Guild Wars 2 Flashpoint - Lazarus' True Identity Revealed | MASSIVE SPOILERS BEWARE 

Aside from perhaps talking about the way he looks a little much, I quite like how this video turned out! There is just an awful lot to get to. With this in the bag keep an eye out for the next video where we'll look at the developments that happen on the fire island chain which are, yeah, even crazier. Tell me if I missed anything important you here, guys, and I really hope you enjoy!

When the WP videos are longer than the story itself xD

@ 22:36 i always thought that he was calling the mercenaries fools instead. Since they're just standing around watching him trapped and not helping =\

"No one retreats while Phlunt still phights!" -Phlunt 1330 AE

Am I the only one who thinks Balthazar didn't call us 'fools' but his mercenaries? Like he literally says 'Fools! Destroy the mirrors!' as they were standing there, doing nothing.

"I have a bone to pick with you." This struck me as playful, personally.

38:21 Maybe it's because we ARE Tyrian. He isn't exactly natural , so maybe he looks like that because our mind says ''thats Balthazar!'' He may be some kind of weird-Cantha-skull-samurai thingy to some Cathan , it could work like that.

But we already knew what the gods looked like? The Dervish profession in Nightfall could embody their physical forms.

I was so mad that my HUMAN character didnt even react when lazarus appears to be ... a human god ... -__-

I feel like there were enough crumbs to follow for the Balthazar reveal without giving the whole thing away. If you remember the living story in Bloodstone Fen, Lazarus used exclusively fire spells when killing White Mantle, and he does the same in this fight as well.

I find it hilarious how people are nitpicking on the mirror thing. Have you already forgotten what we did in this very room during Heart of Thorns? We set up MIRROR to roast chak. Really. The nitpicking is strong in the community. That's not to say the Taimi Ex Machina isn't strong either, but still. This is too much.

Just before anyone else makes this nitpick: No it is *not* certain that we saw Kormir as a god in Gw1. The golden entity in the ending Nightfall cutscene is the same as the avatar you summon from the statue to the DoA, so it's much more likely it's just her Avatar. This is a discussion we've had many times before, and would be a whole other further thing and irrelevant tangent to the point made in the video, so I left out it.

I have always loved that humans are the Tolkien style elves of the gw2 universe. The ancient race with the deepest connection to the Old Gods who are slowly fading into obscurity while being eclipsed by the younger more ambitious races.

We see Kormir as a god in GW1. I get the circumstances are very different there, but this shows that those who the gods don't wish to blind aren't blinded, maybe? I don't know, the whole gods blinding you thing always feels like its dropped in when necessary, not a true staple of them.

The only thing that bugs me about the mercs is that thre are charr among them. I always thought that every charr would fight to the death instead of serving a god and a human god at that. Maybe the flame legion dbags would serv him but not other charr.

Deus Ex Machina refers to a plot device without precedent within the tale that is vital to the plot. Taimi's machine and her research has been worked on for over a year. This Chekov's gun took so long to go off I thought i'd be a fucking misfire.

WP, you are literally the only RU-vidr for whom the rule "the longer, the better" always applies! I'll watch this tomorrow in the background at work, I was busy with your cameo at TeaTime, so i have some idea how you feel like about this reveal. However, here is a question - why do you believe that we shouldn't know what Balthazar looks like and that he shouldn't look like his murals? The murals are based on Malchor's work and Malchor DID know what the Gods looked like, he sacrificed his eyes (and I would argue, his sanity) to make those statues. Makes sense to me that he looks more or less like his statues to be honest.

Why doesn't anybody speak about the fact that the bubble that protects balthazar looks the same as the one that protects Divinitys Reach? :O

hey man hope you're doing well been really excited to hear your thoughts on Lazarus etc :) i also like how you mentioned the charm ferocity and dignity i really missed seeing those options :)

