Please dont give Wizards Tower to the raid team

[TexZero.7910]

Just put a new version of queens gauntlet in it and call it a day.

 

Single player "challenging content".

[Pifil.5193]

> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > @"Pifil.5193" said:

> > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > @"Pifil.5193" said:

> > > > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > > > @"Palador.2170" said:

> > > > > > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > > > > With all honesty, the coolest thing they can do is a raid.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > No. Just ... no. They can do better than that, and it's past time that we expect better.

> > > > >

> > > > > Actually they can't. Nothing will feel even remotely as epic.

> > > >

> > > > I'd challenge the idea that something being "epic" means "10 man instance" but hey, might be a different understanding of what "epic" means.

> > >

> > > It's not about the number of players in the instance, it's about the challenge. That's the big problem with the story instances - we fight Balthazar, but the fight isn't really hard, a rando White Mantle zealot abusing bloodstone feels much more dangerous and because of that much more of an accomplishment when defeated. And it should be clear that they will never do anything remotely as challenging as a raid boss outside of a raid, except maybe in fractal CMs. So if you want a cool story - sure, it can be wherever. Probably best in the personal story, as the other instances tend to be paced shorter. But if you want an epic fight, nothing will come close to a raid boss, sorry.

> >

> > So yeah, a difference in understand of what it means to be epic, then.

> >

> > You think that it's the challenge, getting 9 other people to learn the latest dance around a boss.

> >

> > For me, it's about a heroic and grand tale, the Balthazar fight was epic because of the context, you're fighting a god that threatened to destroy the entire world, fighting an impossible battle against an impossible foe. The sheer desperation of the fight made it feel epic.

> >

> > For me, it wouldn't have been any more epic if he had a hundred times the hit points and you needed 9 other people and the aoe was deadlier and Balthazar had more phases. That's not adding more to the sense that you're involved in anything epic. There's nothing particularly epic about Frank needing to go to the bathroom after the next attempt.

>

> The problem with this epic tale is breaking the immersion. Fighting an impossible battle? He could barely even touch me the entire fight. It didn't *feel* impossible. It knew it was supposed to be, but it just didn't feel like it. It utterly failed to convince me. I appreciate the story. I really do. But I remember it as I remember a story that happened in a movie I watched. And it is a pity, because games can give so much more than that. I *still* remember the feeling of euphoria and accomplishment that followed my very first VG kill, almost two years ago. As I'm sure I'll remember the feelings of euphoria and accomplishment that followed my recent first Dhuum CM kill. These are much more personal, much more immersive and feel much grander, because this time? The odds did indeed feel impossible. It was bloody *difficult*, it required a lot of focus and involved a lot of struggle. All elements directly related to difficulty and missing in the grand tale in question.

 

Yeah, I get that there's a definite sense of... I'm not sure what the term is... dissonance maybe? Between the tone that they're trying to achieve with the Balthazar fight and the execution in terms of mechanics. I don't think it's a particularly tough fight either because it's basically just the same stay out of the telegraphs fight while circle-strafing and running through your DPS rotation that all single boss fights devolve into but the _scene_ is epic. I do recall muttering something about "only your bloody plot armour saved you there".

 

I do accept what you say about the sense of euphoria and accomplishment though from beating a tough encounter. I'm perhaps a little jaded, don't even have the time for raids anymore, but that first Lich King kill from back in the day still ranks as probably the best moment I've had while gaming, a good raiding group can have a fantastic sense of camaraderie, taking on and learning a challenging encounter can be a truly great experience.

[Poseidon.3852]

You know, this can be made into a discussion about raids themselves, rather just specifically about if the Wizard Tower should be a raid or not.

