Guild Wars 2

The definition of revenant is, “one that returns after death or a long absence”.

While it is generally used to describe the someone of the undead variety, especially in fantasy works and old folklore, it could be used to describe anyone who came back after being gone/missing for a long period of time. In GW2’s case, that person being Rytlock (and his shiny new profession).

Mental Paradox.3845:

We’ve already seen the darker side of the Pale Tree. Caithe is one cold-hearted… uh… plant. Seriously, if the story didn’t require me to be the goody two shoes, I would have killed her in chapter 2 already.

You don’t like her because she kills people without any sign of remorse? A bit ironic since the PC kinda does the same as well. I know I lost count of how many people my characters killed all throughout the PS and LS simply because they were on opposite sides of the battlefield.

Though, as Shiren said, her views regarding the NC are just about justified now since she already knew of Mordremoth and its connection to the Sylvari and possibly the Nightmare. People being anger at her now for killing a NC member would be like being mad at Logan for possibly killing Kellach. They are already gone by that point.

Barely nothing is actually known about it still. There are different sorts of speculation on the matter, but since they isn’t much to actually back them up, we can’t really make a guess on whether or not they might be anywhere near true at all.

Carlin Sanders.3587:

The only help the player character needed at this point was just the Divine Fire which – were it in their possession and not Rox’s when the champion attacked – they would have been able to finish the fight completely on their own.

Personally, I took away a couple of points for the use of the Divine Fire. The PC was able to solo the SotD, which is a huge achievement in and of itself, but the Divine Fire was an outside magically element, since it came from neither the PC or the dragon originally, that’s super effective against the Mordrem. Without it, the PC would have easily been killed without some way to contain/trap the dragon to damage it.

It’s a bit hard to tell with the whole “Battle Mechanics =/= Canon”.

Personally though, I would put the player character(s) a level or two below the DE members and people like Jennah and Anise. We are really strong characters, especially shown in the last LS episode where we soloed the Shadow of the Dragon (the only assist being Marjory and Co throwing in the Divine Fire), but we’re still a bit away from the individual strength shown by the DE members. Though, it would see the PC and Marjory and Co are slowly working their way towards DE level strength and group coordination.

adragon.1234:

I would say that the Gods likely arrived at Tyria, and setup in Orr in order to siphon power from Zhaitan. Beyond that I don’t think there’s much of a connection.
One more problem in your theory that I’d like to point out is that it seems to imply that the dragons are divine and capable of creating their own realms in the mists.

We find out during Arah (Explorable) that they didn’t know Zhaitan was under Arah.

Randall Greyston: Each of the bloodstone shards has been captured by a corrupted servant of a human god, yet this one is not. I wonder why.
Randall Greyston: Fantastic! The human gods not only sundered the seer’s bloodstone here-they increased its power.
Randall Greyston: They pulled the energies of Zhaitan himself, even though they did not know of the sleeping Elder Dragon.
Randall Greyston: They only knew that this was a place of great magical power, and built their godly city here.

It’s basic comprehension. Or is it going to be too difficult for some players to understand that two similar things can have the same name but act differently?

The same reason why a lion and a crocodile don’t team up together to take down a gazelle. They are both apex predators fighting over the same food, but they don’t want to risk fighting the other encase they might get wounded or killed.

They are probably going to do something similar to when they first added in torment. All the new content is obviously going to get it, but they will probably also add it into the different original skills for the professions.

Xukavi.4320:

Why do you make it seem like the skill is going to last forever, its a weapon skill that uses Energy (confirmed from an interview that weapon and utility skills will use energy)

^^This^^

The only upkeep skills that were previewed were the Embrace the Darkness and Vengeful Hammers. The reflecting wall was only a weapon skill of the hammer. At most, I can see it maybe lasting 3-5secs. Which is nothing horribly game breaking.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Erukk.1408:

Tyria smells of elderberries.

not to ruin the reference, but what about omnomberries?

Because, unless they change it, those seem to be only native to Orr, the land of unfriendly smells.

adragon.1234:

I CANNOT emphasize how much I do NOT want to know what Orr smells like.

You don’t want to smell the wonderful combination of stagnant water, rotting fish, and putrid flesh?

Tyria smells of elderberries.

