Guild Wars 2

(This post is about “A study in Scarlet”. If you haven’t played it yet or don’t want it spoiled, don’t expand the next section.)

The game setting tends to differ whether we’re seeing it story-wise or gameplay-wise.
What we see in-game is what you described. But in the universum as it is, i suppose there are dozens of trained Lionsguard, the orders keep an eye on any threats to big towns, the asura gate system would allow the race capitals to reinforce LA – its existence helps maintain the status quo and is important to everyone, especially Jennah.
I’m actually surprised Scarlett seemingly hasn’t tried to hijack the asura gate system…

Why do you think Lion’s is her end goal? She’s clearing the rabble so nothing is in her way when she brings all of those forces you listed against her real goal: Primordus.

She is desperate. The eternal alchemy might have been real. And what she saw might be the future. In her eyes, we might as well be dead. Or maybe there’s really no hope, we are destined to die. Goodbye Tyria, goodbye friends and foes, it had been nice meeting you.

On another note, we might be preparing for an attack on double dragons, Primordius and Mordy. Or she might have been searching for a hidden dragon, a seventh dragon yet to be revealed.

I have seen a couple of movies showing New York.
It doesn’t seem to have that much defenses and such, so I suppose me and 10 other guys can just run in and take over the city?

In-game != actual lore.

There is more or less an army defending Lion’s Arch.
They also have direct access to all the capitals of the major races, which means that they could get rather big groups of reinforcements quite fast (unless the gates were destroyed before or just as the attack started.)

They are also aware that Scarlet might very well be planning to attack LA. So it is unlikely that it would be an easy target.

But then again. Why assume Lions Arch is the actual target?

Sorry, no.

The plan isn’t to attack Lion’s Arch, it’s to attack what’s under Lion’s Arch.

So she’s a “super smart” girl. She uses a device that literally turns off blocks in her mind, thinking that’s a good idea. The result is that something malevolent gains access to her psyche. In an effort to fight back against this thing she has done everything up to this point.

She invested in the Thaumanova Reactor in order to find a method to track it. She paired the Dredge and Flame Legion in order to gain technology to take advantage of that method. She paired Inquest and Sky Pirates to gain access to easy transport. She stole the Watchknights for a tireless assault force. She paired the Krait and Nightmare Court for a way to kill it.

Now everything is just coming together.

What she’s doing is still not good, even if she manages to kill a Dragon. She chose the worse possible way to go about it, the most violent, narcissistic and crazy path. She could have worked with people and helped everyone, but she’s not trying to help anyone, just herself.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Sorry, no.

The plan isn’t to attack Lion’s Arch, it’s to attack what’s under Lion’s Arch.

So she’s a “super smart” girl. She uses a device that literally turns off blocks in her mind, thinking that’s a good idea. The result is that something malevolent gains access to her psyche. In an effort to fight back against this thing she has done everything up to this point.

She invested in the Thaumanova Reactor in order to find a method to track it. She paired the Dredge and Flame Legion in order to gain technology to take advantage of that method. She paired Inquest and Sky Pirates to gain access to easy transport. She stole the Watchknights for a tireless assault force. She paired the Krait and Nightmare Court for a way to kill it.

Now everything is just coming together.

What she’s doing is still not good, even if she manages to kill a Dragon. She chose the worse possible way to go about it, the most violent, narcissistic and crazy path. She could have worked with people and helped everyone, but she’s not trying to help anyone, just herself.

This. Many times, this.

It’s just that the way in which it was presented caused a lot of confusion or misconceptions about the entire story up to this point.

I’m still eagerly looking forward to the culmination of the story.

drkn.3429:

What we see in-game is what you described. But in the universum as it is, i suppose there are dozens of trained Lionsguard, the orders keep an eye on any threats to big towns, the asura gate system would allow the race capitals to reinforce LA – its existence helps maintain the status quo and is important to everyone, especially Jennah.

Still, what I said stands – All she’d need to do is drop one marionette out of the sky… Bam, done.

drkn.3429:

I’m actually surprised Scarlett seemingly hasn’t tried to hijack the asura gate system…

Marjory, Kasmeer and Vorpp actually imply that Scarlet may do this to assault the city. It seems to me that if she exploited that path with even ONE of her crazy armies (let’s say, her clockwork horrors alone) she could take the city in short order, so why does she need all this extra stuff?

lordkrall.7241:

They also have direct access to all the capitals of the major races, which means that they could get rather big groups of reinforcements quite fast (unless the gates were destroyed before or just as the attack started.)

They are also aware that Scarlet might very well be planning to attack LA. So it is unlikely that it would be an easy target.

Marjory strongly implies that Lion’s Arch is pretty much undefended and completely unprepared for a major attack and that the captain’s council are all strongly against bolstering the city’s defenses in any way.

Even so, if all of LA’s allies rushed to help, still one marionette could wipe them all out.

After all, even if all of the greatest adventurers are assembled at once (the players) they only have about a 10% chance of beating one.

lordkrall.7241:

But then again. Why assume Lions Arch is the actual target?

It seems like it isn’t, and yet the story strongly implies that Scarlet was worried about making sure she could take Lion’s Arch swiftly and easily. She even went so far as to try and insert her own councillor onto the captain’s council (Mai Trin).

