Guild Wars 2

I wonder how Scarlet plot line is going to end? Will it end with she get what she wants, but destroyers herself in the process? Or everyone she has used in the past turns on her to eventually cause her downfall? I am looking for some type of foreshadowing. I guess we have to wait till we get to her second act of the conflict, and past the introduction phase of her alliance forming collaboration. Maybe we could eventually stop one of her alliance from ever forming. Instead of always being the ones who just put an end to them. It would be interesting if our character drew her out with some type of public humiliation. Probably just upstaging her would do it, and show how predictable she can be.

We got credit for 2 Krait witches out of three. However the one in Kessex Hills does not count for some apparent reason. So we were unable to complete it.

Ah, next she will work with centaurs. Why? Because she can. Establishing her as a chaotic omnipotence antagonist with underdeveloped character depth, is not working on improving the story. Especially when it’s dragging down the whatever likability the Sylvari had left in game. We get you screwed up with Trahearne, but forcing Scarlet on us (till you “fix” her) is not making things better.

I remember talking about a personal nemesis would make things better; but it would also be a villain that you would love to hate. Not simply outright hate because it’s is poorly written. I like “Q” from Star Trek because he had a plausible motivation, while having a interesting personalty . Also because “Q” had an Achilles heel, due to his arrogance towards anything he could not directly control. I like the Joker because his personality and ideologies conflict with that of the Batman. They use clever psychological games, and not just cheap gimmicks to antagonize their opponents.

Knowing Scarlet she has some weird backup plan, before the Krait would backstab her. Where she would leave both her adversaries gasping for air. However in the end she will get something out of it. My guess she is going after any artifact that would rivals the pacts anti-risen orb that was stolen from the Krait. This is only if she actually turn out she is involved.

Meriem.3504:

You completely missed their joke, it is a WoW reference.

Well because I played WoW for about 2 weeks after launch and quit. Only kept up on certain major plot/lore aspects of it, because I was a big fan of their RTS version of Warcraft. Still hoping there will be a Warcraft 4 someday.

A Massive Headache.1879:

Nightmare is nightmare court right? scarlet isn’t nightmare court. she’s on her own. The only credit I can lend is that the order of whispers does use a disguise to trick the krait into thinking it’s risen messing with them for one of the task hearts.

Yeah, she is not apart of the nightmare court at all. However she was allowed by them to build in their Territory in Twilight Arbor. How did she make that deal is the real question.

Only this line in the short story: Twilight Preparations provides some clue:

“Though I can’t say why the Nightmare Court is,” Sparki added. “I’ll never comprehend how she got those poisonous peonies to let her have her way with this place.”

“Belay that talk,” Spur growled. “Scarlet’s got some sort of arrangement with the Court. They give her this space for her facility and she helps them…I don’t know, make people cry, or whatever it is they do.

Durzlla.6295:

I love how people seem to think that NC and the other hostile factions are above alliances, the Sinister Triad is kinda a big deal (NC, Inquest and Bandits), not to mention Bandits and mother kittening Centaurs have an alliance yet NO ONE has kittened about those 2 races who have completely hated the other and wanted mass genocide of the other for well over 250 years are in an alliance yet god forbid some of the dredge and flame legion teamed up…

It’s not so much that their joining together is blasphemous in any way to the established lore. It’s the question of how is this deal being made. I understand it might be from an opportunist stand point. Where they can make great strides for their own fanatical ideologies. However it’s kept overly ambiguous in game on how these alliance deals are coming down. They never really go into any detail about it. It just happens. That’s where the real issue is.

Alistasia.4071:

…….Clockwork Invasion was Merely a Setback….

It was probably was a test or motivation to show her prowess that she can upstage a major ruling race. She probably knew the setback was coming, because even in the Scarlet Playhouse instance she was not trying very hard to kill us. She was merely toying with us, because in someway she got what she wanted. Attention, and the clockwork mechanisms she hijacked from festival. The problem is you can’t tell that she is actually doing this or not. Only vague interpretations of it.

Whitey.6185:

Just because Scarlet is behind it, doesn’t mean she went to the Krait and said do you want to team up? and they said yes.

Actually the way things are presented in game it is a plausible interpretation. Since the writers don’t like to tie up any loose ends. Only for years latter for one of the writers to say: “yeah, your interpretation of what happened is completely off from what we intended it to mean.” However by then it’s too late and they have completely botched it up, and created a massive plot hole.

If Scarlet does “team” up with the krait, I doubt they are going to make any sensible reason to do so. I actually been hoping for awhile they would prove me wrong. Especially how she can motivate hostile racial factions like the Flame Legion, Dredge, Nightmare Court, and now possibly the Krait. I think the way the writers want to present it as she has unlimited knowledge, and she can use it as means of consulting leverage via temptations of power to these hostile factions. However this is never presented in game or outside the game. Only the vague interpretation of this is because of where Ceara traveled, before she reemerged as Scarlet Briar.

