Guild Wars 2

among the images raining zephyrites (not literally) i saw a golem which i seems kind of inquest looking in the path of brahams mace (all healed up and in the labrinthine cliffs) and a multi appendaged horror that looks like something from the factions campaign with the afflicted or maybe from the realm of torment ( i dunno GW1 seems so long ago now)

full of kitten am i? good point do i have? answer in yoda speak you need not.

The giant creature looked more like a giant devourer (they exist, and they can get huge. see GW1 siege devourers and the one warrior boss)

There are siege devourers in GW2, as well. There are events involving them, both as part of the charr war effort and as Branded, in Iron Marches, Fields of Ruin, and… I forget the name off the top of my head, the region where the Citadel of Flames is located.

The “multi-appendage horror” is definitely a devourer- one of the rarer models, but you can see them in a few places, most notably the farm in Iron Marches. That said, I am honestly thrilled to see an old GW1 enemy return, even if it is a bog standard monster.

More interesting to the story- in the same shot with the Inquest golem, you can see a Seraph in the background. Combined with the geographical proximity of the supposed new area… I know people have been expecting the Triad to come back into play since F&F, but this time I think there’s a pretty strong case to be made.

The Triad seems the most logical approach, considering their location and assuming they already have crossed Brisban Wildlands from Fort Vandal and (despite how we see they don’t know how to repair a bridge) and the other side, forgot name.

It seems we will see Aetherblades, too. And probabluy further on, Mordremoth’s minions. And, of course, any other natural threat from the Maguuma. That devourer sure does look angry.

draxynnic.3719:

There are siege devourers in GW2, as well. There are events involving them, both as part of the charr war effort and as Branded, in Iron Marches, Fields of Ruin, and… I forget the name off the top of my head, the region where the Citadel of Flames is located.

Yeah, three branded siege devourers/giant ones I know of (two in an guild mission). another queen is part of a meta event (so make that four branded).

I know of one siege devourer in a citadel of flame path attacking the gate, but can’t think of seeing any others outside of there though :O.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

The “multi-appendage horror” is definitely a devourer- one of the rarer models, but you can see them in a few places, most notably the farm in Iron Marches. That said, I am honestly thrilled to see an old GW1 enemy return, even if it is a bog standard monster.

More interesting to the story- in the same shot with the Inquest golem, you can see a Seraph in the background. Combined with the geographical proximity of the supposed new area… I know people have been expecting the Triad to come back into play since F&F, but this time I think there’s a pretty strong case to be made.

That area is Fort Vandal. Likely we are actually going to take or assault it.

Also the fact in the last one (at Dead End in the party) Marjory’s sister mentioned being assigned to brisbane because of increased black market activity.

If that’s Vandal, they have a new vine problem.

As far as siege devourers go, they’re called giant devourers now, but off the top of my head- meta in Iron Marches, skill challenge in Diessa, random vets in Ruin and Fireheart. Oh, and two in an ogre event in Blazeridge. And another in an event in Fireheart… point is, they’re around.

on second look devourers seems much more obvious, especially the smaller ones. could/would mordy hold sway over such creatures? or maybe its the classic “the local wildlife is riled up cause ‘x’ badguy is doing ‘y’ thing” i just hope they pull something completely unexpected like my initial “what if afflicted?” speculation. maybe blowing up the zaphyrites was unexpected but its hard to get excited about that.

I don’t see any reason the devourers would need to be mordy minions, or even riled up. It looks to me like they’re just showcasing the new environment’s local threats- and speaking of, that sandstorm could be interesting to play in.

kny.3789:

on second look devourers seems much more obvious, especially the smaller ones. could/would mordy hold sway over such creatures? or maybe its the classic “the local wildlife is riled up cause ‘x’ badguy is doing ‘y’ thing” i just hope they pull something completely unexpected like my initial “what if afflicted?” speculation. maybe blowing up the zaphyrites was unexpected but its hard to get excited about that.

Maguuma had lots of devourers in GW1. Likely just the crash/bad guys and good guys running around stirred up a nest.

one of the conventions of ED is they have their own army of mobs, other than husks there not alot of plants we can just lump in with mordremoth. which leaves me very curious as to what will fill the role of mordremoths minions if anything. maybe we’ll see aloes and ibolgas n stuff. maybe something unexpected like jungle wurms.

honestly i dont want the new environments local threats to be the bad guys in the big reveal for season 2. i want to explore and discover that on my own. if any baddies get screen time it should be new or important ones. but maybe there are no new and important baddies yet…

kny.3789:

but maybe there are no new and important baddies yet…

I think that’s pretty much it (though the Triad might still fill that role). Mordremoth just woke up, and how many Branded, or Icebrood, or Risen were around before their dragons awoke? I think his minions, when we get to fighting them, will be almost all brand-new mobs, but I don’t expect that to happen in the first introductory release.

not to argue the point, but jormag started corrupting things many years before his awakening, like jora’s brother svanir. and primordus had a pretty good army of destroyers + a champion in gw1. i agree that its likely we wont see mordy minions for a while but we cant rule out that they are there.

