190 replies to this topic

[Arriana Oakheart]

Vocaloid Kakesu, on 12 September 2013 - 04:47 AM, said:

If Teq actually did , meet That elder dragon , she better have learned

Omg haha! Yessssss!
Maybe an acidic version HAHAHA

[Arriana Oakheart]

I just think that Balthazar needs to come down, open a portal into the Fissure of Woe just how he opened a portal into the mists ( WvW ) and I will command his armies in the Fissure of Woe; away from the destruction of the dragons.

[Reisa]

Fritanga, on 12 September 2013 - 03:45 PM, said:

No, it was suggested that the minons could cross-corrupt. I said it wasn't possible according to lore, but it would be cool to have a mix in a dragon like a tequatl-shatterer hybrid.

I'd think it would depend on the nature of the dragon corruption.

For example, let's take The Shatterer.  What if the Shatterer were killed and then Zhaitan got ahold of its corpse?  Since Zhaitan perverts and expands on the creature's abilities from when it was living, it would for all intent's and purpose be a cross-corruption.

We've already seen Zhaitan corrupt long, long dead beings (Giganticus Lupicus), so if it were the case...then GW2 team missed an opportunity by not letting us fight Undead Glint.

Still, we haven't seen how dragon corruption really works overall.  Sure, we've seen it corrupting things, but that's not its extent.  Zhaitan and Kralkatorrik corruption turns their creatures into mindless monstrousities outright.  Jormag's weakest followers seem mostly normal but turning more and more bizarre the further into power they become--of course, this could be explained by the fact that the Sons of Svaniir follow him of their own free will.

However, it does seem like each dragon's corruption doesn't affect beings the same way.  Primordius doesn't infect creatures for its Destroyers--it seems to either create them outright or create subordinates that birth its army, like the Destroyer Queen.

We know little about Bubbles except that we know the Karka are NOT its creatures, so it's possible Bubbles may not even use minions or corruption in that way at all.

The husks that seem to be the jungle dragon's minions also likewise seem grown and not based on the corruption of an existing creation.

It would be interesting and would diversify the dragons beyond the flying Zombie Apocalypses they are now.

Although if the jungle dragon is responsible for the Pale Tree and through her, the Sylvari and Nightmare Court, it would be entertaining to watch it try to assert itself over the Nightmare Court, who are so chaotic that they abhor the idea of a foreign concept being forced on them.  They'd turn around and start attacking the jungle dragon out of pure stubborn psychosis.

[Son Jei]

Making me more interested in dragon lore LOL

[Fritanga]

Its been a while since there has been any meaty clues to the direction of content that peaked my speculation, but this new development in Kessex Hills has peaked my interests. I want to take a few minutes to talk about it.

For those who haven't seen yet, in Kessex Hills, Marjory Delaqua and Lady Kasameer are both in a small basecamp to the North West of the lake and south of Fort Salma. In the areas around the lake, the forests have been chopped down and stacked in places around the lair of the Krait Bloodwitch. Likewise, the Krait have erected a form of invisible wall or force shield blocking access to the Bloodwitch Lair.

The speculation about what is happening there is that the Krait are erecting an Obelisk. Some concept art has been dug up showing these large towers with definite krait-like construction at the base. Today, ArenaNet updated the page for the next living story update to show the actual full tower and it is massive. Even more, it seems that the krait, themselves, are being manipulated or possibly allied themselves with the Nightmare Court in some way which is affecting them.

Here is where the OMG LORE CONSPIRACY part comes in. I have a feeling that this is somehow related to the wizard's tower in Kessex Hills. I think we will have a little bit of story now but ultimately we are going to have to seek the help of the wizard in that tower. Some speculation being discussed is that the krait are trying to open a portal to another realm or dimension. This is somewhat backed up by some of the images of the tower itsself and by a bit of lore. I think that the part we will get on this coming Tuesday will be an instanced fight or possibly even an open-world type dungeon where we will ascend this tower and possibly push into an alternate dimension or realm (perhaps the steam realm from the Asura Personal Story?) or just block the portal from opening.

