[Aurene and the Spirit of Dragon]

I never said that there would be an 'Aurene dragon spirit', the whole question was hinged on the fact that a Spirit of Dragon would encompass all dragons, and that Aurene becoming an Elder Dragon might make such a Spirit of Dragon friendlier to us because she is friendly towards us, because she is now a significantly powerful dragon and as such might have more of an influence on the Spirit of Dragon.

Regardless though, if there's no Spirit of the Dragon, the question is moot.

[Aurene and the Spirit of Dragon]

In Hoelbrak there's an NPC called Nikolas Haraldsson who says the following:

(The Sons of Svanir) revere the Spirit of Drago. He encompasses all dragons in the world.

Now we obviously have all the evidence that the sons of svanir think that Jormag is 'Dragon' for all intents and purposes. But could there be an actual spirit of dragon? One that may now have at least some legitimacy in the form of our new elder dragon friend Aurene? I'd assume that even though Glint has exists for over ten thousand years and vlast was chilling in the crystal desert since his birth that their influence was simply too small to have an impact on any sort of dragon spirit that potentially exists, but with the ascension of Aurene as an elder dragon, is that a possibility now?

Or does a Spirit of Dragon simply not exist?

[How long have mounts been around before they were... Mounts?]

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:Of those you mentioned, the only one that seem questionable to canon besides the branded mount pack (which could only be domesticated if these branded mounts were cleansed via altar of glaust or similar methods) would be the shrine guardian jackal since it's clearly more Canthan than anything.

Demons and Forged would be hard to domesticate / work with, but not implausible. Exalted mounts could easily be domesticated animals who were put under the exalting rituals. The outrider warclaw just another version of the warclaw armors found in and formed by the Mists.

Thanks for the answers! You actually just reminded me about how the zephyrites are supposed to be a mix of canthans and elonians, do you think they could have possibly brought the shrine guardians with them? Any other skins that seem suspect to you?

[How long have mounts been around before they were... Mounts?]

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:And as Aaron says, most skins from the Distant Lands adoption license are meant to be cousins of the default mounts found in Central Tyria. But they weren't viewed as domesticatable animals for riding.

Quick side question, are all the mount skins meant to be canon? I remember you at one point mentioning how the branded skins broke canon because dragons minions be dragon minions, but some of the other mountskin options seem weird, like the exalted mount skins, shrine guardian jackal, umbral demon skimmer, reforged warhound, outrider warclaw (the one without the armour everywhere) and a couple of other ones too seem i guess a bit beyond what i'd expect for canon. (For backpacks and gliders i'd guess that it would be far easier to create magical items that look and perhaps function like wings etc.)

[Thank you for new Skyscale skin!]

I was very on the fence about this skin because I was hoping for a more traditional dragon for a 2000k gem skin, but this wasn't it. The dye options I saw on other people's shimmerwings along with the blue fire and nature-related stuff (like flowers coming from the ground) tipped me over into getting it. I had the same dilemma with the hummingbird but I thankfully got it after a handful of black lion chest openings (thank you map completion for keys). I like it. I'm not excited about the shimmerwing, but I like it, I'm enjoying it for the moment, and the most important thing is that i don't regret my purchase. I'm looking forward to more personally exciting skins in the future though. I do like faerie dragons, but I much prefer traditional western dragons.

[Skyscale is a pleasure to fly!]

I agree with the OP, the skyscale is an absolute blast to ride around on, i'm really happy about it. my favourite mount hands down. The best exploration pal there is and perfect for my style of gameplay. I can basically get to anywhere I want in as straight of a line as i can make it. it's been so much fun and i've enjoyed it so much.

[Skyscale Skin Pack Idea]

I REALLY want that snake dragon skin from the guildchat that they showed us as one of the mount license skins. I also really want the lightning, branded, fire and some other variations too.

I'm really excited for the 2000 gem skin though. I don't know what it's going to be but the devs have shown exciting new directions so no expectations but i'm hoping it'll be good.

[GW2's odd version of flying . . . Why can't your mount, like Just. Fly.??]

@BlueJin.4127 said:This is their current direction as a team. However, not all devs on their team agree with this because “flying being an issue from a design point” is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Some devs wanted to take advantage of flying by designing around flying. Devs at Blizzard. Devs working on WoW. These devs just cannot individually say this out in public because they’re not allowed to say so.

