Norn vs Sylvari starting area/personal story

[Mars Ultor]

Which do you find to be better/more fun?

Edit: Are there any Sylvari Guardians in lore?

[Deleted]

Sylvari. I find the Norn area(s) to be a pain in the ass.

[Deleted]

Sylvari, agreed, the Norn area is too snowy-depressing, though that's personal preference...

[Lane]

Sylvari starting zone is one of the more difficult ones, IMO. I liked their personal story options better though. "Nornia", as my bf calls it, is a fairly easy zone, but I found their personal stories to not be particularly interesting.

How about split the difference and make one race and level in the other race's zone? You can always go back and do the personal story later.

[Valeron]

I much prefer the Norn starting area although I like the Sylvari's personal story better.

[Zilong]

For me there is no better place/lore/feeling than Norn starting area. It's given that Grove is just stunning but all the rest goes to Norn starting area hehe.

As for personal story...I like both in their own lore, Norn is really hmm "light-hearted" maybe..but it fits like a glove.

[grandpab]

I haven't played the Norn story since beta where I did it as far as I could. I've liked the Sylvari story the most so far, but that was also my first character I leveled to 80 after release. The Norn starting area is my favorite zone though. I'll make new characters and go to the Norn zone right away at lvl 2.

[Repefe]

You can just make 2 characters and check things out. For me Sylvari are too french. At least males. And Norn story is not bad, I liked it. Protector of spirits is a bit weak, maybe something else is better, but lost heirloom is good and then dealing with the rats is good as well.

[Deleted]

I only started playing 2 weeks ago, haven't played norn yet and altough my sylvari is only level 39 I'm liking the story, can have some funny moments depending on the choices you make, as for the starting zones i think both look great but caledon forest wins for me.

[Merendel]

I wonder if I'm strange in the fact that I always seem to end up back in the human area no mater what race I play. Think my preferance ends up something like human sylvari asura char norn (I really dont like the snoyie zones for some reason)

[Deleted]

Norn. The snowy mountains, the Sons of Svannir, the DEs and hearts are all better. This is nothing more than my opinion though. I've done both the Norn and Sylvari starting areas twice.

[kayoticwrath]

I have only done a quick run through of the Sylvari area but I enjoyed Norn. The snowy areas really drew me in to the setting.

[Triptych]

I enjoyed the Norn starting zones, but I didn't like the Personal Story much. Granted, I only got as far as level 30 or thereabouts, but I found it annoying when the NPCs called me "Slayer" all the time. Eir Stegalkin was hot though. My character couldn't stop staring at her chest. (Obviously I was RPing, I would never do that IRL. Nope.)

I've just returned to the game at the weekend, and I'm playing through Caledon Forest now, on a new human warrior. The story there looks really interesting, I'm quite keen to take a look at the Sylvari race next -- it didn't grab my attention when I first tried the game in August.

[A Challenger!]

For me, it is Sylvari hands down. They are a pretty unique race and their story not just ties into your own personal story, but the main story as well.

[Drakhar]

Wayfarer Foothills >>>>>>> Caledon Forest. In fact, Foothills is probably the best starter area period.

Sylvari personal storylines are way better than Norn from what I've seen though.

[VibrantViolet]

Sylvari all the way. Their story and starting area is so much better, although I do have 3 Norn.

[Ceece]

The Norn starting area gave me the viking vibe. I love it dearly, but it seemed like something was missing. Haven't tried Sylvari yet, but from what I see on videos, it looks really beautiful.

[Sunseeker]

I like the Norn because it feels more organized. A leads to B, B leads to C, events are close to more hearts, more hearts are near events. The progression feels fluid. In my plays the Sylvari area lacks that.

But then, any race can run through any starting area. You only have to pop back to your racial zone for your personal quests.

[Lane]

I like the Norn because it feels more organized. A leads to B, B leads to C, events are close to more hearts, more hearts are near events. The progression feels fluid. In my plays the Sylvari area lacks that.

Yeah, I hate to say it, but the flow of the Sylvari zone is very poorly designed in that respect. The initial path from The Grove seems to keep driving you east to where the jumping puzzle is, but from there the only way to go is north which is a rather sharp level increase (6 to 9, I think). So, you end up going back to The Grove and then heading north, which is more level appropriate, and then you sort of end up making your way back around the map with a lot of zig-zagging.

[Zilong]

Yeah, I hate to say it, but the flow of the Sylvari zone is very poorly designed in that respect. The initial path from The Grove seems to keep driving you east to where the jumping puzzle is, but from there the only way to go is north which is a rather sharp level increase (6 to 9, I think). So, you end up going back to The Grove and then heading north, which is more level appropriate, and then you sort of end up making your way back around the map with a lot of zig-zagging.

For me has nothing to do with the "organized" feeling it lacks/have. I just really like the Norn area and it's "spirit" so that's why mainly I go there, in a sense of explore and finding out stuff I must say the Caldeon Forest was much better because it breaks from the "set and neat" mentality of progress. Often I would think that would be the way and find myself trapped with higher mobs, which was fun and challenging most of the times, I don't recall ever getting frustrated or anything like that but rather really enjoy it.