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Official Feedback Thread: LWS4 Episode 5: All or Nothing


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Initial impression is I really loved this living story episode. It might be my favourite so far. I kept asking myself if I was in the new Expansion already. I loved seeing prior characters returning for this showdown (Sorry Rhoban. I destroyed your thumb just yesterday). Every character in it shone to me (Didn't see much Rox though). I'm extra pleased this episode grew the emotional connection between player character and Aurene.

Only downside (sort of) I can think of is pacing. We went from Aurene fleeing to a hitherto unknown plan, a rushed preparation, and then a huge pitched battle. A LOT happened in this episode. I'm okay with this though. Thanks for not leaving us on a cliff-hanger.

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This one hurt us Anet.

! The story itself was very fast paced and easy to keep up with.! However, that ending wasn't just heartbreaking, it was very irritating.! Aurene and the PC go through these trials to build trust with one another...the final fight she's scared and you the PC console her and she trusts in you.! She's the game equivalent of a child and you're her parent and she's trusting you and she dies.!! Honestly, I used to avoid the story, but her story was so fun and endearing.! I'm quite certain you're going to bring her back in some way like having her take over kralkatorik from the inside now that he's been weakened. Probably something to do >! with having eaten Joko and gaining some sort of lich powers to bring herself back.! But still, that could have been told before the end of the chapter. Ending the chapter this way...it's just how you get people to stop coming back for more.

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Can you please stop locking map completion behind events and story ?. The story was fantastic, a thumb up from me but it just that. Thunderhead Peaks is vast but completely empty, i feel so "alone" wandering around the map without a decent event, some parts of the map just filled with normal wild life and nothing else. It was a huge let down for me.

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Love

  • the map. It's the best one we got so far! Finally a map that appeals in terms of exploration and discovery. Finally a classic map of the fantasy genre (and the GW1 flashbacks <3).
  • the mounts. The way they were all of equal use in exploring this map was a big plus. Never had so much fun before switching between mounts. :)
  • the dialogue. From ambiente dialogue to story mission dialogue, everything was on point. <3
  • the dramaturgy. The writing - it made you laugh, it made you cry. It really got under your skin. The cutscenes, the sound, the cinematography in general - awesome work!
  • the music. Such a beautiful score! <3 Felt like I was in a high end fantasy game for the first time in a long time in GW2 (the last time was when I set foot into Divinity's Reach for the first time).
  • highly enjoyable meta events.
  • Great voicce acting (with very few exceptions), NPCs and player characters alike. Favorites: Gorrik, female norn PC and male human PC.

Dislike

  • The first two story missions: extremely boring. The trials did not pose a challenge at all and felt rather uninspired for "trials."
  • Male Charr voice acting: awful job.
  • Major no-go: gating new items behind LAURELS, which cannot be farmed (I currently have 1, so GG).
  • The fact that I am to care about a weapon collection and what not in the face of what just happened in the final mission. Hmm...
  • The new mastery still feels a but clunky to use at times.
  • Make the fish at the daily heart character-bound, please! There are people standing there just to steal them under your nose.
  • The story was way too short, I agree with that (as others already mentioned it).
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Yet another fantastic episode! The writing and overall effort has definitely reached new standards with the last couple releases, keep up the good work!

Thus far I've mostly played through the story for the sake of completion, but during these last few episodes I've truly become interested for the first time. I can't wait to see how this season wraps up; taking the predictability out of the storytelling and throwing in massive plot twists was definitely a successful move!

As for the map itself; I'm glad to finally be out of the desert, but this map was a slight disappointment. Don't get me wrong, it's incredibly beautiful and detailed, and I can appreciate all the hard work that went into it, but it reminds me of Tangled Depths in terms of how it's composed. The map is very linear and oftentimes complex with all of its vertical layers, with huge underground passages and closed areas. I know it's a mountain environment, but it could definitely use a little more open plain. Linearity isn't all bad though, there seems to be enough events and content to last for a while, and at least it's a change to the vast open plains of Jahai and Kourna.

All in all a wonderful release once again, the bar has definitely been raised in terms of storytelling, attention to detail and overall quality. Can't wait for the finale!

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This is by far the best episode ANet's done. I loved almost everything about it! The visuals, the music, the script, the improved voice acting, I honestly wasn't expecting to be this blown away and I definitely can't wait for the next episode.

