Bast.7253

1. Destiny’s Edge - a large crystalline blade made from a piece of Kralkatorik?

2. Oblivion - a dark and twisted ode to Twilight, Sunrise, and Eternity with possible ties to Abaddon.

3. The Sunspear - a greatsword more closely resembling a spear.

We’ve had a charr themed dagger and a demonic themed focus.

Well presumably have an Elonian themed weapon at some point.

Maybe a Harpy themed longbow?

Anyway, what are some of your ideas for the unreleased greatsword or other weapons. I almost jokingly included Fate’s Razor as a possibility.

Last season we had a machine that solved our dragon problem in one episode, so assuming that we need two seasons to figure out how to keep the world safe from kralk’s death is kind of irrelevant. The machine was destroyed but it just goes to show that using any kind of logic on what you think should happen doesn’t really apply when they can create some other easy solution to the problem. We assume Aurene isn’t strong or old enough to take Kralks magic but that doesn’t mean by the end of this season she won’t.

They could, especially if the leaks were true and they do plan on exploring the legion homelands, but I don’t see them dragging Kralkatorrik out for a second expansion when he was already kind of the focus for this one.

In a lot of your arguments I see you applying real world logic as the basis for what you think is going to happen in the game, but anything can happen. Lol

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we saved two inquest members and one says he has a lot of data on Kralkatorrik. I think that data will be more crucial to figuring out out Kralkatorrik problem than them just being there to solve our scarab plague problem. One Audra solved our last elder dragon problem, and now we have three working together. I see Joko being the middle boss of the season with Kralkatorrik being the final similar to last season and a few hints at the next expansion tossed into the last few patches.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Cantha and the legion lands maps have been changed slightly which supports the expansion there, but I also think they’re planning on this season being s but longer.

The only alternative I see is that you are correct about Kralkatorrik being the next expansion and that this episode will be much shorter with the expansion sooner and thus it ties in a little more with the legion maps.

Whatever happens, I still don’t see Joko being the central focus for the remainder of the season given the pace at which were focusing on him but I suppose that could change at any given episode. The next will undoubtedly deal with Joko and the plague but it could wind up being another story filler with no resolution like this episode to draw out the plot a little longer.

I can have my bag slots back!

Does any thought go into these collections?

From bugged events to meta events that require guild runs at specific times during certain days of the week just to complete. I get that some of these collection items are meant to draw people into certain areas that keep the zones lively for new players, but having one event bugged on every map for 2 days straight and another that you have maybe two shots at getting a week if you're on at exactly the right time is ridiculous.

The Zephyr mine refugee event has been bugged since launch and people have complained countless times about the difficulty of Serpent's Ire, yet they're both shoehorned into a collection with no changes to either event.

Serpent's Ire had a minor reward increase but the difficulty is significantly higher than any of the Heart of Thorns map meta events in an already difficult to navigate area.

If collections are created for future patches can some testing be done to ensure that at the very least certain events needed for said collection are functioning properly?

Wow. Lots of good suggestions already. I’d love a dragon mount.

The only thing I’m pretty impatient for and consistently disappointed about are guild updates and decorations.

Getting more functionality for guild halls and a steady stream of decorations would be great for me. The rest I can usually be pretty patient for.

But decorating is kind of my fashion wars equivalent of fashion wars end game. And the scribe system is still a bit of a mess too. :p

The metal structure is an airship. There’s a propeller under the map. Or I guess it could be a boat too but looked like airship.

I think it just seems smaller because it’s cut down the middle of the larger island and there isn’t much to do there outside of bounties and a select few events that are somewhat repeatable. There’s also just a lot of wasted space with pretty scenery around the inquest bases. The whole zone is pretty much just those inquest bases and there isn’t as much verticality as there was in previous maps. Plus the invisible barriers start pretty much at the waters edge.

It’s beautiful scenery but it doesn’t have much depth.

Not sure it’s a map that will keep people going back very often after they’ve finished the collections and it is rather odd that the island seems pretty untouched by humanity for being so close to Istan. Also untouched by branded for being right across from Kralkatorrik current location.

