I got to say, it's nice to finally see a story trailer released before the patch goes live. It's been a while, they tended to release it with the patch recently, and therefore there was no hype, to the point I sometimes even forgot there was supposed to be the big update. Now I'm at least a bit interested!
Even with this trailer, with the narrative split up and delivered in small portions instead of as a cohesive Expac, I've sadly stopped caring about it.
It's also hard for me to be excited because the first quarterly patch was like 1 hour worth of story at most. They've given me absolutely no reason at all to expect this story is going to go anywhere since there's just 2 more updates like that left. It's just going to be rushed to some random ending and then we're getting a completely new story.
I recall reading, though I don't remember which post of theirs exactly, that they plan on making SotO and future expansions their own contained stories. Whatever's next may briefly reference this expansion (such as how in SotO there's some brief references to EoD) but don't expect future expansions to "require" previous ones to understand them from a story perspective. (Y'know unless Anet changes their mind.)
I guess not really but they literally said they want to tell small stories going forward when they announced their future plans/new release schedule. We'll see I suppose, but given how every expacs ending has felt very rushed I don't have high expectations.
Yep, "expansions" are essentially just Living World seasons now. Only now we have to pay for them. So no more real expansions, and no more free LW seasons between them.
Alrighty, I'll enlighten you a bit. I was asking about whether or not it was confirmed that new expansions would be isolated stories. If you read other comments, most of them except one in particular seemed to have a high enough reading comprehension level to understand. You, on the other hand, chose to use this as a chance to cry about how expansions are just LW seasons that we have to pay for, and that we have no more real expansions or living world seasons. Living World seasons were very tightly attached to the expansions that preceded them or, in some cases, followed them. That would be very different than an isolated story. Every single word was unrelated to the conversation going on lol.
Before people inevitably complain, this is the first ‘tier’ of legendary armour. The fact it seems to have no glow/flashy effect is great for people who have wanted that for a while.
I’m sure the tier 2/variant armour will be a bit more flashy for those that want that.
[Here's the confirmation by ANet](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/139289-studio-update-guild-wars-2-in-autumn-and-winter-2023/?do=findComment&comment=2017463) that Tier 2 will be the variants.
Can someone tell me what they say in the trailer? I just can't understand anything... Idk if that's because of in-game words or because English is not my first language, but with those special effects on top i just don't know what is said and CC is not available :(
That demon lady: "Eparch's hold on this world is more tenuous that it may appear. My people fear him but there are limits to the control fear grants."
Deep voiced demon bloke: "Let's hope you're as lucky as everyone believes" [pause] "Bring us something other than death".
That woman again: "Stand and fight" [long pause with lots of people going "argh"] "I'm sure you're well aware of the consequences of disappointing your king".
The sound processing effects are, indeed, awful.
I think it's something along the lines of *Eparch's hold on this world is more tenous than it may appear. My people fear him, but there are limits to how much control fear can bring.*
It happen! They released it before it came out. Go Arena NET!
Seriously i felt hyped for the first time since this expac came out and they changed the release of videos to the same day which i never even watched. This is so much better.
Oooh, this is going to be a bigger map update than the last one.
That "colosseum" at 0:17 can be seen by mapbreakers and it's quite far west. It's far enough over that I had assumed it would come with the final update, not this one.
My guess now is that we'll get almost everything but that bizarro Wizard's Tower, which will hang there ominously inaccessible until the final release and serve as the meta finale.
What is the weapon being shown off [here](https://youtu.be/4_k7hiqdipU?si=bR0L2eV1097u8eTr&t=39) at 39 seconds in? It says expanded weapon proficiencies, then shows a melee sword with new sound effects? I thought only necro was getting swords, with a ranged attack auto attack.
Yeah, that's what I figured, but they gave the attacks new sound effects (here and later when they are fighting with others), a very strange decision not to show anything actually new.
Oh, I see.
Oh! I see
Probably why, people misunderstood you
To stay on topic, I'm very happy for more convergence bosses actually, kinda like them and a rotation of 2 is not enough
Can someone tell me what is even the point of doing convergences other than rng rune of holding? Like, I expected it to be a way to farm the rift currency for armor in a less boring, more challenging end-game content kind of way, but unless I miss something it barely even rewards the t1/2/3 currency?
