Appreciation for new Lion's Arch [Merged]

[OtakuModeEngage.8679]

After obtaining my Lion's Pride key, and revisiting old Lion's Arch, I now have a greater appreciation for why they replaced it. Although there are fond memories of Old Lion's Arch, and I do love being able to go back, I had forgotten how clustered and dense the invironment was, and how spread out the services were. In comparison New Lion's Arch's open square and grand promenades feels much more easy to navigate, and it's services are much more organized and closer together. And without all that cluster, the new city just feels bigger. It's like when you empty a room as you're moving out and think to yourself, was this room really that big???

Edited November 12, 2022 by OtakuModeEngage.8679

[Silent.6137]

Old LA is good for a visit. Just like any ancient city when on holidays but you wouldn't want to live there.

I went sight-seeing and took some pictures. Will probably never visit it again. The nostalgia buffs can have that place. I prefer more modern conveniences.

[Ashen.2907]

To each their own. I avoid the new LA if at all possible and leave as quickly as possible if I need to visit. It is, without a doubt, aesthetically the worst zone I have ever seen in a game. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Ashen.2907

[Xynxycs.6718]

And thank you for adding Season 1. It's so important for new players!

 

But if I may... and if it's even possible tech wise...

 

Would it not be a good idea to send players who haven't completed Season 1 here when they travel to LA?

 

They'd have plenty of active players around thanks to the lobby. Those who complete Season 1 would still get a great reward—a clickable lobby—and all that wonderful content you've (re)added would get greater visibility. I think it would be wonderful!

 

Thoughts, fellow commanders?

[Randulf.7614]

In theory I’m in favour of it, however practically it’s probably going to cause more of a confusion. You have to remember many players prob skip around content, often starting with an expansion story and leave completing core or ls1/2 until later.
 

So if a player starts with EoD or PoF, but doesn’t do S1, do they get old or new LA?

I think for consistency, it’s better as it is now. There’s still messiness, but much less I think.

[Xynxycs.6718]

12 hours ago, Randulf.7614 said:

In theory I’m in favour of it, however practically it’s probably going to cause more of a confusion. You have to remember many players prob skip around content, often starting with an expansion story and leave completing core or ls1/2 until later.
 

So if a player starts with EoD or PoF, but doesn’t do S1, do they get old or new LA?

I think for consistency, it’s better as it is now. There’s still messiness, but much less I think.

 

If it's technologically possible, ideally players would get old or new depending on which story they have selected in their journal. 

 

Players with the personal story / season 1 selected would have Old LA.

 

Players with S2, HoT, S3, PoF, S4, Ice Brood Saga, and EoD loaded in their story journal would have new LA.

 

It would be confusing for players who are skipping around because they're skipping around.

 

You could have a little message pop up for someone jumping from personal story or S1 to later if need be, like "Because Tyria is such a dynamic place, certain things about the world may change. Loading S1 will return Tyria to the way things were if you wish to return."

 

 

[Randulf.7614]

That would invalidate the item though, since you could go to old la by replaying s1 from your journal. 
Im guessing they explored the idea of phasing and dismissed it like they did years ago. Such an idea would have been discussed during implementation 

[Xynxycs.6718]

1 hour ago, Randulf.7614 said:

That would invalidate the item though, since you could go to old la by replaying s1 from your journal. 
Im guessing they explored the idea of phasing and dismissed it like they did years ago. Such an idea would have been discussed during implementation 

 

It wouldn't invalidate the item imo. It's a teleport scroll. There's a Lion's Arch portal scroll that takes you to new LA—I'd consider that a prestige item just as I would a gizmo that takes you to a lobby for free and back again.

 

Reimplementing S1 was not for the benefit of vets like us, it was for the benefit of new generations of players (although this does benefit existing players albiet indirectly, because we want the game to grow so that the devs can continue to expand this wonderful game).

 

I wanted to express that having old LA around to untangle confusing aspects of the experience for new players is more important than my feeling of self-satisfaction for getting a rare achievement item. 

 

Ideally, new players should have the same experience with LA as we did.  They should be able to naturally 'live' in old LA before it's fall, then experience it's rebuilding. Just like we got to experience it! I feel pretty good about there being a reward out there in case I want to bring my old characters back to that nostalgic place. It would be the best of both worlds!

 

You're right that they would have discussed it again, but unless the technology just made it impossible/ too much of a time sink, I really think this should be a phasing feature. Besides, they agreed to delete S1 in the first place, then went back on that decision—which was absolutely for the best. 

