Guild Wars 2

Nightarch.2943:

Great, more sci-fi themes. /sarcasm

Magitech isn’t sci-fi. It’s just high fantasy as opposed to low fantasy.

There’s no way their plan was ever to kill Taimi in season 1. They just barely introduced her. That would be a total waste of a good character.

I don’t think they planned to kill any character in the final confrontation. It’s too predictable. If any of the major characters will die it will be after we’ve had more chance to explore them, and at a completely unexpected moment.

She’s there to be important in season 2 and so we don’t keep asking “if she’s so obsessed with Scarlet why didn’t we see her in season 1?”

Sometimes you establish a character and they become important later. And given a certain looming danger now hanging over Rata Sum it’s probably good to have an established Asuran character for the biconics already in place.

Though she may also have a part to play in the epilogue as well.

-A lore panel that collects what has happened in the living story and the personal story and ties into rewards that upgrade a players personal home instance. Bonus points if we can customize our personal home instance and if there is a lore “codex” that gives you information on things you find out in the world like monsters, npc’s, and points of interest.

-Polymock Arena. Because there’s a lot of minis in this game and they like to give minis out as rewards for meta achievements, so why not give them a use?

-Multi-spec feature. Because they took out the respec service on the gem store.

-New Town Clothing feature and wardrobe. Because they took out most of the town clothes last Dec which may mean a revamp.

There needs to be a permanent single-player “training” dungeon which gives out something really awesome and unique at the end, and each part of the dungeon teaches you the concepts you need to know to not be a drain during events. Teach a player everything they need to know for level 80 play in this one dungeon and make the reward something everyone will want.

The skill level of players will jump up real fast.

The pattern of late has been that patches come in sets of two, the first patch lasting all month, and the second adding to that patch and lasting two weeks alongside the other patch.

Some warning that wasn’t the case this time would have been reallllly nice. Even better if this wasn’t even an issue and we could see in the game UI itself.

Yeah, it wasn’t a tough meta event to complete, except sometimes lives get busy. If you’re going to have such strictly regimented schedules we have to play with, then I’d humbly suggest give us the information we need to plan ahead. It’s been over a year. The UI support for the Living Story is still pretty paltry at the moment.

Some patches story/achievments we have a month to finish, others we only have two weeks, and we have no way to know which is which and no way to know how to schedule our time. If you insist on forcing us to play on your schedule, then at least let us know what that schedule is.

Some of us have busy lives. Please give us some help here. The Living Story has been going for over a year now and there’s still no panel dedicated to it in the UI. How this wasn’t prioritized given how important the Living Story is to this game’s update cadence is mystifying.

It appears it’s YOU who don’t know how to play the game. All those things are optional. If you enjoy doing something it’s not a grind. If you don’t enjoy doing it then don’t do it.

I wouldn’t be surprised if features such as these are included on the “lore panel” they mentioned awhile ago (granted we haven’t heard about it in awhile).

I’m reaaaaaalllly hoping that the lore panel will finally make it’s arrival in the upcoming features patch. I’d always assumed it would show up in the patch where we uncover Scarlet’s background but it seems not.

I get the feeling though that the lore panel is a lot more feature rich than we think. They’ve been working on it forever. And it could fit in nicely with giving the personal home instance a purpose beyond just mining nodes.

There is no grind in this game. But just because a game has no grind doesn’t mean it doesn’t have long term goals. The difference is grind is REQUIRED to play the game.

There isn’t anything after exotics that are required to do any activity in the game except high level fractals, and by the time you’ve get to a high level in fractals you’re not experiencing something new, you’re just repeating something you’ve done many times before, but tougher so you can get more gear to do it again, but even tougher. If you do high level fractals you’re doing it because you LIKE grind. That’s the entire point of doing them.

The problem with karma is if you don’t care about Legendaries then it’s pretty much useless. We really need a karma vendor that is as useful as the laurel or guild commendation vendor (but with different stuff so as not to make those obsolete).

I’d like to add my appreciation for the character of Taimi as well. I’ve been waiting it seems forever for a major asuran character in the living story and she was very much worth the wait!