Can you provide evidence of this? If you have an article or something where the devs have stated that they don't think flying is an issue please share it.

[GW2's odd version of flying . . . Why can't your mount, like Just. Fly.??]

@"BlueJin.4127" said:Second, again, you're comment about flying is not a fact. Flying is not a design flaw. It is not an issue to level design.-snip-*I don't think WoW had any actual mechanics you could skip with flying. It simply allowed you to skip more enemies than you would if grounded, and let you move around faster.

From a polygon article where they talked to Ion Hazziokostas, a WoW Developer, back in Warlords of Draenor:"Having looked at how flying has played out in the old world in the last couple of expansions, we realized that while we were doing it out of this ingrained habit after we introduced flying in The Burning Crusade, it actually detracted from gameplay in a whole lot of ways," Hazzikostas explains. "While there was certainly convenience in being able to completely explore the world in three dimensions, that also came at the expense of gameplay like targeted exploration, like trying to figure out what's in that cave on top of a hill and how do I get up there."

-snip-

Originally, Blizzard took out flying in Warlords of Draenor as an experiment, and Hazzikostas says he would have bet "slightly better than even money at the time" that they were going to bring it back eventually. But as they played the expansion and watched others play it, they discovered that they liked the game better without flying.

"The world feels larger, feels more dangerous," he says. "There's more room for exploration, for secrets, for discovery and overall immersion in the world. At this point, we feel that outdoor gameplay in World of Warcraft is ultimately better without flying. We're not going to be reintroducing the ability to fly in Draenor, and that's kind of where we're at going forward."

So, yeah, there are design issues when it comes to true free flight, and that's coming from the developers themselves. This isn't a random comment on a random forum by a random player, this is from a still current WoW developer. Talking about it from the point of view that only the players have differing views on it ignores the fact that the developers themselves have issues with flying as a mechanic, and preferred the game without flying (yes, they did later allow flying, but only after tons of player backlash, which is why they have the pathfinder achievements because they want players to experience the content from the ground before they are allowed to fly).

To reiterate, the devs are making these points. The devs themselves think flying is an issue, and they still design around the fact that they don't think flying should be allowed from the beginning of an expansion (i.e. the pathfinder achievements).

[GW2's odd version of flying . . . Why can't your mount, like Just. Fly.??]

@Kabuki Theatre.9752 said:WoW mounts are boring to those who have not mastered them.

I am incredibly curious about what you mean by this. Please explain what it takes to master WoW mounts.

[Heart of Thorns ruined this game]

I hated heart of thorns with a passion, i actually stopped playing the game until season 3 rolled around because of how unenjoyable of an expansion it was, and then I found out heart of thorns was nerfed to actually tolerable levels (at the very end of my tolerance meter but still tolerable), and that includes the higher exp earned.

As for the mastery system as a whole, I think it works very very well. I would much rather prefer a system that gives me the room to improve my account than a never ending gear treadmill where even legendary weapons become supplanted by common items of the next expansion. Gliding will always be relevant (i do wish we could get more mileage for the rest of the hot masteries, the recent season 4 efforts have helped loads), and the mounts from path of fire will also always be relevant. i continue to hope that things will be relevant and that the next expansion's masteries will also carry forward (and backwards) into anything that we do. (i know the next expansion isn't even confirmed yet, but just as a 'potential' thing it would be nice to keep in mind). So yeah, for me, the mastery system is way better than anything that other mmos do right now. And I hope that GW2 will remain for the foreseeable future.

[Which mount is the best and how would you rank them all?]

the skyscale is my favourite, by far, not only because of it's all terrain factor, but also because it's a friggin dragon and there's nothing that could really top a dragon mount for me, especially one this useful.

But honestly, they do all have their own niche, and I like how each mount works and how they have their own special places that they are useful, and the designs for the mounts and i just love the gw2 mounts in general, all of them. for general travel i'll definitely use the skyscale over most, but if i know it's general ground travel and the other options won't necessarily be needed, i actually swap over to a lot of the other mounts when i feel like it, yes even warclaw sometimes. I'm an rper at heart even if i don't really rp with the community in general, so i get uses out of all the mounts.

