EoD Living World Season not until next year?

[Trigarta.3841]

Through the road map posted today, we know that season 1 epiosode 4 is coming september 13th. We know that there is still episode 5 to come (probably some time in november). Season 1 coming back is great but at the end of the day it is old content. I was really hoping for a new living world season still this year but it doesn't look like it. Maybe they surprise us with a date during gamescom but who knows.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

They're not going to do two Living World seasons at once, I don't know why anyone expected that. You may not see LWS1 as new content, but all newer players do, and that's the target audience.

 

Also the main storyline of ten years is finished so obviously there would be a break.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[mythical.6315]

My guess is that we won’t see it until next year given how long it takes for them to develop an episode and that their entire staff were likely working on the expansion up to its launch. At best, we may see it at the end of the year if they were able to break away a bit earlier to start working on it. 

I also just thought that they may try to push it out at the same time as the Steam release. Bigger publicity and all. So it is still possible that we could see something towards the end of the year. 

Edited July 14, 2022 by mythical.6315

[Luthan.5236]

I think ... after e4 there will be a rush event (boss or fractal rush ... likely a boss rush with them updating the world bosses as well now) - then halloween. After halloween and before wintersday the s5 I guess?

Maybe if there is room they  could fit in the first episode of the following season. If not ... then early next year. Probably still polishing everything to get ready for Steam release and planning to do that one together with the Steam release. And though it seems they tried to avoid releasing the festivals at the same time as story releases ("too much" for the players to do at the same time) ... with christmas being a good time to sell things ....

maybe they will do Steam release + wintersday + that new story season first chapter ... all at the same time? I guess earliest we could know ... will be after season 4 when they are likely to release another roadmaps for the months after that.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

Assuming there will even be more "seasons". The only thing they confirmed is a "new Canthan map" after all. It's entirely plausible they are considering leaving the LW structure behind with the closing of the overarching Elder Dragon storyline.

But chances have always been pretty good that if we get that new Canthan map this year, it'd be in Q4.

[Teratus.2859]

13 hours ago, Mariyuuna.6508 said:

They're not going to do two Living World seasons at once, I don't know why anyone expected that. You may not see LWS1 as new content, but all newer players do, and that's the target audience.

 

Also the main storyline of ten years is finished so obviously there would be a break.

That was a big part of my arguments in the past for season 1's return.

The vast majority of Gw2 players these days were not around for season 1, it is new content for them and frankly it's extremely long overdue that it got re-added.

 

Releasing this game on steam with an entire year's content missing after the completion of the vanilla game would have been a monumentally bad idea if you ask me and it would have seriously hurt Gw2's first impressions on the platform which would have cost them potential players.. specially when "not recommended" reviews start amassing claiming that early game story content is completely missing from the game.

 

God knows i've had multiple friends say the reason they're not interested in Gw2 is because they're not willing to buy expansions and DLC content for a game that even with all that investment they still can't experience the whole story.. it would just be a waste of money.

Frankly if I were in their position i'd feel the same way as well.

Re-adding LW1 imo was not an option, it's something Anet really needed to get around to doing.. just a shame it took so long.

[Teratus.2859]

2 hours ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

Assuming there will even be more "seasons". The only thing they confirmed is a "new Canthan map" after all. It's entirely plausible they are considering leaving the LW structure behind with the closing of the overarching Elder Dragon storyline.

But chances have always been pretty good that if we get that new Canthan map this year, it'd be in Q4.

I can't actually recall if they used the words new season.. they may have but I do recall a new canthan map and that another expansion was being worked on.

 

I would guess though if they are doing more expansions then they are probably doing more seasons as well.

The question is where do we go post Elder Dragon?

There is a fair bit they haven't tied up yet but whether or not they will ever address those stories in Gw2 is anyone's guess.

Personally I am really hoping we get to explore the ocean and discover what those "horrors" in the deep really are, now that we know they were not the sea dragons minions.

It's a big risk though investing so much in water content which is both heavily disliked and really liked by a number of players.

