War Eternal Teaser

[PseudoNewb.5468]

Since the most informative peek is the title itself. I have to say, War Eternal, at first makes me think of a time/fractal loop, as they have been portrayed in Ep. 4. But... The title is a bit mashed up in my view. Lets take a look at an alternative. Eternal War, or The Eternal War. This would be the grammatically normal way to describe a time loop creating a ceaseless conflict.

 

So what is War Eternal. Well for one thing TIL that there is a term, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpositive_adjective. Postpostivie adjectives don't have any definitive meaning, and it could just be poetic use. However, the word "war", is also one of the very annoyingly special words. "War" is one of those words that can be both concrete or abstract, and in either case is spelled exactly the same. (don't worry there is a wiki explanation of that too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun#Concrete_nouns_and_abstract_nouns).

 

So Eternal War, would lean heavily in interpretation to being a singular, war that is eternal, but War Eternal, make me pause (and not just because of a reflexive break I have when I say those words in that order), War, Eternal.... It makes me think, war is eternal.

 

Whelp... There goes any meaning I can parse from the title.

 

and finally, who said war meant physical war of battling armies. war is also one of those terms, that, well, can be liberally used.

[Blocki.4931]

Also throwing everything I said previously out of the window seeing the trailer my expectation has now turned into...

 

We will get a Dragon's Stand kind of map, going with air ships through different stops in pursuit of Kralk, culminating in a large battle with him + Shatterer.. A real large meta event. Anet, we know you can make it happen. This is the "expansion scale" content you were talking about all along I'm looking right through your veil of obscurity!!!

 

No, but really. I would really enjoy this. Would be an epic ending to the season and adding a big thing that the entire exp + season needed.

[Arden.7480]

I am aware somebody might have already pointed those points out, but:

 

I also believe War Eternal - the title of the Finale - is related to the Fissure of Woe (_The Eternal Battle is a long-lasting war in the Fissure of Woe between the Eternal Army of the god Balthazar and the Shadow Army of Balthazar's half-brother Menzies_.) I think Balthazar's magic draws attention of Kralkatorrik to Balthazar's lost Realm to get an army of Eternals. So his base will basically be the Fissure of Woe.

 

Kralkatorrik moves towards this place in my opinion.

 

Then we can see Kralkatorrik in some green environment, and with some airships on the background, I believe it's some sort of gas the Pact uses to slow Kralkatorrik down.

 

Can be very interesting for us to return to Balthazar's realm, because of Zafirah, and we still do not know what her story is about in All or Nothing: Requiem.

 

Also this flying mount looks somehow like Warclaw - flying Warclaw? I wonder if that foreshadows the new Mastery, but only this-map-related.

[Sir Alric.5078]

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> As I posted on Reddit, my theory based on this trailer and the episode title, is that we're going to trap Kralkatorrik in a fractal loop, one that keeps him fighting eternally that he cannot break out of. He will remain a part of The All, but won't threaten balance or Tyria any more.

 

And how exactly are you going to trap something that can open dimensional portals to travel back and forth between Thyria (the planet) and the Mists at will?

[Teratus.2859]

> @"castlemanic.3198" said:

> > @"Teratus.2859" said:

> > Regarding the Dragon creature we see too, Some are speculating a new mount but it seems far too similar to the Griffon to warrant a new Mount tbh.. It could be a new Griffon skin.. perhaps a new prestige one 2000 gems but what significance would that have to be shown in this tiny sneak peak?

>

> the very fact that it's a sneak peak on a video like this is a pretty extreme sign that it's not going to be a new mount skin, because arenanet don't do sneak peaks like this for mount skins. the only time they've shown mount skins (as far as i'm aware) in a promotional video was for the beetle race event.

