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[Feedback] Shadow in the Ice


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  • Story: way too short, majorly disappointing (I'm fed up with being spoon-fed little bits every few months of what seems to be a well-written and interesting story arc; this is going to make me quit the game rather sooner than later)
  • Map enhancements: okay
  • Masteries: so-so
  • Events: okay
  • Combat: finally a challenging mission encounter again after all this time of sheer boredom regarding story fights...
  • Music: the best part of this episode, the soundtrack is great!
  • Ambience: great sound effects and a few spots of tense atmosphere

Additional criticism: Please stop having story dialogue and ambience/event dialogue overlap so that one cannot understand either and has to endure the resulting cacophony.

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This was a better epsidoe than last time, but very much one below the standard and capability of what Anet has produced before. I can't see this working long term now if this their delivery.

  • The story was OK. It had some meat to it, but the bit in the middle with Braham and the spirits had some of the worst dialogue since the PS. Very cheesy, very fan fiction. Aurene returning was a downer moment. The whole episode reminding us that we are simply not ther hero anymore. Just the one picking up everyone elses pieces. At least it was longer than last episode. Still not one to shout about though. It was simply too single minded, too quick and too one dimensional. Having said that, you did just enough to intrigue me with over arching story of what Jormag actually wants out of this. It is still, far, far, far too short.

  • the map was just bland. Half a map, very little map storytelling again and just not very engaging. Drakkars Lake should have been the centrepiece - not the bit we can't actually explore beyond a tunnel to one side of it. This was an iconic EOTN map and it was botched. It's clear GW's lore hold less meaning to the existing team, but where's the great map design and map storytelling of old?

  • 1 point AP continues. You really do not want to listen to that feedback I guess

  • Boreal Weapons. Hopefully a bug and covered elsewhere

  • Even the gemstore mount skin entry was seemingly rushed. It looked like something Doctor Moreau got his hands on. You can do way better than that for a design. It's completely misffiting within itself and doesn't even fit the GW2 World either.

  • the masteries. Haven't maxed them. Will judge later

  • excellent soundtrack and can't fault the atmosphere

  • Drakkar. This is what you got wrong the most above all else. This was your chance to showcase your talents for boss making and produce something like Gerent, Triple Trouble, Tequatl, Vinewrath, Marionette. Instead, you gave us a HP sponge, hidden amongst visual noise (seriously why is visual noise still an issue here??) with the only mechanic being the portals which added nothing to the fight. There was never any danger of failing. The boss looked cool what little was visible amongst the effects and bubble shields

Drakkar should have been swimming under the lake with us on the surface. A big open area, with wide vistas and engaging mechanics to split us all up like in the other fights, not a crammed in a tiny cave fight with only auto attacking required. You get severely punished in melee if you want to actually see the boss as well because you can't see anything beyiond the visual noise problem you point blank refuse to either acknowledge or solve.

Drakkar - you dropped the ball...big time. I am massively disappointed you didn't care or want to push back the episode and take the time to develop the fight enough to do justice to such an iconic GW boss. I'm not even going to dignify his instance fight given how quickly dismissed it was. And not even by us.

If you combined the two episodes together, it still wouldn't be up to par of what you are capable of producing in a single episode. Or am I wrong? Has so much happened to the company that even the ambition and innovation are now all gone?

The map and story are what they are now. They can't be changed, but since I know you don't like criticism let me at least urge some constructive changes;

1) Sort the Drakkar fight out and make it great. Give it some mechanics. Ditch the visual noise pollution and try and design something we have to learn and overcome. This is an iconic boss after all. Put it on par with Gerent difficulty and give suitable rewards.2) Re-do the Pegasus skin to something looking more natural3) Sort the Boreal weapon bug out4) Add some interesting events into the map that draw on some regional flavour. Tell some other stories that build up the local world. You used to do this brilliantly5) Make episode 3 bigger. Whatever you have planned, review it. If it's not up to what you are capable of delivering then delay it and go back and work on it. You risk this turning into the weakest Season yet after such a positive start in the Prologue.

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I love the map. I love the music in it. The story wasn't bad, I don't know what some people expect like some tolkien kind of story from game writers.

I am not so sure about the lightpuzzles yet, the one I found seemed to be some kind of hybrid of jumping puzzle but with a timer to make it more annoying. I heard there were 3 so I hope the rest isnt as annoying as this one.

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@Randulf.7614 said:This was a better epsidoe than last time

I disagree.

Drakkar - you dropped the ball...big time. I am massively disappointed you didn;t care or want to push back the episode and take the time to develop the fight enough to do justice to such an iconic GW boss. I'm not even going to dignify his instance fight given how quickly dismissed it was. And not even by us.