I think it’s funny because of their lore outside of the game like this before the game was really interesting even before the game shipped: Dream and Nightmare. This is what I thought their in game representation would be like; with some of their internal character conflict. No, instead we get nothing like this in game. The Cycle of Night section I found that really interesting to contrast the possible upcoming event. By the way Cadeyrn was the original founder of the Nightmare Court. The same person we kill in TA (story mode). Where we never learn how the roles reversed between him and Faolain.

If it does turn out to be the nightmare court involvement then I wonder if the Krait caught Faolain somehow.

Knowing the Krait they would try to gut Scarlet the moment they see her. Remember anyone to even change or degrade their zealot religious order will be met with vicious end. The only way I would see her getting involved if she was either:

A) Stealing something from the Krait.
B) Trying provoke a war.

Guild Wars 1 only had a few select areas that had an RNG elements to them. However it was not as overbearing as it is now. As a matter of fact there were no digital store items that heavily reflected a RNG system. Now Arena Net has a small division specialist that deal with monetization/digital transactions including John Smith who is their “economist,” and Crystin Cox their “monetization lead.” The former used to post on the forums all the time and talk about things being done in the black lion trading post. However I have noticed that John posts less then he used to. Crystin Cox on the other hand really has been kept in the dark, ever since the controversy surrounding her former employment at Nexon was a hot topic.

The problem with the RNG system being an exclusive element for your rewards, is the topic of artificial luck with this system. There is no is no truly perfect RNG system and there will probably never be one for the time being. It’s how the system works at being less intrusive and more intuitive to make the game entertaining to actually play. Basically balancing out the rewards that you get so people have an equal chance of getting anything in game without being punished for using it. The RNG system in GW2 is so widely spread throughout the game that people feel the obvious time sink. Especially when people are rewarded less for using it, over those who favor just buying the item straight from wherever it’s offered.

Nevertheless after the recent mock election in game between Kiel and Gnashblade I have noticed that they are trying tune down the RNG for rewards. However on the flip note they have sky rocketed prices for certain items you can acquire. There has to be a middle ground so people can enjoy system instead of loathing it. However Arena Net has yet to find this middle ground. The other issue is quality of the rewards you get is a major factor when it comes using a RNG system. If they poor in quality then it will reflect in sales.

I think it’s interesting they are building something in Kessex Hills instead of other places in the world (like Timberline Falls or Mount Maelstrom). It could because it’s closer to other dominant racial civilizations, and it’s a bit of distance from the established Risen haunting ground. However I don’t know if they are trying to target the Tengu specifically. The Krait have always been a megalomaniac and xenophobic race. So if they launched a war it’s usually with everything and not exclusive to one species in particular.

To me I have a feeling the Krait are building something to show they have a dominant presence in the world compared to the other races. Maybe even use it as a base of operation to spy on all the other races, and perhaps come up with world impacting nefarious scheme’s. However what this means to the living story can only be speculated at. Whatever they are planning I can tell you it is not world peace.

So the most xenophobic race in the game getting an update? Hopefully it will shed some light on the Krait and their zealous religious order. Probably get one of the oldest mysteries solved: Can the Krait still use metamorphosis to turn into another state of being like they did in GW1? Or maybe we can know more on their relation to other deep sea creatures like the Leviathans or the Largos. We know they wiped out the quaggan Royal family as they were fleeing from the deep sea dragon minions.

So wait if you have the old recipe for the gift of souls I can still use that? Since it’s still showing the old requirements at this point from what I can see (I do have it).

Have to remember if Cantha does come back it won’t be the same nation we remember from Factions. First we had the Kurzicks and the Luxons factions dissolved under the rule of the Emperor Usoku. Also the Ministry of Purity became verily powerful during Usoku rule, and kicked out most of the non humans of Cantha. Hence why the Tengu established the Dominion of Winds in Tyria southern region. I also have a feeling that Usoku bloodline probably demolished most of the slums in Kaineng City.

If there was any expansion at this point, I would probably would get it. However I think the main story with the elder dragons needs to wrap itself up before we do so. Unless we need that extra assistance like someone else stated. We also have so many things that have to be reasonably explained still when it comes to the lore from GW2 and GW1. The problem is right now they keep adding new lore, when they have so many loose ends that need to be tied up.

I understand keeping a mystery behind certain things, but when you keep adding things that have no resolution to them it then quickly diminishes the entire overarching story (people lose interest). If the living story was like a TV show it would be one that was one tenth the size of a full TV episode that never technically concludes. Basically the living story is like watching a serial film from the 1930’s.

As far as I know I kind of doubt it. It would have been out by now. Supposedly I heard something about it being delayed till today (firday), but I would take that with a grain of salt.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

It’s hard to tell what the functionality of the item is from just a screen shot, so I’m here to clarify. This screen shot actually shows the Bloody Prince Thorn costume and not an armor skin, so it is not usable in combat.

Thank you for the clarification Regina. It was something that was bugging me about the screen-shot itself, because it looked like a normal human with a costume on (but I was not too sure). So I take the prince has a more unique facial detail then we see there.

