Guild Wars 2

It’s simple…they know he’s useless without the player. Get rid of the player, and he can’t do anything.

Trahearne is eh.. not good, not bad. The Sylvari in general, however are lame. They gave way too much importance & value to a silly “i’m dainty but nonsensically more powerful & intelligent than everyone” race instead of picking something cool like the Tengu. And every time they try to tell me how awesome the Sylvari are with silly dialog about how Caith is so tough on her wyld hunt adventures or how how a little sylvari girl can beat a Norn guy in a drinking & axe throwing competition it just makes me wanna laugh. The Sylvari should have been the side race not the Norn.

A first born these are the top of the tree the elite of the Sylvari so powerfull only one in history has ever died , think if Chuck Norris and Michelle Yeoh had a love child.

Then he is given the mightiest weapon ever created by the sylvari this guy should go best two out of three with a dragon on his own but what happens.

Oh ive summoned my pets im tired now.

I fight off a tide of undead while he stands in a corner and throws the occasional spitball.

He stands on the balcony like Marie Antoinette while i do all the fighting.

I start my personal story and half way through it becomes the story of a jumped up piece of celery with an ego the size of Orr.

rgrwng.4072:

If Trahearne is the apparent know-it-all on all things Orr and Undead, wouldn’t he have a plan already to end the war against the dragons? oh, because he needed the plant sword with every professions’ skills imbued into it? c’mon, now. maybe it’s just coincidence, but how come Trahearne doesn’t get Risen-pulled? all the missions in Orr, they never really attacked him much when i was rollin’ through Orr. he did not need us to accompany him into the dream to get the sword at the end…

if he is the “know-it-all”, and he shows up to the enemy’s doorstep to get rid of them, wouldn’t they be gunning for him first? or the undead should have gone Terminator-style and infiltrated the Pact ranks to attempt a murder. The only thing that came close to it was the Vigil one with the mesmer mole.

still hoping for a marauder shields like expansion/rewrite.

but if he became a leading commander (with apparent experience) to take back Elona from Palawa Joko, and my ele as second in command, i can see that happening.

Let’s see . . .

“Why didn’t he have this all charted out?” – because he spent his time studying it but it was all reactive and not proactive. It wasn’t until he went to see the Pale Tree that he pretty much was shown: “You can do this, you just have to focus and try.”

As for why he’s not the primary target? He’s not the weakest link in the Pact – the weakest links in the Pact were the supply lines, the fact that any fallen allies can become Risen enemies, and the fact the three orders don’t get along that well. So it’s much easier to prey on THAT than on Trahearne directly.

And the Awakened of Elona are not the Risen of Zhaitan, they’re a completely different animal, trust me on that . . .

Trahearne, IMO, does not act like a leader

- Yes hes got a big shiny sword (I have a massive bling on my staff)
- Yes he hasseen Zhaitan and lived to tell (I have also seen him via google)
- Yes hes green (I am blue, big deal)
- Yes he has knowledge of Orr (I have wikipedia)
- Yes hes the top rank NPC (I’m doing all the work)
- Yes he looks ugly (He wins in that department)

Dont worry Trahearne will become corrupt by the next dragon because he was infected for being next to zaithan so much time and you will need to put an end to his fallen life like you did for apatia, but you will have an epic fight and will get his sword for ressurect the mighty holy dragon which you will ride it and ignore logan and the others noobs so you will go 1v1 in the sky and you win in a mighty battle which will be remembered for the eternity and you will become the new king of tyria and all the glory and women will be yours, ive already seen it, i hope i can change the color of my underwear by then.

in the topic, i dont really know i dont hate the guy.

Tybalt > Trahearne

Because Trahearne is NATO No.Action.Talk.Only

Why do we hate Trahearne? Because other than being a plot device for why some NPCs are where they are, he is COMPLETELY useless. I mean, he’s a necromancer right? The only time I’ve seen him even summon his minions is in Retribution when we have to go clear out the the risen around the ramparts. Then we go from being heroes/champions of our misc. tasks, Lightbringers/Magisters/Warmasters of the Order of Whispers/Priory/Vigil, respectively, to glorified babysitters of a bunch of self-absorbed snobs while he is in his office… In one fight after the pact is formed in a mission called “Marshaling the Truth” he is knocked down and doesn’t help AT ALL, even with his fancy guardian sword. >_>

Did i mention that i hate trahe because hes gotten a free legendary weapon without grinding for resources gift etc?

