Guild Wars 2

TLDR: Expansions > Living Story

Expansions offer a plethora of new permanent content to a game that can be accessed and played throughout the remainder of the game’s lifetime.

Living Story adds small chunks of temporary content. Most of which just changes existing maps in the game. It was obviously A-net’s answer to NCSoft saying, “We’re not funding an expansion. Do what you can with x amount or GTFO.”

They are at the mercy of NCSoft, which is a shame.

Stooperdale.3560:

This is just a state of mind. When you turn on the radio, you don’t worry about the thousand shows you missed across all the radio stations since yesterday. You turn on the radio to listen to the show that is on now. Treat your GW2 the same way. Log on and play the living story that is there now. A returning player has exactly the same content now as anyone else. Just like the radio, you don’t need to know what has gone before in order to enjoy what is there now.

There should be a story line recap for returning players. Comparing the storyline to Game of Thrones is a bit laughable though.

Using the radio is a bad example. Even radio shows are archived and can be listened to again. Songs? They’ll come on again, or I can buy them and listen to them as much as I want. So, of course I won’t worry about what was on before I started listening.

lordkrall.7241:

Why should ArenaNet cater to the player-base that DON’T actively play their game though? Wouldn’t it be much more logical to cater to those that actually play the game at least a few times a week?

Even if I were actively playing GW2 every week I would want permanent content over temporary content. Wouldn’t you? I like to go back and play old content. Old Raids and Dungeons in WoW. Old missions and older content in Guild Wars like Fissure of Woe and Underworld. You just can’t do that with the LS.

Snowmoon.1758:

Anet: So boss, can we start doing expansions and making permanent content?

NCSoft: And ruin the launch of Wildstar? NO

Anet: But boss…

NCSoft: DO YOU STILL WANT YOUR JOBS?? I SAID NO!!
Just give these fools some temp content, they’ll never notice.

Anet: But…

NCSoft: Shut up and do what i say. GW2’s launch is over, we’ve milked enough out of it. Wildstar is the Darling Child now. DON’T YOU DARE SCREW IT UP.

Anet: Yes sir…

NCSoft: And bring back Trahearne. I LOVE THAT GUY. Just makes me happy to screw the players with this NPC. MUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

+1000

I can’t play any single game year-round. I know there are many others like me. I get hooked on a game and I usually play it for about 5 months at a time before I grow tired of it and move on to something else, but I will eventually come back. For instance, I played GW2 from October of last year to mid January before I got a little burned out and decided to go play Diablo 3 for a while. The Living Story model is a neat idea, but it really does punish those of us who don’t play your game exclusively. You have bi-weekly content added to the game, and then taken away. If you aren’t on at some point during those two weeks, then that’s just tough. You missed it. The Living Story has been compared to Game of Thrones. Well you know what? If I miss episodes of GoT, I can actually go back and watch them. If you miss Living Story content though? Well that’s just your problem…..sorry about that.

I’m going to use the dreaded WoW comparison here, but I think it’s appropriate for my argument. I’ve played WoW off and on for the last several years. What I love about it is that I can come and go as I please and still play all the content that’s ever been available. They added the Thunder Isles and a new raid shortly after the release of MoP. Well guess what? I can still go and do all the content there. It wasn’t added and then taken away. You just can’t do that with GW2, and it’s sad. I LOVED Guild Wars and I had such high hopes for GW2. I guess the added campaigns in Guild Wars just spoiled me over the years. GW2 is a great game. I’m not saying it isn’t. But it just doesn’t have the lasting appeal that it’s predecessor did, or that other MMOs have.

I’m just assuming that Arenanet is doing what they can with what little budget NCSoft is giving them, and I guess that’s understandable. It sucks…. but it’s understandable. I’m still going to hope for an Expansion one day though. A good chunk of permanent content that I can actually return to in a year and still play. Maybe Season 2 will bring that? That would definitely be a pleasant surprise.

P.S. I know that anyone who argues my points here will say that the Living Story DID add an expansion’s worth of content. My answer to you is, No it didn’t. If it had then that content would still be playable. What the Living Story does is constantly add Holiday-like events, that if you aren’t on during that holiday, you miss it. For those of you who play Guild Wars 2 exclusively, I’m sure the LS is great. This thread isn’t really for you.

