Guild Wars 2

Sir Vincent III.1286:

I can say this though, even if Logan’s character is well written, Anise will still dominate — she’s just that awesome of a character. This is evident in the human noble personal story where Logan has a very well written character.

My point is, just because Anise will still dominate, doesn’t necessarily mean that it was done in the expense of Logan — but can still be perceived to be that way in comparison.

So how exactly are you going to meet that “ideal goal”?

I would disagree, I find Logan’s character the dominant one on the good side with the human commoner storyline. I also find Rytlock actually comes off as a really good character when he isn’t kitten ing about Logan like a jilted ex.

However! Rytlock identifies as a warrior first and male second, despite Steve Blum being the VA. I have no problem with this as most strong female characters in this game identify as female second as well.

naphack.9346:

Shagaz.6209:

Caithe > Logan > Zojja > Eir > Risen Chicken > Rytlock

Zojja>Rytlock>Eir>Salad>Coward

The Great Zehtuka over everyone else. Everyone. That’s why he’s the Great Zehtuka.

Wasn’t there some big huge thread about the watchknights making females look bad and how the Queen’s Jubilee was something demeaning with so many of them prancing around?

I, for one, welcome a story where the guys are total wusses and can’t get anything done without a woman behind them.

I mean, it’s been ages since I pulled out Dragonriders of Pern, maybe this can remind me about how much I really liked Lessa.

Sarie.1630:

Tobias, your post was so horribly formatted :p

It happens when I forget to properly use quote tags. Whoops.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

For the riches. Didn’t you get they were pirates the first time they were introduced? Captain Mai Trin was angling for a seat at Lion’s Arch. (And probably Scarlet was too, until that failed so hard it bounced.) Promise people glory and riches and you will always get takers if you look like you can follow up on it. Scarlet does, and I’d place it as highly probable they now follow her out of fear instead of greed.

Thanks for the history lesson. Doesn’t explain anything I wanted to know though.

What did you want to know? I thought I’d left enough there to work with for an explanation short of getting an ANet writer here and threatening him/her with a moa feather.

- The Steam Creatures don’t have a good explanation yet other than in one instance of their involvement. (Infinity Ball story branch.) But it is clear they’re not just restricted to that, since they’re in Lornar’s Pass building . . . things.

- The Aetherblades are a pirate group. Their origin is of less importance (in my opinion) more than what they have and what they use it for.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

“Fourthly, these invasions. If you fail, nothing happens. Nothing. Nada. Why no consequences? "

Because the invasions aren’t as important as what she’s doing elsewhere. That’s what I’m reading into it. Also, the invasions shut down a zone pretty thoroughly for 45 minutes, so in technical terms it’s probably better that if the event fails (i.e. you don’t clear all the way to Scarlet Briar and then kill her) . . . and it DOES more often than it doesn’t . . . there’d be a ton of zones accumulating problems in them which would pretty much never get solved.

“Yes. I meant story driven consequences.”

Because it’s been just over 24 hours since it started and lasting effects probably won’t be left until the next team’s release after this is out.

ArenaNet have already said the invasions will continue “at a reduced rate” after this event is over. No stop date has been uttered to my knowledge so, these go on forever I assume. So you really think that two weeks will make a difference? Ok, I guess we’ll wait and see who’s right. Just to say:

In b4 no real consequences.

I don’t know what format the consequences will take, but I’m trusting something is going to follow from the events of this “Clockwork Chaos”.

But . . . I think the “real consequences” story or otherwise are going to follow from what Scarlet does after this is done rather than the invasions. Because it seems the invasions are less important to her than other matters. Or it will follow from what the protagonists (Queen Jennah, Countess Anise, Logan, Rox, Braham) do in the aftermath.

xephire.8324:

I support you Gehenna.We know who is the most subjective here and only thinks his opinion only matters.We know who doesnt like other opinions and call them subjective.We know who that contradicts every opinion he doesn’t really like.We know who who thinks all his own opinions are not subjective.

And his name was Robert Paulson. (Not the actor, just some guy somewhere . . . )

You know, I really think the Internet doesn’t know the difference between “subjective” and “objective” anymore with all the hatchet-job logic floating around here. And the concept that proving one phrase was misspoken collapses or invalidates an argument unrelated to it.

The thing really looks like this:

You all know what Vayne is saying in spirit, and some of you don’t agree with him. And the fact he keeps saying it doesn’t sit well with you, so you feel the need to try to get him to stop by poking holes in the details until he shuts up. Problem is, that’s not really working, it just redirects his attention to fending off the hole-punching and the original point gets lost somewhere around page two. Much like Vayne often knows what you mean, and can’t resist taking shots at people who won’t leave him alone, and then we get the same thing going on.

