[Spotlight Concept #2] Lyssa's Realm

Ok, I have a few important points to make.

First, there cannot be an "end" or "final room" in this realm. Realms of the gods do not have greens, they do not have ends, they do not have a way to "finish". This should be continued here.

Second, I definately think that there should be absolutely zero visible mobs when you start. Every enemy should be invisible until you agro. The sheer difficulty of that would keep people busy just learning stuff for months.

Third, I am strongly opposed to trying to make the map a maze... to a degree its necessary, but it will only confuse people for maybe a day or two, then people will post maps here and on other fan sites. There's no point.

Finally, I'm also opposed to the over-use of Monster Skills. There are next to none (none?) in the first two god's realms, and filling these new ones with them would be wrong. Overpower the monster's build, give them unfair attribute distribution, and give them multiple copies of skills/elites? Sure! But let's cool it with some of the Monster Skills.

lots of good points^

multiple copies of skills?
hmmmmm
i can see it now..........
mob and mobs of touch rangers!!!!!!!

Start off with anime girls that turn into demons.

Seriously though, I like the sound of that. Skinny, delicate creatures grow menacing when they attack. That would scare the crap out of you the first time you saw it.

All I really want is the line-dancing Mesmer NPCs. Like 1000 of them.

the twisting corridor? that was trippy.

it could have 7 green weapon Drops, representing the 7 deadly sins

Envy:
11-22 Req 9 Blood
20/20 Blood
+30
+30

Greed:
19-35 Req 9 Hammer
15^50
5/1
+30

Pride
AL 16 Req 9 Stregnth
-2 enchanted
-2 Stance

Sloth
15-28 Hornbow Req 9
15^50
1/1 Zealous
+30 (Contradiction intended)

Gluttony:
+12Energy req 9 Spawning
+30
+5Armor
Health -20

Lust:
Req 9 Illusion
20/20 Inspiration
+5
20% Enchanting

Wrath:
6-28 req 9 Axe
15^50
3/1
+5 AL

And then name the bosses they drop from with their respective names, and have them spawn at different areas every time

How about Gwens ghost, when you collect the tapestry shred, Shreded cape, and the broken flute, you give it to Gwen for 10k of exp, and 50k? lol.

Wouldn't be complete without a Max payne reference.

this means we need the different parts gated off until they accomplish something to open the gates (much like The Deep and Cantha). in accord with this, the maze idea also sounds good.

Well I think that a random map sequence would be a good idea. Not only would it keep people interested, but prevent those long tedious farming runs that are so rampant through fow and the uw.

Gwen should be alive!



Here's an idea I don't think anyone has mentioned. Does anyone remember the first Metal Gear game... that part towards the end where you had a maze of identical screens and you could only get to the last boss if you went through them in a certain order? Maybe there could be a bonus area for someone who discovers the right "path" in lyssa's realm.

Oh, I thought I would also mention... using Doppleganger mobs is a horrible idea. Well, the idea is good, but if implimented everyone will just make gank builds designed to have the poor NPCs act idiotic.

A map is worthless in an area with no mapping, or worse. completely overlapping and relaping terrain. With several weaved paths and bridges, a map would look like a ball of yarn, and trying to follow the string would be about as effective as figuring it out yourself.

If they paint the radar blank and the only thing you can see is enemies, allies and who your targetting, it is going to be very hard to navigate. And now that I think of it, that may be a great thing.

They could also force you to take up alternate forms of navigation, like constelations in the sky. Lyssas realm could be on the moon or something, where the stars are easily visible, and keeping track of where your going would be dependant on recognizing star patterns..... that would be wicked. They could rearranged the star patterns every time you return to this realm so you would have to check them every time and choose which ones to use as markers. And to make it a bit confusing, they could make constelations which move in the sky wile you do, so only certain constelations can be followed.

Now that I think of it, it might be cool if Lyssas realm was completely flat out land for long stretches, and the only way to find special locations would be star chasing....... Reminds me of BoF3, most lost I have ever been in a game.

Very good ideas here.

My suggestion would be to have a temple or palace that looks small on the outside but is actually huge on the inside.


As for a name: The Mirror Demesne.

