Feedback: Official Living World Season 4 Episode 3 Feedback [MANY SPOILERS]

[Keriana.9635]

Overall I enjoyed it. Here are my thoughts:

 

Pros

* Beetle is great

* Cutscenes and long story segments

* Joko commenting on a previous story decision

* Stealth part in the second story mission was fun -- usually I don't like stealth, but I liked it here. Maybe because it was more active with being able to teleport.

* Canach

 

Cons

* Map meta was boring. Please bring back HoT-style metas or world bosses. Maybe not for every map, but for a few of the updates.

* Trap section of the story

* Getting experience that was wasted as a reward (because I didn't have the beetle at that point) and 0 AP achievements

* Braham:

* Not sure why we went alone with him to face Joko. Surely we could have used the rest of our companions as well for the big fight? Or, at least let us decide who to take with us.

* I also don't like the pc saying how much they want Braham in the group when I wish he would just leave. Maybe that sort of dialogue could be optional (something we pick rather than having the pc say it automatically)

 

 

[Pink Poison.2965]

Not sure if this the right place to post this if not sorry. I would love to continue the story but I can't as it wont let me find Blish's arm. The night if the update when i got logged in I started the new story i got passed Seized then when it came to Forearmed is Forewarned i got booted out of the game just after Blish's arm went through the portal my game booted me out I didn't manage to get back in with the character I was playing so went of to play another. The next day i got logged in and when i went through the portal the map was fully there and I couldn't see the arm anywhere I've now tried 4 times to go through the portal and every time there is no arm. I'm not going to waste anymore silver to teleport to Lommuld Kraal Waypoint and try for a 5th time. I hope thi scan be sorted somehow as i would really love to do more of the story and get the roller beetle mount.

[Turin.6921]

I would like to request for the achievements to be handled with a bit more care. Achievement such as the ""Trip the quantum Fantastic" provide no enjoyment. Why repeating it 25 times? I do not know a single person in my cycle that enjoyed this and most just quit doing it. It is a waste of resources to have achievements like these that nobody care about to finish. And every episode seems to have a few of those.

[Blocki.4931]

> @"Pink Poison.2965" said:

> Not sure if this the right place to post this if not sorry. I would love to continue the story but I can't as it wont let me find Blish's arm. The night if the update when i got logged in I started the new story i got passed Seized then when it came to Forearmed is Forewarned i got booted out of the game just after Blish's arm went through the portal my game booted me out I didn't manage to get back in with the character I was playing so went of to play another. The next day i got logged in and when i went through the portal the map was fully there and I couldn't see the arm anywhere I've now tried 4 times to go through the portal and every time there is no arm. I'm not going to waste anymore silver to teleport to Lommuld Kraal Waypoint and try for a 5th time. I hope thi scan be sorted somehow as i would really love to do more of the story and get the roller beetle mount.

 

Quit the story chapter then start it again, stay at the portal in Highlands, wait for it to give you the dialogue again and start the instance. You don't have to find the arm, you get it automatically in the instance.

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > @"PookieDaWombat.6209" said:

> > Not reading thread to avoid spoilers. Just wanted to chime in really fast with a small gripe. The Herald. Aside from the worry that Anet is going to turn around and say they are also "E", I really hate that they come across so capable and knowledgeable in their letters to you through core game leveling and when you meet them, they are basically a teenage fangirl. Its kind of obnoxious as a character portrayal.

>

> Odd, they used to be adult Human males.

 

You lost me here. Who used to be adult human males?

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

The Herald(s). https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Herald_(NPC)

[Pink Poison.2965]

Blocki.4931 thank you for your help it worked :)

[Boogiepop Void.6473]

I'm going to ignore the bugs for now, on the assumption they will be fixed. That being said, please improve the testing environment so this doesn't happen again.

 

**Story**

I very much like the story. Everything that happened there seemed well built up. I do question why we didn't see more pact forces, or anyone from any of the non-kryta states in Core Tyria. Missed a golden opportunity for Olmakan on Legions story. Just in general, given Joko is attacking everyone, we should have seen more than just Kryta responding. I am disappointed that Joko is dead. how he went is perfectly appropriate; he was begging to get torchwicked. It just feels too soon.

