Guild Wars 2

Ragnarox.9601:

toughness is overrated, you can be hit by 6k backstabs and 4k hs and even autoattack for 4k. its broken. use zerker gear.

Guardian bunker in zerker gear? You know its Pvp right?

Helloooo

I’ve noticed something that really confuses me about pvping as a guard bunker.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not bad at it at all, it just confuses me when a necro deathly claw can hit me for 3.5 – 4.9 k as a bunker with cleric amulet and soldier runes…surely for something spammable, that is a bit much? I know it’s an elite form but I do not notice any other elite spells being able to deal out that much damage, and hit multiple targets.

Strangely I don’t have the same problems with thieves.

Just wondering if this is normal for a guard bunker to expect as I never had that before :S

If so, fair enough.

I do think that profession evolution would be better in the long term, otherwise GW2 could end up with professions that are no more than fan service and eventually get old really quick.

With how the storyline is going, Rytlock seems to have new armor and also has spent considerable time in the mists so the chance is there for the introduction of a heavy based Ritualist (being that he has the blindfold and we don’t know why yet). If the tengu are introduced as well (speculatively) that would open up more avenues for Canthan culture and thereby a Canthan profession eventually.

However as long as there is a unique mechanic, the armor class wouldn’t matter so much, as there is plenty of light armor that would suit a Ritualist, not so much heavy armor, but that is more down to how the Ritualist could be put across aesthetically.

I could see Ritualist abilities mixed with the Dervish playstyle of ramping up enchantments then wading into battle, this would solve a lore problem for the Dervish as the human gods are race limiting and also absent at this moment, or at least a lot less involved in the affairs of Humans than in GW1, so allowing the Dervish to commune with spirits could solve that. Especially also since the Dervish wear hoods to mark humility, some of the hoods completely covered the eyes, and Ritualists cover their eyes to better commune with the spirits, so the aesthetic match can be there too.

This is where spirits can take the place of the Dervish’s Avatar Forms, in a more mechanic based way. Maybe even spirits possessing their weapons, which would make sense lore wise as we have already seen Belinda possess Marjory’s Sword to increase its effectiveness.

So really if you mix the Dervish and the Ritualist you end up with at least three potentially confirmed aspects of how the class could play;

Likely to be heavy/medium armor (Dervish/Possibly Rytlock after returning from the Mists)

Spirit possessions of weapons (Ritualist)

Communing with Spirits instead of Gods for Avatar forms or general Boost to weapon skills/maybe a new set of weapon skills, similar to the weapon kits and conjured weapons (Dervish/Ritualist).

joe.7684:

As another alternative to being possessed by the spirits of specific individuals, perhaps ritualists could – as they did in GW1 – wield relics of those people, each of which would have specific boons or boosts.

Could be a good precedent for solo scavenger hunt class skills.

Pitrex.7954:

There was ritualist in gw1 and if it will appear in gw2 it should appear with campaign in cantha that’s mine opinion.

I am perfectly aware that there was a ritualist profession in GW1, that is why I put this up, to try and bring it up to date and see how it could be implemented in GW2.

I didn’t specify which campaign, expansion or update it should appear in, this is about how it could appear.

Nash.2681:

Pyriel.4370:

[…]
Alesia:

Passive: Being healed grants you 5 seconds of retaliation.

Activated: Convert conditions to boons on hit (20% chance).
[…]

Needs to be changed to
Passive: drains 25% of your maximum endurance per second
Active: Using your healing skill or aplying regenration to allies will instantly kill you

scnr

LOL

draxynnic.3719:

While the avatars were a signature feature of the dervish, they weren’t really part of the playstyle of the dervish. Playstyle-wise, they were essentially just long-duration enchantments that couldn’t be removed. The dervish playstyle was one of getting into a middle of a pack of enemies and devastating them with close-range area attacks, while managing enchantments as a resource.

That said, there are actually some similarities between the ritualist and the dervish in style, in that both have a bit of a ‘ramp up’ phase before they truly come into their own (dervishes in building up their enchantments, ritualists by setting up all of their synergies: skills which do better with spirits out, with ashes, when used on someone with a weapon spell, and so on). Considering that the main lore of the dervish is human-centric, and most of the style of the ritualist is in the engineer, I could see a merger of the two working – draw on the dervish for a unique playstyle and on the ritualist for less culturally specific lore.

