Guild Wars 2

Aaron Ansari.1604:

I think they’ve already jumped to the everyone knows aspect. When we first reach the scene, in that Silverwastes intro instance, before you’ve even left that first fort, random Pact members are shooting out “You’re also a dragon minion. Reports say all sylvari are.” If they’re holding that it’d already gotten that far and that accepted in less time than it took the commander to trek out to the cave and back, at that rate it’ll easily be all over Tyria by the time Mordremoth falls. I don’t like it, but I also don’t think ANet’s displayed any interest in disputed information as a story device.

Last time I went through that spot in silverwastes, the only thing said was “There must be some new type of Mordrem, that’s the only thing that could’ve caused this.” Not a single pact member ever said anything about Sylvari being dragon minions to MY sylvari character, or anything about it to my human character.

Nothing really confirmed it ingame (for my two playthroughs of the prologue and torn from sky) until AFTER they got into the brink, at least as far as everybody else goes.

EdwinLi.1284:

The issues for each races have not been resolved and are just on hold. We have…
-Ministry vs the Throne (With the ministry still using the Bandits and sabotaging the Seraph)

You mean Caudecus, and how that has mostly been resolved or sidelined with him living with Jennah? That by itself isn’t nearly as major as it was. Early human storylines also deal with reducing that.

-Struggle to keep the Human and Charr peace together

What struggle? The peace treaty has been moving forward, the cease fire officially signed. That struggle is more of “Putting down the seperatists and the renegades.” Which, in the personal story vigil arc, you kill off the main leadership of the renegades.

-Ascalonian ghost still plague the Charrs and certain amount of Charr still think it is pointless to put effort against the Elder Dragons becuase they don’t see them as a threat.

A: The ghosts have plagued the charr for a long time. Infact, with Rytlock ending the ghost ‘spawns’ around Barriden’s estate, that actually reduces the threat to the black citadel.
B: Where does that second part come from? I know some humans in Shaemoor have dialogue like “I think that dragon stuff is a rumor”, but the charr have the brand going through Ascalon.

-Majority of the Asura Council still believe they are safe from the Elder Dragons and still attempt to hide any information from the Asuran Public.

The Arcane council has always been a collection of stubborn old kittens. I’ve not done the personal story for Asura yet, but Asura are being status quo, not really an issue with other races.

-Sylvari are now revealed to be Elder Dragon minions which the public will most likely not take well to eventhough Mordy is dead because now this may lead to question all Sylvari’s actions.

And the general public won’t know that kitten until later. Spread of information takes times, and the first waves of wounded from the jungle with ACTUAL news are ALSO the waves that know and were told to spread the information that some Sylvari are fine. Given length of HoT campaign (short), the death of the dragon may have happened before the news truly spread.

-Norn are still suffering from Son of Svanir raids which all we did in Season 2 was slow them down so the Norn can provide some small Norn force into the Pact.

That’s been happened for a long, long time. That threat varies in how dire it is, and Norn don’t really have armies, they just convinced some to head over since the one Svanir stronghold was cleared.

All of these are issues within a specific race, and some are dealt with. Only one you said actually involves issues “between races”.

Eh, Sylvari – Asura isn’t as big as Charr -humans was.

Scarlet’s actions really only caused anti-Sylvari feelings within Lion’s Arch itself, and I’d be disappointed if Anet suddenly has everybody and their grandmother know about the true origins of Sylvari without any build up. The first REAL wave of news about that after all would include the Pact soldiers explicitly told by Laranthir/Commander to spread the word that “Not all Sylvari are evil/belong to the dragon!”

However, I’d imagine the military and government heads would learn the news (BOTH SIDES) first from said wounded being evacuated from the jungle. I’d agree to interest in that side of things as long as it’s not pure “SYLVARI ARE EVILS! HATE!”. If the commander is involved, the aspect of “Mordremoth is DEAD” should be brought up.

EdwinLi.1284:

I’m curious on how our character became a Revenant since so far the only way i know a Revenant gain their power is through strong exposure to the mist or strong link to the mist.

So far we have no place that would expose anyone to the mist directly in GW2 except for the Mist itself which Rytlock entered and got himself exposed to it long enough to develop his powers.

I hope in later part of the story we can explain how our own character obtained his Revy powers even if it is a small amount of dialogue.

No place to interact with the mists?

Fractals, Mist War anybody?

Being honest, the OFFICAL spreading of the class is unknown and until the devs put forth an answer, we’d make up our own explanation.

However, Rytlock shouldn’t be hated on for HoT. He doesn’t understand this stuff himself and Rox is pestering him like an annoying child (in the middle of the time intensive, brutal story of HoT no less) for answers.

I’ll glance through again and fully read it, but a few main points I saw.

A: Rytlock doesn’t explain it, because he’s not 100% fully sure about it himself. Add in that Rox is PESTERING him for answers in the middle of a very rushed, brutal, TIME IMPORTANT campaign (HoT story is short and brutal), it’s more of a distraction that he’s trying to ignore. It’s not Rytlock being an kitten , it’s Rytlock wanting to get the job done and explain later when things are calm. Rox pestering him in the middle of the missions is more weird for me.
B: The “Non-canon bit” Well, technically, simply playing the personal story as a Revenant is non-canon. Technically, most role-players don’t link themselves as the hero of the story missions.
C: Explaining the skills… “It’s magic”? One person’s description of a necromancer casting a spell may be different from another. There isn’t really a set in stone method/description for most of the magic in GW2 that the players use. We know illusions tend to affect groups since an illusion for a single person is far harder to channel. We know guardians are a kitbash of Ritualist, Monk, and Paragon magic and abilities. We know thief’s shadow-stepping is magic, but I’ve heard various explanations from players for that as well.

