Initial impressions of EoD

[voltaicbore.8012]

2 hours ago, Soggy Biscuit.9372 said:

As far as the story, politics alert because Anet can't help it.

I've only just reached Cantha and listened to the dialogues with the girls. As a Westerner with some Asian roots, I'm second-hand ashamed to see all these hardcore Asian stereotypes and Anet's self-righteous Western progressivism and cultural colonialism shoved in so far.

While I don't consider myself a conservative, conservatives are conservatives for a reason and I respect different ideologies enough to not call them names they way Anet have. This is already discouraging me to go any further.

I'm hoping ANet will satisfy themselves with what I've seen thus far (only up to ch 6). There's already very front-and-center talk of pronouns and historic NPCs having same-sex marriages. While I think it's fine that a game universe has/acknowledges such things, I think it's dumb to use game narrative as another vehicle to virtue signal this stuff. Again, I'm only on chapter 6, and thus far it's been fairly well-integrated (such topics are prominent, but not excessively agree-with-us-or-else by my standards).

As for Asian heritage... well dunno what to tell you man. I'm born and raised in the US, but my family is all from South Korea (I'm literally the first member of my family to be born outside that country), and I speak Korean fluently. It's... a bit jarring for me to see so many OBVIOUSLY Korean names and designs in a game that was completely devoid of that before.

However, I don't have a particular problem with it. There are equally obvious design cues and names from the other east Asian cultures, and there's enough mixture that I can suspend my disbelief and buy into the "Cantha isn't linked to IRL cultures, it's its own thing" spiel. This is also why - despite me being a political conservative and knowing that the "old country" so to speak is not exactly a bastion of progressive values - I've made my peace with the progressivism ANet has seen fit to inject into Cantha. Not that I think too highly of IRL east Asian cultures anyway; they're absolutely saturated with idiotic historic baggage and some of the most intense levels of culture-wide hypocrisy I've seen anywhere.

Overall I'm a lot more pleased with EoD than I thought I'd be. The environments are beautiful and grand in scale, both fishing and skiffs (while not epic) are more enjoyable than I expected, and there's a good amount of story to chew on so far.

[Felipe.1807]

2 hours ago, Soggy Biscuit.9372 said:

New specs are fine. As far as the story, politics alert because Anet can't help it.

I've only just reached Cantha and listened to the dialogues with the girls. As a Westerner with some Asian roots, I'm second-hand ashamed to see all these hardcore Asian stereotypes and Anet's self-righteous Western progressivism and cultural colonialism shoved in so far.

While I don't consider myself a conservative, conservatives are conservatives for a reason and I respect different ideologies enough to not call them names they way Anet have. This is already discouraging me to go any further.

What exactly they say there? I am super early till now, but allready notice some stuff, like the Purist Shenanigans achievement flavour text and

Spoiler

how my Norn reacted to the dude that takes  us to Aurene cave, was kind of odd to be honest and felt she for some reason got offended that he asked "Are all of your race this tall?" or something, would expect a Norn to take that as opportunity to boast about being the tallest and strongest of her race or something, felt out of character.

 

[Adzekul.3104]

My first impressions (spoiler-free)  ...

Context

I played the story for about 8.5 hours today. This was my plan (day off work, obligatory static raid Monday night). I like to explore maps while I am doing the story, and so I only got into the second map. I avoided metas on these 2 maps and focused on exploring and story content. I did not play GW1. I play on EU.

Detail - First Map

I liked the First Act. It satisfied my "lore itch" rather nicely. The map is beautiful and suspends my disbelief quite well. The story details are engaging, and the fights seem mostly okay.

One problem for me is that I feel the breakbars need a bit of tuning for solo players: I use all my considerable CC skills, and the CC bar reduces to about 66%, which feels wrong to me. Should it really take 3 sets of cooldowns to break a boss CC bar? In so many cases (including the biggest fight in Act 1) the mob was very slowly reduced to zero HP before the breakbar could be broken. And I am not a slouch when it comes to using CC skill.

I hated the "activity gate" at the end of the first map. I hate being forced to do events for now good reason than someone's arbitrary decision. This ruins immersion and feels unrewarding. This happens right before you leave the map and while the story aspect makes some sense, it all feels artificial and contrived. Please learn the lessons of bad Living World Story design and do not use these features anymore.

