The many questions of LA?
I am by no means a lore expert nor was I very attentive with the previous LA designs. But I think I can answer a few of your concerns.
For me it seems like they had way too much money. From a city that was in dire need, we turn to a city that is for 1. artisticaly and geographicaly very differently then before, while barely including old buildings (which weren`t destroyed) and 2 screams: “We got soooo much money to throw around.”
I expected a balanced combination of old and new. What we got was 80% new, 10% I don`t know and 10% of the old.
It’s not “they” that had so much money. During the rebuild, the captains council was meeting and while we couldn’t tell what was being said, they were all talking at once so we’re to assume that the conversation was intense, even though it wasn’t detailed. My theory is: it was the debate of how much control to give the Consortium, but that’s pure speculation.
What we know for sure is that the Magnus asked Hero-tron if it knew how to help people get to work. It’s possible that at this point, the Consortium was making their bid and only required that citizens be willing to work for them, just like in Southsun.
But yeah, you’re right. LA was poor and wasn’t prepared to rebuild itself. But the Consortium was. As you go through the streets of LA (particularly the Commodore’s Quarter near the Consortium’s offices), you can surmise that the Consortium is up to something.
1) Where is the old lions statue and fountain? The only Lion I found was at the “Heart of the Mist” portal and that is new.
On the southern edge of the Grand Piazza is a historical marker of the old location of the Lion statue.
Lion’s Arch Historical Marker
Original site of the Lion’s Court statue and fountain, destroyed by the forces of Scarlet Briar in 1327 AE.
3) Why are there no doors or gates at Fort Mariner? Shouldn`t it be fortified more? There are no signs of force fields either.
In general, the Consortium has made Lion’s Arch a much friendlier place. It appears to be much more residential than trade-oriented, now, which aligns with the Consortium’s previous project of attempting to create a resort out of treacherous lands.
This isn’t to say they are leaving the city defenseless. Using the nearest vista (in Bloodcoast Ward) will highlight the very large structure to the south of Fort Marriner, which appears to have a ship floating in it. This is likely a war factory where ships are being manufactured to defend LA (or for nefarious reasons yet to be determined).
4) Why does Evon Gnashblade propser if the Consortium got the deal? (an NPC in Fort Mariner claims that that was the case)
Near the Trader’s Forum is a building called The Vaults. This is owned by the Black Lion Trading Company and has several NPCs as well as one guarding a secret vault. That is the most obvious sign of their prosperity.
Prior to the rebuilding stage of LA, Evon Gnashblade could be seen talking to (or blackmailing) Hero-tron. He knew about Hero-tron’s connection to the Consortium which implied that the rest of the Captain’s Council did not. Perhaps Evon has something sneaky going on behind the scenes with (or against) the Consortium.
5) What did Evon do to become captain again?
He purchased a ship when the Captain’s Council was being formed so that he could be considered a captain.
6) Why were structures destroyed that were not damaged? In extension, why was there effort put in to clear whole mountains?
If we look at the Consortium’s design, they were very intent on getting rid of the old and replacing with the new. During the rebuilding stage, a few Consortium NPCs could be seen using machines to do something (measure distances, connect far points, etc.) which implied to me that they were going to be using their technology to do something drastic. Which they did.
Prior to the rebuild, LA seemed very patchy. The Consortium likely wanted a finished product.
7) Why is the city designs so unstructured? Everything feels unnatural.
That’s subjective, Personally, I love the design. Key city structures are modeled after sea creatures. Everything else is residential or commercial.
8) Where do people live? In the half-boats near the captains council? The are that looks unfinished?
Some, yes. If you travel the Commodore’s Quarter, there are several closed doors (they have yellow panes) and a few open wooden doors. Several of the closed doors are attached to towers with windows going all the way up to their attics. These buildings and towers also have pipes along them, which implies plumbing. The area is extremely residential and appears to house significantly more residents than before.
9) Who killed the Sylvari?
It’s being investigated. lol
11) Why does the Order of Secret run a bar openly? Why don`t they have a hideout anymore but a lazy teleport/tunnel to their own secret HQ? Isn`t that dangerous?
The Order of Whispers has always had open locations. They aren’t a secret society. They are just an organization that deals in secrets.
12) Who designed the lighthouse and why does it have a spotlight on the Mountain 200m away?
While I don’t know the first part, the addition of cannons implies that whoever designed it was thinking about security.
The second part of your question, I don’t know what you’re saying. The lighthouse doesn’t point in any particular direction. As you spiral up, you’ll see that it has spotlights pointing in every direction. This is slightly explained by Ellen Kiel. She says than an asuran stargazer is complaining about light pollution from the lighthouse and she explains that the lighthouse is meant to light the entire harbor.
