Guild Wars 2

Ever since the new LS came out, everyone’s been wondering this.

Here are a couple of theories for what will happen with the next Living story or during gameplay.

1.It will be like the GW2 beta where if you got corrupted by the Shatterer you were turned into a branded and were forced to attack other players.
2.Your character is ’’special’’ so s/he will be immune to corruption. (Mordy will possibly try to corrupt your character but it will fail)

Feel free to post what you think Anet will do with sylvari toons here.

(Something related to this may occur on January 24)

Extremely unlikely that playable Sylvari will be effected in any way or form.

Corrupted visual effects as PC sylvari fight off Mordys corruption could be good.

Affecting them in some way would really add to the living world feel if they could do it w/o ruining a player’s gaming experience VS other toons

The PC is a Dream Sylvari.
The Pale Tree clearly stated that the Dream protects the Sylvari from the dragon’s influence.
The PC, like Trahearne, Canach, Caithe and every other Sylvari that was born from the Pale Tree and did not turn their back on the Dream is safe from Mordremoth’s control.
Sylvari born from another Tree, Soundless and Nightmare Courtiers are the ones at risk.

Gabby.3205:

The PC is a Dream Sylvari.
The Pale Tree clearly stated that the Dream protects the Sylvari from the dragon’s influence.
The PC, like Trahearne, Canach, Caithe and every other Sylvari that was born from the Pale Tree and did not turn their back on the Dream is safe from Mordremoth’s control.
Sylvari born from another Tree, Soundless and Nightmare Courtiers are the ones at risk.

I highly doubt all those masses of Sylvari that were with the Pact were all non-Dreamers tbh. In fact I would almost bet that none of them were, seeing as the Pact was fully aware that Soundless seemed more likely to be corrupted by Mordremoth.

lordkrall.7241:

Gabby.3205:

The PC is a Dream Sylvari.
The Pale Tree clearly stated that the Dream protects the Sylvari from the dragon’s influence.
The PC, like Trahearne, Canach, Caithe and every other Sylvari that was born from the Pale Tree and did not turn their back on the Dream is safe from Mordremoth’s control.
Sylvari born from another Tree, Soundless and Nightmare Courtiers are the ones at risk.

I highly doubt all those masses of Sylvari that were with the Pact were all non-Dreamers tbh. In fact I would almost bet that none of them were, seeing as the Pact was fully aware that Soundless seemed more likely to be corrupted by Mordremoth.

The Pact wasn’t aware of that. Two Sylvari were corrupted before, and that’s all they knew.
The Pale Tree also said she managed to protect the Dream from the dragon attack, so while she is still alive, for all we know, Dream Sylvari can’t be corrupted.
It can, of course, be a matter of strong will, or something else altogether, but the words of the Pale Tree are all information we have right now.

Gabby.3205:

The Pact wasn’t aware of that. Two Sylvari were corrupted before, and that’s all they knew.
The Pale Tree also said she managed to protect the Dream from the dragon attack, so while she is still alive, for all we know, Dream Sylvari can’t be corrupted.

I would actually assume that the Pact (they do contain elements of the Order of Whispers and the Priory after all) would have connected the two: “Sylvari that cut herself off (Machine) from the Tree went mad.” and “Sylvari that cut himself off (Soundless) from the Tree went mad” and as such, they would not bring Soundless at the very least.

Which would suggest that the masses of Sylvari that turned against the Pact during the attack on Mordremoth were Sylvari under the “protection” of the Tree, which clearly didn’t help them all that much.

lordkrall.7241:

Gabby.3205:

The Pact wasn’t aware of that. Two Sylvari were corrupted before, and that’s all they knew.
The Pale Tree also said she managed to protect the Dream from the dragon attack, so while she is still alive, for all we know, Dream Sylvari can’t be corrupted.

I would actually assume that the Pact (they do contain elements of the Order of Whispers and the Priory after all) would have connected the two: “Sylvari that cut herself off (Machine) from the Tree went mad.” and “Sylvari that cut himself off (Soundless) from the Tree went mad” and as such, they would not bring Soundless at the very least.

Which would suggest that the masses of Sylvari that turned against the Pact during the attack on Mordremoth were Sylvari under the “protection” of the Tree, which clearly didn’t help them all that much.