So may I ask what has Arena Net learned from certain communication blunders like:

The final rest low drop rate mystery, and how the community felt after A-net “upped” the drop rate for it from the shadow behemoth. Or the Last Stand at Southsun infamous “it’s a dungeon and not an instance” fiasco. How about something that is even more relevant like the removal of forward/up path in TA in which to Colin’s credit did talk about in ambiguous way. The TA path removal could have been revealed at least 2 months ahead of time to say “we are planning to remove this path from TA and this is why.” A-net could have collected first impressions right there.

To the A-nets credit there has been things which have been fixed in game that no one ever talks about (unless it breaks again). We do appreciate the hard work that goes into the game. Especially when it works flawlessly with the rest of the game. However it was revealed that Guild Wars 2 was somewhat rushed (Zhaitan fight is a primary example of this), otherwise some of these elements would have already been in the game. Beyond anything I have notice some developers outstanding interaction with the community including Josh Foreman, and Robert Hrouda who used to formally work for A-net. You know why I like them? It’s because of their honesty and don’t try to hide facts with PR dribble. However people like Regina and Gaile are also superb at their job. They try to get things done even on a technical level whenever they can.

One thing that was unacceptable to me is telling A-net that certain developers should be fired for “X” reason(s). It happened to Robert when he worked with his dungeon team to clean up exploits. People demanded their be patch note that the exploit was fixed. Why? Is it because exploiters could do it before so it should be accepted as a working mechanic of GW2 dungeons? There are several dungeon (fractals included) which still have the “jump over the wall to get to the end” exploit and they have yet to be fixed.

I think if they do put back the forward/up path then it probably will end up in fractals. There will be some heavy modification so it can fit into the fractals line up. That is only if there is a high end demand for them to do it. I could just imagine they put out a vote system for the next set of fractals (after the next fractal set we get). One of the proposition would bring back and revitalize TA forward/up path. Or for them to create a fully new fractal.

My guess it will be after the holiday season. Colin can shout out from his soap box about some tangible content but most of it will be generic “making the world more dynamic in the next year” speech. Since they can’t reveal too much unless the content is actually ready to ship. As of now we still have to look forward to ascended armor, halloween, wintersday, fractal update, balance/skill tweaks, and some other small things.

There is a long list of things they can take from this year and improve upon them for the next. The recurring content give them some breathing room so they do not have to develop things from scratch. However if they don’t use the data they have gathered from this year appropriately, then things will backfire. My guess we will probably get couple more dungeon and world boss refurbishment. One of the writers did say they are working on a way to connect all of the living story content together. I am also guessing we are going to get some more annually recurring content next year to fill in the months that missed out this year. The biggest hurdle to them is actually making any of this evolving world stick in a non predictable way. The invasion mechanic alleviated some of this issues. Though it does not rekindle interest in maps like Timberline Falls and does not impact the map in a win/loose scenario.

Originally I got in my head as I was typing out the OP that the Consortium could try to make a mechanized police force. In an attempt to run out crime from Lion’s Arch, but in reality they were using to wipe out the competition. It would be much more low key then what happened during the queens speech. After I read through your comment I thought about another idea. I was thinking of Consortium would get Scarlet to exterminate the wildlife on the island. However Scarlet would be secretly mechanizing the Karka to create another makeshift army. Probably have her reverse engineering the Fervid Cencer that Canach used in order to control the Karka to do her bidding. Probably flesh out the instance that originally was developed for just to deal with Canach, and make it a full fledged non linear dungeon.

Yeah, probably the ideas are a bit too radical when it comes to narrative in GW2. However I just felt the need to jolt them down. I thought they were pretty entertaining to imagine though.

I think what Arena Net is aiming to do is make Scarlet rotate into the other dungeons as well. So we might see her in SE, CoF, and CoE. Picking those dungeons out because the connections she has with those particular racial factions. She will then probably feel closer to the way Kudu was (appearing in SE & CoE), but she will be more fleshed out as time goes on. Explaining her relationship with the her allies. Especially how she can convince some radical xenophobic racial factions to band together for her personal goals.

I imagine after the events of the last Southsun cove update the Consortium is in a bad estate of affairs, and probably a bit morally bankrupt. Would they out of desperation try to seek out Scarlet for assistance? I know if Scarlet did help them, she probably would double cross them. However knowing the consortium they could put the blame on someone else again. I was actually thinking about the corporation from Robocop franchise “Omni Consumer Products,” but instead of being evil they are just ignorant. They choose a path that best suits them, and sometimes are willing to take the extra step to heighten their productivity and profits.

What if a major expansion itself was free? Or cost somewhere around $10 to $20 instead of the usual $40 to $50 price tag? At the same time Arena Net would introduce new items in the gem store, and they would be cosmetic/utility items; which would have no real direct impact on game play. The items they put into the gem shop would be a reflection of what people willing to pay for during the living story updates. All the awhile keep the initial box price of GW2 at a stable price, while they do discount every now and again.

I think that the living story has been a testing ground for figuring out what the player base wants. If they are not happy with the results is they try something new. However it feels like the updates are planned six months in advance. Hence why it took them so long to wind down to get exclusive permanent contest updates out (with small batch of temporary content attached).

