draxynnic.3719

During the Year of the Pig celebrations, the lore behind the Celestial Feast was implied to be Pig-specific - the person who became the Celestial Pig having a great love of food, and therefore his year was celebrated with a feast. By the time the next Canthan New Year rolled around, however, we just got the Feast with a different celestial animal.

Were there plans for the Canthan New Year to be different events for different celestial animals that fell by the wayside as priority shifted to creating Guild Wars 2 after 2007? If so, can you give any insights into what might have been?

> @"Narcemus.1348" said:

> > @"videoboy.4162" said:

> > > @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > > In a lore sense, I figured my original character passed away into The Mists and the character I play in Guild Wars 2 is her descendent, named for her great (times a dozen) grandmother and even sharing her ancestor's predilection for lavender and the Ranger profession. :)

> >

> > I do a very similar thing, but on a slightly larger scale. Almost all (maybe it was all?) of my GW1 characters shared the same last name and that family has thrived over the centuries and still exists in GW2 ^_^

>

> Same here! I always RP'd that all my characters were members of a prominent trade family that had buildings set up in all of the major trade ports. In the end, my Main, who became the head of the family after the death of his father during the Searing, retired back to Lion's arch where he ran the trade company well, eventually allowing the family to gain noble status in Kryta. Many of my other characters died in noble pursuits, my Nightfall main died with Koss attempting to finish off Joko. My Canthan main lead a resistance against the Ministry of Purity that likely ended poorly. My perma-pre is my main's beloved sister who died in the searing. She lives through the same day always in the memory of her brother. The younger brother, who I am playing as now, will eventually sail off into the sunset attempting to find new lands to explore or people's to trade with.

>

> My GW2 human is a descendant of my Main, though he became a guardian rather than a Necromancer. My main Sylvari is a Necro, though, and I RP that he saw my Main in the Dream and lives to emulate him.

Pretty close to my own concept, except mine was that their _ancestors_ were a trading family originally from Cantha, but when the trade routes shut down (due to the Guild Wars, and Cantha going into isolation during the period) each branch went its own way for several generations. They recognised the family symbols when they met back up, but at that stage each branch of the family had essentially 'gone native' (well, the Krytan and Orrian branches were both wiped out).

The Canthan branch remained in Cantha, while the Ascalonian branch relocated to Kryta and was ennobled by Salma for their part in the fighting against the White Mantle and the Mursaat, while the Elonian branch eventually also came over to Kryta in the wake of Joko's takeover. The associated characters tended to have strong themes of mixing magic and spellcasting, so its in my concept of my characters' backgrounds that their ancestors were involved in the development of the Guardian profession and of the more martial Mesmer variants, after giving up on warrior/elementalist combinations as a dead end.

> @"Boro.7359" said:

> > @"Raemyi.2968" said:

> > My favorite was a Warrior build that centered around cycling between Dragon Slash and other abilities to continually chain damage, healing, or knockdown.

> >

> > The crux was For Great Justice, which doubles your adrenaline gain, and Dragon Slash, which basically deals damage and grants adrenaline. While FGJ is active, a single use of Dragon Slash will refill your adrenaline. For damage, you just keep spamming it - the hit alone refills its own adrenaline requirements.

> >

> > My favorite part though was working in Brawling Headbutt, a PvE-only skill that knocks down the target for an adrenaline cost. So you just cycle Dragon Slash, Brawling Headbutt, auto-attack, Dragon Slash.... and with some stonefist armor, you can keep any non-immune target locked down for 20 seconds. 30 seconds, if you throw in the Paragon skill that boosts shout duration on FGJ. Lion's Comfort, an adrenaline-fueled self-heal that grants adrenaline back, could also be spammed in the same manner to pseudo-tank when needed, or could be used to get back to full adrenaline easier if you miss a hit. Likewise, Enraging Charge was a speed-boost that also boosted adrenaline gain on the next hit, which let the whole cycle get going almost immediately when starting a fight.

