Wow, Wuk Lamat is really single-handedly ruining the DT story...

[Nothv13]

I liked Wuk Lamat. She has a lot of the same issues as ARR Alphinaud in the 2.x patches - she's naive, sheltered, and absolutely gets taken for a ride as a result. Everyone hated him in 2.x. Then he ate a big piece of humble pie and we grew to love him in Heavensward.

But she learns from her mistake, grows, and over the course of the expansion (which takes place over a full month if you track the day/night cycles and breaks and whatnot) actually sheds some of the naivety. She's still got a lot of growth to do, but her character makes a lot more sense if you think of her as being a dumb teenager. (She's about Alisae's age.)

Except she lacks the intelligence of Alphinaud and doesn't fail like Alphinaud despite having the same flaws and being dumber. Alphinaud actually did something, not just running around preaching peace and happiness. He had his fall and redemption. Wuk had no such fall. She doesn't fail at anything in a way that leaves a lasting effect, everything just goes her way. Kidnapped and had a stone stolen1? No biggy, I'll just crush the guy I could barely touch with all my might despite no training and nothing changing. Barrier none of the other Scions can get through? I'll just crush it. She just succeeds because the writers want her to rather than the story convincing use she earned it. It is a horribly written character.

[Alleluia]

Except she lacks the intelligence of Alphinaud and doesn't fail like Alphinaud despite having the same flaws and being dumber. Alphinaud actually did something, not just running around preaching peace and happiness. He had his fall and redemption. Wuk had no such fall. She doesn't fail at anything in a way that leaves a lasting effect, everything just goes her way. Kidnapped and had a stone stolen1? No biggy, I'll just crush the guy I could barely touch with all my might despite no training and nothing changing. Barrier none of the other Scions can get through? I'll just crush it. She just succeeds because the writers want her to rather than the story convincing use she earned it. It is a horribly written character.

Alphinaud didn't fail in ARR. And once the patches started, he kept getting worse, with no indication of comeuppance incoming till later. It wasn't even clear at the time that his character flaws were intended as flaws by the writers till the patch story started to show the cracks forming beneath his feet. *Everyone* hated him to varying degrees up to that point, and maybe after for a while til he proved himself.

And yet, look at our boy now.

Wuk Lamat's character has good bones. And half the annoyance at her is the spotlight stealing and unearned moments, which has mostly nothing to do with her characterization and everything to do with narrative structure choices. They can turn it around, as long as someone realizes they need to. I have hope, yet.

[ThorneDynasty]

Alphinaud didn't fail in ARR. And once the patches started, he kept getting worse, with no indication of comeuppance incoming till later. It wasn't even clear at the time that his character flaws were intended as flaws by the writers till the patch story started to show the cracks forming beneath his feet. *Everyone* hated him to varying degrees up to that point, and maybe after for a while til he proved himself.

And yet, look at our boy now.

Wuk Lamat's character has good bones. And half the annoyance at her is the spotlight stealing, which has mostly nothing to do with her characterization and everything to do with narrative structure choices. They can turn it around, as long as someone realizes they need to. I have hope, yet.

Alphinaud literally calls us a dumb brute to our face in 2.0.

He 100% had intended flaws.

[Alleluia]

Alphinaud literally calls us a dumb brute to our face in 2.0.

He 100% had intended flaws.

Thought that was a patch moment? In 2.0 itself, he was just annoying, but not in a way that made you sure it was going to go anywhere and get addressed. In the patches, when he gets more arrogant, but the other characters are also showing awareness of it during and in between quests, then you know its going somewhere and its a clear set of flaws that are being addressed.

[Tehmon]

Thought that was a patch moment? In 2.0 itself, he was just annoying, but not in a way that made you sure it was going to go anywhere and get addressed. In the patches, when he gets more arrogant, but the other characters are also showing awareness of it during and in between quests, then you know its going somewhere and its a clear set of flaws that are being addressed.

The difference between Alphinaud and Wuk Lamat is that Alphinaud doesn't go through any significant character arc during ARR until the very end, and the game doesn't pretend otherwise. He is just that smug arrogant holier-than-thou brat throughout ARR until he gets humbled severely and made to eat dirt. He doesn't hog screentime in any sense of the word, and we get plenty of time without Alphinaud tagging along.

Meanwhile Wuk Lamat is actively going through her character arc during 7.0 which is the focus of the entire story, and the game is actively pushing you to see her supposed growth all the way to the end. Her story is done, and it was a terrible story. Or are you suggesting we need several more patches of the writers trying desperately to redeem this joke of a character by forcing more storylines onto her and making her the focus once more? Give me a break, even you don't believe that's the way to go.

The intriguing storylines and narrative beats that existed since 6.55 didn't bear any fruit, and there is no intrigue left in Wuk Lamat. The only thing they could muster up now is if she wants to connect with her biological father, which would honestly just be more '' family this family that '' bs which there is plenty of already in DT.

[Alleluia]

The difference between Alphinaud and Wuk Lamat is that Alphinaud doesn't go through any significant character arc during ARR until the very end, and the game doesn't pretend otherwise. He is just that smug arrogant holier-than-thou brat throughout ARR until he gets humbled severely and made to eat dirt. He doesn't hog screentime in any sense of the word, and we get plenty of time without Alphinaud tagging along.

