Guild Wars 2

That’s right,

I just finished the main story of HoT and I haven’t come across any lore regarding the elite specs. It’s like ANET slapped them into the game just because they needed to. Only hints “profession-wise” is when we see Rox questioning Rytlock about “His new magic, and where did he get it from.” However throughout the entire story, Rytlock continues to avoid talking about his Revenant magic.

That’s it, oh and the Dynamic event surrounding the Druids in Auric Basin. But that’s all we get… Oh and maybe you can count when Irenio gave us small lore on the Scrapper.

But as far as in game, how your Chr became their new elite, is non existent. This is highly upsetting because in MMOs like FINAL FANTASY 14: ARR, their classes have lore, even with the new ones that come out in that game. But in GW2, we get nothing. Arena Net, as a Role Player Iam forced to make my own stories about how my Sylvari became a druid… But tbh, I’d like more Indepth lore for every elite spec and hopefully the Revenant.

I have a feeling there will be more updates to HoT regarding story, and if so… I hope we get some more lore on the elite specs. Because they are poorly implemented lore wise into the game.

-Purecura

This bugs me as well. I wanted to slap Rytlock when he talked Rox down for asking about his magic on two occasions, one of which was during a time they weren’t even busy, they were sat in a camp.

I hope this gets covered in Living Story 3, when ever that comes out. Im hoping they add more detail to the process in which somebody becomes a Revenant, because current lore just states you need an open mind, and are willing to accept that power, which makes it sound like somebody just magically becomes a Revenant by wanting to be, which I highly doubt. There surely must be some process to connect to that type of magic.

There was a ton of different points where ANet could’ve put stuff in about the elite specializations, particular Reaper, with Marjory and Dragonhunter with Braham. The Commander sends Kasmeer away on her own more than a few times in HoT, and considering shes the blonde one, I thought she was going to get captured, and Marjory would’ve developed the Reaper’s Shroud to get her back. and Braham carries round a bow he never even attempts to use.

There must be something else to this. A future patch, some dialogue somewhere, or LS3. Theres way too many questions regarding Revs and the E-specs.

I was hoping to start really putting together my Revenant as a character, and how she became a Revenant, but it looks like ill have to wait even longer for that lore.

I don’t think for certain ones they really need to tell us where it came from

(Tempest is not different enough from base ele, Daredevil could just be a canthan training for thief types.)

I’m even ok with not knowing how Reaper happens, although it’s clear Marjory has SOMETHING to do with it.

I would give them the benefit of the doubt and say at least some of it will be touched on when the story continues, particularly Rytlock’s revenant abilities. He says he learned them from someone…who is that someone, Glint?

Kasmeer’s powers have been steadily growing as we adventure with her, and the Mesmer collective has tons of forbidden magic never seen before, maybe chronomancy is such an art?

I do however want more lore on druid, even if we have a few npcs mention them.

I would like some lore on Dragon hunter from Braham, I’m assuming after HoT’s storyline he takes up that mantle.

The lack of elite specialization lore really does annoy me because back in January/February/March, Colin said that they were really disappointed in themselves that they didn’t add much/any profession lore for the 8 core professions in the base game and they really wanted to change this with revenant and the elite specs – this was why they made Marjory a Reaper and Rytlock a revenant.

Yet the only elite spec to get any sort of development is Reaper via Marjory and that’s not much. That’s more personal development than profession lore. The only other elite spec we have a hint of lore in-game at is when Eir dies and Braham talks about taking Eir’s bow and at the end where he swears to kill the four remaining Elder Dragons in Eir’s name. So I expect the Dragon Hunter to become a thing in lore with S3 (which would have been a better time to introduce the elite spec, IMO).

Overall, HoT had a lot of potential and while good it did not live up to its full potential and in turn its expectations.

Well, dont bet on that, since we have this little tidbit of information:

MatthewMedina.5419:

This was definitely not motivated by the decision to have an appropriate backstory for the guardian elite specialization. In fact to my recollection, I think Jon Peters took this plot point which we knew early on as inspiration and ran with it so if anything story helped give rise to the Dragon Hunter and not the other way around.

Which means, we got just a ncie little idea and thats it. Nothing that would tie the Dragonhunter to the guardian in any way.
The fact that no one answered in the big thread in the HoT part of this forum, after the explanation of their high concept defence is a clear sign. They dont want to talk in any way about that matter.

The same can be said about the Revenant who got a similiar treadment. We got some roleplay fun in a blogpost, however right now the stance on anything more related to him (as shown in HoT) is: “Its magic, dont ask questions.”

