Breaking the Pact Commander

[Kid Origami.9108]

[WARNING: The following is an absolutely massive read for most forum posts. At last check it clocks in at just over 3700 words. I include a TL;DR at the bottom, but it really doesn’t do the full post justice, so I encourage you to read the full suggestion in all of its meandering, mad glory and would love to read your feedback below. I am under no illusion that the developers of the game probably have their own plans for how they are going to handle the various issues I bring up below, but as a community member, I have always felt that it is important to carefully elaborate my own opinions on the direction that I would be most interested in seeing the game head, in the hopes that others who have had similar thoughts but were unable to communicate them as well as I might could come and post their agreement.

Finally I’d like to thank Weindrasi.3805 for making the suggestion that I turn this into a full post. I’m sure she didn’t know the lengths I would go to in making such a post, but such is the nature of inspiring a mad 90’s era forumite. You can thank/ blame her for this post’s existence. Thanks, Weindrasi! And thank you all for reading! -The Kid]

Conflict and Tension are two of the grandest hallmarks of good storytelling, foundations for plot and audience retention. Without conflict there can be no story, only a rote series of events. Without tension, there is no interest even in the conflict, for that conflict is proven fake, lacking teeth and dimension, like an old west shootout in an amusement park’s façade. No one can genuinely say that conflict is lacking within the narrative of Guild Wars 2, there are so many mutually exclusive motivations and beliefs bumping into each other all the time. However, tension is something which the story only barely flirts with on occasion.

Perhaps the blame for this lays upon the developer philosophies which have led to the current avoidance of punishment, loss, or failure within GW2. The game never places the player character into any real danger by taking anything of value to the player away from them. Armor does not break permanently, and repairing it is entirely free. Waypointing is a death tax that most players can happily ignore due to constant gold inflation. Much could be said about the state of gameplay due to the lack of negative feedback and “busywork” in the game and indeed, this writer fully intends to say much about these issues in future posts. However, these developer philosophies are unlikely to change any time soon and so any suggestions made to fix this lack of tension must keep these limitations in mind.

These realities leave only a few avenues to generate tension within GW2’s storyline. The primary remaining method for tension generation lies with the endangerment of what the writers can make the players care about through narrative conceit and clever trope use. This recent business with the loss of our good friend and surrogate child in the recent Living World stories shows how powerfully this can affect players. However, the loss of many less remarkable characters, such as the many brave Norn ladies fridged in the core story, demonstrates that this technique has limits and is a tricky knife to balance on. It is clear at this point that things other than allies must be put into mortal danger, otherwise the story will finally lose all of its remaining tension as each new character becomes just another name in the dead pool and the player base becomes numb to even the most well executed losses of close allies, such as those we just suffered.

This brings us to the suggestion at hand. In a post many weeks ago, this writer suggested that the best next step for the story would be call the sanity of the PC, the player character and Pact Commander, into question. This was initially done in a joking manner, written in such a way as to shock the emotions and fill our fellow forumites with a sense of dread. But a few readers took the passage to heart and posted afterward that they felt, as the children are wont to say these days, “shook.” Their response led to the serious consideration of this concept as a narrative method to shake up the status quo and bring the generally assumed ending of the story (our inevitable defeat of the 6 Elder Dragons) into question, and thus increase tension in the story.The following is a proposal for a Living World Story step whose purpose would be to call the central themes of the story into question and explore the very real and dangerous repercussions of the many forms of stress the Commander’s choices have had on her own psyche and the world at large. We will lay out the bare plot and the motivations of the largest factions and actors within that series of events. We will also consider some mechanical flourishes as we go along which could be used to sell the events of the story. Finally, we will discuss why such a plot and its attendant difficulties are not just good for the story overall, but absolutely necessary for the Living World story to continue operating in good faith with the larger player base.We open our tale with a mood setting series of letters from our dear friends from throughout the story.

Logan Thackery, Marshall of the Pact and technically our boss as Commander, informs us that a large summit is being called by the leaders of the major races in Tyria to discuss the position of the Pact as a political entity and that we are requested to attend.

