Bast.7253

> @"Shadowmoon.7986" said:

> Honestly since pof death means nothing to the story, and they kept making it meaningless. Pof you literally self resurrect. Episode 2, they show how you can cheat death by implanting your conciousness inyo a golem. Episode 3 show that being turned off does not kill you when you are in that golem. This makes episode 4s sacrifice kinda pointless because if we recover the "tracker", blish could be turned back on. Episode 3 show a character that can not die, until consume by a dragon, which can steal powers.

> Now if this is anets attempt to create an end times story, similar to warhammer fantasy battles, that would kill the franchise and my view of the company, just like

You could argue similarly about the existence of the mists and us being able to travel to them and that’s long before pof, no different than real life mythologies and underworld or afterlife travel really.

> @"Zeivu.3615" said:

> > @"perilisk.1874" said:

> > > @"Biohazard.2043" said:

> > > It seems that a lot of people support the theory that Aurene will come back from the dead because she ate Joko, but.... Kralkatorrik has been traveling through the Mists. From my understanding since Aurene is now dead, she is in the Mists, and since Kralkatorrik uses the Mists as a way to travel between places then it is still possible for Aurene to absorb Kralkatorrik's power by defeating him in the Mists.

> >

> > So, why couldn't Glint have done that?

>

> The amount of magic Kralkatorrik has absorbed is through the roof and has a higher baseline than the first fight with Destiny's Edge. I don't think Glint could do it by herself alone, considering it wasn't enough the first time. But if Vlast and Aurene is with her, she might stand a chance.

But if she really died how would the power she’s gained carry over with her into the mists instead of just being released back into Tyria? In which case the trials and changes this episode and all other events giving Aurene the power boost she had would have been pointless. There’s just no reason to have gone through what we went through from a story perspective if the solution all along was to get Aurene and Glint together. And if that were the case then why send Eir, Snaff and gang through the mists instead of Glint herself just entering Tyria to help Aurene.....

> @"perilisk.1874" said:

> > @"Belishine.7493" said:

> > i have a good question about the dragon we grew. now i know the way i will ask is a little confusing but i hop i get the point right. so we know joko was eatin by Auren so does this mean she is immortal? ill also ask it like this if for ex. primordis eats jena will he get that mesmer insight or does it just make them stronger like a person that lifts waights all day? just a little question that if answerd could be explane a lot.

>

> Seems like, in general, when a dragon consumes magic, they just convert it into fuel for more of their own magic. The exception seems to be... higher magics, or living magic, or however you would categorize it, which is resistant. For instance, since LS3 (technically HoT, though it wasn't explained until later), the dragons have shown evidence of being able to make partial use of the abilities of the other dragons that were killed, rather than just getting stronger at their own thing. Similarly, the Zaishen sniper and Balthazar's sword could both sense his presence inside Aurene.

>

> So, unless Jenna is secretly Lyssa, Primordus would probably just get some more lava power if he ate her. Whether or not Aurene can utilize Joko's invulnerability to physical destruction probably hinges on where exactly he gained that ability. If it's just powerful but ordinary necromancy, most likely it's gone. If it has a divine origin (maybe something he stole from the Underworld) then it might still be around for her to tap into.

It could easily be explained to be some kind of stolen divine magic. But Kralk gained abilities from Balth as did Aurene, so they do take on attributes or whatever of the magic they consume. They learn how to use it naturally, not just with other dragon magic. So it’s entirely possible even if it isn’t divine magic.

> @"perilisk.1874" said:

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

> > Here's my question about "if we do kill Kralkatorrik without Aurene":

> >

> > What has the Pale Tree been doing?

>

> Something other than undergoing Ascension so she can become a replacement for Mordremoth in the All to stabilize the flows of magic?

>

> Or maybe she did, the rules about Ascension (how to do it, what it does) are one of those things that they just sort of make up as they go along, both in GW1 and GW2. I doubt Aurene spent her time with Glint unlocking the ability to learn a secondary profession or see Mursaat.

