Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone,

Today I saw on reddit and that_shaman uploaded a completed map of Verdant brink which I will link below for your viewing. Now from what we know about the Maps is that its separated into 3 Biomes Upper , Middle and Lower and if you look at the map closely you can see the next layer below.

Overall What you think lies in for us based on what we seen here so far?

http://i.imgur.com/1d0Zkjb.jpg

Update: Seems like Rata Sum has moved
http://i.imgur.com/GY3bLlm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ikBQdrE.jpg

Ferever.7014:

Overall What you think lies in for us based on what we seen here so far?

Looks like a jungle to me.

And they also moved Rata Sum a bit as someone found out on reddit.

http://i.imgur.com/GY3bLlm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ikBQdrE.jpg

Scoobaniec.9561:

And they also moved Rata Sum a bit as someone found out on reddit.

http://i.imgur.com/GY3bLlm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ikBQdrE.jpg

I will update the opening post. Thank you for providing the links.

Looks smaller than I thought.

I know, verticality. And hopefully plenty more zones.

Looks Interesting. I wonder if that one section that looks like kitten with some kind of flaming dragon head looking thing is one of the main access points to traverse the multiple levels.

Gibson.4036:

Looks smaller than I thought.

I know, verticality. And hopefully plenty more zones.

Where does everyone keep getting this only one map talk? I see it on the forums but no one has yet to provide a link where it was stated we only get one map.

ImTasty.2163:

Looks Interesting. I wonder if that one section that looks like kitten with some kind of flaming dragon head looking thing is one of the main access points to traverse the multiple levels.

Gibson.4036:

Looks smaller than I thought.

I know, verticality. And hopefully plenty more zones.

Where does everyone keep getting this only one map talk? I see it on the forums but no one has yet to provide a link where it was stated we only get one map.

That is because there isn’t one map and no developer has ever said so. In fact, in the latest announcment they blatantly called Verdant brink the first map of the new expansion, meaning there will undoubtedly be more.

ImTasty.2163:

Where does everyone keep getting this only one map talk? I see it on the forums but no one has yet to provide a link where it was stated we only get one map.

I’m not sure where it comes from but Arenanet has actually disproved it multiple times quite clearly by talking about multiple zones/maps. The most recent case was the article posted on april 3rd where Anet said the following:

Each map also has its own unique themes and map-wide meta-features that connect to the story and the characters in new and exciting ways. For example, in Verdant Brink— the first map players encounter once they enter the Heart of Thorns—etc

Gibson.4036:

Looks smaller than I thought.

I know, verticality. And hopefully plenty more zones.

There will be its in layers and Anet has confirmed that this is only the 1st of several maps in the expansion.

Looks like one exit to other zones in mid-north (Utugi’s) and one in SW corner.
I wonder what the SE ruins are. Quarrel Falls? Ventari’s Refuge?

When I was there in the Stress test there was a portal in the northern edge of the instance that looked like it went into the one of the new maps recently released. It was north of the Shipwreck Peak waypoint.

ImTasty.2163:

Looks Interesting. I wonder if that one section that looks like kitten with some kind of flaming dragon head looking thing is one of the main access points to traverse the multiple levels.

Gibson.4036:

Looks smaller than I thought.

I know, verticality. And hopefully plenty more zones.

Where does everyone keep getting this only one map talk? I see it on the forums but no one has yet to provide a link where it was stated we only get one map.

Interesting that they have 2(two) Shipwreck Peak Waypoints, the furthest right one is the Beta area, that area with the so-called Dragon’s head I believe is the location of the first Wyvern battle(though could be wrong). Anyways, if anyone was lucky enough to play the first Beta stress test, then you got to see basically the area around the eastern most Shipwreck Peak WP, and it is very vertical…you can’t even see the bottom of the map from that point, that’s how much verticality you’re getting. As for Rata Sum moving, I’m not sure it’s so much being moved as the area around being compressed a little/or stretched, depending on which image is the before and after…take a look at the land surrounding Rata Sum, the image on the right is more defined, crisper than the image on the left.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

When I was there in the Stress test there was a portal in the northern edge of the instance that looked like it went into the Silverwastes. It was north of the Shipwreck Peak waypoint.