The other thing is that they are fixing technical issues they could not fixed before launch. Trading post item preview option, eliminating culling system, LFG tool, wallet mechanic, and excreta were implemented to make the game more accessible. Two major issues after that has been fixing risk versus reward system and all game play issues with past content. Which has taken up most of their time and they still have a long way to go. Fixing the rest of the dungeons, world bosses, dynamic events, scaling system, and reigniting player interest in “dead maps.” They have approached doing all of these things in the last year, but only about 20% of the work has been completed. They are still gathering player feedback/data, and creating new encounters to keep players interest high within a bi-weekly schedule. Arena Net is basically juggling everything at once.

Why have we not received an expansion within the first year? Well imagine that all of the content they put in the game was a reflection of what was done in the living story. Only difference is that there was no major feedback from the players. WP is correct when he say’s they fear of repeating past mistakes with GW1 campaign/expansion system. Guild Wars Factions was not a universal success by game play or narrative standards. It was a major setback because it was a reflection of what they thought the player base wanted. A PvE with PvP hybrid campaign, which turned out to be a gigantic mess. It took them a long while to fix alliance battles up to decent quality standards. What happened to the Jade Quarry AB was an extreme example of this. They did learn from these mistakes when they created Nightfall but by then everyone wanted to return to the mainland in prophecies.

When might a expansion will be released? Probably when they get everything to where it needs to be (quality wise) in the current game. When they are satisfied with the player feedback and state of the game itself, then they might move forward with an expansion. Especially if the game can hold it’s own even with an expansion come into play.

I laughed so hard when he stated “we are telling a comprehensive and intricate storyline with the living world content.” You mean how it feels like everything gets developed (down to the sound) and then the writers are consulted to tack on story at the last minute. Yeah it’s so wonderful to see the pacing so incredibly off, and how the pendulum is swinging back and forth on the state of the story. Like this last update:

Developer: Hey, we are getting to the very end of shipping the Tequatl update and we are wondering if you can just add bit of story to it. Just to show the community we are pushing connective and cohesive story for the past year or so.

Writer: I guess we can throw Rox in there about trying to impress Rytlock, since she is still trying get into his warband (it’s something we already established). Also we will throw in a Vigil NPC who just came there from Southsun to deal with this powerful reemergence of Tequatl.

Developer: Wait does that not mess with what we stated that the whole Southsun event happened after Zhaitan death?

Writer: Are you saying we have continuity errors in our story? Don’t make me laugh. We will just explain latter……..

Developer: You won’t explain anything though, and still end with it being overly ambiguous?

Writer: Of course!

From what I can tell she is not going anywhere for the next year or so. Look how long it took just to get to her disappointing reveal. Of course they could always add her to the pile of unanswered questions lore we already have (even from GW1). At this point it’s hard to see if they will start from scratch again. I doubt it would be a better antagonist then we are already dealing with. I still think the Karka were pointless and were only brought in because the designers thought they looked “cool.” Yeah, could have used that effort to bring back a past enemy from GW1. At least they got the Mad King right. He had an interesting dark and twisted history that had more character depth in game; versus any other living world characters to date.

I think the huge problem with Scarlet is she does not present any real morale dilemma’s. The antagonist presented well is the one that we love to hate. Stereotypically kidnapping someone and tying them to a railroad tracks is a typical way of showing the threat of the “evildoer.” However the question after that (or even before) that should be why are they doing it. If the response is “because I am just evil,” then that is shallow presentation of character depth. If the kidnapping was over some personal vendetta to send message that there is no justice in the world then that’s fleshed out better. Especially if the antagonist can show the protagonist (in some twisted fashion) that it’s not entirely unreasonable on taking up these types of extreme actions.

Many antagonist do things out of personal gains, but they never believe what they are doing is wrong. As a matter of fact in their eye’s they are doing the world a favor in some way, and see the roles reverse where they are just martyr trying to succeed over their arch-nemesis. Scarlet believes this already, but she does not make the people that defy her see this logic. She could try to show the playable character that keeping to the status quo would cause more harm then good to Tyria. Tampering with a predetermined destiny would throw the world a bit off kilter, but it would be for the greater good in the end. For example scarlet could show you a vision of one of many possible horrific outcomes of the future if she did not exist. Considering she has probably stepped into alternate time lines before that probably would not be that far fetched (considering the infinite ball storyline).

The other thing is make her unpredictable. Everyone knew by the time queens gauntlet what exactly was happening from beginning to end. She was going after the queen and to terrorize divinity’s reach. What if you made it where she had another goal during this time, something that people would have not expected. I know she is gathering resources (assimilating other advanced technology) for some grand purpose and testing possible future obstacles to see their resolve. Perhaps she could leave clues to her ultimate agenda that people would have to think about (not too hidden or obvious). Maybe even set up Logan where he would be stripped of his duties and become an outcast.

Lucky.9421:

PopeUrban.2578:

There ARE however undead horses

Oh right, there sure are.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Zombie_Horseman

What happened to them? o__O

Vizier Khilbron and Zhaitan command two different versions of undead Orrians.

