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  • ArenaNet Staff

Here's the thread in which we'd love you to share your high-level feedback on the new Living World episode. Individual threads also are welcome, but this thread would be a great place to share a synopsis of your impressions. As always, brevity is appreciated, so if you can provide your top comments in under 100 words, that would be great!

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100 words or less version:

Story: Where is Zojja? Bring back Zojja. Stop ignoring her and give us an update on her that is not hearsay. Almost quit the game because of the story. Stop busing or trying to bus characters I like. Needs a lot less Rytlock. Stop trying to push Rytlock down my throat. Boss AOE spam in story instances needs to be cut back severely.

Map: Enjoying the map so far. The pirate renown heart is a bit tedious though. Love the concept of Sunspear raids as a meta. Beautiful scenery.

Long version:

Likes:

I really love the new map. I like the idea of Sunspear raids as part of the meta. It's a lot more noticeable than the metas in the PoF maps. The map is also really beautiful. The hearts (save for the pirate one) are also mostly hassle-free and don't take too much time to go through.

Dislikes:

The story. I almost quit the game because of the story. Anet's really starting to push my patience with the story. For starters, I'm sick and tired of Rytlock. There needs to be a lot less of him. He's not a likable character. He's not cool. He's not funny. He's not redeemable. His only defining character trait is that he's a jerk.

! Also, stop trying to bus characters I like. It's bad enough Anet did that with Zojja but they almost did it with Taimi too. If you're gonna bus or fridge a character I like, then be fair about it and do the same to a character I don't like (starting with Rytlock).

Finally, regarding the story, the constant "everyone/everything is in danger" grimdark drama story telling is getting really tiring without there being something positive or uplifting to counter it. It's one disaster or catastrophe after another without a real break in between and it's tiring.

The boss AOE spam in the later story instances really needs to be scaled back a lot. It feels like I'm playing a SHMUP (and I haven't played a SHMUP in a long time).

Overall, I'd give this episode a 5/10. What could have been a great episode overall was let down by shoddy story telling (once again). My enjoyment of the new map content keeps the score from being a 0/10.

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@CaboSoul.1204 said:

  1. Last boss fight lasts way too long.
  2. No skins (not counting mini's and tonics if there are any), especially no mount skins, as in game rewards.

I agree on both these parts, and I will add that there are way too many tedious fights, where it starts to feel like a boring slog to lengthen the story instances. Trash mobs have too much health.

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  • Way too many visual effects in "Eye of the Brandstorm”: the brandstorm around us, the ligntnings, the energy domes … I went from my usual 30 FPS to 16 FPS there.

  • Too much happening at the same time in “Eye of the Brandstorm”. We are told to quickly destroy the crystals and then our characters says, "wait, was that Aurene?". Where? Player attention would be the on crystals; players can’t afford to look around or at the sky.

  • Too many control effects in the boss fight for "Eye of the Brandstorm" - there are five different mechanics causing them. Waaaay too much.

  • Too much Taimi. The very first thing when we begin the episode is she talking to us, not to mention everything that happens later. Please kill her.

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One thing I want to ask people because I can't test it myself, is in reference to a small little tidbit I found in the restricted section of the library. In it, there is a book called "Astralarium" or something along those lines, and when I read it, it said that my character didn't understand the workings of it.

If someone has the Legendary Axe "Astralaria," do they get different information?

 

The way each profession has a unique way of breaking out of prison in the second to last instance is awesome. Please do more of this!

 

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I think the difficulty balance in the story was great again. I enjoyed the play through.

As with other stories, often the first statement of the next character is not spoken aloud. Maybe there wasn't voice-acting for all of the dialog . . . I don't know. I play as a sylvari female. (No quick way to find my alignment details.)

Side-note: There is no clue about dailies on the screen for Istan.

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I am not a big fan of the "Living" World because it's misleading, otherwise Amnoon would have been changed and certain NPC would have been dead. Some changes stay and some changes didn't, it's very inconsistent. But, it is what it is. One thing I like so far though is meeting a certain badass hero who accompanied my character in GW1.

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Story: 10/10 - voice acting, pacing, profession-specific interactions within the events, all very well done. Only issue is how tedious the first instance boss is.

