ThatOddOne.4387

The realms aren't gone, no. Kormir's was shown as stabilized when we visited it again after the demon invasion, and Kralkatorrik specifically flew through several of them and only brought small chunks of them to Tyria.

Frankly, it seems to me that a God's power has everything to do with how much they personally are willing to use and how they use it (And how much collateral they wish to avoid), and apart from that they're all equal. Like as a theoretical example. It took all five Gods to beat Abaddon not because Abaddon was flat out more powerful than five of them combined, but because Abaddon was using his full power whilst the others were limiting themselves because they outnumbered/wished to avoid as much collateral as possible (Even though it didn't really work). So on a pure power scale, my assumption is they're all equal. But when you start factoring in their personalities and inclinations: Balthazar --> Kormir = Grenth --> Lyssa = Melandru = Dwayna That might have changed with whoever replaced Balthazar mind, but my assumption is that the 'God of Challenge' will always be willing to throw down more than others.

The Gods are still there and the only stated reason we have for them leaving is to find and prepare a new world as a back-up just in case Tyria goes poof. Which is perfectly reasonable and in line with their roles as shepherds and not guardians. We can infer further reasons - for example, the first thing Kralkatorrik did when he was in trouble was jump into the Mists - Specifically the Gods realms, and it's hinted by Aurene and the Commander that he was looking for something. That something can only be the Gods. To eat. So the Gods leaving their realms as well as Tyria makes perfect sense if they suspected an Elder Dragon could gain access. They have been avoiding conflict with the Elder Dragons for a very good reason, that reason being conflict with them destroys the world, full stop, regardless of the outcome. (We also eventually figured out that Kralkatorrik was somewhat suicidal, so seeking out the Gods for a showdown also fits in there) I don't think humans will stop worshipping them. They didn't after Abaddon was revealed in all his glory. They didn't whilst Dhuum was an actively malicious God. In fact, I think it would be a massive disservice to humanity to take the Gods away from them. The whole "Religion is bad" nonsense in a Fantasy setting is old hat and I want ArenaNet to avoid that. The ultimate catharsis for the human narrative is that their faith wasn't misplaced, anything else just seems like an unnecessary, spiteful kick in the teeth. Furthermore to that. It really depends what's revealed? What should be revealed is all of it: That the Gods had already dealt with Balthazar and then he was freed by a charr trying to get a human artifact back because he thought it was his. That's not exactly very flattering for the charr, is it? And shows the human Gods' work to protect people be ruined by a greedy catman. As for them returning when Tyria is stabalised and the Elder Dragons dealt with, that seems totally reasonable and it shouldn't be held against them. They withdrew/departed to avoid conflict with the Elder Dragons due to the apocalyptic collateral damage such a conflict would cause - and even if that wasn't their intention, that's still the ultimate factor to consider - Them leaving protected Tyria. Full stop. I don't think anyone sane can really hold that against them.

We've been over this before. The Human Gods didn't fight the Elder Dragons because of the collateral of THEM fighting, not fighting the Elder Dragons in general. When Gods fight, it causes devastation, as seen by them turning an entire ocean into desert when they fought Abaddon. For whatever reason, the Gods are not able to hold back or regulate their power, or alternatively, if they held back, the dragons would defeat them and get their magic. As has been said many many many many times on this forum before, it was a lose-lose situation specifically for the Gods. It should not be used to draw any conclusions about what happens when mortals or other magical beings get involved with fighting Elder Dragons. I never said the Spirits of the Wild were as powerful as the Elder Dragons or the Gods, but they are powerful ENOUGH to shield one singular person, with all of their effort, from draconic corruption. Let them have that. I don't think they are. Most of the magic went elsewhere. Most likely to Cantha, whether that's other Elder Dragon replacements set up by the Canthans, or a Canthan method of dealing with dragon magic, remains to be seen. Oh, and unrelated to that. Why do people think Jormag had it all cool and collected and together? What gave you that impression? The impression I got from Jormag's dialogue is that they were kitten crazy, just in a different manner to Primordus and Kralkatorrik, and probably the others too. "Jormag would have retreated" You have no authority to say that, and no evidence to back it up beyond the assumption that Jormag was fully in control of their faculties at the point the conflict started, which they obviously weren't.

I get the anger about everything but the Spirits being able to protect Braham to some degree. What's so strange about that? They're incredibly powerful magical beings, they SHOULD be able to do something to stand up to Elder Dragons, even if it's in a round-about way. The Elder Dragons are not the be-all-end-all magical beings on Tyria, this has long been established. You don't introduce powerful, significant characters like the Spirits of the Wild and then have their contribution mean precisely nil, that's not how stories work. In fact, how the Spirits of the Wild were handled in general is one of the better points of Champions.

Very true, Ryland's conclusion was the best part of the latest update. Very fitting. I think we should cut ArenaNet some slack really, what with pushing this out under the current global climate, there's clearly had to be some cuts made and they themselves might not be happy with the results. But ultimately I think it will serve the story to move on from the Elder Dragons pretty pronto.

