Guild Wars 2

One thing that I miss from Season 1 is NPCs moving about the open world. I understand why they are reluctant to have the major NPCs not being present, but having other NPCs who are talking about what’s currently going on would have been fun. I know the three Durmand Priory members in Dry Top have moved each time a major map update was released, but you’d have to wait around for their ambient dialogue to hear what I’m looking for.

Labjax.2465:

Note that you didn’t say, “All bandits lit an orphanage on fire. All inquest abduct and experiment on live creatures. All bandits sell fellow humans to centaurs.”

The argument holds no water, sorry. If we’re going to be concerned about being super moral, then our characters should not be killing first and asking questions later, and apparently feeling no guilt or trauma from all the murder that they do.

That’s how the villains are cast in like every other entertainment medium ever.

Can we at least agree that we’re bullkittening ourselves when we think that we’re ever a shining beacon of morality in an MMO?

I can’t speak for you, but with rare exception, I wait to be attacked before fighting back. Or the plot forces me to kill them. But mostly, it’s just the guys in red (who are noted to be hostile) that I try to kill, and will otherwise let them live.

From what I heard, the books were removed because the system wasn’t finished by launch day, and thus had to be adjusted. It’d be nice to be revisited some day, but that might take quite a bit to integrate in.

The Durmand Priory having a library makes for a very easy place for new books to show up, and a couple did just before Season 2 started. It might be worth a visit periodically (as in once every three months). Aside from that, though, I admit the lore in game is…limited.

I disagree. I feel there should be more and longer dialogue! And it should be twice as long, twice as corny, and with three new characters that can steal the credit from the hero. Oh, then bring back Scarlet. We all know she faked her death on the Breachmaker.

kasoki.5180:

For all we know, she and Logan maybe have a child hidden somewhere (pure speculation)

She is a mesmer, after all. It’d be easy enough to hide the pregnancy behind an illusory veil. If that were true, it’s quite possible the only two who know are the Queen herself and Countess Anise (who knows pretty much everything). This theory actually holds some weight, unlike other royal theories floating around.

I am kind of tired of people trying to kill off the Queen. She’s become the designated damsel in distress because of it, and I’d like to see either her guards being extremely effective at protecting her from an assault, or her to defeat an enemy herself. Maybe even have her out in the wilderness, with no one but the Commander to rely on while trying to find civilization again.

I’m not entirely certain I want to wade into this minefield, but I’m going to try…

The asura and skritt have a long history with each other, both races having lived underground until Primordus drove them to the surface. So, in a sense, the skritt are the traditional enemy of the asura from way, way back. It’s quite similar to how the charr and humans were back around the time of the Searing. Now, I’m not saying that the skritt could never become allies of the asura, but it took 250 years before even a tentative peace could be reached between the two races, and even now, there are a few that aren’t very happy about them working together. (Gods help the separatist humans who join the Vigil…)

So let me try presenting it a different way: before the Flame Legion was cast out, before meeting the northern charr in Eye of the North, could you see it possible for the humans to reach out to the charr for help in fighting against the dragons if they suddenly arose? It’s pretty much the same thing. Sure, one or two asura might consider this action, but they are greatly the minority and it would be extremely unusual. (Plus, it would’ve required that much more VA to be recorded and downloaded. :p )

So while I can understand the disappointment of wanting your asura to reach out to the skritt in asking for their help, it is greatly uncharacteristic of the race on a whole, and the devs decided not to include that route. Unfortunate, but understandable. It’s just… one of those things.

The only way I know to get rid of it entirely is to finish the chapter. Even if you are on replay, if you complete the story steps in order, it will eventually go away.

HyruleanHyroe.1473:

EnemyCrusher.7324:

Anise isn’t a traitor, she’s the queen.

This is exactly what I’ve been thinking all along! Ever since the first time I learned of that locket. It would make me so happy to have Anise revealed as true queen. It’d throw Divinity’s Reach into upset, maybe even civil war as ministers try to lay claim to the throne. Buuuut we do already have plenty of unrest in the land. Maybe it should wait.