 

There are several points to consider in this discussion:

 

1. Should raids even be a thing?

2. Should raids have meaningful content?

3. Should raids have adjustable difficulties?

 

 

Now, my personal take on the points is as follows:

 

1. Yes. Raids should be a thing and in my opinion, they are a staple mark of the MMORPG genre. Sure, the new "playing alone together" mentality of most new-ish games in that genre is... practical, but having content for which you actually have to rely on other people is great. Of course, other people are never as reliable as we would like them to be or sometimes we lack the commitment to be reliable, but ultimately, to have some content for those who do want to make great efforts together, coordinate and so on, is a very needed aspect of this genre. If it goes away from the genre, where to go to when you want to rely on other people to clear hard content? Literally, no other genre has that feature and it is definitely something that is making the genre appealing and unique. I, personally, don't raid because I don't have the time, but if I catch the time with a prolonged holiday, injury or whatever, I would enjoy it tremendously. Also, even if I never catch the time and never raid, I find it amazing to see players with unique titles and armor-skins who managed to clear that content! Being a big fan of the story of GW2, I can just read it up or watch a video about what's happening, and to dream how it would be nice to be in this epic fight and manage to clear that content is something that gives you the motivation to play the game nevertheless.

 

2. In my opinion, raids should have meaningful and up-to-date content too. I love fractals and how they explain and let you re-live certain events of the past. I mean, if you are even halfway interested in the story, do a complete fractals run where you pay attention to everything and explore the whole map, instead of just rushing through trash mobs and killing the boss. Don't get me wrong, I rush farm fractals too, but at least once do a slow, exploration run. There is so much shown to us through fractals that it's great! However, as I said, most of it is about events from the past. Raids are, therefore, the perfect opportunity to put some content about the present. I am not saying that they should put Main Story content in raids, and frankly, they are not doing that. But they should have meaningful, interesting stories that are canon in the raids. If it was just some rehashed enemies with more difficult mechanics just for the challenge and to eventually get some gear, it would be kind of lame. However, if you these side stories that are meaningful and impactful for the world, without being the Main Story, it just feels great doing it. Of course, once you digested all of it, it will be just a mark on your weekly to-do list, but having those villains that actually feel strong and tell a story is great! Imagine if you could defeat Dhuum with a bunch of uncoordinated newbies with masterwork and rare gear... I, personally, would feel like wtf... Putting those enemies in raids is exactly where they belong so that they feel strong, menacing, threatening as the story wants us to believe they are.

 

3. Lastly, should raids have adjustable difficulties? To be honest, they should, but this needs to be done very, very carefully. For example, they could add a Story Mode that is not harder than a t3 fractal (without the agony), but literally make the rewards near to non-existent. You complain that you can't do raids and therefore you are locked out of story-content? Cool, here, have the raid without getting anything but the story from it. Have fun. I think that this is very fair. Besides that, I wouldn't add any additional difficulties, since Guild Wars 2 does not have item level and you mostly do raids for skins and mats and such, therefore they would need to create a whole new line of skins for the different modes.

 

Well, that's my opinion, and you don't have to agree with it, of course.... but.. Wizard's Tower should be either a raid or something really special like Dalaran in WoW or an intriguing city with a darkish theme and lots of stuff to do and explore.

[Blaeys.3102]

> @"Poseidon.3852" said:

> You know, this can be made into a discussion about raids themselves, rather just specifically about if the Wizard Tower should be a raid or not.

>

> There are several points to consider in this discussion:

>

> 1. Should raids even be a thing?

> 2. Should raids have meaningful content?

> 3. Should raids have adjustable difficulties?

>

>

> Now, my personal take on the points is as follows:

>

> 1. Yes. Raids should be a thing and in my opinion, they are a staple mark of the MMORPG genre. Sure, the new "playing alone together" mentality of most new-ish games in that genre is... practical, but having content for which you actually have to rely on other people is great. Of course, other people are never as reliable as we would like them to be or sometimes we lack the commitment to be reliable, but ultimately, to have some content for those who do want to make great efforts together, coordinate and so on, is a very needed aspect of this genre. If it goes away from the genre, where to go to when you want to rely on other people to clear hard content? Literally, no other genre has that feature and it is definitely something that is making the genre appealing and unique. I, personally, don't raid because I don't have the time, but if I catch the time with a prolonged holiday, injury or whatever, I would enjoy it tremendously. Also, even if I never catch the time and never raid, I find it amazing to see players with unique titles and armor-skins who managed to clear that content! Being a big fan of the story of GW2, I can just read it up or watch a video about what's happening, and to dream how it would be nice to be in this epic fight and manage to clear that content is something that gives you the motivation to play the game nevertheless.