>

> Which means that this video IS most likely teasing a new mount. Similar to the griffon? Maybe, but there are ways they can differentiate this dragon mount from the griffon, just like the warclaw is different from the raptor despite the similar leap ability. the thing with the griffon is that it requires this entire quest line and a gold sink to achieve (quest line is fun, gold sink not so fun), and by the teaser it seems getting from one place to another via flying mount is important and not everyone has the griffon, so this gives players a chance to get a mount with the griffon flap and glide ability, but lack certain features. Perhaps this dragon mount can't dive or climb like the griffon, but it can 'dash' forward a short distance midair, or have some other mechanic that gives it a different value than the griffon. So I can see plausible ways that we can have both the griffon and the dragon as mounts and still find unique ways of using them. My only hope is that if the dragon is indeed a mount, we can mount it mid air.

 

It's possible, although they could also be using stand in Dragon Griffon Gemstore skin to avoid spoiling the revival of Aurine and her possible mount function in the new map.. I've seen that theory posted a a couple times elsewhere.

Would certainly be a sneaky way around spoilers.

[castlemanic.3198]

> @"Teratus.2859" said:

> It's possible, although they could also be using stand in Dragon Griffon Gemstore skin to avoid spoiling the revival of Aurine and her possible mount function in the new map.. I've seen that theory posted a a couple times elsewhere.

> Would certainly be a sneaky way around spoilers.

 

that seems really weird though, because they didn't have to put that in the teaser. they could have had a voice over of the commander hearing a new roar and going "is that...?" without explicitly revealing something. They could have done any number of things to hint at Aurene returning in the trailer without using a new gemstore skin to do so, one that seemingly falls out of line of what they've been doing so far, since like konig mentioned, they've already given the griffon a second 2000 gem skin and the skimmer and roller beetle only have one each, while the warclaw has none so far.

 

and that is, again, besides the fact that they've never teased a gemstore skin with a story teaser of any kind before. i don't see any reason to believe that we're looking at anything gemstore related. Konig's probably on the money when it comes to the reality of what we're seeing (a map exclusive mount, either freely useable within the map itself or only tied to certain events or instances).

[Nogothanc.5014]

> @"Arden.7480" said:

> I am aware somebody might have already pointed those points out, but:

>

> I also believe War Eternal - the title of the Finale - is related to the Fissure of Woe (_The Eternal Battle is a long-lasting war in the Fissure of Woe between the Eternal Army of the god Balthazar and the Shadow Army of Balthazar's half-brother Menzies_.) I think Balthazar's magic draws attention of Kralkatorrik to Balthazar's lost Realm to get an army of Eternals. So his base will basically be the Fissure of Woe.

>

> Kralkatorrik moves towards this place in my opinion.

>

> Then we can see Kralkatorrik in some green environment, and with some airships on the background, I believe it's some sort of gas the Pact uses to slow Kralkatorrik down.

>

> Can be very interesting for us to return to Balthazar's realm, because of Zafirah, and we still do not know what her story is about in All or Nothing: Requiem.

>

> Also this flying mount looks somehow like Warclaw - flying Warclaw? I wonder if that foreshadows the new Mastery, but only this-map-related.

 

I had similiar thought as I noticed the title of the next episode. Eternal War? It is not correct but to me the Eternal War is a synonym for the conflict of Balthazars Eternal Army and Menzies Shadow Army in the Fissure of Woe. Good old times. The game taught you through the names and visuals who are the good ones and who are the evil once... and after such a "lesson" they come up with PoF Balthaddon... sigh... anyway.

 

If there are still Eternals that have not been "forged" I hope they fight against kralk. Like Konig suspects a fractal trap... well that leads to a "new" eternal war?

 

 

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Sir Alric.5078" said:

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

> > As I posted on Reddit, my theory based on this trailer and the episode title, is that we're going to trap Kralkatorrik in a fractal loop, one that keeps him fighting eternally that he cannot break out of. He will remain a part of The All, but won't threaten balance or Tyria any more.

>

> And how exactly are you going to trap something that can open dimensional portals to travel back and forth between Thyria (the planet) and the Mists at will?

 

I think that would be up to the creativity of ANet's narrative team to figure out.

