Snowmane.5826 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 The Meta is the biggest problem - the defense is too long, way, way too long, in addition it's pretty trivial - heavily scaled up and I have repeatedly managed to stay alive with my warrior alone vs half a dozen enemies (partly due to the insane bonuses you get if you have all 3 mastery's buffs), could have done with, at the very least, a champion assault on each shrine. Further, the actual boss fight is.... difficult to recover from if you fail to chain at the first point - you shouldn't, however I had it happen and by the time people could respond it was already basically passed the second chaining point, from which there was no real recovery. Sure, that's ineptitude on the part of the players, but the terrain is laid out in a way that makes recovery almost impossible (you have to break combat, mount, jump the cliff and then get the chains going in the space of a few seconds after it shrugs off the first chains) normally I would say this isn't a problem - there should be a challenge to the metas to some extent... except failing the meta screws the instance royally; and well over 90% of the reward is after the boss. Finally, the Boneskinner in the map should be less frequent (as others have said) and a legendary - that or keep the frequency, but make the actual fight substantially harder, as it stands, it is probably at best 4th or 5th in terms of difficulty in terms of the non-meta related champs, ranking it pretty close to the bottom (the Skelk, Leopard Shaman and Kodan Berserker are definitely harder, arguably the summoner too) despite it being probably the most interesting boss (we've beaten plenty of Svanir and other corrupted Norn/Kodan by this stage) visually. It also needs some better mechanics, because at the moment it's literally just a "Press 1 until it dies" boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randulf.7614 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 > @"Snowmane.5826" said: > The Meta is the biggest problem - the defense is too long, way, way too long, in addition it's pretty trivial - heavily scaled up and I have repeatedly managed to stay alive with my warrior alone vs half a dozen enemies (partly due to the insane bonuses you get if you have all 3 mastery's buffs), could have done with, at the very least, a champion assault on each shrine. > > Further, the actual boss fight is.... difficult to recover from if you fail to chain at the first point - you shouldn't, however I had it happen and by the time people could respond it was already basically passed the second chaining point, from which there was no real recovery. Sure, that's ineptitude on the part of the players, but the terrain is laid out in a way that makes recovery almost impossible (you have to break combat, mount, jump the cliff and then get the chains going in the space of a few seconds after it shrugs off the first chains) normally I would say this isn't a problem - there should be a challenge to the metas to some extent... except failing the meta screws the instance royally; and well over 90% of the reward is after the boss. > > Finally, the Boneskinner in the map should be less frequent (as others have said) and a legendary - that or keep the frequency, but make the actual fight substantially harder, as it stands, it is probably at best 4th or 5th in terms of difficulty in terms of the non-meta related champs, ranking it pretty close to the bottom (the Skelk, Leopard Shaman and Kodan Berserker are definitely harder, arguably the summoner too) despite it being probably the most interesting boss (we've beaten plenty of Svanir and other corrupted Norn/Kodan by this stage) visually. It also needs some better mechanics, because at the moment it's literally just a "Press 1 until it dies" boss. I do agree with you completely, but as a note dont forget we will get a proper Boneskinner fight when it rotates into the Strike Missions next week or the week after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlateSloan.3654 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 alot of things in the episode make the impression of not finished. specially the meta , where you first build siege and think "oh so much siege in a pve event, here is a huge tower defense battle about to start" and then you realise that the event is fast over and think "ok we beat that ice creature and now????? where is the war?" The Hunger Collection is just unspectacular over after first view food delivery. no further story into action, first you think "hunger... cool arenanet told something that the episode would be about horror and such" and then ... poof its done... the Light achievements dont lead to another collection after being done. like no further collection leading into some hidden dwarf cave or such , nothing. in the trailers there was a hype of boneskinner... he is nothing more than a boring silverwastes boss after an 5 minutes escort event. the main story is over before even any kind of highlight is set... this new episode is about grinding events for a boring new collection of weapons. estimated time to finish everything ~ 8 hours. another example of how hyped something can be with just a little trailer and some stage event infront.. massive disappointment. i think arenanet and gw2 is GG and anet only delivering low end content until the end now so noone can say they did not deliver the at release announced living world... GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZDragon.3046 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 > @"Linken.6345" said: > > @"ZDragon.3046" said: > > Overall for me it was meh so so at best > > Very interesting and it does capture you for the moment but also a good deal disappointing > > _**Warning tons of spoiler and personal opinions below read at your own risk and with a grain of salt**_ > > > > --- > > > > ## The good. > > > > **Storytelling** > > I don't mind where the story is going (for the moment) and it captured me for the moment and i find the concept and mystery aspect to be very well done. Feeling what seems