Why is Living World such a flop?

[Zola.6197]

@Solvar.7953 said:The post about GW1 (and each release having a full story) reminds me a problem with LS story, which is that with 2 months between installments, it is pretty easy to forget various details about what is going on. I know some folks re-play the previous episode shortly before the next release to refresh their memory.But it also feels like a lot of the more recent stories have characters just running around the map doing mostly pointless stuff, just as a way to stretch out the release. GW2 has never been very good about side stories - it is pretty much the main story, or various map events which are things going on, but don't add much to the story.

They have developed weird/problematic habits as a studio. Their former endeavor to add a full map every living story release means they're spending less time on the story, as all the general map/event dialogue factors into their 'budgets' story content. In the end, we often get story releases that are fairly short wherein there's little time to develop characters and meaningfully explore their stories, motivations, and relationships. Adding to this, they often run out of time to complete all the content they want to create for the explorable map, so they have to cut things that have left certain living story releases feeling very bare bones (Kourna is the clearest example of this, imo).

I was glad when they decided to slow down with Icebrood Saga and release maps in parts, but they weren't event allowed to develop a rhythm with that before EoDs suddenly materialized.

One thing I like about Champions is the return to older maps for new stories. The dialogue/character conflicts were some of the most interesting I've witnessed in this game since 2012. If ANet could strike a balance between creating new content while still utilizing the older assets, I feel the story could be so much better. Honestly, the living story seasons would be so much stronger if they primarily took us back to older maps with longer/meatier story chapters. Maybe not every release, but the bulk of them. One or two new maps a season, with the rest of the drama taking place in familiar locations. The devs would have so much more time to really dig into their development process, and when it's time for truly 'new' content to drop in the form of maps or expansions, they've had freedom to fully realize their designs without sacrificing too much in the process.

Of course I'm not working this industry, so everything I say/theorize has to be taken with a grain of salt. At this point I think it's too late to correct course, as the community is used to a certain format of content delivery. A lot of people have been upset since Champions was announced because they're not getting a new map for a while (in tandem with the extra short story content). I don't think Champions is a total failure personally, but I can't blame them for becoming accustomed to the system ANet designed.