Bast.7253

> @"The Greyhawk.9107" said: > I think one or two people have also brought that up on this sub-forum. Its an interesting idea but I'm not sure it'd work with how the All is supposed to function, we still need a minimum of four ED's to keep Tyria from being destroyed and I'm not currently inclined to think that a composite ED will allow us to circumvent that requirement. To be fair, there's still so much we don't know about The All and it feels like something they could easily modify by expanding on what we know. I mean, all we know right now is just a primitive understanding of a machine built by a moral Asura. And research done by another. - Well, and technically Glint and her prophecy. But the exalted lore person in Eye of The North seemed to be pretty vague on the prophecy stating that Glint didn't have much information on what happened after Aurene's ascension. I think that's kind of hinting at the possibility that there could be more involved. Maybe not. But - with the introduction of Jormag and Primordus being each other's opposites, and Zhaitan and Mordremoth seemingly being opposing, could it be that the balance in the All is more like a magnetic pole? I.e. 3 positive dragons and 3 negative dragons. When we eliminated Zhaitan the scales were uneven, the power went to Mordremoth. We killed Mordremoth and the power was divided amongst the remaining dragons. Kralk was immediately replaced by Aurene. So at this moment, if either Jormag or Primordus dies we'll have an imbalance in that polarity again. But what happens if they BOTH die. Sure we'll have a crap ton of magic released and Aurene and DSD will wind up getting supercharged, but with them being on opposing ends of the scale is that enough to keep the All from collapsing and Tyria from unraveling? I just feel like we have so little information on The All that they could really devise the story however they wanted to make it fit. I could honestly see Aurene becoming the one elder dragon that contains all (TEMPORARILY) with a living season following End of Dragons that deals with her gifting magic and domains to other forces, i.e. Spirits of the Wild, the Pale Tree, etc. But I'm hoping we'll have a bit more clarification on some of this after Braham's debut next week with the Vision of the Past. The lore in general in these DRM's hasn't really left much room for discussion or really felt like they advanced the plot much if we're actually dealing with ANY elder dragon this saga.

Well the prophecy is either Braham dies or Jormag dies, right? But that's assuming that Jormag kills Braham or Braham kills Jormag. It could be intentionally misleading and insisting that the two are adversaries. That the resolution is Jormag dies by Braham's hand. But the twist could be that the resolution is that whatever actions Braham takes, that leads to his death, is the better version of the prophecy. So my thoughts are, Braham works with the spirits somehow not to kill Primordus but to subdue it or siphon it somehow. Perhaps the spirits even share somekind of unknown history with Primordus that we'll learn about in the episode. I've always really liked the idea that Primordus could somehow be linked to the Spirit of Fire that the kodan use and the magic that Braham's bow uses. It doesn't fit NOW, but it doesn't seem implausible that they could tie it in if they really wanted to. Then you have Jormag left to deal with, and with Primordus out of the picture would it be possible that Jormag would go back to just being something we learn to deal with. With the final chapter being called "Judgment" perhaps we deal with Primordus completely in this episode and the final episode is us and Aurene judging Jormag and what steps we should take towards it. I really don't see Braham just willingly becoming a champion of Primordus, or wanting to even borrow power with the sole mission of killing Jormag. He states that 1000's of people have died because of the Elder Dragon and seeks to end it. To me that implies that he's seeking more than some edge over Jormag, because (hopefully) he realizes that the death of Jormag is just as cataclysmic at this moment. So whatever plans he has with Primordus and the spirits I think is in a much wider scope than just looking for a power boost. With Primordus resolves that leaves the final chapter to finish off Jormag and then whatever happens that leads us to Cantha to potentially deal with the last remaining dragon, or to start looking for more replacements for the current ones. (Potentially some information provided to us by the spirits.)

