Guild Wars 2

I have completed my PS, sans Zhaitan, on my Human Ranger and am getting close on my Human Necromancer. My Sylvari Elementalist is only in the mid-20s so has barely scratched the surface. I’m currently part-way through Minister’s Defence on my Charr Guardian.

Playing my Charr got me to thinking… I don’t remember the friends of my Ranger or Necro playing anything other than a very minor role in the PS (I don’t think the Sylvari has any friends at all). I think in both cases they had to be rescued from something, but that’s about it. My Charr’s friend, however, joined me on nearly every mission up until I joined the Vigil.

This doesn’t feel right. Shouldn’t a “Personal Story” that starts with your best friend actually involve said friend more than for a couple of missions at the very beginning?

In human personal stories, my character’s friends showed up frequently in levels 1-10, as well as several times in the “Floating Grizwhirrl” storyline. If you choose the “Dead Sister” background and help the Vigil in Orr, you see someone from that storyline show up again. In the Asura storyline, your krewe plays an important part in the level 1-10 story, but for the most part don’t show up again (if you choose Statics and go to the Temple of Grenth in Orr, your krewe shows up again).

There is a lot of variance. The Charr story places more emphasis on your warband than others do on your early acquaintances. However, in Charr society (at least for members of the legions), your warband is your life. In Asura societies, krewes are joined and left (although you are expected to be completely loyal while a member). Human society work like our own. Sylvari associate with who their Dream tells them.

I would defend this two ways: First, either you like a given 10 level story or you don’t. If you don’t, extending it with those you dislike would lead to lots of complaints more than compliments. E.g., you see a lot more of the people who don’t like Trahearne complaining than those who do like Trahearne complimenting. Second, if people from your past keep showing up as storylines converge and diverge, this limits the stories. For example, your childhood friend and friends you make along the way can never die or later stories become more and more cumbersome as alternate versions must be developed for whether or not your friends are around (or, alternatively, they MUST die or be removed no matter what you choose). In some PS in some races, your starting acquaintances can die depending on the choices you make.