Awesome job A-net! It gives me good hope for the future of this game.

If this is what we get to look forward to in this feature patch, then I’d like to give a very sarcastic “Yay!”.

Celtic Lady.3729:

1. Permanent content
2. Permanent content
3. Permanent content

1. This
2. This
3. This

Vol.7601:

Meglobob.8620:

A R W E N.6895:

I went back to diablo and saw that dev’s actually did listen to player request! And seriously the game is way better than it was.

Me and some friend went back to it. Gw2 is on rest for the moment.

Me too D3 Reaper of Souls is sooooo rewarding and the drops change your characters builds…Blizzard are slow but you do get quality and they LISTEN to there playerbase.

Anyway, back on topic, it will be on a Tuesday, hope that helps…lol.

It took them what, 2 years to remove the RMAH and change the game?

Yeah, D3 is the shining example of listening to the playerbase…when it’s too late.

I’ve gone back to D3 as well. It’s a breath of fresh air from what the game used to be. I don’t care if it took them 2 years…..they did it and that’s all that matters. Still waiting to see that from Anet.

Esmee.1067:

I was looking forward to them a lot, but I feel most are a bit of a joke.

- They have odd purple spirals and different effects added
- They sizes are all messed up, hammer/shield used to be a few of the biggest weapons around, now quite tiny, focus/scepter are now (in my opinion) oversized
- They don’t look as much like a set anymore; some are black/purple and others more grey/purple and only a few have the purple swirls.

But I am proud they listened to their community and added the weapons. I’m not 100% fond of the Black Lion Ticket system but it seems rather effective, there’s always plenty of supply on the Trading Post at relatively reasonable prices (60g/ticket’ish) We all decided to play an MMO without a subscription, those who expect no money-grabbing moves are really beyond me. Guild Wars 2 is made by a company with the goal to make money, not ‘just’ to please you. They gem-gold/gold-gem conversion is brilliant aswell. Anything I want, I can get with ingame money. Those who rather do it the other way around, can chose to do so aswell. I’m not saying Guild Wars is flawless, but I think it’s system is working fine, even if that means not everything I want is handed to me on a silverplatter.

As for the gw1 vets. We played Guild Wars 1 for our enjoyment, not to get some ‘advantage’ in another game. We got our rewards and we should be happy they give us nostalgic moments like these, but every player in the community should be allowed to enjoy it. We’re not special just because we enjoyed a different game aswell.

They need to make their money. That’s fine. I just want to see the game get to a point where the content being added is permanent and doesn’t take a backseat to the Gem Shop.

Vol.7601:

Nat.4029:

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Vote with your wallets, as long as people buy gems with real money this greedy behaviour will continue. Stop buying gems and there might be a chance they’ll change their ways, otherwise your complaints will do nothing.

I didn’t pay a cent after buying the game, they don’t deserve it. Such greed shouldn’t be rewarded.

It’s true. People are shelling out the dough left and right. That’s why this keeps happening. I will admit, I’ve spent money on Armor Skins, but that’s about it. I’m not buying freaking keys to only be screwed over by RNG. I’d get some crafting boosters or a few WXP boosters…. I highly doubt I’ll be spending anymore money on Armor Skins either until I see that the money I’ve given them has been put to good use. (which it hasn’t yet.)

Buy the skins for 60g (the price that it usually settles at), or convert your gems to gold.

Your decision to gamble when there are cheaper and more reasonable alternatives is your fault alone.

If they release a cool armor skin, I don’t mind paying for it with my own money. It’s the whole ticket system they have that is BS. They need to at least make it easier to obtain BL keys, if they are going to go this route. I’d much prefer them just selling these skins individually in the Gem Store if they want us to pay real money for them.

Can you buy BL keys on the TP? Or the tickets for the weapons? If so, how much do they cost?

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Vote with your wallets, as long as people buy gems with real money this greedy behaviour will continue. Stop buying gems and there might be a chance they’ll change their ways, otherwise your complaints will do nothing.

I didn’t pay a cent after buying the game, they don’t deserve it. Such greed shouldn’t be rewarded.

