Guild Wars 2

Just a brainstorm of ideas for the expansion past heart of thorns:

NEXT DRAGON: Kralkatorrik

STORY FLOW:

1.) Opens with a massive branded siege on the Black Citadel, in which the combined forces of the pact and players get to use the latest and greatest in Charr war engines to protect and save the city. Players later discover that this attack was a misdirection and that the true target was Divinity’s Reach. Players begin to understand that Kralkatorrik is a different kind of dragon and is very intelligent and cunning. This segment also gives the Charr some limelight and glorifies their military defense.

2.) Players return to Divinity’s Reach after being warned about the true attack through Logan’s link with Queen Jennah. The royal terrace has been breached by an elite group of crystalline beings. Players encounter the “Lazuli” for the first time. The encounter ends with Queen Jennah being kidnapped by the Lazuli and Kralkatorrik’s dragon champion.

3.) In the aftermath of events countess Anise invokes a shining blade protocol that should only be performed if something were to happen to the queen. She asks for the player’s help in traveling through the mausoleum underneath DR. There the players awaken Livia from Gw1, who is revealed to be blood-related to Queen Salma (sister) and the Doric Royal line. She has used the Scepter of Orr to become an immortal lich in order to act as the final contingency plan in preserving the Doric line should anything happy to the royal family.

4.) Livia temporarily takes over leadership of Divinity’s Reach until the Queen can be recovered. At this time, the Lazuli reappear in DR and state that the Dragon Kralkatorrik demands an audience with the chosen representatives of Tyria’s greater races. They use Queen Jennah’s life as a bargaining chip. Rytlock and the surviving members of Destiny’s Edge are agreed upon by the racial leaders to be the representatives that will journey through the desert to reach Kralkatorrik’s crystal spire.

5.) Upon reaching the spire the players discover that Kralkatorrik has been recovering from its near fatal encounter with Glint. In order to fully recover, the dragon is seeking two powerful artifacts to consume: The Staff of the Mists and the Scepter of Orr. The players already know that Livia has the Scepter, but the Staff is currently being held by Palawa Joko in Elona. The dragon demands that the players recover these artifacts and threatens to corrupt Queen Jennah if these demands are not met.

6.) At this point the majority of the campaign revolves around the players combating Palawa Joko for the Staff of the Mists and his army of former sunspears (who are now known as the Mordant Crescent). Lots of Gw1 lore and Elonian areas during this campaign. And oh yes, Junundu Wurms are back!

7.) During the battles with Joko, the players are forced to fight alongside the Lazuli. Players learn that the Lazuli are created from former branded through a process called crystal-genesis (which is why the branded are migrating south to the desert). When born, the Lazuli are bound to the dragon by a powerful web of mental control called the Tessellation. There are rebel groups within the Lazuli that are attempting to break free from the dragon’s dominion over Tessellation but they are hunted down and forced back under the dragon’s influence by the others.

8.) Players eventually recover the 2 artifacts and are forced to deliver them in order to Kralkatorrik to save the queen. The dragon consumes both artifacts and becomes empowered. Livia’s parting with the scepter causes her to lose her lichdom and become mortal.

9.) As the dragon recovers and prepares to begin its reign of terror, Queen Jennah sacrifices herself in order to disrupt the Tessellation. This allows all of the mind-bound Lazuli to rebel against their dragon master. A huge battle within the crystal spire culminates in the final showdown with Kralkatorrik.

10.) After Kralkatorrik falls, a new power must take control of the Tessellation in order to save the Lazuli. The players place Glint’s Egg into the Tessellation where it hatches. Gleam is born and inherits the Tessellation, binding the Lazuli together as a race of free minds. The tessellation is also strengthened due to the influx of power from the two artifacts, allowing Gleam to create additional Lazuli without needing branded creatures to fuse together.

AFTERMATH:

A.) Livia becomes the new ruler of Divinity’s Reach, Anise remains her aide and is still shrouded in mystery.

B.) Gleam is born as a new dragon to guide the Lazuli. The Lazuli become a playable race. They are crystalline beings (think quartz crystal hairstyles, or a opening in the head revealing a geode).

C.) Logan embarks on a personal journey to find his own purpose after losing Queen Jennah.

I enjoyed reading this synopsis more than the story of living story seasons 1 and 2 combined, I think (and I enjoyed those stories!). Absolutely fantastic thinking!

Sound great… but don’t expect ANET to follow it.

Very creative, I like it.

I love you and your creative mind.

I’d personally like to see some more of the Charr lands. I guess they could work it into there somewhere (if the Black Citadel is going to be attacked). Although with ANet’s focus on fewer-high-content-maps it seems like ANet is focusing on centralizing players (like they did in Dry Top and Silverwastes). And since there’s not a lot going on in the Charr lands that would justify a HoT style map, I don’t know… maybe some vanilla style maps, but like I said ANet seems to be moving away from that route.

Thankfully, I doubt the death of Queen Jennah is happening anytime soon.

Title: Guild Wars 2: Frozen Legacies

Next Dragon: Jormag

Story Flow:

1) Frozen Legacies begins with the Icebrood showing stronger activities, than usual in the last years. We already know, that Jormag has one of the biggest Minion Armies since Members of Destiny’s Edge fought in the past against one of his Champions. Jormag’s Claw was nothing but a scout for him to check out, how much resistance there is. The addon starts in Frostgorge Sound

The map will look completely different, as minions of Jormag will overwhelm the map and shape it under the flag of war new. Jormag’s Claw will be completely different now, a redesigned battle.
Goal for us is it to try to stop the progress of jormags minions as good as possible, we need to buy time, so that the guilds can prepare for their weakened arrival on other maps, as Jormags forces will crush with their huge amounts over time into alot more maps one after another
You have to retreat to continue the guerilla war against Jormag to weaken his forces to a point, where the guilds can go over to counterattack and strike back to lure out Jormag’s Claw to come self in his new and empowered form.

