ERROR: SIGNAL LOST

Despite all better judgment, I have decided to open up a writing document to talk about some specific thoughts I’m having about Visions of Eternity-- because quite frankly I feel as if I’m going mad to some extent seeing some of the reactions of this expansion. This is quite dire (to me, at least), as usually I’m not the type of person to give their two cents on anything. I don’t think it matters-- opinions are opinions, and they’re nothing more than that. However, if I can put this on to proverbial paper and maybe have a couple people ask themselves some questions about what kind of game we’re receiving now, I’ll feel more at peace. Or maybe, perhaps, I’m blind in some regards-- willingly, or unwillingly-- to see whatever other people see in this update. Either way, the emotions that both the game and the general reaction have stirred in me have actually caused me to get off my ass and write something about it.

Truly, and utterly, I feel as if many people are alright being handed scraps and crumbs of a narrative, that certainly and truly does have a plot, but has absolutely no prose-- and what prose we can extract is concerning. We’re never given the chance to ask any questions of the characters, or the narrative itself, it rushes along and pushes to get the next point as fast as possible. In the past, I feel as if asking questions and taking moments to breathe between points was encouraged and ample. There’s been many times we’ve had to sit and ask ourselves in the Guild Wars 2 universe about what we would do in this situation, about how this could drive a certain character to act the way that they do, or what consequences do our choices have on our friends, companions, allies, and sometimes enemies. The world breathes and reacts to your actions.

Visions of Eternity simultaneously WANTS to ask this question-- does not-- and then cuts you off before you could even fathom trying to ask it anything in the first place. It does not react to your actions-- with a realm of demons being discovered, the Titans returning, and now the Inquest out in near-world ending force, the world simply doesn’t react as it once did. With Visions of Eternity, it solves its narrative without any input from the Commander, and more of what the Commander is forced to go do. It feels like a blitz of nothing, akin to being blasted in the face repeatedly with strong gusts of air. You are given content, but nothing to necessarily chew on. There’s a lot to do-- yes, however, the expansion does not have a lot to say. This is merely a shorthand summary of what I think is a much deeper problem that spans over numerous avenues of the current expansion.

Out of everything, I have problems with cohesion, consistency, characterization, and what exactly the whole plot wants to say. When we compare it to stories and characters who are within Guild Wars 2-- that we have received during worse times, even-- it’s amazing to see how much I believe the community has lost what we have had-- and quite consistently had, to be honest. I’m not willing to lower my standards for the games of today, but with the amount of money that these corporations are willing to rake in, we should be asking for better. Especially when we very much know they can do better. We’ve had smaller content like this with Living World seasons, and they’ve been quite well (and even tackle incredibly similar subjects), so if I can hold it up to even 2020 Icebrood Saga standards and find flaws; we have problems.

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To start, cohesion seems like a basic ask-- so let’s start with that. I won’t be going over every plot point from the previous base release of Visions of Eternity. If you need a refresher, please feel free to look at the wiki or skim the story log. The short version is this; we leave off with Vloxx stealing Ancora and Isgarren in the midst of his past. We’re left for roughly six to seven months (October 28, 2025 - May 12, 2026) for the next story update. Immediately, we’re left to try to find Vloxx and Ancora having lost him for an indeterminate amount of time. I’m left to assume that it has been about a week or two? Having a look at the instance on the Wiki, the only indication of a passage of time is “the next morning”, so I am not sure as to how much time as passed other than a day as stated in-text. Soon thereafter, we find Vloxx within a Seer spire, and Vloxx conspires with Kuda. We’re caught, and he immediately sends Kuda to attack us with the new Omega Team.

We are attacked twice by Vloxx and the Inquest on his request. When we talk to Vloxx within the same instance, the Commander once again begs for Vloxx to talk this out. Why? Twice now we have been attacked by Vloxx and his underlings. We showed less tolerance during Icebrood Saga when Ryland attacked us once. We were completely ready to forgo any peace for making sure that he and his lackeys do not do more harm. Yet, with Vloxx, after being attacked twice we still beg for him to change his mind. That we can work together. All within what I can assume is a week of being attacked repeatedly. I feel as if the Commander has no memory as to who, or what we’re dealing with. We’re not dealing with a meager reject krewe member-- we’re dealing with the director of the Inquest. Someone who absolutely does not get to their position without breaking more than a few eggs. Playing peacefully with the Inquest never works. Vloxx states that he has good intentions, but we’re only ever told this. Never once are we shown that he has the capability to do good actions. Show don’t tell is a completely basic aspect of story writing as to which the writers have completely forgone.

