Guild Wars 2

With the introduction of Taimi it seems a new destiny edge group is forming now that there are five npcs involved with the living story. With Marjory, Kasmeer, Rox, Braham, and now Taimi we have a nice collection of interesting heroes to help us. The only race not represented right now is the sylvari. Two questions pop to mind.

1. Do we need or want a sylvari in the group? I could take it or leave it. Personally I’m a little worn out following sylvari around and could do with a break from one. It does seem it is the developers intents to include all the races so one being added does seem likely.

2. Which of the two female humans is more likely to be replaced, Marjory or Kasmeer? I like both of the characters and wouldn’t like to see either go but if one had to die I feel Kasmeer’s death would have a better story effect. We are already sympathetic towards her and her death could add to Marjory’s character development.

I feel beacuse this is really the Sylvari’s first appearance in the GW2 universe, AN wants to make them sort of the spotlight, but I feel like they’re being forced on me ever so slightly, and I really don’t want to hear from them much more before I go to my local garden center and buy a year’s wages worth in weed killer.

I say roll with this one. Let this relationship blossom. (Reference to the current speculation that Marjory and Kas are a couple.)

-chants-
Canach! Canach! Canach! Canach! Canach! Canach! Canach!

Ahem I don’t think there should be a 1 for 1. And besides, keep in mind the original Destiny’s Edge had 6 members (7 if you include Garm).

Remember, Remember, the Snaff who’s a member.

@Argon: It’s no longer speculation. In a livestream, Angel called them a couple.

[quote=3550103;Konig Des Todes.2086:

@Argon: It’s no longer speculation. In a livestream, Angel called them a couple.[/quote]

Ah, wonderful. less reason to kill one of them off in my opinion.

well, destiny’s edge was a 6 man group, not 5. and two were asura. the group broke up because one of them died (what’s with ANet and murdering asuras anyway?).

so… i don’t see why this “new destiny’s edge” can’t have two humans.

I want Kasmeer to go. She’s too much of a barby doll-ditz. Kinda like a blank slate for anything other than… Bewbs.

Marjory on the other hand, has a sly and sultry personality, which makes her entertaining to listen to

Kain Francois.4328:

I want Kasmeer to go. She’s too much of a barby doll-ditz. Kinda like a blank slate for anything other than… Bewbs.

Watch the conversations in the latest Lions Arch story instance.

Once you beat Scarlet she turns good and becomes the leader of the new Destiny’s Edge. There’s your Sylvari member :p

Ditto, if it isn’t Canach that joins it would probably be Scarlet free from her thorn <.<

Nah, Scarlet won’t be a redeemed hero. Rox is all over the chance to join the Stone warband, and Rytlock in this update just said “kill Scarlet, I don’t care how, but kill her and you’re in the Stone warband.”

So yeah, either Scarlet dies… or Rox does.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Nah, Scarlet won’t be a redeemed hero. Rox is all over the chance to join the Stone warband, and Rytlock in this update just said “kill Scarlet, I don’t care how, but kill her and you’re in the Stone warband.”

So yeah, either Scarlet dies… or Rox does.

“Ït’s a charr thing”.

The warbands a usually picked allready when charr are small which means that they are becoming more used to each other and better bonded. So far the only bond between Rox and the Stone warband is Rythlock whom also has his “2nd” warband the destiny edge.

Rox will inevitably see that she is sort of in a new warband with Braham and the rest.

They are not the new DE.

They are a separate group of characters introduced through this living story.

Nobody needs to be replaced, finally we got likeable, actual characters ever since Tybalt and few others. No need to kill anybody either, just to fill in the “new DE quota” by copying the same story element for the sake of copying it.

No no no and no…I want them ALL to stay, I totally like them ever since this update, and keep on having them, replacing them would be a very, very bad idea.

Well for starters Sieran >>>>> Tybalt, and secondly, I’ve gotta agree with Konig, Canach will be the sylvari, he’s an EXTREMELY interesting sylvari, and he’s made multiple appearances in the living story, I feel like it’d be great if he joins.

And as much as I love Scarlet and how she is, I don’t want to see her become “redeemed” that’d be the dumbest thing ever imo and would ruin everything I like about her.

