Guild Wars 2

Boomlinxs.9513:

Apparently there were these Dragons? I dunno but someone told me they were taking over the world…. probably just a rumour :P

Must have been some other game.

So, again they’ve decided to completely ignore players’ response with how LS is presented and continue with out-of-game RANDOM BLOG POSTS that reach maybe 0.1% GW2 population… -_-’
Nice read, but put the lore in the game already, for kitty sake!

And again, what’s Aetherblades motivation? They’re supposed to be tough and piratey, right. So why the pathetic cartoonish fear of Scarlet?

Also lol @Truma = Kiel 2.0.
As a female player, I have a request: can we pleeeeeease get some decent male characters (that aren’t as useless as Logan, comic relief like Faren or have a haircut like Braham), ktnxbai.

I find it a very poor development. The game we bought and grown to love is gone. What do we get instead, non-GW-ish infantile and poorly written content like Scarlet. At least proper expansions would allow players to go through the game and then eventually into the new areas. Now new players will never be able to do TA as it once was. And all the work dungeon devs initially did is being thrown away – that is a waste of resources.

Today, Living Random World made me SADDER THEN EVER. Removing an existing path from TA to replace it with Scarlet stuff?! In what universe is that a good thing, Anet? Yes, TA F/U had issues, but it also had nice aestethics and good writing. Now to be replaced by more magitech and villain sueiness?! Looks like deliberate trolling of players… So yeah, I’m once more [x] Telling the Internet That I Am Very Much Upset.

TA F/U removed?! So instead of fixing some good content, they remove it and replace it with Scarlet – essentially the worst game content? :O

Anet, you’ve been disappointing us for some time now, but this…

Nilkemia.8507:

This feels like a troll post, but I’ll bite this time.

Canach wasn’t really a villain, he awoke the Karka by accident the first time, and while his methods were really dumb, he was still doing what he thought was right in the Secret of Southsun. He still has potential.

Caudecus wasn’t behind the Separatist plot in his manor. (at least I got that impression) And while his plots were easily foiled, he’s managed to cover his tracks well enough that we can’t get rid of him yet.. people are probably more interested in the White Mantle/Mursaat, who he might be working with.

While Zhaitan’s last stand was pitiful, he still rose an entire sunken continent and its dead population. That takes effort.

While Kudu is pretty much a bland nemesis for Zojja, it is somewhat personal if you picked an asuran character who had the weather device as their first invention.

Sorrow’s Embrace shows him as the first to get the dredge to work with them, even for just a while, and shows his experiments with draconic energy. Then he gets away, to be killed in the Crucible of Eternity. Still, he found a way to control dragon minions, something that the Inquest put to use even after his death.

I’ll agree with you on Gaheron, he was bland. And he didn’t reach godhood.

Didn’t fight the Karka Queen from the first time, so can’t comment on it.

Admittedly, Faolain didn’t do much besides waiting for Caithe to show up so she could try turning her evil. Cadyern got an even worse deal than her, the guy created the Nightmare Court and he’s just Faolain’s second in command when we meet him.

THIS.
All of those villains appear to have more depth to them than Scarlet. And at least with those guys, we got them presented to us IN GAME.

I’ve seen a lot of Scarlet complaints map chat in-game as well. People don’t usually discuss lore and story in map chat, but Scarlet-related Anet writer dissing / GW1 nostalgia is an exception. And the only players who seem to get excited about her nowdays (on my server at least) are champ farmers.

Rox Interesting character, ties to a DE member = feeling of continuity and belonging to GW story. They oversimplified her with the Tequatl update – srsly, is all that she does just to impress Rytlock?! But ok job overall. Thumbs up.

Braham Aside from a terrible, TERRIBLE haircut, I quite like him. As a good Norn he is making his own heroic saga, got a lot of potential, is responsible (Cragstead) and as Eir’s son, is tied to one of original GW2 characters which expands on the current story and gives us a feeling of continuity. A GOOD EXAMPLE of how living Story should work. Thumbs up.

