What is gonna happen after EoD?

[Damocles.4908]

I used to spend all my time in pvp after HoT and didnt do the story until later of getting the expantions in 2022 and I really was surprised by the story and living worlds up to eod, I means it's the most time I have ever done in pve.

 

But as I am heading through Eod I am wondering what or where the story will go, although I haven't finished eod yet but the title says it all mostly...so I wonder if the dragons are gone...what then? Does the golemn up rising begin? 

 

I just hope what ever comes it will be coherent and good but is there any place yet that gives hint to up coming story

 

Thanks

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

EoD left two pretty big plot threads open/hinted at as being next

1. The Purists trying to take over the city using Risen
2. The mystery of what exactly is the monster in the deeps

Looking at LWS3, 4, and IBS, all of which used 3 parters for its various sub stories

• LWS3 Dragon plot: Rising Flames, Crack in the Ice, Flashpoint
• LWS3 White Mantle plot: Out of the Shadows, The Head of the Snake, One Path Ends
• LWS4 Joko plot: Daybreak, A Bug in the System, Long Live the Lich
• LWS4 Kralkatorrik plot: A Star to Guide Us, All or Nothing, War Eternal
• IBS Charr plot: Bound by Blood, No Quarter, Jormag Rising
• IBS Norn plot: Whisper in the Dark, Shadow in the Ice, Jormag Rising

I could see similar arcs being done for both of these plots for LWS6, or whatever naming they use.

We also know Xpack 4 is being made. What that will be about is anyone's guess. However, now that the Elder Dragons are defeated, the only really big plot left open is the Six Human Gods plot, and what exactly Lyssa is/was up to. So its possibly Xpack 4 will be about Lyssa, possibly more stuff about the Gods, and the Mists.

Barring any unforeseen catastrophe that causes the game to shut down they could do a LWS7 that expands on whatever Xpack 4 takes us(much as LWs4 did for Elona and LWS6 will likely do for Cantha), and theres enough loose plot threads of smaller stories in Tyria to patch together another LW arc after that if they want to tie up everything.

So the game easily has enough stuff for story content to keep going until like its 15th anniversary.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Sajuuk Khar.1509

[Fueki.4753]

6 minutes ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

the only really big plot left open is the Six Human Gods plot, and what exactly Lyssa is/was up to.

I certainly hope, Arenaet won't touch them.

Completely destroying Balthazar and what he actually stood for already was too much, they don't need to ruin even more of them.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Fueki.4753

[Trejgon.9367]

20 minutes ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

EoD left two pretty big plot threads open/hinted at as being next

1. The Purists trying to take over the city using Risen
2. The mystery of what exactly is the monster in the deeps

There is also still the energetical security of cantha on the table too - specifically, figuring out how to recharge jade batteries without elder dragon "reactor". Joon and Taimi, may have improved energy efficiency of the batteries, with aurene topping off current stockpile of those, but as Taimi herself said, that's only really buying them time to figure out proper solution. So this plotline is on the table as well 🙂

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

3 hours ago, Damocles.4908 said:

But as I am heading through Eod I am wondering what or where the story will go, although I haven't finished eod yet but the title says it all mostly...so I wonder if the dragons are gone...what then? Does the golemn up rising begin? 

There are a handful of big plot threads, and many more minor plot threads, left. Including but not limited to:

1. Return of the Six Gods and Lyssa; ArenaNet told us after poF the gods' story wasn't done...
2. The horrors in the ocean depths - despite the retcon, EoD re-emphasizes that there is something terrible down there...
3. The Centaur plot that was cut from IBS's second half, which they said they want to return to later...
4. Malyck, which back during S4-era was mentioned that Matthew Medina wanted to bring back and was writing up a draft for how, as well as other unfinished sylvari plot points: survival of the Nightmare Court post-HoT, fate of the Mordrem Guard reverting back to sylvari post-HoT, and true nature of the Dream and Nightmare...
5. The Utopia lore that was brought back to the spotlight with the Complete Art of Guild Wars book in 2019, which could tie into the return of the Six Gods with a mention of ancient godkillers who wiped out a previous generation of gods and returning (which was to be the plot of Utopia)...
6. Finally, simply exploring the world map's expansion that includes Sunrise Crest, a mysterious burnt out region in the far north, and east region.