Something as simple as Vloxx seeing himself in other krewe members and being easier on them in secret, or perhaps leaving behind aid for the Hullgardeners as to which he’s explicitly began to attack and harass. This could work into establishing doubt into if Vloxx has intentions that could be good, or at least posing intrigue to his character being someone who is a good man placed into bad circumstances-- but we’re never shown this. We’re only told that Vloxx can ‘fix it’.

If this is the intention of the writers, to write a character who’s our antagonist and says they want to do good, but only continues to do bad-- it’s handled very clumsily and once again I am unsure as to their intent with writing Vloxx. With motives such as ‘do good at all costs’ without doing any good, I am lost as to his purpose within the narrative except to serve as a villain of the month that could not speak and still keep the plot on the current track.

Another thorn in my side with consistency and cohesion is the supposed ‘parley’ with Kuda. Again, we’ve already been attacked numerous times, and we’re trying to strike a bargain with the Inquest. Who is famously known to be fair with anyone who approaches them wanting something. Characters within the instance even point this out, and yet, this is framed out of desperation and as a ‘last resort’, but we do not take any other actions to attempt to find Vloxx. How is this the only way?

I’d like to call back to a character that I think even the plot forgot. PTM, a golem who helps us find Vloxx in the first place and has a compendium of most information that the Inquest has on all their projects regarding the Seers. Kuda was aware on the fact that Vloxx was ascending, as she did show up immediately after the fact. This leads us to believe that the ascension was Inquest business. PTM regards projects as being ‘open’, ‘updated’, or ‘empty’, as the plot progressed and were being updated as such. He is actively still in Inquest projects to a degree. An avenue that could have been taken was with PTM to avoid parleying with the Inquest. Hacking, questioning and conversation, retrieving pieces to establish a better signal with servers, using magic of some sort to bypass security. Those are just some ideas off the top of my head. There were many avenues that could have been taken with someone who had access to all that data consistently like PTM-- and yet a seasoned tactician like the Commander chooses to ‘parley’ with the Inquest.

Another route could have been sneaking through facilities as we always have. We did it for the first time we’ve met Vloxx, among other reasons to get information from Kuda and Sebb. How was this not an option anymore? For time? Where’s the urgency? It’s not felt in the plot. I just find it incredibly hard to believe. Nothing else gave us the indication that we were now under a time limit. There is no fuse, there is no life on the line, there’s nothing that gives the potential pressure of the need to parley. I simply cannot find the stakes to the narrative as everything is so incredibly isolated to Ancora-- and the only personal stakes being for Isgarren (who I, personally, cannot find likable or compelling. We’ll talk about it later.). Are there any stakes for the Commander, Rytlock, Canach, or Sayida, either? They’re only tangentially related by being in the vicinity and being the Commander’s friend-- none of them have any personal stakes within the story besides fame or ‘looking to change things up’, which aren’t felt except mentioned offhandedly from time to time, almost as if a reminder as to why they’re supposed to be there.

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Regarding the characters, I’d like to speak specifically about Sayida. Progressing through the story, Sayida is consistently strangely angry towards the Inquest despite not having any storied history with them. The most I can find is that she airdropped the Commander into an Inquest facility during A Bug in the System during Living World Season 4. Otherwise, she’s had no direct contact. Perhaps she feels sympathy for the Hullgardeners, but it’s never explicitly stated or strongly implied. Sayida has gone from a very collected, competent, and well versed in her trade to someone who’s been reduced to someone who only says something to move the plot, or more strangely, when she’s angry. Most times when she speaks up about her opinions, it’s to say something in a highly heated tone about the Inquest. This feels highly out of character, and if anything, playing into the commonly racist trope of the angry black woman. Sayida has never been so enraged before, even when her family coin was taken and held by the Commander until we saved the captured Sunspear in Joko’s fortress, she never once raised her voice, or even insulted the Commander. Sayida has been cool, calm, and collected up until this expansion, which is highly unusual and out of character.

