Guild Wars 2

After doing getting a lot of the Preview event done and looking at the map of the area it seems that at the center of everything there are three Points of Interest. Sadly I do not know as much lore myself so I was wondering what people do know about these POI’s and what potential clues can they give to the direction of the story.

Diessa Plateau – Silex Castrum

Wayfarer Foothills – The Frozen Maw

Wayfarer Foothills – Heart of Corruption

I understand these are not the only POI’s you see in the Event but they seem to be where the source lies. Let me know what you think

The source of the weather seems to be steam vents that when they burst cause the weather to go nuts. There is a DE where you close burst vents up in the top and bottom parts of Wayfarer Foothills.

Didn’t do much of the event really (right now it feels like just running up and down the path looting bodies)
Anyway, those points are flame legion and Jormag related pois. Silex Castrum (not sure where exactly that is), but ‘Castrum’ usually is where the flame legion has a hideout. The Frozen Maw has an event chain where a SoS shaman tries to create an ice elemental, presumably with his Jormag infused powers. Heart of the Corruption, if I’m not mistaken, is the ‘dome’ event, a rather large area of land under Jormag’s corruption, which has you take towers and fight a severly corrupted head of the svanir.
But I doubt those are ‘special special’ places, they just happen to be used since they’re related to the content the updates are supposed to be about.

I don’t believe the focal point of this arc is where the events are happening right now.

They are seeking refuge from something. “Earth and sky seem to have become the enemy”

Flame legion does not have much to do with earth elementalist or dust storms. Svanir don’t have much to do with ice elementals, but that depends on the lore behind the origin of ice elementals.

The only area off the top of my head where earth and ice elementals coexist is the village in Kessex by the wizards tower.

Considering the vast distance between the wizards tower and the living story events we could rule that out.

Instead of focusing on location at the moment, we should figure out what these elementals and storms are linked to, if anything, in the guild wars lore.

Who or what has control of earth and sky?

There’s mentions of heat from underground causing steam vents which are messing with the environment. These environmental effects are the unstable Ice and Earth Elementals as well as the Ice Tornadoes and Dust Storms. This hints at Primordus or the dredge (Primordus more likely), and what we’re seeing now is merely side-effects of something happening underground.

And I just want to note: the ice tornadoes that can’t be targetted at The Heart of Corruption is tied to the meta event there, not to the living story.

@SantusVeritas: I don’t think we’ve seen any sky effect thus far. Outside these tornadoes and dust storms, which is caused due to drastic temperature changes (rising heat), there’s no “sky if falling” effect that the preview has shown us. This means we seem to only have the Flame part of Flame and Frost going on.

We have only seen the start. What we do know from the Dynamic Events is that their are vents that are triggering bad weather when they go off. Talk to the refugees at the little camps along the road and they mention it.

Theres also a mysterious corpse of a merchant who has burns on his body and blood coming from his ears but no other signs of injury on the northern most point of the Wayfarer Foothills.

I dont think we are going to get a clear image on this yet but if a dragon is involved I dont think its Jormag, at least not at this point.

Duffy’s website is doing a summary of whats been going on:

http://dulfy.net/2013/01/29/gw2-living-story-refuge-volunteer-events-guide/

From what Martin Kerstein has said, this story arc has nothing to do with dragons.

I didn’t see that burned body, I’ll have to check it out =)

What other things are underground that we know of that have a link with what’s happening? I can’t think of anything. Could it be something from way up north? I’m wondering if its one thing/entity causing this or two? Or two halves joining as one?

Asura are underground, could rogue Asura be experimenting underground?

I quite love this story arc so far =D

“Theres also a mysterious corpse of a merchant who has burns on his body and blood coming from his ears but no other signs of injury on the northern most point of the Wayfarer Foothills.”

o.O Where’s this?

Edit:Okay, I see on the site you linked.

Also, just found some always-active (no event) steam vents at the portal leading into Frostgorge Sound.

Edit2: Blood from the ears and no blunt damage. Meaning he was attacked from the inside-out, but given that only the ears are bleeding and not the other orifices, this implies sonic weaponry (burst eardrums).

Dredge did it.

Or someone stole dredge weapons (they use sonic weaponry).