Great video, WP, as usual! I had some reflections on the questions and concerns you had regarding the big reveal. (Sorry about spoilers, but at this point, probably moot to say.) 1. Regarding the extremes in the community of either needing breadcrumbs (as you put it), or getting sudden and thus "hollow" reveals, I would submit that both are, in fact, fine. When you have a community that finds fault with A and also with not-A, then the problem is not with A or any of its variations but rather the expectations of the community. There is nothing wrong with events being sudden and bombastic and heart-stopping, but there is nothing wrong either in sudden events feeling banal. This is how real life works. We don't go through our day-to-day lives with our minds constantly blown, *even if mind-blowing events are occurring*! How many times do we only realize in retrospect that an earth-shattering event occurred? I'm afraid that Hollywood et al. have conditioned us to *expect* such jaw-dropping moments as a matter of regular occurrence when it comes to Western story-telling. On this note, there is a fantastic Reddit post written by Listenbird titled, "The way the story in GW2 is currently unfolding makes it more realistic and modern, and thus actually more enjoyable" that should be required reading for all GW2 lore and story fans, and basically single-handedly answers most of your concerns I'm addressing here. Link: www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/696t2m/unpopular_opinion_the_way_the_story_in_gw2_is/ 2. You did not seem to like Balthazar's appearance, or rather, the way that he perfectly expressed the Krytan (or did you say Tyrian?) way of seeing Balthazar, as you put it, "to a tee". The key in understanding why his appearance is not only not a problem but EXPECTED is in fact precisely due to the very same appreciation of cultural relativity in Balthazar's appearance. You mentioned how different human races in Tyria viewed Balthazar differently, and that he therefore likely did not really look like any *one* of those views in reality. This may be true, but the fact that they *all* nevertheless had commonalities in how they portrayed Balthazar *must* have meant that there was a single, common origin for all of the Balthazar representations in Tyria. Now, this could have been from a single origin myth that was then propagated throughout the human cultures, OR (as is more likely given what we know about Orr) that there were a group of humans who DID know how Balthazar *actually* looked, and that their description was thus passed down and, crucially, *filtered* according to each culture's unique traits. Thus, a Canthan conception of Balthazar looks quite Canthan because that is how they perceive *themselves*, similarly for a Krytan Balthazar representation and so forth. Conversely, if it were in fact true that the true form of Balthazar was nowhere near the Tyrian conception (let's say a beetle as you quipped!), then this would necessarily *require* that no humans had ever seen Balthazar in the truth, for this would contradict the very premise (that no one in Tyria has the right idea of Balthazar's appearance). THEN, it would also necessarily follow that *each human culture would have RADICALLY different depictions of Balthazar that had NOTHING in common*. A Krytan Balthazar would be a War Beetle, say; a Canthan Balthazar would be a fighting bird, and so on and so forth. But this is not the case, and in fact there are striking and multi-faceted points of commonality between ALL human depictions of Balthazar. This can only be the case if the common features indeed hold veridicality as to Balthazar's actual appearance. And of course, this makes perfect sense given that the Six once lived amongst humans in Arah. Honestly, there really is no cause for concern or outrage at Balthazar's appearance. My own reaction to this reveal when I played the episode was sheer excitement. I myself was flabbergasted that it was Balthazar, as I had no idea coming in, and was instantly on Level 10 of hype level, that has not abated since. For me, personally, this reveal was the polar opposite of "hollow". Again, I urge you and everyone else who is a GW2 fan to go read that Reddit thread I linked to earlier. I swear I'm not the OP who posted it (you'll see I have a separate comment in that thread). It's just that I think it perfectly encapsulates 99% of the community's "woes" with what is in fact tremendously good writing on behalf of Anet.

Hey WP! Great episode as always! Only two points: there are some mercenaries in Draconis Mons that carry White Mantle weapons, at least I saw one elementalist-like that had the WM staff. And the other point, we actually saw one of the Six in GW, the everyone's favourite, Kormir!! (She deserved it xD) When she reborns as a God, she briefly talks to us before sending us to clean the Domain of Anguish. It is also one of the few moments when one of the Six Gods appeared in front of a mortal and that mortal didn't become blind (the other ones were when Lyssa and Grenth revealed themselves to their first followers...maybe?).

They did do race related dialog WP, fyi. Not much, but when you talk to Marjory after the first instance is done you get different dialog depending on race. Humans talk about why they could look at Balthazar, which is also strange to me that people are complaining about that fact when it is getting explained in the story.

Flashpoint is possibly my favourite content released since the original guild wars. Dude falling in that volcano and seeing Primordus and fighting Balthazar's hounds trying to stop him from killing the dragons and possibly destroying the world? I can;t think of any moment through GW2 that is as close as epic as that moment.

