Guild Wars 2

The story would have been over 8000 times better if Trahearne would have been replaced with a Quaggan.

Now THERE is a Marshal I can get behind!

To be honest, I really hope they retcon the whole Trahearne thing and make the cleansing be performed by Destiny’s edge with Magdaer and Sohothin, while the pact is ran by a council where each order acts largerly autonomously and you act as a member of it or something like that.

To be honest, just about anything except Trahearne is an upgrade

My problem isn’t the whole “you don’t get to be the hero that saves the universe”
My problem is that “Why exactly does this guy get all the credit despite being so boring and useless”

If you’re going to make a rule that no single player can be this hero who wins the war by himself, then why should you allow NPCs to reach that kind of status?
Wasn’t the whole message of guild wars from the beginning that “Cooperation is the key to success?”

Instead the game falsely glorifies a completely useless and unlikable NPC that you know nothing about.

It’s quite a disappointment to ponder that the personal storylines will likely not undergo any overhaul other than tweaks to rewards, environment, mob behavior and placement – asides from hotfixes to missing voiceovers in cutscenes and typos. This of course means the Generalfeldmarschall Shrubbery cutting your orders after Claw Island will remain front and center of the personal storyline.

Plans for future expansions aside, being funneled into Orr under Lord Asparagus nullifies race and storyline choices in their entirety. As a Norn, my storyline emphasis should have rightly been on Jormag. As it stood, choosing a Spirit of the Wild did not matter. The other choices resulted in negligible rewards for scripted instances that did not mesh with the overall story arc. All this was a significant letdown (and the initial bugginess of some of the instances did not improve matters) but rolling the personal storyline into “Marshal Trahearne and his Wyld Hunt (and you)” was beyond the pale.

Dynamic, interesting characters were either marginalized through being killed off or parked in home instance or faction headquarters, never to emerge again save for limited cameos. Instead, what was left was very badly crafted milspeak for a MMO version of the Normandy Landings under the command of a head of cabbage in constant need of “You can do it!” motivation. Destiny’s Edge doesn’t exist, aside from an occasional canned mail drop. But General Radish is in-your-face with taskers that demand you support him.

The entire personal storyline reeks of backward planning:

1. Funnel the entire playerbase into Arah.
2. Find excuse to channel everyne into Orr (LOLZORS PACT LANDINGS RAWR)
3. Use a leafy Stuart Smalley to keep you in check.
4. Kill an interesting NPC where emotional investment is encouraged every 3-4 episodes.

Long before “Congratulations on completion of your Wyld Hunt” rolled around, it was abundantly clear that the uniqueness of the personal storylines was dead, to be displaced entirely by zombie-killing taskers issued by a turnip with a tweedy accent. As Strongback stated above, unified military council would have been fantastic, alongside Destiny’s Edge. Conspicuosly absent are major figures such as Queen Jenna et al from what is supposed to be a defining event forTyria, killing an Elder Dragon. Instead of the epic cast in an armageddon beyond Claw Island, it’s you, a celery stick in need of a confidence boost, and a cast of killable NPCs against the zombie tide (button smash, go) in nickel-and-dime instances against mouths, eyeballs, and a finale which requires you to LFG.

I just can’t shake the bloody feeling I’ve been had with this personal storyline, and all I did was play a mash-up parody of The Wizard of Oz where Tin Man, Straw Man, and Lion are all bundled into Trahearne. Adieu, and thank you for the backpiece.

I don’t hate him or anything like that, but I think he came a little out of nowhere for me. Suddenly he was all important and I didn’t got why, he didn’t cared for the orders before yet he is gets the command over all of them. It’s my personal story and suddenly it feels like I am reduced to be the sidekick. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind it if my characterb would become a mentor like Eir or Sieran had for my character, but he just doesn’t feel like a character that needs me as a mentor and is not brought that way into my story. So, my problem is that I just feel disconnected with that character… and of course it feels like my legend in not growing with him around.

Drudenfusz.2971:

So, my problem is that I just feel disconnected with that character… and of course it feels like my legend in not growing with him around.

