It's true what they say about nostalgia, I've been watching you since just before gw2 released, so every time I come back and hear your commentary I'm transported to happy times grinding HM map clears in EOTN.
I concur about the nostalgia part. I'm a more recent viewer than you but it's still been a decade for me. I remember very clearly which video was the most recent one on WP:s channel when I first started watching. It was the "Join me on weird farms" video from 2014. He was running around in Queensdale and inviting the community to join him in farming karkas in Southsun. It's odd thinking of the random stuff that gets stuck in your mind. Watching this channel takes me back to simpler times.
WoodenPotatoes: I really wish the Devs would let us know what's happening in the core world. Me(and anyone else who's played the expansion): Well, do we have an opening mission for you.
actually the worst storytelling I've seen in a videogame. here is a spot. we are gonna lock you in place to listen 20 minutes of exposition and don't you dare afk, you gotta be there to press f and maybe move a couple meters at arbitrary points. even a great story would suffer significantly from the way it's told
That's not the only one either. lol And some of the lore books in both maps showcase even more. I said it in chat, but it's insane up how much world building this expansion has. Oh and some of the events too. The one in Lowland about the Valravns was surprisingly dark.
@@LLPTV "Even a great story would suffer from not being able to skip/afk it" roflmao It's fine to only care about the videogame and not the story and there should be options for those players but that doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the story or the storytelling
Lowland shore is the new most beautiful map in the game. There, I said it. Giant trees, vast cliff faces, waterfalls flowing into rivers, running through the wilds and under mountain passes. Just breathtaking. I was awestruck. First time I saw the other half of the map I thought I hit bounds. Then I spotted an updraft in the distance and it hit me that, no, there's just a huge canyon here.
Even with Isgarren being a "nice guy", he still has edge. Theres a smugness to him when he's telling a story. He doesn't elaborate and has an air of superiority. Very belittling to the other NPCs and is like "trust me , i know more than you"
I'm just glad they still ride the line that he's a bit of a dick and others think so too. Not often do games or media portray a good guy as arrogant well. His little correction of You to We when talking about Soo-wan not being able to protect them shows how much he thinks he's above Tyrian denizens.
So glad you are still doing these play throughs. Each video is like “coming home.” You have such amazing insight into the context and long term history with the game. Been listening for 12years. Thanks for playing!
Watching this after the fact knowing whats coming, its amazing how well you know the lore and how good you are at predicting what is coming. Love the content, glad youre still up to do these!
I just saw my email from anet saying Janthir Wilds had released and first thought was not to play but to come here! (Dont have the time to play but the NOSTALGIA)
Isgarren: We've been lurking in the shadows, protecting you all from any threat from across the mists. Crecia: "So when the humans showed up and took every scrap of land they could you were asleep or...?"
@@WoodenPotatoes That's explained in SotO in one of the papers you can find around. He never interfered in that because the only thing he cares about is the continued existence of Tria rather than the status quo of it. He was okay with the human gods coming here, more of an, "Okay, we're just going to ignore each other existence as long as you're no threat to Tyria." When Balthazar then went rogue he went, "Okay, never gonna allow the human gods back in as they're clearly a threat to Tyria," and I do agree with him since Kormir's domain is a lie told to her since there's no such thing as an objective truth.
played through twice and now come back to watch this. Is fascinating how much extra insight you can give despite me already feeling like I got a lot out of the story. Excited to watch the rest.
Yes mate i popped off when i found Dougal upstairs in the guild building. I remember reading ghosts of ascalon waiting for this game to come out. Very happy hes still kicking around and remembered despite his silly name im still not sure how to pronounce.
Glad to see you are doing a blind playthrough! Always loved watching your reactions. Ive played quite a bit so far(5 to 6 hours), so i cant comment on the whole story, but I've really enjoyed my time so far. The scene talking about the kryptis during the meeting and nobody knows anything about them, and then we are revealed to have stopped them, had me laughing. I can see our character silently pleading to be left out of it, and then the internal groan, when we are not.
Wooden Potatoes content for This Expac is exactly what I needed for my morning coffee for the next little while. Much love dude, enjoy the expac. I think it’s amazing and more to come!
I've got 2 things to comment here. Firstly, about the expacs being 'contained stories that new players can jump into' : I think it's totally fine - even necessary - to ensure the new stories fit into the world, which means connecting it to other stories, regardless of the players' knowledge. Sometimes I read the criticism that parts of this franchise reference things that newer players might not have experienced, be it GW1 or previous GW2 stories, but I think that is incredibly short-sighted. A new player should be able to enjoy and understand the SURFACE story, and even if they don't know all the references, it makes the world feel much bigger and connected. Hell, it might get new players to seek out other stories (either through play, the wiki, or videos). Anet should never be afraid to mention anything from their previous work. If it makes sense in the writing, it should be there. Secondly, just like you I wasn't really feeling the hype before the expac dropped. I wasn't even sure if I'd be continuing the story. But the opening has reinvigorated that and I'll be buying it! Finally time to try out that affiliate link of yours. :) And whatever you'll be producing in the future, GW2 or not, I'll be there to check it out.
