The REAL Lions Arch

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

Pfft, you youngins.  When I want to see old Lion's Arch I just jump into the water and float with my lions and let my salty tears mix with my surroundings like a proper vet.  😉

[Dante.1763]

4 minutes ago, PookieDaWombat.6209 said:

Pfft, you youngins.  When I want to see old Lion's Arch I just jump into the water and float with my lions and let my salty tears mix with my surroundings like a proper vet.  😉

Those rose tinted glasses are red 😛

 

I was super sad GW1s Lions Arch wasnt present in this game in its true glory. But at the same time i do understand the reasons behind the majority of it being flooded out.

[keykey.9182]

I never was one to enjoy big populated  capitals such as LA only go there for fractals and 2 more things, Ebonhawke best city

[Rogue.8235]

My first impression of gw2 Lion's Arch was that it wasn't as good as gw1 LA.  Than I got used to it and actually liked it.

Same for "New" LA.  Was weird at first but now I like it  

Now that I'm blind, I really don't care as much 😜

 

The real substance of this topic is:

 

5 hours ago, Azure Prower.8701 said:

This is the worst tragedy of old Lion's Arch loss.

 

 

 

 

OMG I can't stop listening to this.  Why can't I stop?  I can have this on repeat for days on end and not get tired of it 😨🤯

[Shadowmoon.7986]

I hate how artists in the game like to destroy what is old and made by someone else so they can replace it with their awful version. Every gw1 iconic location was systemically destroyed, which is so unrealistic. How many historical build exist in the real world. 

They even do it in the current game, biggest examples are LA and TM.

[Zacchary.6183]

I never liked the old LA. Never got into the random-cluster-of-ships aesthetic which looked kind of lazy.

[Obfuscate.6430]

My distaste for the new Lion's Arch is that it lacks the art direction and feel of the rest of the core maps.

When the community was polled about whether we wanted it to keep it's "nautical theme" I assumed Lion's Arch would be rebuilt in to something more like an old fashioned harbor city with Spanish Colonial architecture. The Lion in whatever form it takes was always signature fixture of the city much like The Statue of Liberty is an iconic feature of New York so I expected it to return as well.  It was replaced however, with lobsters and manta rays and glistening jelly fish pavilions and almost  looked like it was designed for a different game. 
While I was impressed with the ambition of the artists imagination, I was confused and disappointed by the ultimate outcome. That's not to say that I dislike all of it or feel that the city in it's entirety is terrible however. 
I want to see those canons in action one day. 

 

[Zephire.8049]

I don't hate the new LA, but I also don't particularly like it. A lot of it's fine but the massive buildings that look like sea animals shifts it away from just modernizing things with a coherent plan this time to, as the one NPC says, a theme park. The buildings taken alone are fine, but they really set the tone in a way that's detrimental.

 

What makes it worse is that I didn't read Sea of Sorrows until long after LW1 so I couldn't look for locations in the book or appreciate LA in a new light. I can always fire up GW1 or re-read SoS, but it's impossible to pull up GW2 LA 1.0.

[Jukhy.2431]

Was having a break from the game when Scarlet came knocking, but I remember the old LA being confusing as kitten at times, so I kinda like the new one better. However they should do some changes to it every now and then. Add/remove things to make it feel more like a living city. In the end doesn't matter to me that much cause I spend more time in DR or Mistlock than in "Lobster City". 

[hugo.4705]

Horrible new LA, with all the times it was requested we should already have an old la lounge pass.

[Tzarakiel.7490]

I like the overall design of the new LA better, but I miss the verticality and sense of exploration in the old one. Anet could have designed a layout that preserved more of the interesting locations like all the different bars and lookout points.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Tzarakiel.7490
spelling error

[Dante.1763]

7 minutes ago, Tzarakiel.7490 said:

I like the overall design of the new LA better, but I miss the verticality and sense of exploration in the old one. Anet could have designed a layout that preserved more of the interesting locations like all the different bars and lookout points.

Frankly they could rip the giant pavilion out and cram in a remade(and bigger) lion statue + fountain instead and the city would look vastly better. Add a row of houses(some higher than others)/bars/business around that area too(the area from the pavilion all the way to the banks could get redone in this fashion.)

 

It would at least look like more like a city abd less like a theme park.

[Kraggy.4169]

On 8/4/2021 at 10:33 AM, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

Unpopular opinion: I like new LA more. Previous one was just assembly of semi-random wrecks, with a fort sitting next to it. New one is actually single coherent (fortified) city.

The original was an awesome piece of world building and had huge character .. the replacement simply has no character at all IMHO.

 

One thing that I wonder about is what players who never played through the original reacts to the main story instance where you 'stealth' through the city,  I forget the mission name as it's a long time since I last played it but I definitely remember ANet hadn't remade it so you play in the old city, which of course post-destruction players never saw, so I wonder where the heck they think they are.

[Trejgon.9367]

17 minutes ago, Kraggy.4169 said:

The original was an awesome piece of world building and had huge character .. the replacement simply has no character at all IMHO.

 

One thing that I wonder about is what players who never played through the original reacts to the main story instance where you 'stealth' through the city,  I forget the mission name as it's a long time since I last played it but I definitely remember ANet hadn't remade it so you play in the old city, which of course post-destruction players never saw, so I wonder where the heck they think they are.

 

All PS instances within LA use the old LA map, otherwise it would make no sense 🙂

 

that being said I am unsure if I would call a random assembly of shackles made out of wrecks as "awesome world building and huge character", and definitelly not when compared to how city was described in novels.

 

And the only bit of new LA that I would agree may come off as "having no character at all" would be that big open area around the triangle of mystic forge, bank, and TP, even if despite to claims in this thread has everything spaced very close to where they used to be in the old version - the main difference is that we don't have a bunch of tall shipwrecks in between.

