Guild Wars 2

Asking because there are some lore questions that keep bouncing around that I would like to ask her, and get concrete answers for :/.

There might be some ways, but as you aren’t alone with your questions, I guess it isn’t really possible.
Some News-Sites and high-profile members of the community with a releative big following get sometimes the opportunity to ask a few questions, but overall there isn’t really a way for it.

Maybe you can catch them at some public meeting, if you live nearby, but as far as I am concerned the Lore is kinda taboo.

f it weren’t, we would have gotten some answers already for several questions and lot’s of things wouldn’t be hanging in the air to be never answered.

It’s not that lore is taboo, per se, it’s just that A.) ArenaNet do not like talking about anything that might even potentially be woven into a future plot thread, preferring to present that lore on their own terms in the far future, and B.) they hate to commit themselves to anything they don’t have to. Any lore we players don’t know is lore they’re free to change to suit said future plots, and they understandably want to keep that pool as large as possible. Historically, we’ve been able to get the devs to bite on little topics, things like the religious beliefs of ogres and centaurs that’re almost certainly not going to matter in the future. We’ve also had some luck with clarifications on already existing things, like the current canon state of the centaur war or of Orr. If you’re questions are along those lines you might have some luck.

Now, actually getting in contact with them… I have no idea how that’s done.

My questions mostly fall into the age old, super kittening hot topic debate of “Warriors and magic” and “Magic in general civilian use.”

Simply because I’m tired of it and wish for a concrete, solid answer that will silence it either way, once and for all. :/.

Kalavier.1097:

My questions mostly fall into the age old, super kittening hot topic debate of “Warriors and magic” and “Magic in general civilian use.”

Simply because I’m tired of it and wish for a concrete, solid answer that will silence it either way, once and for all. :/.

It is stated that everyone uses magic. Some more, some less.
Every supernatural ability a Warrior uses is based on magic.

I know it is kinda wonky, but it actually makes sense.

Actually, nothing indicates warriors use magic in their skills. ArenaNet outright stated they wanted flashy skills so they’re noticeable. I wouldn’t automatically put this as “magic”.

Now, that doesn’t mean warriors can’t use magic – they can. There’s no debating that. It’s been explicitly stated that everyone can use magic.

But not everyone does use magic.

Engineers, for example, were explicitly stated to have no magic in their kitten nal. Just, at best, magically-enchanted/infused tools. This doesn’t mean they can’t use magic – just that they don’t.

Warriors, by all indication, are the same.

Hence Kalavier’s statement of an old debate :P

Oh, a dev. Quick catch him.

Nah, my only question is, if the near future will trim some of the “loose” storylines, that are mostlikely not being resolved in the next 1-2 years.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Actually, nothing indicates warriors use magic in their skills. ArenaNet outright stated they wanted flashy skills so they’re noticeable. I wouldn’t automatically put this as “magic”.

Now, that doesn’t mean warriors can’t use magic – they can. There’s no debating that. It’s been explicitly stated that everyone can use magic.

But not everyone does use magic.

Engineers, for example, were explicitly stated to have no magic in their kitten nal. Just, at best, magically-enchanted/infused tools. This doesn’t mean they can’t use magic – just that they don’t.

Warriors, by all indication, are the same.

Hence Kalavier’s statement of an old debate :P

Can you please give me a source for the Engineer line? I brought that up once (I didn’t have a source), and got it flung back into my face about it not being said by Anet.

And yes, I keep getting torn apart by people for DARING TO SUGGEST most warriors don’t train or use magic (Hence, I don’t call them “magic user”). I’m sick of the debate. Since Rytlock, Dougal, and other characters in the books were described as not using magic at all.

Scott McGough.6897:

I say go ahead and ask your questions.

Aaron A. is right, we can’t and won’t say anything that might spoil future story lines, but if it’s a question we can answer, this forum is the right place for it.

Well, if I can post them here. These shouldn’t be related to any spoilers at all hehe.

A: When stated that “Basically everybody learns their first spells from tutoring of their parents.” What does that mean? Human example: does this mean most people learn the “Prayer to Dwayna” style skills, or profession specific. That specific source mentions Charr in Farhars learning their first spells (implying nearly all), yet we have Rytlock who never used magic, that is until his anti-foefire ritual.
B: Part of the “warriors and magic debate” I see a lot. Warrior shouts. Can a warrior use the one shout to actually heal a wound(Like the one skill does ingame)? Or is this a case of “most of the time, it’s just morale.”
C: This one is stupid, but I’m putting it here just to silence it… Warriors do not summon banners from the sky do they? Again, something I see a lot despite how silly it is.
D: In comparison to adventurers/military forces/orders, what kind of spells or power levels do civilian spellcasters have, like the civilian necromancers in Divinity’s Reach.
E: Relating to above slightly, how often (in a generalized statement across all the races), do warriors use magic in a trained manner? How much magic could a Seraph warrior squad be expected to showcase? Obviously some warriors train in magic (asura especially), but how about the other races?

Those are the ones that pop into mind immediately.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

But not everyone does use magic.

Engineers, for example, were explicitly stated to have no magic in their kitten nal. Just, at best, magically-enchanted/infused tools. This doesn’t mean they can’t use magic – just that they don’t.

What’s your source for “engineers don’t use magic” ? The wiki articles on magic and engineer don’t mention this, nor does the official description of the engineer .

Seems like something that the wiki would have documented.

From the various discussions on the talk page, it’s clear that there’s a lot of uncertainty around how magic works, both in-game by Tyrians and out-of-game, in how we discuss it.

It seems possible to me (if not likely) that everything that Tyrians do, in some way, relates to magic. Elixirs might be mixed chemically (a mechanical process), but that doesn’t mean they don’t make use of magic in their production or use. (Much in the way that plutonium fission bombs were originally produced using chemical processes to unleash nuclear power.)

Or in short: do we really know enough about magic to say that there are any specific professions that exist in Tyria without magic affecting their powers? Can we name specific NPCs that are known to have never used magic?

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Or in short: do we really know enough about magic to say that there are any specific professions that exist in Tyria without magic affecting their powers? Can we name specific NPCs that are known to have never used magic?

Rytlock – priory to his anti-foefire ritual (which may not have even been him, just artifacts).
Dougal Keane
Ember Doomforge
Gullik whatever-his-name is.
Forgal
Tybalt
I really wanna say Laranthir of the wild hasn’t been show to do anything magic related either. :P

edit: Addtional question.

Just how common is magic in Kryta/Ascalon these days? The one interview/article a long time ago makes it sound like it’s extremely common place, yet the world as present does not match that statement/implications.

Kalavier.1097:

Can you please give me a source for the Engineer line? I brought that up once (I didn’t have a source), and got it flung back into my face about it not being said by Anet.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

What’s your source for “engineers don’t use magic” ? The wiki articles on magic and engineer don’t mention this, nor does the official description of the engineer .

Seems like something that the wiki would have documented.

