What if season 5 is season 1?

Since it seems to pretty much be taken as gospel that it will be season 4, season 5, expansion 3 (although I still think them saying they were going right into season 5 was originally a slip of the tongue) how could that happen? As several threads have noticed their normal cadence is to have an expansion later this year. Assuming the next ep is the last for S4 somehow they need to get a season's worth of content in over a few months.

I contend the best way to do it is to give us S1 somehow. It also means the least amount of new content for a season (no mastery points, no new maps for the most part, not even a new story). Exactly how they would give us S1 is another question but it would be the perfect place to keep their pace. They could even stretch out the expansion by a few months that way, however asking for another year+ for that of a normal season might be a bit too much.

Thoughts?

You’re assuming the expansion date wasn’t pushed back.

Going from LS4 to LS5 to expansion isn’t gospel because they specifically stated that was their plan.

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/660876#Comment_660876

@"Gaile Gray.6029" said:Here's some info for you: We will be moving straight into Season 5 at the conclusion of Season 4.

Another read:

https://www.mmorpg.com/mobile/features.cfm?read=12975&game=473&ismb=1

@Ayrilana.1396 said:You’re assuming the expansion date wasn’t pushed back.

Going from LS4 to LS5 to expansion isn’t gospel because they specifically stated that was their plan.

So far we have had an expansion every over year now in the fall. People tend to like it there (even if it is a bit too long between expansions most can deal). I doubt people will wait another year+ for an expansion. They may wait SOME of that time if something comes out that has been asked for for years.

Well, going from LWS4 to LWS5 is the plan, but there's been no mention of an expansion...neither nay nor yea.

I don't think Season 5 will be some kind of re-release of Season 1. It may, or may not, be a sort of prelude to another expansion, though.Also, every expansion hasn't come every other year, only one expansion has. The first expansion was more than 3 years later.

It would be cool if Anet made a fractal that led to Old Lion's Arch. Then you could receive an item that teleports you there when you wanna visit.

@Menadena.7482 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:You’re assuming the expansion date wasn’t pushed back.

Going from LS4 to LS5 to expansion isn’t gospel because they specifically stated that was their plan.

People wait for content. I doubt they will care whether it comes in the form of an expansion or living world season.

The only thing that matters is the number of episodes between expansions and the length of time between expansions. Personally, I would rather see the next expansion held off for longer period of time in order to have a better, cleaner finished product (I would be willing to pay more for it as well). However, to do this, the wisest thing for them to do is to try to fill the time with more episodes so people don't complain that there is nothing to do and quite. Expansion release time also matters if they want it released before Christmas. I wouldn't care if it was released before Christmas, but some people would.

I think the chances of them redoing s1 now are zero. I dont think we will even get a better in game recap considering how utterly useless the current one is.

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:Well, going from LWS4 to LWS5 is the plan, but there's been no mention of an expansion...neither nay nor yea.

I don't think Season 5 will be some kind of re-release of Season 1. It may, or may not, be a sort of prelude to another expansion, though.Also, every expansion hasn't come every other year, only one expansion has. The first expansion was more than 3 years later.

You’re correct. Later in the article below it was asked if Anet would revisit LS1 and they stated they had no plans at this time. It’d be kind of odd to announce a season 5 and then state that.

https://www.mmorpg.com/mobile/features.cfm?read=12975&game=473&ismb=1

@"Menadena.7482" said:Since it seems to pretty much be taken as gospel that it will be season 4, season 5, expansion 3 (although I still think them saying they were going right into season 5 was originally a slip of the tongue)They repeated it multiple times (in different contexts), so "slip of the tongue" is out as an explanation.

As several threads have noticed their normal cadence is to have an expansion later this year.There's no "normal cadence" for expansions. There have been only two, which leaves only a single "time between expansions," out of which we can predict nothing.

So far we have had an expansion every over year now in the fall.We've had two expansions in 6.5 years. If you don't want to count the 38 months before HoT, then the only pattern is that there has been a gap of 23 months between the only two expansions. If you do count it, then the pattern is 3 years of no expansion followed by 3.5 years with two expansions, so it's equally valid to say that the next expansion won't be for another 12-15 months. And based on what ANet hasn't said, it's even possible we won't see an "expansion," but some other way to bring in new players and get US$15-70 from most veterans.

Assuming the next ep is the last for S4 somehow they need to get a season's worth of content in over a few months.Why assume that? ANet's always been clear that they tell stories in their own way.

I contend the best way to do it is to give us S1 somehow.Why? They have said that bringing back S1 isn't necessarily less work than producing a completely new season (some things are easier, but the time-consuming ones largely are not, and bringing back something presents new challenges). Given the choice between producing content new for everyone and attempting to placate the subset of players that prefers nostalgia, it's unlikely that they'd choose the riskier second option.