That is true. The mechanics at least posed some challenge compared to the boring fights we have had for the past six months.

If you combined the two episodes together, it still wouldn't be up to par of what you are capable of producing in a single episode.

Episodic releases are just a bad idea altogether. They cannot compete with an expansion, especially not at this length (it was over before I had really gotten into the story).

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The story is too short and shoving events in there didn't help at all.I'd rather have had another story instance helping the Kodan with a smaller Icebrood Problem rather than picking up fish I just killed.The Boneskinner-and-mushrooms event was just pure and distilled annoyance. It has more in common with a game of luck than anything else.Drakkar was just anti-climactic. Both in the story and the Meta event. I don't look forward to doing it again for the mastery Point below.The masteries are continuations of episode 1, being the same pointlessness.All these Complete X event 20 times achievements give me the feeling Arenanet didn't know what kind of actual content to put into the map to prolong its time played and they went the cheap road with making players grind.I haven't done the new Strike Mission yet, so I can't comment on that one.

I didn't expect much, but this was below my expectations.They should rename it from episodes to snippets.

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@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:This was a better epsidoe than last time

I disagree.

Drakkar - you dropped the ball...big time. I am massively disappointed you didn;t care or want to push back the episode and take the time to develop the fight enough to do justice to such an iconic GW boss. I'm not even going to dignify his instance fight given how quickly dismissed it was. And not even by us.

That is true. The mechanics at least posed some challenge compared to the boring fights we have had for the past six months.

If you combined the two episodes together, it still wouldn't be up to par of what you are capable of producing in a single episode.

Episodic releases are just a bad idea altogether. They cannot compete with an expansion, especially not at this length (it was over before I had really gotten into the story).

There was zero challenge in the Drakkar fight. The mechanics just added a way to break the fight up a bit and extend the time. It would have been better at least to force players into all 3 portals simultaneously.. The debuff you get from doing a portal wasn't a hindrance, because there was always going to be a small group to go in and beat on the champ even if most were blocked out. And the smaller the group, the quicker the champ died.

Can really crow about the expansion stories either? HoT was a huge missed opportunity. PoF was def better, but was clearly rushing it after the halfway mark. As soon as we went after the Vizier and took his place, all the substance was taken out. They failed to really build on Balthazar's motivations enough to make him anything but a one dimensional villain.

So yes, in theory expansions SHOULD be better stories (and we know campaigns work from GW1), but apart from the first half of PoF, I don;t think Anet have delivered there either in GW2. But I agree, episodes are a poor way of delivering a story in a game. It is sadly what we have and all we can judge them on.

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SPOILER HEAVY

Okay so I never usually post in feedback threads but I'm going to this time around. I tend to enjoy most episodes even if they are a little on the light side but this time around I'm feeling a little...underwhelmed.

Story: I did like the fact the Commander needed help and didn't take centre stage as per the norm. I'm not sure if I like Braham's new found power and wasn't sure I liked how we helped him get it but I think maybe the dialogue wasn't up to par here as I just didn't appreciate the gravitas of the situation. But worse of all here was the length....I didn't expect an entire evening but wow was that short and what was up with throwing like 4-5 mobs at a time at the party in the tunnel?? However seeing Aurene again is a pleasure for me, she's beautiful >.<

Map: I can't comment much here as I've never been a fan of wintery scenes anyway so I'm not sure how I feel. Second half of the map = enough content for me. My only negative is the multiple 'fishing' locations all with the same mechanic. Copy&paste.

Music: Amazing. No need for any other comment here.

Masteries: Honestly meh, but then I'm against masteries in the first place. It's just a new 'skill' hidden behind an exp wall. I killed mobs for 30 mins to get the first, no skill involved.

.....Drakkar: I maybe expected too much but that was a huge disappointment. I read somewhere of a 'Tequatl-like fight'....maybe I shouldn't have read that. Yeh the mechanics are more interesting than general world boss fights and the location is pretty different and cool but I didnt understand the need to go through gates to defeat an easy Champ, I didn't see the need for the elites in there at all and it's yet another 'stack on it's foot and DPS' fight we see all too often! If there's no unique loot then this boss is just gonna be another 'in the rotation' boss. Nothing special at all.

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@Randulf.7614 said:So yes, in theory expansions SHOULD be better stories (and we know campaigns work from GW1), but [...]

Maybe I didn't phrase it properly, but you really misunderstood me. What I meant was that getting the Icebrood Saga as an expansion would have resulted in a much more satisfying experience than receiving little bits and pieces every few months, making it feel inconsistent and unimmersive. That's no way to build up a story and ensure a consistent quality and depth.