[Do you want more mounts in the future?]

I'm indifferent leaning on yes, because I absolutely would love to see an underwater mount at least. I'm not against additional types of mounts in the future (like hey, i never would have seen any of the post griffon mounts coming and I like them all too), but there's no non-underwater niche i see needing to be filled so I have no particular desire for a specific kind of mount. (i will say that in some sort of ideal world I would have enjoyed a junundu wurm mount, but I think the devs don't really have the space for a junundu mount in their roster mechanics wise. and I'd like to see their creativity go in a different direction too).

If they can surprise me with something, I wouldn't mind and I'd probably end up enjoying it as well. So that's where I'm at with it. No needs (apart from underwater), but will be happy if they do surprise us with something new.

[Should the Skyscale map currency be reduced?]

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

@ugrakarma.9416 said:theres limitation to currency bought by

Volatile Magic

on Dragon Fall?

i have no way to test myself these days.

Yeah, five of each per day. (Possibly more for Kralkatite, it seems to be the exception, but I didn't need to buy any, so not sure.)

5 is the limit for kralkatite too, it's just a lower cost than the other resouces because of how abundant it is in istan.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

@Stephane Lo Presti.7258 said:Hi everyone,

I wanted to provide a brief update after talking to various developers. We’re aware of the concerns expressed in this thread. The team is currently regrouping and we’re aiming to communicate more about this topic as soon as we possibly can.

In the meantime, we're pushing a hotfix that will include hiding the skyscale Mastery line for players who have not acquired the skyscale so that they will continue to gain Mastery experience toward acquiring Spirit Shards.

We're also working on another hotfix coming later that will alleviate issues with finishing the Skyscale of Ice achievement in Frostgorge Sound by making the Corrupted Ice Elementals near the Claw of Jormag event respawn regularly. These creatures can encase you in ice and progress the Skyscale of Ice achievement. This is a temporary fix until we can get something more permanent.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Thank you for the update, looking forward to further input from the team, whether it is a communication of intention or info about further incoming adjustments.

[GEMSTORE REQUESTS: New Items; Items offered again - [Merged]]

I'm gonna make a request for skyscale skins because it's potentially early enough that they might not have made the pack yet.

please put in a skyscale pack.

i hope that there'll be similar variations like the warclaw mount, a fire themed one (can't have too much fire), a branded one and some other fun variations.

I'd also really like one of those other variations to have a 'thin tail' variant of the skyscale.

thanks for reading my suggestion, even if it's dumb.

[GEMSTORE REQUESTS: New Items; Items offered again - [Merged]]

Priest of Kormir outfit, please.

[[Suggestions]QoL (Quality of Life) Ideas [Merged]]

Treat mount, glider and outfit dyes like armour dyes, where each skin keeps the dyes selected (for example, if i choose to have say the monk's outfit all permafrost and then swap to the arcane outfit, I don't want the dye choices to carry over and instead I want my arcane outfit to, when selected, have all the dye channels be shadow abyss, just as an example). This would make swapping between outfits slightly more practical for those of us who have different dye preferences for individual oufits.

In tandem with the above suggestion, have the preview window for gliders and outfit 'show original dyes' like with the mount selection, and have an option to dye locked gliders, outfits and mount skins to help make more informed choices (there have been mount skins i've gotten where i've hated the original dye scheme but loved them after dying them differently, having the option to preview not only other mounts but also gliders and outfits with different dye schemes would have me purchase way more outfits if i could dye them to my taste before purchasing).

[Which professions go best thematically with which races?]

It's possible to create lore connections between all the races and all the classes to make them fit.

Humans have a lot of versatility built into them just because of the original game and their human gods. Elementalist fits the versatility of someone who worships the pantheon as a whole (barring recent events, Balthazar is the god of fire, Lyssa is the goddess of water, Grenth the god of ice, Dwayna the goddess of air and Melandru the goddess of earth, only Kormir doesn't have an element tied to her). Warriors are tied to Balthazar, Rangers to Melandru, Necromancers to Grenth, Mesmers to Lyssa, Thieves also possibly to Grenth (at least any that fill the role of an assassin, who fell under Grenth's domain in the first game), Guardians fit with Dwayna and Kormir. That just leaves engineers and revenants, but both classes can fit into human society, as not only was human tech part of what made the airships (alongside asura and charr tech), but also human tech made the watchknights. As for revenants, anyone who's remotely interested in history would find great benefit in the revenant, but not only would zephyrites have ties to glint directly (being the next in line after the dwarven brotherhood of the dragon), but also canthans may have an interest in connecting with Shiro for historical records or even just morbid curiosity, the same could go for elonans and Mallyx, Krytans and ascalonians would probably be interested in Jallis as well.