Maybe not related to the whole reveal directly, but I do think it's interesting that the three different teams for the living world have had their own focuses this whole time. Team 1 did Bloodstone Fen and Lake Doric, two maps focused around the White Mantle. Team 2 did two fire island chain maps, and with how the story is going, Team 3 will likely do two Northern Shiverpeaks maps

I love this format! Thanks, WP, for all the work you put into these videos.

This was one of the most epic experiences of my Guild Wars life. May not have completely sold it to you but I loved every, single second

You could also say about the Phlunt thing that when he charged in he wast super heroic since he said something like body-shield the research in response to Tiami's surprise to his return

Another great video I been looking forward to! Few thoughts: I can't see how people got hung up on the mirrors just conviently being there, didn't Taimi herself say she set them up before hand to record the experiment? As for the marjory/kas convo, I never felt i had to sit there and watch them, I went about collecting the mirrors and listened to their dialogue from a distance. Sorta like being in an office where you have cubicles, your doing your work but you can hear conversations around you that don't have anything to do without but you hear it anyway. I really really love Laz's voice, gonna miss its ominousness now xD Probably not the section of the story to mention this but will since i'll probably forget, I wonder if the six created the elder dragons in response to the tyrian inhabitants requesting that magic be taken away long ago? That was their solution, but Abaddon didn't like that cause he knew they would awake and destroy everything every cycle.... Looking forward to the next video!

I'm pretty sure that his "Fools!! Destroy the mirrors!" Was all addressed to the mercs who weren't doing anything.

WP, this is fantastic. Would it be possible to upload your footage of the story without commentary? I so appreciate all the work you put into these videos and won't ask to change the format as I enjoy it! I'm a huge GW 1 and 2 fan but I haven't been able to keep up with playing, therefore I would LOVE to just see the story play out without interruption, right now I am squinting to try to read all the speech bubbles as you talk over the story dialogue. Other than that thank you for constant stream of hard work and awesome content.

Hey WP about the marjory and Kasmeer conversation. I think it done really well though; like you said it was a conversation they needed to have been while they were talking they give you the objective first. That way you're not sitting there waiting for it to end. I thought that was done really well that way if you don't care you still are doing something to progress the instance.

In GW1 I thought the gods were pretty cool being the mysterious, distant deities yet definitely real and present. Then they introduced the idea that the gods were once mortal and became gods through some mysterious event, just like Kormir. It was interesting but they never really took it any farther. Then in GW2 the gods were totally missing. I was pretty disappointed by this and thought the devs just no longer wanted to think about the gods since they were busy with dragons and gods would complicate the matter. How do you reconcile gods with nearly god-like dragons destroying the world? So they made the humans turn agnostic and apathetic and wrote out the gods with more mystery and I was pretty disappointed about it. Now they have brought them back in a big, interesting way and I couldn't be happier. They introduced the idea that yes, the gods really were mortal beings converted into gods. What's more, the gods are missing because of some serious drama in heaven and they are basically drained of their godhood by some mysterious force or event that we will finally get to find out about. They will end up interacting with the dragons, but as a third party and not on our side or theirs. I'm thrilled and excited for what's to come. Anet just better not screw this up or they will seriously turn this story shitty quickly.

I won't mention later instances but it actually makes sense to introduce a God here. I know nothing of the first GW so I may be wrong here as my in game lore isn't very great for GW2 either, but this is my reasoning. As the dragons are killed the other dragons absorb the domains. Zhaitan supposedly destroyed the human Gods. Wouldn't it make sense for the Gods to be severely weakened and to regain their power, having been crippled by Zhaitan, by absorbing the domains associated with them? This would also then make the dragons stop getting exponentially more powerful making these deus ex machina less integral to future plots. Can current dragons be associated with known human God domains? Kralkatorik to Lyssa or rather Kormir? Primordus to Balthazar? Zhaitan to Grenth (maybe Menzies takes ice, the war continues?). Melandru and Mordremoth? Isn't it said the powers can not be destroyed, just like dragon domains are undestroyable? Rytlock gain powers from the mists which the Gods can grant access to. Expansion in the crystal desert which was an Abbadon thing.

I'm new to watching videos on YT shortly after they are uploaded. Is it normal for highest quality to be ready first? My bandwidth can not handle it! Very excited to watch as almost all of your videos though, cheers!