[ugrakarma.9416]

Its only me i find new LA excessively "sunny"(i dont know proper word in english)? i live in a warmer city, and really new LA resemble a water park, is like a place where ppl gather to sunbath.

They really missed what about a industrial(or middle ages) port city was like.

Middle Ages or modern portuary cities are all clustered. One major difference, is that middle ages or bellow theyre heavy walled/fortified.

https://forum.sketchfab.com/t/finish-medieval-port-town/16618

Edited November 19, 2022 by ugrakarma.9416

[Fueki.4753]

I have no appreciation for the Sea Land that is the new Lion's Arch.

To me, it's just ugly and nothing else.

[Randulf.7614]

I’ve always preferred new LA. Whilst old LA has some character, it always felt somewhat ugly to me. 

The good thing is that the many years argument about which is better is now redundant since both exist and a player can choose which they like best once they complete the achievement.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

I really wish that new LA was like Commodore's Quadrant all over. I think that would reduce the "sea world" hate for new LA.
Cuz those areas are really nicely designed and good looking, unlike the open Trader's Forum which is where players congregate.

[Luthan.5236]

I certainly enjoyed the old map - the pirate-style with the wooden structures and ships. Also it was nice to have this fit with the old core personal story. Pretty weird when you nowadays have to go somewhere. Join the instance ... and are on a different map. At least we have the old map possible again now. With that item we can earn.

The new version looks to sterile. Other cities are better than the new LA. But the old LA ... is better than other old cities. 😄 The sewers and stuff ... were nice on the old version. Were you also had story missions happening there I think. (Depending on your order.)

Edited November 21, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[Ra Ra.9423]

I just want to chime in to say THANK YOU to Anet for giving us Old LA.  I have very much enjoyed re-exploring the area and listening to the npc chatter.  Not to mention the huge nostalgia bomb that brings back memories of the fun we had exploring the city initially.  Even did the old Troll's End jumping puzzle.  (though, it didn't seem as hard as it did back then - these interim years of practice made a difference, I guess  😄) 

 

Whatever magic they worked was well worth the effort.  

[Sobx.1758]

Current LA is better, but sure, it's a nice throwback. 🤷‍♂️

Edited November 21, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[Mistwraithe.3106]

Adding my thanks too, very pleased that season 1 was at least partially re-implemented.

OPs idea sounds like an interesting one too.

[notebene.3190]

I'm currently obsessed with not being able to remember what I used to 'stand' when I was in old LA! Can't figure out where my 'spot' was. I got a new LA spot, Cantha, etc, and I know I had a spot, I just can't remember it.

[Solvar.7953]

Those that prefer the new LA seem to like it more for its organization/easy to move, and not necessarily it being better visually.  And given LA tends to one of those places that folks cluster, that is reasonable, but also since that time, more alternatives have been added.  Elon of the Lily or whatever has everything clustered close together, as does the mistlock sanctuary.

New LA looks too modern for my tastes (I dislike a lot of the EOD maps for the same reason, though GW2 has always had a mix of magic and technology.)  But at least the Asura places looked different from others, as did the Iron Citadel.

So visually, I like old LA as it has its old unique appearance.  But I haven't spent enough time in it to know whether I'd find the layout of it really annoying.

 

[Danikat.8537]

I agree about the layout of the new LA being better. I don't have the Lion's Memory pass yet but I've run around old LA several times in story instances (one of the Whispers ones lets you go around most of the city) and I often wondered if people who said the bank and TP were closer together in the old map were counting it from the ledge outside the bank to the entrance to the TP building. Going from one NPC to the other is definitely easier in the new one.

I also like that there's more open space between the bank, TP and Mystic Forge. It's always going to be somewhere people congregate and go to show off various new things and it feels much less crowded in the new map.

I don't like all the grey concrete. I think the new LA would look a lot better if they put the brick texture from the old one on the floor, but I suspect it's too late to change that. I also think the big glass dome is wasted space most of the year and I'd like to see them do something with it outside of festivals. A while ago I tried suggesting a weekly market where different groups of the unique vendors for different currencies or maps come to LA to give them greater visibility, but it was merged into the dumping ground QoL topic and lost.

Oh, I also really like the side streets around the waterfront and the Commodores Quarter. Old LA was novel but it never really felt like a place people actually lived. Outside of the services there were only a few buildings and many of them were absurdly high towers with no access. New LA looks like an actual city. (Specifically it reminds me of a lot of European waterfront towns I've visited or lived in.)

I also like the Troll's Revenge jumping puzzle, but I wish it was possible to remove the Pact Mastery speed boost to do it, because that makes it harder than it needs to be.