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

[Ghostrider.6879]

I've only completed the instances needed to get to the new map, and felt that the story writing got really lazy so far.Depends on your dialogue choice, the Amnoon judge said the only asura they've seen were inquest, but the inquest were first found in Istan, in their secret base. Also there are good asura with the Priory in Elon riverland. There are even fully voice acted dialogue showing elonian kid meeting an asura for the first time.Secondly, the scarab plague only affecting human is interesting. But then the commander(if human) just conveniently won't get infected because he/she had died before?! How?Then you get your ghost army in no time. Where were the army when we first visited the tomb of the primeval king? The queens and kings just chose to defend themselves last time?And the op seeds of wall, a rift that ports our entire army to Kourna....Everything is so effortless and convenient that it almost felt rushed.

[Shadechidna.9153]

"Be my guest" is a bugged out mess. Can't get very far without a high probability of crashing and being locked out of the client for about 10 minutes at a time. Furthest i've gotten this round (after now 12 attempts so far today) is the sewers. Then another crash. How did this client breaking bug get through testing? :(

[Cregath.7628]

@"Shadechidna.9153" said:"Be my guest" is a bugged out mess. Can't get very far without a high probability of crashing and being locked out of the client for about 10 minutes at a time. Furthest i've gotten this round (after now 12 attempts so far today) is the sewers. Then another crash. How did this client breaking bug get through testing? :(

How did any of this get through testing? Almost feels like they pushed the wrong inside version.

[Shadechidna.9153]

@Cregath.7628 said:

@"Shadechidna.9153" said:"Be my guest" is a bugged out mess. Can't get very far without a high probability of crashing and being locked out of the client for about 10 minutes at a time. Furthest i've gotten this round (after now 12 attempts so far today) is the sewers. Then another crash. How did this client breaking bug get through testing? :(

How did any of this get through testing? Almost feels like they pushed the wrong inside version.

It's mishaps like this that is why I only come on for the story update and then disappear until the next one. :|

[Blocki.4931]

@"Kiza.5630" said:https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Beetle_Feed

This is honestly one of the worst collections ever. 5 mio ppl throwing aoe at spawn locations. Junundu never dropping anything can't even get credit for the kill. In short: it's an extremely irritating waiting and wasting time thing. I won't bother with it anymore until the worst "train" has passed.

Last mission crashes for me all the time, but... I loved what you did with Joko in the first one. He became a hilarious villain and not just the run of the mill evil guy. The new map seems fun so far for casual play. I'm thankful that there isn't a Palawaland No 2. Enjoyed playing on it so far, even the bugged first day was fun. Griffon waiting squad and all.

One thing I would like though: make the instances shorter. The story part with Canach and the assault was awesome, but could've been split into two. I find them too long.

I agree with all of this.

Luckily the instance is divided into checkpoints. Technically they are separate instances that just seamlessly go into the next one. The first one is liberating the post, the second one is planting the seeds. Considering we get a 3k range teleport without real cooldown you get to easily zoom to the points and finish the entire thing within few minutes

Now what they SHOULD do with that is give some indication of this happening on the side. A bit more than the less than trustworthy text on the right side of the screen. Even if it's just having " x .. Part 1" and "Part 2" in the name of that instance

[GreyWolf.8670]

I was finally able to log in and complete Forwarned. It's easily the most tedious chapter I've ever played. It's too long, Blish's arm bundle is a nightmare to use. I finally just dumped it and killed everything the old fashioned way. Please don't make us use that arm again.

[notebene.3190]

Going back in the world to do events and such is pretty fun, but you have a huge scaling issue. The mobs die in seconds and if there are too many people there, you don't get credit. Like the Alpha in the SW. I'm there now, and people are trapping and just generally not being very nice. I'd wager a few are just sticking around and trapping it because seeing us all annoyed 'is' new content for them.