New Map:-Design - 10/10, right in line with the new PoF map standards (I'm highly impressed with the size itself and variety of areas within the map)-Events - 9/10, there's plenty to do and most of the non-meta event stuff can be done solo/with few players. The events are fun and varied, I haven't even experienced them all but I'm loving the smaller-scale metas that y'all have been doing. The only issue I have is with the high dps-check nature of the time-gated events like Amala. There's already so much going on in that event chain that it's incredibly difficult to kill her within the time limit even with perfect CC. Tried about 5 times last night and never got her lower than 20% health even when starting with close to 4 minutes left on the clock. Please consider at least a health nerf since there's already so many mechanics that make this a challenging fight.-Have not done raid or fractal yet, but I really appreciate that the fractal is current-story relevant. More like this please!

-PLEASE let us at least defend ourselves from Braham's accusations. I am sick and tired of listening to him rant while the commander, who has done nothing but bleed and sweat and sacrifice and make the hardest choices a Tyrian has had to make be lectured by a grieving child whose actions would straight-up doom the world. Rytlock saying 'ENOUGH' is a step in the right direction but we need leaps here. If I could write the dialogue I'd say "ENOUGH! I will not stand here and be attacked for doing the best I can and ensuring Tyria will survive. Putting Jormag to sleep was the only way to keep Balthazar from killing it, and the person you claim to care about so much - Taimi - proved that killing more dragons would release enough magic to destroy Tyria outright. Regardless of how you feel about me, I still consider you a friend and ally but if you think I will stand by and let you doom Tyria then by the Spirits/Alchemy/Six(insert race-appropriate item here) you could not be more mistaken because I will fight you tooth and nail to prevent that. Don't make me fight you, and don't misunderstand me; I am done listening to your baseless criticisms. If you want to discuss your grievances like an adult I'm ready any time, but this has gone on long enough and I am tired of it. I have a world to save. Again." or some such. It's disheartening to listen to the Commander roll over and take the kicks.-Also where's Caithe?

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Im partway through my second playthrough. I wanted to wait for a less squishy view before I commented. That said...

Short version for the 100 words:

  • Beautiful map
  • Awesomely integrated
  • Meta events are fun
  • Bosses have way too much HP
  • Final boss doesn't really make sense storywise, if it was that strong, how did it get captured in the first place?
  • Someone needs to smack the angry you-know-who

Now the long version, b/c I think real criticism requires thoughtful detail:

This is a beautiful map, one of the best LS maps so far. And it was integrated, which is awesome. The integration has gotten better over time, going from bizarre sections of map filled with out of place and unrelated mobs to maps that make sense with mobs and environmental aggro just making sense.

And the story is awesome. I cant figure out if Im amused or annoyed that y'all can't let a city go by without blowing it up, but hey.

I am annoyed with the treatment of Taimi. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to come across as thinking nothing bad should ever happen to her. And what happened was not at all out of place and fit the story. It's the timing; she just finished re-building it and we go and kill it again. I just feels like we don't get any chance to see her in action beyond her brain anymore (and Im not counting the story-shot at the end of the first part).

With that in mind, she modded the heck out of it, it made for a monsterous fight.... how the heck did they get her if she had that thing? Based on the fight, it could have taken the army out itself!

Which takes me to my first and only real criticism of all the fights: the bosses are way too high in health. I know you want to make sure that high damage players don't find it too easy, but you've made it so condi and other un-tuned players just spend forever in the fights. I love that there's plenty of room in the fights, and that their AoEs aren't insane - overall, I consider it a step up from Balth and Caudecus. But it just takes forever.

Maybe adjust the HP based on the characters power? I don't know, but there has to be another way for us casuals to not have to supertune to kill these guys in under 20 minutes. (BTW: do you ever test eles with something besides staff? The warden fight is nigh impossible with my preferred dagger/horn combo. Got killed, swapped to staff, fight went way more smoothly.)

! Lastly, and unrelatedly, when is someone going to smack Braham upside the head. I understand he's angry, but this is f'ing ridiculous. He seems to think he has to do everything in the name of his mother, when he hasn't talked to a single person who knew her better - ie: the surviving members of Destiny's Edge. They have all agreed the your character's path is the right one, the one she would approve of, but he hasn't even talked to them to disagree. His attitude is distracting. There really needs to be some kind of resolution to it one way or another.

Now little nitpicks to check out:

  • The spearmarshal never showed up: I was running through (second playthrough), never touched the trigger points, but heard one yell a ways behind me. Apparently he triggered it, which I didn't think would be possible. As a result, he spent his time fighting them and never showed up to the warden fight. He even addresses his sunspears from the cellars. I went to check on him, he was standing calmly over by his cell...

  • Brandstone multitool: What does it do? I bought it, and almost everytime I use it, is says there have been no impacts. The one time it did give me a direction, I followed it across the map, and when I got there, it told me there had been no impacts.

