#gw2 living world season 1 spoilers

[commanderjuni]

[OUTDATED]🦋SRABBA TALK | PERSONAL STORY AND LWS1

SOOOO guess who just finished living world season ONE today? that's right. this guy. first and foremost I LOVED IT? i played through it before but sorta blew through everything, but actually taking time to experience the story was very fun

and now, the even funner part... writing about what srabba was up to during it all! i'll be doing this for each part of gw2's story for fun, and to articulate my thoughts about it!

⚠️ MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PERSONAL STORY (1-80) AND LIVING WORLD SEASON ONE BELOW THE CUT

Beginning with the personal story, Srabba actually has no involvement with the war and eventual death of Zhaitan.

Srabba is only 13 when the events of personal story take place, and thus she has no real place to be at on the battle-field. However, she kept tabs on the new research and theories springing up as more was uncovered about the elder dragon of death.

While she was doing pre-college studies in Metrica Province, Srabba kept up to date on the situation mainly through research papers, news articles and word of mouth. Zhaitan wasn't exactly a quiet affair, so there was plenty of hubbub about the dragon and the three orders— the Vigil, Priory, and Order of Whispers— coming together (for once) to take down the dragon.

The breakthroughs during this time: the confirmation of one Professor Gorr's theory— the dragons consume magic, thereby taking it out of Tyria and growing stronger in doing so— has monumental affirmations and implications, and Srabba finds herself more and more fascinated in the topic.

Because of this, she sort of... nudges her other projects aside. Chaos magic can be put on hold, she'll keep her hearing aid development on the back-burner— this, this dragon research... It was incredible, and Srabba was eager to know more.

Thus, Srabba decided that after turning 14 and enrolling in the college of Dynamics (after proving herself with a clever invention called the Transatmospheric converter— a blend of asura intellect, mesmer chaos magic, and elemental magic), she'd make a name for herself in becoming an expert in dragon magic. Alongside chaos magic, of course. You can be a genius in two things, after all.

Srabba's choice in enrolling in Dynamics was a success in keeping aligned with her goals. Statics only focused on what they already had, and Synergetics... bleh. Too theoretical and philosophical for her tastes. Dynamics got things done in new and innovative ways, and Srabba made a name for herself in her class with her bright, cutting-edge ideas. She was regarded positively by her professors, albiet some of her peers found her a bit... egotistical... and some of her professors found her a bit too smart.

Nonetheless, Srabba was thriving in college.

And then... Scarlet happened.

First it was Dragon Bash. Then it was the Queen's Jubilee. Then it was the wretched tower in Kessex Hills. It didn't take long for word to travel back to the asura side of Tyria, and Srabba once again found her putting her projects aside for a new interest: Scarlet Briar.

Now, Srabba could care less about Scarlet as a person. As far as Srabba cared, she was a crazed Sylvari who liked explosions and bombs a little too much. It was her machines— her alchemy and magitech and gizmos galore— that Srabba really cared about. Srabba found Scarlet to be a genius, and she needed to study some of this genius' work.

Thus, Srabba sort of... Oh.. Y'know... Snuck out under everyone's noses and onto one of the sites of Scarlet's latest monstrosity: the Clockwork Marionette. She wasn't there for the fight, personally, but was found by Logan Thackeray snooping around in debris and fancy shiny bits and rubble. Not only did he have one nosy progeny to deal with, but now two nosy progeny.

Srabba and Taimi had no prior interactions, and as far as they knew before this moment, the other didn't exist. However... If it meant annoying some dumb human...

And with that, a beautiful friendship was born.

Upon being dragged back to Lion's Arch to be sent away to Rata Sum upon a guardian taking ownership of them, Srabba and Taimi got to actually chatting, and found they both had quite a lot in common.

One, they were both orphans. Two, they both were disabled and hated getting pitying looks because of it. Three, they were both brilliant prodigy progeny, and hated even more when people doubted them for their age. And four, they both were fixated with Scarlet and her work.

... As far as Srabba figured, though, Taimi was more curious about Scarlet as a person, and the two had plenty of slight bickering about who knew the most about her or was going about thinking about her the right way— much to everyone else's dismay.

It is around this point Srabba begins to become not the leader, but a facet in the budding new guild, composed of Marjory Delequa, Kasmeer Meade, Braham Eirsson, and Rox— Oh! And Frostbite, too.

In canon, the Commander eventually brings everybody together, but fate somehow managed to gather all of them in one place, and it didn't take the group long to bond.

They have two brawn, two investigators, and now two brain. A perfect even number!

... Odd, if you count Frostbite, though. But Srabba doesn't like odd numbers, so it's an even number now. Hmph.

However, the guild doesn't have time to frolic around. Scarlet clearly is planning something, and the group is determined to figure out what. Srabba manages to participate in some evidence scouring with an asura by the name of Vorpp, and Kasmeer and Majory. To everyone's horror, they all put together that Scarlet isn't just planning something big, she's planning to strike Lion's Arch, and she's about to strike it hard.

Scarlet soon unleashes her greatest atrocity on Lion's Arch: an all out catastrophic attack.

Lion's Arch is gunned, bombed, and a thick miasma soon takes over and claims anyone who is exposed to it for too long. All forms of terrible enemies— Flame Legion, Inquest, Aetherblade pirates, Krait, Dredge, and Nightmare Court— lay siege to Lion's Arch and kill anyone who doesn't escape or tries to stand in their or their leader, Scarlet Briar's, way.

The attack reaches Srabba— who away tending to her studies and research— and the news mortifies her. Although she's dealing with college and papers and exams and her own mini research projects, she feels a strong calling to head out and help.

She has a rendezvous with Taimi at one of the refugee/rally camps nearby the Vigil headquarters, and to see all the damage up close... Survivors recounting the horrors and losses, resources spread thin, people dying with little hope to save them... It takes Srabba out of her comfortable bubble of research and onto the field, and the sight not only horrifies her, but it sparks something in her usually cold heart— forget all about studying Scarlet; the only thing Srabba wants to study is a way to put that wretched sylvari down for good.

