Guild Wars 2

Before/after the fall of Zhaitan ? ( Or just random time not related to a gw2 in-game lore event)

After.

Southsun Cove is confirmed by devs to take place after the defeat of Zhaitan, and more or less every single release since then have mentioned Southsun one way or another.

However it is possible they’re redacting that forum post.

A recent TowerTalk interview with Scott and Angel about Scarlet asks when her actions take place, and they basically say “she happens at the point in time the players are at” – which can be interpreted as post-Zhaitan, or at “wherever players are in at their personal story, that’s when Scarlet takes place” – which makes oh so many issues with continuity.

Then again, post-Zhaitan also creates a few continuity paradoxes.

I really hope that they are not redacting that.
If they insist with the “let’s not create paradoxes” stuff, the Living Story will change nothing that matters. And since they don’t want to make an expansion anytime soon, the story won’t evolve. The Foefire won’t be dealt with, the peace treaty between charr and human won’t ever be signed, the other dragons won’t be killed… If nothing important changes, the world does not feel alive, and that’s the objective of the Living Story, right?

Also, the paradoxes are still there if a player never get to the part of the Personal Story when the Pact is formed.