! About Aurene, like most of us, I was almost in tears when I heard Taimi's screams. However, PLEASE don't let Aurene just be dead forever. I mean, killing off the main character of the story was very expected and a bit of a low move. I think that having the plan fail is enough of a cliffhanger, I would've been more surpirsed if Aurene survived. Don't let her death be like Blish's, where they die, the characters are sad, then move on and forget about it after. But I was still on the verge of crying so something hit me emotionally and I have no idea what it is. Anyways, I also loved the part where my character was crippled and had to walk around to understand what had happened. It felt like a cinematic, but the player was controlling it! Well, sort of.! In the fight with Kralky, I was a bit kittened when I had to get the branded inside the circle, all I was getting were devourers who'd go out of the circle after you hit 'em, and I didn't have enough stuns to make them all stay there! Took longer than it should've. :'(! One thing that kinda ruined my mood for the episode was when we had to do the oil part. Kept running out of oil and took me almost 15-20 minutes to figure it out, even with the help of a guide. Speaking of guides, when I was looking it up, next thing I know, I'm dead with a bunch of mobs surrounding me. Greaaaat.I haven't really checked out the map much since I was too busy with the story, but just at first glance it looks stunning, and I'll definitely be looking forward to completing it soon! 9.4/10! Overall, loved the story, please improve with the branded circles & the oil bucket missions, new map is beautiful, and I'll be seeing the writers of this episode in hell. :3

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In terms of presentation (art, story, map design, animations, music, VA, etc.) it's great, maybe the best to date. Good job!

Mechanically... the very first challenge of the first instance is terrible, which isn't a great tone to set. There's almost no explanation of what you are supposed to do or how things work, the whole screen is a mess of AoEs and flashes, the AoE telegraph is covered up by the blue area, etc. It really highlights one of the chief complaints about GW2 presentation and gameplay: way too much visual noise. But it also just fails in ordinary legibility -- what you're supposed to do has nothing to do with the vision, the event text is entirely vague ("do something and fill up this bar", basically), and game mechanics actively discourage players from discovering what to do by repelling them from the circles. I also noted that the anomalies did not spawn when I restarted it from a checkpoint, so there are probably some bugs in play as well. Not a great introduction, probably the worst encounter since the boss at the end of Precocious Aurene.

The rest of it was... fine, mechanically. I wasn't exactly blown away, but fortunately the presentation made even fairly mundane and simple tasks seem urgent. One little QoL note - in the middle section of the last fight, the mobs seem averse to actually getting close to the crystals, which makes it annoying without pulls. And what is the point of the Sappers? "Ha, nope, we changed the rules. Now you have to kill this mildly beefier mob before killing some other mobs. Oh, you already killed the other mobs before you noticed this. Well... I guess you get to wait for a bit". It's an annoyance, not a challenge.

I can't speak as the OW map yet, since I spent all session on the story.

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Greetings.there was a moment where when i began to stream this episode I knew we were about to experience something quite special. without spoiling a single bit of this... my view is as follows:The Story seemed fluid. moment to moment, each piece of the puzzle was put together in a manner that "just fit perfectly". there were no plot holes or story steps out of pace... in fact the slow preparation stage felt very well put together. I enjoyed how the story played directly to the map's design, rather than the map fitting the storyboard(you can tell these things sometimes). Throwing in elements of puzzles, the need to travel to points, the need to explore areas... even the verticality and levels while playing through the story was seemingly effortless and yet flawless in design. for that, 100/10!as for the map, nostalgia reigned supreme for me, but not so much that i was unwilling to explore and witness the new. The addition of nonviolent dredge, the combination of verticality and distance with a true sense of urgency and connection filled the map. There was a definite need to complete each area while looking at the surrounding areas to see what was happening in the distance or nearby, just in case I had to react quickly. Thunderhead keep's design was pretty intense in itself, and rather than the rest of the map accenting the keep, I felt that the keep and the map intertwined in a way that balanced the player focus. 50/10.overall? job well done, arenanetnow to put my heart back into my chest.

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Story:It was very intense, it all happened pretty fast..we weren't ready..I wasn't ready.

I cried.

