Starfall Leyline.2481

The longcats were the best accidental thing I've ever seen. I totally understand "why" it was fixed, and I never expected it to last forever, but at least we should have kept it through April 1st, LOL I beg you to give us back the blessing of longcat! Even if just until the 1st! After that, people can have the normal armor for the rest of the game! A tonic would be too much to hope for, but just a regression for a short period!

Issue Cited by Devs: The visual effect for Aurora, Vision, and Coalescence isn't applied by the trinkets themselves. It's applied by a hidden buff that stacks on the player. This is how the trinkets achieve the "morphing" of the visual effect depending on how many of the trinkets are worn. This is what also makes a toggle difficult, as the equipment interface does not have the ability to control the buffs or application of them, and would require re-engineering. Devs were concerned about development time investment for a long-term solution due to End of Dragons. Temporary "Quick" Solution: If the buff reaches a stack greater than 3, have it display no visual effect. Give players a clickable inventory item that permanently applies or removes 4 stacks of the buff to a character, so they can turn it on or off at will. Once you have a Long-Term Solution: Just add in the solution you have and remove the clickable item.

This would also solve the fairness issue @Catmander Neko.5643 - If you only allow those who have unlocked two of the accessories to get the slumbering versions, it becomes moot since you can only use two accessories at a time anyway, and it gives players who have only one incentive to get the other, while saving those who have already gotten two the trouble of having to go earn another two just to get <insert replacement here>.

I like this idea, and I hope @Catmander Neko.5643 sees it. It might be a good option for a stop-gap solution without having to rework the trinkets or the system that controls them, and I would jump on it in a heartbeat, personally.

I admit as soon as the Legendary Armory came out, I was hoping it would come with some kind of toggle. I appreciate the transparency. Really, I do. I'm glad to know it was considered rather than just ignored in silence. Originally this post was in regard to "just unlocking" a non-buff trinket in our Armories. I was wondering why that hadn't been considered, and I hadn't made it through all the replies. However, I later saw that your answer was essentially that doing so would effectively give us two trinkets for the price of one. In some ways, I get this. While everyone with a trinket would effectively get double (2, or 4, etc), people who made legendary rings would have needed to spend the resources on two. And having been down that road, I really do get it. I also appreciate that the option was considered. Admittedly, I'm still really disappointed that there's no solution given. While I get you all are busy with End of Dragons, let's be frank. The team will always be busy with one thing or another. Not being a rich player, I just really shrink at the idea of having to go through all that effort to craft new potential legendary trinkets down the road all over again, just so I can have some I can equip on characters that don't need shiny balls floating over their heads. Perhaps new legendary trinkets are the 'solution' you are expecting with the new expansion. Either way, thank you for replying to people's questions, and my own. It's much appreciated, and while unhappy, I at least feel a bit like I have 'closure' on the topic. Though that doesn't stop me from wanting a solution.

The legendary armory is great and all, and having access to my stuff across all my characters is also great and all. But I have one big thing I would like to request of the devs. Please, Please, Please, Please. Please. Give us the ability to toggle off the visual effects of our legendary accessories. I love the convenience and utility of having the legendary items across all my characters, but I really do NOT want all my characters surrounded by bubble globes, just the one or two it'd actually make sense on. Thanks! 😄 P.S. This is NOT, I repeat **NOT** about toggling it off of other people. It's about being able to toggle the legendary effects off of specific trinkets of your own, so you can have the convenience of a selectable stat accessory without being required to use the 'bling' feature for that item.

First, I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that you are working on Worlds 3 and 4!!!!!!! Oh, by the way, I love, love, love the Inception reference you all hid in there. Bravo. Hope this helps! Admittedly, I almost regret that it's a Festival and not just... an area you can play in, but I suppose the Festivalness of it helps keep it fresh. Ah well. The visor this year is a cool idea, and I hope that is updated/expanded on as time goes on. Post Edit: Duck Hunt.

