Does anybody actually enjoy playing personal story/living world?

[Opopanax.1803]

I have to say, my main sylvari character choose the path where you find a sylvari not from the pale tree. I always thought "what is this story about, there has to be more than this". Then HoT dropped, what a cool story line to explain the sylvari. I thought it was awesome. PoF is less cool, in my eyes, from a gw2 more perspective .

[Plautze.6290]

Yes.

10chars

[Gehenna.3625]

I only played through all of it once. What makes it less fun for me than it could be is that everything just takes longer than it should, at least in my view. First of all, a lot of the story is told through conversations. So you're standing there waiting for everybody to be done talking. Although the conversations aren't necessarily uninteresting, they become so by going on too long in various places. I find myself veering off in thought throughout. Then there are the combat sequences that tend to be just too long as well. Not complaining about difficulty but about the amount of HP/Defense these bosses have, which I also find boring and takes me out of the momentum of the story being told.

In a way the stories aren't all that bad, though a bit predictable but that's ok, however, it's like going through a slow moving traffic jam where you're constantly stopping and going, stopping and going. It just doesn't flow that well.

I suppose they want to give the stories some length so people won't feel like it's too short (cause people will complain about that) but for me it's a matter of quality over quantity. And here's the thing. Because it bores me and takes too long I only play through it once. If it was quicker I'd play more alts through it. So it's length versus replay value. And if a story takes 2 hours to complete and I play it once, or it takes 1 hour to complete and I play through it 4 times, well then replay value should win.

Of course, I'm not everybody else, so I suspect that most players play through these lengthy affairs multiple times regardless and I guess it would be a disfavor to those people to shorten things up.

[Tommo Chocolate.5870]

The story is actually my favourite part of the game. The main reason is that I think the combat system works much better solo or in very small groups - it's designed so that individual players are self-sufficient, and I enjoy it most when I actually get to use that ability to be self-sufficient.

That said, I find the quality of both the storyline and the gameplay in the story missions pretty variable. Gameplaywise, I think the personal story was a lot better in beta and on release, when it was substantially more difficult, and you had one story instance per level. The expansions and living world stories are an improvement in my view, partly because they've brought some of that difficulty back, but it's inconsistent - particularly when what you're doing depends on a one-off mechanic that is poorly communicated or inconsistent. (That's not to say that all of the one-off mechanics are like that, but some of them are.)

In terms of the actual storyline, I like the early chapters of the personal story best - especially those that depend on your choice of race - because I think ANet does a much better job of worldbuilding than narrative, and that's what those chapters are about.

I actually really like the Caithe chapter, even though I don't play as Thief. Personally I think it's a much more engaging way of telling that story than a cutscene would have been. I wouldn't want every story chapter to be like that, but I'm glad one of them was.

@TheOrlyFactor.8341 said:I did break down and make an actual Pact Commander character though I wouldn't even consider her my main character. She's closer to a secondary character. She's just someone I take through the story to see what happens so I can then decide how (if at all) it impacts my other characters.I really like this idea. What race, profession, and order did you choose?

[Turkeyspit.3965]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:I do enjoy the stories. Not all of them equally but there are very few of the stories I actively dislike. At the end of the day, it breaks up the other stuff. But plenty of people I know like the story.

As an example, I've done Season 2 on 18 different characters all the way through. Same for the personal story. I've done Season 3 and 4 on far more characters. So yep, I guess you could say I enjoy it.

Good heavens, I can't imagine doing the Zhaitan fight 18 times...having done it 3 times, that's 2 times too many imo =(

Well remember, for most of it's life, it was a story dungeon and I had guildies to run with. It's much easier now than it's ever been. I don't find it hard, particularly on any profession. It's not even as long as it once was. I liked it better before it was solo content, though. Before it was originally nerfed, and had some teeth, it felt like I was beating a game. Now it's just something you have to get through.

Oh dang. I've only been playing for 6 months, so I didn't realize the mission had changed. My problem with it wasn't the difficulty, but how boring and non-epic it was.

! You are literally not even fighting the main boss of the story, but click on cannons to defeat him

I think I might have enjoyed the original version much more lol

[TexZero.7910]

Generally speaking yes.

