Guild Wars 2

Boo, boo, it’s Mary Sue.
Let her rot. What can we do?

Burn the fields and salt the Earth.
Let all know what she is worth.

Until she lies in a shallow grave
no path to mirth will she pave.

dat epitaph….

I thought she died when you beat the invasions. Since her laughter was of the dying variety.

I know i got my hopes up but dang she’s already back.

This is the Mad King’s month end of story!

Why all the hate towards the ONLY villain with an actual personality and interesting background and story?? (not counting the Mad King here)

I say “YAY, Scarlet again”

Zhaitan’s minions are far more interesting than Scarlet Sue.

colesy.8490:

Zhaitan’s minions are far more interesting than Scarlet Sue.

Thralls included.

Well then, atleast we might be able to kill her now? Would that make you happy?

CureForLiving.5360:

Well then, atleast we might be able to kill her now? Would that make you happy?

Ec-KITTENING-static!

EDIT: But only if she says dead and never shows her face in the game again.

I like Scarlet

Bring her out, let’s defeat her, hey we might get lucky and get some background in the game this time.

Funny to see how much energy people spend on hating Scarlet.

Sure Anet did some mistakes with delivering the informations about her. But after reading the short story again, I can’t see a Villian Sue there. She doesn’t made the unrealistic deeds that would made her a Sue. She didn’t graduate from the colleges, she didn’t see the eternal alchemy and she wasn’t responsible for the Asura Storyline.

Scarlet has not yet proven to be a Mary Sue yet. Just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean she fits that profile. Most of what she has shown is very standard, super smart, egotistical villain.

Let’s see how this Twilight Assault story goes where hopefully we get to take her down a peg.

MastaNeenja.1537:

dat epitaph….

I thought she died when you beat the invasions. Since her laughter was of the dying variety.

I know i got my hopes up but dang she’s already back.

This is the Mad King’s month end of story!

The second update will likely deal with Thorn, rather than having a full month of Halloween.

Her laughter was a mock-death kind. She was mocking the players as she retreated.

CureForLiving.5360:

Well then, atleast we might be able to kill her now? Would that make you happy?

How Anet’s been treating Scarlet in interviews… expect her to be around for a while. Given Scotts mention of a couple years between ED plots, if we were to take that seriously, expect her to last to the end of 2014 at least.

Sad, I know. Horrific even. We can only hope that they improve her character and how they reveal her exponentially in the game in the future. Too much about the living world is being told through those short stories and, worse, interviews that Anet never makes mention of (the TowerTalk interview about Jubilee and Scarlet for example).

Coldin.2840:

Scarlet has not yet proven to be a Mary Sue yet. Just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean she fits that profile. Most of what she has shown is very standard, super smart, egotistical villain.

You must not have read her short story.

She excells at everything, got the most legendary norn blacksmith to want to teach her but refused, got taught by one of the best Iron Legion snipers then ran with the secrets, got into all three asura colleges being the first non-asura to ever do such (and even if the interview with TowerTalk pegged the feat of graduating all three colleges down by explaining she took specialized courses, that’s still a feat that shamed the asura intelligence), and (though countered in the interview mentioned) saw the Eternal Alchemy (now it’s “may have seen but most likely didn’t”).

She has been set up, betrayed, exiled, desired, and she thought nothing of it. She has been pampered by the whole world since day 1 all because she has high IQ. And to top it off she’s disconnected from the Dream of Dreams without the rigorous meditation Soundless need to do.

That sounds very Mary Sue-like to me. And that is why I don’t like her, personally speaking. I don’t think she’s a Villain Sue because I don’t like her; I don’t like her because I think she’s a Villain Sue. The interview helped lower the Villain Sue-ness of her character, but its still there, and worse, it (her background, both story and interview info) isn’t there in game.

She may not be a villain sue yet but she’s dangerously close, and already over used. I would classify her as a typical recurring Anime/Cartoon villain. With a personality about as deep as a cookie sheet.

What? All I said was that I found Zhaitan’s minions more interesting than Scarlet Sue. I mean the Champ Risen Giant on the Promenade of the Gods has a cool voice, and the high wizard at the end of the event chain does too, plus he wields eternity.

