Cantha? Part I: Getting There

[Shin Ryu.5802]

Naturally, those of us who remembered Cantha from the "Factions" expansion for the original "Guild Wars" have eagerly looked forward to seeing the region revisited in "Guild Wars 2." In what I hope will be the a series of brief and general ideas about the possibilities of bringing Cantha into the present via another expansion, let's look at the seemingly simple question of how the player would get there. The question of "why" is something I prefer to leave to storytellers, if for no other reason than as a player, I like for there to be some surprises after all.

 

As the current lore goes, communication with Cantha was cut off from the rest of Tyria as part of the cataclysm that resulted from Zhaitan raising the lost continent of Orr. It hasn't been explained what exactly has made navigation there impossible thus far: Did the Jade Sea shatter in a way that made the seas dangerous? Or was there a geological upheaval that caused the Jade Sea to become the Jade Cliffs? Is there something preventing airship navigation into the area? What natural or magical barrier(s) have cut them off from the rest of civilization? Neither the players nor their characters actually know.

 

Fortunately, there seems to be an NPC race originally indigenous to Cantha who would seem to be holding the answers to these and many other questions, particularly in regards to the Elder Dragons. Unfortunately, they are a particularly insular and reticent race that is distrustful toward all outsiders: The Tengu.

 

Thus far, the Tengu have maintained an official position of neutrality in all conflicts, with only a handful of individuals actually cooperatively participating in the anti-dragon campaigns. The lore of the game (at least through the narrative lens of the Pale Tree) focuses on the necessity of all the races of Tyria working together to face the threat of the Elder Dragons. That provides a lot of challenges and good storytelling opportunities, all of which would entail earning the trust and favor of the Tengu in exchange for their closely-guarded knowledge.

 

Is it just me, or would a "Tengu lore" Mastery track practically write itself? I digress...

 

Contact with the Tengu presents another intriguing possibility prefacing entry into Cantha: The opening of the Dominion of Winds.

[Mystflower.7319]

I like your thinking, it certainly would bring something more interesting to the game lore wise. So I hope the devs will read this and give it some thought (incase they haven't got a full plan for Cantha yet..)

[Riah.4816]

I like where you are going with this and was hoping that someone would soon post a discussion only on Cantha. I have strong feelings that we will see it as the 3rd expansion and Anet could easily create a good storyline that works with the lore to intruduce it. Anet is definitely keeping the idea of Cantha alive with little things like outfits that look Canthan, books such as “A Brief History of Cantha”, NPCs talking about it, revenants being able to talk to Shiro and saying that they hope to find out about Cantha one day, etc. It is very sad that many devs lost their jobs, but I think that now that the remaining devs full focus will only be on GW2, we will see Cantha, or atleast an expansion sooner than we think. Some updates on if they are even working on an expansion would be nice too. I’m hoping for the best. Hope this thread stays alive and more people start to comment on it.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

> @"Shin Ryu.5802" said:

> Naturally, those of us who remembered Cantha from the "Factions" expansion for the original "Guild Wars" have eagerly looked forward to seeing the region revisited in "Guild Wars 2."

 

Speak for yourself. :tongue:

 

> As the current lore goes, communication with Cantha was cut off from the rest of Tyria as part of the cataclysm that resulted from Zhaitan raising the lost continent of Orr. It hasn't been explained what exactly has made navigation there impossible thus far: Did the Jade Sea shatter in a way that made the seas dangerous? Or was there a geological upheaval that caused the Jade Sea to become the Jade Cliffs? Is there something preventing airship navigation into the area? What natural or magical barrier(s) have cut them off from the rest of civilization? Neither the players nor their characters actually know.

 

Zhaitan cut off communication from Tyria, but navigation has proven hard seemingly due to the Deep Sea Dragon's presence in between the two landmasses, as the only thing to reaching or passing Zhaitan's blockade were sporadic sailors washing ashore. Airship navigation is 100% possible as the Zephyrites did such during later Season 1 (when they returned for the first Festival of the Four Winds, they came from Cantha), it's just that no one (as far as players are aware) have bothered to try to contact the last-said-to-be xenophobic nation.

 

Definitely not the Jade Sea (which is southern Cantha, and Tyria is north of northern Cantha) shattering or becoming cliffs. Though that could be an interesting consequence for the Jade Sea thawing out. Becoming jade cliffs with deep ravines of water. That would be majestic if done right.