like just is purely Jormags power is more direct in this episode. > > >! I personally dont think he/she is using much of the other dead dragons influences this just feels like him/her considering he could always speak to the norns minds and already reanimate those who joined him before Ziatans death, It just feels like this is 100% raw jormag power. > > I love how we are discovering more about the ice dragon and how it seemed to go from a minor thing to looking like it might be the strongest dragon so far. > > I love the bits referencing parts of other characters past > > >! Rytlock x Cre roasting each other back and forth had me laughing pretty hard. While the bit with Jory had me feeling some kind of way D: > > > > **Map Design** > > Is very cool i do actually like it the design and lay out of it is very good the atmosphere is well executed. No big complaints here. > > >! But can we have the other half of the map space. > > > > ## The Concerning / Questionable / Bad > > **Its too short** > > Yup like so many other people lets get this right out of the gate I feel like there was too much time between Bound by Blood and A whisper in the Dark for this to be all we really see. I hope episode 2 comes much faster if its gonna be the same length. > > > > **Limited / Lesser Voice scripting?** > > In content up till now when the game prompts you for additional dialog after completing a portion of a story as seen by the green star above a characters head (usually your allies rytlock, jory, etc.) You can press f and speak to them which leads to a voice acted conversation. In this story things seem to have gone back to just all text and it felt like a major downgrade from what ive gotten use to at this point. > > > > **Too many plot holes and questionable decisions.** > > > > What when? Why didnt we know. > > >! Almorra went to scout with the vigil when and why were we not told, last time i checked the vigil is part of the pact and i feel like a move like this should have been given more attention to detail to the commander in general. I feel like if Almorra was left there at the end of this she could cleared up this plot hole. Because of all of this her departing.... was a bit pointless or watered down. This was made up for at the end when we find out that she was long gone even when the call came. Still its a bit of a plot hole in general that makes her death feel a bit uncalled for. (that said as a charr main i know her voice to a T and the first line in the opening radio call her voice lacked that rough tenacity i knew it either was not her or she was gonna bite it. ) > > Also why > > >! Why did we have to take a chopper in the Black Citadel (nice metal legion posters by the way) to this map? Why not continue on the path we left off at the end of Bound by Blood or in the strike missionwhich was practically a hop skip away and could have achieved the same thing. IT really made no since to go back to the Black Citidel at all and fly out from there. GROTHMAR HAS CHARR COPTERS RIGHT THERE IN THE KEEP! > > > > Story kept mentioning these quite a bit > > >! Who has the communicators now and is a certain ice dragon going to just hear everything we do. Who gave Almorra back the communicator to make the initial call? But if she was already departed who brought it back for her to use and who has those now and will they be referenced in part 2 i expect it to be i mean we just gave an elder dragon our main lines of long distance communication. > > Ummmm > > >! Jhavi's introduction was way too short and sudden i would have honestly rather kept Almorra around over her i dont know who this woman is and i dont know why i should bother dealing with her. There is no attachment to her like at all. I personally dont care that she is a descendent of whats her face. > > > > **Meta events** > > are cool in concept but far far far too easy which makes them get old after the first few runs. Replay value is very low because of this. Unlike in the past the meta events also provide no additional meaty substance to the story itself. In the past some questions left unanswered where hinted/ suggested / or in some cases out right revealed with metas but in this case its just lacking it seems. > > >! Boneskinner was a major let down, i hope he is much stronger in the strike mission. There was too much hype pumped around this thing that was seemingly going to be culling players without mercy or something. Also whats with the lack of direct information with it we get a mini meta that does not tell you much about it I dont know any more real information about it than before the story launched. While its design and horror fueled concept is awesome... his lack of difficulty or lethality make him hardly as scary as he was hyped up to be. > > > > **Strike Mission** (so far) is pretty solid its a small step up from the previous mission but this first enemy encounter is still a bit too easy in my opinion. I guess slowly scaling things up is the right way to go though but in a weeks time people will be able to breeze through it. > > > > Im very disappointed that there is no scripted dialog when entering this strike mission as opposed to the previous one the atmosphere of it seems like a major downgrade > > > > Step 1 Enter map > > Step 2 Start bashing on what appears without any care or reason > > > > This makes for a very dull experiences as to really what is happening. > > Dont get me wrong the bosses that are appearing this week have very cool attacking patters and i think this was done rather fine if anything its pretty neat seeing how that works. > > A little something on entering the map would be nice even if its just a semi casual taunt or comment from the Raven spirit or some communication from Jhavi / Cre / Rytlock /Anyone???? > > > > **New Masteries** > > I really dont have much to say here except that these are not well explained at all and could have been worked into the story to help do so. > > >! Why an asura is supposedly discovering this and not a norn ill never quite understand either this would have been a good point to show that norn are not just