>

> 2. In my opinion, raids should have meaningful and up-to-date content too. I love fractals and how they explain and let you re-live certain events of the past. I mean, if you are even halfway interested in the story, do a complete fractals run where you pay attention to everything and explore the whole map, instead of just rushing through trash mobs and killing the boss. Don't get me wrong, I rush farm fractals too, but at least once do a slow, exploration run. There is so much shown to us through fractals that it's great! However, as I said, most of it is about events from the past. Raids are, therefore, the perfect opportunity to put some content about the present. I am not saying that they should put Main Story content in raids, and frankly, they are not doing that. But they should have meaningful, interesting stories that are canon in the raids. If it was just some rehashed enemies with more difficult mechanics just for the challenge and to eventually get some gear, it would be kind of lame. However, if you these side stories that are meaningful and impactful for the world, without being the Main Story, it just feels great doing it. Of course, once you digested all of it, it will be just a mark on your weekly to-do list, but having those villains that actually feel strong and tell a story is great! Imagine if you could defeat Dhuum with a bunch of uncoordinated newbies with masterwork and rare gear... I, personally, would feel like kitten... Putting those enemies in raids is exactly where they belong so that they feel strong, menacing, threatening as the story wants us to believe they are.

>

> 3. Lastly, should raids have adjustable difficulties? To be honest, they should, but this needs to be done very, very carefully. For example, they could add a Story Mode that is not harder than a t3 fractal (without the agony), but literally make the rewards near to non-existent. You complain that you can't do raids and therefore you are locked out of story-content? Cool, here, have the raid without getting anything but the story from it. Have fun. I think that this is very fair. Besides that, I wouldn't add any additional difficulties, since Guild Wars 2 does not have item level and you mostly do raids for skins and mats and such, therefore they would need to create a whole new line of skins for the different modes.

>

> Well, that's my opinion, and you don't have to agree with it, of course.... but.. Wizard's Tower should be either a raid or something really special like Dalaran in WoW or an intriguing city with a darkish theme and lots of stuff to do and explore.

 

The problem is that the resources obviously do not currently exist to do all three of these, which begs the question, if they cannot do it right, should they be doing it at all? Given the resources they have now, I think the logical way forward is yes to point 1, but no to 2 and 3. Without addressing the play skill and style barriers, Guild Wars lore related story in raids is a very bad idea.

 

Basically, given the current resource levels, raids have to be a considered a completely separate game designed for a different audience than most of GW2.

[Poseidon.3852]

> @"Blaeys.3102" said:

> > @"Poseidon.3852" said:

> > You know, this can be made into a discussion about raids themselves, rather just specifically about if the Wizard Tower should be a raid or not.

> >

> > There are several points to consider in this discussion:

> >

> > 1. Should raids even be a thing?

> > 2. Should raids have meaningful content?

> > 3. Should raids have adjustable difficulties?

