Guild Wars 2

Yocy.4160:

I hope Trahearne won’t turn into kormir.2
Although I really liked Kormirs character she did steal godhood while she did nothing to deserve it imo >.>

Trahearne is even worse because his voice and everything are annoying me as well.
So lets just pray he won’t absorb the power of a dragon only to become the first sylvari god or something xD.

She didn’t steal it, she was given it. I make it a personal policy not to go around questioning gods about their antics. Except Dhuum, because I questioned whether hos caps lock key got stuck. I am not sure what happened afterwards.

Pfft, Trahearne’s part in shaping the world is done. He cleansed Orr and in essence stepped down from leading the Pact so it could be directed at Zhaitan. Right now Destiny’s Edge is riding the forefront, not Trahearne.

Trahearne is like JD Drew.

diamondgirl.6315:

Trahearne is like JD Drew.

That’s an insult to one of my most hated players to ever put on a Sox uniform. At least Drew could manage in right field.

If Treehorn was out there, he’d just wait for Ellsbury or Pedroia to make the catch, then take all the credit.

Bearzu Smash.5962:

diamondgirl.6315:

Trahearne is like JD Drew.

That’s an insult to one of my most hated players to ever put on a Sox uniform. At least Drew could manage in right field.

If Treehorn was out there, he’d just wait for Ellsbury or Pedroia to make the catch, then take all the credit.

This insult only works if Trahearne takes personal credit for things he didn’t do. Which he hasn’t. At all.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Bearzu Smash.5962:

diamondgirl.6315:

Trahearne is like JD Drew.

That’s an insult to one of my most hated players to ever put on a Sox uniform. At least Drew could manage in right field.

If Treehorn was out there, he’d just wait for Ellsbury or Pedroia to make the catch, then take all the credit.

This insult only works if Trahearne takes personal credit for things he didn’t do. Which he hasn’t. At all.

But he has…
for example, the name “Fort Trinity”, or things you’ve done with NPCs in some of the various forks in the story missions

synk.6907:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Bearzu Smash.5962:

diamondgirl.6315:

Trahearne is like JD Drew.

That’s an insult to one of my most hated players to ever put on a Sox uniform. At least Drew could manage in right field.

If Treehorn was out there, he’d just wait for Ellsbury or Pedroia to make the catch, then take all the credit.

This insult only works if Trahearne takes personal credit for things he didn’t do. Which he hasn’t. At all.

But he has…
for example, the name “Fort Trinity”, or things you’ve done with NPCs in some of the various forks in the story missions

Examples beyond that will be required, and I’ll have to send one of my characters to go look into it. I’ll say this right now, I haven’t seen him take blatant “Oh I did this” credit for anything. I’ve seen him use “we” more often, as in “the Pact”.

As in “I have three orders here who barely tolerated each other and the Commander belongs to one of them. Giving any one of them credit for doing more than the others would create friction which could drive one or both of the other orders to just walk away and try to handle it alone.”

Edit: I’ll leave this here too:

Scholar Inkblood: Well done, Marshal Trahearne. That Orrian ugly looked nigh unstoppable, but you did it.

Trahearne: The Pact did it. Our combined efforts made this happen. Just as we’ll defeat Zhaitan together.

Yes he sure takes credit for other people’s work.

I just don’t understand how the writers, after acknowledging how terrible the idea was to have Kormir steal your godhood, decide to do the same thing yet again. Trahearne is basically Kormir all over again. He hijacks your story, starts commanding you around, and takes the glory… much like Destiny’s Edge did, which was also awful. I was so annoyed by the forced way in which Logan Thackery had to stay behind during the last mission, only to have him pop up and pull an airship from his pants near the end. Was that supposed to redeem him? Was that supposed to make him less of a empty bland good guy as he’s been through out the game? Dear Grenth, I hated the way Destiny’s Edge kept being thrown in my face. I kept wondering; “Is this really MY personal story? Or is it theirs?”.

When Tibalt showed up, at least things seemed to pick up. There was no more mention of Destiny’s Edge, and things seemed more centered around my character again. But uh, oh, they instantly kill off one of the few likable characters in the story. And normally that wouldn’t be so bad, if there were other likable characters left. But there are none… not even the player’s character! That was one of the few characters that kept the story entertaining.

And then Trahearne pops up, hijacks your whole story… and then Destiny’s Edge blows up Zhaitan, and we see Destiny’s Edge march into the unset, with our player’s character somewhere to the side as a disillusioned side character.

