Guild Wars 2

NOTE: I do reveal SPOILERS proceed at your own caution.

I feel that the majority of the personal story is flat. For instance the Destiny Edge members are irrational, unrealistically dynamic. For instance Logan goes from having an unhealthy desire of being near the queen to leaving in a matter of minutes. In the Order of Whispers Tybalt is quite a well made character, but the lack of background he receives is almost offensive, and a large amount of his dialogue sucks. On the other hand I found Trahearne to be the sole character with interesting companion missions. ( The Pale Tree Future Mission). Ultimately the personal story was in my opinion a miss. It was cliche and it honestly showed a large lack of effort when it came to its development.( Bad Voice Acting, Bad Writing, Stupid Characters, Very Predictable)

I have no problem with the cliche story but the way in which it was presented was lackluster at best .

I’m not a fan of Trahearne, either. He seems more like a pet than a buddy or sidekick. Worse, he’s a pet that seems to have taken over my story. I went from “Yeah! Let’s see what the next chapter unveils!” to just going through the motions of the story for the XP.

Playing second fiddle to an asparagus, in both appearance and personality, is less than stellar.

What I didn’t like was that he just boom appeared on the scene with very little background. My Vigil mentor seemed to know him really well and was all excited to see him, yet the officers on the watch were chatting in the background that they thought he was a creep. I wound up having to ask a friend playing a Sylvari what his background was because he was barely developed in my story. From being in the right place at the right time to help us to immediate leader of the pact… just seemed rushed and odd.

He doesn’t bother me quite as much. He mostly took up the “political” position of leadership while you get to do everything that’s actually fun. At the very least there was a logical reason he got the leadership position instead of you and he also makes sure you contribute to the decisions.The only things that really bothered me were his magical god sword that is the mcguffin device and everyone surrounding him. Most people talk of how amazing he was, but even he himself admits that he mostly just sat around watching stuff.

I whole heartedly agree with the first post.

To be honest, I didn’t even mind Trahearne’s forceful injection into the story up until there was a sudden shift in the narrative. He has studied Orr, so surely his knowledge would prove invaluable once my adventures coalesced with Tyria’s expedition to Orr. However, the writer is sorely blatant about voicing the fact your character is in second place. The game is so vocal about reminding you that you are not the hero, that it almost feels like there’s some sort of conspiracy going on. You barely receive any thanks, just further orders from a self-appointed marshal that treats you coldly.

I’m currently level 71, and I am yet to see Trahearne accomplish anything. That includes strategy, and no, yelling at soldiers ten times as experienced to ‘stay away from the dragon’s poisonous breath’ is no strategy. He doesn’t even do inspiring speeches. His legendary weapon is yet to do anything spectacular in his hands. He doesn’t share actual information about Orr. I am yet to see him contribute to the Orr invasion in any palpable way.

I am utterly disappointed, considering the personal story starts out amazingly well. Everything seems to weave together, and hooks are seemingly left for the future for you to attend to. With the whole infamous Kormir ordeal, I thought ArenaNet wouldn’t have done the same mistake twice. But now I’m not sure which is the worse character, Kormir or Trahearne.

I’ve just hit level 60 and I was worried about Trahearne stealing the show, the pale tree shows the future with him as general of the combined armies, my faction slips from everyone’s name and they start referring to it simply as your order. I feel like I’m about to be sidelined…:(

Eh, I don’t mind him. If the player character was the leader of the war effort, to be realistic you’d have to be signing paperwork, telling other people to do fun missions while you sat around orchestrating things, and generally not having fun. By making Traherne the general, that problem is avoided: Instead the player is Traherne’s ultimate weapon, his dragon-killing Commander. Lore-wise, it makes perfect sense.

As for being upstaged…. Who kills Zhaitan, again?

It also felt natural to me that the other characters knew and respected him. Would they allow someone to become general they didn’t know, and didn’t respect?

Finally, I got the sense that Traherne quite likes and respects the player character. So overall, I personally am enjoying the story. I don’t have to be the absolute number one person in Tyria. I’m happy being a part of the dragon slaying elite.

