EdwinLi.1284

> @"Chaos.7614" said: > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > A important thing I think we need to consider is the order of the upcoming missions. Assuming there is maybe only 3 new missions, it is possible the first two focus on Primordus minions and the last one is when Jormag minions attack. > > > > If I have to guess Mission 1 to 5 (the first 3 missions we have now + first 2 missions of the upcoming update) are probably the focus on Primordus army and once we defeat the Destroyer Wyvern boss in Mission 5 then mission 6 happens with Jormag attacking. She may see that both the Commander/Pact/Alliance and Primordus have been weakened from their conflict just enough for Jormag to now consider taking them all out at once during their weakened state. > > I think you're on to something here, especially since Ryland's been described as an effective strategist. Would play into the theme Jormag has with deception too. > > > Heck the fake Truce negotiations may have been Jormag's plan to set soldiers within major locations of each Kingdom where Destroyers have been sighted which could be the reason why the Son of Svanir got so close to Divinity's Reach. Trust was not needed to make this possible, only the threat of Destroyers and appearing as diplomats there to aid them against the Destroyers may have been enough for them to be allowed to get close to these locations. We should probably expect one of the upcoming missions in Part 3 to focus on the Frost Legion attack from within Rata Sum as well since Ryland already place agents within Rata Sum under the pretense of helping with protecting the City from Destroyers. > > > > If this is the case then Ryland may have been smart enough to sabotage key locations within Rata Sum. Worst case, Ryland's possible attack in Rata Sum may end up successful in killing alot of people and Taimi being among them considering how Taimi and many Asura are willing to let Ryland and his Frost Legion up close. > > Another thing I've been thinking about is exactly how much of Primordus' strength he's using right now. These little skirmishes that he's been sending are little more than vanguards and I'm not sure how we'd deal with the might of his entire army, even if Jormag roused all its forces. It's also possible that he's got destroyers far stronger than the ones he's made recently; according to the wiki, destroyers are corrupted versions of living creatures - so what if he has inactive destroyers that mimic powerful creatures from ages past like the giants? > > Vanguards or not, they appear to be attacking key locations to weaken the Commander's allies. Despite defending these locations, most likely the damage done by the time the fights are over is a critical state. Thus each location is now vulnerable for Jormag's forces to just walk right through since most of the forces that will normally defend these locations have been weakened by Primordus attacks. It has been rather curious why the forces with Ryland have normally only appear after the attacks or only himself is appearing in these locations when the Commander is the only one getting aid from his/her allies in these fights. I never buy the "I am strong enough to be a worth a army" talk he tends to give off.

A important thing I think we need to consider is the order of the upcoming missions. Assuming there is maybe only 3 new missions, it is possible the first two focus on Primordus minions and the last one is when Jormag minions attack. If I have to guess Mission 1 to 5 (the first 3 missions we have now + first 2 missions of the upcoming update) are probably the focus on Primordus army and once we defeat the Destroyer Wyvern boss in Mission 5 then mission 6 happens with Jormag attacking. She may see that both the Commander/Pact/Alliance and Primordus have been weakened from their conflict just enough for Jormag to now consider taking them all out at once during their weakened state Heck the fake Truce negotiations may have been Jormag's plan to set soldiers within major locations of each Kingdom where Destroyers have been sighted which could be the reason why the Son of Svanir got so close to Divinity's Reach. Trust was not needed to make this possible, only the threat of Destroyers and appearing as diplomats there to aid them against the Destroyers may have been enough for them to be allowed to get close to these locations. We should probably expect one of the upcoming missions in Part 3 to focus on the Frost Legion attack from within Rata Sum as well since Ryland already place agents within Rata Sum under the pretense of helping with protecting the City from Destroyers. If this is the case then Ryland may have been smart enough to sabotage key locations within Rata Sum. Worst case, Ryland's possible attack in Rata Sum may end up successful in killing alot of people and Taimi being among them considering how Taimi and many Asura are willing to let Ryland and his Frost Legion up close.

> @"XenoSpyro.1780" said: > Someone hasn't seen the Goldclaw books. Ah yes, the Charr of culture and his lewd books that are rated 18+

