Season 1 missions NOT playable without icebrood saga = very bad for new comers

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

After a long long long time we finally get some aspects of season one back as playable content and new player who never had the chance to play it can finally experience the story.

to bad they have to play minimum one ice brood saga episode to get there.this is one of the BIGGEST missteps in bringing back season one and it NEEDS to be called out.these mission should NOT be bared for new comers behind the icebrood saga, they should be playable directly after finishing the core game's story, after defeating zhaitan to experience the story at least SOMEWHAT in order.These mission SHOULD be accessible with Magister Ela Makkay, the same NPC that gives this awful to short summary, so any new player can play them as they were intended: as story missions to lead them into season 2

"But currency for armor and such are given out in those and...:"

then disable the rewards when they serve as mere story progression instances. in season two achievements were ONLY doable in the second play through, the same can be done with reward specific to this filler episode

Anet, you have done very well so far but this is very important for the story missions you brought back.

They need to be playable as story progression directly after defeating zhaitan

Please, if any of you forum mods or even dev team members find this: I implore you to head my plea and make it possible that newcomers have the possibility to play those and up coming season 1 missions AT LEAST ONCE while being at that stage of their story progression.It can and possible very much is vital to the enjoyment of the further story that those new players will experience.

EDIT:its really sad to see that some do not care about a chronological flow of the story and character introduction when new comers need it.it is like asking people to watch LOTR without watching "the fellowship" at all

Edit2:I also see some comments saying new player should just "look up the wiki" or "Watch this 3 hour video".First the wiki option is even if it were a good option (it isn't really) not really realistic as most likely ALL new player do not even know how to use the wiki chat function, anet has never been able to communicate that information properly.And the movie option is to ask new players to stop playing the game they probably want to continue playing and then to watch a 3 hour video. It may have been a placeholder in the past, but now with story missions literally playable, its not really a better option.

edit3:

6:03-10:40this perfectly encapsulates why this awkward placement of season one missions is so jarring. so the only hope that those who agree can work on that if more is implemented that it actually will be made into proper story journal content

[Blocki.4931]

It wouldn't make any sense for them to just visit this new place and enter through a mechanic we technically are just now learning about.This isn't about new players, this is about giving something back to current players. Episodes are free and unlocked, if they started playing now. Season 1 wouldn't concern them at all until after core, at which point it's reasonable to buy an expansion if they want to continue, so they are not locked out of anything.

[reative.4093]

Oh that bad.I have all expansion, all seasons but I never play more then few levels in GW2 because I come to game when all ArenaNet drama start.Just comeback because I saw they making new expansion, so game is not dead like I read.

I was really happy about this first season (like a new player who never play too much in GW2) that I can make everything chronologically.

But I have hope ArenaNet will change this before I kill Zhaitan :)

[GummyBearSummoner.7941]

If you aren’t a new player then why do you care?

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@Blocki.4931 said:this is why I SAID that they should be playable option at Magister Ela Makkay, the npc you have to visit regardless after core story in order to get the season 1 summary. With disabled icebrood saga rewards and being playable right then and there ( and NOT in the eye of the north) should be a reasonable option.

[hugo.4705]

How to play them? I can't figure how to do it. I've finished the whole story, read a message in the corridor next to the pool, and now? :/ thanks for any help by advance. It says unlock mysteries in scrying pool, if that's not true then say "go to the places involved in ls1". I think I understood what to do now, but the in-game hint was unclear.

I agree it should be playable, even without icebrood saga, since it's ls1. A content that was here before others.

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@"GummyBearSummoner.7941" said:If you aren’t a new player then why do you care?because it does the game good if newcomers have understandable story or at least relatable story to follow( and seriously this way of asking comes off as "why should i care about poor if i'm not poor myself")

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@"hugo.4705" said:How to play them? I can't figure how to do it. I've finished the whole story, read a message in the corridor next to the pool, and now? :/ thanks for any help by advance. It says unlock mysteries in scrying pool, if that's not true then say "go to the places involved in ls1".

According to the patch you need to play the ryland story first THEN you can play them. so people who just started playing gw2 and finished the zhaitan story have to play minimum a chronologically 6 year ahead story episode just to play season one to get some semblance of familiarity with the dragons watch members

[Randulf.7614]

@"hugo.4705" said:How to play them? I can't figure how to do it. I've finished the whole story, read a message in the corridor next to the pool, and now? :/ thanks for any help by advance. It says unlock mysteries in scrying pool, if that's not true then say "go to the places involved in ls1". I think I understood what to do now, but the in-game hint was unclear.

