Guild Wars 2

What is the lore of waypoints? Some NPC’s acknowledge them, while others pretend they dont exist or you can’t teleport with them, and asuras actually build their own waypoints.

They’re an asura-made device that allows transportation for a fee, but you can only use those you’ve been to before and that are functioning (basically, take the mechanics of them and that’s lore too – except maybe the specific cost). It seems to be based (lore wise) on Snaff’s invention shown at the end of Edge of Destiny and talked about during That Old College Try. That event being a ring-sized device which expands into a personal asura gate which allows you to teleport to places you’ve been before (how is never really explained, nor is it explained what the requirements to teleporting to elsewhere is other than “somewhere you’ve been” – I used to think that it teleported Destiny’s Edge to another asura gate, but I’ve not been so sure on a second reading).

The most lore we get concerning their contested function lies in Orr, where we see the Pact “fixing” them as they create camps further in. In Orr, they also hold a second part to them – a base, which uses the same design as Pact Beacons which redirect people to nearby events. These waypoint bases act similar, though only in explaining why the Waypoint isn’t functioning – usually the response is “powerful entity detected. Emergency shut down in effect.” or something along those lines.

What the wiki has to say .

I don’t think it’s worth putting too much thought into, they sort of remind me of the vita chambers from bioshock (assuming you’ve played the game) where even one of the most brilliant scientist didn’t understand how it worked.

While there are some vague references to them in the lore, they’re ultimately a meta-gaming mechanic, and one of those instances where “convenient gameplay” trumps “logical and realistic implementation.” How they would actually work in the game world would probably be very different than how we as players interact with them. When roleplaying, I do acknowledge their existence if its relevant, but I quickly gloss over the hows and whys of their functionality. I just assume that their workings are so intimately familiar to my asura character that its not worth his time to try to explain it. And they’re beyond the comprehension of my other races — it’s enough for them to know that “when I do THIS, then THAT happens.”

Konig Des Todes has several good points. I too think their actual use would be similar to what’s shown in Destiny’s Edge, with Snaff’s personal asura gate device. That would explain why we still have escort quests, rather than caravans simply blipping around through waypoints; or why we see people in remote outposts (with a waypoint right in the middle of the camp) complaining about supply shortages. It doesn’t answer why we have to pay money to use a waypoint, or how that’s even possible. But at the same time, you can kill a deer and get a suit a platemail armor and a pile of coins, so I guess one completely illogical situation balances out the other. Consider the other option: waypoints don’t cost money, but only humanoids drop coin and gear, and even then the coin you get would be specific to that that race and you’ve have to travel back to a main city to exchange your jotun stones and skritt shinys for Krytan coins. Or if you’re Sylvari you may not even use coins and would simply barter for goods and services.

Don’t think too much about it, because it opens up a ton of questions, inconsistencies and paradoxes. It’s like sausage — probably best to just enjoy it and not think too much about the logistics of it.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

(… I used to think that it teleported Destiny’s Edge to another asura gate, but I’ve not been so sure on a second reading).

Snaff’s “hole in my pocket” device could only be attuned to specific known locations, and the one we see used was only attuned to one specific location south of Ebonhawke where there was nothing but sand (and was used for group transport when Ebonhawke’s asura gate was unreliable or down). It’s probably somewhat alike in concept to the teleporter found in Professor Portmatt’s Lab, if vastly miniaturized — you need to know where you’re going and how to do the adjustments, or you risk dropping out of the sky somewhere dangerous.

Portmatt’s teleporter is a brand new thing – which the Inquest subsequently stole and is prototyping in Crucible of Eternity (the teleporter path).