Quote Originally Posted by Samcaesar View Post
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Speaking as a fan o the dragons myself -

While I don't disagree that more time would have been welcome, I don't think that the time we had was insufficient to at least understand them, or even to sympathize with them. We got a good sense as to why Niddhog and his brood are angry, we got time among the Anyx Trine dragons to explore those who are more neutral, and Hraesvelgr had enough of a presence in the story to show his angle as well. Now, obviously the game could have dug into these angles and explored them more,* but the nature of MMO storytelling is a harsh balance between efficiency and detail and I really do think that there's enough there to know the reasoning, motivation, and position of all parties, to generate discussion around them, and to have the actions they take in the narrative itself to make sense.

I do agree that the Heretics getting the shaft is a disappointment, though. I think we're supposed to view it as "no Ysayle = no Heretics", that her loss of resolve caused them to waver and then her death effectively spelled their end; that said, considering they're something of a fanatic faction, you'd think somebody among them would step in to fill the power vacuum. Or maybe they all just joined in with Niddhog's horde. Who knows. Either way, I'm totally with you that a bit more of an exploration of them wouldn't have been amiss.
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*I actually think Ishgard's social and religious structure was glossed over more than the dragons. I remember feeling that the class divide felt like it had a LOT more emphasis placed on it later in the 3.0 MSQ than had been implied before that, and then there's the matter of the Heaven's Ward and the various High Houses being borderline non-entities. I know it's a lot to fit in and still keep stuff streamlined, but I recall being shocked that Thordan wouldn't even try to use his position as head-of-state to discredit us after the Vault, and that Aymeric was just able to waltz in and take over after he left for Azys La.