However, the rest of the group makes an effort to keep Srabba out and away from danger— they don't want to bring anyone else in to the battle, where the probability of death for a 14 year old with only three years of magical experience and little to no combative experience... Eh, it's better if one doesn't say the exact numbers. (NOTE: They aren't high.)

This enrages Srabba, but despite her anger she knows they aren't exactly wrong.

After Scarlet is slain, something... Happens.

Srabba was in the midst of studying artificing when even she heard a wretched noise— it was a loud, rumbling sound on par with a growl, or a howl, or a roar.

It didn't take long until Taimi urgently contacted her via digitized mail, and despite initial suspicions, Srabba came to the same conclusion as Taimi: that was the roar of a dragon.

Srabba didn't take long puzzling why the roar happened in the first place. Scarlet had descended upon Lion's Arch with some horrible platformed drill that struck into Lion's Arch's sea. Previous discoveries unveiled that Scarlet had been toying and pin-pointing and probing for ley-lines, and Lion's Arch had been the main target on her maps.

Synergetic research dictates that all of Tyria is loaded with ley-lines: rivers and streams of (usually) invisible magic. Wherever magic travels, it travels along ley-lines that dot Tyria's entire expanse. Scarlet Briar had dug up a ley-line, and made a racket so loud it may have drawn the attention of a dragon.

Srabba had plenty of papers to back it up, but not even she wanted to believe it. She knew Zhatian— with it's risen minions and death magic— was bad enough, but what Scarlet could have woken up... It could be much, much worse. What was worse was that Srabba couldn't figure out which dragon Scarlet's infernal drill had woken up, and this put her on edge... Thankfully, her newfound friends could try and soothe those nerves after calling everyone to the Dead End Bar for some food, drink, and light celebration in taking Scarlet down.

However... Srabba knows something lurks on the horizon.. Something bad.

To be continued...

[korribanarchive]

So I finished playing through Living World Season 1 after having missed it on it's original go (thanks boot camp.) And I loved it so much! It really gives a lot of missing context to Jory and Kas's relationship, where Taimi came from, and how Braham and Rox became the single braincell duo that I love so much!

Scarlet is absolutely unhinged and I love her as one loves an absolutely unhinged villain.

[therenobee]

what are the coolest dragons?

GUILD WARS 2 SPOILERS!!!!

Outside of D&D I think Guild Wars 2 has the best Dragons and uses them incredibly well, with each expac / living world season being dedicated to one of them at a time (with one exception)

Each Dragon in GW2 represents a kind of Metaphysical force on top of their respective flavour of magic, with each expac story revolving around how to destroy an Elder Dragon in a way that doesnt end up destroying the world by unleashing that concentrated primal energy that makes up the universe.

my two favorite of the group are Kralkatorrik and Mordremoth.

With Kralkatorrik, his whole deal is they represent Crystal and Fury- They have the power to pop in and out of the psudo-afterlife-time dimension called the Mysts and their Crystal breath turns you into a glass pincushion demon bound to their will.

One of the consequences of them being able to use the afterlife as a napping nook is the human gods nope the fuck out of reality leaving the human race AND THE HUMAN AFTERLIFE to fend for themselves leaving The Mummy from The Mummy (Played by Nolan North) to take free reign over godhood.

Oh btw they are fucking huge...

The sheer size of Kralkatorrik is insane- one quest has you flying inside of its maw, and its expac postgame zone is its entire body

And Kralkatorrik is not even the BIGGEST Elder Dragon (that tiny spec on the platform is a big metal golem)

So yeah, one expacs deal is trying to find a way to kill Titanus Doug in a way that doesnt end up breaking the firmament, plunging the whole of the physical realm into a primordial soup

(BTW not once... but TWICE can you have to fly into the maw of an Elder Dragon)

Now lets talk about Mordremoth, the Elder Dragon of Plants and Minds.

"Hey man, got any games in your brain?"

Now hold on, hear me out. Mordremoth is fucking sick as hell.

So after the main game, the first expac starts off with the main races starting a zeppelin crusade against Mordremoth, flying into their domain and blowing up every fiscus that even looks at you funny.

Which immediately goes to shit after 1/4 of the crusade goes insane.

One of the main races- One of the PLAYER RACES has their brains scrambled by Mordremoth because hey, they are plant people and Mordremoth's whole deal (who we know very little about at this point) is messing with plants and brain (Including plant King Arthur who is leading the crusade with LITERAL EXCALIBRE)

So his expac has you lead a nearly annihilated party of scouts across Uncle Fern's Naked Puzzle Greenhouse to his lair in the hopes of killing him and BREAKING HIS HOLD ON 1/4 OF THE GAMES POPULATION. The last stretch of which requires you to play a MOBA game against his Generals before reaching his true lair.

Now hold on, hear me out. It is a MOBA-like game... but you arent the heroes. You and 50 other players are the creep, the little things that get fucking gutted by try hards in League.

That picture above is just his psyche you have to fight inside plant King Arthur's mind, his physical form actually looks like this.

Also Lena Raine did their theme

[pruning-the-minds-garden]

Reasons Nerdy Hypnokinksters Should Play Guild Wars 2

Are you a nerdy hypnokinkster, specifically of the variety who likes to play MMORPGs? Do you have a bit of spare time this holiday season to try out a new one? Well, I have an entirely self-serving list of reasons for you to try out this one! Lets get on with the list! I'm going to put it under a cut because I'm polite like that.

By the way, this list WILL contain spoilers for "Heart of Thorns," "Path of Fire," and somewhat for the Living World and Icebrood Saga. That is just not avoidable at this point, if I want to talk about the selling points I want to cover. If that matters to you a lot a lot, then you'll just have to take my sales pitch on faith and try the free-to-play base game without reading the rest.

