Guild Wars 2

Precocious Aurene

I share opinions with someone that was above me.
+ I liked getting to play and work with her! She’s cute, and her character interactions were great!
+ Those missions. Very interesting.
- I did NOT like HOW we interacted with her. Aurene is a dragon. She is not a pet, she is not an animal. I would have liked if we could have established if she was a “child” or a “naive young adolescent” or something. I felt that our characters were a bit too harsh on her. I certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed being spoken to the way my character spoke to her. I don’t know why we’re treating her that way.

Finding Braham (just going to lump the rest of it here)
+ New area! Cool! Freezing actually but it’s open, it’s tidy, and there’s lots of neat stuff plus a new kind of skill! Also everything’s trying to kill us!
+ So much loot! It’s great!
+ Taimi’s research. This is actually so cool. Suddenly the “Eternal Alchemy” is starting to make some modicum of sense! It’s great to understand Crazy!
+ Braham’s character development!

- Braham’s character development! It’s great that he’s showing that not everyone is reacting well to the events but OMG HE MAKES ME MAD!

Ahem. That is to say, I sincerely wished we, as Commander-characters, could have reacted a bit more violently towards Braham. This is really unlike how we were behaving before, even earlier in the episode. If we’re going to be this mellow, I hope you have an explanation for us as to why we’re suddenly so docile in the face of a grieving, angry, angsty adolescent.

- The Elixir. Can we get a vial to use as we need to please?
- A couple more waypoints would be nice. But then, I have a horrible sense of direction, even with a map.
- That cutscene. Not sure what I was expecting, but a bit more follow up with the implications of that cracked tooth would have been nice.
- Also this is a Living World season, not a large Personal Story installment. Can little updates appear for those bearing the “episodes complete” flag?

I’m pretty sure “things that have yet to be told” that were stated to have been slated for a certain arc (it was mentioned by an ANet staff member that Malyck’s arc WAS supposed to be in HoT but that ran out of time and couldn’t make it fit) counts as a plot hole, as does “how the Nightmare Court ended up in Maguuma in the first place” because last time I checked, there weren’t any Courtiers on the plane.

Also I would be cautious about generalizing that “nobody cares about Trahearne” because at least one person who replied here has expressed a positive opinion about him, and I’m another one. This is also undocumented on the forum, but a large group of people on at least Tarnished Coast had a memorial march in his honour (organized via tumblr). He has a fairly sizable, if not monstrous following.

I would, however, wait until LS3 is concluded before saying about the Pale Tree, since there is a chance we may get an instance to check up on her (sylvari players would appreciate a bit of closure from that front), a chance to check up on Logan and Zojja and possibly a little time to honour our own fallen. I think Trahearne should at least get a memorial- he was the Pact Marshal and did have a rather large role in running the thing from the background.

*throws in 2 copper

And a leyline loop! The only ley line current runs in a loop that covers at least 50% of the map! It’s a bit hard to see though, since it’s kind of shimmery-transparent and the sky is white.

Djinn.9245:

Cobalt Raven.3986:

He’s quite an asset when he’s thinking properly.

Is he? I can’t remember a time when he didn’t argue and complain about everything.

Well, granted my standards of late are rather low >.> But I do remember at the start of HoT he DID say we should hurry to find the captives. Badly timed statement, mind you, but he had the right idea. Not that anyone actually listened, what with all the side trips and detours.

He was more useful when he WASN’T lashing out left and right, at least. And there was a much lower likelihood of a sky-high casualty count from his influence.

Great character development, I think. But WOW does it grate on the nerves.

Braham lashing out at pretty much everyone is expected, but will likely have a negative effect on the campaign if he doesn’t snap out of it soon. In this state of mind he is not the relatively level-headed and somewhat rational Norn we met; he seems to have no regard for those still with him. And this is what will likely create much of the damage. He cracked the tooth- now the Norns will want to mobilize. If the Norn elders don’t rein him in, it could at best cause massive Norn casualties, and possibly have a repeat of the body count seen in the Heart of Thorns campaign. At which point, hopefully the shock will snap him out of it, or, as my Rangervari says, “Jormag will do us a favor and eat him.”

