Guild Wars 2

Now we got some new info on LS3:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/state-of-the-game-update-q1-2016/

With the recent death of Mordremoth, the Pact and its armies are in disarray with the vast majority of its troops dead or missing. Survivors have begun to regroup or gone home to mourn the dead while the heroes of the great invasion into the jungle investigate a strange disturbance to the north. Within the golden city of Tarir, the last known dragon egg rests protected by the Exalted—but the egg begins to crack. What creature lies within the egg? An enemy or an ally? In other corners of Tyria, the remaining powerful elder dragons continue to expand their control—but what impact will the death of the two of the elder dragons have on them and on Tyria itself? What impact will being held by Mordremoth have on Zojja and Logan? What research will Taimi uncover at Rata Novus? What plans do Anise and the Shining Blade have for Canach? How will the Black Citadel react when they learn of the return of Rytlock? These questions and more await you in season three of Living World! We’ll give you more details as we get closer to its launch.

While they say that there will be more, the absent of anything Sylvari related is kinda disapointing.

What do you make out of these news? Any hope shattered or rather revitalized?
I am a bit on the edge to be honest.

I am really surprised the pale tree didn’t get a mention, its a world leader and a city.

Yeah, the pale tree, the nightmare court and sylvari in general really need more aftermath story.

Diovid.9506:

Yeah, the pale tree, the nightmare court and sylvari in general really need more aftermath story.

Its essential – the pale tree is dieing/ turning evil/ about to become more powerful like tequatl. If anything it is the most important unresolved issue of the story.

What’s inside the egg? Well, considering its an egg spawned by a dragon, its probably a dr- Its Kormir.

Impact of Mordremoth’s death? Absolutely nothing, because Zhaitan’s death caused a whole lot of nothing. Although it could be seen that Zhaitan’s death meant enough magic was sloshing around inside the Leylines to wake him up using Scarlet. Steve might have some more relevance since theres a lot of leylines in Mordremoth’s Lair, and it’s right by the coast. He might come inland to absorb some of it.

What will Taimi discover? Well, considering the Rata Novans spent their life figuring out “Elder Dragons have weaknesses”, probably not a lot. If anything, I feel like it’ll just provoke a lot of deus ex machina. When ever a mild problem crops up: “Oh! The Rata Novan files told me how to solve this problem!”

Zojja and Logan: There will probably be a story step in LS3 that is dependant on our choice at the end of HoT. One of them will probably get sick, or become an ally for LS3 while the other leaves to rest up, only to turn up again later on.

Canach: At the very end of HoT, he says he wants to go home and request Anise to grant him freedom. They wouldn’t put something like that in the game only for Anise to say “lolno, m8”

Rytlock: A lot of Charr will probably have problems with the fact he uses magic, not that anyone will have anyone to say about it, since he’s a Tribune, and a very dangerous one at that. Smodur definitely won’t care either, since he’s the most chilled personality in all of GuildWars history. Some of the lady-Charr might try to go after Rytlock after finding out hes into blindfolds though.

Overall, im looking pretty forward to LS3. The Charr are my favourite part of GuildWars as a franchise, and it gives reason for them to do something dynamic again because Rytlock’s status as a Revenant gives them a society-wide decision to make: rejection or approval of this new magic.

The biggest thing im looking forward to is the fact LS3 will be a lore bomb larger than GW2’s launch. I think ArenaNet knows not explaining Revenants and Elite Specializations will bring the wrath of the internet down on them, so im looking thoroughly forward to it all. For example, who are the Dragonhunters? Under what circumstances does Braham set them up? (Come on, its obvious Braham sets it all up.)

Im also hoping this sheds light on a few shadier parts of lore also. The Mesmer Collective in particular. Kasmeer was basically AFK’ing for the duration of HoT, so im hoping she has some relevance to the story. We also know Anise will crop up again because of Canach’s dialogue at the end of HoT.

Also, Eir’s Bow Backpack Skin. I know you have it, Braham. Gimme.

“Rytlock: A lot of Charr will probably have problems with the fact he uses magic, not that anyone will have anyone to say about it, since he’s a Tribune, and a very dangerous one at that. Smodur definitely won’t care either, since he’s the most chilled personality in all of GuildWars history. Some of the lady-Charr might try to go after Rytlock after finding out hes into blindfolds though.”
LOL-thank you.
But, It does bring up a question:
IS Rytlock remotely related to the Khans blood line? Is there a possibility he is the next Charr ‘king’? What of the amulet of the royal family of Tyria? Does he have that item too? So many unanswered questions, with so many possible plots!

Diovid.9506:

Yeah, the pale tree, the nightmare court and sylvari in general really need more aftermath story.

As well as the nature of the Dream and Nightmare, and Malyck, how Rytlock became a revenant (beyond ’he went into the Mists and came back as a revenants) and a Herald, what Braham and Marjory do to spread their new specializations, the lore story for the other 6 elite specializations being spread, and many more.

And pretty everything that should have been in HoT in the first place, but was not for the obviously rushed nature of the story.

Argon.1563:

Impact of Mordremoth’s death? Absolutely nothing, because Zhaitan’s death caused a whole lot of nothing. Although it could be seen that Zhaitan’s death meant enough magic was sloshing around inside the Leylines to wake him up using Scarlet. Steve might have some more relevance since theres a lot of leylines in Mordremoth’s Lair, and it’s right by the coast. He might come inland to absorb some of it.

