Guild Wars 2

I <3 this. You did such a great job. Delightful!

I’m deeply humbled. What a marvelous job you did bringing this story to life! Bravo!!

Together, may you always vanquish your dragons. Congrats!

KOPPER.1458:

I’ve been on the Magic the Gathering Pro Tour, it was a really long time ago now

Did you go to Kuala Lumpur on the tour? If so, I was there too. I was working at WotC at the time.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I don’t do drinking games anymore. It got expensive.

Me either. They get expensive in more ways than one, in my experience.

Rauderi.8706:

Currently freaking out over a potentially major career/life change
…
I hope to write a roleplaying system book or make a board/card game sometime in the future.

Good luck!

And do it! There’s so much joy in making a game and then watching others have fun playing it.

Lotus.1682:

Oh and for some reason, I find myself being attracted to older women

Well, hello there.

(couldn’t resist)

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

So have you been playing “spot the pale bald guy” while watching? It’s quite a fun game.

Is that a drinking game? If so, by the time you watch the season I’m on, you wouldn’t get very far before… Hehe.

Wuselknusel.4082:

You should come to Germany and introduce yourself as Angela M.

No way anyone would ever confuse me with your chancellor. LOL.

Oh, no. That is so sad. I’ve been watching “Fringe,” and it’s been such a delight to see him acting.

What a super cool thread! Thanks, @JustTrogdor. I am thrilled to read all about you all. And so, I’ll dive in as well.

• I’m old enough that I don’t lie about it any more: 52.
• I hate talking on the phone too, @JustTrogdor.
• I’m originally from the Midwest and still love corn in all my food (despite having spent a kittenish summer detassling).
• Like Gaile, Invidia, and Sarah, etc., I’m a cat-lover. I have 3. All rescues.
• I was the correspondent Wireless_Angel at Xbox.com and wrote dozens of articles for the site about video games.
• I lived in France for a year and a half. It’s my other home, and I go back every five years or so to get my French fix.
• I was the first regional storyteller for the East Coast Camarilla region (LARPing!).
• Netflix and Audible.com for the win!! Aw, yeah!
• I used to be addicted to MUSHing and even got into coding for the first time with MUSH code so I could make my own mods.
• I spent many years writing freelance for tabletop games such as Changeling: the Dreaming, Vampire: the Masquerade, Mage: the Ascension and bunches of others.
• Favorite crayons: brick red, forest green, and midnight blue.
• I’ve been actively writing short fiction since grade school.
• I was the first female game designer on the D&D team at Wizards of the Coast (writing for D&D4th/Forgotten Realms).
• I write romance and horror short stories (sometimes a combination of the two) in my spare time and am lucky enough to publish fairly regularly.
• I’ve been the webmaster for the Horror Writers Association for the past 5 years.
• Favorite movies: “The Princess Bride” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (don’t judge)
• My legal name is Angela, but I’ve been Angel since I was a baby because I was born around Christmas, and I was my mom’s “Christmas angel.”
• I have an unnatural love of drug stores, especially Walgreen’s.
• I put Tapatio on just about everything I eat (except ice cream, because it’s the only food that doesn’t need it).
• I like goth-industrial music and ’70s funk.
• Current favorite author: Jim Butcher. (Go, Harry Dresden!)
• Working at ArenaNet on GW2 has been the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had, primarily because of all you fans who make my work so worthwhile. <3

Hi, guys! You are all so awesome for taking the time to research and really delve deep into the lore. I can confirm a few things that may help you sort this out. I’m sure I’m telling you stuff some of you already know, but this is just to confirm it, so there’s no doubt.

1. The Pale Tree is not omniscient. She does not get a complete report of events when a sylvari dies. She feels the death as a loss, but she doesn’t always know exactly what happened. Sometimes, she sees a part of what happened, especially if the emotions surrounding it are strong. But, not always. If the sylvari is Soundless, for example, she may not even feel the death. This is evidenced in the Personal Story by the fact that she had no idea what exactly had happened to Riannoc.

