Guild Wars 2

I am curious, have we learned yet how Revenant magic suddenly becomes common knowledge? Did they just look at Rytlock and facepalm and go “Oh of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” And then switched to being a Revenant?

Hopefully the expansion will have more, but the closest we have so far is this excerpt from this article almost three months ago: " The story of how charr tribune Rytlock Brimstone became the first revenant hasn’t yet been told, but at the launch of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, he’ll have brought the knowledge of how to obtain that power to the world of Tyria, making it somewhat common knowledge. There’s no profession-specific story content planned for the expansion, but a brand-new revenant starting on their journey will not have had to visit the Mists or undergo any more of an advanced process to access revenant powers than they would for the other core professions. All that’s necessary to begin training as a revenant is knowledge of the profession, the faith and will to reach into the Mists, and an open mind. "

RAZAH!
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Razah

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Hopefully the expansion will have more, but the closest we have so far is this excerpt from this article almost three months ago: " The story of how charr tribune Rytlock Brimstone became the first revenant hasn’t yet been told, but at the launch of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, he’ll have brought the knowledge of how to obtain that power to the world of Tyria, making it somewhat common knowledge. There’s no profession-specific story content planned for the expansion, but a brand-new revenant starting on their journey will not have had to visit the Mists or undergo any more of an advanced process to access revenant powers than they would for the other core professions. All that’s necessary to begin training as a revenant is knowledge of the profession, the faith and will to reach into the Mists, and an open mind. "

Or in other words… ~handwave~

The explanation of an Revenant is… Oh look a shiny Quaagan, quick catch it.

Yeah, they kinda dropped the ball so far in that regard.
Our only hope is the HoT storyline, however this only means Timey Wimey conundrums in the end.

They should really clear things up about: Rytlock becoming the first Revenant and then having people in the past (pre Zaithans fall) be able to become them and even have them be common knowledge (btw. big plot hole if traveling to HoT regions isn`t required to gain access to elite spzialisations, as the Herald is able to summon and talk to Glint herself , because it would make a lot of S2 meaningless).

They should have just given the Revenant a special starting zone, with quick level and the option to relive the core games story in flashbacks .
Problem solved and everything is in order.

Though if their power is to shape the mist, maybe they integrate themselves automaticly into the past storyline, after becoming a Revenant in the future.
Stil a big time mess, but that would kinda make sense (or implant an image in the worlds mind, without the need to be there in the first place)

I can’t wait to make a new Revenant, level it up, run through the personal story, kill Zhaitan, complete the LS2 arc, head into Verdant Brink and have Rox just about soil herself with amazement at this NEW MAGIC that Rytlock is using.

I think the in-lore explanation is that the PC revenants didn’t actually become revenants until after Rytlock shows up, but actually did the stuff up to that point as some other profession. That in practise we can do the PS and S2 as a revenant is a compromise between lore, gameplay, and ArenaNet not wanting to program in an actual profession change.

I think this is simply just a case of suspension of disbelief, to be honest. Revenant Magic would probably become common during late 1328 AE. It wouldn’t exist before then. That part, I see, as only mechanics. Just like I don’t believe bandit champions are the size of norn, or pistols have unlimited ammo.

Heavy roleplayers would simply not play a revenant if they set their game before 1328 AE, or come up with a Mist-Time reason (which is possible). It’s not really that big of a deal.

Jaken.6801:

The explanation of an Revenant is… Oh look a shiny Quaagan, quick catch it.

Yeah, they kinda dropped the ball so far in that regard.
Our only hope is the HoT storyline, however this only means Timey Wimey conundrums in the end.

They should really clear things up about: Rytlock becoming the first Revenant and then having people in the past (pre Zaithans fall) be able to become them and even have them be common knowledge (btw. big plot hole if traveling to HoT regions isn`t required to gain access to elite spzialisations, as the Herald is able to summon and talk to Glint herself , because it would make a lot of S2 meaningless).

