Guild Wars 2

Wow those are some hefty posts!

I fear we aren’t really on the same subject, you have a lot of complaints about the story which, not to sound dismissive, aren’t something I care enough about to discuss. Not that what you’re saying isn’t valid or worth the interlocution, it’s just I don’t feel any real emotion regarding the story, how it’s deployed, or its peripheries so I have no desire to debate on those topics…if that makes any sense.

The only places in the lore/story where I have problems are 1) The terrible handling of humans and thier lore-but that’s a very different topic-and 2) The unfairness that gets thrown Trahearne’s way.

I understand narratively he steals your thunder, so-to-speak, but the point is he is not a glory thief like some people make him out to be. Every encounter with him shows in very unsubtle ways his eagerness to share the credit, and even to heap it on everyone but himself. Honestly, whether or not he is a good leader, or is a good character from a literary standpoint is secondary to me. I suppose I’m an apologist but I think people should stop saying he’s some power-hungry, meglomaniac because it’s patently false. Got other problems with Trahearne? Fine by me. It’s ok to hate Trahearne I just wish more people would hate him based on facts.

To address more specificly some of the things you said…

One thing that stood out to me is the supposed lack of agency people seem to perceive. You wrote “he tells you what must be done every time, and gives you little choice” which is simply untrue. At nearly every quest step he consults you on how to proceed and we are even given a choice on what quest to undertake next through the game’s own mechanics. The fact that there branching storylines is proof that you do get choices.

I understand this is Trahearne’s story, no argument there, the problem then of course is does that bother you? Obviously it seems to be the case that it indeed bothers a vast majotiy of the player base (I’m one of the few who don’t mind suppose). But because it is his story doesn’t mean he’s the credit-stealing fiend everyone makes him out to be. He doesn’t steal anything from your character (in fact the PC suggests he become the Pact’s leader). But I suppose in a sense he steals something from the player themselves. Though angst caused by that should not be conflated with flaws in his character that simply don’t exist.

P.S. I have no idea what “Oh and disable textile on the forum pls.” means

Textile is the thing that makes random formatting appear in posts, like the underlining in my post above. It is supposed to be a formatting aid but it’s only damaging, at least to me.

About choices: they are not real choices. Trahearne says that something has to be done, and then proposes you two different ways to achieve it. Good storytelling would be: Trahearne states a problem, my character proposes two solutions and Trahearne expands on them. Then my character decides, and the NPC is a simple tool for the story. But that means recording lines for 10 different voice actors (the player character) instead of one. Also, the “branching” thing is stupid. Those are not branches. Those are quest-scoped forks, that rejoin instantly or within a couple quests. The story doesn’t change a bit. A branch is something important, an event that splits the flow of the story. Saving your mentor would have been a great branch. Losing LA would have been a great branch. Not unifying the Pact would have been a great branch. All of this could have been possible without altering the actual gameplay too much – just shifting some quest scripts here and there, and moving some quests earlier or later in the story. And recording more dialogue.

What bothers me is that the game advertises a “Personal Story”, but it is not my character’s one! I sat there waiting 80 levels for my character to do something epic and story-changing, but he never does. Trahearne is the one to found the Pact and lead people to victory against Zhaitan, which are the only two major plot nodes. We do unify DE, yes. I would prefer not talking about that, since I have never seen worse story writing than that storyline.

One of the things that could have been nice is to have the allies from the beginning of the game re-appear later. They wouldn’t need a major role per sé, but they could appear as allies or visitors. A random text-only reply would have sufficed. But the thing is now, the player will never see their former friends again and if they go back to their home instance, if they do see them, they’re mostly ignored.

Make the first friends part of the story, even if just through the use of cameos. That way, it wouldn’t matter as much that the Pact is led by Trahearne.

Hmm branch wasn’t the right word, but the point still stands that you make desicions. In fact the distinction you make between “how it’s done” and “how it should be done” are hardly that different, but again that’s an issue aside from Trahearne’s characterization.

Also the true brancing you call for would take a ridiculous amount of work, not to mention the continuity problems that would arise. Voice work, writing, making quests, and all the components that go into the stroy take time and resources it’s not so simple to add so many layers to the story.

“just shifting some quest scripts here and there, and moving some quests earlier or later in the story. And recording more dialogue.” I don’t think you realize how much effort something like this would actually entail. Though now again we’re straying into topics that I don’t have much to say on.

As for the Destiny’s Edge thing I suppose I don’t feel one way or the other about it.

Also @ ThiBash some characters do return or show up, though their role is so insignificant I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t notice.

Chiming in to say Treesus is really aggravating, from his awful voice acting to his complete naivete when it comes to anything and everything. It’s devastating hard to care about him, and very easy to resent him making every decision (under the guise of “consulting the player” with his options.)

The character of Trahearne never bothered me that much, but I think that’s because I played a Sylvari first, so I had a general feel for him by the time any of my characters made it to the later story missions. I had the basic context of Trahearne. But I agree, anyone who hadn’t come that way would be blindsided by his inclusion.

There are several things throughout the personal stories that hint that Trahearne has been an adventurer for a while and built up a lot of goodwill and respect. The heads of the Orders treat him like he’s already a well-known hero, he has this Largos who owes him, etc. Yet we as players never really see anything about that. If there was some time put into showing him in that light, that would go a long way. Even just side dialog as you go through missions (“Hey is that Trahearne?” “Yeah, he saved my whole village once from a bunch of Grawl – he convinced them that this bone minion he summoned was their new god.” etc) would have gone a long way. I get this feeling that Trahearne has this really interesting history, but we’ve never seen it.