Ellen Kiel Yes yes, she is a bit white knight-ish, goodie two shoes. However, she gets the job done. She stood up for LA more than once and deserves to have a seat on the council. (Sorry Abbadon fractal folkes, I also preferred that one over Thaumanova, but Ellen seems like a better choice than Evon storywise). She does need more character depth though. Thumbs up…sort of

Moto I have no interest in mini-games, so I haven’t paid any attention to SAB. n/a

Canach A GOOD EXAMPLE of an anti-hero. He had strong motivations and a hard life which led to some poor choices. There should have been a choice of joining him against the Consortium actually. However, his story should have been presented better IN GAME, random blog posts doesn’t reach majority of players, so the lore gets hazy here. Thumps up.

Mai Trin Since the very begining of Dragon Bash, she was the obvious villain-of the week, very poorly fleshed out at that. No good motivations or anything – as is currently the case with all Aetherblades. Meh.

Evon Gnashblade Maybe I just don’t fully know his background (don’t recall reading Evon blog posts) and the general idea of a robber baron that wants to buy his way into politics doesn’t real appeal to me that much. Meh.

Marjory Delaqua Very interesting character, got a lot of potential. I wonder why we haven’t heard from her during Queen’s Jubilee. That noir intro scene was very nice (reason why so many people are intrigued), but it was only one scene. We need this character _ as an actual part of the story much more_. She would have been ideal to look into Scarlet’s history with players and Emissary Vorpp… Hope to see more of her, in game. Thumbs up.

Lady Kasmeer Like Marjory, got potential but mostly cause of external story. Southsun dialogue was actually good to get to know her personality a bit. We need her IN GAME more. ok…

Mr. E [Mystery] Thus far, it seems like deus ex machina. Like it’s been voiced out on the forums many a time, the progression of the plot in LS is slow. Also, there are sooo many mysteries from GW1 and GW2 main plots that we don’t need so many more mysteries at this point. Kasmeer, Marjory and Ellen would do as our correspondents…Thumbs down.

Faren Good comic relief, they’ve certainly fleshed out his personality in game. Glad to see AN EXISTING character returning. Thumbs up.

Scarlet Briar Oh boy, too much to write here, just look at so many Scarlet-Sue threads. The character might have some potential (?) but has been extremely poorly presented. We don’t need a random blog post which doesn’t really give character depth, we need more lore presentation IN GAME. Thumbs waaaay down.

Key points: anything that was presented IN GAME is ok.

On the issue of Faren’s Speedo – if there are mostly kittenty options for female armor out there (cough Arah, cough CoE light armor cleavage, cough karma light), then us girls can have Lord Faren in a Speedo every now and again. Just sayin’…

marnick.4305:

mexay.3902:

Members of the community have already expressed their distaste for the way this character was written and presented. She is fine on her own, but don’t make me see her every time I want to do fractals. Keep her in the living story and let her go no further.

Members of the community have already expressed liking the way this character was written and presented. It’s harder to find anyone liking Trahearne.

From reading these forums (just look at the plethora Scarlet-Sue and no-not-Scarlet-again threads), I’d say those members of community are a minority. Even is some people like the idea of Scarlet, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone actually approving the way character stories and lore are presented nowadays. Writing and presenting the lore of the living world is probably the reason why so many people have issues with Scarlet in the first place.
I agree that it’s hard to find a less likable NPC than Trahearne, but Scarlet does make a close second.

Veltoss.9135:

One last event with Scarlet. Scarlet gets a dragon champion to become her ally, she attacks somewhere that Trahearne is at, the dragon champion turns on them and eats them both. Destiny’s Edge players come in and slap the dragon silly. The end.

Corrected. It would be brilliant, but players should do some slapping – NO CANONS AGAIN, but some actual hand-to-hand slapping. DE drama in addition to that is welcome, but we should get recognition for at least something in this game!

And I agree about zerging the Crystal Desert gates. Just bring flame rams, trebs and omegas. Done.

Philosoraptor moment: if a dragon eats both Scarlet and Trahearne, is it just a vegetarian with our best interests at heart?

Zaxares.5419:

Faolain shacks up with Scarlet to make Caithe jealous. TEH DRAMAZ!

There should always be DRAMA when DE characters are involved.

But yeah, I don’t see Scarlet teaming up as she rejected all organisations, and I think Faolain is a much better villain – her motives wouldn’t really get along with Scarlet’s joker-iness and I don’t think she’d idly stand by while Scarlet spawns her lame magitech all over Twilight Arbor. Both Plate Tree and the Nightmare Sylvari represent this natural magic aspect.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

CureForLiving.5360:

Well then, atleast we might be able to kill her now? Would that make you happy?

