I don’t think anyone’s assuming that this is the last of Scarlet. We don’t kill her, after all. And if she really is the personal nemesis as things seem to be… she’ll be around for a while.
2. Scarlet instructs Mai Trin to approach the Dredge/Flame Legion to form the Molten Alliance
This is where I think your theory fails.
The Flame Legion despise two things: humans, and female charr. In Iron Marches there’s a good number of Flame Legion event dialogues that outright dis humanity – and anyone who doesn’t think humanity should be wiped out, to the Flame Legion, are just as terrible.
So I cannot ever see the Flame Legion working with a human – let alone a female human. Sylvari or norn are far more likely. Or asura.
Those are memorials. One is a general Ascalonians memorial, the other is to Langmar and Gwen. Why Gwen gets a grave and a memorial right next to her grave is beyond me though.
Remove the rewards, and this is a grand idea.
It would help give the writers some fresh and out-of-their-box ideas, and at the same time allow the players to steer the storyline in the direction they are interested in, rather than what Anet thinks the players are interested in (which is heavily mixed response; ironically, the frequenters of the lore forum are majorily leaned towards the “dislike” of current story and characters – to put it mildly).
Though the problem still is in that ArenaNet’s the sole ones who see and decide the story, they can easily just toss all submitted stories out the window, produce their own as planned, and say “this was from/inspired by the fans.”
But with the current direction, I feel that players could produce far better stuff.
How I wish the game was moddable – like Elder Scrolls game… capable of inserting your own stories into the game would be wonderful. Sadly, doesn’t quite work on MMOs (then again… isolated overflows would allow such, wouldn’t it…).
Got waaay too many novels-in-progress right now,
Hah. I know how that feels.
Always just one scene that keeps me from continuing, or new ideas pop in and I feel like rewriting when I’m 80% done, or different story ideas that I just must get out… keeps me from finishing stories. lol
(edited by Konig Des Todes.2086)
@Thalador: Keiran didn’t get a grave.
@Tobias:
I’m talking about art assets and the like – “assets” is the term they used in communication with the Test Krewe. They got some people from the GW2 team to work with them in making the Beyond content, the “assets” they took from the GW2 time; and what they got was limited in amount so they had to be careful.
When GW2 released, there was an observation on the activity of GW1, or so the TK was told there’d be. I presume there wasn’t enough activity to merit giving the Live Team those assets anymore (aka it wasn’t worth distracting the GW2 team members to work on GW1 for a wee bit).
That’s where you’re quite wrong, Durzlla. It isn’t that the Arcane Council doesn’t agree, it’s that no one wants the jobs – because with the exception of Flaxx and Haia, they all want to do their own experiments and invention-making. But Inquest will take on those jobs. So to the Arcane Council members its an “everyone wins” – give those wanting work, work; those not wanting work can do what they want.
Lowering the waypoints’ cost is not taking on a job, it’s a negotiation. They give, they get. So it all depending on what Kiel gave to the council at whole.
It wasn’t a negotiation with the Inquest at all.
Is their confirmation that they stopped Beyond =(? I was hoping they would continue that… Would love for stuff from GW1 beyond to tie into GW2…
Or to just see some important events first hand, like Livia + Scepter of Orr, or Joko… or better yet EBONHAWKE!!
I think it was in November last year, but the last news post on guildwars.com says they’ve stopped content updates.
Which is insanely idiotic, IMO. But then again, so was stopping GW1 development for two years or so when Eye of the North got released. They should have kept working on GW1 while they worked on GW2, even if it meant GW2 took longer (because gods dang it, they could have still made money off of GW1 and still had plenty of plots to pull with it!).
Reading these events still aren’t the same as being there. I believe it was around the time of the release of GW2 that they stated that the GW1 group was going to be so small that it was no longer adequate to finish out the storyline of Beyond. It was a sad day, and the final nail in the coffin to me was when they fully automated the game updates.
The team never shrunk, as far as I know.
They just no longer get assets they got before.
There’s absolutely no tie whatsoever between waypoints and the Inquest. The waypoints are hinted to be dealt with by the Arcane Council – and although there’s a member of the Inquest and a sympathizer (Flaxx) of the Inquest on there, they are not Inquest.
Kiel’s a goodie-two shoes in her character. She never does anything that’s wrong, she’s a workaholic who does everything and anything to keep people safe, please her superiors, and do the right thing and somehow manages all three perfectly.