I have seen dozens of other games pull this off better. Even if the lore was just text on websites or ingame description.

It is really sad to see this here, as I know there are some brilliant minds behind the lore here.
I really wish to know what went wrong? Was it time? Ressources? Some other factor?

I can understand (to a degree, since I love these quests in other games) not implementing a real quest to unlock classes, as people would be annoyed (as they were allready with the 400HP, though that was okay), that they cant play their precious elite classes from the second they boot up the expansion.

However, omiting everything and tucking it neatly behind some arbitary collections, which in many cases even have the same silly requirements is just lazy in my opinion.
They didnt have to be on legendary level, but at least give us some insight into them.

They really are slacking with class lore as a whole for Gw2. They tell us what changes happened but they don’t give us good reasons for why and they never tell us how.

It always frustrated me as a mesmer because we are told that mesmers can use pistols because of the charr. That means nothing. Why wouldn’t charr mesmers in gw1 do so, how does learning new weapons work.

How do the bloody classes work?

Daniel Handler.4816:

—Why wouldn’t charr mesmers in gw1 do so—

The Charr hadn’t invented pistols back in gw1. And I believe the Mesmer is inspired by the pistol, which is why one uses it for magic, not because the Charr made one (on the other hand that of course had to happen for the Mesmer to even get inspired by the weapon lol).

My Sweet Lily.1952:

Daniel Handler.4816:

—Why wouldn’t charr mesmers in gw1 do so—

The Charr hadn’t invented pistols back in gw1. And I believe the Mesmer is inspired by the pistol, which is why one uses it for magic, not because the Charr made one (on the other hand that of course had to happen for the Mesmer to even get inspired by the weapon lol).

That is a valid point, but only a good explanation for why Charr Mesmers did not use pistols in gw1.

It speaks nothing to how it actually happened. If we infer that a charr experimented with a pistol we have to ask why such experimentation did not happen with a rifle or a hammer .

The answer I believe is in game mechanics demand restrictions on what weapons each class can have.
The less they explain the harder it is to contradict themselves. To give a lore explanation would stifle creativity.

So they won’t tell us how a revenant channels the mist because when they break the mold they don’t want to be called out, they revel in the artistic freedom ambiguity provides.

Well, introducement of Revenant was kinda missed opportunity, the encounters in story with Rytlock about his “magic” were hillarious (especially playing Revenant) and other NPCs seemed to know more about Revenants than our DE 2.0 like Asura in Tarir asking specifically about channeling Legends while our closest buddies have no idea whatsoever.

Hope they will step up the story here with further development – Rytlock is a Herald, so I imagine he has something to do with whole Glint’s Egg.
Although it’d be interesting to see him channeling and having conversations with other Legends too like Mallyx – core Revenant deserves something too.

What I know is :
Jory made REAPERS
Braham made DRAGONHUNTERS (Braham took Eir’s bow and maybe he will use it and realise that he is good with archery , since Braham is also a guardian)
Kas made Chronomancers? Maybe? Maybe she found a spellbook that teaches you how to use shield on mesmers? By the way Kas is also powerful , so maybe she made the Chronomancer skills.
Daredevil , I never really know , it is like somewhat related to the old races of Tyria , I haven’t played Gw1 so , I don’t know.
Druid , the one who discovered druid are not sylvari’s clearly , because there are no sylvari’s in Maguuma Jungle.
(That’s my own opinion)

Daniel Handler.4816:

It speaks nothing to how it actually happened. If we infer that a charr experimented with a pistol we have to ask why such experimentation did not happen with a rifle or a hammer .

As novel charr technology (from firearms to the oft-mentioned printing press) became more widespread, no doubt countless individuals began to experiment with them. Mesmers likely romanticised the pistol, its deceptively small appearance veiling lethal power. That said, some developments in history happened with little rhyme or reason, and as such there needn’t be a hard reason for every single weapon that a profession can or can’t use. Then there are game restrictions, but…

The answer I believe is in game mechanics demand restrictions on what weapons each class can have.
The less they explain the harder it is to contradict themselves. To give a lore explanation would stifle creativity.

So they won’t tell us how a revenant channels the mist because when they break the mold they don’t want to be called out, they revel in the artistic freedom ambiguity provides.

That’s just not true. Ambiguity through omission is not creative freedom so much as avoidance of incompetence. It’s comparable to avoidance of a word you’re afraid of misspelling/misusing. Intentionally weaving mystery into your fiction can, however, be a good thing – it leaves doors open for the writer and keeps the players actively discussing the lore. I haven’t been around for GW1 but always thought it admirable how passionately the community discusses the lore. If ArenaNet just tossed in the mursaat with the only lore being their name plates and the need to ascend to fight them, those elusive beings wouldn’t have been a hot topic for years.