“I calculate the odds of our success at only 1 in 127,000”

“Well if Traherne’s that one, then I’ve still got hope”

or whatever the quote was from the end of retaking of Claw Island… just made my heart drop.

I agree with the OP, Traherne not only upstages the player character for a hefty chunk of the time, he doesn’t even do so convincingly. Rather than actually being cooler than the PC, he just gets treated that way by everyone for spouting extremely generic motivational lines.

Well apart from the ‘greatsword-necro that doesnt doesnt even use necro skills’ and ‘useless compainion’ it would have been for the better to give the character some ‘im the boss’-time and better written lines.

Also “Well if Traherne’s that one, then I’ve still got hope” – i /facepalmed quite hard when i heard that.

The orders said the Marshal had to be someone who wasn’t from an order so no order could feel better than another. So that is why Trahearne is the marshal and the fact that he has knowledge about orr.

Edit: In later quests, he uses his Necromancy more often.

I also found Trahearne to be bland and boring. I think for those who chose a sylvari you get some introduction to Trahearne early on. But in my case, choosing human, he just appears as some expert on Orr who will be helping us out. But then suddenly he’s the leader. I understand why he was chosen; I just don’t like him. He has no personality, no sense of humor, no short comings, no emotions .. he’s a two-dimensional character. Perhaps this problem arises when trying to build personal storylines with many options to choose from. It becomes difficult to have every single possible storyline mesh and blend together. So following certain story paths will feel more complete with characters better developed. Others will seem somewhat disjointed.

I quite frankly see no point in Trahearne being more than a side character.

He is not an inspiring military leader.
He does not have the voice or the appeareance of a military leader.
He sucks balls in combat.
His only utility is the few rituals that he performs.
His voice acting is very poor for a guy that’s not a side character.
He doesn’t even wear proper clothing.

The entire pact leadership could have been done with military council, instead of making them being run onder a leader that overall does Jack.
Instead of making you tag along with quite probably the most boring character in the game, they probably should have gone along with the line that every order does more or less their own thing in the war and your role in it is dictated by your order of choice.

Just because Trahearne happens to know few rituals useful in Orr doesn’t mean he should be the leader.
At best he should be an advisor.

What’s so funny is I was really worried before playing that Destiny’s Edge would take over the story in this way. Instead (so far) I’m pretty enthusiastic about the role they play, and it helps that they’re voiced well and have interesting backstory.

Trahearne was a real surprise, coming out of nowhere to wreck the story.

People have called him a Marty Stu and now I’m trying to guess which writer loves him so much to make him the most beloved-by-the-plot character.

Personal Story becomes Trahearne’s Story after Claw Island, which is really disappointing considering how the events leading up to Claw Island were probably the best moments in PS for me. There’s a large gap in “Player-Importance” for a good chunk of the story. I don’t recall the level ranges exactly but it’s like 50-80. Only after you start the level 80 arc do people actually seem to recognize you as a hero and not Trahearne’s personal assistant. It still falls flat however, and the final boss fight was extremely dull gameplay-wise and narrative-wise. The writers seem to assume I care a great deal about Trahearne, when that’s pretty far from the case as a player.

In the end, I feel as though after Claw Island the personal story lacks a great deal of the personal bit. None of my previous choices seem to matter, especially the ones I made in the racial story arcs. As a Charr, my sparring partner vanishes after joining an Order. Yes, (s)he oversees the warband in my absence but (s)he doesn’t even show up for the final victory celebration or final boss battle? My sire also told me he would contact me at a later time with the full details of an interesting plot-point, never did. My choices only seem to amount to spawning different kinds of NPCs in my home instance. Which, by the way, don’t remark on or have any special dialogue for me after I’ve killed an ELDER DRAGON.

Hopefully, in future patches or expansions this will be remedied with better writing and resurfacing player choices and consequences.

Trahearne isnt even worth speaking of. We should just facepalm and point your finger with an angry face towards the person who made the Veggy-that-should-command-them-all and Trahearne is just plain flat. They should just added a Tiger as commander and call it Taslan and it wouldve been better than Trahearne.

Just killed the mouth and indeed it feels kinda weird to be the errand boy. even if I get to picked what type of coffee to bring Im still the errand boy.

