Rustled Jimmies [Opinion-What happened??]

[Fireheart.6704]

So, I've been an avid player on and off ever since launch December 2012. This game was a leading cause to my infatuation with MMO-RPGS and drug me through some of the best times of my life. The gameplay and content is astronomical- forever an all time high for me. I'll never get tired of logging in one day to see how the past few months have shaped out and finding myself playing for the next month or two. But what I have very recently and painstakingly become tired of is the transition from my hero; Dragon Slayer, Guardian of Tyria, Commander of the Pact, Overseer of Dragon's Watch, Scourge's Bane; to a basket case full of puns and chuckles all around. I have literally died, gone to limbo, and emerged rolling in my own blissful wisecracks. And its not just me. Every single damn central character has apparently gone and spent a quality 4 years with a bunch of brick walls.

If you've ever seen the trip'n'slip down the stairs that is the _Warcraft_ movie, Guild Wars 2 storyline has progressively replicated the perfect pinch of bad timing. I can't take anything in the dialogue seriously anymore, cause there's a guaranteed kneeslapper slipped into so much as a sneeze. Not only do the jokes distract from the immersive gameplay, but one by one, my beloved brothers and sisters in arms are slowly devolving back into toddlers. Upon opening and initiating the first mission of the new season (Episode 2, Season 4), Braham and Rox roll up. Alright cool, two of my favorite characters to date. Not even 20 seconds in, big boy Braham starts dishing out what can only be explained as a six year old's cunning tantrum smackdowns after being denied a new xbox at the mall. And it's not just once or twice. He makes sure that you know that his diaper is reaching max capacity, and he isn't happy about it. The whole. Time.

Each and every single character I have encountered in the living story since Heart of Thorns- even the extras -have had their share of this exact problem. I feel there is no substance to the dialogue, throwing baby talk at the audience. Everything has become oversimplified along with the addition of the fierce attitudes and opinions.

Please, reinsert authenticity into the storyline. I've become numb to the rush of splendor that previously supported the game.

 

TL;DR - Guild Wars 2 vanilla/release supported the player with an authentic feeling of power and splendor, claiming its spot in an all time favorite along with the extraordinary gameplay (gameplay still mind blowing to the date). With the release of HoT and so forth, dialogue leads the player to believe everyone (even enemies) is a massive group roleplaying drinking buddies.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

I disagree with you. I personally like that they have more humour now in the story line. The old way was ok, but I like the new direction. I say they keep doing what they are doing. The whole Braham thing; he is a 6 year old child. He has been acting like a 6 year old child ever since his mother passed way which is why people hate him. At least, by the end of it, he started acting better than his normal "Wahhh my mom is dead" self.

[joneirikb.7506]

Just wanted to say that I had a good laugh reading your post, like the way your word yourself. :) (I haven't really gotten far enough in the story to comment yet.)

[AliamRationem.5172]

Call my tastes unrefined, but my favorite characters tend to be the humorous ones. Taimi, Canach, and Tybalt are some of my favorites!

 

I will say that I completely agree with you on the subject of Braham. I don't know what's going on with this guy, but ever since mommy died he's been acting like an angsty teenager. This latest episode featured some pretty jarring lines from Braham that just had me thinking "Are they setting this up so I want to see this guy get knocked off at some point in the story? Because I definitely do want to see that at this point!"

[Fireheart.6704]

Thanks @"joneirikb.7506"!

@"Doctor Hide.6345" I too enjoy that they have slipped humor into the dialogue, but my problem is that it's every other sentence. They subbed humor for seriousness, and it's beginning to leak into the sincerity of the storyline.

[Smiggles.6823]

> @"Fireheart.6704" said: But what I have very recently and painstakingly become tired of is the transition from my hero; Dragon Slayer, Guardian of Tyria, Commander of the Pact, Overseer of Dragon's Watch, Scourge's Bane; to a basket case full of puns and chuckles all around. I have literally died, gone to limbo, and emerged rolling in my own blissful wisecracks.

 

What you're talking about here is called Bathos aka undercutting serious moments with humour. (Just saw a youtube video on it, never heard the word before lol)

 

It happens all through the MCU and the writing style might be influencing other films and media due to its popularity. Appropriate use is fun. Overuse kills tension.

 

Of course depending on personal taste ymmv.

[Rukia.4802]

> @"Smiggles.6823" said:

> > @"Fireheart.6704" said: But what I have very recently and painstakingly become tired of is the transition from my hero; Dragon Slayer, Guardian of Tyria, Commander of the Pact, Overseer of Dragon's Watch, Scourge's Bane; to a basket case full of puns and chuckles all around. I have literally died, gone to limbo, and emerged rolling in my own blissful wisecracks.

