Milkshake.4370

> @"Jukhy.2431" said: > Left Shift = Mount key (I use Skyscale here) > F1 = Griffon > F2 = Raptor > F3 = Springer > F4 = Jackal > F5 = Skimmer > F6 = Beetle > > Sidenote: 1,2,3,4,Q,E,R,C,X,Z + alt combos of these keys I use for combat skills cause I want them to be close to the movement keys (AWSD). interesting...I use F1,2,3,4 for my combat skills. i want to try this out

> @"Randulf.7614" said: > X raptor > Ctl c skimmer > Ctl v jackal > rest are the extra mouse buttons I have i actually didnt think about binding Ctl!! thanks!

> > As for the original topic, I'm inclined to (1) agree that the assessment of core game pacing is accurate, but (2) disagree that changing it is the key to new player attraction and retention. > > Before we go any further: I 100% agree @"Milkshake.4370" that living world season 1 leaves one of the absolute worst story gaps I've ever experienced in any game. Currently the best solution I think ANet could offer is to direct people to Wooden Potatoes' LWS1 recap. The in-game "catch-up" is an absolute joke, and is almost worse than not attempting to patch the hole at all. > > I think the only kind of player who can stick around GW2 for an appreciable period of time is the player that excels at finding their own fun, rather than relying on directed content. Of course, "finding your own fun" is the key to longevity in _any_ MMO, but it's just that much more important for GW2 since we lack vertical progression. Since every meaningful system in the game is easy to cap, you quickly run out of gameplay or character improvement reasons to keep playing. You have to have found _something_ completely sidebar or optional to keep your attention. > > I would argue that the vast majority of players who can't find something deeply compelling about Tyria prior to reaching HoT will ultimately not find it in either expansion, and getting them to the expacs faster will only lead them to move onto another game faster. Hmm, interesting perspective. Perhaps changing the initial gameplay is not the solution, but something must happen. ANYTHING LOL! We need the directed content to be cohesive and not throw players 60% into a finished story. The in-game recap is not enough!

> @"Naxos.2503" said: The missing Living Story Season 1 -is- a cause of confusion and awkwardness from new players, especially players actually following the storyline. They end the personal story, and get thrown in with a team of NPCs that appear to know them, but they feel no connection to them. They feel as if they've been dropped off in the middle of something interesting, and missed half of it. It is a Really bad feeling. This is one of the most popular comments on this thread and I absolutely agree. It is quite confusing and not a fun experience.