ThiBash.5634:

One of the things that could have been nice is to have the allies from the beginning of the game re-appear later. They wouldn’t need a major role per sé, but they could appear as allies or visitors. A random text-only reply would have sufficed. But the thing is now, the player will never see their former friends again and if they go back to their home instance, if they do see them, they’re mostly ignored.

Make the first friends part of the story, even if just through the use of cameos. That way, it wouldn’t matter as much that the Pact is led by Trahearne.

This! I expected Reeva from my story to appear again or my warband…I can’t even remember what my warband members were called and that’s supposed to be important if you’re a charr :/ They rot somewhere in black citadel…

CharrGirl.7896:

I agree. I just recently resumed my personal story and my god it’s bad. It’s like it isn’t MY story anymore…it’s all about him and him being a great leader. My character barely gets any lines anymore… + his voice acting is terrible. Why did you have to replace awesome Forgal with this generic boring character? Anet, if you love your players you will remove Trahearne from the game entirely and never mention his existence again.

Every time I see him in a cutscene I feel like punching a hole through my screen

Btw, this guy would be awesome instead of Trahearne!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMLfACod48

You’re kidding, right? This guys voice is soooo goofy. I prefer Trahearne’s voice now.

Uberrod.1342:

CharrGirl.7896:

I agree. I just recently resumed my personal story and my god it’s bad. It’s like it isn’t MY story anymore…it’s all about him and him being a great leader. My character barely gets any lines anymore… + his voice acting is terrible. Why did you have to replace awesome Forgal with this generic boring character? Anet, if you love your players you will remove Trahearne from the game entirely and never mention his existence again.

Every time I see him in a cutscene I feel like punching a hole through my screen

Btw, this guy would be awesome instead of Trahearne!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMLfACod48

You’re kidding, right? This guys voice is soooo goofy. I prefer Trahearne’s voice now.

Davian Thule would have been far better. Of course, we already have the voice of Cyrus in this game.

I seem to always be in the minority about things, ALL the time, from RL to well, GW2 (since it is the only MMO worth my time).

I do not agree with the OP and most of you, mostly because I find Trahearne to be likeable and respectable. Also, I have made 6 characters so far, and I can honestly say that I have enjoyed each of their personal story quests SO very much. The stories are engaging and well plotted, they make my experience well, more personalized and fun. The way characters progress is very well planned and thought out in my opinion.

What most of you don’t seem to remember, and the message is out there in every possible way throughout the world of Tyria is that, this is NOT about you, this is about every race, every individual in the world, being faced with the possibility of being erased from the face of Tyria because of the threat of the raise of the elder dragons. This game is about coming together, forging alliances with the other races to face and defeat the dragons, and save Tyria and every other lesser race.

The might have chosen a Sylvari because they are the youngest race in Tyria, and much has been said about the raise of such race. Also, we don’t know what the next expansion will be about, we don’t know what the writers of this amazing game have planned for the future of this game.

This is my opinion, and I do not expect anyone to agree with me, I just think that people thinking that their hero should be the center of attention, when like I said before, this game is not about one individual, this is about all the races banding together to defeat the dragons and save their world, your personal story walks you through a path that leads to that goal and they keep telling you that, but apparently many people cannot see that.

sylvariherald.3901:

This is my opinion, and I do not expect anyone to agree with me, I just think that people thinking that their hero should be the center of attention, when like I said before, this game is not about one individual, this is about all the races banding together to defeat the dragons and save their world, your personal story walks you through a path that leads to that goal and they keep telling you that, but apparently many people cannot see that.

No, I agree absolutely. But that just begs the question even more… why make Trahearne the centre of attention either? Why not just focus on the Pact working together?

The way Trahearne is written is all the more jarring because it goes against everything else the game is telling you. That’s actually one of the reasons his role in the story seems so contrived to me.

I’ve heard plenty of arguments – and I agree – that the PC shouldn’t be some kind of mystical chosen one. The thing that always seems to be missing, though, is any compelling argument for why Trahearne should be.

It confuses me when this argument is used in favour of Trahearne, because it seems so internally contradictory. All the reasons the PC shouldn’t be the glorious saviour of Tyria would seem to me to apply to the major NPC too.

Uberrod.1342:

CharrGirl.7896:

I agree. I just recently resumed my personal story and my god it’s bad. It’s like it isn’t MY story anymore…it’s all about him and him being a great leader. My character barely gets any lines anymore… + his voice acting is terrible. Why did you have to replace awesome Forgal with this generic boring character? Anet, if you love your players you will remove Trahearne from the game entirely and never mention his existence again.

Every time I see him in a cutscene I feel like punching a hole through my screen

Btw, this guy would be awesome instead of Trahearne!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMLfACod48

You’re kidding, right? This guys voice is soooo goofy. I prefer Trahearne’s voice now.

You didn’t get the sarcasm? :P Traherne’s voice is so bad that having something hilarious like this would at least make me laugh and enjoy the cutscenes!

