Is Living Season worth it?

[BlueJin.4127]

I didn’t like personal story. The story wasn’t interesting, its presentation was terrible, and there was almost no gameplay. I was having a hard time trying to stay awake fighting against enemies that were basically just target dummies. I only did the first story for HoT and PoF but enjoyed both. The story immediately grabbed my interest. Presentation and atmosphere were epic and really helped draw me in. Battles were also fun and not a snooze fest.

 

I don’t own LS2 and LS3. How are they in terms of story, presentaion, and gameplay? Are they like HoT and PoF? Or are they more like personal story? Also, are they long enough to justify the price? How about the rewards? Anything interesting?

 

Thanks in advance. :smile:

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

You will find people who think the stories got worse. People who think it got better. People who prefer the old presentation style and those who think it's much better now. My feeling is if you hated the personal story, and liked HoT & PoF stories, then you'll like LS3, but not LS2. LS2... they were still evolving how they tell the story. By LS3, they had gotten comfortable with their overall approach, and it shows in LS3 & POF (and LS4).

 

For rewards, LS3 provides maps that are by far & away the easiest source for ascended trinkets with key stats, including Viper's, Zerker's, Commander, etc. That alone makes LS3 worth it for people, story or not. To gain access to mats, you have to do a portion of the story on one character (the amount varies considerably), after which you can buy a scroll that will allow your other characters to enter the zone without it.

 

For rewards, LS2 has four primary benefits. Core mastery point unlocks, the bloodstone dust eater (Mawdrey II), the cheapest infused backpack option (Mawdrey), and a variety of skins. (bonus: bl chest key along the way). None of those things are, in my opinion, critical.

 

 

 

 

[Cyninja.2954]

Living World Seasons have more in common with Hot and PoF than the original Story from design and presentation if that help.

 

There is a ton of achievements and side stuff you can do for each Episode (similar to Hot and PoF maps). If that's your thing, go for it.

 

LWS2 is a transitiom between original Story and Hot. I personally enjoyed it a lot after having to fight dull Story missions against undead over and over again. It is very narrative centric and ties the original campaign nicely to Hot.

 

LWS3 is even consider a must get, if only to have easier access to ascended trinkets.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> You will find people who think the stories got worse. People who think it got better. People who prefer the old presentation style and those who think it's much better now. My feeling is if you hated the personal story, and liked HoT & PoF stories, then you'll like LS3, but not LS2. LS2... they were still evolving how they tell the story. By LS3, they had gotten comfortable with their overall approach, and it shows in LS3 & POF (and LS4).

>

> For rewards, LS3 provides maps that are by far & away the easiest source for ascended trinkets with key stats, including Viper's, Zerker's, Commander, etc. That alone makes LS3 worth it for people, story or not. To gain access to mats, you have to do a portion of the story on one character (the amount varies considerably), after which you can buy a scroll that will allow your other characters to enter the zone without it.

>

> For rewards, LS2 has four primary benefits. Core mastery point unlocks, the bloodstone dust eater (Mawdrey II), the cheapest infused backpack option (Mawdrey), and a variety of skins. (bonus: bl chest key along the way). None of those things are, in my opinion, critical.

 

I agree with all of this.

 

Also you can use the Teleport to Friend (plus a friend on the map already) to get to the LS3 maps without doing the story, but only once you own the episode. But if you like the story in HoT and PoF more than the personal story you'll probably like LS3 as well.

[BlueJin.4127]

Thank you for the info. I guess I'll get LS2 and LS3 eventually. They sound like what I'm looking for. ^^

[Randulf.7614]

Ls2 is a hybrid of presentation, but does a good job of staying focussed. Ls3 is all over the place, but with 6 maps, has a decent amount of repeatable content. The presentation is more similar to the expansions.

 

Both are improvement on gameplay and presentstion seen in the personal story

[BlueJin.4127]

I forgot to ask 2 more things.

 

1) How long are the LWS missions? Less than 20 minutes each, I hope.

2) Do they have any replay value, in terms of rewards? Or are the rewards just one time rewards? If they're one time rewards, I'm guessing things like gears are once per character and not once per account?

[Cyninja.2954]

1. Most are similar to Hof and PoF missions. Average 20 Minutes Sounds about right.

 

Living World Season 2 has 8 Episodes spread over 2 new maps.

Living World Season 3 has 6 Episodes spread over 6 New maps.

 

2. All Living World Episodes no matter which season have achievements and tied to them with associated item unlocks. Some achievements require replaying the Episode.

 

The biggest or most complex reward might be the chest of the Bioluminescent achievement from Living World Season 2 which grats a one time free choice ascended armor piece after a long scavanger/achievement hunt (ideally pick a chest piece).

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"BlueJin.4127" said:

> I didn’t like personal story. The story wasn’t interesting, its presentation was terrible, and there was almost no gameplay. I was having a hard time trying to stay awake fighting against enemies that were basically just target dummies. I only did the first story for HoT and PoF but enjoyed both. The story immediately grabbed my interest. Presentation and atmosphere were epic and really helped draw me in. Battles were also fun and not a snooze fest.

>

> I don’t own LS2 and LS3. How are they in terms of story, presentaion, and gameplay? Are they like HoT and PoF? Or are they more like personal story? Also, are they long enough to justify the price? How about the rewards? Anything interesting?

>

> Thanks in advance. :smile:

 

Story quality is subjective, so can't really say. For me LS2 and LS3 had far better story than the original personal story, there are some good moments there while the personal story is mostly forgettable with some very few good points (mentor story, some parts in Orr and some excellent racial stories at the beginning). Even if you disliked the personal story, I'd suggest you play the other initial racial storylines, there are some great stories there (especially as Asura or Sylvari)

 

That's about the story. Now in terms of gameplay, especially since you say you got bored in the personal story, LS2 and LS3 are for sure far far superior. There is no comparison here. You won't get bored playing those, especially if you try some of the harder story achievements. There are some very interesting boss fights that require you to think, unlike the personal story which was rather boring and severely lacking in mechanics. The Form of the Dragon in LS2 for example, the fight with Caudecus in LS3 and so on are some challenging fights, so if you are looking for a challenge in your story, then both LS2 and LS3 have lots of it.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

LW S2 story was not very memorable to me, but LW S3 was a nice experience. However, in my personal and subjective experince, the PoF story was the most immersive experince, finally getting close to that of the original Guild Wars with its instanced epic storyline missions.

 

Any serious player probably wants the entire game in the end, especially if you are a completionist. Some high-end items and collections require you to visit all kinds of areas including the previous Living World maps, and if you want to score achievements or AP, you probably want to buy them anyways.

[Fremtid.3528]

I don't know if this helps but I was on my alt today and saw LS 3 was 120 gems. Seems like a steal to me. Nevermind ignore this, it just occurred to me the reason for this is because she has part of it unlocked.

[Kovac.4372]

> @"Fremtid.3528" said:

> I don't know if this helps but I was on my alt today and saw LS 3 was 120 gems. Seems like a steal to me. Nevermind ignore this, it just occurred to me the reason for this is because she has part of it unlocked.

 

120 gems because you had a bunch of episodes unlocked already

[KGS.9842]

currently Season 2 is 75% off and Season 3 - 50% so if you want to buy them, now is the time

[Etheri.5406]

Waste of money and time.

[Biff.5312]

Personally, I haven't bothered even doing the stories, but I like having access to the extra regions. I spend a lot of time in LS3 areas getting trinkets etc.