Guild Wars 2

Arcalithe.6057:

Ellisande.5218:

Arcalithe.6057:

Anakita Snakecharm.4360:

Arcalithe.6057:

But my opinion IS that you guys are being irrational (until proven otherwise in-game). I don’t see the problem here. :V

You’re missing my point.

I think you’re missing mine. :V

My opinion is that, so far (with maybe two story missions left to go), I like Trahearne, and that you guys are being irrational about him. I intended “proven otherwise” to be taken as “I’ll admit I was naive” if I turn out to hate his guts soon, not that preference can be “proven”.

:V

Considering that you provided no evidence in support of your assertions and actually resorted to an ad hominen attack on your opponents by saying that they must be “irrational” for taking the position they chose, and then tried to beat a hasty retreat by using the “I don’t expect an internet debate like this to end, since neither side ever seems willing to end it, so I’m not sure why I’m still replying,” you have all but affirmed that your position is untenable and that you have lost the debate.

Wait, what? I haven’t called her irrational in any way for her argument. My opinion on this Trahearne issue is that people are being irrational about their hate for him, since I don’t see what people are talking about. “Irrational” is not a bad term in this sense. It’s just my opinion that I feel like people are overreacting to him. :V Plus, how can I give proof of my personal opinion? Guess I can try.

So far it seems that he’s just been the underdog since he was introduced into the story. He hasn’t had much time to shine since it was relatively late into the story when he came in, and he’s handled himself well up to this point (which, like I said, is with maybe two missions left in the personal story for me). I feel like he’s doing the best he can, for being a scholar thrown (willingly, yes) into the position of Marshal for the combined armies of The Pact. I just think people are being too hard on him as a character. Sure, the voice acting can be iffy, but if that’s what annoys some people about him, I’d say that’s a rather trivial point to debate. Just turn off the sound and imagine the lines in Morgan Freeman’s voice, for all it matters. :P

I realize that that’s not even a reason most people give, but I have heard it said.

I’m just insulted that you think I was calling people irrational out of spite. :c I just feel that they’re overreacting to Trahearne, not calling them irrational folks in general. :c I’ve had a good time playing with the people in this game, much more so than any other MMO I’ve played thus far. The community is healthy and still gets along quite nicely! We all have our opinions, but that doesn’t keep me from getting to know someone in my guild or over map chat or something.

Sorry that I said anything. I just wanted to state my opinion. :c

“So far it seems that he’s just been the underdog since he was introduced into the story … [so] late into the story.” That’s the beginning of the problem. The problem was the way in which he was introduced, how he seizes control of the story which up until then was being directed by and for our character, the ridiculous heavy handed writing that makes him the leader of the pact even though he lacks any credentials for being chosen as the leader over our character who the story is supposed to be about. I could go on and on and on but really a good portion of the evidence was already adduced and it is not fault of ours that you refused or would unable to understand it despite there being 7 pages of it.

In order to understand a position you don’t have to believe in that position itself you just have to understand the argument which is being made, something that you have refused to do and therefore resorted to calling it “irrational” as a means to avoid having to meet it head on. But you can’t simply dodge addressing the issue just because you don’t want to put the time into reading the points that were being made.

My view on trahearne is simple…I like him, but I didn’t like being secondary TO him when the story is supposed to be about me…There wasn’t enough about me, and too much about everyone else.

The thing is that choosing our NPC mentor when forming The Pact would make it way better. As Forgal was my choice to go with because of his brutal character (in appearance), I nearly cried when he sacrificed himself to save us. I even started spamming “FORGAAAAAAAL NOOOO !!” in the guild chat because I really loved that NPC.
Anyway, Trahearne on the other hand isn’t a choice, his introduction was like : “hey ! there’s only him to be the leader in the story cause if it was you, it wouldn’t make sense”. And … Well I still can’t accept him as the one that gives me orders like Forgal did. During the Vigil storyline, I was really proud of each task they tell me to do. But with Trahearne, I just can’t count the number of times I cursed him on each story quest. Having Rytlock in his place would have made more sense to me, god I really like this one he’s so funny and can make a solid leader in the story.

In order to understand a position you don’t have to believe in that position itself you just have to understand the argument which is being made, something that you have refused to do and therefore resorted to calling it “irrational” as a means to avoid having to meet it head on. But you can’t simply dodge addressing the issue just because you don’t want to put the time into reading the points that were being made.

Wow, people get touchy when you introduce a differing opinion. :V

Guess I’ll get back to playing instead of duking it out over the internet. You can say “woo I won” if you want. What do you want me to say? Congratulations, you won an internet argument? Well, if that “victory” is all you want, then by all means, have it.

I still like Trahearne and I think people are overreacting to him.

Yeah you totally stuck it to the man, Arca

SHUT IT, YOU. >:C

BuddhaKeks.4857:

But you know what, I was annoyed by Gwen, but I did not hate her… yet. It wasn’t until I read Ghost of Ascalon that I developed a burning hatred for that witch, that can never be extinguished. In that book, I think it’s either Riona or Dougal who said it, it is mentioned that Gwen is the greatest hero of humanity.
Wham! What a lie! What a freaking lie! Gwen did nothing! Nothing, that is even remotely close to what my character did. Or Togo, or Kormir or 50% of the human NPCs in GW1. Not only did Gwen just take a big steaming pile of kitten on my legacy, no she also sealed all hope that I will get a Kryta in GW2. Instead I get Ascalon 2.0. Because that’s the only thing most krytans seem to care about, what Ascalon did in the past. Heck, they even look more like ascalonians than krytans.
But back to Gwen. You think Trahearne stealing the show in your personal story is bad? How about Gwen stealing everything you did in 4 campaigns and various smaller add-ons from you? I think this is much worse. I’d say, we dig up that hag from her grave and hack her into pieces, burn those pieces and erase her name from history. She does not deserve to have a legacy.