It’s fine you folk don’t agree. And it’s also fine you (plural) can base your opinion on something other than fact, like emotions and perceptions. (No, stop, don’t hit reply just yet to refute me.) Differences of opinion are awesome to have, because it means we haven’t turned into a collective subconscious spewing memes and not coming up with anything new. Dissenting opinions are GOOD.

So can we stop trying to browbeat each other into submission or hoping the other person shuts up quicker? Because, you know, it’s been (checking calendar . . .) coming up on a year since this sort of thing started off and people began these sort of discussions. It hasn’t stopped yet, people who were talking then are still fighting the same argument now.

Nobody is giving up their position, so can we leave it alone and discuss more productive matters, like how things can be changed around rather than whether or not “a lot” is a subjective measurement, an objective one, or a colloquialism with no actual meaning.

Who knows, we might actually raise good points and fresh ideas.

Orion Star.3651:

Your all forgetting one detail that was said by the asura, she saw the eternal alchemy so maybe she was driven mad by seeing it!

He also says he doubts that, because the Eternal Alchemy is not something you “see” . . . of course it’s possible something else pushed her over the edge. Someone floated the idea she was one of the sylvari who got experimented on by the Inquest.

Shiren.9532:

The Joker killed Batman’s girlfriend, an important and established character. Scarlet is supposed to be some kind of genius yet she didn’t predict the most predictable event – the mesmer queen with the mesmer bodyguard used an illusion as a body double. We had a Living Story instance which told us Scarlet is smart, but it showed us that’s she’s actually stupid.

I don’t think that’s quite the case, I think Jenna isn’t the physical target. She can still do harm to the Queen through basically subverting the watchknights and turning this wonderful Crown Pavilion into her own playpen even for a time.

Remember, even the Joker got simple details wrong in his plans. It’s just they didn’t really matter.

Elbegast.6970:

zeromius.1604:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Direksone.3867:

Thank you Tobi. I’m gonna call you Tobi. ’Cause I like you.

Completely conjecture and pulled out of . . . I mean, fabricated based on what little we have so far.

Probably one of the better strengths of a story with few details being dropped rapidly is seeing what other minds come up with to fill the gaps. I mean, George Lucas made a killing off licensing his work out to do that

Which is also one of the greatest weaknesses of a story where a lot of details aren’t available: when they get filled it can sometimes be obvious there wasn’t any continuity with an original "plan’ despite what anyone says about it.

. . . anyway, who else is looking forward to hearing Moto explain how he came up with the SAB in great excruciating detail?

Tobi is one of the main villains in the Naruto series. His power allows him to phase through material objects. If Scarlet has a similar ability then that would explain why she is able to constantly elude death.

Or perhaps….just maybe….
Scarlet is also a Watchknight…..the first Watchknight, the Alpha Watchknight created by….??

SkyNet

TheKillerAngel.3596:

Rottaran Owain.6789:

TheKillerAngel.3596:

She loudly announces the fact that she has bombs in Divinity’s Reach during her attack. A smart terrorist wouldn’t say that.

The goal of terrorism is fear, not casualties.

The villain loudly proclaiming their plans in front of the hero is also something that probably 90% of Saturday morning cartoon villains have done.

Don’t think she did proclaim her plans in front of the hero other than “Imma gonna wreck things, lawl”.

Master of Timespace.2548:

Unleashed.6195:

Rambodacious.7495:

I’m afraid a few, specific instances of “goofiness” do not, your point, make.

I can summon just as many “serious” things about GW2. Look at the personal story. People being murdered, loss of life everywhere, struggles to survive. It was not pokemon bubble bounce bumblekittenery.

Mufasa died in The Lion King. Scar nearly starved the entire Savannah after taking over. Zazu was imprisoned and threatened to be eaten. They had a leopard eat a baby in Tarzan. That doesn’t make either the diary of Anne Frank.

Indeed. That kind of stuff has nothing to do with something being “serious” or not. Take for example Starship Troopers xD

The novel by Heinlein or the movie?

. . . you know what else had a lot of serious-type stuff happening which I couldn’t take serious after a while? “The Sopranos”.

Also, one of my favorite shows is both goofy silly and deadly serious, and sometimes swings between the two in the same hour. “Castle”. (Nathan is such an underrated actor.)

Konig Des Todes.2086:

We had the Mursaat which were not tied to Abaddon.

Yes they were, but not directly. They were trying to prevent the Flameseeker Prophecies from coming to pass, which was the release of the titans, which was one thing Abaddon wanted to happen. (Even if it wasn’t exactly a PLAN the way Nightfall was, just taking advantage of things.)

defrule.7236:

You guys need to listen to this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-aHuXLa3uI

I’d get very off topic replying to this whole “rant” (which is not so much a rant as a VLog) but I can sum it up in this: (Edit: Realized I ran on WAY longer than initially thought.)

