Guild Wars 2

Djinn.9245:

Amaimon.7823:

IndigoSundown.5419:

So, what does Taimi do???? She’s (apparently) really smart, sees all the answers that no one else can see, and devises solutions no one else is thinking up. She’s Wesley Crusher.

If that’s not an indictment, I don’t know what is.

what taimi does is research how magic works and how it can be used against the elder dragons since they like it so much

Yes, we know that. But look at the entire structure of Asura culture. It revolves around competition to be the best in your field and invent the best things in your field. During this time of war, why is the most effective group of people fighting the dragons (the Commander’s party) toting around a young Asura who hasn’t even finished school? Why don’t we have someone from the top ranks of Asura culture who has already proven themself?

And frankly no one should be allowing Taimi to do this research. If a college student discovered a secret building with alien technology, the grown-ups he knows would not allow him to keep it secret and go in there and play with the technology. Especially someone who has essentially been a NATO commander. They would tell the relevant authorities.

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

Because we can’t trust the Asura capital, that’s why.
The arcane council tried to silence dragon researchers out of fear the office would be called into question. Infiltration of Inquest is always an issue, they already were close to create a hexahdyrocollider running on dragon energies. and their overal sense of competitiveness may work counter-intuitive when we need fast and good results.
Right now, having 1 asura with first-hand knowledge and honest motivations is our best bet of getting good results.
And no one is allowing taimi to do all this research alone. The commander knows that Taimi can take care of herself, and condones it, for lack of a better option. For the rest of the asuran race, she’s just a pebble having fun at the lab getting in everyone’s way, not knowing she’s secretly working in the Dragon Lab. Remember her exchanges with her supervisor who is unaware of her actual work.

Djinn.9245:

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

Starting area of the asura one of the very first event chains: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Protect_Orl's_research_krewe

Somehow I think you got asura backwards, they strive for knowledge but reluctantly share it (this was very evident in GW1 already where part of Eye of the North was convincing different asura to cooperate). So no, even in this respect Taimi is in character.

You keep comparing Taimi and GW2 to real world situations where there is already established precedent that some of those aspects are handled differently in Tyria.

Cyninja.2954:

Djinn.9245:

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

Starting area of the asura one of the very first event chains: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Protect_Orl's_research_krewe

Somehow I think you got asura backwards, they strive for knowledge but reluctantly share it (this was very evident in GW1 already where part of Eye of the North was convincing different asura to cooperate). So no, even in this respect Taimi is in character.

You keep comparing Taimi and GW2 to real world situations where there is already established precedent that some of those aspects are handled differently in Tyria.

They also forget that Rata Sum is a community, not a society. It’s merely a bunch of Asura who live in close proximety because it’s easier to get staff and resources that way, but they don’t have a government other than a socially funded unit of soldiers and politicians (mind I remind you that they’re the dreg of society who couldn’t get a job in any krewe).
When it comes to a proper government, the Inquest are much better organized, having a complete hierarchy and funding protocol. When an asura finds knowledge, she will of course be criticized by her peers but only because they wanted a piece. Only if something goes terribly wrong maybe the pact will interfere and ask her to stand trial to justify her decisions.

I dislike Taimi simply because I loathe Asura in general. There is an Asura-loving guild advertising in LA lately, and I want to join it then somehow do something terrible to besmirch its name. But I won’t, because I can’t even bring myself to pretend liking Asura.

That being said, I actually like Taimi’s kind of youthful/ringing voice. I just wish Ms. Derryberry (Taimi’s voice actor, for those who don’t know) managed to create a more distinctive voice for Valette Wi.

Cyninja.2954:

Djinn.9245:

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

Starting area of the asura one of the very first event chains: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Protect_Orl's_research_krewe

Somehow I think you got asura backwards, they strive for knowledge but reluctantly share it (this was very evident in GW1 already where part of Eye of the North was convincing different asura to cooperate). So no, even in this respect Taimi is in character.

No, I fully understand, but what I’m talking about is whether the writing of Taimi is believable. When someone who is the equivalent of a NATO Commander decides to work with people, he can’t just pull some college student into his group without people asking questions (normally). And what would really happen is that the Asura would deal with the situation. Whether that would end up better or worse isn’t what I’m concerned with.

Cyninja.2954:

You keep comparing Taimi and GW2 to real world situations where there is already established precedent that some of those aspects are handled differently in Tyria.

Yes, there are other questionable and forced situations in the writing. But (again) I am talking about believability. It seems that many players don’t care that Taimi’s writing isn’t believable and that is perfectly fine. My responses are to people who keep stating that her writing is believable.

voltaicbore.8012:

I dislike Taimi simply because I loathe Asura in general. There is an Asura-loving guild advertising in LA lately, and I want to join it then somehow do something terrible to besmirch its name. But I won’t, because I can’t even bring myself to pretend liking Asura.

That being said, I actually like Taimi’s kind of youthful/ringing voice. I just wish Ms. Derryberry (Taimi’s voice actor, for those who don’t know) managed to create a more distinctive voice for Valette Wi.

Why would you do that? Why would you go out of your way to make other people miserable? I don’t get it.. what do get in return other than more loath and spite

Amaimon.7823:

voltaicbore.8012:

I dislike Taimi simply because I loathe Asura in general. There is an Asura-loving guild advertising in LA lately, and I want to join it then somehow do something terrible to besmirch its name. But I won’t, because I can’t even bring myself to pretend liking Asura.

That being said, I actually like Taimi’s kind of youthful/ringing voice. I just wish Ms. Derryberry (Taimi’s voice actor, for those who don’t know) managed to create a more distinctive voice for Valette Wi.

Why would you do that? Why would you go out of your way to make other people miserable? I don’t get it.. what do get in return other than more loath and spite

Heh mostly a joke (mostly). I really do harbor a strong dislike of Asura, but as I noted, even that doesn’t make it worth it to me to rain on their parade.

voltaicbore.8012:

Amaimon.7823:

voltaicbore.8012:

I dislike Taimi simply because I loathe Asura in general. There is an Asura-loving guild advertising in LA lately, and I want to join it then somehow do something terrible to besmirch its name. But I won’t, because I can’t even bring myself to pretend liking Asura.

That being said, I actually like Taimi’s kind of youthful/ringing voice. I just wish Ms. Derryberry (Taimi’s voice actor, for those who don’t know) managed to create a more distinctive voice for Valette Wi.

Why would you do that? Why would you go out of your way to make other people miserable? I don’t get it.. what do get in return other than more loath and spite

Heh mostly a joke (mostly). I really do harbor a strong dislike of Asura, but as I noted, even that doesn’t make it worth it to me to rain on their parade.

I personally love the asura as they’re the most unique race i’ve seen in any of many games I’ve played.
But I can understand a loathe for a specific race, even if it is without a clear reason. I absolutely DESPISE the quaggans and as soon as one is involved in the story, I no longer feel it’s a serious or real part of the story. Like you can just skip it and the story wouldn’t change. There were a few in the WinterFrontier, but luckily I only had to talk to 1 and could then ignore them for the rest of my life.
It’s like someone threw away an old design that didn’t make sense, and a dev walked past the bin and thought “hey, who threw a perfectly fine and usable race away” as he took his fifth bottle of rum and swiggled into his office

Amaimon.7823:

…
But I can understand a loathe for a specific race, even if it is without a clear reason. I absolutely DESPISE the quaggans and as soon as one is involved in the story, I no longer feel it’s a serious or real part of the story. Like you can just skip it and the story wouldn’t change. There were a few in the WinterFrontier, but luckily I only had to talk to 1 and could then ignore them for the rest of my life.
It’s like someone threw away an old design that didn’t make sense, and a dev walked past the bin and thought “hey, who threw a perfectly fine and usable race away” as he took his fifth bottle of rum and swiggled into his office

I tend to feel that about humans. Its a real pain.

