Wait, you *decreased* the time Augury Rock is open by *10 mins*?!?

[Imperator Nox.7509]

Unless I'm badly misunderstanding what this means, it seems an incredibly poor way to decrease the overall wait in Elon. AR is (was!) already open for what felt an unpleasantly short time for those of us who (gasp!) still enjoy the lore aspect of the game. It already required a great many visits to even remotely have enough time to read all the lore stations around the inside, and now you've decreased that time further still? By an entire ten minutes?? Not good.

However, it is very much in line with a number of other breathtakingly poorly-made decisions regarding lore in these games (I say these because this applies most to the lore that carries over from GW1), such as placing the most engaging lore behind the RaidWall™. The decision to put all the most interesting additional bits of lore behind the most difficult gaming is the equivalent of giving out the university's most esoteric philosophy texts only to the football team. Or, if you prefer an ingame metaphor, like asking the Vigil to do the Priory's job and vice-versa. Seriously, not very well-thought-out. Not at all. Yes, yes, there are a few very visible exceptions up on youtube of truly excellent gamers with channels who do the raids, but these are the most exceptional of exceptions. Don't believe me? Try asking your raid group to just chill out for a bit and explore before moving on. Yeah.

Anyway, to return to today's point, it appears that once again, a decision is made that further reduces the ability to savor the immersion and depth of Tyria, once again sacrificing lore geeks on the altar of impatience and mass demand. Which, if you think about it, has a real life counterpart as well, which is why things like universities and such exist in the first place - so that those who wish to learn more have a place to do so. Sadly, no such parallel exists in-game, and it seems that even that which is available holds precious little worth in the eyes of those less interested in such things. This is all the more upsetting given how much more lore was pushed into the content under Mike O, which was just wonderful at first, but then more and more of it became harder and harder to access and explore, and now today we have decisions like this. Sure, it's all still "accessible"... but now will require an order of magnitude more visits to AR to actually acquire in full... the annoyance of which, if I'm not mistaken, is the entire driving force for this decision to begin with. Unfortunately, the problem was solved by reducing the small inconvenience of the masses (waiting for one or two cycles) by exponentially increasing that inconvenience for others (making them repeat said wait dozens of times).

The depth of immersive lore is the reason I fell in love with GW1 soon after launch, and the primary reason why, even after having taken several year+ long breaks for personal reasons, I've always returned to the game. And I know I'm not alone in this. It would be great to see decisions that, if they do not exactly accommodate those like myself, at the least do not actively further restrict our ability to enjoy this particular aspect of the GuildWars franchise, which once stood out so very prominently and made the game and the community what it is and has been all these years. It is a cornerstone of the franchise's success and excellence, and ought not be short-changed.

Just my $0.02...

[OutOfOrder.3719]

Huh ?

Perhaps maybe the first time entering it, it may take 20 minutes to read.

But the annoyance from replaying it, on a daily basis, the 10 minute wait will improve the meta event for everyone.

After playing the meta event, you have to make an active choice to either play the Augury Rock meta for 45 minutes, with the 20 minute delay doing absolutely nothing, or playing something else.

This is a welcome change, thank you ANET for listening to player feedback.

I literally would go get something to eat, take a shower or relieve myself during that 1 20 minute boring wait. So glad that it is gone.

And the worst thing about the Path to Ascension meta, is that you will miss the Casino Blitz meta too.

[VDAC.2137]

I feel like it would make more sense to have augury rock open for exploration etc. after defeating the doppelganger. It would flow better for those just interested in doing the meta and make more sense I feel for the magic to be dispersed right away after the first fight and then those who want to read and explore could have plenty of time. :)

Speaking of lore where does this “ascension” come from and how does it fit in with the rest of the game? Perhaps there’s some lore info I’ve missed elsewhere? Or is it just a local cult type of thing?