 

All that said, I don't think there's really an established or hinted reason for going to Cantha at all currently, and barring involving Kuunavang specifically or the DSD making a sudden u-turn to head southeast instead of northeast, the current overarching plot of replacing the Elder Dragons doesn't seem at all relevant to it. So I personally don't think we'll be going to Cantha until the Elder Dragon plot is over - that is to say, baring Primordus and Jormag waking up, that we won't go there until the DSD is defeated in no earlier than Expansion 3 / Season 6.

 

Once that comes to pass, I would like the reason to heading there to be that Dragon's Watch is part of an official convoy attempting to re-open communication with the long-exiled nation, only to find some situation that DW's involvement in solving would seal the deal in trade. Would be more interesting than going to new lands once more just to deal with dragons.

[Dami.5046]

I will read your post in full once I am settled with a cuppa.

Cantha <3

[Bast.7253]

I think it's kind of all been said before. The counter to this is the also repeatedly cited incident in which they removed the Cantha district from Divinity's Reach due to Western pressure and cultural misrepresentation or some such.

 

But yes, despite wanting to see much more of Tyria, I do crave to see a Guild Wars 2 version of Echovald. And if I had to pick the pipe up and start tossing out theories, or just simply posting ideas that correlate to your post, I would propose without any evidence or hint, that we could theoretically have or have had a Season 5 in which instead of getting Cantha as an expansion, we receive it as living story updates.

 

Cantha is a large landmass, but it's also the perfect size to build and unveil over the course of a living season. And honestly, I think the story involved around it could be pretty well done within the scope of a living story. Just to further this insane theory, some of the expansion-level content could have been Tengu as a playable race and new elite specs. Is or was any of this likely, probably not, especially given some of the decisions they've made with restructuring and resource allocation, but it was a theory I had in the back of my mind for quite some time before all of this happened and this new incite into their development emerged.

 

In regards to our lack of communication, with Zhaitan gone, I think the biggest issue is still the fact that the rulers are xenophobic and isolate themselves. So, I would assume that the main reason it hasn't seen much exploration in terms of lore, or mention, is that going there is essentially going into hostile territory. And this time it wouldn't be some all-consuming Elder Dragon or a Lich that forces an eternity of slavery on people, but an independent Empire that just wants to be left alone.

 

I think that could easily be bypassed though. Because as strong as they may be as an empire, if they are faced with elder dragon troubles like Bubbles, they're far more likely to ignore their differences and just seek for help in any way they can.

[Shin Ryu.5802]

Probably the main advantage of introducing Cantha via expansion (as opposed to Living World content) is the one most appealing to Arenanet right now: Money. It's a harsh reality, but the recent layoffs have forced me to view the future through that prism. As players, we'd of course like the game to continue to flourish exclusively on revenue generated by voluntary micro transactions. Since that isn't happening as it used to, the next best thing is to make suggestions conducive to revitalizing and expanding the player base until that model becomes sustainable again. My thinking was that this could only be achieved with a massive, highly-polished content dump that could only be handled as an expansion.

 

I'm glad someone is challenging that thinking. If Arenanet can think of a way to expand and revitalize the player base via a slow and steady stream of carefully designed Living World content while growing the world of Tyria, I'm 100% behind that.

[Dami.5046]

I cannot even explain how delighted I would be if they announced Cantha. I think it has tons of potential. However at this moment in time I'd gladly see them annonce *any* expansion to give us players some hope.

[Ayrilana.1396]

I hope the next expansion covers some place we have never been rather than continue the nostalgic tour of places we’ve already seen in the series.

 

While Factions was fun, I’d prefer not to go back to Cantha for quite some time. Rehashing existing content in the series has just gotten old.

[Shin Ryu.5802]

The idea of adding in completely new areas is not without merit. They have the advantage of putting people familiar with old areas and complete newcomers on a more equal footing when it comes to exploration.

 

However, they come with the disadvantage of being places with no reference concept art to build from; they'd have to be designed and built almost completely from scratch. Even if a palace from the original "Guild Wars" is now in ruins or has been expanded, there's at least the original blueprint to work from. Deciding what kind of topography, denizens, settlements, or structures have been built in, say, the Furious Stretch would be a far more difficult undertaking.

[Elric.4713]

Going back to Cantha doesn't automatically mean we won't see any new zones, the four zones from Factions could come with the launch and the LW can explore the southern part of the continent.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Elric.4713" said:

> Going back to Cantha doesn't automatically mean we won't see any new zones, the four zones from Factions could come with the launch and the LW can explore the southern part of the continent.

 

And if the next expansion was in Elona but just not in an area covered by Nightfall? I personally want a brand new region to visit for the next expansion so that the series finally expands and evolves. Cantha would just be a continuation of the nostalgic tour.