Dude some of your predictions are hilarious/very entertaining to hear as someone who has already played through the story. I'm glad i get to experience your playthrough on youtube as i rushed my mine to unlock homesteads on day one.
love love love this kind of content from you, keep it up! Your immediate recollection of all the little details and what they are or could be referring to honestly made me download the game again just now. Maybe I'll finally pull the hours for Incinerator for my condi rogue :D
Kodan: "I never thought the Tyrians capable of an alliance." Commander nervously tries to forget all the arguing in the very first meeting and pretends this alliance isn't just a Queen Jenna thing.
Been liking the story so far as I played it myself but I really, really love you doing this. All the comments and deep insights on lore are great 👍. Also I feel like you playing this "blind" is more enjoyable than your Soto story playthrough. Thank you for sharing this with us 😊.
I never knew that the OG warclaw is supposed to be sentient armor, since they have versions without the head covered and even on the default skin it looks like it has fur in spots between the armor underneath.
Oh, people have probably already said all this, but: A) Polar Bears are the largest kind of bears in our world. The only brown bears which get close to their size are the Kodiak, a group that live in a region in Alaska with enough salmon to allow them to grow like 3x the size of their kin. B) With climate change, polar bears are moving south and are breeding with brown bears. There are two somewhat joke-y names for this new type. Grolar (Grizzly Polar) and Prizzly.
I tried to run as much of the story as I could in prep for this video in the hopes that I went far enough that I don’t get spoiled, but I’m still going to watch either way. Something about WPs raw reaction to things just hooks me.
Glad I wasn't the only one confused by the "go recruit the village bears" coming out of nowhere. It's super weird that the primary motivation for going to the namesake region of the expansion is just a random notion from Frode.
Hi Wp. Thanks for doing the expac playthough. During new expansions and story patches, I've always avoided lore books and extra dialogue options so that I can experience them through your eyes and enthusiasm. I didn't play GW1, so getting the extra lore bits and anecdotes you bring during your playthroughs makes it so much more entertaining and captivating to experience. Your lore series on GW1 is what convinved me to buy GW2 after release, and I keep coming back for more each time there is new story.
I just finished the story yesterday so perfect timing, as a fellow Isgarren fan it will be interesting to see your take on him (although I have soft spots for many of the astral ward) as well as some other things in the story. :) Overall I really liked it, the only frustrating thing that stood out to me was that a lot of npcs get the speech bubble icon when you hoover over them but then they don't actually have any dialogue, I just want to talk haha. As I don't have your predictive powers I was on the edge of my seat during the meeting since we've basically been keeping the astral ward a secret from everyone else for the better part of a year and I was really wondering if and how we were going to address the "kryptis threat" and how people would react especially since all of them are sooo reassured that we are there when we entered the building and urges us to lead the agenda and everything. Then we drop the "they've been... contained" line which is the least reassuring thing you can hear if you've almost been invaded by demons. Idk, I guess I expected a bit more of a backlash in that they can't trust their trusted commander as much as they thought but now all we got was Caithe calling us wayfinder a bit tongue-in-cheek and I know they want the story to move on but I still wonder if it was a lost opportunity. Also enjoy the walking! I'm on a skyscale detox after the SOTO maps. It's so convenient but so clunky in comparison to most other mounts, like a flying turtle with sticky paws, so actively trying to not default to using it when I know I enjoy they other mounts more.
I'm so happy to hear you beeing excited about the intro to the expac. To be honest I didnt even watch your latest videos bc they were to negative for my taste. Which is especially sad for me bc you always have the most sophisticated opinions and your level of video production is unmatched from all GW2 creators.
Super excited for this playthrough, WP! Very glad to hear it's going to be blind too, and I very much enjoyed this first episode. I loved the first instance for the expac, the interesting politics and immersive worldbuilding was a great way to get me interested again in the story after the whole Nayos arc. Something I'm really hoping to see in this expac personally is Isgarren in his true Seer form, it 100% makes sense that he would keep his Djinn 'mirage' when revealing his presence to the world's leaders, but he still feels like a Djinn 2.0 to me, and not at all like the cold, unmoving, alien Seers from GW1. Also a detail I very much enjoyed, Moon Camp very much reminds me of how the Wizards Tower looked back in GW1, as a structure on a floating rock, tethered to the ground with massive chains. Can't wait to see how the rest of the expac unfolds!