It should also be noted that Oola’s later-life (post-EN) experiments and attitude resemble the Inquest a lot – look at her journals if you manage to get in her lab in Metrica (she treated her apprentices as disposable tools more or less), and the whole “soul into a golem” experiment…
Continuing from previous post:
Given all this that has not yet been debunked or what did the debunking:
Magic existed before Abaddon’s gift, but very limitedly and primitively compared to now. Only known magical professions to have existed at the time would be Elementalists and Ritualists – though in places of heavy magic, such as Orr, more magic could have existed given how we’re told that Orrians were magically adept after the Exodus (moreso than other nations) and the asura had magic (it’s implied through the communing skill challenges that magic concentrates in three kinds of places: water and lava concentration; places of many deaths (which also weakens the boundaries between Tyria and the Mists); and deep underground places). If so, pure speculation here, how Orr treated magic may have been Abaddon’s reasoning for gifting magic to the whole world.
Edit:
I wonder who Gwen is.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Gwen
Perhaps the biggest NPC in GW1. Part of 2 campaigns, and the BMP.
(edited by Konig Des Todes.2086)
Exact origins of professions other than Assassin, Ritualist, Guardian, and Dervish are left in the open air.
You pretty much have to look at the origin of magic – which seems to be getting majorly retcon based off of the interview with Angel McCoy. See this post and subsequent by Thalador for what I mean by the retconing.
The origin of magic is basically this:
The original origins is unknown; we know that it existed in the far distant past, and according to the questionable-source of Thruln the Lost, it was rampant and chaotic during the last Dragonrise. During said last Dragonrise, the Seers took all uncorrupted magic in the world and poured it into the original Bloodstone in order to starve the Elder Dragons. The races then went into hiding by Glint’s aid and the Elder Dragons went into hibernation via starvation.
Then come the Six Gods – while the Elder Dragons slept, they arrived to Tyria, using the natural magical power of The Artesian Waters as a guide, went about terraforming a bit, building Arah over the Artesian Waters (and by chance, Zhaitan too), and brought humanity to the world.
At this point, in an interview, we’re giving implications that the asura had access to magic, but it was limited. Similarly, according to An Empire Divided, Ritualists had access to a form of magic through use of spirits. According to Thruln the Lost, when humanity came to continental Tyria by ship in 205 BE they had access to “primitive magic” – magic of the elements (Elementalists).
On top of this, there seems to be a couple cases where the gods directly gifted magic to a single individual – Desmina, Jadoth, Doric, and Sara being possibles, and Balthazar’s said to have used magic on humans in war during 48 BE as well. We’re also told of a possibly-magical cataclysmic event in 105 BE.
Then comes 1 BE, Abaddon decides for unknown reasons that it’s a good idea to grant magic to everything and everyone with some amount of intelligence to them. He tampers with the Bloodstone, granting unique forms of magic to different groups, and says “all is good!” Then wars break out. Nation against nation, brother against brother, etc. etc. King Doric, human king of Orr, Ascalon, and perhaps more at the time, sought out audience with the gods. He pleaded for them to take away the gift of magic. The other five gods listened, Abaddon disagreed; the five gods sundered the bloodstone, empowered it with Zhaitan’s magic, and divided magic into four schools – Destruction (the magic of Elementalists; supposedly for modern rangers too), Denial (supposedly mesmers, assassins, and thieves), Aggression (supposedly necromancers), and Preservation (supposedly monk, paragon, ritualists, and guardian) – side note: magical school of Dervishes is hard to guess, but IMO most likely Destruction; the previous listings are “general believes of the wide lore populous.” Along with the creation of the four schools, magic in capabilities and strength got reduced overall.
Sources for above:
-more in next post (kitten character limit)-
(edited by Konig Des Todes.2086)
Nah no need to explain. I know about the references. It’s just that there are many unfinished and untold story plots in GW1, and they don’t pick any.
Mursaat, Razah, Evennia for example.
Razah didn’t have a plot, truth be told. He’s just a character who could gain a plot. But he didn’t have one.
And it’s sadly true, that they make up this pathetic excuse for a personal nemesis, as opposed to bringing Lazarus back.
Lazarus>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ceara.
