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Q&A with the Narrative Team


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@"Julia Nardin.9824" I was all set to be unsatisfied by "this one is going to be pretty broad..." and then, you really answered the core of my question: it is something you look at, even if we don't see the results. Thanks for the answer ... and a nice tie in to 30 August.


I still would like to know if you've deliberately left things open ended, for us to resolve on our own or discussions. Even if you can't be specific about which complications/gaps, it still be interesting to know if that's part of what you consider.

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@Julia Nardin.9824 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:Fans keep bringing up so-called loose ends and plotholes... what's your (collective) perspective on that? Specifically:
  • If you had an extra episode to resolve issues, what plotholes would you prioritize?
  • Are there any complications that you've put in the story deliberately, with the intention of leaving any resolution up to our imagination?
  • Can you talk about one/more gap(s) for which you had a great plan... then ran out of time/resources to implement properly?

Thank you for bringing this up! My answer to this one is going to be pretty broad, but I'm hoping it cuts to the heart of what you're asking. There are a lot of questions in this thread about the future of specific threads like Malyck, Zojja, Rytlock's past, Spirits of the Wild, Wizard's Tower, etc. that would require specific answers we aren't in a position to give at the moment. However!

Lately, the team has spent a lot of time discussing the game’s foundation and all the stories that different configurations of designers and writers have told since Guild Wars 2 launched. We’re very aware there are certain plots, characters, and lore that our players are curious about and want to see explored or resolved, so we made plans for future content with many (but not all) of those things in mind. The team is actively looking for opportunities to shine the spotlight on areas of the world that haven’t gotten as much attention as others while balancing the need to drive the narrative forward.

It's impossible for us to address everything without things getting muddy or feeling randomized, so we have to prioritize by picking and choosing what works best for the direction we're going. One of the reasons we wanted to do this Q&A was to let you guys know that we
are
listening because what you have to say is important to us. We're looking forward to sharing what we've been working on at the August 30 event, when we can be more specific in regards to what we say about what's coming.

Can you discuss how the team has changed since the beginning in terms of who does what, structure etc. Its clear the vision for the story has changed a lot, either season by season or at times episode by episode.

Is there a huge struggle to try and continue the legacy yet allow for the fact the team has changed and thus the direction of where the story is going keeps changing? The new vision feels more about shock factor and less about looking at the wider lore the game is built on (Joko being thrown away just for a laugh in s4, the mess of Aurenes death and resurrection, jormags tooth consigned to a cutscene instead an awesome arc are a few examples)

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Hi Hugo! Let me see what I can hit here...

"Will Gorrik and Taimi will continue together even if Blish isn't here anymore?"Gorrik and Taimi are a fun combination and we enjoy writing them. I think it's safe to say that they're collaborating even with what happened to Blish. They DO have that massive multi-volume treatise on dragons they're working on, after all!

"Possible investigation on race past like asura technological apogee, how is going charr homelands?"We'd love to focus more in-depth on specific races. I can't get into details, but we're very aware that it's fertile ground for some cool story opportunities.

"More charismatic vilains?"We loved Joko and the manic energy he brought to the story, and we'd love to find a new approach to that going forward. At the same time, we also wouldn't want to just make a "new" Joko-style character, so let's just say "interesting villains" is something we're always trying to focus on.

"Lores: Why not more lore based quests/ side collections? Would enjoy completing a bestiary or collecting with a data pad infos about anything, creature, organizations, locations, race past..."The books and side character conversations we add are ways we try to get this stuff in--but we also don't like to hide critical world lore in hard-to-access or easily-missable locations. That said, collections are a great potential way to add more flavor to the world and even drop some hints about the deep lore.

"Have you thought about a tortuga style map where all the baddies from any race meet to trade stolen goods, golems or slaves?"Me specifically? Not really, but I do love a good pirate haven! My first GW2 writing assignment was actually for Episode 1 of LWS4, hitting some of the dialogue in the Corsair Flotilla. I always liked the vibe there, and would love to revisit that sort of thing someday.

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I'm not sure if this can be answered, but here goes. Back toward the beginning of GW2's life, I remember reading that the Elder Dragons were supposed to be more along the lines of forces of nature(and thus incomprehensible to mortals). With Mordremoth and Kralk, it feels like there was a shift away from this concept as both have very human aspects(pride and fear/familial love respectively). Was this intended from the start or did the plan change somewhere along the way?

