Guild Wars 2

There’s a problem with the personal story.
It starts out great, with many options and branches, but over time consolidates into one boring storyline full of Trahearne and the Risen in Orr.
This picture shows exactly the problem.

Through multiple play-throughs with different alts, I’ve noticed other story threads that start out strong, but then peter out:

The Sylvari story thread about possible other trees.
The human / centaur war.
The Flame Legion.
The Inquest.
The Sons of Svanir.
The Skritt and the Great Destroyer.

Was the original intention to have these story threads remain strong throughout the course of the game with cross-pollination between lines?
Were these developed as potential future personal stories to be explored in expansions, a different Elder Dragon being the end boss of each line?

Or did ArenaNet just run out of time?

I think it’s a massive shame that the story becomes predictable and repetitive once the Pact is formed, and it really makes late game levelling of other characters a chore, as after 3 play-throughs, you’ve explored every last story option available to you post-Pact formation.

I can understand there were probably budget constraints meaning that while ArenaNet probably wanted to maintain the story branches throughout the game, they were restricted in what they could do. But will we be seeing these strong and interesting story-lines followed in the future?

The problem is, they are putting more time and money on the Living Story instead of the Personal Story…

I rather they add tons of new Dynamic Events while focusing on Personal Story and new Areas/Zones to explore that tie with the personal story and more dynamic events that occur.

But, I’m not sure if we’ll be seeing it anytime soon.

From a role player perspective I do believe that the execution of the Living Story series as a mistake. The Living Story releases should always have been the continuation of our character’s Personal Story after the events in Orr. This would mean that Destiny Edge npcs would recognise our characters. Which brings us to the next issue with the Living Story series. Where are the Orders of Tyria in Living Story plot lines?

Any move made my our characters should result in members of our Order becoming a part of said character’s Living Story experience.