You forgot about Tequatl Rising update, which was a post-Zhaitan event of Tequatl getting a mysterious power boost.

And, humorously enough, now we have a different dragon champion getting a revamp – the Shatterer.

It’s possible they’ll tie that into Season 3 in a similar light, especially given the line about how the other Elder Dragons will react to the deaths of two other dragons. Zhaitan’s death did have an effect, but negligable. However, the death of two dragons is a bit different because the death of one could be a fluke, the death of two wouldn’t be – the other Elder Dragons cannot deny that the Tyrians are a threat this time around, and not only that but the world’s magic which was being split six ways is now being split four ways – a significant enough boost to make the four remaining dragons stronger given magical consumption = power levels for Elder Dragons.

Argon.1563:

What will Taimi discover? Well, considering the Rata Novans spent their life figuring out “Elder Dragons have weaknesses”, probably not a lot. If anything, I feel like it’ll just provoke a lot of deus ex machina. When ever a mild problem crops up: “Oh! The Rata Novan files told me how to solve this problem!”

That’s not really a dues ex machina. Dues ex Machina – “God from the Machine” – is a term originating from Greek plays where they’d literally have a god figure (either done mechanically or via actor) who would appear out of nowhere, without having prior influence in the play’s story, and solve all the issues of the plot.

The first real dues ex machina of consequence in GW2 was Rytlock’s return. In that instance the PC is having troubles with the cavalier champion – forced by mechanics, even if your good enough to not have issues with the champion – and Rytlock comes in despite being MIA longer than the Mordrem Guard exists, knows the entire situation (from what Mordrem Guard are to the fact that Destiny’s Edge is missing) and removes the champion’s invulnerability. The second real dues ex machina of consequence was the PC’s revealing Mordremoth’s weakness – literally coming out of nowhere, this sudden revelation.

Taimi coming around saying “oh the Rata Novan’s research has the answer” is crappy writing, but not a dues ex machina.

Argon.1563:

Zojja and Logan: There will probably be a story step in LS3 that is dependant on our choice at the end of HoT. One of them will probably get sick, or become an ally for LS3 while the other leaves to rest up, only to turn up again later on.

Wouldn’t surprise me, but if they had good writing they would have it where one of the two (the one you saved second) has residual effects of being imprisoned. Minor things that make people wonder things like ‘is Mordremoth truly gone or did it plant a ’seed’ in Logan/Zojja’s mind too?’ or ‘will Logan/Zojja turn against us?’

Argon.1563:

Rytlock: A lot of Charr will probably have problems with the fact he uses magic, not that anyone will have anyone to say about it, since he’s a Tribune, and a very dangerous one at that. Smodur definitely won’t care either, since he’s the most chilled personality in all of GuildWars history. Some of the lady-Charr might try to go after Rytlock after finding out hes into blindfolds though.

I’d love it if they brought in Bangar Ruinbringer (Blood Legion Imperator) who strips Rytlock of his ranks because of becoming a traitor to use magic (out of all legions, Blood seems to have the fewest magic users, and Bangar is already called a wildcard who is only allying with humanity to avoid fighting Iron and Ash on top of the other threats to the charr).

Argon.1563:

Also, Eir’s Bow Backpack Skin. I know you have it, Braham. Gimme.

Here you go

chronometria.3708:

Diovid.9506:

Yeah, the pale tree, the nightmare court and sylvari in general really need more aftermath story.

Its essential – the pale tree is dieing/ turning evil/ about to become more powerful like tequatl. If anything it is the most important unresolved issue of the story.

She might become the next Mordremoth XD
But yeah it does seems a bit odd that they didn’t mention peoples reaction to the Sylvari are Mordrem. Oh sure Mordremoth is dead, but can we at least have 1 ignorant gang of peasants wielding pitchforks and torches?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Wouldn’t surprise me, but if they had good writing they would have it where one of the two (the one you saved second) has residual effects of being imprisoned. Minor things that make people wonder things like ‘is Mordremoth truly gone or did it plant a ’seed’ in Logan/Zojja’s mind too?’ or ‘will Logan/Zojja turn against us?’

Sounds interesting, but maybe we just feel that the character of Mordremoth wasn’t uses to it’s fullest potential and we’d like to see him actually participating in some way.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I’d love it if they brought in Bangar Ruinbringer (Blood Legion Imperator) who strips Rytlock of his ranks because of becoming a traitor to use magic (out of all legions, Blood seems to have the fewest magic users, and Bangar is already called a wildcard who is only allying with humanity to avoid fighting Iron and Ash on top of the other threats to the charr).

Ah Charr politics. It’s like Game of Thrones but with more horned cats.

All I have to say is that, if Arenanet is completely done with Mordremoth and we never see him again, I will lose all faith and interest in GW2’s story.

Why does everyone assume that the elite specs need or are even relevant to the lore, revenant is one thing but all the others dont need some special story line, they can just be considered variations in fighting styles for the existing classes and dont need to have any outside reference and simply exist as the way your player character fights

Its almost cringe inducing when i see people trying to force some storyline for each elite spec and whine at anet to add them when its not at all necessary

Initial reactions:

Basically I’m disappointed that ANet seem to have set up a lot of mysteries and plot threads that don’t get resolved.

