Story Mode

I was wondering how many players spend time immersed in story mode rather then doing it as a means to an end.

The majority of my time is spent between the open-world and story mode. I actually set myself a project to play every single personal story instance - every choice for every race, Order etc. I made a massive spreadsheet tracking all the story instances so I could mark them off when I'd done them. It still comes in useful now I've finished that because I can never remember what some of the choices mean - like the Norn biography choices, I confuse 'Protect the Spirits' and 'Guard the Mists' so I can use my spreadsheet to quickly check which choices lead to which options and pick the ones I want when making a new character.

I don't spend quite as much time on the later storylines, purely because there aren't as many versions, but I have 11 permanent characters and eventually I want them all to have done everything so if I ever get time I will play through every storyline 11 times. (So far I've done all of them once, except the latest one which I've not finished yet, and several of them 2 or 3 times but I'm a long way from getting all my characters fully caught up.)

If anyone's wondering no I don't think GW2 is some great work of literature or even that it has the best story I've ever seen in a game. But I'm not looking for that, I just want something I have fun playing and this game gives me that. (Same reason I often enjoy movies which get negative reviews, I don't care about the cultural impact or how it stands up against the rest of the genre, I'm just looking for a fun way to spend a few hours.)

I like a lot of the characters and find their interactions interesting. I don't always agree with what my characters do or say and we've had more than a few 'I told you so' moments when things go badly but that's my relationship with them. My main character is one I've used in almost every Western RPG for almost 20 years so we've been through a lot I've put her through a lot and in spite of the fact that every game's protagonist is slightly different (with or without choices in how you play them) I feel like she's got a consistent personality and disagreeing with me is part of that. Every time I say "I told you this would go badly when you decided to do it" she reminds me that actually I decided to do it and if I'm going to complain I should stop making/going along with bad choices in games.

Sometimes I add my own 'head canon' - additional conversations or situations I imagine happening 'off screen' between the actual story, which can help balance out the bits I felt didn't work as well as I'd like. And that goes for all games, not just GW2. It's another thing I find fun and keeps me invested in the stories.

the problem is that i love stories, GW2 however is so anti climax with it's story it becomes boring and uninteresting.i like my character to directly interact with NPC's, have a direct effect on what happens and direct control over my character when they talk.GW2 however makes you choose with a wall of text, the interviews are deserted for a reason but in return dialogs are more a nuisance then useful and the only time i got entertained was

! the very last cut screen in the current episode when joko had a speech and then Aurene kills him out of the blue, eating him and sleepsif they will ever improve their stories then please, look at SWToR, don't make yet another boring story that makes music of enya sound like speed metal in comparison.

The story is ... meh.

Someone needs to be reminded that this is a game which is an interactive medium and not a movie or an audio book. Why am I spending spending the majority of the time standing around listening to conversations or watching cutscenes?

I spent more time on story things when there were different rewards to collect (there were a few of these in core), or with taking alts through the same story but making different decisions so see all the different alternate paths of which there hasnt been any since HoT. Season 3 and PoF story has just felt bland to me, as if i'm just being pushed through it. I just started playing again after a break so haven't done much with season 4 so hopefully that will change.

It changed. I totally loved the basic vanilla story, I was immersed in it like nothing else (but I have to say in hindsight, I picked really great story path combinations for immersion).

Since LS2 (I misses LS1), I cannot really identify with my character in the story anymore, so it's nice to watch, but not immersive.

I voted assuming you were talking about the overall story and not explicitly story mode dungeons

I usually only do story if I have to. Like for the beetle mount collection

Story stopped being enjoyable for me when it started taking too much time. Half an hour in instance is good. 1-2hours is not fun to me. Especially after dealing with numerous DC's

I love story mode. I personally loved the old cut scenes with the characters facing each other as I could see them in detail. I'm also the type that talks to every NPC I can, even in the open world.

I'll take it a step further: if it were not for the continual release of new story content, I would not be playing this game anymore. There's only so much farming for purely cosmetic items you can do before repeatable gameplay loses all value. WvW is fun for a time, and even PvP can sometimes be interesting, but it's the story that actually gets me to log in with consistency; more than new classes, mounts, abilities, or even [hypothetically] races, the story is what will get me to buy new expansions.