I walked up to that portal, it had a name on it for the destination, but I forgot to write it down or screen shot it(or was there another portal, you’re talking about the one that you took the pathway down to?) I believe that’s to an Itzel village perhaps…someone mentioned the name in the Beta thread.

I acknowledged verticality, and didn’t say anything about only one zone.

“More than one zone” doesn’t mean “plenty more zones.” It could mean one or two more. I know this forum makes people touchy, but yikes.

Zaklex.6308:

ImTasty.2163:

Looks Interesting. I wonder if that one section that looks like kitten with some kind of flaming dragon head looking thing is one of the main access points to traverse the multiple levels.

Gibson.4036:

Looks smaller than I thought.

I know, verticality. And hopefully plenty more zones.

Where does everyone keep getting this only one map talk? I see it on the forums but no one has yet to provide a link where it was stated we only get one map.

Interesting that they have 2(two) Shipwreck Peak Waypoints, the furthest right one is the Beta area, that area with the so-called Dragon’s head I believe is the location of the first Wyvern battle(though could be wrong). Anyways, if anyone was lucky enough to play the first Beta stress test, then you got to see basically the area around the eastern most Shipwreck Peak WP, and it is very vertical…you can’t even see the bottom of the map from that point, that’s how much verticality you’re getting. As for Rata Sum moving, I’m not sure it’s so much being moved as the area around being compressed a little/or stretched, depending on which image is the before and after…take a look at the land surrounding Rata Sum, the image on the right is more defined, crisper than the image on the left.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

When I was there in the Stress test there was a portal in the northern edge of the instance that looked like it went into the Silverwastes. It was north of the Shipwreck Peak waypoint.

I walked up to that portal, it had a name on it for the destination, but I forgot to write it down or screen shot it(or was there another portal, you’re talking about the one that you took the pathway down to?) I believe that’s to an Itzel village perhaps…someone mentioned the name in the Beta thread.

I didn’t see a name on it. There was the red circle and bar across it. When I looked at the big map the area on the other side was still covered of course on my Revenant, but it was to the east and I could see skill points.

Look at all those waypoints. It can only mean one thing: whoever built them is keeping secrets from us, secrets that, if revealed, might have prevented the Pact Fleet Disaster.

Tachenon.5270:

Look at all those waypoints. It can only mean one thing: whoever built them is keeping secrets from us, secrets that, if revealed, might have prevented the Pact Fleet Disaster.

I can’t remember where/when (maybe months ago when they first mentioned outposts), but I do remember reading that we’d have to “clear out” and then defend and upgrade various outposts, like in silverwastes. So, it could be pretty much the same thing. You want to get to the other side of the map, better hope that people are there defending that outpost so the wp is both built and uncontested. Plus not to mention the lack of wps for the zone, makes me think we’re gonna do a lot of running/gliding to get around. Maybe that’s another reason why they increased the drop of those ‘teleport to a friend’ items in the BLC. I know I’m gonna save any that I have for annoying gliding/mastery locations (if that’s even how they work) because they don’t seem to have much else use.

Wallace MacBix.2089:

Maybe that’s another reason why they increased the drop of those ‘teleport to a friend’ items in the BLC.

Hmmm, I hadn’t thought about it until your post, but Mesmer Portals could be extremely handy in these new, vertical zones.

Does Portal take into account the Z axis? Is it limited by distance across map, or a straight line from surface to surface in three dimensions?

Gibson.4036:

Wallace MacBix.2089:

Maybe that’s another reason why they increased the drop of those ‘teleport to a friend’ items in the BLC.

Hmmm, I hadn’t thought about it until your post, but Mesmer Portals could be extremely handy in these new, vertical zones.

Does Portal take into account the Z axis? Is it limited by distance across map, or a straight line from surface to surface in three dimensions?

It’s currently only limited to maps that are not full. If you try to teleport to someone in a capped map, the item will be used up and you won’t move there. It can be all across the old maps. I’m planning to ask a friend to wp to Orr so my Revenant can jump to the wp nearest the temple I want to buy armor from.

It’s probable it will be limited to only within either the old maps or the new maps so that someone without an expansion can’t teleport to someone in the new zone.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Gibson.4036:

Wallace MacBix.2089:

Maybe that’s another reason why they increased the drop of those ‘teleport to a friend’ items in the BLC.

