Guild Wars 2

It feels like the story of the game has been lacking these past few years, to be honest, especially when we compare it to GW1. Back then there were a lot of twists and turns, and no clear cut antagonists who were evil just because they’re evil. They had reasoning behind their actions. Plus, you never really knew who the major antagonist was until the final portions of the story/expansions. It felt like character development was at a higher level overall.

With the arrival of “Path of Fire” it becomes even more simplistic and, maybe, nonsensical a bit? Hear me out.

“Now the god of fire and war, Balthazar, has made an unexpected return, only to reveal himself as a ruthless manipulator with little regard for mortal life.”

Why? All of a sudden, one of the gods just pops up and gets directly involved in things out of nowhere? And why does he have little regard for mortal life? What’s his reasoning in the first place?

It gets more confusing.

“Tyria’s heroes thwarted the first stage of his catastrophic plan to destroy the Elder Dragons”.

Wait, what??? Weren’t WE trying to destroy the Elder Dragons? I mean, we killed Zhaitan and Mordremoth. So why are we now doing a 180º and stopping Batlhazar from getting to the other dragons?

See what I mean?

Why we shouldn’t kill Elder Dragons anymore has been made clear in season 3. It destabilizes the magic in Tyria and will lead to an apocalyptic event that won’t end well for anyone in Tyria. We discovered the effects of killing Elder Dragons after killing 2 of them. It’s only logical that we didn’t know of this before. No one documented it and since Elder Dragons rise once in a millennium (or longer) it’s not as if we could’ve observed it before.

Regarding Balthazar’s motivations, expect to learn more about that with the expansion. He only revealed himself in the previous LS chapter. It would be extremely sloppy and unrealistic storytelling if we already knew why he is up to the things he is.

I agree that the stories in GW2 has not been as good or compelling as in GW. But that being said, I don’t think we can make any judgments about the story in the new expansion. Anet said they have learned from HoT and other mistakes. Maybe the new story will be exceptional.

I remember exactly the same complaints about the story in GW1. The characters were terrible, the overall plot was unoriginal and predictable (I mean surely it was obvious to everyone the moment you met him that the Vizier was the lead villain, right?), each storyline had no connection what-so-ever to the previous ones and overall it was a jumbled mess.

I still play GW1 periodically and still see those same complaints being voiced now. But apparently GW2 players remember it far differently to the people who are still re-playing it.

As for the current storyline honestly if you think they just suddenly sprung the idea of not killing the dragons on us after Balthazar tried to kill them I think the problem is you haven’t been paying attention. We’ve been getting hints that killing them was causing problems since at least the end of HoT (all the Current Events stuff with loose ley line energy for example) and it was explained repeatedly by Taimi throughout Season 3.

You’re right that we don’t know why Balthazar has appeared, but that’s because at first he was trying to hide himself and since we revealed him he’s been actively avoiding us, so we’ve not had a chance to find out. But also we’re in the middle of the storyline, we’re not supposed to know everything. If this was a TV show then Episode 6 would be the ‘mid season finale’ – they’ve introduced the character and built the story up to the ‘crisis point’ but of course nothing has been resolved yet, otherwise there would be no plot left for the second half.

Finding out why Balthazar is back and so set on killing the elder dragons will presumably be a major part of the plot to PoF, alongside stopping him. But if they’re sensible we won’t get all the answers in the expansion because some of it has to feed into Season 4. Either us getting involved in whatever’s got Balthazar so worked up, or us finding a solution to the elder dragons absorbing all the magic (and killing most of Tyria in the process) without killing them.

Avectius.3271:

“Now the god of fire and war, Balthazar, has made an unexpected return, only to reveal himself as a ruthless manipulator with little regard for mortal life.”

Why? All of a sudden, one of the gods just pops up and gets directly involved in things out of nowhere? And why does he have little regard for mortal life? What’s his reasoning in the first place?

These questions are literally the story of PoF, They will be answered. Our characters are asking these very questions and going to the crystal desert to find the answers. We just found this information out in the last chapter, I don’t know why we should expect to know what he is up to already. It took over 2 seasons to learn what Caith was doing/thinking. Why would we learn what Balthazar was up to in 1 chapter?