The achievements tell you where to go, but yeah it could have been clearer without having to dig through the ui

[hugo.4705]

Well just did all of them, was a very fun time. Dunno if it is meant to be that easy, did them solo as an holosmith and I remember that back then I was struggling more.Also @Randulf.7614 , my fault, but when I read about relics of the past, I thought I had to bring a toxic spore or whatever related item. I got the good idea to go check the different LS1 locations.

[Kurrilino.2706]

Dear OP,

This is the Ice Brood Saga Episode 2. If you want to play the Ice Brood saga you have to play the Ice Brood Saga. What are we supposed to say ??

The whole thing has some flashbacks included that point to season1. The purpose of Ice Brood Saga is not to be Season 1 for some latecomers to enjoy.Did you really think A-Net will cater exclusively to people missing Season1? Of course not. They cater to everyone enjoying the Ice Brood Saga.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

[Valanthe.4067]

Well I tend to agree with the fact that those missions should be playable in chronogical order in the story jourmal, just before season 2. I've never played season 1 and I find it odd that we have to do another episode before having access to it. :/

[Substance E.4852]

I really don't get the whole obsession with experiencing S1's story

It's just one giant plot explaining how Scarlet built a huge drill to poke a ley line and wake up Mordremoth. Much of the combat gameplay is just us dealing with the shenanigans of the races she worked with to form her plan. The tower of nightmares had nothing to do with Mord or the rest of the story and was just a cool set piece that the krait built so scarlet could get their toxins for her LA siege. Same for all the dredge stuff.

It wasn't very engaging and ultimately felt like a waste of time when she succeeds, dies in the end, and we just end up progressing to the real "boss" with much of the explanation of what the fuck was happening occurring in s2 when we find out about the sylvari's true nature

It also features a lot of Rox who just ends up being largely written out of the story anyway

[Teratus.2859]

@Randulf.7614 said:

@"hugo.4705" said:How to play them? I can't figure how to do it. I've finished the whole story, read a message in the corridor next to the pool, and now? :/ thanks for any help by advance. It says unlock mysteries in scrying pool, if that's not true then say "go to the places involved in ls1". I think I understood what to do now, but the in-game hint was unclear.

The achievements tell you where to go, but yeah it could have been clearer without having to dig through the ui

It kind of doesn't specifically tell you really, it more mentions the location the memory is in but says absolutely nothing about you needing to go there first to collect something.What most people seem to be doing is reading accessed via the Scrying pool and then wondering why none of the missions are there.

[Skotlex.7580]

There's the possibility that they will add more season 1 missions, until they have the whole thing ready, and then repack them as the living story season 1 journal? Shrugs, one can dream.

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@Kurrilino.2706 said:Dear OP,

This is the Ice Brood Saga Episode 2. If you want to play the Ice Brood saga you have to play the Ice Brood Saga. What are we supposed to say ??

The whole thing has some flashbacks included that point to season1. The purpose of Ice Brood Saga is not to be Season 1 for some latecomers to enjoy.Did you really think A-Net will cater exclusively to people missing Season1? Of course not. They cater to everyone enjoying the Ice Brood Saga.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

the thing they do NOT cater to everyone as new player who started gw2 still get sling shot with a bare minimum summary of season one into season 2 barely knowing who these weird people are that suddenly follow you as if you had a magnet up your butt.its about allowing people to get to know the characters

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@"Substance E.4852" said:I really don't get the whole obsession with experiencing S1's story

It's just one giant plot explaining how Scarlet built a huge drill to poke a ley line and wake up Mordremoth. Much of the combat gameplay is just us dealing with the shenanigans of the races she worked with to form her plan. The tower of nightmares had nothing to do with Mord or the rest of the story and was just a cool set piece that the krait built so scarlet could get their toxins for her LA siege. Same for all the dredge stuff.

It wasn't very engaging and ultimately felt like a waste of time when she succeeds, dies in the end, and we just end up progressing to the real "boss" with much of the explanation of what the kitten was happening occurring in s2 when we find out about the sylvari's true nature

It also features a lot of Rox who just ends up being largely written out of the story anyway

it serves as basis to even know who brahm taimi and rox and co are. most new players get shot into season two barely knowing who those weirdos are and are expected to accept and tolerate those to follow you almost every step of your way

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@Skotlex.7580 said:There's the possibility that they will add more season 1 missions, until they have the whole thing ready, and then repack them as the living story season 1 journal? Shrugs, one can dream.

true but i think they could still add them regardless to that magister NPC, so new comers at least can return after they already got to know 2/3rds of the dragons watch cast

[Luthan.5236]

Imo the more interesting stuff in S1 (which I actually played a lot of - I played from release until end of 2013) was the stuff not available (yet) to replay. I mean ... there was lots of stuff that changed whole maps and was part of whole core maps. Not easy to make that replayable. So I guess it is okay to have those instanced stuff only available late at the Icebrood Saga. New players wanting to play chronogically should watch that one 3h-vid on youtube.