From the role-playing standpoint, I’m unsure how the explaining bit truly fits in. A necromancer might understand how their magic involving minions works perfectly, but could they explain it to a mesmer? I personally lean toward the “not really”.

I’m unsure what looks you are talking about, and the Zephyite thing is EXACTLY what I’m talking about. They brought the stuff along with them from Cantha. That is what I’m talking about for future skins. Personally though, I’ve been seeing a lot of “CANTHA, CANTHA, MORE CANTHANS, YAAAAAAAAAAAAY” and it’s getting a bit overdone :P.

Anyway, that is off topic, as is the skins.

Issues between the races? What do you mean?

The ONLY two races with ‘issues’ (talking major races purely) are Charr and Humans, and they are well on their way to a peace treaty, if that’s not already been mostly formalized!

I’ve been told if you go into the helix map after finishing the final instance, and go to talk to the people at the top their dialogue changes. I think the only real one I’ve heard that was interesting was Caithe returning to the Pale Tree to deliver the news of Trahearne’s death and the jungle dragon’s death.

And the sudden and instant “HEY LOOK, CANTHAN STUFF!” for no reason? As I said, I’m not against the idea of the stuff, but I’d feel better if there was a reason for it other then randomness. Same with Elona themed armors or weapons.

Yeah, but do we have tons of Elona style weapons and armor? Not entirely.

Likewise, random dialogue in the Reach actually has two people commenting on how it’s hard to find (or unlikely) actual rice cakes or something, given the LONG time cut off from Cantha. Another scene has them comment on how the Canthan’s in Kryta don’t even know who the current emperor is, or when the last one died.

Canthan Scholar: Emperor Usoku is the last Emperor of Cantha whose name we know.

Canthan Scholar: Here, we revere the emperors we do not know, and we pray that the gods keep our distant homeland safe.

Canthan Scholar: Out last contact with Cantha was over a hundred year ago, but we still revere our ancestors as in generations past.

So while there ARE Canthan’s present in Kryta, it’s hardly a huge number. Hao Luen notes he’s from a Canthan Noble family, but the “influence” they hold toward Lion’s Arch isn’t really shown. Marjory’s family is heavily Canthan, but that’s also just kinda there.

I’m not opposed to having Canthan designs (Or Kurzick or Luxon styles either, hell I’d love that for my necromancer and her family member characters, kurzick especially), but I’d rather it not just suddenly “AND NOW, KATANA’S EVERYWHERE!”

Hence why I’d say something like some Canthans showing up in LA (fleeing Cantha, or seeking to resume trade like they had before Zhaitan rose). Hell, Usoku took over nearly a hundred years BEFORE Zhaitan rose, and that was when any contact with Cantha was lost. So the trading between Zhaitan’s rise and Usoku’s rise (which was when Cantha became isolated on purpose, only trading somewhat) was the only contact they had, and they never knew if Usoku was replaced during that timeframe, or if he was still in charge. :P

Modern Kryta is mostly Krytans and Ascalonians (and their descendants). SOME from Elona and Cantha, but not nearly as much.

edit: Maybe this will make more sense.

I personally think that if Anet wants to do more Canthan/kuzrick/luxon style designs, they could do a little overall update thing that has a Canthan like theme to it, so it’s less of an “Out of the blue random design drop!” and more of “Hey, this Canthan ship just docked in LA!”

Slowpokeking.8720:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

They were actually already set up in Dry Top long before the crash – and had a strong presence in the general area for a while (see Brisban Wildland’s Sinister Triad).

Then they should have played a more important role in the Mordremoth story. The story failed to present the war nicely, nor does the mystery(egg, Rata Novus) help much to the fight.

The way the inquest came across in that area was less “Established” and more of “They JUST arrived.”

Brisbane had plenty of inquest, yeah, but drytop seemed… new/rushed for inquest bases.

HoT storywise so far has been a short, brutal campaign. Inquest I feel don’t need to be included and frankly I’m hopeful that they DON’T get included. I’d rather not have inquest be popping up literally everwhere we go. :/.

Being honest, I’m kinda happy the inquest aren’t in the jungle in any major sense.

It’s annoying to have them pop up literally everywhere the hero goes. They had a camp ready to raid the zephyrite crash… moments after the crash happened.

If they don’t show up, I’ll be happy.

gclhoutx.7234:

It would be nice if ANET could implement more of the Clothing and wardrobe style based on that timeline period. I know I read somewhere about a Katana skin however I’ve been unlucky any finding anything like a Katana or even a Samurai Sword skin. I know the female Hexen skin recently had the a Chinese Looking hat along with it but the male skin didn’t have it.

I’d agree if they had a LS section which featured Canthan’s arriving to Kryta heavily, or we went to Cantha to get more “Canthan style weapons/armor skins”. Out of the blue? Not as much.

Kudu was also being heralded as a major leader of the inquest, and we killed him + Zojja took all his research with intent to expose the worst of it to the Arcane Council (IIRC).

Also the fact the inquest as a faction is rather splintered.

The group that remains in Sorrow’s Embrace seems separate in goal from Kudu’s plan before he died.

