Guild Wars 2

First off, No, people don’t give credit to Trahearne for your actions. I recently did the claw island-Arah part of the story and noticed how they heap a LOT of praise toward you, and actually little toward Trahearne outside a few instances which HE did something major personally.

Secondly, I think it’s bad storytelling to go “Oh, this guy served his roles, let’s just kill him off!”

Trahearne is still widely respected, and has grown into the leadership spot. If he was to die, the replacement would be.. hard to pull off because they’d have to gather respect of ALL three orders, and prove they can lead all three groups together on the field or as an army. And unless they make the player character that role, another person like that doesn’t exist.

More important is that we were told in EotN that Echovald was changing (though it did specify that the growth was new), and that the Jade Sea probably wasn’t. If they were the same, shouldn’t they revert at more or less the same rate? And if they were different, why would Echovald changing mean that the Sea would also change?

The Jade Quarry was indeed part of the Jade Sea that was solidified by the Jade Wind. It was in fact the purest of the Jade made by that event. And I am well aware of Fade at the bottom of the docks, as I even alluded to his (it is a male NPC, not female – he just has a femenine look) dialogue.

Back in Eye of the North, the manual hinted that the Jade Sea seems to have been beginning to thaw. This was further alluded to in Winds of Change. However, with the Festival of the Four Winds and the Zephyrites many Canthan-like decorations, I noticed one that’s in plain sight yet rather hard to catch due to being darker and in a corner of sorts.

It is a jade statue of a fish. This holds significance in two ways:

1. It further cements the notion that Zephyrites just came from Cantha – pretty much confirms it IMO, since it is just like the Solid Ocean Fractal, and the Jade Sea is the only known place to hold such large jade stones.
2. It indicates that the Jade Sea is not fully thawed even 250 years after the hints of thawing (if not thawed much at all).

Screenshot of statue in attachments. What do you all think this can mean?

Two things stuck out to me about Countess Anise as odd:

• Nearly all NPC’s that talk about her refer to her beauty, and some view it as unnatural, i.e. the writers are making a point of her beauty and want us to notice it. Same thing goes for her past – NPC’s make a point of pointing out that we don’t know much about it.
• For someone who has been guarding Queen Jennah since she was a young princess, she looks remarkably young. The ages don’t add up.

I’m going to put my tinfoil hat on here and make an outrageous claim. It’s outrageous because there’s nothing solid to back it up, but it is able to explain the above to mysteries – albeit, by opening up a possibly larger one.

Countess Anise, the Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade with a ruthless “ends-justify-the-means” attitudes, seems to have an unnaturally long lifespan and magically-enhanced beauty. Where have we seen all of these attributes before? You guessed it. I am saying that some way, somehow, the true identity of Countess Anise is Livia.

Now, Livia is not, at least at the time of Guild Wars, trained as a mesmer. The two look nothing alike (although mesmer magic could be involved, but then we return to our first problem). There is no obvious reason that I can think of that Livia would want to disguise herself, given that by the time of Sea of Sorrows she had served as leader of the Shining Blade for 177 years, so people being suspicious of her apparent immortality was of no concern. And yet, there is no other straightforward explanation that I can think of that addresses the above questions. No straightforward explanation, that is, that isn’t incredibly mundane (which we can rule out because why go through the bother of intentionally setting up a mystery if your solution is an uninteresting one – this is narrative, not real life).

There is other, far more circumstantial evidence of Anise’s deception:

• “May Grenth keep you safe.” Seems like a strange blessing coming from a mesmer, doesn’kitten Dwayna would be the god you pray for protection from, surely, if not Lyssa, the patron god of mesmers.
• “There hasn’t been one in over fifty years…or at least, that’s what I’m told.” The punctuation here suggests that Anise correcting herself, that she found it necessary to clarify that she hadn’t been around fifty years ago. A writer somewhere sat and typed that afterthought into that line of dialogue, and I think the balance of probabilities would weigh in favour of that being a hint rather than an attempt at naturalistic dialogue.
• “Ruthless and efficient, eh? You remind me of …someone.” Whoever this someone is, they are known to Anise but for some reason she wants to keep that to herself. I can’t think of anyone who this might be, but if we assume Anise is actually Livia, then Gadd might fit the bill quite nicely. Again, why have the dialogue trail off if you’re not setting up a mystery to solve?

