Guild Wars 2

Right now my game is loading the patch, but there appears to be increased banditry in Kryta, interesting………

Sounds like I need to go hunting >:3

Right now each relevant location tends to be covered with players and tags, as well as directions in Map chat. It may be difficult to fully figure it out all on your own (I don’t mean you’re not smart enough, I mean there will be spoilers in your face), though if you do the daily part you will at least get in-game map guidance to where to look each day.

The White Mantle are ramping up their game as magic overflows in Tyria.

Now here’s my question… it’s stated during the A Study in Gold achievement that the Forgotten had no means to empower a Bloodstone, but we kind of sort of saw the White Mantle/Mursaat do that.

Does this mean that the mursaat have the means – which requires divine magic apparently, according to A Study in Gold – to do this? After all, they seem to be empowering the bloodstone per raid wing 2.

This could mean that not only do the remaining Elder Dragons become more powerful, but the White Mantle – via the Bloodstone – will as well. And in turn, whatever mursaat are still living.

Makes me wonder if the mursaat’s grand master plan after betraying the races during the last dragonrise was to wait for the Elder Dragons to start dying off and using the excess magic to power their own devices. Would explain why the Jade Armors, Ether Seals and the mursaat’s structures on the Ring of Fire appeared similar to the Bloodstones in material (as opposed to jade like the jade armors’ name suggests) – could be they were basically building a force that would be empowered by the excess magic once an Elder Dragon was killed.

(Of course this would be a retcon in technicality since the Elder Dragons didn’t exist in lore during Prophecies’ development, but hey )

Can we not have the charr take some after the human prisons are full? I don’t want them forging an alliance with the separatists that would be bad news. The only thing worse in Tyria than criminals are criminals who combine their powers yet even further endangering the citizens.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Does this mean that the mursaat have the means – which requires divine magic apparently, according to A Study in Gold – to do this?

I don’t know that the two are close enough to say they need the same process. By context, the Forgotten is talking about doing what the Seers did last rise, whisking away all the free magic in the world into their rock. What the Mantle are doing are sacrificing captives and draining magic from their- souls? deaths?- one person’s worth at a time. They’re using the same medium, yes, but in radically different ways.

And where the Seer’s bloodstone process seemed to contain the magikittenil the gods played with it, the Mantle’s shards are leaking enough power straight back out to change the weather and invent the Red Templars.

@Agemnon Nah, that’s never happened. Don’t think ANet’s heard of the trope.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Does this mean that the mursaat have the means – which requires divine magic apparently, according to A Study in Gold – to do this?

I don’t know that the two are close enough to say they need the same process. By context, the Forgotten is talking about doing what the Seers did last rise, whisking away all the free magic in the world into their rock. What the Mantle are doing are sacrificing captives and draining magic from their- souls? deaths?- one person’s worth at a time. They’re using the same medium, yes, but in radically different ways.

And where the Seer’s bloodstone process seemed to contain the magikittenil the gods played with it, the Mantle’s shards are leaking enough power straight back out to change the weather and invent the Red Templars.

@Agemnon Nah, that’s never happened. Don’t think ANet’s heard of the trope.

That is why we must put our excess prisoners in Asura lands. The Inquest are always up to no good but don’t want anything to do with dirty humans. They’re lying low however so we know they’re preparing trouble down the road too. But I’ll be there…vigilant…stoic…and be the hero Tyria doesn’t deserve, but the hero it needs.

Agemnon.4608:

Can we not have the charr take some after the human prisons are full? I don’t want them forging an alliance with the separatists that would be bad news. The only thing worse in Tyria than criminals are criminals who combine their powers yet even further endangering the citizens.

1) Charr don’t take separatist prisoners as far as we know. They don’t take many prisoners, honestly. Ebonhawke would, however.

2) The events of Caudecus’ Manor story indicate that Separatists are no friend to corrupt ministers (who work for the White Mantle knowingly or not/are White Mantle).