Even worse that they went and stopped Beyond. People would return to GW1 for new content. People still play GW1 even. It’s still lively in the major cities when I log on from rare time to time (only rarely because I’ve gone and done just about everything but beginning zone profession-specific quests).
Konig, haven’t the other Elder Dragons been awake for much longer than Zhaitan? I speak of Primordus, Kralk, and Jormag.
Primordus and Jormag, yes (Kralkatorrik woke up five – now six – years prior to the game), but what does that have to do with my post?
What exactly is it that she is trying to change? Fate?
What I get is that she saw the fate and purpose of the sylvari, claims to have seen the whole of Eternal Alchemy (but hasn’t), and is now trying to break the sylvari race from the chains of their purpose (aka Wyld Hunts).
How she intends to do this is still quite odd… but more importantly, it’s bloody confusing why she’s targetted four of the six major cities none of which sylvarian. Hoelbrak and Black Citadel via Molten Alliance; Lion’s Arch via Aetherblades; and now Divintiy’s Reach directly.
And not only that, but she’s gone and utterly ignored the Maguuma Jungle in not just the mechanical invasion placements, but in her text – a line she says “From DR to Ebonhawke, everything will burn!” (or something along those lines).
It’s more simple why DR was attacked.
Queen Jennah made a big show of how humanity still was strong and wanted to show off their creations. What better way to hammer down some enemies than spoiling that? Which, notably, is already done. Win or lose, the watchknights supposedly meant to be a fine creation became one rampant threat after another. And she proved the city is still vulnerable.
Again, win or lose, the point was made: “you are not safe”.
Then what was the point behind the Molten Alliance?
Or the attack during Dragon Bash?
You can easily say the same thing, but Scarlet’s been hiding herself and her forces until making a big strike. All for the purpose of saying “you are not safe”? Seems possible but given Scarlet’s personality shown, odd as all hell.
Not to mention that putting Mai Trin on the council would be pointless – unless that wasn’t part of Scarlet’s plan but her coying Mai and the Aetherblades into her ranks. Similar to her convincing the dredge and Flame Legion to work together for improvement of technology (dredge needing fire magic; Flame Legion needing technology).
Actually, there’s a ceasefire (3 years now) and the whole Fields of Ruin (and a bit of Blazeridge steppes) is going to be in human hands. And you can see some noobles ‘chilling out’ in a balcony next to a pipe organ.
Two years, tops.
The ceasefire started after the end of Ghosts of Ascalon, which took place one year prior to GW2 (1324 AE), a year has passed gametime wise (roughly) placing us in 1326 AE.
Though instead of fighting charr, the ogres moved in almost immediately after the ceasefire began..
I don’t know if it’s mentioned in WP’s video – I honestly cannot stand his videos anymore, I’m not sure if it’s the voice (most people like his, I don’t) or if it’s all the facts he gets wrong/left unmentioned in his “support.”
But I feel this is far more relevant: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Varajar_Fells_Notebook Translation:
“I believe Varajar Fells will be my tomb, for I have no desire to leave this valley of tumbled gods. The facets have been revealed, and the cipher as well. I have mastered them. A greater understanding of the Eternal Alchemy is within my reach. Human gods, Charr gods, Norn animal totems – they are part of the all-encompassing Eternal Alchemy. I am humbled as never before by the grandeur of it, and by my own ability to conceive such vastness.”
This in of itself doesn’t really reveal much except the “valley of tumbled gods” and “charr gods” lines – especially dependent on whether it refers to titans or destroyers.
On Ceara “seeing the Eternal Alchemy” – I honestly don’t believe she saw all of it. Based off of the short story, it seems she only saw a fraction of it – the fraction dealing with the sylvari race – and perhaps she believes she saw all of it.
We already knew that the Six Gods are just “bigger cogs” in the Eternal Alchemy – not just from the GW1 quests but also from interviews about the Eternal Alchemy/various religions. So it only serves to reason that the Spirits of the Wild, the Elder Dragons, and even the Pale Tree are also “bigger cogs.”
However, Ceara’s vision does not point to a return of the gods in mention or a further elaboration of the Eternal Alchemy – it’s just background made in an attempt to make this happy-go-crazy sylvari super-genius have more “depth.” It isn’t impossible for Ceara to have seen a portion of the Eternal Alchemy, since Kerrsh seems to have, but in of itself it’s just two characters achieving similar accomplishments. All it really does is serve to make Ceara a slightly more believable character (though the witnessing of (part of) the Eternal Alchemy is far from her greatest flaw.
