#i have thoughts about how the first and second half of DT connect and they're not positive thoughts.

[motheatenscarf]

I will call him Speak :))

[wyrmwinds]

Finished Dawntrail a couple weeks ago so here's a few thoughts! Divided between meta thoughts and thoughts for my own oc lore. Note that I've only played through base 7.0, and am still working through the patches.

OC Lore

I think I'll go with Sayin taking the lead in this expac. There's not really any reason why the protagonist has to be the WoL for the story, and in fact I think it makes more sense for Sayin to provide mentorship -- While Ava has been in positions of power, she has never governed a country, while Sayin was Khatun of the steppe for a year.

Any upcoming inter-shard travels (Which I hope isn't the direction we're going in soon for writing reasons) mean that Ava will have less power there, as her ability to call upon the First Brood is greatly diminished in other shards.

I think Sayin being the one G'raha has his gondola talk with also adds an interesting dimension to it -- Like he's scared of saying this to Ava's face. It makes me think about what Sayin was doing in the alternate timeline he remembers, too... I feel like she would have outlived Ava. Sayin being a healer... Perhaps G'raha reached out to Sayin since she knows the pain of doing everyone for the sake of another's life. I also don't think G'raha and Sayin had connected previously, but thinking about their dynamic is interesting, with them both being people Ava took under her wing and has a protective instinct over.

I do still kind of want Ava to do the Arcadion... Her dragon powers + greatwyrm trances fit right in, and she lives more for the spotlight compared to Sayin. At the same time, Sayin's no stranger to bloodsport and I think she'd have her own charm as a stage combatant. Ava coming back just to coach Sayin would also be fun. Ava's already got a lot of titles to herself and she would probably just reuse one of those for her ring name, but Sayin would have to come up with one for herself. The only one that comes to mind is Celestial Noise (from Rise's AST reference) but I don't think that really suits her... I'll have to think about it

Meta/Overall

I really wanted to like Dawntrail (and there were parts I did like!) but the execution felt lackluster. I rambled for many paragraphs on the parts I thought brought it down on Discord, but in summary, I think they didn't actually put effort into developing Tural's cultures beyond one-dimensional aspects, there's very little actual gameplay in the rite of succession which makes it feel very slow, and the scions feel like they're only included to fill space, and for the most part don't interact with the new cast, which feels like a huge missed opportunity for character development.

As mentioned in my OC lore section, there isn't any reason why the WoL specifically has to be there in this expac -- Despite Wuk Lamat's request, a lot of the rite does not require combat prowess, and while we are there as a mentor figure, Wuk Lamat already is a skilled combatant, and what she needs to learn is how to become a ruler -- something that the WoL has no canon experience with.

(I also don't think the whole Dimensional Fusion thing bodes well for future MSQ, but that's more about what I want from the story -- When we go to Meracydia, I want to learn about Meracydia, not about a Meracydia that has been overtaken by the Second or whatever)

Wuk Lamat as a character is fine, in the first half she falls victim to the writing making her very one-note, but I liked seeing her come onto her own and make decisions in the second half. There's an interesting foil with her and Sphene regarding war and grief, but I don't think it was fully touched on.

There's a lot more thoughts I have on how DT fell short but I don't want to make this too long. I did like Living Memory and some sidequests, and how lalas in Alexandria are originally from the Source was an interesting way to share lore about Source and Alexandria lalas at the same time.

Anyways aside from lore, I personally don't like the brand of cyber Solution Nine brings, while XIV has had tech in the form of magitek and allag, I feel like there's a line between that and Cyberpunk Gamer World, like the difference between Low Fantasy, High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, etc. I just feel like other than the electrope patterns (Which I did like, which was part of why I liked seeing Living Memory shut down and the cold electrope underneath) Solution Nine lacks the fantasy aspect. Also not too big a fan of modern fashion glams, but that's more because my personal glam taste leans towards the fantasy-esque glam pieces. Never been an Indigo Shirt/Casual Jacket kind of player.