> >

> >

> > Now, my personal take on the points is as follows:

> >

> > 1. Yes. Raids should be a thing and in my opinion, they are a staple mark of the MMORPG genre. Sure, the new "playing alone together" mentality of most new-ish games in that genre is... practical, but having content for which you actually have to rely on other people is great. Of course, other people are never as reliable as we would like them to be or sometimes we lack the commitment to be reliable, but ultimately, to have some content for those who do want to make great efforts together, coordinate and so on, is a very needed aspect of this genre. If it goes away from the genre, where to go to when you want to rely on other people to clear hard content? Literally, no other genre has that feature and it is definitely something that is making the genre appealing and unique. I, personally, don't raid because I don't have the time, but if I catch the time with a prolonged holiday, injury or whatever, I would enjoy it tremendously. Also, even if I never catch the time and never raid, I find it amazing to see players with unique titles and armor-skins who managed to clear that content! Being a big fan of the story of GW2, I can just read it up or watch a video about what's happening, and to dream how it would be nice to be in this epic fight and manage to clear that content is something that gives you the motivation to play the game nevertheless.

> >

> > 2. In my opinion, raids should have meaningful and up-to-date content too. I love fractals and how they explain and let you re-live certain events of the past. I mean, if you are even halfway interested in the story, do a complete fractals run where you pay attention to everything and explore the whole map, instead of just rushing through trash mobs and killing the boss. Don't get me wrong, I rush farm fractals too, but at least once do a slow, exploration run. There is so much shown to us through fractals that it's great! However, as I said, most of it is about events from the past. Raids are, therefore, the perfect opportunity to put some content about the present. I am not saying that they should put Main Story content in raids, and frankly, they are not doing that. But they should have meaningful, interesting stories that are canon in the raids. If it was just some rehashed enemies with more difficult mechanics just for the challenge and to eventually get some gear, it would be kind of lame. However, if you these side stories that are meaningful and impactful for the world, without being the Main Story, it just feels great doing it. Of course, once you digested all of it, it will be just a mark on your weekly to-do list, but having those villains that actually feel strong and tell a story is great! Imagine if you could defeat Dhuum with a bunch of uncoordinated newbies with masterwork and rare gear... I, personally, would feel like kitten... Putting those enemies in raids is exactly where they belong so that they feel strong, menacing, threatening as the story wants us to believe they are.

> >

> > 3. Lastly, should raids have adjustable difficulties? To be honest, they should, but this needs to be done very, very carefully. For example, they could add a Story Mode that is not harder than a t3 fractal (without the agony), but literally make the rewards near to non-existent. You complain that you can't do raids and therefore you are locked out of story-content? Cool, here, have the raid without getting anything but the story from it. Have fun. I think that this is very fair. Besides that, I wouldn't add any additional difficulties, since Guild Wars 2 does not have item level and you mostly do raids for skins and mats and such, therefore they would need to create a whole new line of skins for the different modes.

> >

> > Well, that's my opinion, and you don't have to agree with it, of course.... but.. Wizard's Tower should be either a raid or something really special like Dalaran in WoW or an intriguing city with a darkish theme and lots of stuff to do and explore.

>

> The problem is that the resources obviously do not currently exist to do all three of these, which begs the question, if they cannot do it right, should they be doing it at all? Given the resources they have now, I think the logical way forward is yes to point 1, but no to 2 and 3. Without addressing the play skill and style barriers, Guild Wars lore related story in raids is a very bad idea.

>

> Basically, given the current resource levels, raids have to be a considered a completely separate game designed for a different audience than most of GW2.

 

I noticed this in everything, not only for Raids, but also for PvP, WvW, and even the last Living World Episode... Literally none of them seem to have enough resources allocated to them. Currently, not a single mode in GW2 is getting the attention it would need to be "high quality".

 

Is ANet failing? Working on another "secret" project? What is happening? It feels WAAAY TOO OFTEN as if ANet have bitten off more than what they can chew and as if they were a bunch of Indie-Developers. I am sure that the ones working are giving their best, but it feels like they are understaffed or something. I am not very familiar with ANet as a company, but it seems that they are not doing well internally.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> Please dont give Wizards Tower to ~~the raid~~ **any** team

That would be my preference. I think this is a mystery that is best left to our imaginations. There is absolutely no way that any implementation can live up to the hype we've already established, let alone the amount of hype that we'd generate in the week after a video announcing content that took us to the tower.

