Is the Foefire losing power?

[artcreator.4859]

I just read the book Ghosts of Ascalon and they depict the Foefire and the ruins of Ascalon city as massive threats no one should ever set foot in. Yet in the game it's a starting zone with barely any ruins for the actual city.

Is there a lore reason for this? is the foefire losing power or something? or did the devs just mess this awesome place up?

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

The amount of ruins rather closely matches its appearance in GW1 - to a slight disappointment given that GW1 (especially Prophecies )had underwhelming downscaling of cities and outposts for the sake of performance back in 2005. Also doesn't help that it's in the starter zone so it can't be a complete death trap.

But the Foefire isn't losing power - the reason the charr can make headway and invade Ascalon City is because of the events of Ghosts of Ascalon. The giant crypt guardian that Kranxx used put the ghosts in a state of needing-to-reform and the charr capitalized on this vulnerability to basically maintain a perpetual offensive on the ghosts to keep them down.

That, and Adelbern retreating to the Catacombs helped out.

[Kalavier.1097]

4 hours ago, artcreator.4859 said:

I just read the book Ghosts of Ascalon and they depict the Foefire and the ruins of Ascalon city as massive threats no one should ever set foot in. Yet in the game it's a starting zone with barely any ruins for the actual city.

Is there a lore reason for this? is the foefire losing power or something? or did the devs just mess this awesome place up?

The foefire is enough of a threat that a latter event was enough to allow the Iron Legion to deploy a decent force elsewhere.

Spoiler

The banishment of the ghosts at Barridan's crypt and estate.

 

1 hour ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

The amount of ruins rather closely matches its appearance in GW1 - to a slight disappointment given that GW1 (especially Prophecies )had underwhelming downscaling of cities and outposts for the sake of performance back in 2005. Also doesn't help that it's in the starter zone so it can't be a complete death trap.

But the Foefire isn't losing power - the reason the charr can make headway and invade Ascalon City is because of the events of Ghosts of Ascalon. The giant crypt guardian that Kranxx used put the ghosts in a state of needing-to-reform and the charr capitalized on this vulnerability to basically maintain a perpetual offensive on the ghosts to keep them down.

That, and Adelbern retreating to the Catacombs helped out.

There is also the aspect of how some things are set for gameplay first, lore second. Such as how the Brand is supposed to be hell to cross with the very land sometimes rising up in branded elementals to kill intruders and awful brandstorms, yet until Path of fire and S4, staying inside the brand isn't an issue.

Likewise the various strengths of dragon minions are balanced out.

I'd say the events of the Catacombs dungeon probably also help the ghost situation a bit. And the ghostbore musket invention/ghost traps.

 

[The Greyhawk.9107]

Let's not forget the alleged decrease in ghost activity after Rytlock's attempt at the Ritual.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

4 hours ago, Kalavier.1097 said:

The foefire is enough of a threat that a latter event was enough to allow the Iron Legion to deploy a decent force elsewhere.

  Reveal hidden contents

The banishment of the ghosts at Barridan's crypt and estate.

 

There is also the aspect of how some things are set for gameplay first, lore second. Such as how the Brand is supposed to be hell to cross with the very land sometimes rising up in branded elementals to kill intruders and awful brandstorms, yet until Path of fire and S4, staying inside the brand isn't an issue.

Likewise the various strengths of dragon minions are balanced out.

I'd say the events of the Catacombs dungeon probably also help the ghost situation a bit. And the ghostbore musket invention/ghost traps.

 

I wouldn't say the charr tutorial affected Ascalon City ghosts at all. And the Catacombs dungeon takes place after the map events. Ghostbore Musket might've had some influence, but there's zero mention of it or the ghost containment stuff to really have evidence of such.

The only things we know influenced it would be the events of Ghosts of Ascalon.

1 hour ago, The Greyhawk.9107 said:

Let's not forget the alleged decrease in ghost activity after Rytlock's attempt at the Ritual.

That was only in the crypt though, it didn't make an impact on the rest of the ghosts, as Smodur comments on; and it was 2 years after the core maps' time placement at that.

 

By all rights, the Foefire should still be as big of an issue post-EoD as it was at core, just a bit of headway because Baraddin's Crypt is no longer infested + they have Ghostbore Musket and containment devices to help alleviate some problems. Rytlock needs to perform more rituals / improve the one and cast it again, to put a real dent in the Foefire ghosts.

[Kalavier.1097]

6 hours ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

By all rights, the Foefire should still be as big of an issue post-EoD as it was at core, just a bit of headway because Baraddin's Crypt is no longer infested + they have Ghostbore Musket and containment devices to help alleviate some problems. Rytlock needs to perform more rituals / improve the one and cast it again, to put a real dent in the Foefire ghosts.

I was talking about the events in Season 2, not the tutorial.

Where the ghosts of Barradin's estate by itself are banished, giving Black Citadel breathing room and freeing up troops for the world summit. Or at least, it's described as "Rytlock taking a lot of ghosts with him" And lessening the problems the ghosts posed for BC, so I'm going to assume it affected more then just the crypt itself.

Overall yeah, the Foefire ghosts are still a problem across the span of the wall, but closer to BC they've been reduced some.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

14 hours ago, Kalavier.1097 said:

I was talking about the events in Season 2, not the tutorial.

Well as said in response to Greyhawk, that wouldn't be affecting why Ascalon City was so easy to enter in open world (aka OP's question), as the events of Season 2 happen 2 years later.

[Kalavier.1097]

On 9/12/2022 at 6:39 PM, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

Well as said in response to Greyhawk, that wouldn't be affecting why Ascalon City was so easy to enter in open world (aka OP's question), as the events of Season 2 happen 2 years later.

It's more relating to the overall "Foefire losing power"

But in general, the open world boils down to gameplay like the brand. Easier for our gameplay sake but much more dangerous in lore.