I think they could fix this by simply starting to name him early on PS even if its just briefly (after you choose an order of course). An then after he rises to power instead of having him giving the choice every time, let players get info from npc’s and being presetned with the same options.

The thing is as soon as you are presented the choice from a subordinate instead of your superior the story again centers back to you. Of course all actions should be “informed” to the general… something like this:

Npc " sir scouts have found magical items being delivered to this place, intels shows that this is how zhaitan gets substenance."

toon: "then we must stop this, what are our options?

Npc: “we can kill the mouth or we can stop the supply”

Toon: “we’ll kill the mouth then, inform the general that I’m handling this and that I’m taking a sqadron”

Npc: “yes commander”

The general doesn’t need to be the hero (it almost never is) the toon can be the hero and not be the errand boy. NPC’s could talk about the hero’s quick thinking and guts that won the crucial battles that allow the general to mount the offensive that wins the war.

Think of it like any war movie, yes there is a general somewhere dealing with the war, but the hero can deal the desicive blow that turns the tide.

So in the end, your background, choices friends and order are…meaningless?

That’s a big letdown…

ThiBash.5634:

So in the end, your background, choices friends and order are…meaningless?

That’s a big letdown…

Yes, completely. Aside from armor and weapon styles you can pick up from your chosen Order.

I really like Lord Faren…

It’s unfortunate that friends don’t remember who you are. It’s almost like you lost all your progress of everything that had happened before.

I actually like Trahearne’s character concept a lot. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all that well executed. He had a lot of potential. It’s just, when you put together his dull character, mono toned voice acting, the lost of the great character before him, and the fact that nobody remembers you from your previous storyline steps; It makes for a not-so-good combination. It’s too bad, but there’s nothing you can really do.

Sorry if that seems rude to say. I really did love everything that happened before Trahearne got into the scene. : ) Going to miss Seiran! I think it would have been nice to pay a little more homage to her and the others. Maybe having your character visit their grave, attending their funeral, or doing something in honor of them to really help draw out more emotion. It would show how much that character really meant to 'you'. I can't help but to wonder what happened to the bodies of Tybalt and Seiran. I was a little sad when my character never went back to see.

My personal opinion is that this vegetable guy could have a much better story than this. He join you all of the blue as a necromancer who seems to behave and fight like many things except a necromancer. Unlike the other chars that join you along the story, he doesn’t seem to have a real personality besides throw the ball at me and I shall win the game for you.

I don’t remember most of the chars names, but the norn guy that rolled around with me was possibly my favorite char in the game, his whole TO HELL WITH THIS AND THAT plus his O_O pink eyes expressions were too good to pass. My main is an 80 human, I was happy I got to see my sister at the closing episodes of the story once again, but what happened to everyone else who was important at the start, this plant guy takes too much attention when characters with real story don’t get any at all.

And like everyone else I do love the epicness of the story. Just wish they gave it a little bit more love in some areas.

Even just a:
Tree: “Commander please join me in my office/tent.”
“Exposision on how his command is weighing on him, he’s glad to have you by his side, he questions his abilities”
You: “Choice of: Dignity/Ferocity/Charm response” (We’re all in this fight together/With me on board we can’t fail/You’re doing a great job, and tegether we’ll win)
Tree: “You know they all think I’m the one who’s the hero, but we both know it’s you”
You: ""Choice of: Dignity/Ferocity/Charm response""

Something like that would help tremondously I think.

and is there *ever a reason to go back to our personal instance post Claw Island?

ajm.2931:

and is there *ever a reason to go back to our personal instance post Claw Island?

Certainly not the Sylvari instance. That place is it’s own (I really can’t say dam?) jumping puzzle.

@Nimmi:

Sieran can’t turn into a Risen, Sylvari are immune to the dragon’s corruption. :P

He’s a heavily introverted character.

I see a lot of complaints about him being a static character, but he actually goes through a lot of changes.

I completely agree with OP. Forget the fact that the character is flat, which he really is, forget the fact that he’s a Mary Sue, which he is, forget that he hijacks your personal story, which he does, he’s just ridiculously annoying.