I enjoyed the personal story up until Claw island was retaken. The beginning cultural story arcs were great, the Order arcs that came after were also not bad. I liked both Tybolt and Frogal I haven’t played the Priory’s story arcs yet. The doomed order mentors are great and have a lot of personality in a short amount of time, I haven’t completed the PS yet but I assume they are gone for good. At least let me end their suffering by killing zombie versions of them for some excellent character wrenching story closure. Is that too much to ask? Maybe that happens but anyway moving on…

Trahearne comes in and slowly the personal story slides out from under your character’s feet as it seems to be more about him rather than the player’s character. If you didn’t notice it before the icing on the cake comes when he receives the tree sword from the mama plant, her name escapes me atm. It’s funny to me now I remember upon first seeing Trahearne thinking about how I hadn’t had a Sylvari side kick yet.

How is it that this is my character’s personal story and my character is supposed to be the hero when they do not get the fancy (yet goofy looking) sword? Not that I wanted it anyway that’s not the point. This is the equivalent of Sir Glahad being called the main hero. Sure he finds the Grail but who is given Excalibur? It’s the Legend of King Aurthur not Glahad. It’s the same story retold, the passing of the mysterious weapon to the to the soon to be unifier.

The thing is if you step back and look at the Personal Story for GW2 it’s really a story about Trahearne and not the player’s character at all. The story could have easily started at the point before Trahearne is tasked to retake Claw island and carry on from there. I can see that and I’ve not even finished the story yet. The character you created isn’t needed at all and could have been filled in by one of the Order mentors had they not heroically sacrificed themselves or any other random person or no one at all it could have all been Trahearne.

That’s the problem the main story of GW2 isn’t written for a generic character in mind it was written for Trahearne, and you just happen to tag along.

I really liked the opening story ideas and it did feel like a personal story as your character gained renown in their home town and then advanced through the ranks and earned respect within their chosen order, but just as your character was starting to come into their spot light on a grander world stage it’s snagged away by some guy you never seen before unless maybe you’re a Sylvari? It’s kind of annoying and at times discourages me from playing my personal story. Now rather than finishing up for the story’s sake I’m in it or the unique loot.

Fortunately this is just GW2, hopefully the expansions will involve your hero more thoughtfully and also Destiny’s Edge, they seem important after all. I expected that your chosen hero would be inducted into Destiny’s Edge since they seem to have lost a member anyway. This is what I gathered that Snaff was. If Trahearne replaces Snaff, then grr just argh ack and bleh. I don’t want to work my butt of to make him look good.

CharrGirl.7896:

Uberrod.1342:

CharrGirl.7896:

I agree. I just recently resumed my personal story and my god it’s bad. It’s like it isn’t MY story anymore…it’s all about him and him being a great leader. My character barely gets any lines anymore… + his voice acting is terrible. Why did you have to replace awesome Forgal with this generic boring character? Anet, if you love your players you will remove Trahearne from the game entirely and never mention his existence again.

Every time I see him in a cutscene I feel like punching a hole through my screen

Btw, this guy would be awesome instead of Trahearne!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMLfACod48

You’re kidding, right? This guys voice is soooo goofy. I prefer Trahearne’s voice now.

You didn’t get the sarcasm? :P Traherne’s voice is so bad that having something hilarious like this would at least make me laugh and enjoy the cutscenes!

Soulstorm left that bad of a taste in our mouth. To any Dawn of War fan, Soulstorm is like Trahearne to us. Heck, it’s like the lead writer took tips from Matt Ward now that I think about it.

Vax Tezhme.7128:

The character of Trahearne never bothered me that much, but I think that’s because I played a Sylvari first, so I had a general feel for him by the time any of my characters made it to the later story missions. I had the basic context of Trahearne. But I agree, anyone who hadn’t come that way would be blindsided by his inclusion.

There are several things throughout the personal stories that hint that Trahearne has been an adventurer for a while and built up a lot of goodwill and respect. The heads of the Orders treat him like he’s already a well-known hero, he has this Largos who owes him, etc. Yet we as players never really see anything about that. If there was some time put into showing him in that light, that would go a long way. Even just side dialog as you go through missions (“Hey is that Trahearne?” “Yeah, he saved my whole village once from a bunch of Grawl – he convinced them that this bone minion he summoned was their new god.” etc) would have gone a long way. I get this feeling that Trahearne has this really interesting history, but we’ve never seen it.

I hate to disagree but I have to, I just played through the personal story through Claw island as a sylvari and I still feel like shoving Trahearne into a woodchipper every time he comes on screen. His back story consists of “Awww man, you spent all this time studying and trying to figure out how to accomplish your wylde hunt of restoring Orr and you’re still no closer to your goal, that sucks I totally I feel bad for you”. Like this justifies him just waltzing into your personal story taking over everything and telling you what to do? Come on, that’s his problem not yours.

It’s even worse playing as a Charr too, you’re hole attitude prior Trahearne deciding to be Neo says that your character would have never stood by and let some random scholar and untested commander take control of all 3 orders (that’s just not how Charr logic works, you have to fight and earn your command). Hell if he even tried the PC would have reduced him to kindling and picked his teeth with the remains (he’ll that’s your 2nd personal story mission, to get rid of an unworthy leader) so why he just rolls over for Trahearne and asks for a belly rub is beyond me.

My so called “personal” story has ended for all 6 of my chars at Lions Arch Sewers. At that point it had nothing to do with my chars anymore, and I want no part of Trahearne.

My main Characters are Norn. NORN. Why am I off screwing around in stinking Kryta and forgetting Jormag exists?

In my opinion, the Story Quests are shallow, tedious, unbalanced for some classes, and have no real options or choices.

I am very glad I read the Trahearn spoilers. I won’t waste any more time on this canned story.

