Feedback:User/Nathe/A new post-EOTN solo quest
A new post-EOTN solo quest
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|---|---|
| User | Nathe |
| Categories | Player vs. Environment → Quests |
Quest Information[edit]
Title[edit]
- Bonds of Friendship
Requirements[edit]
- Must be a Prophecies character
- Completed the Eye of the North campaign
- Completed the Then and Now, Here and There quest
- Completed the Fire and Pain quest
- Must not have any red iris flowers in inventory
Objectives[edit]
- Go with Gwen to her garden.
- Kill the mandragors threatening the garden.
- Pick 20 red iris flowers. You have collected 0...20 flowers.
- Give the flowers to Gwen.
- See Gwen in the Hall of Monuments for your reward.
Reward[edit]
- 10,000 experience
- Gwen's Promise (persistent effect)
Walkthrough[edit]
After accepting the quest, you'll be taken just outside the Eye of the North's main entrance to a closed-off version of the Ice Cliff Chasms that has no NPC's or enemies except for the ones related to the quest. Gwen will be waiting for you. Go with her around toward the back of the fortress on the western side, and as you get close to her garden, you'll have to fight about a half dozen mandragors.
Once you and Gwen have dispatched them all, continue on to her garden. There, you will find it covered with red iris flowers, many more than what usually spawn and more than enough to satisfy the requirements of the quest. Pick up 20 flowers and then talk to Gwen. You'll then be taken back inside the Eye of the North. To get your reward, talk to Gwen in the Hall of Monuments.
The next time you enter either the Eye of the North or the Hall of Monuments after visiting another town, outpost, or explorable zone, you'll finally see the results of your hard work in the garden with Gwen. Both areas will be decorated with numerous pots of red iris flowers.
Dialogue[edit]
Initial Dialogue[edit]
Gwen
- [Solo Quest] “Hello, old friend. Now that the immediate threat has passed, I was wondering if you might help me with something. It's clear that the Vanguard is going to be here for quite some time, so I thought it might be a good idea to make the place a little more homelike. My garden is in full bloom now, and I was able to get some clay pots and soil from the merchants. Flowers would make this place much nicer, I think, even if it is still the center of our war effort against the Charr. Ironic, I know, but somehow it seems fitting. Would you come with me to my garden and help me pick some flowers?”
Of course. They remind us of why we're here.
My thumb isn't green.
- When asked about quest: “You'll join me outside, won't you? Don't forget, you'll be separated from the rest of your party. Are you ready?”
Intermediate Dialogue[edit]
After meeting Gwen outside
- Gwen: “Thank you for coming. This shouldn't take long.”
On nearing the garden
- Gwen: “Mandragors! They'll trample everything! Come on, old friend, help me kill them before they ruin the flowers!”
After killing the mandragors
- Gwen: “That was close. We got them, though.”
- [PlayerName]: “We make a good team."
- Gwen: “We do, don't we? Anyway, time to get to work. If we each gather about 20 flowers, that ought to do it. Let me know when you're finished.”
When asked about the flowers
- Gwen: “We still need some more flowers. See me when you've picked 20 of them.”
While gathering the flowers
- Gwen: “I appreciate you doing this for me, my friend. I know it must seem somewhat dull, though, after everything we've been through lately.”
- [PlayerName]: “Not at all. It's nice to have a break from all the fighting.”
- Gwen: “It is, yes. We won't get many such times, I don't think, so that's why it's important to enjoy them while we can. I'm glad you feel the same way.”
- Gwen: “You know, this reminds me of that day we spent together, back before the Searing. You brought me so many flowers back then. Funny how they still make me happy.”
- Gwen: “We didn't know each other that well back then, but we're both still here now, together. And no matter what happened before, we're friends now.”
- Gwen: “I don't know how you feel about what happened to me, about my imprisonment, but I want you to know that I never blamed you.”
- [PlayerName]: “Gwen...”
- Gwen: “None of us could have known what was about to happen, that all we knew and loved was about to be destroyed. You had your duty, and even as a child, I understood that.”