The way I see it though, we've had 3 land expansions and 5 living world seasons on the mainland.. water deserves a turn 😛 lol

Edited July 14, 2022 by Teratus.2859

[Mara.6782]

There is Raisu Palace, Deep, Urgoz Warren. After Cantha there is Dominion of Wind, Wizard's tower, Isles of Janthir, largos city and unending ocean, underground Asuran cities now that Primordus is gone. Possible small stories like Son of Svanirs now that Jormag is gone, Cantaurs in kryta. Many small cliffhangers all over to finish. I would like next living story to be small stories where we explore different places, and not just one big monster that we must fight to save the world.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

2 hours ago, Teratus.2859 said:

I can't actually recall if they used the words new season.. they may have but I do recall a new canthan map and that another expansion was being worked on.

 

I would guess though if they are doing more expansions then they are probably doing more seasons as well.

They didn't. I actually found it curiously suspicious, similar to their wording about the Season 1 return being about "key story moments" which made me feel it'd just be covering the same stuff the video recap does... Which ended up being completely true.

They don't really need LW seasons, since the entire living world episode structure was invented to do away with expansions, and sales show: expansions get more players than seasons do.

2 hours ago, Teratus.2859 said:

The question is where do we go post Elder Dragon?

There is a fair bit they haven't tied up yet but whether or not they will ever address those stories in Gw2 is anyone's guess.

Personally I am really hoping we get to explore the ocean and discover what those "horrors" in the deep really are, now that we know they were not the sea dragons minions.

It's a big risk though investing so much in water content which is both heavily disliked and really liked by a number of players.

The way I see it though, we've had 3 land expansions and 5 living world seasons on the mainland.. water deserves a turn 😛 lol

Raisu Palace, with curious overwhelming presence of Risen and the Purists plotting, was hugely teased and is no doubt the "new Canthan map".

They've still to deliver on the Gods storyline they said isn't over with PoF, and they pretty heavily teased the horrors of the Unending Ocean depths too. They also have the Centaur plot that was cut from Champions they said they want to return to later.

Those are the big four plot hooks we have right now, but there's plenty of smaller ones out there such as: Norn reclaiming the north, asura reclaiming the Depths, Nightmare Court survivors and the true nature of the Dream and Nightmare remains unknown (Malyck too), cleansing of the Foefire, and the new expanded map has a lot of curious details, like the burnt out far north.

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

3 hours ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

They don't really need LW seasons, since the entire living world episode structure was invented to do away with expansions, and sales show: expansions get more players than seasons do.

This argument really kinda ignores that expansions have a lot of baggage which make them unsustainable as a consistent release method for GW2.

1. Elite specs aren't infinite. Warrior only has 4 more weapons to add via elite specs, and even then, you wouldn't want every class to have access to every weapon for balance/class dilution reasons. Not to mention the pain of trying to come up with, and balance, an ever increasing number of specializations.
2. Expansions are expected by the playerbase to come with big, game changing features. However, there's only so much one can realistically add to a game. While EoD added many things people asked for, we already saw how much kickback there was for it supposedly not being "big enough" to rival gliders from HoT, or mounts from PoF. At this point the only commonly asked for feature, thats actually doable, is player housing, but that would get push back if that was the big feature... and then what do you do for expansion 5?
3. Expansions cost money. A big part of why so many people have stuck with GW2 is that they rather consistently put out new maps, story content, and stuff to do, for free(at least if you log in while its the newest release). going into a paid only mode would turn a lot of people off, and go against a huge precedence of the game.
4. Expansions take a lot of time to make. Even if LW seasons didn't exist it takes anywhere from a year, to a year and a half, to make an expansion, even for games like WoW. While Anet has been able to pad the time between EoD, and whatever comes next, with the LWS1 return, but lets say they go expansions only.... whats padding the time between Xpack 4 and Xpack 5? Do you think they're just going to let the game sit for a year+ with no new content?

With all this in mind, and the fact that they didn't axe LW seasons after HoT, or PoF.... why would they do so now? Yes expansions get more people playing.... thats true of every game. But those are temporary increases. Without constant new content coming out between those expansions theres no reason for anyone to play, causing the playerbase to just tank out massively. That's been true of GW2, thats true of every other MMO also.

