Guild Wars 2

Aegrahm.4952:

Honestly, I could also see the Pale Tree as veiwing Melandru (and the other gods) as foreign entities or seomthing like that. Perhaps stating that the gods’ meddling in affairs in Tyria is inappropriate.

I suppose that’s possible, if we consider the Pale Tree as a speaker for Tyria, as in the land itself – but I don’t think that is the case personally. The Pale Tree has the interests of Tyria at heart, but so (I assume) does Melandru. Melandru may be of foreign origin, but the Pale Tree doesn’t even entirely know her own origin, and she is new to Tyria too. I think the two of them would get along just fine; they would share metaphors and ways of thinking, I would imagine.

Lechtrixx.1053:

Not to be offensive, but to have the Dredge somehow patterned after the Soviets was in bad taste and a racial slur to boot. No matter how you slice it. In GW1 EoN campaign, they were distinctive as their own race and didn’t seem patterned after any specific race.
This however, went a bit too far imho. They should have been kept distinctive.

I think ‘racial slur’ is taking it a bit too far, although I agree that the Dredge Collective stuff is more heavy-handed than most other referencey stuff ArenaNet indulges in. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to parallel the Dredge to the Soviets though, simply because I think they have somewhat similar (if fantasy exaggerated) reasons for liking and adopting a communist rhetoric. All the Dredge speeches may be over-the-top, but they do sound like a people determined to rid themselves of oppression and prove that on their own, they can build a more fair and equitable society, without the oppression that other people have claimed is necessary one way or another.

The noble sentiment is there, even if it is also played for comedy a lot of the time.

Apparently, in Tyria sage is native to the eastern lands around what was once Ascalon. I didn’t have any for my cooking for ages because I hadn’t been out that way, but there are a few herbs you’ll only get out east (in my experience anyway).

So try Fields of Ruin (take the asura gate from Divinity’s Reach to Ebonhawke), I think you should find some there. And dill! I never had any dill, either.

LithePanther.5027:

HoD:

Ghost Town. Do not transfer there.

I resent that! I like Henge. Sure it’s not the top-ranking hardcore world it once was, but as a PvE-er I have liked almost everyone I’ve encountered and I see people around often enough, though not in all areas (like everywhere else, mid-range zones are emptier, but not actually empty).

It depends on what you stat for – most essentially where you put your trait points. Your gear can add to the attributes that your traits already boost for you. In general though, Hebee’s advice sounds good!

One day – one day! – I hope to organise a Run Across Tyria event on my server (Henge of Denravi), where a large group can start from, say, Rata Sum, and move through zones to the other side of the map (say, Ebonhawke) together. No waypoints, doing any events that take our fancy on the way. I could be a ridiculous zerg, but it’d be a nice chance to enjoy some of the zones.

One day!

PS: Yes, if you head from Kessex to Gendarran you can drop into Lion’s Arch from that zone and then head out again into the snowy part of Gendarran. There’s actually an exit from Lion’s Arch in the north-east corner which will take you to the east side of Gendarran Fields.

Also, I’m not sure the forums are the place for this. You say “please set my achievement so it continues progressing or just give me the achievement so I can start playing the game again” but that’s not something we in this forum can help you with, so if you’re going to complain about it, it should probably be in a support ticket.

Failing which (because I seriously doubt you’ll have anyone “fix” this for you), just move on with your GW2 life and another opportunity will arise.

Karma used to be hard to come by, but now that you can get Jugs of Karma from finishing daily achievements, I’m practically swimming in karma. More than I could possibly need.

I have this feeling a lot, and often hesitate to run dungeons with a pick-up group because I’m worried that I’ll be the only one who sucks and they’ll hate on me or, even if they don’t, I’ll feel bad!

The best thing in my opinion is to a) tell your group that it’s your first time and you’re not totally sure what to expect, and b) talk with your group a little before you start. You can usually get hints beforehand if they’re super-hardcore, impatient or likely to turn mean. Most people are nice, though, and those with experience will help you through.

So tell your friend to just be upfront about it, and any group that has a problem with a newbie can say so. Any group that doesn’t – which will be most groups – will be supportive on the way!

