New World Map, Kralkatorrik went South then turned West

So, the update tonight provided us the location of Kralkatorrik, and we got it half correct. While he did head South initially, he then made a left turn and headed West and is apparently perched atop the high mountains along the coast south of the Desolation, an area we didn't get to in GW1 either. Basically directly in the path between the mainland and Istan.

@Zaklex.6308 said:So, the update tonight provided us the location of Kralkatorrik, and we got it half correct. While he did head South initially, he then made a right turn and headed West and is apparently perched atop the high mountains along the coast south of the Desolation, and are we didn't get to in GW1 either. Basically directly in the path between the mainland and Istan.

What I find interesting about this is that it effectively divides Joko's kingdom in two. The Bone Palace is now separated from the southern regions of Elona by the Dragonbrand, which should limit Joko's ability to respond to the nascent Sunspear rebellion in the south.

Wow, that's kind of neat. Look at that. Wonder what significance is located there that would attract Kralk's attention.

EDIT: Have we noticed any new PVE Dynamic Events with this patch that take place in the Desolation or Domain of Vabbi that may hint towards activity? If not Amnoon or Riverlands?

@Tamias.7059 said:

@Zaklex.6308 said:So, the update tonight provided us the location of Kralkatorrik, and we got it half correct. While he did head South initially, he then made a right turn and headed West and is apparently perched atop the high mountains along the coast south of the Desolation, and are we didn't get to in GW1 either. Basically directly in the path between the mainland and Istan.

I fully expect Joko to be killed or suffer some sort of major defeat by the end of Living World Season 4, and I think the Sunspear rebellion will have something to do with it. However, I'm not sure how much the writers would play into the idea of the Brand causing problems. At most, I suspect it might get referenced as "disrupting supply chains and trade routes" or something, but nothing too major.

Maybe he's aiming Orr...Anyway i love this elder.It's the real fist one who gave me a sense of danger.I hope Steve (And the other 2) will do the same.

@Tamias.7059 said:

@Zaklex.6308 said:So, the update tonight provided us the location of Kralkatorrik, and we got it half correct. While he did head South initially, he then made a right turn and headed West and is apparently perched atop the high mountains along the coast south of the Desolation, and are we didn't get to in GW1 either. Basically directly in the path between the mainland and Istan.

Well, not quite divided into two halves as the brand goes through what is almost the middle of Kourna, so more like cut into 2/3 vs 1/3...and that doesn't appear to affect at least the Awakened themselves(you can see that on Istan with them being raised by different Mordant Crescent), though it should affect supplies if not bodies...which should cause problems(if it's taken into consideration). I suspect the only way Joko could be killed is if he was turned into a Branded Lich, since as himself he's immortal(but can be locked away). How that would could happen is anyone's guess, but it would be weird non the less and I don't see that happening, nor do I see Joko getting killed...locked away again, I could see happening though.

Well a small idea here. Or a big one, dunno.

Beware spoilers ahead!

I was asking myself about one thing - why Kralky moved the way he did. It's naturally driven to devour more magic. And now he's super-powered from things that leaked from Balthazar. So not only we have magic inbalance, we also have one super-elder dragon, two low-power dragons that went to sleep mode, and... Steve - mysterious guy, lurking in depths of the ocean.

So either we could expect another bloodstone close to new Kralk location - less likely, OR due to all the mess in magic - Kralky decided to take over Steve. Thus moved close to the shore and preparing his move into the water realm with his minions. In the past elder dragons were in balance, so was the magic and they didn't fight each other. Our fault is it's getting out of hand, thus as the nature works - stronger eats weaker. And Steve seems to be the closest target for Kralk.

Why is it important tho? Well - Cantha! We know this far, that elder dragons are the material for an expac, and I do not think we will deal with Kralkatorik in LS4. Kralkatorik will lead us in last episode to Cantha. Our goal will be to stop both dragons making a diasterous fight that will destroy whole planet. Also we will have to deal with all the stuff happened in Cantha over past time. And of course all the nostalgia service from Anet ^^

Back to out "friend" Palawa Joko. We can't kill him, potentialy we could imprison him again. But what I think will happen - he'll got devoured by Kralky. Not turned branded, Kralk will devour his magic and kill him just during the fight between us and him. Question is - how much magic Joko has to be of an intrest to Kralk? Another possibility would be us saving Joko from Kralk and thus resulting in peace between us, sunspears and Joko. Tho people of Elona would rather have revenge on Joko for what he've done.