> @"Svennis.3852" said: > > @"Fueki.4753" said: > > I can only see two plausible ways for the story to go: > > 1) Jormag outright "betrays" the truce (which never actually existed to begin with). > > Everyone will be "surprised". > > > > 2) It'll be a situation where Jormag tells the Svanir to attack us and then tells use that they did it on their own volition. > > And the brain-dead commander and followers will belief Jormag. > > > > At this point, I don't think Arenanet can salvage Season 5 into anything even resembling an almost-decent story. > > This is my fear. The current interactions with Jormag seem to require the Commander and Co. to be dumbed down. I *think* it'll come down to 'persuasion magic' in the end, so it's technically not our fault we were gullible because we, along with Aurene, were being subtly influenced by Jormag's magical domain. In the past we've usually had some indication people are being influenced by Jormag though, or at least Jormag via Drakkar. If the resolution is 'we made a mistake' it's going to have to be perfectly written and executed with all the proper reasoning and evidence, or else I'll be so disappointed and upset. I am still not over Jormag telling us the balance is fake and no one making a peep. The only excusable explanation is magical manipulation, and even that feels like a weak argument, though one I *could* accept with proper build-up and explanation. > > Something GW2 devs seem to do a lot is leave things vague in game, and then 'confirm' or explain things in dev talks, which is... bad. These things should be clear in the context of the game. Well magical influence of a person's thoughts and desires have been Jormag's thing since Icebrood Saga began. We see it in episode 1 and episode 2 as simply whispers that slowly leaves words of doubt and temptation. The stronger the voice gets the weaker the will the person Jormag whispers to is but it is still easy to tell that voice is not their own but another being's voice so people could resist it willingly. However, that is during a time Jormag is still sleeping and that means the temptation magic used may have been very weak despite its strong influence during that time. Now Jormag is awake, it is possible she can use it to a point that people may not hear whispers of another being trying to tempt them but hear voices of themselves thus they think they are thinking these things but it is actually a fake voice that sounds like themselves to trick them into thinking they are thinking these things.

> @"Svennis.3852" said: > > @"anduriell.6280" said: > > > @"Svennis.3852" said: > > > Boys drool and girls rule, sorry. > > > > > > Also, most of the player population greatly disliked Trahearne. It is a shame Vlast had such a sad life that ended as soon as we met him. > > > > > > There are lots of prominent male characters that are fine. And if the forums are to be believed, everyone hates the female characters too, so no one is really winning. Personally I think most of the cast is fine, we just need a more consistent writing team. > > > > Not disagreeing with you about the rest but Trahearne was great. It was a very interesting character, with a good story arc. He should come back as a dragon avatar and bring Vlast with him. And both together help us to defeat the dragons. > > 'Trahearne was great' has not been a popular opinion for the vast majority of the game's history. If the opinion is changing over time in an 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' sort of way, so be it. But leading up to Heart of Thorns, the community was *begging* for Trahearne to be executed for 'stealing the spotlight' (which is something the forum/reddit communities still do regarding... most main characters lol). > > Personally, I didn't mind the character. I thought the voice acting/direction was *horrendous*, and therefore hated having to listen to the character speak (a problem I also have with the female Sylvari PC - sorry Jennifer Hale, love you in everything else). > > While I wouldn't really mind the character returning in theory with a new voice actor or better direction, I am tired of death being a trifle in the game's setting. A lot of major deaths have lost impact because characters simply return as ghosts now. I personally did not like the Commander dying and coming back to life either. I would like death to be more final in this franchise, and characters only killed off when really necessary. I think death being the majority of solutions for retiring a character has become stale in general at this point. Very few main characters get a chance to simply just leave the storyline alive and retiring to more lighter life simply because the current storyline is in constant need of them unless they are killed off during the line of duty fighting the Elder Dragons or current threat. This is partly why I am glad the Elder Dragon Saga is closing soon either during End of Dragons or the living story after it because that means the current characters can all finally retire themeselves without needing to be killed off and put into a position where they can make a cameo or mention once in a while in the new storyline set after the Elder Dragon Saga.