Hmmm, I hadn’t thought about it until your post, but Mesmer Portals could be extremely handy in these new, vertical zones.

Does Portal take into account the Z axis? Is it limited by distance across map, or a straight line from surface to surface in three dimensions?

It’s currently only limited to maps that are not full. If you try to teleport to someone in a capped map, the item will be used up and you won’t move there. It can be all across the old maps. I’m planning to ask a friend to wp to Orr so my Revenant can jump to the wp nearest the temple I want to buy armor from.

It’s probable it will be limited to only within either the old maps or the new maps so that someone without an expansion can’t teleport to someone in the new zone.

Oh I never assumed you could “break” the game by sneaking into the expansion. People tried it during the beta, and a message appeared saying you couldn’t do it, and the item was expended.

I’m just saying, if my friend wants to master gliding or mushrooms first, and I want to go one of the lore routes, I may just use it to get to mastery points that I’d need a glider for.

Again, I’ve never used one of them (really I don’t see the point outside of my above mention). So I assume they take you to the physical location of your friend, not just at the “entrance” to the map their in.

Wallace MacBix.2089:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Gibson.4036:

Wallace MacBix.2089:

Maybe that’s another reason why they increased the drop of those ‘teleport to a friend’ items in the BLC.

Hmmm, I hadn’t thought about it until your post, but Mesmer Portals could be extremely handy in these new, vertical zones.

Does Portal take into account the Z axis? Is it limited by distance across map, or a straight line from surface to surface in three dimensions?

It’s currently only limited to maps that are not full. If you try to teleport to someone in a capped map, the item will be used up and you won’t move there. It can be all across the old maps. I’m planning to ask a friend to wp to Orr so my Revenant can jump to the wp nearest the temple I want to buy armor from.

It’s probable it will be limited to only within either the old maps or the new maps so that someone without an expansion can’t teleport to someone in the new zone.

Oh I never assumed you could “break” the game by sneaking into the expansion. People tried it during the beta, and a message appeared saying you couldn’t do it, and the item was expended.

I’m just saying, if my friend wants to master gliding or mushrooms first, and I want to go one of the lore routes, I may just use it to get to mastery points that I’d need a glider for.

Again, I’ve never used one of them (really I don’t see the point outside of my above mention). So I assume they take you to the physical location of your friend, not just at the “entrance” to the map their in.

It says it sends you to the friend, not to a waypoint. In addition, I remember a post where someone tried it and it sent them to the friend’s location.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Teleport_to_Friend
Directly teleports the player to a friend anywhere in the PvE environment.

This item might indeed be usual for the expansion. It can even be used to transport chars that haven’t been in that zone before to deep inside to where a friend is. Perhaps that’s one reason they increased the drop rate of them in the Black Lion Chests.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-31-March-2015/first#post4943384
“The drop rate of Teleport to Friend items has been increased.”

Gibson.4036:

I acknowledged verticality, and didn’t say anything about only one zone.

“More than one zone” doesn’t mean “plenty more zones.” It could mean one or two more. I know this forum makes people touchy, but yikes.

Don’t worry Gibson, your post was quite clear. I don’t know how they misunderstood your post so badly, I can only assume they don’t know that “maps” are also called “zones” in GW2.

Also I have to say that this does seem a little small to me too, assuming that it’s to scale with the rest of the zones (look at the size of the Pact Flagship), if so it’s a little larger than Silverwastes or Drytop. Even if it has three full sub-levels it will still be smaller than Brisban wildlands.

Still this may not be the full zone yet, they could just be expanding the map in game in preparation for the next beta.

http://i.imgur.com/LpJk6hf.jpg

I’ll wait for full maps until I give my judgment, but it does seem like the maps here will follow the living world trend – they are smaller in size and more action-packed than launch zones.

I for one hate that. I disliked Silverwastes enough because there was always some mob trying to kill you no matter where you went. There can be a map which is an active warzone and full of dangerous challenges and still have room for quiet exploration.

In the last point of interest #18 they mentioned that so far they’ve been working on it for 2 years. Based on this new information I doubt very much it’s only 3 zones, beside anything less than 5 zones it better be cheap.

