Guild Wars 2

I’m not sure what you mean. Med Kit always scaled with healing power with a base healing level like every other healing skill.

The utility of our kits hasn’t changed, what has changed is that we’re no longer losing a portion of our stats when we switch to them. They were always inheriting the rest of our stats before.

My healing with Med Kit hasn’t reduced at all—I’m not sure how retaining stats you were otherwise losing in it would make it suddenly drop, outside of outright bugging.

Stormbluff Isle here, and also getting his with disconnects + rollbacks. This happened to me a few days ago too, so I think I’m going to wait for some confirmation that this has been properly fixed before logging back in. Losing progress gets frustrating.

Logged in an checked. Definitely getting my stats, base damage on flamethrower seems unaffected. At 80 it was and still is 969, which is somewhere between exotic pistol and exotic rifle. Someone else will have to confirm for other kits because idk what their base attack strength was, or whether it was significantly lower before 80.

Flamethower is a cone attack, so I assume that that’s still not fixed (but here’s hoping for the next patch! We’re not the only class hit by that). Rectangular attacks, I believe, are those like Napalm/traps/walls.

Mif.3471:

kekuso.5837:

ALL damage kits will do more damage…

No they won’t.

All this change means is that if you don’t have an exotic your damage will be nerfed.

The update is “base damage equal to highest weapon rarity available at level”, not the highest gear you actually have. This may prove totally incorrect wording once we log in and see, but it shouldn’t mean a damage reduction. If anything, we’re going to see an increase.

Also under world polish: “Weapons now continue to grant bonus stats while bundles are equipped.
Bundles from player skills (engineer kits, elementalist conjured weapons, warrior banners) now have base damage that is consistent with the highest rarity weapons available at the level of the player.”

@Creld: I know about the pickup-reduction, but that in turn means you can’t take advantage of detonating your turret if you want to make use of it, and does nothing for overcharges. B(a I suppose something like the armor was put in place, but it’s honestly so much less versatile a replacement because turrets get trashed anyway and their power is more in their overcharges than any standard direct damage they deal anyway.

And I may well need a hug if Engineers don’t get some help soon, I do love this class. 8’(

@Xplosiv: I actually really only play PvE, and I don’t build around turrets but I run damage/control so they’re actually handy for screwing enemy behavior around (Gadgets get really redundant with knocking the enemy away and that’s not always what I want to do). It’s just that if they get broken at the wrong time I can find myself in a messy spot, and I could never really see a good reason that they can’t get a cooldown reduction given how high most of them are.

This has always bothered me (and we probably have no answer for it but I’ll ask anyway) but why is it we don’t have any trait to reduce turret cooldowns? It’s such a standard ability for special class utilities across the board, and our kits, elixirs, and gadgets all have proper increased recharge rates (except Med Kit). It seems out of place that turrets don’t have the same thing, and they could really use it.

I definitely see the need to give bosses some degree of CC resistance, but I agree a permanent buff like Unshakable wasn’t the way to do it. It’s difficult for some skills to get around and impossible for others, and rather than needing to strategize use of your CC skills it just removes much of their utility all together. Trying to play a class or build with a reliance on CC just ends up frustrating, especially since control is supposed to be one of the three areas of combat to balance yourself around (alongside support and damage).

What I think would be better is give bosses skills/secondary effects of skills that set of temporary forms off control immunity/removal/etc like Unshakable/Defiant. This helps prevent CC spam while still giving it a window where it can be used without otherwise having to spam your CC just to whittle those stacks down for the one that will actually do something (and it still doesn’t do anything for the permanent blindness and vuln/weakness debuffs).

We’ve been told kits will be receiving weapon stats (although with no ETA, here’s hoping it’s soon). Sigils have also been working for about a month now.

I’ve already sent in a ticket, but last night I was disconnected and also saw part of my progress reset when I logged back in.

None of my friends I was partying had this happen, though.

Sylvari can’t choose which of their memories go to the Dream any more than they can choose which ones they get out of it. It’s understood that those with the strongest emotion or meaning behind them are the ones most likely to be taken up, and they are absorbed as they’re experienced and not after death.

Of course, most of these memories get passed on only in vague parts, so Sylvari are not really waking up with intimate details of other Sylvari’s lives (that they would at all be aware of, anyway).

I couldn’t see it on two of my non-Vigil characters, but I went back with my non-Vigil Engineer and it was there. :|a I guess it’s just tied to Claw Island (or a mission further ahead) then, since the others aren’t that far, unless someone can confirm seeing it even earlier.

