Guild Wars 2

We didn’t really perform the ritual of ascension, actually. Ogden stressed that we wouldn’t/didn’t Ascend.

Besides, the divine fire was used as a replacement to the Forgotten Key, indicating that the Forgotten had a use for it beyond the Trials of Ascension.

If you enjoy the core game, probably. If not, probably not.

Though I’d get the game on sale if possible, TBH.

Drakz.7051:

Play the Vanilla for now to see if you enjoy it, Vanilla is my favorite part of gw 2 so far xD

He obviously bought the game pre-HoT because he’s posting on the official forums (F2P accounts cannot do this).

It was tied to the Forgotten. The Exalted were tied to the Forgotten. It wouldn’t have been odd for the Exalted to have access to Divine Fire for the sake of fighting Elder Dragons and their minions.

But nope, didn’t happen. What seemed to be a lead in for a plot turned out to be – once more – just a tease. Immediately picked up and dropped again story aspects is a too common place theme in GW2.

I’ve always took that as the exalted are expunging the pure uncorruptable energy that their body is made out of as a means to push the mordrem back – similar to the reaction the mordrem had to divine fire in the end of S2 (which never showed again…).

Removing the mask may be part of doing that.

It’s always been like that, Vayne, but the April patch changed the ground ‘bosses’ from champions to veterans, so they’re far easier to do.

We are nigh immortal, but we experience final death if our masks are removed. Thus, we save the masks of our dead.

Please understand that masks do not fall off or become lost. They must be ripped off in battle, as a vinetooth will do. The jungle dragon could not blight us, so it made vinetooths to hunt us down.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Exalted_Bastion

I don’t think exalted can survive their mask being taken off, given this dialogue.

WvW is dead! All hail WvW!

From my guess, all of Verdant Brink/Act 1 takes place in about a week, give or take a few days. The story starts with one night happening and directs you to each outpost (in order of Pale Reavers, Pact Camp, Jaka Itzel, Noble Ledges, Pact Ordnance) so I’d say each outpost = its own day and night, roughly, and I’d say the same for the story instances, resulting in 5 days (outposts) plus 3 days (story instances) for a total of 8.

The places aren’t truly secure, but rather “secure enough until we can get out of here” (which would be the choppers at night).

For the others, I’d argue roughly the same. A day or two per meta chain and story instance, all roughly being around a week to a week and a half each act/map, resulting in about 1-2 month campaign against Mordremoth during the course of Heart of Thorns.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

A suggestion to future WvW surveys – Limit responses to players with a minimum WvW rank. Something like a threshold of Rank 1000. It’s low enough that a casual WvWer would be able to achieve in the last 3 years of playing, but high enough to sort out those who don’t play WvW enough to have a say.

Hi, I’m one of those casual WvWers. I’d probably only put in around 15-30 hours a week when I’m feeling like WvW’ing. No, not much, but that’s still 2+ hours a day on average.

I am still in the Bronze rank titles. That means, yes, less than 500. Despite playing from headstart – now, I didn’t play WvW from the headstart, but I’m fairly sure I’ve been casually playing for a long time now with no more breaks than I would for the game in general.

So by your argument, I should be incapable of voting.

By your argument, new players should be incapable of voting.

In fact, by your argument, everyone I know would be incapable of voting, even those with 800+ rank.

I disagree.

lil devils x.6071:

So this means:
1) Past and present WvW players over a certain rank were not notified via email. If players were unable to log into the game this week for whatever reason ( for example: the hospital I have been at most of the time has GW2 blocked) they do not know the poll is happening at all.

2)There is no restriction on the poll itself to limit voting of non WvW players or multiple accounts.

3) WvW rank 10 would never be high enough to impact multiple accounts. Rank 1000 would be a much more appropriate measure.

1) Why would people who aren’t playing the game be notified about the game’s progress? If they’re not playing but are active in the community, they’d find out via forum or reddit.

3) I think 1000 is too high, however. It would keep casual WvW’ers out.

I could agree on 100, or 200 even, though. I would argue that you need to have reached Bronze rank titles to vote – which, if wiki is right, is 150.

Ovalkvadratcylinder.9365:

W never got to vote on that. Just that the reward tracks were here to stay.
What they do with the reward tracks is up to Anet, atleast right now.

We were told the gift of battle would be turned to only reward track when the WvW reward tracks exited beta.

There was a poll asking if the WvW reward tracks were ready to exit beta.

