Guild Wars 2

I’m having a hard time taking you seriously, and this is only because I’m not sure if this is your first MMO or you really are looking to portray that outward appearance. If the latter, then you’re failing because you’re coming off like a smug fool. If the former, well, you’re still coming off like a smug superior fool.

You wear gear to bolster your stats, you use Traits to bolster your stats AND to grant special perks, and until you hit Level 80 you don’t have the same level of power to bring to the table as a Level 80. Even without full exotics, just Fine or Masterwork (Blues and greens) you can compete fine at Level 80. At 65 upscaled? You really need to have good skills and know what you’re doing.

Saying “I unequipped my armor so I wouldn’t break it” tells me you do not know what you’re doing. I’m sorry to break it to you but you need to practice a little longer to get the hang of not dying. Sometimes this can be hard (Risen rush, lolololol!) and sometimes it just takes learning WHEN to dodge and why not to rush up to closest range.

I don’t know what class you are, you studiously avoided saying so. If you’re a primarily-ranged class then you should not be in arm’s reach of monsters without a REAL GOOD reason, as all it takes is a momentary “hey, this guy is shooting a bow at me point-blank, Imma smack him” and you can be hurting badly. Especially against the Fractal bosses.

Everyone here is saying they’d kick you. I’d probably keep you but you’d probably put up with me whispering little pieces of advice to you and suggesting things. You’d probably be 5th member of a guild group if I had an open slot, so we’d at least be cool about letting you learn the Fractals with us . . . it’d be our first time for some.

I will, however, restate what I said at the top. Everything you say is tainted with this air of smug superiority . . . that everyone else is wrong about how they conduct their groups and by extension the game is at fault. Adjust your attitude, realize you will always have something to learn about the game and dungeons/Fractals are entirely different animals than the open world. In the open world, people can wander in and save you. In the dungeons? Five people. No more.

The Mursaat might not be in the picture anymore, I was under the impression the last sidequest going on in GW:EN near Tarnished Haven was the last of the Mursaat trying to keep a foothold in Tyria within a former White Mantle member.

For me, it’s a matter of this: the White Mantle have had a clear motive to do what they do ever since you first met them. And the more you learned and peeled back the mystery around them and the Unseen . . . the more you really got to know “why?”.

I think the Dredge are rabidly xenophobic because . . .
- The Stone Summit enslaved them with magic and forced them into manual labor. The Deldrimor Dwarves did not care about them, either, so there were no actual allies there.
- When they got loose after the events in Sorrow’s Furnace they at least in part tried running to Cantha. (Somehow…) and the Kurzicks told them to “go jump in the Jade Sea” pretty much.
- Later, they wound up north in the Far Shiverpeaks and were enslaved . . . again . . . by some people trying to unearth an old undead spellcaster.

During the time of Guild Wars 2:
- The Norn aren’t happy with the Dredge pretty much claiming anywhere they want to mine as “our lands”. The Norn would rather not have the Dredge mining operations disrupting everything, and besides . . . Norn are better. So tough luck Dredge!
- The Charr are almost as xenophobic as the Dredge when it comes to their homelands, just look how they treat the Ogres south of Ascalon City. And the Dredge claim places the Charr want to use for their own resources . . . so it’s a combination of “this is our land, not yours” and “that’s OUR ore to use”.

Beyond that, few races really deal with the Dredge on a large basis. The Inquest wants to use them like the Stone Summit did, only without the slavery and they’re okay with bartering off more advanced technology . . . but not in teaching Dredge how to make it. Humans don’t really rate on the Dredge radar besides “more outsiders!” and since the outsiders they’ve known so far mostly have been at the least “not allies” and at the most “out to get us” . . .

. . . again, can’t really blame the Dredge for pretty much lashing out at anyone they see who isn’t Dredge.

You know, most of that would have been north of the Henge of Denravi and a lot of that was just wilderness . . . except the place where the Bloodstone rests.

News just in, quivers exist.

Well now they always did. Strange, huh?

I think I like the White Mantle best, whenever they finally decide to reveal themselves.

. . . what? Who do you think is funding the Separtists?

Well, rifles from Charr and Human artisans resemble flintlocks. Asuran on the other hand . . . they use other methods to accelerate the bullet, it appears. Magitek mass drivers? Who knows, the Asura don’t explain their technology to bookahs.