> @"Chaos.7614" said: > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > The new Trailer is released and we a glimps into a bit of the reasons and mind set of Jormag's minions and beliefs. Along with a glimps of this war turning into a three way war. > >Jormag's minions are following the belief of preserving the world in Ice so it remains protected as was suspected in past discussions and ingame dialogue. It will preserve everything exactly the way they are forever in Ice but nothing will ever change for eternity. It is Jormag's ideal world where everything is protected and everything remains the same forever just like being frozen in Ice. > > I never really bought into this being a three-way war; Jormag was never really on our side since it's idea of preserving the world is covering it in ice and having everything stagnate. Primordus is the polar opposite extreme of plunging everything into chaos and destroying everything until it consumes enough magic to sleep again. Obviously, neither are good endpoints for Tyria and we're just caught in the crossfire - they're both enemies in the end. > > > What do you think about recent upcoming developments, where it may go, and why it may happen? > > The "truce" we have with Jormag really only applies to when we engage in the more powerful and immediate threat of destroyers, so it's not a permanent peace - this means we're on a timer for figuring out how to stabilize the balance of magic when a dragon is destroyed. The nature of this fight means that one dragon or the other is going to die, or at least weaken and release large amounts of magic back into the world. I think that our journey to Cantha is going to be about finding a way to harness dragon energy and recirculate it, essentially finding replacements for the dragons. The EoD trailer said that "[mortals] built new lives upon the very thing that sought to end theirs", which I think is a reference to the Deep Sea Dragon. > > It's a bit far-fetched, but I think that the Empire of the Dragon has found a way to control the Deep Sea Dragon/harness its energy/make it benevolent, and the reason they've been so isolationist aside from Zhaitan's rise is because they were waiting for the right time to take over the rest of Tyria and Elona. The rest of the world has had to deal with dragons rising and thus expend their energy opposing them, while the Empire of the Dragon continues to use the DSD's power to strengthen its military. This would hold a bit more weight if the rulers of Cantha have upheld Emperor Usoku's isolationist and Canthan supremacy philosophy. > > I wouldn't be surprised if we saw our arrival in Cantha begin with a massive destroyer assault on the southern aspect of Cantha, using the chaos to infiltrate our way into Kaineng City and finding the exact mechanism of how the Empire is harnessing dragon energy so we could apply that to making beings capable of circulating magic on a large-scale. > Well in my eyes it is a three way way but simply developed into it due to Primordus joining in the middle of the already on going war between the Commander/Pact/Alliance vs Jormag. The War started simply started with the Commander/Pact/Alliance vs Jormag but then Primordus and his minions joined right after Jormag's awakening. I suspect for a while the Truce was Jormag's way to seeing who can be tricked into joining her due to conflicting ideals of trusting Jormag or not to trust her due to different groups having different opinions towards Primordus joining the conflict. > @"draxynnic.3719" said: > Jormag was showing pretty clear signs of being Not Really Our Friend to anyone who's had experience with abusive relationships (noting that this does not need to mean abusive "romantic" relationships). > > Regarding Cantha - the DSD connection is possible, but I've generally thought the link might simply be "we need more dragons to replace the Elder Dragons, Cantha has/had dragons that are friendly to mortals. However, in a way she does not really lie about what she promise to give them but the promise is only twisted as a result. It is like making a deal with the Devil, the Devil will give you what you want but your soul is now his in return. The Son of Svanir were very simple in their demands being for them to have more power thus Jormag gave them more power as promised. However, we also see more complicated forms of desires Jormags seek to keep such as with Ryland being to be recognized and given what he believe his right due to all his hard work which it is given to him by making him the Champion and leader of the Icebroods. There is also Olar who we killed in Episode 1 where he is promised that he will never be abandoned again if he joined Jormag's forces and he got what he wanted being now a member of a group who will never abandon him. However, he must now serve Jormag in return.

> @"Svennis.3852" said: > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > > @"Zychuu.7294" said: > > > The story is a mess if it comes to keeping up with 'old' characters. As many people mentioned they didn't manage to even confirm or deconfirm Zojja's demise or mention her wellbeing in any way for years now. Looks like Dragon's Watch is getting similar treatment. While I enjoy the story most of the time, I don't expect any decency in this manner anymore unfortunately, which is quite sad. > > > > Honestly, at this point we should probably assume her vegetable state is a permanent and advanced to a point of no return. Timeline wise it has been years since events of Heart of Thorns (every year in our world on Earth is also a year in Tyria timeline) and last time we heard about Zojja, her mind was already degenerating to a point she can hardly talk from what NPCs have said. > > > > If we see her again I won't be surprised if there is nothing left of her mind and all we get out of her is gibberish. > > GW2 uses unreliable narrators frequently though. What we heard from those NPCs in S3 is, in essence, just a rumor. We have no verifiable statements about Zojja's health -- just gossip. That could easily be proved or disproved based on the writers whims, so for now Zojja is just in limbo. She might as well be a vegetable at this point, though. The devs have stated they intended to use her in S4, but that plot got scrapped (for good reason). So for now I'll believe they're intending to bring her back eventually, but they need to right story beat for it (similar to Malyck lol). At this point, I think they have completely forgotten about Malyck. The developers themselves admited they do sometimes forget characters exists which is why Laranthir was forgotten about after Heart of Thorns until recent events of Icebrood Saga.

> @"Zychuu.7294" said: > The story is a mess if it comes to keeping up with 'old' characters. As many people mentioned they didn't manage to even confirm or deconfirm Zojja's demise or mention her wellbeing in any way for years now. Looks like Dragon's Watch is getting similar treatment. While I enjoy the story most of the time, I don't expect any decency in this manner anymore unfortunately, which is quite sad. Honestly, at this point we should probably assume her vegetable state is a permanent and advanced to a point of no return. Timeline wise it has been years since events of Heart of Thorns (every year in our world on Earth is also a year in Tyria timeline) and last time we heard about Zojja, her mind was already degenerating to a point she can hardly talk from what NPCs have said. If we see her again I won't be surprised if there is nothing left of her mind and all we get out of her is gibberish.

> @"draxynnic.3719" said: > Come to think on it, I've got to wonder if some of the source of tension between Marjory and Kasmeer is an imbalance in status and responsibility. > > When the two got together, Marjory was the senior partner in the detective agency, but they were still _reasonably_ close to being equals. Now, though, Kasmeer has been reinstated to noble status, seems to be fairly high up in the Queen's confidences, and has been given responsibilities to suit that might well be taking her attention away from the relationship (her appearance in the civil war, for instance, points to her being viewed as being at least on a similar level of importance to Logan, when Logan isn't acting as the Pact Marshal). Marjory, however, is pretty much still where she's always been. Combined with the fact that Marjory has been implied to have a certain degree of dislike for the Krytan nobility, and even if she's not _consciously_ thinking in these terms, it might have become an unspoken barrier between them. Marjory does appear to be heading down the path of something in recent events of Champions. Where they may lead her, we will just have to see. Kasmeer on the other hand has basically become a political representative for Kryta when it comes to diplomatic matters so we may consider her retired from Dragon's Watch since she has a new job. Still it is a job that will put her in a lot of positions to constantly return especially when we go to Cantha and future locations in the new Storyline set after the Elder Dragon Storyline to meet new Kingdoms and organizations

