draxynnic.3719

Had a... _full_... couple of weeks, so haven't been able to answer up to now.

 

1. Haven't really thought about it. I'd probably go with GoA or SoS, for similar reasons as previous posters have stated.

2. Not directly or consistently (see previous discussion about focii, incantations, and such), but there are some hints. Most of the scenes when something happens (such as the use of a particular spell, for instance) show the result as a non-magic-user would see it, without explaining what's actually going on. We see a fair amount of necromancy from Killeen in GoA, although GoA was written well before release and some of what we see there might be stuff that was removed from necromancer skills. Possibly the most significant is the identification in SoS of Orb of Wrath being a lightning orb (it's not explicitly given the skill name, but the guardian in question is obviously using scepter skills, even though the weapon is described as a 'mace'). Generally speaking, the policy was that you shouldn't "hear the dice rolling" in the books, although there are moments in EoD and SoS where you definitely do.

3. Not rules per se, but there are... indications of what _might_ be rules. SoS, for instance, has a discussion between an asura mesmer and a human elementalist which sheds some light on their different approaches to magic, although on its own its not explicitly clear whether this is a difference between elementalists and mesmers, a difference between human and asura approaches to magic, or a combination of both. The books also show that (unlike in game mechanics) multiple spellcasters can cooperate to maintain a stronger effect than any of them can maintain indefinitely, and that it is possible to maintain a spell to the point of exhaustion or even death (for a guardian in particular, it appears to be strenuous when something impacts one of their barriers, something that we don't see in-game).

4. There are a few loose ends that I wouldn't mind seeing revisited or tied off, but I wouldn't say they're critical (apart from the neverending truce negotiations. It's been ten years). One thing I'd really like to see addressed, however, is why it took so long for Jennah to produce a certain deus ex machina at the end of Edge of Destiny. I've seen a lot of people thinking that she could have done that immediately without needing to call Logan back, and thus that she was never in any real danger - I get a strong impression, though, that it isn't actually that simple and that she did pull it out as soon as she could (which would not have been fast _enough_ if she hadn't called Logan back). It'd be good to see some filling in of what exactly was going on from her side of things just to put that one to rest. Some other things that would be good to know is just what happened to Port Royal, and just where the ruins of Port Stalwart are located.

5. I don't recall anything that I felt was so bad that it should be retconned.

6. Not something I've really considered.

7. Hard to say, since the Living Story has been somewhat... variable. I'd probably say that it's roughly on par with the better parts of the in-game story.

8. Ehhhh... depends on what you're looking for, really. If you're looking for good fantasy literature... there is better out there. They are, however, certainly readable, and in terms of what you normally expect from game tie-in novels, I'd say they're above average. I would say that I got them more for knowing about the background and the lore tidbits that can be extracted from them - the stories were an added bonus. Essentially, I regard them as reference books that happen to have an enjoyable story, but if one didn't have an interest in Tyrian history and worldbuilding, there are definitely better fantasy novels out there.

> @"Westenev.5289" said:

> > @"draxynnic.3719" said:

> > > @"TheOrlyFactor.8341" said:

> > > Expanding on the last sentence, the reason I hope for a verbal backlash is because 1) there's really no excuse for the lack of visits; I don't care how busy the new guild is; make time to visit; and 2) dissolving Destiny's Edge while her and Logan were out was, in my opinion, a low blow, a massive betrayal. There should be consequences for dissolving Destiny's Edge in favor of making Dragon's Watch. It's high time the PC and Rytlock face some honest-to-God repercussions for their actions and decisions for once instead of skating through everything unscathed.

> >

> > Braham going off the rails doesn't count? Would Logan still have left Destiny's Edge, Pact Commander responsibilities or not, if the PC and Rytlock hadn't arbitrarily decided to disband it?

> >

> > Really, there was no reason for the PC and Rytlock not to simply expand Destiny's Edge. Pretty much every "biconic" had some connection to at least two Destiny's Edge members (including the PC) anyway.

>

> I don't think DE ever actually mattered to anyone involved; it was just a name. What actually mattered was the companionship and comradery between the members. With Snaff and Eir KIA, Caithe MIA and Logan/Zojja down as casualties, clinging to the name would just be false and wrong... like clinging onto victories you haven't earned. You'd always be forever tormenting yourself to live up to a name, rather than forging your own path.

