Guild Wars 2

With the new part of the story just released, I have seriously started to question the Living Story and the most powerful character in the world-“you” the player character.
Lets get a couple of issues out of the way before I begin.
I do know that the game mechanics and what they can do with such a tight schedule is limited and I accept that.
I also know that the reason we are made central in this story, like most if not all games in general is to give you a sense of accomplishment and worth. This I accept and understand too.

Ok, now to my issue. “You” have way too much power. In fact so much power that it is taking away any believability factor in the story. Its just got to ridicilous levels.
Anet have said time and time again that they want to create a Living world, one that you can feel part of as it evolves. Right now, I feel the world is only evolving if my Player Character(PC) gets involved.
My PC seems to be involved in everything, a lot of it has no relevance at all to who you are supposed to be according to the story.
Nearly every single fantastical event that occurs in the world, not only do I find my self present at, but also sorting out the problems relating to them. I have gone from being the Pact commander, to a dogsbody.
In this episode of mostly nonsence, I find myself trying to uncover a devious and just seemingly pulled out of a hat plot invlolving Krytan Politics.

My character is a Charr and dosent give a kitten about that. Lets overlook the race specific issue for a moment and look at what we have to do.
Somehow and for some reason its up to us to slove the queens problems. Does she not have her own advisors and royal council? Why us? Why would she not use her own staff? Not only is it a bizzare turn of events, its an event that jars you out of the story once again. Its a seriously pointless filer.

After we sort that out, we then have to contend with another problem in the form of asuran politcs with our band of “heros” that are pretty useless when you look at it.
And it gets better. After getting everyone to agree in the last LS episode on a meeting, we then have to convince them all again. A few quick words and they all half hearted give in . Yaaaa for us!

A battle ensues, everyone helps at first. The dragon shows up and you..yes you alone are left to fight the dragon. Seriously? Thats what irked me most. All of a sudden our PC is standing toe to toe single handed(im my case single pawed) fighting a dragon.
The battle of Claw island was a chapter I felt that gave you a scale of what it was like to fight a dragon. Working with lots more troops and weapons. I think its gone too far now.
There is suspending belief, and then there is story writing and mechanics so bad that they pull you out of the world.
The two best parts IMO, where the short graphic video from the pale tree(that had more story potential than all the previous fluff), and the fact the Charr present saluted the imperator like you would expect Charr to do.That simple act, felt like a living story. One that I was part of, not just creating so I could get from A to B with no care whatsoever.

I really want to enjoy the story. I have put in over 3000 hours into this game. I only stay in the game for the roleplay, and I buy from the gem store to show my support on a regular basis. I am just getting more and more frustrated and bored at these “story” updates that do nothing but pull me further away from the world. I hate this, as I belive there are fantastic moments and this game has a lot of potential.

Do you feel the same? Do you think I am being too harsh or overly critical, or do you find that the story is actually causing you to feel seperate from the world we are supposed to living in?

Morning

This game has so much free content that we end up losing ourselves.

Im on my 9ª (80)character, and i was just like you on my early gaming.
s
If you really say your a roleplay player, then u have (as i did) read all of possible dialogues on zhaitan story and LS so far.

Its actually pretty good, and trehearne is actually interesting, and scarlet is a nice character.

The REAL Anet problem is that they lack mechanics to actually catch our interest on thing that matter, so we end up seeing only 10% of the true history after defeating zhaitan.

Its actually good, we just miss the stuff that is there cause of bad mechanics, bugs, and no “catch method” for our attention.

LS is very good so far, and zhaitan story IS very good as well…..but i had to defeat him 7 times to actually see some lost dialogues, some lost descriptions and actually pay attention to litlle and hide details.

Hope you find what i did.

@OP, As far as the party thing, I’m pretty sure you’re really only there to support Kasmeer. She asked for your help, not Anise/Queen, and Anise asked Kasmeer (due to Kasmeers lie detector ability), at least thats how I read it when I did it yesterday. We’re there to help a friend (though we wind up doing most of the work, but thats due to game mechanics I think. ie gives us something to do instead of just watch a cutscene).

in no way was this player character soloing blightghast the plaguebringer
you were trapped in a room with its minions, it was “outside the garrison”
you simply deterred it..
as for the player character being too all over the place..
see braveheart
heroic figure respected by many, might as well be the peoples champion.. but look what happened in the end.. {in contrast, george washington became president}
as for some missions not suiting a player character, omit it from your fan fiction  /shrug

The Shadow of the Dragon Fight didn’t seem to be so much the PC solo’ing the Dragon, as driving it off single-handedly. We gave it a bloody nose. We didn’t kill it. The dialogue from various NPCs makes that perfectly clear after the fact.