Kalavier.1097:

kny.3789:

on second look devourers seems much more obvious, especially the smaller ones. could/would mordy hold sway over such creatures? or maybe its the classic “the local wildlife is riled up cause ‘x’ badguy is doing ‘y’ thing” i just hope they pull something completely unexpected like my initial “what if afflicted?” speculation. maybe blowing up the zaphyrites was unexpected but its hard to get excited about that.

Maguuma had lots of devourers in GW1. Likely just the crash/bad guys and good guys running around stirred up a nest.

Maguuma also had a lot of plant enemies in GW1 like the Thorn Stalkers. Maybe some other enemies will come back too, like the scarabs and aloe.

Let’s do some speculative guesswork. Someone is going to attack the Zephyrites and probably go after the glinting cargo. The events might start in Brisban before going somewhere new in Maguuma. It looks like an Inquest/asura golem is involved and past allies of the Inquest have been the Aetherblades and the bandits. The bandits are in Brisban but the Aetherblades are previous enemies of the Zephyrites so either could be connected.

We see destroyers in the video and the destroyers in Brisban are mostly in the skritt city? It would make sense for the skritt to steal anything shiny that lands on their doorstep and if they move it underground then that could lead to destroyers.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

If that’s Vandal, they have a new vine problem.

It’s probably on the other side of the portal inside of Fort Vandal. The appearance of Inquest supports the idea that the black market and Belinda are all linked to the Triad. My guess is the bandits are using the lawless lands of the Maguuma Waste as a safe haven from prying authorities (which conveniently places the story in the vicinity of a waking dragon to make a coincidental appearance – assuming those vines aren’t related to it in the first place).

My guess is the explosions are the cargo Taimi couldn’t get a reading on, so the Zephyrite ships were sabotaged (conveniently as they flew over territory the bandits could ambush them in as they crashed).

Where are people getting Aetherblades from?

kny.3789:

on second look devourers seems much more obvious, especially the smaller ones. could/would mordy hold sway over such creatures? or maybe its the classic “the local wildlife is riled up cause ‘x’ badguy is doing ‘y’ thing” i just hope they pull something completely unexpected like my initial “what if afflicted?” speculation. maybe blowing up the zaphyrites was unexpected but its hard to get excited about that.

Devourers – namely, Thorn Devourers – were commonplace in the more arid areas of the Maguuma Jungle (now called the Maguuma Wastes).

I don’t see why they’d be related to Mordremoth, given we’re still far from where he awoke.

kny.3789:

not to argue the point, but jormag started corrupting things many years before his awakening, like jora’s brother svanir. and primordus had a pretty good army of destroyers + a champion in gw1. i agree that its likely we wont see mordy minions for a while but we cant rule out that they are there.

Jormag and Primordus had minions before they woke because they had a champion that was awake. Mordremoth, as far as we know, did not. Zhaitan might have, the other two unknown.

Shiren.9532:

It’s probably on the other side of the portal inside of Fort Vandal.

Or part of the new area in SE Brisban, which is IMO far more likely.

Shiren.9532:

Where are people getting Aetherblades from?

Explosions in the air, I’m guessing.

Of course, nothing really says that those explosions are at all related to the Inquest seen.

Destroyers? What scene had destroyers?

I just rewatched and there’s no destroyers in the cinematic.

Shiren.9532:

Where are people getting Aetherblades from?

The Aetherblades raided the Zephyrites at the previous festival of the four winds. It would actually be pretty strange for the Zephyrites, with their flimsy ships and valuable cargo, not to be the prime targets of hi-tech pirates with airships and big weapons.

Then again, it would be a sudden change for the Aetherblades to actually act like real pirates.

The golem is clearly inquest, and inquest have recently formed an alliance with the aetherblades, so it wouldnt be weird to think they are part of the living story. I’d rather see white mantle back though.

