Is there a gap between Living World Season 1 and Season 2?

[Eram the Liar.5720]

Full disclosure: I played Guild Wars 2 a looooooooooooooooooong time ago, before there were any kind of seasons at all, and only very recently came back. I'm enjoying it, but I'm running into weird story gaps that make no sense, even when I try to follow it in order.

 

FOR EXAMPLE, I finished Living World Season 1 and decided to buy Season 2 in order to get some background for Heart of Thorns. And... Season 1 ends with defeating a lieutenant of the Aetherblades and everyone wondering "Who is the mysterious Scarlet?" and Season 2 starts with everyone saying "GEE SCARLET SURE CAUSED A LOT OF DAMAGE AND MAYBE WOKE UP AN ELDER DRAGON HUH?"

... was there a Season 1.5 I was supposed to play through first? Or is that part all told via dungeons and raids or something? There are things happening in Season 2 that all the NPCs refer to as if I'd been standing right there when it happened, and occasionally my character says "yeah, that was crazy, I'll never forget THAT day" and apparently my Pact Commander has a lot of PTSD because I totally forgot that day. 😕

[Eram the Liar.5720]

As long as I'm on the topic 🙂 there are a few other gaps I'm still trying to sort through:

 

When I left Rox she had passed her first test/trial/whatever to join Rytlock's squad, or legion, or whatever the Charr called it. Apparently now they're on the outs because he ordered her to kill the mysterious Scarlet and she decided to save Braham's life instead. And they've unofficially adopted an Asuran child who rides around on a golem? I mean they act like her parents. Or at least like older siblings. And she calls me boss even though I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever seen her in the game before.

 

Gah, I'm so confused. 😄

 

[Eram the Liar.5720]

I should have read this thread first:

 

 

[GODh.3892]

31 minutes ago, Eram the Liar.5720 said:

FOR EXAMPLE, I finished Living World Season 1 and decided to buy Season 2 in order to get some background for Heart of Thorns. And... Season 1 ends with defeating a lieutenant of the Aetherblades and everyone wondering "Who is the mysterious Scarlet?" and Season 2 starts with everyone saying "GEE SCARLET SURE CAUSED A LOT OF DAMAGE AND MAYBE WOKE UP AN ELDER DRAGON HUH?"

The original LW1 content was often open world content and when it was done, you could not play it anymore. They changed the system with LW2, 3, 4 and IBS. And now Anet started to re-release LW1 so that it can be replayed, just like the rest. But not all episodes are re-released yet. AFAIK there are still 3 episodes  to be re-released (no dates yet, but all this year). And that causes the gap that you are experiencing right now...

Edited June 30, 2022 by GODh.3892
typos

[Eram the Liar.5720]

I look forward to playing that extended flashback when it's ready. 😄

[Ashantara.8731]

1 hour ago, Eram the Liar.5720 said:

FOR EXAMPLE, I finished Living World Season 1

No, you haven't. 😄 They've only made LWS1 available again just recently and so far have only released 2 episodes of it. You are far from finishing the whole season. 😉

Side note: a portion of LWS1, namely the Southsun Cove storyline, was cut from the re-release of Season 1, so we are not getting Ellen Kiel's and Canach's full story.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

2 hours ago, Eram the Liar.5720 said:

FOR EXAMPLE, I finished Living World Season 1 and decided to buy Season 2 in order to get some background for Heart of Thorns. And... Season 1 ends with defeating a lieutenant of the Aetherblades and everyone wondering "Who is the mysterious Scarlet?" and Season 2 starts with everyone saying "GEE SCARLET SURE CAUSED A LOT OF DAMAGE AND MAYBE WOKE UP AN ELDER DRAGON HUH?"

As mentioned, Season 1 was originally temporary content and hasn't been in the game for about 9 years; this year they're re-implementing about half of it in the form of permanent, free, story journal content in five episodes. They've released two of those episodes, with the other three coming this year.

You've likely realized by now that there are entire storylines being cut out, such as The Lost Shores and Secret of Southsun arc. It's very likely Cutthroat Politics arc is also cut, but we've yet to get confirmation as we don't know what Episodes 3 and 4 will be covering (most likely Clockwork Chaos arc and Tower of Nightmares arc). It's possible, but not certain, that The Origins of Mandess/Edge of the Mists arc will also be cut from the return, unless it gets merged into Episode 5 Battle for Lion's Arch (which would make it the longest episode by far - nearly twice the length of any other LW episode besides IBS: Champions which is technically also 4 releases condensed into one story journal entry).

 

If you're interested in the recap, at the bottom of the story journal is the original in-game Season 1 Recap video which covers the "main parts" of Season 1 (read: the Scarlet related releases, which the Season 1 Return seems to be following). While the cut content is still canon, there's no indication of its eventual return or even a recap for them anytime soon (we'll see). If you're interested in recaps for that, there's a few community made ones I would recommend:

• WoodenPotatoes' 1 hour summary; chronological telling of S1's main storyline
• A 2 hour video playlist I made; focuses on just in-game audio and video from youtube videos over the past years, designed for comprehensive bitesized watches divided by story arcs
• DreamyAbaddon's 3 hour comprehensive Season 1 video; includes audio readings of short stories that released parallel to S1 and some post-S1 lore, but is told out of order (seemingly for narrative reasons but some choices make little sense to me)

There are of course other recaps out there, but I view these as the "best" (subjectiveness in play).