At this point in the story, I see that Dragon Watch is at the disbanding time of their life. It is also understandable since we are close to the end of the Elder Dragon Storyline and they may need to start the Commander back to being alone during the beginning of the new storyline set after the Elder Dragon Storyline ending so he/she can start up a new group of companions or he/she becomes more of a solo adventurer. Dragon's Watch was formed to be a small group to replace Destiny's Edge with Rytlock being the mentor/veteran member of the group due to how members of Destiny Edge began having issues that lead to their current positions now. Now the members of Dragon's Watch are heading into the same direction that caused Destiny Edge to be disband as well with each member having their own personal issues that may force them to leave the group and remain behind. Taimi's case is more serious because her condition is confirmed at a critical condition stage and there maybe no cure for it and even if there is, it may require her to stay behind to maintain treatment until they are certain she can go on without it. Rox has basically retired already to be a member of the Olmakhan. Braham may move on with his life after Icebrood Saga or at the end of the Elder Dragon storyline since his goal in life has been achieved. Marjory and Kasmeer is up to debate but I feel they may choose to settle down after the Elder Dragon Storyline ends. Rytlock has his own issues and recent story feels like they are preparing for his retirement from the group.

Imagine if Cantha Elite Spec for Engineer is about become a Heavy Weapon Specialist. Thus gaining access to Railgun, Gatling Gun, Ray Gun and etc or being able to modify their weapons into more heavy hitting attacks thanks to their tech modifications created by those who specialize in this Elite Spec.

> @"Psientist.6437" said: > The Canthan Assassin had two first principles for its design; sequential applications of stabbing and efficient damage mitigation. A thief shield specialty would build on what made the GW1 assassin unique. Perhaps sequential shield skills that build effects? Could any class dual wield shields without looking like a Captain America caricature? Shields could make stealth impossible. That may make it easier to build for powerful and unique shield skills. Depends on their choice on what may fit Cantha Assassin Elite Specs. Back in GW1 they mention Assassins having mastery over Hexes as well to both weaken the defense of enemies while also using hexes for providing defense on themselves. I say the key element of what maybe the focus of Cantha Assassin's weapon during GW2 era due to possible generations of changes over the years to specialize in their arts maybe their Hex spell skills that goes with their deadly attacks if they choose to go down the hex skills route.

> @"Fipmip.7219" said: > > @"Dawdler.8521" said: > > > @"draxynnic.3719" said: > > > What I suspect would _actually_ revolutionise Tyrian warfare is basically similar to what happened in the real world: mechanised warfare. At the moment, war vehicles are at a roughly WW1 level of use: they're present, but infantry still does most of the work. Even now, though, vehicles make weapons and pieces of magitech that are too big to be practical to be used by an infantry soldier actually useful in mobile warfare. With a bit of refinement and reconsideration of tactics, though, this could lead to a paradigm shift similar to that which occurred with WW2. > > > > Tank General: *"We are bringing 1000 tanks into battle to drive a wedge through the enemy lines and take the enemy city!"* > > Elementalist: *"The city is gone, I just meteor showered it"* > > Tank General: *"... well we still got lots of infantry to deal with!"* > > Elementalist: *"Died from the same meteor shower."* > > Tank General: *"... enemy tanks?* > > Elementalist: *"Who the kitten even brings tanks to a battle where a single person can literally pull meteors from the sky?"* > > Tank General: *":("* > > I think this basically the short of it. While i think that individuals in the lore have not been typically capable of calling meteor storms on cities by themselves, I don't really see why, for example, the charr couldn't just streamline some sort of ritual to basically call down the searing whenever they please. With that kind of power playing at attack and defense, armies are probably put into occupational and guerilla roles. That being said, anet has no problem handwaving away that sort of reality, as we have seen time and again throughout the story. The charr made it clear they wanted their culture to be more about technology over magic. Magic is still used but not at the level of Flame legion. It is partly due to their belief toward separating themselves from Gods since Magic has such connection to it though history. Even those with Magical talent in the Charr army uses it more towards development of technology that allows people to combat magic based enemies over developing better magic abilites for magic users. After all, what better people to create warfare technology to combat magic users or magic based creations, such as the Ascalonian ghosts, than magic users themselves by applying what they know about magic and using that knowledge to create technology that can replicate it to equal power or better powers.