Not to mention a heartbroken Logan when he realizes he’s been in love with an illusion. Besides, the queen is real. The main evidence I have is at the World Summit: Anise is already in the Grove, and yet Queen Jennah and her procession are not. Not only that, but Kasmeer is in the royal procession. So either Kasmeer is holding up the illusion for Anise (unlikely, considering she stopped to talk to Marjory while the Queen kept walking), or Anise is powerful enough to maintain illusions through asura gates.

I don’t see the jellyfish joining in the fight against the dragons. They’re all spineless…

Valmir.4590:

*GW1 wasn’t a MMo, so the campaigns could be created as quickly as they were, we have to keep that in mind.

I’m sorry, but GW1 was indeed an MMO, if only a lobby-based one. There were multiple players hanging out in specific cities/missions to adventure in an instanced land. Just because it’s not a permanent one as GW2 is or many other MMOs does not make it any less of an MMO.

I will agree that this change makes it far harder to create expansions like before. Needing to accommodate for many more players, rather than just 8 outside of towns, including all the events and monsters and story to tie it all together, means creating any new zone takes far longer than it did before. I, too, would like to see an expansion, but I suppose these bite-sized Living World segments are far better than months and months of silence.

One thing I would like is that the added maps offered map completion, even if it was separate from map completion. Even just a running tally to find the points of interest, waypoints and skill points would be appreciated. Now, for a map like Dry Top that was slowly revealing itself, I can be patient, but Southsun Cove could certainly list its points.

So, if I got this straight: KATE > PIE > CAKE > KATE

Who wants to play a game of Kate, Pie, Cake with me?

As I’ve said before, I expected Anise to be revealed to be a traitor, seeing just how close she is to Queen Jennah. But two years later, she’s siding with Mordremoth? I don’t think so. Countess Anise is trustworthy, a rarity in this style of storytelling.

@Greyhound: Clearly you haven’t been around mesmers enough. Yes, they create illusions, but those illusions still do damage, some more effective than others. The scale of the illusion, though… That giant dragon, numerous Mordrem on the lower levels, and all their attacks? I don’t think they could be done by one mesmer, not because of the power level (although it is an issue), but because they would need so much coordination to pull it off. Plus, why would the dragon look so much like the one in the sylvari dream? I doubt she talked with that many sylvari to coordinate this plan. Pretty sure the attack is genuine.

There’s just too much here to conclude who the traitor is yet. I don’t think Caithe disappearing is too surprising, either. She’s a thief, and she tends to sneak off to investigate or attack when something big happens. Plus, I’m pretty sure Destiny’s Edge is above reproach after all their anti-dragon work. Someone definitely is coordinating Mordremoth’s attacks, but there aren’t enough clues yet to accurately determine who yet.

The “Suspicion” bar is also kind of like the life bar in Ace Attorney, too. The only difference is that you get brought back in if you fail.

The biggest suspicious act Mordremoth has done is breaking only 4 waypoints over all the waypoints that were entrapped. Every single one of them was in a settlement. Throw in the attacks on Fort Salma and Fort Concordia, and that makes 6 forts overall that have been damaged by Mordremoth. That’s way too conincidental to be random, and more than just the Pale Tree interfering.

I’ll say that someone is coordinating with Mordremoth in the targets, and perhaps the vines would’ve extended farther if Taimi’s device hadn’t changed the waypoint system, it might’ve extended farther to who knows where. I’m going to guess that the Nightmare Court is conspiring in some way, but to what end, I don’t know.

Arghore.8340:

@Durzlla, flies are not a playable race atm

If they were, they’d be constantly at war with the hylek.

To the matter of the vines, I’m sure if the vines were harmful, we wouldn’t have even tried to make it. These vines are harmless, and totally friendly. <small>All hail Mordremoth.</small>

I do think the Pale Tree being damaged is a decent amount of tragedy for this story. While not everyone will necessarily feel sadness at it, it is the sole way for new sylvari to be born. What I think would be interesting would be for no new sylvari to be born while the Pale Tree is injured. Now, as appropriate as it might be, they aren’t about to shut down new sylvari character creation, as every new player who’d want to create a sylvari would go, “Huh? Why can’t I create one of these…” But it could still done plot-wise, perhaps a casual discussion in the next batch of personal story. Again, not everyone will be moved by it, but if an entire race is suddenly endangered like this, it is a pretty big tragedy for the world.