Regarding “Possessions” – I would probably be inclined to have them be spirits that represent particular ideals – things like courage, loyalty, and resilience – rather than representing any specific individuals. This allows them to remain culture-neutral, and for the player to be able to define just who each spirit is rather than being stuck to a fixed list of canon characters. It also avoids the risk of having a whole bunch of players all channeling, say, Keiran at once (just how many places can Keiran’s spirit be in at once?)

The possession could then be visually represented by the character being overlaid with a glowing figure of the character’s race and gender.

The possessions thing is a very good point, never thought of that, suppose I was yearning for fan service xD

If there was a merger I would hope to see spirits return as they would be good as a mechanic. Engis have turrets sure, but necros also have minions, mesmers have illusions, elementalists have summons, rangers have pets, warriors have banners and guards have spirit weapons. There would be a unique way to deal with spirits, though I am wary of how they could come too close to turrets and/or illusions.

darkace.8925:

As much as I like the idea of of a ritualist (thematically), I just don’t see what it would bring to the table that the guardian and engineer don’t already (mechanically) bring.

Maybe a mix between Dervish and Ritualist? Dervish will have problems communing with the human gods, also the human gods are quite restrictive in terms of races. Maybe the Ritualist can be tweaked in the sense that the Dervish now commune with Ritualist spirits as a replacement, so maybe allowing for a Dervish style fighter with Ritualist magic?

Though I guess people would rather those two professions kept separate in terms of the Dervish and Ritualist being from two different continents and strongly defined in Lore/Gameplay so mixing them would seem a waste in terms of intellectual resource for new professions.

Kodan are just perma-bear form norn. Either way they would only make real sense to introduce as a class when we are taking the fight to Jormag in the Far Shiverpeaks.

Dedlaw.9130:

Sounds like a mixture between Ranger and Engineer (which is pretty much what happened to the GW1 Rit)

Yeh I tried to see what the typical mechanics are for the 3 adventurer and scholar professions.

With the Elementalist and Engineer, there are small weapon sets while using class mechanics to influence diversity of the profession, such as attunements and kits. So a heavy ritualist could use its spirits and summoned weapons in that sense, influencing skills available to diversify a small weapon set. Maybe even taking a little from the Dervish’s avatars in terms of ‘Possessions’.

Also with the guardian and warrior there is a lot of dps or support role with not much of a control condition role that you see with other classes like the mesmer or engineer.

This doesn’t go into major detail in terms of weapon skills, its more a flavour of a heavy class adaptation of the ritualist. Constructive criticism is very much welcome, I would love for this idea to develop into a community discussion of incorporating an amazing class into Guild Wars 2, without majorly trampling over the current class mechanics. If your comment is along the lines of ‘wtf don’t bother’ etc. please be aware that this is an idea that is aimed at starting what can be an interesting discussion.


The Ritualist


Casting aside the magic of the human gods and returning to the old magic that the first Ritualists called upon became set in stone during the winds of change. They wield very few weapons, preferring to enhance their weapons with spirits of the past to help cleave through their enemies.


Weapons: Staff, Greatsword, Sword, Scepter, Focus and Torch. Weapon Swapping is not available on the Ritualist.


They base themselves on the 5 different schools, each emphasising a specific aspect, Communing, Spawning, Martial, Spirit and Channeling. They wear heavy armor as the new schools promote active battlefield involvement and will not tolerate being side-lined, believing the spirits to be more beneficial to their allies in the thick of battle. As of their new more aggressive style, they cast away their restoration discipline in favour of stronger offenses.


Below are some of the different types of spells to utilise when fighting;


Summon: Summon a Spirit to aid you with specialised boons or hamper your enemy with conditions that trigger on hit, critical strike or periodically. Can be targeted by enemies. Durations vary. Traits can cause spirits to phase out for a specific short period of time (also deactivating their buff) to avoid damage on command or a larger health pool.


Signet: for Passive buffs and temporary active buffs.

Channeling: Spells that are chargeable for increased effects, the longer they are charged (up to a limit) the more effective the effect.

Void: Spells that boost the player and allies at the cost of an opponent.

Weapon: Equip void weapons for special move sets for a specific duration of time.