 

**Beetle**

I like the beetle, but oddly it feels more useful in core maps than anywhere else. It's useless in most expansion maps, as they tend to be very vertical (some exceptions being Bitterfrost and Lake Doric). I am concerned, based on past precedents, that the wall break ability is gonna be restricted to the ~5 places in Kourna. Also, the first mastery ability is very lackluster. The first collection to get the beetle is a bit dumb (find 9 things randomly scattered on the map), but the rest is reasonably thematic. However the events in older maps that people are sent to desperately need some updates and optimization.

 

**Kourna**

Kourna is a map full of wasted potential. The north of the map feels empty and tacked on, with an almost total lack of anything to do there other than get POIs (1 event and 1 griphon race are the only things out there). The hidden pond behind the farm is similarly pointless outside of a POI, a mastery, and a couple achivement you can get in less than a half hour. Gendara is mostly inaccessible. The hearts range from OK (the battle, the shipwreck) to boring (kill stuff around the hylek village) to bad (gather tons of tasteless roots). The farm is particularly egregious as it actually tells you to smash nonexistent statues as a way to advance it. There are also a bunch of little strange nitpicks, like needing to run an event to access Beta Vault, not needing to enter Alpha Vault, the very awkwardly placed beetle wall for the computer core, and the issues with experience and loot not being given by lots of mobs.

 

The meta is rather boring, with lackluster and poorly designed rewards, a generic boss, and nothing really interesting happening. The thing is, the entire thing feels incomplete or rushed. The meta very much feels like it was meant to do a 3-lane thing like Silverwastes and was rushed out with only a single lane in a usable, but not finished, state. No place is this more obvious than the west bridge, that ends in a very obviously very quickly copy-pasted blank wall (there are literally visible seams where it connects to the identical wall segment next to it). The fighting going on seems the exact opposite of the well-organized attack shown in the story, with essentially a grand melee going on past the vine wall. There is no sign of the corsair fleet other than the one extremely tiny shipwreck (they were probably supposed to show up later in the meta like the ships in Palawadan). The entire thing needs to be properly redone, with a full meta and proper battle over Gendara, otherwise it's just a massive waste.

 

**Misc**

The FFT turrets are a bit crazy. Interesting, but awkward due to how they are handled. The map currency in general is very sparse, especially given how much we need for the collections and for stuff like the turrets. Once again, we have inventory spam, this time in the form of spare parts; this is the same issue we complained about back in Bitterfrost Frontier. The banner is very dinky looking in my opinion; I'm just getting it because I need an ascended back and it will get skin changed immediately. It's nice that the collections send us to events on other maps, but again some desperately need updating or repairs, most notably the Orr temples and the Claw. Also, the cannon events on Kourna are being leaned on too heavily (3 times in one collection?); I once again get the feeling that only 1 part of a 3 part meta was finished and these were copy-pasted into the slots to keep the number of items in the collection the same.

[Boogiepop Void.6473]

Kourna is a map full of wasted potential. It very much feels rushed and incomplete. I hope that we can get an update to finish it someday.

 

The north and east of the map feels empty and tacked on, with an almost total lack of anything to do there other than get POIs. The hidden pond behind the farm is similarly pointless and also the portal to it is very strangely placed. This issue with parts of the map being empty of meaningful, repeatable content is something that was complained about when it first happened in Bitterfrost Frontier, during which, by the way, we also complained about inventory spam, which again appears in the form of parts. There are also a bunch of little strange nitpicks, like needing to run an event to access Beta Vault, not needing to enter Alpha Vault, the very awkwardly placed beetle wall for the computer core, and the issues with experience and loot not being given by lots of mobs. The biggest sin is that Gendara is mostly inaccessible, either in the map itself or during the story instances.

 

The most glaringly incomplete element, though, is the meta. It gives lackluster rewards (access to them is also poorly designed, resulting in people begging mesmers for help due to the access key not awarding properly), the final meta boss is generic and uninteresting, and there is nothing story-wise or really at all interesting happening with it. The meta very obviously was meant to be a 3-lane thing like Silverwastes, with us attacking down all 3 bridges and conquering the fortress (the stuff that was happening while we were infiltrating the sewers in the story) and was rushed out with only a single lane in a usable, but not finished, state. No place is this more obvious than the west bridge, that nonsensically ends in a blank wall. There is barely any sign of the corsair fleet other than the one extremely tiny shipwreck; they were probably supposed to show up later in the meta like the ships in Palawadan. The cannon events on Kourna are another indication of this; once again only 1 part of a 3 part meta was finished and these were copy-pasted into the slots to keep the number of items in the Kourna medal collection the same.