>

> It's also important to note that our group looks up to us in the same way we look up to the origional DE (And the origional DE looked up to Eir). Flooding the group with your friends while the other members are taking a break is nothing less than hijacking the guild. Heavy recruiting without building up bonds between the newer and older members never works out well - just try it in your guild.

 

Except that it wouldn't have been like that.

 

As I mentioned, every biconic has a link to at least one DE beyond the PC. Braham is Eir's son, obviously, Rox has the still-unspecified history with Rytlock from even before she tried to become a member of the Stone warband, Marjory and Kasmeer were both known to Logan beforehand, and I think all of the biconics except Canach and possibly Rox met Logan at some point in Season 1, and IIRC, Taimi was a ward of Zojja for a while. In Season 2 we saw Canach working with Caithe, albeit briefly.

 

In HoT, of course, the entire group fought alongside Rytlock (as well as the PC), including rescuing Logan and Zojja, and many of which also fought alongside Caithe.

 

So, to take your guild analogy - it's not just 'your friends'. It's the son of one, the apprentice of another, friends of a few more, who are at least known to everyone in the guild and literally helped save the lives of a couple of members. You'd need a pretty antisocial guild to object to issuing invitations to people that most people in the original complement know and have fought alongside.

 

As for the "clinging to victories you haven't earned"... I don't think that really applies to how guilds operate in the lore. Generally speaking, the impression I've had is that in Tyria, it's entirely expected for guilds to persist between generations, with the veterans passing on the name to newer recruits. Sure, you can only claim the victories that you yourself participated in, but on the other hand, there is still distinction in being seen to be worthy to carry on the legacy. Real-world battle honours work on a similar principle - obviously no soldier serving today earned battle honours from the world wars, but there is some pride in carrying on the name, which carries with it a desire to avoid sullying that name.

Heck, as I've said before, it's possible that the oath is so specific as to only apply to secrets told under oath. It's possible that the only thing it applies to is "don't tell anyone about the plan to use the aspects to revive and then kill Lazarus", as that's the only secret we were told under oath.

 

In broader interpretations, the "technically swearing loyalty to the Shining Blade" could be a problem, but as Westenev says... I think it's reasonable to assume that it's not expected for even a Blood Legion charr PC to want to participate in a resumption of hostilities against Kryta, or for Bangar to trust the PC to toe the legion line if that did happen. If the mentions of Bangar being a loose cannon who distrusts the truth ever does come out, in fact, I expect it to turn out that Blood Legion PCs support Rytlock in overthrowing Bangar.

 

In the long term, I'd also note that the Shining Blade pursuing the interests of the monarchy over the specific monarch might actually be more rather than less reassuring to the PC - it indicates that the Shining Blade is likely to continue to hold the same policies even if there's a change in monarch. So if some hypothetical heir decides to throw the truce under the bus, then what the PC gets from the Shining Blade might well be "help us get this moron under control".

It was actually policy in the novels _not_ to identify the professions of characters that didn't use obvious magic. In part because they're not so obvious and clearly-defined as they are ingame (including that "soldiers" are able to wear lighter armour) and in part because Tyrians don't actually necessarily automatically recognise it.

 

Obviously magical professions are obviously more distinct, but in the post-bloodstone era, sticking to one profession is more of a "you only have time to learn so many things" than a strict limit. The comparison was made in an interview to getting a PhD in physics and then turning to do chemistry instead - there's nothing to stop you from doing it and the principles do have some crossover, but not many people are going to spend years mastering one discipline and then turn around to start again _almost_ anew in another. There's also been mention of there being risks involved in combining different branches of magic - however, history has shown that magical experimentation _within_ the current schools of magic could also be dangerous, so this is probably a matter of the current schools being well-trodden ground where the dangers are well known, while mixing them is less known and thus more dangerous territory. That said, a little bit of cross-discipline training is likely possible - just like a physicist can always read up on a bit more chemistry without going for a full PhD, if they were interested or thought it might be useful.

 

Certainly, we've seen long-lived characters that appear to have mastered multiple schools. Just off the top of my head, Lazarus we were explicitly told uses both elemental and necromantic magic. We're not explicitly told that in Livia's case, but she uses a mix of necromancy and mesmerism, although her skills are a little old-fashioned.

 

It probably would be reasonable to compare Jennah to someone who has an advanced degree in a particular field, but whose job does not generally require that expertise.

