Status of Each Race and Future expansion hints [SPOILER Lore]

[EdwinLi.1284]

SPOILER Below! You already been warned!

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The prologue for this expansion provided us the status of each Race after events of EoD and how they handle events of SotO. However, the most important aspect about it is the potential teaser for future expansions focusing on specific Races or pair of the Races. What do you think about all these developments after reading and listening through all this during Prologue?


Norn and Sylvari -

The Norn and Sylvari are the two races having a bit of a identity crisis issue.

Norn is recovering from Jormag and dealing with survivors of the Son of Svanir that do not know what to do now Jormag is dead. Some are pushing to move North and hope to reclaim their old home. There are little hope for survivors up North but some small amount of their people hope there is. Braham himself has fully retired from Dragon's Watch to become Mayor/Chief of Cragstead but he is exploring the world to help learn a bit to what it means to be a leader for a place. He is considering going to explore certain areas of Elona that we can not explore yet.
 

Sylvari are mostly on a self discovery journey now the Elder Dragons are gone. Most have gone off to explore the world in hopes of finding purpose with their life. The critical situation, however, is that the Pale Tree's condition been getting worse. They cannot find a way to help the Pale Tree heal and each day she is having more difficulty staying awake. Caithe hopes the Astral Ward may have some Ancient Knowledge that may lead to a way to heal the Pale Tree. Ancient Knowledge that may even lead to a certain second Pale Tree.

Asura and Humans -

The Humans of Kryta and Cantha are forging a alliance with each other more easily and the Asura started to reduce their once heavy restrictions on Not Sharing Their Technology Policy. A Technology advancement competition mentality has begun between Cantha and the Asuran people. As a result both sides are trying to be more open in their society compared to in the past when they prefer more isolation type policies. There are talk between these two to work together that may lead to going into regions in Cantha that are currently not explored for us players.

Charr -

The Charr is now mostly united but The Dominion remains a issue but they are small in numbers currently. There are concern another civil war may happen caused by Bangar's supporters hiding among their people. A trial for Bangar is on its way but there is also a agreement by all current Charr leaders for a new Khan-Ur after. A Trial by Fire is required for the condidates which may require going deeper into the Charr Homeland in a future expansion. 

Astral Ward and the Mist -

The recent event confirmed that the end of the Elder Dragon Cycle has lead Tyria itself to become a very VERY big target for beings from the Mist. Causing all sorts of Mist beings to be attracted to Tyria. The Tyrian Alliance is now formed in response to this threat and for now they are establishing defenses and tyring to resolve their current issues so they can prepare to counter any future attacks by unknown or known beings from the Mist. Isgarren is concerned there will be new threats that are beyond just Demons arriving in the future from the Mist. For now this is mostly a long term plot as each Race need to first settle their personal affairs so they can prepare for this eventual unknown threat. 

Edited August 21 by EdwinLi.1284

[Diovid.9506]

The big question about threats from the mist is what could there be? The big one that we know of is the human gods and to be more precise Menzies and his shadow army. The shadow army has even been mentioned in both PoF and SotO. But other than that we aren't aware of much I think. Unless Anet draws from ideas of Xotecha / Utopia (the scrapped fourth campaign of GW1) which heavily dealt with the mists and gods. But that doesn't really fit with Anet's new focus on more grounded stories that are not neccesarily world-threatening so I don't really know. 

My personal hope is still a Depths of Tyria expansion dealing with lost Asura cities, dwarves, dredge, remnants of destroyers and the like. But that did not get a mention in the opening of Janthir Wilds (unlike what the Norn and Elonians are doing with lost regions). 

[EdwinLi.1284]

4 hours ago, Diovid.9506 said:

The big question about threats from the mist is what could there be? The big one that we know of is the human gods and to be more precise Menzies and his shadow army. The shadow army has even been mentioned in both PoF and SotO. But other than that we aren't aware of much I think. Unless Anet draws from ideas of Xotecha / Utopia (the scrapped fourth campaign of GW1) which heavily dealt with the mists and gods. But that doesn't really fit with Anet's new focus on more grounded stories that are not neccesarily world-threatening so I don't really know. 