Lets start with the reasons most particular to hypnokinksters, and then work outward to reasons that are more general, ending with the things that just make this a really good game. Also, there's a bonus one at the end that's just a reminder of their Black Friday sale which is thinly-veiled FOMO that I'm lampshading now so that you can ignore it when it comes up if you're not already bought in. Aaaaaaaanyway!

1. The Mesmer Profession

In GW2 Character Classes are Professions, and the Mesmer is something halfway between an Enchanter and an Illusionist. They summon illusory clones of themselves, phantasms, and they also confuse and ensorcell their enemies to various effects. So, basically, they are the dream class for a hypnokinkster. They are also a light armor-wearing class that can wield a Greatsword (shown in the picture) and Staff (not pictured but also cool), as well as other weapons with really pretty versions (like the Sword known as The Shining Blade), and as a result can have some of the snazziest looks in all of Fashion Wars 2 - er, Guild Wars 2. It also happens that the Mesmer is one of the more unique and well-liked Professions in GW2 and so it tends to get the nice end of the nerf stick, most of the time, though on the whole GW2's balance actually stays remarkably tight.

2. Mordremoth and the Sylvari

This dude is one of the Big Baddies (called Elder Dragons) of Guild Wars 2. The are the existential threats of the world, and there's only a handful of them in the world. Each of them is themed around two things - one aesthetic, and one function. Mordremoth's aesthetic is plainly obvious, he's the planty/viney dragon, and so there's a lot of plant vibes that go on with everything to do with him, his servants, and so on. His function, though, is Mind. He inadvertently gave rise to one of the playable races of Guild Wars 2, the Sylvari (pictured below). He did that because he sort of exudes mental energy, and he can capture and control minds that are compatible and in his vicinity.

In fact, one of the sub-plots of one of the expacs is that some Sylvari become corrupted by Mordremoth when they get too close to him, and turn against their own friends and allies - that is, get mind controlled - and have to work to break free and gain back their own minds. The player never has to go through that, but they are present for others who have to go through that.

3. Jormag

Another of the Elder Dragons, this one is themed around Ice and Snow. You might think that has nothing to do with mind stuff, but you'd be wrong. Jormag's function is "Persuasion" and so the long section of story where you are tracking him down and making ready to defeat him, you are going through ice caves and trekking through tundra, and all the while you can hear increasingly loud whispers in your mind telling you all about why you should work with him instead of against him. And, at the same time, he's recruiting an army of weaker-willed but stronger-armed minions to fight for him. I KNOW, RIGHT?!? Anyway, I'll be in my bunk. This is really just a repeat of reason #2, but in a new packaging, and is yet more evidence that ArenaNet (the company that makes GW2) hired some hypnokinky people to write their story.

4. Kralkatorrik and Aurene

Okay these last two are purely for the aesthetic value, but I think that still has value for a lot of you. The first picture is Aurene, an ally you meet later on in the story. She has a veeeeeeeery shimmery-shiny aesthetic to her that you can model your character after eventually. Those rainbows in the lens flares aren't just rendering artifacts, either; they show up all the time around her and in graphics to do with her, so if you want rainbow crystals, she's your go-to gal.

On the other hand, if darker and more angry crystals are your thing, Kralkatorrik is your Dragon Daddy. His breath weapon is to turn everything into crystal and make crystals grow from the ground, and wherever he flies purple crystals grow in his wake. He is the Dragon of Anger, though, so he's kinda powered by being eternally pissed off and unpleasant. So, y'know, ups and downs.

5. It's LGBTQIA+ AF

See the two pictured above? Yeah they are two of the core NPCs that you work with through the whole post-base game storyline. Also, they are in love with one another, and in a textually sexual (no nothing NSFW but it is made textually clear) relationship. And, that's not the only instance. There are gay characters and trans characters and ace characters, and I can't really think of a game that I've played that has gone to the same lengths while at the same time not feeling "token-y" about it. For instance: I'm disabled, and I personally appreciate the way they included a disabled character in the aforementioned list of core NPCs, both in her strengths and in her flaws. She is not made to be morally pure or perfect (she's annoying AF sometimes), but she's also highly competent and it's your ass if you condescend to her. Both Marjory and Kasmeer have their flaws, but they also clearly love each other and you can see how their relationship organically grows over the course of the story in a way that is very... human. It's nice. I like it a lot.

From here the reasons are not focused on hypnokinky folks, but on reasons why it's a good game in general -

6. An End to the Gear Grind

In GW2, there is an actual end-point to the gear grind. Once you get a set of Ascended or Legendary gear (the former of which is doable with a few months of time, and the latter of which will take considerably longer but only needs to be done once as it can be used for all of your characters who are eligible to use a given piece of equipment), then that gear stays as the top-tier gear forever. I got my first piece of Ascended gear on my Elementalist eight years ago, and it is still top-tier gear today. It doesn't do the thing that a lot of MMORPGs do where the iLVL goes up every time a patch or expac is released and that makes all of the current BiS gear obsolete. It might happen that a mechanics reshuffling might slightly alter what stat combination is best in slot, but changing one Ascended piece into another is pretty trivial and changing the stats on a Legendary piece of gear is literally just a matter of clicking a button.

7. The Mounts are Fucking RAD, Y'all

See those 8 guys up there? Those are your mounts. Four of them are relatively easy to get, another two take a modest investment of time, and the last two are a GD grind (I want to be honest with you so you aren't shocked later). However, even just the base 4 are fun as HELL to ride around the world in and they make traversing the world SO MUCH MORE FUN. One of them (the Raptor) makes horizontal leaps and runs fairly fast. One of them (the Springer) makes big vertical leaps. One of them (the Jackal) teleports short distances and turns on a relative dime. The last (the Skimmer) floats above water and ground hazards and can hover higher over obstacles for a bit if needed. The combination of the four can get you through 99% of the terrain in the game.