If a developer creates content which is good and entertaining, I don’t think it’s a perfect state of affairs (sight unseen) but I will not decry it as a waste of time . . . even though all games objectively ARE huge wastes of time, but that’s another off topic tangent for another time.

Player-created content of the type he’s talking about (I think it’s called “emergent gameplay”)? Always runs three risks. Warning: generalizations ahead.

- It alienates the players who just can’t fight back. Raise your hand if you were in the old days when PvP combat in an MMO was normal and expected. Also raise your hand if you ever played a FPS online and the skill difference between you and everyone else was just so insurmountable there was no fun to be had . . . just repeated deaths and respawning. This is not fun for people, and it is an inevitable event which happens to people under this framework.

- If players don’t behave, it’s not fun. Talking of general crappiness how many people would do things simply to waste others’ time. I’m not talking about PvP, I’m talking about what we call trolling. I’m talking about “sure I’ll show you the way” and two hours later you realize you’ve been lead in something the shape of a rude word I can’t say on the forums. Or someone who tells you how to find something, only they’re making the whole thing up to be as unhelpful as possible. Note, this somewhat is changed if there’s a chance for bloody retribution later on these people . . . but from experience? These people don’t leave safety that often.

- There is a very real chance of locking out people who are new or fresh to the content. We’re talking similar to the first point, where the other players are skilled or knowledgeable enough later in the life cycle, there’s no real point to letting new people . . . actual, fresh new players . . . join in. It’s better to obliterate them and go back to business as usual, or to just let them go and hope they disappear. And the new people will inevitably wander into some plot or something where they have absolutely no idea what is going on . . . and suffer for it for no reason other than “wrong place, wrong time”.

I, myself, don’t like multiplayer games where other players can erase my progress because they’re bored or need the lulz. I quit Ultima Online once because it was such a shark tank for me (being unskilled at PvP) and I have not-fond memories of Meridian 59 solely because of blind/hold/archery gank squads.

I’d love to say I’d support player-created content but there’s such an unappealing dark side to it . . . I’d rather stay out of it entirely.

Nageth.5648:

Necessary from a story stand point, I mean. Logan’s character requires a counter point or it ends up feeling like we’re intruding on Logan and Jennah’s couples counseling session. And as much as I like Rytlock, his “grr, Logan bad” attitude wasn’t that entertaining.

It’s not entertaining at all, and I was really put off his character . . .

. . . until I started playing a Blood Legion charr. Then I really liked him and was glad my charr smacked him verbally for his attitude.

But playing an asura just made me wish Zojja had died instead of Snaff.

Akari Storm.6809:

lordkrall.7241:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

He’s not dead til I see a body.

secret stuffs

hide spoiler

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kill_the_Risen_commander_to_avenge_Tybalt

those notes read “presumably”.

The following people I will not believe are dead unless I find a rotted corpse:

Gwen (came “back from the dead” before, also is a mesmer and we know about mesmer clones now)

Tybalt (member of the Order of Whispers)

Mad King Thorn (I will add the need for a rotted corpse is also joined by the need for his soul locked in a crystal ball I will keep on my mantlepiece)

The Frog

Livia

Nageth.5648:

Which is why Anise’s character is necessary these days.

I’d say she was always necessary. We all know the Mursaat are coming back, and the Shining Blade are probably the only people who bothered hanging onto equipment to deal with that.

joshua valentine.2593:

There’s only one important question I have…
While Scarlet was busy going to all three Asuran colleges, making shady deals with the Molten Alliance and the Aetherblade Pirates, and generally becoming a psychotic, stereotypical supervillain…

Show Spoiler

hide spoiler

Where the hell did she get the time to make not one, but TWO Quips?

Nageth.5648:

You have to be blind to miss the stick up Logan’s…

Yeah, but he’s not all that bad. The first two parts of the human Personal Story show a better side to him. Not all that much better, but . . .

“Oh noes, it’s the White Mantle, run.”
“A-are you mocking me?”
“Yeah.”

Nageth.5648:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Nageth.5648:

Arguably, Canach was just a patsy who was angry when he found out he was a patsy with the real villain being the consortium.

Set up to take the fall for what went wrong, THEN his methods of dealing with the Consortium ranged to the “too extreme”.

Also? Not a mary sue sylvari

“Too extreme” being planting an extremely dense mine field in a cave and then hiding in said cave. I kid, I kid.

Also being developing those plants sending everything on Southsun Cove into an enraged frenzy tearing apart things :P And blowing up a ship to destroy the contracts. I mean, he snuck that under the Lionguard’s noses. Crafty.

