I really would love to collect ALTs as I usually do in every MMO, but sadly LW missions are preventing me to do that

[JD Simmons.6230]

There are people loving LW missions while others hate them.

Personally I find them too long and time consuming. Also, lot of boss fights are too long and chaotic and when you finally beat them they don't give you a feeling of satisfation but only frustration.

 

Anyway, every player has his own opinion, but what I cannot understand is why there is no choice to skip them. Why you are forced to do them for every single ALT. This game wants you to collect as many alts as possible but you are forced to do all of those missions again and again, which is insane if you don't like them at all.

 

They should be accound wide, requiering you to complete them at least one time and being optional after that for any character, except maybe the personal story.

 

Also, in a game which is very lacking for multiplayer content, you need to do this missions which could take hours in solo. If they were at least doable with parties via LFG that wuld make them more enjoyable.

 

Anyway, I love this game and I would love having an ALT for every race and profession, sadly those LW are preventing me to do that. I know you can skip them in "some ways", but that's not inteded by design and you will miss something anyway.

 

I really must say, devs took very bad decisions here.

[moony.5780]

Honestly i always skip them...and there r even items to teleport to the LS maps with any character on ur acc. U just need to unlock them 1 time with 1 character.

Im sorry i dont mean to make u feel bad, but im really confused about what things u may miss when not playing all LS with every character? I only play LS with 1 max. 2 characters and thats it. The rest is collecting items and doing events ...that can be done with any character who can join the map. And the fact, that the teleporter excist is enough reason to just go with alts to these maps.

 

[Gehenna.3625]

44 minutes ago, JD Simmons.6230 said:

Anyway, every player has his own opinion, but what I cannot understand is why there is no choice to skip them. Why you are forced to do them for every single ALT. This game wants you to collect as many alts as possible but you are forced to do all of those missions again and again, which is insane if you don't like them at all.

What makes you think you have to do them? I just put one character through the story missions and then I get the scrolls to teleport to the maps of LS and put them in the books that collect them for each LS season and put those in a shared slot. Then ALL my characters can teleport to those maps using the books/scrolls without having to do the story.

 

Edit: You get the scrolls and the books you can put them in from the main vendor in the LS maps (including the icebrood saga)

Edited August 31, 2021 by Gehenna.3625

[Dawdler.8521]

You dont have to do them on every character. Where does that come from? Only a few have achievement for different classes etc but nothing is required. The current LS event I'm not even doing on the same character as I did the previous weeks.

[Danikat.8537]

The game does not force you to do living world missions, they're optional even on your first character.

 

The only thing I can think of which might make it seem that way is that many living world episodes have maps which are not directly connected to the base game maps, so it's not obvious how to get there without doing the story. But even then you only need to do the first section of each episode's story to reach the map and once one character has done it they can buy a portal scroll from a merchant in the map which will allow any of your character's to get there without doing the story at all. You don't have to do the story in order either, if there's episodes with maps you don't care about you can skip them entirely.

 

In some cases there's other work-arounds too; for example because my main character has finished PoF and completed A Star to Guide Us my other character's can use the Spearmashall's Plea to go to Sun's Refuge, out the entrance to Jahai Bluffs and round to the portal to Kourna without even starting either map's episode. Also, any map can be accessed by using a Teleport to Friend item, as long as you have a guild mate or someone else who is there or willing to go there for you to teleport to.

 

I can't think of anything other than access to the maps which might appear to be locked behind story completion. The achievements are already account-wide and as far as I remember all the items you can get start off account bound so you can just buy them on the character who has access. Sometimes it is easier to leave an alt there if you need lots of the map's currency, but you don't need every character to have access to every map for that.

 

(Also alt is short for 'alternate character', it's not an acronym so it doesn't need to be capitalised.)

