Guild Wars 2

Well put, OP.
Careful though… Comparing Scarlet to the Joker seems to offend some DC comic fans…
And nobody here likes to offend people be offended…
But more seriously…

Shriketalon.1937:

I think you misunderstand two things about the complaints.

1) The issues with Scarlet often revolve around her obscene levels of power and control over other races.

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Actually, the part where she has ‘obscene levels of power and control over other races’ is not true.
She’d probably like you to think that (if she actually cared about what you thought…) but her control of the other races does not seem as absolute as all her detractors like to make it seem.
During the Flame and Frost story, many clues were dropped that the alliance between the Dredge and the Flame Legion was rather strained. There was one report from an Ash Legion spy of a Flame Legion Shaman that was executed for refusing to imbue the Dredge with flame magic (or something along those lines.) And at the end of the FnF story, the Dredge and Flame Legion captives were blaming each other for their failure.
As for why the two groups could ever work together?
Well let’s see…
Both groups have common enemies. Both groups have suffered some rather harsh defeats at the hands of those enemies. The Dredge are in the middle of a Civil War, while the Flame Legion is in a crisis with the loss of its Imperator, Baelfire.
Put separate, disparate groups in such crisis, and they will do things that they normally wouldn’t.

Then you have the Krait and the Nightmare Court.
It’s been confirmed that the Toxic alliance does not include /all/ the Krait and Nightmare Court, but rather splinter groups from each. This would indicate that those that are part of the Toxic Alliance have grown disillusioned and/or frustrated towards their parent groups. And those kind of disillusioned splinter groups are very often easier to manipulate, especially if you have something to offer them…

Now why would such groups follow someone like Scarlet?
Simple. Scarlet offered them something they simply couldn’t refuse.
For the Dredge and the Flame Legion, it was power. The power to combat and strike back at the enemies that had dealt them some serious blows and a chance to climb out of their respective crises.
For the Krait, it was their obelisks and the promise of the return of their Prophets. This not only played on the disillusion of a splinter group, but also on their religious sensibilities as well.
For the Nightmare Court… well this one would have been easy for Scarlet to bend to her will, really. There is already a splinter group in Mount Maelstrom that didn’t follow Faolain, so it’s not difficult to see others like them following someone else…
Such instabilities and crises can very often be (and usually are) exploited by those who are both intelligent enough to see it and know how to take advantage of it, and charismatic enough to know what to offer.
This does not require ’obscene levels of power and control’. Just an ‘Adolf Hitler’ level of charisma, some decent intelligence and the knowledge of some secrets that most mortals don’t know. The kind of secrets one could probably see when they gaze upon all of creation… Much like Scarlet supposedly did in Omadd’s experimental module…

Shriketalon.1937:

Speaking of pacing…

2) It’s not that Scarlet has no plan. It is that the story has failed to demonstrated one.

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You are forgetting or ignoring the simple fact that over the past 11 months (not all of which have been devoted to her specifically no less) Scarlet has had only a relatively small amount of screen time.
Like it or not, this is an MMO, not a book or a TV series. The limitations of writing for such a medium is very much different.

Shriketalon.1937:

If you like Scarlet, you are entitled to that opinion. In turn, those who have legitimate complaints are well entitled to their opinions on the matter.

‘Legitimate’ is a relative term.
I have my opinion. You have yours.
I’d love it if I could share my opinions without someone constantly trying to forcefully hammer theirs over my head and me constantly feeling like I need to defend my myself for simply playing a game I enjoy…

TL;DR? There are plenty of reasons Scarlet isn’t as ‘OMG BAD CHARACTER!!!’ as people would make her out to be, and there are possible reasons why things happen in the game the way they do.
But, people will have their ‘opinions’ and nothing I say will ever change that.

A living story implies that it grows and changes and has a real impact. The current situation is a month (now 2 weeks) of temporary content then a giant reset button is pressed and everything goes back to how it was.

Living = continues. This is not happening here. Nothing continues and nothing permanently changes. There is a small time of new content that goes away with little to no reference to it ever again.

This is not a Living Story, instead is “Temporary Filler”