Sylvari can similarly be connected to most of the classes. While the connection between rangers and nature is obvious, elementalists can be said to have a similar connection, connecting with the elements themselves rather than nature, and nature survives on those elements regardless. This is a bit more meta, but if you're looking for a more trickster type fairy character, sylvari mesmers really fill that niche, but going into lore, it's possible that mesmers can almost create Dream like illusions, plus with mesmer magic being tied to the mind anyway, that also fits the HoT narrative regarding Mordremoth as their creator. For the Sylvari who see the cycle of life and understand death is a natural part of it, necromancers make sense out of that culture too, while others bring life, death is always a constant. Thieves work for one of the cycles of the sylvari, I can't remember which one, but there's one cycle that delves in secrets and sylvari thieves work well with that. Engineers can form as a sort of counter culture to traditional sylvari values, but there are the verdant and warden pistols and rifles, so it's possible select sylvari are able to create feats of engineering via the plant manipulation that sylvari naturally use as a race. Warriors make sense as a defending force for the grove, since there will always need to be protectors, and sometimes fighting with a weapon is just the most effective way. Going meta again, Guardians fill that arthurian style legend of warriors, but in game, guardian magic is based on faith, and with Sylvari having faith in Ventari's tablet, they can easily manage to call upon it to protect their friends and allies. For the sylvari who want to hear the words of Ventari himelf, the path of the revenant is most apt.

For the asura, any class that uses magic or technology can be deemed as potential research material. While engineers seem obvious, the new holosmith elite spec really shows that asura flavour of tech (despite it being elonan, but we'll put that to the wayside for a moment). Mesmers can alter the fabric of reality with their magic, no doubt a useful tool for research. Elementalists are able to harness several sources of power and can possibly conjure up resources for testing things out as well as carrying out meteorological experiments with their magic, testing fire or ice resistant materials etc. Necromancy can potentially be seen as more inquest material, but undoubtedly it has it's own research (one asura tried to mix golomancy with necromancy I think, can't remember details) so there's always potential for that. Rangers and their nature magic can definitely serve as a useful tool for studying botany, phenology, animal behaviours and can really bridge a gap into that area of research that would otherwise be unavailable. Thieves obviously work with their small stature, but they can also be used as testers of security systems, they have a little magic that they use that can be studied and of course they could also just test their own physical abilities. That testing of physical abilities works for warriors too, the toughest of the asura may see value in improving asuran constitution and field testing ideas on how to improve themselves using exercise and other alchemical methods too. Also warriors just serve as a good police force in general. Guardians use faith magic, and asura have faith in what they call the eternal alchemy, so they can draw upon that faith to guide themselves. I'm sure some asuran tech is also inspired by guardian magic. Finally for revenants, well, testing mist magic is just a given, and any asura interested in historical documentation would find themselves having a blast speaking with figures from the past.

Charr have their legions. They are a warrior breed, and the blood legion fights with their weapons head on. The iron legion are the natural engineers and the ash legion their thieves, used for infiltration, stealth, and assassination capabilities. Ignoring the Olmakhan for a moment, the other classes have various benefits too. Rangers can obviously tame devourers for use in strategic military plans, as with any animals rangers can tame, plus the ability to use nature would have it's benefits in making sure resources never dwindle too much, though that may fall onto the elementalists. While magic isn't very trusted because of the flame legion, the high legions see the value in magic users, and elementalists, mesmers and necromancers each provide amazing combat feats that can't be replaced. For guardians, faith in your warband is enough to allow you to call upon your magic, and any healers that can provide assistance to wounded soldiers on the field are more than likely appreciated, even if it's magic. That just leaves revenants, many of whom would probably attune fastest to Kalla, the charr legend, but not only that, being able to call upon historical figures that have won key victories in battles and hearing from it first hand is undoubtedly a major pro in the eyes of the high legion, working with first hand experience in taking down different types of enemies in different situations could prove vital to the future of the charr.

