Guild Wars 2

I’m a huge fan of the lore in GW1. Thus far I’ve been disappointed by the word presented in GW2 but I feel like a lot of people are finding lore that I am not. I talk to a lot of NPCs and investigate objects I see but most of the text I find is about the most mundane pedestrian stuff. My question is, am I missing something? Or is everyone getting the interesting lore from external sources? i.e Wiki or mod responses.

Some of it does come from external sources. But you can also learn a lot by combining different scraps of lore found in-game which on their own don’t tell you much.

I’ve also found you can usually learn more by listening to conversations NPCs have on their own than by speaking to them. They often discuss events in the world, both past and present and reveal things you might not know in the process.

Danikat.8537:

Some of it does come from external sources. But you can also learn a lot by combining different scraps of lore found in-game which on their own don’t tell you much.

I’ve also found you can usually learn more by listening to conversations NPCs have on their own than by speaking to them. They often discuss events in the world, both past and present and reveal things you might not know in the process.

Well, for example, how does every know
[Spoiler]About the dragons.There is a sixth dragon, potentially underwater?
I’ve read that it was mentioned in interviews or Q&A’s. But for example, is it possible to find that in game? or anything really relevant besides “We use watersheds.”

That I think did come entirely from developer interviews.

Although the hints are there – something drove the krait, quaggan etc. from the deep sea, and it’s recently driven the karka out too so we know it has to be something extremely powerful. With dragons besieging every other area of Tyria it’s not hard to guess what that something might be.

Danikat.8537:

That I think did come entirely from developer interviews.

Although the hints are there – something drove the krait, quaggan etc. from the deep sea, and it’s recently driven the karka out too so we know it has to be something extremely powerful. With dragons besieging every other area of Tyria it’s not hard to guess what that something might be.

Alright. Well. That’s upsetting. But thank you for the answer

Why is it upsetting?

They can’t put every single piece of lore (even the stuff they want us to know) into random conversations in-game. They could go the Elder Scrolls route and put a lot more readable books into the game and make them a lot longer (which I’d like but I’m not sure how many people would read them), but other than that the only really practical route is to cover it outside of the game.

Danikat.8537:

Why is it upsetting?

They can’t put every single piece of lore (even the stuff they want us to know) into random conversations in-game. They could go the Elder Scrolls route and put a lot more readable books into the game and make them a lot longer (which I’d like but I’m not sure how many people would read them), but other than that the only really practical route is to cover it outside of the game.

Practical but it takes me out of the fantasy. I’m no RPer but I hate knowing more about current events than my character rightfully should. I love that moment when I consider what my character has experienced and extrapolate that by myself and come up with some theory. Also, for the sake of argument, Elder Scrolls has a much more immense and elaborate universe than Guild Wars. I personally would also love some books to read. I was incredibly disappointed by the books I found in the Durmand Priory. If you consider the amount of lore there is in GW that isn’t character specific, there doesn’t seem to be a MOMENTOUS amount of lore that could be written. I don’t think it would be a huge task but there would certainly be little pay off for Anet in terms of who would use that resource. I might make a post on Suggestions about it later, though. Thanks for that.

I just want to clear up, the sixth supposed dragon is a nature themed one, not aquatic. The aquatic one is ‘known’, in that the quaggan/largos talk about it sometimes. But the clues for the nature dragon are mainly from the Infinity Coil in Mount Maelstrom.
Like Danikat said, finding lore in game sometimes is more of observing surroundings and inferring, rather than having stuff outright explained. For the 6th dragon, you can look at Infinty coil, notice there are six ‘zones’, and that 5 of them relate to the five dragons (there’s a red zone with destroyers, black zone with risen, etc). The sixth is green, and only has a skill point, and inside the CoE dungeon there are some TA mobs running around, amongst other dragon minions.
So it’s much more subtle than I think you are looking for

Mystic Starfish.2586:

