Flavor text around points of interest and areas would be awesome!

[cyhadam.3082]

I don't know what is the best way for ANet to see this but I think it would be amazing if there could be some flavor text or lore added to the areas or points of interest to the maps.  Like why were certain places named the way they were.  ANet has already done an amazing job with adding lore books, thank you! If you could just add the above, that would be super cool.
 

Here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kessex_Hills.. For example, why is there an area called Earthlord's Gap? Is there an actual Earthlord, who or what is it? What is Mock's Niche? Who is Mock? https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mock%27s_Niche

Just a couple of examples where some flavor text upon discovering a new area or completing exploring an area would be helpful

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

Yes. There are a LOT of PoI, especially in core, which just exist but have zero explanation about.

[cyhadam.3082]

Thank you for the reasonable response here.  Took this post in Reddit and people were so salty.  Like I was insulting them or something by complaining.

[cyhadam.3082]

I just love the lore in this game and wish to learn more about it.  I thought lore books was a great move in this regard and I think some work around POI and areas would be another move in the right direction.

[Fenom.9457]

I agree, I know it’s a good bit of extra work for them but I would LOOOOOOVE that so much!

[cyhadam.3082]

What would be the best way to work with ANet to bubble this up to developers? Been trying to find the best way?

[itspomf.9523]

The lack of a "journal"-like system (not the story journal / log, but more akin to single-player, lore-heavy game's) is probably the biggest hurdle to realizing this.

The reason I say this is that I was originally going to comment saying that "libraries" could be maintained in the major cities (if not the Priory itself, being the keepers of knowledge that they are), but ... we'd still be clicking through book dialogues to read it all, which isn't very player-friendly, nevermind the process of finding the right tome (examples of this exist in Orr, Vabbi, Kourna, etc., but are sparing at best).  Same issue that hovering over a discovered region / point of interest / whatever and showing a pop-up blob of text on the map is just more visual clutter.

We've got the odd lore NPC scattered about, but the same problem exists there as well.

So really, the only way would make sense is to keep a special "cartographer's guild journal" (to tie into the map- and world-complete rewards and letters you receive) which serves as a list of all discovered regions, points of interest, and named areas so that players can read about everything they've come across.

While a significant undertaking on the development side, it'd give players an opt-in solution that doesn't require digging through interaction-enabled objects and clutter in the game-world while simultaneously fulfilling OP's request of more accessible lore.

Edited September 15, 2022 by itspomf.9523
fixing typos

[cyhadam.3082]

@itspomf.9523 I like this a lot, how do we bubble this up for the devs?  I really want them to consider something like this

[Zellnotronus.2890]

I really like this idea, and an implementation along the lines of what itspomf suggested would be a really cool feature to have (it reminds me of something SWTOR has, actually), but the sheer amount of areas and PoIs ANet would have to write lore for is an incredibly daunting hurdle. There are easily over a thousand areas and PoIs by now. So, if they want to do it, more power to them, but I don't see it happening any time soon.

[cyhadam.3082]

@Zellnotronus.2890 What about just adding more lore books or after completing an area, being given some flavor text about the area?  That way broad areas could be talked about without addressing every POI.  

[cyhadam.3082]

I think even getting a letter after 100% completing an area and getting a lore letter about that area would be good enough.

[Kalavier.1097]

Doesn't need to be a long thing, like the datamined landmark blurbs from GW1 (non canon mostly, but an example).

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Arachnia_Plateau

[Farohna.6247]

This would be great and a nice addition.  Just a little blurb to give an overview.  Like a historical site marker or scenic overlook placard, just enough info to answer the question of why and what without the story of everything.

[cyhadam.3082]

@Kalavier.1097 Yes THAT IS AWESOME! that would be so cool! How do we escalate this so Anet notices? Anet are you seeing this?