And finally norn. The revenant actually provides the easiest lore connection, considering there is a shaman that is able to traverse into the mists, showing that there are norn who have connections to the mists that could possibly be enhanced by training as a revenant, but not only that, norn revenants can learn what it means to be a legend and create a legend for yourself from the beings they channel. Setting aside the "I shall be the BEST [class]", warriors and rangers make the most sense for the norn, considering that they believe in the hunt and crafting a legend through the enemies you defeat. Guardians would fall in this category too, but less so, they can also call upon their faith in the spirits of the wild to fuel their power. Elementalists undoubtedly provide defense against the elements (and maybe would provide cooling rooms for norns hanging out in the desert for example), necromancers are capable of communing with spirits (as seen in the human personal story) so by extension that's just natural for them, and mesmers probably could be storytellers, skalds who use their illusions to bring visuals to the stories that they tell. Engineers also kind of fall into that counter culture, but they could also just be interested in crafting and seeing engineering as the limitless possibilities of crafting and using their crafts in battle to aid their allies. Thieves remain the trickiest to insert here, but there is undoubtedly a norn who would go out and attempt to carve their legend not through blood, but through theft, because imagine telling the story of the time you stole a scale off a hydra, a crystal off a branded or an icicle from the claw of jormag, whoever could do that would carve their legend as the craftiest norn.

Other's could probably refine some of the points or provide better examples of how every race can make sense for any class.

[High Elves]

@"sorudo.9054" said:what about an elf that has suffered underground for millenia and used as slaves for so long they know nothing of free will, just to make up one.i never said elves should be in GW2 but to just lick it away simply because you know nothing better is a really lame reason.

FYI, that's the story of the dredge. That's essentially what happened to the dredge. Except the dredge gained their freedom after the dwarves went to fight primordus. But the dredge were underground slaves used by the stone summit.

"In the past the mole-like race called the dredge were a pitiable race, enslaved by the Stone Summit dwarves and ready to fight alongside any who would help free them from their masters' whips. After the Transformation of the Dwarves, the dredge gained their freedom once and for all, and established themselves as the heirs to the dwarven kingdom in the Shiverpeak Mountains, where they battle the displaced norn for control of dwarven territory. They have made their capital in Sorrow's Embrace, formerly the main mine of the Stone Summit dwarves."

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dredge

But even if the dredge didn't exist, I'd like to ask you this: Why does it have to be elves and not an entirely new and unique race?

[High Elves]

@LucianDK.8615 said:I am aware of the silver covenant, whom keeps getting dragging up. But they are only a minority too.Plus the fact that the void elves has been teaching their dark ways to any interested blood or high elf to return to the alliance in an official capacity. So no, helves will never return, and nor should they. Theyve been written out with the appearance of blood elves. Be happy you got suitably different elves in voids.

If you're aware of the silver covenant, you shouldn't so brazenly say they don't exist when they factually do. They exist, deal with it.I've also specifically said that I agree with you, that I also agree the existence of high elves reduces the impact of the blood elves becoming horde, and at no point mentioned that high elves should become a playable race. So I'm not sure where the 'be happy' comment comes from.

EDIT: I could go on and on with this back and forth, but this is a GW2 forum so I'll stop this WoW specific debate right here and decline to comment further.

[High Elves]

@LucianDK.8615 said:

@sorudo.9054 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:Such obsession with elves, one of the most plainest and boring fantasy races after humans. Get more imaginative for something truly creative to play as.

to me charr is the most plainest and boring fantasy race, even a human has more sense then the charr.....then again, you must really lack imagination to call elfs boring, most used yes but boring is the last thing they are.

Elves are massively overexposed and ultrageneric fantasy tropes. At least Charr is unique. Horned anthromorphic felines with 4 ears.And in regards to blood elves, come BFA, they will now be able to get golden eyes due to the cleansing of the sunwell. Such a delightful sticking it to the helf crowd on ally side. They got the thallasian elf model in void elves with fantastic racials.

It only makes sense that allys -never- gets helves. it would take away from the whole plotline of the helves leaving the alliance in disgust to become blood elves. The once high elves have become horde now, even if it so gravely upsets those whom cant look past the tolkienish trinity of humans, high elves and dwarves with knights, kings and castles.