Thanks for the video W.P. Terrific stuff as usual. Even if HOT was horrible for me and mine. I will forever watch your videos and just quietly wait an hope the new expac is far more like vanilla Gw2

I also quite enjoyed the flood of mercenaries at the end of this instance. I main a Guardian (DH) so I lead the charge, putting up barriers and reflects. Got a little hectic at some point, because there are truly a lot of enemies, but I pulled through and felt like a true battle hero. P.S. Great video, as always. It wouldn't be a WP story video if it was a "reasonable" length.

@WoodenPotatoes you missed a trick, we DO know what Balthazar looks like, because if you recall the event in orr with the ghoast of the statue carver at the temple of Dwayna, he states that he has looked upon the gods and carved there immage.

Hey WP! Now that we know Balthazar is around, do you think the choice of Mallyx for Revenant was random? It would be cool for Rytlock to be our guide beyond the Gate of Anguish using his connection. Also as for how Balthazar looks, sticking with the idea that we've previously only had glimpses of him, it stands to reason that his silhouette is one thing that transfers between continents. Rewatching the reveal scene in this video, I feel he's not as cut and paste from the Tyrian view as I first thought. Can't wait for the next part! :)

WP it's glorious that you referenced the video by "ListenBird" about the Deus Ex Machina

Fighting against the dozens of mercs was my favorite moment of the patch. I main a human Daredevil, and throwing all caution to the wind to jump into a horde of enemies while spamming dodges, staff 5, and endurance regens just to keep myself alive was one of the few times I feel like the daredevil lived up to its name. That throwing caution to the wind feeling had been missing throughout HoT. Not to mention, I got an achievement for it. since I dived straight in, I never saw phlunts army amassing behind me. There was no better feeling than being rescued on the brink of death by a massive army of Golems.

I personally like the conflict between Marjory and Kasmeer, it meant that while this big game changing moment was happening, there was still a more interpersonal theme happening on the surface between characters. That is what makes characters feel real to me, not so much just them responding to this revelation and how that effects things on a global scale, but how their reaction has a cause and effect of who they are as characters. Kasmeer's hesitation was beautiful and it was a true, raw character moment where you realize what she values more than her love for Marjory. I loved this. I liked the conversation at the beginning of the instance between Marjory and Kasmeer and I thought it was nicely implemented, because as my character was gliding around setting up the mirrors, in the middle was this personal conversation that Kasmeer simply could not wait to discuss. I agree there should be more of a set up with the reveal, but for the first time, this revelation actually made me gasp since I as a player knew the significance of that character in the game, something I've always felt excluded with previous reveals or plot points not being a gw1 player and struggling with the lore some times (my main source for this content is actually your videos). The 'I have a bone to pick with you' line seemed more playful than anything. I think Kasmeer is understanding that there is a lot of action happening and there isn't an urgency to be notified, she's just being sassy. Great video WP, awesome detail as always :)

'Phlunt is a hero' pretty sure he even says he's just there to protect his research 😂

Also WP I started to play Gw1 and thanks to the affresco showed in Ascalon of Balthasar it helped me to recognise him. His statue in Gw2 was pretty much different.