The experience of flying on the two flying mounts (the Griffon and the Skyscale) is also AWESOME, although they take a real investment of time and resources to get. In exchange, though, you get something that is legitimately entertaining all on its own. Something similar can be said for the beetle, which is basically "Guilds Wars 2.5: Tokyo Drift." World of Warcraft is said to have borrowed the Skyscale and Griffon mechanics for their latest expansion, and regardless of the truth of that I completely understand. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then this is a mechanic that is highly deserving of that flattery because it's awesome. I wouldn't fault them if they did. If they didn't, then reinventing that wheel was a brilliant move on their part.

8. No subscription fees and the base game is free

This one speaks for itself. If you want to try it, then there's nothing financially standing in your way. the base game is free, and there is no subscription required to play. Just download it and get started.

9. The game respects your time

This one is intangible and I understand if you don't follow me here, but having played the game for years I feel like GW2 respects my time far more than WoW ever did. If I'm not able to play WoW for a few months, then when I come back my character is woefully out of date, my equipment is miles behind, and I have no idea what's going on. I stopped playing for two or three years in GW2, and when I came back I started up again with almost no issues. My gear was still as good as when I left, and although I later had to shuffle some things, I was still in a perfectly fit state to get around and do what I needed to do. The game also went to pains to tell me what I needed to do, to give me guidance on what the next steps were for whatever was going on in game at the moment, meaning that I didn't have anything like the lag time I might have had in WoW.

10. Bonus: Black Friday Sale!

And here's the sales pitch! The expansions are bundled for this weekend going through to Tuesday, and the bundle is on sale, so if you wanted to download the base game, give it a try, and then if you decided you wanted to buy the expansions... now would be a good time to do it!

If any of that interests you, here's a link to the GW2 website and you can make an account and/or download the game:

[cousinslavellan-archive]

Tangled Paths Ch 4

Scarlet is dead, her machine destroyed, and Lions Arch rests, ready and waiting to be rebuilt.

But the insane Sylvari’s rambling bothers Terra, and she knows this isn’t the end. They have time to recoup, to rest and heal... but how long?

Eventual Braham x Sylvari Commander but holy crap this is slow burn peeps. Also hi I haven’t updated this fic in at least a year but playing through new content in game has woken the muses up. I AM NOT ABANDONING MY MASS EFFECT STUFF this just bit me and needed written.

Spoilers for GW2 Living World Season 1 - though you’ll notice I skipped most of it because I did not play Season 1 and wanted to move on. Hopefully it’s not to jarring. Enjoy! ♥

Trahearne,

I'm sure you already know, but we took down Scarlet and her toy. Lions Arch can rest, now, and rebuild, hopefully stronger than before.

I know I could just tell you this in person, but I'll be staying here a little while longer. I've commandeered an Inn on the outskirts that managed to survive the invasion, and I need to ensure my squad heals properly.

"I'm heading downstairs to grab dinner. Taimi, keep an eye on Braham."

"Can do!"

"Commander, any requests?"

Terra pauses to offer the Char a grin, shaking her head, "Whatever seems appetizing, Rox. I trust you."

"If I spot any tarts, I'll grab'em."

Grin widening, the Sylvari can only laugh, "Thank you, Rox."

"Oh, Rox, wait up! I'll help!" Kasmeer plants one last kiss on Marjory's forehead before skipping after the Char, throwing a quick "Be right back, Jory!" over her shoulder.

The necromancer huffs fondly, shifting to a sitting position once the Mesmer's out of sight. "I've told her, I'm fine. Just a bit bruised."

"Let her pamper you, Jory," Terra chides, grinning, "I think it's good for her. Good for you both, really."

"Whatever you say, Boss." Marjory pauses, glances around, then says, "Thanks. For getting this place. It's nice to have somewhere we can all recover, together."

"I look after my friends." is all the Sylvari says, turning back to her letter when Jory nods and looks away.

I'm happy to report we suffered zero casualties on our team, and the injuries will heal without any lasting consequences. I know they'd be fine without me here, but they're my friends, and my squad. I wouldn't feel right if I wasn't here. Besides, a couple of them are stubborn, and I'd truthfully rather stick around to make sure they don't make themselves worse...

"Braham, stop! You're not supposed to walk yet! Commander!! Braham's being dumb!!"

"Really, Taimi?"

Terra's up and headed for the far end of the room immediately, planting her hands on her hips and giving the Norn a very displeased look, "Braham. You know you're not supposed to put much weight on your leg, yet."

Braham only grunts, still sitting with his good leg over the edge of the bed and the broken one along the top. "I wasn't going to go far, Boss, geez."

"Not the point. What do you need?"

"It's not a big deal, I can get it-"

"Braham." Terra lets her commander voice slip into the words, narrowing her eyes at the Norn and pursing her lips, "As your friend, I am asking you to please not push yourself. I'll make it an order if I have to."

He's not technically under her Command - he's not an official member of the Pact, after all - but considering she's been acting as de facto leader of their little gang, she knows he'd be inclined to listen if she did order him.

Thankfully, it doesn't come to that; Braham blows out a breath and nods, shuffling himself back onto the bed with a grunt. "I just wanted a glass of water."

Terra softens at that. "Coming right up."

"See, Braham?" she hears Taimi demand as she crosses to the table on the opposite wall, pouring a glass from the jug they've been keeping there, "I knew the Commander would agree with me!"

"Didn't think it was a big deal." he grumps back, and Terra can't help laughing as she returns with the glass, handing it to Braham.

"I would rather help then have you prolong your healing by being stubborn." she quips, settling on the edge of the Norn's bed while he gulps down the water.

"Trying not to be a burden." Braham grouses, but there's an edge of a grin on his lips now, and he seems less frazzled then before.

"What are friends for?" Terra mumbles softly.

"Alright, chow time! Everyone still awake up here?"

"Here, everyone - eat up!"

Rox and Kasmeer reappear, arms laden with several dishes that they begin to pass out, and the letter to Trahearne remains unfinished, Terra just as eager as the others for a good, warm meal.

They laugh and talk while they eat, all of them, glad to be together and to have made it through the ordeal alive.