In a sick way I can forgive that due to revisionist history.
From the viewpoint of Riona or Dougal (I think it was Riona not sure) they lived in Ebonhawke which would color their perceptions. It is one thing for history to focus on a few key heroes and glorify them over the centuries, but it is another to have the whole kitten Pact raise Asparagus Neck up on their shoulders while you have to clean up the region and he doesn’t inspire squat.

At least with Gwen we could get ticked off or annoyed. With this guy I feel nothing and yet he’s the star of the hour?! Not on my watch!

Yeah Gwen and Thackaway shafted us in glory from the historical perspective. That burns, but it was also more than a century of people probably glorifying her in Ebonhawke that caused those characters from the novel to see her as the next coming of the gods. They are misinformed idiots who don’t realise how awesome we were back in the day friend

So I do understand where your opinion is on this, but for me it burns more that this glorification is happening right in my face for someone who doesn’t even have a personality.

Arcalithe.6057:

In order to understand a position you don’t have to believe in that position itself you just have to understand the argument which is being made, something that you have refused to do and therefore resorted to calling it “irrational” as a means to avoid having to meet it head on. But you can’t simply dodge addressing the issue just because you don’t want to put the time into reading the points that were being made.

Wow, people get touchy when you introduce a differing opinion. :V

Guess I’ll get back to playing instead of duking it out over the internet. You can say “woo I won” if you want. What do you want me to say? Congratulations, you won an internet argument? Well, if that “victory” is all you want, then by all means, have it.

I still like Trahearne and I think people are overreacting to him.

Yeah you totally stuck it to the man, Arca

SHUT IT, YOU. >:C

I don’t get touchy when people hold a differing opinion. I get touchy when people call my opinion irrational because they do not put the leg work into reading the posts that would have allowed them to understand the position.\

And I thought maybe my memory was hazed or I was under stress or something at the time so I watched this scene play out again and it was still just as bad.

In the previous mission Trahearne is all like “Oh no we’re never going to be able to do this because we don’t have the manpower” and your character is all like “just chill dude I totally got this. we can just get all the orders to join together” then trahearne replies "wow you’re totally one smart cookie I wish I would have thought of that.

Then you go to your order representative (who is being voiced by a completely different voice actress at this point if you chose to go vigil) to propose YOUR plan and your leader is like "wow what a great plan [player character]. if anyone but Trahearne was telling me that [never mind that it was your character telling them this after your character had just saved the day with by coming up with the plan that routed the undead army and was so awesome and beloved by this leader that they rose to the top of the ranks within 3 missions!?] I would have cut them down where they stand [even though your character and not Trahearne was the one who told them this]. I totally love this Trahearne guy who had absolutely no presence within the story and was completely unknown by anyone up until Claw Island [unless you were a Sylvari then he gets introduced as a bit character who was easily forgettable outside of being Caithe’s “brother” but of course all Sylvari are actually born from the same mother so he is also your older brother and you are his younger sister/brother] and still comes off as a bit character."

Then the next mission is you going to the meeting of the order leaders where they predictably are bickering like children, Trahearne gets in, opens his stupid mouth and says something very unpolitical that threatens to throw your characters plan into jeopardy when your character appeals to each of the order leaders who finally agree to work together. Then the vigil leader says that strong leadership is needed and out of the blue and for no apparent reason another order leader says that the leader will have to be a neutral party and the stupid Asura guy I can’t stand (i hate all of the asura because they are basically just young teenagers spuutering stupid catch phrases) says that yes being neutral is the only qualification that matters and not actual ability to lead, get the orders to truly work well together, or not die to a mob every 2 seconds. So Trahearne gets nominated for the job even though he very clearly demonstrated just 5 seconds ago that he wasn’t up to the task. The more appropriate thing to do would have been to not make your character join an order (which never made any sense anyways because being in an order had nothing to do with the mission that brought you to lion’s arch in the first place and everything you do in that order has nothing to do with that original goal as well) from the getgo or take your character out of the order they were in and have the character readopt the neutral leadership position they held when they first worked with the three orders 15 or so levels ago.

Trahearne: What shall we call this fort?

My Character: Why don’t we call it Fort Trinity, in honour of all free factions coming together?

Trahearne: I have decided to call this place Fort Trinity.

…. eff you, Trahearne.

Atlas.9704:

In a sick way I can forgive that due to revisionist history.
From the viewpoint of Riona or Dougal (I think it was Riona not sure) they lived in Ebonhawke which would color their perceptions. It is one thing for history to focus on a few key heroes and glorify them over the centuries, but it is another to have the whole kitten Pact raise Asparagus Neck up on their shoulders while you have to clean up the region and he doesn’t inspire squat.

At least with Gwen we could get ticked off or annoyed. With this guy I feel nothing and yet he’s the star of the hour?! Not on my watch!

Yeah Gwen and Thackaway shafted us in glory from the historical perspective. That burns, but it was also more than a century of people probably glorifying her in Ebonhawke that caused those characters from the novel to see her as the next coming of the gods. They are misinformed idiots who don’t realise how awesome we were back in the day friend

So I do understand where your opinion is on this, but for me it burns more that this glorification is happening right in my face for someone who doesn’t even have a personality.

Don’t get me wrong, Trahearne is an awful, awwwfuuul character. But he does not annoy me as much as Gwen did. For some reason, I almost pitty him, thinking he is in any way better than me, thinking he can command me. I can’t take him seriously for this. It’s just his delusions of grandeur.
Nothing says history will remember him, there are enough witnesses to confirm that I killed Zhaitan. Besides that, I still have the ability to build my legend. But in GW1, I did everything already and then eventually my character passed away. Finding out now that no one remembers me, not one single person, but instead everyone thinks Gwen did it, that’s a dagger to heart. There is even nothing I can do. My new character can run around with some stuff of the HoM, but even that, even there, no one ever explained who the hero was, that owned the HoM. It’s just some random kitten, who was probably one of Gwen’s disciples.
I rather have Trahearne taking command over the Pact and taking some credit from me, than Gwen taking all credit from me and everyone beliefs this bs.