Maybe they could take the same lines and just adjust the pitch, to create a higher and a lower version alongside the default? It would be a lot cheaper and still give players a little bit of variety between characters of the same gender/race, or to have a more fitting voice to their appearance.

It’s on the desk to the right of the bottom of the staircase in the Vigil HQ instance. It’s only in the instance if you’re Vigil, and I think only after you’ve completed Battle of Claw Island but I may have just missed it before then.

Blurred Frenzy and Illusionary Riposte both help you avoid damage, so running dual swords doesn’t leave your mitigation to the mercy of shatters. You’re not going to get much in the way of distanced control on the melee weapon, but our swords have a lot of strength and utility (vuln stacking, boon ripping, leap finishers, immobilize, damage mitigation) that a mesmer can be a persistent melee fighter and have sustainability even against multiple opponents (provided they didn’t spec like wet toilet paper).

But you don’t want to sit on one weapon set forever anyway, because a lot of utility is in all our weapons and you’ll always be strongest managing what weapons your on and learning how to use them in synergy.

It definitely does get much easier at around 30 when you can get gear stats with both offense and defense (and you can have blade training open with some points left over for other things), because while you’ll be relying on a lot of damage mitigation skills the longer you sit in combat the higher a risk you get for hits to go through. Knowing when you need to pull back to ranged for a while is also key, but that’s something you get a feel for as you go.

Our MH sword has one of the widest melee arcs in the game, it’s actually very good for taking on multiple enemies at once. Would be better if mind stab didn’t interrupt the groove but I guess rapid boon removal is hard to argue with. :|a

I don’t think I’ve heard of this working for anyone, and it’s been bugged up for months for me. I really wish it would get fixed, or at least know they know it’s broken and will get to it at some point, because I’d like to read it a lot.

The Sylvari are said to bury their dead to “return them to the earth” (although they seem to be in practice of headstones and not actively planting things, looking at Riannoc and Evart), so if we want to be literal yes, if they don’t make use of coffins (and they don’t seem to) they do become fertilizer. But so does everything that dies and decomposes and isn’t disposed of in other means.

Went back to check the skillpoint (I’ve never seen the other event, and didn’t even hear about it until it popped up in Google alongside the skillpoint search), it actually does speak to you, through telepathy. :|a If the other one calls himself a druid this one probably is too, then, what it is isn’t actually addressed in the skillpoint dialogue.

It’s skin, however, is definitely an Oakheart and not a Willowheart, though. So either something’s up with that or someone done messed up.

So we do. :|a I’ve never actually been through her lab, just the hologram skillpoint. And there’s a skillpoint in Brisband Wildlands for “defeat the restless Arboreal spirit”, which I don’t recall being a druid spirit and still looks like an Oakheart. But I must have forgotten to cap the pre-skill dialogue and can’t find it so I could be mistaken.

For Secrets of the Earth, I was thinking of Iowerth’s line of “contacting his spirit” as part of the ritual—but I can’t recall any proper explanation of that, which is why it’s shaky ground for me. It’s possible I’m forgetting something you can talk to him about between cutscenes/the ritual, as I didn’t save them and can’t re-reference.

Tarn.1374:

There’s no substantial evidence I know/read/seen to support it, only strong suggestive evidence to counter it.

I’d genuinely like to see what evidence you have that implicitly counters sexual or romantic relationships between humans and Norn, from a Norn perspective (because there are humans in game who’ve taken interest in Norn, we know that happens), because I’ve never seen anything of the sort. I honestly haven’t seen much substantial evidence of how Norn view sex in general (edit: although I do know there are a couple Norn in Wayfarer Foothills who make skeevy pick-up lines towards any female characters).

I don’t think a blanket statement of “their cultures are different it would never happen” is any sort of solid evidence. Humans in real life, and even in game, come from vastly different cultures as well, and that hasn’t stopped them from forming relationships and having sex with each other. And an individual is not the stereotype of their race, especially in places with a lot of globalization like Lion’s Arch people’s views and behaviors are going to be different from what is expected.

Human ghosts in standard ghost fare have existed ever since GW1, and there’s multiple quests in the open world pertaining to what are just restless/lingering spirits. Charr and Norn ghosts are less populous, but exist, but all three and the Asura has proof that they go to the Mists when they die, as all of them were shown as members of the Lunatic Court in Halloween (who are the dead under Mad King Thorn in the area of the underworld basically sectioned off for crazy evil people, for lack of a better descriptor).

