Hypnowulf.7403

I personally disagree regarding Ryland. I find Ryland's exploration fascinating. I mean, he's one of the most interesting depictions of emotional damage I've seen—and how the community reacts to him due to whom he represents, whom he stands against, and that he isn't human is equally as revealing. Some of the things Guild Wars 2 does are eerily reminiscent of a social experiment. I want that data! I mean, seriously, Ryland is the result of being groomed by a dark triad psychopath with delusions of grandeur. He's been made familiar with his parents and he's had to witness their deterioration at the hands of Bangar's manipulation and gaslighting too. (Bangar gaslit both Rytlock and Crecia hard, proper gaslighting too. There's some very real psychology chops involved in this storyline.) Ryland growing up feeling as though he had no out from our least favourite charr Nazi's genocidal hate machine and then suddenly having one has... resulted in a character that I find exceedingly compelling. Of course, there are those who'd blame him but it's quite the zeitgeist's joie de vivre to blame the victim, spice of life that is. I don't want to watch Bangar do the same to the Commander/Aurene but I worry I'll endure that before this story is over. If it does happen, I do understand the necessity of its depiction regardless. It's just not something I'm likely to enjoy. A greater awareness thereof though would be sorely appreciated. I find that most don't understand that monsters aren't as easily spotted in reality as they are in fantasy—they're expert chameleons, charismatic, "nice" even to those whom they have use for. The peculiarity of the identities of Ryland and Jormag alike are visible so the assumption is that if they aren't familiar, if they're upsettingly strange, then naturally they must be the villain of the piece. The average person believes they're far better at spotting monsters than they actually are. So, yes. I would enjoy further exploration of Ryland, Jormag, and this story. That said, I would also enjoy seeing the return of Blish.

I don't see how it could cheapen it—that he had to go through that doesn't change and, to be frank, I feel rather blasé with the _suffering is beauty_ trope. I had enough of that from George R. R. Martin. I'm frankly a little fed up with it. I mean, not everyone in existence is some kind of dark triad monster. Some of us like it when a story ends on a high point where people can be happy and losses can be rectified. A brilliant example of that was .hack//SIGN, which did result in people being woken from comas, everything just worked out for the cast and it was brilliant. I don't feel that's any less emotional. I'd be very happy to see Blish return because that'd be a testament to hope rather than lessening the impact of Braham's romanticism. I feel that Blish was a figure of hope while he was there so him returning would be indicative of a turning tide, that we're actually beating back the Torment and progressing toward a future where the peoples of this once wretched world can be free from suffering. Guild Wars 2 is slowly wrapping up. I'd love for it to end on a high note. Happy endings all around! No, not that kind. Get your mind out of the gutter. Really though, I would love that. A world of peace under the guardianship of elder dragons. So, anyway, yes. Blish should return if they can swing that with the voice actor.

I've been musing over what a tengu engineer would look like. I wonder given their aesthetic if it would yield the power of wind—using special axes with rotary blades. That'd be pretty fun. Lots of crowd control and condition damage options. It would behoove them to have a Mary Poppins ability as well as an alternative to gliding down when tossed up into the air. I would be all for that. I'm also envisioning a support swiftness move with their axes held out in front of them. It'd look utterly ridiculous. Everything about this elite spec would and I'm already a little bit too into it.

If I recall, he simply shut down his higher functions. If my understanding of ausran technoturgy is correct, then his spirit would be bound in a sleeping limbo until either the golem's power fails or his higher functions are reactivated. Thus, if he were brought back, it would be as simple as a group excavating the remains of Kralkatorrik finding this odd golem and re-enabling those higher functions. As such, Blish could return entirely out of left field with little explanation necessary other than he was found and reactivated. If they can get the voice actor back, I find this approach much more appealing as he could just sort of stroll into the scene as though everything were as usual followed by Taimi and Gorrik just freaking the heck out and fawning over him happily.

