The new episode without voices feels just wrong

I would have preferred the voices being recorded on whatever the actors had available. I don't expect studio quality audio under these circumstances. The audio quality in that video they made was decent. It doesn't really matter that you will patch the voices in later. Why? Because almost nobody will replay the episode once that update hits.

Please don't do this for the next episode.

Yeah, ok, ANet will work on not allowing a global pandemic to occur for the next LW release.

Seriously? You act as if they had a choice. Of course we all would have preferred voices -- I'm sure the VA's would have loved to have been paid, too! Anet wanted to release this with voices, but not knowing how long the pandemic would prevent them from being able to safely gather their team and the VAs without the potential for them all to get sick they opted to release the content without voices.

Maybe you would have preferred this release to come out mid-year in 2021 or later when it would be safer for them to record voices? I'm not sure that the rest of the GW2 population would agree or ANet's investors.

Ill be playing it again on alts on va release. I think it worked out just fine to be honest. It didnt detract heavily from the story, it just made things a little more difficult to read during the action. I think tons of people will replay it as well.

I was a little concerned going in that they should have postponed it, but it worked so Im not too fussed and grateful they put content out

Sure it feels a bit odd but still much better to get it without voices than not getting it at all! Will replay it on alt when voices are added too!

@"kharmin.7683" said:Yeah, ok, ANet will work on not allowing a global pandemic to occur for the next LW release.

Seriously? You act as if they had a choice. Of course we all would have preferred voices -- I'm sure the VA's would have loved to have been paid, too! Anet wanted to release this with voices, but not knowing how long the pandemic would prevent them from being able to safely gather their team and the VAs without the potential for them all to get sick they opted to release the content without voices.

Maybe you would have preferred this release to come out mid-year in 2021 or later when it would be safer for them to record voices? I'm not sure that the rest of the GW2 population would agree or ANet's investors.

Did I stutter? I said you don't need top notch studio quality. As in, record on whatever is available. Was the audio quality in the video they made addressing this issue so bad you couldn't understand them? Well I don't understand the attitude "10/10 studio audio quality or bust".

Wow, there is a global pandemic and people are dying and all you care about are the voices in a video game? I think it was the right decision to release the episode as scheduled without voice acting. You can replay it later after they added them.

This is pretty much why I'm waiting and not playing the new content right now.

I don't want the experience spoiled by the lack of voice acting.Though by the time VA does come to the episode it'll probably end up getting spoiled for me one way or another.. story spoilers or decaying map population or some other way in which the new content just won't be the same as the normal fresh map experience..Something I just have to accept unfortunately.

Im just hoping this episode is a one off and no more future content will be released without VA.

They could have included lower quality home-recorded voices, but (aside from the constant grunting) I didn't mind it this way.Ryland's "I trusted you" as the only spoken line had more impact this way.Unless I'm mistaken and just heard things when I played it half-asleep.

@Godfather.9058 said:

@"kharmin.7683" said:Yeah, ok, ANet will work on not allowing a global pandemic to occur for the next LW release.

Seriously? You act as if they had a choice. Of course we all would have preferred voices -- I'm sure the VA's would have loved to have been paid, too! Anet wanted to release this with voices, but not knowing how long the pandemic would prevent them from being able to safely gather their team and the VAs without the potential for them all to get sick they opted to release the content without voices.

Maybe you would have preferred this release to come out mid-year in 2021 or later when it would be safer for them to record voices? I'm not sure that the rest of the GW2 population would agree or ANet's investors.

So, ANet releases lower quality VA and player complain about how horrible it sounds or how the released a sub-standard LW chapter. ANet really doesn't need any more negative press.

Everything comes down to this:

Do you want story updates to come to a standstill over this?No.I would rather get rolling updates over time and fill in the gaps as needed than get what would likely be NO story updates while they hold onto what they're making over time.That's how we get burnout and people leaving the game.

Is it ideal? No. Is it better than nothing? I would say it is 7/10, and yet it gives me something to do for QUITE a while considering the nature of some of these achievements.There is no better alternative in my opinion. This is "forward" until further notice.