Djinn.9245:

Amaimon.7823:

IndigoSundown.5419:

So, what does Taimi do???? She’s (apparently) really smart, sees all the answers that no one else can see, and devises solutions no one else is thinking up. She’s Wesley Crusher.

If that’s not an indictment, I don’t know what is.

what taimi does is research how magic works and how it can be used against the elder dragons since they like it so much

Yes, we know that. But look at the entire structure of Asura culture. It revolves around competition to be the best in your field and invent the best things in your field. During this time of war, why is the most effective group of people fighting the dragons (the Commander’s party) toting around a young Asura who hasn’t even finished school? Why don’t we have someone from the top ranks of Asura culture who has already proven themself?

And frankly no one should be allowing Taimi to do this research. If a college student discovered a secret building with alien technology, the grown-ups he knows would not allow him to keep it secret and go in there and play with the technology. Especially someone who has essentially been a NATO commander. They would tell the relevant authorities.

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

The Asuran government has no authority over the Pact Commander. For any Non-Asura, they don’t answer to the Arcane Council. For Asura – they stopped answering to the Arcane Council when said council tried to kill them.

And – the Pact Commander is currently the highest authority in Tyria due to being an Anti-Dragon superweapon. If Rata Sum tried to bring the commander and his party up on charges and take any actual action, the Asura would probably find themselves without a city, and a whole lot of wreckage and dead bodies.

Sartharina.3542:

Djinn.9245:

Amaimon.7823:

IndigoSundown.5419:

So, what does Taimi do???? She’s (apparently) really smart, sees all the answers that no one else can see, and devises solutions no one else is thinking up. She’s Wesley Crusher.

If that’s not an indictment, I don’t know what is.

what taimi does is research how magic works and how it can be used against the elder dragons since they like it so much

Yes, we know that. But look at the entire structure of Asura culture. It revolves around competition to be the best in your field and invent the best things in your field. During this time of war, why is the most effective group of people fighting the dragons (the Commander’s party) toting around a young Asura who hasn’t even finished school? Why don’t we have someone from the top ranks of Asura culture who has already proven themself?

And frankly no one should be allowing Taimi to do this research. If a college student discovered a secret building with alien technology, the grown-ups he knows would not allow him to keep it secret and go in there and play with the technology. Especially someone who has essentially been a NATO commander. They would tell the relevant authorities.

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

The Asuran government has no authority over the Pact Commander. For any Non-Asura, they don’t answer to the Arcane Council. For Asura – they stopped answering to the Arcane Council when said council tried to kill them.

And – the Pact Commander is currently the highest authority in Tyria due to being an Anti-Dragon superweapon. If Rata Sum tried to bring the commander and his party up on charges and take any actual action, the Asura would probably find themselves without a city, and a whole lot of wreckage and dead bodies.

That, and any or all authority of the arcane council ends at the border of Soren Dra, or outside facilities not supported by Rata Sum. That’s literally all the jurisdiction the Arcana Council has. It’s pretty much anarchy outside Rata Sum. I think the only reason asura stay bound to Rata Sum is, if they’re born and raised in it, propably all their funds depend on Arcana Council approval. Meaning they need to make enough money to cut their ties before they actually cut them. Or take the chances and join an order or crafting guild.

If you care about how ingame story characters act, that means ArenaNet did a great job of character design. You would not dislike them if they were bland.

Djinn.9245:

Yes, there are other questionable and forced situations in the writing. But (again) I am talking about believability. It seems that many players don’t care that Taimi’s writing isn’t believable and that is perfectly fine. My responses are to people who keep stating that her writing is believable.

Honestly, Taimi’s writing is as believable as Lex Luthor’s writing (in the comics, we’re not discussing BvS). So yeah, to me, her writing is VERY believable (as believable as a story involving dragons can be).

Your seeming complaints is that a 17 year old asura with a degenerative disease is a super genius that isn’t being controlled by the Arcane Council and is allowed to wander around the dragon lab and do her own research without facing any consequences for acting against the wishes of the Arcane Council.

First, isn’t there some kind of lore precedent for asura doing a “finders keepers” thing with any type of developments? Word of Taimi’s discovery of Rata Novus went FAST. It’s not like finding an alien ship, it’s actually like finding historical architecture or even a dinosaur in real life. The authorities won’t take away that discovery from you, your name is basically plastered all over the news for finding that piece of history. That’s what Rata Novus is, a historical city that is fully intact. Your comparison to aliens ONLY works for the research in the dragon lab, which Taimi hid from everyone and thus nobody knows about. Will she get caught? We may find out. Should she have been caught by now? I don’t think so. The dragon lab seems ONLY accessible via the gateway, so it’s impossible to reach accidentally. This isn’t a hidden doorway where you pull a lever and the wall opens up to reveal a hidden passageway, this is a room that is inaccessible by normal means (chak burrowing isn’t normal means btw, you think ANY asura would intentionally damage the architecture to look for a room that they shouldn’t even know exists?).

Secondly, she HAS reported to the Arcane Council in the past. Look at the incident with Councillor Phlunt when Taimi made the discovery that the waypoint frequencies attracted mordrem and created a device that altered the frequencies to be less ‘tasty’ for mordrem. Phlunt took her discovery for himself. You think she would trust him with the dragon lab? Hell no, she’d take that discovery to her grave before giving it to Phlunt or anyone at the Arcane Council. With the way that the dragon lab is inaccessible for anyone who’s not in Taimi’s circle of trust, Phlunt will never find out about the lab so Taimi can go on to do her research. Plus, the chak organ in the blighting pod fluid? That’s reaching into inquest territory that non-inquest asura wouldn’t be comfortable with that would get shut down SO fast by the Arcane Council and they would immediately dismiss any and all research and discoveries made in such a way. There’s also the distinct possibility that the Arcane Council would either keep the knowledge found in the dragon lab to themselves and not allow anyone else access to it or the knowledge contained within or dismiss the info there entirely because it clashes with modern asuran thought. So Taimi basically has every reason not to share the dragon lab with anyone she doesn’t trust.

(part 1)

Third, in Taimi’s introduction to us, we learn that her parents have died. Automatically, this can lead to the creation of distance between her and authority figures, because realistically speaking, a kid losing both her parents that young will lead to some sort of trust issues, the worry that if you start caring about someone, they will eventually die and other irrational thoughts that in their minds are not only plausible, but are fact. On top of that, Taimi has had to figure out how to move around dispite her degenerative disease that apparently has no cure. This WILL lead to a sense of independence that is vastly higher than what your average asura will feel simply because she has to do it on her own. Furthermore, Taimi HAS been put under the charge of Zojja (or Zojja took Taimi under her wing, I don’t remember which it was), so she DOES have some sort of authority figure that is attempting to take care of her. Taimi however leaves at every opportune moment she can to look at Scarlet as an inspiration (before Scarlet’s death, she has attempted to be close to her numerous times). It’s very easy to assume why Taimi can just leave and get so far away from the person who is responsible for her: every asura is tied up in their own research. This gives Taimi those ample opportunities to escape. Furthermore, the individuals of the Arcane Council are actually stated in lore to NOT want to be a part of it, as they would want to return to their own research, though they recognise the need for some government. As for the Taimi being sought out by the government, I actually think that she’d be sought out by a krewe instead. However, considering Taimi’s independence factor, it seems she’d rather go without the help. Though she DID found her own krewe I believe and sent them to investigate the Fire Island Chain. Considering Taimi’s downright obsession with the dragon lab though, it would make sense that she’d create her own krewe to investigate things that aren’t in the dragon lab itself.

