Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Speculation .

This article is going to talk about things that were revealed in the latest part of the Guild Wars 2 living story, Heart of Thorns, Point of No Return. If you haven’t played it yet and you’ve managed to avoid Reddit, the forums, or anywhere else where people might talk about the game I suggest you come back to the article after you’ve played it. Yes, that’s right spoilers abound. There’s so much to talk about, and not just what happened in the last episode of the living story. Oh no, there’s also the little topic of Heart of Thorns which is almost certainly an expansion. This is the final warning before the spoilers begin.

Still with me? Good! After a bunch of running around and killing of things we finally got the revelation that many have been waiting for since the start of Guild Wars 2. The Sylvari are dragon minions. My poor, sweet Cabhsadán is a dragon minion. I can only imagine her heart is shattered. I’ve always enjoyed Sylvari, they’re one of the more unique races in the MMO genre. I’ve seen speculation about them being minions of a dragon since the very start. Not everyone is happy about this little revelation though. While some think it’s amazing writing on the part of Arenanet others come out in defence of the little plant people, though I’ve not yet seen anyone give a good reason for why they don’t like it only that they don’t. I do have a few concerns about it.

My biggest concern is what this means for future Sylvari. I highly doubt that Arenanet will make it so we cannot make Sylvari characters anymore. So where will they come from? Will the other races of Tyria ever trust Sylvari enough to allow them into their cities? Will they go and burn the Pale Tree to the ground?

Looking around at all the communities, on Reddit, on GW2Roleplayers, and even the official forums it seems like they’re really embracing the coming storm. Sylvari players are taunting with cheers for Mordremoth. While people who play the other races are coming up with unique ways to cleanse Tyria of the threat the Sylvari pose. Of course not everyone is so excited. Many who love the Sylvari have expressed the same concerns that I stated above. They do seem to be in the minority, but is this because there aren’t many who are concerned or are there more who are quietly waiting to see what Saturday has to offer us?

Right now everyone is really clinging to the story as it’s the only direction we really have to go on. But expansions, if that’s even what Heart of Thorns is (It almost certainly is but I have to put that in just on the off chance that it isn’t) are more than just the story. They often bring in new zones, new classes, new weapons, and even new races. There’s a lot of very interest speculation going on around these things. Less so on zones than the others because we simply don’t know what to expect other than “jungle.”

New weapons and new races really seem to be the ones that players are talking about. Polearm seems to be the favorite weapon. This is thanks to the trailer which showed the silhouette of someone using a polearm like object. But, as Arenanet has proven previously just because you see something in promotional material doesn’t mean you’ll actually see it in game. I’m talking about the horses in an image from season one. There was a lot of hype about them and many people thought they would be introducing mounts to the game. As we can see now that didn’t happen and the horses were just for the art in question. I personally would prefer to see the weapons we already have proliferated to other classes. There are some weapons which would be completely awesome in the hands of other classes. This can also extend to bringing underwater weapons to the land. The underwater parts of the game are beautiful but oh so time consuming to make. It’s a lot harder to make underwater dense and populated than it is the land. So it’s unlikely that we will ever see a lot of underwater work again. Or if we do it will be far down the line when we’re dealing with Bubbles. There are some beautiful underwater weapons that almost never get seen, this could be the opportunity for them to shine. Not to mention the fact that there are Legendary level underwater weapons. I don’t know of anyone who has ever actually gone for one.

Image by LaronX

The topic of a new race is also a huge one at the moment. People love the idea of getting a new race, and the one that seems to be the favorite is a bit of a surprise. The race most talked about is the Tengu. They aren’t really seen much in Guild Wars 2. There are a couple of the bird-like being scattered throughout the world but most of them live behind giant walls. Why are the walls there? Amongst many theories is the one that Tengu were originally meant to be a playable race in Guild Wars 2. That would have been their starting zone. Another popular theory is that they’re protecting Bubbles, the water dragon. Or alternatively protecting the world from Bubbles. As someone who hasn’t played the original Guild Wars I don’t really see the attraction of having the Tengu as a playable race. I know virtually nothing about them and I feel like they’re stepping a bit too close to Charr territory in being an animal based warrior race. Quaggan are also a popular choice with the players because for some reason, which I have yet to been able to understand people actually like Quaggan. I personally find them irritating so I’m not looking forward to that idea. For me there’s only one race I’d love to be able to play, Skritt. Sometimes you’re against them (which always breaks my heart) but you also spend a lot of time with the as your ally. They’re adorable, highly intelligent, and very interesting. I’d love to see the intelligence in numbers aspect of them shown in combat. For instance you could have your tray full of attacks which are pretty basic if you’re alone. Things like Stab or Jump and Stab then if you’re near Skritt, or even other players you get more complex abilities and tactics. I doubt we will ever actually see this happen for a number of reasons but oh how I wish it could be.

This Saturday is the big day when we finally get to learn…something. I’ll be watching it from the comfort of home nearly 5,000 miles away, but MMOGames will have people at PAX South watching it live and in person. Hopefully everyone will get what they wish for most in Heart of Thorns.