How about one JP that has multiple chests with moving platforms (cranes, airships, etc.) and they move slowly enough that you could only reach one chest per, say, 5 minutes.

Talon.9532:

in a few months there wont be a point of doing dailies anymore.

The 2g and the only reliable source of spirit shards that doesn’t require spamclicking accept boxes is not enough? Nor are the individual daily rewards – oft karma, PvP reward progress, badges of honor, and WvW reward progress

Redenaz.8631:

Much as I like cultural armor, I don’t want additional sets of it. They’re a huge undertaking (3 tiers * 5 races = 15 armor sets ) for relatively little payoff. That’s 15 new armor sets, but any given character only gets one new option, as opposed to getting 5 new options for a character.

The math just doesn’t make sense. I’m glad they’re in the game, but they’re not an efficient use of resources.

Technically speaking every armor set is 15 different sets, because each race gets a different alterations anyways. It’s less forceful on the creativity department, but they still can’t just use the human armor on charr, asura, or norn.

They’re also more highly desired, making it more worth making because higher demand for it.

Other than those we personally see? We only know this amount for Mordremoth.

Population has always been a big “never talk about” thing when it comes to Anet and GW2. We don’t know how many asura, norn, charr, humans, or sylvari there are. We don’t know the size of the Orders, or military forces. Nor the size of the Pact.

Nor casualty numbers in wars.

Do you mean The Way In?

The path is straightforward. You start at the tunnel entrance and just keep going down that one tunnel. If you follow that one tunnel, there will never be a part for where you need to go above where you are.

The only part there where you have an area above you is if you agree to get the sack for that one hylek, which is up on a ledge – but that’s not mandatory, just kill some chak to get the 10 enzymes if you can’t reach the sack.

BrotherBelial.3094:

onevstheworld.2419:

Did you get it then fight the legendary bandit? I think it gets consumed when you defeat him

No it stays, or at least it did for me.

It (should) disappear, but you get a trinket version of the thing from an achievement for beating an executioner on a character with the mail-given death mark.

If you still have the trophy Bandit Death Mark (obtained from the mail) then you shouldn’t have the trinket one (unless you get a second trophy one from completing Long Arm of the Law II or something).

Randulf.7614:

WereDragon.6083:

BrotherBelial.3094:

onevstheworld.2419:

Did you get it then fight the legendary bandit? I think it gets consumed when you defeat him

No it stays, or at least it did for me.

Would you mind terribly checking if that’s the trinket the legend drops? Or the actual mark.

My mark became the trinket after a kill

It doesn’t “become” it. It disappears, but you get an achievement completed when it does, and that achievement rewards the trinket version. In between killing the bandit executioner and opening that achievement chest, you won’t have a death mark.

Evon is a merchant, and information helps any merchant gauge the upcoming value of products. From political secrets to upcoming plans for the city – anyone can use such to make a small (or big) fortune.

They said that the episodes will be larger too. So this isn’t going to be content on par to one of S2’s episodes, which gave 3-5 story instances and a third of a new small map (if that) but larger than that.

How much larger is the question… I’m hoping for 3-4 times larger. They kitten well had enough time for that. If there’s enough content, the spacing won’t be that big of a deal – though people are overly used to the S1 design and want that maintained.

Ultimately we don’t know.

All we really know is that the Tarnished Traitor has no mask. It is said elsewhere, most obviously just inside the Masks of the Fallen section, that if an Exalted’s mask is removed they suffer a final death – yet his is gone, and he is still ‘alive’.

Randulf.7614:

Or just keeping the fires of speculation going. With the Dragon on the HoT page suggesting Bubbles and Rytlock suggesting Kralkatorrik next, they might just be benignly stoking the speculation whilst we wait for story progression.

Or Braham suggesting Jormag, you forgot. :P

This is my line of thought – it’s not something that the White Mantle are interested in, but rather a hint at future storylines. Like how they added a few bandit/White Mantle things in S2.

Just saying that makes no sense whatsoever.

Nearly forgot…

In the third raid wing, just before the Keep Construct, there is an interactable object (aptly named Painting). The dialogue for the object doesn’t give much, just says the painting was clearly done by a master of art, but the painting…

is of Drakkar Lake.

Full with Drakkar beneath it.

I know a dev commented on the journal thing but… this makes the whole “I suspect” part of said dev’s comment a bit questionable – like his response was an intended red herring?