Fourth, Taimi IS smart. She discovered the mordrem attraction to waypoint frequencies on her own when everyone was still trying to figure out the patterns of the mordrem back in season 2. She also discovered the leyline energy/white light similarities (however she’s not the first, Zojja noticed that in the asura personal story and possibly a story mode dungeon, it’s been kept under wraps however). She also theorised the possibility of dragon energy cancelling each other out which turned out to be somewhat true (there’s something weird when you think about Mordremoth and the mordrem using death magic so I’m personally not wholly convinced of the theory myself. It’s been discussed in the lore subforum and so far the theory is Anet are going for the ‘unreliable narrator’ theme with Taimi). So she has definitely earned the genius status. I actually think that Taimi’s lack of graduation status HELPS Taimi’s character. Considering ALL of the above, Taimi would naturally believe herself to be above requiring completing her courses. It would add to her notion of self importance, that she would believe that she’s SO much smarter than other asura that she doesn’t NEED to graduate. And that could be her very downfall intellectually. It would be so exciting to see Taimi make a ‘discovery’ and have her be called out on it by an asura that says “you should know that if you took such and such course” and have her seriously question her discoveries. That would lead to some serious character development on her part, the idea that she cannot truly go it alone. She already has her degenerative disease so that makes things difficult physically, but her mind? She’d never question the limitations of her mind. So to be actively called out on something that she considers a discovery but it’s actually in classes she never attended? That would be fascinating to see, because it simultaneously proves she’s a genius but also shows that she could have been at a higher state of genius if she had simply graduated. I hope the developers take a look at her carefully and see that space for Taimi to grow as a character, to face such a huge flaw in herself and to watch her overcome it somehow, whether she actually goes through the process of graduating or finding a way of uploading all asuran knoweldge in her brain or even just gaining that knowledge through Omadd’s machine.

(part 2)

So yes, she IS believably written. From her independence from an uncaring Arcane Council (and asuran society as a whole) that has actively stolen her research and discoveries from her and her numerous escapes from their jurisdiction, to her genius and ideas of increased self importance, to the way that the Arcane Council has not taken away her status as the discoverer of Rata Novus. Initially she was a two dimensional character, but the way they’ve expanded on her since then has turned her into a fully fleshed out character that IS believable under the circumstances of asuran society (which is vastly different than at least most human societies that we can think of).

(part 3 of 3)

https://youtu.be/30L753c3TYU
Scene from wreck it ralph

If Taimi was a kid like vanellope and those who wants to nerf taimi would look like ralph because they believe what someone said.

most funny thing about taimi :P

i sure love her but the video is very well made

Djinn.9245:

Cyninja.2954:

Djinn.9245:

Silmar Alech.4305:

What? Taimi is our sunshine. If not for the dragons, for her alone I would walk through whatever she sends me.

She might be your sunshine, but she’s not mine lol.

Silmar Alech.4305:

She (and Canach) are the best developed and believable current story NPCs.

You find it believable that a young asura who hasn’t finished school yet is allowed (by her people AND the Commander of the Pact) to join a team in the field battling dragon minions? Nevermind the danger to herself, why would anyone choose her over any number of more proven “geniuses”?

No, this isn’t “believable” – this is an artificial situation created by Anet in order to get this “cute” character into the story for the “awe, so cute” factor. Whether I think Taimi’s character is cute or not, nothing about the story treatments that include her are “believable”.

Taimi is 17 so it’s not like she is an infant. This is reflected nicely in her character as I had mentioned earlier. Her not finishing school has nothing to do with it, who knows what it actually means to finish school as an asura.

Yes it is an artificial situation with a disabled and young character who is ment to require the player characters aid. We can’t have all those war heroes constantly messing up asking for help, sometimes it actually has to be someone were it makes sense they would be in need.

I don’t know what your answer is supposed to do with my post. No Elite Seal Team is going to take a disabled person into a high-risk combat situation. Period.

Now add to that she’s a 17 year old who is still in school (i.e. isn’t a child super genius already on a think tank) telling the Commander of the Pact what to do. If she was really that smart, why didn’t her government scout her ala Good Will Hunting?

And we don’t need an artificial situation to introduce someone who needs our aid – the entire planet already needs our aid.

Not only is this situation with Taimi not believable, I laugh at the silliness every time she is involved in the story.

At the base of the matter is that all of it is subjective. You wouldn’t have written it this way, but none of the questions you ask build a convincing case that Taimi is not a believable character that fits in to this story.

The origins of the pact lie in breaking with convention. They’ve repeatedly cut through politics, red tape, and bad blood to forge alliances and get the job done. I see no reason why it necessarily must be a deal-breaker for one of their members to be a 17 year old disabled prodigy who uses technology and brainpower to mitigate her weaknesses and make herself a useful part of the team. Particularly when Taimi has proven herself loyal to the pact and not the corrupt leadership of Rata Sum to the bargain.

Also – as much as I dislike Taimi’s voice and the way she expresses herself (And wish I could mute her) – From my understanding, the Biconic team was largely assembled by happenstance through the events of Living Season 1 – people being in the right place at the right time.

Trying to equate the Commander’s team to a SEAL team or similar specialized force is wrong, because those elite military forces are assembled from the top by a single external authority that the members answer directly to, and are assembled for a specific task. In contrast, members of guilds only answer to each other, and any leadership positions are granted by the consent of the members of the guild, not from an external source (Taimi and friends are NOT part of the Pact.)

One really, really weird thing is that Living Season 1 seemed to have disregarded the status of the player character as Pact Commander, and instead treated simply as an adventurer, making the teamup more organic. Then the end of LS2 tried to ram the roles back together. The biconic characters aren’t the unbelievable ones – the Pact Commander is.

Djinn.9245:

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

In real life…

This is a story, if it followed real life logics, it would be a boring story. A lot of things mentioned here fall into the category “Rule of cool”.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool

Stated another way, all but the most pedantic of viewers will forgive liberties with reality as long as the result is wicked sweet or awesome. This applies to the audience in general; there will naturally be a different threshold for each individual. Also known in some circles as a “rad herring”, in which something doesn’t make sense within the guidelines of the story’s reality, but it’s too cool not to include it.

If your “real life” logic applied to stories, most of them would end after the first chapter, or we would never learn about them in the first place because they would die before anyone reads them.

Djinn.9245:

When someone who is the equivalent of a NATO Commander decides to work with people, he can’t just pull some college student into his group without people asking questions (normally). And what would really happen is that the Asura would deal with the situation. Whether that would end up better or worse isn’t what I’m concerned with.

You are an agent from the Arcane Council, aren’t you? You report to Phlunt. You have as much imagination as the Arcane Council: none, apparently. For you, it is not RIGHT that a 15 year old child builds his own golem and designs part of the logistics behind the fight against an elder dragon. For you, it cannot be what MUST not be.

But, it is written in the script. There is precedent in (fantasy) history. It fits the story. It doesn’t violate nature laws or story continuity. She has a nice personality and a fault that balances her ingenuity.