That said, given a reasonable progression of events, our characters started as no-ones, joined an Order, gained experience battling Dragon Minions and even -champions- and become a Commander of the Pact. By the time we get to the Pale Tree, I think it’s reasonable to say we have enough experience, strength, intellect, and have been equipped well enough, to give a Champion a bloody nose. I’ll say it again.

We are the Commander of the Pact.

We’re no longer fresh out of the fahrar. We’re no longer sauntering out of Divinity’s Reach, we’re no longer trying to create a legend for ourselves (we’ve already made one and are now just enhancing it), we’re no longer sitting in Rata Sum with our Krewe, and we’re no longer fresh out of the Pod at the Grove. By this point in time, our characters have ascended to the point where they are comparable to Legendary figures like Logan, Rytlock, Caithe, Zojja, and Eir. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn one of -them- gave a dragon a bloody nose in a desperate struggle. It shouldn’t be a surprise that our characters can either.

As far as the world leader nonsense goes, I felt that their viewpoints were all valid concerns for them. It’s a difficult choice we’re presenting them with. “Protect your homes and lose them in the future, or fight a war and possibly have no homes to come back to.” It shouldn’t be a surprise they need convincing, nor should it be a surprise that the Commander of the Pact who has been neck-deep in dragon activity should be the one to tell them and convince them.

All you did was give the dragon a poke in the eye. You certainly didn’t kill it.

Also it only took 5 people (destiny’s edge) to almost kill an elder dragon, why is it so unbelievable that 1 person can’t take on a small time minion of an elder dragon?

cheshirefox.7026:

in no way was this player character soloing blightghast the plaguebringer
you were trapped in a room with its minions, it was “outside the garrison”
you simply deterred it..
as for the player character being too all over the place..
see braveheart
heroic figure respected by many, might as well be the peoples champion.. but look what happened in the end.. {in contrast, george washington became president}
as for some missions not suiting a player character, omit it from your fan fiction  /shrug

I apologise but I really dont know what you are trying to say to me in this instance. I never claimed that the Player took on the dragon minion at Claw island solo. I urge you to re-read what I posted. As for the remarks about a film and George Washington….I am confused to what this means.

As for a reply to the rest of the comments,
I never said that we killed the dragon after the world summit, I said we took it on solo. I know we are the commander of the pact, but single handedly taking on dragon champions is a bit much. However there are plenty who disagree with this viewpoint and I am cool with that. Its only my humble opinion.
And to correct my post, in hindsight we were at the meeting in DR with kasmeer to “help” her as has been pointed out. It still seems rather silly that someone such as the “Pact commander” would be inlvoved in that course of action though.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

did the game really go from “they dont give the player enough credit, attention, influence, power” etc etc to, “Woah now why do we have so much power/influence” like are you guys ever going to be happy?

AzureShiron.7658:

did the game really go from “they dont give the player enough credit, attention, influence, power” etc etc to, “Woah now why do we have so much power/influence” like are you guys ever going to be happy?

Heres a wild guess… it is not the same people complaining.

Honestly I loved this chapter, I got emotionally into it. I really felt like I needed to protect Taimi and it seemed natural for me to go talk to the Pale Tree (my mother, since I am sylvari) and not just leave. Maybe it is because I play as sylvari, but I could feel the impact of the Pale Tree getting hurt. I may actually have been more imersed than most previous story parts.

Also I would be suprised if no one below the champer was trying to attack the champion too, maybe to lesser effect, but thats what I think.

Also remember that we didn’t fight off the dragon -entirely- by ourselves. If you’re watching, whenever the dragon becomes vulnerable, it’s because it sticks its head in between two branches, and a lot of smaller branches and vines quickly go around to trap it’s head there while we whack away at it. So whether it’s the Pale Tree herself, or some ‘floramancers’ down below watching and helping, there is still enough little bit of help to let us drive it off.

