Guild Wars 2 Secrets of the Obscure - Expansion Features Overview
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2023
- Weapon Mastery, Skyscale, the New Daily System, Legendary armour and a little more story speculation today! In this one I'll get you guys the run down on all the big ticket bullet points for the expansion.
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![Guild Wars 2 - The Bastion of the Penitent Full Story [SPOILERS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ixilaIk5pCM/mqdefault.jpg)
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came to watch that trailer video and the follow up Q&A. Today I'm looking at basically all the other big ticket elements of the expansion - Skyscale, Legendary Armour, Wizards Vault - and a bit of an introduction to some of the meatier things (like relics, new weapons) which I'll have dedicated videos on in the coming days!
Hey WP thank you for the amazing content mate! Pls give us the SOTO log in screen in the second channel :D I would love to have it
*Palpatine voice* Goooood Gooooooooooood
Plp
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Plp
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The low framerate you're running into is becuase the website is designed for your webbrowser to be running with hardware acceleration turned on. But, doing that often messes with screensharing, so i'm not sure fi that would screw with your recording set up.
Dude, exactly what the doctor ordered: wooden potatoes GW2 videos.
Agreed!
For real
This shit is great for my mental health. HAHA
I have no idea why but WP vids are like comfort food for me 🤣
you know my doctor??
The legendary armor being Obsidian is indeed explicitly stated in the rewards blog post. "Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure will also introduce a new set of legendary armor: Obsidian armor."
Makes you wonder where the latter maps will be if they are calling back to a set you make in the fissure of woe in GW1. Or fractal/strikes anyways.
yay another bait for old players. desperate. hyped though. FoW confirmed? menzies?
Me listening to this and some of his guessing on things in like “yeah that’s happening already” lmfaoo
@@hardy83 The wizards probably rescued the tower from kralks destruction
On the skyscale debate, I honestly don't understand why it's an issue. Forget new players, there are SEVERAL people who refuse to go for the skyscale just because of how tedious it is to get. This whole " I was miserable getting it, so they should be too" mindset that some people seem to have needs to stop. I'm happy for people now that they will have a less tedious way to get it and enjoy the game in a whole different way now.
Absolutely! Like who TF cares if they get it easier? We had the fortune of using it for years so why should or can be anyone mad about it? I honestly don’t get it
Also the ones who already worked hard for the Skyscale (btw I don't think it's a bad experience getting the Skyscale the old way, I had a lot of fun) are getting boni (or bonusses ... Whats the plural in english? Lol) for training two mastery lines. I really like the idea and am looking forward to train mine again.
i wasn't miserable getting it originally was kinda fun XD but to each their own i guess XD skyscale took me roughly a month to get when it was new I'm not butthurt over an easier way to get it. seems people just love to cry about nothing.
The issue is that skyscale allows you to circumvent 80% of the games mechanics and such should really be restricted to the players that have already played through the game throughly already
The mindset is that its an achievement that is beint devalued. Its a legendary mount with legendary abilities (bypass 80% of terrain) that was suitable gated behind behind a long scavenger hunt.
I can't wait for the next expansion to go even further than obsidian and straight up give you a legendary armour set for free.
As a veteran who obtained skyscale the original way im very happy to see them make it easier because jesus christ it was rough to get. Im very happy that other will be able to experiance and have fun with the skyscale mount.
Rough to get? Really? My god if that’s rough to get then what’s legendary armor? It only took a bit of time that’s all. You didn’t have to do any time of hard stuff.
Doing the expensive and annoying thing gave me *years* of advance Skyscale use. People who think that's unfair are the biggest block to A-Net improving the game.
Genuinely baffled when people claim the Skyscale is difficult or 'annoying' to get. The only part I somewhat understand is the time-gated part if you lack the funds to speed it up.
@@EdenTechX not everyone is in their early 20s anymore
@@velDANTe age is irrelevant here. Even if you do it slow it can still be done in like 2 weeks which isn’t even long
I just want to say I'm so happy that you're back!
There is no other content creator who has a better understanding of Guild Wars 1 and Guild Wars 2 lore AND is as pleasurable to listen to as you are! I always have the feeling I am learning loads of new things when I put your videos on, and I love it!
Not super related to this video, but I would love to see Zojja have some commentary on the major story/world events she missed. How does she feel about missing Kralkatorrik’s death? Is she bitter, remorseful, completely unbothered? Does she regret missing Eir’s funeral? Or Snaff’s return?
I do feel like they owe it to the character, themselves as storytellers, and us as the audience to comment on those things that would have been important moments for Zojja.
it doesn't seem to me like the devs really give a shit about the story or the lore, other than to the extent they can capitalize on it without actually understanding it, in order to try to tempt long term players to keep spending money.
new players seem to be their target audience, and new players generally don't care about the story, or the long term game lore stretching back to gw1.