2. Riannoc was the first to die (evidenced in the Personal Story). The implication that all sylvari felt Riannoc’s death is not intended to be literal, but rather emotional. The sylvari can’t all tap into the Force and feel each others’ deaths. Once they learned of the death, however, all sylvari were deeply affected in a very personal way by it. When did the Pale Tree tell them about it? Not until after the Secondborn were kidnapped and also killed, confirming for the Pale Tree that the feeling of loss probably meant the sylvari in question had died. She is not omniscient.

3. Trahearne was the first Firstborn, but is not a night bloom. At heart, he is scholarly, studious, and intelligent. That should give you a clue to his cycle. He did not want to be the leader of the Pact.

6. The Pale Tree can keep information she knows out of the heads of newly awakening sylvari. They do not have free access to everything she knows, especially if she doesn’t want it known.

And I’ll end this post on a question. What do you imagine that first conversation between Caithe and the Pale Tree was like, Spoiler if you haven't played all Season 2--and don't read the responsesafter Caithe killed Wynne? I’d love to hear your imaginings.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

(snip)…it can also be interpreted – especially the third line above – that humans became important to her, her learning things from them, in a latter time.

This was indeed the intended interpretation. Thanks, Konig.

Angel.4918:

Luke.1402:

Can Queen Jenna defend herself?

Hi, guys! This is an interesting question. Queen Jenna can defend herself, but because she is an extremely valuable individual, her defenders prefer not to take the risk. Thus, she is rushed away from danger immediately, as are most presidents of modern countries.

Sometimes, if the potential for danger is strong enough, she’s been known to use an illusion to represent herself, as at the Queen’s Jubilee.

Sorry! That was truly me. Forgot the red splash.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

If I had to guess, the tipping point for her would have been the Scarlet’s End instance, where she basically goes berserk and starts summoning illusions like crazy. More of a self-made psychological block than any external influence – she did seem unsure of herself prior to Scarlet’s End, and seeing what she did then likely made her realize “wow, I’m better than I thought! I should stop looking so down on myself”. Motivation and self-esteem tend to be heavy motivators on things that are based on willpower – like magic seems to be.

A very astute observation.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Who is Mister E?

We simply don’t know, but we have been told that we will find out who E is by the end of Season 2.

This can neither be confirmed nor denied. It may or may not still be the case. One thing is certain. At some point in the future, you will learn E’s true identity.

Ooh, this is cool. I’m going to enjoy seeing you mark these off as the story unfolds.

Rym.1469:

McCoy’s Angles.

LOLOLOL! Veto.

eekzie.5640:

Angel McCoy.1832:

I think that’s a very cool idea. We do it sometimes.

Can Phlunt be grumpy in my asura home instance please?

Pretty please with a cherry on top?))

LOL. He’s quite an old Scrooge, isn’t he?

I’m not sure I can quantify the connections between the Dream, the Wyld Hunt, and the Pale Tree. They are all very connected.

The Wyld Hunt does not always involve killing. It can be any quest at all. Finding something lost. Protecting something or someone. Rebuilding something destroyed. And so on.

A Soundless can have a calling to a Wyld Hunt, though they are most likely to try to ignore it. They could also miss the calling.

I can’t give you an answer to your other question. We’re still learning about Mordremoth, how its corruption works, and who it works on. Anything I tell you, one way or the other, would be a spoiler.

Tell me this. Why, in your opinion, are folks so enamored with the Mursaat?

I think that’s a very cool idea. We do it sometimes.

PetboyJoshua.3108:

Thanks for answering ! I’m a member of a Sylvari roleplayers guild, and we’re always looking for more informations, those clarifications about the Wyld Hunt are going to be quite useful for us.
I have a silly question about the Dream and the fern hounds, by the way. :’p I guess the answer is no, but do Sylvan Hounds experience the Dream (or a part of it) ? Do they share some sort of empathic bounds with the Sylvari, or are they just like normal dogs ?

Ooh! You’re welcome. Tell your guild I said hi. I love roleplayers. They bring their own imaginations to the table and make the game sing!

Sylvan hounds are special to sylvari, especially if they raised them. Just like dogs in real life, sylvan hounds can love their masters and have a special connection with them. In certain circumstances, like if a sylvari raised a hound from puppihood to adulthood, then they would definitely have an empathic bond. Especially if the sylvari is not Soundless.

