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Feedback: Official Living World Season 4 Episode 3 Feedback [MANY SPOILERS]


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I wonder why they went with all the Inquest stuff in this zone anyway. I can understand it with the research labs in the mountains I guess, but all of them in Gandara to the point that our meta boss is one Asura and his golem suit? And one room with 6 chests and an access key required that you can only get if you actually tag the asura?

I understand that the inquest base in Sandswept was larger, but it seems to me that if Joko has all of this inquest stuff already in Gandara, and with Gandara being his own heavily guarded fortress now, why wouldn't he just have the portals there instead of being built in a remote island that's far more exposed to civilization, closer to Kralk, AND already has what could be seen as a hostile to his agenda Charr tribe?

I guess the Inquest base was already there and perhaps the Inquest needed such a large base to create the portals, but given the portals in the First City and the small size of that Inquest facility it doesn't seem like it would be that much more complicated to just relocate everything to his main base of operations.

I think that's why I've been so tired of the Inquest lately, it just feels like shoehorned filler stuff to give somewhat unnecessary variation to the map. At least the frogs make a lot more sense in this map given that they come from the east and its understandable that they would be in that area. (Even if they don't really add anything other than heart vendor and small hub to the zone.)

I think the map content will definitely get better now that I can't see any reason that we'll deal with even more inquest and random labs. I haven't even bothered with any of this turret collection stuff going on in this patch. I don't know whose idea that was but it seems like a rather large collection and I haven't really seen anyone even remotely interested in it, or anyone talking about what it does or the advantage of it. I guess it is meant to enhance that turret thing we can buy from the heart vendor. But why would we need to even do that when none of the mobs in this zone are even challenging enough really to need something like that item or when the meta outside of the laser champs that usually die in a few seconds is essentially one champion with a lot of hp that stands in one place? I guess they could be useful for bounties, maybe? I'm just not seeing the point in these turrets at all.

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@"cptaylor.2670" said:I wonder why they went with all the Inquest stuff in this zone anyway. I can understand it with the research labs in the mountains I guess, but all of them in Gandara to the point that our meta boss is one Asura and his golem suit? And one room with 6 chests and an access key required that you can only get if you actually tag the asura?

It's because the models were readily available and fit a "dark" tone. So re-using existing awakened + re-using existing inquest it is!

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@zealex.9410 said:Completely agree on the meta part. The story make it seem like a major and epic event while outside the story instance we just get to raid the side of the city, kill generic asura n26 and loot some chests.

And they even delayed it...

We don't really know what happened during the delay but it looks like they were thrown back 2 to 3 months and decided to at least get the story stuff done. ( which had really good writing except for one crucial moment and Braham ).

I mean, we have quite a lack of content in the north of Kourna and the meta isn't even finished. I don't expect great metas on every map but at least have them finished and receive SOME dialogue. I mean what did we get? Pre events that are player driven ( which is good ) and then just one line where we capture some stuff, kill a boss in some side street of Gandara, that has absolute no dialogue and no mechanics at all and in the end smash some stuff and if you are unlucky you need a mesmer to get your rewards. Also the rest of Gandara has an invisible wall so we don't get into that fortress..... Why? Why can't we at least use the Griffon to fly into it? This thing is so unfinished even Zhaitan is disgusted by this.

It wouldn'T be that much of an issue if the meta was about something not really lore relevant. ( Looking at the Bittercold region in Bitterfrost Frontier where obviously some meta event was planned ) But this is Gandara, The Moon Fortress. Where we had an epic battle in Guild Wars 1. The place where Kormir failed hard and nearly got everyone around her killed. This place is lore relevant and many people wanted to visit it. The meta around it should have been finished, no matter what. I wouldn't mind even less events in the north and no Bounties at all if that meant that the Gandara Meta would be ready for release. Because right now, this thing is an embarassement and an insult to the Moon Fortress itself.

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@Walhalla.5473 said:

@zealex.9410 said:Completely agree on the meta part. The story make it seem like a major and epic event while outside the story instance we just get to raid the side of the city, kill generic asura n26 and loot some chests.

And they even delayed it...