 

In the case of the practising mesmer... I think it depends on what they're doing? If the mesmer is researching new applications of mesmer magic, then yes, they're a scholar. If they're using their skills in order to fight as part of a military unit, then they're a soldier. If they're doing magic shows for an audience, then they're an entertainer.

> @"Daniel Handler.4816" said:

> > @"draxynnic.3719" said:

> > I think there is a certain degree of separation between mechanics terms and lore terms. [snip]...

>

> Would people in-game refer to them as professions? If not, why was the mechanic term created?

>

> As far as I can tell Jennah is a Queen who happens to be a Mesmer.

 

It's a good question.

 

There have been some indications from ArenaNet, in fact, that the lines aren't demarcated as well as they are in-game. The more martial professions such as rangers, thieves, and warriors generally aren't clearly distinguishable, and there's probably nothing stopping someone from dabbling a little in engineering, particularly among asura and charr.

 

Some specific abilities, such as thieves shadowstepping, might seem to be giveaways, but might also be something where it's already possible, lorewise, for someone who isn't mechanically a member of the thief "profession".

 

Even magic isn't necessarily a giveaway, since lorewise it's possible, albeit uncommon, for someone to specialise in one form of magic while dabbling in another.

 

On the whole, I'd guess that Tyrians usually use "profession" to mean what a person actually does. Jennah is the Queen, who just happens to be a mesmer. A Warden Shield is a soldier first, notwithstanding that they happen to be elementalists. Aria Venom would be considered to be necromancer because she doesn't appear to have a role in society beyond "being a necromancer".

 

That said, it is possible that Tyrians do use the term "profession" in both senses, relying on context to establish which usage is in play. So Jennah's profession is "queen" when the word is used to denote what she does, and "mesmer" when the term is used to identify what she brings to a fight.

There was another interview around the time the Guardian was revealed where they explicitly said it started as a collaboration between paragon refugees from Elona and monks who were fed up with being the first ones targeted in battles and wanted to make themselves a bit less vulnerable. Unfortunately, that one didn't last very long online - nobody's been able to find it again for years.

I think there is a certain degree of separation between mechanics terms and lore terms.

 

The terms "scholar, adventurer, soldier", when referring to groupings of professions, seem to essentially be a way of avoiding just simply calling professions light, medium, and heavily armoured, respectively. One could say that there are trends in behaviours among the groupings: warriors and guardians are more likely to be battlefield soldiers, mesmers, elementalists and necromancers are more likely to be researchers, and rangers, thieves, and to a lesser extent engineers are more likely to be the type to go out on "adventures" (which I'd characterise, for the purpose of this discussion, as less organised outings into potentially dangerous situations as individuals or small groups), as opposed to spending their time in a library or as part of an army.

 

(I've left revenants out deliberately, since lorewise they seem to be too few in number for any trends to be formed.)

 

However, these are broad tendencies, not universal characterisations. Any player character profession can contribute on the battlefield as a soldier, or go out on their own or in small groups as an adventurer. Any profession can benefit from, and potentially contribute to in turn, scholarly pursuits - engineers and firebrands in particular clearly require at least SOME academic inclinations to support their skills and abilities.

As I recall, the ambient dialogue in the Grove includes a deeper analysis of the tenet, as interpreted by the sylvari:

 

"Mentor Arduine: The fourth of Ventari's tenets states, "All things have a right to grow. The blossom is brother to the weed."

Sapling: They can grow, but what about when the weeds start choking out the flowers?

Sapling (3): The right to grow isn't the right to kill. Brothers are not parasites. They grow side by side.

Sapling (2): And, if the weeds start choking flowers, you pluck them.

Mentor Arduine: Uh, that'll do, thank you."

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Upper_Commons (bottom of the Ambient Dialogue section)

 

Basically, it seems to boil down to "everything has a right to grow, but once it starts impinging on something else's right to grow, then it's reasonable to decide that the something else's right is greater". So threats like the Nightmare Court and the dragons are permissible targets because they'll violate the right of more things to grow if left unchecked. Hypothetically, though, a dragon that just sits on a ley line drinking magic, or a Nightmare Court member who just sits alone in a cage cutting themselves, would be protected by the tenet as they're not directly impinging on anything else's right to grow.