 

 

[ThatOddOne.4387]

Thinking about it some more, it comes down to two options to me:

 

Fractal time loop as suggested by Konig, or something to do with Balthazar - His sword is still about, and given it wasn't corrupted by the Brand after lying in it for several Living World episodes after Balthazar exploded, and was implied to still have some of his essence within it, well, maybe I'm just being overly hopeful.

 

I'd be more satisfied with the latter, but so long as the former is properly set-up and explained, I'd be fine with it. That's one of the drawbacks of making the Fractals and interaction with the Mists so... Scientific, it means you can't just wave your hands and go "magic did it", it has to be properly explained.

 

Hopefully it's not just a random asura device pulled out of nowhere.

[ugrakarma.9416]

what we have in 0:22

-a typical pact airship.

-two dragons.

-a tree in a mountain side.

[Randulf.7614]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"Sir Alric.5078" said:

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

> > > As I posted on Reddit, my theory based on this trailer and the episode title, is that we're going to trap Kralkatorrik in a fractal loop, one that keeps him fighting eternally that he cannot break out of. He will remain a part of The All, but won't threaten balance or Tyria any more.

> >

> > And how exactly are you going to trap something that can open dimensional portals to travel back and forth between Thyria (the planet) and the Mists at will?

>

> I think that would be up to the creativity of ANet's narrative team to figure out.

>

>

 

Word for word what I was going to write...

[castlemanic.3198]

> @"ThatOddOne.4387" said:

> Balthazar - His sword is still about, and given it wasn't corrupted by the Brand after lying in it for several Living World episodes after Balthazar exploded, and was implied to still have some of his essence within it, well, maybe I'm just being overly hopeful.

 

We used the sword at the end of episode 4 to place a tracker on Kralkatorrik. We no longer have access to it since Kralkatorrik seemingly swallowed it.

[Fenom.9457]

> @"ugrakarma.9416" said:

> what we have in 0:22

> -a typical pact airship.

> -two dragons.

> -a tree in a mountain side.

 

 

Yeah I’ve been wondering what we can conclude about the location of the new map from that tree?

[ThatOddOne.4387]

> @"castlemanic.3198" said:

> > @"ThatOddOne.4387" said:

> > Balthazar - His sword is still about, and given it wasn't corrupted by the Brand after lying in it for several Living World episodes after Balthazar exploded, and was implied to still have some of his essence within it, well, maybe I'm just being overly hopeful.

>

> We used the sword at the end of episode 4 to place a tracker on Kralkatorrik. We no longer have access to it since Kralkatorrik seemingly swallowed it.

 

I’m aware of what it was used for, and that’s what I’m talking about.

 

[castlemanic.3198]

> @"ThatOddOne.4387" said:

> > @"castlemanic.3198" said:

> > > @"ThatOddOne.4387" said:

> > > Balthazar - His sword is still about, and given it wasn't corrupted by the Brand after lying in it for several Living World episodes after Balthazar exploded, and was implied to still have some of his essence within it, well, maybe I'm just being overly hopeful.

> >

> > We used the sword at the end of episode 4 to place a tracker on Kralkatorrik. We no longer have access to it since Kralkatorrik seemingly swallowed it.

>

> I’m aware of what it was used for, and that’s what I’m talking about.

>

 

Then you should also be aware of this line:

 

> Zafirah: It seeks Balthazar. Senses his magic. I don't understand... Balthazar was never here...

> Character name: But Aurene was.

> Zafirah: The sword perceives him... through her? Just who is this dragon of yours?

 

which we confirm that aurene has absorbed Balthazar's magic, and from the end cinematic of Path of fire, we also know that kralk absorbed his magic too. not only that though, there's this line:

 

> Branded Awakened Mummy: Balthazar's magic! Seize it!

> Character name: Here they come! Don't let them take the sword!