That’s assuming too much.
First, assuming they would make that connection with no other evidence to start with and only two “samples” is expecting too much. They didn’t hear the words of the Pale Tree like we did.
Second, we don’t know how many Soundless are out there. True, we assume there are way less Soundless than Dreamers. But what if most, if not all of the Sylvari in the Lionguard are Soundless? And the Sylvari of the orders? You wouldn’t want to share your emotions with nearby Sylvari if you were a member of the Order of Whispers, for example. That Sylvari that is clearly seen attacking Logan is wearing a Lionguard uniform. I actually didn’t see any Sylvari wearing Warden armor attacking the Pact, but I might have missed them, so feel free to point them at me.
Also, that “mass” of people were not necessarily all Sylvari. They were also the soldiers of other races fighting them.

It could be that the Pale Tree protects Dream sylvari BUT the combination of the Pact being right on top of Mordremoth’s doorstep combined with the fact that the Pale Tree is currently damaged meant that Mordremoth was able to overpower the Pale Trees protection, since his influence was at his strongest (that’s the way dragons seem to work, their influence is the most powerful at their location) and the Pale Tree is weakened.

Which would mean that Dream sylvari ought to be safe from Mordremoth as long as they don’t get any closer than the Silverwastes. Though as Mordremoth wakes up and gains power, his influence may grow even beyond that point.

Once the Pale Tree heals, then she may be able to protect Sylvari even if they get closer to Mordremoth. Which may be the method they use to eventually allow Sylvari to participate in the final battle against Mordremoth, unless they go for magical protection from another source (the old gods or something, perhaps).

Even without the Pale Tree recovering or additional magic, the PC may already be immune to Mordremoth’s influence just due to sheer force of will, or perhaps some of their past exploits. Perhaps something the PC did while fighting Zhaitan was able to “dragon-proof” them, for instance. Or maybe even the purification ritual of this most recent episode.

Assuming the Sylvari player is not a roleplayer*, I would hope nothing happens. Doing things like that to players without informed consent feels very wrong, a violation of sorts, though I mean that only in a small, game bubble sense. But I don’t think it’ll come to that.

Given a choice, however, I imagine there would be some who’d like to have a pop at being a complete minion, and some (such as myself) who would never dream of it - pun totally intended.

I have real life stuff going on making more than a little emotional right now, so my sense of this may be disproportionate - it has certainly coloured my reactions to this latest release, for good or ill - but the idea of being a minion on three of my characters really bugs me, more than I thought it would. I went and rolled a charr to see if it would help, but alas! it didn’t.

So I’ll be refusing to be a minion minion, and will just be saying no, thank you very much. You must have my twig confused with another.

*I’ve "overheard" bad twigs in the Grove before now, bless ’em.

I want them to put PK system so sylvari can attack other races and vice versa

Electro.4173:

It could be that the Pale Tree protects Dream sylvari BUT the combination of the Pact being right on top of Mordremoth’s doorstep combined with the fact that the Pale Tree is currently damaged meant that Mordremoth was able to overpower the Pale Trees protection, since his influence was at his strongest (that’s the way dragons seem to work, their influence is the most powerful at their location) and the Pale Tree is weakened.

Which would mean that Dream sylvari ought to be safe from Mordremoth as long as they don’t get any closer than the Silverwastes. Though as Mordremoth wakes up and gains power, his influence may grow even beyond that point.

Once the Pale Tree heals, then she may be able to protect Sylvari even if they get closer to Mordremoth. Which may be the method they use to eventually allow Sylvari to participate in the final battle against Mordremoth, unless they go for magical protection from another source (the old gods or something, perhaps).

Even without the Pale Tree recovering or additional magic, the PC may already be immune to Mordremoth’s influence just due to sheer force of will, or perhaps some of their past exploits. Perhaps something the PC did while fighting Zhaitan was able to “dragon-proof” them, for instance. Or maybe even the purification ritual of this most recent episode.

It might be that combination of factors, though that means we REALLY shouldn’t be taking Canach with us (he is joining our lovely group of misfits, after all).

I really doubt that the “immunity” is something specific to the PC, especially because Trahearne didn’t seem to turn on the DE on the ship. That can be because he carries a piece of the Pale Tree with him, his GS Caladbolg, but then the Canach problem remains.