always drunken fools and share other aspects of their spiritual culture in more depth. ITs a missed opportunity. > > Also the raven locks are a bit over used. I guess in a few spots to help ward against dangerous areas they do make sense but there are quite a few areas where its just in the way to make you press f its one of those things that gets more annoying than interesting. > > > > Overall there was a lack of Meat in the story itself a lot of choices were questionable, metas are cool but dont add to the story, masteries are ok i guess but dont add any to the story, just alot of missed opportunities etc. > > Only got a answer for your first one but its an easy one, The commander aint in the pact anymore hence why we dident know, Logan got our position. ( the commander title is a honorific) Fair point i guess I over looked this but i mean you just get use to hearing it haha. Everyone still calls you commander and to a lesser extent champion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigStripe.2379 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Story seemed okay to me, length-wise, for a shorter release cadence, but it wasn't very interactive. The first instance had no combat, the second one was a single fight after a short conversation, and the final one was just the boss at the end. I did like the trial aspect of the final instance, but when the questions don't matter outside of "which buff you get" at the end, it feels pretty blasé. The content of the story, however, was an A+ for me. I like certain aspects of the map, such as the dark forest and the corrupted-ice cliffs, but honestly (and I know this is going to sound weird) there's too much snow. The big open plains just feel empty and doesn't feel any different than any of the other snowy maps. I like the how the frozen screen effect looks, but it is intrusive. The Raven Bubble is entirely too loud, both visually and aurally. In fact, this whole map is very loud. Loved the Boneskinner. Hated the treatment it got in the open world. Hoping the strike mission version has some amount of story to it to make up for it. Honestly, my biggest gripe is that Eternal Ice Shards have finite use, as far as I can see. There's no real reason to get the home node if you only need a few thousand to get everything they can get. I'd probably give the release a C, maybe a C-. Story length, reason to return, and generic-feeling map really detract from the whole bundle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fueki.4753 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 > @"Randulf.7614" said: > dont forget we will get a proper Boneskinner fight when it rotates into the Strike Missions next week or the week after I wish they'd rotate daily though. > @"SlateSloan.3654" said: > alot of things in the episode make the impression of not finished. They'll add to the map in the next episode(s). Maybe it feels complete® then. > The Hunger Collection is just unspectacular over after first view food delivery. no further story into action, first you think "hunger... cool arenanet told something that the episode would be about horror and such" Have you even read the book that dropped from the Boneskinner? There are implications to what's going to happen next to that bear. > ... poof its done... It's a shame, but you can't really do any more horror than this in a teen-rated game. > in the trailers there was a hype of boneskinner... I was let down by this, too. But then again, the point above applies here, too. > the main story is over before even any kind of highlight is set... Our plan was literally to just save Jhavi (and Almorra) and kill the fraenir - and we did just that. > this new episode is about grinding events for a boring new collection of weapons. estimated time to finish everything ~ 8 hours. How did you finish the achievement that requires you to successfully do the Meta (which only spawns every two hours) 15 times in 8 hours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gashead.9162 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 So far, I've loved everything about this release! TLDR: thanks devs! Loving the new directions taken and looking forward to future releases. Off the start, I'm a fan of the raised difficulty. I'm a huge proponent of this, and would love to see even more. Having to think about how you approach an encounter, what enemy you prioritize, why you're using what skill, and being mindful of your surroundings may not be as accessible as mindlessly mowing through monsters, but it will always give gameplay more depth and longevity. More of this please! The darker, oppressive tone was fantastic. I read the first few comments on this thread w/ people complaining about 'whining'? Really? God forbid characters should have more than one dimension and vulnerabilities! The sound design, dreary environments, and oppressive atmosphere of npcs falling apart all around you made me feel this release more than almost anything prior to it. The map mechanic of needing a barrier to not freeze has been something I had hoped would be played with ever since the release of Bitterfrost with it's events centered around keeping torches lit, but with no real consequence for not doing so. It might have been more interesting to have had events in Bjora based on keeping points on the map active in order to access Raven's barrier rather than rolling it all into a mastery, but the urgency of needing to get to a statue before freezing was still very much appreciated. The one shot I had w/ a public strike mission was fun. Being a necro, I didn't have much trouble staying up, but it looked like a number of folks needed ground rubs, so there's some difficulty even in public, which is nice. I don't post on forums much, how do I do the spoiler thing? I plowed through the story quickly mostly because I was really into it. I think Mr. Potatoes made complaint a while back about certain characters being added to the game not long before they get offed, diminishing the impact due to our limited connection to them and it feeling like that was the only reason they ever