! - Balance: I mentioned it above, but I think it bares repeating, again - these bosses should not be more powerful than A GOD. The first one, lieutenant of Kralk, who absorbed that power, sure. Scruffy, built by Taimi to fight gods and dragons, maybe. An undead dervish, just no.

And now, back to playing it, because it really is a lot of fun. Great job :)

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I sing high praises for this!! 9/10

  • Absolutely gorgeous super pretty map

    ! - Love the details in lore, books, adjusting mirrors, secret base, saving people from cages, little things like that

  • Story was A+ with tons of combat, less lengthy dialogue, a good level of difficulty
  • Bosses including in the story instance have a range of mechanics and increase difficulty, they are not too punishing if you make a single mistake, all attacks were easily read and avoidable
  • CC from bosses and mobs was a bit annoying though but this keeps it difficult and you can still take a hit or two (I play glass light armor) but I can imagine with less stunbreaks and evades it would be an issue for some classes
  • I think often players want everything handed to them too easily. if the combat requires some effort, skill, reaction, knowing their class or making builds, or having a substantial group/squad, I see complaints. But that is the whole point of a combat system in Gw2 and for me, this episode was the perfect balance - wasn't too punishing and was still a challenge. I didn't die a single time, though I took some damage, while I did die a few times in the Path of Fire story.

    ! - Especially loved the final instance and Scruffy fight, which required less just pure damage and more mechanics/puzzle! - Also the characteristics of pvp ish abilities from bosses and slightly wvw-like use of siege in metas, I enjoy this kind of challenge and more complicated mechanics

  • Meta events are super fun, super rewarding, farmable, and makes a whole lot of sense in the storyline, completed all of them with a full squad and large zerg instance found via LFG
  • I need to try the Raid and Fractals, but their lore context sounds amazing
  • Raptor mount skin was pretty and unique but kind of out of place and does not seem to be worth 2000 gems, I can only find it possible to use on trolly/jokes characters not my mains
  • Legendary focus skin not my kind of thing
  • Visually astounding but also takes a toil on performance during group events

Overall, an incredible immersive experience that tackles every aspect of the game right - environment, lore, combat, mechanics, rewards, community. Please do continue to make content like this.

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Woo, my time to put in the official grousing!After encountering the meta-boss on the new map and the first boss encounter, I have to say this:Please design the game's encounters so they are meant to be played. Not "endure more stuns than you have tricks" or "chase the boss uselessly while she kickflips everywhere". Play and counterplay, that's what we need. Not CC-immune bosses or HP-sponges with 10-second long evade chains.

PoF has been looking good so far on enemy AI and abilities. Please, please update some of these fights and take deeper consideration of what a player is supposed to do in a situation, not just what looks spiffy for a boss to have.

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The boss fights were very trying as a sword weaver and likely any melee character. (Had no problem throughout POF story.) They just melt with staff though. Melee = hardmode. Had no idea what a static conduit was in the last fight and the only clue was in the mini map. Lost a lot of time trying to get the turrets to hit the storms.Lots of performance issues around Champions Rest (and Amnoon).Gorgeous map. Love the north end of the map. Loved the enemy mob swarms. Loved the profession’s prison break.

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Disappointment....

-Could you make these awakened mobs any more annoying?-Are you capable of making any content that is not a constant spam fest of knockdowns, knockbacks, stun, etc?-Magic vendor offers nothing useful, what's the point in going back or farming the new currency?-The meta event timers are way too short, the mobs are overscaled and you need a map zerg to handle all the numbers.-The instanced missions are tedious and repetitive.-I got a rare from map completion :/ ....-More stuff gated behind raids...-New Mastery is very uninspired.

You should really put a seizure warning on PoF, because its getting ridiculous.

There were some bright spots, but I did not enjoy it and it has no replay value to me.

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Good story, good new map, more interesting and engaging story progression compared to PoF. Story is more about character, less about plot but you could go much further here. The villain doesn't need to be some evil voice. Develop him. Map events seem better varied and engaging. different fight mechanics among trash. That's good. New Raid, New Fractal, New legendary that looks awesome. Those are really big deals and your marketing did nothing on that. Feels like you don't have a marketing department. Communication needs to be better in that regard. Some of the raid weapons look awesome. Love to get them but I've gotten burned a ton with the raid community. I feel that some of the boss fights had too much CC. Overall, pretty great release for PvE stuff.