[ugrakarma.9416]

i dont care about mistery, neitheir Wizard Tower. Just give us any floating castle.

[Tyson.5160]

> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > @"Pifil.5193" said:

> > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > @"Palador.2170" said:

> > > > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > > With all honesty, the coolest thing they can do is a raid.

> > > >

> > > > No. Just ... no. They can do better than that, and it's past time that we expect better.

> > >

> > > Actually they can't. Nothing will feel even remotely as epic.

> >

> > I'd challenge the idea that something being "epic" means "10 man instance" but hey, might be a different understanding of what "epic" means.

>

> It's not about the number of players in the instance, it's about the challenge. That's the big problem with the story instances - we fight Balthazar, but the fight isn't really hard, a rando White Mantle zealot abusing bloodstone feels much more dangerous and because of that much more of an accomplishment when defeated. And it should be clear that they will never do anything remotely as challenging as a raid boss outside of a raid, except maybe in fractal CMs. So if you want a cool story - sure, it can be wherever. Probably best in the personal story, as the other instances tend to be paced shorter. But if you want an epic fight, nothing will come close to a raid boss, sorry.

 

That’s a game mechanics vs lore, sort of argument. In reality, Mordremoth would kill all the raid bosses.

[Poseidon.3852]

> @"Tyson.5160" said:

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > @"Pifil.5193" said:

> > > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > > @"Palador.2170" said:

> > > > > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > > > With all honesty, the coolest thing they can do is a raid.

> > > > >

> > > > > No. Just ... no. They can do better than that, and it's past time that we expect better.

> > > >

> > > > Actually they can't. Nothing will feel even remotely as epic.

> > >

> > > I'd challenge the idea that something being "epic" means "10 man instance" but hey, might be a different understanding of what "epic" means.

> >

> > It's not about the number of players in the instance, it's about the challenge. That's the big problem with the story instances - we fight Balthazar, but the fight isn't really hard, a rando White Mantle zealot abusing bloodstone feels much more dangerous and because of that much more of an accomplishment when defeated. And it should be clear that they will never do anything remotely as challenging as a raid boss outside of a raid, except maybe in fractal CMs. So if you want a cool story - sure, it can be wherever. Probably best in the personal story, as the other instances tend to be paced shorter. But if you want an epic fight, nothing will come close to a raid boss, sorry.

>

> That’s a game mechanics vs lore, sort of argument. In reality, Mordremoth would kill all the raid bosses.

 

Some people are just not very excited about plot armor and plot weapons vs actually having to put in effort and coordinate with many other "heroes" to defeat a manacing threat.

[Alga.6498]

I disagree with those who says keep it hidden and mystery, please don't do that, ANet! Most of us want to explore what's inside of the Tower and who this famous Wizard is.

I am hoping it will be a Living World episode one day as it will open up the whole map next to Kryta and Lion's Arch (_and Dominion Winds_) instead of being a raid-locked content.

[Wyldchild.8706]

I Raid a lot and though it would be fun if it were a raid wing I would much prefer it to be 1-3 separate maps for living world. I think it should be something EVERYONE should be able to enjoy and not just a niche group. Though, I wouldn't say no to having my cake and eating it to and make it both a living world map AND a Raid wing.

[Carighan.6758]

> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> With all honesty, the coolest thing they can do is a raid.

 

In theory, yes. The way raids are done in GW2 is far from "the coolest thing" however, so meh. I think I'd prefer it as a cycling WvW map before I'd get it as a raid :expressionless:

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Alga.6498" said:

> I disagree with those who says keep it hidden and mystery, please don't do that, ANet!

That's fair to ask, as it's your opinion.

 

> @"Alga.6498" said:

> Most of us want to explore what's inside of the Tower and who this famous Wizard is.

I suspect that "most of us" don't even realize that there is a tower or a famous wizard or a mystery.

