Requiem thoughts

I've played Guild Wars 2 for over five years. I've played all of the LS except chapter 1, largely because I was too new to understand what the heck an RPG was, much less all the crazy people running around on an overpopulated map back when we had change to servers and figure out how to play in parties (let's not even get into buying traits...). I've had countless characters, played more hours than I wish to admit, and spent much of life looking forward to the hours each day I'd spend in Tyria and beyond. I can't say I've loved the stories--personal, LS, expansions, etc. I tolerate them. Taimi made the recent ones have a bit of meaning, but that's about all I could say until now.I've also worked as a professional writer and book editor on award-winning projects for over 15 years.I say all of the above for one reason: to make sure the meaning of my next statement has the proper weight.The Requiem short stories are some of the best work ArenaNet has ever produced. Nothing has brought the character stories home like these brief glimpses into their lives. They are powerful, emotional, thoughtful, and detailed just enough to be well-grounded, but without bogging the pacing down. These feel real--and the motivations for each character are solid and developed. I found myself tearing up over Caithe's story, a character whom I generally dislike. Rytlock finally makes sense with all of his campy stubbornness and misery--which no longer seems campy. And Zafirah, in whom I've had little interest at all, has more gravity and depth than I would have ever throught.Without giving away anything, it makes the most recent Living Story episode almost acceptable.Almost.We'll see what happens next. :)There's plenty players complain about, at times rightfully so. Sometimes, let's be honest, we're not happy unless we're griping about something in game because, well, we're gamers. But ANet deserves praise when they get it right, and sometimes we're not great about doing that as often.Many kudos to the writers and developers of these short stories and those who contributed to the lore on which these stories are based. You truly outdid yourselves in a way I did not expect, and it was a joy to be reminded just how colorful and and meaningful this game still is.Thank you.

Prob because they are writing the right style for the right medium for a change. I mean I’m not going to shout from the rooftops about them, but they’re more readable than past attempts which came off as bad fan fiction.

But they've had some pretty good short stories before too. I get the impression that the constraints of the Living Story format, and the resources available for each episode, are quite restrictive for actually breathing life into characters; there seems to be a lot of background that never makes it into the game.

I was riveted by Rytlocks, but way less for the other two. No doubt I enjoy Rytlock's character way more than either Zafirah and Caithe, and have also had way more "face time" with him, given I don't own LS2 and wasn't here for LS1. But even from just the opening paragraphs, I found Rytlocks' tale so captivating. Zafirah and Caithe certainly filled in backstory, but I just didn't get the same sense of loss and hopelessness I got from Rytlock. Maybe that was intended, dunno.

Still, as a medium for expanding on the story, I like the idea and hope to see more of this in the future.