Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Dead DPS is worst DPS. If you gather much aggro, it means the rest of your party probably has less survivability than you do, and so you are giving them free reign to deal damage. If you have toughness and you can’t handle the aggro, I feel bad for you.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
It’s a tradeoff – do you want to take the risk of playing squishy, or the risk of attracting too much attention but surviving it easier?
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
This is a pretty big issue that I feel like isn’t really being addressed. It really bothers me because I enjoy playing a lot of professions that don’t perform too well in dungeons. Which is a huge bummer because dungeons and other pve things are my favorite parts of gw2 but if you don’t choose to play a warrior, guardian, or ranger (and maybe thief) you’re permanently stuck with the fact that you won’t be as effective or as survivable as other professions.
I really enjoy playing elementalist but they are extremely squishy. I would be fine with this if they did huge dps but they don’t! I feel like the squishier professions should do the most damage whilst the heavy armor professions should do less, so the game would be more balanced. But, warriors end up getting the most dps and armor, which is why it seems like 1 out of 4 characters are warriors (maybe even more). So hopefully a-net starts addressing some of these things. What do you guys think?
uncontrollable laughter
Rangers good in dungeons? Bring me one elitist who would want a ranger in a dungeon party!
Yeah, PvE balance is pretty bad. No matter how amazing condition necro you are, if there’s another condition necro in the party, you’re both screwed. And ranger brings less DPS than a warrior and practically no group support. On the other hand, eles can be very useful in dungeons, for example by utilizing blast finishers for mass might and heals.
For the record, I play an engineer. I am not useless in dungeons.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I still hold that souls and magic are different. Demons of the mists can eat souls, but they don’t consume magic. Zhaitan consumes magical artifacts through his minions, but not living beings. Ritualists, quoting from Factions manuscripts, “channel otherworldly energies that summon allies from the void and employ mystic binding rituals that bend those allies to the Ritualist’s will”. At the end, it is explained that “where the Ranger lives as one with the spirit world, the Ritualist can and will be its master”.
Let’s call that mist magic. That magic doesn’t come from Tyria, it comes from beyond. According to my theory, the elder dragons can’t grasp it, and neither could the bloodstone. Meanwhile, the Tyrian magic, regenerating slowly as you put it, would be absorbed by the bloodstone. Much later, the effect of the bloodstone was weakened, so it didn’t absorb magic quite as fast, allowing the asura, living deep underground, quite possibly near the source, to use some of it.
Now what I’m getting at about the bloodstones and souls, is that while magic is drawn to them (and subsequently channeled from them) from far distances, for them to have any grasp on souls, the soul would have to leave the body while on a bloodstone. This would mean that they both are similar powers, but different enough in nature and origin for the bloodstones to affect them differently.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I disagree with the notion that ritualists were able to use magic before Abaddon gave access to the bloodstone – they could commune with spirits, and do other similar tasks, but that couldn’t have used magic in the form we are talking about, since I doubt the forgotten would have missed such a thing when creating the bloodstone and leave the dragons magic to feast on. Later, ritualists augmented their trade with magic, and eventually became what they were in GW1.
It’s outright stated that the Ritualist profession existed before the gift of magic, and used abilities similar to even “today” (aka Factions’ time). Though the profession changed when “real magic” was introduced, it existed as a magical profession beforehand.
Regardless of how they used magic, they did use it.
My point is that they used power not recognized as magic by the Bloodstone made by seers.
Furthermore, the asura also had magic before 1 BE – it was said in an interview somewhere a while back (I think it was between TowerTalk and Ree Soesbee) that the ausra had magic, then felt it spike up in power then drop down lower than before without ever knowing what truly happened.
Given these two facts, I believe that magic isn’t exactly a limited supply (nor is it unlimited – a slow regenerating supply would be best to describe how I believe it to be). As shown through the skill challenges, a lot of deaths creates a concentration of magic. Whether this is due to magic being “attracted” to areas of death, or because such makes magic is unknown. But nonetheless, magic existed in the open world before Abaddon gifted it. Heck, the scriptures of the gods even show this in the fact that the gods themselves used magic. There’s also The Artesian Waters, a source of magic which drew the gods to the world.
There’s a lot that’s telling us “magic existed in the world even between the Bloodstone’s creation and Abaddon gifting it.” It’s just not explicit.
