Guild Wars 2 Dives Deep Into The Inspiration For The Return Of The Aetherblades

ArenaNet dives deep into the development and design process that went into reintegrating Guild Wars 2’s Aetherblade faction into the End of Dragons storyline. According to the spoiler-filled dev blog, the infamous sky pirates were initially meant to provide a “kickass” opening sequence for End of Dragons as players leaped from airship to airship to rescue their friend.

*Spoiler Warning*

“We’ve had multiple moments in Guild Wars 2 where you and the Pact deployed airships against Elder Dragons; what if instead you took on a bunch of airships with an Elder Dragon? We story folks love our thematic resonance and character arcs, but sometimes you gotta put on your cool explosion hat!” said Story Design Lead Connor Fallon.

The Aetherblades eventually became part of the narrative as they storyline began to resolve into the final product. “As we explored the reasons to use this group further, elements kept naturally snapping into place for a compelling narrative with roots throughout Guild Wars 2 history—elements that could make the whole of Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons stronger,” he said.

The multi-racial band of sky pirates were last seen fleeing into the Mists at the end of the Scarlet War in Living World Season 1. And, from what we know of the Mists they too were changed during their time there, which according to Fallon was longer than any other major characters in the game.

“Add in the fact that the in-game fractals—often echoes of the Aetherblades themselves—would be the natural place for them to go to get the resources they needed to rebuild… It made sense that the experience messed them up a little.”

The Aetherblades made their much-awaited comeback with new airships that appeared as if they’ve been cobbled together from scraps found in the Mists. Their armor were also updated with scrappier, more militaristic looking ones.

Fallon also touched on the inspiration for Ankka, who apparently started out as a challenge to create a villainous Asura, a race that was initially regarded as too “goofy” to be a villain.

“At some point before Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, someone said to Kwan Perng, the Narrative Lead for the project and my partner in crime, that asura are too ‘goofy’ to be intimidating villains. Well, Kwan took this as a challenge. From the very start of the expansion, he really wanted to have a ‘creepy asura’ antagonist.”

The Mai Trin storyline and dialog was also rewritten to make sure that her part in End of Dragons didn’t overshadow the entire End of Dragons narrative. “[…] We knew we had a careful line to walk—the rule we had was that the story wasn’t about Scarlet, but about Mai Trin, and her relationship to her past. I think in the end we did a pretty good job walking that line. Mai Trin breaking down at the end of the first act and losing control of Scarlet is one of my favorite moments of the story—a wonderful confluence of character, world lore, and encounter design,” said Fallon.

Everyone’s favorite mole person, Ivan, also had his moment in the spotlight. He first started as a fun mini-boss but eventually evolved into a character who could carry on Mai Trin’s legacy and finish her mission.

“Ivan is a great example of how when you work on a longer form story like an expansion, elements can naturally rise to the surface and find ways to be included in the rest of the narrative. He’s truly one of my favorite parts of the expansion,” the story design lead said.

“With the Aetherblades, time allowed the ideas around them to mature and ripen, informed by the other stories that surrounded them,” explained Fallon. “Looping them into Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, in turn, brought all that history into play in our expansion in a way that made the whole thing better,” he concluded.

If you have time to kill, you can check out the full dev blog on the Guild Wars 2 official site.