Guild Wars 2

Elementals’ bodies are made only out of raw natural material and are likely soulless, nigh mindless the vast majority of the time.

Titans’ bodies can be made of unnatural/non-landscape and raw natural material and in theory could be made out of refined natural material, and have multiple souls and are very much sapient.

That’s a pretty big difference that goes way beyond just what the bodies happen to be made up of. And even if you managed to shape an elemental like the standard titan form (no evidence you really can, but obviously you could of lesser titan forms), there’s enough differences in mentality that they’re different too.

DarcShriek.5829:

If magic is basically magic, then please explain why the dragon’s cannot corrupt the exalted? The magic that was used was expressly chosen because of it’s immunity.

Firstly, why Exalted (or indeed, many Forgotten artifacts and magic) cannot be corrupted and can even free the mental corruption is completely unknown. In the same sense, it is completely unknown why the Elder Dragons have completely ignored the massive amount of magic stored in the Bloodstones.

While “the type of magic” – or rather, that it is all related to divinity – is the leading theory, there is technically nothing to indicate such as concrete – your second sentence is complete speculation; not unfounded, but still speculation. For all we know, it is indeed just normal magic but in a part of the “light spectrum” that none of the Elder Dragons want to touch.

Amaimon.7823:

some will call them titans of the very fabric of this world.

I’ve never seen an NPC call a titan that.
no, by “some” I meant the playerbase

I’ve never seen anyone in the GW community call titans “of the very fabric of this world”. And if they did, they’d be wrong, or at best unsubstantiated in their claim.

Amaimon.7823:

C.) The Foundry as we saw it was created by the Fury, not Abaddon.
If the indian guy at a company made a cellphone, is the indian guy the creator or the company?

The Indian guy is the creator, the company is the owner.

But let’s step back to the actual situation:

The Fury did not work for Abaddon, but rather worked with as part of an alliance. He worked for Dhuum. Although heavily implied, it is never stated which god (if either or not both) knew how to make titans, nor which one (again: if either or not both) actively made titans prior to the events of GW1.

Amaimon.7823:

D.) The wardens did not leave. They were overwhelmed, driven out, or taken prisoner.
true, but they also just put the realm on a complete lockdown (even more so than it already was)

Not really. If you’re referring to the Realm of Torment as a whole, it became a prison for the first time (so all lore indicates) when Abaddon was imprisoned; when the Margonites managed to break free (at an unknown point in time I might add – but presumably around 200 years prior to GW1 as that is when Abaddon’s agents slipped into the world of Tyria), the Forgotten had been at war with the Margonites and torment demons since, unable to keep them locked up. So there was no “complete lockdown” for the Domain of Anguish, just a bastion at which the Forgotten held their position (the Gate of Anguish – and elsewhere in the Nightmare Realm, the other gates).

Amaimon.7823:

They are elementals in the literal sense: a body made of whatever elemental material is available inhabited by a spirit, or other anomalous consiousness. Yes, they are different from the naturally forming elementals. But the titans bodies are made of rock, ice, lava, or any other random material just the same.

They are made from any nearby material. In this sense, we’ve seen titans made out of flesh – those are most certainly not elemental in any sense of the term. In theory, you could have titans made out of buildings, discarded weapons, and so forth.

While some titans may appear to be elementals (such as all the original ones we met), not all are. And by Tyrian definitions of what an elemental is (which is far more important than “the literal sense”), they are not elementals at all (as elementals is defined by a magically created construct of an element, either by spell or ambient magic).

I wouldn’t necessarily mark the Exalted as tied to divine magic (though that is a strong probability). Still, however, magic is magic in the end and there’s nothing that says a mortal – let alone a mursaat – cannot safely absorb huge quantities of magic.

Especially when we have devices specifically designed to allow mortals to safely absorb and handle huge quantities of magic (again: Shadowstone). And we even have mention of a specific ritual, meaning that it wasn’t just a case of “I’m going to expose myself to a ton of magic and hope for the best”.

The Gendarran mural has hues of blue shading about it, indicating that the white is caused more by bright light rather than actual color tone. I wouldn’t hold much on the costume, since those feathers can be dyed. The Ascalonian mural also shows to be blue but grayed for shading (and fading of color). While the headdress which is armor depicting feathers is gold, the other (actual) feathers on shoulders and the feather-shaped dress are blue in the avatar (same for GW2 outfit).

Regarding Kormir’s shoulderpiece: [I was referring more to the collarbone area. They’re gold in color.](https://wiki.guildwars.com/images/6/64/Kormir.jpg)

It should be noted that Dwayna and Kormir are not the only gods with wing depictions. Grenth has one case":https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Grenth_mural.jpg and Melandru as well.

Point being, while wings and feathers is a major part of Dwayna, they are not solely used for Dwayna, and to me the color pattern says “Kormir” over “Dwayna” as well. Even in all of your examples (exception being the GW1 outfit which is just white and black with gold outlining – an oddball in the group), blue is +*heavily*+_ used for Dwayna, and not simply for a small few gems.

draxynnic.3719:

Konig has always maintained that Ascension and Weh No Su are the same. I’m not convinced. They are certainly very similar - mechanically, one can substitute for another to gain access to the god realms in GW1, for instance – and there are indications of them being confused in the lore (Canthan emperors being called “Ascended” when it was the trials of Weh No Su that they actually performed, for instance) – however, there are distinctions that I think do point at them being different. A big one is the Divine Fire concept, which plays an important part at the end of Season 2, but which only appears in the Crystal Desert trials. There are distinct similarities, but I suspect that the Ascension process of the Crystal Desert trials may go a little deeper than being Weh No Su.

Aside from the fact that they result in the exact same situations (being able to see what cannot be seen normally; unlocking one’s true potential), it’s just a method of how it’s done.

But more importantly, there is this line:

Chanang became one of the first Canthan heroes to become Closer to the Stars (what in Tyria is referred to as “ascension”)

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/An_Empire_Divided

And until proven otherwise, I think a scholar who has studied the topic would be right. Furthermore, said same source tells us that ever since the first Canthan Emperor became Weh no Su, the title changed from “Lord Emperor” to “Ascendant Emperor”. That’s a pretty big title for someone not Ascending but Closer to the Starsing. One would think that if they were indeed separate, it’d be “Celestial Emperor” or the like.

draxynnic.3719:

Secondly, it doesn’t seem like anyone can Ascend. Prophecies had the concept of a group of people called the Chosen, who had greater magical potential than most humans – when a particular character suggests that the PCs seek Ascension, that character follows it up by saying “That’s right. You are all Chosen” in a manner that indicates that it’s well known that only Chosen can Ascend. My suspicion is that only individuals with specific qualities can Ascend… and it may be that only humans can Ascend (and not all humans). It’s possible that full Ascension in the Prophecies sense is in fact no longer possible – it supposedly involved gaining the attention of the gods, and the gods don’t pay much attention to Tyria any more. Or it’s possible that the process is more about igniting the divinity within, and in truth the gods never played a direct part – in which case, it might be possible for any Chosen to complete the rituals and achieve Ascension.

