Guild Wars 2

I found this in Gendarran Hills north of Broadhallow Bluffs. When you interact with it you hear Emissary Vorpp say “That sample forced me to rethink some of my assumptions. I need Intel from an eyewitness to one of her portal attacks.” The machine looks like one of the portals the steam creatures use and I assume “her” is referring to Scarlett since she does use portals.

That was from Queen’s Speech patch, when Scarlet’s invasions were running 24/7

Wow, didn’t think there was anything ArenaNet forgot to remove that was from the Living Story.

Well, aside from the dialogue between hologram Kiel and the asura research (who’s name I don’t recall) in Southsun from during Secret of Southsun.

I was away from the game during this patch — did these things pop up during every invasion, or only Gendarran?

Edit: Did steam creatures only show up for certain invasions? If so, which ones?

The invasions still occur, just not nearly as frequently. I haven’t checked which ones, but I’m fairly certain that all of them can spawn steam creatures; there’s a phase where you fight only twisted creatures, and sometimes there are steam creatures among them.
The thing in the picture is only in Gendarran, you had to look at it for a part of a ‘quest’ to get to “Scarlet’s Playhouse”

This may sound like a silly question, but how did the Aetherblades and Molten Alliance reinforcements enter during the invasions? I mean mechanically, did they use portals/airships/dredge carts?

I believe the Aetherblades used both portals and airships. The Molten Alliance used portals I think. Might have been dredge carts too though. The Steam building we see in Gendarran Fields is unique to Gendarran Fields. During the invasions there were no steam creatures. Although we had escort events before the invasions started where steam creatures appeared allongside Aetherblades. This thing just popped up in Gendarran when the invasions started. I think we are missing a very big clue here. So far not a single theory to my knowledge has been able to explain the Steam Creatures in the Living World. I thought at the jubilee that Vorpp, an npc who helps you replicate the portals Scarlet uses was suspicious and posted it on reddit:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1ktw6p/is_vorpp_inquest/

Amazingly, a developer responded with a quite teasing answer:

https://twitter.com/Peter_Fries/status/370319499154554880

To all devs reading this: I freaking love teasers in this kind of form, do this more often

I still don’t understand this answer and am always on the lookout. The fact is, the only ones who knoe Vorpp is former Inquest are we now, and Vorpp himself (presumably, if he isn’t brainwashed when he left the Inquest) and the Inquest. I DONT GET THIS! I dont understand that the Inquest would let someone leave them once he knows all secrets of them. I still think Vorpp works for the Inquest.

You can interpretate this comment in a diffirent way. Maybe it is Vorpp himself who told everyone he wasnt with the Inquest anymore and gained everyones trust. He got involved with duplicating Scarlets portals and he succeeded in doing this. NOW he is nowhere to be seen. It looks to me this portal tech would have been quite useful in the updates after the Jubilee. So the thing is that someone who claims to be good knows how Scarlet makes her portals, but doesnt do anything with it (read: he is still evil) OR this is a giant plot hole OR I misunderstood

The fact the the dev had a response on this question proves its of at least a bit significance to the World. We might see him again…

Looking at the images/wiki entries from that patch, it’s possible that Vorpp was a krewe member of Professor Portmatt. Portmatt has a lab in Bloodtide Coast (Sorrowful Sound) alongside an Inquest outpost (which leads me to think that he is also Inquest). Anyways, this lab is a JP, and the whole point is that there is this teleportation device that needs tuning. Otherwise if you use it, it spits you out somewhere around the zone.

That device is the exact same one that Vorpp is using in the Pavilion; the one that you help him construct. Given that Portmatt’s lab is completely vacant of NPCs, it’s possible that each of them got sucked into an untuned portal (getting forcefully sucked in is part of the puzzle), and got spit out somewhere in Tyria. Vorpp may have gone through this.

Then either by choice or by accident, Vorpp relinquished any ties to the Inquest and took on a different name, somewhat securing a new identity that the Inquest hadn’t figured out yet.