Did none of the writers see anything wrong with that? Maybe we should leave out the term “personal story” next time.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

But uh, oh, they instantly kill off one of the few likable characters in the story. And normally that wouldn’t be so bad, if there were other likable characters left. But there are none… not even the player’s character!

Agreed with everything you posted. Player’s character is like a wooden plank with a smiley face on the other side and sad face on the other. Then we have this dilemma with the Anet writing team. It’s obvi they have lost their touch after prophecies.. I mean, losing our leader Rurik made our characters to be the leaders and guiding people of Ascalon to Kryta.. Then players had tot defeat White Mantle and finally beat Lich all by ourselves. We got some guidance though, but did Glint jump in to the final battle and steal all our glory? Nope.

In Factions ,on the other hand, we had to face Mhenlo’s and Togo’s bromance. Player became irrelevant, more like an errand boy for Mhenlo. But it wasn’t that bad.. Yet..
Since I already represented my despise towards Kormir, I won’t do it again. But I will say that writing team has no imagination whatsoever. The backstory of GW2 may be great, I don’t know. Haven’t read the books. But I don’t care about it. When I play the game I see Destiny’s Edge as bunch of whining girls (espec. Logan) who accomplish nothing. And Trahearne as the most annoying character in history of video games.. Like reborn Kormir but ten times worse. And they get all the glory.

Only thing I liked doing in the story quests after Claw Island was leaving Trahearne die and never ress him until the end of the mission( if he was not needed to end it anyway). At least there were no annoying whiny depressed chit chats based around him.

I am still waiting for examples of where Trahearne takes away your glory.

^Yeah, same. People seem to focus on the “I’ve decided to call it Fort Trinity” line, while completely forgetting all the times the NPCs (Trahearne included) tell you how awesome you are. He makes it very clear that he considers you a friend and appreciates your help.

Gomoratoad.9867:

^Yeah, same. People seem to focus on the “I’ve decided to call it Fort Trinity” line, while completely forgetting all the times the NPCs (Trahearne included) tell you how awesome you are. He makes it very clear that he considers you a friend and appreciates your help.

I played that mission a long time ago, but what I remember is that he asked you for advice on a name, and then turned around to the three order leaders who were still sort of growling at each other and said it to assert authority and keep them from laying into each other. Because, remember, your character is a member of one order . . . if “the Commander came up with the name” was said, then one of the orders then had a reason to think they were above the others in importance.

Ain’t politics grand . . .

Bloody Zac.8960:

I really, REALLY want Trahearne to go insane.

I just have this picture of Trahearne, not being able to get over his Wyld Hunt being over, goes deeper into Orr. You, as his second-in-command, follow him.

At the end, Trahearne is trying to re-(re?)animate Zhaitan, and you have to put him down.

Obviously, probably not going to happen, but it’d feel good.

This. There are several part of the story that I can’t stand. Tedious affairs like Claw Island with terrible rewards for massive amounts of monotous work. I REALLY hate Claw Island.
The prophecy quest, is ridiculous. Following trehearne on his ego-trip, getting into lengthy battles for no XP, no loot, with another terrible quest reward at the end. I mean seriously. Fighting to the death in a vision? Really?

The worst part of these quests and others is that your lumbered with this dullard trehearne with his monotonous voice and smug diaglogue. All hail the mighty Trehearne who in battle does literally no damage to any enemy, thorughout any fight, ever and gets killed at the drop of a hat. All hail the most useless NPC ever created, unable to serve as even the slightest distraction or assistance as you get wailed on by every mob on the map at the same time.
I might not hate Trehearne so much, had he actually been of any use in any fight at all. I typically play sylvari and so get stuck with his worthless, irritating presence from pretty much the start.
I wouldn’t even need him to go insane. Just give me a mini-game where I get to punch face repeatedly for as long as I want.
Or make him friendly fire-able so that I can kill him at the start of any quest, get the useless fecker out of the way and concentrate on the mission without listening to his worthless prattling.
An option to turn off all of his dialogue in and out of scenes would also be good. Really, one of the worst things about the lengthy story missions, which ar painful enough to have to suffer anyways, is having his constant, ceaseless commentary on every bloody thing, all the way through.
Please ANET, just let me beat trehearne til he stops talking. Prettty please.