What do you call a tree branch peeling bark after being sunburnt?

- Trahearne

Same reason as this, apparently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxmkAoLC6_4

Tomkatt.1684:

I finally leveled my main through to 80 and through the story and…well, Trahearne is freaking awesome. I never felt overshadowed by him, more like partners. Throughout the plot it was obvious that we saw our development alongside Trahearne’s own growth.

I dunno, not ranting or anything, I just don’t get all the hate. Is it envy for that wicked greatsword he’s got or something? He’s pretty cool, IMO (but yeah, dat sword).

Totally agree. I love Trahearne! I love the way he appears out of nowhere at Claw Island, so mysterious so wise and knowledgeable about Orr. The only thing lacking imo is the voice over which tends to come across flat and bit monotone. And the only time i felt a twinge of annoyance was when he took credit for the name of Fort Trinity, but I don’t blame him, I think it was simply an oversight by the script writers.

Is it a cultural thing? Is everyone who hates Trahearne and/or likes Tybalt from the same country?

I have no problem with Trahearne’s voice actor – he sounds pretty much what I imagine a scholar plant guy to sound like. Script could be better, but that’s a separate issue – and I consider GW2 to be about average in that respect, for a computer game.

Tybalt’s voice acting on the other hand, frequently made me cringe at how unconvincing it sounded.

I don’t like Trahearne because he stole my personal story. Simple.

because every time you have something dreadfully important to tell him, he ignores you and you have to wait patiently in a corner while he finishes gushing to his assembled fans about how wonderfully they’re doing.

and also, he keeps volunteering you to do things. ‘ok good job, you guys. you can all go back to camp now. the commander and i will take it from here’.

WHAT.

WHY DO I NOT HAVE A SAY IN THIS?

then he proceeds to go down a path with more undead than the entire population of trinidad and cheers you on while you fight them all.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF BEING THE COMMANDER OF AN ARMY IF MY ARMY HIGH FIVING EACH OTHER BACK IN CAMP WHILE I’M FIGHTING THE WAR ALONE.

i can’t even COMMAND my army even though i’m referred to as COMMANDER because that stalk of celery called trahearne does it instead. he even gets to command ME!

WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN-

i should have named my character RAMIREZ.

JemL.3501:

Dont worry Trahearne will become corrupt by the next dragon because he was infected for being next to zaithan so much time and you will need to put an end to his fallen life like you did for apatia…

I can really get behind this idea, but perhaps instead of just straight-up killing him, the player has to make the choice whether to sacrifice a long-standing companion to ‘cure’ Trahearne for the good of the Pact, or to end T’s corrupted life, possibly throwing the Pact into greater turmoil through hopelessness and lack of faith in the PC.

end his life for good then usurp his position as king of the pact

I hate him because he is supposed to be a necromancer and runs around with a greatsword granting him guardian, ele, and other class abilities. His necromancer abilities are better than the class abilities (especially given his ability to summon 5 flesh golems) and it bothers me because it seems yet another indicator of ANET’s obliviousness to why necro is the least played class in the game. Necro was likely so bad during testing (esp used by AI instead of player) that they gave the necro plantboy a greatsword so he could at least damage the enemies during personal story fights. Plus, his staff animation is cooler than the necro’s stupid slow moving hand (necrotic grasp) and that irritates me as well.

It’s the presentation of Trahearne that bothers me more than anything else. Tyblt dies, and suddenly Trahearne is my best friend?

He had virtually no character development. Which is a big shame because as a character he had a lot of potential, and I do see what they were trying to go for with a modest scholar building his confidence and becoming an inspiring leader.

However, the timing and development of his role in the story was very rushed, and we hadn’t been able to appreciate the “scholarly” side of Trahearne enough to care about him becoming our partner in command.

