Guild Wars 2

So I feel like that a big problem with the LS is the character development. We don’t see too much of it so players don’t feel very connected to the LS characters (in some cases). Another big problem I find is that the LS is often lacking connected between the chapters besides the scarlet was behind it all.

So what are you favorite characters so far? Would you like to see them make an appearance again?

First- My favorite good characters 1 being favorite

1. Canach- The chaotic good guy. He had the right intentions, but always ended badly for him. He walked the line (sometimes crossed) of what is good and what is bad, often for the greater good. He makes the players question what is to be sacrificed for the greater good. Lives? Property? Environment? I’d love to see him make appearences where he is doing things for the greater good, but the players don’t have to get involved with him. Like canach is attempting to blow up a village with a toxic spore, however there are innocents trapped inside that will be killed in the blast. Have players interact with that some how.

2. Majory- I like her. Her and kasmeer make for a pretty good team. I’d like to see this duo perhaps more on the investigative side instead of the warrior side. Figuring out why, how to fix it, etc. Like the current LS where she is charging in there with a small squad of troops to take out the tower with the anti toxin. That seems awfully hard thing to do and require very skilled combatant. It just seems out of place with what little we know about it and so far our only solid interaction with her has been more on the investigative side. I think if she and kasmeer were to go into the frontlines to fight, they should be accompanied by another character. Kiel, braham, rox, etc.

3. Kiel- I feel like she should be on the more battlefield/frontlines than she currently is. The most fun interaction I had with her was during the southsun assault. After that she just stood on the sidelines. She should be the mentor that we know from the LS. One that is always helping you in battles, not afraid to charge in there (but more knight like. Not norn/battlecrazed like). She should be leading forces on the field in kessex. She should be patroling with a squadran taking out toxic forces and organizing a defense/offense. She should be the type of character that will sacrifice herself/hold off enemies while the players do objectives and still come out alive. I would love to see you guys introduce a small team of handpicked lionguards to be her personal guard. 3-4 other lionguards with great personalities that make them seem like a team. They go into hostile instanecs with the players and progress through it along the sidelines. Help them take out enemies. An example could have been while majory, kasmeer, and the palyer were in the main spawn room kiel and her team could have been doing some kind of epic hold off against toxic reinforcements. She is also lawful good, so be sure to keep that in mind.

4. Barham/Rox- I feel like you started out with these characters with serious intentions, now they have devolved into comedic relief. They fight, make a snappy/funny statement, then are quiet again. You gave us this backstory than it is hardly ever mentioned again. Rox trying to join rytlocks legion, braham and his troubles at home (mother, the leader of the norns whitebear, etc).

Bad characters- 1 being favorite

1. Subdirector null. He does bad, but is inside the law. I got angry at him because of this. I felt more inclined to find ways to undermine him. A little more depth to the character and the consortium in general and they can be very interesting lawful evil.

2. Aetherblades- This was the only alliance that would make sense. Inquest and pirates. Pirates most likely do anything if the pay is right. Inquest willing to hire them to help take out their plans. Even if their weapons/technology felt very out of place, it is the only alliance that made the most sense to me.

3. Scarlet- I always question her. Everyone says she is more than just crazy. I have to believe them. I wish they would reveal more about her since were almost a year into the LS and she has been blamed for everything. So far she just seems crazy, but I’m holding her in the top three because she is always the center for questions and debate.

Ok forum, your team! I’d love to hear what you guys think of the current LS crew.

I like Kiel, she’s the Rurik I’ve wanted. She does what she can, sometimes needs our help, and seems grateful for it when we give it.

Kiel’s not afraid to do what she has to to get the job done. She was a hardass with Dessa, but only as much as she needed to be. I like her.

Braham and Rox (and Frostbite). They’re just a fun party. I enjoy their banter.

I’m generally entirely neutral about the living story characters. As you said, there’s little to no character development, and it’s made worse by the fact that we aren’t given any real opportunity to foster ongoing, significant relationships between our characters and the NPCs.

If you’re considering personal story characters that have also appeared in the living story, I would say my favorite characters have been Logan, Rytlock, Anise, and Faren. Logan and Rytlock are the only two characters in Destiny’s Edge that seem to have any appreciable personality and are both pretty likeable. Faren makes for some good comic relief, and he generally makes the scenes he’s in more fun. His voiceactor’s delivery of “Husband…!?” during the Queen’s Jubilee when he was hitting on the married woman was pretty great. As for Anise, they’ve done a good job of making her a mysterious character while showing off both her manipulative seductress side as well as her stone cold, all business Leader of the Shining Blade side.

