Does anybody actually enjoy playing personal story/living world?

Because really, the pileon of arbitrary restrictions, railroading, and gameplay changes has got me in conniption fits. I just tried the bit in season 2 where you have to be a rogue (Caithe) all of a sudden, even if you never play a rogue because you hate playing rogue, well tough luck, you're playing a rogue, and you have to stealth and knock everybody out, and we're disabling all your combat skills, and oh, for some of the mobs you arbitrarily can't knock them out, have fun.

THIS IS NOT FUN.

I just don't understand the mentality behind this part of the game. It's like watching a bad movie that you not only can't fast forward, but you have to manually crank the reel/spin the disc until it's over and no, we won't let you leave until it's over. Even when it's done (and see below), there's no sense of accomplishment because the setup is so arbitrary and obnoxious.

I can count on one hand the scenarios that actually had some element of fun rather than unremitting frustration.

Oh, and the scene where you have to be a rogue? I finished it, and then when I went to do the next scene, the same one started over so now I have to do it again! AAAARGH.

Seriously is this actually fun for anybody?

That was one of the few episodes I truly hated since I wasn't in control of my character with my skills. Mostly episodes are decent, with a few turkeys thrown in as would be expected. Overall I enjoy the experience

I love it. Different strokes, my friend. ~shrugs~

I enjoy the personal story and living world episodes. The two episodes where we had Caithe's thief skills aren't my favorites, but I got through them fine and enjoyed the storytelling moments of them.

Ive enjoyed it, done it three times so far. I despise a few episodes here and there(Caithes among them), and any mission where they have excessive talking is annoying but not enough to stop me from doing it.

Yes, yes I do.

all story is boring. should have been 5 man dungeons with real challenge and rewards of unique skins of armor and weapons. achievements in story just don't do it for me nor the story nor the gameplay in the story.

Well it's good to know some people like it. I'm in the following episode and now I'm supposed to defend Faolain against centaurs, when I really just want to see her mowed down. But nope, not allowed. Here's your car, now drive it exactly where we tell you.

@Dante.1763 said:Ive enjoyed it, done it three times so far. I despise a few episodes here and there(Caithes among them), and any mission where they have excessive talking is annoying but not enough to stop me from doing it.

I feel obligated to do the story for the points, which are hard to come by outside of the expansions. :-/

This variety is always good. I actually i enjoyed the Caithe part in season two a lot...More than the stealth part in the last episode that felt a bit unpolished. I do not see why a story that allows you to explore something different mechanically like a caithe's rogue skills would be seen as anything but positive. Plus the story was pretty interesting in that episode.

LS has its ups and downs and some of the achievements can be really frustrating cause of lack of thought put into them but the story is generally quite enjoyable mechanically. Especially in season 4 i found the fights mechanically pretty fun. Big step up since the times of the core personal story that was a snooze-fest in terms of encounters.

@Corax.7692 said:Well it's good to know some people like it. I'm in the following episode and now I'm supposed to defend Faolain against centaurs, when I really just want to see her mowed down. But nope, not allowed. Here's your car, now drive it exactly where we tell you.

You shouldn't deviate in these story parts anyway since you're following memories of events. It would be nice to have a bit more freedom in story instances in general but it wouldn't work out for these ones.

I do. Tremendously.

I can't get enough of the LW episodes. It's like...you finish all 12 episodes in season 1 of your favorite series, but they hit you with that cliffhanger on the last episode and you have to wait 3-4 months for the next season to start. If anything, i wish the episodes were longer!

Depends on what aspect. In terms of gameplay and content I've been mostly happy with them. I think of all the seasons so far I dislike Season 2 the most (the Caithe segment didn't help). In terms of story...eh, not so much. I feel like Anet leaves too many plot threads hanging in pursuit for the newer, shinier things. I don't mind new, shiny plot/story stuff but not if it comes at the cost of leaving plot/story threads hanging since it could be (and has been for some) years before they come back to said threads.