Furthermore, although his role had changed in the story, his personality did not, and he always sounded so… Wooden… With the exception of one scene in a later Personal Story mission where you’re shown a vision of Orr and Trahearne makes a speech about Zhaitan being a coward.

I really appreciate that one good scene with Trahearne, but everything else felt rushed and Trahearne himself felt effortless.

Kain Francois.4328:

It’s the presentation of Trahearne that bothers me more than anything else. Tyblt dies, and suddenly Trahearne is my best friend?

He had virtually no character development….

People playing whisperer fall the hardest, you go from a super charismatic funny character like Tybalt dropping down to the empty character, with the charisma of a tree, called Trahearne. The voice actor is not necessarly bad, but his lines are too long and he would more be at his place playing a bad guy priory NPC who knows everything better or to sing children to sleep.

I’m glad that so many share my thoughts on this terrible character. One thing that pisses me off especially, is that you go through the story thinking that your character is going to be the one who brings everyone together and becomes Tyria’s hero, sort’ve like in the original Guild Wars but ultimately, you just become a lackey and go between for terrible characters like Trahearne and Destiny’s Edge. I’m not saying that Destiny’s Edge are completely terrible mind, I just wish that my character had more of a role in the story than licking their heels all the kitten time.

Trahearne is about as charismatic as a dead leaf; his voice acting is terrible and from the moment I’ve met him, I haven’t been able to go through a single mission where he’s been given a backseat for a little while to allow me to develop ‘my’ character, who should be getting all the praise over the pencil pushing sylvari. I know people are going to say that he developed as a character during the course of the story, but come on, he had little to no restrained about taking up arms against Zhaitan and dropping his day job, his development is forced by the terrible plot device of the ‘pale tree’, which I wouldn’t mind so much if it wasn’t a simple matter of every single time there’s a problem, “Let’s go and consult the pale tree, gais!” I mean, seriously. That’s just lazy writing.

Caladbolg? Seriously? You’re giving this guy Caladbolg? A- M- D- I just want to destroy whoever wrote this terrible excuse for a character, and you know, the game is full of characters like this but I can cope with them because they’re not ruining my kitten personal story with melancholy dialogue. You could make Trahearne say -anything- and it would sound about as awe inspiring as a dry kitten If you’re going to make a character that’s making the transition from nerd to hero, at least give him a more enthusiastic voice, or even a fearful one. GIVE HIM SOME kitten EMOTION! I could have dealt with all of his glory hogging if he’d at least had a voice worth hearing instead of the driveling feces of a dialogue I have to endure to learn what’s going on in the story.

If you like Trahearne, and honestly, if you really like him, why? Why lower your standards like that? There’s very little to like about this character, he’s a boring sack of pig excrement. I’d have preferred my friend Quinn from the beginning of the game over this collection of foolish foliage.

Nice guy, but not hero material without the player. Yet somehow he’s the hero and not the player.

Search for “The Great Marshal Trahearne” on Youtube, the cow clip pretty much sums it up.

beren.6048:

Kain Francois.4328:

It’s the presentation of Trahearne that bothers me more than anything else. Tyblt dies, and suddenly Trahearne is my best friend?

He had virtually no character development….

People playing whisperer fall the hardest, you go from a super charismatic funny character like Tybalt dropping down to the empty character, with the charisma of a tree, called Trahearne. The voice actor is not necessarly bad, but his lines are too long and he would more be at his place playing a bad guy priory NPC who knows everything better or to sing children to sleep.

No, trahearns voice actor isnt neccesarily bad, he is simply horribly crappy. He has an absolutely terrible, uncharismatic, mindnumbing, sleep-inducing voice with not even the slightest hint of emotion. How he is able to inspire anyone is beyond me. Im suprised the troops dont fall asleep during his speeches. Ive listened to some of the other voice overs and watched clips of the voice actor in several movies. It aint much better there.. Its like he reads his lines from top to bottom without even trying to put any effort into it, just wanting to get it over with and go home.

he came across to me as a lost individual who really wants to be left alone to do his scholar thing, hell i’ve only done the part where you first meet the pale tree but i dunno i kinda liked the guy, granted he does seem ’’sleepy’’ acting like but i thought that was all part of his character casting.

