Guild Wars 2

Part 1: How did the expansion go?

Part 2: The content drought

Part 3: Season 3 and major overhauls

Part 4: Masteries

Part 5: Elite Specializations

Part 6: Raiding

Part 7: Guild Halls

Part 8: new Profession: Scribe

Part 9: The Revenant

Part 10: PvP and WvW

Part 11: The Heart of the Maguuma and its Adventures

Part 12: Legendary Equipment and Breakbars

Part 13: The Summary

I am sharing this here because I believe WP did an awesome job, no, grande job in wording the thoughts many of us had. A few more videos are incoming, I’ll update this list. I personally agree with the majority of what he’s said so far, possibly we’re optimistic gamers. But there are less optimistic people out there and their judgements are equally valid. Please, discuss as you see fit, but keep it civil.

Listen to this beautiful LIVE Concert of our wonderful game themes!

Here’s the link for

Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FECRQidqBww

Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBQVY_2vWzY

I can’t wait for our next expansion’s powerful themes!

Somehow, I feel as if Braham was reenacting the story the Kodan at the foot of the Sanctuary told about the origin of the norns (the one the Kodans believe, that is) : Braham, like the Claw in the story has lost his Voice (Eir) and refuse to wait, to be patient. Now, the question is : will he end like the Kodans think the norn did (i.e. devolving into lesser beings -in Braham’s case, probably an icebrood) or will he “change the story”, so to speak ?

I know many of us like to moan and complain about stuff at times, but I think it’s safe to say that we genuinely appreciate your efforts and the amazing game you have created.

Thanks for the awesome 4 years of online entertainment and keep up the great work!

A group formed at the grove (europe server) to honor the fallen marshal. The memorial took place at a hidden location, followed by a long march across Tyria through Caledon Forest, Kessex Hills, Gendarren Fields, Lornar’s Pass, Bloodtide Coast, Sparkfly Fen, & finally Straits of Devastation. Thank you all for participating!

Start Up Costs (for a new race)

• Create three variations each of the L10, L20, and L30 chapters of the Personal Story.
• Insert new race into all the other chapters.
• Insert new race into LS2, HoT, and LS3 chapters.
• New & adapted stories must be translated into French, German, Spanish, and Mandarin.
• Hire male & female voice actors (in all five supported languages) to cover all of above, plus skills.
• Create new cultural skills.
• Figure out what to use as new race’s home city, starter areas.
• Invent cultural armor (3 tiers, 3 armor weights each)
• Adapt/QA all existing armor, weapons, backs, and gliders so that it works for new race.

Ongoing Costs (for a new race)

• Write new race into new stories.
• Ensure actors (in all five support languages) are under a contract that makes them available at the appropriate times.
• Also ensure actor availability any time there’s a new elite specialization
• Extra time for rendering/QA for weapons, armor, backs, gliders.
• Extra time for animating new skills (for elite specializations).

(I’m sure I’m forgetting something)

The short of it is:

• Huge initial costs.
• Increased costs for new stories, skins, and skills.

What else could ANet do with those same resources? How much more story? How many more armor sets, outfits, weapon skins?

I’d love to see a new race; I’d just rather see all the other things we’d miss out.

Iss perhapss oil made for Krait?

Krait doesss not feel different. Was ssupposed to drink oil or rub oil on Krait?

The wiki is where it is today because you – yes you, the community – have worked to make it so.

Day-in and day-out, contributors of all types are updating the information that we have on the game with the sole purpose of helping other players. I used to try to keep track of what was happening on the Recent Changes page, but I can’t anymore; you guys are crazy, and I love you for it.

What I can’t stress enough is how important the regular player is to maintaining the wiki. For all those who have ever stumbled across something odd, or found that the /wiki command led them somewhere strange, and simply left a note via the talk page or feedback, Thank You.