You make a lot of good points! Actually, on several things you and I agree and I make essentially the same point myself, like Mordremoth's torment having begun a while back but getting accelerated by the recent death of the other dragons, etc, or Jormag's intentions for Aurene and that the 'offer' he made was more about getting to her than anything else. I also agree that not all dragons are reacting to the magic exactly the same, but I do think the various dragons are all suffering from that mixing magic. AS for the complications with 'purifying' Jormag, I kinda misspoke there. I don't see the purification as a brainwashing that suddenly makes the dragons good, but rather something that clears their perspective as it were so that in certain instances they might become more benevolent, if that makes sense. Jormag might in fact just stay manipulative and bad, but he might not. Semantics aside I think we're closer to the same page than it may appear. This would thus imply that the deep sea dragon is (or was) Kralkatorrik's opposite - and now Aurene's. Interesting indeed; I was not aware of this! I appreciate the added info there. Not entirely correct. While Jormag did offer peace and recommend taking the norn south, it was still Asgeir's choice to do so rather than return with more forces. Jormag offered to led Asgeir go regardless. Asgeir was the one who chose to go south - and he was still backed by the Spirits of the Wild. And as far as we know, it was still the Spirits who guided Asgeir to 'the lowlands' where he built Hoelbrak. Furthermore, we know that Jormag did not keep its promise. It chased the norn south, as according to Owl Shaman Ulgadis, Jormag battled Owl over Owl's Lodge, in Snowden Drifts, before retreating back north (likely to where it rests now, which Season 3 says is just north of Bitterfrost Frontier). Owl Shaman Ulgadis: It happened centuries ago, on this very ground. Jormag came to ravage our homes, and Owl stood against him. She was destroyed. Since that day, this area has been known as her abattoir. Hmm, according to https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Norn_exodus "Knowing that the norn would not back down from a challenge, and that no norn was capable of defeating Jormag, Bear, Wolf, Raven, and Snow Leopard guided Asgeir to lead the norn south so that they can survive until a hero to defeat Jormag appears.[1] Meanwhile, Ox, Owl, Wolverine and Eagle, having taken damage from Jormag's actions or being best suited to defend against it, stayed back to fight off the Elder Dragon. It is known that at least Owl has died during this, and the other three have been lost since." From that, it's not quite so clear cut as to when that happened, and Jormag did warn Aesgir that he would defend himself if attacked. Now, I should say I am not putting it past Jormag to be lying and deceitful, but I'm not sure we can all-out say that Jormag didn't keep his word because of Owl dying at the time. You're right though, it's equally murky as to whether or not the Spirits accompanied them. In this text https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/A_Burden he doesn't mention the Spirits except at the very beginning. Perhaps they did support them southward, or perhaps that was part of Aesgir's lie to make the deal complete. Further chapters of Icebrood may reveal that. I really do recommend watching again. In the linked video, at 13:20, you see Mordremoth rear up his head and roar, a flash of light bursts out (the entire time his body is pulsating the glow) and he falls down. We know that the final story instance - Hearts and Minds - occurs concurrently with the final battle. When we kill the possessed Trahearne, there is a flash of light blue light in the cinematic, coming from the Heart of Thorns. That burst of light before the Mouth dies, and the burst of light after Trahearne's death, are likely the same exact bursts of light. The amount of time for Mordremoth's body to begin pulsing that light, climb up the tree, and roar is approximately the same as between destroying Mordremoth's avatar in the Dream, and killing Trahearne (especially when you consider that there was originally meant to be a final phase where players climb up and attack Mordy's face head on). On the matter of Mordremoth suffering from his own kind of torment - this is entirely likely, and likely can be extended to all Elder Dragons, though it also clearly manifests in different ways, as Kralkatorrik's torment pushed for destruction of all things, which is how Kralkatorrik acted during Edge of Destiny novel, and no other Elder Dragon functions that way. Weirdly, I don't recall that flash of light when I first did Dragon's Stand, but that was also years ago and I haven't done it much more recently than that. Without the flash of light it looks more like a deliberate act. I tried to check to see if at any point the death scene was 'patched' or changed in the intervening time, but that's a needle in a haystack I may never find, so it's easier for me to assume it's been there the whole time and I'm just forgetting it. While I liked the idea of Mordremoth hatching the egg 'on purpose', a coinciding with the mind fight does make sense, and in watching the