All in all, I’m very happy with our “heroes” in the living story. I’m finding them all quite memorable.

The statue of Rytlock is waaaaaay larger than I thought it was. Much bigger than the Malgus statue in the SWTOR collector’s edition. It’s huge.

The making of book is also really interesting.

If those two items don’t sound like your cup of tea then it probably isn’t worth it. The big disappointment is the digital items. Though I do have a character that uses the ghost wolf elite at times.

I thought it was worth it at $150. I"m not sure I’d play $230 though.

I believe they said we wouldn’t get the six month blog post until after the Scarlet story. They’re being very secretive (more than usual).

I second this. I was really surprised to see that gap on my human mesmer. I guess I didn’t notice it on the preview and it made me regret buying it. It makes it look like it doesn’t fit and he has a really bad tailor.

I’m not a fan of SAB either. I feel car sick when playing any 16-bit style 3D game. I can’t play Minecraft either.

A lot of concepts in SAB are cool. I wish it had been a more serious, story-driven solo dungeon that was permanent content. As it is, it’s a waste for me personally (though I know others love it).

Actually I find the snowball fight to be the most fun mini-game they’ve made. It becomes festivally epic when you put on some trans-siberian orchestra while playing it.

Personally, I’ve never not had fun in the Skyhammer map even when crazy things happen (or maybe it’s because crazy things do happen). It’s a fun, casual map. There is nothing wrong with that.

Don’t over blance Skyhammer so much that you make it bland Anet. It’s the only map that really stands out as different so far.

Skyhammer is not a failure. It is by far the most FUN map in sPvP for me.

Is it the best map for super-try-hard mode that hardcore players like? Nope. And not every map should be. It’s for fun and casual play.

It’s actually the most fun I’ve had in small-group, instanced MMO pvp, replacing HuttBall in SWTOR.

I really hope ANet is not scared to create more fun maps because of a small number of very loud voices.

This is the best update since the Bazaar of the Four Winds. I love the sense of exploring a new zone and all the little callbacks to past stories in it (even though there was not much actual story advancement).

The best part is the difficulty feels right on for open world group content. My girlfriend and I have really enjoyed having difficult content to duo that isn’t overwhelming and scales to whatever group we’re in whether it’s just the two of us, or if we’ve happened to make a friend along the way. Please MORE scalable content!

Speaking of making friends along the way, we did just that. This is the first open world content I’ve found that really encourages people to work together while still splitting us into smaller groups. If you’re of a sociable mindset you can really get a sense of camaraderie while fighting your way up the tower.

This update really shows what can be done with the open world and if Anet doesn’t forget the lessons they obviously learned in crafting the Nightmare Tower then I look forward to future updates.

A truly wonderful update that shows the kind of game play you can only get in GW2. I just wish it wasn’t going away. If we had several places like this with scalable content around the world that rotated weekly just like the mini-games rotate daily it’d great. Scalable content for small groups is something that really fits this game. And it’s a lot more fun than Frostgorge Sound farming.

I wish there was more content added during the living story that was scalable. For example like in The Secret World’s new skirmish system. I’d love to have a mode of play where I could experience lore and story in solo, duo, or in a five man group depending on my mood. The varying difficulty levels TSW uses for that system I think would fit GW2 really well given that there is a real tug of war between casuals and more hardcore players.

I just wish there was a mode of play connected with lore and story where we had more control over how many people are there, and how difficult the content would be (with increasing amounts of rewards of course for greater difficulties). New “skirmishes” could be added during different living story events, and would give a tie to those older story points after the event was over and would give us more permanent content.

Favorite Living Story Chapter: Hmm… I’d have to say Bazaar of the Four Winds. The zone was beautiful and there were a lot of fun mechanics you had to use to explore it. Plus there were two really fun and unique mini-games and even the drinking game thrown in just for fun. And the lore around the Zephyrites and the teasing about Glint’s legacy really piqued my interest. It was fun all around but still had strong lore ties. I would love to see it picked up on again and continued.