@"Oxstar.7643" This is what frustrates me about the current storyline. The average, normative mind has it that dark triad people are their friends and HSPs are deadly enemies and it's very tiresome. I mean, you can see that in how billionaires are defended—it's the differently abled, immigrants, and foreigners who're the real villains. The way people look at the world is topsy-turvy and wrong. I mean, with Jormag, they're clear as day a traumatised, jaded HSP to me. All they've done is tried to defend their babies—such as Drakkar—and save lives. I mean, what they did with the charr war ended it quickly, decisively, and with the least amount of lost life. The collaring of Bangar was clever. If Jormag was a villain, there were far more harmful and destructive things they could've done whilst still maintaining a veneer of innocence. It's what they choose to do and how they go about it that tells me their truth. As an HSP myself? I've tried to help "normal" people. The problem is is that "normal" people don't believe that kindness motivated by empathy can exist. It's a manipulation, a means of control, or I'm trying to reduce them and take their place, I'm attacking them either directly or abstractly by attempting to replace them in regards to their social standing. This is the kind of world they live in, and it's... sickening. I mean, Jormag's only known norns who've been brainwashed by evil Spirits—who _eat children_—to throw away their lives in an effort to kill them. The Spirits want to eat Jormag, to take their place, so what do they do? "Oh hi norns, we're your Gods now. We say what it means to be a complete norn. So amuse us, almost die for us by attacking Jormag and their lot. If you do, maaaybe we'll bestow upon you your form and then you can be a true norn." We see this happening to Braham with Wolf in the Icebrood Saga itself. So on one side, Jormag is being hunted by the Spirits. On the other, Jormag is being hunted by a very abusive dragon with anger management issues—that'd be Primordus—and all they can really do is run and hide. Aurene noticed this when Jormag first woke up, that they're just running around in the Mists, they aren't eating, destroying, corrupting, or anything. They're just running scared. Even with Lake Doric, if Primordus had taken it it would've resulted in stampedes. So many would've died. Jormag saved lives. It doesn't matter, because an elder dragon can't be selfless. I mean, this thread even deals with distrust for Aurene. Why? Aurene is very "foreign," she's not very dark triad-y, so she's distrusted. We live in Topsy Turvia. I've been dealing with this my whole life as an HSP. I've made my mistakes—just as Jormag and Aurene have—but what I want is always to help. It doesn't matter because my kind of person can't exist. There always has to be some scheme, some plot, some vile machination. Meanwhile, dark triad persons—who're brilliant chameleons—continue to groom people into being ever more easily manipulated by them. It's very tiring. So, yes, Joramg's a traumatised, jaded HSP—but because HSPs can't exist and Jormag's a dragon? They're an evil, sociopathic manipulator, despite acting more like a neurodiverse person than any dark triad person I've ever known. I've known a few, and I've researched many more.

Live and learn, thanks Randulf. My Zeph lore is spotty at best.

I have absolutely no basis for this but aesthetically it feels like salvaged Forgotten technology. It just really has the look and feel of it. Considering that the Zephs are all about Glint, and Glint was all about the Forgotten, it's not a huge leap to wonder if perhaps they had access to some old Forgotten tech lying around that they buffed up, polished, and traded on. The Zephs trade a lot for the things they need to survive, as is my understanding, so if they found some Forgotten weapons tech they might actually sell it on to groups whom they believed were in need of such help, even though they'd be unwilling to interfere directly. Perhaps the threat of Joko was what allowed it to make it into a trade with the Elonians. After that, all that the Elonians would've had to do is retrofit it for use by humans with our own magical signatures and body types and they're good to go. With it being Forgotten tech it's a huge leap up from what engineers are normally using, hence the disparity and anachronism. This is all wild speculation of course but that's the best I can give you. The game's pretty vague with the wherewithal of holography tech. The way I look at it though is that this seems to be a little more advanced even than the asura were capable of—and who's more advanced with magitech than the asura? Only the Forgotten that I know of. I mean, the charr are making strides with technology—to the point where they have radio towers, radios, and electric dams now—but that isn't magitech like the Holosmith is. Ultimately, your guess is as good as mine—my guess is that it's Forgotten tech.

