Thread: Revelations from Patch 4.56

Originally Posted by LineageRazor

Interestingly, in retrospect I think that they produced precisely as much story as they planned to. If you recall, it was noted in Patch 4.5 that there were more Main Scenario Quests than usual. At the time, I took that to mean that they had a lot of story left to tell, and that there'd be a lot to sink our teeth into both then, and again now at this patch. Now, instead, I suspect that they simply had run into the problem that the Ghimlyt Dark just couldn't be penciled into the schedule any earlier than it was - and since they HAD to have a dungeon added with 4.5, they were left but no choice to give us the lion's share of the remaining MSQs in that patch, leaving us the pitiful two quests we got to wrap things up in 4.56.

So, the problem wasn't running out of time or budget, but simply that the story they decided to tell was poorly plotted. Taken as a whole, the the 4.5 + 4.56 MSQs work a little bit better. Folks were excited about the revelations in 4.5, and talked about it in the forums for months. If those MSQs had been released NOW instead of THEN, the hype could have tided us over for most of the three months until Shadowbringers. Unfortunately, the 4.56 quests pretty much did nothing but maintain the status quo, so there isn't really anything new to get hyped about.

I will say, though, that even taken as a whole, the MSQs really ought to have done more to cement our reason for playing along with the Enigmatic Dude. Right now, we don't have an awful lot of reason to trust him - he's clearly the ones responsible for the Scions' current state, after all. We had definite goals at the end of ARR (clear our names!) and HW (prepare for war!), but our intentions right now are a lot more nebulous. The Garleans are a clear and present danger, but we're somehow supposed to be faffing about with the Enigmatic Dude? Perhaps the expansion will offer a good reason why we'd choose NOW to go to the First Shard, but I honestly wish we'd gotten some of that in this patch.

Taking both your points into account, my gut says that this is a bit of storytelling that will feel better in a single big binge than played on release. I think (or at least hope) that there's a big, complicated story arc being built up that will make a lot of sense fully laid out in hindsight with 5.0 out, but is currently lacking because of the enforced periodic release schedule of an MMO. Kinda like the opposite of the 2.X series in terms of pacing, which infamously have the daunting reputation of 100 MSQ in a single block.

Anyway, much moreso than 2.4 and 2.5's build up to 3.0 and 3.4 and 3.5's to 4.0 with their climaxes, 4.5 feels a lot like the middle part of an arc started with 4.4 and will hopefully be fully resolved in 5.0. And this ultimately might be better narratively. Like, considering the deaths thread currently in the forum, 2.5 was very climactic but ultimately wrote a lot of checks for the narrative that ended up bouncing--it was a very hollow climax. 4.5 is kinda lacking in any significant climaxes and revelations, but that just might mean a better payoff come 5.0. Just my thoughts on the situation anyway, in trying to make the most of my mild dissatisfaction with 4.56's presentation.