I just want to clear up, the sixth supposed dragon is a nature themed one, not aquatic. The aquatic one is ‘known’, in that the quaggan/largos talk about it sometimes. But the clues for the nature dragon are mainly from the Infinity Coil in Mount Maelstrom.
Like Danikat said, finding lore in game sometimes is more of observing surroundings and inferring, rather than having stuff outright explained. For the 6th dragon, you can look at Infinty coil, notice there are six ‘zones’, and that 5 of them relate to the five dragons (there’s a red zone with destroyers, black zone with risen, etc). The sixth is green, and only has a skill point, and inside the CoE dungeon there are some TA mobs running around, amongst other dragon minions.
So it’s much more subtle than I think you are looking for

Well, to be honest, I’ve not been to Infinity Coil. I haven’t completed all the zones yet. I know it seems like it’s too soon for me to comment but thus far, GW2 lacks the mystique of GW1. Where GW1 presented questions with a reality that none of them get answered immediately, GW2 presents next to no questions and no intrigue. What I meant by the example of the dragon is that we should not be told by Anet that there is anything but what we have seen thus far. We should have the clues and we should be left to ponder on our own.

To sum up the Elder Scrolls comment, I should mention that there was never a point in my years of playing TES when I felt I needed to go look something up on the wiki. I very much enjoyed the idea that I had a subject in my mind that I wanted to know more about, so I would keep my eyes open for a sage or someone with knowledge. Even so far as to seek our libraries and mage colleges for books on the subject. I feel that The Durmand Priory, by its very definition, is the tool that should have been used to convey knowledge in the game instead of dolling it out to the masses in Q&A’s.

New topic on Suggestions board about adding books/libraries/lore sources.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/In-Game-Lore-Sources-Priory

Here’s an interesting unanswered question. The entire Lost Shores event. Why did nobody notice the island just off the coast til now? How do the karka fit into lore? Who, in the name of all the Gods, thought it would be a good idea to teach them how to barrel roll? Lots of unanswered questions to ponder, you just need to know where to look.

Leetfreek.2163:

Well, for example, how does every know
[Spoiler]About the dragons.There is a sixth dragon, potentially underwater?
I’ve read that it was mentioned in interviews or Q&A’s. But for example, is it possible to find that in game? or anything really relevant besides “We use watersheds.”

The underwater one is the fifth Elder Dragon, known since the ED were known, which came from a GW2 promotion way back in 2007. Since then, there have been interviews, blog posts, and a few NPC dialogues hinting at something powerful pushing aquatic races out of the Unending Ocean.

The sixth was found out by NPCs in the Durmand Priory building. Though you have to be a member of the Priory in the storyline to get such comments.

Here’s an interesting unanswered question. The entire Lost Shores event. Why did nobody notice the island just off the coast til now? How do the karka fit into lore? Who, in the name of all the Gods, thought it would be a good idea to teach them how to barrel roll? Lots of unanswered questions to ponder, you just need to know where to look.

1) Based on appearances, the island seems to be new. Also, risen controlled the Sea of Sorrows until recently.
2) Karka are a deep water aquatic race forced to the surface like krait, largos, and quaggan.
3) ArenaNet.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The underwater one is the fifth Elder Dragon, known since the ED were known, which came from a GW2 promotion way back in 2007. Since then, there have been interviews, blog posts, and a few NPC dialogues hinting at something powerful pushing aquatic races out of the Unending Ocean.

The sixth was found out by NPCs in the Durmand Priory building. Though you have to be a member of the Priory in the storyline to get such comments.

The thing is, I am questioning whether this is the right way to go or not. Why would someone decide to just release bits of future story that have no bearing on current events? One potential argument is that it adds a sense of foreboding or tension to the world. I would counter that by saying that no one but lore fanatics would care and what kind of lore fanatic just wants to be told the story? Why wouldn’t you want to find it on your own and keep it all immersed?