- Gwen: “So if you've been feeling in any way responsible for the Charr finding me after you left, please don't. It wasn't your fault.”
- Gwen: “But enough about that. It's time to focus on the future, and to lay the past to rest. You and I, we've endured so many trials together recently.”
- Gwen: “You helped me defeat Daghar and settle my past, and together we stopped the Charr from attempting another Searing. And we helped our friends and allies stop the Destroyers.”
- Gwen: “It seems there's nothing this world can throw at us that we can't overcome, old friend, as long as we're together.”
- [PlayerName]: “Then the Charr don't stand a chance.”
- Gwen: “Right! Just as these flowers continue to grow even here, so our friendship will endure. And so I'll always remember that there are things... and people... that nothing can take away.”
When giving Gwen the flowers
- Gwen: “This should be enough, I think. Let's head back inside.”
Reward Dialogue[edit]
Gwen
- “Good job! I'll go ahead and get everything set up, so next time you're here, take a look around and see how it turned out. Thank you again for all your help. It seems you're always there for me now, old friend, and that means a great deal to me. I don't think there's anything we can't accomplish as long as we're together. I don't know what your plans are now that the Destroyers are beaten, but I hope you'll stay for a while. I know the Ebon Vanguard could really use your help. And it would make me happy, too.”
Notes[edit]
Gwen's Promise (persistent effect) - Your bond with Gwen gives you both extra resolve and resilience while she is in your party. You and Gwen each have +1 health and energy regen as long as you are within earshot of each other.
While the effect of this buff may not seem like much, it does allow you to use certain weapons and offhand items that have an inherent degen effect (such as zealous/vampiric items) without suffering the degen penalty. It also allows certain skills that have a 1 point energy degen cost (such as monk bonding spells) to be cast and maintained without as much of the degen penalty. Gwen gets this buff as well, so she has the same ability to use degen items and skills without as much penalty as you do while the buff is active. Basically, it allows one single item or spell of each type with inherent -1 degen to be used without that penalty. For instance, you could use a vampiric weapon and a zealous shield/focus without the degen penalty (vampiric is -1 health, zealous -1 energy, so one of each type), but any maintained spells you cast after that or any hexes or conditions you suffer add the appropriate degen. The buff only covers 1 pip of each type of regen, no more.
The condition to this buff is that Gwen must be in your party, and you must both be alive and within earshot of each other. If either of you is knocked out or move out of range of each other, the buff ends until you are both revived again and in range. For parties with more than one human player, only one Gwen needs to be brought. As long as she is in the party, any human players alive and within earshot of her who have completed this quest will benefit from the buff. If multiple players each bring Gwen, the effects of the buff will not stack. The modifier will always be +1. Basically, the buff is like a shout that never expires but which, like all shouts, has a limited range.
The reason this quest is solo is because that's how most characters are when they first meet Gwen in pre-Searing Ascalon, and her current quests don't reflect that. I wanted to give her a quest that would truly bring back that feel of being with her again as it was back then, just her and the player character. I tried to balance the buff as best I could by having it only be active under certain conditions, but if you folks at Anet can make it better, feel free. As well as making sure the mandragors are challenging but beatable for a two-person party. Feel free to tweak the monster type, amount, quest reward, anything you need to make it work. I don't mind waiting for a while for it to get done, as I understand there are other things that would probably come first before adding a new quest like this. Just as long it's done at some point, the when doesn't really matter to me.
It's a post-EOTN quest, so it shouldn't interfere with the rest of the expansion since you have to finish it to be able to do this quest. If the post-quest flower decorations are too hard or time-intensive to create or implement, feel free to cut that part of the quest. An alternate version of this quest should be made for non-Tyrians, but with a slightly different buff that would be unique for them so as to balance things out and allow them to see the decorated Eye of the North and Hall of Monuments as well while acknowledging their foreign background (instead of the Proph backstory, which they wouldn't have) and giving their version a unique flair different from the Tyrian version.