 

Of those who do care, there's probably no clear consensus: some desperately want to go in, no matter how good or bad the experience might be. Some (such as myself) prefer it to remain speculative. **If** there is a definitive plurality, it's probably, "sure, as long as it's fun and comes close to living up to our imaginations."

 

Case in point of missing the mark: people really wanted an explanation of how the Thaumanova disaster created chaos magic and led to all sorts of non-native creatures showing up (sometimes from the wrong time period). ANet brought it to us in a fractal, where it turns out to be the result of one of Scarlet's experiments gone ~~asuran~~ wrong. I like it as a fractal and I like having an explanation, but (along with many others), there's a lot of disappointment that it wasn't "more interesting."

 

Case in point of hitting the mark: Twilight Oasis, which shows how Amala was corrupted by Joko. On the whole (ignoring that some dislike the instance as a fractal), the reception has been pretty good. However, this came out concurrently with Istan, so it's not as if we had 10+ years of speculation, as we do with the tower.

 

 

[Malediktus.9250]

Would be disappointing if it does not become a raid

[Substance E.4852]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > Please dont give Wizards Tower to ~~the raid~~ **any** team

> That would be my preference. I think this is a mystery that is best left to our imaginations. There is absolutely no way that any implementation can live up to the hype we've already established, let alone the amount of hype that we'd generate in the week after a video announcing content that took us to the tower.

 

How people manage to become this obsessed with what was just some meaningless background fluff in GW1 is beyond me.

 

People are really desperate for "Gigantus Lupicus were just much smaller reptile giants 2.0".

[Palador.2170]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"Alga.6498" said:

> > I disagree with those who says keep it hidden and mystery, please don't do that, ANet!

> That's fair to ask, as it's your opinion.

>

Personally, I'd love to get up there and explore, but that doesn't mean that we'll get all of the answers we're after.

 

Imagine getting up there and into it, only to find out that this castle is just one of several lesser outposts the wizard made to keep an eye on the world at large, or maybe there's one on several worlds throughout the mists. We still wouldn't know where the main base/keep is. We can find both answers and more questions.

 

It would be like opening a Russian nesting doll, only to find an even bigger doll inside.

[mortrialus.3062]

> @"GRRRR.3521" said:

> Had Woodenpotatoes video of the ama on in the background and he mentioned the wizards tower and also something how the different inhouse teams vie with each other who gets to do what. My first thought was "If the raid team gets the wizard tower im never goin to see any of it"

>

> I remember back when Bloodstone Fen came out: OHNO COMMANDER A BLOODSTONE BLEW UP! PS if you wanna know why and how its explained in the raid. Uhuh. Oh theres another with Saul Dalessio. Welp. Oh yeh Duum is back too. Hmm thats nice wonder what thats about.

>

> "GIT GUD/Anybody can raid". Nah. Several reasons (class/time/commitment/effort yadda yadda), cant do it anymore, dont wanna do it anymore, not my thing. If its gonna be a raid its entirely on me if im locked out of it, ill admit.

>

> But its almost a LS1 Situation - the dev team spends considerable resources on content only a fraction of players will see. If hearsay stats are to be believed theres like 10% actively raiding or something? These 10% will go in the first week, go "eh thats neat" and then when its yet another weekly threadmill not give a X (you cant swear here right) if theyre beating up a a reanimated Joko-Snaff Mutant or a placeholder asset to get their 1/1000 unobtanium dust per boss kill for a legendary trenchcoat or whatever, meanwhile ~90% of the peasantry like me who likes pressing 1 on elite bunnies sits outside wondering what the story is.

>

> If thats gonna be like that, ok, already happened anyway.

>

> But hey heres an idea. The next raid is gonna be Master Tojos mythical dojo. All the enemies are wooden training dummies, the tile set is some public domain japan house thing, super cost effective. Rewards are katanas or whatever. Bosses are bigger training dummies, give them some super hard phases and lots of hp and switching resistances and stuff. There, raid done, raiders happy. Can we carebears go into the wizards tower now?

