Guild Wars 2

Thaumanova Story Mode

• Scarlet just HAD to play a part in this. I’m not fond of her (personally, I think she’s like an evil Trahearne, whom I also don’t particularly enjoy), and when I saw her pop up and initiate the meltdown, well, it was kind of a letdown.
• But shortly after, I learned there were magical currents spamming worldwide-Tyria, and Scarlett is probably tampering with them.
• I got to fight with a humanoid shiny sparkling thing, which opens up the way for future content involving a possible race of sparkling entities and how they’re connected to these magic ‘conduits’.
• The end was particularly interesting, Dessa is shown:
  i) To have known people that worked on Thaumanova, which somehow I can’t connect with the fact that her ‘age’ is unknown, given that she doesn’t recognize the Sylvari race (hinting that she’s been in the Observatory since before the Sylvari were born). She can’t be that old if she had friends in Thaumanova.
  ii)To not being able to leave Mistlock Observatory, which per se is very intriguing, added to the fact that if she tries to leave, she instantly comes back with a memory wipe. I wonder why that is (sure can be explored in future content).
  iii) Ellen Kiel actually taking an interest in further expanding the true knowledge on Thaumanova besides what we’re shown in the Fractal itself, meaning this is not your conventional ‘quarantined’ living story update that will, in a vague and uncertain future, tie together in a magical and breathtaking manner.

Dredge Fractal

• I’m not really sure how to feel about this. When we loaded in, there were more mobs in the area before the 1st gate, as well as between the two gates. Is this supposed to happen?
• If someone dies while standing on top of the pressure plate, said person is kindly moved next to the plate. I can see the aim of this nice gesture, forcing people to play the game as it was intended.
• What I don’t get is why would someone take one of the hardest and most frustrating fractal options and make it even harder! I don’t want to complain too much, but seriously? After many failed attempts to open the 3rd gate, we all decided to quit because we thought the whole level was a bugfest (and it was already late).

Anyways, that’s my little insight on what I’ve experienced so far.

Its a good start but I kind of hoped they would either give stuff like dredge its own unique rewards or make everything harder, and then make FotM truly endgame content which tests your skills to the limit, with worthwhile rewards.