Aurene is growing way too fast

Dragons reach an age of several millennia. Aurene, however, has been growing faster than a human child. This makes no sense at all. A teenage dragon would be at least several hundred years old.

P.S. I do understand the possible need of her growth rate due to story requirements, but maybe the devs should have handled this differently then from the start.

A fictional creature from a fictional game is growing too fast?

Just because they can live for an extremely long period of time doesn't mean they have to grow slow. Especially when the dragon in question has absorbed a large amount if magic.

As the comment right above stated she absorbed an abnormal amount of magic since her time inside her egg. Dragons feed off of magic and thrive with it, a normal dragon left to grow up would most likely grow at a much slower rate.

But aurene has absorbed both the energy of mordremoth and the energy of balthazar.

Dragons in the World of Tyria grow by the amount of Magic they eat and Aurene received and ate a huge amount of concentrated magic that gave her body a massive growth accelleration.

You must understand, that we can't wait for storytelling reasons naturally multiple centuries, until Aurene gets finally big enough, that she will become that way a more important story character, that actually can do more, than looking only cute...So your problem with her growing up faster than your little standard 0815 imagination of how fast dragons should grow up in your personal fantasy plays no role here.

The devs handled absolutely right here with Aurene to make her grow up quick and that way make her faster a more equal character, that can participate in the actions around her, instead of having to be protected forever like a little helpless baby.

The only debatable thing over Aurene is her design/looks, but thats just only a matter of taste, cause she's a kid of Glint and for my taste she doesn't look at all as if she would be an offspring of Glint yet... her face isn't what I would expect to be dragonlike and should look more like that of Glint so that the paralleles to her fit better as her offspring

In fact personally I would wish Aurene would have growed up to the size of Vlast, cause that would have been actually the right size, so that Aurene could work in story instances as a Mount, but however - the season is not over yet and I'm sure Aurene will grow further over time, just a matter of time I guess when our Characters will begin to do teamwork with Aurene by riding on her and soaring through the sky eliminating foes together with right Mount Skillls which allow you to fight, while flying actually really and not with that silly stupid wannabe flying that we have so far with gryphons which can't even handle to fly really without loosing permanently height, where you ask yourself only, where is the damn mastery on gryphons, that allows you to fly without permanently loosing height ^^

Edited for having made some silly typos and some corrections for hopefully now better understanding of the posting xD

@Orpheal.8263 said:Dragons in the World of Tyria grow by the amount of Magic they eat and aurene received and ate a huge amount of concentrated magic that gave her body a massive growth accelleration.

You must understand, that we can't wait for storytelling reasons naturally multiple centuries, until Aurene gets finally big enough, that she will become that way a more important story character, that actually can do more, than looking only cute...So your problem with her growing up faster than your little standard 0815 imagination of how fast dragons should grow up in your personal fantasy plays no role here.

The devs handled absolutely right here with Aurene to make her grow up quick and that way quicly a more equal character to has, that can participate in the actions around her, instead of having to be protected forever like a little helpless baby.

The only debatable thign over Aurene is, her design/looks, but thats just only a matter of taste, cause shes a kid of Glint and for my taste she doesn#t look at all as if she would be an offspring of Glint yet... her face isn't what I would expect to be dragonlike and should look more liek that of Glint so that the paralleles to her fit as her offspring

In fatc personaly I would wish Glint woudl have growed up to the size of Vlast, cause that would have been actually the right size, so that Glint could work in story instances as a Mount, but however, the seasons not over yet and I'm sure Aurene will grow further over time, just a matter of time I guess when our ACharacters will begin to do teamwork with Aurene by riding on her and soarign through the sky eliminating foes together with right Mount KSilsl that allow you to fight while flying actually realling and not with that silly stupud wannabe flying that we have so far with gryphons which can't even handle to fly really without loosing permanently height, where you ask yourself only, wheres the kitten mastery on gryphons, that allows you to fly without permanently loosing height ^^

The developers touched on her looks. Its due to whos magic she absorbed that she came to look like that. In this case she absorbed mordremoth's magic and so she comes to look like him.