AlexMc.2083:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Nageth.5648:

Eh, Logan just needs to loosen up a bit (which is why I like Anise constantly mocking him).

Isn’t it weird his male ancestor used to keep saying that to his female ancestor?

. . . no I’m not going to drop it. Keiran was much better a Thackeray

Keiran gave up being a Ranger to throw things and shout at people, ew.

Gave up? Ehh. From a game balance, it would have been crazy to have (normally available) four Ranger heroes and only two Paragon heroes. And from a story standpoint, the idea of a Paragon was pretty much what he was supposed to become.

But he made the most awesome Ranger with that sniper shot.

Nageth.5648:

Arguably, Canach was just a patsy who was angry when he found out he was a patsy with the real villain being the consortium.

Set up to take the fall for what went wrong, THEN his methods of dealing with the Consortium ranged to the “too extreme”.

Also? Not a mary sue sylvari

Nageth.5648:

Okay, she could be trying to influence the dream by creating chaos everywhere. This is a much less direct approach than the Nightmare Court has taken before (mostly because most of them are so emotionally screwed up that they can’t think straight). So I wouldn’t be surprised if Scarlet did fall to nightmare at some point but I would be surprised if Scarlet is backed by Faolain.

Backed, not my opinion. Raised by into full on crazy? Possible.

inazuma.7021:

I see Scarlet as a cross between Harley Quinn and Azula, so far.

Scarlet: As if I didn’t have enough reason to adore Tara Strong.

She was the only reason I liked Rikku.

But if you need other reasons? I’ve heard her Twitter is a goldmine.

Nageth.5648:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Nageth.5648:

Yeah, I was just pointing out how it seems unlikely that she is from another tree unless some very weird retconning was going on due to the novelty of the concept. She doesn’t seem like Nightmare Court as she doesn’t seem to care about the Pale Tree at all. The attacks so far have been directed against norn, charr and humans. Hardly seems like a way to combat the tablet.

I don’t know if the Nightmare Court necessarily has to be focused solely on the Pale Tree. In Twilight Arbor it seems they’re WAY too focused on each other and scrambling to cause the most pain possible.

The Nightmare Court exists to free the sylvari from the tablet by corrupting the dream with nightmare. It would be like if the human separatists attack the asura and sylvari to try to overthrow the queen.

. . . except I could see how that would work.

“Queen Jennah, since you can’t seem to keep control of your people, we’re going to do it for you. These are our new Golems and they should do the job fantastically. Also, anyone over three feet tall is subject to random stops, searches, and possibly imprisonment if anything incriminating is found on them. Because we asura are much more civilized about this, I expect this will be all for the best.”

laokoko.7403:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I would have felt more for losing Tybalt if he hadn’t finished an arc with me pretty much pretending to be this experienced field agent on his own first mission.

After that I was totally ready to ask Riel for her as a partner. Everyone knows thieves are OP, and engineers aren’t useful. (Sarcasm)

You kept spoiling it do you? Now everyone will know Tybalt died.

He’s not dead til I see a body.

Nageth.5648:

Yeah, I was just pointing out how it seems unlikely that she is from another tree unless some very weird retconning was going on due to the novelty of the concept. She doesn’t seem like Nightmare Court as she doesn’t seem to care about the Pale Tree at all. The attacks so far have been directed against norn, charr and humans. Hardly seems like a way to combat the tablet.

I don’t know if the Nightmare Court necessarily has to be focused solely on the Pale Tree. In Twilight Arbor it seems they’re WAY too focused on each other and scrambling to cause the most pain possible.

Iason Evan.3806:

The really hilarious plot gaffe is that the first thing Jennah or our character should have suggested doing was going and talking to The Pale Tree about who she is. That would have been a great way to figure out how to approach the situation and flesh out more of the plot about who she is.

Queen Jennah: “Great Mother, Pale Tree, who is this Scarlet Briar blowing up my city?”
The Pale Tree: “She was Trahearne’s ex-girlfriend. I am thinking of instituting a new rule of not falling in love with other sylvari, it never works out. Look what happened with Faolain . . .”
Queen Jennah: “I’m thinking about a rule like that myself.”
Logan Thackeray: “. . . why do you look at me when you say that?”

It all just seems so disjointed. I am sure we will get more info later, but for now it feels like the end of Guild Wars 1 did when EotN ended. We got an ending but it just begged for more questions and those questions never got answered. The same thing seems to be happening here. I know that I want an actual story with a concise beginning, middle, and end. Even if it isn’t a story I like, at least it will make sense and be well laid out. This is just kinda messy for now. I will reserve total judgment for when the event ends. Surprise me with story for once ArenaNet! I love the rest of the game, but the storytelling is kinda lacking in the coherent department.

