Bast.7253

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> The disembodied voices I think are the elemental spirits that are mentioned in the trailer and articles - namely the deer mount NPC, which I think is likely going to be GW2's Kirin replacement, and the voice(s) likely belong to that.

>

> Also, I don't think the drowning is literal - Dessa first says "that feeling will drown you if you let it", implying that the "we won't let you drown" is her talking to the acolyte person (final boss I assume) who's emotions are being drowned out by the disturbed elements.

>

> Trailer transcript:

>

> Voice 1: This mountain's natural elements are deeply disturbed. Please, you must hurry.

> "Acolyte": I'll give you anything.

> Dessa: Uh, my research doesn't say anything about disembodied voices.

> "Acolyte": Why are you even here? Go away!

> Dessa: That feeling will drown you if you let it!

> "Acolyte": I said leave!

> Dessa: We won't let you drown!

> "Acolyte": I warned you!

>

> I don't think you can drown when on top of a mountain plateau... Nor do any of the trailer indicates the water is rising above the mountain.

>

> Also curious why Dessa cares about a Fractal individual - "we won't let you drown" doesn't seem to be directed to the players, unless they took the lines _really_ out of context for the trailer, and instead seems like the "we" she's using refers to Dessa and the party.

But out of all the verbs, they chose drown? Just seems like an odd choice to me. From the trailer it does seem to be implying the boss but the way these trailers are spliced together it may be a different encounter.

I hope that isn't the replacement for Kirin. It may be a placeholder so the model doesn't get spoiled later on. If it's referencing the spirits are they really disembodied? It doesn't seem like this would be Dessa's first run-in with spirits but I suppose that could be it.

I suppose it could be nothing and just a repurposed fractal set to a Canthan theme to create hype, but I'm hoping it has some hints to the upcoming expansion and lore. It feels like there will be something significant as they're locking the challenge mode behind the story collection achievement and they really seem to be hammering on the story bit a lot. But as to why or how I'm not sure. I guess we'll finally know more tomorrow.

I wonder why the Acolyte says "I'll give you anything" and who it's talking to though? I'm assuming it's telling US to "go away" so it doesn't seem like it would be saying "I'll give you anything" to us. Unless they're insane and flipping between two scripts.

> @"Tyson.5160" said:

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

> > > @"Bast.7253" said:

> > > Still, it feels like they're really emphasizing the story for some reason and given the timing I would have to think it has something to do with the upcoming expansion. They've teased about this being "surprising" since they first mentioned Guild Wars Beyond, insisting that it would be important 250 years later. What would be important now, assuming it's the same "surprise" they're referencing?

> > >

> > > And what would cause such an elemental imbalance?

> > >

> > > I'm not insisting that it is the DSD or its minions that we will see in the Fractal, but I'm struggling to think of what would cause such an imbalance.

> >

> > Did they say that it was specifically the water area that is causing the imbalance? I didn't watch the full stream, but from my understanding, they never specified what's causing the elements' imbalance, but did strongly suggest that the water area is similar to the air and fire sections.

> >

> > > If we're just going solely based on what was happening during this time period I'm not sure what would be "surprising" if the only options are known. Surprising implies something we didn't know or didn't expect. (One could argue that many people are "expecting" DSD so it doesn't count as "surprising", but it would be if we only consider in-game lore.)

> > >

> > > You're not throwing out any other suggestions.

> >

> > Well, one thing I've come to learn about ANet and "surprises" is that whenever they promote some massive reveal, it is either a) coming out of literally nowhere or b) been speculated and suggested for months by the community to the point where it's anything but a surprise.

> >

> > As such, I feel like the result will be either "water elementals" (if B ), or something brand new with no prior hints in the lore (if A).

> >

> > > @"Tyson.5160" said:

> > > Well they did mention this regarding the DSD in the movement of the world:

> > >

> > > “ In the deepest waters of the sea, another dragon breathed, twisting the waters themselves into tentacled horrors that rose from every lake and river of the land.”

> > >

> > > So this could apply to Shing Jea if it’s close to the dragons awakening zone.

> > >

> > > The DSD awakening also fits in the between Winds of Change and GW2.

> > >

> > > Also seems like there is some sort of connection with the expansion too, don’t recall where this was mentioned guild chat maybe?

> >

> > They did establish that this is a teaser for the expansion. But I felt that it's more a teaser because this is our first look at legit Canthan assets.

