What would be nice about Season 1 replayabilty, which unfortunetely is unlikely

[Michram.6853]

that we wouldn't just play the recycled content, but actually getting to play stories that happened off screen, that we found out about it in Season 2 - I'm talking about Scarlet seeing the vision of the All, Omadd's death etc. More diving into this character, what happened after the visions of Caithe's past, when Secondborn awoke (Seeds of Truth instance).

Everybody that cares about the story knows about her madness, but I'd love to see and interact with Scarlet before the vision of Eternal Alchemy.

That would actually be something so unique to see all the character's background stories, not just witnessing how Taimi appeared in the story out of nowhere - knowing her life as a progeny and interactions with Zojja etc. That would be a unique Season 1 experience, not replaying few episodes that were shorter than Season 2 ones.

[The Greyhawk.9107]

I think I'd rather have a root canal than go through more of Scarlet's background, but I'm not necessarily opposed to seeing some of the past experiences of the main characters, like the Taimi example you described. I can't say I'm particularly enthused about the idea either.

[Randulf.7614]

If it means playing as a character not my own, my answer is no. I get why you want the filler but I hate playing “out of character” like that horrible Caithe episode in ls2.

I’m quite happy with the hologram diary in ls2 that gives us Scarlets background

[Randulf.7614]

In further thought, Im struggling to see how this will provide engaging gameplay content. They are really better suited to short web story formats like the ones we saw at the end of LS4. Im not always a big fan of trying to fill in every little gap and detail in fantasy writing though.

[Abraxxus.8971]

All that might eventually happen with the Scrying Pool and Visions of the Past

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

what I would like is being able to visit and experience Lions Arch.

The new one looks like a tourist ressort town. Pretty at the first glance but utterly without a soul. The old one had character...

[Tyson.5160]

@"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:what I would like is being able to visit and experience Lions Arch.

The new one looks like a tourist ressort town. Pretty at the first glance but utterly without a soul. The old one had character...

Yeah one of the charr soldiers in game states this too

[Kanok.3027]

As someone who wanted to play through LWS1 but never got the chance due to joining after HoT was already out for a while, I'm VERY elated by this and can't wait. I liked the story and if we get to play as our own characters, but going through the story again, then yeah, I'm ALL for it. I was wanting this for a long time and I'm finally getting it...now if only we'd get World 3 and 4 in SAB...THEN I'd be extremely happy. Ah, a man can dream...

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

What would be nice... is if there's a way that we can earn access to the Old Lion's arch permanently. Back when it had charm and was more visually interesting.

[The Greyhawk.9107]

@"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:what I would like is being able to visit and experience Lions Arch.

The new one looks like a tourist ressort town. Pretty at the first glance but utterly without a soul. The old one had character...

You aren't wrong, the old oLA, while a hot mess, did have character and soul. In general the new Lion's Arch is another one of those "good idea but poorly implemented" things that's becoming emblematic of Anet.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@"Arden.7480" said:that we wouldn't just play the recycled content, but actually getting to play stories that happened off screen, that we found out about it in Season 2 - I'm talking about Scarlet seeing the vision of the All, Omadd's death etc. More diving into this character, what happened after the visions of Caithe's past, when Secondborn awoke (Seeds of Truth instance).

Everybody that cares about the story knows about her madness, but I'd love to see and interact with Scarlet before the vision of Eternal Alchemy.

That would actually be something so unique to see all the character's background stories, not just witnessing how Taimi appeared in the story out of nowhere - knowing her life as a progeny and interactions with Zojja etc. That would be a unique Season 1 experience, not replaying few episodes that were shorter than Season 2 ones.

If it meant completely rewriting and retconning the details of the short story, I would be fine with having some in-game means to experience that. In all honesty, that one short story is undoubtably the worst aspect of the Scarlet Briar character, particularly how every training situation effectively ends with "they tried to kill her, but she merrily went on her way".

But other than a recap cinematic like we have now, or some journal that we got from S1 and S2, I'm not sure how to best go about it, because that particular short story is very time-skippy.