[Mewcifer.5198]

@"VDAC.2137" said:I feel like it would make more sense to have augury rock open for exploration etc. after defeating the doppelganger. It would flow better for those just interested in doing the meta and make more sense I feel for the magic to be dispersed right away after the first fight and then those who want to read and explore could have plenty of time. :)

Speaking of lore where does this “ascension” come from and how does it fit in with the rest of the game? Perhaps there’s some lore info I’ve missed elsewhere? Or is it just a local cult type of thing?

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ascension

[Crystal Black.8190]

I think it would be better to just decouple the events from each other. Award a hero chest at the end of augury rock and another one after the doppelganger. Other maps like vabbi or the desolation have also two map that can hand out the chest.

[Warlord.9082]

I think that the devs have made a lot of poor decisions lately:

• The ridiculous amounts of time gates for the Skyscale
• Being kicked out of the map Dragonfall every time
• I don't like the story of Dragonfall, so many tropes, it feels so cheap (well, I ate a lich so therefor I can come back from the dead)
• Following Kralk and all you get to do is go left and right a couple of times (just make it a cutscene for crying out loud)
• Taimi is still alive (her demeanor sucks, her role sucks, her voice sucks, she has no redeeming qualities and needs to go... Let Gorrik take over plz)

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty that I like but this is my least favorite living season chapter so far. Those things mentioned above just suck the fun right out of what could've been great because I see the potential but the execution is horrible.

[Aaralyna.3104]

If you want to get the achievements with the lore in Augury Rock, time was already short... (and I still don't get how the full achievement works). Now only 10 minutes.... And always gated behind that door... Sounds like an unwelcoming change... Maybe keep that door perm open so ppl can do that achievement without massive rush? Its not like theres anything killable inside when its closed.

[Chaba.5410]

So glad I already finished the Flameseeker Prophecies achievement before this change. Yikes!

[Karnz.6708]

I thought the Disperse Magic event just started 10 minutes earlier, and Augury Rock still stayed open for the full 20 minutes, I could be wrong though...

[Astralporing.1957]

Yeah, i feel sorry for anyone that will try to do that achievement now. It was already annoying enough before.

[Blocki.4931]

Augury Rock closing isn't in any way directly related to the magic event, is it? So nothing should have changed.

[Randulf.7614]

@Blocki.4931 said:Augury Rock closing isn't in any way directly related to the magic event, is it? So nothing should have changed.

The magic event starts when Augury Rock closes, so I think the change is done to lessen the wait and reduce the entire chain's length. At least, that is all my own assumption

[VDAC.2137]

@Mewcifer.5198 said:

@"VDAC.2137" said:I feel like it would make more sense to have augury rock open for exploration etc.

after

defeating the doppelganger. It would flow better for those just interested in doing the meta and make more sense I feel for the magic to be dispersed right away after the first fight and then those who want to read and explore could have plenty of time. :)

Speaking of lore where does this “ascension” come from and how does it fit in with the rest of the game? Perhaps there’s some lore info I’ve missed elsewhere? Or is it just a local cult type of thing?

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ascension

So it’s a GW1 thing, figured. Whenever something feels out of place to me (who has only played GW2 so far), this is usually the case. This doesn’t bother me so much as it’s a side thing and I don’t need to understand it. What really bothered me was the whole Lazarus/Livia thing that was shoehorned into LWS3.

[Kanok.3027]

@Warlord.9082 said:I think that the devs have made a lot of poor decisions lately:

• The ridiculous amounts of time gates for the Skyscale (fair enough, but I've seen worse, personally)
• Being kicked out of the map Dragonfall every time (so does Dragon Stand. How is this any different?)
• I don't like the story of Dragonfall, so many tropes, it feels so cheap (well, I ate a lich so therefor I can come back from the dead) (yes, it was obvious, but then again, no one is the perfect storyteller. Everyone botches a story they write)
• Following Kralk and all you get to do is go left and right a couple of times (just make it a cutscene for crying out loud) (another fair enough, but some people liked it, some didn't. Take it or leave it, it is what it is)
• Taimi is still alive (her demeanor sucks, her role sucks, her voice sucks, she has no redeeming qualities and needs to go... Let Gorrik take over plz) (A lot of people like her and don't want to see her go. Besides, her overall role has been largely diminished since Jahai Bluffs and finding out she is dying, so why the rage? Let it go)

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty that I like but this is my least favorite living season chapter so far. Those things mentioned above just suck the fun right out of what could've been great because I see the potential but the execution is horrible.

