Guild Wars 2

So the tengu live pretty close Lions Arch. So this whole chaos with the attack leaves many people without there home so where do they run to? The Dominion of Winds theyll take us in if we help with their destroyer problem. And so my theory is that the Dominion of Winds will be the new Lions Arch. Main theory of why a new race is coming out:
1. Extra character slot expansion is on discount.
2. Free XP booster complimentary of the Trading Post
3. Free crafting booster complimentary of the Trading Post

Here we go baby! Tengu ranger with a pet Moa!!!!! EVOLUTIONNNNNN!!!!

Well, all three of those reasons can really be rolled up into one. Character slots are on discount so they are offering fast ways to level your character to give players more incentive to buy a slot.

Still, I do think we may be getting close to seeing more of our feathery friends. The NCSOFT earnings report suggests that GW2 is doing great with microtransactions and they will keep expanding via LS. If we can believe some things we read, there is talk of a team working on a large project at Anet.

Story wise, we are getting close to a logical jump off point for involvement with Tengu, although I don’t think it’s just yet. With LA under attack, the Tengu will not likely be quick to open their gates. They would also need to plan out a whole story for Tengu characters. It’s possible that we’ll see more of them in the coming story arc though.

Trouble is, we haven’t had any real new tengu content in the last year or so. Most living world developments have been signposted fairly clearly before they come around, even if people only spot them in retrospect. Do I see the tengu aiding with the rebuilding of LA? Sure. Do I see them opening their gates and joining the fight against the newly-awakened Mordremoth? Maybe, but not straight away.

I think we’ll see a playable tengu race one day, but probably not until the end of season two, at least. Hell, maybe even the zone comprising the ruins of Lion’s Arch will be their level 1-15 zone.

Idk just some speculation. Don’t forget the team that does LS is very small compared to the rest of ANet. They have a huge team behind the scenes working on larger content. I think a year is enough time to open a couple of areas ie. Dominion of Winds. And plenty of times to model our featherd friends. And I think they didn’t mention a thing about tengu thus far is to simply surprise us just how they stopped showing us the patch notes a week earlier. It builds suspense and surprise. And also the fact that the character slot expander, the xp booster, and the crafting booster are all free or discounted prices at the end of LS part 1 when it’s the perfect time to introduce the project they’ve been working on for over a year, leaves me HIGHLY suspicious.

I hope on the character customization they have different bird head models. I would love a black owl necro bird with big ominous white, pale eyes. Oh god I hope I’m right.

I’ve never considered this before… Just figured that they city would get opened somehow.
But this theory…. I like it… I like it a lot. If this is what they’ve had up their sleeves in the works this whole time, I will go crazy happy.

I do hope they work on more. I’ve heard a few times that they do have a ‘shadow crew’ working behind the scenes. However, the 350 employee thing is a little deceptive.

I don’t think they’re all game developers. I’d wager a number of them work in finance, HR, etc… So, if the behind the scenes work is happening, I don’t know if it will be as fast as we think.

What if the attack on Lion’s Arch doesn’t open their doors… but closes them tighter?

Sylvari, charr, asura, human, and norn are all invading Lion’s Arch. The tengu are studying whom they can ally with… what if t heir thought is “if they cannot unify their own race, how can we expect them to ally with other races like us?”

Whilst it’s exciting and promising, Anet did say that after Season 1 of the LS they’d take a break(which would be longer than 2 weeks at the minimum to be considered a break, but I’d wager a couple of months) and hit with a large feature patch. That is(hopefully) the sort of patch that could bring content as big as a new race. Having said that, it doesn’t really make sense to have it discounted now unless they intended to have it on discount for the next few months…

Large feature patch comes on March

Neek.9531:

I hope on the character customization they have different bird head models. I would love a black owl necro bird with big ominous white, pale eyes. Oh god I hope I’m right.

Right now Tengu use the same skeleton that’s used on Charr models. They will obviously make a new one, with same level of customisation options, if they are making them playable.

Rym.1469:

Large feature patch comes on March

Have you got a source on that?

Colin Johanson: Due to the size and scope of the final four story releases in season one, the next round of major features will be bundled together into a large “feature only” release that will come after the first season of the Living World 2014 has finished.