If natural, Tyrian, magic comes from underground (and carried up by water), then wouldn’t it make sense for the asura to be able to use it in a weakened form despite the bloodstone? I never said Abaddon gave magic and that there was none before that – just that the bloodstone drained that magic existing on Tyria like a metamystic sinkhole. And technically, binding rituals aren’t spells. When living beings die, their spirit is drawn to the mists, so using their power would be drawing power from the mists, unaffected by the bloodstone.
Also: seers, not forgotten, made the original Bloodstone.
It is also interesting to note the the bloodstone shards seem to have an effect of drawing in souls as well, but only from close proximity.
Erm, no they don’t? If you’re referring to the Prophecies’ effect when near those two bloodstones, that’s due to the soul batteries.
Yes, I should start proofreading my posts, I usually write tired, so, as you may have noticed, I sometimes get stuff mixed up like that. As for the bloodstones, if it was merely the soul batteries, why would they be located on the bloodstones in the first place? They must have some kind of effect on souls, and that effect was utilized by the mursaat.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I’d love for there to be the “normal” ascended armor that’s relatively easy to get, and then “elite” ascended armor, which would be much harder to get, but would have exactly the same stats as the “normal” ascended armor. However, I don’t really see that happening…
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Your character will usually shout about it, but if you have VO off, you of course won’t hear it… You can also target the called target by pressing a key, though I don’t remember which one. It’s true that the shout is not very audible, I agree.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Is there any info about this place? Was it in the first game?
It is still unknown what happened to the observatory but if Kiel wins the seat from the council she will sponsor the players for a fractal that explains what happened there.
That’s Thaumanova Reactor you are talking about, not the collapsed observatory in Kessex Hills. And we don’t really know anything about it, I’m pretty there wasn’t anything notable there in GW1.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Truth is, we dont know enough about the nature of Elder Dragons. Not just we as players, but neither does the Pact. And its a pity this controversial aspect of the mystery is not yet adressed in any way through our oh-so growing Living Story throughout the months.
+1
I trust it will… eventually.
I get the feeling that right now we are being introduced to the characters and the setting, and in the releases to come, we’ll be fighting alongside Braham, Rox and Ellen against an elder dragon threat, supported various parties such as Kryta nobility, Black Lion Trading Company, and so on.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
One thing id like to point out is how can any race have an empire when each only controls one city? empires usually span multiple countries which in turn have multiple cities.
Kryta has one capital city but a large number of towns, not all of which you can visit ingame due to space issues. Though Kryta I’d really consider a kingdom, not an empire.
The charr have three major capital cities. Remember, what we can go to is only Iron legion territory. There’s also the Blood Legion and Ash Legion reasons, which are just as large as the Iron Legion territory we see ingame, further north and east. They are a legitimate Empire, only thing really stopping them is the fact they are technically three government bodies working toward the same goal. That and the enemies in every possible direction.
Hardly an empire, when there is no emperor. Empire is, by definition, multiple nations ruled by a single leader, emperor. The charr have three separate legions, which could be seen as acting as nations working together, however, in the absence of Khan-Ur, no single charr rules over them all. None of the nations of Tyria apply, either. Norn and asura don’t even really have a nation, and with sylvari it’s arguable. Technically, the sylvari live in anarchy, as they have no ruling body, not counting advice and direction from the Pale Tree and the firstborn. Interestingly enough, even without a ruler or government, they still have armed forces keeping order.
The sylvari are a monarchy. The pale tree is the ruler.
The Pale Tree doesn’t give commands to the sylvari. Each sylvari is free to act according to their will, the Pale Tree just gives guidance. Though she does act as a representative leader in a sense, she can’t decide, for example, for the sylvari as a whole to fight in a war.
Ok, it’s more like a theocracy. She’s like the high priestest of the dream.
More like a tribal society, with the Pale Tree being the elder.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
One thing id like to point out is how can any race have an empire when each only controls one city? empires usually span multiple countries which in turn have multiple cities.
Kryta has one capital city but a large number of towns, not all of which you can visit ingame due to space issues. Though Kryta I’d really consider a kingdom, not an empire.