They’re just more interesting than the aetherbores, bad-loot clockwork machines, molten dredge and generic insane villain who just happens to have a famous VA.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The second update will likely deal with Thorn, rather than having a full month of Halloween.

Her laughter was a mock-death kind. She was mocking the players as she retreated.

Yeah that was me just having some wishful thinking I knew she’d be back we got our mail bombs after all, but hey I can dream can’t I?

More MK and less of everything else I say, I really like Halloween it only comes once a year it was my hopes that they’d make full use of the month wisely and lead up to something Grand for Halloween.

Like the introduction of new Emotes in “Mad King Says”

If it means more Tara Strong voice work, I welcome Scarlet’s return!

inazuma.7021:

If it means more Tara Strong voice work, I welcome Scarlet’s return!

Dammit, I didn’t want to remember that this kitten Mary Sue is also Twilight Sparkle.

I am actually happy about the fact that they are showing a bit of cohesion and carrying the story thread through the updates. Also, Scarlet is the most memorable character to come from the living story yet. Rox and Brahm are lifeless and boring at best and that girl who won the election, what’s her name?… Bring it on I say.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Coldin.2840:

Scarlet has not yet proven to be a Mary Sue yet. Just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean she fits that profile. Most of what she has shown is very standard, super smart, egotistical villain.

You must not have read her short story.

She excells at everything, got the most legendary norn blacksmith to want to teach her but refused, got taught by one of the best Iron Legion snipers then ran with the secrets, got into all three asura colleges being the first non-asura to ever do such (and even if the interview with TowerTalk pegged the feat of graduating all three colleges down by explaining she took specialized courses, that’s still a feat that shamed the asura intelligence), and (though countered in the interview mentioned) saw the Eternal Alchemy (now it’s “may have seen but most likely didn’t”).

She has been set up, betrayed, exiled, desired, and she thought nothing of it. She has been pampered by the whole world since day 1 all because she has high IQ. And to top it off she’s disconnected from the Dream of Dreams without the rigorous meditation Soundless need to do.

That sounds very Mary Sue-like to me. And that is why I don’t like her, personally speaking. I don’t think she’s a Villain Sue because I don’t like her; I don’t like her because I think she’s a Villain Sue. The interview helped lower the Villain Sue-ness of her character, but its still there, and worse, it (her background, both story and interview info) isn’t there in game.

No. I read it. She excelled, but always quit early before she truly learned everything. She never mastered blacksmithing. Never mastered potions. Never even mastered all the various asura colleges. The only one she did “master” was weapons. The only kind of Mary Sue esque part of her character appears to be convincing people to teach her. The high intelligence is pretty much just villainy 101, so really should just be disregarded.

As it is, no one really admires her. Her plans have failed at least a couple times. She fell for the Queen Jenna illusion trick. Scarlet really hasn’t ever won unless you count the brief victory at the Queen’s Speech.

A villain sue would be showing us someone who’s a lot more infallible. Someone who always comes out on top of the heroes. So far, she’s mostly just caused a bit of chaos and manages to get away at the end. Still sounds like your basic villain to me. Now, you may not like her because she’s the generic intelligent and insane villain archtype, but that does not make her a Villain/Mary Sue.

I hope this is the last we ever see of her. Ever.

People compare her to the Joker or Harley Quinn, and there’s something to that. But, would either of those two characters have been the success they are if they weren’t going up against the likes of Batman? No. They work BECAUSE of who they’re facing, much like Moriarty going against Sherlock Holmes.

We’re not playing Batman, though, nor Sherlock Holmes. A Joker styled character may sound interesting and work for some people, but in many cases it simply falls flat, an exploding birthday cake delivered to a party that nobody came to.

We need a villain with wider appeal and motives. Perhaps one that makes us question if we’re the hero or if they are as they call into question what we think we know about the dragons. Or one with a straight forward goal, but a more refined sense of style and approach. Whatever we get, it can’t be someone made to match characters we’re not playing.