As pointed out numerous times before, and something that people seem to be forgetting when they make the ED=God list, is that Abaddon isn’t a god any longer. Lyssa took his alignment of water after his fall, and Kormir has no elemental alignment at all.

Moral of the story, the elemental alignments of the gods might be more of a personal preference than something that might be actually tied to the God’s powers themselves.

Test.8734:

I wonder if the Elder Dragons aren’t just part of a whole. If each Dragon isn’t just a regulatory system, but actually a doorway to entire realms based on their domains. Zhaitan, for example, would drain magic from Tyria and send it to the Realm (or planet) of death and shadow, in which the raw magic of Tyria would be transformed and released back as shadow and death magic. The same for the other dragons. Zhaitan would be not the name of the Dragon itself, rather the name of the entire Realm. And the 6 Realms would exist around Tyria, feeding from it but also nurturing it.

This would open some interesting story possibilities – now that the Realm of Zhaitan lacks its power source, its inhabitants are going to need to do something to get magic back. But, again, this is more fanfiction than speculation, and the truth will likely be far, far simpler.

I’ve been wondering something along these lines as well, but I was thinking the Elder Dragon might have a connection or are tied to the different “realms” that are connected to Tyria.

Zhaitan / The Underworld
Mordremoth / The Dream
Primordus / (Possibly?) The Fissure of Woe

The Realm of Torment might be a contender as well, but it’s so screwed up by Abaddon and his influence I have no idea what to really describe it as, or what magic it might possibly be connected to, other than chaotic and horrific with its general “fleshy” atmosphere. So, that leaves Jormag, Kralk, and Selbbub without a known connected realm.

As for any possible God connection with the realms, I thought it might be possible that the realms themselves existed long before the Six actually got to Tyria, and the Six only adopted/claimed them after their arrival because they were convenient and to make use of them for their own personal reasons.

It’s not a really well thought out theory, but my lore driven conspiracy theorist tendencies want to connect the dots for whatever reason.

aussieheals.6843:

Lazaar.9123:

The super golem-suit in one of the Orr personal story paths provides you with hammer kills, weapon masteries from transformations are not a new anomaly. (And that’s with a giant laser)

Warrior Giant Lazer confirmed.

Nope. Since we know engineers are getting hammers and rangers are getting staves, that means thieves are getting the Giant Laser Cannons!

Mental Paradox.3845:

Yeah, dismiss my beliefs as “roleplay”, same as what you lot did in “that other thread”.

The mob mentality in here…

Roleplay prospective as in there isn’t much supporting your theory other than your own speculations on the matter. Is your theory possible? Sure, but the writers would need to expand and add more into Abaddon’s actions and motives than what’s already in the game(s) at the moment.

Until then, Abaddon didn’t want to reseal magic after the Gift probably because it would be totally against his own logic/motto, “Act with magic, act within reason, act without mercy.”, and while the resealing of magic increase hostilities between the Six; the actual war started/snowballed from the actions and conflict between his Margonites and the Forgotten.

Phaerim.9362:

Ogden Stonehealer theorizes that the Human Gods were able to shape the world the world around them due to the fact that they harnessed the magic that radiated from the dragons (which would explain their similarities to the Elder Dragons’ domains).

Are you referring too his dialogue at the end of Hidden Arcana? I think you might be misremembering that.

Ogden Stonehealer: The last time the Elder Dragons awoke, they wiped out almost every intelligent race on the planet.
Ogden Stonehealer: It is from this low-magic environment that the gods built the world as they wanted it.

After Melandru and Balthazar cleansed and reworked the lands (see the Orrian History Scrolls), the low magical environments gave the Six, I assume given Ogden’s dialogue, basically a blank canvas to work with.

The only time, that I’m aware of anyway, the Six drew upon an Elder Dragon’s power was when they accidently did so with Zhaitan’s when they were fiddling around with the Bloodstone.

The human gods had a conflict with Abaddon because he gave humans the ability to harness magic – a deciscion that might have hastened the dragons awakening, due to them simply becoming hungry over the years (one can speculate that Abaddon did this so humans could defend themselves against the dragons?).