Maybe one day we'll get the full S1 somehow. Would be hard though ... since a lot of stuff affected whole maps and they would have to make copies of the old maps and lots of players would need to go there. (Maybe as seasonal event possible? With access from LA and some asuran techs setting something up there.)

[Jilora.9524]

Well I mean a new player starting would see who killed who before buying/playing Icebrood saga so Idk if that's good or bad but would def be confusing

[zealex.9410]

@Blocki.4931 said:It wouldn't make any sense for them to just visit this new place and enter through a mechanic we technically are just now learning about.This isn't about new players, this is about giving something back to current players. Episodes are free and unlocked, if they started playing now. Season 1 wouldn't concern them at all until after core, at which point it's reasonable to buy an expansion if they want to continue, so they are not locked out of anything.

It missed the point and the problem the lack of se1 had created then. This is about story continuity and having the whole thing playable ingame, if you have to get all the way to se5 to experience what set off the entire post launch gw2 story thats bad design period.

[Abraxxus.8971]

While I like the fact that we can play some of the LW1 content again, I am not really happy with the way they went about it.I was hoping Anet would not use the scrying pool in front of Aurene to use to access the LW1 content. I wanted the season in episodic form with some the original achievements tied in.I know the devs wanted to give us something, which I’m glad they did, but since this is a release between two bigger episodes, I would have much rather had a truncated form in Flame and Frost first, which could have been done somewhat easily. What follows is my idea…

S1E1 “Flame and Frost” broken up into 3 instanced areas, plus one quest in the open map.PT1: Instanced area of Wayfarer Foothills with Cragstead. Commander investigates Molten Alliance attacks in the area, which leads to defending Cragstead and meeting Braham for the first time.PT2: Instanced area of Diessa Plateau with Nolan Township and nursery. Commander stops Molten alliance attacks at Nolan and investigates the nursery which leads to meeting Rox for the first time.PT3: Open world quest of the Commander investigating a couple areas in Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau, revealing the location of the Molten Alliance facility.PT4: The Molten Alliance facility. The original dungeon reworked to allow a player to complete it solo, with the Molten Berserker and Molten Firestorm being lessened in strength to compensate the solo player.

Then after Icebrood Ep 3, the mid release would be a modified Secrets of Southsun where we would meet and capture Canach, and so forth with other truncated pieces of LW1 being released as mid releases. This way, the stories are all in place in the Story Journal and players can play them in order.Just my 2 cents for what it’s worth, which really isn't much honestly.

[Super Hayes.6890]

This is a simple problem. There is a hole in the story. Please patch the hole. Putting the patch in the wrong place doesn't fix the hole! Yes, I was there for all of season one and the players that weren't should have the opportunity to play in order. They should also have to unlock the pieces of that season with gems just like the other seasons are set up for those that missed them. This really didn't need to be implemented any other way.

[Danikat.8537]

Considering it seems to be just a tiny selection of instances provided out of context with none of the actual story leading into them it's probably better that it's kept as a novelty for long-term players rather than misleading new players into thinking they've seen any significant parts of season 1. At the moment it's no better than doing the Fractals which use isolated encounters from season 1 and thinking that means you've gotten to see the storyline.

(And yes I know Season 1 did seem pretty disjointed at the time, especially before we found out about Scarlet's plan and that all these different releases sort-of tied together, but at least each release had a storyline and a reason why we were doing the things we did. I've not had a chance to try them myself but from what I've seen and heard about the new instances it's just a few fight scenes with none of the context to explain who or what you're fighting or what was going on at the time.)

[killermanjaro.5670]

@Danikat.8537 said:

I've not had a chance to try them myself but from what I've seen and heard about the new instances it's just a few fight scenes with none of the context to explain who or what you're fighting or what was going on at the time.)

I've finished them and I'd agree with that, there's fairly minimal dialogue in them and I don't think they really add much to anyone who hasn't played season 1/missed bits of it, or read/watched anything about it. If anything for a new player the recap video from the npc in LA is probably more useful I'd have said.