>

> What you're talking about here is called Bathos aka undercutting serious moments with humour. (Just saw a youtube video on it, never heard the word before lol)

>

> It happens all through the MCU and the writing style might be influencing other films and media due to its popularity. Appropriate use is fun. Overuse kills tension.

>

> Of course depending on personal taste ymmv.

 

I love it in the MCU, because usually the story is actually good and it fits the characters a lot of the time like in Thor Ragnarok honestly the best and funniest MCU movie I've seen yet.

 

However I haven't been able to take GW2s story seriously since day 1, I think the lore is crap compared to GW originals and the awful side-by-side chat panel that we started with just added salt to the wound. GW2 has a lot of 'cringe' moments and characters like braham that just completely ruin any possible immersion for me. There are a lot of dull characters as well, and mary sues that I just get incredibly tired of.

 

It truly has felt at least to me, that a 14 year old fangirl has been writing a terrible fanfic.

[Vayne.8563]

It doesn't matter if characters use one liners and humor or not,. as long as it fits their characters. That's what writing is all about. The writing has actually gotten better. If you've ever been with soldiers you know there's a lot of joking and cameraderie that goes around, because people need to burn off tension in life and death situations. People who take everything too seriously are boring and often untested. It's easy to be a serious revolutation if you haven't actually bloodied your hands.

 

Nope don't agree with your assessment at all.

[Tsakhi.8124]

Having seen my fair share of death and disaster, I can safely say that if it weren't for levity, I would have went insane. A sense of humor got me through the darkest of times. Paraphrasing the game here: "If you're still laughing, you're still living."

 

That being said, I like the writing style and I might be in the minority. I actually cheered for my character when she put people in their place, I teared up when I heard someone cry, and I went around the Temple of Kormir fixing up injured people, because I hate to see suffering.

[Ayakaru.6583]

Honestly, i have no idea how we lasted in Orr without Canach's constant quiping

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I like the story, and the characters. If you've ever raised difficult teenagers, you probably would not find Braham so unbelievable. They can be real pitas.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I like the story, and the characters. If you've ever raised difficult teenagers, you probably would not find Braham so unbelievable. They can be real pitas.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Vayne.8563" said:

> It doesn't matter if characters use one liners and humor or not,. as long as it fits their characters. That's what writing is all about. The writing has actually gotten better. If you've ever been with soldiers you know there's a lot of joking and cameraderie that goes around, because people need to burn off tension in life and death situations. People who take everything too seriously are boring and often untested. It's easy to be a serious revolutation if you haven't actually bloodied your hands.

>

> Nope don't agree with your assessment at all.

 

Not just soldiers either. Police, firemen, ambulance crews, even first aiders are exactly the same. Even if it's not your life that's in danger the stress can be horrible and humour is a good way of coping with it. It's not really the same scale but at my old job the days when we were most likely to be telling each other jokes and funny stories and the whole team would go to the pub together after work were the days when we had to deal with someone doing something horrible and illegal. If it was a 'nice' day (relatively speaking) we were more likely to get on with our jobs and then go home.

 

As for the GW2 story I prefer it with the humour. The storyline itself is already dark enough, we don't need the characters constantly reminding us how serious and terrible it is. Plus it's actually got the player character and Braham talking instead of just snapping at each other then having to go kill something, and I'm hoping it might lead to them sorting things out. Whether that's a 'moment of insight' kind of thing where someone says something and the other person finally gets it or a screaming argument or just a gradual reconciliation I'd prefer that to writing Braham into the ground and then killing him off and most people just being relieved he's gone.

[ImTasty.2163]

I actually like the humor. To me, I feel the jokes are part of our characters bonding. It's not really as bad as people make it out to be honestly. Often times the serious moments have very few humor breaks and the majority of jokes happen during down times when it's not too intense. Like the first mission in the new episode you aren't really doing much but just sneaking through an Inquest lab. Down the road though when you enter the Charr village at the start it's pretty laid back but when the Charr fur hits the fan the heroes aren't really joking around.

 

Plus, I really don't get the complaints about Braham. I will admit that his role in LW3 was annoying but in 4 he seems to have finally moved on a good bit. It's understandable to be mad. I mean it was his mom and before she died they were bonding. He seems to have reached a point though where he sees that the commander did their best given the situation.

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

Please keep all the humor and wisecracks and resist the evil whispers urging you to turn this into Emo Wars 2.