The charr have three major capital cities. Remember, what we can go to is only Iron legion territory. There’s also the Blood Legion and Ash Legion reasons, which are just as large as the Iron Legion territory we see ingame, further north and east. They are a legitimate Empire, only thing really stopping them is the fact they are technically three government bodies working toward the same goal. That and the enemies in every possible direction.
Hardly an empire, when there is no emperor. Empire is, by definition, multiple nations ruled by a single leader, emperor. The charr have three separate legions, which could be seen as acting as nations working together, however, in the absence of Khan-Ur, no single charr rules over them all. None of the nations of Tyria apply, either. Norn and asura don’t even really have a nation, and with sylvari it’s arguable. Technically, the sylvari live in anarchy, as they have no ruling body, not counting advice and direction from the Pale Tree and the firstborn. Interestingly enough, even without a ruler or government, they still have armed forces keeping order.
The sylvari are a monarchy. The pale tree is the ruler.
The Pale Tree doesn’t give commands to the sylvari. Each sylvari is free to act according to their will, the Pale Tree just gives guidance. Though she does act as a representative leader in a sense, she can’t decide, for example, for the sylvari as a whole to fight in a war.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
One solution for making condition builds more valuable would be adding more high-toughness enemies. While all of the damage from all those zerkers would be greatly reduced, conditions would bite right through. We already have a ton of bosses and enemies countering conditions, let’s have some justice!
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
One thing id like to point out is how can any race have an empire when each only controls one city? empires usually span multiple countries which in turn have multiple cities.
Kryta has one capital city but a large number of towns, not all of which you can visit ingame due to space issues. Though Kryta I’d really consider a kingdom, not an empire.
The charr have three major capital cities. Remember, what we can go to is only Iron legion territory. There’s also the Blood Legion and Ash Legion reasons, which are just as large as the Iron Legion territory we see ingame, further north and east. They are a legitimate Empire, only thing really stopping them is the fact they are technically three government bodies working toward the same goal. That and the enemies in every possible direction.
Hardly an empire, when there is no emperor. Empire is, by definition, multiple nations ruled by a single leader, emperor. The charr have three separate legions, which could be seen as acting as nations working together, however, in the absence of Khan-Ur, no single charr rules over them all. None of the nations of Tyria apply, either. Norn and asura don’t even really have a nation, and with sylvari it’s arguable. Technically, the sylvari live in anarchy, as they have no ruling body, not counting advice and direction from the Pale Tree and the firstborn. Interestingly enough, even without a ruler or government, they still have armed forces keeping order.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I don’t see why not, but I wouldn’t put it in high priority.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
and yes we know that Sylvari can not be corrupted by the elder dragons as we have been told that by the gms somewhere(cant find it now and i give up as the search function is as broken as it is)
But apparently they can become part of the Nightmare Court, so I wouldn’t say they are completely immune to corruption in itself.
Their shape remains the same. They may be followers of an elder dragon (like Sons of Svanir) or use it’s influence, but they definitely aren’t corrupted. And even if they were, it’d just reinforce Konig’s theory, as the sylvari who abandon the dream and live a life of inflicting pain and suffering could be corrupted, whereas the sylvari of Grove could now. However, there are issues with that theory, namely the very peaceful quaggan and wild animals.
However, before the seers created the bloodstone, magic naturally didn’t come from it – from where, that is not certain, but many skill challenges seem to imply that magic comes from underground, and seems to somehow resonate with places with significant history. But no living being is born with magic in them, instead, some are born with the ability to channel it, originally from all around, and later through bloodstones. Distance doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Firstly, skill challenges hint to magic being in high concentration in two things: places of many deaths, and water.
Secondly, Oola disagrees with your claim that no living being is born with magic. She claims that we are the embodiment of magic – and it is true to an extent! Ritualists are able to bypass the Bloodstones and had magic beforehand through the use of souls. Demons – and other creatures – use souls as nourishment. At the very least, souls are power. Whether this power can be called “magic” is up to question, however.
Ah yes, I was writing that off my memory, seems like I got a few things wrong…
I disagree with the notion that ritualists were able to use magic before Abaddon gave access to the bloodstone – they could commune with spirits, and do other similar tasks, but that couldn’t have used magic in the form we are talking about, since I doubt the forgotten would have missed such a thing when creating the bloodstone and leave the dragons magic to feast on. Later, ritualists augmented their trade with magic, and eventually became what they were in GW1.