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@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:So yes, in theory expansions SHOULD be better stories (and we know campaigns work from GW1), but [...]

Maybe I didn't phrase it properly, but you really misunderstood me. What I meant was that getting the Icebrood Saga as an expansion would have resulted in a much more satisfying experience than receiving little bits and pieces every few months, making it feel inconsistent and unimmersive. That's no way to build up a story and ensure a consistent quality and depth.

OK yes that didn't come across in your post at all.

In which case, I would agree given what have received so far.

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I didn't read what is said here because i didn't play the biggest part of this new episode. So, i try to not be spoiled too much. I was just looking for the right thread for a feedback. A small one. About strike mission.

I'm glad this new one feels a bit challenging. Kind of. The boss doesn't have a lot of life so the fight is fast. But the mechanics are good (in my opinion). But what i've noticed is that the chain mechanic doesn't have any particular sound. Even the usual sound you can hear in fractals or in raid. The same sound you here everytime you're chosen by the RNG Gods. The question is why ?

Can you please add it ?Because with all the mess while you fight, and because I'm used to set the camera far from my tiny asura (some raids habits) i couldn't notice the "timer" above my head. And guys in my squad had a hard time with it too.

It's the only thing i've noticed so far: the lack of UI sound. Every thing else is fine by me (everything but the boreal weapons crisis... But I don't know enough about it to share my two cents)

Ps: i love the pegasus the way it is !Pps: what about a turtle skin for the roller beetle now ? My son is still calling these mounts "turtle motorbikes" and wish for this skin. He's 3 years old. Make him happy. <3Ppps: I'm glad you added new achievements in Grothmar.

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good:

  • the story was oke
  • The corruption arc was pretty cool
  • The fight with yourself and with rytlock was nice. The battle with drakkar was cool in general, until the moment Bangar came in.
  • The forgotten-like version of Jormag was pretty cool.
  • Jormags wispers are nice
  • The new music is nice.

bad:

  • the story was very short
  • being one-shot by Bangar was really lame (He just cant do that, bc he is definitely less stronger then Drakkar. And Drakkar was not able to so much damage. It was really weird, felt inconsistent and not immersive. ).
  • It was lame that Bangar showed up and stole our kill.
  • Bangars plan is just too stupid, and therefore is character is unbelievable.
  • I did not like te return of the hall of monuments. If you make it return, then do something with it. Dont make it just one instance. It was weird bc they did not update the looks for the GW1 veteran version of the same room. Update the looks of my hall of monuments!
  • Some events were not functioning well. This is because they did not explain what you had to do. And because the ox event was bugged.
  • The map condition stack mechanics are not fun.
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1.Let my launcher run last night to install patch, woke up to a failure to apply message. redownload= minor2.Got in, no story. Check story tab to see 350 gems, but it quickly fixes itself= annoying but minor

  1. Hyped to get in and start. Find another artificially stretched map forcing you through round about paths to make it feel bigger so we have our mounts but their impact is minimized, per Post-PoF. As well as the other standard of knockdown/chill/bleed/slow/vulnerability/etc spam on every mob=minor
  2. Drakkar hype, find escort.........broken= beginning of personal breakpoint
  3. Lets check out the new weapons........discover I have to remake all the t2 weapons again...........I'm done/logout/create this forum post/ go play something else and wait for hotfixes and updates

I get the "happens every patch" argument......but why should flaws be "the norm"? I have invested alot of time and money over the past 3+ years and want to see a lasting healthy game, that's why i give feedback.

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There really needs to be a separate achievement category for strike missions and strike mission achievements should not count towards story mastery achievements.

T3 Boreal weapons require the T2 exotic weapons without giving us any information beforehand we should keep them? (T1 to T2 only required you to have the skin unlocked) Not very nice of you, Arenanet.

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@brenda.9723 said:

@brenda.9723 said:being one-shot by Bangar was really lame

He was using Eir's magical bow, so...

Eir and Braham have never one-shot an enemy with this bow, so the bow cant be it.

Eir didn't have the Jotun magic which is specifically able to severely damage Jormag/Icebrood. Braham obtained that in S3 and added it to his bow to smash Jormags tooth. It being able to finish off (we already had done most of the damage) that avatar is perfectly in keeping with the magic it held.

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Three words: "that was it?"

When even WP has a short vid about the patch notes ....

I have not walked back to the old map to check yet but going in it looked like the usual portal between adjoining maps not an extension of one like we got in DT. Plus those of us who did the previous story had to do the story to get into this stub.