Simple solution : ignore personal story. There’s a whole lot more that this game has to offer than having to tolerate that annoying fruit-face.

Eeshaan.9068:

Simple solution : ignore personal story. There’s a whole lot more that this game has to offer than having to tolerate that annoying fruit-face.

Is pretty much where I am. Forced myself to get to the kill mouth of zhaitan part. “My Story” has long since become the story of how I became Trehearne’s Lackey. I detest him. And unless some guildies prod me to finish, I don’t see it happening. I just don’t care about busting my kitten to put Trehearne on a pedestal.

First I thought I was the only one that did not like Trahearne. Then many more from my guild. Now I found 8 pages long of Trahearne complaints. Beautiful.

But guys/girls I feel your pain. My first playthrough the storyline was very much hindered by the precense of our not so beloved friend Trahearne. I chose Whispers and get this funny lovely lad named Tybalt to hang out with. And we all know what happens to our boy Tybalt ;{ What we get in return still feels bitter after many hours of GW2. A bitter taste of a bitter plant we are forced to swallow named Trahearne. Just a guy out of the middle of nowhere. Wait, thats not the right name for such person. Trahearne is arrogant and generally a kitten nobody would love. In addition for a person like me who did not read all books or lore, we have next to zero affinity for Sylvari. I’m sure they are lovely lads, but let me explore this new race on my own pace. Don’t let our relationship with the Sylvari go too fast. I need to think about where I want to go with them. Maybe I like Norn, maybe I stick to Humans, I don’t know. Just don’t put them in my face. Don’t let me go on a 8 month trip with the average joe23495, also known as Trahearne, who I could not care less who he is.

I think though, it’s not just Trahearne’s personality alone. It’s also the Sylvari race. You either love it or hate it. We can all relate to soft fluffy creatures such as Charr, but to plant-like creatures its just another thing. Maybe we as the players should not have cared so much about who we are set up with, but the fact is we are listening and playing with these characters for hours. It generally makes it harder for you to get into the story if you (the main character) of the story goes around with someone you cannot relate to. To me, as said before, this person is a kitten and my character just blatantly follows him wherever he goes. Now how is this right. Trahearne speaks lowly of me and I’m treated as garbage compared to Trahearne (as other people quoted) yet I’m happy to work with this work. After a few quests I lost interest in Zhaitan and wanted to focus my powers on Trahearne so I could move on.

Anet, whatever you do with this post, don’t follow Mass Effect 3’s footsteps and make a ‘change’ in storyline just because a certain number (although probably higher than the forum is showing) are complaining about it. ME3 made a bad move in the gameindustry. Don’t be like EA.

ps. kitten is a bad word in my post.

Death Henk.7143:

In addition for a person like me who did not read all books or lore, we have next to zero affinity for Sylvari. I’m sure they are lovely lads, but let me explore this new race on my own pace. Don’t let our relationship with the Sylvari go too fast. I need to think about where I want to go with them. Maybe I like Norn, maybe I stick to Humans, I don’t know. Just don’t put them in my face. Don’t let me go on a 8 month trip with the average joe23495, also known as Trahearne, who I could not care less who he is.

I think though, it’s not just Trahearne’s personality alone. It’s also the Sylvari race. You either love it or hate it. We can all relate to soft fluffy creatures such as Charr, but to plant-like creatures its just another thing. Maybe we as the players should not have cared so much about who we are set up with, but the fact is we are listening and playing with these characters for hours. It generally makes it harder for you to get into the story if you (the main character) of the story goes around with someone you cannot relate to.

I think this is a very human reaction from a perspective I never considered as my own character was Sylvari so my character was more easily able to relate to Trahearne than anyone else she could have worked with besides Caithe. The experience for me was more like a bonding experience between a big brother and a little sister where of course I would have to acquiesce to my older brother.

BuddhaKeks.4857:

But in GW1, I did everything already and then eventually my character passed away. Finding out now that no one remembers me, not one single person, but instead everyone thinks Gwen did it, that’s a dagger to heart. There is even nothing I can do. My new character can run around with some stuff of the HoM, but even that, even there, no one ever explained who the hero was, that owned the HoM. It’s just some random kitten, who was probably one of Gwen’s disciples.

Sadly we’ll never get the reverence in legends the way we should, because we are the muscle behind the hero proxies.

Like Orion and Renya said in Drok’s at the end of the Prophecies campaign:
Orion: Claude is right. To answer your question, Shadow, some of us left voluntarily, some not.
Reyna: And in the end, we all played our part; that is what is important.

I think the only game I can remember where my character’s legend lived on was KOTOR 2 and they had the ability for you to build up what your character did and what gender they were in conversation. That was a neat trick of them.

Hopefully one day we’ll get some ability to go into a Create Character screen and the result becomes the statue of our hero from GW1 sitting proudly in our home instance.
Thinks about that for a minute, then decides to run to the Suggestion forum

Atlas.9704:

Like Orion and Renya said in Drok’s at the end of the Prophecies campaign:
Orion: Claude is right. To answer your question, Shadow, some of us left voluntarily, some not.
Reyna: And in the end, we all played our part; that is what is important.

I think the only game I can remember where my character’s legend lived on was KOTOR 2 and they had the ability for you to build up what your character did and what gender they were in conversation. That was a neat trick of them.