And yes, we can assume souls hold power. It is also interesting to note the the bloodstone shards seem to have an effect of drawing in souls as well, but only from close proximity. My theory is that “magic” and elder dragons come from Tyria, and “souls” and creatures with them come from somewhere in the mists. “Magic” and “souls” would be similar power, but in different form. The embodiment of magic that Oola referred to could be this soul.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
There’s a limit on how many players can rally from one target in WvW, I believe it is 5. If that’s your whole enemy zerg, I envy your server.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
When the seers made the bloodstone, nearly all magic (including Jotun magic) was absorbed to it. When Abaddon gave magic to the people of Tyria, he gave them access to all that magic drawn into the bloodstone. Then comes wars, destruction, godfall, splitting of bloodstone, and so on. However, before the seers created the bloodstone, magic naturally didn’t come from it – from where, that is not certain, but many skill challenges seem to imply that magic comes from underground, and seems to somehow resonate with places with significant history. But no living being is born with magic in them, instead, some are born with the ability to channel it, originally from all around, and later through bloodstones. Distance doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
If you want to share your gear, you can easily do so by pinging it on the chat, as with skills. No need for a prying tool for that.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I don’t think each dragon would bring another playeable race… Gw1 had only 1, 5 is a bit too large step forward already.
Tengu has chances but nothing else.
Kodan are shamanistic spirituals just like the norns, they share the same territory and even voice acting. Also, players don’t like the too large races, statistically speaking, when the last survey came out norn was the far less playable race, and the charr was only a bit higher in population.
Largos – basically newer to the lore than the sylvari, and considering that everyone hates underwater combat and they would have to make all largos areas to be underwater, not likely. Also, they are main assassin, so many of the classes wouldn’t make sense and could just destroy what a largos is. Engineering largos underwater? eh..
Well, from what we’ve seen, Anet likes to keep their options open, so it would make sense for them to not use the paths that could later be used for introducing new races as playable just yet.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Yeah, I miss that option, even though it messed up some aftereffects. Would be great for getting high-quality images to wiki, too.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I read it. For that defense increase, the elementalist would get a substantial hindrance, while a guardian in native armor would have no hindrance at all.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
So, in your suggestion, Warriors and Guardians would get all the benefits, whereas scholar professions would get massive hindrance from wearing medium or heavy armor? Genius. A guardian wearing light armor would get 60% faster endurance regen than an elementalist wearing the same armor. Oh wait, no, it’s a terrible, unbalanced idea.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I’d love to see the underside of Tyria extensively explored in huge, destroyer infested caverns tunneled out by Primordus. I’d also love to see destroyers as they were in GW1, big, hard hitting and appearing in large numbers…
If we tie non-playable major races to the dragons, I guess it’d be tengu for Primordus, kodan for Jormag,, and largos for DSD. If they are holding back new races for now, we’re most likely to see Kralkatorrik next.
That might mean that we’ll see some forgoten in the crystal desert.
Possibly, but not likely as a playable race, as they are one of the elder races, not forgetting their alien shape.
Just as the tengu, largos and kodan.
No. Kodan, and especially largos and tengu, are in the realm of possibilities. Having an elder race as a playable race wouldn’t fit thematically, and since the forgotten are snake-like, you’d have trouble fitting most armor on them, not to mention animating them jumping or leaping.
No, of course. I meant just as tengu, largos and kodan are now.
Ah, yes, I see now what you mean, as a major non-playable race.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I’d love to see the underside of Tyria extensively explored in huge, destroyer infested caverns tunneled out by Primordus. I’d also love to see destroyers as they were in GW1, big, hard hitting and appearing in large numbers…
If we tie non-playable major races to the dragons, I guess it’d be tengu for Primordus, kodan for Jormag,, and largos for DSD. If they are holding back new races for now, we’re most likely to see Kralkatorrik next.
That might mean that we’ll see some forgoten in the crystal desert.
Possibly, but not likely as a playable race, as they are one of the elder races, not forgetting their alien shape.
Just as the tengu, largos and kodan.