That specific mission, oh god no. If I'm going to play a stealth action game i have better ones on my machine.

[Vayne.8563]

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:I do enjoy the stories. Not all of them equally but there are very few of the stories I actively dislike. At the end of the day, it breaks up the other stuff. But plenty of people I know like the story.

As an example, I've done Season 2 on 18 different characters all the way through. Same for the personal story. I've done Season 3 and 4 on far more characters. So yep, I guess you could say I enjoy it.

Good heavens, I can't imagine doing the Zhaitan fight 18 times...having done it 3 times, that's 2 times too many imo =(

Well remember, for most of it's life, it was a story dungeon and I had guildies to run with. It's much easier now than it's ever been. I don't find it hard, particularly on any profession. It's not even as long as it once was. I liked it better before it was solo content, though. Before it was originally nerfed, and had some teeth, it felt like I was beating a game. Now it's just something you have to get through.

Oh dang. I've only been playing for 6 months, so I didn't realize the mission had changed. My problem with it wasn't the difficulty, but how boring and non-epic it was.

! You are literally not even fighting the main boss of the story, but click on cannons to defeat him

I think I might have enjoyed the original version much more lol

I have my own interpretation of this. I'm not sure Anet ever thought this was supposed to be a "boss" fight. I mean as you move through the story, you're hurting Zhaitan the whole time. You cut off its food supply. You partially blind it. You take away it's ability to make undead. At the end, it's more like an interactive cut scene than a fight. The damage is actually done by an anti-dragon magic weapon that was initially designed by Dr. Gor, an Asuran who you save in one Asuran story line and later, there's another story to help him test that weapon on Risen.

The problem is, without playing all the races, you only really get part of the story and even then, you might not choose the right story. The Zhaitan fight wasn't meant to be a boss fight. The story of defeating Zhaitan really starts at level 70.

[Brimstone.3807]

I feel like s4 has been a step backwards. 1st episode felt like a repeat of an s2 episode where u save taimi along with a malfunctiong golem with the assistance of braham. Seemed super lazy to me at the time.

Also, just too much gw1 fan service. So human centric. So boring. The IP needs to look forward not backwards imo. This is why I get bummed with all the cantha clamoring. I think I am in the minority.

The caithe episode is an example of an ls I never want to do again. The history lesson was interesting, but I could have read or watched it.

[Biff.5312]

Not me, but I've never paid attention to story in any game.

[Malediktus.9250]

I do not like the personal story / living world story in this game. Feels very bland and childish

[Batel.9206]

Considering that the story is the major reason why I even play this game... yes, I do. :) Does the personal story fall flat at times? Yes. Is the level of storytelling sometimes rather juvenile*? Yes. But I still love it and greatly enjoy playing through it. It's an excuse to turn my brain off, not think too hard about the story I'm going through, and just enjoy it for what it is. I've heard the story gets better past the "personal story" line, so I'm looking forward to that.

*Sometimes. But not always. Claw Island felt like a punch in the gut.

! I still owe Tybalt an apple cider. Maybe in the Mists, buddy. [salutes]

[Dreadshow.9320]

Loving all of them, the immersion, the sens of purpose given, makes my imagination churn. Otherwise I'd be only one of thousands monster loot farmer in the game.

So to answer your question, yes me.

[Corax.7692]

@Danikat.8537 said:

@Algreg.3629 said:

@Corax.7692 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:@Corax.7692:

It's just one storyline in Season 2 and has zero to do with a character's initial personal story nor with Living World as a whole, so I don't see why your title is implying otherwise.

It's just one example, I could give many others. Leaving my friend behind with the krait when I got the orb (personal story), destroying the Kralkatorrik spear (Path of Fire), I could go on and on about choices I would have made but didn't have the option, and poor motivation in the story. If I have no control over what happens, why go through the whole pretense? Just show me one long movie instead of making me do stuff I don't even want to do.

Well I think we've established that there are people out there who like this stuff, it's just definitely not my cuppa.

then get some friends and play p&p rpgs. this is a video game story which will always put a leash on you. Some hide it better, some worse. Frankly, I am puzzled anyone who ever played video games is surprised by that.

