The real problem with the raiding and fractal community.

[Cyninja.2954]

@"Tyson.5160" said:I just see it more as how Fractals plays out. You start with teir 1 and get comfortable with the encounter, for some people it’s gaining confidence, learning how things work, so when normal comes around it’s not such a steep learning curve. When they release a new fractal they have what 4 separate tiers to test and so forth. Is the easy mode super challenging, no, but it gets you more comfortable with the encounter. Unfortunately some of the raid groups, I’ve been in do one or two wipes and call it quits. Which doesn’t give you much time to learn mechanics.

These people are not interested in raids. They are interested in the rewards and don't even have the minimum amount of patience for basic practice.

Look at fractals. People immediately scream:"I can't do the new fractal, it's to hard. I refuse to drop down a fractal tier." That's again, motivated by loot greed.

Not to mention, many refuse to get slightly more organized and maybe join a guild and do fractals with guild members.

@"Tyson.5160" said:I think adding an easy mode would broaden the pathway of pumping more players into the content. I’m sure some people have tried raids once or twice and get turned off, however if an easy mode would come in they might actually get an opportunity to try out all the encounters and go hey these aren’t t that bad, I’ll try normal mode now because I have more confidence, I’m more comfortable with the experience, perhaps if the Raiding community grows they may add more resources to it.

I think what will happen is the following:

• people who were willing to invest the time to get actively raiding will keep doing so via all methods available. The best one being via joining a guild
• people unwilling to raid or simply in for the loot will give the easy mode a try, realize loot sucks and while you get to see the encounter, you still need to get accustomed to normal mode afterwards
• training runs will stick to normal mode and so will training guilds as to not double the work required and quite frankly, when you are on voice chat and explaining the fights to people, it's easy enough already, especially the easy encounters like wing 4, escort or trio
• all this will leave "easy mode" deserted after a couple of days/weeks while developer effort to implement it remains
• that's not counting all the people who will start complaining about easy modes rewards not being good enough

[Tyson.5160]

@Cyninja.2954 said:

@"Tyson.5160" said:I just see it more as how Fractals plays out. You start with teir 1 and get comfortable with the encounter, for some people it’s gaining confidence, learning how things work, so when normal comes around it’s not such a steep learning curve. When they release a new fractal they have what 4 separate tiers to test and so forth. Is the easy mode super challenging, no, but it gets you more comfortable with the encounter. Unfortunately some of the raid groups, I’ve been in do one or two wipes and call it quits. Which doesn’t give you much time to learn mechanics.

These people are not interested in raids. They are interested in the rewards and don't even have the minimum amount of patience for basic practice.

Look at fractals. People immediately scream:"I can't do the new fractal, it's to hard. I refuse to drop down a fractal tier." That's again, motivated by loot greed.

Not to mention, many refuse to get slightly more organized and maybe join a guild and do fractals with guild members.

@"Tyson.5160" said:I think adding an easy mode would broaden the pathway of pumping more players into the content. I’m sure some people have tried raids once or twice and get turned off, however if an easy mode would come in they might actually get an opportunity to try out all the encounters and go hey these aren’t t that bad, I’ll try normal mode now because I have more confidence, I’m more comfortable with the experience, perhaps if the Raiding community grows they may add more resources to it.

I think what will happen is the following:

• people who were willing to invest the time to get actively raiding will keep doing so via all methods available. The best one being via joining a guild
• people unwilling to raid or simply in for the loot will give the easy mode a try, realize loot sucks and while you get to see the encounter, you still need to get accustomed to normal mode afterwards
• training runs will stick to normal mode and so will training guilds as to not double the work required and quite frankly, when you are on voice chat and explaining the fights to people, it's easy enough already, especially the easy encounters like wing 4, escort or trio
• all this will leave "easy mode" deserted after a couple of days/weeks while developer effort to implement it remains
• that's not counting all the people who will start complaining about easy modes rewards not being good enough

Personally, I would do the easy mode to learn the fights and go from there. I’ve pugged a lot of raids and it honestly gets very frustrating, since watching YouTube videos can only teach so much.

From my experience, I’ll sink two or three hours in and be none the better due what I mentioned above, not to mention all the time wasted in between fights as well as when people give up and leave, which then requires more waiting. So after going through the motions for the better part of three weeks with now only a few LIs to my name.