I need to stress at this point that to a significant degree I enjoyed HoT, and the issues I had with the story were in the minority to the things I felt they’d improved on from personal story and some of the living world releases (hell, just ask my guild how much I’ve been gushing about it over the past few months)…

…however, I’d really like to see a little less teasing of long-term plot threads where everyone gets hyped on speculation, only for it to never have any payoff because it’s not addressed at all subsequently. It’s frustrating.

I’m looking forward to LW starting up again, I’d just really appreciate more answers to some of the existing questions, please!

Blech. Not ’til April at the earliest? I was expecting a break, but given how small HoT was, six months seems… excessive. Especially given the nine month lull preceding it.

Anyway, while I am put out by the total absence of any sylvari plot threads from that list, I’m still a little pleased to see a broad range being promised. From its conception the LS has suffered from being too narrow, focusing on tiny points in the world and a single plot arc while putting everything else on hold. Even at its best, S2 never tried to go beyond two parallel arcs at a time. HoT, in its own way, had a similar shortcoming. I doubt they’ll hit the sweet spot on their first try, but the fact that they are willing to try advancing multiple plots at once is encouraging.

Kayberz.5346:

Why does everyone assume that the elite specs need or are even relevant to the lore, revenant is one thing but all the others dont need some special story line, they can just be considered variations in fighting styles for the existing classes and dont need to have any outside reference and simply exist as the way your player character fights

Its almost cringe inducing when i see people trying to force some storyline for each elite spec and whine at anet to add them when its not at all necessary

People “assume” such because ArenaNet explicitly stated such.

Marjory becomes the first reaper; Dragonhunter was made based off of Braham’s story, Scrappers are derived from the charr engineering and social class of the same name as they determine to get into more combative roles, etc. etc.

Just as Rytlock is not only the first revenant but first herald, Marjory is the first reaper and Braham is the first Dragonhunter.

Devs had long ago stated it – the very first thing we knew about reapers back in January 2015 was that Marjory starts it. They said there’d be lore on the elite specializations. They said one of their biggest regrets with GW2’s professions was the lack of lore and story around the core professions in the game.

So it’s only natural people are expecting Anet to fix “one of their biggest regrets” and fulfill promises that the elite specializations have lore to them.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Blech. Not ’til April at the earliest? I was expecting a break, but given how small HoT was, six months seems… excessive. Especially given the nine month lull preceding it.

Yup.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Blech. Not ’til April at the earliest? I was expecting a break, but given how small HoT was, six months seems… excessive. Especially given the nine month lull preceding it.

Anyway, while I am put out by the total absence of any sylvari plot threads from that list, I’m still a little pleased to see a broad range being promised. From its conception the LS has suffered from being too narrow, focusing on tiny points in the world and a single plot arc while putting everything else on hold. Even at its best, S2 never tried to go beyond two parallel arcs at a time. HoT, in its own way, had a similar shortcoming. I doubt they’ll hit the sweet spot on their first try, but the fact that they are willing to try advancing multiple plots at once is encouraging.

Since the raid is the story lead in to LS3, it’s to be expected that it has to be finished before they can actually release LS3. Given everything else, April seems like an overly rosy expectation to me. Anet does have a history of promising content and deadlines that they can’t live up to.

Yeah, I wouldn’t expect S3 until Q3/Q4 of 2016. Presuming they can indeed release wing 2 before March ends, we’d see wing 3 before August ends if they take the same amount of time. S3 would likely release either at the same time as wing three of Forsaken Thicket or sometime after.

Which seems silly to me, but waiting so long to release each wing is also silly to me. It really feels like ArenaNet’s lacking in capabilities across the board.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Kayberz.5346:

Why does everyone assume that the elite specs need or are even relevant to the lore, revenant is one thing but all the others dont need some special story line, they can just be considered variations in fighting styles for the existing classes and dont need to have any outside reference and simply exist as the way your player character fights

Its almost cringe inducing when i see people trying to force some storyline for each elite spec and whine at anet to add them when its not at all necessary

People “assume” such because ArenaNet explicitly stated such.

Marjory becomes the first reaper; Dragonhunter was made based off of Braham’s story, Scrappers are derived from the charr engineering and social class of the same name as they determine to get into more combative roles, etc. etc.

Just as Rytlock is not only the first revenant but first herald, Marjory is the first reaper and Braham is the first Dragonhunter.

Devs had long ago stated it – the very first thing we knew about reapers back in January 2015 was that Marjory starts it. They said there’d be lore on the elite specializations. They said one of their biggest regrets with GW2’s professions was the lack of lore and story around the core professions in the game.

So it’s only natural people are expecting Anet to fix “one of their biggest regrets” and fulfill promises that the elite specializations have lore to them.

Unfortunatly, they also stated that with the Dragonhunter the lore devs and the elite devs did not really communicate as much as they wanted, resulting in the elite devs just running with a quick idea and creating a weird name with no real meat behind it (lorewise).

While it would be simple to introduce special troops, masters, etc around the world or in the new areas we (for some reason, but even that could be explained), never saw before, I don`t think we will ever get that.
I mean, even the different fighting style approach would be good enough to a certain degree.