The movement of the world seperated many aspects of familiar lore from the first game and left story threads for areas why might deal with one day; isolating cantha, mentioning joko. None of these threats seem to be the focus of the game. Theres always been this whole idea in the game that what was going to happen next, were we going to pick the dragons off one by one? Why were none of the dragons interfeering? I have enjoyed that theyve slowly established that killing dragons may not be a great idea and being the big badass hero isn't always the way to go.They explained the delicate balance of magic and allowed for the commander to make mistakes along the way. Theyve done well at establishing you as the hero (even through subtle lines like claling you boss) but can be pretty flawed. Was great to see him use the mirrors in the first part of this episode. It would have felt far too cheap if Lazarus straight up took the device. I think LS3 really heated things up and stopped people thinking oh we're just going to do each of the dragons in turn, how boring. Theres a moment in episode one where Caudecous, Lazarus, and two elder dragons are stirring. Suddenly we cann't sort out all these messes. I think a lot of people were confused by balthazars apperance. Maybe a lot of new people were unfamiliar with his story. Personally i feel Lazarus was more of a Whoooooo than balthazar. Balthazar atleast has the odd mention around. Knowing he's a human god is enough context for the situation. Im a veteran i guess, and they probably shared my thoughts. Its not the Who? its more of the ...ummmm Where did this come from? Outside of any suspicious leaks, i honestly can't say i enjoyed the fact there was no hints. Honestly, i cannot find one shred of evidence to suggest he was coming. I really wanted to piece together the mystery myself. I get it, a shock reveal is great and all but i think they should have give nepople a chance to work it out in one way of another. Balts apperance, i can't argue with. Its great, its reasonably familiar with new and old. I think if it was completly different it would throw more people. Would we have been aruging that Anet didn't stay true to design? I tell you what i did like though, his hounds coming into play. I honestly forgot about these guys. There has always been this idea of gods being present in some form, still sitting back waiting, maybe waiting for the time to be right to show. Over the past 4 years people have come up with various ideas of them coming to help save the day and unite people. Theres a strong theme of uniting the people under one banner to combat a common enemy through gw2. People think the Omadds machine bit was cop out but i think it was great. We genuinly didn't know what to be do and if it would even work. Such a valuable weapon destoryed. Cancelling out the dragons and sending to sleep, and being back where we started. Except...now we have a powerful god on our hands to deal with. I don't think sending the dragons to the sleep was a cheap move, it means theyre still present and it means we will need to come up with a better idea. It gives us a chance to tackle other threats too. Now we're kind of broken and need to start figuring stuff out again. In LS2 the Destinys edge 2.0 seemed rather forced and it was great to see a guidl established. Even more great to see things arent going so well for them. As much as taimi seemed to get hate in this patch she bought up some interesting questions. She asks about kas and jory during Lake Doric and it was great for you to respond and say actaully they werent with me. A lot of people questioning some odd plot points but Anet are acknowledging this through extra dialogue. It will be interesting to see if Anet mention anything they dropped into the game as clues towards Lazarus' identity being Balthazar.

I really enjoyed Flashpoint and the final boss fight. Just finished it tonight. It kept my attention and I felt there was plenty of scope to think and strategise in many different ways throughout. (and the little original GW moment was a very nice touch)

When I played this part of the patch I felt so trapped it was unreal and the way Lazarus floats in is so so creepy, lately I've not enjoyed the living story that much I've felt a bit burned out but this patch hit all the right notes for atmosphere. I also have never been happier to see Phlunt running in with all his workers to save the research :P it was awesome!

sorry if you do it already in this video(im only half way through as i type this) but id like to see you do a video on who the other gods could be if they are also on tyria and maybe address the countess anise and/or queen jennah maybe being lyssa theory

Do you think Cas will keep the mirror? Maybe it'll be used as a plot device in later episodes/expansion story? Even shattered, a mirror enchanted by Lyssa could be useful I bet.

so.. how can this work with the elder dragon being the gods.. if the gods can or are on tyria, could countess anise and the queen actually be lyssa?

Hey WP i was just wondering, could the devs left us a hint with the way Lazarus fought with us when protecting Aurene? He did mainly use fire for his attacks if I'm not mistaken.

I liked Lazarus more than Balthazar

Since lyssa has multiple faces and is basicly a mesmer you could say lyssa could be some of the most powerful mesmers we saw in GW2 like Jennah, Anise or even xera.

Hi WP, could you make an update video with all the mods you use? It's safe? I want to use sweetfx but when you ask anet if is allowed they say "we can't allow, use at own risk"

Didn't the gods live in Tyria at one point? So dont we have a rough approximation of what they look like based on the stuff we find in Orr?

Hey WoodenPotatoes, I am sorry to bother you but I have been contemplating using my 80 boost on my Main character. I have leveled her to 30 but I just cant stop pvping and I just feel like I hate leveling. But I dont want to miss out on too much story and stuff. I was wondering if you could help me in my predicament

Hey WP, I've had a thought.. Maybe "Balthazar" looks the way he does because of the location. Sort of like the saying "people see what they choose to see" if he maybe looked like the krytan likeness then maybe we wouldn't really recognize him? Also what if there's a twist within a twist, what if it's actually Lyssa in the guise of Balthazar, who else to mimic a God but a God. it might also explain how he (or she) got a hold of that mirror. PLUS the shield Balthazar was able to conjure. As for our eyes not being burnt out of our sockets, it's possible the six can willingly turn it on or off. Bunch of tinfoil hat things here in my post, but I would like to know what you think :)

I play only casualy and probably missed the story connection but just want to ask why in rise in flames episode Balthazar helped us to protect Aurine? And thank you all who can help with the answer :)

@WoodenPotatoes Actually the mirrors where there all the way since HoT story, The room used mirrors and the huge lenses and we used em to burn the chack on that first mission here Remember?