Mystic Starfish.2586:

Aren’t there also corrupted earth elementals?
So that’s a bit weird too

It makes sense to me – the Brand quite clearly affected the land itself, and also living, corporeal things in it. Earth elementals are both earth/rock/land and creatures, but they fall into Kralkatorrik’s possible minions pool either way.

And yes, like those above, I would assume Kralkatorrik cannot/does not corrupt the incorporeal.

draxynnic.3719:

Either way, the dredge-Priory rivalry is probably largely based on the Priory seeking to collect relics and knowledge of the dwarves while the dredge are trying to remove every trace that the dwarves ever existed.

I’m inclined to agree. In their revolution and efforts for self-determination, they are basically book-burning (or the equivalent thereof). Destroying ancient dwarven relics, when they are some of the oldest civilization we know of AND knew more about the Elder Dragons than most people we could possible have access to, is going to frustrate the Priory to no end.

Just as an aside, because as an athropology student I can’t resist, incest prohibitions relate to sex specifically, not love (the boundary between romantic love and familial love is too hard to define anyway, in my opinion – doubly so with sylvari!). Since sylvari are not sexual beings, I’m not certain that incest rules can or should apply.

Acaelus Thorne.3862:

“There are creatures that do not want to enslave us, no, but they want us dead. Humans called Kurzicks…I think…try to kill us for encroaching on their territory.”
…
“What? These monstrous intruders want peace, after striking out patrols? Perhaps the creatures have convinced you they acted in self-defense, but I must rely on words of our trusted field officers, and they themselves claim self-defense.

The quest dialogue pretty clearly shows that the two stories contradict each other, and we have no way of knowing which is right. The fact of the matter is that although Moleneaux’s people weren’t helping themselves (with some groups acting aggressively even as he tried to stop them), Count zu Heltzer straight out refuses to treat with them, and there ends the peace effort, more or less.

I think it’s more worth noting how easily conflicts like this can start over a little misunderstanding and fear of the unknown, which the quest chain illustrates quite nicely.

Thanks athuria, those examples are helpful! I will have to go and speak with this Gheimridh next time I log in. My friend’s character idea did hinge a bit on the Nightmare being the reason for her friend’s death before awakening, but since we first had this discussion the whole subject has become interesting.

Thanks for the answers everyone!

Son of Elias.5420:

In-game translation; “Soon enough we will all speak Charr, trust me.”

Well, we’ve just said that common languages tend to arise for the purposes of trade between people, and the Black Lion Trading Company – the greatest and most ubiquitous trade organisation in Tyria – is run by… oh look, a charr :P

Already having Lion’s Arch as a centre for people who are interested in working with races other than their own, however, I think whatever is common in Lion’s Arch is your trade language/culture. You can bet Gnashblade is an Archer through-and-through.

Aeniklast.9283:

ZERO clue as to what I should be doing in the game. Final goal? Is there even one?

I don’t care for wasting time or enjoy the journey to end game. Why spend months working on level 30 contnet if I’m just going to have to repeat grind come end game?

As stated, WvW is a pretty perpetual endgame if you’re into it. There are monthly updates with major events (every month so far). There’s a lot of content of various kinds around the world – I got to 80 long before I was done exploring and trying stuff out, and I still haven’t finished my personal story.

So no, there isn’t a clear endgame you are aiming for – this is it. That’s why we say don’t grind your way to 80, because all you’ll do is miss out on having fun on the way to 80. That’s not to say you just ignore your character after you hit the cap – but GW2 is the kind of game you can just exist in, doing whatever is current at the time or whatever comes up. It’s not so much the kind of game where you dedicate your evenings to the fervent pursuit of a goal.

(If you want more of a challenge, try PvP – WvW or sPvP, either way it’ll give you a reason to master the game).

If you like the spooky look and feel, definitely go necro (guardians are more paladin-like in the way they work). After you hit level 11 and start playing with trait points you’ll see, but although a light armour class will probably never be quite as tough as a heavy armour one, you can pour traits into toughness and make your necro pretty resistant to damage! And they have a variety of weapon sets, if you work with daggers you will end up all but melee range. Try the different weapons out when you get to play a necro, and see what you like.