Yes i agree
I do agree about season 2, it feels like the perfect speed, we get to meet people, talk, and not feel like we're missing out on content. The fact we never went back to check up on the pale tree after mordremoth always bothered me too
WP, just wanna say how positively you impact my life when you post GW vids. I know (maybe), at times, making GW videos dont feel fulfilling... I'm glad ANet is producing content that you find worthy of your time again. It's great to have you back, and needless to say... 55 minutes... FUCK yes. Hope you had a great trip and are enjoying being back at the desk.
It's important to notice that for the updrafts and leylines, it says flying mounts; not the skyscale specifically, so that sounds like the griffon will get those too.
There's an article on their site going over the rewards that does call the new legendary armor, Obsidian Armor. After looking at it, they definitely took some design elements from the gw1 armors. They also show some concept art for a griffon skin in the section talking about the Wizards Vault, which kind of implies that it will be exclusive to the Wizards Vault.
Thank fuck, griffon is so much cooler and way more fun than the skyscale.
It does sound like based on other sources that the griffon is getting most of the same upgrades, which is nice.
I get the feeling the hidden mastery will be a new type of flying mount. Griffins aren't technically flying mounts I know they cab fly technically if your super god tier pilot but that's a less than .00001% of griffin flyers who can do that. I still think they will get some of the benefits but I also think there's going yo be a new true flying mount. I sure hope so as I'm not find of dragon mounts in games tbh.
People whining about the skyscale changes reminds me of when people were mad they included the base game with HoT. "But I bought this game two years ago. What do I get?!" Uh, you got to play it for the past two years? Just yesterday I saw people upset that a returning event in New World was going to let people earn rewards they may have missed out on and people were upset "So I grinded those out for nothing? They should be unique!" I guess some people's brains are broken and they think FOMO should be encouraged or something.
On the skyscale thing, I'm happy that new players get an easier way to obtain a fun part of the mount system, but I also want the original skyscale obtain system to have some meaning in the game, because of how it encourages people to visit different places around the world and interact with events and collections that generally would get glossed over by most players if not for the skyscale. The rune-locked door achievement in Desert Highland for example is amazing with all the detailed environment in those rooms and several weapon skins tied to them, but it get recognized by the general player base not by its design but by how it's involved in the skyscal obtain system. One of the achievement revolving around finding your lost skyscale have you travelled the world and going to all these jumping puzzles. In general, the original skyscale plays an important part in the economy and gets people to play the game more, so I wish it still has a place after the expac.
I think legendary armor will have the effect you mentioning. I can’t imagine the open world armor isn’t gonna be filled with open world things to do and places to go.
Also the original sky scale collection still matters as it powers up the sky scale abilities more. So still a reason to do it.
I would love to see Raisu palace area expanded upon since they sort of revealed it on the map after EOD. The idea of them expanding not just core tyria but areas from expansions really appeals to me if we're not getting a dedicated new region. If it's all underwater then an aerial map above it would be pretty cool, with the ability to explore the sunken palace under water.
Hell, if it's alternate reality then the whole thing could be in the sky.
I think the grawl tried to summon fleshreavers a couple of times, once in wayfarer foothills, and i believe maybe in timberline falls as well? But they also spawn rarely elsewhere in the world, mainly at places that could be ritual sites, like behind the waterfalls in the Elon Riverlands.
I think it'd be fun to have these above existing maps. Just so players can see random characters jump off and falling to their deaths all around them. But I may be alone in that.
About giving skyscale for free it's also worth noting that World of Warcraft: Dragonflight was released. WoW devs saw griffon and skyscyle and realized those are so good that you can build entire expansion just around them. In Dragonflight you get your dragon for free at the start of the expac and whole expansion marketing was based around that feature. In gw2 on the other hand griffon was secret and both flying mounts are locked behind long and costly collections. In my opinion Blizzard realized what a banger of a feature those are better than Arenanet. We got measly 2 griffon races per map, while in Dragonflight there are like 20 races per map. I think after playing Dragonflight Arenanet devs realized that they have not been using skyscale and griffon to their full potential and this expansion tries to fix that mistake. That's why both maps are aerial and skyscale gets new masteries.
I love these videos. I find that no matter how long the video is i can always be patient enough to go through the whole of it.
Perhaps the new maps will be above existing maps, either as an additional layer within the existing map square or as a separate layer on the world map. Jumping off the map to crash land in metrica provence or wherever sounds pretty cool.
I'm not sure if that sort of thing has been done before but it sounds possible with an expansion.
I am so much more interested in watching your videos than I am clamoring for guild wars news. I don't really care to look anything up myself, but your commentary on it is a source of great entertainment.
I wonder if the Heart of the Obscure might not actually turn out to be the Heart of Lyssa, seeing as it will apparently be crucial in unveiling that which is hidden, something which very much plays into her theme. Then it would make sense that there is also a Heart of Grenth. It might also mean that they're taking up the gods as a story thread again.