 

The raids have literally nothing to do with why the Bloodstone exploded in S3E1. Literally 100% of what we know about why it exploded and what they were trying to do with it came from the journals found across Bloodstone Fen.

[Alga.6498]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"Alga.6498" said:

> > I disagree with those who says keep it hidden and mystery, please don't do that, ANet!

> That's fair to ask, as it's your opinion.

>

> > @"Alga.6498" said:

> > Most of us want to explore what's inside of the Tower and who this famous Wizard is.

> I suspect that "most of us" don't even realize that there is a tower or a famous wizard or a mystery.

>

> Of those who do care, there's probably no clear consensus: some desperately want to go in, no matter how good or bad the experience might be. Some (such as myself) prefer it to remain speculative. **If** there is a definitive plurality, it's probably, "sure, as long as it's fun and comes close to living up to our imaginations."

>

> Case in point of missing the mark: people really wanted an explanation of how the Thaumanova disaster created chaos magic and led to all sorts of non-native creatures showing up (sometimes from the wrong time period). ANet brought it to us in a fractal, where it turns out to be the result of one of Scarlet's experiments gone ~~asuran~~ wrong. I like it as a fractal and I like having an explanation, but (along with many others), there's a lot of disappointment that it wasn't "more interesting."

>

> Case in point of hitting the mark: Twilight Oasis, which shows how Amala was corrupted by Joko. On the whole (ignoring that some dislike the instance as a fractal), the reception has been pretty good. However, this came out concurrently with Istan, so it's not as if we had 10+ years of speculation, as we do with the tower.

>

>

 

Well, I am pretty sure ''most of us'' has ever wondered who this famous wizard, Isgarren, might be while doing the heart/storyline near the village, Garenhoff.

Though as it has been forgotten and undiscovered, who bother keeping up with the info about all this as it's _still_ a mystery?

During back then in GW1 the Wizard's Tower was also there but remained mystery, which sucks.

So my opinion is that we should finally discover who Isgarren (the Wizard) is and what's he's been up to. Explore his big floating tower! Is he friend or foe? Why's he protecting the village Garenhoff?

 

Not sure what's the point of your remaning comment.

[Ubi.4136]

@OP, of course they're gonna make it a raid. I wish they would reconsider a lot of what they do (and are likely planning to do), but it is what it is.

[aceofbass.2163]

> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > @"Pifil.5193" said:

> > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > @"Palador.2170" said:

> > > > > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > > > > With all honesty, the coolest thing they can do is a raid.

> > > >

> > > > No. Just ... no. They can do better than that, and it's past time that we expect better.

> > >

> > > Actually they can't. Nothing will feel even remotely as epic.

> >

> > I'd challenge the idea that something being "epic" means "10 man instance" but hey, might be a different understanding of what "epic" means.

>

> we fight Balthazar, but the fight isn't really hard, a rando kittenhat White Mantle zealot abusing bloodstone feels much more dangerous and attempts to explain the concept of branching dialogue to you - as if you know having worked in a game narrative for a fucking DECADE, have never head of it.

 

You sir, are getting an instablock from the white mantle.

 

[Auri.1365]

Why not open the tower for different modes? Many people have strong feelings about this tower and it should be used in a way that the majority of people are happy with it.

As some people are asking for storymode raids, anet could just test this with a new raid at the wizards tower.

It could work like this: If you enter dungeons you can choose if you open the explorable path or story mode. So why not do this at the wizards tower? You could open it as a solo or 5-person story instance with rewards like in a story instance, maybe with some new skins, or you could open it as a raid instance with the same story, just harder raid bosses and additional raid rewards.

So raiders can have an epic raid in the wizards tower and people who don't like raids can expierence the story as well.

 

(I'm not really in favor of easy/story-mode raids, as this needs more ressources and raid development is already slow, but I wouldn't mind an exception regarding the wizards tower as a test to open it to a wide range of players.