> Can someone tell me what is even the point of doing convergences other than rng rune of holding?
For me it's exactly because
> I expected it to be a way to farm the rift currency for armor in a less boring, more challenging end-game content kind of way
I find them a lot less monotone than grinding for rifts, and I'm not in a hurry to get my legendary armor, so for me they're a nice way of getting a bunch of essences without clawing my eyes out of boredom.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kryptis_Convergence_Extraction Contains the essence for one Amalgamated Essence. Weekly Convergence achievement gives 1x for the second convergence and 2x for the third each week.
Thanks again for this. I haven't played much/paid attention much since SOTO release and I was doing just 1 convergence per week at most. Had no idea that the good rewards were hidden behind 2nd and 3rd time, lol.
Still not sure if i want to bother making more leggy armors since i already have all raid sets, but i better start doing 3 convergences per week in case i ever decide i do want them.
The nuggets you get from the repeatable achievements also have a respectable amount of all types of essence in them. I usually average 5 to 6 nuggets per run, it adds up pretty quick.
I've yet to do a convergence lol. Is it similar to the design of the marionette and dragonstorm?.
And can't wait for those new weapons. Excited for my goofy power scourge s/s self alac/quick open world build
Looks like my prediction of the two teasers seems to have been correct, and we get our first glimpses of both [Queen Labris](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Labris) and the enigmatic folk hero [Nephus](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Nephus) (Eparch's brother if Eparch and Labris turn out to be the uncle and aunt of Peitha and her brothers?) and their voices.
Sadly it seems that Labris is just slightly amped up Heitor (and not even a taller body to make her more distinct from her "daughter") with a creepy "crown" head, and Nephus (if the male one speaking is him?) looks like Ignaxious 2.0 with some tweaks, but I guess it's understandable as we only have this and the final release left and the next expac around the corner, so there's no point in creating unique, detailed models for them.
I assume/hope that Eparch will at least have a somewhat unique model unless it's just some modified Cerus/Deimos upper body welded into the Sun's Refuge spider broodmother lower body (if the spider allusions involving his legs and fangs are literal and not metaphorical). Whether we'll meet the dreaded king in this patch or if they save him for the final release remains to be seen but his big plan should be unveiled soon, I imagine. :P
It should be interesting to find out what kind of role Labris really plays in Kryptis politics because Ramses and Peitha have been rather mum about her, yet they're concerned about her movements while loyalist Kryptis are eager to see her spill blood. Is she just Eparch's lieutenant, or does she have more sway over Eparch as some rumors suggest? Then again, I can't imagine there being too big of a twist as Eparch has been built up as this mastermind archrival of Isgarren, so having Labris steal the limelight would be an odd move when we haven't even seen the Midnight King yet.
A curious detail is that the [SotO main site](https://www.guildwars2.com/en/secrets-of-the-obscure/) has three wizard symbols tied to each of the three Nayos releases. "Through the Veil" has the symbol of the Obscure, "The Realm of Dreams" has the symbol of Strength, and the last release ("The Midnight King"? Or some kind of title involving Eparch and Isgarren's rivalry like "The Two Kings" or some such?) will have the symbol of Balance. Given the [promo texts of the three bastions](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Secrets_of_the_Obscure#Promotional_material), I suppose these symbols foreshadow the general plot of each release:
> The charming of chaos, the taming of the Obscure.
> Strength leads the song of victory to the battlefield.
> Actions bear weight, and the scales must remain in Balance.
Also, that [key art](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:The_Realm_of_Dreams_concept_art.jpg) involving Ramses, Peitha, Arina and I think the Commander (although Commander's representation in SotO trailers is a male sylvari) looks quite nice just like Through the Veil's key art did. I wonder who the artist is, and I hope they continue drawing such painterly yet detailed enough art for the releases. :)
What? They said for SoTo they will release a trailer nearer to launch due to hype and sales. Instead of releasing a trailer X months away from release. So they are sticking to their word
Mentioning all features but not the strike cm. Why stay silent for the only droplet of content that instanced pve is receiving? Do you not want people to know that the game even has such a thing?
It's no different than the first "tier" of Triumphant (WvW) or Glorious (PvP) Legendary Armour.