Avectius.3271:

“Tyria’s heroes thwarted the first stage of his catastrophic plan to destroy the Elder Dragons”.

Wait, what??? Weren’t WE trying to destroy the Elder Dragons? I mean, we killed Zhaitan and Mordremoth. So why are we now doing a 180º and stopping Batlhazar from getting to the other dragons?

We learned 2 things after killing Mordremoth.

1. Killing an elder dragon causes all other dragons to gain their abilities and become more powerful
2. the elder dragons are tied to the fabric of Tyria, killing them would cause a cataclysmic event that would destroy the planet. We didn’t learn of it until after we killed the second dragon.

So the plan is to put them back to sleep or imprison rather than kill. Killing them will make 1 Super Mega Ultra Elder Dragon, or destroy the world.

Avectius.3271:

See what I mean?

Not at all, sorry. There is some bad writing in the game to be sure, but the examples you chose are clear and understandable.

I always knew who the antagonist was in every GW1 standalone/expansion. There were just as many twists/turns then as there are now. Character development was almost non-existent in GW1. Be careful to not look at that game with rose-colored glasses as the same complaints that have been made now were made back then.

We’ll find out Balth’s reasoning in the expansion. Kind of pointless for them to explain everything all up front. It’s a rarity that any stories do this.

If you followed the story of LS3, you would know why we put a hold on killing elder dragons.

I still play GW1 from time to time. I enjoyed the stories and was not one of those that complained about it. I realize that you cannot give every minute bit of information that you would get in life, but they seemed to flow better in GW1. I’m not looking through rose colored glasses either as I still play the original game.

That being said, GW1 had its flaws just as GW2 does. Where GW2 struggles IMO is with with a bit of a disjointed feel. The story jumps around too much. Maybe cohesiveness is a better word.

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy GW2 and have been impressed with the amount of content Anet has provided since HoT, but the story could be a little more streamlined IMO.

I can’t wait to get back to Cantha and defeat the exciting new villian, Shimo Taguchi who is trying to harness the power of dragons, but there’s also a rogue God, or something… You know what, just buy more gems okay?

The story wasn’t great in gw1 either altho it picked up a lot with nightfall and eye of the north. The difference was, the campaign style meant plotting was a bit tighter and stayed on track. Here it is all over the place.

PoF will be the chance to rectify that with a long, strong and involving story. There is plenty of story material to work with in CD and Elona – probably the most since the core campaign

Danikat.8537:

I remember exactly the same complaints about the story in GW1. The characters were terrible, the overall plot was unoriginal and predictable

You must’ve been dreaming, then, because the story was one of the most loved aspects of the game, if not the most lauded thing, especially in comparison with other MMOs back then.

Lokki.1092:

We learned 2 things after killing Mordremoth.

1. Killing an elder dragon causes all other dragons to gain their abilities and become more powerful
2. the elder dragons are tied to the fabric of Tyria, killing them would cause a cataclysmic event that would destroy the planet. We didn’t learn of it until after we killed the second dragon.

See, that just sounds like lazy story writing. It’s like they pulled that out of their kitten at the last minute, to be honest.

The point is, a narrative like “There’s evil dragons out there, we have to destroy them” is pretty much something anyone could come up with. It’s so simplistic it’s kind of laughable considering the scope of Guild Wars lore.

And as for Balthazar, he’s one of the six gods; he’s an important, mystical figure that’s been part of the lore since its inception. Making him just another baddie we’ll interact with directly just diminishes the character immensely.

Avectius.3271:

Danikat.8537:

I remember exactly the same complaints about the story in GW1. The characters were terrible, the overall plot was unoriginal and predictable

You must’ve been dreaming, then, because the story was one of the most loved aspects of the game, if not the most lauded thing, especially in comparison with other MMOs back then.

Lokki.1092:

We learned 2 things after killing Mordremoth.

1. Killing an elder dragon causes all other dragons to gain their abilities and become more powerful
2. the elder dragons are tied to the fabric of Tyria, killing them would cause a cataclysmic event that would destroy the planet. We didn’t learn of it until after we killed the second dragon.

See, that just sounds like lazy story writing. It’s like they pulled that out of their kitten at the last minute, to be honest.