I like having everything done on characters, which is why i have map completion on all my lv80s...same is true for story, but it's exhausting to do over and over again...there's only so much i can play with inside the "commanders" story until i get to characters like my bag opener, who's RP wise a performer with no combat skill. xD

BUTi love doing story for the first time, i love the dialogue, mostly like the plot, mostly like the fights. I wish there was more interaction, but honestly, im fine with it as it is.

it when south when the story refer to you as "the commander"... well after u are no longer "the commander"... lel

I'll go with I like the story... I could also say I love the story, since I do infact read almost all the dialogue and I do love the lore.However even I can see it could be a little bit better.Really though I get super bored between story episodes, and may even stop playing entirely for periods in the time it takes for new story to show. If they stopped making story entirely I would probably eventually end up not playing.

I should probably have voted that I love the story... despite it not being perfect.

used to play them for their own sake till Balt showed up the first time and my character reacted basically with a teenagy "yeah, man, whatever", hair and camel back I guess. Since then, mostly to progress and unlock achievements. Though having very recently rejoined the game, I noticed some improvement to story writing with PoF.

For me the best writing to date in gw2 was the chapters were we join our order and the events leading up to the battle for claw island. My first toon at launch picked Priory. I enjoyed exploring with my wide eyed idealistic young mentor and the resolution to that arc was impactful.

@Durzlla.6295 said:I voted assuming you were talking about the overall story and not explicitly story mode dungeons

If I remember right the story mode dungeons are part of our characters personal story. It’s been awhile since I leveled conventionally.

@Brother.1504 said:

@Durzlla.6295 said:I voted assuming you were talking about the overall story and not explicitly story mode dungeons

Story mode dungeon is more like the story of how Destiny's Edge got back together.

I really enjoyed the vanilla story and how it was told. I wish they'd kept personal story and expanded upon it. >: Also agree with what @Endless Soul.5178 said with the character conversation screen. I was shook with the change from vanilla to HOT's story telling.

I'm working through story mode on at least one of every race. I like the personal story, and I want to see how each race gets to the fight on claw island.

I'm happy to see there are lots of folks who enjoy the story aspect of GW2.

I personally adore story mode. One of my favorite parts of the game by far! I only wish there was more of it via side stuff. Before the game came out, I had high hopes that the home instance would allow us to learn more about the characters we meet in our story! Maybe even build friendships, bonds, etc! I was really sad they didn't utilize it to that capability, but maybe someday they'll improve on that system. (: Either way I've enjoyed everything I've been playing, so I can't really complain! :3

The story may not be perfect by any means, but I've always found it endearing and charming in its own way. (: Everything after HoT has been especially fun! I think my favorite character thus far is Taimi. Probably because I play Asura, so I can't help but to think of her as daughter-like to my character haha. Might be an unpopular opinion considering there's a thread on the front page asking for her death, lol. XD

My poor PC will certainly cry if that ever happens. Haha.

@Wyvern.7951 said:I'm happy to see there are lots of folks who enjoy the story aspect of GW2.

I personally adore story mode. One of my favorite parts of the game by far! I only wish there was more of it via side stuff. Before the game came out, I had high hopes that the home instance would allow us to learn more about the characters we meet in our story! Maybe even build friendships, bonds, etc! I was really sad they didn't utilize it to that capability, but maybe someday they'll improve on that system. (: Either way I've enjoyed everything I've been playing, so I can't really complain! :3

The story may not be perfect by any means, but I've always found it endearing and charming in its own way. (: Everything after HoT has been especially fun! I think my favorite character thus far is Taimi. Probably because I play Asura, so I can't help but to think of her as daughter-like to my character haha. Might be an unpopular opinion considering there's a thread on the front page asking for her death, lol. XD

My poor PC will certainly cry if that ever happens. Haha.

Talked to a lot of people that find Taimi a pretty awesome character also. Hope anet doesn’t do away with her.

I mostly play the game for other aspects than the story, but always keep myself up to date with it and complete each story episode when it comes out, for the sake of being a completionist and getting the rewards.

Sometimes I wish to just get it over with, but for the most part I genuinely enjoy the story. It's nothing huge or unbelievably amazing, but it brings a nice depth to the world, and the voice acting is really good too.

I've completed the story so far, with the exception of the most recent episode, on 11 characters including one of every profession. That's every story instance and also every map completed. I'm currently working on my twelfth. I really enjoy the story.

I like story mode, but "immersion" flew out the window about 30 levels into the original campaign when all of my characters started behaving like humans for some reason. It's never come back.

@"Ben K.6238" said:I like story mode, but "immersion" flew out the window about 30 levels into the original campaign when all of my characters started behaving like humans for some reason. It's never come back.

I get your point with the story telling. I find the asura arcs to be very asura’y. The little mad geniuses are really the center of their universe. Everyone else is just around to help with tasks beneath them.