Guild Wars 2

Well it looks as if our next storyline is going to focus on the north

Seems very likely to be a Jormag-focused story in the Far Shiverpeaks and Charr Homelands. Now let’s get the speculation train rolling!

Jormag for sure. Flame is either the Flame Legion doing something awful, like you know, worshipping Primordus and letting loose a destroyer army, or Primordus stirs stuff up himself.

Hate to be a downer, but I think they said they’re not making new zones for this, or at least right away. They specifically mentioned Diessa Plateau and Wayfarer Foothills, and they’re making it so the ‘unloved’ zones have incentives to be visited.
That said, yes, it’s most definitely related to Jormag/Flame Legion. But I doubt any real progress towards them is going to be made

Yes! Time to pay Jormag! Eventough we might not fight him, let’s ruin stuff for him! The more Norn-related content the better!

Mystic Starfish.2586:

Hate to be a downer, but I think they said they’re not making new zones for this, or at least right away. They specifically mentioned Diessa Plateau and Wayfarer Foothills, and they’re making it so the ‘unloved’ zones have incentives to be visited.
That said, yes, it’s most definitely related to Jormag/Flame Legion. But I doubt any real progress towards them is going to be made

this is indeed a prelude as the title is saying. given the fact that somewthing big is happening in the north and this quote:’ is the prologue to a multi-stage narrative that will bring big changes to Guild Wars 2 in the months to come.’ this looks like Flame and Frost is going to be all bout Jormag.

Thanks OP for spotting this. can’t wait

Is anyone else feeling the title could be a reference to a certain series of books written by George R.R. Martin?

Anyway, sounds promising. I hope they deliver and we actually get to kill Jormag in march (I don’t want to hang in this dragon story forever :P)

And I double hope that they deliver well on that.

I don’t want another Zhaitan fight…

This. I want to see a big Norn hero leaping at Jormag’s maw with a huge hammer in his hand, Thor style, to perform some additional dental work!

I do not want to see yet another Asura gimmick.

btw: http://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/751d2january_2013_1280x800-686x420-crop.jpg Is that a horse in the bottom left corner??

Why, yes it is. I guess there are horses around… but probably the Charr ate them all so still no mounts for us.

This game needs rideable battle bears…

Hehe someone mentioning reference to a Song of Ice and Fire, I think that’s why they chose Frost and Flame, although it’s basically the same, but I think they want to avoid copying the name.
As the information says, it’s a prelude, so my guess would be: events and updates, new content in old zones, and then later there would be new zone following this storyline, which might end in some major conlfict against Jormag or some others. I think it’s something they will build many updates in, perhaps start off with destructive force in the North, driving people away, and then we will participate as the heroes gather up against the new threat, finally maybe we can hope for story missions ending in a Jormag fight? would be awesome.

Gaudrath.6725:

Jormag for sure. Flame is either the Flame Legion doing something awful, like you know, worshipping Primordus and letting loose a destroyer army, or Primordus stirs stuff up himself.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but in GW1 the Flame Legion worshipped primordius + destroyers and it resulted in the destroyers attacking them and then the whole iron, ash, and blood legions breaking away from the grasp of the flame legion, so i doubt they’re going to be worshipping them again anytime soon…

However, i would’t be surprised if they found some sort of “deity” to worship… i’m kinda hoping Baelfire will be back (or something of that sort, very powerful charr magi) and raining down hell on jormag…

Needless to say, i’m excited!

Considering the Flame legion used Kralk’s power to fuel their Searing, I doubt they’ll be raining anything down on Jormag unless they submit to another Elder Dragon.

I think it is more than likely that the destroyers are going to erupt in Diesa Plateau and Icebrood is going to come down from Frostgorge to wreak more havoc.

I will say, I’m glad that you guys aren’t thinking it’s canthan related. Anet posted the picture of the guy next to a horse, and everyone thinks it’s some warrior samurai…

Since then are samurai the only people who use horses? >_>

Gaudrath.6725:

Considering the Flame legion used Kralk’s power to fuel their Searing

Where is this mentioned?