Terra slips out after a while, quietly making her way onto the small balcony and settling her hands on the rail. She stares out at the remains of Lions Arch with a frown, knowing that they've won and can rebuild, and yet something still seems off.

We are alike, you and I! Just you wait, sister - you'll see the truth soon enough. No one can escape what's coming!

Terra hisses out a breath and clenches her eyes shut against a sudden headache, Scarlet's insane ramblings flitting through her mind.

What did she mean?

"Boss? You okay?"

Terra's eyes pop open at the voice, straightening to give the Norn a very exasperated look over her shoulder. "Braham, what did we just say about you resting?"

"I leaned against the wall and I'm trying to avoid putting weight on it," Braham doesn't meet her gaze until he's managed to hobble over to the railing beside her, leaning on the banister for support before looking down at her, "Besides, you're hurt, too."

She scoffs at that, turning her gaze pointedly towards the city, "I am not-"

"You have a scratch on your cheek from metal shards," Braham interrupts her, voice soft and slightly aggravated, "It blends in during the day, but I can see it now - it cuts through your markings. You also have a bruise on your side from one of Scarlet's minions and a scorch mark on your arm from the final assault. You're hurt, but you're not letting us return the care you're giving."

Terra feels herself flushing, faintly, the mark on her breast pulsing in time with her quick breaths, "I didn't realize anyone had noticed."

"Boss, I'm a Guardian; I notice where the healing magic tries to head. And I was stuck on the ground playing audience at that last part. I saw you get hit."

Terra stays silent, not really sure what to say to that. She's... happy isn't the right word. Touched that he'd noticed her pain, maybe? That he'd been able to tell despite her trying to hide it.

Are you my Braham? comes the recurring thoughts, on the tip of her tongue, held back by fear and anxiety, Do you notice these things because of the Bond, or are you just...?

"...are you okay?" he asks again, voice soft, and she lets out a sigh, shrugging weakly.

"I don't know. There's still so many things about Scarlet's actions that don't make sense... and that roar we heard. It had to be a dragon. But which Dragon, and why?" Terra hangs her head, grimaces, "I keep getting these headaches, whenever I try to think about it too much. I think I need to talk to Trahearne, see if he knows anything."

"You're not staying, then?"

There's a hint of something in his voice, and when she glanced at him and sees his frown, she thinks it might be sadness.

"No. Not right now, at least. I need to return to Fort Trinity, if only to check in and see if they can tell me anything." she tilts her head back, forever amazed by how tall he is compared to her, "I know Kas and Jory were heading back to Divinity's Reach. What about you?"

"Should probably head back to Hoelbrak, check in on the Steaders still stationed there. Might see what Rox's plans are. And I think I'm stuck with Taimi, now."

The words are said with gruff fondness, and she can't help a laugh, "Good. Keep each other out of trouble."

"You, to, boss." Braham pauses, hesitates a moment before looking down at her again, "I'd kinda hoped, y'know, that we'd all..."

He trails off and looks away, but the implication is clear. That we'd all travel together again.

"We will, Braham." Terra smiles openly, now, forcing aside thoughts of soul mates and marks and focusing on her friend, here and now, "I promise. Once I've checked in at Fort Trinity, I'll send you a message. We can meet up again, wherever the winds taken you."

Braham is grinning again, fire back in his eyes, and he laughs joyfully. "I'll hold you to that, Terra! Now... help me hobble back in?"

The Sylvari snorts, ducking under his arm, "I don't know that I can actually help, since I'm tiny compared to you, but let's go."

It's not until later when they're all in bed and relaxing that she pauses, startled.

He called me Terra. He normally calls me Boss.

She files that away, vowing again to ask him. Some day.

[renkungw2]

Living seasons 1 and 2 recapped in Path of Fire

[ashalsdream]

30 Questions

I was tagged by: @brax-was-here​, @likemesomesalads​ & @fellis-world​ ! thank you my dears <3

1: Favorite living world season?

Living world season 4!!! It’s my favourite season and my favourite storylines

2: Favorite expansion?

HoT, I have a hugeee dislike of PoF

3: Favorite soundtrack?

Aurene dragon full of light

4: First profession you played?

Elementalist! My baby boy Tomomi

5: First race you played?

Sylvari!

6: Favorite Destiny’s Edge character?

Probably Eir or Caithe

7: Favorite Dragon’s Watch character?

HMM I DO WONDER – ofc my cactus husband Canach (shut up he counts)

8: Favorite Elder Dragon?

I really am digging Jormag rn but overall will probably be Kralkatorrik

9: Best boss fight (story)?

So far? I think my favourite boss fight is with Kralk, I still replay it although Joko’s boss fight was sooo much fun

10: Best boss fight (fractal)?  

I don’t play fractals a lot but would love to get into them more

11: Best boss fight (raid)?

Only just started raids!

12: PvE or PvP or RP?

All of the above? I do less rping now as my attention span can’t handle it but I used to play pvp EVERY day, I mostly hunt achievements now!

13: Favorite canon couple?

Kas/Jory, my babies <3

14: Favorite fanon/self made couple?

My baby boy Tomomi & Canach if we’re talking about my ocs, however my favourite rarepair? Probably Trahearne and Riannoc or Evon & Ellen

15: Favorite quote?

The moment that made me fall in love with Canach, “Oh Hi Anise, I didn’t see you standing completely within my line of sight”

16: Most emotional cinematic?

LWS4 SPOILERS:

Watching Aurene in the fight with Kralk over and over and over again – breaks my heart.

17: Favorite VA?

John DiMaggio!

18: Post a fun screenshot!

[ominious sandshark noises] This was taken when we had a party in the GH for my birthday in August, they taught me how to glitch the arena :’D

19: Post a landscape screenshot!

20: Most used mount(s)?

Raptor & skyscale, they’re the easiest to travel with – although lately has been skimmer as well because… well yEAh underwater!!

21: Favorite mount skin (for every mount you have)?