 

The entire meta needs to be properly redone, with a full and proper battle over Gendara, otherwise it's just a massive waste. Do something with the empty parts of the map too.

[Pyreo.8517]

I haven't usually come to leave feedback (although I've felt like I SHOULD, especially when you write stuff that I love), but I'm finally breaking in to say how stellar episode 3 was for me.

I can see the sense behind complaints on the map design etc, but basically, I just finished the storyline today and I'm so buzzed about it. The writing is excellent. It reminds me of the exhilaration of the high point of PoF (which for me was The Departing and how dramatic and tense it was)

 

During PoF I barely noticed Joko much, during the episode where he kidnapped Taimi I wanted to murder him on the spot. With the release of Long Live The Lich I turned right around and absolutely loved him, JUST in time for his grand finale. Overdramatic, egotistical and verbose is SUCH a good combination, eh? Everything to do with Joko was fun, even laugh out loud funny. I just can't hate him. Moreover the final battle got him acknowledging me as an equal and referring to some genuinely deep things about his boredom with life and the commander's own failings as a hero, constantly doing things that put the world in danger. He was right, honestly, and he was really entertaining, and the only hard part of the boss was when he filled the room with scarabs and I didn't want to shoot his projections before he'd finished all his dialogue.

 

Also, I don't feel like anyone really has 'plot armour'. I've seen enough characters die that I always worry about them. If you see Braham and the commander as normal people his jealousy for your glory hogging makes sense, and I empathise with his wounded pride, but having him come back and take your place in the final trap immediately was so heartwarming. And still, I worried about his survival. And Taimi's - I ADORE how much she's visibly grown over the years but we don't get to ignore that she has a disability and that it might get worse? And Faren, heck, I saw the title of one of the chapters and assumed her definitely would die and then I was kinda sad and hated it.

 

Anyways I'm really pleased with how that went, the annoying gauntlet leading to Joko where he just made fun of us for ages, only for us to not be able to kill him like every other time he's nearly been defeated, and his reading us for filth while recovering. I wish somehow we could've neutralised him as a threat and put him in a lil glass jar or something to keep around. Talking backpack maybe. Everything with Joko in it has been super amusing, big applause for all your dialogue, I feel like I only just started to appreciate it and now it's over.

 

My biggest complaint: we didn't talk back to Joko and snark him in the final fight. I really, really wanted to have some witty lines for myself too.

[lokh.2695]

I can only agree, as sad as i makes me.

 

This release was a bigger mess than the last one and I don't know where this is going.

- I like the look of the map and the beetle is a fun gimmick.

- The turrets are a neat thing, but I see it more as a proof of concept than something ppl will actually use, I don't think ppl will bother bringing and upgrading turrets in meta events or the open world, maybe the gtfo turret has some use, but the item we got from sandswept is far more practical and free to use once you purchase it and serves the same function basically.

- I do anticipate the bugs on patchday, I don't even expect to receive a finished product when something is released but many of the bugs deal with systems that are kinda standard by now, like mobs giving xp/loot(fixed) or being able to store the scroll in the LS4 tome(not fixed yet).

- As much as I like to revisit core tyria for achivements but waiting for the temples of orr hasn't been fun since 2012, and ANet knows that, still here we are again, camping the temples, waiting for something to happen.

- Seeing how the release seems unfinished, revisiting tyria feels like a cop out. "We didn't finish 2/3 of the meta on time so we let them kill the jungle wurm and shadow behemoth instead."

 

I'm not an angry customer, the things that work are fine and I bet the devs have put lots of work into it, but it shows that the project was either too ambitious for the time given or they got cought up in other things that can't be disclosed. I wish ANet would focus more on basic stuff than adding gimmicks. I'd rather have no beetle mount and no turrets but a finished map instead.

 

My last hope for Kourna is that instead of a new map next episode we will get a story that deals with the aftermath of this episode and an overhaul to the map. But I won't keep my hopes high, I sadly admit that I think that we will rush on to the next semi finished map and Kourna will become the first dead map of this season.

[duttonsnake.6072]

I agree. I became bored with it by the time I finished getting the mount. I don't even want to go back.