> @"Arden.7480" said:

>

> Why Rytlock was so stupid that he released the stranger, that had some weird, powerful magic? I understand he was exhausted, but that was idiotic, why didn't he do the same as the commander- we left Joko in the Mists, he could have done it as well. There're two possibilities:

> 1. He is stupid.

> 2. Somebody tricked his mind.

 

There are a couple of distinctions, though:

 

First, Rytlock had reason to feel gratitude towards the stranger - the stranger had done him a favour, so he did the stranger a favour in return. Rytlock does generally seem to be a character that tries to pay his debts.

 

Secondly, given that Tyrians are aware of the existence of other worlds and such in the Mists, Rytlock had no reason to assume that a figure whom he released in the Mists would ever be interested in Tyria. The PC, on the other hand, knew very well that Joko _would_ be returning to Tyria, and made the decision that it was better to delay that return.

 

Basically, Rytlock didn't feel that there was much chance of his actions actually affecting Tyria, and therefore took a 'you scratch my back' attitude. And in different circumstances, it probably would have been the right call. A Balthazar that was willing to work towards a solution to killing the dragons without destroying Tyria would have been a valuable ally. A powerful entity that continued to feel gratitude towards Rytlock could also have been a valuable ally. Even if the stranger was malevolent, releasing him might have encouraged him to go and cause trouble somewhere else instead of being Tyria's problem, while accepting the reignition of Sohothin and then leaving the stranger bound might have caused the stranger to specifically seek out Tyria for revenge sometime in the future.

 

With the information Rytlock had, either choice carried risks. As it turned out, he probably made the wrong choice (although... would Aurene be dead or corrupted now if it wasn't for Balthaddon-Lazarus coming to the rescue in E2?), but he had no way of knowing what the right choice was given the information he had at his disposal.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> Wintersday happens in the weeks leading to the Spring Equinox, which marks the beginning of the Season of the Zephyr. That is, 01 Zephyr.

>

> Canthan/Lunar New Year likely happens around the end of Colossus/beginning of Zephyr, but at the closest full or new moon to the Spring Equinox; the only difference we know between the Canthan Calendar and Mouvelian calendar is that the former is lunar, but their new years point seems to be otherwise the same (this, however, is never talked about, merely glanced over - we're told Canthan Calendar is lunar but never told how otherwise it relates to the Mouvelian calendar in this regard, so we're left assuming they change years around the same time given that transition between calendars is continuously consistent; what's weird is that the Canthan Calendar is also stated to be 360 years but in practice, unless the moon has a perfect cycle and the rotation/revolution of Tyria had been perfectly figured out for the hours of the clock to not require leap years or the like, this shouldn't be possible on a lunar new year; drax would know more about that though, given he's an astronomer). There's usually a week variance, so for Mouvelian calendar the Canthan New Year likely happens between 87 Colossus and 03 Zephyr.

 

Hrrrmn. On checking, we're actually explicitly told in the Factions manual that the Canthan months and the actual lunar cycle are not perfectly aligned: "Each month once aligned perfectly with the cycles of the moon, but over time the two cycles have diverged. Today, the new moon usually appears roughly halfway through any given Canthan month."

 

So despite calling it a 'lunar year', it appears that the Canthans have effectively synchronised their calendar with the Mouvelian calendar, at the cost of no longer being synchronised with the lunar cycle.

 

Which may explain a decoupling of Wintersday with the Lunar Festival. For instance, it might be tradition for the Canthan New Year to be celebrated during a particular phase of the moon - a phase which originally would have occurred on the first night of the month of Changhai, but which now occurs at a different time.

> @"Aaron Ansari.1604" said:

> Past Lion's Arch. Partially because I dig the nautical shantytown, and partially because it doesn't feel like LA's moving on at all to me. Quite the opposite.

>

> Don't get me wrong, I get where Randulf is coming from. If it was all like Fort Marriner, the Commodore's Quarter, and the waterfront, I could learn to love it (lobster and all), but the problem is that there's essentially two Lion's Arches in play now, and all that good stuff is just the town squeezed onto the edge of its bigger twin. New LA proper is a 'city' where sixty percent of the main area was leveled to make a park NPCs don't do anything with so that players can more easily spot each other, broken only by fanciful statues set up to mark the in-game services. It's an expansive vault that does nothing but display cash shop weaponry, and a privately owned island that's been commandeered into _another_ park to hold in-game wedding photo shoots. It doesn't feel like the city moved on and made progress to break the traditional fantasy stasis; it feels like it was paved over to be replaced with an MMO lobby. In that sense, it's a move backwards, much closer to GW1 LA than any other place in the new game.