Agreed.

Even in games which get praised for their story and the choice offered to players I often find myself unable to do what I want to, or unable to say "that's obviously a bad idea, here's how it's going to go wrong and here's what we should do instead" even when I think it should be obvious. In some ways I find it more frustrating when that happens in a game which offers a lot of choice than in ones which don't.

This is one reason I always insist that my characters are not me. They have to do things I would never do for the game to happen, so therefore they have to be a different person. Then it doesn't bother me as much that I don't have total control over their actions, because they're doing what they would choose, not what I would choose. (There's other reasons too - like wanting to play different races and genders, or even when I am playing human female wanting to make them look different...trying to make myself in a game is weird, it always falls into the 'uncanny valley' issue.)

There's a difference between having limited choices, and having those limited choices be well-motivated. The Geneforge series of games, for example, was excellent at offering a variety of options for solving problems and real decision points that affected the outcome of the game. Now, of course, each of those games ended with some outcome, and so as the sequels came out, each assumed a particular one of the outcomes from the previous games and you started with a new character in the world so created. That isn't really an option in an MMO (yet). In any case, it's possible to present things in a way that gives reason for the limitations. If I'd actually been attacked when trying to save my friend after retrieving the krait orb, rather than told "hey we gotta go" without even an option to protest.... If I'd been given the ability to just use force from the outset in the thing with Caithe and Faolain, which I had to do anyway when stealth failed.... And to diverge from story stuff a bit, If I would be told when crafting ascended components something like "things need to soak in a vat for a day and there's only one available", rather than baldly denied with "you can only make 1 of these a day". Such walls are highly arbitrary and highly visible, in a way that breaks the fantasy. I'm learning to just take these flaws as they come (and it's a valuable thing to be learning), but I definitely regard them as flaws in the game's design.

[Corax.7692]

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:I do enjoy the stories. Not all of them equally but there are very few of the stories I actively dislike. At the end of the day, it breaks up the other stuff. But plenty of people I know like the story.

As an example, I've done Season 2 on 18 different characters all the way through. Same for the personal story. I've done Season 3 and 4 on far more characters. So yep, I guess you could say I enjoy it.

Good heavens, I can't imagine doing the Zhaitan fight 18 times...having done it 3 times, that's 2 times too many imo =(

Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! (This, after not even being able to target the bloody thing and wondering why nothing was working. Oh, right, the game arbitrary makes that unavailable until you kill all the waves mobs on deck, without telling you that. Yeah that was fun.)

There's a renown heart in Queensdale that prepares you well for this. It also sucks.

[Vayne.8563]

@Corax.7692 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:I do enjoy the stories. Not all of them equally but there are very few of the stories I actively dislike. At the end of the day, it breaks up the other stuff. But plenty of people I know like the story.

As an example, I've done Season 2 on 18 different characters all the way through. Same for the personal story. I've done Season 3 and 4 on far more characters. So yep, I guess you could say I enjoy it.

Good heavens, I can't imagine doing the Zhaitan fight 18 times...having done it 3 times, that's 2 times too many imo =(

Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! (This, after not even being able to target the bloody thing and wondering why nothing was working. Oh, right, the game arbitrary makes that unavailable until you kill all the waves mobs on deck, without telling you that. Yeah that was fun.)

There's a renown heart in Queensdale that prepares you well for this. It also sucks.

Nothing at all to do with what I said, but sure, have it your way.

As I said, the fight with Zhaitan started at level 70. You're talking about killing Zhaitan after you've done all this other stuff to it, and after a giant mega laser antidragon magic weapon was employed that broke it apart and shot off it's wings. If you want to think that that 1-2 minutes of the entire instance was a boss fight, feel free. But it doesn't change the fact that it wasn't meant to be a boss fight and you wanting it to be doesn't change the intention. It's like you know, going to see the Tombraider movie, and complaining it doesn't have a deep plot. Well, you know, it wasn't supposed to. This wasn't supposed to be a boss fight.

