Some new tidbits of EoD

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

A bunch of new articles about End of Dragons came out today, so I figured it'd be good to compile the miniscule lore coming from them. First, a list of the related articles:

* https://www.gamespace.com/all-articles/news/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-preview-a-postcard-from-cantha/
* https://www.nme.com/features/gaming-features/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-preview-cantha-is-all-about-togetherness-3139566
* https://www.pcinvasion.com/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-preview/
* https://www.godisageek.com/2022/01/end-of-dragons-offers-plenty-of-new-content-for-guild-wars-2-fans-hands-on-preview/
* https://www.mmorpg.com/editorials/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-preview-2000124124
* https://dotesports.com/mmo/news/everything-we-know-about-guild-wars-2-fishing-and-skiffs
* https://dotesports.com/mmo/news/everything-about-guild-wars-2s-isle-of-reflections-guild-hall
* https://dotesports.com/mmo/news/fans-get-new-look-aurene-legendary-weapons-guild-wars-2

1. Commander in Cantha. Why?

It would appear that the main presented motivation for going to Cantha is the matter of Dragonjade. Not a surprise there, but what's odd to me is that the reason for being interested in Dragonjade is presented as the land of Cantha has fallen into gang warfare because of the powerstruggle surrounding Dragonjade. It's presented in the articles that the biggest threat is just some radical groups.

Not exactly the potentially world threatening situation that IBS presents, that S3-S4 built up, and the Taimi talks even posits.

What's curious is that the articles mentions the Pact involvement, however. Historically, the Pacto nly got involved when Elder Dragons did. So it seems there's more than we're told. Which is even odder, since the reason for going to a new land is usually the first thing we're told when companies promote a new expansion or plot, especially for MMOs. Why is the reason we're going - the very first thing we'll learn in EoD (assuming we go to Cantha immediately like HoT and PoF, and not spend time dicking around in Tyria first) kept so secretive? Bad marketing aside.

2. Fort Aspenwood and the Neo Jade Brotherhood

A few of the articles relate the Jade Brotherhood as the human version of the Inquest, and the descriptions of the Aspenwood meta fits. Apparently the group is experimenting on wildlife in an attempt to unlock the full potential of Dragonjade, and this resulted in mutated animals. The main objective of the Fort Aspenwood meta is to stop the creatreation of Gods' Vengrance - a musical superweapon invented by the Kurzicks to battle the Luxons, renovated by the Jade Brotherhood. It has six phases relating to each of the gods, a curious thing given Balthazar's dead but it likely doesn't relate to the gods' power directly. The curious thing about it is whether this implies that Canthans do not know of Balthazar's death, or perhaps it hints at Balthazar's implied successor?

3. Aetherblades - Friend or Foe? Foe.

There's been a lot of rampant speculation on these forums whether Mai Trin is allied or hostile, either to Cantha or to the player. It seems we finally have confirmation that Mai Trin is no friend to the Commander in EoD - sorry redemption desirees. Mai Trin is the main boss of one of the four strikes coming with EoD's launch called Aetherblade Hideout. The news articles suggest the hideout is located in Arborstone, but Arborstone is a hub for all strikes so it's hard to tell if some of them simply mistook the location or not. The articles and few pictures we have don't go into detail beyond the strike's name and boss.

Given that it's a hideout, and thus not very open, it seems likely imo that Mai Trin is no ally to the Canthans either. But as said, the articles weren't very clear on it - just name and boss. But it seems after beating her down for years in the fractals, we'll now be beating her down for years in the strikes. Fun times.

 

4. What does this mean?

Combined with our other miniscule lore we got prior, we still don't have as nearly clear a view of what to expect compared to HoT or PoF. All we really know is "Cantha. Dragonjade. Conflict." Which isn't much. But it does seem that whatever the plot of EoD is, rather than gods and dragons, our primary adversary is jade, dragonjade, and things are being shaken not stirred. Seems EoD is Out of the Shadows: the Expansion! A more down-to-earth plot isn't diswanted, imo, but it does leave one scratching the head over how this at all relates to IBS's ending, the question of why the planet isn't blowing up, Aurene's involvement, the DSD, or the title: End of Dragons.

Like I said before, usually the bridge into is the very first thing we get to know - the question of "why do our main cast care?" has yet to even be hinted upon.

[SunRoamer.5103]

Glad to see some discussion about these articles happening on the forums - this is only the second or third thread where I've seen them mentioned, as opposed to the much more lively discussions happening on reddit. You also missed one article at least, the one by MassivelyOP/Flameseeker Chronicles.

In general I don't think most of the lore in these articles should be taken at face value. To me it seems like the gaming journalists that were invited had wildly varying degrees of familiarity with the lore and story of GW2 and just interpreted whatever was going on from that limited POV. In any case, these articles are meant to introduce EoD to a broader gaming audience so it doesn't make sense to be too specific, or explain why some ideas were presented in a very simplified manner.

Especially when it comes to your first point: the mentions of the Pact and the Dragonjade really stood out to me in the articles since they were both only mentioned by NME (which, as far as I can tell, isn't really a gaming-focussed magazine/website).

Edited January 19, 2022 by SunRoamer.5103

[draxynnic.3719]

One possible interpretation could be that 'End of Dragons' relates to dragonjade being a possible bloodstone substitute for soaking up magical energy (meaning we no longer have to worry about magical buildup and can just kill the DSD freely) or that the initial expansion content will set up the next season and that's where the actual End of Dragons will be.

 

Or the journalists just misunderstood the Echovald story to be the expansion story as a whole. I am sceptical, though, that we'll actually kill the DSD in the Jade Sea, unless it's attracted enough to the dragonjade to haul itself into a mostly dry former inland sea.

 

But it's shocking how little we know. It's due to release next month - unless it's been delayed again - and we still don't even have the day.

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

1 hour ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Or the journalists just misunderstood the Echovald story to be the expansion story as a whole. I am sceptical, though, that we'll actually kill the DSD in the Jade Sea, unless it's attracted enough to the dragonjade to haul itself into a mostly dry former inland sea.

I have believed for awhile now that the order they are showing the maps in on the livestreams is the order we visit them in-game.

• So like we arrive in Cantha at Shing Jea.
• We can't immediately go into the city proper so we get sneaked onto the mainland via that river that goes into the Echovald.
• From there we go to the Harvest Temple(likely to get Kuuavang's help) which leads us into the Jade Sea
• We travel north on the Jade sea until we reach Kaineng
• Kaineng is the finale area(assuming there isn't some hidden 5th map they haven't told us about)

Edited January 21, 2022 by Sajuuk Khar.1509

[SunRoamer.5103]

38 minutes ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

I have believed for awhile now that the order they are showing the maps in on the livestreams is the order we visit them in-game.

• So like we arrive in Cantha at Shing Jea.
• We can't immediately go into the city proper so we get sneaked onto the mainland via that river that goes into the Echovald.
• From there we go to the Harvest Temple(likely to get Kuuavang's help) which leads us into the Jade Sea
• We travel north on the Jade sea until we reach Kaineng
• Kaineng is the finale area(assuming there isn't some hidden 5th map they haven't told us about)

If I recall correctly, it was mentioned that there will be a time skip with the Jade Sea map canonically happening later than everything else. This might of course just be in regards to the two maps we'd seen already, i.e. Shing Jae and Echovald, and then Kaineng happens even later. It's just that, considering how careful they were with turning the camera in the Jade Sea live stream, plus the mention of the time skip, it seemed to me like the Jade Sea would be the last map we go to in EoD.

Edited January 21, 2022 by SunRoamer.5103

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

1 hour ago, SunRoamer.5103 said:

If I recall correctly, it was mentioned that there will be a time skip with the Jade Sea map canonically happening later than everything else. This might of course just be in regards to the two maps we'd seen already, i.e. Shing Jae and Echovald, and then Kaineng happens even later. It's just that, considering how careful they were with turning the camera in the Jade Sea live stream, plus the mention of the time skip, it seemed to me like the Jade Sea would be the last map we go to in EoD.

In addition, during the Jade Sea stream when talking about said time skip, they mentioned it is "act five".

Typically, if you're going for a metaphor of "late in the story", you'd say act three, which makes me wonder if like how HoT had 4 "acts" (one per map), if EoD will have five. Six or more seems a bit overkill and unlikely.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

I personaly like the idea that we go to cantha "because we can" and not to fight the next big bad ala "ahh kitten, here we go again".

 

[Fenella.2634]

I hope there will be a surprise recent event thing during or directly after lunar new year. It could tie in nicely with EoD. I hope they are so tight-lipped right now in order to not spoil that.

Otherwise, really, why would the main cast suddenly care about some random extremists far away? Very mysterious. There has to be a DSD somewhere. 🙂

[draxynnic.3719]

There WAS the mention of the magic from Jormag and Primordus going south, and Taimi believes there's someone else studying dragon magic outside of the usual suspects. So it COULD just be a matter of following the trail and ending up in Cantha.

[Gorgaan Peaudesang.8324]

10 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

I personaly like the idea that we go to cantha "because we can" and not to fight the next big bad ala "ahh kitten, here we go again".

I hope they'll introduce Cantha more properly than what they did to the Crystal Desert in PoF.

Our introduction to Elona was a real mess:

• we travelled to Amnoon with the Lionguard and they did nothing relevant in the story after the first five minutes
• one of our main allies from Central Tyria (Rytlock) appears without any explanation or expectation (his motivation is later revealed in the story but his introduction still felt jarring to me)
• Palawa Joko, supreme ruler of Elona, was not teased enough in in-game dialogue before our departure

Edited January 22, 2022 by Gorgaan Peaudesang.8324

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

46 minutes ago, Gorgaan Peaudesang.8324 said:

we travelled to Amnoon with the Lionguard and they did nothing relevant in the story after the first five minutes

Well they shouldn't have. The Lionguard has no authority or power otuside of Lions Arch, and its havens. And the like 10 guys that came with us weren't in any position to do anything.

46 minutes ago, Gorgaan Peaudesang.8324 said:

• Palawa Joko, supreme ruler of Elona, was not teased enough in in-game dialogue before our departure

Why would he be? We didn't even know we needed to go to Elona until the very end of the previous release, and at that point Balthazar, and his plans to steal the Elder Dragon's magic, were far mroe important then some regional warlord.

[Randulf.7614]

Does seem to lend credence to the Water Dragon not being the focus of the expac, but rather something being set up (or sidelined/already beaten) for later.

So far I’m not feeling a vibe that this is the end of an arc or the wrapping up of all that’s come before, but I’ve never really been convinced they plotted the over-arching story from the beginning either like they claim. This feels more and more like setting the stage for what’s to come.

Or I’m wrong and there’s something significant missing yet to be revealed

 

[Gibson.4036]

On 1/21/2022 at 2:30 PM, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

 

Typically, if you're going for a metaphor of "late in the story", you'd say act three,

Might depend on your background. Classically trained writers might think in terms of five act structure drawn from Ancient Greece and Shakespeare, as opposed to the three act structure of more contemporary playwrights and screenwriters.

[EdwinLi.1284]

I suspect the Dragon jade being the reason maybe related to the missing Dragon Energy. Not to mention if Cantha has fallen into a type of Civil War among the Gangs and the government being part of it but can't contain the war from going out of control then there is a chance the conflict may have lead to Dragon Jade tech reaching black market trades into Core regions since such chaotic times often leads to those seeking to make a profit among the chaos. This often leads to specific things, such as technology, falling into certain illegal markets such as possible Dragon Jade tech.

The new meta is actually something I had hoped they will do with Fort Aspenwood since it has such a potential Meta event spot. It will be interesting how they will have this Meta play out to reflect our character being the attacker of the fort for this meta.

Edited January 23, 2022 by EdwinLi.1284

[Kayberz.5346]

I think the stakes of this expansion are still potentially "world ending" but the narrative will probably be a slow ramp up.

 

The beginning half of the expansion might be focused on a relatively low stakes local canthan conflict but will expand into a more existential threat as the story unfolds.

 

The deep sea dragon needs to be addressed, and i could see the dragonjade stuff either being directly related to said dragon or that the use of dragonjade could be a catalyst for the deep sea dragon doing something 

 

I can also foresee the plot escalating to "cataclysmic" stakes if Aurene becomes a target of one of these canthan factions. The jade brotherhood is trying to create superweapons, and they are trying to push the limits of dragonjade tech while curiously also doing experiments on live creatures. 

Aurene is something im sure they will be very interested in

[EdwinLi.1284]

Well recent reveals shows that the new Mastery is Jade Tech Mastery.

That is a rather interesting choice because it partly means that Jade tech may become more commonly used in the future. Maybe Jade tech could be being spread around in the Black Market trade after all if this Mastery means Jade tech related stuff in future Living world updates. 

Edited January 29, 2022 by EdwinLi.1284

[Gibson.4036]

Interesting that Jade tech seems to be a threat, but that we are going to have a mastery line for using it.

Story wise, will this be a fight fire with fire thing? Something to fit Joko’s accusation that the commander is just as bad as the enemies they fight?

Or is this like GW2’s take on necromancy? It’s only bad if you use it wrong. There are balanced uses.

[draxynnic.3719]

The latter, I think. Seems to be pretty much like asura magitech, albeit with a specific power source. A useful tool when in the right hands, capable of causing great destruction and suffering in the wrong hands. In the right hands, too, but presumably the right hands won't use it to wreak devastation without a good reason.

[EdwinLi.1284]

1 hour ago, Gibson.4036 said:

Interesting that Jade tech seems to be a threat, but that we are going to have a mastery line for using it.

Story wise, will this be a fight fire with fire thing? Something to fit Joko’s accusation that the commander is just as bad as the enemies they fight?

Or is this like GW2’s take on necromancy? It’s only bad if you use it wrong. There are balanced uses.

it really one of those up to the user type of thing. 

 

We have seen Jade tech has lead to Cantha having modern technology due to the rapid advancement Jade Tech has provided them, I won't be surprised if they already have smart phones, so I expect certain regions may start using Jade Tech out of convnience to improve their daily life while some may seek to use it to help advance their weapon technology.

 

There will be no doubt certain people who will refuse to use Jade Tech due to how new the Technology is for their society and stick to their own past technology they spend generations using but that is common behavior even in our own history has shown.

Edited January 29, 2022 by EdwinLi.1284

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

On 1/29/2022 at 7:51 AM, Gibson.4036 said:

Interesting that Jade tech seems to be a threat, but that we are going to have a mastery line for using it.

Story wise, will this be a fight fire with fire thing? Something to fit Joko’s accusation that the commander is just as bad as the enemies they fight?

Or is this like GW2’s take on necromancy? It’s only bad if you use it wrong. There are balanced uses.

I imagine it'll be both. There's very much a "it's just a tool", but Anet keeps going on about the "mysterious properties" and "potential dangers" of dragonjade, which suggests to me that while it's a tool, it has some negative side effects beyond "can be used by bad guys".

And I imagine it'll be very much a "they're green bloodstones" situation. Bloodstone is used all over crafting, and is said to have magical benefits (surprising it didn't become commonplace after S3 tbh...), but it has negative rammifications if used improperly, as seen with the White Mantle going crazed (might be why it isn't that commonplace, despite the chef 500 side storyline).