Characters I love:

1 – Canach
I love him. Really, he is my favourite character on the LS and is in my game-wide top 3. I like how he was a villain, but not really evil. He was being hunt like an animal by the Consortium, experimenting hunger, thirst, sleep deprivation and loneliness, I would be surprised if a person going through this kind of situation didn’t start throwing Karka at people. We don’t know nearly as much about him as I want to, but I like his personality for what we have seen until now. I seriously hope that the Consortium doesn’t end up killing him while he is in jail. He has a lot of potential and I would like to see him joining Braham, Rox, Kas and Jory, as one of the good guys. The snarky comments would be glorious.

2 – Rox and Braham
After good ol’ Tibs, I didn’t thought I would like another charr that much (I can’t stand most charr and asura npcs). At first, I was a bit concerned about her face (her eyes used to give me the creeps), but her personality is well-developed and she is funny.
At first, I didn’t like Braham. Eir is one of my favourite characters, and I hate the way he treats her (the nerve!). I really hope they will get closer to each other in the future. Anyway, I really thought Braham was an annoying brat at first, but as he interacted with the other characters, I started to like him. He is a really nice guy (and Otillia can go die in a hole), a kind giant like most norns. I can see that he has a huge heart.
The way Rox and Braham interact with each other always makes me smile. These two are best buddies for life, and I couldn’t ask for anything different.

3 – Marjory
Aside for that childish fart joke, Marjory is a very interesting character. She is cunning, smart and overall fun to be with. She looks great, too. Her hair is my favourite hairdo in the game (my canthan wears it proudly), her back story is interesting and I like how she tries to look cool but desperately yells for Kasmeer when we are inside the tower. Her personality could use more development, but I believe that she has a lot of potential.

Characters I dislike (first being the worst):

1 – Kiel
She could just drop dead and I would be happy. Really, I want to punch her stupid face. She stole Canach’s credit and then threw him in jail. Yes, she did, just pay attention to what happened: Canach destroyed the copies of the contracts that were stored in LA. He then proceeded to try to destroy the original ones, in Southsun Cove, by throwing Karka on the general direction of the place the contracts are stored. Kiel decides to blow up the contracts because she can’t simply render them invalid, since apparently the most basic human rights either do not exist in Tyria or are not applicable to charr and norn, so contractual obligation is more important than freedom (remember that the Consortium hunts down people that try to run from their contracts). She then blows up the contracts, puts the blame on Canach and is seen as a hero by the settlers.
Now, tell me. What would her plan be good for if Canach didn’t have destroyed the copies first? Yeah, it would be good for nothing. Doesn’t matter, let’s beat up a secondborn and then proceed to throw him in jail.
Then, Theo Ashford is murdered (/cry). Marjory solves the mystery. Mai Trin is thrown in jail (probably next to Canach’s invisible cell), and… Magnus gives Kiel a ship that used to belong to the Pact? Seriously? And she keeps it? Hey, Trahearne, the pirates of LA are stealing your ships!
Also, her attitude. Ugh. She could at least try not to sound like a bully. I do not want all the characters to be nice (note that I love Canach), but she just gets under my skin. I mean, Dessa was not being rude to her, but Kiel had to act like a total jerk to her.

2 – Scarlet
The only reason why she is not number 1 is because I like her voice, which is expressive and very fitting.
I am a roleplayer, and I hate god modding. That should be enough for anyone to understand why I dislike her.

There are other characters that I hate, like Subdirector Noll, but it is for the right reasons. Therefore, I don’t think these characters that I dislike but that I didn’t put in my list are bad. I mean, I want to shove Noll in a blender for what he did to Canach and to the settlers, but I believe that’s how the Devs wanted us to feel about him anyway.

Gabby.3205:

She stole Canach’s credit and then threw him in jail.

To be fair, he was responsible for the deaths of many innocent consortium employees and settlers when he knowingly and intentionally set crazed karka on the settlements. The man is severely disturbed and clearly places no value on the lives of those he was “saving.” I think you’re giving the guy a little bit too much credit! But I agree, he could have been a much more interesting villain if the story was developed better.

Deified.7520:

Bad characters- 1 being favorite

1. Subdirector null. He does bad, but is inside the law. I got angry at him because of this. I felt more inclined to find ways to undermine him. A little more depth to the character and the consortium in general and they can be very interesting lawful evil.

