Just had to rage quit after failing the new jumping puzzle (story mode with no crystals) for like the 20th time. So close, but I could tell I had it for the night. Was starting to make stupid mistakes.
Overall it's interesting to see how they roll this content out. I had stopped shortly after launch, and resumed once season 1 had already wrapped up. I was a little disappointed with the size of the new area to be honest, but I think it has enough little secrets and events to keep it entertaining while it lasts.
We all know it's leading to the fact that Sylvari are breaking away from Pale Tree to do the biding of Mordremoth, thier true master. With this LS we will learn how to break a dragons control of its minions so we can use it to fight the other dragons in the future.
Honestly, it sets the stage for showdowns with other corrupted sylvan. But I can't really think of any Sylvari that draw the ire of the entire fanbase.
Yeah I just did all the instances. I don't know what people are talking about.
We all know it's leading to the fact that Sylvari are breaking away from Pale Tree to do the biding of Mordremoth, thier true master. With this LS we will learn how to break a dragons control of its minions so we can use it to fight the other dragons in the future.
It's not a jumping puzzle, but I hate those special crystal power things outside of the one race. So having to use em turned me right off at the beginning.
Seems like people either love or hate jumping puzzles. I personally like them a lot. The Bazaar is one of my favorite events, but I'm glad that this zone doesn't seem to rely as heavily on the aspects.
Honestly, it sets the stage for showdowns with other corrupted sylvan. But I can't really think of any Sylvari that draw the ire of the entire fanbase.
Same here. That has literally never happened to me before in Guild Wars; I usually just skim through the dialogue and watch WoodenPotatoes videos for lore.
It's not a jumping puzzle, but I hate those special crystal power things outside of the one race. So having to use em turned me right off at the beginning.
I would have preferred if they weren't there but knowing they don't last long I know that they are just there to help you up for the next 2-3 seconds, the rest is still regular jumping.
I just do not want them in every fucking new map that we get just because...zephyrites.
I love the challenge system on missions. Replaying them to see if you can get the achievements is fun - and I'm glad they show them visibly on the UI, and their failstate.
New zone is beautiful, and thanks to the sandstorm system, feels very dynamic.
I really want to kill this bird.
Also, apparently the actual map is the same size as Brisbane, but they're rolling it out slowly. People are already breaking out of the map and finding fully constructed areas:
I can understand the split sentiment, but I just love the movement aspects so this is all gravy to me. At first I couldn't possibly understand the tiny window of time after you pick one up, but now I get that they're all placed so you have to make specific jumps and dashes from one to the next to get to certain spots, and you can pull off some pretty impressive stuff (intentional and otherwise) with 1+2 when you can find them... Coins are of course essentially Sky Crystals, but I loved hunting Sky Crystals, sooo
Honestly Dry Top is beautiful and brilliantly designed by my metrics. It's full of cool little spots to stumble onto and nice touches (like at least one character from the personally story having found a new home) and the event flow is spot-on. Sandstorms give the zone "phases" where what you do there is different depending on whether or not it's up. The champions are tough and basically can't be zerged, and hell if I'm not motivated to kill that Three-Toed Moa. The story is a fine foundation (and I really enjoyed the story boss fight), and more than anything else it's awesome just to be back on the content drip, with further expansion of the map a real possibility.
Also, apparently the actual map is the same size as Brisbane, but they're rolling it out slowly. People are already breaking out of the map and finding fully constructed areas: http://imgur.com/a/P8PuD
You buy/get the Scarf and Spectacles of the correct weight. Then craft/buy the two T6 helm components to make the scarf and spectacles. You then do a crafting discovery with all four pieces to get the mantle.
Crafting the Mantle unlocks the Scarf and Spectacle skins.
Also, apparently the actual map is the same size as Brisbane, but they're rolling it out slowly. People are already breaking out of the map and finding fully constructed areas:
So now that we know the map is indeed larger and we only have a small section...I'm thinking that we'll get a new section every 2 weeks with it being all opened by the fourth update in the season. Thoughts?
Today was a lot of fun. It was great to see so many GAF players online and all running around the new zone. I personally am glad at the extra time to play around with aspects, and who can say no to more treasure hunting? I have 2 lost coins left to get, it's driving me mad.
I did get that one. Got the one in the abandoned mine as well I'll have to go through the list one by one just like the orbs in crackdown back in the day.
The new zone is fun and has a few very interesting things but I can only hope they don't wait two weeks to open up a new part of the zone ...
Around an hour of content in terms of story missions, and about the same to discover the new area and experience most of the events, after that all that's left is grinding for tokens (if you care about what is buyable ...) and achievement hunting which I'm not too fond of making one of my main goals in a game.
As for the story missions, that's regular personal story caliber missions, and I'm not especially thrilled by that for the future either as, so far, they share the same issues as the personal story ones with their awkward pacing and unbalanced/frustrating fights.