No. Kodan, and especially largos and tengu, are in the realm of possibilities. Having an elder race as a playable race wouldn’t fit thematically, and since the forgotten are snake-like, you’d have trouble fitting most armor on them, not to mention animating them jumping or leaping.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
You’re missing the point. We don’t consider ants to be sentient, at least not on a comparable level to us. What makes you think we aren’t the same to the dragons? That is what I mean by having a higher level of sentience, not being smarter. We cannot understand the dragons, so how could we judge them?
Again, you do not always need to understand someone’s motives, to judge their actions. In the case of stealing, it matters. But those are lesser evil deeds. Some evil deeds are so evil, that there are no excuses to be made for them.
And where’s that borderline? Who can draw it? You?
And besides, since the dragons actively communicate with us (as Jormag and Zhaitan do) we know that they are not that high above us. They understand us well enough, to understand our wishes and desires, and to try and tempt us with promises of power. This is not like humans, who cannot communicate with ants. There is no way we could possibly tell ants that we don’t want them in our house. The Dragons however speak either directly, or through their champions. They actively recruit the other species to join their armies.
It is never the dragons themselves who communicates with us.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Go buy Brutus Chestguard & Transmute. Its an option.
Not for medium armor.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I’d love to see the underside of Tyria extensively explored in huge, destroyer infested caverns tunneled out by Primordus. I’d also love to see destroyers as they were in GW1, big, hard hitting and appearing in large numbers…
If we tie non-playable major races to the dragons, I guess it’d be tengu for Primordus, kodan for Jormag,, and largos for DSD. If they are holding back new races for now, we’re most likely to see Kralkatorrik next.
That might mean that we’ll see some forgoten in the crystal desert.
Possibly, but not likely as a playable race, as they are one of the elder races, not forgetting their alien shape.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
However, even if that’s so, it’s everything as we know it. From the dragon’s viewpoint, it may simply be reforming Tyria, or even returning it to a former state where it was just fire and stone. The dragon doesn’t, and doesn’t need to, consider the lives of those living in it, because it is so far above them.
Yes it does. It is a sentient being, and it is aware of the other sentient beings around it.
That carries a degree of responsibility. You may or may not think of yourself as more intelligent, but that never the less does not give you the right to commit genocide on a perceived lesser species.
That is basically the god argument. That a god would not have to answer for his crimes, if he killed the lesser sentient beings on a planet. And its simply not true. It would still be an evil act.
You’re missing the point. We don’t consider ants to be sentient, at least not on a comparable level to us. What makes you think we aren’t the same to the dragons? That is what I mean by having a higher level of sentience, not being smarter. We cannot understand the dragons, so how could we judge them?
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I’d love to see the underside of Tyria extensively explored in huge, destroyer infested caverns tunneled out by Primordus. I’d also love to see destroyers as they were in GW1, big, hard hitting and appearing in large numbers…
If we tie non-playable major races to the dragons, I guess it’d be tengu for Primordus, kodan for Jormag,, and largos for DSD. If they are holding back new races for now, we’re most likely to see Kralkatorrik next.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
So, basically, Malafide, you are saying the dragons are evil because they do bad things to us, and we are good because we fight them? What a nice circle it forms… but circular logic is no logic.
No, I’m saying they are evil because they do bad things to innocent people, when they have no need to do so. They do not seek out alternatives, nor seek out peaceful solutions. And in the case of Primordus, seek only to destroy everything. And they do no good. At all.
Please tell me in what context mass genocide of several species, including defenseless and peaceful creatures, and wanting to destroy everything, is ever a good thing?
Is a human exterminating an anthill evil? And don’t go saying ants aren’t sentient, what’s to say the elder dragon’s don’t have a higher level of sentience than the “sentient races” do? And from out viewpoint, it appears as if Promordus aims to destroy everything. However, even if that’s so, it’s everything as we know it. From the dragon’s viewpoint, it may simply be reforming Tyria, or even returning it to a former state where it was just fire and stone. The dragon doesn’t, and doesn’t need to, consider the lives of those living in it, because it is so far above them.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
So, basically, Malafide, you are saying the dragons are evil because they do bad things to us, and we are good because we fight them? What a nice circle it forms… but circular logic is no logic.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I would argue that the GW1 vampires have a very undead-like appearance, and the mythical creature they are based on is a reanimated corpse.
