Guild Wars 2

Signed. Like many others, I first learnt about Guild Wars through WP videos. The sheer amount of content during Beta got me really hyped up for the game, and has been a pleasure to watch over the course of the games existence.

Regardless of whether he gets things wrong sometimes , I watch his videos because they are both interesting & entertaining, and without them I probably would not be playing the game today, let alone learning the lore on the game.

Agreed and signed.

Agreed and signed, make this happen!

You have my clones!! I love his movies! They have so much information, and I finally know what goin’on with Living Story!

First Cecht: fantastic post

“I had no idea who he is. But after looking him up, I disagree.

He gets a significant amount of the lore wrong, and he takes over 30 minutes to explain something that the game’s cutscene does in 45 secs.
"

I have to ask how many videos you watched today after looking him up to make such an assessment? 2 videos? 3? What is he getting wrong about the lore? Because it’s so fresh I am sure you’ll be able to easily quote some things he is misrepresenting.

Does the games cut scenes really explain enough in 45 secs? I would argue that it does not. I have found myself lost and or confused at launch as to what was sometimes going on or references they were making.

I am not going to go over how I enjoy longer videos because that is a personal thing and I realize many people dislike the length. We are getting way off topic here now but I felt I should respond about the gaming giving you enough information and lore in 45 sec or however long those cut scenes are.

While I like many of them I feel as though they leave much to be desired and many players might be confused or care less because the don’t understand what is happening. Some simply don’t care as well.

I realize at this point I am probably sounding way too fan boyish and that isn’t something I really want to come across as. But for every post here that seems to almost blindingly say YES! There seems to be almost as many or at least some that blindingly say NO!

In the end none of us as players have this say. I have to agree with the post above that said something to the effect of making Dulfy an NPC might have been a mistake.

NOT signed. Wooden Potatoes makes fun videos, but they are often based on the hard lore research of others in the community. It is they who deserve some recognition. From a lore point of view, WP makes a mess of the facts, mixing it with tons of speculation.

I understand that many people feel that WP has made the lore more accessible, but it’s important to realize that other people have researched this lore, and he shouldn’t take credit for their hard work.

I am in 100% support of this. He should be part of the Durmond Priory and talk about Gw2 lore.

WP should definitely be added to the game, and since his main seems to be an Asari, and he loves Lore, why not go with an NPC in this new Thaumanova Reactor fractal? Some mad scientist miniboss.

Ohoni.6057:

Asari

Wrong game >.>
Also, +1, I support this. Game could use an exposition fairy and he seems a good choice for it.

I would love to Honor WP This way. I love his videos and would be lost without him.

I really love his lore videos. I’ve learned so much about GW lore from him.

/signed

He’s the reason I bought the game in the first place. WP!

+1

I hope WP will get a form of recognition from Anet in-game, and I like the idea of a lore-related representation of him, somewhere. WoodenPotatoes certainly deserves it for all his fantastic videos. He and Dulfy are in a league of their own.

Wooden potatoes makes great vids for gw2. And he is really into the lore it seems.

+1

What else needs to be said? We need a wooden potato food item that gives us something…

I think this is a great idea WP is half the reason i play Guild Wars 2 and the only reason I know anything about the law of the the Guild Wars universe.

+1

Although WP isn’t my favourite GW2 youtuber (give some credit to MattVidual you guys!) I believe that all hard-working individuals deserve a reward.

Yes, that also means the hard-working individuals on these forums.

Its a shame about the 2-3 that disagree since they also have some site up about GW1 lore and are jealous of not getting the same attention. They should of said nothing and instead focused on delivering more lore to the community, now all I think of them is a bunch of attention starved jealous crybabies. Such a shame.

+1

This is brilliant and he definitely deserves it for all of his contributions to the player’s understanding of the lore.

I too would like him to be represented in-game.

Signed! Watched his videos since GW1!

I’d support this.

But I’d like to add: WoodenPotatoes already HAS an in-game representation.
She’s a little Asura Elementalist named Lys!