Beauty and illusion is what Lyssa represents...
Enemies that look harmless and beautiful that strike the ones who get near...
Allies turning unwarned into enemies during quests, total diorientation by changing landscape features, etc etc

There should be a weapons crafter that makes weapons worthy to be worn together with a Fow armor set. They will require ruby's and sapphires to craft

Also high end (1.5k) chests and reward chests at the quest rewards... ectos,rubys and sapphires will drop here...

Enemies are from all sorts of professions but with loads of interupts and nasty skills, that make it only survivable for the strongest and best teams...

I screamed when I saw this thread.

Lyssa does not have a physical realm of her own. Nor does she have defenses or servants. Unlike Grenth, tasked to command the UW, and Balthazar, who has his fortress in the Planes as the god of war, if Lyssa had a realm it would not be a warpath. The dead go to Grenth, the gloriously dying to Balthazar. Lyssa does not share in this. Therefore there would be no point in Lyssa creating a vast open realm, and it would not be physical - no living creature could stand in it without the grace of Lyssa.

If there ever was a realm, it would be a small enclave, and not physically reachable, but accessed in dreams and such. If anything, all you could do would be to learn skills there.

In case you didn't notice, I'm against the addition of Lyssa's and Dwayna's realms, as they are not fighters and would not have a realm to fight anything in, and nothing would try to invade them, or Melandru's realm (there already is, normal PvE).

I think the Twin Goddesses of Beauty and Illusion would have some cruel-but-brilliant way to torture those that dare to explore the realm of chaos. There most certainly should be a realm where Lyssa is the ultimate power.

Remember people that Assassins are typically under Lyssa's guidance, too.

An enemy (type) could be one that changes professions & skills randomly.

This should be a realm where, instead of 3 or 4 tanks, you take 3 or 4 mesmers.

No thanks.

Fighting, please. Hard fighting.

i agree with almost all the ideas here, but what i really would like is a sort of place there, where you can meet other players, that would be immense cool, where you first have to do 5 quests or more to have acces to the city, there you even can find other players and hairdressers and stuff..

Dopplegangers would not be the only thing you fight. You still have to bring a smart build to face everything else. And the Doppleganger's build would be based on what a random party member had when you all entered the realm.

-Randomize Starting Point
-Randomize Monster Allocation
-Lots Teleporter
-Lots Swiriling Purple Mist or Cloud
-Unknown Energy Pocket - when touch, will either give you extra energy or HP, or take them away. Random.

Thats all I can think of for now, but the general theme would be Random.

Sheesh. You act like this game has a coherent story or something. Don't underestimate the ability for ANet to bullshit an excuse for a Lyssa realm. In fact, does it really need to be her realm? Do the enemies need to be her servernts?

Where does magic come from? I played this adventure game a long time ago called Death Gate (there is a series of books as well, I believe) where the source of magic was this great vortex with wild, chaotic things happening. Now, maybe I just want to feel nostalgic, but I think that sort of place in Guild Wars would be feasable and fun. Not that it would really relive the same experience I had with Death Gate, but still....

But I think it's time we start looking at this from a story angle. We have lots of suggestions about location, enemies, drops, and puzzles. What about the justification for being there?

When I think of a Lyssa realm, I think of a place that is actually very serene looking, such as a green valley Pre-searing Ascalon-style. But it would of course be very dangerous, with possibly a whole new layer of corruption that lies within it. Lots of interrupting creatures, energy stealers, etc. Puzzles could include stuff like the teleporters in the desert, but even more creative things such as each batch of creatures using an entirely different strategy, and inflicting different damage types. In fact, to make it really challenging, the creatures could all shift each time you enter. of course, the reward would have to be very good, not just a set of armor that some people would like and others wouldn't. Just like the Fissure of Woe with the champions and Underworld with Reapers, Lyssa's Realm could have the Muses trying to maintain order.

Your logic is not for our brains.

I expected somewhat better from people here, though.

I'm all for the extension of the Menzies and terrorweb stories from FoW and UW, with lots of mobs, drops, and screaming from giant aggro. But Lyssa is not the medium for this. Both of the current Planar realms have a purpose - The Underworld is obvious, the Fissure is where immortals get weapons and armor. What purpose could you give Lyssa's realm? If that can be fully developed and justified, then there is a structure to the realm.