Hopefully one day we’ll get some ability to go into a Create Character screen and the result becomes the statue of our hero from GW1 sitting proudly in our home instance.
Thinks about that for a minute, then decides to run to the Suggestion forum

What they could have done, is giving our PC from GW1 a title, like the Nerevarine from Morrowind, or the titles we get at the start of the personal storyline (Slayer of Issomir, Hero of Shaemoor etc.). Or they could have atleast alluded to the great heroes form the past. But they didn’t, the best we got was a ambiguous line form Glint in EoD. Instead they chose to take those awful henchmen like Devona & friends at first and later even dared to give all the fame to Gwen.
I think that is just sad. Of course you can see it like this, my character did this stuff to save the world and the people he cared about, but still, doing all that and no one gives a flying kitten about it? All they care about is a bratty teenager, who never got the boot to the head she deserved so much. That’s just wrong.

I was excited when Trahearne gets all depressed when his Wyld Hunt is complete and we were on the airship. Just wanted to nudge him a little closer to the ledge. I sympathize with the guy who wrote the script for Trahearne however. Has to suck that what could have been a good story on paper got ruined by the voice acting. You need to project your voice even in the studio but it was so obvious it was being read from paper. Leaders have that boom in their voice you can hear over fighting and screaming.
On that note I hope that he loses his life trying to make a big difference in the story just for it to be noted later that he delayed an elder dragon by a fraction of a second. Lets just not have a repeat and be like “Yay Trahearne gave us that one second we needed to beat (insert name here).” While our character is flailing around with no legs from the fight that killed the dragon.

I wouldn’t like anything bad happen to Trahearne. I like him.

…to add, after beating the second last story mission I was the happiest ever because he made it. Made my whole day, basically.

I really, REALLY want Trahearne to go insane.

I just have this picture of Trahearne, not being able to get over his Wyld Hunt being over, goes deeper into Orr. You, as his second-in-command, follow him.

At the end, Trahearne is trying to re-(re?)animate Zhaitan, and you have to put him down.

Obviously, probably not going to happen, but it’d feel good.

This forum should be called “you story is not all about you, but about some random NPC that the writers threw in for no apparent reason”

After my 4th job I have become to loathe Traehearne. I am sorry, I am tired of him. He has a dull personality and after doing the stupid light into Darkness and having it glitch out when I finished just makes me hate him even more. I feel like the flexibility of this personal story stagnated and I have seen the same things too many kitten times and Traehearne is useless in every fight he is in. Yet he gets the credit. I don’t understand what the writers were thinking.

When I first went through on my Mesmer, I was ok with him. I even worried that he’d die. (because I’d cared about the others who died, after all) By my last venture, on my Asura thief, I was thinking how very pleasant it would be if Trahearne had turned out to be some dragonish manifestation of evil, so that I might impale him with his gaudy sword. There are so many NPCs I would happily have promoted. (I’d go Asura, I’m sure, just because it would never be dull) The older-brother Sylvari from one of the personal stories – he was great, very moving, heroic. Pretty much any NPC would have been less irritating.

I’m not sure entirely why – he’s not as ditzy as the Sylvari girl team (Tegwen? The dimmer one of that pair makes me want to start punching.) He does have some questionable lines, and those get really grating time after time. He also seems to go from, “I’m just a lil’ ole scholar,” to a rather arrogant, narcissistic twit by the end. I did not want to be leader, but ya, when you’ve gone through a fight with him spinning uselessly in the background, & then your team (some of whom you have met previously, & who don’t remember you from your personal story, adding insult to injury) all laud the great Trahearne, you do begin to find yourself fantasizing about his possible demise.

It somewhat annoys me that my characters all value him, beyond my control, when I’m pretty sure they would not. The human mesmer, maybe – she’s agreeable enough. The Asura, however, would have found a way to ‘lose’ him long ago.

My son was done with him early on – my daughter kept trying to find something good about him, then finally questioned if perhaps it wouldn’t have been better to let him be the ‘noble sacrifice.’ When he lost her, he’d really gone past the point of no return.

This might get me hit by a couple of flames, but it’s gotta be said.

After playing through most of the Star Wars: The Old Republic class stories, and then coming over to GW2 (because I’m just an MMO junkie when it all boils down), I gotta say that the personal story in this game was horrible. Not just horrible, it was astoundingly disappointing.

The beginning was pretty good, some bad dialogue every once in a while, but I was the Slayer of Isomir (even though there were a few other people fighting him at the same time…), I saved the Mists from Jormag (thankfully not a shared phase this time), and did a bunch of other awesome stuff, like turning into a Wolf and gnawing the kitten out of a Jotun. I was a little let down by my complete inactivity during cut-scenes and not being able to choose what my character said to their mentor and others a-la TOR, but I could live with it. Then I chose my order, and it was pretty kitten interesting still, for a while.

Then Claw Island came, and the hilariously incompetent commander therein, with Trahearne just coming out of the woodwork. The story got so bad I only finished it to say that I’d done so. Trahearne is, sadly, a copy paste definition of Mary Sue. There’s nothing he can’t do (except fight effectively, even with his fancy Greatsword (As a Necromancer! Actually, that might explain his total suckage in combat)), everyone looks up to him, he’s a great leader even though he wasn’t aiming for the role, he’s humble yet confident and all butterflies and rainbows. And his dialogue is terrible! I think I winced at least once every time he opened his mouth, his lines had almost no emotion behind them, they were stilted and awkward and horribly delivered. It’s not bad enough that he completely hijacked my entire personal story, he had to butcher the dialogue as well. During his little 80’s movie inspired speech to the Pact, I just muted his kitten and read the text instead, skipping ahead when I finished a “page”.

Who is this guy? Why do I suddenly never see Eir again even though we were total buds earlier in my story? Why is the story suddenly about Trahearn’s Wyld Hunt in cleansing Orr instead of my hero helping the Vigil slay Zhaitan? Why am I, the supposed Hero of my own story, suddenly some little bookworm’s sidekick? What the hell happened to Forgal since he was “in the embrace of the dragon”? Why does nothing I do matter anymore?