video it doesn't look as deliberate as I had remembered it. I disagree that Kralkatorrik saw value in mortals. Kralkatorrik says that Elder Dragons don't fear anything, yet he strived to prevent a world where dragons and mortals were in peace; Glint presumed this was because he feared his death, but if that's not the case, and he's willing to die for his family, why would he hate his vision's outcome so much? We don't know how long ago this vision was, but the current Kralkatorrik - even the Kralkatirrin in Edge of Destiny (pre-Zhaitan's death) - is a mindless murderer bent on destroying everything. Not exactly something that would react to a vision, and Glint's secret of him sounds like "before even the previous dragonrise" that she has little memory of. The "good" Kralkatorrik we meet during Descent regrets killing Glint (the line about killing loved ones was confirmed by devs to be regarding Glint) and has affection for Aurene. The "bad" Kralkatorrik sought destruction for all things. Neither really cared about self-survival, and the latter didn't show enough care for anything beyond ending the pain, so it wouldn't care about a vision of a world at peace without him. My theory? Kralkatorrik's a racist. He despises mortals. The only mortal he interacts with kindly is the Commander, and for all we know this is because the Commander is Aurene's champion and no other reason. ArenaNet also stated that even before being afflicted by torment, Kralkatorrik was not a "good guy". "Good Kralkatorrik" is still a villain figure. Thus, I believe he didn't want that vision come to pass because he didn't want peace between mortals and humans. So I would say that Kralkatorrik saw no value in mortals, unless they were subservient to dragons. I don't believe that Kralkatorrik hated his vision's outcome. He definitely wasn't a 'good guy' to start, but I see it more like a parallel with those movies where the villain at the very end shows some gleam of redemption. A few others have pointed out that in that interaction, Aurene had clearly begun to care for her Grandfather, and his 'good side' (note I do put that in quotes) argues with the tormented rage in her and the commander's defense. The tormented rage was many things, including xenophobic, and was clearly the much more powerful influence in him. Something I was going to say about Jormag in my original version of the post was that "Not fearing death does not necessarily indicate a willingness to die." Kralkatorrik's heart I don't so much see as a true divide between "good/evil" but rather rationality/rage. The rage was the primary motivator in Kralk, and had been for who knows how long before, hence we never got to see his 'rational' side until we had actually gone into him to his heart. Compared to his rage, the rational side is clearly more benevolent in nature, cared for Glint as you pointed out, and also clearly cared for Aurene. It's true he wanted his pain to end, but who wouldn't, especially if he had been powerless to end it due to the rampage of his rage? While it might seem self-serving to end the torment, that possibility is downplayed in his exposition in defense of Aurene and her qualities. He presents it, rather, as a passing of the torch. I believe you might have missed something about Jormag's message. In the Guild Chat for Whisper in the Dark, it was revealed that there is a "hidden message" during Jormag's dialogue. This message seems to have been discovered, as Fraenir says speicfic words with Jormag, but only a certain few, as pulled out in this video: What the video points out is: "End it. I want her." But I hear an additional few words, making the full message: "This pain. End it. I want her." My take on this is that Jormag's promises are - like with Asgeir - a lie and a trap. Jormag has been slowing down the Commander's and allies' forces, but also inviting them in - the blizzard prevented the Commander from chasing Bangar, but Jormag used Almorra's corpse to bring them into Bjora's Marches, where the Fraenir's power keeps the Vigil in a loop of doing the same thing over and over again (as highlighted when you help allies with events during the story, and with the investigation events), indicating that Jormag does want the Commander into the Far Shiverpeaks, but at a certain pace - Bangar is a lure, and Fraenir was a delay, just to bring the Commander in, so that Jormag can get at Aurene. Jormag's ultimate goal for the moment, I suspect, is to get Aurene to end Jormag's torment. Jormag wants to take what makes Aurene special and capable of handling multiple types of magic without harm, and use it for its own goals of ending its torment. Incidentally, I feel that Jormag and Zhaitan were perhaps the closest Elder Dragons to "benevolent Elder Dragons" before afflicted with Torment, as both's actions feel like they're trying to benefit mortals in some way, but do so in a very, very poor way. Zhaitan's minions often speak of Zhaitan ruling a nation without death and loss, but they go about building this by mercilessly killing and forcing servitude. Jormag and its minions talk about protection, strength, and survival, but simultaneously makes the world inhospitable to all but ice creatures. As to the "threat on the horizon" - we can't even be sure there is one. But I'd argue it's referring to the deep sea dragon, especially if it is the opposite to the Crystal Dragon family's domains. I did miss the secret message, but ironically I came to the same conclusion anyway, that Jormag was making a political move to get close to Aurene, and that he had his own ulterior motives. Likewise, I also mentioned (or in one of my draft versions I may have mentioned - perhaps I removed it) that we don't have a guarantee that there is a threat. It's just that Jormag needs to present himself as being necessary in order to weight the bargaining table in favor of his survival. I don't think Jormag is necessarily lying about his offer in this instance, but rather it's all colored by his motivations. With Aesgir I think he kept his word as well when it comes to a technicality, but I also suspect he thrives on technicalities, as it were. It should be noted that purifying a dragon minions does not make them good. The ritual only frees the minions from the enslavement of the Elder Dragon - or, it would seem given the intent, would separate the Elder Dragon from its greed (thus its torment?). When purified, Glint still killed mortals and defended Kralkatorrik. It was only after she heard their dying thoughts, and the thoughts of Kralkatorrik while he slept, that she turned against him. In addition, we were told by Anet some time ago that the Forgotten's purifying ritual is a resource extensive one that requires specific geographical locations, and this is why the Pact doesn't use it more frequently (or at all). So it may not even be an option, since we'd have to lure Jormag, or whatever scion we could, to a suitable location first. Oh, I definitely realize this, but at this point I'm taking guesses as to where Anet might take the story. I doubt that Anet would have us raise 'another' Aurene, that if (and I do stress if) we need more than one figure who can cycle magic to be present in the system, they may have us purify an existing dragon to give us variety. From a game dev standpoint, honestly the easiest dragon to do that with would probably be Bubbles the Deep Sea dragon, because we haven't seen hide nor hair of their minions yet in the actual game, so you don't have year's worth of minions in high thoroughfare maps that that we need to explain after 'reforming' Jormag if he actually turned out benevolent at the end of it. That being said though, if Anet did decide to have us try and purify Jormag, they would provide the circumstances to do so just by writing it into the story, and probably make the difficulty of arranging the whole endeavor part of the missions leading up to it. Having a chance to try and purify an Elder Dragon and then convince it to our side would I think, make for an intriguing endeavor nonetheless. It should be noted that the Mordrem Guard do still have free will. They're not corrupted, but instead were "convinced" (or tricked) to follow Mordremoth via its whispers and calls. The fact they're not corrupted is why one of them almost reverts during HoT when separated from Mordremoth's whispers (and possibly could have been reverted completely had Canach not pressed him back towards Mordremoth's way of thinking), and we can meet one reverted at Festival of the Four Winds. The Sons of Svanir are not corrupted either, at least most of them are not. Those who have received "blessings" do get corrupted, and their intelligence can often be reduced. It's unclear whether or not the corrupted Sons of Svanir still have free will, but your not-yet-Icebrood definitely do (and that includes Rojan). But note that they only started to revert after being separated from Mordremoth's influence, and that reverting was in fact the expression of their own wills fighting back. They only retain their free will so long as they hold onto it, which makes up the entire battle of a Sylvari while in Maguuma. Canach himself was constantly battling it, but had a strong enough will to not be overcome by Mordremoth's. That is actually the very trait I was pointing out: 'intelligence' is not the same as free will. They could make decisions, but while subjected to Mordremoth's (or Jormag's) influence, it was confined to the will of their masters. This is why all the unprepared sylvari on the Pact ships at the outset of the Maguuma incursion turned on their fellows. They weren't acting on free will, but on Mordremoth's will. As for the Svanir who haven't been transformed yet, they're simply idiots with blind zeal akin to a political party. In fact in one of the story missions you actually have the non-transformed Svanir run away when one of their own is transformed and they 'realize' what they're in for. In this case, I'm only referring to those who have been "minionized". The "unchained" Zhaitan minions are actually another good example of this. Most of them feral, but the ones who are positive even if they choose to still follow Zhaitan, are no longer under Zhaitan's direct influence, and 'unchained' in the name itself even implies their wills have been freed to make their own choices. It wasn't just the krait forced out of their homes, but the quaggans and karka too. Furthermore, the idea