Raptor – Starscale 

Skimmer – oceanic ray

Springer – elonian jackalope 

Jackal – Primal spirit

Griffon – Grand Lion or Snow Stalker (i dont have snow stalker tho but my fave animal is a snow leopard so i NEED IT) 

Warclaw - vigilant saberclaw

Beetle – synergetics gyrocycle (THE SOUNDS PLEASE ME SO MUCH I COULD CRY) 

Skyscale – Shimmerwing or Luminescent

22: Favorite weapon?

Astralaria~

23: Favorite gear set?

Hmm, not sure, I usually mismatch so I don’t have a favourite set

24: Favorite title?

Keeper of the Sun

25: Something you worked really hard to get?

Astralaria!! It took me months and I cried when I finished it! I instantly dragged my guild on call to excitedly yell about how pretty it was

26: Favorite GW2 Youtuber / GW2 related video?

Mukluk, AuroraPeachy and JessTheStardustCharr. I’m patreon to a few of them & they make my day!

27: Most used miniature?

Whisper of Jormag – reminds me of Aaravos from TDP & I love the funky worm

28: Most used novelty?

Embiggening potion, make Ashal TOLLER

29: Number of achievments points?

30: Something you’d love to see in GW2?

I cant WAIT to see Bubbles!! And Cantha!! For once I’m not going to play the expansion with Ashal, I’ve already made up my mind that I’ll be using Sonas as she’s my gw1 character and it feels right!

I am tagging: @commander-luna​, @captainfinebuns​, @leftincommand​, @commandertollwife​ & @commander-triangle​ my friendos!! <33 love y’all 

[guild-guardian]

Spoiler Free review of “All or Nothing”

After a cut because long post, many words, skritt math. 

The Story (No details)

Overall it's probably one of the best executed episodes worth of story that they’ve released in the last couple of Seasons. 

The Final Battle is more akin to the kind of scale you see in the Zorah Magdaros battle in Monster Hunter World than you’d expect to find in GW2, and that was a huge improvement compared to previous Elder Dragon battles. Having an active role in the battle, along with the NPCs not just “swinging their sword Oh look they swung it again” at trash mobs, and actually being useful- firing siege weapons, fighting mobs, picking you up if you get downed

So many call backs to minor named NPCs- some personal early personal story, and others from pact/priory/vigil etc It lead to a feeling of being surrounded by familiar faces as you lead the charge.  The short piece after the battle was also a well designed experience- the lack of UI and the “damage” lines that you felt when Balthazar killed you in PoF, further push the “oh fuck we’re pretty badly wounded”, along with the forced walk/limp and fall to our knees when we try to hop down along the uneven floor. The main character’s animation here was excellent and slow pace allowed Anet to sculpt a tightly designed experience that is as shocking as it is memorable. I won’t forget that last visual.

Brandon Bales and Debi Derryberry probably did the best voice work in this episode (imo- I haven't played it through on a non-sylvari male). It was extremely immersive and I totally bought what was happening as they expressed it.  I appreciated that the Zephyrites’ song/choir got further development, and how its relevant to the story just made it a really nice touch overall. 

I did think it felt very short- only 3 instances. It may be that they pushed the pacing to emphasise the commander rushing headlong and gambling dangerously on the first ideas that come to them, and they do love a cliffhanger at the end.  It ends on a flat note though, you can’t even interact with story NPCs after you finish it- nothing in the shiverpeaks map changes, no dialogue no “I’m just checking in” updates, nothing.  Final Note: WHERE ARE KASMEER AND MARJORY 

The Map

Huge! Ruins! Subterranean structures! Exploring! Absolutely nailed the Guild Wars 1 Shiverpeak atmosphere.but uh...not much to do past that. 

The Thunderhead Keep meta is fun- I love defense events that allow us to set traps, build barricades and ballistae. The Boss is TOO BRIGHT. It is impossible to see even with effects turned down and post processing off. Anet needs to reassess their priorities with visual telegraphing because right now you can’t see a thing, never mind reacting to the thing. 

Minor Quibble. UH WHERE DID THAT CLIFF AND PIT COME FROM? I’m pretty sure that the mountains just...continued north of the keep in GW1, and a little further north you’d come to the Mursaat teleporter to Hell’s Precipice. 

The dredge meta is...hard to get people to defend the 2nd and 3rd drills- I’ve yet to be successful on this one. 

The delay between meta active times feels a bit long, and perhaps its just the layout of this one, but there isn’t much notification if North or south meta is happening/how long until X etc. 

I don’t like that Map Completion can’t be soloed- Both metas are required. Unless you find a friendly mesmer or buy the Light of Deldrimor from the TP. 

Past the Metas, I’ve seen maybe 5 or 6 events tops on this huge environment. That is pretty woeful. I get that this was probably a high budget episode with two cutscenes, unique character animations and PvE environments built to scale with the GW1 counterparts (why did dwarves build so big anyway?), but the overall quiet map is a bit of a let down- considering the variety of content available in Jahai.

I adore the skritt/priory interactions, and an above ground village of Dredge being shown in in a positive light. Even if literally every member of the survivors has had to kill their friends and family with their own hands. 

The Mastery 

Heavily Situational and will take some getting used to. It doesn’t have that immediate “Good Feel” as mounting your griffon midair or while gliding. Being “animation locked” for most of the launch prevents you from gliding or re-mounting, so you just plummet for the most part and lose out on any air you might have hoped to gain from using it. 

At least we can be thankful it wasn’t required to complete the story or meta.

The Fractal

Dreams: Crushed Hopes: Sundered Orr: Ignored.  Instead of picking an interesting pirate/corsair character that could use a bit of story development, they go with the boisterous ghost from the Lion’s Arch Jumping Puzzle. 

This fractal is short (at T1- it’ll likely have more complexity as you go up) and very sparse on story. The music is good, and the environment is good. Dessa continues to be the shining star of most fractals with her responses to the situations she gets to observe.  Probably won't be the new Challenge mode fractal that people were hoping for, but the fight mechanics are fun and different. 