We don't really know what happened during the delay but it looks like they were thrown back 2 to 3 months and decided to at least get the story stuff done. ( which had really good writing except for one crucial moment and Braham ).

I mean, we have quite a lack of content in the north of Kourna and the meta isn't even finished. I don't expect great metas on every map but at least have them finished and receive SOME dialogue. I mean what did we get? Pre events that are player driven ( which is good ) and then just one line where we capture some stuff, kill a boss in some side street of Gandara, that has absolute no dialogue and no mechanics at all and in the end smash some stuff and if you are unlucky you need a mesmer to get your rewards. Also the rest of Gandara has an invisible wall so we don't get into that fortress..... Why? Why can't we at least use the Griffon to fly into it? This thing is so unfinished even Zhaitan is disgusted by this.

It wouldn'T be that much of an issue if the meta was about something not really lore relevant. ( Looking at the Bittercold region in Bitterfrost Frontier where obviously some meta event was planned ) But this is Gandara, The Moon Fortress. Where we had an epic battle in Guild Wars 1. The place where Kormir failed hard and nearly got everyone around her killed. This place is lore relevant and many people wanted to visit it. The meta around it should have been finished, no matter what. I wouldn't mind even less events in the north and no Bounties at all if that meant that the Gandara Meta would be ready for release. Because right now, this thing is an embarassement and an insult to the Moon Fortress itself.

Strong words but I can't say that I disagree. I broke out of the map and looked at the rest of Gandara and from the bay side it is just untextured copy pasted lost precipice buildings without collision and floors. The place you break out of the map is literally a gaping hole in the wall in a pretty obvious location near the meta so it's not like it was hard to find. And when you look out the window during the fight with Joko in the instance and look to the left, you can see one of the buildings outside in the rest of Gandara with no bottom half just floating in mid-air. lol I guess they didn't expect people to look out the window?

It's kind of hard figuring out what the focus was on this episode. I think the two things that were done really well were the mount (endurance generation and niche-ness aside), and the story instance/cinematic.

It's also kind of odd that Joko has a green projection now and can just awaken people from half a continent away via said projection, and that we haven't seen him do that in any other episode? But that's a small thing that doesn't really bother me so much as seems kind of inconsistent?

It definitely feels unfinished in many aspects, but even with an additional month on top of the month delay we already had, I'm not sure how different it would be than it is now. The meta might have been slightly more involved, but it seemed more there was just this constant struggle of indecision of what they wanted to do with the episode. No precise vision, or maybe whatever changes they made during the creation of the episode just threw the whole thing out of order and they had to change things up so much that it lost direction?

I know that I should take more time with episodes than I do instead of rushing content, but the fact that I seem to spend more time refreshing the forums to talk about what happened during the story instance or talking about the cons of the new map instead of actually playing in it says something about the episode. Sandswept wasn't my favorite either, but the Zohaqan events and Specimen chamber were certainly far better than any of the events on this map even if they weren't to my liking as much as Palawadan and Great Hall. The story part of this episode was really fun for me, but then after that's over there just isn't anything really interesting about this map. It has a lot of pretty hidden areas such as the waterfalls and the undewater cave, but then there's nothing there outside of a couple chests and a few mobs. (One legendary as well I guess.) I feel like one of these areas with the waterfalls would have been a perfect place to put a no-mounts jumping puzzle or something just to give it a little more reason to be explored and draw people in.

The times playing the Heart of Thorns meta with so many people are probably still my favorite in the game so far. It's a shame that they decided to deviate completely from those. I think they maybe attempted to do that with Serpent's Ire on a smaller scale but didn't quite handle the actual mechanics well in terms of how short of a window you have and how much cc you need for the mobs? Not to mention how dangerous the area is because of the brand. I guess maybe they heard complaints about it, saw that it wasn't attracting much attention and gave up completely on attempting that sort of small organized group meta again?

Palawadan and Great Hall are pretty great for me though. Even if it's just champ spam it's still fun and has a lot of immersion and is consistent.

I think wasted potential and absence of direction kind of sums up my thoughts on Kourna though. Really think a lot of things just went wrong during development and it just became a race to salvage what was left.

