The Entire Guild Wars 2 Story, Ranked
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| Destiny's Edge |
Over the past decade, Guild Wars 2 has kept up a steady stream of story content that culminated recently in their grand finale to the Elder Dragons storyline, aptly named End of Dragons. It was an incredible end to many of the arcs that the game's narrative has explored over the years and brought in a lot of players to the game, both new and returning. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Developers ArenaNet announced not long after the expansion that they still have plans to continue the story and that they were already hard at work on the next expansion. So I think now, as we enter the lull period between End of Dragons and whatever comes next, is a great time to take a look back at the story and reflect on the best and worst it has had to offer so far. I will review each storyline in chronological order as they appear in the in-game story journal and provide a final ranking at the end, so let's begin! And remember this is all personal opinion, feel free to discuss your own ranking and reviews in the comments.
*** WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD ***
Personal Story (2012) - 5/10
In 2012, the world was welcomed back to the continent of Tyria in the much anticipated follow up to the original Guild Wars. On release, the game featured a branching story that provided a unique experience depending on what race and background options players chose during character creation, as well as what Order they chose a little further into the story. This provided an aspect of replayability to the story as you could create a Norn and join the Order of Whispers and get an entirely different first two thirds of the story than if you picked a Sylvari and chose to go with the Durmand Priory. This alone made the personal story at least somewhat interesting, but that was where most of what it had to offer.
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| Elder Dragon of Death and Shadow, Zhaitan |
Besides the introduction of some characters that would become far more interesting in future storylines most of the personal story felt very small scale and low stakes until the last few chapters. Fighting street thugs and weak monsters as you build up your renown is fun the first time but despite the branching story it quickly becomes tedious. Dungeon story paths tie into the story as well but this isn't explained very well so many players miss key character moments for the Destiny's Edge characters, only to be confused when they reunite in the final chapter. Speaking of which, the last chapter of the story sees you finally confronting Zhaitan, the first of the Elder Dragons you face in the story. The previous encounter with the undead behemoth during the Battle of Claw Island was probably the peak of this entire storyline. However, the last battle falls flat as you spend most of the time getting in and out of cannons and shooting at the dragon from your airship. It feels anticlimactic to not get to actually fight your main foe up to this point. At least they ended it on a high with an in-game rendition of the song Fear Not This Night which was written specifically for the ending. Overall, the personal story is below average but it was only up from here.
Living World Season 1 (2013) - 6/10
The first Living World season was the first of its kind in Guild Wars 2 but would certainly not be the last. Also known as Scarlet's War, the plot of this season centers around Scarlet Briar, a genius Sylvari who becomes corrupted and plans to use ley line energy to reawaken the jungle Elder Dragon Mordremoth. With it being the first of its kind the content has been unavailable for a long time up until recently when ArenaNet announced it would be bringing back the first season as a set of story missions. Not all of these story missions are out as of the time of writing so the retelling/return of this story content will be hard to gauge until it is all released and until then I will just be talking generally about the content as I have not been personally able to play it all yet. From a narrative and character perspective, LWS1 is a big improvement on the personal story. While we met a few memorable characters in the personal story such as Trahearne and the Destiny's Edge crew, LWS1's roster of memorable characters is much deeper for both the heroes and the villains. Much of the cast for the rest of the story is made up of characters we meet during this season including Braham, Rox, Taimi, Marjory and Kasmeer. You can't talk about this season's characters without talking about the iconic and terrifying villains it set up. Starting with Scarlet, she is a ruthless and deranged but undeniably intelligent antagonist intent on reviving Mordremoth. She is probably the most recognisable villain in the series outside of the Elder Dragons and her influence on the entire story due to her actions here is enormous. Then you have Captain Mai Trin, the swashbuckling leader of the Aetherblades who are a group of sky pirates and terrorists recruited by Scarlet to battle the various forces of Tyria to advance her goals in return for wealth and power. Finally, there is a villain who does not play a large role in the overall plot of the season but who will become a pivotal character in later seasons, Canach. He is a merchant belonging to the Consortium who is portrayed as a greedy coward concerned only with himself and money but in future seasons he is developed and grows into one of the most likable characters in the story.