If ANet is going to hype the story aspect of the game, then they need to learn to walk their talk, because it was pretty terrible.

Could be worse… the pact could be led by Magister Seiran…

To be honest, I didn’t mind Trahearne as much as the fact that I was forced into an order. I do not join ‘clubs’ in real life, and didn’t want any of my characters to do so in a game. But I agree with most of the above… Trahearne is not inspiring at all, and by the time I got to the pact section of my second character’s personal story, I was quick skipping any dialogue that popped up.

I didn’t feel involved or emotionally interested in ANY of the characters in the personal storyline to be honest. The voice actors aren’t the problem, the fact that the it doesn’t seem to matter whether my character is present or not, is a BIG problem.

And then it gets worse… you need other players to help you with the final story part which dilutes your part in the storyline even more. You didn’t singlehandedly do anything at all.

I have played several pen n paper RPGs where the GM (and in one case the GM was myself) swamped the gameplay with NPCs. This game feels just like that, too many chiefs and not enough braves.

That is all before I go into how unrealistic my character acts throughout the story. I go from being a wide-eyed “Wow, the world is so big” newbie adventurer to a pro detective/commander/philosopher/figure of respect in a flash.

The only character I had any care for at all was Hiroki. She is cute :p

GuzziHero.2467:

Could be worse… the pact could be led by Magister Seiran…

How could that be worse?

I actually liked the bubbly Seiran. Well as much of her as I saw which wasn’t much.

Another reason to dislike Trahearne… in the ‘An Early Parole’ story, all that useless **** does is aggro enemies for you…

GuzziHero.2467:

Another reason to dislike Trahearne… in the ‘An Early Parole’ story, all that useless **** does is aggro enemies for you…

I’m going to be sending Trahearne a bill for the armour repair costs I incurred when I died needlessly while running to rez him from wherever he’d died first.

GuzziHero.2467:

Another reason to dislike Trahearne… in the ‘An Early Parole’ story, all that useless **** does is aggro enemies for you…

That quest almost made me throw up my hands and say “kitten it” to the main story line.

You killed Tybalt yet let Trahearne live?! enough said.

Painking.4703:

Honestly I think it’s entirely for continuity reasons, same with Kormir jacking your spotlight in GW. They need to be able to say “Zhaitan was slain by Firstborn Sylvari Trahearne”. Not, “Zhaitain was slain by the commander of the pact but we know absolutely nothing about him.”

I agree, however, I also think that in the next expansion they’ll have a cool twist to loop the player into the spotlight somehow. But I agree with everyone else too. I would’ve liked to be more important in the story.

There’s also the ending, when people you really did care about have died, & Trahearne is still whining about what he’s going to do with his life now. At least, you have one, twit! (and many of those deaths, I credit to his ridiculous leadership. Oh – just shut the doors, Trahearne! Don’t WAIT for anyone to come in! Just save yourself!) You don’t get to see various characters who mattered, or even resolve some hanging thread storylines. (a bereaved widow, for instance – I looked all over her after I’d finished story Arah. She should be there!) And your Order Companions? WHERE are they? We don't get to 'save' them, to set them to real rest, or anything. (I think we can safely assume they're Zhaitanized, in that one of the eyeballs basically says so.) But we have to give Trahearne a pep talk about the vital importance of his Mary Sue life? I don’t think so! At that point, my Asura would have kicked him off the pier, probably into the mouth of that Group Event dead Sharkadon thing no one ever kills!

And Aximand, I went through SWTOR a few times, too. Their personal stories are really great, for the most part. (though the game itself just felt like WoW in Space, & I tired of such limited character models) But story-wise, they did a great job. There are some good choices here, less character building flexibility, but after Claw Island, it really just fades. I’ve only completed it fully once on my Mesmer (my first) and I have 4 others just hanging around at various stages. (All after Claw Island) I’m afraid Trahearne is the biggest reason, because we do still get some interesting choices. They’re just all credited to HIM. (and the one where you beg his forgiveness – NOOOO!) He’s gone into Mary Sue territory, kicked her off her throne, & taken over. He’s Guild Wars Bella – and that horror could be altered by having him take a pleasantly dark turn in some future installment. They could even give us a choice as to whether to redeem him or off him, in deference to whoever still likes him. (I might give him a chance on the mesmer, but the Asura are lined up to take him out.)

Oh – about the continuity issue. I get that, but couldn’t they just say, ‘by the Pact,’ or even better, by Destiny’s Edge ‘with help?’ Anything would be better than the horrible thought that one day, Tyria will be revering the Holy Trahearne.

GuzziHero.2467:

The only character I had any care for at all was Hiroki. She is cute :p

Hioki, Seiran, Ifwyn, and Batanga
happy sigh

He’s ok. At least fought on key occasions unlike the evil Leech. I really hated her and would have by far rather have kicked useless Koss into that vortex (if Anet creates an expansion that involves killing her, I’d be first in line to buy).

He does however have a few significant faults in his character. His acting just seems dispassionate. He also never really develops as a character, as he is constantly plagued with doubts from the start to finish.

International.7980:

He’s ok. At least fought on key occasions unlike the evil Leech. I really hated her and would have by far rather have kicked useless Koss into that vortex (if Anet creates an expansion that involves killing her, I’d be first in line to buy).