The ground shakes could be Primordus but the speculated elder dragon “Mordremoth” could have something to do with it. Because subject alphas attack “Teeth of mordremoth” causes earth spikes to erupt from the ground.

SpeedFiend.4521:

Gaudrath.6725:

Considering the Flame legion used Kralk’s power to fuel their Searing

Where is this mentioned?

Not sure anymore, just remember some NPC discussing how the Searing crystals look awfully like the ones Kralkatorrik creates. I might be mistaken, but the fact that using any kind of magic won’t do anything against elder dragons but feed them, remains. Flame Legion has nothing to rain on Jormag. Iron Legion could. Cannonballs. Might tickle.

Mystic Starfish.2586:

Hate to be a downer, but I think they said they’re not making new zones for this, or at least right away.

They said new regions, not new zones. But for the prelude I can’t see a new zone – though given Anet, “region” to them might be “zone” to us. That said, if there’s new zones, it’ll be in February or March, when the story is meant to really take off.

Anyways, my initial thoughts on the title alone lead to three concepts:
*Jormag and Primordus
*Sons of Svanir and Flame Legion (a friend of mine often jokes about how they’d get along in their female-hating)
*Shiverpeak Grawl and Ascalon Grawl

Of course, other big threats in Wayfarer and Diessa would include dredge. And there’s always the modniir.

Gaudrath.6725:

SpeedFiend.4521:

Gaudrath.6725:

Considering the Flame legion used Kralk’s power to fuel their Searing

Where is this mentioned?

Not sure anymore, just remember some NPC discussing how the Searing crystals look awfully like the ones Kralkatorrik creates. I might be mistaken, but the fact that using any kind of magic won’t do anything against elder dragons but feed them, remains. Flame Legion has nothing to rain on Jormag. Iron Legion could. Cannonballs. Might tickle.

Really? I’d LOVE to see this. I’ve speculated on that since the Movement. But on what NPCs say, I only have seen an NPC near the Tail of the Star God POI (the giant crystal in Pockmark) say that it comes from magic predating the titans.

My money is on Flame and Frost being the beginning of a Jormag arc, but probably over some months. It would make sense to escalate things, slowly bringing us closer as the problems become more dire. Starting in Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau makes it accessible to lower-level characters (such as people who started playing after Christmas), but also means that if it’s Jormag, his influence is reaching very far south – practically to Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel! – and it’s definitely time to do something about it. From there we can perhaps move north and take the fight to him.

That gives them time to construct some kind of story arc for it, rather than giving the sense that we could kill Zhaitan one week, kill Jormag the next, and turn around and shout “NEXT!” to Kralkatorrik :P

Just to throw a wrench in the cogs:

Martin Kerstein.3071:

Just want to step in here for a second to comment on a few speculations:

There will be no mounts, no Cantha and no dragons coming with this story arc.
Sorry if that destroyed some dreams.

Would be nice for Martin to clear some things up on this comment. Does he mean that there will be no dragons involved in THIS prelude, or the entire jan-feb-march-and-beyond story arc? And what does he mean by “no dragons” with this arc? Does that mean no NEW dragons (i.e. Bubbles, Mordremoth) or no dragon involvement at all?

It seems hard to believe that a story arc covering several months would completely ignore the dragons considering there are at least four (and likely five) dragons left to be dealt with. So come on down Martin, and give the Lore forums some love for once!

Probably just dragon champs/big dragons
A title such as Frost and Flame sounds like some Jormag/Flame Legion stuff, so it’s probably going to revolve around the sons and cleaning up the charr
Or, while not as high on my speculative desires, destroyers

Frost candidates (from what I find to be most to least likely/sensible/desirable):

• Icebrood/Jormag – seems to be void, at least on Jormag and any champions
• Sons of Svanir – might be void, due to ties to Jormag, but “no dragon” may just mean no appearance of a dragon (Elder? champion? Not clear)
• Jotun – would make sense for an up-and-coming giant-king to make a stance and cause trouble for everyone
• Modniir – they have their hands full with humans, lost Ulgoth which kept the three tribes together, and hold no known grudges to charr, so I don’t see this.
• Dredge – don’t see to be likely as it wouldn’t make sense; dredge are in a civil war so why would they make more trouble for themselves? So I don’t see this personally, at least not without Anet making some sort of kitten pull
• Shiverpeak grawl