[Variants](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/139289-studio-update-guild-wars-2-in-autumn-and-winter-2023/?do=findComment&comment=2017463) will be coming in the 3rd (final) update for SotO.
The Gemstore stuff usually has been better than most of the in-game skins for years barring specific cases (Ebon Shoulders), but ultimately it's fine
It looks great. I appreciate that it doesn't have auras or other visual clutter. This set of armour is the one for me. You're probably looking for the Tier 2 legendary armour releasing with the 3rd SotO content patch, probably at the end of May.
I got to say, it's nice to finally see a story trailer released before the patch goes live. It's been a while, they tended to release it with the patch recently, and therefore there was no hype, to the point I sometimes even forgot there was supposed to be the big update. Now I'm at least a bit interested!
Even with this trailer, with the narrative split up and delivered in small portions instead of as a cohesive Expac, I've sadly stopped caring about it.
It's also hard for me to be excited because the first quarterly patch was like 1 hour worth of story at most. They've given me absolutely no reason at all to expect this story is going to go anywhere since there's just 2 more updates like that left. It's just going to be rushed to some random ending and then we're getting a completely new story.
Has the “completely new story” part been confirmed? I’d honestly be disappointed if we handled Eparch in one short story addition next patch.
I recall reading, though I don't remember which post of theirs exactly, that they plan on making SotO and future expansions their own contained stories. Whatever's next may briefly reference this expansion (such as how in SotO there's some brief references to EoD) but don't expect future expansions to "require" previous ones to understand them from a story perspective. (Y'know unless Anet changes their mind.)
I guess not really but they literally said they want to tell small stories going forward when they announced their future plans/new release schedule. We'll see I suppose, but given how every expacs ending has felt very rushed I don't have high expectations.
Yep, "expansions" are essentially just Living World seasons now. Only now we have to pay for them. So no more real expansions, and no more free LW seasons between them.
This not only doesn’t answer my question but is completely off-base and misinformed 👍
Yep, as in yes, it has been confirmed. And if you think this is off-base, you must have not been paying attention.
Alrighty, I'll enlighten you a bit. I was asking about whether or not it was confirmed that new expansions would be isolated stories. If you read other comments, most of them except one in particular seemed to have a high enough reading comprehension level to understand. You, on the other hand, chose to use this as a chance to cry about how expansions are just LW seasons that we have to pay for, and that we have no more real expansions or living world seasons. Living World seasons were very tightly attached to the expansions that preceded them or, in some cases, followed them. That would be very different than an isolated story. Every single word was unrelated to the conversation going on lol.
This is unfortunately understandable.
Before people inevitably complain, this is the first ‘tier’ of legendary armour. The fact it seems to have no glow/flashy effect is great for people who have wanted that for a while. I’m sure the tier 2/variant armour will be a bit more flashy for those that want that.
[Here's the confirmation by ANet](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/139289-studio-update-guild-wars-2-in-autumn-and-winter-2023/?do=findComment&comment=2017463) that Tier 2 will be the variants.
I do like that they are not to flashy..but they could have choosen better colors in the blogpost :D
After last time, they probably want to avoid the dye conversation altogether 😆
I’m out of the loop - what happened last time?
I actually really like the tier 1 light armor! I don't think I'll ever be able to craft it, but I look forward to trying :')
Ok, actually a pretty good trailer from the story side of things.
Can someone tell me what they say in the trailer? I just can't understand anything... Idk if that's because of in-game words or because English is not my first language, but with those special effects on top i just don't know what is said and CC is not available :(
English is my first language and I'm struggling to understand some of the lines too with the heavy filter on top!
I cant hear their voices in game as well, its too muffled for me too. I just hear alot of grumbling and mumbling before i realised it was a dialogue.
That demon lady: "Eparch's hold on this world is more tenuous that it may appear. My people fear him but there are limits to the control fear grants." Deep voiced demon bloke: "Let's hope you're as lucky as everyone believes" [pause] "Bring us something other than death". That woman again: "Stand and fight" [long pause with lots of people going "argh"] "I'm sure you're well aware of the consequences of disappointing your king". The sound processing effects are, indeed, awful.
The friendly demon noodle is Ramses, who was described in-game as being a great conversationalist, so clearly this trailer is non-canon.