I agree with basically everything, but you're factually wrong about high elves in WoW. High elves loyal to the alliance do exist. Vareesa windrunner leads the Silver Covenant, which has allied itself with the alliance and continues to do so. There was an entire sequence where the nightborne acknowledged the high elves as separate from the blood elves. In Legion, the most recent expansion. High elves have continued to exist as a force for the alliance, from the introduction in WoW in Wrath, in cataclysm they didn't make much of a show but helped fight off the zandalari in Zul'Aman alongside the blood elves and the darkspear trolls, but the high elves were the primary counter force to the blood elf sunreavers in mists of pandaria when throne of thunder dropped, they were kind of no shows on draenor, and then, as I said, they appear in legion next to the night elves and blood elves when facing off against the nightborne.

Alliance loyal high elves do factually exist, likely in greater numbers than void elves exist. It's really only because blood elves exist that the devs haven't made playable high elves, despite those high elves existing in lore. While I absolutely agree that the high elves existing at all greatly reduces the impact of the blood elves leaving the alliance, they factually exist in canon, in lore, and the WoW devs continue to highlight the existence of high elves, especially through vareesa windrunner and the silver covenant.

[High Elves]

@sorudo.9054 said:i sense the problem here, there are 3 types of ppl.

• ppl who want to stick with what we know
• ppl who want to explore beyond what we know
• ppl who don't want anything beyond tyria (continent) but also don't want to much to change

the sad part here is that allot of ppl are the first and third, not many are in the second.now i agree that the most generic things should not be in tyria to begin with but we should also not push away anything generic that is already in tyria from the start.having a lost or other-family dwarven races would fit regardless, , even while the current lore tells us all dwarfs are stone there is plenty of room for other interpretations of that statement. (before their final statement it was always deldrimor dwarfs and no other)

another part is that some races could exist while we never saw them, no lore has ever mentioned them and nothing is known about them.this is the kind of race they could introduce without having to worry about lore, a brand new race that no one ever saw in the time span of guild wars.you have to keep in mind, although the game is getting bigger, we have yet to explore most of the planet.looking at the planet map, only a fraction of tyria is known by us and so many other races and places can exist without us even knowing.

This is a complete and total cop out of an assessment with regards to the conversation in this thread and solely places anyone who's against having elves in Tyria as being in the 'closed minded' groupings. It's actually a little infuriating to see that THIS is what some people see as the issue and dismisses the actual concerns that people have with regards to bringing elves into the game.

1st, absolutely no one has said that we should never expand beyond the current horizons. There are several discussions going on about how and why several races won't work from a playable race standpoint, some I agree with, some I don't, but regardless there are actual discussions and reasons going on with regards to implementing a new race.

2nd, elves ARE a generic concept that exist in so many fantasy worlds, there's absolutely no reason why GW2 needs them. GW2 has, from the very beginning, denied including too many generic fantasy races, and they've had plenty of opportunities to do so. Yes, centaurs, dwarves, and ogres exist, anthropormorphised races exist too (hylek, tengu, skritt, quaggan etc.) which is halfway to using a generic fantasy race.But there are also unique races too. While plant people aren't wholly unique, sylvari are a very unique spin on it, especially having their lore tied to that of an elder dragon. Mursaat (my absolute favourite fantasy race ever), forgotten and seers are also very unique races too.And while you cannot escape some tropes, you can certainly play with them to create a unique experience in interacting with them. The skritt are a fantastic example of this, rat races exist, but the idea that skritt get smarter in larger groups is something I haven't seen really explored (and in fact, the skaven from warhammer kind of go in the opposite direction, creating absolute madness, schemes and self destruction in larger groups of that rat-people).So on the account of the GW2 devs trying to stay away from generic races, they're doing a fairly good job and as such have no need of introducing elves.