There are also some much, much more minor plot threads specifically tied to EoD, but these are imo less plots themselves and more worldbuilding:

1. Spread of Jadetech to Tyria.
2. Purists and Unchained happenings at Raisu Palace.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Konig Des Todes.2086

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

1 hour ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

There is also still the energetical security of cantha on the table too - specifically, figuring out how to recharge jade batteries without elder dragon "reactor". Joon and Taimi, may have improved energy efficiency of the batteries, with aurene topping off current stockpile of those, but as Taimi herself said, that's only really buying them time to figure out proper solution. So this plotline is on the table as well 🙂

I personally figured that would be a running plot throughout the two Canthan stories regarding the Purists/Risen, and the Deep Sea Monster.

"Find new power source" isn't really an "arc" on its own. There's no real obvious "antagonist" force to push the story across multiple maps/releases by itself.

[Fueki.4753]

28 minutes ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

"Find new power source" isn't really an "arc" on its own. There's no real obvious "antagonist" force to push the story across multiple maps/releases by itself.

I personally hope they take this lore point as an excuse to exclude Taimi from season 6.

They could easily write her as being too busy with searching for a new source to help us going forward.

[Fenom.9457]

2 hours ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

EoD left two pretty big plot threads open/hinted at as being next

1. The Purists trying to take over the city using Risen
2. The mystery of what exactly is the monster in the deeps

Looking at LWS3, 4, and IBS, all of which used 3 parters for its various sub stories

• LWS3 Dragon plot: Rising Flames, Crack in the Ice, Flashpoint
• LWS3 White Mantle plot: Out of the Shadows, The Head of the Snake, One Path Ends
• LWS4 Joko plot: Daybreak, A Bug in the System, Long Live the Lich
• LWS4 Kralkatorrik plot: A Star to Guide Us, All or Nothing, War Eternal
• IBS Charr plot: Bound by Blood, No Quarter, Jormag Rising
• IBS Norn plot: Whisper in the Dark, Shadow in the Ice, Jormag Rising

I could see similar arcs being done for both of these plots for LWS6, or whatever naming they use.

We also know Xpack 4 is being made. What that will be about is anyone's guess. However, now that the Elder Dragons are defeated, the only really big plot left open is the Six Human Gods plot, and what exactly Lyssa is/was up to. So its possibly Xpack 4 will be about Lyssa, possibly more stuff about the Gods, and the Mists.

Barring any unforeseen catastrophe that causes the game to shut down they could do a LWS7 that expands on whatever Xpack 4 takes us(much as LWs4 did for Elona and LWS6 will likely do for Cantha), and theres enough loose plot threads of smaller stories in Tyria to patch together another LW arc after that if they want to tie up everything.

So the game easily has enough stuff for story content to keep going until like its 15th anniversary.

And this is JUST off what we have NOW. A professional team of writers can easily pull more brand new things out of nowhere at any given time, especially with so much of this world being 100% unknown to the civilizations we do know.  If they want to this game can rival WoW and live eternally 

[Fenom.9457]

40 minutes ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

I personally figured that would be a running plot throughout the two Canthan stories regarding the Purists/Risen, and the Deep Sea Monster.

"Find new power source" isn't really an "arc" on its own. There's no real obvious "antagonist" force to push the story across multiple maps/releases by itself.

They could easily pull a thing like ‘in our research we discovered X threat in the Jade sea hampering out research’ or ‘this dangerous research set something off and if you don’t go to [new map location] to retrieve our lost supplies and shut it off the entire region will be blown up’ - those are pretty basic and lame ideas but they could make a full episode of just that plot.

 

I also want to remind everyone, since I’ve only seen talk of the Raisu Palace/Purist plot and the Ocean Horror plots (and I agree those will hopefully be the central ones, especially if expansion 4 is the deep ocean), but there are other things that could spiral into a whole episode or even more too -

 

Are we going to see the ancient origin point of the siege turtles? What is the ‘Great Turtle Highlands’? It’s the only label on Cantha that’s a place we NEVER went to in GW1.

 

There was also an NPC in I believe Dragon’s End that offhandedly mentioned the *ruins* of Cavalon.  What? Why is one of the biggest places in the Jade Sea destroyed? Demons, dragons, the ocean monster? Given Cantha’s historical use of Oni combined with the various strange demon lore GW2 has given us (like Bastion) I could see some long term plot about demons and their mists origins getting started here.

