One thing I found interesting about starting Guild Wars 2 was that depending what race you chose, you would end up in a different area with different quests. After creating my final character, I was placed into the Plains of Ashford, where some rivalries have been taken place. This area seems to be in a constant state of Autumn – many warm colors and dead foliage. Compared to other areas, this place feels quite dismal.

Here, my character is surveying the surroundings. The landscape itself feels depressing, and the storyline is created to give off the same feeling.

In the Plains of Ashford, the Charr are constantly fighting against each other – it’s basically a civil war. Unfortunately, I wasn’t given any option to negate the conflict. This concept of being forced into a situation created by the producers with no option out echoes Longan’s quote: this dominant ideology that war must be completed rather than negated has been situated in this game with no other possibility.

I wanted to see more of this area, however after much exploring I have realized that the Plains of Ashford is all quite similar – some lakes, a lot of yellow-green tones, and the same enemies re-spawning every few moments.

The quests in the area (along with in my personal storyline) generally involve destroying the enemy, civil war style. Morally, this is upsetting for me. While there may be reasons for this civil war, I wish I could be given the option to go through this part of the game in a peaceful, harm-reductive way. On a very simple and rational level, killing cute cats kind of sucks!

I suppose it is safe to assume that a game titled Guild Wars would involve war between guilds – but I do wish there was an option to play the game as a neutral player and avoid or solve the war peacefully.

Also, I do find it interesting that the initial setting introduced to me was that of a dry, dying landscape. The developers of this game have neatly packaged this together for the most depressing effect and I must admit that it works.