[Corax.7692]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Corax.7692 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:I do enjoy the stories. Not all of them equally but there are very few of the stories I actively dislike. At the end of the day, it breaks up the other stuff. But plenty of people I know like the story.

As an example, I've done Season 2 on 18 different characters all the way through. Same for the personal story. I've done Season 3 and 4 on far more characters. So yep, I guess you could say I enjoy it.

Good heavens, I can't imagine doing the Zhaitan fight 18 times...having done it 3 times, that's 2 times too many imo =(

Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! (This, after not even being able to target the bloody thing and wondering why nothing was working. Oh, right, the game arbitrary makes that unavailable until you kill all the waves mobs on deck, without telling you that. Yeah that was fun.)

There's a renown heart in Queensdale that prepares you well for this. It also sucks.

Nothing at all to do with what I said, but sure, have it your way.

As I said, the fight with Zhaitan started at level 70. You're talking about killing Zhaitan after you've done all this other stuff to it, and after a giant mega laser antidragon magic weapon was employed that broke it apart and shot off it's wings. If you want to think that that 1-2 minutes of the entire instance was a boss fight, feel free. But it doesn't change the fact that it wasn't meant to be a boss fight and you wanting it to be doesn't change the intention. It's like you know, going to see the Tombraider movie, and complaining it doesn't have a deep plot. Well, you know, it wasn't supposed to. This wasn't supposed to be a boss fight.

My point was simply that it was boring. It wasn't even a regular fight.

[ReV.6097]

LWS2 is the one I almost never play, but the rest I seem to have a few characters suited to odd storys here and there. I enjoy the rest.

[TheOrlyFactor.8341]

@Tommo Chocolate.5870 said:I really like this idea. What race, profession, and order did you choose?

Norn Warrior/Berserker/Spellbreaker with the Vigil. My friend and I studied the cinematic in Remembering Scarlet's War and he helped me remake her as close to her cinematic appearance as possible.

[Calvsie.3675]

I enjoy the story. It may not be a grand epic but if you nit-pic any story they fall apart. The over arcing story of humans and charr coming together after years of fighting is a personal favorite. Love the Ebonhawke stuff.

[Tabasco.1743]

• loved the personal story. The branching paths were satisfying. 10/10
• Season one started slow but ended really strong. The Battle for Lion's Arch was the most fun I have had with the game. 8/10
• Season two was even better. Dry Top, "The World Summit" "The Machine" and the Silverwastes happened. Excellent. 10/10
• Heart of Thorns lost me. Once the Season two hype wore off, I just was not into the plot. Some of the advancements were too convenient in my opinion, my immersion dropped, and the skill-gating between the chapters did not feel organic. "meh"/10
• Season three... Let's just say they packed alot of things I wanted in places I didn't want to go. Lake Doric? No thanks. Draconis Mons? No thanks. Bloodstone Fen? Well, some interesting lore in that area. Ember Bay and Bitterfrost Frontier were the most enjoyable for me. "meh"/10
• Path of Fire's chapters feel like one giant valley with a few sudden peaks of fantastic development. 7/10

  ! I'm looking at you, "Facing the Truth" and "The Departing". I didn't see it coming, enjoyed every second. I do not like the difficulty nerfs they have applied since launch, you guys. AT. ALL. The battle for your soul was A REAL BATTLE.

• Season four, is coming along. I wasn't wowed by the awakened-Inquest plot line or the locations in the first two chapters. 6/10

...Then Long Live the Lich happened.10/10 Would let Canach whistle on all the jobs. 11/10 Joko tells it like it is.

[Vayne.8563]

@Corax.7692 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Corax.7692 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:I do enjoy the stories. Not all of them equally but there are very few of the stories I actively dislike. At the end of the day, it breaks up the other stuff. But plenty of people I know like the story.

As an example, I've done Season 2 on 18 different characters all the way through. Same for the personal story. I've done Season 3 and 4 on far more characters. So yep, I guess you could say I enjoy it.

Good heavens, I can't imagine doing the Zhaitan fight 18 times...having done it 3 times, that's 2 times too many imo =(

Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! (This, after not even being able to target the bloody thing and wondering why nothing was working. Oh, right, the game arbitrary makes that unavailable until you kill all the waves mobs on deck, without telling you that. Yeah that was fun.)