Eh. It's so-so, but at this point I recognize it's time to move the story on. The Elder Dragon thing was starting to get tiresome even before Kralkatorrik had his moments. I think it's totally reasonable for the Deep Sea Dragon to have already been defeated by the Canthans at this point, so all the original Elder Dragons are gone, and the reason the world hasn't gone kaput yet is that the Canthans found a solution. I'm sure the most powerful, unchallenged nation in the known world would have been able to defeat a single Elder Dragon given the disorganised mess that is central Tyria has been able to handle 5. It also would have had the time, effort and resources to come up with a solution without the need for interaction with Tyria, the Pact, the Commander etc. The world is bigger than them after all.

No, it's a very sensible interpretation of what we are actually told and using a shred of logic. Unlike the entire theory of an Elder Dragon eating a God, which is a very inane interpretation and doesn't utiltise a shred of logic. Mostly due to the fact if an Elder Dragon had eaten a God then there would be no more GW2 because that Elder Dragon would have won. I'm honestly baffled as to where this line of thought has even come from.

Braham is entirely correct and the Asura are being stupid. Also I really hope they don't get rid of the whole balance thing. Kind of takes away the oomph from killing Balthazar and given how stupid that story already was, making it even MORE pointless is just going to be another gut punch to the God narrative. It needs to be cleared up pretty quickly or people need to at least QUESTION what will happen if they kill Primordus given the knowledge of what will happen to Tyria if too many Elder Dragons die.

I think it's the other option for Primordus and the other Elder Dragon magic - He's had the time to convert the magic he's absorbed into his own kind of magic. The same theory has come up before RE Balthazar and his magic. He also consumed Elder Dragon magic but did not show any visual change to his fire, or indeed used other types of magic other than fire and (probably) arcane - The theory was he had converted the magic he consumed to 'his own' magic.

Stone Dwarves!That is all.

That is still a 'suggestion' as to what they are doing, and in the absence of any others, it's as good as any we've received, don't be obtuse.

Whilst I also don't think the Gods are going to be involved in this expansion, this is still not accurate. ArenaNet have said we still haven't seen the last of the Gods, and there absolutely is a suggestion as to what they are doing - Looking for a new world.

Or Aurene simply isn't omniscient, can't tell the DSD's power has changed hands, or does not deem it as something she needs to bother Tyria with to say. I still think distance is a massive factor in detecting anything. But yes, the DSD being killed 'shortly', relatively speaking, and not already dead is a solution.

I don't agree. There's only so many iterations of the same story that can be done before it's boring and predictable, and we're even going through the unpredictable options at the moment with already existing Elder Dragons.

Because it wasn't defeated before that sequence was shown to us? I don't think anyone was suggesting that the Canthans could 'easily' defeat the DSD, more that they took a while to do so and likely suffered catastrophically in the process, but ultimately succeeded - "Testament to Mortal Resilience" - Maybe around the time Kralkatorrik was defeated. It doesn't necessarily have to have been around the same time as or before Zhaitan was defeated. I also don't think the All is really fully understood yet and the image we were shown with the 'orbs' does not have to be taken as gospel. And besides, if the DSD was immediately replaced by Kuunavang and/or Albax, there wouldn't have been disruption to the All, at least visible from Tyria with the means available to us. Whether the DSD fight would be interesting or not is irrelevant to me. I'm far more interesting the story, and the fact remains another "Defeat the Elder Dragon" storyline would be rather bland.

I do really like the theory that Cantha has already defeated the DSD. It's a nice twist. Plus avoids retreading the same old 'defeat an elder dragon' story steps. If both Kuunavang and Albax have taken portions of the DSD's power, then it could quite well be a set-up for a Yin and Yang story.

You said 'human centric', which isn't going to be just politics.

This whole "X-race centric storyline isn't/is required" is just boring to me now, honestly. Just tell a good story and expand on the lore regardless of what races are involved. The whole drive for 'narrative balance' between different races/factions all but killed World of Warcraft's story.

Yeah I do have to agree, the Steel Warband were not as important as people make them out to be.

I don't know, a leader being sniped isn't particularly outlandish. Sudden, but he should have worn a helmet in a warzone I suppose.

The screeching on the previous page about 'colonial attitudes' to the charr culture and how it needs to change is absolutely hilarious. You're wrong, it's nothing to do with colonialism, the narrative is that the charr system is broken, get over it and move on.

Those people were silly.

Uhh... Did you miss like the entirety of LW3, PoF and LW4? Where there was White Mantle (Humans) shenanigans, Shining Blade (Human Secret Society) stuff involving Lazarus (Who was notable due to what he did to Humans), Human Ministers and their treachery (Caudecus), a Human God going to destroy dragons to get more power to destroy more Human Gods and then an ancient pestilence that wiped out an old Human civilization being used again to try and eradicate more Humans. That's not plot devices.

It's quite fascinating that questions continue to be asked about the Gods. It's almost as if people find them interesting and worthy of a bit more exploration.