> >

> > The cherry on top was "You Move Like a Dwarf", another PvE-only skill that simply knocks down a target at range. With this, those nasty mages casting big stuff at the start of a fight could be neutralized while you set up your combo. And, against immune targets like big story bosses, you could swap in an attack speed boost to supplement Dragon Slash spamming for impressive plain-and-simple damage.

> >

> >

> > It was a build perfectly suited to taking out those specific targets that would ruin my day, while my Heroes went to work on the rest of the crowd.

>

> then you realized that assassins could do the same but better with their jagged-fox-death blossom chains while conveying even more damage via strength of honor and other flat boosts.

More outright damage, yes, but the Dragon Slash-Brawling Headbutt-Steelfang Slash combo is one that can keep a single target knocked down, and therefore not a threat, pretty much indefinitely. You can also couple that adrenaline engine with a range of other adrenaline-fuelled skills for additional utility. Save Yourselves! is a good option for keeping your party alive, and if you need to fight a large enough group, you can mix in Whirlwind Attack and achieve similar results to Death Blossom builds by cycling Dragon Slash and Whirlwind Attack. Possibly with those flat damage boosts you're talking about - in fact, Whirlwind actually gets more from those damage boosts, since the hits from Whirlwind Attack are actual strikes while Death Blossom only inflicts actual strikes on the primary target and the other enemies hit just take the skill damage.

Mind you, I might be biased - I was playing around with the Dragon Slash-knockdown-Steelfang Slash chain before it was cool, primarily using Air Magic skills for knockdowns to fuel Steelfang before Brawling Headbutt entered the picture and really brought it all together.

Another one I found particularly satisfying was running R/Me, hitting a target in the middle of a group of casters with a Broadhead Arrow, then following up with an Epidemic to put a long-duration Daze on the entire group.

Mind you, I tended to think "How can I completely neuter the enemy" with most of my builds. There's a reason I tended to say that I thought like a mesmer even when I wasn't playing one. :P

I always headcanoned it somewhat as there always having been some shift between northern and southern Kryta, even if the biome was displayed as being the same to ease the artistic burden. In GW1, the "Kryta" regions covered both the tropical southern regions and the cooler (albeit probably still subtropical) northern regions. In GW2, some of those southern regions are in what is now the Maguuma biome, which is shown as being substantially _more_ tropical than GW1 Kryta, while GW2 Kryta is almost entirely in the cooler regions north of Lion's Arch.

Add a little climate change due to world events (less warm water coming up through the Sea of Sorrows, more cold air coming down from the Shiverpeaks due to Jormag), and I think it does all make sense.

> @"Huskyboy.1053" said:

> > @"LucianTheAngelic.7054" said:

> > Condi Rev's biggest issues in spvp are less its elite skill and more its lack of sustain, its legend synergy, and to some extent its damage. The abyssal chill nerf really hurt it recently and ofc all of the old retribution/shiro sustain changes. Glint is pretty much the most solid option at this point for any condi rev as well as the Herald line, since you get the F2 and free boons. I think it's unfortunately the mandatory legend and trait choice at this point just because there is NO other solid option for sustaining or buffing which is desperately needed for condi rev to be a viable option with other legends/lines. Add that to these facts that Anet REALLY wants shortbow/renegade to be the answer for condi rev's problems despite neither shortbow/kalla/or the traits having any answer to its major issues (sustain/legend synergy). Condi Rev can't really be run glass cannon; it needs defensive traits and good sustain from its legends/weapon skills to function well in pvp. Renegade is pretty much completely damage focused with no adequate personal defenses or answers to incoming enemy pressure. Shiro/Mallyx Viper worked in the past because of all the sustain Shiro + the stability from Retribution + plus an extra gap closer/good map mobility. Glint/Mallyx works okay because of the sustain from Glint, but lacks the gap closing/mobility power of old shiro/mallyx. Mallyx/Kalla/Shortbow/Renegade will never work in its current form in pvp because it can't hit its hard damage/doesn't do enough damage to make up for the massive lack of sustain compared to the above two, even after all the damage buffs.

