Guild Wars 2

The more I think about this, the more it makes me itch. One of the things I love, or rather, loved about this game was how it kept up with time. A week in our world is a week in Tyria. Three years pass here, three pass there. That’s gone at the moment thanks to the expansion (which makes you wonder exactly how Lion’s Arch is being rebuilt, but I’m not touching that) but it still leaves me with questions.

What breaks the immersion for me of the world being in somewhat constant motion, is Orr. I know we don’t know exactly when the Pact brought Zhaitan down, but I’m assuming it was before the Karka invasion. Which means that, since launch, the greatest armed force in Tyria was sitting in Orr doing cleanup, presumably. But we never (to my knowledge, anyways) hear exactly how effective that was.

I understand that keeping Orr all undead and corrupt is necessary for the gameplay and new players. But from a current lore perspective, is it still infested with undead? Are people still rising from death after falling to the Risen? Is some dragon champion feeding off of Zhaitan’s power to continue this, or is that what the Pact spent so long fighting? Is it, at the current moment in the game, slowly returning to an uncorrupted continent thanks to Trahearne who, from his dialogue, presumably cleansed the land of undead corruption? And if Orr isn’t a threat, has anybody tried sailing to Cantha or Elona? I know Lion’s Arch was busy, but there are other ports. Assuming not everything in Sea of Sorrows was wiped out by the Dead Ships.

As far as I know, the last allusion to Orr we got was from Tequatl, but I don’t really count world bosses as lore. Some of them can fit, like Jormag, but how many times is a golem really going to turn into an enormous fire elemental? Same thing for Teq. How many times can he rise again without a master, presumably.

I know it’s not really that important since we’ve all got jungle fever at the moment, but I’d like to think that our character’s efforts in purifying/clearing one of the greatest thorns in the side of sea voyages southward had some effect. Just knowing what was going on down in Orr at the moment would be nice.

The Zephyites flew to Cantha last year, I think. I remember they talked about it during the event at the start of living story S2.

Why single out Orr? All zones are locked in time.

And yes, we know that the personal story happened before the start of the living story.

As for Tequatl: Yes, his increase in power is canon. This was explicitly stated by Anet. We have no idea what was behind it however. That, combined with the explorable version of Arah, makes it clear that the Risen are still quite active post-Zhaitan. That said, the update to Tequatl was a year and a half ago. So what happened since then is anyone’s guess. Also: I’m not sure if Tequatl is actually killed when he is defeated.

Diovid.9506:

Why single out Orr? All zones are locked in time.

And yes, we know that the personal story happened before the start of the living story.

As for Tequatl: Yes, his increase in power is canon. This was explicitly stated by Anet. We have no idea what was behind it however. That, combined with the explorable version of Arah, makes it clear that the Risen are still quite active post-Zhaitan. That said, the update to Tequatl was a year and a half ago. So what happened since then is anyone’s guess. Also: I’m not sure if Tequatl is actually killed when he is defeated.

Well it’s kind of hugely important to the lore, and it was the place for the climax of the personal story. A lot of things happened there. It’ be nice to know the effect. Plus, I always assumed that the explorable mode for Arah was right after Zhaitan’s fall. Its been a few years, and the Pact has left. Something must’ve changed in Orr for them to leave it.

I know Teq’s power-up was canon, but again, he’s a world boss. If we try to fit him into the lore, we’ve killed him twice so far, apparently. Assuming he does die when we beat him. But if he can come back repeatedly, what’s stopping his master from doing so? Yet another reason to wonder about Orr.

Charrlizard.8041:

Its been a few years, and the Pact has left. Something must’ve changed in Orr for them to leave it.

How do you know they left Orr? Their main force may be in the Maguuma area but I’m not sure if they have left Orr completely.

I know Teq’s power-up was canon, but again, he’s a world boss. If we try to fit him into the lore, we’ve killed him twice so far, apparently. Assuming he does die when we beat him. But if he can come back repeatedly, what’s stopping his master from doing so? Yet another reason to wonder about Orr.

But why do you assume Tequatl dies? Some world bosses are actually destroyed (the Shatterer for example if I recall correctly), while Tequatl just falls into the water (I think). We have actual confirmation from Anet on Zhaitan being gone for good but I can see a case to be made for Tequatl to just retreat when weakened enough and then trying again later when it has regained it’s strength.

There’s no reason to believe the Pact has left Orr. As of Tequatl Rising, they hadn’t, and during The World Summit the matter of the Pact being in Orr was brought up by Phulnt (“Why isn’t the Pact handling this? Are they mired in Orr?”).

As for Tequatl, in lore it didn’t die but retreat in the events prior to Tequatl Rising. Post-Tequatl Rising, however, the matter is unclear; Rox in the story instances later claims she and dozens of adventurers slew Tequatl, and took its tail, but the dialogue of the NPCs there still imply post-Tequatl Rising that it just retreats as usual. It’s likely that Rox pushed it back, saw its tail fall off and presumed it died.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

There’s no reason to believe the Pact has left Orr. As of Tequatl Rising, they hadn’t, and during The World Summit the matter of the Pact being in Orr was brought up by Phulnt (“Why isn’t the Pact handling this? Are they mired in Orr?”).