existed. This was very different. It seemed like it was coming, but I wasn't sure they'd actually go through with it. Especially a character that's been around for so long w/ so much back story. This was impactful. And the awkward animations of the carcass of the mans you kill at the end when it comes back to chat with you! So good! If I had one complaint at all, it would be that I'd have liked more story content, but I loved what we did have and at no point felt like any of it was filler or didn't need to be there. Haven't completed the masteries yet, but they seem useful in some of the heavier encounters while not becoming the focus of combat and overshadowing our skillsets, so it's looking good so far. I found myself grinning a lot as I went through the release, and I hadn't even been drinking. Cheers to the devs for putting out something of this quality even after the difficulties ANet dealt with not long ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miraude.2107 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 I don't like it. Reasons why: * Story started out well till you had to search for a particular person, then it became a mess of a story trying to figure out what was going on because of constantly hitting the areas when the event is halfway through causing me to go WHO IS THIS PERSON THAT IS NOT MARJORY CRYING ABOUT BELINDA?! Completely frustrated me right out and threw me out of the immersion, would have been better as a large instance (Anet did it for Kourna) so I could figure out wtf was going on. (Like me screaming at Braham, What do you see? but nope, mini boss dead, event over, Braham acts like nothing happened). * The mastery. Do not tell me to go talk to a guy, do his tutorial and then go nope, you didn't master it yet so bye~! Not to mention it's right at the moment you get kicked into the actual map as well. Could have been orchestrated a lot better than adding further frustration, letting me go through the whole tutorial and then do a nope can't smash the chest, go 'master' it and do it again. * The Boneskinner being played up as something crazy and being nothing more than a champion event. That itself caused my frustration to boil over because I kept expecting to have it pop up in the story, to have this showdown akin to the Shadow of the Dragon fight or something in Raven's Sanctuary. Not an escort and kill event. * **ALMORRA DESERVED BETTER.** * Braham's guildmates. Yes let's show that he cared about them and all that but not really give anything more than a lol they all dead/Sons of Svanir now. Could have easily made the beginning of the story better, trying to piece together what happened, slowly finding them one by one, etc but nope. Overall, this whole thing just made me feel like they spend so much time on the Mastery, they rushed through everything else. Trying to stay focused on one thing but getting slammed with different events starting in the same place at the same time, running into events, etc just made this map feel cluttered and unorganized. Edit to Add: The bone skinner. Why, why, why, WHY WAS THIS WASTED? I just finished the Hunger achievement and read the book that dropped from it. I....I can't believe that this wasn't a bigger part of the story especially after that bombshell in the book. WHY wasn't this mob utilized in a bigger way? I just. **ARGH** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ubi.4136 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 I get that they are trying to introduce "new" things, but the mastery needs to go, or be a one and done for this map, only, and never again. 50% fall damage reduction is too clunky and difficult for us (so it's being removed), but "this" is ok? Seems that almost no one is even using it, except a handful of people who really, really want the chests. Everyone else is just pretending it doesn't exist (and I don't think it should exist). The game already has a great combat system, we don't need to bog it down with extra things. Anet seems to have accepted that power creep is real, than adds things that grant additional boosts? It feels like several groups tasked with different projects not talking to each other about game direction, and than each is allowed to keep putting things in the game, even if it counters what another group is trying to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlateSloan.3654 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 > @"Fueki.4753" said: > > @"Randulf.7614" said: > > dont forget we will get a proper Boneskinner fight when it rotates into the Strike Missions next week or the week after > I wish they'd rotate daily though. > > > @"SlateSloan.3654" said: > > alot of things in the episode make the impression of not finished. > They'll add to the map in the next episode(s). Maybe it feels complete® then. > > > The Hunger Collection is just unspectacular over after first view food delivery. no further story into action, first you think "hunger... cool arenanet told something that the episode would be about horror and such" > Have you even read the book that dropped from the Boneskinner? > There are implications to what's going to happen next to that bear. > > > ... poof its done... > It's a shame, but you can't really do any more horror than this in a teen-rated game. > > > in the trailers there was a hype of boneskinner... > I was let down by this, too. > But then again, the point above applies here, too. > > > the main story is over before even any kind of highlight is set... > Our plan was literally to just save Jhavi (and Almorra) and kill the fraenir - and we did just that. > > > this new episode is about grinding events for a boring new collection of weapons. estimated time to finish everything ~ 8 hours. > How did you finish the achievement that requires you to successfully do the Meta (which only spawns every two hours) 15 times in 8 hours? so you think they even starting to split 1 episode into 2-3 or even 4-5 now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dondarrion.2748 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 > @"coso.9173" said: > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said: > > > @"Dondarrion.2748" said: > > > > @"Xhalvia.5029" said: > > > > This map is great. > > > > I dont understand what the deal is with some people. > > > > > > > > You can never please everyone I suppose. > > > > > > > > That being said, would have been nice for a full on expansion but I'm eagerly awaiting the next living world episode. > > > > > > While I agree in general with your comments, it's also worrying that you one day after release of the current living world episode already have to eagerly await the next one. Doesn't bode well for this map's longevity if we're talking another 3-4 months until its release - given that we know the rehashed Wintersday is coming back where we'll ring another 1000 bells and jump through Winter Wonderland another 100 times or run the same karma gift course through DR for the Nth day running... > > > > > > I love the north and I love winter, and as I've now taken a HUGE step back and only play GW2 casually, I'm sure the map will let me discover new things for at least another 2 weeks, but after that I'll probably be bored. > > > > They’re releasing episodes every two months now based on the current trend and what they have indicated in their live-streams. > > Let's hope they do in fact release them this often. A new map isn't necessary with each one, but at least a longer story. Their live streams indicated releasing "new" content every 2 months but according to the interview with the GD, this also includes the festivals, as you have just seen. I think we're now in for Wintersday next and then episode 2 sometime around February... of course, just my assumptions and not necessarily how it plans out. Would like confirmation though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashantara.8731 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 > @"ZDragon.3046" said: > Why did we have to take a chopper in the Black Citadel I agree that this did not make much sense, but I suppose the devs thought it more convenient for players this way? > Who gave Almorra back the communicator to make the initial call? That wasn't Almorra. It was Jormag taking control of her body (like we saw her doing with the fraenir) in order to make that call. Which means the Svanir who chased after her must have been in Olar's group (although we only ever saw him and Torrin in those flashbacks). Or perhaps there is a cooperation going on between the Svanir and Bengar? Someone buried her after all, and everyone assumes it was Bengar, out of respect for her. > Jhavi's introduction was way too short That is a general problem with Living World, which is why I always beg for expansions instead, and I am not the only one. I hope we will be heard eventually. > Boneskinner was a major let down Agreed. I thought we would be getting a second map meta involving it. This was rather disappointing. > **Strike Mission** (so far) is pretty solid its a small step up from the previous mission but this first enemy encounter is still a bit too easy in my opinion. Also agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pifil.5193 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 I enjoyed the story but it was very light on content and very, very short. It felt so short that on my second character I decided to record the time. I played through the entire story in 57 minutes. That included finding three missing pages in the first mission, walking on foot in the open world tracking Almorra and Jhavi section and getting turned around and lost for a few minutes in raven's sanctuary. During that hour I walked and talked and fought a few dozen svanir goons. It didn't feel particularly epic or particularly creepy. Visually, the map is very nice, I love the snow effects. I do like the little vignettes that are playing out around the map. The boneskinner was a complete letdown though. Was it stalking me? I don't think it was. The meta feels drawn out. The first 10 minute defence is unnecessarily long especially giving the lack of loot or other rewards. It's a long winded fight against a constant trickle of mobs. The boss fight against the construct is OK. The meta rewards are typically unimpressive fare. The strike mission was OK, better than the first one but I currently don't see any real incentive to keep running it. The masteries felt like a way of padding the episode out. This feels like half an episode, I know that episode 2 will expand the map and bring the second half so that's not a surprise, I suppose. I dislike what you're doing to Jory. She was my favourite back in the day and now she's completely lost her badassedness. All in all, I think the prologue was far better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artits.2795 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 It's a nice episode even though it feels like more of a prologue than the actual prologue we got. Still, I understand it's a WIP and that the map will get bigger. I have some nitpicks regarding the content we've gotten so far though. I understand that the stronger version of Boneskinner is reserved for the upcoming strike rotation but you could at least give the open world variant some better stat scaling? It feels so insignificant currently. The rewards for the meta feel underwhelming. Definitely need a few buffs there - the only incentive to keep coming back for the meta currently is for the achievement tied to it - what happens when that's done though? A week for a strike rotation is too much waiting time. Also, you could do with a few buffs to the rewards. Getting the mastery drops right now feels like an annoying chore instead of something complementary to the combat - especially since most fights will be well over by the time you get the required stacks. Maybe lower the required drops needed to actiivate the buffs and/ or make the drops more frequent. Also, the active part of the buff really puzzles me. I don't get what I need to do to trigger it. In some encounters I'll get the active every few seconds, in others, I won't get it at all or just once. It happens with the same, consistent