Between bad voice acting and stealing the spotlight, Trahearne completely ruins the story for me post claw island. It’s especially jarring after how good the first half of the story is. Honestly, were this a subscription game, this character alone would have made me end my subscription and will likely stop me from getting any future expansions based on the story content.

I wish Trahearne died to the zombies instead of Forgal. It would at least be better to have Paul Eiding take your shine than salad man.

Seconded, and I’d especially love it if after Trahearne gets locked in zombie fort, Forgal goes: Trahearne? TRAHEAAAAAARNE !!!!! <cues gameover music>

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I am still waiting for examples of where Trahearne takes away your glory.

It’s not so much what Trahearne the character does, as the fact that the story itself changes to have the central focus on him instead of on the PC.

Trahearne can give you all the credit he wants, but if the game is treating you like a henchman, his words don’t go very far.

Anakita Snakecharm.4360:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I am still waiting for examples of where Trahearne takes away your glory.

It’s not so much what Trahearne the character does, as the fact that the story itself changes to have the central focus on him instead of on the PC.

Trahearne can give you all the credit he wants, but if the game is treating you like a henchman, his words don’t go very far.

I can’t think of myself as a henchman when I get things like this screenshot. Sorry, I just . . . I just don’t feel like I’m unimportant enough when I get told straight to my face that there are people actually awed by my efforts.

Am I the only one who doesn’t hate Trahearne? He’s more like a burdened sylvari unsure of his destiny, who only found hope to succeed with your help. He can command all he wants – fort trinity knows I’m the real hero. Besides, I’m mainly sylvari. He would never have gotten that sword if it wasn’t for me. :p

The only thing I hate is how ambiguous the missions can be…“Wait, I didn’t agree to that! Bad Idea! Why did no one tell me this?!”

Arikyali.5804:

Am I the only one who doesn’t hate Trahearne? He’s more like a burdened sylvari unsure of his destiny, who only found hope to succeed with your help. He can command all he wants – fort trinity knows I’m the real hero. Besides, I’m mainly sylvari. He would never have gotten that sword if it wasn’t for me. :p

The only thing I hate is how ambiguous the missions can be…“Wait, I didn’t agree to that! Bad Idea! Why did no one tell me this?!”

Read the thread, as much as you can. I like the concept of the character. I have issue with how he kind of drops in if you’re not Sylvari, but I don’t hate him. I think the hate over “stealing your glory” is way . . . way unfounded . . .

Though I still think the voice director needed something different for the sylvari than slightly flat vocals.

He’s a depressed necromancer. It fits nicely.

Arikyali.5804:

He’s a depressed necromancer. It fits nicely.

I miss the Diablo 2 necromancer. Depressed he was not. Grim yes, depressed no.

beastahead.9732:

Only thing I liked doing in the story quests after Claw Island was leaving Trahearne die and never ress him until the end of the mission( if he was not needed to end it anyway). At least there were no annoying whiny depressed chit chats based around him.

My friends and I use to do the story quests together and with Ts3 active for the kicks and laughs… We use to let him die and then dance over his dead body :P

One of the many, many, many things that I hate about that guy is how he ends up without a scratch. Kormir loses the eyes at least… but him? He ends up combed and made-up, fresh like the lettuce he is. Was too much to ask for him to lose a leg or something? :’(

My main problem with Trahearne (as well as a lot of the already covered ones) was just that he was really boring. The orders had far more interesting characters (Tybalt <3) and Destiny’s Edge had a much better dynamic going which should have been resolved through the story rather than the dungeons. Trahearne has no depth, no apparent interesting backstory or accomplishments besides being a scholar (of which we already have an entire order of, who are also warriors). When he became commander I double took: why take the most boring character, who also apparently has very few qualifications as a military commander, an push him to the forefront, when you already have 5 prominent military people from each race who could fill that rule far better?

I guess there’s less dislike for him if you start as a sylvari yourself. Can’t remember, but I think he shows his face earlier to the sylvari than to the other races, so he’s not mercilessly shoved into the personal storyline.

To me, he came off as a guy who was unsure of his destiny or his place in the world, with little hope of achieving his wyld hunt. He didn’t even believe in himself to become a commander without some prodding from the pale tree and the main character. Only after seeing how things were working out, did he get his confidence boost.

And at the end, he doesn’t go after Zaitan because that’s not his destiny calling – it’s the sylvari’s main char’s wyld hunt. He’s done his job of purifying the land, a task he never thought possible. So therefore, it’s his job to keep working to cleansing Orr.