2. Aetherblades- This was the only alliance that would make sense. Inquest and pirates. Pirates most likely do anything if the pay is right. Inquest willing to hire them to help take out their plans. Even if their weapons/technology felt very out of place, it is the only alliance that made the most sense to me.

3. Scarlet- I always question her. Everyone says she is more than just crazy. I have to believe them. I wish they would reveal more about her since were almost a year into the LS and she has been blamed for everything. So far she just seems crazy, but I’m holding her in the top three because she is always the center for questions and debate.

Ok forum, your team! I’d love to hear what you guys think of the current LS crew.

This is hilarious…even for a fanboy, Scarlet scores 3 place even if there are only 2 actual contestants. The Aether Blades shouldn’t have been allowed in the list because they’re not actual characters, AND THEY STILL BEAT SCARLET! HAHAHAHAHA…

Rox and Braham as a duo. Both have ties to the original GW2 and have been fleshed out from the start. In fact, they are the only characters that we were given more than a scrap of background for (I’m excluding the out-of-game blog posts). Also their dialogue is often funny and I like the Norn-Charr adventuring combo.
Secondly, Canach was a decent antihero. We should have been given more options with him.

Hobo-Tron!

Nuf said.

I like Scarlet quite a bit.

Then would be Marjory. I missed her first appearance, I actually barely knew she even existed until months later, but I just adore her now when I met her with these tower updates. Nearly everything she says is awesome especially with that voice of hers. O.o
I think she’s just my type.

Who else are there? Hm… Reading this thread: I have never met Canach. I skipped all the southsun updates, I seem to have not even read about them or checked videos. Skipped Kiel’s updates mostly as well.

I… really never cared very much about Braham and Rox. They just sort of… are there. They do have some fun lines though. I think I may have missed some updates with these as well.

I don’t think I have met that many characters. :/
I tend to skip an update very easily if it seems unreachable and just read about it later. (Currently skipping Fractured)

ThiBash.5634:

Deified.7520:

Bad characters- 1 being favorite

1. Subdirector null. He does bad, but is inside the law. I got angry at him because of this. I felt more inclined to find ways to undermine him. A little more depth to the character and the consortium in general and they can be very interesting lawful evil.

2. Aetherblades- This was the only alliance that would make sense. Inquest and pirates. Pirates most likely do anything if the pay is right. Inquest willing to hire them to help take out their plans. Even if their weapons/technology felt very out of place, it is the only alliance that made the most sense to me.

3. Scarlet- I always question her. Everyone says she is more than just crazy. I have to believe them. I wish they would reveal more about her since were almost a year into the LS and she has been blamed for everything. So far she just seems crazy, but I’m holding her in the top three because she is always the center for questions and debate.

Ok forum, your team! I’d love to hear what you guys think of the current LS crew.

This is hilarious…even for a fanboy, Scarlet scores 3 place even if there are only 2 actual contestants. The Aether Blades shouldn’t have been allowed in the list because they’re not actual characters, AND THEY STILL BEAT SCARLET! HAHAHAHAHA…

Not much of a fan boy. Only reason I put aetherblades up there was because I never liked any of the alliances. Since half the time we were fighting alliances with no solid character that we interacted with a lot I felt the need to include them. I only included Scarlet because she is supposed to have more and till this story arc is over I wont make any final judgement on her. That being said in her current state and what current information we know about her, I do not like her.

Hobotron is my fav! Simply on the virtue of being Hobotron.

After Hobotron, I suppose Kiel and Rox (Rox, not Rox and Frostbite – Frostbite should be eaten) for the typical reasons.

Marjory and Kasmeer, they’re cute together.

Rox and Braham are runners-up.

1. Gnashblade. (The voice actor who does him is awesome. More please.)
2. Hobo Tron
3. Mad King!
4. Rox and Brahm (but their inclusion in the toxic tower was disappointing)
5. Subdirector Noll

Worst

1. Scarlet (worse than a cartoon villain)
2. Kiel.

Honorable & Dishonorable mention:

Lord Faren. Here you have this guy who is basically caricatured as vanity smurf and treated as comic relief (and he’s good for it).