For all I care, Trahearn can summon Kormir, conjure up Gwen and Togo, and they can have a ball leaching fame off each other and doing nothing.

I have to agree with some of the other posters; the story ended for me right around Lion’s Arch. After that it just felt like it had nothing to do with my character(s).

I mean the first part of the story was decent at least, but then it fell apart and was just way too shallow and had almost no character development whatsoever (oh look another npc died… I don’t really know you, actually I’m learning your name for the first time as you die, but I’m really supposed to somehow feel some emotional attachment to you? Right, okay then…).

I think a lot of the dislike towards Trahearne is because of how shallow the last half of the Personal Story ended up feeling.

wonder if any of the metrics show a drop-off in personal story completion when it gets to the “risen mobs is all you fight now” part.

just adding my voice to those saying Trahearne.. well, no way to say it politely, he sucks :P

my main is a Sylvari and he wanted nothing more than to kick Trahearne off the airship right into Zhaitan’s lap

he needs to turn into a villain, or become a permanent fixure of Orr to restore the land. at least in that case, he’ll have done something worthy of respect

i don’t like him.

i liked how my story goes until Trahearne shows up. Hes almost Every. Story. I don’t like that, its almost his story now. Not my story! He just bossing you around, do that and you do that! Trahearne doing not so much nothing special. Not even his fighting skill aren’t special. Trahearne is not intresting at all. His voice is not interesting and he looks like young villian bushman out of jungle. just fix him or something.

You should add more personals story’s in this one. something epic and something what makes you shock. And also why always main character has to be commander at late game? why he/she can’t be just do what ever he/she wants? be anti-hero, who dosen’t wanna be do with Order,but wanna fight against elder dragons, Or be traveler, who likes to travel and somehow end fighting to elder dragons.. Just anything! as long its Main character story not NPC story!

And if gonna add more personals story’s after Zhaitan story. I wanna see my old partner warband Dinky and be to my partner again! and main character fahter also (those who has picked charr, Honorless Gladium), he said hes coming help him someday.
that i want to most to see. And also make Trahearne as Villian or anything so beat his garlic butt!

I had a long conversation with my hubby today about how we feel the story would’ve flowed better, and it all revolved around Destiny’s Edge. And not just because I read the book, but because it just makes sense. They were a guild (a small one, but a guild) that successfully faced and killed minions of the elder dragons before, large and small. They took on an elder dragon alone with Snaff’s know-how and would’ve won, had Logan not left. I feel like we needed to reconcile their guild far earlier in the personal story line and have Trahearne be their adviser on all things undead/Orr/Zhaitan. That would’ve made more sense for the three orders to follow a guild who was tested and true, even if there was some Jerry Springer internal drama now and again. Trahearne could’ve been happy in his place as Orr cleanser and information giver and Destiny’s Edge (along with your character, perhaps a new honorary member of the guild?) could do the heavy lifting and each character could help you out as you go through your personal story. I got really tired of being stuck with Eeyore (Trahearne) “This won’t go well…” before every battle and his constant complaining.

For future expansions, please focus more on Destiny’s Edge and less on any adviser, especially Trahearne. (Or give the poor voice actor more stage direction than ‘boredom’ and ‘depression’.)

Another thing we talked about was that I really wish our mentor hadn’t died in Claw Island. Except maybe Forgal, his back story made it more understandable why he might be tired and want to go out like a boss, given how norn are raised to behave and his family’s history. But Tybalt and Sieran didn’t need to die, they should’ve dropped mines and a wall of fire respectively and ran off with you.

Just our collective two cents. Love gw2 gameplay, the story was good until Trahearne takes over, then it was just disappointing.

Honestly speaking i liked the progress of my personal story until trahearne came in,he is a badly written,most uninteresting,visually horrible(a talking cabbage),robotic voice acting,dull and has to be the most uncharismatic character that is made into the leader of the pact. I would prefer to be a Destiny’s Edge sidekick rather than being a sidekick of Trahearne,best approach to personal story would be having each member of DE to be the leader for their respective race and player’s character being a disciple to them and thats how i would prefer the story to be

It’s not that I hate Trahearne. He indeed is an interesting character & I wouldn’t mind having him follow me in MY personal storyline. But I want my storyline, I don’t want to be his sidekick in his personal storyline. After Claw island it just went horrible. I play with a Sylvari so I had him since the early missions in my storyline. Please Anet if you want to feature Trahearne again be my guest but please make it be in our storyline & not in his. I don’t want a character in my story that plays a bigger role than me. For example Tybalt. He was our partner, he helped us gave us some hints & helped me decide & what not but with out pretty much reminding us every single mission that he has a higher rank than us, not like Trahearne pretty much rubs it in our face a couple of times that he is Zhaitan’s target because he is the marshal & not us (Something that is obviously pathetic to think, because it’s pretty much our character that hinders Zhaitan every single time).

I’ll add agreement to this. Trahearne is just woeful. The voice work sounds dull and emotionless. We know Sylvari have emotion, we’ve seen it in a few of them. This guy though … the actor sounds bored and uninterested, it comes through as a character that sounds bored an uninterested. Then to top that off, he comes out of left field, with no experience to lead the three pacts. Three pacts that earlier claim to be the best and argue with each other as to their own superiority, suddenly and willingly let a guy with no experience other than spending time in Orr, lead them … Destiny’s edge would have been far more realistic in uniting the pacts and leading the forces, but no, we got tree boy and his quest to cleanse Orr.

