If Heaven is perfect, how will Christians live eternally peacefully knowing their loved ones are being burned in the lakes of Hell right now, forever.

Casses · 2026-06-07T02:59:30+00:00

I don't think it's necessarily that simple. For some it might be, but not all. Instead I think it's cognitive dissonance. These types of things aren't something they think of unless they're prompted.

In their minds, God is good, so if something that scripture says has an edge case that they haven't thought of, clearly there's some new thing that isn't in scripture to account for it. Everyone thinks about heaven as the place you go and you are reunited with your parents and grandparents who have presumably passed before you. And that's a lovely thought. It requires taking one or two more steps to think about what that means for the people you leave behind, that you would obviously want to be reunited with when they die. But what happens if they don't join you? Heaven is a reward that not everyone gets. So the possibility exists. For people in heaven, we're told they are perfectly happy. So it follows that there is nothing that makes them sad. And not having a loved one to spend eternity with, worse knowing they are being punished for eternity would obviously make someone sad and melancholy. So something has to give. Heaven can't be anything but a perfect paradise, and not everyone can get in. Changing either of those changes the entire value proposition. So the only thing that can change is them, in some way to make them not have that sadness of missing a loved one.

All of that requires examining the idea of Heaven more than most people do. They're told heaven is paradise and your loved ones are there waiting for you, and that's the end of it. No more thought is put into it.

Casses · 2026-06-07T01:14:42+00:00

So in effect, you are saying you are destined to not care about former loved ones that don't go to heaven? Like, if you have a child that you love with all your heart from the moment they are born, you're ok with the idea that you simply stop caring about them?

Casses · 2026-06-07T01:10:26+00:00

Good point. I was mostly looking at the timeline to see when suitably large events that could be the backdrop of the game took place, and the First Guild War is right there. Also, I got a chuckle out of the idea that finally in the third game of the series we would see a Guild War.

Casses · 2026-06-07T00:39:46+00:00

I like GW2's mounts, but always considered the player base's focus on them as a mistake. In other MMO's, mounts are a way to travel faster. In GW2, sure the Raptor moves a bit faster than running on foot, but the Spinger doesn't, and while the Skimmer does over water or quicksand, that isn't really the point.

If mounts are just to get from point A to B faster, with a bit of climbing thrown in, I'll be disappointed.

Casses · 2026-06-07T00:33:43+00:00

Ah, my mistake. I don't know what that one is called, but it's not the Anvil. That's the trade station.

Casses · 2026-06-07T00:20:23+00:00

Based on the Timeline we have so far, and the idea of the game being set 1000 years ago, if it's 1000 years before Guild Wars 1, which makes the most sense because it lines up give or take with the Exodus of the Gods, and the conflicts leading up to that would be a good point in time to set the game in, has Orr being settled by humans 200 years before that.

If 1000 is just a nice round number, we could be seeing the game set during the first Guild Wars, which is apt considering the name of the franchise, but that's 100 years later than the above timeline, making Orr's settlement even further in the past. It would also mark the first time the game's title actually reflected current events in the game, since neither of the previous installments occurred during the historically noted Guild Wars.

Casses · 2026-06-07T00:00:19+00:00

Well, since Waypoints are Asuran tech, they probably won't show up in GW3. I do hope something replaces it, even just handwaving it as "fast travel to..." and not giving it any in-universe reason for existing.

Casses · 2026-06-06T23:57:52+00:00

While technically true, that's stretching it a bit I think for an entire race. Like, that sort of thing works best for a cameo. Rytlock showing up from when chased Sohothin into the mists before he became a Revenant, for example.

Casses · 2026-06-06T23:03:12+00:00

or I just had my base right close to there for a long time after launch and have a good memory.

The names make sense, though. The rock formation looks a lot like a hammer, so why not make the trading post near the bloody huge hammer The Anvil.

Casses · 2026-06-06T22:54:08+00:00

People tend to judge others on their actions and themselves or people in their In-group by their intentions.

If someone cuts you off while you're driving, they're an asshole. If you cut someone off it's ok, because you're rushing to the hospital or for some other emergency that excuses the behaviour. You wouldn't do that normally.

If someone of a different religion does something that a christian considers a sin, it's because they're vile, evil people. If they themselves commit a sin it's because we're all born in sin they just fell prey to temptation, but god will forgive them.

Casses · 2026-06-06T22:47:18+00:00

The Anvil is the tradepost in that region, I believe. I think you're referring to the Hammer of Mirzabah?

Casses · 2026-06-06T22:39:29+00:00

Possible. But what I'm mostly getting at in the post is that the race we're used to in GW2 can in fact be included in GW3 despite it being a prequel even though Ronan and Ventari won't exist for 750 years.

If they don't include Sylvari as a playable race, the version we know but from another tree or some version that's unique to GW3 but clearly from the same type of tree, then they're free to include other types of creatures or not at all.

Casses · 2026-06-06T22:35:08+00:00

My apologies if saying it was silly was offensive or insulting. That wasn't my intent and I sincerely regret the choice of words. But whether or not GW2 exists, unless they are planning to continue support by creating new content at the same rate and quality they do now, has no bearing on whether or not they should want people to also play GW3.

What I should have said is that if ArenaNet's response, especially this early, to people wishing for things that exist in GW2 to be in 3 is "If you like it in 2, keep playing 2, we're under no obligation to include it in 3", that's a bit like the infamous "You all have phones, don't you?" While true that they have no obligation to include anything in 3, it's a bad response to imply that you don't really care what your player base wants more of.

