Guild Wars 2

So, after mulling over the story for a bit after fully finishing it. (That end fight, nyeh…)
-I liked the story in general,and am looking forward to season 3.
-Still annoyed about the way Trahearne/Faolain were handled.
-Malyck/his tree is still a thing I want to know about.
-Eir was predictable.
-Please don’t kill off any more characters because of forum complaining.
It just hinders the story.

Considering Mordremoth was the whole Magus Falls it would seem that the Maguuma Jungle we’ve seen in the first Guild Wars was Mordremoth’s body from start to finish(and that southern Stingray Strand, southern Twin Serpent Lakes and the whole Riverside Province are only jungles because of the Sylvari moving in).

Funny how Manoon Lagoon and Silverwood had the water in them drunk up by Mordremoth’s vines leaving the Silverwastes. I also think he drunk up most of the lakes in The Falls as well(is there no water on his massive body that that glutton consumes?).

With all the critizism and the LS3 seemingly the last hope for everyone who wanted anything answered (I dont beleive that the raids will offer a lot more info, as these are usually centred around creating a great encounter. They will be neat little sidestorys, though), I would love it if a writer would take some time and assure us, there is a lot more in the pipeline.

It would be sad to see the big mantra of HoT, carried over into every part of the game.
By that I mean, that HoT is nothing more than the base for everything in the future.

Which is something I dont really agree upon in the story and lore department, which certainly had a enough work done already.

PS. In my opinion shifting lots of answers maybe on LS3 and having such a rushed experience of the story (which should have been something cool and amazing, btw.) is not the right approach.

Ok I took a bit longer to play through the story (Sign Cutting was bugged for me, for about 3 or 4 days) but I here I go:

Act 1: Very solid. It showed the despair of the remaining Pact, introduced the new Hylek and of course it had the death of Eir. I think I’ve said it in another thread. I liked how Eir’s death was done, it was very cinematic. It also showed again how much of a little bi untrustworthy person Faolain is. I also don’t mind that Eir was killed by a “random Vinetooth”. What I did not like that my favorite character of DE had to go, but hey they killed of Tybalt, I can cope with this.

Act 2: I liked “Vinefaolain” and the Exalted are awesome. Loved Tarir and the Forgotten trial (gotta have those trials if the Forgotten are involved). This chapter also gave us the Rata Novus reveal. Overall great stuff.

Act 3: Now here we are getting a bit weaker. I was really excited about Rata Novus, but the story barely tells us anything about it. Heck we don’t get to hear anything about their dragon research. Most of the stuff is found on the open world map, which is fine, but I still wis we ran into a hologram of Zinn there or something. The chak are a need idea, kinda Karka on steroids but I think they could have been utilized more in the story, instead of just being important in the events on the map.

Act 4: Too short. I think there should have been a mission more, at the start. Let us acutally set up the camps for the meta event (which I haven’t played yet btw) in an instance first or something. From playing the story alone it’s just not clear that the assault takes place at the same time as the mission to find Trahearne, Zojja and Logan. I liked the idea of getting into Mordy’s mind (Snaff would be proud) but it just felt off. Krally’s mind was described as huge sandstorm iirc and this was just an arena with a few bushes around it. Also Mordy didn’ look very impressive, like a gator on this hindlegs with one mouth surplus. I liked that I got to kill Trahearne though. Oh how I’ve longed for that day. Didn’t think they would let me do. That feeling when his own sword cut him down. Very rewarding indeed. Still the party at the end of the main game felt more like a good end (as did the epilogue instances from the first game), this was just over after you did the dirty deed. Where are my Ewoks playing drums with Stormtrooper helmets?

Overall I give it a 7/10. Better than the story of the main game, but it just felt a bit rushed and the ending was just not as epic as it should have been. It still worked better than the main game’s story, as it was more coherent and had better characterization.