>

> For dragons (Arenanet will claim, continuing to make it up as they go along), Ascension is probably more akin to the blessing given to Kormir -- the process by which Aurene actually gains the ability to replace Kraalkatorik, rather than just absorbing some of his energy. I would speculate that the trials in combination with Kraalkatorik's desperate last-ditch unrestrained energy blast she absorbed at the end transformed her into.. well, in god terms, whatever Balthazar or Dhuum were. She is now the same class of being as an Elder Dragon, and fully capable of replacing Kraalkatorik, but she has to actually acquire his sphere first (and also, be alive). I'm pretty sure that will go more like Kormir/Abaddon than Grenth/

That’s a good point actually, didn’t Kormir technically die when she took all of Abaddon’s magic into her and became a goddess? So Aurene doing the same thing now would make sense and mirror that part of nightfall. And perhaps Jokos magic would substitute the gods blessing that kormir received in order to survive her death and transformation. I don’t think the Joko bit is just some flippant fan service or excuse of why we abruptly killed him. I think they planned far enough ahead at that point to realize that Jokos death in that manner would be impactful and necessary instead of just deciding to kill a fan favorite and give us a few lines thinking it would appease people that are still salty about his manner of demise.

It just makes perfect sense to have that be the key to her resurrection and paces perfectly with the fact that we have ONE episode left in this season with the potential to finish an arc that has been going on for YEARS. It allows the writers to move past this and start exploring other directions in a manner that actually makes sense.

I challenge all of these people saying her being resurrected by joko magic and her becoming an elder dragon due to the events of glints trials and the events of this instance, with all of the hints and the visual changes to both Aurene and Kralk during this episode, to come up with a better plot direction that actually makes sense. I’ve heard a few theories that sounded interesting, but mostly I’ve just heard people whining about how death doesn’t mean anything in this game and about how it would be nonsensical or a cop out to go the resurrection route with no other reasoning than “that’s bad writing”... yet they only thing they seem to be writing are bias and ill thought out critiques of a story of which the plans and behind the scenes knowledge they aren’t even privy to.

Also, along with Jokos death and everything else involving Aurene since her introduction and bond forming with the player character... what purpose would the visions she had of her dying serve if she were to stay dead? Just to give us the opportunity to revisit Glints corpse and gain access to some supposed prophecy Kralk had... and prepare Aurene for something that if permanently dead was completely negated the next instance? Is the opportunity for a pep talk and some glint nostalgia a better reason to have us witnessing those visions better story telling than potentially hinting that her death is inevitable but prevented by Jokos magic? Jokos magic that was obtained by an at the time rather controversial and mocked story decision but can now have an actual payoff and strong reasoning behind it? Or would people rather just be salty about his death, say it was a poor story decision, and wait for the writers to pull some other solution out of thin air with no breadcrumbs or hints and then spend yet another season trying to motivate us to pursue something that not only we have failed at but Destiny’s Edge as well? So we just chalk this up as attempt number two, then three, and how many times do we try?

I just don’t know how people are reaching the conclusion that her death needs to be permanent or that her involvement is Jokos death is completely irrelevant. “But everybody just comes back from the dead now.” Well yeah, becaus Kralk is devouring the place where the dead go and it didn’t become so prevalent until now due to this very reason.

People are just over simplifying things in their own heads and trying to project it into the story, when in reality, despite being the people the story is aimed at, they aren’t the ones getting paid to write it... Expand your train of thought beyond disregarding things as “bad writing” and start imagining the possibilities of the future while weighting the events of the past. I’ve had my sour moments towards the story decisions too, but I have more faith in them than to think they’re just killing off a character that they’ve spent years on getting us acquainted with, and roller beetle drift plowing in some random story direction that they then have to spend probably at most a year of a new season trying to create the same impact as something they have been building up for years....

> @"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said:

> > @"Fenom.9457" said:

> >But blood legion homelands is a truly brand new region, and not one that can recycle assets from other regions

> It used 99% the same assets as Ascalon did back in GW1, so it would likely just use a bunch of Ascalon assets in W2.

>

I hope not though. I’ve always found Ascalon in guild wars 2 to be really yellow and drab. Where as in guild wars 1 it was much more vivid even if it had kind of the same feel. But ascalon is core and they’ve improved textures and everything drastically since then so maybe they could make it look good. I definitely think that’s the best guess, but I hope it doesn’t look like a copy paste ascalon.

And if Kralks death up there led to anything I think it would more than likely be some Charr uprising or fight for control of command and power rather than normal awakening. They’ve kind of tied primordus and jormag together and jumping straight back into not only an elder dragon plot but reawakening dragons that were put to sleep really recently would be a little jarring.