I noticed some of the terrain in the water has some pretty large gaping holes in it but I guess they didn’t expect anyone to swim to those areas since there aren’t any events there.

All in all, pretty but kind of empty for me.

Can he? Wonder what would happen if he were and what the repercussions of it would be with him already having such a large force. Was really hoping to get some more lore on him this episode but I guess not.

Seems odd there isn’t any branded stuff happening in Sandswept with it being right across from where Kralkatorrik is currently perched given Istan was seeing meteors and such at the same or further distance.

Too bad we couldn’t just pull Joko into the portal with us and leave him stranded in outer space. Lol would be hilarious for him to spend eternity stuck there with nobody to rule.

I’ll try to keep mine short.

Pros- lots of great new mechanics and the theme of the episode was executed very well with the espionage inquest spy stuff. I can imagine part of the extended delay was due to the sheer amount of programming that had to go into the various puzzles, ley-line lifting mechanic in the one lab that I’ll admit is rather frustrating, the gravity lab, and the Lonai boss fight and tons of other portal systems this patch.

The events are kind of fun though rather few of them are ones I really have interest in repeating frequently like Palawadan or Great Hall.

The map is pretty and is easy to relax in.

No artificially extending content by forcing heart completion which is GREAT.

Reasons to use multiple different mounts which is great and something that seems it might be a welcomed common theme in the new maps introduced.

Cons - A little more for me as I found this episode less enjoyable than its predecessor.

The initial Inquest lab before you enter Rata Primus has an extremely vague puzzle that’s usually better ignored to kill the Golems.

The story flowed fairly well and all made sense but perhaps moved a bit too quickly and could have developed a little more with the charr before immediately moving on to Inquest invasion.

A strange lack of lore and interactable objects outside of the few inquest notebooks and a couple charr npc’s.

The final instance before meeting Palawa was fun and nicely paced.

Meeting palawa for 2 seconds of dialogue to kill a boss that had no introduction to non-guild wars 1 characters seemed kind of pointless and the encounter does far too much damage to be enjoyable. (Being transported to the different zones was a neat experience though and the encounter aside from the damage was fun just no character build up before hand other than a cameo in the last instance of the previous episode.)

We didn’t really learn anything new to help us in this episode, just that we have two new inquest friends for Taimi that may or may not have something interesting to help us with the scarab plague and Kralkatorrik. So it didn’t really feel like we were progressing the story all that much.

The new map, though it has lovely assets and is nice and relaxing, has significantly less replayability than Istan. We have one small part that’s Charr oriented and the rest is just inquest base with little reason to explore.

The map itself has little to explore but various cave areas that seem to just be magic farming spots. I was kind of expecting some underwater caves and lots of hidden areas but it’s pretty straight forward. Charr village and Inquest facility.

There are maybe a couple events I can see myself repeating such as the wyvern, djinn, specimen, and mark golem, but still don’t really compare to Palawadan or Great Hall.

So I’m short, the story was fast paced and smooth aside from disconnects and stalls but left me feeling like it didn’t really reveal anything I didn’t already know.

The map is pretty but seems to have a little less replayability and has a significant decrease in exploration than Istan. Cutting it off in the middle of the island is a little frustrating as well but it is nice that you can afk somewhere without being drowned in Awakened tar or Jaracanda goo.

Was also really hoping for some new decorations this patch but I hope every patch and am for some reason still surprised and dismayed when there aren’t any. (Don’t know where you went Lake Doric dev that at least added some expensive decorations on a butler for those of us that still care about guild halls.)

The inquest assets are really cool but I hope the next map has a little more depth to it and a little more hidden stuff to find. The art and map design teams as always did a great job with aesthetics and details, just a little more straightforward than I guess I’m used to from most of the other recently added maps.

Oh, WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS MASTERY?

It might come in greater use down the road but aside from an achievement it’s rather useless right now. Long cool down and very few reasons to use it, especially on a character like my ele that only has 11k hp anyway. Lol

Hate saying this as I love the game and think you guys do an amazing job but I’m just a little disappointed this episode and feel like it’s missing something on the story and map front. Only been two days though so maybe I just haven’t given it a complete chance yet.

