Zola.6197

You can go to virtually any other piece of media - book, movie, tv show, video game, and beyond - and in the overwhelming majority of instances, you will only find "Strong Male Characters" in leadership roles. Maybe there will be one female leader that is seen as an anomaly in that piece of fiction. The fact that GW2 has trended toward giving leadership and power to many female characters is the vast minority of examples in any form of fantasy media. There's nothing wrong with wanting more male characters you find compelling. It is, however, a major red flag when someone props up female characters as the "obstacle" to male characters. Are you upset when a story or video game has only strong male leaders? Are you upset when a story has a single, token girl on the team? Or none at all? Something tells me the answer is no.

Ah, thank you for the clarity! Good to know.

It’s a nice idea to touch up core maps, but it’s also important to make sure the difficulty stays balanced for new and low level players. It shouldn’t be reworked for level 80, post-EoDs veterans, for instance. I think some minor to moderate tweaks might be refreshing, but nothing too crazy. A facelift/graphical remaster of core maps would be nice imo, though I’m not sure if I’d rather that instead of new content..

Yeah, the thought of tweaking things to make the story flow as good as possible is pretty exciting. I also love the idea of new conversations, too. Round characters out, round events out. All sounds very exciting! Will there be any completely new scenes or instances to expand on characters and plot developments? Or is it mostly functional additions to smooth transitions between segments of the existing content? I wonder if Marjory’s first unsolved case (Mendel’s murder, her old partner iirc) or Kasmeer’s scummy brother (Kyle Meade) might ever gain relevance again in the future with the return of this content? Loved Marjory’s Looking Back achievement and getting to see her get some closure on Belinda and meet her other sisters. Love to see more of that kind of thing for major characters. 🙂

Recent blog post has more tidbits of information regarding season 1 narrative restructuring, and even some minor additions/adjustments: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/living-world-season-1-flame-and-frost-returns-on-april-19/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=rss “As originally released, Living World Season 1 wasn’t designed to fit within the Story Journal, so we’ve restructured the content to feel more natural alongside our modern content. These old instances didn’t need to be played in a specific order, so we wanted to make sure that Season 1 felt playable in a more linear fashion. We’ve also made small, impactful adjustments to make the story feel complete and fleshed out given these changes. Our standard of storytelling has evolved over the last ten years, so we’ve taken this opportunity to edit some of the older text and add some additional lore books in Episode 1 to meet our current standards and characterization.“ Mobile won’t seem to let me format this to look a little nicer lol.

For what it’s worth a lot of people have the same desires as you, myself included. I feel there’s still plenty of exploration we can do with the asura and norn in particular, and getting some maps that hypothetically explore those cultures more could be awesome. Not just to get more of a look at the cultures pre-dragonrise, but to focus on stories for asura and norn characters in such a context. There are plenty of compelling stories that could be told about the political and cultural lives of these races as the current status quo mingles with the old. What do we do now that the dragons are gone? That’s a question I think each nation will be asking in the future and it’s worth examining. Generally, I’d also love to see Jhavi, Myrun, Knut, and his family get more screen time. I’d love to see more of the Arcane Council/their politics, or Zojja, and Kuda. It would be really interesting to find new communities of surviving asura and norn that fled elsewhere and developed differently over the past few hundred years. There’s development and insight there for characters and their cultures too. Let’s see how different and similar the norn we know are to the norn we find? How could that influence or change the culture of Hoelbrek norn? Could go in plenty of interesting directions. Also think there are plenty to sylvari and charr stories we could get too by zeroing in on their governments and factions. Particularly interested in learning more about Duchess Crysanthea and Leivas, get an update on Malyck, and see Laranthir get some screen time. The political situation for charr post-war will be interesting for sure, and I’d love to see them hold Bangar accountable. More Crecia in general is a great thing imo. I enjoyed her in Icebrood Saga. Let’s see how Mia Kindleshot is handling things? Suffice to say there’s plenty of ways to explore the non-human races, plenty of new stories to tell about them, and I hope it’s on the docket!