[Sardeth Wynn.9548]

Leyline? REALLY Anet? Hey, I know let's add 12 fractals, 16 PVP matches, Keep take over in WvW annnnnnd oooh complete all paths in the crucible.This is a TIME SINK, I am a casual solo player and I never see anyone at these things,The Griffon was well thought out even if there was a silly paywall part, this is busy work.Then add in the part WHERE you NEED this mount to get to places on the new map? Whoever thought this up ...... I got words for you that this forum filter won't let me say, so K I T T E N your Beatle and your new map.

[DorDor.8617]

@Harper.4173 said:

@DorDor.8617 said:

@Twyn.7320 said:

@DorDor.8617 said:

@Twyn.7320 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:

@Twyn.7320 said:I'm looking forward to effectively like playing Lord of the Guild Wars 2: Return of the King. Like, it's not original or plausible so far, so I hope it gets better later on!

Would you mind going into detail?

What exactly is not plausible? And why would it have to be original? The characters in the story are pretty original no? Not like settings can only ever be done once

Generally, the Scarab Plague is an airborne disease, so if Amnoon isn't crippled by a mass outbreak, it's a bit silly. Additionally, Gorrik wandering around as a test subject is equally as dumb, and no one challenges the concept. They're so passive to the idea of letting an Asura wander around despite being contaminated. Even if it 'doesn't affect anything other than Humans', it could still spread to Humans by just being around Gorrik.

The characters are effectively stereotypes, and are in real need of character development that's well-written. I hope Braham actually gets treatment this time, instead of being drowned out by Taimi because 'reasons'. It's been said multiple times by multiple people, all of which are being objective, but Guild Wars 2 needs to choose its story tone. Is it trying to be a Disney-type adventure, or is it trying to be more mature? If it's a Disney-type adventure, spend more time with Taimi and Gorrik. If it's a mature story, spend more time with characters like Rytlock, Kasmeer and Braham. Of course, it's my subjective opinion as to which characters fit a more mature tone, but Guild Wars 2 stands out as being a bit too... 'no consequences, big actions'. The obvious answer to all of this is: 'Stop playing if you're so negative about it.' However, it doesn't fix anything. There are problems with Guild Wars 2 right now, the most important being a lack of communication and a lack of understanding of what the community actually wants. If Guild Wars 2's community declined until only blindly optimistic people remained, it wouldn't be financially viable to keep the servers open. The irony is that Guild Wars 2's community is trying to stop ArenaNet from destroying something with so much potential, but either through lack of attention or lack of staffing, they aren't able to fix the right things efficiently. (I know I've deviated from the main point, but it's important to get it out there with a new, buggy and largely underwhelming release.)

It's fine for settings to be re-done, but it's a setting that's over-done. We're collecting a spectral army to fight an immense evil, and banish them from the realm of the living. It's a quick fix, with no trials in the way, because it's the only way to fight and defeat Joko. We literally ask them to help and they say: 'Yah, gucci, let's go!' And then, we're meant to portal off to fight him. (Which no one can do at the moment, SoonTM.) But the main issue is actually the question you've asked to me...

'Why would it have to be original?'

This is a problem. Every game should strive to have an original storyline. Yah, you can borrow aspects from other things, it'd be impossible not to. However, you shouldn't rip entire story points, identically from another piece of media, and expect people to not notice. The ghost army is, dialogue-excluded, ripped off from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. And I might be wrong in the approach, but if the Primeval Army is the primary reason as to why we defeat Joko, it'll be a carbon copy. Though, I don't want Joko to die, because he hasn't been developed. Though, I guarantee that he's going to die today, or be banished from the storyline.

Question: How are you, and you alone, the arbiter of "what the community actually wants?"

Because I'm very active in this community, and from what I've seen, you're in the minority on this. General consensus on Reddit, on Tumblr and within the game itself (frankly, everywhere but the main forums) is pretty positive on Path of Fire, occasional storytelling blunders aside. I've seen a lot of very passionate critics praise the direction the game's taken, just months after taking them to task for the writing problems in Season 3. As far as community opinion goes, it's a far cry from the dark days of the Scarlet arc.

Your opinion is your opinion and I'm sure there plenty of people who agree with it. Heck, I can certainly agree with parts of it, even if I don't agree with the main point. But for better or worse, Arenanet IS listening to us. You just don't like the ideas they're listening to.