However, the term “Chosen” has only ever been used in the context of Prophecies. Even with the Eye of Janthir’s return, beyond “the Eye has chosen” the term “Chosen” is not used.

This implies that the term “Chosen” had no meaning other than referring to the heroes of the Flameseeker Prophecies. The White Mantle’s use of it would be stemmed from that, whether they knew it or not.

And regarding the line you refer to: that, combined with Turai Ossa’s lore (he attempted Ascension because he believed he was the Chosen of the prophecies) seems more to indicate that the only ones who would Ascend by the means presented in the Crystal Desert would be the heroes of the Flameseeker Prophecies, dubbed “the Chosen”.

In addition, Weh no Su can be done by anyone it seems (supposing they pass the tests).

Thus, “In theory, anyone can Ascend”. In theory.

Chances are we’ll never go inside the Wizard’s Tower. It seems to just be kept as a permanent secret forever.

Alga.6498:

LouWolfskin.3492:

guywithcrabs.7890:

One thing i’ve always been curious about in this area is the asura stuff in the top floor of one of the houses. Seems rather out of place to me.

An asuran personal story takes place here. It’s a secret inquest base, probably because they are interested in the wizards tower too.
In the story though it is a detainment cell for a troublesome scientist.

^ This basically.
If you’re in the story instance you can use the Inquest aka Arcane Eye’s dervice, you’ll get information about Arcane Eye Agents and their leader, Rakt.

It’s not Inquest at all. It’s Arcane Eye, which is basically the secret service for the Arcane Council.

I would argue that three small centerpieces being blue is a “distinct lack of blue” when we’re talking about a goddess who’s coloring is closer to 90% blue 10% gold.

Dwayna’s feathers have never been depicted as white, as far as I remember.

As for Kormir’s ties to wings: On top of her headpiece, there’s her shoulderpiece, and the fact that paragons in general (and this does include Kormir’s skillset) created ethereal golden wings with certain skills.

And I do not recall any statement of paragon wings being a reference to Dwayna.

I recall Logan then shouting “that’s Kryta!” to that depiction with the horses, but it’s been a while since I read the novel so I could easily be misremembering – either way, they do go through the gate into an area which is a grassy plain.

On the topic of extinction: given the aforementioned comparison to a draft horse as if it’s common knowledge, I would argue that they are neither extinct nor rare. Just… not depicted by ArenaNet.

Horses 100% exist in lore. They’re mentioned by NPCs, in the novels (well, at least Edge of Destiny – and, iirc, the horses were shown to be in Kryta at that), and in out-of-game lore documents.

We also had undead horses in GW1 (the only actual horses shown in the game), which originate from Orr (lore also puts horses in, as said, Kryta and also in Cantha; beyond that, horses may not be native).

ArenaNet has long ago stated that they do not bother with creating “all wildlife” in the same way they do not try to accurately represent populations with model placement – because then things would get too crowded.

Horses were one of the things ArenaNet chose to exempt (perhaps in a hopeful bid to help dilute the outcries for mounts – something unnecessary in GW2, for player characters at least – let NPCs have all the mounts they desire!).

Someday, we’ll get a tonic which is a single model showing a skritt riding atop of a dolyak. Why? IDK. But we will. Someday.

castlemanic.3198:

Lazarus didn’t lead that attack because he had split himself into different people, ending with his personal disaster that was the corrupted aspect within Justiciar Naveed that he took back into himself.

Lazarus had rejoined himself before the battle of Lion’s Arch (and indeed, all of War in Kryta). Though it’s possible he had already resplit himself into artifacts by that point (it being a year after Naveed’s death).

castlemanic.3198:

So why would Kormir, the goddess of order, spirit and truth, disguise herself? She’s the goddess of truth for crying out loud, it doesn’t fit her character nor her domain. And this can’t be a case of Abaddon corrupting her because we have this quote from the first game:

<Party leader>: “Kormir?”
Kormir: “No. Yes. Kormir. And much more.”
<Party leader>: “Abaddon?”
Kormir: “No. His power. His knowledge. But not him. His will is broken. There is a new god of secrets. There is a new day.”

So there is no Abaddon anymore (devs confirmed as much), so it’s just Kormir. And obviously Kormir’s domain has changed over the years, because Lyssa took the water domain away from Kormir when it used to be Abaddon’s domain, so she is now the Goddess of truth.

Well, two things:

First, Kormir is also considered the Goddess of Secrets, for what that’s worth.

Second, that dialogue actually says that Abaddon is still there, but with a broken will. Abaddon is dead… as an individual. And, in truth, so is Kormir – the two merged into one singular being. And while Abaddon’s will “is broken” – broken things can mend. So it is possible for Abaddon’s evil to slowly corrupt Kormir over time. In addition, we have this very eerie line from a tormented soul (same link as above):

“Kormir whispers beneath the world, through the quiet chambers and the dark corridors of reality. Can you hear her?”

And then this prophecy from a mad soul:

“A new god is born! A god that will destroy the others and bring about the end of the world! The cycle begins again!”

And other eerie lines from the mad souls:

“When you walk dark paths, you open your mind to nightmare. Poor Kormir, poor sad goddess raised up to the stars, cursed to see only infinite blackness between them….”

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Mad_Soul

All of this post-Nightfall lines these guys have foretell Kormir’s eventual and inevitable descent into madness and evil, repeating Abaddon’s actions.

castlemanic.3198:

1. do you mean this: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shield_of_the_Goddess ? How does that reference Kormir at all? In fact it’s more of a reference to Dwayna than anything else because Dwayna is the goddess of air AND has wings in many of her depictions. Kormir doesn’t.

Kormir actually does have wings in her depiction, as part of her having been a paragon. Further, Kormir’s colors are white and gold (like her original sunspear outfit), while Dwayna’s colors are blue and gold. Not a hint of blue. Furthermore, Dwayna has a shield – an entire weapon set in fact, and the feathers are very different in design, even from the independent bows.

Shield and spear were also Kormir’s iconic weapons, again due to paragon origin, and the distinct lack of blue indicates “not Dwayna”.

zolcor.2601:

I think Lazarus is none other than Kormir, the new goddess of truth and secrets. Here is why I think this.

1. The Shield of the Goddess is a possible clue
2. Both Kormir and Rytlock wear similar looking blindfolds. If so Rytlock may have met her in the mists and was blinded by her divine presence. There could be a strange, maybe even sinister connection between Kormir and Rytlock, which is why he doesn’t want to reveal the source of his Revenant powers.
3. As the goddess of truth and secrets she would know everything. This amount of knowledge fits perfectly with “E” ,and it’s possible “E” ,Lazarus, and Kormir are one and the same.

I fail to see what point 2 has to do with any of this.

E is also very clearly depicted as a human with ties in the Seraph, Shining Blade, and Order of Whispers in Episode 4’s letters. Who also has a very big distaste of the White Mantle, as well as (ironically) receiving anonymous tips. E, as I see it, is basically “good guy Caudecus”, who manipulates both sides of the field in the favor of the people (whereas Caudecus – like Palpatine – manipulated both sides of the field in his own favor). I find it VERY unlikely for E to be Lazarus, given what we know as facts about Lazarus.

