The New Lions Arch Could Use More Scenery

I can point out sections of Lions Arch that are too empty, and not in a good way. For instance, the Grand Piazza is so empty, the Trader's forum is also so empty Macha's Landing is for the most part empty, and so on.

You can for instance add statues, of Lions in each of these locations, Macha's Landing could use a person with a Kiosk with Lionguards checking goods because you know, delivered goods should be checked for plague contaminants. Around the Trader's Forum you can put more vendors, for instance bringing back the dungeon vendors, or even adding vendors for new content to trade volatile magic and stuff. A good addition for the Grand Piazza is a fountain with a Lion in the center just like the one that existed before the destruction of Lion's Arch; after all it wouldn't be Lions Arch without the Golden statue to commemorate its inception, you can also remove the big cover that's on the top of the Piazza since it serves little to no purpose.

There were a lot of areas in the old LA that weren't really full of anything either, but because it was so cramped looking it gave the illusion of being busier. The flat open space definitely doesn't appeal to me much.

the lions statue has been asked for time and time again, and i would love to see it but i doubt it will come back :(

Agreed except developer time not infinite

It would be cool to have something instead of the stupid jellyfish thing that covers the entire plaza. I'd love there to be some kind of stage or something, maybe a smaller building with some vendors inside. I prefer anything over current LA, definitely my least favorite city of them all

I doubt that statues and vendors will fix what is very probably a deliberate city “coldness” and the overall lack of inviting features that would make people want to hang around. LA used to be the spot to get together and socialize. imo ANet wanted to spread the population out among all the racial cities. LA’s unique buildings were wiped out and all the cozy spaces where people congregated were flattened, removed, and replaced with open spaces. After all these years people know how to design a city that attracts and holds people. If they designed LA to not fit this knowledge then it was probably planned that way.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think the devs should waste more time on LA, just leave it alone. It doesn't matter how much they change it, it's only good to explore it once on every character (IF you like map completion like I do) then I'm back to Mistlock Sanctuary because it's more convenient.

The moment they changed it to seaworld was the moment I lost interest in the city. I only go there when I have to, otherwise I'm at a hub elsewhere. The seaworld update wass a horrible idea, might have solved some performance issues but the city is dead for me since.

I feel they could definitely add in some more unique structures/statues/decorations to LA, I find theres alot of dead zones that people simply don't goto anymore, at the very least add in some areas where we can sit down & listen to some music festivals or something to attract more people. Or perhaps some mini jump puzzles or dailys that we could do that are specific for LA map only with very unique rewards. I feel something needs to be done there... not just left the way it is. Add some things in that make ppl want to stick around the map please =D

@Fenom.9457 said:Agreed except developer time not infinite

They can dig through the old model files to pretty much cut and paste the lion's model into the scene (yes I am a gamedev). You can easily do it on any c++ based engine much like the one Anet built for GW2. Also modeling the things I mentioned aren't hard to do, some can even take as much as 10 min to develop a scene with.

"The New Lion's Arch"? You know it's been like that for far longer than it was the old way? (Yes, I remember exploring the Old Lion's Arch back in the day. I was ... disappointed ... with the new one when I came back in 2015 after a break.)

@Aridon.8362 said:They can dig through the old model files to pretty much cut and paste the lion's model into the scene (yes I am a gamedev). You can easily do it on any c++ based engine much like the one Anet built for GW2. Also modeling the things I mentioned aren't hard to do, some can even take as much as 10 min to develop a scene with.

They still have the old lion's arch in its entirety within the game. You can still see it when you play through certain portions of the personal story.

I really dislike all the concrete in the new LA.

Lion's Arch takes forever to load the environment as is. I think I will pass.

I'd love to resurrect Scarlet so she can destroy LA all over again. Then we could LA could be rebuilt as a dense, content rich, and intricate city with loads of back-alley markets, stacked houses, , tunnels, underpasses, overpasses, and all the stuff that made old LA interesting.

I agree that the open space feels weird and honestly I would like some areas (the whole area from the bank, the black lion merchant, area over black lion vault, jelly fish, and up to crafting area) to be redone with having more buildings/ apartments complex with a nice hint of racial buildings intertwine, like a little divinity, rata town, etc, as the big area just feels too empty and disney-esque theme park than a LA, New York compact city which the old LA looked to me.

IMO the lion statue should replace the event plaza.Surrounding the statue they could place an expanding market with stalls from Living World, expansions, current events and festivals, adding stalls to the market as the story progresses.They could sell: recipies, toys, tonics, books, skins etc. (Maybe even stuff for the hopefully upcoming housing system.(one can dream))

There is only 1 good thing to do with new LA:

re-invade itflatten itand rebuild old LA.

Everything else is wasted developer resource.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:I doubt that statues and vendors will fix what is very probably a deliberate city “coldness” and the overall lack of inviting features that would make people want to hang around. LA used to be the spot to get together and socialize. imo ANet wanted to spread the population out among all the racial cities. LA’s unique buildings were wiped out and all the cozy spaces where people congregated were flattened, removed, and replaced with open spaces. After all these years people know how to design a city that attracts and holds people. If they designed LA to not fit this knowledge then it was probably planned that way.

I had never thought of that. Seems logical enough, sad honestly. Old LA was a great hub spot for new and old players.