2) After having striked back enough waves of the Icebrood over several maps, we start to conquer back what belonged to the Tyrians, gettign back to new old territories of the northern shiverpeaks that we conquer back one after another including the Hall of Monuments, which becomes a new and important outpost for the Guild Initiative Headquarter

3) Meanwhile pact archeologists that were stationized in the map where Jormag’s Claw appears found some new underground ruins of an ancient old Temple with somethign interestign inside, wherefore the the pact Commander, (so us) and DE 2.0 get invited to look at and explore these ruins to find inside of it some frozen legacies of the past. mighty artefacts that might become useful later in the battle against Jormag, but Jormag found this out and chases us down with a new and brutal powerful champion so that we have to flee from it through an underground tunnel that leads us to another new map in the northern shiverpeaks where also jormags lair is, pretected by a mighty super powerful magical blizzard that kills anybody in a blink of an eye through pure coldness who’s so dumb to try to go through it (minus 250 degree)

4) A group of legendary norn havrouns (among the norn) helps us out to defeat that new champion of Jormag later on.
Among them Sigurd Freyjason (Bear), George Sifson (Snow Leopard) Beowulf Heleson (Wolf) and Baldr Anderson (Raven), which are also 4 mighty Norn Shamans of the four strongest Norn Spirits. They help also Braham to awaken his true Norn Powers.

5) In order to weaken Jormag’s blizzard, we have to help these Norn Shamans to claim back in that territory all Greater Norn Spirit Temples
It are 12 Temples that have to be claimed back, 4 of the so far known great spirits are save outposts (Bear, Wolf, Raven, SL)
The other 12 are:
- Ox
- Warthog
- Owl
- Eagle
- Fox
- Otter
- Hare
- Wolverine
- Deer
- Moose
- Walrus
- Shark

6) Once all have been claimed back(new zelda like Solo Dungeons), we are able to perform a special norn ritual with all of the spirits of the wild to destroy jormags blizzard.

7) Jormags lair is then the final dungeon that can be either soloed or played as group, like the zhaitan instance, where we need the frozen legacies found in that lost temple earlier to progress with their help in the final dungeon with the help of the 4 havrouns.

Aftermath:

A) Jormag’s Claw gets compeltely redesigned with the map with the map getting lots of new dynamic events fitting to the new map design that comes from the livign world concept

B) Folow Up living world content in other older maps, ultil the Community has weakened enough the massive forces of Jormag to be able to strike back to open up new explorable maps in the northern Shiverpeaks, including the Hall of Monuments as a new iconic heartquarter outpost similar to LA, just with a different vibe to it…
At least 4-5 new explorable Maps
1) West of Frostgorge Sound > Modniir Ice Tundra.
2) North of the Ice Tundra > Mist Forest Borderlands
3) East of Borderlands > Plains of Monuments (includes Ruins of Olafstead and Gunnars Hold)
4) North of that > Dragimmar’s Frost Dome
5) West of Dragimmar > Jormag’s Grotto

C) adding of 12 new Solo Dungeons, 1 new Outpost Town with Hall of Monuments

Very well-written. I doubt ArenaNet will copy your story, it will mostly likely tie a lot more to GW1 and also the zephyrites. After HoT we will most likely get more living story and then a new expansion in 3 years.

Oooh, I like the Kralkatorrik storyline. I’d love to see this become part of the game in some form.

Only, what do we do with Gleam afterwards? It would be odd to have a dragon on our side who does nothing so as to not take away the player’s spotlight. Or would s/he be a bit like the pale tree, bound to one place, and when s/he leaves, s/he gets weaker?
It just always bugs me when a story has a BFG of some kind and never uses it because then the story would be very short, but doesn’t say why it’s never used^^

Can anet may give a job to him?, please!.

Good job Orpheal, too!

Red Queen.7915:

Oooh, I like the Kralkatorrik storyline. I’d love to see this become part of the game in some form.

Only, what do we do with Gleam afterwards? It would be odd to have a dragon on our side who does nothing so as to not take away the player’s spotlight. Or would s/he be a bit like the pale tree, bound to one place, and when s/he leaves, s/he gets weaker?
It just always bugs me when a story has a BFG of some kind and never uses it because then the story would be very short, but doesn’t say why it’s never used^^

I was thinking that as a newborn dragon, Gleam would not be at Glint’s or an Elder Dragon’s level of power to start. I would imagine Gleam would take the role as a faction leader sort of like the pale tree but with the Lazuli heroes that helped defeat Kralkatorrik assisting it.

I do think that it would be important to create strong distinctions between the Sylvari and the Lazuli, although they are both dragonspawn. I imagine the Tessellation works more like a network of draconic energy that keeps the Lazuli alive. When Kralkatorrik controlled the Tessellation, Lazuli would be able to try to break free from it for temporary freedom. However, without the energy of the Tessellation to power them, the Lazuli would eventually lose energy and die if disconnected for too long. This is how the dragon controlled them. It literally held their lives in its claws.

Under Gleam, the Lazuli would have free will but still need the Tessellation to survive. Gleam would be upkeeping the Tessellation, sort of like a load balancer to ensure that everyone gets the energy they need. The Tessellation is chaotic by nature and without a powerful entity to regulate it, the Lazuli would be devastated. Energy flares within the Tessellation would overload some Lazuli and turn them into something else (monsters, overcharged branded, or perhaps something like the Thaumanova reactor entity) while others might get too little energy and die out.