I’ve always assumed that the New Krytan alphabet was kind of like the standardised Chinese writing system, in that different spoken languages could be written using the same written alphabet. That would mean it works as a unifying factor between races without eradicating other languages (although I guess we have to assume there’s a common tongue).

Norn having an oral culture makes perfect sense with everything else we know about them (and explains the special position of skaald, a storytelling/story keeper). Likewise, asura having an absurdly complicated script which asura learn from an early age but other races find baffling fits the asura perfectly – and one imagines they’d like to keep it that way.

Add to all the excellent points posted above the fact that the Durmand Priory was founded by a (Krytan) human… and New Krytan works well as the best alphabet for the job. It would have been chiefly created for the sake of scholarly records, after all.

I guess the reality is that once you implement something like asura gates, it’s there and ready as an option for all travel needed. Most of the time it makes perfect sense – as kRiza said, the asura having a monopoly on fast travel across Tyria is probably not a coincidence…heh. For going to the Mists it’s a little weird, but if we don’t use the method that exists already (asura gates) how do we justify accessing the Mists? If anyone found a way to hold a fairly stable portal to a part of them, it would be the asura (case in point: Dessa of the Fractals).

The ship going to Southsun Cove was nice and novel, but it’s also a commercial tourist venture on the part of the Consortium, so a bit of a special case, haha. And obviously it had to be a ship the first time since no one was out there to build an asura gate!

It’s possible that this game is not for you, just putting that out there now. But I hope you find yourself enjoying it with time! Operation Union, which Kiteisa mentioned, is a good place to start looking for people to play with.

The cliché with GW2 fans tend to give new players is that you should slow down, explore, and focus less on the levelling and more on the journey. You’ll get exp relatively easily in this game, and there’s no reason to rush to endgame, so feel free to poke around different areas and such.

Also, don’t feel limited to open world PvE as a new player. In Lion’s Arch there are portals which you can enter for World vs. World (3-way PvP between servers on large battlegrounds), and although you’ll have some disadvantage as a non-max character, it will jack your basic stats up to the equivalent of level 80 (you can also do PvE there, and get very good drops sometimes). At the top of your screen where the icons for inventory and stuff are, there’s a crossed swords icon – that will give you the option of going to structured, arena-based PvP, where you can have access to all the skills and traits you’d have at the level cap. Plus, at level 30 you will have unlocked access to your first dungeon. Have you tried it yet?

Hope you end up having fun with one or another of these suggestions.

As people have said above, there are always other races’ starting areas to visit. Don’t overlook the fact that you can get exp for exploring, not just for killing things, though. For instance, if you’re doing all the hearts in your starter area, be sure to do skill challenges, find points of interest, and view vistas as well – these all give you exp! Plus if you 100% clear the area you’ll get a nice bonus of both exp and loot. Clearing areas is a very helpful things to aim for.

If you’re thinking of visiting Lion’s Arch to get to other starting areas, you’ll be going through your race’s capital city. Although you don’t get nice gear and things for 100%-ing that, I usually got at least one level worth of exp from exploring a city fully while at a low level. The cities are also pretty awesome to look around

If you haven’t visited your race’s city yet (a lot of people miss it!) the portal to it was probably behind you when you first got dropped in your starting area from your tutorial. Good luck levelling, and I hope you find the appeal in this game with time!

If you’re new to roleplay, my suggestion would be to find a guild of roleplayers to do it with. I pretty much only do rp with some ‘real life’ friends of mine and most of the time we use party chat, with guild chat as an OOC channel. That means you don’t have the potential embarrassment of /say, and you don’t get in the way of non-roleplayers (I’m not on a recognised rp server though, I don’t know what it’s like on Tarnished Coast).

Guildwars2roleplayers.com is no doubt a great place to start, and once you find an rp community they can probably connect you to more. I really want to see guesting implemented so I can visit Tarnished Coast one day!