> >

> > As for embrace the darkness I think it can be useful, but I think it really depends on what legend and offhand weapon set you pair it with. Sword + Unrelenting Assault is the obvious best combat use for it, but it can also be used and then turned off to proc Diabolic Inferno when in range. Additionally it does help provide extra pressure against players attempting to rez. The main problem as mentioned above, though, is just the lack of meaningful options for Condi Rev as a whole now and less Embrace the Darkness. I would rather them find a way to give Mallyx/Corruption or maybe even Shiro (though that could have OP implications for power rev potentially) additional sustain options than redo Embrace the Darkness.

> >

> > I also think the unblockable portion is okay and that it shouldn't have a cooldown, given that a 10second cooldown would limit synergy with Diabolic Inferno, which has an 8s ICD. Also a major functionality change like this would likely be changed across the board which means the skills functionality would also be changed in pve. I know you wanted to talk about pvp only, but I think since it would likely change for pve as well it's important to talk about it briefly. This would be a pretty big hit to Condi Rev's pve damage since it's part of the current rotation and the 10% stat boost + torment stacks + Diabolic Inferno does a fair amount of damage. There would definitely need to be compensation elsewhere for a functionality change like this, even if it were to perform better in pvp. I like the idea a lot in theory, but it won't fix the main issues with condi rev so I don't think it would help it that much in pvp, honestly, and it would just negatively effect it in pve :(

>

> Solid thought, I appreciate the insight. I wouldn't worry so much about it affecting PvE though, many skill splits are permanent (such as [Adrenal Health](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Adrenal_Health "Adrenal Health") and [Healing Signet](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Healing_Signet "Healing Signet")).

The problem is that ArenaNet only splits skills so far. They'll split the numbers - damage, healing, duration and number of boons and conditions, recharges, and so on - but the basic functionality doesn't change. You can see this in the skill and trait you've referenced - the PvP versions heal for less, but otherwise they're still doing the same thing, just that one version is a little more efficient than the other. This is a deliberate decision on ArenaNet's part: they don't want players getting confused when a skill that does one thing in one mode ends up doing something entirely different in another mode.

As a result, any rework of Embrace the Darkness - or any other skill or trait - for PvP still has to have a functionality that makes sense in other game modes. You might be able to tweak how those functionalities are balanced: for instance, if EtD was reworked to apply conditions and strip boons, it can be balanced on the assumption that applying conditions was its main function in PvE while stripping boons was its main function in PvP, but you can't make it so that in PvP it's only useful for stripping boons, while in PvE it has some other purpose which isn't present in PvP.

That said, though, I've felt since the reworks of EtD and Unyielding Anguish that having two skills that fundamentally serve to convert energy into Torment stacks was redundant.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

>

> No, what we see with Mawdrey is that there's more than one way to cleanse dragon corruption. It's a long established plot point that dragon minions **have no free will**, they are literally incapable of having their own wants and dreams. This is the horror behind being corrupted. When one speaks of "cleansing" or "purifying" dragon corruption, it is primarily about giving that minion a will of its own.

>

> The power of love and friendship, literal or metaphorical, would have zero effect on dragon minions. Even mordrem, as shown in the conversations between Faolain and Caithe, or the other mordrem guard - and they weren't even corrupted but rather coerced.

>

> It wasn't "simply magic" that purified Mawdrey, but either the specific sources used for that magic, or the combination of magic, the combination of any magic and specific artifact, or specific magic and specific artifact (likely one of the latter two given Branded Research).

Technically speaking, dragon minions _are_ able to have their own desires. However, they're only capable of feeling desires that are compatible with the dragon's. We see this with the ogre chieftain in Edge of Destiny, for instance - he's still motivated to seek revenge for his dead children, because this goal runs parallel to the dragon's own goals (as those who killed his children are also enemies of Kralkatorrik). However, it's likely that if the killer was a champion of Kralkatorrik, he would be unable to have this goal, as it would not fit within the boundaries enforced by the corruption.