What’s up with the hate for Kormir? I understand that people are annoyed by the fact that she became a god, but honestly, she was the only choice. It couldn’t be the player, nor any of his heroes. It had to be her.
Also, unlike Trahearne, Kormir was a great leader. She never took credit for the things the player has done, it felt believable that she had allies that would join her cause, since unlike Trahearne she wasn’t a shy scholar, but a experienced soldier. And even then, she had to convince everyone to go to war with Kourna, unlike Trahearne who is just like “You owe me one, LOL!”.
Kormir also cared for her men and she admitted mistakes she made. She blamed the lost battle in Gandara on herself, the same she did with the whole Nightfall (event, not campaign), because she woke up the Apocrypha. Compare to Trahearne, who is just emo and doesn’t think he can lead anyone into battle. He does not regret anything, in fact he never does anything wrong (in the storyline), all his decision (rather the player’s) are working out perfect. He is by defintion a Mary-Sue, while Kormir wasn’t. And yes, Kormir doesn’t help very much later on, but guess what, she is bling, because a freaking demon ate her eyes and yet she still goes on and does everything she can to support the player. You can say what you want, but that is bad*ss! She suffered, she got tortured, she blamed herself quite a lot and in the end, she deserved to become a god through all her pain. Yes the player probably deserved it as much, but again, storywise that was impossible. Compare to Trahearne, he doesn’t suffer at all, he is just wimpy and afraid to take responsibility. I’d rather follow Kormir into battle, even when she is blind, she has more of an idea what she is doing, than Trahearne ever will.

^ I will hereby unoffically link this as an addendum to my line from the earlier rant where I said, “Oh dear Six Gods Kormir is a better hero proxy than Cabbage Patch man”.

Still…at least Cabbage man tries to pay you back for all the times you helped him (showering you with praise, making u 2nd in command, and at least helps somewhat in combat). He’s loyal to say the least.

As for Kormir fixing her mistakes and loyalty to her troops….this thing explains it → Kormir’s Great Legacy

Note: Kudos to Dashface for this awesome comic.

To me I Was somewhat ticked at Trahaerne mostly becouse after awhile it seemed like half the Army was eather Charr or Sylvari
Norn was a close 3rd with Asura and Humans in last place (Name 1 important human guy who isnt a jerk surviveing or such?) HARD Pressed to come up with a name or a face to do that.

So to me I was thinking we where going to have a combination of people of all different Races be major or important characters in the story plot (Outside of Dungeon) But end up with nothing but Charr and Sylvari

which to me kinda made me hate Trahaerne even more so … Dude get some Varity in your Army! quit hating on Asura and Humans so much!
theres like litterly just 1 of thouse races (Outside of dungeon) That pretty much make it eveyone eles is like Charr/Sylvari

which made me kinda hate thouse 2 races (Sorry Charr/Sylvari lovers)

International.7980:

As for Kormir fixing her mistakes and loyalty to her troops….this thing explains it -> Kormir’s Great Legacy

Note: Kudos to Dashface for this awesome comic.

I will admit Dwyana looks nice in that comic.

I didn’t hate Trahaerne, but I didn’t particularly like him either. He didn’t strike me as as being much of a leader. I liked him as a supporting character but even he didn’t have the authority that Kormir had. At least I could respect her as a leader at that point in the story. Though I’m sure there are many who would disagree with that.

I liked that he was involved with the cleansing of Orr, but he just wasn’t all that strong a character in general. I’m glad they picked a Sylvari though. They seem to be the most neutral and diplomatic race since they don’t have a long history of bad blood between them.

Funny thing, Trahaerne kept dying. I made a point of trying to complete each task without rezzing him. Nevertheless, he kept returning to claim his story back.

I finished Claw island not too long ago for the first time.. So I lost Tybalt, yea, it was touching scene and one of the most best written moments so far..

So I’m fine with it, ofc I miss Tybalt.. But then I met this “treesus” I’ve heard so much about.. And I realized that all the talk I’ve heard about him.. It’s true. I have to agree. He’s horrible. His voice is horrible. The whole character is horrible.
Man I Hated Kormir. I really did. She just tagged alone blind after doing nothing and then she just Jumped into the vortex and.. Kormir became eternal hero, a Goddess! No glory for the player whatsoever! YEY! But this has been Anet’s style with every GW.. I don’t get it.

I don’t know how can I go on with Treesus anymore. Why player can’t be the leader/commander? Seriosly. Trahearne could be just a advisor and scholar in the background. It’s not like he’s doing anything useful anyway, so why he has the be The hero? If he’s so obsessed with Orr he should have died at Claw Island but no. He did absolutely nothing and rescued his own kitten And I had to listen to his annoying voice all the time.

They have to write him out in the future and give players the glory we deserve in Our Personal Stories.

At what point does Trahearne sprout a little villain mustache and begin to twirl it while cackling about how he’s going to steal all the credit for everything his lackeys do? I’ve done every path of the post-50 story at least once, and I don’t remember it ever happening. I remember quite a few times when he responded to praise with a humble "thank you" or redirected it to the player/Pact saying that we accomplished something together, though. I also don’t understand how he comes off as mean or condescending, unless you’ve somehow managed to bug out your story so it repeats the mesmer clone quest at every step. He requests your advice, confides in you, calls you a good friend, pretty much does everything short of hitting on you (he may even have been attempting that with his "star-crossed lovers" comment :P).

It is not Trahearne’s story any more than it is the white stag’s, Malyck’s, Tybalt’s, the quaggans’, or whoever else you met previously (who, to me, felt like a bigger focus of their respective arcs than Trahearne did in the Zhaitan parts). In every case it is still your story of how you dealt with the issues surrounding those characters. Ultimately, you grow and move on to a bigger goal, and Trahearne partners up with you because his goal is similar. You motivate him to get off his kitten and help him complete his Wyld Hunt, you kill the dragon, and although the NPCs give him some praise, they also praise you.

I don’t think Trahearne’s implementation is perfect, but hating him for things he doesn’t do, or for doing the same things other story characters do, seems pretty absurd.

