On Guild Wars 2, the big finale of the Icebrood Saga was released on April 27. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch played the patch and is divided. Although he participated in an epic battle between two dragons, the entire patch felt rather disappointing.
What kind of patch was it? Since September 2019, the so-called Icebrood Saga has been running. It is a continuous story that has been continued every 6 to 8 weeks and has led me to an epic moment.
During the season, a duel between two Elder Dragons was brewing: The Ice Dragon Jormag wanted to take out his brother, the Fire Dragon Primordus, at all costs. This was a special moment for me because, on the one hand, Primordus has accompanied me since the story of Guild Wars 1, and on the other hand, the previous battles against the Elder Dragons have all been staged very epically.
However, the big finale of the Icebrood Saga has two faces for me:
- On the one hand, the epic and visually stunning battle between two dragons
- On the other hand, the resulting consequences, the weak ending, and the generally small scope of the episode
Overall, the patch was a huge disappointment and, without exaggeration, the worst finale that any of the Living World seasons or an addon has had.
Massive dragons clash
What happens in the episode? At the beginning, we meet in the Eye of the North, the hub of the Icebrood Saga. There, we talk to the dragon Aurene, our ally, about the upcoming battle. Because she stands for balance, and should one of the two Elder Dragons, Jormag or Primordus, kill the other without being killed herself, the balance would be in danger.
So we lure the two Elder Dragons to a location where we have a slight advantage and where we could prepare for the battle.
In fact, the scene of the battle is something epic. On the left side is the massive Ice Dragon, and on the right side is the Fire Dragon. Both fight each other and also us, as we stand in the middle of the arena. It’s exciting: How do I win against the dragons? And does the battle end in another massive explosion of magic? How much does this explosion damage our world?
The battle that I can actively experience mainly takes place against the small champions of the dragons:
- On the one hand, there is Ryland, a Charr and son of Rytlock, who plays an important role in the story of GW2.
- For Primordus, our friend Braham fights, who, as a Norn, always aimed to take out Jormag.
This very battle against the two champions is rather disappointing. They mainly draw attention with a lot of health, less with cool mechanics. I rarely have to dodge, mainly deal damage, and it sometimes takes so long that I could calmly have dinner in the meantime. That’s not how I imagine an epic battle.
After we have defeated the two champions, the dragons become momentarily vulnerable. We use special crystals to deal damage to them. Yay, totally creative and exciting …
After a short regeneration, I fight against the champions again, make the dragons vulnerable again, and then deal damage to them. And that again and again.
After 4 rounds, both dragons completely go insane, attack each other, and kill themselves in a massive explosion. BAM. 30 minutes of gameplay, and both dragons are dead.
The conclusion of the battle: Visually, the battle had a lot to offer, but in terms of mechanics, all excitement and fun were somehow absent. At no point did I feel that I could die or that the dragons had an ace up their sleeves.
A terribly boring end
What happened after the battle? The champions of the dragons, Ryland and Braham, survived. How that was possible, I don’t know. After all, they were directly underneath the two battling dragons and in the midst of their explosion of magic.
However, while Braham regains consciousness and behaves “normally”, the Charr Ryland goes berserk. He accuses his father of not risking anything and babbles something about a hard childhood because his dad was so famous.
So we continue to fight him until, in the end, dad Rytlock stabs him in the stomach with a knife. The scene afterwards was quite dramatic, but whatever. The fight had, by the way, more mechanics than the fight against the dragon champions, but it was still boring due to Ryland’s incredibly high health points.
How does the patch end? After the death of Ryland, there is a brief meeting of our hero group along with the dragon Aurene. We talk about the fact that the released magic was not completely absorbed by Aurene, but floated somewhere away.
Anyone connecting the dots will notice that it was probably absorbed by the underwater dragon, the last of the 6 Elder Dragons. He lives somewhere between Tyria (our continent) and Cantha (the continent of the upcoming expansion “End of Dragons”).
However, no bridge is built here yet. There is also no real epilogue, no cool cinematic, nothing that puts me in a spirit of departure or makes me excited for the upcoming expansion.
1 hour of gameplay and no feelings of happiness
What is the problem with the update? For me, 3 things about this patch are disappointing:
- The scope of the patch is really small with just under 60 minutes of gameplay
- The battle offered few highlights
- A cool transition or epilogue at the end is missing
The last point is at the top of the list.
The second season of the Living World ended with us flying into the jungle on airships. The airships were destroyed in a cinematic by massive vines, and we crashed. That was a cool cliffhanger, and I wanted to know what would happen next; I was excited for the upcoming expansion.
The finale of the third season revealed who had been harassing us all along and introduced the antagonist of the new expansion: the god Balthasar. Here, a certain hatred for the god built up, which I wanted to take down in Path of Fire.
However, with the Icebrood Saga, I was left with nothing. The epic feeling of battle was quickly gone, the fight against Ryland reminded me of a petulant child, and the outlook for the upcoming expansion End of Dragons essentially went down the drain.
Even the last 3 updates of the Icebrood Saga were rather disappointing. The developers themselves admitted this in a livestream. It was stated that many resources were diverted for the new expansion End of Dragons. Therefore, the content at the end of the saga was smaller.
But a season finale should be treated with more love. As a long-time fan who has been looking forward to the dragon Primordus since 2008, his death is certainly a harsh disappointment.
Of all the previous finales that Guild Wars 2 has had, the Icebrood Saga leaves by far the worst feeling. And I truly hope that the upcoming expansion will at least justify it in part.
But there is still other content! Yes, that’s true. One can:
- Experience the fight against the dragons in a group
- Unlock new achievements
- Earn new rewards in the form of a new greatsword, a shield, and new infusions
But all that is not as important to me as a good story and a good transition to the new expansion. And those are not given in the season finale.
Guild Wars 2 brings new content this summer: A small ray of hope after the disappointing episode was the latest blog post from Guild Wars 2. In it, they explain their content plan for the summer and the time until the expansion. At least there are some highlights planned, including the return of the legendary puppet:
Guild Wars 2 shows plans for 2021: Brings 4 major innovations until the expansion