I was against mounts but anet surprised me with the implementation, so maybe this could work here as well :) )

[ugrakarma.9416]

theres nothing to speculate. is just a random floating castle drawn on a landscape, there is no mystery behind, simply the developers never minded it. And if they ever do some content for it any day, it will be a last-minute job and rushed. Those who think of something else are deceiving themselves.

 

[Zalani.9827]

I wouldn't mind a fractal but I would prefer an open world tower that I can explore.

 

I've always wanted to explore it since the first time I saw it back in Gw1.

[sorudo.9054]

what about some kind of new thing, raids are in it self toxic, fractals are (like raids) not made for solo players and Anet all but abandoned dungeons.

 

i was thinking, what about an instance quest, anyone can play it and no one is bothered by anyone.

if anyone has played city of heroes they know what i am talking about, a story in an instance with the instance scaling according to party size.

you can go in alone and it will be scales for solo play (open world), get in with a party and the more players the more difficult it becomes.

 

for instance:

1 player = open world difficulty

2-5 players = dungeon difficulty (2 has more enemies while 5 has elite enemies)

5+ players = raid difficulty (all enemies are veteran, stronger are champion and bosses are legendary)

 

ofcouse, it might be possible to add a difficulty slider, so ppl who like the challenge but like to play alone can fake the 3 player part while playing solo.

[starlinvf.1358]

> @"Substance E.4852" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > Please dont give Wizards Tower to ~~the raid~~ **any** team

> > That would be my preference. I think this is a mystery that is best left to our imaginations. There is absolutely no way that any implementation can live up to the hype we've already established, let alone the amount of hype that we'd generate in the week after a video announcing content that took us to the tower.

>

> How people manage to become this obsessed with what was just some meaningless background fluff in GW1 is beyond me.

>

> People are really desperate for "Gigantus Lupicus were just much smaller reptile giants 2.0".

 

Because the game is very often starved of what most would consider satisfying content. Subjective elements aside, the game's production values are a roller coaster; and much of that is attributed to both a lack of sufficient Dev resources, and a show runner with the ability to oversee them all properly. Cohesion is the key element to being able to recycle assets for multiple content blocks; and thats not happening enough within a given content block for each game mode.

 

An issue I'm trying to wrap my head around is the possibility that GW2 doesn't have a "Core" anymore, despite the popularity of Openworld. When I say Core, something which behaves as a hub to the content blocks, and creates a path that can flow between them. LS maps being standalone is part of the problem; but getting rid of them isn't a solution either. Its really that every mode exists as Standalone, the only thread that ties them together is a tacked on rewards system that forces you to go there for completions sake. Theres no compelling reason to venture into WvW or PvP out of curiosity, and the Raids have too steep a barrier for entry between its emphasis on hard failures and a Community whose toxicity stems from it. You can't ease into any of these modes, thus it tends to corral players into their preferred ones. Open world isn't free of this either... they've become schedule driven in nature, ordered by the reward potential.

 

I honesty don't know how to fix this, because there isn't enough development bandwidth to properly address one mode, much less all of them. Rotating the releases could had worked, except for the vastly differing discipline requirements for the teams that design them. Personally I feel the Openworld aspect of LS needs to be smaller overall, and better interlinked so each map doesn't atrophy over time; and then pull it together with set piece meta for an arc's finale.... one that can afford to be dead half the day, and be revisited occasionally as a world boss schedule. 2 Smaller light farming maps with activity driven central meta that leads to a periodic boss fight, and the 3rd map being reset on a timer, and run start to finish like dragon stand. One thing that would have to be addressed is LS currencies. Seeing the fall out from LS3 now that LS4 is live, its shown it worked for the time, but now suffers an exacerbated version of Main map depopulation due to the mutual exclusion aspect of it. It would probably also require a rethink of the LS access requirements; but thats kind of in need of looking at with Expansions working they way they do.