Flame candidates

• Destroyers/Primordus – seems to be void, at least on Primordus and any champions
• Flame Legion – they’re in a civil war and had a massive devastating blow in Fireheart Rise, so I don’t see this personally, at least not without Anet making some sort of kitten pull
• Ascalon grawl

Once you take out “dragons” you don’t get many things that make sense with the theme. Best I can say would probably be Flame/Jotun, Flame/Modniir, or Flame/Dredge – if we assume “no dragons” include “no dragon minions.”

I think that Martin’s quote is indeed very incomplete. as for the mounts and cantha, Ye we knew that. But like being said it is hard to believe that there will be no involvement of elder dragons in this several months story arc. If that is the case I will be very dissapointed. I do understand it if we won’t defeat another ED yet. But In myopinion the live and changing world that has promised us has to tell a story and I was under the impression that the story concerned ED’s and how they influence the world. I can understand that a single event like cursed shores didn’t envolve direct dragon influence (meaning that many players have a feeling that elder dragon’s have something to do with it, but we can only speculate bout it). When it comes to a several months event I would expect more clues then just some speculation what the other dragons are up to.

Hope Martin used some bad phrasing cause gw2 should all be bout dragon’s. some side story’s are nice, but if we are going to face a story that takes several months it should be bout dragons.

Well I asked him in the thread if “no dragons” includes dragon minions. Let’s see if he will/can answer this.

It’s still a prelude people, don’t get too excited, all that goodness you are talking about will happen a few months from now. I’d love a Norn/Kodan/Jormag focussed thing because I love their lore, same goes for the Charr so this prelude is making me kitten exciting!

EDIT: THIS update no Dragons will be coming in if you are still wondering that, I think that quote is quite clear on that. It’s a prelude, they’re setting the world up.

Oglaf.1074:

Yes! Time to pay Jormag! Eventough we might not fight him, let’s ruin stuff for him! The more Norn-related content the better!

Wait I’m confused, can’t you fight Jormag all the time in Frostgorge Sound? That’s all I ever read when I am there “when is jormag” “is jormag up?” “15 mins till jormag” “Jormag 50%” :P

mercury ranique.2170:

But In myopinion the live and changing world that has promised us has to tell a story and I was under the impression that the story concerned ED’s and how they influence the world.

Then you’re quite wrong. And I blame ArenaNet’s focus on the dragons in their advertisement – going so far as to make a dragon (which is errily sharped like the jormag totems) is part of the icon (this is why I prefer the older one, which is an arched map of Tyria behind a 2 behind Guild Wars).

Just look at the initial release – of all that content, how much is actually focusing on the Elder Dragons? Yeah, over half of the personal story, but of the dynamic events? Very few overall. In terms of enemy forces – Flame Legion, centaurs, bandits (and White Mantle), and pirates have nothing to do with dragons; Inquest, supposedly Nightmare Court, possibly krait (other than being displaced by like the karka), and dredge have very little to do with dragons.

The Elder Dragons – all six of them – are more of a “distant threat” beyond the initial personal story. Only Zhaitan was really up-front anyways, and Jormag second. Kralkatorrik is only an issue due to the Dragonbrand, and the rest are only here and there bits (both directly and indirectly)..

mercury ranique.2170:

cause gw2 should all be bout dragon’s

Ugh. No. Just not.

“Hey, go fight this dragon. Oh, you killed it? So go fight this dragon! Oh, that one’s dead? Okay, go kill that dragon! Another dead dragon – next dragon!”

Talk about bland and boring. The great thing about GW1 was that there was so much variety among the enemies – both in just the first campaign and in the entire series of campaigns.

Direksone.3867:

EDIT: THIS update no Dragons will be coming in if you are still wondering that, I think that quote is quite clear on that. It’s a prelude, they’re setting the world up.