 

The Jade Brotherhood is expanding beyond Cantha. In one of the last story steps their leader mentions that he’s starting to see they’ll never be recognized but the world isn’t as small as it used to be for them with opening borders. This might just be a current event side story but it could also herald a new map in core regions centered around Jade Tech. Just spitballing but maybe somewhere in the Sea of Sorrows we could get like underworld market islands selling Jade Tech and elsewhere in the map Pirates and such and the borders of Tengu land (we need a lot more Tengu focus in Cantha stories please!)

 

 As lore nerds you might know, in the first game there weren’t female Wardens around. Here’s what the wiki says in fewer words than I could manage - female wardens began emerging in Echovald for the first time. They claimed that they had previously been guarding a location of great importance, hidden far from prying eyes, and that they had emerged because they felt called to protect humanity from the scourge of Jade Tech. - so that’s a plot isn’t it? They were far away from mainland Cantha guarding... something, but close enough to feel a need to come help Cantha. So maybe the southern end of Echovald or just beyond it in new regions.  Whatever they were guarding must’ve been at risk or else it didn’t need guarding, but now there’s no one there to watch over it...

 

And finally, at least from what I can recall, there’s a lot of hinting about the search for more Saltspray dragons. Kuunavang talks about it a good bit in Arborstone for one.  That easily sounds like one episode - follow a lead at the behest of Kuunavang to a new area in Cantha to track down another Saltspray or several of them.  It anet wanted of course it could lead into a longer plot like a few episodes on where they disappeared to or something threatening their return, or tie it into other plots like the Purist plans to control Cantha involves keeping them away, or whatever secret evil has taken the thing the Wardens were watching and is killing dragons with it.

 

The ideas are pretty endless actually, I already remembered even more I didn’t mention, such as the NPCs at the edge of DE talking about what lies beyond. The daughter wants to explore and the father is afraid for her, and he will tell you they don’t really know what’s out on the far side of the Jade Sea, much less beyond.  Honestly they could do a 12 episode season or even more, even giving a bunch of these plots one episode.  I’m starting to really hope it’s more than 6 episodes. What if we get one season but it runs more like the time of season 4 and IBS combined before we get expansion 4? If we keep getting new maps and story like this I’d be happy with that

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

2 minutes ago, Fenom.9457 said:

 If they want to this game can rival WoW and live eternally 

I would disagree with this notion.

While its become more common for MMOs to last 10 years, getting to 15 years is still pretty rare. There's only like 7 MMOs I can think of(EQ, EQ2, WoW, LoTRO, Runescape, EVE, Mabinogi) that have had 15+ years of active, consistent content development. And pretty much all of these are able to go on as long as they do because they were made in an era with much lower graphical and gameplay standards. So putting out new content for them is comparatively cheap then making new content for something like GW2. Or they're WoW which, despite numerous missteps these last few years, is still the dominate MMO in the industry due to cornering that position ages ago.

Even then, just because Anet could do something doesn't mean they should. At this point we've already defeated the Elder Dragons, the things that could rival the human gods in terms of power.... and taken down a fallen god as well. Once we finish the god plot.... whats next? The super-ultra-mega-elder dragon gods from the deep mists? WoW has showcased what happened when you keep trying to force the universe to continue, despite the fact you've obviously reached the natural end.... DUDE ALTERNATE TIMELINES! DUDE THE JAILER WAS BEHIND IT ALL! And no one likes that. I would hope Anet instead just takes the higher ground of ending the story when its obviously done, rather then try to force it to continue.

And GW2 has set up a long term issue with its sustainability. HoT and PoF have set up certain.... expectations about what should be in an expansion to make it considered worthwhile to the playerbase. Mainly things like Elite Specs, and new gameplay changing features.

• Elite specs however have a logical dead end, that being, warriors only have 4 more weapons they need added before they can use them all, which means a max of 4 more expansions before the Elite Spec system reaches a dead end. But you wouldn't want any one class to be able to use every weapon type in the game for balance/diversity reasons. But trying to manage what would then be 63 elite specs in GW2 would be impossible to balance.
• When it comes to new gameplay changing features we already see the long term issue there with the reception to EoD. EoD added boats, fishing, and co-op mounts, all things people had long asked for, but that wasn't considered "enough" for a large portion of the playerbase. At this point the only big gameplay feature people regularly ask for, that is actually likely, is a player housing system. But even that would just be the guild housing system paired down to the player level. Lets say Xpack 4 does that.... then whats Xpack 5's big feature?

