Last two LW stories

[Daddicus.6128]

I keep reading that the last couple of Living World episodes were terrible. However, I can't figure out for the life of me what they're talking about. I thought the story and action have been good.

If you didn't like episodes 2 and/or 3, please enlighten me as to why not. I just don't understand.

[Memoranda.9386]

I think the greatest complaint has been how short of the story for each episode. And they do seem rather short to me, as everything went along at a brisk pace.

Suits me fine, though, as I'm less fussy about those kinds of things as I used to be.

[Blocki.4931]

Quality was high imoA little short, but the map(s) carried it, definitely. Had a great time exploring, haven't done the Drakkar meta or the strike mission yet though.Only thing I didn't like story wise was how Drakkar was made to be so menacing and then the Whisper jumps out immediately. Would have liked a bit more spectacle around Jormag's champion.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

The classic "it was not what I - ME - wanted, hence it is bad".

The major qualm most have had is their length. And, for some part, the difficulty (or lack of, thereof). I think we can all agree, however, that the visual, art and music teams kick it out of the park each and every time.

[AgentMoore.9453]

I have several issues with them, but the greatest I think is that the suspension of disbelief is shattered by how much is done by the story characters in what seems like such a short time span.

The problems don't feel like problems, the solutions seem cheap, and even the mortal injuries seem like mild irritations. Characters win redemption too quickly, enemies are introduced and immediately defeated before any sense of actual dread can occur (Drakkar, Boneskinner), and the Spirits of the Wild come off as inconsequential side characters rather than the revered entities of Norn culture the game had previously made them out to be.

It isn't that I didn't appreciate the work put into some parts of the releases (always a fan of ambient dialogue, puzzles, achievements, and general map design), but I kept getting shaken out of the story by how unbelievable and abrupt certain things were and how important things (like meeting spirits face-to-face or encountering the Boneskinner for the first time) got such lackluster treatment. They could have spread these things across more episodes, probably, and devoted more time to a story that connects you to what's happening instead of setting up a series of pins to be knocked down.

[Bish.8627]

I quite enjoyed them, they seem focused on writing rather than time gated activities.

[Dark Red Killian.3946]

People talk about the episodes being short, which they are compared to previous season 4 episodes, but you have to realize these were released exact at 2 mo rather than the 4 mo we were getting previously. If you look at it as one episode it is a fairly decent sized map and story chunk. I enjoyed the evolving map when we had dry top, and this is no different, but they continue to add to the Grothmar map and Bjora, which was cool. Hopefully they can continue adding to the maps as the sage goes on, maybe one episode adding hero challenges for hero points, and then adding elite specs in. It could work and could be a cool way of expanding as the saga continues.

[thepenmonster.3621]

@Daddicus.6128 said:I keep reading that the last couple of Living World episodes were terrible. However, I can't figure out for the life of me what they're talking about.

Haters are gonna hate.

@"NorthernRedStar.3054" said:The classic "it was not what I - ME - wanted, hence it is bad".

^This.

The sad part is that even if Anet did dedicate an entire production cycle to raids, fractals and competitive modes they'd still complain about them. Because that's what they've always done.

[Cyninja.2954]

As mentioned: haters gonna hate.

I loved the story of both episodes. I disliked that the episodes were way way way to short, no I don't count event fluffing as actual story content. There is a ton of details which went into creating atmosphere, most of which I thoroughly enjoyed, Jormang whispering to us constantly being one of them.

Had both last episodes been 1 episode story content wise, this would have been amazing imo.

[Randulf.7614]

If you read the feedback threads you will discover the issues we are raising.

Tha main issues stem from the lowered bar that is being perceived

• map design less interesting both content and graphically. Obviously that is subjective and there is no consensus on what makes a good map
• Drakkar being just a long Zerg boss with little mechanics
• Story mostly fine but far too short and not really delving into the lore at all. Ep2 was particularly short and Ep3 didn’t really go as far as the potential it had to
• Masteries not being particularly interesting (mind you they have grown on me over time)
• There was a big objection on the way Almorras death was handled
• Some players don’t like strikes intruding on the meta

Ultimately it comes down to the bite sized content. Those who have criticised it are really after more. This Saga hasn’t really done much for 3 episodes, simply because the last two have been essentially half episodes.

Personally I’d rather wait and get a bigger chunk and higher quality than accept “this is all we can do in the time frame”

Bear in mind the feedback is relatively evenly split been liking and hating the episodes. So it’s not all bad. I think it just needs.....more.

[Dante.1763]

@Randulf.7614 said:If you read the feedback threads you will discover the issues we are raising.