> @"Psientist.6437" said: > > To the bolded, for the magic poor there is no ignoring the weapon. What would the Warrior profession do without weapons? Flex? I know weapons are important to the Profession but I am talking about the concept of Profession that is more prefered by the Magic Poor. However, we are just focus on two separate things as of now so I don't think there is much to discuss between us since you are full commited on focusing only on the applications of weapons for the magic poor over everything else involved in what the magic poor such as prefered professions, chosen life path, and methods of compensating their magic poor ability beyond just weapons. However, I will leave one final comment. Not to be rude but I am trying to discuss something other than just weapons for the magic poor and look into what other concept that may be involved with the magic poor's ability to fight in warfare for this world since weaponary is not the only thing that affects people in Tyria when it involves warefare. Their choice of Profession is important to determining their ability, weapons, and choice of combat such as those of magic poor may often choose between Warrior for a more versatile choice for combat between different weapons which in certain cases they may choose Rifles to cover their lack of ability or poor ability to use magic. A magic poor person may also choose Engineer profession as their life's choice instead and make up for their magic poor ability through the use of engineering devices that will allow them to perform magic abilities in their place as we have seen such technology in GW2 such as how Holosmith holotech uses the Magic powers of Zephyrite crystals to create and use their holographic powers created from magical energy. They may even create new type of exoskeleton or craft special potions that enhance their body so they may rival those with magic talent when it comes to melee and develop tech that will make them resistant to projectiles as well. Weapons are important in warefare to benefit and compensate the magic poor but one of the most important factor in warfare in Tyria has been a person's creativity with how they compensating for magic poor abilities using their strength and intelligence to make it possible. Weapons are only one possible factor into this concept and the other is their Profession of choice. Profession of choice is a reflection of the person's creative ability towards handling their magic poor abilties and how they may or may not apply that knowledge such as weapon's of choice, combat style, strategy, techniques for combat, gears of choice, and etc which is why Warrior and Engineer profession is most commonly made up of those with magic poor abilities. In a way, we may consider Anet intention of making Warrior and Engineer the only two professions that use Rifles as their core weapon when GW2 began a way to reflect how the Magic Poor handle their chosen life path in warfare since the Rifle was made to be a more effective and easy to use weapon for those who lack magic abilites and it is given to the two professions in the beginning of GW2 that the magic poor people tend to choose in their life path.

> @"Psientist.6437" said: > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > > @"Psientist.6437" said: > > > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > > > Most of the people who lack magic talent tend to go into the Warrior and Engineer profession anyways from what we have seen since GW2 began. > > > > > > > > These two require the least magical talent and more into Physical Strength and Intelligence of a person. > > > > > > > > Some magic are used for these profession but they are on the lowest magical energy cost than the other professions. > > > > > > Hi EdwinLi. I am going to pretend you didn't imply Engineers are less intelligent. Hitting things with a hammer to fix them is science. I am not attacking your perspective but the assumption that Warriors and Engineers don't use a lot of magic is an assumption. A lot of Warrior skills function well beyond the natural limits of the body. > > > > > > With the magic poor we are closest to the real world use of weapon systems. A real world magic poor person doesn't choose a sword over a gun. This is a case where what we see in game emerges from motivations that have nothing to do with making Thyria realistic. > > > > Why do you think I said Engineer require less Intelligence? I never said anything about Engineer requiring less Intelligence. Not to be rude but it is very clear you misread and misunderstood everything I said in my comment. > > > > I said Warrior and Engineer requires more focus on Strength and a person's own Intelligence rather than ability to use magic. > > > > The Intelligence I speak about is not the RPG stats used to determine a character's magic power but the Intelligence of a person as a individual for creativity such as how they fight with their own weapons and ability to assess the situation they are in to determine their actions. > > > > Also, I said Warrior and Engineer do use Magic but they are in the lowest cost of magical energy required to perform so even those who are Magic Poor can use all the Engineer and Warrior's magic ability without worry they may or may not have the requirements to perform them. You can say the skills of a Warrior and Engineer depends more on their Strength and Intelligence to creatively use what little magic they can use in their attacks and tools. > > I only misread a small part. You are using a hard dichotomy between classes that is purposefully built as a soft dichotomy. Besides, every skill that may not need magic may be enriched by magic. Could the magic poor wield a magic enriched weapon? My point here is that the power difference between a magic poor armed with a magic poor sword and gun is the same on Thyria and Earth. The magic poor would always be armed with guns. By your own logic, when facing ranged foes any melee attackers would have to shield themselves and quickly close distance. This still eliminates a huge percentage of melee attackers. As gun technology evolves the threshold for shield power and gap closing speed increases. This is the equalizing force you described earlier. It doesn't really matter what weapon a magic poor is wielding when a melee fighter reaches them. That melee fighter just shrugged off the magic poor's most powerful shots. A sword and shield may be effective at close range but it is unlikely. Magic power is too big a part of 1v1 combat. The magic poor may not have any protection or healing skills. My point here is that the weaker opponent will always try to optimize ranged attacks first. Charrzookas are the first step in putting the magic poor on an equal footing with Elementalists. Perhaps we could even look at Engineers similarly. > > More advanced weapon platforms would increase the power potential of the magic poor. However, without arbitrary rules, the magic enriched would learn to build magic enriched versions and magic skills to channel through the enriched weapon system. I know I have talked about hand wavy rules and I don't want to build artificial or personal rules. I think this assumption describes a real rule that can't interfere with an active PC protagonist. In the context of lore and not mechanics, we should expect to see more examples of magically enriched tanks driven by specialty professions. Thyria would be an extreme version of Earth. Thyrian's could easily destroy themselves. Thyrians could build a gun that could destroy their moon. Asuran's guns may already be using direct energy acceleration for projectiles. Scruffy 2.0 could have a rail gun powered by magic. > > To be clear, I think the representation of combat is as realistic as it can be. Class distinction and balance must come first. Thyrian forces are extremely mobile and a small number of fighters dominate the outcome. We should expect to see the same blitzkrieg strategies used by modern nation states. Front lines would still form where ever foes were equally matched. The strategies we see in game where the Commander leads other .01% magic enriched on a mission that decides the outcome are realistic for Thyria > > > I think you're too focused on the applications of weapon use. I am talking about the application of Warrior and Engineer being more common profession for those who lack in magic ability. I am not speaking about weapon use but what are probably the two most common profession path for those who are low in magic ability. If applications of weapon use for magic poor is applied then in a strange way these are also the two Professions that have Rifles as their core Main Weapon which some NPCs who are magic poor tend to be either a Warrior that use rifles or Engineer that use rifles or Engineer with the pistol/shield combo. Though among charr forces was have Charr Engineers that use Pistols and Shields. Thus those who depend more on guns and more advance guns that can rival magic in power are commonly a Warrior or Engineer. If you want to mention, Deadeye then that is rather different matter since it rather new to GW2 due to being introduced in PoF more so Anet can start introducing Sniper Rifle NPCs.