I would also think it would be cool if Kralkatorrik intentionally overcharged some of the Lazuli during the campaign intentionally as punishment for attempting to leave the tessellation or to turn them into more powerful monsters for the players to fight.

Queen Jennah was able to use her mesmeric powers to temporarily wrestle the Tessellation away from Kralkatorrik and grant the Lazuli free will for their rebellion, but it killed her in the process due to the immense energy.

I imagine that in the aftermath, Gleam would be working with the Lazuli to better understand the Tessellation. The Lazuli in turn act as protectors for the newborn dragon. They have a symbiotic relationship.

So in a sense Gleam would be faction leader with the Lazuli as its people.

Lucius.2140:

Can anet may give a job to him?, please!.

Video game development is a bit more difficult than simply being able to write a good story. It’s how ones implements the story within the limitations of the video-games mechanics and the resource limitations inherent in video game development.
Still a good story is a good start.

CureForLiving.5360:

Lucius.2140:

Can anet may give a job to him?, please!.

Video game development is a bit more difficult than simply being able to write a good story. It’s how ones implements the story within the limitations of the video-games mechanics and the resource limitations inherent in video game development.
Still a good story is a good start.

It’s certainly more than a lot of games have nowadays. “Write story” seems to be a task commonly given to interns :/

Dragon demands audience? really?

Mortifer.2946:

Dragon demands audience? really?

Revealing that the dragons are far more than just a force of nature, and actually very intelligent beings with an evil personality.

This story makes no sense at all. The audience thing isn’t even the worst part.
That they would be willing to give the most powerful artifacts to a dragon in a weakened state to heal it so it can crush them all just makes no sense at all. Esp as the debate if Queen Jennah is more important than destroying a dragon is already finished since the books. It is not but for Logan.
There is no need to basically do that thing all over again just to have 4+ other characters to be out of character and happily giving a mortal enemy the keys to Tyria only to win because of a half thought through lucky break which separates the minions from its master, which also already happened with the Sylvari, just that it makes even less sense.

Farzo.8410:

Mortifer.2946:

Dragon demands audience? really?

Revealing that the dragons are far more than just a force of nature, and actually very intelligent beings with an evil personality.

Evil is debatable, but we kinda already knew that they were intelligent and manipulative from what little information we got on Zhaitan through the PS, Jormag from different lore tidbits, and Mordy’s corruption of Scarlet.

The difference being is the order of magnitude between us and them and how they view us. Them demanding an audience from us is like us demanding an audience from that pesky anthill out in the yard.

by putting your ideas in here publicly, you almost ensure they will not adapt a storyline similar to your plot. Send them your ideas in private.

Erukk.1408:

Farzo.8410:

Mortifer.2946:

Dragon demands audience? really?

Revealing that the dragons are far more than just a force of nature, and actually very intelligent beings with an evil personality.

Evil is debatable, but we kinda already knew that they were intelligent and manipulative from what little information we got on Zhaitan through the PS, Jormag from different lore tidbits, and Mordy’s corruption of Scarlet.

The difference being is the order of magnitude between us and them and how they view us. Them demanding an audience from us is like us demanding an audience from that pesky anthill out in the yard.

Only at that point, Kralkatorrik has watched us defeat Zhaitan and Mordremoth already. He knows the odds of him winning are around 50/50 – it might work, or it might not. Which is probably why he wants those artifacts in the first place, to sway those odds in his favour. Which we know, so maybe we try and cheat him, maybe snatch the sceptre back as soon as we have Jenna (who is important to make sure there won’t be another war between humans and charr). Only it doesn’t work, cue Jenna’s self-sacrifice and Livia taking the throne permanently, because now nobody can’t complain about the undead lich on the throne.
Either way, Kralkatorrik treating us as “ants” would be the equivalent of the Bond villain watching 007 mow through his henchmen like nobody’s business and then still insisting on arrogant monologuing because psh, Bond, a threat? Nah. That’s just stupid. And stupid villains are boring.

Algreg.3629:

by putting your ideas in here publicly, you almost ensure they will not adapt a storyline similar to your plot. Send them your ideas in private.

They still won’t use your ideas, unless they were already working on a similar story and can show that theirs predates yours (in which case it would be a coincidence that your story lines up with theirs).

The reasons for all of this boils down to legal issues, unless they open submissions under specific terms and rules that deal with copyright and no-royalties etc. “ownership” matters there is virtually no chance fan submissions will be used in such a way that they are anything more than things to draw inspiration from in the same vein Canthan architecture draws inspiration and elements from Asian cultures.

You don’t have to show that your story idea predates someone else’s story idea. You can’t copyright an idea, only the execution. How many fantasy stories about some random kid being part of a prophecy to save the world do we have? If you could copyright a concept just like that, we’d have exactly one.
Besides, since OP used Anet’s characters and world, this pitch is technically fanfiction, and then s/he can’t claim “copyright” anyway.

Red Queen.7915:

Either way, Kralkatorrik treating us as “ants” would be the equivalent of the Bond villain watching 007 mow through his henchmen like nobody’s business and then still insisting on arrogant monologuing because psh, Bond, a threat? Nah. That’s just stupid. And stupid villains are boring.

You’re misreading the situation a bit when you try and apply human qualities to them. They treat us like ants because we ARE ants to them. Dangerous ants, but still ants none the less. They are literally a hundred times our size, extremely ancient, and have enough magical power to raise an entire region out of the sea or permanently scar and corrupt the land and its people simply by breathing on it.

Bond villains may think Bond is an “ant”, but said villain can still be easily killed by anyone with something simple as a tiny bullet to the head. For us to kill a single Elder Dragon, it took the collective power of five major races and numerous lesser ones working together to cleave a path into its domains and cut off its food supply to starve it into a weakened state before we could gun it down.

