Human storyline.. subpar? (some spoilers)

[terrahero]

Story mode isnt very good. Not just Human, altough i find it quite bleghworthy (its a word) how you are both naive and a saint. It makes the character quite one-dimensional.
The choices are a laugh, and the only one that has any real impact is which faction you join.

Sadly, Story is not as "optional" as people claim. Sure you can play most of the game fine without doing any story at all. But so far the only way to get a good back-slot equip is either a hefty sum of gold if the guild has a certain unlock or high-level story quest.
And if you want World Completion, there is one poi in Straits of Devestation that seems only accesible if you do the story mode upto pretty high levels (70+)

So other aspects of the game are impacted or impeded if you do not do the story quests at all. And it gets a little better later on, but not by much. Trahearne (or whateverhisfaceisspelled) is also a very one-dimensional and uninteresting character.

[Elexo]

Some stories really put too much emphasis on the first mini boss you kill.
The fight is short and far from difficult but NPCs bring it up frequently as if you took down an elder dragon.

Besides that I feel the Charr have the best stories I've seen so far.
They really feel like they captured the essence of what it means to be Charr.
That and their agression leads so slightly more grey choices than the shining white ones you have as for example a human.

1-20 is really about you and the choices you made at the start, some being a lot better than others.
20-50 are the orders and imo it's the best part of the game.
After that it's all about how Trahearn is Jesus/Neo/Thrall and how you're going to lend him a hand in taking down the real threat.
Everybody hates Trahearne, he's just a terrible character.

In the background you have the sub-story going on with Destiny's Edge.
Rhytlock and Logann I understood, their hatred made sense.
But the others just felt stupid, especialy with an elder dragon destroying all life as we know it.
The story gets resolved in the dungeons and they have to be the cheesiest things I have seen in a long time.

In the end it's often a swing or a miss, with a few more misses.

[Artorias]

It's because Logan is a crybaby. Honestly I don't think any of the early personal story quests have much impact on end-game content. You pretty much completely forget about your character creation choices by level 40. However the last few personal story quests (the ones that are the same for everyone) are quite epic indeed.

[symphoni]

After coming from such a game with beautiful stories, (SWTOR), yeah GW2 storylines do seem kinda bland and a tad boring.

[nevermore]

When I bought GW2 I was ready to immerse myself in the awesome storyline and all that. I forced myself to watch the first ~5 dialogues and read all the stuff, then I realised I couldn't possibly care less and been skipping everything ever since. I just do what the green star says and pick up the nice rewards. I have absolutely no clue wtf is going on in terms of my character's lore.

[Kickinwing]

I haven't played a human at all (I don't see the point of making a human character in a fantasy rpg with fantasy races available, but that's just me), but I kind of enjoyed the blood legion story line for charr. Chasing after a relic your father left to you after his whole warband died only to find you have to fight the ascalonian ghosts to get to it, I enjoyed it. Then again I wasn't expecting an epic tale worthy of a trilogy of movies and a prequel made years later... or something. I was expecting a mildly interesting story that carries my character through his/her life as a newly emerging hero.

The sylvari one wasn't bad either imo, learning about the sylvari culture, and those that don't follow the dream (nightmare and soundless) and then malyck and the mysteries surrounding him were quite interesting to me. While the sylvari and charr don't really always reflect the choices you made in character creation, their stories still have their own merits I think.

The one that follows what you pick very closely would be Asura, but after leveling two of them I like the other race's storylines better. Asura storyline is just following different inventions you made/are responsible for and seeing what havoc they cause in other's hands. You don't empathize with your character because the Asura are very non-human in their display of emotions. It's all about your inventions and other people taking them or trying to control what you do with them, and claiming your genius and so on and so on genius. The only display of human emotion is seen between other characters (the two lovers in your krewe) or maybe once by your own (expressing your friendship with Zojja). Otherwise it's genius this invention that, but that's Asura, it's what they are.

Although I will say once you get to your order I think the storylines there are more interesting.

(I talk too much, can you tell?)

[Svifnymr]

Wow, now I feel weird for actually liking it.
I'm literally the only person in this thread it seems like.

I've liked the ones I've done so far, two Asuras and some sylvari/human/norn. The stories aren't "good" stories, but they're amusing and fun for the most part. Plus, I picked the magic 8ball and supercharged it with a hadron collider to open gates to alternate timelines, so I can't see how that's bad.

Partly I think the issue is the lack of choice. The stories are one style, if you think of your character as different from that, then it's going to not sync up right.

[DrakeWurrum]

Partly I think the issue is the lack of choice. The stories are one style, if you think of your character as different from that, then it's going to not sync up right.

Primarily, the issue is unrealistic character interactions, complimented by a total Mary Sue NPC. I think I've been spoiled by true epics such as Song of Ice and Fire.