Prologue equals episode 1?

[perilisk.1874]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:Strike Missions - cool, what are they, what do they entail, how do they fit with the Saga, what kind of mechanics are they offering up … hmmm no detail to be able to judge them on yet, so soon

Well, there were always people clamoring for Easy Mode or Story Mode versions of Raids. Sounds like they're just going the other direction, and making Raid mode versions of story. Also, hopefully cutting down on the time to find a group, if not the time to find a good one. If the story versions of fights can actually properly introduce the mechanics, it might be a good idea? No need to rely on the benevolence of other players to train for mechanics, and you always have golems for rotations.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

The magazine seems to lay out what's coming in the Prologue pretty well...for me, anyway.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@perilisk.1874 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:Strike Missions - cool, what are they, what do they entail, how do they fit with the Saga, what kind of mechanics are they offering up … hmmm no detail to be able to judge them on yet, so soon

Well, there were always people clamoring for Easy Mode or Story Mode versions of Raids. Sounds like they're just going the other direction, and making Raid mode versions of story. Also, hopefully cutting down on the time to find a group, if not the time to find a good one. If the story versions of fights can actually properly introduce the mechanics, it might be a good idea? No need to rely on the benevolence of other players to train for mechanics, and you always have golems for rotations.

But at the moment, we don't really know anything other than .. were getting some 10man instanced strike missions.. is the point, the rest is our own interpretations. Don't get me wrong I hope your right, it could sound interesting and could lead into other modes being developed on fromit.. so devil as always is in the detail, the key element we're lacking on.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@perilisk.1874 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:Strike Missions - cool, what are they, what do they entail, how do they fit with the Saga, what kind of mechanics are they offering up … hmmm no detail to be able to judge them on yet, so soon

Well, there were always people clamoring for Easy Mode or Story Mode versions of Raids. Sounds like they're just going the other direction, and making Raid mode versions of story. Also, hopefully cutting down on the time to find a group, if not the time to find a good one. If the story versions of fights can actually properly introduce the mechanics, it might be a good idea? No need to rely on the benevolence of other players to train for mechanics, and you always have golems for rotations.

But at the moment, we don't really know anything other than .. were getting some 10man instanced strike missions.. is the point, the rest is our own interpretations. Don't get me wrong I hope your right, it could sound interesting and could lead into other modes being developed on fromit.. so devil as always is in the detail, the key element we're lacking on.

Just wondering...have you read the Release page (the Living World Magazine)? It offers more information.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@perilisk.1874 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:Strike Missions - cool, what are they, what do they entail, how do they fit with the Saga, what kind of mechanics are they offering up … hmmm no detail to be able to judge them on yet, so soon

Well, there were always people clamoring for Easy Mode or Story Mode versions of Raids. Sounds like they're just going the other direction, and making Raid mode versions of story. Also, hopefully cutting down on the time to find a group, if not the time to find a good one. If the story versions of fights can actually properly introduce the mechanics, it might be a good idea? No need to rely on the benevolence of other players to train for mechanics, and you always have golems for rotations.

But at the moment, we don't really know anything other than .. were getting some 10man instanced strike missions.. is the point, the rest is our own interpretations. Don't get me wrong I hope your right, it could sound interesting and could lead into other modes being developed on fromit.. so devil as always is in the detail, the key element we're lacking on.

Just wondering...have you read the Release page (the Living World Magazine)? It offers more information.

Yeah, nice added idea I admit and that is what should of been put out at the event, it looks so much better quality promo material, perhaps with some interaction with those there to add some extra spice, but I still don't feel there is anything much to add in terms of detail.. we knew we were getting the Charr homeland and some peaks at map, the band.. the Khan -Ur sounds a bit more promising.. but again the Prologue doesn't at this time look to be more than a gap fill to give them more time.Hopefully that isn't the case and from the 17th the cadence will keep to what we have become accustomed to and include more of that "expac type content we all want and not just LS biased, even if its by way of little acorns.... if not, be upfront I say.

Anyhow, 17th isn't too far away now, so it's a case of wait and find out, hope to be pleasantly blown away . and I will be the first to congratulate the devs when it does, for sure.

[Vayne.8563]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Arzurag.7506 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:Worst case scenario is that they introduce a tiny fraction of the map which is centered around the Charr and what looks like a celebration. The next episode would then expand the map into what we would usually see in a typical LS release.

And then, it´s still missing the expansion-like content that they said they want to add with the next ls.Maybe the charr know how to throw a party^^

They said the expansion level content would come with the sesason. They didn't say it would come in episode 1 of the Season. It's like mounts were delivered in episodes 4 and 6 of Season 4. We had no idea we were getting them before episode one started.

SAGA... try to keep up Vayne!! :)

I know right? I'm a slacker!

[Fueki.4753]

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:Just wondering...have you read the Release page (the Living World Magazine)? It offers more information.

I found that quite hard to read, visually.I'm not a fan of scanned magazines or anything that is designed to look that way.And it felt like half of it was just merchandize ads.

Other than that, it was just "Hey look a Charr festival, join in!" which we already knew was the focus of the Prologue.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"Randulf.7614" said:https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/september-04-2019/

Looks like a full episode, with meta events.

Yep, it sure looks like it from what we know so far. Perhaps the coming "chapters" will be much bigger than what we are used to from previous LW episodes? It could be that we will get to see "expansion-like content" in this new format after all. Who knows.

There's some interesting info on one of the pages ending with

"The Elder Dragons aren't what we thought they were"

I saw that, too, and my curiosity has been piqued, no doubt. :+1:

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

@Fueki.4753 said:

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:Just wondering...have you read the Release page (the Living World Magazine)? It offers more information.

I found that quite hard to read, visually.I'm not a fan of scanned magazines or anything that is designed to look that way.And it felt like half of it was just merchandize ads.