+1 – I approve

+1
#TeamPotato

Totally! Would be amazing to see him in game somewhere

/signed

I also would like to know why those 2 people want to discredit WP because he makes some theory or speculation videos. There isn’t anything wrong with that and he labels them correctly.

I love to read other people’s thoughts or ideas on what might happen. The best part of being in the HP fandom (when it was active) or Game of Thrones is reading essays on why people think something is true and why. Even if it doesn’t happen, a lot of them tend to make you think and are very interesting.

…And I agree. He should be an NPC.

+1 If it wasn’t WoodenPotatoes i wouldn’t even buy this game. Plus, he made me interested in the lore which is pretty amazing because i never gave a kitten thing about lore in games.

Ok. From off the top of my head; the aetherblades. He claims they are from the future, and that Kiel is their leader → this leads to Kiel being from the future. But, according to the short stories, Kiel was rescued by Magus when she was really young.

From another thing something mentioned, Factions. It takes 30 minutes per episode on what actually happened when the wiki explains it in a sentence? And if you actually played that expansion, you’ll see the cutscene is quick – 45 secs (ie: the killing of Master Togo).

KOPPER.1458:

First Cecht: fantastic post

“I had no idea who he is. But after looking him up, I disagree.

He gets a significant amount of the lore wrong, and he takes over 30 minutes to explain something that the game’s cutscene does in 45 secs.
"

I have to ask how many videos you watched today after looking him up to make such an assessment? 2 videos? 3? What is he getting wrong about the lore? Because it’s so fresh I am sure you’ll be able to easily quote some things he is misrepresenting.

Does the games cut scenes really explain enough in 45 secs? I would argue that it does not. I have found myself lost and or confused at launch as to what was sometimes going on or references they were making.

I am not going to go over how I enjoy longer videos because that is a personal thing and I realize many people dislike the length. We are getting way off topic here now but I felt I should respond about the gaming giving you enough information and lore in 45 sec or however long those cut scenes are.

While I like many of them I feel as though they leave much to be desired and many players might be confused or care less because the don’t understand what is happening. Some simply don’t care as well.

I realize at this point I am probably sounding way too fan boyish and that isn’t something I really want to come across as. But for every post here that seems to almost blindingly say YES! There seems to be almost as many or at least some that blindingly say NO!

In the end none of us as players have this say. I have to agree with the post above that said something to the effect of making Dulfy an NPC might have been a mistake.

Thobek.1730:

Its a shame about the 2-3 that disagree since they also have some site up about GW1 lore and are jealous of not getting the same attention. They should of said nothing and instead focused on delivering more lore to the community, now all I think of them is a bunch of attention starved jealous crybabies. Such a shame.

I think you have a poor understanding of the scale of all the lore that the community has researched. And then one guy makes some videos about it, in which he cherry picks his favorite theories.

Credit should go to the people that researched the lore in the first place, not to the guy who made a video about it.

christiniae.7834:

I also would like to know why those 2 people want to discredit WP because he makes some theory or speculation videos. There isn’t anything wrong with that and he labels them correctly.

Because he doesn’t deserve the credit for other people’s hard work. He quotes other people’s researched material out of context, and makes several factual errors in the process… and then people want to give him an npc for it. That’s just very disrespectful to the countless players that actually do really hard work studying the lore of Tyria.

what if they made 3 npcs,one Koni,the other Lumi and the final WoodenPotatoes always bickering over facts and authenticity in the priory hall ^^

You can consider WP a bard. Although he doesn’t sing or play (AFAIK), their job is to tell a story and to draw you in. Sometimes you have to emphasize parts of the story more and embellish to really catch the listener.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Because he doesn’t deserve the credit for other people’s hard work. He quotes other people’s researched material out of context, and makes several factual errors in the process… and then people want to give him an npc for it. That’s just very disrespectful to the countless players that actually do really hard work studying the lore of Tyria.

You’re still discrediting the guy because he’s not taking credit for anything. Heck, most of his videos are disclaimered as his interpretation or as speculation. To say he doesn’t deserve credit when he’s not taking credit is your issue.

If you have a problem, why not inform the masses?

