Destinys Edge Dungeons

[Zeusx.2906]

So am i the only one who feels like this is really badly made?

I mean out of nowhere you get a message from some "Herald" saying he talked to your mentor which at that point you are left to figure out who that is. I now know that this person is referring to Eir (playing as a Norn) but at the time you get the message you dont really know that because Eir is never mentioned as your "mentor". You get a formal mentor later when you join a company.

 

Then you get another message from this "Herald" saying that it saddens him to hear that Destinys Edge no longer wishes to be together. You are again left in the dark, how does he know that? Who told him? Who is he?

Mind you this message seems to arrive even if you havent gotten to the point where you find out that they are at odds with eachother (quest in Lions Arch). So you have no idea what the heck is going on.

 

And these dungeons dont seem to be tied together really, yes its about Destinys Edge (sort of) but they are very different. You get why Rytlock is in Catacombs running after Eir that one makes sense, but then you get a message about Caithe looking for her old friend or something.

And again these keep coming no matter what you actually do, you dont do any of the dungeons? Doesnt matter.

Would have been far better if the game waited for you to actually advance the thing. And a proper introduction to the first dungeon at least would have been good.

 

The game seemingly expects you to do these dungeons even though you get no introduction to dungeons in any way and the game will not wait for you, it will advance the story no matter what.

These dungeons are hard, way to hard to solo unless you are way overpowered. So that means that you have to do them with other people, people who will not wait around for you to watch the cutscenes and read the dialogue.

The LFG doesnt seem to differentiate between story and exploration mode. I put up a party, bunch of high levels join, run into exploration mode and do it without me. Great. I did state that its story and that i would watch cutscenes but yeah people dont seem to care. Which is fine whatever.

If you do enter story mode with randoms and you stick around watching a cutscene your party members have likely skipped it and are already half way done with a boss or something making you miss out on potential dialogue.

 

 

[TheNecrosanct.4028]

While it is true that the "Herald" is an unknown character, they do eventually identify themselves later on in the story (during Living World Season 4).

 

You're wrong about the introduction to dungeons, though. Those mails you get from your Herald, those are your introduction (there is also NPC dialogue and cutscenes at the start of every dungeon path that will give you more explanations). They are sent to you when you reach a certain level and can do a certain dungeon's story/explorable mode. So if you don't want to advance your story without having done a certain dungeon, don't continue the personal story. From a technical point of view, you chose to advance your personal story over running the dungeon, so it's not so much the game as your own choice that causes that. Your Herald also explains about Destiny's Edge and the state they're in. Besides, your mentor drops hints about it throughout the story as well. And yes, they are your mentor because they explain the ways of the world to you and send you out to do things and help people out, thereby increasing your status as a character among the peoples of Tyria. This is what a mentor does, indeed just like the Order mentors that are assigned to you.

 

It may seem as if the dungeons are not tied together, but they really are. First of all, they're all about the different Destiny's Edge characters. You join and help them deal with whatever's there. Since they're not a unified group anymore they each go their own ways, hence why these dungeons take place all over the world and don't involve all the characters at once. They are also a means to get to know your mentor better and learn about their history. People don't tell you their deepest, darkest secrets and desires right after you meet. They need to know you better, know what you're capable of and if they can trust you with such personal information. You helping them on their personal quests certainly goes a long way in that regard.

 

The point is, not everything is explained in advance. You find out things by going through the story. Hints that were dropped previously get elaborated upon. If everything was explained in detail in advance, stories would be really boring and extremely predictable.

 

I can't disagree with the LFG part, though. Yes, there is no differentiation between story mode and explorable mode, which is why people mention it in their LFG postings instead. It is always clear whether they are looking to do story or explorable paths. Waiting for cutscenes is something people rarely do anymore. That's not surprising, given that the game is almost 8 years old and most people have done that content several times over. But in my experience it helps if you mention it in your LFG posting. Something along the lines of "will watch cutscenes", so people know in advance and are prepared.

By the way, bosses don't spawn until cutscenes are finished. Yes, a group can run ahead while you're watching a cutscene, but they will have to wait for the boss spawn until the scene ends. Given how easy dungeon bosses die, though, you probably won't be able to get there on time to participate in the kill. But you'll still get full participation when it comes to dungeon rewards like tokens.

[Vayne.8563]

Or you can just buy and read the book Edge of Destiny which gives you a much better understanding of the story of Destiny's Edge. On a different note, the story mode of Sorrow's Embrace tells the story pretty much in full.

 

As for people not watching cut scenes with you, run an LFG add like this: Casual, fun dungeon run, watching all cut scenes and see what happens. Or join a friendly guild and make some friends. I run dungeons with new players and friends all the time and I'm happy to let them watch cut scenes.