Poormany.4507

Just ignore it/get over it, it doesn't affect your gameplay at all and other players don't show up in almost any story instances.

Braham got so much more hate than Taimi on both forums and Reddit imo with many more posts being made explicitly requesting his death or him otherwise exiting the story, and he didn't die (even though a lot of people were expecting him to and it would have made sense storywise at the end of Champions). If Anet didn't kill him off, I doubt they'll kill Taimi either (I'm guessing she'll be made into a golem, get Aurene branded, or some other partial workaround found in Cantha).

True, I really hope they don't pull another Braham, who got out of being an elder dragon champion alive (already stretching believability) without any physical aftereffects whatsoever (?!?). I wouldn't be surprised if they do though, given the way previous protagonists have been handled.

I agree. I hope her illness is at least brought up in EoD, especially if Taimi will be one of the Dragon's Watch members to go there with us (which I suspect will be the case, given her extensive knowledge/research on the elder dragons). It would also be a good place to seek out a cure/treatment, as there may be a something there that does not exist in Tyria or Elona that Taimi's not aware of and hasn't tried yet. I also suspect that her extra dialogue in the EoTN may give some news on her illness when its further expanded on in closer updates.

That one also looks like regular Kurzick architecture to me. These ones, on the other hand, looks more like potential Exalted outposts imo: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/6/69/End_of_Dragons_concept_art_02.jpg https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/6/65/End_of_Dragons_concept_art_04.jpg First one could be either Jade Sea or Echovald, but looks more likely the Jade Sea to me, maybe they could have built one in/underneath the Jade? Second one looks like the Undercity, another great potential place for building a hidden outpost that nobody would think to look for.

95 % - Definitely the best MMO I've played because it respects my time and money, has a great playerbase, and is fun to play overall for a variety of playstyles. That said, it does occasionally have some quality issues and sadly cut storylines due to lack (or mismanagement) of resources/staff/time (i.e. One Path Ends, Kourna, Champions, etc.).

I feel like it is very possible that Aurene will progressively go mad from all the magic she took in, particularly Jormag and Primordus' conflicting magics, at some point either before or during EoD and we'll have to battle her at some point in the future (possibly hinted at by her line to Jormag "Why do they all go mad...?"). I can also see her sacrificing herself at the end of EoD to preserve the All without dragons or something similar. Both ways, she would be removed as the all powerful character during/after EoD.

I don't get why the obvious griefing that would come with open world dueling is not seen as a problem. Posts are being made almost daily about mesmer portal griefers in metas who have been getting away with it for months or years and very little's been done about issues such as that, despite suggestions similar to the OP's for dueling being suggested by players, so I would be really skeptical that spam duel requests/open world PvP harassment would be be dealt with properly/effectively. I just don't think it is worth disrupting the gameplay of a large segment of the community for a niche activity targeted for a small percentage of players (who already have easily accessible dueling opportunities in WvW or PvP).

As long as it's completely optional and in no way intrusive to casual players (i.e. trolls/hardcore PvPers can't spam duel requests), I would be fine with it. Unfortunately, the latter would be very difficult to achieve realistically, so I really doubt any form of large-scale open world dueling would be implemented further than niche 1v1 PvP only arenas that would be restricted to small areas. Even that seems like it would be an unwise use of resources this late into the game, where other, much more widely demanded features, like player housing, new races, etc. would be far more profitable to develop.

It would be better if there was a proper breakbar/cc tutorial before HoT started, as that's when you really start to need to know the mechanic. I definitely agree there should be some kind of additional tutorial(s) though, as people not knowing what cc means or how it works really hurts meta events in HoT and later maps.

Same - It would be awesome imo if the DsD was some kind of tentacled eldrich horror style monster that lurks deep on the ocean floor.

That seems like it would be a very risky financial decision for Anet. If players have access to the same mount abilities from EoD, that would remove a huge, if not the only, incentive for most players to buy PoF (unless PoF is bundled with EoD, in which case, players would have access to mounts anyways). Because of this, I feel like mounts would either need to be entirely optional in EoD and/or supplemented by some new player movement abilities, or by new Canthan mounts that have new movement abilities different than those of PoF mounts.

My guess is that the environments will be a mix of both. Some maps, like the Jade Sea and possibly Shing Jea, will likely feel more like PoF maps and be more horizontal, while others, like Echovald Forest, Kaineng, and the Undercity, will likely have significant vertical aspects to them and feel more like HoT maps (but hopefully not as difficult to navigate as Tangled Depths). Difficulty-wise, I wouldn't mind either HoT or PoF level difficulty, as both had their ups and downs, but I would prefer HoT style map-wide meta events as opposed to the smaller scale ones in PoF that often have few to no players doing them (Compare the number of people doing Serpent's Ire or the Desolation meta vs Auric Basin).

I also think we'll see some dissenting opinions in the background during EoD, but I don't think there would be enough room in the expac to deal with an uprising plot. LWS6, however, would be a good place to do that imo, particularly gathering new Canthan allies in a rebellion against the empire (assuming it's still as oppressive against foreigners/out groups as it was in GW1, and apparently afterwards as well, based on the Sunqua Peak Fractal stories). Some of the potential allies could be Tengu, Luxons/Kurzicks, possibly some of the remaining gang survivors' descendants that survived the mass extermination in GW1, and/or any other non-human races that have succeeded in hiding from the Empire. I also wonder whether the Tengu will get their ancestral lands back either in EoD or in LWS6, as that would be nice to see.

