Q:
Are these still possibilities?
All things are possible, this is an mmo. When they’ve finally figured out how to handle the living story and do other things at the same time, we’ll get more areas and fun stuff to do.
Yes, I think so. If the Living Story is leading up to the awakening of Mordremoth, as the theory goes, then I fully expect to get new zones in Maguuma.
There are a lot of places like this in the game. Like the Desert Gate …
As Kalachris points out there are a LOT of inaccessible portals/closed gates in game. They’re basically there so that at some point further down we Arenanet can open new zones without having to alter existing zones to make room for portals/gates. They’re basically future proofing the game
Is it possible we’ll at some point be given new zones to explore? Yes. Is it likely? Not if the past year and a half have been any indication. Because new zones are costly to make and the direct return-on-investment is low, it seems ArenaNet is content to keep rearranging the existing zones in lieu of giving us new ones.
As stated by a dev bout some off these ‘objects’. Many things have been put in game with a possible purpose. Examples are the dessert gate, the path in the north-west corner of frotsgorge, the asura device in the caves north off fort trinity and also these.
Many people think they have been placed with a very sharp image in mind for the future use. But often it is just a loose idea.
So yes they are still possibillity’s, but nothing else.
Arise, opressed of Tyria!