So, I finaly finished the story (after some Masterymayhap) and I sadly got to chime in as well:

Characters get no real development
PC
I don`t know if that was always the case, but him being the optimistic wisecracker who just says: No Problem, it`s all right to everything (well, aside from burning potential Mordrem) and even going Deus Ex Machina for the end, while being without a care in the world for many things he does ( oh, you were supposed to take care of the egg? My mistake, here take it. ).
It would be okay if that was on occasion, but he is like that all the time, meking me question his leadership qualities.
It`s nice to hear him talk again, but for the future, please gives us some checkboxes back where we can adjust his character a little bit. Please.

Braham
Lost his mom and wants to take down the EDs even more than before. The endfight mostly strenghten his resolve. Oh and for some reason he is bald now (is that a Norn murn thing I dont know about?)

Rox
Rox is there. She plays big sister to Braham once and then does, what she should have done before with Scarlet: Scouting. She is a ranger and I expect her some expertise there (its not liket he rest of Tyria did a good job there at that time and as you can see I am still annoyed by it)

Kasmeer and Majory
Apearently Kas and Maj have some trouble, however that was only said at the end of the story and only if you walk back up the spire.
You can even say that: they were awefully quite the whole time . You know I get Majs part, with Belindas death and so, however we could have easily fit that in HoT. Heck it would have been perfect for the finale, where you fight a regret of yours.
Oh and Deus Ex Kas is now a expert stealth ninja teleporter and her coments make me still ask why she is on a battlefield. I thought she was used to nasty stuff by now.

Taimi
Can suddenly run at mach speed and was pretty quick to sacrifice her best mechanical friend, who she had just updated to a level where he can better protect her. Something she has basicaly just learned in S2.
She is still our technological marvel, who in my opinion shouldnt be so OP. She looks at something and instantly understands it.
By the way. Her being selfish and staying in an infested unsecure laboratory with no way out (by the way, how did we get out? That was a plot point.), with not even any sign of regret was bad, really really bad. “Hey, you got your vague answer. Now get out and let me raid this place. Shoo go save the world or something…”
That is not funny writing. She is a selfish brat, who hasnt learned anything.
Our PC saying: oh she will be allright without any real defense at the moment. is just as stupid.

Canach
Other than his snark and that he wants to be free (soemthing we knew since he was in prison) we learn not much about him actually. He wants to redeem himself (known) and is our conenction to Mordy, for all our not Sylvari PCs.
He just pops up and says: Anise says I am in your care now, deal with it. and thats it.
The PC is against him for one sentence and then we just dont care about that part of the story. In fact we suddenly start to care about him, like he was part of the group all along.

all other NPCs
Could potential be interesting, but are mostly an exposition device. Would have loved for them to be more integrated, or have even some dialog aside from the story.

Story
So the story is split in open world and instanced areas. By that I mean you have to do open world content and story missions.
Okay, let me be frank. Each segemnt is bare bones and mostly tells you only the obvious things.
Characters get no real development in the stories (btw. It would have been cool to find pur crew in the open world as well and have them push some events. That way we could have shown their story, as the party was split up and gave them some story.) and the world gets extended to new areas, with only basic information about it. We dont really find any great mysteries or mor eimportantly the few mystieries we get are not explored enough to get a satisfying conclusion.
Even old mysteries are barely touched upon. Even worse, they are just brushed away (Balthazar? lets fight him (okay, that might fit, but really, thats it?). Druids? Pah, they existed, they pop up and then vanish again. I thought hey were supposed to cleanse the whole jungle.)

Overall my verdict is: Good ideas, not so good execution
The expansion is good in theory, however as soon as you look at all the wasted potential it is just disheartening. Old lore, while adressed in a bit, feels like a distant memory, and the new stuff, feels sadly out of place in corelation to it.

While glint is old lore, her plan is new lore. Just taking her name and creating basicly a complete new religions outside her allready established cult (you know, brotherhood of the dragon for example) is just weird. How many secret followings does she have?
How many plans did she have?

btw. How is our supposed Guild called? Braham said, that we could have killed Mordremoth just because it was our Guild? What Guild? When did we establish a Guild? Is it the same way I became their Boss? They just followed me around one day. Can I kick them? I mean all Braham does is smashing things. I allready have Rytlock for that and he is at least funny.