My personal hope is still a Depths of Tyria expansion dealing with lost Asura cities, dwarves, dredge, remnants of destroyers and the like. But that did not get a mention in the opening of Janthir Wilds (unlike what the Norn and Elonians are doing with lost regions). 

It will probably be a while before we get any glimps of this unknown threat anyways. Most likely they may deal between a mix of a Race dealing with their own personal issues so they can solidify their defenses in preparation for them or they do a mix of both where while they are dealing with their politics a new Mist threat appears for that specific expansion.

What interests me the most is the Sylvari side of things. With the Pale tree getting worse over time and no cure in sight, Caithe seeking aid from the Astral Ward to locate a cure may lead to the other Pale Tree. After events of EoD and the reveal all Elder Dragons were once sane before their consumption of magic corrupted them, I been think a lot about Mordremoth and how Kralkatorrik manage to keep a small piece of his original self from going insane. 

If my theory is right then the other Pale Tree maybe older than we may think. Maybe dating all the way back when the Elder Dragon Cycle began. We know Mordremoth can "upload" his mind into a Sylvari since he tried it with Trehearne but failed because the commander stopped him in the middle of the process. However, what if Mordremoth did this before but he did it as a way to save his sane self before the corruption consumed him. His origin self in a body of a Sylvari without needing to consume magic while having his first Pale Tree be completely cut off from any connections to his original body so they cannot be corrupted by his original self now corrupted state. Also, completely isolating the first Pale Tree in a place hard to find where it can survive all Elder Dragon Cycles due to the location where it is hidden. Establishing a Isolation policy to keep himself and his children (the Sylvari of the first Pale Tree) safe and preventing anything from outside from reach and finding them.

At the sametime, if this is true then I wonder what went through Mordremoth's head as he watch his original body self lose his mind slowly until it was completely unrecognizable. What fears and nightmare may have run through it over the coutless cycles. Just watching yourself slowly go insane while yourself remains sane but have to watch the horrors and betrayals yourself commits in their insanity.

Edited August 21 by EdwinLi.1284

[Biziut.3594]

Well, I guess it is Titans for now. Always thought that they need a gateway akin to Gate of Komalie to enter tho. It seems they are able to seep through portals just like Kryptic. But that might be becouse of lack of protection Isgareen mentioned.

So since last ex-pac focused around the mists, I would place my bet that we will eventualy end up in a Forge of Failed Creations to stop whoever is producing the Titans there. But who would start to mess with the Realm of Torment again, hard to say.

[Invidia.9074]

Could be our link to a potential expansion taking place in Dzalana

[EdwinLi.1284]

6 hours ago, Biziut.3594 said:

Well, I guess it is Titans for now. Always thought that they need a gateway akin to Gate of Komalie to enter tho. It seems they are able to seep through portals just like Kryptic. But that might be becouse of lack of protection Isgareen mentioned.

So since last ex-pac focused around the mists, I would place my bet that we will eventualy end up in a Forge of Failed Creations to stop whoever is producing the Titans there. But who would start to mess with the Realm of Torment again, hard to say.

This is one of the aspect that interests me for this expansion. All this time it was the old Dragon Cycle system that created a type of Magical Wall around Tyria that prevented Mist creatures from entering Tyria easily so they have very limited access for spots that had very strong links to the Mist due to a very strong concentration of magic in those spots in Tyria. 

Now with that protection gone due to the new Cycle, everything in the Mist can not only easily enter Tyria now but can also see Tyria from the distance in the Mist since that Magical Wall was also covering up the vast amount of magic in Tyria from being seen far away in the Mist. 