Because it’s not really any player’s legend. It’s scripted, middling instanced scenes where NPC pathing and behavior are such that they watch you get beaten to death (Claw Island) if they aren’t dying (Trahearne if you take your eyes off of him for longer than a few seconds) or mobs are either grossly overpowered or ragdolls in terms of solo play, and the Choose Your Own Adventure which throws you, whether you like it or not, into 5-man Arah, forcing a good number of players to wait in Cursed Shore LFG like they’re waiting for a cab in Lower Manhattan.

If instead of limited instanced scenes it was driven by Dynamic Events in the world and cutscene camera à la vista viewing mode, it would have been a fabulously immersive experience without the you will get kicked out of this instance time now. I love the game and am truly appreciative of the work ArenaNet has put into the rest of the game over the last several years. No, I am not going to play (that other MMO). I understand even counting head start it has been out less than a month on retail. But I can’t for the life of me see where Jeff Grubb and Ree Soesbee had a hand in the personal storyline. There is no true epic arc. There is only The Vegetable, his Wyld Hunt, his tweedy accent, and the vague sensation of having been slapped by a tomato.

Paradoxically, personal storyline is the one aspect of the game where individual choice matters the least other than faction. By hook or crook, everyone ends up in Arah, depopulating the rest of the world because outside of the 5-man instances or farming crafting items, there is no channelizing towards non-zombie content (Claw of Jormag deserves an epic arc). Instead, the pinnacle of personal storyline is killing an Elder Dragon in a 5-man rather than as instanced or world raid content, and having thereby aided The Vegetable in reaching personal nirvana, even after he dumps Caladbolg and inexplicably decides killing Zhaitan is your problem and not his.

I suppose I should look forward to expansion content. Devs, please make Trahearne’s replacement a Quaggan. If you’re going to make some NPC the God-Emperor of Tyria, it should at least be from a lovable species.

The more I play the personal story the worse it seems to get and the more I want to use Trahearne for kindling.

ANet… let’s have a talk.

I think you do some amazing work. The world design is so well done and breath-takingly beautiful that I would really want to move to parts of your world if that were possible. The dynamic event system has revolutionized MMO’s in my opinion. My level 1 character looked more bad-* than my level 50 PVP gear equipped Jedi in SWTOR. I could go on…

But in the name of all that is interesting, hire a competent story writer next time. I, seriously, could have written a better plot using the skills I learned in the “How to Write A Script” class I took just for fun in the continuing education program at my community college.

How every other part of this game could be so well done and this part be so obviously bad is beyond me. How did you release this thinking Trahearne was going to do anything but irritate the living crap out of all the players? And what directions were given to his voice actor… “Hey, can you act like you are totally, totally bored?”

I think you may be underestimating the difficulty of telling a cohesive ending to not one, but hundreds of possible variants on a story without some unifying force. Without Trehearne or some plot point like him it would have been incredibly difficult to get everyone on the same page.

That said, Trehearne himself was pretty flat, and I strongly believe that he should have died in the process of cleansing Orr. Or perhaps transubstantiated into a sapling for a new Sylvari tree or something. His usefulness to the story would have been much stronger as a martyr.

With any luck the first expansion’s new storyline will mark a return to some of the characters we left behind. I did spot the blacksmith from my green knight quest arc in a later mission, but there wasn’t even an ounce of recognition from him.

Anyway, I’m getting off-topic. My point is that Trehearne’s hijacking of the story really isn’t the main issue. The real problem is that he’s just not as interesting as the focus on him requires, and having him suddenly dominate the story right after you lose some of the best characters is jarring, especially for non-Sylvari. Losing Sierran really upset me, and Trehearne was simply a poor substitute.

Cmon ANET! You know you wanna let us kill him in the expansion!

I’m gonna say I agree with the fact that we needed a unifying force in the story, and that is what we got.

I don’t understand the hate for Trahearne. I liked him.

And instead of killing him or retconning him, I’d prefer they just…maybe redo some lines, and give him further depth. I mean, jeez, some of you guys just sound like rabid dogs cause someone else you consider “boring” got center stage. o.o Most of you do make some decent points.

Well i wont be adding anything new with my comment as some people have already said it perfectly but i feel like i should comment anyway.