 

which directly states that Kralkatorrik wants the magic within the sword, and the whole reason that the sword is the bait. in the story window we see this:

 

> Now it's time to enter the Mists and attract Kralkatorrik **using the sword - ultimately tricking him into swallowing the tracker.**

>

And this too

 

> In order to ensure the tracker maintained power indefinitely, Blish shut down his higher functions and **attached his golem body to the tracker and sword**, sacrificing himself for the sake of our mission.

>

So we know that Kralkatorrik swallowed both sword and tracker. It is unlikely that there's any magic retained in the sword, more importantly it is very unlikely that the sword is intact or in any way, shape, or form, retrievable or useable by us.

 

all the lines found in this link: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Storm_Tracking

 

And there is a major difference between the sword lying among the brand untouched and directly consumed by an elder dragon.

[ThatOddOne.4387]

Is there though?

 

Divine magic cannot be corrupted, and we know Balthazar’s sword still has divine magic whilst he did not.

 

Also where did I say we would use it? All I am thinking is that it will be a factor.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

> @"Arden.7480" said:

> I am aware somebody might have already pointed those points out, but:

>

> I also believe War Eternal - the title of the Finale - is related to the Fissure of Woe (_The Eternal Battle is a long-lasting war in the Fissure of Woe between the Eternal Army of the god Balthazar and the Shadow Army of Balthazar's half-brother Menzies_.) I think Balthazar's magic draws attention of Kralkatorrik to Balthazar's lost Realm to get an army of Eternals. So his base will basically be the Fissure of Woe.

>

> Kralkatorrik moves towards this place in my opinion.

 

You're not the only one who thought of the Fissure of Woe, but it would be an odd thing to do seeing how [open world zones will always be on Tyria](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/687511#Comment_687511). And it'd be a massive shame to limit the Fissure of Woe to some single player instance(s).

 

> @"Arden.7480" said:

> Then we can see Kralkatorrik in some green environment, and with some airships on the background, I believe it's some sort of gas the Pact uses to slow Kralkatorrik down.

 

I don't see any Pact airships in the background. It's the same scene as the first shot, which has black-purple smoke coming from Kralk's head and wings. There are also what looks like kralkatite meteors around him (which I think is what you mistook for an airship?).

 

> @"Sir Alric.5078" said:

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

> > As I posted on Reddit, my theory based on this trailer and the episode title, is that we're going to trap Kralkatorrik in a fractal loop, one that keeps him fighting eternally that he cannot break out of. He will remain a part of The All, but won't threaten balance or Tyria any more.

>

> And how exactly are you going to trap something that can open dimensional portals to travel back and forth between Thyria (the planet) and the Mists at will?

 

In a general sense? By restricting that ability somehow, either by preventing him specifically from using that ability, or by trapping him in a space that prevents that ability.

 

In a specific sense? The methods are as many as ArenaNet's narrative team's imagination and ability to deliver well.

 

> @"Teratus.2859" said:

> It's possible, although they could also be using stand in Dragon Griffon Gemstore skin to avoid spoiling the revival of Aurine and her possible mount function in the new map.. I've seen that theory posted a a couple times elsewhere.

> Would certainly be a sneaky way around spoilers.

 

Why not just use a normal griffon skin then?

 

Especially since they've been doing the 2k gem mount skins in sets, and we have only beetle left for the second set. Would be an odd practice for them to suddenly go "and now here's a dragon!".

 

> @"Fenom.9457" said:

> > @"ugrakarma.9416" said:

> > what we have in 0:22

> > -a typical pact airship.

> > -two dragons.

> > -a tree in a mountain side.

>

>

> Yeah I’ve been wondering what we can conclude about the location of the new map from that tree?

 

The leaves match those used in Elona maps, while the branches match those used in Heart of Maguuma+ Maguuma Jungle maps. That's all I can infer from the tree.

 

> @"ThatOddOne.4387" said:

> Is there though?

>

> Divine magic cannot be corrupted, and we know Balthazar’s sword still has divine magic whilst he did not.