He’s quite an asset when he’s thinking properly. He’s a liability right now. Work fast, Taimi!

My biggest fear for the next expansion is a poorly-made personal story. I liked what they did with Heart of Thorns’ gameplay, music and meta event narrative. I did NOT like what they did with the instanced story. It honestly felt like they had good ideas half-developed but never finished them before rushing you off to the next phase! The story content was too short and there’s still a truckload of material they never addressed!

…I hope this doesn’t happen again =_=

I have a few.

LS2-HoT
Caithe knew what Trahearne was up to. She also said that “soon the world will know” regarding to the origin of Sylvari. Why didn’t she tell Trahearne? Why did she just stay silent and let scores of Sylvari turn or die?

Why did Trahearne fly the entire fleet into the jungle without sending scouts to explore first? If someone says “to stop the dragon before it fully awakens”- how does it count as being half awake when it’s been around for at least 2 years, and has extended its reach as far as the Iron Marches? (This is also partially a gripe, as comparing Trahearne’s behavior during vanilla PS to this- he should not be this careless.)

Where the bloody heck is the Commander for 2+ years and why was there no report or some indication of correspondence with Trahearne? In such an organization, one cannot go AWOL for that long and still have a position.

HoT proper (I’ll try not to gripe too much)- starting at Verdant Brink:

What happened to those Pact Vigilantes you ran off?

What exactly is the Coztic Itzel’s deal?

How did the Itzel and Nuhoch meet? (My curiosity)

Do the Itzel know the bandits?

More info on the Blighting Tree? Could it be that that tree IS Malyck’s tree and he was one of the, if not the only “minion” to escape Mordremization and instead became “Sylvari”? Also, where are the Blighting Tree seeds? <pure curiosity, I want to see where the Sylvari came from, in terms of specific place of origin.

Where’s Malyck, anyways?

Why did Rytlock tell Eir and Faolain to run to the overpass first, despite knowing that Faolain can’t be trusted (novel inference), and knowing that Eir is weakened and unarmed?

Also, Eir is a Norn. Why did she just stand there and take the shot despite still being able to move, and knowing that there is a small group of very armed warriors near her, at least one of whom could do first aid?

Why are the human nobility here, what exactly do they bring now that they’re stuck in the jungle thanks to Faren’s harebrained idea that it was a good time to go over Magus Falls on a joyride?

Auric Basin:
Why are the Exalted there, exactly? Who else lived in the Golden City? What happened to the Forgotten? Do they have a connection to the Zephyrites? How are they keeping the Mordrem at bay? How are they keeping Mordremoth’s influence out?

Tangled Depths:

If you’re a Sylvari, how come you aren’t hearing Mordy’s voice/feeling its presence at the surface?

Actually, general question: How are we able to resist the dragon?

Where did the Chak come from? How did they get so numerous?

Is it possible to reverse Mordremization? One guy seemed to be coming back to his mind.

What’s up with Taimi? Her mentor Zojja is captured, why doesn’t she mention this at all? Does Taimi just not care or…?

Why do we HAVE to go to Rata Novus? {this one is more of a gripe- if I think about it, I see that there were no Novans sighted for at least a few decades, if not much longer, according to that one Exalted where the ley line map is. No Novans came to shoot at me or talk to me either, despite hundreds on thousands of trespassers in the area and a dragon at the doorstep.}

Dragon’s Stand

Now going in reverse:

Did we actually kill Trahearne, or was that a clone? I say this because his death wasn’t acknowledged, which ANet usually doesn’t overlook, even for minor characters, much less for a major player like this guy. Also I noticed that this Trahearne was roughly comparable to Diarmuid, Hareth and Adrian. Eggy also showed that Trahearne was going to be/was cloned, and as you reached him last, the possibility of him being cloned is VERY high.

If Trahearne did in fact die, what the heck ANet, why no acknowledgement?