Jaken.6801:

Taimi
Can suddenly run at mach speed and was pretty quick to sacrifice her best mechanical friend, who she had just updated to a level where he can better protect her. Something she has basicaly just learned in S2.
She is still our technological marvel, who in my opinion shouldnt be so OP. She looks at something and instantly understands it.
By the way. Her being selfish and staying in an infested unsecure laboratory with no way out (by the way, how did we get out? That was a plot point.), with not even any sign of regret was bad, really really bad. “Hey, you got your vague answer. Now get out and let me raid this place. Shoo go save the world or something…”
That is not funny writing. She is a selfish brat, who hasnt learned anything.
Our PC saying: oh she will be allright without any real defense at the moment. is just as stupid.

The whole point of “Buried Insight” is Taimi trying to prove to the PC that she’s not a mascot nor a child, but an adult. It shows her evolution and the end shows this evolution to us (when she asks “Hey, would you ask Rytlock if he was sure? Canach?”, and we leave her alone soon after that).

In Strange Observations → “Taimi’s out here alone? I better find her soon.”
In the beginning of Buried Insight → “Time is of the essence, but we can’t leave her here alone.”

Taimi’s character development is fine, and the effects on our PC are great.

Gorgaan Peaudesang.8324:

Jaken.6801:

Taimi
Can suddenly run at mach speed and was pretty quick to sacrifice her best mechanical friend, who she had just updated to a level where he can better protect her. Something she has basicaly just learned in S2.
She is still our technological marvel, who in my opinion shouldnt be so OP. She looks at something and instantly understands it.
By the way. Her being selfish and staying in an infested unsecure laboratory with no way out (by the way, how did we get out? That was a plot point.), with not even any sign of regret was bad, really really bad. “Hey, you got your vague answer. Now get out and let me raid this place. Shoo go save the world or something…”
That is not funny writing. She is a selfish brat, who hasnt learned anything.
Our PC saying: oh she will be allright without any real defense at the moment. is just as stupid.

The whole point of “Buried Insight” is Taimi trying to prove to the PC that she’s not a mascot nor a child, but an adult. It shows her evolution and the end shows this evolution to us (when she asks “Hey, would you ask Rytlock if he was sure? Canach?”, and we leave her alone soon after that).

In Strange Observations -> “Taimi’s out here alone? I better find her soon.”
In the beginning of Buried Insight -> “Time is of the essence, but we can’t leave her here alone.”

Taimi’s character development is fine, and the effects on our PC are great.

You explain the plot point as if it was cleverly hidden. I don’t think anyone could have missed it, the way the players were bombarded with it every step of the way – she restores power to Rata Novus, she saves Braham’s life, she sacrifices Scruffy (and understanding the cost of sacrifice is a sign of maturity in most cultures), she braves the chak horde alongside her companions unassisted by a golem, she’s the one to make them stop respawning, and lastly she decides to stay behind all on her own in an unfamiliar environment. This is on top of her S2 achievement of revolutionising waypoints and safeguarding them against Elder Dragons.

I think the complaint is more geared towards how it was handled rather than the message itself, and the message itself really was great. The line about not wanting to be the team’s mascot and especially PC’s response to it was absolutely great. Trying way too hard to prove the player that she’s independent was less so.

Jaken.6801:

Characters get no real development
PC
I don`t know if that was always the case, but him being the optimistic wisecracker who just says: No Problem, it`s all right to everything (well, aside from burning potential Mordrem) and even going Deus Ex Machina for the end, while being without a care in the world for many things he does ( oh, you were supposed to take care of the egg? My mistake, here take it. ).
It would be okay if that was on occasion, but he is like that all the time, meking me question his leadership qualities.
It`s nice to hear him talk again, but for the future, please gives us some checkboxes back where we can adjust his character a little bit. Please.