One of the problems writing a story for an MMO is trying to find a way of leaving a definitive “end” while still giving you room to grow on it later. The Prophecies campaign left ways for that to happen, and Factions was a stretch, but not so much anything else . . .

Nageth.5648:

Eh, Logan just needs to loosen up a bit (which is why I like Anise constantly mocking him).

Isn’t it weird his male ancestor used to keep saying that to his female ancestor?

. . . no I’m not going to drop it. Keiran was much better a Thackeray

Direksone.3867:

Thank you Tobi. I’m gonna call you Tobi. ’Cause I like you.

Completely conjecture and pulled out of . . . I mean, fabricated based on what little we have so far.

Probably one of the better strengths of a story with few details being dropped rapidly is seeing what other minds come up with to fill the gaps. I mean, George Lucas made a killing off licensing his work out to do that

Which is also one of the greatest weaknesses of a story where a lot of details aren’t available: when they get filled it can sometimes be obvious there wasn’t any continuity with an original "plan’ despite what anyone says about it.

. . . anyway, who else is looking forward to hearing Moto explain how he came up with the SAB in great excruciating detail?

Nageth.5648:

If that is the case I don’t see how this would make any sense as she would have had to have graduated from those colleges in less than a year (while simultaneously being the mastermind of some of the living story plots) because it came as a surprise when a sylvari from another tree was found in one of the sylvari personal stories.

Well, is anyone going to mention Inquest cronies on the Rata Sum Council, who you brush up against in the Personal Story? I mean, asura politics is even more crazy than the stuff going on in Divinity’s Reach.

I could subscribe to the idea of her “graduating” due to handing over to the Inquest some of her tech . . . which was then sold to the Aetherblades, who she had gathered under Mai Trin . . . and then Ellen Kiel’s investigation shut the Inquest out from it but Scarlet was already done with that noise.

As for her origins? I refuse to speculate on other trees or Nightmare Court connections since we have had standard sylvari go crazy before. (Canach, Owain . . . Tegwen I think her name was . . . )

Sarie.1630:

Direksone.3867:

I think you’re only hurting yourself here by drawing conclusions so early. Perhaps they do and that question will be answered soon enough. You don’t know, stop making assumptions. It will, in my opinion, only make the experience all the more sour.

I read that and hear: “Go sit quietly in a corner and wait for them to get it right”.

No.

You do know they’ll never get it “right” by the standards of everyone in the game? I mean, every time they try to put something in people say they want, there’s 400 threads about why it sucks and the game is going to die.

“I just… I can’t accept that after all these “killings” she’s not actually, y’know… dead. Why is she not? Why does she keep coming back for more? More importantly… HOW does she keep coming back for more? Did I miss something?”

Probably did miss something, she has personal teleportation devices like Kudu it seems. (By the way, that’s another person who it was completely satisfying to take down . . . finally.) I also anticipated the goal is not to outright kill her but to beat her into submission so she could be questioned. Like Mai Trin.

“Onto my second problem. Flame and Frost, the Molten Alliance. I am yet to find any information on how she may have coerced the Flame Legion and Dredge into forming an alliance, and why they are prepared to fight for her during these invasions. In addition… where has the Molten Alliance been since we last saw them?”

Apparently the Molten Alliance went underground. Literally, as the case may be. As for how she coerced them? Is it as important to know HOW as to know that she DID? And that for some reason there’s still a group of them loose somewhere hiding and still developing weapons?

By the way, coercing the dredge to ally isn’t hard. The Inquest did it for peanuts (outdated weaponry).

“Third issue. I am still unclear about where the Aetherblades and Steam Creatures came from.”

Two different questions, one of which we have no answer to at all. The Aetherblades? Apparently they appropriated some smaller Pact airships and adapted a very “hit and run” type of tactic. Why are they together? Where did they come from? How do so many work together?

For the riches. Didn’t you get they were pirates the first time they were introduced? Captain Mai Trin was angling for a seat at Lion’s Arch. (And probably Scarlet was too, until that failed so hard it bounced.) Promise people glory and riches and you will always get takers if you look like you can follow up on it. Scarlet does, and I’d place it as highly probable they now follow her out of fear instead of greed.

“Fourthly, these invasions. If you fail, nothing happens. Nothing. Nada. Why no consequences? "

Because the invasions aren’t as important as what she’s doing elsewhere. That’s what I’m reading into it. Also, the invasions shut down a zone pretty thoroughly for 45 minutes, so in technical terms it’s probably better that if the event fails (i.e. you don’t clear all the way to Scarlet Briar and then kill her) . . . and it DOES more often than it doesn’t . . . there’d be a ton of zones accumulating problems in them which would pretty much never get solved.