Love your playthroughts watching/listening during work as I already played the story. You are filling all my knowledge gaps perfectly 😅 And it is scary how on point some of your predictions are 😮 Thanks for entertaining us WP
I cant help but point interesting obscured fact about Jennah father: the old lady that is runing the war room in guild halls directly say she have fought at the King's side back in the day.
I love your Pact Flowers fashion wars, good stuff! And yes, that ooh!? at the mention of Dzlana was the exact same reaction i had. Not only was the story in this expansion really good with lots of interesting tensions, frictions and secrets between friendly characters, there were some quite exciting hints for where future expansions might be set. Also WP Disco Elysium lets play, let's fucking GOOOO! All aboard the hype train! Best LPer covering the best game.
Difference between the Kodan we know and the Lowland kodan is based on actual bears, bears fur color is basaed on climate on where they live and where they are born and also techically polar bears are actually black, they just have an outer fur of white to blend in with there environment
They really gotta work on their marketing, I didnt know this expansion was released or was even happening until this video came up in my notifications xD
ANet got a lot of employees from Blizzard during the whole "no remote work" debacle. They've been properly integrated into the company now as can be seen by the quality of JW. Some of the VAs for background voices give the "pulled from the office" vibe.
22:20 - Main Story Begins 1:45:00 - Unknown Territory: Moon Camp (story step in the new map) Extra: 2:52:45 / 2:53:43 - WP asking if Poised Arrow's Mom is Waiting Sorrow 2:58:34 - WP's Story Predictions
Loving watching this new expansion through your content. Haven't played GW2 in such a long time and am enjoying once again a new GW2 expansion and being able to follow it through your videos. One quick note; I am playing catch-up with your videos so decided I would click on your playlist to watch them all but noticed that they are the wrong way round. Newer episodes are appearing first and the first one is last. I was sure I used to have a "reverse playlist" function for youtube but I guess that option/extension got removed somehow so I have gone back to watching your videos individually instead. Hope you can fix it. to make it easier for people in the future to watch all these. Thanks.
The ending of the Moralist storyline where you really get to see just how "Alien" and out of touch the first world can be from the perspective of people who are really struggling is genuinely one of my best gaming experiences. Listen to the song Advesperascit!
@wp, I can wait to watch your play through after doing mine. I did a little skip and it's so nice to hear your excitement. I've only just got in to Janthir and loving already myself
23:10: Humans are addressed by Queen Jennah, as "Commander" in their letter. But asura are refered to by asuran council memeber by the savant title. Not sure about charr or norn.
Thought the SotO story really went downhill as most did even though I adore the aesthetic (and Nayos map vibe and look). I was craving for gw2 to go into super edgy demonic, Nightfall endgame type stuff, but they really dropped the ball. I also was not too big on the shiny wizards tower, still wish it was a raid and not an expac. But this expac man, first instance done and im fanboying HARD. Much improved writing, everything feels mofe meaty and better connected, more thought out. I cant wajt to find out more about Mabon and Asteal Ward presence during Prophecies stuff, and the old Mursaat city. This stuff is hitring all the sweet spots for ne. And the maps are not meta zerg fests byt nore core/pof like which I love. I really missed simple exploration. Im one of those weied people who often goes back to PoF maps to replay events, do map completion and sruff simply because they feel so immersive and rich with storytelling.
They did mention that they looked into new playable race but it was too out of scope for this expac. So I think it’s actually kinda likely for a future expac
@@thatdangboy8267 Bloom's video. Iirc he said when he asked them, they had tried and it was out of scope which I took to mean not just in this expac but in general.
It would also make sense lore wise. In this expansion, we are befriending to Kodan. Wouldn't he surprised to see them as the new race next time around.
It wouldn't surprise me if the ANet writers decided to dissolve The Pact and let the organizations drift over to the sidelines AKA the reference & cameo zone. Partly because it was created in response to the Elder Dragons and that's now done and dusted; Partly because it feels like the Astral Ward is The Pact 2: Reference Boogaloo.
They they get absorbed into the new alliance and become different brances. Intelligence, research, military etc. Like a giant, actually funcitonal, UN. lol
I know everyone got the same letter but I really like the idea of some Dominion of Winds tengu going "who the f is Soo-Won and why is their passing relevant?"
I am skipping SoTo and don't do WvW so no maces for my ranger unfortunately. I just don't care for the skyscale so Soto isn't worth running for me. But looking forward to the warclaw
Did I miss some events post-EOD? I've been gone a while but wasn't the Pale Tree injured over 9 years ago canonically? How bloody slow does she heal? She's a tree! I don't know, the timescale feels off for me given canonically a lot of this stuff was many years ago, yet they act like its fresh in everyone's mind.
