GW2 Starting Locations and Places of Interest

[Free Runner]

The Mists are also not an island. They are seperate from Tyria.

[Calienté]

Here is a prettier map I came up with somewhat based on what Arghore came up with (some of the city names are hard to read, sorry); this is of course complete and utter speculation:

[Gmr Leon]

Originally Posted by Thalador Doomspeaker

Why did you freeze that mysterious black island in the Northern Sea? As far as I know there was no interview or evidence that could support that idea.

As Arghore said in his (her?) post, it's complete speculation. I have to say, it is interesting, but, I doubt the southern Shiverpeaks, or any part of the Shiverpeaks for that matter, could ever become a desert or desert-like. The altitude is much too high, they'd have to collapse in on themselves for that to happen.

[Shadow Ritualist]

The deep sea dragon seems pretty out of the way, he doesn't even have a name, but he does have a giant spiraling mountain/spinning pit of doom. And most or all of the Northern Asura? is Quetzal Tengu Lands. I have a feeling we'll be seeing dredge, tengus, or centuars as playable, becuase they all are pretty big races and have a good amount of land.

[Calienté]

Originally Posted by Shadow Ritualist

The deep sea dragon seems pretty out of the way, he doesn't even have a name, but he does have a giant spiraling mountain/spinning pit of doom. And most or all of the Northern Asura? is Quetzal Tengu Lands. I have a feeling we'll be seeing dredge, tengus, or centuars as playable, becuase they all are pretty big races and have a good amount of land.

hmm thanks, I'll remember to include the tengu part on the next version of the map I do, after some more kinks are worked out

[Gmr Leon]

Originally Posted by Shadow Ritualist

The deep sea dragon seems pretty out of the way, he doesn't even have a name, but he does have a giant spiraling mountain/spinning pit of doom.

Technically, that's not confirmed though.

[draxynnic]

Originally Posted by Zav

Some interesting ideas.
It seems there will be a lot of water near Ascalon too. In the gw2 trailer, and in some interviews, we learn there's an important explorable surface under water.
I don't know where the water comes from though.

Well, Ascalon City was next to a lake before the Searing. It's possible, even likely, that these various bodies of water have refilled over the centuries.

[Joiry]

I really doubt Palawa Joko's area will on the GW2 worldmap. My guess is its south of the part of the Crystal Desert shown on the GW1 map. Joko will be part of some Elona expansion/campaign after launch.

I also don't think the Dredge will really control much area. They'll have Sorrow's Furnance and an extent of underground passages, but most of the Shiverpeaks will remain wild lands. Norn steads will be scattered across, from as far north as the Anvil down to Droknar's Forge (not necessarily in the town itself, tho they may have built ontop of it).

I doubt the forest north of Kryta is Asura territory. Anet just needed an area you could traverse to get to a non-Norn outpost to transfer to the actual tarnished coast. The fact there's an Asura bounty in the Verdant Cascades is just a game mechanic, because it doesn't make sense to have a Norn bounty there.

I also doubt there will be borders like we think of with modern nation states. Maybe the Charr and Humans will think that way, but I doubt the other races would. And the Dragon's don't give a flip about "borders" I suspect.

[Knighthonor]

Nice. But how spaced out will major cities be? The population seems as if it will will be spaced out thin in GW2

[Thalador Doomspeaker]

Originally Posted by Joiry

I also don't think the Dredge will really control much area. They'll have Sorrow's Furnance and an extent of underground passages, but most of the Shiverpeaks will remain wild lands. Norn steads will be scattered across, from as far north as the Anvil down to Droknar's Forge (not necessarily in the town itself, tho they may have built ontop of it).

Originally Posted by Movement of the World

There they found abandoned Dwarven forts and a new challenge in the form of the Dredge, the old nemeses of the Dwarves, now almost unrecognizable from the primitive, frightened creatures of the past.