Youve got me wondering now about some other weird connections. Lots of talk of Secrets and Truth (Abaddon / Kormir). Theres a Heart of abaddon, in the realm of Torment but its a map, surrounded by towers and dealt with the Razah demon quest
given how they handled "lore" in eod, I have a suspicion they are not very conversant with the lore of gw1 and don't really care.
In Summer 2015 I just finished highschool and I was watching WP prepare me for HoT. Life has changed since then, but here 8 years later I am watching WP prepare me for another GW2 expansion. Life is good. :) Really appreciate your videos WP!
Im pretty sure the mysterious creature is actually a Djinn: "Some Vabbian myths describe the djinn as protectors of the natural world, making them enemies of unnatural demons from other dimensions." This is literally the premise of the expansion
On the Fleshreaver, I would love to see Anet tie them into the expansion and explain their origin since we see so little of them in Tyria. Are they demonsor just constructs of Necromancers gone "bad"? I love the dark and demonic theme as a whole, especially when looking back at the lore behind Verata in GW1. It makes me sad that we haven't seen a minion master spec for the Necromancer given the theme was so rich in the first game. Sigh. Great video as always!
The Skyscale topic makes me wonder if this expansion is Anet's response to WoW: Dragonflight. Blizzard basically yoinked the 2 flying mounts from GW2 and combined them, made it a selling point of their latest expansion and got a lot of praise for the implementation (but also got meme'd on hard for stealing ideas). Anet probably saw it happen and didn't want to lose this battle, so now we're getting our own flying focused expansion with improved Skyscale.
People also complained that Skyscale takes way too long to unlock while WoW just throws the new mount at you, so now Anet's adjusting to the competition.
Another informative and well executed video from WP. Thank you sir.
I'd love it if these wizards and gadget makers extraordinaire would finally bring us Master Jeweling (500) and the ability to craft ascended trinkets. It's the only incomplete discipline left!
My guess why the astral ward did not intervene in the dragon crisis is because they work on an interdimensional level and focus specifically on demons trying to invade Tyria.
They probably will have some "Rick and morty" type of response like "oh you wanted us to save the world from dragons? What about the world where Caudecus became emperor of the world? That one's worse!"
Or we'll be told that they've worked with the Seers and the Forgotten and they had their part in Glint's legacy.
Or a combination of the two. They helped a little, lots of other worlds to save.
The floating islands are probably reflections of places in alternate Tyrias. Particularly that screenshot with that Elonian pyramid being turned into a forged camp, I don't think we've seen that. Might be an alternate world where Balthazar won (and somehow didn't collapse the world). So we might see some interesting whacky stories.
It is Obsidian armor! They say so in the Rewards blog post. :)
theory: The Wizards rescued the tower and armour from kralk destroying the mists
Seeing a new WP video dropping is like getting a black lion key for map completion.
I was seriously waiting for this video for days. I'm rewatching all your recent videos, I just can't get enough of you talking, I don't know why, your insights and comments and views are really special.
I never bothered getting my skyscale, WAY too much that needed to be done to get it. I'm really looking forward to using it whenever i want.
It's the way of all MMOs, you invest time for a new feature/power/upgrade and some time later it is given out "for free" so new players can catch up. I have no problem with that, I enjoyed hatching my skyscale. Griffon is still the superior mount if you know what you are doing.
I can only dream getting as good as anyone in those awesome flying guilds. Big inspirations, so frickin hard to control. Sometimes I try and train for myself and I'm happy if I don't crash just 10 seconds in 😂
Hi!
There are huge chance that you all already know this, but:
Asura story "Protest Too Much" lead the player to Garenhoff to find one of the bases of the Arcane Eye, Rata Sum's secret police.
The “current event” about Kralkatorrik’s rifts isn’t unfortunate, on the contrary. Branded riftstalkers could be large Kryptis. After all, they come from rifts that lead directly to the Mists. It’s entirely believable that he branded some Kryptis during his sojourn in Season 4. There’s also the similarity between Kralkatorrik watching us fight them through the rifts, and a looming eye shown in SotO rifts.
If the devs don’t establish that connection, I’ll be disappointed. What, Kralkatorrik made riftstalkers out of whole cloth? This Misty, rifty, alternate reality thing is very similar to what happened in Jahai and learning that we were fighting branded Kryptis would be a perfect throwback.
Oh, I love this idea! Never would have occurred to me.
Honestly, I have the skyscale already and I am totally fine and even excited about the change to getting it. I have so many friends that want to play and want to get it, but have such a hard time grinding out those old story currencies and then feel so left behind during metas and such because they can't keep up. The meta at the end of EoD is a nightmare to get around if you don't have a skyscale.
I feel like everyone who plays mmos just needs to understand that whatever you're grinding for will likely be made easier/simpler to grind for in the future. Just kind of the pattern of things.
?
literally no meta in the game requires any mount to be able to successfully complete, much less the most elite mount in the game.
It makes a few things slightly more convenient, but that is all.
