzicks made their way into the heart of many players.

Isn’t NCSoft Korean? I have so many puzzling unanswered questions.

Crossing my fingers for rationality and a reborn Cantha.

It’s not just you. I’m 20 years old and every single quest so far has been predictable and, well… I miss Guild Wars 1 story writing.

Story and lore is not only for the PvEer or Roleplayer. It is also for the PvPer. The Great Temple of Balthazar was a great idea with it’s scenarios. You felt like you were fighting for the glory of the God. Likewise did the Luxons and the Kurzick have an indepth grudge we could take part of, and it made the PvP more interesting, and also made factions of players fight each other for a love of their own faction. The Mists do little to show this, they’re good scenarios that are kept in time, and my only real gripe, is that it feels a little cold in terms of lore. WvW, is in lack of real lore, sadly. It’s not really memorable, but it’s a good game.

Story and lore is the trademark of GW1 and hopefully will be of GW2. It’s what makes even singleplayer games interesting, many years later, too. It will stick in your head, like Pre-Searing Ascalon, Yak’s Bend, the Maguuma Jungle, Kaineng City, Vabbi, etc. I can remember all of these places, because as a player you were taken along to the areas and they had depth to them. They weren’t just questing hubs that you went through to get 100% completion, they offered unique areas that had their own story, but also intertwined with the main story. I mostly remember the GW1 areas when I at Tyria. I feel that the Maguuma Jungle for example, has little new lore to give. It’s mostly the ruins that are compelling, and I’m sure this wasn’t the intent.

It got longer than I expected, and most of all everything written is to provide you feedback from a very big fan. I was interested in playing GW1 years later and redo Prophecies many times, but even on my second run through GW2, midway, because I’ve not completed the story yet, I feel somewhat bored.. and it feels trivial. Like a book with too many cliches, characters, and the like. Which is a shame, because you’ve shown in the past you can do marvelous stories. I suppose this is one of the dangers of having a forum, haha, but know it to be true that I write all this to try and help, and I completely support the OP. Sticky this thing, or at least make sure it won’t drown on the forum! This is one of the best written construcive criticisms on the forum boards.

Most of all, I would like to give you a big hug.

As another lore and story fan, I envy your ability to write down exactly what I felt. If I was a teacher I’d give you an A+ and recommend you, and if I was working at Arenanet I would sticky this. (sticky it) Why should you sticky it? Because every single point this guy, or girl, makes, is on the point. It is all true and it’s beautifully compared to the first Guild Wars, that enriched and enthralled players with it’s story and lore. A story that would rival many fantasy novels and games on the market.

Story is about captivation and nostalgia, and lore is about enrichment and knowledge. I’m not feeling that I’ve been enriched with knowledge of the world in Guild Wars 2, at all. Neither am I feeling much captivation of the story because of the points made in this thread. Or feeling much nostalgia… The only compelling things in Metrica Province were for example the Guild Wars 1 lore, i.e. ruins.

I’ve been a big fan of the Factions campaign, and my character is a testament of my love to the Kurzick. Factions had uniqueness, it introduced us to the Luxons and the Kurzick. In the missions you were introduced to them and you learned a short deal about them, but most of all you were intrigued by their unique culture. Should you want to learn about them, the lore was in the game and ready for you read.

I’m not going to write a long post about what I feel, because the thread pinpoints exactly what I feel! I’m not going to speak for anyone else when I say, that I’ve felt a little disappointed… and I’m not really compelled. OP mentions the lack of cutscenes, and I agree on this. I would also like to add that I find the cutscenes bland? They seem more boring than ever, and most know that the GW1 cutscenes could do with some work.. like in the Bonus Mission Story Pack, which had unique animations and good cutscenes.

On another note, even though in comparison to GW1 and it’s campaigns / expansions I feel that GW2 is a step back in the direction of lore and story, there are good things, as well. The Dynamic Events and Hearts are cool and fun, and sometimes offers lore that you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. +1! These should somewhat revolve around the core of the story, and for the most, they do. They’re well made. So a big plus. The scenery is amazing and zones look unique. Another big plus.