of the DSD keeping to itself seems very unlikely. When it woke up (approx 200 years ago by all indication), it forced the krait out. 50 years ago, it forced the quaggan out. Very recently, it began conflict with the largos and forced the karka out. It has definitely been expanding its territory over time. As to the notion of largos being minions - it seems very unlikely for that to be the case. Even ignoring the fact that there are largos in the arctic seas as well as the southern seas where the DSD is, and were well known by the quaggans before they fled their respective homes (both north and south), there's the fact that the two aspects of the DSD's minions we know do not match the largos at all: 1) they're tentacle monsters, 2) they're very large. Largos are neither tentacle-y nor very large. Bubbles forced out the Krait, who then in turn forced out the Quaggan, but the Karka themselves were also forced out as I recently learned. I hadn't paid much attention to them. Excerpt from the Quaggan wiki entry: "Overall, quaggan history is mainly uneventful. Most records merely state things such as ancestry lines or when food was bountiful. During this time, the quaggans lived primarily within the Unending Ocean and the unnamed seas to the north. Over the last fifty years however, the krait began invading quaggan homes and forced them towards Tyria." And from the Krait: "Fifty years ago, however, they were forced out of the Unending Ocean's deepest trenches, their former homeland, by the deep sea dragon's forces. During this time, they forced the quaggan out of the Unending Ocean as well, killing their royal family and, according to a Pastkeeper, their goddess Mellaggan herself." The Largos being DSD minions was not so much a suggestion as an indication of how little we actually know about Bubbles. When it comes down to it, any number of those races could technically be candidates of DSD minions, since dragon minions tend to come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and often specialized to various tasks. Just as not all of Zhaitan's, Kralk's, Jormag's, or Mordremoth's minions were any one thing or set of characteristics, I also doubt that all of Bubble's minions will end up being large tentacle creatures. But when it comes to large tentacle creatures, I do find the Jade Ocean fractal to be a point of interest with the 'kraken' boss. Which I always felt bad for attacking, as a side note. There it is minding it's own business, trapped in Jade, not attacking us, and then we go throwing things in its eye. I'd be grumpy too. And by the way I'm not insinuating anything from that fight, I'm just rambling there, lol. The kraken in that fractal might actually be a DSD minion, it's difficult to say for certain, but so far outside of Zhaitan himself it's the only large be-tentacled thing we've encountered. I just don't think that it would constitute the entirety of Bubble's minions, and most likely there's going to be a twist/reveal somewhere. So it isn't like they're doing nothing. Oh, I didn't think they were doing nothing. I just find it curious that the spirits themselves didn't see fit to shed any light on how things went down with Aesgir. But as the Norn attest, the spirits don't always talk much, nor seem to view themselves as arbiters of truth. They're definitely there and providing boons for the Norn people, but it also seems as though they have something to gain themselves. Granted, a symbiotic relationship of give and take isn't necessarily a bad thing. Really, that part was just me rambling a bit since the Spirits of the Wild hadn't entirely played the role it was thought. I would like us to learn more about Koda (as irritating as I find the Kodan to be) and about Koda's relationship with the other Spirits of the Wild. I rather wonder if we'll be learning more about him during the Icebrood Saga. To clarify, Mellaggan is believed by human scholars to be Melandru, and the quaggan disagree completely. Furthermore, Melandru is not the goddess of life - that's Dwayna - but the goddess of nature. No no, I understand. In fact, I said that myself in the paragraph, only I didn't specify human scholars: "Mellaggan is believed to be Melandru, the human god of life/growth, though Quaggan do insist that Mellaggan is not Melandru". As for the specific things they represent, I did do that from memory. At that point I was tired of wiki'ing lol. But you're right, I was a little broad-brushed in what I said of what the gods represented. Good to know! I had never gone through to confirm where those theories had ended up. Still, the gods and the Elder Dragons seem to play similar roles, just with different forms of magic. My thought process was that as they came from a different world, the human gods may have had a function parallel to the Elder Dragon's in their own world. There may not be a direct 1:1 relationship between what they represent and spheres of influence, but basically I wonder if the human gods had "cycled" magic like the Elder Dragons, just in a more benevolent fashion than the Elder Dragons had. Also, I apologize that it took so long for me to reply here. It may be a bit before I can reply again just due to busy schedule. Thanks for the thoughts!