@@Thorrnn I didn't say it was REQUIRED I said they kept getting left behind during the meta and struggling to keep up with the groups. Learn to read please.
I think arena net really missed a trick when it came to the elite specs they could have added. If the rifts are fractal like, then they could have gone wild with the theming. Heres a few ideas based on the weapons:
Elementalist: Firework Artist. Let this be Canthan inspired with the pistol as a canon to shoot out firworks. Rather than swapping between elements, you have one set of skills that you add elememts to to increase the potency of the weapon skills.
Mesmer: The mesmer is all about twisting your expectations, so its time for melee rifle. For this we are going full military drill team as a close quarters offensive combo maker. We can really lean on the marching band and bard aesthetic to summon back up performers as phantasms.
Necromancer: For double swords were looking at the Sea of Sorrows, with the undead pirates that infested the waters. Rip and tear with the drowned/davey jones aesthetic. For mechanics, i like the idea of a shroud that starts at 0, then builds up to a threshold that you can unleashed in a fury, kinda like adrenaline. Or maybe we go full zombie minion mancy where your shrous is more undead crew.
Thief: Axes make me think of raiders and ravagers, so maybe a viking or wherewolf inspired theme. The axe could be claw themed, with a stealth attack that's a series of furious swipes. Survival would probably be the pick for skills here.
Guardian. Pistols and virtues? This is your wild west sherif if I ever saw it. Turn the virtues into combat maneuvers and bring out the quickdraw vibe with an elite skill thats basically McCree's "Its high noon".
Warrior: Give them staff, call it a spear then boom you got a paragon.
I didn't mind getting skyscale at all. I would do the skyscale grind AGAIN instead of being forced to do the group content for the siege turtle.
Love to see you back WP. Your GW2 videos really get my hyped for the game. Your enthusiasm is truly infectious.
I think Anet adding new combat features that affect every spec is quite clever. It allows them to get quite a lot out of the feature but for much less effort than an elite spec. My only concern is powercreep and balance becoming unwieldy.
I expect many weapons to be buffed and nerfed to be at similar powerlevels, currently many elite spec weapons contain a lot of the specs power. Maybe even some reworks so each has its niche. Ele Scepter comes to mind as a spike damage weapon. I half expect Ele pistol to be a mainhand support weapon to replace old heal Scepter.
Really happy to see them work on new daily and monthly reward systems. Though I am a little disappointed with the lack of guild features, maybe next expansion.
So glad to have new WP videos to watch, just makes the day feel more complete somehow
I think a good place for one of these maps that would also explain why we're in the sky and put a pin on some old lore is the area where the other wizards tower was in the GW1 tutorial area. That whole section south of the Char Zones, NW of Ebonhawke, and NE of where Thunderhead keep was is about the perfect size to drop in a puzzle piece that has a wrecked ground level and sky islands where the old Wizards tower was. Outside of there another zone could be in one of the Crystal Desert areas that we haven't used yet between Orr and I do think that one of the zones will be where Sanctum Cay was. That will likely be where we start with all this. I know that area is supposed to be where the Tegnu live but part of this could also be them fleeing because whatever happened destroys their City.
thank you for still making gw2 video!
On the skyscale thing: If I got a nifty title for having ground it out over dragonfall prior to the launch of SotO, well I'd consider it fair compensation. Yes, I love my status symbol. Yes, I put in the time and effort to get the mount, and as long as that status symbol can be replaced in some way shape or form (IE, a cool exclusive title), then I'd really have no complaints. Otherwise, I have no issue with an easier way to get it, so long as the previous way remains open. But then again, I don't really use my skyscale terribly often because griffon is so much more fun.
Glad to see you back in PvP c:
I’m glad they’re making the process of getting the skyscale is easier. However, I’m hoping they’ll offer some reward for those to got it before the expansion.
Im looking forward to seeing what they do the new enemies. Im glad you noticed the Fleshreaver comparison as well! Im wondering if the map portal in Brisban Wildlands in the north of the map near the old collapsed bridge, surrounded by Fleshreavers in the ravine below" might lead somewhere new.
The Wizards Vault, at least from the discourse and deep dives into the website that I've seen, is much more closely tied to being like the Trading Post feature in WoW currently. Daily tasks to earn currency to then spend on exclusive items both gemstore and non gem store alike. I think it will be a cool option as it looked really cool in WoW except hopefully with less FOMO, but we will see when we get some more info on it.
