Checking your credentials... 
While EotN is good and all, I was a bit disappointed at how the backstory between Prophecies Hero and Gwen was handled. It seems like their interaction could have been done a little better, and their old friendship should have been acknowledged at least a little bit outside of the tapestry shred quest, if you completed it.
It wouldn't take much to fix, just a few changes and additions to the already existing dialogue. And to be fair to characters from other campaigns, bits of dialogue such as a couple extra hero quotes and the epilogue lines, for instance, could be made to be different depending on which campaign you came from, to give the experience of the expansion a little different feel depending on where your character comes from.
To illustrate what I mean, I've done some revisions of my own. It's just an example, but I thought it would help people better understand what I'm getting at. Anyway, here's what I've got:
[Opening dialogue]
Gwen: You look oddly familiar. You say you are from the south?
PH: Yes, I am. And I have something of yours. Something you once gave me.
Gwen: It can't be... can it? So many feelings... so many memories, I... <Player Name>, is... is that you?
PH: Yeah. It's been a long time, Gwen.
Gwen: Too long. It's good to see you again.
PH: It's good to see you, too. How'd you end up here?
Gwen: I was captured by the Charr, and I escaped. It... it's not something I like to think about. But come, the Vanguard needs us now. We can talk more later.
[During the T&N, H&T quest]
Gwen: These ruins were once a great temple. I think that's why the Charr used it as a temporary prison. Every passing second, our presence was a reminder of a destroyed past and a denied future, built on top of a monument to our broken faith.
Gwen: I have never known a creature more hateful than the Charr. Had I not escaped from them, I would be dead by now. Or worse, a prisoner.
Gwen: Before the Ebon Vanguard found me, I was little more than a scavenger. Although I had an empty stomach, my mind was filled with thoughts of vengeance.
Gwen: Now that I find myself here, though, these broken pillars do not seem as tall and frightening as they once did.
PH: Gwen, I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you that day. If I hadn't, then maybe...
Gwen: How could you have known? How could any of us have known? We had no warning, no way of knowing that all we knew was soon to be destroyed. You had your duty, and I―wait, do you hear that?
Gwen: There are people here! If the Charr are still using this place to hold prisoners, then we must free them!
[Finding Daghar]
Daghar: So predictable... Threaten their holes, and the little mice scamper out.
Gwen: Silence, you thrice-damned monster! I will have your heart in compensation for the one you broke!
Daghar: Ah, the young mouse returns. And not alone. Yes, I recognize you, <Player Name>. You have quite the reputation among my people. Now I will end it.
PH: The only thing ending today will be your life, demon! As it should have a long time ago!
Daghar: Now I understand where your rage comes from, Charr-killer. Shall I tell you how the young mouse screamed? How she cowered before me?
PH: Save your stories for Grenth, coward! Because you're about to meet him!
[After defeating Daghar]
Gwen: As a child, I found myself haunted by the his remorseless eyes staring into my own... and then nothingness. When the world appeared to me again, I was seeing it for the first time as a prisoner. For all of the horrors I witnessed while under the captivity of the Charr, few compare to the murderous visage of the one who took me from everything that I knew. That was Dahgar.
Gwen: You will torment me no longer, demon. As you have taken from me, I have taken from you. A life for a life.
Gwen: But I must apologize... I did not mean to drag you here for my own personal vendetta.
PH: It's alright. I had a score to settle with him too, for what he did to you.
Gwen: It means a lot to me to hear you say that. Thank you.
PH: But... he was right, you know. It was because of me that he was able to capture you in the first place. Because I wasn't there to protect you.
Gwen: Don't say that, old friend. He was too strong for you back then. You wouldn't have been able to save me from him had you been there.
PH: I would have died trying.
Gwen: I know. But please, don't blame yourself for what happened to me. It wasn't your fault.
PH: I tried to find you when the Searing hit, but I couldn't. Everything was chaos, and people were dying everywhere. It was all we could do to hold back the Charr. I never gave up hope that you were alive, though.
PH: Even when my travels took me far away from our homeland, I never forgot about you, Gwen. And I always hoped I'd be able to find you again someday. I'm glad I did.
Gwen: So am I. And there is something I mean to give you, but I had to see the safety of our homeland first. Come, we go to the ruins of Ashford... to my old home.
[After kneeling]
Gwen: Do you remember this? It is the flute you gave me all those years ago. I lost the broken pieces of my first flute in the Searing, and did not want to lose your gift.