There is one thing a child of this age is missing in comparison to an adult: the sense of responsibility. The ability to see the consequences of own actions and take responsibility for it with all consequences.

Because of this, in real life, you don’t want a child in a serious business. But in our story, we are not in a serious business. It’s all fantasy. If it were a serious business, we ourselves would not enter the jungle and approach Mordremoth without any clue how to defeat him. Remember: we found his weak spot as late as in the last mission. Instead, in real life, we would set up research about the elder dragons. Something the Arcance Council and the 3 orders do, and the Inquest. For years.

But we are the heroes, we go straight into the fight. And we win. That’s because we are the heroes, and Taimi is part of our heroship. Because of that she is as believable as we all.

In this regard, she is even more believable than ourselves as pact commander: Taimi in fact does perform research before she requests actions. We instead, we always went straight into action. We are the pact commander and let the fleet perish in the jungle – that’s nothing a commander with any responsibility would let happen in real life.

Silmar Alech.4305:

Djinn.9245:

When someone who is the equivalent of a NATO Commander decides to work with people, he can’t just pull some college student into his group without people asking questions (normally). And what would really happen is that the Asura would deal with the situation. Whether that would end up better or worse isn’t what I’m concerned with.

You are an agent from the Arcane Council, aren’t you? You report to Phlunt. You have as much imagination as the Arcane Council: none, apparently. For you, it is not RIGHT that a 15 year old child builds his own golem and designs part of the logistics behind the fight against an elder dragon. For you, it cannot be what MUST not be.

But, it is written in the script. There is precedent in (fantasy) history. It fits the story. It doesn’t violate nature laws or story continuity. She has a nice personality and a fault that balances her ingenuity.

There is one thing a child of this age is missing in comparison to an adult: the sense of responsibility. The ability to see the consequences of own actions and take responsibility for it with all consequences.

Because of this, in real life, you don’t want a child in a serious business. But in our story, we are not in a serious business. It’s all fantasy. If it were a serious business, we ourselves would not enter the jungle and approach Mordremoth without any clue how to defeat him. Remember: we found his weak spot as late as in the last mission. Instead, in real life, we would set up research about the elder dragons. Something the Arcance Council and the 3 orders do, and the Inquest. For years.

But we are the heroes, we go straight into the fight. And we win. That’s because we are the heroes, and Taimi is part of our heroship. Because of that she is as believable as we all.

In this regard, she is even more believable than ourselves as pact commander: Taimi in fact does perform research before she requests actions. We instead, we always went straight into action. We are the pact commander and let the fleet perish in the jungle – that’s nothing a commander with any responsibility would let happen in real life.

Are we still the pact commander? I thought someone else bore that title, and responsibility for the fleet’s destruction.

Ashen.2907:

Silmar Alech.4305:

Djinn.9245:

When someone who is the equivalent of a NATO Commander decides to work with people, he can’t just pull some college student into his group without people asking questions (normally). And what would really happen is that the Asura would deal with the situation. Whether that would end up better or worse isn’t what I’m concerned with.

You are an agent from the Arcane Council, aren’t you? You report to Phlunt. You have as much imagination as the Arcane Council: none, apparently. For you, it is not RIGHT that a 15 year old child builds his own golem and designs part of the logistics behind the fight against an elder dragon. For you, it cannot be what MUST not be.

But, it is written in the script. There is precedent in (fantasy) history. It fits the story. It doesn’t violate nature laws or story continuity. She has a nice personality and a fault that balances her ingenuity.

There is one thing a child of this age is missing in comparison to an adult: the sense of responsibility. The ability to see the consequences of own actions and take responsibility for it with all consequences.

Because of this, in real life, you don’t want a child in a serious business. But in our story, we are not in a serious business. It’s all fantasy. If it were a serious business, we ourselves would not enter the jungle and approach Mordremoth without any clue how to defeat him. Remember: we found his weak spot as late as in the last mission. Instead, in real life, we would set up research about the elder dragons. Something the Arcance Council and the 3 orders do, and the Inquest. For years.

But we are the heroes, we go straight into the fight. And we win. That’s because we are the heroes, and Taimi is part of our heroship. Because of that she is as believable as we all.

In this regard, she is even more believable than ourselves as pact commander: Taimi in fact does perform research before she requests actions. We instead, we always went straight into action. We are the pact commander and let the fleet perish in the jungle – that’s nothing a commander with any responsibility would let happen in real life.

Are we still the pact commander? I thought someone else bore that title, and responsibility for the fleet’s destruction.

No longer the pact commander (though we keep the commander title) but we were still pact commander when Mordy took out the fleet, so some of the responsibility goes to us still.

Moonyeti.3296:

Ashen.2907:

Silmar Alech.4305:

Djinn.9245:

When someone who is the equivalent of a NATO Commander decides to work with people, he can’t just pull some college student into his group without people asking questions (normally). And what would really happen is that the Asura would deal with the situation. Whether that would end up better or worse isn’t what I’m concerned with.

You are an agent from the Arcane Council, aren’t you? You report to Phlunt. You have as much imagination as the Arcane Council: none, apparently. For you, it is not RIGHT that a 15 year old child builds his own golem and designs part of the logistics behind the fight against an elder dragon. For you, it cannot be what MUST not be.

But, it is written in the script. There is precedent in (fantasy) history. It fits the story. It doesn’t violate nature laws or story continuity. She has a nice personality and a fault that balances her ingenuity.

There is one thing a child of this age is missing in comparison to an adult: the sense of responsibility. The ability to see the consequences of own actions and take responsibility for it with all consequences.

Because of this, in real life, you don’t want a child in a serious business. But in our story, we are not in a serious business. It’s all fantasy. If it were a serious business, we ourselves would not enter the jungle and approach Mordremoth without any clue how to defeat him. Remember: we found his weak spot as late as in the last mission. Instead, in real life, we would set up research about the elder dragons. Something the Arcance Council and the 3 orders do, and the Inquest. For years.

But we are the heroes, we go straight into the fight. And we win. That’s because we are the heroes, and Taimi is part of our heroship. Because of that she is as believable as we all.

In this regard, she is even more believable than ourselves as pact commander: Taimi in fact does perform research before she requests actions. We instead, we always went straight into action. We are the pact commander and let the fleet perish in the jungle – that’s nothing a commander with any responsibility would let happen in real life.

Are we still the pact commander? I thought someone else bore that title, and responsibility for the fleet’s destruction.

No longer the pact commander (though we keep the commander title) but we were still pact commander when Mordy took out the fleet, so some of the responsibility goes to us still.

My mistake then. I thought that Trahearne had commanded the fleet.

Ashen.2907:

Moonyeti.3296:

Ashen.2907:

Silmar Alech.4305:

Djinn.9245:

When someone who is the equivalent of a NATO Commander decides to work with people, he can’t just pull some college student into his group without people asking questions (normally). And what would really happen is that the Asura would deal with the situation. Whether that would end up better or worse isn’t what I’m concerned with.

You are an agent from the Arcane Council, aren’t you? You report to Phlunt. You have as much imagination as the Arcane Council: none, apparently. For you, it is not RIGHT that a 15 year old child builds his own golem and designs part of the logistics behind the fight against an elder dragon. For you, it cannot be what MUST not be.

But, it is written in the script. There is precedent in (fantasy) history. It fits the story. It doesn’t violate nature laws or story continuity. She has a nice personality and a fault that balances her ingenuity.