You know what I was just reminded of? There is a character in Garenhoff now named April. She's a little girl inquiring about the Wizard's Tower that's now disappeared. Garenhoff is her home town but that's not what's interesting. There is a hidden achievement starting in a cave in LA that has to do with her and her wishes to join some secret mesmer organization. Without spoiling it, April managed to outsmart the organization and trap one of their members in an enchantment that renders any spells casted inside the enchantment useless, it also prevents this member from leaving. April isn't there just randomly I bet. Maybe not some huge story plot but definitely not a rando character with random presence there. She also is missing a leg replaced by a jade prosthetic, she was around WAAAAAYYY before EoD so she wasn't missing one before.
okay so and this might be heart breaking to hear but there is a fairly high chance that once every class has every weapon that they WON'T add new ones here's why in the beta the untamed hammer allowed you to SELECT THE UNTAMED OR NON-UNTAMED VERSION OF EVERY SKILL this would be a lot easier then creating new weapons and would allow them to use create alternate versions of weapons that you can toggle this way you can still use the base weapon skills if you dont like the new ones so yea the bubble has been burst (they might also turn some trait skills like glacial heart for guardian hammer, into this style as well)
This really seems more like DLC than an expansion tbh
On weapons. Yes warrior looks like it is complete.
However, during the weapon mastery beta weekend it was noted that for ranger's untamed hammer. You can select the type of attack it becomes when you do not have the untamed specialization on.
So there is the possibilty of old weapons with new attacks.
That's a good point about the heart of the mists and what flying on skyscale could be like in SOTO. I bet you're right for at least some of the design, but I do hope there are large swaths of open air where you feel like its quite a distance from island to island.
Coming from FF14, you are the only GW2 content creator I come to for updates like these. Keep up the good work
Thanks for the video! I've just come back to GW2 after a lonnnnnng break. I'm excited for all the new stuff to see. Guess I have a month to get through a bunch of it! (Your Discord link is out of date btw!)
I believe that the entire new expac and following parts will be an entirely new layer to the current map layers we have and will essentially exist completely detached from any tangible area on the map. Because it would also be easier from a ui and ux experience the 4 compass buttons we have could just have a new button added adjacent to them that swaps the map to an Ariel type layer.
Yes, wanted to say that too. The ones who played or are still playing WoW might know what we mean. Maybe WP never has looked into the WoW maps. But I still agree, we need more places down on tyria covered 🙈
The whole closing rifts around the world that demons are coming though with a special device reminds me a lot of DA:I.
Thinking about it, if this is a story about the gods and human secrets, having an Asura (especially a rude one like Zojja) would make sense since they would be able to separate emotion and human belief and superstition from the facts. That sorta links in with this idea of finding truth. Im looking forward to getting a different Asura perspective
about login rewards: these need to stay!
As a new player, the login rewards were a big help to get me started! I am sure others experience it similarly.
Happy to see you're back making content for gw2, missed ya man.
I think if they're smart about how they structure the story the multi-part format won't be an issue. As long as there is some point in the initial release that has a satisfying conclusion I think it's ok. To use an example if we were to put the fight against Zhaitan in this format you would have the story follow from the point of discovering the scout in Lion's Arch up through the retaking of Claw Island. It's a triumphant moment, the immediate threat is halted but the big bad is not defeated the subsequent two updates would be the march on Orr and the defeat of Zhaitan himself.
Prolly structure like wow they do seasons of the same xpac
Looks like we've got a lot of orbs to ponder, wizards.
The Skywatch pic reminds me of the jumping puzzle in the sky above Metrica, Goemm's Lab.
Yes it was confirmed Obsidian Armor. I was so pumped and am now on board with the theory we may be seeing something about FOW! 53:24
It seems like the devs or the publishers keep getting cheaper and cheaper, providing less and less, or reuse the same assets over and over, the same way WoW does, for the same cost to us.
In HoT, practically everything was NEW. All new creature models, skins and animations. All new plants and land forms, trees and architecture. The introduction of 5 huge maps, elite spec system, gliding, and a brand new profession. The entire Mastery System. The introduction of Meta Events, and Guild Halls, (TWO OF THEM!), And on, and on and on. It was a MASSIVE expansion with HUGE amounts of actual content. Content that people still LOVE, years later.
PoF gave us Mounts and 9 new really decent elite specs, 5 HUGE maps, mostly new creature models and animations, one new guild hall, but was lacking in the meta event content, but introduced the Bounties System, which didn't quite make up for meta events, but is still an enjoyable element to the game, but, overall, was considerably less content heavy, though it did have a very good story.
EoD seems to have essentially re-used practically every creature asset the game has ever had, with a spattering of new architecture and landforms, a handful of new creatures, (like, literally 2, the phoenix and the mud wallow) a single new mount (we actually got more new mounts from living world than from the EoD expac), and 9 half assed and poorly developed new elite specs, (half of which don't even make any contextual sense in the game lore). And fishing. (something I, personally, could not give two shits about, but I know a lot of people seem to like). Another new guild hall, (don't care, it's pretty but was unnecessary), 4 maps, instead of 5. Nothing remotely innovative, that wasn't also incredibly dumb.
I'm seeing a consistent decline in the level and, more importantly, the Quality of expansion content. As if all the intelligent and caring developers, who loved the game and know the lore, have left and been replaced with a bunch of idiots who don't know the game lore and don't care.
And to be honest, this "mini-expansion" for essentially the same price as that of the last 3 "full" expansions, is very disturbing, and I suspect will be disappointing, though all the simps will gush and squee over it, as they always do.