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| The Nightmare Within concept art from Living World Season 1 |
The culmination of the story is Scarlet's assault on Lion's Arch in which she manages to destroy much of the city and completes her mission to activate the ley lines and awaken Mordremoth. Though she is killed in the process, the success of her mission leads to the events of not just the next season of Living World but the entire Guild Wars 2 story so far. ArenaNet did a great job building the foundations of the story here, but there are some issues that knock LWS1 down a lot when it comes to how good it actually was. Of course, being the first season meant teething issues with how they wanted to portray the characters and tell the story. Much of the storyline is just Scarlet just showing up at places with some of the members of her alliance and stealing something while the player and their allies fight them off. It feels somewhat repetitive and we don't get a clear sense of where the story is going or why Scarlet is doing what she is doing until near the end of the story. This makes the stakes feel very unclear and detracts from the well written characters by not letting the player really get to know them. With all this in mind, it is important to recognise LWS1 for what it is and was, the first major chapter in a story that would evolve from and improve upon it. While it is ok in its own right, it is certainly not the best the story has to offer.
Living World Season 2 (2014) - 7/10
Living World Season 2 picks up where Season 1 ended. Confronted by the threat of the newly awakened Mordremoth, the player and their allies prepare to face the looming threat the jungle dragon poses. This is where the story really starts to get good as the cast of characters assembled around the player begin to get some serious development and the story continues in new and unexpected directions. The structure of season 2 is much more similar to future story chapters and is all the better for it as all of the missions take place in self-contained instances. There is a solid mix of adventure, intrigue and action and the variety makes playing through it a lot of fun. Whether it's through travelling to new areas like the Silverwastes, bringing together world leaders for a summit or battling champions of the Elder Dragon itself, LWS2 makes the player begin to feel much more important to the story. Rather than just being a vessel to bring together more powerful and experienced characters, the player is now a seasoned veteran of two campaigns against Zhaitan and then Scarlet. This adds to the feeling of pressure to help deal with the situation and find a way to fight back against the spreading influence of Mordremoth.
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| The Silverwastes loading screen |
The twists and turns of LWS2 are probably the best part. To name a few of the best ones there is the discovery of the existence of Glint's egg which will one day hatch into a crystal Elder Dragon, the stealing of the egg by Caithe and subsequent hunt to find her and the final reveal that all Sylvari are in fact creations of Mordremoth. These drive the narrative forward and keep the player engaged through some of the more tedious missions. While the gameplay is much more action packed and better directed than that of LWS1, there are still several missions that feel drawn out or pointless. Once example that comes to mind is early on where you have to clear an entire cave during the second chapter of the story in order to access a secret lab at the end. Instead of just battling your way through the cave however, you're made to secure a series of consoles through mini-challenges that are both irritating and serves no purpose to the plot. These missions make the overall story feel longer than necessary so, despite the high highs, the boring lows mean it ends up being good overall and not great. It's still a solid story though and well worth playing through and I would consider this to be where Guild Wars 2's story really starts to hit its stride. The finale cutscene features the Pact assault on Mordremoth, which is built up over the course of the season, being swatted down by the dragon's vine tendrils and many of the player's allies are scattered leaving room to wonder how the player will pick up the pieces and rebound.
