Serenity Temple

"Welcome to Serenity Temple. May the Goddess Mother Dwayna watch over your steps and carry you through the darkness. " - Priestess Rashenna

I remember when I was playing through Guild Wars and I came across an outpost in a place I wasn't really expecting one. It was actually kind of a relief because I have a habit of hoarding items to sell and feel really bad about leaving things behind and Pockmark Flats actually has a good amount of enemies with a few quests active.

Serenity Temple seems like maybe it was once really grand, like those ruined buildings you see in The Northlands before The Searing. You can see the walls that stood around it at one time and really tall pillars that probably once supported a grander building. We only get to see it in Guild Wars post Searing, though, so in the end it's just a lot of rubble that blends into the environment without closer study.

In Guild Wars 2, however, Serenity Temple has been very clearly marked by the Brand and has sunken into the land. The statues, pillars, and stones are now twisted with Kralkatorrik's bizarre energy. The dirt itself even glows with a radiant purple. One of the more important things to notice, however, is that the Brand has powered up the Dwayna statue. For those of you who may need a refresher, the statue of Dwayna only stands in the original Guild Wars if the Gods favor the world. This isn't the first instance of a Dwayna statue standing in a world that the Gods have disappeared from;  The Temple of Ages also has one but the swamp is also seeing obvious energies from the underworld. It's a lot to think about, but it might just be a case of the statues needing any strong energy to active them rather than just that of the Gods.

I think it's also worth noting that Priestess Rashenna now has a grave in the temple area. She was one of the NPCs in the temple in the first game.

Serenity Temple is easy to explore between both games if you want to compare them. While I plotted things meticulously on the map, the statue of Melandru is actually what I used to center myself. It would be easy, then, to just stand by the statue of Melandru and pivot in both games to see the differences and similarities.

Grendich Courthouse

"When I was just a young hooligan, I found myself before a judge on a regular basis. I stood here, inside this very building, as my punishments were read by the Magister. Back then, I can remember wishing this building would be hit by lightning or destroyed in a great fire. Never did I think it would come to be." -Warmaster Labofski

Before I start off this post officially, I want to bid welcome to all of the new players of Guild Wars 2, be it new to the series or a veteran from the first game. I'm glad to see that the game and community will be growing ever bigger with your help! I hope that this site will continue to be a valuable resource to those who visit it.  If you ever find yourself with map related questions, feel free to contact me through here or in game and I'll be more than happy to help.

Grendich Courthouse was always one of the stops I would make while running players between Lion's Arch and Ascalon. It's a good place to stop and find rest before entering the Shiverpeaks or continuing through the Diessa Lowlands. We never got to see this place before the searing but post-searing all we saw were the shambles of what I believe to have once been a brilliant courthouse. In Guild Wars 2, however, we know the land to be called Diessa Plateau and the courthouse is known now as the Grendich Ruins. It's a fitting name as it still remains in ruin from what happened during the searing.

However, it seems that they may have worked on the outpost a bit before abandoning it. We can see now that a wall within the courthouse has been rebuilt. The rest of it, however, has mostly degraded even more from it's Guild Wars counterpart. Magic runes that once lived in the courtyard are now gone but the once dead trees have been taken over by newer, living versions. The hills and valleys we could once see from the broken wall are now rolling and nearly smooth, and more noticeably- not as deep.

Walking into this place, it should easy for Guild Wars 1 players to recognize it, but underneath the recognizable features, a lot has changed.

Ashford Abbey - The Searing

"Once an abbey dedicated to Dwayna, Sardelac Sanitarium is now used to house those who have suffered serious mental harm during the Searing." -The Guild Wars Manuscripts

Ashford Abbey was an outpost that a lot of quests centered around. Either our heroes would pick up a quest or use it to complete one. Many times a quest may have to do with delving into the catacombs for one reason or another. However, in post Searing, it doesn't have as much going on in the quest field. The catacombs become closed up and inaccessible. Instead of being the abbey it once was, it becomes a Sanitarium surrounded by destruction and searing crystals.

Ascalon Academy

"During times of peace, Ascalon soldiers would come here to practice their craft."  -Warmaster Adriam

The Ascalon Academy is a small arena outpost inside of Ascalon City in Guild Wars. It was used as a low level PvP battle between randomly matched characters. Unfortunately, these days, there aren't many players participating in the match so it can be difficult to get into the map beyond the outpost. In Guild Wars 2, we see it as a broken down facade and ogres have built their homes behind its face.

The best way to navigate the area between both games is to stand at the end of the bridge, facing the academy, and pivoting to see the area. The last two pictures included are a bit more difficult to find as it took some careful navigation using tiny bits of wall leftover on the map. 

Ascalon City - The Searing

"Though the buildings have fallen and the cathedrals are a shambles, the people here live on in the shadow of what once was."