When they said there will be no Dragons do they mean it won be related to the Dragons in any way or we won’t see the Dragons or their minions? If it is related to the Dragons than I bet it is Primodrus sending the Dredge or a new race closer to the surface.

The dredge are already pretty close to the surface – though as seen in Sorrow’s Embrace they do deal with destroyers thanks to the Inquest.

As to the comment on “no dragons” – it was really vague and by Martin. I wouldn’t be surprised if Martin doesn’t know the whole plot and thus was referring to just the prelude, though he said “story arc” which to me would mean the entirety of Flame and Frost. And even then, does “no dragons” mean “just no Elder Dragons,” “just no dragon champions/Elder Dragons,” or “nothing related to dragons (ED, champs, minions)”?

Dredge. Of course. Sonic weapons. I was thinking it might have been caused by something volcanic like a poison gas cloud.

The dredge get me thinking….

Im kind of forming a tinfoil hat theory here but I havent done the explorable modes of Sorrow’s Embrace. How do the dredge deal with Destroyers?

In Sorrow’s Embrace, if I read correctly (I was in a pug sadly, which means they wanted to rush), the Inquest gave the dredge’s corrupt leaders some means to control the destroyers. Said leaders were intending to unleash the Destroyer of Worlds upon the surface world. Though according to Koptev, all destroyers under the dredge control were killed – though that wouldn’t keep them from getting more, if they still had the means.

Though outside Sorrow’s Embrace there are events where destroyers are wiping the dredge out (such as in northern Timberline Falls).

“No dragons?” The storyline shouts Jormag and Primordius at us, I don’t quite believe there will be no dragons involved by the end. I mean, steam vents opening beneath Wayfarer Foothills and Earthquakes in Diessa Plateau? Sounds like Elemental stuff to me, and if I understand the lore well enough, that means dragons.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

In Sorrow’s Embrace, if I read correctly (I was in a pug sadly, which means they wanted to rush), the Inquest gave the dredge’s corrupt leaders some means to control the destroyers. Said leaders were intending to unleash the Destroyer of Worlds upon the surface world. Though according to Koptev, all destroyers under the dredge control were killed – though that wouldn’t keep them from getting more, if they still had the means.

Though outside Sorrow’s Embrace there are events where destroyers are wiping the dredge out (such as in northern Timberline Falls).

Hmm…

Well in that case this could be early signs of a dredge invasion or alternatively the dredge could have done something that has cause the destroyers to start pushing up to the surface and the dredge could be getting pushed up before them. Sort of the ‘they dug too deep’ thing. After all we arent that far from where the central transfer chamber was so the destroyers quite possibly were all over the area under us at least early on.

I have a feeling it could be either. Controlling a few destroyers and controlling enough to lead to the volcanic vents we see forming seem on a different scale. Either way it will be interesting.

Or in a few weeks time we might find we are barking completely up the wrong tree:P Thats the thing I love about storytelling like this. Its rich ground for speculation.

Martinulus.1760:

“No dragons?” The storyline shouts Jormag and Primordius at us, I don’t quite believe there will be no dragons involved by the end. I mean, steam vents opening beneath Wayfarer Foothills and Earthquakes in Diessa Plateau? Sounds like Elemental stuff to me, and if I understand the lore well enough, that means dragons.

One would certainly think so, but I would not presume to dispute Martin Kerstein. I doubt he’d be so silly as to state “no dragons” if there are dragons.

So what does that leave us? What else is capable of causing these events?

Mayhap…Titans?

One thing that hasn’t been noted here yet, the refugee coordinator in the Black Citadel says that the charr refugees were driven from their posts by Flame Legion. Also, the herald in the Black Citadel confirms that the Wayfarer Foothills are having dredge trouble- although, strangely, none of the new NPCs in Hoelbrak mention them.

There are a few events scattered throughout the world in which you have to destroy Dredge Storm Generators. Potentially a very large one is being activated. This would account for both the Ground Shaking (a massive dredge machine would not be the most stable of things thus as it rattles as does the ground above below and around it) and The Sky Falling (the big storm is forming still but smaller storms would show up as a consequence).
The vents are easy to find a purpose for in this. A cooling system. The Dredge have had to create these vents to keep everything from blowing up.
Also the use of sonic weapons to kill the merchant is would lead to dredge. The key needs to be in the placement of the Dead Merchant. Unless he was put there after he was killed he was too close to something. The closest thing to him is the Warm Spring Grotto but I do not know how that would be involved other than being an entrance/exit point.