Plus, all of that rather already existed in in-game form. But the biggest chunks of it comes from The Dead End: A Study in Scarlet and Closing Ceremony (talking to Vorpp). Pretty sure there were more cases of going over it too. Which are both entirely possible to return in a future release, if they keep bringing back Season 1 like they are with Visions of the Past.

In related topic of "seeing all the character's background stories" - other short stories already - like Rox's, Braham's, and Ellen Kiel's - would also be a bit hard to do in-game as they were presented in the blogs. Having short stories outside of the game isn't a bad thing anyways. Keep in mind, that Guild Wars 2 is a combat-centric game. If the story doesn't involve a lot of content or platform puzzle, then it would be just as much as watching a show. At which point, I would rather have out-of-game short stories or an actual show done (come to think of it, I would just love a series of animation shorts done in the art style of the Icebrood Saga's art).

Truth be told, what I want to see most out of S1's return, even if it is temporary, is Kessex Hills before, and during, the Tower of Nightmares. For the former: there's quite a lot that wasn't documented and the wiki is lacking. For the latter, a lot of important or interesting stuff existed for that brief two months that should get included in a full S1 'remake' somehow.

@Randulf.7614 said:If it means playing as a character not my own, my answer is no. I get why you want the filler but I hate playing “out of character” like that horrible Caithe episode in ls2.I'm usually somewhere along the same line of thought as you, but here, I wholeheartedly disagree. In GW1, some of my favorite content was the Bonus Mission packs, where we got to play through events that our character couldn't experience.

Granted, in GW2, we got the fractals. And that's pretty good. The problem, however, is that the fractals are "affected by the Mists and our presence" so they're not 100% accurate to Tyria's history.

@Randulf.7614 said:I’m quite happy with the hologram diary in ls2 that gives us Scarlets backgroundEh, that hologram diary doesn't really touch the same stuff as the short story. It expanded it though.

@"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:what I would like is being able to visit and experience Lions Arch.

The new one looks like a tourist ressort town. Pretty at the first glance but utterly without a soul. The old one had character...Dunno about the soul bit, but I do prefer old LA over the new Trader's Plaza. That said, I rather like the look of Marriner's Quarter, and really wish all of LA looked like that in the reconstruction. A mix of old wooden structures, with new concrete structures, and not a sea creature fake-structure in sight.

That said, still waiting on that gemstore VIP pass to an Old LA hub, ANET!

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@Kanok.3027 said:As someone who wanted to play through LWS1 but never got the chance due to joining after HoT was already out for a while, I'm VERY elated by this and can't wait. I liked the story and if we get to play as our own characters, but going through the story again, then yeah, I'm ALL for it. I was wanting this for a long time and I'm finally getting it...now if only we'd get World 3 and 4 in SAB...THEN I'd be extremely happy. Ah, a man can dream...

Just note, that Visions of the Past will only be adding four missions that were the first combat-orientating meetings with Braham, Rox, Kasmeer, Marjory, and Canach. Not our first meetings with them, and not even remotely close to half of S1's story.

There were about 30 story instances, and 10 open world dialogue/event chains, with the 2 dungeons. We have 2/3rds (roughly) of both dungeons via fractals (which have already become fairly different than the original experience outside most dialogue), and will soon have 4/~30 instances.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

@Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497 said:What would be nice... is if there's a way that we can earn access to the Old Lion's arch permanently. Back when it had charm and was more visually interesting.

We need a Historical Lion's Arch Portal Pass. Your typical premium pass, but set in an entire map instead of a tiny part of one. It would be fitting because for those who remember, this is exactly what the old LA was always used for.

Though I suppose it wouldn't be quite the same with only a dozen people at the Trading Post instead of 40-50+.

[Randulf.7614]

Yeah... I hated those those GW1 bonus missions as well. I had no interest in playing a historical figure with skills not my own. I didn’t enjoy any of those bonus missions I played

I get why people liked it and I understand Anet will likely have done it for the Visions content, but I personally hate the concept of not playing as my character.

I suspect Visions will be an ongoing thing so more la1 stuff will come later