Season 1 "Flame and Frost" feedback

[Zok.4956]

Hi,

I like the actual release, it was fun playing it. Best thing for me was the Molten Furnace story instance. Now I understand/experienced the origins of the Molten Boss Fractal and the Molten Furnace Fractal. It's a good idee that both fractals are listed in the meta achievement (yes, usually I am against such a thing) to experience both side-by-side.

Are the Cragstead and Nolan Hatchery instances different than the previous scrying pool versions? Playing them from the scrying pool felt "meh" and playing them now as part of the story feels better.

Sure, the events in Diessa Plateau have stalled events (it seems, old bugs were still not fixed) and the biggest challenge was tagging mobs to get event participation because mobs/vets melt instantly .

And it also felt really good that old maps are revitalized (sometimes a little bit crowded) and are alive again. This is a big and welcome contrast to the (mostly) empty and dead maps in EoD.

What do you think?

[Luthan.5236]

Fits better to this thread - I removed content from my post in another thread and posting it here. Since the other thread was about season 1 coming back in general and I also had posted some feedback. (Regarding the instances and the bugged open world events.)

---

I have played through the first episode now. Played this back then when it was new ... years ago. I only missed the final parts of the season 1. And looking forward to them. Replaying the old stuff ... was nice - but also a bit boring at some parts. For new players it will be nice though. (And for me the later parts that I missed - where Taimi got introduced.)

Nice: To see the old maps re-used with new stuff. And the cutscenes and character introductions.

Not so nice: Someone mentione dit already: Bugged events. Sometimes the invasion has all enemies killed but the dredge carrier can't be destroyed (buff that makes int invincible that should disappear when enemies are killed I guess).

And: Some parts in the instances felt tooo long - especially for the older chars that can't even progress it faster by just killing faster. The defensive part where you need to fill the bar and enemies move constantly in small groups in the circla every few seconds.  Could have been different/more interesting mechanics there.

The finale instance ... story-wise it is nice. And the 2 parts (that we later got as separate fractals) work nice together. A bit long though ... I have not tried to log out in between. I hope a lot that this one has checkpoints where you can continue - at least after the part with the first boss. So people won't necessarily have to do it all at once or can jump back if they got a disconnect.

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The Cragstead and Hatchery fel the same like in the scrying pool - at least to me. Have not really an exact memory and not checked the wiki for this though. I think though that in Cragstead the dialogue felt shorter and in the scrying pool there were more mentions of Ottilia? (Another npc in the middle before you moved to the boss where Braham had more dialogie regarding Ottilia.)

But I might remember that wrong. Could be that they changed stuff though since Ottilia now gets mentioned at other parts since more of the season is coming back now.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[Linken.6345]

2 hours ago, Luthan.5236 said:

Fits better to this thread - I removed content from my post in another thread and posting it here. Since the other thread was about season 1 coming back in general and I also had posted some feedback. (Regarding the instances and the bugged open world events.)

---

I have played through the first episode now. Played this back then when it was new ... years ago. I only missed the final parts of the season 1. And looking forward to them. Replaying the old stuff ... was nice - but also a bit boring at some parts. For new players it will be nice though. (And for me the later parts that I missed - where Taimi got introduced.)

Nice: To see the old maps re-used with new stuff. And the cutscenes and character introductions.

Not so nice: Someone mentione dit already: Bugged events. Sometimes the invasion has all enemies killed but the dredge carrier can't be destroyed (buff that makes int invincible that should disappear when enemies are killed I guess).

And: Some parts in the instances felt tooo long - especially for the older chars that can't even progress it faster by just killing faster. The defensive part where you need to fill the bar and enemies move constantly in small groups in the circla every few seconds.  Could have been different/more interesting mechanics there.

The finale instance ... story-wise it is nice. And the 2 parts (that we later got as separate fractals) work nice together. A bit long though ... I have not tried to log out in between. I hope a lot that this one has checkpoints where you can continue - at least after the part with the first boss. So people won't necessarily have to do it all at once or can jump back if they got a disconnect.

---

The Cragstead and Hatchery fel the same like in the scrying pool - at least to me. Have not really an exact memory and not checked the wiki for this though. I think though that in Cragstead the dialogue felt shorter and in the scrying pool there were more mentions of Ottilia? (Another npc in the middle before you moved to the boss where Braham had more dialogie regarding Ottilia.)

But I might remember that wrong. Could be that they changed stuff though since Ottilia now gets mentioned at other parts since more of the season is coming back now.

Molten furnace do have checkpoints I got them on my alt accounts when playing through it as a 3 person party.

Then there were 3 or 4 pop ups that you have been moved along in story accept or reject.

[mythical.6315]

33 minutes ago, Linken.6345 said:

Molten furnace do have checkpoints I got them on my alt accounts when playing through it as a 3 person party.

I can confirm that there’s at least one checkpoint right before the boss. I found this out where the lift to leave the instance became interactable before the rewards script played giving you credit for completing it. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by mythical.6315

[Ashantara.8731]

I loved it! The only downside were the bugged map events, everything else was fun. 🙂

I especially appreciated the little things, like the refugee camps being abandoned after you have completed the episode on that character.

