I do not like Aurene, and I'm not afraid to say it. [Also spoilers]

[Fueki.4753]

15 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

 

Ack!  More Elder Dragon storylines? More Taimi? - No, and no.

 

I am glad this will all end soon to make way for more varied and exciting stories for a change.

It wouldn't necessarily have been more Elder Dragon stuff. We could have had a fleshed out Kralkatorrik story in Season 4 and then deal with Joko in a fleshed out Season 5 instead of the molten ice cream we got.

Jormag and Primordus had been put to sleep in Season 3 and it should have stayed that way for at least one or two more expansions.

 

At least in my opinion that would have been a better story, even if it's not especially great.

 

And I'd be surprised if Taimi is not involved with Cantha and the Selbbub story.

Edited June 6, 2021 by Fueki.4753

[Paradoxoglanis.1904]

The story in gw2 has always been mediocre at best. I kind of liked season 3, but have ignored every other part of it.

[Danger Ferret.6342]

I'm happy to say I love Aurene, Taimi, Gorrik, and the whole cheesy, wonderful story. It doesn't ask too much of me, and I'm amused by the characters.

 

If they want to change it up and steer in a different direction, that's cool too.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

I don't mind Aurene tbh. But I can't stand taimi-ex-machina anymore. Just put her aside. 

[voltaicbore.8012]

21 hours ago, Danger Ferret.6342 said:

I'm happy to say I love Aurene, Taimi, Gorrik, and the whole cheesy, wonderful story. It doesn't ask too much of me, and I'm amused by the characters.

 

If they want to change it up and steer in a different direction, that's cool too.

 

I have to say, this is probably the closest to how I actually feel about story and characters at this point.

 

I've just abandoned all expectations and lowered my engagement, and.... well at that level, the narrative cheese isn't the worst, and the characters actually fit inside the cheese pretty well. "Amused" sums it up pretty well for me too.

[Joote.4081]

I hate that toxic nord.   I think his name is Badmouth.  Shame the dragons didn't eat him.

[Zavijah.2695]

Glad Aurene ate Joko. 

All the other Elder Dragons suck. 
 

Happy to work with a prismatic Dragon. 

[Zola.6197]

I just find the title of this thread so funny, like you’re saying something “brave” or risky lmao.

 

Personally, I like Aurene. I just want to see her written as a fully realized character with strengths and weaknesses instead of a “problem” that has to be sidelined for being too useful. We’ve invested years in this character and helped raised her from birth with Caithe. I want to feel like we actually have a friendly elder dragon on our side, even if she makes mistakes.

[Mik.3401]

On 6/14/2021 at 12:50 AM, Zavijah.2695 said:

Glad Aurene ate Joko. 

All the other Elder Dragons suck. 
 

Happy to work with a prismatic Dragon. 

I think Joko has some dimensions to him unlike Aurene which is as bland and generic as practically possible.

 

I think the whole Aurene story line is a nod towards a more family-friendly part of the audience. It may appear good for business, but at the end it is just cheesy and I think it backfires, as this kind of players are most of the time only casual and leave the game once they are bored unlike the endgame community

Edited June 15, 2021 by Mik.3401

[marielleberto.3865]

I bet 99% of the players here never owned a pet.

[ugrakarma.9416]

On 6/6/2021 at 4:25 PM, Ashantara.8731 said:

 

Ack!  More Elder Dragon storylines? More Taimi? - No, and no.

 

I am glad this will all end soon to make way for more varied and exciting stories for a change.

IBS is heavy criticized, but i bow to IBS because have near 0 inquest/taimi.

Edited August 12, 2021 by ugrakarma.9416

[LadyEden.7519]

3 hours ago, marielleberto.3865 said:

I bet 99% of the players here never owned a pet.

 

If by "pet" you mean something with a high IQ, capable of speaking back to you, with powers that exceed those of any mortal, then yes, you are right.

 

P.S. Oh wait, did you mean Taimi? Who would be able to endure the presence of a talkative smart*** pet like her 24/7? 😂

 

Edited August 12, 2021 by LadyEden.7519

[Teratus.2859]

On 6/6/2021 at 10:25 PM, Ashantara.8731 said:

 

Ack!  More Elder Dragon storylines? More Taimi? - No, and no.

 

I am glad this will all end soon to make way for more varied and exciting stories for a change.

New doesn't mean better though, keep that in mind.
One of the strengths of GW2's current game is that it has a huge foundation of lore and backstory to build on.

It's just as likely that post EoD and post Elder Dragon story that the vast majority of the "exciting new content unrelated to Gw1" that so many want will be just as bad as LW1 and the Ice Brood Saga was.
This was a hard lesson to learn with Primordus after Anet had done so well with Kralkatorrik and the early build up for Jormag.
And we've other examples as well such as Joko, Balthazar and Lazarus the Dire.. a lot of people disliked how these huge characters were done in Gw2.