> >

> > Ironically, they said that this is the first time we see Cantha in-game, but Solid Ocean Fractal is just as much in Cantha as this fractal, technically. It's just that this fractal was build in-mind with the expansion and its new art assets.

> >

> > > @"EdwinLi.1284" said:

> > > Story wise, the Elder Dragon's have been properly contained within the current known area of the game being basically only 20% of the entire planet while the rest of the planet (and civilizations beyond our current region we have never known about such as the potential location that could have been Utopia in GW1) are probably completely unaware of the Elder Dragons due to never having any contact with the regions we current know about.

> > I don't got much to comment on your post, but just one small correction: Utopia was to take place in the Mists, not in the world of Tyria.

>

> Having more of a chance to mull over some of this, I wonder if we will have a first look at corrupted water elementals from the DSD as a sort of sneak peak of the new dragon minions, something along the lines of the husks and thorn wolves during episode 1 of season 2. They could be corrupted, but the local people are not sure from what.

There’s also Dessa’s dialogue in the background. “Disembodied voices” and “I’m not gonna let you drown.”

> @"Sifu.9745" said:

> I play Staff + P/P or SB Thief and my survivability is quite high thx to infinite dodges and Stealth (much higher than Repaer with zero survivability), but dmg on Staff is a bit low, lower then double Pistol dmg lol. Anyway Staff is the most fun Thief's weapon imo and is easy to play for a casual like me.

>

> Edit: About "Thief has no dmg": yesterday a stealthy dagger/pistol thief deleted my Thief three times in a row within 3 -5 seconds in unranked pvp! I didn't even realized what's going on. 50% + health gone from a stealth attack (backstab i guess), another 50% in next 3 to max 5 seconds before i was able to react (it was night and i was a bit sleepy with low concentration but anyway, dmg was just absurd) I have never experienced such a brutal burst before. Show me any other profession that can burst you down so quickly, with exception of burn Guardian.

Yeah, I've always enjoyed staff but it just has no place in this meta.

Tried a few games earlier and it's just way too much effort to land any damage, and the damage you do land pales in comparison to some block spam core symbol/burn guard.

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> Since the announcement that Expac 3 will come out next year, we can be certain that there won't be a LW season following the Icebrood Saga.

He meant episode, not new season.

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> > @"Tyson.5160" said:

> > > @"Svennis.3852" said:

> > > During the live stream too the host, Rubi Bayer, did specifically mention that the peak was fractured/floating because weird kitten happens when locations/moments in history are pulled from the real world into the Mists.

> > >

> > > Edit: They did mention the fractal was about quelling the elementals (water, wind, fire, maybe earth) on the mountain, so I doubt we'll see any Ministry or DSD minions (though something they did could be what caused the imbalance).

> >

> > Maybe we will see the DSD minions in the water area of the fractal.

>

> I doubt this for three reasons:

>

> 1. Time period; this is supposed to be when Cantha is "on the verge" of going isolationist, which means it happens years or maybe a couple decades after GW1's time. While the DSD is heavily hinted to be the second Elder Dragon to wake up, it woke up in the ocean depths; and even if we're just talking about some champion herald like the Great Destroyer, I feel like that's too great a thing to come out of nowhere pre-isolation.

> 2. Fractal theme; as mentioned, the fractal theme is about "quelling the elements", and that's what all the other enemies are (elementals) except for the final boss, and among the elements mentioned is water. Dragon minions != elementals. Curiously enough, this game does not have any water elementals (or any elementals that are fought underwater either). So any 'water elemental' enemy would be brand new, and they may want to keep the brand new model a surprise for xyz reason.

> 3. Location; the fractal is a mountain, in the dead center of Shing Jea Island. Odd place for dragon minions for the deep sea dragon to be - even if it is a fractal.

Still, it feels like they're really emphasizing the story for some reason and given the timing I would have to think it has something to do with the upcoming expansion. They've teased about this being "surprising" since they first mentioned Guild Wars Beyond, insisting that it would be important 250 years later. What would be important now, assuming it's the same "surprise" they're referencing?

And what would cause such an elemental imbalance?

I'm not insisting that it is the DSD or its minions that we will see in the Fractal, but I'm struggling to think of what would cause such an imbalance.

Also, the mountain is on an island. It's not like it's in the middle of the continent so it's not that farfetched.