Both of the planar realms have an invading force present. Lyssa isn't a hostile god, none of the main ones are. Their servants (muses in Lyssa's case) are your allies. So you'd need an invading force. It would be nice to continue one of the two storylines as I have said but what would be the previous criteria to enter it?

Avarre, stop being so wittingly nasty^^. Redirect your [enter term here] towards eamirth^^.

Actually, you can easily say that Lyssa has everything and nothing, but the solution behind it, is that if you come up with any definitive answer to what Lyssa has, then you are wrong^^.

No invading force, I want the realm of Lyssa to be something along the lines as a self-test. The reason you would want to initially go to Lyssas realm is because it is alluring and very intruiging, makes you think as though you 'need' to go there for your own desires. Remember the mesmer's self description "To bend the will for something something 'personal gain?'" Farmers farm for themselves, Soloists hunt for themselves, traders trade for themselves. I think it's about time Lyssa showed us what it is we are really doing^^.

You could incorporate many examples in which you start from her realm, and would be sent off into areas outside of Lyssa's realm to do tests, look at areas, make judgements, perform tasks - not necessarily fighting mobs, but I know there are ways in which Lyssa would be able to invent world effects, to change the effect certain skills have at certain instances so you could possibly be going around NOT killing mobs, but doing something to them that has a similar effect.

Now within the realm itself, hmm... a bunch of teleporters, different worlds, different areas of different continents, muses who stand at the gates and guide you and tell you waht you need to do. You could also have certain areas of Lyssa's realm locked from you unless you have completed a certain amount of quests. (Like once you have completed a certain quest, you get a chaos shard. Certain amounts of chaos shards open doors, or you can keep them and sell them^^) When you have unlocked an area... an NPC stylist perhaps^^. And of course, like Melandru and Dwayna, I wouldn't expect to see monsters in there... again... unless it becomes an Invading force, but three gods with invation ideas is just boring...

Dragon Festival, Lesser Grasps, Chaos Rift, The Darkness ... Lyssa's realm, it's coming people!!!

I will end you...

Unless there is alot of fighting and drops, most generic pve'ers won't like it. This is why I don't think it should be implemented whatsoever. As was said;

WHY in God's name does someone ALWAYS want invading enemy forces for every new thing? It's such an old cliche it's not even worth making something up about anymore. How many times has it been used? Over three million times? It's in every book you read about the Medeval period, and half the time in new-age books. Get over it and think up your own main idea. That's what's wrong with the world these days.

Actually if you read my posts, you'd know I DON'T WANT THE ZONE ADDED AT ALL.

Currently, there are 2 Planar zones (FoW and UW), and nearly every mission in the game that involves fighting an invasion.

This is because the world is not hostile to you. The gods are not hostile to you. You cannot fight the servants of Grenth in his own land, or Balthazar's in his land, or Lyssa's in her land if it was added.

As I said, you can have an area inherently hostile but this is not the medium for it.

well OK then. Let us develop this further. If you were to have anything that would give favour to that of Lyssa, what would you have done,to have her put on par with the other two gods who seem to hold active praise from their followers, Avarre?

Or, at the very least, what would you, or anyone like to see from Lyssa, if it were not from a realm that does not exist? (I bet there is someone from Anet whos pecifically didnt want the other two gods to have their realms for a particular reason. The great thing about the mesmer... we are good at revealing the possibilities^^ j/k)

A quest in the form of pathways is the best thing that I think can be thought of, in terms of Lyssa, in terms of multiple conclusions, different gains and different lessons learned.

Now that you think about it Strom Crow. It's very difficult to come up with something that doesnt involve an element of invasion at all. You're either invading the enemies, or your preventing the enemies from invading you or your allies. It seems, the idea of 'invasion' is irrelevant. And if you don't have invasion, then it is impossible to hold a basis for fighting an enemy,

Unless the fighting was held in a contained area, under an orgaised manner... like the arenas for example. But in this instance, the person you are fighting is more accurately to be your opponent, not your enemy.