Way I remember it, ones directly around Rata sum are questionable, but not SUPER crazy (because they are right at or near Rata Sum). The further away, the more crazy the stuff they get up to.

An inquest lab near Rata Sum may have entirely different goals and leadership then one in bloodtide coast.

Well, my exploration of that zone was along that path, without the events going on. (As well as the story missions in that zone).

You can get into the ruins further on, then backtrack to the console behind the red forcefield.

I’ve been there… it’s just a red forcefield.

Nothing says that it is inquest besides the fact it is red. :/.

EdwinLi.1284:

Though it would be interesting if we have a Story mission in the mist that has our character’s past actions questioned before we obviously come back to life. Such as how the Pact commander just went on adventures while leaving the Pact to handle the Elder Dragon’s minions.

You mean like when the Pact was actively rebuilding and in a planning phase, and thus the vanguard style hero wasn’t needed yet as there was NO ACTIVE campaigns against the dragons underway? Thus said hero was given a vacation of sorts, and once the Pact started working against Mordremoth, said hero reclaimed the title of “commander”?

:P

I’d say lack of inquest labs is because the HoT campaign takes place so shortly after the fleet events, and isn’t a big timeframe of the story missions.

Also, Inquest are not the sharing type, but the further away from Rata Sum, the more ‘independant’ the labs are. After Crucible of Eternity got shut down by the player character, that was THE largest, most active lab outside of Rata Sum’s watchful eye. Zojja also, IIRC, was taking the research data back to Rata Sum to expose the inquest, so they may have been hurt politically after that.

I’d say we haven’t had a inquest krewe who had an idea/where interested in the jungle and had the resources to safely GET into the jungle.

Once you officially join an order, the storylines converge. Race does affect what “Help another species” options there are however, so you’d want to see if the choices overlap.

Charr and Human both have the racial sympathy toward Skritt, so that’d work. If you both join the same order, from that point on you could do 100% of the story together without halting progress for one or the other.

Everything before being a member of the Vigil, Order of Whispers, or Priory is race-unique though.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

There’s only three combat groups of non-Pact central Tyria forces in HoT: The S.C.A.R. lane warband (individuals pulled from Fireheart Rise, part of the Iron Legion), and Lieutenant Francis seen at the entrance of Auric Basin, and then two mercenaries (an asura and a norn) seen wandering through Tarir. Everyone else – sans the nobles – are Pact afaik.

I don’t know where we meet Francis beforehand, but he comments on the fact he has fully joined the pact and left the Seraph.

Doug Whisper.2465:

Pact is the reason why five nations not act together to deal with elder dragons as concluded in Pale Tree summit. With Pact gone and many members of destiny edge are out of mission, forming a new army among the nations could be the new drama of the story.

From a story telling perspective, if PC becomes the new leader, there will be very little room for character development in the future.

The Pact is not gone however. The PC says that to Trahearne, but there is next to no actual backing of the statement.

A: Pact forces in Orr are still very well intact, as are the base orders.
B: Even as the fleet was destroyed, Pact forces in the silverwastes were intact and actually holding their ground effectively to provide a way out for wounded and a way in for reinforcements.
C: In Verdant Brink alone we see a major gathering point for Pact survivors which is fortified during that first day, holds out during the night and assumably only grows stronger in manpower and security as time goes on (It resets only because of the timelocked maps stuff).
D: Auric Basin and Tangled depths we see some order/Pact activity (I’ve not done as much in those maps myself). However in Dragon’s stand there is another major Pact field fort setup, and the Pact sends forces down the lanes to fight Mordremoth.

I fail to see how the Pact is gone. Their main air fleet is, but not the Pact itself.

edit: Unless that line is a hilarious reference to the fact after Verdant Brink, the commander does basically nothing related to their actual job, which is (until a new Marshall is made), being the main leader of the Pact.

Dwergling.2761:

So yeah,

After searching some food for thought I was wondering what happend to the Mantid that could be found mostly in the Sjing Jea Islands of Factions in Guild Wars 1. I have found no lore or anything about them in Guild Wars 2. How come?

Because we can’t even go to Cantha right now, much less that island.

Cannons have to deploy. Against a rapidly moving enemy force like the Centaurs, convoys to move cannons around would possibly miss battles. Way I’ve heard it, it was actually crossbows that brought the decline of archers (because it was easier to use/train).

Cannons are neat, but remember, we don’t see everything. Given how Anet at one point said Charr rifles, Norn Rifles, and Human rifles were similar to three types of early RL firearm, it’s kinda silly to assume the Seraph don’t have some sort of rifle in production.

adormtil.1605:

And they really dead?

Considering we found Khilbron again in the Realm of torment and killed him there too… Yes.

Bar specific situations (I think there is something special in a Bloodtide Coast/sparkfly fen Risen Lich event chain that you have to do), Liches are just extremely powerful necromancers/undead necromancers.

adormtil.1605:

Kalavier.1097:

adormtil.1605:

Well I actually mean the Seraph army they use bows in the age of canons and riffles they use bows. You get what I mean that the people who need guns do not have guns?

It’s not really an “age of cannons and rifles”. Do remember that lore-wise, we are talking the equivalent to EARLY firearms from the real world.

Bows and Arrows are, in general, slightly easier to make and supply then rifles. :P.

I always thought it was more like the age of Louis the XIV. And there was lot of cannons and riffles used back then mostly cannons but you get the point they did not used bows and arrows.

