This is the most unique and original MMO, but Anet has removed the word original from it.

I would like to be at the end of it all. Need new challenges not in Tyria, not Elona, not Cantha, based on the Tyria the planet, we have not seen 60% of it.When will you get original Anet, when? Since 2005 here's what we've done killed Shiro twice, killed a dragon twice, we are about to go kill our second God, did I mention we are about to go kill Palawa Joko a second time, need I say more?

That's why imo the best direction Anet should take GW next should be Unending Ocean and exploring what lays beyond it, Blood legion homelands, or something completely different.I personally also want fresh, new expanded world.Even though I love GW Factions for me returning solely to Cantha next would be nothing more than just nostalgic fan service.I would like to go back there sometime but I couldn't care less if we get something brand new and exotic.

I'm happy to go back to the desert don't get me wrong, but combating a God again. and Palawa again, it lacks originality.Is Anet so afraid of new ideas that they resort to nostalgia simply to get to your wallet?

Maybe they're running out of ideas...? Not sure how they can.... since the lore is awesome but ANet storytellers are crap, what the heck are you even thinking? It's like a repeat, a broken record over and over again.

Guild Wars 2 Episode 7: The Nostalgia Awakens.

I feel a strong sense of deja vu over the opening post.

I enjoy revisiting places I've not seen in hundreds of (or 5-10, depending on perspective) years, and seeing what's changed/what hasn't. The stories don't seem all that similar to me, but that's just me.

@Hybarf Tics.2048 said:I would like to be at the end of it all. Need new challenges not in Tyria, not Elona, not Cantha, based on the Tyria the planet, we have not seen 60% of it.When will you get original Anet, when? Since 2005 here's what we've done killed Shiro twice, killed a dragon twice, we are about to go kill our second God, did I mention we are about to go kill Palawa Joko a second time, need I say more?

Unless you're counting the bonus packs, we didn't kill Palawa Joko the first time. If anything, we set him up for this position. Honestly, I think it's kind of interesting to see what our characters have wrought in our greed to enter the Desolation and ride the Junundu wyrms. Besides, this is really the last place from Prophecies that we haven't been. And try not to look at things so simplistically. Yes, we're going to fight another god, but who says that we're going to end up killing him? And if we do, who would take his place? We know his energy just can't sit around with no control, even more so in this world of increased latent magic.

@Rognik.2579 said:

@Hybarf Tics.2048 said:I would like to be at the end of it all. Need new challenges not in Tyria, not Elona, not Cantha, based on the Tyria the planet, we have not seen 60% of it.When will you get original Anet, when? Since 2005 here's what we've done killed Shiro twice, killed a dragon twice, we are about to go kill our second God, did I mention we are about to go kill Palawa Joko a second time, need I say more?

I'm not gonna apologize for being French and using the wrong expression but my point still stands. 2 God confrontation kill or no kill, 2 x Shiro , 2 x dragons and 2 x Palawa Joko confrontation, to me it still represents a lack of imagination. Even if it is a lot of fun and beautiful art we still have over half the world not explored and talked about.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:I feel a strong sense of deja vu over the opening post.

I enjoy revisiting places I've not seen in hundreds of (or 5-10, depending on perspective) years, and seeing what's changed/what hasn't. The stories don't seem all that similar to me, but that's just me.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:I feel a strong sense of deja vu over the opening post.

I enjoy revisiting places I've not seen in hundreds of (or 5-10, depending on perspective) years, and seeing what's changed/what hasn't. The stories don't seem all that similar to me, but that's just me.

This.

But hopefully the stories are engaging without being rehashes.

@"Hybarf Tics.2048" said:need I say more?

Yes, I think you do.I'm not really sure why you think that GW1 or GW2 used to be original, based on the specifics mentioned the original thread. I'm not sure why so many people wanted to return to Elona or Cantha; I prefer visiting some new stuff. But I don't think that's a matter of being "original" or not, as the current Heart of Maguuma is drastically changed from what we saw in GW1 and Elona likewise isn't anything close to the same (in fact, some of the folks most nostalgic for GW1 have complained about this very thing).

There's more to "originality" then going someplace new, so you'll have to be more specific about what you do like (and about what you don't) if you expect ANet to change direction at this late date. Keep in mind that LS4 has already been written and the voice acting has already been recorded, so suggestions might have an impact for the third expansion and LS5, and maybe not until Expac4/LS6.

if only they stayed focus more on their sandbox meta events, instead of making it a generic Mmo by focusing too much on the questline, "run here, do this. Now go there, do that".

Unending Ocean is coming 2018 - so many people want it.

After the dry desert, we have to cool a little ;)

See, i get where you're coming from.....