I so far haven’t seen a confirmation of a month. I mean, Season 1 is slated to end in March(March 4th should be date of the last release if they follow the fortnightly schedule). I’d be mighty impressed if they released anything further in March.

moomooo.9357:

Whilst it’s exciting and promising, Anet did say that after Season 1 of the LS they’d take a break(which would be longer than 2 weeks at the minimum to be considered a break, but I’d wager a couple of months) and hit with a large feature patch. That is(hopefully) the sort of patch that could bring content as big as a new race. Having said that, it doesn’t really make sense to have it discounted now unless they intended to have it on discount for the next few months…

Yes, and the next patch after the last (which comes in two weeks and three days) with Living World story should be on 18 of March, because they promise big changes at that point.

moomooo.9357:

Rym.1469:

Large feature patch comes on March

Have you got a source on that?

Colin Johanson: Due to the size and scope of the final four story releases in season one, the next round of major features will be bundled together into a large “feature only” release that will come after the first season of the Living World 2014 has finished.

I so far haven’t seen a confirmation of a month. I mean, Season 1 is slated to end in March(March 4th should be date of the last release if they follow the fortnightly schedule). I’d be mighty impressed if they released anything further in March.

Here you go:
Hello Tyria,
In the Player vs. Player Rewards Roadmap, we discussed how glory will be retired as a currency and we assured you that we would give advance warning as to when that would happen so you’d know how much time was left to finish up your goals. This post is to let you know that glory will no longer be awarded as of a maintenance build that is currently planned for March 18.
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/phasing-out-pvp-glory/

That’s two releases, not one, as mentioned in quote you gave us. Plus there was a speculation about new elite skills. Makes one wonder…

EDIT: got it all wrong, you’re right. That will be maintenance patch, on 18th of March.

maintenance build.

NOT the large feature patch.

I will be honest, at first I thought the OP was making fun of all the people speculating about this lately…

Sirius.4510:

I will be honest, at first I thought the OP was making fun of all the people speculating about this lately…

Maybe I am

Konig Des Todes.2086:

What if the attack on Lion’s Arch doesn’t open their doors… but closes them tighter?

Sylvari, charr, asura, human, and norn are all invading Lion’s Arch. The tengu are studying whom they can ally with… what if t heir thought is “if they cannot unify their own race, how can we expect them to ally with other races like us?”

But a thousand refugees standing outside your get is a real game changer.

Why would Tengu help said refugees? One reason other than “They felt compassinate and wanted to ease their suffering”?

Why would they go towards the Shuttered Gate, when they can easily flee to Gendarran, Bloodtide, and if desperate enough, Southsun Cove?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

What if the attack on Lion’s Arch doesn’t open their doors… but closes them tighter?

Sylvari, charr, asura, human, and norn are all invading Lion’s Arch. The tengu are studying whom they can ally with… what if t heir thought is “if they cannot unify their own race, how can we expect them to ally with other races like us?”

This makes the most sense to me. I want the tengu as a playable race as much if not more than anyone but I don’t see this story leading to them but rather away from them.

As Konig points out, it doesn’t make sense for the tengu to open their gates and make an alliance with races warring amongst themselves – they would be taking on the burden of the other races and for little benefit for themselves. We know the tengu are slightly disturbed from within their walls (they have some destroyers popping up inside of them from what I recall) but for the most part we are led to believe the tengu haven’t felt a need to leave their walls. We also have confirmation that Lion’s Arch moves to Vigil Keep after Scarlet’s assault, not within the tengu’s walls. I think it’s more likely that Lion’s Arch will be reclaimed in the near future than it is the people will move elsewhere.

I believe the tengu will open up their dominion when it’s beneficial for them to do so, not when it’s beneficial for Lion’s Arch (also note the Dominion of Winds is adjacent to Caledon Forest and south of Kessex Hills, the gate next to Lion’s Arch simply leads to their territory, not to the Dominion itself – the Wizard’s Tower and ocean seem to divide that side of the wall and where the Dominion itself would be).

If or when the tengu open up their territories (and maybe become playable) I suspect it will be because the threat within their walls becomes too great and they are forced to seek help outside of them. For all we know it could be chaos inside of the walls, the tengu are fairly secretive about what goes on there and we haven’t heard anything new since launch.