[Cyrin.1035]

## Living World 4 / Episode 3 Review -

 

---

 

**End of an Unnecessary Diversion:**

 

The Joko plot finally ends here and the GW 2 story is far better for it. I was never a fan of the idea of Joko being focused on in the story beyond what we saw of him in the afterlife sequence, the PoF story missions, and the lore of the Crystal Desert region. I knew the moment our character communicated with him, that the writers were setting up their next plot/development stretcher and it has unfortunately played out as I expected.

 

The Joko detour plot added nothing to the main story and his death ultimately had no meaning or interesting effect on the world. This was a filler plot that should have been completed in the last episode. Fortunately, they didn't stretch it out any further.

 

Now it's time to get back to the actual story of GW 2 with Kralkatorrik and the over-arcing danger of the Elder Dragons and their greater control of magic.

 

---

 

**Where the GW 2 Story Went Off-Track:**

 

The story has been muddled and inconsistent since LW S3 when they decided to focus on other stories in the world as the main focus. This would not be as much of an issue if they had cleverly weaved these alternate storylines into the one they built from the beginning: the story of the Elder Dragons.

 

These storylines would also work far better if they were designed and written as well as the stories GW 1 told. We are in GW 2 now and GW 2 was built on the story of the Elder Dragons. If we suddenly go away from that and focus the main story on random, smaller threats like Caudecus and the quick closing plots of the Mursaat and Joko, it will always feel like a detour.

 

The Balthazar storyline was a detour especially since it included less of the other races and focused more on the Human race, but unlike the other detour plots, it was weaved alongside the Elder Dragon's story and showed us a different perception of the dragons. This made Balthazar's plot relevant even if the ending of his own story was poorly executed.

 

---

 

**Strengths and Weaknesses of the LW Episode:**

 

The story sequences are all excellent especially the sequence using Blish's abilities. The new ability of long-range, instant map traveling shows how much the technology and its implementation has been improved and utilized in the game. It was well-used in this mission.

 

This was the war and confrontation episode of the Joko trilogy and by itself, it was exciting. There could have been one more sequence in this to make the episode feel a little more satisfying and not so short, such as the commander actually being in the battle with the ghosts and the dead. We spend a lot of the time building up to an army battle and see very little of it. We mostly hear about it. However, if anything had to be cut for time/development constraints, I think what they chose for sequences was enough and they were all done very well.

 

The region story steps are interesting without taking too long or ruining the flow of the story. They helped show more of what was going on in Kourna and helped us care more about the people being affected by the plague.

 

It was great to see how the Olmakhan were utilized here. They are one of the best new additions to the story. Both an interesting and helpful new group of characters that I want to see and learn more of.

 

I liked seeing the story's main and key characters on the map even outside instances. It feels like they are more part of the story and missions instead of just NPC's we need to check in with and get info from. It also makes this episode feel more epic with how many are present and actively involved.

 

Taimi did well this episode. Not too overly-weepy or overly-energetic, but still enough of a presence to be memorable.

 

It was nice to see Rox and her leading of the Olmakhan.

 

Canach, as always, was great to see here and had some of the best moments and lines:

- Commander: "_What about the towers?_"

- Canach: "_What about them?_" (*as they explode in the background XD)

- That whistling during the front line battle.

 

Aurene was the real hero of this LW episode. From burning through the bugs in the first sequence to finally taking care of that cliché, marvel universe talking head. Seeing her gather more magic and power is the only tie-in to what is coming and the main story.

 

One of my favorite updates was how **progress is now saved in story instances**. This update was desperately needed and is MUCH appreciated.

 

Braham is still around and again, just a tag-along sidekick that annoys me and my character. He continues to serve as someone we have to deal with and carry during the story missions. Even Joko is scratching his head, wondering why we brought this brainless buffoon. The writer's excuse is writing in ways in which he saves or helps us from moments that we would otherwise not be in if our character wasn't dumbed down and made to be so. Braham is likely being forced into these LW episodes alongside the Commander to give us some memories with the character, before either doing something meaningful with him or killing him off. Hopefully the latter.

 

When Braham jumped off the cliff... Oh, how I wish that was his end. I would have been perfectly satisfied with that ending for him and it would have been a blessing to the game's development time and the player's entertainment.