What I would really like to see is Marjory Delaqua sending us to the village on the opposite side of the map (Garenhoff). There, we meet Logan Thackery and he is trying to coordinate Lionguard and Peacemaker forces (remember, there is an Asura Base there as well) to fight off the Krait forces. As part of the battle, we must employ the elementals from the town, so we end up heading into the wizard tower (unraveling some of the mystery and possibly opening up more mysteries) and meet the wizard inside. We enlist his help (while uncovering some questionable moral dilemmas) and lead an army of elementals, Lionguard, and Asura to raid the tower. So we meet at an instanced version of Ireko Tradecamp with a group of Asura and Elementals with a could Lionguard Airships at hand and we meet a Tengu character. This character is there to protect the tengu interests in the area (because of the close proximity to the Dominion of Winds) and decides to come along with us on the raid of the Krait tower. Ultimately, we end up in a fight working our way up the tower as it is bombarded by Lionguard Airships, with walls being blown away and possibly causing some exterior jumping segments while elementals battle the krait (and possibly nightmare court). Ultimately, we reach the top and find the bloodwitch is much more powerful than before and now is one of those morphing krait like in GW1. The battle here is where we fight the different phases of shapechanging (I am thinking Karka style changes) until ultimately the lionguard (or possibly a tengu flying group) swoop in through a hole in the wall and land the killing blow on the krait witch. At the end, there is a bit of dialogue between those at the end where they discover that the krait were actually scaling up to fight a bigger threat that is still yet to come and we are left wondering what that threat is.

I think if we were to do something like that, it would really make a lot of GW1 players go . It would grant us access to the wizard's tower (which many have wanted to do since GW1) and would put the moral dilemma (people go into the wizard's tower but we never hear from them again) from Garenhoff into the forefront. It would open us up to talk/work with the Tengu a bit more (and start the ball rolling for us working with them and eventually grant access to their city) as well. Likewise, it could push forward the lionguard as a force of peace in the area as well. The main questions asked would be "What are the krait preparing for with this tower?" and "how big of a threat is the wizard tower?". I think it would really be an amazing development and would most certainly raise the significance of Kessex Hills in the game. It could still keep the zone as a 15-25 zone while giving it an real endgame-type feel to it.

Realistically, we will probably get an instance where we fight out way to the top and realize the krait are being manipulated by scarlet.

[Palerider]

THEN YOU GET YOUR GREEN AND TWO BLUES?

[Fritanga]

Palerider, on 22 October 2013 - 02:54 PM, said:

THEN YOU GET YOUR GREEN AND TWO BLUES?

They improved the loot.... now its two greens and a blue

[Reina Takayama]

i'd love something to do with the wizard's tower, ive been waiting to see that since forever, but we'll see hehe

But from the looks of it, in Twilight Assault, Scarlet working with the Nightmare court, in exchange for something, seems like the krait also is in the same boat. Anet mentions a mysterious benefactor which is probably scarlet again. Now recall Scarlet's story, her vision that seems to transcend the current realm, maybe going into the mists, relating to the pale tree, the nightmare court and so on. At the same time, as WP suggests, the portals opening to spawn her aetherblades, steam hulks and so on, which reoccurs and overlaps with thaumanova reactor meltdown and the asuran infinity ball personal story which has portals that spawns creatures from all over tyria but the steam creatures are a unique type of thing that we only see from random portals in diff places. So as you mentioned about portals to another dimension, this might all tie into the same thing.

Indeed krait is working with nightmare court and their tower looks corrupted by the nightmare court and has plant like growth. At the same time we see a glowing krait that seems to have been transformed or "corrupted".