Cleansing appears to remove these boundaries, allowing the cleansed creature to act in ways outside of the zone mandated by the dragon's goals.

Either way, Power of Friendship is not sufficient. You need to clear away those boundaries so that the former minion is even able to _think_ about defecting from the dragon before you can even _attempt_ to persuade it to do so.

> @"Arden.7480" said:

> So Ascalon wasn't cleansed then? Hm... When I saw the cinematic in PoF Rytlock went through the portal without any reason to worry.

>

> Also the sword was extinguished, and that was caused by that there was no more spirits to power it up, because in Season 2 mission you needed to kill the ghosts to power it up. So I guess he burnt the whole Mists and left only ashes.

>

> That would explain why the sword was extinguished.

I never had the impression that it was more than a 'test run'. It drew a lot of the Foefire ghosts into the Mists, but the expectation was that they'd need to repeat it elsewhere to finish the job.

It does make it somewhat suspicious that it doesn't seem to have come up again. Either it's a dropped plot or there's something stopping him from finishing the job.

> @"cat.8975" said:

> > @"yLoon.5289" said:

> > Try to name me one which works like Guard's Axe, I'll bet 10 gold with you. xD

>

> Warrior mace provides significantly more breakbar damage.

Not quite what yLoon is referring to, I don't think. Mainhand mace for warriors is a fairly specialised stunning tool - it'd better be good at it, that's what it does. Firebrand axe provides a variety of CC effects, with cripple being a soft CC.

> @"Elva.6372" said:

> Some folks might be unaware, but Wave of Wrath was nerfed very recently:

> > _August 08, 2017 Path of Fire pre-patch:_

> > Wave of Wrath: Reduced the range from 600 to 300. Increased the attack angle from 90 degrees to 110 degrees to better line up with its effect.

Yeah, that's a large part of what's turned staff from being a controversial weapon to downright _bad._

> @"Fenom.9457" said:

> > @"CedarDog.9723" said:

> > They're probably just going to make it so we gain a breath timer and that we can drown if we're underwater too long. Also, swimming too deep will crush us. :)

>

>

> The only thing that could make this fun and not just horrible is masteries, most likely in a water based expansion. So I’d think not Tuesday

Suddenly, this explains everything. They're trying to come up with a new set of masteries for the next expansion, and they're relying on the underwater environment for that.

They've actually been already doing this... somewhat... at least in terms of mechanics.

For dervish, reaper is pretty unsubtly a Grenth dervish pasted onto the necromancer. Glint's aspects are pretty much exactly how I imagined that the dervish's theme of converting enchantments into attacks could be transferred into GW2 mechanics, and some of the other core revenant stuff feels like it's at least a little bit dervish-like, although the revenant doesn't really have a weapon that feels dervish-y. Holosmith could also be seen as covering the theme of powering up and then unloading, but... that's a stretch.

Ritualist, ironically, seems to have inspired the other elite specialisations of necro and rev. Scorchrazor's warband summons are really pretty unsubtle. Scourge hides its origins a bit better, but the sand shade mechanic is really a more 'active' kind of spirit: instead of passively providing whatever it does, the necromancer activates skills that manifest on the shade. Core elements of the engineer and ranger are also ritualist-like (ranger spirits behave more like ritualist spirits than GW1 ranger spirits).

For assassins and paragons... ArenaNet do seem to be hunkering down behind the idea that thieves and guardians are their respective successors. While there are elements of the assassin and paragon in other professions, both the core guardian and each of its two elite specialisations have had paragon-like elements, and the same can be said for thief and assassin.

They did pretty concretely debunk the "The dragons and gods are connected!" thing that keeps coming up, though.

> @"Steve The Cynic.3217" said:

> > @"OriOri.8724" said:

> > > @"Steve The Cynic.3217" said:

> > > > @"OriOri.8724" said:

> > > > Is it at all possible for you guys to add something in the game so that those who missed LWS1 can still get the backstory behind Canach? Because right now, for all of us hes a character _WITHOUT_ a past

> > >

> > > Keep a sharp eye open during LS2 (specifically the memory seeds episodes), and you'll see the chronologically earliest appearance of Canach.