As for which one would go? It’d be Kasmeer, I don’t trust her, I still think she’s an enemy, she’s -too- ditzy, AND she’s a Mesmer, I feel like she’s up to something…

i don’t know, i think canach is a lone wolf kind of guy. i’d much rather he stays alone, sometimes doing good things, sometimes doing bad things (while trying to do good or out of spiteful revenge), than have him awkwardly force himself into the group.

Canach a lone wolf? You realize this guy led an expedition team, working for a corporation, right? That’s hardly lone wolf.

I can see these new characters to Destiny’s Edge be like the Suicide Squad to Justice League. Maybe even Mai Trinn will join up with them?

lordkrall.7241:

Kain Francois.4328:

I want Kasmeer to go. She’s too much of a barby doll-ditz. Kinda like a blank slate for anything other than… Bewbs.

Watch the conversations in the latest Lions Arch story instance.

It works for all characters there too. There’s effort put into the characterizations here. Aside from Taimi. Or as I term her, “annoying asura waif number 106”.

But if you can catch Logan and talk with him, there’s a lot there too. Pity he’s still not pleased with things, but interesting he shows knowledge and respect for the Stone warband.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Canach a lone wolf? You realize this guy led an expedition team, working for a corporation, right? That’s hardly lone wolf.

he was contracted to lead the expedition. he was doing a job. he wasn’t part of a group as much as he was someone that needs to pay bills.

but he went rogue after things went haywire, and cut connections with everything and everyone, which is a very lone wolf thing to do.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Canach a lone wolf? You realize this guy led an expedition team, working for a corporation, right? That’s hardly lone wolf.

he was contracted to lead the expedition. he was doing a job. he wasn’t part of a group as much as he was someone that needs to pay bills.

but he went rogue after things went haywire, and cut connections with everything and everyone, which is a very lone wolf thing to do.

Uh…. He only did that because he became a wanted criminal by the lion guard AND the consortium put a hit out on him… You know how you die really quickly with a hit on you? You don’t cut ties and become a loner.

Durzlla.6295:

BrunoBRS.5178:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Canach a lone wolf? You realize this guy led an expedition team, working for a corporation, right? That’s hardly lone wolf.

he was contracted to lead the expedition. he was doing a job. he wasn’t part of a group as much as he was someone that needs to pay bills.

but he went rogue after things went haywire, and cut connections with everything and everyone, which is a very lone wolf thing to do.

Uh…. He only did that because he became a wanted criminal by the lion guard AND the consortium put a hit out on him… You know how you die really quickly with a hit on you? You don’t cut ties and become a loner.

Well he was about to die.
In an interview it was stated taht he was taken slave by the Molten Alliance. That is why he has their gloves.
So he was about to die.
After that he made his attack on Southsun. So yeah. Cutting ties he did in my eye

Jaken.6801:

Durzlla.6295:

BrunoBRS.5178:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Canach a lone wolf? You realize this guy led an expedition team, working for a corporation, right? That’s hardly lone wolf.

he was contracted to lead the expedition. he was doing a job. he wasn’t part of a group as much as he was someone that needs to pay bills.

but he went rogue after things went haywire, and cut connections with everything and everyone, which is a very lone wolf thing to do.

Uh…. He only did that because he became a wanted criminal by the lion guard AND the consortium put a hit out on him… You know how you die really quickly with a hit on you? You don’t cut ties and become a loner.

Well he was about to die.
In an interview it was stated taht he was taken slave by the Molten Alliance. That is why he has their gloves.
So he was about to die.
After that he made his attack on Southsun. So yeah. Cutting ties he did in my eye

“As for the flaming gauntlets, remember that Canach is a seasoned combat veteran and an experienced guerilla fighter with a fairly twisted sense of what’s right. When he heard about the Molten Alliance refugees resettling on Southsun Cove, he saw a chance to help other Consortium victims and get even with Noll. But like a good soldier, he wanted to understand the situation in which he was about to involve himself, so he made a point of seeking out one of the Molten Alliance weapons facilities and clearing it. He obtained the gauntlets from that escapade and wears them now as a symbol of his newly adopted (and so far poorly executed) role as a champion of the weak…right before he set out for Southsun Cove to settle things with Noll.”

