How about I just picked a random person because I don’t give a kitten about this coercive “living story” crap kittening with my gameplay. Even after reading and researching, they both sounded dull and pointless.
NOOOO!!!! Don’t pick random. If you don’t like the living story crap, boycott it. Don’t support either candidate.
The stories are connected. You’ll find out more later this year.
If you string out the plot lines for too long, players will lose interest.
What I’ve gotten from the ‘Living Story’ so far:
Some power hungry Charr teamed up with some underground mole people (seriously? mole people?!?! O.o) in order to wreck Kryta for some reason. A walking Cabbage (Canach- who is ‘Canach’ anyway? And why should I care?) went to some random resort island (seriously?!?! a resort island?!?! what happened to fantasy?) and got some crabs angry for some reason. Pirates showed up and killed someone for some reason. Then some random merchants came on a flying boat and sold us stuff for some reason.
I have no idea what is happening in this game. I could talk for hours about the lore and story of GW1 but this new GW2 ‘story’ is just page 6 tabloid filler.
I honestly don’t see how you are planning to tie the story together in any sort of coherent and meaningful fashion. It’s so utterly fragmented as to be nonexistent.
Looks to be another very bland content patch.
I was unaware that adding a new area in DR (Reperation in the Great Divide is underway) With easy access to everything ,
“Unlimited” salvaging ,
New weapon and armors ,
Treasure hunting ,
Guild message of the day (something people wanted since release)
PvP Dishonorable + Leaderboard ,
Game optimization , the ability to limit particule effects (something people wanted since release) ,
LFG tool ,Was bland .
New district in DR does nothing for me. I never go to DR. They could add a “Flying Unicorn” Vendor to DR and I would not go.
“Unlimited Salvaging” …is nothing but a gimmick that will cost you more than it will save. Think of it more like “Emergency Salvage” rather than “Unlimited Salvage”. Because that is truly all it is.
“GMotD and PvP Dishonorable/Leaderboards” – I don’t join guilds and the only PvP I like is solo roaming WvW.
“Treasure Hunting”…is going to be as abysmal as “Archaeology” was to WoW.
“Game Optimizations” Seriously, go buy a gaming rig and stop playing on a laptop. That’s what I have to say for graphics optimizations.
“LFG Tool” – I don’t run group dungeons/fractals. As a matter of fact, I don’t group up at all.
So yeah….nothing for me in those notes.
(edited by Elbegast.6970)
My Zephyr Sanctum Model doesn’t work. I double click it and nothing happens.
I’m voting for Kiel. You should, too!
I’m happy for you. Now, please, go write something that has nothing to do with merchants, crabs, politics or pirates.
Looks to be another very bland content patch.
Datamined patch notes =/= next patch
Yes, I am aware of that but there’s nothing in that list that jumps out and says “Hey, log back on. The game might be fun again!”.
Looks to be another very bland content patch.
i disagree a good story expands on what it did already we havent seen any update on the molten alliance its like it completely lost or dropped. ok whats going to happen in southsun now or the aetherblades. nope we are going into an election. yeah it sort of brought around from the other parts but im sitting here wondering what happens to the other things that happened and thinking hey we might never know. this plot is thin in my book. id love to see way more with the molten alliance(a story arc that takes us back to find more info about them) and how the settlers make out. give me substance not this thin sauce. i mean this a a living story make it a sort of story not something that dances around and vaguely gives something to tie into the next part of the story. they could have done so much more but it seems to be filler(not real meat) to just keep us playing like the dailies and monthlies and now achievement chests
You’re just being impatient.
Each month is an Act in a Play, you simply have to wait until the end before you can know who Luke Skywalker’s father really is.
You just have to wait for that one Act/Chapter that ties everything together.
There are acts in a play and then there are strings of half-sentences, lacking in both punctuation and context. The initial game’s ‘Personal Story’ felt much like the former. However, the ‘Living Story’ content feels very much like the latter.