On the note of "there was no race specific dialog" there was actually asura specific dialog... (not human specific, as you'd hope). If you talk to Phlunt at the end of the instance, you get a cool little dialog. It was cool, but it really rubbed salt in the wound of not having any human specific dialog.

Can someone explain how the White Mantle are using Jade Constructs when they were made by Mursaat? How were they recreated if there were no revived Mursaat to begin with?

Soo did white mantle summon Balthazar from the blood stone? If so then what was he doing there in the first place....

The "Fools!" line seemed directed at the mercenaries, actually. As in, "Don't just stand there, help me!"

Have you though about that they may have tried to add subtle clues and perhaps we just did not pick up on them or missed them. It is a fine line between too subtle or too exposed clues.

Balthazar appeared in such a way as to be immediately recognized. That doesn't mean it is his true form... he's a god after all. His ruse was gone and of course he knows that everyone would be blinded by his true form so he appeared as they would expect him to appear. It is probably not in his nature harm those who worship him unnecessarily. The question this line of thinking leaves open is... why the mirror and the illusion? Well maybe his ability to change how he is seen is limited to his true form, or forms in which he is worshiped.

Regarding the lack of breadcrumbs about the balth reveal, it's a bit of a stretch but I think they were so blunt about the hints that they got overlooked. Take a loot at the episode title. Lazarus/balth only appears in "out of the shadows, rising flames, and flashpoint". Out of the shadows: when Balth first comes out of the mists and enters our world again albeit disguised. Rising flames: When Balth swoops in at the last second to save us, as well as when jory leaves with him thinking he's up to something or rather his plans/power are rising and he himself is the flames. Then Flashpoint where balth emerges "a place, event, or time at which trouble, such as violence or anger, flares up." and "the temperature at which a particular organic compound gives off sufficient vapor to ignite in air." both can be taken literally since he is very fire themed and his reveal shows the mursaat disguise go up in flames around him. Again I'm probably reaching here, but I think it fits somewhat well.

It's FINALLY HERE!!!!!

the branching choice for Phlunt was more Horizon Zero dawn style. I enjoy that far more than the Bioware style they had originally done. the personality type and such was ok, but the HZD style with it being more self contained that can have consequences or have the scene play out in various ways is so much better.

Great foreshadowing for balthazar could have been the mirror being with lazarus from the start. And the human gods as a whole being pumped up in the lake doric, human, episode.

Not sure if I missed something but... how the hell are a couple rusty ass mirrors sitting around in a lab being shot at by (supposedly) a regular human mesmer supposed to overpower a mirror enchanted by Lyssa?

Thanks for making my day better WP

Yay I got spoiled of this story step in map chat just before going into the instance on release day. Talk about taking the wind out of the sails.

Is there a lore significance to the houndskin mantle i think one of the merc writings mentioned it as too recognisable

I think the comment about the mirror is a strong hint that Lyssa is collaborating w/ Bal. There'd have been a lot of ways to imply that he was going rogue, if that were even necessary to imply at this point anyway. This was a pretty good way to imply that he isn't working alone though. Consider that if there were a group of human gods in hiding, which one would they send out to do the dirty work, and would Bal have been the one to come up with a plan of illusions and deception?

WP, i love you and hate you at the same time. SO many things you explained about the history of Balthazar in this video i didnt know, and now that i know it, its spoiling what I thought was a very good story. My only gripe after the story ended was that there wasn't more reaction and chatter from my Charr PC on the revelation of Balth. It kind of just felt like "Oh well, another big bad boss to fight!" There was no gravitas. Now im finding out that the very look and design of Balth leaves something to be desired considering the established lore of the character. You are right, the Anet writers are tackling something MASSIVE for the franchise, and they had better be careful they dont miss the mark.

I don't know if its worth noting but could be as simple as Balt came with mercenaries because he didn't believe he was going to reveal himself. Lazarus could have gotten the machine and kept his guise a bit longer

Wasn't the problem with the Mordremoth reveal more a execution thing in S2, than a "twist". I clearly remember they had the PC just know it's name, without introduction and dev comments said: "oh, he is a pact commander, he does just know that stuff".