Now I’m not usually one for an “X is actually Y!” theory, but in this case I feel like the evidence is too compelling to ignore. And I can’t explain why or how Livia would do such a thing (although I’m sure the Scepter of Orr is involved somehow, as that’s one Livia-related plot thread that still needs tying up). But I just can’t think of any other explanation of the mystery of Countess Anise.

Beware all ye who enter, for what follows is baseless speculation.
Could this mean anything going forward? Well, we’re likely to be heading into Magus Falls soon with the Pact to confront Mordremoth, but Belinda Delaqua has told us that there’s bandit activity in the nearby area. Bandits have ties to the White Mantle and the Krytan Ministry, so as others in this forum have already pointed out, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising if along the way, we saw a continuation of both the White Mantle and Ministry corruption plot lines from the personal story (and if we’re lucky, maybe even the Lazarus the Dire story from Guild Wars). The arch-rivalry between the Shining Blade and the White Mantle will have been forgotten by most, but I can think of one person who’s been around long enough to hold a grudge…

What other related mysteries are still unsolved? How about the murder of Mendel, and the identity of “E”? What the hell happened to Evennia (although to me, the prime suspect is King Adelbern rather than the White Mantle)? There’s no way that at least some of these questions aren’t gonna be answered in the next 12 months folks, and I, for one, am excited!

The problem with saying names is people with jumbles of letters… or the voice saying the name one way when you describe it as being said another.

But it would make it feel more interacting though.

I like it when there is a degree of “hero status”

Like where players can easily be “THE BIG HERO” or “One of the heroes/guys fighting”

Makes it easier to RP or write IMO.

I find MMO stories with “ONE SUPER HERO!” (player) to be blah. As one WoW video showed where an npc verbally hails you as the big hero to save the day.. then does it for everybody else who arrives in the area (and if you sit there, you see this clearly).

Angel McCoy.1832:

Bellyboomer.3048:

Btw, I’m glad I’m not always the hero. There are millions of characters in the gw2 universe, it would seem rather crappy that they would all be the awesome hero who saved the universe from doom. I like being among the ranks: a commander in the pact, a faceless wanderer who joins up with some others and become the heroes of LA… It’s just a personal taste, I like being a not-so-extrordinary character who the steps up to the plate when he’s needed to.

This is a very interesting opinion since so many seem to feel the other way. We make every effort to put the player character at the center of the story because…well…it’s your story. But, I also believe that the player character doesn’t always have to be the one with the answers. Sometimes, your teammates (Rox, Braham, etc.) need to help out or risk becoming faceless flunkies. There’s a balance point, of course. Your teammates are an extension of you, living through your story with you.

I was actually surprised when I found out in another thread just how many people like being the ultimate savior. Even when that does not make a whole lot of sense in a world shared by heroes.

I’m with BellyBoomer on this one, but like Angel said, seems like we are the vast minority man.

Amen brother. Both the forums and the facebook has always been infested with nay-sayers who can’t get over the issues and look at the assets of gw2. It’s good that the devs also hear the other part of the playerbase.
I think the mayority of the players who are invested in the story are excited for season 2.

Btw, I’m glad I’m not always the hero. There are millions of characters in the gw2 universe, it would seem rather crappy that they would all be the awesome hero who saved the universe from doom. I like being among the ranks: a commander in the pact, a faceless wanderer who joins up with some others and become the heroes of LA… It’s just a personal taste, I like being a not-so-extrordinary character who the steps up to the plate when he’s needed to.

To OP, you do know that the “hero” board in LA has your name on it right? (well, whatever character talks to it if you killed scarlet). And if you did LS season 1, you get introduced as the leader of the team (Rox Braham, etc).