Heart of Thorns (2015) - 8/10
The shocking conclusion of LWS2 left the fate of Tyria hanging in the balance along with many of the game's main characters. The player is put in a position of leadership with Trahearne missing and they are thrust into the action immediately to figure out the best way forward. Much of the plot focuses around tracking down Caithe and Glint's egg, rescuing and regrouping with allies after the fallout of the failed battle with Mordremoth, and battling through the Heart of Maguuma, the dense jungle that makes up Mordremoth's domain. The new maps and features of the expansion are on full display throughout the story. The player is required to make use of masteries to progress the story by unlocking new features that let them to access previously inaccessible areas and content. Gliding is one of the main masteries the player gains access to which helps navigate the HoT maps which are more vertical than any that came before them. The verticality makes exploring these locations incredibly exciting and rewarding, along with the beautiful landscapes they offer. These systems integrate seamlessly with the story so that players feel like they are exploring a new and dangerous frontier, but that it is worth doing for the sake of their allies and their mission.
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| Vision of Mordremoth preparing to invade Tyria |
Mordremoth also makes for an excellent villain. His presence is pervasive through the jungle due to his domain of influence mainly being the mind, allowing him to puppeteer minions as far as they can spread and control the minds of Sylvari that are not able to resist him. This results in an antagonist whose menace feels cold and calculated, and who sees victory as a foregone conclusion, making him both hateable and terrifying in equal measure. HoT is also the first time a main character's death feels truly impactful. Up until now most of the characters that have died during the story have not been main characters or have not featured in the story for long. During the climactic battle with Mordremoth though, this changes. The player discovers that Trahearne, the character who led them in the battle against Zhaitan and who fought alongside them in the first battles against Mordremoth, had been captured by the jungle dragon and was being forced to become its minion. Ever the hero, Trahearne suggests using his mind as the battlegrounds for the final fight against Mordremoth due to their link and the player and their allies are able to defeat the dragon once and for all in one of the best story fights in the game on its own turf. Fresh off this victory, the player learns that to ensure that Mordremoth is unable to return by possessing Trahearne, he has to die. It's Trahearne that pleads with the player to do the deed but it doesn't make what they have to do any less painful. This section alone is better than any of the story content before HoT and showcases a level of depth to the characters that has been developed naturally over the course of the story and brought to the forefront during the expansion. Trahearne isn't even the only casualty in HoT as Eir, Braham's mother and member of Destiny's Edge, is killed while the player tries to help them escape captivity. Betrayed by Faolain after Eir had just saved her life, she is killed by a powerful Mordrem in the escape. This affects both Braham, the player and shakes their relationship for most of the rest of the story so far. Heart of Thorns is the first really great chapter in the Guild Wars 2 story, but it's definitely not the last.
Living World Season 3 (2016) - 7/10
Guild Wars 2's story continued strongly into LWS3, even if it was a slightly weaker entry than the excellent HoT. The best part of season 3 by far is the maps. Each of the six new zones in LWS3 is visually stunning and they are some of the most fun areas in the game to explore. The story itself was also very fun and had several twists that kept the player guessing at who their adversaries really were and what their plans were. It also set up a lot of plot points for future storylines, mainly Path of Fire, to work with such as Balthazar's quest to rule Tyria and the inclusion of both Kralkatorrik and Primordus, two of the remaining Elder Dragons. The major complaint with LWS3 is the tedious parts of missions where the player is required to complete several boring objectives. The maps being so excellent helps here, but not enough.
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LWS3 honestly has the least to say about it due to the way the story is set up. The player faces a multitude of factions that are all fighting to control the energy released back into the world after Mordremoth's death so while they're all interesting in their own way, they aren't as memorable as the enemies that were left for future expansions and living world seasons to deal with. None of this is to say that it wasn't enjoyable and when it shines it really shines. One particular mission has the player gliding around the inside of a volcano as they attempt to lull the gigantic Elder Dragon Primordus back to sleep and it's just as fun as it sounds. The last great thing about LWS3 is the introduction of Aurene as the player's very own Elder Dragon ally... once she grows up of course.