Second Map

Nice to look at, but this one felt "big only for the sake of being big". The Reknown Hearts (only 3) were soul-crushing in their tediousness and some activities felt like only 1-2% progress.

It felt to me that the population of the second map could not possibly sustain the effort/resources needed to build it. The map is empty of NPCs (and players, by-the-way) and feels as empty as the livestreams! I understand that mounts cover lots of ground quickly, and the verticality is nice to look at, but the size and verticality do not make any real sense, and erode immersion.

To me, map #2 was as bad as map #1 was good. These are puzzling opposites and I can only wonder what it coming in the remaining maps.

More impressions later (in the coming days).

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Adzekul.3104

[Bolbo Baggins.8594]

I am not a fan of the coloring and lightning to be honest, and the overrealiance on postprocessing for the effects. It looks less detailed and polished to me. Also a lot of using old assets, compared to Hot and Pof, who have much more layered, detailed and unique assets. Would be fine for a Living World release, but i would expect more uniqueness with a full expac.

On the story side, without giving spoilers. Im quite far with the story at the Kaineng part. The story begins good, but somewhere it is beginning to be reliant on doing endless repetitive tasks instead of having a story presented and interesting encounters. What i have played now doesnt hold up to the story campaign in Pof in my opinion.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Bolbo Baggins.8594

[Ashantara.8731]

(Oh, I didn't see this thread and posted in the other one... let me copy&paste then....)

  

I have progressed to Kaineng City today (which I have partially explored already) and have finished Seitung. So the following feedback doesn't go beyond that:

Like:

• dense atmosphere, wonderful immersion
• compelling story and characters*
• extremely well designed story missions
• though we have modern speech again (which I am not a fan of in a fantasy game) and a lot of tongue-in-cheek dialogue, the narrative team this time managed to not make any of the characters sound like dimwits, which is a huge plus in my book; there is a lot of humor, too, snarkasm and wit (as well as side blows to the community's pre-release fears and criticism)
• great maps with tons of diverse content to explore: well-written ambient dialogues, hidden secrets, compelling discoveries, immersive events, items, new masteries, jumping puzzles, etc (I don't think I've ever stopped this often to take in everything, talk to everyone, interact with everything in any of the previous releases in GW2 history - it takes very long, but I am in no rush)
• jade bots (have not really tried them yet, but they already had me at the livestream presentation)
• fishing on skiffs is a lot more fun than I had expected (I judge it by the fact that I have caught myself pursuing this activity quite often in between other tasks)

Don't like:

• Sorry that I keep beating this drum, but I sincerely detest the extent/amount of jade tech in New Kaineng City (my "Blade Runner" comparison wasn't too far-fetched after all); I hope I won't get to see too much of it in Echovald Forest
• the color of processed jade (oof)
• jade mechs (goodness, they look awful)
• the new elite specs
• the constant dodgefest during fights; I haven't tried the new Strikes yet, but I sure hope it won't be a continuation of this boring mechanic - I am hoping for a bit more innovation (the Hidden Arcana story mission comes to mind)

All things considered, I am having a blast, even in "Blade Runner" Kaineng City. 😉 The maps I have visited so far have clever designs which basically invite you to explore more. The characters* and the story are super immersive, and the humor is on point. I think this might end up being my favorite GW2 expansion to date. The aforementioned aspects alone have made it worth the wait, perhaps I will have more to add to the "two thumbs up" list once I have played through the whole thing. 🙂

*) should have made it clear that I was not talking about Dragon's Watch characters 😄

Edited March 1, 2022 by Ashantara.8731

[Exxcalibur.6203]

Looks like a garden and its about as exciting as one. 

 

I play through and get back to wvw. Those maps, made years ago are more interesting. Look at fire keep, for example, its insane.

