Episode 5: All or Nothing Trailer Discussion.

First of all, the name. Using "All" is such a wonderful touch. The All as the represenation of Tyria. Also using Nothing is like we stand between saving Tyria (All) or it will be destroyed (or Nothing).

Wow, the music, though... Maclaine Diemer and his team do not disappoint, ever! (Fear not this Night with the Sirens' singing?)

Also the Siren Fractal looks so amazing!!! I actually wrote a long post few months ago how nice it would be if we'd touch Siren's lore. And now they announce the fractal with Sirens? Wow!

The Longbow looks phenomenal too, and the story is going to be exciting.

And Ogden!!! Yay! Maybe we will find out who was behind that Mysterious Voice that gave the Master of Peace the Egg (Season 2: Echoes of the Past).

And Glint is freaking so sneaky! Did she plan everything, did she foresee the Dragon's deaths and that the Commander will stand at this point that is now?

Also the Mastery! It looks like the wings that we had in Heart of Thorns, when the Egg connected with us! So amazing!

Such a nice surprise, and I'm so excited!

Also I think we won't survive this encounter, and he will eat us all...

And Ogden!!! Yay! Maybe we will find out who was behind that Mysterious Voice that gave the Master of Peace the Egg (Season 2: Echoes of the Past).

Wasn't that Vlast? Pretty sure it was Vlast's voice.

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

And Ogden!!! Yay! Maybe we will find out who was behind that Mysterious Voice that gave the Master of Peace the Egg (Season 2: Echoes of the Past).

Now, you made me realize it was Vlast.

Also I found this thing in MMORPG.com Article: The new content episode will be released on Tuesday, January 8th and will feature "the ultimate showdown with the Elder Crystal Dragon Kralkotorrik". Devs are promising that the landscape of Tyria "stands to be reshaped" as a result.

Does it mean it's the Final episode? Are we really not going to listen to Aurene's vision's message? We are doomed... The Commander is going to lead Tyria to destruction...

Well that trailer was underwhelming.

Yeah this episode looks to be the climax of the Kralkatorrik arc. We will find some way to confront him that doesn't require the commander or Aurene to be apart of the frontal assault. Many of our allies will sacrifice themselves to distract Kralk while the commander and Aurene manage to deal a sneaky blow to finish the dragon off. I'm guessing the "Tyria will be reshaped" part just means the branded areas will be cleansed by Aurene when she takes Kralk's place as elder dragon. I'm thinking that's how things will go down in a short summary.

Wow, this is going to be amazing :).

Maybe our battle with Kralkatorrik tares a hole in the fabric of reality opening up a door into the mists. This could set up a new story arc involving the mists and other worlds. Possibly bring the gods back into the mix and open up the possibility of visiting the "Garden of the Gods" in the next expansion. Probably not, but would be cool if it happened.

@"ThatOddOne.4387" said:Well that trailer was underwhelming.

I liked the music, but yeah it didn't scream "climatic battle ahead" beyond the dialogue. I think the only thing that looked interesting was Kralk's body moving. Otherwise it was a fairly bog-standard affair. It seemed more a tick box exercise in what to show in terms of features rather than what is meant to by hyping up a potential conclusion to the arc (which seems really odd and early to be at that stage)

@"Arden.7480" said:Also I found this thing in MMORPG.com Article: The new content episode will be released on Tuesday, January 8th and will feature "the ultimate showdown with the Elder Crystal Dragon Kralkotorrik". Devs are promising that the landscape of Tyria "stands to be reshaped" as a result.

Does it mean it's the Final episode? Are we really not going to listen to Aurene's vision's message? We are doomed... The Commander is going to lead Tyria to destruction...

Massivelyop had a similar but fuller quote, which was: "As the Commander heads toward the ultimate showdown with the Elder Crystal Dragon Kralkatorrik, Tyria’s entire landscape stands to be reshaped."

MMORPG didn't quote the whole thing, which changes the context. This episode is the preparation for the final showdown, not the showdown itself.

I'm guessing this is the next to last episode -- this is going to be entirely focused on getting some edge that allows us to win. The next one will actually be the fight -- hopefully it will be a Dragon's Stand type affair, where we have an instanced fight that involves getting Aurene positioned to absorb the dragon's power and smacking down a new Champion, while the map is about actually killing the dragon.

That doesn't mean that we won't have to deal with the Dragon directly in this episode, though -- there's a reason we put the tracker on it. We'll have to live to fight another day, I guess.

I'm kind of hoping there's another hidden scion out there, though. Partly because if there were only ever two scions (and Glint), the forgotten plan was doomed from the start, and that's just sloppy. But also because bringing two dragons into the mix might be what swings the scales in our favor. Plus, we can make double dragon jokes.

If there isn't a second scion to be found, maybe one could be made -- if Aurene can learn to use death-brand magic to restore Vlast, and use our new secret weapon to have him replace Zhaitan in the All (he's got an appropriately grim attitude for a Death dragon, at any rate. Plus, if he dies to save us and is then resurrected, he's literally this). Aurene vs an Elder Dragon is a pretty badly stacked fight. Aurene and an Elder Dragon versus an Elder Dragon, that's better odds.

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

@"Arden.7480" said:Also I found this thing in MMORPG.com Article:

The new content episode will be released on Tuesday, January 8th and will feature "the ultimate showdown with the Elder Crystal Dragon Kralkotorrik". Devs are promising that the landscape of Tyria "stands to be reshaped" as a result.

Does it mean it's the Final episode? Are we really not going to listen to Aurene's vision's message? We are doomed... The Commander is going to lead Tyria to destruction...

That makes sense. It totally changes the meaning too.