 

And let's not forget the history that was literally paved over.

 

Mind you, there are some elements that I do like about the new LA. It's been a long time since it was founded and LA was supposed to be a prosperous city, so most of the repurposed ship hulls really should have been replaced with more metropolitan, conventional buildings.

> @"TheOrlyFactor.8341" said:

> Expanding on the last sentence, the reason I hope for a verbal backlash is because 1) there's really no excuse for the lack of visits; I don't care how busy the new guild is; make time to visit; and 2) dissolving Destiny's Edge while her and Logan were out was, in my opinion, a low blow, a massive betrayal. There should be consequences for dissolving Destiny's Edge in favor of making Dragon's Watch. It's high time the PC and Rytlock face some honest-to-God repercussions for their actions and decisions for once instead of skating through everything unscathed.

 

Braham going off the rails doesn't count? Would Logan still have left Destiny's Edge, Pact Commander responsibilities or not, if the PC and Rytlock hadn't arbitrarily decided to disband it?

 

Really, there was no reason for the PC and Rytlock not to simply expand Destiny's Edge. Pretty much every "biconic" had some connection to at least two Destiny's Edge members (including the PC) anyway.

> @"Aaron Ansari.1604" said:

> > @"Yereton.8647" said:

> > > @"Donari.5237" said:

> > > It absolutely delighted me when I picked the lock. Then I went in again to help a friend with story and his warrior just busted the door open and I realized this was another profession-specific thing like in Head of the Snake and I was very happy! Went in a third time to help another friend and her mesmer Blinked through the bars (or portaled, could be). This was a wonderful part of the story thanks to the nod to professions.

> >

> > What was the profession-specific thing in Head of the Snake?

>

> It wasn't one thing that everyone interacted with in different ways, like this time, but there were a few things in the final instance that particular professions could get in on. Engineers could repurpose enemy turrets, rangers could charm a mini-boss dog, thieves could pick a door that other professions had to use a foot key on... I think there were probably a couple others, but I'd bet they're on the wiki page.

>

> EDIT: Just checked, and necros can claim the minions of a different mini-boss.

 

It's worth noting that non-thieves can get an NPC to pick the lock instead of using the foot key. Thieves just get to pick the lock themselves.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

>

> Angel McCoy stated at a Tracon a few months back ([Reddit Thread Here](

)) that there was a plan to make a plot about this, but it was dropped, likely in favor of other plots. Said plot was to revolve around Jennah searching for a successor to the throne (which in of itself makes little sense to me so that's probably why it got scrapped). I'm guessing that it was to be involved with getting Jennah to join the World Summit but they swapped out for what we get during Party Politics story step instead.

 

It doesn't seem so unreasonable to me - while we don't know just how Krytan succession works, there's a good chance that if the monarch dies without a clear heir, the Legate Minister or the Ministry in general would have a significant influence in selecting the new monarch. It would make sense for Jennah to want to establish an heir to avoid simply handing control of the country to Caudecus.

> @Chaith.8256 said:

> - Out of the 9 Holosmith major traits they're all represented somewhere in the game except Crystal Configuration: Storm. WvW players are using traits including Light Density Amplifier, Prismatic Converter, Crystal Configuration: Zephyr for running Yaks. PvE players are using Solar Focusing Lens, Photonic Blasting Module.

>

>

You might even be able to remove the caveat. Crystal Configuration: Storm isn't being used in high-end PvE because it trades damage for range and that's generally a bad trade in high-end play, but it does see use in more casual PvE such as open world.

> @Obtena.7952 said:

> Considering all the better options we have for weapons in PVE, it's going to be a hard sell to make Staff even remotely interesting performance-wise in a PVE setting. I would frankly, not even waste the time to consider doing anything with staff in terms of PVE. I do think there is some room to have one of the more capable 2H weapons reviewed though.

 

Strongly disagree, on the basis that while guardian has a lot of weapons, it currently basically only has one ranged weapon on core. Reworking staff so it can actually be a reasonably viable ranged weapon literally doubles the standoff options available to core guardian, and by extension, any future elite specialisation that doesn't bring more standoff capability.