I’m not voting. It’s a video game. I play games to get away from stupid things like politics.
Bazaar of the Four Winds, as many others have stated, is like the groundwork for a much bigger plot, i.e. the introduction of another Elder Dragon next month. I mean, a GW anniversary won’t be much of an anniversary without a new big big awesome dragon fight, would it?
Too bad the rest of the year was wasted on crabs, moles, CSI: LA, pirates and merchants. I’m not sure a new dragon can make up for this past year of lackluster content and incomprehensible, uninspired story-telling.
Where’s the tl;dr?
The only thing I hate worse than pirates ( the-go-to-bad-guy-when-you-can’t-think-up-anything-original )… are politics & religion.
Seriously, ArenaNet, who are writing these terrible plot/story lines? The constant ‘Threatwork News’ media bombardment is bad enough but now we have to deal with politics in a freakin’ video game?!?!
I want immersion but, more importantly, I need escapism.
We get politics in the next update! POLITICS? O.o
I didn’t sign up for this. I feel like I have been a victim of ‘bait & switch’. I want a refund.
(edited by Elbegast.6970)
At level 80 its 1 silver and 39 copper. Kill 3 random mobs and you can make that much money most of the time. I see no problem with the fee for fast travel, and if you are broke, wiki says its free and doesn’t mention any distance limit.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Waypoint
Edit: I take that back, from wiki “If the waypoint is contested, you will have to wait to travel (or have someone mail you the cost to travel to the next nearest waypoint).”
…OR log out and back in to your home town for free and you don’t have to suffer the humiliation of begging for funds or for a revive from a passing player. Therefore, the default becomes to log out and back in…and it feels terrible. It almost feels like an exploit….which further ruins immersion.
Nothing is more awesome than being forced to log out of the game because you have died and haven’t enough coin to revive at the nearest uncontested waypoint.
Love how often the word forced is thrown around these forums.
Waypointing is free if you don’t have enough coin to revive. Maybe you should actually experience things before complaining about them?….
…. Walk if you don’t want to spend the coin.
Waypointing is free if I’m broke and dead? Since when? I’ve had to relog many times because every surrounding waypoint was ‘contested’ and I was too broke to revive anywhere else.
And I usually DO walk everywhere in-game. And when I say ‘walk’ I mean that I actually walk. I haven’t ran in a very long time. Running and waypointing kills the immersion. I only wish we weren’t FORCED to use waypoints to revive upon death. Do you see how that works?
Nothing is more awesome than being forced to log out of the game because you have died and haven’t enough coin to revive at the nearest uncontested waypoint.
I think alot of people have missed alot of the developing story.
Lets start with Flame and Frost. In it we see the very unlikely dredge and Flame Legion allaince, the Molten Alliance. Their goal does seem conquest oriented but much of their focus was on developing an amalgum of magic and engineering. When attacking their facilities we find they are using slaves to mine a substance called Azurite that seems to have the properties of being able to conduct magical energy and seems to be part of how their technology works.
In the wake of this we find out another fact. It was a third party that arranged the allaince and though we know what the dredge and Flame Legion were after this third group remains out of sight including what it got out of the deal.
Secrets of Southsun was a break in the story used to introduct Keil and Kasmeer.
With the Dragon bash festival we are introduced to said festival. At the height of the festival, an act of sabotage kills one of the leader of LA and introduces a new enemy, the Aetherblades who we all know are sky pirates. Unmasking Mai as the murderer we discover that the Aetherblades saught to secure a place on the Captian’s Council.
Now the interesting part. In attacking their base of operations we discover three facts. One is that the Inquest is supporting them. Second is that the Aetherblades themselves lack the skills to mantain their gear by themselves (Keil states this). Third, we discover Mai, leader of the Aetherblades, has a boss, Scarlet.
Now we have two groups with someone manipulating them from the shadows.
The festival ends with Mai telling us that the Aetherblades arent done yet.