All of the Gods had a part in the Gift of Magic, not just Abaddon, and we found that out by the additional info Angel gave out after her semi-notorious interview. I think there was something else about Abaddon handing out pieces of the Bloodstone later on? My memory is a bit fuzzy, and I could be wrong on that, but I’m sure someone will correct me later. lol

It’s possible it might have led to an earlier awakening of the Elder Dragons, but so far the only reasoning we got for them resealing magic was because everyone was killing everyone in constant conflicts and the humans were being pushed to the edge of extinction.

It is also theorized within the game, that the gods chose Arah as their seat, due to the fact that Zhaitan slept beneath Orr.

Source? I remember they first found Tyria because of the magic radiating off from the Artesian Waters, and they probably settled themselves and their humans in Orr because of that as well. But I don’t think they actually knew Zhaitan was beneath them though. I suppose Randall Greyston could be wrong…

Randall Greyston: Fantastic! The human gods not only sundered the seer’s bloodstone here-they increased its power.
Randall Greyston: They pulled the energies of Zhaitan himself, even though they did not know of the sleeping Elder Dragon.
Randall Greyston: They only knew that this was a place of great magical power, and built their godly city here.

But with the defeat of Abaddon and the stirrings of Primordius in GW1, the gods decides to leave Tyria once more – perhaps to introduce more Humans once the “Dragonapocalypse” had done its job once more.

The Gods already mostly left Tyria during their Exodus after they imprisoned Abaddon in the RoT. They still had loose ties with them sending their avatars to give blessings and whatnot, but the only real remaining tie they had keeping them to Tyria was Abaddon’s fate.

Once Abaddon was dead and his power/knowledge/mantle was passed to Kormir, that cut the last remaining tie they had to Tyria, and this was a couple of years before Primordus started stirring. They decided humans were ready to grow up and stand on their own, and they didn’t need the Six to hold their hand anymore and fight their battles for them.

Bathos.6341:

I wonder how Kuunavang is related to the Elder dragons?

We lack too much information to make any sort of accurate guess on the matter. Especially since Kuunavang and Cantha as a whole seem to be a long long way off development wise, and the writers can change their mind on what they want to do with her numerous times between here and there.

I’m somewhere in the 140’s. Though like others have said, I’m not in a rush since it doesn’t effect bags or chests.

Zombiesbum.3502:

No no no no, it’s not like television though is it? If you miss a program you can wait for it to air again.

If you missed a season episode you do not have that luxury. It’s a scam and I won’t ever be purchasing those episodes. If I wanted a good story I’ll go read a kittening book or, get this, go buy another game. “WHAT?! THERE ARE OTHER GAMES OTHER THAN GW2?! HOLY MOLEY!”

No need to get so upset and worked up about it. There, there, it will be alright…

If you had enough time to check your email to notice that Anet sent you an advertisement promoting the release of the latest episode of the LS, you’ve had enough time download it and log in to unlock for your account.

For those that either ignored the promotional emails or are just new players, the LW episode are basically just DLC purchases. DLC purchases that only cost about $2.50 each (cheaper than some cups of coffee) or about 28g (a few dungeon runs or a nice day farming SW) going through gem conversion.

It is. People discovered it when they first introduced the Priory basement in s2e5’s Hidden Arcana.

Nicholas S Lin.6187:

And the reason why BOTH are basically old furniture stored in a forgotten corner of as massive GW2 warehouse is because the GW2 Lore-mistress and her writing team are too focused on the Sylvari and have left them there too long.

Huh. You make it sound like Angel is the Lead Writer. Which I’m very sure is still Bobby’s job. Did she get the promotion Highlander style? Everyone knows that’s the best way to get one. Though, I’m not sure what Angel will do with Bobby’s power to grow epic moustaches. Hopefully she will use that power for good and not evil.

I wouldn’t be all that surprised if there was some type of grind involved, but said grind will probably be hidden amongst the other types of achievements.

Take the “Kill X Amount of Mordrem” for example. If it’s anything like the Zhaitan’s Bane achievement, we will be easily getting that as we progress along the story and the different areas. The kill count will steadily rise from story mission to story mission, and it will sky rocket in open world events with us tagging everything. Not to mention, if it was already in-game, we would have probably finished in a week or two into farming SW.