[Eram the Liar.5720]

Last night after I discovered the other thread I watched WoodenPotatoes' summary and I now know enough of what happened that all the references in Season 2 at least make sense. Also I'm still new enough with all the game mechanics that I'm a little relieved I don't actually have to do any of those boss fights just yet. 😀

[Bobby Stein.3612]

Welcome back, OP! As others have said, LWS1 is currently being revitalized and released back into the game, episode by episode, via the Story Journal. The first 2 episodes are already live but there are more to come, so that's why you're experiencing the continuity gaps.

[squeegee.4320]

31 minutes ago, Bobby Stein.3612 said:

Welcome back, OP! As others have said, LWS1 is currently being revitalized and released back into the game, episode by episode, via the Story Journal. The first 2 episodes are already live but there are more to come, so that's why you're experiencing the continuity gaps.

Could you not just put three "releasing soon!" spaces in the story journal?

Edited June 30, 2022 by narwhalsbend.7059

[Bobby Stein.3612]

5 minutes ago, narwhalsbend.7059 said:

Could you not just put three "releasing soon!" spaces in the story journal?

I don't believe our Story Journal allows you to have a placeholder episode entry with nothing under it (or without a Play button), but I'll ask.

[Bobby Stein.3612]

4 hours ago, Bobby Stein.3612 said:

I don't believe our Story Journal allows you to have a placeholder episode entry with nothing under it (or without a Play button), but I'll ask.

Update: I was correct. The current implementation doesn't allow for this, but since the remainder of the season will be released SOON™ (i.e. this year) it will be a minor annoyance for NOT MUCH LONGER. 😉

 

ArenaNet Studio Update: The Future of Guild Wars 2 – GuildWars2.com

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

1 hour ago, Bobby Stein.3612 said:

Update: I was correct. The current implementation doesn't allow for this, but since the remainder of the season will be released SOON™ (i.e. this year) it will be a minor annoyance for NOT MUCH LONGER. 😉

 

ArenaNet Studio Update: The Future of Guild Wars 2 – GuildWars2.com

I would recommend moving the original recap (which is now down below EoD in its own exaction) to underneath Season 1, above Season 2, near its original position. So players going through *now* will see that recap instead of nothing.

[Bobby Stein.3612]

16 hours ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

I would recommend moving the original recap (which is now down below EoD in its own exaction) to underneath Season 1, above Season 2, near its original position. So players going through *now* will see that recap instead of nothing.

Still working out the details as to where it'll go or how it'll be accessed once all the episodes are out. Current thoughts are leaning toward keeping it in the world and accessible (and maybe pointing you to it via mail after you complete S1) but removing it as an "episode" since it's basically just a conversation and cinematic. Keep all the achievements, etc.

[Randulf.7614]

7 minutes ago, Bobby Stein.3612 said:

Still working out the details as to where it'll go or how it'll be accessed once all the episodes are out. Current thoughts are leaning toward keeping it in the world and accessible (and maybe pointing you to it via mail after you complete S1) but removing it as an "episode" since it's basically just a conversation and cinematic. Keep all the achievements, etc.

Def the best way

Whilst I’m not fussed over LS1, I’m glad the effort was put into releasing it for everyone else. How you do Battle for LA is however, def something I am interested in seeing. That was one of the best pieces of content the team ever released.

[squeegee.4320]

37 minutes ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Def the best way

Whilst I’m not fussed over LS1, I’m glad the effort was put into releasing it for everyone else. How you do Battle for LA is however, def something I am interested in seeing. That was one of the best pieces of content the team ever released.

The best way I can think of is having it be a large public instance akin to Dragonstorm or Marionette currently.

[Randulf.7614]

6 minutes ago, narwhalsbend.7059 said:

The best way I can think of is having it be a large public instance akin to Dragonstorm or Marionette currently.

That would seem to be the likely route. I just hope they keep the scale of it given how much there was to do which changed over two episodes. The miasma, the rescuing of civilians, the watchwork bosses, the final fight aboard the Breachmaker. A too heavily scaled down version would be sad to see.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Randulf.7614

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

4 hours ago, Bobby Stein.3612 said:

Still working out the details as to where it'll go or how it'll be accessed once all the episodes are out. Current thoughts are leaning toward keeping it in the world and accessible (and maybe pointing you to it via mail after you complete S1) but removing it as an "episode" since it's basically just a conversation and cinematic. Keep all the achievements, etc.

I would definitely recommend that, but until Episode 5 is out, moving it at the bottom of Season 1 is probably ideal for these recent confusion threads.

 

4 hours ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Def the best way

Whilst I’m not fussed over LS1, I’m glad the effort was put into releasing it for everyone else. How you do Battle for LA is however, def something I am interested in seeing. That was one of the best pieces of content the team ever released.

Not just Battle for Lion's Arch but Kessex Hills during Tower of Nightmares, the Tower of Nightmares zone itself, and Escape for Lion's Arch.

I could see them merging EfLA and BfLA into one large open-instance like Dragonstorm and Twisted Marionette (best method IMHO), same with Tower of Nightmares zone, but there's the issue of the three camps as well, and Kessex Hills itself is... a much harder topic. It was always ToN that felt like the hugest hurdle to pass whenever I brainstormed how Season 1 could return, alongside the election's effectiveness.

[celestia.3829]

5 hours ago, Bobby Stein.3612 said:

Still working out the details as to where it'll go or how it'll be accessed once all the episodes are out. Current thoughts are leaning toward keeping it in the world and accessible (and maybe pointing you to it via mail after you complete S1) but removing it as an "episode" since it's basically just a conversation and cinematic. Keep all the achievements, etc.

Why not create placeholder episodes that play a recap ( in form of text) when played