Now, there are other ways to introduce tragedy. I think injury is one of the ways to do so, and more than just Braham’s busted leg. Braham will heal, but if someone couldn’t walk any more, or lost the use of an arm, that is one big way to make things emotional without needing to kill someone, and surviving with severe injury is sometimes more tragic than dying.

My interpretation of the yellow land is that, at first, it’s above the clouds, and lands rose up to it. Possibly a reference to Orr? It could be the crystal desert, though. There are 4 pillars of light, with one having what looks like a seed in it. I’m going to guess, and this is a big leap, that the pillars refer to Pale Tree seeds, and the fourth beam is a seed that we need to retrieve. So there might be 2 other trees out there, one naturally being Malyck’s.

Eleri Tezhme.3048:

Right now, though, it is blocking my story progress, because I can not for the life of me get up to the first Taimi tracking point. It is frustrating to have a real world physical limitation interfering with my right fantasy life, grrr.

As far as I remember, you don’t need any jumping skills to track Taimi through the desert. Yes, there was one point where I think the game lagged on me a bit, but the path to Taimi is a straight line travelling over flat lands. You don’t have to jump up the cliffs to get to the Challenging Cliffs, but you might have to hop around in that green circle until the game tells you to go to the next checkpoint.

I recently crafted one of the specialty recipes, Chieftan’s Mace, and when I was on the trading post, it had the tail end of a flag and the price on the trading post was overwritten on the image of the weapon instead. It didn’t affect any of the other entries, just that one. Thought I should note it, no matter how minor a bug it is.

I did find one article of town clothing out in the world. Somewhere in the charr lands, there’s a bandana like hat you can acquire. I’m pretty sure it’s still out there, but it’s now an armor skin, since town clothing is gone. It would’ve been nice if there were some town clothing vendors out there. Perhaps as karma vendors? There’s not that many ways to spend karma, at least one you have a top tier armor or got all the food you need from vendors.

I agree I didn’t really see them as flirting. Anise is flirtatious, sure, but I don’t think she was hitting on Canach any more than she was hitting on Minister Estelle. Canach, however, showed little to no romantic interest in Anise. At most, he wanted to get a reaction from her, and it wasn’t until the illusion comment that he got one. They definitely balance each other out, and I’m curious what Anise’s true plan is.

I hate to admit it, but I always expected Anise to pull some kind of back stab on Queen Jennah, being so close to her. Maybe I’m just used to the trope of the trusted adviser being evil that the instant a truly trustworthy adviser shows up, I expect the worst. (Besides, Minister Caudecus provides us the noble intrigue we need.)

PopeUrban.2578:

Palador.2170:

skullmount.1758:

Zardul.3952:

• Pokes Living story team.. wheres our free in-game Waffles?*

How come our chefs can’t make waffles? Do Tyrians not know how to make them?
Waffles totally need to become an ingame food (not sure what the buff should give though).

This is an example of where I’d like to see some cross crafting. Armorsmith or weaponsmith needs to make the waffle iron, then it can be given to a chef to make waffles.

And no buff. Instead, it becomes an item you double click to leave a plate of waffles on the ground. All nearby enemies rush to it. Then you kill them, because they just ate all your waffles. (This part is a joke, by the way.)

Or just use the weaponsmith to craft the waffle iron, and use it as a weapon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LicptUy9Ay4

Pfft. Everyone knows the frying pan is the ultimate weapon.

lorazcyk.8927:

Do you mean the one when you first zone in dry top? Or achievements? I haven’t tried any achievements yet, but the initial jumping puzzle was kind of odd. It didn’t really add anything to the story or to the zone, I didn’t really understand the purpose of having it there. It was weird being forced to do it to get started with the story or even just to start exploring the area.
If it were just for an achievement I wouldn’t mind, since it’s optional. But I couldn’t explore or play the story until finishing that jp.