To start off he takes over our personal story (not saying we should be the chosen unbeatable hero, just that the story is no longer about us, its about him and his wyld hunt), he has no character development and appears out of no where (that’s right NONE and i appreciate that sylvari get to meet him earlier but it still feels rushed and it doesn’t help other races), he has horrid…horrid voice acting (really horrid is a compliment here since its really that poor. No emotion, no enthusiasm, no anything) and lets face it he really just looks like a walking vegetable and fight like one too since i’d wind up having to revive him in every mission.

Having said that he was needed in a sense since we had to unite all the orders at some point…just wish it had been done better and with a better character too.

Its frankly disappointing since I was enjoying the personal story until the claw island part but now i just do it for the rewards, exp and to just get it over with.

TempestRime.1254:

I think you may be underestimating the difficulty of telling a cohesive ending to not one, but hundreds of possible variants on a story without some unifying force. Without Trehearne or some plot point like him it would have been incredibly difficult to get everyone on the same page.

The plot point sufficient for this purpose was Claw Island. It had about as much impact on Tyria as Pearl Harbor, 1941. A functional alliance under a triumvirate of Efut, Fairhaired, and Darkwater would have been exceedingly simple to execute. Instead of limited instances with ongoing balance issues, using the Dynamic Events already in place with additional cutscenes to create personalized event chains would have worked much, much more seamlessly, considering players had to traverse the same terrain and trash pats anyways to get to the rubbish instances in the first place.

Gone are the problems of NPCs watching you get beaten to death as you desperately kite something with 35 stacks of Frenzy. Gone are the banzai charges of constant Waypoint rezzing and running into the same mob to attrit them. However, this personal storyline is like getting a tattoo during a drunken night out. Like discovering you can’t turn back the clock after you discover your goldfish’s name is stenciled on your backside in a lovely pink heart, retconning this rubbish is like expecting rain to fall skywards.

The player is stuck with Vegemite, and the realization (which may not dawn for some, ever, out of denial or what have you) that the personal choices at character could have been facerolled and it all comes down to blasting an existential threat out of the sky with a blimp in about as much time as it takes to make a spot of tea. My personal storyline reward in the end (and likely that of others) is a Masterwork backpiece, a sandbox environment where I get to play with exploding undead chickens, and the vague recollection I did it all on behalf of a sodding turnip.

Vard.5621

The player is stuck with Vegemite, and the realization (which may not dawn for some, ever, out of denial or what have you) that the personal choices at character could have been facerolled and it all comes down to blasting an existential threat out of the sky with a blimp in about as much time as it takes to make a spot of tea. My personal storyline reward in the end (and likely that of others) is a Masterwork backpiece, a sandbox environment where I get to play with exploding undead chickens, and the vague recollection I did it all on behalf of a sodding turnip.

Yahtzee couldn’t have put it better. All the things we dislike wrapped up in a humorous package.

i hate him … he made 3 of my favorite characters in the game dead…

Still cheering for Trahearne. If you play a Sylvari, you know who this guy is and why it’s appropriate that he’s leading the offensive in Orr.

I also don’t get why people are complaining that he dies easy; he doesn’t. If you’re doing your job, and you let him do his, he doesn’t die. He held boss aggros now and then reasonably well.

Maybe it’s just a mesmer thing, but he’s been way more useful than not, and it’s nice fighting alongside a sylvari bro.

I actually don’t understand why people say he’s dying too much. Maybe it’s because I played a Warrior, but he almost never died for me. (Likewise, I almost never died…)

Dying is the one thing Trahearne didn’t do for me. I say keeping him alive is something we SHOULDN’T be asking for!

Sylv.5324:

Still cheering for Trahearne. If you play a Sylvari, you know who this guy is and why it’s appropriate that he’s leading the offensive in Orr.

I do play Sylvaria and I’ve eaten vegetables off a plate that had better characterization than Trahearne does.

Faceless.7549:

I whole heartedly agree with the first post.

To be honest, I didn’t even mind Trahearne’s forceful injection into the story up until there was a sudden shift in the narrative. He has studied Orr, so surely his knowledge would prove invaluable once my adventures coalesced with Tyria’s expedition to Orr. However, the writer is sorely blatant about voicing the fact your character is in second place. The game is so vocal about reminding you that you are not the hero, that it almost feels like there’s some sort of conspiracy going on. You barely receive any thanks, just further orders from a self-appointed marshal that treats you coldly.