Game restrictions also don’t have to stifle writers, unless project managers decide their writing prowess is better spent elsewhere. We can’t go to the Crystal Desert? Why? It’s right there on the map, it “exists” in-universe, just not in-game. Yet there’s a reason as to why, same for Cantha. You could say they didn’t need to give us those reasons, since “it’s just a game” and ambiguity supposedly safeguards them against future retcons, but they did, and it gave us a better sense of the world and the scope of the Elder Dragon threat. Magic in Tyria is also immaculately explained, in the form of bloodstones and now ley lines (which, by the way, were also introduced while addressing and respecting the established lore of waypoints, even if they didn’t have to).

That said, I don’t really mind the lack of elite specialisation lore, personally. I think the hardest sell for me is believing that an illusionist gains access to time control skills, and I’d prefer it if a specific dynamic event (like the druid one) unlocked the elite specs instead of or in addition to the 60 points, but that’s about it. Revenant actually seemed the most straightforward to me – through research and/or a pilgrimage through the Mists, you invoke the powers of specific legends no less than how you invoke mesmer magic. It’s just different magic from a different source, tied to individuals so strong and historically prominent that they’re a veritable hotspot within the Mists.

As a Guardian they said Dragon Hunter was a high concept name. Braham picking up Eirs longbow doesn’t seem high concept if indeed that is the idea behind that.

Sird.4536:

As a Guardian they said Dragon Hunter was a high concept name. Braham picking up Eirs longbow doesn’t seem high concept if indeed that is the idea behind that.

They said that this event was jsut the inspiration for the DH. The main idea however is the witchhunter.
Both ideas are bad, though, or rather not well implemented.

Braham calling himself a dragonhunter would be okay, but is not enough to create a whole class around it, till he proves himself to be actually usefull against them.

A group of guardians calling themselves dragonhunters is also questionable, as we have no reason to constrict such a name to only the guardian.

Their argument that they hunt everything dragon is also very unfitting, as they would be on the front of the Sylvari extermination crusade for example.
Also, there are other groups who have the same goal.

However the downside of this profession has been debated enough and from the reaction and how the topic is handled by the devs show how low this and other topics is on their agenda.

They got a cool name and some vague “lore” behind it. That should be enough.

They got some fine people here and some very big and interesting lore. Still I have the feeling they are too overhelmed with it and are not sure how to tackle it.
They try to build upon the old, but keep forgetting that the base isnt finished.
I hope the whole ordeal doesnt crumble.

I hate how most of HoT’s new class lore amounts to “one guy tried it”. World of Warcraft Death Knights broke free from the Lich King. TERA Reapers sought revenge for the destruction of Pora Elinu. A whole new class would be much more believable if it emerged from a behavioral shift in a group, not an individual.

@faceless ambiguity and mystery go hand in hand, what matters is the cynicism of the audience. Magic is “immaculately explained” in the what, but not the how. After all these years we don’t know how a person casts a spell beyond that they can do it continuously and it can harm them if they are unprepared. They toss us a bone and tell us guardians use faith, but the other classes?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The lack of elite specialization lore really does annoy me because back in January/February/March, Colin said that they were really disappointed in themselves that they didn’t add much/any profession lore for the 8 core professions in the base game and they really wanted to change this with revenant and the elite specs – this was why they made Marjory a Reaper and Rytlock a revenant.

Thats a major misfire then, seems like anet has the ideas but struggles to follow through. As has been noted other mmos can develop the lore.

Revenant is the most egregious issue especially if one is a revenant from 1 to 80. What they almost should have done is develop revenant from existing professions with Rytlock’s coaching.

Sird.4536:

As a Guardian they said Dragon Hunter was a high concept name. Braham picking up Eirs longbow doesn’t seem high concept if indeed that is the idea behind that.

LOL, if they thought that they were delusional.

This post from a dev hints to a problem with expecting elite specialization lore in HoT.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/Spoiler-HoT-Unsorted-Discussions/first#post5648054

If the Dragonhunter lore was added after the whole “Braham taking Eir’s bow” plot point was already developed, then it literally is an afterthought and not part of the narrative development process. So the communication between the Narrative team and the Elite Specialization team wasn’t very integrated in that the Narrative team was largely ahead of the other in terms of developing lore. If we wanted Elite Specialization lore in HoT then both teams would have been more in sync, and the lore concepts of the Elite Specializations developed alongside or even prior to the HoT narrative.