The Dredge, reveling in their new-found freedom after the Dwarves fell to the Destroyers, seized that opportunity to become a real threat in the Shiverpeaks, while the Norn revel in the hunt of new enemies. The Norn and the Dredge fight over control of these lands in a continual war that rages along the highest mountains.

I would think that the Dredge are not "satisfied" with holding Sorrow's Furnace and an large underground tunnel system. It seems that they've come up and now they are fighting for every mountain of the Shiverpeaks.

[pumpkin pie]

Where are the Ogres? would they have a territory or scattered all over?

[Free Runner]

We've only had one piece of concept art which may not even make into the game at all. So we cant really put ogres anywere on the map based on Ogre Fortress. I'd assume however that they dont have a single place and they are all over Tyria like in GW1.

[Joiry]

Originally Posted by Thalador Doomspeaker

I would think that the Dredge are not "satisfied" with holding Sorrow's Furnace and an large underground tunnel system. It seems that they've come up and now they are fighting for every mountain of the Shiverpeaks.

I didn't say they were content with Sorrow's Furnace. They may be fighting with the Norn, but that doesn't necessarily mean they control some large chunk of territory. The Norn view them as sport to hunt, and what the balance of power between the two sides is completely unknown.

Its completely possible the Norn steads stretch the whole of the Shiverpeaks, like little islands of relative safety, and much of the territory in between is wild and variously filled with Dredge coming up from below, nomadic Tengu, etc.

[Konig Des Todes]

Originally Posted by Joiry

I didn't say they were content with Sorrow's Furnace. They may be fighting with the Norn, but that doesn't necessarily mean they control some large chunk of territory. The Norn view them as sport to hunt, and what the balance of power between the two sides is completely unknown.

Its completely possible the Norn steads stretch the whole of the Shiverpeaks, like little islands of relative safety, and much of the territory in between is wild and variously filled with Dredge coming up from below, nomadic Tengu, etc.

I both agree and disagree with you. I think that Sorrow's Furnace is the central of Dredge territory, and they probably control what is known as Grenth's Footprint, Spearhead Peak, Snake Dance, and what is unexplorable south of Grenth's Footprint in GW1. Maybe the Ice Dome, Talus Chute, and the Frozen Forest. But not much further than that.

I'd expect the Grawl would advance a bit, and would conjugate in Witman's Folly, and east of there. Basically, the southeast Shiverpeaks. The Avicara would be in Mineral Springs, Tasca's Demise, and north and south of that area (i.e., Iron Mines of Moladune as well). Norn would be down to Dreadnaught's Drift.


I wonder where Kodans come from... Probably eastern portions which are not explorable.

[draxynnic]

Originally Posted by Joiry

I doubt the forest north of Kryta is Asura territory. Anet just needed an area you could traverse to get to a non-Norn outpost to transfer to the actual tarnished coast. The fact there's an Asura bounty in the Verdant Cascades is just a game mechanic, because it doesn't make sense to have a Norn bounty there.

Indeed. The Asura were mining the Vloxen Excavations until the Stone Summit pushed them out, but apart from the game mechanics of the shrines, they don't seem to have a real claim on the area. In fact, the Norn seem to have at least as much influence over the area.

Originally Posted by Joiry

I also doubt there will be borders like we think of with modern nation states. Maybe the Charr and Humans will think that way, but I doubt the other races would. And the Dragon's don't give a flip about "borders" I suspect.

There are still 'areas of influence', though, even if there aren't formal borders. These areas of influence may overlap, but you can still get an idea that "this race is strong in this area, not really present in this other area."

[Daerious]

Originally Posted by draxynnic

There are still 'areas of influence', though, even if there aren't formal borders.

While each of the five player races will have "areas of influence", the major problem which I see with many of the postulated population possitionings is that they ignore many of the other known races and cultures which inhabit the continent of Tyria.