Worst Living Story Chapter: Super Adventure Box (both times!). I know a lot of people love the SAB, and so it’s really just personal preference on my part. But even as someone who was gaming in the 8-bit and 16-bit era the minecraft style graphics ruin my enjoyment. So much effort put into the project, it makes me wonder what you guys could do with a story based, solo instance, lore focused release instead. I’d love something like that I could play with my girlfriend, just… not the Super Adventure Box. I’d rather something that was more…Tyrian based.

On the plus side, I enjoyed seeing Motto’s old krewe in Rata Sum in the second SAB release. That was a really nice touch. I’m more interested in them than in Motto’s invention.

I’d really love to see the elder dragons return, if only because the fight against Zhaitian never really lived up to the “Fear Not This Night” song. I want to feel like the world may really be overwhelmed even if I know it really can’t be. I want the struggle against the dragons to be epic. Nay… LEGENDARY.

The open world part of the living story needs to become what you always wanted the dynamic events to be.

I’d love to see dragon invasions that are like a combination of Scarlet Invasions and the Teq event taken to a whole new level. Zones are invaded and if not fended off the zone is corrupted by the dragon with a real visible change. If the dragon’s minions take a zone they push onto the next zone until they assault one of the player cities. On the other hand if we take the zone back we can do events to uncorrupt the zone. With enough victories we can take the fight to the Dragon’s Champion.

And here’s the trick, it would be really awesome if we had that without it just being a zerg. And by zerg I mean encouraging us to gather into 80+ groups whether or not they are coordinated. Lag is bad. Don’t encourage it. Some groups are just too large.

Meanwhile, there should be a story around all that in solo instances. These should make me care about who these dragon’s servants are and tease with the mysteries that surround the elder dragons. They should make me feel like a hero and important. If the dragon happens to be Mordremoth then that’s a great time to really delve into the characters of Caithe, Scarlet, and Faolain in a meaningful way. If that dragon happens to be Kralkotorik then that’s a wonderful time to really explore the legacy of Glint and the Zephrityes. Make the dragons and their servants interesting, but also create other stories that semi-relate to them that make sense.

Most of all… explore the lore of Tyria. Sometimes you have to solve a mystery if only to convince the players that you actually know the answers yourselves. You still haven’t proven that a year in. You just tease more mysteries.

Top 5 improvements you’ve done so far this year:

-Moving to a more cinematic style of storytelling.

-Some memorable characters. Rox, Braham, Faran, Evon Gnashblade, even hobo-tron.

-Moving important story events are told in separate instances, not in the open world.

-Scarlet Invasions and Teq fight show the potential of open world events. They just need tweaking. You’re sooooo close with those. I suggest using them as a beta test for future events and continue adjusting them till you get them just right.

-Love the build up to the Nightmare Tower. If all events are built up like this then it will go a long way to making the world seem more living.

Top 5 changes needed:

-We need a lore panel. The personal story, the living story, general lore in the world (sorta like the codex in Bioware games), and hopefully one day the in-game books that were supposed to be in the game at launch, all wrapped up into one nice user interface experience. With rewards unlocked for our personal instance linked to the lore and story tidbits we uncover. The Living Story badly needs a record of what has been going on and the game in general suffers from a severe lack of in-game lore.

-Scavenger hunts with no clues or real story is not fun, nor is it content. The search for the Mad King’s diary was fun, the search for the dragon clues in Tequetel Rising was not.

-If you’re going to put in open world content that requires coordination then it would be helpful to give commanders features that help facilitate that. Commander tags aren’t just a WvW thing anymore.

-Please… less zergs. Spread us out more. Being in groups in the open world is great, but everyone in the zone in one spot is baaaaaaaad.

-Please stop taking out content. Where was Reaper Rumble this year? The Mad King’s Journal? The journal last year did more for the Mad King’s story than the short fiction piece this year. He was creepy last year, this year he’s just silly. It makes me fear for Wintersday.

Also something dear to my heart, there is minimal asuran presence in the story so far if you take out the festive stuff. I miss Zorjaa and would love to see a new asuran have an IMPORTANT part in the living story (not just an NPC that gives you a quest). Tixx and Motto are fun but they are not in any way central to the living story.