This was said somewhere shortly after the engineer’s reveal back in 2011 or so. Before the wiki was really spot on documenting lore from interviews.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember the site it was said on, just that it was an interview with Ree Soesbee, and in that same interview it was talked about how sylvari being engineers isn’t that uncommon and that sylvari were not as flammable as dry wood so seeing one with a flame thrower wouldn’t be suicidal – and that different races could have different mixtures for their engineer tools, like charr engineers having gasoline like substance for flamethrowers while sylvari engineers would have biodegradeable fuel.

It was something talked about though, by Ree unless my memory fails me there too which I don’t think it does.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Can we name specific NPCs that are known to have never used magic?

Dozens, even ignoring the major ones that Kalavier mentioned (and of major characters, let’s add some more: Riona from GoA, Eir (beyond the norn forms which isn’t profession based), Taimi and Canach from DE 2.0, Gullik’s cousin (forgot her name) from GoA (beyond the norn form, which isn’t profession based)).

Of course this isn’t stating they can’t use magic, just that they don’t – whether this is a choice of “I don’t want to use magic” or a more likely one of “I never learned how to use magic, though if I took the time I could use magic.”

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Kalavier.1097:

Can you please give me a source for the Engineer line? I brought that up once (I didn’t have a source), and got it flung back into my face about it not being said by Anet.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

What’s your source for “engineers don’t use magic” ? The wiki articles on magic and engineer don’t mention this, nor does the official description of the engineer .

Seems like something that the wiki would have documented.

This was said somewhere shortly after the engineer’s reveal back in 2011 or so. Before the wiki was really spot on documenting lore from interviews.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember the site it was said on, just that it was an interview with Ree Soesbee, and in that same interview it was talked about how sylvari being engineers isn’t that uncommon and that sylvari were not as flammable as dry wood so seeing one with a flame thrower wouldn’t be suicidal – and that different races could have different mixtures for their engineer tools, like charr engineers having gasoline like substance for flamethrowers while sylvari engineers would have biodegradeable fuel.

It was something talked about though, by Ree unless my memory fails me there too which I don’t think it does.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Can we name specific NPCs that are known to have never used magic?

Dozens, even ignoring the major ones that Kalavier mentioned (and of major characters, let’s add some more: Riona from GoA, Eir (beyond the norn forms which isn’t profession based), Taimi and Canach from DE 2.0, Gullik’s cousin (forgot her name) from GoA (beyond the norn form, which isn’t profession based)).

Of course this isn’t stating they can’t use magic, just that they don’t – whether this is a choice of “I don’t want to use magic” or a more likely one of “I never learned how to use magic, though if I took the time I could use magic.”

Which is where the one question came up. In the one article/interview, it’s implied that basically everybody learns and uses magic. Yet we have major characters that are never stated to use magic a single time, even something that could be attributed to a “passive” magic like a warrior attack causing shockwaves. (In cause of Rytlock, Gullik, his cousin, etc).

This is all really cool, seeing some answers for the smaller lore questions of Tyria. Thanks for providing them Scott, I was hoping I could hop on this bandwagon now that we have your attention.

Before HoT launched it was suggested we might learn about the elite specs and their roles in the world in-game – that these weren’t just mechanical balance additions, but also were going to have more lore to them. Right now there is very little lore relating to HoT specialisations, was I hoping for too much or was it something that was just triaged out?

I know what a druid is from GW1 (kind of), but I don’t know how a ranger (warriors of nature) ended up the monks of GW2, channeling celestial powers instead of being rooted in nature spirits or survival skills. Will we ever see a more detailed exploration of what a player druid is? Right now druid feels like a vague allusion to nature spirits from GW1 but conceptually and mechanically it feels like it borrows more heavily from World of Warcraft druids (which mechanically has lunar powers which mirrored nature powers and balanced back and forth similar to astral force in GW2).

A similar case could be made for all other elite specs – tempests, berserkers, dragonhunters etc. We’ve had the discussions ourselves when each spec was related but I feel like we are missing the in-game confirmation or corrections from HoT’s release. Aside from some NPCs picking up new weapons (which is usually conceptually the weakest lore element of an elite spec nor is it entirely indicative of one – Trahearne a necromancer wielding a GS).

Something Leah said before HoT was that revenant’s legends are not just echoes but have sentience, personalities and opinions (https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/hidden-arcana-role-playing-the-revenant/). Shouldn’t Rytlock be able to commune with Glint (he clearly channels her in HoT) to obtain answers to all kinds of questions? The idea of having a conversation with a revenant legend isn’t really covered in the story, but seeing as there is so much mystery surrounding Glint in the story right now, why can’t Glint enlighten a herald or two? Sylvari talking with Ventari, Ogden talking with Jalis – do revenants give us access to their knowledge?

Do choronomancers actually manipulate time or is it the perception of time? Up till HoT mesmers were primarily focused on illusions, trickery, deception, manipulation and inspiration – all of these things could be explained similar to how you explain a warrior’s abilities “I’d describe a warrior using a shout to heal as psyching themselves up to keep fighting, pressing on despite an injury, and otherwise refusing to let physical damage stop them—in effect, accelerating/activating that natural automatic recovery process that starts once combat is over”. It makes sense that a mesmer’s abilities can do something similar to this – inspire us to overcome our percieved limitation, manipulate foes into thinking they are tired or sluggish etc. Does chronomancer magic work similar to this (manipulation of perception) or is a mesmer actually controlling time – so something without the ability to perceive, like a rock or even a tree, is unaffected by their magic? I still lean towards perception as opposed to real time manipulation because I prefer it, but also because continuums reference perception, and the mesmer itself isn’t saved from death by Continuum Split.

Might we see more HoT elite spec lore in Season 3 (not just Braham or Marjory’s stories, but from the perspective of wider Tyria and player characters)? Are you going to include more lore and story for the next round of elite specs?

I don’t expect an answer to these but thanks for at least responding to the other post.

Honestly? I hope you realize how amazing it is that you answer these lore questions!
Big thank you from my end for that!

Oh wow. I feel like a deer in the headlights right now. Usually I have a ton of small questions I’d like to ask, but when a Dev finally comes to answer them I blank!

I got one though, can you share some light on the Krytan royal family tree? There is some good guesswork done here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tyrian_royalty_family_tree

Maybe you can fill in some blanks. Is the last unkown son of King Baede Roderick? Is Roderick Jennah’s grandfather or father?

Scott McGough.6897:

Sorry, I’m a little unclear on the specific storylines you mean. I’m not playing dumb or trying to assert that there are no open-ended plotlines from GW1/GW2 that need resolution—it’s just that I’d have to guess which plots you mean.

I can’t speak for Jaken, but I don’t think he was asking you to confirm or deny the continuation of certain plots, but rather asking if the sheer amount of loose ends – both large and small – will be reduced rather than expanded.

Season 1, Season 2, and Heart of Thorns pretty much only opened more loose ends, and tied very very few. Even the Personsl Story did this. At this rate, we’re just going to have more and more storylines set up years prior to them getting closed, with an ever increasing number of storylines opening up.