A friend asked me this while working out a character’s background, and I wasn’t able to give her a definite answer. Her suggested scenario was that her character met another sylvari in the Dream before waking, but her friend was killed by the Nightmare influences in the Dream. She wanted to know if a sylvari could be stillborn.

Now, my feeling is that the Dream as experienced in lore is not quite like the Dream as experienced in-game in the tutorial, and it might not be possible to ‘meet someone’ while immersed in the Dream if it is a sort of shared sylvari consciousness. We were also speculating that if it was possible to be hurt badly by the Nightmare elements in the Dream, perhaps one would instead awaken with some mental trauma or impairment, or just be very shaken? (Though the idea of a stillborn sylvari is a very powerful one to me, if it were possible).

Can anyone offer a more definite or authoritative answer on this question?

Bard.7215:

The Dredge are an oddball due to A-nets failure to flush out and explain some the relationships between the ruling races and the Dredge, especially the dredge as a villain … The Dredge are not really culturally evil like the Krait, their main desire to desecrate the remains of those that enslaved them and try to establish power in shiver-peaks, likely to show the world that they are the true inheritors of Dwarven civilization and to garnish respect from the currently ruling races, which I feel they deserve.

The Dredge have long been the buttmonkies (I can’t wait to see how that gets censored) of the Guild Wars universe. They’re an underground race who were enslaved and used for hard labour by the dwarves, both Deldrimor (good guys) and Stone Summit (bad guys). Some escaped to Cantha and you can do a quest involving one in GW1 who asks you to help him get the local humans to listen to his requests for a place to live in peace. Basically, they are denied.

So they have been despised, enslaved or hunted pretty much everywhere they have gone. The way that GW2 races look down on them is probably less a logical thing, and more a continuation of their reputation. The Soviet-like Dredge state is a result of them deciding that a) they want to be free, and will have to protect that freedom, and b) they can’t trust any other races, and so must determine their own way of living and be hostile to all outsiders. You can see how communism would appeal to a people whose history is full of slavery to others.

Firstly, the idea that Tyria will progress in that direction is based a little too strongly on the assumption that it will follow our world’s history (specifically European history, really) for my tastes. Not to say it wouldn’t, but merchant classes leading in time to consumption, then a free market, is not an inevitable ‘progress’.

Secondly though, it’s absolutely possible. The charr are warlike but (despite what some human roleplayers may insist!) that doesn’t mean they’re bloodthirsty beasts. They will fiercely protect the interests of the High Legions, whether that means war, the acquisition of land, industry, or peace. The fact that Smodur and the Iron Legion are dominating to some extent right now reflects this in my opinion. The Legions won’t seek out war just to satisfy their pride if it’s not in their interests (wars they’re continuing from centuries ago don’t count :P)

The asura as a race aren’t too keen to share their tech, but if Tyria ended up with the kind of peacetime market-based society you suggest, I doubt the asura would hesitate to make their fortunes in selling gadgets (if other races don’t know how to build or fix them, so much the better!). If money is power, you bet the Arcane Council will set their considerable intellects to the task of becoming millionaires!

Kain Francois.4328:

I guarantee you, if an English teacher would have taken a look at it, then it would have been a failed school project.

We saw Zhaitan only once, an annoying lack of continuity between the story arcs, so many plot devices forgotten, and of course, saladhead!

Many English teachers would not appreciate the constraints of storytelling in the medium of an MMO. I think the continuity between story arcs is pretty decent considering they are clearly separate arcs being pieced together to allow variant stories, for example. Seeing the for only once at the end isn’t that much of a problem – we see evidence of it plenty beforehand, in increasing intensity, but there’s no reason for Zhaitan to turn up and personally destroy something in front of us just for foreshadowing. Does anyone complain that you never get to ‘see’ Sauron in The Lord of the Rings? No, why would you, he’s in Mordor and most of the time we’re not!

I will agree that the background lore of GW2 is, in my opinion, far superior to the actual in-game storytelling, and I’d like to see the two come closer together in quality. But MMO writers work under a lot of unusual constraints.