They should have just given the Revenant a special starting zone, with quick level and the option to relive the core games story in flashbacks .
Problem solved and everything is in order.

Though if their power is to shape the mist, maybe they integrate themselves automaticly into the past storyline, after becoming a Revenant in the future.
Stil a big time mess, but that would kinda make sense (or implant an image in the worlds mind, without the need to be there in the first place)

A Net has a habit of not limiting gameplay based on timeline conundrums.

In GW1, they merely solved this by slapping a message that said “these events take place in the past”, but only half-so. For example, Prophecies took place in 1072 AE, but Nightfall took place in 1075 AE. All the same, a Nightfall character could go through all of Prophecies, however only the missions prior to the transfer point had the message of the events being in the past. Similarly, regardless of campaign origin you can play through any campaign in any order once you reach the transfer point.

I see the revenant player situation to be the same. They weren’t always a revenant but due to ANet’s way, revenant could go through past events.

I would not be surprised if all of the PS is in sepia for revenant characters like the old LA instances are now.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Jaken.6801:

The explanation of an Revenant is… Oh look a shiny Quaagan, quick catch it.

Yeah, they kinda dropped the ball so far in that regard.
Our only hope is the HoT storyline, however this only means Timey Wimey conundrums in the end.

They should really clear things up about: Rytlock becoming the first Revenant and then having people in the past (pre Zaithans fall) be able to become them and even have them be common knowledge (btw. big plot hole if traveling to HoT regions isn`t required to gain access to elite spzialisations, as the Herald is able to summon and talk to Glint herself , because it would make a lot of S2 meaningless).

They should have just given the Revenant a special starting zone, with quick level and the option to relive the core games story in flashbacks .
Problem solved and everything is in order.

Though if their power is to shape the mist, maybe they integrate themselves automaticly into the past storyline, after becoming a Revenant in the future.
Stil a big time mess, but that would kinda make sense (or implant an image in the worlds mind, without the need to be there in the first place)

A Net has a habit of not limiting gameplay based on timeline conundrums.

In GW1, they merely solved this by slapping a message that said “these events take place in the past”, but only half-so. For example, Prophecies took place in 1072 AE, but Nightfall took place in 1075 AE. All the same, a Nightfall character could go through all of Prophecies, however only the missions prior to the transfer point had the message of the events being in the past. Similarly, regardless of campaign origin you can play through any campaign in any order once you reach the transfer point.

I see the revenant player situation to be the same. They weren’t always a revenant but due to ANet’s way, revenant could go through past events.

I would not be surprised if all of the PS is in sepia for revenant characters like the old LA instances are now.

Hey, thats actually something I wouldn`t mind.
Just put a little sequence before it, like Rytlock coming from the mists and sending out a wave of energy, awaken other revenants in the world.

Still wouldn`t solve the problem of them being a Pact Comander. There needs to be some mist time hopping, but as it has been said, ANet might not adress that.

Jaken.6801:

Still wouldn`t solve the problem of them being a Pact Comander. There needs to be some mist time hopping, but as it has been said, ANet might not adress that.

Rytlock: Remind me, Commander, what profession were you before being a revenant, when you became Commander?
Player: <pick one of eight>

Solved? :P

I imagine it’d just be ignored and never mentioned, like how it is never brought to attention that the savior of Tyria who slaughtered the Lich Lord was some Elonian dude prancing around in skirts and shouting at people instead of one of the core six professions. Despite the fact that the Elonian hero didn’t really become such until three years after Khilbron’s demise.

That sort of works, Konig, other than the awkwardness of:

Kasmeer: "So much wreckage … "
Laranthir: “We salads don’t suck as much as you are saying we suck.”
Mordremoth: “KILL THEM. KILL THEM ALL.”
Player fights alongside the biconics, Revenanting all over the battlefield
Rytlock cutscene
Biconics: “Whoa, you’re back, and you’re using strange magics we have never seen before because the Boss sure wasn’t doing the exact same thing to save our butts just now.”