Special Function: Possession


On activation you are possessed by an ancient spirit, taking on the benefits of the spirit, giving you access to improved abilities. Passive or deactivated spirits grant minor benefits.


Active spirits grant additional benefits.


You may only equip two possessions at a time, only one possession can be active at any time.


Starter Possession Spirits:


Vekk:


Passive: Grants the chance to blind enemies (20% chance on crit).


Activated: Critical strikes can grant 2 seconds of quickness (50% chance on crit).

Koss:


Passive: Grants Movement Boost (25%)


Activated: Grant allies within earshot 3 seconds of swiftness on hit (10% chance).

Nika:


Passive: Grants 3 Seconds of vigor on hit (20% chance).


Activated: You deal 5% extra damage.


Alesia:


Passive: Being healed grants you 5 seconds of retaliation.


Activated: Convert conditions to boons on hit (20% chance).

Extra spirits can be acquired via pilgrimage to historical parts of Tyria and communing with the spirits.


Other Attainable spirits include:


Kalla Scorchrazor, Captain Langmar, Jora, Razah, Talon Silverwing, Keiran Thackery, Pyre Fierceshot and Zinn.


Elite Skills:


Strong was Togo: Blind yourself and gain stability while casting this spell to mass summon spirits (4). 3 Second Cast.


Medium of the Mists: For 20 seconds, both your equipped possessions are activated simultaneously.


Call of the Void: Create a large field for 12 seconds that blind your opponents and allowing friendly targets to life steal on hit.


Weapon of Dominance: Equip allies with spirit weapons that grant 10 seconds of regen, swiftness, fury and life steal.

Sir, you are amazing, the Lore Section alone is an amazing idea! The redesign to the UI is supremely exquisite!

I think from the battle there will be a lot of paranoia (naturally) around sylvari and likely purges of the Sylvari from places like Divinity’s Reach and Lions Arch. After the Scarlet episode, maybe civilians began resenting the Sylvari, this time it may be the survivors of the slaughter who will lead vigilante justice, primarily from Humans and Charr, as they are the only races who are very much ‘them or us’ in times of panic. The Asura tolerate the Inquest the Norn allow the sons of svanir into the Hoelbrak, somewhat tolerating them should they behave.

Lion’s Arch will likely be a no go for the Sylvari race as the citizens of Lion’s Arch know all to well what a renegade Sylvari can do, especially with Canach and Scarlet.

I reckon it would be a good idea as it would keep spoilers in one area.

You could take the nightmare in the dream as the Pale Tree’s true nature of being a champion of Mordremoth.

They released a feature pack in April 2014, so they may do so again as a pre-patch kind of thing.

Largos = Maybe when we are fighting bubbles as they are oceanic and live in the Unending Ocean. They also have those wings for the most part, save a few pieces of concept art, would be extremely annoying when taking into account animations and armor.

Kodan = Too similar to Norn, just polar bears instead of half-man half-bears. If they became a playable race, it will likely be when we fight Jormag as he is directly involved with destroying their homelands in the Far Shiverpeaks.

Tengu = Most likely by far, Krytan Location, previously planned as the 6th race but cut due to time constraints. Easy enough to flush out, they were pretty active during Scarlet’s attack on Lions Arch in terms of them protecting their wall. If Mordy’s vines can reach Timberline Falls, it can easily reach the Dominion of Winds within their walls.

Yup margonites do not float that high, but then again nothing really did in GW1, you couldn’t jump so enemies floating off somewhere would be irritating based on how strong the margonites were anyway. Besides, Abaddon was the god of secrets, pretty sure a Margonite would have some tasty knowledge.

If it is a Mursaat, it could be artistic licence, same with it being a Seer just missing a set of arms (or having them folded so they aren’t particularly noticeable). The glow and the outfit do not point to Mursaat, neither have they ever been particularly helpful to anyone but themselves. I’m hedging my bets that it isn’t Mursaat tbh. They don’t glow, nor are they the only ones that float, also they have a distinct set of golden armor that they all wore (http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/thumb/0/0f/Mursaat_caster.jpg/209px-Mursaat_caster.jpg), not to mention all but one were killed during the Battle of Lions Arch, Lazarus the Dire.

In terms of Destiny’s Edge surviving?