I’m currently level 71, and I am yet to see Trahearne accomplish anything. That includes strategy, and no, yelling at soldiers ten times as experienced to ‘stay away from the dragon’s poisonous breath’ is no strategy. He doesn’t even do inspiring speeches. His legendary weapon is yet to do anything spectacular in his hands. He doesn’t share actual information about Orr. I am yet to see him contribute to the Orr invasion in any palpable way.

I am utterly disappointed, considering the personal story starts out amazingly well. Everything seems to weave together, and hooks are seemingly left for the future for you to attend to. With the whole infamous Kormir ordeal, I thought ArenaNet wouldn’t have done the same mistake twice. But now I’m not sure which is the worse character, Kormir or Trahearne.

Kormir is a great character, the fact that in action she didn’t do anything was.. wrong. It was the wrong way to convey that she did A LOT. But Trehearne.. All the stuff you mentioned in the first paragraph get addressed in the following quests btw.. just do them, some moments are quite good.

Kain Francois.4328:

I actually don’t understand why people say he’s dying too much. Maybe it’s because I played a Warrior, but he almost never died for me. (Likewise, I almost never died…)

Dying is the one thing Trahearne didn’t do for me. I say keeping him alive is something we SHOULDN’T be asking for!

I also play as a warrior and if i happen to not be attacking the same mob as him, he dies. If he didn’t die for you congrats but I think 90% of people here will agree with me that he is useless in combat by himself.

Didn’t actually read anything here in order to avoid spoilers, but I do want to say that while I initially was hesitant in my acceptance of Trahearne, he did something in the level 55 quest that changed that and made him my absolute favorite character.

He rezzed me.

After watching every other character who I loved, from Zojja to Sparkles to Tybalt stand over my dead body and stare, Trahearne said “no guys, this is what we do.” At that moment I knew that Trahearne would forever more be my favorite character. Anyway that’s my piece. Have fun!

Dunno, I feel the complete opposite. He’s mysterious to me but he has a cool place in the story as my sidekick. I like him, shrug.

You’re the sidekick, not Trahearne.

Honestly, what they should have done was separate “Punching Orr in the mouth,” from your personal quest. Quite frankly, I was far more interested in doing stuff for the Order of Secrets, and being involved with the Intrigue in Divinity’s Reach, Black Citadel, so on and so forth.

And then zombies. ******* zombies ruining everything.

Also, not a single member in my guild likes Twiggy. The guy’s ankitten Gets a Mary Sue sword, gets a Mary Sue Destiny. Is the FIRST BORN Sylvari, the list just goes on. Add in a dull voice actor who grates on my nerves, and its like “Seriously. Go die. No one will care. I bet I can do a better job organizing the three orders then you.”

Trahearne is in the game because they wanted the Story to feel even more pointless, souless and boring. Not only aren’t you making any interesting decisions, but you aren’t even the main drive in your story. SPOILERS All NPCs in the personal story are totally useless regardless of their implied prowess.

I’m sorry, I know this isn’t entirely true and that I am kittening, but his dialogs have become so doggy boring to me that I started skipping them.

It feels like one of those satirical comic books/cartoons/etc. where the “Hero” is worthless but is heaped with praise, while the “Sidekick” does all the work and gets sidelined. The only two differences are that it is played straight (instead of as comedy) and, instead of giving out well-deserved snark and sarcasm, my character is forced to also dish out praise to the guy that was taking a dirt nap while I was killing the bad guys.

Like many here, I don’t like trahearne one bit as he does hijack your personal story. Now as a sylvari I got introduced to him early and got more history of him than most, so lack of background was not the problem, its just that as a major character he falls short, especially after order missions with the order of whispers and the awesome Tybalt.

The storylines before trehearne are mostly okay, but after trahearne its just meh.

Did people honestly expect the personal story to revolve entirely around their characters, though? I certainly didn’t, nor would I want to have my character turn out to be one of a handful of special snowflake saviours of Tyria.

There’s the illusion of choice, but ultimately everyone is going to end up at the same destination regarding their personal story. That’s my biggest pet peeve, since even without factoring in Trahearne I’d much rather spend my time getting to know and then work alongside a handful of NPC’s and then continue to work alongside them.