There is one thing a child of this age is missing in comparison to an adult: the sense of responsibility. The ability to see the consequences of own actions and take responsibility for it with all consequences.

Because of this, in real life, you don’t want a child in a serious business. But in our story, we are not in a serious business. It’s all fantasy. If it were a serious business, we ourselves would not enter the jungle and approach Mordremoth without any clue how to defeat him. Remember: we found his weak spot as late as in the last mission. Instead, in real life, we would set up research about the elder dragons. Something the Arcance Council and the 3 orders do, and the Inquest. For years.

But we are the heroes, we go straight into the fight. And we win. That’s because we are the heroes, and Taimi is part of our heroship. Because of that she is as believable as we all.

In this regard, she is even more believable than ourselves as pact commander: Taimi in fact does perform research before she requests actions. We instead, we always went straight into action. We are the pact commander and let the fleet perish in the jungle – that’s nothing a commander with any responsibility would let happen in real life.

Are we still the pact commander? I thought someone else bore that title, and responsibility for the fleet’s destruction.

No longer the pact commander (though we keep the commander title) but we were still pact commander when Mordy took out the fleet, so some of the responsibility goes to us still.

My mistake then. I thought that Trahearne had commanded the fleet.

Trehearne was Pact Marshal – Top dog of the pact. We were the next tier below him, his right hand men / women. So yeah, Trehearne bears more responsibility than the commander for the fleet destruction, but obviously we played a part in that decision.

Ashen.2907:

Are we still the pact commander? I thought someone else bore that title, and responsibility for the fleet’s destruction.

“Commander” was always our title, referring to our second-in-command position. If I recall correctly, we recently formally left the Pact to lead Dragon’s Watch, but Almorra Soulkeeper mentioned that Commander will remain our honorary title for life.

Trahearne was the former Pact Marshal (highest ranking leader of the Pact) who oversaw the fleet’s decimation at the hands of Mordremoth, and he’s now being replaced byLogan. Yeah, I know, it’s been a while since we actually found out who the new Marshal is, but meh… it’s the most recent LS3 installment, I’ll keep the spoiler tags in there.

Moonyeti.3296:

Ashen.2907:

Moonyeti.3296:

Ashen.2907:

Silmar Alech.4305:

Djinn.9245:

When someone who is the equivalent of a NATO Commander decides to work with people, he can’t just pull some college student into his group without people asking questions (normally). And what would really happen is that the Asura would deal with the situation. Whether that would end up better or worse isn’t what I’m concerned with.

You are an agent from the Arcane Council, aren’t you? You report to Phlunt. You have as much imagination as the Arcane Council: none, apparently. For you, it is not RIGHT that a 15 year old child builds his own golem and designs part of the logistics behind the fight against an elder dragon. For you, it cannot be what MUST not be.

But, it is written in the script. There is precedent in (fantasy) history. It fits the story. It doesn’t violate nature laws or story continuity. She has a nice personality and a fault that balances her ingenuity.

There is one thing a child of this age is missing in comparison to an adult: the sense of responsibility. The ability to see the consequences of own actions and take responsibility for it with all consequences.

Because of this, in real life, you don’t want a child in a serious business. But in our story, we are not in a serious business. It’s all fantasy. If it were a serious business, we ourselves would not enter the jungle and approach Mordremoth without any clue how to defeat him. Remember: we found his weak spot as late as in the last mission. Instead, in real life, we would set up research about the elder dragons. Something the Arcance Council and the 3 orders do, and the Inquest. For years.

But we are the heroes, we go straight into the fight. And we win. That’s because we are the heroes, and Taimi is part of our heroship. Because of that she is as believable as we all.

In this regard, she is even more believable than ourselves as pact commander: Taimi in fact does perform research before she requests actions. We instead, we always went straight into action. We are the pact commander and let the fleet perish in the jungle – that’s nothing a commander with any responsibility would let happen in real life.

Are we still the pact commander? I thought someone else bore that title, and responsibility for the fleet’s destruction.

No longer the pact commander (though we keep the commander title) but we were still pact commander when Mordy took out the fleet, so some of the responsibility goes to us still.

My mistake then. I thought that Trahearne had commanded the fleet.

Trehearne was Pact Marshal – Top dog of the pact. We were the next tier below him, his right hand men / women. So yeah, Trehearne bears more responsibility than the commander for the fleet destruction, but obviously we played a part in that decision.

If our boss took personal command then the responsibility lies with him.

You leave Taimi alone or I will headbutt y’all and bash you with my mace pretty hard. She is my favorite character in the story. Better nerf Braham. That dude is suspicious. When he’s not with commander, he somehow demolishes hordes of Svanir alone. But once commander shows up that Norn dude ain’t kitten with his Zimbabwe tier dps.

Djinn.9245:

Silmar Alech.4305:

What? Taimi is our sunshine. If not for the dragons, for her alone I would walk through whatever she sends me.

She might be your sunshine, but she’s not mine lol.

Silmar Alech.4305:

She (and Canach) are the best developed and believable current story NPCs.

You find it believable that a young asura who hasn’t finished school yet is allowed (by her people AND the Commander of the Pact) to join a team in the field battling dragon minions? Nevermind the danger to herself, why would anyone choose her over any number of more proven “geniuses”?

No, this isn’t “believable” – this is an artificial situation created by Anet in order to get this “cute” character into the story for the “awe, so cute” factor. Whether I think Taimi’s character is cute or not, nothing about the story treatments that include her are “believable”.

Maybe I should start a ‘Cult of Taimi’ guild.

As to age, it is relative. While he body may be young (she is an older progeny) intellectually she is doing her doctoral dissertation. I see less non-mature stuff from her and more stuff you would expect from someone in their 30s. An age well past when you would expect adventurers to be out in the field.

Djinn.9245:

Amaimon.7823:

IndigoSundown.5419:

So, what does Taimi do???? She’s (apparently) really smart, sees all the answers that no one else can see, and devises solutions no one else is thinking up. She’s Wesley Crusher.

If that’s not an indictment, I don’t know what is.

what taimi does is research how magic works and how it can be used against the elder dragons since they like it so much

Yes, we know that. But look at the entire structure of Asura culture. It revolves around competition to be the best in your field and invent the best things in your field. During this time of war, why is the most effective group of people fighting the dragons (the Commander’s party) toting around a young Asura who hasn’t even finished school? Why don’t we have someone from the top ranks of Asura culture who has already proven themself?

And frankly no one should be allowing Taimi to do this research. If a college student discovered a secret building with alien technology, the grown-ups he knows would not allow him to keep it secret and go in there and play with the technology. Especially someone who has essentially been a NATO commander. They would tell the relevant authorities.

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

Not having access to earlier story chapters may make things not be making sense here. The commander’s group came across Taimi in season 1 and she wound up hanging out with them. She quickly started pulling her own weight (both intellectually and sometimes quite literally since she had Scruffy). Any story is very much about personal interactions so they would never do something like turn someone over to the authorities without trying to correct things first.

The school thing has been addressed in this thread. When we would expect kids to be in elementary school they are in the equivalent of HS and early college. By the time you are picking out your college/school you are really deciding where you will do your post-doctoral work. Even without being in one of the Asura colleges it can be reasonably argued that she is doing an EXCELLENT independent study.

Jahroots.6791:

She’s pretty annoying for sure. Seems far better suited to a children’s cartoon. And I like dumb, goofy cartoons well enough but the cuteness just seems out of place here. We’re up against ancient dragons and evil cults, kitten .