Plus, while those achievements are super generic, they can still be fitted into the Lore progression of the different new races. Those races have no trust towards outsiders. In between the gliders and the wrecked Pact ships, we’re literally just weird people falling out of the sky to them. By proving our worth by helping them defend their town/villages by doing certain events and “Killing X amount of Mordrem”, we’re showing that we can be trusted. That means it will be safe for them to open up trade with us and show us their various secrets.

Koviko.3248:

You’d think Magdaer would have been completed by now… Do we know who is actually reforging it?

She took it to the only being that might possible know how to reforge a legendary… Zommoros!

Sadly though, he forged it into an exotic 1h cleric sword.

Yo mama’s so stupid, she pronounces Mordremoth as MOE-dre-moth.

~hides from the devs~

Spitballing…

Zhaitan did have a connection to an actual Spirit Realm in the PS, since he was able to pull spirits from the Mists, which could easily imply the Underworld, that Grenth and his Reapers took none to kindly. Zhaitan also ruled over the aspects of Death and Shadows, and those are two things that could easily describe what the Underworld is based on and made up of.

The same could probably be said with Mordremoth. He rules over the aspects of Plants and the Mind, and if you take away the death aspect that most people associate with “Spirit” Realms (and just leave it weird combination of both physical and the metaphysical that GW realms like to be), his connected realm would easily be the Dream. Especially since he seems to be getting stronger and stronger ties with the Nightmare “aspect” of the Dream as the story is coming along.

Yes, I know. I said “general consensus” because I was in a bit of a rush, and I hate stating stuff as facts in the Lore forum when I haven’t as posted the source material to back it up.

Though, personally, I wouldn’t say that it simply ends with the Elder Dragons=Orbs. In the s2e2 journal you mentioned, the player says that the orbs represent the Elder Dragon in the vision, with Tyria itself being represented by the Pale Tree (hence why I said Tyria/Pale Tree), and the conversation you quoted; the scholar said he liked to think of the image as Spirit Realms with Tyria in the center. That’s an awfully particular statement to say when describing what is supposedly just a representation of the relationship between Tyria and the Elder Dragons.

This was possibly hinted at during the Hidden Arcana mission in the book The Map of the All.

If you’re not mistaken, this ancient tome was written by someone known as the Apostate. It appears to describe something similar to what you saw in your vision of the Eternal Alchemy.
Read on.
The author calls it the Antikytheria, describing it as a cosmic mechanism made of many parts, all spinning around a central body known in ancient Krytan as Thyria.
Read on.
Six large bodies orbit the world, existing in primal symbiosis. The energies move with the push and pull of positive and negative, ever in motion.
Read on.
The Apostate says one thing that is especially troubling… “Should the energies become imbalanced, the world will tilt and all beings will fall off it into the void.” It’s probably a metaphor.

General consensus at the moment is that the six large orbiting bodies are likely the representation of the Elder Dragons, and the green orb we saw crashing into Tyria/Pale Tree during our vision in the first part of s2 was showing us the death of Zhaitan.

Rym.1469:

I’m wondering…

We’ve been told that Ree and Jeff Grubb were doing some big project.
I don’t know when exatly it was told, but I think about 1,5 year ago.

So, now, do they work on Heart of Thorns?

If they’re still with the company, they are probably already done with the overall story of Heart of Thorns, and they’re probably already doing rough drafts of whatever content/expansion is after that one.

I don’t think we could say that the Sylvari are bred for/with specific traits at the moment. Especially considering that we only have one (possible) lone example of a Sylvari that was born free of outside influences (the Dream/Nightmare) in the form of Malyck, and he seems to be about an average guy.

Considering how much power and sway the Ministry has in Krytan, it could be possible that they have some say in the decision of someone being raised to noble status. Beetlestone and cohorts probably know that Jennah will never marry as long as she loves Logan. So as long as they can keep him from advancing in status, that leaves Jennah is a weakened position.

Nilkemia.8507:

The problem is that until the Pale Tree recovers (or another safeguard is found/created), no one outside of the player character is safe.

And Canach and more than likely Caithe. All the different art during the unveiling suggests that he will be joining Marjory and Co, and Caithe most likely has plot armor (for now) like the player. It would be bad writing if they had her, “I’m stealing this egg to protect it from Mor—- ALL PRAISE HIS ALMIGHTY LEAFYNESS, MORDREMORTH!”