It’s there at the start to introduce everyone to the 3 aspects, if you hadn’t been to the previous festivals. A lot of the story used those elements, or it’s otherwise important (eg. using the Sun aspect to get across the quicksand river to Prosperity), so they introduce all of them right at the start. I admit, it wasn’t that hard, but my asura didn’t always land on the right pillar after using the Lightning aspect…

Zaxares.5419:

And while we’re on the subject, there’s still that poor Seraph Observer camp in Brisban Wildlands getting assaulted by endless waves of Bandits.

I’ve been by that camp, and that’s been fixed, at least when I’ve been by. Can’t speak for the rest of the events, though.

The Pale Tree is also the only one who can’t run, or leave her home. She kind of had to host the event, being a giant tree. I don’t think her Avatar can leave that chamber, either.

The attack is very vague, and it doesn’t really tell us much about what is coming, or what’ll happen. Unlike all the previous teasers, this one hasn’t really whetted my appetite for the next chapter. (Well, any more than it has been. I just want to see the end of this arc.)

Lazarus.3970:

Zeivu.3615:

Arenanet’s boss, NCSoft wants a “Universal” theme. That’s why we lost a whole lot of content, Cantha included. Koreans think that to have Chinese themes in a false world next to thiers is ‘racist’. I’m tired of the race card being played whenever people don’t like something. It’s getting really old.

Anytime someone plays the “race” card, our ability to become a united human race is stalled.

My charr, asura, sylvari and norn all object to being called “human.” :p

On a more serious note, how exactly is this time gated? Maybe I don’t understand the term, but this item isn’t going anywhere. If you haven’t completed the pieces by the release of The Dragon’s Reach: Part 2, you can do so afterwards. The events in Dry Top will still be here, to get more geodes for the recipes and clay. The ability to craft these items isn’t going away. And the items themselves can even be found again if you replay the chapter. So what if you don’t have the latest item before the next release? It’s not going away. If you really want to complain about something, complain about the fact that these items clog up your inventory space until you grind your crafting up to that level because you haven’t been working on your Huntsman crafting…

I have to chime in on not understanding how recycling Bria in particular is insulting. Yes, it’s been bugged for a long time. Yes, most of the time I had passed by this house, the event was either stalled or completed, bu I think the fact that it’s been fixed now is all the more reason to integrate it into the Living Story. It’s kind of like saying, “Hey, guys. We’re sorry this has caused problems, but it should be fixed now!” It’s a pretty clever way to get players to be redirected to this place.

As for recycling events in general, I think it was kind of clever how they integrated these parts in. Sure, when I was doing them on the first night release, it was pretty much a zerg fest, and I ended up doing little to help the event finish, but that’s fine. I would rather they reintroduce some events than introducing events that kept breaking or stalling like they did in Iron Marches initially. Just today, I found an event I’m pretty sure has been there since the beginning, but I had never seen before. I bet some people had never been to the level 80 shiverpeaks zones, not even caring about the dungeon there or map completion. So what if you’ve seen it before? Someone else might not have.

@Nilkemia, the reason you care is that when Bria’s quest is active, she projects an aura that prevents you from investigating the rubble. You have to then lure her out and kill her to return her spirit to rest.

It takes a while for repairs to happen. The lion’s statue was broken in October 2012 and stayed broken for months. I don’t know exactly when it got fixed, but it did… just in time for Scarlet to destroy everything.

Since this attack is a lot more extensive, it’s probably going to be years before it will look even remotely like it did before Scarlet’s attack. And I doubt that drill will ever be removed from the bay. I’m surprised she was even able to drop that thing from an airship!

Hmm… I remember Beacon’s Perch, but I guess I didn’t read the town descriptions that closely. At least I have something more to read for lore purposes!

I’m going to work under the theory that there are many members of the sylvari race, and not just from this tree. We never did explore too deeply into the Maguuma Jungle, ending only at around the Henge of Denravi or Velaxi Falls. It’s possible that, deeper into the jungle, there is/was another “Pale Tree” that grew sylvari, and a seed is the way they start a new colony far away from the mother tree. Now, it’s possible something went wrong, or that the original sylvari came under some attack, and that’s why the seed was hidden in the cave, and the Dreams are not connected.