But there’s no tangible evidence that Sylvari have spirits (and we never see Sylvari ghosts, but I don’t think we see Asura ghosts either so), or if they do where they go. Sylvari themselves generally seem to think that they do, but it’s no more than humans in real life believing that they have an eternal spirit that moves on—they don’t have any proof of it, they just say it’s so.

The closest proof I can think of is Secrets of the Earth, but the ritual is never properly explained that I can remember so I take it with a grain of salt, and it still doesn’t talk about where they actually go.

Edit: Although personally, I’d say if Dolyaks and Oakhearts (Or was it a Mossheart) have spirits the chances are good Sylvari do too.

Sword/sword is very viable, and staff compliments it very nicely as a defensive weapon (both chaos storm and chaos armor are going to give you the most bang for your buck in melee range). These are the weapons I run with a balanced/phantasm build, but I believe Osicat’s shattercat build uses them together as well.

Illusionary Riposte takes a bit of practice, but when you get the hang on it it’s a formidable tool. The swordsman is also our fastest-attacking phantasm outside the utilities and packs a decent punch.

I don’t think anybody will argue mainhand sword isn’t good, except that Illusionary Leap tends to bug out and that needs to be fixed. But the autoattack and Blurred Frenzy are strong enough on their own.

My experience in dungeons is really all over the place on my Engineer—there are some dungeons/paths that I can burn through with ease, and others where I’m struggling and feel like a load. Part of it is, yes, you seem to carry a stupid amount of aggro in the dungeon. And that can be great in some ways but more often then not for me just winds up sucking, especially boss fights that have adds in them.

Another is crowd control. Engineers have a lot of it, and we’re very good at it, but it’s not a totally reliable mechanic in dungeons because of unshakable (and let me tell you how much I hate unshakable). We, in turn, have only a handful of escape skills and two of them knock us down as well (and are meant to CC the enemy which won’t work on bosses) so it is very hard to get away from aggro that you can’t carry.

… Actually pretty much all my dungeon problems boil down to aggro. But most of my guildies run spellcasters and fight ranged so maybe that’s part of why I get such a disproportionate amount of it…

If, we assume, you don’t have the boss tailgating your sorry kitten the entire fight (or you’re just not in a boss fight), then Engineers can bring a lot of support (vuln stacks, elixir gun, healing turret and med kit, bomb healing, etc), creating and finishing combos (I’d dare say we have the most versatility in combo-fielding on ourselves/everyone else), and crowd-controlling mob sections which can make things a lot easier for your party.

Or you could spec to be a tank and play bait.

I know. What I meant is: did Jormag create a minion around the remains of something long-dead, did the flesh somehow actually decompose inside (and if so why is it no longer shaped like the framework would have started forming as), or is late stages of his corruption something that actively changes just not the composition of those corrupted, but their entire structure as well? And as such, are most of the Icebrood we see actually very young (Norn presumably are, but you also find Icebrood elementals, Kodan, wolves who maintain their general structure too. Goliaths are also still very Norn-shaped)?

Dragon corruption looks pretty invasive to me, with the way it involuntarily changes the physical and mental state of an individual (as we see in HotW (and an early event in Dredgehaunt Cliffs) not all who become corrupted did so willingly—those who are already corrupted can forcefully spread it to them). And Icebrood are simply covered in early stages, but it’s noted that older ones are frozen up the whole way through, so it is working its way into their actual bodies and changing that too.

Colossus are very change, I’m not sure if they’re an example of very old icebrood or if Jormag can actually create minion like Primordus does.

It’s not a literal disease, but I mean that it’s something invasive to the physical body that causes damage (if you take the way Icebrood’s bodies changed to be damage, of if we reference Hekja/that event in the Straits the way turning into a risen might speed up the corpse rotting in early stages)/ailment/apparent mental degradation. You could compare it to chemical poisoning too. :|a That would probably be closer from a mutative perspective.

Dragon corruption is largely physical, though. Joarmag uses spiritual corruption with the Sons of Svanir (and the original Svanir), but his Icebrood and Zhaitan’s minions are the result of what is basically a disease working into someone’s system.

We really know very little about Sylvari biology so it’s hard to say why exactly they’re immune. Sylvari themselves have ranging ideas from “it’s because we were made to fight the dragons!!” to “it’s just because we’re too new to the world, give them time to figure us out and they’ll corrupt us too”.

I definitely noticed this happening in CoF some days ago when I was running it, but I wasn’t able to replicate the effect in the Mists. It’s definitely not something I saw before running that dungeon, but I haven’t been running the open world on my engi since so I haven’t seen if it persisted.

