Guild Wars 2

The 3.0 update is on! Check it here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Lon-ami/First_expansion_theorycrafting:_Jormag,_Tengu_and_Far_Shiverpeaks (Same link as 2.0)

If you remember the 2.0 version and are interested on what’s new in the update, it’s mostly the Personal Story (10 expansion episodes, 3 tengu episodes, and 1 dredge episode) and the new skill ideas. I also made better introductory texts for the old sections, and improved some details here and there. The only thing I removed completely is the camouflage ability section for the new profession, the Watcher. I think it missed the point and made people confused about the nature of the profession, and I don’t even know if I would include it anymore to begin with, since the profession has changed a bit, getting a much more defined role and style. The trivia section got some new sections, and others got moved to the Personal Story episodes.

Have a fun read.

It’s been a while, but I have kept improving this slowly in all these months. I’ll leave all the old information there as a reminder/archive, but the new one is inside the link to the official wiki below. So this is it, my first expansion theorycrafting idea, fully fleshed out, “2.0”. I hope you have fun reading it, I had a lot building it, writing it in a readable form and then compiling it in wiki-format with pictures and all. And be warned, when I say long, I mean it for real.

[img]http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/c/ca/User_Lon-ami_First_expansion_theorycrafting_Jormag_Tengu_Far_Shiverpeaks_map.jpg[/img]

First expansion theorycrafting: Jormag, Tengu and Far Shiverpeaks 2.0

It’s a pretty huge piece of text, so I probably made mistakes somewhere. I welcome all kinds of constructive criticism around it. The lines/model of this theorycrafting is what I would like to see from an expansion, and what I think would be the best way to implement it. The setting? I think it’s the logical next step, but story can be written to make any scenario viable.

Everything below is old information:

Skip to the new posts: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/First-expansion-theorycrafting-Jormag-tengu-and-Far-Shiverpeaks/3443695

your class sounds like it’s a warrior with a different name. ANet wanted classes to be completely unique from each other, so this kind of “kinda like existing class” thing won’t happen.

^This
But really, I’d be ok with a polearm kind of class, somehow drawing from warrior yet distinct. Maybe it’s different because of the swiftness of this new pikeman class. You could even just give it access to one weapon set, and have different fighting styles or something as the ‘wep swap’
Anyway, I’m usually skeptical of people’s ideas for the expansions, but this one makes sense. Either Kralk or Jormag is next, and as of late I’m actually leaning towards Jormag. The areas you mention could work, and if we get access to the Woodland Cascades, maybe some Mursaat/WM stuff could be thrown in too. The only real random add would be the Tengu, if all the action is happening way north of the DoW. Aside from that, I’d throw money at this idea

I like all this if it happens, though I do agree the soldier idea is too similar to a warrior, a new weapon on the other hand would be awesome. Spear/pike kind of weapon with skills maybe somewhere between the hammer and greatsword for the warrior would be cool, also i just want to look like Im from 300…

My idea for another heavy armour class was a Warmage, a semi caster class which can only self target with skills, a heavy armour user which supplements its natural strength with magic, a cross between the Guradian and Ele, similar in operation to the attunements from the ele but up close all the time. A class which would work very much in modes of play, the old Mana bar could make a return for this, attunements are only active while Mana lasts meaning it would be about timing and energy management but if you run out you are still a big dude with an axe.

Im a bit dubious about the tengu just because the in game models I have seen so far are so rough.

The flame legion headquarters would be cool, similar to the Flame temple Corridor from GW1, I loved that area and the story to go with it, maybe the devastated look from the first game with an overlay of snow and ice, and pockets of new growth. The idea of a forest region would be awesome, about the only kind of area missing so far is a dense forest.

Wasn’t Fireheart Rise the Flame Legion headquarters? Thats where the Flame Legion Citadel was.

I would be suprised though them linking Tengu to Jormag. Also I suspect we will get a new class or a new race but not both. The rest of the classes would probably get new weapon options and utility/elite skills.

if they add a new race alongside jormag, it’ll be the kodan, as they are, after the norn, the main major race being affected by him.