Outside of the ending and the length it wasnt that bad. Alot of the feedback threads i see and the complaints raised are towards strikes and the maps/meta.

[maddoctor.2738]

@Daddicus.6128 said:I keep reading that the last couple of Living World episodes were terrible. However, I can't figure out for the life of me what they're talking about. I thought the story and action have been good.

If you didn't like episodes 2 and/or 3, please enlighten me as to why not. I just don't understand.

You mean episodes 1 and 2 as the Prologue is episode 0. My one complaint about the story in both episodes is that it lacks any kind of action or mechanics. I know story isn't supposed to be hard, but this is personal story level of challenge and it's very annoying considering how players that experience this story must've played Path of Fire at the very least. The expansion had interesting fights, the living world story so far has lower level of challenge even than the very first instance of the expansion.

Edit: also not touching the map, the meta, the rewards and so on. Drakkar for example is a terrible fight. But from a strict story perspective, it's the excitement of the fights that I find really low.

[Pifil.5193]

@AgentMoore.9453 said:I have several issues with them, but the greatest I think is that the suspension of disbelief is shattered by how much is done by the story characters in what seems like such a short time span.

The problems don't feel like problems, the solutions seem cheap, and even the mortal injuries seem like mild irritations. Characters win redemption too quickly, enemies are introduced and immediately defeated before any sense of actual dread can occur (Drakkar, Boneskinner), and the Spirits of the Wild come off as inconsequential side characters rather than the revered entities of Norn culture the game had previously made them out to be.

It isn't that I didn't appreciate the work put into some parts of the releases (always a fan of ambient dialogue, puzzles, achievements, and general map design), but I kept getting shaken out of the story by how unbelievable and abrupt certain things were and how important things (like meeting spirits face-to-face or encountering the Boneskinner for the first time) got such lackluster treatment. They could have spread these things across more episodes, probably, and devoted more time to a story that connects you to what's happening instead of setting up a series of pins to be knocked down.

This sums it up very well for me, I find the story enjoyable but far too short and as a result it feels rushed, clipped and ultimately anticlimactic. It's been a problem from the very beginning, IMO, but the story in the last two episodes has been especially short and rushed.

[zealex.9410]

Prob most ppl find the story parts to be short (which i agree to an extend) compaired to older episodes (like se4's) but theres one improtand difference here: we get these episodes twice as fast than we did in se4. i found 3 to 4 months of w8 for an episode that ultimately had 2 hours of story and a bigger map to be very unhealthy for the game.

I feel like the sweet spot is either consistently every 2 months or every 3 months.

Ofc they could be bad updates because largely fuck all is happening with the rest of the game when they release, its been 9 months since the last raid and over a year since the last fractal and pvp/wvw only now are starting to see some content.

[zealex.9410]

@Randulf.7614 said:If you read the feedback threads you will discover the issues we are raising.

Tha main issues stem from the lowered bar that is being perceived

• map design less interesting both content and graphically. Obviously that is subjective and there is no consensus on what makes a good map
• Drakkar being just a long Zerg boss with little mechanics
• Story mostly fine but far too short and not really delving into the lore at all. Ep2 was particularly short and Ep3 didn’t really go as far as the potential it had to
• Masteries not being particularly interesting (mind you they have grown on me over time)
• There was a big objection on the way Almorras death was handled
• Some players don’t like strikes intruding on the meta

Ultimately it comes down to the bite sized content. Those who have criticised it are really after more. This Saga hasn’t really done much for 3 episodes, simply because the last two have been essentially half episodes.

Personally I’d rather wait and get a bigger chunk and higher quality than accept “this is all we can do in the time frame”

Bear in mind the feedback is relatively evenly split been liking and hating the episodes. So it’s not all bad. I think it just needs.....more.

I feel like the first point is idd subjective, i found only a couple of the maps in se4 to be great i both content and looks, most of them look great (anet is always nailing that imo) except ep3's (that update was easily the worst lw update to date) and i continue to find them great in se5. Rewards wise se4 had a fair share of metas while other maps to me felt fairly weak, which is infact the case with s5 i feel like.

I think they hit the peak with ep 4 of se4 imo both in content, map looks and story but honestly thats one episode out of an entire season, i wouldnt blame se5 for not having what took se4 multiple delays and a 3 to 4 month cadense to achieve for one episode.

What i find really weak in se5 so far is how passive the story instances feel, i have the feeling that se3 and 4 were more action packed and active with bosses, more fights, more interesting instances and objectives, while se5 feels alot more talky and standy and passive. I really hope it starts picking up soon.

[Daddicus.6128]

OK, so I must have just come across some people who were louder than the average.

Thank you!