To return to the OP, I really don’t think it’s fair to say that there’s too much of a focus on ‘comedic elements’ in GW2. Sure, there are events and local plots which are comedic or light-hearted – plenty of them in fact. But it’s a big world, and people spend a lot of time in it. If it was full-on, heavy epic fantasy all the time, I think it would be too much. By contrast, the occasional humorous event can be a fun surprise. I don’t think anyone would claim WoW had no humorous quests!

In general I would say that main story is serious and not comedic. There are exceptions, but mostly within the first two arcs (the stuff based on your biography choices at character creation) – and in those cases each race tends to have a story choice which is significantly more light-hearted than the others, although you don’t always know that before going it. Once you join an order the jokes thin out rather quickly.

A few general tips:

1) Yes, levelling will take time. The game’s designed to last you a while, and working your way up the levels is part of that. It is pretty different to a MOBA – if you want more of the action, I’d recommend jumping in to dynamic events when you see them, large groups are fun :P

2) Guild Wars 2 works best, in my opinion, if you just chill and do what takes your interest. A bunch of stuff will give you experience – story instances, but also events, crafting, and exploring. If you want to level, a good way to start is 100% clearing areas by getting all of the points of interests and stuff.

3) Explore! There are cool sights and neat little extra activities off the beaten track, like jumping puzzles which are often hidden. As well as that, you’re likely to get more exp off the beaten track – the longer a mob lives in the world without someone killing it, the bigger the exp bonus you’ll get for killing it.

Relax and enjoy the ride! There’ll be plenty of time for dungeons and stuff later (the first is in Plains of Ashford when you’re level 30, btw), and ArenaNet run events every month.

PS: You can’t reset skill points, but you’ll get more easily (from levelling up or doing skill challenges as you clear a map) and you can buy all the skills in the end!

Konig Des Todes.2086:

BuddhaKeks.4857:

Actually the Ascalonian Settlement started more like a refugee camp. The people, who went there, while born in Ascalon, never wanted to go back. They fled from the Charr to start a new life (compare to the european settlers of america, though they fled from oppression, not war).

Actually, they settled there to rebuild their strength and then retake their land from the charr, not to start a new life.

While some folks were probably more interested in starting a new life, the main point of Ascalon Settlement was to let the charr win, rebuild forces, then take “their” land back.

That seems weird to me Konig. When Ascalon Settlement was founded, humans still held Ascalon City and were still fighting against the charr. Sure it was post-Searing, but the kingdom wasn’t exactly lost. Wouldn’t the people who wanted to fight the charr have stayed and done so with, presumably, what remained of the national army? Those who followed Rurik to Kryta were basically acknowledging, to my mind, that Ascalon post-Searing was a lost cause. That’s something we know King Adelbern had problems accepting :P I don’t recall hearing anything from Ascalon refugees in Prophecies about intending to take the fight back to the charr one day.

As for Rurikton, Prince Rurik died to ensure that his group of Ascalonian refugees made it safely through the mountains and were able to seek refuge in Kryta. I think that’s a pretty good reason to name the Ascalon sector of the new human capital after him. He’s the reason Ascalonians could be there at all (well, him and the nameless PC who negotiated for the refugees after his death!).

Indeed, Smodur the Unflinching is the dude in question. I’ve written before about how I think he should handle it – become Khan-Ur without ever calling yourself Khan-Ur, save the pride of the other imperators, and rule the new glorious charr empire!

I can’t see the Arcane Council doing anything useful for anyone but themselves, but perhaps Zojja could channel some of her frustrations into the Snaff Memorial Dragon-Smushing Krewe? Of course if we’re going by races, I think the charr (and/or humans) already have dibs on Kralkatorrik. The asura more broadly have their grudge with Primordus, who forced them above ground and out of their former glory – hmm, I suppose that might be enough to rouse the Council to action, if they thought there was a chance of getting any back.

The obvious choice is definitely guardian. Heavy armour, plenty of support/defence, lots of potential for condition removal and that sort of thing.

I’m not certain how engineers hold up, but they certainly require more delicate attention to keep them alive and prospering. Warrior is another heavy armour and thus tough profession, and it does have support potential but excels more in the weapon skills department. You could play a warrior and dump a banner then focus on the offensive, but it sounds like you’d enjoy a guardian – there’s plenty of potential for timing and combos to make a difference.