I haven't claimed to be the sole arbiter of 'what the community actually wants'. However, a simple flick through the forums shows that notoriously, the community desires things and hardly get them. The community wants raiding information, and they've been unable to gain it. The community wants balancing in PvP, but the correct balancing, and it's never arrived in full force, and trashed specs that didn't need to be trashed in the first place. Sections of the community desire a particular story focus, and regardless of where you stand on the issue, it objectively hasn't changed since Living World Season 3. The community wants more general communication on any releases or issues, but still, Anet's provided nothing to remove the painful desire.

I'm equally active in this community, and from what I've seen, I'm in a clear majority. If the general consensus of everywhere APART from the main game's forums is positive, but the game's forums are wholly negative and controversial, wouldn't it be safer to say that it's split down the middle? Naturally, official game forums make up the 'majority of accounts' for that game. However, it's a stab in the dark, and without actual figures, I can't say it's a definite and neither should you. Additionally, players of Guild Wars 2 (EU) regularly complain in-game of a lack of content to do, at least from my experience. EU players are usually more cynical, however, from experience.

The problem with comparing the community with the basis of 'the dark days of the Scarlet arc' is that this was 4 years ago. Naturally, Guild Wars 2 has progressed since then into a completely different experience. However, some of those complaints are still current. In the villain department, I've seen many players regularly complain about the lack of a compelling antagonist that they feel is both realistic and adheres to a degree of pathos, which is important for any narrative paradigm. If we don't feel for the villain's actions, or understand why they've acted in a particular way that seems plausible, backed with snazzy dialogue, villainy is pointless. This is a problem that was common in 2014, and is still common in 2018. If the same issue exists in a four-year time span, there's a clear problem. It's the same with balancing, but I'm not going to go into that aspect because other people who know 'numbers and percentiles' can do it far better than I can!

The thing that I need to ask you is: Can you give me a number of examples/instances where Anet has listened and implemented a requested change over a long-term, since the start of Living World Season 3? If Anet produces a good change, I step back, smile and nod. But I'm yet to see a change that actually feels worthwhile and is overtly different. The only change is 'Mounts', IMO. They're still developing for them, and in this case, I smiled and nodded in acceptance. Provide at least four others.

Sure I can. My first example is Living World Season 3. The whole concept.

After Heart of Thorns, there were a ton of complaints about the content droughts the expansion caused. There were complaints about how small and unsubstantial Season 2 episodes ended up being. And there were especially complaints about the direction of the story, and how it was ignoring certain storylines that fans desperately wanted to see play out.

Arenanet responded with nothing short of a complete, comprehensive overhaul of their entire company structure. They established multiple Living World teams, each capable of delivering an episode with a full map's worth of content. They created a system of staggered releases that allowed Episodes to be released in a tight, closely-followed schedule. And they deliberately went for storylines tailor-made to appease old-guard fans: the White Mantle, Livia, the fate of Saul D'Alessio and the reappearance of the Gods. It was created to be a crowd-pleaser, a means to win back the trust of the people, and though it didn't always succeed in that, it does show us the mindset Arenanet's been in since the failure of HoT.

Of course, Season 3 had plenty of criticism as well, and the Path of Fire devs addressed those criticisms when it was their turn for a release. There were complaints about Season 3's bloated cast and scattered plotting, so they went out of their way to tell a more focused story with a smaller cast of characters. Season 4 continued that trend, taking us back to a much-requested location, Istan, and giving Braham some much-needed development after what they did with him in Season 3. Now, Episode 3 is bringing us Gandara (another heavily requested setting) and Roller Beetles (a mount I've seen a ton of people clamoring for).

They've been a bit less proactive on the PvP/WvW side of things, but one cannot overestimate the impact the overhaul of Ranked play had on the PvP scene. The addition of Seasons, Automated Tournaments, the larger map pool and even that little free-for-all Murder Arena in the Heart of the Mists were all stuff the PvP community requested and received. Also, have you heard about those changes coming to World vs World in the not-too-distant future? That whole Guild Alliance system? I've heard requests for exactly that sort of thing since I first joined the community. It's not in the game yet, but it's coming, so I figure it makes the list, too.