Well, depending on when elite specialisations become unlockable, the Herald skills at least might be new…

I suspect, though, that the canon will be that you didn’t actually become a revenant until AFTER that cutscene. Until then, you were a warrior/thief/guardian/whatever in the lore (but not, obviously, in mechanics, because having to play up to that point with a core profession until you could swap would suck from a gameplay perspective).

I am a bit surprised they haven’t connected revanants to ritualists from Guild Wars yet. The magic the two use are extremely similar. Rather than calling on the spirits of ancestral heroes they call upon legendary heroes, and rather than being mainly casters they are mainly martial combatants. It feels very much like the evolution from monk to guardian all over again.

They even share the ritualistically blinding oneself thing.

I’ve said this many times before: we need some profession lore.

I was under the interpretation that dervish magic no longer works so they all became ritualists who practiced in the style of dervishes. Instead of channeling spirits they become avatars of them.

There’s no reason why dervish magic wouldn’t work any longer. They might have been empowered – in part – by the gods (mysticism) but that was only a portion of their power and furthermore divine magic still exists in the world. The human racial skills are stated on the official page for humans to be “granted by the Six Gods.” So ‘dervish magic’ that’s tied to the gods would be no different than human racials.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

There’s no reason why dervish magic wouldn’t work any longer. They might have been empowered – in part – by the gods (mysticism) but that was only a portion of their power and furthermore divine magic still exists in the world. The human racial skills are stated on the official page for humans to be “granted by the Six Gods.” So ‘dervish magic’ that’s tied to the gods would be no different than human racials.

The reason people in central Tyria have not seen the six, is because there all in Elona getting a tan. I’m sure there are still Dervish there, just not in Central Tyria. Been forgotten or what not over the last 200+ years. Same for Monks, they are just all busy praying for the gods to come back. They don’t have time to be running around helping people.

The only problem I see is the “Rytlock is the first revenant” quote, that as far as we know is not (yet?) in game.
Rox words can be interpreted as “Rytlock is a warrior, why he is using new abilities?”, so that “new magic” is meant as new for Rytlock, not for the world.
Or, if we’re really that desperate (and the commander still hasn’t unlocked herald), she could talk about glint elite skill.

Before that everyone could have simply thought that the commander was gifted with special skills, no need to name a profession for a single person.
After Rytlock come back the fact that others can learn those skills become common knowledge, so the revenant as an “official” profession is born.

No need for misty-time travel and the like…

We have to forget about that “Rytlock is the first” or think it was a mistake, though.
And given that it’s not a quote from the game itself, I guess it’s ok doing so.

“Rytlock the first revenant” could be from charr prespective.
Could is the keyword.

However so far we don`t know anything about that, because the devs are keeping the apearent story hidden (as they do with the (in my opinion) stupid dragonhunter), to keep the mystery going (like they did dozens of time before, which is just annoying and caused more problems than satisfaction, which is just frustrating).

They use the “first revenant” over and over.
be it in marketing or not.
It is there to stay and I bet in the story everyone will be excited to see him perform these skills and asking why wears a blindfold now.

As for the players, they won`t put in the effort to explain the existence retroactively.
The only explanation is:
- “Look, Rytlock is a revenant, so revenant is part of the lore. Everyone can be a revanant.”

- “But how, if he is one in the future and I am playing the past.”

- “he is ingame, he is in the lore, it is legit, deal with it.”

Oh wait. If the line “he is the first revenant” is uttered in the game. If it is confirmed that he is the first of all revenants, wouldn`t they have to change things to acomidate it?
Isn`t the new rule: Everything that is in game and the books is canon
So isn`t us being reveants, without an explanation (and the one we got for RP players was dancing around the issue as well), kinda questinoable?

I know we never got a new starting zone for a profession, but we got always a customized introduction.
We got little instances that teached us our basics, based on the locations we started.