I’d appreciate it if Anet could relinquish their choke grip they’ve had on talk like a pirate day 2012 that seems to permeate all of their pirate related content- it always feels kind of like even the characters themselves don’t take themselves seriously. There's just something pretty wack with them.  (and I’m not talking about all the landlocked core game pirates just living in lakes barely big enough for their bases) That’s Enough. 

The Legendary

Probably one of the nicest they’ve done in a while. Initially I was put off by it- the official preview of it in the reveal trailer didn’t really show it off very well- not the steps, aura or on-draw effect. However on this video from someone who got it before release, they point out a few things about it that really sell it for me.

I love the scorch mark on draw, with the dubstep twangs the most. A little disappointed that Range LB 5 is unaffected- it could have been very pretty (ie spirit bow active visuals).   It's a very refined weapon that will certainly suit a lot more characters than Kudzu, and I’ll probably make it after I finish Ipos. In like a year.

The Music

Knocks itself out of the park in a home run touchdown or however sports works. The choral piece for Aurene is very beautiful, and I especially appreciate the tarir motif used towards to the end of the track.  Re-used GW1 themes in the map give a very nostalgic feel, and the fractal has a unique Shanty theme, along with what was used for this year’s Festival of the Four winds. 

OVERALL SCORE 7.5/10

The story is moving and immersive, the encounters well designed and well executed, however sparse event placement on the map kinda gets :/ from me. 

Fractals continuing a trend of “we can do anything in the history of tyria- but lets focus on the boring parts” is also disappointing. 

PS. The .5 comes from the Skritt writing and voice acting.  So pure and wholesome. 

[northssketchbook]

GW2 Path of Fire Spoilers

I just finished Path of Fire and wheeeeeew. That was...heavy. My favouite part is definitely the Domain of the Lost. I really loved that spirit raven too, the fether effects were beautiful. Seeing all those memories (not accounting the backgrounds of our commanders, and other personal memories) it’s been quite a long lung, or so it seems. So much happened.

In Lorena’s story her parents and most of the Blackport family where killed by White Mantle (I’m still trying to fit timeline stuff, could they be around that time?), and their deaths where too, traumatic. Altough I didn’t know about the finding your name and about your past life. Because of this her parent’s may have moved on, but she might have met them. (I kind of wanted to meet Grenth :D)

Another favourite was the Mists part, and I hope we will be able to explore it some more. Kormir’s ‘realm’ was just so breathtakingly beautiful!! I must return there, nt just for the achievments, but to just take in the atmosphere. :) The Abbadon tentacles below the water was a cool little addition :D

I really liked the first Balthazar fight. At first  I was like “okay, I’ll fight him, normal battle...etc” but after downed as he waited for the commander to heal up, fight, get downed, heal, repeat. I actually started to feel fear. And that moment I thought...oh my god, she might not live through this.... Those feelings definitely made that moment memorable. I also had a strong Mass Effect 3 feeling, especially the end... *shudders*

The ending fight was cool, wielding Sohotin was the coolest thing ever :DDD

I know there are so many references for Guild Wars 1, and I wish I knew more about it. 

Ican’t wait to explore the desert more, but whew. I have to take this in. Soooo many feelings, I didn’ even cover everything. It’s bittersweet with a pinch more sadness.

Listening to ‘Fear not this night’ makes me a bit more sadder. :/

I am really curious what will happent in Living World Season 4.

[felidae-charr]

A Flashpoint Opinion Post

I promised I’d do one of these, and here it is! I have a lot of thoughts on the latest Flashpoint episode and I’m not going to lie to any of you: it’s not really all that positive. Of course, as always with these sort of posts, this is just my personal opinion and experience; plenty of other people might feel totally different and that is a-okay. My inbox is always open to asks if people have questions or want to talk about it, and I try my best to keep an eye on replies, so if anybody reads this and wants to open a discussion, you’re welcome to. <3

And as always, posted under a read more so it doesn’t clog up anybody’s dash if they aren’t interested. 

But we’ll preface with a summary: what the fuck is going on with the writing in this living story? Also: spoiler warning.

Flashpoint has left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve never been so quick to put down Guild Wars 2 after an update (I played it on release day and the Wednesday that followed and I haven’t touched it since,) and I’ve also never found myself so oddly jaded. I actually said to myself that if episode six doesn’t actually start making some goddamn sense in any respect and answering an increasing number of questions, I might not even buy the expansion.

Honestly, truthfully?

I don’t like the direction that Guild Wars 2 seems to be going in these days. Of course some of this ties into the big ol’ leaks going around, and I won’t discuss these on my blog at all until ArenaNet confirms them because I believe in confirmation from developers rather than taking leaks at face value, but I have some real concerns. Ever since Colin left, the direction of the Guild Wars 2 flagship has been slowly changing... and I kind of wish Mike would find somebody to permanently replace the position he’s temporarily put himself in in Colin’s absence, because truthfully I think he’s better at running a company than he is at implementing good game direction.

The biggest stickler for me that I’ll open with, as a really big Charr player : why are the Charr following Balthazar?

I haven’t, in my admittedly short time playing the game, seen any given reasoning for Charr to be following a human god. And I emphasise both of those things, because of all the known Charr factions that we have, not one of them fit the profile for following Balthazar.

The Flame Legion were the legion that spearheaded the Searing. They are Charr as we knew them to be in the first game: they’re sexist, they’re a cult that will believe in deities where there is some good profit to be seen in it for them, and they are incredibly racist. Now while some people claim that Balthazar, as a god of War and of Fire, would appeal to the tastes of Flame Legion, I want to contest this with the fact he is a human god. If any deity in the world were to be the one deity that the Flame Legion deem to be inconsequential and not worth following, any human deity falls into that category. I find it extremely unlikely that they would ever, even in desperate circumstances, come to align themselves with the god of the one race in Tyria they spent so many years fighting.