So I know opinions are opinions, but still I have to disagree with you here. I think the PC was by far the best written character in this storyline. Most of it came from the fact that he was so wasted in the original PS. In the last third the PC was named second in command of the Pact, yet you never felt it. It was always NPCs telling you what to do where to go, the only decision making was Trahearne asking you what you think would be the better plan of attack.
But in HoT there is no one above you, no one giving you tasks. The PC is the shotcaller and no one else. Caithe running away with the egg? B*tch let me handle that, I’m the boss. Rytlock coming back from the Mists all kitten? He still listens when I raise my voice. That’s the kind of character I want to play. I 1vs1 a dragon champion if I have to, there is no one who can give me orders and they know it.
The plot about chasing the egg was kinda pointless I admit that, but it wasn’t the PC acting dumb, it was Caithe’s fault through and through. After seeing what the PC can do she still trusts him so little that she thinks she has to deliver the egg? Seriously? I have no problem with the PC giving the egg to the Exalted, I think he is smart enough to see that these are the guys the Master of Peace wanted to reach.
And the last point: I don’t think the PC was nonchalant about the whole situation. I mean this might be a voice acting thing, I played the german version and my Norn did sound concerned yet optimistic. Pretty much what I expect him to be in this situation. He is a Norn after all, he simply does not care about the odds. I have to play it on my Charr too, but I guess the voice acting will be comparable.
All things said, I think the PC was handled really well and he struck me as a much better leader then Trahearne has ever been. And since the PC not being written well and not feeling like a commander was one of my biggest peeves with the original PS, I’m pretty happy with how he turned out. It feels like my concern were heard. I mean I actually once wrote an kind off “open letter” to Bobby Stein about this problem, so now I feel like he read it.

BuddhaKeks.4857:

Jaken.6801:

Characters get no real development
PC
I don`t know if that was always the case, but him being the optimistic wisecracker who just says: No Problem, it`s all right to everything (well, aside from burning potential Mordrem) and even going Deus Ex Machina for the end, while being without a care in the world for many things he does ( oh, you were supposed to take care of the egg? My mistake, here take it. ).
It would be okay if that was on occasion, but he is like that all the time, meking me question his leadership qualities.
It`s nice to hear him talk again, but for the future, please gives us some checkboxes back where we can adjust his character a little bit. Please.

So I know opinions are opinions, but still I have to disagree with you here. I think the PC was by far the best written character in this storyline. Most of it came from the fact that he was so wasted in the original PS. In the last third the PC was named second in command of the Pact, yet you never felt it. It was always NPCs telling you what to do where to go, the only decision making was Trahearne asking you what you think would be the better plan of attack.
But in HoT there is no one above you, no one giving you tasks. The PC is the shotcaller and no one else. Caithe running away with the egg? B*tch let me handle that, I’m the boss. Rytlock coming back from the Mists all kitten? He still listens when I raise my voice. That’s the kind of character I want to play. I 1vs1 a dragon champion if I have to, there is no one who can give me orders and they know it.
The plot about chasing the egg was kinda pointless I admit that, but it wasn’t the PC acting dumb, it was Caithe’s fault through and through. After seeing what the PC can do she still trusts him so little that she thinks she has to deliver the egg? Seriously? I have no problem with the PC giving the egg to the Exalted, I think he is smart enough to see that these are the guys the Master of Peace wanted to reach.
And the last point: I don’t think the PC was nonchalant about the whole situation. I mean this might be a voice acting thing, I played the german version and my Norn did sound concerned yet optimistic. Pretty much what I expect him to be in this situation. He is a Norn after all, he simply does not care about the odds. I have to play it on my Charr too, but I guess the voice acting will be comparable.
All things said, I think the PC was handled really well and he struck me as a much better leader then Trahearne has ever been. And since the PC not being written well and not feeling like a commander was one of my biggest peeves with the original PS, I’m pretty happy with how he turned out. It feels like my concern were heard. I mean I actually once wrote an kind off “open letter” to Bobby Stein about this problem, so now I feel like he read it.