[witcher.3197]

15 hours ago, Gorem.8104 said:

Disappointed that its the 2 blandest characters so far with us, Majory and Kas are super boring. Hopefully Gorrik gets more limelight then them. Not sure why they picked the worst members of Dragons Watch for the expac 

I think it's obvious why, and it's not an in-universe reason

Edited March 1, 2022 by witcher.3197

[Monarc.9726]

Initial impression is mostly just me being disappointed with the new elite specs. That's what I look forward to the most in an expansion. I just don't find most of them to be as fun and engaging as previous e-specs. I'm not talking about balance, just mechanics and fun factor. Also, no changes to them since last beta. Very few changes after first beta, so why did we bother giving so much feedback? Almost none of the good ideas and notes I read from players to improve the new e-specs were implemented in any way, aside from a few very minor adjustments. Next time don't tease people with a false impression of contributing to the development of elite specs.

[Ashantara.8731]

44 minutes ago, witcher.3197 said:

I think it's obvious why, and it's not an in-universe reason

What do you mean? I hope that's not a homophobic comment?

Marjory was picked because of her Canthan descent and her being a detective. As for Kas, I found the whole Krytan Ambassador thing a bit surprising myself.

[Gotejjeken.1267]

My initial impression was I'm sure glad I got a Skyscale as I don't know how you'd navigate the map without it.  If you are meant to use Jade Bot or whatever I guess that works, but I'd have much less fun trying to find zip points then just getting there instantly o_O.

As far as the first zone goes, it is visually impressive, and I did like the jumping puzzle there.  I don't know much else about it as I just did completion and need to go back and get my skiff, etc.  Fishing is fun though from what limited exposure I've had.

Did find some bugs though, specifically one of the hero point challenges is bugged, and the champion spider got stuck in the wall and took like 30 minutes to take out because it was 'focused' on someone who had long gone so it had no breakbar to break its focus; that wasn't the most pleasent thing.

Also for pets, the white tiger (only one I was able to get to so far) seems especially unresponsive.  The beast skill is interesting for competitive though--still have to use it a bit more to see just how useful it is (i.e. not too excited for the startup animation it has for the damage it ultimately does).  

[Gotejjeken.1267]

9 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

What do you mean? I hope that's not a homophobic comment?

Marjory was picked because of her Canthan descent and her being a detective. As for Kas, I found the whole Krytan Ambassador thing a bit surprising myself.

 

For me Kas wasn't surprising, she's Krytan, is a mesmer, and is one of the most traditionally beautiful main chars.  So ambassador is a pretty natural fit.

[Ashantara.8731]

1 minute ago, Gotejjeken.1267 said:

For me Kas wasn't surprising, she's Krytan, is a mesmer, and is one of the most traditionally beautiful main chars.  So ambassador is a pretty natural fit.

She also has a self-esteem issue and can be unreliable in dangerous situations at times. I'm not an expert, but I think those two traits can be kind of hindering in said position. 😉

But yeah, I admit so far she has been doing extremely well and has been very likeable in this expansion.

Marjory, on the other hand, seems to have deepened her own unpleasant character traits that she has developed since LWS3.

[neogarden.3190]

Yeah, we're just starting out at my house.. but I have to say, GW2 team:

I WOULD LIKE TO KEEP THAT LOAD SCREEN AND MUSIC FOREVER.  

Please let us customize load to a. sort characters, b. choose environ. 

I am absolutely stunned at the beauty of Seitung Harbor and the wonderful music.  Thank you so much. ❤️

[Gorem.8104]

1 hour ago, witcher.3197 said:

I think it's obvious why, and it's not an in-universe reason

Oh yeah I realise this, if this was skyrim I'd turn off their plot armour, slice their heads off and make them my puppets so I could at least laugh when they talked in the story. I'd not mind them at all if they were a bit more realistic and didn't seem so forced and shoved into your face. But honestly that appears to be most of this story and release, wasn't expecting much after IBS's bad writing but whoa. Way to much politics in my fantasy adventure with giant cats. I just wanna smash things with Rytlock and my Dragon "pet" haha. 

[Kaliwenda.3428]

I'm taking my time going thru the content, and so far I'm really enjoying this expansion.  Very happy with it so far!

 

[Izzy.2951]

Im loving it so far, only done shing jea part.

Fishing is really nice, took me 30 sec as much to get my 1st catch! 😄

Edited March 1, 2022 by Izzy.2951

[EKAN.4051]

Its ok, but just ok, pre expansions are much better.

[Zawnius.6421]

10 hours ago, Soggy Biscuit.9372 said:

New specs are fine. As far as the story, politics alert because Anet can't help it.