However, nothing for WvW or PvP. No announcments about WvW or PvP. I played through the story and had a good time, but I'm not gonna replay it over and over. After Nov. 7th, I uninstalled. WvW and PvP is my end game content where I've spent maybe 9K hours. I re-installed for this release. I'll stick around for a couple more days to experience some of the things going on in the map, try to get into a raid, and do the fractal, but after that, uninstall again until you guys get serious about WvW or the next LS comes around. Hopefully for you guys, another game hasn't gotten my attention and retained me.

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I'll list a few of my concerns.

The first instance has way too many CC's applied to the PC during the last boss fight. I get that the boss can apply a CC and you need to avoid/dodge it but the constant stun spam from the never-ending trash mobs is just ridiculous. It might be ok if the boss didn't act like a damage sponge when you can hit them but as it is, it's really not an enjoyable encounter.

Does every creature need to have ranged damaging conditions? Some of the awakened give you 20 stacks of vulnerability in addition and that's at range and you can't dodge it while they also apply poison, bleeding and other conditions. Add the Iboga and scarabs to the awakeend and it's not a fun way to explore a map.

I do like the map even though I don't normally like multi-level maps and that's probably due to having all the mounts but the griffon. My alt accts with only the raptor may prove differently.

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The auto-save function in the first story instance is an awesome and groundbreaking improvement. Please keep this feature for the future.

Updates for fractals are highly appreciated. The raid changes, I think they are good. The key-storage solution saved me 3-6 inventory slots on each of my chars, big thanks.

What I do not get/like ...... why have you abandoned the water-tidal system. It worked great and contributed much to the immersion. It feels like a step backwards.... why you refuse to write improtant/groundbreaking innovations into the patchnotes.... another magic-currency bound to a new mastery-system. And probably more new currencies for the next maps.

What made me smile ...... the new raptor skin. It.

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Story 10/10Visual effects and Map 10/10Lore 10/10First Story Instance = too many summoned mobs 3/10Last Instance = to long and a bit hard solo 3/10no new ascended trinket to farm map currency for = 0/10Events on Map 10/10Rewards for events, map complete and story completion 3/10Renown Hearts = 10/10 like these as they are less painfulEnemies = 10/10reasons to return or play on map after completing 0/10Achievements and amount of Achievs 10/10Locking new legendary Ring behind a Raid boss 0/10

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I like the rating of this episode so I will join in:

Story: 9/10 I enjoyed everything about this story except the part of the final instance. It was very long and the trash mobs you encounter felt too over the top for me. I don't mind a challenge, but this seemed to be excess. I liked the instance and the story with the exception of

Braham. Can't stand him.

. Also it was a bit long overall. This may sound like complaining but I very much enjoyed the story as a whole and thank you for a good time.Map: 11/10. This is hands down my favorite map in game. Not because it is new, but because it is beautiful and nostalgic. A+++ job Anet!Events: 9/10. The map is chock full of events but it doesn't feel like you can't take a rest and enjoy the view like I felt much of the time in the HoT maps.Humor: 10/10. Kamadan. Enough said.Supporting Characters: 8/10. It would have been 10/10 but

Braham

.

@"Drarnor Kunoram.5180" said:One thing I want to ask people because I can't test it myself, is in reference to a small little tidbit I found in the restricted section of the library. In it, there is a book called "Astralarium" or something along those lines, and when I read it, it said that my character didn't understand the workings of it.

If someone has the Legendary Axe "Astralaria," do they get different information?

 

The way each profession has a unique way of breaking out of prison in the second to last instance is awesome. Please do more of this!

 

It does say something different if you have Astralaria. It says something to the effect,

This feels familiar to you.

 

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Story missions:Fun! I really enjoyed it, but I found the early story to be a little confusing.

Map: Just amazing, one of my favorites of the living world updates.

Main issues: I really felt like the story is pretty weak. It actually got a lot better as it went, but I didn't really get why this sunspear was so important. I also felt a little frustrated during the final story mission, it felt like my team was fairly useless. And Scruffy shouldn't be so strong. He gave me almost as much trouble as Balthazar...

Also, any time I play gw2, I think of how bad the meta is in pvp... not related, but hey, I'll mention it as much as I can. (Scourges were the worst design I've ever seen in this game, and firebrands need nerfs)

Overall: I really enjoyed this release, although, I do hate Braham even more now. If that was possible. The guy abandons us, and then accuses me of letting Tiami getting captured. WHERE WERE YOU BRAHAM!?!?! He's my number 1 on characters I most want to die.

Praise Joko!

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