> @"Psientist.6437" said: > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > Most of the people who lack magic talent tend to go into the Warrior and Engineer profession anyways from what we have seen since GW2 began. > > > > These two require the least magical talent and more into Physical Strength and Intelligence of a person. > > > > Some magic are used for these profession but they are on the lowest magical energy cost than the other professions. > > Hi EdwinLi. I am going to pretend you didn't imply Engineers are less intelligent. Hitting things with a hammer to fix them is science. I am not attacking your perspective but the assumption that Warriors and Engineers don't use a lot of magic is an assumption. A lot of Warrior skills function well beyond the natural limits of the body. > > With the magic poor we are closest to the real world use of weapon systems. A real world magic poor person doesn't choose a sword over a gun. This is a case where what we see in game emerges from motivations that have nothing to do with making Tyria realistic. Why do you think I said Engineer require less Intelligence? I never said anything about Engineer requiring less Intelligence. Not to be rude but it is very clear you misread and misunderstood everything I said in my comment. I said Warrior and Engineer requires more focus on Strength and a person's own Intelligence rather than ability to use magic. Intelligence of a individual is more than a person's ability to use magic and how powerful their magic is. The Intelligence I speak about is not the RPG stats used to determine a character's magic power but the Intelligence of a person as a individual for creativity such as how they fight with their own weapons and ability to assess and act on the situation they are in to determine their actions or improvise for where they lacking. Also, I said Warrior and Engineer do use Magic but they are in the lowest cost of magical energy required to perform so even those who are Magic Poor can use all the Engineer and Warrior's magic ability without worry they may or may not have the requirements to perform them. Basically a Warrior and Engineer depends more on their Strength and Intelligence to creatively use what little magic they can use in their attacks and tools while also using skills focus less on magic and more on using their strength to provide the weapon's impact and use their weapons properly such as handling gun recoil and and Intelligence to assess their situation, creating tools to replace dependency on magic use, and using what little magic they have with their weapons and tools due to being poor in magic. For Warrior they can use the little amount of magic they have to enhance their strength or enhance their weapons. They will also use their Intelligence to be good leaders to plan strategies, how and where they should attack, what they will use their magic poor talent on for their attacks such as enhancing their weapons with magical fire or provide self strength or resistance enhancements using their magic due to their low cost, and what buffs will benefit the people fighting along side them with small amount of magic energy put into their Shouts so more of their allies can hear them and be motivated. For Engineers they use their intelligence to create technology and creativity with other knowledge to cover their magic poor skills. Thus creating tools, weapons, and gadgets that can help enhance their magic ability to be at a higher level, use a alternate source of magical energy to perform stronger magic abilites they can't use themselves due to their poor magic, and even perform feats with pure technology alone that rivals magic such as exo-skeleton to enhance movement speed and resistance to crippling conditions or putting a rocket on their hammer to provide the impact of a magic user more talented in magic. Some Engineer NPCs have even resorted to create cybernetics using their own intelligence to enhance their ability to use magic as well or to provide enhance strength so they don't need to use magic to enhance it for them.