Kayberz.5346:

Why does everyone assume that the elite specs need or are even relevant to the lore

I think its more just the overall desire to see more lore in general, and elite specs and professions in general have a lot of potential to provide us not only world building but also some deeper insights into our own characters.

Jaken.6801:

Unfortunatly, they also stated that with the Dragonhunter the lore devs and the elite devs did not really communicate as much as they wanted, resulting in the elite devs just running with a quick idea and creating a weird name with no real meat behind it (lorewise).

Yeah, I keep getting this feeling (due to things like these) that the lore team and the gameplay teams don’t like each other or something, because there doesn’t really seem to be a lot of communication and cooperation between them.

Anise could well go ‘lolno m8’ on Canach. Canach asking for freedom and Anise refusing will create a conflict, which could take the story in multiple directions. Outside of the meta perspective, while a strong argument could be made that Canach has earned his freedom, from Anise’s perspective she still has an investment to recoup, and she may have concerns about cutting Canach loose while she’s still considered to be responsible for him. Even if she’s in-principle willing, there may be complications before it can be made official.

(On that matter, Anise and Canach could become a microcosm of the human-sylvari relationship in general. Queen Jennah has been friendly to the sylvari in general, which the Ministry may now seek to present as another example of Jennah choosing her allies poorly (especially given the hints that the raid wings will be relevant to future story). On the other hand, the discoveries we made in HoT of how Modrem copies could be made of living beings all but confirms that the sylvari are patterned off humans, which may bring the two races closer now that the sylvari presumably have their freedom. The relationship between Anise and Canach would be a convenient vehicle for showcasing any such shifts.)

The ramifications of Rytlock being a revenant could run quite deep. It’s not just magic – since it invokes power ultimately derived from powerful entities, it could easily be misinterpreted as power derived from worshipping those entities. Rytlock doesn’t get along with the Stone warband well in general from what we’ve heard, and Bangar might be looking for an excuse to make an example of a charr who’s getting overly chummy with humans – the perception, however undeserved, that Rytlock may have turned to worshipping the likes of Glint and Shiro might have serious consequences. Smodur is fairly practical and enlightened, but even he may not be able to ignore an accusation that Rytlock has gained religion.

Regarding Zojja and Logan: I quite doubt that the choice will end up having greater ramifications later in the story. That would have the effect of splitting the playerbase, unless it’s done as a secret vote according to who chose which option. Keep in mind that there’s always the possibility that a character, or even a player, might play LS3 and HoT out of order and thus not have made the choice at all. I suspect it will be used to drive character development for both of them (similar to Rytlock’s ordeal in the Mists), but I don’t think the choice of who to rescue first is likely to have long-term ramifications.

Regarding the timing: I suspect the holiday season had an effect on the gap between the first and second wing. More generally, though, I’d rather some delay for a quality product than something that’s obviously been rushed.

I got caught on the bit in the first paragraph going

while the heroes of the great invasion into the jungle investigate a strange disturbance to the north.

I posted this in the State of the Game post too but the reply from one guy there suggests it’s only “north in the jungle” as in focus on the raid releases… I’m not so sure though; could it be LS3 will have us investigate a disturbance in the north as in going to Shiverpeaks to check out Jormag finally surfacing?

Maby that portal north of Brisban Wildlands will get a use!

/also confirmed tybalt is dead dead :/ (escaping claw island fantasy crushed! /thx anet)

Dondarrion.2748:

I got caught on the bit in the first paragraph going

while the heroes of the great invasion into the jungle investigate a strange disturbance to the north.

I posted this in the State of the Game post too but the reply from one guy there suggests it’s only “north in the jungle” as in focus on the raid releases… I’m not so sure though; could it be LS3 will have us investigate a disturbance in the north as in going to Shiverpeaks to check out Jormag finally surfacing?

I took it as north of the jungle/raid wings too, since the raid focuses around a Pact squad scouting the area and going missing.

Deleena.3406:

Maby that portal north of Brisban Wildlands will get a use!

/also confirmed tybalt is dead dead :/ (escaping claw island fantasy crushed! /thx anet)

The Mists can create copies of living beings and beings not yet born, since it ties all times and places, and those champions aren’t souls of the dead (given that multiples of the same hero can exist kind of points that out).

Not to say that Tybalt isn’t dead… just saying that him being a hero for stronghold isn’t confirmation. I’d say the confirmation came with the PS. :P

LS3 – Expectations

- Dragon egg becomes Glinda the good wi…dragon.
- Brahm still kitten s his way through the story
- Main character and team still wildly overreact stupidly towards caithe
- Main character still annoys me the way it talks to Canach
- Insert token racial villification and civil war-esque content related to sylvari
- General covering up of enormous plot holes with large Maguuma Palm fronds, don’t trip or you will fall into kitten of wtf.

LS3 – What I WANT to see

- More depth to the connection between Zinn and rata novus ( why the shift from planning the down fall of rata sum, to studying dragons, was the influence of the seer he worked with during the WiK an influence), and also reconnecting with the rest of the novans at their relocation site.

- Clarification of the role of exalted and their orders and involvement with the Forgotten and if they are still in communication. Mecha-magical study into the defensive technology of Tarir for other cities. Why the order of whispers did not divulge the information they had on ley mapping that at some point must have been obtained from the novans.