The letter at 1:56:10 is cool but "we know how that ended (good riddance to the bastard)" really bothers me. Saul was a goddamn hero. The White Mantle turned out into bastards after Saul was abducted but that's got nothing to do with Saul. I don't remember what Galrath's alignment on the White Mantle - Lionguard scale was in GW1 but anyway he died before the Mantle's villainy was revealed.
I'm way behind on your stream of this game, but speaking of the charr being defanged, I couldn't STAND the moment where Malice basically APOLOGIZED for the searing. But hey, I guess character assassination comes with the territory of being a Charr imperator now
I found it the opposite as it shows that Legions have mostly learned from the experience and the ones following Bangar are the ones who have learned nothing and are set on repeating the past only with Bangar, instead of, Flame Legion. It's also incredibly poignant to contrast this with humans because there's nothing that indicates that humanity feels anything over all the violent colonialism that was done to found Elona, Ascalon and Kryta, and the one genocide they added on top of those to found Ascalon. Dwayna was never once worried about the morals and ethics of those, she was worried about how genocide would eventually backfire on the humans that was her objection to Balthazar riling the humans up. Humans are the ones who'll repeat their past given that they've never acknowledged it. Anise's threatening with violence in the initial chapter is a prime example of this since going through with it would have led to a diplomatic incident of nuclear proportions and what triggered her was the omission of a title from people who give little credence to titles in the first place.
One of my tiny nitpicks with the story: I wish all the Kodan had a consistent “gruff” or “growl” effect applied to their voice actors. Grazed By Fire and some of the other voices sound too smooth or nerdy to be coming from a bear body.
Sons of Svanir aren't Dragon minions, that's icebrood. Sons of Svanir were just norn who worshipped Jormag as the strongest spirit of the wild. Jormag is now dead and demonstrably not all powerful, so what purpose does the cult have?
@@WoodenPotatoes Ah. I see. I always kinda thought they were norns infused with dragon magic etc. not hugely into the lore, especially lately. Cults are cults though, people choose theirs. What purpose would their life have after her death? maybe they'd believe in Jormag's return, maybe they didn't want to believe the dragon truly died? I don't think anets writing should be given too much credit though, I think the best way woulda been to have at least some of them maybe join the commander's cause becasue their deity died in their hands.
It's true what they say about nostalgia, I've been watching you since just before gw2 released, so every time I come back and hear your commentary I'm transported to happy times grinding HM map clears in EOTN.
I concur about the nostalgia part. I'm a more recent viewer than you but it's still been a decade for me. I remember very clearly which video was the most recent one on WP:s channel when I first started watching. It was the "Join me on weird farms" video from 2014.
He was running around in Queensdale and inviting the community to join him in farming karkas in Southsun.
It's odd thinking of the random stuff that gets stuck in your mind.
Watching this channel takes me back to simpler times.
WoodenPotatoes: I really wish the Devs would let us know what's happening in the core world.
Me(and anyone else who's played the expansion): Well, do we have an opening mission for you.
actually the worst storytelling I've seen in a videogame. here is a spot. we are gonna lock you in place to listen 20 minutes of exposition and don't you dare afk, you gotta be there to press f and maybe move a couple meters at arbitrary points. even a great story would suffer significantly from the way it's told
@LLPTV how is it the worst lol? New to vodeogames?😅
That's not the only one either. lol And some of the lore books in both maps showcase even more. I said it in chat, but it's insane up how much world building this expansion has.
Oh and some of the events too. The one in Lowland about the Valravns was surprisingly dark.
@@LLPTV L take
@@LLPTV "Even a great story would suffer from not being able to skip/afk it" roflmao
It's fine to only care about the videogame and not the story and there should be options for those players but that doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the story or the storytelling
Lowland shore is the new most beautiful map in the game. There, I said it.
Giant trees, vast cliff faces, waterfalls flowing into rivers, running through the wilds and under mountain passes. Just breathtaking. I was awestruck.
First time I saw the other half of the map I thought I hit bounds. Then I spotted an updraft in the distance and it hit me that, no, there's just a huge canyon here.
Even with Isgarren being a "nice guy", he still has edge. Theres a smugness to him when he's telling a story. He doesn't elaborate and has an air of superiority. Very belittling to the other NPCs and is like "trust me , i know more than you"
I'm just glad they still ride the line that he's a bit of a dick and others think so too. Not often do games or media portray a good guy as arrogant well.
His little correction of You to We when talking about Soo-wan not being able to protect them shows how much he thinks he's above Tyrian denizens.
He is become my fave characters hahaha
I love that about him though. I enjoy his air of superiority and I'm excited to see how he prevails.
So glad you are still doing these play throughs. Each video is like “coming home.” You have such amazing insight into the context and long term history with the game. Been listening for 12years. Thanks for playing!
It's nice hearing Sam Reigal voice Braham considering he was recovering from tonsil cancer a few months back
I believe he recorded before his surgery. But yes, I'm glad he's doing okay.
