Guild Wars 2 Dev Tracker

Originally posted by TryToBeNormal

Hello, I have some questions. I apologise if they have been asked before.

1. Story-wise, what exactly happens to the remnants of the Forged after Balthazar's defeat? I forget if it's ever explained anywhere what becomes of them but an army without a leader is still an army even if it's disorganised.

   1a. I suppose the above question could also be applied to the Awakened as of the latest episode, presuming that Joko hasn't pulled some trick (which given the recording in the Loyalist Warrens, I feel like even if he has gone out he still has one final trick up his sleeve)

2. This feels like something I shouldn't ask, but how many players do fractals often in comparison to both how many players raid often and how many players don't do either?

3. I suppose this is also asking beyond what I should, but once it's finished, will Living World Season 4 have an associated Legendary Trinket equivalent to Aurora for Living World Season 3?

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Originally posted by Varorson

Troopmarshal Ogun is the legendary bounty, while the Beastmarshal is fought in the storyline. Both can also be seen while scouting Kourna in Forearmed is Forewarned.

We don't know what happened to the Wurmmarshal, though.

Originally posted by Taiaho

I think praising and adoring Joko as an Awakened is more of an effect of how you personally deal with the compulsion forced on you by the Awakening. Some recognize actively how they're being influenced/controlled and manage to discuss it in a differentiated manner, much like drug addicts who would like a way out, and some just dive into it and go full-praise mode. It probably has to do with the personal willpower and self-awareness of an inidividual, not with there being nuances to the severity of the Awakening process. But it's certainly an interesting question!

Originally posted by SAlNTJUDE

Im not sure who to direct this question too but here it is,

thinking about distant future, given the precedent of HoT and PoF being isolated content, how do you guys plan on handling new maps where mounts cant be a requirement but can be used to possibly trivialize a lot of it?

whats the process of deciding what content stays unique to a zone/patch/expansion and what becomes "core"

Originally posted by RandommUser

How did she get to Kourna?

Originally posted by foozlesprite

I'm thinking what BlueSakon said. Necro player character summons are pretty creative body part arrangements themselves, so I see no reason Joko couldn't have fun with corpse putty when he got bored.

Originally posted by -Wonder-Bread-

A bit late to the party here, but I really want to know if we'll ever get more lore that is not specifically story related. For instance, there are other MMOs and RPGs that give you more story and lore via books or just random NPC dialog that just tells you more about the world... makes it feel more alive.

The new map and really all of the new LS maps so far feel somewhat lacking in that regard. They don't feel lived in and necessarily like actual places that people exist in.

We get some during the actual story, especially during the part with the farmers, but even that is just a one and done and I really do not feel it explored enough of what those people's lives are like.

I really love the world of Tyria! It's beautiful, expansive, just gorgeous in general. But this just feels like a major part that is lacking currently.

Originally posted by Majigor

Tell us! Spill the beans!

Originally posted by Charrikayu

Man, the response I could make to this would exceed the reddit character limit.

I guess the long short of it would be, do you find yourselves treating the narrative as a means to an end, or merely as an end itself? I'm someone who tends to think of narratives in terms of their social, cultural, and economic implications which is why I really loved the myth-fantasy of the first game and have a huge soft spot for simple things like saving Ronjok from the Kournan army, and think dystopian-Vabbi is the best idea the game has had since launch. Exploring the magitechnical implications of science fantasy in a world that relies on nature magic and has mid-industrial races seems more like an exercise in "cool stuff" than an attempt at worldbuilding, which probably explains why I've found myself at ends with most of GW2's narrative. If your primary concern is trying to do cool things and the emphasis on societies is second, it definitely changes the perspective/approach I have towar...

Originally posted by Shinasti

I would like to note a tiny thing regarding this - the focus on the asura and science fantasy is, at least in my opinion, making the other races and more classical fantasy feel a bit out of place. In this episode, when Canach and the commander used seeds to create the twine walls I actually caught myself wondering why we weren't just using asura barriers or whatever phlebotinum they have this week. I had a somewhat similar experience replaying a few of the older story missions, but I can sort of put that away as times changing in Tyria.

I just want to point out that personally I too really miss the less explained, more mythical aspects of magic we used to have in vanilla and maybe they'll lose their place in this story if we don't spend a bit more time on them.