And nothing says Kormir would “know everything”. And E certainly does not.

Yannir.4132:

Because if you have a charr protagonist, for example, you would be deeply distrusting of a human god. A mursaat is a more neutral figure, as they are more removed from recent history.

As a separate point, mursaat are not exactly evil but they don’t adhere to the same moral guidelines as humans do either. The reason why they were such great antagonists is that they are morally grey and a bit alien too.

Mursaat are only neutral to the mursaat-fanboy playerbase.

In Tyria, there are two camps and only two camps: White Mantle who worship the mursaat, and everyone else who despises mursaat.

Humans and charr would hate mursaat the most. And charr would probably hate the mursaat more than the gods.

It wouldn’t really make sense for Kormir to disguise herself as Lazarus – plus, what’s her motivation?

And on that second point: yes, mursaat are evil. They committed genocide (of the Seers) to save their own hides, and they were willing to do it again (with Krytans). There’s very little grey about them.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

@castlemanic and Moonyeti, on Glint’s Lair- in Edge of Destiny we find out that the grain of sand thing is straight-up disinformation. Destiny’s Edge managed to end up right in the middle of it while still thinking they were in the open desert, no portals involved. They’re unclear as to what the actual magic hiding the sanctuary was, but it seemed to be a complex form of illusion.

True, except for Hidden Arcana shows us that it isn’t entirely disinformation.

In Hidden Arcana, we travel via the hourglass into that pocket dimension within a grain of sand.

The novel, by all indication, was taking place not in the main inner sanctum where we fought the facets and met Glint in GW1, but the outer sanctum, which would be the mission outpost in GW1. And that mission outpost showed something potentially resembling a portal – leading to a place much like where we went in Hidden Arcana.

In other words, Glint had a quadruple security system going on. First, an illusion to hide the entryway. Second, the shared-thoughts canyon that DE went through (and we somehow ignored, perhaps because Glint teleported us to her outer sanctum from the Hall of Ascension). Third, a pocket dimension of sorts. And finally, the six facets.

Because Glint went out to meet them, Destiny’s Edge had no need to go into the pocket dimension, thus they only bypassed the first two security systems.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

do we know that the Elder Dragons have some ability to sense magic a la the Rata Novan maps? Off the top of my head, the only time we’ve seen them home in on magic is Mordremoth in S2 and Primordus’ recent crossing of the continent, and both of them have explanations other than magic omniscience.

Not suggesting omniscience, but being able to sense powerful magic.

IIRC, there are a handful of events in the core game depicting destroyers, risen, and icebrood all being attracted by magic.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Primordus might have been following the surge in the ley lines back to its source, and given that Mordremoth’s tendrils seem to have extended beneath the entire continent, the Priory caravans that got attacked were fairly close. Being able to pick up the ‘scent’ at that range doesn’t mean that Jormag or Kralkatorrik would be able to detect a more potent signature from the far side of the map.

You’re comparing a pebble to a mountain, in terms of the amount of magic that the Priory caravans had compared to Lazarus post-Bloodstone absorption.

While I wouldn’t say that Jormag or Kralkatorrik could pinpoint Lazarus’ exact location from across the continent, I’d say it’s very likely that they can sense a new (presuming that Bloodstones are indeed invisible to the Elder Dragons, given their lack of assaulting them so far) and large source of magic from far away in the west (for K) / southwest (for J) / north (for P).

If they or their minions were to get closer, then by proximity being able to tell where the “new and huge source of magic” is would proportionally improve. Suffice it to say, I’d say that it would be enough for an Elder Dragon to send a powerful dragon champion. And if Gleam had been hiding, he wouldn’t make such a move as to intentionally draw the attention of those he was hiding from.

Acnologia.6934:

first thing first i ty all of you for finding the time to reply here.
reading your posts my curiosity towards this desert raised again. one thing in particular catched my eyes: Hall of Ascension? what is it? the wiki said it’s a place where adventurers can ascend (what those it means?) but what is it? is it possible that is still around now in gw2? and if it is, can our gw2 characters ascend (whatever it means) or the gw1 story was kinda “only your character is the chosen one. after you ascend nobody after you will never do it again”?
wow this desert is so fascinating every thing i learn about it
again ty all for the answers!

edit: reading more about this ascension it sounds like those who ascended are become like our gw2 revenants?

Revenants and Ascension are very different.

Ascension – or Weh no Su as known in Cantha (translation being “Closer to the Stars”) – effectively means what I said before: it unlocks the “true potential” of an individual, and brings them closer to divine beings. In mechanics, this was represented by allowing additional attributes to be unlocked (in Prophecies only), changing the secondary profession, and being able to access the Underworld and Fissure of Woe. This also granted the “Gift of True Sight” which allowed people to see “for how things truly are” – for example, being able to see the mursaat even when they’re trying to be invisible, or being able to see ghosts when they are hiding from the eyes of the living (both dealing with going partway into the Mists, as we’ve found out).

The Hall of Ascension is where one went to Ascend in the Crystal Desert (but as shown by the trials of Weh no Su, not the only place), built by the Forgotten and/or Human Gods. It likely is still around now. In theory, anyone can Ascend – they just have to fulfill the proper trials and the like. Every method of Ascension, however, differs. So we cannot just retrace the footsteps of our GW1 characters (especially since a lot of that dealt with fighting the Forgotten who are no longer of the world).

Revenants are closer to ritualists, except where ritualists summon souls of the dead from The Mists, revenants are just channeling The Mists’ memories of legendary figures. Revenants have not Ascended. No one in modern times has, as far as we’re aware.

I’d call the Forgotten and the Losaru tribe a civilization. No cities, mind you (well, no cities that weren’t decaying from a failed human colonization attempt).

Well, wurms in general were heavily inspired by the sandworms of Dune based on their GW1 appearance. Which has changed quite greatly with GW2.

Junundu were the least wurm-looking wurms of GW1, but ironically perhaps look the most like GW2 wurms do (aside from chaos wurms looking like plains wurms).

How is “annual event” hard to understand? o.o

Moonyeti.3296:

The desert was desolate in GW1, nobody lived there.

False. You had the Forgotten, Losaru centaurs, sand giants, riders, devourers, scarabs, griffons, hydras, etc. etc.

Other than the first three, no civilized races lived there due to the harsh habitat, but it wasn’t desolate – there were still living there (unlike the Desolation, which only had wurms, undead, elementals, and the few endangered species of grey giants). There’s also many patches of oases in the Crystal Desert, which have only grown due to the redirection of the Elon.

I think our dealing with the White Mantle and Caudecus would prove that we’re allies to Livia.

Plus, recently (as in since Season 2) ArenaNet seemed to have been definitely pushing towards the “Anise=Livia” theory. Which if so, then definitely allies.

Besides all that, however, Livia is against the Elder Dragons (per Sea of Sorrows novel) and the Pact Commander is definitely the strongest force against them.