I’d say one of the greater flaws with the personal story right now is that it’s not nearly as unique and ‘character centric’ as it advertises. I’m not sure why the personal story didn’t just paint our characters as being part of our respective racial societies/orders and then the Pact itself instead of shoehorning everyone’s character into the role of second in command.

I mean, let’s be honest here…this is an MMO. Such plot points work much better in a single player game.

Garenthal.1480:

Did people honestly expect the personal story to revolve entirely around their characters, though? I certainly didn’t, nor would I want to have my character turn out to be one of a handful of special snowflake saviours of Tyria.

(…)

I mean, let’s be honest here…this is an MMO. Such plot points work much better in a single player game.

The character shouldn’t be the special snowflake savior of Tyria- but he/she really should be the focus around which the personal story revolves. That’s basic Game Mastering 101: the player(s) are always in the foreground, because it’s their story. The background may be 0-level goblins or dueling demigods, and the players may or may not have a great deal of influence on the metaplot outcome, but you never take the camera off their characters. It’s a classic rookie mistake made by GM’s who get a little too wrapped up in their own storytelling.

That’s what gets lost with mister scholar-general pinecone greatsword-necro. He can snowflake all he wants, he’s a plot character. But he should have never been allowed to take the “personal” out of personal story- most of the latter half becomes Trahearne’s Story. The PC is a glorified bodyguard who makes good at the very end? Fine. But the PC is still (at least nominally) the protagonist.

And I can’t really buy the “limits of an MMO” excuse for this particular failing, either. With the one exception, the personal story isn’t done in an MMO format to begin with. It’s single-player with (mostly) optional co-op. The medium isn’t imposing any artificial constraints, this is just weak storyboarding.

Rustavin.4205:

The character shouldn’t be the special snowflake savior of Tyria- but he/she really should be the focus around which the personal story revolves. That’s basic Game Mastering 101: the player(s) are always in the foreground, because it’s their story.

What worries me is that before Claw Island the personal story was great, Why the jarring change? We must remember this was produced, storyborded, voice acting dialog was written, etc… dozens of people at the very least. How is it no one caught that? In fact you are constantly reminded of how awesome Tree Boy is.. CONSTANTLY. Not because he did something amazing, but because other NPCs tell you he is. Why do that? why go out of the way to hammer it in you’re the lackey to a chosen one? If it wasn’t a story about my PC being the hero why sacrifice my mentor… its actually pointless.

One possibility for needing to taking down the PC is to preserve whatever story they’re writing for future books. They would need to mention a name instead of the generic “Commander” we all can be in-game. I find it hard to understand why they would gut the player’s experience to favor a published a book though. The main media of the universe IS the game, so why sacrifice an integral part of the game for that?

The other possibility I can think of is that it must have been someone high up in the company (probably someone very excited about Sylvari) that made the decision to ram Tree Boy down our throats… first born of a race born to save the planet… bleh. My “someone high up” theory is what worries me, if that is indeed the case then its unlikely we can expect any change in future content, and would in fact expect Tree Boy to be a permanent fixture in our story

I still dont understand why people are so fixated on Trahearne when hes not even present for a large part of our personal story.

I liked him. He got to do all the boring bits of leading an army while I got to lead the charge from the front. He got to deal with logistics while I airdroped in a state of the art battlesuit into the middle of a Risen stronghold and laid waste to everything nearby. When he did turn up he handled himself well enough for an NPC.

People keep talking about councils. The whole reason we needed a central leader not tied to the orders was the orders often argued on how best to move forward. There needed to be an unbias leader to take the orders suggestions and decide on a balanced course. If we had had a council the Pact may have never gotten off the ground to start with.

I might add people forget that the Pact was the Player Characters idea to start with.

The reason I don’t like Trahearne is not because he upstages the player char or that he is a particularly boring but sensible leader.

It’s that he is a bad Sylvari. I find it really hard to believe this guy is only 25 years old with very little experience of the world other than the dream planted in his head at birth.

I love the Sylvari because the interesting ones are full of inquisitiveness. They are driven but at the same time very innocent. They are generally bubbling over with enthusiasm and personality even if they lack a bit of wisdom and common sense.

Trahearne has none of these qualities. If he was human, the voice acting and script might have worked. He would just be a slightly boring leader character. As a sylvari, he jarrs with my expectations badly.