That’s in response to the “I want to be the hero for once” Likewise, You get a LOT of credit in the personal story… <_<

Everyone dislikes the poor guy, saying he stepped in and took the limelight. I can see how that is unless you’ve played from a Sylvari’s point of view, when you meet him as early as the second part of your personal story.

But…what if it’s not Trahearne’s fault that he is such an unlikable character? I had my second Sylvari go through the personal story, and found some interesting dialogue.

But does this mean Trahearne was just a glory-stealing, overly prideful shrub the whole time? Nope, I don’t think so.

So, by that logic, it doesn’t make sense, does it? He shouldn’t have turned into what many people see as an overbearing general. But consider this:

His Wyld Hunt was considered impossible. He was supposed to cleanse the land of Orr, and make it livable again. But at that time it was believed that there was no cure. Even if the dragons were defeated, he’d never accomplish his destiny. He was quiet and meek by nature, but he had one overriding quality: he was stubborn and headstrong. Despite an impossible hunt, he kept up his research on Orr. Despite his dislike of fighting undead, he assists when needed. And he has a heckuva strong sense of honor. He’ll go out of his comfort zone just to do what is morally right.

His nature of soliditary makes him unable to connect to the main player. He joins you out of a mix of guilt and sorrow after you lost your mentor, and does his best to assist you. This is all before receiving the sword, and before the Pale Tree tells Trahearne that he must accompany the player to help stop the Dragon’s Corruption (to which he again insists he’s just a simple scholar).

And now he receives the sword that enhances his qualities. Just like before, he moves out of his comfort zone to do what’s needed, and take the position of general. Giving out orders comes from the undenied fact that he knew what was the strongest blow against the undead. But he still needed to ask a seasoned adventurer on the proper course of action, when it came to delivering that blow. He’s not after the glory at all, he’s only trying to do what is asked of him – be a hero.

Yes, he was asked to be a hero. He was asked by the Pale Tree. He was asked by every Sylvari that look up to a Firstborn. He was asked by his Wyld Hunt. He was asked by destiny. And when you have a prophesy dangling over your head, that adds a lotta pressure.

He never intended to steal glory. He just needed all the good rep he could scrape together to appear like a competent general. He had to show he was capable. If he did not, the Pact would have fallen apart, and the Elder Dragons would never have been defeated.

Caladbolg helped him find the inner strength to overstep his boundaries, increase his sense of honor, and increase his tenacity to continue an impossible Wyld Hunt. But it also increased his solitary nature. It increased his ‘Firstborn-mentor’ quality (which to a non-sylvari, would be overbearing).

It’s just a shame he’ll never be able to open up and tell you all this, because you’ll just see him as a needy plant that can’t take the pressure to lead the Pact. He’s probably eager for an understanding friend, when he’s so far away from his kin in an unforsaken land.

If you sell them you make a mistake.

Salvage them

• it’s faster
• the materials worth much more then the items (or the other way around: the items only have a value in the trading post due to the materials that you can obtain)

But yeah the possibility to configure auto-salvage would be great, e.g. I would like to tell the system that all white, blue green drops are salvaged automatically with my copper-driven salvager, my rare armor drops with a master-salvager.

No it’s not. WvW players almost completely sacrifice pve all together. PvE has tons of areas that give u tons of gold/mats including dungeons/events.

WvW loot is just the way it should be. The amount of gold u get from a week of farm in wvw is equal to a day of dungeon farm in pve. That combined with the fact u might or might not get good loot in wvw depending on how good your server is.

Right now, because of the deplorable state WvW is in, the only thing keeping players interested in this game mod is loot..nothing else.

i dont want to play with randoms from other servers… tks..

The Six Gods hold indestructible power. Though Melandru may die, her power will never be destroyed. Besides, the Pale Tree is immobile and is merely tied to the Dream. Melandru is capable of transforming other beings into plants, and has direct access to the Mists (which does more than telling “all possible futures” – which is false for the Pale Tree, she can only see the current future via the Dream – as the Mists actually connects all times and places).

To beat a god, either someone of close power is needed (demigod), or the god to be weakened a lot.