I've only just reached Cantha and listened to the dialogues with the girls. As a Westerner with some Asian roots, I'm second-hand ashamed to see all these hardcore Asian stereotypes and Anet's self-righteous Western progressivism and cultural colonialism shoved in so far.

While I don't consider myself a conservative, conservatives are conservatives for a reason and I respect different ideologies enough to not call them names they way Anet have. This is already discouraging me to go any further.

Pretty much my feelings.

Visual design is great, apart from Seitung Province being a bit too color-saturated. Though the actual events/hearts in the maps feel disconnected from the story, quite tedious for the hearts, and generally not worth the time. ANet should've followed player feedback and gone for HoT-style map content instead of the criticized PoF, but here we are.

About the story, I like the general idea of the narrative, but not how it's told. Alchemy, the politics! They feel too forced into the content and out of place. A game isn't a stage for virtue signaling and propaganda, but again here we are. That, as well as the overuse of Asian stereotypes makes Canthan society feel like a too realistic, too modern, Westernized parody of Asia. At least the amazing soundtrack contrasts with that and shows some genuine research and appreciation for Korean culture.

I generally enjoy the expansion and nostalgic throwback but feel like it falls short of being truly amazing, like ANet worked the Cantha hype a bit too much.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Zawnius.6421

[Tachenon.5270]

Gotta say I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm having so much fun playing a Bladesworn. I was planning to roll with a Vindicator and a Mechanist once EOD launched, those being the two new e-specs I liked most during the betas. The only reason I have this Bladesworn now is because my #1 Warrior had a bunch of unspent hero points and I was in just the right mood to say, eh, why not. So, ya know, cool!

[vectorfox.6894]

23 hours ago, Zawnius.6421 said:

About the story, I like the general idea of the narrative, but not how it's told. Alchemy, the politics! They feel too forced into the content and out of place. A game isn't a stage for virtue signaling and propaganda, but again here we are. That, as well as the overuse of Asian stereotypes makes Canthan society feel like a too realistic, too modern, Westernized parody of Asia. At least the amazing soundtrack contrasts with that and shows some genuine research and appreciation for Korean culture.

The story felt a little disconnected with being a fantasy game, too much modern dialogue with words that aren't really popular in modern times save for particular younger parts of society which is where i refer to any of the political dialogue.

 

The story as a whole was a little weak for me from the villains to the time being spent in Cantha but i guess when your mission is a ticking time bomb you don't get to take the scenic route. I hope the writers haven't dug themselves into a new hole they will struggle to write their way out of again but if they at the minimum can wipe the power scaling clean and get back to more grounded stories then it should be more manageable.

[voltaicbore.8012]

On 3/1/2022 at 6:25 PM, Zawnius.6421 said:

too realistic, too modern, Westernized parody of Asia.

Having finished the story once at this point, I have to say I agree with your virtue signaling criticism. It wasn't that bad as of chapter 6 (where I was the last time I commented on this), but by the end I felt a bit tired of hearing it all. Again, it's not the most egregious example out there, and ANet certainly could have made it worse, but I guess the residual wokeness just built up for me over time.

As for Cantha being a Westernized parody of Asia, I have to say - IRL Asia is a Westernized parody of Asia to me lol. Perhaps it's because I was born and raised in the states, but it's painful for me to see just how MUCH of the West is carelessly injected into East Asian (and into the few SEA places I've been as well) culture. The funniest and least harmful example of this is "Engrish." If you don't know what that refers to, it's a common name for the weird and utterly stupid habit East Asians have for slapping on misspelled/misused/just plain bad English words on random merchandise,. media, storefronts, etc. It's a lot like non-Asian American kids getting tattoos of "Chinese" characters that are much the same (bad calligraphy, sometimes outright backwards, and always completely out of context, etc). There are much, much more insidious and outright heartbreaking examples of Western culture/ideals/stuff being grafted into Asia, but the wall of text here is big and off-topic enough already.

So yeah - the politics part of the new story never felt absolutely terrible at any one point, but as a whole it kind of got to me. And yes, while Cantha is something of a Western parody of Asian culture, so are many actual modern Asian cultures, IMO. No real harm done there in my book.