If the best they can do is unlock all of the elite spec weapons to all core builds, then what was the point of the elite specs in the first place?
This does not count as "content", to me, as they were literally able to just unlock them by seemingly flicking a switch and make them available for an entire long weekend. Unlocking something that is clearly already in the game doesn't qualify as "new content".
No new elite specs in the upcoming "expansion", but Ooooo, a new "weapon choice": a weapon choice with no lore, no story, no context, no nothing, to support or justify it. No elite spec training to learn the new weapon. No new trait line related to justifying WHY I am suddenly able to use a pistol as an ele, or dual maces as a ranger, or whatever.
What about new ranger pets? Are we getting any of those?
Any new skills? Probably nope, unless they're mastery based, like bouncing mushrooms. Who actually uses that mastery skill when you're not in Verdant Brink?
We're getting new masteries...Yeah!...for a mount we already have. Weak.
New armors?
Cool.
But, we got like 8 new armors in EoD, and like 10 in PoF, so new armors are not that impressive, as "content" goes, and they don't take very long (comparatively speaking) to create, even if they are "legendary"
New legendary armor? That seems like a slap in the face to all the elite tier players who did the grind of the most difficult game content in order to obtain the most elite tier armor.
But, we're all getting used to that, by now, aren't we?
And I'm confident that they will make it easier and easier to get when lazy a-holes bitch and piss and moan about "it's tooooo haaAAAaarrdd", the way they did with the Sky Scale, to the point where there won't be any reason to even consider it "legendary" anymore. Make it sellable on the trading post, so the laziest noobs with more money than sense can just buy it without any effort of any kind, at all, because that's who it seems the devs are catering to.
At this point, they should just sell the skyscale mount on the gemstore, it'd be more difficult to get, and would at least generate some revenue for them.
It all comes across to me as lazy, half assed, lame and pathetic, from a game development company that gave us the core game, and Heart of Thorns.
Asset reuse has been a constant reminder in my head since EoD. It's because it affects everything, all the stuff we see or hear and even some of the things we feel in gameplay terms. The thing that bothered me so much about that were reused animations from the EoD elite specs; one in particular is thief scepter auto attacks being warrior axe autos and it just diluted both class fantasies for me just a little bit.
But that kind of thing is everywhere and EoD was a big culprit for reusing a lot of stuff, so things really didn't feel all that unique or complete in some cases. When supposed new stuff starts to feel like we've seen or played it before, it seriously hurts the game for me.
I agree completely.
There was so much more about the EoD maps, creatures, animations, models and elite spec idiocy that I found disappointing and insulting, I actually contacted anet and demanded a refund.
Them adding a new avenue for getting the skyscale was 100% needed and is a good thing for the game and new players going forward. Anyone who is complaining about how they are "invalidated" isnt taking into account how they have had access to the mount for 5+ years now, and the fact that such an impactful mount was locked behind a random living world episode thats getting increasingly older was a major turn off for many new players.
Personally, I think it was the concept of the floating islands that came first, and then they realized they'd need to address the skyscale because it may be "required" to explore the new location as they are intending or give them more freedom to lay things out
I started to play Guild Wars 2 this month so I'm a bit overwhelmed by the content that I still have to play, but I'm enjoying it so much. I will probably complete full story from current expansions then hop in to the Secrets of the Obsecure.
I am a bit bummed that we're seemingly not exploring any new continential parts of the world but these new made-up floating alternative versions of existing maps... idk I was so excited to go somewhere new and be like oh my, a new part of Tyria I've never seen but wanted to go to, but I didn't expect this... I'll just wait and see though. Hoping for the best.
Damn, that launcher edit though
I'm hoping that the new maps might be a map location that we can already see like the section you mentioned near Lion's Arch, but it has been ripped up from the ground and made into an aerial map. So it will hopefully work with what you're wanting, because I too want to see more of the current map filled in without having to make up a new map space in the middle of the ocean or whatever.
I think the eye in the astral ward, the eye on the wizards hat, the eye on the wizard robes AND the eye above the portal on the arch are all connected. I think the eye 'icon' (if you will) tells a particular story about the astral ward, the new boss and portals. Once that story has concluded we will move on to the next icon above the portal, and that will tell a specific story as well, maybe with a new boss and theme. Each icon is an icon for each story. At least that's my theory.
I think this is a really good theory and would like to add that I believe the symbols either correlate to the gods or something that has to do with the magic that powers tyria since the symbols are in the wizard tower and when the tower disappears/falls garenhoff gets weird and starts floating which is what makes me think this.
16:41 Hmm, that IS a good candidate for 1 of the new maps. I was going through your old gw1 vids and jeff grub mentioned the relationship between tengus and the wizard's tower (while being extremely cryptic) - the bottom left of lion's arch is where the entrance to the dominion of winds is, while the bottom left of the foggy area is where garenhoff is. It does seem plausible for anet to insert a new expansion map there. Hey, maybe the 2nd map will float above claw island and we finally get a non instanced version of that, who knows.