If Anet had really given up on the LW format why would they be putting out a new map by itself in the first place? why not just make an EoD 2: Electric Boogaloo expansion and include this new map, along with several others, to cover the Risen/Purist plot, and the Deed Sea Monster plot?

6 hours ago, Teratus.2859 said:

The question is where do we go post Elder Dragon?

EoD itself left two major plotlines left open. Those being the Purist/Risen plot, and the Deep Sea Monster plot.

Looking at LWS3, LW4, and IBS, Anet seems to have become accustomed to doing these sorts of stories in a 3 part, beginning, middle, end, format

• LWS3 White Mantle/Real Lazarus plot(Bloodstone Fen, Lake Doric, Siren's Landing)
• LWS3 Dragon plot(Ember Bay, Bitterfrost Frontier, Draconis Mons)
• LWS4 Joko plot(Domain of Istan, Sandsweapt Isles, Domain of Kourna)
• LWS4 Kralkatorrik plot(Jahai Bluffs, Thunderhead Peaks, Dragonfall)
• IBS Charr plot(Gromthar Valley, Drizzlewood 1/2)
• IBS Norn plot(Bjora 1/2, Drizzlewood 2)

Had IBS gotten its original back half we would have likely seen the same with the Centaurs, a two parter in the Centaur homelands in the Woodland Cascades, and a 3rd being the first part of the Anvil Rock map, with Anvil Rock P2 ending the story.

Barring some radical change in formatting, that leaves us with a 6 story LWS6. I could see it going

• LWS6 Purist Risen plot(Shing Jea west, Old Kaineng, Kirin Peaks)
• LWS6 Deep plot(Great Turtle Highlands, Battle Isles, Domain of the deep)

Or something akin to that.

Xpack 4 will likely delve into the Lyssa/god plot, and more Mists stuff, probably in the far west where we saw trade routes going to the "wetlands" continent from the Priory map. I could see them incorporating more of the Utopia lore into here. LWS7 would expand on this region much as LWS4 did for Elona, and LWS6 would do for Cantha.

Then theres a few left over plot lines that could serve as releases for another Xpack, or a LW season that focuses on "clean up". Getting rid of the Ghosts of Ascalon, making peace with the Centaurs, finding Malyck's tree, whats the dealio with the Wizard's Tower. These are stories small enough to do in a single release, or an IBS style 2 parter.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Sajuuk Khar.1509

[Randulf.7614]

They haven’t said seasons in their original form will return. Their focus is on steam and tidying up the game purely for them. That’s why we are getting the new features, ls1 revamped.

Once steam hits, they will want a grace period for catch up. There’s a chance we may even get a rerun of the Return to Living World. I suspect maybe we will get some epilogue-prologue maps leading into the next expac, but I think they might hit the reset button here and with different people guiding things, try something new with u between content drops.

Id be content to wait. IBS started well and fell off a cliff and to me EoD didn’t feel like anything close to their best effort. If trying to do both means another reduction in quality, I’d rather they put all their work into one thing and make it the best they can.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Randulf.7614

[Luthan.5236]

Well ... there is another expansion planned in the far future. And I do no think the new maps will be released with any instanced story content. And the jounal with the replay options is pretty convenient.

So yes: The new chapters that definitely will get released ... might not be new "seasons" - Icebrood already had the different name. And maybe they will make standalone stuff - I don't know. But surely there will be new story content.

Players want this. And maybe expansions sell more/better - cause people are more willing to buy for the new elite specs. But you can't make a new expansion every year. Needs a few years and players need time to play the older stuff. The new chapters are  good thing to keep existing players happy ... while not that much - and newer players can catch up through them pretty fast.

Now it all depends on where they are planning to go ... being cheap american super hero-style like with the dragons (main char goes 1 vs. 1 into a big end fight against someone super strong) ...

or maybe actually trying some deeper/better writing for once. (That might not be liked by the mainstream player that wants fancy 1 vs. 1 fights vs. the most strong and biggest bosses). The "friend's detectives agency" could be fun for different things. I would not mind somethign similar to season 1 - where we first get stuff that seems unrelated ... with then a big mastermind behind it. And it does not need to be a dragon. Just some normal insane but intelligent criminal.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Luthan.5236