Now we have the Bazaar of the Four Winds. Theres alot to the story and lore of the Zephyrites. Infact the Zephyrites may have something of increadable value.
He has some points wrong but the general gist is there.
So now we have a group working from the shadows. connected to the Inquest, and who have recently formed a force of Sky Pirates, and a sky ship potentially holding artifacts and knowledge of great power…..
And thats ignoring Mr E., Marjory and Kasmeer’s connection to the corruption in the Ministary in DR, the politics of LA and the personal stories of Braham and Roxx.
And people say theres no story in the Living World story…..
I think the issue is more that people are missing the threads of the story for whatever reason.
Idk how you manage to put all that together without an empty bedroom wall, a dozen rolls of scotch tape, a cheap color printer and a creepy stalker mentality.
Go get a copy of ‘War & Peace’ but only read one and a half sentences per day. Let’s see how long it holds your interest.
And another thing…the murdered Charr at the Dragon Bash wasn’t dead. I revived him, using shadow refuge, but he wouldn’t say anything. He just stood there looking stupid so I logged out at 50% meta completion and haven’t logged on since.
Nothing screams ‘epic fantasy mmorpg’ quite like bipartisan politics and democratic elections. >.<
Are we playing a video game or watching Fox News? Are the storyline scripts being written by 70 year old men? Am I just imagining all of this from a hospital bed whilst in a comatose state?
As far as Kiel vs Evon…..darts. I have no clue who either of those characters are.
The next patch is adding quartz from the achievements, those who dont do the achievements wont be able to get quartz which screws over anyone who missed it…
Since when is crafting materials non-tradable?
And what happens, in a few years, when the last player attuned to mining quartz leaves the game?
Gating crafting materials behind a limited duration attunement window is a disaster waiting to happen. I have completely stopped playing the game due to these poor ‘Living Story’ design choices.
The frequent Living Story updates have caused me to quit playing. I don’t enjoy being forced to adhere to a gaming schedule in order to complete new content. Not to mention the content itself seems to be very bland and uninspired.
I run my i5 3570k at 4.6ghz with speedstep disabled. Paired with a Radeon HD 6970 2gb(+vsync and triple buffering enabled @1680x1050, 4xAF, 4xSSAA), I’ve never seen my framerate dip below 58-60fps in GW2 or any other game for that matter.
I guess you haven’t tried WvW with zergs.
I sure have and @ 58-60fps the entire time.
I meant zerging at the settings OP posted.
I haven’t been in a zerg at 1080p but I imagine it wouldn’t be far different that zerging wvw at 1680×1050. Both resolutions would use nearly the same amount of texture/video memory as well as CPU/RAM resources.
Being unable to complete past living story content is causing me to NOT want to complete (nor even attempt) future living story content.
I tried to get a party together for F&F 5-man dungeon. I ended up running it 3 times and the group fell apart each and every time. I never got my gauntlet ticket. When I see another player wearing the fused gauntlets, it’s like ANet is slapping me in the face and laughing maniacally while shouting “You already bought and paid for it! Refunds?!?! HAHAHAHA! Read the end-user license agreement. We don’t do ‘Refunds’, sucker! HAHAHA!”. Either that or the scene in the film ‘A Christmas Story’ where Santa gives the kid the boot…literally. That’s what it feels like ArenaNet.
I’m not even going to log on for BotFW. I may not log on to GW2 ever again. The living story is driving me (and others like me) away from the game.
I run my i5 3570k at 4.6ghz with speedstep disabled. Paired with a Radeon HD 6970 2gb(+vsync and triple buffering enabled @1680x1050, 4xAF, 4xSSAA), I’ve never seen my framerate dip below 58-60fps in GW2 or any other game for that matter.
I guess you haven’t tried WvW with zergs.
I sure have and @ 58-60fps the entire time.
Im suprised you dont get more fps, i get like 80-200 fps @ 1680.
heck why dont i just go down to 720p so i get 200 fps / sarcasm….
if you’re not even running 1080p then why are you even posting your fps?