Yeah… Not a slave, far from that…. And the point was he DID cut ties, but it was a matter or need, not want, he tries to help the people for a reason, a lone wolf wouldn’t go out of their way to do that.

Source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/southsun/Canach-s-Mutation-Radical-Change/first#post2076148

lordkrall.7241:

Kain Francois.4328:

I want Kasmeer to go. She’s too much of a barby doll-ditz. Kinda like a blank slate for anything other than… Bewbs.

Watch the conversations in the latest Lions Arch story instance.

And now she’s even more insufferable.

kylwilson.9137:

lordkrall.7241:

Kain Francois.4328:

I want Kasmeer to go. She’s too much of a barby doll-ditz. Kinda like a blank slate for anything other than… Bewbs.

Watch the conversations in the latest Lions Arch story instance.

And now she’s even more insufferable.

Details, man, details. What makes her so insufferable?

Personally, it’s Taimi I want to fling out of a trebuchet. Kasmeer can stay, she at least doesn’t scream “this is a risky ally”.

kylwilson.9137:

And now she’s even more insufferable.

Quite possible, but at least she gets more than “bewbs”.

Durzlla.6295:

“As for the flaming gauntlets, remember that Canach is a seasoned combat veteran and an experienced guerilla fighter with a fairly twisted sense of what’s right. When he heard about the Molten Alliance refugees resettling on Southsun Cove, he saw a chance to help other Consortium victims and get even with Noll. But like a good soldier, he wanted to understand the situation in which he was about to involve himself, so he made a point of seeking out one of the Molten Alliance weapons facilities and clearing it. He obtained the gauntlets from that escapade and wears them now as a symbol of his newly adopted (and so far poorly executed) role as a champion of the weak…right before he set out for Southsun Cove to settle things with Noll.”

Yeah… Not a slave, far from that…. And the point was he DID cut ties, but it was a matter or need, not want, he tries to help the people for a reason, a lone wolf wouldn’t go out of their way to do that.

Source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/southsun/Canach-s-Mutation-Radical-Change/first#post2076148

Oh, my mistake then. I thought he was taken captured, then freed and then went guerilla. Somehow i got that wrong in my head there ^^"

The original Destiny’s Edge had 2 asura (Snaff and Zojja), why can’t there be 2 humans?

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

kylwilson.9137:

lordkrall.7241:

Kain Francois.4328:

I want Kasmeer to go. She’s too much of a barby doll-ditz. Kinda like a blank slate for anything other than… Bewbs.

Watch the conversations in the latest Lions Arch story instance.

And now she’s even more insufferable.

Details, man, details. What makes her so insufferable?

Personally, it’s Taimi I want to fling out of a trebuchet. Kasmeer can stay, she at least doesn’t scream “this is a risky ally”.

she screams “manic comic relief” to me :P

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

kylwilson.9137:

lordkrall.7241:

Kain Francois.4328:

I want Kasmeer to go. She’s too much of a barby doll-ditz. Kinda like a blank slate for anything other than… Bewbs.

Watch the conversations in the latest Lions Arch story instance.

And now she’s even more insufferable.

Details, man, details. What makes her so insufferable?

Personally, it’s Taimi I want to fling out of a trebuchet. Kasmeer can stay, she at least doesn’t scream “this is a risky ally”.

White girl with daddy issues. It’s just so…

O.C.

And this is not a complaint about the writing, if I was a writer I’d be glad that people have differing views on certain characters. This is in fact the best storytelling I’ve experienced in the game so far. Gives me that old nostalgic Guild Wars 1 feeling.

Kasmeer is just so contrived in terms of her personality.

EDIT: A-net should take a few pointers from the writers of Funcom’s ‘The Secret World’. That is some impressive and engaging stuff.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

kylwilson.9137:

lordkrall.7241:

Kain Francois.4328:

I want Kasmeer to go. She’s too much of a barby doll-ditz. Kinda like a blank slate for anything other than… Bewbs.

Watch the conversations in the latest Lions Arch story instance.

And now she’s even more insufferable.