I understand where you come from.
Basicaly most of my problems can just be brought back to the short nature of the story. We just spend a little time with our PC actually talking and most of it is short to the point and then suddenly everything is okay, lets tackle the enxt plotpoint.

The fact that we can only at (aprox.) two points go to the other characters and ask them a little bit more about how they feel

Dont get me wrong. I didnt dislike him. It is just that there were some occasions where he acted way too rash and then disregarded other things way to easily.

Yes he is supposed to be smart. He acted smart. he said the right words. However that made him very unrealistic, as he had an answer to almost everything.

Again, most of it is due to how quick the problems have been tackled. Thus it created a way different image in my head, as maybe intended.

@ the Taimi stuff.
Yeah. She wanted respect. She certainly does deserve some respect. However she is still a child.
She is smart, sure. However she is still ill.
The storyline from us being cautious about her, her standing up to us and then we say You did good, stay with your new toys is fine in theroy, however it was only aprox an hour.
An hour in which she did the same thing, she always did. Being an kitten Asura.
We know that allready.
However she still sacrificed her Golem, a tool she needs and then stayed behind in an infested Area, without any working defense.
Yes she might be able to build something, however till then she is defensless and the Chack have proven to breach into the city.

Yes, she deserves praise for her work. However she is a brain character. She needed her brawns to stay with the group or survive alone.
I by all means would have never let her stay with her new toys.
Moreover not in the way she nonchalant tells us: Oh, I cant help you without Scruffy, maybe I should stay here with my delicous data.

No. I might sound hard, but No. This was a very stupid justification here and I would have only let her stay, till some kind of help had arrived.

Right now she just wants to get the hand on her data first, without any regard for anyone else. Her tone makes it very clear.
She has reached something new, entursted the whole fight to us and is now heads deep in her new research.
Bah…

Jaken.6801:

I understand where you come from.
Basicaly most of my problems can just be brought back to the short nature of the story. We just spend a little time with our PC actually talking and most of it is short to the point and then suddenly everything is okay, lets tackle the enxt plotpoint.

The fact that we can only at (aprox.) two points go to the other characters and ask them a little bit more about how they feel

Dont get me wrong. I didnt dislike him. It is just that there were some occasions where he acted way too rash and then disregarded other things way to easily.

Yes he is supposed to be smart. He acted smart. he said the right words. However that made him very unrealistic, as he had an answer to almost everything.

Again, most of it is due to how quick the problems have been tackled. Thus it created a way different image in my head, as maybe intended.

Yeah I can understand that. I still don’t get why they let us go to Rata Novus and then tell us “every dragon has a weakness!”. And then my character is like “great news!”. Well it’s great but it isn’t really news. We knew that since we killed Zhaitan.
So we go in to the Mordremoth fight, knowing he can be killed but not how and then my PC is like “why not attack him in the dream?” and Canach is like “he doesn’t seem to like idea” and my PC responds “so that must be his weakness!”… really? That’s how we find out? Why even go to Rata Novus in the first place, if we don’t get any info there, but figure it out on the fly 2 missions later? It seems so pointless in retrospect.

I agree though, most of the problem come from how short the story is. Afte playing Act 1 I initially said that HoT might reach Nightfall levels of storytelling, but by Act 3 it just fell apart.

I felt like this expansion was Overall good content. I like the Specializations (and very glad of the reduction to the hero points needed to unlock fully, due to having a ton of alts). The maps are very nice even though there are only 4 new ones they are for the most part very immersive in there layout. Guild Halls are great and I am enjoying that part of it as well. The content is definitely for challenging and fun. Overall the Open World content is great once you figure out how to get around the maps and I feel that ANet did a great job with that.

I hate WvW now. The BL map is terrible and finding fights is a horrendous tasks. The new maps encourage having a commander tag and zerging from one place to another even worse than before. Think EoTM 2.0. Overall its a fail and needs some serious work. Add gliding as a way to get around in the new maps and it would be a whole lot more fun to play in. Otherwise it is an overgrown PvE map and not what us WvW players want.