It’s because I always have vsync enabled. Vsync locks your framerates to your monitor’s refresh rate. Which, in my case, is 60hz…so 60fps.
I run my i5 3570k at 4.6ghz with speedstep disabled. Paired with a Radeon HD 6970 2gb(+vsync and triple buffering enabled @1680x1050, 4xAF, 4xSSAA), I’ve never seen my framerate dip below 58-60fps in GW2 or any other game for that matter.
first of all ur not even running at 1080p, second of all you’r it is overclocked ALOT.
I don’t know if your trying to disprove my point that the game doesnt use all 4 cores, you just proved my point even more, to get decent frame rates AT 1080p you have to overclock your proccessor to insane speeds,
hell your not even running 1080p (which is a waste, considering your system specs).
i could run my game at semi-1080p also and do better, but i shouldn’t have to i can max all other games and get double or triple the fps i get in wvw on new, better looking games.
I wasn’t trying to prove or disprove anything. I was just sharing how I got my framerates to be playable in wvw .
I run my i5 3570k at 4.6ghz with speedstep disabled. Paired with a Radeon HD 6970 2gb(+vsync and triple buffering enabled @1680x1050, 4xAF, 4xSSAA), I’ve never seen my framerate dip below 58-60fps in GW2 or any other game for that matter.
I guess you haven’t tried WvW with zergs.
I sure have and @ 58-60fps the entire time.
I run my i5 3570k at 4.6ghz with speedstep disabled. Paired with a Radeon HD 6970 2gb(+vsync and triple buffering enabled @1680x1050, 4xAF, 4xSSAA), I’ve never seen my framerate dip below 58-60fps in GW2 or any other game for that matter.
(edited by Elbegast.6970)
I haven’t finished my personal story as the last leg is a 5 man dungeon. I don’t group with others so my personal story will forever remain incomplete.
Pride is a rather nasty thing at times and to be fair the instance is so boringly easy you can’t say the line “people are stupid and rude and makes it stressful”. If people in a group who don’t say anything and want the same goal as you are enough to make you avoid finishing a story you seemed to have interest in then that’s rather sad.
I never grouped, not even once, in GW1 and I’ve played that for 7+ years. I’m not about to start grouping now. GW2 even seemed to support the idea of not forming formal parties to do group content…until I was let down by the 5 man dungeon they slipped into my PERSONAL story. There’s nothing personal about being forced to play with 4 other complete strangers.
1. Is the Living story causing more harm than good, within the guild wars 2 community?
A: Yes, I believe it is.
2. If you were/are joining the game now, does it put you off that you can never gain 100%?
A: Yes. I joined the game a mere 4 months ago. I am a completionist who is unable to complete my achievements. It is making me crazy.
3. Do you feel that Living story should be permanently re-playable for the achievements?
A: Yes, absolutely. Temporary content is a terrible idea in a mmorpg.
4. Do you give Living story a Thumbs up or a Thumbs down, and why?
A: A huge thumbs down. Here’s why…
I once loved the idea of the living story. It’s what convinced me to pick up a copy of GW2. It has also caused me to stop playing GW2.
Once I realized that I could not complete the Flame & Frost story arc, due to the 5 man instance, I slowly fell out of love with the living story. ( I don’t group with others. I never had to group in GW1 and I’m not about to start in GW2.)
Then we got crabs…an island FULL of crabs. There is nothing compelling or ‘epic’ about killing crabs. I completed only enough Southsun content to obtain my two back pieces. I didn’t log on again until Sky Pirates.
Sky Pirates…..I hate pirates. They seem to be the go-to ‘bad guys’ when someone can’t think up an original enemy. I didn’t even bother with any of the Sky Pirates content. I logged on for 5 minutes and logged back out. I haven’t logged on to GW2 since.
Now we have ballooning merchants. I’m not even going to attempt any of the BotFW content.
