Guild Wars 2

Am I the only one who found Kasmeer’s behavior in the latest living story episode to be really bizarre? I was taken aback from the very beginning when she came in. I know all the characters have a new look, but she didn’t even look like the same person. Then she acts in a way you could call unpleasant. It was nowhere near as in your face as Braham’s, but she still made zings that were obviously bitter at your character, I definitely didn’t feel any warmth from her. Then later she completely flips over Balthazar, and starts this rambling that barely makes any sense and it carries on until she straight up bails on you.
I’m really confused and honestly disappointed in her portrayal here. She’s always been my favorite of the group, and today I found myself repulsed by her behavior. Did I miss something, or was Kasmeer just completely wack this time around?

Nope she mainly acts totally as her character normally does, then freaks out when confronted by a God she (like many Humans) have worshipped all her life. Shock from seeing her God plus shock from seeing it act differently to how she has always believed clearly sent her over the edge a bit.

Any other reaction would have been poor writing, but I thought they caught this (reasonably) well.

As someone who despises Kasmeer Meade, I found her to be right in line with the sort of tone-deaf noblespeak that I am accustomed to with her. She come in, demands to be part of the club despite having been absent for the proceedings and then lays into Marjory and the Commander to a lesser degree about decisions made while she was off playing with her noble friends. She then runs off five minutes later having contributed nothing to the efforts, leaving the Commander and a crippled asuran teenager to fight the god of war.

My real disappointment was in not being able to refuse her membership in Dragon’s Watch. My Commander is already frustrated with the current roster. She would not be looking to take in more dead weight.

Yeah, she seemed on point for her character:

- I’m annoyed with you for letting Majory run off without telling me
- Has a mild domestic
- Freaks out and has a hiccup fit because she saw a god
- Bails because she feels like she’s going to go up against Lyssa

For the record (since some people are also complaining about this), I think my characters reaction of ‘yeah, whatever balthy, foight me irl’ is actually pretty justified even if my character is human. My character has fought 2 elder dragons and all kinds of kitten over the past 5 years. A human god, a weakened one at that, that actively attacked them, is not one to really shake them after what they’ve been through.

Kas, on the other hand, is pretty new to the whole thing so her reaction is more in keeping with a standard god loving human.

Also, we don’t need Kas, we have M.O.X. and Scruffy 2.0. The golem dream team :P

I think her reaction to Balthazar was understandable, realistic, and preferable to just shrugging it off like some on-so-unflappable 2-k3wl-4-sk00l-n01-tells-me-whut-2-d0 gasbag twit (oh hello Marjory, didn’t see you there). She’s a human, this is one of her gods. Also, she unmasked him, so saying she contributed nothing isn’t exactly fair.

I don’t like any of the biconics except for Canach, if he counts as one, but Kasmeer’s reaction wasn’t remotely on Braham’s level of “Okay writers, give me a single reason why I should EVER want to see his face again?” (*), or even just my annoyance with Taimi and Marjory. Yeah, she runs off, but at least she doesn’t spit on us while doing so. Yay for small mercies. :p

(*) Biggest WTF moment in this episode: why would my character give a dead rat’s last fart about what Braham thinks, or how much she’ll have to kiss his sorry backside so he might, maybe, ever-so-graciously, forgive her for taking Jormag off the menu?

Did you notice that she is no longer “Kasmeer Meade”? She is “Lady Kasmeer Meade” now.

So I think, she is a noble now.

First off, she does look like the same character, just with a different hairstyle and dress. It’s harder to tell with pixelated characters, but her features are still in the same place.

Second, she’s a lot more reasonable in her flip-outs than Braham has been. Marjory has spent the last 6 months or so hanging out with a mursaat (which is dangerous even in the best of times), but she also understands that Marjory is her own person and thus can make her own decisions. That’s a step up from Braham’s emotional reaction to his mother’s death, however human it might be.

Third, whoever she might have been expecting under the mesmer disguise, Kas probably did not expect a god to be hiding there. I certainly wasn’t expecting it, either. Now, if you were suddenly faced with a being you worshipped most if not all of your life, you’d probably also have a bit of a crisis of faith. Remember also that Marjory was injured shortly before the illusion wkittentered. That probably didn’t help things.