How about making it so that the creatures in Lyssa's Realm would be hostile to anything that isn't either an assassin or a mesmer?

Say you have a party built up as such (you can't enter with less than 8 pleayers):

1: W/Mo
2: A/W
3: Mo/Me
4: Mo/N
5: Me/N
6: W/Mo
7: E/Me
8: Rt/E

*This is a pretty random team, stick with me

When this team enters Lyssa's Realm, all characters that are either Primary or Secondary mesmers/assassins (let's call these guys group A), will start on one side of the map; the rest of the party will start in the opposite side (these are group B).

Group A will be doing special quests for Lyssa and fight enemies Lyssa isn't very fond of; Jealousy, Prejudice, you get the drift.

Group B will be forced to fight all other things in Lyssa's Realm, not necessarily bad feelings or an invading force. They might fight Love, Compassion, Happiness... etc. because they aren't worshippers of Lyssa.

In the end, Group B will find it's way to the center of the Valley, Lyssa's Mindchamber (provided they haven't succumbed to the awesome amount of abuse they'll recieve from all the hostile creatures running about). Group A will recieve a new task from Lyssa: crush the invading force that has laid siege upon Lyssa's Mindchamber.

The two groups will now have to fight each other and only the victor(s) will reap the rewards (these would be pretty grand). One chest for each member of the winning party will be given and they will then return to the mortal realm.
The losing party will, naturally, be kicked out emptyhanded.

Also, the enemies for Group B won't be what they seem; Compassion might be a huge brute with armor, a shield and a sword the size of Alaska, but he might ACTUALLY be a monk, because the models won't be tied to the profession. This would be as random as the layout of the map.

Chatting to the other Group will not be possible, and reaching the center and getting the goodies will only be achievable if the other team makes it there. This way, bother parties are dependent on each other but only one party will get the glory.
If the whole team is assassins/mesmers, they'll all be group A and fight for Lyssa; they won't get the chests in the end though, because there's no opposing team, and vice versa if there are NO mesmers/assassins on the team.

I thought this idea would be a little more interesting than the invading force-thing. Feel free to comment and add ideas; that's what this thread is for

Okay, let me clarify. The realm that we go to when we talk to Lyssa does not neccessarily have to belong to her. To take my example earlier, the source of magic is a place that Lyssa does not rule over, yet she can take you there nonetheless.

Your donation gains you access to a place where all power comes from, where you can seek arcane knowledge. But to aquire such power Lyssa would like to test you and make sure you are worthy of such things. Lyssa doesn't beg for your assistance or anything. You are the one who wants to go. She cautiously agrees to escort you to mouth of the void of wild magic.

That's just one idea. There are many ways to have her bring you to a place she doesn't neccessarily have domain over.

i like the idea that it should look like pre-searing since that's probaly one of the most beautifull areas in the game..(prophecis)

I kind of like the idea of having the area being a chaotic amalgamation of places you've been. You could enter the relm in what looked to be pre-seaing ascalon, but as you approach the river where you should see the level 0 scale tads, you'd find the river has turned to jade as you'd see in Factions. Or, try to go through the gates of the great north wall and end up in a grasp infested Droknar's Forge or Lion's Arch.

Also, the sky could be either changing randomly, or with your position. Back in pre-searing, as you approach the char bosses over the wall, you get an effect where the sky goes from the cheery blue to a darker reddish color. This could be happening often in this relm.

I would like a Lyssa's Realm.
It would be called the Inner Labyrinth.
It's purpose would not to be a new area or Lyssa's Kingom, but more a hero test like a Superior Ascension. When you go in Lyssa's Realm, you're not in a physical place, but you penetrate in LYssa's Mind and you meet her spirit(s). Your toon is dreaming, but spiritually fighting and trying to access to Lyssa's Perfection through Illusionary challenges. The reward would not be greens or gold, but more high experience rewards or skill points.
And mobs would be themed and tough. EXTREMELY tough. After all, you're fighting in Lyssa's Dream no?