I think Jaken’s just wanting to know if you’ll ever reverse this tactic to storytelling, or if we’re just going to be left going time and time again “well there’s another plot that won’t be touched upon again for years to come, why bother being interested.”

Though I might be more critical than Jaken.

Scott McGough.6897:

As Konig stated, warriors and engineers absolutely can use magic. Most of their skills are presented as nonmagical, but they do wield magical or magic-infused weaponry, so the lines get blurred (and the debate you’re describing occurs). Take the warrior’s torch skill Flames of War, for example. It creates a mobile flame field that follows the player around and explodes when it expires. There may be a non-magical weapon that can do those things, but a simple knotty branch with a burning oily rag tied to the end isn’t one of them. Likewise, the engineer’s pistol produces a lot of different effects—poison, burning, bouncy lighting blasts, glue—and it’s pretty hard to say there’s no magic involved in a pistol that serves as a dart gun, flamethrower, arc thrower, and glue bomb (and never needs reloading).

So there is no absolute in this case—i.e., you can’t say “warriors never use magic” any more than you can say “warriors always use magic.” Most warrior and engineer skills generally don’t use magic, but there are some with a clear magical component, be it in the weapon itself or in the skill’s effects.

So the TL;DR version is basically “it could be magic, it could be magical items, or it could just be being a kitten – it’s for the individual to decide, there’s no absolute”.

So you could have a warrior not using magic directly but capable of doing the things shown in the skills, or having a warrior that does use magic.

Sounds like a good explanation.

I do have some questions on lore, small ones that won’t factor into any major plot (or so I’d imagine). Basically, aspects of culture across races. The game very rarely delves into these things, for example:

• What’s a wedding for different races like? We know about Ascalonian marriages and have a glimpse into norn and asura weddings from Hearts of the North in GW1, but do Krytans, charr, or even sylvari do things differently?
• What about schooling? We really only have basics for charr and asura schooling – and the latter only due to piecing a ton of small tidbits from Taimi and Metrica Province.
• How about calendars – surely the asura and charr didn’t use the same calendars back in GW1 time. What kind of calendars did they have? Why/when did they conform to Mouvelian calendar?
• Similarly, written and spoken languages – norn are said to have a different language, but we never see nor hear it; charr used ideograms, but did they always speak “common” – and for that matter, is there a name for the language spoke? Some lines in GW1 called it “Tyrian” while in the Ecology of the Charr it is called “human” – and why do so many minor races (grawl, jotun, ogre, harpy, hylek, etc.) know how to speak it?

I got more but need to go. It’s just one thing I’ve noticed. We learn base amounts of culture – like what each group worships – but never more specifics – like how do they practice their worship (do humans go to church on Sundays?), or the like.

I’ve always wonders what happened to Evenia from GW1. And will Logan ever get Sohothins sister sword.

König

How about calendars – surely the asura and charr didn’t use the same calendars back in GW1 time. What kind of calendars did they have? Why/when did they conform to Mouvelian calendar?

If I may, I’d also have a question about calendars : what is the in game year? More precisely, did we fill the 10 month gap at some point?

Back in January 2015 (1328 AE) the Pact was crushed by the Jungle.
The following day (from PAX preview) or some days(if Mordrem invasion becomes canon as per Canach) we enter the jungle to fight Mordremoth. These events are said to be fast-paced.
Some days later again (maybe some weeks?), the Commander enters the Spirit Vale to rescue a Pact squad.
This is pretty much where we are now : early to mid 1328.

So did we effectively lost a year and we are still 1328 (which would span 2015-2016 in real world) or do we jump a year and game year becomes 1329?

I believe there was a statement putting us in 1329 in January somewhere.

All of HoT Act 1 takes at least a week, by indication, implying that all of HoT could take a couple months. I believe the raids took place with real time conversion between the relevant releases, putting Spirit Vale as happening a few weeks after HoT, and Salvation Pass a few months after. Still, all of that wouldn’t have really been a year’s worth though. And is weird pacing.

Their attempt to keep the calendars synced has really gotten increasingly wacky. :/

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I can’t speak for Jaken, but I don’t think he was asking you to confirm or deny the continuation of certain plots, but rather asking if the sheer amount of loose ends – both large and small – will be reduced rather than expanded.

Season 1, Season 2, and Heart of Thorns pretty much only opened more loose ends, and tied very very few. Even the Personsl Story did this. At this rate, we’re just going to have more and more storylines set up years prior to them getting closed, with an ever increasing number of storylines opening up.

I think Jaken’s just wanting to know if you’ll ever reverse this tactic to storytelling, or if we’re just going to be left going time and time again “well there’s another plot that won’t be touched upon again for years to come, why bother being interested.”

Though I might be more critical than Jaken.

Nope, that was exactly the direction my question was going, though I asked it on several occasions, with no answer, so I might have just thrown it out.

It’s just my fear that we end up with the same situation we had with GW1, where “filling the blanks” ourselves just isn’t enough and we are still waiting for some explanation/resulution in GW2 (or GW3?).

This is a matter of concern for the big overall storyline and also for the current and in compairson smaller ones (who are relevant as well, as they are the focus of the living world).

In the past I tried to compile a list of “open questions”:
- https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/Living-Story-open-questions/first
- https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/Spoiler-Open-Questions-post-HoT-edition/first#post5742247
And these were just some examples in there and mostly concerned about the running seasons and not about the “whole world”.
Some got answered off-topic or by some “theories”, but as far as I know the rule at the moment is If it isn’t in the game, it doesn’t count (or something along the line).

The post-HoT one showed some fatigue allready, though. Which isn’t a good sign.

I feel like we need a bit less “new plots and twists”, but rather resolutions and merging of older loose ones.

little rant, sorry for that
Or we need little things added, that advance just a little bit. A bit like the “new events”, but less cookie-cutter.
Like the orders issue new defense orders for their members as the dragon minions start attacking the borders more. Some new events in fomerly secured zones for example.
New events more related to the story, or just to advance the story in old areas a little bit towards the greater stuff.
Maybe a bandit, who saw too much and has be escorted to the seraphs for questioning and you get a little bit of info out of him.

There is so much “small” stuff, that could be added that would counterbalance the feeling of standing still.
It’s a bit sad that the cookie cutter events which don’t really tell a lot are enough for hype.

Just a little Idea
How about adding a collection to Lonars Pass, which is all about Scarlet (yes, people hate her mostly, but with S1 gone, some assets are lost as well). Open up a Scarlet research room in the priory and have the players visit the places of her terror, maybe have some flashback fights based on her holgram tech and award them with some of her items for karma at a new merchant at the end. It’s nothing for old players (but could be if some unclear things about her a straight out said by some researcher), but could fill in players who entered after S1 (also I know that some rewards are gem-store and some are now dropped into the mystic forge, but that isn’t really rewarding.)