Considering the heavy theme of China for Cantha, they may have developed Guns and other forms of gunpowder based weapons for themselves during their time in Isolationism. Thus the use of Guns for Assassins of Cantha maybe possible. They may even have Rangers that use Guns as their Specialization. Not to mention what kind of Engineers they may have created due to advancements of technology they have gone into. We know the Zephyrites have made contact with Cantha and even brought over a lot of random stuff they manage to get their hands on for trading and some of them may have been tech which could be used to contribute to Cantha's development into their own path of technology.

Most of the people who lack magic talent tend to go into the Warrior and Engineer profession anyways from what we have seen since GW2 began. These two require the least magical talent and more into Physical Strength and Intelligence of a person. Some magic are used for these profession but they are on the lowest magical energy cost than the other professions.

> @"Randulf.7614" said: > I like the look of Echovald Forest > > I notice they are using a lot of rainbow bubbles and colours in the art. I don't like it at all, but I'm sure it's more symbolic than anything else. The effect is most likely because we are seeing this from a perspective of a Vision for future events. From how things are going, I will not be surprised we may see all these scenes in a fully animated Vision cutscene at the end of Champions to provide us our motivation for heading to Cantha.

> @"Dawdler.8521" said: > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said: > > > @"The Greyhawk.9107" said: > > > But does Charr tech use things like Magic Cores and the like? > > > > certain charr weapons do due to their fight with ghosts. > > > > Speaking of Tech, I am still wondering why we yet to see the Engineer Profession have the ability to modify their Main Weapon to perform different abilities. So much tech the Engineer Profession carry around that they can dismantle and use to modify their main weapon yet still never use this attribute for Engineers. > > > > Holosmith tech is a nice example of Engineer's skills with modifying a kit into different forms of combat but that is more about programming the right codes into their Holoprojection device so the holograms project and form the the holo weapons and utility skills > What do you mean, they've literally taken a rifle and turned it into a shotgun. Just like that. Screw calibers, bullet physics, or ammunition. This magical rifle-thats-not a-rifle-shotgun shoots whatever the kitten the engineer want it to shoot. Most of the time nothing because it's one of the worst weapon that exist, but you get the idea. I am talking about the ability to change the 5 Main Weapon skills into new skills based on their tech used to modify it. As of now the Main Weapons have a set of skills that can never be changed. The true Engineer Profession, lore wise, would have changed those 5 weapon skills into new skills and if they wanted, keep some of those weapon skills to match or work with the new weapon skills being used after modifying their Main Weapon. basically allowing the Engineer to have 2 or 3 different sets of Main weapon skills per Main Weapon so instead of switching our the Main Weapon for a different weapon like other jobs or switching it out for a kit instead, they would just switch out specific Main Weapon skills for a different Main Weapon skill to mix and match their Main Weapon Skills into the prefered weapon skill set they want. For example, let us use the SCAR Rifle skill set and Engineer's Rifle skill set if they would allow Engineer's to customize their Main Weapon skill set. they can switch out the Rifle 1 skill between Shrapnel Blast for a melee range combat skill or keep Hip Shot for range combat. Rifle Skill 2 can have a choice between Netshot for range cripple skill or Spray and Pray for a more offensive close range attack. Rifle SKill 3 can have a choice between Blunderbuss (Raw Damage) or Rusty Shrapnel (Condition Damage). Rifle Skill 4 can have a choice between Overcharge Shot for raw damage to pushing enemies away or Charring Barrier for close range shield from projectiles and close range direct or condition damage attack. There can be a more Condition based Overcharge shot called Overheat Shot that focus more on applying conditions for range. Rifle Skill 5 can be between Jump Shot for raw damage or Explosive Leap less damage but acts as a stunbreaker. This will provide Engineer a choice on how they want to design their Main Weapon Rifle skills to be forcused on Range, Melee, Direct Damage, or Condition Damage.

> @"The Greyhawk.9107" said: > But does Charr tech use things like Magic Cores and the like? certain charr weapons do due to their fight with ghosts. Speaking of Tech, I am still wondering why we yet to see the Engineer Profession have the ability to modify their Main Weapon to perform different abilities. So much tech the Engineer Profession carry around that they can dismantle and use to modify their main weapon yet still never use this attribute for Engineers. Holosmith tech is a nice example of Engineer's skills with modifying a kit into different forms of combat but that is more about programming the right codes into their Holoprojection device so the holograms project and form the the holo weapons and utility skills

> @"The Greyhawk.9107" said: > First obstacle to channel magic through a tank would probably be mass, the second might be comparative lack of spell casters among the charr. Its reasonable to assume that channeling magic through a sword isn't going to be the same as a tank, might require more than one magic user in most cases which can be an issue as the things seem to be single-seaters for the most part. The second is pretty self explanatory, even with some Flame Legion rejoining the High Legions its questionable if this can be done en mass. Obviously Pact tanks would be a different story but we're still talking about the Legions, correct? It is more of a issue with a method to maintain the magical protection. Without a constant source for supply of magical energy to maintain the protection, it will only remain within a certain time limit. However, this has been resolved in GW2 already being Magic Cores being used for technology so golems and tanks can maintain Magical protection to remove the need for a magic user to constantly maintain it instead. Yet that knowledge does not come without knowledge on how to counter it with technology and magic already creating weapons that can weaken the magical protection or strain it to a point it becomes disabled for a short time thus making the Golem and Tank vulnerable within a certain amount of time. Of course they have already created a Technology counterpart for that same protection as we seen in Dizzlewood Coast with the Dominion Charr Tanks. However, they also come with a counter being enough EMPs will strain the protection enough to shut it down for a short time. While Magical and Technology based protections are strong, they have shown to have limits no matter how strong they are. It is already impressive enough they can take such a beating considering the fire power often used is strong enough to literally leave nothing left if military forces used the same amount of fire power that is used in this game to disable a protection on a location.