I think making more meaningful masteries could be a start. Adding vendor unlocks and skills that can only be used on certain maps, and only after accumulating orbs from mobs for a special action key isn't exactly beneficial to the whole game. We did have the charzooka or whatever that mastery is though, right? That can be used in all maps. But I think there's probably more they could add combat-wise. As far as playable content - I think no matter what they add unless it's just highly enjoyable, will fall victim to the same thing that all the rest do. - People not bothering with it because the rewards are lackluster. But it would probably help to understand their reasoning for abandoning things so quickly. Like Fractals. Not entirely abandoned, but we've seen one new one in what.. 2 years? Is this because they didn't want to invest the resources? Do they think players aren't interested? What wouldn't players be interested, if that's the case? Is it because the rewards are stale and after a first time running through if you have the legendary backpack there's really nothing keeping veterans interested outside of wanting to just play the content out of fun? Is it because the agony resistance system isn't new-player friendly? I don't know. DRM's were obviously implemented because they're a low-resource way of providing content that doesn't involve map-artists or any elaborate encounter designs. But Visions of the Past - seemed cool and got one iteration. Strike missions are literally ONE room with a boss that may have some encounter design involved but likely didn't get too much interest from the playerbase because aside from the runic armor set and boneskinner weapons (that are a bit too grindy on the worst strike mission boss for me), we didn't really see any overly interesting rewards. My only suggestion is adding a better reward system to whatever endgame content they add. Have mobs or event completion give a currency and a guaranteed way to purchase something that can also drop rng from a boss or lootbox. As it is right now it feels like lottery-winning odds to get anything other than a bunch of junk you'll inevitably convert to crafting materials. The main issue is, it's free content and whatever rewards they add are things that they can't monetize in the gemstore. So armor, weapons, mount skins, etc are going to be scarcely added. I'd personally love it if they converted some of their existing assets into guild decorations, created tokens for them that can be dropped by mobs/bosses/champs/or rewarded with event completion.. that can be sold on the trading post. That way if the individual that gets them doesn't want them they can turn them for profit. Maybe we'll see some cool stuff as they finish up on the expansion.

I'm interested in seeing how they might incorporate Jormag into this - as Jormag is likely named after Jormungandr. The legend of Jormaungandr is about a snake biting its own tail, wrapped around the world, perpetually stuck in a cycle. Difficult to see how this relates to the current living story, but the fact that breaking that cycle results in Ragnarok, which seems to result in the world being submerged in water is interesting. With Fenrir setting the other half of the world ablaze. I don't know, just reading the wiki. lmao. But we have Primordus (potentially Fenrir) and Jormag (Jormungandr) - As this living story could relate to the on a symbolic level, I'm too tired to think about. But I'm assuming Braham is Thor in this analogy. Personally, I've always found it weird that we had a water AND an ice dragon, and that Ice would be a counter to Fire over water in terms of the dragons.

I've gotten two crashes tonight from doing things in the Equipment panel. First crash I changed outfits, went to hit the checkmark to display it, and boom - Send error report. Second - Hit the back button on the equipment panel to go back to the main hero panel and boom - Send error report.

Really doubt we'll ever see "performance optimization" outside of a brand new game. As to alliances - I'm assuming they're still being considered. Armory - I wish. I'm hoping we'll at least get it with the expansion. Probably the soonest as it's DRM's until it drops.

When does the Exalted thing end? I've been waiting for the seals vendor to update to try to convert the exalted marks I have into seals so I can buy the Deldrimor Infusion. Is there a way we can just convert marks of existing factions into seals, while they're active, if we're not interested in making the weapon sets or spending the marks on lootboxes? I think I unlocked some discounted seals vendor so I can check them if I ever get around to leveling the mastery to use the vendor.