 

One surprising and original part in the story I enjoyed, was the illusion of your character in the torture chamber. I liked seeing online streamers double-take whenever they came upon the first dead, identical body of their character. These are the kind of clever story ideas and surprises we need more of that also told a lot about Joko's character and what he's been doing.

 

The map is mostly unpleasant looking and disappointingly similar in aesthetic to the past PoF maps with mainly a different colored hue and lighting. However, it's diverse areas, inclusion of Gandara, and variety of open terrains designed for the roller beetle mount make it one of the best Pof maps. I was glad to see areas such as the bayou, bluffs, and especially the deep underwater area. Swimming down to the bottom of Ntouka Pond to get that point-of-interest just creates all these ideas and feelings of what a true UW map might be like.

 

In the mission, there is the usual annoying mechanic where you have to depend on some object like a bloodstone or energy source. In this case, a ring that has to be reactivated every 10 seconds which becomes very tedious, very quickly, but overall interesting with its play on illusion.

 

The cutscene animations were the best I've seen in GW 2 yet. The motion-capture and animation has really evolved and improved. The GW 2 cinematics have always been top-notch and kept to their unique style. Now the in-mission cutscenes have risen to that same level of cinematic quality which was first really noticeable in the LW 2 cutscenes.

 

The few things I did enjoy about Joko and the story around him was the lore that was well-integrated in PoF, and the theme of the dead and the scarab bugs that also reminded me of the "Mummy" movies.

 

---

 

**The Main Antagonist of This Story Arc:**

 

Joko, the character himself is a good showman, but nowhere significant or ambitious enough to warrant as much story/development time as he has taken.

 

The writers and story directors should fully utilize what they have that other games do not, such as their massive, godly dragons that incite real fear and intrigue.

 

The smaller villain storylines like Caudecus, Balthazar, and Joko are continually designed and executed in unsatisfying ways. And yet, Anet thrives and shines with the stories of their dragons and all that is connected to them. This is not GW 1 anymore. GW 2 began with dragons and should see that storyline through. Villians like Joko are best left to alternate content/feature storylines, unless the devs plan to properly interconnect their plots with the main arcing storyline.

 

Watching the Guild Chat on this LW episode proved that there was plenty of indulgence on Joko's dialogue, to the point of me not being excited to play this episode again because there is too much babble and drivel to endure.

 

Their need to give Joko too many lines and have him talking the entire time until you get to him reminds me of Azmodan in Act III of Diablo 3, where the demon's head keeps popping up and it adds nothing to the story or experience except annoyance. It kills any fear or intimidation by the time you actually reach them. He even says the recycled and expected: "_YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT ME!_" quote that every single cliché villain ALWAYS says just before we defeat them.

 

There were some great moments and lines from Joko, such as when you continually run into the hidden beams in the hallway, he eventually says "_You have a magic ring. Use it._", or something similar. If they had cut out about 40 percent of his dialogue and focused more on the dialogue that was useful, yet still humorous, he would have been far more interesting to listen to.

 

---

 

**The Star and True Quality of this LW Episode:**

 

The Roller Beetle mount is the main interest that came with this new content. This is where Anet shines on innovation, design, mechanics, and connecting lore.

 

I was hoping for a mount one day that could get around fast on land without needing to get high-up first, and this mount does exactly that and makes it even more fun. The design itself is very clever and well done, especially with the mechanized bike that connects to the beetle through energy while it spins. These mounts have never disappointed and always add even more playability to the game in many areas.

 

I like when the mounts are part of the story mission, but the way it was designed to be acquired here works just as well and I'm glad it was made to be collection-focused and not gold-focused. I'm not a fan of group-gated collection steps, but to see how packed-full each of these events were and how players worked together in organizing squads and efforts to help everyone earn their beetle, was very exciting and a testament to the strong dedication of the players and community.

 

---

 

**Episode Release:**

 

The delays and release fails were clearly a disappointment and an embarrassment on many levels. Certainly enough to finally acknowledge the fact that something drastic needs to be changed in their process to meet the requirements of their new content and features.

 

It's evident in the last two LW episodes how rushed and unpolished they are compared to LW 4 Ep 1 and previous LW episodes. Many elements are slapped together, disconnected, recycled, and repetitive. A huge lack of details, depth, and full immersion. However, this episode feels better edited, trimmed, and tightened compared to Ep 2, so that it stayed focused on its chosen storyline and intended features.