And that collective army that was able to kill an Elder Dragon was taken down and destroyed by another in a matter of minutes…

The Elder Dragons may fear our collective power after awhile, but they’ll never do something as human as bargaining though. They’re too old, to powerful, and to alien for that.

Which pretty much makes them the arrogant Bond villain, though.

And when old, powerful and alien don’t help you, wouldn’t you try out something different? I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell wouldn’t just roll over and wait my turn to be killed if I realised that all my millenia and all my hoarded magic won’t help me if the ants show up on my doorstep intent on destroying me…

And somehow, the Elder Dragons just hiding out somewhere and not doing anything but sending minions out into the world sort of makes me think they are not that powerful to begin with. Otherwise, Tyria as we know it wouldn’t exist anymore. I mean, if I’m one of the most powerful beings in existence, what’s stopping me from steamrolling over anyone who stands in my way?
Makes me wonder if we do indeed have something the dragons need that would be lost if we all just suddenly died. Do we generate the magic that they feed on? Are they trying to figure out how to keep the magic in the world without us? Is that what the corrupted minions are, temporary “magic generators” that the dragons need to stay alive until they found another food source? It would make sense, seeing as Zhaitan tried to get his claws on powerful magical relics. And it would explain the dragons’ reluctance to launch a final attack.

Red Queen.7915:

Which pretty much makes them the arrogant Bond villain, though.

Bond villains are still humans thinking human thoughts, feeling human emotions, and reasoning and planning with human rationale. Elder Dragons are closer to eldritch abominations than they are to anything else.

And when old, powerful and alien don’t help you, wouldn’t you try out something different? I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell wouldn’t just roll over and wait my turn to be killed if I realised that all my millenia and all my hoarded magic won’t help me if the ants show up on my doorstep intent on destroying me…

Elder Dragons will use different means when it suits them (as seen by Mordremoth using Scarlet and her technology to awaken itself early). I think you’re underestimating the Elder Dragons’ power though. The Pact flew into Maguuma with the intent to destroy Mordy, and Mordy ripped the very ships that slew Zhaitan out of the sky and destroyed them in a matter of moments.

The Elder Dragons don’t need to lower themselves to something like bargaining to try and ensure their survival. They just need to strategize on how to weaken, kill, and/or corrupt their enemies before their enemies can get to them first. Zhaitan was easy because we were able to weaken him first. Otherwise, an Elder Dragon would have an easy time killing us all.

And somehow, the Elder Dragons just hiding out somewhere and not doing anything but sending minions out into the world sort of makes me think they are not that powerful to begin with. Otherwise, Tyria as we know it wouldn’t exist anymore. I mean, if I’m one of the most powerful beings in existence, what’s stopping me from steamrolling over anyone who stands in my way?

The fact that Anet actually need to make a playable game to make money. As you said, if the Elder Dragon used the full extent of their powers constantly, Tyria wouldn’t really exist anymore. So Anet has to limit their active physical involvement in the game because they’re so powerful lore-wise they’d kinda break the story.

Makes me wonder if we do indeed have something the dragons need that would be lost if we all just suddenly died. Do we generate the magic that they feed on? Are they trying to figure out how to keep the magic in the world without us? Is that what the corrupted minions are, temporary “magic generators” that the dragons need to stay alive until they found another food source? It would make sense, seeing as Zhaitan tried to get his claws on powerful magical relics. And it would explain the dragons’ reluctance to launch a final attack.

From what’s been discussed on the lore forums, general consensus has the Elder Dragons being mostly intelligent apex predators that balance Tyria’s magical levels on the extremes. They don’t do it because it’s their job, but instead that’s just their nature. They eat, kill, and corrupt until there is nothing left (low global magical levels), then begin to starve, and they then go into a state of hibernation. During their hibernation, they slowly start to leak magic back into the world. Once the magical levels get high enough again, the process starts over again.

As for where the mortal beings are in all of this, we’re part of the magical environment. We contain magic, our souls are possibly magic as well, we gather concentrated amount of magic into artifacts, and we make excellent cannon fodder and minions to battle and gather magic.

Erukk.1408:

Red Queen.7915:

And somehow, the Elder Dragons just hiding out somewhere and not doing anything but sending minions out into the world sort of makes me think they are not that powerful to begin with. Otherwise, Tyria as we know it wouldn’t exist anymore. I mean, if I’m one of the most powerful beings in existence, what’s stopping me from steamrolling over anyone who stands in my way?

The fact that Anet actually need to make a playable game to make money. As you said, if the Elder Dragon used the full extent of their powers constantly, Tyria wouldn’t really exist anymore. So Anet has to limit their active physical involvement in the game because they’re so powerful lore-wise they’d kinda break the story.

And this right there is what I hope isn’t true. Because that is lazy storytelling. You need a kitten good reason for someone not to use the full extent of their powers in such a scenario, and if it’s just “he’s a good guy so he doesn’t do it because it’s morally wrong”.
Just saying “they are incredibly powerful but you don’t see that because then the story would be over pretty fast” is a horrible excuse and kind of insulting your audience’s intelligence. It’s like the “why didn’t Gandalf ask the eagles to fly them to Mordor?” crap. There is an excuse, but “eagles are afraid of arrows” is so kitten flimsy it falls apart when you just look at it – what the hell kind of bow shoots its arrows this high?
Same for the Elder Dragons. The excuse for their non-presence better be good, or peole will feel cheated. “The dragons are really that dangerous but were too arrogant to see us as a threat until it was too late” doesn’t fly when several dragons have already been defeated. Mordremoth? Okay, he might think he’s way cooler than lame Zhaitan. The third dragon, though? That’s not hubris anymore, that’s being stupid and stubborn, and it would irritate me to no end.
In order for this to work, the villain needs a genuine weakness that makes sense within the story. Hell, every villain needs a weakness, perfect villains are just as bad as perfect heroes, mainly because it doesn’t make sense for them to lose unless you use the “the author said so” reasoning, and you can’t tell me that’s the hallmark of a good story. No matter how I look at it, I can’t see this working if the dragons are as powerful as you make them out to be and simply too lazy and/or arrogant to use that power, especially when they have seen where being arrogant got the other dragons. If you know a way to make this work without giving the dragons some sort of weakness that holds them back, I genuinely want to know (seriously, not being sarcastic).