Originally posted by [deleted]

These sorts of silly answers make me laugh and brighten my day. Thanks for being you Peter. It's always fun to see you on guild chat because I know amongst the serious answers you won't pass up a chance to be light-hearted & have fun.

Originally posted by Tostitokid

Didn't you say the same thing about Bubbles?

Originally posted by Gorden121

Does that mean there is absolutely no connection between the magic used to create risen and the magic used to create awakened? And if so doesn't that imply that the magic spectrum of the Elder Dragons is fully separate from the magic humans can use, potentially because of their connection to the human gods?

Does that mean there are at least two separate non-coupled magic systems in Tyria, one with connection to ley-line energy and one without?

Originally posted by Varorson

But just taking humans as an example, you have 3 background choices, 3 "regrets" choices, and 6 gods you can worship. That's 54 variants. (I don't remember how many variants there are for non-humans, but I'll assume for the moment that human is average.)

You misunderstood me!

I meant a variance focusing on per race/gender. So you'd still have only 10 recordings, but each recording would be a different line (or every other, where race matters and gender doesn't), rather than 10 recordings of the same line.

I understand full well that account for biography options, order, greatest fear, etc. would only expand the variances well beyond the initial setting. Though having more lines for such would be wonderful (for example, in Siezed instance, Faren talks about how there should be a "Krytan" present... why doesn't human Commanders - especially human nobles who've known Faren for ages - react to such / get a different reaction from Faren...

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Originally posted by StepW

Thanks for the awesome reply :).

Although I'm also wondering from the perspective of actually choosing how the commander reacts to things. This is a bit of a tough question to phrase. Given that there are so many different possible characters playing the role of commander, does all of that customisation perhaps inhibit the writing team from giving the commander character too much... character?

To give an example from the latest story episode (minor spoilers ahead!), Joko goes on the whole "you're the villain" monologue. Hypothetically, this might have hit a soft spot or resonated significantly with the commander. Sufficiently portraying such emotions might be difficult, since different personalities or different races might respond differently to such a claim.

Like, say, a Blood Legion Charr with the "ferocity" background chosen might act aggressively towards such a claim, but a dawn-born Sylvari with the "charm" personality chosen might have let those words...

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Originally posted by Skelegro93

Was it intentional that the reality of Aurene growing up didn't immediately dawn on the commander and his friends? As everyone entered Joko's chamber they only commented on what Aurene was doing and not what it could mean. I think Braham and the commander did say something along the lines of "well she IS a dragon." I also really liked how Joko's magic just blasted out of him in a "he's done" sort of way.

Originally posted by glowinggoo

There must be a lot of stress coming from the story team rehaul, but I'd like to tell you that it really works. My friend and I LOVE LS4 and how it handles everybody's arcs (especially the Commander, it's perfect), so whatever team rehaul happened, you guys are doing great.

We were just talking about how LS4-3's story has so many things that we've wanted to see since HoT and that playing it felt like opening up your Christmas presents. Lots of 'did they really go there?' 'holy shit' and 'wow did they really say that'. We've been pretty invested in the Commander for sometime, and this just made them our favourite protagonist.

Which, you know, isn't really a thing I expected to be saying about GW2's MC back in early 2017, even if we've always liked the general arc they have.

(That said, I'll miss Joko. Oh well. As of this moment, I'll trust that whatever you've got in mind to replace him is going to be more engaging than he was.....which is a pretty t...

Originally posted by Varorson

Out of curiosity, how much harder is it to alter JUST the PC's voiced lines? Since you need different voice actors anyways, it would seem like such is easier than for altering NPCs to reflect the PC (and their choices), but how much more/less difficult would you say it is?

Originally posted by -Wonder-Bread-

It really was excellent and Nolan North's voice acting truly sold it. He has been by far my favorite voice actor ever since his work in Spec Ops: The Line. The man has incredible range.

Side question to you: How does one get hired on as a game writer? It is something I have always wanted to do and it doesn't seem like just being a writer is enough.

Originally posted by TehOwn

Is Crystal Reid still around? I loved her enthusiasm in earlier videos.

Edit: Also, I think people worry that "one team" means fewer people.