The world of Guild Wars 2, Tyria, is a vast and epic land full of danger and wonder. From the frozen lands of the Norn to the wild and whimsical lands of the Asura, there are many hidden delights to be found. While exploring the world of Guild Wars 2 has many benefits (such as gaining xp by exploring, earning additional skill points via skill challenges, and watching panoramic movies through vistas), there are some events or places that take you by surprise.
While most Guild Wars 2 players are used to fighting monsters or seeing fantastic sights, there are times that a player comes across something offbeat during their travel that makes them take notice. Whether it just makes the player smile or fight for his life, there are places and events in Tyria that stray from the norm and make a lasting impression. GuildWars2Hub.com examines five such offbeat destinations found in Tyria.
Carrion Sculpture Mayhem
Our first offbeat destination lies within a cave in the Kessex Hills. Located between the Garrenhoff and Isgarren's View points of interest lies a cave populated by ettins. Of particular note are the various carrion sculptures that the player will find in the cave. You can interact with them and destroy them. When you do, you'll hear a deep voice warning you not to do any more harm to the sculptures. If you persist in destroying the carrion sculptures, you'll get additional warnings, with the last one saying that if you mess with one more, you'll get what's coming to you!
Naturally, you should persist in destroying the sculptures made out of dead creatures. After you destroy one more after the last warning, a veteran ettin will appear and attack you. This leads to a good fight. The veteran ettin can be soloed, but make sure that you clear other ettins out first before destroying the last carrion sculpture.
High Diving
If you worked up a sweat fighting the ettin in the cave, then you can cool off with some high diving. At Isgarren's View, you will see a pair of diving goggles laying on the ground. Pick them up and via the magic of the bundle system, you'll be changed into a swimming suit and you're ready to do some diving. You can safely jump off the cliff and as you dive, you'll have the option to either flip or spin. (On a side note, Isgarren's View is a good place to harvest strawberries!) You can also dive at the Divers Ledges waypoint in Lion's Arch.
Golem Chess
Our third offbeat location is in Metrica Province, just to the east of Soren Draa. Here you can indulge in some golem chess if the mood takes you. You and an opponent can take turns maneuvering a golem around on a board to fight each other. The losing golem gets shattered into bits and the winner gets bragging rights. This game is part of the "Support Doola's Golemancing Research" renown heart. Even if you fill the renown heart, you can continue to play. You can play solo, but the computer AI is pretty dumb. The best games are against other players.
Snowball Fight
Our next offbeat location takes us to the icy lands of the Norn. Here you can have the sadistic pleasure of smacking kids in the head with snowballs. You can undertake this fun activity in the Taigan Groves located in the Wayfarer Foothills zone. Around the village are piles of snowballs that you can interact with and pick one up. You then target a kid (who are also throwing snowballs at you and other people) and let fly! If you hit, the kid will get knocked over on the ground while you chortle with malicious glee. The only downside to this activity is that you can't target other players with the snowballs. I expect that to change around Christmas.
Ale, Ale, and more Ale!
Our final offbeat location takes us to Queensdale where we find the Eldvin Monastery. The amusing thing for me at this place is how everything revolves around ale. You can help complete the renown here by sampling the monks' ale and stopping an ale thief. The thief first wanders into the monastery whistling a tune and his nameplate is shown as "Shady Customer." He proceeds to walk into a room and steal a keg of ale. Once he has the keg, he runs like the dickens outside and attempts to get away with his ill-gotten gains. You are then free to attack him and stop the theft.
A dynamic event will also pop on the monastery in the form of a horde of centaurs attacking. Why are they attacking, you ask? To steal the monastery's ale, of course! You finish the dynamic event by defeating the centaurs and keeping the ale safe and secure for the monks. (On a side note, if you're asking why so much ale activity is occurring in the game at a monastery, the reason is simple. Monks have a brewing tradition going back almost a thousand years, with the Trappist style of ale being the most widely known. Yay for my medieval history degree!). If you want more ale action, you can head over to Hoelbrak and take part in some Keg Brawl.
These five offbeat locations and events showcase the care and attention that went into building the world of Tyria in Guild Wars 2. I find it amazing that there's so much for a player to discover in small, hidden corners of the world. Whether it's enraging an ettin for destroying his "art" or plowing kids in the noggin with a snowball, there are a lot of little quirks in the world that a player can discover. There's so much to discover out there, so get looking!
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