Question: I'm not an expert on the lore, but didn't the gods live with the humans in Ore a long time ago? If they did, shouldn't all the humans that saw them there go blind then? Maybe there is a explanation there why we were able to see him this instance?

I think the best possible story scenario is that Taimi's machine plan goes wrong and bam that launches the xpac story

Hey there, is it possible to blank out your guild chat for the videos? I find it a bit distracting. Edit: I should say thanks though because this was a great video and I'm looking forward to more :)

In regards to humans going blind when looking upon gods, in the final act Balthazar mentions how the dragon "stole his light". Maybe this infers to how gods were to brilliant to look upon without going blind and that which once made them divine was stolen by the dragons somehow?

Question! Weren't the Zaishen Order basically mercenaries serving Balthazar back in the GW1 era?

What that I liked at the end with Phlut too, it's he returned to save his reseach. XD Asura Master race, and Phlunt master asura.

WP, what are you playing after Tomb Raider?

I'm also happy to see the old dialog system back - the options themselves matter btw not just their category. I chose the right ones by reading them not guessing which category would fit him the best. But unlike bioware arenanet doesn't seem to keen on saving your own personality over time (maybe because they don't want people missing out on content? -although I think it would be cool if people could get slightly different reactions/options based on their personality). PS I half agree with the critics regarding balthazar's appearance - on one hand they could have merged multiple depictions of him in one image (as in maybe one culture would focus on the skull decorations of his armor, others would focus on his horned helm etc -and this would be the cool option) but on the other hand (and this sounds lame) - he is just a guy possessing the powers of one of the gods, at the end of the day they are just people (of different races) who sit on insane balls of magic. He could have changed outfits? #FashionWars

Actually, if you are an asura, you have some race-specific dialogue with Phlunt.

I hope you will talk some more about zinn and the druids of draconis mons soon ;)

Hey WP how do you feel about finally getting an answer to who hired Zinn's to make those three golems back in GW1?

"With our machines of war, we killed our gods, and planted victory banners on the graves of our enemies..." *"No gods for the charr!"*

How are you displaying npc's health in their hp bars?

It always struck me as strange that there was an active avatar in the Balthazar temple in Auric Basin.

Say, in Rising Flames, when you had to defend Aurene, didn't Lazarus use fire spells while helping? Maybe that was a hint; that or I'm misremembering.

How is it going with your Fish-tank by the way?

i just was curious, but maybe just maybe that was still an aspect version look of him. maybe this is why kasmeer had to lower her head and not glance because she can see thru it and knows it would blind her with her true sight gift. and maybe he chose this tyrian aspect look because of the location. Idk me really giving the devs some lead way to fix it but remember when everyone flipped out about being able to see a mursaat and it was answered.

I feel like they can nail the 'breadcrumbing' definitely. One of the best examples for me would be the reveal that the Sylvari were originally minions of Mordremorth. This was a theory that existed for a long time, but where the community's opinion was still split until the reveal. But maybe it takes years of leaving hints and such to achieve this, I am not sure.

condi pistol mesmer ..man that is incredible build for almost everything i love it to play

Very good video as usally :) But I have to say about his looks. I understand what you mean. but the possiblity can also be that he "copies" the look from humans statues and things so they will recognize him. And even though he show his "real" self. it is still a avatar/mask. just an idea, and woul be fun to see that devolpment and let Anet go crazy in creation of a god :)

anyone know the name of the bgm thats starts around 2:00?

wp did you notice the empty container in taimi's lab that was for a 6th dragon minion and it was labeled coming soon

I am pretty much on the same page as you... excited and scared... ANET certainly hasn't had the best track record with story, but I must say have gotten better.. I wasn't terribly concerned that Balthazar looked "Tyrian", the costumes are modeled this way and that seems to be directly from the Dervish Avatars.. its also likely they can change forms.. I do have this "Rogue" feeling though... I think it might be time to become truely ascended...

This may be a MASSIVE cop out but one way it could be explained is that Balthy's physical appearance is dependent on the observer. For example, he manifests as the most generic and current Tyrian interpretation because that's what we expect as Tyrians. Maybe his visage is a reflection of the individual's perception of him. Maybe that's also partly why there are also so many different interpretations of his appearance. I'm sure you could tie the reason for the magic mirrors depowering his illusion into this explanation.