Honest disappointment regarding Primordus

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

I've been trying to find the best way to express this without being overly harsh, but it is getting exceedingly difficult to be practical in these kinds of critiques when the thing being addressed KEEPS being done.   Long ago, people complained about the absolutely poor job Anet did in handling the final fight of the core story, reducing that encounter with an elder dragon to pressing 1 on a cannon until it died.  It was horribly anticlimactic and treated what was supposed to be the big bad of the launched game as an after-thought of sorts.  In subsequent xpacs, it seemed like Anet took the critique and tried to make those elder dragon fights more meaningful (and with Kralky made it really fun and engaging IMHO).

 

Here's the thing though.  This ENTIRE game was literally launched off the back of EoTN and the fact that the next big threat, the next big bad that the descendants of that game's heroes were going to have to contend with was Primordus.  So then GW2 launches and first we get...Zhaitan. OK, fine.  Orr has risen, undead everywhere...fine.  We get hints of Primordus with random destroyers, so obvious he hasn't been forgotten.  Then we get Scarlet leading us to Mordy.  Fine, we go kill him and we even see mutated destroyers with death and plant magics.  But no Primordus.  Still stirring, and now we get the feeling when we DO see him, it will be big.  But then no.  We get fake mursaat, angry human god and a Primordus snout that dips below the lava before continuing the fight against a God, an undead king and a now very crazy and soon to be hyper charged...Kralky.  *sigh*  After dealing with him, we then get Jormag.  Jormag who is probably the most intelligent of the dragons and the most manipulative.   Cool angle.  Whispers in our heads and makes us doubt our choices.  Interesting.  Then hints that there would be a face off with Primordus.  Finally, after all these years since GW1 ended, we will get to actually tangle with the big bad we were told our descendants would have to face one day.  Finally get to see the dragon behind all the destroyers we've been fighting since day one.  Finally...we get to hit it with a laser and it DIES in a CUT SCENE.

 

I honestly don't care about your narrative anymore, and that is entirely on you as a company letting this go through to the public.  Why should I care about a story and characters you obviously don't care about yourselves.  I don't care about what's going on in Cantha.  I don't care about whatever motivations you might think the characters in the game might have for even going there, because you've shown that you don't care.  Whether the excuse will be crunched for time, or other projects we want to start working on, or any other reasons you might have as a company, it shows that on the whole there is no respect given to your own lore and properties.  And yes, while I understand its "your universe" and "your toys" and you can decided what all happens to it the fact remains that the story, for a good many of us, was important.  Sadly with that last story step, it showed us how unimportant it is on your end.  I completely understand not bothering to tie up loose end threads created in recent lore if they just didn't have a way to get tied up (Malyck) but to literally take the elder dragon you built this game off of and treat them worse than you even treat a new character like Vlast (since he at least got some lines and a plot point) is absolutely horrible writing and shows a lack of respect for your own material.  

 

I wish there was some other, less harsh way to say it.  I really do.  The fact still remains that this level of disdain for what should have been a far more major foe in this entire game simply because there is a rush to cantha for whatever story you have planned out there, doesn't make me want to even experience that story.  It makes me wary of it instead.  Disappointment in the ending of Icebrood is a gross understatement.  Jormag reduced to being a pure animal and Primordus reduced to having less impact than his destroyers.  Not once, but TWICE in the entirety of GW2.  Its ridiculous.

[ScyeRynn.4218]

All that's left is EoD to save this story. But if that fails at least GW 2 can just end the fudged up story and focus entirely on gameplay and features.

 

So much time and development put into this story that only got worse and it's dragged too much down with it.

 

Ditch the story.

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

I agree a lot has been done to cripple the story over the years, but this one story step (for me at least) was the harshest, showing the most disregard for the lore, and its just killed any chance of the EoD story being worthwhile in my eyes.  I just don't think much will be done for the other things you mentioned either and it feels more like they are pushing to wrap up GW2 on the whole as fast as possible, but that's a completely different topic altogether. 

