Shadow in the Ice Trailer discussion and observations

[Michram.6853]

What I noticed:

1. First shot we see the Jormag statue, we could see some already with an update at some point, looks like they have some abilities to take control over people
2. Garm is back! He approaches the Wolf statue with Jhavi, Braham and the Commander. Wolf is the Spirit that reminds the Norn they should never fight alone.
3. Then we see Kodan, that as the Wolf Spirit say can't for some reason hear the Spirits of the Wild, but Braham can, also for some reason. I guess because there is some sort of prophecy to fullfill, maybe it turns out Eir did make some vows to the Spirits to give Braham protection when the time comes. Especially Wolf, since he, as Eir was devoted to this particular Spirit since forever. A nice touch to give those previous moments from Braham's past, finally we will see the consequences of Braham's chiping the Tooth, so that's cool.
4. And then the map part begins with the pictures of expanded Bjora Marches, The broken Kodan ship, wasteland and gorgeous forest with a weirdly infused... Boneskinner. (0:53), and some sort of Spirit channeling with I guess devoted to Spirits havrouns.
5. Then I really great motif with the Commander facing himself in the Strike Mission, which already teases the final boss of the episode - the Commander him/herself - something similar we saw in Season 3 in One Path Ends during one of the Shining Blade's trial:

Livia: And that led many among our ranks to doubt, fear, regret... Inner demons.PC: Inner demons? Believe me, I'm bombarded by them every day.Livia: Now you must face those that bother you most, so you can overcome them when someone uses them against you

But I wonder how it will look like when there will be 10 people in the single Strike Mission... Maybe it will switch between different characters and their professions, so it will be kind of know your opponent's profession to know when to deal attacks, some sort of tactics depending on the different profession, I don't know, can be cool knowing we have 12 profession, it may be really fun if they go this way, and not the easy one that a boss just picks on random character's looks and profession and we fight with it for 5 mins like any other champion. So there is hope it may be cool and fun. :)

I've always wanted Raven armor set to make it fit Nevermore completely. Really cool touch. and thing to work on by playing. :)

6. Then we can see Rytlock and Crecia too (that apperently catched up with us at some point), as release page says: Rytlock and Crecia have fallen out of contact, and now it seems Braham is striking out on his own to find them. This is the worst moment for your allies to isolate themselves. Touch base with Jhavi at Jora’s Keep and learn what she knows.

If they tease so many little things already in the trailer that you can easily catch frame by frame, then there must be something really surprising in the end or something crazy happens when Drakkar dies/not dies, or both.

I really LOVE this tunnel with Drakkar just swimming just near it, looks so crazy scary, hopefully there is some sort of instance and open world thing with Drakkar, knowing his story in the lair or uncovering secrets of Svanir's origins and how it all happened with Jora, some sort of throwback from GW1. Could be really cool to see.

Really awesome animation with Drakkar spreading around this weird goo similar to the Boneskinner.

It can be a very cool episode, it certainly will. :)

[hugo.4705]

Well the trailer really insist on the fact that you are fighting yourself in the middle of nowhere/ in the blizzard, so I think it is a solo strike mission. When they showcased the icebrood construct, the trailer shown a bunch of players. Dunno about the boneskinner, I saw it normal, it's just that all around it you have glowing blue shrooms.Drakkar has a greenish aura yup, like aberrant. So I suppose the fight require some essences in additions of the lost spirits power.

I'm very happy to see Garm and hope nothing happened to Crecia or Rytlock.

[Randulf.7614]

"Gojira... Gojira... Gojira !"

So hyped for Drakkar! He's looking a tad different though (I'm not complaining mind you - I just want an epic World fight!)

[Aaron Ansari.1604]

@"Arden.7480" said:

3. Then we see Kodan, that as the Wolf Spirit say can't for some reason hear the Spirits of the Wild, but Braham can, also for some reason.

For what it's worth, that's not so strange. We've known that the Spirits can freely contact norn when they feel the need since launch. It's less a question of why Braham can hear Wolf and more why Wolf would want to talk to Braham, and that whole thing with the prophecy and the tooth, as well as presumably being one of the first non-Svanir norn to come out that way in ages, makes a pretty good case.

Very interesting to hear a spirit putting weight behind the prophecy, though, considering last episode's revelations concerning Asgeir. Glad to see that it'll probably be more complicated than 'Jormag orchestrated the whole thing'.

[Brycar.2651]

I didn’t spot Garm. Good eye. Happy to see him.

I think the narrator is the Wolf spirit. Assuming that, why mention the Kodan can’t hear the spirits? Unless.... they used to be Norn that have permanently transformed to Bear but somehow lost their link to the spirits.

[Gryphon.2875]

@Brycar.2651 said:I didn’t spot Garm. Good eye. Happy to see him.

I think the narrator is the Wolf spirit. Assuming that, why mention the Kodan can’t hear the spirits? Unless.... they used to be Norn that have permanently transformed to Bear but somehow lost their link to the spirits.

Would that make Koda and the Bear spirit the same?

[Brycar.2651]

@Gryphon.2875 said:

@Brycar.2651 said:I didn’t spot Garm. Good eye. Happy to see him.