A short note (hah) on the effects of enemies in the game. In GW1 enemies would usually be distinct to a certain area of the world, and that’s really good. Because, that created diversity and made the areas more interesting. In GW2, you see skritt, quaggans, centaurs, and ettins too widely spread. The ogres, on the other hand, are more neatly located in Ascalon, which also makes sense. When you see a certain enemy, or friendly race, too much, they became uninteresting and they seem as if they have a bigger impact on the lore as a whole, but they don’t.

ps. POIs are cool, but would have been cooler if they had a little text associated with them, like waypoints in GW1 had a short text associated with them, that give you a resume about the place.

No! Account-bound achievements was a great decision. It’s about you as a player, not your characters. It wouldn’t be much fun to roll alts, for some people, if they were character-bound.

I might regret my rudeness, but

Hi, I’m Newsflash, and I’m a PvP oriented game

@Furienify exactly. A pure mantra build isn’t fun. Mantras, themselves, imo, aren’t very fun either.

Word of advice, remember when Colin Johanson said “I swung my sword, oh I swung it again”. The number 1 ability on any weapon is testament that Arenanet tried to make PvE more exciting and generally just faster. It’s an auto-attack that deals the second highest damage on most weapons. Use it! Don’t be afraid to just auto-attack and then prioritise the other weapon skills for cripples, knockbacks, etc. They’re all created with PvP in mind. Same goes for utilities, they’re called utilities because they’re utilities. I.E. you’ll want to use them in dangerous situations or in a tactical approach with your team or against your enemy. Also, you mentioned you were fighting an ettin and it took long. This isn’t uncommon, they’re tough creatures. If you want to talk DPS in this game (forbid it, it’s more about staying alive) then auto-attacking and button 2 are your friends. In PvE it’s safe enough. Dungeons, are of course another story.

Konig found you a nice link about the undead in GW1, and they were all from Orr. Supposedly, this was the entirety of the army that was raised by the Lich. So, they are out of the picture for Zhaitan in GW2, if we go by the theory that the undead can only be raised once.

In Guild Wars 1 you would click on waypoints and a short text about the place’s history would show. I very much miss this and would love to see a short text appear on both waypoints and most importantly on points of interest./POI It would give the game story that much more depth and will be more rememberable.

I’m going to sneakingly compliment your thread by thanking for another remarkable place in GW2 that has reference to the first game.

World vs World is an idea forged from Balthazar and it is a picture of his godhood and interest in all that is war and honour. He, as the last god to show himself, created this portal entrance to the Mists in Lion’s Arch (was it really retconned?) so that the Guilds of the Worlds could fight each other for honour and glory. This, in lore, is not preprosterous. At the time of Guild Wars 1, a lot of the PvP scenarios were encouraged by Balthazar and the meeting place for PvP players was sensibly called The Temple of Balthazar, located on the Battle Isles. The key word is ‘battle’. It is what the humans strive for to show respect, and to praise their god of War. Norns and Charr are unlikely to turn down an opportunity for battle, glory or hunt. It is what creates legends and battle is what the Charr was born of. Sylvari, we know them as the explorers and they are uncautiously curious in all and everything. The Asurans are tricky, and my knowledge of their culture is vague despite having played for years. It is imagineable that they have their own reasons.

You must remember that the Gods, despite their withdrawal, still play a very big role on the world and culture.

I didn’t read the entire thread because I only felt a need to say I absolutely disagree. Jeremy Soule is one of the greatest composers of our time, he’s innovative despite the fact he makes music for so so many video games. He recently orchestrated for Skyrim, yet the snowy areas of Guild Wars have little resemblance to it. Please, he’s doing his finest and you were bordering on insult.

I would also like to say a very humble thank you. It is obvious that you have worked long and hard on this game, and it is obvious that you still do with your updates, posts and your interest in your players. I hope everything is well at your office, Arenanet.