I have no problem with Trahearne being my character’s superior/commander – the issue is with how he also becomes the focus of the story. Look at Mass Effect, as much as people argue about the writing in that series, I don’t think anybody would fault the story and say that too much attention is paid to Shepherd’s military/political superiors like Anderson. If the Personal Story had taken a more subtle approach and not shoved Trahearne in our faces every single quest, it would’ve been much more tolerable.

I went through the story with a thought in my head that Trahearne was a double agent sent to kill me and lure me into false sense of security by Zhaitan >.> made things much more suspicious and edge-seat sitting….

though if u do that brace yourself for the let down at the end >.> lol

I agree, Trahearne should have been the advisor, not the marshal. I mean I just find it hard to follow the orders of a vegetable half my height and one tenth of my weight.

I wholeheartedly agree. He’s a plot device. Basically, they introduced him to plug the lore hole:

You are no longer the hero, so you can now be mentioned in the storyline when they write it up. ’The 3 orders accompanied the hero Trahearne.."

but..its a cop out, in my opnion. He comes out of NOWHERE and is suddenly the chosen one, hugely powerful, has immense tactical prowess..he just..he’s so perfect it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I have no issues with him being the commander, but he should have been introduced earlier and developed, he should doubt his decisions and ask for advice constantly (you ARE his adviser afterall!) instead he is flawless.

I agree, yet disagree.

Destinies Edge was handled really well, especially in the context of what they were build to be. ANet has said several times they wanted them to be a dysfunctional normal guild represented by NPCs, and thats exactly what they are, from the reliable raider, to the minmaxer, to the “bro” who “g2g gf aggro”.

Trahearne’s entry to the story for nonSylvari was somewhat weak, but as a character, I don’t find him much of a Mary Sue. While most of the other characters treat him with tons of respect, he’ll readily admit several times during the story that he has no idea whats going on, and once he realized he had no idea how to tackle his Wyld Hunt, he spent the rest of his time just running around chatting with people, and fraternizing with foreign women. That’s why he’s the leader though, all three Orders/Nation Leaders respect him greatly, while the troops respect you. Together you two can get everyone to shut up about their issues, and get them into Orr where they are needed.

There’s quite a few spoilers near the end that the Sylvari as a whole have a lot more story to tell however, so I can see why ANet set him up in that position for future storytelling as well.

I’m not a fan of Trahearne either.

When I chose an Order, it became clear to me that every “personal” story devolved into 3 paths. I felt a little slighted by this as my “personal” decisions for my “personal” story now no longer matter.

Fine, everyone does 1 of 3 paths.

When Trahearne showed up and it became increasingly clear to me that I do not enjoy his presence at all, I vowed to choose a different order on my alt.

When my friend told me he also had Trahearne in his story with a different order, my heart sank. The “personal” story concept is now destroyed. I find this to be the least enjoyable part of GW2 for me.

I’ve passed personal story as Asura, joined Order of Whispers. The only feature from early phase of story were letters from Zojja, tho she didn’t mail me much in late phase of story. I was even glad that Asura are just infiltrating those orders, it’s the only story-saving feature

Trahearne is soulless because he’s a Sylvari. I made a Sylvari character, all their sensibility is based on bigger goals, like saving whole Sylvari race, saving their enviroment/whole Tyria. Right from awakening they know they’re only made to save the world, they’re just robotic servants of The Pale Tree. Little ants. They’re even less humane than Asura

The Pale Tree is also one of my most hated characters, she’s imperious to everyone around, tho she knows pretty little. It was really unpleasant to listen to her (very incomplete) visions being an enlightened Asura. I thing Asura should have possiblity to take it as an insult and leave both her and Trahearne. There are many Asuran characters who are not members of any orders, they could lead the war against Zhaitan. Using them as just minor addition (like a new anti-orrian weapon devs) was another insult. Why would young Sylvari know much more about the undead than Asura who developed the most effective weapons and defenses against them?