I am just hoping that Sylvari PCs will be have a separate story or at least something more than responding dialogue options. It will feel really wrong if Sylvari have the same story was everyone else given all that has/will happen.

What I’m thinking is that the Pale Tree will tell sylvari pcs that she’s expending extra effort to keep the PC’s character uncorrupted.

Bunnikk.2146:

I am just hoping that Sylvari PCs will be have a separate story or at least something more than responding dialogue options. It will feel really wrong if Sylvari have the same story was everyone else given all that has/will happen.

I absolutely agree. What the writers/developers are doing with the Sylvari is risky and giving Sylvari PCs the same flavor of personal story would be such a waste of the risk.

Perhaps PC Sylvaris could be offered a a form of Ascension or vaccination? Or allowed to become LOTRO type creeps!

A magical fairy appears and change all good Sylvaris into humans ala Pinocchio.

I can see 2 things happen.
1. We are able to create a character in the 2nd pale tree as corrupted Sylvari and have a storyline though it.
2. All characters will possibly do something similar to ascending in GW1 which will protect Sylvari from the dragon’s corruption.

All the Sons of Svanir dont bother anyone?

yes they were not created by Jormag but they are his servants too now

i think Sylvari are free from Modremoth Influence because of the PaleTree
so there should be no problem

Nobody considers the idea that all PC will be corrupted? Mordremoth’s sphere of influence is plant and mind, so every PC is succesable to mordremoth in a way. All PC have opened their mind in Omad’s machine so the PC is even more vulnerable. That and it seems the dragon is growing stronger so who knows?

TriEdge.5149:

I want them to put PK system so sylvari can attack other races and vice versa

There’s a whole game mode for that, you know.

Tim.6450:

Nobody considers the idea that all PC will be corrupted? Mordremoth’s sphere of influence is plant and mind, so every PC is succesable to mordremoth in a way. All PC have opened their mind in Omad’s machine so the PC is even more vulnerable. That and it seems the dragon is growing stronger so who knows?

This seems the most likely to me. It makes Moredremoth a bigger threat, means the same story can be used for all characters, and neatly sidesteps the issue of canonizing racism. A better option in-world and for the meta.

I think it will just be like you are a special sylvari who fought the corruption , don’t think the whole race will go down , hopefully …

Tim.6450:

Nobody considers the idea that all PC will be corrupted? Mordremoth’s sphere of influence is plant and mind, so every PC is succesable to mordremoth in a way. All PC have opened their mind in Omad’s machine so the PC is even more vulnerable. That and it seems the dragon is growing stronger so who knows?

It wasn’t Omadd’s machine that corrupted Scarlet. It was the Sylvari’s natural affinity to Modremoth, plus the fact that at the time, she was outside the influence of the Pale Tree. Remember, the second person to be corrupted by Modremoth was a soundless, a Sylvari that turn away from the Pale Tree. It’s not like he used Omadd’s machine, nor did any of the hundreds of Sylvari that attacked the pact.

Becka Williams.4978:

It wasn’t Omadd’s machine that corrupted Scarlet. It was the Sylvari’s natural affinity to Modremoth, plus the fact that at the time, she was outside the influence of the Pale Tree. Remember, the second person to be corrupted by Modremoth was a soundless, a Sylvari that turn away from the Pale Tree. It’s not like he used Omadd’s machine, nor did any of the hundreds of Sylvari that attacked the pact.

Yes, I know that but that was not what I hinted at. The thing is that omads machine works by opening the mind bringing the person to a higher state of awareness. In this state the PC could view the “Eternal Alchemy”.

The thing is that with opening of the mind, you are more vulnerable to external influences like mordremoth. Since the PC isn’t seeing the “Eternal Alchemy” anymore we could assume that othe PC’s mind is closed enough to block the signals from the “Eternal Alchemy” but we aren’t sure if the PC’s mind is closed enough for mordemoth’s influence, especially since he’s gaining power.

Alternatively it could also be that Mordremoth knew we accessed the machine (since scarlet modified a few parts and she was under influence of the dragon) allowing Mordremoth to place a “seed of his influence” in the PC during his moment of heightened awareness.

This is of course pure speculation but it could explain the excessive desire of the PC with the dragon egg and the shadow of the dragon’s perfect timing .