As for werewolves, in GW1, Svanir became “Nornbear” after being corrupted by Jormag, becoming a feral monster. Perhaps corrupting a norn with a strong connection to Wolf (so no Son of Svanir) could result in a “nornwolf”?
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Curious would it be qoo all the time or just thier docile state. Would a group of raged out quaggan be called something else? Perhaps a rage or an ire of quaggan?
Slaughter. It’d be slaughter.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
There are, in fact, vampires in Tyria (world), though they are rare, and bear little resemblance to the western concept of vampires.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Even with all ingame communication disabled, a scouting spectator could easily use out of game communication. Besides, I can instantly come up with dozen or so ways to abuse that “non-PvP” mode as you suggested it, for example, aggroing a huge mob of NPC’s and pulling them to a group of enemy players capturing a point.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
If you look at the professions, it’s not their roles that make them different, as the professions aren’t locked to roles, but instead, they differ in their themes and mechanics. We have the conjuring elementalist, the trickery mesmer, the dark necromancer. We have the quick thief, the resourceful engineer, and the ranger with the animal companion. For heavy armor, we have the protector, guardian, and the master of arms, warrior.
So, it’s not a question of what the 9th profession would do – it’s what kind of theme it would have. Scholar and Adventurer professions kind of form thematic triangles – elemental magic, necromantic magic, and illusionary magic for scholars, and for adventurers, nature, stealth and cunning, and machines and inventions. For heavy armor we have faith and weapons mastery. What theme would be equally far from both and fit in the game?
In this section, not long ago, someone suggested a bard-like profession. While bards are generally medium armor classes in games, a theme of inspiration could work. Some kind of spellblade profession would be interesting as well, using swords, daggers, greatswords, maybe bows, augmented with magic of some kind.
And one idea that I’ve had in mind would be a summoner. While it would seem like more of a scholar profession, it could work as a soldier profession too. And before you point me to the fact that every profession has summons of some kind, let me elaborate. A summoner would fight through the power of the summons. A basic attack could be the summoner summoning a bird to attack the foe once, and then disappear. Some skills could have the summoner summon a spirit within himself, changing form akin to the Norn racial elites. All of these summons would be brief, unlike the ranger pets, and you couldn’t have as many of them as a necromancer has minions, nor could you summon most as quickly as a mesmer does illusions.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
The thing about the elder dragon’s motives is that we don’t know what their motivations are. However, their minions, actions, and the actions of their minions can tell us a lot about their individual natures.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
For one, Zhaitan recreated a nation, the peasants still tilling the dead ground, priests now revering Zhaitan in their temples, with an army, not of monsters, but of beings still retaining a semblance of their original appearance.
Everyone in Orr is a zombie, they are all generic evil monsters. They all have the singular goal of killing any living thing that shows up. Priest, peasant or whatever facade of their previous personality remains, they are now identical crazy, undead killers. They may have different catchphrases and different powers but they all do the exact same thing and have the exact same goal, just like the minions we see in the books and in-game stories.
You bring up the priests in Orr, well we’ve seen icebrood-transformed Son of Svanir worshipping Jormag. This just makes the dragons seem even more identical. From what we’ve seen, I’m willing to bet there are crystallized brood of Kralkatorrik worshiping at shrines to him.
Zhaitan raised an island nation and his minions act like the nation is still functional. Do we have any reason to think the result would be any different if Kralkatorrik raised Orr? Save that we would be fighting Crystal Ships trying to invade Lion’s Arch instead of dead ones?
Go take a walk around Orr. You’ll see risen peasants working. Go to one of the temples. When the high priests attempt to kill you, they tell you Zhaitan has killed their gods. When they sail, they sail on ships made by humans.
Sons of Svanir are different. When they were alive and not transformed, they chose to revere the dragon instead of Spirits of the Wild. There is no icebrood army, Jormag seems to give them free reign on how to use the given power. When Sons of Svanir are corrupted, they remain Sons of Svanir, and are honored by those sons still norn. We never see the icebrood colossi leading groups of Sons of Svanir, or icebrood. They seem to lose their mind to it.
When it comes to Kralkatorrik, he doesn’t corrupt halfway. His minions rarely speak (Victurus the Shattered being the only one I remember having talked) and their skin is turned completely to gray, purple lighting streaking off them. And these weren’t minions spawned for a reason – they just were there when the dragon flew over them.