“Yes. I meant story driven consequences.”

Because it’s been just over 24 hours since it started and lasting effects probably won’t be left until the next team’s release after this is out.

I would have felt more for losing Tybalt if he hadn’t finished an arc with me pretty much pretending to be this experienced field agent on his own first mission.

After that I was totally ready to ask Riel for her as a partner. Everyone knows thieves are OP, and engineers aren’t useful. (Sarcasm)

Direksone.3867:

. . . but once they get to know them, they’re really something else.

I’d be perfectly happy if destroying the Elder Dragons for good meant we could explode Rata Sum into a crater.

. . . yes, it’s safe to say I am not a huge fan of the asura. If it weren’t for Moto I’d probably never set foot in Rata Sum again.

Vena.8436:

Prophecies was roller-coaster of writing shenanigans.
-> Help our people! Get kicked out (betrayed) by your king!
-> Follow your Prince! He dies…
-> Seek help from powerful nation! Turns out they are madmen, they betray you!
-> Try to escape. Bet you thought you were safe! Betrayed by comrade.
-> Run to seek help from powerful Vizier! He’s not evil or anything….
-> Run to seek help from powerful dragon! Ha jokes on you, she planned this all out!
-> Defeat evil… unleash even worse evil upon the land. That Vizier? Nah he was evil and he betrays you.
-> Defeat the evil and seal up the Vizier! Ahh… job finally done.

More like . . .

1 – Help your people fight the Charr? Realize it’s hopeless to win by feats of arms and try to get some safe with the Prince since Ascalon has fallen.
2 – Try to cross the mountains? Crazy isolationist faction and civil war keeping you from getting through. Prince dies to make sure his people get safe.
3 – Reached Kryta to negotiate for a plot of land? Joke’s on you, there’s no ruler here anymore except for some cultists who deny the gods exist aside from their own. Like this won’t be a problem.
4 – Try to help out against that rebellion problem? Joke’s still going, they’re the good guys and now you’re wanted outlaws with them.
5 – Run straight to the last survivor who escaped Orr, who knows something to help you with? He strands you in the desert telling you to seek Ascension.
6 – Ascend and discover the Mursaat are looking for you to keep the Flameseeker Prophecies from coming true. Oh, and you meet a dragon prophet who sends you back to the dwarves. Because why not.
7 – Mursaat, White Mantle, Stone Summit, sure, why not, let’s just kill them all and go to the Ring of Fire since Vizier Khilbron says that’s our next goal. Because his trip to the desert was so lovely, we should do it again on an active volcano chain.
8 – Discover absolutely everything you had been doing was just to get the Scepter to the Gate of Komalie so Vizier Khilbron can send the titans to go mess stuff up. Why is he doing this? Because shut up.
9 – Seal the Vizier’s undead soul in the Bloodstone. Strangely somehow this doesn’t destroy him like we were led to believe but he’s still alive and sitting around with some guy named Shiro (who needs a haircut) talking about how awesome it will be to go mess things up again.
10 – Figure out the titans still aren’t done, and go root them out. This involves seeing King Crazypants not even remotely remorseless for throwing out his only son and heir, making the charr a joke, and possibly contributing to the whole “North Kryta Province is a terrible place to live” thing.
11 – You know those Stone Summit crazies? Yeah, the dwarves with the spiky shoulderpads. They’ve got something they’re doing in Grenth’s Footprint, and despite not having any reason whatsoever to go to work on that problem we’re being expected to take care of that mess. Also, Kilroy Stonekin.

DarksunG.9537:

I think Eir & Logan are the least offensively annoying of the mains. with Rytlock & Zojja just being totally jerks in an attempt to have “attitude”.

Rytlock doesn’t come off as a jerk if you’re not following Logan around. Seriously, my Blood Legion warrior had a completely different experience with him. And his interactions with Rox aren’t bad until she brings up the warband like a fangirl. (Which she is.)

Zojja on the other hand, and by extension most of the asura, always come off badly. I mean, even Vekk did from time to time but he grew on me a lot easier. Probably because he was less interested in showing off his intelligence over others and more about getting rid of the destroyers.

Vena.8436:

Unleashed.6195:

If I can get my head out of the expectations I had for this game, expectations put in place by Guild Wars 1, I’m sure I’ll find plenty of fun here while I look for something compelling to move on to in the future.

GW1 had equally kittenty story telling, I’m not particularly sure I see where your expectations are coming from in this regard.

Prophecies was literally Backstabbed the Story x10, for example.

I liked the writing in Guild Wars 1.