Watching this after the fact knowing whats coming, its amazing how well you know the lore and how good you are at predicting what is coming. Love the content, glad youre still up to do these!
I just saw my email from anet saying Janthir Wilds had released and first thought was not to play but to come here! (Dont have the time to play but the NOSTALGIA)
no time to play, but there is time to watch a 3 hour long video
@@bopo900 multitasking sir
@@bopo900 fk logic.
Isgarren: We've been lurking in the shadows, protecting you all from any threat from across the mists.
Crecia: "So when the humans showed up and took every scrap of land they could you were asleep or...?"
It's a fun thought actually! They didn't intervene in a lot of domestic issues and I can imagine people being pissed about that.
@@WoodenPotatoes That's explained in SotO in one of the papers you can find around. He never interfered in that because the only thing he cares about is the continued existence of Tria rather than the status quo of it.
He was okay with the human gods coming here, more of an, "Okay, we're just going to ignore each other existence as long as you're no threat to Tyria." When Balthazar then went rogue he went, "Okay, never gonna allow the human gods back in as they're clearly a threat to Tyria," and I do agree with him since Kormir's domain is a lie told to her since there's no such thing as an objective truth.
played through twice and now come back to watch this. Is fascinating how much extra insight you can give despite me already feeling like I got a lot out of the story. Excited to watch the rest.
Nice let me know how it is!
Yes mate i popped off when i found Dougal upstairs in the guild building. I remember reading ghosts of ascalon waiting for this game to come out. Very happy hes still kicking around and remembered despite his silly name im still not sure how to pronounce.
I struggled with the name too!
He's been there since they added the Guild Hall in Lion's Arch.
Glad to see you are doing a blind playthrough! Always loved watching your reactions. Ive played quite a bit so far(5 to 6 hours), so i cant comment on the whole story, but I've really enjoyed my time so far.
The scene talking about the kryptis during the meeting and nobody knows anything about them, and then we are revealed to have stopped them, had me laughing. I can see our character silently pleading to be left out of it, and then the internal groan, when we are not.
Wooden Potatoes content for This Expac is exactly what I needed for my morning coffee for the next little while. Much love dude, enjoy the expac. I think it’s amazing and more to come!
I've got 2 things to comment here.
Firstly, about the expacs being 'contained stories that new players can jump into' : I think it's totally fine - even necessary - to ensure the new stories fit into the world, which means connecting it to other stories, regardless of the players' knowledge. Sometimes I read the criticism that parts of this franchise reference things that newer players might not have experienced, be it GW1 or previous GW2 stories, but I think that is incredibly short-sighted. A new player should be able to enjoy and understand the SURFACE story, and even if they don't know all the references, it makes the world feel much bigger and connected. Hell, it might get new players to seek out other stories (either through play, the wiki, or videos). Anet should never be afraid to mention anything from their previous work. If it makes sense in the writing, it should be there.
Secondly, just like you I wasn't really feeling the hype before the expac dropped. I wasn't even sure if I'd be continuing the story. But the opening has reinvigorated that and I'll be buying it! Finally time to try out that affiliate link of yours. :)
And whatever you'll be producing in the future, GW2 or not, I'll be there to check it out.
If you really used the affiliate link thank you so much for that!
@@WoodenPotatoes Just did and it worked! Have a nice weekend. :)
Dude some of your predictions are hilarious/very entertaining to hear as someone who has already played through the story. I'm glad i get to experience your playthrough on youtube as i rushed my mine to unlock homesteads on day one.
love love love this kind of content from you, keep it up! Your immediate recollection of all the little details and what they are or could be referring to honestly made me download the game again just now. Maybe I'll finally pull the hours for Incinerator for my condi rogue :D
The best part of this stream is how WP constant refers to everyone's backstory as kvatch and I don't think my brain will ever call it Shaemoor again
Kodan: "I never thought the Tyrians capable of an alliance."
Commander nervously tries to forget all the arguing in the very first meeting and pretends this alliance isn't just a Queen Jenna thing.
Been liking the story so far as I played it myself but I really, really love you doing this. All the comments and deep insights on lore are great 👍. Also I feel like you playing this "blind" is more enjoyable than your Soto story playthrough. Thank you for sharing this with us 😊.
I never knew that the OG warclaw is supposed to be sentient armor, since they have versions without the head covered and even on the default skin it looks like it has fur in spots between the armor underneath.
Man, I am loving this expac so much! It'll be the first time doing an expac where I feel so excited to get all the achievements! :D
The Asura indeed gets a box to stand on. It's an apple crate! Solid reference.
Oh, people have probably already said all this, but:
A) Polar Bears are the largest kind of bears in our world. The only brown bears which get close to their size are the Kodiak, a group that live in a region in Alaska with enough salmon to allow them to grow like 3x the size of their kin.