Okay, discussion about “what is canon” pretty much begins with things like this and ends with a problematic thing where everyone puts different bars on “what is canon”. Star Wars, Star Trek, Middle Earth, Magic: The Gathering . . . there is one basic aspect of canon:

“Whatever is actually published in a finished product, by the holder of the property at the time it was created, is canon.”

Anything else is just fans trying to figure out where their favorite novel/novella/artwork/fan film can fit. In the case of a work of fiction (not, mind you, history) canon and truth is a very . . . VERY mutable thing. I implore you to look into the Lore of EverQuest and go mad trying to follow it. There were SO many hands on the Lore in that game . . . better yet, look at Azeroth (Warcraft) lore and try to reconcile it all . . . ALL of it. World of Warcraft, Warcraft III, Warcraft II, Warcraft I . . . none of it REALLY seems to mesh well. So how does the team work with lore if there’s not people who wrote it originally on staff?

It’s simple. Change of staff means the lore can either be written over . . . or anything preceding can be given a sealed status so you MUST reconcile new content with old stuff. You cannot retcon (“retroactive continuity”) some fact to say something else, you must use it as written.

ArenaNet has . . . an interesting record here. On one hand, they’ve done a fair job of weaving things together. The Great Destroyer was foreshadowed in Sorrow’s Furnace, for instance. On the other . . . Abaddon’s influence on the lives of Vizier Khilbron and Shiro Tagachi.

Really, we can argue what material is canon and what isn’t but there are two SAFE assumptions.

- The wiki, which can be edited by almost anyone, is not a viable source as it is possible to write it to say what you want. Anything in there might be considered canon, but it should be independently verified before it is used unquestioningly as fact.
- If it’s in the game, and you can screenshot it, then it was in the game and can be counted on as “canon” unless it is altered in the future. Then THAT is “canon” instead.

This is the most important set of distinctions and exceptions:
- Code which is in the data files may not be considered canon because it remains unimplemented. There is plenty of “junk data” which is not used but left in because it might be used later after tweaking and editing.
- Events which happened in Beta releases aren’t considered either. Otherwise Gwen was a child was a mass murderer flinging fire all over everywhere in Ascalon City.
- If a designer or writer says something, it should be taken with a grain of salt, because . . . and this is important . . . they can always change their mind or discard those ideas later if they decide not to use it. Anything which is not in the actual game hasn’t been locked in and probably shouldn’t be taken too closely. If you want evidence . . . well, look at the producers of Lost and all the stuff they would say with straight faces to fans just to jerk them around. If you want something more recent . . . “Andrew Hussie”.

For as much as you have here, evidence or no, I could make a countering proposed situation which might fit better the theme of the game and information available. Here it is:

=

The Six Gods are not human, nor were they mortal. They are, along with the Spirits of the Wild (Great and Lesser), a sort of construct originating from the Mists. They did not always exist, but they rose within the latest cycle in the absence of the Elder Dragons. Humans are handpicked by the Six to represent their ideal creation, and have been given many tools and much knowledge so they may flourish. It is very likely an experiment of creation, of guidance.

However, they became aware the awakening of the Elder Dragons was approaching, and began preparing Humankind for that age. Note, they guided Kormir to the position she took so there would be Six Gods once more, not Five-and-a-Prisoner. The Spirits of the Wild put capable hands onto the trail of the Destroyers so they could put down the Great Destroyer. They guided Humanity into developing even grudging allies in other races, though it’s still unclear where the Sylvari figure in. They never took direct action, they only let Humans rise to the occasion (Nightfall and Kormir’s Ascendency, the Flameseeker Prophecies, The Betrayer’s Return, the Great Destroyer) or fall into ruin (The Destruction of Orr, the Searing, the White Mantle, the Pilgramage of Turai Ossa, the Madness of Warmarshall Varesh . . .) but always it was Humanity which either failed or persevered.

Now that the Elder Dragons have awakened the Six Gods dare not intervene directly lest they be destroyed like Owl and its fellows were. Whatever powers they lend may only be through channels already in place or made outside the knowledge of the Elder Dragons. Humanity must stand with whatever allies it can pull together, with the lessons it learned, or the world will once again fall into destruction and chaos under the Elder Dragons’ power.