To end on a note I’ve brought up before, the wiki spans four languages and not all of them have had the ability to grow like the English wiki. If any of you – yes you – are interested in helping out even more, please take a look at them. Links to the wikis below:

• Deutsch
• Español
• Français

I just want to give a shout out to all those who develop and maintain wiki.guildwars2.com. I don’t know if people realize what a gem we have in this website, and what a benefit it is to those of us who play. ( note: the GW wiki was the same great quality)

It’s well organized, easy to navigate, and is kept well updated, including guides for the content. There are few times when I can’t find information on just about anything in the game right down to where is that pesky npc that i just have to find and talk to.

I realize there are other resources as well, and I also use Dulfy, Metabattle, GW2Guru, and others (thanks to those as well!). But I consider the gw2 wiki as my mainstay for overall game information.

In my wanderings through other games (what? there are other games out there? shhhh), I try to find game information and discovered issues like many ‘wikis’ for a game, outdated and forgotten sites, or inadequate content — just a mess, really. I found myself saying, wow – GW2 has a great wiki and I miss it!

Anyway, I just wanted those who participate to know that I appreciate all your efforts, and to thank all of you for making our game a better experience.

Thanks a lot, Mike! We appreciate all your hard work and I wanna say that I’m sure there are people as me who understand why these things take so much time. You are not an automatic conveyor to make everything by day and night. And to create something new isn’t an easy task for everyone. And if you are a player but who has a real life with study, job, other interests, friends and so on you just have no time to do everything in the game. So I hope you and your team understand it too and the causes of all those topic about content drought. They all aren’t because of your work, guys, if you look deeply.
You really do amazing job. Thanks for this beautiful world that we can explore a bit more.

“For the player character’s voice”! Our characters are going to TALK in a Living World season? Yes! No more ‘mutes’!

I’m really pleased that our characters will be speaking dialogue again like in the HoT storyline.

Hey guys!

So recently I was finishing the Harathi Hinterlands map, and I stumbled across an event where I thought. ‘hey I wonder what this giant is doing here, and why he’s standing in front of a cave with graves’, and I ended up doing the event chain really appreciated the story and lore behind it. So from there on, I thought that myself as well as a lot of others probably don’t pay much attention to some of these events and their stories (probably everyone here in the Lore forums does though), and wanted to share some of these experiences. So I decided to make a little video series of some of the best plots that I run across. Here’s the first episode, please give feedback to improve the series!

Episode 1: https://youtu.be/1GUlThudPYw
Episode 2: https://youtu.be/RDD7X1Pq3_c
Episode 3: https://youtu.be/Li0KWFrpj1s
Episode 4: https://youtu.be/Kvf6go6gejk
Episode 5: https://youtu.be/vayPe-uLXo0
Episode 6: https://youtu.be/pWF1EkhTrIo
Episode 7: https://youtu.be/Qcb6XFCiJYc
Episode 8: https://youtu.be/U1BS9rnHG58
Episode 9: https://youtu.be/549jtE436sc
Episode 10: https://youtu.be/LCNC9Cl0tFE
Episode 11: https://youtu.be/OElmUfXo6sU
Episode 12: https://youtu.be/56tIT57Vv-Y
Episode 13: https://youtu.be/Wyo4M6ueGGc

RyuDragnier.9476:

Maybe now they can explain who this Duchess Chrysanthea is. She just suddenly appeared at Dragon’s Stand, and we have no clue who she is, in terms of character. I don’t recall her being anywhere else ingame.

Right! Duchess Chrysanthea’s there out of nowhere. I like her, but I wish there’d been some story setting why Faolain had come to Maguuma with her Nightmare Court, what went wrong with her being captured by Mordremoth, how this new duchess came to be here and what her agenda was (perhaps she betrayed Faolain in a power grab?).

It was interesting that the Nightmare Court didn’t side with Mordremoth in the end. They became a true rebel faction like the Soundless.

RoseofGilead.8907:

Yeah, I’d prefer if it was Staves, but both are correct. I do like how Adryn is a Stavemaster instead of a Staffmaster, though.

If Adryn were a Staffmaster, he’d be too busy stuck in corporate meetings with Mordremoth to be able to take the fight to the heroes. (Unless that’s why he’s fighting? “YOU ARE RUINING OUR PRODUCTION SCHEDULE! THIS IS A DIRECT MANAGEMENT INTERVENTION!”)