I didn't read this story for the same reason I don't watch foreign movies. I like to watch the movie not the text. That's not really anets problem and is totally on me but it is what it is.

Releasing VA work that wasn't recorded on proper equipment is worse than no VA work at all. You can get away with all kinds of hokey stuff with the visuals and still maintain a veneer of professionalism, but bad audio quality makes it looks like a dodgy fan-made mod regardless of what else you get right.

Yeah, I don't think it is as simple as taking in whatever audio file and pasting it in. I sympathize with the OP but I side with Anet. They responded to this situation in the best way they could in my opinion.

Yeah. I think they should have just postponed the release until it was safe to get the VAs in personally. Focus on smaller updates and QoL things in the interim with the staff working from home. I'm sure you and I are minority in that thought though and if the release didn't come out ASAP rocky the game would diiiiiiiee, etc. I could have waited.

@Ben K.6238 said:Releasing VA work that wasn't recorded on proper equipment is worse than no VA work at all. You can get away with all kinds of hokey stuff with the visuals and still maintain a veneer of professionalism, but bad audio quality makes it looks like a dodgy fan-made mod regardless of what else you get right.

Besides, without a director on location to tell them how he wants a piece of dialogue done, it is impossible to record the stuff on your own. (Not that I always agree with the direction given to the actors, but that's a different story. ;) ).

Keep in mind actors also have standarts, and their performance reflect on their employment perspectives. Delivering a subpar work, even only temporary can be damaging to one's career. It can lead to them being passed over in favor of another actor for a contract. Actors should work in the conditions that their contracts guarantee. They did the right thing.

@"FrigginPaco.4178" said:Everything comes down to this:

Do you want story updates to come to a standstill over this?

Is it ideal? No. Is it better than nothing? I would say it is 7/10, and yet it gives me something to do for QUITE a while considering the nature of some of these achievements.There is no better alternative in my opinion. This is "forward" until further notice.

Personal opinion.. Yes.I'd rather put a hold on new content to avoid splitting the playerbase in the way this current patch has done.

We've got people like you who played the patch and accepted it was a neccessary but unfortuante decision.We've got people like OP who played the patch and realized how much the lacking Voice Acting diminished the experience.And We've got people like me who are actively not playing any new content until the voice acting comes in.

Suffice to say each group is missing out on something regardless of what they choose.I know that I will be way behind on new content by the time the VA comes in, I will never experience this episodes new map at it's most popular and by the time I get into it most people will probably know everything about the events and have farmed the map so much that the experience will just not be the same for us new to it.Map may not be very populated at all by the time I get to play it.. but that's something I have to accept.

So would I prefer to hold off new content until this stupid virus issues is over, yeah absolutely.

Anet has so many other things they could focus on besides releasing new.. and to be blunt.. "incomplete" content.

There are so many ways they could fix up the core world, add new events or rebalance Orr to make it a real endgame location.They could use this time to rework and reintroduce Living world 1 content which they already have all the voice acting for.They could go back and fix up the Dungeons, make the story modes single player etc.Add new core world adventres, races or challenges..There are plenty of places in the existing game which could use attention that Anet hasn't been able to give it largely due to new Living world episodes demanding too much time and resources.

This whole lockdown situation while sucky for everyone.. really has provided probably the best time for Anet to put new content on hold and go back and fix up older parts of the game that really really need a bit of TLC.The Reworked Living world 1 alone would be more than enough to satisfy a lot of peoples hunger for new content as for a lot of people it would be new content.. and for others.. well it's been more than half a decade since they last got to play it so it will suffice for the vast majority of players, of that I am certain.

They would've gotten flack for delaying the release.... They just can't win.

All the voice work could have been done from each of the actor's bedrooms with their phones. I would have not known the difference. I guess when there is money involved, it must be done the right way in a studio or not at all. I wouldn't doubt it if it were a union thing.

@"Teratus.2859" said:I'd rather put a hold on new content to avoid splitting the playerbase in the way this current patch has done.