March Patch.
New Legendary Full Size Trahearne Backpack (with glowing eyes animation)
I know you want it

His voice just annoys me. Worst voice acting in the game.

How many times do I have to hear “Commanduh, a word please…”
Can’t this guy make a decision without me? I should be Pact Marshal.

Trahearne was very very bland in everyway possible.

His look, his attitude, his voice, and how he carried himself.

People really want to know why people dislike Trahearne ?
You would THINK a Field Marshal leading a charge against the the Dragons would be epic, but he carries out tasks like they were boring laundry.

The factions fall to Mr. Vanilla-icecream’s commands, but I can not believe or buy it for a second.
Then as it nears the end
Trahearne actually stops fighting... yup... He just plants his kitten tree-sword and no longer helps you in the last battle with Ziatan. So he sits in his base while you end the whole thing, Lionguard NPCs are more helpful than this green kitten

Trahearne and Logan Thackery remind me of “scumbag-steve” type of friends, the kind that ask for help from you all the time BUT never think to stop to help you outside their own personal agenda.
That’s why people hate them both… or my personal reason. I am sure most people agree with me.

Chuo.4238:

Nice guy, but not hero material without the player. Yet somehow he’s the hero and not the player.

We can’t be the hero, we the Marshall has to be someone who is not apart of an order so they all feel equal and doesn’t cause fight’s within the pact.

But i do agree with everyone, i hate this guy, the voice acting, the stupid comment’s, and just the way he is!

Treaherne is pretty much just the Kormir of Guild Wars 2 anyway.

I don’t mind him, but then I have a rather useful tendency to mentally block out annoying characters (works fantastically for moe girls in anime). I think it’s a case of a character being badly written into someone else’s story, and there’s a reason why people don’t like Mary Sue OC’s in fan fiction. He feels like that to me the moment you meet him.

cuz Trahearne is an obvious troll meaning a necro wielding gs, ranged gs auto atk, whirl gs skill like guard, able to summon multiple flesh golems at once and on top of it my tanky guard still outdamage him by a billion miles

Treaherne’s voice with its flat, dull, and lifeless quality, I can’t help but FEEL is done on purpose. Heck his Wyld Hunt, the purpose of his creation, is to cleanse the taint of Orr. Something he studied for most of his life, and deemed impossible to do and too massive. Of course he would be depressed worse the Charlie Brown post-football attempt.

…

Oh dang it. Now I can’t help but view Trahearne as Charlie Brown. Someone should put the shirt on him, and probably would improve his image.

The part that simply boggles my mind about him and his story though…

Is his “Rallying Speech” he gives to the Pact. In his dull, flat, lifeless voice. And has the Pact cheering afterwards (Likely under pain of being trampled by an Asura Golem if they didn’t).

If only, if only. He had an Albino Flesh Golem with a Black Horn, Black “Ears”, and a Black spot on its back. Not to mention being effective to a degree that would make having Trahearne along tolerable in combat.

Aiden.6209:

Chuo.4238:

Nice guy, but not hero material without the player. Yet somehow he’s the hero and not the player.

We can’t be the hero, we the Marshall has to be someone who is not apart of an order so they all feel equal and doesn’t cause fight’s within the pact.

But i do agree with everyone, i hate this guy, the voice acting, the stupid comment’s, and just the way he is!

Yet he appoints the player, part of an order, as his second in command, that imo kinda undermines that statement, as the player is then put above the order, kinda raising the order of the player above the other orders if you ask me

I dont get the hate either, or the projected made up reasons to hate the pixel dude. Think its a bonding thing. It never occured to me that he was whiny or lacked personality, and was surprised to see the hate on the forums. Its a bit disturbing to see this serious nerdhate but quite amusing too.
Dont get yer underwear in a bundle now lol.

I agree with most of the Trahearne-bashing in this thread. My interpretation of Trahearne-bad:

Trahearne appears on stage in a big flash, out of nowhere. There’s no platform for his character, no buildup, no context, no articulated history. He magically appears with expert knowledge, then transforms into a chosen warrior, master ritualist, and super leader almost instantaneously (insert random overblown insecurity that Only You Can Therapy). Oh, I forgot he’s also a necro summoner. I guess that’s a subset of his master ritualist aspect.