But to me GW2 = Starwars (7/8/9), More of the same that GW1 (original trilogy) was. That however, doesn't mean it's bad. It's just taking what worked and rehashing it (although it is ironic that we'll be in the same-ish location that will finished off abadon)

@bOTEB.1573 said:Unending Ocean is coming 2018 - so many people want it.

After the dry desert, we have to cool a little ;)

Jungle --> Desert --> Ocean --> Tundraother options: Mountainous, North/south pole expedition(if they have them like earth), Steppe, underground cave system, and other people can probably find more.

but location isn't everything, so we'll see what happens. I personally hope the will finish of the map near lion's arch and the southsun ilses. since it now gives this terrible smudge on a completed world map

Are you really comparing the killing Zhaitan fight with the killing Mordremoth fight> They may both be dragons but they couldn't be more different. This game has done nothing but change. Mechanics, flavor. Hell, gliding and updrafts have changed the game significantly. Now mounts will do the same thing.

Maybe you think it would be good to be different and the boss of the story should be a mad refrigerator, but I don't. Different isn't always good. Archetypes exist for a reason. Rift, WoW, Skyrim, Guild Wars 2 all use dragons. Even kunnevang was a dragon. They also have armor and weapons, but you're not complaining about that

That we're fighting a god is not really relevant, since in one story we fought a god imprisoned in the realm of torment, not a god running around Tyria. Nor were we racing that god to an elder dragon that suddenly we can't allow him to kill.

Sorry but this entire topic is way off base.

I don't mind returning to old locations, seeing what has changed etc. It usually warms my heart. :)

What I do mind, though, is the bad writing. And yes, I agree that a lot of themes just get recycled. I hope they will hire professional writers for the next expansion that have a broader perspective on things (and a knack for quality dialogue, too).

This is a perfect example of the saying "you can't please everyone". For years (some) players have been asking when we'd get to go back to Cantha and Elona, when we'd fight the other dragons and so on. Many of the same assumptions were made: they're too lazy to do it, or they're afraid to try because they know they're too incompetent to do it justice, or they've forgotten or just don't care...

The only possibility that doesn't seem to come up is that Arenanet is using their game to tell the stories they want to tell about their world in the order they want to tell them. Not the order you, or I or any other random player has chosen in our own minds. Which is strange, because to me that seems far more likely than any of the others.

But even so I think it's an extreme generalisation to say it's exactly the same storyline as before. When we last visited Elona during GW Nightfall we were trying to stop a fallen and imprisoned god from drawing all of Tyria into his realm and corrupting or killing everyone in the process. This time we're trying to stop a god from killing the Elder Dragons and absorbing their magic because it will destabalise the world, whilst also finding a way to stop the dragons themselves from absorbing all the magic and wiping out life on Tyria. To say they're both the same story because they both involve a god is like saying Season 3 was exactly the same as Factions because they both involve human enemies.

I'd prefer to go somewhere new too. I love exploring in games and I really want to see all the parts of Tyria we've visited before. But I am curious about what's happened to Elona too, and it seems like it's going to look very different. Politically it's almost unrecognisable. And I understand that it is possible to have an original story set in the same geographical location as a previous one, so I don't think going back to Elona means rehashing all the same content.

I hope they'll go somewhere new after that. But I also understand that it's their game and their decision, not mine.

I don't know, they should get some writers experienced in creating grand scale settings like other MMOs, former employees of WotC (D&D, Magic the Gathering etc.) or fantasy novel writers.Plus writers that wrote some real movie dialogue.Sometimes the story seems like it was written by some interns and isn't really expanding the world.Anyway tomorrow PoF, another chance, I have high hopes ;)

@Vayne.8563 said:Are you really comparing the killing Zhaitan fight with the killing Mordremoth fight> They may both be dragons but they couldn't be more different. This game has done nothing but change. Mechanics, flavor. kitten, gliding and updrafts have changed the game significantly. Now mounts will do the same thing.

Maybe you think it would be good to be different and the boss of the story should be a mad refrigerator, but I don't. Different isn't always good. Archetypes exist for a reason. Rift, WoW, Skyrim, Guild Wars 2 all use dragons. Even kunnevang was a dragon. They also have armor and weapons, but you're not complaining about that

That we're fighting a god is not really relevant, since in one story we fought a god imprisoned in the realm of torment, not a god running around Tyria. Nor were we racing that god to an elder dragon that suddenly we can't allow him to kill.

Sorry but this entire topic is way off base.

Personally, I'm not excited about fighting Balthazar - or gods and Elder Dragons in general. I didn't like that we were able to simply kill two Elder Dragons in a row, I mean they're not normal dragons, they're basically a part of the world (literally) in Guild Wars. That's where we shouldn't be powerful enough - that's where they should have set our limits. After fighting against several gods and Elder dragons, it just feels like absolutely nothing can stop us - it takes away every threat and tension of the complete universe away from me.