 

By the way, I remember plenty of humor from Vanilla, which is why I kept playing. The main difference I noticed when going on to the rest of the game was that there was less Commander hero worship and people telling us how awesome we are (remember the cheering crowds of soldiers after we did Zhaitan?) and more of everyone just expecting us to clean up the mess 'cause that's what we do. Not saying that's good or bad, just saying I kind of miss when everyone thought my character was amazing instead of taking us for granted. But then, that's kind of realistic. I don't recall what book it was where I read that the reward from completing an impossible task was always to be asked to complete another, even more impossible task...

[Zaklex.6308]

Apparently you don't talk to people in the real world, because half of the human population I interact with talks in this exact same manner...I think it's to much social media interaction(not really). I'm also guessing that you missed all of the serious moments in the latest episode then, because there was quite a few, I'd be the humor to serious ratio was some where around 20/80 - 30/70, but that's just a rough guess mind you. Of course if you happen to be a Professor or work with a bunch of stuffy people in RL then you wouldn't know how people really talk unless someone told you.

[Leo G.4501]

> @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> Call my tastes unrefined, but my favorite characters tend to be the humorous ones. Taimi, Canach, and Tybalt are some of my favorites!

>

> I will say that I completely agree with you on the subject of Braham. I don't know what's going on with this guy, but ever since mommy died he's been acting like an angsty teenager. This latest episode featured some pretty jarring lines from Braham that just had me thinking "Are they setting this up so I want to see this guy get knocked off at some point in the story? Because I definitely do want to see that at this point!"

 

I agree, some of my favorite characters are some kind of joke, trope or exaggeration. Been playing Tera and I actually find it rather jarring (in a funny way) how the Castanic(sp?) characters sometimes talk about how sexy and hot they are or try to hit on you (the main character) because it's not that common (at least not to me) that my created character is rubbed that way not to mention they usually have the exact type of response I would have if I were in the game (a mix of "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that" and "do I know you?").

 

As for GW2, I can also understand the OP's perspective too. It's too bad that, the way the game is moving forward, there's a laser focus on "THE story" and doesn't take efforts to crafting a bunch of "some stories" on the side that develope and continue besides the major events of the game. Now there *are* some "events" that happen on the side, but they usually end and nothing more comes of it. I feel that, had more side events and stories were to go parallel to the main plot, having humor could be mostly delegated to one of those instead of deep frying the main plot in humor so that it leaves your hands covered in funny despite not being the *meat* of what makes up the plot. That doesn't mean the main plot won't have any humor, but perhaps it won't leave that greasy film on you every time you go to take a bite of story?

[Leo G.4501]

> @"Zaklex.6308" said:

> Apparently you don't talk to people in the real world, because half of the human population I interact with talks in this exact same manner...I think it's to much social media interaction(not really). I'm also guessing that you missed all of the serious moments in the latest episode then, because there was quite a few, I'd be the humor to serious ratio was some where around 20/80 - 30/70, but that's just a rough guess mind you. Of course if you happen to be a Professor or work with a bunch of stuffy people in RL then you wouldn't know how people really talk unless someone told you.

 

But "half of the human population" aren't doing serious things like fighting, killing and protecting people in need. I mean, I'm sure those people out there doing humanitarian work try to keep light-hearted conversation but when you've got people hurt, suffering or starving right next to you, it's a smidge disrespectful to be cracking puns or whatever.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Leo G.4501" said:

> > @"Zaklex.6308" said:

> > Apparently you don't talk to people in the real world, because half of the human population I interact with talks in this exact same manner...I think it's to much social media interaction(not really). I'm also guessing that you missed all of the serious moments in the latest episode then, because there was quite a few, I'd be the humor to serious ratio was some where around 20/80 - 30/70, but that's just a rough guess mind you. Of course if you happen to be a Professor or work with a bunch of stuffy people in RL then you wouldn't know how people really talk unless someone told you.

>

> But "half of the human population" aren't doing serious things like fighting, killing and protecting people in need. I mean, I'm sure those people out there doing humanitarian work try to keep light-hearted conversation but when you've got people hurt, suffering or starving right next to you, it's a smidge disrespectful to be cracking puns or whatever.

 

You've never been around people doing humanitarian work then? Because trust me, that's exactly what it's like. Yes it's a serious situation but it's pretty rare that people in that situation need to be told that, and it can actually make things worse. If everyone's just talking about how bad things are it's very hard to see any chance for it to get better. If you're making light of it, or talking about something totally different and keeping things positive it takes some of the pressure off, it helps people calm down and relax which can make things better.

[Fireheart.6704]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

>

> You've never been around people doing humanitarian work then? Because trust me, that's exactly what it's like. Yes it's a serious situation but it's pretty rare that people in that situation need to be told that, and it can actually make things worse. If everyone's just talking about how bad things are it's very hard to see any chance for it to get better. If you're making light of it, or talking about something totally different and keeping things positive it takes some of the pressure off, it helps people calm down and relax which can make things better.