I will say that I love seeing all these leviathan skeletons in the desert areas. The big fish rib cages. Would be interesting if we got some boss at some point of one still in tact.

So, it probably doesn't amount to much, but a few things I've noticed in the new map -

1. One of the specimens in the chamber is a frog type dragon minion, and all other dragon minions are accounted for by the other 5 specimens. This one seems to me to hint to being a deep sea dragon minion and has somewhat of a fungal breath attack.

2. There is a lot of "eerie driftwood" littered around the map with green fungal mushrooms all over it similar to the frog's attack.

3. There are lots of cave areas with a similar aesthetic, so they could just be nothing but a reused asset throughout the map.

Seems the driftwood at least is a nod to something. It's not just old driftwood, or an elder wood node, it's specifically "eerie" driftwood with glowing fungus all over it and an additional node to gather on top of elder wood node trees. They also give keys occasionally which doesn't really mean anything.

It is interesting to think that the deep sea dragon could be in a giant underground lair under the ocean filled with glowing mushrooms and coral instead of some presumably fish-like or hydra-like creature just swimming around.

Was a bit frustrating actually getting to the new map, but that's in part due to a random disconnect. Only had one, thankfully and there was a checkpoint so I didn't fall too far behind.

As far as the story of this patch, played through it and found myself saying, "meh" and "that's it?"

The final boss encounter was interesting but kind of random, as was most of the other inquest stuff throughout this patch. The big "reveal" was pretty much what we already knew was happening with no plot hangers or suspense for the next episode which isn't a necessity but might have helped my interpretation of this episode.

The map is pretty but it takes quite a while to get to certain events on time. Haven't really found any hidden areas yet but am interested in exploring more.

The mastery is an absolute disappointment though. I'm not sure why it was even added or what its use is intended to be? It doesn't seem very important in the map it's introduced in at least but may be more important down the road.

The new village of individuals introduced seemed extremely random, but the children are cute.

Disappointed that there are no new guild hall decorations, especially with all the seemingly new inquest assets introduced and all the pretty trees in this map. (Don't know why I was expecting anything in this regard as it seems a few new decorations every now and then must take away from gemstore item development time despite having many assets already in-game that people have been asking for.)

Anyway, it feels kind of filler. Pretty map, but the maps are always pretty. Some of the mechanics in this patch must have been a nightmare and probably caused some programming issues that most likely had something to do with the patch delay. (As in boss mechanics, puzzles, and movement mechanics used throughout the story and map.)

Look forward to trying some of the achievements and exploring the map and its events some more though!

I sort of like the awakened Charr vibe from the current combat tonic, but is this model intended?

It kind of looks like some unfinished putty skeleton creature right now. Wasn't sure if this was the intended look or not. I think the only thing I don't like about it if it is intended is the mud texture. Just a little confused as to the description of the tonic compared to the actual model.

If we find joko’s weakness it will probably be in kourna or at his tomb that’s probably some heavily guarded fortress by now.

> @"Deimos.4263" said:

> There is an item visible in decoration storage called a "gilded banner", with no known corresponding scribe recipe. I think it's possible that it was meant to be a banner with the guild emblem on it, not "gilded", but nobody knows how to make one.

>

> I fully agree about some of the decorations they could/should add, and we can only wait and see if they decide to bring out more.

>

> As for items that can't be removed, I would not recommend Windswept Haven to any decoration-focused guild. Far too much is pre-decorated; the original two guild halls have much more bare canvas to work with.

Windswept has a lot of blank space to decorate, it’s just that none of the decorations currently outside of a two expensive wall decorations and pillars and columns for days there aren’t any architectural decorations or a wide variety of flora outside of potted plants that are also expensive and tedious.

I think they would get a lot more use if they had a testing golem, placable chests for player made jumping puzzles, and perhaps a summonable weekly or daily boss or something. But we’re lucky to get guild decorations and a mostly finished new guild hall with how little they seem to want to invest into guild content. I suppose wvw guild changes are the biggest change we will see for the remainder of the franchise.

