Sajuuk Khar.1509

Generally speaking, I have liked what we have gotten so far. Grothmar Valley, and Bjora Marches, are some of my favorite LW maps(still far behind the PoF maps)The metas actually feel like metas, instead of something people can sneeze and miss like many other map metasThe map currencies aren't such a chore to get(I still hate looking at maps like Jahai because of mistonium)And while the Icebrood Saga masteries actually require more EXP then past LW masteries, they actually feel a lot quicker to get, making the process less of an annoyance like it was before.I also like the Charr and Norn a lot, so seeing them front and center is nice, and the more Lovecraftian backdrop they have made for, at least Bjora Maches, is a nice change of pace from the more direct smashy smashy plots we have had thus far. I don't care about strikes, and dislike that they made doing strikes a requirement for the episode 2 meta, but thats the worst problems I've had.

You are also wrong that the Elder Dragons being involved or not changes nothing about Season 1. If Scarlet Briar wasn't working for the Elder Dragons, and wasn't trying to redirect a ley line into Mordremoth, then what would have been the point of her attack on Lions Arch? Her actions, and all the efforts she had gone through to develop that technology, at that would point serve no logical purpose, and thus, makes the whole storyline just a giant "just because... reasons!" narrative, which is just poor writing. Without the Elder Dragon connection her story would have lasted all of about how long the White Mantle stuff did in S3, and I do mean the actual Mantle stuff in S3, not S3 as a whole which had several episodes that had nothing to do with the Mantle, because that is how long one of those kinds of smaller threats would reasonable last. So maybe about 2 LW releases, maybe 3 if you are stretching it out. Which is about how long the Mantle itself lasted, how long Joko lasted, and about how long I expect the very probable Charr civil conflict to last this season.

Star Trek Online(the other MMO I play frequently) lets you play as a Federation, Klingon Empire, or Romulan Star Empire, captain. Each one of them has their own stating narrative Federation captains deal with a rogue Klingon ambassador trying to cause endless war between the two powersKlingons hunt down a Section 31(Federation illegal black ops group) agent, and uncover a conspiracy between the Klingon House of Torg and the Romulan Star EmpireRomulans have their colony world attacked by a mysterious force, join a freedom movement, and uncover the conspiracy between this force and the Romulan Star EmpireAnd these personal narratives last around 20 story mission each or so... then every faction joins the same storyline, as part of cross faction content, where you fight ever increasingly powerful foes, until you reach the game's true enemies, the Iconians, who were behind most of it. Then it continues on past that will the fallout of the Iconian war, and other related stuff, for the next 100+ story missions the game has. And this is exactly how Guild Wars 2 works as well, you have 15 racial background missions before joining the order storylines where you face ever increasing odds until you fight the big bosses, the Elder Dragons. You have the entirety of Guild Wars 2 backwards. The Elder Dragons were never just narrative devices to put everyone on the same stage, with these other stories being the real focus. These other stories were just narrative background material so the game could explain the zero that your character starts off as, getting to enough of a hero that it makes sense they could fight the Elder Dragons. The things you mention would have never been the focus of the game, because they aren't large enough to last long enough to really make a satisfying story. And when you have something like the Elder Dragons floating around, spending YEARS of game time dealing with something like even the Mantle just feels like wasted time on something that really doesn't matter that much. Star Trek Online avoided making those kinds of thing the focus after the starting missions for the same reason. They bring them up and develop them a little every now and then, but they are never the focus, because that isn't good narrative writing.

From what little we know, it seems the 6 brought humanity to Tyria after fleeing some sort of conflict on whatever world they came from, one that, seemingly, claimed the life of Balthazar's father.