It may be bugged. It’s a dynamic event right, not a heart? Best to just ignore it, for your own sanity!

I see this is pretty much closed but as an additional note for interest, I looked it up here: http://gw2census.com/charts.php?pie=charprofession-Guardian÷=charrace

The GW2 Census depends on data submitted to it so it’s not complete by any means, but it does back up the idea that charr guardian is the least common guardian (followed by sylvari, interesting!). Charr guardians are also supposed to be very unusual in the lore. Have fun with it! (I also have a female charr guardian… protective feminist legionnaire ftw!).

I think it’s automatic, I haven’t checked at level-up but I’m pretty sure you should just be getting skill points. Might be worth bug reporting it.

loneknight.8425:

Son of Elias.5420:

loneknight.8425:

endeavor.7530:

So, Ebonhawke is Ascalon’s 2nd chance?

There is a Ascalon Settlement at Gendarran Fields as well :

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascalon_Settlement

But that’s essentially a town of former Ascalonians in Kryta. It doesn’t really have the potential to grow into a new nation. I’m almost certain Jennah would object, for one thing, and their neighboring towns all seem to hate them for another.

True, but the settlers do not intend to stay at the settlement permanently and long to reclaim Ascalon as their true home. If they have the resources, they will definitely join Ebonhawke to retake Ascalon from both fronts.

Would they…? Ascalon Settlement (the town) was founded in Prophecies, so let’s see, 253 years before the present day in GW2. That seems pretty permanent to me. It was founded by refugees who chose to leave Ascalon before the charr totally conquered it, to make a new life in Kryta. I think they’re pretty assimilated now!

Narcemus.1348:

I think Trahearn is a savable person. It will just require a bit more development in the voice and character department in the next expansion, but in my mind the story would be worse if they just killed him off for someone newer and better.

Agreed, but I’ll be surprised if Trahearne continues to be much of a major player in future dragon fights. Then again, I suppose he leads the Pact so he’s a major figure now… but Orr was his thing, he was qualified to be a decision-maker regarding Zhaitan because it fell into his own area of expertise. Ultimately though, Orr is his business, and though he may feel it’s important to take the Pact against the other dragons now, he doesn’t have the same special insight into them.

I don’t find Trahearne that annoying personally – yet. And I joke about Kormir stealing the credit, but I don’t think I really mind too much. The PCs not being core historical figures (just happening to be there when history goes down) has kind of been a Guild Wars thing throughout, and it allows their world-building to be much more consistent.

This way he can do other things while eating, or at least gathering food. Given that Zhaitan is more or less defined by an eternal hunger, it’d suck if he had to put all his other plans on hold in order to eat.

BuddhaKeks beat me to it, but yes, the ‘earliest people’ (by which you almost certainly mean “the hunter/gatherer peoples that nineteenth century anthropologists assumed were the same as all people in the Stone Age”) are across the board well aware that sex leads to pregnancy. The idea that they don’t make the connection is a myth, based on the fact that it’s not always what they say happens – but scholars who looked into it further found they understood conception well enough.

As for the Flame Legion, I would suspect that they had other reasons for not wanting to involve women – the story of Bathea Havocbringer sounds like a justification after the fact, a story used to justify what they were doing anyway. It’s possible that the society the shamans were constructing required labour at home to support it, and they chose women as the group to do it. As BuddhaKeks says (more or less), females give birth and nurse young and so already have to stay near very young children, it is a small step to have them continue that role by staying with children until they are ready for adulthood. The Flame Legion may well have just exaggerated and formalised an existing division between the sexes.

Or maybe a couple of the senior Flame Legion shamans got rejected by popular girls in their fahrar days and never got over it. Who knows? Weirder things have caused turning points in our own histories.

“Lion’s Arch owes no allegiance to any race or nation, but stands on its own”

TheXand.7041:

Lion’s Arch’s independence might be accepted for the time being because of certain other overriding priorities but it’s still technically just a rebel settlement in Krytan territory.