Example of mobs encountered:
Lyssa's Dream (Mesmer) (most numerous in the current mob)
Fevered Dream (E), Fragility, Shatter Enchantment, Illusion of Pain, Shatter Delusion
Lyssa's Nightmare (Necro)
Virulence (E), Chillblains, Vile Miasma, Rend Enchantment, Plague Sending.
Lyssa's Needle (Ranger)
Lacerate (E), Hunter's Shot, Pin down, Concussion shot, Throw dirt.
Lyssa's Sting (Sin)
Sharpen dagger, Critical defenses, Disrupting stab, Temple Strike (E), Critical Strike
Lyssa's Blade (Sword War)
Victory is Mine (E), Deadly Riposte, Harmstring, Wild Blow, Seeking Blade.
Lyssa's Dress (Air Ele)
Glimmering Mark (E), Air Attunement, Enervating Charge, Lighning Orb, Gale.
Lyssa's Jewel (Prot Monk)
Unyelding Aura (E), Aegis, Mend Ailment, Reversal of Fortune, Reverse Hex.
Lyssa's Spirit (Ritualist)
Clamor of Souls (E), Shadowsong, Restoration, Pain, Gaze from Beyond.

I disagree with you there. Some people lack skill points, true, but there are numerous ways to remedy that. Some people have an abundance of skill points and it is the last thing they need. For them there is no incentive to enter Lyssa's place.

(WARNING : it's long)

I like the idea of a less fighting dungeon. Here’s my idea(maybe it has been said before I haven’t had the patience to read them all)

Background/name
Madman’s realm(not too inspired but works as a test name)
A teacher (maybe in Shing jea or in chapter 3) looked for harder and harder ways to test his pupils, he send them in insane quests(maybe some quests before accessing the ‘’real thing’’). He prayed to Lyssa for outer-worldly challenges, in return she gave him access to a part of her realm(or at least what he thinks is her realm).

Landscape
I could see it part-manor(with decoration depending on the part of the game it is in and large windows to see the ‘’sky’’) and the other part as crystalline caves with the exit in sight to see the sky or flying platforms of class/water-like matter.
As someone said before , a lot of islands/rooms linked by teleporters(hidden by doors in the manor’s case). They would teleport you randomly to a room or another. But we'd need something to make sure there is no ''no-way-in-room''.
The sky could be a spiral spinning so that you get the impression that the manor in moving (for those who know Freelancer, it would look like the unknown system in outcast territory but more on the tones or blue/purple).
NPCs dont need to be normal, they could be enemies or inanimate object (its an illusion after all).
(Perhaps making it more realistic would make it better...)

Quests
If it is to be more pascific than most area, quest could be simply talk to that guy or get me this. The problem would be to get there. Enigmas would challenge more cooperation than strength, more in the switch combination/order-style or chess-like (‘’you move there. You, there. You do this. I go there.’’).

Enemies could lay trap, use hit‘n’run , use chaos or be illusions altogether. Someone mentioned that they could use high-level tactics like trap or wards(think they use them though)
Exemples : -A group comes from the right, from behind a couple of Ele/A ShadowStep near the casters, drops something like Phoenix or another AOE, ShadowStep back.
-Mobs that deal no damages unless you attacks them (they would become dangerous and start hurting for real), with chaos weapon, of course.
-Enemies that come out of nowhere(crystals, painting(someone mentioned this),golem made from objects around)
-special mob only affected by trap or only attacked by others mobs(this would need a special skill to make the mobs attack each others)

A couple of roles for each classes:
-Warriors : trap testers(there should be A LOT of traps), runners(pull the switch, run before time runs out), overall they wouldn’t do much others cant do, they would need their other class)
-monks : obvious, rez, healing, protection (high damage spells that would need something like Reversal of Fortune)
-Mesmer : dare I say it… counter-spells (instant-death spell that must be countered, KD spell when you must make a run for it), dots(damages would trigger something like illusion of weakness), snares(mobs comes, someone pull the switch, the bridge fall with the mobs, if they’re not snared they pass through it)
-Necro : rezing minion (remember the traps in the catacombs in pre-sear), corpse consuming (to deny them to the mobs)
-Rangers : traping, activating switch with the bow, running, taming(there would be probs with pets though)
-Assasin : ShadowSteping across a gap or a door… euh… combo-ing (mob that need the Lead/off-hand/dual- attack trinity), luring with Shadow of Speed.
-Elem : lightning torches/burning thing with fire magic, powering up machines with lightning damages(might be harder to do but still…)
-ritualist : hard one… a spirit like Pain that attack a switch while you go trough the door, Dissonance to keep an enemy countered, I had another spirit in mind but I lost it, hold an item to create aggro or to beheavy enough to press a switch.