If they are Mursaat, their new look could have something to do with how they survived the Titan attacks. They were kinda on top of Khilbron’kitten list after he gained control of the Titans after all. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

That, or as Konig has been saying in the Mursaat thread, this is all blind Mursaat bandwagon hype, and they’re probably some sort of magical constructs, probably made by Glint since she supposedly hid something away in the jungle, to help aid the players in case of her death against the Elder Dragons.

Torsailr.8456:

Has anyone else noticed the color of the murat appears similar to the elemental aspects the zephyr it’s used? Or is that my imagination?

Glint’s and the Zephyrite crystals are purple: lightning, orange: sun, and blue: air. The beings, to me, seem to glow a light orange, yellow, and light blue possibly purple. That’s at least one color off.

CureForLiving.5360:

Erukk.1408:

Unless you plan to tie them all up and ship them to Arah, there’s no real and easy cure for dragon corruption yet. Once they are corrupted, they are servants to the dragon now, and their only job is to further the dragon’s goal. That usually means trying to kill you, your loved ones, and destroying life as you know it for the glory of Mordremoth.

Pretty sure shipping Sylvari to Arah to cure this so called dragon corruption would be a wasted effort. If Sylvari are corrupted then it was by Ventari! They are dragon minions, but not something that was corrupted into a dragon minion.

I will agree from what Wynne said the Sylvari are/were meant to be dragon minions, but that doesn’t automatically make them such. I usually classify them are “unruly children” at the moment. Sure, children/Sylvari are suppose to follow their parent/Mordremoth’s orders, but since they have free will they can choose not too.

Glint and the Sylvari seem to be shaping up to be the same in that regard. After the Forgotten broke Glint’s connection to Kralk, she didn’t automatically turn against her master. That took time, and it only came after she started to see what the lesser races actually were and how her and her master’s actions effected them. Whatever happened to the Pale tree (and Mawdrey), whether it be from the Player, Ventari, the Forgotten, or whatever else, didn’t so much “corrupt” the minion into being nice, it simply gave them a choice in the matter.

The only reason we see them turning now is seemingly because Mordy is exerting his mental dominance over them and controlling them that way. Hence the “corrupted” sylvari gaining Mordy’s red eyes. It might be sad knowing that an innocent Sylvari doesn’t have a choice in what horrible actions its now committing, and it’s can only watch on as it’s body is being used by another, but unless Anet hands us a magical fix-it for this (which they probably will), our only real choice is to kill them. Capturing them, tranquilizing them, and transporting them to Arah would simply take too long and be too costly to do in mass.

Parts of the OP remind me of a quote from Hitchhiker’s Guide.

“In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.”

Just replace Universe with either: expansion, GvG, New Borderlands, and/or Masteries.

I’m sure someone already posted this somewhere else in the forums, but it’s time to crush some hopes and dreams…

http://www.shacknews.com/article/87848/guild-wars-2-director-discusses-heart-of-thorns-revenants-guild-halls-and-more

Shacknews: The expansion is set to introduce some new mechanics. Can you explain more about Mastery and Specializations?

Johanson: Specializations is a new system that allows you to take each of the professions we have in the game and grow them almost into a new sub-profession or secondary profession. An example of this is, a Ranger can become a Druid. Once a Ranger becomes a Druid, they have the ability to use the powers of the jungle and that gives them new skills, new traits, they can use a new weapon that a Ranger could never use before, and they get new profession mechanics that fundamentally change the way a Ranger plays when they become a Druid. Each of the professions will be getting one of these Specializations and this also is a framework that we’ll use to grow the professions in the future. This will be the way we add more skills, traits, and abilities to the game moving forward. That’s how we’re growing our existing professions.

I understand the work load needed to add and balance all the new skills they are adding to the game, plus whatever backstory/quest/whatever needed to unlock them, that they were probably only able to give each profession one specialization, but I’m still sad that we aren’t at least getting two to give us a choice though.

Let’s just hope that it doesn’t take another 3 year for another expansion and the next round of specializations.

aspirine.6852:

I would have thought that new players had everything unlocked for free too. Kinda dissapointed that they have to gem up to do the LS. I hope it is a feature that is forgotten.
I know that the deal of last weekend is a steal, but it would not do Anet any good in the feel good department if they have to gem to get the LS episodes.