> > >

> >

> > Not enough. Sure, its _chronologically_ first in his timeline, but its not the first introduction we had to Canach. We don't get the real introduction that people who played LWS1 got. And nothing can replace that. The least Anet could do in this regard, if they can figure out a good way to do so, is give us an overview of his development throughout LWS1.

>

> Absolutely it's not first on the gameplay-order timeline, but what I meant was, as you noted, first on *his* timeline. And you're right, it doesn't explain the LS1 backstory AT ALL.

In fact, it actually feels a little off. Canach was given good reason to dislike asura, and we know from some of his later S1 actions that he certainly can have a vengeful nature, yet the next time we see him on his timeline (meaning the first time the players saw him) he's not just working for the asura-run Consortium, he's trying to cover up for them.

Guys... I know it's disappointing to have something go unanswered, but the April forum already has about twice as many threads as the March forum did when it _finished_. Simply scanning over everything takes a significant chunk of time (I know, I did so in order to try and avoid asking something that had already been asked before putting my own questions up). I'm sure they'll answer where they can, but honestly, I'd rather they spent whatever time they allocate to the forum chat giving good answers to what they can answer over making dozens of "sorry we can't answer this at this time" posts.

> @"Oglaf.1074" said:

> “Blimps” in a setting where helicopters exist have always struck me as odd. Not to change the topic or anything, but yeah. Always seemed weird. Just like how there are bows and firearms yet no crossbows (the evolutionary mid-step).

Not so much, actually. There are people who still make them today and, furthermore, advocate them as a 'middle ground' between ships and cargo aeroplanes as a means of transport (cheaper per tonne than shipping by aeroplane, faster than ships).

Heck, I think they've even been reconsidered for military applications, albeit never taken up (probably because, honestly, they are too vulnerable in a modern battlespace).

In the Tyrian context - while we don't know what powers a charrcopter, it's possible that airships are used for a similar reason that blimps occasionally get reconsidered in the real world: because they're a lot cheaper to keep in the air for the cargo capacity they have. Charrcopters seem to only be able to fly for relatively short periods at a time - airships seem to be the only aircraft available to Tyrians capable of travelling long distances or to remain 'on station' for an extended period.

So, after going over what's already been said, it seems that those of my pre-prepared questions that haven't already been asked (apart from the one about HoT elite specialisations) all relate to Kryta. So let's roll them all together into one thread!

1) What happened to the original Loamhurst? We see New Loamhurst in Lake Doric - does this imply that the original Loamhurst was destroyed or abandoned, and if so, why? Or is it more of a "New York" situation?

2) Has Jennah been expanding Kryta's borders into the western wilderness? In Season 2, there are indications that Queen Jennah might have been considering formally adding parts of the Brisban Wildlands, and possibly beyond (including what's left of Prosperity), to Kryta. Is she planning to do so? Or will the Seraph there withdraw once the crisis that brought them there is over (or have they already done so)?

3) What is the current political status of the region formerly known as d’Alessio Seaboard? The tengu guarding the Shuttered Gate leading that way from Lion’s Arch seems to indicate that it has been added to the Dominion of Winds – is this the case, or is the situation there more complicated?

4) What is the breakdown of professions among the Seraph? Ingame, we mostly see warriors, with one of the new Seraph types in Lake Doric appearing to use guardian skills. The miniatures, however, suggest a much wider range of Seraph types, including scholar and adventurer types. I'm presuming that the lack of variety among the Seraph is primarily a matter of conserving resources among a military force that is rarely an adversary to the PCs, but can you comment on the actual breakdown of Seraph forces, including the use of spellcasters? (And as a bonus, what about other friendly military forces, such as the Shining Blade and the Wardens?)