Read the post from Martin again. He doesn’t say update or in the prelude. He says the story arc.

Icarus Pherae.4680:

Oglaf.1074:

Yes! Time to pay Jormag! Eventough we might not fight him, let’s ruin stuff for him! The more Norn-related content the better!

Wait I’m confused, can’t you fight Jormag all the time in Frostgorge Sound? That’s all I ever read when I am there “when is jormag” “is jormag up?” “15 mins till jormag” “Jormag 50%” :P

That’s the Claw of Jormag. One of Jormag’s champions.

Think of the Eye of Zhaitan or the Mouth of Zhaitan. People should be calling the Claw of Jormag “Claw” and not “Jormag.”

I’m personally interpreting it to mean that we won’t see Jormag or Primordus themselves during Flame and Frost, but that they or their minions probably have a hand in what’s going on. There are several instances of Corrupted Ice falling from the sky and creating new breeding grounds for Icebrood, and the Destroyers have traditionally always erupted onto the surface following earthquakes and other seismic activity, which matches the description in the teaser about how the sky and earth have turned against civilians.

Due to the lack of Destroyer enemies compared to the other dragon minions, I really do hope that the Flame portion of this new update involves a new destroyer outbreak with at least a new dragon champion (destroyer version of kitten tequila, or claw pretty please? maybe with some half decent drops?)
edit also, due to Frostgorge being north of Wayfarer’s foothills, I am of the opinion the Frost portion means that Jormag is sending a new champion against Hoelbrak to get back his fang that the tooth fairies (Norn) stole.

Well, it says “The sky falls and the ground shakes in the lands of the north,” which just yells volcano at me. I hope that’s not what it is, I hate volcanic areas, but my guess is a bunch of destroyers show up, and maybe the Flame Legion was doing their lava thing.

Hmm… If it IS going to be a volcanic area, could that mean a new map (released in later parts of the story arc)? Is there any room north of Diessa Plateau that could allow for a new map to be squeezed in next to Frostgorge Sound?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Gaudrath.6725:

SpeedFiend.4521:

Gaudrath.6725:

Considering the Flame legion used Kralk’s power to fuel their Searing

Where is this mentioned?

Not sure anymore, just remember some NPC discussing how the Searing crystals look awfully like the ones Kralkatorrik creates. I might be mistaken, but the fact that using any kind of magic won’t do anything against elder dragons but feed them, remains. Flame Legion has nothing to rain on Jormag. Iron Legion could. Cannonballs. Might tickle.

Really? I’d LOVE to see this. I’ve speculated on that since the Movement. But on what NPCs say, I only have seen an NPC near the Tail of the Star God POI (the giant crystal in Pockmark) say that it comes from magic predating the titans.

There was also mention in the Ecology of the Charr about how the original Cauldron of Cataclysm was made or powered by ancient, slumbering entities.

Regarding using magic against elder dragons – there’s nothing that says they can just eat it, and in fact I’m pretty sure that there was magic in the weapons used to bring down Jormag. One might compare it to a coconut – just because coconuts are edible doesn’t mean it’s easy to eat it when someone is trying to brain you with it.

Zaxares.5419:

Hmm… If it IS going to be a volcanic area, could that mean a new map (released in later parts of the story arc)? Is there any room north of Diessa Plateau that could allow for a new map to be squeezed in next to Frostgorge Sound?

There is that tall mountain that is in between Wayfarer Foothills (top right corner) and Diessa Plateau (top left corner). They could fit a small map/dungeon entrance in that region since the mountain is inaccessible other than a couple small caves.

Ok ppl first anet is not releasing one of the next elder dragons but they might be adding some lore to one of them that is linked to flame or frost cuz after zhaitan has died the other dragons make be making moves on other areas alot more stronger. O and also the char and norn have a good relationship with each other so this might be some link with the flame legion and the icebrood. Kralkatorrik should still be in the crystal desert.