This is a very dangerous situation they are in now because now anything Mist related can attack at any place at any time. The prologue summarize how bad it was during SotO offscreen for each Race and country since Kryptis attacked right in the middle of cities, towns, and even outposts set up to defense locations. There was literally no possible solid defense against them since they can bypass almost all defenses for a location and strike right where they can be most vulnarable. Something they never had to worry about before because the Magical Wall limited Mist being's access to Tyria to only highly concentrated magical areas but now all of Tyria is a highly concentrated magical area.

Edited August 22 by EdwinLi.1284

[Biziut.3594]

@EdwinLi.1284 True. Wonder when ANet will go next with it. I was wondering about how the human Gods might get involved. Judging that they weren't expecting the end of the Dragon Cycle, and thought human race was reletivly save on Tyria, so the ending of the cycle might put a cross on their plans, whatever it could be.

On the other hand ANet was always hestitant to allow Gods to intervine much into the state on Tyria due to how They could trivialise everything Tyria achived on it's own. Like if they were to bring them back soon as the Titan and maybe some other threats rises, it would kind of trivialise the whole plot with all races uniting under one organization to overcome such adversities.

I also wonder, just as You said, if the Titans will be the only threat. It's leading me to belive that there will be some more powerful being than Titans, pulling their strings. But since the mists are so vast, there might be other parties interested in invading or maybe even aiding Tyria. Eighter way, can't wait to see how it will turn out. Story overall got a darker, more interesting vibe, in my opinion. Like in one story step You can talk with a baby bear ghost, that was kidnapped and murdered by the White Mantle to power up the bloodstone.

[Dean Calaway.9718]

Here's what I really don't like about this direction...

Since the end of EoD Anet stated that Elder Dragons aren't a viable punching bag for stories anymore, they'd be moving away from plot lines that would deal with world ending events. I love that, and I'm here for it, the problem is how are you introducing The Pact 2.0 with the Tyrian Alliance after you introduced The Wizards in the previous expansion and all their capabilities... ? Then in SotO we're getting world invading enemies in a story that was suppose to move away from world threats and in JW we're working to contain them so they don't make use of their ability to expand to other parts of the world... we're right back at where we started!

What Anet could do instead is actually narrow their focus like they said they would, take JW for example, forget the wizards and forget the Tyrian Alliance, make it a stand alone expansion that starts with The Commander feeling like stepping away from all these annoying characters leaving his communicator behind, he goes to a place where no one can find him, he stumbles on a journeykin and starts fighting, Kodan show up, help you, they take you in, you start helping around their village, they give you a house, they're worried about these strangers at the north, their warriors gather up, you go with them. You have basically the same story without any of the strings and fluff and world leaders, narrow focus just like they promised, the new characters introduced are more than enough to carry the story and you have more time to focus on them and their local plight instead of going around saving the world... again. I absolutely hated making it to Syntri only to be told "right, back to LA to report now" the feeling of distance and isolation was completely shattered, went from feeling like I was in a very far away land that would have taken many days or weeks to get to, to feel like I was nosing around in the back yard.

Guild Wars 2 always had a problem inferring distance, that's why I loved the intro to Path of Fire so much, showing an airship traveling for a week day and night to make to Amnoon from Lion's Arch, it was brilliant, and why they don't this more often, as in, all the time is beyond me. I hated when in season two they started talking about waypoints, and sure enough here we are in Janthir Wilds and the wizards are just telling the local Kodan how great it is to teleport instantly to another part of town in a trivial manner. Why are we gathering supplies around Syntri for the expedition if we can just waypoint back to town for dinner and sleep and be back the next morning, no long boat trip required? It destroys the sense of distance and isolation not to mention it's a massive can of worms, I'd quite frankly love if there were no waypoints in Janthir Wilds, we could get to the Lowland Shore from a portal by the pier in LA, and to Syntri from the pier in Lowland Shore like we can right now. On death we could just have a special "waypoint" like we do in Shiverpeeks Pass, conditional on you being dead, so you could make it to camp, this would line up with Anet once vision of placing far fewer waypoints in maps in contrast with vanilla so the players had to instead navigate the terrain, and with mounts, that's hardly a tall order.