The map might look smaller on the X & Y, but don’t forget there will be a Z too. This will effectively make that map 3 times as big as it looks on the map. And this is just one map. With several maps having at least 3 levels, I think we will be getting a substantial area to play in. Especially if those areas are full of activities.

The most important question for me is not how big the zones are, but whether I will want to go back and repeat content there.

As to the zones being dangerous and hard to explore, I think that is the point. It is Mordremoth’s territory and he/she/it is not going to take kindly to pests running around freely. It is supposed to be a warzone where we are fighting against an elder dragon and its minions, on its home turf. If you want peaceful exploration, I would suggest going to a more peaceful zone. You don’t enter an active warzone expecting a gentle strole through the countryside. Much like Orr, the new zones will be very dangerous to navigate, with few safe havens.

I am also interested in the fact we are getting different biomes. I hope the jungles are dense, the deserts humid and the caverns dark, cold and damp. I also hope all biomes and zones feel dangerous, because if they don’t I will lose all respect for Mordremoth.

ImTasty.2163:

Where does everyone keep getting this only one map talk? I see it on the forums but no one has yet to provide a link where it was stated we only get one map.

During the announcement they referred to “one new zone” (the Maguuma Jungle) which usually consists of 5-6 maps.

Many misinterpreted this as one map instead of one zone which is really confusing if you don’t know the ArenaNet terms.

Corrigendum: Sorry I was talking about REGION. So a Region consists of several zones.
And another correction: It’s not the Maguuma Jungel – it’s the Heart of Maguuma. God kitten it I really should verify when I write a few months old knowledge.

I think its safe to say that HoT going to cover entire Mgus Falls cause they moved Rata Sum a bit to probably make a space for new map. Im curious if they going to cover Maaguma Wastes as well – now that would be a large xpac indeed. I hope there will be underwater areas tho.. ps fix this kitten AN

Keep in mind they specifically said that Verdant Brink was the “first” map, they did not say that it was “one of” the maps. Their wording is very important. What this likely means is that when the expansion launches it may be the only map, but they will add maps in subsequent patches through the LS if you have purchased the expansion. They already did this with the new WvW map and the new legendary weapons, it is likely they will do it for the maps as well.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Keep in mind they specifically said that Verdant Brink was the “first” map, they did not say that it was “one of” the maps. Their wording is very important. What this likely means is that when the expansion launches it may be the only map, but they will add maps in subsequent patches through the LS if you have purchased the expansion. They already did this with the new WvW map and the new legendary weapons, it is likely they will do it for the maps as well.

“first” map doesn’t implicate that the other maps will be timegated. It simply means that you have to visit the Verdant Brink in order to access the other maps. Why you think it’s “likely” that the expansion will start off with only one map is beyond me.

Besides, if they released one map after the next, just like they did in Living Story Season 2, they couldn’t justify calling it an Expansion…it would simply be Living Story Season 3.

Living Story S3 all at once instead of spread out over several weeks is all I’m expecting.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Keep in mind they specifically said that Verdant Brink was the “first” map, they did not say that it was “one of” the maps. Their wording is very important. What this likely means is that when the expansion launches it may be the only map, but they will add maps in subsequent patches through the LS if you have purchased the expansion. They already did this with the new WvW map and the new legendary weapons, it is likely they will do it for the maps as well.

If they release a paid expansion with only one map, the forum rage would be EPIC. More maps later would not be enough to calm people down. When people buy something, they want it then, not later on down the line.

I hope ANet wouldn’t be foolish enough to release an expansion by doling out small amounts at a time.

Rin.1046:

The map might look smaller on the X & Y, but don’t forget there will be a Z too. This will effectively make that map 3 times as big as it looks on the map.

Well, not quite “3 times”. From what I’ve seen, each tier will have less area as you go up, because there is open space down to the next tier.

Tachenon.5270:

Living Story S3 all at once instead of spread out over several weeks is all I’m expecting.

Oh we’ve already seen features (new profession, gliding mechanics, biomes) which seem beyond the scope of what LS has produced so far, so I’m bit hopeful that its more like S3++ or better yet S3#