At his introduction, it went from being my story to Trahearne’s story, plain and simple. I was there as a side kick, to an uninteresting and useless character, nothing more. I have no desire to do the personal story part of any of my alts now due to this one character.

Trahearne is the Jar-Jar Binks of Guild Wars. A character meant to be a unifying component that turned out to be a joke. Jar-Jar was shuffled off to be a senator, can I suggest Trahearne, in any future expansion, be too busy running the pact to have any direct or prolonged involvement? Further, can he revisit the pale tree and have some personality and life injected into him, and perhaps have the voice actor use expression, tone and inflection when talking? His rousing speeches were snooze-worthy.

Destiny’s edge – a group of fighters, warriors, scholars, with vast experience in battle tactics and battle. Trahearne – a first born Sylvari, who has spent most of his life studying the Orr of old, with no combat experience and an initial unwillingness to lead anything (cliché there by the way), but hey, he got a sword, so now he is the leader.

The Sylvari have potential, Trahearne ruins it and ruins the personal story for me.

The best part of the story ends when you lose your Order mentor at Claw Island. Your mentor had character and we got to know them: their sacrifice was devastating.

After that an emotionless Treesus attempts to take over and I don’t think he gave two kittens about anything that was going on. I could argue that he was apathetic at best and sarcastic at the worst. I don’t care that my character isn’t the main character but give me a character to follow that inspires me: Who wants to follow Ben Stein into battle?

Also, after we lose our mentor (which was devastating because we put time in with them), we run into a series of characters that turn undead -sometimes in the same mission we meet them – and then we have to kill them. Over and over again while Treesus monotones in the background. I caught myself not giving two kittens about those characters -just like Treesus.

Why didn’t we have to fight our undead mentor?

Rain King.5914:

Why didn’t we have to fight our undead mentor?

I kept waiting for that to happen as well. It never did

Drake.7952:

Umm OP, It is true that most games don’t allow you to be the hero people talk about and build statues for the player, and we made do with the fact that at least we know what we did, we know we’re the true heroes and that sort of stuff, but Guild wars 2 wanted to CHANGE that, it WANTED to make us the hero, it promised that it would make it so, if this was just another MMO, this thread wouldn’t exist. So think about that.

I thought about that, a lot. And do you know what did I realize? That they lied. They lied, or maybe they didn’t know how to do it, and only disappointed us. Or maybe they were so delusional that they actually thought they accomplished it.

I bid for the latter. And it sadden me. Dear god, I wanted to like this game so, so much… Why, Colin? Why?

CharrGirl.7896:

I agree. I just recently resumed my personal story and my god it’s bad. It’s like it isn’t MY story anymore…it’s all about him and him being a great leader. My character barely gets any lines anymore… + his voice acting is terrible. Why did you have to replace awesome Forgal with this generic boring character? Anet, if you love your players you will remove Trahearne from the game entirely and never mention his existence again.

Every time I see him in a cutscene I feel like punching a hole through my screen

Btw, this guy would be awesome instead of Trahearne!

Of course he would, Space Marines are the Universal kittenes, Trahearne is some random Sylvari who says “Claur” Island and has studied Orr for 25 years but never puts his knowledge to decent use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMLfACod48

Ema.4953:

Rain King.5914:

Why didn’t we have to fight our undead mentor?

I kept waiting for that to happen as well. It never did

Ive encountered a few random events in Bloodtide Coast that had some very upsetting references though. On the other hand, how could Seiran be risen?

We were leaders in “Prophecies”, we were main in others campaigns. Such historical members as Kormir, Gwen, Master Togo, and so on, they weren’t as important heroes in story as our characters. Well no, they were, but it weren’t them who story was talking about, it was my character. That’s what I felt when I played in GW1.
I don’t feel it in GW2.
In GW1 story tells about hero, a hero which is our playable character, but not some npc, and that is amazing.

Now I have a feeling that story in GW2 is not about our characters at all. Except storyline starting 11 lvl, which is telling us about our character’s past. That’s all! After that we are slowly becoming a shadow, becoming not the main heroes. That’s what I feel right now.

After what you have shown us in GW1, when OUR character was that person, who the Prophecy was talking about, I’m very disappointing right now. I don’t like the idea about that npc sylvari, who leads people. I thought it would be us.

Rilke Cadmus.6829:

Ema.4953:

Rain King.5914:

Why didn’t we have to fight our undead mentor?

I kept waiting for that to happen as well. It never did

Ive encountered a few random events in Bloodtide Coast that had some very upsetting references though. On the other hand, how could Seiran be risen?

When you write yourself into a corner -you write yourself out of a corner. Zhaitans abominations are constantly evolving and changing: that is your work around. Simply create a story arc about a new type of abomination that uses Sylvari body parts and you reveal that poor Sieran was exploited for the prototype.

sylvariherald.3901:

………… I just think that people thinking that their hero should be the center of attention, when like I said before, this game is not about one individual, this is about all the races banding together to defeat the dragons and save their world, your personal story walks you through a path that leads to that goal and they keep telling you that, but apparently many people cannot see that.

I’m glad you liked it. I really am. Its good to know someone, somewhere is getting enjoyment out of it.

But while the game might be about getting everyone to work together for the common good (and how cliche is that? did Anet not get the memo that the Alliance and Horde are both sick of that very thing??), the “story” is not about that, its about T-boy and his personal errand boy/girl.