> @"Tyson.5160" said: > > @"Bast.7253" said: > > > @"Tyson.5160" said: > > > I’ll take a look some of those old story missions because it seems the frozen ice models appear different then the ones that appear before more of navy blue then light blue. > > > > > > This feedback loop is also making the destroyers more rabid. So if the feedback loop isn’t a new ability, possibly demonstrating the destruction/ conflagration, the rabid part may be new. Taimi did say that this ability has been amplified by Kralkatorrik’s magic, so clearly Primordus has obtained something from Kralkatorrik. > > > > > > Taimi makes a bunch of comments as well as Jhavi and Marjory. > > > > > > Taimi: Almost had it! > > > : So did we. > > > Braham Eirsson: The arena. It's headed over there. > > > Taimi: How do you—that doesn't even make any sense: the portal's over here. > > > Taimi: Destroyers definitely do not have reason... New algorithm's almost locked on. Hold just a sec > > > > > > Jhavi Jorasdottir: I assumed it was to draw us away from the gates of Lion's Arch. But that doesn't make any sense. > > > Jhavi Jorasdottir: They tried hitting those first, to draw us away from the settlement. Jory was the only one who saw it. > > > Jhavi Jorasdottir: Maybe Primordus just thrives on chaos. A settlement of defenseless villagers would be a prime target. > > > > > > Marjory Delaqua: You don't have to be a killer Krytan sleuth to see this settlement is a more attractive target than Lion's Arch. > > > Marjory Delaqua: Primordus causes destruction. It's his MO. No better way to do that than set fire to the most vulnerable. > > > > > > Taimi: That link we discovered between the destroyers and Primordus? A feedback loop, amplified by Kralk's death. > > > Gorrik: Destroyers burn more, Primordus gets stronger, destroyers get more rabid. The effect is exponential. > > > > > > Maybe Primordus obtained a bit of the fury magic from Kralkatorrik, which is causing the rabid side of the destroyers. > > > > I think the destroyers burn more is just Primordus' domain of "conflagaration." But the "more rabid" could definitely be Fury. Perhaps they were more "organized" in a sense and stuck closer to Primordus in designated areas, and because of it the dwarves were able to hold them back. But the Fury aspect from Kralk is causing them to go ape-****. > > > > Though, to be honest, I've never really liked these domains. It's difficult understanding the difference between "Fury" and "Conflagaration" or why those would even be domains in the first place. Like, who decided.. hey.. I'm going to give you Plant and Mind, and you Crystal and Fury. > > > > Thinking about them as a major and minor: > > Plant, Fire, Ice, Water, Death, Crystal. > > Mind, Conflagration, Persuasion, ??, Shadow, Fury. > > > > It's just difficult trying to make any connection between them in terms of the general "balance" and sustaining of life.. as elder dragons are more or less a natural part of the eco-system. > > > > I think that's one thing that's always frustrated me about the Elder Dragons. Not knowing their origin, the reason they have these specific domains, and fearing we may never get any kind of resolution or further dive into it. But maybe that's just reading too much into it and the Elder Dragons just are. And the domains are just devices they've created to allow them to survive/thrive, like unique evolutionary traits they've developed. Just weird when you think about them being absorbed or used by the other dragons, unless they more or less absorb their essence and consciousness. Then I suppose it's less about absorbing some intangible magical ability and more just obtaining their knowledge of how to use those devices. > > > > If that makes any sense. > > > > > Yeah, I considered that as well, what’s interesting too is how if you read the story journal it gives a slightly more different play on the same words that Taimi used. I’m sure the destruction aspect could be a cause of the loop and like you said the rabid part could be a small aspect of Fury. > > Anyhow the journal says this: > > “ The "feedback loop" of magic between the Elder Dragon and its destroyers is creating a vicious cycle, all started with Kralkatorrik's death and the subsequent absorption of its magic. In Gorrik's words, "Destroyers burn more, Primordus gets stronger, destroyers get more rabid. The effect is exponential."” > > This seems to me that this loop is a new thing according to the journal. Why advise that’s it from Kralkatorrik’s death in the first place. You could easily cut that information away and Taimi could advise hey we discovered a new ability that Primordus had, that we never knew existed. This doesn’t seem to be the case. Whatever this feedback loop is, it seems to derive from Kralkatorrik and his magic, much like how they advised that Kralkatorrik gained advanced hive mind abilities from Mordremoth, without really saying that Kralkatorrik gained Mordremoth’s mind sphere. > Possibly. But I think the interpretation of that is pretty open. It could be implying a new ability gained by Kralk, or it could just simply be the release of magic (no matter how much Aurene seems to have absorbed) that caused them to stir. Especially given the lines last year about Drakkar absorbing magic from Kralk's death.