So then I’m like I had enough,I’m listening to the forums, I will join a Raid Training Guild. Awesome, I joined two in fact. Downside now is they tend to do training on opposite time of my schedule, as I’m on during the day. So I try the Discord training group. Damn same thing, no one on. Now I’m back to pugging.

I don’t seem to have this issue with Fractals. I see parties in Tier 1 all the time. While I tend to gravitate between tier 2 and 3. So for me,do I want the loot?sure would be nice, however after three weeks, I am no where near to even be close and no matter my effort. Luckily I have a butt load of PvP matches under my belt to obtain the pvp Legendary armor that way, where I don’t have to waste all day. The downside is, I do want to try the other Raid fights as well.

[Cyninja.2954]

@Tyson.5160 said:

@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Tyson.5160 said:I just see it more as how Fractals plays out. You start with teir 1 and get comfortable with the encounter, for some people it’s gaining confidence, learning how things work, so when normal comes around it’s not such a steep learning curve. When they release a new fractal they have what 4 separate tiers to test and so forth. Is the easy mode super challenging, no, but it gets you more comfortable with the encounter. Unfortunately some of the raid groups, I’ve been in do one or two wipes and call it quits. Which doesn’t give you much time to learn mechanics.

These people are not interested in raids. They are interested in the rewards and don't even have the minimum amount of patience for basic practice.

Look at fractals. People immediately scream:"I can't do the new fractal, it's to hard. I refuse to drop down a fractal tier." That's again, motivated by loot greed.

Not to mention, many refuse to get slightly more organized and maybe join a guild and do fractals with guild members.

@Tyson.5160 said:I think adding an easy mode would broaden the pathway of pumping more players into the content. I’m sure some people have tried raids once or twice and get turned off, however if an easy mode would come in they might actually get an opportunity to try out all the encounters and go hey these aren’t t that bad, I’ll try normal mode now because I have more confidence, I’m more comfortable with the experience, perhaps if the Raiding community grows they may add more resources to it.

I think what will happen is the following:

• people who were willing to invest the time to get actively raiding will keep doing so via all methods available. The best one being via joining a guild
• people unwilling to raid or simply in for the loot will give the easy mode a try, realize loot sucks and while you get to see the encounter, you still need to get accustomed to normal mode afterwards
• training runs will stick to normal mode and so will training guilds as to not double the work required and quite frankly, when you are on voice chat and explaining the fights to people, it's easy enough already, especially the easy encounters like wing 4, escort or trio
• all this will leave "easy mode" deserted after a couple of days/weeks while developer effort to implement it remains
• that's not counting all the people who will start complaining about easy modes rewards not being good enough

Personally, I would do the easy mode to learn the fights and go from there. I’ve pugged a lot of raids and it honestly gets very frustrating, since watching YouTube videos can only teach so much.

From my experience, I’ll sink two or three hours in and be none the better due what I mentioned above, not to mention all the time wasted in between fights as well as when people give up and leave, which then requires more waiting. So after going through the motions for the better part of three weeks with now only a few LIs to my name.

So then I’m like I had enough,I’m listening to the forums, I will join a Raid Training Guild. Awesome, I joined two in fact. Downside now is they tend to do training on opposite time of my schedule, as I’m on during the day. So I try the Discord training group. kitten same thing, no one on. Now I’m back to pugging.

I get that it can be frustrating to find a guild that works for ones own schedule. I doubt training raids would be a thing during off hours for the community though. It's not as though you find a ton of normal raids during the day currently. The vast majority is during evening prime time, especially training runs (which is the main target population for easy raids).

You are looking for a custom solution to your problem which:

• might not even be viable
• has more to do with you playing at off hours compared to the vast majority of the player base surrounding you
• could still be solved by finding a raid guild with people having a similar schedule as your own (though I agree this can be hard)

I don’t seem to have this issue with Fractals. I see parties in Tier 1 all the time. While I tend to gravitate between tier 2 and 3. So for me,do I want the loot?sure would be nice, however after three weeks, I am no where near to even be close and no matter my effort. Luckily I have a butt load of PvP matches under my belt to obtain the pvp Legendary armor that way, where I don’t have to waste all day. The downside is, I do want to try the other Raid fights as well.

Fractals are way simpler, require way less organization and require less practice to succeed (most you can just die through or get carried by 1 good party member).

I do agree though that your best approach might be to stick to spvp or wvw (more spvp since wvw also has time periods of inactivity) due to your very custom gaming hours.