. . . but only after roughly the halfway point of Prophecies. Crystal Desert onwards was actually pretty decent (if still highly cliche), but leading up to it was a mess.

Gulesave.5073:

There is always a hidden mastermind another layer up. That’s the nature of GW1, and I see it finally making a return. At first, you fought the charr. Then found out they were controlled by the flame shamans. Who were duped by false gods. Who were being manipulated by x. Which was a pawn of y. Who were then revealed to be z, working for ohgodsmakeitstop

The false gods weren’t being manipulated by, they were a tool created by. It only got real bad when we had the Krytan politics (a traitor in the Shining Blade? Nooooo, color me surprised . . . the White Mantle, who defy the existence of very tangible and provable gods turning out to be evil? . . . yawn . . . )

To be fair, Factions was a whole lot more direct with the story. So was Nightfall.

Winds.3087:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I don’t think he’s ten times better than the duo of Rox/Braham. Seriously, those two are fun to work alongside, and it doesn’t feel their AI is useless.

Also, Ellen Kiel would revive me in the Aetherblade Retreat, which Trahearne never did. So he’s got a while to catch up to her.

In-game mechanics. I was talking about their backstory(which in case of braham is one sue in the box).
I bet trahearne ai was done when those fancy rez tricks weren’t around or at least perfected. Why didn’t they implement that for all npc, that’s another story.

Braham? A ‘sue’? Oh I gotta hear this one . . .

Shagaz.6209:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Tachenon.5270:

Scarlet is probably just a lieutenant, or ‘champion’, if you prefer, of the true culprit, who is, of course, Snaff.

And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their pet baby devourer.

Please, don’t give them ideas…

I will give them a much better one.

“What do you take me for? I would not have given you any of this information if you had a chance of stopping it. I started the destruction of Rata Sum thirty-five minutes ago.”

Tachenon.5270:

Scarlet is probably just a lieutenant, or ‘champion’, if you prefer, of the true culprit, who is, of course, Snaff.

And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their pet baby devourer.

Shagaz.6209:

The thing that kitten es me off the most about her is that she isn’t a personal nemesis at all.
Maybe I misunderstood this, but when I read personal nemesis I think superman-lex luthor; batman-joker; link-ganondorf etc.
Yet she doesn’t even know that I exist. Why shoul I care about her?
Sure, she is a threat to all races of Tyria, nobody said she will stop at humans, but the dragons are also and I don’t think that Zhaitan was my personal nemesis, he didn’t even know that I exist. Actually Zhaitan was more personal than her, he killed your “friends” etc.

Link’s personal nemesis is not Ganondorf. It’s Navi.

Also, Scarlet didn’t know you existed before now. I think she knows you/I/we exist now and will plan accordingly.

Though my personal nemesis is . . . Chauncey von Snuffles III. That cat is too fashionable.

Remillard.8691:

Nike.2631:

These invasion are part of the permanent content.

And how precisely did you come to that conclusion, based on all the Living Story Permanent Content™ that’s been released to date? ;-)

It’s been said the invasions are staying, but will be less frequent once this chapter is done.

Trixie.7614:

I like Logan. I don’t like you. Does that mean that I have to wish for your death now?

I like Logan. But I really want Keiran back instead of this current Thackeray.

Why? It’s simple. He’s a ranger with a OHKO skill.

Nike.2631:

Possibly the worst thing about Scarlet is she has plot-immunity… Forever.

These invasion are part of the permanent content. That means the Ms. Harley-Quinn du Salad’s plot-endgame will put her in some permanent untouchable state from which she launches these waves from time to time.

Point of order, nothing says it cannot be patched for a different mastermind behind this in the case of Scarlet Briar being consigned to the flames of a thousand hateful emails.

Uruz Six.6594:

DarksunG.9537:

Yamsandjams.3267:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

I’m really curious about her motives though. Assuming she isn’t evil for the sake of being evil.

Some people just want to watch the world burn.

Ugh, you aren’t SERIOUSLY comparing her character to the Joker? that’s like comparing a Risen to Galactus.

What’s different between Scarlet and Dark Knight Joker?

Aside from one being a tree and the other being a person?

The Dark Knight Joker was incredibly more effective and efficient with his tools than Scarlet has been thus far. I don’t know, though, she could have a high amount of resources to push that many portals active for the invasion efforts but it seems more than a little wasteful.

Part of me is thinking (or hoping, perhaps) she has something else she’s doing with this opportunity she has taken now.

Scott McGough.6897:

Man In Zero G.8312:

Murderous Clown.9723:

Man In Zero G.8312:

I’ve loved it so far – the only complaint I have is NPCs referring to Divinity’s Reach as “DR” in dialogue…. that’s extremely immersion breaking, to be honest. Otherwise fantastic event!