Ascalon City is where we are first thrown as Prophecies characters. It's a small but beautiful city and I couldn't help but to think that there was more to see than what we were given in the game. Most of the quests in pre-searing are given out at this location. While it may be the main city in pre-searing, post searing it is nothing more than a tiny spot on the map. The small city gives way to searing crystals and the land around us opens up for further exploration. 

Fort Ranik - The Searing

"The Charr have breached the Wall again. They burn our homes and threaten to take what little we have left." - Lord Darrin

There was once a day where heroes were helping a woman with her apples in the forest outside of the fort, but then came the days of taking up arms against the charr just outside. Fort Ranik is the first real fortress we see in presearing Ascalon. The mood when I stepped inside for the first time was different from the rest of the outposts. It felt more militarized, which makes sense when you learn that it's the place where the military of Ascalon is trained. 

 

Around Ascalon

"Blasted and battered, the current landscape of Ascalon holds only the ghost of its former glory. Skeletons of grand cathedrals and remnants of whole cities lie broken on the shifted, displaced ground. " -The Guild Wars Manuscripts

Ascalon has been through quite a number of landscaping changes underneath both humans and charr. However, it still stands as the one place in the second game with the most history still showing visually. There are broken buildings still standing as well as statues of gods and catacombs. Project Tyria has generally focused on where the old buildings are in the new game. I wanted to take a step away from that and try to find where the new structures would be in the first game. This posts also shows remnants of structures still standing that are littered around Ascalon rather than in an outpost. I've also decided to scour the countryside to show off changes in the general landscape.

There's really no easy way to go out and find these things in each game to compare them. The maps in each game have a different scale to them. The best way I could find myself was to follow key structures, such as the statue of Balthazar or Ascalon Academy, and constantly look at the 'you are here' pointer on a minimap. 

Ashford Abbey - Ascalon

"Situated just outside of the catacombs, Ashford Abbey is the resting place for many of Ascalon's most distinguished deceased citizens."

I have a theory that the Ascalonians (and humans in general) in Guild Wars saw their world and structures as being much more grand than they actually ever were. Ascalonians had the most pride for their country and may have remembered their structures more detailed, more beautiful, than what was actually there. I think that is why, in Guild Wars 2, we see these buildings a lot more differently than we may have in Guild Wars. The wear and tear and effects of the charr and the searing have, of course, torn most of the Ascalonian architecture down, so we no longer see them in their former glory, or even at all, in the second game.

Ashford Abbey has quite the history itself. It started out as an abbey and catacombs, then turned into Sardelac Sanitarium- a location for those driven mad by events in the searing. Now the abbey ruins are down to bricks and the entrance to the catacombs. While we can no longer enter the section of the catacombs seen in the first game, there is the Ascalonian Catacombs dungeon that we can assume is a connection we could not see in the first game due to shut off doors and large chasms where rivers ran to cut us off from the rest of the building.

The best way to find yourself around the area in both games is to head inside of the catacombs. In Guild Wars that's a little easier to find as it is it's own separate map you find inside the abbey. In Guild Wars 2, however, you should look for the "Abbey Ruins" text on the map and head inside of the hollowed out area in the rocks. As soon as you find the stairs inside of the entrance, everything else should be easy to find. 

Ascalon City - First Person View

"It's a glorious day to be alive, is it not? I know some might think of these as dark times with the Charr threatening us from the north, but Ascalon is the greatest nation in fair Tyria. We shall never fall before the Charr, never!"   - Prince Rurik

It's been recent since we've gotten the option to have a first person point of view in Guild Wars 2, which will make screenshots a lot easier now. As such, I decided to go explore Ascalon City between Pre-searing and Guild Wars 2 times and document the changes. It's the first time I've been able to document specific locations within the city. That being said, there isn't much left to see on Guild Wars 2's side. This is probably likely due to the lore that the Charr have been tearing down the human buildings since taking over the area again (as we see in particular events in game as well, not in the city but regarding the wall in the Iron Marches).

The best way to go in game and look at these specific locations in the city yourself would be to find the bridge to the academy (like the first picture shows.) Pivoting on this spot in both games is how I've taken many of the pictures included in this post. Since this is one of the few places visually that both games have in common for the city, it's easier to navigate starting from this point. 

Diessa Plateau

Diessa Plateau, another part of Ascalon, was once known as the Diessa Lowlands. Parts of the map also contain places like the Flame Temple Corridor, a Charr dominated area in Guild Wars where they converted human ruins into temples where they performed rituals and sacrifices.. The Breach is another- as the name gives away, is the location of a breach in the Great Northern Wall that allowed the Charr to pass through after the Searing.

As with much of Ascalon, you can find many references to the past game, however there aren't actually many large landmarks in Diessa Lowlands.

Grendich Courthouse

Plains of Ashford Map

I know I've posted this map at least once before, but since it's been over a year that I've started taking pictures of Ashford I wanted to celebrate by detailing the map a little more and taking completely new pictures. Over the next week or two, I'll be reworking the 'complete collection' part of the site to include all of my new pictures as well as the maps they belong to.