We have a common interest this time.

Also I hate the direction of the LS for the past.. well since it started. technology technology and technology. Do they even know there is magic in the lore?

Agreed, the faster she gets erased from existence the better. Annoying, stupid character.

Magic/tech… i’m fine with.. Scarlet..kitten.

Coldin.2840:

A villain sue would be showing us someone who’s a lot more infallible. Someone who always comes out on top of the heroes. So far, she’s mostly just caused a bit of chaos and manages to get away at the end. Still sounds like your basic villain to me. Now, you may not like her because she’s the generic intelligent and insane villain archtype, but that does not make her a Villain/Mary Sue.

um.. no. a villain is almost always going “fail” in some way. being a villian sue has nothing to do with being infallible. & just because someone is intelligent doesn’t make them able to do everything amazingly with no effort. she DID master everything. finish the courses? who cares. Einstein didn’t excel at everything in college either. (incidentally Anet tried to soften the blow recently by saying she didn’t finish from every college. just that she took a special exam that proved she could. umm.. difference?) being a super, multidimensional genius who has seen all of reality (which they are trying to backpedal on) tried every trade but gave up because they were too easy is not villain 101. It’s “I want this character to be everything & have a sassy pop-culture crazy-girl personality 101”

DarksunG.9537:

um.. no. a villain is almost always going “fail” in some way. being a villian sue has nothing to do with being infallible. & just because someone is intelligent doesn’t make them able to do everything amazingly with no effort. she DID master everything. finish the courses? who cares. Einstein didn’t excel at everything in college either. (incidentally Anet tried to soften the blow recently by saying she didn’t finish from every college. just that she took a special exam that proved she could. umm.. difference?) being a super, multidimensional genius who has seen all of reality (which they are trying to backpedal on) tried every trade but gave up because they were too easy is not villain 101. It’s “I want this character to be everything & have a sassy pop-culture crazy-girl personality 101”

But villains are supposed to win. Especially in a long story arcs like anet is trying to do with the living story. It helps build the villain as an actual threat. Anet have done a poor job building the villains in the living story.

Does anet expect me to care about Scarlet after I beat her in the playhouse and every other encounter? Same with the aetherized pirates and molten alliance. Sure they did some evil things, they killed like 1 or 2 people, but it never felt like they left any impact.

DarksunG.9537:

Agreed, the faster she gets erased from existence the better. Annoying, stupid character.

Magic/tech… i’m fine with.. Scarlet..kitten.

Coldin.2840:

A villain sue would be showing us someone who’s a lot more infallible. Someone who always comes out on top of the heroes. So far, she’s mostly just caused a bit of chaos and manages to get away at the end. Still sounds like your basic villain to me. Now, you may not like her because she’s the generic intelligent and insane villain archtype, but that does not make her a Villain/Mary Sue.

um.. no. a villain is almost always going “fail” in some way. being a villian sue has nothing to do with being infallible. & just because someone is intelligent doesn’t make them able to do everything amazingly with no effort. she DID master everything. finish the courses? who cares. Einstein didn’t excel at everything in college either. (incidentally Anet tried to soften the blow recently by saying she didn’t finish from every college. just that she took a special exam that proved she could. umm.. difference?) being a super, multidimensional genius who has seen all of reality (which they are trying to backpedal on) tried every trade but gave up because they were too easy is not villain 101. It’s “I want this character to be everything & have a sassy pop-culture crazy-girl personality 101”

She didn’t master kitten, she learned how to do one or two tasks that she wanted (how to bend and heat metal AKA black smithing 101) and other minor feats from well known people.

frostyraziel.1854:

But villains are supposed to win. Especially in a long story arcs like anet is trying to do with the living story. It helps build the villain as an actual threat. Anet have done a poor job building the villains in the living story.

Does anet expect me to care about Scarlet after I beat her in the playhouse and every other encounter? Same with the aetherized pirates and molten alliance. Sure they did some evil things, they killed like 1 or 2 people, but it never felt like they left any impact.

Just a thought how have we not managed to kill off the entire Aether Blade and Molten Alliance population? Are they breeding in a dark room?