I’m unsure exactly what you mean, but in GW2 there is a fine balance between tech, magic, and typical fantasy weapons. Sure, rifles exist and pack a punch, but they are (in lore, last I heard) slow to reload. A trained archer could put several arrows downrange quicker.

adormtil.1605:

Well I actually mean the Seraph army they use bows in the age of canons and riffles they use bows. You get what I mean that the people who need guns do not have guns?

It’s not really an “age of cannons and rifles”. Do remember that lore-wise, we are talking the equivalent to EARLY firearms from the real world.

Bows and Arrows are, in general, slightly easier to make and supply then rifles. :P.

adormtil.1605:

I do not know about exporting guns Kryta has a very very low amount of guns. So do the norn but they do not have lot to offer to the charr in exchange since they are mostly hunters and they need to feed themselves first. But Kryta has.

We hardly see the actual economy or bulk of citizens ingame.

Humans, Norn, and Charr all have their own gun styles (from memory), but we know that Charr in the original GW2 LA talked to the gate operators about moving large amounts of cargo through the gate.

There is also a Norn in Hoelbrek who collects guns :P. Trading with Norn isn’t trading with a government/faction, you are trading individually mostly. Or simply setting up shop and letting people buy it.

Polarfairy.8046:

I do wish we had a separate starting story for revenants, or a least a quest line where rytlock tells us what the heck is going on. I mean it’s pretty weird that all revenants can only summon the same 4 legends if you think about it, there has to be a story behind that. My theory is just my own filler till they give us a real one >_<

Gameplay mechanics do not = lore. I’ve mentioned to people who wish to RP, that they could likely channel (in character) the legend of say, Jora. Other major GW1 characters could likely fit as well.

Those heroes in the temple in factions would be fitting for that as well.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I don’t think there’s a story behind it at all.

I mean, wouldn’t it be weird for all necromancers to create the same 6 kinds of minions? In lore, I doubt that’s the case – in fact, we know it isn’t because Ghosts of Ascalon has Killeen create a minion out of a fresh corpse as well as a pile of bones and being very much like its original shape..

I’ve viewed it(my headcanon) as the minions we use ingame are the “default” forms. Everybody is taught those forms for the generic minion archtypes. But in reality, you could have humanoid minions or other appearances for the minions (or minion types even) with practice.

adormtil.1605:

Was it unknown that you had to destroy the soul vessel of a lich to actually kill her during the events of GW1?
Again their omnivores and can live on not meat but they need meet to be as strong as they could be.

We don’t even know if Guild Wars liches FOLLOW that thing. GW has a tendancy to turn popular fantasy things on their head. See vampires and incubus’s being bat like beasts.

We have no real knowledge or lore on the process to become a lich either. The two most known liches (Khilbron and Joko) only have one origin explained. Khilbron became a lich through the cataclysm of Orr. Joko we have never heard of his origin. We killed Khilbron without destroying his phylactery(which is an ascended trinket in GW2), so it’s unknown how that relates. We know of other liches (one during GW1 later Halloweens, as well as npc enemies in gw2), but we don’t know the process to become one.

That is ENTIRELY off topic though. I’d say Charr are heavy meat eaters but they do get some plants. As shown, there is a cub who tends a strawberry garden as special treats and makes the character (If you talk to her) keep it a secret. :P

However, we don’t know much about blood or ash legion homelands. And the world is slightly bigger then we see ingame, so yeah. they have plenty of ranches in Ascalon ATM, and likely trade for food and other resources with LA or through LA and the havens. Charr can export guns and other things they produce and import extra food for example.

The Greyhawk.9107:

Well, aside from the qualifier you already mention, there’s also the fact that we have no clue what the current state of either Elona or Cantha. Its entirely possible (though not necessarily probable) that Joko turned almost all the Elonians into undead or something, while we know that both Blood and Ash are roughly just as well off as Iron.

Cantha, as of rising of Orr, was intact and doing decently, bar the whole “Isolationists policies and hating all non-humans.”

Elona, while under Joko’s thumb, IIRC was also implied to at least be doing steady. Not improving, but not in a major decline? I think neither Order of Whispers or the last group of people who escaped really talk at all about the conditions there. I know from memory of the Movement of the World Joko was more concerned with wiping out the Ossa family and the Sunspears (or having them serve him, alive or undead.). They don’t say if he returned the Elon River back to it’s natural direction, but I’d kinda assume so since he actually seemed to want to rule over Elona and not wipe them out.

edit: As another person said, there is also that map which had two other, completely unknown major ports list. Those could be human nations/areas as well.

About charr, you can find a female charr cub who is tending a patch of strawberries. She tells you to keep it a secret though. :P

adormtil.1605:

I never understood what the elder dragon Zaitan did to the non sylvari hero. I mean really now what did he do?
It was nothing actually the bandits and centaurs did more then Zaitan and I did not see the hero doing genocide on them. Really Zaitan did nothing to us and yet we went and killed him.
I get Mordremoth he did used Scarlet to attack us so that is something but Zaitan is innocent towards non sylvari heroes.

Um…

A(Charr): They find out their warband leader had a necklace on him from a necromancer serving Zhaitan (or simply using Zhaitan’s corruption), spreading Risen all over.
B(Norn): This case, it’s more Jormag, so eh.
C(Asura): Haven’t actually finished all of the early Asura ones, so I can’t say for them personally.
D(Human): Well, let’s see. Zhaitan destroyed several major ports early on when he rose up. Oh, and there is the whole “Join an order” arc which deals with you putting down an increasing number of risen within Kryta, leading up to the corrupted Seraph literally trying to KILL THE QUEEN, a Risen force following behind him.