He’s a really quiet, secluded (and depressed) guy, with a profound outlook on destiny and purpose. But only if you’re sylvari. :p

I didn’t mind my character tagging behind the leader who was ‘destined’ to defeat zhaitan. He is the world’s best scholar on all things orr after all. If his personality was askew, so be it. The one thing that did annoy me was how my character, although he was second in command, seemed to have gotten pushed out of the story, maybe my memories a bit off but towards the end I don’t think he was even referred to much, he was just sitting in the background.

At the very least, since I’m left with this feeling it’s not a good sign anyway.

Jyenh.5739:

I didn’t mind my character tagging behind the leader who was ‘destined’ to defeat zhaitan. He is the world’s best scholar on all things orr after all. If his personality was askew, so be it. The one thing that did annoy me was how my character, although he was second in command, seemed to have gotten pushed out of the story, maybe my memories a bit off but towards the end I don’t think he was even referred to much, he was just sitting in the background.

At the very least, since I’m left with this feeling it’s not a good sign anyway.

No, no he was given ample praise at “The Source of Orr” even as Trahearne purified the spring. I have screenshots :P

I don’t think the problem with Trahearne is necessarily that he hijacks the spotlight and the glory from the player. Personally I have no problem at all with taking a backseat to an NPC protagonist. In fact, I find the sheer novelty factor of having a Sylvari hero quite compelling and I think the writing team’s heart was in the right place.

I could play as an apple merchant or a wall clock in a video game for all I care, but if I’m going to be an NPC’s sidekick, that NPC has to be worth my time. He should be personable, ideally lovable, but at the bare minimum, he should be interesting. If I can’t form a bond with him, I end up feeling cheated out of my time and resentful that I’m now a whipping boy for someone I don’t care about.

The crux of the matter is that Trahearne is boring. He’s not just boring, he’s hollow; he’s a cipher, a blank space, a droning dentist’s PA system. We know nearly nothing about him at all when he suddenly springs himself into our lives, and then all that we learn is that he has some sort of vague fixation on “studying Orr”. We never learn why, nor do we ever see him rationally struggle with his sole desire in life. He just drones on and on about how he’s been drawn to the place like when Odo flipped out in DS9 and had to return to the Founders’ homeworld (someone less charitable might say it has tones more along the lines of Poochie’s: “I have to go now, my people need me”.)

Even that chief of the Seraph has more character. Trahearne is so utterly vacuous and sounds positively bored himself with his own story, and if he doesn’t care, why should I?

I also can’t really see how playing a full Sylvari campaign could help matters any… it sounds harsh but Trahearne is almost unsalvageable. There’s just no piece of backstory that could save his character since the point at which most players will meet him, he still sounds vacant and passionless about anything. Hell he doesn’t even flinch at the transition from “scholar” to war general that would make any real-life person run for the hills, and in fact your presence in helping his emotional transformation is completely perfunctory; he would’ve done just as well if you weren’t there at all.

It doesn’t take much at all to turn a simple character into one the player will ultimately love, cherish and feel compelled by. Often it’s just a small remark or a quirk, or a bit of background story to a character. Just look at Tybalt.

Basically, the problem with Trahearne isn’t that he’s the world’s true protagonist, it’s that:

a) He has no personality;
b) His bond with the player is contrived, superficial and not even required for him to perform;
c) There’s nothing to his story or his character to give him depth or make him feel real.

I don’t like Trahearne because, as others have stated, he’s a boring character. He doesn’t have a likeable personality, or a personality at all. I hated seeing our designated Order buddy who has actual personality being replaced by a guy I knew nothing about with very little backstory and no seeable personality.

His voice actor does not do much to help this as he sounds incredibly monotone and dull.

But there’s also a degree of Mary Sue-ism with how Trahearne is presented. Yes, he fulfills all the things the developers wanted him to be, but at the same time, he takes a lot of the story off of you. And then when we are reminded how he is a Firstborn and how much more beloved and wonderful he is to the Pale Tree over other sylvari—that is grating and I play a charr.

The character has no charismatic skills. It’s a point of the story that we see a reluctant hero rise because he needs to, but he is good at leading because the story tells us he is. I didn’t see any quality in him that made him an actual leader. And because he had no personality and no backstory on top of the fact that he steals the show away from more interesting characters, it made the story less enjoyable and less well, believable.