Thank you for this gw2 lore lesson.
I can't believe I'm considering replacing my mixed up wvw/spvp legendary heavy armor with this new stuff rather than craft a light/medium set lol. The heavy looks so cool from the preview!
i'm weirdly excited for this expansion, more so even than end of dragons. excited to binge your expansion videos like i did for HoT and PoF lol
If we remove daily login rewards, because of its P2W elements, then we also have to remove the gems to gold conversion for the same reasons for consistency.
Otherwise the argument for removing login dailies would look artificial and tacky.
About having nods to the wizard society in e.g. the Zephyrites, even after the fact maybe: festival of the four winds is from mid july to early august, so who knows, maybe they included a few hints to the expansion in there now
I get the feeling the hidden mastery will be a new type of flying mount. The griffon isn't technically a true flying mount but super giga gliding mount. I mean they might demote skyscale to basic flying mount and introduce something else.
Re: dailies
My biggest peeve with the current daily system is that if I track other achievements, I can't see the dailies without specifically going to the tab and tracking them. I just don't understand why those two are not separate UI elements.
The entire Achievement UI needs a rework, its been bloating for almost 10 years now.
As a veteran player I love the fact that they are making the skyscale easier to obtain for everyone. Every map that has been released since then has had to be explorable with skyscales and non skyscale users which means some of the 'tricky exploring' or hard to reach places had to be tuned to non skyscale users, so for people who had one they could just fly up to it with ease. Now Im hoping that they can tune some of the hidden places/puzzles/secrets to utilising the skyscale and your endurance effectively. That being said the veteran 'bonus' mastery things may make that irrelevant already, but one can dream.
they should make the skyscale purchasable from the gemstore, so lazy, whiny little beta's don't have to even bother with trying to get it, and anet can earn some revenue.
@@Thorrnnso far you're the only one crying in these comments
I'm gonna be a bit cynical with the speculated content behind the glyphs, they are probably just strikes symbols. The doorway with glyphs could be like the eye of the north or arborstone strike gates. So the glyphs could just be boss icons.
Very interesting guess. I mean it's not gonna be like No Mans Sky where one can put in glyphs and get teleportet to a distant star/system.
They might be included in the story for some cutscenes and as you said, maybe in entering the Strike Missions. But that's it. I don't think they will have any more meaning in this expansion. Maybe another expansion in the mists will be released and we can use the glyph portal again to enter it.
@@wendygradert686 for sure, i'm gonna be very realistic about the amount of content this time. As WP mentioned, there could be a lot of resused assets here like garenhoff, reused npc models, or reused enemy models.
I'm very excited for the new features, but with an open world leggy armour, ffa elite specs weapons, new weapons, etc. These features feels like they should be added in outside of the expac.
But anyway, there has to be a strike portal, and the doorway is most likely the new portal here.
8:33 you brought up those enclosed map spaces and i feel like anet did really well but gave up on them. I have really good memories jumping into those branded mist rifts, exploring kralk's body, brahams (admittedly rushed) vision when he allies with primordus, and i looooved the fight with Amala when we're chasing joko through those portals. I think it'd be a really good way to keep exciting landscapes while they cant pump out brand new maps
Even if they move the Daililes off the usual achievment tab to its own new panel would be a lot better. Make it a general events panel letting you know whats going on right now. I think it will be especially useful when theres stuff like festivals and can explain what theyre about - what items can be obtained, how the meta achievment works, how the daily ones work etc.
Only thing I'm excited about is the new weapon options and a easier way to get skyscale. If I can get skyscale in a few days vs weeks I be happy
21:24 that is the wizards tower, at least according to the screenshot I took before doing the interlude story quest.
Those are the arches, I see from a distance in my screenshot.
Wizard tower is probably only part, which is accesible from Tyria, new maps are probably something like Mists or paralel dimension, like space station hub, its completely of world
As for the fleshreaver god I wish we could have gotten the fleshreaver summon sigil back I miss that thing
I also thought about fleshreavers, they're one of my favorite monsters in Tyria's bestiary. There's a cool little event in Kessex with a gravekeeper who summons fleshreavers on unsuspecting player character (most likely with the intention to help them harvest the flesh, though I don't know what exactly he'd get from that). I am also curious if they're actually summoned or come on their own volition? And where do they come from? Just "Mists" or Underworld specifically? I hope Anet will tastefully expand their lore one day...
Seeing that the new legendary armor is Obsidian Armor it would be interesting to see if the fissure of woe and Menzies / his shadow army makes an appearance.
Also the new Kryptis enemies look very similar to the concept art of the "Torment Creatures" from GW1
Amazing video! :D
I dont know if its a weird comparison but SoTO gives me Heavensward vibes, in terms of self-contained story that doesnt fully cut itself out of the world ,but due to some circumstances doesnt cross reference with everything.