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@"cptaylor.2670" said:

@zealex.9410 said:Completely agree on the meta part. The story make it seem like a major and epic event while outside the story instance we just get to raid the side of the city, kill generic asura n26 and loot some chests.

And they even delayed it...

We don't really know what happened during the delay but it looks like they were thrown back 2 to 3 months and decided to at least get the story stuff done. ( which had really good writing except for one crucial moment and Braham ).

I mean, we have quite a lack of content in the north of Kourna and the meta isn't even finished. I don't expect great metas on every map but at least have them finished and receive SOME dialogue. I mean what did we get? Pre events that are player driven ( which is good ) and then just one line where we capture some stuff, kill a boss in some side street of Gandara, that has absolute no dialogue and no mechanics at all and in the end smash some stuff and if you are unlucky you need a mesmer to get your rewards. Also the rest of Gandara has an invisible wall so we don't get into that fortress..... Why? Why can't we at least use the Griffon to fly into it? This thing is so unfinished even Zhaitan is disgusted by this.

It wouldn'T be that much of an issue if the meta was about something not really lore relevant. ( Looking at the Bittercold region in Bitterfrost Frontier where obviously some meta event was planned ) But this is Gandara, The Moon Fortress. Where we had an epic battle in Guild Wars 1. The place where Kormir failed hard and nearly got everyone around her killed. This place is lore relevant and many people wanted to visit it. The meta around it should have been finished, no matter what. I wouldn't mind even less events in the north and no Bounties at all if that meant that the Gandara Meta would be ready for release. Because right now, this thing is an embarassement and an insult to the Moon Fortress itself.

Strong words but I can't say that I disagree. I broke out of the map and looked at the rest of Gandara and from the bay side it is just untextured copy pasted lost precipice buildings without collision and floors. The place you break out of the map is literally a gaping hole in the wall in a pretty obvious location near the meta so it's not like it was hard to find. And when you look out the window during the fight with Joko in the instance and look to the left, you can see one of the buildings outside in the rest of Gandara with no bottom half just floating in mid-air. lol I guess they didn't expect people to look out the window?

It's kind of hard figuring out what the focus was on this episode. I think the two things that were done really well were the mount (endurance generation and niche-ness aside), and the story instance/cinematic.

Thanks for the tip, I got into Gandara finally and it was even worse than expected. Looked like they stopped shortly after beginning designing it or started to do Gandara in the last month.

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Ok now I have finished it, my opinion.

The stealth mission wasn't my thing at all. Well thought out and the mechanics were nice. But it felt like a time gate to stretch out content. But here is the thing. I play GW2 for action content. One of my least favourite things about story content is when you have a section like this, you can't use character build without losing achievements. So maybe I could just go Holo and wipe them out, but I lose out then. This makes me think back to LS2 with the awful boss in glints lair, the one you had to pick up shields that put you on 1HP and he hits through dodge oddly. Allow choice if possible, one achievement say not being noticed/or wipe forces within 5 minutes. I would probably repeat that.

Then the trap rooms. Mother of god do NOT gate achievements behind those. 1, Because it was hard, now I am no puzzle platform master, but neither are the majority, though I have done most content like that easy, say CoE. And 2, THE LASERS HIT YOU EVEN WHEN THEY SHOW YOU CAN GO THROUGH. The signet was a nice touch, but the added utility needs to be implemented better, I have it bound to - so maybe I need a new bind but still, asking me to go outside of my characters skills in a reactive time, while navigating buggy lasers and randomised floor fire was pretty much not fun. The signet should be on and off, maybe like Holo mode with a time meter.

The story was OK, but kill Joko now? I am certain you are lining up a punchline of him regenerating from Aurenes manure, as some plant based zombie, but he seemed to go out with a whimper. Mind you I did like the surprise, that it seemed he would be invincible and suddenly gets eaten.

Now the good. The map is amazing and the events fun. The meta is rather easy, but in a good way. Reward reflects it but it seems fun enough that everyone gets involved. The event mechanics like stomping scarabs was a nice change, but I wish we could get map currency through events rather than gathering. Also on the events, I have been on in the morning at a quiet hour and still seen people doing champs. I love that a few guys can band together and compete, rather than dodging content because not enough people.