Orangensaft.7139:

All the Sons of Svanir dont bother anyone?

yes they were not created by Jormag but they are his servants too now

i think Sylvari are free from Modremoth Influence because of the PaleTree
so there should be no problem

This isn’t the same. Sylvari are dragon minions. Sons of Svanir are Norn that worship “Dragon” as a spirit animal much like Bear, Wolf, Snow Leopard, and Raven. They are not corrupted by Jormag but they worship him as a spirit animal.

I imagine what would happen to Sylvari PC’s is that they would have a branching part in their story -EG: rather than investigate the problem they would be put on lockdown along with canach and Trehearne – but the result would ultimately be the same – from previous example: but during an attack by mordrem they break into where you three are in lockdown to try and assassinate or subvert you three. non-sylvari PC’s would be outside rushing in to defend Trehearne from mordrem instead. – and of course if they did this they might also have a bit of fun and have instances where you occassionally ‘turn’ and attack DE 2.0 or pact members but the pale tree intervenes and frees you for the moment.

this could also be a fun tool for other LS instances that may involve the other races, such as Jormag and Norn. (yes even women icebrood. there’s a piece of concept art floating around showing a female ‘son(daughter?) of svanir/icebrood’) could also be a nice tool to use for Kralkatorrik and the Branded.

(the inspiration for my charr mesmer is that she was experimented on by inquest and was ‘partially branded’, unlocking magical abilities that come from her sire[http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vallus_Smokemane])

just my two cents.

I would LOVE to see more race-specific content, and not just for the Sylvari. I REALLY hope that they work something in for us at least in terms of how NPCs interact with Sylvari characters, if not in separate story content. And then, in a couple seasons when we go after Kralkatorrik and/or Jormag, there could be special racial content for the Norn and the Charr. Asura could get special content when we battle Primordus, and we’ll work humans in when the Water Dragon is revealed – maybe the return of Cantha, or something about searching for the missing human gods. They’ve gone to so much trouble to make rich cultures and backgrounds for each race, I think it would be a shame if they didn’t take it any farther.

Story-wise? I’m almost certain it will be #2. Writing completely separate storylines is a lot of work, and while I wouldn’t rule it out for HoT, I also wouldn’t get my hopes up. But more importantly, ANet will never do anything that takes away player agency over their own character. That always, ALWAYS results in major backlash from players.

Of course, roleplayers are free to make up their own story of how their Sylvari react to Mordremoth’s corruption.

Nothing.

Because otherwise, some Sylvari players would QQ to no end, as would some jealous other races players missing out on it. It’s very unlikely that all Sylvaris will be corrupted for a start, so you can bet on 100% of PC Sylvaris to resist it.

Bunnikk.2146:

I am just hoping that Sylvari PCs will be have a separate story or at least something more than responding dialogue options. It will feel really wrong if Sylvari have the same story was everyone else given all that has/will happen.

I’m afraid that they won’t change much stuff for Sylvari players. If there’s prejudice against the Sylvari in Tyria because of the reveal and loss of the Pact, I’m quite sure the PC is going to have a magical plot armor that’s going to make people see him as a perfectly ok person (“oh yeah we just threw rock on sight at your bros but you, you’re a nice guy, Hero !”).
I hope I’m wrong, but I doubt it : they’re not going to change every dialogue just for one race, no matter if it’s totally immersion breaking or not.

Also, for the whole “Sylvari attacking the Pact’s airship” stuff, I think the whole point of this is that they were actually Dreamers. If they were just Soundlesses and/or Nightmare Courtiers, that wouldn’t make much sense, unless the Pact was full of idiots. Plus, the fact that Dreamers ARE vulnerable to the Dragon’s influence is actually what’s going to make the whole “Sylvari are dangerous” crisis legit (and regarding the plot, I think it’s way more intersting than “oh no, a bunch of evil Sylvari just happend to have planned an attack on the Pact from the very beginning !”).

Electro.4173:

Once the Pale Tree heals, then she may be able to protect Sylvari even if they get closer to Mordremoth. Which may be the method they use to eventually allow Sylvari to participate in the final battle against Mordremoth, unless they go for magical protection from another source (the old gods or something, perhaps).