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

I only do the story on one character. After that I use the portal scrolls to get my alts to the other maps. 
 

if you don’t know about the portal scrolls here is a wiki link Teleportation devises 

[Cyninja.2954]

38 minutes ago, JD Simmons.6230 said:

Anyway, every player has his own opinion, but what I cannot understand is why there is no choice to skip them. Why you are forced to do them for every single ALT. This game wants you to collect as many alts as possible but you are forced to do all of those missions again and again, which is insane if you don't like them at all.

 

They should be accound wide, requiering you to complete them at least one time and being optional after that for any character, except maybe the personal story.

Except for some achievements, or players with severe OCD, no living world missions are required to be completed.

 

Even map access can be achieved via teleport to a friend AND/OR getting the teleport scrolls.

38 minutes ago, JD Simmons.6230 said:

 

Also, in a game which is very lacking for multiplayer content, you need to do this missions which could take hours in solo. If they were at least doable with parties via LFG that wuld make them more enjoyable.

 

Almost all story content can be done with up to 5 players total. Progress can be shared and the missions do not scale.

[Danikat.8537]

43 minutes ago, JD Simmons.6230 said:

Also, in a game which is very lacking for multiplayer content, you need to do this missions which could take hours in solo. If they were at least doable with parties via LFG that wuld make them more enjoyable.

I wanted to addresss this point specifically. Firstly you can play any story instance with up to 4 other players. They don't have to be doing that story step themselves (although if they are they'll have the option to accept the reward), they just have to join your group and then they can play it with you.

 

Secondly am I right in thinking for you multiplayer content means instanced content for small groups of players, like dungeons and raids? Because if so you're right that GW2 doesn't work like that. Most of the multiplayer content in this game, including a significant chunk of the 'end game' activities for level 80 characters are in open-world maps.

 

Some of it can be done sort-of solo in the sense that you just need to show up and do your own thing alongside a lot of other players (many world bosses for example) but others require a lot of coordination, like the Triple Wurm in Bloodtide Coast or the Dragon's Stand and Drizzlewood meta events. Those require multiple organised groups of players working together to complete. It is usually more chaotic than raids because you can't be as precise with 50+ people involved, but it's a lot of fun.

[Zavijah.2695]

As above, you do not need to, and nor have I heard, or people doing the story on their alts. 
Most things are account wide. You only need to get access to a waypoint first time, be that port to friend or the Living World Scrolls. 

If you did decide to. You don't even need to do the Living World stories in chronological order of 3,4,IBS. Just pick a start point and get as far as the map you want unlocked then abandon quest.

[Dante.1763]

6 minutes ago, Zavijah.2695 said:

As above, you do not need to, and nor have I heard, or people doing the story on their alts. 
Most things are account wide. You only need to get access to a waypoint first time, be that port to friend or the Living World Scrolls. 

If you did decide to. You don't even need to do the Living World stories in chronological order of 3,4,IBS. Just pick a start point and get as far as the map you want unlocked then abandon quest.

I mean, i do story on alts, up to 3 who have gone all the way through 😛

You dont *HAVE* to though, nor do you need other players for it. It also shouldnt be taking hours...all of HOT took me an 1hr and 30 minutes the last time i ran it on my 4th character.

That 4th character of which has the entire map explored already, before she even did the story. Tomes/scrolls are fun.

[Danikat.8537]

I do the story on my alts as well. In theory I'm going to do all the storylines (in order) on all my permanent characters (and if I get really lucky on my no-death challenge alt as well). In reality I don't have that much free time so I've got one who has done all of it, one who is about 1/2 of the way through and 2 others who are part-way.

 

But I only do that because I want to. I like playing the story and I like seeing how it's different on different characters (like my engineer having conversations with Taimi about Scarlet's machines when my ranger and elementalist just thought it was a mess of parts, or taking a sylvari through HoT with Mordremoth yelling in their mind.

 

I've also got several characters who have been to maps they haven't reached yet in the story, either to gather materials or to do achievements or because I was helping a friend and needed a specific profession. I think there's only 2 who have been to all the maps (one via the story, one via a variety of methods), most of them just have a few unlocked because they're the only ones I've needed so far.