Then he does something incredibly brave and out of character risking certain death… And. NOBODY GIVES A CRAP….. Certainly not Queen Jenna, who he risked his life for, and nobody cares enough to go look for him. That he’s discovered is a happy accident for him. He’s discovered in a torture chamber about to literally get roasted be scarlet, but its an occasion for a “men look dumb in underwear,” visual joke. He’s randomly in the toxic tower as a prisoner again, no backstory.

So you create this joke character who is somewhat memorable, have him do something brave, and then pooop on him instead of giving him a chance to redeem himself. It is a perfect example of the men are disposable meme, which would not be so annoying except that all of the story driving actions, aside from southsun and halloween, have been made by females for the benefit of females.

nekretaal.6485:

So you create this joke character who is somewhat memorable, have him do something brave, and then pooop on him instead of giving him a chance to redeem himself. It is a perfect example of the men are disposable meme, which would not be so annoying except that all of the story driving actions, aside from southsun and halloween, have been made by females for the benefit of females.

Oh, so I’m not the only one to feel this way.

Tough question because there isn’t many to choose from that are any good.

Canach would probably top my list because he is interesting and not as one-dimensional as the others. He’s an Anti-Hero, his intentions are good but the way he goes about it is questionable (actually a bit stupid but I think that had more do with being passionate and over zealous). I really hope he breaks out of jail and starts thinking his plans through. I see him as a man of action. You can’t not feel something for the poor guy, he was trying to do good, his former colleagues tried to assassinate him, and finally he went to jail for his actions…meanwhile Kiel steps in at the end and takes all the glory. poor guy.

Gnashblade again an interesting character. He cares about LionsArch enough to go against his warband leader. He seemed competent when talking to the zephyrite leader (unlike Kiel), he also is an opportunist. I like him, he’s got good and bad traits which makes him feel more like a actual person.

Rox I like the interaction between her and Frostbite. She seems intelligent (unlike that dimwit Braham) so I can respect her judgements. I also like the way she tries to gain acceptance from Rytlock.

ALL the other characters are boring, I did like Majory at the beginning but not so much now. I think her weird conversation with Kasmeer made me respect her less. But her first appearance was great (that bar cutscene)

HoboTron is great for comic relief!

nekretaal.6485:

Honorable & Dishonorable mention:

Lord Faren. Here you have this guy who is basically caricatured as vanity smurf and treated as comic relief (and he’s good for it).

Then he does something incredibly brave and out of character risking certain death… And. NOBODY GIVES A CRAP….. Certainly not Queen Jenna, who he risked his life for, and nobody cares enough to go look for him. That he’s discovered is a happy accident for him. He’s discovered in a torture chamber about to literally get roasted be scarlet, but its an occasion for a “men look dumb in underwear,” visual joke. He’s randomly in the toxic tower as a prisoner again, no backstory.

So you create this joke character who is somewhat memorable, have him do something brave, and then pooop on him instead of giving him a chance to redeem himself. It is a perfect example of the men are disposable meme, which would not be so annoying except that all of the story driving actions, aside from southsun and halloween, have been made by females for the benefit of females.

Waaaaait a minute. I take it that you never played the human noble story line, did you?
Faren is brave, but also clumsy. There was absolutely nothing out of character about him trying to save the queen and failing miserably. He is a good man with a huge heart. In the human noble story line, he puts his life on the line not only for the player, but also for a bunch of random plebeians.
I understand why someone that had never seen Faren before the Living Story would think like you, so don’t take it the wrong way. I am just explaining to you that what you think that is out of character for him actually is not.

I believe it is Anise that says that “we must rescue our VIP guest. Poor Faren, who knew he had courage on him” or something like that. So yeah, they do care. You are sent down there to save him too, not only to defeat Scarlet.
About being a prisoner inside the Tower, we really could have used some backstory on that, but I believe it is safe to assume that he was either trying to be a hero (again) or looking for Kasmeer.

Gabby.3205:

Waaaaait a minute. I take it that you never played the human noble story line, did you?
Faren is brave, but also clumsy.

I did the human story where he helped with the bandits. He may be “brave” sometimes but his silly dialogue ruins it. He’s such a twit. I like it when events change people… He is an upper class snob and talks like it, but when you two storm the bandit hideout and come out alive he’s like “oh jolly good, what a dashing good adventure that was!”

I would prefer it if he was visually shaken and if you talked to him he was more like “I wasn’t prepared for that, so much death…” – then I would like him more. It’s ok to show some weakness.

But they don’t with him, he’s such a pathetic character.