Finally, we don’t know what she’s been doing since Mordremoth’s defeat. The letters in Lake Doric suggest that she was involved with E somehow, but the details are still unclear. This could also have affected her attitude somehow.

I didn’t really read her as flipping out at us. It seemed like a playful jab “the invitation must have been lost in the mail” was to me a tongue in cheek way of her saying she knows we have been busy but she is here now if we need her. And she made a good point to Marjory, and Marjory made a good counter point. They were a bit miffed at each other, but not completely kittened off, and the tone I felt conveyed that well. Her reluctance to face the human gods made sense to me as well, I could see her needing to take some time after having her faith shaken like that. But then to just have her leave and we don’t hear a thing from her again this episode, that was weak. I wouldn’t want her in the guild after that.

Arden.7480:

Did you notice that she is no longer “Kasmeer Meade”? She is “Lady Kasmeer Meade” now.

So I think, she is a noble now.

I did notice this. But when did this happen? How did we not hear about it? What is the explanation of Marjory’s wardrobe change and Kas’?

Sephas.8793:

Arden.7480:

Did you notice that she is no longer “Kasmeer Meade”? She is “Lady Kasmeer Meade” now.

So I think, she is a noble now.

I did notice this. But when did this happen? How did we not hear about it? What is the explanation of Marjory’s wardrobe change and Kas’?

They explain it in the part where they give the lore behind the elite specializations.

By the way I was angry at her, because she left us so fast, but well… Kasmeer believes the gods and she prays to them, then Balthazar shows up and injures her fiancee.

She is in shock obviously, it’s like your best friend, who you trusted, whom you could say everything then he betrays you and attacks another person you love.

So I understand Kas.

Arden.7480:

By the way I was angry at her, because she left us so fast, but well… Kasmeer believes the gods and she prays to them, then Balthazar shows up and injures her fiancee.

It’s more than that — side conversation from vigil members in the new map, “are they really hunting Balthazar? I worshiped him my entire life!”

Like … this is taking a fundamental of your life, and watching your boss literally fight your god. That’s a touchstone of life for humans, even if players don’t get it pushed that much, and … that stuff has to be super hard.

All I’ll say is that this picture sums up my feelings about Marjory and Kasmeer’s interactions pretty nicely. If only there was an impatient toe-tapping emote.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

All I’ll say is that this picture sums up my feelings about Marjory and Kasmeer’s interactions pretty nicely. If only there was an impatient toe-tapping emote.

Or a check your watch emote

What I found REALLY odd was that she recognized B right away after the reveal. It was not like she expected one of her gods was going to make a cameo. Think about various deities and heroes. With few exceptions generally they have been depicted in various different ways by different artists.

Or has she met B before?

This face after Lazarus revealed that he is Balthazar… No one can deny she is not hurting…

Randulf.7614:

Any other reaction would have been poor writing.

I disagree. Who do you love more, your partner in life or some God you neither worship nor have shown much attachment to (as a Mesmer she is probably more fond of the likes of Lyssa)? I found it absolutely crazy that she left instead of accompanying Marjory to “hospital”.

It felt like there was a much graver issue at hand than merely being in shock. Maybe it has to do with her and Anise’s secret journey that we will probably learn more about in the next episode (I hope!).

For the most part, Kasmeer acted normally. Her little jab about us being occupied as “flimsy excuses” was annoying, but it seemed like she might have been joking and still wanted to help out. And her conversation with Marjory felt normal as someone that was worried.

But after the Balthazar reveal (who she somehow recognizes instantly with absolute certainty ), she suddenly does a complete 180. Remember that the last time Marjory was critically injured, back in the finale of Season 1? When Kasmeer decided to help us finish Scarlet off for seemingly killing Jory? Apparently the writers for this chapter forgot that, and instead Kas just kneels down in fear and lets it happen. I can understand her being shocked at seeing Balthzar there, but for her to just shut down completely while he’s trying to kill us felt contrived.