Just please tell me we will have some continuation on the end scene sooner than 3 months please.. even just letter from Caithe or something..

Map:Haven't had chance to go trough it as much as I would like to just yet, but I love snowy areas in GW2 in general so thank you so much for that <3. Also it's great how everyone from Tyria is basically gather up here..

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I really love that you forced the camera in that last instance when the big moments happened. Normally I would look around and not have the ideal angle on the action, though this felt a bit jarring at first it felt perfect for the moment.

Good map. Good story. I will definitely enjoy replaying everything in order in the future without the huge wait that we will have now in the next couple of months :)

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EDITED by moderator to remove offensive comments that were quoted in this post.

After a few hours have passed and I can look upon it with a little more objectitivity, I have to say: this is the only logical outcome, because...

! Nowhere was Aurene ready to face an Elder Dragon. The whole idea was idiotic to begin with, at least that's how I felt about it when Glint (her own mother!) sent Eir to tell us that "it is time." I was like, "Are you f'ing kidding me?? You think this child is READY to face that force of nature??? Okayyyy." Now I feel kind of betrayed as well, because the whole lengthy built-up was wasted in that moment of Aurene's death. They wasted the character and our time IMO, so I agree with you and understand your dismay. Oh well.

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Story:

  • The feels were real and hard during the ending.
  • I thought the idea with Aurene and Caithe was neat, but it felt kinda underused in how the former could have communicated through Caithe.
  • Interaction between Taimi, PC and Gorrick was nice imho, it let us not forget where the next drama train might hit.
  • Voice Acting was great during the finale, but felt a bit bland during the relevant fetch quest parts

Gameplay:

  • Difficulty was alright, even though I probably missed some visual cues or special action key popups for those large AoE attacks.
  • I actually thought I'd get a basic Dragonblood weapon through the story, but I dunno why. No hard feelings or complaint.
  • Using the special action key spears was fun in combat to laugh at the Branded
  • Giving the option for possible buffs in exchance for getting an achievement can be a good concept to offer more leeway, but I haven't tested it so far.

Overall: I loved it.

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The map is amazing, really it is. the story was amazing right up till the end.

! You threw the everything Tyria had to offer at it, and you still failed. the whole story is a build up to the "one shot" and failure was not an option. We failed, and our best weapons are gone, troops depleted, unless the Gods them self's step in, its game over, but then it's still game over as Auren was supposed to take his place. Kind of feels like the story has no idea where it's going or what it's doing.

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My thoughts:1) The map is amazing, I thought Ember Bay and Draconis Mons were the previous best, but this one is a whole new level of amazing. 8-node iron farm, 7-node platinum farm, so much to explore ... almost difficult to put into words. "Best ever" is usually combined with hyperbole, but this is how I genuinely feel.2) The story was probably the best ever in terms of both quality and the hard to describe otherwise "lack of annoying boss fights/mechanics". Although the Branded Aurene fight was another example of "too much on the screen" (i.e. visual distractions/noise/frustration), the last instance I thought was the best boss design ever in Living World.3) Still experiencing the metas on the map, but the one in the north also suffers from visual overload. Have not done the southern one yet.4) Not very happy with the ending of the story, but I can see a few scenarios where the writers could say "we have the answer and we chose to be intentionally misleading with the "surprise" at the end of the story instance" and that it all works out to a satisfactory and not-sad conclusion for the player.

EDIT: It's 8 nodes, not 7,~~ in both cases.~~ Correction again. 8 iron, 7 platinum.

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This was the all-time best LS episode by a country mile, though the ending absolutely gutted me. Please don't let this be the end, we barely got to spend any time with her. :anguished: Though I don't understand why Aurene didn't speak to her Champion? I also want to give a thumbs up for the absence of gimmicky BS boss mechanics in the story fights, which is a big breath of fresh air. The final battle felt appropriately pulse-pounding considering what we were up against, a huge improvement from the Mordremoth fight for sure. Can't say too much about the new map yet, though I'm glad to be out of the desert at last. Also I'm VERY happy to see the Pact again -- I still am extremely ticked off that you made us dump the Pact back in LS3 like it was last week's rotten dinner, which my characters would never do. Bringing everyone together to fight a world-ending threat is what I want from the game, so the more of that (and less "companion" drama) the better, please.