I don't have any suggestions as to what it could be but I did find the appearance of the black-tinted elemental/orbs interesting in the teaser. If they are water elementals it's an odd choice to go with black. Unless it's some mechanic meant to be used within the fractal and inconsequential. Or it could be water elementals that have been corrupted/twisted by the DSD.

If we're just going solely based on what was happening during this time period I'm not sure what would be "surprising" if the only options are known. Surprising implies something we didn't know or didn't expect. (One could argue that many people are "expecting" DSD so it doesn't count as "surprising", but it would be if we only consider in-game lore.)

You're not throwing out any other suggestions.

Don't think thief would get another permastealth long-ranged weapon again.

Also don't think anyone is getting a "no-weapon" based spec. If anything they'd probably get dual-focus (if that's programatically possible) and they would look like fist-weapons.

Personally I think it's far more likely for us to get a new race at this point than it is a new profession. A new profession would involve core + 3 elite specs and we already have all armor weights at 3 each.

I could be wrong and wouldn't mind having another profession, just don't think it's likely when they could just find a way to bake it into something else that already exists as an elite spec.

""The next major story arc that will be happening will be taking place in Cantha, for Winds of Change. This is going to be a pretty big tale, that helps set the stage for some of the events to come- important history by the time of Guild Wars 2, which is some 250 years in the future. Additionally, players will also see some new content going into the game for Wintersday, and there'll be our planned feature build that we'll talk about some more as we get closer to its release!""

This was in reference to Guild Wars Beyond. So whatever the tale is is probably the same one. Another quote mentioned the same, "things people will be surprised by."

In terms of being a big tale and setting the stage for events to come, that could really be anything but the fact that it's important now in Guild Wars 2 would make me think it's dragon related.

This seems like it's around the time life has started to return to Echovald and parts of the Jade Sea have supposedly been turning back. I'm not sure how much of it is truly relevant to the current story though. It seems like they already had the fractal together somewhat and repurposed it. So the fact that the peak is splintered and floating in the mists makes me think that it's not going to be immediately relevant.

Unless the Cantha we're going to is splintered floating rocks. Then again they also said that they wanted the fractal to feel like Cantha but not spoil the surprise of seeing it in the open world when the expansion releases. So, who knows really. It doesn't seem like it can be something that ACTUALLY happened but I suppose it could be something that happened in an alternate reality but still sheds light onto our current predicament?

> @"Lonami.2987" said:

> If it were on my hands, the next release would be a Vision of the Past, featuring either Ryland between episodes 2 and 3, or Asgeir Dragonrender's original battle against Jormag, and episode 5 would feature the Frost Legion attacking Primordus.

>

> I would also open the Dominion of Winds during this conflict.

Possibly, but assuming we're following the teaser it seems like we still have some Centaur/Human conflict. For the next Vision we could also be following along some of the refugees that evacuated Drizzlewood before the hostile takeover of the Dominion which could potentially lead us into a new map south or west of Drizzlewood or just set us up for the plot of the next episode on a completely other region.

Ryland seems a little less likely right now simply because we already had one on him and he's kind of met his fate now. Aesgir could be interesting in terms of revealing more about Jormag.

> @"Tony.8659" said:

> Hmmm or maybe it can be later. I think they want to add all the voice back in the previous LS episodes then start on the next one. Maybe before the halloween event there might be a new one. The halloween event should start this year on Tuesday Oct. 13th last year was on the 15th. Ready for Lab farming :D

At the end of the new fractal livestream they mentioned a bonus event involving fractals instead of world bosses 2 weeks from next Tuesday. So I imagine that will fill the time before Halloween.

If we get another living world episode this year it will likely be in between Halloween and Christmas but they may opt for a vision to fill that time slot and restart the saga next year.

No boon gain mini-season and wvw event.

Let's see how this game plays without boon spam.

> @"VocalThought.9835" said:

> Although Tengu was not announced for the expansion and racial abilities aren't that important, what abilities you think they would have if they were in the game? What biography options you think they would have in character creation?

For racial? I feel like it would be somekind of levitate/fly off the ground invuln. Or perhaps a short cooldown ammo-ability that lets them leap back/forward in the air at a significant height.

For bio, I don't know anything about Tengu culture but there are multiple tribes, right? So I imagine that would be an option. I've never really bothered to read the bios, tbh.