It’s feels good being powerful. As we cannot feel it while we fight at least we can feel it in the dialogues.

scatach.8320:

..I am confused to what this means.

it’s called an analogy. . .

scatach.8320:

With the new part of the story just released, I have seriously started to question the Living Story and the most powerful character in the world-“you” the player character.
Lets get a couple of issues out of the way before I begin.
I do know that the game mechanics and what they can do with such a tight schedule is limited and I accept that.
I also know that the reason we are made central in this story, like most if not all games in general is to give you a sense of accomplishment and worth. This I accept and understand too.

Ok, now to my issue. “You” have way too much power. In fact so much power that it is taking away any believability factor in the story. Its just got to ridicilous levels.
Anet have said time and time again that they want to create a Living world, one that you can feel part of as it evolves. Right now, I feel the world is only evolving if my Player Character(PC) gets involved.
My PC seems to be involved in everything, a lot of it has no relevance at all to who you are supposed to be according to the story.
Nearly every single fantastical event that occurs in the world, not only do I find my self present at, but also sorting out the problems relating to them. I have gone from being the Pact commander, to a dogsbody.
In this episode of mostly nonsence, I find myself trying to uncover a devious and just seemingly pulled out of a hat plot invlolving Krytan Politics.

My character is a Charr and dosent give a kitten about that. Lets overlook the race specific issue for a moment and look at what we have to do.
Somehow and for some reason its up to us to slove the queens problems. Does she not have her own advisors and royal council? Why us? Why would she not use her own staff? Not only is it a bizzare turn of events, its an event that jars you out of the story once again. Its a seriously pointless filer.

After we sort that out, we then have to contend with another problem in the form of asuran politcs with our band of “heros” that are pretty useless when you look at it.
And it gets better. After getting everyone to agree in the last LS episode on a meeting, we then have to convince them all again. A few quick words and they all half hearted give in . Yaaaa for us!

A battle ensues, everyone helps at first. The dragon shows up and you..yes you alone are left to fight the dragon. Seriously? Thats what irked me most. All of a sudden our PC is standing toe to toe single handed(im my case single pawed) fighting a dragon.
The battle of Claw island was a chapter I felt that gave you a scale of what it was like to fight a dragon. Working with lots more troops and weapons. I think its gone too far now.
There is suspending belief, and then there is story writing and mechanics so bad that they pull you out of the world.
The two best parts IMO, where the short graphic video from the pale tree(that had more story potential than all the previous fluff), and the fact the Charr present saluted the imperator like you would expect Charr to do.That simple act, felt like a living story. One that I was part of, not just creating so I could get from A to B with no care whatsoever.

I really want to enjoy the story. I have put in over 3000 hours into this game. I only stay in the game for the roleplay, and I buy from the gem store to show my support on a regular basis. I am just getting more and more frustrated and bored at these “story” updates that do nothing but pull me further away from the world. I hate this, as I belive there are fantastic moments and this game has a lot of potential.

Do you feel the same? Do you think I am being too harsh or overly critical, or do you find that the story is actually causing you to feel seperate from the world we are supposed to living in?

You do know how this kind of stuff works right? when it comes to politics you never get yourself, anyone affiliated with you, or anyone you know to start looking in to things like this. the countess herself said it best shes some one closely connected to the queen, so her word and anyone she orders to look in to it and say that these are just roomers are going to be taken with a grain of salt. Also, my character is a charr as well and he very much cares about the goings on in kryta, if the queen is lost there goes the treaty with the charr, if the queen is lost we lose some one who is more willing to work with us and the other races then the ministry, we lose a lot if we dont help her out.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

All you did was give the dragon a poke in the eye. You certainly didn’t kill it.

Also it only took 5 people (destiny’s edge) to almost kill an elder dragon, why is it so unbelievable that 1 person can’t take on a small time minion of an elder dragon?

No wanting to sound like an a hole. But it was 6 people, Glint(a dragon champion) and a special weapon(s) that almost killed a elder dragon. Not 5 people.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

All you did was give the dragon a poke in the eye. You certainly didn’t kill it.

Also it only took 5 people (destiny’s edge) to almost kill an elder dragon, why is it so unbelievable that 1 person can’t take on a small time minion of an elder dragon?