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@WolfsFang.2301 said:I have only played charr in my 2.5k+ hours I have put into the game so I am not sure if this question applies to other races. I really liked my warband and would like to see more of them. However after the personal story it feels like everything attached to it was just forgotten and thrown away. Is the story so far ahead and/or are these early personal story elements not relatable in the current GW2 story? Could we see our personal story decisions somehow playout into the current story, may it be even in a small way?

I guess my real question is, will we ever see something related to OUR personal story? I love the current lore but playing hero all the time is starting to get drawn out when almost every game is doing this.

I play a charr, too! Hi!

The challenge you're highlighting comes back to the choices we give players during character creation. That is to say, we've got five unique player races with countless combinations of Personal Story options. We also have a ceiling on the number of lines we can fit into our episodes, both voiced and not, so it's very difficult to service all those branching threads. The goods news is that we're taking a closer look at this as we move forward, and are working with designers to find unique opportunities to tailor the experience in manageable ways where possible. You'll see more of this approach in future Living World content, too, although not as much as we wish we could do.

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I would like to know what happened to Malyck as well.

Also, I would like to know if there's going to be consequences for the Charr commander swearing an oath to protect the Human Krytan Throne since, you know, that's like committing treason as a Charr.

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@Julia Nardin.9824 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:Fans keep bringing up so-called loose ends and plotholes... what's your (collective) perspective on that? Specifically:
  • If you had an extra episode to resolve issues, what plotholes would you prioritize?
  • Are there any complications that you've put in the story deliberately, with the intention of leaving any resolution up to our imagination?
  • Can you talk about one/more gap(s) for which you had a great plan... then ran out of time/resources to implement properly?

Thank you for bringing this up! My answer to this one is going to be pretty broad, but I'm hoping it cuts to the heart of what you're asking. There are a lot of questions in this thread about the future of specific threads like Malyck, Zojja, Rytlock's past, Spirits of the Wild, Wizard's Tower, etc. that would require specific answers we aren't in a position to give at the moment. However!

Lately, the team has spent a lot of time discussing the game’s foundation and all the stories that different configurations of designers and writers have told since Guild Wars 2 launched. We’re very aware there are certain plots, characters, and lore that our players are curious about and want to see explored or resolved, so we made plans for future content with many (but not all) of those things in mind. The team is actively looking for opportunities to shine the spotlight on areas of the world that haven’t gotten as much attention as others while balancing the need to drive the narrative forward.

It's impossible for us to address everything without things getting muddy or feeling randomized, so we have to prioritize by picking and choosing what works best for the direction we're going. One of the reasons we wanted to do this Q&A was to let you guys know that we
are
listening because what you have to say is important to us. We're looking forward to sharing what we've been working on at the August 30 event, when we can be more specific in regards to what we say about what's coming.

That's a very insightful answer. Now I REALLY can't wait for August 30th!

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Thanks for the questions, @"Frederic.6701! Lemme see here...

  • About Blish, I suppose the operation leading him to "become" a golem is using the technology developed by the Inquest and that we can see in personal story (very nice idea, by the way!). I also suppose this is not a common case in the inquest. How did Blish and Gorrik manage to convinced the Inquest to let them use the technology? Who in the Inquest can take the decision to allow a process like this?That was a fun callback to the asura personal story, yeah! As for the specifics about how the Inquest operates and how Blish and Gorrik managed to get their hands on that technology, that kind of specific character-focused deep-dive is exactly the sort of stuff we've been filing away as potential subjects for things like the Twine stories. This could be a fun topic for something like that!

  • Less about the story in general, more about the writing process, what are the difficulties to write tragic character development, as we can see several example in the last season, with all the constraints linked the the amount of time for each character, or the number of character?There are a few different ways of handling these scenarios, but we've found the best way of tackling dramatic arcs is to plan as a group right from the beginning. When we "break" a story arc, we're looking at all the major characters from a very high perspective and trying to find the most interesting places for them to go. Sometimes getting to these places requires a more dramatic arc, and we're always trying to balance those needs with the amount of time/lines we know we'll need to get there. It can be a real high-wire act sometimes.

  • While writing a character, is there any attention given to avoid racial stereotypes (Norn = often drunk brutes a bit stupid lacking of subtleties, Asura = overconfident pseudo-genious that makes mistakes because of their self esteems, sylvaris = naïve but careful often surprised, etc...) or is the balance is found naturally?Yes, this is definitely something we're working to improve! You can expect some more nuanced looks at various races in our game world going forward.