Path of Fire (2017) - 8/10
Guild Wars 2's second expansion, Path of Fire, followed in the footsteps of Heart of Thorns and continued its excellence. However, Path of Fire traded in the emotional moments found in the first expansion for pure spectacle and it really paid off. From start to finish PoF feels like an action movie. All of the rich dialogue and fun characters are still there of course but the focus is on the awesome boss fights, chase sequences and unlikely alliances. After the end of LWS3, Balthazar was repelled but not defeated entirely. He returns during PoF to target the last known active Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik, father of Glint and grandfather of Aurene and her brother Vlast, who the player also learns about during PoF even if his time in the story is short lived. To this end the player travels to the Crystal Desert, one of the most underrated areas in the game in terms of beauty. The crystal Elder Dragon has been causing havoc here and so Balthazar and in turn the Commander must follow.
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| Balthazar in the To Kill a God cover art |
The three way battle between Kralkatorrik, Balthazar and the Commander along with their allies feels epic in its scale. You are literally battling a god and a dragon at the same time and it does not disappoint. This isn't to say that the story takes a complete back seat to the action. Some underdeveloped characters like Kasmeer finally get the character development they deserve and the narrative is just as cool as its premise. The final fight against Balthazar is probably the second best in the story, only upstaged by the final battle in End of Dragons in scale, mechanics and spectacle and not by much. The experience is also enhanced by the addition of mounts which speed up the previously lackluster open world segments of the story and make them much more enjoyable as you ride around on giant animals like the Raptor and Springer. The expansion is fun beginning to end even if it lacks just a little of the heart that made Heart of Thorns so memorable.
Living World Season 4 (2017) - 7/10
At the end of Path of Fire the energy released upon Balthazar's death was absorbed by both Kralkatorrik and Aurene. Suddenly the already powerful Elder Dragons were supercharged and intent on the other's demise, despite their family bonds. Another formidable, and memeable, foe returns during this chapter, Palawa Joko. The undead king escapes from his imprisonment in the underworld and returns to conquer the Crystal Desert and then the world. There is a lapse in stakes between PoF and LWS4 however, as Joko's imposing yet charismatic nature is not enough to make the first half of the story interesting. Multiple lackluster missions prevent this season from reaching the heights of the expansions. The second half though is why LWS4 is even in the conversation with the expansions. ArenaNet pulled out all the stops here as the player is treated to some of the best action, storytelling and emotional moments the game has to offer.
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The characters are just as good as ever too. They even managed to redeem Braham after his hissy fit earlier in the game's story, a feat many thought impossible. Aurene finally gets to become the powerful badass Elder Dragon that she has been hyped up to. The dynamics between the crystalline Kralkatorrik and prismatic Aurene are complex in all the best ways and two have a moment of reconcilliation at the end of it all once the Commander and Aurene take him down during a chase through the Mists and a final battle in Dragonfall. The themes of the crushing weight of responsibility and corruption of power are masterfully executed in both of the dragons as well as the Commander themself. It is one of the most conflicting storylines but the great latter half far outweighs the mediocre first half.
The Icebrood Saga (2019) - 3/10
Where to begin with the Icebrood Saga. Technically Living World Season 5, this storyline is possibly the most controversial in the entire game. What was supposed to be the payoff for the teaser dropped years ago about Primordus and Jormag being natural opposites and the only things able to destroy each other, ends up being disappointing and feels scaled down. The historically good dialogue is shallow and uninteresting. Even characters who we have come to know and love are watered down to their base elements. It doesn't even have the satisfying or emotional final chapter of previous iterations of Living Worls, instead choosing to split the final chapter into a "special" episode called Champions. This chapter rushed through the final parts of the story in order to deal with the second and third to last Elder Dragons as priorities at ArenaNet were clearly on the next expansion and finishing off the dragons storyline. While this clear effort is felt in End of Dragons, it meant that the Icebrood Saga is the only storyline in the entire game that I felt was just bad. Even the personal story is just boring or average with excellent moments.