The only way I see the current story leading towards tengu is if the entity Scarlet saw is another Elder Dragon becoming active and it threatens the tengu as much as the rest of the Tyria (Primordius would be the top pick given the destroyer locations around the wall, Mordremoth or Bubbles are possibilities given how mysterious they have been up until now).

Doesn’t this also depend on whether Scarlets troops attack/destroy the tengu gate or not? If her troops get close enough, the tengu will attack them. And i’m sure the Krait or any of the others will attack them for that alone, even if Scarlet ordered them to leave them alone. If Scarlet even sees the tengu as a threat. Didn’t a Dev already state that Scarlet isn’t as kittenhe was anymore, thanks to the voice in her head? So maybe she doesn’t care if the tengu join the battle or not.
It’s one thing to ignore a battle in front of your door. It’s another if your door gets smashed in.

On top of my skepticism, I’d want there to be a bit more story to the Tengu’s release. Imagine a large part of Season 2 is Tyria urging the Tengu to join the fight. I mean, yeah, it’s not beneficial to them, but if you don’t join now, do you just hope the dragons just poof and go away?

Some great dialogue could be written there

Ok don’t forget that Scarlets plan is to dig up whatever she finds under LA. The lye line is going to be used for something and whatever it is you guarantee it’s going to cause a lot of problems all around LA, including the Dominion. So if the refugees don’t open there gates Scarlets drilling and her use for the ley line could open their gates, wether they want to or not.

Whoever said she intends to dig “up” something? Maybe she just intends to dig down and bury something (toxinsssss).

In every update there are theories of this kind…I wouldn’t get too high hopes if I were you, I doubt we’ll see any new race/profession/big (non-Southsun-like-) area until an expansion is actually released.

Saint.5647:

However, the 350 employee thing is a little deceptive.

I don’t think they’re all game developers. I’d wager a number of them work in finance, HR, etc… So, if the behind the scenes work is happening, I don’t know if it will be as fast as we think.

Jip, if all of them were actively developing the game (although there’s a lot of semantics around what game developer means) then ala mythic man month, they’d never get anything done.

Neek.9531:

Idk just some speculation. Don’t forget the team that does LS is very small compared to the rest of ANet. They have a huge team behind the scenes working on larger content.

The thing however is we don’t know.
We have a general idea of how big the company is, but we don’t know how many of them are support staff, how many are core business (i.e. actively working on the game) etc. Would be nice if ANet would give us a break down or at least a overview of how large the various teams are or what teams there are. The closest we have is this: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/colin-johanson-outlines-guild-wars-2-live-game-development/ which is more than a year old so I’m not sure how reliable it is.
So it’s possible that the Living World team it’s small (and then depending on the overall development team could mean that they’re secretly working on more content), it’s possible that the team is large (and that there’s no one working on secret content). But lacking any more recent information it’s difficult to call.

If anything, Scarlet should have destroyed LA AND Dominion of Winds so we can get in to help them out. That will create trust between the Tengu and the outer world, thus opening the gates.

Btw, is the LA tengu gate accessible currently? Wondered if there is anything there.

edit: ok, so the Tengu are shooting everyone that comes near the gate.

SoulyD.9125:

Doesn’t this also depend on whether Scarlets troops attack/destroy the tengu gate or not? If her troops get close enough, the tengu will attack them. And i’m sure the Krait or any of the others will attack them for that alone, even if Scarlet ordered them to leave them alone. If Scarlet even sees the tengu as a threat. Didn’t a Dev already state that Scarlet isn’t as kittenhe was anymore, thanks to the voice in her head? So maybe she doesn’t care if the tengu join the battle or not.
It’s one thing to ignore a battle in front of your door. It’s another if your door gets smashed in.

If anything, Scarlet was involved with the Tengu, so there is a connection.

The tengu don’t have to all be in agreement on whether or not to join us.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority choose to side with us at the end of the story and the rest go off to become the enemy faction that every playable race has.

I think if the tengu become playable, they’ll do it sometime after Scarlet’s major plan has been revealed (not during), after all, the living story has been building up to this moment for quite some time so I don’t think they’d want to be dividing the player’s attention between having the tengu suddenly playable/heavily involved and the plot point they’ve been working towards for months.
I feel the tengu becoming playable will be a story within itself and not an ‘accompanying’ element this current story.