Its also speculated that she absorbed zhaitan's magic as well hence her having similar features to zhaitan (her wings) and considering what we learn in se3 its a pretty safe bet to make.

The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.

You seem to have forgotten that she has absorbed an amount of magic from the death of Balthazar. This has likely acted as a catalyst, a huge dose of growth hormone if you will, causing her to "grow up" very quickly.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.

No thats not true. Vlast spend a long time with his mother and the exalted learning about the races his duty and what he needed to do.

By growing too fast do you mean her physical size? Because the elder dragons are freakin humongous.

She got hit with growth hormone called "Exploding Balthazar". For a creature made to eat magic it's understandable that quicker growth may be a result of such happenings. You also need to suspend your disbelief unless you want to wait millenias for story conclusion.

@zealex.9410 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.

But is that usual for Dragons? That sounds like an unusual situation for one Dragon, which wouldn’t affect the rate of maturity for the whole species.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.

Aurene looks more like the unusual case here or rather the case where its not occured naturally. Vlast from all we know grew to his size naturally.

@zealex.9410 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.

Do we know how fast Vlast grew and the age of maturity?

Aren't dragons immortal? Probably due to their magical nature, therefore who can say how long they should take to mature.

We do know that Aurene has had her growth boosted twice, once by Mordremoth's death and again by Balthasar's, so yeah, she's growing too fast, she should really cut down on absorbing huge amounts of power from exploding super-beings.

@zealex.9410 said:

@"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.No thats not true. Vlast spend a long time with his mother and the exalted learning about the races his duty and what he needed to do.

This. Vlast's recording showed that he was still juvenile (in character), not a mature dragon - even after the long time he had lived (especially compared to Aurene).

I don't buy the "absorbed a lot of magic" argument regarding Aurene. That magic transformed her physical powers, yes, but it cannot magically convert her quickly into an adult.

@Pifil.5193 said:We do know that Aurene has had her growth boosted twice, once by Mordremoth's death and again by Balthasar's, so yeah, she's growing too fast, she should really cut down on absorbing huge amounts of power from exploding super-beings.

LOL

@Ayrilana.1396 said:A fictional creature from a fictional game is growing too fast?

What a great contribution to this thread. If you don't like people discussing fiction then what are you doing in the discussion section for a computer RPG?

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.

Vlast spend his childhood in kesho now idk if he devoured magic or not but hes been alive since gw1.

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.No thats not true. Vlast spend a long time with his mother and the exalted learning about the races his duty and what he needed to do.

@Ayrilana.1396 said:A fictional creature from a fictional game is growing too fast?

Actually Vlast sounds and acts plenty adult in his recording both in the second map and inside kesho.

Also nobody said she grew mentaly even tho i dont think its imposible. The bigger change after her absorbing magic is her apearance.

@zealex.9410 said:Actually Vlast sounds and acts plenty adult in his recording both in the second map and inside kesho.

Inside Kesho wasn't Vlast's voice, it was the Exhalted. As for his actual recordings that we collect after his death, I disagree. His musings sound more of an adolescent to me than an adult, what with the impatience and all.

@zealex.9410 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.No thats not true. Vlast spend a long time with his mother and the exalted learning about the races his duty and what he needed to do.

@"Ayrilana.1396" said:A fictional creature from a fictional game is growing too fast?

Yes and he was plenty sick of being told what to do and where he could go, sounds like he should have flown the nest a long time ago.

Also nobody said she grew mentaly even tho i dont think its imposible. The bigger change after her absorbing magic is her apearance.

Yeah that's the thing, she was an egg and after absorbing some of Mordremoth's energy was immediately far larger than the egg (it could have been a magical "Tardis" egg, of course) it was like she skipped being a baby and went straight to being a small child (assuming that dragons are ever "babies").

She remained child-like until she absorbed Balthasar's energy when she immediately changed into an adolescent (I guess).