Addition: I like the smaller details that are being put in here and there. I recently read about a soldier in the raidwing and that you are able to find his lover in LA and talk to him. These are great, but unfortunalty don’t eliviate the other problems.

Btw. Sorry for hijacking your topic Kavalier

I think we’re seeing some potential closure of loose ends now, with the increasing hints that the White Mantle are going to play a significant role in the next arc. It’s moving frustratingly slowly (particularly for people who have little interest in raids and are thus missing out), but it’s there.

“Will plot threads be tied off” is a question that I think is hard for Scott or any of the other writers to answer without dropping plot hints…

(Also, Scott: Don’t you, or the other writers, feel bad about the Mordremoth-Sylvari connection being predicted. I saw that theory develop from the start, and to begin with it was wild speculation based on flimsy evidence that was mostly debunked on release… but it remained popular because people liked the idea. It turned out to be right in the end, but pretty much only by coincidence that an unsubstantiated theory turned out to be right until well into S1 when genuine evidence started to appear.

In a way, it’s a compliment – it was a twist that was so popular it held on despite a total lack of solid evidence.

Eir, now… that was ridiculously telegraphed. She basically ticked off every ’I’m going to die tragically’ trope short of showing off a picture of her sweetheart back home.)

Scott McGough.6897:

Likewise, the engineer’s pistol produces a lot of different effects—poison, burning, bouncy lighting blasts, glue—and it’s pretty hard to say there’s no magic involved in a pistol that serves as a dart gun, flamethrower, arc thrower, and glue bomb (and never needs reloading).

I’ve generally thought that the engineer pistol was actually relatively easy to explain by non-magical means. Not needing to reload seems to be a game mechanical abstraction in general. Having the variety of ammunition types could be a matter of the engineer having several types of ammunition loaded at once and being able to switch between them, or having modular attachments that they slap on when they need it (so they might have a canister designed to interact with the pistol to fire a volley of poison darts, for instance).

Static Shot probably uses magic, but I think it was established in the interview where it was said that engineers generally don’t cast spells that they do use materials with magical properties in their inventions (particularly in alchemy).

Regarding warriors: I think there’s a lot of ‘plausible deniability’ in warrior abilities, but it’s also worth keeping in mind that dual professions were a thing in Guild Wars 1, and some spells were typically more used by W/Xes than by the X they came from. Mending is a fairly unsubtle example: it’s clearly based of the monk spell Mending Touch from GW1, which was used a lot more by W/Mos to remove conditions than by actual Monks who preferred to maintain more distance from the fighting.

More generally, I think it’s been deliberately left up to the player. When a warrior slams a blunt instrument into the ground and it creates a shockwave, is that because they’ve used a bit of magic (possibly to enhance their blow to begin with, possibly a bit of earth magic and the weapon is just an instrument) or are they Just. That. Strong? It’s worth noting that there’s roughly an inverse proportionality between how much a race relies on magic and its physical size – are asura warriors able to match charr and norn because they use more magic to enhance themselves?

One model that I think fits well is the magic used by the technologically advanced society (I forget what it was called) in the Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb. The eponymous soldiers fight with gunpowder-age weapons – swords and early firearms – which in the context of the story, allowed them to become dominant over a more magic-reliant Bronze Age culture whose magic is disrupted by iron. However, the soldiers have appropriated some of that magic for their own use – one that was mentioned a lot is a ‘keepsafe’ charm which ensures that a buckle protected by the charm won’t come undone.

Warriors could well be using similar minor charms to make things easier while still relying mainly on weapons. Perhaps there’s a charm that greatly simplifies the task of reloading a firearm. Firestarting charms are fairly common in fantasy, and such a charm could explain all the fire arrows of warrior longbow use. Or maybe the warrior is using more advanced technology – rifles with rapid reloading mechanisms, arrows with alchemical canisters containing pyrophoric substances. Or perhaps the warrior is just so good with their hands that they can reload a rifle quickly or set an arrow alight before firing with barely a pause.

Berserkers, I think, are an interesting case, since all the fire they throw around is hard to explain without magic. Whether the magic is coming from the warrior themselves or from a magic item that is powered by the berserker’s rage does make for an interesting question… and probably one that can be left to the player. A berserker throwing fire from their sword could, for instance, be the spiritual heir of the GW1 W/E flame warrior… or perhaps it’s simply a property of their magic flaming sword.

Scott McGough.6897:

C:
Well, the animation does pretty clearly show the banner slamming down into the ground from above, or at least, blinking in/appearing as a result of the gesture the warrior makes. I could see that interpreted as the warrior had just pulled the banner out of their inventory and planted it (kind of like weapon swapping), but I come down on the side of the warrior magically summoning it from the sky.

This is actually quite interesting, as it could mean that the banner is nothing physical that is build by hand, but rather the expression of the warrior “planting” his power into the ground?
Or does he really get one out of his magical satchel and slams it down?

I am asking, because we recently were arguing a bit about the ability of physical objects and immersion. Like what is just mechanical and what is canon. Porting in golems means that they have the ability to teleport, for example.
There is no teleport effect if I am not mistaken and they just pop into existence (which also happens when NPCs in story move over gaps. We can suspend our disbelief with humanoid characters we are able to play ourselves, but if something like taimis golem suddenly pops up and there are not a lot of jumping golems ingame, it is questionable)

draxynnic.3719:

I think we’re seeing some potential closure of loose ends now, with the increasing hints that the White Mantle are going to play a significant role in the next arc. It’s moving frustratingly slowly (particularly for people who have little interest in raids and are thus missing out), but it’s there.

“Will plot threads be tied off” is a question that I think is hard for Scott or any of the other writers to answer without dropping plot hints…

They don’t really have to drop plot hints.
I should be enough for them to tell us that they are aware of the multitude of stories that are going on at the moment which go in all kinds of directions and if there are a plans to cut them down a notch as some reach back to GW1 and new ones get still introduced.

There are several ways to do so. Some “easier”, some “harder”, but all in all, just the confirmation that there too many open questions around (like mister E, just to name one that is of “current” events), where some resolution would be apreaciated.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

What’s a wedding for different races like? We know about Ascalonian marriages and have a glimpse into norn and asura weddings from Hearts of the North in GW1, but do Krytans, charr, or even sylvari do things differently?

Are we aware of Sylvari who have entered a partnership akin to husband and wife? As a race that mimics (and is not really able to procreate?), shouldn’t their methods be closer to the ones of the humans?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Similarly, written and spoken languages – norn are said to have a different language, but we never see nor hear it; charr used ideograms, but did they always speak “common” – and for that matter, is there a name for the language spoke? Some lines in GW1 called it “Tyrian” while in the Ecology of the Charr it is called “human” – and why do so many minor races (grawl, jotun, ogre, harpy, hylek, etc.) know how to speak it?

I think we are at a point in time where that just “happened”. Let’s say through trade. For example the humans were very aggressive traders, so their language, or “common” became the norm, as they had contact with all the other races and thus it evolved into the “common” language that is used for all races, as it is the “easiest” to speak for all.