With all the awkward invisible barriers in Windswept and weird terrain collision it kind of seems like they made a map, threw a few (pretty) usable buildings down and then tossed invisible barriers around the things they didn’t finish or scrapped. Seems like they might have either saved it for last, had significantly fewer people working on it than previous ones, or went through several iterations and couldn’t decide until they finally narrowed it down. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty and the artists do amazing work, but it’s a little disappointing in many ways. Also, no new music or weapons? Wish they would revise Windswept a bit even if it isn’t huge changes but I know I’d have better luck wishing for the lotto. Lol

The heavy plate set also counts towards the achievement for the rev special collection armor I believe so that one is even more expensive, along with the berserker stats. As far as the others I’m not sure. Always wondered why the named ones are so cheap.

I don't know if we'll see Zinn again, but I don't see any reason why we wouldn't have more lore collectables scattered about in this Inquest facility. I mean, who knows, perhaps the scientist we're looking for in this patch is an awakened Zinn that's managed to break somewhat free of Joko's mind control. Similar to Koss.

I find it more interesting that the trailer didn't tease at the mysterious figure from last patch, but I imagine she will have at least a minor role if not be the end boss of this episode. She didn't seem like an extremely important character unless they're going to use her to tie her in to a patch set in Kourna. I'm not too familiar with the lore though so that may not fit.

I kind of feel like we'll be resolving the Joko plot in an episode near his tomb below Vabbi, perhaps after Kourna. And then maybe moving back to a Kralk-centric plot. If that leaks are true, and I'm personally hoping for Cantha but not counting on it, then that would leave them room to do most of the other new episode maps in the legion homelands that received updates.

Really hoping we get to finish unveiling the map of Orr though, like Scavenger's and that big watery area between Siren's and the Cursed Shore. Weren't the artesian waters something significant which is what drew the gods to that location?

It may end up being nothing but there is short dialogue in the shadows headquarters in the desolation with a man standing in front of a door that implies we may at some point see what is behind it. Whatever it is they don't want us seeing it.

It would be interesting to have a story instance there in which we discover the order is at odds with us and we essentially take over their base only to find something more sinister behind that door.

It may just wind up being nothing though.

Certainly seems like they're hinting at the Order being up to something though.

For some reason the vista puzzle seemed harder last time I tried it. Like the area was darker or something. Idk. Definitely not one I want to repeat if I don't have to. That whole dredge area is just terrible. If I were a new player and I walked into that field of instant death and knockbacks I'd probably have a pretty bad taste in my mouth. lol

But then again I hate pretty much anything having to do with dredge.

> @"Mickey Frogeater.1470" said:

> > @"Daishi.6027" said:

> > Clearly it means Zhaitan was a Joko minion all along, and we're finally getting the proper fight.

> >

> > Either that or the tree got screwed again, or corrupted...

> >

> > It could also be GW2's version of Hal9000, or another crazy Sylvari, never get tired of killing those or anything.

>

> Why not combine the theories in a way: Zhaitan could be an Awakened created by the Sphere of Death and Shadow Palawa Joko and the Nightmare that Faolain embraced on Orr could be yet another manifestation of Joko's presence.

Idk about all that. But it would be pretty interesting if Joko were some remnant of one of Zhaitan's previous awakenings cycles. Though he appears to have potentially been human at some point even though it's hard to tell now.

Still really hoping we find out the origin of Joko this season though. Even if some people argue that it isn't necessary.

There was actually a shadow in Aurene's vision that looked like Scarlett but it may have just been an awakened with a weird headdress.

But no, I do not believe in the slightest that she is coming back.

Given that some of the shots with the ogre buildings are Desert Highlands, it would be interesting if the actual map we're getting is a lot more varied than what little we may or may not have seen of it in this trailer.

I loved the variation we got with Ishtan though so I imagine this will be quite nice as well. Just hoping half the zone isn't inside of the Inquest lab. Unless it's just really intricate and filled with lots of little hidden areas, lore objects, and maybe a jumping puzzle or something.

There’s like 10 threads on this