The narrative surrounding Jormag continues to upset me for a number of reasons. I mean, not least of which being _the liar sees liars everywhere_. This is a commonly understood truth in psychology and why sometimes I still feel like Guild Wars 2 is a bit of a social experiment. The way one sees the Elder Dragons is telling—because for all we know they could all be innocent. Even Primordus—being Jormag's abusive partner, to the point where Jormag can only see an escape from the abusive cycle by ending him—may be taken by the Torment. Jormag however, in particular, is as fascinating as they depressing in how they're viewed by the community. I've explained at length that often people are groomed to see very neurodiverse traits as dark triad ones. This is something that many an expert in the field of psychology has tried to undo but it's difficult because there's so much misleading misinformation out there. 9 out of ten listicles will actually couple neurodiverse traits with titles like "How to spot a sociopath." I mean, even stimming. I've said already that I see Jormag as an incredibly traumatised person—they show all the hallmarks of it, being defensive, having difficulty talking about trauma, deflecting—because yes, traumatised people can do this without being manipulative, it's not the same as _projecting_, which is something else entirely. They're also as jaded as heck as they believe that Tyria's actual manipulators will always succeessfully paint them as utterly evil, despite their powers of persuasion. On top of this, the desire to paint Jormag in a negative light has lead to a case of "I know better than the developers do." Narrative lead Tom Abernathy has not only said that Jormag doesn't lie—as was mentioned—but also that Jormag cannot manipulate. They've mentioned as well that Jormag truly does love Tyria. None of this tracks with the perspective of a destructive manipulator. As someone who's had to deal with dark triad persons before—narcissists and sociopaths—I'm all too familiar with their tactics and I can tell you that Jormag doesn't match them at all. You can find any number of articles on the behaviours of dark triad bad actors on sites like Psychology Today to better understand what they're like. The simple fact of the matter is is that the reason that neurodiverse people are often painted as dark triad is grooming, it's because it makes life easier for actual dark triad personalities if they can "educate" their followers into seeing evil elsewhere. It's grooming. Furthermore, dark triad personalities are masterful chameleons, you wouldn't see them. You have to be trained to be able to spot dark triad bad actors—you actually have to have psychology training to be able to do this, it's something that you have to really devote time and energy to learning. It's not easy to see through their act. In fact, most dark triad bad actors seem like good friends, nice, and helpful right up until you find yourself in their sights—or until they snap. Look into Ted Bundy as one example. The media perception of the lone wolf killer isn't very scientific—in the vast majority of cases, those with ill intent can mask perfectly as an ordinary, everyday extrovert. And unless you've been trained to spot them, you wouldn't know any better. Jormag's obviously strange behaviour is that of a neurodiverse (plural), traumatised, jaded as heck person who's just very tired. They're just a little bit sarcastic because they are just that tired of people being played—they see it happening all the time. They watch as dark triad bad actors like Bangar Ruinbringer the racial supremacist or the Spirits of the Wild who—I will state this until I'm blue in the face—eat children. That's what you're seeing. If Jormag was really a fantastic manipulator? You wouldn't see it coming. They'd be as nice, friendly, and personable as Aurene. If you can perceive them as being strange? You haven't "cleverly found a sociopath." I'm sorry. Now, I can just hear some saying that it might be bad writing—that Jormag is a vile manipulator, just the usual media portrayal