DarksunG.9537:

um.. no. a villain is almost always going “fail” in some way. being a villian sue has nothing to do with being infallible. & just because someone is intelligent doesn’t make them able to do everything amazingly with no effort. she DID master everything. finish the courses? who cares. Einstein didn’t excel at everything in college either. (incidentally Anet tried to soften the blow recently by saying she didn’t finish from every college. just that she took a special exam that proved she could. umm.. difference?) being a super, multidimensional genius who has seen all of reality (which they are trying to backpedal on) tried every trade but gave up because they were too easy is not villain 101. It’s “I want this character to be everything & have a sassy pop-culture crazy-girl personality 101”

I still say that people are saying she’s a Villain Sue simply because they do not like the character. Her main super power here is that she’s smart. That’s hardly any different than many other villains.

As I said earlier. She did not master everything. She left before she mastered what she was learning. She learned just enough about the topic before deeming the rest unimportant. Generally, as being a villain sue is a form of wish fulfillment, they actually are intended to be victorious in everything. As it is, she simply has a backstory to flesh out her rather non-committal and non-conformist personality, and give some explanation for why she’s capable of turning the Clockwork Knights into the nightmares. Past that, she’s failed at kidnapping Queen Jenna. She was driven out of pavillion and her captives were rescued. She’s been “beaten” at countless invasions. Most characters discount her as being a crazy loon and while she may be a threat, I don’t see characters treating her unbeatable.

And let’s be fair to Arenanet here. They’re mostly clarifying things, not back-peddling. It was never specifically stated that she completed every college, just that she was able to enter each college. They never said she truly saw the eternal alchemy. They merely implied that she had some kind of other worldly experience, and saw things. It’s never really stated exactly what she saw, but it’s clear that it’s what tipped her over the edge to being completely insane. In fact, one of the asura states that seeing the eternal alchemy is impossible.

So I still think people are taking this Villain/Mary Sue thing a bit too far. Let’s give Arenanet a couple more story updates and see how it goes. I personally think it should be interesting to see how something like Caithe reacts to Scarlet.

MastaNeenja.1537:

Just a thought how have we not managed to kill off the entire Aether Blade and Molten Alliance population? Are they breeding in a dark room?

Some days I wonder about that, but I think we just have to accept that as MMO mechanics. There simply has to be lots of enemies to fight, and players just have to try to suspend disbelief when it comes to the story.

That said. You could just imagine that the Aetherblades are never truly killed. Like players, they just waypoint back somewhere safe.

You know I think when it really comes down to it my main problem with scarlet is that she’s Sylvari. No I actually like the sylvari a lot but everything about scarlet’s history and abilities SCREAM asura. If she was instead a true asuran evil genius I think she’d be a lot more believable and come off a lot less “sue-ish”

The next time Scarlet invades Sparkfly Fen, can Tequatl just jump out of the water and eat her?

As long as we get to kill her or help kill her off for real this time, I’ll be fine.

Coldin.2840:

MastaNeenja.1537:

Just a thought how have we not managed to kill off the entire Aether Blade and Molten Alliance population? Are they breeding in a dark room?

Some days I wonder about that, but I think we just have to accept that as MMO mechanics. There simply has to be lots of enemies to fight, and players just have to try to suspend disbelief when it comes to the story.

That said. You could just imagine that the Aetherblades are never truly killed. Like players, they just waypoint back somewhere safe.

lol that actually makes sense…. unfortunately that means we are doomed to a never ending cycle >.<

Exactly, Scarlet is old news and getting quite boring.

Vick.6805:

The next time Scarlet invades Sparkfly Fen, can Tequatl just jump out of the water and eat her?

It’d be hilarious to see Scarlet, in the final phase, appear at Tequatl’s location. Would his tidal wave of death kill her?

Maybe that bug where Scarlet picks a player and consistently spawns at his/her location can be used to arrange this (if all the stars align).

It is not “Scarlet again”, it is “still Scarlet”.