> @"CETheLucid.3964" said:

> Joko's endlessly fascinating. He's a legitimately affable villain and even though his motives are decisively evil, there's an intrigue to his methods. For example despite his followers in his absence being eager to kill and awaken the dead, Joko himself actually prefers to corrupt individuals. Bring them over to his side of thinking.

>

> He prefers taking people alive. Awakening comes later if it's possible and he wants you to enjoy it. It's a gift. It's becoming part of a family. Forever. And despite his rule being theocratic and brainwashy in nature, he's very good to the people in his graces. Vabbi is a thriving rich nation, crazy as it is.

>

> The means he uses to accomplish this are horrid but he gets it done!

>

> The Twilight Oasis fractal is a fantastic fractal if you haven't experienced it yet. Part of me is hoping the story doesn't lead to us killing off Joko forever. In-game me thinks I'm a hopeless idiot though and we should definitely kill the crazy megalomaniac lich lord if it's possible. So you know. Conflicted.

I think part of it is that he gets a better Awakened minion if the Awakened in question was loyal to him beforehand. At best, forcefully Awakened probably can't be trusted in roles that require some degree of autonomy, and at worst, there's the potential for cases like Koss engaging in malicious compliance.

> @"Justine.6351" said:

> A first person rpg playing as the rise of a god would be cool. Although no one would play dwayna lol...

Speak for yourself. I would SO be onboard with a (would-be) deity dishing out healing light from one hand and vengeful storms with the other.

> @"Justine.6351" said:

> For me the protagonist was multiple people across mutliple story arcs tied together to read as a single hero story and every time an NPC recognized you from long past deeds it was more them breaking the 4th wall.

>

> GW2 kind of threw that out the window with the very indentifiable commander.

I think there's a strong element of that. ArenaNet could make multiple fates for GW1 PCs - maybe one died in the Foefire, one went down resisting Usoku, one died to Joko, one retired in Kryta to raise a family, and one got recruited by the gods for some purpose (possibly even becoming Balthazar's replacement, although putting a nameless hero in a prominent position is... questionable). It could then be left up to the player to headcanon which fate applied to their own character(s).

On Guardians - I'd note that White Mantle Clerics appear to be guardians, and one of the new Seraph types in Lake Doric. I think there are quite a few more scattered around the place, nearly as many as the other spellcasters, they're just not as overt.

They do seem to be a little less common, but that might be a function of still being relatively recent compared to most professions. Despite the Iron Legion charr using guardian skills, I get the impression that they're still most common among humans (where the profession originated), and the Seraph hasn't really been fully developed as a military force ingame (despite the miniatures suggesting that they have more variety than we're shown). As a result, the highest concentration of friendly guardians is probably in the Seraph, we just haven't been shown them until now because Warriors are still more common, and ArenaNet has only shown the most common Seraph 'builds' (namely, sword and shield Warrior, longbow Warrior, and, now, greatsword Guardian in Lake Doric) and the odd champion. Meanwhile, the White Mantle seems to have drawn all the spellcasters that fell into their web into the White Mantle itself while leaving mostly non-spellcasters in the 'outer circle' of bandits in Kryta - which is why we didn't see many enemy human guardians until the White Mantle came under the spotlight after HoT.

I'm kind of surprised this doesn't appear to have been asked yet...

While we've been given NPCs that explain the backgrounds of the PoF specs in response to comments about the lack of background for the HoT specs, we're still somewhat lacking in explanations for the HoT specs. We do have some tidbits for some of them - Dragonhunters come from Guardians that are particularly determined to protect by proactively hunting dragon minions, scrappers originally come from members of the charr scrapper caste showing what they could do in salvaging the wreckage of the Pact fleet - while others have a certain degree of implied lore (druids likely having some connection to the historical druids, while heralds, and pretty much any Revenant elite spec, has a natural connection to the lore in the form of the legend it channels). Most of the HoT elite specs, however, remain closed books. Do you have anything you can share on the origins of any of the HoT elite specialisations? Or is there anything that you _can't_ share yet because there are plans to bring it up ingame in the future?