The bosses were much more fun to me this time around, no impossible dodges (apart from Jokos wall, which was low punishment enough to allow you time to figure it out) and everything was telegraphed enough to allow all skills to enjoy the fight.

Braham was far more enjoyable here. I've hated him for months, then he runs off and I think "here we go, stroppy Braham again" but it turns good and I am glad he was with us through there. Also the cutscenes and dialogue never once felt like I "had to" sit through them. At all times I felt involved and not forced to be there to get through the story.

Beetle mount is fantastic, love the different idea that went into it, rather than just sitting on a different animal, tech and insect combined. I do wish it had a higher base speed and hit it faster though. Make it our motorway mount.

Here is my favourite thing and I genuinely think it is a stroke of genius. The mount requirements. Holy Aurene manure I sat there and clapped when I realised the things I had to do. Now I will say, basing it in small farm areas with rare mobs was not a good idea, thinking steam machines here. But taking me to a champion I would rarely ever see, doing events I would rarely ever do? Amazing.

So a note on that I truly hope you see. Take a look at Fortnites battle pass and PUBG's version. Please please please implement week long version of the daily like that! Do this event, kill 50 of this enemy type, kill this world boss, do this jumping puzzle. Now only include dungeons and DO NOT include fractals or raids into these (as lower than 10% of the population do them) but make this a feature to get people into older maps, doing events and bosses so they remember how god these maps are! You could even give a really nice reward, make it a weekly and monthly track.

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I also have to agree.

It is obvious that the meta isn't what they envisioned - two unused lanes, massive portion of unused map and a final boss with almost no mechanics whatsoever.

I really hope they revisit and fix it. For the most part, this is a solid update otherwise, but this issue makes the entire map feel somewhat lackluster compared to the past few they have delivered.

We know ANet can do better because we have seen them do better.

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Mostly repeating comments others have made but for what it's worth:

1) Story - what has this got to do with episodes 1 & 2 and the story arc they were setting up? Seemed an interlude without a purpose, bringing back Joko and killing him in one fight seemed kind of pointless. As others have said, he was set up in GW1 and earlier in GW2 as some sort of powerful Lich that was approaching God-like power, yet here we seem to kill him without any Balthazarr-fight-like help from dragons or whatever .. huh? I guess Anet could bring him 'back from the dead' again but frankly if that happens it'll be ridiculous as it would make the end of this chapter beyond lame.

The fight itself is just another in a long line of AOE spamfests where you end up spending more time running away from the damage pools than you do actually fighting .. at least this boss wasn't hugely overtuned like Fluffy in chapter 2 (which simply makes fights long and boring IMO) and it was over in a tolerable period of time.

2) Beetle - a mount looking for a reason to exist as I see it. Seriously what purpose does it serve? Increased map travel speed? Well yes, as long as the map's pretty flat, apart from that it allows the world builders to put in cave entrance blocks that only the beetle can clear .. not really a good reason for it really. For me the novelty wore off quickly.

3) Zone - the main zone event is dismal, it seemed like only the first part of something of substance but no, it's a few short boss fights and a treasure room unlock mechanic that's so flaky many never get to get inside without a helpful mesmer. Over half the fortress is left inaccessible (even the final instance is less than half) which is kind of cheap .. it's like if Pala's map only allowed the sides of the citadel to be accessed while blocking off the main buildings where the majority of the mobs and bosses are (not to mention having the docks invisi-walled off.

The world building was pretty mundane, nothing we've not seen before .. it's desert, we've seen deserts .. I was expecting though Joko's palace to be something special but no, it isn't.

Having unlocked tier 2 of the beetle and doing a few event runs to try to level it I went back to Istan to get the XP to cap it, I got over half that level from 1 GH and 1 Pala run whereas it would have taken umpteen Kourna runs to do, and tier 3 was capped with only a couple more GH/Pala runs. There's no reason to ever venture into Gandara again as far as I can see.

All in all I think the interest value of LS chapters is declining, certainly the 'return on investment' of running zone events over and over has gone downhill markedly.

I'm really left wondering what the 'level of quality' the devs were saying they had delayed its release for is about, it can't be referring to the quality of the overall design as nothing of any great substance is new here.