Details, man, details. What makes her so insufferable?

Personally, it’s Taimi I want to fling out of a trebuchet. Kasmeer can stay, she at least doesn’t scream “this is a risky ally”.

Taimi is easily my favorite addition to the team, if I had to pick someone to fire out of a trebuchet it’d be Broham. He just crawls under my skin…

kylwilson.9137:

White girl with daddy issues. It’s just so…

O.C.

And this is not a complaint about the writing, if I was a writer I’d be glad that people have differing views on certain characters.

Kasmeer is just so contrived in terms of personality.

Wait, so a female who’s father is thrown in prison while trying to protect his family, and then dies there, now constitutes as a means for having “daddy issues?”
That term seriously got wrapped beyond anything sane, huh..?

Kasmeer as a character is overall fine, though looking at that story, she does suffer from a serious issue that almost every character in Guild Wars 2 must apparently have to deal with; a tragic backstory.
Don’t believe me? Look up each member of Destiny’s Edge, the supporting cast of the Personal Story, and then each of the new iconic characters that have been introduced with the Living World. Most, if not all, of the characters in those three groups seems to have some past demon that haunts them with someone important to them dying being the most predominant one.

If we do happen to get a sylvari iconic, which I’m hoping for since I like sylvari, they’ll have a dead friend/lover/“sibling”/etc. that’ll give them a reason to do good. If not, then the story will very well take them into that direction.

kylwilson.9137:

White girl with daddy issues. It’s just so…

O.C.

My friend, everyone has daddy issues and mommy issues. Everyone. Everyone does in writing, because frankly if they were perfectly in tune with their family it wouldn’t be interesting. Heck, even the family I can think of off the top of my hand where there weren’t “daddy and mommy issues” still had screwed up relationships between parents and son(s).

Boiling her character down to “white girl with daddy issues” is boiling Gwen down to “white girl with mommy issues”. It does a massive disservice to what’s actually in the character.

And this is not a complaint about the writing, if I was a writer I’d be glad that people have differing views on certain characters. This is in fact the best storytelling I’ve experienced in the game so far. Gives me that old nostalgic Guild Wars 1 feeling.

It’s exactly how I felt doing epilogues in the four storylines of GW1. Watching the characters interact with each other and you’re there to witness it and sometimes pick up on things. Cynn/Mhenlo were the most amusing, actually.

Kasmeer is just so contrived in terms of her personality.

It’s fiction, everything is contrived to the jaded people like us who know the cliches, tropes, and standard subversions of either. For all people like to throw A Song of Fire and Ice around as great writing, that story is contrived to make life difficult for anyone actually living there, if not just plain fatal for so much as an off comment someone overheard.

The problem is, we know it’s fiction, so we know it has to have been crafted by someone. So it automatically comes off as “contrived” because deep down our brains are picking for that loose thread to make it all look fake. It’s going to see Penn and Teller and knowing they’re not really doing half the illusions and tricks we see, but we deal with it anyway. It’s going to a movie with friends and laughing, cheering, enjoying it, and three steps out the door going “that movie was crap, why did I have a good time?”.

EDIT: A-net should take a few pointers from the writers of Funcom’s ‘The Secret World’. That is some impressive and engaging stuff.

Personally, I’d tell them to send someone to Maine and risk sanity to try to pick Stephen King’s brain for how to do writing on a time budget and still have it turn out less like crap.

BrunoBRS.5178:

he was contracted to lead the expedition. he was doing a job. he wasn’t part of a group as much as he was someone that needs to pay bills.

but he went rogue after things went haywire, and cut connections with everything and everyone, which is a very lone wolf thing to do.

He didn’t go rogue ever, technically speaking.

When the karka got riled up, he suggested to the involved parties to lay low. This is not so much an attribute of a lone wolf, but a guilty party. He didn’t cut ties to the Consortium then, except his suggested no-contact to refrain suspicion being placed on him.

When he was found out, he went into custody and admitted the Consortium’s involvement and his own. This in turn upset the Consortium and they tried to assassinate him. This forced him to flee on his own.

He is no lone wolf. He was just someone out to not die.

kylwilson.9137:

White girl with daddy issues. It’s just so…

Wow. Way to generalize. Want to generalize? Okay!