One way to do that might be for only the PC Sylvari to be near Mordremoth on the grounds that the Pale Tree can focus on protecting only one Sylvari at that distance. Be interesting if she has to choose between protecting the PC and Caithe or Traherne, for example. Perhaps that leaves the PC to protect themselves or perhaps allow their friends to provide help. Would make for an interesting story in any case.

Nothing to current PC’s at all. Period. Anet isn’t crazy, and they attempt fairness across the playerbase.

Possibly in the expansion there will finally be a third plate-wearing class, in the style of deathknights et al, which would be a corrupted-then-freed character. I would do that, personally- it’s a cliche, yes, but for a good reason. Players love being a kitten anti-hero seeking redemption.

Most likely that class could still be any race, Sylvari included. After all, we’ve seen just about every race corrupted by at least one dragon, somewhere. You don’t have to be part of a master plan to be pulled kicking and screaming into darkness.

There are ways to create an atmosphere of civil war without needing to destroy existing PC’s, and I hope ArenaNet realizes this. Mobs of non-named NPCs attacking Sylvari PCs in non-Grove major cities or non-named Sylvari NPCs attacking non-Sylvari PCs in the Grove is one option. There’s also the Living Story – the idea of having a different arc for a Sylvari PC in the Living Story and a non-Sylvari PC story. Another idea would be the Sylvari PC constantly hearing a ‘background whisper’ of Mordremoth. ArenaNet has a wide variety of tools at their disposal to create the ATMOSPHERE of civil war without taking free will away from the Sylvari PC.

Whats the bet that the changes that scarlet made to omadds machine helps to block off mordremoths connection and thats why pc sylvari will remain the same

Here’s a thought! Maybe Sylvari PCs created before Mordy awakened could be grandplanted in with ‘heroic immunity’ to dragon-related scandal and rumor, while Sylvari PCs created after the awakening could be subject to the New Sylvari Experience (NSE) — attacked on sight by every normally friendly NPC they encounter until they perform various tasks or pay NPCs various amounts of gold (based on the NPC’s rank).

Ahem. I was playing my sylvari necro the other night, ‘exploring’ Lion’s Arch, and encountered a human female NPC who had some harsh words for my guy, in reference, I believe, to losses suffered in the conflict in Lion’s Arch. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the NPC’s name, but I believe she was on the western side of the map.

I figure we’ll see more NPCs like that in the future.

In a way, this is actually balancing things out. From launch until now, sylvari have been relatively “corruption free.” The ability to fend of dragon corruption was even written into some of the story lines leading into Orr, in that sylvari companions are chosen for missions because of this fact.

All the other races/species have corrupted members of their species in the game, and yet the player characters are honorable. This time we (the players) get to live through the events leading up to the corruption for a race/species, rather than just reading about the history (Jormag and the Norn, Kralkatorrik and the Charr, etc.)

How many players have played the Sylvari race? … and then, how many players who have played the Sylvari race chose “Where life goes, so too, should you”?

In any case, having played multiple Sylvari literally, I am well acquainted with the story of Malyck, the anomaly … a.k.a. “the Harbinger”

Upon researching every aspect I could and before attempting to speculate the possible ramifications I think knowing some of this lore is useful.

1. There are more Groves. According to the dialog with Trahearne at least five seeds are known to exist, one is the Pale Tree which we know, another is the Grove which Malyck was from.

2. Seeds do not appear out of thin air, there must be a Grove that produced these seeds, this is a jump in fantasy MMO logic but be patient. The Order of Whispers Creator, according to the minipet is a Sylvari, what? you can check it out … it is.

3. Children of the Groves, not of the Pale Tree exist, and at least one Grove may be over five hundred years old or older, if the creator of the Order of Whispers is claimed to have saved the history of Tyria and help create the Durmand Priory a previous Grove must have existed. … a major jump in logic.

4. In Guild Wars there are five True Gods and Komir. Guild Wars 2 has five Dragons and “Bubbles” the water dragon, rumored but not yet seen.

Now with all that said, I think Caithe will remain honorable to the teachings of Ventari, as she is promised to be faithful to our hero in the “Point of No Return”, and I trust that she will honor the Pale Tree. As for the other Groves out there, Malyck said he and his armies would help fight the dragons.

As long as the Pale Tree lives we Sylvari will forever be faithful to the Dream.