How is the PC not affected either physically or mentally by this? The PC thinks they just offed someone that they’ve been working with/might have been friends with for an extended period. Also, that ley energy blast had to have been at least 3-5 hubs’ worth. How the heck are we not dead? We basically got nuked with Tyrian World magic! And never mind the magic, the blast was big enough to be seen from the upper atmosphere and strong enough to blast us right out of the instance. How aren’t we injured from shrapnel or something?

Speaking of clones:
Egg said there were clones. I don’t think we saw all of them. Where are they? Do we ever see them again? Also I noticed that at least Zojja’s inherited some of her will. Now that Mordy’s out of the picture, if they do fully ripen and emerge, how will this work? Actually is Mordy even out of the picture? How do we know he’s not lurking in a plant or a Mordrem somewhere, severely weakened but still there?

Nightmare Court: In the meta event, we fight alongside them. What exactly is their deal now? Do we get more definite development from them?

Major Question: What exactly is the Dream? It was said Mordy could use Wyld Hunts as an access point, how does that work exactly?
——————————————-
About the Magus Falls Hylek being able to understand Common: There are bandits going in and out very close to their village (Spirit Vale is near Jaka Itzel). It’s possible they might have learned to speak Common from the bandits.

And the White Mantle miiiiight be a thing in the Raid, once they finish releasing all the wings and its associated story.

Well, like everyone said, depends on what you’re here for.

Pros:
-New maps, BIG maps, you can get lost in them, it’s fun.
-New stats
-New monsters that are pretty challenging
-Gliding! Masteries. Mostly gliding. Flying is fun. You can do it vanilla side too.
-Nice music, nice scenery
Not sure what’s up in WvW and PvP.
Cons:
-The story is weak. The characters aren’t well developed or even at all in some cases. The plot feels rushed. You may get uncomfortable with some plot points, but not for the intended reasons.
-Some of the maps get you lost AND killed.
-Mastery grind is annoying for some people.
-maps are all timed, can make traversing some of them difficult with contested waypoints.

If this is still open, then I shall join in too.

Name: Enda the Ardent
Gender: Female
Race: Sylvari
Profession: Druid
Weapons: Longbow and Staff
Order: Vigil/Pact

Her dream was of freedom, a mission to explore and vanquish evil, the torch of hope and the warning that came with it- “do not make the same mistake I did.”

Enda is an enthusiastic, knowledge-hungry wanderer, awakened early enough in the Cycle of Dusk that she carries some traits from the Cycle of Noon. She loves adventure, and tries her best not to kill if she can help it. She is no stranger to pain, loss, betrayal and helplessness, but still tries to see the world with wide-eyed wonder. She loves meeting people, learning, and trying new things. She’s fairly straightforward in her approach to life, and prefers not to use complicated plans with lots of intrigue if she can help it. She does her best not to waste anything, especially the lives of those she has to guide. Loyalty and determination are her most prominent traits- she will stick with whoever she gives her allegiance to right to the bitter end, and will see through an objective, even if she hates what she has to do to get there. She’s spontaneous and a bit impulsive, and should friends/close people get in trouble, she’ll throw her life on the line for them.

Mordremoth did a number on her. Many of her close friends and loved ones were killed in that engagement. Some, she was too late to save. Some, she had to kill herself. And some, one of whom she loved, asked her to kill them before they became irreversibly corrupted. Her greatest regret was that there was not more time to find a way to neutralize the dragon’s magic. She herself had almost turned several times, being close to nature, and having the racial link. She had died briefly after being struck with an incredibly strong blast of ley energy, and then came back to find herself magically irradiated. She was lost for a while, but has since recovered. She will not abandon her will to live so long as she has not fulfilled her promise to the deceased to make the world safe again and the world has yet-undiscovered wonders to explore.

“Hope is not a guiding light. It is a blade, a desperate wish- and should it fail, its other edge, its shadow that is “despair” will turn on you."

I’d like to see something a little happier once the dust settles.

Ashen.2907:

You might be overestimating the number of players that considered Trahearn to be their best friend.