Also, I’d like to take a moment to draw attention to how inherently flawed the idea of Trahearne is. When you do the A Light in the Darkness PS, the story is literally all about Trahearne. You may as well not even be there because the Pale Tree does not even speak to you and will wait until Trahearne gets there before commencing with her dialogue. This really, -really- does feel like, no, that the personal story really is not about you after all.

But honestly, I would have been less hostile to a character stealing the limelight if said character was actually interesting. To close, Trahearne is personality-less, backstory-less, and monotone with no charisma to speak of.

Comparatively, I think Rytlock and Zojja are pretty cool people. :>

My first thought when the story started revolving around Trahearne was that he pretty much is a non-charismatic Ned Stark. He’s the tactician of the war, calls most of the shots and comes up with the big plan to take down Zhaitan.

The fact that he does that, I have no problem with. I think being the one big kitten hero who kills everyone in one blow is very overrated and just bad. However I do feel like Trahearne was not developped enough in his story. He pretty much arrives out of nowhere (for non-Sylvari players anyway) and takes commands after your mentor dies, and he rushes into power and leadership.

I feel like the story would have been much better if Trahearne struggled with his fate or something. Like say, a couple of missions where he is really reluctant to accept his task as a leader and you have to beat some sense into him. You would at least see him shaping into a leader. That would have satisfied me a lot more.

Also to be honest, his voice-acting doesn’t fit much. It’s not passionate, it lacks emotions. It’s too neutral. As is the character sadly, he’s just not deep enough.

I do like the story and the lore however, it’s mostly quite nice. It just has a few slacker moments which is a shame, but this is a video game, not a novel.

Sps.7862:

My first thought when the story started revolving around Trahearne was that he pretty much is a non-charismatic Ned Stark. He’s the tactician of the war, calls most of the shots and comes up with the big plan to take down Zhaitan.

For those who read those books, um, try a different comparison. :P

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sps.7862:

My first thought when the story started revolving around Trahearne was that he pretty much is a non-charismatic Ned Stark. He’s the tactician of the war, calls most of the shots and comes up with the big plan to take down Zhaitan.

For those who read those books, um, try a different comparison. :P

Meaning? :P

I realise Trahearne doesn’t hold a candle against good old Ned of course.

In thinking about it, I actually say it wouldn’t be impossible to rescue Trahearne, and this isn’t an old-school console game that prohibited patches… wink wink.

For example, say after your mentor dies and you (or most players) see Trahearne for the first time, he could gently offer:

“I’m sorry for your friend, Lightbringer/Recruit/Scholar. If it’s some consolation, your astonishing talent and grace on the battlefield did both him and the Order/Vigil/Priory a great service”.

A simple, sincere compliment that doesn’t sound forced or reactive. This could even segue into a conversation or a sequence where Trahearne expresses his doubts about his worth in combat, then with a little bit of nosy prodding (from you, not him) he briefly discusses what he’s been called to do. Then he could politely ask that, while this is not the time, perhaps you could give him some help or training for the coming fire.

Trahearne’s sternness can work, but the fundamental problem with characters that are always stern is that they’re just a chore to be around. (Characters that are over-the-top comical or extroverted are as one-dimensional but at least they’re rarely as dull). So, perhaps you could also have a sequence where Trahearne lets slip his mask of stone-cold level headedness, tells you of his deep doubts about himself and everything, opening himself up emotionally. In lieu of anything better to say, you (the PC) make a stupid joke, and he laughs, partly to try and please you, someone he considers a rare friend… but both of you know he can’t escape his serious mantle due to his duties.

Now you have a bond, he seems like a real person, and the rest of the story becomes much easier to swallow.

shimmerless.4560:

In thinking about it, I actually say it wouldn’t be impossible to rescue Trahearne, and this isn’t an old-school console game that prohibited patches… wink wink.

For example, say after your mentor dies and you (or most players) see Trahearne for the first time, he could gently offer:

“I’m sorry for your friend, Lightbringer/Recruit/Scholar. If it’s some consolation, your astonishing talent and grace on the battlefield did both him and the Order/Vigil/Priory a great service”.

A simple, sincere compliment that doesn’t sound forced or reactive. This could even segue into a conversation or a sequence where Trahearne expresses his doubts about his worth in combat, then with a little bit of nosy prodding (from you, not him) he briefly discusses what he’s been called to do. Then he could politely ask that, while this is not the time, perhaps you could give him some help or training for the coming fire.