Show of hands here….

Any one who hates Taimi watch or enjoy Jimmy Neutron ?

TexZero.7910:

Any one who hates Taimi watch or enjoy Jimmy Neutron ?

I’m on the opposite side of that? I saw snippets of Jimmy Neutron, and I found it pretty irritating. And yet, I generally like Taimi. Now that she’s not fangirling Scarlet, anyway.

Is she a well-written character? I like her well enough, but let’s not go that far.
She’s a bit Mary Sue-ish, but it’s sort of necessary because she’s used as the narrator for the metaphysics of the world, framing what it is we’re swinging our greatswords (and swinging them again) at. And she’s generally cheerful, which makes her role as plot-dump tolerable.
Aside from the issue with Phlunt (which still burns me up), she’s not in a position to suffer a lot of strife right now. In her domain, she excels with results that might as well be Harry Potter fate-bound, but outside of it, she still needs the PC’s help. I’m okay with that.

The rest of the biconics need far more help than Taimi does.
Kasmeer is a yet-another-mesmer and tagalong, only there to Portal Entre plot holes and otherwise be cloying to Marjory.
Marjory herself is finally going back to her root character of investigator, which I’m thankful for. I’m curious where her and this Lazarus arc is going.
Rox struggles for meaning in the story, hardly relevant in a long while.
Braham …yeah he’s Braham. There’s chunks of forum dedicated to his brand of dumb right now.
Canach, the will-he/won’t-he noncommittal vegetable that spews sass and one-liners. I like him well enough, and I’m eager to see what his freedom does with his character, but half his ‘witty’ salt is just as unnecessary as some people might find Taimi’s childlike cheer.

Lol, if all the characters had the same voice and personality it would be boring. With variety comes things you don’t like as well as things you do. It makes us appreciate the characters we do like even more.

Rauderi.8706:

Braham …yeah he’s Braham. There’s chunks of forum dedicated to his brand of dumb right now.

Just as I read this, I feel Braham is some kind of Taimi reversed. Taimi is a child that is smart, acts not childish (very much) and appears more mature than you expect from a child. Braham is an adult that doesn’t appear smart, acts childish (very much) and not mature at all. He is the real child in our team.

Rauderi.8706:

TexZero.7910:

Any one who hates Taimi watch or enjoy Jimmy Neutron ?

I’m on the opposite side of that? I saw snippets of Jimmy Neutron, and I found it pretty irritating. Snipped.

And what would you say caused the most annoyance ? The voice, personality, art style, juvenile humor ?

Genuinely curious here, because they are voiced by the same person and have nearly identical characteristics to a fault.

TexZero.7910:

Rauderi.8706:

TexZero.7910:

Any one who hates Taimi watch or enjoy Jimmy Neutron ?

I’m on the opposite side of that? I saw snippets of Jimmy Neutron, and I found it pretty irritating. Snipped.

And what would you say caused the most annoyance ? The voice, personality, art style, juvenile humor ?

Genuinely curious here, because they are voiced by the same person and have nearly identical characteristics to a fault.

Not the voice, but everything else is kind of a “yes.” I could understand if people like it, it’s just not my thing, because I’m not in that demographic anymore.

So I guess to take it comparatively, Taimi doesn’t really hit any of those other buttons with me. Her personality is curious and bubbly, which is refreshing in a collective of moping sourpusses (Braham especially) and surly-salts (Rytlock/Canach). Is it “appropriate” to be so chipper when dragons are waking and errant magic is ripping the world apart? Maybe not, but scientists are often sheltered folk, and off-beat humor is common. I don’t consider her attitude to be unrealistic in the slightest.

Art style is guided by GW2’s brand of fantasy-realism, so even though she has silly Asuran body proportions that admittedly come awfully close to Newtron’s huge noggin, I suppose I’ve been conditioned to accept the little goblin as almost cute.

And, aside from some goofy fourth-wall breaking with Moto’s technology and naming an experimental organ “Steve,” the humor itself isn’t overly goofy or uncalled for. I might change my mind if ANet ever hires that WoW staffer who manages to sneak at least one poop quest into every kittening expansion. :\

Menadena.7482:

Djinn.9245:

Amaimon.7823:

IndigoSundown.5419:

So, what does Taimi do???? She’s (apparently) really smart, sees all the answers that no one else can see, and devises solutions no one else is thinking up. She’s Wesley Crusher.

If that’s not an indictment, I don’t know what is.

what taimi does is research how magic works and how it can be used against the elder dragons since they like it so much

Yes, we know that. But look at the entire structure of Asura culture. It revolves around competition to be the best in your field and invent the best things in your field. During this time of war, why is the most effective group of people fighting the dragons (the Commander’s party) toting around a young Asura who hasn’t even finished school? Why don’t we have someone from the top ranks of Asura culture who has already proven themself?

And frankly no one should be allowing Taimi to do this research. If a college student discovered a secret building with alien technology, the grown-ups he knows would not allow him to keep it secret and go in there and play with the technology. Especially someone who has essentially been a NATO commander. They would tell the relevant authorities.

In real life, the entire group would be brought up on charges for keeping this information from the Asuran government during a time of war. But in GW2 Taimi’s research will save the day so everyone will overlook what she did and how we helped her hide it. This is why the Taimi writing is nonsensical.

Not having access to earlier story chapters may make things not be making sense here. The commander’s group came across Taimi in season 1 and she wound up hanging out with them. She quickly started pulling her own weight (both intellectually and sometimes quite literally since she had Scruffy). Any story is very much about personal interactions so they would never do something like turn someone over to the authorities without trying to correct things first.

I completely understand the story. It never made sense to me that we decided to take some disabled kid with us to fight dragon minions. I don’t care that she had Scruffy, he’s not indestructable.

And I don’t understand your reference to turning someone over to the authorities. My point was that when our group found the dragon room in Rata Novus, we shouldn’t have kept it to ourselves and not told anyone else in the rest of the world. It is extremely irresponsible.

Djinn.9245:

I completely understand the story. It never made sense to me that we decided to take some disabled kid with us to fight dragon minions. I don’t care that she had Scruffy, he’s not indestructable.

And I don’t understand your reference to turning someone over to the authorities. My point was that when our group found the dragon room in Rata Novus, we shouldn’t have kept it to ourselves and not told anyone else in the rest of the world. It is extremely irresponsible.

Scruffy may not be indestructable, but he much more than makes up for Taimi’s disability. That’s the nature of engineering in GW2, technological smarts more than make up for a lack of magic and a lack of physical prowess, in fact they can equal magic and physical prowess in many cases (or even supersede them, look at everything Scarlet accomplished).

Also, having built up trust with Taimi (who to the PC at least seems to understand what’s going on with quite a few things), it makes sense that we would leave the Dragon Lab in her care, especially when the conversation of leaving her alone comes up:

Taimi: I’ll be staying in Rata Novus with all this delectable research—bummer!
<Character name>: Alone? Are you sure?
Taimi: Hey, would you ask Rytlock if he was sure? Canach?
<Character name>: Point taken. Should I send word to someone back at Rata Sum, let them know you’re here?
Taimi: Uh… No, thanks. I’ll take care of that…in, like, a few weeks or so.
<Character name>: Don’t want to get Phlunted again, huh?
Taimi: Not particularly.
<Character name>: (laugh) Okay, Taimi. I hope to see you soon.
Taimi: Me too, Commander. Give that dragon a good one for me.