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1. Story-While initially the ending felt a bit odd, and forced, if you've really given a time to think about how Joko got killed and what you were trying to convey, it was actually a good way to kill him; I do feel however that you could have done an additional episode focussing a bit more on Joko's background and motivations; it feels kind of odd that someone who managed to conquer all of Elona in 60 years, who has manipulated and planted himself in the minds of nearly every citizen of Elona, is simply "eaten" by a dragon in the heat of the moment.

Another thing I will stress is Braham getting us out of the trap, while I understand that some people might like Braham, this would be a perfect moment to have him killed off (perhaps at the end he does what he does in the beginning, just before Joko is about to kill off the commander. Joko rises Braham, who will then be the final fight of the patch, as Joko goes off to Joko's Domain where we will fight him (In the next patch). Braham will get his redemption, and will leave his impact on the story, further driving the player to wanna kill Joko. I'm pro Braham, I liked him this patch, but I do think it would show more urgence to the story; we're not suffering so many losses, and sometimes thats exactly what you need to get more of an emotional connection and to be emersed, please consider maybe taking out one or two of the members of Dragon's Watch in the story.

THE ANIMATIONS WERE AWESOME! Major props to the animation team, they were so immersive and really added to the story!

2.Beetle Mount-The main feature of this patch, I like how you added it, but I feel like you're going to need to look into how this mount is going to be obtained in the future, as it stands now it doesnt seem like you can add much content around it because you need episode 3 to unlock it. (Which is weird because I dont think you need to have EP3 unlocked to make the horn?) Whatever the Beetle adds mostly is currently a gimmich (But a tremendously fun one at that) With people already creating their own race tracks. Maybe more content could be developed around it, like races in different core Tyria maps?

3.Domain of Kourna- I had to take a few days because I felt like I couldnt make an educated opinion without atleast playing in it for a few days, I'll split this in different points.

General - There seem to be a lot of different flavor events in this map, and there seems to be stuff to go for if you want to (getting 750 inscribed shards and spare parts) However, the events seem very generic and thusly the map doesn't have many memorable things in it (Aside form the Choya dances). However, the main eventline really takes away from the map. The fact that you can progress it instead of it being on a timer is REALLY good however, the meta itself feels unfinished; a robot golem as an endboss? What happened to a large assault of Gandara?

Unique Landmarks- Kodonur Crossing, and Dejarin Estates both feel underdeveloped, it feels like the map artists didnt have enough time and just placed some generic ruins in those places, on top of that, I feel like you sacrificed a huge part of what made Kourna awesome in favor of space to ride around on the beetle; Gandara; I remember a piece of concept art by Daniel Docu, which won various prices: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fe/12/e4/fe12e43ec79bc421f1e7fea18efbe6a6.jpg This piece of art always made me wonder how good you could make Gandara look in GW2, yet, all I got to see was 1 single street..

Kourna changed? - First Kryta, now Kourna. Kourna used to look like a Savannah, and it added alot of flavor to Elona, you guys did that very well in GW1; giving different areas different look Aesthetically. Now, most of this just feels like a pretty generic Desert map. Its still a nice map, of course, but its less memorable and takes away a LOT of the amazing world that you created.

4.Deepstone - Aesthetically this fractal was amazing, seeing all of the hallways and deep caverns within this fractal really adds to the feeling of a treassurehunt, the story was nice (Altough it was predictable one of the two characters was going to die, my money was on Kay) Some of the story felt a bit iffy, for example; where did Kay find this book that she got the information about Deepstone from. Another thing is, a guild was mentioned "Thieves guild" however it was not mentioned this was the guild Torin was trying to get back into.

Puzzles and Encounters- This was the best about the fractal in my opinion, and it only added to the feeling of us actually raiding some dwarven treassure vault.. really cool, and I dont think it will be a fractal that will go stale quickly, because of it being so different.

Replayability- One thing im worried about is the fact that this fractal is doing exactly the same as the others, it adds yet another daily fractal on a 2-3 day rotation. I'd love to play Deepstone more, but without the lack of a challenge mode it will become old hat, do it for the daily fractal, and just overall not really add much to what I do in gw2 each day.