Makes me wonder if then Marjory receiving Belinda’s Greatsword informed the choice of the Reaper wielding a Greatsword for the Elite Specialization team. So if Belinda was to say wield a different weapon like a longbow, then the Reaper would have used a longbow.

It’s a little confusing now because we expect Marjory to be a Reaper and Braham to be a Dragonhunter purely because of their new weapons. And therefore expect others like Taimi to be a Scrapper, Kasmeer to be a Chronomancer, etc… just for the sake of representing the new Elite Specializations. Makes me wonder if it’s too much trouble integrating the professions or elite specialization in with lore, and just accept them as gameplay only.

The only profession that I think needs some explanation is the Revenant purely because Rytlock can’t just disappear into the Mists without telling us what happened there. I wonder if Rytlock disappearing into the Mists inspired the creation of the Revenant or if the Revenant was already planned and that inspired his journey into the Mists. And the only Elite Specialization I personally need explaining is the druid, because what is the difference between a Druid and the druid specialization?

It’s all a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario, where it’s unclear which came first. The Elite Specialization concepts or the lore that just happen to vaguely hint to them. I believe if the Narrative team was as active in the creation of the Elite Specializations’ origin as the Elite Specialization team itself then we would have had the proper integrated lore.

Mordeus.1234:

This post from a dev hints to a problem with expecting elite specialization lore in HoT.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/Spoiler-HoT-Unsorted-Discussions/first#post5648054

If the Dragonhunter lore was added after the whole “Braham taking Eir’s bow” plot point was already developed, then it literally is an afterthought and not part of the narrative development process. So the communication between the Narrative team and the Elite Specialization team wasn’t very integrated in that the Narrative team was largely ahead of the other in terms of developing lore. If we wanted Elite Specialization lore in HoT then both teams would have been more in sync, and the lore concepts of the Elite Specializations developed alongside or even prior to the HoT narrative.

Makes me wonder if then Marjory receiving Belinda’s Greatsword informed the choice of the Reaper wielding a Greatsword for the Elite Specialization team. So if Belinda was to say wield a different weapon like a longbow, then the Reaper would have used a longbow.

It’s a little confusing now because we expect Marjory to be a Reaper and Braham to be a Dragonhunter purely because of their new weapons. And therefore expect others like Taimi to be a Scrapper, Kasmeer to be a Chronomancer, etc… just for the sake of representing the new Elite Specializations. Makes me wonder if it’s too much trouble integrating the professions or elite specialization in with lore, and just accept them as gameplay only.

The only profession that I think needs some explanation is the Revenant purely because Rytlock can’t just disappear into the Mists without telling us what happened there. I wonder if Rytlock disappearing into the Mists inspired the creation of the Revenant or if the Revenant was already planned and that inspired his journey into the Mists. And the only Elite Specialization I personally need explaining is the druid, because what is the difference between a Druid and the druid specialization?

It’s all a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario, where it’s unclear which came first. The Elite Specialization concepts or the lore that just happen to vaguely hint to them. I believe if the Narrative team was as active in the creation of the Elite Specializations’ origin as the Elite Specialization team itself then we would have had the proper integrated lore.

Well, yes and no.

The core professions are based on the GW1 proffessions, who had background and we got some nifty explanations for them in GW2.
Like how certain believes changed and how they had to adapt them to fit all reaces.

The revenant is, as you say, a lore desaster, as it jus doesnt fit anywhere, aside from a game mechanic and being a deus ex machina.

Tying the new elite to our DE2.0 characters is indeed a stupid idea, but the same goes for them being available through a menu.

To make them relevant for anything in the world, there would have to be groups or well known masters, who trained in this elite part of the core professions, as they are just extensions of their basic elements.

That being said, many elite professions make sense, as their concepts are easy to grasp and are easily identify by name and mechanics to be part of a certain professions (nature ranger becoming druid, warrior going berserk or dogdy thief getting more dodgy as a daredevil).
Then we have the black sheep , which is the dragonhunter (and yes I am still annoyed about the silence and the recent revelation), who just doesnt make sense in general and our only tie in so far into the world is Braham who picks up Eirs bow.

There is some Druid stuff in one of the Auric Basin event chains, with a charr scholar who is really eager to learn the secrets of the druids. I’d have to play the chain again to see if we actually learn anything, though.

For the Chronomancer,

While I disagree with what the Mesmer has become in gw2 compared to gw1 (both mechanically and thematically), they have had the power to slow and speed up since the original.

Although there were more mental based skills in gw1 (Panic, Frustration, Sum of All Fears, Migraine) than gw2, the Mesmer still had reality warping powers.