If they went that route I would think it would be more likely for kralk to return to his purple crater mountain where Marjory and lad were and die there, and for that energy release to coax out the deep sea dragon or make him more aggressive. For all we know we could wind up finding Marjory and kas branded on the mountain and Aurene could come back and rebrand them to free them. That we we can add two more character deaths for the name of drama. But then wind up only losing Blish as it should be and maybe Zafirah. No attachment to her.....

> @"Malavian.4695" said:

> Map was moderately interesting, but largely vacant of encounters which I found odd. I'm used to exploring the edges of maps from GW1 days and found the sudden teleport while flying back to some other point in the map confusing. Couldn't a strong winds warning or something pop up in advance of that like with the water areas with strong current warnings?

> The heart acquisitions weren't particularly challenging.

> The story was far too short for the time I waited to see the next episode. I finished everything within 2.5 hrs. I understand the Meta event and final battle required a great deal of work, but I truly wasn't expecting to gobble up that much of your efforts in such a short period.

> >! I did not care for the emotional investment in some npc, the pursuit of some prophesy followed by betrayal of those values in the end. I've repeatedly seen comments on what good story telling it is that has been accomplished here. However, in my experience providing dark, sad, or crushing endings is not work - it's trying to make a positive outcome and uplifting narrative be revealed which is the best writing. I don't think ending on such a dour note is going to be cherished unless you come up with some real rewards for the patience. The worst part is if you reintroduce Aurene it's going to be a de-escalation of the investment so I know you can't bring her back.

>! I don't think it would be de-escalating at all. It's just a matter of timing. This death can be the fuel that ignites our desire to finish Kralk off despite the possible consequences, as if we need it anyway given the fact that if left alone he'll devour reality itself via the mists and we may never get a better chance again. Then bringing her back after we make that decision and sort of fulfill that reckless abandon of our actions as Joko sort of put it, Aurene comes back. We don't use her directly in that last fight, but she still shows up to fulfil the role she was born for. People just keep reiterating how it would seemingly null this moment of her death in this instance if she was brought back, but essentially making her entire existence, our bond with her, and half of the events of this expansion and season by having her die leaving us without an answer is far far worse than simply having her resurrect with whatever magic Joko had.. especially given Ogden, the domain of the lost, and the other bits seemingly glaring at us. Plus the way they ended the episode? Black, almost "to be continued" screen with no follow-up dialogue with our comrades? I would personally find the story far less enjoyable essentially resetting our motives and finding some brand new solution to our problems than picking up right where we left off and simply letting prior events finally get more meaning (i.e. Aurene and Joko, Glint and Aurene private talk about ascension). And having Aurene simply join the mists like Glint and accomplish her destiny there would leave me wondering, "okay, so why couldn't Glint just fill this role the entire time? That's dumb.." It just annoys me everytime someone says that this episode and her death are completely invalidated if she comes back to life next episode because it feels like it's just this buzz-phrase everyone is throwing out without actually considering the rest of this season. Primordus and Jormag's being put back to sleep via a mursaat disguised rogue god and an old junky asuran machine kind of invalidated the threat they ever posed when they were introduced but in the end it led Balthazar to the crystal desert and where we are now, so acting like Aurene resurrecting herself would be invalidating a long-arching story and prophecy seems kind of short-sighted. Especially given that it would mirror we witnessed the player character, not even remotely as powerful an elder dragon candidate, doing that exact same thing when they returned from the dead not that long ago from a domain that despite being ravaged of spirits for former rogue god's army when the player character died, is in far more disarray now that it's been ravaged by Kralk. (Assuming that Aurene would even wind up there which she may not given whatever her and Glint talked about in their private meeting and her being a dragon.)

>! But anyway, sorry. Just think people are underestimating the writers' abilities to make an Aurene resurrection a valid direction and undermining essentially an entire season of build-up and forgetting previously used plot-devices. Would it really benefit the story more to have Aurene be completely and forever dead and us having to find yet another way of dealing with Elder Dragon magic containment and balance? Is finding some magical device, say the staff of the mists and having it explained that it can somehow balance everything knowing that any future elder dragon threat we have we can just take care of with the wave of some magical artifact? Wouldn't that pretty much immediately invalidate any future elder dragon threat in the future? Would it not be better to have Aurene come back to life, finish the Kralk story-line and then move onto something else for a little while now that Aurene has taken up the mantle and we can focus on other plots or see new lands? How long do the writers and players really want to spend on this same Kralk dilemma when the easier solution has already had the foundation laid allowing for closure and a chance for us to move in a new direction?