> @"Teratus.2859" said: > > @"Milkshake.4370" said: > > **Omitted Content Detracts New Players** > > Firstly, I must say that I really enjoyed playing through all the episodes of GW2 however, **I was truly only hooked after reaching Heart of Thorns**. > > I am originally a console gamer and only now started getting into PC gaming and I feel that the first half of GW2 (Level 1-80 + Living World S2) is not on parr with the modern gaming world. I understand that the game was just starting out at this point and did not have a high budget, however I feel this may be a reason why the game is struggling to attract new players. > > > I've called out this problem in the past as well and feel like Gw2's early game content, specifically the personal Story, Lw1 and Lw2 could benefit from a sort of "remaster" update. > I know this would be a huge workload for the developers and it would take a lot of time but honestly.. this is something I want and have wanted for years almost as badly as I want new expansion content, no joke.. i'm dead serious on that and have said multiple times in the past that I am 100% willing to suffer a massive new content drought so the devs can work on improving the early game content. > > What I think needs to be done.. honestly is not all that much but would be a lot of work. > First of all Vanilla Gw2 needs a bit of a difficulty buff in the later game regions (like Orr) to balance it out more with the years of power creep the game has had. > Atm it's far too easy for players to get complacent with some build they pulled off a website somewhere and not really knowing how to play it right can still steamroll through content until they hit the difficulty spike in HoT.. which usually results in angry posts here about how hard HoT is despite the countless nerfs the content has had to reduce that. > The problem is that nothing prepares you for HoT.. that's why the spike exists and always will exist, and that's a flaw with the Vanilla GW2's end game content. > The core game needs to do a better job at encouraging players to learn their classes.. experiment with the build system etc and making the end game pve content a bit harder to bridge that difficulty gap with HoT might just be what the core game needs. > > Secondly the personal story needs to be remastered and brought upto par with HoT. > How I imagine this to be done is by scrapping the existing "cutscene" dialogue segments and replacing them with the same style of in game dialogue that has become the normal standard of storytelling in Gw2 since HoT came out. > Since the dialogue is already voiced and in game I don't think this is an impossible thing to do.. it's just very time consuming but I believe it would absolutely be worth doing. > I am fine with much of the text based dialogue remaining as it is for the personal story however I would not oppose new voiced dialogue replacing a bunch of it either. > > Thirdly Living world 2 content could use some additional voice work to bring it upto par with HoT onwards, there is a bit too much reliance on text in lw2 imo and I think that could be remedied by having some new voiced dialogue done to replace some of it. > Additional note: > I also agree with those who say that season 2 is a bad buy compared to other seasons, you're not getting new masteries, new mounts, new maps or anything of the sort with season 2 like you do with season 3 and 4 so what you are paying for is pretty much just the story content and a few achievements. > This is a problem and could very well leave some players feeling like they wasted their money on this season which could be a red flag for them not to buy any more content for Gw2.. a bad bad bad! attitude for them to develop. > I agree this season needs to either become free to play or should be included free with the HoT expansion. > > Lastly and most importantly, Living world 1 needs to be re-introduced into the game as replayable content.. this one alone is by far the biggest sin for Gw2. > I am never going to stop banging this drum. > This story content not being in the game is a huge problem for me as someone who cares about the story of this game and having this huge hole in the story bothers me immensely and has done for many years. > Re-adding LW1 needs to be a high priority imo and should Anet ever do a big remaster of the core game with all the dialogue upgrade's ect that I think they should then these also need to be applied to the LW1 remaster as well. > > These few changes are pretty much the only things I really want for the pre HoT game and I would be more than content with this content if it ever got these upgrades. > > > It is difficult to follow or invest into a story, especially when you feel you have started in the middle. Especially the missions where players have to go through Scarlett's belongings, secret hideout, and follow her trail, her memories. I did not know who Scarlett was and the short recap provided in game was not enough to create a fulfilling experience to me as a new player. > > I think this is a huge huge turn off for newer players. > > > > I agree, this bothers me as well even though I played and experienced the entire LW1 content. > This is the main reason I am never going to stop supporting the remaster/reintroduction of LW1 content into the game.. it is as/more important to me than any new content coming to the game and the more new content they add the more annoying this giant hole in the story is to me. > > > **Heart Of Thorns** (HoT) > > This is where the game takes a huge turn for the better. Absolutely everything is improved; music, sound design, world design, story, writing. Literally everything about this expansion was **_incredible, captivating, and immersive._** The only reason I played to get to HoT was because I saw my partner playing this expansion and it was very different from Level 1-80 and LWS2. If I was a newer player, I would never have paid for this expansion or even gotten to it based off of the experience I had with the gameplay prior. Somebody in my guild compared this to a restaurant, which forces the patrons to eat an entire loaf of bread before giving them the ordered food. Some people are full after the loaf of bread, most people don't even finish it and get to their meal. I think that this may be a source for the dwindling GW2 new player numbers and ArenaNet's revenue. There is very little encouragement or incentive for new players to purchase expansions or spend money on the game, when the initial opening content is so boring and slow. This sets an incorrect precedent and expectation for what the paid expansions will be. > > > Again I agree and still blame the core game's lacking endgame content for this problem. > By the time you get to HoT you should be playing at the level required to not get massacred by everything in that content but the core game and LW2 to some extent as well does an atrocious job at preparing you for HoT. > > Fixing the core games endgame and upping it's difficulty would be the best solution to this problem imo and get people wanting more. > > > **Living World Season 4 - INCREDIBLE but Lack of Marketing?** > > As the game progresses after HoT, it keeps getting better and better. With more mastery points and mounts, the story, sound design, and music reaches incredible potential and structure. If I wanted to get people to play the game, I would be pushing and screaming for them to play Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire, or Living World Season 4. I don't understand why ArenaNet hasn't pushed for certain aspects of these expansions in their marketing campaigns. > > > > I don't know much about marketing etc but Living world 4 has been by far my favourite content in Gw2. > Some of the best Gw2 moments imo are in LW4 and I disagree severely with those who claim that season 4 was hot garbage or a big disappointment.. I love this season. > Thank you for your comments! I am glad that I am not alone in this point of view!!!

