Link Between Ch1 and 2...

As we know, a Chapter 1 character can travel from Lion's Arch to Sietung (sp?) Harbor to get to Cantha. Most likely this will be people who made it to kryta, or, even more likely, all us level 20s who have done just about everything in PvE...

However, I wonder this:

If assassins/ritualists are made in Cantha, and they can take the boat to Lion's Arch, would that not mess up the storyline? They would be at D'Alessio seaboard or so, and they could possibly follow that, missing all things relevant to the northern shiverpeaks and Ascalon.

I heard a rumor somewhere that when creating a character, you can choose their "birthplace" - Tyria or Cantha. Still, how do you think this would even out? Also, thusly, would we not have level 1 Cantha-borne characters running around Kryta, where the average level of people is in their teens and beyond?

Since factions is stand-alone, I am doubtful that its storyline will have any relevancy AT ALL to the events of Chapter 1. Still, that would be strange if someone who just made it to Lion's Arch (via Gates Of Kryta mission) travelled to Cantha, and if the storyline was something like Glint telling you to head there.

How do you think ArenaNet would balance out the already-shabby storyline without issues like the above? Also, wouldn't level 20s who went to Cantha, when they arrive at Cantha's equivalent of pre-searing, encounter level 1s? A very large gap between the two groups of players in Cantha's pre-searing.

Its already said that only "Ascended Level" characters can country hop like that. So its not lvl1 assassins coming to Lion's Arch and visa versa.

Ya it would be wierd to see lvl 1 assassins and ritualists in Lions Arch

Also, from what I read, people who go to Cantha from Tyria will have a slightly different storyline that ties into the endgame storyline of native Canthan characters. I'm not sure about the story for native Canthans that come to Tyria, however.

Hmm...that may be a tad complex for such, but sounds interesting.

Former - Do you mean that only ascended ch 1 chars can go to Cantha and back to Tyria? (Kind of like the ToA concept) If so, do you think that means Factions has an equivalent of Ascension?

Yep from what i read only ascended characters can travel between both worlds (lands).

So i think once you get to Lions Arch u may find that you get told that your need to ascend before you can travel. or something like that.

Even aside from the Ascension thing - will there be level 1 Canthan characters in Sietung Harbor? I assumed it would be at around the same place in Factions that Lion's Arch is in Kryta, so the characters there would be at about the same level regardless of their country of origin.

Yeah, it'll work out.

I just wish all this preorder and CE edition stuff isn't all for the assassain and ritualist though. Kinda forces me to become one, since the developers aren't offering anything for other classes.

From what I have also read as other above, only acended characters will be able to travel between the continents. But what about people who start new characters in Factions? Is there a whole seperate storyline leading up to ascension in Cantha, or is there even a way to ascend in Cantha?

Im both a Pve, and pvp player, and I just hope that if lets say on the first day I bring my warrior to Cantha, everything else on the map up to that point would be unlocked (And vice versa for the ascended people in Cantha, if they ascend in Cantha anyways. So example - the map would be unlocked from Ascalon to Lions Arch).

I dont like missing out on any of the storyline, so I hope that proves true. Although, if worse comes to worse, I could always travel backwards then.

Going to assume there have to get to the port city that C1 can get to at least and meet some pre-req like ascension situation in Cantha to move over to.

I believe that the weapons and dances are for the new Professions, because they're one of the main selling point of Factions.

But I didn't buy the pre-order or the CE for the weapons and dances... I got the pre-order for the 24 early access and the CE for the art book, map, music CD, mouse pad, calendar, etc. The Ritualist dance will be a nice bonus, but I'm not making an Assassin just for the dance....
There will have to be. After all, it's also a stand alone game. Every Chapter should have new Acsension Quests.
I'm not sure I get your point here... You don't want to miss any of the storyline, but you want the map already unlocked? Wouldn't you want be able to explore Cantha with your Warrior (even the lower level content?)

It would be interesting if you could voluntarily update the map across all characters to be at its fullest, meaning that, say, your Ranger had the most map revealed, you could press a button to set the map like that for your other characters. But preferably not the travel points, only the visuals. It can get annoying trying to remember the proper order of forks in the road to take in The Scar, or to navigate the mazelike Diessa Lowlands.

I guess if they do have CE-exclusive Rit/Sin dances, then I suppose they will stick with the ranger dance or something. During the preview weekend, they had the ranger dance. I was not sure if that was a placeholder or their primary dance unless you bought the CE. But ArenaNet can be very clever, and may have had an original dance associated with the CE planned this entire time.

I, for one, don't like how Gaile, The Frog, etc treat Factions like a totally different game. It is stand-alone, but it is pretty much just a 1GB Patch for Chapter 1. But for new customers and greater income purposes, the stand-alone aspect and the equivalents of Chapter 1's ascension make sense. I just hope they don't make it too much like Chapter 1. I don't mind an equivalent of pre-searing and another kind of ascension. But I don't want more traitors, more unstoppable foes that you need some sort of "infusion" to survive, etc.

Hmm...yes. Imagine, come Chapter 4, I don't think people would like massive armor descriptions.

They don't treat it as a totally different game. They treat it as a separate game that will play differently than Guild Wars: Prophecies.

How is it just a 1gb patch?

In the manner that GW is about 1GB in required space to be installed, Factions being just about as big in content, perhaps a bit more. When you think about it, Grenth's and SF came out in a patch. Similar here. I don't necessarily want them to treat it as a patch, either. But I don't want them to be thought of as separate games, whether in similarity or in total difference.

and i think the assassin and stuff cant go to LA before they quit the tutorial for lvl up...

Hopefully then, Cantha-borne characters (namely Assassins and Rits) will, indeed, have different missions in Tyria. This may be a bit of a pain for ArenaNet, but it beats the idea of lvl 2 ritualists looking for runners to Ascalon.

If this "Factions Campaign" is both accessed by Cantha-borne characters and Ch 1 characters, how would the transition go for the Ch 1 characters? I wonder at what time the Factions campaign occurs - surely after the events of Chapter One. In which case, it would be odd doing missions in Kryta with Lionguard and such. I guess it would be like the Titan quests after Hell's, just massive altering of maps and such depending on game progress.

Not meaning to offend anyone, but I think we are all (me included) very narrow minded when it comes to thinking of how ANet will integrate Factions characters. After all they think about this stuff for months and I have no doubt that they have the creativity to make it work out.

I think we'll all just go: "OH, that makes sense" when Factions comes out.

In the mean time, I tend to agree that factions will have some sort of pre-searing equivalent, and characters of low level won't be finding their way to LA.

I'm just excited! I think it's going to be great!

As long as it is balanced I don't mind whatever they do. I doubt we will be seeing levels <20 Assassins/Ritualists in Tyria.

You have no idea how true that is.

I was being attacked because everyone is saving up gold, constantly farming, etc.etc. thinking they'll be able to use Tyrian Gold in Cantha, I doubt it by so mcuh it's not funny.

Just a tiny example.

A different currency system would be hysterical!

How so? It is a different content, with different countries and a different way of life. So how would a different currency system be hysterical?