We also have to consider the types of enemies they fight which plenty of them cannot be put down with a single bullet due to their biology. Dragon Minions are the most stubbern to kill since most of the time the only way to guarantee they stay down is to chop or blow them up into pieces once they reach a level of corruption where they body is physically changed by the Dragon's magic. not to mention specific species have much stronger hides than others that makes them tougher for bullets to penetrate their skin thus forcing people into using melee brute strength to slice through that tough hide where bullets fail to do so due to the strength of the bullet is based on material and the gun's ability and method of firing that bullet. We do have Energy based Guns now thanks to events of the Zhaitan Arc increasing the supply and demand for them thanks to the Pact but certain creatures have certain resistance to the Energy based bullets that these guns fire.

> @"draxynnic.3719" said: > > @"ugrakarma.9416" said: > > i try imagine that explosive power of most 'advanced' stuff on tyria are still not enough. > > Also theres lot of magical implicit stuff too, to this could explain tecnologically less advanced enemies still be resistant to weapons. > > > > something I find consistent in the lore is a matter of energy, the bigger weapons seem to require a lot of energy, and the Tyrians apparently have not developed very efficient energy techniques yet. So basically whenever there are "big cannons" there is an event where players need to get them to work. > > That's pretty much my thinking. If you look at some of the technology floating around Tyria, armoured warriors charging into melee should have been obsolete decades ago, and probably would be if steel armour was what they had... but based on the requisitions, it's typical for frontline Pact troops (for example) to have mithril armour and weapons. That's probably a high enough grade of armour to remain relevant in the face of even postindustrial technology. It also helps that even relatively mundane warriors can cross distances pretty quickly in the _Guild Wars_ universe. > > Magic is also a significant equaliser. Guns become less of an advantage if your enemy is able to toss fireballs, after all. It's actually a concept I've come across in the _Heroes of Battle_ supplement for D&D: once you get into sufficiently high fantasy, modern combat tactics start making more sense than medieval approaches to battle because fighting in large formations is just asking to be blown up by a fireball or some other AoE effect. It's just that magic and fantastical warbeasts take the place of technological weapons and vehicles. Charr use actual technology to compensate for being relatively weak in the magic field (even after reabsorbing the Flame Legion, the Flame Legion's magic has become a little overly specialised...), but consider that human armies in Tyria are likely to have a wide range of spellcasters and may also have some sort of construct or war beast such as Watchknights or Jade Constructs. > > WvW battles, interestingly, tend to revert back into formation fighting (or at least clumping), but that's to take advantage of boons, healing, and protective effects that can offset the increased damage from clumping, which is a factor that doesn't really exist in real-world modern warfare. don't forget how they utilize their technology and magic in forms of protection. In case of projectile protection, Magic and certain technology can create protection to make them immune to projectile attacks thus forcing them into melee to bypass those protections. It will be pointless to unload a entire magazine of a gun if a person is immune to it due to the protection created by magic or technology. Not to mention implimentation of cybernetics or exo-enhancement gears that can be created such as how Engineers can modify themselves with their tech to better perform on the battlefield. Magic itself can also provide the same effects which makes gap closing more easily done than someone who can only run in normal human speed. This adds on to the difficulty of attacking from range since if a person with enhanced speed rush a person before they can even point their gun at them, then they may not make it in time and get sliced. Teleportation magic is also a huge game changer since it allows people to appear anywhere for even proper ambush. Illusion magic can make people waste ammunition or overheat any tech weapons on decoys thus leaving them vulnerable if they don't have a form of melee combat method. Illusion magic is advanced enough that it can even trick technology sometimes if the caster is very skilled. If anything out of how technology and strategies advance in GW world, it is a combination of Magic and Technology due to how both sides have means to counter each other to a point both magic and technology remain equally relevant. This leads to dependency on melee weapons still due to the counters towards range weapons that force people into depending on melee weapons. Not to mention the resources they have to create metals that are far stronger than the stuff we can create in our world.

We will have to wait until after the End of Dragons for them to start exploring beyond into regions we have never been to. As of now End of Dragons and maybe the Living World season after is meant to put a end to the Elder Dragon saga so they can begin moving the GW series storyline into the unknown regions were a lot of unknown civilizations, gods from beyond the ones we know, and etc exists. The developers have a lot of room as well due to ever since GW1 we had only explored 20% of the entire planet and there is still 80% of the planet yet to explored.