What? You wanted the plot to be dropped like that, in the middle, before anything is solved?
Well, I want to kill her, I don’t want her to simply disappear after everything she did. She will pay for each and every Norn that the Molten Alliance killed and for trying to cook Faren alive.

Jables.8130:

Why all the hate towards the ONLY villain with an actual personality and interesting background and story?? (not counting the Mad King here)

I say “YAY, Scarlet again”

Very little of her story is told in-game though. ArenaNet seem to be holding out so long on releasing many details. Sure, Scarlet’s back-story with that written story was interesting. There seem to be no reasoning for what she’s doing though. I’m interested to see this update – I doubt it will give us much more story, as is the theme with the Living Story these days….and to think it started out with so much promise with Flame and Frost.

My personal reason for disliking Scarlet is because every fight with her is dumb. It’s lame. You get her down to zero hit points only to have her “miraculously teleport away”. That’s not remotely believeable. Happens to her three times in Scarlet’s Funhouse, and at every successful Invasion “kill”. I’m tired of her “always finding a way out”. ArenaNet could really make it seem a bit more believeable, like having her port away through a steam portal at… 30% health. But zero health? Come off it.

I want to know more about Scarlet’s overall agenda. I want to know what I, through my character, am supposed to be foiling. So she attacked Divinity’s Reach. Anise was all over it even before it began, and the Funhouse rescue really could have been carried out by the new, shiny “Seraph honor guard”. I don’t have enough of a reason to be hounding this Sylvari. What does she want? I feel we need to know, we need to have that as a motivation to want to see her re-appear in the Living Story, and have that as a motivation to want to foil her every time.

Right now, it’s just.. “meh, Scarlet again… yawn”.

Lord Kuru.3685:

It’d be hilarious to see Scarlet, in the final phase, appear at Tequatl’s location. Would his tidal wave of death kill her?

Doubt it.

MastaNeenja.1537:

She may not be a villain sue yet but she’s dangerously close, and already over used. I would classify her as a typical recurring Anime/Cartoon villain. With a personality about as deep as a cookie sheet.

+1 this is how i feel she is lol. although i dont dislike her im not impressed by her either. She is just there…

As many times as she has spawned on my head, I want to take her out!

Konig Des Todes.2086:

She excells at everything, got the most legendary norn blacksmith to want to teach her but refused, got taught by one of the best Iron Legion snipers then ran with the secrets, got into all three asura colleges being the first non-asura to ever do such (and even if the interview with TowerTalk pegged the feat of graduating all three colleges down by explaining she took specialized courses, that’s still a feat that shamed the asura intelligence), and (though countered in the interview mentioned) saw the Eternal Alchemy (now it’s “may have seen but most likely didn’t”).

She has been set up, betrayed, exiled, desired, and she thought nothing of it. She has been pampered by the whole world since day 1 all because she has high IQ. And to top it off she’s disconnected from the Dream of Dreams without the rigorous meditation Soundless need to do.

That sounds very Mary Sue-like to me. And that is why I don’t like her, personally speaking. I don’t think she’s a Villain Sue because I don’t like her; I don’t like her because I think she’s a Villain Sue. The interview helped lower the Villain Sue-ness of her character, but its still there, and worse, it (her background, both story and interview info) isn’t there in game.

Besides her backstory, she’s been one of the most entertaining villains that we’ve had in Guild Wars. In game, she’s great. Out of game, it’s a bit eyerolly.

She’s a villain. If you hate her… well that’s working as intended. XD

Jables.8130:

Why all the hate towards the ONLY villain with an actual personality and interesting background and story?? (not counting the Mad King here)

What personality? She’s just a one dimensional cackling villain, a poor mans joker.

Coupled with the fact that she’s a complete mary sue of a villain.

How dare anet try to do a plot that’s not solved in one month. By now anet must feel like they cant win.

“Give us a story that lasts longer than just two weeks!”
“We’ll give you a villain that will stay here for few months while we develop her and tie all these different plots together”
“Man this villain again, why can’t anet give us something new that we havent seen before?”

Rainbow Sprint.3215:

How dare anet try to do a plot that’s not solved in one month. By now anet must feel like they cant win.