If a character plays a major role, they need a major backstory — at least one more interesting than “I was a scholar, now I am MEGAFATHER cause the treegod told me so”.

In terms of activity, Trahearne does nothing and you do everything (and he’s the holy warrior with excalibur).

In terms of story, Trahearne goes from “zero to hero” like a horribad fairy tale for 4-year-olds. And fairy tales have more believable character growth.

Relating to your character, Trahearne is “INSTANT FRIENDSHIP” out of nowhere (more disbelief). And then your role is now therapist? kitten, ANet should have written in a third character to play foil (PERHAPS A MEMBER OF DESTINY’S EDGE).

In sum, Trahearne is just horribly conceived. The most unbelievable character imaginable — he’s a walking deus ex machina, AND he does that while “stealing” your story. WTF.

lady.2106:

Treaherne is pretty much just the Kormir of Guild Wars 2 anyway.

I don’t mind him, but then I have a rather useful tendency to mentally block out annoying characters (works fantastically for moe girls in anime). I think it’s a case of a character being badly written into someone else’s story, and there’s a reason why people don’t like Mary Sue OC’s in fan fiction. He feels like that to me the moment you meet him.

. . . yeah no. The player character is more Mary Sue than Trahearne. Nobody who hates the player character is supposed to be a good guy. Everyone the player character meets falls in behind them and sings their praises. They cannot lose. They are not permitted to suffer, and even the loss of their mentor who they’re supposed to care very much about just sort of rolls off them and doesn’t stick.

And above all else, it’s not Trahearne that kills Zhaitan. it’s two groups of heroes using cannons and asuran technology.

For some reason, this storyline thing has always been ArenaNet’s Achilles heel. They do open world comedy really well. I liken it to Saturday Night Live. When the skits are funny, they are hilarious. Some of those skits get made into movies and they are terrible. They are great for 5 minute bursts, but don’t have what it takes for long form. It’s the same for GW1 and GW2. Fortunately, ArenaNet gave us the option to skip out on it.

Trahearne disgusts me, every time i completed each part of orr zone personal story on a character instead of just handing me the reward there he would always ask you to go back to fort trinity costing 2s in waypoints. I’m sure he is having a great retirement with all the gold he took now that he has finished his cleansing.

Iason Evan.3806:

For some reason, this storyline thing has always been ArenaNet’s Achilles heel. They do open world comedy really well. I liken it to Saturday Night Live. When the skits are funny, they are hilarious. Some of those skits get made into movies and they are terrible. They are great for 5 minute bursts, but don’t have what it takes for long form. It’s the same for GW1 and GW2. Fortunately, ArenaNet gave us the option to skip out on it.

I don’t recall many companies which had a good focus on story without dropping unintentionally into “hilariously off target”. Bioware has gotten worse about aiming lately, Square has a mixed bag of success, and Enix may have been capable of pulling it off at one point but story was never really the focus of an Enix game :P

. . . now, Atlus? There you go. Also, grindy as all heeeeeeeeeck.

You can have a decent character but make them bad by putting them in the wrong place.

I mean, if he were a minor NPC that assists and dispenses knowledge, that wouldn’t be a problem. You don’t need much development for this.

However, when you have little to no build up, and push him in the middle of the story to stardom, and overshadowing other more interesting characters, that’s a problem. The writers didn’t equip him with enough credibility to take center stage.

I’m pretty much just saving story sections for dailies atm.

And yes, sadly enough, the PC character themselves are just too goody goody and perfect as well, beyond the small amount of input you can put in their backstory.

ArchonWing.9480:

You can have a decent character but make them bad by putting them in the wrong place.

I mean, if he were a minor NPC that assists and dispenses knowledge, that wouldn’t be a problem. You don’t need much development for this.

However, when you have little to no build up, and push him in the middle of the story to stardom, and overshadowing other more interesting characters, that’s a problem. The writers didn’t equip him with enough credibility to take center stage.