If she doesn’t care about killing people and has godlike powers to destroy anything she chooses, why would she even bother with cloak and dagger like this? Does not make sense.

As I said in my original post, they’ll have a hell of a time wrapping this up.

PeterThomas.7243:

(This post is about “A study in Scarlet”. If you haven’t played it yet or don’t want it spoiled, don’t expand the next section.)

Read on.

hide spoiler

So let me get this straight…

Scarlet’s plan all along was to attack Lion’s Arch. To accomplish this, she felt she needed to amass the following:

- Obedient armies of krait, nightmare court, dredge and flame legion
- Hordes of aetherblade pirates
- An army of killer robots
- A fleet of airships
- A super mega-toxin capable of wiping out a city
- Preferably someone on the “inside” to drop the city’s defenses (Mai Trin)

Seriously?

Lion’s Arch doesn’t seem like the toughest nut to crack. It’s a poorly defended pirate town that focuses on trading and commerce. Why in the bloody hell would she need all of this? All she’d have to do is drop ONE marionette on the city, and bam, done.

We’re at the end of this story arc and things still don’t make any sense.

It’s going to be quite the task to tie it all together in the final bit…

Priceless ur post! She wants to be speshal.

But, it’s true with LA, they say that in LS too, but now, if they knew that, maybe next LS update they will make an army, defend for real LA. Or maybe.. All this is a BS and she have another target and she want to make them think that LA is her target.

Don’t forget about Delaqua Investigator achiev… She’s nuts, she have a problem, she have a voice in her head. Do you think that she think for good? No. If she’s thinking that LA it’s a big dark place when ppl kill children and eat rats, she will think that.

Steel Fenrir.2791:

She is desperate. The eternal alchemy might have been real. And what she saw might be the future. In her eyes, we might as well be dead. Or maybe there’s really no hope, we are destined to die. Goodbye Tyria, goodbye friends and foes, it had been nice meeting you.

On another note, we might be preparing for an attack on double dragons, Primordius and Mordy. Or she might have been searching for a hidden dragon, a seventh dragon yet to be revealed.

A new dragon introduced in the LS? I would say this would be expansion material.

aspirine.6852:

A new dragon introduced in the LS? I would say this would be expansion material.

Which they have made very clear is fully possible with the LS model.

Lion’s Arch is a really well defended place… story-wise. It could withstand a blockade and siege from the full fleet of Kryta. It could withstand a large scale attack by the risen navy.
Later on, inside the game, it has stood up against an attack by a dragon champion. It has stood against an army of karka, of which one was huge and very heavilly armored.
What’s surprising is that the Aetherblades could build their base inside of LA. I guess they must have used portal tech to get past the defenses.

But that said.
There’s nothing that says that Lion’s Arch is Scarlet’s main goal.
Her army would be well more than enough to wipe out Lion’s Arch, quite possibly even Divinity’s Reach.
She has a large fleet of airships, a large flying object with an attachment point for various stuff it seems. She has an infinitely reconstructable army of robots. The toxin that quite possibly can wipe out a whole city.

Logically, Scarlet is after something else that haunts her dreams and speaks in her head and Lion’s Arch is sitting on top of that something else. Hence the drill. Hence the huge army. Hence the airships. Hence the sonic probes. Hence the green probe in Lion’s Arch. It has found what the other probes have not.
The easiest way to get to that something else is through Lion’s Arch, with a drill. So that’s what’s she’s going to do.

Mikuchan.7261:

Her army would be well more than enough to wipe out Lion’s Arch, quite possibly even Divinity’s Reach.

So she could be initiating a Hydra Dominatus strategy and attacking multiple points simultaneously?

Darkbattlemage.9612:

Mikuchan.7261:

Her army would be well more than enough to wipe out Lion’s Arch, quite possibly even Divinity’s Reach.

So she could be initiating a Hydra Dominatus strategy and attacking multiple points simultaneously?

She could, but why would she?
Her interest is in what lies beneath Lion’s Arch.

She wants the Ley-line under Lion’s arch….all of her studies in Theaumanova and etc where in studying places of power. The whole Marrionette test was in powering the Marrionette (sacrificing power from other watchwork towards it). The Thaumanova experiment was an experiment in power.

She wants to power her Marrionette…The ley-line under lions arch (the probe that turns green) is the right one to do it. Then, in 2 weeks we will see her ultimate goal…which personally I think is an attack on the pale tree, not a dragon. The nightmare tower had very tree-esque qualities (even spawning the end creature out of a pod). She either wants to corrupt the tree or kill it. The Scarlet tendrils wrapping around the tree….her goal is the tree, Marjory and Kasmeer just haven’t pieced that part together yet…they are too focused on Scarlets immediate goal…which is to power the marrionette and unchain it onto the world.

I highly recommend reading the GW2 book, “Sea of Sorrows” to better understand the defenses of Lion’s Arch.

Taking LA isn’t hard, holding it is.
What do you think will happen when the most important city of Tyria is being taken over by a the most dangerous lunatic of the century?

The 3 orders and armies of all 5 races (and probably some support of the sub races) are going to come crashing down on her.

Scarlet could have just bought it I’m sure if the price was right the council would let her play!