From a narrative point of view, that’s how they present it. A close associate, or your player character’s very good-best friend. Now, whether you actually believe this on your side of the screen is another question. I wish they would have developed the dynamic more- I actually don’t really know what it should be.

+1 to the OP.
I saw a lot of hate for Trahearne. Maybe in the beginning it was worse, but when I went through PS I actually rather liked him. He’s quite helpful- for squishy characters played by people not used to 3-D environments/not very good at their profession, he tanks for them and also revives them when they go down even if literally everything else is shooting him to death. Narrative-wise, I liked having someone around that knew what the heck was going on in the world. I don’t want to be a big hero all the time- the weight of everyone’s expectations is too heavy. It was nice having a partner and friend to go to the battlefield with.

A story that kills for the sake of death itself takes away the meaning of the characters. Trahearne and the Order leaders need more time and writing to flesh them out and remove some of that horribly abrupt pacing/exposition (or lack thereof) they were presented with. As many before had said, reluctant heroes forced to lead have a lot of potential- and it wasn’t really tapped into with Trahearne. Then he gets killed off before anything is done with it. Eir dying I can kind of understand, though I think the timing wasn’t quite right for that. Trahearne wasn’t even that bad- at least he helped!

Also where was the acknowledgement that you, the player, just killed off what was presented in game as your longtime friend, partner, and occasionally commanding officer? Why did nobody, not even the player, mention anything about this? They acknowledged Tybalt. They acknowledged Eir. Even Belinda Delaqua was given a proper nod-at. But not Trahearne, who should have had almost, if not as great of an impact on the player as the mentor character from PS- Tyria. It hurt, and it felt cheap. If I didn’t already care about Trahearne to this extent, his would just be another death. There were too many in close succession. I especially dislike the broken sword that now every single one of us players have to keep- as a permanent reminder that we could not save our best friend. You know, as if I didn’t feel useless enough already.

He really didn’t deserve this. Maybe it was, as OP said, their purpose from the start, but the way it was handled felt like fanservice to the haters, and a huge slap in the face for his fans.

throws in her 2 coppers

Mainland Tyria. HoT is nice, I love the map and gameplay there, it’s just…I have too many bad memories of the place. Meanwhile Tyria is quite nice and cheerful.

=_= Well that clears up some things and leaves others in a ditch. I thank you for answering.

@Kumion and Dashi: Yeah, I guess I sort of want to know what happened to the Novan Asura. Who knows, maybe they weren’t completely driven out by the Chak. Then again, everything HoT was so rushed that you barely get a chance to form half a question in your mind when whisk! Off you go. Again. I really wish they could have done something with Rata Novus if they weren’t going to let us go chase down that caravan. Maybe a little info on Primordus? Though perhaps that might come later- from Taimi, no doubt.

Of all the HoT characters, the only ones I remember are Laranthir, Ibli, Canach and Taimi. I get that a lot of the in-transit lore is in the meta events. It seems kind of loose, even still.

@Kumion: It still feels unnatural to have no mention and no reaction about…pretty much everyone that just dropped dead/got vaporized in front of you. They didn’t do that in Personal Story, and it felt more natural then. Though I suppose it’s not so bad if your opinion doesn’t necessarily match the story’s- though, if we were still using the charm/dignity/ferocious answer choices, that would at least allow some freedom of opinion.

@Dashi: It’s nice to know I’m not a crazy for thinking this way. I went from being neutral to Caithe to starting to dislike her now. I just hope they fill things in in LS3. I was actually hoping they’d try to develop all the NPCs more and not leave say, Marjory and Kasmeer being token party members (on a revenge kick in Marjory’s case, which helps her- a little.) Rytlock never goes into Revenant-dom in much detail. And pardon my slight fangirliness but I was hoping Trahearne would be more than an intellectual door to the weakness of the dragons this time around. If they wanted to intimidate us though, why not assault the player character themselves? We’ve had characters close to us die on us before…for some, the shock and the sting has been blunted.