5. Legendary Warhorn: Verdarach- A friend of mine instantly crafted this legendary warhorn, and from what i've seen it feels pretty... underwhelming. I like the concept, but on some models the aura is barely visible, I hear it doesnt have any unique sounds, and overall it just doesnt feel like a fully-fledged legendary. However, I must say im not all too educated on this one, I dont play classes that use warhorn so take my criticism with a grain of sand (No pun intended).

6.Overall A good story, a map that will keep my interest for a little while, a new mount that will largely make me just wanna roll around and chill, a fractal that adds to the pool of other fractals that you run 2-3 times a week, and a warhorn that is okay. It was a good filler patch, but I'm still waiting for something a little bit more; it didnt fulfill my hunger for new content completely. 6.5/10.

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@"Ashantara.8731" said:I couldn't disagree more.

What you call "detours" is what is keeping the game and most players' interest alive. I can't hear about the dragons this and the dragons that anymore, and if GW2 was consisting only of that subject, it would be the most boring game in the world.

Based on evidence? Or is this simply an emotionally biased response?

@"Ashantara.8731" said:A game needs a bit of diversity story-wise. It's like a pen&paper RPG where a campaign consists of several adventures: each has its own plot, with its own dramatic curve and climax, even when there is something you call a "main plot" and the group is eventually working towards a greater goal. It's what makes for good story-telling and keeps people excited.

Elona was so well done, Joko's return was so well executed. PoF and LWS4 are my favorite content so far. I hope that the devs keep up their good work and don't return to the low quality of LWS3.

The story can have as much diversity as it wants... as long as that diversity connects to the main plot. If it doesn't, it's a detour.

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@Fenom.9457 said:I want to say about the pond that it was astoundingly beautiful and fun, and reminded me again how desperatelyI want maps with considerable water content, including events and mapping components. Maybe a map left to the new one that’s half the land next to it and half the shoreline and ocean between Kourna and Istan? Obviously more content would be on land to less upset UW haters but I would love just getting lots of water on the map and some events in there. I have a few ideas for stories but all this wasn’t what I meant to discuss.

I hope there is more, expanded UW content ahead. It seems to be included more and more with recent releases.

Mainly what I wanted to offer my two cents on was the ideal that only plots related to the elder dragons will be top quality writing

The review is stating something different. The point is that the main story of the Elder Dragons IS the only quality writing because it is the base of the GW 2 story and has been well-developed as the main arcing storyline over the course of GW 2's development. That doesn't mean alternate storylines cannot be written well, they just haven't been.

I am excited to see different characters and plots explored, but they need to connect the storylines in an integral and meaningful way and write the stories well. That is all that's required to move a detour plot into a weaved, subplot.

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Finished the story today (Ignatius :lol: ), and thought it was great. Really had a good time. Really enjoying the new map and mount. Like the hearts, moved a few characters there for the time being. Killing rats. Very meta.

I'm not understanding all the hate, and I guess I don't really care, except that I hope it doesn't turn into a big u-turn. It's not just the forums, there are people pontificating in map chat in the zone now. I don't mind locusts, but locust-and-leave. Please don't use map chat as your soap box as to why it's all bad.

  1. Taima is great. Her head is not too big.
  2. I like having maps. Every time.
  3. Maybe the bombing story step was a little long, that could have been broken into two steps.
  4. The map looks complete to me (?), and it's interesting to move around in.
  5. The story was fun.

Back to the new zone's dailies and some hearts and picking on achievements to work on for me.

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For such a climatic battle it is even more strange. I mean Kourna was never an interesting or detailed zone so my expectations were always low, but I expected something a bit more epic to set things up. Even Lake Doric had a more appropriate feel to it than this had.

Given we have a variety of different fronts, a fortress and different ways to attack...there was so much scope for more than what we got. I agree the north end is very beautiful, but it is a one visit wonder for gameplay purposes.

Given the cheap ending and the overall lacklustre quality of the map, LS4 has taken an unexpected downturn for me.