Sorry, it was just the only title that came to mind and I couldn't think of what else to call it. THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ICEBROOD SAGA (And Path of Fire/Heart of Thorns if you haven't played that far) So, I've been going through the lore, the video clips, and various people's opinions. I'm no WoodenPotatoes, but I do have some thoughts on where the story might be going, and where it currently stands. First, let's take stock of a few things: 1. Each time we kill an Elder Dragon, its magic is disseminated to the other dragons.2. The Elder Dragons are themselves each bound to a particular type of magic. They can absorb other magics, but like foreign bodies it hurts them, as seen in Kralkatorrik.3. Kralkatorrik was split into two personalities: a 'benevolent' grandfather who actually desired to pass his magic on to Aurene as "the first of her kind" who could unify and maintain multiple types of magic without being destroyed by them. The second personality was the tormented rage that drove him to violence.4. We did not kill Mordremoth. Mordremoth deliberately killed himself by impaling his head. I found this odd the first time I saw it, and odd every time after.5. There is this related nugget an entire expansion later: https://i.gyazo.com/5d8536a2f301b6f4538aec9fd98481fe.mp46. The Forgotten had tried to purify Kralk and failed, but succeeded with Glint, Aurene's and Glast's mother.7. The Forgotten's plan didn't entail having only one Elder Dragon replacement, but several, each balancing and sharing magic benevolently in a non-destructive way. While Aurene can handle multiple magics, we don't yet know that killing another Elder Dragon won't make the world explode. We don't know what balance the world needs to maintain.8. Taimi discovered that Jormag and Primordous were each other's weaknesses due to their form of magic.9. When fighting Zhaitan, a mysterious Blue orb of unknown origin but great power was used to protect Fort Trinity as it innately negated Zhaitan's power. It is speculated that this is related to the Deep Sea dragon, Bubbles who was Zhaitan's antithesis/weakness.10. In the most recent Icebrood Saga, Ep. 2, we discover that the Spirits of the Wild did not lead them south from Jormag, but Jormag himself made that arrangement. More on that later. Let's revisit Mordremoth. Mordremoth was the dragon of Mind and Plants, with a dash of death and shadow from Zhaitan. It was later revealed that the different magics were giving Kralk a stomach ache, essentially, tearing him apart from the inside. It was a deterioration that probably started even before Zhaitan and Mordremoth were killed, but when they died the explosion of those magic types accelerated that process. On the surface we see Mordremoth as being domineering and violent, seeking to control everything, but destruction was all we saw of Kralkatorrik until we reached his heart and he actually entreated the Commander to end him in benevolent Grandfatherly fashion. At the end of the Mordremoth fight of consuming ley islands and Mordy snoot-boops, he finally coils up his tree and- slam spikes himself through the head, sending a shockwave of his magic through Tyria and specifically sparking the hatching of Aurene's egg. As I linked above in my list, his deliberate end is punctuated by a student questioning why someone would ever spike themselves through the head. And honestly, I had the same thought even the first time I saw that cinematic. Why would he so deliberately kill himself? No one I knew seemed to find it out of place, so I had shrugged it off until recently. From what we have learned of Kralk, I suspect that Mordremoth may have had similar internal struggles. We saw his violence and domineering nature, but he was very aware of Aurene's egg. Much of the story revolves around protecting the egg from him. Kralk also sought to destroy Aurene, even though in the end his ultimate desire was for her to ascend. In the last moments when Mordremoth had been weakened, I suspect that Mordy's "better side" took over, and in effect he sacrificed himself to spark the hatching of the egg. That isn't the only parallel we see, though. Mordremoth via his 'converted' Faolain both antagonizes and entreats the Commander on their path to killing him in a way not entirely dissimilar to Jormag's offers and methods. Very likely up until Zhaitan's death, the dragons may have viewed themselves as the 'organs' of Tyria, and the leylines its circulatory system. In truth, that isn't totally incorrect in how they had operated in an objective view. They are corners of a web support structure that we have been systematically disconnecting so it collapses a bit more each time. To the dragons, the mortal races might even be considered at best, parasites. So let's think about how the dragons seem to view mortals thusfar. In general the dragons heretofore have viewed mortals as pests as mentioned, maybe sources of food or minions, and generally inconsequential. We never got to speak with Zhaitan directly, but he definitely did not seem on the benevolent side other than mortals dying providing him with even more minions. Glint was the first hint at a more benevolent side, but as we learned from Kralk, his 'hidden good side' also saw value in mortals, and despite Glint's assumption, he did not actually fear a world with peace between mortals and dragons. Mordremoth was domineering and wanted to conquer mortals, but the Pale Tree is the herbaceous equivalent to a purified Glint, one of Mordremoth's lieutenants broken free, which shows an equally benevolent side. This is where things get interesting with Jormag. Thusfar it had been believed that the Spirits of the Wild had led Aesgir, who in turn led the Norn to safety south of Jormag. Aesgir had actually made a deal with Jormag himself as is elaborated in "A Burden," Aesgir's journal. Jormag is described as having a soft, benevolent, even kind voice. Jormag says that his violence to the Norn incursions had been in self-defense, and that Jormag now saw the Norn as a race worth preserving. As such, Jormag gave Aesgir a choice: Bring more norn and watch them die as Jormag continued to defend himself, or take Jormag's tooth and use it to convince the Norn to move further south where they could live in peace, with the promise that Jormag would not follow and torment them. Aesgir, however, also mentions in his journal that he can't shake the feeling he may have given up a possible victory in the deal, even though at the time he felt he had no other option. You might assume that it's just as Aesgir said, that he had given up an opportunity for victory and that he had taken the coward's way out, but the entire "Invitation" instance sets itself