Fun fact: Prometheus was one of the titans from Greek mythology. 8D
Southsun was a result of Flame and Frost (aka Scarlet’s actions) and as I said, the living story has thus far only focused on Scarlet and Kiel who was used to tie in Secret of Southsun, Dragon Bash, and Bazaar of the Four Winds together.
Aside from holidays, there hasn’t been any derivation from this. And I have a feeling there won’t be for some time now.
If it isn’t Scarlet – aka Perfectly-Smart Villain.
It will be Kiel – aka Perfectly-Good Workaholic.
If this keeps up, people will end up begging for Trahearne’s return. >.>
Maybe she was believed to be dead after the experiment? I mean she did change her name she may have just dropped off the map for a while as she tried to build up the MA and Aetherblades.
I mean c’mon, a test subject dying horribly in an experiment and the experiments overseer dying as well in a horrific way isn’t entirerly out of the question when it comes to Asura experiments.
Two problems:
Vorpp says he’s heard of Scarlet before as being the sylvari who graduated from multiple colleges (happened before the experiment), and the Pale Tree would know unless she became Soundless (as Narcemus said).
Given Vorpp, it’s pretty blatantly obvious it’s a “well known” fact that Ceara=Scarlet Briar. As well as her past actions.
The Inquest is a new group. They didn’t exist around Primordus’ rising. They were in fact established partially because of Primordus’ rising. They were more or less formed for two main goals: 1) to reach Eternal Alchemy (aka understanding of the universe) and 2) to avoid knowledge being lost due to the standard asuran paranoia, egoism, etc. which happened in large scale when they were forced to the surface (they view the knowledge lost from the evacuation of the Depths to have been a great loss).
For more reading: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/That_Old_College_Try
The exact age of the Inquest is unknown, but it’s a “relatively recent” organization. It may even be younger that the sylvari race.
It could be possible that they stumbled on the ruins of the mursaat, Rata Sum.
No for reasons Narcemus said and the fact that we have seen mursaat structures in the Ring of Fire and they look NOTHING like Rata Sum.
Furthermore, the mursaat weren’t in the world for thousands of years prior to just shortly before Prophecies’ events, so the Rata Sum ruins wouldn’t be in such shape – they’d be in far worse to non-existent shape (from the last Dragonrise) or they’d be in pretty good condition (since Prophecies).
They also power their devices with dragon energy, but maybe they learned that technique by studying the mursaat, who had already faced the elder dragons.
They did that before surfacing – unknowingly at that. So extremely unlikely. Especially since after surfacing they didn’t.
@Beetle: We know she’s no idiot. What I meant is that during this update she acts like a psychotic kitten with no goal but total anarchy. And that’s what I meant by how she should be acting – that she pretends not to have a goal as that is part of obtaining her goal.
A living world is a world that continuously progresses – to have a proper living world, you need all plots progressing over time. This is just one singular plot with its after-effects being progressed. Even though a year has passed, we’ve had two plot focuses: Scarlet and Kiel. Everything revolves around them. All their “living story” does is progress a singular story, without allowing new players to witness the beginning chapters of the story.
It’s a “living story” but not a “living world” is what I’m trying to say. They’re focusing too much on Scarlet’s plot.
Demons are – by definition – creatures created directly from the Mists themselves. In terms of the Guild Wars universe, that is.
There’s nothing to indicate Razah is immortal, especially just because he’s created from the Mists. He could theoretically have a lifespan far shorter than the average human.
We don’t know if the corruption remains after hibernation though. I mean, it would, but it could steadily regress. Otherwise wouldn’t the world be seeped in corruption from their several rises?
Except that it’s more than just the three collages she’s famous for.
She studied from the most famous Blacksmith – who holds both direct and indirect multitude of ties to the personal story. She studied under a gladium who also, iirc, has ties to the personal story. And the Pale Tree herself viewed Scarlet as a threat it seems.
But yet… she’s only now being revealed to the open world? When she is being made to have been a super-genius and threat for a while now?
It’s one thing to have “a new villain” and another to have “an ‘old’ villain who’s now being introduced” – at least with Abaddon, all knowledge of him was supposedly wiped out.