I feel like Creation is a fitting domain, and Life feels like it could be part of that. Theres the notion that Aurene is a dragon of healing, though sardonically said by Jormag. More thematic to Aurene’s persona than literal though, I’d say.

She’s culturally important to the charr as reinforced by Ryland’s words and hesitancy to kill her. Metal Legion also wrote a song about her, so suffice to say she is widely recognized as someone of great importance in their society. Edit: Her murder by Bangar is public knowledge at this point too, I believe, which would give her martyr status and probably vault her to an even higher level of cultural esteem. If we ever revisit charr politics in the wake of the civil war, I would imagine the time for a memorial would arise then.

During the wisp phase a lot of fallen allies (even some enemies) whisper encouragement and support to the player. I thought this was a really nice, bittersweet detail. I think Blish’s were the most meaningful of all though: Blish: I'll be fine, Commander! Go! Blish: Take care of Gorrik. Tell him—tell him his big brother is sorry. And... Taimi, too Blish: And...stop keeping secrets from each other. All of you. Suppose that means we have confirmation that Blish is in a better place? Nice to know he’s not in an eternal hell.

It would be nice to hear from the devs if they’re cutting out Southsun/other stuff… I suppose we’ll know soon enough, but more details on season 1 would still be appreciated.

That would be really unfortunate! I hope they don’t cut those aspects out, as those characters are pretty important to introduce and build properly. When I initially met Canach and Kiel I had no idea who they were (Taimi as well), as I had missed those bits of season 1. It would be great to actually have a reason to go to Southsun in the story journal.

Ah, I may be misremembering what the blog post said!

Specific festival instances sound like the easiest way to retain the original story beats and aesthetics. I suppose they could make them scaling instances similar to DRMs in that you could solo them or tackle it with a party publicly or privately. It would have to be an instance I think. The blog post confirmed a “Battle for Lion’s Arch” strike, so I imagine the story version will be a solo-able version. Maybe a public instance like Dragonstorm. It’ll likely be awkward however they lead us into that with old LA not existing as a map anymore, but there are a few ways they could make it work as an instance. Destroyed LA might follow a similar example too, I suppose, unless they really bring back old LA and phase the maps until we get to LA’s current state. Also, I wonder if Lost Shores will be included in one of the Season 1 episodes? It happened before Frost and Flame, but it might meld with episode 2 that might have more Southsun content.

I’d have to go do the event again, but after she collapses the Warden “helps her up” by pointing at her, and then she’s restored to full health through some kind of magic and stands up. When she’s restored she says: Doireann: What happened? Did I... did we... Doireann: You saved me. [to the Warden] To me, it implies that she died, or would’ve died, without the Warden’s intervention. The wiki notes that this scene only happens sometimes, which is curious, and not every time the event is completed! It also explicitly states she dies, though I don’t know if that’s simply the editor’s interpretation. It was certainly mine, at least. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Protect_the_sylvari_until_the_ritual_is_complete Edit: The wiki page notes that there’s a blue flash of light from the forever tree after he points at her. I wonder if she’s connected to the forever tree now? Or if the blue light could be related to Dreslav, who manifests as a blue mote of light.

It would’ve been cool if mermaids/merfolk were included as benevolent minions of Soo-Won. Her version of sylvari, perhaps, or just an aquatic race she kept close and favored. One of the things that really felt lacking about EoDs to me was the fact she didn’t have her own creations. How cool would it have been to fight alongside Soo-Won’s minions? Suppose Kuunavang filled that role, but it would’ve been neat to see Soo’s version dragon minions that weren’t evil. Honestly I was totally expecting all the jade mechs to turn into watery/liquid versions of those models later in the story and be co-opted as her minions that we’d have to fight in the final act. Tbh I just love mermaids. Mermaids when ANet. 🥺

My personal interpretation after completing the event chain was that she died due to the strain the magical ritual took on her, and the Warden revived her as reward for her efforts to protect and revive the tree. Would have loved to see more about this in Echovald. More curious sylvari, more about the wardens, and more about Doireann and the forever tree. Are all Wardens connected to a tree like the one we saw next to the forever tree? Text seemed to imply he had a psychic connection with that tree, though that sounds like juggernauts. Granted my Echovald lore knowledge is pretty sparse. I know Urgoz banished his brother Dreslav into a Warden’s body… Could the forever tree Warden be Urgoz in a similar repressed state?