Moving forward, and without waypoints or globalists, the commander could travel to far away isolated places, you have all the potential there to meet both new races and some old allies even and just focus on their local community problems instead of being a cog in a machine that takes I can only imagine a ridiculous amount of taxes to finance.

Go meet another pale tree and see how different that one would be growing without the tablet, go far pass the Grothmar Valley to the NE and meet the Charr living there, go free the slaves in the massive Krait structures fabled to litter the unending ocean.

[draxynnic.3719]

2 hours ago, Biziut.3594 said:

@EdwinLi.1284 True. Wonder when ANet will go next with it. I was wondering about how the human Gods might get involved. Judging that they weren't expecting the end of the Dragon Cycle, and thought human race was reletivly save on Tyria, so the ending of the cycle might put a cross on their plans, whatever it could be.

On the other hand ANet was always hestitant to allow Gods to intervine much into the state on Tyria due to how They could trivialise everything Tyria achived on it's own. Like if they were to bring them back soon as the Titan and maybe some other threats rises, it would kind of trivialise the whole plot with all races uniting under one organization to overcome such adversities.

I also wonder, just as You said, if the Titans will be the only threat. It's leading me to belive that there will be some more powerful being than Titans, pulling their strings. But since the mists are so vast, there might be other parties interested in invading or maybe even aiding Tyria. Eighter way, can't wait to see how it will turn out. Story overall got a darker, more interesting vibe, in my opinion. Like in one story step You can talk with a baby bear ghost, that was kidnapped and murdered by the White Mantle to power up the bloodstone.

I think the Gods were actually fully aware of Glint's plans and were banking on their success for humanity's survival, staying out of it (apart from Balthazar) due to the fear that their involvement could only make them worse. It's notable that the final departure happened during Balthazar's campaign, which was followed by Kralkatorrik rampaging through the realms that the gods would have been in if they hadn't left.

Titans have pretty much always been the catspaws of someone else. I suspect that the smaller scope of JW is going to focus on the three titans we've seen, and the next expansion will focus on whatever's behind them.

[Biziut.3594]

@draxynnic.3719 Perhaps for the better to keep the Gods away, at least for now, so the Tyria and their new allience can actually repel some threat on their own.

As for the titans. I agree. Can't wait to see whos pulling the strings this time. Whats Your speculation? ^^

[draxynnic.3719]

Quite possibly. Arenanet have described the gods' attitude as having an element of a parent of an adult child wanting that child to be able to stand on their own, so they might well keep away until they're content that humans don't need them.

[Invidia.9074]

Coukd be anyone. What interested me is that Ura was referred to as "The Godspawn". Are we going into "somehow Abaddon returned"?

[draxynnic.3719]

I think the other titans also referred to themselves as godspawn, so it might just be how they view themselves.

[EdwinLi.1284]

1 hour ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

I think the Gods were actually fully aware of Glint's plans and were banking on their success for humanity's survival, staying out of it (apart from Balthazar) due to the fear that their involvement could only make them worse. It's notable that the final departure happened during Balthazar's campaign, which was followed by Kralkatorrik rampaging through the realms that the gods would have been in if they hadn't left.

Titans have pretty much always been the catspaws of someone else. I suspect that the smaller scope of JW is going to focus on the three titans we've seen, and the next expansion will focus on whatever's behind them.

this is partly why I think the next expansion focus is maybe the Charr Homeland and who will become the next Khan-Ur. 

There has been a slight mystery behind how the Charr became connected to the Titans before events of GW1 and in this expansion we did get a little hint about it during one of the main story missions when we meet the ghost of a Charr Shaman who was there in the very beginning when they made a deal with the Titans to worship them as Gods. 
 

