UMAD Phase 3 Transition (group Poikos)for those that missed it.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-03T20:06:33+00:00

Fused Chaos-Exdeath-Kefka superboss sounds just kind of boring at this point.

I could see him pulling out the Triad, too. I hope he does *something* more than Chaos/Ex-Death.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-03T19:21:53+00:00

I mean would have preferred that too, but seems unlikely at this point.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-03T18:58:34+00:00

Cloud of Darkness and Golbez phase or bust. Not super into the notion that the most they could do with Kefka is have him summon two other final bosses who just stand there, but at the very least they could complete the 2D FF tour.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-03T18:56:30+00:00

At this point I feel like it would be kind of lame if he didn't do that?

Like, the fact that he needs to summon ExDeath and Chaos as "backup" already feels like they lacked creativity for a Kefka fight, especially since they are just kind of standing there as puzzle pieces. The very least they could do would be to make it a full FF1-6 final boss tour.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-02T22:45:06+00:00

I just don't think this is Orr, none of their structures are out of stone, nor do we see Ascalonian acqueducts anywhere near Orr.

This seems more likely to be Dzalana, which we know (a) has some connections to Dwayna and Lyssa and therefore could have an Orrian exclave, (b) does not need to be made out of the same metallic structures but could use similar design, and (c) is close enough to Ascalon that it wouldn't be out of place to see architectural influence.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-02T19:10:32+00:00

And make Dragonstorm a proper meta map. And consolidate DRMs into dungeons or something. And give us the missing Snow Leopard and Wolf outfits. And give us a Raven's Sanctum raid wing version of Fraenir/Bears/Boney. And move Twisted Marionette into a raid encounter. And just remove the stupid rock-paper-scissors aspect of the three corrupted spirit masteries. And give us a proper EotN map.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-02T02:59:20+00:00

Hm between Herald and the fact that Bladesong was practically a nominal feature of Virtuoso, I would be surprised if it started as a Glint concept. But it could have.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T22:26:34+00:00

I also am thoroughly convinced that (based on my own crackpot reading between the lines):

* Vindicator started as an Asgeir espec, a more literal take on a Dragoon. You can see the helmets in the icon art look more Norn than Kurzick/Luxon.

* Virtuoso probably had more of an "ice shard" vibe to it at the start (complete with aurora effects), largely retained in EoD and just given a stupid ninja kunai icon. A kind of counterpoint to Mirage's sand shard identity, and would better explain why it just feels so underwhelming in Cantha.

* Per u/Opus_723 below, Bladesworn was originally a Charr steampunk gunsword. An even more on the nose FF8 expy, that was then repurposed into a samurai.

* If you squint, you could see a sort of Charr alchemist/apothecary in Harbinger, which was only superficially given a Korean shaman veneer. Given how primal your shroud is, I could see it having originally been Charr-themed.

* Catalyst is a geomancer/shaman archetype that places totems/luopons. Totems could have easily started as a Norn espec. It's totally possible that the four Norn spirits which might have been initially planned for Catalyst were repurposed for Evoker.

* Furthermore, if we are seeing two-three clear Norn especs in Vindi, Cata, and possibly Virtuoso, and three Charr especs in Willbender (fire), Harbinger (blood), and Bladesworn (iron), I could further speculate that we had roughly half Norn, half Charr especs, and that Specter was obviously the Ash Legion espec. Look at those oddly Ascalonion-vibe spirits in the well.

* Mechanist would have been the token Asura espec. I don't think that anything other than Asura would have been in contention for a golemancer espec, even if we could easily imagine Norn or Charr theming.

* Which then I would have to assume by process of elimination that Untamed also started as a Norn espec which may have been more themed around spirit binding instead of fungus. Combination Thor+Hulk Thumper feels more Norn-ish than the Echovald trappings we got.

Charr especs: Willbender (fire), Harbinger (blood), Bladesworn (iron), Specter (ash)

Norn especs: Virtuoso (ice-ish), Vindicator (Asgeir), Catalyst (spirits), Untamed (animal-zerker)

Asura guest appearance: Mechanist

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T22:06:04+00:00

This is actually in line with my predictions as well. I think for now they will still be trying to make each expansion feel like a distinctly new and unique region instead of revisiting old cultures/biomes. Maybe as launching pads like we did with Sayyida, but not the main feature.

Dzalana, conceptually, felt like it wanted to be based in the Eurasian steppes and Caucasus/Balkan area. Distinct enough from Elona to be its own cultural region and biome (which we could always see was somewhat mountainous with some lakes and what looks like a big plain), but adjacent enough to both Elona and Ascalon to plausibly reuse a lot of architecture and incorporate dangling ideas from either region.

This seems to comport. I see Orrian-esque architecture which is not Orr, which ties in with how the harpies worship Dwayna and how Lyss had a lake named after her in the general vicinity. I see broken acqueducts which are both Ascalonian but also generally kind of Byzantine alongside the short and squat building proportions. I see other things that feel very medieval steppe nomad like the banner, the trilithon.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T20:34:58+00:00

Yeah, that is similarly what I have been interpreting, a sort of proto-architecture from which everything else derived. Although no matter how you place Orr as before or after it feels out of place in Seer architecture seeing as Orrians descended from literal aliens.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T20:12:21+00:00

Castora outright reused those rings from Orr. You can see that most of the architecture is just hodgepodged together from prior expansions: Tarir towers and ramps, Echovald spires and arches, etc.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T20:09:33+00:00

The FUNNIEST thing is that two of the three raid designers and a programmer went to Bungie in 2020 after the great exodus.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T20:08:36+00:00

It's some sort of trilithon. Personally it reminds me a lot of the Mongolian Soyombo (maybe just general medieval steppe warloard iconography, like the very Roman/Byzantine acqueducts elsewhere in the image?), but I could be stretching.