[Tyson.5160]

It is frustrating because I have the desire to play this raid content, however I find myself “waiting to have fun” then having fun. My hope that if the Raid community grew, I would able to play this content during my time schedule. Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to be the case and stuck with being the guy watching from the outside, in...

[Vayne.8563]

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:The raids introduce the white mantle back into the game and explain the stuff with the aspect. It's part of the story arc. Even Anet said it bridges the gap. I can understand the second star trek movie without seeing the first one, but I'd still rather see the first one. As a person who focuses on story it's NOT ACCEPTABLE to me. Whether it's acceptable to a raider is 100% completely irrelevaent, since you're not missing it. You're not entitled to tell people who miss out on story that they're not missing out on something when factually they are. Whether I can follow the story or not.

What does it explain about the aspects? There is not even a mention about the aspects in the Raid.You probably missed the White Mantle journals in Bloodstone Fen that explain everything in much greater detail.Where did Anet say that the non-existent story "bridges the gap"?

it was in an interview, don't ask me to find it now, but it absolutely was said, before HoT launched, and frankly that's proved to be true. So much so that in Bloodstone Fen, there's an NPC you can talk to that reviews what happens in the raids so you can catch up....which is not the same as playing the area.

I want to see that interview

This is the dialogue of the Bloodstone Fen npc:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Squad_Leader_Bennett

Here is his "recap":

What happened in Forsaken Thicket?

: Tell me what happened to your squad.Squad Leader Bennett: Our platoon was on recon. We found something at the north edge of Verdant Brink, so we pitched camp.Squad Leader Bennett: The plan was to scout the area at dawn, so we turned in for the night. Then everything went to Torment in a town cart.Squad Leader Bennett: There was an explosion, then screams. I grabbed my gear and ran out of the tent.Squad Leader Bennett: Saw one of my men lit up like a Wintersday bonfire. Sabetha and her lackeys torched everything, laughing as they went.Squad Leader Bennett: And then...blackness. I woke up with a splitting headache, caged like a dog. Kept my mouth shut and just watched them.Squad Leader Bennett: After a few days, I told them I was ready to talk. Said I'd cooperate in exchange for the safety of my troops.Squad Leader Bennett: Told them they could use me for hard labor or experimentation. Didn't matter. I'd made my peace with Grenth.Squad Leader Bennett: I was taken deeper inside and thrown in a pen with some others. They deprived us of food and water.Squad Leader Bennett: Let their dogs snarl at our cages. At night we heard the other prisoners begging for their lives before being cut open.Squad Leader Bennett: The sky would light up, and I would hear chanting. Over and over.Squad Leader Bennett: Sorry, Commander. It...stuck with me.

No mention about Raid content at all, only Sabetha's NAME.You are calling this a review of what happened in the Raid so you can catch up?

The only line of dialogue that changes is here:

If rescued Bennett at Salvation Pass:Squad Leader Bennett: After you rescued me, I notified the queen about Salvation Pass. Then I regrouped with my squad and chased some White Mantle here.If didn't rescue Bennett at Salvation Pass:Squad Leader Bennett: After I was rescued, I notified the queen about Salvation Pass. Then I regrouped with my squad and chased some White Mantle here.

See how there is zero mention of Lazarus? Or of what Xera was doing? That's because Bennett wasn't in the Stronghold of the Faithful and once he was saved in Salvation Pass he went to inform the Queen about White Mantle activity in the North. Stronghold of the Faithful is as if it never happened :)

Did you watch the recap from Season 1? It was about 4 minutes long to cover a year and a half. If this is your evidence it's awfully slim. Stuff happened to my character that i don't get to experience unless I raid. Canon stuff. That's a problem for me. It's a problem for other people too. And if a raider doesn't particularly care, or a person not particularly in story about that, it's not really my issue. Anet knows people are annoyed by this. It's bad enough all of season 1 is missing for a lot of people. Some people don't even start playing because they can't experience the entire story. But to me, this is less excusable.

There's a hole in our experience and the raids do tell the story that links HoT to Living Story Season 3. You can deny it all you want, but it's true.

[zealex.9410]

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:The raids introduce the white mantle back into the game and explain the stuff with the aspect. It's part of the story arc. Even Anet said it bridges the gap. I can understand the second star trek movie without seeing the first one, but I'd still rather see the first one. As a person who focuses on story it's NOT ACCEPTABLE to me. Whether it's acceptable to a raider is 100% completely irrelevaent, since you're not missing it. You're not entitled to tell people who miss out on story that they're not missing out on something when factually they are. Whether I can follow the story or not.