The explosions on the Zephyr Sanctum seem to be from within. Maybe what Taimi could detect inside the cargo, but didn’t know what it was?
No idea though :P

The monsters you see are the Thorn Devourers. http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Thorn_Devourer

Aaron Ansari.1604:

I don’t see any reason the devourers would need to be mordy minions, or even riled up. It looks to me like they’re just showcasing the new environment’s local threats- and speaking of, that sandstorm could be interesting to play in.

No reason they all have to be, but some of them could be. You see a mix of normal and branded devourers near the brand. Some of the branded ones are giant too.

We really aren’t near Mordremoth, though. If we’re heading west, we’ll have almost a full zone between us and the nearest place he could possibly be.

kny.3789:

one of the conventions of ED is they have their own army of mobs,

It’s mostly Primordius that has unique mobs. The other three known dragons tend to corrupt whatever’s around.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

That kind of infers that dragons need champions to create minions.

The causation could be the reverse – dragons need champions to control minions, at least when they’re asleep.

Will we see minions right “out of the gate”? I’m not sure. If we do, they’ll probably be the lesser, dumber variety, building up to the champions later.

I say Triad for the first few releases. We currently have a same human bandits attempting to hawk their goods at the Bazaar, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them planted some explosive as well.

My only concern about the Triad is that ArenaNet currently has three badly written and/or portrayed alliances, and those were all just two groups, which should in theory be simpler than a triad. It’s all well and good for ArenaNet to say they’ve upped their game in storytelling (and for what it’s worth I am giving them the benefit of the doubt on that) but I can’t help but be uneasy with the prospect of them starting Season 2 by rehashing what was probably their weakest plot device from Season 1. I want some time to see how and what they’ve improved before I’m asked to be comfortable with yet another alliance, so I hope that the Triad, at least for this release, will be an utterly marginal element, just something to remind us they’re there.

I think the worst thing they could do here is reduce the Triad into chaff for us to shoot at while they get the real plot villains introduced, but that seems more likely than my hopes.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

My only concern about the Triad is that ArenaNet currently has three badly written and/or portrayed alliances, and those were all just two groups, which should in theory be simpler than a triad. It’s all well and good for ArenaNet to say they’ve upped their game in storytelling (and for what it’s worth I am giving them the benefit of the doubt on that) but I can’t help but be uneasy with the prospect of them starting Season 2 by rehashing what was probably their weakest plot device from Season 1. I want some time to see how and what they’ve improved before I’m asked to be comfortable with yet another alliance, so I hope that the Triad, at least for this release, will be an utterly marginal element, just something to remind us they’re there.

I think the worst thing they could do here is reduce the Triad into chaff for us to shoot at while they get the real plot villains introduced, but that seems more likely than my hopes.

i agree, i dont feel we need yet another alliance. though if they take it in a different enough direction then maybe it wont be as bad. like if we encounter the triad early on, then they mysteriously collapse and part of season 2 is investigating the horrible things that happened to the triad and its leaders and learning from their mistakes. i think that would be much more interesting then “raid this facility, kill one note mid-boss. rinse. repeat.”

I’ll note the Triad has been in the game since the start. It’s not like they are introducing brand new groups out of the blue if they use it. IMO, it’s likely going to be dealing with the Triad to fight to (and maybe take) Fort Vandal, then go past it to the wreckage.

Wanderer.3248:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

That kind of infers that dragons need champions to create minions.

The causation could be the reverse – dragons need champions to control minions, at least when they’re asleep.

Will we see minions right “out of the gate”? I’m not sure. If we do, they’ll probably be the lesser, dumber variety, building up to the champions later.

My point was that when Elder Dragons sleep, it has always been their champions creating their minions – and those that had minions while asleep, had champions waking from the previous dragon rise (Drakkar, Great Destroyer, Glint, and the Risen Giganticus Lupicus being the four minions we know come from the previous dragon rise).

Even when awake, it seems to be the champions controlling minions, never the Elder Dragons themselves. With no champion, all minions are mindless (or next to) and have a single tactic: “swarm them!”

Kalavier.1097:

I’ll note the Triad has been in the game since the start. It’s not like they are introducing brand new groups out of the blue if they use it. IMO, it’s likely going to be dealing with the Triad to fight to (and maybe take) Fort Vandal, then go past it to the wreckage.

Fort Vandal is most likely to be a dungeon, IMO, as its design matches dungeons from the BWEs – where there was a portal inside a structure, and a PoI on top of said structure (as well as a dungeon icon, since those others were already dungeons).

Given that Fort Vandal is already said to be a huge complex full of the Sinister Triad, it seems weird that it would be used for a mere zone portal.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

My only concern about the Triad is that ArenaNet currently has three badly written and/or portrayed alliances, and those were all just two groups, which should in theory be simpler than a triad.