We shouldn't assume something will be better just because it's different, or not associated with what came before it.

[firedragon.8953]

Don't worry. Aurene will be turned into dragon jade and then shattered to make the new legendary weapon set. She isn't really dead because fragments of her soul are trapped in the weapons. Praise Joko!

[Psientist.6437]

I was excited for a speaking Aurene. I loved the work put into making the All a distinct character and Aurene was going to be our window into the All. The All is complex and I wanted to watch her navigate that complexity. I foolishly thought the story would become more intelligent.

 

Instead of complexity, we got false promises that she had information. She was reduced into being a part of Taimi's machine from season 3. She goes from eating Joko to being afraid of getting involved. Every opportunity to dig into the bond between the Commander and speaking Aurene was wasted. I am not even sure the All still exists. All we hear about now is some cliche about magic balance.

 

For kitten's sake, in IBS Aurene watches magic balance trap Jormag and Primordius in perpetual conflict, we then use magic balance to annihilate them. Yet believing in "magic balance" is an important part of her motivation?!?!? Is she a sadist or just blood thirsty? She is an Eldritch being without a functional cosmology to map her personality or motivations to.

 

Serialized drama my kitten. The Elder Dragon story isn't even a practical, serialized melodrama. It is simply serialized. The b plots are drama/ practical melodrama, this studio can do drama. 

 

Aurene isn't immortal. There is no way that a spell capable of rebuilding Joko or a high dragon is also able to rebuild an Elder Dragon.

 

 

[DoomNexus.5324]

On 5/5/2021 at 12:40 PM, Westenev.5289 said:

Anet's biggest mistake, in my opinion, is that the story never... stops. You don't get breathers, the world just keeps spiraling worse and worse and every event has to have a purpose.

Exactly this. I don't want to watch a movie while having my playable character running around.
I think this is actually a huge factor why the gw2 story is so bad.. Anet is ALWAYS time crunched, they can't do a thing without getting side tracked by another expansion or whatever the higher ups decide to do and this is just kitten if you try to maintain ONE main plot without a single proper side story.
I reaaaaally really hope - if they even continue the concept of living world, which I really hope they don't - that they at least just expand on the world and don't push their weird plot nobody cares about. They could easily add idk 2 or 3 smaller and limited plot lines that end after one or two episodes or maybe at the end of the seasons.. When they get crunched again they could just scrap one without having to rush the others and everyone would still be kinda happy.

And no I also don't like Aurene.. I think Anet overhypes their own kitten way too much and fail to recognize that the vast majority of players since no player I have talked to so far is really invested into the stuff and that - as far as I am aware - the general consensus in different communities I have been involved is that Aurene is not a character they are attached to. 
I can understand that the Anet staff get attached to Aurene since they are creating her and are constantly developing content around her but for us players every player I interacted with inside and outside the game it's a really different story.

Edited August 14, 2021 by DoomNexus.5324
Since people have a problem with me phrasing it with "the majority of players"

[voltaicbore.8012]

6 hours ago, Psientist.6437 said:

I was excited for a speaking Aurene. I loved the work put into making the All a distinct character and Aurene was going to be our window into the All. The All is complex and I wanted to watch her navigate that complexity. I foolishly thought the story would become more intelligent.

 

Instead of complexity, we got false promises that she had information. She was reduced into being a part of Taimi's machine from season 3. She goes from eating Joko to being afraid of getting involved. Every opportunity to dig into the bond between the Commander and speaking Aurene was wasted. I am not even sure the All still exists. All we hear about now is some cliche about magic balance.

 

For kitten's sake, in IBS Aurene watches magic balance trap Jormag and Primordius in perpetual conflict, we then use magic balance to annihilate them. Yet believing in "magic balance" is an important part of her motivation?!?!? Is she a sadist or just blood thirsty? She is an Eldritch being without a functional cosmology to map her personality or motivations to.

 

This is pretty much exactly how I feel.

 

I liked baby Aurene, and was looking forward to a more grown up/talking/has agency/is actually helpful version. What we got was an unfocused mess. We asked Braham to un-rally the Norn to save Jormag (destroying Braham's reputation among his people in the process) and fought Balthazar in a volcano to save Primordus. We were told that killing more dragons would end the world. Fast forward to the end of IBS, where we killed both of those dragons at the same time.... and things are just fine?