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Thobek.1730:

Its a shame about the 2-3 that disagree since they also have some site up about GW1 lore and are jealous of not getting the same attention. They should of said nothing and instead focused on delivering more lore to the community, now all I think of them is a bunch of attention starved jealous crybabies. Such a shame.

I think you have a poor understanding of the scale of all the lore that the community has researched. And then one guy makes some videos about it, in which he cherry picks his favorite theories.

Credit should go to the people that researched the lore in the first place, not to the guy who made a video about it.

christiniae.7834:

I also would like to know why those 2 people want to discredit WP because he makes some theory or speculation videos. There isn’t anything wrong with that and he labels them correctly.

Because he doesn’t deserve the credit for other people’s hard work. He quotes other people’s researched material out of context, and makes several factual errors in the process… and then people want to give him an npc for it. That’s just very disrespectful to the countless players that actually do really hard work studying the lore of Tyria.

That’s really unfair of you to say, especially because you make it sounds as if he’s stealing from others when making lore videos. He never takes credit for anything that isn’t part of his speculation; he sometimes cites his source, and when he doesn’t he makes it fairly clear that he read it somewhere else. Also, you don’t know what efforts he takes when doing research (granted none of us do) so it’s foolish for you to to claim he’s just “cherry picking theories”; and even if he was, he adds is own thoughts to them.

You’re critical of his speculation videos when they’re just that: speculation. If some of his listeners take his theories as the truth, that’s hardly his fault, especially since he doesn’t present anything as absolute facts.

Overall, the majority of people want an in-game representation for how he’s gotten a large part of the community involved in the story of GW2.

+1. I like that he reminds us of good old GW 1 lore and how it ties into GW 2. Also, I like some of his mysteries and theories videos.

Drakenvold.9761:

what if they made 3 npcs,one Koni,the other Lumi and the final WoodenPotatoes always bickering over facts and authenticity in the priory hall ^^

Only if they are neutral level 1s (or 21, 23, 35 respectively) that drop a “coin of dissapointment” worth 3 silver that has “and so the adventurer misses the forest from the trees” writtn on it.

Supported. It’s cool that they are giving attention to the people that do a lot for GW2.

aocypher:

“Ok. From off the top of my head; the aetherblades. He claims they are from the future, and that Kiel is their leader ? this leads to Kiel being from the future. But, according to the short stories, Kiel was rescued by Magus when she was really young.”

This was one of the speculation videos and the most recent one at that. There is a disclaimer in the video naming it as such. He doesn’t “claim” anything as you like to put it. Clearly there is not info that Kiel is their leader and that she is from the future, it’s about speculation and theorizing. Do I buy that? No I don’t but I didn’t walk away taking any of that as fact either. No sure why you did.

“From another thing something mentioned, Factions. It takes 30 minutes per episode on what actually happened when the wiki explains it in a sentence? And if you actually played that expansion, you’ll see the cutscene is quick – 45 secs (ie: the killing of Master Togo).”

So would you guess that more people got enjoyment from a single sentence / 45 sec cut scene or a detailed video about it and connections made to it? What about all those GW2 players who never experienced GW1? Do you think they will have seen that 45 sec cut scene or read that one line and understood it all?

Umm…feeling upset over not getting credit for doing voluntary research is silly. Who gives a hoot about it. The important thing here is what things did/does someone(in this case WP) bring to the GW community.

Wooden Potatoes isn’t always right, we all know that, even he does. The point of his videos isn’t to be regurgitating Guild Wars lore verbatim. He’s simply telling it through the reflected lens of his point of view. So squabbling over his theories and claims is moot.

But more importantly, he’s a storyteller…and a kitten good one at that. He may not get everything right 100%, but here’s the thing: he gets Guild Wars. He understands the characters, the action, the world. He understands Tyria, in all its terrible beauty, glory, and strife. He’s a bard of sorts, and he sings the song of Tyria very well.

For that I encourage him, and others to listen to his tales. They may not all be canonical, but at least they reflect the soul of Guild Wars in a genuine way.

+1

He’s a Bard!