The whole expansion system GW2 uses isn't sustainable for another decade, but not doing those means there isn't that influx of cash, and new/returning players, that keep the game alive long term by renewing interest.

Getting to 15ish years is likely based on the obvious narrative points they have left to do, the typical length of a LW season, and accounting for the like 2/3s of a year we've had with them back porting LWS1 back into the game. But I wouldn't expect it to go on much longer then that looking at the history of the genre.

[Damocles.4908]

3 hours ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

There is also still the energetical security of cantha on the table too - specifically, figuring out how to recharge jade batteries without elder dragon "reactor". Joon and Taimi, may have improved energy efficiency of the batteries, with aurene topping off current stockpile of those, but as Taimi herself said, that's only really buying them time to figure out proper solution. So this plotline is on the table as well 🙂

In my country we call that "eskom"...if you don't know typing in eskom loadshedding

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

9 hours ago, Fenom.9457 said:

There was also an NPC in I believe Dragon’s End that offhandedly mentioned the *ruins* of Cavalon.  What? Why is one of the biggest places in the Jade Sea destroyed? Demons, dragons, the ocean monster? Given Cantha’s historical use of Oni combined with the various strange demon lore GW2 has given us (like Bastion) I could see some long term plot about demons and their mists origins getting started here.

Its stated that Cavalon was destroyed by the Ministry of Purity as part of the campaigns to reunite the Empire.

[Scavarius.6059]

17 hours ago, Fueki.4753 said:

I personally hope they take this lore point as an excuse to exclude Taimi from season 6.

They could easily write her as being too busy with searching for a new source to help us going forward.

its like they already forgot rata novus and the tech of tapping into leylines for power ...

[Trejgon.9367]

18 hours ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

I personally figured that would be a running plot throughout the two Canthan stories regarding the Purists/Risen, and the Deep Sea Monster.

"Find new power source" isn't really an "arc" on its own. There's no real obvious "antagonist" force to push the story across multiple maps/releases by itself.

it is a decent arc starter tho - I could imagine a fair number of scenarios of what kind of trouble taimi with joon can dig up in search for alternative power source 🙂

Edit:

7 minutes ago, Scavarius.6059 said:

its like they already forgot rata novus and the tech of tapping into leylines for power ...

Well considering how Taimi reacted to just the part of "we are using jade as power source", it is possible that there is some crucial difference between ley juices, and ED extracted juices.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Lord Trejgon.2809

[Teratus.2859]

Quite a few plots to explore brought up here already but there's one I didn't see mentioned that I want to bring attention to and that is the situation with Menzies the Mad and what could have potentially happened in the Fissure of Woe after Balthazar's death.

With the Dragons gone, almost all of the Gods either gone or dead and many old Gw1 enemies like Joko and Lazarus gone there really isn't much left that we know of that could pose that big villainous world ending threat that I think Gw2 will need to have every now and again to keep things interesting and weighty.

The biggest other threat I can think of atm is this mysterious horror in the deep but we know basically nothing about it other than it was at least powerful enough to combat or at least warrant the attention of an Elder Dragon so whatever it is I expect it is pretty powerful.
And personal preference insert, I am really really hoping for it to be something Demonic in nature.

For a long time I've been really hoping for two things in Gw2, a Demon based storyline and new content largely focused on underwater gameplay, Maps with a lot of water, ocean maps or even a predominantly water themed expansion which was the big hope for me and many other underwater fans when it came time to fight the Deep Sea Dragon which clearly went a totally different direction.

So Demonic Horrors in the Deep combined with a big focus on underwater content as well as much needed expansion to Underwater build diversity etc would be basically an absolute win for me and frankly a Gw2 dream come true lol

 

But aside from that threat and the possibility of something utterly new coming into play, Menzies the Mad, Lord of Destruction is really the last potential big bad antagonist from the old lore that I can put any stock in as a big bad villain.

Providing he's still alive that is, which I am pretty much certain that he is.
And since Balthazars death Menzies has likely regained his former power and taken over the Fissure of Woe, to which there are also in game NPC Djinn that speculate as much as well.