thereof. I don't think so. I don't think so at all. Thus far, the writing team have been pretty on point with depicting neurodiverse states, including the pathos that some people can endure. There are some in the community who've picked up on this, with certain characters representing autism and the like. Gorrik, for one, very clearly. Another example is Kralkatorrik, whose Torment was almost certainly a depiction of invasive thoughts. As a person who's struggled through most of their life with those, it was a poignant experience. I do find it upsetting because by painting Jormag as a manipulator? It's no different than those listicles. It's as if that tainted "knowledge" has sunk so far into the consensus that any form of neurodiversity is going to be seen as dark triad and there's next to nothing we can even do about it anymore. It's tiring! I'll tell you that. Allow me a moment of bitter hyperbole where I wonder if Gorrik were to ever stim, there'd be tens of threads about how he's a sociopath? It's all too likely. What's most depressing is that no one is willing to consider that what they see in Jormag might not be what they've been trained to think it is—the lack of introspection is really disheartening. As I said, if Jormag's just an evil, sociopathic manpulator then what hope do any of us have? Yes, Jormag is persuasive, but it isn't in a manipulative way. It's in more of a begging, pleading, "Please listen to me" kind of way. It's always been that way. I've brought up other factors as well that are contrary to dark triad personalities. First of all is that they have no patience—Jormag has shown plenty. Secondly, they're incredibly greedy and they rarely turn to any form of generosity to try to convince people of their good intent, they use their charisma for that instead much as Bangar did. Thirdly, they have no chill, if they can't get their way then they try to break you down—Jormag has continued to do the opposite in building up Aurene's self-esteem. I mean, with that latter point, I could still be wrong and we're about to see Jormag beat Aurene into the ground but given all the other evidence? I doubt it. It doesn't fit their psychological profile. Jormag is as much of a "manipulator" as any abused and highly traumatised person I've seen. The really frustrating, vexing thing that gets me so passionate is guess what I've also seen? Due to the strange behaviours of traumatised people—and please research this, look into anxiety attacks, panic attacks, protection mechanisms, and the like—I've seen more normative minds throw that claim at them. I don't think it's the case. I stand by my initial assertion of dragons of pathos. Kralkatorrik had invasive thoughts and anxiety, Aurene inherited his anxiety and crippling fear, Jormag is heavily traumatised and distrustful due to abuse and being separated from those who could help them, Primordus has anger management problems which have lead to him being abusive. It's how I think they are. I think all of these dragons are tormented even if they aren't all specifically struck by the Torment. I suspect this will fall on deaf ears—and I may even get in trouble for talking about it—but this is a topic that _really matters to me_. All too often I've seen neurodiverse people fall prey to this. No, I'm sorry, if you think you can spot a dark triad person without the prerequisite training? You're being excessively egotistical. And yes, I do think that ArenaNet has the writing chops and psychology knowhow to pull off dragons who've got non-normative minds to illustrate the difference between that and dark triad persons. This kind of thinking is exactly why neurodiverse persons get targeted in the real world for abuse, whereas actual manipulators and abusers get away scot free. I will point out one last time that Tom Abernathy himself claimed that they aren't a manipulator. I would just ask why you think he'd say that? He isn't going to lie about it either. There's a reason for it. There's something ArenaNet is up to here and if I'm right—which I hope I am—then I deeply appreciate it.