Sylvari were adapting from common since their “birth”. Humans brought the Charr, Norn and Asura together in EotN, which might have ended up in something that deepened their relationship over the years.

We see the words “bookah” vanishing in 250 years and in GW2 it isn’t a common word anymore.
Charr learned human words sometimes in their war out of neccity. Norns and dwarfs are said to have contact with humans for some time allready and Asura might be quick learner in general.

We still see them use their own language in written form, so I guess it is just a mechanic.

[/quote]

Sir McGough, where are the short stories? Bring them back. T_T

draxynnic.3719:

Eir, now… that was ridiculously telegraphed. She basically ticked off every ’I’m going to die tragically’ trope short of showing off a picture of her sweetheart back home.)

Now mentally picturing:

Eir: “After this fight with Mordremoth, I’m going to return home and settle with this sweet young lass. Going to ask to marry her.”

Braham: “What!?!?”

draxynnic.3719:

Scott McGough.6897:

Likewise, the engineer’s pistol produces a lot of different effects—poison, burning, bouncy lighting blasts, glue—and it’s pretty hard to say there’s no magic involved in a pistol that serves as a dart gun, flamethrower, arc thrower, and glue bomb (and never needs reloading).

I’ve generally thought that the engineer pistol was actually relatively easy to explain by non-magical means. Not needing to reload seems to be a game mechanical abstraction in general. Having the variety of ammunition types could be a matter of the engineer having several types of ammunition loaded at once and being able to switch between them, or having modular attachments that they slap on when they need it (so they might have a canister designed to interact with the pistol to fire a volley of poison darts, for instance).

The game RAGE from id software has a pistol that can load various types of bullets for different effects, from standard bullets to exploding ones.

I kind of pictured the engineer pistol to be of the same line of thought.

Berserkers, I think, are an interesting case, since all the fire they throw around is hard to explain without magic. Whether the magic is coming from the warrior themselves or from a magic item that is powered by the berserker’s rage does make for an interesting question… and probably one that can be left to the player. A berserker throwing fire from their sword could, for instance, be the spiritual heir of the GW1 W/E flame warrior… or perhaps it’s simply a property of their magic flaming sword.

“The torch is the berserker’s weapon of choice, and it embodies the powerful flames of war. While the guardian uses magical flames for protection and purging, berserkers use the torch as a reckless weapon of destruction, slamming it into the ground and even lighting themselves ablaze to become mobile fire fields.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/meet-the-berserker-warriors-elite-specialization/

That line to me always made it sound like the warrior wasn’t using magic at all, but was able to pull off kitten mundane feats with a standard torch just out of expert skills. Maybe surviving the burning is magic, but not the use of fire itself, by the sounds of that post.

Jaken.6801:

Sylvari were adapting from common since their “birth”. Humans brought the Charr, Norn and Asura together in EotN, which might have ended up in something that deepened their relationship over the years.

Charr, norn, and asura all knew the same language in EotN well before humans commonly interacted with them. It was a common language for them during EotN, and at best the interaction was less than a decade old (human-norn) if not first seen in EotN (human-asura, human-charr – friendly at least).

It would make more sense if they learned it from the dwarves, but why would the Ecology of the Charr call the language human if they got it from dwarves (or norn)? And would the humans have gotten it from the dwarves, or the dwarves from humans?

You say that we’re past the point of relevance but honestly, we’re not. Else we might as well say we’re past that point for anything pre-GW2 lore.

It’s not a major thing, but it’s one of those things folks who go into the lore – be it for the lore itself, to write fan-fiction, or to roleplay – end up stumbling upon and wondering. These small aspects of how cultural roles play out, that are never touched even in hinting by lore.

Scott McGough.6897:

and I’m already pushing the envelope of how many hours per day I can devote to the forums.

I apologize in advance for not quoting the questions before each answer, but that quickly became a logistical nightmare. Instead, I have called out the questioner by name so you know to whom I’m responding:

Fantastic of you to be sticking with us! On all of this, though- would it be easier for you if we had a format? Bullet points, numbers, something that lets you quickly tell the questions apart from all the rest of the back-and-forth we’ve got going?

EDIT: Yeesh, this got flooded! Alright, for Scott’s convenience I’m going to try to keep this post updated with the short version of all the questions asked so far, weeding out the ones that get answered as we go. Italicized questions have more to them than I could sum up well. We’ve already been told he can’t answer a good few of these, but I’ll list them anyway so no one feels left out.

Page 1!
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————
*Buddha-Where does Roderick fit into the Krytan royal family tree?
*Konig- How do weddings work for different races, esp. Krytans, charr, and sylvari?
*Konig- How do schools work for different races, esp. humans, norn, and sylvari?
*Konig- Did each used to have their own calendar?
*Konig- How do humans worship the gods? Church services?
*Belial- What happened to Evennia?
*Belial- Will Logan ever get Magdaer?
*Ranael- What year is it in-game?
*Spyrit- Do the Inquest forcibly conscript members?
*Dimitris- Did the last Forgotten really address the Exalted after Glint’s death?
*katubug- Are sylvari teeth made of bone, and do they have skeletons?
*katubug- How long does sylvari clothes and armor take to grow? Can it be freely taken off and put back on?
*katubug- Are there sylvari ghosts?
*Soul- What’s east of Blazeridge Steppes?
*Qarandir- How often does the Order of Whispers go to Elona?
*Qarandir- Has anyone taken an airship to Cantha yet?
*diax- Why don’t asura have nipples or bellybuttons?