I doubt, however, that the dredge would do this on their own as they have more personal matters to attend to, such as a civil war therefore if it is Dredge related we can most likely count on the inquest also being involved.

The Inquest use lightning-based weapons, so I doubt they are behind it. If it’s a new type of dredge weaponry that combines sonic and fire attacks, I’d be inclined to say they are cooperating with the Flame Legion to a certain degree.

I haven’t been to Diessa yet now that the prelude is on, but it’s certainly a place where both factions are there in force: dredge harassing charr quarries in the northwest as well as having a mining facility there while Flame Legion can be found throughout the region. By the time of Zhaitan’s death the corrupt dredge faction and the Flame Legion have suffered serious losses. Perilious, hard times may result in unlikely alliances when the enemies are mostly common. The enemy of my enemy…

I think Martin ment we wouldn’t physically see a dragon that doesn’t mean you won’t feel it’s presents as they move around. Maybe the sound could still be primordius and not dredge, nothing says the dragon can’t use echolocation to help it see better under ground in GW1 primordius had small eyes echolocation would be useful that’s why the dredge use it.

Lutinz.6915:

Theres also a mysterious corpse of a merchant who has burns on his body and blood coming from his ears but no other signs of injury on the northern most point of the Wayfarer Foothills.

When I went to check this out, I saw the merchant corpse but it was a female merchant character rather than a male. Everything else was the same.

I wonder if this was a glitch, or if we’re meant to assume that more than one merchant has died.

My money is on the Dredge after doing some of the event stuff, the weather is due to the effects from under ground, and the corpses are bleeding from the ears which rules out all weaponry OTHER than sonic weaponry, the burns could be from the steam.

Clever little mole people!! They’re getting a lot better at their russian revolution…

Anakita Snakecharm.4360:

Lutinz.6915:

Theres also a mysterious corpse of a merchant who has burns on his body and blood coming from his ears but no other signs of injury on the northern most point of the Wayfarer Foothills.

When I went to check this out, I saw the merchant corpse but it was a female merchant character rather than a male. Everything else was the same.

I wonder if this was a glitch, or if we’re meant to assume that more than one merchant has died.

Theres a merchant’s bodyguard at the heart with the Charr rancher just below the road that leads to the charr lands who talks about how hes been really busy because a number of merchants have been going missing in the north so alot of merchants have been hiring extra guards. Im pretty certain he wasnt their before the patch so I suspect his relievant.

The question is how flame legion, who we havent seen active yet in this event, are tied in thanks to the comments of the Refugee Coordinator in the Black Citadel. Deissa Plateau has been bugged out on my server so I havent had a chance to look for any interesting hints in the zone.

I agree with Mike Winters. I think when Martin said there were no dragons in this story arc, he meant there wouldn’t be any dragons physically encountered. Their minions, however, are still relevant and can still play a central part.

This still could very well be a slow build-up for a more prominent destroyer presence.

Martinulus.1760:

“No dragons?” The storyline shouts Jormag and Primordius at us, I don’t quite believe there will be no dragons involved by the end. I mean, steam vents opening beneath Wayfarer Foothills and Earthquakes in Diessa Plateau? Sounds like Elemental stuff to me, and if I understand the lore well enough, that means dragons.

There are no elementals tied to the Elder Dragons, unless they’re corrupted (e.g., Icebrood Elemental, Branded Earth Elemental). Unless you just meant element-related.

And maybe what we take as “shouts Jormag and Primordus” is just them intentionally being vague so we keep on guessing. But at this point, I’m not expecting Jormag and Primordus. I hope to be proven wrong though.

snargles.2137:

Also the use of sonic weapons to kill the merchant is would lead to dredge. The key needs to be in the placement of the Dead Merchant. Unless he was put there after he was killed he was too close to something. The closest thing to him is the Warm Spring Grotto but I do not know how that would be involved other than being an entrance/exit point.

The only thing he’s placed near is a bunch of Sons of Svanir (both to the south and to the north). But the burn marks and bleeding from the ears don’t match that.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

One thing that hasn’t been noted here yet, the refugee coordinator in the Black Citadel says that the charr refugees were driven from their posts by Flame Legion. Also, the herald in the Black Citadel confirms that the Wayfarer Foothills are having dredge trouble- although, strangely, none of the new NPCs in Hoelbrak mention them.