> @"BnooMaGoo.5690" said:

> I hope there is nothing like this particular chapter in the next expansion

> Storywise it was fine but having to fight Balthazar again & again only to face that sponge & failing miserably twice already kinda left a bad taste in my mouth. I had to read up about ways to beat/cheese it

> (made the mistake of playing my Warrior character & I am not the best player which I am ok with)

> Will I ever finish Path of Fire to begin the grind for the mounts etc?

>

> Koda the judge & Kodan the jury

>

> peace

lol I had to do it like 5 times but it was because the chain of instances kept crashing the game at some point. It would just d/c and lose progress. Honestly it still might do it. I had that problem with multiple story instances during Path of Fire. I can't remember what I had to do to (seemingly) fix it at the time being but I think having certain checkpoints during these instances would be ideal. It feels like they just wind up adding them in later anyway.

> @"Tony.8659" said:

> Just came here to guess when it might be out, my guess sometime this month if we are going by how often they release them. I was checking the wiki it's almost like clockwork, every two months. July was the last one, skip Aug. now maybe before the end of Sept. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Release

True, but we also have to take into account that the slots were mentioned near the beginning of the saga in which the studio was adamant about not having any expansions planned in which they presumably wouldn't have started working on the final episodes. So for all we know they may have shifted the schedule/story to make way for the expansion. Meaning, they may release something smaller like a vision with some episodes next year spaced out enough to make room for the expansion, if there are even that many episodes planned left. They may have changed direction and the original predicted 4 episodes/2 maps may be less now. (This is of course assuming they weren't lying about having an expansion planned and started development after the saga was released/during, which I truly don't think they were. Especially given that I think this was around the time Mike Z. left.)

It just seems unlikely that we will have an episode this month given they released their "plan" for this quarter and it only mentioned the fractal. I feel like they would have mentioned an episode release.

> @"Fenom.9457" said:

> > @"coso.9173" said:

> > > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > > Or, next week's release might just be the new Fractal, and little else. /shrug

> >

> > i doubt it, since IbS started we've consistently had a new episode every 2 months.

>

> They used a vision as an in between once - maybe they’ll use the fractal like that now? It depends on just how much content coms with it like achievements and skins and such

Judging by the teaser, not much. Some new colors of fractal weapons is all I’ve distinctly seen. But I guess we’ll know next week. If it were a lot more I feel like they would have included it in the blog post.

> @"Blocki.4931" said:

> > @"Tayga.3192" said:

> > > @"Kadsik.9281" said:

> > > other than some of those building assets, most of what's in the trailer looks pretty similar to what we've seen in past content before.

> >

> > They look like a mix of Caledon Forest and Metrica Province.

>

> You seriously basing this on the ground texture and rocks you see or what?

> Nothing in that video gave me that vibe at all.

It looks like bits of Dragon Stand with Volcanic Fractal oddly thrown in.

I’d have to agree that the video, at least on my phone, looks a bit flat compared to the zones they’ve released. It looks a bit like something they already had done and threw in some oriental buildings and pink cherry blossoms to give it a Canthan vibe.

> @"Stephen.6312" said:

> > @"Bast.7253" said:

> > And everyone keeps on insisting that Jormag is out to get Primordus because they're each other's natural weaknesses, but wouldn't eliminating him just potentially give the remaining elder dragons that same advantage?

> >

> > It feels like they would be better teaming up, at least until they're the last two. Though I'd imagine Jormag took a journey through

> > Tyria for a reason, and the only reason I can think of is to provoke Primordus somehow.

> >

> > And yeah, I don't think Jormag is afraid at all. Jormag will likely be the cause of the threat whether we realize it at first or not. All about coercion.

>

> I guess it would be foolhardly to rule out the idea that Jormag has beef with Primordus. Maybe Jormy intends to kill Prim, or maybe Jormy wants to wake Prim up before the DSD makes it's move.

No I definitely get it, and I'm not against it. I'm just wondering if the same weakness would apply should one of them fall and the other dragons take on their domains. If this is a domain thing and not some inner-workings of the All that we'll never really understand. There may be something deeper given that the All needs at least 4 dragons alive before shit hits the fan. I'm assuming they must be on opposing sides instead of 3 on 1 and 1 on the other. So the domains probably get shifted to balance it out.