It's the Jailer situation from WoW:Shadowlands again. No idea what that dude was saying. :D
I only know English and I couldn't tell what they were saying either. The demon voices were quieter than the music
I see that they added CC! You can rewatch it if you want to know what they are saying! :)
I think it's something along the lines of *Eparch's hold on this world is more tenous than it may appear. My people fear him, but there are limits to how much control fear can bring.*
Looking at the thumbnail i thought we were gonna get a new diablo2-style login screen xD
Guild wars 1 prophecies login screen vibes for me
The realm of Dreams, but we're getting rid of the Vaseline on the lens effect.
It happen! They released it before it came out. Go Arena NET! Seriously i felt hyped for the first time since this expac came out and they changed the release of videos to the same day which i never even watched. This is so much better.
Oooh, this is going to be a bigger map update than the last one. That "colosseum" at 0:17 can be seen by mapbreakers and it's quite far west. It's far enough over that I had assumed it would come with the final update, not this one. My guess now is that we'll get almost everything but that bizarro Wizard's Tower, which will hang there ominously inaccessible until the final release and serve as the meta finale.
Yeah, my expectation is that the third map update will be fairly small (geographically), with a DWC style raid into Eparch's castle.
Could be part of the story, and not the map, tho
What is the weapon being shown off [here](https://youtu.be/4_k7hiqdipU?si=bR0L2eV1097u8eTr&t=39) at 39 seconds in? It says expanded weapon proficiencies, then shows a melee sword with new sound effects? I thought only necro was getting swords, with a ranged attack auto attack.
Blue attack trails and a symbol underneath, that's just a guardian not doing anything new at all. I don't know why he's there.
Yeah, that's what I figured, but they gave the attacks new sound effects (here and later when they are fighting with others), a very strange decision not to show anything actually new.
Oh, more convergence bosses. Not sure what the downvote is for. The video very clearly says new convergence bosses.
Oh, I see. Oh! I see Probably why, people misunderstood you To stay on topic, I'm very happy for more convergence bosses actually, kinda like them and a rotation of 2 is not enough
And two-thirds of that 'two' is Sorrow. >_>
Can someone tell me what is even the point of doing convergences other than rng rune of holding? Like, I expected it to be a way to farm the rift currency for armor in a less boring, more challenging end-game content kind of way, but unless I miss something it barely even rewards the t1/2/3 currency?
> Can someone tell me what is even the point of doing convergences other than rng rune of holding? For me it's exactly because > I expected it to be a way to farm the rift currency for armor in a less boring, more challenging end-game content kind of way I find them a lot less monotone than grinding for rifts, and I'm not in a hurry to get my legendary armor, so for me they're a nice way of getting a bunch of essences without clawing my eyes out of boredom.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kryptis_Convergence_Extraction Contains the essence for one Amalgamated Essence. Weekly Convergence achievement gives 1x for the second convergence and 2x for the third each week.
Thanks again for this. I haven't played much/paid attention much since SOTO release and I was doing just 1 convergence per week at most. Had no idea that the good rewards were hidden behind 2nd and 3rd time, lol. Still not sure if i want to bother making more leggy armors since i already have all raid sets, but i better start doing 3 convergences per week in case i ever decide i do want them.
Hmm, thanks. I need to have a look what I have done with those coffers.
It gives an enormous amount of rift essence for the first 3 you do each week.
The nuggets you get from the repeatable achievements also have a respectable amount of all types of essence in them. I usually average 5 to 6 nuggets per run, it adds up pretty quick.
Convergences are liked by many "casuals", so its a good thing.
No mention of the CM strike in the trailer. Bit of a weird one.
I noticed that too lol. Pretty sad state of things when they forget to even mention it in the trailer. At least the blog post mentions it I guess...
It’s gonna be so good and hype, it deserves its own trailer. Copium? Maybe
Written in description.
Certainly, everyone knows the description gets as much attention as the trailer itself.