13) What about the farmers? Do they have to become city dwellers now? Is their land being turned into the new moa racing track?
I don’t remember any farmers actually farming in LA, but if that was the case, it makes sense that the Consortium would rather put them to work in their own way.
This is slightly explained by Ellen Kiel. She says than an asuran stargazer is complaining about light pollution from the lighthouse and she explains that the lighthouse is meant to light the entire harbor.
Lighthouses are meant to guide ships into port, not illuminate entire harbors. But this is Tyria, so I guess that doesn’t matter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse
I don’t remember any farmers actually farming in LA, but if that was the case, it makes sense that the Consortium would rather put them to work in their own way.
If I recall correctly there was a farm near the pirate jumping puzzle… we had to jump on bales of hay to reach the path up the mountainside that led to the puzzle.
The table is a fable.
I don’t remember any farmers actually farming in LA, but if that was the case, it makes sense that the Consortium would rather put them to work in their own way.
If I recall correctly there was a farm near the pirate jumping puzzle… we had to jump on bales of hay to reach the path up the mountainside that led to the puzzle.
Ah yes, I see. I’m looking at the farm, now, in Farshore Ward. It still seems to look the same as it did prior to the update.
Mhm. Good ideas, but I got some rebutal there.
1) The Consortium is a buisness, so I don`t think they do things for free. As it seems the council gave them every design decision.
Though we are unaware on how much it actually was. Right now it really seems Get rid of the old in with the new.
(On a side note, on reddit someone had a dev talk saying that the old lions statue is gone for good and the new one is the replacement)
A historical marker is not a replacement for a historical building that has been rebuild and “survived” many ordeal as well as being a symbol of the city and it`s inhabitants.
3) Doesn`t matter if the city looks more friendlier. A fort should be able to be fortified. Which measn able to house the inhabitants of the city and close the gates behind them to protect them from ground forces.
4) Doesn`t explain it though. Sure he has a building, but that`s it. No other explanation so far
6) This is clearly a designers idea. Still don`t like it and I would like some not-lore explanations.
On the lore side I find it really sad though. So much history just brushed away for unnecceary glamour.
11) Yes the order was recruting in the open but still had hidden hideouts. LA had one of the biggest.
Now they got half a building, which is nothing more than a bar and no hidden place (most of them are prettey cool around the world, btw.)
12) The lighthouse is like a shell, I get that. However one of the beams is pointed at the mountain behind it and serves no purpose that way.
13) Southeast was a big plantation. There was farming going on.
1) The Consortium is a buisness, so I don`t think they do things for free. As it seems the council gave them every design decision.
Though we are unaware on how much it actually was. Right now it really seems Get rid of the old in with the new.
Not being paid upfront doesn’t mean that you are doing the work for free, though.
(On a side note, on reddit someone had a dev talk saying that the old lions statue is gone for good and the new one is the replacement)
A historical marker is not a replacement for a historical building that has been rebuild and “survived” many ordeal as well as being a symbol of the city and it`s inhabitants.
It was rebuilt in a different location, though. The marker just recognizes it’s importance.
3) Doesn`t matter if the city looks more friendlier. A fort should be able to be fortified. Which measn able to house the inhabitants of the city and close the gates behind them to protect them from ground forces.
The fort is still fortified. It’s surrounded by cannons on all sides facing the sea and the giant war factory to its south.
4) Doesn`t explain it though. Sure he has a building, but that`s it. No other explanation so far
Right, but my point was that it’s not a flaw, which I thought was the point of your post. If you were actually asking what happened, the answer is that we don’t know yet and the NPC dialogue just highlights it.
6) This is clearly a designers idea. Still don`t like it and I would like some not-lore explanations.
On the lore side I find it really sad though. So much history just brushed away for unnecceary glamour.
Everything is a designer’s idea. And the only not-lore explanation is that it looks cool. The in-universe explanation would be that the Consortium’s architects thought it was a good idea.
11) Yes the order was recruting in the open but still had hidden hideouts. LA had one of the biggest.
Now they got half a building, which is nothing more than a bar and no hidden place (most of them are prettey cool around the world, btw.)
Perhaps with the city growing, they didn’t want to put such a large base there? Hard to say what the in-universe explanation would be.
12) The lighthouse is like a shell, I get that. However one of the beams is pointed at the mountain behind it and serves no purpose that way.