How Anet’s been treating Scarlet in interviews… expect her to be around for a while. Given Scotts mention of a couple years between ED plots, if we were to take that seriously, expect her to last to the end of 2014 at least.

D: Scarlet until the end of 2014? Anet will start losing playerbase before you can say “die die die, die die”…
Well, I truly hope they improve their poor storytelling and start presenting stuff in the actual game, NOT on in random blog post.

Palador.2170:

We need a villain with wider appeal and motives. Perhaps one that makes us question if we’re the hero or if they are as they call into question what we think we know about the dragons. Or one with a straight forward goal, but a more refined sense of style and approach. Whatever we get, it can’t be someone made to match characters we’re not playing.

This. Any kind of character depth to the existing cardboard cut-outs like Trahearne or Scarlet, would be much appreciated.

Rainbow Sprint.3215:

“Man this villain again, why can’t anet give us something new that we havent seen before?”

WRONG. Fanbase cries have been the opposite. We don’t want something new and random the whole time, we want expansion of the Tyrian lore! There are so many plotlines that need resolving, both from Personal Story, DE story, GW1 story. It would take years of storytelling for those, so why waste time on poorly developed villain of the week like Scarlet?

timidobserver.7925:

Eh, I’ll pass on the mini given that I find them useless.

This. I still don’t see the point of the minis. Sure, they look cool… for about 10min.

Faren is a lovable idiot of GW2, I had a Skywalkerish “nooooooo” moment when it seemed like he died he died during Queen’s Speech.
But yeah I agree with the point. We should be given more choice.

Would definitely join if such a guild is created. Been trying to get Teq on home server for a few days, but we only got organized enough to get him to 55%. Hopefully tonight works out better.

Science.6709:

Title shouldn’t be awarded until a player enters 1000 overflows in a certain time period. .

Awarded to everyone who played Teq on a big pop server and entered OVERFLOWCEPTION.

Hope Faolain kills Scarlet so we can go back to the real story.

Weindrasi.3805:

Dude. Don’t ever diss the Aetherblades. They came from nothing… TO GIVE US MONEY! We should love the moneyblades…!

Moneyblades! xD inhales Gotta love the smell of champ boxes on an invasion morning.
(Which is extremely sad lore-wise… but then again, I’m getting closer to a legendary…)

+1 YES

/15char

Logan and the Queen are still making that baby that she hasn’t announced because Scarlet crashed the party…

Eir’s attending failed parents annonymous meetings.
Rytlock is being his badkitten self.

Pirates? I just see Aethers as $champ boxes$.

Emtiarbi.3281:

That would be SO epic

+1

That would indeed be epic OP. But sadly I doubt Anet would grace us with a story like that, considering how straightforward / superficial updates we’ve been getting lately in the Living Random Story.

Also, the Nightmare Court would totally have me on their side vs Scarlet.
Double-cross? Go Faolain go!

roque.5162:

It’s explicitly written “Tequatl is evolving”. What else would it evolve to?

Tequatlmon, I choose you!

In Dredge Moletariate, the dungeon runs you!

Choice of overflows and AFK 1min kick would fix most of the issues with Tequatl.

2 guild were created but got filled immediately. We need a 3rd one, with players that are willing to organise, listen to commanders, use VOIP.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

The way I understood the mail mentioning the “current invasion” was that, despite Zhaitan being defeated, there were still hordes of Risen roaming about. The invasion couldn’t just end right after Zhaitan and be called a success. As far as we know it’s still on-going for the sake of thoroughness..

I was under the same impression actually. Resurfaced Orr would still be a dangerous place, one that Pact would want to cleanse thoroughly. Priory should be interested in dealing with the Risen asap so that they could study Orr and maybe find out some useful info on Dragons / magic. I just don’t see the Pact immediately retreating from Orr after events in Arah.

So this could still be after Zhaitan’s defeat and after Lost Shores and Molten Alliance. The only thing that isn’t mentioned by NPCs timeline-wise, is Scarlet / Aetherblade attacks during Dragonbash and Queen’s Jubilee.
The mentioned interview complicates things, though. :p

Chris Starflame.1023:

Just wanted to say that the trailers for the living world releases are AWESOME!!!! I really hope you keep doing them!