I feel as though I recall seeing the shield at one time, but last I looked I couldn’t find it. Tiachren never shows up in your home instance outside of story quests.

Sylvari are immune to being turned into dragon minions, yes—the corruption just kills them off instead (nobody knows why yet). And it does make them ideal for high-risk missions because they can’t be turned and come back for everyone else or filter information to the enemy. You see this kind of idea in the personal story with the Pale Reavers.

iSwordsman does less direct damage than iDuelist, but at an equally faster attack rate. If you want to run a glass cannon build, you’ll probably want to be shattering your phantasms after first attack since it adds extra damage/evasion and their attack cooldowns are just a waste and leaves them open, frail as they are. So, in your case, an offhand pistol would probably do you best.

Human incest taboos aren’t really applicable to the Sylvari given how different their reproductive and familial structure is (and such taboos haven’t exactly been consistent through our history anyway) and while there are plants with systems in place to prevent inbreeding because it can be just as damaging to them, it isn’t like they have a social structure where they can dictate the acceptability of it, or have any sort of feeling to contradict it.

Sylvari don’t view all other Sylvari like we do our siblings (although they use such terms with those they are friendly with)—they’re more like second/third cousins, I’d say (which are actually legal to marry America, because it’s far enough removed that your genetics are diverse enough to not cause any problems. Food for thought). Twins are probably the most standard sibling relation the Sylvari have, and they’re rare cases.

Saying what they do is “incest” is just being very literal, it’s an incompatible idea with their culture.

I don’t know about being killed in the dream (the unressable bodies in the tutorial seem to imply such, but I can’t recall if any of the NPCs in there state that it’s possible) but it’s stated by Gheimridh (second floor of the grove, you can only get the dialogue option as another race though) that sometimes Sylvari pods die and kill the Sylvari before they awaken, effectively resulting in a “stillborn” Sylvari.

It’s also possible for Sylvari to hear about or see things about each other in the Dream (Tiachren and Ysvelta, a Sylvari in Astorea to the west has a conversation about such) and usually seems to result in a closer bond.

The White Stag storyline also shows some of the result of the Nightmare attack you deal with in the tutorial, as there’s another newly awakened Sylvari in the care of the mentors, stated to be hurt and shaken by it.

SO BASICALLY I dunno about the Nightmare influences being fatal but nothing contradicts it and everything else fits, your friend’s idea is probably feasible.

Norn jumping people because they look like skilled combatants doesn’t seem to be as common now as it was in GW1. They’ve learned how to ask first.

No playable race is properly peaceful—in a game almost entirely based around combat, they have to be willing enough to engage in violence that it makes sense why we as players are running around beating on everything in our path (even other sapient races). But Norn have a philosophy and societal structure that has overall been less damaging to the world around them and other people than, say, humans or Charr (what with their territory conquests and their Searings and their attempted genocides…). And I don’t think they’d be as hostile towards the dredge if the dredge weren’t so xenophobic and hostile towards every other race to begin with, not like the Asura are with the Skritt (or the way the Inquest experiment on other races).

Durzlla.6295:

athuria.2751:

Mesmers aren’t much like bards because Mesmers are not a class equivalent to bards. While a lot of mesmers in GW1 were drawn to the arts, it’s true, the actual skills had little-to-nothing to do with it (their theme has always been mind magic). It was just a quirk of a lot of people under the profession. Their concept is based around punishing enemies, controlling, and disrupting the flow of battle to their favor, and they’ve never been strong in direct ally support as much as support through manipulating the enemy.

Since Anet has spread the ideas of “damage” “support” “control” to all classes it’s possible to be more of an ally-buffer than before, but it’s not the basis of the class.

Actually, Mesmers in GW1 were drawn to the arts, however these arts were NOT musical, they were Theatrical, being an illusionist this fits perfectly. I mean seriously, what thespian wouldn’t give an arm and a leg in order to be able to create an illusion, to make themselves look exactly how the character would and not even need a set because you could spin one in their mind?

It was largely theatrical, I know, but I seem to recall early Ascalon having a Mesmer who was inclined to poetry so I’m not going to totally discount that some of them took to music instead. Just like not all Necromancers were tied to the crypts.

Regardless, neither have anything to do with how the magic itself functions, which was my point.