Fast Casting— “Mesmers have the ability to cast spells quickly, which can make all the difference in the heat of battle.” It is (was) the primary attribute of the Mesmer profession. Then we have the fast casting skill “Stolen Speed” which is basically the gw1 version of Time Warp.

It wouldn’t surprise me that Chronomancy is a more concentrated and refined version of fast casting. Well of Recall could be an area concentrated version of Persistence of Memory and Gravity Well could be a powerful version of Psychic Instability (although that sounds more like mental magic than reality warping, and in my opinion, Psychic Instability > Gravity Well mechanically)

Agent Noun.7350:

There is some Druid stuff in one of the Auric Basin event chains, with a charr scholar who is really eager to learn the secrets of the druids. I’d have to play the chain again to see if we actually learn anything, though.

That’s about the group called ‘the druids’, not about present-day people picking up nature-y magic-y abilities.

Edit. See also:

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Druid
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Druid_%28group%29

LumAnth.5124:

For the Chronomancer,

While I disagree with what the Mesmer has become in gw2 compared to gw1 (both mechanically and thematically), they have had the power to slow and speed up since the original.

Although there were more mental based skills in gw1 (Panic, Frustration, Sum of All Fears, Migraine) than gw2, the Mesmer still had reality warping powers.

Fast Casting— “Mesmers have the ability to cast spells quickly, which can make all the difference in the heat of battle.” It is (was) the primary attribute of the Mesmer profession. Then we have the fast casting skill “Stolen Speed” which is basically the gw1 version of Time Warp.

It wouldn’t surprise me that Chronomancy is a more concentrated and refined version of fast casting. Well of Recall could be an area concentrated version of Persistence of Memory and Gravity Well could be a powerful version of Psychic Instability (although that sounds more like mental magic than reality warping, and in my opinion, Psychic Instability > Gravity Well mechanically)

I have no problem with theory. Indeed many of the theores on this forum are plausible. The issue is a disconnect between the writers and the fans. I want to know how something happened but it seems that aren’t interested in expanding upon old lore. Its possible they are saving a profession reveal for story events. My hope is that they are. But I wouldn’t be surpised if they forget about profession lore.

Agent Noun.7350:

There is some Druid stuff in one of the Auric Basin event chains, with a charr scholar who is really eager to learn the secrets of the druids. I’d have to play the chain again to see if we actually learn anything, though.

But that is completely removed from the elite specialisation. As for what he learns… well nothing really. Maguuma is the heart of Tyria, balance needs to be kept etc.

There are some other events that can be used to infer elite spec development, like Taimi’s current situation for Scrapper, as far as the drones go.

Still nothing I’ve seen for druid, we have no ranger npc’s that work with us anymore, Canach hasn’t done anything berserkery, nothing really for thief aside from Caithe who also hasn’t done anything for DD, and Zojja was an ele iirc, nothing there either.

I was hoping we’d each get some “quest” related to learning the elite spec, to unlock it to allow progression in that tree, something GW1’ish.

What about Rox? She doesn’t seem to have any interest in druid, though, at least not for the moment.

Canach is a bit weird – he generally fights like a warrior, but he has a lot of explosives expertise and

Personally, I have a suspicion that Canach may be quietly developing a specialisation that isn’t currently available to PCs.

Ven Zehn.6573:

There are some other events that can be used to infer elite spec development, like Taimi’s current situation for Scrapper, as far as the drones go.

Still nothing I’ve seen for druid, we have no ranger npc’s that work with us anymore, Canach hasn’t done anything berserkery, nothing really for thief aside from Caithe who also hasn’t done anything for DD, and Zojja was an ele iirc, nothing there either.

I was hoping we’d each get some “quest” related to learning the elite spec, to unlock it to allow progression in that tree, something GW1’ish.

At this point I’d be happy with some flavor in the weapon collections.

Purecura.1795:

That’s right,

I just finished the main story of HoT and I haven’t come across any lore regarding the elite specs. It’s like ANET slapped them into the game just because they needed to. Only hints “profession-wise” is when we see Rox questioning Rytlock about “His new magic, and where did he get it from.” However throughout the entire story, Rytlock continues to avoid talking about his Revenant magic.

That’s it, oh and the Dynamic event surrounding the Druids in Auric Basin. But that’s all we get… Oh and maybe you can count when Irenio gave us small lore on the Scrapper.

But as far as in game, how your Chr became their new elite, is non existent. This is highly upsetting because in MMOs like FINAL FANTASY 14: ARR, their classes have lore, even with the new ones that come out in that game. But in GW2, we get nothing. Arena Net, as a Role Player Iam forced to make my own stories about how my Sylvari became a druid… But tbh, I’d like more Indepth lore for every elite spec and hopefully the Revenant.