Melandru would kind of win easily. Even with the nerfing the gods’ lore has received in GW2. I mean, the mass AoE crippling/bleeding vines around Orrian Melandru statues is just remnants of her divine magic lingering in Orr after a thousand years. When a god can wipe out an entire peninsula (or regrow it) in an instant… yeah, Melandru wins.

I’d automatically guess the god.

Melandru or the Pale Tree
beware a few personal story spoilers

Any additions/criticisms would be great.

Stats:

Pale Tree
Exists simultaneously in two realms (the dream and tyria)
has an army of children that seem to be produced very rapidly
able to see all of the possible futures that may come about?
Strong magical abilities, from the Caladbolg show this in its elemental strength (also her ability to show herself as an avatar/Mesmer magic possibilities)

Melandru
Ability to terraform the soil and bring the land back to life. (I suppose the pale tree also did this in the Artesian Waters with Caladbolg.
Ability to turn humans into plants? (Ewan’s tribe)
Surely powers similar to any other of the human gods?

lakdav.3694:

I didnt say with a word that the GW1 undead are Zhaitans servants. I only pointed out that Orr, that happens to sit on top of a slumbering elder dragon of undeath has a lot of undead issues after the cataclysm. The place is practicly ripe with necromantic undertones, especially after the biggest surge of magical energies sunk the land.

Additionally before the Cataclysm, we dont even know for sure if Khilbron was a necromancer of great skill and power. Even if the elder dragon didnt feel the sinking of Orr right above himself, Orr could have been influenced by such an immense necromancy-themed power resting below.

What you said was that you didn’t believe it to be a coincidence that two undead situations happened in the same place, implying that one way or another, the Cataclysm and Zhaitan affected each other. I stated that they didn’t by all indications – we have developer confirmed fact (edit: odd, that interview got shortened for some reason…) that the Cataclysm didn’t affect Zhaitan, and by the mentality of dragon minions, the same can be said for vice versa.

Zhaitan is only a “necromancy-themed power” in how it corrupts. When Elder Dragons are sleeping and seeping out magic, that magic is very general – as proven by the fact that the original asura gates held no fire-attribute, and the Bloodstone had no more necromancy tied to it than any other form of magic.

CHIPS.6018:

Undead (also Risen & Shiro’ken) – When a soul/spirit is forced back into a body, it becomes a type of undead. The body might not be the original body of the victim (as seen in Shiro’ken). These undeads are capable of thoughts and feelings. But they rarely have full control of their actions. That means an undead father might end up killing his own daughter and son, because he cannot control himself.

This isn’t fully true. Even ignoring some cases of risen, not all undead seem to have a soul. There seem to be two types of undead, in the general sense: mindless undead, and sentient undead. The former appear to be soulless (like most Orrian undead in GW1), the latter appear not (like most Awakened in GW1).

Not all risen have souls, this is outright confirmed with Romke and his crew, as well as the crusader’s spirit in SW Mount Maelstrom who mentions her body is now a risen. Only the more powerful risen appear to have souls, as they are the only ones who show having souls. Romke and his crew’s bodies are weaker risen.

CHIPS.6018:

Now liches are usually undead themselves. Most liches does have a master. So the way I see it, liches are just the more powerful version of the undead. The “grand master” put liches in charge of their undead army.

There may be liches that are independent and doesn’t have a master. What is required is these liches bound their own soul to themselves, so they became their own master.

Actually, most liches don’t have a master. Palawa Joko, for example. Khilbron as well, as Abaddon is not a necromantic master (he is Khilbron’s master in the same way that Gaheron is the Flame Legion’s master).

Only in the case of Zhaitan do liches have masters.

We were outright told that the Cataclysm had zero affect on Zhaitan – was in an interview between Jeff Grubb and GuildMag, I’m on my phone so can’t search for it easily but his response was more or less “mere wrinkles in the crust hold no affect on an Elder Dragon.” Also, the undead of GW1 act nothing like a dragon minion. Though called the Elder Undeath Dragon, Zhaitan does not make traditional undead like those we saw in GW1.