I would have felt more for him if we’d been privy to more of his background. A lot of the personal story – particularly in the latter half – feels a little rushed and/or forced. For example, a number of NPC’s owe Trahearne a favour. This goes largely unexplained, as does his sudden skill in battle and tactical prowess. I loved the Claw Island mission because we lost. It painted a grim picture of just how formidable Orr and Zhaitan were.

After that, aside from a few NPC deaths, Trahearne stole the show and led my character to victory and success at almost every turn.

To be fair about all of those who think Trahearne’s dialogue makes him sound dead…he IS a necromancer, so…

And I’m gonna say I disagree that the personal story line is flat. I find it to be very nice and interesting. At least it’s not WoW where no matter what or how much you do, your contribution is immediately attributed solely to one or a few NPCs.

I liked Trahearne alot. The idea of being the main character, BUT instead of everything being about you leading great armies, Trahearne does and you support him.

That’s a cool story idea unlike Mass Effect where Shepperd seems to be the only being (out of tens of billions) in the galaxy that can save everyone, and everybody keeps telling you that.

Contrast that with GW2 and needing everybody to work together to overcome challenges and save the world. Your character gets to play a role within the leadership.

Just want to throw my feedback in, and I hope ArenaNet can use it for future personal stories in expansions or whatnot.

The personal story takes a drastic turn for the worse after Claw Island, almost entirely due to Trahearne. I’d like to echo the sentiments that many people have made already, but Trahearne becomes the main character. It’s no longer “my story.” It’s Trahearne’s. He gets credit for the player’s accomplishments, the NPCs voice their respect for him nonstop while you’re lucky if your character even gets a mention, and the closest thing to genuine recognition you get at the end is an “oh yeah, and the commander killed Zhaitan” after they finish gushing over how Trahearne just saved Tyria. His injection into the story at Claw Island was incredibly forced, and the game tries to make you like him by having all the other characters like him. But you’re given no actual reason to take a personal liking to him.

And that conversation with the Pale Tree? Her granting him a legendary sword while you stand there twiddling your thumbs? It doesn’t make you feel very much like a hero. I enjoyed the beginning of the personal story, because my character actually felt like the center of it. As soon as Trahearne shows up though, that all goes out the window.

I hope ArenaNet gets a lot of feedback regarding the handling of the post-Claw Island story. From what I can tell, it seems like the majority of players are of a similar opinion (or at least the most vocal ones). I’m looking forward to future personal story content, but what do you say we start it with Trahearne getting killed off, huh? I’d kinda like to be the hero again.

Cliff.2803:

Just want to throw my feedback in, and I hope ArenaNet can use it for future personal stories in expansions or whatnot.

The personal story takes a drastic turn for the worse after Claw Island, almost entirely due to Trahearne. I’d like to echo the sentiments that many people have made already, but Trahearne becomes the main character. It’s no longer “my story.” It’s Trahearne’s. He gets credit for the player’s accomplishments, the NPCs voice their respect for him nonstop while you’re lucky if your character even gets a mention, and the closest thing to genuine recognition you get at the end is an “oh yeah, and the commander killed Zhaitan” after they finish gushing over how Trahearne just saved Tyria. His injection into the story at Claw Island was incredibly forced, and the game tries to make you like him by having all the other characters like him. But you’re given no actual reason to take a personal liking to him.

And that conversation with the Pale Tree? Her granting him a legendary sword while you stand there twiddling your thumbs? It doesn’t make you feel very much like a hero. I enjoyed the beginning of the personal story, because my character actually felt like the center of it. As soon as Trahearne shows up though, that all goes out the window.

I hope ArenaNet gets a lot of feedback regarding the handling of the post-Claw Island story. From what I can tell, it seems like the majority of players are of a similar opinion (or at least the most vocal ones). I’m looking forward to future personal story content, but what do you say we start it with Trahearne getting killed off, huh? I’d kinda like to be the hero again.

Well, a lot of this probably makes more sense to Sylvari players. He’s in our story pretty much from the start, and he’s a very nice, helpful guy. I would very much dislike it if they killed him off just because a few loud players didn’t like the limelight being taken off of them. :P We’re the heroes, yes, but to keep a cohesive story, you need to give certain NPC characters big accomplishments. How this game differs from WoW is that, even if it’s just a small mention here or there, you are mentioned as being a part of the story. When I played WoW, the lore almost completely ignores the existence of the players (again, to my memory). And isn’t this how credit is given in the real world where battles are concerned, anyways?