>! Also, to end my little tirade, just because Aurene comes back doesn't mean she's going to be our "little pet dragon" as some people have put it and negate the threat of any future enemy we face because we have a powerful elder dragon on our side. Her role isn't to be the Tyria dragon sheriff, it's to balance the magic. Arguably, that just makes her involvement with ending Joko even more telling of the fact that it was necessary for her to gain his magic to lead to her resurrection and fulfillment of the prophecy, because it was what her destiny was driving her to do to get to where she needed to be and not just because she's our little dragon daughter/pet that finishes our battles for us every time we're in trouble.

>! I may be blinded by rage that my favorite character is now impaled by purple spikes, but you'd have to be even more blind to not see that the benefit to the overall story or the payoff of where the story has been is far more than if she were to just stay dead or become some ghostly mist dragon being like Glint. And again, just a black screen ending to one of the darkest plots in the entire game with the words "I don't know" and we just reach the conclusion that the next logical and least invalidating story direction is going to be to.. what?... find some other "McGuffin" that solves our current problem or we spend another whole season dealing with this same problem with morale completely wiped from our current loss? How would that work from a story perspective? We just write the commander and friends to forget about it and keep on trucking along? If so, so much again for this season, bonding with Aurene, and pretty much everything else since... what season was Aurene's egg introduced again so many years ago? Like, seriously, why would her resurrection be invalidating compared to essentially nullifying that many years worth of story development only to swerve off the damn rails and go in a completely different direction or have Aurene going to the mists fulfilling some role that apparently she can fill but Glint couldn't do from this mists this entire time?

Yeah, there's just no way the Joko bit was a coincidence. I think if anything is a "red-herring" or whatever it's the whole moment with branding Caithe. I think people are looking farther into that than they should be and ignoring the more obvious with Joko's magic. If anything, I feel like Caithe's branding was more of a way of showing what elder dragon Aurene's power will be and relieving the doubt of the team in that moment, not her implanting her psyche or whatever via Mordremoth magic. Her branding may come back later in the story as a signal that her connection with Aurene is back which leads us to go find Aurene and realize she's back and alive, but I don't think it will be anything more than that.

The awakened sylvari thing is interesting but could just be because they read the forums and were like, "well let's just add this in as a fun bit to answer a question that a few people had and let them speculate." But the awakened sylvari, plus mention of the lich's death, plus the domain of the lost. It's just so much foreshadowing to me that along with wanting Aurene back as a non-mists only being, would anger me because they put in all of these pieces of a puzzle that would be meaningless if not expanded upon.

And also, people keep mentioning how angry they would be that they just brought Aurene back to life in the next episode via Joko, but seem to be forgetting or omitting the fact that last season we had two active elder dragons that were simultaneously put back to sleep with a machine while also revealing a long dead Mursaat is a human god in disguise. I mean, the Aurene ate Joko and resurrects herself makes a heck of a lot more sense and has had a lot more plot development than that ever did. We also end the episode completely different than we have any other episode that I can recall... with a classic black screen saying "I don't know." Similarly done to how transitioned through the Domain of the Lost chapter in Path of Fire story. It's the traditional "to be continued.." black screen cliffhanger. Would make perfect sense that we just pick up immediately where we left off this episode. (Hopefully not in Lion's Arch with freakin' mail and actually in the instance with a cinematic of Aurene coming back to life or Caithe's brandedness coming back and speaking for Aurene through her letting us know that we need to continue to pursue Kralk and that she'll rejoin after we kill him or something.)

It doesn't seem like it would be a good idea to take over such a weakened body though. I'm sure she could regenerate, but I'd rather my Aurene not look like a one-eyed Deathwing-esque purple chin dragon!

I don't know why everyone is so upset about the idea of Aurene being revived using Joko's magic. It makes perfect sense to me, and if the reveal of her revival comes at the end of the episode after we kill Kralk I think it would have more than enough "meaning" in the sense that it fueled us even more to finish Kralk. Then it's just up to her to absorb the magic now that she's "reconstructed" herself. And whatever she did to him in terms of partially branding him and why he just took off could be the key to us being able to finish the job making that moment necessary without her needing to be directly involved with the actual final battle with Kralk. She can still show up after the fact to take his place.