Since I dont want super deep story that they dont have resources to tell.
Also the 3 act releases would be cool if they use 3 principals of story telling for the realeses. Like 1st act is set-up and climbing the plot to the climax with 2nd release would be solving the problem and 3rd would be aftermath.
My issue with the skyscale is with the mount itself and with the new combat mount mastery option. Combat mounting basically means that living world just became even easier sadly.
It's the downside of trying to make a flying expansion, they have to make it "fancy" to sell it and it comes across as shortsighted for what it's going to do. It really should only be for the turtle because you're meant to use it in combat.
You are onto something with the heart of Grenth… six gods, six symbols, perhaps six hearts ?
The secret of the obscure may be well related to inter dimensional travel to different realms dedicated to individual gods …
Like GW1’s The Fissure of Woe, also called the Realm of War, is the realm of Balthazar.
Presenting this story in this way allows for greater flexibility in how the story is told and presents the chance to implement proper narrative structure. The first release will have a self-contained story that's part of the overall story. Then in the second release, the overall story will continue following a three-act structure with Act 1 ascending before it crashes down in Act 2 that's The Darkest Hour, and then finishes with Act 3 becoming the Moment of Triumph.
It's the exact same narrative structure that was used in LW s4. Instead of, thinking of it as one continuous narrative think of it as two separate stories where the first about Joko carries over into the second about Kralkatorrik. The Act 1 of each of these stories was ascending and things were presented as if they were still under control, then in Act 2, the story became The Darkest Hour with Joko getting the plague and Aurene dying respectively, and Act 3 of both stories was The Moment of Triumph being the defeat of both.
I see SotO as a chance to return to that format as Anet has really been bogged down by the long-story format. And the players have come to expect everything to be part of a long-story format. Take Gyala Dvelve, as the beginning of a long story it makes no sense. As a greater interlude to carry us into SotO, it does as the demons we encounter there most likely are the vanguard of the Cryptis threat since we're left with a hole lot of questions and a feeling of "that happened" since it seems unconnected to anything.
always interesting to have your take on new stuff in gw2.
Since I have griffon, I questioned why the griffon could not use the updrafts in mordemoth maps, now with the next expansion they can use it, I feel releafed.
Like you said, it's a treaky question concerning the skyscale for futur new players. personally It's a good thing to "reward" the veteran, or player who already have unlocked the skyscale and the griffon. this will force some new player to do the skyscale achievements. thinking about it. it will be weird, to do the achievements seeing the baby skyscale since you have already one that is grown.
Whenever I see pictured of the Skywatch Archipelago I remember The Edge of the Mists and how it's been dead for many years. I have a teeny tiny glimmer of hope they maybe they will do something with it in the xpac or as one of the stories that come after it. 😞
At first I thought this expansion would come with a daily revamp but now I am not so sure. It sounds like there's a chance that the old daily / weekly systems remain but that there will also be this new wizard's vault system.
For what its worth I do think that the vault system sounds very promising, it reminds me a lot of the WoW travellers log / trading post system which was newly introduced to that game a few months ago. If they don't fully transition to it for all daily rewards right away then they may do so over time.
Where did you find that old school GW2 login intro from the beginning of the video at 0:03 ?
I think as the Commander/Champion of Aurene we've only ever dealt with "local" threats, things that have been Tyria and Mists bound. It could be that our view has been myopic and the Wizards council and Astral ward have been working in the background all along, that only now with our investigation into the happenings in Garenhof, will we force their hand to reveal themselves. I can see this as a valid reasoning behind the story and hope there have been clues we all missed but we'll have to wait and see. Jokingly I also wonder if they are the cosmic travel agents of the gods and managed their exit from Tyria. Seriously though I'd like to know what their interaction was with the gods. If they were here before GW2 and possibly humans arriving on Tyria, did they assign Sirens Landing to the Gods how far back does this order go!?
While I'm sure it would be that the "distorted, alternate-universe reflections of the world" is just Dev speak for "re-using assets" I am hopeful that it can be used as a hub to bigger things too. Seeing distorted areas and recognising them as places we've been and then seeing places we don't recognize only to see that it is part of the Dominion of Winds, the Battle Isles or even Utopia. This could prompt further investigation on Tyria itself which could setup future mini expansions? I also wonder if this will just add a selection layer above the current map and where the Mistlock Sanctuary is in relation to it. Soon we will need a search function on our Map!
I may just be overly optimistic but looking forward I think there is a lot of potential with this update
there is some art at the bottom of that page that really looks like balthazar related fissure of woe stuff
Raisu Palace and Togo's Mansion area are places I'd like to see
I might be mistaken, but I don't think Dragonfall is a floating island. In the S4 cutscene, Kralk falls from a portal and lands in the ocean with the chunks of Mists that make up Dragonfall. Thats why you see water all around Dragonfall's border instead of clouds. In other words, where it is shown on the world map must be where it is in the world map.