There's a renown heart in Queensdale that prepares you well for this. It also sucks.

Nothing at all to do with what I said, but sure, have it your way.

As I said, the fight with Zhaitan started at level 70. You're talking about killing Zhaitan after you've done all this other stuff to it, and after a giant mega laser antidragon magic weapon was employed that broke it apart and shot off it's wings. If you want to think that that 1-2 minutes of the entire instance was a boss fight, feel free. But it doesn't change the fact that it wasn't meant to be a boss fight and you wanting it to be doesn't change the intention. It's like you know, going to see the Tombraider movie, and complaining it doesn't have a deep plot. Well, you know, it wasn't supposed to. This wasn't supposed to be a boss fight.

My point was simply that it was boring. It wasn't even a regular fight.

No it wasn't a fight AT ALL. It was an interactive cut scene, as I said earlier. It didn't last long enough to be boring. I mean what is it, a minute? Two? It simply wasn't a fight.

[Corax.7692]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Corax.7692 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Corax.7692 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:I do enjoy the stories. Not all of them equally but there are very few of the stories I actively dislike. At the end of the day, it breaks up the other stuff. But plenty of people I know like the story.

As an example, I've done Season 2 on 18 different characters all the way through. Same for the personal story. I've done Season 3 and 4 on far more characters. So yep, I guess you could say I enjoy it.

Good heavens, I can't imagine doing the Zhaitan fight 18 times...having done it 3 times, that's 2 times too many imo =(

Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! Wait for it...wait for it...press 1! (This, after not even being able to target the bloody thing and wondering why nothing was working. Oh, right, the game arbitrary makes that unavailable until you kill all the waves mobs on deck, without telling you that. Yeah that was fun.)

There's a renown heart in Queensdale that prepares you well for this. It also sucks.

Nothing at all to do with what I said, but sure, have it your way.

As I said, the fight with Zhaitan started at level 70. You're talking about killing Zhaitan after you've done all this other stuff to it, and after a giant mega laser antidragon magic weapon was employed that broke it apart and shot off it's wings. If you want to think that that 1-2 minutes of the entire instance was a boss fight, feel free. But it doesn't change the fact that it wasn't meant to be a boss fight and you wanting it to be doesn't change the intention. It's like you know, going to see the Tombraider movie, and complaining it doesn't have a deep plot. Well, you know, it wasn't supposed to. This wasn't supposed to be a boss fight.

My point was simply that it was boring. It wasn't even a regular fight.

No it wasn't a fight AT ALL. It was an interactive cut scene, as I said earlier. It didn't last long enough to be boring. I mean what is it, a minute? Two? It simply wasn't a fight.

Ah, got it. Yeah, that's pretty much on the target.

[Nidome.1365]

I like playing the story. I am playing it with all of my characters, including the new ones I recently created.The only bit I have any issue with is the PoF episode where Balthazar kills you. The first time through it was fine from a story perspective, but after that first time it has lost it's value because it is an unwinnable fight regardless of class/build played and just becomes a chore in a fight which becomes progressively harder by stages to whittle him down to 10% health so he kills you. There should be a "Fast forward" option once you have played that episode a few times - especially as if you DC at any point, including the bit afterwards before you become alive again you have to start from the beginning and fight him again.

[Vash.2386]

Why yes! Yes I do “actually” enjoy playing the story.

[Corax.7692]

@"Nidome.1365" said:I like playing the story. I am playing it with all of my characters, including the new ones I recently created.The only bit I have any issue with is the PoF episode where Balthazar kills you. The first time through it was fine from a story perspective, but after that first time it has lost it's value because it is an unwinnable fight regardless of class/build played and just becomes a chore in a fight which becomes progressively harder by stages to whittle him down to 10% health so he kills you. There should be a "Fast forward" option once you have played that episode a few times - especially as if you DC at any point, including the bit afterwards before you become alive again you have to start from the beginning and fight him again.

I nearly rage-quit the game after doing that fight and then getting ejected from the instance following for putting a toe outside the invisible border, so I had to start the blasted thing all over again.