Guild Wars 2

I think they will fly away but they will definately be coming back into the story. Its not like we cant go to them now. After all Keil has an Airship.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Given the fact that we know next to nothing about the family matters of Balthazar and Menzies, or their personality, it’s impossible to say yes or no to that question.

In fact, you have an equal chance of saying yes or no to comparing Balthazar/Menzies to any half-brotherhood where the “good” one is in power of something and the “evil” half-brother is trying to usurp him.

Though looking at Thor/Loki, Loki never wanted to usurp Thor. Not in the original mythology at least. In fact, he was never really that evil of a guy until his wife and three children were deemed “evil” and Loki acted out in anger, resulting in his own imprisonment until Ragnarok – until then he was just your average trickster who enjoyed playing pranks that often went too far.

True, but too far was kind of a mild way of puting it:P Still Loki and Thor were at one point in the Mythology quite close. My favorate story is of a Frost Giant stealing Thor’s Hammer and to get it back Loki dresses Thor and himself up in drag and gets the Frost Giant to show off the hammer so Thor can snatch it back. The image of the bearded Thor in a dress(he was pretending to be the goddess of furtility), running around clobbering giants is a funny one.

I think you have a point when it comes to the presentation of the story (Secrets of Southsun did a pretty awful job of explaining the plot to players) though Im not sure the examples you have come up with are the best way to do it. The LS is certainly not without issue.

I do think the actual story is fine however there is issues of focus. For example they really need to be working on making us more interested in the upcoming vote. Currently Keil and Ebon are kind of… undeveloped. Certainly many of the finer plot points of the LS seem to have been missed by people and thats a shame.

Still the LS has only really now finding its stride and they have been improving. They need to tackle the issues with story presentation and the ability of people to catch up/recap the story so people dont get left behind. They like to refer to a favorate TV show, but the thing with a TV show is you can rewatch older episodes. I understand their arguement on why they want to keep the world moving forward but they need to create a way for people to at least have a ‘Previously, in the Living World’ thing.

The story itself however I currently think is pretty solid.

I might be thinking of the wrong acheivement but have you spoken to Keil and Ebon right up the top area before the Zephyr Sanctum?

Chippalrus.5437:

SynfulChaot.3169:

This is the setup for what is coming next. There are already hints as to what that is. Be patient and wait for the story to progress.

What story? There is a story? I am getting no immersion of story what so ever. The only time I ever understand what is going on with the story is by reading reddit posts (or watch WoodenPotatoes) about it. The “living story” to me doesn’t make me care enough (Even with the characters we meet in Personal story [except Tybalt] and Living Story) to delve into it. To me all this is “Ooooo limited timed items!” Honestly, who reads the mail they receive at the beginning of every new content update? I just click the “show me” and then go look up Dulfy for a guide.

Honestly, if your not going to take the time to look at the information they give you, listen into the conversations and read the dialog then your going to make it very hard to give you a story you will find immersing. Your kind of your own worse enemy with this.

Chopps.5047:

Go to craigsted. Poor Braham

Yeah, poor guy. His love life doesnt seem to be panning out quite how he was hoping.

Esplen.3940:

Lutinz.6915:

Esplen.3940:

Depth? In a game that revolves around players mindless clicking and getting rewarded for bashing the 1 key? Oh wait, there’s auto attack…

I said story not combat system….. What does the combat system have to do with the Living World story?

It to go hand in hand. Most players don’t need to think while they play, so they don’t tend to think while they play. It’s a reason why zergs are so rampant in every method of play.

The combat system has been an inherent part of the game since launch. It would be better to discuss it as a general issue rather than in reference to the Living World story. Thats much more specific. Also, when I was refering to Depth I was refering to the story and only the story, not any other element of the game, including the actual way they present the story, which I think requires more tweeking.

Honestly I think you’ll find that there isnt much that is going to drastically change the combat system since its an structural issue and literally would require major reworking of the games engine.

Anyway this thread is about the Living World story. And that is what I have been refering too. All the stuff I listed in my spoilers have been part of that story.

Esplen.3940:

Depth? In a game that revolves around players mindless clicking and getting rewarded for bashing the 1 key? Oh wait, there’s auto attack…

I said story not combat system….. What does the combat system have to do with the Living World story?

Every two weeks so the next release will probably be on the 23rd.

However its worth noting that the Bazaar will probably run through till next month and the new release will run for two weeks so you should still have a full week after you get back to catch up.

Elbegast.6970:

Lutinz.6915:

I think alot of people have missed alot of the developing story.