B) With climate change, polar bears are moving south and are breeding with brown bears. There are two somewhat joke-y names for this new type. Grolar (Grizzly Polar) and Prizzly.
I tried to run as much of the story as I could in prep for this video in the hopes that I went far enough that I don’t get spoiled, but I’m still going to watch either way. Something about WPs raw reaction to things just hooks me.
Glad I wasn't the only one confused by the "go recruit the village bears" coming out of nowhere. It's super weird that the primary motivation for going to the namesake region of the expansion is just a random notion from Frode.
@@loopgru I thought the recruiting of the village bears was more of a cover for the real reason: finding a certain 🐻
Hi Wp. Thanks for doing the expac playthough. During new expansions and story patches, I've always avoided lore books and extra dialogue options so that I can experience them through your eyes and enthusiasm. I didn't play GW1, so getting the extra lore bits and anecdotes you bring during your playthroughs makes it so much more entertaining and captivating to experience. Your lore series on GW1 is what convinved me to buy GW2 after release, and I keep coming back for more each time there is new story.
Love this. Looking forward to the rest of the series
Recently got rid of my windows gaming machine, so it will be nice to experience the expansion from your perspective. Thanks for streaming it!
I just finished the story yesterday so perfect timing, as a fellow Isgarren fan it will be interesting to see your take on him (although I have soft spots for many of the astral ward) as well as some other things in the story. :) Overall I really liked it, the only frustrating thing that stood out to me was that a lot of npcs get the speech bubble icon when you hoover over them but then they don't actually have any dialogue, I just want to talk haha.
As I don't have your predictive powers I was on the edge of my seat during the meeting since we've basically been keeping the astral ward a secret from everyone else for the better part of a year and I was really wondering if and how we were going to address the "kryptis threat" and how people would react especially since all of them are sooo reassured that we are there when we entered the building and urges us to lead the agenda and everything. Then we drop the "they've been... contained" line which is the least reassuring thing you can hear if you've almost been invaded by demons. Idk, I guess I expected a bit more of a backlash in that they can't trust their trusted commander as much as they thought but now all we got was Caithe calling us wayfinder a bit tongue-in-cheek and I know they want the story to move on but I still wonder if it was a lost opportunity.
Also enjoy the walking! I'm on a skyscale detox after the SOTO maps. It's so convenient but so clunky in comparison to most other mounts, like a flying turtle with sticky paws, so actively trying to not default to using it when I know I enjoy they other mounts more.
I'm so happy to hear you beeing excited about the intro to the expac. To be honest I didnt even watch your latest videos bc they were to negative for my taste. Which is especially sad for me bc you always have the most sophisticated opinions and your level of video production is unmatched from all GW2 creators.
It's tricky but ultimately I think being honest over sugarcoating is the better thing, even if it means the content is a bit grim for a while.
Super excited for this playthrough, WP! Very glad to hear it's going to be blind too, and I very much enjoyed this first episode.
I loved the first instance for the expac, the interesting politics and immersive worldbuilding was a great way to get me interested again in the story after the whole Nayos arc.
Something I'm really hoping to see in this expac personally is Isgarren in his true Seer form, it 100% makes sense that he would keep his Djinn 'mirage' when revealing his presence to the world's leaders, but he still feels like a Djinn 2.0 to me, and not at all like the cold, unmoving, alien Seers from GW1.
Also a detail I very much enjoyed, Moon Camp very much reminds me of how the Wizards Tower looked back in GW1, as a structure on a floating rock, tethered to the ground with massive chains. Can't wait to see how the rest of the expac unfolds!
That's a great observation about the golden chains!
Love your playthroughts watching/listening during work as I already played the story.
You are filling all my knowledge gaps perfectly 😅
And it is scary how on point some of your predictions are 😮
Thanks for entertaining us WP
Hearing WP say “OMG guys we’re here we’re on our adventure!” Is delighting. Also, my prodiction is that Bava Nisos is where the new Raid is set.
I saw you were in DE today and wondered when you would start the new xpac, welcome to Janthir!
Good to be here!
I cant help but point interesting obscured fact about Jennah father: the old lady that is runing the war room in guild halls directly say she have fought at the King's side back in the day.
Nice one man that's a very small detail!
I love your Pact Flowers fashion wars, good stuff!
And yes, that ooh!? at the mention of Dzlana was the exact same reaction i had. Not only was the story in this expansion really good with lots of interesting tensions, frictions and secrets between friendly characters, there were some quite exciting hints for where future expansions might be set.
Also WP Disco Elysium lets play, let's fucking GOOOO! All aboard the hype train!
Best LPer covering the best game.
Is sooooo good to hear You being such hyped up WP !!
Watching Your content for SOTO was kind of "depressing". Now good, old WP came back !!