I don’t think we’ll get to fight Kralkatorrik…..by the time Anet get around to doing that particular expansion, I reckon the player base will be bored of fighting dragons as the big baddy. As such, the storyline will more likely be along the lines of us having to fight Palawa Joko, who has recently become emboldened by his defeat of Kralkatorrik, and is eyeing expansion of his territory Northwards. Hopefully by then, Anet will have optimised the game engine enough to allow large scale players vs. Joko’s army battles that don’t descend into low figure fps.

Just a personal theory…..

.

4.) Livia temporarily takes over leadership of Divinity’s Reach until the Queen can be recovered. At this time, the Lazuli reappear in DR and state that the Dragon Kralkatorrik demands an audience with the chosen representatives of Tyria’s greater races. They use Queen Jennah’s life as a bargaining chip. Rytlock and the surviving members of Destiny’s Edge are agreed upon by the racial leaders to be the representatives that will journey through the desert to reach Kralkatorrik’s crystal spire.

I’m really liking intelligent minions, even as far as with a society of their own? Or just a mental connection I guess… The journey to the desert should be a constant battle against Branded as a test from Kralk. He wants to see if the sent heroes are worthy of his quest.

5.) Upon reaching the spire the players discover that Kralkatorrik has been recovering from its near fatal encounter with Glint. In order to fully recover, the dragon is seeking two powerful artifacts to consume: The Staff of the Mists and the Scepter of Orr. The players already know that Livia has the Scepter, but the Staff is currently being held by Palawa Joko in Elona. The dragon demands that the players recover these artifacts and threatens to corrupt Queen Jennah if these demands are not met.

I like the idea of Joko but it ultimately shouldn’t happen as it would be one xpac interrupting another. A different artifact should be chosen. Also when Kralk makes his demands and threats there should be conflict in the group of heroes, some of the non-humans not wanting to risk their lives for a human queen.

6.) At this point the majority of the campaign revolves around the players combating Palawa Joko for the Staff of the Mists and his army of former sunspears (who are now known as the Mordant Crescent). Lots of Gw1 lore and Elonian areas during this campaign. And oh yes, Junundu Wurms are back!

As I said above I love this but it should be another artifact to be found in the already explorable world. I’m not sure, but I know the Charr like some thing called the Claw Ur or something like that. If you used that, then this could be the Charr focused xpac (like Mordy is for Sylvari).

7.) During the battles with Someone for an artifact, the players are forced to fight alongside the Lazuli. Players learn that the Lazuli are created from former branded through a process called crystal-genesis (which is why the branded are migrating south to the desert). When born, the Lazuli are bound to the dragon by a powerful web of mental control called the Tessellation. There are rebel groups within the Lazuli that are attempting to break free from the dragon’s dominion over Tessellation but all they can do is send thoughts into the Tessellation trying to destroy it. The players learn that since evolving, they are highly intelligent and, if free, could be another race to Tyria and a powerful ally.

Made the changes to this one inside the paragraph because reasons.

8.) Players eventually recover the 2 artifacts and are forced to deliver them in order to Kralkatorrik to save the queen. The dragon consumes both artifacts and becomes empowered. Livia’s parting with the scepter causes her to lose her lichdom and become mortal.

Perhaps in a later story there could be something happening in Orr due to the destruction of the scepter?

9.) As the dragon recovers and prepares to begin its reign of terror, Queen Jennah sacrifices herself in order to disrupt the Tessellation. (perhaps there is a core room or something where it flows from and she jumps into the core and breaks it?) This allows all of the mind-bound Lazuli to rebel against their dragon master. A huge battle within the crystal spire culminates in the final showdown with Kralkatorrik.

reg. Branded are still evil and in the end all Kralk has are basic minions just like the other dragons.

AFTERMATH:

A.) Livia becomes the new ruler of Divinity’s Reach, Anise remains her aide and is still shrouded in mystery.

B.) Gleam is born as a new dragon to guide the Lazuli. The Lazuli become a playable race. They are crystalline beings (think quartz crystal hairstyles, or a opening in the head revealing a geode). They should be included in the xpac but not added until a month or two later (or some amount of time) so as not to spoil the story.

C.) Logan embarks on a personal journey to find his own purpose after losing Queen Jennah.[/quote] Seen in the following LW season! :P

I went through and made some changes and additions to make it better (in my opinion of course) :P

P.S. told me message was too long so I removed the paragraphs that didn’t change.

Red Queen.7915:

Erukk.1408:

Red Queen.7915:

And somehow, the Elder Dragons just hiding out somewhere and not doing anything but sending minions out into the world sort of makes me think they are not that powerful to begin with. Otherwise, Tyria as we know it wouldn’t exist anymore. I mean, if I’m one of the most powerful beings in existence, what’s stopping me from steamrolling over anyone who stands in my way?

The fact that Anet actually need to make a playable game to make money. As you said, if the Elder Dragon used the full extent of their powers constantly, Tyria wouldn’t really exist anymore. So Anet has to limit their active physical involvement in the game because they’re so powerful lore-wise they’d kinda break the story.

