OK, having played through all of the starting locations now, I have to commend ANet for the “depth” in Maguuma and Rata Sum. I’m not talking dynamic events or hearts – more the general ambient activity the Asura have going on.
No other homeland area feels quite as active and alive from a standpoint of side chatter, activity, and general “stuff going on”. The scripted NPC-to-NPC interactions remain funny to me even after running several characters through the region (ok, except the Accountancy Waypoint NPC’s, but that’s a function of me hanging around in there frequently).
As a contrast, I found starting a Norn and a Human both boring as snot.
Well-done, ANet; and I hope to see some additions of the same kind of environmental chatter/activity to the other regions in the future.