Honestly, Stay the Blade feels very fitting.

Sheet the Blade, however, sounds like you’re trying to put a bed sheet over the Shining Blade. And that’s just silly.

The other two aren’t very poetic, which I think was part of the point of using “Stay”.

A friend of mine pointed out a new poster she found in DR. It wasn’t interactable like the Posted Message ones that are part of the achievement, but instead has New Krytan writing on it, which translates to “Stay the Blade”.

I looked around DR afterwards and found two others – same message.

A neat little addition some would miss. And maybe there are more posters out there, with more messages. Attached is the one I found. All three were in less traveled roads – found on in NE Eastern Commons and one in NE Ossan District.

The original dialogue is:

Long ago, the Staff of the Mists and the Scepter of Orr were given to the great nations of the world as protection. Predictably, those who wielded their power were corrupted. Terrible horrors were unleashed upon the lands once guarded by their benevolent power. The gods themselves were forced to intervene. They struck down both rulers, sealed the scepters within their tombs, and guarded them with powerful magic.

I’ve always taked about the people who got them being evil/criminal individuals and simply used the two staves for their own means rather than using them for protecting others.

The dialogue doesn’t say the staves corrupt the bearers, but rather that the bearers were corrupt.

Edit: I’m not too sure that’s the Scepter of Orr in that concept art.

A larger version of the art – the Scepter of Orr they look very similar, but are different. Given the accuracy of Khilbron’s appearance there, I’m not too sure they’d make such changes to the Scepter of Orr.

If there are new maps added in S3, then those maps will be HoT exclusive maps.

If there are new story instances in S3, then those story instances will be HoT exclusive.

I don’t get what your complaint is.

Just look at Season 2. All mastery points were tied to either the new maps (Dry Top and Silverwastes) or story instances. Season 3 will no doubt be the same.

Any achievements in the current maps would no doubt just reward mastery experience, like the Current Events achievements do. But if Season 2 is anything to go by… there won’t be many of those.

Most likely we’ll finally be getting the map north of Brisban (Majesty’s Rest area) and Lake Doric as part of S3, if we get two maps again like S2, which as mentioned would end up being HoT exclusive just as all of S3 will be.

Of course, there is a chance that S3 will add mastery points for both Heart of Maguuma masteries and Central Tyria masteries. Or some entirely new set of mastery tracks.

And even then, it doesn’t need to be in the four maps to give Heart of Maguuma mastery points – it’s really ArenaNet’s decision in the end.

One thing I don’t get…

Applenook is owned by Lion’s Arch. This is why we see Lionguard there – both in the open world and definitely in the personal story. So why is the White Mantle putting propaganda there with the claim of Applenook being ignored by Jennah?

Of course they’d be ignored by Queen and ministry. They’re as likely to be of interest to Krytan government as Kennak’s Homestead is.

Can’t say I’m surprised that the Beetletun posters are supporting Caudecus – he’s always seemed to be a WM member himself to me. Though what caught me off guard was the various posters (Triskell Quay and Beetletun IIRC) demoting the rest of the ministry. Would have suspected there’d be a claim to want to keep ministers who would end up being White Mantle members – or easily manipulated individuals like Zamon.

I found the complaint about Kessex Hills still being destroyed after the Tower of Nightmares situation humorous, as that’s basically a player complaint.

Donari.5237:

Arden.7480:

5) Please Link side from which you got this picture. Is it fanart?

Apparently it was on the HoT website 9 months ago as the background (now we get the purple eyed mordy construct) https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3ivbea/whats_happening_to_lions_arch_again/

Wrong page, Donari. You want this page not the main one:

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/game/mastery

it’s still there. Direct link to image:

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/assets/images/content/mastery/cover.jpg

In all honesty, we don’t know.

Could have been Glint, could have been the Scepter.

@OriOri: LWS 3 will only be available to HoT owners from what we were told.

It makes sense that LWS3 will award HoT mastery points for the reason Electro mentions.

The Scepter of Orr does not create liches.

Khilbron was a lich prior to having the Scepter of Orr (we outright see this).

The Scepter only seems to influence one’s mana/energy and allow control of souls (based on Sanctum Cay’s bonus mission when we wield it).

Right. Chances are that after Razah and the GW1 PC separated (be it due to death of the later, disagreement, or retirement that left Razah wanting more, or something else), should Razah have survived any battles in the 250 years (being a demon he’d likely live over a thousand years given the nature of some demons in GW1 being as old as the Exodus), then he likely would have found other – even if temporary – traveling companions.