I'd also assume that killing Primordus right now would be pretty detrimental in that case, as it seems like it would just empower the DSD (who presumably already counters Aurene naturally) and potentially empower it above the levels of Aurene and Jormag. I would have to assume that either Primordus or DSD would have to be the next to be replaced and that killing Jormag simply isn't an option right now, as whatever potential replacement we find in Cantha may not balance things out if it's replacing Jormag.

We're in a weird spot right now because we killed Zhaitan and Mordremoth who countered each other, and Aurene immediately assumed Kralk's role so we don't really know the rules about what would happen if we killed another one besides it needing at least 4 to remain balanced.

I wonder if Forsaken Cliffs is where the Cliffside fractal takes place? The Colossus did move North from somewhere according to the torch collection. So much we haven't seen. Olympus and Arid sound really interesting.

> @"Linken.6345" said:

> Here you go.

>

> 

>

>

> Edit

> We are currently in Kryta and Cantha is way to the south if you dont want to click the link.

It's crazy to think about how little we've seen of the planet. Even Cantha in this map is about the size of the explored playable area. Of course the geography has changed a bit since then but still. I wonder if they will find a way to make the maps larger in the next expansion?

I was always hoping for a fractal series spanning over pre-destroyed Orr and Arah.

Visions of the Past could be a great candidate for implementing this as well but they seem like they're meant to be directly tied to the story.

I'm guessing they've never done anything with it because the city itself pre-destruction, might be kind of hard to envision or they feel they can't do it justice. It's kind of one of those things where they're probably afraid to touch it because they feel that the player's imagination is going to be better than what they push out. Or not. It may just be the fact that they would likely have to create a ton of assets for it.

And everyone keeps on insisting that Jormag is out to get Primordus because they're each other's natural weaknesses, but wouldn't eliminating him just potentially give the remaining elder dragons that same advantage?

It feels like they would be better teaming up, at least until they're the last two. Though I'd imagine Jormag took a journey through

Tyria for a reason, and the only reason I can think of is to provoke Primordus somehow.

And yeah, I don't think Jormag is afraid at all. Jormag will likely be the cause of the threat whether we realize it at first or not. All about coercion.

I'm pretty wore out from speculation and letting my mind wander. We might have some hint of the environment with next week's fractal. As to the rest it's too early to really tell anything.

I don't think there will be new mounts though, especially now that the skimmer is underwater. I was holding out hope they would release the spider mount to crawl up walls at some point, but we already have that with springer and skyscale so there isn't much need.

As far as crafts go I could see them upgrading jeweling but I don't know what they would add to it unless they added somekind of ability augmenting mechanic or something that justified the skill upgrade. Maybe infusions? Unlikely as those seem to be the cherry on top for living world and other content releases with dismal rng.

I do think we will see Tengu and am not counting them out as a potential playable race despite what everyone else says.

As far as what I expect from Cantha, I'm hoping we get all of the GW1 zones at release, including Echovald, and then get a few living world maps south where we haven't been before and maybe even the islands to the west at some point. I know we had a lot of human lore with Elona but this feels like the perfect opportunity to explore more in-depth the origins of humanity's arrival on Tyria.

Is there even anyone left besides Braham and Rhytlock and the occasional appearance of Marjory and Kas?

If I had to choose it would be Aurene, Canach, Taimi, Anise, and Faren. Oh, and that random Norn in HoT whose partner was eaten by a Vinetooth because the poor guy needs to move on with his life. I don't really mind Rhytlock either, just leave Braham and Caithe out of the picture. Both of them seem to always manage to make the story completely about them. And Marjory and Kas are either too cutesy together or bickering which doesn't really add anything to the story. :expressionless:

I'd have to imagine Canach will be there though. Just think of all of the shady things he could get into in Kaening.

> @"Zok.4956" said:

> > @"Bast.7253" said:

> > > @"Fueki.4753" said:

> > > > @"Kalythsu.8350" said:

> > > > Episode 5 october 2020

> > > > Episode 6 december 2020

> > > > Episode 7 february 2020

> > > > Episode 8 : April 2020

> > > > Expansion : September 2021

> > >

> > > That's a very optimistic view.

> > >

> > > I'd say we get the vision we are allegedly getting next at the end of Septembre and then an episode every three months.

> > > That'd place episode 8 somewhere in Autumn 2021.

> > > If we get not epilogue, the expansion got launch in time for the Yule festivities in Decembre 2021.

> > > If we get an epilogue, the expansion would launch two to three months into 2022 (possibly overlapping with Chinese New Year in February).