If we take a look at all that, it seems like this is all related, and ultimately i believe in the past few updates they've been pointing us towards the direction of the whole sylvari, nightmare court, tree, lore, which is speculatively, and very convincingly (especially when playing sylvari story and looking thru the Dream etc) related to the Forest Dragon, Mordremoth. And someone on the official forums also mentioned that the body of water in kessex hills seems to be fed from Maguuma in the first place.

Whether the Krait has willingly started to work with nightmare court or the forest dragon and its awakening, or was somehow corrupted or drawn by power or whatever else the forest dragon or the nightmare court might do, we will probably find out. But I strongly believe we are moving ever so closer towards the Forest Dragon and its awakening and how nightmare court has to do with this, what the Pale Tree or the Trees themselves are, who or what are the spawns or minions affected by the Dragon's power and so on.

Exciting update.

Scarlet > Twilight Assault > Tower of Nightmare

[Palerider]

Fritanga, on 22 October 2013 - 03:42 PM, said:

They improved the loot.... now its two greens and a blue

Dat Script.  Its been flipped.  

[Noctis]

Too complicated. Anet devs smash story. Me Tarzan. You Jane.


I really doubt it will be anything beyond the overwold event/dungeon. Remember Tekewaddle update? They promised lore and explanations and did not deliver any of that sort. One mail? Talking to Rox and other NPC's? Meh, barely anything! The same thing will gonna happen here.

I actually hope they will play it straight. Just the Krait. Their religion, prophecy and a portal to a Krait dimension/land far far away. Maybe invite some Nightmare Court or better yet Krait enslaved some of them and forced to work for the Krait. As long as there is no attempt to make it more then what it is or rather what it seems now I will be more then satisfied.

To mash everything together without enough information to explain stuff - just look at Scarlet and how she seems like a scape goat for everything that has happened in Living Story so far. I still like the character even maybe the portrayal of the character cause Tara Strong is great, but the way Scarlet fits into the grander lore is clumsy to say the least.

I just wish they would leave all that alone for a while. Krait have constructed a giant portal-opening giant tower of doom to cover all land under water - great! Let's kick their asses! or.. tails. Super genetically modified corrupted enormous army of Krait with possibly a giant Leviathan as one of the final bosses - great thing on its own. No need for anything else.



Ps: Psst. Between you and me, I think the Wizand is behind everything! He brainwashed Scarlet in the crib... or.. errr.. bloom? He did ALL of this! Whatever it is...

[Reina Takayama]

Yeah it doesnt seem theres much real thinking or deep lore behind the instalments anet is doing, but i'm actually not discouraged. From what I see, it seems like each living story is an extremely extremely narrowed, confined piece or a really tiny clue towards the bigger picture. IT seems like what they're trying to do is to feed us clues with each living story and everything wont make sense til all the clues are there and then we have to look back at the year or years and put everything together.

I see this happening already with the Scarlet > TA > Tower updates, if the tower does continue to offer clues, and show that things are developing, i think they're on to something. but its just such a tiny glimpse that it seems not too well connected. I think it will only show when they've done like tons and tons of updates to chain everything together.

Tequatl was a disappointment but at the same time with that mindset, i think once again its just a tiny tiny clue and we only get to see a glimpse of the effect of whats happening. Like tequatl getting all stronger, but we don't know whats behind it exactly. And i think thats intended by Anet. Keep everything mysterious. But that's frustrating bc there seems to be too many things going on. But i'm not discouraged. I still have a lot of hope. I think everything will be driven home later. It's only bee a year. We're looking at probably at least another year before we see significant things that make sense when we look back

Tequatl to me suggests that Anet might be moving the Zhaitan thing towards how zhaitan has been defeated but another dragon is drawing power and might take over... and that there is no end to the cycle of Dragons. I'm doing a priory storyline for my new character right now and one npc says something along the lines of how its just one big natural cycle, like the ice ages and weather, and when dragons sleep its natural they wake up eventually and the cycle repeats

[Reisa]

Arriana Oakheart, on 13 September 2013 - 11:27 AM, said:

I just think that Balthazar needs to come down, open a portal into the Fissure of Woe just how he opened a portal into the mists ( WvW ) and I will command his armies in the Fissure of Woe; away from the destruction of the dragons.

