Guild Wars 2

TheNecrosanct.4028:

I really don’t think it’s a strange creature to have in the desert. It’s basically an amalgamation of a desert hare and a kangaroo, 2 creatures not uncommon to the desert landscape. Also, someone earlier in this thread argued that they are very illogical beasts of burden, but these are mounts, not beasts of burden. There is a difference between the two. Mounts are meant to be ridden, beasts of burden are meant to carry heavy loads. Considering the PoF mounts are all about mobility and getting to places you normally can’t go, this kangaroo/hare creature fits the landscape and the reason for the mounts’ existence perfectly. Much more than the skimmer does, that’s for sure.

Not all the maps are desert maps. The springer could be from the map of the steppes.

Tasida.4085:

Hey OP….WRONG….Season 1 was and will always be the best Glad some of us were there to experience it all….

I enjoyed season one. However, about a year after season one, I was struck by how much effort the devs put into it, only to have so little of it remain. I like season 3 best myself.

My only issue with season three was Livia. I would have liked to met her alias in ep 1 and again in ep 4, before her reveal in ep 6. It bothered me back when ep 4 was released that Livia wasn’t in it considering her devotion to Kryta.

The Greyhawk.9107:

DarcShriek.5829:

My prediction is that Balthazar’s actions will upset the flame legion and the next expansion will focus on the char.

Well, no reason for an XPack to not focus on the charr, but as things currently stand the Gold Legion* itself doesn’t seem to be a big enough threat to Tyria to be the reason why an Xpack would focus on the charr. Something would really have to have changed in recent years with them.

*the name gold legion comes from the document “Ecology of the Charr”, a name used for the Flame Legion as an insult, as gold is a very soft metal. The hasn’t been seen in game sadly, but I always liked this insult.

There are a number of possible reasons the flame legion could get riled up enough.

Balthazar’s presence on Tyria could increase Charr belief in gods. Sure it’s one thing to say gods aren’t gods when they’re away. But when one is walking around the planet destroying stuff, it’s gets easier to believe.

Rytlock could become Balthazar’s replacement. Yes, they’re human gods but it doesn’t mean their magic and powers can’t be absorbed by a Charr. The flame legion could consider this to be blasphemous and go on the offensive.

One possibility that isn’t trigger by the flame legion is that the charr are angered by the destruction of the human god and decide that tyria may be better off without humans.

My prediction is that Balthazar’s actions will upset the flame legion and the next expansion will focus on the char.

I’m not so sure. We saw quite a bit when we were in Omadd’s machine.

When Scarlet emerged from Omadd’s she claimed to have seen everything. Did she see Balthazar?

He didn’t have the aspects. So why did he go to the chamber where we resurrected Lazarus? Also, considering we had the aspects, why did the eye follow him?

It makes no sense to me.

Sublimatio.6981:

i wish we could communicate with glint in the mists and ask her

Let’s ask Rhytlock.

I wonder if Glint foresaw Balthazar’s involvement with the elder dragons. I don’t think she did.

Vesuvius.9874:

DarcShriek.5829:

Vesuvius.9874:

Ashantara.8731:

DarcShriek.5829:

Vesuvius.9874:

Ashantara.8731:

I still despise the mix of divine powers and technology

Agree 110%. Gods don’t/shouldn’t need technology to get stuff done. It undermines the value and meaning of divinity.

Except the human gods aren’t divine, they are aliens from another planet. Therefore using technology isn’t a problem.

Where did you get that idea? Just because their avatars walked the earth doesn’t make them flesh and blood.

Also, aren’t most deities “alien” by concept?

Exactly! Furthermore, their abilities and kind of magic they hold is shown to have unique properties that make it divine (such as repelling minions of Elder Dragons).

A better way to describe these “gods” is the phrase “dumb as a post”. They come all the way from their home planet with their pet humans and what’s the first thing they do? They build a city on top of a sleeping elder dragon. This is the very definition of stupid. Then to make matters worse they mess with the bloodstone. When they figure out they screwed up, they can’t agree on how to fix the problem and end up exiling one of their own. Now one of them has to come back to Tyria because apparently, he’s too dumb to figure out how to get back home.

Divine? Not a chance. A few fries short of a happy meal, most likely.

Sure, but your happy meal still can’t repel minions of Elder Dragons :P

Human god had to use asuran tech. He be dum.