Tbh, I couldn’t really find anything to have against Trahearne during my Personal Story, and I didn’t even play as a Sylvari. I can see how some of the things he says can be taken as glory-hogging or self-centered, but at the time… I don’t know, I just didn’t get any of that. Yeah, his voice isn’t the most inspiring, and he doesn’t really seem the leader type, but eh, his knowledge helped get the job done. Whatevs.

That said, I don’t feel attached to him or anything, and his purpose in life/area of expertise (cleansing Orr) is complete, so a new Pact Marshal or even Pact Marshals for future Pact campaigns is, imo, totally feasible. Future Marshals can be chosen based on their particular knowledge or skill set as they pertain to the particular flavor of Elder Dragon the Pact is combating that week. I mean, what does Trahearne know about Kralkatorrik? Primordius? Jormag? It would make no sense for him to be leading forces against enemies he hasn’t spent the last couple of decades or so studying. It would make far more sense for a Pact campaign against Kralkatorrik to be led by a Charr, or one against Jormag by a Norn. Just my two coppers.

Most opinions have some common ground regarding their dislike for Trahearne:

1) The character is bland.
2) The character was introduced to the player abruptly.
3) The player feels “replaced” by Trahearne as the main character.

I think Anet can create likeable characters (many have given examples of NPCs that they do like, especially the ones that get killed off), but Trahearne was just the worst possible pick to be placed in the limelight.

The other thing is that the script doesn’t impress me as much as I hoped. The choice of words that the characters in GW2 make me cringe at times. I think to myself, “no grown person would ever say something like this out loud”.

What I liked about Mass Effect was that the characters said things that were believable in the context of their personality. The characters in ME weren’t portrayed as overly heroic or villainous, they were just like normal people with different perspectives and priorities.

I think if Anet created characters that were more “grey” and less one-dimensional, I would have enjoyed the Personal Stories a lot more.

I just had an idea what would have been a great ending for the game (thereby also resolving the lame Zhaitan fight issue). The player just crucifys Trahearne and places a big sign next to him: “Try our new tasty Pact Marshal”. Then Zhaitan comes, lured in by the possibility to kill his “archnemesis” and the opportunity to get a free snack. However, our good friend salad head is booby trapped. KABOOOM! Zhaitan is dead, Trahearne is dead, everyone is happy.*

*this post may not be ment seriously

Arcalithe.6057:

snip

I still like Trahearne and I think people are overreacting to him.

snip

You can think what you like, and you are free to like him, but it does not change the fact that he is a horrendously written character no matter how you cut it, at least to people who have at least vague familiarity with creative writing, proper character development, etc.

Similarly, Twilight has fans, but the series also has some of the most abysmal writing I’ve ever seen in a published piece of fiction.

Lori from The Walking Dead is actually a pretty good comparison, since you brought it up. She is a blatant, negative stereotype of women and exists solely to create cheap conflict in the plot, she has no depth beyond that. Trahearne is an equally cheap cardboard cut out of a character, he is a Gary Stu deus ex machina, sucking out anything remotely resembling depth in the plot every time he shows up.

The difference between them is that while they’re both utterly one dimensional, Lori seems to exist just to create easy strife and drama, making things feel like a soap opera every time she shows up. Trahearne on the other hand really does fit that deus ex machina label I gave him up there. No matter the problem, Trahearne will solve it, whether because he just magically has the right information, or because of that overpowered sword he lugs around.

And then he snatches away your credit. I think the writer might have unwittingly done something clever there, at least – with Trahearne stealing your credit, he looks very insecure, like he’s compensating for his own shortcomings. It fits well with his supposed reluctance.
If the writer was actually trying to write a completely unpleasant weasel of a character that almost everyone would hate, they succeeded with flying colors. I know it’s not intentional, though.

Anyway, telling a few hundred (or more..) people in the community who dislike him that they’re overreacting is laughable. I don’t think the problem lies with these people, as the word “overreacting” implies. I think it’s that all of these people are all spotting the same thing – that the writing and voice acting for this character are glaringly terrible.

…Really sorry to rag on the writing so much, but as someone who works in a creative field, too, I suspect Trahearne’s writer can probably take some honesty and critique.

Alcix.7954:

I can’t read too much of this thread, as I am just getting into the Trahearne parts, but I’ve heard enough and can see the shift from My Story to This Tree-Who-Came-From-Nowhere’s Story.
One of the things I loved so much about GW2 was the personal story. Just about every other MMO out there has your character a small part of what is actually going on, you’re just a soldier in an army who is slightly elevated above fodder.
Following the Personal Story was so much fun, made it so much…well, personal. Then, suddenly (and really, I mean suddenly, out of the freakin’ blue) this Sylvari comes along and it is rapidly becoming all about him. From my character’s story I didn’t even know who he was until he showed up and now everything is all about him. It is something I really dislike…borderline despise.

After all, “This is My Story” is how it starts off. Now, I don’t know how all the quests go, like I said this is just how it is currently showing, but from what I hear from people further along the story line is that it is still all about him. It makes me dread continuing the story, because frankly I don’t care about Trahearne at all, not the slightest.

Even though I have completed the main story and such, this post here pretty much describes how I feel as well.

it went from my story to some other dudes story within a very short amount of time, which felt pretty odd.

The start of the game was amazing story wise – the choices you get to make as well as you get to see what differences there are between what you actually choose from when you create your character – then you get to choose what order to join, which in turn pretty much leads to the same end, the rise of this pact, with Trahearne in the front seat.

I as well as it seem others has as well, been wondering, what actually happend to my friends in the tavern back in divinity’s reach, what about those Skritt i saved from all those destroyer eggs, I think I saw them twice there after – Trahearne popped in, never heard of the guy before, and pretty much stole the entire spotlight.

I would have loved to have seen a lot more of either my friends, destiny’s edge or the other “friends” I made along the way, instead of this halfstick plant thing that otherwise just seem to come out of nowhere (unless if you play sylvari that is).