[xXMapcoXx.9614]

20 hours ago, PookieDaWombat.6209 said:

I've been trying to find the best way to express this without being overly harsh, but it is getting exceedingly difficult to be practical in these kinds of critiques when the thing being addressed KEEPS being done.   Long ago, people complained about the absolutely poor job Anet did in handling the final fight of the core story, reducing that encounter with an elder dragon to pressing 1 on a cannon until it died.  It was horribly anticlimactic and treated what was supposed to be the big bad of the launched game as an after-thought of sorts.  In subsequent xpacs, it seemed like Anet took the critique and tried to make those elder dragon fights more meaningful (and with Kralky made it really fun and engaging IMHO).

 

Here's the thing though.  This ENTIRE game was literally launched off the back of EoTN and the fact that the next big threat, the next big bad that the descendants of that game's heroes were going to have to contend with was Primordus.  So then GW2 launches and first we get...Zhaitan. OK, fine.  Orr has risen, undead everywhere...fine.  We get hints of Primordus with random destroyers, so obvious he hasn't been forgotten.  Then we get Scarlet leading us to Mordy.  Fine, we go kill him and we even see mutated destroyers with death and plant magics.  But no Primordus.  Still stirring, and now we get the feeling when we DO see him, it will be big.  But then no.  We get fake mursaat, angry human god and a Primordus snout that dips below the lava before continuing the fight against a God, an undead king and a now very crazy and soon to be hyper charged...Kralky.  *sigh*  After dealing with him, we then get Jormag.  Jormag who is probably the most intelligent of the dragons and the most manipulative.   Cool angle.  Whispers in our heads and makes us doubt our choices.  Interesting.  Then hints that there would be a face off with Primordus.  Finally, after all these years since GW1 ended, we will get to actually tangle with the big bad we were told our descendants would have to face one day.  Finally get to see the dragon behind all the destroyers we've been fighting since day one.  Finally...we get to hit it with a laser and it DIES in a CUT SCENE.

 

I honestly don't care about your narrative anymore, and that is entirely on you as a company letting this go through to the public.  Why should I care about a story and characters you obviously don't care about yourselves.  I don't care about what's going on in Cantha.  I don't care about whatever motivations you might think the characters in the game might have for even going there, because you've shown that you don't care.  Whether the excuse will be crunched for time, or other projects we want to start working on, or any other reasons you might have as a company, it shows that on the whole there is no respect given to your own lore and properties.  And yes, while I understand its "your universe" and "your toys" and you can decided what all happens to it the fact remains that the story, for a good many of us, was important.  Sadly with that last story step, it showed us how unimportant it is on your end.  I completely understand not bothering to tie up loose end threads created in recent lore if they just didn't have a way to get tied up (Malyck) but to literally take the elder dragon you built this game off of and treat them worse than you even treat a new character like Vlast (since he at least got some lines and a plot point) is absolutely horrible writing and shows a lack of respect for your own material.  

 

I wish there was some other, less harsh way to say it.  I really do.  The fact still remains that this level of disdain for what should have been a far more major foe in this entire game simply because there is a rush to cantha for whatever story you have planned out there, doesn't make me want to even experience that story.  It makes me wary of it instead.  Disappointment in the ending of Icebrood is a gross understatement.  Jormag reduced to being a pure animal and Primordus reduced to having less impact than his destroyers.  Not once, but TWICE in the entirety of GW2.  Its ridiculous.

 

20 hours ago, PookieDaWombat.6209 said:

I've been trying to find the best way to express this without being overly harsh, but it is getting exceedingly difficult to be practical in these kinds of critiques when the thing being addressed KEEPS being done.   Long ago, people complained about the absolutely poor job Anet did in handling the final fight of the core story, reducing that encounter with an elder dragon to pressing 1 on a cannon until it died.  It was horribly anticlimactic and treated what was supposed to be the big bad of the launched game as an after-thought of sorts.  In subsequent xpacs, it seemed like Anet took the critique and tried to make those elder dragon fights more meaningful (and with Kralky made it really fun and engaging IMHO).