Oh hey, you did crosspost it! And to the official forums, not Guru! I’ve weighed in on this quite a bit on this sister topic on Reddit. I’ll throw my contributions in here.

(Link – http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/12qx3z/ancient_astronauts_and_the_humans_of_tyria/ )

1 – There’s no evidence, conclusive evidence, that the Six Gods or the others who were in their place at any one time are, in fact, scientifically based. Trying to fit them into science ignores this is a fantasy fiction where magic is real and not science. It might follow rules which could have a science built around it, but it is fundamentally different in tone and nature.

2 – While it is established in one word that humans were “brought” to Tyria by the Old Gods / Six Gods / Human Gods . . . when looking into mythology and legends, the word “brought” is not always synonymous with only one meaning of the word. It could mean ‘brought on a spaceship’, it could mean ‘brought into being’, it could mean ‘tore them from another reality and placed them on Tyria’. The word lacks . . . context enough to be certain what it means, but the only thing which can be stated is simple: “There once was a time when no Humans were on Tyria.” Which isn’t saying they came from space – there was a time when there were no Charr, no Risen, no Sylvari, or no Dwarves.
Also, the planet is named Tyria and there is the Tyria continent. Without further context, it is difficult to pin down which is meant should you use “Tyria” with no qualifier.

3 – Just because humans can ascend to divinity does not mean all divine beings were once human, mortal, or otherwise “not divine”. There may be a method for Kormir becoming the Goddess of Truth after the defeat and (assumed) destruction of Abaddon, however that does not mean Dwayna had to take over from someone else.

4 – The Six Gods could be “ancient astronauts”, but there’s a couple snags. Firstly, there is a tangible afterlife where it is proven people who die have their spirits go. Secondly, it is possible to actively set foot physically on those places without dying, yet those who die are still . . . dead, not merely “moved from one plane of existence to another”. I submit that you cannot simultaneously have the Mists be a “metaphysical” plane which is where dead consciousnesses gather, and be a place physical matter can set foot.

5 – While your ideas are intriguing, there are enough outlying troubles with interpreting things this way. There are the Spirits of the Wild, which also cannot be denied to exist but are not tied to the Human race. There are instances of non-Humans calling upon the Six Gods and getting answers (a Grawl Champion of Balthazar, Kerrsh), and there are instances of Humans receiving contact from Spirits of the Wild (See “Guild Wars: Eye of the North”). There also exists the Great Dwarf, or some force which placed its power into Dwarves and are the reason they either are extinct or slowly becoming so. The Elder Dragons also exist, undeniably so, and definitely pre-date the original Six Gods. All these beings exist and at one point or another affected Tyria . . . not all of them can lay claim to “ancient travelers” possibilities. And yes, I am well aware the Mursaat claimed to be “gods” and had mysterious unknown powers.

It’s probably listed ad 70-80 because it’s a nice neat number to cut off at. Everyone loves rounding up if it leaves a nice simple . . . neat place to park the threshold.

Yeah, there’s a lot of those herbs and spices moved off Karma:

Vanilla Beans – Maguuma Jungle sickle gathering spots
Chili Peppers – Ascalon sickle gathering spots
Cinnamon Sticks – Aspen / Gummo Sapling (and analogs in other regions)
Walnuts – Gummo / Tukawa Sapling (and analogs in other regions)

Also general rule of thumb – if you ever plan on cooking and find a Karma merchant with “bulk” items? Buy at least 100 or so just in case.

The Cow Cannon is not the NPC – the NPC is a different thing altogether which got disabled. Apparently some sort of gambling thing which wasn’t working.

An issue here – the vista is not currently reachable. I’ve researched this a bit, and here’s how I understand it goes:

- The Mad catapulter begins firing cows out of his “cowtapult” until he runs out. Then a player can load themselves into it and be shot over to the tower.
- Another NPC, Tigh Snatchskull, gets the boss more cows. (Note, currently he is wandering aimlessly in the fenced area.)
- Once more cows are gathered, the firing happens again.

Assuming all this is the case, something is stuck preventing this from proceeding. A lot of people still think the NPC (who is disabled) is the trigger object. As answered on this forum previously – it is the CATAPULT which is the object to target and activate. But it is not becoming active.

Please take a look at this!

Submitted a /bug on this – I think the NPC is outside the world under the room where it is supposed to spawn.