Why would he be evil? He accompanied the GW1 hero for an unknown amount of time (at least five years if he stayed with the PC for Eye of the North to Winds of Change). That was the “find its purpose by working with a hero” bit alluding to.

There actually are charr ancient history that mentions of the Elder Dragons as of Season 2.

There’s no outright statement, however, when you obtain Keiran as a hero, you get a new Keiran’s Bow which uses the Rotwing Recurve Bow skin, which drops from Rotscale.

Sock.2785:

Regarding the Keystone’s appearance, given that the stone’s purpose has changed from the original, I don’t see why its aspect couldn’t have changed as well.

By your argument, the entire bloodstone’s purpose changed (not really – it still holds magic just as it did before, just in a slightly different manner), so by your argument the entire thing would have physically changed.

But there’s really no reason to believe the Bloodstone crystals would change at all regardless of its purpose.

Sock.2785:

When, because of the gods, magic started slowly but continuosly seeping from the bloodstones (it wasn’t released in a burst, we still have the bloodstones after +1000 years), it could have started to crystallize around the seeping points on its way out, like stalactites.

I think you don’t understand what the “release of magic” actually was.

“Correct. Abaddon bestowed a unique gift of magic on each group of creatures.”
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Quiz_Terminal#Terminal_5
Abaddon, god of water and secrets, gave the stone away to some races. This caused wars, because people fought over it. King Doric begged that it be taken back so the battles for power would end.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bloodstones_
Those are our most accurate descriptions of what Abaddon – the one who released magic – did.

The main thing you seem to forget is this part, however:

King Doric begged that it be taken back so the battles for power would end. The gods agreed. They used Doric’s blood to seal the stone (blood + stone = bloodstone) and it broke it into five pieces.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bloodstones_
Randall Greyston: Fantastic! The human gods not only sundered the seer’s bloodstone here—they increased its power.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Ruined_City_of_Arah_(explorable)#Seer

They put magic back into the Bloodstone. Yes, magic flows slowly back into the world from the Bloodstones, but they had also put magic into the Bloodstone first.

By the sounds of it, it was released as a series of bursts – bloodstone given to one race after another unique magic granted to each – but then the magic pulled back into the Bloodstone, separated into the four schools universally via shattering, and left to slowly seep back into the world (over time weakening the bloodstones).

There was a take by the seers, then a give by Abaddon, then a take by the Five, followed by a slow trickle of a give by the Five.

Sock.2785:

So the growth wouldn’t be observable in small periods of time, unless the crystalization was the result of a burst – take what happened with Matthias Gabrel for example, when he turned into an Abomination: he could hold no more the incredible amount of magic flowing through him and the crystal-like formations (sprouting exactly when the hovering crystal shatters) definetly look like they’ve bursted from inside of him.

I’ve not fought Matthias myself so I can’t say personally, and while it does certainly seem like the bloodstone “grew” out of him when looking at the abomination form initially (especially so for along the arm), I’m not so inclined as to say this is because he had too much magic inside of him.

And honestly, as you said – from what I saw from videos I concur – the hovering crystal shatters above him – and his staff, which has a bloodstone shard, also seems to shatter. This makes me more inclined of an instantaneous case of showing what happens if you were to embed a bloodstone shard into a person – it would grow, feeding on the body while mutating it. The main reason I say this is that the bloodstone coming “out” of Matthias is focused on one point and spreads from there – as if that giant shard was the thing that was floating above, jammed into his body, and twisted it with the overwhelming raw magic that was inside it from the sacrificing of souls.

Rather than “Matthias put so much magic into his own body that he started turning into a living bloodstone”.

But hey, it’s a chaotic battle so either is plausible, really. -shrug-

Besides we know Bloodstones have very weird effects on people: Randal in Arah turned into some sort of red ghost before vanishing into thin air when he was attacked the energies of six shards.

Not seeing much relevancy to the keystone being a completely different color and material to every other bloodstones.

Sock.2785:

Regarding the Keep Construct, its base material seems to be marble – I see red glows inside the broken marble but the crystal bits (except the one hovering over its “shoulder”) seem to be protruding from it – they were part of the wreckage when the Construct had been assembled (we see that the White Mantle hoarded quite a lot of the red crystalline fragments in Salvation Pass).

