So, here I am playing Guild Wars 2 which I will admit is a FANTASTIC game (seriously kudos to all of you at A.Net, this game is just awesome) and I get to thinking, what ideas can I come up with that -might- be awesome for future patches/expansions.
Now I can already expect that Cantha and Elona will -eventually- rejoin the world of Tyria in GW2 as they did back in GW1, there’s no point in suggesting that. (Speaking of, I get the feeling that Cantha will be our next destination given that Zhaitan is defeated so his fleet blocking access to the continent can be scattered. Although if we move against Kralkatorrik soon, we could be heading to Elona instead)
Now I will admit I am not the best writer in the world, I haven’t even written a short story, much less a novel however all of my friends tell me that I have a gift when it comes to roleplaying. That I can look at a character for five to ten minutes and build a story for him/her going back to their origin that not only feels real but works within the available lore that is provided by the game world. It’s this -skill- that I used to come up with these ideas so please don’t judge them too harshly.
Idea 1: The White Mantle
Now as we know, the White Mantle is now essentially a renegade group, their gods (the Mursaat) are gone, their power bases in Kryta have been wiped out, even their founding city Demetra is nothing but a ruin. I expect they (A.Net) already have plans for the White Mantle to return, but what if they did so in a very unexpected fashion?
Now to set the scene so to speak, I’ll refer you all to Metrica Province, specifically the Thaumanova Reactor where everything has gone critical. You can see in that area that chaotic rifts are teleporting creatures from all over the world to the reactor (as evidenced by the Alpine Minotaurs among other things). Also for a little extra tidbit of information, I’ll point you in the direction of the Chaos Crystal Cavern jumping puzzle in the Iron Marches where an injured inquest researcher speaks of how the crystals within this cavern have exhibited a twinning effect due to the explosions at the reactor in Metrica.
But what if the explosion affected more than just the crystals in this time period?
Yes I know the whole ‘time travel’ thing has been done before (well not really) but imagine if as a result of these explosions, the chaotic rifts begin to suck beings from other time periods into the modern day. Suddenly the White Mantle numbers are boosted as loyal soldiers to the cause and even their Mursaat masters find themselves in modern day Tyria. Like the Shining Blade in GW1 their numbers begin to grow until they become a true threat to Kryta, requiring combined military forces to beat them back. Worse even, what if the leaders of the Mantle were brought forward? Imagine Justicar Hablion and Confessor Dorian leading the ‘new’ Mantle in modern Tyria. How much chaos could that cause?
The great thing about this idea is that it opens up a wealth of future possibilities. Other races and creatures could be affected by this, for example, dwarves could return to the world as a result of the chaotic rifts. Going really far back, intelligent Jotun and Giganticus Lupicus could appear in Tyria and if the Asura master the technology and open Asura gates, you could even have adventurers like us going back to the world as it was during the time of the Flameseeker Prophecies.
Imagine being able to make the trek through the Shiverpeaks with Prince Rurik or seeing the events of the Foefire first hand. Watch the norn flee from Jormag before Asgeir Dragonrender knocks out his tooth (all of these could be instances by the way)..
So many possibilities.