Show Spoiler

hide spoiler

Lets start with Flame and Frost. In it we see the very unlikely dredge and Flame Legion allaince, the Molten Alliance. Their goal does seem conquest oriented but much of their focus was on developing an amalgum of magic and engineering. When attacking their facilities we find they are using slaves to mine a substance called Azurite that seems to have the properties of being able to conduct magical energy and seems to be part of how their technology works.

In the wake of this we find out another fact. It was a third party that arranged the allaince and though we know what the dredge and Flame Legion were after this third group remains out of sight including what it got out of the deal.

Secrets of Southsun was a break in the story used to introduct Keil and Kasmeer.

With the Dragon bash festival we are introduced to said festival. At the height of the festival, an act of sabotage kills one of the leader of LA and introduces a new enemy, the Aetherblades who we all know are sky pirates. Unmasking Mai as the murderer we discover that the Aetherblades saught to secure a place on the Captian’s Council.

Now the interesting part. In attacking their base of operations we discover three facts. One is that the Inquest is supporting them. Second is that the Aetherblades themselves lack the skills to mantain their gear by themselves (Keil states this). Third, we discover Mai, leader of the Aetherblades, has a boss, Scarlet.

Now we have two groups with someone manipulating them from the shadows.

The festival ends with Mai telling us that the Aetherblades arent done yet.

Now we have the Bazaar of the Four Winds. Theres alot to the story and lore of the Zephyrites. Infact the Zephyrites may have something of increadable value.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgFdfuuRkRg

He has some points wrong but the general gist is there.

So now we have a group working from the shadows. connected to the Inquest, and who have recently formed a force of Sky Pirates, and a sky ship potentially holding artifacts and knowledge of great power…..

And thats ignoring Mr E., Marjory and Kasmeer’s connection to the corruption in the Ministary in DR, the politics of LA and the personal stories of Braham and Roxx.

And people say theres no story in the Living World story…..

I think the issue is more that people are missing the threads of the story for whatever reason.

Idk how you manage to put all that together without an empty bedroom wall, a dozen rolls of scotch tape, a cheap color printer and a creepy stalker mentality.

Go get a copy of ‘War & Peace’ but only read one and a half sentences per day. Let’s see how long it holds your interest.

And another thing…the murdered Charr at the Dragon Bash wasn’t dead. I revived him, using shadow refuge, but he wouldn’t say anything. He just stood there looking stupid so I logged out at 50% meta completion and haven’t logged on since.

Do you want me to reference all the details there cause I can. I just wanted to avoid a massive wall of text no one would read. All those details have been in the Living World Story. You just needed to be paying attention.

And as for the Charr… I wasnt talking about him. The death (that mattered) was one of the Captian’s Council who actually died later of his wounds.

These facts aren’t that hard to find. You just need to pay alittle bit of attention…. which seems to be a problem with MMO stories of any depth.

Theres an arguement to be made that there could be an issue with how the story is presented since many people are missing important details but I don’t think the issue is the story itself.

Zale.9645:

Living Story is pretty much just the episodes of Naruto after the Sasuke fight, but before Shippuden. Or the Zanpakuto spirits arc from Bleach. It’s just filler till the next Elder Dragon.

I suppose a secret organisation manipulating Tyria from the shadows (no, not the order of whispers -.-) and the modern day Brotherhood of the Dragon dont interest you.

And thats a bit rough. The episodes of Naruto after the Sasuke fight? Below the belt man. Below the belt.

I actually meant if it was the only large vessel. We do see others but they are all quite small.

I meant more on the lines that there may be more ships actually still up above the clouds that didnt come down to trade.

On an interesting side note, I saw two new DEs in the new zone today. Krait attack the merchants on the shore and, more interestingly, Aetherblades attack the outcrop where the Zephyr Sanctum is docked.

So can we conclude from this that the Aetherblades are still a functioning organisation? Perhaps ‘Scarlet’ put someone else in charge.

Im incline to believe at this point that the Zephyr Sanctum we are seeing isnt their only vessel. Its perfectly possible that the ship we are seeing is only a landing craft to something greater floating up in the sky somewhere. Alternatively, it could be part of a fleet. As it is there doesnt seem to be enough room to grow food (which they seem to suggest they do) or hide glints body (which we know they have).

I suspect that Glint’s body gave them more capacity to harness the Aspects and that they could already harness the Aspects except with greater effort.

I think until we know alot more about the Zephyrites its hard to say that this short story is a lore mistake.

SpeedFiend.4521:

Seems the Zephyrites are the only ones who know how to harness this power, and they have no intention to use it against the elder dragons as they don’t see them as evil. Since we haven’t recovered (or even looked for) Zhaitan’s remains, it’s anyone’s guess what happened to them.

Seeing as we can only speculate at this point, my money is on the Inquest. They’ve conducted the most research on elder dragons, I’m sure they’d be quite interested in getting a chunk of one to play around with. Hopefully Zhaitan’s part in the history of Tyria is not quite done yet.