Vesuvius.9874:

Ashantara.8731:

DarcShriek.5829:

Vesuvius.9874:

Ashantara.8731:

I still despise the mix of divine powers and technology

Agree 110%. Gods don’t/shouldn’t need technology to get stuff done. It undermines the value and meaning of divinity.

Except the human gods aren’t divine, they are aliens from another planet. Therefore using technology isn’t a problem.

Where did you get that idea? Just because their avatars walked the earth doesn’t make them flesh and blood.

Also, aren’t most deities “alien” by concept?

Exactly! Furthermore, their abilities and kind of magic they hold is shown to have unique properties that make it divine (such as repelling minions of Elder Dragons).

A better way to describe these “gods” is the phrase “dumb as a post”. They come all the way from their home planet with their pet humans and what’s the first thing they do? They build a city on top of a sleeping elder dragon. This is the very definition of stupid. Then to make matters worse they mess with the bloodstone. When they figure out they screwed up, they can’t agree on how to fix the problem and end up exiling one of their own. Now one of them has to come back to Tyria because apparently, he’s too dumb to figure out how to get back home.

Divine? Not a chance. A few fries short of a happy meal, most likely.

The only thing that should be brought back from season 1 is the marionette.

Vesuvius.9874:

Ashantara.8731:

I still despise the mix of divine powers and technology

Agree 110%. Gods don’t/shouldn’t need technology to get stuff done. It undermines the value and meaning of divinity.

Except the human gods aren’t divine, they are aliens from another planet. Therefore using technology isn’t a problem.

It’s not impossible. However, skins for any new weapon type would be extremely limited.

I will quit playing the day P2P is announced.

Occasionally, a friendly mercenary spawns. This seems to kill the event.

As your link points out Mantids did not only live in Cantha. They also lived in the charr homelands.

EdwinLi.1284:

BlackDragon.2084:

And this is the point. Maybe most human hated him. But soldiers and warriors will probably worship him the most. And don’t tell me that he will have no followers. Just listen to some of the human Pact Soldiers on the new map. Some of them say they worship him as their main god. But A-Net will probably forget about the conflict this would create and never mention it in a story Q ever again.

As of right now only the Pact and the Commander knows about balthazar’s return.

heck we never wanted to fight him just stop him from causing any major harm and even tried to reason with him to stop but he refused and said screw the Human Race. Thus force us to stop him from destroying the world he help shape.

We have yet to see the full long term scale of his Return effect on the Human race as a whole yet since word has not reached far yet.

You can’t really expect news as big as this to suddenly reach all of tyria within a day when it only been a single day in Tyria that he just revealed himself to the world.

Actually, quite a few people know he returned. Phlunt and other asura were there when Balthazar revealed himself. Also, if you listen to some of the side conversations in the area, you will here others talking about it.

How involved are the other gods? Lyssa let him use her mirror, and melandru allowed him to take shelter in her first garden. Why would Kormir allow him to destroy Tyria?

Feanor.2358:

The Greyhawk.9107:

Xanctus The Dragonslayer.2318:

Well he is right. there is no honor in war. Believing there is honor in war is nothing more then a fabricated lie to justify slaughter. It’s no different then justice partly bieng a brushed up version of vengeance.

For balthazar to understand this makes me respect him as a character. He truly knows the essence of war. He truly deserves his title.

That’s rather subjective. Many believe that there is honor is fighting and dying to protect ones home and people against aggressors. War isn’t always about two equally malicious sides trying to destroy each other. War is never really a good thing, but sometimes it can be a just thing. “Evil prevails when good men do nothing” sort of thing.

“In wars, boy, fools kill other fools for foolish causes”

So if someone tries to kill you, you won’t defend yourself?

Another question that needs to be asked, is when did the human gods learn about the dragons? I had always thought that they didn’t know about the dragons when the built Orr.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Spoilers, obviously. It’s too early in the morning to figure out what I’m doing wrong with the tags, but you have been warned.

I’m… doubtful that it’ll be so easy. Zhaitan held on to Orr for ‘only’ 107 years, and four years of Pact effort later it seems there’s still no end to the risen in sight. Jormag had the Far Shiverpeaks for 165, and the norn aren’t nearly as organized as the Pact. And that’s assuming that Jormag is asleep. If our fiery friend was sucking up more of Primordus’ magic than Jormag’s, the ice dragon might have come out better off.

(The wild card is what we experienced in the instance. If it wasn’t just the destroyers near us who died, but all destroyers, everywhere? And the same thing happened to the icebrood? There might suddenly be a lot of free real estate up north.)