Well, given that it's 250 years later, and since the current Temple of Ages is still acting as a semi portal to the Fissue of Woe...

Well, it doesn't bode well for Balthazar.  Since the Shadow Army is from the FoW (all other instances of them in GW1 were Menzies loaning them to potentially helpful allies), it's likely that the Shadow Behemoth and the shadow aaxes and so on are from the FoW.  Which means that Balthazar must be totally screwed if Menzies has that much sway now.  Especially if Menzies took over for Dhuum's minions when the big green guy got sealed again.

Might explain why all the gods have disappeared if they're off fighting the combined forces of Dhuum's UW forces, the Margonites and Titans formerly under Mallyx, all under Menzies and his Shadow Army's control.

[Fritanga]

Noctis, on 22 October 2013 - 06:02 PM, said:

Too complicated. Anet devs smash story. Me Tarzan. You Jane.

That's what I am afraid of. The trend that seems to be happening is very disappointing. First the Flame Legion and the Dredge ally themselves. Then we get the Aetherblades, which are essentially bandit/pirates with Inquest. Then we found out that they are all just working for Scarlet the whole time! The next thing we learn is the Nightmare Court is also working with Scarlet. Now we seem to be getting the Nightmare Court allying with the Krait. The only villain group who we fight in this game who isn't allied with Scarlet now is the Sons of Svannir.

If Scarlet is behind this Krait thing, I will be very disappointed. It starts to seem like she is branching off from the major groups and is now going after the minor groups. How much longer until we find out she is using the Grawl or the Quaggans? Maybe the Haylek or even the risen (since they are all still around but without a master?

I am very interested in where they are going with the Tequatl being beefed up. Will it be somehow related to scarlet too? It just seems that it becomes a cop-out ending to a lot of these stories. I do love when they surprise me though!

I do have to say that I LOVE that they are doing a sort-of prelude to this Tuesday's update. There is stuff in Kessex which is drawing interest and making people take note of it prior to the update. I wish they did stuff like this with the tequatl fight. It would have greatly improved the content and made it seem less like just throwing crap at us.

[Noctis]

Have I freaking not predicted this bullshit of what?! Krait and Nightmare Court!

It seems all the stories Anet comes up with these days have to follow the same dumb formula - let's find a couple of enemy races and smash them together and voilà! we have a "new" threat! Brilliant!

I haven't played the new stuff yet, but this seems incredibly lazy already.


Oh, and don't forget the bullshit achievement of finding 24 stupid things AND some dumb events in EBG. I don't even know what to say....

[Reina Takayama]

New update, the alliance stuff is annoying, it seems lazy indeed.

But i still have hope for this living story lore, that the krait's Prophets who "ascended to some higher realm" (Mists?) are actually THE FORGOTTEN from the original guild wars lore which relates to the dragons, the human gods, and yada yada. And I'm still hoping this whole toxin/toxic corruption has to do with the Forest Dragon...but now that seems far-fetched... it definitely has to do with Scarlet which seems like a lazy excuse for a evil mastermind just throwing things for us to fight, and assuming Scarlet has to do with the forest dragon, definitely having to do with pale tree, nightmare court, the mists and so on, hopefully itll lead us in the right direction

But thinking about it, Anet's living stories really seem so disconnected but like maybe a year down the line when we look back things will make sense. It seems like we only experience a small tiny fragment of what is rly going on, just random fragments of things as it develops, not really the full story. I think if we sit tight it will move in the right direction. They did manage to have guild wars 1 lore, and also novels that ties things together

[Fritanga]

https://forum-en.gui.../10#post3115999

It seems like soon we will get some more info and story with Scarlet. While they haven't come out an said she is involved in this Kessex Hills stuff, Earlier today I was in EBG doing one of the events (and getting stomped by SBI at the same time..........) and a Scarlet Hologram kept appearing asking if I was having fun with her latest project.