Konig,
Just to rectify your impression bout what I was saying. I’m not saying that we should be fighting an elder dragon or commander every step. Having one more epic worldboss in Flame and Frost would be nice, but it don’t need to be a dragon champion. Even if there is no new worldboss in it I don’t mind. I disagree that the game so far isn’t bout dragon’s.

Like you said the personal story is bout fighting elder dragons and specially Zhaitan. All dungeons except Fractal’s of the mists is bout reuniting the legendary dragonhunters team.

You are right that many of the renown hearts and dynamic events are not bout fighting dragon’s or their minion’s, but they are bout helping everyday life continue despite the eminent thread.

I’m not saying that I’m a big dragon fan. I really enjoyed GW1 wich had almost no dragon. But I don’t dislike the concept and story either. Anet took this road and shoulds stick to it in my opinion. So I still have hopes up that we will learn more bout what the other ED are up too. But we will have to see.

I for one think that the flame legion is more or less in ruins and will need quite some time before becoming any sort of immediate danger. For me Fire and Frost is all about Jormag and Primordius. I seriously doubt Mordremoth is yet to show is face.

I personally believe we will see changes in the landscape of Frostgourge in order to accommodate the eventual arrival of Jormag in this area.

Hmm….maybe the minions of Jormag and Prim might fight.Remember that EDs are not allies.

draxynnic.3719:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Gaudrath.6725:

SpeedFiend.4521:

Gaudrath.6725:

Considering the Flame legion used Kralk’s power to fuel their Searing

Where is this mentioned?

Not sure anymore, just remember some NPC discussing how the Searing crystals look awfully like the ones Kralkatorrik creates. I might be mistaken, but the fact that using any kind of magic won’t do anything against elder dragons but feed them, remains. Flame Legion has nothing to rain on Jormag. Iron Legion could. Cannonballs. Might tickle.

Really? I’d LOVE to see this. I’ve speculated on that since the Movement. But on what NPCs say, I only have seen an NPC near the Tail of the Star God POI (the giant crystal in Pockmark) say that it comes from magic predating the titans.

There was also mention in the Ecology of the Charr about how the original Cauldron of Cataclysm was made or powered by ancient, slumbering entities.

Regarding using magic against elder dragons – there’s nothing that says they can just eat it, and in fact I’m pretty sure that there was magic in the weapons used to bring down Jormag. One might compare it to a coconut – just because coconuts are edible doesn’t mean it’s easy to eat it when someone is trying to brain you with it.

We haven’t even seen Jormag yet… so isk what you’re talking about with that….

That being said, there was most certainly some magic in the shots we used to kill Zhaitan, we must’ve shredded every pixie and fairy in all of Tyria to get the ammo we were firing out of those canons…

For me, the concern is not whether GW2 is “supposed to be about” dragons (how do you even quantify that?) but that if we go too long without any movement on the Elder Dragon plotline, the story and tone of the game become more and more contradictory.

A major aspect of the personal story is the PC coming to realize that the Elder Dragons pose a credible threat to all of Tyria, and that it isn’t going to be enough to focus on isolated local problems and defending only one’s own home anymore – there’s a larger danger facing all races that we need to fight together.

Over the course of the personal story, people all over Tyria pour massive amounts of resources into fighting Zhaitan. Our character loses friends, but realizes they sacrificed their lives for the greater good. The justification for the outpouring of all this blood and treasure is that the Elder Dragons won’t simply be content to stay where they are and only bother the people who get too close, but will spread their destruction into all of Tyria if they aren’t defeated.

The longer the continuation of that plot goes unaddressed, the more the personal story seems kind of pointless. If every arc for months starts focusing on localized problems, it doesn’t much credit the PC’s decision to take a wider view. If the other Elder Dragons are in fact content to sit back and only bother the folks who wander into their own backyards, it really calls into question the decision to confront Zhaitan head on – was it even necessary? Why push on past Claw Island and waste all those lives, if the Elder Dragons aren’t actually a direct threat after all?