Actually, we have no idea what the changes in Orr are. The maps for us are time locked to a period before the cleansing. To us the area will always appear as it was before Zhaitan was killed.

The Norn’s migration will be a fairly natural one as the hunters look for new places to hunt. If Jormag has more magic, he would sleep longer than primordus.

Not saying they’re related, but six doesn’t have to be coincidence. It may be that all planets that exist in the universe need six beings to control the spheres of influence. Tyria has dragons, where ever our gods came from had them, until they left. There’s no need for a 1:1 correspondence. They are not related except for the fact that they control their planet’s energy. It could be that when the human gods left they brought the humans that lived there because they new the planet would be destroyed due to their absence.

So how was Balthazar able to absorb primordus’s magic without becoming corrupted?

With Jormag sleeping the Norn and the Kodan should be able to return to their homes in the far Shiverpeaks.

He’s my mom.

My momma’s so evil…..

Previous trailers have proven to be misleading when character responses are shown. This trailer may be no different.

So let me get this straight, you guys want ANet to make GW2 more like a single player game?

A speed boost usually helps.

Vayne.8563:

I think Lazarus is Mike O’Brien. Maybe we should be nice to him. lol

That’s silly. Everyone knows it’s Collin.

I don’t know. I don’t see lazarus do anything in the trailer, not even speak. He may not even be evil. We just get worried sounding comments from the players. What Lazarus done since his resurrection that could be considered evil? We were looking to destroy the White Mantle that he killed as well.

Lazaruz’s identity has been leaked. It’s Lord Faren.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I wouldn’t necessarily mark the Exalted as tied to divine magic (though that is a strong probability). Still, however, magic is magic in the end and there’s nothing that says a mortal – let alone a mursaat – cannot safely absorb huge quantities of magic.

Especially when we have devices specifically designed to allow mortals to safely absorb and handle huge quantities of magic (again: Shadowstone). And we even have mention of a specific ritual, meaning that it wasn’t just a case of “I’m going to expose myself to a ton of magic and hope for the best”.

If magic is basically magic, then please explain why the dragon’s cannot corrupt the exalted? The magic that was used was expressly chosen because of it’s immunity.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

DarcShriek.5829:

The only creatures that we know of that can absorb the magic from the bloodstone explosion are gods and dragons. There is no example of anything else ever absorbing that much magic and surviving.

Kormir was a human when she absorbed magic, not a god. So that should be “humans and dragons” not “gods and dragons” (it should also be noted that we do not have a known case of a god absorbing magic – the closest would be Grenth, a half-god half-human).

Furthermore: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadowstone

Followed by: Risking our agent in the Durmand Priory seems to have paid off. They got those scholars some crusty old artifacts that have finally gotten the juices flowing!

So the Seers had artifacts allowing one to healthily absorbed magic (this is what we did with Burden of Choice, with us being exposed to too much ley line magic it was becoming unhealthy, the Shadowstone helped us absorb that remnant magic without side effects), and the White Mantle absconded some Seer artifacts in experimenting with the bloodstone. Wouldn’t be far fetched to think a Shadowstone was among them.

DarcShriek.5829:

It keeps him hidden. Primordus has already tried to kill him. Why would Gleam’s mother lie about her lair being the size of a single grain of sand?

Also, his mother had a keen interest in the mursaat. He may know a lot about them.

1. How would a large dragon the size of a room become a small humanoid who’s only slightly bigger than a norn (so ~10 ft tall)?

That’s more than what a mere illusion can pull off.

2. If Gleam has managed to hide for 250 years from the Elder Dragons, why expose himself now just so he can hide? That’s silly.

Besides, by absorbing more magic, Gleam makes himself a bigger target, and more importantly, more magic means it’s harder for him to hide, since Elder Dragons can sense magic. So going out to absorb a bloodstone’s worth of magic would only leave Gleam more of a target than before.

3. Glint didn’t so much have an interest in the mursaat as she foresaw their destruction, foresaw them trying to rule the world and wanted to prevent such. With their destruction, she would have no more interest in them, no doubt.

4. If Lazarus was any allied force in the first place, why wouldn’t he reveal his true self during Dragon Vigil? Why lie to the Pact Commander and Exalted? If he were Gleam, revealing himself at that point – when there were no White Mantle leagues nearby – would do nothing but solidify the alliance he was trying to make with the PC.