And then the most character breaking moment is when, after we manage to drive Balthazar off, she just loses it and bails on us, while Marjory, the one she’s supposed to love, is still lying there in critical condition and possibly going to die. It’d have made more sense if she chose to stay there with Jory while we went after Balthazar, both to get her wits back and help Marjory keep hers, but instead she just up and bails. Especially after talking about how Marjory’s part of a team and all, and really shouldn’t have gone off on her own like that.

Even Marjory calls her out (sort of) on this if you talk to her after Kas leaves. And the worst part is, her dialogue after implies Kasmeer might even turn against us because of this, which is probably one of the few ways they could make her worse.

I was looking forward to her coming back after being MIA since near the end of Heart of Thorns. You even gave her a shiny new outfit and had her be useful!…for all of 5 to 10 minutes at best. Then you have a contrived reveal out of nowhere and Kas run off for a stupid contrived reason. Just why?

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this. Tell Jory I love her…”

“Tell her yourself, she’s right there!”

Ashantara.8731:

It felt like there was a much graver issue at hand than merely being in shock. Maybe it has to do with her and Anise’s secret journey that we will probably learn more about in the next episode (I hope!).

If that’s the case, she could’ve told us (or at least said she was going to warn the countess or the queen). She didn’t even do that. It’d be just like Caithe’s “No time to explain”, except she couldn’t be bothered to even say that.

Nilkemia.8507:

For the most part, Kasmeer acted normally. Her little jab about us being occupied as “flimsy excuses” was annoying, but it seemed like she might have been joking and still wanted to help out.

That was my impression, but given the combination of the writers never actually establishing a friendship and various NPCs treating the PC pretty badly this season (or since HoT if you’re a sylvari), I think it’s easy to see this as just another “eff off” moment instead of a joke between friends. Hell, given our character’s reaction, the Commander her/himself apparently expects everyone to just snap at them by now, too. I really hope that this will eventually be adressed by the writers, but I also doubt it sadly. :/ It’s a shame when everyone except the supposed protagonist gets a character arc.

Arden.7480:

This face after Lazarus revealed that he is Balthazar… No one can deny she is not hurting…

priceless trollface material xD pure gold ^^ roflmao

Ashantara.8731:

Randulf.7614:

Any other reaction would have been poor writing.

I disagree. Who do you love more, your partner in life or some God you neither worship nor have shown much attachment to (as a Mesmer she is probably more fond of the likes of Lyssa)? I found it absolutely crazy that she left instead of accompanying Marjory to “hospital”.

It felt like there was a much graver issue at hand than merely being in shock. Maybe it has to do with her and Anise’s secret journey that we will probably learn more about in the next episode (I hope!).

I’m not a devout though. Worshippers of a God (Kasmeer is stated in the episode to be a faithful follower of all the Gods) react in ways those of us with no faith would think incomprehensible. And that’s exactly what Anet were trying to convey in that whole scene.

Randulf.7614:

I’m not a devout though. Worshippers of a God (Kasmeer is stated in the episode to be a faithful follower of all the Gods) react in ways those of us with no faith would think incomprehensible. And that’s exactly what Anet were trying to convey in that whole scene.

Which they did poorly.

While Kasmeer has mentioned the Six on occasion in the past, there has been no indication that she’s been particularly devout compared to any other human that has been worshipping them at this point.

(The only outstanding example I could remember/find so far was a conversation from all the way back in Season 1, from Escape from Lion’s Arch.)

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kasmeer_Meade/dialogue/season_1

Marjory Delaqua: “It was serendipity, perhaps. Or the gods may still be watching over us after all.”

Kasmeer Meade: “I choose to believe they are. Praise the Six.”

Aside from that and maybe a few name drops like “Dwayna bless us” or something like that scattered through the story since then, she’s never shown the level of devoutness that they tried to imply in this one chapter. And even so, it certainly doesn’t make sense in Balthazar’s case. If it were Lyssa, maybe, since Lyssa is the patron goddess of mesmers, instead of Balthazar, whom one like Kasmeer would probably worship least.