Now on to what I wanted to post in this thread as it relates to the story content. I do not like to criticize anyone but I felt the need to offer some harsh realities to the Story Team.

After I completed all of the story arcs, I literally said “WHAAAAAAA?” I feel like I am not the only one who felt this way, that left you with a sense of confusion and in my case, “Where did they pull that out of?”. Lemme explain with Sarcasm included

First, Rytlock…. Where did he come from? Oh right…..He doesn’t want to talk about it right now, but he will LATER. How did he get to Verdant? hmmmm. As the story moves along, he tells us that while he was in the Mists he met, wait…. that’s not right, oh I forgot, our PC never asks him about it again even at the end. Weird right?

Second, I did like the Eir sequence and felt it was actually a good part to the story. (I pressed F to honor, bet you did to) The cinematic was great and sorta made you hate Faolain more so I think the Story Krew deserves some kudos here.

Thirdly, The exalted arc was pointless, no wait it wasn’t it was about the Egg (Remember that thing that Caithe took). Well speaking of Caithe, Enter Caithe….. Wait, WHAT? Why is she here? Well we find out that the egg was her NEW wyld hunt. Again, what? Who gave her this new wyld hunt, Pale tree? Nope wasn’t the Pale Tree, she said she had no idea what Caithe was planning or doing in LS2. She loses the egg so I guess her hunt is over she’s fine now time to kill Faolin. Yeah mmmmk that made sense, but it solved the whole Caithe stealing the egg thing.

The exalted seem to just be thrown in, but the lore aspect is lacking and how they related to Mordremoth was completely left out in the PS. Overall we pretty much zipped through Auric without getting alot of info about the exalted and I was completely disappointed with the writing and speed of it.

Then we get to Rata Novus. I actually like this place but to me it was a story arc that did only develop Taimi’s character a little proving she was part of the team. That part made sense to me but it related nothing to the story. “Mordremoth has a weakness!” Really? We find the answer here in Asura land right? Yeah…..um, nope. He has a weakness (like all elder dragons) so I guess that is worth something.

Ok the finale. Obviously journeying further into the Jungle. We have Caithe with us now because forgiveness. Get to kill Faolain so that was good. Then we get to Zojia/Logan, I guess they both live but was pretty much meh. And our Traehearne, poor guy, I felt pretty bad for the guy. This was the point that I felt ANet definitely dropped the ball and was likely due to the story deadline. Could’ve let us know why T was so important. Oh idk maybe because he was the FIrst Firstborne or something along those lines…..just a thought. Could’ve squeezed that in there somewhere. Then we listen to kas and morj basically the whole time saying it can’t be this easy it must be a trap, yeah it must be. Oh, wait, nope it in’t a trap and it is that easy. Well we know Modremoth has a weakness….only if we knew what it was…… I got it we can access his mind and enter the dream! Wait….WHAAAAA? And you figured that out because………(ANet slips one by us…shhhh maybe they won’t notice) Ok so this dream but how in the world can we access the dream? Ok OK OK I got it, Traehearne lets do this! STAHP IT PLZ! What is this ANet? Tra can now access the dream. Was pretty much sold on the fact that only the Pale Tree could do that. SO where did all this come from? Honestly I cannot see where the Story team thought this through (BUT I would’ve loved to see that run through in person). This was the main thing that made no sense, there were others (the rift, random) but by a mile this was the biggest rushed part of the whole thing. Boss fight was a fun mechanic fight and Anet did a solid Job but Mordremoth looked pretty much like a deformed bull or something. Finally gotta kill Tra, sad but had to be done he was too embedded into Mordremoth (physically connected) and I really think ANet nailed this part.

That ending tho….. Was it like a Sopranos moment? Fade to Black…..

Where was the epilogue? Disappointed like most people were in this.

Best thing was the PC was in fact the unquestioned leader and was really well done.