I have a feeling there will be more updates to HoT regarding story, and if so… I hope we get some more lore on the elite specs. Because they are poorly implemented lore wise into the game.

-Purecura

There’s not excactly a definitive,extremely informative lore behind it but we do know how Guardian’s get their Dragonhunter,Necromancers get their Reaper and how Revenants is a thing,though there’s still alot that’s remained unexplained,for example the Revenant.

Since Rytlock mentioned something about “I’ll tell you later” or something along the lines in the story mission “Prisoners of the Dragon”,I am of the belief that Anet will delve into this sooner rather than later through some in game dialogue,cut scene or w/e that’ll explain this.

As for the Dragonhunter and the Reaper;
-Braham somehow gains knowledge/invents a new combat style with his mothers Bow. Though it isn’t shown in the game yet it’s 100% the reason why Dragonhunters exist now. I’m fairly certain of it.
-Marjory gains knowledge from her sister/sister’s katana…maybe she learnt something from the Mists as well by communing with Belinda’s spirit/spirits?

The reason/incentive for them to do,so far,has been the death of loved ones and their hatred for Mordremoth. Shout at me if I’m wrong.

All in all I hope Anet somehow weaves in these elite specs and a more in-depth explanation if it is viable in terms of the lore,otherwise it’ll become much as the lore of Lordran and Drangleic,full of ambiguity and mystery!

EDIT: Typo,probably more but I found one! yay!

I honestly though the BEST thing that GW2 could have done is the following:

You unlock your elite spec at different stages based on your profession,

So Berserkers, Reapers and Dragonhunters would have unlocked the ability to Channel their Anger/Virtues after some event, such as Eir’s passing.

Druids and Tempests would learn after a Calming event such as placing the Egg into Tarir.

Daredevil would learn during an event such as escaping Faolain with the Egg.

Scrappers could learn as they go around salvaging scrap from broken pact ships, and learn/theorize how to craft Gyros.

Chronomancers could learn when they visit Rata Novus with all the Ley energy ( or maybe something related to Time)

And Finally, Revenants could have been a VERY special case, where after Killing Mordremoth, Rytlock finally decides “it’s time I told you about the mists” and then tells you of what he learned. and then a special choice could occur, “Do you want to learn more of the ways of the Revenant and stop being (Profession)?” and then you could have your character literally become a revenant after Rytlock teaches you, and as you learn about maybe Ventari because Centaurs, Sylvari, Pale Tree etc. you could go around and learn about OTHER legends, eventually becoming a Herald with Glint.

Meanign that the character you’ve mained since the start of the game could now be a Revenant instead of whatever it was before.

This choice would be irreversible, and you’d go back to level 1, but with the idea of Revenant being an “only after HoT” prof, it’d be ok imho..

This is all MY OPINION on what GW2 could have done, Please tell me fi you agree or disagree and preferably why you do so, thank you.

insaneseagull.7063:

Purecura.1795:

That’s right,

I just finished the main story of HoT and I haven’t come across any lore regarding the elite specs. It’s like ANET slapped them into the game just because they needed to. Only hints “profession-wise” is when we see Rox questioning Rytlock about “His new magic, and where did he get it from.” However throughout the entire story, Rytlock continues to avoid talking about his Revenant magic.

That’s it, oh and the Dynamic event surrounding the Druids in Auric Basin. But that’s all we get… Oh and maybe you can count when Irenio gave us small lore on the Scrapper.

But as far as in game, how your Chr became their new elite, is non existent. This is highly upsetting because in MMOs like FINAL FANTASY 14: ARR, their classes have lore, even with the new ones that come out in that game. But in GW2, we get nothing. Arena Net, as a Role Player Iam forced to make my own stories about how my Sylvari became a druid… But tbh, I’d like more Indepth lore for every elite spec and hopefully the Revenant.

I have a feeling there will be more updates to HoT regarding story, and if so… I hope we get some more lore on the elite specs. Because they are poorly implemented lore wise into the game.

-Purecura

There’s not excactly a definitive,extremely informative lore behind it but we do know how Guardian’s get their Dragonhunter,Necromancers get their Reaper and how Revenants is a thing,though there’s still alot that’s remained unexplained,for example the Revenant.

Since Rytlock mentioned something about “I’ll tell you later” or something along the lines in the story mission “Prisoners of the Dragon”,I am of the belief that Anet will delve into this sooner rather than later through some in game dialogue,cut scene or w/e that’ll explain this.