DPS and activity. Not a nitpick: I like the direction of the story. It's kinda spooky and I love spooky content. A suggestion: you know those novelty items where people pull out a chair or throne or whatever and sit? What if you did something like that but instead of a chair, you get to pull out a campfire where the character interacts with the various objects. That would be super cool for roleplaying. And finally, also not a nitpick, just a note: keep strike missions as they are. They don't need to be more difficult or easier, people shouldn't have to go through the grind and annoyances of getting ascended gear and whatnot to do them like T4s and raids require atm. it would suck if yet another piece of content starts being gatekept by like a super toxic minority of this game's community, like raids have ended up being. Hell, just walk away from them if possible. Transition the existing raids to strikes and make most people happy. Keep resources and quality content where the majority of your players are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linken.6345 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 > @"TigStripe.2379" said: > Story seemed okay to me, length-wise, for a shorter release cadence, but it wasn't very interactive. The first instance had no combat, the second one was a single fight after a short conversation, and the final one was just the boss at the end. I did like the trial aspect of the final instance, but when the questions don't matter outside of "which buff you get" at the end, it feels pretty blasé. The content of the story, however, was an A+ for me. > > I like certain aspects of the map, such as the dark forest and the corrupted-ice cliffs, but honestly (and I know this is going to sound weird) there's too much snow. The big open plains just feel empty and doesn't feel any different than any of the other snowy maps. > > I like the how the frozen screen effect looks, but it is intrusive. The Raven Bubble is entirely too loud, both visually and aurally. In fact, this whole map is very loud. > > Loved the Boneskinner. Hated the treatment it got in the open world. Hoping the strike mission version has some amount of story to it to make up for it. > > Honestly, my biggest gripe is that Eternal Ice Shards have finite use, as far as I can see. There's no real reason to get the home node if you only need a few thousand to get everything they can get. > > I'd probably give the release a C, maybe a C-. Story length, reason to return, and generic-feeling map really detract from the whole bundle. None of the strike missions have had any story really so dont expect the bone skinner to have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brando.7320 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 I feel like some people are being a little edgelordish, bjora marches is actually both a step in the right direction and also kinda disappointing, a mixed bag but lots of good things... kinda feels like you all might have rushed? or maybe have a much smaller amount of people developing it? heres the good -the dark atmosphere and over all tone is awesome.... -the music -strike missions -the beginning end of the story was pretty good, nice animation and voice acting and tone... imo -feeling a lot more rpgish with little little story tid bits you find with descriptive text about the condition of a body you find for example, the bone skinner popping up on -you when you check out a body, the random people succumbing to the whispers wondering around in the tundra.. very nice -I like the lobbies for the strike missions... the strike mission deals really remind me of gw1, im really like the return to that format -the acting.. I like the tone marjory has now.. I felt bad for her when she was getting teased with her sister... home run to the voice actress.. I wasn't a fan of the cheesy 1950s detective thing she had going on there before -the whispering... those dynamic ambient effects are awesome, again feeling a lot more rpgish and getting a lot more story in the environment, again... a lot more rpgish -the norn lady at the camp retelling what happened in eye of the north! seriously... relevant lore tid bits like that is awesome.. especially how a lot of people didn't play gw1 -it need more of that, its good to get more history to each enviroment, its also voice acted and not just text, and the notes and books you can pick up.. :) the bad -this map as far as things to do seems really shallow, collect badge things, kill the same champs and things for your mastery and repeat the same little battle deals at the camps and that ritual deal, and the two short metas... kinda feeling like destiny with mobs and short puplic events, and mirror puzzles... but it really doesn't work here, bland?... was this rushed or something? -the overly color coded mobs -the story was crazy short.. holy cow... that actually seemed like the prologue, and the prologue seems a lot thicker, is more gonna be added as we go? or is the bulk gonna be in the missions gw1 style?(which I am fine with:P) -the little mastery deals seem really gimmicky and not worth spending the time to collect the stacks.. plus it feels like the mobs are pinatas and I got to collect the candy.... WHY lol... I end up forgetting to use it because I don't really see what difference it makes... I thought the content was gonna be quite hard and those abilities would turn the tide... where actually.. over all the content is easier than HoTs and beyond and the mastery abilities are forgettable:/ also I see that they are themed for wolverine, eagle and dolyak?... nothing really goes into why this is, maybe its in the strike, I haven't got to the second one yet, almost could have just omitted the spirits aside from raven. really all I can think of... lots of cool new directions but the few bad things weights it down pretty a lot it feels.. then again.. maps like bitterfrost were pretty short and small, cant always have the BIG episodes also being that there isn't going to be expansions, I figured at more class updates would come, it disappointed me that along