What does it explain about the aspects? There is not even a mention about the aspects in the Raid.You probably missed the White Mantle journals in Bloodstone Fen that explain everything in much greater detail.Where did Anet say that the non-existent story "bridges the gap"?

it was in an interview, don't ask me to find it now, but it absolutely was said, before HoT launched, and frankly that's proved to be true. So much so that in Bloodstone Fen, there's an NPC you can talk to that reviews what happens in the raids so you can catch up....which is not the same as playing the area.

I want to see that interview

This is the dialogue of the Bloodstone Fen npc:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Squad_Leader_Bennett

Here is his "recap":

What happened in Forsaken Thicket?

: Tell me what happened to your squad.Squad Leader Bennett: Our platoon was on recon. We found something at the north edge of Verdant Brink, so we pitched camp.Squad Leader Bennett: The plan was to scout the area at dawn, so we turned in for the night. Then everything went to Torment in a town cart.Squad Leader Bennett: There was an explosion, then screams. I grabbed my gear and ran out of the tent.Squad Leader Bennett: Saw one of my men lit up like a Wintersday bonfire. Sabetha and her lackeys torched everything, laughing as they went.Squad Leader Bennett: And then...blackness. I woke up with a splitting headache, caged like a dog. Kept my mouth shut and just watched them.Squad Leader Bennett: After a few days, I told them I was ready to talk. Said I'd cooperate in exchange for the safety of my troops.Squad Leader Bennett: Told them they could use me for hard labor or experimentation. Didn't matter. I'd made my peace with Grenth.Squad Leader Bennett: I was taken deeper inside and thrown in a pen with some others. They deprived us of food and water.Squad Leader Bennett: Let their dogs snarl at our cages. At night we heard the other prisoners begging for their lives before being cut open.Squad Leader Bennett: The sky would light up, and I would hear chanting. Over and over.Squad Leader Bennett: Sorry, Commander. It...stuck with me.

No mention about Raid content at all, only Sabetha's NAME.You are calling this a review of what happened in the Raid so you can catch up?

The only line of dialogue that changes is here:

If rescued Bennett at Salvation Pass:Squad Leader Bennett: After you rescued me, I notified the queen about Salvation Pass. Then I regrouped with my squad and chased some White Mantle here.If didn't rescue Bennett at Salvation Pass:Squad Leader Bennett: After I was rescued, I notified the queen about Salvation Pass. Then I regrouped with my squad and chased some White Mantle here.

See how there is zero mention of Lazarus? Or of what Xera was doing? That's because Bennett wasn't in the Stronghold of the Faithful and once he was saved in Salvation Pass he went to inform the Queen about White Mantle activity in the North. Stronghold of the Faithful is as if it never happened :)

Thats just looking for straws imo. W3 absolutekky happened as we all know the fact that the npc wasnt there during thise events doesnt change that.

[Cyninja.2954]

@zealex.9410 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:The raids introduce the white mantle back into the game and explain the stuff with the aspect. It's part of the story arc. Even Anet said it bridges the gap. I can understand the second star trek movie without seeing the first one, but I'd still rather see the first one. As a person who focuses on story it's NOT ACCEPTABLE to me. Whether it's acceptable to a raider is 100% completely irrelevaent, since you're not missing it. You're not entitled to tell people who miss out on story that they're not missing out on something when factually they are. Whether I can follow the story or not.

What does it explain about the aspects? There is not even a mention about the aspects in the Raid.You probably missed the White Mantle journals in Bloodstone Fen that explain everything in much greater detail.Where did Anet say that the non-existent story "bridges the gap"?

it was in an interview, don't ask me to find it now, but it absolutely was said, before HoT launched, and frankly that's proved to be true. So much so that in Bloodstone Fen, there's an NPC you can talk to that reviews what happens in the raids so you can catch up....which is not the same as playing the area.

I want to see that interview

This is the dialogue of the Bloodstone Fen npc:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Squad_Leader_Bennett

Here is his "recap":

What happened in Forsaken Thicket?