I could go on, but if you blatantly refuse to see the differences, I don’t know if it’s worth my time.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
For one, Zhaitan recreated a nation, the peasants still tilling the dead ground, priests now revering Zhaitan in their temples, with an army, not of monsters, but of beings still retaining a semblance of their original appearance.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I want to know how some of you managed to get in there. Cause I’ve been trying for an hour, but I keep crashing into invisible walls.
If you play on an EU server, I could show you ingame. It’s not something easily explained in text, and I don’t want an invisible wall to pop up there just yet.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
One thing to note is that you only need to activate a gate from the other side to re-establish the connection between two, as seen from the dynamic event at Parnna’s Gate in Metrica Province, but you must have a receiving gate, as seen in EotN, where Vekk destroying the gate stops destroyers following through it. However, experimental gate technology requiring no receiving gate is at works, as seen in Professor Portmatt’s lab.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Take note that the castle is actually quite small, if you compare it on the map. The whole floating island is about the size of the LA Grand Plaza, and the actual castle is comparable to LA bank. Not really space for a full-scale dungeon.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Check and mate. That definition of genocide only applies to targeted elimination of a certain group. The elder dragons aren’t targeting any national, racial, political, or cultural group specifically, nor is systemically exterminating them.
Incorrect. The Norn for example were violently driven from their lands, and turned into Icebrood, or outright killed. Genocide does not have to mean the entire destruction of a race. And even if you don’t want to call it genocide, it would still be murder. And murder is still an evil act.
Further more, several of the Elder Dragons, such as Primordus, want to destroy everything. All life. That is mass genocide.
No. Jormag didn’t force nor kill norn specifically, see Kodan an quaggans. Destroying all life isn’t specific to any one group, either, so genocide is not the word. Murder, homicide, is human killing a human. While in a fantasy setting it also applies to beings comparable to humans, it hardly applies to elder dragons. Just as a human can’t murder a rabbit, an elder dragon cannot murder a human.
Ergo, The elder dragons are not committing genocide. On the other hand, pact starting systematic eradication of elder dragons would fit the word better, even if it for the purpose of defending against a threat that would destroy all life on Tyria.
No. We have no indication that the Elder Dragons are a race. What we are doing, is simply waging war on those that attacked us. Keep this in mind, the Elder Dragons attacked us first.
I was simply stating that Pact killing elder dragons is more akin to genocide than elder dragons destroying, converting and conquering lands. The Pact aims to destroy all the elder dragons, does it not?
Back to the krait. You are saying krait are evil? Then tell me, how can something be anything, when it doesn’t exist? In reality, there are no krait, so what we have of them is the perception of them from the writers who came up with them. If they are written as evil, that’s because with their imagination, the writers perceived them as such.
You are missing the point. The point is, that the writers have decided that the setting of Guild Wars does contain creatures that are irredeemably evil. They are not black and white, and it’s not a matter of perspective. The writers have outright stated that some beings, such as the Krait, are just evil. Black hat, pure and simple. It’s a plot device really.
And since this is a fantasy setting, anyone claiming that it’s all a matter of perspective, since no one is purely evil in real life, is wrong. That point is invalid in this setting. That was my point.
I am not missing the point, I am merely looking at it deeper than you are. Since it’s a fantasy setting, nothing in it exists, save for some concepts taken from reality, so no being or race can truly be anything, only perceived as something, and how something is perceived is fully dependent on who is the observer. For example, I do not believe evil exists, nor have I seen hints that evil exists in Guild Wars world, so I don’t think that krait are inherently evil.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I managed to find my way inside the tent, and took a few screenshots.
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4528/el29.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img703/3198/rhhz.jpg
Looks like much of the renovation is already there.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
genocide means killing off something in a systematic order because of what it is
so systematic killing off smallpox because its smallpox is genocide;)
No. Look up the definition of genocide. I told you, look it up.
gen·o·cide
“erate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.”Eliminating of a virus is not genocide by any definition of the word.
Check and mate. That definition of genocide only applies to targeted elimination of a certain group. The elder dragons aren’t targeting any national, racial, political, or cultural group specifically, nor is systemically exterminating them. Ergo, The elder dragons are not committing genocide. On the other hand, pact starting systematic eradication of elder dragons would fit the word better, even if it for the purpose of defending against a threat that would destroy all life on Tyria.