I hadn’t been to Black Citadelor Diessa yet, so I’ll check that out now.

Edit: Ah, yes, he does mention Flame Legion. However, it seems that things were chaotic and they’re still shaken so it may not be the case since the account he mentions seem to be a “first statements” thing – the shamans of the Flame Legion do look very destroyer-like personally.

Still holding out for dredge attacking with/because of destroyers. Or maybe destroyers got ahold of dredge weaponry.

Thalador.4218:

The Inquest use lightning-based weapons, so I doubt they are behind it. If it’s a new type of dredge weaponry that combines sonic and fire attacks, I’d be inclined to say they are cooperating with the Flame Legion to a certain degree.

I haven’t been to Diessa yet now that the prelude is on, but it’s certainly a place where both factions are there in force: dredge harassing charr quarries in the northwest as well as having a mining facility there while Flame Legion can be found throughout the region. By the time of Zhaitan’s death the corrupt dredge faction and the Flame Legion have suffered serious losses. Perilious, hard times may result in unlikely alliances when the enemies are mostly common. The enemy of my enemy…

True, though, a dredge/Flame Legion alliance still sounds odd to me. Dredge hate all surface dwellers – the only reason, I believe, they dealt with the Inquest was because asura are from the Depths too. The only connection between dredge and Flame Legion I see is that they both hold ties to destroyers.

If Flame/destroyer alliance, I hope they’re cooperating because the Flame wants to use the dredge and their destroyers which they control thanks to the Inquest for their own personal gain (destroying the other three legions) and are simply helping the dredge assault the norn “menace” to their east.

However, given all this… where’s the Frost part? Flame=destroyers or Flame Legion by all accounts, but I’d hardly call dredge “frost.”

There are a couple of seemingly out-of-place houses, just south of the Dolyak Pass waypoint in Wayfarer and north of Butcher’s Block in Diessa. Both tiny settlements are populated by two or three NPCs that seem to be putting the final touches on construction, but do not have any interaction options, not even a greeting. I could be wrong, but I believe both are new. Possibly something to keep an eye on as the content moves forward?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

However, given all this… where’s the Frost part? Flame=destroyers or Flame Legion by all accounts, but I’d hardly call dredge “frost.”

Perhaps the presense of the Destroyers would trigger a retaliation by Icebrood. We have champions of Jormag flying around just to the north. That would be interesting. Getting caught in a fight between two elder dragon’s minions.

Ive been thinking and this event has some pretty major remifications. Deissa Plateau is the Black Citadels bread (or meat in this case) basket. Most of the agriculture and timber used by the Iron Legion seems to come from there. Combined with the Dragonbrand this event could hit the charr really hard.

Clearly, since the forces of good created the pact, the forces of evil will create the anti-pact. It will be dredge, svanir, flame legion, and inquest… riding destroyers!

But, in all seriousness it sounds like the dredge theory fits the best. As for the merchant, his injuries seems to be from a shock wave, whether from a sonic weapon, or just an explosion, who knows. I think just a simple explosion seems more likely. It is also entirely possible that the corpse has been there for a while only to be revealed by the thaw.

I also think it is neat that the Norn and the Char have two differing reactions to the events. The Char are quick to assign blame stating that, “the dredge are causing trouble” or “the flame legion attacked”. The Norn are more contemplative. When you ask them what happened they give answers like, “we don’t know yet”, “the answers we are getting do not make sense”. It is clear the Norn are still trying to figure the situation out and the Char are ready to go to war.

Finally, all these refugees keep telling me that, “raven told me you were coming.” What I don’t get is why didn’t raven tell them to get out before this disaster struck? Why is he telling them useless things like my daily schedule. Kinda sounds like raven is a kitten. Maybe raven is behind all this… …. maybe …

Another thing to consider is that there is a mountain between Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau, near the Burrows of Moledavia, that has steam vents erupting from it. You can see the vents from both sides of the mountain in either zone and I have yet to find another mountain like it. Is this the source? If so it is close to the dead body of them merchant and a dredge settlement.

Lutinz.6915:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

However, given all this… where’s the Frost part? Flame=destroyers or Flame Legion by all accounts, but I’d hardly call dredge “frost.”