At the same time, Rytlock Brimstone informs us that some of his old friends within the Black Citadel have passed on worrying information regarding the Blood Legion’s current outlook on the Charr’s various warfronts. With Kralkatorric largely dealt with, the Black Citadel’s ghost problems made manageable, and their own offences against whatever creatures the Blood Citadel is most often held up by experiencing a similar breakthrough, the Blood Citadel’s leadership is looking to finally resolve an ancient problem: Humanity.

Meanwhile, from Zojia or perhaps Taimi, we learn that the Arcane Counsel has noticed that Queensdale’s leadership and the Black Citadel’s Imperator are beginning to slack in their support of the Pact. The Asura, Norn, and Sylvari still stand united to fight the Elder Dragons for their largest worries, the oppressive invader Jormag and the world rending Primordius, remain huge threats. The Arcane Counsel is beginning to question whether the other races will stand by them in their hour of need now that the other dragons are taken care of.

Braham or another Norn contact also sends a message, relaying that many in Hoelbrak are organizing a massive final offensive against Jormag. The movement he started at the death of Eir has taken a life of its own and he cannot stop the new leadership who have uncovered part of the secret of how to that great Norn hero broke Jormag’s tooth and how Braham enchanted his mother’s longbow to do the same. There is also the matter of a mysterious new Kodan sanctuary which has appeared from the far Shiverpeaks filled with unusually aggressive Kodan.

All of these letters come at the same time, overwhelming the Commander. They indicate 4 separate instances which can be tackled in any order. The only changes which occur based on the order the player chooses to engage them is some dialogue at the start of each instance which thanks the Commander for their prompt response in the first instance and turns to complaining and frustration at the time it took for the Commander to respond in each additional instance. This frustration increases each time but is begrudgingly put aside to deal with the instance’s content. The last instance the player chooses to engage could potentially be tuned up to be harder for the player by the introduction of one or more additional mechanics to represent that they are being crunched by too many separate obligations.

The Pact instance involves the Commander appearing with Logan in a small private meeting before leaders from each of the races in Lionsarch. These leaders specifically lead movements within each government who are fearful of the Pact’s political and military power and are worried about its purpose once the threat of the Elder Dragons has passed. There is no combat in this instance, but it lays out the main actors in the fifth instance later who are allied against the Pact and indicates that a deeper plot is underway. The mood should be one of intrigue and discomfort, and the officials gain more than they reveal, leaving Logan and the Commander suspicious but unable to take any real actions until they are called before the public meeting later on.

The Asuran instance involves the Commander appearing in Rata Sum’s lower reaches to speak with their Asuran contact when a great earthquake rocks the base of the city threatening to throw off its balance and send the entire city plummeting to the ground, or something of similar cataclysmic possibility. The Commander and their contact attempt to put things right, but are interrupted by representatives from the Arcane Eye who delay their attempts just long enough that some terrible thing happens. In a best-case scenario this could cause some delightful havoc with the Rata Sum home instance which all characters could go to. Perhaps a small adventure could then be based there with a small daily reward. The political fallout of this instance is that the Commander is blamed by the Eye for their interference which they falsely claim lead to the disaster. It is unclear if this was a set-up, a ramification of Primordius’ reawakening, or some other new threat.

The Norn instance depicts the Commander meeting with their Norn contact, likely Braham, to speak with the leadership of the new Norn movement, the Wrath of Bear. They intend to march north and use a new power they have harnessed to kill Jormag. Commander and company find that the leadership is partnering with a new Kodan organization called the Koda’s Will which recently arrived on a new sanctuary in the Far Shiverpeaks (a great Current Events opportunity). This sanctuary is filled with black marked Kodan fanatics whose Voice has taken a military bent and decided that they must unite all the lost Kodan under one sanctuary, Claw, and Voice in order to bring about world balance. Further they believe that the Norn are lost Kodan who must be brought under the Kodan beliefs or else be destroyed. Those Norn who will not submit to the Koda’s Will- and be forced into their bear form permanently- will be destroyed when the Koda enrage Jormag into attacking Hoelbrak. The Commander and Braham attempt to interrupt this meeting with their preferred strategy of “punch people we don’t agree with until they stop being bad.” However, the Claw of the new sanctuary is present and proves that whatever magic these new Kodan have brought with them is, it is certainly powerful.