It’s not exactly clear that the world had dragon corruption and minions still.
But wording from the “Orrian History Scrolls” do make it sound like something happened in the past that is unknown to us still, and we know Balthazar and Melandru terraformed the land of Orr (if not more) for some reason.
And what would have happened for PCs who were necromancers… asking why necromancers are helping? Would have been weirder.
And the “dragons eat magic” thing was only presented as a theory in the asura storyline; it’s confirmed later on for all characters during the earlier steps of invading Orr.
I heard that the Zhaitan fight was so poor due to being pressed for time (lol so much for “when it’s ready”), so future dragon fights should end up being far superior.
But with the route ArenaNet’s going, don’t expect another dragon! Ever! Cuz we got the “personal” nemesis aka Scarlet Briar to slap around for the next century – like any ol’ Saturday morning cartoon villain, she’ll just never die! 8D
Uh… where do you guys get that he’s immortal.
There’s nothing to say that. Even demons may have lifespans.
Unfortunately there’s no lore on that place as far as I have seen. The only known portals by Odran in continental Tyria lie in the Tomb of the Primeval Kings and Tomb of Drascir (both now within the Dragonbrand). There’s no mention of a portal in what was the Shiverpeak Mountains – though all portals are said to be behind traps and hard to get to.
Furthermore, they are called “Lost Spirit”s so I doubt they come from the Hall of Heroes, whom I doubt would even leave (if they could) the Hall of Heroes. Lost Spirit/Soul is usually a term used in the series to denote someone who died but didn’t move on due to an unsettled conflict or the like.
It’s possible, but IMO unlikely.
Orr is heavy on ancient Persian/Arabian influence – mostly in titles, naming system, and spoken language. I’d also say they have quite a bit of Mediterranean vibe to them with their maritime power, use of xebecs, their alphabet looking rather Phoenician and there are rare occasions when their names are more Greek-sounding instead of Arabian (Thadeus).
I don’t recall hearing their spoken language. All I’ve ever seen of that is a norn in Raven Lodge of Hoelbrak talking about the flowing style of the Orrian language/writing script.
waves hand This is not the Scarlet you’re looking for.
^ title name made me think of that >.>
I really wish that Scarlet wasn’t the true mastermind, or if she’s just playacting with her “I’m insane, I will kill kill kill all the peoples!” personality. It would turn out so much better if her acting like an insane terrorist with no goal was part of her plan – to set herself up as an unknown martyr. Appear as the villain, act the villain, all for the goal of setting the stage for the “real heroes” to change the world into a proper livelihood.
But as Pavees says, the short story pretty much confirms that Ceara-renamed-Scarlet-Briar is the big-bad of the living story (honestly, I wish there wasn’t a big-bad of the living story, because then that’s no longer a living world, just a “linear story with temporary content” – two vastly different things – not to mention that the latter removes all purpose of the personal story in the end, while the former wouldn’t (as much?)).
Although risen are called “undead”, they are NOT undead in the traditional fantasy sense. They are dragon minions made out of corpses – dragon minions in of themselves are living bodies, or in some cases living elements, that got twisted by the element of the Elder Dragon and their personalities twisted profusely into fanatical worshipers (with slight twists dependent on which dragon they were twisted by).
Standard undead are, while minions, not twisted abominations; they are not fanatical, their personality remains untouched if advanced enough (if not, no personality at all it seems) though they sometimes do not control their own actions.
Ultimately I think it’s an odd choice to have the primary villain utilize this vast, evil, corrupting undead army and then have a character class that uses the same time of magic and not make nay attempt to describe how they are different.
See, this is where you’re wrong.
It’s not the same type of magic. They’re even made in completely different ways. And though it’s not openly explained – that lack of open explanation is actually part of the story. In modern times especially, necromancy is viewed in poor light thanks to Zhaitan. Even though the magic is utterly and completely different, even though the means of making “undead” and undead are utterly different, even though the outcome between “undead” and undead are utterly different.
And it actually is stated that dragon magic is fundamentally different than all other magic used – that’s actually one of the main plots of the Elder Dragons that is shown alongside the whole “dragons eat magic” aspect. It is most prevalent in Sorrow’s Embrace and Crucible of Eternity story modes, whereas the other is most prevalent in the personal story.