Looking at the videos, it to me looks more like red crystal that has a marble coating – how they’d manage that I can only imagine as using magic to soften then harden marble (making it like a casting), but that’s what it looks like to me.

Sock.2785:

Thing is, they would not take a chance: those directly involved would know how things work – how it would work is only in doubt to us.
Also, needing to bring the fragments close together really isn’t that absurd, on the contrary it’s pretty logical, and it would also be a very difficult deed to achieve.

I think you put a little too much faith on the gods explaining things in such a way that it wouldn’t be forgotten or twisted.

Also, keep in mind that Salma took role of the throne from scratch – any wisdom imparted to Doric’s children would have been lost in the transition from Jadon to White Mantle to Salma, as Salma never had royal teachings.

It’s possible that the characters in the world know more about it than we do – highly likely in fact – but to the degree that they know that potential fanatics would know that simply killing them on a Bloodstone wouldn’t unleash its magic? That’s a pretty kitten huge risk to take even if they do know that it wouldn’t work.

Double so, when it’s well known that the White Mantle sacrificed the Chosen on top of a Bloodstone, using said Bloodstone to empower the soul batteries – as we saw in GW1.

Sock.2785:

P.S. I’m not stating it must be this way. It could be this way, this is all speculation.

Never said you were saying it must be.

However, I’m saying that I don’t see how two obviously very different materials (red crystal-like versus white marble-like) can be the same thing (bloodstone).

Rhaegar.1203:

A little OT on this, but… I always wondered, why did we attack the Forgotten in GW1, while attempting Ascension?

That always seemed weird to e, one moment you’re killing them and then after you Ascend, they’re friendly at Glint’s Lair. Wut?

Basically, the long and short of it is that they’re the test takers, and the test is to surpass them.

They’re actively trying to prevent individuals from Ascending. Surprisingly, it wasn’t really explained well until Heart of Thorns, when Ruka says:

Ruka the Wanderer: I don’t know what you’ll find, but if I know the Forgotten, you’ll be tested before you’re allowed to proceed.

Ruka the Wanderer: Don’t be offended, it’s nothing personal: they never give anyone what they want without making them earn it.

Erukk.1408:

The last rise of the Elder Dragons was more than 3000 years ago wasn’kitten As one of the surviving races, I’m pretty sure that would put the Forgotten older than that.

Honestly, it’s unclear. The Durmand Priory claims that the last Elder Dragon rise was when the Giganticus Lupicus were wiped out.

However, we’re told that Glint has “3,000 years of memory” in S2, and that “3,000 years ago she was entrusted with taking care of the world” in Edge of Destiny.

In the Durmand Priory personal storyline, we’re told that the oldest dwarven ruins are “over 2,000 years old” – an odd way to say they’re over 10,000 years old, no?

And in GW1’s not-in-universe timeline given to us, and while thought contradicted via Arah explorable was un-contradicted in S2, we’re told the Forgotten arrived on the world in 1769 BE.

So while the Giganticus lupicus do seem to have been wiped out by the Elder Dragons, it seems that the most recent dragonrise before the current one was only 3,000 years ago. If so, this means we know the time of two previous dragonrises – ~10,000 BE and ~2,000 BE.

Rednik.3809:

Or maybe they just lived for less than one generation in Ascalon after they reconquered it from previous “god chosen race” of divine invaders? Charr are natives for Tyria, Forgotten are not.

I never said they conquered Ascalon from the Forgotten.

In fact, lore indicates the races who lived in Ascalon before the charr were the dwarves and grawl.

The Forgotten are only said to have lived in the Blazeridge Mountains – which the charr circumvented when they conquered Ascalon by conquering the lands now called Blood Legion Homelands before sweeping south into Ascalon.

Based off of:

No longer clamoring over the same territories, the unified Charr spread throughout the northern reaches of their homeland, and down into the lands east of the Shiverpeak Mountains. The Charr subjugated or destroyed any and all who dared defy them within their territories; they were masters of all they surveyed.

This line from The Ecology of the Charr which is basically saying that the charr spread north first, then south along the lands east of the Shiverpeak Mountains. Basically, they made an n movement in their conquering after being unified (by the Khan-Ur).