This sylvari would know when her hound wasn’t feeling well and would be able to read body language and sounds more accurately. Much like Eir and Garm’s bond, it’s a bit more magical than what we experience in the real world. There’s a “soul connection,” for lack of a better phrase.

And that sounds like it would be so fun to roleplay!

Horst Hortensie.5420:

Would it be a spoiler to tell what Scarlet’s wyld hunt was or is it already in game and I just missed it?

If she had one, what would you guess it was?

Torsailr.8456:

If I may make an analogy for the dream…

Is it like a giant cauldron of stew? In the beginning it was a fairly simple stew and every sylvari got bowl of it. As time went on new ingredients were added, and maybe a few were purged but leave a taste behind. Newer sylvari still get a bowl, but maybe it has a little more subtlety than before. Every sylvari gets its bowl but each one has a slightly different set of ingredients and tastes just a little different.

Would that be accurate Angel?

Yeah! That’s a pretty cool analogy. Nice one.

I’ll just add that no two sylvari get exactly the same veggies in their bowl of soup.

We’re as much fans of player agency as you are, I assure you. The hurdle we face is that in order to do due diligence to those three Taimi choices you offer up, we have to have repercussions for each. You can’t just stab Phlunt, then have him appear again in the next release. Ultimately...Taimi had to give up the device.

We are always discussing ways to get more player agency into the game. It’s not as easy or as simple as any of us would like, however.

The one place we can have player agency is in dialogue trees. We are doing a lot of customization with conditional content based on your race, gender, profession, and history. We can also look for opportunities to give you more choice in how you respond.

saventis.1485:

thank you very much for your reply^^ makes me feel all special inside heh

I am trying to figure out Caithe’s secret, hoping perhaps she and the first borns may all share the same secret, and perhaps the ability to enter the dream went along with that (I dont expect an answer to that one just yet) as well as the meaning of the shadow of the dragon in the dream.

… (clip) really im trying to see what conections i can make to the current living world because from my view you had this planned all along

I can tell you that Caithe’s secret has nothing to do with how she entered the Dream. Beyond that, it’s all spoiler all the time, and you’d hate me if I told you!

The Shadow of the Dragon is definitely one of Mordremoth’s lieutenants. It is a plant creature and quite evil. When you see it in the Dream, however, you’re seeing some sort of magical reflection. You fight it there, but it’s not the actual creature in the Dream. This doesn’t mean it’s any less dangerous there.

The roots of this story were conceived while we were creating the main game, and the lore goes all the way back to Guild Wars 1. So yes, it’s safe to assume that we’ve planned it (mostly) all along.

RoyalPredator.9163:

I would like to say my Thanks to the team who made it, it was my first outstanding good experience of Living Story!
We hope the future brings same good episodes!

Thanks back at ya for playing and being part of our world. To all of you.

saventis.1485:

does this mean that all the first born are very similar in terms of the way they think and act? ( because at the time they were in the dream the pool of knowledge was tiny)

Also beyond that do they all have a sort of link to each other ( in the begining we see Caith in the dream) can all first born enter the dream at will?
(maybe they have to prepare themselves first, meditate or something similar)

because if so this may go towards explaining what we see in the dream originally

The Firstborn were definitely individuals. If nothing else, they were differentiated by the cycle during which they awakened. They weren’t like clones, but did have personalities of their own. Their knowledge of the world may have been more similar to each others’ than two sylvari born today would have, however. That’s an interesting concept to discuss.

The only reason Caithe was able to enter the Dream was because the Pale Tree made it possible. It was not easy for the Pale Tree to do this. She did it on this occasion because it was so important for Caithe to speak with you before you awakened. No sylvari can enter the Dream at will, not without the magical assistance of the Pale Tree.

What parts of what you see in the Dream originally are you hoping to explain?

RedStar.4218:

It’s always nice seeing you post here ^^.

Could I ask something ? Does a sylvari know (like really knows) when it has completed it’s Wyld hunt ?

Hi, RedStar, Thanks for the kind words.