Difference between the Kodan we know and the Lowland kodan is based on actual bears, bears fur color is basaed on climate on where they live and where they are born and also techically polar bears are actually black, they just have an outer fur of white to blend in with there environment
They really gotta work on their marketing, I didnt know this expansion was released or was even happening until this video came up in my notifications xD
ahh nice.. I will watch this tomorrow and then decide if I buy this xpac
ANet got a lot of employees from Blizzard during the whole "no remote work" debacle. They've been properly integrated into the company now as can be seen by the quality of JW. Some of the VAs for background voices give the "pulled from the office" vibe.
22:20 - Main Story Begins
1:45:00 - Unknown Territory: Moon Camp (story step in the new map)
Extra:
2:52:45 / 2:53:43 - WP asking if Poised Arrow's Mom is Waiting Sorrow
2:58:34 - WP's Story Predictions
Omg you came back to these nice thanks!
If we had to interact with Blunt I'd destroy something in anger!
I love that you have a g600, when I've been watching you since the beginning and refuse to use any other mouse thanks to gw2!
I'm from the west coast of the US and yes we do say "Salve" as "sav". I don't know why, but there it is.
Loving watching this new expansion through your content. Haven't played GW2 in such a long time and am enjoying once again a new GW2 expansion and being able to follow it through your videos.
One quick note; I am playing catch-up with your videos so decided I would click on your playlist to watch them all but noticed that they are the wrong way round. Newer episodes are appearing first and the first one is last.
I was sure I used to have a "reverse playlist" function for youtube but I guess that option/extension got removed somehow so I have gone back to watching your videos individually instead. Hope you can fix it. to make it easier for people in the future to watch all these. Thanks.
Oh I can reverse the order no problem! Will do that now.
@@WoodenPotatoes thanks, appreciate it. Now I can sit back and relax with my mid-morning coffee and begin the 4 hour epic that is Part 3. nice.
"man i like drawing on the Screen" 😂
WP please do a Disco Elysium series sometime! A Moralist one too would be great also!
The ending of the Moralist storyline where you really get to see just how "Alien" and out of touch the first world can be from the perspective of people who are really struggling is genuinely one of my best gaming experiences. Listen to the song Advesperascit!
you were correct about the pronunciation of 'irascible', guess the VA didn't know how to say it and nobody caught it after
Glad to be reaffirmed on that one!
@wp, I can wait to watch your play through after doing mine. I did a little skip and it's so nice to hear your excitement. I've only just got in to Janthir and loving already myself
3h and no spear unlock :D but love how you get lpst over the care for details but into Janthir
23:10: Humans are addressed by Queen Jennah, as "Commander" in their letter. But asura are refered to by asuran council memeber by the savant title. Not sure about charr or norn.
Ahh so they kept commander for humans, that's cool.
Awesome playthough wp jus like old times....looking forward to more jw stuff from u
1:11:15 “Wait let me pause … aghhh”
I would like to know, do you level your main character to level 80 1st, then level each of you alt's to level 80 2nd.
I really enjoyed the blind playthrough, if it doesn't diminish your enjoyment of the content first time
Thought the SotO story really went downhill as most did even though I adore the aesthetic (and Nayos map vibe and look). I was craving for gw2 to go into super edgy demonic, Nightfall endgame type stuff, but they really dropped the ball. I also was not too big on the shiny wizards tower, still wish it was a raid and not an expac.
But this expac man, first instance done and im fanboying HARD. Much improved writing, everything feels mofe meaty and better connected, more thought out. I cant wajt to find out more about Mabon and Asteal Ward presence during Prophecies stuff, and the old Mursaat city. This stuff is hitring all the sweet spots for ne. And the maps are not meta zerg fests byt nore core/pof like which I love. I really missed simple exploration. Im one of those weied people who often goes back to PoF maps to replay events, do map completion and sruff simply because they feel so immersive and rich with storytelling.
@woodenpotatoes Duck mini isnt gem store, it's from dragon bash a couple of years ago iirc :)
They did mention that they looked into new playable race but it was too out of scope for this expac. So I think it’s actually kinda likely for a future expac
This was in some recent press coverage can’t remember where from
@@thatdangboy8267 Bloom's video. Iirc he said when he asked them, they had tried and it was out of scope which I took to mean not just in this expac but in general.
@@battlebots1 ah well maybe there’s hope one day
It would also make sense lore wise. In this expansion, we are befriending to Kodan. Wouldn't he surprised to see them as the new race next time around.
It wouldn't surprise me if the ANet writers decided to dissolve The Pact and let the organizations drift over to the sidelines AKA the reference & cameo zone. Partly because it was created in response to the Elder Dragons and that's now done and dusted; Partly because it feels like the Astral Ward is The Pact 2: Reference Boogaloo.