“Give us a story that lasts longer than just two weeks!”
“We’ll give you a villain that will stay here for few months while we develop her and tie all these different plots together”
“Man this villain again, why can’t anet give us something new that we havent seen before?”

That’s not really the complaint, it’s more along the lines of, “can we please drop this annoying villian sue and get on to stories with more interesting and better written characters?”

Gabby.3205:

It is not “Scarlet again”, it is “still Scarlet”.

What? You wanted the plot to be dropped like that, in the middle, before anything is solved?

Yes. Just the way they did with our main threat – Trahearne Dragons.

Riot Inducer.8964:

That’s not really the complaint, it’s more along the lines of, “can we please drop this annoying villian sue and get on to stories with more interesting and better written characters?”

They should open Crystal Desert. It has awesome villain for GW2 players (And GW1fans will have a plotgasm). Fighting Palawa Joko and his Mordant Crescent won’t take two weeks.

Katran.9186:

Gabby.3205:

It is not “Scarlet again”, it is “still Scarlet”.

What? You wanted the plot to be dropped like that, in the middle, before anything is solved?

Yes. Just the way they did with our main threat – Trahearne Dragons.

The fact that Trahearne is not part of the living story even though it makes no sense for him not to get involved bothers me (it feels that he was cut out just because nobody likes him, even though it doesn’t make sense for him to be simply cut out), but what makes you think that the main story line was dropped?
We’ve got dragon lore recently, too. The Zephyrites with Glint and now Tequatl getting stronger.
Also, I would be upset if we killed every elder dragon during the first year of the game. What would we do after that? Really, it would be the worst possible thing for the story of the game.

Also, yes, it would be cool to fight Palawa Joko, but that’s for when we get to Elona. When, not if. Elona is pretty much a given, I would be more worried about Cantha if I were you.

Gandarel.5091:

Also I hate the direction of the LS for the past.. well since it started. technology technology and technology. Do they even know there is magic in the lore?

This has been mentioned before by various people, and again I wholeheartedly agree. I’m sick of tech-this, tech-that — first all the Deus Ex Machina asura babble in the personal story, then the Aetherblades and Scarlet which are even worse. Where is the magic? The mysticism? The high fantasy? Aside from Trahearne casting a few rituals and a little about the Zephyrite backstory, there hasn’t been any. And now that shrieking POS brat is going to pollute one of the few magic/mythic-themed places in the game? To hell with that.

Riot Inducer.8964:

You know I think when it really comes down to it my main problem with scarlet is that she’s Sylvari. No I actually like the sylvari a lot but everything about scarlet’s history and abilities SCREAM asura. If she was instead a true asuran evil genius I think she’d be a lot more believable and come off a lot less “sue-ish”

Yeah, there is nothing about her that says “sylvari”. Between that and the fact that we haven’t really had any asura characters in the living story, making her an asura (along with toning her untouchable ZOMGWTFBBQsupermegaimba-ness down about two dozen notches) might have made her a tolerable villain.

Doggie.3184:

She’s a villain. If you hate her… well that’s working as intended. XD

Eh, no. There is a huge difference between a character you “love to hate” because they’re well-written, fit into the setting and story, or work well in terms of them and the hero having a personal vendatta against each other — and a character who is so shallow, badly-written, over-the-top and clashing with the setting that you want to throw your computer out the window at the mere thought of having to suffer through yet more of their BS.

I agree with those who said that Zhaitan’s minions are preferable to Scarlet. It might have started as a snark at her bad writing and horrible (lack of) “personality”, but it is still true. The Risen actually fit the setting. They fit the Elder Dragon theme and story which the game was supposed to be about. Most of them, horrible as they are now, are actually innocent victims twisted by terrible power, which makes it possible to feel a pang of pity for them. Some of them are very powerful, but we can still fight and hurt and defeat them — unlike Scarlet, who is basically a god who can press her “I WIN!” button anytime and become completely untouchable for no reason at all aside from being a writer’s pet.