Not much love for reptiles or the moletariat. Shame.

You're not the only one to have noticed it—my partner and I have thought it odd, too. A lot of the weaponry leveraged against Primordus is water-based too. So to say that you're completely off-track would be to ignore some obvious evidence to the contrary. There is something going on, there. I don't know what it is because I don't have enough evidence to say, though this is an interesting theory. There has been many of references—visual and otherwise—to water lately so I'm of the opinion that _something_ is going on beyond what we see. It could just be playful on teh writer's part to hint at the upcoming content, as it might've been when Bangar namedropped Cantha. It's difficult to know though as this entire storyline has been shrouded in strangeness and intrigue. An interesting theory, nonetheless.

It's always interesting how neurotypicals seem to support and worship psychopathy. I mean, if that weren't the case we wouldn't have the Judge Rotenberg Center so I don't have to prove that... I do find it vexing, however, that they never move beyond it. I mean, even though I want to see Primordus redeemed—I'd be the first to notice that Primordus is flaying people and burning them alive. I'd also be the first to notice that he's targeting the most vulnerable settlements to cause as much suffering and death as possible. That was covered fairly well in one DRM. We also know that Jormag is by far the less powerful of the two as that's been stated repeatedly as well. I mean, what Jormag did at Lake Doric was obviously out of desperation—no denying that—but they didn't actually kill anyone. And we saw at the end of Jormag Rising that they can free people from ice without harming them. If Primordus had taken Lake Doric, there would've been many lives lost as there have been in other DRMs. Yet Primordus is the innocent one—scared of Jormag? I mean, really Draxynnic? Really? You can take being a poster-child for the neurotypical worship of psychopathy too far. Again, I want Primordus to be redeemed but to claim that they're the victim here is insanity.

Okay, first of all: There's a little word called entitlement, it's a bad word, it's something we should try and avoid. Secondly? They were forced to shift their focus to an expansion by NCSoft, ArenaNet didn't have a choice in the matter. They actually restructured their management to make sure this happened. So the team working on the Icebrood Saga is tiny. They're doing the best they can, but you're expecting too much from such a small team. It wouldn't have been my first choice either. I don't agree with the executives at NCSoft, I think an expansion was the wrong choice—I think the game would've been healthier if they'd stuck with Sagas and gone to Cantha eventually as a Saga, at a much later date. This decision forced from above has likely resulted in crunch and a lot of unhappy workers. This is what happens when your company is owned by a publically owned corporation whose shareholders only care about their bottom-line: the profits. Those at ArenaNet right now though aren't responsible for making the bad decisions of its original leadership. They're just doing the best they can in a less than ideal situation. And NCSoft is just trying to appeal to their shareholders by attempting to make Guild Wars 2 more profitable. So, there's not much anyone can do. I don't mind the Dragon Response Missions, mind you. I think they're fine. They're not as compelling as new zones, obviously, but they're fine. I enjoy them well enough. I'm kind of surprised we're getting as much as we are. Yes, it'll be nice if we get another map before Cantha, but I could understand if they were unable to make that happen.

