Fenella.2634

Not just 10. The game has voice actors for the English, French and German version, so there should be 30 actors for the PC. Some of them have multiple roles, but it's still quite a lot. Personally, I love that Arenanet went that extra mile and gave the PC a bit of a character and voice(s). Having a silent protagonist might work for a short narrative, but having no character development for 10+ years would feel very weird to me.

Knight of the Thorn was about Caladbolg, not about Trahearne. He appeared, yes, but so did Riannoc. It was explicitly stated they were only memories of the sword, not even ghosts. It had nothing to do with them as people, just the sword. Also, it was a completely optional side story. Very little, compared to other main characters. And I know some people didn't like him much, but there can't be any doubt he was a main character until HoT.

Also, when and where did we ever "resolve" Trahearne's death, anyway? As far as I can see, he was pretty much ignored completely. Eir got a very nice memorial scene plus a ghost scene plus several references throughout the story, plus Braham's entire character arc LS3 - LS4. Trahearne got... an optional side quest that wasn't even really about him?

Whereas it worked in Hearts and Minds, I agree with @MarioDX.9423 that Trahearne should have gotten his "own" trauma (so to speak) in the new episode. We could argue that Eir has been dealt with, as well, several times even and in the main story, not only hidden in a side story. I find the choice of traumas quite odd in the new episode. Why still group Trahearne together with the mentors? The stories and circumstances were quite different. Why Eir again? After all LS3 and even meeting her in LS4? Almorra is fine, but did she really have that much of an impact on the PC? What about Balthazar? What about the Realm of the Lost? Dragonstorm, even? Aurene's near death? So many options and we got... Eir and Almorra. Hm.

Well, you are kind of right. Maybe we should wait at least until then to judge. 😄 As long as the quality is alright, I wont be complaining about monetization.

So, once again, we are supposed to take what is basically Living World as "Expansion-level" content? That already didn't work with IBS, will it do any better now with apparently even less people working on it? I hope I won't be as disappointed as I am right now.

I agree with the rest. Maybe you forgot to mention you were talking about an "Eir lives" alternate universe? That, however, does not quite fit this thread.

No. Since Tyrian time passes about as fast as our time, Eir has only been alive for the first three years and dead for the last seven years. Most of the DW members joined in LS1, so most of them would have been around longer than the missing / dead members of DE. So norn and asura basically don't get anyone race-specific for this question. Maybe Caithe for Sylvari, depending on personal opinion, I guess.

Having replayed parts of GW1 recently, I agree that its open world is more threatening. (Personally, I do not quite like the amount of mobs especially in Factions, everything takes forever.) However, the storytelling is honestly rather heavy-handed and chunky and has improved vastly since. Consider you've also grown up in the meantime. Children are just easier to impress. Just replay it now and see for yourself.

So, the title even starts with "new ideas for new characters". Where are they? ^^ It would be quite interesting to actually see some viable ideas from people complaining about the current cast. What would a good cast look like to you, if possible without just referring to other IPs ("just like in XYZ")? Personally, I'm okay with the characters. The writing could be more in depth and more consistent in some cases, but it's alright for what it is. Not a huge fan of some of them, but I suppose that's intended and normal.

Sounds like a lot of nostalgia. If you played Factions, say, 10 years ago, you were 10 years younger and probably easier to impress. I finished Factions exactly one day before EoD. It's a good story and I'm glad I got to play it, but it's a bit overrated here. Maybe revisit it and then compare it to EoD again.

Lorewise, I'd think Aurene gives her Champions a choice. Caithe agrees to the makeover, the Commander doesn't. This is pretty simple, but fits with her "Let them keep their free will" approach.

I love EoD more than I thought I would. 😄 Was expecting an "okay" expansion, but it's really really great. The story might be the best they have done in a consistent way so far, ever. The features are fun to play, as well. The maps are amazing, but not super easy. But that's alright, we are not in a rush. And the music! OTOH, I'm not super impressed with the elite specs and the jade bot systems seems a bit too clunky and overly complicated on first glance. But I suppose that's more of a mid to long term project, so I'll give it some time. I haven't tried out the meta events or strikes yet, so no opinion so far. And I'm not super happy about the Elder Dragon plot, but at least it makes sense this time.

This is just a re-used trailer or cutscene from the end of LS2 / right before HoT. Zojja has always been positioned in the front in that shot. If it meant anything at all, it's at least not new.

Isn't that from the LS4 finale, with Aurene? I really appreciate that the balance issues are finally being acknowledged and addressed again. I really disliked how the second half of LS5 just skipped over all the worldbuilding that had been put in the ED story since LS2/ HoT/ LS3. So many discussions between the characters that should have happened, but didn't. So at least now we know the deaths of EDs are still supposed to destabilize the All and Aurene might not be the perfect replacement for all the dragons. That's something. Now I hope EoD will build on that. Ingame, if possible.

If I'm not completely mistaken, there should be a memory of Ventari himself within the Dream, teaching. Please double-check this, though.

Yes, it was the short story that first mentioned it. Ryland was referred to as his oldest, implying there are more.

He had a girlfriend in LS1, though.

I hope there will be a surprise recent event thing during or directly after lunar new year. It could tie in nicely with EoD. I hope they are so tight-lipped right now in order to not spoil that. Otherwise, really, why would the main cast suddenly care about some random extremists far away? Very mysterious. There has to be a DSD somewhere. 🙂

I got everything fine, except for the gems. Sure, there was the warning, but this delay seems unusual. I'm going to wait for the 72 h to end before opening a ticket, though.

If Xera counts, then I would also throw in Desmina as a candidate for necro. Why Zojja, though? Have we ever seen her use any elementalist skills at all? Sieran does more. For guardian, maybe Almorra, since she already had the 3rd elite spec?

Three guaranteed Black Lion Keys, the final one at around Claw Island. Aside from that, nothing much, if you know the story anyway.

I agree with your post in general, but can we please exclude raids from your non-story features? 🙂 Raids actually tell rather good stories themselves and add a lot of depth and interesting details to the lore. I originally started being interested in raids because of their stories that we don't get to play otherwise.

So at some point in the future, all our PCs are becoming male humans? How? 😆 Time travel is the least crazy thing about this theory. Speaking about time travel, I've always liked the idea of Doern Velasquez being a time traveler with possible connections to the Utopia lore.

Is it? That's the goal of the Pact and was the goal of DE, but it was never stated that way for DW. I understood DW to be a more flexible group than those. They can adjust their goal to whatever is needed at a time, be it dealing with the White Mantle, or protecting Elder Dragons. Ironically, they worked best when they were not an official guild. I really buy their friendship in LS2 and HoT, but after the guild was official, it went downhill.