Erhem…

warmup mememe lalalala

sings Mr Sparkleeees, Mr Sparkles

I’d wager after some thought that it is a Margonite, the glow would make sense, Mursaat have distinct outstretched feathers with humanoid bodies, save for some golden armor.

In terms of potential content that may come with a possible expansion, look at the CDI topic, there are some interesting topics including Guild Halls and Raids.

Maybe there is also potential for a race seeing that the Tengu were planned but cut due to time constraints.

Profession? I wouldn’t say likely, unless it is something related to the Tengu’s canthan background. Seeing that the Tengu are noted to prize speaking Old Canthan and look down upon those who do not. So maybe seeing some form of the Ritualist? Who knows, but I would say still that it is unlikely.

I reckon the likelihood is that an expansion will contain the following;

Maguuma Continent, maybe others like the Isle of Janthir. Not likely to be Crystal Desert or Deldrimor as they are likely being saved for Kralkatorrik and Primordus.

Guild Halls, Raids (I would love Underworld and Fissure of Woe to be the first raids), More Dungeons, More Fractals.

New Personal Story chapter.

New Race (maaaaybe)

New Skills

New Legendaries and Precursor Crafting?

New Items

New Skills and Traits.

New Weapon Type maybe? Or at least expansion of weapons usable by professions.

I can imagine that and a few other quality of life/minor changes one would expect with an expansion.

draxynnic.3719:

To nitpick on one point…

I’m not sure Faolain has turned to the Mordrem side. She possibly has, yes, but note that her scene came right after a couple of scenes showing growing anti-sylvari sentiment, including violence against a sylvari that hasn’t turned. It’s possible that growing violence against sylvari among other races has pushed more sylvari into the Nightmare Court, and in turn the Court has started striking out against other races in retaliation – or even simply defending itself against a Vigil effort to stamp them out.

I suppose in Faolin’s case, only time will tell.

Novuake.2691:

Now your making sense…

So by the PC and similar, defeating the dragon, she is “holding back” Mordy’s influence with the sylvari and possibly her OWN self.

But probably still way more in depth than what we will ever hear from ANET writers.
Lets hope I am talking out of my kitten though.

They will probably have to go into some depth as to why the Sylvari suddenly turned and why your player and a few others are not one of them/corrupted. They will definitely have to go into who the Pale Tree is and the nature of the Pale Tree anyways, too much of an important character to sweep under the carpet.

Novuake.2691:

Seems solid. But that kind of makes it hard for the Pale Tree to manipulate “weaker” Sylvari to not be influence by Mordy.

Not shooting you down, just spitballing :P

No offence taken at all, after all it is just a theory. If I didn’t want scrutiny, I would not have posted it.

I think maybe if the dragon is being fought back in the dream it would likely give the Pale Tree more control, maybe the dragon in the dream is the Pale Tree’s true nature, a champion of Mordremoth, which the Pale Tree uses Valiants (possibly) to beat the corruption back to give the Pale Tree full freedom to control the dream how she sees fit, maybe even suppressing the Dragon’s Call through her connection to the Sylvari. It has been noted that the Pale Tree feels the death of the Sylvari so a stronger ‘hive’ connection wouldn’t be farfetched at all, a connection with which she could hold back Mordremoth’s corruption/call.

Novuake.2691:

All is viable except for :
“The Pale Tree was getting the Sylvari to suppress the ’Dragon’s Call’ by having them beat down Mordremoth’s influence in the Dream for the Pale Tree. "

Only the PLAYABLE character kills the Shadow of the Dragon in the dream as it is stated to be our yild Hunt, other sylvari have different dreams that elude to their individual Wyld Hunt.
At the time we, as PC, assume that it refers to Zhaitan and not Mordy though.

Maybe a good edit to the theory would be the Pale Tree choosing strong Sylvari to beat down the dragon as you are led there by Caithe.

Hello fellow GW2 players and staff alike.

I have a theory as to why the Sylvari all of a sudden turned despite Mordremoth being awake for most of Season 2. This may also explain why the Pale Tree was attacked, maybe a little too specifically by the Shadow of the Dragon first and foremost, aside from the World Leaders/Race Representatives being there.

Up until recently in Lore, the Pale Tree was fit and healthy and controlled the Dream, even having an image of Ventari in the dream teaching saplings about his ways.

