Help clarifying the timeline for myself (and maybe some others)

Hi all,

I was doing some re-reading of some of the lore and timeline/dates when things were happening, and I stumbled over something that gave me pause.

Keiran and Gwen got hitched in 1079, which was last Wintersday. I read that Adelbern recalls the Ebon Vanguard and dispatches Gwen and Thackery to establish Ebonhawke in 1080.

Granted I understand that the powers in charge(Anet) of the realm we all love to journey through are not bound by strict Calendar restraints...I was kind of working on the estimate that they got married at the End of 1079, seeing as how the WiK takes place in 1079 as well, and wraps up with HotN at the Wedding during Wintersday. So we should have been in 1080 AE this year. If so, should we not perhaps see the recalling of the Ebon Vanguard and the establishing of Ebonhawke in our "somewhat" near future?

I'm trying to stay away from release dates and such for GW2 as reference, but in game timeline and reading the lore on the Wiki; and I understand we have the last part of 'WoC' to contend with, but also Ebonhawke should be on our horizon as well. 1080 is quickly wrapping up, and I have not heard a single messenger in the Eye rallying the Vanguard and preparing to move out back to Ascalon to reinforce the King.

I'm just wondering if Konig or one of you other 'True Believers'(Thanks, Stan!) that has delved even deeper into the lore than myself could think about it and see if my reasoning is sound, and/or provide some other details that may show a few other things we should be watching for, that would be awesome!

I'm not gonna hold my breath, but do you guys think that maybe we just might have a small chance of seeing the outpost for Ebonhawke added in the Wintersday update? If they do that then you know we could be seeing some associated quests/missions to perhaps help Gwen and Thackery get there, and then maybe help it get turned into a Fortress.

Sorry, my geeky-excited-ness is showing. 'Excelsior!'

Because the Guild Wars universe does not adhere to the same time scale as we do in the real world, for all we know Gwen and Keiran could have just been married last week. Using real world time in reference to in-game time does not work.

This is your fallacy.

Winds of Change, which takes place after Hearts of the North, takes place in 1079 AE as well. In the game's current events, as far as we know it is still 1079 AE.

It must be remembered that the timeframe in rl does not directly correlate to that of in game. For instance, Wintersday (and the new year) actually takes place at the end of Winter, specifically at the Spring Equinox, rather than in the middle like us. If rl and the game time for events were even at the same time, then Wintersday would be given to us in March - yes, March - and ending on March 20th or 21st (depending on the year itself).

Likewise, just because we got HotN's ending during Wintersday does not mean it was actually Wintersday during HotN (that's just when it was released!).

As for when the Ebon Vanguard will be recalled... Stumme said that he wants to get a chapter of Elona in after Cantha (this was said a long time ago, however, and no promises were made). Also, as for "I'm trying to stay away from release dates and such for GW2 as reference" - you very well should, as GW2's release has absolutely no baring on the releases of Beyond chapters.

So do I think Ebonhawke will be put into the game this Wintersday? No. In fact, we'll be lucky to ever get Ebonhawke - it may remain as an "off-the-map outpost." However, I do think we'll be getting WoC Part 3 at the end of the year (e.g., Wintersday).

Gotcha, HotN and WoC, while not exactly simultaneous, are happening fairly close to one another, so 1079 has 'extended' beyond what we would normally expect, i.e. the Equinox as you mentioned, since game time definately runs different than real time. I also didn't factor in that Wintersday was at the very end of winter, but thinking on it specifically it makes sense, since its all about extending winter when Grenth wins.

I'm there now, I can see what you're saying. Makes sense...but wouldn't it be cool if perhaps they gave us WoC pt 3 and added Ebonhawke as a great big Happy Wintersday present to all of us.

Thanks for the sanity check Konig!

I think asking for Ebonhawke is a bit too much, considering a new outpost would be requiring both a new mission map and a brand new instance design. This cuts into art which the Live Team takes from GW2 artists' free time. The Live Team has a limited pool of this resource and had long since planned out the entire year. Unless they intended to add Ebonhawke this year from the get-go, I don't see it happening.

I'm betting 2012 will feature the Elona chapter, and 2013 will feature the Ascalon chapter.