Joko was never that important. Even in Guild Wars 1, he was just some guy who we released to learn how to ride wurms, so we could chase the real badguy. Joko's whole backstory was that he was kind of an idiot, who didn't really know how war worked, and thus got beaten and imprisoned by Turai Ossa. He also needed us to get his staff back for him because he couldn't do it himself. Joko only got as far as he did in between games because Anet gave the whole of Elona the biggest idiot ball ever and just had them ignore Joko... because reasons, and then had most of the Sunspears turn inexplicably evil... because reasons. Joko was never that important, nor he was never that smart, or powerful, he was just kind of lucky. By the time we get to him in Guild Wars 2, he had spent years fighting a multi front war with the Risen and Branded. Then Balthazar shows up, traps him in the Domain of the Lost(again, Joko isn't that smart), and bring in his forged causing more problems for Joko's armies who are now leaderless, confused, and now facing another front of enemies to deal with, causing them to get slaughtered. Then we kill Archon Iberu, use his guise to steal Joko's armies, and then just throw them in a mad suicide charge against Baltahzar's forged in the final battle of PoF, which decimated his forces ever more. And, while all of this was happening, we also further destabilized his hold by attacking various major forts, liberating major towns, and helping the remaining Sunspears find a base, and sew dissent among the populace in Vabbi. By the time we reached Elona, Joko's empire was already crumbling because he was never that good of a leader, not back in GW1, and not in GW2. He was just an egotistical idiot who got lucky.

As for length. LWS4, which was Kralkatorik's narrative, began in November 2017, and ended May 2019, lasting all of like 18 months. And the way the Icebrood Saga episodes have come out, which is about every 2 months, that means the 9 release Icebrood Saga will last around 18 months. So it would be comparable. And much like LWS4 had Joko as a minor enemy for the first part, Icebrood Saga has Bangar.

Based on That_Shaman finding that there are 9 portal tome slots, and looking at what we see in the trailer, it isn't too hard to figure out how the story will likely progress. Following up Bangar's kill steal at the end of episode 2, episodes 3 and 4 will likely involve a minor Charr civil conflict, and take us back to the Charr lands for a bitEpisodes 5 and 6 will likely take us to the Woodland Cascades(seen in the trailer). I'm not100% sure what we will be doing there. Maybe still chasing Bangar if he is alive, or possible its a mcguffin chapter where we need to find some ancient magical thing to help fight JormagEpisodes 7 and 8 will be us marching up to Jormag's central territory, and killing Jormag itself in the Shiverpeaks.This would fit with what we saw in the trailer(Charr lands, Shiverpeaks, Woodland Cascades)what we know from the portal tome having 9 slotsthe devs saying this seasons masteries will focus on the spirits of the wild(there are four major spirits, each map is a two parter, leaving us with 4 maps, one for eachspirit)

There is a clear established "whispers" mystery starting before the Icebrood Saga officially began, and running through everything up to the point Drakkar was revealed as the conduit for the voice. Narrative design does not work on the principle you seem to think it does, where everything had to be revealed at the very start, or it doesn't count. This is also why, you know, during the Drakkar fight event, Jhavi mentions its being protected by the Lost Spirits power, and you have to go into the raven gates and kill the champions siphoning the spirit's power into Drakkar. Honestly Konig, your entire argument thus far seems more like you just missed literally everything the devs put in place to set up for this, and are claiming they don't exist because you missed them.

In regards to Drakkar(as a narrative device), it was important. Specifically, It was the conduit for the whispers that ultimately caused/drove the first three chapters of the 9 chapter Icebrood Saga. Making its defeat the closing scene of act 1, a major milestone in the narrative.Its siphoning of the lost spirits' power necessitated the player, and Braham, gain said spirits power to defeat it. Which kick-started an evolution of Braham's character into something more(most likely an Asgeir parallel), which will become important later.Bangar's kill steal of such a notable dragon champion has, as Rytlock mentions at the end of "Shadow In the Ice", caused greater division in the Charr, with more believing Banger can accomplish what he claims. Which will likely lead into a two chapter Charr civil conflict. Meaning its still going to affect the narrative even after its death.Jhavi leading the assault on Drakkar, and defeating it, in many ways brings more resolution to the story of Jora's bloodline, as Jhavi is able to get somemeasureof revenge on Drakkar for what it did to her family.Just to name the bigger points. OFC, it could have been replaced with a magic stick, and all of these points would still hold true since Drakkar, as an entity, was just a telephone for Jormag.