If this season’s story will keep diving deeper into the jungle, I bet we’re going to meet Malyck or his people before too long. Then, hopefully, we’ll get some answers about these verdant interlopers.

So I’ve been playing Guild Wars back when the character selection screen was still a campfire. I’d like to think I know most of the lore pretty well. However, I was recently exploring Snowden Drifts again and noticed there was a zone called “Lornar’s Gate”. It happens to be right next to the Lornar’s Pass zone, so that much makes sense, but who are these areas named after? I don’t remember anyone with a name like that, and there are quite a few areas named after Guild Wars 1 NPCs. So, is there something we should know about this Lornar guy? Or is it just some name drawn out of a hat?

One thing I found recently was a Priest of Grenth found just outside Divinity’s Reach in the Shaemoor cemetery. He talks about how (aside from the ones in Ascalon) ghosts are kept in the world by some outside force, and without great strength of will, they will just come back. While even the ghosts of Ascalon can be defeated for a short while, I don’t think even removing the curse will be enough to permanently keep them down. It might be the start of healing the land, though.

I don’t think AC will be changed, at least as far as story mode goes, as that has the historical record of Eir looking to reunite Logan and Rytlock. If Ascalon does lose all its ghosts, though, they might change one of the paths.

The home instances are kind of already like a housing system. Maybe not as personalizable, but each player has their own, in each of the major cities. I admit, I haven’t been back to mine in ages. Maybe I should, just to see what if anything has changed through the personal story and such.

One of the things from the book I wouldn’t mind seeing is the catacombs under Divinity’s Reach. I could be wrong (and usually am), but I don’t think we can see the crypts from the start of the book.

As for the NPCs, I agree that seeing them come back would be interesting. Or perhaps giving them some slightly more engaging dialogue than they have. It’s been a while since I was at the negotiation hub, but as I recall, they were just standing around doing almost nothing, even though they were the key players to starting the talks.

Belenwyn.8674:

Lambent.6375:

Belenwyn.8674:

You are not the only one who wants to talk with the Pale Tree. There are at least one million other so-called heroes waiting for an audience. Draw your number and wait.

We’re the Pact leader, and allies of Trahearne though, I would say that’s a little more than a so called hero.

Yes there are one million pact leaders and all want to be treated like someone special.

Maybe the Pale Tree should give a very big audience like the pope does on Easter or Christmas. I hope the grove can harbor so many people.

Don’t worry. The extras will be sent to an overflow server.

Ascimator.6735:

Did she skip her safety classes?

Wow, you really don’t know the asura at all… Have you seen their experiments? Most of them go wrong in some fashion, and it requires heroes to slaughter something. Besides, if they cared about their safety, half of their greatest inventions wouldn’t exist (like the parachute).

I haven’t noticed anyone say it yet (it might’ve been; if so, I’m sorry), but Momma Delaqua is very insular. Both Belinda and Marjory have said she doesn’t like “outsiders” (whatever that means), and that includes even Kasmeer. Why is she so xenophobic? If the Delaquas are Canthan as I suspect, does that mean she doesn’t like non-Canthans, or just those who aren’t “family”? The next chapter will tell…

Sadly, the Season 1 content wasn’t done in episodes, so you cannot replay it at this time.

If Livia is still alive in GW2 time, then she truly found a way to cheat death, even better than the Lich from Prophesies. Whatever happened to her and the staff of Orr, it’s probably hidden somewhere, or will be discovered a little later.

I half expected it to be a jumping puzzle when I saw them, hollow and circling. Then I noticed they are in the middle of nowhere. Probably for the best, as falling down those gaps would be far more frustrating than jumping puzzles already are.

1) The changes have happened. For instance, in Divinity’s Reach, there used to be a giant pit. This has since been rebuilt in one of the Living Story Season 1 update.

