Why did Anet waste so much time on Kralkatorrik?

Zhaitan's Risen got more personality and intelligence. The whole structure of the Risen was interesting as well. Mordremoth got the big twist of the Sylvari.

Kralkatorrik and his minions are really boring compare to Balthazar and Joko, he has no personality but kill and devour, and we had to waste the xpc to save him then fight him to save the world. Last episode's fight is pretty much everything we need to see from him, and he still wasn't finished off. I hope we could kill him soon and get to the next dragon. Jormag got more personality and DSD got mystery to solve.

I wish WvW had more personality.

D:

I guess the main Reason we spend so much on Kralk is because of Aurene. The idea of Glint's prophecy is for benevolent actors to replace Elder Dragons are vectors of Energy. It's not so much Kralk's story as it is Aurene's story. Episode 6 will see that chapter drawn to a close I'd think in some way, since Aurene is no longer physically present to become the new conduit.

I'm personally very interested in the deep sea dragon as well due to the implications, but we'll see what goes on during and after episode 6

Because if he just flaps around in the Mists for a bit then dies to some angry toddler dragon he'll feel inconsequential, but if he doesn't then people will get tired and bored of playing with crystals all the time.

How, exactly, has ArenaNet wasted time on Kralkatorik? We haven't even had a full Living World season of dealing with him, much less the season & expansion concerning Mordermoth.

As for who has more personality or is more interesting, that merely personal opinion. I don't agree with yours.

@"Warkind.6745" said:Because if he just flaps around in the Mists for a bit then dies to some angry toddler dragon he'll feel inconsequential, but if he doesn't then people will get tired and bored of playing with crystals all the time.

Not wrong. >.>HoT made me tired of "green".PoF was "okay, that's enough desert for an expansion."Season 4 has easily become "done with crystals, kthxbye."

@"Diak Atoli.2085" said:How, exactly, has ArenaNet wasted time on Kralkatorik? We haven't even had a full Living World season of dealing with him, much less the season & expansion concerning Mordermoth.

As for who has more personality or is more interesting, that merely personal opinion. I don't agree with yours.

Mordremoth, Balthazar and Joko all had personal interaction with the player, moreso for the latter 2 baddies., and I don't think ANET managed to capture the same amount of "personality" with the Branded that they accomplished with the Risen. Maybe it's just me, but going through personal story, it felt like this sea of undead was rising up and we had to take out Zhaitan before we had World War Z Tyria Style. But the Branded? They are just kinda...there? And given we dont really interact with Kralk outside of the last chapter of LS S4, him being the 'villian' just doesn't have the same impact as those mentioned previously.

Again, could just be me, so please correct me if I'm off on this.

Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

@Diak Atoli.2085 said:How, exactly, has ArenaNet wasted time on Kralkatorik? We haven't even had a full Living World season of dealing with him, much less the season & expansion concerning Mordermoth.

As for who has more personality or is more interesting, that merely personal opinion. I don't agree with yours.But since PoF we are fighting the branded.

I already got me bored because they are just boring like I've said before.

@Zeivu.3615 said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

Itself and its minions are not interesting, regardless of how many major faction is related, it's not gonna work.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@"Diak Atoli.2085" said:How, exactly, has ArenaNet wasted time on Kralkatorik? We haven't even had a full Living World season of dealing with him, much less the season & expansion concerning Mordermoth.

As for who has more personality or is more interesting, that merely personal opinion. I don't agree with yours.

I agree that so far the Branded, and Kralkatorik by extension, have shown little individual personality. The Risen had some very interesting minor characters, and Mordremoth was compelling in the final mission of Heart of Thorns. However, I find the overarching premise of this force of nature that corrupts its surroundings by its mere presence, something neither Zhaitan or Mordremoth show, to be fascinating. More so than the standard 'dead rising' that was the Risen.

The fact of the matter is, we've only had less than three living world episodes of direct confrontation with Kralkatorik. Only two, if one counts the episode as a whole and not individual parts. Two episodes out of a long personal story, four seasons, and two expansions. Saying that ArenaNet is wasting time on a character they've barely spent any time on at all, even though it's arguably one of the greatest villains in the story, honestly confuses me.

@Zeivu.3615 said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

This pretty much. They want to provide closure to Glint/Destiny's Edge storyline. It always seemed weird to me they kept pushing the new group of characters after HoT, without resolving the DE plot. So the current direction makes sense to me.

@Zeivu.3615 said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

Despite all of this, we have not actually seen kralkatorrik himself. Yes, he has made an appereance but apart from rambling, spitting crystalls and turning our world purple, there wasn´t much. He´s kinda like thanos, the whole current mcu had him as the antagonist but we only got to see him in infinity war, before we didn´t know a thing about him, his motive, his reasoning. That´s what kralkatorrik lacks: depth.His character has no depth at all, no real personality. Even joko had more of that.Maybe that´s anet´s intention, to create a faceless threat whos whole purpose it is to keep the players busy but not invested in the story. Overall that´s the case for all of anet´s story-writing.

@Arzurag.7506 said:

@"Zeivu.3615" said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

You are not supposed to understand an Elder Dragon's reasoning though. They are presented as these world ending threats with motives beyond mortals. Kinda like forces of nature. The only reason we interacted with one in Mordremorth was because of the whole mind power gimmick. Personally, I find that more compelling than a classic mustache-twirling villain like Joko. What Anet could be doing better imo, is introducing secondary antagonists with their own motives trying to take advantage of the situation. A good example of that would be the "Illusive man" in Mass Effect series (those games also had larger than life, faceless villains).

I think one full season is good. But if they push it to two it’s just going to be a little dull.

Why???!!!!TRIGGEREDBecause he killed MY precious Aurene, this reason is more than enough to justify any time spent on killing him!!!