I think you missunderstand the Zephyrite view on the EDs. They dont see them as evil in the way they dont see a tidal wave or a cyclone as evil. They do see it as a threat. After all, Glint, who they revere, fought the EDs. They also seem to hold people who fight the Dragon’s in high esteme.

We dont know what Glint’s heritage is so its hard to be sure what the ‘mission statement’ for the Zepharites is. They may be keeping knowledge Glint left behind to fight the EDs safe. They might be keeping knowledge that Glint wanted to survived the EDs safe. We dont know. Its quite likely though that they could be involved in the fight against the EDs later. I have a feeling that they are likely to find themselves less safe in the air now the world has airships.

As for Zhaitan’s remains, remember that Glint was purified by the Forgotten which is why she turned on her ED master. Zhaitan is one big lump of Dragon Corruption. Perhaps his corpse can be purified but it would probably be a huge scale operation and at this stage we simply dont know. I doubt his corpse could be used safely as is since just artifacts touched by the Dragon’s corruption were enough to corrupt other living things.

In short, even if we have good access to Zhaitan’s body (which is somewhere in the middle of Arah) its likely too dangerous to used as is.

I keep coming back to the question of what exactly are the Elder Dragons and what exactly is there ‘corruption’ that we are cleansing. What caused them to exist in the first place and why does it drive them to consume magic?

Also is the cause still in effect? Could whatever caused the EDs to rise in the first place simply lead to a new ED coming into existance to replace the one we have killed? Whos to say that other EDs havent been killed before in previous cycles only to be replaced as a new ED forms?

It said he could use the aspects at will. This might mean they could use the Aspects before but not as easily, requiring more ritual or such.

As for the Zephyr Sanctum, Id suspect by that that the Sanctum we see could be quite new. Its quite possible that their is more to the Sanctum than we have seen. Certainly I think its likely that they have secrets hidden away and would quite likely hide them in the sky to keep them safe.

I think without Dev clarafication its hard to be sure on the truth. It wouldnt suprise me that traders might know more than the Priory cause its perfectly possible they have avoided anyone they feel could unearth their secrets. It also doesnt say that their recruits even come from Tyria.

Im still feel that the existance of Sky Pirates and a floating Sanctum, potentially housing the magically charged remains of Glint and her secrets may be connected.

On the other hand, I wonder if we can relate this story to Kralkatorik’s power and the Brandstorm. Perhaps the secret to overcoming the powers of Kralkatorik lie with Zephyrites.

They have said in interviews in the last month yes to pretty much all your questions. They intend to use the Living World updates to add all those things. They didnt give a timetable though. There will be a video blog at the end of the month that might give us more details.

Mia Lunarfang.5826:

Those are just convenient excuses. Yes, it is true that the pack needs to take care of its backers or it will fall apart, and yes it is true that risen remain to be mopped up. However, the Elder dragons will be aware of their comrades death, and its illogical to think they will remain quit about it, allowing us to get stronger, to march on them and whip them out one by one. Perhaps they will be scared, but a beast is akittens most dangerous when dying. Maybe they consider Zhaitan to be the weakest and will blow us off as harmless insects. Or maybe, with Zhaitan out of the picture, they will move up to take the spot of top dog themselves. Either way, the dragons always have, and always will be on the move, so I can’t comprehend how we are permitted to slack off.

Firstly the EDs arent comrades. They are at best rivals and more realistically enemies. They aren’t allied. Secondly, your assuming that they think in the same way we would. The EDs are very elemental in nature. They are driven by their desires and hunger. They also are used to consuming the world over quite a long period. They may register us as a threat but above that they probably dont really care about us save that we are something to be either destroyed or assimilated and we are probably not the only power that has their attention.

Who’s to say Zhaitan is the first ED to ever be killed? Considering we dont know what caused the EDs to exist in the first place, how to be know new EDs cant rise to replace old ones? One of the mysteries of GW2 is what are the origins of the EDs.

The other point I will make is we dont infact know where any of the other EDs actually are save for very vaguely. We know Jormag is somewhere in the north but not where in the north. Theres an inland sea up there and alot of territory he could be in. Primodus could be anywhere under the ground. We dont even know for sure where Kralkatorik is. We think he might be in the Crystal Desert but we have no proof of that. The last two EDs (that we as players know the existance of) arent even known to exist by our characters.

We knew exactly where Zhiatan was.

It better not in living story, such content is too vital to the core story to be temporary. The adventure/journey to slay the dragons, must all be in personal story.