I just think the joko bit is far more likely considering what we know than her seeding herself in Caithe or her joining the mists forever with Glint and Vlast. Given Ogden's dialogue, the seeming randomness of Joko's death at the hands of her, and the fact that the gift Glint implying, to me at least, that the dragon will actually be a living non-mist being. (I guess it didn't specifically say that, but the fact that it shows an actual dragon surrounded by a bunch of humans and charr and what not implies that they're not just ghosts in the mists standing around her... and that Glint is already a dragon in the mists and has never projected herself in that fashion on Tyria despite the interactions we've had with her. Oh, and the specific mention of Kralk devouring everything in the domain of the lost? There's just a lot of hints that Aurene will be resurrected and I think finessing the story to work around the events of this final instance will be better given where the story has already been than somehow spending another entire season figuring out some other possible way to absorb magic or kill Kralk.

The problem with Aurene being in the mists and that being the solution for me is that Glint has been in the mists for how long now? If the key is Aurene being in the mists, why wouldn't Glint have been able to accomplish all of this on her own? I guess because of the combined power of Glint and Aurene? But the prophecy implied that there was one dragon that would create the peace that Kralk foresaw. So, either that isn't Aurene and we have to find that dragon which would be stupid at this point, or Aurene comes back. I just don't see any reason for her death to be because she has to be in the mists for this to work.

I also think that the mention of Joko being killed being one of the signs was too random to not mean anything. Out of all of the things we've done together, including slaying Balthazar, why would Joko be the one step in that prophecy that deserves such mention?

Not to mention the "sickness" she felt after she ate him never getting touched on in the next episode. They leave a lot of things like that hanging, but I think on this occasion, and highly hope, that Joko's magic will be the key to Aurene coming back. Also, again, Glint didn't see her own death and Aurene did. So it seems to me that Aurene wouldn't see her death if it was a true death. On top of the talk with Glint and how at peace she was after having that private conversation. Then again, Kralk didn't see his own death but saw a world after it. So how does that work? Is that similar to how Glint couldn't see her own death but could forsee the events after it?

Another theory could simply be that she accomplished what Snaff couldn't and implanted her own mind or can control Kralk, but I doubt that.

Perhaps next episode we finish off Kralk with our crew plus Destiny's Edge and then at the end it could be something as simple as Caithe's flowers regrowing and we know Aurene is back, if we don't get a cinematic of her coming back to life. And then season 5 will deal with the aftermath of Aurene trying to absorb all of the magic now that Kralk is done and we just deal with complete chaos in random zones all over Tyria or even another elder dragon being more active due to all of the excess magic and that leads us to the next expansion.

A little long of a post now, but they have plenty of directions they can go and I predict and hope that Aurene will be revived with Joko's magic. Especially considering Kralk for some reason didn't just eat Aurene, and that she didn't shatter like Vlast did whether Vlast did that intentionally or not. Glint, though, looks pretty shattered and had a similar encounter with Kralk, so the fact that she's still in tact leads me to believe there's a reason. Just hope yet again, beyond reason, that the wait will be on the shorter side this time. Who knows, maybe instead of random mail from Caithe and a few dialogue lines we'll get lucky and get some Caladbog style mid-wait quest chain in which find out Aurene is alive again. (Wishful thinking.)

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> I hope she's dead because I don't want to have gone through the emotional topsy-turvy of 4.5 to find that it didn't mean anything.

> But if the Commander can die and be not dead (and not undead), if Rurik could return, if Shiro came back, then sure, why not? It seems like the kind of thing ANet would do.

Well, they could have her come back at the end of the next episode AFTER we finish Kralk. Perhaps Glint will speak to us and tell us to keep pursuing Kralk despite the lack of a magic absorbing back up because she has a plan? And then at the end Aurene comes back to life just to absorb the magic and ascend. That we the ending of this episode and her death gives us that much more fuel to make sure that it wasn’t for nothing. I think that might be my best scenario. Finishing him off at his original location in the homelands and then for the past part of the episode we deal with the “aftermath” i.e. Aurene ascending and she kind of sets off on her own thing after we catch up with her and witness her ascension. Whether that be hibernating with presumably no current dragon threat on the table or a vision hinting at the plot of season 5. So we have the somber beginning and a non cliche-at-this-point life or death cliffhanger ending that really finishes up the Kralk plot and this season overall.