Trahearne’s sternness can work, but the fundamental problem with characters that are always stern is that they’re just a chore to be around. (Characters that are over-the-top comical or extroverted are as one-dimensional but at least they’re rarely as dull). So, perhaps you could also have a sequence where Trahearne lets slip his mask of stone-cold level headedness, tells you of his deep doubts about himself and everything, opening himself up emotionally. In lieu of anything better to say, you (the PC) make a stupid joke, and he laughs, partly to try and please you, someone he considers a rare friend… but both of you know he can’t escape his serious mantle due to his duties.

Now you have a bond, he seems like a real person, and the rest of the story becomes much easier to swallow.

Part of the issue is that the sylvari are . . . odd. They’re not human and their emotions don’t always mesh up. As a Firstborn, it can be waved off that he’s had the time to develop and mature emotionally. After all, Caithe has few problems handling more complex emotional relationships.

(I’m not talking about that one. I’m talking about the fact she can feel mixed emotions about something rather than one single strong emotion.)

Still, there’s the notable hesitation when it comes to that side of life. Knowledge they can handle very well, but emotion? Being secure in feelings? Harder for the sylvari. Look at the younger ones who roam around, they’re not quite sure sometimes what emotion to emulate.

Someone once likened the sylvari to Vulcans, but there’s one critical difference. Vulcans understand emotion but suppress it. Sylvari need to learn what emotions mean, and yearn to experience it at first.

From a writing perspective, all of this is golden material to work with. But as an actor, director, and video game writer? This is really hard to work with and still have what you want to come through or be apparent work out. Someone being reserved can come off flat, someone being eager can come off childish, and someone who is naive can come off as a moron . . . in the wrong hands.

In the case of Trahearne, while I can see what they were going for, and it’s possible the script writer, the director, and the voice actor were acting in concert . . . it obviously didn’t come off as they hoped. The fact there is an overwhelming amount of complaints about him coming off as “dull/flat” (even from people who liked him), means something didn’t work as expected.

At this point, if they’re not going to patch a text dialogue into the game (so they don’t have to call the voice actor in again) then maybe Trahearne should retire to handle the revivification Orr with some other sylvari and let the Pact be led by a council of three with the Commander serving as tiebreaker in a case they can’t reach a decision.

Players get the feeling of being important, the Pact retains its nonpartisan leadership . . . mostly . . . and hopefully we can put this behind us like Rurik.

I’ll refrain from making any repeative ahte comment towards Trahearne since all of the stuff that bugs me about him has already been said n done. At this point in the game’s development it’s to late to “cut-out” Trahearne from the present storyline anyway. but I do sincerly hope the gw2 staff read this thread and learned something about making the right choices for support characters.

When I joined the Vigil I was convinced that my Mentor and I would be the one’s fighting off Zaithan. I made my faction choice very clear and because of Trahearne I got the feeling I was cheated out of my story influence. I didn’t chose a certain faction just to see my favorite characters get slaughtered off. that should happen to the ones I did NOT chose. same goes for Tonn, he was the first Asura that made me like the race. he was a great character and they just brush him off after a few missions without my choice in the matter.

In the next story arc I hope we’ll get a bit more controle about our subcharacters faith/role with the choices we make.

Expansion Spoiler:
TREEHURRRRRN gives into his nightmare and becomes a dragon champion that we slap down in one strike.
P.S. All sylvari are dragon minions of the un-named forest/nightmare dragon.

!http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/250x250/35076256.jpg!

knock yourselves out people;
http://memegenerator.net/Overy-Pessimistic-Trahearne

I agree with everything that has been said here and that is why it disturbs me anet has plans to bring him back in future storylines, please for the sake of everyone here just do it for one mission where we can watch him die and lets be done with the credit mooching cabbage.

My first character was a Sylvari ranger and I meet Trahearne before the battle at Claw Island. Throughout my story he felt like my warrior brother as we stood side by side with our greatswords defeating enemies. So the shock of loosing my mentor for Trahearne seemed perfectly normal to me and back then I couldn’t understand why people hated him.

For my second character I’ve made a human engineer with the Order of Whispers and I finally understand. Loosing Tybalt for Trahearne was just devastating and it showed me how bland and boring Trahearne really is. So I can only conclude to advise all new gw2 gamers to roll Sylvari for their first character, as story wise it made sense.

p.s. I really wanted to marry Caithe and have little salad babies

Stevens.2791:

My first character was a Sylvari ranger and I meet Trahearne before the battle at Claw Island. Throughout my story he felt like my warrior brother as we stood side by side with our greatswords defeating enemies. So the shock of loosing my mentor for Trahearne seemed perfectly normal to me and back then I couldn’t understand why people hated him.