Back to the krait. You are saying krait are evil? Then tell me, how can something be anything, when it doesn’t exist? In reality, there are no krait, so what we have of them is the perception of them from the writers who came up with them. If they are written as evil, that’s because with their imagination, the writers perceived them as such.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
No you are factually wrong. The writers have stated explicitly that the krait are objectively evil. That is how they are written. They don’t consider themselves evil, but they ARE evil. That is their purpose in the story of GW2.
Correction, they were written to be perceived to be evil throughly, their actions to be identified as evil. It really makes no practical difference, but since evil is a perception, a being can’t be inherently evil, only perceived as such. In this case, quite reasonably so.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
I understand it, but I think that idea is fundamentally wrong. It is the soul reason why dozens of people on our own planet think they have the right to commit atrocities. The sooner we all get away from this false idea that “all moral perceptions are equally valid” the better.
I don’t know if this is partially directed at me, but if it is, you’ve misunderstood me. Moral perceptions are personal, but ethics are shared by groups of people, and by those ethics are set rules and laws. If we ask if something is morally wrong, we need an observer to see the situation through, and attempt to use the morals of the observer. The primary observer is always the person thinking, but one can employ auxiliary observers through assuming the viewpoint of someone else. If we ask about ethics, we’ll have to look through the ethics that apply to the the one observed, not our own. Killing and especially murder is of course against the ethics of every normal human society, but may not be against the morals of some individuals.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
And that is justifying killing with perceived evil. Without exception, human perceptions are influenced by a multitude of factors, and there exists no such a quality in beings as “evil”. “Evil” is just a perceived stigma usually resulting from interpreting actions from a viewpoint from where they appear harmful for no good cause.
In real life you would be right, but in Tyria you would be wrong. Pure evil DOES exist in Tyria. Like for example the Krait are pure evil.
Source:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadows_in_the_Water_%E2%80%93_The_Krait
The krait were featured in the original Guild Wars game, and we very much wanted to continue their story in Guild Wars 2. We knew so little about their culture and society; as we were expanding the game into new underwater regions, it was exciting to add new depth (pun intended) to an existing race.
The krait have always been an unapologetically evil race. While we take pains in many instances to provide two sides to any story and to show that even evil races, cultures, and characters have good reasons for their actions, the krait were designed to be straightforwardly “black hat.” We approached their focus on religion very cautiously, knowing that the word “prophets” would bring to mind modern religious references. It is important to note that we in no way want to compare krait fanaticism to any real-world faith. The prophets of the krait are false religious figures invented by a ruling priest caste to maintain their control. No part of the krait culture or religion is based on, or intended to resemble, any real-world parallel.
Also, some acts can objectively be considered to always be wrong acts. In the case of the Elder Dragons, we see them actively perform various heinous acts upon the races of Tyria. And this applies to real life as well. A cruel dictator committing genocide is always committing a wrong act, since there is no good way to commit genocide. Stopping someone from committing genocide is there for not an evil act, even if it involves killing said dictator.
And while you may be right that the concepts of “good” and “evil” have a religious connection that supposes moral absolutes, which can not be supported. The concepts definitely apply to Tyria, and regardless there are some acts that are always bad. We can label such acts as evil, if that is the label we choose. We can also call them crimes, or wrong-acts, if we want to avoid the religious connections.
You need to separate viewpoint from reality, or from the ingame reality as the case may be. Krait likely don’t consider themselves evil, so to them, they are not evil. From the perspective of a player with a common set of morale, they are evil. From the perspective of most ingame characters, they are evil. But, “evil” is but a perception, no matter how accurate it might be, so it just depends on the observer. There is no objective evil, not even in games.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.
Killing evil creatures to stop their evil deeds is not an evil act in itself. I refer to you back to the definition of murder a few pages back, as given in the Book of Vile Darkness. Heroes killing an evil creature is not genocide.
And that is justifying killing with perceived evil. Without exception, human perceptions are influenced by a multitude of factors, and there exists no such a quality in beings as “evil”. “Evil” is just a perceived stigma usually resulting from interpreting actions from a viewpoint from where they appear harmful for no good cause.
Only fools and heroes charge in without a plan.