The point is, a narrative like “There’s evil dragons out there, we have to destroy them” is pretty much something anyone could come up with. It’s so simplistic it’s kind of laughable considering the scope of Guild Wars lore.

And as for Balthazar, he’s one of the six gods; he’s an important, mystical figure that’s been part of the lore since its inception. Making him just another baddie we’ll interact with directly just diminishes the character immensely.

Or you’re viewing it through rose-colored glasses. Pretty much the same complaints that people have made about GW2 were made about GW1.

Making Balth an enemy doesn’t diminish him. Depending on how they handle the PoF story, it could enhance his character. I’m actually pretty excited to see what they do with him in the expansion.

The evil dragons being so simplistic can be said about anything in GW1.

Ayrilana.1396:

The evil dragons being so simplistic can be said about anything in GW1.

How so?

Avectius.3271:

Ayrilana.1396:

The evil dragons being so simplistic can be said about anything in GW1.

How so?

Factions: We have to prevent some guy from the past from further releasing a plague to the world and come back to the mortal realm. Meh.

Nightfall: We have to prevent some woman from further releasing Nightfall to the world and freeing her god.

EotN: Destroyers are bad. Defeat the destroyers.

Ayrilana.1396:

Factions: We have to prevent some guy from the past from further releasing a plague to the world and come back to the mortal realm. Meh.

Nightfall: We have to prevent some woman from further releasing Nightfall to the world and freeing her god.

EotN: Destroyers are bad. Defeat the destroyers.

There’s a difference between demonstrating the simplicity and lack of complexity in something and it being justified, and what you just did. You were pretty much just loosely describing things.

But you know what’s funny? Even in the way you described the events in the story, they STILL sound much better than what we got with GW2.

The story writing in GW1 was objectively on a whole different level. If “meh” is the only reaction you could muster from the Factions campaign, then you just can’t appreciate a great narrative.

Avectius.3271:

Ayrilana.1396:

Factions: We have to prevent some guy from the past from further releasing a plague to the world and come back to the mortal realm. Meh.

Nightfall: We have to prevent some woman from further releasing Nightfall to the world and freeing her god.

EotN: Destroyers are bad. Defeat the destroyers.

There’s a difference between demonstrating the simplicity and lack of complexity in something and it being justified, and what you just did. You were pretty much just loosely describing things.

But you know what’s funny? Even in the way you described the events in the story, they STILL sound much better than what we got with GW2.

The story writing in GW1 was objectively on a whole different level. If “meh” is the only reaction you could muster from the Factions campaign, then you just can’t appreciate a great narrative.

What I just did is what you just did about the dragons.

I wnjoyed the GW1 stories just like I have the GW2 stories. I’m not going to say that the GW1 stories were superior because they weren’t as they were very basic and narrow.

Ayrilana.1396:

Avectius.3271:

Ayrilana.1396:

Factions: We have to prevent some guy from the past from further releasing a plague to the world and come back to the mortal realm. Meh.

Nightfall: We have to prevent some woman from further releasing Nightfall to the world and freeing her god.

EotN: Destroyers are bad. Defeat the destroyers.

There’s a difference between demonstrating the simplicity and lack of complexity in something and it being justified, and what you just did. You were pretty much just loosely describing things.

But you know what’s funny? Even in the way you described the events in the story, they STILL sound much better than what we got with GW2.

The story writing in GW1 was objectively on a whole different level. If “meh” is the only reaction you could muster from the Factions campaign, then you just can’t appreciate a great narrative.

What I just did is what you just did about the dragons.

I wnjoyed the GW1 stories just like I have the GW2 stories. I’m not going to say that the GW1 stories were superior because they weren’t as they were very basic and narrow.

In the end, it is all subjective. I feel the same as Avectius about the stories of GW1, Factions, Nightfall and EOTN. I thought the stories were better and more fleshed out. That doesn’t mean I disliked GW2’s stories.

I don’t see the GW1 stories as basic and narrow. You can break any story, novel, show, etc down into a basic of some sort. It’s what happens during the story that matters. Breaking it down to a simplistic base does it disservice.

Saving Private Ryan: War movie.
The Godfather: Movie about mafia.
Star Wars: Space Movie
The Wizard of Oz: Movie about a girl from Kansas.

Boiling it down to base elements does not encompass the true nature of the complete package.