ArenaNet:Guild Wars 2 suggestions/The Great Library
| Guild Wars 2 Suggestions |
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(Discussion)
Intro
As of now, the teachings of Gods, battles of the past and other events that have taken place in the past are currently scattered all over the internet. Game, sites and forum.
The main suggestion is for a Central Library to be placed in (for now) Divinity's Reach, which most likely is the #1 city in Kryta in GW2. Ofcourse, the Halls of Chokhin would make more sense at the moment, but in that time Palawa Joko has taken over Elona and I'm not sure if we'll even be able to get there at GW2's release. If it does, hell, why not two libraries. They're different continents after all! Throw in Cantha as well!
Through the years between pre-GW1 events and the "present" of GW2, a ton more events have taken place. As we know, there are a lot of historians around in Tyria, so they should have recorded most, if not all of these events, right?
So why not bundle all this information into one place?
Imagine this:
A circular building with bookcases inside and a "search"-sphere in the center. A great resource for information which has been contributed by the historians of Tyria, and maybe even you.
The Search-Sphere
This is a magical sphere presented at the center of the library. If you haven't guessed yet, it's main function is to Search for the information you desire.
Say, you want information about Shiro Tagachi. You type it in and get a result of books. For example,
- "A Biography of Shiro the Betrayer"
- "Jade Wind"
- "The 2nd Coming of Shiro Tagachi".
Let's pick "The 2nd Coming of Shiro Tagachi".
You get a brief description, like the backside of a novel. It informs you it's about how Shiro came to Cantha in 1072 AE and how a Hero (Your ancestor) and his companions defeated him to save Cantha.
Now here are a few idea's:
- You can read the book immediately by pressing "read" and the book pop-up will appear where you can read through the pages of the book.
- After clicking "ok", a square will flash on your radar which will show where the book is located. Now click on the bookcase and select the book you want to read.
The first one is more convenient, but the second one will "spread out the mob", which will make it look more like a Library instead of a group of book-hungry people who look like they're worshiping the sphere.
Bookcases
Simple enough. Click on any bookcase and a pop-up with a row of books will show up. Hover your mouse over the books to show the name and click the book if you want to read it.
Bookcases are sorted by continents, timelines, races or religions.
Quests
Now this is where the player can contribute!
Finish quests and find the Librarian to tell her of your tales of adventure. If you have happened to finish a quest about an ancient artifact or hidden historical fact, you can tell them about it, which in turn will add another book or article to the library. You might even get a skillpoint or some extra money from it!
Example: You have just finished a quest where you found unknown information about Abaddon before he fought against The Five. You tell the Librarian about it and it will be recorded. You'll be rewarded a skillpoint and/or money for your services.
Now you can use the Search-Sphere, type in "Abaddon" and a new article or book is shown where you can re-read what you had discovered.
Maybe even add a special book which records all the quest you have done so far, so you know which quests you have left to do. That is, if Anet doesn't make a new Questlog tab or something for it in the interface.
These Quest-Books will be character-readable only. So another person cannot find the book unless they have finished the quest themself and talked about it to the librarian.
Newcomers and Veterans
To fill in the blanks of certain history books telling the tales of the Hero through Prophecies/Factions/Nightfall/Eye of The North, it will all depend on if your account is linked to a GW1 account. If you're a newcomer to GW and only have GW2, all books related to a GW1 Player Character will just have the hero named "Hero". Or some generic overly heroic name. Or a Dwarf.
Veterans (Linked with GW1 thus) have access to a special book. Legacy of [Character you linked your GW2 char with]. This book will tell the tale of your character's legacy, and after. You'll finally discover what your old character did after fighting off the big bad Great Destroyer and unexpectingly waking up a big bad evil dragon made of hot boiling lava (well, he looks like it).
I do not know if this suggestion is even possible with GW2 mechanics, but I can always hope. It'll surely be a great addition to the Lore community. I've also posted this suggestion on GWO before placing it here, since I wanted to know if there was some interest in the community.
- Why this is a good idea
- One in-game source of all lore in Tyria (World).
- People can read up their own heroic stories from their GW1 ancestors.
- The Interactive part pushes players to do certain quests, which they might have considered never to do.
- Why it may not work out
- People who dislike Lore will most likely never visit the Library, aside from the Quest-Book rewards
- Not being able to Copy-Paste the text for use outside of GW, thus people will stick more with the Wiki. Though over time, there might be dedicated people who type the stories out word-for-word.