I'm also curious if that chunk of the Fissure of Woe sitting on top of Kralkatorriks body will end up acting like a grounding point for a portal between the Fissure of Woe and Tyria as well, potentially giving Menzies a way to invade the mortal world and send his Shadow Army out of the mists to cause all kinds of chaos.

 

And one last location of major interest for me that I really want to see some kind of story around or at least the ability to finally explore it in some way/shape/form.
Kryta's famous Wizards Tower!!

All these years that thing has been just sitting there, inviting curiosity, inviting speculation and discussion, inviting desire, if not NEED!! to go there and explore it and for 17.. yes that's right, 17!! YEARS!!!! we've not been able to.
It's totally a d-move to keep this thing from us any longer xD

[ugrakarma.9416]

To me anything thats not related to mists/gods will be minor plot/local issues, like cantha "troubles".

Mists is barely mentioned in cantha xpac, i hope they are saving it to its returning.

also:

- whats about bangar? executed off screen?

- whats about mists repair by aurene?

One of weak point of Cantha plot was mystery, the Soon Woon reveal was too straight-up, completely inverse the atmosphere on previous stuff where "s" was mentioned. i have a feel that cantha xpac, self-spoiled its lore too much.

Its clear new team wants rush up the end of dragon lore, i hope its for something else better.

Edited July 21, 2022 by ugrakarma.9416

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Other posts have covered all the good points so far, but I'd like to point out simply that its not over, only just beginning. Everything up until now has basically been a prequel.

 

In comparison to the real world, Tyria has just gone through the Industrial Revolution. This started with Charr tech slowly becoming mainstream with the Pact (submarines, copters, airships, etc.), Humans developing Watchwork devices, and is expanding into Cantha tech being shared with the world, and likely Asura will now share their tech to compete with it since they're the types to not be outclassed.

 

Cantha was just a peek at what is likely to come for the world as a whole, which is why the power source problem will be solved--because nothing stops progress, which has been the entire moral of the story up until now, and why we've done everything we have.

 

To put it bluntly, Tyria is only just beginning. Its coming out of a dark age of endless war, belief in and worship of gods, being subjugated by nature (the Elder Dragons) instead of mastering it, and so on. Some societies like the Charr, the Asura and the Humans of Cantha already had a leg-up, the next phase is cultural exchange (which has already been happening for a while), and establishing a world-wide trade network. We've seen the beginnings of a central capitol (Lion's Arch) over the last decade, various unified goals (Elder Dragons, Mist War, and so on). and more. We're likely in the "past" of the Tyria that will one day become a utopia.

 

For the first time ever Tyrians have the freedom to build their own world, their own future. If anything the developers have more plot threads to work with now than they ever have before.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

37 minutes ago, Mariyuuna.6508 said:

Other posts have covered all the good points so far, but I'd like to point out simply that its not over, only just beginning. Everything up until now has basically been a prequel.

I really, really, hate that phrase for how overused it is.

This is not "basically a prequel". It was a 17 year long plot that began with Eye of the North and ended with End of Dragons. What was the prequel to the story?

Pre-Searing in GW1. THAT is the prequel. THAT is the beginning of the whole.

Everything else? That's the middle. With their own isolated ends. Nightfall was the end of the Abaddon plot that began with Prophecies. End of Dragons is the end of the Elder Dragon plot, that began with Eye of the North. We will now have a different beginning leading to a different ending.

Let's not try to treat every story as a never-ending story. Those stories will eventually become so low in quality that they get axed by the businessmen or lose the fanbase's attention and will inevitably end.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Konig Des Todes.2086

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

4 hours ago, Teratus.2859 said:

But aside from that threat and the possibility of something utterly new coming into play, Menzies the Mad, Lord of Destruction is really the last potential big bad antagonist from the old lore that I can put any stock in as a big bad villain.

Providing he's still alive that is, which I am pretty much certain that he is.

If Menzies was still alive one would think Balthazar wouldn't have gotten bored of having nothing to fight, leading to his tantrum in regards to fighting the Elder Dragons, which got his powers taken away by the other Gods, leading to PoF.

