So I know a lot of you don´t play MMOs for the story, but bear with me:

I started a human Thief character and apart from the Nolan North voice, found very little to like about this particular storyline. Your "friends" felt just so stupid and tacked on, I gladly let that one dude die. And- how come you don´t really get to do thiev-y stuff, not even in the beginning of the game? I know the storylines are probably race-specific or something, but it really bothered me. I was a thief (yeah, they are probably only damage dealers in MMOs) but I would do stuff that any sword-for-hire would do. I would excuse it with "it´s pretty good for an MMO" and just keep playing.

So last night I started a Norn Fighter/Paladin character. I have to say, the norn stuff was about 100x more appealing to me than the human generic stuff. I got turned into a snow leopard and hunted with a pack of wolves for gods sake!

How are your feelings on the stories in this game? Which one is the "best" or most engaging in your opinion?

Yeah, im curious too, does this game have actually good storylines? After my long backlog this will be the first MMO i'll try, good stories is always a plus.

@Superfriend said:

So I know a lot of you don´t play MMOs for the story, but bear with me:

I started a human Thief character and apart from the Nolan North voice, found very little to like about this particular storyline. Your "friends" felt just so stupid and tacked on, I gladly let that one dude die. And- how come you don´t really get to do thiev-y stuff, not even in the beginning of the game? I know the storylines are probably race-specific or something, but it really bothered me. I was a thief (yeah, they are probably only damage dealers in MMOs) but I would do stuff that any sword-for-hire would do. I would excuse it with "it´s pretty good for an MMO" and just keep playing.

So last night I started a Norn Fighter/Paladin character. I have to say, the norn stuff was about 100x more appealing to me than the human generic stuff. I got turned into a snow leopard and hunted with a pack of wolves for gods sake!

How are your feelings on the stories in this game? Which one is the "best" or most engaging in your opinion?

Did the Human's 'Dead Sister' stuff in a BWE, and I liked that one quite a lot. Love the Charr Ash Legion stuff I did with my main. Order of Wispers was quite good too, and had my favorite support character in the game thus far - Tybalt. I did Ash Legion and Gladium Father and Order of Wispers on my Ranger and it was quite fun - nothing to write home about, but as a source for fleshing out the lore and some good XP and loot, it certainly did the job. Some of the setpieces were quite amazing too.

None of the storylines are that great, though it's weird you liked Norn, everyone else i know thinks Norn was the most boring. Though it may be which origin you choose.

I think the Sylvari ones kinda make more sense, cause you actually meet Trahearne really early on, instead of him just showing up randomly later and you just being, who's this guy and why's he suddenly the focus?

@Shirogane said:

None of the storylines are that great, though it's weird you liked Norn, everyone else i know thinks Norn was the most boring. Though it may be which origin you choose.

I think the Sylvari ones kinda make more sense, cause you actually meet Trahearne really early on, instead of him just showing up randomly later and you just being, who's this guy and why's he suddenly the focus?

Well, I´ve only played up to lvl 10 with the Norn so far, but I like the setting. It´s kinda goofy and stereotypical, but at least it fits the character. Plus, I kinda felt like most people in the human are were not interested in anything other than powerleveling.

Dunno, maybe I just play these games differently. I like to take my time and talk to everybody, even use emotes and stuff for things other than chat... "roleplaying" if you will.

@Seppli The Charr stuff also sounds interesting, maybe I´ll try that too.

@Shirogane said:

None of the storylines are that great, though it's weird you liked Norn, everyone else i know thinks Norn was the most boring. Though it may be which origin you choose.

I think the Sylvari ones kinda make more sense, cause you actually meet Trahearne really early on, instead of him just showing up randomly later and you just being, who's this guy and why's he suddenly the focus?

Without spoiling though. Sylvari is one of the more frustrating because you are like HEY ITS TRAHEARNE! HEY BUDDY LONG TIME NO... Yes.. I know you are a necromancer. Hey.. no, we've met before. no... i know about caladbolg. Oh... okay :(

@jesterroyal: Ha, yeah...i found that a bit odd too. There's like one line where they acknowledge you knowing each other, but then after that it goes back to the stuff everyone gets and it just felt kinda broken. Then again, quite a lot of the story missions of the game feel that way.

@Superfriend: The storylines aren't tailored to your profession, but to the questions you answer during character creation.

I did the circus storyline with my human warrior and it was very thief-y. There was an entire mission at the start where you had to infiltrate a bandit hideout by dressing like one of them. That might be more what you're looking for.

The Human noble storyline did a great job at fleshing out the human faction, and didn't feel too hokey either, so it's currently my favorite. The party investigation mission (one of the branching choices) was pretty cool, and playing wingman to your hopeless noble friend at the party was pretty funny too.

I didn't really like the Charr Blood Legion story despite some of the awesomeness that happens within the first few missions, and the Sylvari White Stag story was boring and poorly written.

Obviously, everyone knows that the Asura missions are the best.

I think that (generally speaking) the writing in the charr and asura stories are the sharpest, though keep in mind I haven't done much of my asura line yet. It helps that their race mentors have the most character out of the five.