Curse

FVC · Oct 23, 2005, 12:41 AM // 00:41

On September 29, as part of a large update, a change was made in the in-game music. This change was listed simply as: Expanded in-game music.

What this change did exactly was as follows:

- towns/outposts play 4 different tracks instead of just one
- all towns/outposts play the same 4 tracks
- some music only heard in towns have been removed (LA)
- all other areas seem unchanged

Of the 4 tracks you can hear in the towns, 2 were not previously heard in GW (that I know of). That is a good thing. The bad thing is that it's the same 4 in every town. The change was made across the board with no thought given to the mood of each area. Equally bad is that some music that was unique to certain towns, like LA, is no longer heard at all.

Let me add that I love the music in GW - some of the pieces are really well done (the 2 Ring of Fire tracks especially come to mind). It's of higher quality than most recent games I have played. It sets the mood and makes me want to listen to the game's music rather than my own.

But, this change was really bad. I posted about this before in another thread: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=65845 and it seemed like many agreed with me. Gaile Gray responded:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

Thanks for the feedback. I wanted to tell you I was speaking with one of the DirectSong guys just tonight, and he shared with me that they're going to be making some tweaks that will more-precisely place the music that you hear in various areas. It wasn't the intention to reduce your options, or to take away the music that you liked in certain areas, but rather to expand the play list so that you had more variety and greater relevance to what you were doing.

Sounded fine, until I realized that I can't get any change unless I spend money on the new DirectSong music pack. Something I might consider doing - as I appreciate the quality of the music in GW, it really is a step above most online games - but not after this poor implementation of "expanded music". The mood is totally lost in many places now. You hear the same music in Ascalon, LA, Droknar's, Ember Light, Amnoon, War Camp, and on and on... the same 4 tracks over and over. It becomes extremely repetitive. I have started to turn the music off in the towns now, something I thought I would never do. Am I going to have the same feeling after buying the music pack? Who really knows now?

So please ANet, change the town/outpost music back to the way it was, to reflect the area that each is in. Make us want to keep the music on again (and buy more) rather than turn it off...

Tactical-Dillusions · Oct 23, 2005, 01:16 AM // 01:16

A simple jukebox function would be an amazing addition.
Select the continental zone, maguuma for example and tick the boxes next to the tracks you would like to hear while in that zone.

Another option would be to allow the downloading of the available music so we can use them in media player or whatever. This method is rather lame and tacky though

because it wouldn't be synchronised with zoning/changing location.

Lasareth · Oct 23, 2005, 01:23 AM // 01:23

I agree that the music needs change desperately.

LifeInfusion · Oct 23, 2005, 03:24 AM // 03:24

I disabled music ingame and just listen to winamp shoutcast techno/trance mixes...

The entire game has about 40 tracks of music... so don't expect a great deal of change

Xenrath · Oct 23, 2005, 05:31 PM // 17:31

I agree, why change what wasn't broken? It was awesome hearing that epic sounding music in the shiverpeaks/camp deldrimor but for some reason it got patched to play all over the place as well? The music is a rather epic "cold" piece and fits the shiverpeaks fine but it's SO out of place in the desert areas. That's just one example! Please put things back how they were beforehand with music that actually fit the areas...

nightrunner · Oct 23, 2005, 08:44 PM // 20:44

Gaile said that Anet's doing something about it. I don't think she said exactly what they're doing though.

Krazax · Oct 23, 2005, 10:23 PM // 22:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by FVC

So please ANet, change the town/outpost music back to the way it was, to reflect the area that each is in. Make us want to keep the music on again (and buy more) rather than turn it off...

Straight up. I used to let the music play all the time, now I hate it. I'm sick to death of hearing the same 4 tracks over and over. The system before, where you heard different (but the same for that town) tracks in different towns was the best. Cuz you got a feeling and mood for that area, AND more importantly the music usually fell in synch with where you were in the storyline.

Now it's all fuct up. I hate it. I used to like traveling around to different parts of Tyria just to listen to differen music as I saw fit, it was a way afterall of controlling your play list. Now that's been removed and we randomly get 1 of 4 of the same songs.

Change it Back Anet

FVC · Oct 24, 2005, 08:33 AM // 08:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tactical-Dillusions

A simple jukebox function would be an amazing addition.
Select the continental zone, maguuma for example and tick the boxes next to the tracks you would like to hear while in that zone.