Page 2!
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
*Celine- When do asura reach adulthood?
*Gnomex- Do golems download updates from an internet?
*Gnomex- How intelligent can golems be? Is it linked to amount of magic?
*Gnomex- What are golems usually made out of?
*Gnomex- How long does it take a wyvern to reach full size?
*Gnomex- What age are most asura during college?
*Gnomex- Are a Scrapper’s hammer skills magic or tech?
*Gnomex- When do the different races, esp. norn, reach adulthood?
*Gnomex- Can sylvari catch human diseases?
*Gnomex- What goes into growing sylvari houses?
*Gnomex- Do the Spirits of the Wild treat non-norn followers the same?
*Gnomex- Are human racial skills directly from the gods or just normal magic?
*Gnomex- Do the Exalted try to keep Glint’s egg/legacy a secret?
*Gnomex- What is aetherium?
*Gnomex- Do asura have anything that function like telephones?
*Gnomex- How tech savvy can skritt top out at?
*Gnomex- Is the GW2 player character more powerful than the GW1 one was?
*Gnomex- Are all djinn as powerful and knowledgeable as Zommorros?
*Gnomex- Are the new stars in the sky a teaser for future story?
*Serezenith- Do wurms have tails?
*Konig- Will we ever find out why sylvari don’t work like other dragon minions?
*Konig- What’s the backstory on the other named Mordrem Guard commanders?
*Konig- When was the last time the dragons woke up? Can we get a concise timeline?
*Konig- Was the Seer in Zinn’s lab in GW1 dead? Was it the one we met?
*Konig- Where did Kanaxai come from?
*Thrill- Will we see Cantha or Elona again?
*TealDeer- What was the cut Nightmare Court plotline in HoT going to be about?
*wouw- Will we ever see the canceled Elonian part of GW Beyond outside the games, like a novel?
(Brace yourselves! Flood incoming!)
*Tyragon – What age do norn learn to shapeshift?
*Tyragon- How do norn learn to shapeshift?
*Tyragon- Which norn can shapeshift?
*Tyragon- How many forms can a single norn have?
*Tyragon (bit of guesswork)- Is shapeshifting a spell?
*Tyragon- Do wounds carry over between forms?
*Tyragon- How long can a norn stay transformed?
*Tyragon- Do transformed norn lose control to animal instinct?
*Tyragon- Do transformed norn get the animals abilities? Flight, better senses, etc.
*Tyragon- When do norn think it’s appropriate to transform?
*Tyragon- How connected are shamans to their spirit?
*Tyragon- Are shamans connected to the Mists?
*Tyragon- What are shamans responsible for?
*Tyragon- Can shamans leave their shrine or hunting grounds for a time?
*Tyragon- Do shamans have special powers beyond most norn?
*Tyragon- Are shapeshifted shamans more powerful?
*Tyragon- How does a norn become a shaman?
*Tyragon- How, and how frequently, do the spirits communicate with norn?
*Tyragon- How does elementalist magic work?
*Tyragon- Do they create things or use what is around them?
*Tyragon- How does water magic heal?
*Tyragon- How often do elementalists learn all four elemental magics?
*Tyragon- Is learning the other three a small or large effort after learning one?
*Tyragon- How much training does learning all four take?
*eNeRgOo- Will Malyck make a return?
*eNeRgOo- Are there male Pale Trees?
*Zekowah- Can sylvari change their hair at will?
*Shinzan- Do you often seed hints and foreshadowing far in advance of a reveal?
*Raeysa- How did the revenant profession spread so quickly?
*drax- Are the asura capable of as impressive device-less magic as other races?
*Nero- Why didn’t the charr in Prophecies speak Tyrian?
*Konig- Why is Tyrian called human in The Ecology of the Charr?
*Konig- How did Tyrian spread to current races, esp. hostile ones?
*Lyr- Is an elementalist working with one element usually more powerful in that field?
*Donari- How do the different cities handle criminals?
*Konig/Forgotten- Can any of the answers here be put into in-game books?
*Yojimaru- What profession-based organizations are there?
*Agememnon- Will Jormag make itself heat-resistant armor?
*Nero- What differentiates primordial/elemental/holy fire?
*Aidan- Are revenants limited to the five legends we have mechanically?
*Sungak- How long can a charr expect to live?
*Sungak- How old is Almorra?
*Sungak- How would a charr guardian respond to being called a paladin?
*Konig- How do waypoints in-universe compare to their game mechanics?
*Vanguard- Have you considered moving to non-dragon main antagonists?
*Vanguard- Are playable largos on the table?
*Vanguard- Are the tengu ever going to come out of the Dominion of Winds?
*Vanguard- What’s the status of Dhuum and Menzies?
*Vanguard- Will we see the same extent of cultural divisions in non-human races?
*Urban- Where’d Riot Alice go after Prosperity?
Page 3!
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————
*Waffle- How are vehicles classified, esp. air vehicles?
*Waffle- Will future content take account of the capabilities of different airships?
*Jaken- Was Mordremoth the voice in Scarlet’s head?
*Jaken- What would happen if the dams in Queensdale broke?
*Jaken- Is changing starter zones off-limits?
*smitske- In retrospect, was HoT’s narrow focus the best choice?
*Whilyam- What is Taimi’s disease?
*Whilyam- Is said disease unique to her?
*Whilyam- Is said disease survivable?
*Whilyam- Is said disease confined to the legs?
*wouw- Have you detailed anything about the human’s original world?
*wouw- Is Arachnia canon?
*wouw- Are the charr/human truce talks going to progress?
*wouw- Was Rotscale a risen?
*wouw- Has Rotscale been slain?
*wouw- Why were the Zaishen hanging around Fort Marriner?
*Kalavier- Why is the PC so hostile towards Caithe in HoT, especially near the end?
*Tuchanka- Do sylvari have conscious control of their glow?
*Tuchanka- Does mood affect a sylvari’s glow?
*Tuchanka- Do sylvari glow when they blush?
*Tuchanka- How do sylvari become wardens?
*Tuchanka- How are Wardens trained?
*szshou- Lore-wise, what happened to the GW1 energy mechanic?
*Justine- What was the Ashford Abbey haunting?
*Jaken- Where can one get a spatial discombobulator?
*(My inference of what Jaken was really driving at)- Is there any interest in making the Polymock Arenas in Rata Sum accessible?
Page 4!
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————
*Budman- Can you share any legendary weapon lore?
*Kalavier- What’s the proportion of Nightmare sylvari who aren’t part of the Court?
*Kalavier- How do other races treat the Court?
*Rhaegar- What did the symbols in The Wilds mean?
*adormtil- What was Primordus up to before Taimi declared him ‘active’?
*Vilenia- How old would a progeny be when they started at a pre-college like Splorge?
*Kalavier- At what age do norn typically get tattooed?
kitten . I had a couple of my own… but this is enough to pick from, no?

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Scott McGough.6897:

and I’m already pushing the envelope of how many hours per day I can devote to the forums.

I apologize in advance for not quoting the questions before each answer, but that quickly became a logistical nightmare. Instead, I have called out the questioner by name so you know to whom I’m responding:

Fantastic of you to be sticking with us! On all of this, though- would it be easier for you if we had a format? Bullet points, numbers, something that lets you quickly tell the questions apart from all the rest of the back-and-forth we’ve got going?

/equipfiresuit

Or a reddit thread?

Scott McGough.6897:

On to my answers—the first round, anyway. Questions about marriage and languages and calendars require more time, thought, and fact-checking, and I’m already pushing the envelope of how many hours per day I can devote to the forums.

I thank you very much for your efforts and the time you ended up dedicating.
Let me just tell you how much we appreaciate these interactions (even though I can’t speak for everyone).

Your answer on how aware you are about the many loose ends were exact the words that I wanted to hear for a long time, as everytime questions in these directions were asked the endresult was often: “you have to wait till release”, which often didn’t ended up being as satisfying, because of obvious limitations.
Follow up questions were then often resolved through theorycrafters, but something official is of course much more appreaciated.

I think you know very well of how much you are able to tell vs. how much you have to tell in your medium and I can understand the frustration if big, small and detailed questions like in this thread pop up.

While we can’t expect this to become a regular thing, as you (and your collegues have work to do as well), is there any way we can help you (and maybe others who are free to chime in.), to keep it more organized?