Based on what Kiel said, the lighthouse isn’t so much about guiding ships in as it is about just providing light, in general. From that standpoint, I’d imagine it’s not pointless to have a beam of light facing any direction.
13) Southeast was a big plantation. There was farming going on.
Still seems to be there in Farshore Ward. What’s different?
I have one. he new memorial to the fallen, the floor SEEMS to be tiled in jade. From the Jade Sea. I thought Cantha was inaccessible?
If you look at it, it looks a lot like the texture used in GW 1, perhaps a higher res version.
Actually. I’ll maybe come back and try to answer other ones. but as I recall, LA wasn’t suddenly poor.
It was that all their trade connections and the city had been destroyed.
I suppose one of my biggest questions involves the hidden area underneath the Lion’s Shadow (?) inn around the Eastern Ward. It seems like the sort of location where the Order of Whispers should be, but I was unable to gather who is moving down there.
Will Hawkins (Human Guardian)
Feryl Grimsteel (Charr Engineer)
Tarnished Coast
Feryl Grimsteel (Charr Engineer)
Tarnished Coast
I’ll take my best crack at the ones unanswered.
2) What is a Data Dog? He runs around and uses waypoints.
It’s just the dogs name. He’s the pet of Tokk and the two kids he adopted (the ones who used to run around by the bank). He follows them through the waypoint when they go home- a few seconds behind them when I saw it, but there seem to be a couple interactions in new LA that’re falling out of sync, so perhaps he was supposed to go through at the same time.
3) Why are there no doors or gates at Fort Mariner? Shouldn`t it be fortified more? There are no signs of force fields either.
Almost every entrance has vestibules that seem to serve no possible purpose but defense, so I’m assuming there are disguised portcullises or other barriers that could be put up at need.
4) Why does Evon Gnashblade propser if the Consortium got the deal? (an NPC in Fort Mariner claims that that was the case)
I haven’t talked to him yet, but there was a lot of NPC agitation before the patch that being quartermaster was letting Evon take over any part of the market he chose while the competition was locked out of the city. A charr in Marriner is now saying that’s pretty much what happened. I’ll edit this if I find any more specifics later.
6) Why were structures destroyed that were not damaged? In extension, why was there effort put in to clear whole mountains?
No answer here, but I want to say that I agree. The Lion’s Shadow Inn getting an “offer I couldn’t refuse” to move so it could be leveled? The Deverol’s being removed from their ancestral home so that a wedding park could be made instead? It feels like the Crown Pavillion all over again. Apparently property rights don’t count for much in Tyria.
11) Why does the Order of Secret run a bar openly? Why don`t they have a hideout anymore but a lazy teleport/tunnel to their own secret HQ? Isn`t that dangerous?
It’s a weird move on the surface, but remember that there was a lot of discussion by Whispers NPCs during the Pact arc about what that would mean for the order, with the general consensus being they’d have to move out of the shadows. This is the first Whispers base we’ve seen since then, and in a city they’ve played an active part in defending on at least two occasions. It might simply be time for them to leave the sewers. As for the portal, only Whispers characters know it’s there, and we know the Chantry’s portals can be shut down quickly at need. I doubt it’s much of a security concern.
13) What about the farmers? Do they have to become city dwellers now? Is their land being turned into the new moa racing track?
The farm doesn’t have its orderly terraces anymore, but it is back in use, and it seems to be almost as large as before.
@Genesis if you mean the building in the northeast corner, where the second Gendarren exit used to be, the Lion’s Shadow Bed and Breakfast are moving in… officially. Unofficially, with the shady Australian sylvari hanging out near the door, I think it’ll be part of a future black market storyline that’s being hinted at in other parts of the city.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
(edited by Aaron Ansari.1604)
4) Why does Evon Gnashblade propser if the Consortium got the deal? (an NPC in Fort Mariner claims that that was the case)
I haven’t talked to him yet, but there was a lot of NPC agitation before the patch that being quartermaster was letting Evon take over any part of the market he chose while the competition was locked out of the city. A charr in Marriner is now saying that’s pretty much what happened. I’ll edit this if I find any more specifics later.
Also to add to this, I noticed that Wild-Eye Miller claims that Evon Gnashblade took all of the proceeds for rebuilding LA for himself. Perhaps he’s the one that struck up the deal between the Consortium and the Captain’s Council and he pocketed the extra money without informing the Council.
Oh, and I’d also like to point out that all of the surrounding buildings around the shore of the Grand Piazza and the Eastern Ward are residential. On the southern edge of the Grand Piazza, you can even see clotheslines with garments of clothing, blankets, and towels hanging.