 

So yeah I could see a point of having more buildings in there, but then I could also see the complaints about how it makes it "even more tiresome" to move between forge/tp/bank.....

 

EDIT: but the ORIGINAL original had alot more of proper character than what GW2 started with 😉

Edited August 5, 2021 by Lord Trejgon.2809

[Dante.1763]

16 minutes ago, Kraggy.4169 said:

The original was an awesome piece of world building and had huge character .. the replacement simply has no character at all IMHO.

 

One thing that I wonder about is what players who never played through the original reacts to the main story instance where you 'stealth' through the city,  I forget the mission name as it's a long time since I last played it but I definitely remember ANet hadn't remade it so you play in the old city, which of course post-destruction players never saw, so I wonder where the heck they think they are.

I use it for photo ops now. Wish we could replay instances, id love to take pictures there with some of my older characters 😞

[KerryTT.4792]

I have hazy memories of the old GW 1. Lions Arch was not in the best shape from what I remember. It seems that the city is destined to be constantly destroyed and rebuilt. I am starting to believe that the Lions Arch City Planning Commission is the real power behind any strife that happens in Tyria. Whenever someone gets a fancy new design idea the city pays the price. 

 

NPC: "This is our history, stranger. Those are the ruins... of the ruins... of the ruins...of the city of Lions Arch."

[sasya neko.1985]

it's actually quite simple, we never got a new LA, we have lobsterland and it will always be called that way.

[Xanadrine.4352]

Having gone into parts for my story I have to say, I would much prefer the Old LA style and character to the new LA. New LA seems barren and sterile 

[Rogue.8235]

5 hours ago, KerryTT.4792 said:

I have hazy memories of the old GW 1. Lions Arch was not in the best shape from what I remember. It seems that the city is destined to be constantly destroyed and rebuilt. I am starting to believe that the Lions Arch City Planning Commission is the real power behind any strife that happens in Tyria. Whenever someone gets a fancy new design idea the city pays the price. 

 

NPC: "This is our history, stranger. Those are the ruins... of the ruins... of the ruins...of the city of Lions Arch."

 

 

This....explains the incompetency at Claw Island!  It all makes so much sense now.

 

Watch Commander Talon isn't that idiotic.  He was covering for the Lion's Arch City Planning Commission!  It would have worked but us pesky commanders ruined it.  

 

Since the plan for a free-of-charge demolition project, provided by the minions of Orr, didn't pan out, the Commission had to look elsewhere.  They needed someone that they could reasonably deny any connection to.  Zhaitan was destroyed (ugh...thanks you dumb commanders), so the provocation of another attack from Orr wasn't feasible.

 

Enter Scarlet.  She was completely unknown by Tyria at large.  She had a hazy background that can be used to take the eyes off of the Commission.  This was perfect.  Everyone would be so engrossed in figuring out who Scarlet is and where she came from that no one would ever suspect the real puppet masters in the Commission.  

 

Moreover, she had a network of mercenaries from around the continent, providing a bigger cushion to keep the suspicion of the Commission at bay.

 

Once the Commission is done squeezing tourism out of the current setup, they're going to get it destroyed again....

 

Also, at the End of Dragons, only the Lion's Arch City Planning Commission will reign as the supreme puppet masters of the world.

 

 

Arenanet!  WHERE'S MY TINFOIL HAT SKIN!!!!!!

[Azure Prower.8701]

4 hours ago, Zuldari.3940 said:

Having gone into parts for my story I have to say, I would much prefer the Old LA style and character to the new LA. New LA seems barren and sterile 

It comes down to the world when GW2 was in initial development before release was given great care and content.

 

When it came to rebuilding LA. It was down to demands of content patch deadlines. Thus why we have the inferior LA today.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Azure Prower.8701

[Nol Fran Shee.1285]

On 8/4/2021 at 5:15 AM, Cyninja.2954 said:

Loved old LA. It was literally the center of the game.

 

The new one is meh. I don't mind it, but I am not using it as the central hub the way I used old LA.

 

 

I was in WvW one day a while back and people were quoting all the old sayings we'd overhear in the old LA.

* By Ogdens hammer, I've not seen such savings!

 

•  

I'd like a Pre-LS1 server (sort of like in GW1 leaving your avatar in the pre-searing Aacalon - so pretty) that let s you experience the original story, when you do the LS1, you move to a new, periodically resetting server and actually DO LS1.  No mounts.  No gliders.  Old code.  Then when youe done there, you may choose to migrate to the current game server.

 

And this will let us finally clean up Kessex Hills for Dwayna's sake!  That lake is a disgraceful mess!!

 

 

 

[wheelsonheels.1937]

I can't understand why they would transform the lovely old Lions Arch into this new Disneyland/Waterworld theme park. It's totally nothing like the game should be. 

[Craray.2603]

I loved old Lion's Arch... it felt more cozy.

The new Lion's Arch doesn't feel like it's a place people live in... more like a theme park...

Please cause a tsunami and destroy LA again Anet. It fits with the sea dragon theme! 😄

[marielleberto.3865]

I don't necessarily miss the old LA, but I think GW2 lacks a place where all people gather just to hang out. I would love to see like a bar, brewery, night club or something where we can just sit and talk to other people like in RL. I don't know, I think COVID is affecting my senses...

[costepj.5120]

17 minutes ago, marielleberto.3865 said:

I don't necessarily miss the old LA, but I think GW2 lacks a place where all people gather just to hang out. I would love to see like a bar, brewery, night club or something where we can just sit and talk to other people like in RL. I don't know, I think COVID is affecting my senses...

But there is a night club ...

 

Lion's Shadow Bed and Breakfast - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W)