Sayida is also someone who is well versed within the criminal underworld of being a corsair, and yet she specifically calls into question the morality and ethics of the Inquest. Canach even calls her a ‘pirate’ when she gets angry, and she continues to act like this even when called out. Perhaps this is the writers way of coaxing her into this “political position” that she’s mentioned offhandedly. It feels strange for someone who has a legacy with being a corsair, who’s family is rooted in their work to be so dismissive of who she’s proud to be. She states her reason for trying to go and find Castora is to one-up the most famous Sly in her family, to really make a name for herself. However, the narrative continues to push her into politics without much of a reason. Suddenly she doesn’t stand for violence, robbery, or espionage. Instead, the narrative wants her to settle down and, as stated, join the very globalized Tyrian Alliance. That Sayida is supposed to drop her corsair history that has followed her family for hundreds of years-- one may even say ‘to drop her savage ways’-- and become more palatable for a white, western audience. A globalized audience. She simply cannot be who she is-- a Sly-- she has to be a clean, law-abiding, and active in politics to advocate for herself. She cannot have any cultural baggage at that. They’ve narrowed her down to a racist trope at the same time as attempting to globalize her, remove her as an Elonian and more as a ‘Tyrian Alliance member’-- removing her once calm-cool-collected demeanor for a strange, strong anger towards the Inquest and a near complete disregard for her legacy.

My partner and I attempted to reach out to our very lovely friend, Jolly, but sadly they’ve not had time to play the update as they’re currently busy with real life. I placed a post on my blog looking for any black consultation on this, but sadly I’ve not received a response. With that said, I want to clearly state that I am white, and if any black fan would give me their thoughts in regards to Sayida-- it would be deeply appreciated. Please feel free to comment, and I’m happy to reach out for conversation or we can discuss in the comments-- whatever works better for you!

My other problem is with Canach. I could talk up and down about how how praxis adverse the writing team has become with his character since the loss of Dimaggio as his voice actor, but my partner made a better write up about that specifically [here]-- the long and short of it is a sense of centrism now oozes from Canach’s every pore and this character is a far cry from who he was, and not in a good way. Growth has been in favor of a centrist audience that would find questions that aren’t so easily answered with black-and-white answers a bit too challenging, or perhaps scary.

Rather, I bring up Canach as a character who is the one with a storied history with the Inquest. Someone who, as a sapling, was experimented on by the proto-Inquest (as the Inquest weren’t established just yet)-- specifically and was treated no more than an animal. During this entire escapade, he regards the Inquest as an antagonistic force, yes, but nothing more personal. He does not see their unethical experimentation as something that he can personally empathize with. Perhaps even drawing parallels to his own mistakes in Southsun Cove regarding the wildlife being enraged and altered from exterior actions. None of this seems apparent in his mind, and instead, he’s incredibly cut and dry regarding the actions that need to be taken and how they should be taken. There’s no emotional charge despite his past, which would be fine if perhaps we saw how he handled this (one can assume gambling, I suppose, but anyone who’s had an addiction can tell you that vices don’t come with no downsides. I speak from personal experience as well.)

It is readily apparent within Guild Wars 2 that Canach is a flawed character, but the version we’re given is an ironed out version that only serves to advance the plot and coyly flirt with the Commander from time to time for a laugh. He does not stand for anything except for this weird regret of his change. The Canach we had during the Dragon Saga was one who was not afraid to push for change, feel for those who were oppressed, and still be a bit catty and self-centered despite the fact he had a good heart. Now, he does not challenge anything. He regrets his points of view, he does not think the stance he took against the Consortium was worth the problems it caused. He does not think that the fight is ever worth the change. Often, he comments that he agrees with Vloxx, but thinks he’s wrong. I digress, but the sentiment still stands a he is truly a husk of both the Canach we once knew, and could very well be a whole new character entirely and still solve the plot at hand. Nothing makes his purpose needed other than the fact that once again he is only situationally involved by lending us his very conveniently purchased boat and promptly sinking it, and his apparent need to ‘change’.

All things considered, Rytlock is the best character of the bunch, but simultaneously has the least amount of dialogue or weight on the plot.