- Sylvari aftermath – I still don’t believe sylvari are mordrem personally, more a convenience since they are biologically compatible and easy to manipulate once Mordremoth tapped into the universal psychic network they share. Mordremoth manipulated and corrupted its minions, it replicated already existing species why not sylvari too. ronan and ventari found the see that grew the pale tree afterall, and there are other sentient plant based species in the maguuma and around tyria (the druids, Wardens, etc). Also with regards to aftermath, what happens to the pale tree, if it dies, will there only ever be one last generation of sylvari before their ultimate extinction.

- Origins of the Lost Precipice and it’s incarnation – Was it a sanctuary, what is its connection to Dwayna, the mists, and the dragons.

- Correspondence from the Dominion of Winds, and the start of their involvement in the story.

- Confirmation from the ley energy maps where the other elder dragons are, how far north is Jormag, has Kralkatorrik moved from it’s location at the ToPK, is Primordus under Mt. Maelstorm, is the Ocean dragon on the move.

- Contact with cantha/elona (i wish)

- Aftermath of Mordremoth body breaking down, and if it has some form of ongoing issue with lingering magic.

- world adjustments – Kessex hills cleaned up more, Orr starting to grow life, risen vanishing from segments of Orr.

So much more T.T

Malyck.

If Bangar Ruinbringer becomes a nuisance because of Rytlock then he’s signed his death warrant at the hands of ourselves who’d have more than enough reason to invade the Blood Legion Homelands to either avenge Rytlock or rescue him.

These are just some ramblings of what I thought could happen:

Destiny’s Edge

-In the wake of Eir’s death, they may find someone capable of filling her role. You might be elected to do this (or at the very least, aid with some new responsibilities), with your success against Zhaitan and Mordremoth.

-Logan/Zojja may be terminally ill from Mordremoth’s influence. This may prevent them from being readily available to the Elder Dragon hunt for a time.

-Logan/Zojja being afflicted by Mordremoth’s influence, in tandem with Eir’s death, may cause Destiny’s Edge to disband

-Rytlock may channel Glint in order to gain further instruction on handling her newborn hatchling. The Charr may not like the idea that one of their “Champions” uses magic, but at the same time, he helped with felling Mordremoth, so they’ll learn to deal with it.

-Rytlock may train an apprentice (Rox? Someone new?) to learn about channeling Glint while he continues his work against the Ascalonian Ghosts. His understanding of the Mists and the reforged Sword will allow him to settle the matter once and for all.

-Logan/Zojja may need to be cured during the story LS3. There’s a chance that Mordremoth’s influence has left them slightly unhinged and possibly willing do to something crazy (another Scarlet case)

Glint’s Legacy:

Glint’s Egg hatching can lead to several possible outcomes:

-The egg was affected by the burst of magic released by Mordremoth, possibly having corrupted it. This can lead to a hunt for the dragon as it escapes Tarir to purify its corruption (speaking of which, more about returning the Jungle to normalcy should be made mentioned somewhere)

-The hatchling is not corrupted and kept in Tarir for further safeguard. However, the Mordrem react violently to its presence and begin to overwhelm Tarir in an attack it is not capable of defending against. Glint’s hatchling is moved to the safekeeping of the Pact/The Durmand Priory (under Ogden’s care), or even takes residence within Glint’s lair.

-In raising the egg, we must find sources of powerful magic to keep it healthy across Tyria. This might lead to a few missions/conflicts in itself.

Threat over the Horizon

-Kralkatorrik may respond to the presence of a new Dragon Champion coming to Tyria. This can be from a sudden attack on Ebonhawke from The Crystal Desert’s “scar” where Kral’s likely to be resting.

-Queen Jenna may be visiting during this time in the midst of the human-charr treaty negotiation and be put in danger.

-The aftermath of the (potential) Ebonhawke slaughter will prompt her to allow access to heroes of Tyria into the Crystal Desert to address the threat Kralkatorrik, its Branded, and the other Elonian threats within that region.

-Canach/Anise will likely still be working together as equals instead of captive and master. He may yet again have an opportunity to prove himself in the days to come. He may even be given leave to join your LW group.

This may be a stretch, but its possible that someone will attempt to use Revenant-channeling to gain power from the spirits, only to be possessed/lose control to it or something.

Mickey Frogeater.1470:

If Bangar Ruinbringer becomes a nuisance because of Rytlock then he’s signed his death warrant at the hands of ourselves who’d have more than enough reason to invade the Blood Legion Homelands to either avenge Rytlock or rescue him.

You do understand that there is Blood Legion Charr in the player base ? I’ll never go against Bangar and the Blood Legion Homelands for Rytlock in my case…

To be fair, Rytlock is also Blood Legion, and the Blood Legion personal story chapter is about replacing a bad leader… violently. Given that we were told in development that Bangar was also against the treaty, I could see ArenaNet progressing from the Blood Legion characters rebelling against their legionnaire to rebelling against their Imperator.

draxynnic.3719:

To be fair, Rytlock is also Blood Legion, and the Blood Legion personal story chapter is about replacing a bad leader… violently. Given that we were told in development that Bangar was also against the treaty, I could see ArenaNet progressing from the Blood Legion characters rebelling against their legionnaire to rebelling against their Imperator.