with that we probably wont see new subsecs, maybe updated animations??:/ I could be wrong in assuming that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson.9307 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Having finally obtained the Boneskinner backpack and having spent some time in the map, here's some thoughts I have regarding the release: The good: +The horror atmosphere is great. Those subtle piano key strokes add a lot to the mood. +The Aberrant Forest has an awesome ominous creepy vibe to it, really dig it. +The balance of the map currency and achievement points is much better and doesn't feel too grindy and obnoxious (except for Ice Try). + Rewards for doing achievements feel much better and heftier. Hopefully they stick to this and expand on this. + Fully voiced Kodan collection, which is great. Hope moving forward collections become full fledged side quests. + A-grade final cut scene. It's up there with Palawa Joko in terms of quality. + Freezing blizzard is cool. Makes exploration a bit frantic as you scurry for a Raven Barrier, adding survival elements. Too bad meta always prevails. + The Kodan duo strike mission were a visual spectacle. + Boneskinner looks awesome. Also really cool that he randomly appears during events and eats NPCs, then disappears. + Events repeat very often so there's a sense that a lot is constantly happening. + Return of old masteries: Bouncing Mushrooms, Updrafts and Roller Beetle walls. + Many new skins to collect with this release. + The Boneskinner battle theme music. + Loading screen art looks great! + New type of puzzle, hope they expand more on that. It's pretty basic as is at the moment. + Jormags whispers are a nice touch. The bad: - The story was way way way waaay too short. Felt more like an introduction to episode 1. - The actual map design is quite boring compared to what we've got before. The size itself also leaves much to be desired. Hoping for more verticality in map design in the coming releases. - The Boneskinner was a let down. The design of the monster is so cool, creepy and epic, but just dies so easily. Mechanically the fight wasn't engaging. - Character writing seems off, such as Rytlock. He was great in the previous releases, cool, level headed, logical, blunt and savage during banters. And now? During the event this outburst with Crecia? What was that? Jormag isn't controlling their minds, just whispering to them. If our Commander can shrug it off, why can't friggin Rytlock? And Braham hasn't grown much since his in HoT. He went from whiny I hate everyone to whiny cry on Commanders' shoulder. - No Canach's witty remarks. Probably off on vacation with the coin he amassed from his wager on the commander. I miss him. - The first part of the meta where you defend the Shrines is not engaging and long. From time to time a Svanir bomber pops up, but that's it. No engaging mechanics during this phase. - Visual clutter on the screen blizzard buildup. Need to tone it down otherwise it's just really hard to see things. What we get at 10 stacks should be 20 and tone down what currently is at 10. The visual is supposed to indicate that we are freezing, not cover the screen. - The hallways of the inner sanctum is bland and boring both in design and asset placement. See churches, mosques, cathedrals. St. Joseph, Vatican, Petersburg, Borgund etc. Just a simple example, even the maze in Lions Arch is more interesting. The walls have more variation, there are torches, rocks scattered around (some in an arrow formation pointing which wall you can actually phase through) skeleton body, etc. It was much more organic. Same with all the other architectural locations/puzzles that Anet has put out before. Design-wise it used to be much better. The inner sanctum has nothing interesting going on the floor, and even the way the Raven statue that you activate is placed makes it seem less like the statue actually belongs there, and seems like it was placed there in an editor just because. I feel that there was too much focus on the post-processing and hallucination effects. This is especially even more noticeable when you're doing the achievement to get all the Raven trial choices... Now why is this a fuss I'm making? Because I hope this doesn't extend to future releases. Given how small this map is, and how boring it is in terms of design, with the forest being the only cool place for me also mostly because of the eerie mood, I'm just addressing it in the hopes that I'm wrong and that future maps will have more interesting design aesthetics. I used to walk around, stop and marvel at the environments in GW2. I didn't get any of that from this release. You can do great designs with creepy mood. See Dark Souls for ref. - Not much context behind the enemies save for the Svanirs. - Essence manipulation doesn't feel impactful. Honestly I only need it to open chests. - Kodan Duo strike mission is really easy. Fractal bosses are tougher than this. - Open world enemies are easy. In HoT and PoF enemies had interesting move-sets, quirks and mechanics. And they usually roamed in groups. This essentially made decision making come to play with each encounter. For example: You're walking around in the jungle and see a Mordrem Tormentor, Stalker, Sniper and Punisher. Before you fight depending on the profession you're playing you already decide that priority 1 is either Sniper or Tormentor, cause Sniper will shower you with hard hitting arrows and impede movement with AOE arrow trails he places, or Tormentor because they can stack up torment really fast hindering movement as it drains your health quickly at only 6-12 stacks. Seeing a Stalker you already know that she will blink to you and unleash a flurry that downs you really fast so you prepare for that, and you know that during her flurry she's immobile, and punishers are slow and have a huge tell for their attack so you have time to dispatch tormentors/snipers while reacting and dodging punisher attacks. I have no such thought process while traversing Bjora Marches. Just kill normal mobs, then vets. Or kill ranged, then melee. Much