I am really looking forward to having this content back in the game. It will be a great way to shore up the new player experience for the steam release, and as a long time player and story/lore enthusiast, having full access to as much of the story as possible will be wonderful. I only got to play bits and pieces of season 1, and the rest I've had to rely on youtube recaps and wiki articles. Now new players will have a proper introduction to the Dragon's Watch characters without having to wonder who the heck they are once they reach season 2! How do you think they'll format these five episodes? How much will have to be rebuilt/restructured? Will they tune up the enemies, make the instances more exciting? Or will they leave it mostly the same? I expect a pretty straight adaption of the material as it was originally. It'll be well enough for me to have a complete story journal, and play the whole thing from start to finish. It is fun to imagine what they could change, how they could change it, or if they could add new content to season 1 to make things feel fresh though. I don't remember the Commander being voiced, or at least not very much. Perhaps they'll record new voice lines? Maybe more development for characters like Mai or Scarlet especially given some of the revelations about them in EoDs (Scarlet in particular having once sought to prevent Mordremoth's awakening before losing herself). I honestly wouldn't mind if this is something of a remake or re-imagining. They will probably have to restructure certain aspects of season 1 that aren't as easily translated to the episode format, though I am uncertain how much of that there would be to worry about. I wonder what they may have to cut, if anything? Do you think we'll see old Lion's Arch return in some capacity? Perhaps we'll have it as a city instance and then it'll flip over to new LA once the story hits that point? Doubtful, but it's a nice thought. Maybe we'll get old Kessex Hills back, even as an instance? Lots of exciting things to think about, but mostly just excited to see this old content returning! Can't wait for more details.

I assume the simplest explanation is the correct one, so I take it for a scar. Probably just added to give a relatively minor character a little extra mystique.

@Donari.5237 I'm not sure, unfortunately. Since the collection is account bound and not character bound though, I imagine you could complete it on any character once it's unlocked.

The fishing party stacks disappear from the buff bar past 99, and though they're still technically there, it seems some kind of oversight? Also I seem to randomly lose the fishing party stacks. I don't always understand why I lose it. It also feels like the turn around to lose the fishing party buff if you leave your skiff or it gets destroyed by enemies is too sensitive. It's frustrating in enemy heavy areas. Not technically a bug, but I think it's worth extending the time limit because it sucks to lose all the stacks you've built up.

Am likewise having this issue

I am also getting this bug! Very unfortunate.

Didn’t someone make this exact thread already? Lyssa is a goddess of beauty. Her statue’s pristine state is a reference to that aspect of her as a goddess. Because beauty is her domain, the statue never loses its newness. It remains beautiful and suffers no wear and tear because of her influence/blessing. It follows the same logic as the other statues, which have qualities mirroring their respective deity.

I did the collections for enjoyment, not to farm MP, so I was predisposed not to find it burdensome. I completed all the new EoDs masteries in about 1.75 weeks. I didn’t really have to try for any mastery points until the last 10-12 points, when I had run out. Most of them I got through doing map completetion or simply being curious/active in events. Personally I have loved the achievements and collections available post-EoD story. Most of them are great side quests that help fill out the story, especially Looking Back and [redacted], The Unlucky. Edit: I will say though, End of the Celestial Ministry is *a lot* of work for very little pay off. I wasn’t really satisfied by its resolution. The other achievements were good fun though, even if some were unfortunately gated by a successful DE meta.

Humans had a plot line with the centaurs that would’ve come up in Icebrood Saga, but the devs decided to save for later. Charr could focus on the status quo post-war. They have to choose a new Khan-Ur or decide to move away from that form of government. They also still have ghosts to contend with, and the plot about cleansing them from Ascalon was never really resolved. Not sure what is left for norn beyond returning to their ancestral lands, but I’m sure the devs could come up with a norn centric story if they wanted.