And this right there is what I hope isn’t true. Because that is lazy storytelling. You need a kitten good reason for someone not to use the full extent of their powers in such a scenario, and if it’s just “he’s a good guy so he doesn’t do it because it’s morally wrong”.
Just saying “they are incredibly powerful but you don’t see that because then the story would be over pretty fast” is a horrible excuse and kind of insulting your audience’s intelligence. It’s like the “why didn’t Gandalf ask the eagles to fly them to Mordor?” crap. There is an excuse, but “eagles are afraid of arrows” is so kitten flimsy it falls apart when you just look at it – what the hell kind of bow shoots its arrows this high?
Same for the Elder Dragons. The excuse for their non-presence better be good, or peole will feel cheated. “The dragons are really that dangerous but were too arrogant to see us as a threat until it was too late” doesn’t fly when several dragons have already been defeated. Mordremoth? Okay, he might think he’s way cooler than lame Zhaitan. The third dragon, though? That’s not hubris anymore, that’s being stupid and stubborn, and it would irritate me to no end.
In order for this to work, the villain needs a genuine weakness that makes sense within the story. Hell, every villain needs a weakness, perfect villains are just as bad as perfect heroes, mainly because it doesn’t make sense for them to lose unless you use the “the author said so” reasoning, and you can’t tell me that’s the hallmark of a good story. No matter how I look at it, I can’t see this working if the dragons are as powerful as you make them out to be and simply too lazy and/or arrogant to use that power, especially when they have seen where being arrogant got the other dragons. If you know a way to make this work without giving the dragons some sort of weakness that holds them back, I genuinely want to know (seriously, not being sarcastic).

Primordus and Jormag’s minions are fighting underground for the Depths and no one knows because everyone left except the Dwarves who are caught in the crossfire. They don’t have enough minions to go above.

Kralk IS being dangerous but he’s going to Elona instead.

Bubbles is highly intelligent and the strongest of all (given that water itself is ridiculously powerful), and he’s watching Tyria and what’s happening and decides to take his time and build up his army. Tyria won’t come to him because they don’t know where he is but when HE is ready he’ll show up. This dragon in the only one that has sufficient time to prepare hid army, making him more dangerous.

How’s that?

Fenom.9457:

Red Queen.7915:

Erukk.1408:

Red Queen.7915:

And somehow, the Elder Dragons just hiding out somewhere and not doing anything but sending minions out into the world sort of makes me think they are not that powerful to begin with. Otherwise, Tyria as we know it wouldn’t exist anymore. I mean, if I’m one of the most powerful beings in existence, what’s stopping me from steamrolling over anyone who stands in my way?

The fact that Anet actually need to make a playable game to make money. As you said, if the Elder Dragon used the full extent of their powers constantly, Tyria wouldn’t really exist anymore. So Anet has to limit their active physical involvement in the game because they’re so powerful lore-wise they’d kinda break the story.

And this right there is what I hope isn’t true. Because that is lazy storytelling. You need a kitten good reason for someone not to use the full extent of their powers in such a scenario, and if it’s just “he’s a good guy so he doesn’t do it because it’s morally wrong”.
Just saying “they are incredibly powerful but you don’t see that because then the story would be over pretty fast” is a horrible excuse and kind of insulting your audience’s intelligence. It’s like the “why didn’t Gandalf ask the eagles to fly them to Mordor?” crap. There is an excuse, but “eagles are afraid of arrows” is so kitten flimsy it falls apart when you just look at it – what the hell kind of bow shoots its arrows this high?
Same for the Elder Dragons. The excuse for their non-presence better be good, or peole will feel cheated. “The dragons are really that dangerous but were too arrogant to see us as a threat until it was too late” doesn’t fly when several dragons have already been defeated. Mordremoth? Okay, he might think he’s way cooler than lame Zhaitan. The third dragon, though? That’s not hubris anymore, that’s being stupid and stubborn, and it would irritate me to no end.
In order for this to work, the villain needs a genuine weakness that makes sense within the story. Hell, every villain needs a weakness, perfect villains are just as bad as perfect heroes, mainly because it doesn’t make sense for them to lose unless you use the “the author said so” reasoning, and you can’t tell me that’s the hallmark of a good story. No matter how I look at it, I can’t see this working if the dragons are as powerful as you make them out to be and simply too lazy and/or arrogant to use that power, especially when they have seen where being arrogant got the other dragons. If you know a way to make this work without giving the dragons some sort of weakness that holds them back, I genuinely want to know (seriously, not being sarcastic).

Primordus and Jormag’s minions are fighting underground for the Depths and no one knows because everyone left except the Dwarves who are caught in the crossfire. They don’t have enough minions to go above.

Kralk IS being dangerous but he’s going to Elona instead.

Bubbles is highly intelligent and the strongest of all (given that water itself is ridiculously powerful), and he’s watching Tyria and what’s happening and decides to take his time and build up his army. Tyria won’t come to him because they don’t know where he is but when HE is ready he’ll show up. This dragon in the only one that has sufficient time to prepare hid army, making him more dangerous.

How’s that?

I can actually live with that^^
The dragons are not super overpowered, but dangerous enough while having good reasons to direct the power they do have where they think it matters most.
And now you made me fear a creature named Bubbles. Well done.

Guild Wars 2: Flames of Hope

Next Dragon: Primordus

1) It starts with and attack on the Black Citadel, thats coming from Dedrimor Front, never seen before Destroyers overwhelm it, showing the Charr, that their technology alone isn’t enough to defend themself, that lets finally all the charr see in, including those that fight agaisnt human seperatists, that these fights are senseless and that everyone has to fight agaisnt the dragons and not agaisnt each other.