 

While this seems normally true, djinn use divine magic (Abaddon's remnant magic) to protect them from Kralkatorrik's corruption. However, after Balthazar's death, Kralkatorrik has been able to slowly penetrate that protection and brand djinn, as was highlighted in Episode 4 with Vemyen, and we saw a few more branded djinn in the final battle during Episode 5.

 

It seems, then, that having access to unbound "semi-divine" magic has allowed Kralkatorrik to be able to consume and corrupt divine magic if given time.

[ThatOddOne.4387]

Right, which brings me into my next point that if our victory over Kralkatorrik does not involve us at least stripping his non-native magic from him (Zhaitan, Mordremoth, Balthazar) then it will not be a satisfying finale.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

I don't see why that should or needs to be a requirement for satisfying finales.

[McPero.3287]

Kralkatorik dies of bacterial infection. Sorry for the spoiler

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"McPero.3287" said:

> Kralkatorik dies of bacterial infection. Sorry for the spoiler

 

I'd buy that in a novel. Or [a radio drama that was promoted as if it was a live news broadcast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)).

In this game, I'd feel that it was a cop-out. We went through all the drama of LS3 to PoF to LS4... to the despair of the commander, and it turns out all along we just had to wait for the Elder Dragons to catch the flu?

[Fenom.9457]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"McPero.3287" said:

> > Kralkatorik dies of bacterial infection. Sorry for the spoiler

>

> I'd buy that in a novel. Or [a radio drama that was promoted as if it was a live news broadcast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)).

> In this game, I'd feel that it was a cop-out. We went through all the drama of LS3 to PoF to LS4... to the despair of the commander, and it turns out all along we just had to wait for the Elder Dragons to catch the flu?

 

 

*consistent dramatic coughing*

[Teratus.2859]

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

 

> Why not just use a normal griffon skin then?

>

> Especially since they've been doing the 2k gem mount skins in sets, and we have only beetle left for the second set. Would be an odd practice for them to suddenly go "and now here's a dragon!".

 

Dragon's been highly requested Skin for a good while now.

If the specualtion was accurate I'd say they didn't go with a normal Griffon skin to delieberately cause people to ask questions and speculate about the new creature.

That's pretty much what we've all been doing right?.. that creature whatever it is has gotten a lot of people curious.. and that's curiosity has gotten them excited to find out what it is.

They showed so little in this sneak peak so if it had just been a normal Griffon it wouldn't have gotten people anywhere near as excited and curious as they are right now.. so that's why I would think teasing a new skin in this trailer would have been a better than just using a default Griffon.

 

I'm not subscribed to this theory myself though.. several ideas came to mind but I'm not sold on any of them tbh.

 

The localized map mount is probably the most likely explination, specially if this map is designed to be traversed with the Griffon which, I think you said as well.. not everyone has access to.

But for some reason I have a gut feeling that there is more to it than that.. but I can't get onto what.

I don't think we'll be getting another full mount in this release.. that's off the table completely, specially if it's a Griffon clone which would be a big waste, unless it was specifically tied to WvW like the Warclaw but again another mount so soon?.. no way, can't see that happening at all.

 

There is some merit to this maybe being a stand in for Aurine though which does tie in to a new Griffon skin but that is a longshot as well.. having her die and come back literally within the span of an episode would be extremely risky and would likely irritate a lot of people.. myself included.

Would feel very rushed.. then again rushing into another battle with Kralkatorrik also feels a bit rushed as well so atm I think it's best to say that I just don't have enough information to go on to formulate any solid theories I can put any confidence in.

 

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"McPero.3287" said:

> > Kralkatorik dies of bacterial infection. Sorry for the spoiler

>

> I'd buy that in a novel. Or [a radio drama that was promoted as if it was a live news broadcast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)).

> In this game, I'd feel that it was a cop-out. We went through all the drama of LS3 to PoF to LS4... to the despair of the commander, and it turns out all along we just had to wait for the Elder Dragons to catch the flu?