A lot of ways it could be reconciled. For instance, they could have stuck in a blip about your class into the cutscene at character creation that talked about how Necromancers were mistrusted and outcast until the threat of Zhaitan, and now their expertise makes them a valuable part of the resistance and then flavored NPC necromancer’s as such, I would have thought all-the-better about the class.
A problem with Anet is that they don’t include all their lore in the game.
However, the situation is the opposite of your explanation – it’s that ever since the Cataclysm and moreso since Zhaitan, though even beforehand as well but not as much, Necromancy has become untrusted among the non-sylvari. Simply because the commoner don’t know that there’s a difference.
It was the feel that Anet wanted to bring in – “why are necromancers trusted when we’re fighting all these undead?” – your reaction is more or less exactly what ArenaNet wanted, but they still provided us with “necromancy is different then the Risen” if you actually look in the right places.
(edited by Konig Des Todes.2086)
Dessa is very much from the present. She knows about the consortium. She likely talks LA down because it is, in fact, full of pirates and Sylvari are fairly uninteresting to someone in her line of work. She’s been in that lab for god knows how long, with no intention of ever leaving, so the emergence of some tree-people passing her by is no biggie. Hell, I don’t even remember where she mentions not knowing about the Sylvari.
We technically don’t know when the Consortium were established.
Dessa is, IMO, most likely from shortly after Lion’s Arch was rebuilt – keep in mind that LA was built using money stolen from Rata Sum (well, specifically from Kryta but the money was to pay for Divinity’s Reach’s asura gate, so the Arcane Council got the raw end of the deal since the gate was already built). This would place her as before sylvari, and while asura in general had a poor view of Lion’s Arch. All we’re missing is the foundation date of the Consortium – all we know about their founding is that it is asuran-established, but even that doesn’t prevent it from being established before the asura surfaced – the Consortium could have easily been the Black Lion of Quora Sum and the other five majestic underground cities.
My point is, from the dialogue I’ve experienced as a not-sylvari-playing player, there’s absolutely zero indication to me that she’s from the past, let alone having it be heavily implied.
But her blatant fascination and unknowing what a sylvari is means that she hasn’t even heard of sylvari, let alone seen one. She even expresses interest in it – just not as much interest as in the Mists, so it isn’t that they just aren’t in her area of interest. Meaning that, at the least, she likely hasn’t been to Tyria since around 1302 AE.
(edited by Konig Des Todes.2086)
Really? Where?
Though for Scarlet, the centaurs wouldn’t offer much except for cannon fodder and earth magic at best. They have no tech, which is her area of interest, and I somehow doubt that earth magic would be a good proponent in magitech (unlike fire and lightning, rocks don’t give good energy, I guess).
I’ve heard such before, about the Reaper’s Gate statue in Lornar’s Pass. Got nothing. Tried in Orr, don’t recall anything either.
As far as I know, it’s merely a player-made rumor. Urban legend among the playerbase. Like the Terror Shield of GW1.
I don’t really see it as the case. It’s possible, but the Cliffside fractal is representing the earliest history of humanity on Tyria. They wouldn’t have been chaining Abaddon up – or any other god. This would also mean that the fractal takes place in Cantha or south of, so Labyrinthine Cliffs wouldn’t be where the fractal takes place nearby – the ruins also have designs similar to the upclose patterns seen on the Dominion of Winds’ wall.
The colossus is most likely an ancient native inhabitant of the world, IMO.
And on the Aquatic Fractal, we’ve learned room he was in was well furbrished, lit up by a single fire behind that it is possibly prehistoric as well as possibly a mixture of two different times/places – Elona and Ascalon. Exact wording:
GuildMag (Draxynnic): Fair enough… okay, let’s move onto some questions we had regarding Fractals. Okay so, in a previous interview with TowerTalk there was a tease of a mention of about just when the Cliffside Fractal takes place, but we still don’t know much about the Underwater and Volcanic Fractals. In the former we see some sunken statues which look a bit Elonian but the surrounding ruins feel Ascalonian. Can you shed some light on when and where that takes place?
ArenaNet (Scott McGough) : Uh, not very much I’m afraid. I feel like I’m letting you down here. But yeah, the existing fractals are all scattered far and wide throughout Tyria’s history and pre-history. Some of these things are from the time of myth and legend and so we can’t exactly verify exactly how they happened or how they connect to the modern world. That one, uh… yeah, I’m afraid that’s just going to have to be my answer for now.