Overall HoT is great but the Story was really lacking, rushed and they completely missed the lore opportunities and facts that they had laid in placed. I would say that they had better not wait to long for LS3 and better address the flaws in the story or simply fire the Story and Lore team. Sry Bobby but it was sadly done. Maybe it was a problem with the actors and their availability or maybe it was a time thing, but the content was very little on the story side for an expansion.

Sorry for the long post but it hasn’t been said so I thought I would do the dirty deed. Feel free to disagree.

Are we really a leader of the pact btw.?
I mean we push our little team around and at the beginning we put Laranthier and the others in their place, but after that we aren`t really in any leading postition.

In fact everything else is just regulating itself.
We aren`t really part of any meetings or organize a lot of efforts.

As we are in the open world, we are basicaly one of serveral pact soldiers who help in the fight against Mordremoth.

However everything else is working itself out.

So, while we are the boss/the comander in the story, aside from being called that title and be thanked for our participation, there is just our passive involvement.

I would have liked some parts of the story, where we gather some of the surviving pact leaders and help organize anything.
I think that would have brought the open world and the story itself to a more fleshed out experience.

As far as NPC deaths are concerned, we’re at war with an elder dragon people are going to die. If no one died, it would be silly.

DarcShriek.5829:

As far as NPC deaths are concerned, we’re at war with an elder dragon people are going to die. If no one died, it would be silly.

We are talking about iconic figure not some vigil cannon fooder. This is a game. This should be pleaseant to everyone.

Jaken.6801:

Are we really a leader of the pact btw.?
I mean we push our little team around and at the beginning we put Laranthier and the others in their place, but after that we aren`t really in any leading postition.

In fact everything else is just regulating itself.
We aren`t really part of any meetings or organize a lot of efforts.

As we are in the open world, we are basicaly one of serveral pact soldiers who help in the fight against Mordremoth.

However everything else is working itself out.

So, while we are the boss/the comander in the story, aside from being called that title and be thanked for our participation, there is just our passive involvement.

I would have liked some parts of the story, where we gather some of the surviving pact leaders and help organize anything.
I think that would have brought the open world and the story itself to a more fleshed out experience.

Technically, the personal story is just that – personal. You help the Pact as part of open world dynamic events. There are multiple instances when you’re directly referred to. I don’t remember the exact event, but there’s one wherein NPCs are allowed to stray from camp only if they’re accompanied by the Commander.

The usual MMO problem of a hundred main characters running around notwithstanding, you contribute significantly to the survival efforts in Verdant Brink, you secure an alliance with the Itzel and Nuhoch both, you essentially become responsible for providing the Pact a forward “camp” in the form of Tarir, you help untangle all of Tangled Depths and aid in the breach of Dragon’s Stand, where you also protect, fortify and lead the Pact. At least two VB dynamic event chains are centred around people you rescue in the PS, too.

Jaken.6801:

Are we really a leader of the pact btw.?
I mean we push our little team around and at the beginning we put Laranthier and the others in their place, but after that we aren`t really in any leading postition.

We basically made Laranthir our second-in-command (end of Torn from the Skies) and he seems to pick up Trahearne’s old job of organizing and leading the army (as seen in Dragon’s Stand – particularly the Mouth of Mordremoth fight) while we continue our old job of being the arrowhead’s point that breaks enemy’s defenses before the army pushes in.

So yes, while we haven’t been called Marshal yet, I suspect that we will be starting next update. That or Laranthir will take the mantle of Marshal, since that’s the job he began doing – just underneath us this time.

Jaken.6801:

As we are in the open world, we are basicaly one of serveral pact soldiers who help in the fight against Mordremoth.

If you haven’t, play the Mouth of Mordremoth event. Laranthir calls us Commander then – it’s an isolated dialogue, I believe, but it’s meant to signify the PC while everyone else are just “several pact soldiers”.

Jaken.6801:

I would have liked some parts of the story, where we gather some of the surviving pact leaders and help organize anything.

That was left more for Verdant Brink – primarily the Pact Encampment in the middle of the map, where we establish a camp leader out of three equally-ranked officers.