They did some things right with this arc. Pacing, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them. Felt kind of unfinished. Here’s to hoping the LS3 stuff has lots of caulking, ‘cause those holes are gonna need fillin’.

So I played through HoT three times- once on a human, twice on a Sylvari. The first time I went through, I was a human. The other two times, Sylvari. I’m fairly invested emotionally in the story, and I liked Trahearne quite a bit, so already as the human I got a bit of a punch in the gut at the ending. Only got worse with the Sylvaris, since their story experience seems to be enhanced.

And then I got to thinking- the gameplay is fun, I love how huge the maps are, and I really like it when I can get lost in a game, but the storyline in HoT felt too brief, and there were, from what I’ve seen/heard, holes everywhere. There was also a lot less major choice available compared to Central Tyria story.

I’m sure these points have been asked already by those here, on reddit, on tumblr and other places, but:

1) What the heck is going on with Malyck? This dragon was perfect for filling in more lore about the Sylvari race as a whole. What happened to the guy that you only saw if you did a certain PS branch who apparently doesn’t come from the same tree as playable Sylvari and most of the Sylvari NPCs? Where does he come from, and how is Mordremoth affecting him?

2) Why can’t I choose to pursue the prisoner caravan? Does nobody realize how dangerous letting 3 members of DE and Trahearne remain captive, possibly to be killed and turned or cloned is? They’re all very powerful, even if gameplay restrictions don’t fully show this. It’s also not known how closely Trahearne is tied to the Pale Tree and what his turning could do to the rest of the Sylvari. It’s been speculated that with Caladbolg, he could have a potentially disastrous connection to the Pale Tree, that if exploited, basically means the end of all the free Sylvari. On a more personal note, I actually consider those NPCs friends and I would prefer to pursue them rather than take all these detours. It’s already been established with Zhaitan that the longer one waits to rescue someone captured by a dragon’s forces, the worse the chances for them escaping become. Mordremoth surely wouldn’t be much different. Related headscratcher: Isn’t it kind of the rule that the lower ranking captives should be trying to free their superiors, on the grounds that at least in this case, DE and Trahearne are more powerful and also have better chances to return and rescue them? (question made by a tumblr user that I can’t remember, if this is your question, credit to you. I’m bad at names.)

3) Why am I going to Rata Novus? Unless I’m an Asura, that place doesn’t really hold much importance beyond being a curiosity to me. The Asura, as noted in mainland lore, are more concerned with Primordus than the other dragons, and generally see themselves as superior to the other races. Aside from armies of Chak and potentially a little data, what will I find there that can help me? We killed Zhaitan already. If one dragon can be killed, so can the rest.

4) What is going on with Caithe? She’s supposed to be a capable Night-Woken thief with way more experience than the Player. She’s supposed to care about her friends- she put so much effort to reunite them in the Tyria storyline. Can someone please tell me why, even taking eggstasy included, she would just leave her best friends and her brother Sylvari trapped as captives when she’s clearly moving much faster than the Player? She even passes through more than one Pact camp, so she must know they’re missing! Running with that train of thought, why does the Player so easily give her a second chance given their current mood and distrust of her after the egg incident? She basically doesn’t do anything between you rescuing the egg and the final battle that you can see!

5) What is Mordremoth doing with Trahearne? I get how he’s cloning Logan and Zojja and why, but why is Mordremoth even keeping Trahearne conscious and looking like he’s trying to…consume or transform…Trahearne slowly…from the legs up? I don’t understand. What is Mordy trying to do? Is there a specific purpose for that or is this just being played for feels?

6) Why did Eir die here? I really don’t get it. Why did Eir just decide she’d die here? I know she’s weakened from starvation and the injury that Faolain gave her, but there were so many ways she could have not died. The jungle makes so little sense for her to kick it at. You don’t even get to see her do all that much! Come to think of it, why did the Player think it was a good idea to send two clearly worn down and injured freshly freed captives running for the exit when one of them is clearly not trustworthy? Those were two high-value targets and ultimately, they both died! And like, if Eir was supposed to further Braham’s character development, can we see a bit more of that please? I know I saw some stuff, but it was really subtle, and I don’t mean the whole going bald bit.