That said, isn’t ‘Wooden Potatoes’ a group? While there is a person who acts as the voice, didn’t he collaborate with people to make some of the more lengthy videos? If he were a humble person, and began to get recognition for the posted videos, he’d likely start making note of all the individuals who helped just like any likable personality on youtube acknowledges their fans for getting them where they are.

He totally deserves it!

Absolutely love this idea!

I’ve been a huge fan of his lore videos for a while now, he does a truly outstanding job informing both new and veteran Guild Wars players.

Honestly if anyone deserves it I’d say it would be him! ^.^

Because everyone else takes that as gospel. But if we only go via GW2 stuff, let’s look at his "Guild Wars 2 Mysteries, The Origins of Humanity " video.

in 13:02, he claims that “the gods also brought the forgotten” to tyria.

But if you played GW2 (arah explorables), you’ll find that it was the forgotten who freed glint and that glint was the one who help the elder races (jotun, mursaat, forgotten, seer, dwarf) fight against the dragons during their last awakening cycle.

But the “dragons’ last awakening cycle” was before the “human gods’ arrival” because the gods did not know of the elder dragons; heck! they built arah on top of zhaitan.

And I’m saying that there’s alot of “fluff” and interpretation in his videos. It’s not straight 100% facts. Giving him a reward for being a “loremaster” is like giving a conspiracy theorist a reward for being a “historian”.

While conspiracy theories are definately entertaining, it’s not history.

If the reward was for community involvement/outreach, you might have a different story.

KOPPER.1458:

aocypher:

“Ok. From off the top of my head; the aetherblades. He claims they are from the future, and that Kiel is their leader ? this leads to Kiel being from the future. But, according to the short stories, Kiel was rescued by Magus when she was really young.”

This was one of the speculation videos and the most recent one at that. There is a disclaimer in the video naming it as such. He doesn’t “claim” anything as you like to put it. Clearly there is not info that Kiel is their leader and that she is from the future, it’s about speculation and theorizing. Do I buy that? No I don’t but I didn’t walk away taking any of that as fact either. No sure why you did.

“From another thing something mentioned, Factions. It takes 30 minutes per episode on what actually happened when the wiki explains it in a sentence? And if you actually played that expansion, you’ll see the cutscene is quick – 45 secs (ie: the killing of Master Togo).”

So would you guess that more people got enjoyment from a single sentence / 45 sec cut scene or a detailed video about it and connections made to it? What about all those GW2 players who never experienced GW1? Do you think they will have seen that 45 sec cut scene or read that one line and understood it all?

I believe you are correct Leo. One of the posters on the front page has said as much about collaboration and fact checking etc.

Kal Spiro.9745:

I’m sorry, but if you’re going to imply he’s directly misrepresenting something, you’re going to have to point out specifics. You’re apparently a Lore Guru, so it should be very simple.

Point me to a video and I could probably point out 5 things per vid – minor or major. I actually did give a specific, though: he proclaimed that the binary seen by the skill challenge in Zone Green of the Infinite Coil Reactor in Mount Maelstrom translates to “Pale Tree” as a fact – this is far from so, and merely means “end transmission statement” or some such. He then used this “fact” to present the whole “pale tree is a dragon champion/elder dragon” ‘theory’ which spread like wildfire across the lore side of the forums (more than just the lore forums) and took months to show people that the binary meant something WP did not mean.

Gmr Leon.1846:

I can’t speak for Konig, but I’ve actually collaborated with WoodenPotatoes in the past, trying to help him fact check for some of his videos (e.g. he would exchange parts of his script with me over PM and ask if they seemed right for a time, until I reduced my forum activity for RL stuff), and he definitely tries to be accurate where possible. However, I think it’s entirely valid to point out that he doesn’t necessarily contribute any more than either Konig or myself have contributed (either now or, in my case, in the past).

Yet neither Konig nor myself have (albeit I like to speculate the asura Gor is a NPC version of myself, due to my major theories on the Mists [Mists and Magic as well as Mists and World/Planetary Formation]) NPCs in GW2.

Edit: As a completely off-topic sidenote, man Guru’s changes botched my formatting…And removed my awful example images. It’s a mixed blessing, for you guys!