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Now, there are some good parts of IBS (not that IBS). The strike missions are extremely fun and replayable fights, more so the instanced versions than the story ones but those are still ok. The first map and mission do not suffer the issues of the rest of the storyline and are actually engaging. The issue is that there is just too much bad and boring. The Icebrood Saga is the first and only storyline in Guild Wars 2 that I would genuinely consider bad.
End of Dragons (2022) - 9/10
So here we are. 10 years worth of storytelling capped off by the best chapter the story has to offer so far. End of Dragons is an exceptional ending to the story of the Elder Dragons, wrapping everything up neatly while paying homage to what came before and teasing players for what's to come in the future. After the disappointment of Jormag and Primordus' treatment in the Icebrood Saga many players were starting to grow weary of the dragons that had dominated the story conversation for a decade, so when the new chapter was announced to be called End of Dragons players experienced mixed emotions. On one hand it meant yet another expansion focused on dragons, but it also meant future story after the expansion was all but guaranteed to be fresh and unrelated to the dragons. Expectations were high going in for ArenaNet to both stick the landing with a climactic finale, engaging story and satisfying endings to any loose ends that needed tying up, and they managed all three.
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| Soo-Won post-Void corruption |
The story sees the player travelling to the insular nation of Cantha, a continent south of Tyria that closed its borders to the outside world. The early story involves the return of LWS1's Aetherblades including Captain Mai Trin. This time there's a twist though, after the loss of Scarlett the sky pirates spent years in the Mists collecting relics from other worlds and fractals. Mai Trin actually ends up getting a redemption arc while new first mate Ankka takes center stage as the primary antagonist for the first third of the story. Her driving force behind her actions is derived from the existential crisis she developed during her time in the Mists, where she realised there were so many worlds where she lived and died that none of it really mattered. Instead, Ankka wanted to cause a cataclysm using Soo-Won's void magic to end everything forever. Once she is defeated we get more focus on two other characters as antagonists, one a villain and one a hero who can't accept help. Minister Li and Joon are total opposites, with the former not caring about the affairs of the world outside of Cantha to the point where he puts his homeland in danger by his actions, and the latter caring so much that she wants to singlehandedly save the world, causing almost the same results as Li's actions. Once they are taken care of the main fight begins as the void begins to corrupt the water dragon Soo-Won, progenitor of the rest of the dragons. She is the origin of the other dragons' power but since their deaths that power has returned to her. While she is not malicious to begin with and is actually a benevolent character, the returned power inside her begins to merge and mutate and forms the embodiment of chaos, the Void. It is up to the player and their allies to defeat Soo-Won before she consumes everything in her corrupted state which makes the relationship between the player, Aurene and Soo-Won much more complex. The characters are some of the best in the story and the is satisfying both on its own and as an ending to a 10-year saga.
Final Ranking
With that we have caught up on the story so far. So how do the storylines stack up? Well from worst to best, it looks like this:
8. Personal Story - 5/10
7. Living World Season 1 - 6/10
6. Living World Season 2 - 7/10
5. Living World Season 4 - 7/10
4. Living World Season 3 - 7/10
3. Path of Fire - 8/10
2. Heart of Thorns - 8/10
1. End of Dragons - 9/10
The expansions clearly have the best stories of all the storylines, with End of Dragons peaking to take the top spot right at the end. I gave the edge to Heart of Thorns over Path of Fire for the slightly more emotional ending but both were fantastic experiences. Living World seasons 2-4 were all a lot of fun and gave us some incredible moments putting them in a similar ballpark overall, while season 1 doesn't quite match them but set up the story well and featured one of the best antagonists to this day. The personal story still has fun to be had but doesn't match the level of most of the content that came after it. Finally, the polarising nature of the Icebrood Saga means that it's the worst of the lot. ArenaNet has done incredibly well crafting a story as engaging as this, in an MMO no less, and I'm personally very excited to see what's in store in the next chapter of Guild Wars 2. For more Guild Wars 2 articles and news be sure to follow Critical Win!
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