ArenaNet (Jeff Grubb) : One of the things with Fractals is because they’re in the Mists, they are echoes. They are not true history, they are basically the resonant history.
ArenaNet (Scott McGough) : Exactly, yes.
ArenaNet (Jeff Grubb) : So therefore you’re seeing a lot of combined feelings coming in sometimes. Maybe there is a place that had that Ascalonian Elonian crossover area. But just as easily, it may be the effect of the Mists.
ArenaNet (Scott McGough) : And, check me on this guys, the Mists as we define them – the Mists by definition: anything that can be there, or has been, can show up in the Mists. So we get some strange pairings sometimes. Sometimes, for examples, in the Urban fractal, it’s a recreation of the battle for Ascalon, but it’s not – it’s a recreation, not the actual – there’s no time travel involved, you’re not taking part in the actual battle.
ArenaNet (Ree Soesbee) : If it was just the actual battle, if it was just a very precise rendition of history, you couldn’t go fight there, you couldn’t do things there. The Mists very much are flexible because they’re like memories – you can go back in your own minds and sort of write someone into a memory where they weren’t there and what would have happened ‘if this person went to the movies with us.’ And the fractals are very simpler, the Mists are very simpler.
ArenaNet (Jeff Grubb) : It also makes it easier for the players who are of other races. No one’s saying ‘hey what’s an asura doing here’ or ‘what is this strange leafy creature.’ It opens the entire pasts for all of our races. Which is a cool thing and we basically use that as a sounding board and a starting place like our PvP Raid on the Capricorn, that’s a piece of history, there weren’t any norn there.
So that isn’t likely to take place near either location before either.
Plus in the past, Labyrinthing Cliffs would be covered in snow.
(edited by Konig Des Todes.2086)
Magic has always been treated as the use of spells in the past. Never explicitly said such, no, and magical energies can act invisibly (thus not “visible”) but I would argue that it’s more than just, say, having a lot of luck.
Obviously, it’s a joke to show what would’ve happened in the Tyria we’ve gotten to know over the years. Ever since Scarlet showed up (and even before that, with the appearance of the Aetherblades), the universe has started to become less magical, less Guild Wars, and more some aberrant sci-fi/fantasy amalgam, with more emphasis on sci-fi.
I don’t really mind the sci-fi elements to it, if done right, but IMO, the game’s story has been in decline before the Aetherblades by a month and a half – with The Secret of Southsun.
Though not part of the relevant plot (thank god), Faren was forced to flee Divinity’s Reach because of a riot caused by a cat popularity contest.
Seriously? A riot… over a freaking cat not getting first place?
If not for the extreme stupidity I’ve seen in the world, this would seem over the top, but it certainly is for Guild Wars. Unless Anet’s goal is to make the plots and elements of the game as pathetically reasoned by our own issues (yes, our problems are sad in that people are dying, but the reasons people kill are really pathetic in too many cases – example: some teenagers in, I believe it was Oklahoma, got bored and because of that, gunned down an Australian athlete to elevate their boredom >.>).
The Aetherblades were reasonable in of themselves, given their Inquest ties, but it really was stretching things. Scarlet does so far more.
Hard to say, but given Asalonian pride they may see her as an outsider – especially the Separatist sympathizers.
It sorta gets rid of the dragon’s primary weapon. The dragons we’ve seen in action so far, their primary means of being a threat is corrupting and raising armies from those they corrupt.
The only one who doesn’t do this, I think, is Primordius (thats the destroyer one right? I’m terrible with names).
They’re still a huge threat – what with the twisting a whole strip of land, shattering the largest known mountain range in the world, and slaughtering thousands all by themselves without the need of minions.
On Primordus (no second i), yes that’s the destroyer one but in an interview with GuildMag Jeff, Ree, and Scott confirmed that Primordus can corrupt the living – by effectively entombing them in rock and lava. We just don’t (explicitly) see this happen.
There’s also the deep sea dragon and mordremoth whom may or may not corrupt living beings. And hints in the Nightmare Court imply but do not prove that Modremoth may be corrupting the NC.
Makers and users of pretty much the series most powerful weapon (that we know of).
Caladbolg is far from the most powerful weapon in the game’s series. It exemplifies the wielders traits and is an anti-lich weapon, yes, but that pales in comparison to…
The Lost Scrolls, capable of sinking an entire nation and raising its inhabitants as undead, possibly even making a lich.