In the dream you would also fight and kill a plant dragon called Shadow of the Dragon, the same dragon which would later prove to be a Champion of Mordremoth.

Here we come to the first part of my theory (though others may have also theorised this).

The Pale Tree was getting the Sylvari to suppress the ’Dragon’s Call’ by having them beat down Mordremoth’s influence in the Dream for the Pale Tree. Thus stemming his corruption, overriding their nature with indoctrination via Ventari’s teachings, also enabling her to hold back the corruption for the Sylvari as a whole with the Dragon kept in check constantly in the Dream.

Now obviously the Pale Tree is not so strong anymore following Mordremoth’s assault.

Second part of the theory;

What if the Pale Tree was unable to hold back Mordremoth’s call due to her ill health? Only being able to protect a select few Sylvari with what power she has left? Namely Caithe, Canach, Trahearne, Player Character and a few other story-line Sylvari.

This would explain some of the background and also how the Sylvari were able to turn after being accepted into the ranks of Tyria, especially since a Sylvari in Lionguard armor is particularly focused on, as well as Faolin clearly being shown to be corrupted by the dragon too, so obviously not all of the ‘Mordvari’ are ‘home grown’ so to speak.

Thoughts?

Orpheal.8263:

Sure Pyriel, Bread Crumbs and Bread Crumbs surely let Players become basically Fortune Tellers and allow them to predict a game’s story future from like roughly a year ago basically 100% accurate!

Sylvari could have been made more interesting also completely without brandmarkign the whole race as the seed of all evil with a story, that would have followed more the Nightmare Court and the Story Parts we got from the Sylvari Story around that second Sylvari Tree from which comes the Sylvari Malyck for example.
Or something completely different.

Who says, that every playable race needs to have a freakign age long history. histories are overrated. Thats what made the Sylvari so special, beign such a young playable race with basicalyl no age long history after which they could be pidgeonholed and be put labels on based on what the race did or did not already like several hundreds of years ago.
No, they “history” is much more compact than the ones of all other playable races and that what makes them a good playable race for RP’ers, which don’t want to be labeled as like “the war driven army race”, like the Charr, cause of their plenty wars they had back in their history or like “the mad scientist race”, like the Asura.

So give me a reason, why there had to be the need to turn the Slyvari race basicalyl into everybodies symbolification of hate number one.
How does it make as a Sylvari Character now even sense anymore to play this story any further, when our “supposed Heroes” are nothing else anymore than meaningless marionettes for a dragon out there which are dependent from that “protection” from the pale tree to turn not maybe in an instant into dragon slaves like Wynne said, what she saw in her dream what Sylvari would be basically as Mordremoths Minions.

And after seeing, what Mordremoth did to a whole pact fleet in a matter of seconds, wiping out everybody in a blink of an eye.. who’s to say that Mordremoth couldn’t repeat such a dramatic attack not at any given time with that massive destructive force behind at the pale tree to end, what Mordremoth already tried by sending out the Shade of the Dragon.
With such power, it would be an easy thing for Mordremoth to destroy the pale tree same as easily to remove that “protection”.

The whole thing did look to me basically already like a by Trahearne set up “trap”, because no one as a military commander would be so idiotic to shoot with a fleet of airships aimlessly into the ground flying so extremely low, that an enemie’s counterattack can hit you directly with full force just seconds later to erase you from they sky in a matter of no time then.
tThe whole scene basically looked like a

“Hi, here we are, the army of fools which I present you for my Master on the silver platter and I let them shoot all idiotically into the ground first for you to tell you that we are ready for our deaths to come by your huge vines, my Master, once we have arrived for you” kind of trap

By the massive dislike/hate peopel have for Trahearne for all of his personal story attention stealing, I wouldn’t even be surprised, if Anet will turn up all of this desastrous story now into a “we turn Trahearne into an an enemy-plot” now, where now all Sylvari are already brand marked as minions of Mordremoth.
So what does it make already for a difference by then now?
He will be then just another meaningless foe like Scarlet, whose butt we will kick hard then sooner or later or which we will stab better said then like Scarlet too to get rid of him and Anet would take in the laurels for giving us players our wished importancy back as we become then the new pact leaders.