And besides that, Livia would never – without completely destroying everything about her built up til now at least – disguise herself as mursaat or White Mantle long enough to pull off being a fake Lazarus. While cunning, she’s always shown as more direct in her dealings with the White Mantle, and would rather see them dead than use them as a resource which “Lazarus” is doing.

Acnologia.6934:

So what is the lore of this place?

Slightly abridged version of the lore:

Originally the place was a sea, called the Crystal Sea. There is some lore indicating that there was also a Crystal Desert in that region as well (some lore talks about Crystal Desert, calling it such, before even 100 BE). In 175 BE, one ethnicity of humans, called Margonites, formed a sea-faring nation in and around the Crystal Sea, inhabiting the coastline of Elona and the waters themselves.

In 1 BE, a war broke out between the Margonites (fervent followers of Abaddon) and Forgotten (loyal servants of all Six Gods) due to the gods rescending their gift of magic. Eventually Abaddon joined in, saving the Margonites and waging war on the other five gods (reasons are long and somewhat unclear so won’t delve into such atm). Abaddon turned the Margonites into demonic beings and laid siege to the Gates of Heaven. The other five gods defeated Abaddon during the battle, smiting him down along the southern, lush and verdant coastline of the Crystal Sea – in a spot now called The Mouth of Torment. This event was so cataclysmic, that the sea dried up becoming a desert, and the aforementioned verdant coastline became The Desolation, deprived of most wildlife.

Over the next thousand years, several groups of humans went to the Crystal Desert in order to obtain Ascension – an act that would unlock one’s true potential and bring them closer to the gods. Each group – what human Margonites remained, the mysterious “Seekers”, Elonians, and even Ascalonians – all failed. Each civilization falling to starvation, infighting, or besieged by the few civilized groups that managed to thrive in the desert (mainly the Losaru centaurs, Forgotten, and sand giants). There were also a handful of powerful spellcasters – such as Sorcerer Lord Kree and Sybetha – which made their residence here, though they also met unfortunate fates.

Then we have the events of Prophecies.

In the span between GW1 and GW2, not much happened. The most notable event was that Palawa Joko, when assaulting Elona for the second time, dammed the Elon River, diverting it north into the Desolation and Crystal Desert. The Desolation was flooded, and the long oases-filled canyon (partially) known as Thirsty River was filled. Around the Elon’s new placement, the desert became verdant again.

Joko himself does not reside in the Crystal Desert – the southern edge of the desert marks his empire’s new border. Though for the hundred years that Zhaitan lived, said border was assaulted continuously by the risen.

In 1320 AE, Kralkatorrik flew to the Crystal Desert to kill Glint, though he then departed into an unknown direction – could have been south, but easily could have been northeast as well. Most likely, however, was south or southeast.

And that’s about 60% of the lore of the land.

What flora and fauna can we observe there? What kind of resources (is that place full of gold? Because every image i found there are golden things everywhere) do you think it contains? There are special characters around there that can be connected to gw1? (I found something about a lich king ruling the desert with an undead army! Cool!) Lazarus is somewhat releated to this place?

In order:

• Mostly insectoid (devourers, scarabs, wurms, etc.) and reptilian (wurm-like burrowers, hydras, etc. – even the griffons there were more reptilian than avian in gw1, like winged colocals) creatures in terms of animals, plants tend to be sparse, most being at the oases, such as in this image.
• The sand is actually crystals, not gold. There’s no gold there as far as indicated. This isn’t Desert Tarir. Sand can take on a gold-like appearance in the right lighting, and that’s all it is. The only gold there is in the desert, would be the Hall of Ascension which has a very Tarir and Hall of Heroes appearance (somewhat similar origins).
• Not really. The most prominent figure in GW1 was the ghost of Turai Ossa, which has moved on to the Hall of Heroes with the events of Prophecies. Joko isn’t really in the Crystal Desert, but rather the Desolation (which is sometimes considered part of the Crystal Desert so…).
• Lazarus – and mursaat in general – have no (known) ties to the Crystal Desert.

Most festivals as well as most updates in general tend to happen at the 9:00 am – 12:00 pm pacific timeframe. Not always, just most of the time.

So, yeah, kind of expected that it’d end at that timeframe.

DarcShriek.5829:

The only creatures that we know of that can absorb the magic from the bloodstone explosion are gods and dragons. There is no example of anything else ever absorbing that much magic and surviving.

Kormir was a human when she absorbed magic, not a god. So that should be “humans and dragons” not “gods and dragons” (it should also be noted that we do not have a known case of a god absorbing magic – the closest would be Grenth, a half-god half-human).

Furthermore: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadowstone

Followed by: Risking our agent in the Durmand Priory seems to have paid off. They got those scholars some crusty old artifacts that have finally gotten the juices flowing!

So the Seers had artifacts allowing one to healthily absorbed magic (this is what we did with Burden of Choice, with us being exposed to too much ley line magic it was becoming unhealthy, the Shadowstone helped us absorb that remnant magic without side effects), and the White Mantle absconded some Seer artifacts in experimenting with the bloodstone. Wouldn’t be far fetched to think a Shadowstone was among them.

DarcShriek.5829:

It keeps him hidden. Primordus has already tried to kill him. Why would Gleam’s mother lie about her lair being the size of a single grain of sand?

Also, his mother had a keen interest in the mursaat. He may know a lot about them.

1. How would a large dragon the size of a room become a small humanoid who’s only slightly bigger than a norn (so ~10 ft tall)?

That’s more than what a mere illusion can pull off.

2. If Gleam has managed to hide for 250 years from the Elder Dragons, why expose himself now just so he can hide? That’s silly.

Besides, by absorbing more magic, Gleam makes himself a bigger target, and more importantly, more magic means it’s harder for him to hide, since Elder Dragons can sense magic. So going out to absorb a bloodstone’s worth of magic would only leave Gleam more of a target than before.

3. Glint didn’t so much have an interest in the mursaat as she foresaw their destruction, foresaw them trying to rule the world and wanted to prevent such. With their destruction, she would have no more interest in them, no doubt.

4. If Lazarus was any allied force in the first place, why wouldn’t he reveal his true self during Dragon Vigil? Why lie to the Pact Commander and Exalted? If he were Gleam, revealing himself at that point – when there were no White Mantle leagues nearby – would do nothing but solidify the alliance he was trying to make with the PC.

If he were Jennah, E, Kasmeer, Livia, Anise, or any other such previously allied force, why not reveal such to the PC when there’s no one but similarly previously allied forces around? Why keep the masquerade up? It serves no purpose but to make them a potential enemy of arguably the strongest individual in the world.

And if someone were smart enough to trick the White Mantle so well by researching Lazarus, finding the WM base, and getting Bauer to organize WM heads to perform the ritual that exploded the bloodstone and allowed “Lazarus” to consume that magic, then “Lazarus” would be smart enough to know that getting on the Pact Commander’s bad side is the dumbest idea in the world.