Aaron Ansari allready offered the idea of organization:

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Fantastic of you to be sticking with us! On all of this, though- would it be easier for you if we had a format? Bullet points, numbers, something that lets you quickly tell the questions apart from all the rest of the back-and-forth we’ve got going?

And we have seen things like that allready being done in other dev/community interactions, where ideas got collected and listed for easier consumtion.

Scott McGough.6897:

Jaken.6801:

Oh, a dev. Quick catch him.

Nah, my only question is, if the near future will trim some of the “loose” storylines, that are mostlikely not being resolved in the next 1-2 years.

Jaken,

Sorry, I’m a little unclear on the specific storylines you mean. I’m not playing dumb or trying to assert that there are no open-ended plotlines from GW1/GW2 that need resolution—it’s just that I’d have to guess which plots you mean. Which brings me to:

This is a great example of the type of question we’d love to answer, but really can’t. We do have plans to address some of the big questions/unresolved plots that players (and especially players on the forums) have been asking about, but to confirm or deny which ones (or even when) would directly or indirectly create a spoiler for the upcoming storylines. “Directly” as in we say an upcoming release definitely will feature <fill in the blank> plot; or “indirectly” by saying an upcoming release definitely won’t feature <fill in the blank> plot, so by the process of elimination, we make it clearer what the upcoming release will be about.

Add to that the mad skillz of our community’s theorycrafters, and we quickly find ourselves in a situation where the plot we’ve settled on (and dozens of people from various departments and disciplines are working on) gets thoroughly discussed, dissected, examined, and evaluated before it ever gets released, so that by the time it does get released, it’s old news and there are no surprises.

if you have those incentives, why did you completely ignored the perfect opportunity to do so? Namely HoT release. I am not going to lie, to me HoT can only be described as missed opportunities everywhere on the level of the lore. It fit together so well with all the sylvari PS and I think many people expected parts to be there, only for it to be completely ignored. I just need to ask, why did you leave aside the perfect opportunity to tie up that lore in favour of a rushed and small story behind silly timegates?

Thanks for taking your time to answer some questions, Scott McGough ! As a roleplayer, I couldn’t be more happy. :’p

I’d love to ask some clarification about Mordremoth’s influence on the Sylvari, seeing that this plot probably won’t be expanded further with the dragon’s death (well, I suppose so, I hope I’m wrong, though!).

-Mordremoth’s influence on Sylvari wasn’t actual dragon corruption, right ? What about the physical changes they went through as Mordrem Guard ? Is that a form of corruption, or is it just Mordremoth forcing them to use Sylvari’s ability to alter their appearance (like Canach or Caithe did, but in a more extreme way) ?

-We saw a wounded Mordrem Guard in one of the story instances that obviously seemed to have escaped the dragon’s influence for a short moment. Now that Mordremoth’s dead, is it fine to assume that some other Mordrem Guards have been freed from his control ? (I understand not seeing it ingame since the game maps are kind of locked it time, though) Could they regain back their Sylvari appearance too ?

-One of the Mordrem Champions (Stavemaster Adryn) uses fight taunts related to the Nightmare. Could you tell what was his backstory ?

And, some more generic questions regarding Sylvari :

-Is there some kind of reasearchers among Sylvari searching for a way to get back from the Nightmare ? Or are they all just like “no it can’t be cured because Caithe/The Pale Tree told us so”?

-Is it possible for a Sylvari to be born mute, or blind ? Or with a severe handicap? Can they be mentally deficient ? What happens if a pod falls from the tree too early?

-Is the long coma the Pale Tree’s been in affecting the newborn Sylvari saplings ?

Balthek?

There are a few questions i would love to get answered, personally. I’d enormously appreciate any that can be answered, although i fully understand if some or all are hard to answer.

A. My biggest, burning question relates to mesmers – a common consensus around the RP community seems to be that mesmers can invade and alter someone’s mind, leaving relics in there that force them to do specific stuff, mind controlling or sometimes even downright changing how they are. To what an extent do mesmers factually have power over the mind and other’s magic, and to what extent are they merely using their magic as clever trickery intended to fool people?

B. What prevents any magic user from using some little trick in their magic book to instantly end a magic duel? Say, necromancers pinching off a crucial vein, an elementalist boiling a tiny bit of water inside a vital part of the brain, etc? Is there some form of innate resistance against these things, or is such fine control simply beyond the physical realm of possibility?

C. Is the restriction of magic to certain skills or spells simply a game limitation, or are mages lorewise factually restricted to using or creating spells to accomplish certain things?

And, as a player favoring asura..

D. Its generally known that the inquest dont like anyone leaving, and are willing to kill those that do. Yet there are also lorewise examples of people seemingly turning good and intent on leaving the inquest, without intending to die from such. The inquest also fight the peacemakers regularly, while they seem perfectly well accepted in Rata Sum. How does this factually work? Would someone be able to leave the inquest and go somewhere without having assassins chase them their entire life, or does leaving the inquest mean a life forever on the run?
And, on the same topic… i realise an answer to this may sound a bit far-fetched, but.. what is the lorewise concept and view of the tyrian/asuran people on forceful indoctrination into the inquest?

E. We’ve seen concept art of asura with beards, but no evidence of such in-game, and personally i feel that given their cave-bound origins having hair elsewhere doesnt seem to make much sense. What is the lorewise position on this – do asura grow facial hair, or hair anywhere else?

I have one very short question and I’d love to see it answered. Can we expect any storylines based on old GW1 characters in the upcoming years?

Spyritdragon.6048:

There are a few questions i would love to get answered, personally. I’d enormously appreciate any that can be answered, although i fully understand if some or all are hard to answer.

A. My biggest, burning question relates to mesmers – a common consensus around the RP community seems to be that mesmers can invade and alter someone’s mind, leaving relics in there that force them to do specific stuff, mind controlling or sometimes even downright changing how they are. To what an extent do mesmers factually have power over the mind and other’s magic, and to what extent are they merely using their magic as clever trickery intended to fool people?

There was a lore interview that Angel McCoy did a couple years back that touched on this if I recall. It IS possible, but the knowledge that Mesmers are capable of such abilities is basically kept under wraps and most likely restricted by the upper echelons of the profession (probably the Mesmer Collective) because they’ve worked very hard to cultivate public trust and an inspirational facade.

While doing content in Auric Basin, specifically the message of the last Forgotten to the Exalted I tried to make in my mind a timeline of how things happened with Tarir, the creation of the Exalted etc. We know that Tarir was erected after the events of Guild Wars (since there was no trace of it in Maguuma during the events of the first game), but a long time before the events of Guild Wars 2 and also during that time the Exalted came to be.

My question is when exactly did the Forgotten leave his parting message to the Exalted? According to the text we find throughout the city that particular Forgotten lived through the events that led to the death of Glint, maybe even witnessed it, since he references it. This event took place, about 6 years before the start of Guild Wars 2, so the message was probably written during that time, when potentially the Exalted were still in hibernation. Yet, if I am not mistaken, they revere this particular text, in a way that it might fool someone it existed long before the events of Guild Wars 2, before even the Exalted slept.