They they get absorbed into the new alliance and become different brances. Intelligence, research, military etc. Like a giant, actually funcitonal, UN. lol
I know everyone got the same letter but I really like the idea of some Dominion of Winds tengu going "who the f is Soo-Won and why is their passing relevant?"
Lol I can 100% see that.
I am skipping SoTo and don't do WvW so no maces for my ranger unfortunately. I just don't care for the skyscale so Soto isn't worth running for me. But looking forward to the warclaw
Did I miss some events post-EOD? I've been gone a while but wasn't the Pale Tree injured over 9 years ago canonically? How bloody slow does she heal? She's a tree!
I don't know, the timescale feels off for me given canonically a lot of this stuff was many years ago, yet they act like its fresh in everyone's mind.
Who knows the mysterious inner workings of the pale tree!
@@WoodenPotatoes Lol, yeah, "who knows" is indeed the problem 🙃
Lol, I see they haven't improved their meeting security. Something never change I guess lol.
The letter at 1:56:10 is cool but "we know how that ended (good riddance to the bastard)" really bothers me. Saul was a goddamn hero. The White Mantle turned out into bastards after Saul was abducted but that's got nothing to do with Saul. I don't remember what Galrath's alignment on the White Mantle - Lionguard scale was in GW1 but anyway he died before the Mantle's villainy was revealed.
I'm way behind on your stream of this game, but speaking of the charr being defanged, I couldn't STAND the moment where Malice basically APOLOGIZED for the searing. But hey, I guess character assassination comes with the territory of being a Charr imperator now
I found it the opposite as it shows that Legions have mostly learned from the experience and the ones following Bangar are the ones who have learned nothing and are set on repeating the past only with Bangar, instead of, Flame Legion.
It's also incredibly poignant to contrast this with humans because there's nothing that indicates that humanity feels anything over all the violent colonialism that was done to found Elona, Ascalon and Kryta, and the one genocide they added on top of those to found Ascalon. Dwayna was never once worried about the morals and ethics of those, she was worried about how genocide would eventually backfire on the humans that was her objection to Balthazar riling the humans up.
Humans are the ones who'll repeat their past given that they've never acknowledged it. Anise's threatening with violence in the initial chapter is a prime example of this since going through with it would have led to a diplomatic incident of nuclear proportions and what triggered her was the omission of a title from people who give little credence to titles in the first place.
1:05:49 Lost catching strays for no reason
For very good reason!!!!
One of my tiny nitpicks with the story: I wish all the Kodan had a consistent “gruff” or “growl” effect applied to their voice actors. Grazed By Fire and some of the other voices sound too smooth or nerdy to be coming from a bear body.
Haha I'm okay with a nerdy bear voice as long as he's wearing glasses and written like a nerd (i.e needs the phrase "well ACTUALLY" at least once)
Put the herbs in the lasagna.
I see alotof ppl walking or use warclaw in this map and just lil use skyacle (using it night flyng on forest really nice)
expansion level content
I honestly haven't played this game since getting bored with HoT and PoF, so interested in how this goes...
Ok starting vid. Let's hope wp likes it......
Can we get a video comparing the pre and post xpac maps?
I mean I might be wrong here but sylvari still exist so why wouldn't sons of svanir?
Sons of Svanir aren't Dragon minions, that's icebrood. Sons of Svanir were just norn who worshipped Jormag as the strongest spirit of the wild. Jormag is now dead and demonstrably not all powerful, so what purpose does the cult have?
@@WoodenPotatoes To hate women. Seemed that was a huge reason why male norn joined that group.
@@WoodenPotatoes Ah. I see. I always kinda thought they were norns infused with dragon magic etc. not hugely into the lore, especially lately.
Cults are cults though, people choose theirs. What purpose would their life have after her death? maybe they'd believe in Jormag's return, maybe they didn't want to believe the dragon truly died?
I don't think anets writing should be given too much credit though, I think the best way woulda been to have at least some of them maybe join the commander's cause becasue their deity died in their hands.
Love your videos! When do we get a face reveal? Lol
Jk
Thank you for the great content!
I would love to see you LP Disco Elysium
Me too! I think it's gonna happen for sure.
I thought dougal and ember were dating by the end of ghosts?
Thought we were gonna wait a few days what happened?
Haha my advertisement for the video was JaWi 😂 how fitting
Fake! There is no wooden potatoes, i have seen wooden eggs but potatoes... Impostor! :)
the general thematics of this xpack are so lame to me. foresty vibes? I could not care less.
WP has a girl. No wonder I never see gw2 from him 😂
It's just so woke
do women and gay people scare you? pls never wake pookie
I don't even see the "this is woke" angle with this one.
bears are woke now
I agree it all gay now
i cant even thing, usually this is flinchy reaction to something inclusive. I can't even think what that would even be on this one