TL;DR

It makes zero sense for whoever “Lazarus” is to be a previously established ally – whether or not they’re an ally still. Whoever “Lazarus” is, is either a previously established enemy, Lazarus himself, or a new individual entering the scene.

Honestly, I felt like a return of the Guild Wars (or rather, a Fourth Guild War) was being hinted at with Heart of Thorns and the Guild Initiative’s birth. The lore around the Guild Initiative is that the Tyrian Explorer’s Society, inspired by Destiny’s Edge’s accomplishments, is beginning to sponsor and support numerous guilds so that they may become more influential in wars.

The lore of the Guild Wars was that guilds became large and influential in the economy and politics of the human nations… in other words, exactly what the Guild Initiative wants to do ended up causing all three previous Guild Wars.

I wouldn’t expect it to become a major lore plot until after the Elder Dragons are (mostly) dealt with though. If it does – it could just be a lore in for bringing back GvG (not that they’d need such).

@ChiSama.2590: If you’re talking about the 80 in the image, that’s just Bastion of the Penitent. Otherwise, I’m not sure what you’re talking about there.

@Arden.7480: Given MO’s comment about episode 5 being “an important episode and we’re taking the time to get it right”, I’d say there’s a good chance of a big meta in episode 5. Alternatively, we could see such in episode 6 as being akin to Dragon’s Stand or Battle for LA.

Hopefully there is an episode 6. Some of MO’s comment kind of makes me think they may end it with Episode 5 which feels too short (but that would also indicate that it follows the same structure as Season 2/HoT with both sharing the same exact plot).

That, and the idea of Caudecus crushing over Logan and that’s why he didn’t attack until Logan was out of the combat equation is just too funny to pass up a parody of.

Well you didn’t actually respond to the post you quoted so…

Chadramar.8156:

IMO it’s completely irrelevant what kind of weapon he may or may not have used, because it doesn’t affect anyone else in that way.

Forum complaints about the mission shows otherwise.

Probably due to the loading screen baring a striking resemblance to the Hellfire scene. You’re far from the only one who made that connection.

I even made a little parody based on the portrait comment at the end of the mission… Just for kittens and giggles.

“Things change between seasons.”

Which is exactly what I was talking about in the second half of the post, if you had read it at all.

Then let me clarify – again – what I meant by “without counting any magical phenomena” as “without empowering spellcasting”.

It’s pretty clear – as has been brought up – that simply throwing bloodstone shards will cause some magical phenomena.

Ultimately, however, the reason why it’s so is irrelevant because we know it is so. We’re outright told that bloodstone weapons are very effective – effective enough to make mere arrows tipped with bloodstone shards capable of penetrating armor (and most likely steel armor at that). Whether you attribute the reason to the unique material of bloodstone, magical phenomena, both, or something else, the fact remains unchanged that bloodstone blades cut better than steel.

I think you entirely misunderstood what I was saying, Cyninja.

You make it sound like I’m complaining that you need to own Heart of Thorns to access the Season 3 maps. Trust me, I’m not making that claim.

Rather, what I was saying is that Bloodstone Fen, Ember Bay, and Lake Doric being locked behind character progress is unusual. If we were to follow “the standard” which Ayrilana was talking about, then the standard would be immediate access to the zone for any and every HoT owner (just as Southsun, Dry Top, and Silverwastes are immediately accessible to all owners of the core game – be they F2P or bought it).

Also, ArenaNet can very easily prevent access to Lake Doric without blocking it behind completing Meeting of Ministers on every character. Ignoring the fact they did such with Bitterfrost, they also did such with the HoT zones themselves – players who do not own HoT cannot access Verdant Brink, despite it being physically connected to Silverwastes (and the same goes for the exits out of the guild halls into VB and AB).

Which means they can block access to the maps without locking any of them behind story progress at all.

Now, it’s very clear that they want to get people to learn the preface of the zone (as each one has such, especially for Bloodstone Fen and Lake Doric), but still that’s served by making players do the story once, rather than on each character (without mandating portal scroll purchasing). Ultimately, it’s very likely the reason they have access to the new maps by character-based story progress is to push players into buying those scrolls, giving a heavily-incentivized decrease of Unbound Magic and gold, since both are so easily farmed and are used throughout S3 as currency (particularly the latter for Unbound Magic).

Honestly, when you’re directed to Bennet who tells you about mursaat, but didn’t bother reading his dialogue or watching the recap cinematic (which shows mursaat), then you – as a player – not knowing what a mursaat is… is your own fault.

ArenaNet did provide everything for the context that’s needed. Both player and character. GW1 players get more out of it, yes, but the same can be said for Destiny’s Edge’s story and whether you read Edge of Destiny or simply did the story dungeons – the story dungeons provide all the lore you need to know to understand the situation and not feel left out, but you get more details about (thus you’re more immersed with) Destiny’s Edge’s lore through the novel. Similar with Glint.

The entire time, I was not talking from the context of a GW1 player. I was talking in the context of what’s provided in GW2 and GW2 alone. From the upfront to the not so much.

And Bennet – arguably the best summary of GW1 events and the mursaat in GW2 – is very much upfront.

Linken.6345:

buy a gemstore sickle and be done with it OP

Edit
You got atleast 1 shared account slot from the level 80 boost that you can use to share it bettwen all alts

If the OP just wanted al ong lasting sickle that wasn’t gemstore, there’s the Advanced Harvesting Sickle for 125 uses.

However, I’m 99.99% sure that the OP wanted a longer lasting harvesting sickle that gives unbound magic.

I’m still hopeful that in Episode 5 or 6, ArenaNet will add in Advanced Unbound gathering tools – 250/125 (for axe/pick and sickle respectively) uses that cost 5 times as much karma (or double karma + 2 laurels) per. Best of both worlds – gives us longer lasting Unbound tools, but doesn’t add more infinite tools that are clearly superior than the others (looking at you, Watchwork Mining Pick!).

Ayrilana.1396:

If you go by one having a connected zone, it’s a 50/50 so you can’t lean one way or the other as to which is an oddity. Your claim that Lake Doric is an oddity is no different than a claim that Bitterfrost is an oddity.

Except by being the first map directly connected, it set an expectation and the basis. Plus, it isn’t the first zone added – with the exception of Southsun Cove (which was released prior to story journal), all added zones had been physically connected until the Season 3 zones. With exception of Lake Doric, every zone is capable of being reached by the entire account – either immediately or after one character has gained access to the zone (or in Verdant Brink’s case, once HoT is owned access is granted).

Ultimately, it’s a moot point in the end. It’d be nice if ArenaNet formed some sort of consistency, but it’s three different teams so apparently consistency remains one of the things ArenaNet has troubles with.

Ardid.7203:

While I agree with most of your argument, I don’t think episode 1 describes so much about Mursaat. All we know from inside the game is about White Mantle and bloodstone “things”, not Mursaat. I think its easy to get confused there, since they seem to be very close somehow, and that knowledge is part of the lore older players just never question. But I’m speaking as someone that didn’t know the relation until recently.