I’m just really not a fan of having another season devoted to Kralk, and really want Aurene to be back even if she doesn’t fit the same sidekick role she does now. Just a nice peaceful elder dragon in some enchanted forest looking zone somewhere where we can go and visit her when we need to. Lol

On a side note I feel like they’ve added a lot of Aztec/Mayan things to the game recently that make me think they’re adding a lot of those assets behind the scenes. Like the new legendary scepter and the gecko Springer mount. They just seemed really random to me and I can’t help but wonder if we’re going to be seeing a Tengu tie in soon. Or maybe the expansion or next living season will be dealing with some new area themed around those. Not to mention the new Siren fractal has those ruins which don’t really look like any other ruins in the game, at least the head gate thing. Just get the impression that these aren’t completely thematically random. Also, seen a lot of assets this season that would look great in a Canthan based expansion.

> @"perilisk.1874" said:

> Well... the ending was fully expected, really. I wasn't 100% sure they would kill her, but I wasn't exactly shocked either. The whole point of the bit in Episode 4 was to show that this outcome was inevitable. The fact that Glint was pushing her forward anyway meant that Glint had somehow seen past Aurene's death to a means of defeating Kraalkatorik. So, don't worry about Aurene. Give her a few days to get back on her feet.

And did Glint forsee her death? I can't remember. Or did her visions just stop at a certain point and she reached the conclusion that she died? Because if she didn't forsee it and Aurene did, then perhaps that's a hint that she isn't finished yet, because she doesn't actually die?

And out of all of the elder dragons including Mordremoth, Kralk foresaw that there was peace among everyone without him? Was it just without him? As in Zhaitain and Mordremoth were fine or they plus Kralk? As in the other three remaining are fine? That whole portion just seemed really random to me. Like, Kralk just seemed like this endlessly hungering thing without much motive to me and now he's this evil prophetic mastermind or something? And this ascending stuff? I'll feel a lot better about this entire plot in 4 months I guess. Or 5. Or whatever amount of months they decide to go with this time for unforeseen problems. Just getting really tired of the cliffhangers so I hope the next finale has kind of a subtle hint and not a, "Oh no, a favorite character might be dead or might not be.. find out in 4 months when we start the next living story season!"

I'm also really hoping they don't drag Kralk out for another living season, but I don't know how they will just suddenly wrap up Kralk in the next episode without bringing Aurene back, which I hope they do.

Here's to hoping it's a much shorter wait this time. They've got lunar new year and then what? Super adventure box in April? So maybe we'll get it in between?

Well it was regarding Ascension I'm assuming to Elder Dragon status maybe? Not really sure. But maybe it's a hint that we'll be going to the Hall of Heroes after all to finish Kralk?

No clue.

Well, I'm just hoping for my favorite character to be brought back via the magic of another former favorite. I mean, it was definitely short. And I can agree that the map is beautiful but feels pretty vacant. I've been trying to finish off my mastery to check it out and there's like... no events.. or people... and a few branded creatures here and there. As far as visuals go, it's stunning but it almost always is. Repeatable? After going through the dwarven areas and exploring underground and the various hidden places I'm not sure how much repeatable stuff there will be. I guess to grind out the weapons. I also wish there was a dwarven combat tonic or something. Combat tonics are always exciting and I complete the heart vendors each patch hoping there will be one but there rarely is anymore.

So, story and instances were unique and well done, but this cliffhangers with Aurene are getting pretty daunting and I hate that it's usually 4 months before I can actually find out what happened. And just like in Long Live the Lich, you expect to pick up where you left off but then you just randomly start in Lion's Arch or Amnoon and it just feels kind of jarring. Hopefully with this cliffhanger it will actually pick up right where it ended for once. And hopefully it will be on a positive note. Just so depressing to wait so long in between patches and then have all of your favorite characters die or have the pendulum swinging over their heads.

And story-wise? What was the point in the end? What did we actually achieve? I'm sure the next patch will finish what we started, and I have high hopes that it will be in the Blood Legion Homelands because those areas of Ascalon in guild wars 1 were some of my favorites. (Not so much in guild wars 2.) But again, cliffhanger 4 month wait, cliffhanger, 4 month wait, cliffhanger, 4 month wait. I get that's a good tool for storytelling, but at this pace it just makes story enthusiasts like me salty. Especially this particular ending.

Anyway, yes, the final instance branded takes awhile to get to the crystals. Also, the first trial was a bit hard to understand and for someone glassy like my ele it was just a matter of trying to dodge spam and heal and let the damage tick?