Aaron Ansari.1604:

I don’t know that the two are close enough to say they need the same process. By context, the Forgotten is talking about doing what the Seers did last rise, whisking away all the free magic in the world into their rock. What the Mantle are doing are sacrificing captives and draining magic from their- souls? deaths?- one person’s worth at a time. They’re using the same medium, yes, but in radically different ways.

And where the Seer’s bloodstone process seemed to contain the magikittenil the gods played with it, the Mantle’s shards are leaking enough power straight back out to change the weather and invent the Red Templars.

On the part of leaking out – I haven’t fought Matthias but from reading the dialogue on the wiki I took it to be that Matthias was taking in magic actively and losing control of it, not that magic was seeping into the world from the bloodstone shards.

As to the first part – while the amount is on lower levels, that doesn’t mean it isn’t what the Six Gods basically did when they siphoned magic off of Zhaitan to empower the Bloodstones. It’s just a different scale.

However, keep in mind that the “windstorm” talked about appears to be the magical energy from Mordremoth’s death going through the ley lines that pass through the raid area and empowering everything magical there. That “everything” likely includes the Bloodstone. Now, consider what would happen to other Bloodstone-like materials elsewhere placed on ley lines… now remember that when Mordremoth died, his magic went into four directions – north towards Tarir and the raid… and south, towards the Ring of Fire Islands. And what’s there?

Food for thought.

But I doubt it’d come to pass.

Agemnon.4608:

That is why we must put our excess prisoners in Asura lands. The Inquest are always up to no good but don’t want anything to do with dirty humans. They’re lying low however so we know they’re preparing trouble down the road too. But I’ll be there…vigilant…stoic…and be the hero Tyria doesn’t deserve, but the hero it needs.

I’m not so sure about that…

And I wouldn’t call them lying low when they were actively annoying in Season 2’s first half.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

On the part of leaking out – I haven’t fought Matthias but from reading the dialogue on the wiki I took it to be that Matthias was taking in magic actively and losing control of it, not that magic was seeping into the world from the bloodstone shards.

As to the first part – while the amount is on lower levels, that doesn’t mean it isn’t what the Six Gods basically did when they siphoned magic off of Zhaitan to empower the Bloodstones. It’s just a different scale.

However, keep in mind that the “windstorm” talked about appears to be the magical energy from Mordremoth’s death going through the ley lines that pass through the raid area and empowering everything magical there. That “everything” likely includes the Bloodstone. Now, consider what would happen to other Bloodstone-like materials elsewhere placed on ley lines… now remember that when Mordremoth died, his magic went into four directions – north towards Tarir and the raid… and south, towards the Ring of Fire Islands. And what’s there?

Food for thought.

But I doubt it’d come to pass.

What about devices that are recently installed and are on ley-Line crossroads or use their energy in their study?

- Will Rata Novus, suddenly go haywire?
- What about the Taumanova Reactor, which is still in turmoil? (Fire Elemental upgrade?)
- What about the Crucible of Eternity? While it is mostly used for elder dragon research, it is on a ley line if I am not mistaken. It also sprung from the Taumanova Reactor incident.
- What about the Chakk? Will the sudden burst in power cause them to go even crazier?
- What about Rata Sum? They knew about Ley Line energy for a much logner time, then they said. What if some of their power is based upon said energy?
- What about the open ley line access in Lions Arch? Will it cause trouble, as it is easily accessable.

Concerning the White Mantle, though. If they were filling the bloodstone allready in a -controlled- manner, then a sudden unexpected burst of energy could throw a wrench into their plans, as it would charge them up much faster then wanted and cuse all kinds of troubles.