A sylvari knows beyond a shadow of a doubt when his/her Wyld Hunt is complete (as long as she isn’t in denial). At its most natural state, the sensation of having a calling changes, and there is a sense of peace left in its wake.

Sylvari can feel a calling to do something at any point in their lives. They can ignore this calling. Some will experience guilt and subconscious repercussions from ignoring it. Some won’t experience this at all, depending on the personality.

In the situation you describe, where your Hunt is NOT complete, but it appears to be on the surface, then you would at bare minimum experience a sense of unease about it being incomplete. The mind is a powerful thing, and sylvari are not immune to that. You may think for awhile that you’ve completed the Hunt, but a niggling feeling could begin to bother you that maybe you didn’t quite get it. You’d continue to feel the calling. Some sylvari might rationalize this as just residue, especially young sylvari experiencing their first Wyld Hunt.

Alternatively, you maybe don’t want to complete your Wyld Hunt, so when you do, you convince yourself that it’s not done, that you have to keep going. Even though you don’t experience the calling anymore, and a part of you knows it’s done, you won’t give it up. Each sylvari is an individual, living their own lives.

How you deal with your Wyld Hunt is up to you and what you want to roleplay.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I’m not okay with Knut claiming to be over 150 years old and knowing such youth when aged norn live to only roughly 120 while still being physically active.

There’s a bit of confusion on this point. That line is not intended to imply that Knut was there when it happened. He’s simply referencing that event. The word “remember” was not the best choice, and perhaps too subtle a turn of phrase. The intention was like “I remember WWII and how the kittens killed all those people.” More as a historic thing than an actual personal experience. Like how people say, “Remember the Alamo!”

I love hearing your theories. I’ll just toss out a couple thoughts to foster more.

You can enter the Dream with the help of the Pale Tree, but what that means exactly is currently unclear to all but the Pale Tree herself. It’s perhaps more accurate to call it a mystical landscape, though even that doesn’t quite express the truth of it. It’s mystical and magical, beyond any previous experience of Tyrians.

And, sylvari consciousness originates there. It is the sylvari womb, in a metaphorical sense.

You’ll also note that the Pale Tree says “I believe…” in her interpretation of what you saw in your Dream. The Dream does not accurately predict the future, not even when you accept a Wyld Hunt from it. You always have free will, and no Wyld Hunt is guaranteed to succeed.

The Wyld Hunt is a quest, not a definite prediction of what will happen. In most cases, it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy at best. The Pale Tree understands this. Though, in their enthusiasm, sylvari may forget this and assume that the Wyld Hunt equates to their destiny. It’s a matter of individual perspective and of their culture. Sylvari take their Wyld Hunts very seriously, and their first one often becomes central to their sense of identity. Not all sylvari find a Wyld Hunt in their slices of the Dream.

Lastly, I’ll note that the Dream’s pool of knowledge began to form before sylvari were first awakened. If this weren’t true, then the Firstborn would have come into the world extremely innocent and vulnerable. All sylvari draw from the Dream for their knowledge of the world upon awakening, and that’s how they are able to function from the moment they open their eyes for the first time. They don’t download the entire Dream, but rather receive a portion of it, a scoop of it, a slice that makes each sylvari an individual.

It’s interesting to ponder what the Firstborns must have been like when they first awakened, relative to what new sylvari are like now. Sylvari now draw from a much broader and deeper pool of knowledge in the Dream, one would assume. But does that mean they get more knowledge, or just the same size slice of a much bigger pie?

Electro.4173:

I think she’s still just a manifestation. Her gasping and getting hurt represents the tree itself getting damaged.

This is true. The avatar is a visible representation of the Pale Tree that allows her to interact with her visitors and children. When she was injured, it was represented visibly by her avatar. In many ways, the avatar is her “face”. It’s not her entire body or being.

When sylvari run to the avatar, it’s because that’s their point of contact with the vast creature that is their Mother Tree.

Good thinking too, Electro, about the chamber being almost like the “heart” of the Pale Tree.

ElysianEternity.6215:

In this special case I’d say, it’d be good form to inform us at least why the age of the secondborn was changed or what the real lore is now.