I don't think there can be any doubt that her growth is being forced by her exposure to the magic.

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@zealex.9410 said:Actually Vlast sounds and acts plenty adult in his recording both in the second map and inside kesho.

Theres recordings of vlast inside kesho. And no he sounds like someone who lived a certain life and it has come to define him.

@Pifil.5193 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.No thats not true. Vlast spend a long time with his mother and the exalted learning about the races his duty and what he needed to do.

@"Ayrilana.1396" said:A fictional creature from a fictional game is growing too fast?

Also nobody said she grew mentaly even tho i dont think its imposible. The bigger change after her absorbing magic is her apearance.

Tbh the way the came out of her egg suggests that she would be bigger anyways. The egg didnt break it actualy shattered into many shards which formed her body.

@zealex.9410 said:

@Pifil.5193 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@zealex.9410 said:

@"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:The reason for a long childhood is to allow the child time to learn what it needs to know to be an adult. Dragons don’t seem to have the complex cultures that humans have and I doubt they need a long childhood.No thats not true. Vlast spend a long time with his mother and the exalted learning about the races his duty and what he needed to do.

@"Ayrilana.1396" said:A fictional creature from a fictional game is growing too fast?

Also nobody said she grew mentaly even tho i dont think its imposible. The bigger change after her absorbing magic is her apearance.

Ohhh, so it's like she was the egg and the egg was she rather than the egg contained her, that's really cool, I didn't notice that!

Even in real life there's no correlation across species between the length of their total life-span and the time it takes them to mature. And most will grow very quickly compared to humans (we're very much on the slower end of the scale). For example insectivorous bats can live for around 40 years in the wild, but the babies grow to the size of an adult in just 5 months and they're fully mature and able to breed after a year. Humpback whales are also estimated to live 40-50 years in the wild, but they take 6-7 years to mature.

We know very little about dragons biology, behaviour or life cycle in GW2. We don't even know if all the various kinds of dragons - the Elder Dragons, the crystal dragons like Glint, the saltspray dragons from Cantha, the bone dragons that used to exist in Kryta etc. are actually related in any way.

Some people have speculated that the Elder Dragons are actually more like giant elementals which got called dragons because they look similar. In which case they might be immortal. Or maybe spending the majority of their time in a kind of hibernation extends their life span. (That's the case with some real animals - giant african land snails for example actually tend to live shorter lives in captivity and people think it's because they don't hibernate.)

Even with Glint we know relatively little about her, and she's probably the dragon we know best. We know she was several hundred years old and could potentially have lived much longer. But we don't know if she hibernated or if living in her lair which appears to be some kind of pocket dimension (and therefore outside of time) extended her life span. We don't know if she used to be a flesh and blood dragon that was turned into crystal by Kralkatorrik like the branded or if she was created/born as a crystal dragon. We don't know if she came from an egg or was created as-is. We don't know who the father of her children is (if there even was a father) or when she laid the eggs - was she carrying them when she was corrupted or are corrupted creatures still able to breed?

We do know that Vlast was just over 250 years old and how big he was. But we don't know how quickly he grew or what factors affected it - did he grow in spurts or steadily over time? Was it affected by how much magic he absorbed? Was he actually allowed to go out and find magic to absorb or did the Forgotten control that too?

In other words we don't have remotely enough information to say what Aurene should or should not look like, or how she should act. This is a huge learning curve for us and in real life the ambiguity pretty much gives Anet the freedom to do whatever they want with her.

One thing I do find interest is that so far Aurene doesn't seem able to talk. She clearly understands what's said to her but she only responds with actions, not words. Which makes me think that dragons might be one of those species where physical growth is prioritised first (maybe because they actually have/had predators they need to escape from?) and their minds develop more slowly, once they're able to be semi-independent.

I'm looking forward to her actually being able to speak, it will open up a huge amount of new options, and make it easier to ensure she doesn't feel the same resentment towards us as Vlast did towards his keepers.

They grow fast at the start but live for a long long time. that's how they become giant dragons.