Guild Wars 2

As the title says, this concerns me. We see plenty of involvement from these new racial heroes like Rox and the forces the Orders command, but we’ve seen little to nothing of the true powerhouses of Tyria, the individual nations whose lands have been invaded and despoiled by Scarlet, and whose technology has been so blatantly stolen and put to foul use.

Where are they? Are the Charr and Norn still so tied up fighting the Flame, Icebrood and the Separatists that forces could not be sent in to aid Lion’s Arch when the Molten Alliance moved in? Are the Asura going to idly stand by whilst the ingenious designs that allowed the Pact to have their airships are used to bombard the citizens of the Arch?

What of the Sylvari? They of all races should feel a moral obligation to end Scarlet’s mad reign, having spawned the beast that destroyed the Arch and managed to unite the Tree’s darker offspring into the Toxic Alliance. And the Krytans… What more reason do they need than the blatant assault on Divinity itself, which nearly claimed the life of their Queen?

In my opinion, the focus of the story has shifted too far from it’s starting point: the individual races themselves. Far too much emphasis has been put onto the Pact, and whilst the Pact itself isn’t a bad thing, there are times when a little more internal conflict would do the story some good, especially as the Pact seems to have moved on from it’s state of distrust now.

What we need to see are the nations coming into their own, bringing their own forces into play whilst introducing new heroes alongside the return of the old. Destiny’s Edge shouldn’t just be some distant figures sending you mail every time something happens in the world. Has Rytlock become so bound by paperwork that he can’t take the field as he used to with us? Has Zojja locked herself away in the lab again, rather than kicking some Aetherblade kitten after stealing her designs? What of Caithe? Of all the Sylvari in the world, surely she has the most reason to deal with Scarlet directly, no?

What’s your opinion on the subject? Do you want to see the return of the nations to the forefront of the story, to share the spotlight with the Pact? Do you want to see the Charr finally getting off their kitten and steamrolling in, allowing you to -finally- pilot one of those siege tanks? And most importantly, do you relish the idea of Destiny’s Edge finally making a return? I know I do.

I don’t really see any of the races, except the Charr, as having any actual nations.

The human nations all got destroyed, and only a few towns forts, and cities survive, and their borders are ill defined, and overlap with other races. The Norn and Asura are displaced from their homelands and mostly concentrated in their home cities. The Sylvari are spreading, but they don’t seem to have established national boundaries.

A little racial/cultural focus wouldn’t hurt now and then. In trying to be inclusive of all 5 races in all parts of the story, each one tends to become a homogenous lump of sorts.

Wanderer.3248:

I don’t really see any of the races, except the Charr, as having any actual nations.

The human nations all got destroyed, and only a few towns forts, and cities survive, and their borders are ill defined, and overlap with other races. The Norn and Asura are displaced from their homelands and mostly concentrated in their home cities. The Sylvari are spreading, but they don’t seem to have established national boundaries.

Kryta still exists, with it’s monarchy and council. But I agree that the borders are ill defined, that however does not stop the existence of certain people/groups/institutions that can be seen as more or less “racial government bodies”. For example the Pale Tree and the firstborns of each cycle are somewhat leaders. The council of Rata Sum leads it’s secret police and so on. I believe OP wants those bodies to be more active in the story, I wouls like it as well.

Indeed JG, I’d like to see more of an involvement from the races themselves than simply tossing in characters like Marjory, Rox, Braham and Taimi and leaving it at that. The Seraph’s brief involvement with the siege was a fine example of how this could have been expanded upon; did they really need to just make a brief appearance to try and arrest Heal-O-Tron? Why did they just turn back and return to Divinity empty handed, and why did Divinity not send aid and soldiers down to Lion’s Arch? Surely, Logan and a few of the Seraph’s finest wouldn’t have gone amiss after Scarlet’s attempt on the Queen’s life.

It was an opportunity to give the Krytans more screen time, and it spawned a nice little side story that left the player with a question: exactly how were the Seraph planning to use Heal-O-Tron? Are they truly so corrupt now that Caudecus is out of the picture that they’ll stoop to blackmail to get their goals? And how far up the chain of command does that corruption spread? Indeed, it also gave an opportunity to showcase a little bit of internal conflict among the major powers of Tyria. What would have happened if the Seraph hadn’t taken no for an answer, and tried to force their way into Vigil Keep after Heal-O-Tron? Would blood have been shed to protect the little golem, or the rights of the Vigil? It’s that kind of intrigue that the story needs more of, in my opinion.

Faowri.4159:

A little racial/cultural focus wouldn’t hurt now and then. In trying to be inclusive of all 5 races in all parts of the story, each one tends to become a homogenous lump of sorts.

I agree with that. Lore is rich, do not erase it’s richness !

Yah, I wasn’t at all a fan of all the other major racial cities turning a blind eye to Lion’s Arch. Its a center of free trade between all races, I would think that all races would want to protect it in turn for that reason if not for the fact that Scarlet represents a potential threat to all other cities as well (and in fact has ALREADY attacked all other areas except the Grove and Rata Sum at some point), assuming she wasn’t stopped.

Even one of the NPC’s during the event was like “Balloons? Is that really all Divinity’s Reach can do to help”?

But perhaps they really are all more or less completely tied up in their own affairs. I mean, between the Pact already taking capable fighters from all races and the ongoing struggles with dragon minions and other enemies (centaurs, flame legion, bandits, ect) perhaps the other cities are really struggling to protect themselves as it is, much less send troops to Lion’s Arch, even if we might not quite see the conflicts as being that intense game-wise.