I actually did try to offer my help in making his videos more accurate after the fiasco that I said just above, and he – quite rudely IMO – declined, proclaiming that you were all the help he needed.

Also, you got an NPC in Nightfall so who cares if you get one in GW2. :P (yes, this is a joke)

Keenan.6724:

I agree with this and must say I strongly disagree with Konig Des Todes and Lonami. I think both individuals are confusing WoodenPotatoes role in the GW2 community as a ‘lore specialist’ when in fact his emphasis is community outreach.

I am not confusing this. I know he’s not a lore specialist – though he certainly doesn’t try to discourage the notion that he is, which his following do believe (for example, whenever folks call me a “lore guru” or whatever, I tend to tell them I’m not such – I only “know so much” because I check my sources and most often only remember where to check said sources).

On the flip side, as I have seen, WP makes no effort to correct himself when he’s shown wrong, and makes no effort to show he may be wrong or even that people hold him in too high of a regard. The fact that he makes mistakes isn’t close to what I’m talking about – though existent, they merely lead to the real problem and that is that his audience mistake him for a lore specialist – at least to a minor degree.

I mean no insult to WP, I just wish that people didn’t hold him as such an infallible source of information. It’s fine and dandy and great that he gets people interested in the lore. I just wish he got them interested in looking into the lore for themselves rather than relying on him. If I were in his position, I’d do the same. I’d tell people that the best way to enjoy the lore is to find these things for themselves and only create real intro into the lore subjects (which he claimed to me was his intention, yet he goes into full detail except anything that counters his theories – intentional or no on the last part).

KOPPER.1458:

I am sure you’ll just assume I am lazy and therefore dismiss me or anything I have to say. Which is ok. But is that the attitude you want to put forward to get more players interested in the lore? Because that is the feeling and attitude that you get on lore forums.

Why would I dismiss what you have to say? I may correct you if you got facts wrong, but I wouldn’t dismiss you unless you present a theory that is outright debunked by known lore – and how I would dismiss you would be by showing you that said known lore.

KOPPER.1458:

Would you say that you and Konig have reached a larger audience than WP? Because that is what it comes down to at the end of the day. At least for most people it does. Also I am not sure that anyone is saying he contribute more than either of you. Although both of you seem to have taken it that way.

The OP kind of does in the reddit post, saying that his contributions to the community are on par to Dulfy’s. And by saying he’s reached out to the larger community – that’s a contribution. So whether no one may say the word, that’s what’s being talked about – his contributions to the community in spreading lore and explaining the lore.

KOPPER.1458:

You realize that after you wrote “And not to sound conceted” that everything that followed was fairly conceted? That is like saying “I don’t mean offence” and then you say something offensive.

That’s because when folks say things like that, it’s because they don’t know how to not sound conceited. I feel any mention of self accomplishment is being conceited hence why I said it.

KOPPER.1458:

-snip- Like I said above it’s about how many you can reach not how much you know. How you inspire others to want to learn about the lore and be excited about it.

What you’re saying is exactly what I’ve been saying – how he contributes to the community. You’re just replacing his actions to number of people he influences.

KOPPER.1458:

Players love to speculate, is it a surprise that those video gain some traction then? I don’t think so. It’s not about being right when it comes to a mystery. The fun is in speculating. He has plenty of factual lore videos. I am sure there are some places where the info is skewed.

The problem is that people take his speculation as fact. I’ve said this dozens of times now. And furthermore, he doesn’t try to correct them.

I don’t mind he speculates. I don’t mind he takes others’ presented theories that they put in far more work into and gives no credit and sometimes not even indication of them not being his. That’s irrelevant. The first should be done, the second doesn’t matter.

It’s his audience’s view of his videos that’s the problem, and WP’s (lack of) reaction to such.

Kal Spiro.9745:

All of the above. It’s a nomination, not a personal declaration of superiority. That’s what you guys are presenting, and it sounds more like jealous whining than reasoned arguments.

I couldn’t give a skritt’s behind about personal superiority, WP’s popularity, or my own. Hell I would enjoy not being known as someone who knows a lot of lore. Because I have seen folks do the same to me that they do with WP that I’m complaining about – the difference is that when I see it, I take action. WP doesn’t. THAT is the whole point behind it.

