I think it did happen as a result of our joining with Ardbert.
Printable View
My issue was that the trailer oversold it. A lot of the story stuff they showed us in the trailer was from the tail end of the patch. I knew not to really expect much story development from a .2 patch, they save the heavy hitters for .3 patches, but i can't help but have expected more from the story.
The worst part was that they kind of gave it away that the Scions would be leaving the First in the next patch. After Eden, they say "Hey, we're leaving now, good luck" and it's way too early, but they have no choice but to say it now because the next wing of eden won't come until .4, when the story will be shifting over to the next expansion's arc.
I understand what you're saying, but I think you should try to trust the devs more. Not everything is going to have a payoff, but the thieves that some other NPCs took care of, for example? You notice by the end of the patch, the guards were already tired of seeing us meddling in their adventuring? One of them said "You again?" That's going to be important. If all goes according to Elidibus' plan, they're going to be turned against us shortly.
Let them tell the story. They know players don't like chores and filler detours, so if they've included one, it's generally either to give us character insight or closure, or it's to foreshadow something.
Meh, I thought this patch did a good job of starting to build up Elidibus and make us question who he really is and what his scheme is on the First. It's also nudging us closer to fully understanding the Echo and Hydaelyn. Plus the Ruby Weapon side-story was a cool way to continue fleshing out Garlemald/Gaius, as well as the continuation of Eden which doubles as development for Ryne and healing the First. Now that I think about, I'd say that this patch was pretty rich in story, tbh.
As for the overall pacing of the patch; I don't really want the story to try to recapture the climax of 5.0 in every patch. We would quickly run out of meaningful story lines and it would turn into some theme-park ride of cheap highs and lows that I wouldn't really care about as much. I personally enjoy the little reprieves and character interactions. Not all of them resonate with me entirely, but I usually do end up more attached to the characters and it makes it seem less like the story is just a constant series of world ending crises.
Regardless, I'm not gonna pretend that I know better than Ms. Ishikawa or any of the members of the MSQ team when it comes to writing and dividing up their story. They've done a great job so far and I'm not gonna second guess them.