This combat instance should be structured to end as players enter down state. The Claw could have a stomp ability as a skill which she reserves for when a player is downed. Her damage might scale as she reaches lower and lower health thresholds. If she ever reaches 5% health she might begin regenerating and gain a buff which could increase her damage massively. The instance should be designed to be basically unbeatable, with multiple achievements earned by getting her to certain damage thresholds, including an impossible achievement for killing her. I suggest this as a developer challenge to the community. The dev team could actually design the mob to be undefeatable but without using the Determined mechanic on the Claw. Then, if she is ever killed, a unique scene could play which ends the instance in a special way. Easter eggs can abound in such a rarely seen state, and a special title might be given with no other rewards.

The Charr instance takes us to the Black Citadel where the stress between Iron and Blood Legions has erupted into a full-on riot. Rytlock, the Commander, and Imperator Smodur himself take to the streets to personally subdue the rioting soldiers and reestablish the peace. Dialogue noting that the Pact is once again interfering with Charr politics abound and many groups of rioters, both Iron and Blood, do not give up the fight easily. Imperator Smodur notes that the time may have come for one of the Imperators to become the Khan Ur.

Once these four instances are completed a fifth unlocks. This final instance is a dialogue heavy moment depicting a public gathering of many racial leaders and representatives. An accord has been drafted which would severely limit the freedom of the Pact, but make it immune to certain diplomatic realities which it has been ignoring up to this point. The Marshall of the Pact would be forced to submit his will to the will of an interracial counsel in Lionsarch. The Pact would be allowed to continue essentially owning and controlling the lands Orr but would need to submit individual requests for all of its other operations in lands controlled by other political entities. In exchange, the Pact would be granted immunity for its past “unregulated conquest,” and “unrequested military expansion” into the sovereign territories of other races. Exciting stuff I know.

The Commander asks what happens if they do not agree to the terms of the accord. The leader of the Counsel (which could be any of the irritating antagonistic leaders of the races) makes it clear that refusing to sign the document is a declaration that all the Pact’s previous military engagements were a staging process for the eventual conquest of all Tyria. The Pact would be branded an invading force led by an out of control zealot and the five races would unite to dismantle the Pact, its technology, and all of its infrastructure, piece by piece.

Logan tries to have a level headed discussion, but this is the final straw for the Commander. We get treated to the most stinging, angry, irate, and genuinely wrathful reaction the Commander voice actors and actresses can possibly convey. The Commander eviscerates the very idea that this could happen. She demands that they think of the losses the Pact has suffered on behalf of Tyria. Trahearne, the Firstborn, didn’t die for their political expediency, he died to save Tyria itself from total annihilation. The Commander herself killed a bloody god to save the world. She sacrificed friends, watched comrades in arms be ripped apart by vines and Risen, and held allies bleeding out in her hands in the process of destroying the dragons. She has seen things these political pukes couldn’t imagine, horrors beyond horrors that should have driven her mad. She, the Commander, died and clawed her way back from the Domain of the Lost to stop Tyria’s destruction. She will hear none of this insanity.

Logan has to make the hard call and order the Commander to stand down and vacate the premises. Begrudgingly the Commander leaves the area and the instance ends there.

From here, the adventure can go in a variety of directions, but the most important plot points for this story are:

-The Commander is stripped of their title. This could be temporary, or perhaps a permanent turn of events. The hero is forced to go back to either their starting racial title (Valiant, Hero, Centurian, etc) or their personal order title (Lightbringer, Magister, Warmaster). This demonstrates how they have fallen out of favor in the world. They can still act in the world on their personal will, but they are no longer backed up by the authority of the Pact. This could be demonstrated mechanically by removing their ability to interact with Pact supply agents during this story step, though more realistically, the Pact supply agents could simply be written to note that Logan gave commands to allow the former Commander to continue using them. Perhaps Logan himself sends a letter to let the player know that while he has stripped them of their authority, whatever aid he can provide them in this trying time will still be rendered.

-Marshal Thackery signs the Accords, but a group within the Pact, perhaps led by another hardened veteran such as Laranthir of the Wild, rebels against the signing and creates another faction using Pact technology and seeks to kill the remaining dragons with or without the permission of the rest of the world. They set their sights on taking down Primordius.