I don't really know how I feel about that... I like Scarlet as a character and I think any update where we get new glimpses into the lore and history of a race is super cool, but pairing the Nightmare Court and the Krait with Scarlet now is a strange turn of events and puts things in a weird position. Do we get the Jotun and Grawl forming the Derp alliance next? Maybe the Centaurs and the Sons of Svannir making the coldhoof consortium?

What I do like is that the instance seems pretty fun so far and it doesn't feel as labored as past living story updates. It sometimes feels like its very labored and boring, but other times feels like they are learning about pacing very well. I really like the quote I read earlier where Bobby Stein said "The Kessex Hills you see after November and December will look nothing like the Kessex Hills from 3 weeks ago. These types of changes in the world are amazing. It makes the world feel alive and keeps me interested in the changes and hopeful for future content.

As for where I think this krait thing is going, I would LOVE to see their prophets be the Forgotten, but I really don't think we are heading in that particular direction. I feel that the Krait and Quaggans (as well as the Largos (can't forget about them!)) are all really heavy Deep Sea Dragon (Bubbles) territory. This leads me to think of several possible outcomes:

1. Scarlet is trying to build alliances that can counter the effects of the dragons in specific places. The Molten Alliance is to fight Jormag, the Aetherblades to fight the Jungle Dragon, now this Toxic Alliance to fight either the Deep Sea Dragon?

2. Scarlet sees the history of Tyria when the dragons first spawned and is playing the long-game where these groups don't really want to work with the other races. They see the Elder Dragons causing problems everywhere and just want nothing to do with it. The historic race that had a similar thought was a group of seers who decided it was better to go out of phase with reality and go into hiding, only to come back and control the world in Kryta (talking the Mursaat here).

As for where we are heading with this? there are multiple paths we can go down. All lead to new content which I am very excited about.

Theory 1. We are pushing farther West into the Maguuma Wastes- We have already seen that Scarlet has worked extensively with the Inquest and the Nightmare Court and built herself a base in the Twilight Arbor. Prior to this base, she had one next to Lion's Arch, and another in Wayfarer Foothills. It seems her facilities are being built farther and farther westwardly. The next one should be in the Maguuma Wastes if this continues.

Theory 2. We are pushing Southward- If we really follow the Krait line, we end up in Mount Maelstrom. It seems that the Obelisk shards originate from somewhere South and East of Mount Maelstrom. Could we be heading to an old Krait city East of Port Sledge? Will we head to the zone South of Mount Maelstrom? There is lots of water down there where Krait Obelisks can be placed. Maybe give us out first glimpses of the Bandit Causeway leading towards the Crystal Desert and the Forgotten.

Theory 3. This is all just a giant Red Herring and we are really going to see Jormag next. The Sons of Svannir are the only ones who Scarlet hasn't dealt with really. Maybe this is all just a distraction from them?

[Noctis]

Meh, you read what he said, right? No change in direction or even any conceptual changes until 4 months from now. That is, if they want to change anything.  Probably not though. So we're gonna get the same raw half baked updates over and over again.

The every two week update cycle is really way too fast. They just don't have enough time to build a really solid grand story and everything you would need to set it up.

Actually, maybe they could stick with that crazy every two weeks thing, if they were willing to keep one single storyline / story arc. Like for example this Krait business. Make that story last a couple of months.

First 2 weeks will be like that: First add all what we saw before the release - Kasmeer and Marjory investigating and all that stuff. Add an achievements section for that - say like 4-5 achivies - helping them investigate, going on a scavenger hunt to all other Krait places to investigate, that sort of thing. At the same time just remove some stuff from the area. Like deforestation. Maybe completely destroy the quaggan village and leave a couple survivors for us to find and question.