*Quaggans
I don’t know, Kodan are just meh to me, they’re kinda similar to the Norn to be a distinct race. Even Largos, which I’m highly opposed to having as playable, is more unique and seperate than the Kodan

Thanks for the answers! My idea is deeper that what the original post may suggest, but didn’t include all of it because I didn’t want a huge wall of text, which would discourage people from reading. I’ll try to elaborate on each part, answering your doubts by the way. More info:

-New profession:

My idea around the new profession was to have a soldier able to fight in medium distances, with lot of mobility and skills specially designed to take advantage from that mobility (like some sort of “pike stance”, that cripples enemies coming at you). The simplified goal is to combine warriors and rangers, adding some martial arts in the mix. I know warriors are pretty unique in this game, but I’m confident there’s space for new styles.

Lore-wise, this is the kind of profession that moves well at my envisioning of Woodland Cascades (taiga/boreal forest). Add centaurs to the narrow forest space, and you’ll see why pikes and middle-range weapons are the most effective in this enviroment. Of course, gameplay-wise this doesn’t matter too much.

-Tengu on the north:

At first glance, yes, it doesn’t make too much sense. My reasoning is simple: Tengu must be playable before or during the Cantha expansion. Tengu are good material for the first new playable race, but Cantha isn’t good as a first expansion (already first for GW1, and we have closer dragon problems). Jormag is pretty good as the first expansion, too.

So, do we really need to wait for the tengu to have a first-hand problem to make them require our help? Personally, I think them joining just to help is a better introductory scenario. We know there were tengu on Woodland Cascades 250 years ago, in a land wild to the rest of the races, which would give us an opportunity to make tengu useful to the combined effort of the Pact forces. We can’t say the same for the rest tengu lands aside from Cantha, which were in already populated areas.

-Flame Legion’s return

I’ll be sincere, Blood Legion Homelands puzzles me. We don’t know anything about what’s been going on there. I guess it was charr territory up until Kralkatorrik woke up. That said, I don’t think it was Black Citadel territory.

Personally, I see the Citadel of Flame as some kind of “enemy advance”, with the Charr Homelands north being controlled by the Flame Legion (more or less, Branded must be around, too). The summarized scenario is Blood, Iron and Ash kept Ascalon, and they kicked Flame back north, where they remained until they decided invasion was a good idea.

I can’t see Charr Homelands being controlled by the Blood Legion with the Flame Legion south, and I don’t really think the Flame Legion has been at Fireheart Rise all these years. Pretty sure they still control the north.

-Extra: Ideas for the tengu starting zones: (still a work in progress)

The capital city would be the entirety of Dominion of Winds (DoW). It wouldn’t be your typical urban center, it would be more like a big farmland, with houses being separate from each other. Think of a giant rice field or garden. The houses would be tall, which would contrast with them being separated by different fields. The Dominion of Winds is small, and you need to put there more than just houses. Everything the citizens need to live should be inside the wall. No wasted space (that’s why houses are tall, crops need as most space as possible; also because birds living in tall houses looks nice). The important stuff would be in big communal halls across the land. Most vendors would be scattered around the different roads, not using buildings as shops.

The 1-15 zone (Z1) would be south of DoW, horizontal in shape, covering the space between The Grove and Sparkfly Swamp, which would communicate with Z1 through the blocked road west of Quinatl Deadgrounds.

Finally, the 15-25 (Z2) zone would cover the space between Kessex Hills and Lion’s Arch, and extend south until Z1, effectively covering Claw Island.

Lore-wise, the events at this zone would happen during or shortly after the original races’ (meaning the Battle of Claw Island wouldn’t have happened). Between the tengu, there would be a group of people wanting to help against Zhaitan, and the tengu players would eventually side with them. Lion’s Arch would help the tengu get in touch with the other races.

As for DoW access by other races, the gates could be open for some reason. Something like necessity fits the tengu mentality, with those favorable to opening the gates forcing the close-minded due to a drought or supply shortage. Feel free to try a better explanation, making everything fit isn’t easy :S.

The only problem I really see with these zones is there’s a lot of water, but there’s ways to soften this up (giant underwater asura lab, boarding ships, etc).

.

Well, this was pretty long, and I only covered a few of points :P. I hope it answers the current questions, and brings new ones as well.

Mystic Starfish.2586

I don’t know, Kodan are just meh to me, they’re kinda similar to the Norn to be a distinct race. Even Largos, which I’m highly opposed to having as playable, is more unique and seperate than the Kodan

at the risk of sounding like a broken record, how the hell are the kodan in any way similar to the norn?

that’s like saying norns are similar to charrs, or to humans.

the only similarity is that they both live in cold areas.