Using an uncited passage in the wiki to back up using uncited passages in the wiki is a bit of circular reasoning, don't you think?

Here's what we're told from primary sources:

Trahearne: These airships are the Pact's crowning achievement: a combination of asura, charr, and human technology.

Trahearne: The Pact developed these airships so that we might fight Zhaitan from every possible angle: land, sea, and now air.

From the "What the Eye Beholds" instance.

That's what we've got. There's nothing to indicate that the concept of lighter-than-air airships (as opposed to the Zephyrite crystal-powered airships) had even been _conceived_ until the Pact brought engineers of those three races together, let alone that the charr came up with the idea first.

The wikis are full of speculation and assumptions being dressed up as fact. Without further evidence from better sources (and the interview you cite doesn't count, since it's only speaking in generalities: yes, we _know_ that the charr are best at nonmagical technology in general, but that doesn't mean they came up with _everything_), I'm inclined to think that the passages from the wiki you're citing to back up your position are exactly that.

> @"Vayne.8563" said:

> > @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

>

> > We were never told who made the originals, if any singular race, technically, just that it was a combination of charr, human, and asuran design (with norn and sylvari adding in for the design of the flag ship variant). You might be thinking of the choppers, of which the prototypes are indeed of charr origins.

>

> Well the wiki says otherwise, if you look up airship.

>

> https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Airship

>

>

The anyone-can-edit nature of wikis makes them incredibly unreliable when not backed up by citations - it's easy for people to put in something that they _think_ is true but which isn't actually confirmed, deliberately or otherwise. If there isn't an in-game source or otherwise official source to refer to, don't trust it.

The ingame source - Trahearne specifically - says that airships were a combination of charr, asura, and human technologies, and we've seen no evidence that I know of that the charr even had prototypes before the Pact formed. If anything, the use of balloons by Kryta (even if season 1 is after the fact), and the fact that Charr experiments in flight in Ascalon were all heavier-than-air models, suggests that the idea of lighter-than-air flight might have originated with humans, with charr and asura providing the mechanical and technomagical components. But unless there's something we've missed, we don't know where the original idea came from.

> @"Eekasqueak.7850" said:

> > @"DarcShriek.5829" said:

> > > @"Oglaf.1074" said:

> > > > @"DarcShriek.5829" said:

> > > > But still in 25 years the Sylvari have accomplished quite a bit. They probably out shine any 25 year period in Asura history

> > >

> > > Most of which isn’t really down to intelligence. Like their buildings aren’t the result of some brilliant architects as they were simply grown.

> > >

> > > I think that the Sylvari are were they are today mostly because of the Pale Tree’s guidance - they’d probably not have survived without it.

> > >

> >

> > Because making buildings out of trees requires no skill or intelligence. We all know trees just always happen to grow the way we want them.

>

> In this case, that's exactly how it works for Sylvari. Even their "walls" are just thorn patches. Their actual tech level is abysmal. I'd even put them on the same level as the more tribal races like Grawl or Hylek.

Well, it's a little more than that. They have magic at close to human standards, at least, which grawl and hylek don't appear to. More significantly, their plant manipulation IS their technology - sure, their walls may not be impressive, but making a plant into an automated defence turret or healing station _is_.

It's hard to judge where they are on the technological scale because they've essentially gone in an orthogonal direction. Their use of living plants, rather than the conventional building materials other races do, means that their technology has gone in a different direction that's hard to compare except by looking at the results. And based on those results... a sylvari's seed turret is close to being as impressive as an engineer's turret.

> @"Arcaedus.7290" said:

> I have faith that they can implement large sweeping changes for staff without ruining it or making it worse. Seriously, almost anything is better for staff than what we have now. If you implemented changes similar to those I proposed, I can't possibly imagine anyone crying for a revert.

I liked the old staff despite all the people calling for it to be turned into just another long-range poking weapon... but I'd take long-range poking weapon over what it is _now_ in a heartbeat. Tome of Justice pretty much covers what Wave of Wrath used to do anyway.