It’s true. People are shelling out the dough left and right. That’s why this keeps happening. I will admit, I’ve spent money on Armor Skins, but that’s about it. I’m not buying freaking keys to only be screwed over by RNG. I’d get some crafting boosters or a few WXP boosters…. I highly doubt I’ll be spending anymore money on Armor Skins either until I see that the money I’ve given them has been put to good use. (which it hasn’t yet.)

Whatever it is, it will be temporary and filled with zerg.

Hidori.3472:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Not going to happen.

With ESO right around the corner, ANet probably feels pressured to put out some more content on the March 28 release.

Season 2 and WvW will be priority, and the bugs from release will still survive some more monthes.

Meh. No need to fear skyrim multiplayer. ESO is subpar to GW2 in many ways. Ppl will try it out and then come back again.

Calling ESO “Skyrim multiplayer” would be an insult to Skyrim.

AcidicVision.5498:

Nat.4029:

QFT

The fact this game launched with neither UW or FoW is a travesty of monumental proportion. Even ToPk would have been welcome kitten . Ogre slaying daggers and all (since we actually have ogres now).

If those things aren’t in the works already in the background then it would be hard for me to believe Anet hasn’t totally lost touch with the fans that made this sequel a possibility.

What I like to think is that they have them in development and are just taking their time because launching those zones (and they should be full zones, not just dungeons) and having them be awful would be almost as bad as not launching them at all. Take Orr for example, you could draw a lot of parallels between open world Orr and FoW; likewise for Arah Explorable dungeons and UW. But those were both met with heavy criticism.

FoW and UW kept people busy for hundreds of hours. For what? Small chance at super rare mats you needed a lot of to craft rare items (T6, Orr), or end completion chest that had a few unique guaranteed items (Orr temple karma vendors) and super small chance at highly valuable items (Orr temple boss chests). And if your party wiped or failed at an event you got kicked and had to start all over again (Orr temple chains). But a large portion of people hate Orr. Anet had lightning in a bottle the first go’round and I think it’s just taking them a while to figure out how to reproduce it.

Agreed. Orr aggravates the kitten out of me. FoW is infinitely better.

1. GvG
2. Cantha
3. Underworld
4. Fissure of Woe
5. The Return of the Gods

It’s a mixed bag of emotions for me concerning Guild Wars 2. All of us GW1 vets fell victim to the hype. “How could GW2 possibly fail our expectations???” I like Guild Wars 2 a lot. I’ve had a lot of fun playing. Looking at the current state of the game though, I ask myself, “Will I play this game for 4000+ hours like I did GW1?” The answer is, no. Not until something new and refreshingly permanent is added to the game. What this game sorely needs is the return of the Underworld and Fissure of Woe. Along with their return, would be a plethora of end-game content. Legendary armor sets could be obtained by playing these areas. Was getting Obsidian armor a grind in GW1? Most certainly. The difference is, that it was a FUN grind. (in my opinion anyway) I had some of the most fun I’ve ever had gaming, when entering the FoW and UW and spending hours there on weekends. This is what GW2 needs.

We talked about this just a few days ago. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-on-PS4-1/first#post3682601

Porting an MMO is a pretty complicated business. It’s definitely possible, but it would take quite a while to get a quality port, and they would need console-experienced devs as well. My best guess is that the majority of A-net’s staff is PC-centric.

This is my feeling on WvW as well. I enjoyed it when the game launched, but not long after it became just aggravating. What I miss is Heroes Ascent and GvG battles. I would even just sit and watch good GvG matches in GW back in the day, when greats like War Machine and Idiot Savants were playing. Those were fun to watch.

As far as PvE goes. This game needs a FoW/UW/Domain of Anguish type of end-game content. Elite dungeon areas that are designed for 5-10 players where you can attain some truly legendary gear and weapons.

SephiSlash.6780:

Morrigan.2809:

SephiSlash.6780:

Morrigan.2809:

non zerg based LS content
more lore/story delivered in game
more serious content

is a joke.