> @"Tyson.5160" said: > I’ll take a look some of those old story missions because it seems the frozen ice models appear different then the ones that appear before more of navy blue then light blue. > > This feedback loop is also making the destroyers more rabid. So if the feedback loop isn’t a new ability, possibly demonstrating the destruction/ conflagration, the rabid part may be new. Taimi did say that this ability has been amplified by Kralkatorrik’s magic, so clearly Primordus has obtained something from Kralkatorrik. > > Taimi makes a bunch of comments as well as Jhavi and Marjory. > > Taimi: Almost had it! > : So did we. > Braham Eirsson: The arena. It's headed over there. > Taimi: How do you—that doesn't even make any sense: the portal's over here. > Taimi: Destroyers definitely do not have reason... New algorithm's almost locked on. Hold just a sec > > Jhavi Jorasdottir: I assumed it was to draw us away from the gates of Lion's Arch. But that doesn't make any sense. > Jhavi Jorasdottir: They tried hitting those first, to draw us away from the settlement. Jory was the only one who saw it. > Jhavi Jorasdottir: Maybe Primordus just thrives on chaos. A settlement of defenseless villagers would be a prime target. > > Marjory Delaqua: You don't have to be a killer Krytan sleuth to see this settlement is a more attractive target than Lion's Arch. > Marjory Delaqua: Primordus causes destruction. It's his MO. No better way to do that than set fire to the most vulnerable. > > Taimi: That link we discovered between the destroyers and Primordus? A feedback loop, amplified by Kralk's death. > Gorrik: Destroyers burn more, Primordus gets stronger, destroyers get more rabid. The effect is exponential. > > Maybe Primordus obtained a bit of the fury magic from Kralkatorrik, which is causing the rabid side of the destroyers. I think the destroyers burn more is just Primordus' domain of "conflagaration." But the "more rabid" could definitely be Fury. Perhaps they were more "organized" in a sense and stuck closer to Primordus in designated areas, and because of it the dwarves were able to hold them back. But the Fury aspect from Kralk is causing them to go ape-****. Though, to be honest, I've never really liked these domains. It's difficult understanding the difference between "Fury" and "Conflagaration" or why those would even be domains in the first place. Like, who decided.. hey.. I'm going to give you Plant and Mind, and you Crystal and Fury. Thinking about them as a major and minor: Plant, Fire, Ice, Water, Death, Crystal. Mind, Conflagration, Persuasion, ??, Shadow, Fury. It's just difficult trying to make any connection between them in terms of the general "balance" and sustaining of life.. as elder dragons are more or less a natural part of the eco-system. I think that's one thing that's always frustrated me about the Elder Dragons. Not knowing their origin, the reason they have these specific domains, and fearing we may never get any kind of resolution or further dive into it. But maybe that's just reading too much into it and the Elder Dragons just are. And the domains are just devices they've created to allow them to survive/thrive, like unique evolutionary traits they've developed. Just weird when you think about them being absorbed or used by the other dragons, unless they more or less absorb their essence and consciousness. Then I suppose it's less about absorbing some intangible magical ability and more just obtaining their knowledge of how to use those devices. If that makes any sense.

> @"radda.8920" said: > > @"Svennis.3852" said: > > > @"radda.8920" said: > > > i hate this abomination, the story has no interest since she got here and she killed the only villain who had potential in the game, the GOD joko > > > I hope she will die in pain. > > > > Dude... take a chill pill. >_> > > see joko be so close to becoming the main antagonist of the game .. and that this uninteresting abomination come to destroy everything > I was really so pissed off as a guild wars1 fan > I felt like I saw all the original lore being humiliated. The first time with lazarus used in the worst possible way. The second with the character of balthazar totally caricatural and joko, my poor joko....you deserved so much better. > > So I confirm, I only expect one thing : Aurene's death The sooner the better. I hate mary sue characters, it destroys all the interest of a story. Aurene literally hasn't done anything this entire season outside of kill one branded and talk. So, not like she's winning any battles for us atm.

> @"Linken.6345" said: > You do remember that killing more dragons might end the world right? Unless that's exactly the plan and Aurene has some power over time. Perhaps they both kill each other and at the last minute Aurene teleports us through time and to Cantha. Then we find a replacement elder dragon. Who knows.

> @"Ashantara.8731" said: > > @"Bast.7253" said: > > Wait, what? > > The vendor disappears? > > It's been like this with the last factions as well. One would assume that people will eventually learn about that vital part of these community event weeks. ;) > > > @"Randulf.7614" said: > > It makes you grey for sure, not completely black if that helps > > Correct, why would it be any other way? It's supposed to mimic stone after all. :) _Unless_ you combine it with certain other infusions, then you can achieve a black visual. Someone created a "moth man" and posted their pic a couple of days ago on another thread. Not really something you can learn when you only log in once a month because you weren't interested to begin with. But if it's something that can come back and be obtained later it's all good. Kinda sucks that it's more expensive but from my understanding the Defense Seals can be converted from all of the other tokens so you're not limited to just doing those missions over and over again for specific ones which may make it easier to obtain.

Probably none as they're all focused on the expansion. The cat thing last year was interesting but it seems like a lot of work for a one day event. I would kind of like to see the endless joko tonic added at some point though. Then we can all just walk around as Joko.

> @"SnowPumpkin.1809" said: > I would like to see a Mimic class that mirrors the ultimate of the last player you kill, and if you haven't killed there would be a default skill. Unless you mean crafting skill. "new trade skill" Yeah, crafting skill.