: Tell me what happened to your squad.Squad Leader Bennett: Our platoon was on recon. We found something at the north edge of Verdant Brink, so we pitched camp.Squad Leader Bennett: The plan was to scout the area at dawn, so we turned in for the night. Then everything went to Torment in a town cart.Squad Leader Bennett: There was an explosion, then screams. I grabbed my gear and ran out of the tent.Squad Leader Bennett: Saw one of my men lit up like a Wintersday bonfire. Sabetha and her lackeys torched everything, laughing as they went.Squad Leader Bennett: And then...blackness. I woke up with a splitting headache, caged like a dog. Kept my mouth shut and just watched them.Squad Leader Bennett: After a few days, I told them I was ready to talk. Said I'd cooperate in exchange for the safety of my troops.Squad Leader Bennett: Told them they could use me for hard labor or experimentation. Didn't matter. I'd made my peace with Grenth.Squad Leader Bennett: I was taken deeper inside and thrown in a pen with some others. They deprived us of food and water.Squad Leader Bennett: Let their dogs snarl at our cages. At night we heard the other prisoners begging for their lives before being cut open.Squad Leader Bennett: The sky would light up, and I would hear chanting. Over and over.Squad Leader Bennett: Sorry, Commander. It...stuck with me.

No mention about Raid content at all, only Sabetha's NAME.You are calling this a review of what happened in the Raid so you can catch up?

The only line of dialogue that changes is here:

If rescued Bennett at Salvation Pass:Squad Leader Bennett: After you rescued me, I notified the queen about Salvation Pass. Then I regrouped with my squad and chased some White Mantle here.If didn't rescue Bennett at Salvation Pass:Squad Leader Bennett: After I was rescued, I notified the queen about Salvation Pass. Then I regrouped with my squad and chased some White Mantle here.

See how there is zero mention of Lazarus? Or of what Xera was doing? That's because Bennett wasn't in the Stronghold of the Faithful and once he was saved in Salvation Pass he went to inform the Queen about White Mantle activity in the North. Stronghold of the Faithful is as if it never happened :)

Thats just looking for straws imo. W3 absolutekky happened as we all know the fact that the npc wasnt there during thise events doesnt change that.

What?

That's not even the issue here.

The question is, how significant and important are the raid stories and are people who do not experience them disadvantaged?

Of corse the story told in raids happened. That was never at question but rather how the story shifts between players who raided and those who do not. The answer being: barely and raid story is at best minimal.

[Brynioch.1873]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:The raids introduce the white mantle back into the game and explain the stuff with the aspect. It's part of the story arc. Even Anet said it bridges the gap. I can understand the second star trek movie without seeing the first one, but I'd still rather see the first one. As a person who focuses on story it's NOT ACCEPTABLE to me. Whether it's acceptable to a raider is 100% completely irrelevaent, since you're not missing it. You're not entitled to tell people who miss out on story that they're not missing out on something when factually they are. Whether I can follow the story or not.

What does it explain about the aspects? There is not even a mention about the aspects in the Raid.You probably missed the White Mantle journals in Bloodstone Fen that explain everything in much greater detail.Where did Anet say that the non-existent story "bridges the gap"?

it was in an interview, don't ask me to find it now, but it absolutely was said, before HoT launched, and frankly that's proved to be true. So much so that in Bloodstone Fen, there's an NPC you can talk to that reviews what happens in the raids so you can catch up....which is not the same as playing the area.

I want to see that interview

This is the dialogue of the Bloodstone Fen npc:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Squad_Leader_Bennett

Here is his "recap":

What happened in Forsaken Thicket?

: Tell me what happened to your squad.Squad Leader Bennett: Our platoon was on recon. We found something at the north edge of Verdant Brink, so we pitched camp.Squad Leader Bennett: The plan was to scout the area at dawn, so we turned in for the night. Then everything went to Torment in a town cart.Squad Leader Bennett: There was an explosion, then screams. I grabbed my gear and ran out of the tent.Squad Leader Bennett: Saw one of my men lit up like a Wintersday bonfire. Sabetha and her lackeys torched everything, laughing as they went.Squad Leader Bennett: And then...blackness. I woke up with a splitting headache, caged like a dog. Kept my mouth shut and just watched them.Squad Leader Bennett: After a few days, I told them I was ready to talk. Said I'd cooperate in exchange for the safety of my troops.Squad Leader Bennett: Told them they could use me for hard labor or experimentation. Didn't matter. I'd made my peace with Grenth.Squad Leader Bennett: I was taken deeper inside and thrown in a pen with some others. They deprived us of food and water.Squad Leader Bennett: Let their dogs snarl at our cages. At night we heard the other prisoners begging for their lives before being cut open.Squad Leader Bennett: The sky would light up, and I would hear chanting. Over and over.Squad Leader Bennett: Sorry, Commander. It...stuck with me.