This episode IS the penultimate one, so it only makes sense we are heading TOWARDS the final battle, with the last episode being about it. Now it's prep time.

Well, Anet threw a curveball there. Never expected we would start traipsing around in the shiverpeaks during the Kralkatorik storyline.

Also, does Kralkatorik's head look more detailed at the end? Or is it just because we never really saw it too up close?

@Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:Well, Anet threw a curveball there. Never expected we would start traipsing around in the shiverpeaks during the Kralkatorik storyline.

Maybe their designers were getting as sick of desert as we were.

One thing I noticed-Caithe is there with us-So is Rytlock-Logan finally showed up with the Pact-We have seen Eir and Snaff's ghosts recentlyWHERE THE HELL IS ZOJJA? If not this episode she better show up for the final battle or holy pickles. This is THE big redemption moment for Destiny's Edge, even more then when they were all together for Zhaitan. She NEEDS to be there Anet, or else I will finally have to agree with one of those "missed opportunity" people, don't make me have to agree with those people!

Also, where are Marjory and Kasmeer? We see Rox and Braham, and hear Taimi and Canach.

@"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said:Also, does Kralkatorik's head look more detailed at the end? Or is it just because we never really saw it too up close?

It's definitely a new model. Teeth and "skin" are completely different textures (and shape, for the teeth):

Path of Fire/Storm Tracking:

Trailer:

It's hard to see (esp with that image) but he also has more pronounced "dorsal fins" on his neck now, matching those on his back.

IIRC, during the PoF AMA some devs stated that they were planning to make a "full body" model of Kralkatorrik for our real confrontation. This is likely it. Wonder why they changed the head so much though (I prefer the new head personally), and if they'll give a reason or just retroactively replace the old head model.

I'm glad others noticed a difference in the head detail. Thought it might just have been me

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:IIRC, during the PoF AMA some devs stated that they were planning to make a "full body" model of Kralkatorrik for our real confrontation. This is likely it.I'm interested in seeing how that turns out.

Zhaitan was large, though obviously nowhere the size they originally wanted him to be, and they played Mordremoth off as "his whole body was his corruption!", but Kralk is massive, and we know Primordus is even larger... I don't know how they will do it, or at least do it will unless its just a massive background object. For Primordus his whole body could be the map at his size.

@"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said:One thing I noticed-Caithe is there with us-So is Rytlock-Logan finally showed up with the Pact-We have seen Eir and Snaff's ghosts recentlyWHERE THE HELL IS ZOJJA? If not this episode she better show up for the final battle or holy pickles. This is THE big redemption moment for Destiny's Edge, even more then when they were all together for Zhaitan. She NEEDS to be there Anet, or else I will finally have to agree with one of those "missed opportunity" people, don't make me have to agree with those people!

Also, where are Marjory and Kasmeer? We see Rox and Braham, and hear Taimi and Canach.

and there is no Aurene in the trailer too. So not a big deal some other characters aren't in the trailer. ^^

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

@"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said:Also, does Kralkatorik's head look more detailed at the end? Or is it just because we never really saw it too up close?

I think his power boost from eating bits of the mists is plenty reason for a visual change. Though they could have made him look more astral.

@Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:For Primordus his whole body could be the map at his size.

His head is half of Draconis Mons. Primordus' whole body could be an entire expansion of maps.

But yeah, I'm rather curious how they'll handle us fighting Kralkatorrik. I hope they don't go the Zhaitan route where we don't actually fight them but the battle happens in the area around us as we fight minions (this is before the press 1 fifty times to win fiasco)

@Eekasqueak.7850 said:I think his power boost from eating bits of the mists is plenty reason for a visual change. Though they could have made him look more astral.

Thing is, that happened before we see him in Storm Tracking. Same model as during PoF there.

@"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said:WHERE THE HELL IS ZOJJA? If not this episode she better show up for the final battle or holy pickles. This is THE big redemption moment for Destiny's Edge, even more then when they were all together for Zhaitan. She NEEDS to be there Anet, or else I will finally have to agree with one of those "missed opportunity" people, don't make me have to agree with those people!

This tbh

Another thing I hadn't orignally considered. If Kralkatorik is moving up to the Shiverpeaks to follow us maybe, does that mean they are going to extent the dragonbrand again? Though he might just be staying down south, in Elona, or he can just portal himself over there via Mist travel, so it doesn't extend the brand.

This also has me thinking about the map. I had assumed they would stay in Elona, but if they are doing Thunderhead Keep, and with the way the last few LW maps have been size wise, they could have episode 6 be up there too, and use the episodes 5 and 6 maps to fill in most of the "Deldrimor Front" region.

That would leave quite a bit of Elona empty though. Maybe we go back for LWS5? Since we know it will come right after LWS4.

@"Sajuuk Khar.1509" said:Another thing I hadn't orignally considered. If Kralkatorik is moving up to the Shiverpeaks to follow us maybe, does that mean they are going to extent the dragonbrand again? Though he might just be staying down south, in Elona, or he can just portal himself over there via Mist travel, so it doesn't extend the brand.

This also has me thinking about the map. I had assumed they would stay in Elona, but if they are doing Thunderhead Keep, and with the way the last few LW maps have been size wise, they could have episode 6 be up there too, and use the episodes 5 and 6 maps to fill in most of the "Deldrimor Front" region.

That would leave quite a bit of Elona empty though. Maybe we go back for LWS5? Since we know it will come right after LWS4.

Kinda hoping we start going to different places constantly for the LW instead of just sticking to one region unless its absolutely necessary. I loved S3 because of that reason!

https://imgur.com/a/cJJxEze

Is that Glint's head behind Aurene?