We see development on that story in this patch. The Zephyr Sanctum is tied to the heritage of Glint, the former champion of Kralkatorik who broke free of his control and is the reason the Dwarves, Jotan, Seers and Forgotten survived through the last cycle (she hid them). Its highly likely that the Zephyrites will be involved in our conflicts with the EDs later on.

I do agree that when we actually go after the dragons themselves Im hoping for more permenent content. Certainly taking down a ED is something you want to be replayable. But they have noted that missing part of the LS and need to add more perminant content as things they need to work on.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/community-news/short-story-the-trek-of-the-zephyrites/

This I think will answer many questions about their links to Glint… and how the relate to the EDs.

Funset.7893:

They are both equally boring with shallow personality.
Only the devs in their Living story videos think otherwise.

Keil is pretty boring unfortunately but I think thats just because we dont really know the character. Ebon on the other hand hasnt really had any development at all.

Considering how much time we have spent with Keil its a shame that she hasnt matched Kasmeer, Roxx, Braham and Marjory. I think the key issue with her is that to as Keil seems little more than her job. She has some dry wit but mostly just seems Lionguard Keil the cop. We dont really know Ellen Keil. What motivates her? What family does she have? What does she value? Why is she such a workaholic?

Thats where I think her character suffers.

We have been discussing this in the Lore forum. It seems very likely that the Zephyrites will play a large role as the plot continues, in particular with relation to the EDs. They may even be involved in us discovering what the EDs are exactly and how they came to be in the first place (if anyone would have an idea, then Glint would).

As for Glint’s size, her discription in Destiny’s Edge had her as quite alot larger than what she was in GW1. Its always possible that the Glint we met in that game was an illusion or a aspect of Glint. After all she did dogfight Kralkatorik in the air and even though she was much smaller than him, considering his size she cant have been that small.

@kriza krimos: We are mostly seeing the foundation for future story so far but they have done alot of groundwork (and groundwork is important in large scale storytelling. We have seen the corruption of the Ministry plot line touched on through the introduction of Marjory and Kasmeer, we have seen several events with unknown backers to establish a larger consperacy at work and now we have the EDs story getting some set up.

As Arenanet has gotten its stride its story has been getting better. If the LS improves in the next 6 months as much as it has in the past 6 then its going to be very interesting.

Milennin.4825:

Living Story is OK, but generally not enough to pull me back in. Been on a break for a while now. Checking on the news from time to time, but really kind of waiting for that big update that does a lot of stuff at once, such as:

-Continuation of the Personal Story with a focus on an important piece of lore (the Six Gods, Elder Dragons, Mursaat, Canthan/Elonian stuff).
-New areas that are meaningful, permanent additions, instead of temporary filler material that we get with Living Story
-A set of new armours that we can get by playing the game instead of paying real moneys.
-A huge skill split between PvE and PvP to fix problems in higher end PvE content.
-A massive overhaul of all current dungeons.
-New dungeons (Underworld, Fissure of Woe, Realm of Torment).

At the moment I feel that PvE is in such a bad state that it’s simply not worth playing at the moment, which is a kitten shame, because I want to like this game. Half of the professions are so bad off they might as well not even exist when it comes to dungeon content, only due to constant balancing around PvP. Living Story feels meaningless because it’s temporary, and doesn’t focus on big established lore points.
None of this is going to get fixed with Living Story, this is why I’d much rather see an expansion coming out.

I thought Id point a few things out.

On your first issue.

The Living Story has touched on and set the groundwork for exploring at least two of your listed lore interests.

- The character Marjory Deliqua was introduced last month, who’s personal story ties to investigating the corruption in DR. Since theres a strong chance that that said corruption in the Ministry is linked to the White Mantle, that potentially leads on to the Mursaat.

- The Zephyrites are a group that seems to have originated as the evolution of the dwarven Brotherhood of the Dragon from GW1 that worshipped Glint, former champion of Kralkatorik that switched sides long ago. Glint established that order to guard her ‘heritage’ which could either mean her knowledge, her child (a dragon) or both. It’s highly likely that the story of the EDs and secrets such as what the EDs actually are and how they came about could be tied to the future of this organisation when it turns up later.

Its also worth noting that most Zephyrites are of Canthan or Elonian decent and the Zephyr Sanctum has quite possibly been to both these places since they avoid the dragons’ minions by flying over them.

The second point is about the dungeons, new zones and other big addons and changes. Arenanet in their slew of interviews last week said numerous times that they intended to do all these things with the Living Story so many of the issues you have listed COULD be fixed with the Living Story.