Oh, then we have the entire LA/Claw Island bit. I think the Risen show up in the Hylek arc. I know it’s icebrood for Quaggan and Grawl, destroyers for Skritt, and branded for Ogre.

To the OP, that’s basically the rough outline of almost every “hero’s journey” as others have said.

adormtil.1605:

I am surprised that his champion was stronger then him. I mean really what was Zaitian thinking when he created a immortal champion.

What?

It’s implied the turrets/megalaser were enhanced by the Vigil after they took over the site in Tequatl rising. It’s said he was merely defeated, not killed before that point (after tequatl rising, he is dead).

Also, the fights are different. Tequatl would be easier if everybody was using heavy cannons built to kill dragons against it :P.

I’m curious to why I can’t buy the bandit sniper appearance pack as a gift for a friend. Or the Crystal Guardian one.

According to what I’ve read, OoW set up a base in Rata Novus when they push into Tangled Depths.

+ activating the defenses.

Also, it’s stated that Mordrem guard are regrown after dying (mostly the commanders).

Shiren.9532:

Taimi comes off as some super genuins as a consequence of her always being in the story. It’s similar to how Kasmeer looks so remarkable and accomplished because everything revolves around the biconics these days – no-one else in Tyria seems to be doing much anymore (to the point where Priory members of the Pact for some reason needed instruction from an asuran child – where did the Pact get Priory members so inexperienced?).

Um, I always took that scene as less of the Priory members going “WAT TO DO. WE SO CONFUSED/LOST!!!!” And more of Taimi literally BARGING into the scene and yelling orders and all.

Though it could be very likely that Scruffy had sensors/ability to gather data that none of the Priory pact members did considering they just came from the airship crashes.

BuddhaKeks.4857:

Even more scaling! Credit again to that_shaman.

It’s nice, but completely lacks actual size labels <_<.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Well the issue with making your enemies huge is that unless they are what you’re fighting on/inside, the fights are just ridiculous. As the joke goes: “Here, let me trim your toenails until you’re dead.”

So I think it’s expected that in lore Zhaitan and Mordremoth are much larger – it’s just that you can’t really depict their true size without the issue of it seeming silly. This is no doubt why we fought the Marionette indirectly.

That said, in regard to size scaling, both in-lore and in game I’m expecting smallest to largest to be: Primordus -> Zhaitan -> Mordremoth -> Jormag -> Kralkatorrik -> DSD

I would like to see a comparison of Jormag’s tooth to the head of Zhaitan/Mordremoth, but from what I recall of going to Mordremoth’s corpse at the end of the event chain, Jormag’s tooth is about the height of Mordremoth’s jaw (half of his head).

Course, even ingame Zhaitan is just a bit shorter then the Enterprise D from Star Trek, which was a starhip capable of housing thousands of people.

But your statement is exactly why I laugh at people who suggest a more personal Zhaitan fight. “So wait, how are five random kittens going to beat an elder dragon that is 500 meters long? Our weapons, even for norn, aren’t even going to pierce scale at hit flesh most likely!”

Why I felt the Tequatl fight was fairly well done. It’s an army, using siege weapons to bring the dragon down.

I’m curious because I was linked to this one, http://esprits-dorr.fr/node/261 , and in it you have Angel McCoy making a comment that basically everybody, as toddlers, could start showing minor use of magic and EVERYBODY learns their first spells from their parents.

Yet the world as I’ve seen it and understood it… this doesn’t happen. We don’t see almost everybody using magic is some form, or hear about it. You have those that use it in the ‘schools’ of magic (Necromancer, Mesmer, Elementalist), but it doesn’t come across as if children know or use it. Closest I can think would be the random dialogue of children or adult humans mentioning asking an Asura to teach them a spell and being told “you’d get a headache” and refused.

It seems to be conflicting information Magic is hard to master (as the statement of somebody swapping schools of magic and having to ignore the decades of learning they’ve had), yet literally everybody uses magic at home? Unless said spells learned at home as a child fall into the “Literally meaningless and have zero effect on life, much less combat.”

I know I’ve heard of other interviews having details that got retconned or simply ignored, so curious about this one.

Daharahj.1325:

Speaking of Taimi, how long is she expected to live? since she’s got that degenerative disease thing going on, though it is never specified which degenerative disease it actually is.

The disease just makes it hard for her to move around. IIRC, they don’t say it’s actually harming her/reducing her lifespan, just making it so she can’t get around on her own.

adormtil.1605:

She seems to have well lets very good ideas and plans and makes incredible gadgets is she even if she is so young. Is she smarter then Zoija as far as I know she did more things then Zoija?

She appears to do more because we’ve spent more ‘screentime’ with Taimi then Zoija. There was the book about Destiny’s Edge.

I’d say no to her being smarter for a few things.

A: Taimi is what… 13? (Or the equivilant for Asura), and actually hasn’t finished their ‘schooling’
B: Zojia is older, and has a lot more practical experiance.

Now, Taimi may be doing stuff akin to what some novels/games/movies play on which is “The kid seems smarter because they see things differently, and thus do stuff that the adults wouldn’t consider.” Doesn’t make them smarter then the college degree adults around them, just a different application of what smarts they got.