Psynch.4087:

Looking at the images/wiki entries from that patch, it’s possible that Vorpp was a krewe member of Professor Portmatt. Portmatt has a lab in Bloodtide Coast (Sorrowful Sound) alongside an Inquest outpost (which leads me to think that he is also Inquest). Anyways, this lab is a JP, and the whole point is that there is this teleportation device that needs tuning. Otherwise if you use it, it spits you out somewhere around the zone.

That device is the exact same one that Vorpp is using in the Pavilion; the one that you help him construct. Given that Portmatt’s lab is completely vacant of NPCs, it’s possible that each of them got sucked into an untuned portal (getting forcefully sucked in is part of the puzzle), and got spit out somewhere in Tyria. Vorpp may have gone through this.

Then either by choice or by accident, Vorpp relinquished any ties to the Inquest and took on a different name, somewhat securing a new identity that the Inquest hadn’t figured out yet.

This is purely ingenious. If this doesn’t turn out to be the case indeed, my respect for the writers will drop another notch.

Pretty sure the Inquest would find Vorpp even if he changed his name. He appears to be quite a genius in portal tech though. He must be with the Inquest. Cant keep it out of my head.

He could have simply defected from the Inquest to be an Aetherblade operative. If he defected, then the Inquest know it; and they know better than to cross Scarlet.

To answer your earlier question, Psynch, the Molten Alliance used a mixture of flame portals and APCs, the aetherblades all came in airships (which I believe just swooped out of the sky, though we also know that they’re capable of coming through portals thanks to the Queen’s Jubilee), and “Scarlet’s minions” came through her steam-esque portals suspended in the sky. This last category was almost all twisted clockwork, but every so often you could (and can, I suppose) come across a portal that lets loose steam creatures instead.

Psynch.4087:

I was away from the game during this patch — did these things pop up during every invasion, or only Gendarran?

Edit: Did steam creatures only show up for certain invasions? If so, which ones?

There was only one steam portal like that – the other portals are just the electrical portal, no foundation. The invasions happened every hour but now they happen about every 5th hour or so I think.

Steam creatures showing up can happen in any invasion, I believe, but depends on the event itself. Mechanically, each event location has its own id – so the steam creature events each have their own unique id. Which events play during the events I believe is randomized, determined by the phase of the meta. It’s possible there are steam creature events in each invasion zone, but that doesn’t mean there will be one in each invasion.

Psynch.4087:

This may sound like a silly question, but how did the Aetherblades and Molten Alliance reinforcements enter during the invasions? I mean mechanically, did they use portals/airships/dredge carts?

During the invasions, Molten Alliance used dredge tunnels while Aetherblades used airships.

Oddly, MA do not use portals during the invasions, despite having their own kind of portal (Flame Legion magic). Similarly, elsewhere the Aetherblades have used portals (same kind Scarlet uses elsewhere).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Psynch.4087:

I was away from the game during this patch — did these things pop up during every invasion, or only Gendarran?

Edit: Did steam creatures only show up for certain invasions? If so, which ones?

There was only one steam portal like that – the other portals are just the electrical portal, no foundation. The invasions happened every hour but now they happen about every 5th hour or so I think.

Steam creatures showing up can happen in any invasion, I believe, but depends on the event itself. Mechanically, each event location has its own id – so the steam creature events each have their own unique id. Which events play during the events I believe is randomized, determined by the phase of the meta. It’s possible there are steam creature events in each invasion zone, but that doesn’t mean there will be one in each invasion.

Psynch.4087:

This may sound like a silly question, but how did the Aetherblades and Molten Alliance reinforcements enter during the invasions? I mean mechanically, did they use portals/airships/dredge carts?

During the invasions, Molten Alliance used dredge tunnels while Aetherblades used airships.

Oddly, MA do not use portals during the invasions, despite having their own kind of portal (Flame Legion magic). Similarly, elsewhere the Aetherblades have used portals (same kind Scarlet uses elsewhere).

Thank you for the details, this was extremely helpful.