against that assumption. Before you ever get to actually speak with Jormag, you need to go through the Raven's trials, a series of situations you need to make decisions on. The underlying message that is even voiced by Jhavi during the trials is: [Character name]: I feel like I didn't make the right choice.Warmaster Jhavi Jorasdottir: There isn't a right choice, Commander. That's what the Raven Spirit is about. That's why we choose to follow it. There are no right answers, only consequences, it instructs you. No matter what choice you choose, there will always be consequences one way or another. The trial scene wasn't just fluff to make things interesting, it's the framework for the final scene where you receive Jormag's offer through Fraenir's broken corpse. Like Aesgir, Jormag identifies you as someone worthy of speaking to, and Jormag entreats the Commander in much the same way: Listen to Jormag's invitation, allying with him at the possible risk of the dragon taking things in a direction you do not want, or forge ahead opposed to Jormag, and forgoing any possible protection the Elder dragon might have provided, facing the nameless calamity alone. Add into this that we're not necessarily free to attack Jormag yet anyway - that whole magic balancing act which has already been thrown askew with the death of Zhaitan and Mordremoth is still a factor. While Aurene is helping to stabilize things, the Elder Dragons aren't Open Season yet, so succeeding to kill Jormag has more possible consequences than simply not getting a buff. Allying with Jormag might mean letting Bangarang (Sorry, I just can't not call him that) and his cohorts follow their chosen path of essentially becoming minions of Jormag, which in turn might be enlightening as to the effect of conversion. It might also put you at odds with Bangarang and the charr separatists if Jormag allies with the Commander instead. So where does that leave us as far as Jormag's intentions and our possible options? At the end of "The Invitation" the dialog between Braham and the commander is purposefully crafted to leave a sense of doubtfulness and uncertainty as to whether or not we'll actually consider Jormag's offer. The commander says, "Right," in response to Braham's query, but in a tone that sounds more like they're convincing themselves as much as anyone else. From a story writing perspective, we know that we as the players aren't actually going to make a world-altering choice; the choice will be written into the story. I suspect we may court the idea of an alliance with Jormag once the actual threat that Jormag did not deign to extrapolate on is revealed, perhaps even try it for a time, but sooner or later we'll likely end up fighting Jormag in some fashion. Still, it is purposefully being presented as a difficult choice to make, where we may lose people to one side or the other, and have to be ready for the consequences whichever path is chosen. That's the obvious part, of course. But that being said, we can still learn from how things are presented. Jormag is the dragon of ice and persuasion, so by nature he is not as directly aggressive. Lack of aggressiveness does not mean lack of hostility, though. It just makes him the politician of the Elder Dragons, and his supposed desire to 'help' Aurene is definitely most likely a political move more than anything else. The svanir are notoriously misogynistic and cruel (ironic that Bangarang would seek to ally himself with them after having just arranged a treaty with the Flame Legion that required instatement of status to females), but Kralk's minions (though by appearances more mindless) were also cruel, and so too were Mordremoth's. Their vicious sides were resonating through their minions just as Aurene's benevolence resonates through hers. Jormag is older, however, and more calculating, and only needs to quell the mortals to survive. 10,000 years is a passing day to an Elder Dragon. We do not know what the 'terrible threat' is that Jormag mentions, but we know that it's in Jormag's best interest to present himself as our best option for survival regardless of what the reality of the situation is. Like Raven's trials, Jormag is presenting a binary option. In his position, he presents the choice as binary because it allows him to limit options to those that best serve him regardless of what we choose. You'll also note that Jormag does not present destroying him as an option, only that "You can either join me and I help you in this coming threat, or you can stand alone." He will not proactively suggest or confirm the possibility of his own defeat, but rather frames the offer in terms of what mortals face without his proposed support. Jormag may indeed be offering a sort of compromise, but it's a more passive means of self-defense than the aggressive approaches of other dragons. It doesn't fix the inherent problem that the way Jormag feeds is destructive, and that Jormag - for all his borrowing of Almora's voice and sweet talking - doesn't have the best interest of mortals at heart outside of a bargianing chip. While in a sense he 'shares' power, he doesn't do so in the way that Aurene does. He is controlling and manipulative, and prefers to put threats off their guard, or better yet lead them to believe they are helping themselves by joining him. You've probably guessed by now that I don't believe our choice is all that binary. So what are the alternatives that Jormag isn't mentioning? In my list I mentioned the Forgotten and how they had attempted to purify Kralk unsuccessfully. Sooner or later, I believe this ritual will come into play with one of the Elder Dragons. Our third option is that we purify Jormag or one of his lieutenants the way that the Forgotten attempted to purify Kralk. We can't necessarily go through the whole process that took place the first time to produce Aurene, but if a purification of Jormag succeeded, we wouldn't necessarily have to. Jormag in his current state wouldn't want that to be an option, so he wouldn't present it as one. He'd far prefer mortals feel forced into doing things "his way," complacently if possible. If we destroy Jormag, we have to rely on the remaining dragons to be able to support that magic, or hope that Aurene can balance the magic all on her own, which seems an unlikely situation. Frankly, while Aurene might be able to cycle magic with the Pale Tree, the idea of Aurene replacing all of the other dragons is also the most boring option to me personally, and I sincerely hope that a more creative solution is part of the twists and turns Tyria takes. The Forgotten had always planned replacements for each of the dragons, not having just one take all the pressure. We might end up purifying one or more