Marionette, current objective in LA as case in point

Scarlet’s Lair, LA beach instance, Deadend Bar, the refugee camps

LA is a warzone and the surrounding lands are dealing with the fall out- you have NPC’s talking of mass graves and dead children.
You have droves of dying Lion Guard
the city itself is a hell hole atm

seems pretty serious to me

Not saying that these things were not planned months ago-
I do however think that the writers learning to script and the ambient dialogue, story instances were a result of the CDI

Ignoring the fact that Marionette and LA are zergs in which you follow around a commander for phat lewt, it’s clear that we have different expectations.
Story instances where I’m forced to listen to NPC’s I don’t care about talk is not what I’d consider content.

Molten/Atherblade dungeon on the otherhand were decently challenging content.

NPC’s standing around talking means nothing, nameless NPC’s dying means nothing. Who cares if Nameless Vigil soldier A remarks to Nameless Vigil soldier B about how many people are being killed. If the people actually got massacred in front of the PC I would probably take it more seriously.

Yeah since I just recently returned to the game about a month ago, I have no interest whatsoever in these characters or the story. Now, if I were still able to go back and play through the earlier LS content, then it might be a different story. But Anet’s current zergfest LS events kind of make being able to go back and play through these things impossible. So for right now, I basically just skip through all the dialogue so I can get the achievement.

OldSomalia.6180:

You could still buy basically every title though..

Vanquisher? Buy that.
Missions? Buy that.
Elite skills? Buy that.
Master of the north? Buy that.
Cartog? Buy that.

Literally everything, you just needed a reputable service runner.

The only difference is that the actual “titles” in GW2 just have lackluster naming schemes.

People bought vanquishes? What did they do, just afk at the portal to a map? People are lazy….

Nage.1520:

Yep, Survivor in Guild Wars 1 was a tough title to get. It took an entire weekend in a solo dungeon. And no one ever got run through dungeons in Guild Wars 1.

I think vanquisher was the only title worth something in that game. The rest of them could be run pretty easily or where massively grindy, or were unnecessarily punishing.

The mapping title comes to mind. Scraping every corner of every map to unfog a single tiny piece….that was just horrible.

The only way I could force my self to do the Cartographer titles is to do them at the same time that I was vanquishing. Having said that though, I still only 100%‘d Elona. Tyria is a friggin’ pain.

Kumu Honua.2751:

USELESS TEMPORARY CONTENT

That it is.

Titles were much better in GW1. In name and in acquisition. Titles were a sort of end-game for GW1. It took me many months to get the “Legendary Vanquisher” title. (Joko’s Domain SUCKED). Even though it was a total pain in the kitten at times, it was still a fun title to work toward. And it was also cool be able to see your name and title when playing the game. Something that’s missing from GW2.

I always liked the “Not Too Shabby” title as well, and “Legendary Survivor” was always stressful.

I won’t flame at all, but I was honestly expecting that video to be a Rick Roll.

In all seriousness. I have a Razer Naga with the 12 thumb buttons. I don’t think I could play without it now. Once you train your thumb, it becomes second nature. Everything else stays pretty much the same on my keyboard. I’ve only changed a few keys. My utility skills are shift + 1-4 and I think my elite is shift-5. It makes them very easy with the Naga, just hold shift then one thumb press and you’re good.

I just stick it in my mouth and chew.

Naus the Gobbo.5172:

What you can expect is that everyone will whine no matter what happens.

If we get a new race, 15 new zones and guild halls then people will whine about the fact that we didn’t get legendary armour, player housing and new dungeons.

People will see the update and attack it with everything they can – that is what you can expect.

And even though the updates are free people will complain about ArenaNet putting new stuff in the optional gem store, which you can buy everything from with gold.

Welcome to forum life. Go to the Diablo 3 general forums. There is whining going on there that has reached Legendary status. It’ll make this community look good in comparison.

Farzo.8410:

A R W E N.6895:

keep in mind that this game is also a business for anet after all.

It’s not hard to spot. Almost half their stuff every patch is added to the store.

Surprisingly, original Guild Wars barely got anything added in the store at all.