Amok Threeohthree.8501:

Sindex.9520:

You know what I find hilarious? The negative domino effect this whole update caused.

I think you are forgetting about the positive domino of people getting organised. Server overlapping people organsing teq encounters together, etc

try and look from a glass half full perspective maybe? :P

And if maybe (I doubt it will happen) if A-net disables guesting altogether are you going to happy stuck on a low population server? Along as you organize you can beat Tequatl right?

My point is that these problems could have been seen by the QA team or their testers but they rushed it into the game yet again. Without thinking of the consequences.

You know what I find hilarious? The negative domino effect this whole update caused. Sure we had some content in the past that spike the difficulty curve before (people debated over). Right now everyone is at each other throats because this caused a divide in the community. Hardcore versus casuals. I hope A-net is taking notes because this will probably just a taste of things to come. For now people are blaming other people over features they did not create, or probably were not well thought out to begin with. The only people who created these mechanics is Arena net. So it’s up to them to fix it or not. I am going with the latter because they never did anything in previous updates including clock work invasion.

This is about a flawed system that has yet to be fix. I am talking about the scaling of content in game. A majority of the content would be easily fixed if the scaling system would actually work like it’s suppose to. Instead we get A-net compensating by either pushing the content to be too easy or hard. I am tired of the living story being used as some sort of hybrid focus group experiment on the fans, with some extra lore fluff attached. No middle ground for people who just want to enjoy it all. This goes for everything; either it be the enemies we fight or the rewards we get. SAB got verily close in doing this but also had to create separate instances (but certain enemies did scale properly).

Why not have a system where if you could beat Tequatl then it would scale up in difficulty every time he is beaten and same thing with the rewards. Or for instance once you beat the mega destroyer in Mt. Maelstrom then the next event would have a champion dragon from Primordus to show up. The essential rewards would always be given out, but the next encounter would better your chances at getting something better. If the group fails it would scale down to meet the difficulty curve of the server. I suggested this idea awhile back having the RNG based in dynamic events, instead of solely used for reward system. The chain dynamic event system seems to be fixed; thank to the queen gauntlet balloon events. So putting in an actual “dynamic” scaling system would be awesome. It would also create a better impact on players who either win or loose.

I have a strange feeling they will treat it like they did with guild missions; if there is a high success rate on bigger servers. Basically bigger servers can do it then it’s not impossible for smaller servers to the same. Just like bigger guilds versus smaller guilds when it comes to the success rate of doing bounties. I bet most of the resources in order to create this new tequatl encounter was based off from the mechanics of the guild bounty system.

Sanarian.9614:

FateOmega.9601:

Go guest on blackgate!

Please don’t. It’s annoying when people from Blackgate can’t even zone in because 90% of the people there guested from other servers. =.=

Actually it is going to happen, because you are the first. You see when your successful and gain fame in this way, everyone wants a slice of your pie. Which will over-saturate the server (making wonderful overflows), and might cause some conflicts of interest. The thing is you can’t keep the people from guesting on your server; since there is no block or kick feature. You can’t control the guesting functionality.

Saying that he wants a source from somewhere, that is not directed by the players/fans. Is still a roundabout way of saying “I want a source to come from past, present, or future Guild Wars development to reference the contrary.” Which needs a direct citation from whatever any Guild Wars developer has/will state(d), in/out of the game. Anyways I done arguing over semantics, because it’s not the issue on hand.

Nevertheless I have no idea why Miyani does not reference him as djinn, instead of a genie. Maybe it’s because of that 250 year gap that developers constantly reference to; when histories get reinterpreted in game. Or maybe it’s cultural or a geographical thing like you mention earlier in one of your earlier post. In the end I would agree with the others when it comes to the two entities being one in the same. Since I have not personally interpreted anyone in game stating that a genie is a separate entity to a djinn. Even Miyani who say’s he is a genie does not say it’s any different to a djinn.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Sindex.9520:

Supposedly A-net made this canon somewhere. In which they separate the two into different entities, and WP will not believe anyone unless it’s a developer that say’s different.

Why is it that whenever WP is mentioned on this forum it turns into this sort of warped game of telephone? He never said that, anywhere, neither in the comments or the video itself. Please, if you are going to cast aspersions upon a personage, do try to be accurate.

Really now? Then I would direct you to watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAaOKy1PoCg

From this time 2:42 to 3:55. Tell me what he said?

I am guessing this subject as brought up because of wooden potatoes interpretation of what happened in the shadowbox short story. Where he say’s that Zommoros is a genie and not a djinn. Supposedly A-net made this canon somewhere. In which they separate the two into different entities, and WP will not believe anyone unless it’s a developer that say’s different.

Yeah, sorry about the “unnatural extension of one life” speculation quip. Got carried away a bit. However I was referencing the event that happened in Eye of North when it came to his power diminishing. When it comes to occultist: I know they are unrelated. I apologies I should have been more specific. What I meant is they could recycle certain material to make new models, animation, or effects for the new NPC’s. So it would take less resources to create them.