I won’t ask whether or not this particular Forgotten could still be out there, since that delves into possible spoiler territory, but I would like to know if the reference to Glint was a mistake by the developers or actual fact, so I can trace more accurately when the message was left.

Thank you sir for answering our questions! Cheers!

A suggestion/Lore Question/Game Question

Given that theres alot of personal stories that all of the companions could easily tell much like the way we had GW1’s Saul D’Alessio Storyline with the rise of the mantle. Have you guys ever considered some kind of smaller DLC Sized content with small stories being told about the various characters from their POV?

I believe this might enhance the connection alot of players currently lack with those characters and could serve as a good way to give origins and layers to them.

E.g. Playing as Belinda and how she first joined the Seraph or what lead to her eventual death at the hands of Mordremoth.

Scott, were you on board when this quest was created?
https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/The_Path_to_Revelations

And would you know what the ending of that quest means?
https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/The_Path_to_Revelations#Reward_dialogue

The stuff about magic really reminds me of the Eberron Campaign Setting from Dungeons and Dragons, which was described by Keith Baker as “wide magic” as opposed to “high magic.” It operates under the following principles:

• Magic is a science. As sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic, so too is sufficiently analyzed magic indistinguishable from science. See: the Asuran approach to magic. In a similar way, when Charr use magic (they seem to try to use as little as possible), they use it in an applied, analyzed, and scientific magic. Except Flame Legion but kitten those guys.

• Low magic is common. Things like keeping your food from spoiling, summoning magic winds to clean your floors, magically powered lights, etc — this is stuff basically every citizen has. Again, electricity.

• the AVERAGE citizen doesn’t call down fireballs or create Mesmer portals — this would be like in real life how most people don’t smash atoms together at CERN or do gene splicing. However, all of us use and benefit from technology and science in some way. While I might not do gene splicing, I can breed my tomatoes together at home because of some of what we understand about DNA. Similarly, a Tyrian might not be able to raise the dead, but they can soothe a child’s knee scrapes and ease the symptoms of the common cold.

This has all made perfect sense to me the whole time, and even though I was already sold on Tyria’s universe from GW1, this aspect of “wide magic” is what really sold me on GW2. I hate it when in stories magic is treated as totally opposed to science and some sort of ~unknowable mystical thing~ instead of just another law of the universe / force of nature (Harry Potter is ESPECIALLY guilty of this, one reason I got disillusioned with that franchise), so the fact that Tyrian magic is used by the general populace (much like so many scientific discoveries eventually bear fruit of practical applications — like the computer I’m using to send this to you!) and can be analyzed scientifically is wonderful to me.

Anyway, in short, Engineers to me work exactly like the Artificers of Eberron — they aren’t inherently magical like sorcerers or warlocks, they don’t become inherently magical like wizards. Instead, they study and manipulate the ambient magic around them by using tools.

I see the Guild Wars 2 Warrior in a similar way — they mostly use their own physical prowess, but they use the common magical tools available to people in creative ways to enhance their combat abilities. To be honest, it might be like a modern soldier using a GPS, or a rifle with assisted aim, or any number of other technological tools to assist her.

Oooh ooh ooh okay okay:

Sylvari seem to have teeth: are they made of bone? If so, do sylvari have a skeletal structure of some kind?

How long does it take cultural armor to grow? When it’s removed, can they put it back on or do they have to regrow it?

edit:

How do ghosts work? We know how Ascalonian ghosts came to be. We know there are ghosts in Cursed Shore (of norn). There are also additional human ghosts in that one fort in Straits (pirates – who also have ghostly treasure?? did the treasure die?? lol). Are there asuran or charr ghosts? Sylvari ghosts?

My only question at this time, and I realize that it probably falls under the can’t-answer-because-it’s-a-possible-spoiler section but….

…what’s east of Blazeridge Steppes? There’s a large land mass in that direction, what could be there? The Adventurer/Explorer in me is really itching to go there.

Here’s a question that’s been bugging a few people for a while…

Seeing as how the Order of Whispers is historically an Elonian entity, with hints to that heritage in-game, and is a group that is said to be the only ones able to move to and from the Joko-ruled lands, how common is that actual occurrence? Are there Whispers caravans and underground railroads in operations everyday?

Same goes with Cantha, especially with the advent of Airships. There’s also an NPC in Divinity’s Reach who claims she’s Canthan, but looks nothing like any kind of Asian you can imagine.

Endless Soul.5178:

My only question at this time, and I realize that it probably falls under the can’t-answer-because-it’s-a-possible-spoiler section but….

…what’s east of Blazeridge Steppes? There’s a large land mass in that direction, what could be there? The Adventurer/Explorer in me is really itching to go there.

The Ash legion homelands, this is the complete world map btw:
http://i.cubeupload.com/zD9ud9.png

I have nothing valuable to contribute other than thank Scott for replying with all those answers. Love the interaction!

Dimitris.3195:

While doing content in Auric Basin, specifically the message of the last Forgotten to the Exalted I tried to make in my mind a timeline of how things happened with Tarir, the creation of the Exalted etc. We know that Tarir was erected after the events of Guild Wars (since there was no trace of it in Maguuma during the events of the first game), but a long time before the events of Guild Wars 2 and also during that time the Exalted came to be.

My question is when exactly did the Forgotten leave his parting message to the Exalted? According to the text we find throughout the city that particular Forgotten lived through the events that led to the death of Glint, maybe even witnessed it, since he references it. This event took place, about 6 years before the start of Guild Wars 2, so the message was probably written during that time, when potentially the Exalted were still in hibernation. Yet, if I am not mistaken, they revere this particular text, in a way that it might fool someone it existed long before the events of Guild Wars 2, before even the Exalted slept.

I won’t ask whether or not this particular Forgotten could still be out there, since that delves into possible spoiler territory, but I would like to know if the reference to Glint was a mistake by the developers or actual fact, so I can trace more accurately when the message was left.

Thank you sir for answering our questions! Cheers!

I do not recall where, but I could swear I read a dev state that the forgotten knowing about Glint’s death was a mistake and that should be corrected, but sadly I do not have a link.

Why do asuran males have no nipples or bellybuttons?

diax.2815:

Why do asuran males have no nipples or bellybuttons?

I don’t believe the females do either. I mean, we’re talking about a race that’s so un-sexualized as a whole (thank goodness, lol) that their man parts/lady parts are very well-hidden, so I assume that’s why there aren’t obvious nipples/umbilical cord remnants as well.

diax.2815:

Why do asuran males have no nipples or bellybuttons?

The women also don’t have breasts, and thus may not have mammary glands (any “modesty” regarding the female chest could be cultural diffusion). It’s theoretically possible that they do not nourish their children in the same way that other mammals do (perhaps they are marsupials!).

Another possible explanation is that they do have "belly"buttons, just elsewhere on their body.

Another, even better explanation is that they just don’t show very well ingame. Male norn barely have nipples, also.