I didn’t think of this before you asked, but actually Norn and Sylvari really parallel each other in as far as peaceful philosophy goes (and I agree, that they’re both probably the least “violent” by virtue of being least looking to exert dominance/conquest/control/blow up internally on themselves). Both races are willing to engage in violence, either for personally glory or personal drive (a Sylvari warrior in Brisban comments on how violence is his way of acting and doing what he must in the world) or for grievances between each other (revenge, a possible outcome of the wreath custom with the Norn, and dueling with the Sylvari). But just as much they live in some sort of respect and harmony with the world around them, and will also pursue very non-violent lifestyles. There’s a large range of attitude between individuals, and some people are just as much going to be inherently cruel like any race.

I guess it’d just be the Nightmare Court that tips the Sylvari to a little more violent to me, since although they’re not the majority they are a collective faction that use extremely violent means to get what they want, and promote a hostile way of living. Sons of Svanir are very power hungry and, of course, you fight lots of them in the open world. But they’re also the result of an outside influence and have a greater capacity for living in peace with people they differ from than the Nightmare Court have proven themselves to be (probably because the Nightmare Court are a more directly opposing faction to the Sylvari’s whole culture, and the Norn are too individual to care as much about changing that).

I guess the Wardens are also a little more offensive as a guard faction than the Wolfborn (with outposts throughout Caledon and all), but they also have a giant and defenseless tree they have to protect, which is what they were formed for, so I can give them that one.

Incidentally, I consider that to be a very black-and-white view of the Sylvari. For morality, I can think of Caithe and Gavin for Sylvari on both sides of the spectrum that hedge what we think of as good or bad. Also Sylvari pirates, have you seen how many there are?

I’ve stumbled on a lot of NPC conversations with or about Sylvari that weren’t positive—they were disrespectful, or suspicious, or annoyed. The overall attitude is fairly positive, but that’s also in comparison to long-standing grudges like the Humans and Charr. Sylvari are weird but haven’t done anything to actively kitten another race off.

A point is also made, if you talk to a Sylvari back in the area they were born, that as different as they are they still feel all the same things emotionally as other races (individually, since nobody else has that empathetic connection). And relating to people emotionally is a very powerful thing.

On the Kodan in particular, you’ll notice that they and the Sylvari have similar views of community and respect/living with the nature around them. Of course the Kodan like them for being “in balance”, they share important aspects of culture. It’s not the Sylvari are special as much as it is the Kodan are actually really condescending towards the other races who don’t view things as they do, given they consider them lower on the totem pole of enlightenment.

I also want to know where it’s stated that Sylvari are having an abnormally high birth rate—the only statement I’ve seen is that Sylvari are being born “about as fast as players are making characters” now, and outside of the sudden burst back at the beginning of the game I don’t exactly see tons of newbies, and I spend a lot of time in the Grove and Caledon. I’d average them at anywhere from 2-4 new Sylvari (edit: A day, not a year), which is a pretty average birthrate. Other races are probably very similar.

You did say you wanted it to be more bard-like, though, both in function and theme, and we were pointing out that neither actually have anything to do with the concept of the Mesmer to begin with.

And maybe that was a complaint mostly seen back when they were revealed, but you’re the first I’ve seen about wanting a more bard-like class over the current Mesmer (and we’re hardly the most underplayed class—that honor goes to the Engineer).

Super Goose.1467:

(always wondered why the GW1 creation screen showed a mesmer with a sword when clearly they were not supposed to use them in GW1).

That sword was always the biggest tease to me and I was eternally disappointed there wasn’t a lot of viability in a Mesmer ever fighting with one. I was glad we finally got them in GW2.

Now I just want a proper rapier sword skin.

It’s technically the dye, texture, and the lighting. Sylvari leaves/leaf skin have a shiny, reflective quality to them, light colors like white bounce more light off them than they absorb, and post-processing effects add a lot of extra ambient light that result in areas that already have bright light to create an overexposed effect on reflective things.

I think all of the classes have a “thinner” theme in GW2 than they did in GW1, because we’re not as restrained to a specific image, type of combat, or culture to be coming with five different races. It gives players more room to mold the profession in their image while still keeping dedication to a base idea.

Mesmers aren’t much like bards because Mesmers are not a class equivalent to bards. While a lot of mesmers in GW1 were drawn to the arts, it’s true, the actual skills had little-to-nothing to do with it (their theme has always been mind magic). It was just a quirk of a lot of people under the profession. Their concept is based around punishing enemies, controlling, and disrupting the flow of battle to their favor, and they’ve never been strong in direct ally support as much as support through manipulating the enemy.

