Guild Wars 2

So first of all there are a variety of things to take into account here: Tyria is a fictional world, and a world that exists as a video game. So things in Tyria are meant to be interpreted in more flexible ways when there is direct player interaction.

Example: are there really infinitely respawning nodes of copper throughout Tyria? I’d venture that harvestable nodes like that aren’t exactly in line with the lore. A variety of other things aren’t in line either.

My interest instead lies in a few things that we know are relatively finite. One of these is magical energy. I’m not an expert but I’ve been engaged with the lore for a while now and it seems like the Elder Dragons function on a cycle of Absorb Magic -> Sleep -> Magic Seeps Back Into The World -> Awaken -> Repeat. The bloodstone (not the little ones but the huge one that was eventually broken) was created by the Seers to protect magic against Dragon corruption.

So I suppose my interest lies in Tyria’s relationship with the Mists. It doesn’t seem like the Mists interact with any other realm apart from Tyria as far as we know, although the Six Gods and humans must have come from somewhere since they’re not native to Tyria. Is it true, then, that magic is a finite resource that the Elder Dragons could conceivably dry up? If one can escape to the Mists and still have functional magic?

And more to the point: obtaining magical energy from the Mists themselves? Could it be possible to harvest energy from Mist Fractals for use in Tyria as we know that Fractals infinitely reset and are stuck in a time loop? Unlike resource nodes, we know that Tyrian adventurers are able to retain resources and items obtained in the Fractals, in fact Dessa uses this to entice people to stabilize fractals for her. Since items have some sort of magical energy (otherwise many things would be useless as armor, especially light armor), is it conceivable that Mists energy could sustain people in a post-Dragon Tyria? Or perhaps could the Dragons absorb more energy than they “began” with if too much Mists magic is introduced into Tyria?

Another question: is Mists magic finite or infinite?

Although ArenaNet goes out of their way to explain many of the utilities in-game that would otherwise break the 4th wall, like Waypoints, I think respawning ore nodes are literally just a game mechanic. I don’t think they’re magical/misty at all.

Although we don’t know how large Tyria as a planet is in relation to our own, its easy to say that if the Tyrian planet has anywhere near the amount of naturally occurring metal, they haven’t scratched the surface of those resources. Theres still enough to last thousands of years, so they likely have no reason to worry about renewable energy, as such as green energy, which a lot of Asurans and some Charr study. Metallurgy in Tyria is actually really privative still, since only a handful of alloys have been discovered, and they’ve only just discovered Cinnabar and Mercury in recent years.

Dragon’s do consume magic, yes, but when they go back to sleep, that magic is slowly seeped out of their bodies and rejuvenates the world, so that magic is never “destroyed”. It just goes round in a big cycle.

The topic of magic from The Mists is ambiguous at best. There are obviously professions that utilize Mist energies, such as the Ritualists and Revenants, but its unclear if this is magic, of if its something else, so then it sparks the debate: If the dragons did manage to eat all the magic in the world, and professions like Elementalists, Necromancers, Guardians, etc, were left unable to cast magikittenil the dragons sleep, and the magic seeps back out, could Revenants and Ritualists still go on?

The Mists clearly does contain magic, because its The Mists. Its quite explicit that it contains everything there ever was, never was, will be and won’t be, which likely includes magic, and the fact magic users can still cast magic while inside The Mists as evidenced in Fractals and other planes of The Mists indicates that magic does exist there, however, there seems to be no way to transport magic from The Mists into Tyria, otherwise Asurans, who guzzle magic like nobody’s business, would’ve found a way to do it by now, unless it comes up in a later update.

Hopefully HoT will reveal more information about the matter when its explained to us how Revenant’s can do the things they do. Thinking about The Mists makes my head hurt.

Argon.1563:

Although ArenaNet goes out of their way to explain many of the utilities in-game that would otherwise break the 4th wall, like Waypoints, I think respawning ore nodes are literally just a game mechanic. I don’t think they’re magical/misty at all.

That was kinda my point, it’s a gameplay mechanic and not something associated with the lore unlike the Mists.

And yeah hopefully HoT reveals more.

I would point out that it’s possible magic is getting increasingly messy in its distinctiveness from other types. That might get a lore explanation one day soon.