For example:

1. White Mantle -- do they have a seperate base of operation or are they a secret society hidden within the throng of human settlements

2. Nightmare Court -- where are they hiding; within the folage of the Jungle, the swamps of Kryta, the ruins of the Ascalon Kingdom?

3. The twisted minions of Kalkatoric -- a huge swathe of land and the creatures therein were transformed by the evil breath of the dragon

4. The pirates and corsairs -- Lion's Arch has been washed away and rebuilt into a dangerous place where the only law is survival of the fittest

5. Ettins, Imps, Trolls, Mergoyles, Scales, Windriders, etc. -- while not necessarily as intelligent as the other races, there is nothing that says they haven't evolved too and created vast areas of influence and, perhaps, even primative cultures of their own.

6. Undead -- beyond the army of creatures newly risen from the Kingdom of Orr and influenced by Zhaltain, there may still remain many undead (or worse) in the jungle and swamp around Kryta.

- - -

Since GW2 is going to have a persistant world structure -- the boundry between each of any competing elements is going to be in constant flux; today the humans may hold the outpost, tomorrow the centairs may have razed it to the ground. The only "safe" areas of influence are going to be in close proximity to the major settlements of the various races -- the rest of the map should be wild.

[Arghore]

Originally Posted by Thalador Doomspeaker

Why did you freeze that mysterious black island in the Northern Sea? As far as I know there was no interview or evidence that could support that idea.

Cuz i could do so ... as it get colder in the north the mountains would get snow... And perhaps you know, if the sea between the mainland and the island freezes up, perhaps we could actually go to that island ... ... but its just a try at making a new map of tyria, that actually looks different from the OGW map with a tad of 'realism' behind it ...

Originally Posted by Free Runner

The Mists are also not an island. They are seperate from Tyria.

Well, asfar as i know the PvP would have to be somewhere, so, if you enter the mist from LA to enter PvP, and that place is a pirate citystate, i thought where or how would you enter/travle to a place for PvP.. seeing the original island sunk, there were some nice islands right there in that bay, so i put them in , they are the new battle islands so to speak...

@Caliente, not realy fond of all the colours on the map, takes away from the map idea... as one cant see the map under the colours :/

[Mordakai]

Originally Posted by Arghore

Well, asfar as i know the PvP would have to be somewhere, so, if you enter the mist from LA to enter PvP, and that place is a pirate citystate, i thought where or how would you enter/travle to a place for PvP.. seeing the original island sunk, there were some nice islands right there in that bay, so i put them in , they are the new battle islands so to speak...

Lion's Arch replaces the Battle Isles. This is from "Movement of the World": "With the fall of the Battle Isles, Lion's Arch became the the Guild Home, a central point for the guilds of the world as well as the conduit to the Hero's Hall."

PvP Battles will continue in "The Mists", which is not of this world.

Originally Posted by Arghore

@Caliente, not realy fond of all the colours on the map, takes away from the map idea... as one cant see the map under the colours :/

I like it, it is clear to read, and you can see the (proposed) territories better.

And, to be fair, there is not enough detail on the map to be hidden by the colors.

(Although, there are some typos: Zhaitan, Kralkatorrik)

[Konig Des Todes]

Originally Posted by Mordakai

Lion's Arch replaces the Battle Isles. This is from "Movement of the World": "With the fall of the Battle Isles, Lion's Arch became the the Guild Home, a central point for the guilds of the world as well as the conduit to the Hero's Hall."

PvP Battles will continue in "The Mists", which is not of this world.

And remember, before the Battle Isles, the battles in the Mists (technically, in the Rift) was at the Tomb of the Primeval Kings, and before that during the beta, it was in the Tomb of Drascir.

PvP does not need to be islands. It just needs a portal. The two tombs and the Battle Isles all had 3 portals made by Odran. Lion's Arch has a portal made by Balthazar.

[Gmr Leon]

Originally Posted by Konig Des Todes

The two tombs and the Battle Isles all had 3 portals made by Odran.

That still isn't confirmed though.