All perfect, or not? Hitting this way two birds with 1 stone…
Sorry, when I can’t take all this any serious anymore…
Have just to sleep a night over this desastrous story change first to get a clearer mind again perhaps. Just at the moment to disappointed and would have expected a better Season 2 Final without this bad brand marking of the Sylvari, a more neutral epic final of this Season

Tbf you seem more upset than logical. Just quickly, Mordremoth could literally be going ‘those are my minions’ and want to exert control, not to mention the Sylvari have ‘infiltrated’ every aspect of Tyrian society.

Anyway, sleep on it, you may come to like what happens, besides we only know a teaser trailer, we are far from release of anything yet.

Mada.5319:

Pyriel.4370:

Mada.5319:

Pyriel.4370:

Who says that they are copying player theories? Wouldn’t it be reasonable to think that the Devs left clues in the world to let players figure the story out for themselves?

There were no clues. All previous speculation were baseless….. until now.

cough Scarlet.

aaaaaannnnddddd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWtFf7UbtAQ

Not baseless.

I suggest reading through the lore forum instead of watching youtube videos by a guy who’s gotten it wrong more times than right.

Still ignoring good ole Scarlet are we? Ah well, anyways the Sylvari Dragon Theory has been knocking around from 2012 with plenty of logical breadcrumbs like Sylvari being incorruptable by Zhaitan or any other Elder Dragon, the Origins of the Pale Tree, The Nightmare Court, the idea that when one dragon dies, the others gobble up the magic and become stronger thus having a drive to attack each other, interestingly the Wyld Hunt of many prominent Sylvari. Also the nature of the Wyld Hunt itself being akin to an uncontrollable aspect of Sylvari that they cannot control.

Mada.5319:

Pyriel.4370:

Who says that they are copying player theories? Wouldn’t it be reasonable to think that the Devs left clues in the world to let players figure the story out for themselves?

There were no clues. All previous speculation were baseless….. until now.

cough Scarlet.

aaaaaannnnddddd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWtFf7UbtAQ

Not baseless.

Farzo.8410:

Bolbo Baggins.8594:

Unloveableone.6082:

Mursaat are in this video.
I am so certain that is a Mursaat.

It has more resemblance with a Seer

From the guildwars 1 wiki.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Ancient_Seer.jpg

Seers got 4 arms.

The creatures in the video also had black-like tendrils coming from the back, just like the Mursaat.

You are correct good sir. I forgot about the arms, was more focused on the collar and the tendrils not being spread out like typical Mursaat, though that may be artistic licence.

Someone needs to take a chill pill and think things through differently, surely this whole thing makes the Sylvari interesting and actually gives them a history and backstory, something of which they lacked outside of “I am a planty and from a tree that someone planted a while ago”.

Who says that they are copying player theories? Wouldn’t it be reasonable to think that the Devs left clues in the world to let players figure the story out for themselves? If everything was announced before hand it would kill the story even more, let alone any theorycrafting community. It is fun to figure things out from breadcrumbs and after a while you inevitably have enough breadcrumbs to make a loaf. Also who is to say this wasn’t planned based on Ronan finding the Pale Tree seed in a cave of other seeds defended by plant-like monsters.

If anything this will add more depth and struggle to the Sylvari existence rather than some of us are bad and some are good because reasons. Some inner turmoil will help develop them into a race with worries, needs, insecurities, hopes and the dichotomy between their inner-dragon call, self control and the struggle between those two aspects.

Besides who’s to say that the reason Sylvari weren’t going mad before hand is that the Pale Tree was healthy and fit, therefore able to hold back Mordremoth’s influence, now that she is weakened she was able to only protect some Sylvari from Mordremoth’s influence based on priority, Trahearne, Caithe, Player, Canach and maybe a few more story-based characters. Though it WOULD be interesting to see if Trahearne gave in and became a bad-kitten general of Mordremoth.

Is it just me or in the ending cinematic, there seems to be a seer or mursaat, maybe an up to date model/art, but…..http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Seer if you look at that it will make sense.

more open world content would end up the same as the current, only a few guilds doing it, many smaller guilds just becoming inactive due to lack of meaningful group-based content that is new that doesn’t require 75-100 people.