of the other dragons, but there would still be consequences to destroying Jormag beyond simply 'facing the nameless threat alone.' Allying with Jormag is not a pretty option either. Still, as far as we know Jormag is the first and only dragon outside of Aurene herself to recruit minions and (from what we understand) only convert the willing. I've seen others say Jormag's minions retain their free will, but I largely disagree. They have intelligence, but Mordremoth minions displayed all the same characteristics of intelligence and 'free will' confined by the bounds of their master's, and I believe it's the same for the Svanirr. There is one ex-svanir Rojan the Penitent who claims that Jormag is a folly and not to be trusted. There were several 'interesting' conversations happening among the NPCs at the Dragon Bash, as well. Instead of quoting them all, I'll link you, and point you to the discussion of the preaching norn and the conversation between the human and the sylvari: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dragon_Bash_2019/dialogue A purified Jormag offers some interesting benefits. Trying to find a way to purify an Elder Dragon while not being destroyed by it would be quite the feat. As you may have already thought, a purified elder dragon wouldn't necessarily have the 'connection' to mortals that Aurene has. Building that in a being that's been alive for unknown amounts of time would be a task in itself. Here, Jormag's willingness to interact with Mortals and natural propensity for persuasion might in a purified state translate into an actual benevolence and connection. If Jormag has an internal dichotomy going on such as Kralk (and possibly Mordremoth) did, that connection may on some level already exist. Ultimately, all of this comes down to (A) Which dragons are capable of feeding without destroying the world, (B) which dragons can support the remaining magics without being driven mad by them, and © How many dragons it takes to screw in a lightbu- err... keep the world from falling apart. Kralkatorrik identifies Aurene as "the first of her kind." Kralkatorrik is prophetic, as he was the first one to see a world where there was peace between dragons and mortals in the first place. While we can't say for certain that this was a prophecy, Kralk still said it with conviction and certainty. This suggests that she won't be the "only one" of her kind, but that she was simply the beginning. It also suggests that none of the other elder dragons - known or unknown - currently are capable of doing what Aurene does (supporting the flow of multiple magics without being destroyed by them). With or without Jormag, Primordous neither seems the sharing type nor the peaceful type. He likes to watch the world burn, more or less literally, from all indication. Then there's Bubbles, the dragon no one knows much of anything about. Depsite being apparently awake, they have kept to themselves and remained undetected. While there are rumors of 'horrors' in the deeps from the Largos, the only direct influence we know of is that (possibly) its power protected us from Zhaitan in the form of the blue orb, and that it drove out the (arguably evil) Krait from the depths, so either Bubbles is so evil that even the Krait couldn't join them, or Bubbles is good or neutral. For all we know, the Largos themselves might actually be minions of Bubbles, similar to how the Sylvari were minions of Mordremoth without even realizing it. If Jormag and Primordous die, their power will get divided between Bubbles and Aurene. As with everything else about Bubbles, the spheres of influence of Bubbles is unknown. With Bubbles being such an unknown there is a definite 'best for last' flavor to his/her continued and increasingly obvious absence. It can't fail to be noted though that if Bubbles is the antithesis to Zhaitan the same way Primordous is the opposite of Jormag, that Bubbles is possibly a dragon of life. So, unless we go the route of "Aurene is everything we need," purifying/converting of someone somewhere is almost inevitable, if not Jormag, I would expect us to try it with one of the two other remaining dragons. These are my thoughts and theories. I'm curious to see what other people think! ...and how many people actually manage to read all of this. Random extra (and largely unrelated) thoughts: If Jormag was the one who urged them south and not the Spirits of the Wild, just what role have the Spirits of the Wild been playing in the Norn culture? They've definitely been 'benefiting' from Norn devotion considering they are viewed as saviors, something which the Kodan have a thing or two to say about. Various Norn NPCs will commonly attest, "I pray to the spirits of the wild, but they rarely answer." Jormag and the Raven spirit appear to be at odds with one another, though Jormag's followers also successfully subvert Raven's magic during the map meta event. The six gods and six dragons are often paralleled with each other. The quaggan worship Mellaggan, a god they believe is dead. Mellaggan is believed to be Melandru, the human god of life/growth, though Quaggan do insist that Mellaggan is not Melandru, it's interesting that Mellaggan represents something similar (bounty/growth/wealth of the ocean). They believe she died when the Krait invaded after Bubbles drove the Krait out of its own domain. In the Elder Dragons so far, we have death/shadow, crystal/fury, fire/conflagration, Ice/persuasion, plant/mind covered. Mordremoth could be argued to be the closest comparison to Melandru in association. If there are any parallels in which dragon is what, it'd be interesting to deduce what remains for Bubbles after the dragons we've seen.

I love my mugs, but then I drink a ton of hot tea. The bigger the mug the better, because the longer I can go between refills. So, it's a matter of opinion I suppose :) I love the mugs my family has gotten me, and I've bought some for myself, too.

Haha! I know the feeling! But in general Anet's merch seems pretty good quality. They'd just need to make sure it was big enough to be worthy of the Jomug!

I've said it many, many, many times. Ulgoth is the Movie Trailer Man, but angry. Almost every line sounds like it's out of a movie trailer. And I Love It "I will bury you beneath the weight of my fury!!!"

That's the "I would admire the Jormug" - who couldn't admire the Jormug? :D Unless they thought it was ew.

So, I said this in map chat a while back, but I figured, heck! I'll post it in the forums, given that the Bash the Dragon event is coming up. This would be for the Merchandise Store, not the Gem Store. Very simply, a svanir/ice dragon-styled tankard. Call it the Jormug.

I would love a seahorse styled underwater mount, myself.