Since Anet has spread the ideas of “damage” “support” “control” to all classes it’s possible to be more of an ally-buffer than before, but it’s not the basis of the class.

Hahaha! Yeah, you get introduced to them quickly as a Sylvari—Zhaitan it a very person fight for them. I don’t mind them in parts of the open world and picked two of the bio questions that did’t involve any risen, but when I got trashed on the first 20-30 mission (which was also aiding the Vigil, incidentally) I knew I would quickly find them to be the bane of my existence.

I can barely stand Orr long enough to do my story steps now.

Edit: Also having to wield Caladbolg against them was literally the worst thing, so you saved yourself that headache. :U

Honestly I lucked out on Trahearne’s AI and he’s been a shockingly competent NPC through my story, so I can’t really say one way or the other on his combat ability since his AI (and most NPC AIs, really) seems to be all over the place for people. Lore-wise, at least, he is supposed to be a competent fighter.

And no, on a whole the Sylvari are not as technologically advanced as other races, but that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have picked up on the advances that other races have discovered. Blacksmithing is, by this point, an old and established trade. It’s been used as an armour and weapon making technique for centuries. There should be more than enough information for a Sylvari to draw from to be just as competent with technique as other races, even if they haven’t gotten to the point of innovating past that (because that’s what advancement is—it’s innovating, not just learning skills). An individual Sylvari, specially, could be just as proficient in it as any Norn, Charr, or Asura, especially from the point of providing an already developed good (weapons and armour) rather than creating a whole new idea. You’ll note that the brand new and innovative stuff in the Pact (like airships) actually has little to do with the Sylvari as all.

Also Sylvari armour goes both ways—they either grow it on their body or they shape it from existing plants (the Wardenhurst tree in the beginning of Caledon Forest is a good place to look for that). Occam’s armor set he made is quite clearly crafted, not something Bercilak grew on himself (I’m also willing to bet its weak point, which you learn because he left a journal out stating its weakness, was intentional given the only reason the armour was crafted was because he was under blackmail from the Nightmare Court).

“However, as a race, how can they possibly master a craft other races took centuries to develop, in just 25 years?”

… What?

That other races have taken the centuries to develop a craft is precisely why a Sylvari could learn it and master it, just like newer generations of said other races. People have already experimented and fine-tuned it and passed their knowledge down to apprentices, put it in instructional texts, etc to create a wealth of references that can be pulled from. It’s literally learning the exact same way people in real life learn complex trades. And individuals who pick up these skills can bring them into their society and continue the cycle of education, allowing it to spread amongst themselves—either directly or less overtly (and with much less control) through the dream.

Also, I was referring to knowing basic skills in the dream to say that they are not born with literally no knowledge (nor did I suggest they learn it just from the dream), and that the years a Sylvari is alive is not a full indicator of all that they know because they have a stage in their life of consciousness before they are born. Newly born Sylvari aren’t the equivalent of new born humans or Charr or Asura, they’re the equivalent of a late-teen/early adult (if a very sheltered one). Their oldest aren’t rambunctious 25 year olds, they’re more like in their 40s.

A lot of Sylvari around the open world do have attitudes still similar to Seiran, too, if you go around and talk to them. And it’s an attitude that stems from ignorance of the world around them as, so of course Sylvari who are much older and have spent years traveling and adventuring and being in the world won’t share the same wide-eyed perspective—because they’ve had the time and gained the experience that culls that ignorance.

The fact that Sylvari players meet Trahearne before Claw Island doesn’t mean much, because with the exception of getting an extra cutscene played in Claw Island (with our mentor proceeding to introduce us anyway) it’s never acknowledged or referenced. We as players know who he is a bit better, but all of that early stuff might as well not have happened. And when there are elements from our racial story (Caladbolg) that reemerge, it becomes really obvious that the dialogue didn’t have us in mind because there are a lot of parts that should be different given our race.

As for Carys and Tegwen, you’ll need to be more specific because every race has three opportunities to meet them—recruiting with the Durmund Priory, setting a trap for the first Eye of Zhaitan, and choosing to go with the Vigil plan and move tanks into Orr. I didn’t even meet them until the last one because I made different story/order decisions, and I didn’t notice any elevation in friendliness or grief at loss that I wasn’t showing to other characters I also barely knew (Tonn, Beirne).

The story doesn’t make any assumptions about race in the later half. As a Sylvari my race is just as often forgot about and I get the opposite effect, where people I should know well or concepts I should already be familiar with are treated as if they are distant or new. And it’s just as immersion breaking as if I was suddenly buddies with a stranger.