WP does spread interest in lore, but when he makes mistakes he doesn’t clean his messes. And that spells irresponsibility and it is quite annoying when I have to constantly correct people who say “but this is how it is! It’s in this video -link to a WP video-” (and it’s happened far too much).

Cecht.4102:

As I said in my earlier post, I totally understand WPs role in bringing the GW lore to the masses. He does a great job at it, for those who do no follow the Lore forums here (or gw2guru). But as far as calling him the #1 lore source etc, I disagree with (impressions so many in this very thread give me). He does know what is going on with the lore discussions very well and I am sure enjoys reading all the stuff on the lore forums. But he by no means is the most eminent community lore source in here. And for that reason, I am doubtful he should receive recognition as a ‘lore’ source.

-snip- the lore community as a whole is amazing and deserves recognition. They have kept me entertained since GW1, Prophecies.

This. Thankfully, the lore community did get a good recognition in Nightfall via a handful of NPCs named after GWO lore forum dwellers. I was kind of hoping that there’d be such in the Durmand Priory too, preferably as a mention of the community rather than naming specifics.

D best.3547:

Not only did that video win him an instant subscription but I also went back to CoE to see all that he had explained.

The bold is what I wish everyone did. My problem is the people who don’t.

christiniae.7834:

I also would like to know why those 2 people want to discredit WP because he makes some theory or speculation videos. There isn’t anything wrong with that and he labels them correctly.

Except that he doesn’t always do so. I have seen quite a few videos of his where he presents fact then theory then fact then speculation. And he doesn’t really separate them except the occasional “I’ve heard a theory that…” It’s only in his “primarily speculative videos” where he distinguishes the two. And even then, he still doesn’t get his facts straight.

Yet folks think he is fully accurate and he doesn’t put in effort to correct that misconception or when he’s shown to be wrong. <- the problem.

Konig, what are you doing? Just stop. You have more than made your point.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Thobek.1730:

Its a shame about the 2-3 that disagree since they also have some site up about GW1 lore and are jealous of not getting the same attention. They should of said nothing and instead focused on delivering more lore to the community, now all I think of them is a bunch of attention starved jealous crybabies. Such a shame.

I think you have a poor understanding of the scale of all the lore that the community has researched. And then one guy makes some videos about it, in which he cherry picks his favorite theories.

SO WHAT if he cherry picks his favourite theories, he doesn’t claim to be the ultimate source of GW lore. I (and a lot of other people) find his videos entertaining and informative. A lot of his videos are speculative and he’s also the first to admit that. He even calls some of them “rants.”

He comes up with interesting conclusions, and tries to piece together links. So far the stories in GW2 have been very boring, but because of his “what if” scenarios I now find them interesting.

His latest is on the reactor (which hasn’t even come out yet) and he’s put together a very, VERY interesting possibility.

And remember its not even him putting his name forward, its the community that have enjoyed his theories and would like to see him receive some kind of recognition within the game.

So if you think someone else deserves the same treatment then make your own thread and suggest them, but to come in and be all negative just speaks volumes about what type of person you are, and the other jealous negative types trying to disrupt this thread.

John.1728:

Konig, what are you doing? Just stop. You have more than made your point.

Right? It’s the horrible return of quote wars, this time expanded to…Multiple posts! No forum or thread should have to suffer such horrific events. (To be clear: not sarcasm. Those things are an eyesore, and I’m not interested in the justifications behind it.)

John.1728:

Konig, what are you doing? Just stop. You have more than made your point.

Actually the more he posts the sadder he looks. He’s like" I don’t give a skritts behind" then continues to rant on which just goes to show it really does bother him.

having WP as a NPC doesn’t hurt anyone, and a lot of the community would like to see it happen. Konig you’re coming across as a jealous child “It’s not fair, his lore is incorrect! he doesn’t deserve it!”

Konig where is your body of work since you pride yourself on GW lore so much? Perhaps that’s what you should focus on instead of trying to discredit WP so much.