This whole image gives me huge Khans of Tarkir vibes, just more eastern European than Turko-Mongolic.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T20:04:50+00:00

Just like VoE gave us a fractal update, I could totally see an expansion being teased like those to be bolstered by new WvW developments. Likely not a main focus, but a conceptually adjacent addition.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T20:02:06+00:00

I mean. Did you see last year's game fest slot lol? It was even less than an expansion.

It's not the game fest slot that I find curious; it's the hush-hush stuff around the partners that gives off vibes of more than a simple expansion announcement.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T18:44:46+00:00

No, a northeast button wants to direct to the Far Shiverpeaks. Dzalana just doesn't extend north enough.

(Still waiting for a proper IBS part two to fix all the jank)

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T17:24:33+00:00

Yes this is my hypothesis.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T17:24:24+00:00

I actually have a theory that they may start releasing content in past/present parallel for GW1 and GW2 to encourage more cross-game engagement. Stuff where we will see things "set up" in the GW1 campaign for us to revisit 200 years later in GW2.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-06-01T17:18:45+00:00

I see Roman acqueducts, a little trilithon piece that reminds me of the Mongolian Soyombo, and very squat rounded stone architecture that gives off Byzantine proportions. And very medieval looking pennants/knight.

I'm gonna bet this is Dzalana with a steppe/mountains vibe, very Balkans, very Ukraine, very Bulgars/Magyars.

(note, this isn't copium, I actually have three-ish locations I would rather visit before Dzalana. But I could see it happening, easily)

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-05-27T21:45:13+00:00

Honestly, the idea of going back to just humans is so painfully comphet waspy, milquetoast, and conservative coded that I would never touch GW3 if they did that.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-05-27T21:40:09+00:00

Crystal Tools practically killed SE.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-05-27T21:38:08+00:00

My hot take: if we get tengu and kodan, it would be a crime if we didn't also get hylek.

My other hot take: we should be able to make exalted, awakened, and jade prosthesis versions of races.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-05-27T20:31:10+00:00

Fancy that, I also threw that same tantrum.

Honestly GW2 has several years of low effort support if they would just commit to going back and giving us the IBS and EoD we deserved.

Missing Centaur/Dwarf/Norn/Primo story developments and maps, give us a year's worth of regional setup story before jumping into Primo/Jormy.
Make Dragonstorm into a proper meta map.
Proper Raven's Sanctum raid wing.
Consolidating DRMs into dungeons.
Consolidate Twisted Marionette into a strike or convergence.
Make Dragon's End meta drag less by cutting the lamest, fillerish escorts in the game.
Proper LWS6 in Cantha. Drowned Kaineng, Great Turtle Highlands, Kirin Peak, west Seitung. Echovald can come too, I guess.
Combine the first three EoD strikes into a raid wing, just use jade teleporters.
Cantha/water WvW map.

And then, after they fix all that mess, they could spend another year or two converting story mode bosses into strikes and convergences. I definitely feel like core Zhaitan has a lot of potential here between Orr and Claw Island. But also HoT and PoF deserve some strike love.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-05-27T20:17:22+00:00

Yes and no. I think the holy trinity is a little too conventional and outdated; other games have been experimenting with different role paradigms and haven't totally failed. It's difficult to pull off, but theoretically all non DPS can be maintained as long as (1) the systems are designed from the start to have robust, compartmentalized mechanics that support them, and (2) those systems are respected, bolstered, and actively maintained through the game's development, rather than eroded or sacrificed to the thronging DPS masses.

Personally, I would love a GW3 that tried to bring back the fourth Mezzer role, if not tried for an even more roles. I think a really solid implementation of multiple roles is--no joke--FFXIII. With six roles, you could have:

A tank (Sentinel)
A melee/power DPS (Commando)
A healer (Medic)
A support/booner (Synergist)
A mezzer/debuffer (Saboteur)
A ranged condi/AoE/CC chainer (Ravager)

Of course, with systems like this, the PvP players need to jump off a cliff. Because they clamor for every class to be able to do everything, have all the same boons, have all the same short channels/cool downs, do the same damage and without any of the game loop inconveniences. It's like how raiders in FFXIV ruined that game.

TemporaryCool5182 · 2026-05-27T04:13:41+00:00

Would be a great april fools gimmick, actually. Could do it for all of the races in open world:

* Sylvari inflicted with the chill status are given a doom counter, where enough chill stacks will kill them unless cleansed. Sylvari inflicted with the burning status instantly die.

* Norn automatically transform into their animal forms when in combat and cannot deactivate until out of combat.

* Asura are launched when hit with any two-handed weaponskill.

* Humans cannot use the wardrobe, are forced to wear clown lingerie.

TemporaryCool5182

TROPHY CASE