2) Meanwhile Rytlock returns and helps with his new gained revenant powers do end his job of finally breaking the curse of Magdaer with Sohothin to bring the Ghosts of Ascalon their final peace, so that they become allies against the new appearing destroyers. ALso her,e will get under the living world concept everythign changed, that included fighting ascalon ghosts, to fighting now destoyers (with the help of ghosts)
As you see, this Add on would be a large world changer

3) We and DE get commanded to help out fighting back the destroyers and findign out, whats the source of the new destroyers in the Deldrimor Front, finding there a new champion of Primordus appeared after an earthquake.
However, that place is way too dangerous for a frontal attack, so it gets decided to find a way to attack the enemy from the underground, so ask our last known Dwarf of Tyria, where once was the entrance to the Tyrian Undergrounds, what leads us to the Woodland Cascades

3) Everyone sees there on the World Map, that there that important side info (Surface), right? From the first moment I saw that, I always believed in it, that we will see one day again an Underground Map of Tyria – a Cavern Maze that only the old Dwarves and Asura knew how to navigate in there.

4) After we found the entrance to the Cavern Maze, what is one huge new underground map with multiple levels of depth, we go to the source of the new appearing Destroyers and defeat the new Champion of Primordus.

5) From the remnants of the Stone Dwarfes that helped us to defeat that Champion, we learn, where the origin of Primordus currently is – the Ring of Fire and that theres hope for the Dwarfes to turn back to flesh one day perhaps
The Dwarfs require of us to collect Essences of Hope, what is an refined version from Essences of Luck.
From Essences of Hope, some legendary Dwarf Smiths are able to forge not only some special legendary weapons, but also legendary armors and legendary accessoires, but also for them personally important a “Crystal of Hope”, which is a special artefact for them that is able to return the eternal Stone Curse by absorbing it and turning into a Obsidian Stone by doing that (is a new Ascended Amulet then with Stats of Condition Damage, Power, Toughness = Tormentor Stat Set)

6) Fighting our way through the Cavern Maze to the Ring of Fire, we are there to go on for the fight against primordus, after plwoign throw some new maps full of danger.

Aftermath:

A) Black Citadel destroyed, large parts of the Ascalonian Maps affected by significant Dynamic Event changes due to finally all Charr and Humen there seeing in, that the Dragons are the biggest threa,d all fights between Charr and Humen come to peace, as they make a peace contract, due to humen helping the charr to rebuild the Black Citadel, the Charr thefore finalyl accept all humans living among them in the ascalonian regions and let them have their Ebonhawke as hometown and in return help them there out to make Ebonhawke a better and strogner defendable fortress agaisnt the dragon minions, so that the fate of the black citadel won’t get repeated there too so easily . Rytlock as another sign of peace lifts with Sohothin the curse of the Ghosts of Ascalon finally completely, in return of receicing the final rest, they swear to rytlock to help against the destroyers now …receiving this way some new strong undead allies as a new trump card against the new threat.

B) Tyria becomes now completely traversable from the underground with one huge underground map, that leads us to also the new explorable maps
1) Deldrimor Mountain Chain (one bigger map of the size of like Mount Maelstrom x2)
2) Woodland Cascades/ Cavern Maze (Underground, Multi Level Map, leadign also to a new Elite Dungeon – The Abyss)
3) Ring of Fire consistitng of 3 Maps
3.1) Abaddon’s Seal
3.2) Scorched Lands
3.3) Eternal Flames (name of the volcano hideout of Primordus)

C) Craft Essensces of Hope with Essences of Luck, to craft with them Crystals of Hope to turn Dwarves after the defeat of Primordus in your Home instance back to flesh and receive a new unique Obsidian Stone ascended Amulet with new Tormentor Stats Condi Dam, Power, Toughness) and receive acces to new legendary Dwarven Smiths that are able to craft for you new legendary weapons as also for the very first time legendary armors and accessoires with the help of Essences of Hope/Crystals of Hope as new currencies that they need for their craftings.

seriousky; stop planning “next expansions” when we don’t even know what upgrades/living story will be brought out after heart of thorns, I see this for almost every game, it’s ridiculous XD.

So don’t read the thread?^^

I like reading posts like these, even if nothing ever comes of it. It’s fun to imagine what could happen next :>

I love the stories. I wish I was that inventive but here is my contribution;

Expac: Gw2 Shattered Kingdom
Mastery: Zephyrite mobility

Because of the wide open spaces and intermittent canyons of the crystal desert, player characters will be able to master the magics of the Zephyrites without the need to carry crystals. Players will gain the ability to toggle between mobility and weapon interfaces. As their Mastery level increases they will be able to traverse greater distances per charge. Eventually, players will be able to combine these new abilities with the glider and even into new special attacks.

Expac: GW2 Flames of Hope
Mastery: Grappling hook

A new mobility function allowing players to swing from the ceiling of the caverns and climb the ropes to reach new levels within the depths of Tyria. Fights could be designed where the only way to avoid AOE would be for players to hoist themselves above the fray.

Again, this ability could be combined with the glider and/or the Zephyrite mobility functions to make for an extremely dynamic movement system.

Mastery: Night Vision

As players move further into the depths of Tyria lighting becomes a real issue. Players must unlock this new ability to see in the darkness. The distance a player can see would increase for each mastery point. Players with torches or other light granting equipment would be able to push a bit further at the beginning but this mastery would be required to react to the dangers waiting for them. To simulate this, AOE markers (the red circles indicating an impending attack) from enemies would not be visible unless they are within the visual range of the player character. Players would also not be able to fire a stable grappling line to a wall outside of the visual range.

I’m still considering the Jormag mastery…

@lordhelmos.7623 Very classic and well done story i really woudnt mind if they used this as a template.