I understand how you came to the conclusion that Arenanet doesn't listen. You get your information from the forums, the place our entire community goes to vent where they know the devs will hear them. This is a big, giant complaint box. But that kind of focused negativity isn't a fair impression. Arenanet is one of the most transparent game developers I've ever seen. It's why I'm willing to cut them so much slack when they do screw up. They earned my respect.

The reappearance of the Gods - the same Gods they did away with really quickly much to the joy of all the old fans? I sure feel pleased. I'd have preferred if they'd left the Gods alone. Writing them out of the story is not an improvement."They've been a bit less proactive on PvP and WvW" is your nice way of saying they've nearly destroyed the modes by ignoring them?I get that you're a fan of Anet - I was one too once - but I've cut so much slack I don't have any left. I've been here since the game's release cutting nothing but slack and running mostly on promises and half-delivered things.( Hell - we STILL don't have the full set of legendary weapons we were promised with HoT - and whatever happened with "New legendaries and new legendary types in 2014?" - see some of us still remember these things - slack has been cut). They lost my respect.

You're not the only one who's been here for a long time. I still remember when Structured PvP felt like it was still in Beta. And I've seen more support for that side of the game than I have at any point since I started playing. Again: Automated Tournaments, Ranked Seasons, a completely remodeled hub, three new maps and support for a game mode other than Conquest. They have a dedicated PvP team with scheduled balance updates. I think your definition of "ignoring" needs some work.

I also remember Arenanet's many empty promises and utter failures. Post-HoT, I was in the exact same boat you're in right now, just one screw-up away from quitting. Because despite what y'all seem to think, I'm not blindly devoted to these people. I'm just satisfied with the direction the game and the company has taken. I'm satisfied with their current transparency and I have genuine fun with game's current story.

I'm not gonna pretend my experience is your experience. But if you're genuinely not having fun with this game anymore, you need to stop torturing yourself with it. Arenanet's clearly chosen a direction you don't like, and I don't see them changing it anytime soon. There's no shame in jumping ship when something like that happens.

[Chocofox.9503]

Disappointed in the new node. I like that we get more than just shards from it but why do we get only one shard when every other living world node gives us at least three? I feel this needs to be changed as many players likely would not have bought the node if they knew they would only receive one shard a day.

[Takato.5013]

@"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

WARNING: THIS THREAD MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Here's the traditional "highpoints" gathering place. Please share your general feedback about Episode 3 in this thread. If you have found any issues, the best place to report those is the Bugs Subforum, and of course if you have detailed feedback about any element of the episode, a separate thread is welcome.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about LWS4/E3! :)

Hello Gaile Gray

I did not find it fair to "Provide Cache (Service)" in the player's house.Cost 10,000 volatile magic + 50 gold and only give 1 ONE inscribed shrapnel per day!!! :anguished:

I should give much more!!I hope you pay attention to that. :+1:

Thank you

[Harper.4173]

@"Ghostrider.6879" said:I've only completed the instances needed to get to the new map, and felt that the story writing got really lazy so far.Depends on your dialogue choice, the Amnoon judge said the only asura they've seen were inquest, but the inquest were first found in Istan, in their secret base. Also there are good asura with the Priory in Elon riverland. There are even fully voice acted dialogue showing elonian kid meeting an asura for the first time.Secondly, the scarab plague only affecting human is interesting. But then the commander(if human) just conveniently won't get infected because he/she had died before?! How?Then you get your ghost army in no time. Where were the army when we first visited the tomb of the primeval king? The queens and kings just chose to defend themselves last time?And the op seeds of wall, a rift that ports our entire army to Kourna....Everything is so effortless and convenient that it almost felt rushed.