I got so sick of it I have yet to finish my personal story when before I couldn’t WAIT to see what happened next. Its clear we are meant to relate/admire/appreciate/want to follow T-boy but it failed. It failed HARD with most players and almost all saw it as a bait and switch.

Its funny the little things players can fixate on, but the disappointing turn the story took has soured the entire story experience for me. Maybe if more story was released that was of the quality of the pre T-boy stuff, that made me care again….. but who knows right? I somehow doubt we’ll see anything like that anytime soon. Anet needs a while to come up with a better way to troll the playerbase, something to upstage both T-boy and class balance…..

Rain King.5914:

Rilke Cadmus.6829:

Ema.4953:

Rain King.5914:

Why didn’t we have to fight our undead mentor?

I kept waiting for that to happen as well. It never did

Ive encountered a few random events in Bloodtide Coast that had some very upsetting references though. On the other hand, how could Seiran be risen?

When you write yourself into a corner -you write yourself out of a corner. Zhaitans abominations are constantly evolving and changing: that is your work around. Simply create a story arc about a new type of abomination that uses Sylvari body parts and you reveal that poor Sieran was exploited for the prototype.

I think you just solved the problem concerning Traeherne and how the dragon who dwells in the Unending Sea can be factored in for any future content.

I actually like Trahearne’s character to be honest. He’s not the main character in my story, and it makes sense that he’s the leader of the Pact(He’s sylvari, he’s not of the three orders, it is his destiny to cleanse Orr).

I also like how high of a regard he holds me in Makes me feel special!

Trahearne would be salvageable (pun intended) as a Marshal if he was not as inept when it comes to combat (perhaps the game’s fault more than his) and tactics.

other than his knowledge of Risen related stuff and Orrian history, he has nothing to offer to the Pact and those are things he could easily offer as an advisor. it would make much more sense for Destiny’s Edge to actually lead the Pact.

when he takes credit for stuff we did however… he crosses the line

I don’t know, why did you make this Sylvari the main in OUR character’s story. Not king Adelbern nor prince Rurik, not even Sulma or the others, weren’t as important as our character. King Adelbern…. we forgot about him right after his last meeting with his sun in Rin.
Prince Rurik was the main character at the very beginning, but not for long, only for several missions. And wen Rurik died, our character was the one, who took the leadership and that’s when our character’s story began. It was our character who destroyed White Mantle, Mursaat, Lich Lord, him and only him along (or her).

If you made the main figure in those events with killing dragons not our characters, then those event’s shouldn’t be the main subject, cause it’s not about our character’s story, it’s about someone else’s story, but why do I care about some npc story? I care only about my character, and I want to see my character’s story, not someone else.

If our hero not the one, who take the lead against those dragons, than this plot should take a step back to a shadow.

In GW1 there weren’t any references about our GW1 hero’s past. But, all those events, with White Mantle, Mursaat, Lich Lord, Dwarfs, Destroyers, Shiro, Abaddon, all of it connected directly to our GW1 hero.

I don’t see that plot in GW2 is connected with our hero. After we met members of the three orders of Tyria (26 lvl PS), that when our character’s story finished completely.
That’s hilarious, his story completed at the very beginning. After that, our character not the one who this story is talking about, I don’t know who is he, but not that person who Plot is talking about.

Returning to Rurik. His part at the very beginning of GW1 story wasn’t a waste of time. In the end we met him again, as an undead and had to kill him, for releasing his soul. So we have a logical end. A mini story about Rurik. Mini story in the main story which tells us about our hero!

You made such grate story in GW1. So interesting, exiting, touching, and the most important, this story was about our hero.

What I see in GW2, it’s definitely not what I have expected.

Oh Trahearne, what a horrible NPC you are.

Let me tell you something first, I dislike many characters of the main GW plotlines, Cynn and Mhenlo, Destiny’s Edge and most of all Gwen. But I do like Kormir, Togo and to some degree even Rurik, though more in a sense that is AI is so stupid but not the character itself and unlike all other NPCs I dislike, I was actually allowed to kill him… so satisfying!

Trahearne however is nothing but a male Gwen for me. Gwen stills holds my number one spot of most hated NPC. She is as terrible as Trahearne for pretty much the same reasons. She shows up out of nowhere (well you could meet her as a kid, if you were from prophecies, leading to the same problem with Trahearne only having significants to you if you are sylvari), tags along with you, despite having to lead an organization (in her case, in absence of the real leader), annoys the living hell out of you whenever she opens her mouth (“charr are so mean!” QQ) and worst of all, she get’s all the credit! Oh what was that sentence in Ghosts of Ascalon, who is the greatest hero of humanity? The one who killed 4 major villians and ended several wars and had friends in many different races and cultures all over the world or the one who just went along on the later missions and founded one town. Oh it’s Gwen, yeah makes sense…
Hell I would even say Master Togo was a bigger hero than her (ended 1 war, schooled a new generation of heroes, sacrificed himself to save his half-brother). If anything Trahearne is not the Kormir of GW2, he is the Gwen, which is far far faaaaaar worse. *

(* yes I copied and pasted my own text, sue me :P)

Another reason I don’t like Trahearne; he is sylvari. Yes, this is a valid reason for me to dislike him. The sylvari race in general feels too Mary Sue-ish for me. You would expect, if a new race shows up, that has such high birth rates, that they can outnumber anyone in a few decades, and is completly alien in behavior to all other races, they others would be, well suspicious to say the least. But no, everywhere I go, if it’s Lion’s Arch or Frostgourge Sound, everywhere when they talk about sylvari, it’s always positive. They are appearently the best blacksmiths, because they don’t brag and they are liked by the Kodan because they are in balance.
They simply have no flaw, they are perfectly lawful good and everyone likes them for it. Okay you have the Nightmare Court, but really that’s black and white painting. All other races have morally good, evil and neutral characters and that’s what makes them work as races. The playable sylvari however are always lawful good, the NC always evil. Nothing in between.