I’ll echo the sentiment that Trahearn is another Kormir, no one liked Kormir. She was a glory proxy, you do all the hard work and she gets the lore recognition and cutscene praise. Same thing happened and people aren’t happy (again.) So when you expand the story to another dragon please have him sent to fight the den of really hungry rabbits.

I agree… Traherne is boring, he do nothing. He do nothing but he takes all the merits. He should be a leader? MY leader?
God, I think he’s the less charismatic character ever.

Soyokaze.3960:

Rustavin.4205:

The character shouldn’t be the special snowflake savior of Tyria- but he/she really should be the focus around which the personal story revolves. That’s basic Game Mastering 101: the player(s) are always in the foreground, because it’s their story.

What worries me is that before Claw Island the personal story was great, Why the jarring change? We must remember this was produced, storyborded, voice acting dialog was written, etc… dozens of people at the very least. How is it no one caught that? In fact you are constantly reminded of how awesome Tree Boy is.. CONSTANTLY. Not because he did something amazing, but because other NPCs tell you he is. Why do that? why go out of the way to hammer it in you’re the lackey to a chosen one? If it wasn’t a story about my PC being the hero why sacrifice my mentor… its actually pointless.

One possibility for needing to taking down the PC is to preserve whatever story they’re writing for future books. They would need to mention a name instead of the generic “Commander” we all can be in-game. I find it hard to understand why they would gut the player’s experience to favor a published a book though. The main media of the universe IS the game, so why sacrifice an integral part of the game for that?

The other possibility I can think of is that it must have been someone high up in the company (probably someone very excited about Sylvari) that made the decision to ram Tree Boy down our throats… first born of a race born to save the planet… bleh. My “someone high up” theory is what worries me, if that is indeed the case then its unlikely we can expect any change in future content, and would in fact expect Tree Boy to be a permanent fixture in our story

Considering how much they gushed about Sylvari in their one video about them I wouldn’t be suprised with that last theory…

Honestly to me I find Sylvari in general to be the weakest aspect of GW2 as a whole. Some of them like Sieran were done well, but so many more of them just feel so very weak as characters being a newborn race and all.

Ashlotte.3719:

Honestly to me I find Sylvari in general to be the weakest aspect of GW2 as a whole. Some of them like Sieran were done well, but so many more of them just feel so very weak as characters being a newborn race and all.

I think half the writing team thinks they’re a naive, curious, and trusting race. And the other half thinks they’re just elves.

I have to agree with the majority of posts here.
There are many reasons I don’t like Trahearne and I think that many things that could have been “redeeming” for this character were missed/left/broken/etc.

The voice acting is very bland, not much emotion there at all, no sense of urgency, etc. Compared to the voice acting of the other “main cast” characters (and some minor characters) it’s just sub-standard.

I actually want to give Anet credit for trying to avoid another “Kormir”-style problem (players complaining about how they do all the work and Kormir gets the reward/fame,/godhood/etc.). At least I think that’s what they tried to achieve when they made Trahearne a “weak” character that needs your strenght and support for the pact members to respect him as leader. However I doesn’t work that way. At least for me. Helping Trahearne feels too much like a chore, I have to help him because if I don’t the whole pact will break up. A lot of times it is mentioned how he saved character XYZ, did amazing stuff, etc. and that is supposed to make me feel some sort of respect for the character… but it just doesn’t.
Let’s take GW:Factions as an example where the situation was solved – in my humble opinion – way better. Master Togo was a character that I would consider to be well written. He was a strong, wise and therefore respected character. My (factions) character saw him as teacher, fighter, diplomat, etc. When Togo sent me on a mission it had a “because I can’t do it all on my own and because I trust you” wibe to it; Whereas with Trahearne it feels like “because I can’t do it at all” from him.
Togo also “dodged” the Kormir problem… by dying in the final act and leaving us to finish the fight.

I wish I could put my finger on more details. But in general I just feel that in GW:Factions Master Togo “earned” my characters respect and gave the impression to respect my character and the others fighting with him as equals. In GW2 my character is forced to respect Trahearne because the game / some NPCs say I should. And it doesn’t help that Trahearn clearly respects my character a lot… because it comes from someone who I don’t respect…

Hope that made at least some sense…

Hypergrip.9673:

A lot of times it is mentioned how he saved character XYZ, did amazing stuff, etc. and that is supposed to make me feel some sort of respect for the character… but it just doesn’t.