I have to disagree with you, they weren’t badly written, they weren’t written at all. They showed up with no explanation in game as to where they came from, who they were or anything. The triad we already have in-game details about them.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Even when awake, it seems to be the champions controlling minions, never the Elder Dragons themselves. With no champion, all minions are mindless (or next to) and have a single tactic: “swarm them!”

For my daily today I did the forging the pack personal story and this can be seen in there as well, characters specifically note that the Risen demonstrate better tactics, and at the end a wraith is revealed. Just not necessarily sure it’s only the champions, it seems lieutenants also demonstrate some intelligence. But yeah run of the mill is pretty much make-stuff-dead.

CureForLiving.5360:

I have to disagree with you, they weren’t badly written, they weren’t written at all. They showed up with no explanation in game as to where they came from, who they were or anything.

Sure they did. Molten Alliance got this expositioned in at the end of Flame and Frost via interrogating prisoners; Twilight Assault’s short story gave the intro of the Nightmare Court working with Scarlet; krait, somewhat, got this when we met the first Oratuss.

It wasn’t well or fully written, but there was some of it. And it was that “so little of it” being written in that made it poorly done.

They posted two more concept artworks as exclusive teasers to Gates of Maguuma, and it looks like we’ll be seeing giant husks again and possibly some thorny roots/vines. Maybe not in the arid areas, but if they also have another more jungle-y zone lined up for us, they could likely feature there.

In the arid desert areas, we’re likely going to meet Thorn Devourers. Last time we ventured into those areas (in GW1) we also encountered Thorn Stalkers, that could be a new mob type, likely candidate for corruption by Mordremoth. Or what about the Moss Scarabs? God, getting all these flashbacks to GW1 and these areas where you’d run along all unsuspecting and bam, creepy stuff surfacing from underground or dropping down on vines!

And what about centaurs, could they still be present in the area? Corrupted or have they fled east so that we’re seeing the Maguuma clan in Kessex Hills? And if they indeed fled, how come none stopped in Brisban Wildlands?

Dondarrion.2748:

They posted two more concept artworks as exclusive teasers to Gates of Maguuma, and it looks like we’ll be seeing giant husks again and possibly some thorny roots/vines. Maybe not in the arid areas, but if they also have another more jungle-y zone lined up for us, they could likely feature there.

In the arid desert areas, we’re likely going to meet Thorn Devourers. Last time we ventured into those areas (in GW1) we also encountered Thorn Stalkers, that could be a new mob type, likely candidate for corruption by Mordremoth. Or what about the Moss Scarabs? God, getting all these flashbacks to GW1 and these areas where you’d run along all unsuspecting and bam, creepy stuff surfacing from underground or dropping down on vines!

And what about centaurs, could they still be present in the area? Corrupted or have they fled east so that we’re seeing the Maguuma clan in Kessex Hills? And if they indeed fled, how come none stopped in Brisban Wildlands?

I would like to see the the GW1 enemies come back, even the annoying scarabs that would steal all my minions. I would also be interested to see if they would try to introduce the vine bridges again.

They aren’t concept art, they’re screenshots. Incidentally, there’s a thorn wolf with the husk.

Honestly, returning enemies are the bulk of what I’m excited for right now. I never cared for the Zephyrites, and I’m keeping my expectations for the story blank, but if we could get pop-up scarabs again…

And yes, the Maguuma centaurs are the Harathi, who have been pushed out of the area. Kind of weird that the most magical clan became one that disdains magic, but maybe that mystical internal wiki has an explanation that we’ll just never see.

I can’t remember exactly where, but I think it has been stated that the Maguuma clan are the Harathi, and they were forced east as the Maguuma dried out. There may still be some out there, though.

A GuildMag interview established their connection, though it didn’t touch on why they left. It’s stated in-game as well, as a Whispers dialogue at Stoneguard Gate.

Guys, rewatch the trailer and pause at 1.08, the main antagonist is hidden in the shot.

I think the reason of Harathi being magical comes from no longer having access to the maguuma’s magical waters. Just unsupported speculation though.

ive heard some white mantle talk here and there. though so far nothing official ive seen has pointed their way(unless ive missed something). anyone think we will see them at some point in season two?

I think it’s possible, though my bet is that if we do we’ll end up working with them, not against them. It wouldn’t make much sense for either of us to waste blood trying to kill the other while a freshly woken Elder Dragon chortles next to us.