Something like that would be ideal, although I'd settle for just changing it back to the way it was until something better could be implemented.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenrath

It was awesome hearing that epic sounding music in the shiverpeaks/camp deldrimor but for some reason it got patched to play all over the place as well? The music is a rather epic "cold" piece and fits the shiverpeaks fine but it's SO out of place in the desert areas. That's just one example!

I agree, the sense of mood is flat out lost now in many places. A few of the town musics now are upbeat tracks that just don't work at all in places like Ring of Fire, Crystal Desert, Ascalon, etc... please, please change it back ANet!

NightOwl · Oct 24, 2005, 09:01 AM // 09:01

They have music in towns? Had no idea...from the sound of things, perhaps I'll just keep the music volume all the way down, as it already is.

=HT=Ingram · Oct 24, 2005, 09:22 AM // 09:22

I recently turned the music option all the way off, and listen to my xfire player instead... then it will play what I want, not what the game wants. and Xfire will control the play-list so its easy to change without alt tabbing out of game...

FVC · Oct 25, 2005, 11:24 AM // 11:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightrunner

Gaile said that Anet's doing something about it. I don't think she said exactly what they're doing though.

What Gaile said in the other thread (linked in the first post) was that DirectSong, not ANet, was doing something about it - which means we have to pay to get any changes, and that is not an acceptable solution to me. That is like saying, "Well, we made your music more repetitive, and even removed some tracks that were previously there; but you can fix it by buying more music!"

But, if you can point out where Gaile said something different, I would appreciate it.

Arcanis the Omnipotent · Oct 25, 2005, 06:44 PM // 18:44

That's not neccisarily true. It could be a free install pack like the SF music was.

FVC · Oct 27, 2005, 12:41 PM // 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanis the Omnipotent

That's not neccisarily true. It could be a free install pack like the SF music was.

I assumed that the SF pack, like the SF update itself, was free only to give us a taste, and that all future updates (including music packs) would be paid updates.

But besides that... I'm not asking for a handout by any means. I (and many others) would settle for the town and outpost music to simply be changed back to the way it was.

This is a change that might have made sense on paper, but was very poorly implemented and has actually restricted the in-game music rather than expand it as intended.

Undivine · Oct 27, 2005, 01:40 PM // 13:40

I've never heard the music for Ember Light Camp. In fact, I don't think I've heard any of the original music for the southern Shiverpeak area, except what they use as the 4. Maybe I have, I kinda forget where I was when they did the update. But I'm definately missing out on some of it.

Undivine · Oct 27, 2005, 01:42 PM // 13:42

Also, I wanted to say that it helped the desire to explore when the music had cultural relevance to the location.

Aracos79 · Oct 27, 2005, 01:53 PM // 13:53

I think the music changes totally sucked. I liked the distinctive music that certain locations had. Now you basically hear Shiverpeak music EVERYWHERE... very lame. The new tracks don't even come close to making up for that.

Of course the best music for anything in GW has nothing to do with the in-game music. iTunes FTW.

FVC · Oct 28, 2005, 10:11 AM // 10:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undivine

I've never heard the music for Ember Light Camp. In fact, I don't think I've heard any of the original music for the southern Shiverpeak area, except what they use as the 4. Maybe I have, I kinda forget where I was when they did the update. But I'm definately missing out on some of it.

Ember Light used to play one of the 2 tracks you hear outside in Perdition Rock, which, believe me, was a LOT nicer to hear there. Ember Light (and the other outposts out in that region) is one of the worst areas affected by this, because the current music fits in there about as well as an ice golem would.

The Southern Shiverpeak towns previously played the same tracks as the Northern Shiverpeak towns, except the War Camp had a new track added when the SF update came out (which is now one of the 4 currently in the town rotation).

Loch · Oct 28, 2005, 02:28 PM // 14:28

I remember when I first went to the Ring of Fire outpost. The music made the situation seem so important but dangerous, especially combined with the grim-toned dwarf who tells you about the mission objective.

When the music changed, I heard the same music they used to play only in the Shiverpeak outposts. It completely spoiled the mood on the fire island outposts.

The music didn't really seem all that expanded to me...

Janky Crackafoo · Oct 28, 2005, 03:55 PM // 15:55

I haven't listened to the in-game music in...well, ever. Windows Media Player FTW!

Slimcea · Oct 28, 2005, 05:41 PM // 17:41

Agreed. Why change what was perfectly working? The new music totally killed the ambience. If the idea was to get people to turn to DirectSong instead, I don't think it'll work, since now I no longer have an incentive to listen to in-game music at all.