Braham: Teenager with mommy (and girlfriend) issues.
Rox: Fangurling over the Stone Warband.
Marjory: 1920s detective gone asian lesbian.
Taimi: Tween with idol issues.

Yeah, they don’t feel all that interesting now, do they?

Kasmeer is more than some “white girl with daddy issues”. She’s a noble who lost all her fortune because of an idiot brother, and her father paid the price with his life and the whole family’s fortune so that her brother could live.

There’s no daddy issues there. She’s grieving over dead family on the anniversary of her father’s death. She may have brother issues, but not “daddy issues.”

TriggerSad.2597:

Kasmeer as a character is overall fine, though looking at that story, she does suffer from a serious issue that almost every character in Guild Wars 2 must apparently have to deal with; a tragic backstory.

Tragic backstories is an easy and popular tool by writers in order to give a character motivation. If a person had a good life all their life, then they wouldn’t really have any motivation would they?

It’s not even really a case of storytelling, but life in general – which is why it goes into storytelling so much. People without a reason to get up and be motivated just aren’t going to get up and do something fantastic. There’s really two general scenarios to give a character to get them into a good plot:
1) You give them some motivation in their background. Most cases can be classified as “tragic” because tragedy is the most motivating – for both doing good or bad. The only alternative would be to give the person a normal life and they meet someone who becomes their hero (which seems to be what Taimi’s going to be – with Scarlet being a “fallen idol” and Braham replacing her).
2) Force the character into the plot. A character, for no reason of their own, is forced into going with the flow (so to speak) and have to choice in the matter.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

It’s not even really a case of storytelling, but life in general – which is why it goes into storytelling so much. People without a reason to get up and be motivated just aren’t going to get up and do something fantastic. There’s really two general scenarios to give a character to get them into a good plot:
1) You give them some motivation in their background. Most cases can be classified as “tragic” because tragedy is the most motivating – for both doing good or bad. The only alternative would be to give the person a normal life and they meet someone who becomes their hero (which seems to be what Taimi’s going to be – with Scarlet being a “fallen idol” and Braham replacing her).
2) Force the character into the plot. A character, for no reason of their own, is forced into going with the flow (so to speak) and have to choice in the matter.

There’s one other trigger: The sense you can do more for the world and others by not standing by and doing nothing when you think you can fix it. It’s the thing which drives inventors who develop things purely to help others. (See: Norman Borlaug)

People can do extraordinary things without being subjected to complete misery themselves. They may need to be moved to action, but it is through the suffering of others rather than their own troubles.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

It’s not even really a case of storytelling, but life in general – which is why it goes into storytelling so much. People without a reason to get up and be motivated just aren’t going to get up and do something fantastic. There’s really two general scenarios to give a character to get them into a good plot:
1) You give them some motivation in their background. Most cases can be classified as “tragic” because tragedy is the most motivating – for both doing good or bad. The only alternative would be to give the person a normal life and they meet someone who becomes their hero (which seems to be what Taimi’s going to be – with Scarlet being a “fallen idol” and Braham replacing her).
2) Force the character into the plot. A character, for no reason of their own, is forced into going with the flow (so to speak) and have to choice in the matter.

There’s one other trigger: The sense you can do more for the world and others by not standing by and doing nothing when you think you can fix it. It’s the thing which drives inventors who develop things purely to help others. (See: Norman Borlaug)

People can do extraordinary things without being subjected to complete misery themselves. They may need to be moved to action, but it is through the suffering of others rather than their own troubles.

Can’t tell if an attempt to pun-up my name…
Regardless I share the same feelings as you.
I like helping others. I try my best to make sure that everyone else around me is as happy as they can possibly be. My life has been relatively dull, though. Some people I know may have died, and one may have been murdered, but I would have been the same wanna-be good guy regardless of these facts. My parents are alive and happily married to one another, my brother is sitting in his Statistics course waiting for me to respond to a text he just sent me, and none of my friends are starving on the streets/gone off the deep end. There has been no tragedy in my life to justify why I still want to help others.