(note that every situation that use a door or a switch can be replaced with more lethal situation)


Rewards
Since there is not too much enemies, chest could be useful. You could buy the keys in the first stage of the dungeon. And the mobs you can avoid to kill by doing puzzles should have very good drops (rare mats, 2 dyes a shot, runes, why count gold drops… platinium drops) but be VERY hard to kill (kind of lvl 30 min(and they wouldn’t be alone))

As a lot of people have suggested, change in appearance would be hilarious.
They could make hair-cuts(I can imagine a mesmer with Marge-Simpson-like hair…)
Or maybe change the body completely (who want to travel from town to town as a char??? What about a clown?)
Or changing your equipment, why have a Jewelled Chalice when you can have a teddy bear…
Or be tanked by a Stromtrooper(I’d like that one)(further more if we can change the bow skin with a blaster skin on a ranger. Lightsabers, anyone?)
(Of course such changes would need to be removable at will)

Perhaps more serious changes like hair of fire(red, blue, and maybe some others), or the whole body ignited. I want to see a fem Monk with angel wings. (would they be better with Diablo II-style wings, I always though Tyrael was cool… Maybe for males.)
(Phiew that was long, good luck reading it)

LMAO..lyssa's a mesmer of course

I would like to see Sarah as a Reward NPC( Armor/Collector/Weapon .. etc ), cause Lyssa blessed her with gifts right? So most logicall reason that she would be rewarding something in the Lyssa's Realm.

Wow this thread has some great idea's. I wish Anet could implement several areas like this. I really liked the Arcrane space location in D2, it would look amazing in the GW engine. Hopefully Nightfall will be able to incorporate some more deity realms.

* Landscapes and layout
* Puzzles/mirages/teleports?
* Enemies
* Allies/NPCs
* Quests
* Tamable creatures
* Tie-ins with the main Guild Wars/Guild Wars Factions storyline
* Drops
* Special Armourers/Weaponsmiths?
* The name for this place!

The theme for the place would be the mind of a child and the basic human emotions

It would be a circular maze of green hedges. There would be no map. There is a part from the starting area to the centre. The sky would be purple. There would be creepy childrens music u normally hear in nurseries. There are however several portals that appear for a few seconds in the proximity of your character. These portals would be there for about 15 seconds before disappearing. An entire party can go through the portal and possibily get get closer to the center of the maze, but the catch is that the players will be separated from each other. Because there will be instances where the player is completely isolated, the monsters will be able to be killed by a single well equipped player. The enemies will be of all classes and will appear one by one. They would appear as forms of primal fear. Like The Monster Under The Bed, The Dark, The Unknown, The Clown, and various other things that humans are generally afraid off. A few dead campaign characters like Rurik could suddenly appear infront of you in a cloud of black smoke, scream something and disappear.They would drop Chaos weapons. Basically they are any weapon, axe, sword, bow, wand etc etc. The weapons would look similar, all of them will look like they are made of black smoke. The quest start locations will be in the center of the maze, if you get there, various NPCs will give u quests to find certain NPCs. Some of which will give u riddles and puzzles to help you out. Tamable creatures would be Djinns. They would do Chaos damage instead of slashing and piercing. There would be armourers making various armour resistant to chaos damage and weapond like the new (Long slender elegant cutlass sort of thingy with a handguard) That Mesmers would us as it deals Chaos Damage. The Inside of the Circle would be a really awe inspiring place. A ranger character might see a background of jungles and various druids selling their wares. A warrior would see bars, weapon stalls, towers and guards strolling around. A Mesmer would however see it for what is truly is.

(My apologies, the ending of this idea seems a bit poetic and sounds like part of a story. I cant think of what is "Truly is" at the moment, but I will post it when I find out.)

This place will be called the Childs Mind