1 hour ago, Biziut.3594 said:

@draxynnic.3719 Perhaps for the better to keep the Gods away, at least for now, so the Tyria and their new allience can actually repel some threat on their own.

As for the titans. I agree. Can't wait to see whos pulling the strings this time. Whats Your speculation? ^^

A bit too soon for the Gods to be involved right now in my opinion. If Anet is planning to do a Utopia expansion for GW2 then it maybe best to wait a bit longer. 

Either way each expansion is still "in a certain point of view" still stand alone mostly since we are expecting new enemies from the Mists at certain points while resolving their threats probably within each expansion. 

As for my personal guess, I am expecting maybe Margonites (some how) or the Shadow Army (we know they been trying to invade Tyria countless times but Astral Ward stopped them from SotO side lore) so a future expansion can focus on one of them. 

I am still mostly putting next expansion to be still Titan themed but the classic Fire Titan being the enemy this time so they can have a Charr Expansion focus on them also putting a end to their whole Titan issue mostly.

Edited August 23 by EdwinLi.1284

[draxynnic.3719]

3 hours ago, EdwinLi.1284 said:

this is partly why I think the next expansion focus is maybe the Charr Homeland and who will become the next Khan-Ur. 

There has been a slight mystery behind how the Charr became connected to the Titans before events of GW1 and in this expansion we did get a little hint about it during one of the main story missions when we meet the ghost of a Charr Shaman who was there in the very beginning when they made a deal with the Titans to worship them as Gods. 

Unless I've missed something, that ghost was a contemporary of the period covered by GW1. Probably part of the Krytan invasion force that got captured by the White Mantle. There's also a journal about a Flame Legion cub seeing a titan and not being believed because she was female, but the dates on that are really dodgy for it to be the first contact - IIRC, it also claims that the same cub joined Kalla, whose rebellion was 45 years after the Searing, let alone first contact. While an out-of-game source, first contact was supposed to have happened two hundred years before the Searing, and the anti-female prejudice was supposed to have happened after that contact when it was a female charr who opposed titan worship.

The Citadel of Flames is also supposed to be Hrangmer, where first contact occurred - so it's unlikely that Ash Legion territory is going to be where further development of the titan arc happens.

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

4 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

I think the Gods were actually fully aware of Glint's plans and were banking on their success for humanity's survival, staying out of it (apart from Balthazar) due to the fear that their involvement could only make them worse. It's notable that the final departure happened during Balthazar's campaign, which was followed by Kralkatorrik rampaging through the realms that the gods would have been in if they hadn't left.

Titans have pretty much always been the catspaws of someone else. I suspect that the smaller scope of JW is going to focus on the three titans we've seen, and the next expansion will focus on whatever's behind them.

According to Kormir's Journal in PoF, the destruction of Tyria was "inevitable". The gods seemingly did not believe glint's plan would work, they just had no issues casting aside all the humans on Tyria to go elsewhere.

[draxynnic.3719]

3 minutes ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

According to Kormir's Journal in PoF, the destruction of Tyria was "inevitable". The gods seemingly did not believe glint's plan would work, they just had no issues casting aside all the humans on Tyria to go elsewhere.

At the point she wrote that, she also admitted to having no hope. One can be aware that there's a plan while still being pessimistic about the plan's likelihood of success, and it's hard to say whether that was a consistent belief of hers or just the product of depressive point in time.

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

7 hours ago, Biziut.3594 said:

@EdwinLi.1284 True. Wonder when ANet will go next with it. I was wondering about how the human Gods might get involved. Judging that they weren't expecting the end of the Dragon Cycle, and thought human race was reletivly save on Tyria, so the ending of the cycle might put a cross on their plans, whatever it could be.

The gods showing up, not in Janthir Wilds, but the expansion after that, would make sense IMO.