Based on the concept art scales so far, it looks like mounts will likely range from helpful to necessary in a lot of areas, unless some kind of climbing/wall scaling/high jumping mastery is introduced. As for exploration, I think making mounts optional would let players who want to explore more do so, while letting others who do not care as much go at a faster pace.

Zhaitan got the majority of the entire core story of focus (all of Orr + 3-4ish core maps. Mordremoth got the entirety of focus in HoT, LWS2, and could include LWS1 since it was involved behind Scarlet (All of Heart of Maguuma, Silverwastes, and Dry top). Kralk got the entirely of PoF and half of LWS4 (all of the Crystal Desert and Elona Maps + 2-3 LWS4 maps). Jormag got the entirely of Icebrood Saga, Bitterfrost, Draconis Mons, and several Shiverpeaks maps in core (all IBS maps + 2 LWS3 maps + 3-4 Core maps). Primordus got one or two quarters of episodes in Core and a few minor map sections, Ember Bay/sections of Draconis Mons, and a few DRMs (<2 maps and scattered events outside). Other than Ember Bay, I don't think we got any maps exclusively focused on Primordus or the destroyers in GW2, while the others all got multiple expansion-pack (counting Core as paid originally) maps in which they were the main focus/enemy. This seems to show that Primordus received significantly less focus and maps than the others.

I would assume that even if they have been assimilated into the main Canthan empire, they would still live in the Echovold/Jade Sea. Kurzicks probably still have at least some of their Cathedrals if the Jade Wind hasn't been entirely reversed and Luxons have their Leviathans/turtles to navigate with (On that note, it would be awesome if there was a Luxon city/settlement built entirely on the backs of turtle(s)).

Prologue was great, Bjora was meh, Drizzlewood was fun, and then it just took a nosedive with Champions. As a player invested in the story since GW1, the way Primordus was handled was abysmal and I agree it was humiliating to the work of the GW1/early GW2 devs who clearly put a lot of effort into setting him up to have an epic storyline (it even got a full expac in GW1 to set it up for GW2). At the end it got a few lines of mention, reused 2012 enemy models (when new ones were already in the assets and used only 2 regular episodes ago (???)), and a 20 minute ending. Anet saying this release was pushed a month early just shows that they were very likely pushed to tie it up as quickly as possible to switch to EoD.

We only visited around half of the Canthan map in GW1 with plenty of areas left unexplored (particularly in the eastern and southern areas) (further assuming no mostly, if not entirely, water based maps, which could end up being implemented somehow). Also, the southern border of the map could easily be expanded, as lore maps show that it extends further south past the GW1 cutoff point. I think there'd be plenty of areas left if they needed them for LW., it just depends on if they have the commitment/resources to doing one.

Unless they plan on dropping Taimi's illness story and due to her knowledge of the elder dragons, I do think Taimi will be going to Cantha with us. I also worry that the interesting political story of Cantha that was started in GW1 Winds of Change will be almost entirely sidelined (maybe/hopefully reserved for LWS6 if that happens, but doubtful of that).

I'm thinking underwater content, housing, and/or wall climbing would be the most likely for me. Underwater content - The next expac seems to have at least partial water focus and this would be a good time to bring in underwater-specific exploration abilities, such as currents, deep sea pressure, interactions with underwater races and their home cities, etc. I wouldn't expect much in terms of combat due to general lack of player support and it being a nightmare for balance (about as much as mount button 1 attacks), but mainly for exploration utility. Housing - Seems to have at least a moderate player appeal (based on the Forums at least), would provide for good long-term achievements/collectibles, and would be easy to sell gemstore skins. If it is housing though, I would really hope and am concerned that they do not lock 90+% of it behind gemstore skins and items. Wall climbing - Last major movement ability that we don't have in large scale yet (although skyscale has some). Could do some type of wall walking/climbing/jumping/oakheart type things as masteries, as well as combat abilities like those mentioned by @Gran Reave.9754above. I even wonder if the recent tilt bug may be hinting at this being in development/experimented with?

True, it has potential for additional good storytelling about its origins, but seeing as how much more significant plot threads (Zojja, E, Malyck, etc.) just got dropped without any in-game explanation, I predict the bow will also be forgotten/dropped (it already seems to have been in the Finale, which would have been a perfect place for Braham or Ryland to at least make a mention of it)

Please no Braham in EoD 😰 I really don't think he has any reason to go to Cantha tbh, and will likely just stay in the Shiverpeaks to recover from Primordus. I think we'll just hear about him getting his bow back in some extra dialogue, collection, event, or something, as the story around it is pretty much over.

For me it's Original > PoF > HoT Original for the same reasons @Aodlop.1907gave and I often listen to it in the background, PoF because it reminds me of the awesome cutscene flying to Amnoon in the PoF prologue chapter, and HoT because it seemed more of a generic soundtrack to me.

I also noticed that it does seem to go south. Cantha/Unending Ocean towards the DsD or some other magic sink would be the obvious guesses. The color looks like regular ley-magic to me, but could just be a mixture of Jormag/Primordus' respective energies.