Is there a big plot point missing between Episode 1 and 2 of Living Story 2?

So I was under the impression the replayable Living Stories would be like... I dunno what I'm trying to say here... the whole thing I guess?

Anyways I bought the game at release, but like many people Orr (along with the horribad dialogue, voice acting and wooden characters) made me want to gouge my eyes out. I never actually finished the Personal Story and did a bit of the LS1 stuff before quitting sometime around the time of the Marionette battle where you've got those ~4 valleys that lead to the center bit where the big mechanical dudes are.

ANYWAYS I started playing again recently. Finished the Personal Story, watched the LS1 recap and started LS2. So on a note unrelated to this particular question... why does the LS1 recap not introduce Zephyrites if they're one of the first things you're thrust into upon starting LS2? xD

SO anyways, finished Episode 1 of LS2, where you find Scarlet's room in Prosperity and leave Taimi there. Great. So I start LS2 and I'm called back there because Brahm says there's been an attack on the town. Cool. I go back, we find Taimi and the whole gang's around. Marjory wants to talk to me... and we start chatting about how everything's gone to hell again and there's a new dragon and nothing will be the same because of some guy named Mordremoth.

Umm... what? Episode 1 didn't introduce ANY of these things! I mean obviously there was the implication at the end of the LS1 recap that Scarlet's messing around was going to have some lasting effects, but nothing concrete had happened or been discovered in-universe yet.

So is there some big gap between Episode 1 and 2 of LS2 or something where there's a bunch of stuff that's happened ANet expects players replaying the LS2 to know... somehow? I mean I thought the Living Stories were supposed to make sense when you played through them. I've barely started and so far it's not.

Regarding the Zephyrites not being in the summary, to be honest the in-game summary is piss poor awful. No offense to whichever devs made it, but it is simply put grotesquely inefficient at summarizing the important lasting aspects of the plot, let alone the entire thing. So yeah, shame on them. If you want a proper summary, the wiki has a text one that's pretty good and covers almost everything (though there is still room for improvement there, imho), and I heard . I've not watched the latter, so I cannot personally vouch for it having no mistakes or the like, but I only hear good things about it.

Regarding the attack on the town: When Episode 1 was released, the town wasn't destroyed by vines. When Episode 2 was released, they updated the town so that it was. This removed some NPCs and dialogue, and the story of talking to the town inhabitants naturally didn't include "this town is ruined!" stuff (a neat little update to the story dialogue but...), so it's very weird because only players who were there for Episode 1, a mere two-week cadence, knew that the town wasn't destroyed already, and makes the rush to get to Taimi stranger.

Regarding Scarlet waking up Mordremoth: (first video I found, shows whole finale instance) makes it pretty clear that Mordremoth is woken up by Scarlet's actions. Though no name is provided, Mordremoth is the only dragon not awake at that time.

Regarding the Mordremoth name drop: This was, ultimately, bad writing. And ArenaNet admits it. But they've also not bothered to go and improve it. The idea is that as Pact Commander, the PC would have access to Durmand Priory knowledge, and the Durmand Priory knows all dragon names except the deep sea dragon (it is established at the Durmand Priory in the open world they're well aware of six dragons). Marjory is also a member of the Durmand Priory (established in Season 1) and this is why she knew it - presumably, Mordremoth's name is "known among the educated, unknown to the uneducated" thus why Kasmeer knows it, but unfortunately the name wasn't ever mentioned in-game except via a hidden skill name used by a dungeon boss until this point, thus bad writing.

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

• Regarding Scarlet waking up Mordremoth:
  (first video I found, shows whole finale instance) makes it pretty clear that Mordremoth is woken up by Scarlet's actions. Though no name is provided, Mordremoth is the only dragon not awake at that time.

Oh of course, the recap shows the dragon waking up... but that's not anything the player character or their buddies know. They just know that maybe Scarlet's meddling messed up some stuff. They haven't seen or heard from a new Elder Dragon. So even if Prosperity was only just being attacked for the first time in Chapter 2, how is it that Marjory...

a) Already knows there's a new dragonb) Knows it's Mordremoth without ever having seen himc) Has any reason to suspect a dragon at all when it's just vines attacking the townandd) Is acting like these revelations are common knowledge now as if the discovery was made sometime in the past when no such thing was known at the end of Chapter 1?

@TotalLamer.2470 said:a) Already knows there's a new dragonb) Knows it's Mordremoth without ever having seen himc) Has any reason to suspect a dragon at all when it's just vines attacking the townandd) Is acting like these revelations are common knowledge now as if the discovery was made sometime in the past when no such thing was known at the end of Chapter 1?If you recall, when the dragon awoke it let out a massive roar, and many NPCs make mention of hearing it as far away as Divinity's Reach.

It's well known it was a dragon, and they already know all the other dragons are awake.

The awakening of the Dragon was known prior to ls2 starting since the roar apparently was heard across half of Tyria. Even the Queen mentions it was heard in divinitys reach.