> @"Treacy.4067" said: > > @"Milkshake.4370" said: > > **I was truly only hooked after reaching Heart of Thorns**. > > This is where the game takes a huge turn for the better. Absolutely everything is improved; music, sound design, world design, story, writing. Literally everything about this expansion was **_incredible, captivating, and immersive._** > > > This was my experience as well. I started and stopped the game a few times, never fully getting into it, but then I reached Heart of Thorns and and everything just clicked. So much so that I stopped HoT, bought all the content I didn't have and then did the whole story in order. > > The moment that got me was when I entered Verdant Brink and saw all the destruction with The Pact Laid Waste playing, that npc shouting "Commander, over here!" and seeing how layered the map was. That was when I realized how the maps including the events, npcs, music, sights, and sounds all tied directly into what was happening with the story so I finally "got" what the game was doing. Also, I got wrecked there so the added difficulty was exciting and made me want to play and get better. > > YESSS I 100% AGREE!!!

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said: > I can't agree with the assessment. > There are a lot of Jeremy Soule's music fans. (Not that Maclaine, Stan, Lena aren't wonderful composers, as well.) > Many players have posted that Core Tyria's maps are their favorites, and that those maps offer the best map stories available. > Many _trailers_ (which is what was linked) show 'content' that is never seen in-game; that is not unusual. > > Personally, I'm hoping End of Dragons is a bit more like Core Tyria, than HoT or Path of Fire. Of course, that's just me. > > Hi, thank you for your comment, I can see your perspective and value your opinion. I think that Jeremy Soule, as great as he is, didn't really grasp the game content as well as the current composers but it was also done so long ago. We don't know what material he had to work with or what the set up was. > I'm not sure the Guild Wars franchise is as unknown as stated; it seems to be often listed on gaming sites/in articles about MMORPGs. Its quite popular, just not growing as rapidly as the mega giants in the industry like WoW. This is likely due to lesser budget and different PR. > As many opinion posts there are pro-Heart of Thorns, there are probably just as many against. Interesting, from what I've seen there are usually more pro-HoT than against.

> @"Randulf.7614" said: > We don't have access to Anet's metrics, but the impression I've had is that the game generally does OK attracting new players and the personal story doesn't seem to put anyone off. Considering it's an 8 year+ mmo without a AAA name, it does pretty well in a declining part of the pc market. But, certainly regular players prob don't see a lot of evidence the core game puts many people off. In fact we see a lot of mixed feedback suggesting HoT is less popular than the core zones (I love the maps, many hate them) Although we don't have access to their metrics, it is quite obvious intuitively that the numbers are not growing a lot and the game is very much underestimated/under the radar. It does not have the same presence as World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, Blade & Scroll, or any of those mega giants despite being comparable in content. > > Marketing is poor. It always has been. The biggest barrier by far for new players is the fact so many don't know of the seasons between expansions and that they have to pay for them. The poor advertisement of this has been well documented > Yes sir! > LS2 is actually reasonably popular. Or at least accepted as being fine for what it was - ie clearing up the mess left behind by LS1 (Scarlet's War). It just lacks the production values of what came later. Omitting Season 2 would be a very bad idea > I disagree with this statement... yes perhaps omitting it entirely would be a bad idea, however I still stand by the fact that it should be restructured. I think some of the missions regarding Scarlett like going through her secret hideout can be omitted. There is nothing crucial there to the story moving forward. > I am unaware of any issue players have of finding out about expacs. In fact new players tend to go there first to get the mounts and gliders if all the forum posts we see are any indication Yes but the game is not intended to be played this way. The intent is to play through the story in full and reach the mounts when you reach that expansion. Players going ahead to get the mounts and gliders unlocked first is an even stronger indication that the game is flawed structurally. When I turn on a game, I should not have to jump to level 250 and then return to level 45. It doesn't make sense.

> @"Linken.6345" said: > You totaly skiped living world season 3? I did! The post was getting kind of long so I focused on the main stuff I wanted to get across

thanks! I will definitely try to do something like that!

omg treeeess

OMG these are incredible!!!

Very interested in finding out what happens! Love reading these responses!

for reference: this was the original post

> @"Veprovina.4876" said: > Nice piece you made there! Very nice! > > Also, yes, i've recently started playing with a friend who's playing GW2 for the first time. We just completed the personal story and seeing the game through his eyes, especially when i'm explaining how stuff works and what's there to do, i'm beginning to se how gigantic the game really is. There's definitely no shortage on content. thank you so much! Also yes I totally agree, there is so much stuff and endless side quests and explorable features!