How would this work given that, unlikely every other position in Charr society, Imperators are bloodline based. As far as we know, Rytlock isn’t a descendant of the Khan-Ur.

Our knowledge could be lacking, and Rytlock could have provable descent from the last Khan-Ur.

The requirement for such descent could be deemed an outdated antiquity that simply hasn’t been convincingly challenged yet- every single other position in charr society is awarded on some form of pure merit, and the society they most enjoy badmouthing has dynasties as one of their defining traits, so it’s not an unlikely social evolution to make.

While I will never argue in favor of retcons, they have already set a precedent of overwriting the only source on the matter- the sole place where it’s stated that imperators are descended from the Khan-Ur also says “The primus warband of any legion carries the name of that legion–Ash, Blood, Iron and in the case of the Gold Legion, Flame”- but none of the current three with known charr surnames actually do- and “within a hundred years only a few Charr outside the Gold Legion bothered to remember the original name”- when, again, the opposite is true. I believe I’ve only seen the term Gold Legion once in-game, and I can’t remember where, so I may well be mistaken even in that.

I’m not particularly keen on seeing Rytlock as imperator, much less eventual Khan-Ur, but that’s just because it seems like bad writing to me. The in-universe objections would be fairly easy, and perhaps even interesting, to overcome.

In such a story arc, I’d probably go for Rytlock becoming Imperator of Blood… and then using that position to throw his support behind Smodur as Khan-Ur. We don’t know a lot about Malice, but what we do know makes me think that she might well have some links with the Order of Whispers, which is looking to unite Tyria – if she shares that goal, she might be willing to support a non-Ash Khan-Ur to achieve that goal as long as that Khan-Ur also has the support of the third legion.

While Rytlock is an impressive fighter, I think it’s Smodur who has shown better credentials as a statesman.

So the egg infused with Mordremoth’s magic white stuff is hatching. Wonder how far they’ll take this forced artificial insemination story.

Rytlock is highly unlikely to be a descendant of the Khan-Ur. All known descendants of the Khan-Ur are in the legions’ Primus Warbands, which is the warband that the Imperator is leader of.

So if we have an anti-Bangar plot, we’re either overturning charr norms for having a Khan-Ur descendant as Imperator, or we’ll be allying with one of Bangar’s warband members to make that individual the new Imperator.

Is that stated anywhere? The Ecology of the Charr says that the primus warband is the only hereditary warband, which will have the effect of concentrating known descendants of the Khan-Ur within it, but it doesn’t mean that they all are.

And as Aaron pointed out, there is much that is questionable about the Ecology – there is little mention of the Gold Legion epithet in game, and neither Malice, Bangar, or Gaheron have surnames related to the primus warband. (Smodur might – his surname is replaced with a title.)

I’m going off of this line in the Ecology:

Occasionally, non-descendants of the Khan-Ur join the primus warband, taking the name of their leader as their own, as is Charr tradition.

“Occasionally” would imply that it happens, but not very often. Possibly not even every generation. Otherwise it’d be more like “frequently” or not even worth mentioning.

It would be an… interesting set-up if all of the descendants were indeed channeled into a single warband per legion. For starters, where would their cubs go? Would they be inducted automatically into their primus-parent’s warband, breaking the glue of being raised and trained as a unit that holds any other warband together? Are they set up into succeeding generations of warbands, with the younger eventually replacing the older? If so, when does the replacement happen? When the imperator dies? When their legionnaire bests whoever the older generation puts forward to replace him? Would these younger warbands consist of members born at different times, and if so, would they be close enough together to overcome the problem with just shoving them in the old one? If not, are descendants of the Khan-Ur under some societal onus to all have cubs within a short period of time, to produce enough to fill out a warband?

I have no fear for Rytlock. He’s the Chuck Norris of GW2.

That said, I’m hoping he’ll explain how he got his sword back, and fill us in a bit on how Revenants came to be.

I’m almost willing to be money on Kralkatorrik being the next ED we face. Shatty is getting stronger, we have portals into the heart of the Brand all but ready, and there’s something else. I don’t remember which character it was, but early in LS1 someone mentions “We were going to go after Kralkatorrik next, then we heard Mordremoth’s alarm clock go off.”

I’m paraphrasing, of course.

Trahearne said that, the Pact was gearing up for fighting Kralkatorrik.

Rytlock also wants payback on Kralkatorrik, stated at the end of HoT.

Though Jormag’s still a viable option, he’s been gearing up for assaulting Tyria since the personal story and by the side comments of S1 and S2, hasn’t stopped gaining traction just yet.

I had an interesting thought. What if we’re not entirely done in Maguuma?

The Pale Tree is effectively a dragon champion like The Shatterer or Tequatl, and we know she is just a purified Blighting Tree. What if another blighting tree got a boost from Modremoth’s magic, gained power comparable to the Pale Tree, and took over the Modrem, forming a new Modrem Court?

This could very well tie in with Malyck and the other Pale Trees we don’t know about yet. A war of Sylvari waged between the Pale Tree and a super powered Blighting Tree.