Pretty sure the entirety of Season 4 and the repercussions of Kralk absorbing Balthazar's magic.. giving him the ability to traverse the mists.. is a good indication of "no." Presumably all human gods would give that same ability to the Elder Dragons and I don't think they would have made it a huge plot point that they're now able to enter the mists over the past few seasons if it weren't a new ability. In terms of the text, I think that's just portraying that Lyssa probably got pretty peeved that they didn't just openly share their food without wanting something in return. So she gave them something in return that ultimately led to their death. A bit twisted and cunning like Jormag but entirely different motivations. As far as the twins thing, I don't think that's really relevant. We're assuming they were born twins and .. what.. did each of them just be like.. "hey, bro... let's each eat one of those human goddesses." I'm really not sure what the emphasis is on twins with Prim and Jormag, the logo of End of Dragons, or what kind of significance this will all have in the end. I'm sure there's a reason it's just difficult guessing why or where it's leading to. My original thought with Prim and Jormag were that it was simply to show the relation between opposing forces in terms of the All. Say, Primordus and Jormag being opposites, Mordremoth and Zhaitan being opposites, and presumably Kralk and DSD being opposites. But we've never heard about any of the other elder dragons having a "twin." So that's suspicious and seems like it might be relevant later.

I really don't think they'll be around beyond this saga and were kind of implemented as a bandaid fix for moving the living world team over to the expansion. I haven't played them all more than once but the latest did feel a bit better even if they were just 30 minutes of mindlessly killing mobs and the champs took forever. I do like the token system but we kind of had similar with Strike Missions and the rewards kind of stayed the same. I could see these as a more.. current events thing that could be rolled out in smaller scale between episode releases in a living season though moving forward and working well. Say, Epiosode dragon respone mision Episode if they needed to make the time between larger episodes a little larger. But I really don't see them sticking around because nothing ever does. We've had bounties, strikes, visions of the past, drm's.. and it feels like they just keep moving through various types of instanced content. I'm not really sure what the point of the allied faction stuff is though. It feels a bit fluff for the length of the instances. I suppose it's to introduce the new rewards and add new currencies? Might just be for story building and reflecting the joining of all of these factions to fight common enemies. My main disappointment with it is that it just doesn't let us get deeper into the story than a few lines of dialogue. But that's kind of the entirety of Icebrood and my, perhaps, unrealistic expectation of where the story was going to go versus where it actually went.

> @"Brycar.2651" said: > Why? What is the point of a guild hall except some nodes? I’m in a very active guild. We never use it. Some people decorate but that is just to pass the time. It is a nonsense patch work of decorations. > > Edit - I do use the hall to transport to Vabbi on characters who have not been there yet. In their current iteration not much other than vendor/bank/repair access and a way for people to express creativity decorating, which for me is enough and warrants adding more. But had they not been abandoned halfway through Heart of Thorns I think they could have grown to be much more. If this game got any actual development and they continued expanding on them they could have added more unique features, like weekly "invasion" missions where they defend it for rewards. It's also a hub for people to teleport to guild missions, but as guild missions haven't been updated in...... have they been touched since vanilla?... that makes this feature a little more lack luster. I'm not sure if anyone even runs guild missions anymore. I know my guild doesn't but so few even log on anymore. Personally, I know this would kill their pass sales so it's not likely to ever happen, but adding crafting tables, a trading post, etc would liven it up some and get more people to visit them. But just having a sandbox area for decorators is nice and I'd love to see more implemented. Lots more decorations as well but those seem to be hard to add despite there being thousands of assets already in game that SEEM like they could be easily added to a token vendor or whatever skipping the scribing recipe format. (Though some of them may need collision added.)

Wait, what? The vendor disappears? I haven't been doing that many because I just assumed it was something I could work on in my down time during the entirety of this crappy season. But I guess if I'm going to be forced to grind missions within a six day period I'll do without. No reason to even log in now knowing I won't catch up anyway.

I would have prefered Visions of the Past over DRM's as I really enjoyed the one with Ryland. But that likely involves making new maps, having more voice actors, doing more programming than just plopping a bunch of copy and paste destroyers in a slightly modified existing map and giving players endless waves of boring mobs to kill. I've barely logged on the last few months and can't be bothered to get the useless masteries but I'm glad that it's presumably halfway over now and they're hopefully fully focused on the expansion. As to the actual DRM's, I did two last night because I want to work towards the stone infusion but after spending 20 minutes fighting the annoying Destroyer in Thunderhead dealing with knockback spam every 2 seconds I'll probably just log in and spend mats on tokens until I have enough to get what I want and avoid the 45 minutes of mindless killing.