3rd, while there's absolutely nothing lore-wise stating that elves can't exist on another part of the world (or on some other planet in the mists), the previous point highlights why that's very unlikely to be the case. It's not a case of people being 'unwilling to explore new horizons', it's a case of everyone seeing a generic race for it's genericness and not wanting any more genericness to come into GW2.And this is coming from someone who enjoys elves. They're not my favourite fantasy race, but I enjoy their existence in the multitude of worlds I've seen them on. They're great. It's not impossible that they could make a debut in the future, but there's no place for them in GW2. As many people have pointed out, the traditional tropes associated with elves have already been covered by existing races, and the devs took extreme measures to do away with the traditional inception of another fantasy race, the dwarves. They're all stone now, and there's only 2 confirmed living dwarves in the world. That's how much they want to separate the more traditional races from other fantasy worlds (though admittedly this has not been extended to ogres and centaurs, however big or small a role those races have played within the story).

4th, regarding specifically the dwarves, the deldrimor dwarves forced all of the stone summit dwarves to turn to stone and forced everyone to go underground to fight primordus. Very few races have been introduced as having traveled to different continents from what I recall, so while it's not impossible that dwarves may exist on another part of the world, it's very unlikely just from a logistical point of view. We see evidence of dwarves in the northern parts of Elona, but it's all abandoned ruins or random dwarven caches strewn about the desert. Certainly at this point in time, the devs seem to point out to the fact that we're not going to get an unseen settlement of dwarves, since even down in elona, the dwarves took up arms to fight against primordus.

5th, I'd rather the devs create a new race than implement a generic one that exists in other fantasy worlds. With the mursaat, seers, forgotten, wardens, and yes, even largos, ArenaNet have shown their capability of creating entirely new races that don't really exist elsewhere, at least in visual aesthetics if not in their culture. (and yes, as a huge fan of the largos, even I cannot deny the heavy drow influences upon their culture).

If we're really going to have a discussion regarding 'exploring beyond what we know', I want new races, I want new aesthetics, I want something totally different, something we've never seen before. Elves do not fit the description of 'exploring beyond what we know', because we know elves. We've seen them in a thousand fantasy worlds. If you really want to go beyond the horizon and explore, let's find something that's NOT an already existing generic race that's seen in another fantasy world.

So don't be disingenuous with regards to the discussions happening over all the reasons why not to include elves.

[Not enough easy accessible Mastery Points in New Expansion [Spoilers]]

@Kroff.5204 said:UPDATE: I did a little puzzle-solving in Kanuz Cache, crossed the gap there using Canyon Jumping, and was already able to obtain one more mastery point. I'll scout the area to see if there are more possibilities. One step closer to my goal!

Just a tip for anyone doing this, dismounting (not the engage skill) gives you a higher jump than the raptor can normally jump and way higher than you as a player can jump. That should give you enough leg room to get around this.

[Favorite Quotes.]

Demmi Beetlestone: Have you seen my father—Caudecus?Canach: Brutish man with aggressively unsettling facial hair? Yes.Canach: He seemed upset that he wasn't on the Krytan throne...to the extent that he was— Is he really your father? I'm so sorry.

Canach: Oh, Minister Beetlestone, you did not disappoint. Why on Tyria do you think he has a painting of Captain Thackeray in here?

Canach: How do you think the conversation with the sculptor went when he ordered these?Canach: "I need at least six reliefs of my face. No, no, bigger. Like eight feet tall."

Canach, in general, is one of the better written characters and I think the best voice acted character in the game during "head of the snake", before and after that episode he has some great lines but none of them were delivered anywhere near the quality of that episode. Still love his voice work.

Phlunt is the second best voice acted character and his best delivered lines:

Councillor Phlunt: Hello, progeny. And how are we ruining science today?

Taimi: But importantly: mortal danger. You gotta go. A mursaat/not-a-mursaat, on the way...Councillor Phlunt: Oh, yes! Surely you're telling the truth now! I'm certainly not leaving! No one is! I mean it. Wyndall, put that down.Lazarus: Ah, Marjory, there you are. I'd grown used to your ever-so-pleasant company.Councillor Phlunt: Actually, I could use a stretch. Let's go, everyone!

Councillor Phlunt: No one retreats while Phlunt still phights! You can't aurally hear what I did, but it's very clever!Taimi: He came back? You came back! You DO value me!Councillor Phlunt: All hands, SAVE MY RESEARCH!

As a whole, I enjoy almost all the voice acting done in the game, but these two voices (and the delivery of these specific lines) were absolutely the best voice acting I've heard in this game.