End of Dragons Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

[Edge-]

Figured I'd make one specifically for the expansion. FAIR WARNING THERE WILL BE SPOILER DISCUSSIONS IN THIS THREAD SO IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT THAT FINISH THE STORY FIRST.

Post your opinions/comments/questions cool things you noticed here and whatnot.

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https://i.redd.it/2wa3l4ly5zk81.png

From the GW2 subreddit, apparently Anet went back and seems to have added Ankka and Gorrik to the old Thuamanova Reactor fractal. They're not named, and it appears they weren't there before, but it's a nice little touch!

[ryanmahaffe]

That's a really nice little touch.

I have to say I am blown away by the story, I think it easily surpasses Path of Fire and Living World season 4 in terms of both quality of the story and the production value, a lot of people thought EoD was going to be the budget expansion but it seems like it's the highest quality release yet, with camera panning tricks, tons of cutscenes and endless voice acting I think they knocked it out of the park, I really like how we mostly focus on a new cast of characters and let people like Braham and Rytlock stay home

Can't wait to see where they take the story next now that the Dragon arc is concluded

[A Chozo]

That's a really nice little touch.

I have to say I am blown away by the story, I think it easily surpasses Path of Fire and Living World season 4 in terms of both quality of the story and the production value, a lot of people thought EoD was going to be the budget expansion but it seems like it's the highest quality release yet, with camera panning tricks, tons of cutscenes and endless voice acting I think they knocked it out of the park, I really like how we mostly focus on a new cast of characters and let people like Braham and Rytlock stay home

Can't wait to see where they take the story next now that the Dragon arc is concluded

Oh, that's some very good news, I liked Heart of Thorns, liked Path of Fire even more, all the living worlds were neat additions and now you are telling me this one goes even further beyond? Delicious.

This is such a good quarter for mmorpgs, good lord. Endwalker, End of Dragons, Eternity's End, like the three heads of King Ghidorah.

[ryanmahaffe]

Oh, that's some very good news, I liked Heart of Thorns, liked Path of Fire even more, all the living worlds were neat additions and now you are telling me this one goes even further beyond? Delicious.

This is such a good quarter for mmorpgs, good lord. Endwalker, End of Dragons, Eternity's End, like the three heads of King Ghidorah.

I played through pretty much the entire story recently working on the "Return" achievements

End of Dragons is massively ahead of what came before, the cutscenes are especially good, and even when not in cutscenes the npcs use tons of idle animations that make them feel so much more alive.
And besides Story End of Dragons is the best this game has ever been, zones are top notch, the strikes are a massive improvement over the previous ones and even many raid bosses, and the new events are all great.

This really is a fantastic mmo quarter, but I admit I am sad they didn't delay EoD until like March 14th or something, just to space it out from other releases more.

[A Chozo]

End of Dragons is massively ahead of what came before

C'monnnnn my dude I only have so many hours in a day, how do you expect me to
- Lead my guild to the final battle against Zovaal;
- Wait silently until everyone else in the Free Company quits so I can claim the house for myself;
- Travel south to figure out if the last Elder Dragon really ate all that magic
And still be productive? I'm so fucked lol

Also, has anyone here played with the Rogue Specter? I love Shadow Magic users in mmorpg but necromancy was never my vibe, how does it play? Not performance wise because I suck ass but, uhh, gameplay-wise

[PenguinChan]

I didn't even know the expansion was done already. This is news to me - I'll have to go check out what they did, and see if I like the solo play more.

The brief previews on the site seem promising.

[PACOX]

The meta for the final fight mimics the HoT one in the way the story plays but is very satisfying in its conclusion. Sadly its very tough right now so a lot of people might not see it until theres a balance pass.

WoW, FF14, and GW2 all did these end times stories.

FF14s is very grand and thematic, epic. Didn't care for WoWs apart from the setting. GW2s is a lot more relatable and tries to be more down to earth.

Putting the previous living world season on the back burner for this expansion was worth the wait.

[Ghost of Cow]

Damn, ya'll shut up about all this good stuff, you're making me want to come back and try it.

[PACOX]

I did the final meta event then held of doing the final story mission thinking it was going to quick. Wrong. They put a lot of effort into the final fight and conclusion. If you ever enjoyed any part of the previous story it's a great with true 'end of an age' vibe.

The final fight dragged on a bit. But the visuals and concept were dope.

[Geckoo]

Just finished the story. In my opinion this is the best story from the whole game in several aspects.
The cast of characters was spot on and the voice actors did a great job with them. I would even say that the absence or less protagonism of certain characters was spot on... mainly no Braham and less Taimi talk shows. The introduction of new character was also very well done and i can't wait to have more story quests with Big Hat Rama or Ivan. And a very refreshing use of some comedy now and then.