Being able to actually choose (not sure if that would fit well in with any dungeon storymode stuff, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard trahearnes name being brought up a single time in one either so), who of your friends that you have gotten along the way through your journey to level 80 to be this commander would in my oppinion have been a lot more acceptable instead of having some random dude coming and taking it all from you.

EDIT: I remember Rurik from GW1 – even though you probably didden’t know all to much about him I remember feeling attached to him, having to follow him through the shiverpeaks mountain to see him get killed was touching in a way – atleast I remember that I wished that he wouldn’t die as he did, only to find him at the end undead, having to fight him to get to the Lich dude.

Honostly, the prophecies campaign has so far been my favorite story campaign from GW1 as well as GW2.

ZoiN.4280:

EDIT: I remember Rurik from GW1 – even though you probably didden’t know all to much about him I remember feeling attached to him, having to follow him through the shiverpeaks mountain to see him get killed was touching in a way – atleast I remember that I wished that he wouldn’t die as he did, only to find him at the end undead, having to fight him to get to the Lich dude.

Honostly, the prophecies campaign has so far been my favorite story campaign from GW1 as well as GW2.

I agree. Even though the side quests were often a bore, GW1’s story missions were, at the time of its release, some of the most engaging RPG content at the time. The story itself had interesting characters and plot twists, and in the end, although a largely forgotten footnote in history, the players themselves were largely responsible for the major victories in that story, and were treated as such by the NPCs.

I think the problem with Traherne is that while he’s a cool guy and all, he never does anything that particularly endears him to the player, and moreso, he replaces your order mentor who did a lot to be endearing. We meet him halfway along his story, after he’s already the leading authority on Orr, already a well travelled firstborn, and already someone people seem to know despite our characters having no knowledge of him. He never sticks his neck out for you, but he constantly expects you to stick your neck out for him. You do 90% of the work and he gets 90% of the credit from all of the major NPCs. Traherne’s position and that o the order mentors really should have been reversed. If Traherne was to set you on your path, then fade away quietly as you’re paired up with a mentor who respects and allows you to grow, only to be taken away near the end to leave you to complete their work in fond memory, the story would have been much improved. We’d accept Traherne as a background character, but as a pivotal actor in the plot he’s just not that interesting. he has no interesting quirks or flaws and isn’t particularly endearing.

PopeUrban.2578:

ZoiN.4280:

EDIT: I remember Rurik from GW1 – even though you probably didden’t know all to much about him I remember feeling attached to him, having to follow him through the shiverpeaks mountain to see him get killed was touching in a way – atleast I remember that I wished that he wouldn’t die as he did, only to find him at the end undead, having to fight him to get to the Lich dude.

Honostly, the prophecies campaign has so far been my favorite story campaign from GW1 as well as GW2.

I agree. Even though the side quests were often a bore, GW1’s story missions were, at the time of its release, some of the most engaging RPG content at the time. The story itself had interesting characters and plot twists, and in the end, although a largely forgotten footnote in history, the players themselves were largely responsible for the major victories in that story, and were treated as such by the NPCs.

As much as I think the storyline from Prophecies was what kept me going . . . I can recognize (and did) that it was cliched and the Crystal Desert was thinly veiled as a means to show off three of the PvP scenarios at that time. It was fun, and it engaged me but I don’t want to pretend it was groundbreaking or special . . . however, the presentation and polish did get better as time went on with other campaigns.

I liked Rurik because he was a leader who seemed at least competent and aware of the deathtrap post-Searing Ascalon was. I hated Rurik as a game NPC because it was really hard to protect him when the game told you to.

Come to think of it . . . there were very few NPCs I actively disliked which I wasn’t supposed to dislike. I didn’t like Tahlkora all that much but that was due to me having . . . issues with such a total naive girl tagging along with my seasoned adventurer (as brought in from Prophecies). I didn’t like Gwen all that much, but I didn’t really hate her either . . . she just had a lot of issues and was written well, but I didn’t feel a need to have her hanging around.

If we want to talk about GW1 NPCs I disliked, though, Norgu and Goren. Neither seemed that compellingly interesting to me and didn’t fill a niche I needed filled. Goren as “the Int-dump-stat Fighter” and Norgu as “the prima donna actor” just grated with me. I finished the things I needed them for and dumped them off never to use them again.

Just got done with my personal story, and he wasn’t the most exciting character ever and the voice acting wasn’t AMAZING. But his part in the story seemed to follow the the rest of the story in this game, in that my character was helping these characters come to some sort of realization about themselves (in Trahearne’s case that he could be a leader/helping him understand his Wyld Hunt) which gave me some sense of accomplishment I think. I never felt like he felt entitled to his position of power. He seemed humble enough to me. But maybe I missed something somewhere.

I hope Trahearne won’t turn into kormir.2
Although I really liked Kormirs character she did steal godhood while she did nothing to deserve it imo >.>

Trahearne is even worse because his voice and everything are annoying me as well.
So lets just pray he won’t absorb the power of a dragon only to become the first sylvari god or something xD.

While I’m sure it’s all been said before after finishing Claw Island for the 8th and final time (thank god) I have come to beg for Trahearne’s death early in the next set of personal story missions to avenge all the salt he threw in my fresh wounds.

After every death of Sieran, Forgal and especially Tybalt I was ready to single-handedly cut a swath through Zhaitan’s forces and avenge my mentor. Then comes along this moody plant, riding my back and issuing me orders and what feels like hijacking my story just because we happen to be headed in the same direction.

I don’t know if it’s my disliking of Sylvari (save for Sieran) or just the miserable timing of “HEY YOUR FRIEND DIED! Come be my whipping boy~” vibe I get from Trahearne but you managed to replace Jar Jar Binks as my most hated character.