It's not unreasonable to hope for an expansion announcement this year. It's not unreasonable to hope for more big news. But there's really no evidence of what they have planned, other than LS4.6 will show up 2-3 months after LS4.5 appeared and that LS5.1 will launch 2-3 months after that.

I would really hate to see any regression back to Season 1. The story (and the game) needs to continue to move forward, whether that be LS releases or expansions.

Why would Anet work on re-hashing and re-modelling Season 1 from scratch (which is what it would basically be on a coding level), when they can work on new content?

Meh, i want to belive that they gonna give us new weapons for each class without traits, that's small addition for expac but would be cool as global patch of s5

If they gave us LS1 instead of LS5, why would we assume they would not introduce anything special with it? They'd be recreating the Karka King, The Aetherblades, The Tower of Nightmares, The Marionette and the Siege of LA.

There is more than enough room to introduce Core Masteries if they wanted, or do any number of things beyond just the episodes.

The main issue I see with this, though, is they've already made 3 Fractals out of these events, it doesn't seem like reintroducing them again for the the missing season is worth it. Yes, they could make weaker soloable versions, but why? This isn't to say that it wouldn't be cool, or that I wouldn't enjoy it. There is also a fair amount of technology that they have recently developed that could allow them to do very interesting things with the events for solo play and have them still feel epic. I just don't see the value on their end in doing it.

"More engaging story that expand the world of Guild Wars 2, more maps to dive into" - a dev on 6th Anniversary vid. We will get new story, maps and everything.

I don’t want old content. Season 1 is long gone and it’s good

At least adding a battle on lion's arch fractal or "old lion arch permanent pass".

For ls1 my guess is, do aetherpath in twilight arbor it's pretty complete: twisted watchworks, aetherblades, scarlet holograms.... Maybe new ls1 within achiev tab could be "do aetherpath".

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Twilight_Arbor_(explorable)#Aetherpath

I mean we have 3 teams right when season 3 was being created, while everyone else was building PoF. My question is what is everyone else doing besides the teams finishing season 4 and starting season 5.

Working on the next expansion.

@Ayrilana.1396 said:Working on the next expansion.

That’s what I figured as well. Since PoF ended development in 2017 means the next xpac will potentially have a couple more years of dev time then PoF. Which in itself, is quite exciting.

I'd personally be okay with that. Do think the gaping hole in the story for players needs to be addressed better than it currently is. And It's been so long since I played Season 1 that if it was complimented in a way similar to current LW episodes i'd be happy to replay it.

As one of the many who missed S1 (blame myself, played at launch came back start of season 2) I am all in for making it replayable. I don't think Season 5 will suddenly become Season 1 (unless crazy theory Kralk traps us in a mist rift that's a facsimile of season 1, we complete it, we get out), what I do hope is that after season 5 and whatever comes next after (expansion? maybe?), Anet gives us Season 1. More than ever we need it.

• Gives context to Season 2 and by extension HoT, is the catalyst of almost everything really.
• Recap is not good, it briefly explains who Scarlet, Braham, Rox, Taimi, Marjory, and Kasmeer are. No Consortium, Canach, Ellen Vs Evon, Job-o-Tron, or Queen's Jubilee mention.
• Many have said: the story is incomplete. The jump from PS to bad recap to S2 is jarring. I can't forget my confusion when I jumped in and seeing all those strangers welcoming me back and calling me Boss.
• We are missing a lot of AP.
• And most important of all: PoF era has had many references to Season 1. The first person who aids us in PoF is Captain Ellen Kiel. That was a surprise I was like "wow, saw the 3 hr long movie and I know about this character, pretty cool to see a season 1 character." PoF also brought Consortium in an event, Festival of the 4 Winds has Ellen and Evon talk about escape and Battle for LA, Season 4 has major NPC out and bout in the new maps (like in S1 updates), Taimi mentions her illness again, Hobo-Tron is out adventuring and with a new name again, Almorra questions all the places Bait-o-Tron has been, Rox brings her gladium status again and in Thunderhead Peaks oil meta she mentions that she was a miner, heck Scarlet appears as a hallucination. This moments would've been cooler had players know about, but they don't because we are missing context. On the flipside imagine Anet making S1 now and us looking back at Season 4 "oh yeah! Rox said she was a miner/that explains taimi's line in episode 4/Almorra mentioned the golem was here/So that's what Ellen was reminding Evon of."

It saddens me really, seeing all this, and not being able to play it. I want to participate in the escape and battle of LA, I want to see and play the origins of my guild members, I want to see the story of Hobo-tron, fake vote for Ellen and Evon and their mini-games, stop Scarlet bombing DR and her marionette. But I can't.

I dont care if they do give us LS1 so long as it doesn't negatively impact other projects and releases.

Since that's clearly not possible i'd hope they won't bother trying to do so as that take my ~3month breaks and extend them to 6+ month breaks and at that point i'd just quit entirely.