Scrolls in PoF also suggest the Eternal Battle against Menzies has ended, and items like "Menzies's Agony" and "the Fate of Menzies" suggests his death also.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Sajuuk Khar.1509

[Teratus.2859]

7 hours ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

If Menzies was still alive one would think Balthazar wouldn't have gotten bored of having nothing to fight, leading to his tantrum in regards to fighting the Elder Dragons, which got his powers taken away by the other Gods, leading to PoF.

Scrolls in PoF also suggest the Eternal Battle against Menzies has ended, and items like "Menzies's Agony" and "the Fate of Menzies" suggests his death also.

I think it was more to do with Balthazar considering the decision not to act on the dragons cowardly which lead to his tantrum.. that and his lust for the Elder Dragons power, which he wanted for himself.

Sure he was bored, but he had been idle ever since the Exodus, as had all the gods.

His eternal war with Menzies from almost all information I can find about it appears to be more of a proxy war between Balthazars Eternals and Menzies Shadow Army with neither Balthazar or Menzies having being physically and directly involved in any known recent conflicts.
This also speaks to Balthazar having been "idle since the exodus"

This also goes back to Gw1 as well with neither Balthazar nor Menzies having any physical presence within the Fissure of Woe at all.

 

The only thing of note we have regarding the status of the Eternal War is the writing's of Balthazar's Herald, Aka Devona, which claim that the Eternals had enough of a "upper hand" in the war that they could focus their attention on fighting the Elder Dragons.

This however is does bear some suspicion for a number of reasons.

1. The Herald of Balthazar is also known as the Voice of Balthazar, and considering Balthazar's actions during this period of time it is fair to question whether the writing's of the Herald are based on actual fact or whether they are the propaganda words of Balthazar himself to mislead his own followers.
Keep in mind that Balthazar actively tortured some of his Eternals to force their compliance in becoming Forged, and Devona, his Herald bore witness to these actions as well forcing her loyalty.

2. The Eternal Army had been left without it's leader for a reasonable period of time while Balthazar was imprisoned in the mists and stripped of almost all his power.
Without his favour, and without knowing what happened to him (unclear if they did or didn't know) it is quite possible that his Eternal Army would have become demoralized and weakened giving Menzies Shadow Army the advantage.
This scenario honestly makes far more sense than the Eternal's being in the advantage when Balthazar returned.

3. When Balthazar did return he was left significantly weaker than he was, possibly even weaker than Menzies (we do not know how powerful Menzies actually is) which would have made him vulnerable.
As we know Balthazar desired the power of the Elder Dragons, even before his fall and after being "betrayed" by the other Gods his desire for that power was only heightened by his lust for revenge against the other Gods.
At this point Balthazar was on the warpath against every single known entity of Godlike power, and his sole agenda was to kill them all and take their power for his own.
Menzies and the Eternal War were not important to him anymore, he had new goals and new enemies.
He pillaged his own armies for soldiers and souls and forced them into servitude through torture if they did not comply, and he mercilessly cut down all who stood in his way.

 

Those three factors heavily suggest to me that Balthazar had abandoned the Eternal War and would not have cared about Menzies at the time of these events.
He had bigger priorities and agenda's which had he succeeded in would have made him by far the most powerful entity in existence.. a being with the power of 6 Elder Dragons, 6 Gods and a Bloodstone.
It would have made him an unstoppable force that Menzies could never hope to stand against.
So what dominion Menzies would have claimed over the Fissure of Woe would never have lasted and would have been irrelevant to Balthazar.
For upon Balthazar's return using his new power he could have effortlessly taken the Fissure of Woe back and Menzies would not even measure up to a threat anymore.

So no, I highly doubt Menzies had been defeated by the time of Path of Fire, and honestly it makes a lot more sense for Balthazar to have abandoned the Eternal War by that point in time as well due to his priorities and lust for power.
Balthazar simply had nothing to gain from continuing his war with Menzies, and a lot to gain from waging war on the Elder Dragons and the other 5 Gods instead.

So with Balthazar now gone, the Eternal Army having been pillaged for souls and significantly weakened, the status of Menzies the last of the even god triarchy, and the Fissure of Woe is most certainly something I'm very curious about exploring in a future Gw2 storyline.
Plus it will be great to finally get to see and hear Menzies after all these years of only knowing he exists.

[vrauns.3215]

Like anet said, now that the dragon story is over, they can go in so many directions.