 

Here's the thing though.  This ENTIRE game was literally launched off the back of EoTN and the fact that the next big threat, the next big bad that the descendants of that game's heroes were going to have to contend with was Primordus.  So then GW2 launches and first we get...Zhaitan. OK, fine.  Orr has risen, undead everywhere...fine.  We get hints of Primordus with random destroyers, so obvious he hasn't been forgotten.  Then we get Scarlet leading us to Mordy.  Fine, we go kill him and we even see mutated destroyers with death and plant magics.  But no Primordus.  Still stirring, and now we get the feeling when we DO see him, it will be big.  But then no.  We get fake mursaat, angry human god and a Primordus snout that dips below the lava before continuing the fight against a God, an undead king and a now very crazy and soon to be hyper charged...Kralky.  *sigh*  After dealing with him, we then get Jormag.  Jormag who is probably the most intelligent of the dragons and the most manipulative.   Cool angle.  Whispers in our heads and makes us doubt our choices.  Interesting.  Then hints that there would be a face off with Primordus.  Finally, after all these years since GW1 ended, we will get to actually tangle with the big bad we were told our descendants would have to face one day.  Finally get to see the dragon behind all the destroyers we've been fighting since day one.  Finally...we get to hit it with a laser and it DIES in a CUT SCENE.

 

I honestly don't care about your narrative anymore, and that is entirely on you as a company letting this go through to the public.  Why should I care about a story and characters you obviously don't care about yourselves.  I don't care about what's going on in Cantha.  I don't care about whatever motivations you might think the characters in the game might have for even going there, because you've shown that you don't care.  Whether the excuse will be crunched for time, or other projects we want to start working on, or any other reasons you might have as a company, it shows that on the whole there is no respect given to your own lore and properties.  And yes, while I understand its "your universe" and "your toys" and you can decided what all happens to it the fact remains that the story, for a good many of us, was important.  Sadly with that last story step, it showed us how unimportant it is on your end.  I completely understand not bothering to tie up loose end threads created in recent lore if they just didn't have a way to get tied up (Malyck) but to literally take the elder dragon you built this game off of and treat them worse than you even treat a new character like Vlast (since he at least got some lines and a plot point) is absolutely horrible writing and shows a lack of respect for your own material.  

 

I wish there was some other, less harsh way to say it.  I really do.  The fact still remains that this level of disdain for what should have been a far more major foe in this entire game simply because there is a rush to cantha for whatever story you have planned out there, doesn't make me want to even experience that story.  It makes me wary of it instead.  Disappointment in the ending of Icebrood is a gross understatement.  Jormag reduced to being a pure animal and Primordus reduced to having less impact than his destroyers.  Not once, but TWICE in the entirety of GW2.  Its ridiculous.

You should check your privilege! you should be thankful you even got any content! go buy a new gem store skin and stop complaining about that well crafted final patch! it was breath taking and a real example on how you properly conclude a 10 year story ark! 

[dace.8019]

My one regret is that I have but one like to give you.

 

The only way this could have gone any worse is if the player character was replaced and we all had to play Braham from here on out.

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

8 hours ago, dace.8019 said:

My one regret is that I have but one like to give you.

 

The only way this could have gone any worse is if the player character was replaced and we all had to play Braham from here on out.

Please don't give them any ideas.  They have the technology to do this.

[voltaicbore.8012]

1 hour ago, PookieDaWombat.6209 said:

Please don't give them any ideas.  They have the technology to do this.

Playing as Braham in the recent scrying pool instance was a waking nightmare for me.

 

Also, well said, in reference to your initial post. I think that's what gets me the most as well - yes, it's their property and can do what they wish with it, and all we were ever able to do is observe and consume their choices as outsiders. But if as a chef I make a proprietary dish and sell it to diners, I shouldn't feel indignant when customers walk away in disgust when I serve them a version of my dish that is horrible and inedible. To serve my patrons an utterly ruined version of my dish and demand that they live with it is the height of disrespect, and I shouldn't be surprised at a backlash and people leaving my restaurant for good.

 

So yeah. They can do whatever they want to their story, it's theirs. Nobody, however, can demand or even expect that we like and accept it in such a form. Despite all these feelings, I'm still going to buy EoD, but I'm distinctly less excited about that expansion and the game as a whole now.