Perhaps the presense of the Destroyers would trigger a retaliation by Icebrood. We have champions of Jormag flying around just to the north. That would be interesting. Getting caught in a fight between two elder dragon’s minions.

Great, you got me picturing a large Destroyer of Worlds using its little arm-mounted cannons to shoot down a Claw of Jormag.

Crushnaut.8307:

Clearly, since the forces of good created the pact, the forces of evil will create the anti-pact. It will be dredge, svanir, flame legion, and inquest… riding destroyers!

Ye of little observation. The “anti-pact” was existing before the Pact. It’s called the “Sinister Triad” – Nightmare Court, Inquest, and Bandits working together. Bandits are also allied with the centaurs to boot, and are led by the White Mantle (which may or may not be led by Lazarus or another mursaat).

I can easily see dredge – possibly even flame legion – being added to this pact. But not svanir. Nightmare Court still hate the Elder Dragons (it’s odd enough they work with Inquest, given the history and hatred for asura and the Inquest’s actions with Elder Dragons, but eh, the bad guys are all pitch black in morals, no matter which group you look at – one of the things I dislike most about GW2. The nicest guys of the “villains” are the cuthroat pirates! lol).

Crushnaut.8307:

Finally, all these refugees keep telling me that, “raven told me you were coming.” What I don’t get is why didn’t raven tell them to get out before this disaster struck? Why is he telling them useless things like my daily schedule. Kinda sounds like raven is a kitten. Maybe raven is behind all this… …. maybe …

That’s just a standard norn response. Raven told me you were coming… I pray to the Spirits of the Wild, but they rarely answer… Yes? Oh, hi. etc. etc.

Crushnaut.8307:

Another thing to consider is that there is a mountain between Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau, near the Burrows of Moledavia, that has steam vents erupting from it. You can see the vents from both sides of the mountain in either zone and I have yet to find another mountain like it. Is this the source? If so it is close to the dead body of them merchant and a dredge settlement.

Im starting to think your right. The merchant’s bodygaurd refers to merchants going missing to the north and east which is the area around that mountain. We also saw today huts appear near said mountain (credit to Aaron Ansari for noticing them). We also can be pretty certain that dredge tunnels go under that mountain and of course the body of the merchant is found next to the mountain.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Crushnaut.8307:

Clearly, since the forces of good created the pact, the forces of evil will create the anti-pact. It will be dredge, svanir, flame legion, and inquest… riding destroyers!

Ye of little observation. The “anti-pact” was existing before the Pact. It’s called the “Sinister Triad” – Nightmare Court, Inquest, and Bandits working together. Bandits are also allied with the centaurs to boot, and are led by the White Mantle (which may or may not be led by Lazarus or another mursaat).

I thought that was funny. The Sinister Triad in the DE was a Nightmare Courtier (who protects her allies), a bandit (that damages his enemies) and a Inquest guy (who heals his allies). Bits in brackets was the flavor text or the rough version of it I remember.

Well, it refers to both the individuals during the group event quest, as well as the three groups themselves iirc. The heart NPC calls them such in the event’s area. I may be wrong on this though, as I just remember the term being used for more than the event in game (I never saw the non-group event with the term used in-game, sadly). Unfortunately, the wiki doesn’t have pre-completion of any of the anti-alliance hearts so not sure.

I do know, however, that the makeshift alliance to combat those three groups allying – that is, the Seraph, Wardens, and Peacemakers working together – is referred to as the Triforge.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Well, it refers to both the individuals during the group event quest, as well as the three groups themselves iirc. The heart NPC calls them such in the event’s area. I may be wrong on this though, as I just remember the term being used for more than the event in game (I never saw the non-group event with the term used in-game, sadly). Unfortunately, the wiki doesn’t have pre-completion of any of the anti-alliance hearts so not sure.

I do know, however, that the makeshift alliance to combat those three groups allying – that is, the Seraph, Wardens, and Peacemakers working together – is referred to as the Triforge.

You get the joke right? Sinister Triad…. protects allies… damages the enemy… heals allies….

Tank, DPS and Heals… Sinister Triad… as opposed to holy trinity….