Exactly - everything is a deus ex machina now.You need to scout? This thing can stealth you (even though it's never mentioned before and will probably never be used again story and lore wise). You need your army to move? This will teleport them where you need them.Oh - speaking of an army - you need an army? Just go and tell them "it's the real deal this time" and you'll get one just like that.Need explosives? here they are out of thin air. Need a vine wall? Here it is out of thin air. None of these are mentioned before. None of it is set up. It's just amusing.The writing feels like they went

• "The heroes need to do this and that"
• "Okay they did"
• "How?"
• "Because they could, duh"

Also I hear the mount collection is bugged too - just how much time do we have to wait for the game to actually be playable?

[Harper.4173]

@"DorDor.8617" said:

You're not the only one who's been here for a long time. I still remember when Structured PvP felt like it was still in Beta. And I've seen more support for that side of the game than I have at any point since I started playing. Again: Automated Tournaments, Ranked Seasons, a completely remodeled hub, three new maps and support for a game mode other than Conquest. They have a dedicated PvP team with scheduled balance updates. I think your definition of "ignoring" needs some work.

I also remember Arenanet's many empty promises and utter failures. Post-HoT, I was in the exact same boat you're in right now, just one screw-up away from quitting. Because despite what y'all seem to think, I'm not blindly devoted to these people. I'm just satisfied with the direction the game and the company has taken. I'm satisfied with their current transparency and I have genuine fun with game's current story.

I'm not gonna pretend my experience is your experience. But if you're genuinely not having fun with this game anymore, you need to stop torturing yourself with it. Arenanet's clearly chosen a direction you don't like, and I don't see them changing it anytime soon. There's no shame in jumping ship when something like that happens.

I'm not saying PvP has not been supported early on - what I'm saying is that the game modes have been neglected. Also let's not forget that WvW and PvP weren't the focus - eSports was. eSports is not PvP - let's make that distinction."Ranked Seasons, a completely remodeled hub, three new maps and support for a game mode other than Conquest. "

1. Ranked seasons are better now but when they came out they were a joke - a joke people could easily farm.
2. Hub is fine.
3. Three whole new maps in what? 6 years? wow.
4. Stronghold? The game mode that died so fast it wasn't even alive to begin with?"I also remember Arenanet's many empty promises and utter failures. Post-HoT, I was in the exact same boat you're in right now, just one screw-up away from quitting. "I'm not going to quit - I'm going to stick around and be bitter.Some aspects of the game still are fun for me - I'm not "torturing myself" with it - but some aspects have become incredibly boring and stale. At this point I would gladly pay a gold tax to be able to unlock maps and features (like new mount) without having to play the story. It is THAT bad for me."Arenanet's clearly chosen a direction you don't like" and they've done it before - to me and other players. There was a time when they chose directions I did like because I and many others complained - If I don't complain about it constantly how's that going to change?I get that you want me to leave - it's more convenient for you like that - but I think I'll stick around, and constantly remind the devs that our portion of the community exists as well. Maybe soon the wheel will turn.

[PanBelacqua.9058]

[Redacted]

[Sardeth Wynn.9548]

Ok, the last post was angry, this post is going to be angry but a little better.I like exploring, that is about 50% of this game for me, I wish your raids and dungeons had an explorer mode so I could walk in take my time and look around, but you don't and everyone is always rushing through so that content isn't fun for me.After finishing the Forearmed is Forewarned (Liked it, Over Powered and LOOOOONG) I start running around, I get to a place that has a cracked wall, a beetle painting and a POI behind it.I am like ok, like POF, there is a required mount to get it, guess I need it to complete the map. I mean, "They wouldn't lock a required mount for a specific map behind something stupid", I am thinking, "I mean might have to complete a heart and shell out some Gold like the Jackel" so after doing a little more I go back to see Gorrik, get the first collection of Steriods completed and get the second collection.THIS MADE NO SENSE.It made no sense storywise, it made no sense map completion-wise, it just made No-Sense other than the Devs saying:A> We will not let you get 100% of this map unless you get the BeatleB> We got you in a war-zone but, in order to get the Beatle, you need to ignore Joko, a plague that threatens human life and go here, there, there, way over there, basically all these other places that have nothing to do with this map and this story to get x,y,z to build a saddle.