Our regular Citadel Charr are equally unfit to follow a human god: because they’ve cast aside deities entirely. Embittered to the notion of religion as a whole after the antics of Flame Legion, Citadel Charr out and out do not recognise gods in any form. Things can be big, and powerful, and in some cases beyond complete comprehension, but they aren’t gods. They’re just big, powerful and sometimes beyond comprehension - and also potentially killable. They wouldn’t put their faith blindly into anything claiming to be a deity, never mind a human deity. And sure, sure, there’s a truce right now that they’ve actively fought to keep alive, but just because there’s a tense peace treaty that doesn’t mean that Charr are about to abandon their history to go and follow a human god. Flame Legion have proven time and time again why gods don’t work: Citadel Charr outright say they killed their gods. Nothing is infallible.

The only other known faction of Charr are the somewhat disorganised Renegades. And I shouldn’t need to explain why these Charr - you know, the human hating Charr that strive to rekindle the fires of war between humans and Charr - wouldn’t suddenly start following a human god.

So again: why are there Charr in these mercenaries? I haven’t seen any Norn, for example, and this makes sense: Norn don’t recognise the human gods as gods. So why would they follow Lazarus or Balthazar? Naturally they wouldn’t. No sylvari either, from what I’ve seen, and this also makes sense: if Batlhazar is so gung-ho against dragons, he probably doesn’t want dragon minions in his mercenary army. (You know, despite Mordremoth being dead at this point.) It just makes no sense to see Charr there at all, and while I was playing I could see no reasons given or stated. (If somebody has found any dialogue clips, by all means please share them with me!)

I feel much the same way about the appearance of the Inquest, too, but at least the Inquest can be half-assed into the mercenary army through the use of Zinn and his research. No, they don’t recognise Balthazar as a god either, but they stand to gain from Balthazar’s actions via getting access to all manner of research that at one point was probably considered lost to the ages. It’s a flimsy excuse, I feel, but at least the excuse even exists.

Secondly: Balthazar’s entire scheme makes very little sense.

Of all the disguises that Balthazar could have used to come down to Tyria with and amass an army using, he chose a Mursaat so that he could employ the use of the White Mantle. You know... the one human group that doesn’t recognise the human gods as gods. Of all the humans in the world that he could have chosen to utilise, he used the only one that would have gone immediately rogue if they found out who he actually was. Instead of appearing to Separatists for example, who are begging for a war with Charr and would have probably thrown themselves at Balthazar’s feet as long as he promised them their war, or even just regular Krytans who are dealing with the war with centaurs and would have also likely been keen to at least listen to their god, Balthazar chose the White Mantle. And... we have no explanation why. Beyond that, he then had to hire mercenaries because he was concerned the White Mantle would discover his deception and no longer follow him - something he could have avoided if he had appealed to any other group of humans in the entirety of Tyria. It makes just no sense. 

Beyond that, we really have no evidence that any of the human gods were involved in setting up the White Mantle to be able to even think they could find the aspects of Lazarus. So from where I’m sitting, not only did Balthazar choose arguably the worst human group to try and manipulate, but he did so simply because “Oh hey, I guess I could do this.” Now maybe there’s more to it than that, as the developers have said that his story arc isn’t over, but right now I’m just... not impressed. For saying he’s a god with some considerable power at his disposal - you’d think - he’s made a lot of stupid choices.

Thirdly: Balthazar didn’t make an intimidating foe... at all.

The last time we were dealing with a rogue god, it was in Guild Wars 1 and it was Abaddon. And I didn’t even play much of GW1, but you know what I remember? There was an entire campaign based around that. Abaddon was an intimidating villain simply on the principle that the original plan was to, you know, prevent the release of Abaddon. When that failed, the last ditch option of desperation was to defeat him outright - and that took some serious firepower that included the blessing of all the other gods. The threat was very, very real.

Balthazar... yeah. Not so much, huh?

We dispel his illusion through the use of Kasmeer, who admittedly may or may not be far more powerful than we know in fairness, but that means we pretty easily smash through a relic enchanted by Lyssa herself. Well, okay. How about Balthazar, then? Well, his puppies aren’t shit, frankly. You beat them down into submission and then utilise Taimi’s machine to completely destroy them, but the fact you physically beat them down so easily is... underwhelming. Haha, humans, not only was your racial elite skill trash in the first place but it’s now just been officially murdered in the game? Honestly. And as for Balthazar, while we know he hasn’t been destroyed and will likely resurge at a later date to continue what appear to be nefarious schemes, he just never felt threatening. You just blew up the machine he had sort of put himself into an oh, hey, I guess he’s just gone for a bit now.

What? 

The human gods were never fully elaborated on at any given point in time, but Guild Wars 1 made it extremely clear that they were powerful. Extremely so. So unless Balthazar was half-assing his own plan and not using his full power, or unless he’s been somehow weakened by something happening on Tyria, his appearance has been critically underwhelming. Hell, it took more effort to defeat Zhaitan - and I remember that boss fight, I just pressed 1 a bunch. Yet somehow Zhaitan still made a more imposing threat, because it took serious work and preparation to even face him. You didn’t just talk so some slightly irritable druid spirits, get a nice fancy shield so you could jump into a volcano and then throw a bit of dragon magic at an Asuran machine to watch it go pop.

I have more gripes with Flashpoint beyond these three things, including the fact I think the new map is a good-concept-gone-horrifically-bad and is possibly one of the worst maps in GW2 since Tangled Depths and the utterly boring set up of one tiny but mildly intriguing instance, one bad map and then one tiny, eye-searing instance with a clusterfuck fight giving no real payoff considering how close to the end of the living story season we are.

Frankly, ArenaNet...

If you want me to buy your expansion hot off the press, this final episode of Living Story better see some real improvement when it comes to writing and see some genuinely good answers to these questions. I’m getting real tired of investing in your stories only to have you leave them half fucking finished and glaring lore discrepancies and plot holes that you then just never come back to.