In response to a possible “we would like to start herding players to just one mini-game at a time”… that’s what the daily achivments are for. It’d be nice to have variety during an event that will likely last a month.

I’m not sure if a dev has ever given the official reason why Reaper’s Rumble was removed this year but please don’t remove any of the mini-games from Wintersday. All three were a lot of fun and were unique experiences and added a great deal of magic and whimsy to the holiday season.

I’d be the saddest assistant toymaker ever if any of them were taken out (especially the snowball fight, something I have waited patiently an entire year to return).

Pleasssssse?

Whitey.6185:

By the way, there will be 4 (5 including this Krait one) more updates before the end of the year, not 3.

Where do you get the idea there will be 5 more patches?

I’m not getting the impression that most fans even want more Ascended items this soon. Just because it’s in the blog doesn’t mean they should launch it if it’s just not time yet.

The second patch of the month is usually the smaller one anyway. But it’s weird that we still don’t know what kind of content the Tower is.

I really hope there’s a twist and the Krait’s ally isn’t Scarlet. She just can’t bear the full burden of the story anymore. There needs to be another layer to this storyline. She’s just not the type of villain that stands on her own. She needs other factors to interact with.

At the very least, if it has to be Scarlet, please use this opportunity to show us WHY she can strong arm all these factions and help her be a more believable character.

I’m not one of the Scarlet haters. I say this as a fan of the character.

It looks like a werewolf to me. Which might have something to do with the Mad King’s next plot?

The problem with this item isn’t that some people might be stupid enough to actually buy it, it’s what it means for the game overall. Now Anet is much less likely to give us a multi-spec feature because if they do they lose out on gem sales.

This is a game that needs that convenience because it should be a game that encourages using multiple builds for different situations. Having to reset my trait points and remember what traits I had each time I switch builds is an annoyance that discourages that.

I should be able to push a button, pay my silver, and my traits, skills, and armor/weapons/trinkets should all instantly change (when not in combat) with no muss or fuss.

Encouraging build diversity would make the game a lot more interesting and earn them more gem purchases in the long run. This is a short term, and short sighted move on their part.

There’s been various short stories released regarding GW2, including those put up before the launch of the game and the short stories that have been added as part of the Living Story. However, once the story scrolls off the front page it becomes difficult to find.

It doesn’t seem like it would take the web team very long to put together a fiction page that has all these stories in one place for easy access.

If even Wooden Potatoes can miss a story here and there then something is wrong.

I suggest adding a “Fiction” link to the Media tab at the top of the page.

-Rox[Charr trying for Stone Warband] I like Rox a lot. I find her personality very engaging and I feel attached to this character. Especially when paired with Braham or when contrasting with Rytlock.

-Braham[Upstart Norn Hero] I love this character too and how he failed to get the girl despite being such a good guy/hero. I like his strained relationship with Eir too.

-Ellen Kiel[Lionsguard Captain//Lion’s Arch Council Member] I find Ellen interesting. She’s so strait laced and yet is an important figure in a PIRATE city. I’d love to see the background on how she became that way. And there’s a ton of potential for that to develop during the ongoing Living Story. People are kitten her for not having depth but in a novel we’d barely have been introduced to her character at this point. Each update isn’t a chapter in a novel. It’s a single scene from a TV show. How much depth is she supposed to have at this point? She’s a character we’re supposed to see develop over time, not start out that way.

-Moto[Inventor of SAB] He stole a lot of concepts from my asura character. I know it’s coincidence but it still sucks.

-Canach[Lone Guerrilla Terrorist] A passable villian.

-Mai Trin[Aetherblade Captain] Needs more development, as do the Aetherblades in general.

-Evon Gnashblade[Owner of Black Lion Company] I love his personality. He has character and I hope to see him in the future as a sometimes ally and sometimes foe. Let him be unpredictable.

-Marjory Delaqua[Old-School Necromancer Detective] She could be an interesting character but needs more time in the spotlight.

-Lady Kasmeer[Partner of Marjory and Noble] I don’t know if this character has a point yet. She has never done anything worthwhile so far.