Why? We use initials like that in real life e.g. LA and KL. I don’t see why Tyrians wouldn’t do the same.

Mostly because it’s all of the sudden. Never in the history of the game until now has an NPC referred to Lion’s Arch as LA, for example, (though players do) – or BC, or RS – it’s the same with Divinity’s Reach; never before now has it happened in game (or in the fiction as far as I’ve read). And it wasn’t just Scarlet, I’m pretty sure I heard Rox and/or our new asura sidekick do it too.
It just felt like poor editing on the scripts before they got to the voice actors is all. (i.e. it was meant to be Divinity’s Reach, but was shorthanded while writing, and never got changed in editing – pure conjecture, but that’s what it feels like.)

There actually is a precedent here: Lord Faren referred to Divinity’s Reach as “ol’ DR” several times while he was on Southsun Cove.

And as everyone knows, he’s a trend-setter.

He’s also a master fencer. He bought that title so there! Truly, he is a heroic figure.

Remillard.8691:

TheKillerAngel.3596:

I have heard of bomb threats, but if you want to maximize casualties, I don’t think one would state their intentions so blatantly.

Thus, the character’s current primary goal is not to maximize casualties.

No, it’s to maximize chaos and disorientation, and force a reaction rather than action. Probably to delay them from figuring out she’s warded off the Crown Pavillion until she was done doing so. Or it was to make Logan and Anise look like idiots.

On another note, I’m not convinced those first four bombs were actually real. They burned a good long time while I patiently took out Twisted Watchworks, rather than the fifth which went off almost immediately after she announced it.

And finally, I’m relatively sure she may not have been aware of the mesmer clone trick, but if she was and this was a planned thing? She wouldn’t have abandoned the plan she had been working on. She’d let it ride out as intended and alter her expected outcome, going for THAT goal another time when she wasn’t trying to play to the other side’s tune.

Scarlet very much is a case of “keep them reacting rather than acting or thinking” based on what we see. From what I gather the downfall of her “Playhouse” is due to her not anticipating people the likeliness of a split effort. Or the fact the zerg exists to handle her invasions

Remillard.8691:

Where in there is any motivation for her to open her gob and spout some expository bullkitten about why she’s doing what she’s doing? There isn’t and kudos to ANet for not doing THAT.

I agree with most of your post, I have to single this part out though. There isn’t ever a reason for the “villain motive rant”. Or as it was put in “The Incredibles”, monologuing. It’s done because the audience has to know and can’t see into a character’s head to see what they’re thinking short of in a book.

One of the better video game villains I’ve seen would continuously shut down attempts to learn “why” with: “No, you warrant no villain speech from me.” Jon Irenicus who was powerful, driven, and a challenge for a character who, by all rights within the game rules of the system it was in, should be able to string gods up by their ankles and take their lunch money.

However . . .

What should be done is some way of finding things out without getting it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Other people, clues, journals . . . sure, they might not be entirely accurate (“She graduated from all three colleges! No way was that a clerical error or a database hack.”) . . .

Namica.2951:

SirMoogie.9263:

Is the Order of Whisper on vacation?

It’s troubling that the intelligence arm of the pact didn’t see any of this coming. You’d think they’d take great interest in a genius sylvari, find out she’s crazy, and then maybe keep an eye on her.

I fear that the orders have all been forgotten after they merged into their one big generic mess.

Also, unless Scarlet is serving a Dragon the Pact wouldn’t be involved.

The Order on the other hand, probably DID know something, but as we all know . . . The Order of Whispers knows much, but tells very little.

Kratic.8763:

Atlas.9704:

Uruz Six.6594:

Atlas.9704:

DaShi.1368:

This is why I like Scarlet. She’s a fun, over the top villain.

No, you must have brooding villains that have been established from the very beginning of time.
How dare you have FUN in a game pfhah! I say pfhah! lol

And we have to know exactly everything about them in the first chapter too.

Bonus points if they were from GW1, it doesn’t matter that it was nearly 250 years ago!

Bring back GWEN!!11!1

Silly . . .

. . . Gwen isn’t dead til they show me the body. She was “dead” before.

Aye.8392:

Chances are the people who are “crying” are already grown up. When you have a job, a family, children, home care — things that grown-ups have — getting more than an hour of play in a night can be very difficult.

Yes, most definitely an issue. Though let’s be fair – there are plenty of “grown ups” who don’t have some of that to worry about. (Specifically family and/or children.) There are also some who rather tightly budget their time so they can get good amounts of play. Or those who get a big lump of time cleared on the first couple days of an ongoing event just so they can have the uninterrupted time rather than “an hour here, an hour there…”.

All sorts of people really do play this game. I understand there are some who even hate quaggans.