I enjoyed the story all the way through on my main.

Made alts and key farmers of every race and subdivision to make sure I got to see all the alternate personal stories.

Eventually I will replay the entire story on one of my alts, and I look forward to playing it all in order this time. (The first time, I bought HoT when Head of the Snake was active, played HoT, then that and the next LS, then eventually went back and bought the LS2 and earlier LS3 episodes.)

So, yes.

Seriously is this actually fun for anybody?

-raises hand- :) I have full story completion on 5 characters (personal story, expansions, living world).The Caithe missions can be annoying for first-timers, you just have to get used to her skills.

I liked the story aspect, but also didn't enjoy the flipped skills much either.Thanks to that episode i've not finished all achievements on LS2 either, because i was doing it in order, and the achievements on that are just too tedious.

@Corax.7692:

You don't play a rogue per se (as in GW2's Thief profession) as most of those skills are unique to Caithe. Also, this part was fun as is posed a nice challenge when you played it the first time. Also, the mobs are easy to deal with (should you trigger them) once you have a grip on Caithe's skills.

I can count on one hand the scenarios that actually had some element of fun rather than unremitting frustration.

Err, the personal story is super easy to play and actually a lot of fun - up until Claw Island, where it gets boring.

Oh, and the scene where you have to be a rogue? I finished it, and then when I went to do the next scene, the same one started over so now I have to do it again! AAAARGH.

It's just one storyline in Season 2 and has zero to do with a character's initial personal story nor with Living World as a whole, so I don't see why your title is implying otherwise.

@Ashantara.8731 said:@Corax.7692:

It's just one storyline in Season 2 and has zero to do with a character's initial personal story nor with Living World as a whole, so I don't see why your title is implying otherwise.

It's just one example, I could give many others. Leaving my friend behind with the krait when I got the orb (personal story), destroying the Kralkatorrik spear (Path of Fire), I could go on and on about choices I would have made but didn't have the option, and poor motivation in the story. If I have no control over what happens, why go through the whole pretense? Just show me one long movie instead of making me do stuff I don't even want to do.

Well I think we've established that there are people out there who like this stuff, it's just definitely not my cuppa.

@Corax.7692 said:Just show me one long movie instead of making me do stuff I don't even want to do.

This is a Video Game.

Some episodes are good but screw the episodes forcing me to be Caithe, as if I didn't dislike her enough already.

@"Corax.7692" said:If I have no control over what happens, why go through the whole pretense? Just show me one long movie instead of making me do stuff I don't even want to do.

Ah, now I get you. Okay, yes, I agree that there are quite a few story parts I have come across as well that left me thinking, "What the ****?! My character would never do/say that!"

More options like we used to have in the Personal Story would be great. This is actually what Jessica Price was asked about, because many players loved the branched dialogue and story options and would like to see them return to the game.

Yes, I love Living World stories. The base personal story was a bit weak, especially in terms of gameplay associated with it, but I guess, its just the tutorial. After that I really liked the LWs.

I used to really like the personal story lines. And then one day, someone at Anet decided to assume everyone ONLY played humans, and forced ALL of us who wanted to do the story to join the "humans only" club. That literally killed my interest in the "story" in this game.

This is why my character is not canonically doing the story. None of them are the Commander, though occasionally there are some fun bits where I can mentally overlay the story actions on my character's personality. I don't feel railroaded because it's -not- "my" story. I can enjoy the good lines and roll my eyes at the bad ones and progress through the story of the Commander and his/her/its buddies without getting mad about it not being how I would act in the situation.

For it's not me making those choices, it's me viewing/reading a story and needing to interact to move it along. Interaction can include combat or puzzles, or just clicking on objects and dialogue. I don't think the story is always great, despite awesome moments there are those endemic dangling plot threads and the simplified presentation never feels terribly gritty even when terrible things are happening. But I enjoy the heck out of playing it and going for achievements and helping friends play it.