I agree with several points but disagree that the framework of the Living Story cant be used to fix them. Arenanet as already stated that they intend to start adding more perminant additions to the game. Game development takes time as do changes. They have clearly heard the concerns of people about lack of perminant content and the ability of people to join into the Living Story after its already started. Im inclined to wait and see what they actually do about it before doubting them right of the bat.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

They do say that they periodically land at cities to restock supplies. So I imagine that they buy non-perishable foods (or as best as they can) and have some of the smaller craft in their little air fleet of a dozen airships land frequently to restock foods.

However, there is a discussion between an Asura and a Zephyrite where the Zephyrite says, refering to the aspects, ‘without the wind we would fall, without the lightning we wouldnt move, and without the sun we would starve.’

That to me sounds like they grow their own food, perhaps harnessing the power of the aspects to do so. Interestingly the Asura compares it to a primative… err… simplistic form of the Eternal Alchemy.

Erukk.1408:

So, the Zephyrites are of Canthan and Elonian decent…

…yet we still can’t ask them what is going on on either of those continents?

/sigh

We dont know how long ago the Zephyrites came from Elona or Cantha. They have clearly been around since they have a few norn among thier ranks. Still its highly likely that they have travelled past these areas.

I get the feeling that the Zephyrites have quite a few secrets. They are zen and all but I get the feeling that they are still dedicated to their original purpose (preserving a heritage) but they dont really talk about it much. There is a distinctly reserved quality to them that has me wondering about them.

Im almost certain we will see them again and potentially in a major role.

Hey…. REALLY CRAZY thought…. What if the Aetherblades were founded, not only to secure a captain’s seat in LA but as a group capable of raiding a floating location like the Zephyr Sanctum. I’ve been wondering what the large crossbows on the sides of the Sanctum were for if they dont have any threats in the air.

They could have a really cool instance where we try and defend the Zephyr Sanctum from attack while its in the air!!! Kiel has an airship. We can catch up with them after they leave.

Dont really get the Keil hate. I dont exactly find her really interesting as a character but she’s done nothing to make me hate her. I certianly dont see how Ebon, who literally has only 3 lines of dialog in the entire game, and only one of which is voiced, could be considered more developed or how Keil is supposed to be like Kormir.

As for the vote, Id probably go with Keil. I just like her better and think she has better oppotunity for story development, particularly since she is both proactive and has an Airship. Plus our characters are already freinds of her.

She could certianly do with a bit more character development past the whole diciplined workaholic thing she currently got going. We really havent gotten to know her as a ‘person’ yet. Makes it hard to sypathise with her particularly compared to Rox and Braham.

I dont think they have anything set in stone yet. What they are doing is experimental and they arent sure who it will play out exactly yet. They certianly aren’t going to commit to an expansion when they arent 100% sure where their current release model will take them in 8 months time and what lessons they learn during that period.

Really they have only been at this for a few months and most of that time they have been restructuring their business. Id say its hard to really be sure what the LS is going to look like in the long term and the scale of the content it will deliver. They seem very commited to this path at this point (restructuring your workforce isnt easy or cheap) so I suspect they will put everything they can into making it work.

I am going to take a wait and see approach and give them a chance to try and pull it off in a satisfying way.

This release is pretty jump heavy. I can see why there would be people that didnt like it. However there is always a thing with balance. Multi difficulty dungeons for example take alot of extra work to adapt and balance, particularly for a story dungeon.

Id say its a fair criticism that the Jumping Elements in this release are very limiting. Its near impossible to get to the top without doing some jumping unless you have help from a mesmer. Having Jumping as the focus of a release however isnt a problem as long as it isnt always the focus of the release.

With value now put on Achievement points, it would make sense to make Metas easier to hit for players looking for an easier mode (I dont think casual is a good word to use cause Im a casual player and I like hard content even if I cant finish it). That way the hard mode Achievements would offer reward in addition AP and perhaps titles and such while easy mode would still allow players to be involved in the story.

Its worth noting whoever that generally development of content and changing of features requires alot more work than most gamers actually think it does. Even apparently simple looking changes can require very large time and resource commitments to design, construct, program and QA.

Its worth noting that the Zephyrites quite likely have strong links to the EDs with their apparent links to Glint (through what sounds like the old Dwaven Brotherhood of the Dragon). They even may know the location of Glint’s offspring.

The EDs most definately havent been forgotten. I think we will see their story woven into the overaching plot of the Living Story as it unravels.

What Im wondering is what the heritage is that the Zephyrites are the keepers off. They seem very open but at the same time, I get the feeling that theres a reserved quality to them. I think they have secrets. Im also curious where they grow their food since I saw no where on the main vessel to grow food. Maybe they have supplimental vessels.

Im starting to think they might be right about the EDs though which would make sense if they have knowledge from Glint. Ive seen several other places refer to the EDs in a similar way. Sentient but elemental in nature, consumed by their own driving nature. The question is what in Tyria’s pasted triggered such creatures to form and what could it mean in the long run. Could new EDs emerge as nature again trys to correct? After all, who says we were the first races to ever kill an ED.