It’s a problem of how the story is set up: the writers can’t have it both ways. The Elder Dragons can’t simultaneously be an urgent threat when the writers want to focus on them, and a lesser concern when the writers want to do something different. If they didn’t want to do a dragon-themed MMO, that’s cool… but the story would have needed to be set up a lot differently if they didn’t want us to latch onto that as a primary objective.

Please note, I’m not necessarily objecting to the content of Frost & Flame, whatever that might be. My point is more general than that. Not everything has to revolve around the dragons, but the longer ANet leaves that plot hanging with no particular negative consequences for inaction on the matter, the less credible it becomes that we needed to put in all that effort in the first place.

I think this plot will move forward the dragon’s influence, if only indirectly. The karka attack was more widespread than just a local outbreak (ranging from Kessex Hills/LA, to the Caledon forest).
But the other problem with focusing on dragons and making them relevant still is that the big big story takes place with expansions, store-bought and all. I can’t foresee them releasing the whole of fighting Jormag in just free content updates, it would be something more of a box buy.

I’m hoping that the Branded get some loving attention here, by which I mean slaughtered wholesale.

In my opinion, Flame & Frost gonna have something to do with Jormag and Primordus for sure. Look at this guy on the picture, he looks tired and cold.
I think these people escaping from something – look at these bags on the dolyaks. Behind them we see frosty mist on the left, and something what looks like volcano on the right.

I think destroyers finally arrived to the Far Shiverpeaks, but lucky, or unlucky, they landed on lands under Jormag’s influences.

Two Elder Dragons fight each other? It should be very interesting event.

mercury ranique.2170:

Anet took this road and shoulds stick to it in my opinion. So I still have hopes up that we will learn more bout what the other ED are up too.

The only road I see that Anet took is that they have a powerful distant threat alongside more up close threats. Naturally, there’s going to be more focus on the upclose threats.

I’m not saying they should never go on about the ED, but rather that only going on the ED would be boring, and Anet never truly made the game’s primary antagonists beyond Zhaitan to be only or mostly the Elder Dragons.

Mystic Starfish.2586:

But the other problem with focusing on dragons and making them relevant still is that the big big story takes place with expansions, store-bought and all. I can’t foresee them releasing the whole of fighting Jormag in just free content updates, it would be something more of a box buy.

I disgree with that having to be how it goes, but it probably will be Anet’s method…

mOssinPL.9167:

Two Elder Dragons fight each other? It should be very interesting event.

I hope we see this one day. I doubt it in this storyline now, but I still hope to see it. In fact, years before the game came out, when we just new the names of maybe 3 of the dragons, I speculated that the players will not be able to kill the dragons at all, instead you have to lure two into another, so that they fight to death, Godzilla-style. Probably not doable with the engine, but I swear that would be the coolest thing that could happen.

Sorry OP, this thread has become less about speculation and more about an analysis of the overall theme of the game.

An expansion level change to refocus the game onto Jormag this early would not bode well for the longevity of GW2. Six months after release we are already onto the second of six ED? That’s what, three and a half years at most before the “greatest threat” to Tyria is annihilated? What do we do then?

There are plenty of non-dragon related factions and politics that can easily keep us occupied for years while ED releases are rationed out. Aside from those listed above we also have currently in game the defeat of the Inquest/Separatists, the Treaty between Char and Human and the Sun Coast needs definite improvement. I’m certain we’ve missed many others.

And just because Zhaitan’s dead doesn’t mean we can ignore and huge problem still facing the continent. Orr needs to be cleansed, Arah needs to be rebuilt and the last of Zhaitan’s lieutenants need to be destroyed. The Zhaitan story is still incomplete.

Back to speculation… Considering the press release, I’d like to see a nearly endless stream of refugees walking the road from the Frostgorge Sound all the way to Hoelbrak (or Fireheart Rise to BC). Some of the groups would spawn some DEs to defend them from local threats, help carry loads, find wandering children, etc. Then setup a shanty town in Hoelbrak or BC (or near the Horncall/Nolan Waypoints) where people can go and hear stories that hint at what’s going on. Nothing conclusive, just bits and pieces that you have to cobble together into something resembling a whole.