Not everyone will agree with you on any of those given points. What stuck out to me was you mentioning Dragon Fall kicking you out of the map when the exact same thing happens in Dragon Stand and no one says a word about that. If you don't like it, then don't visit the map. Simple as that. If you want the loot, you're gonna have to play the map as it was intended, whether you like it or not. That's the way the map was designed and seems people are fine with it as it reminds them of Dragon Stand, which a lot of people still do to this day.

[Aaralyna.3104]

I read that one as disconnect in dragonfall = kick out of map to LA. But the Dragonfall map reset I like tons and tons more than Dragonstand (coz now one can organise ahead on a map without being excluded from entering new map regardless if you joined / organised a squad for the meta and were present well ahead).

[Blocki.4931]

Dragonfall is fantastic. Can jump in at any time and you'll be able to get the meta done, maybe a bit slower than organized maps but there is 0 pressure and I've not seen it fail yet. But I digress. If that really means the time is 10 min less then that is very annoying. Even with that long timer I've had trouble getting those achievements done lol it was so frustrating.

[Drecien.4508]

Here's a shocker, tou can read all the scrolls from outside when its closed. #shook

[Astralporing.1957]

@Drecien.4508 said:Here's a shocker, tou can read all the scrolls from outside when its closed. #shookYou can? How?

[WolandPL.4280]

For those of us who enjoy lore, myself included, it would be amazing to have some sort of glossary in the hero panel that saves all the plaques, books and other important text after interacting with them for the first time. That way we can enjoy shorter timers for meta events AND after all that hard work, enjoy the lore of the game without being in a constant hurry, sitting on a krytan barstool in Maiden's Whisper within Rurikton.

[SexyMofo.8923]

What a bad band aid for the people who want to make it to the Casino Blitz! Augury Rock should give the chest instead of the Droppleganger and the time it stays open should remain the same for people who need to do the verse achievement.

[Brynioch.1873]

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@Drecien.4508 said:Here's a shocker, tou can read all the scrolls from outside when its closed. #shookYou can? How?

There are stone plates near the barrier on the outside.

[Danikat.8537]

I was surprised by this as well. I've never bothered to try and read them whilst doing the achievement because I read slowly as it is and knowing I'm on a timer and need to hurry up is a great way to make it impossible for me to concentrate at all, so I've been using the achievement to track which ones I've done then going to the Wiki to read them in my own time. But even so this is going to make just completing the achievement harder than it used to be.

I agree that a better fix would have been to start the doppleganger event immediately after Augury Rock is opened. That way people who just want to do the whole event chain can do that without having to wait around, and those who want to do the achievements and other things inside aren't affected.

[Ototo.3214]

Making the map populated by making the meta not trash is far more important imo. These maps were basically dead before, making it even harder to get into AR in the first place. Now there's a better chance people will even do it. If you really want to read everything.../wiki exists.

Edit: though, I will agree that they probably should have made the doppleganger event just start almost immediately after AR opens. But it seems to be attached to AR closing...? Maybe there was a difficulty detaching it from AR closing.

[Astralporing.1957]

@Miellyn.6847 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@Drecien.4508 said:Here's a shocker, tou can read all the scrolls from outside when its closed. #shookYou can? How?

There are stone plates near the barrier on the outside.Those can be used only to read the verses you have already unlocked. So, they are useless as far as achievement goes.

[Valar Dotalis.6409]

The verses are documented on the wiki: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Flameseeker_Verse