Hey Konig that is magnificent idea and premise you have. However I was pondering on something Robert said during the queen’s jubilee update:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

I originally had the Mursaat/White Mantle as one of the factions. They’re certainly a stronger pick than something like bandits or pirates, but there’s a lot of factors that go into these sorts of things. Creating a new army never before seen is pretty complex and takes a lot of time and iteration. Not only is there a large design cost for it, but art has to create a brand new environment, new armor, new character models, new weapons, and those are not simple tasks either. I played a ton of GW1, so I know their significance. I also knew how much time I had to do this, what my asset request bank was, and knew that I couldn’t do the Mursaat justice… especially with such a small area. 
If I’m gonna do Mursaat and White Mantle, I (as a hardcore GW1 player) would want it to be epic and grand. We haven’t ..forgotten.. about them, I just have higher expectations for them than what I was capable of putting out in this release.
…and yes I’m proud of that reference.

One thing he might be referencing to is how the Mursaat used to move in GW1 via levitation. Could they make Lazarus walk now, because certain powers he used to wield have been diminished over time? Which in his mind would fuel is hatred/vendetta against those who wronged/humiliated him so many years ago. He still would be a major threat, because he hold a vast amount of knowledge due to his elder race lineage. Maybe remove the mask from his face and reveal the ramifications of extending his life cycle unnaturally. I can just imagine that Lazarus still has Saul D’alessio soul and is using him as a puppet like Vizier Khilbron did to Prince Rurik (but in a more deceptive way).

As for the white mantle they could combine the bandit appearance with that of how they used to look. Considering they have white mantle ghosts running around in Brisban Wildlands it would not be that hard to import. You could also take resources from the cultist in Colossus Fractal, the personal story quest “Rending the White Mantle,” and resources from Caudecus Manor.

There is so many things when you get the Mursaat involved, and the conspiracies Lazarus himself could have concocted. Maybe he had a hand in causing the great collapse. Trying to test the queens resolve and propelling Caudecus deeper in the political quandaries of Divinity’s Reach.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

In Guild Wars 2, the monsters raid you.

Also, check out Guild Missions

Yeah, the guild mission stuff. It’s still not entirely engaging at the moment. Honestly this idea felt like it was shoehorned in to be the equivalent of the Zaishen Challenge Quest system from GW1. Only it would be a system exclusively designed for guilds only. I can see why it was made, but in my eye’s it’s easily forgettable. It was one of those things that should have had a alliance system attached to it. However people have been utilizing makeshift alliances by resources that are outside game (like the LFG site). Hopefully with the in game LFG tool it will make it much easier to form these unofficial alliances. Especially for a few smaller guilds who were left in the cold because of this content.

BobbyStein.2315:

we’re just saving them for later.

Really now? How many years Mr. Stein are we going to have to wait for closure to all of these loose ends. Including plot lines from GW1, like the one I reference below:

This quote from Linsey is related to how the MOX quest ended in GW1 without any explanation of the assassination attempts on Selma, Prince Bokka, and Emperor Kisu. Before Guild Wars Beyond hit a dead end.

Linsey Murdock:

Don’t worry, it’s not just some random psycho, his identity may be revealed at a later date.

Where: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Talk:M.O.X.
Topic: Why so cliffhangers?

Not to mention all the other unanswered questions from GW1 (e.g. Evennia MIA in Ascalon) that in turn echo your words of “we will explain latter.” When it comes to any type of resolution in GW2, it’s a complete and utter mess (with plot holes or it’s anticlimactic). A Doctor Who parody with Rowan Atkinson humorously referenced this type of poor plot device just being thrown around.

You have now crossed the first year line, and your already practically shelving everything. Which causes huge pacing problems in your “structured narrative.” People have been complaining about this since day one. This is why the personal story failed convey a interesting narrative, and same with the living story feeling like a disorderly mess.

What your doing is introducing a bunch of new characters, while most of the old cast is sitting in the bleachers. Waiting for “we will explain latter” causality. Even the new characters are not fully fleshed out; so in turn why should the players care? It’s conveying to all of us that your driving the narrative as if you were driving a car blindfolded.

The suggestion that JayMack gave Mt. Stein has been echoed from other people including myself on numerous occasions. For the love of all the Tyrian gods you created a character who is a private investigator. I am talking about Marjory Delaqua. Why are you not using her? Is she twirling her thumbs?

Wolfheart.1938:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-shadowbox/ Related story.

Also very nice little bit

Both this story and what happened in game, has me thinking that it’s starting to reflect a Tron-esque plot line. Moto is probably ignoring that his invention is reflecting upon his deepest darkest emotions. While the facade is starting to fade away, Moto will be completely oblivious to it due to his success. It’s going to be his downfall, and he will have to clean up his mess (with the playable characters support).

It also boggles the mind that the writers instead of presenting things in game are still writing outside of the game. You have certain short stories that are presented better outside of the game then in game. People who do not read these stories or refuse too, are basically missing out on the well rounded character devlopment. Since in game representation (or equivalent) does not exist.