It takes many thousands of people to kill an Elder Dragon.
Destiny’s edge hadn’t any chance to defeat Kralkatorrik because they forget that an Elder Dragon have armies of many thousands minions. Also there’s a big difference between kill an Elder Dragon and confuse an Elder Dragon. Snaff only confuse Kralkatorrik by sending him love thoughts.

AzureShiron.7658:

did the game really go from “they dont give the player enough credit, attention, influence, power” etc etc to, “Woah now why do we have so much power/influence” like are you guys ever going to be happy?

Yes, but you forget a thing. Some players want to be the UBER WORLD HERO SAVIOR OF TYRIA. But some other people want to feel that they aren’t alone, that their character is one of many others who do their duty to save Tyrian races from their fate, that the world don’t revolve around millions of “Me the hero” in different realities.

In a MMORPG, the second is more logical. We ARE many ones. But, the flaw during the season 1 is that they don’t delivered any valuable information. It was only “do that, make this” and at the end of each episode Scarlet telling us that “I don’t care, do whatever you want, I’m already prepared to it and don’t give a kitten of what you have done”.

I’m a roleplayer too. What I’m wanting is that our characters aren’t main characters but they give us informations. What I fear the most is the game ending like WoW, where newbie roleplayers do the quests and think they’re the world savior with cheat weapons, cheat spells, cheat armors.

I loved the Dry Top and Iron Marches parts because it was mass content.
Dry Top was like “New area ! Adventurers, explorers, and treasure hunters, come here”.
Iron Marches was like “Mordrem invasion ! Mercenaries, vigils, and charrs soldiers, come defend our lands from these draconic minions !”

Linked hollywoodian scripted events is what I want ! It’s what will make us feel that we’re an “army” of people doing is duty to help our mates, our friends, our people.

I loved Lion’s Arch battle for this reason and want that they go more in this way.

What I would love the most is a mix with WvW maps but PvE. A map where we have to conquer Mordrem settlements, defend our forts. With events of Mordrem troups trying to conquer small camps and a huge Mordrem train trying to conquer forts with their own NPC CM, a legendary Mordrem leading the troups on each of our fortress that we have to kill to shatter Mordrem offensive. Players CM having to coordinate the war between defending and conquering, players scouts looking for Mordrem troups movement acting as CM eyes and ears.

To answer the original question, I would give an example.

Omadd’s machine.
If all the NPC (or half of them) had had the vision too, I had better accepted it. Here we are “The Chosen one who had the vision”. Center of the World Syndrom !

I tend to prefer if our involvement in the story stand “around/with” but not “central”. In S1 they put us “around/out” and now “central”. The better way in my opinion in a MMORPG is the “around/with” way.

Roleplayers side, how can we consider that 500 people are “the one” ? So, roleplayers side, there are an unnamed unraced character second to command in the Pact, member of an unknown order, who fall in Omadd’s machine and see what Scarlet vision was. It’s a big mistake for Tyria lore.

@OP:
I don’t really think so. The story so far has been perfectly believable to me. Do you feel you (we) are the center of everything? Maybe that’s because you don’t see all the stuff that is going on everywhere else in the meantime. We are seeing our story, but there are tons of other stories going on without us even thinking about it. Rytlock is maybe fighting for his life somewhere in the mists by now. There can be something really epic happening in the Dominion of Winds, but we don’t see it.
If those cool things and great accomplishments in the personal (and living) story happened to anyone else but you (maybe an NPC), would that be believable to you? Yes, for example, we became surprisingly quickly a high-ranking member of the pact, but Trahearne became its commander just as quickly.
If you look at things from just one, YOUR perspective, it might feel as you have a lot of power. In fact you don’t. Look around, there are more things than just you.

The breadth of the story is so wide that the writing is thinly stretched and offers no depth. When we are in Dry Top however the story is compact. If Tiami does something there then we have to follow, there’s nothing else we want to do and nowhere else to go. Fine. As soon as we start being a world dignitary and stopping off at Anise’s party, finding gifts from the gods for Rytlock as we pass by, and so on, it all becomes ridiculous. We could be doing a million different things, we want to be doing a million different things, but instead we just follow the script.

If our character did not have so much power and respect we would not have so many things that we’re not doing (even though we should be). We would not have so many people that should be telling us things but currently are not.