As for Tequatl, in lore it didn’t die but retreat in the events prior to Tequatl Rising. Post-Tequatl Rising, however, the matter is unclear; Rox in the story instances later claims she and dozens of adventurers slew Tequatl, and took its tail, but the dialogue of the NPCs there still imply post-Tequatl Rising that it just retreats as usual. It’s likely that Rox pushed it back, saw its tail fall off and presumed it died.

I’d consider the Pact being wherever Trahearne was. I doubt he would’ve left Orr if he hadn’t finished the job with the undead. He took down Zhaitan quickly and methodically, killing the rest of the Orrians could take a few years I imagine. It fits anyways. Or, he spent all that time down there recuperating from cleansing Orr while the Pact just held their outposts. Clarification would be nice, is my point.

I think Rox did kill Tequatl. I find it far more likely, simply because the NPC dialogue around the event hasn’t changed. Nor has it changed anywhere else in the game, and, hers is further along in the timeline.

The goal was never to eliminate the undead from Orr. It was to kill Zhaitan.

Mission accomplished.

well, this bring up an old and fascinating theme.
one part of me would like to see orr cleansed, the land flourishing again, maybe see some ghosts, but not horrible risens. same reason i love to see Lion’s Arch destroyed or back than just the fountain being destroyed and rebuild over and over again. same goes with kessex hill and the toxic spores now lingering there. i like this because every little detail changing in the world it measn the world evolve and it’s not stuck in time. the players become storytellers and tell the new people coming in the game how was it back then when in kessex hill the lake was blu and beautiful but dangerous since the kraits living there would try to enslave quaggans and human alike.
i loved the karka invasion being a one time only big event.
although part of me is worried that this kind of evolution in the world is a risk when you cannot be there to see it, and you arrive just for the aftermath. i lost part of the leaving story part 1 and that is gone for ever for me, i will never be able to witness those events again.
i don’t know how i would feel as a new player seeing orr completely cleansed. or as a veteran not doing orr events ever again.
the living story season 2 kind of does this right. i would like the rest of the game be like that. replayable instances where i can witness how things were before the changes. and yet something doesn’t click.
for example wuould i want the zephirites to be back? yes. wouldn’t be odd to do events in drytop? yes.
would i like dry top with no zephirite sanctum wreaked to pieces? i really don’t know.
i’m aware having a choice in that matter is not possible as we are suppose to live in the same world and not in an istanced one.
so i’ll accept whatever arenanet decides on this

DresdenAllblack.1249:

The goal was never to eliminate the undead from Orr. It was to kill Zhaitan.

Mission accomplished.

OUR goal was to kill Zhaitan. Trahearne’s goal was to cleanse Orr of corruption, though this, of course, also required the death of the dragon to proceed to completion. In one of his speeches after Zhaitan went down, he even speaks of the long-term process of exterminating the remaining undead.

What I’ve been wondering about is Caladbolg, which was used to begin the cleansing of the Source of Orr. Caladbolg was grown by the Pale Tree and is an extension of her power. But we now know the Pale Tree is a creature of Mordremoth (albeit a rebellious one), and any extension of her (including the sylvari themselves) is potentially subject to the control of that dragon. What does this mean for the cleansing of Orr? Might the presence of Caladbolg serve as a wedge giving Mordremoth the ability to interfere with, subvert, or take over the Source?

BrettM.9062:

DresdenAllblack.1249:

The goal was never to eliminate the undead from Orr. It was to kill Zhaitan.

Mission accomplished.

OUR goal was to kill Zhaitan. Trahearne’s goal was to cleanse Orr of corruption, though this, of course, also required the death of the dragon to proceed to completion. In one of his speeches after Zhaitan went down, he even speaks of the long-term process of exterminating the remaining undead.

What I’ve been wondering about is Caladbolg, which was used to begin the cleansing of the Source of Orr. Caladbolg was grown by the Pale Tree and is an extension of her power. But we now know the Pale Tree is a creature of Mordremoth (albeit a rebellious one), and any extension of her (including the sylvari themselves) is potentially subject to the control of that dragon. What does this mean for the cleansing of Orr? Might the presence of Caladbolg serve as a wedge giving Mordremoth the ability to interfere with, subvert, or take over the Source?

My point exactly. Trahearne kept the Pact there for almost 3 years that our PCs weren’t involved in. When we see him next, he has caladbolg again somehow. So either, the Source of Orr is cleansed enough to spread through the land all by itself now, thanks to a decrease in undead, or Trahearne just took it because he needed it against another dragon.

Idk if you watch WoodenPotatoes, but back when we had that orb theory thing going around, we saw one take over another, and he said it was most likely a representation of what was going on. If Mordy can hit ascalon, I have no doubt he can hit Orr. Especially if there’s a font of magic there that he could easily corrupt, thanks to the Firstborn. It would also explain why he’s smarter and stronger than Zhaitan, AND it would give us a reason to go back to Orr. To cut off his tie to the magic, and then begin systematically destroying him like we did with Zhaitan.