Mike Zadorojny Stepping Up as Expansion Lead Designer - Guild Wars 2 - MMORPG.com

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Mike Zadorojny Stepping Up as Expansion Lead Designer - Guild Wars 2 - MMORPG.com

Guild Wars 2 News - Mike O'Brien has penned a lengthy letter on the Guild Wars 2 site to celebrate the game's journey over the past year. He begins by highlighting the conclusion of the Living World Season 3 as well as mentioning the new take on PvP and WvW releases. He touts ArenaNet's focus on quality and ensuring that players' most memorable moments are actually in playing the game rather than reading about it.

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BillMurphy

Mike Z is a good egg. Excited to see what 8/1 brings us. And to think that it should be here before end of year.

Aeander

I don't recognize his name so I have no history to go on, but I am looking forward to seeing what he has accomplished as expansion lead. Season 3 has been such an incredible experience and I'm more optimistic about the game's future than I've been in years.

BillMurphy

Aeander said:

I don't recognize his name so I have no history to go on, but I am looking forward to seeing what he has accomplished as expansion lead. Season 3 has been such an incredible experience and I'm more optimistic about the game's future than I've been in years.

Writing in the last episode was pretty spotty though. It feels so hamfisted - just throwbacks to GW1 all setting up the return to the Crystal Desert.

xelrah

BillMurphy said:

Aeander said:

I don't recognize his name so I have no history to go on, but I am looking forward to seeing what he has accomplished as expansion lead. Season 3 has been such an incredible experience and I'm more optimistic about the game's future than I've been in years.

Writing in the last episode was pretty spotty though. It feels so hamfisted - just throwbacks to GW1 all setting up the return to the Crystal Desert.

And then it felt even more awkward for charr players. Almost as if writers assumed that everyone played GW1 and now plays female human characters. Oh and that our characters somehow know characters from hundreds years ago. I will leave out questionable decisions of PC.
I really can't think of worse LS episode story/writing wise than this one, too bad because new map / mastery aren't that bad (it's far from my fav from S3 though).

Aeander

xelrah said:

BillMurphy said:

Aeander said:

I don't recognize his name so I have no history to go on, but I am looking forward to seeing what he has accomplished as expansion lead. Season 3 has been such an incredible experience and I'm more optimistic about the game's future than I've been in years.

Writing in the last episode was pretty spotty though. It feels so hamfisted - just throwbacks to GW1 all setting up the return to the Crystal Desert.

And then it felt even more awkward for charr players. Almost as if writers assumed that everyone played GW1 and now plays female human characters. Oh and that our characters somehow know characters from hundreds years ago. I will leave out questionable decisions of PC.
I really can't think of worse LS episode story/writing wise than this one, too bad because new map / mastery aren't that bad (it's far from my fav from S3 though).

In fairness, Livia's achievements probably should be well known among Krytans. One of the flaws of Guild Wars 1 was its failure to properly convey NPC stories, but canonically, most of the player's accomplishments in GW1 would actually belong to certain NPC's. In the case of Livia, she would be heavily influential in the Krytan Civil War and the crowning of Queen Salma. 

Now, as for the rest of the story, I feel that it was only the second instance (the Shining Blade trials) that really dropped the ball. It felt cringey, assumed a human character, and just came out of nowhere.

Also, there are three living world teams. This is the same team that brought us the Bitterfrost Frontier (the only other one this season with a weak story). Probably not a coincidence.

Asch126

" ArenaNet's focus on quality "


Anyone that has played the game for the past year or so might think this is little part is more full of poo than Blizzard's balance team.

azarhal

Anise is a crafty one, she bound the Commander to Kryta. Lots of players hates it because it was out of their "hands", but it was brilliant manipulation from Anise to make sure that the Commander would never raise against Kryta or the Queen...

LS3 main issue is that the dev started to deal with the White Mantles stuff that had been hanging in the background of the game since day one, but then started to shoehorn stuff for expac 2 into it, to tend finish the White Mantles/Mursaat storyline in the last episode.

Aeander

azarhal said:

Anise is a crafty one, she bound the Commander to Kryta. Lots of players hates it because it was out of their "hands", but it was brilliant manipulation from Anise to make sure that the Commander would never raise against Kryta or the Queen...

LS3 main issue is that the dev started to deal with the White Mantles stuff that had been hanging in the background of the game since day one, but then started to shoehorn stuff for expac 2 into it, to tend finish the White Mantles/Mursaat storyline in the last episode.

The players will have to deal with these types of decisions being "out of their hands." The entire reason why the personal story failed to properly tell a story is that it had to account for so many branching paths. Better that we get a single linear, well-told canon story.

And I absolutely agree on the White Mantle story being disappointing. 

Caudecas's rebellion should not have been foiled in a single Living World episode. Lazarus shouldn't have been summoned and defeated in a single fight. The entire White Mantle faction came off as weak due to the ease and brevity with which they were defeated. This should have been an expansion or an entire living world season - not a subplot to be introduced and resolved within the span of 3 episodes.