Guild Wars 2

Having played the game extensively (clocking in at almost 600 hours), there are two gripes I’d like to mention that held the game back for me.

1. The way the story is told
While I agree with those who think Trahearne is as interesting as moldy bread, I also feel the role of the main character is a bit underwhelming. It started of strong with your personal choices, but from there your decisions take a bit of a backseat.

Unlike in GW1 where you played the silent protagonist on a journey to greatness, often times in GW2 I felt like NPCs are telling my story for me. The only direction I had was when an NPC stated that there are two ways to proceed onward, which of the two would you prefer. Instead of allowing events tell the story, it was more a case of characters giving a monologue of what is happening and where the tale is heading. I think part of the problem is the two character face-off approach GW2 takes as opposed to an actual cutscene giving life to the events.

Then there’s the matter of progression. From one story arc to the next (approximately every 10 levels or so), the story will progress from a personal to a more global tale of heroism. The part where my gripe comes in is how choices matter less and less. Like I said above, your decisions feel underwhelming, especially in this game where it feels as if you should matter. Your character is a bit of a cliche, a card board cut out, a Mary Sue. Where the choices come in, it perhaps only affects the layout of the next mission. Dialogue can change your personality, but this effect is completely superfluous. And worst of all, a lot of what occurred previously doesn’t seem to carry over.

I’m not saying make it a deep game where choices effect the world, this isn’t supposed to be the Witcher. What I am saying is that it would be nice to have your chosen personality come through from time to time. Choices from earlier in the game should stay with your character in some way. Quite often I felt it wasn’t my story, I was merely being dragged along with it.

I know others did enjoy the story, and that is a good thing. But like I said, this is my personal gripes. For my second point:

2. Dynamic Events driving the world
DEs are the answer to quests, a old system where some new breath was a welcoming change. But I often wondered if DEs really fill that role. At first there weren’t Renown Hearts, ANet added them when people felt lost and didn’t know what to do in the game, it became the small task system, and I often wonder how the game would have been without them.

Honestly, at times I would also have felt lost. It’s happened a few times where I ran around for minutes, and no DEs seem to kick in, so I travel from one zone to the next, just to find a DE to do. Now I know they work on timers and they can’t go off all the time, but then again, why can’t they? Events are supposed to be the meat of the game. In previous games you always had quests or were on your way to the next quest hub, so why should GW2 sometimes have zones that become dry?

Well, I don’t enjoy moaning without giving what I’d like to think is a solution, so here goes.
Each zone tells some sort of a tale, be it centaur raids, or pirate activity. So why not have each zone have a multitude of small events going on, like picking apples, or escorting a merchant to and fro, or chasing away vermin. Eventually a zone wide event will kick in. This will cause all small events to stop, since the crap struck the fan. During this time multiple events will go off all around the zone, making the zone a bit more hostile. That way a lot of players will have a lot to do to quell the threat, after which the zone will return to normal.

Again, this is all just my scattered thoughts. I’d just like to see more events go off and play a more cohesive role in a zone. As with Arathi Hinterlands, for some reason I really enjoy what ANet did there, and think it could also work on a more massive scale.

Trehearne is starting to take effect at lvl 50 and then all the way to 80, 30 levels with him is pretty painful as he’s not a very fun or interesting character. I liked Sieran but you know what happened to her.

There are some great battles in the story and interesting missions, but the lower level missions are too short, it feels like you’re running an errand for someone all the time.

I agree, Harathi Hinterlands is a very good map for Dynamic Events. They feel very connected to each other and are on a larger scale. Alot of veterans and champions and longer fights.

Zoid.2568:

Trehearne is starting to take effect at lvl 50 and then all the way to 80, 30 levels with him is pretty painful as he’s not a very fun or interesting character. I liked Sieran but you know what happened to her.

Trahearne is definitely a low point (if not the lowest) of the story. Far too many have agreed on this fact, but I also feel your personal growth, or complete lack thereof, also spoils the story. To me the whole ‘This is my story’ tagline crashed and burned as the story progressed, and I blame three shortcomings for it.

1. You never made any lasting choices. The largest was probably which race you allied with. Even your biography had little effect past level 20 when the orders come into play. Even your choice of order mattered little the moment Trahearne hijacked your limelight. Consecutive missions should carry a reminder of what came before, or else what is the point?

2. There are no personal challenges. Your character remains a flat concept throughout the game, and feel a bit too wooden. Barring the two biography choice missions, which I feel are the best parts of the story, the A Light in the Darkness part of the game comes in as a close second. Here your character had some opportunity to shine, but this could have been developed a bit more. Like I said in the OP, the story should be less about you following NPCs and more about you taking control and the NPCs following you.

3. You should be able to shape who your character is. What’s the point of keeping a personality chart if it doesn’t mean anything? The way you sculpt who your character is should carry over. More of these dialogue options should appear in chat, and it should be noted by other characters, or even play a small part in a mission.