Those things are so very closely related that the mursaat are very much part of those “things”. You literally cannot review the history books of Tyria about the White Mantle reign without learning something about the mursaat, who were the masterminds of said reign.

When the history of the White Mantle get brought up, so do the mursaat. Without fail. Whether it’s via the Orphaned Parents storyline, Bennet’s summary ( which actively mentions the mursaat, btw ), or other books.

Ardid.7203:

Even worse, just talking about Mursaat doesn’t say anything about Lazarus.

That’s because there’s nothing unique about Lazarus except “he survived” and until Episode 4, the method of survival is never brought up. The only important factor that separates himself from “mursaat” is “still alive” and there’s no need to call it out when we see him in the flesh and blood.

Ardid.7203:

And I don’t think you can compare meeting Lazarus with meeting any “adolf followers”, because we have a great amount of info about them, continuously repeated through books, music and movies, during the whole last generation.

You say this as if there’s no books on or scholars studying mursaat.

You’re acting as if in Tyria, no one knows anything about mursaat.

This isn’t true. Knowledge of the mursaat is so well spread that someone who thought the White Mantle were just a bedside tale to scare children know knew enough about the mursaat to insultingly talk about Jade Constructs.

Lazarus personally may not be well known, but our character never acts to know about Lazarus specifically, the only thing that the PC relates about Lazarus as an individual is: 1) his name, and 2) that he survived when no other mursaat (knowingly) has. That is, until episode 4.

And all this is ignoring the dialogue from Lazarus himself, which tells us a boatload about what Lazarus is, as castlemanic already brought up.

Not to mention that bloodstones themselves are innately magical and thus may not be entirely subject to natural physics. Weaponized, they may prove to be better not only due to material choice (which, indeed, does matter), but also for adding a magical component upon the standard non-magical weapon use.

It’s merely a case of being unable to strengthen spellcasters, which was what Valis was focused on.

Either way, we know that bloodstone shards can be weaponized and that they indeed can more easily pierce armor than standard weapons.

CaptainVanguard.4925:

Lazarus isnt truly Lazarus…, and honestly, im already suspecting its going to be Gleam…

[…]
Who?

Gleam, the son of Glint, who basically gave the master of peace the Egg, who was protected by the dragon cult of dwarves branded traitors to their own (Which is why we find the clawmarks in the mursaat room of Ember Bay).

Multiple problems and errors you have here:

1. How can a large dragon become a humanoid figure?
2. Brotherhood of the Dragon were not branded traitors.
3. Those “claw marks” were made by the destroyers, which we see in that very room, when the stone dwarf was killed as Rhodan told us.
4. We do not know who gave the Master of Peace the egg – while many think it was Gleam (and I find it likely myself), Gleam’s very state of existence remains unknown – it’s indicated that he either went into hiding, or has died since GW1.

And that’s ignoring the questions of “why” – just the questions of “how” and other matters you got false.

Now, there’s the issues that any good guy portraying as Lazarus would face:

1. Why not show us, known good guys, when there are no White Mantle around (Dragon Vigil)?
2. Why continue a masquerade of the most hated and untrusted race in existence? Just having the White Mantle is not worth that kind of disguise – especially in maintaining it 24/7 even when you’re not around those you need to be betraying.
3. Why force the bloodstone’s explosion, other than to absorb that magic? Despite Lazarus’ claims in Dragon Vigil, the journals in Bloodstone Fen indicate that it was “Lazarus” who pushed for the bloodstone’s explosion.

Moonyeti.3296:

That is exactly my issue with all of these theories. The purpose of the deception would only be to be a deception as a misleading plot point. That would be 100% self referential, pointless, and very lame.

Only when the “fake Lazarus” is a good guy, and not a bad guy himself.

If it were, say, Bauer then it would make sense for the deception – not only to deceive the White Mantle, but also the PC, and not for the sake of a misleading plot point but for the character’s own development and agenda.

Ardid.7203:

What I don’t understand is why my commander seems to know so well Lazarus. We are speaking of a very famous figure, yes, but one that dissapeared centuries ago. Our character is no doubt one of the more informed individuals in Tyria, but nothing prepare us to even suspect the commander would be some kind of expert on mursaat and with a personal opinion on Lazarus.

[…]

So, I don’t care who he really is. Please make us know him first, within the gameworld, as protagonits and as players, before expecting to surprise us with him.

GW2 IS NOT GW1.

Did you forget about the ending to episode 1? Lazarus announced himself, that’s how we know who he is.

Beyond that, the PC just treats him the same way they’d treat any mursaat. Mursaat in general are well known about. It’d be kind of like us knowing about kittens. I’ve never seen an actual WWII kitten before, but if someone came up to me and said “Hi, I’m a kitten from WWII, but I want to be your friend”, I’m going to treat him with disdain and suspicion while also acting like I know him because I know what a kitten is.

That’s how the PC (and the NPCs) are treating Lazarus – they know what he is, so they have a basis to reflect his persona as.

The Commander doesn’t need to be an expert on the matter, just have the general knowledge of it.

And we know that the Commander has the general knowledge of it, as Episode 4 shows that the dungeon explorable paths have taken place as well as the main story, but also from Episode 1:

Arden.7480:

We still don’t know what happened there after Scarlet’s death, perhaps we will discover unknown secrets of Sylvari, Asura. Maybe some unknown inventions of Scarlet [that would fit to the Taimi’s storyline].

Why would that area have anything of Scarlet in the first place? Nothing implies Scarlet was in that area.

That’s most likely where Malyck’s tree is, and we see part of Rata Novus going that way.

Arden.7480:

Like I said I think it will be the last episode, because it would be weird if we would go to these locations, anyway I am sure dragons feel that we wanna do something bad to them. We have to kill them fast. With or without Norn.

There are three teams working on Season 3. We’ll have 6 episodes (since we know Season 3 will be shorter than Season 2, it won’t be nine). Would be a weird number to have only 5, especially when they set up 3 teams.

Arden.7480:

I am waiting for your opinions. Do you think we will go to the location near Metrica, Dry Top Rata Sum and Novus, or perhaps to Ring of Fire [Abaddon’s Mouth?], or will we force Norn to ignore their legend and stay with us?

Anyways, as I see it, the story can go two directions with Episode 5:

• Either the new map will focus on where Taimi is moving Omadd’s machine to. That is, the eastern side of Rata Novus. Here, we’ll also likely see Malyck and his tree, closing that storyline off, and probably see the final answers left by HoT regarding sylvari given that the Pale Tree now woke up with the Current Events stuff. This would also be the best time to solve those unanswered questions (if they ever will be) since the Pale Tree just woke up – and before we carry the momentum of the plot into completely different directions.
• Alternatively, we’re going to continue the pattern left by episodes 1-4 and the teams working on their perspective locations/plots (WM – Primo – Jormag), which will put episode 5’s new map in the Ring of Fire. After all, it would be weird for the Ring of Fire region to have a single zone to it (even the Maguuma Wastes has 2). This would then put episode 6 in the Shiverpeak Mountains adjacent to Bitterfrost Frontier (most likely).