And even then, it doesn’t explain her suddenly bailing as if we have no chance when not a few minutes earlier, we got the drop on said God of War, forced him to drop his guise, and more or less drove him off (granted, he wanted the machine more, but the point is we made him retreat). And while Marjory is still possibly dying, no less. Compare that to the finale of Season 1, when she went all “I’ll kill you” to Scarlet for doing the same thing so long ago.

It was a contrived plot device to make her suddenly inept and break character completely (and make her vanish right after we just got her back for all of 5 to 10 minutes), just like how the whole Balthazar reveal feels pretty much done for the hell of it, for shock value more than actually being part of the story.

You really don’t have to be established as a super devout person to understand the importance of a god appearing in front of you. It’s a big deal for anyone. I’m an atheist, but if say, Zeus, for example, a buff old guy hurling lightning bolts and clearly recognizable from scriptures, appeared in front of me, I wouldn’t just be all “whatever bruh, just another dude to me”.
I think Kas responded normally, regardless of how well Anet represented her spirituality.

One doesn’t have to be an evangelical fanatic to be a strong believer. I’m atheist myself, but I don’t see any issues with Kasmeer here — except that if she’s supposed to be that devout, maybe it should have been established a little more strongly in advance, instead of Marjory telling us about it after the fact.

Seeing a quietly devout side of the character would have given her a bit more, well, character beyond merely being Marjory’s tagalong and someone who wants to be part of the 1% again.

Plus, the bafflingly resounding “whatever” reaction that most people have to Balthazar rather needs to be balanced out by something “apppropriate” for his own believers. Faith in the Six is supposed to be the defining human racial trait, after all. Not everyone has to have it, but when nobody does, it becomes a bit of a farce. You need characters who show “expected” traits for their culture, or “outliers” and “rebels” don’t really work because they have nothing to be contrasted against.

Menadena.7482:

What I found REALLY odd was that she recognized B right away after the reveal. It was not like she expected one of her gods was going to make a cameo. Think about various deities and heroes. With few exceptions generally they have been depicted in various different ways by different artists.

Or has she met B before?

Statues of him. If she has prayed often enough in her life in front of one, she’d recognize their form immediately just based on remembering the statue alone.

I am Kasmeer i want to be popular… i want to join the guild… but i do not want to figth.

I do not want a noble barbie in my guild. Get your noble’s stuffs and go back to DR to alienate some peasents.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Menadena.7482:

What I found REALLY odd was that she recognized B right away after the reveal. It was not like she expected one of her gods was going to make a cameo. Think about various deities and heroes. With few exceptions generally they have been depicted in various different ways by different artists.

Or has she met B before?

Statues of him. If she has prayed often enough in her life in front of one, she’d recognize their form immediately just based on remembering the statue alone.

I was under the impression that those statues are copies based on the originals that Malchor made when he first sculpted them. Now, even if he did get the originals perfectly (which is uncertain since we never saw Orr properly pre-Cataclysm, as far as I know) , I find it a little farfetched that they managed to keep them perfectly the same for all these centuries. Clearly certain parts like the armor, helmet and the sword might have stayed mostly the same, but it would’ve likely changed little by little over time, unless their avatars helped keep the statues accurate until even they stopped showing up…250 years ago.

Kasmeer’s had to have seen a very good statue or picture to be able to recognize Balthazar instantly as if she’s seen him proper before. (Her tone makes it sound like she actually has seen him proper before as well, instead of something along the lines of, “Wait…is that Balthazar?!”)