"Splitting the player base"? A bit melodramatic, especially since the player base isn't split. No one likes having no voice-over, but some players are mature enough to live with it for the time being.

@Carnius Magius.8091 said:All the voice work could have been done from each of the actor's bedrooms with their phones.

No, because a director has to be present. And he/she certainly isn't going to visit everyone at home for this.

For those who keep saying actors could just record from their homes, this won't work. This is where people get confused about what an actor does; an actor is not the character, in fact most actors (voice or otherwise), know very little about their characters, and are just reading from a script and being told by a director if it's good enough or needs a retake, that's it.

I've seen actors perform their roles after experiencing as little as one episode of the series they're involved in.

They do go to school for a long time for it and there is alot of skill involved, but that skill is often not context-sensetive, which is why voicework can seem out of place or in a different tone to what the situation requires etc.

Because of how parasocialism works, many people seem incapable of understanding that actors are not their characters. Many actors don't care about their characters at all, as its just a job to them, to get paid. This is why recording at home doesn't work well; maybe someone who has been with the franchise a long time like the VA for Rytlock Brimstone would know what to say and how to say it, but alot of the more random or minor character VAs won't; the roles they play in this game are sometimes just one of many roles they've had.

I did not realize the no-voice was a covid thing. We have this new thing... called the internet. They could easily have gotten recordings if they wanted.But... I keep the sound so low, and my stereo up, I would never notice the voices are gone. People listen to it? I am still looking for a 'skip' button :)

I don't see why the director would have to be in the same room. The VA could have recorded the audio, with the director listening in, and the director gives feedback on what improvements they want. Repeat until necessary.Worth noting also that some movies are doing voice re-recording remotely (each actor in their bedroom, etc), because the studios won't want to hold a movie up. Granted, the budget there is probably higher (sending the actors high quality audio equipment, and probably have budget/equipment to do some audio cleanup afterwards). But it can certainly be done. And from a budget perspective, it may not be good for Anet, as then they may have to pay the VAs twice (once for the so so audio, again for the re-record). So as usual, this all comes down to money.

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@"Teratus.2859" said:I'd rather put a hold on new content to avoid splitting the playerbase in the way this current patch has done.

Everyone is being mature about it as far as I can tell, and the player base is definitely split atmAs I pointed out some are playing the content without the VA and others are not because they'd rather wait.. that is players being split apart in some form.Likewise we're also split on the idea of continuing new content or not as well.

Everyone ultimately understands the situation, they just disagree on what they think is the best use of resources in the current situation.Some want more new content even without VA, others like me would rather put that on hold and use the situation as an excuse to fix up older parts of the game that badly need it.There's goods arguments for and against all sides.

@"Teratus.2859" said:Anet has so many other things they could focus on besides releasing new.. and to be blunt.. "incomplete" content.

There are so many ways they could fix up the core world, add new events or rebalance Orr to make it a real endgame location.They could use this time to rework and reintroduce Living world 1 content which they already have all the voice acting for.They could go back and fix up the Dungeons, make the story modes single player etc.Add new core world adventres, races or challenges..There are plenty of places in the existing game which could use attention that Anet hasn't been able to give it largely due to new Living world episodes demanding too much time and resources.

This whole lockdown situation while sucky for everyone.. really has provided probably the best time for Anet to put new content on hold and go back and fix up older parts of the game that really really need a bit of TLC.The Reworked Living world 1 alone would be more than enough to satisfy a lot of peoples hunger for new content as for a lot of people it would be new content.. and for others.. well it's been more than half a decade since they last got to play it so it will suffice for the vast majority of players, of that I am certain.

I get where you're coming from there, but when I think about it, I wouldn't come back for any of those changes. I haven't even played the LS1 revisits in the Scrying Pool yet, because I already know what happens and it just doesn't appeal anymore.

It's entirely possible I'm one of a small handful who just isn't that interested in old content, but if updating old content was all you needed to keep people coming back, I'm sure a lot more companies would be doing it. (Besides EA with all their sports games.)