Slowpokeking.8720:

Because two years have passed for the Pact forces – in large – to lower the risen population from when we last saw it.

They didn’t disappear immediately – but that doesn’t mean that two years later they’re just as large of a force as we saw immediately after Zhaitan’s death.

Proof? The Pact was busy fighting other dragons as we know.

False actually. There is a SMALL force of Pact up in the Frostgorge sound (but that’s mainly a vigil force) dealing with the claw of Jormag, and another force at the Shatterer location (both are almost, if not entirely vigil, and could be purely vigil operations and not Pact).

The Pact explicitly was stated to be building their forces up in preperation of a campaign against Kralk when Mordremoth rose. Said force was diverted to fighting the Jungle dragon instead.

And Arah was cleansed after Zhaitan’s death, Tequatl was killed as well.
These two are special cases. Arah was the heart of Orr and the Risen forces, they were cleansed soon after as well. Teq went into the deep and gathered strength, thus it could become a threat.

I’d hardly call Arah cleansed. We cleared a path to the objectives, not a full scale sweep and clear. Course, as my memory wants to say, Arah is huge. IIRC, in the story mode of Arah (now a campaign mission), after you defeat the main mouth of Zhaitan, pact forces land there and move into the ruins, seemed like it was connected to Arah. There is still the risen in the crystal desert, the rest of Orr, the oceans, Ring of Fire, etc.

Proof? From what we saw, the major forces of the Risen was taken down already in the war. Not to say the dragon was down as well.

Nope to clearing out the bulk of risen. Infact, a major objective on Orr was trying to stem the flow of corpses Zhaitan was receiving. With Zhaitan dealt with, the possibility of new Risen is either halted, or slowed to a crawl (with a dragon champion or a few acting as the source instead).

But still, you are talking about ALL the dead citizens and wildlife of Orr(and all the dead charr invaders). Then all the dead of the shipwrecks in the Orr area, then the dead from the shipwrecks caused by the rising of Orr. Now add in 106 years worth of collecting corpses and shipping them back to Orr on those barges.

Argon.1563:

Braham is currently 19 year old (born in 1309AE), so its safe to assume shes over 50 considering her abilities and knowledge.

Keep in mind 50 is probably getting close to retirement age for a Charr, explaining why Rytlock refers to her as an “old woman”, whereas Norn age much slower than other races being able to live for over 120 years, explaining how they can look younger, for longer. (or Shiverpeak herbs make excellent exfoliating masks.)

I feel like theres a lot about Eir and those surrounding her that we don’t know about. Shes probably the 2nd most enigmatic character after Rytlock from Destiny’s Edge, for example, its been stated by the writers, that there is a story behind how Eir met Garm, and why he is the only black wolf in Tyria, but we haven’t been told this, or when they met . Its also never stated how her husband died, and to top it all off, we don’t even know how old or when her father died, so we can’t figure out her age using that.

There is a charr in Black Citadel who is 90 or so, IIRC. course, he’s the typical “retired grumpy old man” stereotype.

I’ve personally seen Eir around the 70 year mark. As noted, Forgal is easily over 100/110 possibly. (I assume he is in his teens during Stalwart, which nets over 100. If he was older/full adult during that time? Even higher.) Knut is stated/implied to be very old as well.

SirDrygan.1823:

She is probably 80, because when she was getting killed, she just stood there couldn't even dodge.

A: Dev’s explained that. I didn't think it was the best reason, but it's a wound that actually would make sense for that. She DIDN'T dodge. She had a pierce lung at that point from Faolin. She could have ran, but from her viewpoint, would be a slow painful death vs standing in the face of the enemy and not backing down. Rox may have been able to heal her. That's an out of universe information thing though.
B: Forgal was well over 100 years old by the time of Personal story, and while he may have viewed HIMSELF as a grumpy old man, he was definitely kicking kitten and easily at that as well. He walked into a renegade charr camp, smashed their tents screaming for them to wake up and actually fight him. I think the “120 years” thing probably relates more to “That’s usually when something actually kills them” and less “that’s dying of old age” point.

Or maybe it’s an “average” age thing. For example, humans can live past 100. I recall (don’t know if it’s modern at all) something about 60-70’s being the average lifespan. I’d have to check the wording on the wiki, but I remember it being more like “They can be alive and fighting strong at 120.”

Slowpokeking.8720:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

If you paid attention during the final cinematic of the Personal Story, as well as the fact that Arah explorable dungeon takes place after Zhaitan’s death, you’d know that dragon minions do not fall when their master does.

This isn’t The Avengers where an organic army crumples down just because they lost contact with their mothership.

So no.

So the pact left organized Risen Army behind, let them be able to regroup and corrupt the magical source again?

Arah dungeon didn’t have an army, just some remaining Risen and they were cleaned up in the process as well.

Trahearne says it will take a long time to clear out the remaining Risen.

The Pact did not just pull everybody from Orr, but the main force left for the jungle. There is still likely a sizable force in Orr for continued cleanup and security (and some airships). Note that Zhaitan corrupted the source, the minions can’t.

CureForLiving.5360:

Kalavier.1097:

The corruption is cleansed, but healing would take a long, long time (agreeing with you).

However, Tequatl officially was killed off during the one living story season 1 chapter. Before that point he kept resurging, but then post Zhaitan dying he grew stronger, but got killed off for good (last I checked).