The inhabitants part comes from:

The grawl are native to Tyria, and Ascalon in particular. The earliest mention of them is found in early charr military tributes that predate the arrival of humans in the area. In these annals, the charr are always portrayed as victors with the defeated grawl pulling the charr commanders in great chariots. The charr dominated the grawl, forcing them into the Shiverpeak and Blazeridge Mountains and beyond, where they lived at a subsistence level.

From Planet of the Grawl

As well as:

“Somewhere in these depths rests the legendary Kathandrax’s Crusher. Kathandrax Steelsoul was a great Dwarven hero who repelled the Charr time and again. The Charr came to view Kathandrax with respect, and his weapon with fear.”

As stated by Swithin Nye – this dwarven hero that repelled the charr was buried in the now-called Blood Legion Homelands. Why?

Add in the fact that during Edge of Destiny, there’s an ancient dwarven village in southeast modern Ascalon…

Aaron Ansari.1604:

If I recall correctly, the timeline’s not conclusive one way or the other, right? The single generation thing is a possible interpretation of the vague phrasing in the Ecology of the Charr?

Not just the Ecology, but all lore around the Khan-Ur indicates that there was only one Khan-Ur, and it is made clear that it is because the Khan-Ur united the charr that they were able to conquer vast lands (as before the Khan-Ur, the charr were more focused on internal wars) and the humans were able to conquer Ascalon only because of the Khan-Ur’s death.

Erukk.1408:

Considering the fact that we know the Forgotten are an Elder Race that has been living in Tyria for at least 5,000+ years, it could be easily possible that, even while not native, they have been living on Tyria (and in and around Ascalon) long before the Charr race/culture evolved enough to form any type of society. That’s more than enough time to claim “native” status.

As far as we know, they still arrived on the world in 1769 AE. Hardly 5,000+ years ago. More like 3,000+.

But again: it’s never actually said the charr conquered lands held by the Forgotten. In fact, the statements by the Ecology of the Charr indicate that the charr only began to conquer lands after the Forgotten pulled back.

Rednik.3809:

And yet, they are invaders, brought by human gods to establish control over Tyria, but failed. And after that fail, gods decided to intervene again and brought second “god chosen race” to try again.
I wonder how many real tyrian natives was slaughtered during first gods arrival.

Uhh…

The Forgotten didn’t fail until long after humanity was brought to the world. And neither human nor Forgotten were brought by the Six Gods as invaders – humans did act that way, but no indication the Forgotten did. In fact, the Forgotten pulled back from the world because of humans ruining kitten.

Plus, keep in mind that without the Forgotten most Tyrian natives would have been wiped out by the Elder Dragons – it is because of the Forgotten that Glint had hid the races, after all.

Rednik.3809:

In the world with multiple sentient races you cannot spread all over Tyria by being peaceful. Though, I guess they probably repeated (or, to be more correct, did it first time) human invasion scenario, where gods initially gave them power, helped with initial push, and then left Tyria.

I disagree with this.

The Forgotten arrived in the world at a time of utter chaos. The Elder Dragons were reigning and wiping out civilizations. Then in come the Forgotten, who free Glint, and hide the races from the Elder Dragons.

It’s very probable that the Forgotten were one of the most well off races after the Elder Dragons went back to sleep, and were able to spread themselves not out of conquest, but because they were helping the other races get back on their feet.

Everything we know about the Forgotten from GW1 screams “a race that does not invade and conquer” but instead “has a military only for defense reasons”. And everything we know about them from GW2 screams “a race that taught, not conquered, others”.

I mean, hell, they were well established across all known Tyria and when humanity began conquering, rather than wage millenia long war with humanity, they went into the Crystal Desert.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

There’s nothing (reliable) that says the the Forgotten were brought to Tyria by the gods. The source on that was the discredited human creation myth that also held that the gods made Tyria and magic and claimed Glint was the first living thing. They did work with, and for, the gods while they were around, but that’s also true of the dwarves, possibly the Seers, and if Thruln can be trusted even that far, the jotun.

There is reason to believe that their original statement of origins is true as of Season 2.

Plus, there’s the whole fact that in Nightfall the Forgotten talked about how they served the Six Gods for thousands of years.

Abnormal Seeds were dropped by all plant creatures, including Oakhearts which are pretty much outright confirmed to not be related.

It’s downright impossible for them to have been intended to be “early concepts of Sylvari” because, quite frankly, the idea of Elder Dragons didn’t exist until development of Eye of the North/Utopia. If they became such – which I doubt given the lack of them in GW2 – it would be a retcon.