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@"Turkeyspit.3965" said:Sure this has been asked before, but what really happened with Rytlock being taken into custody by the Adamant Guard at the end of LW S3? He shows up again in PoF, still holding the title Tribune - but what was that all about? Because he refused to return to the Black Citadel and deliver a report? Why would he refuse to do so?

Rytlock has a very... complicated relationship with his imperator and his warband, which is touched on in the Rytlock Twine story Alex Kain wrote for our Requiem series! It's here if you missed it: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/january-29-2019/

You can bet this dynamic played into those events.

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@"Arden.7480" said:That's a very private question, but what is the name of a GW2 character that you're most attached to, and why.

I love "Gorrik" and "Rytlock"--maybe I just like names that end in hard K's?

I love writing Gorrik and Rytlock because their particular mannerisms and personalities always move scenes forward in interesting ways. Neither are particularly subtle in how they handle problems, but their tactics couldn't be more different. Someday I'll just end up sneaking a scene that's the two of them yelling at each other for an hour and I'll be laughing like a maniac the whole time I write it.

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How much do you usually plan ahead for the Lore? How much background do you create for the world and the characters? Is there some kind of gw2 silmarillion, that influences the story but what happened exactly is never telled directly in the game, but its influence can be noticed?

Are there some guidelines you follow when writing? How do you make sure you dont contradict previous told stories or something another story writer put in the game?Is there anything you definitly dont want to introduce in the gw2 lore and story?

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@Alex Kain.6492 said:

@"Arden.7480" said:That's a very private question, but what is the name of a GW2 character that you're most attached to, and why.

I love "Gorrik" and "Rytlock"--maybe I just like names that end in hard K's?

I love writing Gorrik and Rytlock because their particular mannerisms and personalities always move scenes forward in interesting ways. Neither are particularly subtle in how they handle problems, but their tactics couldn't be more different. Someday I'll just end up sneaking a scene that's the two of them yelling at each other for an hour and I'll be laughing like a maniac the whole time I write it.

Oh I love those characters so much. And Rytlock's reaction on Aurene's ressurection was priceless: "Well, burn me." - it was basically my reaction ;)

And Gorrik for his: "I can smell the pestilence in the air!"

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Oh I love Gorrik and Rytlock too :D"What are you looking at? ohh plague samples woohoo!"

Just remembered special questions:-Why Awakened Inquest Golems are screaming/speaking like asura in Kourna? Have those awakened just put an alive asura in them?-What will happens to awakened inquest now? Would they just go back to their friends again?-Inquest: Will the high members be seen one day? Or at least will we lean more about the fundation of the organization?-Are olmakhans joining the pact or will they return to sandswept?

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In the fight against Kralkatorrik's Torment, we're fighting the manifestations of foreign magic inside him. Manifestation of Balthazar is named Facet of Fire and War, Zhaitan's is called Facet of Death and Shadow, however Mordremoth's manifestation (whose domains were called Plants and Mind in Living World Season 2) is called 'Facet of Roots and Madness'. Is there any bigger significance behind this change in naming, or is it simply an oversight/retcon? It would have actually interesting implications if Mordremoth's mind magic magnified Kralkatorrik's insanity to the point of developing split persona.

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@Crystal Black.8190 said:How much do you usually plan ahead for the Lore? How much background do you create for the world and the characters? Is there some kind of gw2 silmarillion, that influences the story but what happened exactly is never telled directly in the game, but its influence can be noticed?

Are there some guidelines you follow when writing? How do you make sure you dont contradict previous told stories or something another story writer put in the game?Is there anything you definitly dont want to introduce in the gw2 lore and story?

We're fortunate to be writing for an IP with a really rich history and lore, so there's already a lot for us to draw from. The team starts by looking at what's already been established, whether at launch or during the course of the game's lifespan, and then we work together with designers to find fun, engaging ways to explore the world we've all inherited. Once we've picked the direction we want to go, we have storybreaking meetings that include as many different disciplines as we can fit into the room to discuss what we want to do -- and, ultimately, how to do it.