My reaction to Kasmeer as she attacked the PC for not inviting her. “Oh! Will she be usefull for the first time in this season?” And what do I get? Another Human pulling a Logan. Last time a Mesmer and Guardian betrayed a guild a great Asura died. Maybe this time an ok Human will die? I mean come on! First whining like a bit… that she wants to be part of the guild but then running away when it gets a bit hard. And worse leaving her “Lover” while she is heavily wounded. I hope this is the last nail in their relationship. Or at least we can chose to leave her out of the guild. Braham was a whiny bi… but at least he told us out right he don’t want to be part of our Guild, Kasmeer first whines at us to get in and then runs away. I don’t want such a traitor in my guild. I maybe have already a problem with her because she didn’t want to fight a god (In this situation even multiple problems) but my biggest problem with her is she leaves her “lover” to run away like a coward. Her heavily wounded “Lover”. Just like this! Running away!
And what does our character? What does the PC? Just fu….. standing there like “Ok. I have no problem with you betraying us. Ok.” This is something that makes me want to vomit for the last few LW episodes. We just take this behavior like some tool!

vier.1327:

I am Kasmeer i want to be popular… i want to join the guild… but i do not want to figth.

I do not want a noble barbie in my guild. Get your noble’s stuffs and go back to DR to alienate some peasents.

I’d rather take Kas than someone with YOUR attitude and mindset in Dragon’s Watch. Nobody’s perfect, brah.

I honestly think people are going a bit too deep in it. Just look at our character. He/she is incredibly kittening hot/handsome/kitten or cute character who is also an born tactical genius, that just gets leaderships positions shoved in his/her hands and does it flawlessly. Fear is almost non-existent. Heck even marjory actually flirts with your character despite bieng in a relationship. So u got massive game as well. Heck u are practically a perfect hero.

We need side characters who actually freak out. Our character was even more indifferent then canach in the face of the kittening god of war. Heck it gave zero kittens litterally lmao.

Balthazar appears
PC: So u are the litterall god of war? Fight me IRL bro.

Me: -_-

Nilkemia.8507:

RyuDragnier.9476:

Menadena.7482:

What I found REALLY odd was that she recognized B right away after the reveal. It was not like she expected one of her gods was going to make a cameo. Think about various deities and heroes. With few exceptions generally they have been depicted in various different ways by different artists.

Or has she met B before?

Statues of him. If she has prayed often enough in her life in front of one, she’d recognize their form immediately just based on remembering the statue alone.

I was under the impression that those statues are copies based on the originals that Malchor made when he first sculpted them. Now, even if he did get the originals perfectly (which is uncertain since we never saw Orr properly pre-Cataclysm, as far as I know) , I find it a little farfetched that they managed to keep them perfectly the same for all these centuries. Clearly certain parts like the armor, helmet and the sword might have stayed mostly the same, but it would’ve likely changed little by little over time, unless their avatars helped keep the statues accurate until even they stopped showing up…250 years ago.

Kasmeer’s had to have seen a very good statue or picture to be able to recognize Balthazar instantly as if she’s seen him proper before. (Her tone makes it sound like she actually has seen him proper before as well, instead of something along the lines of, “Wait…is that Balthazar?!”)

Remember, Kas has the ability to tell if someone is lying. When we break the illusion, she can (more than likely) tell who he is by reading his thoughts (or however it’s explained)

Mahou.3924:

vier.1327:

I am Kasmeer i want to be popular… i want to join the guild… but i do not want to figth.

I do not want a noble barbie in my guild. Get your noble’s stuffs and go back to DR to alienate some peasents.

I’d rather take Kas than someone with YOUR attitude and mindset in Dragon’s Watch. Nobody’s perfect, brah.

I don’t know man. My Commander, a Vigil warmaster that grew up an orphan on the streets of the Salma District, will likely be very annoyed with both Kasmeer’s whining over her “hardships” as well as her unreliable nature.

For the former, she’d probably get pretty sick and tired of Ms. Meade’s fretting about having to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle with her girlfriend. “I had to empty my own chamber pot this morning like an animal! Woe is me!” Lady, I grew up destitute and alone, joining street gangs just to survive. The only friend I ever had was murdered as I tried to save the city that did its best to kill me. I’m sorry you miss the garden view from your old room. Quite a cross to bear.

For the latter, facing down phenomenal cosmic beings in itty bitty spaces has been part of the job before there even was a Dragon’s Watch. If Kasmeer is going to act like this then maybe this adventuring thing isn’t for her. You don’t win wars with diva-like antics. My Commander would be more than eager to part ways with Divinity’s Reach Barbie at this stage of things.