I am mad, madder than I was with the Griffon Mount paywall, but it unlike this Beatle wasnt required to complete a map.I don't know if I need this to complete the story.If I do, whoever came up with this needs to go back to school, if you are going to do something like this it should be an after the season side story and not part of the season achievements at all.

[PanBelacqua.9058]

[Redacted]

[Twyn.7320]

Expect HUGE SPOILERS for Episode 3! (And a 'bit' of firm critique.)

! I need to highlight that this only concerns the story, and now that I've finished the full thing, I feel like I can give a first impression of the narrative. I've been openly critical of the Guild Wars 2 Story beforehand, but tonight, I realised that this isn't for me anymore. The narrative of Episode 3 is a deus-ex-machina fest, with exceptionally limited character development, and an outrageously horrendous ending that serves as a joke, rather than a fitting end to a fan-favourite character.!! And the worst part of this: It was all so predictable. !! The irony is that the cutscene prior to the outrageously horrendous part is literally the best piece of narrative content to come out of Guild Wars 2, period. The cutscene with Joko captures the pure villainy of the character, and removes the grandeur for a moment of psychotic intrigue. It's incredible. And then, seconds later, the entire moment is ruined because Aurene needed a hero moment. I'm sorry, but in comparison to other narratives, this tonal shift is a complete joke, but what can I expect from a narrative that seems so hell-bent on maintaining a family-friendly setting to a mature audience?!! This isn't about the launch issues, before anyone critiques it as such. I've pulled those views away and I'm judging the story as it appears. Joko was always going to die, and I knew that it was going to be anti-climactic. I accepted that he'd get limited development, if any. And still, I don't feel any sympathy for the character. It's only through the 'different angle of villain' aspect that I find myself liking Joko as a character. If every other villain wasn't 10x worse than Joko, he'd be forgettable.!! And, can I please point out that the 'amazing direction that we've set Braham up on' has basically consisted of Braham doing a 180 in terms of his character, and saying two lines that makes him a team player. This isn't character development, it's forcing everyone together because the agenda is to be more family-friendly.!! The biggest concern for this is: Where do we go from here? I'm not excited for what comes next, and I think I'm only one of many that are going to log in and think: 'This is trash.' From the story-points that have been ripped out from Lord of the Rings, to the constant: 'Oh, we've done this off-screen so you can feel powerful' moments, it's been a confirmation that this game's narrative needs a huge rework in story focus. This isn't a subjective tone issue anymore. This is a narrative formatting issue, it doesn't work in this current state, and delivering it in this way makes me feel as if the narrative team actually lacks the care to implement it in a good, enriching way.!! If this feels too harsh, I can only apologise. I've seen evidence of care from the narrative team today, with the amazing Joko cutscene, prior to his laughable death, and it makes my blood boil. Why can't the same care go towards the rest of the story? Why does it need to be in isolated moments of brilliance, and not amazing throughout? There's such a lack of consistency in how the narrative is delivered, and I believe that something needs to change. If it means that Anet rewrites Episodes 4-6 (or however many are left) and we need to wait an extra month for each one, I'm fully willing if it means that more care is placed in the story's direction for the future. I'm not here to be a blind fangirl, and this time, I think even the most loyal fans are going to struggle with this.!! Rating: 2/10!! + Some of Braham's humour hit the mark.! - Very limited character development.! - Deus Ex Machina'd to pieces.! - Poor voice acting that removed from moments, rather than added. Especially in the case of Taimi and random NPCs, such as the Doctor in the Village.! - Horrendous direction in terms of narrative design.!! I want to love this narrative, but I just can't do it anymore, and I believe that I'm definitely not the only one. Only one of thousands in this.

[I s o l d e.6709]

Story is great so far, I have gotten all the way to Kourna, then once I go through the portal to retrieve Blish's arm it is not there. I asked some other players in the chat they said to reset, I did, the problem still stands. I would really appreciate if you guys fixed this because I don't think I'm the only one having this problem.

[TheExiled.2357]

Going to keep this as short as possible. Spoilers ahead for those who are yet to play/ finish it.