One of the many mysteries I was hoping we would find out during this saga. Along with more lore elaborating on ancient Jotun society, the spirits, kodan, and pretty much everything else that got shoved out of the way in favor of Charr war. Granted, they might have planned to dive into some of this and had to scrap it since pretty much said they started expansion development halfway through the saga. They might have had plans for it eventually. Seers would be my guess. Humans or human gods seem a little less likely to me. The existence of the scrying pool seems like it implies some other kind of magic to me, and having a race called "Seers" be responsible for something that allows people to see into the past or the future or whatever feels pretty on brand. There's still so much we don't know about the races that existed on Tyria before the human gods arrived. Would have loved to dive into some of that in a living world release and am hopeful at some point in the future we may get more development on some of them. Granted the seers and the mursaat seem to be mostly, presumably, extinct now, and the Jotun are shadows of their former selves.

A rating of "hot mess." I wasn't a huge fan of Bjora but loved the aesthetics of the second half and the entire Drizzlewood map even if the second half felt like it was pointless outside of the meta and should have just been released as one full map. Other big qualms, the story. It just hasn't been that interesting to me because it's just been Charr banter and politics for the majority with a few snippets of Jormag and Spirit lore. When I found out we were going North I was really hoping it would be a deep dive into Norn lore, the spirits, Jotun, the origin of the Eye of The North and perhaps some lost surviving Seer somewhere. Instead we get whiny furry Braham (Ryland) and "RAWR ME CHARR, CHARR GO WAR, CHARR HAVE HONOR) blah blah blah. Then, obviously, at some point someone decided to push out a Cantha expansion and the entire plan for the Icebrood release changed/got scrapped and they went with these Dragon Response Missions as filler to push out whatever they could while shifting the entire live team over to the expansion. I thought they still had 150+ people at the studio and figured that would be enough to keep the live game going plus your average story content for living world, but apparently not whether that's due to how last minute it was all decided or because they've yet again silently shifted a large portion of the studio to some unannounced project that will get canned at some point who knows. Definitely hoping after this expansion is released they're able to find their bearings again, because it feels like it's just been chaos for the past few years. I can't imagine what it must feel like as a lower level developer at the studio right now

As far as the infusions, or even some of the cosmetic items like the combat tonic in Grothmar that's still an insanely rare drop... The vast majority of players will never see this item, even after the increased drop rate. Sure, it sucks if you happened to get it to drop and used it as a lottery ticket for the trading post.. but IMO they shouldn't have ever been that rare to begin with. A developer spent time making those assets only for 1% of the player population to ever actually see it. It seems pretty wasteful and it's not like it's some prestige item for doing anything more challenging than another player. It boils down solely to luck. As far as the lilies I don't really have any comment on that. They're used in some insignia, scribing recipes, and guild hall upgrades I believe. They've probably always been more rare than they needed to be and I'm all for reducing the cost of scribe recipes as the entire guild hall system was designed around having an actual guild contribute to them (despite seemingly 80% of the time the guild upgrades and decorations fall onto the wallet of a select few that care enough to contribute.) I'm just hoping they apply this reasoning to future content and do away with the heavy rng. They did good making this stone infusion be purchasable with currency, as they did with the one in Drizzlewood, but they have a bad habit of getting something right in one release and then reverting to an inferior method immediately after. Different teams I suppose.

> @"Healix.5819" said: > > @"Grand Marshal.4098" said: > > All this and unfortunately, I'm under the impression that the Expac will be rather limited. 4 maps, smaller than PoF maps and that's it. > > They have more people on this expansion than any previous one and by the end of the year it will have been how long it took to develop S3+PoF. Technically we don't know. We assume and are hopeful, but we don't know that this is the case. They could have already sent another 100 devs to some project that will get scrapped later on and had a small team working on this expansion only to realize they need to pull everyone from the live game to actually finish it on time. Hopefully that isn't the case and they have a huge team working on the expansion though. With them pushing the release dates earlier for the final chapter of Icebrood I'm hoping that means they really do and they're further ahead on the expansion. I know it would alleviate a lot of concern if they started showing at least monthly teasers of the expansion though. Show some brief clips of maps, some concept art, a few elite specs a month leading up to it. A teaser for whatever feature they're adding, if there is one. Something.