(Side note: less Taimi and more Aurene would have done both LS3 and LS4 a while lot of good because aside from "Scion and Champion" we didn't really have any interaction with her at all since the fight against Big B ... and before that, we only had the one LS3 episode where we teach her a bit. So the emotional impact was not even nearly as big as it could have been.)

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After finishing 100% of the map, I have something to add. I'm very fan of that special skill "light of deldrimor" that allow you to discover hidden chests just like in Zelda, I'm almost hearing a lulaby when opening a chest xD

Also those puzzles rooms within the tombs are pretty cool. (Aka colored plates rooms)

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@Little Leota.5849 said:Please, for the love of all that is holy, do something about the oil pouring part of the story! Three of my guildies and I are doing the story as I am typing this, and we are stuck at the oil thing; three of us have been successful, and one is hopelessly stuck with it not working. Over and over. We have been at this part for way far too long, almost an hour. It has made a huge slow-down in the story and has become an utter study in frustration. It is no longer fun. Please ANet! Fix this!

I was frustrated too, until I realized that

! for the one with the two barrels, you can pour the path through the fence; much shorter path that way.

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The new dinamic camera movement was a very nice touch, i hope they keep doing it in the future.

! However that ending, GOSH, why does Anet love to kill out main and lovable characters?; Your order mentor, Eir, Blish, and now frigging Aurene?! I understand why Anet pushed back the release date for the episode; They didnt wanted to ruin our holydays!! I really hope they dont keep her dead, would be a real d*ck move after milking so much merchandise from her (i actually got all her miniatures and accesories :c) otherwise a lot of things wont make sense in the future (like the whole Crystal Champion mastery line for example) If the commander could come back from the death, and shrugh it like a walk in the park ("yes i was death, but now im not" Everyone else: "hmm, seems legit") i dont see why Aurene cant, besides, there is also a lot of "death is no permanent" foreshadowing in this episode too.!! Now if you excuse me, im gonna go hug my Aurene plushie and tell her everything will be okay while curling up in the nest i made for her in the previous episode :`(

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Before the middle of the final cutscene, I got an important phone call. That was like the worst timing! Well, real life happens, I just took off my headphones... and didn't even want to look at my PC monitor. I literally missed the second half of the cutscene. Coming back to my computer felt weird to say the least. That was my unluckiest GW moment.

However, I really liked the story, gameplay, and the massive effort of artists & tech people. I want to thank the whole staff for making this possible. Can't wait for more!

There was a time I thought that "GW2's too ambitious". I was wrong.

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The story was rushed. In general I find the living story to be more of "a lot of small stories" rather than "a long evolving story". But there's ultimately a dragon to kill, so once that episode comes it seems like everyone is rushing into it while nothing built up to this. Also the world doesn't seem open, all living story maps feel like small instances where nothing you do have any consequence on the rest of the world.

That said, the finale was good. I really felt like this was a big moment with an emergency feeling. You-know-who's death surprised me, but the problem is that it only did so because the characters kept insisting on putting her in action, without anyone questioning if this was a good idea. Had I actually been there I'd have called everyone crazy for even suggesting putting her in the fight so early...

The mastery feels even more out of place than the previous one (what's the point of having a limited endurance if you're going to have flat cooldowns to increase it? Just increase it baseline). It's basically a dismount button on a 30 seconds CD... Why not just let us dismount mid air? The animation doesn't look like there was a lot of work behind it either. "Yea just strap the same thing that we used during HoT and already reused once to make a glider combo.". Also the "Aurene allows you to do this" justification starts to feel less and less valid. What else can Aurene allow us to do with our mounts? Can't it just be justifyed by "you are mastering your mount skills"? That would remove the obligation to put some out of place wings on that new mastery just to tell us "Hey you see, crystals! There you have it, Aurene is behind it.". Just have it "you can now jump off your mount". I'd remove the wings animations if there was an option to do it. Please?

That's more of a personnal preference, but I don't like snow maps. I don't like when there are almost no colours and everything is just black and white. I miss HoT for that... That said, I can't deny that it was well crafted. All mounts seem to be useful at some point. I with there was a vista on top of the airship. And that the Moorage waypoint was inside it. It would be mutch more fun to have a base of operation so high in the sky instead of it just being another farming area.

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