! Overall, taking away the time wasted with disconnections, crashes, and other issues, I think the total time of completion was around an hour and a half, two hours at a push. In my own opinion, the instances were very much on the short side, the voice acting in parts was pretty sub-par, the new map doesn't really seem to have anything interesting about it, the collection for the new mount doesn't interest me, and as for the big part.. the story right now is just.. I don't even know what to think. Palawa Joko killed and eaten by Aurene? Seriously? The cutscene right up until that point was absolutely amazing, Joko outing the Commander as the real villain and main cause for everything bad that's happened on Tyria, the two Elder Dragons being killed along with Balthazar, and then it's just flipped on its head because Aurene has to be in the spotlight. I don't care about Aurene, I don't care about Taimi, Braham got a tiny amount of development, again, like he has so much potential and nothing is happening to him. I'm quite disappointed, considering the delay and then the further delay for others waiting to play because of post-release issues, only for it to result in what turned out to be a really lackluster episode for me, all things considered. Admittedly, the humor was on point in very small parts and the end cutscene was great up until that very specific part. Other than that, I'm not sure what to really think.

! Personally, I don't think it was any higher than a 2/10 - and sure, I may not have been the most constructive person with my thoughts here but it's late and wanted to get it up whilst it was all fresh. I do hope there's a twist to all of this somewhere down the line, however.

[Thefarside.2178]

Enjoyed it, kind of. Disappointed by the META. Disappointed by the horrendous condition of the release (bugs, disconnects, etc). The map is nice looking and it shows how much work and detail you put into it. I was super stoked for the release (which may be why I am disappointed, not sure anything could have lived up to the hype). Beetle is pretty cool. However, after getting the beetle and some achievements - I am not sure the map has any long-term replayability, such as istan.

[kimtingen.6472]

With the new patch you added some minies, one of them a Basenji, or am I wrong.. Anyway.. The tail on the Basenji is all wrong, that is, if the mini is supposed to be like the RL Basenji.This is how the tail should be.

[RyuuKiba.1496]

The first instance in the new map, where you recover Blish's arm has such an incredibly tiny playable space that I've gotten myself kicked out of it three times already, quite frustrating. May I suggest giving players a bit more wiggle room? Especially with cooldown sneak mechanics?

[maxwelgm.4315]

The episode itself is great. I don't mind that collections require previous content, and I understand this decision is important on the long run (we are now seeing the LS3 maps still alive and kicking due to people who lagged on doing Aurora and even new folks that got the episodes solely for the collection, great forward thinking I believe will stand for the beetle). With that said there is only one way to get people out of Silverwastes: giving actual rewards, and like all PoF maps (now even Istan), this one fails to deliver on this end. If everything was tuned up to make players feel like they meaningfully stacked up on currency after the events, the events in themselves will be well worth repeating due to the map also being fun. Now for the greatest bummer of all, the story:

! Joko was truly the star of this show. Kudos to the voice actor as he could actually get the gloating tone in and off as Joko went from, well, joking and being serious. His last lines of dialogue during the last battle are simply brilliant and not something I'd even expect from someone voice acting a MMO, it really stuck to me. With this said, the buildup being so amazing, and the voice actor doing such a good job, only made the twist of Aurene more disappointing. All the dialogue, the signet ring just being left there, the way Joko actually gets pretty serious when he says that dragons are the life force of this world (which is a nice touch that a Lich King uses "necromancy" jargon like epidemic and life force, y'all keep doing this), all of these little details actually made me feel more letdown by not being given more background on Joko before seeing him vanish from the story. Sometime in the past we were told that we didn't really know "where Joko was from...yet" and well, we still don't and now he's pretty much gone inside Aurene's magic bowels! What the kitten! Let's just say I deeply hope Aurene doesn't poop him out and bury it under Malyck's tree.

[LUNARIIBOY.9816]

The BEST living world episode we have EVER gotten. Regardless of some people's disconnect errors i was able to finish the whole story in one sitting and i was blown away. If this is what we can expect from the rest of the episodes its safe to say that were in for a fun time

[X T D.6458]

That ending lmao :lol: