IoR On Purpose Or Accidents?

[Kelly.7019]

What i'd like to know is are the invisible walls in IoR (Isle of Reflection) on purpose for some reason or on accident?

 

On first glance they seem to be in your way and placed around the hall at random.

Then as i explored i realized there were holes in places which allowed you to explore out further and there isn't just one boundary wall but 3.

There seems to be a middle boundary zone and an outer one. It's kind of odd but using the guild hall decorations allows you access to these areas.

It's cool if it was intended but kinda makes you wonder why if its not. (I still debate this myself) 😄 It's kinda like the Lost Precipice hall (LP) waypoint up by the house areas that lets you gain access to that area (without using decorations to get there) but this is just much harder to find for people that don't like to explore and discover, but at the same time this doesn't seem to be how they would do something on purpose if it's meant to be explorable.

 

The game has been out a while now if you don't like spoilers stop reading. but if you have any secrets please share them I want to know ALL SECRETS ABOUT THIS HALL!!! 😄

Here is a image below of the 3 basic zones in IoR

https://i.imgur.com/kK07iQb.jpeg (Zone 2 might not be as accurate on the northern side but overall its a rough idea)

You have the basic explorable map area which is Zone 1 (in yellow)

Then you have holes in that zone which let you get into Zone 2 (in blue) at ground level.

Up by the ceiling in Zone 1 you can get into Zone 2 & then Zone 3 (in red) which seems to be the actual full map square.

However once you cross into Zone 2 or 3 @ ground level there are walls blocking access to easily cross back and forth between zones.

I'd say at the northern Zone 1 boundary wall you'd have to go up about 5 "Super Tree Trunks" to be able to pass freely into Zone 2 and 3 if you stay at that height.

 

I found on accident at the ceiling level in Zone 1 when making beetle tracks that you can just lay down long straightaways and basically travel the full map square of IoR!

Edited June 10, 2022 by Kelly.7019

[lezbefriends.7516]

What is IoR?

[Kelly.7019]

Isle of Reflection . It's the guild hall 😄 Only read the title not the post I see. 😞

Edited June 10, 2022 by Kelly.7019

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

My guess:
Zone 1 is what they intended us to use.
Zone 2 was probably intended to be used for the Further Exploration.
Zone 3 was locked on purpose.

It is not the first map that was artificially made a lot smaller than it really is. The earliest and most shocking example is The Grove. It is one of the oldest maps in the game. The accessible part of the map hardly makes ~ 1/6 of the size. 

In both cases, I think they had bigger plans with the area. They probably ran out of time.

The guildhalls have all kinds of weird mapping decisions. In the Heart of Thorns halls, the final room of the guild-bank is always sealed. Which also leads to the assumption that this feature was scrapped due to time-issues. We have the golden angel-statue below Gilded Hollow.

If you remember the last Isle of Reflection topic, the locked buildings really annoyed many people. Some of them appear to be designed for access. Maybe Further Exploration concept again?

They do not like to talk about this topic. I have a long list of curious findings throughout the years, never got an answer to anything. We have plenty of hidden areas in other maps. Cerebro and the Polymock Arenas are probably the most popular examples. Players enjoy breaking in there, ANet enjoys locking those areas super-tight and they never talk about those places. So I doubt we will ever learn about the true intentions behind the weird map-decisions in guildhalls.

I do hope that they maybe expand the guildhall in the future, or make some of the locked areas accessible with the Further Exploration.

[Kelly.7019]

The grove always felt like a great place to add housing villages outside the border. I never knew the map was really that big though. interesting.

I assume you mean further exploration 3 which hasn't happened yet. because our guild is max level and it isn't accessible by walking there.

Yea.. i wish they would talk about em especially if they don't plan on doing anything with em.