> @narcx.3570 said:

> > @"Amanda Whitemoon.6173" said:

> > does this maybe mean we gonna kill Joko and he will be the new Revenant elite forthe next expansion?

>

> Obviously, we can't rule anything out... But I think it's just a throw away joke about Joko breaking out of prison too. Plus, I mean, teeeechnically, Joko *was* a dead guy in The Mists, which meets the Revenant's criteria.

 

Has it even been explicitly stated that revenant legends have to be dead? It might just need to be someone who's had a sufficient impact to have been reflected in the Mists - in which case, Joko would qualify.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if ArenaNet holds off from making it a general thing, though. Using Hounds of Balthazar against Balthazar would be weird enough, could you imagine channeling Legendary Lich Stance against Joko?

Question #1 has been pretty thoroughly answered.

 

For #2... Balthazar was pretty much always a jerk, but with a strong side of "but he's our jerk". Anger management issues aside, he was presented as a good who valued honour and competition over mere slaughter, being just as happy for gladiatorial contests in which people don't permanently die as for "real" battle (with the Zaishen organising such tournaments in his honour) and he's always been presented as having humanity's best interests in mind. For instance, during Wintersday his priests side with Grenth, but not out of general jerkishness, but because he knows that something bad is coming and they want humanity to be preparing for it rather than wasting time making merry - a similar line of reasoning to Rytlock's in the PoF epilogue.

 

In this context, the Balthaddon that was willing to destroy Tyria just so he could gather a few trophies is highly out of character. ArenaNet could have given him a "for the greater good" justification where we're still forced to stop him, but where we could at least see how his actions are justified - instead, we get someone who is willing to see Tyria overloaded with magic and destroyed just for the sake of fluffing his own ego, just as Abaddon did before him. Furthermore, not only was he not even willing to consider the possibility that if he waited for a bit he might be able to collect his trophies without destroying Tyria and get thanked for the help, his actions actively damaged Glint's legacy and the efforts to find a solution that would allow the Elder Dragons to be removed from the picture with Tyria intact.

> @"Aaron Ansari.1604" said:

> > @Arden.7480 said:

> > > @Athrenn.9468 said:

> > > You know what's a scary thought? All Kralkatorrik needs to do is Brand one lich and every Awakened undead in his service would then belong to the dragon. Kralkatorrik could keep Joko as a puppet ruler and effectively govern an empire through him.

> >

> > I think that's our last hope to defeat Joko, because as an awakened he is invincible (even Balthazar's powers were not enough to just kill him, he had to imprison him instead), so if he will be corrupted by Kralkatorrik or Aurene that will already consume his powers, then we'll be able to kill him.

> >

> > But what if Joko is immuned of being branded? If yes, we can just /gg

>

> Why do you think that a Branded Joko would be vulnerable? Not calling you out specifically, but this is a sentiment I've seen coming up often. We know that creatures succumbed to dragon corruption can keep their powers- the risen priests of Balthazar called on his hounds, the modrem Itzel fight like flesh-and-blood Itzel, the branded Priests of Kormir in Daybreak use the same special hexes as the non-branded ones, etc. The specifics might be warped a bit- a lot of the Orrian risen spellcasters got death effects mixed in- but the core was often left intact, particularly in circumstances where it proved useful.

 

Furthermore, while the Order of Whispers couldn't find a way to permanently kill Joko in GW1, it's possible that a way will be found in GW2. Or we'll just have to resort to sealing him away again or driving him out of the settled parts of Elona, making him a potential recurring villain for the future.

> @ThatOddOne.4387 said:

> The Forged are Balthazar's Margonites, is how I read it.

 

They're more like an equivalent of Shiro'ken - constructs empowered by bound souls. It's explicitly stated in Path of Fire that the original prototypes of the Forged were corrupted Exalted.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> Even with the proximity example... why didn't that come into play during The Sacrifice?

 

Frankly, if I was ArenaNet, I'd have had Rytlock showing signs of some of those skills during The Sacrifice as foreshadowing.

 

That said, there are ways around it without doing that. For instance, perhaps the encounter with Kormir could have done something with it, or the PC might have had some lingering power from Grenth as a result of his or her interaction with the Judge. Maybe it takes a blessing from Kormir, a blessing from a servant of Grenth, and the proximity of Balthazar to completely fire up Sohothin, and then only for the purpose that the blessings were granted.