@Bruno, idealistically, they’re unique, I’ll admit. I just think physically, we already have a large/buff character in the Norn, and they are possibly ancestors of the Norn. They aren’t shown with much variety of weapons (neither do Largos).

@Lonami, the profession you made is pretty much what I thought you meant. More of a martial arts class than a warrior, so they could still be in the soldier profession but have the most mobility of the three.
As for the Tengu reasoning, I’m still not entirely convinced this is the best time to add them. Even after beating Zhaitan, they’re probably skeptical of others still, and would need some time I’d think.
If they were included, I don’t think they would be retroactively added, involving them in the Zhaitan Arc. They’d probably just tack them on to whatever new story is going on

It sounds nice, though i personally don’t think the soldier class will be popular among the community, because of the similiarities with the warrior.
Another thing, i could be wrong but i believe that i read on the gw1 wiki that the Tengu only eat fresh meat, which would mean they don’t need that much crops at all..

FYI, Tengu aren’t in Cantha anymore. At all. Period. A Cantha expansion would have nothing to do with Tengu. Also, it’s mentioned that the Tengu are already under attack by destroyers, so I think we’ll see them with mr. Primordious, not Jormag. Not sure about the new class either, it really does seem too much like the warrior.

One other thing: what I really, really DON’T want this game to turn into is a dragon-killing fest. An expansion for each dragon, go and kill it, yay. NO. That’s boring. Anet has some really nice plot options for expansions, and I’d hate to see them throw the story out the window. How about we don’t fight Jormag for a while? Or how about we go visit Kralk, but don’t kill him? Just steal some of his stuff, fight the branded, and expand the story into the desert. Visit good old Palawa Joko, have some nice plot twists, see what’s happened in Elona… Keep growing the story, with memorable characters, complex and interesting plots, with plenty of emotion and tragedy and death and all that good stuff.

My two cents.

Mystic Starfish.2586:

@Bruno, idealistically, they’re unique, I’ll admit. I just think physically, we already have a large/buff character in the Norn, and they are possibly ancestors of the Norn. They aren’t shown with much variety of weapons (neither do Largos).

considering the norn are, visually, just tall humans, i don’t think aesthetics are reason to drop a race. they have a vast culture with a lot of potential for exploration, they are a more relevant race against jormag than any other, and they are not considered a “lesser” race (on the contrary, the kodan think they are superior to everyone else and are there to teach us lesser beings).

their culture also incentives going out in the world and “restoring balance”, which make kodan adventurers quite feasible.

as for weaponry, i don’t see norns having issues using asuran and charr technology, and kodan have shown to be able to forge (where do you think they got their armors?), so there is nothing restricting them here.

More answers:

-Kodan:

I don’t think Kodan are viable. They’re too plain, their models have a lot of work on them (unlike tengu and largos, which you can tell aren’t final at all), they don’t seem to have lot of customization (fur is white on all of them, and using tattoos instead of fur color could work, but resembles the norn too much). Also, the norn are already able to shapeshift into bear-men. I feel they’re pretty well established to be a minor race, like quaggan, skritt, ogres, etc.

Also, they speak weird, and I don’t think weird-speaking races are good enough for something that must please a high number of customers.

-New profession being too similar to the warrior:

I guess I won’t be able to really make them stand out without explaining their style deeper, and probably making some new resource and/or mechanic to make them distinct enough.

By the way, I think “Watcher” could be a good name for them, so I’ll call them that from now on. I think it fits their lore role of “alternative rangers”, as well as their “guard” theme, and “pikeman” was a placeholder anyway.

So yeah, watchers. What makes them different? To start with, they wouldn’t use heavy weapons, like hammers, greatswords, axes or maces. Their combat style would follow specific patterns, resembling martial arts now and then, together with disciplined phalanx and samurai styles. Another cool twist could be them using shields as primary weapons.

Instead of weapon-swapping, the watcher could have something similar to engineer’s tool belt and elementalist’s attunements, called battle-techniques or battle-stances. Being a philosophically strict class, sticking to a weapon, specializing on it, could match their style.

Lonami.2987:

More answers:

-Kodan:

I don’t think Kodan are viable. They’re too plain, their models have a lot of work on them (unlike tengu and largos, which you can tell aren’t final at all), they don’t seem to have lot of customization (fur is white on all of them, and using tattoos instead of fur color could work, but resembles the norn too much). Also, the norn are already able to shapeshift into bear-men. I feel they’re pretty well established to be a minor race, like quaggan, skritt, ogres, etc.