 

You can't expect a LW episode to be like an expansion where there is a lot of time for development, but you can certainly hope for more than what the last two LW episodes have delivered. Mike Z is trying to achieve that right balance of time and development with this larger content based on his previous community messages and I think he will, but I don't think you can expect to reach that balance until you limit quantity and prioritize quality starting in the planning and design phase.

 

---

 

**The Right Time For Something New:**

 

I and possibly many others have seen enough of the current GW 2 adopted formula. We want something new, fresh, surprising, and satisfying.

 

It's clear the quality of GW 2 has dropped recently in most areas, but with the possibility that the story will now get back on track and with better material to work with, we can look forward to the next LW episodes on the way. As long as the devs can shake their predictable formulas and focus less on bloat and more on actual quality where it matters, I think we'll finally have LW episodes that will hold us over well enough until the next release.

 

With the Joko plot behind us and the possibility that we will focus on Kralkatorrik and finally progress the main story, I am very excited for the next LW episode and to see where we go and what we do next.

 

---

 

**My Rating:**

 

6/10

 

 

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"Boogiepop Void.6473" said:

> The most glaringly incomplete element, though, is the meta. It gives lackluster rewards (access to them is also poorly designed, resulting in people begging mesmers for help due to the access key not awarding properly), the final meta boss is generic and uninteresting, and there is nothing story-wise or really at all interesting happening with it. The meta very obviously was meant to be a 3-lane thing like Silverwastes, with us attacking down all 3 bridges and conquering the fortress (the stuff that was happening while we were infiltrating the sewers in the story) and was rushed out with only a single lane in a usable, but not finished, state. No place is this more obvious than the west bridge, that nonsensically ends in a blank wall. There is barely any sign of the corsair fleet other than the one extremely tiny shipwreck; they were probably supposed to show up later in the meta like the ships in Palawadan. The cannon events on Kourna are another indication of this; once again only 1 part of a 3 part meta was finished and these were copy-pasted into the slots to keep the number of items in the Kourna medal collection the same.

>

> **The entire meta needs to be properly redone, with a full and proper battle over Gendara, otherwise it's just a massive waste.**

 

I 100% agree with that analysis. After figuring out that the meta ended so quickly and that big parts of Gandara are inaccessible outside of the story mission, I felt quite disappointed with that.

 

> Do something with the empty parts of the map too.

 

While it would be nice to have more content in those vastly unused regions (especially the lake hidden behind the mountain wall), I can live with what's there.

[Malafaia.8903]

> @"lokh.2695" said:

> I wish ANet would focus more on basic stuff than adding gimmicks. I'd rather have no beetle mount and no turrets but a finished map instead.

 

This!

The unfinished meta is a joke.

[Ashantara.8731]

I couldn't disagree more.

 

What you call "detours" is what is keeping the game and most players' interest alive. I can't hear about the dragons this and the dragons that anymore, and if GW2 was consisting only of that subject, it would be the most boring game in the world. A game needs a bit of diversity story-wise. It's like a pen&paper RPG where a campaign consists of several adventures: each has its own plot, with its own dramatic curve and climax, even when there is something you call a "main plot" and the group is eventually working towards a greater goal. It's what makes for good story-telling and keeps people excited.

 

Elona was so well done, Joko's return was so well executed. PoF and LWS4 are my favorite content so far. I hope that the devs keep up their good work and don't return to the low quality of LWS3.

[Fenom.9457]

I didn’t read all of this before commenting but I want to say about the pond that it was astoundingly beautiful and fun, and reminded me again how desperately

I want maps with considerable water content, including events and mapping components. Maybe a map left to the new one that’s half the land next to it and half the shoreline and ocean between Kourna and Istan? Obviously more content would be on land to less upset UW haters but I would love just getting lots of water on the map and some events in there. I have a few ideas for stories but all this wasn’t what I meant to discuss.