I think I am done with GW2. I despise the bad storytelling, the temporary content and the lack of focus on the player’s character as the hero of the storyline. The story makes me feel like a peon/grunt/lackey who is merely watching events pass rather than shaping them through my decisions choices.
The ‘Living’ Story has killed the game for me.
(edited by Elbegast.6970)
I haven’t finished my personal story as the last leg is a 5 man dungeon. I don’t group with others so my personal story will forever remain incomplete.
Hey there Jabberwock!
I’d like to clarify this for you and everyone else: Once you have unlocked the quartz node, it will unlock the node for all your characters, though the node can only be mined once per day per account.
Additionally, the node will appear in all home instances (again it is the same node so only once per day).
This means you can log onto any character you want, go to any home instance you want, and mine your node.
And what happens if we are unable to ‘unlock’ this quartz node before the event is over? Will we be able to mine it afterwards or are we completely out of luck and unable to mine quartz?
I want permanent content. This temporary living story content is completely destroying my love of the Guild Wars franchise and ArenaNet.
I don’t join guilds and I don’t group with other players. I didn’t in GW1 and I’m not about to start now.
I can’t get excited about future living story updates. So far, we got subterranean vermin, beach crabs and now merchants that have a penchant for ballooning.
There is nothing compelling about killing crabs/moles and talking to merchants.
I loved this game 4 months ago but I have learned to loathe it in a relatively short time period. The ‘living’ story is killing the game for me.
I quit. I’m done chasing these stupid, timed carrots-on-sticks. Goodbye ArenaNet. It was fun…for a little while.
Subterranean vermin, Beach Crabs and now Ballooning Merchants…
When did the ‘fantasy’ secede from the mmorpg genre? WTB more Dragons, Magic, Swords and Vengeful Wizards.
Personally, I don’t think NCsoft wants Arena Net to release anything major this year – it could make Wildstart lose its potential players and thus lose money.
But, other than that, keep increasing the difficulty, add more different unique skins to the game (not to gem store), add more skills, add more PvP modes, increase the party size, add more instances and dungeons, the list goes on.
I agree with your assessment of NCSoft. However, I think there is a large group of players who, like myself, will NEVER spend money on another NCSoft game due to what they’ve done to this game and its players!
Blizzard messed up WoW and Diablo 3 and lost me as a customer. I still love to play Starcraft 2 but I will purchase no further expansions for that title. I refuse to make any further purchases of ActiBlizzard’s products.
Now, ANet and NCSoft are ruining Guild Wars 2. I still love Guild Wars 1 but I cannot bear to log in to Guild Wars 2 any longer. The Flame & Frost and Southsun patches/arcs ruined the game for me. Now there are pirates. I absolutely hate pirates. Pirates have no place in a fantasy, dragon-themed mmo. This unoriginal, mismatched content does nothing to inspire confidence regarding future ANet/NCSoft titles.
So I am now in mmo limbo, biding my time until some other company actually gets it right. It’s a shame, really. GW2 had so much more potential.
I don’t care about steampunk Mole-People.
I don’t care about crabs attacking sunbathers.
I don’t care about silly murder mysteries in Lion’s Arch.
I absolutely loathe the idea of Pirates in a fantasy mmo.
I don’t care about temporary content.
The living story fails on so many levels. The player should always be the protagonist of the storyline and not made to feel like a common grunt/footman who’s sole purpose is doing the bidding of the NPCs.
RNG….there is nothing fun about farming for days (and in the face of diminishing returns) only to be shut down by fleeting/temporary content which is heavily saturated by RNG rewards.
Temporary content is a waste of developer time and resources. Those resources could be better spent developing lasting, permanent content that actually changes and expands the game world.
And, please, developers….make the player the focus of the storyline. The story makes me feel like I am a 5th wheel who is merely witnessing events rather than shaping them. If I wanted to simply witness the events, I can do that on YouTube.
