SotO Feedback [Merged] (2024)

I really liked the initial expansion release – Wizards Vault was a great addition, the maps were both really cool, the new mechanics were interesting, and I still like the new expansion format (their shortened lifespan mean that the story keeps moving forward at a decent pace and we get to be free of the Kryptis after just a year instead of wallowing in the purple haze for 2-3 years like we had to with the tar pits of PoF or the green hell of Jade tech).

There's plenty to improve still though. Splitting the map into 3 parts was definitely a mistake. I would very much prefer if Nayos was split in just two, and the final update focused just on the story finale instead of also having to finetune a new meta event and map area. The biggest draw of a new map piece is exploration, and not only does this place look the same, but it's not even free to explore outside of a pain-in-the-neck-to-get-to meta event, so it's a bust for player engagement.

The final map is also nothing to write home about as a whole. Everything is the same purple. Purple floor, purple haze in the air, purple enemies, purple flowers. I grew to hate the concept the same as I was fed up of constant "brand and tar pits" of latter Path of Fire and "eyesore green" of dragonjade and overtuned grass everywhere in Cantha. I really hope that wherever we go next, there will be some interesting variety in its biome.

The story was a massive drop post the initial expansion, but mostly for the reasons present in the expansion itself. Once again, the set up was just not. there. The initial story made a massive bank on the player caring about Zojja, which is a tall order for me as I main a charr and as a commander, I literally met the character once, where I experienced her being an abrasive rude git in one dungeon instance (I know the dungeon stories are technically part of the vanilla story, so I could have experienced full on three moments of her being an abrasive rude git, but it's not like the game asks me to do those and I suspect many players, especially newer ones, haven't...). When she started berating me for not going after her, I really missed a dialogue option to go "lady, I barely know you, why the hells should I". The supposed massacre of the Ward (that was now also turned into a fractal) also falls completely flat when I'm just informed in passing that there's a few people dead, I haven't seen them or met them, I never will, but a couple of characters who literally just appeared and I don't know them are sad about it, so "you should too, player".

There's also the little things that Guild Wars constantly fails, like making its mounts a proper part of the story. There was a perfect opportunity presenting itself to keep Skyscale (the vanilla skin) unique to LS4's story and lore, and have the wizards use the widely-available Manticore variant of the mount instead. It would add a reason for those who did LS4 to do the collection again for another unique skin instead of just for completion's sake, it would give the Astral Ward more of a unique feel to them instead of a "I know we sold the skyscales as being a thing unique to Dragonfall's story, but here's a quick excuse why it was okay to just copypaste them here". I like that they're in the wild now, too, which is a step in the right direction, but I will still yearn for that golden opportunity that I see there.

And the biggest pain point are the Kryptis and their writing. We started with eldritch abomination setup of creatures that literally have to feed on raw emotion. What we got were badly designed (sorry, but if I show you a screenshot of a cluster of those, I bet even the devs who made them will struggle to tell where one of these things ends and another ten start, and that just IS bad design) and badly written human-court-type kind of drama people. They were written as purely human, as just another Krytan Queen scheme with a fleshy skin, while the story just very obnoxiously constantly touted that "no no no these are totally not human, these are horrible beings you can't begin to understand, see" and had nothing to show for it. Joko was more successful in feeling inhuman, and I don't really like that plot, either.

Oh, and there was literally no reason to trust Peitha (even keep her secret from actual proven allies!) except "the plot said so". Which is always a really dumb reason.

P.S. Reskinning existing enemy rigs is fine. Every game does that, it's a healthy thing for both the engine and the resource economy. Spraypainting the same wyvern with neon red-yellow paint and calling it done is not. Triply so when it's done three bloody times. At least adjust the model, like you did with Ignis and Aestus, for crying out loud. Ignis and Aestus are cool. Knaebalag and Sorrow are just vandalized.