For my second character I’ve made a human engineer with the Order of Whispers and I finally understand. Loosing Tybalt for Trahearne was just devastating and it showed me how bland and boring Trahearne really is. So I can only conclude to advise all new gw2 gamers to roll Sylvari for their first character, as story wise it made sense.

p.s. I really wanted to marry Caithe and have little salad babies

I posted up another topic about Personal Story NPCs, just this week.

It bugs me that the whole story is written in such a way that only through playing more than one iteration of the story can you really appreciate things. I mean, I get it, it’s meant to be that all the paths are progressing whether you’re present or not. Events do happen when you’re not present.

But you run into things like Trahearne’s appearance . . . which was off-putting at first even for me, which made sense to sylvari characters since he was already introduced. Every other race just looks at their mentor and goes “who the heck is this guy?” and gets a short little story about how he helped the mentor out.

I don’t know if I am the only one feeling this way (I have only skimmed through the 9 pages of thread) but lately I have had guild wars 1 and it’s story telling at the front of my mind and compared it to guild wars 2. Best example I can give to explain myself is guild wars: eye of the north. In that story I felt I was the main hero, I guided Jora, Ogden and Vekk. Heck even a quote of Jora made you feel important “This is why you lead” even though there is no mention of you later on. You felt close to the characters, they follow your guidence from the very begining, it didn’t matter that you were not the named hero, you felt it, you knew you lead them to glory and that is all i needed to know. When I logged onto guild wars 2 when it launched, I felt proud to see Jora’s statue in the norn starting area, I bonded with the characters.

You do not feel that with guild wars 2, Trahearne inspired nothing to me, and I always had this irritating feeling about the guild wars 2 story that didn’t let me enjoy it, they characters you cared about and saw you grow from a townie, sapling, apprentice etc into the hero you should have been are replaced by these characters out of nowhere and you’re left feeling like you are floating around watching it all happen and not really making any impact on the story. I really hope Anet takes our feelings into consideration.

Ps. I am sorry if you find this hard to read. I have not posted in a thread in a long time and feel a bit shy lol. I also lost my train of thought when trying to explain so much in one post :S

Wel, in short, i don’t like traherne because he steals the players light…. he becomes the head of the alliance whereas the player is actually the one who actually made it come true, someone with knowledge about the enemy but a lack of knowledge on a battlefield should not be marshall but have an advising roll… also the voice actor keeps calling claw island “chlore island” on top of that his voice doesn’t make me want to follow you it makes me think “i’m going to the crapper while he’s yapping” if him had chosen a voiceactor with a booming voice then i would at least listen to his yapping for that reason.
The truth of the matter is that traherne makes me feel obsolete and the personal story is more of a “traherne’s diary” then an actual personal story
oh and he’s bloody worthless in a fight, keeps dying and dying luckely Anet got rid of the “master togo must survive” thing that went on in the original gw storymissions, wich were vastly more interesting because you actually played with others in them

dontrippy.8906:

someone with knowledge about the enemy but a lack of knowledge on a battlefield should not be marshall but have an advising roll…

That can preclude nearly every player character with certain background choices, you know. About the only possible leaders by default would be humans (Defense of Shaemoor) and charr (Darn near everything).

Didn’t hate Trahearne or like him or simply care about him. He is the most boring character I have ever seen. I really hope we won’t see him again, in fact I find Vigil soldier nr 146 to be much more entertaining than him. I would even travel with stupid Rytlock, at least he sometimes says something funny.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

dontrippy.8906:

someone with knowledge about the enemy but a lack of knowledge on a battlefield should not be marshall but have an advising roll…

That can preclude nearly every player character with certain background choices, you know. About the only possible leaders by default would be humans (Defense of Shaemoor) and charr (Darn near everything).

true and untrue if you ask me, seeing as you’ve had multiple battles as practice as any player… i know not all battlefields are alike, but you do get to know your way around some of them henceforth u have some military experience if that doesn’t count in your eyes then i find it sad that the norn who accompanies you in the vigil quest dies instead of traherne, cuz he would’ve made an awesome leader of the pact personality, guts, strategy and a good sense of humor i quote "old man huh? i’ld watch out if i were you or i’ll “old man” you into the ground" now that’s something i wanna see from a leader…. or they should get dragon age origins’ sten to do it lol

dontrippy.8906:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

dontrippy.8906:

someone with knowledge about the enemy but a lack of knowledge on a battlefield should not be marshall but have an advising roll…