I also suspect that Episode 6 will deal with Lazarus, not Episode 5. Lazarus definitely seems to be painted as “the villain of Season 3” in the same light that Scarlet was “the villain of Season 1” and the Shadow of the Dragon was “the villain of Season 2”. So I would expect Episode 6 to be relevant to fighting Lazarus.

This makes me think the first likely path is more likely, as there’s little reason for Lazarus to go to the Shiverpeak Mountains. Perhaps, then, Episode 6 will take us to where Saul stumbled upon the mursaat (Woodland Cascades? Near the second raid?).

Unless, however, he’s going to head to Abaddon’s Mouth bloodstone (north of Ember Bay) then the Shiverpeak Bloodstone (between Timberline and Sparkfly), and it’ll be at the Shiverpeak Bloodstone (or near it), tampering with them both as he did the Maguuma Bloodstone, and we have our showdown with Lazarus at the Bloodstone Caves. That would end up fitting the “WM→RoF→Shiverpeak” map focus concept.

Ayrilana.1396:

Tanner Blackfeather.6509:

That’s not the matter here. This is a question of why they gate some LW3 zones (not BFF) on a character basis.

Since it’s the only one of the four that isn’t, perhaps the question should be why is it not gated like the others.

The answer to that was simple before Lake Doric: it was the only one directly connected to another zone. Granted they could have added a portal to Bloodstone Fen from Verdant Brink but I think they were trying to show that Bloodstone Fen is overall cut off from surrounding areas.

Lake Doric is the real oddity – it has a physical zone portal, like Bitterfrost Frontier, but it requires character determined progression through the story.

Crinn.7864:

The journal entries from Grand Savant Valis found in bloodstone fen mentioned that the WM had been experimenting with making weapons out of the bloodstone, but that the results where minimal.

“Utilizing fragments as basic ritual implements is fruitless and not significantly superior to traditional foci. Crafting weapons directly from the materials exhibits only minor phenomena.”

Valis was talking on a magical side of things, but back in GW1:

“in the hands of a good fletcher those shards can turn ordinary arrows into armor-piercing thunderbolts”

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/The_Arrow's_Point#Initial_dialogue

In short: bloodstone weapons are kitten for containing magic, but they’re much more sharper than the common steel weapons – to the point of bloodstone tipped arrows easily piercing steel armor.

And that’s even ignoring how bloodstone grows when absorbing magic.

Crinn.7864:

Also Caudecus’s pistol has a orange glow, not the red/black of bloodstone. Although that might be my graphics card. Moreover the glow is on the outside of the cylinder, if the glow was coming from the bullets themselves it would be coming from the front face of the cylinder where the bullet chambers are exposed, not from the exterior.

Caudecus’s pistol is definitely a red glow (black isn’t really prevalent with all things bloodstone), but in the cinematic there was definitely an orange glow from the fire which was brighter.

The cylinder of the gun has some bloodstone as part of the gun, but I also noticed some red fume-glow common from bloodstone shards coming from the front/back of the cylinders themselves.

The ruins located in Silverwastes, Verdant Brink, and Lost Precipice are ultimately unknown. However, there are hints.

And those hints are not Forgotten. In fact, the very source for Tutanchamon’s claims is proof that it isn’t. Because the only relation between Gilded Hollow and Lost Precipice is the crystal, in addition, Lost Precipice was already existing and named such before the Forgotten arrived, indicating that those ruins had been there before the Forgotten began searching for a place to put Tarir. In other words, they existed during or before GW1’s time.

The golden structures are made by Forgotten (and Exalted). The sandstone structures… predate the golden structures.

The first hint as to the inhabitants is the statues – they’re human, and have been compared to Elonian standards in the past (same statues seen in Aquatic Ruins Fractal, which was compared to as a mix of Ascalonian and Elonian to the devs, who not only didn’t deny such, but built on it to explain the mixing properties of the Mists when creating fractals, to explain the fractal isn’t about a point when Ascalonian and Elonian structures got mixed together, but instead was about two different points (or more) which individually featured Ascalonian and Elonian structures).

The second hint is an item added to the regions with Heart of Thorns’ legendary collections: the Primeval Runescroll, though the term “primeval” is a fairly generic term, it has only ever been used in relation to ancient Elona – specifically the Primeval Kings, first hereditary leadership of Elona.

We know in the past that there were at least two groups of humans who had a presence in the Maguuma Jungle, prior to the White Mantle. The first, more known, is the druids. The second is the Krytans who had established a trade route going all the way to the western coast of the Maguuma Jungle. Kryta was re-established in 300 AE, spreading far from the then-Bay of Sirens coastline at that time, by Elona.

These ruins are likely further structures along that trade route, connecting Kryta to the western Maguuman coastline, which were abandoned when the Third Guild Wars ended, and humanity began its decline.

Rognik.2579:

There hasn’t really been any formal statement about who built them, nor the ruins around Rata Sum back in GW1.

While no explicit statement, it’s been more or less confirmed that the ruins of Rata Sum in GW1 were made by… the asura.

This is made apparent by Rata Pten, a surface asuran city that predates the Cataclysm.

There are other asuran ruins which surround Orr on all sides, curiously – some can be found at the top of Lightfoot Passage, for example, and Orr did have a presence in the Tarnished Coast, which is surrounded by these same ancient structures.

Should also be noted that the TC ruins in GW1 had the same appearance as the Central Transfer Chamber structures (as if that weren’t a big enough give-away), and our first out-of-game introduction to asura includes the line: “It has been centuries since Asura were seen aboveground.”

Which means that the Tarnished Coast Ruins, Rata Pten, and the Lightfoot Passage ruins are at least 450 years old (at least two centuries old by GW1’s time), made by asura, and for unknown reasons abandoned.

@Daniel: Because, as said time and time again (seriously we’re just repeating ourselves now, the answer to everything you bring up is the exact same thing as before), the vision is influenced by Scarlet. Remnants of her vision are left – the path and the dialogue – but what we witness is a modern view of that path, with echoes of the past (literally in this case) going in because this is not the physical reality but a metaphysical state of consciousness.

Rules you’d apply to reality don’t exactly work perfectly in such scenarios.

@castlemanic: I would attribute that more to ArenaNet making edits to a highly disliked piece of lore (though that wasn’t what was so disliked…) rather than it being a different discussion. It’s also probable that the short story features an “abridged” version of the conversation, and we’re getting a different abridged version.

Daniel Handler.4816:

If it doesn’t contain nutrients how do they survive?

Short answer?

Because magic.

(No, seriously, in this case, it really is “because magic.”)

Long answer?

Atop of what Aaron said, and the whole matter of energy in our universe versus Tyria’s…

Magic is, in effect, an infinitely renewable energy source where it can be used as energy without ever losing quality – unlike food – or at least the reduction of quality/quantity is so minimal that it effectively is infinitely renewable to all mortal perception (we may learn that the amount of magic is actually 0.001% lower than it was 1,000,000 dragonrise cycles ago, which means it would eventually run out, but not even within a million Forgotten generations that last over a thousand years each).