> > >

> > > And I hope they take the time to make it good instead of the low quality of Season 5.

> >

> > Given the recent world events and the delay from Covid, the fact that a studio who is usually pretty candid about details in general, specifically stated 2021 as the release date... I'm going to say that 2021 is pretty assured. Not saying it couldn't be December, but I doubt they would say 2021 as confidently as they have if they had even the slightest hesitation of it being postponed to 2022.

>

> I am pretty sure, that they have internally an estimated release date and a latest release date. And that they will release the game in the worst case at the latest release date and will ship all the things, that they have until then (without telling us, what was planned and is not finished/shipped).

>

> Remember the Gen. 2 legendary weapons of HoT? I am pretty sure a full set was planned for the HoT release, but it took much longer than estimated, so they shipped HoT only with 3 legendary weapons and not a full set. And said, that the remaining ones will be delivered later.

>

> > Depending on the team size, which we don't have any solid information on, they could have people rotating between living story episodes or have a much larger team working on the expansion in general. I don't remember how many people they have at the studio or the associated roles, but I believe it was 400 or so before the layoffs? So presumably still 200 people or so? Could be wrong on that.

>

> Between 200-270 remained after the lay-offs and it was said, that these will not work on other "side projects", but will focus exclusively on GW2. So a lot of people hoped, that we would get more content (per month/quarter etc...) for GW2 than what we got before the lay-offs when (most of) the company worked on several unannounced side-projects.

>

> > The content we get now feels like it's made by significantly fewer. So either they've shifted a lot to other projects or they've shifted them off to the expansion. It really doesn't feel like they were working on this "all along" and lied about it, it seems like they quickly shifted gears at some point and started on it.

>

> During the announcements of the Season 5 / Saga, Anet said, that the Saga is the way how Anet wants to deliver new content instead of an Expansion and that they are not working on an Expansion and that they are not planning to (at that time).

>

> And still, we only got half an Saga-episode every two month. The amount of content we got every two months never felt like the whole company was working on the Saga.

>

> My guess is, that they internally decided end of 2019 / beginning of 2020 to make an expansion. And that all the (bigger) things that were planned for the Saga are now delayed and will be included in the Expansion.

>

> >So I'm going to assume they've got a pretty large team working on it.

>

> We actually do not know if Anet is only working on the Saga (a little bit) and on the Expansion (a lot), or if they are again working on unannounced side-projects.

>

>

That is the biggest question for me. 200-270 people seems like a lot, especially what they're rolling out now. (Which is probably made by much smaller teams.) So are the remaining people going ham on the expansion or did they shift 100 or more people over to other projects?

I can understand the studio wanting to diversify their product, I just wish they'd go all out with this expansion. Obviously throwing more bodies at something isn't going to result in a better product, but knowing that full resources and attention are being focused on it would be ideal. Especially given how the past couple of seasons have gone and the significance of the location of this expansion and what it means to the people that have wanted it for such a long time.

Hoping for an awesome teaser tomorrow for the fractal and some exciting other news with the patch. I'd have to imagine it's more than just a fractal though I don't think it will come with a vision or an episode. I'm wondering if they saved the Legendary Armory for the expansion or if that's something that could be coming with this patch.

> @"Kalythsu.8350" said:

> Jormag wants to preserve life and Tyria. But what about Primordius. My theory is that Primordius is the enemy Jormag fears.

>

> Why? I think that after the events of episode 5 of season 3, Primordius realized that Jormag is his weak point and by the time she lives, he will be vulnerable. Then it is not Jormag who wants to attack Primordius, it is Primordius who wants to attack Jormag and kill him ^^

>

> And if Jormag has the ability to travel in the Mists (as Kralkatorrik could after eating Balthazar's magic) it means that Kralaktorrik's magic was released in Lines of Force when he died.

>

> Remember that Taimi said that the closer a dragon is, the more it absorbs the other dragon's magic compared to the more distant ones. And when Kralkatorrik died, after Aurene it was Primordius the closest. My guess is that this accelerated his awakening process and that he is determined to devour Jormag to eliminate his only weakness ^^

>

> Moreover, the logo of the Living World often takes the color of the dragons (season 1 and 2 black in relation to Zhaitan? Season 3 green in relation to Mordremoth? Season 4 purple in relation to Kralkatorrik?) and the saga (or season 5 call it what you want ^^) is blue and red. Blue would represent Jormag but red? Primordius?