I still try to give every Sylvari character a chance, but so far I disliked them all. Sieran for example is annoying and doesn’t really seem to know/care about history, she just likes adventuring (her so called knowledge about the dwarves is very basic). I was glad to see her die on Claw Island, could have taken Trahearne with her though.
Caithe? Oh please, the perfect example of a Mary-Sue if you read Edge of Destiny. And even ingame she is of course the only one who every other member of the group still likes. Killeen from GoA was another generally well liked Sylvari, I didn’t. She had no character, and died as she lived, trying to be as cool as the other protagonists but utterly failing.
Carys was one of the few positive examples I can remember, her stupidity showed that atleast not all Sylvari are perfect, but even she is just okay, not good.

Brett.4305:

It seem that some of those who dislike Trahearne don’t like him telling them what to
do. If I were the Pact Commander, I wouldn’t be out crawling dungeons and such.
The story works, in my opinion.

Except that he does tag along on many of your missions!

The most blatant example of this is at the start of the Battle of Fort Trinity mission. Trahearne delegates you to check on the logging camp – and this makes perfect sense. That’s exactly the sort of thing a second-in-command should be handling. Except… Trahearne then goes with you. Like he doesn’t trust you to handle it without his direct supervision, or like he has nothing better to do than follow you around while you work.

I actually think one of the main things that feels contrived about this is that the writers tried to have it both ways. Trahearne is the leader and the fellow adventurer, so it seems like there’s not much of a unique role for the PC.

If Trahearne actually did stand back and let you get on with the missions he asked you to undertake, I wouldn’t mind him half as much.

Trahearne is “the everyday man” who saves the day. This notion should be inspiring to most.

How is he an “everyday man”? He had a vision from the source and essentially deity of his race telling him he is the chosen one and giving him a magical sword with which to accomplish his destiny.

That seems sort of the opposite of “everyday.”

I’m not sure how Trahearne saves the day either, considering it was pretty much all my character, all the time. The story gives you zero reason to respect him, and that’s the most jarring part to me. He’s just some guy who got an undeserved promotion, I’m doing all the work. All of it.

BuddhaKeks.4857:

Oh Trahearne, what a horrible NPC you are.

Let me tell you something first, I dislike many characters of the main GW plotlines, Cynn and Mhenlo, Destiny’s Edge and most of all Gwen. But I do like Kormir, Togo and to some degree even Rurik, though more in a sense that is AI is so stupid but not the character itself and unlike all other NPCs I dislike, I was actually allowed to kill him… so satisfying!

Trahearne however is nothing but a male Gwen for me. Gwen stills holds my number one spot of most hated NPC. She is as terrible as Trahearne for pretty much the same reasons. She shows up out of nowhere (well you could meet her as a kid, if you were from prophecies, leading to the same problem with Trahearne only having significants to you if you are sylvari), tags along with you, despite having to lead an organization (in her case, in absence of the real leader), annoys the living hell out of you whenever she opens her mouth (“charr are so mean!” QQ) and worst of all, she get’s all the credit! Oh what was that sentence in Ghosts of Ascalon, who is the greatest hero of humanity? The one who killed 4 major villians and ended several wars and had friends in many different races and cultures all over the world or the one who just went along on the later missions and founded one town. Oh it’s Gwen, yeah makes sense…
Hell I would even say Master Togo was a bigger hero than her (ended 1 war, schooled a new generation of heroes, sacrificed himself to save his half-brother). If anything Trahearne is not the Kormir of GW2, he is the Gwen, which is far far faaaaaar worse. *

(* yes I copied and pasted my own text, sue me :P)

Another reason I don’t like Trahearne; he is sylvari. Yes, this is a valid reason for me to dislike him. The sylvari race in general feels too Mary Sue-ish for me. You would expect, if a new race shows up, that has such high birth rates, that they can outnumber anyone in a few decades, and is completly alien in behavior to all other races, they others would be, well suspicious to say the least. But no, everywhere I go, if it’s Lion’s Arch or Frostgourge Sound, everywhere when they talk about sylvari, it’s always positive. They are appearently the best blacksmiths, because they don’t brag and they are liked by the Kodan because they are in balance.
They simply have no flaw, they are perfectly lawful good and everyone likes them for it. Okay you have the Nightmare Court, but really that’s black and white painting. All other races have morally good, evil and neutral characters and that’s what makes them work as races. The playable sylvari however are always lawful good, the NC always evil. Nothing in between.

I still try to give every Sylvari character a chance, but so far I disliked them all. Sieran for example is annoying and doesn’t really seem to know/care about history, she just likes adventuring (her so called knowledge about the dwarves is very basic). I was glad to see her die on Claw Island, could have taken Trahearne with her though.
Caithe? Oh please, the perfect example of a Mary-Sue if you read Edge of Destiny. And even ingame she is of course the only one who every other member of the group still likes. Killeen from GoA was another generally well liked Sylvari, I didn’t. She had no character, and died as she lived, trying to be as cool as the other protagonists but utterly failing.
Carys was one of the few positive examples I can remember, her stupidity showed that atleast not all Sylvari are perfect, but even she is just okay, not good.