Yes! I’ve seen more role-players lately then ever before, I think roleplay is a really fun thing to do but never initiated it myself.
I’ve met two role players myself, both were very friendly and started chatting away to myself and my guildie in character no problem, both times we played along, one time ending up helping each other find an area of knowledge (hero point) and another time simply exploring tyria and helping people (leveling). My experience as you can see as been only a pleasant one with role players and having role played a bit in my past really enjoy being swept along in their pure belief and dedication to living in the world of gw2.

If anything, keeping with Kristen Perry’s vision of character design and their racial aspects as they diverge from human ‘cultural norms’ is a good idea. Having divergent art design opinions as they vary from the core game’s original design philosophy can wind up giving an MMO an inconsistent look over the years. It can be tremendously distracting, even for those players who don’t have any background training in art (what comes to mind for an example is World of Warcraft’s own art shift over its 12-year life).

Suddenly deciding that Charr and Asura hold human standards of beauty while ignoring their own long-standing racial fashion values — even with a long history of Asurans interacting with humans for hundreds of years without there being a previous large break in their own cultural fashion standards — would kinda stick out like a sore thumb for those who notice it. And it wouldn’t be an immediate thing for a lot, but once it is noticed (ESPECIALLY with Charr)… Even with racial cooperation being at a high point between Charr and Humans, it doesn’t make much sense for Charr to immediately absorb a beauty standard of humans after just 5-10 years of a ceasefire.

Yeah. Six or nothing. What do mice know, anyways?

I like most of the new one. I agree that the area around the bank and the TP looks odd, but it is only that area (Trader’s Forum specifically).

The rest of it, especially the Commodore’s Quarter, the streets around the waterfront south of the Grand Piazza and the area around Fort Marriner look very realistic and detailed to me. They remind me of various European seafront towns I’ve visited.

I did like the aesthetic of the old LA but they whole idea there was that it was cobbled together by pirates from whatever they had available, which was mostly ruined ships. It wouldn’t make sense at all for them to have rebuilt it the same way. The new one looks more like a deliberately constructed city, which is exactly what it is.

(Also I’m pretty sure the bank and the TP are about the same distance apart. The buildings might have been closer together in the old LA but remember you had to go from the middle of the bank, down the stairs, across the plaza passed the Mystic Forge, up the other side, over a small bridge, into the TP building and all the way to the back of the room past the chairs to get between the actual NPCs. I’m pretty sure if someone measured it they’d find it took the same amount of time as the new one.)

This piece was inspired by the song “Your biggest fan” by Boyce Avenue. I got me to thinking about the Norn as a people and how my Taev would react to Heart of Thorns. She would grieve for those lost, yes, but she would walk forward and carry their memories with her.

Pictured here is Taev Whitewolf, my Dragon Hunter.
That sword is my favorite model in the game btw. ; )

The wiki “wall of text” is actually a succinct synopsis. But I’ll try to whittle it down further to just the stuff germane to LS2.

Attacks in Ascalon and the Shiverpeaks drove refugees south to LA. The attacks turned out to be from a “Molten Alliance” of Flame Legion and Dredge (who should not have gotten along). One homestead attacked was Braham’s; he went for help but wasn’t believed by charr or norn. He had to do it himself (with players). Tyrian forces moved against the Alliance, rescued prisoners, and wrecked its base.

Earlier, the very capitalist Consortium had opened up Southsun, albeit causing many karka issues for LA in the process. Now they offered their “resort” island as a home for refugees. Then they turned those refugees into an indentured labor force. Matters were volatile. Ellen Kiel was sent to maintain the peace and protect noble tourists such as Kasmeer and Faren. Wildlife began to attack the settlements. It turned out terrorist/vigilante Canach was behind that (see wiki page for his motivations). Kiel used the situation as a cover for destroying the labor contracts, freeing the refugees.

A while later it was time for Dragon Bash, a celebration of Zhaitan’s death. In the ceremonial opening, one of the LA Captain’s Council (Theo Ashford) was killed in an attack on the Council. A woman who’d offered to heal the injured turned out to be the killer, Mai Trin, who escaped with the aid of her Aetherblades.

