Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Raven Sanctum - made by dwarves?


voltaicbore.8012

Recommended Posts

I couldn't help but notice much of patterning on the doors of the final chamber of the Raven Sanctum in Bjora Marches is identical to the dwarven runes Thunderhead Peaks. Also, the serpentine patterning all over other aspects of the Sanctum are also the same as Thunderhead as well. While I know that Norn and Dwarves both live/lived in the Shiverpeaks, you all think that alone would be enough to explain the shared use (despite the great differences in philosophy/religion/lifestyle)? Do Norn have a habit of hiring Dwarven contractors or taking over living spaces the latter moved out of?

I'm guessing it was just texture or design re-use, which I'm fine with. But if there's a cooler explanation out there, I want to hear it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Raven Sanctum is a mixture of dwarven, norn, and retextured exalted art assets. It's very curious.

Hard to say if the retextured exalted assets are meant to signify they/Forgotten had a hand in building it, or if they're just reusing assets like how the ruins of Turai's colony in Elon Riverlands are retextured Ascalonian ruins.

I also noticed that the Fallen Village and Ruined Hut use dwarven architecture from the core game, such as seen in Timberline Falls and Mount Maelstrom. Given that norn and dwarves do have a history of interaction, it wouldn't be far fetched if there were dwarves who lived in Bjora Marches at some point, and they helped build Raven Sanctum.

There's another dwarven-origin underground structure in the Far Shiverpeaks too: Sepulchure of Dragrimmar. Raven's Point used some of the same map designs in GW1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Fueki.4753 said:I think they reused assets to bring out the content quicker and have the art team focus on other things, like new Gem Shop items.

Sadly this is the most obvious and rational explanation. I'm just putting on my lore-tinted glasses, and seeing if I can drum up an excuse for the Sanctum to look the way it does (if such an explanation didn't already exist elsewhere). At least they picked assets that are not out of place to re-use in the Shiverpeaks, even if I thought them a bit unexpected for use in a facility for one of the Spirits of the Wild.

@"Patty.3268" said:It might just be a design re-use, since there are a few large "pillars" in the mountains on the west of the map that resemble exalted buildings found in the maguuma jungle.

Are those pillars the ones around Bear Shrine? I went there on foot just once to kill the kodan zerker, and it's just been flyover territory for me ever since. I'll have to take a closer look, thanks for the heads up!

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:I also noticed that the Fallen Village and Ruined Hut use dwarven architecture from the core game, such as seen in Timberline Falls and Mount Maelstrom. Given that norn and dwarves do have a history of interaction, it wouldn't be far fetched if there were dwarves who lived in Bjora Marches at some point, and they helped build Raven Sanctum.

That settles it, I'm going to have to take one of my toons on a short architectural tour of all the known dwarven settlements/ruins!

Also Konig I looked up the Sepulchre you mentioned, and sadly I have little context for where to place it on the GW2 map. Where is Drakkar Lake or Sifhalla? Much farther north of Bjora Marches?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@voltaicbore.8012 said:Are those pillars the ones around Bear Shrine? I went there on foot just once to kill the kodan zerker, and it's just been flyover territory for me ever since. I'll have to take a closer look, thanks for the heads up!

I don't remember seeing them around the shrine, but you can find them at the entrance to raven sanctum, for example. On the left and right side of the rock fomrations with the raven icon. You can also fin them at the entrance to the cave with the strike mission entrance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Gryphon.2875 said:

@Fueki.4753 said:I think they reused assets to bring out the content quicker and have the art team focus on other things, like new Gem Shop items.Makes me sad. I like exploring the architecture of the world and trying to figure out its origins. I did the same in GW1.

It feels like the developers aren't as invested in the game as the developers of GW1 were.If it was at least a bit like WoW, where they use lore to justify asset reuse, I wouldn't mind as much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Fueki.4753 said:

@Fueki.4753 said:I think they reused assets to bring out the content quicker and have the art team focus on other things, like new Gem Shop items.Makes me sad. I like exploring the architecture of the world and trying to figure out its origins. I did the same in GW1.

It feels like the developers aren't as invested in the game as the developers of GW1 were.

You say this, but GW2 actually has more distinctive architectural ruins than GW1 does. Even if two such architectural styles are retextures.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On top of that, asset reuse got... very out of hand in EotN. Ascalonian-style ruins in the Far Shiverpeaks, genuine asura architecture and the surface ruins they occupied being identical (there are theories now that the ruins were an abandoned asura surface colony, but somehow the asura themselves never figured that out), and then there was mob distribution... Elonian and Canthan monsters in the Charr Homelands and Far Shiverpeaks, Orrian-style undead just about everywhere, the Tarnished Coast's creatures the exact same as the Verdant Cascades on the other side of the continent...

GW1 had its strengths- I'm still disappointed that we didn't get the regional variants in Elonan architecture back- but it was just as guilty of confusing asset jumbles by the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

You say this, but GW2 actually has more distinctive architectural ruins than GW1 does. Even if two such architectural styles are retextures.

I agree with this sentiment - outside of a couple obvious re-uses, areas are pretty distinctive in GW2. Frankly speaking, even the re-uses in Bjora Marches actually look fine, it's just that the patterning was so recognizable from elsewhere.

As for the architectural tour, I'm taking a toon that doesn't have map complete through various zones, and having a blast. I came across a few buildings somewhere that I thought shared similar design origins, but I forgot where (and of course didn't write it down). I'll drop back in here at some point if I find anything worth adding to discussion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...