Ranloth
Banned
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Yes, it's another one of them (maybe) big long posts about a single topic. 
With the Mission System overhaul, few months back, the Devs were able to put more missions into the game, organize them into chains and not be forced to take some missions out due to various engine limitations at the time. *or so I think*
In a way, the story aspect was improved upon since we could follow the story as it goes and not get it mixed up with different missions. Pretty good, eh? It has many more positives, but these aren't relevant here.
In past few years, we've had some major events such as the Frysteland War, the Infernal War, and currently, the Dread War. We've had quite a few minor events such as Dravax's and Char's story, the Easter event with few fellow Bunniez, and the (semi-major?) Botanical event.
Some are seasonal events whilst other are one-off, but they seem to follow up if you put them on an in-game timeline. Some events were made to give us a better insight into some NPCs instead, such as Char's backstory which has revealed a link between ED and MQ, as well as ED being on the AE Timeline, which leaves us with many questions if you play MQ and ED, and seek answers about Charfade.
So where's the problem?
It's not the poor story. It's not the difficulty of some missions. It's not the missions at all. The issue is with storytelling. We get missions, we get the overview of each mission before and after we finish them, but some players cannot or won't follow up. Why? They've missed certain events in the past which may be crucial, and some quests may be rare and won't return - thus missing out on a crucial part of the story.
One solution to this could be giving a brief overview of the whole story in a big paragraph in-game. It could be set up as a cutscene or a neatly formatted message for players to read, after they finish the story but don't understand it. If you haven't done the missions and they are permanently rare, these should be available immediately for everyone.
Missions don't only serve you as something to kill your time on and get rewarded, but they are also used for the storyline. Some players want gameplay, others will want decent storyline and there will be some who want a mix of both.
Another issue is how these events follow up. What effect did the Frysteland War have on current events, such as the Dread War? How about Dravax threatening us when it came to Char - did our current state, after x Event affect NPCs around us or us, the player, in any way? Are the past events relevant to the current story, i.e. do they have an impact on current storyline, NPCs, etc.?
This is why I believe an overview would help a lot with this. We should know when a certain event happens in-game, if it's before or after specific event (such as before the Frysteland War, which could be seen as flashback now). Or get some build up to the upcoming story - does it link with an old one or is it another mini-storyline? Will it have any impact or is it a filler story?
What is your view on ED's storyline? Not necessarily the quality of writing - feel free to bring it up - but how it's set-up in-game and if it can be improved upon, for sake of simplicity as well as the storytelling. Remember that some players will play for the story, and it may be an incentive for others, to log in each week or so, for new missions. Lastly, consider limited resources that Devs have - not everything is possible or achievable in a short period of time.
DiscussiOn!
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