After all, defeating Zhaitan was fairly easy compared to Modremoth. Once he was gone his minions lost the ability to easily raise new Risen. We know for a fact, however, that Modremoth’s trees can function and produce more minions without him thanks to the Pale Tree.

Season 3 could involve finding a way to end Modremoth’s corruption since we didn’t have a Caladbolg to do it for us like we did in Orr. Maybe a corrupted and empowered Blighting Tree is the disturbance up north in the Maguuma Wastes.

Kralkatorrik probably came up on the target list because:

1) Destiny’s Edge has a grudge.

2) Taking out Kralkatorrik would make the charr happy (and that’s probably more important than making the norn happy).

3) There’s reason to believe Kralkatorrik is the most vulnerable. Its presumed location is more accessible than Jormag or Primordus, and it’s probably the weakest – it only rose recently, has a relatively small territory, and because of the corruption-resistance of Forgotten artifacts, it may not be able to access all the magic in the territory it does control.

The last especially makes it a good ‘target of opportunity’ – better to take out Kralkatorrik early rather than have it come in while the Pact is bogged down fighting a more established dragon (such as Jormag, which appears to control the Shiverpeaks from Frostgorge Sound to the arctic, well north of the map edge).

This, however, assumes that the Pact has the freedom to pick the target it chooses. Right now, I doubt the Pact has the strength to go after any dragon, and I don’t think ArenaNet is going to wait long enough for it to plausibly rebuild.

@Ehecatl: Interesting thought… although, DO we know that the Pale Tree will be able to create more sylvari with Mordremoth gone? (Probably, but we haven’t seen just yet, and ‘new’ characters are still technically being born in 1325AE…)

I’m not sure how long such a storyline would be able to go before it starts feeling like they’re dragging things out for the sake of dragging things out, though. I could see something like that happening in Season 3, but I wouldn’t expect it to go much longer.

Didn’t want to start a new thread, but this ley-line energy and the windstorm that arises immediately following Mordremoth’s death, in the cinematic you see it coursing out in 4 directions from Mordremoth’s “lair”. Is this purely artistic, or could there be something about the remaining presence of four Elder Dragons that means the released energy flows out in direction of those 4 beings that have such a pull on the energy due to their consumption of it?

And then, as one ley-line energy stream runs east, it gets derailed and absorbed by the dragon egg?

While the one coursing north through the Forsaken Thicket touches on the Bloodstone and the Chosen’s spirits, as it proceeds north in direction Jormag’s direction?

The remaining two flows of ley-line energy get eventually reach Primordius and the Deep Sea Dragon…

I’m guessing it’s just artistically that we see the ley-line energy explode outwards in four streams; and there was never anything in the Zhaitan death cinematic of similar sort, so we can’t tell if there 5 streams of ley-line energy at that time.

The energy channeled along ley lines, so it would be less about “the remaining presence of four Elder Dragons” and more about “the paths of the ley lines”.

Mordremoth situated itself on a ley line hub – meaning two or more large ley lines intersected. Given the cinematic, we saw that two got the biggest chunk of magic, and it spread in both ways along those two ley lines.

And Glint’s egg is north of Mordremoth, not east. Nothing but ocean is east. So the “windstorm” that hit Forsaken Thicket had passed through the egg first – showing that not all of the magic got absorbed by the egg. It would have to veer a lot to then hit Jormag, and by that time it would be far enough that the magic would have dissipated a bit.

Given the angle basing the north one to go to Tarir, the magic that went west would have passed through Rata Sum and the Grove (thus showing the attack path which the mordrem took for their assault during The World Summit – right beneath Rata Sum – and also showing that Rata Sum was built on a large ley line). Further on, it would have passed through/near Southsun Cove and, eventually if it kept straight-ish, near Thunderhead Keep and/or Ebonhawke, though I doubt it kept straight for that long. If it veered south it could hit Kralkatorrik eventually, but like with the one going north possibly hitting Jormag – if it did, then the magic would have no doubt dissipated over the distance.

The one that went south would have went near Abaddon’s Mouth (largest volcano in Ring of Fire, which houses a bloodstone). And either that or the one that went east could potentially hit the DSD. Depending on how close the DSD is, it could get quite the power boost.

There wasn’t anything with Zhaitan, but keep in mind that the concept art cinematic would likely not have been seen – after all, we see Mordremoth’s phsyical body die at the same time and while we see a flash of light we don’t see large paths with the light (just as NPCs didn’t at the end of S1 – they saw a flash of light, but not a trail of it that led westward). So there could have been such with Zhaitan (we didn’t see his body the moment of death) and it wasn’t shown to us players, or it’s possible that Mordremoth had consumed more magic than Zhaitan did (or had more in his own body – Zhaitan did have quite the army that would have had magic itself too).

If I may pursue the Zhaitan tangent- it’s also possible that the windstorm effect had something to do with Mordremoth being planted at that hub. We’re told ley lines essentially act like riverbeds, acting as the path of least resistance. If that’s a reliable metaphor, when Mordremoth died, the energy followed these lines, like a river in flood. If the same burst of energy happened with Zhaitan, assuming he didn’t happen to land at a major line, you’d probably have something more like dropping a water balloon on the ground- it’ll splash everywhere, and while most of it will end up running ‘downhill’, it won’t be the same concentrated burst that you’d get if it all went one (or even four) ways.