What killing Zhaitan did was simply make it much, much harder (if impossible) for NEW risen to be formed. But remember, we are talking about a nation’s worth of undead, ALL the wildlife of Orr, AND 106 years of collecting corpses from raids, the bottom of the sea, or advances.

Zhaitan had a lot of risen, and it will take a long while to clean them out.

I wonder of Palawa Joko can usurp Zhaitan’s position? I mean the Risen seem leader less and we’re talking about an undead lich here, so if he could control the Awakened why not the Risen?

No. Because Risen aren’t the same as undead exactly.

Hannelore.8153:

Lore-wise, its been cleansed and will take time to regrow, but Tequatl is still leading the Risen armies on Sparkfly Fen and causing trouble here and there.

Killing the master doesn’t seem to stop the minions, just disperse them.

In reality, its abandoned. I doubt they ever plan to revisit it for any reason. Even though this would be immensely cool and they have the technology to do multiple copies of a map now (e.g corrupted Orr and cleansed Orr), they probably won’kittens old content and that’s exactly what they view it as.

Same answer for Elona & Cantha.

The corruption is cleansed, but healing would take a long, long time (agreeing with you).

However, Tequatl officially was killed off during the one living story season 1 chapter. Before that point he kept resurging, but then post Zhaitan dying he grew stronger, but got killed off for good (last I checked).

What killing Zhaitan did was simply make it much, much harder (if impossible) for NEW risen to be formed. But remember, we are talking about a nation’s worth of undead, ALL the wildlife of Orr, AND 106 years of collecting corpses from raids, the bottom of the sea, or advances.

Zhaitan had a lot of risen, and it will take a long while to clean them out.

adormtil.1605:

So in the end the commander was still responsible for the alliance between the exalted and the pact as the exalted needed the pact for them to activate the pillars and they could not activate them without the egg there.
It may not have been his objective for all those allies to be allied to the pact but they are because of him. The only ones who are not are the ogres.
1 because he saved the tribe what alliance is if there is no tribe and 2 because he brought the egg to the center for the exalted.

Ogres were part of the Pact.

Eh, the commander was responsible for finishing the journey of the egg. There was still many things across the board that other officers in the Pact did, and should be acknowledged.

adormtil.1605:

Yes the freaking dragon was up for a year or so until the pact got there what where they doing they where hiding in their city. They only became active after glints egg got to the specific place. Also do you know why the giant frogs joined us is because we saved one of their own and really saved their village. What frog people will join the pact if there is no frog people to join the pact. They would not have joined either way because they would not exist to join or be grateful enough to join.
They could either have become hostile as the other frog group or dead.
Why do you think the event at Dragon’s Stand happened? They attacked the mouth for no reason?

Depends when battle of LA happened. If it happened toward the end of the year, then he may not have been awake for a full year. Either way, he’s wasn’t up long.

As explained, they were in hibernation, and awoke recently. Whether from Caithe bringing the egg close or the resurgence of dragon minions I don’t know. But the commander/offical player character did NOTHING in regards to waking them up.

You seem to be misreading what I’m saying. The commander certainly helped the Itzel and Nuhoch Hylek tribes become interested in joining forces, but we went to their village with the purpose of learning what their scouts new about the Mordrem movement of prisoners, not a military ally.

Either way, the Itzel and Nuhoch are friendly tribes. The other tribe went hostile (it’s explicitly stated). If the Itzel or Nuhoch would have gone hostile, they would’ve killed us on sight regardless. They did not. Like the sun worshiping Zintl tribe (I think that’s the name. Hylek from the silverwastes/drytop and further east) who are hostile by nature, the other tribe may have been a more violent group in general, and the Mordrem simply forced that to new levels.

Um, if you look at my posts, I’ve BEEN saying that the other Pact leadership elements who survived have been doing a lot of work while we chased high value prisoners and the Egg (Rata Novus I consider a side distraction to the main goals, done because we had no solid lead just yet). Unlike some people who think the commander did everything and not a single soul outside our merry little group did anything.

Laranthir explicitly takes the Pale reavers deeper into the jungle as the Charr (skybreaker I think?) evacuated the wounded (End of Pale Reaver rally chain).

We know that SCAR team which crashed in the Tangled Depths was already in the area. Order of Whispers in tangled depths were moving toward dragons stand. Reasonably once the vigil and priory forces were consolidated and more secure, they sent their forces deeper into the jungle as well. (Verdant brink I consider officially staying and improving from tier 4 day and night completion, and the camps all being reset simply the map/time lock. So after that day/night, Verdant Brink is a lot more secure).

adormtil.1605:

Well the exalted awoke after Glint died they said that so what did they do for so many years?
Mordremoth awoke 1 year ago what did they do against him? They did not even activate the pillars.
Are you telling me that the mouth of mordremoth was not attacked to allow the hero to find a certain person.You know as a distraction?

The Mouth of Mordremoth was attacked, but not on the commanders order. Is this such a hard concept to grasp? We managed to be sneaking in right as the battle was going on outside, and the Pact forces there may have known that was our objective (and pushed forward to help with it, by tying up the Mordrem forces), but the PLAYER CHARACTER, personally, did not order it.