I think the narrator is the Wolf spirit. Assuming that, why mention the Kodan can’t hear the spirits? Unless.... they used to be Norn that have permanently transformed to Bear but somehow lost their link to the spirits.

Would that make Koda and the Bear spirit the same?

Maybe. That would be a great twist.

[Brycar.2651]

What if Garm is an aspect of the Wolf spirit?

[mindcircus.1506]

@"Arden.7480" said:It can be a very cool episode, it certainly will. :)There was a time I would have agreed with you.but given how objectively poor Ep1 and the Prologue were in so many ways...given the fact they have stated this strike mission may indeed be a solo experienceand the fact they are advertising a World Boss (easily the absolute worst content this game has to offer) as a centerpiece of the new Episode?No new Fractal in over a year?An armor set that looks identical across all races and weight classes?A retread of the last weapon set?

"Certainly will"?No.I haven't been this pessimistic about a new release since I started playing this game 4 years ago.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@"Arden.7480" said:> 3. Then we see Kodan, that as the Wolf Spirit say can't for some reason hear the Spirits of the Wild, but Braham can, also for some reason. I guess because there is some sort of prophecy to fullfill, maybe it turns out Eir did make some vows to the Spirits to give Braham protection when the time comes. Especially Wolf, since he, as Eir was devoted to this particular Spirit since forever.Episode 1 seems to have been setting up Braham as being the heir to Asgeir's Legacy, the one who would lead the norn back north as per a prophecy from the Spirits of the Wild.Also, other norn hear the Spirits' voices too. I think it was just denoting a difference between kodan and norn, and not singling Braham out as the only one who can hear the Spirits' voices.

4. And then the map part begins with the pictures of expanded Bjora Marches, The broken Kodan ship, wasteland and gorgeous forest with a weirdly infused... Boneskinner. (0:53), and some sort of Spirit channeling with I guess devoted to Spirits havrouns.The Boneskinner looks fairly normal; it's the area that has poison effects similar to the itzel poison spots. So new boneskinner fight might be requiring some masteries.

Doubt that shrine has anything to do with an Eagle Havroun (you can see an Eagle Shrine at the back), likely just one of many slightly-larger shrines.

5. Then I really great motif with the Commander facing himself in the Strike Mission, which already teases the final boss of the episode - the Commander him/herself - something similar we saw in Season 3 in One Path Ends during one of the Shining Blade's trial:

Honestly, I'm dead on tired of the whole doppleganger fight. It wasn't just used that one time in S3, but also in Knight of the Thorn, in Season 2 bonus objective, in the Elon Riverlands meta, and I'm sure I'm forgetting another time or two as well.

I really LOVE this tunnel with Drakkar just swimming just near it, looks so crazy scary, hopefully there is some sort of instance and open world thing with Drakkar, knowing his story in the lair or uncovering secrets of Svanir's origins and how it all happened with Jora, some sort of throwback from GW1. Could be really cool to see.The trailer's dialogue implies Drakkar will play a role in the story, and we know he's a world boss. So yeah, very likely Drakkar will be fought twice, like the Fraenir showing up in the meta until you kill him in the story, but also in the strike.

Which makes me think Drakkar survives both the story and the open world in this episode. Which will definitely be good. Even if I'm not a fan of his redesign (I prefer the GW1 appearance not giving Drakkar the ice column creature appearance with alterations).

@hugo.4705 said:Well the trailer really insist on the fact that you are fighting yourself in the middle of nowhere/ in the blizzard, so I think it is a solo strike mission. When they showcased the icebrood construct, the trailer shown a bunch of players.It wouldn't really be a strike mission then. The idea of strike missions is that they're 10 man content.

@"Randulf.7614" said:"Gojira... Gojira... Gojira !"

So hyped for Drakkar! He's looking a tad different though (I'm not complaining mind you - I just want an epic World fight!)ANet did say they're aiming for Triple Trouble difficulty levels with Drakkar. Hopefully they don't overscale it like Serpent's Ire though.

@Brycar.2651 said:What if Garm is an aspect of the Wolf spirit?In one of the norn PS stories, you have the option to turn into a wolf, and as a wolf you can talk to Garm. He doesn't seem to be that special based on that dialogue.

@mindcircus.1506 said:but given how objectively poor Ep1 and the Prologue were in so many ways...I disagree with you about the quality of the prologue and Ep1, and disagree with most of your post being an objectively bad thing.

[ugrakarma.9416]

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:Honestly, I'm dead on tired of the whole doppleganger fight. It wasn't just used that one time in S3, but also in Knight of the Thorn, in Season 2 bonus objective, in the Elon Riverlands meta, and I'm sure I'm forgetting another time or two as well.

yeah theres the one in domain of lost in POF history, spirits claiming your name :s

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@ugrakarma.9416 said:

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:Honestly, I'm dead on tired of the whole doppleganger fight. It wasn't just used that one time in S3, but also in Knight of the Thorn, in Season 2 bonus objective, in the Elon Riverlands meta, and I'm sure I'm forgetting another time or two as well.

yeah theres the one in domain of lost in POF history, spirits claiming your name :s

Not sure that can count as a doppleganger since that's more of an imposter, and the spirits were of each profession rather than solely yours.