 

I see your point, but Firemen don't necessarily waltz around town wearing armor that is literally spitting energy seeping from another dimension. We're supposed to be heroes that rival and conquer the most powerful beings in the world, and we act like a bunch of babies. And most of the time the jokes aren't jokes, but really really really repetitive one liners like "Wouldn't _you_ like to know" and "I'm getting too old for this". That kind of sort.

 

 

[Randulf.7614]

It's still better than almost all the dialogue in the Personal Story. Everyone is going to have their own tastes, but as far as I;m concerned, the difference between what we have now and we had then is astronomical in favour of what we currently have. The dialogue, was basic, functional, often utterly unemotional and lacked any real nuance or depth (the Order mentors being the exceptions). I'm not saying they have nailed any of those aspects, but they have given each character their own style and improved the VA delivery a great deal too.

 

 

[Doctor Hide.6345]

> @"Fireheart.6704" said:

> > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> >

> > You've never been around people doing humanitarian work then? Because trust me, that's exactly what it's like. Yes it's a serious situation but it's pretty rare that people in that situation need to be told that, and it can actually make things worse. If everyone's just talking about how bad things are it's very hard to see any chance for it to get better. If you're making light of it, or talking about something totally different and keeping things positive it takes some of the pressure off, it helps people calm down and relax which can make things better.

>

> I see your point, but Firemen don't necessarily waltz around town wearing armor that is literally spitting energy seeping from another dimension. We're supposed to be heroes that rival and conquer the most powerful beings in the world, and we act like a bunch of babies. And most of the time the jokes aren't jokes, but really really really repetitive one liners like "Wouldn't _you_ like to know" and "I'm getting too old for this". That kind of sort.

>

>

 

You are right. Firemen aren't walking around with armor like that. They are still heroes though, so having our hero PC act that way still works and is justified. I'll give you another example. When I served, my battle buddies and I used to crack jokes all the time during serious situations. It helps lighten the mood and help us focus better on the task at hand without letting the stress of the situation overwhelm us.

 

So our PC being a little light hearted and joking around makes total sense for the situations they are in. Being serious all the time actually makes situations worse.

[KeoLegend.5132]

Not that the current way is bad

BUT i prefer the very dark, horror, tragic and gritty way to deal with stuffs. The colorfull humor makes the enemies and the entire situation looks less threatening and serious.

 

I would prefer a lot more a plot that was tense, dark and worresome the entire time

[Fireheart.6704]

> @"Doctor Hide.6345" said:

 

>

> You are right. Firemen aren't walking around with armor like that. They are still heroes though, so having our hero PC act that way still works and is justified. I'll give you another example. When I served, my battle buddies and I used to crack jokes all the time during serious situations. It helps lighten the mood and help us focus better on the task at hand without letting the stress of the situation overwhelm us.

>

> So our PC being a little light hearted and joking around makes total sense for the situations they are in. Being serious all the time actually makes situations worse.

 

Don't get me wrong, I know and support what you are saying. However, there is a line between reality and virtual worlds that must be drawn, especially in MMOs. The "being serious all the time" part is the problem- it's the other way around. The characters are constantly making these attempts at humor and when they're not, it feels like some under-paid actor reading off a first draft script that just explains the various situations you are in. My problem is the focus of the dialogue is entirely this shabby friendly prodding; especially when it comes to joking with the enemy or tossing out a pun when talking to say, the God of Fire, right before you kill him.

 

Also, when I think of my hero, I don't think of a human being in the real world. I think of a monstrous war monger that can wield the raw essence of magic and fury at my whim. I play the story so that I can immerse myself into the tragedy and suspense of the weight of responsibility that has been set on my shoulders. I want to feel the stress of the situation. Some well structured jokes that come completely unexpected and make me chuckle is ideal. Not a constant stream of blabbering and recycled liners.

 

[Fireheart.6704]

> @"KeoLegend.5132" said:

> Not that the current way is bad

> BUT i prefer the very dark, horror, tragic and gritty way to deal with stuffs. The colorfull humor makes the enemies and the entire situation looks less threatening and serious.

>

> I would prefer a lot more a plot that was tense, dark and worresome the entire time

 

Exactly. It feels like at any moment of battle my character is going to yell "Cut! Alright guys that was great, see you all at the pub in 5! Last one's a rotten egg!!!".

 

I want to feel the intensity of a possible mass extinction, not cut out audio so that I can get the gear from the mission and tune into some music.