Dolyak Express Feb 10, 2014

Dolyak Express Feb 10, 2014

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Posted by: JerekLo.5893

JerekLo.5893

The bandits and Caudicus seem to be a bit under-represented in the grand scheme of things when dealing with the living story. I’d like to see a little more of the political intrigue those guys could offer. Will we get to see them receive more development as time moves on?

And since this is about characters… Ya know Mhenlo…he got around. I’m still waiting on my answers!

Jerek Lo | Singh | Slagg Blackclaw | Wilhelm von Wilhelm | Viscerious
Sorrow’s Furnace
Kabal of the Righteous [Seed]

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Posted by: Lilith Ajit.6173

Lilith Ajit.6173

Is this all about npcs or personal characters too

[ARES]
And all who stood by and did nothing, who are they to criticize the sacrifices of others?
Our blood has bought their lives.

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Posted by: Atlas.9704

Atlas.9704

Will we ever see changes in NPC’s reactions to our characters based on Charm/Dignity/Ferocity?

Elona, Land of the Golden Sun….and undead…and poison. The travel brochure lied okay?!

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Posted by: Midnight Gypsy.9360

Midnight Gypsy.9360

Let me change my question to make it more NPC related.

What are your thoughts on Sayeh al’Rajihd?

Will she be further involved with the other races and expand on the closely guarded secrets of the Largos (the lore)?

The honor of dept being repaid was the reason Sayeh al’Rajihd aided Trahearne and if I can recall we aided a Largos in Southsun during the early part of this season.
Can we expect this aid (or if we get to aid them in the future) to advance the relationship of the playable races with the Largos?
What exactly was it that caused Sayeh al’Rajihd and Trahearne to join forces? (the first time they met)

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Posted by: ThiBash.5634

ThiBash.5634

Will you extend the mechanics for the new harp musical instrument item to The Minstrel? I’d gladly pay gems for that!

If you can read this then it is proof that ArenaNet’s moderators just, kind and fair.

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Posted by: ThiBash.5634

ThiBash.5634

Is ANet ever going to add an important character that isn’t white?

Check out Guild Wars 1…it features two whole expansions about non-western humans. Current day Kryta’s humans were white-skinned in GW1 too, so it makes sense that the majority is white-skinned now. But if Cantha or Elona are ever re-released…be prepared to be amazed.

So don’t go around accusing people to be racist when you just don’t got your facts straight!

If you can read this then it is proof that ArenaNet’s moderators just, kind and fair.

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Posted by: Chrispy.5641

Chrispy.5641

staying somewhat on topic…..and outside of spoken player dialogue during battle…

Lorewise, how close is the bond between a Player and their npc Companions (Ranger Pet, Necromancer Minions, Thieves Guild, etc.)?

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Posted by: Apocolyte.8093

Apocolyte.8093

Dungeons are some of my favorite content in the game and I think the connection between story mode in dungeons, the personal story, and the open world is great. Some of the best stories in the game (in my opinion) are told in the story modes. In AC story, we get to retrieve the partner of Rytlock’s sword to try to reunite Rytlock and Logan, plus we see a big reference to GW1 lore, how cool is that!?

The thing is, the content we see in explorable modes seems to be a bit… outside of everything else that happens in the game. That is, unlike story mode, the characters we meet and the things that we learn while running these paths stay contained within the dungeon. Personally, I’d like to see small connections to the other lore in the game. For example in CM exp players could search for evidence of Caudecus’s schemes for Logan or maybe Agent Spire could pop up in one of the Living Story events and, if we had helped her escape from the Crucible, players could crack jokes with her about pulling levers and closing cafeterias. Small things like that I guess that make exp dungeons feel more rewarding lore-wise.

Question in short: We already know that Living Story can invade dungeons (Scarlet and TA), but would you consider expanding the stories we see in explorable modes in dungeons and the characters that we meet there to the bigger “Open World” or to “Living Story”?

(This is kind of a stretch on the topic, sorry)

(edited by Apocolyte.8093)

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Posted by: Mal.1670

Mal.1670

Any plans for another “open world dungeon” like the Tower of Nightmares?

(absolutely LOVED that update – probably my favorite for 2013)

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Posted by: Incarnazeus.5481

Incarnazeus.5481

Greetings,

I’ve some questions regarding Garm; how did he and Eir meet, and where specifically? And assuming dire wolves are by now extinct in Tyria (as well) with the only live specimen being him, what happened to the pack he was born into? Lastly, what happened between them that makes him follow Eir as his ‘alpha’?

Thank you for doing this!

I am who I am… Who am I?