However, the Elder Dragons, too, are inefficient at utilizing this energy source as they try to withhold as much magic as possible without releasing, leading them to hibernation when they cannot consume more. If they released magic while awake, to later reconsume it, they could potentially remain awake indefinitely – but at a weaker state of being than they seem to be attempting to reach. Of course, this means that were there only two or three Elder Dragons, they could reach (or exceed) that state and have magic on the side.

Because of the two facts, the Elder Dragons can not only reconsume magic without loss (so far as we know at least), but they must reconsume it to survive.

Crinn.7864:

The asura have claimed that magic is constant (or conserved)
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Maginamics

A claim that was held before the notion that Elder Dragons consume magic was publicized to asuran community.

The entire chapter 3 of the asuran personal story is about that claim, and how the asura masses believe it because their government had withheld information from them (cue conspiracy theory nutjob shouting “I was right!”).

Of course, the claim may still be right, given the “disproving of the claim” by Gorr was claiming, in turn, that the Elder Dragons destroy magic, rather than retain it (something we learned in Season 1).

Pretty much.

/15charr

For whatever reason, extra points always goes into Citadel of Flames’ reward track (and before I had that unlocked: Sorrow’s Embrace). At least for me.

I doubt it was a conscious action by the devs, probably some oddity in the coding.

ArchonWing.9480:

But she’s not dead yet. So we leave her with Logan who… does something? We kill the bad guy and come back only to find she’s now going to die. I mean he’s supposed to be a Guardian of some sorts right with healing magic? Or at least I recall him using some of those skills. But he does diddly squat. He isn’t just some random scrublord. He’s friggen Logan Thackery.

I’ll just point this out since it got forgotten in the 6 months time since Episode 1 – and even veterans of GW1 forgot this small aspect first introduced in Eye of the North:

Bloodstone weapons are super deadly. And that’s what Caudecus used on Demmi – you can tell by the weapon itself having bloodstone glows where the bullets were, let alone the fact that he was having the Bloodstone in Bloodstone Fen being mined to make weapons.

Bloodstone weapons cut sharper than any known steel, and would absorb any healing magic being used on the wound should a fragment remain.

The way Demmi doubles over also implies she got shot in or near the lung or stomach – a fatal wound when left untreated.

Add in the fact that Bloodstone is also poisonous, we’re basically seeing lead poisoning on steroids combined with the fact that any attempts at healing magic would probably make the bloodstone bullet grow (due to aforementioned absorption of magic).

All in all, this means short of grabbing a knife and pulling the bullet and each fragment out with utensils on the spot (which a society over-reliant on magic would no doubt not have on hand – especially Logan), Demmi was guaranteed to die the moment she was shot. And any magic Logan (or the Seraph Field Support) would do… would make the situation worse.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

It’s pretty much impossible to justify the death of any NPC in a game where our player characters can ‘die’ an infinite number of times and still finish the story. That’s the price of having a game that’s fun to play.

Aside from all of the above, our PCs never actually die. That’s both a gameplay and lore mechanic.

There’s a reason why ArenaNet calls it “defeated” not “dead”. Our PC being defeated is akin to in tabletop being stabilized at -9 hit points in D&D. The same reason is why it’s called “revive” and not “resurrect.”

This was a big announcement for the lore side of things during GW2’s development, and why they got rid of resurrection magic in the lore and mechanics (which did exist in GW1) as well – reviving is not bringing back the dead, it’s just bringing back the near-dead to a nice and healthy state. Resurrection magic has not existed for over 200 years, for reasons still unknown (though suspected to be tied to Dhuum’s state of not-likely-imprisoned-anymore). Resurrection does “exist” but is “inaccessible” or “lost knowledge” in the world.

Similarly, any NPC you can revive are in a similar defeated state – those you cannot revive are truly dead, and no force in the known world can save their butts.

Daniel Handler.4816:

The very first thing she see is a planetary body then the Pale Tree. The very first thing we see is the Pale Tree, then we see a planetary body. If it was the same path different time the order should be the same.

Uh, no. The very first thing she sees is:

the universe stretched out before her, an endlessly vast star-flecked sea.

and the very first thing we see is:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wrLGCUR-jPg/maxresdefault.jpg

Which is an endlessly vast star-flecked sea if I’ve ever seen one.

Video for reference

Then she witnesses, in the distance – as part of that sea – Tyria. We do not see this, probably because the cinematic makes skips (the flashes of white) to show the Pale Tree, all the while this happens you can hear two female voices whispering – turn the volume up and… it’s Scarlet and the Pale Tree, repeating the discussion (fragmented) from the short story.

Then she sees the Pale Tree, like we do.

Then she pushes past the Pale Tree, or “zooms in” as you put it, and so do we. The short story never revealed what she saw beyond (or “when zooming into” as you claim – but she didn’t zoom into the Pale Tree, she “plunged through” it) the Pale Tree, but the machine vision does show it.

EDIT: I’d like to note, upon reviewing the video again, there are flashes of The All’s diagram, repeating one after another, surrounding the PC in the vision – one of those could have been the “life-sized globe, fixed in place among cosmic storms and massive clouds of potentiality” version of Tyria she saw before encountering the Pale Tree and going towards The All.

However, I’d stand by the likelihood that the “globe of Tyria” she saw is simply not depicted in the vision, as omitted by the flashes of white – a montage of sorts, to make Scarlet’s “days in the machine” shortened to seconds for players. After all, no one would want to see a 5 minute video depicting the PC wandering through stars, looking at a globe of Tyria, and having a conversation of the Pale Tree before even getting to The All… Plus, it’d require a lot more work of ArenaNet for little to no gain.

Unlike real food, magic doesn’t hold nutrients to extract. Magic doesn’t change when it leaves the Elder Dragons during hibernation – just when they create corruption.

No extraction, no devalue.

No devalue, can be re-consumed without loss.

Now, corrupted magic might be another matter entirely, but we do not know if they “re-consume corruption”. However, given Taimi’s recent Episode 2 “reveal” about magic and the Elder Dragons’ draconic energies, I don’t think that it fundamentally changes when used to corrupt things either.

Eirian Direstorm.9748:

But, Peter Fries was tweeting yesterday about how much he enjoyed hearing John DiMaggio read dialogue he wrote, so at least we know one character we’ll be seeing. :-)

That guy voices random male norn and we have Jormag so…

Not guaranteed that our favorite salad will make an appearance – though he is a major character so it’s a high probability.

GWMO.4785:

Mike O Brien.4613:

TL;DR Ep.5 delayed

Thanks for the heads-up. Can you give us an estimated time perhaps?

In TL;DR’ing him, you apparently missed where he said “closer to the 3 month end of 2-3 month releases”.

In other words, folks were expecting later this month (April) because Anet’s so far maintained the 2 month releases (and SAB going on til then), but it’s going to be early/mid May instead by the current looks of things.

That said, as OriOri said, it’s technically not delayed since ArenaNet always promised 2-3 months, not 2 months. It’s just slower – but still within projected release time – than the other episodes.