7) Can someone please tell me why after the final fight is done, nobody says anything about the fact that you, the Player, just had to kill who was in game a close friend and your former superior? Why is there nothing mentioned about those that died? Why is nobody asking about Zojja and Logan (did I miss this?)? It’s automatically “okay what’s next”. Hello! People died! People important to the player character died! This was handled so much better in the Tyria storylines- even if you didn’t know the dead person back in that chunk of story, the death was acknowledged. Your mentor’s death was acknowledged, and you knew them for at most, a matter of weeks. Trahearne, who is implied to be someone you the Player knows for at least a few years, kicked the bucket and nobody says anything? What? You’re stuck with the broken sword that belonged to your friend that you were just forced to gut him with! You just stood in the middle of a blast of ley energy and watched your friend get vaporized. Why is the Player not given some option to react, and why aren’t they marked in some way from that?! I’m not even going to get into how this particular death, though poignant, in some way feels contrived and reactive to the vocal portion of the fandom that for whatever reason, dislikes him. You guys, I actually read your arguments and tried to match it with my experience, and I came up with nothing.

8) Now what? What’s going to happen to the Pale Tree? What’s the remainder of the Pact going to do now? They just lost their leader. Player character is not a good choice for a new leader- someone else said that as an adventurer, that role will be essentially lost if they are to lead the Pact. I really don’t relish the thought of doing paperwork, attending meetings, trying to settle disagreements between parties, and organizing troops. I want to be out there, on the front lines, kicking tail and taking names, not worrying about politics and logistics, thanks.

9) What’s up with Glint’s egg? Why is it absorbing magic? Is this a good thing? What will happen to Taimi now? Is she going to be okay? Will she have enough food? Is the White Mantle coming out? Is Kryta about to blow up? How bad is Sylvari discrimination going to get? Will we at least have time to have funerals for the deceased important npcs? Does reincarnation exist?

Opinions welcome. Pardon the rant. HoT stirred up a lot of feels.

I personally felt the story portion was too short. It raised way more questions than it answered, and some of what it was supposed to answer are old questions that started in Central Tyria. I would have much preferred it if we were able to successfully rescue most of the captives, regroup, analyze the situation, find more clues on Mordy, and then challenge him. Story felt too rushed.

Maps are lovely. I like that I can get lost in them.

Gameplay felt arduous on some stretches. Masteries were taking a long time to gain the exp from, and some of the mastery points are really hard to get to. Some stretches of jungle are just a slog to get through, and even lethal for some classes. (I had a hard time with elementalist when facing off Coztic and Smokescales. CC Chains are too strong x_X) And like the guy in the OP, the restart-on-death boss fight was kind of painful. Doesn’t really help that the mental avatar of Mordy looks more like a fat, shell-less Bowser as someone out there put it, than a dragon that I should be afraid of.

Could have done with him being a bit more persistent and invasive for the Sylvari too.

A strong living story season 3 and a reprieve from everyone dropping dead, and some cultural armor for my Sylvari.

I like Trahearne best. All the adventures the player gets to have with him…though I’m definitely biased. I play a lot of squishies, and honestly the only reason I ever get through any of the personal story missions is because Trahearne’s got my back. All the times I got revived, that he tanks for me…I can’t even count them anymore lol.

adormtil.1605:

Who needs paperwork that is for office dudes.

Objectively speaking, this paperwork contains information that can be vital to the effort. Yes, you’re on the field, kicking butt and taking names, but who’s telling you where to go and what to hit? The guys with the paperwork. Knowledge is power in a warzone. Missing or false information can kill people, as is seen with Trahearne’s Maguuma air raid when he was not aware of Mordremoth’s power over the Sylvari. Had he known this, the effort probably wouldn’t have gone south quite so fast. Also, those with the information can manipulate the recipients, so it’s probably better to have someone trustworthy to deal with it if you’re not going to do it yourself.

adormtil.1605:

The pact needs a leader on the field of battle and there is no better one then the commander. Proof well the second he came in Maguma he gave the pact a fighting chance.