Gwen: I hid it here in the hopes that it would not be lost to me after the Searing.
PH: I must have run through this place a dozen times back then, but I never knew this was here.
Gwen: As you allowed me to keep this tapestry shred, allow me to return to you the flute, as a sign of our friendship. We have lost a great deal, but some things will endure. We will see this war through to its end. We will bring peace to these lands, and we will see them as beautiful as they once were.
PH: You're right, Gwen. It wasn't my fault, what happened to you. Thank you for helping me to see that.
Gwen: You're welcome, old friend. Now, come. There are many battles ahead. We should see Duke Barradin in Piken Square, and deliver him the news of the Charr's defeat. After that, we should return to the north.
Gwen: The Ebon Vanguard...and the future that we need to forge, are waiting for us!
[Tyrian epilogue]
“We've come a long way together, haven't we, old friend? In spite of everything that happened, I'm glad I followed you that day. Someday, we'll take our homeland back. Someday.”
[Canthan epilogue]
“Thank you for all your help, my friend. We couldn't have stopped this threat without you. One day, our people will take back their homeland. And maybe someday I can visit yours. Cantha sounds like a beautiful place.”
[Elonian epilogue]
“I've never been to Elona before, but I can see why it's so highly regarded. You're a credit to your nation, my friend. Thank you for helping us deal with this threat. You'll always be welcome here.”
[Tyrian hero quotes]
“This place reminds me of home. Remember how green everything used to be?”
“It's nice being able to travel together again. Brings back memories.”
[Canthan hero quotes]
“Is this place much like Cantha? I've never been there.”
“I'm glad the war in Cantha is over. There is no battle so bitter as that between brethren.”
[Elonian hero quotes]
“Tell me of your homeland sometime. I like hearing about far away places.”
“Is it always hot in Elona? I don't know much about deserts.”
Again, this is just an example of what could be done. And as you can see, the additions and changes aren't all that expansive. They just build on what's already there. So it shouldn't be too hard to do. And for those who've already completed Gwen's quest, I'm sure it could be re-enabled somehow so those who want to do it again to see the changes can do so. I hope Anet sees this and at least considers it, because it would be nice to have a bit more closure to this part of EOTN's story than we currently have.
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2 Members have voted on one or more of the 1 answers. This topic was started by Axwind
on March 11th, 2009. Tags: eye of the north, guild wars 1, gwen, ideas, suggestions
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I guess you misunderstood, sorry about that. What I meant was that the reunion between Gwen and a Prophecies Hero could have been done better. The PH, currently, has absolutely no reaction to seeing her again, despite the fact that in Factions and moreso in NF, our character actually does have a fair bit of dialogue and isn't quite so near-mute as he or she is in Prophecies. So it stands to reason that he or she should have as much to say in EOTN as in the previous campaigns. Yet once again, our character is reduced to a near-mute as Anet backpedals on how verbally involved our character is in the story.
There should have been some acknowledgement OUTSIDE that one unique PH-only quest that Gwen and a Prophecies Hero met before, some indication in EOTN that they had once known each other in the past, brief though their prior acquaintance in pre Ascalon was. Gwen still liked the PH enough - more than the others she followed back then - to give him or her the tapestry shred, her treasure, and to safeguard PH's gift to her, the flute.
I just think that that whole story arc could have been done better, is all, to better reward those who took the time in pre to do her stuff in pre Ascalon.
I agree with you. The best story I've seen in a game is in Baldur's Gate 2, where they do have a sense of continuity.
In Guild wars the game doesn't really remember who you are or what you have done in the past, except to flag what missions you are doing and perhpas a few other things.
I think the stories would be much improved if they did that, but it would also require a huge amount more effort in writing the stories. For instance, BG2 contains thousands of dialogs that might never occur, for characters that might never be in your party and for choices that you might not make. There is probably more story that you'll never see than that you do see at least in one run through - including at least 5 alternative love stories that you can be involved in.
Perhaps the first thing that GW2 would need in this respect is something like Warhammer Online's tome of knowledge that could record exactly what interactions your character has been a part of (among other things). Then NPCs could have a much wider repertoire: "Remember that Dragon we killed in cantha..." etc.
There are books related to the game they have made. Though I do wish they had a little more umf to the video versions.
Has any one read the book series through?
Hey maybe in GW2 they could place some scrying pool visions on the matter of explaining the history a little more.