> @"Daniel Handler.4816" said: > > @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said: > > > @"DaFishBob.6518" said: > > > > @"Daniel Handler.4816" said: > > > > > @"Randulf.7614" said: > > > > > > @"Daniel Handler.4816" said: > > > > > > I wonder if them bringing up the Pale Tree again is a red herring. > > > > > > > > > > It's most likely because people keep complaining we never hear anything about the Pale Tree, so this was about the only way they could squeeze some info in > > > > > > > > That is possible. We did have Ryland say only he, Caithe, and the Commander were champions. And even the wiki doesn't acknowledge the Pale Tree as technically being one. Maybe that storyline will just die out. > > > > > > I gotta nitpick here but the Pale Tree isn't like Ryland, Caithe, and the Commander because her relationship to Mordremoth is largely characterized by being a sapling of Mordremoth. Ryland, Caithe, and the Commander are champions of their respective elder dragon but were not born of the elder dragon in any way and instead were willingly adopted as champions. > > > > Well, it depends on how you're defining champion. > > > > Ryland, Caithe, and the Commander are unique to dragon champions ins that they have free will and are bonded, which makes them "champions" but not "dragon champions" as we've known. Meanwhile Glint and the Pale Tree **are** dragon champions, and they were cleansed after corruption, rather than simply bonded. > > > > It's an annoying thing caused by ANet using the same word to mean many things. > > Is there something in having free willed minions that allows one to share the burden of magic? We are able to collect volatile and unbound magic almost like a minion would. But I don't think we send it to Aurene? Maybe? I mean, if Aurene branded Taimi would Taimi still suffer from her health condition? Does branding grant immunity from aging and the effects of magic overdose like insanity? It obviously doesn't grant immortality but has a branded minion ever died from old age? Does Aurene absorb that magic, filter it, then release it to its minions in a healthier form?