I'm more invested in how Jormag is playfully goofing around with Aurene, frankly. It's adorable and I can't deal with it, especially since Aurene reciprocates. I've been wondering for the longest time what this weird vulnarable energy is that I've felt streaming off of Jormag since we first met them. Yes, they're obviously terrified of Primordus but it's more than that—something that would explain their unusual behaviour. Then it sort of clicked. I think it was when Jormag referred to interlocution. That's a very interesting word. Jormag is an old, lonely Elder Dragon who's never had anyone to talk to beyond mortal norns. If I'd been in that situation, I'd be crying out for an intellect to converse with as well. It's funny though because if we think of Jormag in the sense of one dragon making an effort to befriend another without knowing how? A lot of things fall into place. * Why was Jormag initially acting skittish? * Why did they take a champion? * Why do they have a negative opinion of mortals? * Why have they been quietly building Aurene's self-esteem? * Why have they been so careful about what they've said? * Why have they been trying so hard to look cool? * Why do they seem concerned with what Aurene thinks of them? If you've ever known the joy of pieces falling into place? This was that. Oh, and that Aurene reciprocates too? That's delightful. The age difference means that this isn't _that_ kind of relationship, however I do see Jormag chasing a companionship—a lasting friendship. Being as old as they are, they'd make an interesting mentor for Aurene, and a legitimate foil to Aurene's innate naïveté. I don't think things will go as most think since I see Jorms having a friendcrush on our dragon of prisms. They seem so eager to try to please or impress Aurene that... I don't see this going the edgelord-y way that most would think. I mean, besides, with our world going to hell it'd be nice if something could work out for a fictional one we care about. So that's where I am right now. Considering that they'll be expanding the Eye of the North in an upcoming update... I wonder why they're doing that? I admit, this blindsided me. I was too busy feeling defensive of Jormag considering how they're a.) oddly vulnerable, and b.) very autistic. I've all too often seen neurotypicals jump down the throat of people and assume they're psychopaths just for having neurodiverse or even anxious traits. So whenever neurotypicals freak out about something being "evil," I feel inclined to dig a little deeper. And I like what I found. I just wish I'd spotted it sooner. I'm very happy about this if I am correct. **Addendum** I figure I should asnwer some of these in case my point isn't clear. * Why was Jormag initially acting skittish? They were being careful not to offend Aurene as they knew this was a delicate situation and they didn't want to screw it up. * Why did they take a champion? "I took a champion too! Am I cool yet?" * Why do they have a negative opinion of mortals? Envy. Aurene is paying attention to mortals more than Jormag and Jorms finds it frustrating—they want to be worthy of Aurene's attention. They want to prove that they're far more interesting to talk to than the little scampering creatures. * Why have they been quietly building Aurene's self-esteem? They actually value Aurene and they might be hoping that she'll eventually notice. What Jormag has been doing is building the foundations for Aurene to have more faith in herself, to feel less neurotic. This is very different from, say, insincerely boosting a person's ego with valueless platitudes. * Why have they been so careful about what they've said? Oh, I kind of repeated this one. They're being careful about saying something that might offend Aurene and hve her close herself off from Jormag—Jorms is dealing with the fear they hold for Primordus, but they're also having to manage a very valuable thing to them. Their first friendship. * Why have they been trying so hard to look cool? I mean... Yeah, this one speaks for itself. A lot of nerds do this, they try to seem impressive, to have mystique. It's just something we do socially, and so apparently do Elder Dragons. That or Jormag is simply copying mortals as they don't know how else to go about it. * Why do they seem concerned with what Aurene thinks of them? They value her opinion of them—this is probably the way that Aurene could wound Jormag the worst, by continuing to see them as evil or a problem. Frankly, it's charming my socks off. It's really endearing and I love it. It's made me like Jormag even more, the giant frosty nerd.

Isn't that surprising? I mean, mathematically you have to account for who visits and forum and why. In any community the majority of forum-goers are going to be those who complain and wish to dominate with their will by being the loudest possible. That's the top spot covered, then. What I find interesting is how close it is even if we account for the differential of voices on an Internet forum. Usually, those who post on a forum don't do so with positive intent. Adjusted for that, this is a surprisingly positive outcome. Interesting! I figured thatt this content was more popular than the consensus of the forum would think but there's a growing voice of positivity here contrary to that. That's what I find so fascinating. I expected the complainants to dominate the polls, which ultimately they did but not by the margin I'd expected before seeing the results. Hmm! How interesting that is.

The problem seems to be that whilst the scaling is better for health and defence, due to the upper echelons of what a person can grind for the damage potential isn't scaled enough. This is what happens when you appeal to that kind of power creep by adding options via harder content—it alienates casual players who're on other content as any raider with good equipment can roll in and decimate the place. I can see why this is a problem for ArenaNet. If they reduce the damage potential across the board then that means that the majority of players who aren't raiders will be far too underpowered in lower-level areas, probably even way more underpowered than when they initially went through that content. The only thing I can think is that some sort of curved scaling for older content is needed—where higher potential merits a far greater reduction of damage output to create a more level playing field. So the more damage you can put out, the harder you get hit by the scaling. This may upset a small number of players but with the way things are now it's only going to alienate new players coming into the game and that's bad for the long-term survival of the game. This thread demonstrably shows this problem exists. At this point I'm given to wonder sometimes if it would be healthier for the game to do something equivalent to what The Elder Scrolls Online did and scale-up, or effectively just make all players level 80 out of the gate. It would lose some money on boosts but it would also fix a lot of problems. It would also make it far simpler for ArenaNet to then introduce more playable races, which would further increase the appeal of the game considering that they could target other demographics. I'm not sure what's reasonable for them to do to be honest but... the game has lasted this long, they're smart, I'm sure they'll figure something out.