In regards to newer characters like Isgarren-- I personally cannot find myself trying to help a man who hasn’t proved himself capable of helping those he considers himself close to without his wrist being proverbially bent backwards. With his first introduction being that we should help him lead a military-wizard led occupation of a “demonic world” (when this world was paralleled to our own with artists, writers, and peace-having Kryptis of different walks of life-- their life is all but familiar to any of us rather than being other worldly or ‘demonic’), and then following up with his persecution and threats to both Waiting Sorrow and her community, there simply has not been enough substance to his character to want to help him in this whole Seer-magic debacle. The only time Isgarren is willing to help is when he’s forced to, and with this update is it no different. With the curse of Sidony forcing him to be without his powers, he’s fully reliant on the Commander this time rather than just adjacently related. Most of the time, he only serves the purpose of vague exposition and pointing the plot in the direction that it should go to.

I do think that this is his part of his ‘arc’, albeit I feel a bit generous to call it that. The writing feels stilted and awkward with trying to work around Isgarren’s quirks of being an ego-filled lone wolf and also cater to the power that the Commander so obviously (or not) has. Which, do not get me wrong, can absolutely work for the better. Contrasting it with characters such as Taimi-- who starts off similar, a know-it-all who wishes to work alone towards her goals and thinks herself above you based on the fact that she’s from somewhere ‘superior’. While her character retains her traits, she also has to learn her limits as the narrative progresses. On the other hand, Isgarren comes off as all or nothing. Isgarren’s desire to stay in control and the narrative’s willingness to give it to him seems to consistently be in conflict with the purpose of the Commander as the sole player character. I believe his attitude is supposed to be his ‘weakness’, but it’s treated as the final say no matter what. You cannot fight Isgarren on his decisions, and you are not given the option to. If Isgarren can only function as either nothing or something that encompasses and can direct the narrative at their own discretion-- and this character does not function as an antagonist-- then it comes into conflict with the overall narrative design structure of an MMO, and especially with a player character such as the Commander.

Some may say that I may be too critical with Isgarren in this regard, and that I am dissatisfied with the fact that my character is not the ‘main character’, so to speak. Something akin to the Trahearne ‘problem’ from years ago, where players felt as if their character was not favored whenever Trahearne was nearby. To this, I ask you to participate in a thought exercise with me. What flaws do we know about Trahearne? Off the top of my own head, Trahearne is woefully under prepared and not willing to be a leader. Trahearne is someone who grows into the role, and explicitly takes it upon his shoulders as the heroes of before simply won’t come and help them now. He is a man of neutrality, and does not bend to Vigil, Whispers, or Shadows in any direction. While he directs the narrative and what you should do, you are still given options as to how to go about his plans. You also have been shown to actively dispute him, and say he’s wrong with his plans. The charge into Maguuma was seen as hasty and you’re allowed to show doubt in his plans.

We haven’t had that much of a narrative choice since personal story, that I concede, but in terms in being able to point out faults-- we are not allowed to do this in dialogue. Are we able to find Isgarren’s weaknesses other than having his magical power taken from him? We know he does not serve Tyria in neutrality, as time and time again he’s out for the Wizards and himself. The only potentially selfless acts we’ve been given is that he chose not to take Sorrow from her home and allow her to continue living as she was before, and that’s only after proving that she was useful to him. This also goes for Peitha, with her taking her place as a King, but only if Isgarren could essentially step in or keep a vigilant eye on the decisions she makes. Personally, the way the new narrative treats women is absolutely strange to say politely, and quite frankly misogynistic to be direct.

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Lastly, the last thing I’d like to discuss is the meaning of the writing so far. By this point in an update, we’d understand what the theme could be. With SOTO it was tyranny of kings and rebellion, with Janthir it was the purpose of community and family in harsh times, but what can be said with VoE? Vloxx is obviously the main center of the narrative, being someone with good intentions but apparently going about it in a bad way. All is fair with this point, of course, this is a plot that comes up often and can be done extremely well, but with the current political landscape of the world and the direction as to what they took with Vloxx-- it’s strange and almost offensive to the people it seeks to ‘protect’.

Vloxx as someone in power-- a lot of power, at that-- attempt to take something that will give him the ability to alter reality and ‘fix’ the core of the rot. This is similar to how in the North American political landscape the phrase ‘drain the swamp’ was used for getting rid of undesirable people-- be it anyone who differentiated from the norm of a cis, heterosexual, white, middle class, able bodied man. With this in mind, Vloxx is supposed to represent fascism and how when someone has in mind their ‘perfect world’ it will always inevitably leave out people to die or be oppressed. The way Vloxx goes about getting his way is through violence, and using pre-established systems of power to navigate to the top. Vloxx was radicalized against the system of power that he is inherently apart of, seeing as the only way to sort of break the system is from within. Anyone who is at least versed in basic political knowledge know that you do not ever try to break the system from within-- as it simply absorbs all the cogs that makes it work. With that said, I am completely aware that this is supposed to be a flaw of his character and is supposed to be ‘wrong’ with him as the antagonist.

