Guild Wars 2

If magic stems from the leylines, and now all leylines travel directly to Mordremoth (or at least the seven that intersect at LA) what effect is that going to have on magic in the area? Are the asura going to be blowing magitechbreakers left and right while the Flame Legion won’t be able to ignite a torch? Is Kralkatorrik suddenly going to get a lot hungrier?

First, we don’t know the extent of the disruption- it’s quite possible that it only diverted a single line, and it’s also possible that the change will reverse itself once Magnus gets to blow the Breechmaker apart.

As for the effect- nothing. Nothing whatsoever will change, because ley lines have no bearing on the usual practice of magic. They are just the means by which magic circulates about the world on a macro level- magic is by no means confined solely to the ley lines. Nothing actually directly taps into them, so nothing would be negatively or positively affected by the change, with the possible exception of the Thaumanova fallout. As for Kralkatorrik, that depends. If he was leeching off of a ley line that happens to pass under Lion’s Arch, then maybe, but the dragons aren’t dependent on ley lines either- Zhaitan’s main food source was said to be magical artifacts, and we know nothing of the diet of the other four.

If anything, I think she turbocharged it. The dragons are slowly woken when the magic level reaches a certain amount and she must have spiked that to rouse the sleeping Mordremoth.

Thus, magic users should see a spike in power over the period as the dragon did. With regards to magitech, more power is usually a good thing so long as you have a decently built system to cope with it.

Compare it to the fact that a frog can be boiled alive without any problem as long as you turn up the heat of the water very slowly. The frog will not jump out of the water unless there is a sudden shift in temperature.
Similarly, the slow rise of magic levels will wake up mordremoth very slowly. But if the graph of the magic levels starts jumping all over the place, suddenly it’s interest is piqued!

Aaron Ansari.1604:

As for the effect- nothing. Nothing whatsoever will change, because ley lines have no bearing on the usual practice of magic. They are just the means by which magic circulates about the world on a macro level- magic is by no means confined solely to the ley lines. Nothing actually directly taps into them, so nothing would be negatively or positively affected by the change, with the possible exception of the Thaumanova fallout.

Is this completely accurate? I’m going off of this:

Magic is the lifeblood of Tyria. The entire world is infused with it, and it flows through everything via ley lines that criss-cross the planet.
The natural role of the dragons is to keep this magic balanced. From time to time, in the long history of the world, the dragons have awoken and begun to draw the world’s magic into themselves, reducing the level of magic flowing through the ley lines.

When the dragons have consumed enough and thus reduced the world to a low level of magic, they go back to sleep. From then on, the magic leaks from them, back into the world at a reasonable rate. Eventually, it builds up in the world again, and the dragons awaken again to tip the teeter-totter back in the other direction.

The citizens of Tyria have ready access to this flow of magic from a very young age. They are, after all, as much a natural part of the world as are the dragons. There are as many individual ways to tap into that magic as there are people in Tyria. Some follow the methods taught to them by mentors or teachers. Others devise their own special style and relationship with magic. Some use items to enhance or channel their powers, such as the Zephyrites who use their crystals to access the Aspects.

An individual’s level of experience and knowledge affects how effectively she utilizes the magic available to them. For the most part, she can channel magic without fatigue or risk to her health. However, if a person were to stretch too far, say by using an item she’s unfamiliar with or attempting a spell more powerful than what she’s used to, then that person is taking a risk. An uncontrolled spell can do terrible damage. For this reason, most intelligent magic-users stretch carefully into spells and magical items they don’t understand.

This makes it sound like ley lines are magical rivers that magic users drink from. If Scarlet built a magic dam and redirected all rivers to Mordy, she’s going to turn the Crystal Desert in to a desert (location only choosen for the pun, I have no idea where the other ley lines go.) And it certainly looks like she re-flooded Thaumanova.

While obviously magic is not confined directly to ley lines, presumably they have capillary type lines that cover the planet entirely. This is pure speculation, but so — as far as I can tell? — is the idea that ley lines are completely unrelated to magic on the surface.

She did not disrupt the flow to mess with magic. I don’t feel there’s any other purpose other than to feed Mordy and to possibly do something with Thaumanova. Apart from that, I feel there’s very little else to garner from her actions.

She almost definitely did it specifically to wake up Mordy. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other consequences though. I feel for game play reasons they’ll probably ignore the idea, but maybe something minor will come up on the 18th.

@Fluffball I cede that you might be right. I had forgotten that interview. I submit for your consideration, though- if that were the case, our spells and magitech should be of different strengths at different places. Nothing of the sort is ever seen, or mentioned, or even hinted at- the very closest you get is that magic use was more widespread among the general populace of Orr, something attributed to the land being more magical. If it were a direct relationship, too, mapping ley lines would be as simple as casting a fireball every five steps and seeing how brightly it burns. So at the very least, I would say (and this is still speculation) that there’s no correlation between the power of a magical effect and the power of the local ley line, and so any re-routing is still not going to have any effects on spellcasting.

If everything is working as intended, presumably there is a steady coverage of the globe. However (and they would never show this in weapon skills due to gameplay) if you shut down the main ley lines of an entire region, you might be too far from the flow of magic and notice a difference.

I mean the Breachmaker is going to get shut down at some point, so this is probably a moot point. But it has interesting ramifications for elder dragons, inquest facilities, and what exactly ley lines do.