TANK died. I heard the death yell. I saw TANK fall. As my character – an Ascalonian hero – lay lifeless on the ground, I wondered if this was the end. I wondered if I had to restart again. I wondered if Rurik’s wreckless and stupid behavior was to blame. Running alone into an army of Charr is not the best of tactics. Rurik died and then my character fell to the ground – mission failed.
But wait, a quick use of the /deaths command revealed that the survivor title was not lost. Deaths from mission failures do not count against the survivor title, Instead, the number zero was displayed on my screen. I wasn’t as relieved as I should have been. I was still mad at Rurik. And since Rurik isn’t real, it means that I was actually angry with ArenaNet. How could they create something so stupid in an otherwise awesome game?
Rurik represents a lot that’s wrong with Guild Wars. The adventure — the action — is centered around the storyline, but the Prince of Ascalon ruins it. He’s arrogant, a coward, a loser. I don’t want to follow this bum into the frosty tops of the Shiverpeaks. If the game actually gave me a choice, my loyalty would be with the King. “Many thousands” of Charr… no problem. Just use more fire.
Instead, I’m forced to endure an absurd exchange between the Prince and the King. Rurik is the wet blanket of Guild Wars lore. Rurik is OK until he gets to the door. That’s when he starts to get really annoying and he shows disrespect towards his father. Half way through the Nolani Academy mission was when I started to feel embarrassed to have Rurik on my team. To help lighten things up, I tried something a little different. Instead of following him to the left, I simply ran along the right side. It was a straight run to the Charr boss. The mission was completed quickly. Yet, the remaining Charr kept attacking. Watching Rurik get dramatic is a lot easier to tolerate with Charr silliness.
With the tedious domestic quabble behind me, I moved TANK into Dwarven territory. After a quick trip to the Arena for the Explorer title, now I can do some extreme leveling. Without an Arena level cap to worry about, I can start using experience boosting scrolls.