Guild Wars 2

Hi all,
given that we’re 40 days from HoT and probably 2-3 week from the third (last?) BWE, I thought it would be good to have a single place for all common Q&A.
And it would be great if Roy could clarify (if he can) when it’s needed.
I’ll start writing off what comes to my mind, with everybody help we can hopefully have a complete list.
Also, if I missed somthing be sure to tell me.

• What changes are we to expect?
  Roy said we’re gonna have a lot of polish and some Mallyx and Ventari changes. We’re getting details soon.

• Will Revenant have a custom personal story?
  No. Devs confirmed Revenant won’t get any special personal story step.

• How can Revenants exists before Rytlock came back?
  Your guess is as good as any, we still don’t have any answer on this.

• How will Revenants unlock Herald?
  As for any other elite spec, we still don’t have any info.

• Will Revenant be able to access racial skills?
  No.
  Fore more info, here.

• Will Revenant be able to switch utilities?
  We don’t have a final answer, but each legend will probably only have 3 utilities.
  It’s only possible to change their order on the skill bar.

• Will Revenant get a new weapon before release?
  99% not, but we have no official response.

• What PvP title will Revenant have?
  We don’t know yet, but we are asking to vote!

• Are legend swapping and weapon swapping related?
  No, Revenants can freely swap legends and weapons independently.

• Can I use shield and/or Facet of Nature without Glint?
  Equipping the Herald trait line gives access to both shield and Facet of Nature.
  It’s not mandatory to equip the Glint legend to use them, you only need the Herald trait line.

• Sometimes I can’t activate upkeep skills, why?
  Upkeep is capped at -10.
  This means, for example, that you can’t activate a skill with a -3 upkeep if you already have a -8 upkeep active.

• Will pre-order users have an early access to Revenant?
  We never got an official reply on this but given how the realease date is coming closer, chances are getting slimmer.

Temihal.8651:

• How can Revenants exists before Rytlock came back?
  Your guess is as good as any, we still don’t have any answer on this.

• How will Revenants unlock Herald?
  As for any other elite spec, we still don’t have any info.

Okay, so these two stuck out for me.

First one, there are two possible explanations, but it’s based around one fact: Rytlock is the first revenant. This leaves us with two possibilities: 1) Revenants in our timeline do not exist before Rytlock returned or 2) they did exist in OUR timeline, but wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey.

1) This technique was done in GW1 where Canthan and Elonian heroes were able to go back to previous campaigns (in the timeline of GW1) and were told that it happened in the past. Basically a way for all players to experience the content even if their characters cannot. In roleplay terms, it’s an out of character explanation…or in simpler terms gameplay mechanics != lore.

2) This is the one I hope is canon. Moreso because it adds some depth and mystery to the Mists. Now then, to put it bluntly, the Mists exists outside the very concept of space-time…and is the bridge between worlds and universes. So, Rytlock can still be the first Revenant in HIS timeline, but in the timeline of Tyria, he doesn’t show up until the attack against Mordremoth fails. And to teach “new” Revenants, well…they have to commune with the mists to get their powers. So, Rytlock could teach them in the past…still making him the first Revenant.

Second one.

Yes, yes we do. The elite specs unlock like the base ones. Through the accumulation of hero points. How many? We don’t know. Current datamining has said we’d need 170 to unlock all the skills and traits (and still have a few cosmetic rewards). I’d hope this isn’t the case because then we’d run into issues in future elite spec additions where you can’t unlock all the traits and skills due to not having enough hero points in the game. (Unless they become drops from things)

Revenants do not exist before Rytlock, they simply dont have a personal story for revenants so they share it with the others. The events of the personal story and season 1 unfold no matter what class you play. Same way as they never acknowledge your class in the story. Lore wise, the pact commander may as well be an Asura necromancer as it culd be a Sylvari elementalist, and Rytlock is the first Revenant, as he invented/developed the profession.

Fade.1743:

Okay, so these two stuck out for me.

First one, there are two possible explanations, but it’s based around one fact: Rytlock is the first revenant. This leaves us with two possibilities: 1) Revenants in our timeline do not exist before Rytlock returned or 2) they did exist in OUR timeline, but wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey.