Other than that, it was just "Hey look a Charr festival, join in!" which we already knew was the focus of the Prologue.

Half of it? Hmm, you must have seen a different edition than I did. There's a handy 'zoom' feature at the bottom, as well. At least, there was on my edition.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Judging from the info in the faux Living World magazine, Strike Missions are just ten man versions of the bosses in the story content and the Prologue is an intro chapter to the Season. Turns out "Saga" is just part of the season's name and not the kind of content it is.

[Fueki.4753]

Did the other seasons even have names?I only remember the chapters having names.

[Randulf.7614]

@Fueki.4753 said:

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:Just wondering...have you read the Release page (the Living World Magazine)? It offers more information.

I found that quite hard to read, visually.I'm not a fan of scanned magazines or anything that is designed to look that way.And it felt like half of it was just merchandize ads.

Other than that, it was just "Hey look a Charr festival, join in!" which we already knew was the focus of the Prologue.

We also got previously unconfirmed lore on the dragons and their secondary spheres, confirmation of meta events, a couple of fun bits, a map preview...

Each part has a magnifier you click on to read more clearly. It isn’t meant to be read as is

[Arzurag.7506]

I totally ,missed the magazine which they released.I must say, even though I´m still worried, the few pictures of the new map do look promising.I´m not hyped over so little at all, that´s long gone but it´s at least more than which we got during the stream, maybe they do know what they´re doing.

[Randulf.7614]

@Fueki.4753 said:Did the other seasons even have names?I only remember the chapters having names.

The previous seasons did not, although LS1 became posthumously known as Scarlet’s War

[Stephane Lo Presti.7258]

Just so that we're all on the same page: the Prologue episode, called "Bound by Blood" and releasing on September 17, takes place before Episode 1 of the Icebrood Saga!

[LucianDK.8615]

So that makes it episode 0. It is even sized as a standard episode?

[WhatLiesBeneath.9018]

@LucianDK.8615 said:So that makes it episode 0. It is even sized as a standard episode?

Its a prologue to set the stage, its a normal episode only its called prologue.

[LucianDK.8615]

@WhatLiesBeneath.9018 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:So that makes it episode 0. It is even sized as a standard episode?

Its a prologue to set the stage, its a normal episode only its called prologue.

Prologues is rarely sized near full episodes of something, hence why im asking.

[WhatLiesBeneath.9018]

@LucianDK.8615 said:

@WhatLiesBeneath.9018 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:So that makes it episode 0. It is even sized as a standard episode?

Its a prologue to set the stage, its a normal episode only its called prologue.

Prologues is rarely sized near full episodes of something, hence why im asking.

OK.

[Brycar.2651]

Prologue doesn’t sound like an episode to me. From the descriptions it feels like a festival which will have some story telling as you enter act with NPCs. maybe a few small tasks as you follow the path. But mostly festival events.

Shorter than an episode.

BTW I think this sounds great.

[Wwefan.4982]

@WhatLiesBeneath.9018 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:So that makes it episode 0. It is even sized as a standard episode?

Its a prologue to set the stage, its a normal episode only its called prologue.

From what I've heard and seen it looks like a year long festival but thats just my opinion.

[Zaklex.6308]

@LucianDK.8615 said:

@WhatLiesBeneath.9018 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:So that makes it episode 0. It is even sized as a standard episode?

Its a prologue to set the stage, its a normal episode only its called prologue.

Prologues is rarely sized near full episodes of something, hence why im asking.

I don't know, I've seen and read some prologues that end up being longer than the first chapter/episode, so it depends on the delivery...and they did say that with the change to a Saga we may not always see content dropped as a completely separate "episode" but that we could get new content thrown into existing maps or existing maps being expanded in between.

[Randulf.7614]

@Brycar.2651 said:Prologue doesn’t sound like an episode to me. From the descriptions it feels like a festival which will have some story telling as you enter act with NPCs. maybe a few small tasks as you follow the path. But mostly festival events.

Shorter than an episode.

BTW I think this sounds great.

It’s a new map with the blood legion fortress and meta events. It sounds more like a normal episode, it’s just given a prologue name to be in keeping with the saga structure .

Anet seem tight lipped as always so we will find out in two weeks

[Ashantara.8731]

@WhatLiesBeneath.9018 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:So that makes it episode 0. It is even sized as a standard episode?

Its a prologue to set the stage, its a normal episode only its called prologue.

That's what's been discussed here back and forth. We don't know whether it will have the same size as later episodes, which now might be packed with a lot more content than we have seen before.

[PseudoNewb.5468]

@"Stephane Lo Presti.7258" said:Just so that we're all on the same page: the Prologue episode, called "Bound by Blood" and releasing on September 17, takes place before Episode 1 of the Icebrood Saga!

I don't think I am on the same page, yet...

So to confirm. Not all content releases will be of equal size, regardless of if it is story instances, new open world map areas, or other types of potential content for any part of the game? Is being a non-standard release what makes this release not a numbered episode? Does this also mean that there is going to be a more irregular release cadence? It seems there are still numbered episodes, though, so are numbered episodes things that have a targeted schedule, while everything else can be more variable?

Or is designating this as the prologue, strictly a narrative distinction?

I just want it explained clearly, I can guess there will be numbered episodes, non-numbered episodes, and other content releases through the living world calendar. But this is very uncertain to me. If there is not yet a concrete release idea for the foreseeable future, can the team explain, maybe this idea, but if not perhaps this second idea...? Just to provide clarity if not a "promise".

Does this also mean the login requirement tied to numbered episodes, so that any potential out of episode content will be designated as part of a numbered episode to determine it's release window, and inclusion in episode purchases in the gem store? For example does the prologue and episode 1 share the same release window for obtaining access for free?