We did not believe we were changing canon. The official canon is that Scarlet was born in 1304 and it was around that time that the other Secondborn were also being born.

Michael Walker.8150:

Angel McCoy.1832:

We have lots of conversations here about the many places we could take the story, and ultimately, it comes down to what we think would be the most fun. We can only make so much content, so we have to carefully choose which content we make.

Hi Angel,
Who is “we”? I got curious the last few days how the interaction between game designers, narrative designer (can you explain what this mean at Arenanet? or have you already somewhere? the search function on these forums is useless), writers and visual/audio artists work for the Living Story Season 2, what have you learned or changed from Living Story 1?

I got a rather incoherent feeling from the first seasons’ storyline and its implementation. the overall feeling of the second season, at least the start, seems way more polished now.

Hi, Michael,
I am just one small member on a very large team that creates the Living World content. Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time. This includes artists, designers, QA people, project managers, audio engineers, composers, leadership, programmers, and writers. The Living World is very much a team effort. We have a series of meetings as we’re developing each release that start big picture and gradually hone in on exactly what we want to do. We all have our areas of expertise that we bring to the table, but everyone is invited to give opinions and ideas.

My responsibility as narrative designer for the team is to keep the lore in check, to ensure the dialogue for the iconic characters is in voice, and to guide us through the overarching storyline, so that each release keeps us moving toward our final story goals.

We’ve made a lot of changes for Season 2. We’re continually improving our processes with each new release. The most notable being that we no longer have 4 Living World teams, each making their own content; we have 1. This has allowed us to create much more cohesive releases, and I think you’ll find that our story hangs together quite well in Season 2.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Angel McCoy.1832:

We felt it was important to allow you to customize your PC and in doing so, we gave up some of the opportunity to customize the story to every single PC in the game in every single moment of the game. Instead, we try to bring you moments where you are singled out with customized text in conversations (which you may not even always notice because you don’t see the other options).

Okay, this downright sounds contradictory to me. You want to allow customization to the PCs, but part of that is customizing the story. And you give the establishment for these via the biography options (and later choices)! You have shown you can do these.

All I meant above is that we have a limited amount of content we can make each time. We have a huge number of variables for characters. There is absolutely no way we could put in a special dialogue tree for every possible character combination.

The Living World takes you from where the Personal Story dropped you off and carries you forward through your story. The story.

With the Living World, we’re making a story that everyone can enjoy. You don’t have to be a specific race to play certain content anymore, for example. The customization comes in the personalized dialogue you get when it makes sense to the story.

For example, if it makes sense for an asura to have special dialogue just for them, we do that. If you’re talking to a Priory scholar and you’re a member of the Durmand Priory, you may get a special greeting or additional information that others don’t get. And so on.

Lore is not malleable except under extreme circumstances. We are actually quite dedicated to the lore of GW1 and 2. However, situations do arise where we inadvertently or purposefully adjust lore.

In the case of the “days per year,” that was a response to our new Living World cadence and the upcoming journal (which I couldn’t mention at the time). We felt it was important to align the real year with the in-game year. If we adamantly stuck to the old in-game calendar, then we’d be cumulatively off by 5 days every year. Before long, we’d be doing Wintersday in January. Which makes no sense whatsoever (and would completely kitten our development schedule! Hehe.). Plus, we wanted the new year to turn over on the same day as the real new year. I gave a loreful explanation for the change at the time.

Furthermore, there was no reference to the 7-8 year space between the firstborn and the secondborn in our story wiki. Its origin is the one interview that was posted a year before we launched the game. We check the external wiki regularly, but we know better than to assume it’s always correct, and there was no link or citation to the original article on that wiki, so I defaulted to the information that’s in our internal story wiki. Koenig, you posted that line to the wiki back in 2011, and thank you for that, but I had no way of confirming that it was actual canon. In my records, it wasn’t.

One or two discrepancies in the lore does not mean we do not take it very seriously. We do. At least as much as you do because our livelihoods depend on it. More than that, it’s our lives. We literally live GW2 lore all day, every day. And, we take pride in our work.