In order:

• Probably, we’ll find out when we get to Taimi.
• Unlikely because it’s in a starter zone. Especially that Fire Elemental upgrade. Those world bosses are intentionally easy. It might get a mention in dialogue but I doubt we’ll see much in the game itself.
• Nothing actually says it was built on a ley line.
• Chak already drop Unidentified Lodestones, dialogue state they drop from dragon minions. 1+1
• Where do you get that they knew about ley lines for a much longer time than they said? All we know is that ley lines were theorized before Scarlet proved them – only Rata Novus, which was isolated and secretive – knew of ley lines among the asura, as far as we know. Any asuran devices prior to S2 that use ley energy was purely coincidental (another case of asura dabbling in crap they don’t understand).
• I wouldn’t call it easily accessible given that a caved in drill is in the way – remember that the drill was going on for a long time (couple weeks even in lore), so it must have gone deep before hitting that ley line.

As for the ‘wrench in the White Mantle’s plan’ idea – possibly, or alternatively it could have given them a boost hastening their plan. Especially under my theory that the mursaat were wanting the Elder Dragons to die to power their stuff (now inherited by the White Mantle).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

This could mean that not only do the remaining Elder Dragons become more powerful,

This is something I never really understood. Dragons absorb magic when they are awake and release the magic when they sleep, so the quantity of magic is always the same. Primordus is awake for 250 years, while Mordremoth was awake for a few months at max. So why should the other dragons suddenly become more powerful? Mordy couldn’t release much magic when he died cos he didn’t have much time to absorb it. The cinematic after his death seems to say that when he died his body “exploded” and spread his magic through the ley lines (or something similar to ley lines), but I doubt the other dragons absorbed it instantly and become more powerful. If that was so Primordus would had just took all the magic when he woke. Do we know if dragons have a maximum capacity? And then there is Zhaitan’s death that makes it even more complicated. Any clarification on this would be great.

To get back on the bandits: is there any hint or theory why the creates and the bosses are on those spots and maps?

Thank you and sorry for bad English.

Can’t help with the bandit events- not enough there to really analyze from a lore perspective- but for the dragons…

I’m not convinced that the other dragons will power up either, but there are two reasons others believe it. First off, even at the end of their hibernation they’re clearly not completely dry of magic- they still do a lot of damage and corruption right after awakening, after all. That means that every time a dragon dies, or so the theory goes, those reserves are released and the potential maximum for environmental magic, and so the potential maximum amount of magic the other dragons have to feed on, goes up. The second point is that the dragons don’t drain magic at a constant rate. They consume what’s around them, meaning that if there’s more magic surrounding them, they get more powerful more quickly. Incidentally, that’s why Mordremoth had so much to release- thanks to Scarlet it was essentially swimming in food. That entire area under where we fight the Mouth of Mordremoth? Filled to the brim with ley-line energy, and Mordremoth had had months to feast on it.

The problem with the theory, though, is that we don’t know that a dragon’s magic goes back into the world instantly upon its death- quite the opposite, actually. Mordremoth was literally filled to bursting, as described above, and was planted on a volatile nexus of energy to boot, but we never saw any explosion when Zhaitan died. Furthermore, Glint’s body, who we now believe to have been a sort of immature Elder Dragon, retained its magic; the Zephyrites fly using crystals seeded from her corpse. It’s more likely, to my mind, at least, that dead dragons usually keep the energy inside themselves for a while. The threat isn’t that killing them will make the survivors stronger, not in the short term, but that one of the survivors could get a power boost if it came and munched on the body.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

1) Charr don’t take separatist prisoners as far as we know. They don’t take many prisoners, honestly. Ebonhawke would, however.

Charr does take many prisoners, too. They have several human prisoners who were let go, into the Gladium district in the Black citadel. The excess prisoners are located in the Blood Citadel, where large sum of prisoners are held at.

A NPC gave us a one-liner that only stated that Blood citadel is a Prison camp, meaning that it’s most likely any prisoners caught is sent to Blood citadel, perhap for re-education, tortures, and other dark means.

That one-liner is “Chances are they’ll be sent to the Blood Citadel, where they’ll be properly punished.” Nothing in there to say that the Blood Citadel has a large number of prisoners, or that they’re a prison camp dedicated to torture, or that prisoners are routinely sent there, or even that the Blood Citadel has any different way of handling prisoners than the Black one. Just that, in that particular instance, two prisoners were being sent, and that the Black Citadel’s jailor believed they would face a justified punishment there.