Hypergrip.9673:

I wish I could put my finger on more details. But in general I just feel that in GW:Factions Master Togo “earned” my characters respect and gave the impression to respect my character and the others fighting with him as equals. In GW2 my character is forced to respect Trahearne because the game / some NPCs say I should. And it doesn’t help that Trahearn clearly respects my character a lot… because it comes from someone who I don’t respect…

Hope that made at least some sense…

Spot on. It’s because, as middle school writing teachers love saying, they’re telling instead of showing.
He doesn’t do anything amazing, you’re just told that he’s amazing and that he’s done all these non-specific amazing things.
He doesn’t struggle with becoming the leader of the pact, he just tells you that he’s struggling internally until he tells you that he’s over it.
He doesn’t have a personality, you’re just told that he has one and that you’re instant-super-best-friends.

Telling has its uses, but to make your audience feel anything you need to show them.

Effusion.4831:

Spot on. It’s because, as middle school writing teachers love saying, they’re telling instead of showing.
He doesn’t do anything amazing, you’re just told that he’s amazing and that he’s done all these non-specific amazing things.
He doesn’t struggle with becoming the leader of the pact, he just tells you that he’s struggling internally until he tells you that he’s over it.
He doesn’t have a personality, you’re just told that he has one and that you’re instant-super-best-friends.

Telling has its uses, but to make your audience feel anything you need to show them.

Totally. And one of the more annoying things about it is just how ridiculous half the stuff they tell you about him is:

-Sayeh (if I remember her name correctly) and how she’s apparently made this unbreakable oath to him because he’s so awesome.
-“Oh, yeah, I helped kill the corrupted previous Master of Whispers, so the whole Order of Whispers basically owes me big time. No big deal.”
-Tybalt and him go way back and are best friends forever.
-Sieren and him go way back and are best friends forever.

I haven’t done the Vigil yet, but I’d put money on something similar going on in that route. All this, compounding with the NPC dialogue and adoration for him, like “If Trahearne is that 1 in 662 chance, I’ll take them odds!” at Claw Island, the “Wow, Trahearne defeated that powerful phantom! What a man!” in the excavation site, and “Three cheers for Trahearne for saving Tyria! Oh and the commander killed Zhaitan, don’t forget that!” after the final mission, just left me shaking my head in disbelief, and gave me every reason to be annoyed by this character’s very presence in the story.

“Don’t worry, I know a ritual for this.” Of course you do, Trahearne. Of course you do.

here is what i posted in another thread and mean every word about it…

Yes the moment that Trahearne steps in and becomes the lead and you are just “his right hand man” it steals the thunder and premise of you being the hero.
We become the Prominent Lackey for the true hero Trahearne!!!
Woot. I have become the Prominent Lackey of the true hero….
sarcasm in these statements (just in case you didn’t catch the tone Anet)…
The point is valid. Storyline arc when this occurs is evident we are not the prime part of the storyline…. We become the lackey….
How did you not see this in your storywriting???
Baffling… completely and utterly baffling. I don’t mind the other parts of the story and honestly don’t mind the part where you are being groomed. I just didn’t know I was being groomed to be not the hero but rather being a lackey. Everything else while being not super dark or foreboding is fine and understandable. You have to write it for a variety of age levels.
Good work training youngsters to aim for the middle

Not loving the Trahearne part. You know, the Caithe character and voice actor… I could have gotten into following her.

Trahearne’s whiney “I’m a scholar, not a soldier” to which I’m “then step aside and let a real man do the job!”

I don’t like trahearne either, but for different reasons.

I have no idea who this green dude even is. As a matter of fact, I have no idea who these tree people even are; they simply just popped out of nowhere some time between GW1 and GW2. Also, during personal story quests, he does JACK to help me kill things; he hits like a wet noodle and just follows me around annoyingly. In fact, he’s more of a liability than a sidekick…. (I just realized, I’m his sidekick. Hilarious) And this scrub somehow always gets the credit for doing this, saving that, killing things when in reality, I killed everything for this incompetent scrub. So, someone tell me why he deserves to be the “marshal” when he hasn’t done and doesn’t do jack