Not all mobile plants must be tied to Mordremoth, just like not all undead are tied to Zhaitan and definitely not all ice elementals are tied to Jormag (in fact, none are).

They were just a humanoid mobile plant, really. In fact, if you look at their models they look nothing like how mordrem do – reed stalkers are spaced out reeds in a humanoid shape, while sylvari and mordrem are highly compressed leaves, vines, and other plant materials shaped around a wooden endoskeleton.

Yeah, I’m not sure why you’d think DR is weak. The weakest place would have been Fort Salma, but that place was dragon corruption and well… pointless for the centaurs to attack.

winterchillz.2564:

Once seen as harbingers of destruction and death, a race that had the power to destroy their own gods, only to rise as saviors of Tyria and put forth the biggest hero of them all – Rytlock Brimstone.

The charr didn’t destroy their own gods. Humans did it – twice. But the charr like to omit that part of history.

Just like they like to omit the part where they conquered Ascalon and only lived in it for less than a generation before it got conquered by humans from them.

Despite the fact that individuals lived in Ascalon before them, and those that lived there after lived there longer (by about ten times the duration if not more), they still claim Ascalon as “rightfully theirs”.

I’m a fan of the charr, but truth be told… they’re liars and hypocrites when it comes to telling their history.

Sock.2785:

That’s one of the point from where I started: the Keystone is different. The others are like miniature versions of the original Seerstone (containers of magic).
As I said earlier, the Keystone was not a needed piece for the seers.

This makes no sense.

The Keystone was part of the original Bloodstone. It’s literally taking one thing and dividing it into five pieces.

Why would it change color. Why would there be an unneeded “piece” if there was only one piece?

Your argument is literally this:

We know what three of the five bloodstones look like – and they are identical – however, since we don’t know what the other two bloodstones look like, they can look like anything – including this stone that looks nothing like those three bloodstones. Therefore, it must be a bloodstone.

Amd yes, the keystone is a bloodstone. And so was your “Seerstone” despite you wanting to call it something else.

Sock.2785:

When the gods started releasing the magic from the Seerstone back into the world, given the massive amounts of magic seeping from it, some could have started to crystallize (as we are seeing from recent events in game, magic can crystallize.) – in the cinematic linked by cptaylor.2670, we can see that the crystalline fragments are erupting from the stone (they could be increasing in size much like stalactites).

You’re making a very wide theory which is starting to sound like it’s contradicting lore – sounds like you’re saying the keystone wasn’t part of the original bloodstone but created because of excessive magic in the world.

However, there is a fatal flaw in the claim that magic would have crystallized in the world when the gods released magic. And that is:

The effects we’re seeing now is when there is too much magic in the world because two of the Elder Dragons, which contained and limited a large amount of magic, are dead.

This never happened in the past, and this large amount of magic would have led to the Elder Dragons beginning to wake up in Year 0 rather than Year 1078, since they wake up when there’s a large amount of magic in the world.

That makes that however much magic was put back into the world by the Gods – momentarily – wasn’t even close to the amount of magic in the world during GW1 let alone now, when we’re starting to see it crystallize – for reasons we do not yet know.

And I disagree on the conclusion for the video – I do not think that the fragments are “erupting from the stone” – the clip is far too short. Given their appearance, I’d and the animations/model showed in the making up video released yesterday, I’d say that those crystals are an actual part of the Keep Construct, not erupting let alone growing from it – much like the jade constructs of GW1.

Sock.2785:

Ain’t it weird, not to say suspicious, that the names of Jennah’s parents, given that they are pretty recent history, have never been spoken out or written (both in game and out)?

Anyway, if she was related to King Doric, I guess that the pieces must be brought back together in order for the supposed sacrifice to work.

Weird? Yes. Suspicious? No. It’s almost never relevant, and when it is, it’s more natural in the dialogue to say “Jennah’s father” rather than “King <Name>, Jennah’s father” or “Jennah’s father, King <Name>” and if it’s just “King <Name>” then we, the players, wouldn’t know they’re talking about Jennah’s father.

Like King Roderick – given he reigned 50 years ago at an unknown age, it’s likely he’s Jennah’s father. But because we only got his name, we don’t know.

It’s hardly suspicious because they can toss any name and it literally means nothing to us. It wouldn’t matter if her father is named King John or King Asinine.