That's what I don't understand people love exploration! and then they seal it off tight to never be used? why? All that does is leave me to hope and dream that one day...     and then nothing ever happens and I'm just disappointed all the time. lol

Edited June 10, 2022 by Kelly.7019

[Kelly.7019]

2 hours ago, HnRkLnXqZ.1870 said:

We have plenty of hidden areas in other maps. Cerebro and the Polymock Arenas are probably the most popular examples. Players enjoy breaking in there, ANet enjoys locking those areas super-tight and they never talk about those places. So I doubt we will ever learn about the true intentions behind the weird map-decisions in guildhalls.

I do hope that they maybe expand the guildhall in the future, or make some of the locked areas accessible with the Further Exploration.

I just think below the ghalls it would be super fun to find things like that golden statute thing in gilded hollow or have a champion monster swimming around down there that sneaks up on players from behind when they are exploring and murders them! More fun if it attacks in different ways from differenet spots. Then the guild can kill this monster as a daily.

 

I vote for Loch Nessy to be in the sub basement of the guild halls! It was fun finding this loch nessy deep down below Kaineing City

Edited June 10, 2022 by Kelly.7019

[Farohna.6247]

While I love guild halls and I love IoR, I don't really want them to become instanced content.  Each one has its own charm and differences in exploration.  It's not a map, even they have walls.  You aren't meant to sail forever into the sunset while fishing.  Also many things probably just never come I to their full potential due to time constraints, budget, etc., so while it would be fun, most players would rather have those resources spent on full maps and living world seasons.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

11 hours ago, Kelly.7019 said:

I assume you mean further exploration 3 which hasn't happened yet. because our guild is max level and it isn't accessible by walking there.

I do mean further exploration, the original one. If you take a look at the guildhall before and after unlocking that upgrade, you come to a very annoying conclusion: nothing changes. Given how many resources (player) are used to unlock that upgrade, it does feel like a scam. 

Looking at older guildhalls, you would expect something big. I have not found anything that changed so far, the wiki also does not list a thing. If something was added, it is either invisible or just not there.

The hall is also significantly smaller (height) compared to the previous ones. So if you want to build some custom areas, you will run out of space a lot faster than usual.

[Kelly.7019]

11 hours ago, Farohna.6247 said:

While I love guild halls and I love IoR, I don't really want them to become instanced content.  Each one has its own charm and differences in exploration.  It's not a map, even they have walls.

all maps have walls?

not all would find the instanced content 🙂 since as of now most barely leave the center of the hall if they even visit. Some don't even know what IoR stands for 🙂 fine don't do mobs maybe but i'd still love to find scrapped ideas sunken below the hall like in gilded hollow rather then just removed.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Kelly.7019

[Kelly.7019]

1 hour ago, HnRkLnXqZ.1870 said:

I do mean further exploration, the original one. If you take a look at the guildhall before and after unlocking that upgrade, you come to a very annoying conclusion: nothing changes. Given how many resources (player) are used to unlock that upgrade, it does feel like a scam. 

Looking at older guildhalls, you would expect something big. I have not found anything that changed so far, the wiki also does not list a thing. If something was added, it is either invisible or just not there.

The hall is also significantly smaller (height) compared to the previous ones. So if you want to build some custom areas, you will run out of space a lot faster than usual.

it does change. 1 little wall is removed. 🙂

originally before mounts and if you didn't have permissions to place decs it was a big reveal to an area of the hall you hadn't seen before. (with IoR maybe, I wouldn't know with that one.)

in gilded hollow a wall between entry wp and waterfall wp is removed i think near the big crystal and the waterfall wp is added.

In LP there is a wall removed right of the Crystal area and i think the top wp is added by the homes.

in WH i forget if other upgrades change the layout or the further exploration does, but i actually kind of like the area with the spiral rock ramp up to the waypoint before its changed.

i kind wish we could select sometimes to switch back n forth from upgraded to not.(for decorating fun). I really liked the tavern area of LP before it got upgraded for instance. Luckily i left it alone for about a year or 2. 😄

Edited June 11, 2022 by Kelly.7019