 

Problem is, this is all speculation and what-I-would-do. The fact remains that at present, as far as we know the PC could become a walking fiery apocalypse any time Rytlock is willing to hand over Sohothin.

> @"Carlin Sanders.3587" said:

> well it depends. Joko's magic is quite powerful but it's also in all likelihood human magic, and human magic can be overpowered by the raw strength of an elder dragon. moreover kralkatorrik has some of Zhaitan's power which likely means it can actually utilize the awakened as a resource for its armies. had this been an issue of two dragon minions i would say it's even, but in this case they may be awakened but awakening is not the same thing as dragon corruption which seeks to transform the affected utterly - awakening only raises them with varying restrictions to their consciousness and an absolute obedience to palawa joko, much like how necros raise minions to do 'their' commands.

 

If granted enough magic to retain sapience, dragon minions still remember the things that were important to them before corruption - it's just that they're all subservient to serving the dragon. We see this in Edge of Destiny, where a Branded ogre chieftain still wants revenge for his children that were killed before the Dragonrise. It probably also explains somewhat why sapient dragon minions often return to and attempt to convert the people of the settlements they came from - they want to be with the people they knew prior to being corrupted, and the best way to achieve this while also serving the dragon is to bring those people into the fold.

 

> @Astralporing.1957 said:

> > @"Carlin Sanders.3587" said:

> > awakening only raises them with varying restrictions to their consciousness and an absolute obedience to palawa joko

> Not even the last one. As GW1 has shown, at least some of the minions _are_ capable of independent thought and rebelling. He needed the gw1 hero's help in putting down his former generals and regaining control over the armies, he was unable to just order them into obedience.

>

>

This does seem to have changed in GW2, probably in part thanks to Joko learning his lesson there. The current mechanism seems to be that, with one exception, Awakened are unable to refuse direct orders from Joko or those to whom Joko has delegated authority. They can evil-genie their way through any loopholes in the orders they're given and rebel that way, but they can't outright refuse.

It's certainly possible, as I acknowledged myself. I wouldn't necessarily say that Paragons have more story than Dervishes, though. They have the 'preferred profession for Sunspear officers' thing going for them, but dervishes also had some backstory in GW1.

 

The biggest issue for dervishes is that I would be very surprised if ArenaNet introduces scythes as player weapons after not doing so with the Reaper, which is essentially a Grenth dervish in playstyle as well as having a theme that is arguably _closer_ linked to scythes than the dervish as a whole.

 

Now, there isn't a similar 'missed opportunity' for paragons, but the observation that ArenaNet doesn't seem to be eager to introduce new weapons may still be in play. It wouldn't surprise me if we see new elite specialisations that we can point at and say "this is inspired by Paragons". However, I don't think we'll see a straight-up Paragon elite specialisation. Even if land spears ARE introduced as a future weapon, I expect that ArenaNet would want to give it to multiple professions in order to justify the expense rather than sticking to just one or two.

> @cNd.1096 said:

> I didn't see any branded Awakened through whole expansion

 

Neither did I. It is possible, though, that branding an Awakened simply produces a similar result to a branded human.

 

Joko was supposed to have been legitimately skirmishing with Zhaitan's forces before the fall of Zhaitan, so one can presume he has some countermeasure to Zhaitan simply seizing control of his Awakened.

> @"Knuckle Joe.7408" said:

> Lore says the sword was once Balthazar's, so most likely the sword was "overcharged" with power by being so close to the god (and probably its creator) throughout the mission, kind of like how you get perfect signal the closer you are to a wi-fi device (lol, can't think of a better comparison.)

>

> But then, by this logic, sohothin should lose all its power now that blathazar is gone.

> Meh don't think too much about it, that level of power was just a fun thing the devs made for that specific mission.

 

I'd probably present it as a kind of resonance effect. The sword has its own power reserve which remains regardless of what happens to Balthaddon, but being in close proximity to a high concentration of Balthaddon's power (the ex-god himself plus an army of Forged...) supercharged it.

 

The thing is, ArenaNet really needs to provide an answer themselves. Have it noticeably depower again at the end of the instance, or have a future instance where Rytlock tries to give the sword to the PC and it's no more powerful than the reforged Caladbolg.