To the PC, she is just as capable even without Scruffy as the other people on our road trip to kill Mordremoth. In fact she completely proves this point in Living World Season 3 Episode 1. Check out this dialogue:

<Character name>: What is it?
Taimi: Not to toot my own warbler or anything, but I killed a chak or two in my time alone here.
Taimi: Since the others don’t know about this place, I couldn’t ask to have defenses installed…
Taimi: So, they pop up every once in a while when the lab’s drawing a lot of power.

And then we immediately get attacked by Chak, proving that they occasionally appear. The chak organ is also pretty direct proof as well.

So all in all, even with her degenerative disease, Taimi is extremely capable of defending herself, even without Scruffy AND it makes sense to leave the Dragon Lab in the care of someone who is both knowledgeable and capable of tackling the knowledge in Rata Sum. Considering Phlunt’s previous actions with Taimi:

Coucillor Phlunt: The waypoints are protected. Wonderful!
Braham Eirsson: So you will agree to come to the Grove summit?
Coucillor Phlunt: Not so fast, my muscular friend. In light of this new development, I have decided to add further stipulations to the deal.
Taimi: What? Why you—
Coucillor Phlunt: Silence!
Coucillor Phlunt: Taimi, as a ward to the College of Synergetics of Rata Sum, you are required to hand over all inventions for study and documentation.
Coucillor Phlunt: I hereby claim proprietorship over this waypoint recalibration device. I will hold it in trust for you until your graduation.
Taimi: No! I made this, on my own time, outside of Rata Sum!
Coucillor Phlunt: Irrelevant. Hand it over like a good progeny, and we will see you at the summit.

She does run off but eventually she allows Phlunt to take her invention. At no point are we given any motivation to trust the asuran government with the Dragon Lab and in fact are given every reason NOT to trust them. And since the asuran populace is really the only friendly race that could possibly understand old asuran tech, we can’t really go to any other governments for aid. So the story does make sense.

To add to Castlemaniac’s comment, I think it’s because of the neurodegenerative disease that’s all the more capable on her own. Remember, she doesn’t want to be pitied or take extra care. So she’s always moving many steps ahead to make sure she’s just as good, if not better, than her fellow asura. So I think she’s very adaptable and not keen to give up. She’s propably preparing for all kinds of worst case scenarios so she won’t fall behind.

As to the last point you raise, of phlunt taking the waypoint recalibrator, there’s a good logic behind it:
I am a biochemist and from experience I know: Everything I do, find out, research, discover, etc, belongs to my supervising professor. As long as I am I their student, everything I do belongs to them. Even if I discover something on my own without any of their support, it’s theirs. To some this may seem unfair, but it’s the harsh truth of this world. As long as you’re an underling, even if you’re abroad, all you can earn are accolades.

Amaimon.7823:

To add to Castlemaniac’s comment, I think it’s because of the neurodegenerative disease that’s all the more capable on her own. Remember, she doesn’t want to be pitied or take extra care. So she’s always moving many steps ahead to make sure she’s just as good, if not better, than her fellow asura. So I think she’s very adaptable and not keen to give up. She’s propably preparing for all kinds of worst case scenarios so she won’t fall behind.

As to the last point you raise, of phlunt taking the waypoint recalibrator, there’s a good logic behind it:
I am a biochemist and from experience I know: Everything I do, find out, research, discover, etc, belongs to my supervising professor. As long as I am I their student, everything I do belongs to them. Even if I discover something on my own without any of their support, it’s theirs. To some this may seem unfair, but it’s the harsh truth of this world. As long as you’re an underling, even if you’re abroad, all you can earn are accolades.

It doesn’t matter how good someone’s mind is, if they can’t hack it physically you don’t take them into combat. That is why all military organizations have certain physical requirements. Apparently people are completely unrealistic when it comes to Taimi so I’m not going to argue the point anymore. But in my POV (which is all I have been talking about), the story regarding Taimi and the Commander’s party is silly and unbelievable.

As for hiding “her” research, the room we discovered with the dragon research is not hers.

Djinn.9245:

It doesn’t matter how good someone’s mind is, if they can’t hack it physically you don’t take them into combat. That is why all military organizations have certain physical requirements. Apparently people are completely unrealistic when it comes to Taimi so I’m not going to argue the point anymore. But in my POV (which is all I have been talking about), the story regarding Taimi and the Commander’s party is silly and unbelievable.

As for hiding “her” research, the room we discovered with the dragon research is not hers.

It’s basically as unrealistic as Tony Stark taking on the Hulk in the Hulkbuster armour. Tony’s smarts more than makes up for his physical weakness in comparison to the Hulk, especially considering the shrapnel in his chest. Without the fairly large magnet on his chest AND the incredible engineering that went into the Hulkbuster armour, he would have been unable to survive an encounter with the Hulk. Also, Dragon’s Watch isn’t a military organisation, it’s a guild, similar to the avengers (and it could be considered that the commander taking what is now called dragon’s watch under his wing to kill mordremoth could be considered an informal hiring of mercenaries who are capable of the job, thus removing the need to physically qualify since the mercenaries would have their own standards, the hiring of those mercenaries takes that into accound etc. The commander took who he thought would be the best people to kill Mordremoth with him and Taimi, with her smarts and the physical prowess of Scruffy, fits the bill). Guilds don’t necessarily adhere to the laws common in the world (especially if they’re out fighting elder dragons). So all your points about reality don’t match up with the extremely stark contrast of capabilities between the real world and Tyria, a world full of magic, steampunk technology and magitech. In the setting of Tyria, Taimi, the commander and Dragon’s Watch as a whole are very realistic within the world of Tyria. That doesn’t translate into our real world but it does translate into comic books with Iron Man wearing armour that can take a shot from a friggin TANK and not kill the wearer of the armour from the sheer g-forces that would occur from taking the full force of a point blank explosion. So calling our views of Taimi in a fantasy world unrealistic is kind of useless considering how unrealistic the entire world of Tyria is. Her story, within Tyria, fits as I’ve explained above and as others have explained too.

While the dragon lab isn’t the culmination of Taimi’s individual research, she has been able to draw certain conclusions from that research and make discoveries of her own (ley line energy being equivalent to white light with regards to draconic domains being an example, though the same thing was discovered independently and far earlier by Zojja). Also there has been lore precedent of the Arcane Council dismissing key research that could have helped in the fight against the elder dragons because that key research conflicts with traditional asuran thought. Even the Inquest seem dismissive of Scarlet’s recognition that they weren’t toying around with chaos magic, they were toying with dragon magic, and Scarlet ended up being correct. So yeah, definitely some of the stuff she comes up with based on the dragon lab is her own developed innovation of thoughts and idea.

You’re free to dislike Taimi and think her inclusion in the story is silly and unbelievable (despite both in game lore precedence for such a thing and precedence in other forms of entertainment that includes similar ideas), but you can’t really say we’re being unrealistic when the whole premise of what we’re playing through is unrealistic.

Amaimon.7823:

As to the last point you raise, of phlunt taking the waypoint recalibrator, there’s a good logic behind it:
I am a biochemist and from experience I know: Everything I do, find out, research, discover, etc, belongs to my supervising professor. As long as I am I their student, everything I do belongs to them. Even if I discover something on my own without any of their support, it’s theirs. To some this may seem unfair, but it’s the harsh truth of this world. As long as you’re an underling, even if you’re abroad, all you can earn are accolades.