We could have a much more versatile story if they didn't always think black and white - if they didn't always pick the most powerful ones but focused on rather smaller threats, enemies, groups that become dangerous to us if they collaborate and form alliances against us.Now you might say we already had that in Season 3 but they pushed all of that aside and quickly focused on (Elder) Dragons and gods again - and now again we ended up with an overly powerful god as the main antagonist in the next expansion.

Instead, they could have built up the story around Caudecus and Lazarus to a full expansion - enemies that are definitely mortal, but become dangerous if they collaborate and form alliances and plans against us. Not only would we have to fight against the bandits, the White Mantle and one powerful Mursaat, but think about this:Caudecus had the potential to manipulate the human population (we've seen the posters talking about centaurs and Charr) and talk them into revolting against Queen Jennah. And simultaneously enforcing the human-Charr conflict through sceptics and seperatists at both sides. Many threats at once can become really dangerous.

-

Coming back to the actual topic, the whole White Mantle, human-Charr story would be more of the same again - so just take it as an example. But I think these rather "realistic" and complex structures have so much potential (especially in terms of variety), while leaving the repeating, overly powerful Elder Dragons and gods aside.

I actually like returning to places/stories from GW1 and I think there was enough deviation from the original story to keep things interesting on paper.

Dragons were GW2's thing, GW1 had a mix, granted, but I found Prophecies' story not all that compelling in big parts (post-Rurik and until we fight Mursaat), Factions I mostly enjoyed for the environment and lore, story was gain just okay. Nightfall was pretty nice in terms of story with a few hiccups. So not everything was great.

My gripe is not so much the direction of the story but the writing itself, which has been rather comical and overly juvenile for a while now. And before that it was just odd timing for the most part. ANet seems to have a hard time creating a serious tone without either messing up timings and reactions and making it fall flat or not taking the gravity of the situation seriously themselves.That is what makes me uninterested in the story in big parts. Not so much where the overall direction is going.

Stories are made interesting by interesting characters. Even if you fight your second dragon and second god and second whatnot, as long as you meet interesting and fascinating people along the way it can be an engaging story. And that's what's lacking most for me, mostly because everything tends to be black and white and is resolved quickly or weirdly.

@Pixlboy.5296 said:I don't know, they should get some writers experienced in creating grand scale settings like other MMOs, former employees of WotC (D&D, Magic the Gathering etc.) or fantasy novel writers.Plus writers that wrote some real movie dialogue.

That would cost a good bit of money, knowing how much writers and novelists would demand. /me shrugs

@Hybarf Tics.2048 said:

@Rognik.2579 said:

@Hybarf Tics.2048 said:I would like to be at the end of it all. Need new challenges not in Tyria, not Elona, not Cantha, based on the Tyria the planet, we have not seen 60% of it.When will you get original Anet, when? Since 2005 here's what we've done killed Shiro twice, killed a dragon twice, we are about to go kill our second God, did I mention we are about to go kill Palawa Joko a second time, need I say more?

well the events after nightfall were preparation for guild wars 2 kinda like the living story. i was actualy surprised we haven't seen palawa joko untill now cause they said during that time he would have conquered most of elona. same as the shining blade and white mantle story. same for dhuum and grenth. all those were prepartions for story yet to be told on guild wars 2. so no the defeat of palawa joko during halloween doesn't count. and there are plenty of storys to finish that Anet didn't touch yet which i actualy want to see that you'd probably considered doing a second time.

the only thing i agree on is that im dissapointed of actualy fighting balthazar i kinda hoped Anet were going for a bit more complicated story line this time rather than just kill the obvious bad guy infront of us. they kinda did it very well on guild wars 1, don't know what changed.

Hey, at least we don't have to kill Gul'dan for the third time.

@Thenme.6491 said:

@Hybarf Tics.2048 said:

@Rognik.2579 said:

@Hybarf Tics.2048 said:I would like to be at the end of it all. Need new challenges not in Tyria, not Elona, not Cantha, based on the Tyria the planet, we have not seen 60% of it.When will you get original Anet, when? Since 2005 here's what we've done killed Shiro twice, killed a dragon twice, we are about to go kill our second God, did I mention we are about to go kill Palawa Joko a second time, need I say more?

To be fair we don't know we're going to kill Balthazar. We know that's our characters intention going in, and we're looking for a weapon or something which can kill him.

But unless I've missed something we haven't been told more than that. It might be like what's happening with the dragons - we're trying to find and kill him and in the process of investigating how we learn that it's really not going to work and we have to try something else instead. But I guess then the OP and others will be disappointed because it's re-using the dragon storyline, right?

Alternatively it might not be us who kills him. He stole dragon magic to make himself more powerful, maybe Aurene or Gleam or someone/thing else steals it back.