 

So... War of Worlds?

 

> @"Teratus.2859" said:

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

>

> > Why not just use a normal griffon skin then?

> >

> > Especially since they've been doing the 2k gem mount skins in sets, and we have only beetle left for the second set. Would be an odd practice for them to suddenly go "and now here's a dragon!".

>

> Dragon's been highly requested Skin for a good while now.

> If the specualtion was accurate I'd say they didn't go with a normal Griffon skin to delieberately cause people to ask questions and speculate about the new creature.

> That's pretty much what we've all been doing right?.. that creature whatever it is has gotten a lot of people curious.. and that's curiosity has gotten them excited to find out what it is.

> They showed so little in this sneak peak so if it had just been a normal Griffon it wouldn't have gotten people anywhere near as excited and curious as they are right now.. so that's why I would think teasing a new skin in this trailer would have been a better than just using a default Griffon.

>

> I'm not subscribed to this theory myself though.. several ideas came to mind but I'm not sold on any of them tbh.

 

I dunno. If the sole purpose was to produce speculation, there's far better things to use than "some random gemstore skin" that could no doubt cause quite a bit of disappointment, no matter how desired it's been (more people have been wanting to use Aurene as a mount rather than a generic dragon skin as I've seen anyways). Like something that will actually pertain to the map or plot.

[Teratus.2859]

> @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > @"McPero.3287" said:

> > > Kralkatorik dies of bacterial infection. Sorry for the spoiler

> >

> > I'd buy that in a novel. Or [a radio drama that was promoted as if it was a live news broadcast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)).

> > In this game, I'd feel that it was a cop-out. We went through all the drama of LS3 to PoF to LS4... to the despair of the commander, and it turns out all along we just had to wait for the Elder Dragons to catch the flu?

>

> So... War of Worlds?

>

> > @"Teratus.2859" said:

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

> >

> > > Why not just use a normal griffon skin then?

> > >

> > > Especially since they've been doing the 2k gem mount skins in sets, and we have only beetle left for the second set. Would be an odd practice for them to suddenly go "and now here's a dragon!".

> >

> > Dragon's been highly requested Skin for a good while now.

> > If the specualtion was accurate I'd say they didn't go with a normal Griffon skin to delieberately cause people to ask questions and speculate about the new creature.

> > That's pretty much what we've all been doing right?.. that creature whatever it is has gotten a lot of people curious.. and that's curiosity has gotten them excited to find out what it is.

> > They showed so little in this sneak peak so if it had just been a normal Griffon it wouldn't have gotten people anywhere near as excited and curious as they are right now.. so that's why I would think teasing a new skin in this trailer would have been a better than just using a default Griffon.

> >

> > I'm not subscribed to this theory myself though.. several ideas came to mind but I'm not sold on any of them tbh.

>

> I dunno. If the sole purpose was to produce speculation, there's far better things to use than "some random gemstore skin" that could no doubt cause quite a bit of disappointment, no matter how desired it's been (more people have been wanting to use Aurene as a mount rather than a generic dragon skin as I've seen anyways). Like something that will actually pertain to the map or plot.

 

Better things perhaps but anything besides something new likely wouldn't have produced the same result.

 

This creature is only partly gaining attention because it's some kind of Griffon like dragonid creature.. I think the bigger reason it's getting so much attention is because it's a completely new creature that we have never seen in the game before.

Aside from new assets or old but never released ones there isn't much in the game that could have gotten that same reaction.

Right now people are asking what is that thing? and why are we riding on it?

If it was an old creature like a Wyvern or something people just be saying oh cool we get to ride a Wyvern now.. but why?

 

It's true people have been wanting to ride around on Aurine however that relates back to what I said about this Dragon possibly being a new gemstore Griffon skin that's being used as a stand in for Aurine.

If they used Aurine in this sneak peak it would have been a massive spoiler for the episode and likely caused a lot of anger from us fans who would feel like they spoiled a big surprise.