Looking forward to the remaining episodes! 🥰
 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Ashantara.8731

[TheQuickFox.3826]

I'm very happy to see the gaps in the story to be filled in now, and to finally be able to catch up on the achievements that were inaccessible to me for so many years.

(I actually played GW2 from the pre-release headstart weekend, but in the first years I had difficulty to make the transition from GW1 to GW2 so I only leveled to 45 and then mostly went back to GW1 and worked on my Hall of Monuments there. By the time I found myself an useful Elementalist build that was comfortable for me to play, Living World Season 1 was long gone.)

Thanks for bringing it back ANet!

Edited April 23, 2022 by TheQuickFox.3826
)

[Farohna.6247]

29 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

I loved it! The only downside were the bugged map events, everything else was fun. 🙂

I especially appreciated the little things, like the refugee camps being abandoned after you have completed the episode on that character.

Looking forward to the remaining episodes! 🥰
 

I enjoyed it as well, and it doesn't feel so crammed full of achievements that I have to rush.  I wish some the portals weren't bugged but otherwise fun.

[Holykitten.3064]

1 hour ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

I loved it! The only downside were the bugged map events, everything else was fun. 🙂

Historical accuracy, as they call it. Haha 🤣

[Linken.6345]

4 hours ago, Farohna.6247 said:

I enjoyed it as well, and it doesn't feel so crammed full of achievements that I have to rush.  I wish some the portals weren't bugged but otherwise fun.

Well reason you had to rush back then was the 2 week and they are gone kinda of thing right?

[voltaicbore.8012]

I just started S1, and have reached the very first instance in Battle for Cragstead (the talking to Knut one in Hoelbrak).

I've gotta say, the inter-character tensions are set up decently, I'm impressed. In particular I'm really beginning to understand Braham. I was always curious why he'd ever attach himself to the Commander, but story wise we're the only person consistently willing to help him when literally everyone else is refusing. I can also see why later in S3 he'd get so upset with us for asking him to hold back and not push the fight forward - it's very reminiscent of the same old refusals that he met in this very formative episode of his life.

The optional text does a great job of showing that Knut & Eir actually do want to help, but as leaders of the community they're not about to throw even more bodies onto the pile. Rather than push people into fights of unknown nature, they sensibly want to keep those bodies alive to defend Hoelbrak as a rally point. Instead of calling it a fool's errand, both are relieved when you offer to help Braham, and encourage you to do so.

I'm looking forward to learning more about the rest of Dragon's Watch in a similar manner. This kind of thing just makes these characters a bit more understandable and less of a caricature, which is exactly what I was hoping S1 would do.

[Farohna.6247]

1 hour ago, Linken.6345 said:

Well reason you had to rush back then was the 2 week and they are gone kinda of thing right?

I like to knock them out the first week in case there are groups events that are easier to find people for.  Assuming it's like the return to seasons, where it's permanent?  Or at least most of it is?

[Linken.6345]

54 minutes ago, Farohna.6247 said:

I like to knock them out the first week in case there are groups events that are easier to find people for.  Assuming it's like the return to seasons, where it's permanent?  Or at least most of it is?

All of it is and for group events maybe some are like dragonstorm ( thinking battle of lions arch and tower of nightmare here)

And atleast 1 strike most likely battle of the breachmaker the very end of season 1.

[Lamont.5973]

I have really enjoyed playing season one again so far.  It was really well done and the first chance we had to really see the living world when it first came out and the reminders are very nice.  The only downside (other than bugged events) is that the final dungeon does not have any real replay-ability incentive.  I recall when flame and frost was released the first time that I did that dungeon multiple times.  If I remember  correctly, it was the only place to get azurite (which was quite valuable at the time) and had a chance at a rare drop at the end (molten jet pack I think?).  Other than achieves, there does not seem to be any incentive to replay it this time around.

[Super Hayes.6890]

57 minutes ago, Lamont.5973 said:

I have really enjoyed playing season one again so far.  It was really well done and the first chance we had to really see the living world when it first came out and the reminders are very nice.  The only downside (other than bugged events) is that the final dungeon does not have any real replay-ability incentive.  I recall when flame and frost was released the first time that I did that dungeon multiple times.  If I remember  correctly, it was the only place to get azurite (which was quite valuable at the time) and had a chance at a rare drop at the end (molten jet pack I think?).  Other than achieves, there does not seem to be any incentive to replay it this time around.

I wonder if they are even concerned about replayability for this content. Maybe their only intent is to bridge the story gap for new players? I'm so glad they brought it back but I probably will still only do it on a few characters in the end.

[Lamont.5973]

7 hours ago, Super Hayes.6890 said:

I wonder if they are even concerned about replayability for this content. Maybe their only intent is to bridge the story gap for new players? I'm so glad they brought it back but I probably will still only do it on a few characters in the end.

Yeah I am sure that is their intention and I don't really mind it - just kind of missed the fun of running the dungeon several times with guildies.  But I did enjoy the story and memories very much.