If he were Jennah, E, Kasmeer, Livia, Anise, or any other such previously allied force, why not reveal such to the PC when there’s no one but similarly previously allied forces around? Why keep the masquerade up? It serves no purpose but to make them a potential enemy of arguably the strongest individual in the world.

And if someone were smart enough to trick the White Mantle so well by researching Lazarus, finding the WM base, and getting Bauer to organize WM heads to perform the ritual that exploded the bloodstone and allowed “Lazarus” to consume that magic, then “Lazarus” would be smart enough to know that getting on the Pact Commander’s bad side is the dumbest idea in the world.

TL;DR

It makes zero sense for whoever “Lazarus” is to be a previously established ally – whether or not they’re an ally still. Whoever “Lazarus” is, is either a previously established enemy, Lazarus himself, or a new individual entering the scene.

If you agree with Taimi that all magic is dragon magic, your Kormir example might be valid. However, I seem to recall that you doubted that theory. There seems to be examples of divine magic also. The creation of the exalted would be an example of the use of divine magic. The magic that Kormir absorbed from abaddon would definitely be an example of divine magic. Absorbtion of divine magic appears to be survivable.

However, the magic in the bloodstone was not divine magic. The affect it had on all mortals was insanity and death. There is no way Kasmeer, or any other human could have survived it.

There is no way Kasmeer would have survived the bloodstone explosion.

Feanor.2358:

Why would Gleam care about masquerading as a mursaat? What does it gain him?

It keeps him hidden. Primordus has already tried to kill him. Why would Gleam’s mother lie about her lair being the size of a single grain of sand?

Also, his mother had a keen interest in the mursaat. He may know a lot about them.

The only creatures that we know of that can absorb the magic from the bloodstone explosion are gods and dragons. There is no example of anything else ever absorbing that much magic and surviving.

We definitely know that none of the current major races can absorb that amount of magic.

So who absorbed all that magic and lived? Gleam perhaps?

My guess is the first Tuesday in May

I wouldn’t expect it until after the PvP season.

castlemanic.3198:

DarcShriek.5829:

The Zephyrites aren’t the only ones with flying ships. They could use Tyrian designed ships.

The whole zephyrite thing started out because they were meant to be the protectors of Glint. That’s kinda their whole thing, a culture of pacifism surrounding the teachings of Glint, and also the protection of Glint and her scions. Seemingly, they sought to protect Aurene’s egg through kinda staying off the ground, but after Scarlet awakened Mordremoth, well, that lead to the (literal) fall of the zephyrites. With Aurene awakened, I can see there being a split in the zephyrites. One faction would (attempt) to go to Tarir to aid in the protection of Aurene (actually why haven’t we heard from the zephyrites?), while the other would attempt to return to the peace that they found within the skies. They would still require a shift in culture though, because the demands of an engineered airship is far different than the demands of a flying ship powered by Glint’s aspect crystals.

It could work. This I can see as being a direction that can be taken with the zephyrites. It would leave out the whole aspect crystals thing, but at least it would get the zephyrites back in the air.

The only problem is who is going to build the airships for the zephyrites? The airships were made for the pact and armed with deadly weaponry. The only other users of airships were the aetherblades who, well, stole pact airships. Unless the zephyrites have massively shifted their culture, I don’t see how they could come to accept pact airships. So that means a third party is going to have to build them, which, I doubt the zephyrites have enough money for that but I could be wrong, they did go to the Labyrinth to sell their wares and so made some semblance of money.

Zephyrites have no reason to go to Tarir now. Their entire mission was to protect the egg until Tarir was ready.

The cultural shift wouldn’t be that great. The biggest shift has already occurred as their main motivation, to protect the egg, is gone. Now they would simply be traders, which is how they’ve made a living until now anyways. Also, they began to allow Tyrians on to the ships the last time we saw them. Being merchants, it wouldn’t be a problem to hire the engineers to maintain the technology until the Zephyrites could do it themselves.

As far as building the ships, the same people that built the ships for the pact could build them. They would be cheaper because they wouldn’t require as much armor and weaponry. We owe the Zephyrites a favor anyways, because they helped to rebuild Lions Arch.

The Zephyrites aren’t the only ones with flying ships. They could use Tyrian designed ships.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Well what we saw was The All (not the Eternal Alchemy – they’re two separate things).