Why then, is it that this game needs a someone to have some sort of sob story in order to be a hero? Why can’t a hero in this game have a happy life, and use that as motivation to keep it happy? I sorry, but when I see a new character walking into the limelight with some sort of sad past, I don’t feel much sympathy for them. At least not anymore.

I’m placing my bet on Canach. He’s already developed, and it seems too late in this season to introduce another main character so soon after Taimi in such a random way. I think A-Net will use the “We don’t like it, but we need him” card for when Lion’s Arch is attacked and the guard or our team needs his expertise to save the day. Then he’ll help, escape in the midst of it, and show up in times of need again, or possibly be pardoned.

TriggerSad.2597:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

It’s not even really a case of storytelling, but life in general – which is why it goes into storytelling so much. People without a reason to get up and be motivated just aren’t going to get up and do something fantastic. There’s really two general scenarios to give a character to get them into a good plot:
1) You give them some motivation in their background. Most cases can be classified as “tragic” because tragedy is the most motivating – for both doing good or bad. The only alternative would be to give the person a normal life and they meet someone who becomes their hero (which seems to be what Taimi’s going to be – with Scarlet being a “fallen idol” and Braham replacing her).
2) Force the character into the plot. A character, for no reason of their own, is forced into going with the flow (so to speak) and have to choice in the matter.

There’s one other trigger: The sense you can do more for the world and others by not standing by and doing nothing when you think you can fix it. It’s the thing which drives inventors who develop things purely to help others. (See: Norman Borlaug)

People can do extraordinary things without being subjected to complete misery themselves. They may need to be moved to action, but it is through the suffering of others rather than their own troubles.

Can’t tell if an attempt to pun-up my name…
Regardless I share the same feelings as you.
I like helping others. I try my best to make sure that everyone else around me is as happy as they can possibly be. My life has been relatively dull, though. Some people I know may have died, and one may have been murdered, but I would have been the same wanna-be good guy regardless of these facts. My parents are alive and happily married to one another, my brother is sitting in his Statistics course waiting for me to respond to a text he just sent me, and none of my friends are starving on the streets/gone off the deep end. There has been no tragedy in my life to justify why I still want to help others.

Why then, is it that this game needs a someone to have some sort of sob story in order to be a hero? Why can’t a hero in this game have a happy life, and use that as motivation to keep it happy? I sorry, but when I see a new character walking into the limelight with some sort of sad past, I don’t feel much sympathy for them. At least not anymore.

Most people aren’t white knight goody goodies though, don’t get me wrong there are ABSOLUTELY those people out there (such as yourself), but by and large it’s more of a “why should I?” Sorts thing.

That being said I’d absolutely say a good way to get a character in there is for them to be a visionary of sorts, they want to “fix” something and they have the vision on how to do so and have their goal set on how they will achieve the power to do so.

That or the One the person you quoted said (I’m on my phone very hard to check their name >.<), but those kinda are very similar…

I do agree though, there should be less tragic back stories, because let’s face it, that’s a good driving tool for people to get in there and do stuff, but it’s not THAT common, certainly not a lot more common than just being a white knight (granted it would be more common, just not by a lot), but so would greed, or the whole “gotta make a living somehow” sorta thinking would get some people in there too.

Just because they’re doing heroic deeds doesn’t mean it’s because they’re a hero, they might just be getting a paycheck big enough to think it’s worth it.

I’d like to see Canach back again, but ANet really had a missed opportunity to get him back in the story by having Marjory go visit him in prison to learn more about the toxic spores, since Canach used a similar system to enrage the wildlife of Southsun Cove.

Why does DE2 need to be a representative and dungeon-group-sized? No reason they couldn’t be casual-guild-sized.

CureForLiving.5360:

Why does DE2 need to be a representative and dungeon-group-sized? No reason they couldn’t be casual-guild-sized.

I’ll have to agree with this. The only thing keeping the group together at the moment is Scarlet. Once she is gone, they will probably separate into their groups and part ways again. Jory and Kasmeer back to DR, Rox and Braham back to BC and Hoelbrak, Taimi back to Rata Sum.

If they go with the casual guild approach, they can have a large ensemble of characters, and they will be able to better pick and choose which characters best match the LS storyline at the time.