>

> Then I saw this Thermal Conduit also on the new map, you can hear rumbles while staying a little bit on the place. The concern is the Fire Imps and Fire Effigies that may reveal it's more related to the Legion of Flame.

To be honest I don't think Jormag really "fears" anything. I think the "threat on the horizon" could be Primordus, or something else entirely, but I think Jormag will be the one to attract its attention/provoke it. Jormag never corrupts anything without it giving in, but that doesn't mean it doesn't eliminate the other choices and trick its victim into thinking it's being a savior.

I think Jormag will be the one to strike the first blow here. And Aurene mentioned that Jormag was moving through Tyria using the mists but didn't seem to understand why. Perhaps it's already provoking Primordus.

I wondered why in another thread Jormag would do this and move from its current spot, but it makes sense if the destination is just to provoke Primo, and potentially lure it back to us who (as the commander's perspective) will be non-the-wiser and just assume that Primordus is making a move. So, less about fear of Primordus awakening and more faking fear entrapping us in an alliance and eliminating her weakness. This seems like a sneaky way to get us involved and by extension Aurene.

The bigger question is what will happen as a result. Will we kill Primordus? Will they kill each other? Will we just kill Jormag? Would Aurene survive absorbing both magics if they were to both die? If they both were to die how much time would we have to find replacements?

It's also possible that we could take a step back, be side-tracked to Cantha as Jormag and Primordus wage war on each other, knowing that we need to be prepared.

(Another possibility is that Jormag and Primordus are already secretly aligned and playing a game against us and Aurene, and the blue and red in the logo isn't so much a clashing as much as it is a blending/pairing representing a truce/alliance.)

After all, we know Primordus and Jormag are each other's weaknesses, but do we know why? What happens if one dies? Won't another dragon or all other dragons potentially absorb whatever trait causes them to be their weakness? So by eliminating this ONE elder dragon, aren't you potentially creating the potential for more to exploit you?

And in terms of cycles, Tyria would be forced into a heating/thawing cycle that balances itself out with neither dragon really having to go anywhere near each other.

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> > @"Kalythsu.8350" said:

> > Episode 5 october 2020

> > Episode 6 december 2020

> > Episode 7 february 2020

> > Episode 8 : April 2020

> > Expansion : September 2021

>

> That's a very optimistic view.

>

> I'd say we get the vision we are allegedly getting next at the end of Septembre and then an episode every three months.

> That'd place episode 8 somewhere in Autumn 2021.

> If we get not epilogue, the expansion got launch in time for the Yule festivities in Decembre 2021.

> If we get an epilogue, the expansion would launch two to three months into 2022 (possibly overlapping with Chinese New Year in February).

>

> And I hope they take the time to make it good instead of the low quality of Season 5.

Given the recent world events and the delay from Covid, the fact that a studio who is usually pretty candid about details in general, specifically stated 2021 as the release date... I'm going to say that 2021 is pretty assured. Not saying it couldn't be December, but I doubt they would say 2021 as confidently as they have if they had even the slightest hesitation of it being postponed to 2022.

With covid and the voice acting fiasco, they're still saying 2021. So I'd imagine they've made a lot more headway than the purely artistic teaser would imply.

They're pretty skilled at pushing out detailed maps and art aesthetics quickly so I'd imagine the most development time will be going into presumed new elite specs/whatever feature they decide to add as the highlight for the expansion. Even the story they're generally pretty quick with.

Depending on the team size, which we don't have any solid information on, they could have people rotating between living story episodes or have a much larger team working on the expansion in general. I don't remember how many people they have at the studio or the associated roles, but I believe it was 400 or so before the layoffs? So presumably still 200 people or so? Could be wrong on that.

The content we get now feels like it's made by significantly fewer. So either they've shifted a lot to other projects or they've shifted them off to the expansion. It really doesn't feel like they were working on this "all along" and lied about it, it seems like they quickly shifted gears at some point and started on it. So I'm going to assume they've got a pretty large team working on it.

Anyway, that's all beside the point. I don't think August/September is unrealistic. I wouldn't be surprised to see it in December but once you approach October you start getting into the long string of the most popular festival content. Releasing in early fall would be ideal in terms of release spacing and would align with the anniversary.

Of course I'd love to be wrong and have this thing be out much earlier in 2021, but unless they've completely shifted this living season around and cut it short we're only halfway there.