Maybe, if Lions Arch is updated, they could also update the LA based story parts. New users who only know the new Lions Arch cannot re-live the destruction of old LA, but can return to old LA for their personal story (e.g. your introduction to Tybalt). I can only imagine the confusion when they get to play their story and are ported to an unknown location full of old buildings

New LA is horrible, i try to avoid that and DR at all cost, my FPS freezes so bad at this places lol Hoelbrak is the best main city...they allready wasted a lot resources to make the way it is, dont think they can afford to waste even more right, I for one would love the option to be able to get in Old LA.

@Aridon.8362 said:

They can dig through the old model files to pretty much cut and paste the lion's model into the scene (yes I am a gamedev). You can easily do it on any c++ based engine much like the one Anet built for GW2. Also modeling the things I mentioned aren't hard to do, some can even take as much as 10 min to develop a scene with.

Well speaking of which, I'm not a gamedev myself (am a writer), but I will say this, I have dabbled a little bit into editing graphics within an older game title/engine & yes I definitely do agree that GW2 could add it in if they really wanted to with minimal effort. I also even went as far as editing a whole online game world & (I will admit) I went a little crazy in the process & yes eventually the whole game server ended up imploding but... what a ride! =)

New Lion's Arch could use more vendors too. :3Y'know, vendors that let us cash in stuff like luck essence, bloodstone (et al), airship oil (et al), and whatnot.

And a new crafting station that's right next to a waypoint and bank (like blasted Postern Ward, coughcough).

@Cyninja.2954 said:There is only 1 good thing to do with new LA:

re-invade itflatten itand rebuild old LA.

Everything else is wasted developer resource.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:I doubt that statues and vendors will fix what is very probably a deliberate city “coldness” and the overall lack of inviting features that would make people want to hang around. LA used to be

the spot

to get together and socialize. imo ANet wanted to spread the population out among all the racial cities. LA’s unique buildings were wiped out and all the cozy spaces where people congregated were flattened, removed, and replaced with open spaces. After all these years people know how to design a city that attracts and holds people. If they designed LA to not fit this knowledge then it was probably planned that way.

This would make sense if not for the fact that everything they do in terms of cities is put in LA and nowhere else. I don't think it was planned at all, I just think they thought it would work better if it was cleaner and more open looking.

I think both old LA and new LA have their pros and cons. I wish they had just made new LA a new city altogether and left old LA mostly alone.

@Einlanzer.1627 said:

@Cyninja.2954 said:There is only 1 good thing to do with new LA:

re-invade itflatten itand rebuild old LA.

Everything else is wasted developer resource.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:I doubt that statues and vendors will fix what is very probably a deliberate city “coldness” and the overall lack of inviting features that would make people want to hang around. LA used to be

the spot

to get together and socialize. imo ANet wanted to spread the population out among all the racial cities. LA’s unique buildings were wiped out and all the cozy spaces where people congregated were flattened, removed, and replaced with open spaces. After all these years people know how to design a city that attracts and holds people. If they designed LA to not fit this knowledge then it was probably planned that way.

Like what? The Raid center. Do people go there to talk? The wedding center? I’ve never seen anyone there. The Guild building? same. No one there or if they are they’re inside the building and separate from the city itself. Special holiday venders? If people visit them they buy then leave, just like any other vender. So the features that they added might pull people to the city for short periods but they aren’t features that encourage people to hang around and socialize.

@"DietPepsi.4371" said:I'd love to resurrect Scarlet so she can destroy LA all over again. Then we could LA could be rebuilt as a dense, content rich, and intricate city with loads of back-alley markets, stacked houses, , tunnels, underpasses, overpasses, and all the stuff that made old LA interesting.

I'll just paste here my pre-saved post for LA improving.

"No need to destroy anything. You can make the same by creating stuff.Just add more dock activity, more commerce, people doing unruly things, way more exotic content and a layer of much needed dirt to the place. It is a market city! And a port one!Things don't stay new forever, you know?

Examples:

• People selling fish on the docks area, from asuran holographic fried shrimp to smoked norn trout, and of course lots of fresh, uncooked tuna. And orrian gulper.
• A non very smart party (make it multi species so its more fun) of adventurers just coming back form Elona, in the wider empty area of the plaza trying to get people to pay for touching a "Perfectly Safe Domesticated Baby Hydra".
• A group of dock laborers unloading cargo from various ships. Here and there they let see what they are working on: a shipment of lava lamps from Ember Bay, a collection of botanical samples from the maguuma jungle, some really huge but strangely light crates coming from Bloodstone Fen (Hey guys, help! this box is falling UP!), a set of fragile magical incubators with Griffon eggs inside, etc.
• A bunch of mafia types, trying to look intimidating in front of a single very calm lady (which we know is Livia).
• Tizlak and Ibli leading a group of representatives from the friendly tribes of maguuma, acting like child tourists on the "strange, fun and weird foreigner's city".
• Some Elonian refugees selling carpets, fabrics and Joko's figurines (Praise!)
• Etc.

Basicly, transform the port into a.. port. Add more life, more ugliness, more noise. And add some NPCs we already know from other sections of the story, or new ones whose reason to be there we can relate to the lore."

I prefer the open spaces. Not only does it allow people to congregate, but also I don't really see value in more obstacles to movement when going from A to B.