Bobby did not mean the books were not canon. He meant interviews. When someone is doing an interview, it can be a stressful thing. It’s easy to misspeak or create lore that doesn’t get into the actual canon because it changes during development (if the interview occurs prior to the finalization of the canon) or it could simply go undocumented in the official story wiki here at ArenaNet. We make every effort to say only truth in our interviews, but the reality is that interviews are simply not as reliable as what you see in the game.

We do our best. And you have to remember that we are human and fallible, but our hearts are in the right place. We are not trying to kitten the lore. We are actively expanding upon it and building it into a greater whole.

The steam creatures are a primo example of that. They were in the game when we launched, which was 1325 A.E. There’s no actual lore that says when they first appeared (but it was definitely prior to that). In the Asura personal story, we see them coming through a portal from a POSSIBLE future. Nothing we’ve done with Scarlet contradicts any of that.

So, lore. Yes, it’s extremely important. We police it very carefully and take it very seriously. Promise.

And, as always, we greatly appreciate your passion for the lore and for the story.

RyuDragnier.9476:

About those last spoilers Angel, have you thought that maybe you should make it so there are multiple fronts, and that the pact is also hot on the heels of the other elder dragons?

We have lots of conversations here about the many places we could take the story, and ultimately, it comes down to what we think would be the most fun. We can only make so much content, so we have to carefully choose which content we make.

If we split our attention to two storylines, then neither one gets our full attention.

We, like you, want the most bang for your buck!

In our minds, this is your PC’s story. Just because you can watch your spouse go through their dramas, and you accompany your spouse to the grocery store, doesn’t mean it’s your spouse’s story that you’re living. You’re living your own story, but you’re rarely alone in it. Nor would living your life alone be much fun. Every moment you play in the game, you are living your PC’s life. And the people who surround you are your supporting cast, your friends, your family, and your enemies. And a bunch of strangers who—no matter how famous you are—won’t recognize you on sight but might get excited when you introduce yourself.

With regard to praising the PC, there’s a balance we have to maintain. We’ve had criticism before that we praise the PC too much, and players become immune to it, desensitized. We don’t want that to happen either. We try to choose our moments carefully and really make the praise count.

The whole “Commander” topic is another discussion entirely.

In conclusion, I’ll just say again that we do pay attention to the forums, and thank you for posting your thoughts.

In our MMO environment, we have a few challenges to overcome to make it all about your character:

1) It’s a first-person story that plays out in a third-person manner. Although you watch your PC from a 3rd-person vantage point, we consider your PC to be the first-person protagonist of the story. It’s an odd mix, and the only place I’ve seen this kind of Point-of-View mutation is in video games. You, the player, bring the 1st-person consciousness to the 3rd-person story. That’s immersion, the golden goose of gaming.

The open-world content is there for those who want to make their own story and roleplay their own epic tales from their own imaginations. <3

In the Personal Story and Living World, we direct the story more tightly and give you specific challenges to overcome with specific outcomes if you do.

2) We have hundreds of zillions of bajillions of PCs, each with its own combination of backstory, race, profession, and history. We felt it was important to allow you to customize your PC and in doing so, we gave up some of the opportunity to customize the story to every single PC in the game in every single moment of the game. Instead, we try to bring you moments where you are singled out with customized text in conversations (which you may not even always notice because you don’t see the other options). You bring your own imagination to the table and fill in the gaps where we can’t customize it to you personally every time.

3) Initially, when we created the original body of the game, we were especially careful to never break immersion by using PC dialogue lines that you might feel didn’t fit your PC. We’ve relaxed this with Living World content and it has proven a more positive experience for many, I hope. Our original thought was that you would add the personality to the words when you heard them in your head. We still know you will do that, but we’re now more comfortable with having your PC say things that commit to an idea or a knowledge or a thought that you the player might not have had. Our goal is to increase immersion and make you feel more like it’s your PC’s story.

4) Balancing an effort toward a certain amount of realism with making a positive game experience for you is not as easy as it sounds.

They might have heard your name, but would they put your face with that name in a world where there is no television and no mass printing presses?

5) Our current UI setup for non-spoken dialogue limits the number of words we can use for the PC’s lines. Adjusting the UI is no small feat. We writers must abide by this limitation, but I believe we’re getting better at using the words we have to their best effect.