Then on a third and fourth week decimate the bandits and centaur camps and send us via mail to investigate. Completely remove the meta event with the centaurs - because they have been all killed off and their camps are barren and filled with corpses. Let us fight the crazed survivors and some normal Krait in those areas. Also activate the next phase of the scavenger hunt - to talk to friendly bandit and centaur NPCs who tell us about how the Krait and Nightmare court have killed everyone. New achivies.

Fifth and sixth week: the same thing we have gotten now. Complete redesign of the area, story mission, total revamp of the meta event in the area to only include the Toxic Alliance. New phase of the scavenger hunt - find more information on the Toxics. This would not involve simply collecting 20 crystals or shards or whatever but talking to the NPCs and figuring out what is happening.

Seventh and eighth week: The area and meta event is finalized as an Orr-styled massive invasion/assault. Seraph and the Orders has build fortifications around the area and are assaulting the Krait Spire. The Krait are sending out attaching parties. The Orders push culminates in a battle against multiple waves of Krait and last phase - a zone Boss encounter not like Shatterer or Teq, more like the Orr Temples). It could be an imbued Witch or and actual Leviathan. The meta event is permanent until the Living Story returns here and changes the zone again.

Ninth week. No updates, except fixes, balance changes and such.

Tenth week - start of the new Living Story Arc.

This is a long time and a lot of careful development for a specific story. That how it should have been.

[UltraEM]

Meanwhile, the Elder Dragons destroy Tyria.

[Necros Stalker]

Honestly this alliance and them working for scarlett actually makes more sense then the Molten alliance and aetherblades. The Krait tho Xenophobic are not stupid. They have over the last century lost numerous wars and territory the worst of which was to Bubbles who basically drove the krait out of the deep and into the shallows away from there obelisks. The risen compounded that issue further and bubbles dominating the deep they have no way to actually perform there religious rights as they used to. What you have is a race that is desperate and on its knees. So when scarlett or one of her aetherblade messengers get captured and then show off a piece of an Obelisk its like the prophets have finally answered. Here is your religious icon, here is the beginning of any army and if you help you'll have your obelisks back. When you a desperate you will do anything to survive even if it goes against your values. That's a fact and scarlett gave them just that even if it seems a tad convenient but it does work. Should have been better explained in game or its gonna be when we get inside the tower

How did scarlett reach the obelisks you ask. Well the krait need to swim which makes them vulnerable to bubbles. But the Aetherblade's in there air-ships can fly out to obelisks (or at-least the ones that poke out of the ocean) and then take em. Scarlett gave the Krait something they believed can help them turn the tide of struggles in the long term and if that means putting up with her for awhile so be it. The nightmare court I'm not so sure but I would anticipate there either guns for hire or slaves like some of the quaggens suggest.

Scarlett herself is showing signs that she is getting desperate herself and is working for someone else. When she swept up the defeated molten alliance and allied them with her aetherblades and the Steam creatures (thermonova link) she anticipated quick victory but failed and she has again and again been defeated, her many base's destroyed. She herself is probably working for someone else but that is another debate entirely (I believe the Thermonova, Scarlett and the forest dragon maybe linked). The Krait are not pawns there in this for there own Gain but I believe we are going to soon see who scarlett is working for or at-least more on her origons and some clues. Everything will probably start getting pieced together after the thermonova fractal when we learn exactly how it happened and what its effects were and if indeed there is a link

[UltraEM]

I think the alliance would make more sense if the Krait saw Scarlett as a prophet; that would surely convince them, but if I were the writer, I would make a turn for the gruesome when we defeat her and the Krait find out she wasn't a prophet. I hope the Krait capture her and torture her before giving her an agonizing and slow death.

And then FINALLY we can get back to the real problem: the dragons.