 

Weak storytelling happens for a lot of reasons, and I accept that narrative can be particularly difficult to deliver well in the MMO format. I'm willing to accept the GW2 story so far as it's been told to us, warts and all. My problem is that ANet seems to think we all adore and can't get enough of Aurene. In other words, it's okay with me if the story is bad. It's less okay with me that ANet doesn't seem to understand (or worse, is pretending like they don't know) the story took some bad turns.

Edited August 14, 2021 by voltaicbore.8012

[Obfuscate.6430]

Arenanet's writing is like this: 
Step 1: Introduce a character and double down on their development (engage the player by making them learn more about this character)
Step 2: Kill the character (attempt to evoke a strong reaction in the player to give the story a sense of depth) 
Step 3: Repeat Step 1 and 2 until the player base complains about the pattern
Step 4: Dues Ex Machina to avoid a repeat of step 3. 

Some people may have noticed this pattern after playing through personal story, Living World and the expansions. Every update, my SO and I place bets on who we think Arenanet is killing this time.  I think the Aurene thing was just... the final straw for me personally. I really liked her initially but the way the writers jerked our feelings around and use the character now have damaged a lot of my original sentimentality towards her.  
At this point I am wary and suspicious of any character that suddenly seems interesting. 

The only cool character they haven't fridged for the commander yet is...Hero-Tron. I will never forgive them if they hurt that golemite. 

[alcopaul.2156]

Aurene will fulfill the GW2 Tengu Prophecy of the Feathered Serpent, just in case all systems go to Utopia/Amazonia from Cantha..

 

maybe she's the Feathered Serpent after all..

 

and you see the belief of the usurpers that the eventual fight is between birds vs snakes (garuda vs naga). they didn't understand the flag or at least the symbolism that the Utopia/Amazonia guardians want them to answer.

 

like if the Snake is dead while the Eagle is "biting"  it, its body should be shaped as Lambda or inverted V.

 

But it seems that the Eagle is carefully lifting the Snake..

 

thus the Rise of Abaddon to reclaim his usurped seat will be signaled by the Appearance of the Tengus..

Edited August 14, 2021 by alcopaul.2156

[RabbitUp.8294]

5 hours ago, voltaicbore.8012 said:

 

This is pretty much exactly how I feel.

 

I liked baby Aurene, and was looking forward to a more grown up/talking/has agency/is actually helpful version. What we got was an unfocused mess. We asked Braham to un-rally the Norn to save Jormag (destroying Braham's reputation among his people in the process) and fought Balthazar in a volcano to save Primordus. We were told that killing more dragons would end the world. Fast forward to the end of IBS, where we killed both of those dragons at the same time.... and things are just fine?

 

Weak storytelling happens for a lot of reasons, and I accept that narrative can be particularly difficult to deliver well in the MMO format. I'm willing to accept the GW2 story so far as it's been told to us, warts and all. My problem is that ANet seems to think we all adore and can't get enough of Aurene. In other words, it's okay with me if the story is bad. It's less okay with me that ANet doesn't seem to understand (or worse, is pretending like they don't know) the story took some bad turns.

Seriously, is the story so difficult to follow?

 

The premise is pretty simple, you can't kill dragons unless you have someone to absorb their magic. We didn't have that someone when we killed Zhaitan and Mordremoth, so things starting getting really bad. That's why we couldn't let Braham and the others kill Jormag before PoF. As for Kralkatorrik, Balthazar would have been able to absorb the elder dragon magic, but he was a villain, so not exactly the person you want having that kind of power.

 

After Aurene grew, killing dragons was back on the menu. Although, I'm willing to bet EoD will reveal that Aurene isn't alone, either Kuunavang is playing a similar role unbeknownst to us, or DSD somehow an ally.

 

Edit: And that's why everyone should have seen the Aurene rez coming from a mile away. The way the story was set up, it was simply impossible to proceed without her. 

Edited August 14, 2021 by RabbitUp.8294

[RabbitUp.8294]

6 hours ago, DoomNexus.5324 said:

Exactly this. I don't want to watch a movie while having my playable character running around.
I think this is actually a huge factor why the gw2 story is so bad.. Anet is ALWAYS time crunched, they can't do a thing without getting side tracked by another expansion or whatever the higher ups decide to do and this is just kitten if you try to maintain ONE main plot without a single proper side story.
I reaaaaally really hope - if they even continue the concept of living world, which I really hope they don't - that they at least just expand on the world and don't push their weird plot nobody cares about. They could easily add idk 2 or 3 smaller and limited plot lines that end after one or two episodes or maybe at the end of the seasons.. When they get crunched again they could just scrap one without having to rush the others and everyone would still be kinda happy.

And no I also don't like Aurene.. I think Anet overhypes their own kitten way too much and fail to recognize that the vast majority of players are not invested into the stuff. I can understand that the Anet staff get attached to Aurene since they are creating her and are constantly developing content around her but for us players it's a really different story.