2) There are in-game ways to get updated on what happened, but there are also plenty of videos documenting various parts of the living story. Choose which you think is best.

3) Living Story Season 1 is lost forever at this point. I hear some of the story is in the Fractals dungeons, found in Lion’s Arch, and Arena Net may bring other parts into the Story Journal at a later point, but currently it’s not available as it was before.

As far as enjoying the content, I hear that you need to be level 80 to start it. I would just go about the world and enjoy the events and discussions you hear from the various NPCs around you.

It’s been 250 years. The enchantments just aren’t the same.

One thing that people don’t seem to understand/notice is that, like the first season of the Living Story, they are still including things that don’t spoil the personal story. So maybe not everyone has become the commander of the Pact. It’s part of the reason we have this squad of NPCs instead of, say, bringing in Destiny’s Edge themselves.

So I don’t mind that we are given some vague title or that we aren’t given the credit for killing Zhaitan. It’ll take some time before we can finally get one earned title people can attribute to us.

Riaky.8965:

she got tentacled -_-

Doesn’t help as it looks like the Delaquas are of Canthan descent. :/ -_-’

I was expecting her to die, but I was still a little shocked at exactly when it happened. What ruined this for me, though, as a clone Kasmeer and Marjory walking through the scene while the latter was crying over her sister’s death.

My big complaint would that if I happen to achieve one of the bonus achievements the first playthrough (eg. keeping all the workers alive in Tangle Root), it’d be nice if I could have that little surprise unlocked at the end of the chapter. I wasn’t trying to achieve it, but it happened. If it’s something especially difficult, like avoiding all of Aerin’s bombs, then I would be really annoyed to try and go back and achieve it again if I just happened to do it the first time (unlikely, but possible).

Now, if the achievements were something that could only be done the second time through, because something new was there, then I wouldn’t mind as much.

I don’t know how far afield this has travelled, but instead of just vines draining them, the waypoints are actually breaking entirely. If you want to see it, walk all the way to Mirkrise Waypoint to see the broken pieces of waypoint lying there.

BrunoBRS.5178:

a random prop.

there’s one in the cave under scarlet’s house.

In that case, I bet it’s anything BUT random.

No cut scene this time, but it’s partially covered by the story. I presume the earthquake that occurs near the start of this chapter is actually the vines attacking Prosperity.

Something I found when checking out the Durmony Priory library for the first time since I joined the order is a bunch of new books. Some of the new ones added were about Scarlet Briar and ley lines, but one I noticed was about waypoints breaking down and becoming unstable. This might just be foreshadowing that some of the waypoints will be breaking down, possibly even being removed.

Having waypoints at certain camps that can be taken over is nice, in that it gives you an opportunity to get closer if you’re heading for a certain location, but I can see what you mean by some of them being too close together. I don’t know if some of them are going to break down permanently, but as others have indicated in another thread, I think some just might have magic failure.

Kalavier.1097:

She didn’t just magically know all this kitten after waking up, she spent something like… 16 years studying and exploring before becoming Scarlet.

Then there is the fact she got her mind slowly controlled by another being, one which is implied to ALSO been a factor in a lot of her stuff.

Scarlet Briar: Ever since I came out of Omadd’s machine, you’ve been taking credit for my ideas. They are mine! Not yours.
Scarlet Briar: Let me be clear. I’m not doing this for you; I’m doing it for me. Nobody tells me what to do. Not ever.
Scarlet Briar: It’s not true. None of it. I don’t have to listen to you. Get out of my head!

Who says a chunk of what she did as SCARLET wasn’t also because of Mordi or the other ‘voice’ in her head?

She said she just reached her 16th “season”. I might be wrong in my sylvari calendar, but I think that might actually place her at 4 years old (spring being 1 season, summer being 2…) at the time of that journal entry. At the same time, I don’t remember if we heard how long after that she became Scarlet Briar, and plotted all her little schemes.

As for the voice in her head, I would place bets on that being Mordremoth. Perhaps sylvari aren’t corruptable by Zhaitan, but I bet they are easy prey for a plant-based dragon. Especially as Taimi compares suddenly being evil to the Branded.