As for the Dragonhunter and the Reaper;
-Braham somehow gains knowledge/invents a new combat style with his mothers Bow. Though it isn’t shown in the game yet it’s 100% the reason why Dragonhunters exist now. I’m fairly certain of it.
-Marjory gains knowledge from her sister/sister’s katana…maybe she learnt something from the Mists as well by communing with Belinda’s spirit/spirits?

The reason/incentive for them to do,so far,has been the death of loved ones and their hatred for Mordremoth. Shout at me if I’m wrong.

All in all I hope Anet somehow weaves in these elite specs and a more in-depth explanation if it is viable in terms of the lore,otherwise it’ll become much as the lore of Lordran and Drangleic,full of ambiguity and mystery!

EDIT: Typo,probably more but I found one! yay!

it’s a Nodachi ^^ not a katan, (Just saying)

completely forgot Rox was a ranger lol…..

If ArenaNet is smart, then they can still fix this ‘no specialization lore’ with Season 3.

They can do this by having Braham, Rytlock, and Marjory largely off-screen for the story, with one early instance involving the Pact and either them mentioning or better yet showing them training Pact soldiers in their new arts. The idea being “these individuals survived where most of the Pact could not and in small numbers, they have experience and knowledge others do not.”

Something that I found odd is that Destiny’s Edge never really trained anyone – except in the case of the Pact Commander with their respective DE mentor, but even that was rather limited and more of a ‘helpful eye’ kind of thing, a ‘hands-off’ teaching method if you will.

Marjory may be the first Reaper, but in order for it to spread she needs to teach it. Same with Rytlock and Braham being the first of their respectiveness.

In the same situation, that charr scholar who was studying the druids can come in wielding a staff and willing to teach Pact medics the ancient healing magic of the druids. That charr from S2 who was talking to Taimi could teach others his Scrapper ways (because lore says the engineer Scrapper comes from charr scrappers wanting to get more up-close-and-personal) – they should have had him somewhere in the open world in HoT with picking up a hammer and building gyros out of scrap during an event but something is better than nothing.

Kuulpb.5412:

I honestly though the BEST thing that GW2 could have done is the following:

You unlock your elite spec at different stages based on your profession,

So Berserkers, Reapers and Dragonhunters would have unlocked the ability to Channel their Anger/Virtues after some event, such as Eir’s passing.

Druids and Tempests would learn after a Calming event such as placing the Egg into Tarir.

Daredevil would learn during an event such as escaping Faolain with the Egg.

Scrappers could learn as they go around salvaging scrap from broken pact ships, and learn/theorize how to craft Gyros.

Chronomancers could learn when they visit Rata Novus with all the Ley energy ( or maybe something related to Time)

And Finally, Revenants could have been a VERY special case, where after Killing Mordremoth, Rytlock finally decides “it’s time I told you about the mists” and then tells you of what he learned. and then a special choice could occur, “Do you want to learn more of the ways of the Revenant and stop being (Profession)?” and then you could have your character literally become a revenant after Rytlock teaches you, and as you learn about maybe Ventari because Centaurs, Sylvari, Pale Tree etc. you could go around and learn about OTHER legends, eventually becoming a Herald with Glint.

Meanign that the character you’ve mained since the start of the game could now be a Revenant instead of whatever it was before.

This choice would be irreversible, and you’d go back to level 1, but with the idea of Revenant being an “only after HoT” prof, it’d be ok imho..

This is all MY OPINION on what GW2 could have done, Please tell me fi you agree or disagree and preferably why you do so, thank you.

i actually like your idea about the classes getting their elite specs at different times. However, i think the choice of becoming a rev and never going back to what you were before is not appealing. Some of us will not want to lose our favorite class in order to become something that we have never tried before. This mainly applies to players who have not pre ordered the game before launch, like me, and did not have access to the beta. Furthermore, having your character that you like go to level 1 from 80 all over again is just sheer troublesome. At least it is in my case, i dont like to level up all over again.

brilliant idea though i think it makes a lot of sense and will actually please quite a few people in the game who have issues with this part of the game

I actually dont like the idea of tying them to anything in the LS, but rather have us learn them by doing a good old fashioned questline with a master.
It is more personal and imersive that way, as it would give a feeling of: Hey, Chronomancer, that is totaly a thing in the open world and nothing new. Reaper, check out this guy, he is one of these special necromancer, who dedicated their time to master a big clunky weapon.