What was jarring at the time, was our knowledge of the name of the Dragon. Apparently we had access to that info as pact commander, but it was the first mention of the dragons name and it didnt seem right we all knew it. The devs in fairness acknowledged they got this wrong.

@TotalLamer.2470 said:

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

• Regarding Scarlet waking up Mordremoth:
  (first video I found, shows whole finale instance) makes it pretty clear that Mordremoth is woken up by Scarlet's actions. Though no name is provided, Mordremoth is the only dragon not awake at that time.

a) It was a point made during the end of S1 and the prologue to S2 (Festival of the Four Winds) that around when Scarlet died, a dragon's roar could be heard across Tyria - a new dragon's roar. Both DR and LA are mentioned as having heard a dragon's roar from.

That's how they know there's a new dragon.

b) They know it's Mordremoth because of the plant creatures (mordrem) and vines.

c) Vines do not, by themselves, act like that - ever. The vines and mordrem display the same actions as other dragon minions. It's the same way folks know the difference between a destroyer and a magma elemental or the like.

d) Rather than "common knowledge" it's more treated as a "conclusion that has no alternative given the knowledge the group in particular has - but players did not". Which falls under the aforementioned "acknowledged bad writing".

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

@TotalLamer.2470 said:

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

• Regarding Scarlet waking up Mordremoth:
  (first video I found, shows whole finale instance) makes it pretty clear that Mordremoth is woken up by Scarlet's actions. Though no name is provided, Mordremoth is the only dragon not awake at that time.

Ahh... again, you would think the fact that there was a huge dragon roar that was heard from DR to LA would be something they'd mention in the LS1 recap. xD

But as far as d) goes... okay, literally the VERY first thing that happens upon starting LS2 is you enter Scarlet's room to find Taimi and you start chatting with Marjory about the new dragon and how nothing will be the same now that Mordremoth's here. There was never any moment in the LS2 of like... showing up at Prosperity and being like HOLY CRAP VINES ATTACKING THE CITY IT MUST BE THAT DRAGON THAT WOKE UP! LIVING PLANT MONSTERS... MORDREMOTH IS THE NATURE DRAGON RIGHT?! MUST BE HIM HOLY CRAP LET'S GO FIND TAIMI QUICK! Literally the -very- first scene of LS2 is of you already inside the instance of Scarlet's room. So it's just... weird.

in the LS1 are zephyrites presented as guardians of Glint's legacy or just as traveling merchants?

@ugrakarma.9416 said:in the LS1 are zephyrites presented as guardians of Glint's legacy or just as traveling merchants?They are mentioned as having been the successors of the Brotherhood of the Dragon, and that they carry Glint's magic with them in their cyrstals. But they don't mention a dragon egg back in S1 or anything.

@TotalLamer.2470 said:But as far as d) goes... okay, literally the VERY first thing that happens upon starting LS2 is you enter Scarlet's room to find Taimi and you start chatting with Marjory about the new dragon and how nothing will be the same now that Mordremoth's here. There was never any moment in the LS2 of like... showing up at Prosperity and being like HOLY CRAP VINES ATTACKING THE CITY IT MUST BE THAT DRAGON THAT WOKE UP! LIVING PLANT MONSTERS... MORDREMOTH IS THE NATURE DRAGON RIGHT?! MUST BE HIM HOLY CRAP LET'S GO FIND TAIMI QUICK! Literally the -very- first scene of LS2 is of you already inside the instance of Scarlet's room. So it's just... weird.

Uh, no, that's the first thing that happens in Episode 2 of LS2. You seem to have skipped Episode 1.

Episode 1 starts in Brisban Wildlands and a letter from E talking about strange disturbances there. There we see the Overgrown Husks and Overgrown Hounds and Jungle Tendrils, and head into Dry Top to see the crashed Zephyrites and deal with that stuff (which includes hunting down Aerin, who caused the Zephyrite crash, and finding the Master of Peace). Then we find Scarlet's room in Prosperity and leave Taimi there.

Then we get Braham's letter that Prosperity has been attacked.

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

@TotalLamer.2470 said:But as far as d) goes... okay, literally the VERY first thing that happens upon starting LS2 is you enter Scarlet's room to find Taimi and you start chatting with Marjory about the new dragon and how nothing will be the same now that Mordremoth's here. There was never any moment in the LS2 of like... showing up at Prosperity and being like HOLY CRAP VINES ATTACKING THE CITY IT MUST BE THAT DRAGON THAT WOKE UP! LIVING PLANT MONSTERS... MORDREMOTH IS THE NATURE DRAGON RIGHT?! MUST BE HIM HOLY CRAP LET'S GO FIND TAIMI QUICK! Literally the -very- first scene of LS2 is of you already inside the instance of Scarlet's room. So it's just... weird.

Sorry yeah I meant to say the very first thing upon starting Episode 2 of LS2.