[Imba.9451]

The terrible writing aside, what is of interest to me is how many writers (and who exactly) are working on the plot.

Are they people with deep passion for the GW2 universe or just some people who are tasked with coming up with any ideas to build a game around?

Are they just a few people or too many to focus on a few good ideas and making them work?

 

At this point, it's not just about the terrible writing alone anymore. I want to know WHY the writing is so inconsistent, why they rush to close open story threats (Lazarus, Joko) and why they show complete disregard to formerly established lore or character development.

Yes, taking the backseat is easy. But nonetheless, those things have been pointed out again and again and again. There are so many good theories, good alternate story developments out there, it makes me wonder how random people on the internet can come up with better ideas than people who get paid for it.

[SexyMofo.8923]

The story could have gone in any direction. The lore could have been anything and anet chose for it to be trash. 

[Loboling.5293]

White Knight: Don't worry guys, this is just some kind of vision of what could be, shown to us by Aurene. The commander wakes up at the start of the next episode, and we get a bunch of missions and even a meta event, to influence the ley lines to lure primordus to Jormag, and a mission to get a tracker onto Jormag's champion, and measuring his resonance to detect when he was close to Jormag. It's going to be epic! 

[The Greyhawk.9107]

54 minutes ago, Loboling.5293 said:

White Knight: Don't worry guys, this is just some kind of vision of what could be, shown to us by Aurene. The commander wakes up at the start of the next episode, and we get a bunch of missions and even a meta event, to influence the ley lines to lure primordus to Jormag, and a mission to get a tracker onto Jormag's champion, and measuring his resonance to detect when he was close to Jormag. It's going to be epic! 

Please stop, it only makes it hurt more.

[Donutdude.9582]

The original post outlined my feelings about the latest story release in a much more eloquent and level-headed way than my inital reaction to it.  After playing it, I exploded at ArenaNet on Twitter and in WoodenPotatoes' videos on the release whilst I was full of anger and rage.

 

I uninstalled the game after playing it due to how betrayed I felt.  Whether it stays that way will depend on if I fall in love with the game and its lore once again after replaying the first game.  I have grown up with this franchise and its story.  It feels a part of me.  For it to be gone leaves me feeling...hollow.

 

Thank you for making this post.  I sincerely hope ArenaNet see feedback like this and, at the very least, offer an apology to us.  A proper apology.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Donutdude.9582

[Vayne.8563]

So 14 people supported this post with a like or a thanks. Not exactly a stampede in my opinion.

There are people who are absolutely focused on the story and many of those people feel the way the OP does, but it's not a majority of the game's playerbase by any stretch of the imagination.

There are also people like me, who don't love the story but see the trade off of having to suddenly make an expansion they didn't expect to have to make.  And the energy has to go into that expansion because if it doesn't, the game probably dies. Guild Wars 2 really can't afford a bad expansion.

This story will lose a few players, I have no doubt of that, but a bad expansion will lose a lot more.  At the end of the day, businesses have to make decisions and, for better or worse, Anet decided to sacrifice the last half of Icebrood Saga.

I don't hate it, but I didn't have high expectations for it in the first place, because I saw the way the Icebrood Saga was being essentially abandoned mid stream.  It's not great, but it's not awful. It's just what it is. Pedestrian. Predictable.  Underwhelming.  

But I didn't play it and think it was terrible either. 

 

At the end of the day, I'd wager more people would want a decent expansion than a decent Icebrood Saga. I can't prove that, I but I strongly believe it. And I believe Anet doesn't have the capacity to produce both. Something had to be sacrificed. The decision was the Icebrood Saga. That I can live with.

A few people will walk away because of this but there are still plenty of people playing that meta every single day, because the rewards are okay and because most people just don't follow the story that closely. To those that do follow the story closely, they may not believe it, but I'm pretty sure it's true. The hard core lore hounds in this game are absolutely a minority and some may leave over this.

Me? I've only seen half the equation. I'm waiting for the expansion to decide if it was worth it.