Got to remember that just like the Orrian invasion, the story takes place in both open world and story instance.

Though despite their desired claims, they continued to do a bad job of ensuring this was shown.

DarcShriek.5829:

As far as NPC deaths are concerned, we’re at war with an elder dragon people are going to die. If no one died, it would be silly.

It’s not so much that Eir died as much as HOW she died. She died for the blatant obvious task of furthering Braham’s development. Her story, her personality, was tossed to the wayside as of Season 2. Since Season 2 it was obvious they were writing her off, and doing so only for some off-screen development of the most whining character to follow us around.

Eir dies? That’s not the issue.

Eir dies solely and blatantly so Braham can be developed? That’s an issue.

ArenaNet needs to find a way to cause character development that doesn’t require the death of another character. Eir, Trahearne, and Scruffy all died for obvious character development – Trahearne died for the extra added measure of catering to the vocal minority who are simply just wrong about their claims (those claims being “he stole our glory” – he never took any credit for our actions, never stole any glory).

Zabiyaka.2567:

We are talking about iconic figure not some vigil cannon fooder. This is a game. This should be pleaseant to everyone.

I disagree. Stories should be told well, not made to coddle the audience unless that’s the intent of the story – which it clearly isn’t for GW2. And to have well told stories there will be iconic figures dying for one reason or another.

Malyck is a big mystery….

We don’t even know for sure if he is truely another Pale Tree’s Sylvari(all we know is that he isn’t from our Pale Tree). Infact we don’t even know if he’s even Mordrem and not a Druid created by Melandru or a descendant of Ewan’s tribe(one jungle plant person looks like another to me).

Druids appear like spectral treants. You know, oakhearts, mosshearts, etc., but ghostly.

Before that appearance, they were human – hair, skin, muscle, and bone human.

MatthewMedina.5419:

The pace is deliberate for this expansion, so some of the other things you mentioned (lack of awe, shorter dialogs) are tied to that. We wanted to set the tone to be one of utmost urgency…a race against time to get your friends back before the worst can happen. That informed a lot of our decisions, and while I too appreciate a more languidly paced story and more dialog (provided it’s interesting), I can tell you we had a lot of discussions on this back and forth on the team to find what we felt confident was the “sweet spot” between too little exposition and not enough.

Eir

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- This was definitely not motivated by the decision to have an appropriate backstory for the guardian elite specialization. In fact to my recollection, I think Jon Peters took this plot point which we knew early on as inspiration and ran with it so if anything story helped give rise to the Dragon Hunter and not the other way around. Eir’s death is also hampered somewhat here by our Teen rating, because we really wanted to show just how badly Faolain’s attack had left Eir, but we’re just unable to show copious amounts of blood and gore. The idea though is that there was no time for anyone to help her in this situation…she was dying, and she knew it. Eir had but a moment to choose between a slow, painful death as her lungs filled with blood, or a legend’s death facing her end defiantly and head on.

Question from my end. How could a spellcaster sylvari like Faolin, who was in the same starved conditions, do THAT much damage to Eir, THROUGH the leather armor?

That’s what really bugs me about this. It detracts from the Norn durability and feats of the past, if somebody like Faolin can simply jab a thorn out and land a fatal blow :/. Or maybe more accurately, it partially pulls at my suspension of disbelief, and sadly makes that leather armor appear worthless.

While I’m not a fan of eir’s death, I understand it and accept it (would’ve prefered her not to go down instantly to the vinetooth however aka, have some final words before death), I feel that the description you put forth kinda ignores stuff like rox’s established field medicine/healing magic knowledge that she used to literally save Marjory from a “She’s dead!” status (With Eir having either a slow death vs facing the foe)

Course, Eir wouldn’t know that about Rox, so that point is more of an out of universe viewpoint one. :P

This thread seems as good a place as any to dump a few of my musings on the HoT story after I’ve played through, so here it goes.

So yeah, that’s my long-winded two cents.