Let actually look at Guild Wars 1. Drakkar is only a giant fish thing because it allows for more gameplay elements later, aka a boss fight, whereas a magically enchanted rock or stick is just an inanimate object that the play can talk to in a cutscene. Drakkar being what it is, even in Guild Wars 1, simply for gameplay sake, nothing more.

That isn't dismissal of importance, that is just pointing out any importance you think it had is something made up in your mind, and doesn't actually stem from the narrative itself.

Besides, Bangar is the real nemesis here, because he is the one with actual power. Much in the same way that Cadecus was always the better nemesis choice then Lazarus. As to why the devs shouldn't try to match those expectations... it because its impossible to match expectations that stem from pure fiction in a person's mind. Gamers in particular are so notorious for being ridiculous in terms of their expectations, to the point its become a running joke on several game forums I frequent that the devs could put out an update that allows your computer to print 100 dollar bills, and people would be complaining about the crispness of the bill. Why would any dev try to meet the expectations of a group of people they know are going to hate everything they do anyways? Why wouldn't they just make the most reasonable continuation of the story as they see it?

Much in the same way that the Thalmor were in Skyrim because they should be due to the political changes after the Oblivion Crisis, but had little impact on the game itself, things like Lazarus, and Drakkar, should be in the game, because they are in this world, but that doesn't mean they need to be the center of some big bombastic storyline. The same is true of elements originating in Guild Wars 2 as well. Elements like the Renegades and Separatists exists because it makes sense they would, but they haven't really been the focus of any big story, because it really doesn't make sense they would. They exist because they are an element that would naturally so, but that doesn't mean they have to really matter. Even when its been revealed that Caudecus was, unsurprisingly, funding the Separatists to make the queen look bad, they still didn't really MATTER as the story had long since moved past them and into the White Mantle proper. Same thing with the little lore drop in Bound by Blood where they mention Bangar being in with the Renegades.

(since I saw this mentioned earlier)Same thing with Lazarus. Lazarus was a guy, who was part of a race we had already fodderized back in the original Guild Wars. He was, even back then, shown to be a Saturday morning cartoon villain, whose plan we easily foiled in Eye of the North, and who ran away with a stereotypical "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME GADGET!" threat. Lazarus was never going to be more then just a boss fight, because he lacks the power or influence to logically be anything but that. If anything, Balthazar using the identity of Lazarus makes more sense given that the fear of Lazarus, propagated over the span of 200 years, would have been more powerful then Lazarus himself ever could be. I often get the feeling that people were allowed to stew on their own over exaggerated fan theories about what might happen to certain characters or elements from GW1, and kept piling on top of them every time they put out these theories, to the point that they lost right of realistic, or believable, narrative development.

The loading screen for "The Ruined City of Arah" make it look like Zhaitan should be so large that the Glory would only be about the size of his head. I consider that would be closer to his real size if engine limitations weren't an issue back then,

In order to get credit for the challenge, you MUST MUST MST fill the bar by stomping the enemies BEFORE you kill the last enemy in the patrol. If you kill the last enemy in the patrol before filling the stomp bar, the patrol will continue long enough for you to stomp them, and then you will get the ability to summon the boss for the actual trial event, but it will not count for the achievement. There has to be at least one enemy remaining before the bar is filled. If you kill everything and then stomp it doesn't count.

Thanks to "That Shaman" we now know there are 9 slots in the Icebrood Saga portal tome. One for the prologue, and the other 8 for the rest of the season episodes.https://twitter.com/that_shaman/status/1222513313118150657 Re-watching the Icebood Sage trailer, we see Charr landsThe ShiverpeaksCentaurs in what is likely the Woodland CascadesSome watery area with a sinking shipPresuming Anet is going to stick with this "release a map in one patch, then expand on it in the next one, then move on to a new map" thing we saw with Bjora Marches, we are going to get two episodes in the Woodland Cascades, most likely in the arena bordering the Shiverpeaks, and another two in the Far Shiverpeaks, somewhere between Bjora Marches and Bitterfrost Frontier, when we go fight Jormag. That still leave one set of episode unaccounted for however. Maybe we will get another map in the Charr lands to deal with some sort of minor civil war caused by Bangar's action?