Furthermore, even if Jennah herself isn’t a descendant (which contradicts all established lore, regardless of whether or not there’s another heir), previous kings/queens would have been since Salma definitely was (proven records and whatnot found during GW1), and that would hold the same exact risks as if Jennah was a descendant of Doric.

And arguing that the “pieces must be brought back” is highly theoretical on both fronts – both in-game and out of game – and idiotball holding on a whole new level than ever done in the history of Guild Wars.

“Oh hey, there’s a chance that my blood can unleash powerful magic that once drove all the known races to the brink of genocide, but hey, the five pieces likely have to be brought together so it’s okay that I spend my day to day life on this one piece.”

I’m sorry, but who’s stupid enough to take that risk?

Westenev.5289:

While they’re not really a defined character, I sure did miss the presence of the Tyrian Explorers Society in the HOT maps!

Seriously, what happened to TES between season 2 and HOT?

The Guild Initiative is a subdivision of the Tyrian Explorers Society.

So they’re more defined in HoT than ever before.

trub.1657:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The closest might actually be Tusked Howlers which are basically tusked gorillas. They are native to Elona.

Ohhhh- I always thought those bruisers were baboons!
(Runs back into GW to look at the critter again)

Wellll…

They’re kind of like a tusked cross of gorilla and baboon, I guess? They do have exposed butts akin to baboons, I think.

Mara.6782:

In GW1 there were http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Cloudtouched_Simian monkeys in Tarnished Coast.

To be fair, the Heart of Maguuma isn’t the Tarnished Coast.

I’m guessing the asura’s attempt at exterminating the wildlife in the Tarnished Coast proved very… effective. For simians, if nothing else.

Sock.2785:

I’m not implying that the aggression fragment is blue, that the preservation one is yellow (and so on), or that the gods used a prism…
That was an analogy.

Given your continued stance that the keystone is white and saying so because prisms…

Seems more than just an analogy. I mean… why else would you say it’s white because of a prism.

Sock.2785:

The inscription on the two bloodstones is carved into a material that clearly looks stone-like. Also, the carvings on the Keystone are different because it was made by someone else, the gods.

Black stone is often volcanic. They were paced inside of a volcano. It only makes sense some volcanic rock would form around them.

Also, the gods altered all stones… so if they carved one to ensure it has a purpose… wouldn’t they do the same to the others? Yet the third bloodstone seen lacks any kind of carving or inscription.

Sock.2785:

It’s just implied and accepted that she is from the Salmaic dynasty. I don’t see a clear line here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tyrian_royalty_family_tree

That’s because that’s a fan-made family tree and we don’t know who Jennah’s father was, hell, that list would make it kitten clear we know less than 10% of the royal family lineage.

I’d place player characters on top, given the fact they kill gods and dragons on their whims.

trub.1657:

Mallyx and Husks are as close as your gonna get…sowrry.

The closest might actually be Tusked Howlers which are basically tusked gorillas. They are native to Elona.

Fun fact to be had: Zhaitan was also waging war against Elona. Given that the closest comparison to gorillas in GW1 lived in Elona, it wouldn’t be far fetched to believe that either lived in the stretch between Orr and Elona and were captured and corrupted by the invading risen forces.

This would place gorillas out of reach from Mordremoth….

But not from Kralkatorrik.

Yes! I say we shall have Branded Gorillas in the future! Branded Gorillas I say!

And we should have branded bears, I mean just look at that adorable face.

True, true. My bad. Then the list gets rather huge, doesn’kitten

Like the skull focus Adam is a reference to the GW1 character Eve who had a skull named Adam which in turn is a reference to the biblical Adam and Eve.

Whichever order’s item you chose in Prisoners of the Dragon, you get the same exact order’s following items during the other story steps that give those back items.

The only time you need to make a choice is the Prisoners of the Dragon. And that’s easy to chose since the ones you’ve chosen previously have their skin unlocked.

All that matters is running your characters through the story. And honestly, since doing so gives you a free auric and chak weapon and ley line armor piece, why wouldn’t you?

Confessor’s -Silly dilly censoring – hat.

I’m not so sure that’s Isaiah. It’s wearing a confessor’kitten for sure, but Dorian also had that hat, and it wouldn’t be far fetched to believe others did too.

So it could be Isaiah, Dorian, a post-Isaiah confessor, the never-seen-in-game Schessler a confessor that came to be after Isaiah (such as the one who established the place), or even an “inaccurate” statue of Saul D’Alessio.