I wouldnt want it in the LS, because they have allready problems fitting anything else into it, that isnt their mainstory at the moment.
Putting it outside, gives them way more flexibility, doesnt tie them down to the maincast and allows them to use more characters in the world

Kuulpb.5412:

I honestly though the BEST thing that GW2 could have done is the following:

You unlock your elite spec at different stages based on your profession,

So Berserkers, Reapers and Dragonhunters would have unlocked the ability to Channel their Anger/Virtues after some event, such as Eir’s passing.

Druids and Tempests would learn after a Calming event such as placing the Egg into Tarir.

Daredevil would learn during an event such as escaping Faolain with the Egg.

Scrappers could learn as they go around salvaging scrap from broken pact ships, and learn/theorize how to craft Gyros.

Chronomancers could learn when they visit Rata Novus with all the Ley energy ( or maybe something related to Time)

And Finally, Revenants could have been a VERY special case, where after Killing Mordremoth, Rytlock finally decides “it’s time I told you about the mists” and then tells you of what he learned. and then a special choice could occur, “Do you want to learn more of the ways of the Revenant and stop being (Profession)?” and then you could have your character literally become a revenant after Rytlock teaches you, and as you learn about maybe Ventari because Centaurs, Sylvari, Pale Tree etc. you could go around and learn about OTHER legends, eventually becoming a Herald with Glint.

Meanign that the character you’ve mained since the start of the game could now be a Revenant instead of whatever it was before.

This choice would be irreversible, and you’d go back to level 1, but with the idea of Revenant being an “only after HoT” prof, it’d be ok imho..

This is all MY OPINION on what GW2 could have done, Please tell me fi you agree or disagree and preferably why you do so, thank you.

Lore wise that would be great, but mechanically… some players don’t like lore and don’t want to feel forced to play story instances to unlock a new specialisation. Players didn’t even want to grind hero points to unlock specialisations. As a selling point of HoT gating it would be a bit frustrating for some.
So I think this is kinda like how HoT blended the personal story and map stories, but didn’t force you to complete map meta events to continue with your personal story.

Ven Zehn.6573:

completely forgot Rox was a ranger lol…..

After HoT I wouldn’t be surprised if you completely forgot that Rox even exists :P

Konig Des Todes.2086:

If ArenaNet is smart, then they can still fix this ‘no specialization lore’ with Season 3.

They can do this by having Braham, Rytlock, and Marjory largely off-screen for the story, with one early instance involving the Pact and either them mentioning or better yet showing them training Pact soldiers in their new arts. The idea being “these individuals survived where most of the Pact could not and in small numbers, they have experience and knowledge others do not.”

Or ANet can start adding prequel and concurrent stories. So far the Personal Story moves the narrative along which is fine, but sometimes I do wish they’d add some prequels. I mean there’s nothing stopping them from adding a story instance that it set early in the the vanilla time-line (before Zhaitan) which would give us some profession lore, or gives us a few story instances that are set concurrent to the vanilla PS which expands some other lore aspects. I think perhaps this is a limitation we put on ourselves because we’re too use to conventional media. Once a book is released or a movie it’s seen as a finished product (with mild exceptions… Han Solo shot first!), it isn’t changed or altered or updated. The same with books or TV series. Now if they want to expand on something that happened they’d do a flashback episode, or have a novel depicting a side story etc. But in video-games what’s wrong with inserting more stories in the current narrative? Why not add another chapter to the vanilla PS story or add a few low level instances? From the perspective of new players it would all still narrative flow and there is no reason veteran players wouldn’t be able to experience it (well except that the PS isn’t replayable… which ANet should change).

CureForLiving.5360:

Lore wise that would be great, but mechanically… some players don’t like lore and don’t want to feel forced to play story instances to unlock a new specialisation. Players didn’t even want to grind hero points to unlock specialisations. As a selling point of HoT gating it would be a bit frustrating for some.
So I think this is kinda like how HoT blended the personal story and map stories, but didn’t force you to complete map meta events to continue with your personal story.

What they could have done is made an instance or achievement where you go into the lore of the specialisation as part of the collection to get the ascended item associated with that specialisation. That would mean that not doing so would not be a barrier to unlocking the ability to play the specialisation, but would instead be part of the process of mastering it.

I also want to mention that Rytlock is just not a Revenant. he’s the first HERALD TOO! So what lore will be born from that? Rytlock is shown at one point using a Glint based spell to destroy fines in the HoT Story.

Purecura.1795:

I also want to mention that Rytlock is just not a Revenant. he’s the first HERALD TOO! So what lore will be born from that? Rytlock is shown at one point using a Glint based spell to destroy fines in the HoT Story.

He uses herald stuff a couple times, including the elite when he first shows up.