Also, they speak weird, and I don’t think weird-speaking races are good enough for something that must please a high number of customers.

they “speak weird”? really?

and they’re not estabilished as a lesser race. the lesser races are the 3 you mentioned plus hyleks and grawl. those are the races that the 3 orders consider “lesser”.

the kodan models are as varied as the tengu models. you have literally just two models so far (same amount as the tengu, BTW). saying that “tattoos are too similar to norn customization” is like saying sylvaris shouldn’t be there because they have ear customization just like asuras, or that humans shouldn’t be there because they lack secondary customization options.

the norn can turn into a man-bear thing. the kodans ARE them. kodans wear armor and wield weapons on that form, whereas norns are just, well, beasts.

About the kodan.

First off, IF they were to become a playable race, they would get all kinds of new models. Having ‘plain’ models is no reason for them to be left out. I’m thinking of the charr in gw1 here: in Prophecies, you got your warrior types, your shaman types, and your little short guys. In EotN, they included all kinds of new models, with fat charr, skinny charr, tiger stripped charr, charr with big teeth, charr with big eyes, etc. And now, we got every kind of charr you could think of. There’s no reason kodan couldn’t work the same way.

There is already a good bit of lore on the kodan, and they’ve been separated from the minor races (think about: were you every able to choose to help the kodan in your personal story?). The kodan, like the tengu, are different from the primitive races; they’re waiting to become just as important as any human or charr.

And the speaking weird thing? Who says all kodan talk like that? Sure, all the ones we’ve seen; but we only see how they talk to strangers, not to each other. And having an unique way of speaking is, I think, refreshing.

So please, no more hate for the polar bears.

^ thank you.

also, let’s not forget that while you “study” or “help” the lesser races, in the lost heirloom norn storyline you go ask the kodan for help (as far as i know, the only personal story segment involving kodans so far). they are put on equal footing as the 5 playable races, they’re just not very present… yet.

About the new class you were suggesting:

I think you are looking for ‘Skirmisher’, although they typically had lighter armour I think that’s the play style you are looking for. Spear and shield, alternating between throwing and close combat. A Roman legionnaire also has a similar style, carrying 2 weapons, a throwing spear and a short sword, able to operate at 2 distances, before going back to ‘turtle’ mode.

In GW1 there was a class called the paragon who used a throwing spear and heavy armour (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Paragon), which is a similar idea so the class style is already in the lore but it was an elonian (nightfall expansion) class. The shout style of support play would need to be reworked to avoid being to similar to the warrior but the basic style is there. The paragon was Anets attempt at a hybrid support class similar to how all classes play in dungeons now.

I will name my Kodan Guardian “Ima Polar Bear Rawr”.
He will be the best bear-man ever.

That is all.

More ideas:

-Mursaat and/or White Mantle presence at tengu starting zone and Woodland Cascades:

The mursaat and/or the White Mantle could show around. Their main headquarters are probably on Isles of Janthir, but that doesn’t mean we could see some activity. After all, they already show a bit.

The second tengu starting zone (Z2) houses the old D’Alessio Seaboard north, and it wouldn’t be surprising to find activity in a “sacred” place like that. In the other hand, Woodland Cascades is near Janthir and next to Kryta, so some presence there could be expected, too. I don’t really think we’ll visit Janthir during the first expansion, and this could work well as an introduction, be it on another expansion or a patch.

-Giants at Woodland Cascades:

Giants are an intriguing race, in that their numbers are pretty small. I think they could be fleshed out as a “bigger” race. Just look at oakhearts and pinesouls, that would be a good way to go with giants.

They don’t really need cities, towns or settlements, just let them wander around, all elite and hard to kill.

Level ranges for the tengu starting zones:

I’m trying to depict these ideas on a map, including a level flow. Instead of a classic 1-15 and 15-25, I’m aiming towards a 1-15 and 15-30. Why? Well, the 25-30 experience is the most limited right now (2 zones, while 20-25 has 4 and 30-35 has 3). Adding more options at that level is good, and being near Lion’s Arch it doesn’t affect the flow negatively.

Also, the second tengu zone is as big as Lornar’s Pass, which is 25-40, so I’m confident making it 15-30 could work well.