Yay, well done trailers. But they create a hype and the actual Living Random Story creates soooo much disappointment.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Been starting to feel like ArenaNet’s caring more for marketing than the quality of the game. Well, I guess that’s no surprise from a business perspective. sigh

It will cost them eventually. Playerbase won’t stick to LS for too long and will switch to other MMOs, Elder Scrolls Online coming up soon etc. I know a few GW1 fans who already quite because they feel cheated as GW2 didn’t deliver any of the things they were looking forward to.

It’d be nice ONLY if they add a new permanent path to TA. Revamping existing mechanics is ok, but scraping away old paths to add more Aetherblades – not so good. I don’t mind magitech, but dungeons are themed for a reason, and it would be such a shame if TA loses its nature-is-magic feel.

CHIPS.6018:

Forget elder dragons. I want to get inside Wizard’s Tower.

Yes! But if it turns out Scarlet lives there, I’m rage-quitting! :p

DOW Mageski.2097:

Let just hope it stays forever! Perma content please!

A hundred times YES. We need more permanent content, even if it is just a one new dungeon path. At least I hope this is what TAssault will end up being – a new path. If they wipe the old dungeon paths from existence, I’d be disappointed.

Kirschwasser.3972:

I don’t mind so much. Magitech and I get along. Though I’d be disappointed to see the fae-like qualities of TA replaced with magitech.

Same. There are themed dungeons for a reason. If new path/story is added, it should be on top of what exists now. They shouldn’t discard paths – adding a new one or revamping broken mechanics would be sufficient. Scarlet’s minions in only one path is fine, but if we lose the beauty and the nature-is-powerful-magic feel of TA, it would be really bad development. Haven’t got much faith left in Anet after LS so far, but I hope they’re better than that.
We do not need magitech in every single dungeon.

DigitalKirin.9714:

TA F/U will be fixed so that instead of spiders spawning on head shake, it’ll be dredge.

No more TA F/U, but truly TAfuuuu.

Overall nice work. Will share with guildie dungeon newcomers.

Nice, back to TA!
Could have been done without Scarlet but oh well. I hope Anet had listened to our complaints and that they will do a better job of telling the story and portraying Scarlet in-game this time. It’s be awesome to see more of Faolain, though since Anet has been ignoring old plots so far, my hopes aren’t that high.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

People say it’s random. But it isn’t. At all.

I think what people generally mean by “random LS” is that suddenly we’ve got all these new character and a plot line that differs so much from what GW2 initially offered, without addressing so many issues and unfinished stories left from the Personal Story and GW1. While I agree with you that LS indeed had been consistent, it lacks a feeling of connection and continuity with the main story. That’s what’s random here.

Ruins of Surmia is going for a big push tonight, 8pm GMT. If you’re familiar with Teq strategy, willing to participate in an organised run, and listen to commanders, you’re welcome.

You are welcome to join us in Unplug[DC] on Ruins of Surmia.
Atm we’re recruiting friendly, active people for dungeons, exploration, guild missions and WvW raids. We offer organised events twice a week, usually Thursdays and Sundays, plus a guild lottery. We are quite a mix of Europeans, mostly active in the afternoons/evenings and on weekends.
We’re using teamspeak3 for events and you can also join our forum: http://unplug.enjin.com/
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either myself, Classicalz (Robwars.9386), or Jayla Startscream (Noyala.1496).
:)

It wouldn’t be difficult if people would only listen / read the guide. my server kind of gave up, not organization whatsoever unless we announce it and drag ppl to TS.

I won’t give up on Tequatl, but this event made me think if I should give up on the server and just transfer somewhere with a more PvE inclined community. But that is another issue, as long as Anet doesn’t fix the overflow issue that high-pop servers have.
Cap on server pop prior to overflow should be increased imo, and some low pop servers should be merged. If not, they’ll just end up dying and pop will keep guesting on better servers…

Overall I’d vote Casual Cathy, but Hardcore Hans should at least become a minister / enter the government to pull something spectacular as Tequatl occasionally.

ROFL @ Overflow Otto. xD Sad but true – he is the future of this game.

Please please please create a third guild.

Ruins of Surmia. Got some decent organisation going, but then trolls on the turrets messed up big time.

Tom Gore.4035:

ANet could of course remedy it all by having Scarlet seduce Trahearne so we could fight and kill him.