And, uhm…yeah. Pale Tree giving him the sword? Trust me. Any sylvari player will tell you: better him than you.

riku.2091:

Well, a lot of this probably makes more sense to Sylvari players. He’s in our story pretty much from the start, and he’s a very nice, helpful guy. I would very much dislike it if they killed him off just because a few loud players didn’t like the limelight being taken off of them. :P We’re the heroes, yes, but to keep a cohesive story, you need to give certain NPC characters big accomplishments. How this game differs from WoW is that, even if it’s just a small mention here or there, you are mentioned as being a part of the story. When I played WoW, the lore almost completely ignores the existence of the players (again, to my memory). And isn’t this how credit is given in the real world where battles are concerned, anyways?

And, uhm…yeah. Pale Tree giving him the sword? Trust me. Any sylvari player will tell you: better him than you.

I’m not saying NPCs can’t have their own accomplishments, but when their accomplishments outshine your own (or they get credit for your accomplishments), it makes the story less enjoyable. I have heard that his appearance in Claw Island is a bit less jarring for Sylvari players, but it still doesn’t make it any less forced. The fact that all three Orders just so happen to owe him, or have great respect for him, is what I’m referring to when I say it’s forced. It isn’t particularly believable that a 25 year old sylvari scholar has such deep connections with every major player in the story, and it really just serves as a weak thread to tie each Order’s story into the post-Claw Island Trahearne-a-thon.

I mean, surely you can understand my frustration with taking down the boss in the ruins while Trahearne stands motionless the entire fight, only to be greeted with a cutscene after in which every character in the mission does nothing but exclaim some variation of “Wow, Trahearne did it! Incredible!” Meanwhile, your character doesn’t even appear in the cutscene.

I really have no interest in playing the Robin to some NPC’s Batman. Especially an NPC as uninteresting and lacking in personality as Trahearne. Frankly, I’m pretty surprised ArenaNet handled it like this after the backlash over Kormir.

Cliff.2803:

riku.2091:

Well, a lot of this probably makes more sense to Sylvari players. He’s in our story pretty much from the start, and he’s a very nice, helpful guy. I would very much dislike it if they killed him off just because a few loud players didn’t like the limelight being taken off of them. :P We’re the heroes, yes, but to keep a cohesive story, you need to give certain NPC characters big accomplishments. How this game differs from WoW is that, even if it’s just a small mention here or there, you are mentioned as being a part of the story. When I played WoW, the lore almost completely ignores the existence of the players (again, to my memory). And isn’t this how credit is given in the real world where battles are concerned, anyways?

And, uhm…yeah. Pale Tree giving him the sword? Trust me. Any sylvari player will tell you: better him than you.

I’m not saying NPCs can’t have their own accomplishments, but when their accomplishments outshine your own (or they get credit for your accomplishments), it makes the story less enjoyable. I have heard that his appearance in Claw Island is a bit less jarring for Sylvari players, but it still doesn’t make it any less forced. The fact that all three Orders just so happen to owe him, or have great respect for him, is what I’m referring to when I say it’s forced. It isn’t particularly believable that a 25 year old sylvari scholar has such deep connections with every major player in the story, and it really just serves as a weak thread to tie each Order’s story into the post-Claw Island Trahearne-a-thon.

I mean, surely you can understand my frustration with taking down the boss in the ruins while Trahearne stands motionless the entire fight, only to be greeted with a cutscene after in which every character in the mission does nothing but exclaim some variation of “Wow, Trahearne did it! Incredible!” Meanwhile, your character doesn’t even appear in the cutscene.

I really have no interest in playing the Robin to some NPC’s Batman. Especially an NPC as uninteresting and lacking in personality as Trahearne. Frankly, I’m pretty surprised ArenaNet handled it like this after the backlash over Kormir.