Guild Wars also had expansions to bring income. Anet has yet to announce any type of boxed expansion. I’m sure once they do though, it’ll go in the Gem Store for 4000 gems. Whatever the price is though, they will force you to buy more gems than you need to in order to get it. They learned that from Xbox LIVE.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

I’m happy to see this thread is still going strong after one year. Gw2 really needs Cantha (and of course also Elona) back.

I’d love to see Cantha updated, and see how it’s changed over the last 250 years. Although Nightfall was my favorite of the expansions, Cantha was the more beautiful land.

The Gods should return, and with them we see the return of the Underworld and Fissure of Woe. End-game content anyone? You can get Obsidian Shard drops in FoW.

Also…. Think about the possibilities you’d have with dye coloring. If they were to add cloaks like you could get in WoW, with intricate designs, you could come up with some very cool dye combinations. It’d be fun for me anyway.

X The Manimal.5293:

Huh, I may be in the minority but I believe that the music in GW2 is on par with GW1 and compliments it rather well. Jeremy Soule really recaptured many of the subtle sounds and melodies from the first game that made them so memorable. I also truly appreciate the fact that music from the first GW is also mixed into some areas of GW2. Brings back such nostalgia and gives a familiar feeling to a world that has changed so much in the last 200+ years!

It seems to me like I hear much more of GW1’s music than original GW2 stuff.

On another note. I really hope the Gods return sometime in the future, and content like this is what we get in from their return.

I honestly think that there should be Legendary armor sets. These could be the skins for them. They wouldn’t be crafted though. They should be extremely rare drops that come from an elite dungeon area that is akin to say….“Fissure of Woe, Underworld, Domain of Anquish”

I’m honestly tired of all the best looking armor skins being sold in the Gem Store. I know the Gem Store is what keeps Anet afloat, but give us something else that will be amazing to work towards in the end-game. Running an elite dungeon area and hoping for an amazing drop is much more fun to me than grinding away materials to craft a Legendary.

Oh I could talk about this all day. I’ve been, for the most part, disappointed with the GW2 soundtrack. It has it’s moments, but like I’ve said before. The best music in GW2 is the music that was carried over from GW1. Jeremy Soule is by far my favorite video game composer. He is brilliant. My theory on this, is that it seems to me that Soule would’ve been scoring Skyrim around the same time that he scored GW2. I’m thinking he might’ve possibly scored Skyrim BEFORE GW2. What I’m getting at here is that Skyrim (in my opinion) is the crowning achievement thus far for Jeremy Soule. It was an absolutely flawless soundtrack. I honestly think that he was exhausted after scoring it, and GW2 suffered the effects. (Hence the music from GW1 being added)

That’s just my theory though. I might be way off the mark. The fact remains though, that GW1’s music is infinitely better.

Over the Shiverpeaks plays a lot in GW2. It brings back major nostalgia when I hear it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSw0CyFYV4Q

Leo Paul.1659:

Who’s to say that guild halls wouldn’t come with new content?

“Momma….what’s “new content” mean?"

“Well Forrest…it’s when something is added to the game, and then it never comes back.”

I’d prefer a system like this.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/Suggestion-Black-Lion-Armor-Merchant/first#post3603637

You all are going to feel really silly when dwarves start pouring out of that hole she’s drilling.

New race!

I like how you TLDR’d that small paragraph. Are people getting THAT lazy these days?

As far as capes go, I’d love to see them. I’ve always loved a good cloak. (The cloaks in WoW are nice) As long as they are designed differently than the GW1 guild capes. They were too short and just looked goofy. I want a long flowing cloak with a possible hood. Of course you could have the feature to hide it if you don’t like the look. It would go in your back slot, so you could either use existing back pieces or go with a cape.

The clipping issues on Charr would probably be tough to work on, but I’m sure they could figure something out.

TheFool.4589:

Nat.4029:

*And up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.
Oil that is. Black Gold. Tyria Tea.

Well the next thing ya know ole Scar’s a billionaire.
Kinfolk said, Scar move away from there!
They said Northern Cantha is the place you outta be
So she loaded up the drill and she moved in ole Kaineng.*

-_-; you put a lot of effort into that didn’t you…

Took me 2 weeks.

And up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.
Oil that is. Black Gold. Tyria Tea.