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First off, Drakkar was nothing but a skeleton in a lake in GW1, a lake mind you that is probably a little smaller than the current broken ice version in this release. He was nothing in GW1, not a boss or anything, just a skeleton that turned Svanir to Jormag. I liken this to reading a good book series, you have to wait an eternity for the next release, at least with this game it's only a month or two between episodes, so the wait isn't as long.But I'm not as cynical as some or expect a lot either, so it's harder to be disappointed.

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I liked the episode, but it did feel rushed. A few changes to the storytelling and scenes between characters would have made it much more immersive, and would have stretched the episode out to a better length.

My criticisms:-The interactions between Braham and Wolverine, Eagle, and Ox. The dialogue was fine, but the way they implemented it--with a giant ghost Braham standing still, talking to a giant ghost animal also standing still--was not visually or emotionally convincing. I think it would've been better if we got a short cut-scene (with the option to skip) showing Braham walking up to the cleansed shrine and speaking to the spirit. The spirit should have had more gestures and movements as it spoke--like wolverine peeling back its jaws in a snarl when it mocked Braham, or Eagle perching on top of her shrine instead of flying, and using wing movements to emphasize her opinion.TLDR: Braham is more convincing in person, then as a giant floaty ghost. The spirit animals need to use more gestures and body movement to show their emotion.

-The way we communicated with Rytlock and Crecia over the comm. We hear that they are tracking Bangar over lots of territory. But, like... where? Obviously it isn't happening in the tiny map area we get to explore. In fact, across all of Bjora marches, there are no signs of charr anywhere. Sure, people SAY they came through... but there need to be signs of it reflected on the map and in map events. Charr corpses here and there, remains where they made camp or dropped something. Perhaps an injured soldier or deserter we can interact with. At the very least, the Kodan and Svanir NPC's running around should have more commentary about it.TLDR: Give us more signs of Bangar's army and other stuff the NPC's tell us is happening, by leaving signs for us to find."Hey George, did you see all those charr?""Yeah, I saw them. I was gonna pull down my pants and moon them, but Jormag said no.""Jormag has plans for them. Also, quit mooning people."

-The story was too short. It could have been drawn out more by using some of the suggestions above. Take more time to extend and put emotion into the cutscenes with Braham. Instead of letting us travel to the 3 Shrines as map-wide events, have that journey be another instance. Have us travel from point A to point B WITH Braham, and have us find signs of Bangar's army or have conversations/events with Kodan and Braham on the way to expand the lore. Overall, SLOW EVERYTHING DOWN and use the time to give us more side story, more character development for NPC's, and more immersion.TLDR: More instances instead of map-wide events to continue the story. Slow things down to allow more interaction with NPC's and the world.

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saw the update: but the hype is gone for me now (see my first post 6 or 8 above this). Just can't get the hype back on anew episode once its lost, just sayin, first impressions will make or break it for players, especially spenders. I'll hopefully get the willpower back later tonite or in the next few days.Just completely let down with Anet right now

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@Zaklex.6308 said:First off, Drakkar was nothing but a skeleton in a lake in GW1, a lake mind you that is probably a little smaller than the current broken ice version in this release. He was nothing in GW1, not a boss or anything, just a skeleton that turned Svanir to Jormag. I liken this to reading a good book series, you have to wait an eternity for the next release, at least with this game it's only a month or two between episodes, so the wait isn't as long.But I'm not as cynical as some or expect a lot either, so it's harder to be disappointed.

Given the location of Silfhalla to the west instead of the north east, that fractured ice lake doesn't appear to be the original Drakkar lake (which is a lot bigger in GW1).

Drakkar also wasn't a skeleton, it was a fully slumbering beast. No we didn't fight it nor did we know what it truly was until GW2, but it's one of those names which the legend and the lore mixed together to create something bigger than what it started out as. It an integral an important part of the Svanir/Jora/Jormag/Norn lore which makes it an important name. Much like how Kralk and Primordus were both nothing in GW1 but obviously became highly significant.

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Didnt played it yet, but i have a feeling theres old problems came to stay:

  • the tradition of episode 3 of each season have rushed map: bitterfrost frontier, domain of Kourna.
  • their hate for coeherent content, the only new title is locked behind a jumping puzzle, the "new" armor didnt have appeal to anyone who want roleplay a "winter wasteland adventurer". how much i miss neverwinter where titles/armors/rewards are tied to boss u kill/map u explore, for example if u kill a dragon whatsover on a "dragon nest" map u get a "dragon killer title", also u get titles for completing armors, and the armors was related to content that deliver them....,
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