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Posted by: Konig Des Todes.2086

Konig Des Todes.2086

So… Not really sure what constitutes as a “characters” question but here goes:

  1. This was asked, I saw, but I fee it needs to be emphasized. There is a personality system and there is a very miniscule usage of it in place for some very rare and often hard to spot dialogue options. Is there plans on utilizing this system some more?
  2. Also asked already: Who, or what, is Bahltek? What is his story?
  3. A lot of people don’t really like having their mute character. Having 10 voices per language is a lot of money and scheduling though, so it’s understandable why the player character doesn’t speak much. However, would it be possible to go into the route of having an interactive dialogue cinematic (e.g., Dragon Age: Origins)?
  4. A relationships question: The story between Malchor and Dwayna is interest; especially with Grenth being Dwayna’s son. Is Malchor the father of Grenth? If so, how did he carve a statue of his son?
  5. I recall before release, there were some brief mentions of a romance system to be implemented in GW2. Obviously, such never cultivated for release. Is this fully scrapped, or is it just placed on the bottom of your to-do list? Any way you can expand on how you’d do this, if it were possible?
  6. A lot of the villains in GW2 are very… under developed. Not just Scarlet, who has become well developed but poorly portrayed, but many of the “racial enemy factions’ leaders” such as Gaheron Baelfire. Of the dungeon bosses, only Faolain, Caudecus, and Kudu could be considered interesting – simply because we saw the most of them, and thus the most development of them (and sans Kudu, they’re still alive and kicking). I suppose my question in this is: have you taken notes on how the playerbase reacted to these “enemies” (and Scarlet) to help improve the presentation and personality of future villains?
  7. Back to Gaheron for a second – we see his spirit in the Citadel of Flame explorable mode… perhaps there’s a chance of his return? He was built up a lot and is still seemingly worshiped by Flame Legion (the Molten Alliance making reference to a “Baelfire ritual”), it seems rather poor to let him die so simply, especially since his fight was rather sub-par.
  8. Tequatl. Tequatl, Teakettle, Tequilla. This monstrosity had recently received a power boost – even in the world’s story, though next to nothing was developed for this. Will we return to him and expand upon him?
  9. Zhaitan was rather disappointing – obviously in the fight, but also in how he’s always a behind-the-curtains figure that ends up having a spotlight of five minutes. I recall hearing that there’s wantings to return to this fight and improve it. If this is so, is there any intention to improve upon his character and presentation?
  10. Last question. There are subtle hints that the Elder Dragons have personality – the personal story says Zhaitan’s intelligent; we go into Kralkatorrik’s mind during Edge of Destiny; and a lot of the various dragon minions give unique insights of the mentality enforced upon them after being corrupted. Do the Elder Dragons have unique personalities that make them more than “rawr, destroy, consume, destroy!” creatures of the apocalypse? If so, can they be reasoned with?
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.

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Posted by: mercury ranique.2170

mercury ranique.2170

Is this all about npcs or personal characters too

It is bout ‘Characters and relationships in Tyria.’ So as I read it, it goes bout both player’s characters AND non playing characters (NPC’s)

So just ask what you want to ask, in the end it is the dev’s that pick the questions they want to answer.

Arise, ye farmers of all nations
Arise, opressed of Tyria!

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Posted by: Mark Katzbach

Previous

Mark Katzbach

Content Marketing Manager

Next

Thank you for submitting these questions. We will review the questions from this week’s thread, as well as those from the other language forums. We will chose a group of them to hand over to the various Development Teams. Their replies will be posted in all language forums on Friday February 21.

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Posted by: Mark Katzbach

Previous

Mark Katzbach

Content Marketing Manager

DOLYAK EXPRESS: CHARACTERS AND RELATIONSHIPS IN TYRIA

Greetings,

Today, we have answers to some of your questions about characters and relationships in Tyria from this thread and the other language forums. Today’s answers come from Angel McCoy, Bobby Stein and Scott McGough.

Q: Do charr understand the concept of love, or do they select merely based on primal instincts like protection, best fit, alpha status and alike (much like in an animal society)?

Angel McCoy: Charr most definitely understand love, fall in love, fall out of love, and love friends and warband-mates deeply. When it comes to procreation, opinions vary. There are those who look for the partner with the best “genes,” and there are the surprise pregnancies as well. There are couples who love each other and want to make little versions of themselves. Everyone is an individual.

Scott McGough: I’d like to add that the charr are largely a military culture, so the qualities that make for a good soldier (bravery, fighting skill, leadership ability, loyalty, etc.) are considered attractive, but that is not the only criteria a charr has in terms of who they seek out as a compatible partner.

Q: I play a charr, but I can walk through Ebonhawke without getting the stink eye – where is all this sudden tolerance coming from?

Angel: The cease fire while treaty talks are under way. Humans and charr are currently under a cease fire arranged between the legions and the queen. Only renegades and separatists take action against the other race, and they’re bad guys.

Scott: Also, random open hostility by humans toward charr in Ebonhawke would raise the ire of both Divinity’s Reach and the Black Citadel, and drawing too much attention to the Separatists’ provocative underground political/martial movement is a sure way to get that movement crushed before it gets results. In other words, the anti-charr humans of Ebonhawke don’t like charr, but they know enough to bide their time and pick their battles.

Q: Are there relationships between races in Tyria? We know of Braham and Rox…but is such a thing more common or the rare exception? And is there a possibility for cross-species offspring?

Angel: That is up to each individual to roleplay. You will currently find no official cross-species NPC relationships in the game. Rox and Braham are good friends. That’s not to say we might not one day have one.