The exalted became active when the Master of Peace started taking the egg toward the city, according to the wiki. So neither Caithe OR the commander caused it.

adormtil.1605:

What are you talking about do you think the pact attacked mordremoth’s mouth for no reason.
And yes the exalted actually said its time to resume our active role or something like that after the hero brought the egg. And yes that exalted was only searching there because he searched for the egg if not for that you will not see any of the outside of their city and other secluded places. How do you know they would have allied with the pact either way?
You know that there is another frog tribe also attacked by mordremoth’s forces that did not join that pact and its hostile in the same map? Broke that logic.

They attacked the Mouth of Mordremoth, but in no way did we order that. Laranthir took the surviving, unhurt pale reavers deeper into the jungle at the end of his event chain, but we don’t actually do anything further with him personally, or the other Pact units. Since the entire time we spend in dragons stand, story-wise, is those final two missions about rescueing Logan and Zojja, and taking out Mordremoth’s mind.

Yes, the Exalted was out and about searching for something, but he didn’t know it was the egg until we told him. At the same time, WE didn’t take the egg there. Caithe did. We finished the journey that she started. Even without the egg, the Exalted were waking up and starting to fight the jungle dragon, which was their life task (as well as glint’s legacy). Are you seriously saying if it wasn’t for the commander taking the egg to the city, the exalted would have sat there and gone “Nah, we are going to sit right here in our city, and not lift a finger to help you people fighting the dragon!”?

Same thing with the Itzel. Considering the commander didn’t even TALK about an alliance, just getting information from their scouts. You think the pact and itzel wouldn’t work together against the Mordrem if that event didn’t happen?

Said Hylek tribe is also EXPLICITLY AND CLEARLY explained that they were hostile to ALL OUTSIDE GROUPS because of the Mordrem attack, where the Itzel and Nuhoch tribes were not. The two tribes recognized Pact members as not being Mordrem. The other tribe simply labeled everybody that was not a member of their tribe as a hostile enemy to be eliminated.

Again, the commander did a lot, but they aren’t the sole reason for everything positive (in universe) from the HoT story. We certainly NEVER formed an alliance with the Exalted, nor did we wake them up. We did not form an alliance with the Nuhoch or Itzel tribes, but merely formed a bargain to have their scouts help us. Them allying with the Pact came afterward. We had ZERO part in the events of Dragon’s Stand outside of the story instance (going from a Pact commander player character viewpoint)., as those events happen at the same time/shortly after as we were rescuing Logan, Zojja, and trying to get to Trahearne.

If you talk to the charr chopper pilot in that little lobby instance before the final mission, he mentions the Pact’s push forward clearing kitten for him to fly his craft there. Then we do the final instance and the Pact is engaged with the mouth as we go deeper into the tree.

adormtil.1605:

Okay let me remind you that the exalted became active again after the commander brought the egg. Do not forget that. The frog also became allies because of the commander do not forget that also. After all he is the one who gained their trust.
And they only did that because the commander ordered them to do it. Why is it so hard to believe that he is the most active and successful of all the other commanders?

A: The Exalted were active BEFORE we arrived. How else do you example running into the one wanderer outside of Tahir, and entering the city to be greeted by a GATHERING of Exalted, including their leader. They may not have been awake long, but they were definitely awake and active before we even reached the city walls.
B: The Itzel would’ve become allies either way, as we all were fighting the Mordrem and they were the friendly tribe (same with the Nuhoch). The real thing the commander secured was having their scouts help track down Braham and Rytlock, and destiny’s edge. THAT was the agreement that was struck.
C: Um, what? I not once commanded Laranthir or the Pact forces to move into dragons stand. Hell, after the mission where Eir died, I really didn’t command ANYBODY of the Pact in a meaningful manner. Mostly “Hey, stick here until it’s safe to move.” or “We’ll leave some of our group here to safeguard you while I track down your commanding officer and the thing killing your group.”

I’m not arguing that the player character isn’t effective or successful. I’m arguing against this viewpoint that the player character basically was the sole driving force of the Pact and is responsible for EVERY SINGLE POSITIVE THING that came about in the HoT ‘campaign’ thus far. This viewpoint which, from my perspective, comes across as if the Pact basically DID NOTHING at all, and we the player character did everything.

Oreithyia.3064:

Zomaarwat.3912:

Anet says no interbreeding. Also, wouldn’t most Humans look like children to Norn? That’s probably a turn-off for the majority of them.

this.
i think the very different size and anatomy (charrsura, Nornsura) will probably be a big turn off for the majority of the races.
not all, because there are always “weird people”.
But with these individuals, when they act on it, it is very likely that one of them ends up either dead or badly injured.
Norn for example are said to be much stronger than humans (to stick with one of the less gross examples) and they’re also said to having a culture of being pretty physical in showing their emotions since they’re robust and can easily handle it.
I think a human, male or female could easily crushed by the fierce way of the Norn showing their love, not to forget the body weight is a lot more.
A single Norn, lore-wise, is strong enough to defeat a whole charr warband. And charr are not weak either.
This problem would be even worse with Asura (eventhough Asura probably would find a golem-solution for that problem…I’m not sure if i wan to think about this).

I’m just going to step in and mention the norn-human argument probably isn’t as serious as you may think.

To quote a similar debate about Spartan-human relations (the halo setting), where people were acting as if Spartans would possible kill/seriously wound their partner, it was revealed officially that a Spartan male and a baseline human female had a child successfully without any harm/injury.

Now, a norn and human won’t have a baby, but I think the chances of the norn seriously wounding or killing the human isn’t as great (though the weight thing is a bigger difference). Assuming said couple actually cares for each other and understands their limits.