PS: The kodan matter is just a matter of opinion, really. Even if you had every possible proof for them to be inviable, lore could be adjusted to make them fit perfectly. I don’t think there’s a point on discussing a yes or no, and in case you really wanted I think it would deserve its own thread.

Since guardians are warrior/monk. I can see a new heavy armor, spirit summoning, weapon blessing and ashes summoning class coming. Like a warrior/ritualist from guild wars 1.

Not a holy warrior, but a mystic warrior.

Everyone said Tengu was planned but delayed. I want a source.

I hope (though unlikely) they will add quaggan as a playable race.

Delayed probably isn’t the right word. In the GW2 CE, there is a “making of” book, which while it’s talking about various non-major races states that tengu were originally planned to be a playable race but that ArenaNet “pulled back”. It doesn’t explain their future plans, but does hint that they’re a work in progress.

Sirius.4510:

Delayed probably isn’t the right word. In the GW2 CE, there is a “making of” book, which while it’s talking about various non-major races states that tengu were originally planned to be a playable race but that ArenaNet “pulled back”. It doesn’t explain their future plans, but does hint that they’re a work in progress.

According to a friend (I ask all my friends to ask about Tengu if they see an A-Net member), Arena-Net isn’t even planning to make Tengu a playable race at the moment, let alone working on it. So the chances of us having playable Tengu in the near future is low. Either that, or Arena-Net is just getting bored with my Tengu obsession and just saying that to make me stop asking.

There’s a good chance!
ArenaNet don’t like to reveal their hand too early so I wouldn’t expect them to say. But there’s a giant walled-off area in an obvious position on the map, and you kind of figure they’re planning to do something with it eventually, or it’s just there for trolling purposes. Which isn’t something they’re known for doing…

I mean “planning” in the loosest possible sense though, as in there’s something in the Tyrian lore bible that talks about it. Doesn’t mean they’ve decided what it’ll look like or when they’ll do it.

Tengu will be most likely released with Cantha expansion since that is their homeland.

We have already cleared half the sea with the death of Zhaitan. Once we kill bubbles we can get through to Cantha. So I think bubbles will be next.

Also the only combo they haven’t done is a stealth/soldier class or a adventurer/scholar hybrid

Eurantien.4632:

Tengu will be most likely released with Cantha expansion since that is their homeland.

We have already cleared half the sea with the death of Zhaitan. Once we kill bubbles we can get through to Cantha. So I think bubbles will be next.

Also the only combo they haven’t done is a stealth/soldier class or a adventurer/scholar hybrid

except all the tengu that didn’t flee cantha to tyria have been hunted down by the nazi empire.

If you overlook that I think it seems more reasonable to have them as a Cantha expansion than a northern expansion.

Eurantien.4632:

If you overlook that I think it seems more reasonable to have them as a Cantha expansion than a northern expansion.

Tengu don’t even care about Cantha anymore, they already found their promised lands from their legends. As a result, Tengu being playable and going to Cantha will be two different updates/expansions. There is a decent chance we will get either Tengu or Cantha when the game is available in Korea, to be more appealing to the Eastern audiences.

Eurantien.4632:

If you overlook that I think it seems more reasonable to have them as a Cantha expansion than a northern expansion.

this is the lore forum. we don’t “overlook” things to suit theories.

Update!

It’s been a while, but I have kept improving this slowly in all these months. I’ll leave all the old information there as a reminder/archive, but the new one is inside the link to the official wiki below. So this is it, my first expansion theorycrafting idea, fully fleshed out, “2.0”. I hope you have fun reading it, I had a lot building it, writing it in a readable form and then compiling it in wiki-format with pictures and all. And be warned, when I say long, I mean it for real.

[img]http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/c/ca/User_Lon-ami_First_expansion_theorycrafting_Jormag_Tengu_Far_Shiverpeaks_map.jpg[/img]

First expansion theorycrafting: Jormag, Tengu and Far Shiverpeaks 2.0

It’s a pretty huge piece of text, so I probably made mistakes somewhere. I welcome all kinds of constructive criticism around it. The lines/model of this theorycrafting is what I would like to see from an expansion, and what I think would be the best way to implement it. The setting? I think it’s the logical next step, but story can be written to make any scenario viable.