I haven't really had a whole lot of time to dive into the zone, but so far I would give it a 5/10, and that's -4 stars for the ending....

Well it can be done, but you’re better off playing less games. The more you play the worse matchmaking will be for you. And if you’re losing a bunch just stop doing ranked because you will get the same people over and over again. I did like 800 games this season and was everywhere from gold 1 to play 2 grinding shards and gold. Finally climbed back up to plat but that was after like a 12 game losing streak earlier today.

Some games you just can’t carry. It’s pretty much predetermined. Maybe as a thief if you just avoid fighting all game and just cap things when people aren’t looking. But 9 times out of 10 I get the team with the two necros and the firebrand that somehow die mid. I have a bad habit of switching to whatever I think is most helpful but in most cases I think it’s better to just play one thing and stick with it.

I hadn't heard about dps chrono until recently and tested the build out just for giggles. Wind up doing 15k which is still low but I've never gotten anywhere close to benchmarks. Though, wow, this is braindead and easy and high damage. Let me see how it compares to my condi mirage. So I try out the old condi mirage build that used to be meta spamming ambush attacks to keep up condis. A lot of work despite spamming auto attacks and wind up barely getting a little over 14k. Then I try out the new metabattle shatter condi mirage build which is apparently rocket science to hit anywhere near benchmark because I could barely get 11k and it's just too frustrating to bother with.

So, long story short, why would I play condi mirage and put in 5 times the amount of effort when I can just play dps chrono and spam sword 5, focus 5, disenchant, defender, and use shatters and heals every now and then and get better results? It's ridiculous. And honestly, it isn't really what I wanted when I said I wanted a power dps build for mesmers, but it technically fills the role so I think I'll stick with it for awhile.

I hate that I went through all of that effort to get viper what nots for my mirage and the animations look really cool, but it's just been gutted in pve too much to even matter. Maybe with some insane build crafting you could find something to make condi mirage easier and higher damage, but at the moment dps chrono is just way easier and better with a much lower chance of messing up your "rotation."

> @"Dimi Gravedancer.1463" said:

> > @"ugrakarma.9416" said:

> > The post-Joko "good awakened" being part of the "save the world crew" is a nice touch. We have the pact, the Destiny Edge, persons from GW1-NightFall, the Sunspears. I'm curious to know who else more will come up, or if will be there more "famous ghosts" from the mists.

>

> You know, this would be a good opportunity to get someone from Cantha to show up. Even if just for some "Foreshadowing", as I am 90% sure the next Xpac will be Cantha (at least I am praying)

Well, I suppose there is the possibility of the Oracle of the Mists showing up. Might be a nice possible introduction to future plots. *shrug*

All warriors really, but core warrior's damage needs some reduction for the sustain that it has. Axe in particular.

I'm just tired of seeing the same people over and over again due to lack of interest in this game mode. And dropping from plat 2 to gold 2 because of it. Then climbing back up. Then knocked back down. It's just needlessly endless. Obviously I should stop queuing rather than drop 2 tiers in one day. But I'm trying to grind out the last shards I need as fast as possible and if you're able to drop that many tiers in one day is matchmaking really working?

So many throws and win trades too. Even in this low of a tier.

If I ever make time to farm and craft I can definitely see some traditional jumping puzzles being built with these new ones though. Already have something in mind. :)

I would just like to say that they should improve the fog machine. And yes, the heart was really plain too. Maybe even give the heart a 360 degrees fog machine effect.

More than I should. But after a temp ban I’ve realized I’d rather not lose my account. Haha. Now I just report pretty much everything even remotely offensive and have like half of the players in ranked blocked.

Don't worry, if you manage to get them down during those brief windows without elixir and they aren't stealthed, they'll just chain knockback and knockdown while spamming holo-mode abilities that crit you for half your health. Oh, and spam their toolbelt skills for more passive damage.

Well I'm pretty sure in one of the videos they hinted at one more mount coming this season. So who knows. Now that Kralk is some cross-dimensional being I don't know what mount they could add or where we will go that it will fit the theme. I'd personally love a spider mount. And they could either add an underwater mount or add additional functionality to a lot of the existing mounts.

I was hoping we would explore Deldrimor and some old dwarven ruins/underground stuff which would make the spider make sense.

Might have been mentioned before but an idea would be to have the riding broom as the saddle and the beetle would actually just be a swarm of bats.