Will we ever see the Afflicted again?

[Damocles.4908]

Forgive my ignorance as I haven't played gw factions and know little about them but kitten if I thought the risen knights were a bit creepy, these guys win hands down. So is there ever a chance we would see or face them again or did they all pass on? Also, how did they become like that...the wiki doesn't explain too much.

 

lastly, the current events of the living world, has it hinted at them returning.?

 

Thanks

[The Greyhawk.9107]

Risen Knights weren't Afflicted, they were a type of Dragon minion.

Guild Wars 1 had a series a narrative content events to tie up story lines EotN hadn't, one being based in Cantha called "Winds Of Change". It where the Ministry of Purity was introduced (or more accurately, it was the story of the Ministry of Purity since we've been denied by EoD what that WoC had tacitly promised).

Anyway a large part of Winds of Change is that the supposedly every last holdout of the Afflicted was wiped out and purified. So the likely answer is probably no, we'd not see the the Affliction show up now.  One might question "how could they have possibly known they got all the outbreak spots" which is absolutely reasonable. But if no ones been turned in the now over 250 years (and in the past it was never just single cases) that makes really it hard for me to reasonablely believe that the Affliction is still in existence, especially with how long since the defeat of Shiro Tagachi.

Edited April 15, 2023 by The Greyhawk.9107

[Poormany.4507]

We do know that the Purists are up to something in Raisu Palace, which is where Shiro's body was last seen in GW1. Since they're supposedly controlling Risen using magic, I could see them potentially using Shiro's magic somehow and either intentionally or unintentionally bringing the Affliction back. I really doubt it will be a major plotpoint though, if it does come up, because the Affliction was already the main plot of Factions and it would pretty much also be redoing Joko's Scarab Plague plot in GW2.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Poormany.4507

[Ashantara.8731]

6 hours ago, Damocles.4908 said:

So is there ever a chance we would see or face them again or did they all pass on?

I know I killed every single last of them on every map and in every story mission, so there certainly aren't any left. 😁

6 hours ago, Damocles.4908 said:

Also, how did they become like that...the wiki doesn't explain too much.

In simple terms: a curse.

In more detail:

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Shiro_Tagachi ("A spectral force driven by rage, a thirst for power, and a special kind of madness, he corrupts everything in his wake.")

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Afflicted ("The Afflicted are simply living creatures-animal, human, plant-that have had the misfortune to get too close to Shiro’s malevolent spirit.")

3 hours ago, Poormany.4507 said:

We do know that the Purists are up to something in Raisu Palace, which is where Shiro's body was last seen in GW1. Since they're supposedly controlling Risen using magic, I could see them potentially using Shiro's magic somehow and either intentionally or unintentionally bringing the Affliction back. I really doubt it will be a major plotpoint though, if it does come up, because the Affliction was already the main plot of Factions and it would pretty much also be redoing Joko's Scarab Plague plot in GW2.

While it technically wouldn't be the same as the Scarab Plague (which can be passed on), it would indeed thematically be similar. Then again, the current EoD LW story is also a thematical repetition, so who knows?

Edited April 16, 2023 by Ashantara.8731

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

11 hours ago, Damocles.4908 said:

Forgive my ignorance as I haven't played gw factions and know little about them but kitten if I thought the risen knights were a bit creepy, these guys win hands down. So is there ever a chance we would see or face them again or did they all pass on? Also, how did they become like that...the wiki doesn't explain too much.

 

lastly, the current events of the living world, has it hinted at them returning.?

 

Thanks

There's cuirrently no reason to believe Afflicted will return. They were created by Shiro Tagachi's presence, and spread through Am Fah rituals. In GW1's Winds of Change, there is an entire arc dedicated to both wiping out the remaining afflicted and destroying the Am Fah's knowledge of the rituals.
Though there is a minor plot point where the Ministry of Purity retrieved the ritual blueprints for "safe keeping", and in Sunqua Peaks Fractal, there are letters suggesting the Ministry of Purity under Usoku were fighting people affected by the Afflicted plague. But that could have been just propaganda for all we know.
But with Purity's fall and everything, it isn't very likely that any source of the Affliction remains in Cantha.

As to "how did they become like that" - as explained in the Factions storyline, Shiro's very presence as an Envoy tipped the spiritual magical balance or some such, and resulted in a plague where people would "die" (at least they would mechanically) and become these mutated, pulsating sacks of flesh aka the Afflicted. The plague could be spread through the consumption of flesh of Afflicted, and this was the basis for the Am Fah's rituals - alongside a specially designed magic cup (the Chalice of Corruption) which the one who created it was supposedly told how to make it by Shiro himself (it's just stated to have been a "whisper" in his head, so could have been Abaddon too).

The latest release (which is not living world - living world is no longer a thing going forward, technically) does not have any relation to the Afflicted, but to Kanaxai and his Nightmare Horde, from Factions' The Deep and Aurios Mines missions.

[Jimbru.6014]

I have wondered if the Jade Sea thawing out and Shiro's magic that bound it becoming loose might have some effects, such as a return of the Afflicted, but so far no signs of it. That said, we're still way early in post-EOD content, so who knows what could happen.