Everyone says he has no personality. I have no idea what any of you are talking about. And, again, I feel that, yes, perhaps by this point of the game the term “personal story” is…kind of an artifact term that doesn’t really apply at this point, but think about it like this: do you elevate every member of your army personally to hero status after the fight? Your character wasn’t the only person involved. By the end, it’s more of a world story. You’re more of a very qualified soldier by this point than “that amazing hero”. A fact I have no qualms with.

And…yeah, players, sorry we can’t elevate all of you to god status. :P

You know how Zojja, still bitter because of Snaff’s death, despises Eir and tells her: “It’s all your fault, it’s you that should have died that day?” Yeah, Trahearne should have died on Claw Island. Exchanging Sieran for this guy was like throwing away chocolate icecream in favor of mud. Depressing.

I highly doubt I’ll play my Charr’s PS beyond level 50. And even if I do, it’ll be skip time, every time.

I really dislike Trahearne. He is too good, has horrible accent and he has made my Personal story a Story of Trahearne and his companion. Before him I felt like a hero, loved all characters. I don’t want to lead big armies, that would be stupid, we would end with million of generals but I do want to feel that this story is PRIMARILY about me.

And yeah Sieran should not died. I was so sad. She was an excellent character with a funny personality. It was cherry

If you want to play a mmorpg which makes you the hero. Go play SW:TOR

oh god… just stumbled on this thread. I play Sylvarri on ALL of my characters (and I chose different backgrounds for each of them). I’m at the level 16 quest and Trahearne has just been introduced and I really HATE him already. I’m like… who the eff is this guy? He just came from Orr. He’s a firstborn. SO. FREAKIN. WHAT. I didn’t know he’d get into other races’ personal story as well. I thought he’d just be like a bad fungal infection that goes away after a few months. I fear for the future of my personal story. I don’t want him to get any more involved in it.

ReinoudM.5931:

If you want to play a mmorpg which makes you the hero. Go play SW:TOR

well imo, ppl are not satisfied for not being hero. just that Trahearne is hero but very badly made character and does not feel like hero at all. If he is more passionate and more emotional and do more work as a hero (like sacrifice a limb or so), then i’m sure players would have satisfied.

Cancer.9065:

Just killed the mouth and indeed it feels kinda weird to be the errand boy. even if I get to picked what type of coffee to bring Im still the errand boy.

I think they could fix this by simply starting to name him early on PS even if its just briefly (after you choose an order of course). An then after he rises to power instead of having him giving the choice every time, let players get info from npc’s and being presetned with the same options.

The thing is as soon as you are presented the choice from a subordinate instead of your superior the story again centers back to you. Of course all actions should be “informed” to the general… something like this:

Npc " sir scouts have found magical items being delivered to this place, intels shows that this is how zhaitan gets substenance."

toon: "then we must stop this, what are our options?

Npc: “we can kill the mouth or we can stop the supply”

Toon: “we’ll kill the mouth then, inform the general that I’m handling this and that I’m taking a sqadron”

Npc: “yes commander”

The general doesn’t need to be the hero (it almost never is) the toon can be the hero and not be the errand boy. NPC’s could talk about the hero’s quick thinking and guts that won the crucial battles that allow the general to mount the offensive that wins the war.

Think of it like any war movie, yes there is a general somewhere dealing with the war, but the hero can deal the desicive blow that turns the tide.

I think this guy may have picked out the problem; it feels like Trehearne is always looking over your shoulder and taking credit for your stuff. The one that sticks in my mind is just after he’s made leader of the pact, and convinces everyone he’s a strong leader by rescuing an excavation team from what’s left of Fort Ranik.
However, he didn’t really actually do anything. He went with you, rounded up the survivors, went one way, found it was a deadend, went the other, killed a buttload of undead.

That’s it. This apparently qualifies him to lead the Pact.