I love the theme and story that you have constructed so far for your expansion! The best and well put I’ve seen

but for the class…

A paragon like class (heavy armor/short-medium-long range spear attacks)
Shout Class for heals, buffs and debuffs

Tengu or Quaggan paragons lol

-Existing weapons-
Spears, Tridents, Harpoon-guns, and Harpoons can be used as land weapons.
Short Range/Meele: Trident
Medium Range: Spears (similar to shortbow)
Long Range: Harpoons and Harpoon guns (guns are more slow but high dmg like longbow)

-2 handed weapons-
Harpoon gun
Hammer
Harpoon

-1 handed weapons-
Trident
Spear
Sword
Axe

-off hand-
Shield
Warhorn
Sword
torch

I’m a huge fan of paragon in the first game, and know how amazing they really were…alot of people didn’t give them a try and only thought imba was all they could do.
That would be awesome if they brought a shouting/polearm class back!

Thought about alot of this on the fly, let me know what you guys think.

I know I shouldn’t laugh, but I giggle every single time when I look upon WC-1, WC-2, WC-3. Overflow?

This is actually very good. I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten thumbed up more.

WC: Woodland Cascades (4 zones, 1 dungeon, 35-80)

Homeland of the centaurs, ruled by the Modniir tribe, under siege from the east by Jormag’s minions, and with a centaur civil something seems to be missing in this area war, unrest? brewing up in the west. The Order of Whispers leads the western Pact offensive in the region, and they’ll need to take control of the situation before the region becomes a warzone. For that, they’ll need to manipulate the rebel tribes to the Pact’s cause, and then overthrow the Modniir from a secure position that doesn’t give any advantage to Jormag. However, the Modniir aren’t alone. Helped by shadows from Kryta, they would rather see their lands fall to Jormag than losing their throne to the Pact.
I will try to help find any other parts that may need clarification.

I overall like the roadmap that Lomani has so comprehensively crafted. I think what he describes if implemented will be done over more than one expansion pack. It is my hope that the first involves the Far Shiverpeaks and of course the Tengu.

I would myself like to see some progression in the Stronghold of Ebonhawke/Ruins of Serenity Temple region. This would include the removal of the Separatist/Renegade situation as a result of regional movement as described by Lomani. I would go as far as to say I would like to see this fortress city become a major Pact supply base.

However Ebonhawke would now be ruled by Samuelsson as King or one of his heirs depending on the timeline of the next expansion. I would also have introduced a decendant of Devona as a major support character. This character will be a female warrior that of course welds a hammer but also uses a rifle as well, since I would have her as the champion of her king and the leader of an elite unit – the Ebon Hawk of the Ebon Vanguard charged with guarding him similar to the Shining Blade.

In effect Ebonhawke gains full capital city status within the mechanics of the game. Part of the talk of the city among the units of both the Ebon Vanguard and the Ebon Hawk and their friendly rivally with the Pact soldiers stationed within their city. The city chatter would also include the usual chatter about Kryta and their Queen.

And this brings the next change Ill like to see. the Ebonhawke Territory now is recognised as a distinct separate political entity with a formal alliance with Kryta. I would have this grouping called the Human Alliance.

In Divinity’s Reach I would see Ebon Hawk units guarding the new Ebonhawke embassy there in Rurikton. In Divinity Reach talk of human Ascalonians will now be different since the Ascalonian settlements have now been disbanded with the many settlers moving back to their homeland.

This is of course if I accept the events after the wedding of Gwen and Keiran Thackeray as it now stands. A modified version of what I have written here would result if hold my original position. This would entail the human territories be expanded to include Ascalon City and a decendant of Adelbern ruling human Ascalon.

This territory is Ascalon south of a partially repaired Great Northern Wall…. .

Please read my previous posts for the back story to the direction I would like to see in Ebonhawke and human Ascalon, if interested.

Lonami – awesome body of work, and having read also about your plans for future theorycrafting of 5-6 more expansions, this is awesome to read for another, fellow enthusiast.

Lots of cool ideas that hopefully some creatives at Anet draw upon when they create their own “expansions” into these territories (whether it comes as an expansion or sifted in smaller batches). The way you planned a sort of horizontal progression by building up region ranks to sustain the damage mobs from the higher level zones output, this also lends itself well to a roll-out strategy by Anet which doesn’t force them to do an expansion but rather roll things out zone-by-zone to let people build up “resistance”… of course, I hope that won’t be their strategy as that sort of time-gating by not making all the content available to explore at your own pace, not their dictated pace, would really impact satisfaction and appeal of the new content…

Hunter.6950:

I love the theme and story that you have constructed so far for your expansion! The best and well put I’ve seen

but for the class…

A paragon like class (heavy armor/short-medium-long range spear attacks)
Shout Class for heals, buffs and debuffs

[…]

I’m a huge fan of paragon in the first game, and know how amazing they really were…alot of people didn’t give them a try and only thought imba was all they could do.
That would be awesome if they brought a shouting/polearm class back!