[Teratus.2859]

I'm not even mad that Primordus died in a cutscene.. (technically not since it was in game animation)

I'm mad that he died without ever getting a big moment to show off how powerful and dangerous he is.

I'm mad that he died in seconds of actually lifting a finger and doing something after 14 years of waiting for him to wake the hell up and do something!

I'm mad that he went out in a way that depicted him as weak, irrelevant and pathetic despite having constantly been told that he is a wild rampaging animal with no control or mercy.. a force of primal and sheer destruction and nothing else.

It's like a terrified evil Superman telling you about this ultra powerful and ancient being that wants to destroy the world is coming.. telling you how dangerous it is and that we all have to unite in order to defeat it.. that there is no other way and if we do not unite we will all die. 
Then the big evil being shows up and Superman proceeds to kill it in one punch.
That' was Primordus Vs Jormag.

Knowing that it even got moved up a month just makes that sting more.. they had another month to do this better.. and could have delayed it a few more before the big EoD event but they just didn't.
That kittens me off even more knowing that.

If I had any power to change this patch then this is what I'd do.
Make a cutscene.. that's it.
Make a cutscene about a minute at least long.. depicting Jormag and Primordus in their full body forms and then have them act out this big epic Kaiju battle that covers the destruction of a significant portion of the landmass around where the finale instance takes place.. trashing mountains and forests and carving out chunks of the land.

Show mortals in Kryta and the Shiverpeaks, maybe even as far as Ascalon in utter terror and confusion as the sounds of terrifying roars and explosions are blasted across the land from this battle.. along with the very ground itself shaking from the battle and the skies being flooded by storms and magic.

Have the fight end the same way with the two dragons destroying one another in a blinding flash of light, although personally I'd favour Primordus being the one to "end" them both since it fits better with it's nature.

Then add this big battle cutscene into the game during the big flash of light after Jormag does the whole beam down the throat bit.
Start the cutscene itself with Primordus shaking off the beam like he just ate something bad.. have him climb out of the ground and kittened off by that attack before the two Dragons size one another up and the fight begins.

That's what I would do, it wouldn't change the lore issues that have some of us annoyed but at the very very least it would make this patch significantly less disappointing and significantly more epic!

Plus a video cutscene has all the added benefits too of not needing to render two gigantic dragon model within the actual game engine, which is one of the reasons I suspect this fight was done the way it was.
Kralkatorrik was an impressive beast, but I doubt this game could handle two of him on screen at once.
Not a problem with a video cutscene, you can do anything you like in those no matter how big and impressive.

Take the extra month or so.. do this big kaiju battle cutscene Anet and I am positive that it will change how a lot of people feel about this patch.. maybe not everyone but it will certainly be better than the massive disappointment we have right now.

[Ashantara.8731]

  

8 hours ago, Imba.9451 said:

Are they people with deep passion for the GW2 universe... (?)

 

Highly unlikely, seeing how GW lore is being treated in GW2: Gwen? Jora's descendant Jhavi? Primordus? Livia? The Scepter of Orr? The Shining Blade? (Just to name a few.)

 

On 5/2/2021 at 6:09 PM, ScyeRynn.4218 said:

All that's left is EoD to save this story. But if that fails at least GW 2 can just end the fudged up story and focus entirely on gameplay and features.

 

So much time and development put into this story that only got worse and it's dragged too much down with it.

 

Ditch the story.

 

Agreed. The only final fight against an Elder Dragon that was emotionally engaging story-wise was Kralkatorrik's (regardless of him having the worst character model of them all).

 

Nine years of butchering one Elder Dragon storyline after another takes true patience to endure. One can only hope they will go back to writing compelling individual stories like they did in GW1 after this. (And please put together a decent writers staff! Season 4 showed promising talents, but you can do better than that, don't you?)

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[The Greyhawk.9107]

2 minutes ago, Vayne.8563 said:

So 14 people supported this post with a like or a thanks. Not exactly a stampede in my opinion.

There are people who are absolutely focused on the story and many of those people feel the way the OP does, but it's not a majority of the game's playerbase by any stretch of the imagination.