Nevermind. I thought it was funny.

heads off to his corner

I think the focal point of the living story is the refugee experience. If we take the lvl 1-80 zone experience as the narrative source, then there is no need to look for another supra-threat other than dragons. A newly created hero experiences the refugee narrative immediately, and a hero would indeed pass a lot of refugees on the way to battle dragons.

I think giving players the opportunity to role-play within a coherent civilian war zone environment would be groundbreaking. When I play in the zones, I hear a lot of rp dissonance concerning the ‘looting’ of the dead refugees. If I may, I would prefer to secure the deceased for collection: perhaps examining the deceased would spawn the villain that slew them. The villain would have a stolen trinket. Securing the deceased for collection would also raise the question of how do the species maintain themselves in the after life, their death and burial rights.

edited

The momentos you collect from dead refugees you return to refugee coordinators to have them given to the dead refugees next of kin or loved ones. Its not really looting the dead.

Securing the deceeased is easier said than done in a refugee situation. What exactly is an asura going to do with a norn corpse he finds out in the middle of a frozen lake. If the situation is dire enought that refugees are dying to predators or the elements its likely that there arent resources around to be collecting dead bodies. They would be helping the living over recovering the dead.

As for the villian, there are plenty of non dragon villians we deal with leveling, from the Centaur, to the bandits, the nightmare court, the inquest, the dredge, the flame legion, and many others. Alot of these have plotlines still active.

All I hope it does not turn into another meandering loose ends plot that is use as filler (looking at the Karka event). If it is destroyers then maybe we can get some variety in the models and behavior of Primordus minions. We could always use a dragon Champion of Primordus and not just another version of the Troll. Even EotN had more variety then what currently exists in GW2.

The lack of destroyer models – especially compared to GW1 – is indeed disappointing, however it’s explainable in the fact that of the four active Elder Dragons, Primordus is the least influential (barely above the DSD and Mordremoth). There’s only four destroyer models in the entire game, one of which is used once (Sorrow’s Embrace, explorable) – which I wish that model was used for the poorly named “Megadestroyer” (honestly, those Obsidian Destroyer Trolls are more originally named than the Megadestroyer…).

In case anyone missed it:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-living-story-in-guild-wars-2/

Lutinz.6915:

The momentos you collect from dead refugees you return to refugee coordinators to have them given to the dead refugees next of kin or loved ones. Its not really looting the dead.

Securing the deceeased is easier said than done in a refugee situation. What exactly is an asura going to do with a norn corpse he finds out in the middle of a frozen lake. If the situation is dire enought that refugees are dying to predators or the elements its likely that there arent resources around to be collecting dead bodies. They would be helping the living over recovering the dead.

As for the villian, there are plenty of non dragon villians we deal with leveling, from the Centaur, to the bandits, the nightmare court, the inquest, the dredge, the flame legion, and many others. Alot of these have plotlines still active.

Yes, I understand the narrative of the mementos, they are dog tags. However, I think the gameplay mechanic mimics looting and inserts the looting narrative. As evidence all I have to offer is what I encounter in map chat in the zones effected; many people refer to it as looting and point out the dissonance. Securing the deceased would just be polite positioning and marking for retrieval. Anyway, all speculation. I also agree that new villains could come from anywhere.

I am very curious to see the first persistent change left by the Living Story

Actually, mechanics don’t mimic looting bodies for that. It mimics picking up items/environmental weapons. If people take it as looting bodies, well… that’s kind of their problem for seeing something that’s not there mechanically or lore wise.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Actually, mechanics don’t mimic looting bodies for that. It mimics picking up items/environmental weapons. If people take it as looting bodies, well… that’s kind of their problem for seeing something that’s not there mechanically or lore wise.

Yeah, this is true, and it’s not like it’s never happened before. There are at least two renown hearts (maybe more, but I can think of two specific ones) where you have to recover identification from dead Seraphs and return them to the commander, so it’s not like your PC would never have done this before and wouldn’t know the drill.

There seems to be a new NPC in front of the Imperator’s Core in the Black Citadel, Adamant Watch [Refugee Coordinator], who gives the impression that the Flame Legion may be one of the parties behind this event.

And now I see the post above, lol.

Seeing how Flame Legion deals with well, fire, and we also have ice (not Flames’s thing) could the other party be a Son of Svanir? They tend to do there own thing without consulting Jormag first, most of the time.

