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[Column] Guild Wars 2: Why Echoes of the Past is Important
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Players have had a long wait for a content update for Guild Wars 2, but the wait is finally over. This long wait is just one of several reasons players feel unsure about the games future. While season 2 of the Living World has made serious improvements, it’s also plagued with it’s own faults. Still, it has helped to keep your hopes up, at least a little bit. Echoes of the Past has been live now for nearly a week, and it seems that hope can grow a bit more.
Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: Why Echoes of the Past is Important.
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The Tengu use to be seen all over Tyria. Now new players can learn what happened to this once proud race.
Comments
It will fade into mediocrity quite fast though.
Smile
"Guild Wars 2 is a sequel," that'd be nice if it actually was, but it's really not and a continuity in lore isn't the place that needs work if you want this to be a Guild Wars game.
"If a development team can’t even produce decent free content, how can it be expected of them to create paid content that’s worth the cash?"
Huh? This makes no sense. Shoddy free content doesn't preclude good paid content, because there is money connected to it. Money means more resources to make better, however you define that, content.
The opposite would more likely be true, if they couldn't produce good paid content, why would you expect them to produce good free content.
I think what you should've said is; "... and a continuity in lore isn't the only place that needs work if you want this to be a Guild Wars game."
This is not a game.
I don't get why some are so obsessed with expansion and that the game will be doomed without one. Clearly Arenanet have chosen another path to keep the game alive, and has proven to have worked despite what some have claimed.
The game is still very much alive. Today in my guild there where just as many online as 1 year ago and there even more players in the lower level area I was playing today. Yes, megaserver helps.
Be prepared that they wont make any expasion ever and still some years before it dies.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
What do you gain from there not being one? Nearly every MMO releases one, it's the expectation of the market.
What would Arenanet gain by releasing an expansion compared to living story?
1. More money earned compared to invested dollars?
2. Keep the game fresh and alive?
Remember those that only return for expansion will soon leave again. And most likely not use the cash shop.
I think living story is the best way of the two at keeping the game alive.
In short: expansion is waste of time compared to living story.
Well, I hope the additions are working out for you. Like backpacks! And...gem sales. Meanwhile, other games are releasing new continents, races, and quests. ArenaNet has two things to gain from selling something, profit and respect. They're already paying devs to work. They're already hiring more people. Why not do something worthwhile?
Season 1 was terrible. The earlier episodes of Season 2 were good, but hardly breathtaking.
Echoes of the Past, on the other hand, is a fantastic patch - easily the best one thus far.
The new story chapter has done quite a lot not just for continuity, but also for moving the story forward as well. It represents not only an acknowledgment of the veteran GW playerbase, but also (by necessity) an obligation to push these lore connections forward and please said playerbase in some fashion.
The new skins are some of the best in the game. Especially that heavy Carapace set.
The replayable nature of Season 2 story chapters is a large positive for the game - adding quite a few hours to a player's experience and introducing some variety and extra achievement challenge.
The new map is simply fantastic. It represents the best of both PvE and WvW, such that it puts both to shame. Its small size is representative of what PvE maps always should have been - for this map size holds up better to expanding the world without spreading the playerbase thin. Its lack of waypoints encourages exploration and cooperation. Its experimental approach to loot through events is a much needed improvement to the game's loot system. It brings a sense of challenge that has been largely missing in PvE content.
I've been on the fence about Guild Wars 2 - and I still am. I believe, however, that if this patch is at all representative of the future of the game, that future may be brighter than I originally thought.
This is good to hear. I'm redownloading to see for myself.
Does anyone care about the story? About lore ? Yes some do, but I mean the general player. If the the living story patches were accompagnied by some core changes..improvements, I think I would care a little about story, but to me it is just small bits of the same with a bit of story and new currencies or cash shop features.
One thing gw2 has going for it though, is that it is actually more or less free once you paid the box price, and that WILL make players come back. Also there is a psycological effect of having paid for the box, that plays a role... It is just more real than a f2pay.
If only gw2 could change.. Like WoW or even EQ has changed to almost completely different games over the years of patches and expnsions.. It is not impossible, they only have to realise it.. Then living story would start to become interesting because the game would matter.
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
This is the real heart of why GW1 was the better game.
(But you could choose 8 skills in Guild Wars 1).
clash of this two races are still important to lore in gw2, you have human separatist, charr flame legion, and it was elder dragons, what force to unite all races in Tyria. You can learn a lot playing thru My story line, why, or what happens what happens, lots of characters from world sacrifices many to keep this community together, founder of Vigil sacrifices her own son, to keep peace etc. I think charr and humans work pretty well..
anyway, actuall LS is pretty amazing, Glint lair, music there and new map for fun (and dragon for christmass, maybe..)
btw in lunch of gw2 arena net said, that cuz they use LS system to add new content, there will be no regular datadisc, never.
I am not saying the game is dead, I love the game and I have nothing else to do in this game, there are no new dungeons, classes, weapons and so on. The living story part is through in a day and then there is just another grind. I have about 2000 hours in the game and I think it's the best mmo I have ever played but now there is nothing to look forward to.
I love the living story but if you look at the content it has updated on a permanent basis over 2-3 years it's like noting at all.
I would love to pay for an expansion with new stuff without it what am I supposed to do, all dungeons done like a hundred times, wvw alot and spvp aswell crafting maxed out, I lvl 80 of every char.
When all is done, what is left? farm gold? more legendarys? doing dungeons to get 1 gold? I just don't know what to do thats why I need an expansion insteed of just living story.
I am not saying that this game will be dead within a year or anything like that and I am not a doomsday kind of guy but for me the game will be dead and that's the part that sucks.
That is what PvP and WvWvW are for. If you have conquered the entire game than good for you, you got your $60 worth of entertainment and then some. You're expectations are way to high. At the point you are at you either PvP and try to become the best or you go find a new game so you can conquer the meaningless content of a video game.
But I don't want a new game thats the problem, there is no mmo out there that I want to try at all.
I would suggest you seek out a real WvWvW guild that takes the war serious. I've had a ton of fun doing that and joining teamspeak. A lot depends on your server too. I'm on Fort Aspenwood and we have many many guilds in the same teamspeak all working together to try to win.