like Core Tyria. - Not enough new mechanics. When I set my foot in the map, the eerie and creepy tone of the map set a mood of danger. So I played really cautiously for the first 30 or so mins. Once it dawned on me that apart from the mood, not much has changed, the creepy and eerie factor became trivial, because I felt no danger. I thought that traveling the woods the Boneskinner would stalk me, randomly appear, engage me in the middle of a fight and then disappear. So much potential. Just an example, in Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen when you traverse Bitterblack isle, the deeper you descend, the harder the enemies become. It's also very dark if you don't carry a torch and many monsters just lurk in the corners, waiting to knock you off a bridge or outright murder you. And randomly you'd hear the dreaded death boss theme, followed by the appearance of Death itself who can one shot you and your allies. His attack is really slow, but it has a really wide swing. Other examples would be that there are Carrion eating monsters, so if you kill too many monsters within a short time span, Flesh eating Ogres or Death dragons appear. Oh and it's all dynamic, so if Death feels like it, he can join the party too. Imagine if the Boneskinner would be that dynamic entity in this map. In conclusion, disappointed. But hopeful. The Kodans are a step up from the Ice construct strike mission. I'll wait for the rest of the bosses to release and maybe make some amends here and there. 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Eekasqueak.7850 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Definitely felt way too short and too much like a prologue, that's my biggest criticism really. The other is the poorly explained fallen and aberrant mobs that spawn. What story there was was pretty good and the whispering to the player was a nice touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H.6142 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 I left a brutal review of the meta in another post, and all mentions of this episode being short are legit, but I will say here I loved the raven’s test instance. The atmosphere was perfect and the philosophy musings makes me wonder if I didn’t learn something that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fueki.4753 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 > @"Jackson.9307" said: > Many new skins to collect with this release. Where are the "many" skins? Do you mean only that ONE weapon set that comes in coloured and uncoloured and the Boneskinner backpack? A weapon set that isn't even close to the visual standards of gem shop sets AND is missing aquatic weapons. Or are there other skins that I missed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ameepa.6793 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 I did enjoy the story and athmospehere is great, but it is really short and the map is kinda tiny. Took only about 7-8 hours to complete the story, masteries and the map meta achievement. Felt like this episode was only about half the size of what we have previously got. So quality is great but I wish there was a bit more of it :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linken.6345 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 > @"Fueki.4753" said: > > @"Jackson.9307" said: > > Many new skins to collect with this release. > Where are the "many" skins? > Do you mean only that ONE weapon set that comes in coloured and uncoloured and the Boneskinner backpack? > A weapon set that isn't even close to the visual standards of gem shop sets AND is missing aquatic weapons. > Or are there other skins that I missed? When was the last time a gem shop set came with aquatic weapons? Yea you missed the new helmet skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fueki.4753 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 > @"Linken.6345" said: > Yea you missed the new helmet skin. Then I practically missed nothing, since I don't use helmets. I'd rather they give us entire armour sets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyncale.1629 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 I think this is the most meager offering we have had in terms of LW episodes till this date. Locking reward chests behind a Mastery: that is really grasping at straws for content. The new Combat buffs are gimmicky and extremely situational. You have to fight one type of mobs to get a certain buff (30 stacks) then quickly have to find some mobs of the opposing type in order to at least get some use out of this buff and special skill: exept that it all does not make much difference. The buff ticks down pretty fast too and the timer only slowly goes up with each new kill of the right type of the mob, so you feel a constant stress of keeping that timer up through killing one type of mob and then looking for the other type of mob to get some benefit. Or you can do as I do and not care AT ALL about the buff anymore. Exept that you need it for the chests!!!! So still stress. I had finished those CHampions up in the North, right by the time my Buffs ran out: could not loot any of the chests. Go back to another area to get 30 stacks then go back? Nah, why bother. The area closes off soon after anyway so. I think the system could be hugely improved by simply making the buffs last for at least half an hour if not more. An hour is better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fueki.4753 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 > @"Tyncale.1629" said: > Or you can do as I do and not care AT ALL about the buff anymore. Exept that you need it for the chests!!!! So still stress. Why stress yourself? Once you know where the 3 chest of each colour are (which you could look up or scout the map yourself), it's only a matter of flying to them with the buff. Even during the meta, each Raven shrine gets attacked by a specific type of essence-droppers, so you can just load up your stacks there with minimal effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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