Well the next thing ya know ole Scar’s a billionaire.
Kinfolk said, Scar move away from there!
They said Northern Cantha is the place you outta be
So she loaded up the drill and she moved to ole Kaineng.

sorudo.9054:

listen to this and try to say it’s not needed, i am sure you just want to return to GW1 and play in cantha again.
it’s a really fun place to go trough, allot of things you see is based on RL asia and it also feels that way.
it’s an environment rich with lore and history, it blooms with legends and untold stories, something tyria doesn’t have (in GW2 that is, GW1 tyria looks allot better).

The music in GW1 was SO much better. I think Jeremy Soule gave everything he had to Skyrim instead of GW2. It seems to me like he was scoring them both around the same time. The best music you’ll hear in GW2 is the music that was carried over from GW1.

Speaking of awesome Factions music, this one was always one of my favorites. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu-JuwAIKyo

Which dot marks the expansion?

She’s most likely going to drill right into Primordus’ back and tick him off something fierce. And then we have LS season 2. Which will include…

All new items in the gem store
No New Zones
No New Classes
Or Skills
Or Traits
Nothing Permanent
Only minor changes to existing zones
EPICNESS

Well that was underwhelming. Guild Wars Google Maps.

thaooo.5320:

It’ll never happen.

But if it did, it would have to be PvE only.

Wvw and Pvp would be lacking in player numbers, not to mention terribly clunky.

Or if they were to combine the PC and console populations, console players would be trashed in PvP and WvW by PC users.

Ps4 and xbone audience is still small. And GW2 needs more attention at fixing certain issues first anyway.

I highly doubt the servers would be cross-platform. The systems would have their own mostly likely, so yeah like you said. Populations would be lacking.

PiffdaBiff.9736:

Quednau.7390:

Get Xpadder. its only $10 and lets you map any keys to any controller.. really easy to use, and if you dont know a good control scheme you can download other peoples control layout profiles for tons and tons of different games.

I know about that software. Thing is I don’t want to play on my PC. I enjoy it more when I play on a big TV and sitting relaxing on my sofa.

Reading all the comment people seam to despise the console and lock at them as some kind of evil, don’t get it.

I don’t despise consoles at all. I don’t currently own any of the new systems, but I’ve owned plenty of other ones. Having said that though, this type of game is much more enjoyable to me on a PC. Single player RPGs and Shooters, I don’t mind playing those on consoles at all and sometimes I even prefer them to be on consoles. But an MMO, I don’t ever see myself playing one on a console unless it’s designed from the start to be played on one. Which GW2 wasn’t. I like my Razer Naga too much to ever use a controller for this type of game.

Anet may do this down the road though, and I think it would be successful if ported over well. I’m not against the idea at all. Like I said though, I would hate for part of the Dev team to have to work on this instead of new content for the game. They could hire a small console team to do these types of projects. (just like Blizzard did)

Hachiman.2470:

Here’s my Asura Space Thief

Looks like a fetus with armor on.

PiffdaBiff.9736:

Nat.4029:

PiffdaBiff.9736:

Nat.4029:

IF this were to ever happen, I would hope it would be a LOOOONG way down the road. They need to focus all their attention on the game itself right now, and not worry about porting it to consoles.

I don’t know why you would say that?

I don’t play anymore. But what I have read on forums and Internet they have managed to give all of you who still play free content, that’s free of charge. I cant see how people are complaining. It maybe something wrong with the community?

The game needs to continue to grow and evolve. Especially with permanent content. If they were to do a console port, then I would hope they would hire a totally seperate team to work on porting it over. That way the main dev team can still focus on new content.

A port will always be a port. The game assets are finished and no new content is needed for a port. They would maybe need to hire some new people who knows how the new consoles work. Then its would just a mater of porting it over. I would actually prefer if Anet made the port them selfs, to minimize the screw ups.

It’s a lot more complicated than you might think. The game has to go through new optimizations. You have to set up a new UI to work with a controller. It’s not as easy as, “Ok let’s port it now.” Blizzard hired a console port team for Diablo 3 and it took them several months to bring it to PS3. And D3 is arguably a lot less complicated than GW2. If it were a game like Bioshock, then yeah a port is much easier.