There are also people like me, who don't love the story but see the trade off of having to suddenly make an expansion they didn't expect to have to make.  And the energy has to go into that expansion because if it doesn't, the game probably dies. Guild Wars 2 really can't afford a bad expansion.

This story will lose a few players, I have no doubt of that, but a bad expansion will lose a lot more.  At the end of the day, businesses have to make decisions and, for better or worse, Anet decided to sacrifice the last half of Icebrood Saga.

I don't hate it, but I didn't have high expectations for it in the first place, because I saw the way the Icebrood Saga was being essentially abandoned mid stream.  It's not great, but it's not awful. It's just what it is. Pedestrian. Predictable.  Underwhelming.  

But I didn't play it and think it was terrible either. 

 

At the end of the day, I'd wager more people would want a decent expansion than a decent Icebrood Saga. I can't prove that, I but I strongly believe it. And I believe Anet doesn't have the capacity to produce both. Something had to be sacrificed. The decision was the Icebrood Saga. That I can live with.

A few people will walk away because of this but there are still plenty of people playing that meta every single day, because the rewards are okay and because most people just don't follow the story that closely. To those that do follow the story closely, they may not believe it, but I'm pretty sure it's true. The hard core lore hounds in this game are absolutely a minority and some may leave over this.

Me? I've only seen half the equation. I'm waiting for the expansion to decide if it was worth it.

This is just one thread of many, my dude.  Watch that agreement count grow.

[Vayne.8563]

7 minutes ago, The Greyhawk.9107 said:

This is just one thread of many, my dude.  Watch that agreement count grow.

A year and a half from now, we'll know the future of this game and this company and the Icebrood Saga won't even be a blip. When ascended gear was introduced there was a huge mass exodus from the game. That's not going to happen over this. When HoT came out there was another Exodus.

 

I get that people are disappointed, but you're overstating the effect it will have on this game long term. Sure you're mad now. Lots of people were mad when Ascended gear was introduced (the outcry was far louder than now), and lots of people complained about HoT incessantly for ages.  This isn't in that category.

I didn't say some people aren't disappointed.  But it's going to end up being a storm in a teacup. The expansion is going to be the make or break for this game.

[Ashantara.8731]

2 minutes ago, Vayne.8563 said:

Lots of people were mad when Ascended gear was introduced (the outcry was far louder than now), and lots of people complained about HoT incessantly for ages.  This isn't in that category.

 

You're right, it's not. And why is that? Because no one with a sense of reality expected the finale to be anything other than what we got. Standards are that low at the moment. 😉

[yann.1946]

9 hours ago, Imba.9451 said:

The terrible writing aside, what is of interest to me is how many writers (and who exactly) are working on the plot.

Are they people with deep passion for the GW2 universe or just some people who are tasked with coming up with any ideas to build a game around?

Are they just a few people or too many to focus on a few good ideas and making them work?

 

At this point, it's not just about the terrible writing alone anymore. I want to know WHY the writing is so inconsistent, why they rush to close open story threats (Lazarus, Joko) and why they show complete disregard to formerly established lore or character development.

Yes, taking the backseat is easy. But nonetheless, those things have been pointed out again and again and again. There are so many good theories, good alternate story developments out there, it makes me wonder how random people on the internet can come up with better ideas than people who get paid for it.

Tbh the general storybeats of the icebrood saga arent bad, the first few where pretty decent except a few minor points.

This feels more a recourse then writing issue. 

[Nightcore.5621]

I know guild wars 2 is just a game and we should be thankful for what we gotton All these years for only a few dollars we payed for the game. But havin a endin like this for the story is just a bad way to secure u Legacy amoung one of the Best games ever made

Edited May 4, 2021 by Nightcore.5621

[BlackBullWings.2734]

The ending was atrocious, if anything, they should've just let primordus sleep and conclude jormag somehow.

It's really sad because with season 4 they set a really high expectation of what elder dragon encounters could be, and everything up until champions was actually really good.

It's really just this final chapter that flops so hard, and what's worse is that it undoes everything the story has been leading up to by killing not one but TWO elder dragons in a matter of minutes, without even a proper introduction to primordus.