I would expect around 4 Elonian maps (some idea based on rumors) - Dajkah, Gandara, Northern Kourna with brand piece + Istan which we got now (I do not think we're gonna have more of it, maybe). I would also expect one map outside of region - in Bloodlegion homelands - to deal with Kralk origin place and exploration of such. Sixth map I'm not sure... Perhaps Kralky will move once again - to western part of Istan before he moves to Cantha and this could be our last LS4 map.

OK, this is a huge wild speculation. And it does not take into account any other variables like Aurene, Lyssa (we still have no answer about her relation with Balthy), Livia and scepter of orr, whatever else I forgot about right now.

What do you think?

PS: Why I see this likely - Cantha was long asked for, dragon confrontation was long asked for, Steve, Kralk, Cantha - can't imagine bigger marketing points in GW2 at this point to bring players back and new ppl to the game.

HoT had lots of features and jungle, tho Mordy felt like a Zaithan 1.5. PoF with Balthy, Kralky and Joko + all the Crystal Desert nostalgia stuff is a next level. It's natural they will try to keep the new high level of stuff, and such a bad ass expac could potentialy be even better than PoF.

PPS: If that's the case - what then? What shift in the story could make another huge product to compete with such a spectacle? Some serious err.. Cataclysm? xD On a serious note - either it's Far shiverpeaks + dwarves, or completely new region of the world to finally get out of GW1 shadow. But what could we do there? Who would be our new enemy? Not sure.

A guildmate and I were discussing this last night...and it appears Kralky's new "perch" is also the giant, mysterious mountain that some GW1 players used to speculate about. I'll have to go and see if I can dig up some old posts, but I remember a lot of talk about that mountain.

As to what the future might hold...I still maintain that DSD is Cthulhu, which explains why we've never seen him. Once he starts to rock and roll, we all will go mad...heroes of Tyria, remaining ED's, and Joko.

;)

@nihavel.6592 said:Maybe he's aiming Orr...Anyway i love this elder.It's the real fist one who gave me a sense of danger.I hope Steve (And the other 2) will do the same.

Mordremoth was pretty dangerous too. He spread his tendrils across the entire map (from Dragon's Stand to the Iron Marches), destroyed forts, and obliterated the Pact Fleet. XDBut yes, i hope the Deep Sea Dragon (if we ever confront it) will prove to be dangerous as well. Kralkatorrik is doing fine so far.Sadly, i don't have hope for Primordus and Jormag, after they were both simultaneously put back to sleep in such an inglorious way (two elder dragons pretty much removed from the story, without even a chance to fight, by a machine created by a teenager asura girl).

@Sir Alric.5078 said:

@nihavel.6592 said:Maybe he's aiming Orr...Anyway i love this elder.It's the real fist one who gave me a sense of danger.I hope Steve (And the other 2) will do the same.

In ArenaNet's defense, Taimi didn't create the machine, Omadd did. And she, herself, admitted that she didn't fully understand how it worked. She merely adjusted it to make it do what she desired.

@Shampanix.3928 said:PS: Why I see this likely - Cantha was long asked for, dragon confrontation was long asked for, Steve, Kralk, Cantha - can't imagine bigger marketing points in GW2 at this point to bring players back and new ppl to the game.

I've said this before multiple times in other threads throughout GW2's life and I really-really hope that is NOT the case. Personally, I want to see Cantha's plot self containedas an expansion that could arguably stand on its own. Just like how it was in Guild Wars 1 where if you had an existing character, you were given the option to ship to Cantha in Lion's Arch. Or make a new character in Cantha, go through the main story, and then meet up with existing characters. If they were to do this, it would be a HUGE call back to the campaigns of Guild Wars 1 as well as revitalize GW2 by giving new and returning players an option.

But over all, I just wnat Elder Dragons to take a back seat. Which almost seems like Arenanet is working towards doing just that. Last LW Season we saw two dragons (Primordus and Jormag - the later of which we didn't "see") get put back to sleep, so effectively we only have Kralk and Deep Sea Dragon at this point being "active".

@Ronin.7381 said:

@Shampanix.3928 said:PS: Why I see this likely - Cantha was long asked for, dragon confrontation was long asked for, Steve, Kralk, Cantha - can't imagine bigger marketing points in GW2 at this point to bring players back and new ppl to the game.

Technically, the only ED we are positive of being active is Kralk...though we do have anecdotal evidence that the DSD is also active, Karka and Southsun Cove, a few tidbits from the Largos, and what the Quaggan have told us about the Krait, but other than that there's no real evidence it's doing anything remotely near what the other 5(now 3 had been doing/are doing in Kralk's case.

P.S. - As much as I'd like to see us go to Cantha in some future expansion, I don't want to see it at the expense it would have to be neutered to satisfy the Chinese authorities, and it would have to be neutered to do that, unless they just want to make it for every region but China.