Thought about alot of this on the fly, let me know what you guys think.

I think guardians are supposed to be their descendants. I could see paragons working, but not as their own profession, but maybe a build-style of the guardian.

Rym.1469:

I know I shouldn’t laugh, but I giggle every single time when I look upon WC-1, WC-2, WC-3. Overflow?

Oh, come on :P.

Infamous Darkness.3284:

WC: Woodland Cascades (4 zones, 1 dungeon, 35-80)

Homeland of the centaurs, ruled by the Modniir tribe, under siege from the east by Jormag’s minions, and with a centaur civil something seems to be missing in this area war, unrest? brewing up in the west. The Order of Whispers leads the western Pact offensive in the region, and they’ll need to take control of the situation before the region becomes a warzone. For that, they’ll need to manipulate the rebel tribes to the Pact’s cause, and then overthrow the Modniir from a secure position that doesn’t give any advantage to Jormag. However, the Modniir aren’t alone. Helped by shadows from Kryta, they would rather see their lands fall to Jormag than losing their throne to the Pact.
I will try to help find any other parts that may need clarification.

Yes, I missed a word. Which is pretty weird, maybe I removed it without noticing. An anonymous user fixed it right, so thanks.

Nicholas S Lin.6187:

Please read my previous posts for the back story to the direction I would like to see in Ebonhawke and human Ascalon, if interested.

I think that would be implemented better as Living World. When existing content changes, living story is the way to go, you can see it grow slowly which is pretty awesome.

Dondarrion.2748:

Lonami – awesome body of work, and having read also about your plans for future theorycrafting of 5-6 more expansions, this is awesome to read for another, fellow enthusiast.

Lots of cool ideas that hopefully some creatives at Anet draw upon when they create their own “expansions” into these territories (whether it comes as an expansion or sifted in smaller batches). The way you planned a sort of horizontal progression by building up region ranks to sustain the damage mobs from the higher level zones output, this also lends itself well to a roll-out strategy by Anet which doesn’t force them to do an expansion but rather roll things out zone-by-zone to let people build up “resistance”… of course, I hope that won’t be their strategy as that sort of time-gating by not making all the content available to explore at your own pace, not their dictated pace, would really impact satisfaction and appeal of the new content…

Thanks!

Region Ranks are supposed to be there to:

• 1: Fight rushers. Those who, after purchasing the expansion, just rush across everything until they reach the final zone, ignoring the rest of the game.

• 2: Reward world exploration. Sometimes getting somewhere is useless, because no loot, etc. More after you already explored the place. Region Ranks reward you for playing wherever you want, so you don’t feel like you’re wasting your time.

The time-gating nature is minor. Only rushers that want to skip everything get gated by it, normal users will be above minimum level after a bit of content, and they won’t even feel that gating.

I updated the expansion theorycrafting 2 weeks ago. The link is still the same: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Lon-ami/First_expansion_theorycrafting:_Jormag,_Tengu_and_Far_Shiverpeaks

Even if we’re probably heading against Mordremoth soon, I think it’s still a good read with many expansion-level ideas that could appear sooner or later.

The 3.0 update is on! Check it here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Lon-ami/First_expansion_theorycrafting:_Jormag,_Tengu_and_Far_Shiverpeaks (Same link as 2.0)

If you remember the 2.0 version and are interested on what’s new in the update, it’s mostly the Personal Story (10 expansion episodes, 3 tengu episodes, and 1 dredge episode) and the new skill ideas. I also made better introductory texts for the old sections, and improved some details here and there. The only thing I removed completely is the camouflage ability section for the new profession, the Watcher. I think it missed the point and made people confused about the nature of the profession, and I don’t even know if I would include it anymore to begin with, since the profession has changed a bit, getting a much more defined role and style. The trivia section got some new sections, and others got moved to the Personal Story episodes.

Now this is what I am talking about people. That is an expansion worth of content.