Meanwhile Wuk Lamat is actively going through her character arc during 7.0 which is the focus of the entire story, and the game is actively pushing you to see her supposed growth all the way to the end. Her story is done, and it was a terrible story. Or are you suggesting we need several more patches of the writers trying desperately to redeem this joke of a character by forcing more storylines onto her and making her the focus once more? Give me a break, even you don't believe that's the way to go.

The intriguing storylines and narrative beats that existed since 6.55 didn't bear any fruit, and there is no intrigue left in Wuk Lamat. The only thing they could muster up now is if she wants to connect with her biological father, which would honestly just be more '' family this family that '' bs which there is plenty of already in DT.

"Even" me? What are you assuming about my opinions, now? lol

I do think, if her character is going to be salvaged from the state the writing has left it in, it will need to have more story attached, yes. Sorry? As I said, I think her Naruto-esque character has the makings of someone enjoyable, if its handled well. I don't hate her on principle.

I don't like how she was given the "solve everything" button a few times, and I don't like how they'd only cut to the WoL in a lot of scenes cus they realized they haven't shown us in a while, and even then it was 90% just to have us nod at her latest emotional appeal in approval, and then go right back to her being the voice of the story.

A lot of my problem with the story isn't Wuk's personality. Its the fact she was the main character instead of us. And I don't mean that in a "I don't like side characters getting the spotlight" kinda way. I've enjoyed plenty of other characters being the center of attention. I love anything with G'raha in it, I enjoyed Krile's story, and Erenville's Shaaloni adventure with me was my favorite part of the xpac. But they have their role and we have ours and Wuk crossed into our lane without earning it. Halfway thru the story, she's saying stuff like how much she's learned from me and how she wants me to call her a pet name and stay in her kingdom permanently, when I'm just sitting there like "... I could have not been there for half of this. I don't hate you or anything, but when did we really bond???" And then there's the final fight (and to a lesser issue the mamook trial) where she just comes in with the win button at the end. The final battle is particularly bad cus the other two that were there had as much, if not more, reason to connect with the final boss; and also had more reason to fight tooth and nail to get back in the arena since they had a deeper bond with us.

But that's not the character's personality that is at fault, that's the writers treating her like a writer's pet and also not plotting well.

[Tehmon]

"Even" me? What are you assuming about my opinions, now? lol

I do think, if her character is going to be salvaged from the state the writing has left it in, it will need to have more story attached, yes. Sorry? As I said, I think her Naruto-esque character has the makings of someone enjoyable, if its handled well. I don't hate her on principle.

I don't like how she was given the "solve everything" button a few times, and I don't like how they'd only cut to the WoL in a lot of scenes cus they realized they haven't shown us in a while, and even then it was 90% just to have us nod at her latest emotional appeal in approval, and then go right back to her being the voice of the story.

A lot of my problem with the story isn't Wuk's personality. Its the fact she was the main character instead of us. And I don't mean that in a "I don't like side characters getting the spotlight" kinda way. I've enjoyed plenty of other characters being the center of attention. I love anything with G'raha in it, I enjoyed Krile's story, and Erenville's Shaaloni adventure with me was my favorite part of the xpac. But they have their role and we have ours and Wuk crossed into our lane without earning it. But that's not the character's personality that is at fault, that's the writers treating her like a writer's pet.

What exactly can salvage this character, like I'm genuinely curious, what plot would you throw at her for the post patches, as her flaws are ironed out already? Because the only way I see to make her likable or even '' decent '' at this point is giving her a massive humiliation ritual and throwing her far, FAR away from WoL's presence.

[Shibi]

They can turn it around, as long as someone realizes they need to. I have hope, yet.

Whomever the voice actor was, they need to rip her voice out, and replace her with a decent actor from the region.

Redacting this writing team would also help. I want my gobbies going back to proper gobbiespeak.

[Alleluia]

Whomever the voice actor was, they need to rip her voice out, and replace her with a decent actor from the region.

Redacting this writing team would also help. I want my gobbies going back to proper gobbiespeak.

I thought his accent and voice acting was fine enough, so I don't really agree. I'm not attached though, so if they replaced him with someone who *was* better, I wouldn't be opposed. But Wuk's voice wasn't her problem, imo.

Gulool's accent made me turn on UI to see speech bubble in voiced scenes, when normally I can hide it. lol I dunno if you'd consider being hard to understand to be a good thing or a bad thing, though?

Also, I don't disagree abotu the localization team making... interesting choices they probably shouldn't have. Like the "it should be in a museum" optional dungeon quest had us talking to a giant at one point and the sentence "They looked after me when I came here previously to conduct fieldwork, and are an extraordinarily erudite individual, well-versed in ancient legends." was said. I can only assume this was either some attempt to inject gender ideology into the english version of the game and make one of the giants non-binary, even though they've clearly mentioned the giants as being male and female in the msq and other side quests; or an overlooked grammatical error since a plural they can't be a singular individual, unless we're talking weird cases like Bakool and Gulool, and even then the confusion is still social.

At least the moblins were sticking to their own conventions of gobbiespeak, not just being translated however the localization team felt like at the time. Though they did miss one instance of "lowlander" and called us "highlander" or "uplander" (I forget which) in one of the chat bubbles that I noticed, so even then it wasn't perfect.