There are a lot of people at the studio who have been around since the beginning, so if we're uncertain about a particular detail or want to be sure we're factually accurate, we'll seek those people out to make sure we're in alignment with what already exists -- just in case. We do our best not to contradict ourselves, although we'll occasionally put a new spin on things if we think tweaking it slightly will make the experience better. When I came onto the team last year, I spent the first two weeks wading through the wiki, reading the forums, and watching YouTube play-throughs to bring myself up to speed as quickly as possible, and to better understand the playerbase we're writing for. Everyone else on the team has made similar efforts. We're all committed to consistency, even if we make the occasional mistake.

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I was always being fascinated by the mesmers in the guild wars universe.I loved the opening episode 4 of living world season 3 because we finally saw queen Jenna in action and one of my favorite raid bosses is Xera.Any chance we will interact again with some powerful mesmers?

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@Randulf.7614 said:Can you discuss how the team has changed since the beginning in terms of who does what, structure etc. Its clear the vision for the story has changed a lot, either season by season or at times episode by episode.

Yeah, there’s no question evolution occurs as a result of normal staff turnover; not counting Editing and VO, there’s only person on our team who has been here longer than three years. But evolution would happen even with the same writers who worked on the Personal Story and Season 1. And frankly we enjoy the freedom such an elastic IP gives us to do different things. “A Bug in the System,” for example, starts out as an Ocean’s 11-style heist movie and then takes a left turn into Cronenbergian body horror once you discover what’s really going on in Rata Primus. It’s a lot of fun to have that broad a stylistic palette to work with.

As far as team structure, currently we have four writer/narrative designers (and are recruiting for a fifth) working on GW2. The GW2 Narrative Lead, Julia, runs the narrative side of the dev process and is supported by Armand, our Writer/Narrative Designer at Large (which means he’s a craft coach who’s not on one specific project) and VO Lead; Bobby, the Associate Narrative Director; and me (Studio Narrative Director). We all collaborate closely with the Content Leads and designers during story breaking and episode breaking, and production, as well as Cinematics, Audio, Art, and Localization.

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Hi,during Living Story Season 1 we got the chance to vote vor Ellen Kiel or Evon Gnashblade. With the winner Ellen Kiel we got later the Thaumanova Reactor Fractal. We learned how it got destroied and about Ley-Lines, that go throw Tyria and is pure magic and they cross in many points.What would we have learned in the Abbadon Fractal?The Abbadon Fractal was intended to release much later. Maybe it come, maybe don´t, but i am curious about the lore.

In Season 4 Episode 4 Blish sacrified himself to empower the locater. In Episode 6 we got into Kralkatorik.Kralkatorik was pure magic in him and the locater seems to still function.Couldn´t he "survived" it?

The raids have a lore, but it is not realy tied to the main story.Would some of you like to have the option for the main story that a villian would be fought in a raid like scenario?

When the team get the chance to write a side story with a new map.Where would we go?

Joko needed to die, so that Aurene can resurrect herself. Some friends loved Joko and he got eaten and Braham makes jokes about it, which they found unfitting.Could their be a other way to gain the power or was it a needed death just like Aurene`s?

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Has there been any seeds towards the new content in either the open world, cities or festivals (incl the current one)? I'm not asking for what they are, but seeding clues used to be a fun thing players used to look for before an episode, but that seems to have dried up. Is there anything added that we can go and hunt for that might give us some early in game clues? Ambient dialogue, map changes and so forth

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@Edelweiss.4261 said:I'm not sure if this can be answered, but here goes. Back toward the beginning of GW2's life, I remember reading that the Elder Dragons were supposed to be more along the lines of forces of nature(and thus incomprehensible to mortals). With Mordremoth and Kralk, it feels like there was a shift away from this concept as both have very human aspects(pride and fear/familial love respectively). Was this intended from the start or did the plan change somewhere along the way?

The way we’re currently thinking of it is that, pre-Aurene, mortals understandably perceived Elder Dragons in the way you mention, thinking of them as forces of nature—but that our principal characters inevitably have seen Aurene as a person (if you follow the distinction I’m making), as well as Glint, Vlast, and even, most recently, Kralkatorrik. As a result, they’re re-examining some of their long-held assumptions. For example, all Tyrians used to refer to an Elder Dragon as “it”; as they get more visibility into the inner life of Elder Dragons, some Tyrians are coming to refer to them with gendered pronouns where appropriate.

(In all candor, treating the EDs as people rather than impersonal forces also allows us to therefore use them as actual characters in our storytelling. A hurricane doesn’t have motivation or reason or emotion or a soul; a character does, and is thus a kitten of a lot more useful from a storytelling perspective.)

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