I stress that if because it’d be entirely reasonable Zhaitan didn’t expel such energy. Two key points to remember here- first, Glint. Ogden at least believes she functioned on similar principles to an ED, just on a smaller scale, and when she died a goodly amount of power was retained within her corpse. The specific comparison used there is that the body is like a sponge. I take that to mean it has a holding capacity, if you will. Even setting aside the toll we took on Zhaitan’s resources, we find Mordremoth’s physical form in a literal pool of magic- and although mechanically the floor is just under the surface, it was deep enough that the massive Mouth was able to entirely submerge itself. There wasn’t anything remotely like that in Orr. Even the fabled Source didn’t seem to be pure magic. I see that as sufficient reason to believe that Mordremoth was over-saturated, perhaps vastly so, more than his form could contain without his will to hold it together. What we saw, I believe, isn’t necessarily what happens when an ED dies, but only the corpse expelling a potentially enormous excess.

Regarding the ley line burst: I suspect the one that went east, regardless of its original direction, was probably the same channel that Scarlet triggered with the Breachmaker in the first place. So it would be reasonable to presume that, at least close by, it followed the same channel we saw in the cinematic – namely, through Thaumanova Reactor and then turning north toward’s Lion’s Arch.

It’s entirely possible, too, that the channels split up further away from Mordremoth, so while it started off as just four (two ley lines crossing) the energy may have split up as it hit further ley line crossings rather than sticking to four discrete flows.

Regarding the Zhaitan tangent: I think Aaron is onto something there, but I think there’s also another thing to consider. We killed Zhaitan after starving it for some time – regardless of whether he was on a convergence of ley lines or not, there probably wasn’t a lot of energy to release. Mordremoth, on the other hand… had at least the energy that Scarlet had fed him, and probably more. So the difference could be largely because Mordremoth had that much more energy to release when it died, while Zhaitan (and Glint) had much more modest reserves.

Going off of the S1 ending cinematic, the ley line that goes from LA to Thaumanova then goes towards Tangled Depths’ Ley-Line Confluence, which if the four paths are any indication, is a hub of 5 incoming lines (west, northwest – Tarir, north, northeast – Dry Top, and south – Dragon’s Stand).

Also, in Dragon’s Stand, the Southern path is actually a ley line tunnel as well.

So thinking on that, it is possible that the “east blast” would be the Southern path of DS, which could lead to either Rata Sum and/or Tangled Depths’ Confluence, then splits into four directions: one of which being Thaumanova → LA, another being Dry Top, then Tarir and somewhere between Tarir and DS.

Though there’s the question on if the burst of magic would remain largely clumped together or split off bit by bit at every major and/or minor branch off.

Should try to map out ley lines again, given the new HoT information. Though I doubt it’d be any more clear than before.

I’m surprised Omadd’s machine hasn’t come up yet in the discussion. The only danger it posed was Mordremoth’s presence, so maybe we’ll get a chance to play with that and get some eldritch reveals. It’s also connected to the leylines so who knows what this new flood of magic has done to it.

Am I the only one annoyed, that they didn`t set up any research station in LA to work with ley line energy?
Or at least get the drill out, so the flow might correct itself again?

They did set up a ‘research station’. Talk to the Priory folks that are now in the tent on the beach – they’re studying all the after-effects of Scarlet’s invasion. The poisoned water is foremost – they need to find out fast which fish are safe it eat if any, and if not how long until they can be estimated to be deemed edible.

As for pulling out the drill – it broke in the shaft of it, just beneath the sea floor, and no doubt goes on for miles given the speed and duration of it drilling during Battle for LA. It would take a long kitten time for it to be pulled out sufficiently.

Though I have a hard time imagining such a small drill actually blocking the flow of a ley-line given how big they are in Dry Top, Tangled Depths, and Dragon’s Stand.

From this, I can see the LS3 will still be broken pieces of different stuff, tons of cliffhangers but little progress against the dragons in the end.

Anet really needs to focus on their story. Sure you can give different pieces but in the end they must come to one end-the main story line. Even in the HoT story, the whole Egg and Rata Novus are big loose ends.

Slowpokeking.8720:

Anet really needs to focus on their story. Sure you can give different pieces but in the end they must come to one end-the main story line. Even in the HoT story, the whole Egg and Rata Novus are big loose ends.

They’re only loose ends because the story ISNT FINISHED.

Alot of the this criticism about cliffhangers and unresolved plot is a result of the binge watching generation being too used to instant gratification

What you guys are essentially doing is like watching a few episodes of a show without finishing the last few seasons and then complaining about unresolved plot points.

reading the lore forums after EVERY update everyone is making some fan fiction of what is going to happen next while trying to connect what ever side plot or foreshadowing there is to the current main plot in some convoluted story as if the next update is going to be the last one and will resolve everything

Anet is building a complex multi layered story for the whole of gw2. Just look at how this entire mordremoth arc with the sylvari was planned out before the game launched over 3 years ago, these are long term interwoven storys, not episodes of a sitcom

People just need to be patient and let the stories be told instead of getting caught up complaining because a particular plot point wasnt immediately addressed

Years later when the plot has been expanded, this long interwoven storytelling will make for a much more engaging story then if each living story episode and expansion was its own self contained plot with a beginning middle and end