Except Taimi is under the wing of Zojja, so if anyone was going to take credit for it, it would be her. But instead we get Phlunt taking away her research, who is on the Arcane Council (and this is before Heart of Thorns, so it’s not like Zojja was unconscious during that event). So really, by all accounts it was still a move to show how untrustworthy the asuran government is. There may be real world precedence for it (which btw while I totally believe is unfair, you discover it, you should claim it, I do understand that the research would garner more interest internationally if it were under the name of someone more well known. Still something I abhor though), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that a video game about flying fire breathing dragon-like wyverns needs to folllow that specific example. Asura take pride in their own research, discoveries and innovation, so taking away Taimi’s waypoint recalibrator is essentially gutting what makes her an asura.

castlemanic.3198:

Djinn.9245:

It doesn’t matter how good someone’s mind is, if they can’t hack it physically you don’t take them into combat. That is why all military organizations have certain physical requirements. Apparently people are completely unrealistic when it comes to Taimi so I’m not going to argue the point anymore. But in my POV (which is all I have been talking about), the story regarding Taimi and the Commander’s party is silly and unbelievable.

As for hiding “her” research, the room we discovered with the dragon research is not hers.

It’s basically as unrealistic as Tony Stark taking on the Hulk

Tony stark is a grown man, not a disabled teenager. He can make his own decisions about risking his life.

castlemanic.3198:

You’re free to dislike Taimi

Please don’t put words in my mouth.

Djinn.9245:

Tony stark is a grown man, not a disabled teenager. He can make his own decisions about risking his life.

Taimi’s independence (sprouted from both the deaths of her parents and her ability to manage life even with a degenerative disease) from any sort of authority figures (seeing her constant escape from Zojjas custody) means that realistically, she would make her own decisions about risking her life rather than refer to someone older than her for permission.

Also on the Iron Man front, there are plenty of characters who are younger than Taimi who risk their lives. Miles Morales, Riri Williams (the new iron man, she calls herself ironheart), Kamala Khan, Shazam/Captain Marvel from DC, the teen titans, Peter Parker in his younger days, if you want to go with fantasy the wheel of time series starts with the three main protagonists not even being of age, there’s all the young adult novels, there’s that superhero novel called “The Ables” by the cinemasins guy which has a blind protagonist with telekinesis that’s in superhero high school, isn’t Frodo from Lord of the Rings very young for a Hobbit? There are all sorts of examples of people way younger than Taimi deciding to risk their lives for the greater good, so Taimi is well within her own rights to make a decision about risking her life to save the world.

Please don’t put words in my mouth.

My sincerest apologies, I never intended to do such. I misinterpreted your statements and for that I’m sorry.

My main problem with Taimi right now is that she’s just exposition speaker and has this “never wrong” feel to her.

castlemanic.3198:

Djinn.9245:

Tony stark is a grown man, not a disabled teenager. He can make his own decisions about risking his life.

Taimi’s independence (sprouted from both the deaths of her parents and her ability to manage life even with a degenerative disease) from any sort of authority figures (seeing her constant escape from Zojjas custody) means that realistically, she would make her own decisions about risking her life rather than refer to someone older than her for permission.

Also on the Iron Man front, there are plenty of characters who are younger than Taimi who risk their lives. Miles Morales, Riri Williams (the new iron man, she calls herself ironheart), Kamala Khan, Shazam/Captain Marvel from DC, the teen titans, Peter Parker in his younger days, if you want to go with fantasy the wheel of time series starts with the three main protagonists not even being of age, there’s all the young adult novels, there’s that superhero novel called “The Ables” by the cinemasins guy which has a blind protagonist with telekinesis that’s in superhero high school, isn’t Frodo from Lord of the Rings very young for a Hobbit? There are all sorts of examples of people way younger than Taimi deciding to risk their lives for the greater good, so Taimi is well within her own rights to make a decision about risking her life to save the world.

You obviously think it is fine for actual adults to encourage young people to accompany them into situations filled with the dead and dying, where that young person is very likely to become one of those statistics. I do not think it is fine, I think it is abhorrent. But as it is fiction, that is not my point. My entire point was that it wasn’t believable writing.

Kako.1930:

Lol, if all the characters had the same voice and personality it would be boring. With variety comes things you don’t like as well as things you do. It makes us appreciate the characters we do like even more.

Well, if that was a priority for ArenaNet, why is there only one female voice for the characters you play? I was quite surprised to hear the same voice when I created my second female human, but thought “well, maybe they had one voice actor per race”. Then I created a female Asura, and guess what, same voice!

There is only one reason for ArenaNet to do that: saving money. Seriously, are voice actors so expensive? Time cannot be the issue, since the whole recording process can be done in parallel. How long does it take to record everything a character says in the story? A month? 2 months? In a game of that scale, I really have no tolerance for saving maybe 20k by copying & pasting the same voice on every character and race.

There is a way to fix that though. Hire a couple of voice actors and do the recordings, then add choices to the character creation process and to the ingame options. I would even switch the voice of my Asura after having started to play it.

The voice is a major part of a character, not just a little detail. If you live in a country that translates all series and movies into your own language, and then you start watching the originals at some point in your life, you know what I mean

Faaris.8013:

Kako.1930:

Lol, if all the characters had the same voice and personality it would be boring. With variety comes things you don’t like as well as things you do. It makes us appreciate the characters we do like even more.

Well, if that was a priority for ArenaNet, why is there only one female voice for the characters you play? I was quite surprised to hear the same voice when I created my second female human, but thought “well, maybe they had one voice actor per race”. Then I created a female Asura, and guess what, same voice!

There is only one reason for ArenaNet to do that: saving money. Seriously, are voice actors so expensive? Time cannot be the issue, since the whole recording process can be done in parallel. How long does it take to record everything a character says in the story? A month? 2 months? In a game of that scale, I really have no tolerance for saving maybe 20k by copying & pasting the same voice on every character and race.

There is a way to fix that though. Hire a couple of voice actors and do the recordings, then add choices to the character creation process and to the ingame options. I would even switch the voice of my Asura after having started to play it.

The voice is a major part of a character, not just a little detail. If you live in a country that translates all series and movies into your own language, and then you start watching the originals at some point in your life, you know what I mean

April Stewart – Female human character

Colleen O’Shaughnessey – Female asura character

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Voice_actor

Maybe you should listen to them again?

Linken.6345:

Maybe you should listen to them again?

Will do that as soon as I’m home, if I confused them, sorry about that!

There’s one big problem with the idea of trying to reject Taimi – She’s already Scarlet 2.0. She’s ‘still in school’ because of her age, not her ability, and her trust and friendship with the Commander and the Biconics are the only thing really keeping her allied with society. With her particular brand of research, depending on where the Commander tried to reject Taimi (And, given her youth, probably provoke an irrational, Braham-level act of revenge. Except powered by golems and ley-lines.)

Do we want a friendly ally content to stay in a lab or single somewhat-primitive golem and serve as mission control and tech support for the team, or do we want to try to face yet another existential threat-level villain protected by an automated army who’s usurped control over the waypoint and asura gate system, feeds elder dragons to each other for her own amusement, uses machines similar to Omadd’s to see and manipulate the world in a manner beyond the capacity of anyone else, and essentially be able to Ley-Line Nuke anywhere she sees fit? Because you can kitten well bet that’s what would happen. She has the leads on dragon and ley magic, and while it will take more experimentation and self-reliance on her caution, she’d also be freed from having to give a kitten about the rest of the world or its people, because they’re all kittenheads who need to die anyway (As demonstrated by the way they treated and rejected her)