Actually I thought the writers were starting to learn this lesson with SAB update that just came out. Then they went back and made a short story about Moto’s personal background on the GW2 website. Really? You could not have in game representation of these people and places in Rata Sum? I don’t care if you can’t convey the same emotions in game. You can still try.

The excuse of “we don’t have enough resources” would be understandable; if A-net did not decide that the 2 weeks system is the best way to deliver a story. If you guys need more time on something then cancel this ludicrous two week temporary content schedule. Since it’s not telling a good coherent thought out narrative in game.

Josh, I have a few questions about this incarnation of the adventure box. The first question would be why was the reward system updated to reject alt play? You had talked about fixing the score system so it would discourage speed runs, but rewards people who would explore everything. Could you just RNG the dig spots so people would search in all areas instead of a select few? Or use the dungeon algorithm to incur diminishing returns on so many runs. Also because this account based rewards, then why was all of the upgrades you buy are not also account based? Though I can still see people farm enemies which is more tedious/repetitive then exploring to find every nook and cranny.

When it comes to upping the difficulty curve. Why were you even thinking about speed runs when the content is gated itself now per-day, and per-character? It’s like when first got praise for all those jumping puzzle you made and then you did the mad king’s clock tower. Which in my opinion was not bad per se (except for people amassed for one timed puzzle). You said it yourself during a guild cast that you pushed it a little too far. In some ways your repeating past mistakes. World 2 jumped to a difficulty spike to something like I imagined world 4 would be. Nevertheless I still enjoy the content you put out. It’s just you need to tone it down a bit more for the average player (at least normal mode).

Well I know the dungeon team was pretty much dismantled to form a LS team, it might be awhile till we see any of these minor issues being addressed. People still clip through dungeon walls to skip about 90% of the dungeon. These issues have been there since day 1, and have yet to be fixed.

To bad about Robert though. He did close many different exploits in several dungeons, and he did have some interesting ideas for future boss encounters. Also Robert was one of the few people who wanted to get things like the Mursaat to come back to GW2. I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Nevertheless I think the right way to have people not skip trash is by simply creating some positive reinforcement. Something like for every trash mob you deal with basically increases your overall rewards you get at the end of the dungeon. As a matter of fact I am hoping to see a system like this in next SAB update that arives on Tuesday. However that is pure speculation based off on the idea that Josh Formean rigged the score mechanic to a reward system.

While we are at it; can we get more ways to acquire silver doubloons? The only odd out crafting material that is somewhat of hassle to get.

One final note; since it did not fit in the post above:

When A-net talks about something, I have always expected to get half of what they promised (since factions). So I am not overly disappointed anymore. I even thought back at the time, when they first announced Elder Dragons in GW2 and I thought “A-net not going to flesh (character wise) them out are you?” You just adding dragons because of their “cool factor.” Is that horrid to think that way? Sometimes. Nevertheless when they do get things right, I am really proud of what they have accomplished. I even hope it carries over to other aspects of the game. So as it stands, I am still indifferent when you compare GW1 to GW2 on how they stand then and now.

EDIT: for clarity on both posts (or at least I hope).

I have been waiting for a discussion of this caliber would come up after the first anniversary of GW2. I sort of feel indifferent to it. Has GW2 really progressed as GW1 did during it’s initial growth? Actually I think it has done better in quantity, but the quality has not been up too par. Nevertheless GW1 had glaring mistakes. Content like Sorrows Furnace was it turned out to be forgettable in the long run. A couple of months and it just turn into a farming area; which is less intuitive then fractals in GW2. Even Rotscale as a major feature is kind of laughable, since it was just farming for certain items.

Even in Prophecies I remember hearing nothing but people complaining there is nothing to do past level 20. So because it lacked depth they quit the game. Quite a few players were running people across the game and cutting the true content by half. Droks and Sanctum Cay runs were verily popular back then.

Everyone eventually just went back to FoW and UW. It was the best work they did; after everyone got tired of all the latter incarnation of “elite content” that was produced during GW1 lifespan. It was truly for the hardcore, and for those who just wanted to farm for ecto’s/shards. Tomb of the primeval kings was only second to UW/FoW, but was a bit less rewarding. Which honestly I have no idea why Arena Net has not built an open ended dungeon for GW2. Dungeons are way too linear here in GW2 even with the multiple path mechanic. I kind of wish they had a fully open dungeon with non-linear pacing in GW2.

Prophecies had sections of it never revamped until years latter via other campaign/expansions (which eventually resulted in EotN). Did the PvE sections of prophecies overarching story feel compelling? Yes, because I felt there was a little more time poured into it compared to GW2. However some of it did feel convoluted with the side stories cutting in/out. I even remember some people arguing that Prophecies should have just reflected pre-searing Ascalon the rest of the game through.

GW1 and GW2 do share a problem when it comes to closure of a certain plot holes. Which then turns to the “we will explain latter” mantra, that never truly occurs ever (Abaddon was one of the few exceptions). I wish there was more coherent stories in both games to the point I cared about the characters. You build off your original lore while establishing new lore. All the while not completely retconning everything from established lore.