Somehow (sorry, about to do an editorial rant) this massive force of pirates with skyships at their command had grown, trained, and flown about without even the slightest rumor of their existence. Even though their massive stronghold containing Inquest tech was behind a waterfall in LA itself. Raiding that got some intel, including the name of “Scarlet.” Kiel had led the assault on the base. She was given control of an airship by Magnus of the Council, making her a Captain and eligible for the vacant seat left by Ashford.

She went up against Evon Gnashblade (the TP magnate). They competed for the trading license with the newly arrived Zephyrites, a trading group with windships and magic crystals. This group proved to be hereditary protectors of Glint’s heritage. After a lot of politicking, Kiel won the election.

Over in Kryta, Queen Jennah held a Jubilee to celebrate ten years on the throne. She had the Collapse in DR re-engineered into a pavilion/arena and deployed new tech, the Watchknights, to safeguard the ceremonies. Aetherblades attacked the opening.

That attack beaten, the Queen refused to cancel the ceremony. The Jubilee went on while authorities investigated the situation. At the closing ceremony, Scarlet Briar arrived and took over the Watchknights, turning them into clockwork monsters to assault the crowds. She had bombs ready to go off throughout the Pavilion as a distraction while she shot at Jennah. Jennah fell as her speech platform crumbled. Faren lunged to save her, only to overbalance when she vanished into purple butterflies. He fell into the pit.

This became a dungeon run for players to go deep into the pavilion, rescue Faren, and beat up Scarlet’s monsters, though Scarlet herself escapes.

Info came out about Scarlet. Some in game, some in stories. Very short version: Podded as Ceara, Scarlet didn’t like the limited choice given by the Dream. She wandered the world studying and learning pretty much everything, being amazingly brilliant and talented. She worked with an asura named Omadd to build a device to apprehend the Eternal Alchemy, used it, had her mind blown, and killed him. Then she set out on her path that led to this assault.

The next unholy alliance proved to be krait and Nightmare Court. They built a huge tower in the big lake in Kessex, concealing it magically until Kasmeer stripped the illusion off. Tyrian forces assaulted the poisonous tower and the powerful beings inside until a small force made it into a central chamber to inject antitoxin into the tower’s heart and blow it up.

Meanwhile Kiel was using the fractals to investigate the Thaumanova Reactor explosion. It turned out Scarlet had triggered it as part of her own research into ley lines.

Scarlet set up probes all over Tyria to track the ley lines. She also built a giant marionette in Lornar’s Pass to menace LA (very fun open world fight for a map full of players).

In all this the biconics were introduced, met each other, and became friends. Their investigative efforts uncovered more of Scarlet’s past and actions. They also learned that the antitoxin used to destroy the Tower had helped Scarlet make a more potent poison.

Which she then used as a gas cloud, the miasma, in an all out assault on LA starting with airship bombardment and continuing with dredge, krait, Court, and flame legion razing the city to the ground as the miasma choked the life out of the inhabitants. This was all just a distraction for the giant floating drill tunneling into the bottom of the harbor. Rescue efforts got civilians out of the city but the death toll was tremendous (I believe devs at the time commented that 40K of the 45K inhabitants perished, but I do not have a citation). Makeshift hospital camps were set up outside the city for the injured and the miasma-ravaged.

The Lionguard regrouped and re-entered the city once the wind blew the miasma away. With coordinated action the forces were able to board the giant drill, the Breachmaker, and the biconics used the battle as cover to press into Scarlet’s operations center where they killed her just before the Breachmaker finished drilling into the ley hub under LA and sending a massive ley pulse out west to wake up Mordremoth (not that anyone knew about Mordy yet).

You can read the wiki page start for details on who the biconics are.

I hope that this all helps you understand the story enough to go into LS2, which starts with the investigation into where that ley pulse went. I’ll mention that between LS1 and LS2, a sylvari named Aerin who had been a keen student of the Zephyrites went nuts and blew up their flagship, scattering it over Dry Top. So LS2 starts in the wake of that tragedy.