Well to me it seems to be Primordus, with the events having to do with heat bursting from the ground and things coming to the surface. I mean we have saw this before in EotN where races have been pushed to the surface by this ED.

Let us not forget that this activity is also going on near the old Central Transfer Chamber too.

Word on the Wayfarer Foothills says the popular theory among players I’ve talked to points to the Dredge, but personally, I figure after 250 years Primordious has carved new tunnels or found long forgotten ones to break onto the surface, since trying to overcome the dwarves clearly wasn’t working.

Besides, dragon activity is what drove the Norn from the north, so what would bring the few that remained but more serious activity? Earth and sky as enemies sounds to me almost like volcanic activity, though it couldn’t be a full size volcano or else we’d all be affected across Tyria. These vents seem to herald volcanic activity, though, which is always connected to the Destroyers.

I don’t think the norn and charr refugees are coming from that far north.

Otherwise we’d also be getting content in Frostgorge Sound and Fireheart Rise. And I just can’t see charr refugees heading south from Blood Legion Homelands either – they’re more likely to head east (where more of charr land is), since they wouldn’t have to wade through Flame Legion territory to get to safety.

All outward appearances are pointing to Flame Legion and dredge activity rising. Both hold ties to destroyers, and the modern Flame Legion I’ve been long suspecting have been pulling magic from Primordus (knowingly or not) given how the change their bodies into fiery… things via self-mutilating rituals. These rituals may be calling upon small dosages of a destroyer champion.

I’m betting that this tie to destroyers – dredge controlling the Destroyer of Worlds thanks to the Inquest, and the Flame Legion seeking fiery power – is what’s causing this. And Primordus is reacting, because he’s kitten his power and minions are being used by puny organic beings (he seems to hate living creatures, given how he and his champions have been all about corrupting lava and earth, and killing all life – the Great Destroyer’s purpose was to wipe out all life to make way for Primordus, which is counter-effective if he used them as minions/food like the other Elder Dragons, but super-effective if he doesn’t, because it weakens the other Elder Dragons while giving him fewer enemies).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Otherwise we’d also be getting content in Frostgorge Sound and Fireheart Rise.

Actually, we may just get additional content in Frostgorge Sound in the latter phases of the story, since the steam vents – like breadcrumbs – lead all the way up to the Wayfarer – Frostgorge portal, with one active one being behind the portal itself. The largest vents that are active most of the time are also centered on the mountain closest to Frostgorge.

What I meant is that we’d be getting content in those two zones, instead of Wayfarer and Diessa.

My money is on whatever is happening being centered around that mountain covered in steam vents. Theres is dredge tunnels under it already so we know there are dredge down there and those vents are visable from both Diessa and Wayfarer.

I was up there the other day. There are actually 3 sets of mountains with steam vents. One right on the boundary between Diessa and Wayfarer Foothills, and two more up behind Burrows of Moledavia in areas just outside the map where you can not get too. I keep watching for more to show up, but nothing yet.

The reports of flame legions attacks may just be the flame legion reorganizing itself, much like the refugees, in light of the recent events.

Hopefully, tonight, we get some new story in the world.

Crushnaut.8307:

I was up there the other day. There are actually 3 sets of mountains with steam vents. One right on the boundary between Diessa and Wayfarer Foothills, and two more up behind Burrows of Moledavia in areas just outside the map where you can not get too. I keep watching for more to show up, but nothing yet.

The reports of flame legions attacks may just be the flame legion reorganizing itself, much like the refugees, in light of the recent events.

Hopefully, tonight, we get some new story in the world.

I noticed the vents there too but apart from three vents near the skillpoint there I havent seen any others along the northern border of Diessa.

We have had a small change though. The refugee camps in Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel have grown in size.

Each now had a NPC refugee that will talk to you. The norn one doesnt really tell us much apart from that the kid with him he found lying in the snow and the kids were shaken up.

The charr one however does state that they were driven off their ranch by Flame Legion. It seems more likely that the flame legion may be involved though how is anyone’s guess at this point.

Lutinz.6915:

The charr one however does state that they were driven off their ranch by Flame Legion. It seems more likely that the flame legion may be involved though how is anyone’s guess at this point.

I’m starting to wonder if rather than being a cause, the Flame Legion are displaced too. If something larger drove them out of their strongholds, they may be moving into the territory of other Charr because they need somewhere to go.