^I understand why you don’t like the character (though he is one of my favourites). Not everybody will like a character, even such a popular one. Again, I was just explaining that he wasn’t doing anything out of character by trying to be the hero. He is just like that, specially if a beautiful woman is involved. Doing the human noble PS doesn’t automatically makes a person like him, just like doing the sylvari PS won’t automatically make someone like Trahearne, and I certainly was not trying to imply that.

Also, about the bandits, it is not like any character on the PS cares for the bad guys that are being killed (maybe one or two of them do, but still, it is unusual).

My favourites in order are:-

1) Kasmeer
2) Marjory
3) Frostbite
4) Braham
5) Rox
6) Kiel

All the others are totally forgettable or totally annoying…

1. Marjory/Kasmeer are my first, as they have that professional feel to them, like they don’t just wander aimlessly and happen to be in the middle of things, but are intentionally sought after for situations that fit them perfectly, meaning they will likely never be in places that don’t make sense for them, thus they always have a valid role in the story.

2. Braham/Rox are next up, as they’re extremely close to being much more like the player characters than any other NPC. They’re adventurers, of sorts, that seem to like wandering and going wherever they’re needed, much like our heroes. Their personalities work well together, much like Marjory and Kasmeer, but unlike M/K’s relationship, they aren’t exactly opposite poles that attract so intimately, feeling more like a neutral + and a neutral -, working together but being fundamentally the same with a few key differences that make them a good team.

3. Keel is third as I find she has that “Warden of Justice” feel to her, meaning her motives are very clear and cut; goodness. It feels a bit refreshing to see some straight up goodness like that every once in a while. The thing that makes her interesting is how she accomplishes her justice, but we can always predict that she’ll do good, and thus I get a bit of reassurance that while with her we’ll get some kind of good ending instead of more strangeness.

4. Dessa/Moto are two asura that are becoming more interesting, so they’re higher on my favorites than they would have been before, so yeah.

5. Canach, while not the smartest character, was certainly pretty awesome in his antihero of justice phase, though I wish we could have seen more stealthy ways he used geurilla warfare.

6. Scarlet is, by no means, a bad villain. She’s decent, but perhaps that I just get to know the good side more than the villains so she’s not higher on the list. I find that there is most likely a plan and that, because players were still early in her plot, we just couldn’t put it together at the time she was introduced.

I think it’s a big mistake to have a Living Story cast at all. It forces the writers to write bad reasons for characters to be present when they shouldn’t be and the entire story is weakened as a result.

Why was Rox at Tequatl Rising? Because Rytlock sent her there? It would have been better for the story to have a sylvari or hylek NPC (or a Vigil NPC) relevant to the story being told. That character would aid in giving a face to the story (instead adding something else to their Living Story resume) and there wouldn’t be a need to force them into it. All the resources could focus on that character and their symbolic role in the story (similair to how Zei Ri was the point of contact for the player in Winds of Change and he himself made the story stronger by representing the people’s struggle side of the story).

Forcing in character’s like Rox just seems like wasted story time. Then you have characters like Kasmeer that have shoddy writing when all of a sudden she goes from being the fallen noble struggling to work her way through the world to a renowned master mesmer (remember Scarlet’s magic back story?) because one was needed in Kryta – home of two of the most prominent mesmers in Tyria. The whole world feels cheap when Kasmeer is given such see through plot powers simply because she’s on the Living World cast and they wanted the two of them to be involved for that release.

Braham and Rox worked well in Flame and Frost – it made sense that Rox was working for Rytlock and that he would be interested in that particular threat, Braham’s motivations were obviously very strong as well. I was interested in Kasmeer when I thought she had a plot or reason for existing but it seems she’s just a fanfiction character for the writers with no real prominence or relevance to Tyria beyond what they create for her. Marjory was a good quest giver type of NPC – never in the fight, but helping driving the plot forward – but she still gave room for the player to be the hero. Keil was terrible. She was the most prominent protagonist in the story for the most releases and she did nothing with it. She consistently took the credit from the player (or other characters) and the story felt like it revolved around her and not the incidents she was involved with. As with all NPCs she’s not even a good fighter so it makes more sense to limit NPCs to quest givers – putting the action focus on the player but moving the story along in ways the player themselves can’t do.

I think we shouldn’t have a Living Story cast but rather new characters relevant to each release. If the story revisits something relevant to a past character, run with it, but stop shoehorning characters into the world. It makes the world feel smaller than it is, it makes established characters feel static and the Living Story cast becomes unbelievable.