Surely after almost four years, counting from Beta Weekend One, there can't be anything new to see or do? Not in the Old Lands of the original game, the place we now know as Core or Pact Tyria, anyway.
Well, stuff and nonsense to that. In the first week of this New Year, while standing around rummaging through my bags on various Tyrian street corners where I've rummaged many, many times before, I have been amazed to overhear several NPC conversations that were completely new to me.
Is someone adding these as we go along? Is there some secret team at ANet busily recording fresh small talk and seeding it across Queensdale and The Black Citadel? Or, more likely, are there rare and ultra-rare one-liners and exchanges that fire only when certain events play out to an unusual end?
Speaking of events, I'm still finding new ones even in maps I've completed on multiple characters. Only a couple of days ago I discovered a hidden cave I'd never seen before, complete with trolls and a Veteran Troll with his dynamic event flag proudly flying. I bet he doesn't get much trade.
The real capper, though, happened last night as I was doing the Ascalon Vista daily in Plains of Ashford. As I was standing there, about to click, a flurry of movement in the lake below caught my attention.
It was only the frickin' Charr submarine going on manoeuvres! I have seen that submarine a hundred times if I've seen it once. I first saw it way back in beta. I've done the annoying event involving fighting separatists bound on sabotaging it at least half a dozen times. I have never, not once, until last night, seen that darn thing move!
I was so taken aback it's astonishing I had the presence of mind to snap a couple of screenshots. If I hadn't I'd doubt my own sanity. It makes me wonder how many other apparently static objects may harbor a secret motility. I'd dearly love to be there when those giant Charr war-wagons in Iron Marches roll.
So, in essence, that's why I still play GW2. Anything can happen. Okay, usually it doesn't. Usually the same thing happens. Repeatedly. But it might and that's what matters..
And, in fact, come to think about it, that applies to all MMOs. Which is one of the many reasons I enjoy them so much even after all these years.
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I think this feeling of potential is one of the main appeals of the MMO genre, for sure. They're not just games; they're worlds. It's something I enjoyed a lot about GW2 back when I played, and it's something I love about TSW, too. Three years and four characters in, I'm still occasionally finding item missions, lore, or rare mobs I never knew were there.
ReplyDeleteI still don't know what the deal with that bear in Blue Mountain is. I probably could find out on Google, but that would spoil the mystery.