> @"Teratus.2859" said: > > @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said: > > I find it very unlikely that Braham is going to become Primordus' champion. It just doesn't fit. > > > I agree with that, At the moment I can't see Primordus as anything other than a genocidal living apocalypse intent on pure destruction and carnage. > Tbh I don't want him to be much more than that either, I know a lot of people think that kind of villain is boring but personally I don't agree so long as those kinds of villains are given enough time to shine and show off just how dangerous they are. > > This is what I was talking about in another thread about how I feel like Primordus needs to basically go nuclear and utterly destroy us at least once before we kill him. Otherwise he'll be a colossal disappointment with no real build up, least that's how I will feel anyway. :) > We kinda got something like that with Kralkatorrik and some might feel like it's being rehashed but i'm talking much higher stakes with far greater advantage us scenario. > Killing Jormag, wiping out the icebrood and Frost Legion, wiping out most of our allies, severely injuring Aurine and completely nuking an entire region of the world which would make even Abaddon's fall from grace look like nothing. > That would do it for me, Primordus by far the most dangerous and destructive thing that's ever lived on Tyria, that's what i'm hoping for :P > > > > @"Bast.7253" said: > > > What if the jotun scroll was actually infused with Primordus' power, thus why it was able to harm Jormag, and it's started to slowly corrupt Braham? > > > @"Teratus.2859" said: > > > The Fire Scroll that Braham used to enchant his mothers bow could actually be an ancient Jotun weapon created with power harnessed from Primordus, that would explain why it can hurt Jormag and why Braham now seems to have some kind of connection with Primordus and can sense his Destroyers. > > > > Very, very unlikely, imo. A Crack in the Ice seems to more hint that the scroll is infused with the Spirit of Fire's power - which the episode also shows is capable of countering Jormag well. > > > > Plus, the method of the Stone Summit being corrupted is defined as their insides being liquified (this is even shown in the models too), so I think if Braham was being corrupted, he'd feel that. If dwarves who were literally made of stone and thus incapable of feeling heat could feel the burning, Braham would too. > > > > I don't think it's the same thing as the stone summit, they tried to harness the Great Destroyers power to stop the Rite so they basically corrupted themselves. > > Braham didn't absorb any magic from the Jotun Scroll he infused it into his bow so I don't think Braham is being corrupted by Primordus but if the Scroll was created using Primordus Magic then Braham would be exposed to it every time he used the bow which could explain his ability to sense Destroyers. > > As far as the Spirt of Fire goes.. I wonder if that could also be just another name for Primordus. > The Sons of Svanir have long believed Jormag to be the Dragon spirit so it wouldn't be the first time an Elder Dragon has been associated with a Spirit of the Wild. > The spirit of fire is also deemed to be a hostile and malicious spirit as well so that kinda does fit with Primordus nature. > The Kodan's Flame is also associated with the Spirit of Fire and that too has the ability to repel Jormag's minions as you said.. but we have seen this kind of relationship in the past as well with the Blue Orb repelling Zhaitan's minions and it's quite a common theory that the Blue Orb is somehow linked to the Sea Dragon. > The Kodan also believe the Fire spirit to have gotten old and left Tyria a long time ago which could have been how ancient Kodan interpreted Primordus going back to sleep. > I think there's a fair bit to support the Theory that Primordus may be the same being Norn and Kodan called the Spirit of Fire and if he is then it would definitely explain the kind of magic which is infused in Eir's Bow, or perhaps better to say the magic that has corrupted Eir's bow.. > Could lead to a shock moment down the road when someone (probably Ryland) tries to use that bow against Primordus and the Bow betrays them. > > If this theory does hold any weight at all then I also have to Wonder if the ancient one the Kodan believe to be their god Koda is actually the same being that Kralktorrik called Mother.. > Primordus and Jormag we now know are Twin siblings and Jormag referred to Aurine as little sister despite no apparent relation which was a little curious.. > > I'm wondering if all the Elder Dragons by matter of status consider each other in some way family.. and the Mother being the one who they are all scion's from with exception to Aurine who would be at least a 3rd generation Elder Dragon. > There's been lots of talk about this Mother being the original Spirit of Dragon which fits the Kodan beliefs about the Ancient one who created all the other spirits.. > If Mother is Koda then there is a sure thing that the Elder Dragons are Spirits which would definitely make Primordus the Spirit of Fire. > > Kodan also believe that the spirits are wild and destructive without the guiding influence of Koda.. Mother.. which also kinda fits the Elder Dragons. > You can kinda see similar personality defects in other characters through fiction, Take Lucifer from the Netflix show or Supernatural as a prime example. > Immortal, powerful angel with severe daddy issues and an immature, childish and jealous nature despite being tens of thousands of years old. > Immaturity and jealousy seem to be common traits for beings that share that whole godlike powerful, immortal thing.. specially when the one being they consider above them (God/Koda-Mother) replaces them with more favourable creations (Humans/Younger Spirits and mortals) > > Kinda going off a bit there but I hope the connections i'm making are coming through :) > I wonder how deeply connected this world of Tyria actually is, Specially when we remember that Humans are not a native species thus would never had had a spirit to represent them. > Take us out of the mix and the vast majority of this world is more animal like species.. the Norn being the only Human like species that naturally belong to it and they are shapeshifters with animal forms.. plus there's the whole Kodan belief too that they are some kind of splinter faction of Kodan that lost their true path and devolved into their more human like forms. > > Could all be just as you said though, Braham just being more connected to the Spirit of Wolf. > I've probably overlooked a lot as usual but this was a fun post to write regardless. ^^ I've had the same theory about Primordus being the Spirit of Fire. I do have to wonder on this theory though what that means for Jormag and what spirit Jormag could be, or could have been. Though I'm really wondering if Arenanet really has any intention of diving more into Koda and the spirits moving forward. It feels like a pretty big reveal and they didn't seem overly certain about having anykind of origin story for the elder dragons after the Season 4 finale's guild chat. They could go with this theory, but I have a feeling they may go with something else entirely if they even dive that deeply. But I also wonder if they may eventually play on an imprisonment plot at some point. Say, right now we believe that Tyria requires all of these dragons to hold the balance. Jormag is telling us the balance is a lie, which is probably a lie in itself. But what if it isn't? What if it isn't some mystical force like The All that causes the planet to unravel, or the magical imbalance, but something more sentient? What if, though this does have a lot of similarity to WoW, they're essentially jailers keeping some larger force at bay that grows stronger and stronger with each dragon's death? Whether that be a 7th original elder dragon or some other force we haven't seen. I guess it boils down to how ready Arenanet is to put the dragon plot behind them and move on to something else. If End of Dragons is truly the end of the current malevolent dragon cycle as we know it and the rebirth of something new, then we may see some of these things resolved. If not, they may lightly touch on it and save it for a later date as an ace up their sleeve. They'd also have to be pretty confident about the narrative they had moving forward in comparison to the Elder Dragons we have now. If you look at WoW for example everyone always thought Sargeras was the be all and end all of cosmic baddies. Next thing you know we have another realm with the revelation that there are beings even older than Sargeras. At one point does that end though? Because eventually you're going to run out of possibilities, especially in an mmo-style story telling experience.