 

Mainly what I wanted to offer my two cents on was the ideal that only plots related to the elder dragons will be top quality writing - at the moment I can’t disagree, as much as I’ve enjoyed Joko and the WM even more (bloodstone red is beautiful and so is lake Doric). I think the best route for Anet to go down would have other villains either simultaneously or only teased and set up for after the dragons. I fully believe this game has a very very long future ahead of it, and there are only 4 dragons left, so 3 expansions (maybe 4, not sure if Kralk will live). I think it will turn out the best if we focus on elder dragons before moving on to other threats, and then only focusing on those threats one at a time (or 2 occasionally but they seem to struggle with this). I would much rather have a 7, 8, even 9 episode season (however long they’ll be from now on) all about one villain, their minions, the region it all occurs in and the other life/lore there. I’d rather they err on the side of too much lore and time than what we’re getting now with things like the white mantle being dismantled (get it?) in a few episodes after spending hundreds of years rebuilding. Say, rather than an expansion and LW dealing with an increasingly hostile blood legion and jormag up north, I’d rather 2 expansions and seasons. I’d rather know too much about Jormag’s goals and dreams and the blood legions soldiers childhood than have them all die with a barely passable explanation. Tl;dr: only do dragons till they’re dead then do other villains but one at a time.

[Zaviel.1245]

Playable Awakened now that Joko is gone? ;)

[Zaviel.1245]

I disagree. This map felt great with many awesome things to find. Excuse me while I dance with Choya, I must save us all from the uprising.

[Felipe.1807]

I liked the map and all, its awesome, but i do agree that it had so much more potential...the meta event was really weak in my opinion, I mean, I was actually expecting to enter in Joko fortress and face a cool boss or something, but nothing...not only that but the rewards are really weak when compared to other maps...so yeah, dont think the map will be able to keep a high population on it for to long

[Amanda Whitemoon.6173]

ignoring the bugs and glitches and login problems

 

The story started so well and nice, but when i played the endmission, it was just stupid, why did we went in and attack joko, we know we cant kill him, others have tried beforehand, thats why he was always imprisoned, why was the story setup our PC thought this time would be any different.

Maybe had an extra misison to his old prison near jahai to collect some magical stone to imprison him in and have that fail in the end and aurene eat him.

the whole misison was sitting here going 'noo, noo, we have nothing to stop him, this is gonna fail, why am i doing this' the traps was fun an and all.

 

The rollerbeetle, dont know what to think of it much, i only got it yesterday, but i think i will only use it for things that only the beetle can get passed, the griffon is just too versatile.

 

PS: still hoping for a Shatterer skin for my griffon and that the story will go into chtulhu-like events with the deep sea dragon now.

[Wondrouswall.7169]

I'm not particularly fond of the story writing, yet, I found this episode solid and quite enjoyable. The first time I liked Braham, which is saying something since I have disliked his character since his introduction years ago.

 

The story missions were fine. The final fight with Joko was easier than I thought it would be, though, difficulty will vary person to person. Forewarned's stealth section was a good change of pace, as well as the illusionary puzzles and laser grids in Be My Guest.

 

Domain of Kourna is a decent map. It neither stands out or falls flat. The meta progression affected by player contribution is nice, at least to me. I personally hope to see more maps with a meta based on player contribution rather than on timers in the future.

 

The new Roller Beetle (Petey) Mount is excellent. I think having it start with 0 endurance was a well-balanced touch to ensure it does not overshadow other mounts. A bit sluggish at times, but good nonetheless, especially with drifting.

 

Overall, solid this episode. Even with the rocky start, issues were being resolved within a day or two, so no biggie (to me). Collections were not too annoying though some seem inconsistent such as medals towards the Heroic Banner.

 

My only gripe so far is a very small one, and that is the number of shards awarded upon map completion (5). Some of the previous maps were smaller and easier to complete while giving more, so 5 shards seems a tad too low in comparison.

 

Cheers.

[zealex.9410]

> @"Zaviel.1245" said:

> I disagree. This map felt great with many awesome things to find. Excuse me while I dance with Choya, I must save us all from the uprising.

 

Have fun dancing for the next 3 to 4 months.

[zealex.9410]

Completely agree on the meta part. The story make it seem like a major and epic event while outside the story instance we just get to raid the side of the city, kill generic asura n26 and loot some chests.

 

 

And they even delayed it...

[Martnor.1746]

For long mission instances like "Forearmed Is Forewarned", please ensure that you can't get stuck in the environment. I somehow got stuck in some rocks and thought I was going to have to restart the whole mission. It can be long especially if you are doing the achievements and being very careful about it. I was frantically mashing my keyboard for 5mins until I thankfully got out. If I had to restart the whole thing, that would have been very depressing.