After playing them, if you ask me if they're worth 250 gems, my answer would clearly be no, you don't miss much in terms of story development that isn't hinted at in the new zone, or summarized in one sentence, there is nothing of real value to be gained, be it for character progression, or in terms of 'unique' rewards, and even by simply playing them they don't feel particularly rewarding either.
The reference to my personal story by Taimi, and the Scarlet holo-journal entries were nice touches, but still.
Also, we might have a new case of the Trahearne here, where Marjory calls you 'Boss', .... but basically makes all the calls ...
Oh, and about the story :
In the Sanctum, you could see a Sylvari being welcomed aboard the big ship on top of the cliffs in a little dialogue scene, I don't quite remember what he looked like, but I'd bet that was our saboteur.
I saw the dialogue bit where he boards the ship, but I missed everything else.
There is a Zephyrite NPC under the tent that says something like 'Why did he do that, we took him as one of our own', I heard that before knowing who the baddy was and immediatly thought of that sylvari.
This is probably what's going to happen. Remember, not everyone is a GAF-type player, devouring the content in the first day or two. Some folks can only get on an hour or two a day. I'm hoping they'll speed it up a bit and another section will unlock in a week, but we'll have to see.
As for the story missions, that's regular personal story caliber missions, and I'm not especially thrilled by that for the future either as, so far, they share the same issues as the personal story ones with their awkward pacing and unbalanced/frustrating fights.
I'm gonna have to disagree. The four story chapters Jira and I did last night were leaps and bounds ahead of the "Talking Torsos" approach where characters spoke and gestured at each other. I thought the fights were perfectly fine (especially the first one where you're
facing a shitload of Inquest
), and it served as a good introduction to the zone without feeling like a shitload of exposition. And when it does get exposition-y (exploring
Scarlet's old base of operations
), the way they approach it really works for me. Both in terms of mechanics (you and the gang search for clues) and writing (Taimi losing her shit at every little detail was adorable).
I think what may be throwing people off is that ArenaNet has clearly shifted away from the Traditional method of MMO storytelling, where everyone is "The One True Hero" according to the quest text, but it's paper thin because everyone else is doing the exact same storyline. They spend a lot of time and energy creating the illusion that the individual is important, but in the end it's just that; an illusion. And because they spend so much time, energy and resources on that illusion, there's little left for interesting secondary characters (and no room left for them to shine).
That's more or less how the Personal Story went; you're the Savior of Tyria, but Trahearne does all the talking and leading; you're just there to pretend you're in charge. Meanwhile, they're paying for a ton of redundant voice acting (every line has to be recorded ten times, for all 5 races and both genders) and trying to create a story that the player will enjoy while being vanilla enough that they don't feel like their character is behaving in a way contrary to how they like.
What they're doing now instead is to focus more on the global (it's even right there, the Living World) rather than the personal. Instead of blowing their load on a ton of dialogue for the player character, they're putting emphasis on a strong cast of characters who can say and do all sorts of interesting things and have relationships that a player character simply can't. There's the Rox/Braham "War buddies" thing, Braham/Taimi sibling-like relationship, Marjory and Kasmeer's romance angle, along with all of their individual plotlines and dynamics (Kasmeer's past as a noble, Rox's search for a replacement family, all the little hints that Taimi could start down a dark path, etc.)
This basically means that players get to be The Watson (TV Tropes warning); someone who is there to let the 'viewer' (in this case, the player) have someone to which the other characters can explain things for. So instead of a bland template who tags along with a Mary Sue-type character (Trahearne), we get a bunch of interesting characters to hang around with that can have stronger personalities.
Also, as a quick point, I think you may be reading too much into Marjory's "Boss" comment; I think it's meant to come across as more of a pet name and that she's not actually treating the player character as a leader / employer. I also think it makes sense for her to kind of take the lead; Braham and Taimi are both too young, Rox seems completely out of her element, Kasmeer's 'book smart' but sheltered. If you're searching for clues in the wake of an assassin, you kind of go with the investigator character.
If you notice, the new "Destiny's Edge" kind of covers a lot of bases; Marjory for the commoner / "Street smarts", Kasmeer for the upper class and magic, Taimi for the technological. Braham feels like the 'kid' who can ask questions the player can't and provides a little humor / bravado, Rox is the survivor who seems like she's seen more of the world at large. All we really need is a scholarly character to cover the historical and you've got pretty much every plot point (and that role can easily be filled by members of Destiny's Edge or one-off exposition characters).
I will agree, however, that so far none of the rewards are worth the $2 unlock. I expected the achievements to offer more in the way of unique skins or titles, something like the back items and such from the first season. That way, if you missed an episode and it's really cool, unique skin, you could pay to unlock it and then earn it. All I see are a lot of material rewards that most players could just farm.