On a seperate note, I find alot of the side dialogs interesting. Theres a woman and child from LA looking to sell something and they have the Vigil looking for them. I noticed a Sylvari among the Zephyrites, freshly joined Im guessing since the Sanctum has never been witnessed by a Sylvari before.

Ill be interested to see if we see the trade negociations play out next week or next update.

We were just bashing dragons…

On a serious note, I think the Living World story will eventually tie into the Dragons again. Alot of the stuff they have done up till now was very experimental and setting up so they can deliver the LW story.

As for what we have been doing, its mainly been linked to assisting with the problems of our backers. The Pact relies on the races of tyria for it’s resources and support. Having them tied up with serious problems directly effects the Pact.

The Pact itself is probably tied down mopping up the Risen. Almost certainly we will moved on, particularly if one of the other Dragons starts to move against us. For now we are dealing with internal issues (Inquest, Ministerial corruption, LA politics and Flame Legion activity). These have been very much a major part of the story too.

Im sure the story will move back to the dragons eventually. There are two that still havent even been formally introduced. In the mean time we are seeing the world get fleshed out and major players who will likely be involved in our future conflicts with the dragons get introduced.

To be honest most of the new factions do tie into already established factions or older lore, including from what Ive seen, the Zephyrites.

They are currently structuring a story which is still building. We have been given hints on deeper currents as the story has progressed and some of them touch on the story of several of those factions the OP mentioned having their stories moving forward.

For example, we know that the Flame Legion arent out for good even though their old leader is down. Further they dont seem too concerned about the Dragons though we dont know why. We do know a third party was involved in their allaince with the dredge but dont know who.

The Aetherblades were outfitted by the Inquest who almost certianly had other interests at play. Its likely they were a front but who for exactly is hard to say.

We also get a slight touching on the political intrigue in DR through Marjory and Kasmeer’s stories. They will almost certianly play a major role in that story playing out later.

There is progressing story here but alot of it is still playing out. I suspect as the LW story progresses you will see plots start to tie together and a bigger picture start becoming clearer. Im already getting that feeling. Storytelling like this takes time and buildup.

wookiee.4631:

If Zephyr Sanctum is not permantent, why would the Labyrinthine Cliffs be? The zone looks to be small as is, without the sanctum it’s bound to be smaller. I’m fine with the area being temporary, I’d rather have a larger map that better ties into the main lore, than something that seems to come out of nowhere (and BTW, how will this tie into Sky Pirates?). If you need hard evidence, just think about what few WayPoint’s it apparently has and it’s lack of Skillpoints, Points of Interest, or Vistas.

Judging from the previews it looks amazing. The scope on everything is incredible. I’d love it if they took the art design of the map and applied it elsewhere. Or at least just the scale of the scenery.

This are spoilers so dont read if you dont want to know.

Arenanet is actually doing a good job of pulling the Living World story together and tying it into established lore.

Oh your right. Augury Rock happened before the Dragon’s Lair. I mixed up the order.

Do remember the aspects were as much a test for would be ascended as they were defense. Its hardly suprising she would put them in to a test related to being marked out by the Human Gods.

I must admit I fell Im kind of out on a limb here with this theory. But it kind of, sorta fits. I may need to get some tinfoil for a hat.

Its the Elder who is a her that made me think of Glint. It might not be but they are very vague on who it was who brought them together to start with.

Who is the Elder and and what is her heritage that she set the Dwarves to keeping? Of course she says it was before the rise of Orr not before the sinking of Orr so again I could be wrong. Odd to leave your heritage to a group who are dying out themselves.

It also sounds like they only became sky nomads after the humans took over.

Edit: Oh come on! Sunflower is singing a song about a ‘hero that gave her life trying to protect us’? Now I feel like Im being teased.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

How did I somehow miss that O_O.
I honestly just accepted that for no good reason whatsoever there was a vision of glint statue in Drok’s.

Yeah, they got uniforms and everything! :P

It would be a good way to introduce the Zephyr Sanctum is its going to play a larger roll later in the stories.

Of course this is all wild speculation, but assuming the wiki page is true, Im not sure what other ‘heratige’ left to the Dwarves, the humans could inherit the ‘guardianship’ of.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

But I’m pretty sure there has never been any mention of a relationship between Glint and the Dwarves. The Forgotten served Glint, not Dwarves O_o.

I also don’t think a Dragon would have an airship built to protect her heritage?

There was an order of Dwarves in GW1 who served Glint.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Brotherhood_of_the_Dragon

Those Dwarves were also part of the challange where you protected Glint’s baby from Destroyer waves and Glint gave the follow up quest chain to prophecy where you hunted down the remaining titans through their shrine.