The only thing I will disagree with is that not every NPC thinks the Sylvari are great, a few in the Black Citadel, one being a blind Charr in the Gladium Canton refers to them (Sylvari) as untrustworthy weeds, more or less.

Still, the Sylvari do come of as a race of mostly Mary Sue characters left and right, especially in the intro cinema of the race, speaking how if the Dragon wins and corrupts the Dream, then Tyria will fall. Of course, Traeherne automatically assumes when Fort Trinity is attacked that he’s their sole target, so it seems like ego is a trait inherited from the Pale Tree.

I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if Zhaitan was able to corrupt the Sylvari, but poisoning their mind as The Nightmare since he can’t turn them into straight up Risen. The body is uncorruptible, but the mind sure can be, plus the first big boss in the tutorial is a Dragon corrupting the Dream/Land.

I almost threw up a little in my mouth when typing that sentence out, it made me cringe that bad, to think such an idea might hold any merit.

Rhinzual.7861:

I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if Zhaitan was able to corrupt the Sylvari, but poisoning their mind as The Nightmare since he can’t turn them into straight up Risen. The body is uncorruptible, but the mind sure can be, plus the first big boss in the tutorial is a Dragon corrupting the Dream/Land.

Zhaitan definitely can corrupt Sylvari minds – we see this in the personal story mission Close the Eye, where we meet a Sylvari this has happened to. She didn’t turn to Nightmare, though; she just went crazy and raved about Zhaitan.

Anakita Snakecharm.4360:

Rhinzual.7861:

I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if Zhaitan was able to corrupt the Sylvari, but poisoning their mind as The Nightmare since he can’t turn them into straight up Risen. The body is uncorruptible, but the mind sure can be, plus the first big boss in the tutorial is a Dragon corrupting the Dream/Land.

Zhaitan definitely can corrupt Sylvari minds – we see this in the personal story mission Close the Eye, where we meet a Sylvari this has happened to. She didn’t turn to Nightmare, though; she just went crazy and raved about Zhaitan.

Which of the character creation choices lead to that mission?

Rhinzual.7861:

Which of the character creation choices lead to that mission?

When Trahearne gives you a choice about how to deal with the Eye at the end of the Temple of the Forgotten God mission, you choose to confront the Eye head-on.

I don’t think any other character choices affect it besides that one, since everyone does Temple of the Forgotten God.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Close_the_Eye

i wouldn’t say that is corruption as much as madness, shock and most likely a healthy dose of PTSD for the poor sylvari in question

CharrGirl.7896:

I agree. I just recently resumed my personal story and my god it’s bad. It’s like it isn’t MY story anymore…it’s all about him and him being a great leader. My character barely gets any lines anymore… + his voice acting is terrible. Why did you have to replace awesome Forgal with this generic boring character? Anet, if you love your players you will remove Trahearne from the game entirely and never mention his existence again.

Every time I see him in a cutscene I feel like punching a hole through my screen

Btw, this guy would be awesome instead of Trahearne!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJMLfACod48

Your wish has been granted it seems. Someone has put this together (it’s not terribly good I don’t think, as you can’t tell if Trahearne or the player character is talking sometimes, but it does the trick):

I understand that you can’t say that player x defeated Zhaitan but at least say the pact, or replace Trahearne with Destiny’s Edge, they’re much cooler, and I’d rather give credit for killing Zhaitan to them than to some vegetable.

I have no problems with Trahearne as the Marshal of the Pact, but make his actually fight instead of standing there looking on as you take on 10 or more risen right in front of him. That is all. Other than that, his own personal issues is quite amusing to me. I got a few grins on my face when he tells me in person about his own problems.

THE DOCTOR.3510:

I understand that you can’t say that player x defeated Zhaitan but at least say the pact, or replace Trahearne with Destiny’s Edge, they’re much cooler, and I’d rather give credit for killing Zhaitan to them than to some vegetable.

I’d rather give credit for killing Zhaitan to my character. Not Trahearne nore even Destiny’s Edge, shouldn’t be as important as our character. No one should.

The way I see it, every branch has a notable character or characters. Prophecies had Rurik, Factions expanded upon Mhelno and introduced Togo (Fractions, to me, was more about the monk henchmen than the playable character), Nightfall had Kormir, now EoTN has many characters and expands upon Jarlis, EoTN was the definitive change. After EoTN, the War for Kryta focused manly on Logan’s ancestors and then LA with the mursaat. For every story, there has to be a character that receives credit to progress the lore. With that said, I would love to see Trahearne become more socialable and relatable with future updates (possibly the cleansing of Orr)

endeavor.7530:

The way I see it, every branch has a notable character or characters. Prophecies had Rurik, Factions expanded upon Mhelno and introduced Togo (Fractions, to me, was more about the monk henchmen than the playable character), Nightfall had Kormir, now EoTN has many characters and expands upon Jarlis, EoTN was the definitive change. After EoTN, the War for Kryta focused manly on Logan’s ancestors and then LA with the mursaat. For every story, there has to be a character that receives credit to progress the lore. With that said, I would love to see Trahearne become more socialable and relatable with future updates (possibly the cleansing of Orr)

Those character you mentioned? Yeah, players hated those characters for many different reasons. Want to list a loved character? Try Koss, dude is awesome.