-The Commander, struggles with a sort of mental break from all the stress she has suffered up to this point. She sees visions and suffers nightmares in the middle of other instances which causes even Dragon’s Watch members to question her sanity. They suggest that she slow down and stop throwing herself into danger. As we the players would have no desire to do so, the Commander will not be deterred either.

-The treaty between humans and charr is put into danger and the high legions themselves fall into a near civil war. The Flame Legion and Ascolonian humans both begin putting pressure on the High Legions.

-The Ascolonian humans begin rebelling against the control of Queen Jennah and open the door to Elona seeking both help and trade with the people of that land.

-Koda's Will and Wrath of Bear begin a conquest of the Norn and attempt to reawaken Jormag in order to summon it to Hoelbrak. The summoning fails but the dragon does awaken again.

The emotional payoff of all this can go a few ways. The instinctive reaction to all of this change might be to make things go back to the philosophical status quo at the end of the story, but this writer proposes that this story could be used as a way to bring the Commander and her actions back down to earth; to weaken her and remove her resources so that future exploits can be more personal and well earned. While she may well regain her rightful title as the Commander at the end of the episode, the title should come with fewer resources and less authority than before. The Commander has been diminished and will need to earn her power once again through hard work and determination, and through proving her merit as a great leader and a hero.

Many readers may be wondering why the writer feels that we should go to such great lengths to seemingly punish and abuse the Commander, who has only ever acted in accordanence with her own conscience and done everything in the interest of saving the world. Why should we attack her and call out her actions as those of a potential tyrant? Because they are. The Commander, in the eyes of most of the world, has acted without limit on her authority ever since the death of Zhaitan. She has crossed political and cultural borders with impunity and acted decisively in arenas she had no right to enter without asking anyone’s permission. While her actions have saved many, they have destroyed many others and never has the story really taken the time to call her out for her attitude that the world must unite or else die.

This central theme, that the collective is stronger than the individual, is not a theme that can be criticized for being false, but it can be questioned for how it makes other philosophies seem true by association. The Strength of the Pack philosophy has, throughout the story, often been used as a justification for Democratic Morality, the idea that the majority collective has the right to force moral and political correctness on the individual, and is often just as unquestioned as the Strength of the Pack. While this philosophy may or may not be wrong, it has never been properly questioned and framing it in the ambiguous and confusing realm of the Commander’s own psychological and emotional instability may give the questioning the credit it deserves.

Secondly, while the story has on occasion paid lip service to the mental and emotional stress that the Commander has undergone throughout her time with the Pact, it has only ever flirted with the true horror that the player character has been tormented by in the world. This has, to many on the forum, created a sense of disconnectedness with Tyria which may well be rectified by finally giving the Commander’s mental state a thorough examination. Only one who was already mentally ill might be able to suffer the many, many, many indignities, tortures, losses, and exertions that the Commander has undergone without being further damaged by them. While Guild Wars 2 probably should not engage in a Darkest Dungeon campaign of pure horror, taking the time to acknowledge and deal with the Commander’s compromised state, perhaps creating story beats where she could acknowledge her injuries and take time to heal from them, would give some validity to the Commander’s ongoing struggle, and even make that struggle more engaging to the players by bringing the Commander back down to a human level. It’s important to remember that all stories which humans engage with are about humans, even if those humans are hulking, 6-foot tall cats or magical, sentient salads.

Finally, and most importantly, this entire concept has been crafted with the idea of ratcheting up the tension of the fight against the Elder Dragons by decreasing the resources the players have to fight against them. The players of GW2 are beginning to think that Tyria is safe from the Elder Dragon just as the dragons become more powerful than ever. The story has made it clear that one thing which can kill an Elder Dragon, their true weakness beyond their blood, their minions, or their mind, is cooperation and there is no sign at present of that cooperation failing. Threatening the cooperation of the races and orders is the only way to tell the players that the threat has become real again. Making the dragons more and more powerful has failed to impress on players the magnitude of defecation heading to the air ventilator. Therefore, the best way to impress on players how badly the situation has become is to knock them down a peg.

Thank you for reading this massive block of text. I hope you enjoyed the read and I look forward to engaging with your opinions on my suggestions below. This is the first of a series of massive blocks of text I intend to publish to the forums for the close and brutal examination of the forum and subreddit communities.