Do players that just bought an MMO not have to pay for all the additional content they developers added over time? I know if someone just bought WoW today they would have to buy all the added expansions to get to play the full game. The same logic applies to this.

LS2 might not have been anywhere near an expansion, but it was added content. The good thing about it though, is the only thing your missing if you don’t buy it is the story content and their related achievement and rewards. You can still play in the new areas, and if someone is nice enough; they can run you through the story missions you missed.

If someone wants to spend the $20 just to unlock the LS rewards and achievements, that’s up to them.

Unless you plan to tie them all up and ship them to Arah, there’s no real and easy cure for dragon corruption yet. Once they are corrupted, they are servants to the dragon now, and their only job is to further the dragon’s goal. That usually means trying to kill you, your loved ones, and destroying life as you know it for the glory of Mordremoth.

The Sylvari that have turned are Sylvari no longer. They are Mordrem.

Or to rework an old phrase for this situation, “Red (eyes) equals dead.”

I want to see Anet troll all the non-lore fans by gating parts of the Precursor Scavenger Hunt behind an accounts language proficiency. They are a part(ish) of lore after all!

Because the gem/gold conversion rate wasn’t high enough already…

If there’s one thing we know about the Mursaat, it’s that those horribly egotistical kittens will want to survive no matter what, and if they can’t flee into the Mists again, they aren’t left with many options now that Mordy knocking on their doorstep.

I wouldn’t be all that surprised if this turns out to be a forced alliance out of necessity. The Mursaat will be forced to concede they need allies (not friends) for their continued survival, and the player races need the Mursaat’s knowledge regarding the Elder Dragons and whatever the deal is with Glint’s egg. I do agree though that they need to handle the storyline with care, because at the very least the White Mantle is still very much a thing.

I do look forward to one thing though. If these Mursaat turn out to be friendly… no… let’s change that to agreeable, there is a chance we might get shamed exiled Lazarus hell-bent on vengeance after the war against Mordy might be over. Him seeing his once proud and powerful race having to ally with the mortals might push him over the edge.

lordkrall.7241:

I seem to recall them doing the same prediction for 2014, and clearly we didn’t have an expansion pack then either.

They are basically just guessing and sooner or later they might get it right.

Wouldn’t it be a surprising turn of events if they knew Anet was working on this expansion since 2013, and they were simply guessing that year and 2014 given gw1’s campaign release schedule?

There isn’t really a debate here though it seems. I’m not arguing about their failed predictions in 2013 and 2014. Especially since a lot of people thought the same exact thing using gw1 as an example. All I’m saying is that they seemingly did predict an expansion this year. Was it by coincidence? Possibly, but that doesn’t make it false though or any less correct.

If I had to semi-trust anyone to possible predict a baseline for when the expansion might launch, I’d rather look toward someone who might have inside information and a stake (their $$$) on the matter than baseless player speculation. They might have been wrong before, but they still have more creditability than random people off the internet.

lordkrall.7241:

You mean like the expansion that was released 2013?

I’m sure they got burned horribly because of those predictions, but that doesn’t make this prediction, that seemingly turned out true, false though.

I hoping for at least 2 different specialization for each profession in HoT. It wouldn’t be much of a specialization if it’s only a single choice. Plus, I’m sure we will get more with each expansion. Let’s just hope that the next one isn’t in 3 years again.

Said 3rd party companies usually have insider sources on the matter though, and in the end of the day only care about their own investors and profits. They wouldn’t publish such predictions if they didn’t have some knowledge on the matter, because if they are wrong it costs them and their investors a huge amount of money.

BrunoBRS.5178:

in context, he meant that most sylvari in the fleet were converted, not most sylvari in the world (that would be just stupid). come on, it’s reading comprehension :/

And here I thought he was only talking. Was there subtitles I missed somewhere? =P

Not to mention, since this wasn’t stated ingame, that means the statement is “malleable”.

I wouldn’t put it past them to release a half season of the LS in-between now and whenever the expansion release. They could fill it with everyone reaction to the destruction of the Pact fleet, set up for the background of the new specializations, possibly the return of Rytlock from the Mists to set up the Revenant before launch(?), etc.