I think GW2 was more over-hyped then GW1. There is a couple of glaring reason why. First of all people during that time were so intrigued with WoW and it’s so called “depth,” during GW1 initial release. Second GW2 had received way more press coverage then GW1 ever did. It was going to be a sequel that would change the MMO format forever. So GW2 amassed more criticism the it’s predecessor for not delivering on it’s promised content.

As for Factions. Let’s be honest Faction’s was a rushed (stand alone) campaign compared to Prophecies. Plus you did have to buy which did cost you an extra $50. Factions supposedly was the game to bridge the gap between PvP and PvE. It failed to do so. Nothing was really enhanced, or was ground breaking in both PvP or PvE. The introduction to Alliance Battles was decent, but PvPer’s looked down at AB as a cheap PvE hybrid knockoff. Ritualist and Assassin after beta were quickly nerfed into the ground, and the two professions was deemed useless for a couple of years. The story for Factions while it was interesting, but it was poorly delivered due to substandard voice acting. Then we have titles that were also added. Players complained about the cheap time sink because it was severely lacking a point.

Factions did get some things right though. It’s artwork was still fantastic and it’s distinct Asian themes was pretty amazing. I especially enjoyed the Jade Sea. The Elite Missions held for a bit (better then Sorrows Furnace), but people still held to UW and FoW. Some of it’s skills that were introduced were fantastic. Like bringing in the Flesh Golem for the Necro, and I personally loved Broad Head Arrow for the Ranger. Of course some skills were direct duplicate from Prophecies.

On the other hand GW2 core mechanics needed to be well defined at launch. Not tacked on a year or two latter. A-net now has bigger team then they did for GW1. I feel that those cheap in game cut-scenes for GW2 are still horrendous. Also the PvP section of the game needs more diversity. In game stories and the dynamic event system need a huge boost in quality. DE’s should be using the RNG system more then it going into the reward content. Guild halls, LFG system, home instance customization, and cities being fleshed out should take high priority over the “time sink gimmick.” Not to mention skill balancing for both PvE and PvP needs focus.

Yeah, I did this eight characters and it feels very satisfying (did the same in GW1 with all 10 professions). Since you can pretty much go wherever you want and be any class you want. The only semi-major hassle was WvW but after awhile it grew on me. I guess whenever they come out with their next heavy class I will make a 9th character.

Yeah, there is more information about her past but again it’s not delivered in game. Why not just bring in Marjory Delaqua to investigate Scarlet, and then have the players search out her background. We did this during dragon bash to uncover a conspiracy, and we used a similar method in order to flesh out the mad king thorn’s history. I was actually not surprised that they did this short story outside of the game again because people were flabbergasted that was no exposition to her past.

Hopefully we a get part two talking about what she did behind the scenes before her big reveal. Maybe explains the steam creature connection how she has unlimited resources at her disposal.

On that note I wonder what Caithe and Faolain think of her. Especially the latter because Scarlet seems to upstaging Faolain influence over the rest of the world.

When it comes to Scarlet I have my speculation about what is going on, with the bit of information of what we got from her “grand” introduction. First major thing is that she might have a separate “dream” from the others that follow the pale tree teachings or nightmare court ideology. Which reminds me I think caithe, the pale tree, and even faolain would have more insight on this character. She seems like the type of person who was soul searching to find oneself, and found out she did not belong in the end.

Continuing on with speculation. She supposedly saw the eternal alchemy in all it’s glory, which is another way to see how the universe works. Which could have been the root of her being psychotic. She probably could not comprehend such knowledge but was able to retain it at the cost of her sanity. Her true motivation for what’s going on is somewhat mysterious. Could she know that our fight against the dragons is a futile matter? Or perhaps that by us killing the dragons, we would create larger atrocities then what they could do with a combined effort? Perhaps she is being evil just to put everyone on the right track to do good? Nevertheless her motivations probably tied directly to what she can see in her mind. Abandoning her agricultural roots and becoming a technological prodigy.

When it comes to the steam creatures I think she might have traveled to an alternate universe before. Or might have created the technology to do so. Her portal device in Gendarran Fields that look replicated from the steam creature tech fuels this idea. Which might explain her unlimited resources and help. Her persuasion techniques to get her lackeys probably stems from her promising wealth and power. She does treat them as a means to an end though.

I think they will add more dragon lore and evolution (minions & environment). Which might mean new champions to fight. We will probably not see another elder dragon maybe until after Wild Star gets released in the 2nd quarter of next year. They are still trying to perfect the game mechanics by getting the reward system to more motivating and enjoyable long term. All the while adding features like the refined LFG mechanic and getting their dynamic event system in order; so it’s like what they imagined before GW2 was released. One of the biggest problem with getting another elder dragon fight is they want to avoid having another zhaitan rushed/anticlimactic encounter in game. Also taking in how long it took for them to fix the culling issues in game, then about 2nd quarter next year seems about right for another elder dragon encounter.