I like these ideas simply because the OP put a lot of thought into them and is also looking towards the ramifications of the events for Tyria. While I don’t agree with everything, I can appreciate the thought that was put into this.

For me, I would make a few tweaks. Instead of making Divinity’s Reach be the actual target during the initial events, make a location which commands a strategic access point to the Crystal Desert: Ebonhawke.

While the dragons are not unintelligent, their own outlook is so different and alien, that they don’t see the world the same way.

So, here’s my tweak.

War of the Brand Part 1: Ascalon Assaulted

Begins in the Blazeridge Steppes with a massive Branded Army marching into the Plains of Ashford. The Charr Legions, being pushed back send a reluctant request for aid from the Pact to help them stabilize the line in the Devast District and Phantasmis Corridor.

The Ashford Forum becomes a forward base for the combined Pact-Legion forces marching from the Black Citadel, but the combined forces are barely able to stem the tide. This story event has several components to it, involving working frantically to stem the tide, to some extent, while also dealing with increased ghost activity as the conflict has stirred up the proverbial hornet’s nest around Ascalon City.

After several engagements against the Branded, the line is broken by a determined branded assault led by a champion of Krakatorrik, The Breaker (tentative title).

Forced back, the combined army rallies around the Barradin Estate, forced to face off against the Branded and Ascalonian Ghosts as they struggle to prevent the Branded from breaching into the Black Citadel. The story events cover the running engagement until the climax at the Walls of the Black Citadel, where the combined forces again engage The Breaker.

Boss Battle: The Breaker

Revolves around killing branded between phases while the Pact and Charr weapons charge in order to harm the boss and bring him down. Each time he is brought down, you have a brief window of time to damage him, otherwise, you are going to be busy fighting branded to buy time. Mechanically, similar to Tequatl in that respect, but scaled for a story event, so a bit easier in some respects, a lot harder in others if its only you and you didn’t bring friends.

Once The Breaker is killed, the branded assault loses momentum and is easily beaten back.

War of The Brand Part 2: The Siege of Ebonhawke

Right after the Black Citadel, you receive word that Ebonhawke is under siege by the branded. Information provided by Pact scouts shows that the branded army laying siege to Ebonhawke is easily twice the size of the one that attacked the Black Citadel. There have also been sightings of a new kind of branded in the siege. Queen Jennah is also visiting Ebonhawke for diplomatic reasons and to make matters worse, the Asura Gate was rendered inoperable due to Separatist sabotage.

This chapter of events revolves around getting access to Ebonhawke. As there are Champions of Krakatorrik in the region, aerial support is dicey at best, so the Pact forces, with some help from the Legions, decide on a bold plan to move forces to assist Ebonhawke by stemming the tide of branded reinforcements from the North and securing Tenaebron Lake, if only for long enough to get forces through.

Afterward, the story missions involve moving further south until they reach the Siege Plains, where they directly engage the branded army, cutting a path through in order to divide the branded forces assaulting Ebonhawke in two. However, the gate to the Crystal Desert is breached and now branded are inside Ebonhawke. This would be our first encounter with the Lazuli, in this case.

This chapter ends not with Queen Jennah captured, but is severely wounded by a Lazuli that managed to get close to her and the duke. Only the quick actions of Countess Anise saved Queen Jennah’s life.

End War of the Brand.

Interlude: Crisis in Kryta:

More a brief interlude as Queen Jennah’s injuries render her temporarily incapable of ruling Kryta and is focused on preventing the Ministry, in particular Caudecus, from seizing power. Focused around preventing another assassination attempt and gathering kitten ing evidence to put Caudecus down for good.

Luckily, the White Mantle, overconfident with the current state of things, provides some, as well as a White Mantle defector turning state’s evidence. This chapter concludes with Caudecus’ treachery being revealed, along with his deals with bandits and the White Mantle, as well as preventing another assassination attempt on Queen Jennah by the Lazuli, the same one which wounded her.

What about: “a tale of two dragons”.
A new campain which takes us to the domain of Jormag and Primordus. The dragons of ice and fire. Not only are the dragons opposing us, but they also have a power strugle Between them. Which of course we can use to our advantage (or not, squased between the power struggle :-p). It would make an interesting story if the dragons had their issues with each other, just like everything in nature. Instead of, ok dragon slayed, next one please.

Would also explain why minions of each dragon aren’t seen in the stomping grounds of the others. They don’t get along and the minions make for some new snacks.

jgcd.6041:

-Snip-

I really like the idea of Ebonhawke being sieged instead of the Black Citadel. This creates the kind of situation where it seems like all hope is lost for the but then the Charr come in at the last second and save them with a huge army of war engines.

This can create some really good story telling to show how all of the citizens that hate the charr suddenly find themselves saved by the most unlikely of allies. This could also carry forward the Charr bond with the other races.

kitten , can we finish this expac first? U guys work fast, anet should hire fan based devs

lordhelmos.7623:

jgcd.6041:

-Snip-

I really like the idea of Ebonhawke being sieged instead of the Black Citadel. This creates the kind of situation where it seems like all hope is lost for the but then the Charr come in at the last second and save them with a huge army of war engines.

This can create some really good story telling to show how all of the citizens that hate the charr suddenly find themselves saved by the most unlikely of allies. This could also carry forward the Charr bond with the other races.

It would also fit with the geography. Each Elder Dragon so far has been largely confined to a general geographic area, with the notable exception of Primordus, which is more because his geographic area is Tyria’s extensive underground.

While the idea of Kralkatorrik using Queen Jennah as a piece to bargain with is interesting, trying to eliminate her as a target of opportunity would also fit. Mordremoth certainly tried, even if his primary target was the Pale Tree, an assassination attempt which nearly succeeded.

As for a lore perspective, methinks that The Forgotten played a role in that, all things considered.