Sohothin and Magdaer, capable of turning an entire nation’s inhabitants into immortal ghosts that share the personality with the weapon’s wielder.
Searing Cauldrons, capable of burning and demolishing anything from a single building or small town, to an entire nation and then some.
The Staff of the Mists, capable of bending reality itself.
The Scepter of Orr, seemingly capable of controlling the metaphysical (spirits), which possibly includes the titan army – credited as the strongest army in all of Tyria.
In context of Guild Wars 2’s main plot, yes Caladbolg is a bit overpowered since it’s basically an Anti-Zhaitan weapon, but by that argument, so is the laser and grappling hooks on The Glory of Tyria, which are similarly anti-Zhaitan weapons made by studying the Inquest’s research on the Elder Dragons’ magic.
Did rata sum already exist then? I don’t have much knowledge of the first game.
Rata Sum was built on top of ruins. What we see in GW1 is what is known as Soreen Draa in GW2 – though with fewer ruins – which is basically one of six “on the ground” locations of Rata Sum (three can be accessed within the city zone, and one only accessible via personal story).
It should be noted that Rata Sum is an asuran name, and there are other similar names of asuran cities/towns – Quora Sum, one of the six now-lost underground cities, and Rata Pten, asuran ruins on the surface that predate the Cataclysm.
Indeed, it’s from Utopia, a piece titled The Hub of Time which signified its relation to the chronomancers – though that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been reused in concept. Another of Dociu’s pieces, Kite, was re-used as concept art for the Zephyr Sanctum; and going further back, his piece titled Screamers that was for Prophecies’ Ring of Fire environment, was re-used for The Screaming Spans in Nightfall.
I woudn’t call it an “amazing story” but it is definitely important to the game and needs to be in the game somehow.
In an attempt to steer away from the ley lines issue, one thing I noticed Thalador forgot to bring up that’s been bugging me is Angel McCoy’s comment on mesmers:
Orr: Are the illusions created by mesmers visible to anybody or only to the caster and the spell target?
Angel McCoy: This depends. Casting an illusion that can only be seen by one person is an extremely advanced skill as it requires getting directly into an individual’s mind. Only the most skilled of mesmers can do this, and mesmers don’t talk about this ability. If people were to find out that mesmers could do this, it would prejudice people against mesmers and damage the trust and love mesmers work so hard to inspire in others.
No documentation of this ability exists outside the Mesmer community because the targets of this kind of spell don’t realize they’ve been duped. No one else can corroborate their experience either, so…it’s often explained away as battle fatigue. Even within the mesmer community, knowledge of this kind of spell is “need to know” only, which means only the most elder and experienced are initiated into the circle.
Basically, what McCoy says is that using an illusion on one person in of itself is an extremely advanced skill that affects an individual’s mind directly, and only few mesmers can do this. Furthermore, they don’t share that they can do this, even with the so-called “mesmer community.” However…
Addendum to point 3 (didn’t want to make that to large), throughout the personal storyline and open world, we have folks who basically go “it was just an illusion!” Signifying that the ability to make illusions is well known even among NPCs.
@Stooperdale: We actually do know the motive behind the Molten Alliance – or at least their motive as of Flame and Frost – to conquer more surface land (Hoelbrak and Black Citadel specifically, given a map of the BC found), and for the dredge – to advance their technology – and for the Flame Legion, to use the dredge then enslave when partnership is no longer needed.
And while Mai is the only named captain, she was merely a captain it seems – just like the dozens of nameless champion mooks we have been fighting throughout August.
I suppose it’s possible, shame. A quick google search yielded nothing for me as well. Doesn’t help that Anet went and took down their blog as well. :/
About Malomedies – it was part of sylvari week, in one of the interviews where Ree (iirc) explained that Kudu was the one in charge of the asura krewe that was experimenting on Malomedies.
This, if I’m remembering correctly so I’m not 100% sure, was said to have occurred while he was still Snaff’s apprentice and is, in fact, the main reason why Snaff ousted Kudu – it would also be before Kudu joined the Inquest.
“Have you met my Aetherblades? They work for me, you know, because they like living.”
I don’t think Scarlet gives them much of a choice of “liking” working with the Flame Legion.
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