No, it’s not! It’s an independent state! It’s not part of Kryta’s kingdom – Kryta’s kingdom was only re-established with Salma anyway, shortly after GW1 time. Lion’s Arch has been its own place for a long time now and I don’t think Kryta would gain anything from owning it – sure, trade profits maybe, but if the city lost its neutrality it would lose most of its advantages.

The old city of Lion’s Arch was flooded and abandoned. As the other human kingdoms were breaking up, Kryta shifted, losing some territories (as Konig said) and moving to a new capital in Divinity’s Reach. The new Lion’s Arch was founded later. By your analogy, it’s more like if London fell into the sea and all its buildings, streets and monuments were destroyed, the English capital was moved to Liverpool, and then some people started cleaning up the ruins where London used to stand and decided to live there. By that point, it’s not like they’re claiming anything important.

Analogies with the UK are also flawed because Lion’s Arch is not on an island like London is. Neutral port cities on a continent have precedent. It benefits everyone to have somewhere to trade through.

I’m fairly certain it is very much official, although it sits on the edge of Krytan territory Lion’s Arch is not part of Kryta in any political or legal sense. It’s not even a human state. The only connections it has to Kryta are historical.

Yep, I’d agree that you might be interested in guardian. There’s only two heavy armour classes and while warrior is a fairly straightforward, non-magical and weapon-focused (but very flexible!) class, guardian is your paladin type. Lots of melee, heavy armour, and heal/support magic.

I hear necromancers can be pretty tough for casters, so you might like to try that (necros here may disagree, I don’t know). My short-range elementalist is fun but drops like a fly when hit, so maybe not for you.

I kind of like the idea of building a new lighthouse (perhaps one that’s better equipped to house modern technology!) and leaving the ruins of the old one to preserve what’s left of the original, as a historical structure. They could even house a little ‘Old Lion’s Arch’ museum in there, for those who aren’t able to take a swimming tour in the harbour…

They probably should change the NPC dialogue to reflect the decisions made about the lighthouse by the authorities, though. Maybe we’ll see that when we get a completed new lighthouse.

BuddhaKeks.4857:

Well maybe the human storyline I played made them look more like this, than they actually are, but the White Mantle looked pretty run down. So they intended to kill a bunch of people that are important for the kingdom Kryta, yet they let themselves be lured into an obvious trap (one of the storyline options).

The White Mantle in that story were pretty stupid, and far too arrogant for a cult that has been hunted to all but extinction. I would assume, however, that there are much more threatening commanders behind the scenes. Whether they have contact with the Mursaat again or are just trying to reclaim their former glory (seeing themselves as rightful, divinely-mandated rulers of Kryta), they seem to currently be mostly anti-royalist. I won’t be surprised if most of the anti-monarchy plots/complaints among the ministers come from Mantle infiltration and instigation (but maybe I’ve just been exposed to too much Assassins vs. Templars lately… :P)

For all that, there will be some disgruntled types who think they’re more powerful than they are because of Mantle connections. I wouldn’t rate the Mantle in that personal story much more highly than the bandits on the threat scale, nor on how important they are to any bigger picture.

As an aside, yes the bandits will in general work for money above all else, but I don’t think they’d work for the Seraph for any wages. My guess would be that in addition to natural disgruntlement and anarchists, someone has been riling people up and convincing them that the throne is responsible for all their problems. That doesn’t mean the bandit leaders don’t sincerely believe they’re working against an evil tyrant with no concern for her common people!

TheXand.7041:

I think as others have said that the Lionguard do indeed primarily serve Lion’s Arch given their racial diversity and their leader is one of the captain’s council of Lion’s arch, but a lot of my confusion stems from the fact that there’s not very much on their history at all. We’re left to guess what happened to the original Lionguard. I think the case is that these aren’t true Lionguard at all since they’ve turned traitor and defected from Kryta.

By your logic I think yes, the current Lionguard are not the same as the original Lionguard, because this is not the same Lion’s Arch. It’s not the case that Lion’s Arch is a part of Kryta that has some conflicts with the throne (e.g. whether or not to fight the centaurs), though – Lion’s Arch is not part of the Krytan kingdom. No longer. It’s an independent city-state, neutral and separate. So in that sense the Lionguard are still a coastal/port city guard, but they’re not part of the same organisation and definitely don’t have the same loyalties.