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I think there’s a difference between being rush/unfinished and a completed map where they could have done more. I don’t see the map as being rushed or unfinished but there are some things that I wish they would have done more with based on my personal preferences.

Stating it as being rushed or unfinished implies you knew what the end product was intended to be.

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I don't think the map itself was rushed or unfinished. However, the meta event for it seems unfinished or something. Having just one lane when there are three clearly marked entrances? And having it end with a "boss" that barely fights you at all? When you compare it to the final bosses for the metas in the last two maps, it does feel very sub par and even unfinished.

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I think the issue with the fractal is the fact that the bosses are all kind of generic. The mechanics were clearly shared with the signet ring from the story instance and I didn't mind them at all, but the bosses themselves were a little dull. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though. It kind of depends on if this is a stand alone fractal or one of many. If it's one of many and a teaser for elaboration on "The voice" then I think it's a good set up. But if it's just another plot that won't get any addition, a fragmented vague point in the past like Cliffside that could have really interesting implications that never get touched on, then it's a little lacking. If it's the latter and the plot never gets expanded, I feel like having a collection achievement with vague notes or scrolls hidden everywhere that tell us a little more or somekind of story giving more speculation instead of spamming x-reveal skill to find chests it might have been a bit more exciting. But all in all it was a very neat fractal aesthetically though, minus the bosses. I think it's hard adding something like this in when the last fractal we had was Twilight Oasis which had such a huge tie in to the current story, even if we can't actually access the setting of that city in the open world.

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I also think it feels unfinished. Large portions of the map feel pretty empty, the meta itself happens in a single lane with mobs that give nothing outside EXP. The beetle was a great addition but everything else doesn't do justice to the buildup we had going story and time wise.

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@"Boogiepop Void.6473" said:Kourna is a map full of wasted potential. It very much feels rushed and incomplete. I hope that we can get an update to finish it someday.

The north and east of the map feels empty and tacked on, with an almost total lack of anything to do there other than get POIs. The hidden pond behind the farm is similarly pointless and also the portal to it is very strangely placed. This issue with parts of the map being empty of meaningful, repeatable content is something that was complained about when it first happened in Bitterfrost Frontier, during which, by the way, we also complained about inventory spam, which again appears in the form of parts. There are also a bunch of little strange nitpicks, like needing to run an event to access Beta Vault, not needing to enter Alpha Vault, the very awkwardly placed beetle wall for the computer core, and the issues with experience and loot not being given by lots of mobs. The biggest sin is that Gendara is mostly inaccessible, either in the map itself or during the story instances.

The most glaringly incomplete element, though, is the meta. It gives lackluster rewards (access to them is also poorly designed, resulting in people begging mesmers for help due to the access key not awarding properly), the final meta boss is generic and uninteresting, and there is nothing story-wise or really at all interesting happening with it. The meta very obviously was meant to be a 3-lane thing like Silverwastes, with us attacking down all 3 bridges and conquering the fortress (the stuff that was happening while we were infiltrating the sewers in the story) and was rushed out with only a single lane in a usable, but not finished, state. No place is this more obvious than the west bridge, that nonsensically ends in a blank wall. There is barely any sign of the corsair fleet other than the one extremely tiny shipwreck; they were probably supposed to show up later in the meta like the ships in Palawadan. The cannon events on Kourna are another indication of this; once again only 1 part of a 3 part meta was finished and these were copy-pasted into the slots to keep the number of items in the Kourna medal collection the same.

The entire meta needs to be properly redone, with a full and proper battle over Gendara, otherwise it's just a massive waste. Do something with the empty parts of the map too.

Make sure you post this in the "official feedback thread" as you are raising so many good points that clearly a number of people agree with.

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Couldn't agree more. THis is the living story patch of waiting around. Waiting around for collection events for the beetle. Waiting around for the collection events for the medals (holy crap why is inconsistent and no-timer temples still a thing). Waiting around =! content. In addition, the only "meaningful" thing to grind for on the new map is the hideous back piece - but again, that is time gated due to the absurd amount of the new lacklust map currency (700 of them total). Again, time gating =! content. I am sorely disappointed with the roll out (after a long delay), the content, and the sheer lack of replayability. This is how/why people get bored and take looong breaks.

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