Summary: Chris and Celeste have Stein fever and the only solution is a massive dissection of an interview. We also discuss the upcoming Queen's Jubilee and some pretty great community content. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: finally got my gift of quartz by collecting crystals in sanctum sprint couple of dailies tried jumping puzzles, scavenger’s chasm is my least favorite thing about gw2. Chris: Finished Snowden Drifts, and now working on Fireheart Rise for world completion. Ran CoF with a group that was farming it. Crazy how quickly they got through the wing (soe). They used Om nom cakes to increase their take from the runs. Trying to do my dailies, and trying to support Evon Gnashblade, but it’s tough (as I’m sure many of you know!) Finished Sea of Sorrows. Great story. Interesting execution in the writing: Report from Lion’s Arch Breaking: Election news! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151647961164209&set=a.135044094208.103264.114036714208&type=1 52-48 for Kiel as of Friday More Breaking News: Lack of a Scrim Feature [SYNC] won the NA qualifier for the 10k Tourney! http://www.twitch.tv/mistleague/b/440805277 GW2Hub Interview with Bobby Stein http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/interviews/exclusive-interview-arenanets-bobby-stein Do you think your team has succeeded in reaching the goals you’ve set - “You can't pour your blood, sweat, and tears into something for more than five years and not see a million things that you'd do differently, if given the chance.” So. True. Evolution of the team - “We then assumed storytelling responsibility for the Living World initiative, whereas before we were solely responsible for event and ambient (a.k.a. non-story) content.” It’s a big change to go from events to world changing endeavours. I’m sure it’s not been an easy road to hoe for them. On how his job has changed - “I give creative direction and story guidance, and get my hands dirty writing once in a while, but the bulk of what you see and hear is due to the collaborative efforts of multiple Living World teams.” It’s interesting to see how their job titles and descriptions have evolved over the last few years. The push to create content & release quickly - “That includes leaving more content behind for everyone to experience for years to come.” Something that will be happening later on this year... “Late last year, we were initially tasked with drafting a scalable, high-level story that could play out over months or years if necessary. We had to put enough thought and detail into the character arcs while also leaving plenty of wiggle room to account for design flexibility, art ideas, and team input. And while this was happening, our tech team was overhauling the tools pipeline so that multiple groups could be building content simultaneously without getting in each other’s way.” So instead of the Living World Initiative we could’ve just gotten scalable high end content. Be.. thankful? Depends on who you ask. Simplistic one-shot short storylines - “While it may appear to some that we're tying up simple short stories every month, there is a larger narrative that we're building toward. We’re about to make some larger reveals that will put the previous events into context. “ Tease. “We didn’t build a living game world just so people could kill virtual monsters. It’s there so they can live out their heroic fantasies, go on thrilling adventures with their friends, experience unusual situations, and do things that they can only dream of in real life.” I thought that was supposed to be true for just about every form of game. Escape. Not sure how this is revolutionary... “I sometimes get the impression that you and your team might be playing catch-up as the content teams quickly run with their ideas for what's next, while you're trying to hold it together.