He does this once to prove he can lead the pact, something you’ve already done multiple times repeatedly over the past dozen or so missions. So apparetly you’d be just as good (if not better) at leading the pact yourself (assuming you could, being a member of one of the orders)
It’s sort of like World War II: Eisenhower wasn’t (arguably) a very good ‘military general’, and was more a ‘bureaucratic general’; he got things organised and sorted while his very competent generals (special mention to Patten and Montgomery) got on and did things, did the actual ‘legwork’.
Using these real life generals as reference points, the problem with Trehearne is it feels far too much like he is constantly doing/being made out to do things that Patten/Monty (ie, the player) is doing and even taking credit for them, when he should be a more distant Eisenhower type figure. What was effectively a single small skirmish with the undead should not have proven his abilities as a general. A series of missions where he makes sound strategic decisions (the location of the Pact’s base for the assault on Orr was a good example) and anticipates/recovers from setbacks to these strategic decisions while his subordinates (read: you) actually execute the plan(s), making their own tactical decisions in the field.

I’m still just not getting all the hate. By the logic I possess, everything here that people have an issue with does make sense in one way or another.

Bad character/personality: Yeah, uhm…I don’t really see this. What’s so wrong with him? I actually like him.

Takes credit for your work: Well…yeah. Generally what leaders/historians do. This just seems like people griping that the world isn’t grovelling at their feet. A lot of people do great things that get attributed to their “betters”. It’s just a fact of real life that they put here.

Came outta nowhere and feels weak: Well, for Sylvari, he doesn’t. For everyone else? he’s an expert on Orr. You know. The place we’re fighting. He’s also a necromancer. So very knowledgeable against the undead. The creatures we’re fighting. And every group owes him? Yeah, stretch, but being an expert on the main enemy the three orders are fighting at the moment, as well as being one of the first Sylvari to exist kinda does give him room to make this make some sense.

Doesn’t do anything: …I got nothing for this one. It’s really a shame he doesn’t. Cause he is pretty powerful. In the OoW option for dealing with Mazdak, Trahearne could usually take Mazdak on his own for a good minute or two, even with Caithe and Cai taken out.

riku.2091:

Bad character/personality: Yeah, uhm…I don’t really see this. What’s so wrong with him? I actually like him.

He’s a Gary Stu. He has no actual flaws despite seemingly being inexperienced in military affairs. Note the word seemingly however because he makes little to no mistakes in organizing the Pact despite, in his own words, being a scholar and not a general. His script attempts to make him the inspirational leader, however it’s mostly just generic and cliche “We must work together!” said ad-naseum. His voice actor delivers his lines very dully, and without any interest. If you want to say “But he’s a necromancer!”, I point you to Killeen, the Sylvari Necromancer in Ghosts of Ascalon.

riku.2091:

Takes credit for your work: Well…yeah. Generally what leaders/historians do. This just seems like people griping that the world isn’t grovelling at their feet. A lot of people do great things that get attributed to their “betters”. It’s just a fact of real life that they put here.

It’s inconsistent. You’re played up to be this rising big-shot. You rise to the top of your Order’s rank after a handful of missions, everyone thinks you’re special (which is why you’re recruited into an Order in the first place). ANets want to make you feel like a hero with Dynamic Events and Personal Story.

“As a structure, the MMO has lost the ability for the player to feel like a hero. Everyone around you is doing the same thing you’re doing. The boss you killed just respawns 10 minutes later. … We do not want to build the same MMO everyone else is building. And in Guild Wars 2 it’s your world, it’s your story.”

-Ree Soesbee

riku.2091:

Came outta nowhere and feels weak: Well, for Sylvari, he doesn’t. For everyone else? he’s an expert on Orr. You know. The place we’re fighting. He’s also a necromancer. So very knowledgeable against the undead. The creatures we’re fighting. And every group owes him? Yeah, stretch, but being an expert on the main enemy the three orders are fighting at the moment, as well as being one of the first Sylvari to exist kinda does give him room to make this make some sense.

Played a Charr. As much as Sylvari seem to be the lore writer’s “favorite” race in GW2, the story should still make sense and should still connect to all character backgrounds, not just Sylvari.

riku.2091:

Doesn’t do anything: …I got nothing for this one. It’s really a shame he doesn’t. Cause he is pretty powerful. In the OoW option for dealing with Mazdak, Trahearne could usually take Mazdak on his own for a good minute or two, even with Caithe and Cai taken out.

Agreed. Here’s a display of his power in-game during missions:
http://i552.photobucket.com/albums/jj339/DethPenguin/gw384.jpg