Also, considering that there are a grand known total of two human prisoners from the years they warred with Ebonhawke, you can’t exactly use that as proof that they take ‘many’. Just that it’s known to happen on some occasions.

Underdark.3726:

-snip-

First off, Primordus has only been awake for ~200 years. It’s been ~250 years since GW1, but Primordus awoke 50 years after GW1 (thanks to the events of GW1) – presumably around the same time the DSD woke up.

As to why Mordremoth released so much magic, you can thank Scarlet for this. She redirected the ley lines causing a HUGE magical breakfast in bed for Mordremoth – bigger than any other Elder Dragon got – and he was tapping straight into the ley lines across Central Tyria thanks to his vines. He had a far larger reach than any other Elder Dragon, and got a larger boost than Jormag getting magic from norn (Sons of Svanir), or the like. Both Primordus and Kralkatorrik seemed to have awoken on their own – no aid from a dragon minion like Drakkar or Scarlet Briar – and thus would have woken far weaker (and 50 years later) than those who did wake up on time (DSD, Jormag, Zhaitan) let alone Mordremoth (who got that power boost the others didn’t).

Also keep in mind that Zhaitan recently died, and he’s been absorbing magic from Orr for 100 years. Alongside the Artesian Waters which may be a ley line nexus, he had all the powerful and ancient artifacts the Six Gods were hoarding from the ancient races like the jotun and mursaat, as well as bloodstone fragments, and all the other magical artifacts Orrians had – which was, quite frankly, a lot.

Primordus and the DSD also had magic sources for themselves, of course, which are probably on par to what Zhaitan got (minus the army of ready minions – the corpses of Orr).

We saw how much magic Mordremoth released, and it was quite a lot. We even see some effects of it in the raid and the “windstorm” caused by Mordremoth’s released magic.

Furthermore, unlike Glint and seemingly Zhaitan, Mordremoth’s magic was released in a powerful burst (while Glint and Zhaitan’s magic was seepd out like when hibernating), resulting in a power spike rather than a gradual power increase.

You’re probably right that they didn’t absorb it instantaneously and become more powerful, but as we see in recent events in the game, ley lines are now overflowing, giving the Elder Dragons more magic to consume. Instantly? No. Quickly? Why not.

Underdark.3726:

If that was so Primordus would had just took all the magic when he woke. Do we know if dragons have a maximum capacity?

This is probably your main confusion right here. To answer the second question: no we do not know.

As to Primordus absorbing magic when he woke. Keep in mind two things:

1) Minions absorb magic too, and Primordus had very few when he woke thanks to our actions in GW1.

2) Primordus couldn’t get all the magic in the world because he couldn’t travel across the world before the other Elder Dragons awoke. The DSD awoke around when he did, by all indication. Mordremoth got so much because he could cover more ground far faster than the other Elder Dragons – for this reason he was repeatedly called the greatest threat among Elder Dragons (though the Mordrem Guard made him a second reason to be the greatest threat) and is probably why we have three active dragons now – to top off the apparent “singular strongest Elder Dragon”.

Underdark.3726:

To get back on the bandits: is there any hint or theory why the creates and the bosses are on those spots and maps?

They’re picking up supplies, is really all that seems to be there. Those spots are out of the way or near bandit camps.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

• I wouldn’t call it easily accessible given that a caved in drill is in the way – remember that the drill was going on for a long time (couple weeks even in lore), so it must have gone deep before hitting that ley line.[

Eh, I honestly doubt it was there for a couple weeks, because the driving force preventing the lionguard from charging back into the city was merely the miasma, which they were waiting for the wind to shift and blow it out. Even then, we know the drill is huge and it had the breachmaker powering it, so I doubt anything will be able to match that soon, especially from the White Mantle.