[Ashantara.8731]

On 8/31/2021 at 10:23 AM, JD Simmons.6230 said:

There are people loving LW missions while others hate them.

Personally I find them too long and time consuming.

 

No offense, but if you don't like doing story content in a RPG nonetheless, I recommend you try survival or other exploration-based MMOs instead.

 

I am complaining about some of the story contents myself, but not because of their length or difficulty but because of the plot and/or writing. However, I can't imagine playing a MMORPG without diving into the story - it's what shapes the world, and without it I could as well just go and play the aforementioned genres instead.

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[kharmin.7683]

Most of my characters are stuck at Battle for Claw Island because I had done it once and didn't see the particular need to do it on other characters.

[The Fear.3865]

11 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Most of my characters are stuck at Battle for Claw Island because I had done it once and didn't see the particular need to do it on other characters.

You should really consider doin battle for Claw Island with your alts, you got a free black lion key at the end of the mission. 

[Dante.1763]

48 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Most of my characters are stuck at Battle for Claw Island because I had done it once and didn't see the particular need to do it on other characters.

I think you mean Clawr Island 😛

 

[Incar.7358]

Most of my time spent in-game is playing the story on alts 😅

[Shadowmoon.7986]

With the portal tomes, you do not have to do the story missions on alts. You have access to 100% of the zones.

[LucianDK.8615]

Its only really ls2 that is the soul killer. So long winded with unskippable dialogue and stuff. Only reason to redo any of them is for achievements.

 

But really, you are not forced to do the storylines on alts. Though in ls4, most notably thunderhead peaks, there was a poi gated by storyprogression. But mesmers could circumvent it.

[Tiamat.8254]

1 hour ago, The Fear.3865 said:

You should really consider doin battle for Claw Island with your alts, you got a free black lion key at the end of the mission. 

True. I think I blasted a character through to the end of the level 60 story in about 2.5 hours on Saturday. I was already level 80 and this does not take into account anyone leveling normally.

[kharmin.7683]

2 hours ago, The Fear.3865 said:

You should really consider doin battle for Claw Island with your alts, you got a free black lion key at the end of the mission. 

I might consider it if there were anything worth getting from the BL chest.  I usually just get junk.

[Gibson.4036]

15 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I might consider it if there were anything worth getting from the BL chest.  I usually just get junk.

There are some pretty sweet Black Lion weapon designs. Each BL chest guarantees you two statuettes, or 1/25th of a new weapon. 1/75 of an older design. With a chance to get more.

Okay.  Nevermind. You're right.

[Danikat.8537]

38 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

There are some pretty sweet Black Lion weapon designs. Each BL chest guarantees you two statuettes, or 1/25th of a new weapon. 1/75 of an older design. With a chance to get more.

Okay.  Nevermind. You're right.

If you want the black lion weapons it's much easier and usually cheaper to buy them from the TP than to try to get them from chests or get tickets to buy them from the NPC. Getting one with a free key can be cheaper (in the sense of the time required to get the key vs. time required to farm gold to buy one) but it's unlikely you'll get one with just 1 key.

 

I always save up free keys until I want one of the 2-3 account bound drops from the black lion chest. I don't always get them of course, but it's the only things it's worth using keys for because anything tradable or available on the gem store you're better off buying directly than gambling for.

[kharmin.7683]

I think that Gibson was being sarcastic

[Dante.1763]

7 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I think that Gibson was being sarcastic

I will say though the FOT4W chest can be gold if you get the keys for free. Same with most festival chests.

The box they have inside can drop items worth between 50s and 5g. Not to shabby for a 10 minute mission.

[ASP.8093]

5 hours ago, The Fear.3865 said:

You should really consider doin battle for Claw Island with your alts, you got a free black lion key at the end of the mission. 

Spoiler

Perhaps a living mentor is worth more to them than a chest of Evon Gnashblade's trinkets. 😉

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by ASP.8093