I didn't like the dragon's end part except for the final fight. Honestly, the whole zone is a big dissappointment. But as i said, the fight is great and all that follows that fight and the consequences was also great. It did feel like the end of an era and now i'm curious about what direction they'll take now that dragons can't be the big baddie.

[PACOX]

The final meta event has been adjusted. A lot faster than I expected.

Failing the wisps phase won't punish the group as hard. They have extended the damage debuff the group can put on the boss...by a lot. The bosses moves aren't as random so groups won't lose time due to her animations/moving.


So overall dps windows are longer and more forgiving.

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I didn't like the dragon's end part except for the final fight. Honestly, the whole zone is a big dissappointment. But as i said, the fight is great and all that follows that fight and the consequences was also great. It did feel like the end of an era and now i'm curious about what direction they'll take now that dragons can't be the big baddie.

The writers left themselves a lot of room for upcoming stories.

They set up a world of coming huge cultural and technological challenges/developments. Cantha has its own political issues. You have ultra nationalists vs people who want to integrate with the rest of the world. Core Tyria appears downright primitive at this point so a story can be centered around the 'modernization' of core Tyria.

There's always stories related to the The Mists and the old human gods. Maybe they could even turn 'the Void' into some sort of extraterrestrial/eldritch threat from the Mists. There's no limits now that the dragon story is finished.

I personally want some Detective Rama/Marjory investigation side stories.

[ryanmahaffe]

Productive day for me
100% all of Canthas zones now
Completed Dragons End meta event (WITH LESS THAN A SECOND LEFT HOLY SHIT THAT WAS INTENSE)
Made significant turtle progress
Did a really clean Minister Li Strike kill

SO far I can say that this is one of my favorite mmo expansions of all time, its just so good.

[Huehuecoyotl]

The one thing that was a minor irritation for me, was that we had the end "get together" of the two guilds, and no mention of Zojja. Still alive in game (as far as I know) and the only living member of the two guilds that wasn't there. Yet not even a passing reference to their comrade. Felt a bit....off to me.

But I'd agree that the story was good. Apart from the occasional painful boss-fight that Anet insist on putting into their stories. Seriously guys, how much shit can you fit into one small area before it starts to feel a bit much?

[Scyth]

I am yet to try the final meta but the story imo was one of the best they have ever done. The last quest was brilliantly done imo.
One of the few times where I am actually excited to replay the story, that's how much I enjoyed it.

The new characters they introduced were all very good as well.

Curious to see where we go from here in terms of living world.

[Geckoo]

Finally got my turtle. Not touching that meta again unless they do some heavy changes.

We had a great commander and a bunch of great players that knew how things worked. We didn't use discord as some groups are doing and no silly requirements like 250 Li, but we did get organized in groups for buffs. Everyone had 10 stacks of the map buff, we also used the jade bot offensive and defensive buffs (FYI, you can use them several times and stack the buff duration), we had foods and legion waystations on both sides of the platform to keep the EMP's up for CC. We managed to complete the event with 2 minutes left so it was a very clean and lucky kill considering the struggles some groups are having and how close some of them get to the timer. But that level of organization and commitment in terms of time invested should not be required for an open world meta event.

Anyway, on a totally different subject... i also did all of the new strikes several times and i have to say that i was very surprised. They area really fun and certainly more complex than the IBS ones, can't wait to see the CM's. As an active Gw2 raider i have to say that this strikes are better than a lot of the boss fights we have on several raid wings. They are following the FFXIV models with trials.

[qwerty123456]

I think until I heard it repeated 5000 times in New Kaineng my favorite lore so far has been that Tengu can puke up something they ingested undamaged.

[KainneAbsolute]

For a moment, with all the Mist's stuff, I thought the dragons or was uploading themselves into the jade constructs.

[Zmagoslav]

So i breezed trough the 1st isle and i gotta say; it felt a whole lot like Pandaria.
The whole "technology"-spin on it kind of ruins the feel thou.

From my experience with GW:F i can only assume the next parts will feel a whole lot differently... i'll let myself be surprised.
Currently i'm not feeling the same "despair" and "claustrophobia" i did in that game when playing trough the story.

Is there any masteries i need to save mastery points for to progress the story?
All of them feel so... well un-essential.

[Geckoo]

Is there any masteries i need to save mastery points for to progress the story?
All of them feel so... well un-essential.

Not really. The new masteries won't block your progress and there are more than enough mastery points both on the maps and through achievements that you'll do naturally. Anyway i would advise trying to focus on the Arborstone mastery line when you unlock it because completing that line transforms Arborstone in a functional hub with all the important vendors and utilities you can need (black lion market, bank, crafting stations, vendors, mystic forge...).

[Edge-]

Is there any masteries i need to save mastery points for to progress the story?
All of them feel so... well un-essential.

Halfway through, but largely it doesn't seem like it. At least for actual progress through most of the story. Just a lot of "nice to have" stuff, which IMO is freakin great.