Janthir Wilds Appreciation Post

[Arianis.5264]

Hey ArenaNet

I didn't really know where else to dump this but I wanted to gush to you all about the gift that has been Janthir Wilds. 

To start: You all did such a great job. In like every way. Sure, there are launch pains and bugs but you'll sniff them out and get 'em fixed in time. It's a huge game with a lot of moving parts. We know it's difficult and bugs can be tricky little jerks.

But the meat of the expac: the foundations laid for future possibilities in the prologue, the breathtaking beauty of the maps, the music, the voice acting and writing, and so on? There's so much obvious love, care,, and skill poured into it that it overflows and it's been so nice to experience it.

Nearly every map chat in the new areas has, at least at some point, turned to praising this release. And all about different things! "I LOVE what they've done with the Warclaw" "Yeah! It's so nice to have a 'new' terrestrial mount" or "Oh man, this music is maybe my favorite? Ever?" "I'm so glad that one song from Bjora Marches is here, too" or "Jeebus, this map/(Lowland Shores) makes me think of core Tyria maps. I'm getting nostalgic" "Yeah! It's great! It's already in my top ten? Maybe even top five maps!"  etc. It's been so pleasant to see such appreciation for the things you all have put together and shared with us, along with experiencing the new things themselves. 

I've played your games since the GW1 days and I love this world a lot. The Prologue alone was such a gift of juicy lore and it made me so happy to see the writers flex, with the life breathed into their words by such wonderful voice acting. (the VA for Dagonet, especially, was stand out among an already excellent cast). I was on a stream with a friend of mine and we were both like "Goddamn, that's sick writing" at Frode's "We bled on the edge of that blade" line. So many of the things I was hoping the writers would acknowledge soon were mentioned in the Prologue. There's a lot of different threads here that have yet to be pulled on or tied up and it would be easy to just let them lie there for another day. No one would blame you all if you did let them lie there for awhile longer (I mean, some would grumble, for sure, but it would still be understandable). But it is nice that they were touched on. In-world, those characters would care about those topics and would bring them up in a setting like that. But it's also a nice reminder to players: be they new, or returning, or those that have followed the lore for so long. 

There are other things I'd like to say but they're a bit jumbled at the moment so I guess this is mostly it. Just: I appreciate the effort and skill on display here and I am incredibly excited for whatever comes next, both in regards to this expac and any that come after. It feels like you all are hitting a comfortable stride and you're flexing as a company in ways that are not going unnoticed. 

Thanks for all you've done. Every single one of you helps make ArenaNet work and without you, we wouldn't get to experience this massive labor of skill and love. 

 

[Rubi Bayer.8493]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this--and this is the perfect place to put your feedback!