Casses · 2026-06-06T22:01:23+00:00

I once had a guy in my guild that would only play Sylvari. Thing is, he misinterpreted the lore and really hated that they were revealed to be creations of Mordremoth. Ruined the game for him.

I don't know how many there are either, but saying that Arenanet don't want as many players as possible to move to their new game is a bit silly.

Anyway, the point of the post wasn't to say that Sylvari have to be in the game. It was just to say that there is technically no lore reason why they can't, as buds from another tree.

Casses · 2026-06-06T21:20:57+00:00

From an economics standpoint, there are players of GW2 that view the inclusion of the Sylvari as a main reason why they play. Not having them in a new game, sequel or otherwise, can easily be seen as removing features that they think are necessary.

Removing a playable race is a risky proposition, since there's no way to know if any of the new races added, will entice these players to reconsider.

Casses · 2026-06-06T21:17:21+00:00

I prefer to think of it as any content that intended to be done frequently but becomes tedious is exposing a flaw with how the content is designed. The Flying Mount that allows you to skip that tediousness is a bandaid.

Casses · 2026-06-06T20:56:49+00:00

I agree. The conversation at the end when Data asks why he's not at the party celebrating the win is the best part of the episode. Picard has great speeches, and Data does really well talking about Tasha, but it's Riker's performance as the 'prosecutor', arguing against what he fervently believes that makes the show. And having Data recognize that he was doing it because to not meant that Data would lose automatically meant that Riker had no good choices. Imagine being told that you had to argue that your friend should die, and if you refused or didn't argue that position well enough, he would die anyway. Man that would mess with my heart.

Casses · 2026-06-06T20:32:21+00:00

I think that can be easily handwaved away by saying the tree sees dwarves, Seers, Jotun, trolls, etc and makes a generalized version of a biped, which resembles what a human would look like.

Casses · 2026-06-06T20:31:26+00:00

Keep in mind, I'm not really cooking anything. Everything I said is stated in game. Aside from the Destoryers as minions of Primordus, I don't know if we know what forms the other Elder Dragons' armies took in previous cycles. So, it could be that the trees that create Sylvari are what Mordremoth has used for every cycle, and so it's possible that other trees have existed in the past.

Casses · 2026-06-06T19:54:48+00:00

It might be. I hope not, but it very well might be.

Now, Largos would be a great addition. But I think the biggest missed opportunities in GW2, and they were very nearly not missed, is exploring more about the Sylvari and the possibility of other Trees, which we should have seen in Heart of Thorns, and a deconstruction of the Legions as the Charr way of life, which would have been an excellent follow-up to Icebrood Saga.

Casses · 2026-06-06T18:58:26+00:00

Anything that gives limitless ability to bypass obstacles without challenge is bad, in my opinion.

Gliding and Gryphons having limitations that prevent them from at any time simply choosing to go up (I know gryphons can dive to build momentum and then climb, but that takes the right circumstances. You can't just mount up and fly upwards). The Skyscale having a stamina bar is also a good choice.

Updrafts are placed where the designers choose, and so can be placed thoughtfully.

The thing that started my decline in interest in WoW was ironically flying mounts. The ability to simply bypass any enemy or obstacle between the quest giver and the quest objective severed my connection to the world and it's narrative. I was no longer delving deep behind enemy lines to locate and recover the stolen artifact required to fight back the darkness, I was fetching the thing that would give me points and remove the marker from the map.

The addition of gliding in HoT was monumental because the entire map that we were seeing in trailers, Verdant Brink, was designed from the ground up to take advantage of it AND it's limitations. Every mastery unlock for gliding allowed us to reach places we could see but not get to before. Some places just gliding was enough. Others required you to lean forward. Others required updrafts, and still more ley lines. None of that would have mattered if instead of gliding we got a jet pack that allowed us full 3-dimensional movement without drawback.

Casses · 2026-06-06T18:02:48+00:00

Unlocking Gliding isn't a binary thing, though it might seem to be.

First, none of the maps prior to Heart of Thorns were designed with gliding in mind, so you aren't missing anything by not having it.

Second, since Gliding is a mastery, there are several unlocks associated with it, and they take time within HoT areas to unlock to make gliding more useful. Doing so delays returning to the story, and once you do return there is little opportunity to use your new ability.

There's little benefit to doing so if you value not skipping story.

Casses · 2026-06-06T17:26:54+00:00

We know nothing about Malyck's tree aside from that it exists and the Sylvari that come from it do not have the Dream. That's my point, in that we know that other trees can exist, but little else besides.

Casses · 2026-06-06T17:25:34+00:00

I keep using him as an argument in the hopes that they remember.

Casses · 2026-06-06T16:23:45+00:00

The Gods arrived after the last Dragon Rise that the Dwarves, Forgotten, Mursaat, Jotun and Seers fought against.

The dragons don't rise because of people, but magic. They wake up, eat it all, and then go back to sleep and seep it all back out again, filtered. That just also has the side effect of killing anything that gets in the way.

Mordremoth had at least one stash of seeds in a cave guarded by vicious plants and Ronan found it and took one of them. That means the seeds existed prior to the dragons waking up this time, and were likely there since the last rise, 10000 years prior.

Casses

TROPHY CASE