The ‘new’ Lion’s Arch, built near the original site after the flood, started off as a pirate haven (the Tortuga of Tyria!), and part of the appeal would have been that it owed no allegiance to any nation and therefore none of their laws applied. Since then obviously it has grown up into its own major trade hub and it has its own laws, but unlike Ebonhawke, it is not part of Jennah’s kingdom.

For survivability in a group, first of all, be aware that everyone more or less needs to look out for themselves. Each person may need some points in a defensive stat (and traits will help with that a lot since you up a couple of your basic stats with each trait point spent; check which ones you’re getting!), and/or an ability to dodge, and/or some tricks of their own. For example I play a short-range elementalist with power/precision stats, so I die really easily. That just means I have to be careful with movement, dodge a lot, and have tricks – I get downed easily, but I can get myself rallied again most of the time.

What other advice can I offer… you’ll get it with time; the longer you play a class the more you’ll see what you can do with it, so give it time. As I said, traits will help a lot (they open up some of those tricks I was talking about). As you play, watch for the specific problems you’re having and see if you can use traits to fix them (that’s why I put so much effort into rallying myself when I get downed). And help each other! Friends and allies are the best thing to have when you get downed.

Try a forum search for things like this as the question has been asked many times before. There’s even a wiki page for it!

But yes, as Pinder says, the filter on the forums here replaces any ‘bad’ or forbidden words with ‘kitten’. The idea is that it takes the sting out of bad language.

Killul.9685:

They don’t attack you because Anter[Anet] doesn’t allow any fighting in the captail city. Anet has not clarifed whether they would kill you in lore.

I get where you’re coming from (the mechanics vs. lore question) but I do think that stuff in the game does kind of say that they won’t attack people while in Hoelbrak, even in lore. If they did, they would no longer be suffered there, effective immediately. They get their base there as long as they obey the rules of Hoelbrak just like everyone else. The rules of Hoelbrak, mind you – just the city. There are no norn ‘laws’ that all are bound by.

Besides, in game terms the Svanir in Hoelbrak serve no purpose other than to show that there are Svanir in Hoelbrak. If ArenaNet meant for them to actually be violent, they could have just not put any in the city, as is the case for most other racial enemies (the exception being the Inquest, for similar reasons).

The SoS start off being Norn who crave power and seek it from Jormag. They start off on the path of becoming Icebrood and once they become Icebrood they could use the knowledge of Hoelbrak to attack it when Jormag is ready.

Sure, but that’s true of pretty much any norn who ends up serving any dragon. That’s no reason to make a special exception to bar them from the city. It’s not like Hoelbrak exactly has a lot of secrets or fortifications (just, in true norn form, the strength of its individual inhabitants).

Looks like you’ve received an answer, but as an aside be aware that not all conditions stack the same – some stack by duration (i.e. more stacks = it lasts longer) and some stack by intensity (i.e. more stacks = more damage per second). There’s a page on the wiki about it if you want more info.

Welcome! You may want to post again when you’ve chosen a world/server – that will help you find people who you can play with easily. Also check out Operation Union (beating Glitch to the sales pitch!).

Otherwise, hope you enjoy Guild Wars 2!

I see the images the OP refer to, although the lowers ones (dragons/serpents) are much less clear. It would make sense, if it’s related to the Flameseeker Prophecies, for this to represent the charr on the left, humans fleeing them, and another human city on the right for them to flee to – basically the journey Rurik led. It could also represent something to do with Orr and the charr threatening there, but that’s a little less relevant to the Prophecies themselves.

Perhaps the dragon-like things could represent the Titans driving the charr on, and the serpent-like things on the right… I don’t know, something else? Mursaat (associated with Kryta)? Neither looks like those things, that’s just speculation based on GW1 events. I would hesitate to link it in with the Elder Dragons (they were mostly out of the picture for the Flameseeker Prophecies’ fulfilment in the game) but who knows?