And so yes you see those things in Episode 1, but the idea of a dragon is NEVER brought up in regards to any of it. I guess it's just all assumed to be Aerin's doing. The word "dragon" is never even mentioned until you talk to Marjory at the very beginning of Episode 2 and she's talking about the new Elder Dragon as if it's something the Superfriends had already discovered. As if there was some conversation that was had that the player has somehow missed out on where the Superfriends decide this must be an Elder Dragon's doing.

Yes, hence, once more, the admitted bad writing.

You're complaining about something we all know about. Something that ArenaNet has admitted was handled poorly. You say it's bad writing. We know it's bad writing. The repeating complaints have entered the realm of redundancy.

And I don't really think anyone in the group ever associated the vines, husks, and hounds to Aerin. Just that they happened to be there at the same time.

@Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

@ugrakarma.9416 said:in the LS1 are zephyrites presented as guardians of Glint's legacy or just as traveling merchants?They are mentioned as having been the successors of the Brotherhood of the Dragon, and that they carry Glint's magic with them in their cyrstals. But they don't mention a dragon egg back in S1 or anything.They didn't mention the egg, but if you had done a bit of snooping, you'd find a room that hints at the hidden egg on one of the airships.As for Aerin and the plant monsters, we do know that these are new beasts, but while we were fighting creatures labelled "mordrem", it's never mentioned up until Kasmeer drops it in Episode 2. And yes, Marjory just springs Mordremoth's name on us like we should have already known it. We knew that these creatures weren't natural, though. It's basically assumed that it's a new dragon.I also remember there was an event where mordrem appeared all over the core maps for a period of time. I couldn't play at the time, so I don't remember when that was in the timeline exactly. It might have been during the season 2 break, now that I think about it.No matter how the story was told, the mordrem are kind of a surprise as the didn't exist one day and suddenly they were attacking Prosperity.

@Rognik.2579 said:I also remember there was an event where mordrem appeared all over the core maps for a period of time. I couldn't play at the time, so I don't remember when that was in the timeline exactly. It might have been during the season 2 break, now that I think about it.

That was post-S2 pre-HoT. Basically the epilogue to S2, as Canach mentions it in the Prologue: Journey to Maguuma step.

To expand on what's already been said, there appears to be more to the jarring introduction to Mordremoth's name due to some rewrites late in Season 1.

The official statement, given by Bobby Stein of the Narrative Team on the old forums, goes like this for those who are curious:

I want to address the comments about the player character’s knowledge of Mordremoth and how that fits into the story. For some players, this may have felt like it came out of nowhere. Up to this point, the only explicit mention of Mordremoth in the core campaign was on the Teeth of Mordremoth skill in Crucible of Eternity.
Because of the PC’s assumed rank in an organization that deals in fighting dragons, and that such knowledge isn’t really a secret (but isn’t widely known as characters in the world have no reason to openly discuss it until now) we wanted the player to make the call by identifying the dragon in a conversation among friends. In hindsight, there should have been more build up or discovery before reaching that point. Lesson learned.

However, the story actually goes a bit deeper than that, and here's what may have happened behind the scenes:

Originally the finale of Season 1 was supposed to be quite different: for example, Marjory would've died, the surviving heroes would've considered calling their group Destiny's Orphans, and Scarlet would've actually revealed her entire plan (without interruption from Braham unlike the revised ending) and namedropped Mordremoth as her master before her demise. This is why the NPCs would've made a connection between Scarlet and Mordy in an aftermath conversation and made the Season 2 reveal a logical continuation of that narrative arc.

As some of the Season 2 episodes had already prerecorded some voiced lines, by the time it came to coding the missions themselves it would be tricky and too time-consuming to add stuff retroactively to said story instances in that manner after the episodes' release as stated by Bobby in a later response. Thus we ended up with the implication of the Pact Commander already having heard of Mordremoth (as per Scarlet's dialogue in the first version of S1 ending which would've justified the reveal in S2) and why Bobby had to offer the in-universe, official explanation for the story we actually ended up getting as quoted above.

A bit of history on this: in the later stages of Living World Season 1, a data miner (not that_shaman who's adamant about not spoiling story stuff) leaked information about the then-upcoming finale of S1. ANet reacted to the leak quickly, taking out most of the story-related stuff from the GW2.dat with only a few bits remaining. Once we actually got to experience the Battle for Lion's Arch in game, the story had undergone drastic changes. Basically it's assumed that what was found in the leak were leftovers of the first, rough cut version of the finale (with several voiced lines) before dialogue and story were tweaked to the second, more polished, final version.

After some time had passed, that_shaman posted about some of the story changes on Reddit and even included a link to some of the scrapped audio files which showed a few of the cut conversations between NPCs. However, even his summary is incomplete due to some of the older files no longer being available at the time of him writing the post. Interestingly some of the cut dialogue of this first version showed that even Braham, a norn with no ties to the Priory, knew that Mordremoth was a dragon connected to the jungle.

IMHO, a simple enough way to fix this discrepancy with the least hassle for developers would've been to, for example, include an entry for Mordremoth in the Elder Dragons book in Divinity's Reach if it's supposed to be semi-common knowledge. :)