Yes, the Pact Commander is quite competent on the field. That’s where the Commander should stay. Commander did a good job in reining the situation in somewhat. There is, as you said, a chance now, however, lacking intel is a problem- and you now have to gather as much as you can by yourself, which is slowing down your original aim- rescuing your comrades. Time is critical in this kind of situation- the longer you take, the worse your odds become. Take too long, people die captive and get turned, and all the while Dragon is getting stronger. Commander did in fact raise morale and stabilize the situation, however there is a good chance that unless a source of information is tapped, they’ll only be reacting, which won’t be helpful in the long run. So Commander will still have to seek out information, which will take away from the time spent on the field with the rest of the forces. (Because in Maguuma if you want any sort of information, you’re going to have to beat things up anyways.)

adormtil.1605:

Hell the commander is the reason they defeated Zaitan also. He did most of the work there also and its not fair to chose a less successful leader in leading the pact.

Most of the field work was done by the Commander. Intel and navigation was mostly done by Trahearne, who spent years researching this putrid, hostile land you need to pass through to hit all the requisite weak points that he informs you about. (Credit where it’s due if we’re going to do that.) I don’t know about other people but I honestly had no idea what the function of the Eyes or Mouths of Zhaitan were actually for. I also had no clue up til that point that the landmasses even had “hearts”, which are apparently centers of magical energy. So again, Commander did their share, the Marshal did his. I still consider that victory to be a team effort.

Buuuut since Trahearne’s dead there’s probably going to have to be another shuffle in upper management, since if you’re sorting through the data, you probably won’t be fighting. If you’re fighting, you probably won’t be dealing with the data quite as much, so you might need someone for that. Also keep in mind that if you die, things go to heck really fast. After seeing the kind of “plot armor” that the characters I thought were going to be hanging around to give us a hand with Behemoths #3-6+ have got (I mean look, those characters are dead! Not happy!), if you go leader, you’re not only going to be a priority target, but there’s no guarantee you’ll escape the chopping block! And that’s not even considering the fact that the three member factions tend to bicker a lot. We as the Commander, belong to one of those. We’re not neutral. I don’t even want to think about the drama and political eggshells the Commander will have to be walking on dealing with that.

tl:dr: Still going to need a buddy up top to help keep things under control. It’s going to be kind of a mess otherwise, especially with a group of this size.

PS: Dear goodness, I hope the next dragon attempt isn’t going to be this much of a disaster.

If “I” had control pre-HoT, much like the guy a few posts above said, I would gather intel. Scout. Try to determine what Mordremoth’s powers were, and consult the Pale Tree/Luminaries if possible- they are all “plant-like”, so they may be able to access some information we meat-sapients can’t get to. No thinking sapient would look at two radically different other sapient enemies and assume they’re the same, so why are they doing that here? Overconfidence aside, there should have been someone that points this out.

However, if I can’t go back that far, then for sure I would try to make it a legit, fully-committed rescue attempt. No detours until everyone’s rescued and treated. Zhaitan turns people it captures, Mordremoth may have the same capability. The longer one delays the rescue, the worse the odds become.

I second that- being the top dog means paperwork and meetings. Players are going to want to be out there kicking tail and taking names. It’s going to be crazy for a while, that’s for sure. Now that the Pact has lost its top leader it’ll be unstable unless a successor is chosen quickly, especially in light with all the racism the Sylvari are getting. Heck, things could even get worse and the fragile alliance could fall apart. It hasn’t been that long since it was initially formed. Many of the Pact members aren’t going to be in the best frame of mind either, you know, from losing people they care about. Really wish they didn’t axe him so soon. It doesn’t exactly say volumes about the strength of the Pact, having its leader torn out from it in such a short time since formation. (I am admittedly biased though.)

And just think. There’s still at least four dragons left. It only gets harder from here. Here’s to hoping the Pact survives the fire.