The thing is, if we take a few steps back we need to get to the root of the ‘problem’, so to speak, and with both Canach and Vloxx having traces back to radicalization they both propose the same thing; that radicalization is wrong. Simply put, no action that is taken through force or violence will ever be a good thing, and that even when you work against system of powers that directly hurt you, because you cause hurt in turn, that you’re just as bad as them. You are supposed to be like Canach-- find that it was wrong and instead fall into the ‘correct’ system and allow it to sort itself out peacefully, and by those in power by elected/appointed means.

In today’s news we find that billionaires stash more and more money. The money earned from dying Amazon workers that have their corpses thrown off the floor so that the other workers can continue working, we have missiles sent from the United States to blow up elementary schools in the middle east that kill dozens of children, multiple series of cancers, diseases, medical conditions, and injuries that could be solved with ease if healthcare was accessible to numerous countries. The money is there, it has always been there, but instead everyone is more preoccupied with the ‘what if’ of the ‘enemy’ especially in the global north. The answer that Anet wishes to propose through Vloxx-- as clumsy as it is-- is that he’s an antagonist for being radicalized, and for forcing change through radical means.

The crux of this narrative is ‘fixing the code of the machine’. This machine, in particular, is the machine that continues to chew up and spit out the innocent. It chews up your friends, your family, and anyone you’ve loved. Anet wants to say that it will just simply turn off if you’re nice enough. Provided you do the ‘correct’ political activism. You are supposed to sit down and just hope (or literally, vote) that everyone will be persuaded to hit the series of buttons that turns off the “stop killing innocent and vulnerable people” machine. When the “stop killing innocent and vulnerable people” machine has never once been peacefully stopped once in history, that just THIS time, it will be different. In reality, and in Tyria, because we were nice-- despite the numerous times we weren’t, with Joko, with Ryland, with Eparch.

But hey, don’t worry. We still helped the farm.

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I have severe issues with many of the things that have been set forward with VoE, among other expansions released in the past four to three years, but I think this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. With the inconsistency of the plot, the absolutely odd and disjointed characterization, and the prose being so horrendous in the scope of reality that it got me to write six pages of a review that I have never once done for a video game in my entire life.

I hope it shows that I don’t hate Guild Wars. I wouldn’t spend the numerous days that I have spent writing this to simply say ‘I hate this game and everything it stands for, and I hope it fails’. I adore the Dragon Saga, I think Janthir was alright, but not perfect by any means of the word. I have Aurene tattooed on my arm, and I wouldn’t get that tattoo removed even as the narrative currently flounders. I think it has proven itself as one of the most narratively strong MMOs of all time-- if not ever made.

I hope that someone reads this review and makes a choice with their wallet, so that maybe they can see that this isn’t the direction that the game should be taken in. Or perhaps, the off chance that someone in the writing team sees this and knows that I am not attacking their choices (as frankly, I think a lot of these come from the top), but I hope they can find a way to navigate these waters while still retaining the spirit that I know this game has. You’ve made a game that has baby steps in counterculture, made very well crafted narratives during the 2016 presidency, and it has some valuable writing and insights that I think numerous MMOs could, should, and have taken note of. People loved so many Living Worlds and expansions that dealt with much more in depth political subjects, and you’ve still earned the money they need at the end of the day. There has been success, and I think there can be more if you’re willing to take a step back and address some glaring issues that I think can be solved with some elbow grease and research into some more philosophical thinking. Being willing to attack questions that maybe don’t have such black-and-white answers, or maybe can’t have answers at all.

With all that said, I may update this review in the future with the final release in a few months. Perhaps with concluding thoughts and-- if I’m wrong, and the update turns out better/my analysis was wrong, I’ll admit it fully. If not, I’ll highlight on my biggest issues and perhaps propose ideas that I think could have been better alternatives, or insert some extra commentary with specific regards to more sociological thought. Otherwise, I hope this review has given some of my personal insight as to why I dislike the current path of VoE so strongly, and I hope you give it some thought while playing or whenever you find yourself feeling as if something is ‘off’ compared to previous releases.