I just imagined a Scarlet-Trahearne plant-baby! * is scarred for life *
Now that would be the most hated boss of all times. :p

Kitteny ocean! :p
Not to hijack your thread, but I’m looking for a similar thing on EU servers. Got 2 lvl80s, still need some maps on my main toon, but I would also like some company for leveling my warrior and thief. Got a lowbie guildie who would also be interested.
/w in-game (main toon: Isoldë, server: Ruins of Surmia)

AFK kick – much needed for Teq on many servers.

OP, come, pull up a tent on this massive virtual field next to your fellow protesters, have some camp-fire brewed coffee, while we all watch WP youtube videos replacing the lack of GW2 storytelling.

What you’ve said is exactly what we’ve been shouting at Anet for months. I just hope a dev will look through a window and see all the virtual protester tents…
You can also check this thread.

If it isn’t to late, you’d be welcome to join us in Unplug[DC] on Ruins of Surmia (mid population).
Atm we’re recruiting friendly, active people for dungeons, exploration, guild missions (all unlocked, puzzles coming next week), WvW raids (got 2 commanders) and occasional PvP.
[DC] offers organised events twice a week, usually Thursdays and Sundays, plus a guild lottery (temple or event runs + missions etc). We’re quite a mix of Europeans, mostly active in the afternoons/evenings and on weekends.
We’re using TeamSpeak3 for events and you can also join our forum: http://unplug.enjin.com/
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either myself or Classicalz (Robwars.9386), Cyra Locket (Pauollo.6507), Jayla Startscream (Noyala.1496).

~ hedix / Isoldë

Still no invite.
Got a 80 cleric Guardian. Won’t be able o play today, but will be at your disposal tomorrow!

Nah, it would be fun only if people read instructions / get on a server VOIP and get their kittens awesomely organised like Blackgate. That video looked fun!
The only issue is that unfortunately, you can’t get rid of the AFKers and other people of low motivation and due to low player caps, some good ppl end up in Overflows.

Mars.6319:

Just out of curiosity which do you find less fun, SAB world 2 or Teq?

SAB ofc. Its an April Fools minigame. Tequatl is a piece of the real game / story.

IndigoSundown.5419:

SynfulChaot.3169:

RoRo.8270:

I dont think you read his post he said there should be 2 options an instanced version and open world

I read it. Please don’t assume I didn’t because you don’t understand what I’m saying. I’m firmly against guild-specific gated content. If there is to be an instance, don’t make being in the same guild a requirement. It’s that simple.

Agreed. Teq should be instanced, but as a raid, not a guild mission.

+1 to that
It’s would give us control over coordination and make sure that players who get there are actually willing to play and listen (y’know, put some effort and not immediately die, not respawn and block players who could contribute but have ended up in an overflow).
As long as the same guild isn’t a requirement, it would be ok for both small and large guild and maybe even lead to more communication between the guilds and guild alliances.

PopeUrban.2578:

Just give us a historian NPC at the priory than can flip us back to “old” orr once the story is over.

THIS.

Wargrave.4936:

The difficulty is not caused by the event, but by the human factor.

Truth.
Some kind of a raid system should have been implemented. Where guild or guild alliances would go and defeat the boss, thus giving more control over who is playing and how they’re playing.

Wegi.4029:

But thats stupid, considering previous Living Story (like the one, where we meet Rox) is supposed to be after the personal story.

But Rox specifically mentions “her time around Braham” and killing the beats and bringing the trophy being a Norn thing, meaning it’s after the LS events, at least after the Flame&Frost.
My money is on theories in which Teq either changes allegiance to DSD (Bubbles i.e. “something in the water” / “gathering strength in the depths”), or defeated Zhaitan has gathered enough strength after we sunk/drowned it in Arah story. Not a big deal since he did dwell in a sunken nation before…
But considering how poor Anet’s storytelling has been thus far, cool fan theories will probably remain just cool fan theories.

PopeUrban.2578:

You guys don’t watch his twitch feed?

Zhaitan

Don’t rez me bro.
Gonna rally in a sec.

<3

It’s not the language barrier that’s the problem, I found that most GW2 players speak English.
The issue is that a server-wide VOIP is sadly not a widespread occurrence on EU servers, when it comes to PvE stuff.

Probably won’t be needed in a month time, when many more people have been through the drill. But to get there, to get experience, i think servers will find VOIP very helpful, if not necessary.