That can preclude nearly every player character with certain background choices, you know. About the only possible leaders by default would be humans (Defense of Shaemoor) and charr (Darn near everything).

true and untrue if you ask me, seeing as you’ve had multiple battles as practice as any player… i know not all battlefields are alike, but you do get to know your way around some of them henceforth u have some military experience if that doesn’t count in your eyes then i find it sad that the norn who accompanies you in the vigil quest dies instead of traherne, cuz he would’ve made an awesome leader of the pact personality, guts, strategy and a good sense of humor i quote "old man huh? i’ld watch out if i were you or i’ll “old man” you into the ground" now that’s something i wanna see from a leader…. or they should get dragon age origins’ sten to do it lol

Well . . .

Just knowing the battlefield, or how to fight, is not knowing how to lead. Some who very good warriors make really poor commanders, after all. Much like leading people in combat is different than leading them in peacetime.

I would not hesitate to say the charr Blood Legion player character could handle it. And anyone who worked in the Vigil probably has the temperament for the battlefield. Though they wouldn’t just be leading soldiers who would unquestioningly follow orders, they’d be leading Whispers agents who are more used to independent actions, and Priory scholars (who, let’s face it, are not primarily fit for thick combat).

Anyway, pretty far afield.

I also found Treahearne boring, to the point of skipping his dialogue even the first time through. I normally don’t skip anything the first time through.

I really like most of the initial storylines for all of the races I’ve tried and I liked all the of the Vigil, Orders, and Priory stories. So I’m not just a hater. I think Treahearne was always too serious, his appearance was too sudden, and he did nothing that made you want to invest in him. Nothing. Why should I care about Treahearne? He’s not funny or clever. Nothing about his character stands out. He feels like a plot device.

I agree with a lot of the other posters and think that the player should be the hero. Who cares that all the other players are the hero, too? It isn’t game breaking to me that we all share the same role. I’m an RP’er and most people just assume that the personal storyline is separate from RP. Make it a good story first and fit it into the game’s lore second.

Oh, and I have an idea for someone stealing the spot-light from you, if you insist on doing it again: make them a comedic character first, someone no one would expect. Imagine if Tybalt became the leader of the Pact instead of Treahearne. Then the hero really feels like their support is necessary to keep Tybalt in power while at the same time enjoying supporting him or her because he is a likable character.

I demand a quaggan leader of the Pact.

I have to agree with this post, so much. From the first time I saw him, I really really disliked him. He is the sole reason I haven’t finished my 80 guardian’s “personal” story.. I mean hell, if it is SO personal, why can’t I pick a leader? Let Trahearne be an option, but dont force me to follow his leafy butt, I don’t care who he is, I don’t care what he has done, I don’t like him, anything about it. He has utterly ruined the story, and has thus far caused me to cease all activity in personal story at a certain point on ALL my characters. It is sad really, the fact that the personal story resorts to this has caused me to wander off to play other games, as it was the centric reason for me to play this games. Very disappointed Arenanet, there are so many good things you did, why spoil it?!

AH well, it’ll probably never change. I’ll never get to face Zhaitan.

The issue I have with Trahearne as sole leader of the Pact, is that a part of the reason he is made leader is because of his experience and knowledge of the undead on Orr, and of Zhaitan. This is swell, but remind me again, aren’t there at least five other Elder Dragons, and their minions, running about Tyria? We’re given no information that he has anything but formal knowledge about any of the others.

I do hope that when we get around to dealing with Jormag, Primordus, Kralkatorrik and the other two, that the Pact leadership becomes a “Council”, with new members (hopefully of different races) added who are also experts on their respective Elder Dragon.

My issue with Trehearne largely surrounds the fact that he becomes much more important in moving the story forward than you do. At best you are a leader of a squad of your given order at any time. At worst you are running errands. All the while Trehearne stands in leadership of the orders of Tyria, solidifying the alliance and conducting this orchestra of destruction. Using that analogy your character might as well be playing tuba off on the side.

And after all is said and done, what are you left with as the player? You get to watch destiny’s edge and the Trinity come together and kill Zhaitan while you just so happen to be there as well, oh and you need 4 other random players with you who may or may not be your friends in game. /golfclap to that finale of my PERSONAL story as Trehearne is like ‘thanks mate’.