6) The other practical limitations mentioned by Bobby above.

To be continued…

Just wanted to let you know that I’m reading this with great interest and even shared it with the team. I can’t tell you anything specific about Season 2, but I can say that many of you will be pleased with it. Thanks for your ideas and opinions and respectful discussion.

Silalus.8760:

The big secret is: There’s really nothing odd at all with the idea that you are a hero in a world filled with heroes.

Truth is, that’s just life.

Okay, one more, cuz this is awesome. That post gave me a lot to think about. Thanks!

And good night.

Tigerlily.3765:

I didn’t really care when Togo was the focus in Cantha cuz Togo was a bad kitten .

Togo was a very bad kitten, indeed.

And on that note, I have to sign off. I won’t be able to respond any more for a few days because I’ll be very very busy, but I will check in and read what you post.

Thanks for all your thoughtful comments and suggestions! <3

Gundail.7594:

The current cast is light years better and shows some real progress in story telling. I hope to see some really memorable work coming from the future. This is an area where the Anet team really seems to have listened to the players and made some meaningful work.

Thank you. This is very kind of you to say, and it makes me very happy. We’ve worked hard to make the PC’s best friends interesting and not cookie-cutter buddies. They’re the PC’s supporting cast, and as such, all their stories affect and reflect the PC’s story—your story.

Tamias.7059:

I think the best solution is to strike some sort of a balance, but this is far more easily said than done. It means making every player feel like they are a part of the world and have had a small but measurable impact on the world, or otherwise somehow accounting for the existence of all these other heroes running around. I don’t know the best way of doing this, though.

Yes, you nailed it. I’m not sure we’ve completely figured out the best way either, but we’re getting closer all the time, and we’re always working toward that goal. Discussion threads like this help us to get a feel for how we’re doing and for what you want. Thanks for posting!

RoyHarmon.5398:

While I understand the obvious technical reasons for it, I’m still a little bothered by the fact that we’re never mentioned by name. Even as Ellen Kiel introduces us to the Zephyrite leader along with all the others, each of the NPCs is mentioned by name. The PC, however, is “And their leader.”

LOL! I know what you mean. You have no idea how hard it is to try to make that sound natural when we can’t use the PC’s name in voiced content. I could write a whole dissertation on it. Believe me, I wish we had that technology. It’s not an easy thing to create though. Quite complex, and very unlikely to ever sound natural. I think it would end up being more immersion breaking than the nicknames we use for your character now.

P.S. You may feel you don’t matter to the game world, but you do matter to us at ArenaNet.

Bellyboomer.3048:

Btw, I’m glad I’m not always the hero. There are millions of characters in the gw2 universe, it would seem rather crappy that they would all be the awesome hero who saved the universe from doom. I like being among the ranks: a commander in the pact, a faceless wanderer who joins up with some others and become the heroes of LA… It’s just a personal taste, I like being a not-so-extrordinary character who the steps up to the plate when he’s needed to.

This is a very interesting opinion since so many seem to feel the other way. We make every effort to put the player character at the center of the story because…well…it’s your story. But, I also believe that the player character doesn’t always have to be the one with the answers. Sometimes, your teammates (Rox, Braham, etc.) need to help out or risk becoming faceless flunkies. There’s a balance point, of course. Your teammates are an extension of you, living through your story with you.

Pen and Bloom are on their way to Kessex Hills, but not quite there yet. Look for them, if you choose. If not, that’s cool too.

Thanks for the long, respectful commentary. We hear both your praise and your critiques. Iteration is a core principal at ArenaNet, because we take pride in our work. So we are always striving to improve. I personally can’t wait for you to see what we’re making for you.

GuzziHero.2467:

I dispute the stinky warriors thing!

My female warrior got the new set of runes, one each of ‘Rune of Athlete’s Foot Resistance’, ‘Rune of Brazilian Wax’, ‘Rune of Minty Mouthwash’, ‘Rune of Moisturing Cream’, ‘Rune of Manicure’ and ‘Rune of Smiting Any Man Who Leaves The Toilet Seat Up’.

Highly recommended!

LOL! I want to +1 this whole thread.