(edited by Elbegast.6970)
After 7+ years, I still find plenty of fun things to do in Guild Wars 1.
After only 4 months, I can no longer bear to log into Guild Wars 2.
GW2 feels like a cheap knockoff of GW1, albeit with better graphics. It doesn’t even feel like both games were created by the same developer.
The ‘Living Story’ has failed, in my opinion. It seems to be driving players away from the game rather than attracting them, from my personal experience anyway.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0599019/
She was Arcee in ‘Transformers Prime’. She is also voicing Katana in ‘Beware the Batman’ series. She has done a lot of voice over work.
I don’t do cash shops. Sorry, OP.
I once loved the idea of the ‘Living Story’ but I absolutely despise it now. I played for about 3 months, got the two back pieces from Southsun and haven’t logged on since.
I don’t care why crabs are attacking sunbathers.
I don’t care that some random NPC was killed by another random NPC in Lion’s Arch.
I don’t care that some silly, generic pirates decided to show up out of nowhere only to do absolutely nothing.
What I do care about is me.
I want me (the player) to be the center of the storyline.
I want the player to feel more important and more powerful than the NPCs.
I want the player involved in epic story arcs rather than hunting for seafood at a resort or attempting to solve minor murder mysteries (which are completely spoiled by GW2’s facebook page).
Above all, I want content that sticks around. There’s no point in doing content that will be deleted a week later. It’s a waste of ANet’s time and resources. I would rather not even log on than to be forced to adhere to a gaming schedule.
Who is ‘Zommoros’? And what does he have to do with the Mystic Toilet?
I haven’t logged in since I got the back-pieces from Southsun. I can’t get excited about this temporary ‘living’ content. It just seems like a waste of resources. I doubt I will log in tomorrow……or anytime in the foreseeable future, for that matter.
It’s just too much work (yes, it feels like a job) trying to keep up with these ‘living story’ patches. And the rewards are lackluster at best.
I don’t care why the crabs are attacking sunbathers.
I don’t care that some nobody was murdered by some other nobody at the Dragon Bash.
I don’t care about any of the new generic ‘named’ characters….Kiel, Marjory, Kasmeer, etc.
I care about me (the player). I want the living story to feature me (the player). I want the other NPCs to beg, grovel and plead for my assistance.
Oh well, tomorrow’s patch will be no different from the others. It will revolve around NPCs rather than the players. It will make the players feel like common grunts. It will be ridden with gamebreaking (or rather ‘patchbreaking’) glitches and bugs. ArenaNet will chalk it up as a ‘learning experience’…..just as they have done with every patch to date.
Guild Wars 1 makes me very happy. Guild Wars 2 makes me want to punch small furry animals in their faces.
What was the ‘secret’ anyway? I seem to have missed it in all the excitement.
I would like to know this as well.
The new ’Destiny’s Edge’ will become the ‘Heroes/Henchmen’ of GW2.
New Elder Dragons will be introduced with the Elona and Cantha expansions.
More comic relief, drinking, dancing and general Nornbear buffoonery, as well as a very old friend, will be found in the Far Shiverpeaks.
The gods will return and we will be forced to pact with the Underworld to save ourselves. Stupid twists.
(edited by Elbegast.6970)
The cool kids walk and know what Eye of the North looks like on the inside.
Anyone can go to EotN, it’s about having pets and items there.
No, not everyone can go, not in GW2.
We want back AND weapon dyes.
The cool kids walk and know what Eye of the North looks like on the inside.
I personnaly enjoyed a lot the content :
- quick dungeons, having a solo mode included which was a god idea
- good level of drops : miniatures, crates,… they seemed to drop a lot in game
- lot of events/achievements : quick to do, often repop
- fun mini-game : it has some problems, but it’s cool to do and has a correct reward as well
I’ve never seen a crate nor a miniature drop in Southsun. Not a single one. The whole Island is worthless to me. I get better drops in WvW.