1) This technique was done in GW1 where Canthan and Elonian heroes were able to go back to previous campaigns (in the timeline of GW1) and were told that it happened in the past. Basically a way for all players to experience the content even if their characters cannot. In roleplay terms, it’s an out of character explanation…or in simpler terms gameplay mechanics != lore.

2) This is the one I hope is canon. Moreso because it adds some depth and mystery to the Mists. Now then, to put it bluntly, the Mists exists outside the very concept of space-time…and is the bridge between worlds and universes. So, Rytlock can still be the first Revenant in HIS timeline, but in the timeline of Tyria, he doesn’t show up until the attack against Mordremoth fails. And to teach “new” Revenants, well…they have to commune with the mists to get their powers. So, Rytlock could teach them in the past…still making him the first Revenant.

Not really the place to discuss things (we have a lot of topics around and we should keep this topic clean).
I’ll just say I’m hoping we get a retcon on that fact.
Anyway, until we get a red post (or a blog) we don’t know any better.

Fade.1743:

Second one.

Yes, yes we do. The elite specs unlock like the base ones. Through the accumulation of hero points. How many? We don’t know. Current datamining has said we’d need 170 to unlock all the skills and traits (and still have a few cosmetic rewards). I’d hope this isn’t the case because then we’d run into issues in future elite spec additions where you can’t unlock all the traits and skills due to not having enough hero points in the game. (Unless they become drops from things)

We still don’t know if we need to do something before being able to buy Herald skills and traits with hero points. For now we can only guess.
Informed guess (thanks to datamine) it’s still a guess.

Just to clarify you can swap Utilities around, but not new utilities in. So for example I prefer Inspiring Reinforcements on my first Utility slot, I am able to swap it there.

Best not to think about class lore in this game at all. It just doesn’t make much sense for a lot of them.

As to how Revenants exist before Rytlock returns, I’m going to lean on the concept of morphogenetic fields. Basically, once Rytlock became a Revenant, the fact that this new thing existed echoed through the mists (and therefore space and time) and other Revenants simply came to be.

Kodiak.3281:

Just to clarify you can swap Utilities around, but not new utilities in. So for example I prefer Inspiring Reinforcements on my first Utility slot, I am able to swap it there.

Didn’t know that, thanks!
Edited the OP accordingly.

Misguided.5139:

As to how Revenants exist before Rytlock returns, I’m going to lean on the concept of morphogenetic fields. Basically, once Rytlock became a Revenant, the fact that this new thing existed echoed through the mists (and therefore space and time) and other Revenants simply came to be.

Alright. Can you explain to me how a guy who worked as a floor sweeper in a tavern (Human Commoner story) can communicate with the mists? Or… summon elements. Or the dead. It really makes no sense. We’re given no background on our characters and their training, but somehow we’re not just insanely powerful, we wield downright apocalyptic powers of a very exotic variety. And we picked those up while working in a medieval McDonald’s. I guess we were reading self-help books and working out, and just happened to grow into unstoppable heroes of legend one man armies.

Therefore I really don’t think profession lore matters so much, since it’s all messed up already.

This is nice and might help answer a few questions before ppl post. I’d suggest requesting this to be stickied if you can.

Temihal.8651:

Will Revenant be able to switch utilities?
We don’t have a final answer, but each legend will probably only have 3 utilities.
It’s only possible to change their order on the skill bar.

I find it somewhat hilarious that the skill that summons an actual entity from the mists (Mistfire Wolf) is unusable by the class that revolves around manipulation of the mists (and kind of annoying considering that you actually have to pay to get the skill)

as for the “revenants in the past” thing, I’m assuming that the personal story and LW2 is a flashback, and that what actually occurred was you as your old class (it would be nice if you could pick that in your bio actually, rather than the now useless personality, that way in the PS/LS2 the NPCs could treat you as if you were your “old” class (eg, if you picked mesmer, you’d still have that conversation with braham about the Mesmer Collective), and when rytlock returns, treat you as a revenant but still reference your old class (since you’d logically still have that knowledge))

plus it would be another nice throwback to GW1 like energy and upkeep, since you’d have a secondary class

Edited the OP with a sad but predictable news.