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@Arzurag.7506 said:

@"Zeivu.3615" said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

Then that makes the fight not interesting at all. Zhaitan was covered well because you can feel his motive and way of conquering, his Risen got twisted personality.

Just the last fight was a letdown.

I agree. I'm tired of purple, tired of lightning. Not looking forward to the snow a jourmag either.

@Slowpokeking.8720 said:

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@Arzurag.7506 said:

@"Zeivu.3615" said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

Just the last fight?!

Also "Death.... Good!"

"Everyone! Come!"

@mortrialus.3062 said:

@Slowpokeking.8720 said:

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@Arzurag.7506 said:

@"Zeivu.3615" said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

But throughout the war against him, a lot of the Risen are intelligent and cunning. They are the most well presented dragon minions overall.

@Slowpokeking.8720 said:

@mortrialus.3062 said:

@Slowpokeking.8720 said:

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@Arzurag.7506 said:

@"Zeivu.3615" said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

This is the main difference between then and now. Zhaitan was still a vague, overwhelming threat with no real motives. It felt different though because the secondary villains had some flavor. The Eye, the Mouth, even that Mesmer in the creepy mansion added some personality. Mordemorth had that too with Scarlett and later the Generals.

Kralk is not the issue, the absence of a good supporting cast is.

In defense of Kralkatorrik, he was the one Elder Dragon where Anet actually pulled off the Eldritch Horror trope. Zhaitan was epic but rather a linear "boss" we went up to and beat with a metaphorical stick. The stakes were high but at the same time it felt like a regular heroes joining to save the day thing, not the initial proposal that Elder Dragons would be unfathomable.

Mordremoth was awesome in his own right, but he not only had A LOT of dialogue for something who was supposedly way above and beyond us, he was quite "swiftly" dealt with in comparison to his own champion Scarlet (who had her own problems but, was probably the most epic villain we had so far).

Kralkatorrik got spotlight in PoF and he finally fulfilled the role of being a looming, unfathomable threat. He literally corrupts everything around him upon flying and can become a gigantic planet sized storm as seen in this LW season. He scarred a whole portion of Tyria in a way which is even more apparent than the Vines from Mordremoth and rivals the continental corruption of Orr by Zhaitan. But what makes him truly Eldritch is the way he is handled within the narrative: up until the last couple of episodes he was not really our main concern. First we had to deal with Balthazar and then Joko, but Kralk was always there on the background spreading corruption - and he spread a lot of it. And when the time finally came to confront him, we find out he's become this Mist dwelling beast that is consuming the very fabric from which reality spurs. It seems like we wasted a lot of time with Kralkatorrik, but in reality he was being used as a narrative element and a background threat instead, and this allowed Anet to build it up as if such threat is unyielding and cannot be solved (because it was not what we actually had to solve for a long period of time). So now that the time has come to finally solve it, the stakes are unimaginably higher than they ever were. I have my own criticisms about this aspect (Dragon Ball Z syndrome...), but they pulled it very correctly and Kralkatorrik is definitely living up to their narrative intent.

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@Slowpokeking.8720 said:

@mortrialus.3062 said:

@Slowpokeking.8720 said:

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@Arzurag.7506 said:

@"Zeivu.3615" said:Kralkatorrik is a major tie-in to a lot of world building and story arcs. Destiny's Edge's plot was based on it. The Vigil was formed because of them and then went to form the Pact. Glint's legacy is based on it. The stories involving Aurene are based on it. Balthazar is involved in it. Kralkatorrik needs this time. It's important.

Zhaitan's goal was very obvious, to eliminate all the living and force everyone to live under his rule of undeath.

@"maxwelgm.4315" said:In defense of Kralkatorrik, he was the one Elder Dragon where Anet actually pulled off the Eldritch Horror trope. Zhaitan was epic but rather a linear "boss" we went up to and beat with a metaphorical stick. The stakes were high but at the same time it felt like a regular heroes joining to save the day thing, not the initial proposal that Elder Dragons would be unfathomable.

Mordremoth was awesome in his own right, but he not only had A LOT of dialogue for something who was supposedly way above and beyond us, he was quite "swiftly" dealt with in comparison to his own champion Scarlet (who had her own problems but, was probably the most epic villain we had so far).

Kralkatorrik got spotlight in PoF and he finally fulfilled the role of being a looming, unfathomable threat. He literally corrupts everything around him upon flying and can become a gigantic planet sized storm as seen in this LW season. He scarred a whole portion of Tyria in a way which is even more apparent than the Vines from Mordremoth and rivals the continental corruption of Orr by Zhaitan. But what makes him truly Eldritch is the way he is handled within the narrative: up until the last couple of episodes he was not really our main concern. First we had to deal with Balthazar and then Joko, but Kralk was always there on the background spreading corruption - and he spread a lot of it. And when the time finally came to confront him, we find out he's become this Mist dwelling beast that is consuming the very fabric from which reality spurs. It seems like we wasted a lot of time with Kralkatorrik, but in reality he was being used as a narrative element and a background threat instead, and this allowed Anet to build it up as if such threat is unyielding and cannot be solved (because it was not what we actually had to solve for a long period of time). So now that the time has come to finally solve it, the stakes are unimaginably higher than they ever were. I have my own criticisms about this aspect (Dragon Ball Z syndrome...), but they pulled it very correctly and Kralkatorrik is definitely living up to their narrative intent.

Kralkatorrik has no characterization nor personality, regardless of his threat or size, it's not enough to stand as the antagonist.

I think Kralkatorrik is one of the better dragons as he actually feels like a force that seems worth the title of elder dragon. Zhaitan was basically allergic to fireworks, and mordremoth, while interesting , was killed by mental breakdown. At least kralk feels like he's a unstoppable force.