But yeah, why would this be a good idea, exactly? It should be noted that not all memories go to the Dream, and traumatic experiences (such as going in that machine… especially forced into it) can lead sylvari towards the Nightmare.

It may kill them all. That’s why it may be a good idea.

Because this game is an MMO, I’m not convinced everything should be soloable. As far as HoT is concerned, I’ve been able to solo the vast majority of the content. I enjoy the extra difficulty, and after many repeated runs the difficulty has deteriorated.

Because we don’t know the date of Esthel’s death. We cannot assume bauer’s first journal refers to Caudecus as confessor.

draxynnic.3719:

DarcShriek.5829:

draxynnic.3719:

The issue there is that normally, you’d expect people to write their true feelings in their own journal… unless, that is, Bauer was expecting that someone would read his journal.

Also, who was the confessor when Bauer wrote this. He refers to someone that is faithful to the unseen ones, which would be the previous confessor. Bauer knew of Caudecus’ intentions when Caudecus was just a justiciar.

The note was written on 75 Zephyr, which is early in the year. Caudecus was not the Confessor yet. Bauer is not a traitor to Caudecus, he is a traitor to the former Confessor.

The artifact switch was made.

We don’t have the date of Esthel’s death. We do, however, have a letter in Caudecus’ Correspondences (letter 13) indicating that it was under Caudecus that the focus was on researching means of weaponising the bloodstones. My conclusion was that Esthel’s death happened prior to 75 Zephyr, and the ‘Confessor’ in Bauer’s journal was Caudecus in every case.

Meanwhile, later entries indicate that Bauer is still looking to achieve Lazarus’ rebirth: 75 Scion 1325 and 31 Zephyr 1328 being the clearest.

Bauer was probably doing what typically happens in such situations – brown-nosing everybody who could potentially be a leader so that he’ll remain in a good place to pursue his own agenda regardless of who wins.

In the first letter of caudecus, he was still a justiciar. At this point Bauer offered the support of his forces to Caudecus. Bauer indicates that he’s not fond of Esthel’s new found piousness.

draxynnic.3719:

The issue there is that normally, you’d expect people to write their true feelings in their own journal… unless, that is, Bauer was expecting that someone would read his journal.

Also, who was the confessor when Bauer wrote this. He refers to someone that is faithful to the unseen ones, which would be the previous confessor. Bauer knew of Caudecus’ intentions when Caudecus was just a justiciar.

The note was written on 75 Zephyr, which is early in the year. Caudecus was not the Confessor yet. Bauer is not a traitor to Caudecus, he is a traitor to the former Confessor.

The artifact switch was made.

I just completed a T4 VB. AB’s and DS’s metas are completed routinely. These definitely don’t need to be nerfed. TD’s meta, may need to be looked into.

draxynnic.3719:

It’s been pretty much Word of Godded that Abaddon is gone, never to return. They may retcon that of course, but it does make it unlikely.

Menzies or some powerful demon, now…

I agree he won’t be abbadon, but it would be fun to watch. There are a lot of links to abbadon in this story.

Cirian.8917:

Amaimon.7823:

Cirian.8917:

Bauer double-crossed Caudecus and resurrected the real Lazarus.

I just had this pointed out to me – it’s in Bauer’s Memoirs, supported by Grand Savant Valis the Learned’s Reasearch Journal. The whole “it’s not Lazarus” is a feint… it IS the real Lazarus the Dire.

Genius trick, but someone spotted it!

Can you pinpoint it, please, I read the whole thing but I don’t see anything that makes me think the same as you. They way I read it, he’s just a grumpy devotee who worships the Unseen Ones, but prioritizes the armament for Caudecus over Project Rebirth.

Okay so I just have a few moments but here’s the part containing Bauer’s double-cross of Caudecus:

Justiciar Bauer’s Memoirs, 75 Zephyr 1325 AE part 3 reads “I hate to be dishonest about our true intentions, but I am sure a faithful servant of the Unseen Ones such as the confessor will be forgiven when face-to-face with our god!”

Valis’ Journal records the secretive acts of Bauer concerning the resurrection of Lazarus the Dire towards the end.

I don’t think he’s being dishonest to Caudecus, It’s Xera he’s being dishonest with. Bauer has been faithful to Caudecus’ plans even before he was a confessor.

The concept art for Flame and Frost shows a norn mounted on a horse.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/c/c4/Flame_and_Frost_Prelude_banner.jpg/400px-Flame_and_Frost_Prelude_banner.jpg