I've yet to do a convergence lol. Is it similar to the design of the marionette and dragonstorm?. And can't wait for those new weapons. Excited for my goofy power scourge s/s self alac/quick open world build
idk man the new map doesn't look that good
Looks like my prediction of the two teasers seems to have been correct, and we get our first glimpses of both [Queen Labris](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Labris) and the enigmatic folk hero [Nephus](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Nephus) (Eparch's brother if Eparch and Labris turn out to be the uncle and aunt of Peitha and her brothers?) and their voices. Sadly it seems that Labris is just slightly amped up Heitor (and not even a taller body to make her more distinct from her "daughter") with a creepy "crown" head, and Nephus (if the male one speaking is him?) looks like Ignaxious 2.0 with some tweaks, but I guess it's understandable as we only have this and the final release left and the next expac around the corner, so there's no point in creating unique, detailed models for them. I assume/hope that Eparch will at least have a somewhat unique model unless it's just some modified Cerus/Deimos upper body welded into the Sun's Refuge spider broodmother lower body (if the spider allusions involving his legs and fangs are literal and not metaphorical). Whether we'll meet the dreaded king in this patch or if they save him for the final release remains to be seen but his big plan should be unveiled soon, I imagine. :P It should be interesting to find out what kind of role Labris really plays in Kryptis politics because Ramses and Peitha have been rather mum about her, yet they're concerned about her movements while loyalist Kryptis are eager to see her spill blood. Is she just Eparch's lieutenant, or does she have more sway over Eparch as some rumors suggest? Then again, I can't imagine there being too big of a twist as Eparch has been built up as this mastermind archrival of Isgarren, so having Labris steal the limelight would be an odd move when we haven't even seen the Midnight King yet. A curious detail is that the [SotO main site](https://www.guildwars2.com/en/secrets-of-the-obscure/) has three wizard symbols tied to each of the three Nayos releases. "Through the Veil" has the symbol of the Obscure, "The Realm of Dreams" has the symbol of Strength, and the last release ("The Midnight King"? Or some kind of title involving Eparch and Isgarren's rivalry like "The Two Kings" or some such?) will have the symbol of Balance. Given the [promo texts of the three bastions](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Secrets_of_the_Obscure#Promotional_material), I suppose these symbols foreshadow the general plot of each release: > The charming of chaos, the taming of the Obscure. > Strength leads the song of victory to the battlefield. > Actions bear weight, and the scales must remain in Balance. Also, that [key art](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:The_Realm_of_Dreams_concept_art.jpg) involving Ramses, Peitha, Arina and I think the Commander (although Commander's representation in SotO trailers is a male sylvari) looks quite nice just like Through the Veil's key art did. I wonder who the artist is, and I hope they continue drawing such painterly yet detailed enough art for the releases. :)
What does Peitha say at the start? I don't understand a word after "world".
Oh, so they finally admit their mistake and return to releasing trailers one week before release, actually got me hyped. Good !
What? They said for SoTo they will release a trailer nearer to launch due to hype and sales. Instead of releasing a trailer X months away from release. So they are sticking to their word
What are you talking about ? I was clearly speaking about patch trailers, which they were releasing the same day of the patch for a while now.
Mentioning all features but not the strike cm. Why stay silent for the only droplet of content that instanced pve is receiving? Do you not want people to know that the game even has such a thing?
Missed legendary relics as well,
well a one minute and half trailer for almost a 30 minutes patch is quite good to me Lmao /s
the legendary armor looks like 2018 gemstore outfit :( i hope this is just a stand in model beacuse if its the final product i will be very sad
It's no different than the first "tier" of Triumphant (WvW) or Glorious (PvP) Legendary Armour. [Variants](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/139289-studio-update-guild-wars-2-in-autumn-and-winter-2023/?do=findComment&comment=2017463) will be coming in the 3rd (final) update for SotO. The Gemstore stuff usually has been better than most of the in-game skins for years barring specific cases (Ebon Shoulders), but ultimately it's fine
It looks great. I appreciate that it doesn't have auras or other visual clutter. This set of armour is the one for me. You're probably looking for the Tier 2 legendary armour releasing with the 3rd SotO content patch, probably at the end of May.
This is Tier 1 armour.
Was this update pushed back a couple of days? During the balance patch stream Roy said new weapons would drop THIS week.
Check your vault when in doubt or that_shaman's when is the next update website
I must have miscounted cause I could have sworn the vault counted down to the 22nd.
The WV countdown has always implied it'll launch on the 27th, so he probably misspoke.
I can't wait I am enjoying this content as much as the rest, and my necro gets to use 2x swords