The Dragon didn’t build the airship. The humans did. As I said, its off the wiki page and its not really clear.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zephyrite

The wiki page is interesting (though not sure if its accurate).

It suggests the Zephyrites took over ‘guardianship’ of a ‘her heratige’ from the Dwarves. Its not really clear but the obvious thing that leaps to my mind is Glint who had an order of Dwarves that served her.

After this the Zephyrites discovered the aspects (which seem to be an advanced form of air magic) and using crystals powered by this magic created the Zephyr Sanctum.

So… perhaps we this group has links to Glint (and maybe even her missing child). Its interesting they use magical crystals to power their ship.

Then again Im probably barking up the complete wrong tree again:P

Ehecatl.9172:

lordkrall.7241:

Ehecatl.9172:

Between the ease of victory over Zhaitan from a game mechanics perspective and Kraalkatorrik being mentally disabled by an asura, Anet really isn’t doing a good job building the dragons up as credible threats. Primordius’ lieutenant was infinitely more threatening to me the player.

Ah yes, someone that is starving and have just woken up after centuries of sleep is absolutely at the top of his powers…..

Rationalize it all you want, a single asura still gained mental domination over an Elder Dragon. For me that just makes the dragons as a whole seem massively weaker than I have originally imagined when reading about them. Raising a country from the sea? Ripping a path of destruction right through Ascalon? Freakin’ awesome! Almost being taken down by an asura, not so much. Even if you add Glint and Destiny’s Edge in there.

I guess I’m just disappointed. Anet’s pacing from a story perspective is just awful. Releasing a book in which one of the dragons nearly gets stomped by a small team of heroes. Then having the main dragon we’re battling die within the first month of the game… As a roleplayer that last one was especially frustrating as I didn’t even get a chance to include Zhaitan in my character story before he got killed off. And I started playing at launch!

You kind of simplify what happened. Destiny’s Edge found a weakiness that no one including the ED expected and exploited it. Thats really the only way we can win against them. In the personal story, every piece of tech the Pact is deploying is tailor made to counter and harm Dragons and their minions. Those cannons we shot Zhaitan with? Designed to be like Kryptonite to him.

The fight mechanics were awful and the tech not really well enough explained but both the Destiny’s Edge and the Zhaitan fight kind of add up. We have to find weakinesses to exploit because the we cant beat the EDs any other way. Magic is mostly useless since they eat the kitten stuff. We certianly cant match them in a straight up Str vs Str. And we cant win a war of attrition since they just would turn us into more of their soldier.

You had one of the best Golemancer’s in Asuran history using specialised tech that harnessed Kralkatorik’s own blood to create a back door into the EDs mind and it could only be done if a collar was fixed to the EDs body, which in its own right was a monumental task. Kralkatorik was a giant with a weakness exposed. Even then he had an army of Branded to fight for him. All Snaff managed was to hold his body still.

I dont think she was saying ‘you think I’m the leader? Guess again’. She was definately kittening at us cause shed lost. However do we have any indication that she is infact the head of the Aetherblades? I always assumed it but I dont remember her saying anything about it.

I might be reading more into it than there actually was. I tend to do that alot with the Living Story:P. I put what she said together with Keil’s nomination and her new ship. After all, who better to combat a sky pirate threat than someone with their own airship.

The Bazaar of the Four Winds is gathering— merchants are converging from all corners of Tyria to sell their wares. But this time it’s not just shady characters and risky trades; this year, the mystical, flying Zephyr Sanctum has landed, bringing their magical crystals and amazing movement skills to savvy traders and daring adventurers alike! What a joy it will be to experience the thrill of the trade—and the race. Let’s go!

Judging from that Id say the Zephyr Sanctum moves around. For all we know it could be a giant floating rock like we see in the Maguuma Jungle. I dont however think it has to do with the tengu as we really havent seen much if any tengu and tengu themes in the preview.

Further, its unlikely that the tengu would hold a bazaar in their lands since they have not let anyone in in centuries. They arent likely to suddenly hold a market in their lands, particularly without heavy guard. If this is something that isnt completely new I find myself thinking they look more like Luxon designs (Luxons had those huge land ships powered by Jade from the Jade sea and they were nomadic) or some type of elemental race like the Djinn (though we havent seen anything indicating a new race).

I think the ‘A Future in Politics’ instance wasnt meant to be in the live game. I think the conversation between Magnus and Kiel was supposed to happen in the instance originally but they instead chose to put in in the open world.