The one thing I really hope for is that Wayfarer Foothills doesn’t become so full of new content that starting a Norn toon loses some uniqueness or newness. I’d hate for something like this to happen;

NPC – “Good job winning the great Hunt. Maybe you should head south and fight Dragons.”
PC – “But what about all these kids here from the North?”
NPC – “What? No, they’ll get here after you leave and come back. Ignore them.”
PC – “But everyone else isn’t ignoring them.”
NPC -“Run along…”

Too much new content in a starting area can make new players feel a bit like second class citizens and really pull you out of the experience, especially one that’s story driven. All the action seems to be coming from the north, why is my story driving me south? Luckily heart content and DE are disconnected from the story but if this new content is scaled to take into account level 80 gear, the newbies will never keep up with the stuff going on all around them.

I have both high hopes and deep reservations in my anticipation of how Anet pulls this off.

I bet they will either implement horse mounts inside of these two zones, or some sort of event involving riding said horse mounts.

Why? Because someone on the concept art rides a horse? There have been countless mentions of horses in the lore and that never led to us getting mounts. In GoA Clagg was riding his Golem, yet we have no Golem mounts in the game. Besides that, it was said atleast two times now by Anet, that no mounts will appear in the update.

Cherokeewill.7504:

That’s what, three and a half years at most before the “greatest threat” to Tyria is annihilated? What do we do then?

Then we deal with the lich that’s the greatest threat to Elona, then we deal with the greatest threat to Cantha, then the greatest threat to the Mists (Dhuum and Menzies).

There’s plenty of plot possibilities outside the Elder Dragons, and suffice it to say, they don’t need to be “the greatest threat” either. A cunning foe can be more dangerous than a wild animal who kills all adventurers entering its woods. An immortal lich can be as deadly as a magic-eating eldritch abomination that just so happens to resemble a giant flying lizard.

I think that a campaign based around the White Mantle or Joko would be much more entertaining than fighting Jormag or Kralkatorrik. The White Mantle are backing the bandits, who are allied with the Nightmare Court, Inquest, and centaurs, have ties into the Ministry and Ministry Guard, the street gangs of Divinity’s Reach, and possibly still have ties to the mursaat. They easily hold a campaign all by themselves.

Besides, with the Pact formed, each Elder Dragon will basically be a repeat of everything post Forging the Pact from the storyline – just theme, NPCs, and location differs.

Cherokeewill.7504:

Aside from those listed above we also have currently in game the defeat of the Inquest/Separatists, the Treaty between Char and Human and the Sun Coast needs definite improvement.

Separatists weren’t defeated? TBH, the only group that was defeated was the Flame Legion – though not completely, they lost their leader as well as some tribunes and a good number of their forces. Inquest just lost Kudu and their Elder Dragon research.

But there’s, off the top of my head, ten immediate enemy factions still active to varying degrees, not including Elder Dragons, and who knows how many can be introduced.

Cherokeewill.7504:

And just because Zhaitan’s dead doesn’t mean we can ignore and huge problem still facing the continent. Orr needs to be cleansed, Arah needs to be rebuilt and the last of Zhaitan’s lieutenants need to be destroyed. The Zhaitan story is still incomplete.

Zhaitan was defeated – never said to be dead. Just to nitpick (go ahead and quote Matthew Medina’s post, he said defeated ).

Greyalis.2309:

I bet they will either implement horse mounts inside of these two zones, or some sort of event involving riding said horse mounts.

It was already stated by Anet that there will be no mounts.

Greyalis.2309:

I bet they will either implement horse mounts inside of these two zones, or some sort of event involving riding said horse mounts.

a) as stated by others, ArenaNet have said they are not adding mounts.
b) one piece of concept art should not be read as signifying whole mechanical features, especially when said concept is vague and not clearly related to specific things in-game.
c) these updates are, for the most part, being created as we go. Mounts are not something they could implement on a whim, I’m pretty sure. That would be a feature, and one I am certain we would hear about in the summaries of upcoming features – not just something thrown into an event.

In conclusion, no.