I think players really overestimate just how much they speak for the majority.

[DoomNexus.5324]

8 hours ago, RabbitUp.8294 said:

I think players really overestimate just how much they speak for the majority.

Oh the irony.

[Dante.1763]

3 hours ago, DoomNexus.5324 said:

Oh the irony.

No irony. You really dont speak for the majority, neither does he/she.

 

I stopped being invested due to anet constantly shooting the lore in the face. The writing is "Okay" and i havent been overly upset with it outside of a few instances, none of which involve Aurene directly.

[Psientist.6437]

13 hours ago, RabbitUp.8294 said:

Seriously, is the story so difficult to follow?

 

The premise is pretty simple, you can't kill dragons unless you have someone to absorb their magic. We didn't have that someone when we killed Zhaitan and Mordremoth, so things starting getting really bad. That's why we couldn't let Braham and the others kill Jormag before PoF. As for Kralkatorrik, Balthazar would have been able to absorb the elder dragon magic, but he was a villain, so not exactly the person you want having that kind of power.

 

After Aurene grew, killing dragons was back on the menu. Although, I'm willing to bet EoD will reveal that Aurene isn't alone, either Kuunavang is playing a similar role unbeknownst to us, or DSD somehow an ally.

 

Edit: And that's why everyone should have seen the Aurene rez coming from a mile away. The way the story was set up, it was simply impossible to proceed without her. 

A plot or plot premise, even if it is bulletproof, isn't drama. Verisimilitude, the appearance of being true or real, is a vital ingredient for drama. Our B and C plots are dramatic because they revolve around topics, like politics or family, that an audience can relate to and therefore can believe the characters emotions and stakes are real. The first seasons of Game of Thrones were dramatic because the world felt real, character actions were believable and therefore compelling. The last seasons flopped as a drama because the writers stopped caring about verisimilitude.

 

When did everyone learn that Aurene might be able to "balance" the All on her own? Did it happen off camera? Did we go all in on killing Jormag and Primordius because Jormag told us we could? When did the most important question get answered?

 

I expect writers and creatives to manipulate me. I want my brain and heart poked and jabbed. I am not going to call people emoting at vapor-ware plotting, drama. Our B and C plots are genuine drama. Our A plot is just the semblance of drama.  

Edited August 14, 2021 by Psientist.6437

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

1 hour ago, Psientist.6437 said:

When did everyone learn that Aurene might be able to "balance" the All on her own? Did it happen off camera? Did we go all in on killing Jormag and Primordius because Jormag told us we could? When did the most important question get answered?

PoF and LWS4.

 

During the trials we go through with Aurene at the beginning of "All or Nothing" the voice of Glint talks about how absorbing magic comes with dangers and temptations. She also talks about how its the Champion's duty to help Aurene manage those risks, and that by sharing her power with those around her she can help avoid those risks.

 

This ties back into the big cutscene during Path of Fire, that we see at the end of the story step "A Way Forward", which details how Glint and the Forgotten hoped that Glint's Legacy(the Scions) could stabilize the magic cycle by circulating and sharing magic, rather then hording it like the Elder Dragons do.

 

Furthermore, during the fight inside Kralkatorrik at the end of "War Eternal" Kralkatorrik specifically mentions that Aurene is unlike the other Elder Dragons, since she is able to take in all the various magics without them conflicting inside her. We know Aurene is able to take in much more magic then Elder Dragons normally can, because it doesn't conflict inside her.

 

Its story stuff tat the game has been talking about/building up for years.

 

18 hours ago, Obfuscate.6430 said:

Arenanet's writing is like this: 
Step 1: Introduce a character and double down on their development (engage the player by making them learn more about this character)
Step 2: Kill the character (attempt to evoke a strong reaction in the player to give the story a sense of depth) 
Step 3: Repeat Step 1 and 2 until the player base complains about the pattern
Step 4: Dues Ex Machina to avoid a repeat of step 3. 

Some people may have noticed this pattern after playing through personal story, Living World and the expansions. Every update, my SO and I place bets on who we think Arenanet is killing this time.  I think the Aurene thing was just... the final straw for me personally. I really liked her initially but the way the writers jerked our feelings around and use the character now have damaged a lot of my original sentimentality towards her.  
At this point I am wary and suspicious of any character that suddenly seems interesting. 

The only cool character they haven't fridged for the commander yet is...Hero-Tron. I will never forgive them if they hurt that golemite. 

Name one time Anet used an actual Deus Ex Machina, and not something people incorrectly call a Deus Ex Machina because they didn't like how the story went.

Edited August 14, 2021 by Sajuuk Khar.1509