I’m pretty much just saving story sections for dailies atm.

And yes, sadly enough, the PC character themselves are just too goody goody and perfect as well, beyond the small amount of input you can put in their backstory.

That’s not the issue exactly, the exact issue . . .

. . . is that he shows up in the Sylvari storyline for chapter three (Introducing you to the orders) and disappears for all of one chapter before he’s back. Everyone else? Never heard of him.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

ArchonWing.9480:

You can have a decent character but make them bad by putting them in the wrong place.

I mean, if he were a minor NPC that assists and dispenses knowledge, that wouldn’t be a problem. You don’t need much development for this.

However, when you have little to no build up, and push him in the middle of the story to stardom, and overshadowing other more interesting characters, that’s a problem. The writers didn’t equip him with enough credibility to take center stage.

I’m pretty much just saving story sections for dailies atm.

And yes, sadly enough, the PC character themselves are just too goody goody and perfect as well, beyond the small amount of input you can put in their backstory.

That’s not the issue exactly, the exact issue . . .

. . . is that he shows up in the Sylvari storyline for chapter three (Introducing you to the orders) and disappears for all of one chapter before he’s back. Everyone else? Never heard of him.

So he has pretty minimal development in the stories for one of the races, and then none for the others. Well, that doesn’t help much since he affects all of them.

I hope he comes back in the expansion as a villain. Being able to kill him would be a BIG selling point for many people, including me.

I was kind of kitten off when playing my sylvari once the trahearne missions started. Not only was I the one who got Caledbolg back from some silly champion in Kessex Hills (with the help of some hilarious mushrooms), but I also was the one who got that silly sylvari chick out of the mirror, WITHOUT the help of Trahearne.. later there is no mention of any of my actions. Not even the slightest aknowlegement. Suddenly the pale tree gives Caledbolg to that dirtbag of a firstborn.. the sword I personally recovered. To be honest, thats when I started to really hate Trahearne. Didnt care for him in the sylvari storyline… wish that he had just gone off and wilted somewhere..

Aegis.9724:

I hope he comes back in the expansion as a villain. Being able to kill him would be a BIG selling point for many people, including me.

^^^ This ^^^

Would 100% buy an expansion where you can kill Trahearne. Bonus points for killing in an ignominious fashion.

ArchonWing.9480:

So he has pretty minimal development in the stories for one of the races, and then none for the others. Well, that doesn’t help much since he affects all of them.

I have no idea how minimal his development is . . . I haven’t had the time to work on my sylvari lately. Just time to log in, screw around for a few hours, then catch sleep. I can read the logs on the wiki or surf YouTube . . . but I’d rather play it out personally.

And yeah. I really think if he was going to be a big part we needed an extra chapter to get to know the guy better before we were expected to back his leadership. I think I can chalk that one up to “deadline issues” though.

I don’t like him, I don’t care about his dream or whatever it is. I don’t like how he looks. Yes that does factor in. I just don’t like anything about him. I enjoyed it the first time through even if I didn’t care for him much. Now I just sigh and push on so I can complete it.

Tell me if you had a “friend” that followed you around wherever you went and constantly said, “This won’t end well…” How long would you hang out with him?

Now imagine this guy is supposed to be your leader… how inspiring is that constant statement?

This guy was so poorly introduced, voice acted, and shoe horned into this story I can only push through to get to the end by skipping every moment he is in.

This is the way things usually went during my Guardians’ personal story with TreeFern. Guardian kills the mobs, revives TreeFern, kills more mobs, revives TreeFern again, ad infinitum, then sits backs and listens to TreeFern get all the praise. He did not even have the decency to call be by my real name or even refer to me as his personal medic! Oh and his speeches! Full of cliches meant to inspire the crowds and which forced me to start skipping those scenes and reading the script versus listening to that voice. <insert yawn here> If he was not lying on his back he was rooted in place (taking nourishment I guess)
But my main beef is that my Guardian could have put that Greatsword to far better use and I found it! At least a Guardians weapon of choice is a Greatsword! He did not even know how to hold it properly, his grip was too wooden! They should have given him a woodcutter’s axe and let him have a horrible accident with it.