I don’t know if this has been mentioned, if so it is a reinforcement of the original mention;

Revamping Story Modes with ‘Raid Mode’ to make them still playable content but for 10 people, but allowing for the Story to be told as the ‘story mode’ lore is richer than the explorable mode, and it would be a shame to leave it almost untouched save for the odd beginner to run to gain access to explorable where all the rewards are.

For example I will use Ascalon and Orr as templates:

Ascalon – Story ‘Raid’ Mode

Include an updated ‘tequatl’ style AI where 10 people, with good cooperation can take down said boss without simply tank and spank, where you would need good build diversity and strategy to succeed.

Add in more bosses (old ascalonian trainers and npcs could be a gold mine for lore based content).

Fight with Adelbern could involve a first phase which is similar to the first fight, second phase where he takes over a giant statue or uses magdaer to spawn a fire dragon-based giant fight, third phase, the ground collapses and you fight him in his purest form while intermittent phases are about disarming him, then attacking magdaer itself to break it.

Orr:

Similar AI changes as the ascalon section.

1 or 2 more bosses with lore-based introductions (another eye of zhaitan, maybe a risen gw1 character such as the charr general that led the attack against orr in history).

Zhaitan fight;

First Phase

Complete overhaul, still having the airship first phase but with more tactics and maybe multiple siege weapons to accomplish different tasks as Zhaitan is an elder dragon, so he wouldn’t just sit there and be shot down.

Second Phase

A ground based fight in which we fight a ‘wing-clipped’ Zhaitan.

Multiple-phase ground fight in which we keep Zhaitan grounded, and take down the extra heads.

Third Phase

Finishing Zhaitan off with the help of Destiny’s Edge, and killing Zhaitan outright.

Could use items gained for completing these ‘raids’ as prerequisites for a precursor scavenge hunt? Another discussion for another time.

I really like this idea!

Why not a scavenger hunt, so you collect items, take them to the priory to have them appraised and add them to your journal to piece together tyrian history?

Could have different chapters attached to different achievements with a meta-title reward and maybe a unique skin per chapter or something.

E.g. History of the Shiverpeaks, could involve shiverpeaks as well as items dotted around mount malestrom and sorrows embrace etc could make them difficult to get (boss drops, jump puzzles, event rewards), then you have to appraise them which could cost karma, that fills out a specific piece of the history of the dwarves.

Maybe what you would have to do is work through from simpler chapters and they get more difficult as you access later chapters. So maybe 6 chapters in which they get progressively harder, so start with ascalon, shiverpeaks, kryta, maguuma, crystal desert/orr and ring of fire.

We don’t necessarily have to have those areas unlocked as it could be information left behind by previous heroes in all sorts of locations, this could give some feasible implementation.

Could have each chapter give you a specific crafting item, and once you get the meta-achievement, you could get a pattern for a satchel/box/bag of unique light/medium or heavy armor. Maybe even an armor set from Guild Wars 1, something maybe like Obsidian armor (which was THE prestige armor in Guild Wars 1 for those who don’t know) http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Obsidian_armor.

I think I’m getting a little over-excited at the idea lol

dsslive.8473:

Pyriel.4370:

We know that the next class is likely a heavy class so maybe a heavy dervish/ritualist.

not really, i mean the only reson why anyone would assume it has to be heavy is because of this perceived idea that they are going to balance them out. But, taking gw1 as an example, they don’t necessarily have to go for balance. we had 2 heavies, 3 medium and 5 light armored classes (or professions) so i wouldn’t say that having a new profession would be more likley to be heavy.

Also, as a general response to the thread, i don’t have a source because it was said in a video from before launch and i didn’t exactly gather everything in a handy file to reference later, they said that it is more likely that a new race is added than a new profession.

despite that, i really do hope the dervish (and even ritualist) eventually make it back in the game, because i really loved those classes

True, a new race is more likely, however what I can imagine this thread is more how the dervish could end up in GW2.

Maybe the dervish could take on another ancient profession, I’ll explain below how I think it could work.

The dervish communed with the gods and took on their aspects along with enchantments and earth/wind prayers to accomplish feats in combat. Communing is something I will expand on later.

The human gods have been absent to the point where I can imagine, lore wise, the dervish as we knew them would not work so well in terms of taking on full avatars etc (also some avatars have been merged into racial human abilities).

Another class that was kind of ‘merged’ or at least part of it merged, was the ritualist.