Mai Trin’s dialog is interesting when she is in the cell. I assumed she was the leader of the Aetherblades and taking her and her base down would cripple them. However from what she says it sounds like Aetherblades are bigger than first presumed. My guess now is that Scarlet is the actual leader of the Aetherblades. Weither that makes her the Nemesis or not Im not sure.

On a seperate matter Ellen Kiel doesnt sound like she will be an inspector much longer. Im starting to suspect that she will be part of the tie in to Bazaar of the Four Winds since now she needs to make some money relatively quickly

Interesting. Considering Mai’s comments on the Aetherblades I’d say this gives us some hints as to things going into the future.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Lutinz.6915:

I currently have no idea how the Sanctum is going to fit into lore. I dont think its tied to the Tengu cause there really is no sign of them in the screen shots or the concept art. Currently Im guessing either some elemental based race or, because the structures remind me a bit of Cantha, perhaps an decendent offshoot of the Luxons. The Luxons did use the magical Jade and Amber to power their landships so maybe something similar using wind charged crystals?

In the end there is a very good chance Im completely wrong and this is a completely new thing. As for where…. A crazy idea but what if the whole thing is in the air. We see alot of floating rocks around in the game. What if its a giant levitating chunk of rock?

Oh well, we will find out in a few more days. Im actually interested in how this is going to thread into the over all story arc of the Living Story. Perhaps someone formed a force of sky pirates to raid a sky market? Those crystals sound certainly interesting.

The concept art all looks strictly wood + fabric though, which is backed up by the word “kite” in most of the descriptions. It will be really interesting to see what it is nonetheless.

True but look at the ingame mini sanctum model on the release page.

The two most obvious reasons to me would be that 1) Zhaitan was an urgent threat compared to the other dragons and 2) we actually knew where Zhaitan was. With the other dragons its ‘there vaguely over that way somewhere’.

The dragons have probably taken not of Zhaitan’s death but arent going to rush in. They are immortal beings and its going to take time to consume the world. For now they are probably building their strength and forces. While we have almost certainly now got there attention, I doubt they expected us to be a serious threat before Zhaitan went down.

The other side to this question ties into the question of what the EDs actually are and how they came to exist. Our understanding of their motivations is still rather limited.

While waiting for a group outside Sorrow’s Embrace there was a little dialog in the camp there I overheard where two norn priory scholars were discussing the EDs. One norn called them a force of nature, extreme but part of the world and said the real question was what was so out of whack with nature to cause it to manifest such destructive forces.

Now its obviously the opinions of a couple of NPCs but it got me thinking about it and clearly Arenanet has thought about it too. Until we know why the EDs exist, its hard to really know their nature and the essense of what drives them.

I currently have no idea how the Sanctum is going to fit into lore. I dont think its tied to the Tengu cause there really is no sign of them in the screen shots or the concept art. Currently Im guessing either some elemental based race or, because the structures remind me a bit of Cantha, perhaps an decendent offshoot of the Luxons. The Luxons did use the magical Jade and Amber to power their landships so maybe something similar using wind charged crystals?

In the end there is a very good chance Im completely wrong and this is a completely new thing. As for where…. A crazy idea but what if the whole thing is in the air. We see alot of floating rocks around in the game. What if its a giant levitating chunk of rock?

Oh well, we will find out in a few more days. Im actually interested in how this is going to thread into the over all story arc of the Living Story. Perhaps someone formed a force of sky pirates to raid a sky market? Those crystals sound certainly interesting.

The Pact wasnt a rag tag band of soldier/spys/scholars. It was an alliance of the three strongest anti-dragon specialised organisations on the contenent, backed up by the resources, technical expertise and support of the 5 strongest nations in Tyria and a number of supporting races.

The Pact and its technology was tailor made to fight Zhaitan and his minions which was the fruits of the research and effort of some of Tyria’s greatest minds. Even then it took a hell of alot of effort and loss of life to push into Orr and weaken Zhaitan enough to take him down.

I do agree that the final fight against him was rather disappointing but lore wise we were as pimped out and prepared to fight him as could be. We went into battle with him with prepared to exploit all his weakinesses and defend against his strengths.

Plus, frankly, he probably underestimated us.

As for the humans and the human gods, if the humans didnt abandon the gods after they themselves killed on of their own gods (Abbadon) then I dont think they will dumping their faith because a monumental effort that required the efforts of every allied race and order in Tyria took down a dragon.

The whole elemental theme makes me think more of Djinn than Tengu but as far as I know we have only fire type Djinn in lore. Perhaps some wind elemental version of the Djinn? Certianly Djinn seem to be very keen on wealth and riches so some mystical floating market made by an elemental trader would kind of fit.

Apart from that I have know idea where this ties into lore. Ill be curious to find out the story of it. It seems elemental power and crystals will play a important role in the release though.