Guild Wars 2

Emperor Usoku, raised the Canthan military by spending millions in gold and conquered the still-warring vassal states of the Luxons and Kurzicks, forcing them fully into the empire once more. With this done, he then drove out all non-humans and closed the borders to Cantha. Said to be tyrannical and fierce, those who disagreed with Emperor Usoku left their homeland and sought refuge in Elona and Tyria. - movement of the world

just because one emperor was tyrannical, does not mean the current one is, what if the emperor is a ‘puppet’ of the ministry of purity, staying in his palace while the ministry run everything; a bit like the earth king from avatar the last airbender. Those who watched avatar will know what I’m talking about.

once we reach Cantha, the imperial guard (still loyal to the emperor) contact us and the story to bring down the ministry and restore the Emperor to actually run his own empire starts

(i would love it if Jackie Chan did one of the voices of a main character)

maybe some kind of offspring of the dragon Kuunavang could be the good protector of the Cantha region,although he/she is a myth within the city walls…
A corrupt government hunting it down because its a so called menace to Tyria(although they are really after its power for glory and madness)
The petrified forest could now be a forest of the singing dryads,awoken by this mysterious divine dragon.
The kurzick evolved in some kind of divine mediums who commune with sacred spirits and sometimes let them possess their body to gain special powers and insights
Most of the issues between kurzick and Luxons have been solved by a very social quaggan that brought the 2 together
The luxons have build a big statue and throne on the back of a gaint turtle to honor that great quaggan.
And tengu would fit nicely as playable race,not to mention the new armors,weapons,…