Now the original ritualism, as a form of ‘magic’, pre-dates the bloodstones and the human gods;

From Guild Wars wiki

“Being unique to Cantha, they have existed long before the Exodus and the gods granting magic to the races. Before magic, the Ritualists relied upon a power similar to magic, granted to them by their powerful ancestors whom maintained a connection to their descendants. Through their spirits, the Ritualists were able to practice magic, or something close to it. When magic was granted by the gods, many of the original abilities were strengthened and merged into their modern form. Though still relying on the power of the dead, their original skills are no longer a visible part of the profession.”

We also know that the dervish are wanderers by nature, taking on very few pupils.

Maybe, Lore-wise, after the fall of Elona, the dervish ended up wandering away to avoid persecution and find alternate sources to magic that they have lost due to the need for their closeness to the human gods.

The ritualists may have also fallen back into their older ways since the absence of the gods to keep their traditions alive, although to a weaker degree.

Both are mystical by nature and rely on communing to some degree with either a god through prayer, or an ancestor.

What if the dervish came upon the ritualists and merged that communing aspect to replace the human gods.

We know that the next class is likely a heavy class so maybe a heavy dervish/ritualist.

Lore for it could be the above, learning to commune with their ancestors rather than the gods to take on aspects of their ancestors?

Skills could work similar to an engineer kit where you basically have a very limited equipped weapon supply (maybe two-handed only) but flesh out their combat versatility with communed weapons, like the ritualists used to do, though I am aware guardians have the spirit weapons too.

So maybe communing ancestor ‘kits’ that work similar to engineers, but ones that give you ‘scythes’, ‘sword and shield’ etc etc

The reason for them using heavy armor could be that they do not have the access to the same level of enchantment based protection they originally had, so they had to armor up.

So maybe the mechanics could be based around ‘communes’ or ‘ashes’ and ‘prayers’ that rely on ancestors rather than the human gods. This could also be a way for some ‘fan service’ by taking on aspects or communing with guild wars 1 characters.

This could open up for other races as it would not tie the class to the human gods (restricting lore somewhat), and every race has ancestors and people from races other than their own who made big changes during the story of GW1, and even more recently in GW2.

GscGunner.2419:

Pyriel.4370:

I wonder if Anet just put in that letter and decided to let the community figure out a name and then base the real name on that to be lazy? :P

I think i would appreciate a community chosen name, or at least like a part of it. Then AN can wrap around the stuff where the name actually came from etc etc. i really wouldn’t mind and would only show their communication and dedication to the forums.

Thinking about it, yeh! Would be cool for the community to name the dragon and impact lore and game experience in such a way of influencing the naming of a character

I wonder if Anet just put in that letter and decided to let the community figure out a name and then base the real name on that to be lazy? :P

Zaxares.5419:

Jormag’s pretty short and sweet.

Yup, but the phonetic of it lengthens the name.

Scylla is very short sounding, phonetic wise, either way, it is a shot in the kind of dark, only evidence we have is the first letter lol so I am very likely to be wrong on this.

Probably a version of an old religion serpent or sea monster like Scylla (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla) or Serra (http://www.mythicalcreatureslist.com/mythical-creature/Serra).

The DSD’s current role seems to be blocking passage into Cantha and invading and corrupting the depths of the unending oceans. The blocking passage part is very similar to Scylla.

In Greek Myth (Homer’s Odyssey), there was a giant whirlpool called Charybdis which was in an Ocean Strait (people are not sure which), Scylla would be on the opposite side ready to prey on sailors who sailed too close to Scylla when trying to avoid Charybdis. This seems to fit DSD quite nicely in terms of function at least, so maybe the name of DSD would be similar to Scylla?

Maybe they would mix Scylla with another old sea serpent, Leviathan. Could end up with Scylliathan? Just thinking Scylla is a little short considering the names of the other dragons are fairly long phonetically speaking and have a sense of omen to their name.

I really hope we get to finally kill Scarlet now -.- if in this instance I can shove my guardians hammer in her face, I will be a happy guy.

Though the new dungeon is cool, those mobs are much more challenging than normal ones which is fun

I was able to knock it over, basically from what I can tell, you use guardian skill 5 on the staff, place the shield image (its on the ‘line’ that you aim it with) inside the aggro circle and it should budge after a few tries.