TL;DR

· The story doesn’t have any room to generate more tension without changing its current tact.

· I propose we put the Pact in danger of being dissolved, put the races at each other throats, and explore the mental and emotional damage the Commander should be suffering after all of the horrible things she has experienced.

· Highlight Reel: New enemy Kodan faction who is super fanatical about enslaving the Norn and uniting all other Kodan under their vision; the Commander gets to be incredibly angry at characters we don’t like for good reason; the Commander gets bumped down a pay grade and is called by their racial title for a bit.

[starhunter.6015]

Well the PC is no longer a Pact commander, we gave up that role and title.
Second Laranthir would never turn on the pact, he was one who held out against Mordy.The Pact all know how bad it is to Kill any more dragons so a splinter cell would not be very likely.

Better to just roll the Aetherblades back into the frey and have them make a move for power. Have them pick up the pieces of the fractured white mantle,

[Kid Origami.9108]

@starhunter.6015 said:Well the PC is no longer a Pact commander, we gave up that role and title.

Second Laranthir would never turn on the pact, he was one who held out against Mordy.The Pact all know how bad it is to Kill any more dragons so a splinter cell would not be very likely.

Better to just roll the Aetherblades back into the frey and have them make a move for power. Have them pick up the pieces of the fractured white mantle,

How... How did I miss that? Does that happen at the beginning of PoF? I admit it's been a while since I've been able to play properly (first born child and all) but it pains me to think I missed that!

[derd.6413]

@Kid Origami.9108 said:

@starhunter.6015 said:Well the PC is no longer a Pact commander, we gave up that role and title.

Second Laranthir would never turn on the pact, he was one who held out against Mordy.The Pact all know how bad it is to Kill any more dragons so a splinter cell would not be very likely.

Better to just roll the Aetherblades back into the frey and have them make a move for power. Have them pick up the pieces of the fractured white mantle,

How... How did I miss that? Does that happen at the beginning of PoF? I admit it's been a while since I've been able to play properly (first born child and all) but it pains me to think I missed that!

season 3, and he's only given up the role, kept the honorary title

[Thandaer.8105]

No> @derd.6413 said:

@Kid Origami.9108 said:

@"starhunter.6015" said:Well the PC is no longer a Pact commander, we gave up that role and title.

Second Laranthir would never turn on the pact, he was one who held out against Mordy.The Pact all know how bad it is to Kill any more dragons so a splinter cell would not be very likely.

Better to just roll the Aetherblades back into the frey and have them make a move for power. Have them pick up the pieces of the fractured white mantle,

How... How did I miss that? Does that happen at the beginning of PoF? I admit it's been a while since I've been able to play properly (first born child and all) but it pains me to think I missed that!

season 3, and he's only given up the role, kept the honorary title

No, we are Pooh-Bah now!

Jokes aside, Derd is right, we gave up the role (eww, paperwork) but not the the title - "Technically it's title for life, so you're welcome to it." (General Almorra Soulkeeper, Season 3, Research in Rata Novus)

[adormtil.1605]

Please space your argument like the member above me did it. Its so hard to read at least between each new paragraph space it press that enter. Please.

[Randulf.7614]

Agreed, you need to space out the paragraphs. Reading text on a screen is very hard going hence why concision works better, but walls of text must be broken up to be readable

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

The idea of civil war on every possible front is kind of interesting. I don't really want to play a PTSD commander, though. Having a character who is strong enough to survive and carry on fighting in semi-immortal style in spite of everything is a major part of the point of a heroic narrative.

I mean, if we're going to insist on realism and that the commander should mentally and emotionally damaged by events, then let's go whole hog with the realism. Let's have our characters physically damaged so that once they are downed a few times they permanently limp and hobble everywhere, and after a few more downed times they fight from a wheelchair, and after they get downed a few more times, they have to spend the rest of their play time sitting around a retired warriors' home, griping about how the knee they took an arrow to still hurts and bickering about whose turn it is to water the houseplants.

[Palador.2170]

Our character should not be forced to suffer a plot-driven mental breakdown. That's really going a bit too far at taking our character away from us.

However, I could see and potentially enjoy a storyline where some enemy decides to make it look like we're losing our minds to make people lose faith in us, maybe even trying to make us question our own sanity.