If they weren't being lashed by NCsoft I wonder if we would have had some proper final maps, and a good conclusion to the story.

[Vayne.8563]

55 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

 

You're right, it's not. And why is that? Because no one with a sense of reality expected the finale to be anything other than what we got. Standards are that low at the moment. 😉

Yep, I believe this completely. But that same low expectation will work to the expansions advantage if it turns out to be good. People won't be expecting much and surpassed expectations are what's going to move this game forward. I think hype kills more games than anything else.

[Ashantara.8731]

29 minutes ago, Vayne.8563 said:

Yep, I believe this completely. But that same low expectation will work to the expansions advantage if it turns out to be good. People won't be expecting much and surpassed expectations are what's going to move this game forward. I think hype kills more games than anything else.

 

Oh, but expectation will be super high for EoD because of the current low standards. Most players are forgiving, because they see the development of EoD as an excuse for the current low quality in story-telling. Everyone, including myself, is "Oh, but they had to cut the IBS short because they started development of the next expansion!"

 

So... if EoD doesn't turn out great, I am predicting an exodus of a majority of current players.

 

I mean, even children books manage to deliver more compelling stories, and in a higher quality than what we're currently seeing in GW2, which is rather pathetic in terms of writing (and it's no longer limited to the quality of dialogue and poor execution of ideas alone, but concerns the storyline as a whole).

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[Crono.4197]

4 hours ago, Donutdude.9582 said:

The original post outlined my feelings about the latest story release in a much more eloquent and level-headed way than my inital reaction to it.  After playing it, I exploded at ArenaNet on Twitter and in WoodenPotatoes' videos on the release whilst I was full of anger and rage.

 

I uninstalled the game after playing it due to how betrayed I felt.  Whether it stays that way will depend on if I fall in love with the game and its lore once again after replaying the first game.  I have grown up with this franchise and its story.  It feels a part of me.  For it to be gone leaves me feeling...hollow.

 

I feel you brother. At the moment I don't know what to do and if it's worth it to continue playing this game. All that mattered to me in this game was the story. I'm no fan of raids, strikes, PvP and all that. I've loved the game's lore and story ever since the first game and that's why I continued to play the second game. Yet ArenaNet chose to trash the game into oblivion with the Icebrood Saga and especially this episode. It really feels like lazy work just to finish the story, without caring about the fans that have been following it since the original game.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Crono.4197

[AliamRationem.5172]

I started during HoT, which has a decent story.  The final fight, while not one of my favorites for various reasons unrelated to storytelling, at least didn't repeat the mistakes of the Zhaitan encounter.  Then we get to LS3, which really started out great.  I still had no idea who Lazarus was, but he kind of faded into the background as we dealt with Caudecus through those first 4 episodes. 

 

This was probably the best part of the story for me.  I thought Caudecus and the political intrigue at Divinity's Reach made for a much more compelling and enjoyable story than goofy dragons and gods.  Of course, then that storyline goes completely off the rail trying to explain who the heck Lazarus is, why it isn't really him, but then wraps up with us dealing with the actual Lazarus and some crazy ancient lady's random quest for the finale? What the actual...?

 

At least PoF and season 4 hit the ground running.  We're chasing Balthazar, but we're dealing with a more interesting villain in Joko.  I thought this was a pretty good angle and aside from the unfinished feel to the 3rd episode, it was pretty great!  I didn't even mind pursuing Kralk after that and the fight against him was better than the deal we got with Mordremoth.  Again, not a bad story and fun to play through and fortunately didn't veer off into I-don't-know-what like season 3 did toward the end.

 

Now we have IBS.  If it sounds like an intestinal problem, you're not far from the mark.  This story gives me gas.  You started out strong with the Prologue and the first Bjora episode was good.  It went rapidly downhill from there and Champions, I'm afraid, is a complete embarrassment.  You have chased friends away from this franchise with this nonsense.  Good job!  I agree with pretty much everything the OP says.  You don't do your own product justice with this.

 

I hope it'll be worth it when EoD releases.  Maybe people will come back and give you guys another chance, huh?