Gabby.3205:

The fact that Trahearne is not part of the living story even though it makes no sense for him not to get involved bothers me (it feels that he was cut out just because nobody likes him, even though it doesn’t make sense for him to be simply cut out), but what makes you think that the main story line was dropped?
We’ve got dragon lore recently, too. The Zephyrites with Glint and now Tequatl getting stronger.
Also, I would be upset if we killed every elder dragon during the first year of the game. What would we do after that? Really, it would be the worst possible thing for the story of the game.

Also, yes, it would be cool to fight Palawa Joko, but that’s for when we get to Elona. When, not if. Elona is pretty much a given, I would be more worried about Cantha if I were you.

Well we didn’t recieve even a word about dragons (till Tequatl Rising, which is revamp without much lore in it. Glint had, but I was talking about our existing enemies) for a year. Are they even main threat? We already have a lack of grimdark and stuff, when dragons just aren’t mentioned for a year – it kills all scraps of atmosphere that remained.

As for Elona and Cantha. Well, I like Elona much-much more, so I just hope for getting there in game. Cantha doesn’t bother me that much (I don’t like “asian” setting and I find Elona more intriguing)

Katran.9186:

Well we didn’t recieve even a word about dragons (till Tequatl Rising, which is revamp without much lore in it. Glint had, but I was talking about our existing enemies) for a year. Are they even main threat? We already have a lack of grimdark and stuff, when dragons just aren’t mentioned for a year – it kills all scraps of atmosphere that remained.

As for Elona and Cantha. Well, I like Elona much-much more, so I just hope for getting there in game. Cantha doesn’t bother me that much (I don’t like “asian” setting and I find Elona more intriguing)

The only thing that we do know right now is that this year was the year of the recurring festivals (and that’s why there were so many of them). That was confirmed already. Now that they are done with the recurring festival, they are working on the permanent stuff. I am hoping for bigger changes, now.

My only concern is that they still say that they don’t want to create paradoxes with the Personal Story, so that new players won’t be confused. That can be really bad for the story’s progression, IMO. I hope that they dropped that line of thought already, seeing how the Pact was obviously already formed in the Living Story time-line (again, why is Trahearne ignoring the LS?).

Gabby.3205:

My only concern is that they still say that they don’t want to create paradoxes with the Personal Story, so that new players won’t be confused.

Yeap, that’s a fail. But I guess they can create level 80 content which can cause “paradoxes”. If you haven’t done your story at 80 lvl – you either did it on another char or aren’t interested in it. Both variants are satisfactory.

I think Sousuke Aizen, the previous main villain of the Bleach series, is a better character to compare to Scarlet than whoever this Mary Sue person is. He was this incredibly smart, incredibly strong, and highly influential person who didn’t seem to have any flaws. He was like this truly perfect villain that there was seemingly no way of defeating because everything that happens is within his expectations. He was pretty much God.

Scarlet in many ways resembles Aizen save for the fact that she doesn’t seem to have god-like abilities that make her seem way overpowered. As the player, you’ve fought her at least once and have defeated her. Unlike with saturday morning cartoon villains that are full of flaws, a villain like Scarlet can be quite intimidating if players are lead to believe they have little to no chance at defeating her. I think in this regard Anet might have dropped the ball.

The point is that Sousuke Aizen’s can make for very interesting characters. They really drive home the feeling of despair and hopelessness. Contrast this with Diablo in D3 who is constantly set back by the player and saying silly things like “I’ll get you next time Gadget!”

Jables.8130:

Why all the hate towards the ONLY villain with an actual personality and interesting background and story?? (not counting the Mad King here)

I guess we just have a very different definitions of what constitutes an interesting background and personality. And the fact that you compared her to Mad King Thorn, which is a joke char, is in itself telling.

Coldin.2840:

No. I read it. She excelled, but always quit early before she truly learned everything. She never mastered blacksmithing. Never mastered potions. Never even mastered all the various asura colleges.

Ah, but why she didn’t master it? Because it was all beneath her – she didn’t need it. It’s clearly suggested that if she wanted, she would have been able to master that all, and cutting learning short was always only due to her choice, not any lack of abilities.