-Mr. E[Mystery] If he returns then I’m interested in how that may develop. But there’s been no indication he has anything to do with anything yet.

-Faren[Faren] Faren is fantastic. Now I want to play the human story to see how he’s introduced. Just don’t overuse him.

-Scarlet Briar[Crazy Omnipotent-ish Mastermind] I like Scarlet but I think she’s better as a wildcard in a more layered story. I’m not sure she works as the sole focus of the Living Story. I wish they’d let her fade into the background and tell a wider story, then bring her back where I think she could shine.

Best:

1. Wintersday- To me this was the best holiday in any MMO ever. The snowball fight, choir bell, and the snow fort games were fantastic. Just put on some trans-siberian orchestra and presto: epic holiday fun! It was also the first time a musical instrument was added to the game. It was the most whimsical and festive I’ve felt in a game ever.

2. Daily Activities- There were a lot of neat mini-games added this year but that moment when there was finally enough for them to add in a daily rotation and make many of them permanent was great.

3. Dragon Ball- This was a really fun mini-game that I wish was part of the daily rotation. Just because afker’s are stupid doesn’t mean the game wasn’t really fun. Just have to take away the rewards if you do nothing during the game.

4. Molten Facility and Aetherblade Retreat- Really showed that Anet is learning and upping their game.

5. Friendship of Braham and Rox- I always get a chuckle out of these two. I feel more connected to them of any character since the mentor in the Durmand Priory.

6. Scarlet Invasions/Teq fight- These really show the potential of what the Elder Dragons can do one day. Maybe we will feel like the entire world is at stake eventually. When I fight Teq I put on “Fear Not This Night” and it feels epic even when we’re doomed in an overflow.

Worst:

1. Flame and Frost: Prelude- This beginning to the Living Story hurt Anet’s selling of the idea to fans more than it helped. They should have just delayed it till they had more content.

2. Queen’s Jubilee- Just a zerg fest but without the epic feeling that the Scarlet Invasions have. The Queen’s duels weren’t my thing either.

3. Confusing way of presenting the Living Story- We really need that Living Story panel they’re adding later this year and these updates need to add more lore in general.

4. Scavenger Hunts with no clues- Anything where I have to either randomly run into an item I’m searching for or go to Dulfy’s site sucks in general. I want to feel like I’m figuring out a puzzle. Not like it’s just boring busy work.

5. Super Adventure Box- I can see why people like it, it’s just not my thing because of the Minecraft style graphics.

A quote from Scarlet in the “What Scarlet Saw” short story:

“But I reject that call. I reject the notion that that I must choose the Dream or be lost to Nightmare. The forces that push us this way or that can be redirected. They can be set against one another to the detriment of both, and now I know how.”

My theory is that she’s going to going to set the various factions against one another, thus explaining many world boss and dungeon changes that are upcoming.

The second patch of the month has always been feature light. The first patch has the big features and the big event of the month, and the second patch just continues the story of the first patch and might have a few small feature additions.

Having said that, the hints are that a major story development takes place.

I enjoy mini-pets but why Queen Jennah? We’ll be getting mini-Jennahs long after the Queen’s Jubilee is over. I’d rather have had either a mini-pet that could logically be our character’s actual pet, or a character that has been vitally important to the living story over the last year.

However, if Jennah turns out to be Scarlet then I take it back and it’s an appropriate 1 year gift.

I thought the opening ceremony was awesome and really shows what the living story can become. I hope we see a lot more of these to introduce new patches from here on out. Rox and Braham were awesome, as was Lord Faren. Even the straight-laced characters came across well. It makes me want to do the human personal story so I know more about them.

An entire skyship coming out of the sky was awesome as well. And the mysterious figure.

This was the best “story” moment of the Living Story so far!

As for Logan and Rytlock reconciling… this year’s Living Story does not assume that the Destiny’s Edge storyline came first. It’s supposed to be able to fit in either during or after.

The new mini-game rotation they’re adding in the next patch means the mini-games are a permanent addition to the game now.

Queensdale is really the only zone where that’s a problem though.