No mention about Raid content at all, only Sabetha's NAME.You are calling this a review of what happened in the Raid so you can catch up?

The only line of dialogue that changes is here:

If rescued Bennett at Salvation Pass:Squad Leader Bennett: After you rescued me, I notified the queen about Salvation Pass. Then I regrouped with my squad and chased some White Mantle here.If didn't rescue Bennett at Salvation Pass:Squad Leader Bennett: After I was rescued, I notified the queen about Salvation Pass. Then I regrouped with my squad and chased some White Mantle here.

See how there is zero mention of Lazarus? Or of what Xera was doing? That's because Bennett wasn't in the Stronghold of the Faithful and once he was saved in Salvation Pass he went to inform the Queen about White Mantle activity in the North. Stronghold of the Faithful is as if it never happened :)

Did you watch the recap from Season 1? It was about 4 minutes long to cover a year and a half. If this is your evidence it's awfully slim. Stuff happened to my character that i don't get to experience unless I raid. Canon stuff. That's a problem for me. It's a problem for other people too. And if a raider doesn't particularly care, or a person not particularly in story about that, it's not really my issue. Anet knows people are annoyed by this. It's bad enough all of season 1 is missing for a lot of people. Some people don't even start playing because they can't experience the entire story. But to me, this is less excusable.

There's a hole in our experience and the raids do tell the story that links HoT to Living Story Season 3. You can deny it all you want, but it's true.

There is no hole. You get more information during LS3E4 about the bosses in Stronghold of the Faithful and Salvation Pass than in the raids themselves.

[maddoctor.2738]

@"zealex.9410" said:Thats just looking for straws imo. W3 absolutekky happened as we all know the fact that the npc wasnt there during thise events doesnt change that.

I said it's "as if it never happened", of course it happened but the story of Season 3 makes sense even without playing the Raid.And in fact there is still the question how Balthazar got inside the Stasis Chamber that was rather never explained.The White Mantle were feeding the chamber to revive Lazarus, but since they didn't perform the ritual, how did Balthazar appear inside of it?The appearance of Lazarus in Out of Shadows was good, the reveal that he was Balthazar makes W3 rather hazy.

What happened with Forsaken Thicket is it revealed that the White Mantle still exist in small packets. For a LIVE release that is important story and reveal, but once Out of Shadows was out, there was very little impact of the Raid story anymore. They could've ended the Lazarus story in the Raid and nobody would care (much like how few care about Dhuum)

[Astralporing.1957]

@maddoctor.2738 said:They could've ended the Lazarus story in the Raid and nobody would careBut they didn't. They had to go on with it in the LS.(besides, quite a number of people did care about Lazarus and his story - that's why Anet used it in the first place. That the whole Lazarus->Balthasar ended up as a bad writing is no excuse)

[maddoctor.2738]

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@"maddoctor.2738" said:They could've ended the Lazarus story in the Raid and nobody would careBut they didn't. They had to go on with it in the LS.(besides, quite a number of people did care about Lazarus and his story - that's why Anet used it in the first place. That the whole Lazarus->Balthasar ended up as a bad writing is no excuse)

Caring about someone's story isn't the same as being important to the main story of the game, which I thought the complaint was about. But anyway it looks like few care about the story of the latest wing, despite having an important lore character in it, so I guess we'll all be happy with future raids too.

Edit:

Mike Zadorojny: Hall of Chains was planned to be more challenging than previous raids. As with every release there are always small adjustments you wish you had made before launch, after seeing how players have conquered the content, but overall this was a strong raid wing. Because of the difficulty of raids, both in terms of the encounters and of organizing ten players, we specifically choose not to have the main story of Living World take you into them. The stories that we explore in the raids are designed to be side stories or things that can stand alone to give context to why our heroes need to overcome these challenges. Sometimes we will have the stories of raids be related to mainline events, but not witnessing these smaller events doesn’t negatively impact a players understanding of the Living World story.

Source: https://www.mmorpg.com/guild-wars-2/interviews/we-talk-daybreak-with-andrew-gray-and-mike-zadorojny-1000012321