As for the group of aggressive kodan, they would be opposed in part by the other kodan, so it would only partially be our problem. This would also risk making the enemy kodan just another racial faction, like the Inquest or Nightmare Court. It might be interesting to see some that have lost their faith in Koda and are more willing to just brute force a solution to a problem, but I'm not sure how well that can be pulled off as part of a bigger story (Jormag). I mean, how many of us remember the Hylek "holy war" from HoT?

[Edel.2169]

While I understand that we all would prefer nothing as serious as a mental breakdown forced upon our characters (I'd be interested to see it, but I'm probably in the minority), I think the latest events cerainly need to evoke SOME emotional reaction from the commander.

It's been obvious that they're getting worn out, but until the last episode it's just been frequent sighs and dry sarcasm. Losing your sanity is probably a bit much and not everyone would like to see their character screaming and crying but... idk, let them lose hope and be really despondent for a while or something. Until it turns out that there's a chance to turn this whole mess around that is. Just something to show that this loss meant a lot and it still affects our character even though some time passed.

As for the civil war... Idk about that, but it's been several times I've thought about the fact that our character has pretty good reputation for someone who brings with themselves mostly chaos and death. I still can't believe that nobody questioned our motifs about not killing elder dragons anymore after we found out the truth in season 3. Anyway, people close to the commander probably understand the circumstances, but what about the common folks or other people and factions not so familiar with our situation? What do these various factions have to say after the commander gathered them all, gave them hope that they'll win, that they have what it takes to take down Kralk, that it's almost like fate itself is on their side - and then led them all to this colossal failure?

[adormtil.1605]

Well to be fair our actions to the common folk look like we are going with killing the dragons. Like going to their lair and actually trying to kill one.

[Trise.2865]

Did you not play All or Nothing? play All or Nothing.

I will raise one point though: The Commander has to be as neutral as possible, else it couldn't work as the player's avatar. The more character ANet assigns to them, the less "you" they become. That's why they give us so many established characters to interact with and emote for us, so they can absorb some of the disconnect by being decisively "not you".

[Kid Origami.9108]

Thanks for all the responses! I'm surprised even this many people made it through my madness...

I did edit the OP to be more legible. Sorry about that!

In the end, I think that the lapse in sanity I am suggesting should be short term and something believable. Once the tables turn in the Commander's favor we can see the hero the Commander is once again return but having faced the trauma the past, and acknowledged it, she can stand a few more years of badasseery before being worn out again.

I do love the suggestion that the Commander does not go crazy but is framed as such by an antagonist. This would allow the Commander to return to their hometown for a small racial adventure, consider retiring and giving it all up, etc. Very Journey to the West, when Son Wukong gave up the Journey to return to his waterfall. All of that would let us have the cake and eat it too, leaving the Commander as the impossible badass they appear to be so far while giving the same narrative threat to the ongoing tale.

[Weindrasi.3805]

Wow! As with your first, brief post--this one makes me shiver, and is an excellent idea. I would love to see this implemented. I will also point out that it would be a great nod to the past races of Tyria who failed to stop the Elder Dragons in the past. The Mursaat, Jotun, Seers, Dwarves, ECT failed in their bid against the elder dragons because they could not unite, and they fractured away from each other. It's been established that the current races of Tyria only have been more successful because they have become more united. Threaten the unity, and it'll all go down the drain the way it did for the ancient races.

A storyline like this would bring together a bunch of things players on the forums have been questioning--the stability of the Charr-Human treaty; the status of Blood & Ash Legion and their homelands; the mental damage the Commander has gone through; the complaints that the Living Story is lacking Something (you called it Tension, and that is the most apt description I have heard to date); and a lot more.

I sincerely hope ArenaNet reads your post and gives it serious consideration.

Edit: Also, I disagree with the assertion that people "don't want to see the PC screaming and crying". Long term, no they don't--it's a heroic fantasy game, after all, not a psychological horror game. BUT, a temporary mental breakdown would bring some much needed personality to the Commander, and create more connection between the player, the Commander, and the true gravity of events and tragedies in Tyria. The Commander may be essentially physically immortal--able to recover from severe injury and death--but making the Commander totally "immortal" physically and mentally; and totally unchanging--that is quite simply boring.