• SoTO states that the Astral Ward/Wizards deal with threats from beyond Tyria.
• Janthir Wilds was described as a "continuation" of the Wizard's story, not a conclusion.
• We know Anet has already planed out an expansion after Janthir Wilds.
• SoTO had several references to the gods(Elona fractal report stating the Gods cannot be allowed to return, Lhyr fighting servants of Menzies in recent times, etc.)
• One of the few big unresolved plot points from GW2 is the Lyssa situation, which Anet had been building from LWS3 all the way through EoD.
• After Demons(SoTO), and Mursaat and Titans(JW), the Forgotten and the Gods are the last really big mists related things they could cover.

I could very easily see the third mini-xpack dealing with the gods, and forming a "Mists trilogy" of sorts with the Wizards as a through line.

[DemonCrypto.6792]

there is two other possibilities for expansion i think we will see:

Deep tyria, Asuran willing to win the tech race reconnect with lost outpost and deep rata to find old/lost tech and deep asuran and/or dwarf wanting to restaure theire specie society.

Ocean of tyria, Deep quaggan kingdom , largos Tethyos Houses, krait and krakas buisnesse, (i bet there is the lost bloodstonne shard, or a portal "door of komalie style" hiden there or a war) .

Also the buisnnesse with the old Raisu palace (i want to know what is causing the risen problem, i bet it has a link with the body/statue of shyro in the iner sanctum)

[draxynnic.3719]

There's also the new plot thread that some of the lowland kodan were apparently called all the way to Orr for some reason. Given how hazy things are from that long ago it's not surprising we hadn't heard of it (the more surprising thing is that it was called Orr even then, but maybe it was named by the elder races, or maybe the kodan are just using the modern name to avoid confusion).

Speaking of, there's also mention of the "what would happen with a reclaimed Orr" question, which seems to be leaning towards "the spirits of the dead Orrians are probably going to have a say in that."

[Invidia.9074]

We have all of the Orrian area that could have any maps covered though, unless we count Scavenger's Causeway as a likely candidate for a secluded Kodan colony on the borders of Orr - would be the pnly reason to go and visit this place as far as lore is concerned

 

[draxynnic.3719]

3 hours ago, Invidia.9074 said:

We have all of the Orrian area that could have any maps covered though, unless we count Scavenger's Causeway as a likely candidate for a secluded Kodan colony on the borders of Orr - would be the pnly reason to go and visit this place as far as lore is concerned

 

Yeah, I'd expect it to be more "at some stage we'll find out what the reason was" than there being any bearkin still there. Far too much has happened on Orr since (I get the impression the split is ancient history... like, possibly during the last dragonrise ancient) to expect a living bearkin settlement on Orr itself.

Scavenger's Causeway... maybe. It's never been explorable, so who knows what might be there, but it's never been implied to be more than the land route to Orr.

[Imba.9451]

Wishful thinking on my part here, but with what we learn in the journals from A history most violent 1 and 2, the mention of Bava Nissos and the constantly increasing informatuion we get on the Mursaat - I think a Mursaat storyline is pretty likely. Also, considering the flameseeker prophecies basically had them scared to be gace extinction through titans, there is a chance bigger than zero that they show up again after the last titans are destroyed.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

hm, I would not mind a 'kill the gods, so they won't cause any more trouble' expansion.

[Poormany.4507]

My guess is Dzalana with Menzies + Shadow Army is next, based on the theme of incursions from the Mists going on in the past two mini-expacs. Balthazar invaded Elona, so it would kind of make sense for his half-brother Menzies to go after Dzalana. Maybe we could even get a proper resolution to the Forged, who got zero mention of their aftermath during/after PoF. The extensive mentions during the prologue of Janthir Wilds + the recent gem store post namedropping the "Dzalana Expanse" (possibly a map name?) makes it seem like Anet's got some kind of focus there and the timing of the latter would be in line with the sixth expac development.

Edited August 26 by Poormany.4507