Q: Who were Taimi’s parents? What is Zojja’s role in Taimi’s education?

Bobby Stein: We intend to explore answers to both questions in future stories. Stay tuned.

Q: Why can’t Logan and Jennah love each other freely or marry each other? Is there a tradition preventing them? Can’t the queen choose her consort? Is Logan not highly born enough (he is still Gwen’s descendant)?

Angel: The nobility of Kryta is modeled on historic medieval feudalism. It’s unusual, and frowned upon, for people from different social strata to intermingle. Of course, there are always trysts between gentry, commoner, and street folk, and even love. But, socially, especially from the point of view of the gentry, it’s considered demeaning. There are also real social boundaries to it. A noble must behave a certain way and speak a certain way when in noble company. Most commoner and street people don’t dress, talk, or behave that way, and they actually disdain that kind of “snootiness.” There are stories in history of a royal loving and even marrying a commoner, but these are rare and come with heavy repercussions to both usually.

Specific to Logan and the queen, there are a lot of political machinations going on behind the scenes. They have many hurdles to overcome if they’re to be together, the least of which is that they both have bigger priorities to deal with. We’ll delve into these more at a later time.

Q: Why the focus on the characters instead of the world…

Bobby: We’ve populated most of the explorable and city maps with lots of ambient characters, creatures, events, and secret areas. I don’t believe we’ve chosen one over the other, since we’ve put a lot of resources into building an immersive, interactive world that players are free to explore at their own pace.

Q: …And why the emphasis on providing a narrative of a character before we’re really given a chance to make our own assumptions and preferences about them?

Bobby: For the Personal Story, we wanted to give players the opportunity to do a little roleplaying by letting them customize the look of their characters and pick their backstories, which affect certain chapters in their journey. This is a bit of a change from the original Guild Wars, but we felt it was an important evolution of the player experience.

Q: Recently, characters seem a lot more fleshed out and entertaining. Is this due to a specific change in how you write or just learning from experience?

Bobby: Thanks for the compliment! We actually haven’t changed too much about the writing itself, but we have put more resources into the presentation, which is probably what you’re noticing. We’ve learned a lot over time, and as a result we’ve evolved our story creation process. Our story meetings these days are a lot more involved and are very collaborative across disciplines. People on the teams are becoming very invested in these stories and characters. That makes a huge difference in the quality.

In the past, we generally didn’t build story instances where the player could interact with these characters, nor did we have the resources to build a lot of cinematics or special areas like Scarlet’s Lair. We even wrote (and voiced) a lot of character-building moments that unfortunately never made it into the game due to time constraints.

We examined player feedback over the course of 2013, and realized that we weren’t giving people enough opportunities to get to know our characters or understand the season plot. We were being a little too secretive and leaving too much to speculation. So starting with the Nightmare Tower releases we built more content specifically to impart story and develop our characters, and the responses have been overwhelmingly positive. Because of that, we’ve more closely partnered with designers, artists, and audio folk to continue to improve the story and characterization.

I’m especially excited about the remaining episodes of this season. We’ve got a couple of surprises in store, so I hope you’ll join us for the season finale!

Q: Do you have plans, or would you consider, adding a prominent gay male couple to the world (not sectioned off into one sylvari personal story path), and additional prominent people of color (i.e. non-white human/norn) to the world?

Angel: Absolutely. But we’re not in any hurry to do it just to do it. We’ll do it when the story calls for it.

Q: Some questions regarding Garm; how did he and Eir meet, and where specifically? And assuming dire wolves are by now extinct in Tyria (as well) with the only live specimen being him, what happened to the pack he was born into? Lastly, what happened between them that makes him follow Eir as his ‘alpha’?

Angel: That’s a big story. I’ll put it into my list of possible ideas to tackle in a blog post.

Q: Lorewise, how close is the bond between a Player and their npc Companions (Ranger Pet, Necromancer Minions, Thieves Guild, etc.)?

Angel: That depends on the character. Everyone is an individual, and it would do no good to generalize something like this. Each player can choose to roleplay their relationships as they wish.

Q: What exactly was it that caused Sayeh al’Rajihd and Trahearne to join forces the first time they met?

Angel: We’re keeping this story in our pocket for potential future release.

Q: How come Queen Jennah is so trusting towards Lion’s Arch? It is a melting pot lair of pirates ruled by the fiercest of them all, when she, on the other side, lead a battle against Kryta’s bandits who are not so different?

Angel: Lion’s Arch has been an established trade ally for a long time. She may not trust individuals from LA, but the city as a whole is very unlikely to attack Divinity’s Reach. Kryta’s bandits, on the other hand, are in the streets of DR and have damaged the DR economy as well as assaulting citizens. They are an immediate threat to DR.

Q: Which characters and their relationships inspired the developers the most?

Scott: Every developer and designer has a different answer, but (tongue firmly in cheek here), if we had to pick one answer, it would be Hobo-Tron and Minstrel Marcello.

Bobby: Lord Faren and himself.