Iron Marches

Here's a map detailing important areas from GW1 on the Iron Marches GW2 map. Beneath are before and after screenshots of some of these locations (as well as the bridges compared from both games just north west of The Great Northern Wall).

Expect several of these maps in the coming weeks, as I'm trying to get some more key areas on others before posting them up as well.

Lower half of the Iron Marches Map, where all of the interest is.

I went back out into Ascalon.

Honestly, I just can't stay away from Ascalon. It reminds me too much of 'home'. After a bit of inspiration caused by this reddit user's post, I looked through my folder and found that I had a couple of places I had pictures of from one game and not the other. I'm currently working through it all (today and tomorrow) to bring you guys more pictures on the site.  For now, have these few and I'll try to have more later this week.

Also, I've started to document pictures of creatures that you find in between both games. I'll have some before and after creature pictures up this month!

Searing crystal of Pockmark flats/Blazeridge Steppes

Kiln Testibrie's tomb

The Great Northern Wall

This is kind of a late post, but last week I visited the Iron Marches. It was a very pleasant surprise to find the  Searing cauldron still standing. I recommend taking a listen to the conversation that takes place around the cauldron and find out why the Priory thinks it should stay but the villagers think it needs to go.

Also, I was slightly disappointed to find that Piken Square looked so unusual compared to the first game. Mainly that the entrances seem to be a little off. Rather than just the upper corner being a graveyard, the entire thing is now, which is really neat!
I still have some areas in the upper part of the map to chart, but after that, I will be pinpointing interesting locations on the map for you as well as providing more screenshots (Kilnn Testibrie's tomb included). For now, I hope that you'll enjoy these few shots!

Map of Ashford: Done

Click images to make them bigger!

I promised labeled maps and I've been working hard to clean each map up and present you with interesting sight-seeing spots based on the original Guild Wars. Today, I give you Ashford's map. This is probably the most map to go sight-seeing in because it has so many places to visit, probably more than any other map.  I know my way around this map more than any place else because nostalgia just pulls me towards it. There's nothing like walking through a part of the Plains of Ashford to realize that you're actually walking down that iconic trail in Lakeside County.

On another note, I went to visit Serenity Temple today and snapped a shot of it. Actually, I did this in both games, so enjoy your shiny new comparison shot! As I'm going through, I'll be putting up more maps this week as well as screenshots! Is there any place that you would love to see screenshots of? If so, please comment and let me know! I'll dispatch to find it quickly!

Ascalonian Catacombs

In order to keep the site updated with information, I've decided to post more than just comparison screenshots. Instead, I want to take you through my, and the Project Tyria guild's, journeys through Tyria in Guild Wars 2. The theme of this information? It will to relate to the original Guild Wars game in some significant way.

As you can tell, the topic of today is the Ascalonian Catacombs. The catacombs seem to not just be a place where the dead were buried, but an actual part of a castle and kingdom itself. The fallen floors and overgrown earth shows how much it's aged. Though we haven't seen it in the original Guild Wars game, this was the place where the Foefire happened. You can still see Magdaer in the ruins, the sister sword to Rurik's (now Rytlock's) Sohothin. These two swords have the same skins as the Guild Wars Fiery Dragon sword and both of them are very powerful.

In these dungeons, you not only get to meet the ghost of King Aldebern in these ruins, but also the ghosts of Master Ranger Nente, Kasha Blackblood, Vassar, and Ralena. All four of these characters were our trainers in pre-searing Ascalon. It's a bit saddening to see that they suffered from the Foefire, but they seem surprisingly aware of their ghostly existences in the story mode of the dungeon. Most of the other ghosts seem to have been driven mad by the effects of the Foefire, however, these champions of Aldebern seem to be willing to give us a chance, well, until Rytlock spoils it. 

BWE3 Screenshots

Arbor Bay/ The Grove

The Pale Tree

Ascalon City Map

Okay, doing something different today, guys! I often get questions on how to find certain locations and today I want to point out one of my personal favorite locations. The twist is that instead of posting a screenshot of the location and key points around it, I will instead be using maps with labels I pulled from the Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 wikis. I spend hours of my time scanning every inch and detail of the maps in order to plot where I need to be to find something. Sometimes I'm not always accurate, but most of the time, I find what I'm looking for. If I have to go back on a screenshot and admit I've made a mistake in plotting, it only means I understand the map that much better now.

Most of the people who contact me are interested in seeing the ruins of Ascalon City. If you find yourself wanting to explore the ruins in Guild Wars 2 and are familiar with the Guild Wars Ascalon City Maps, you should find this map a little helpful. For those of you who can't enjoy both games for some reason, you can still see how much has remained the same by looking at the maps I've posted below.

If you want to see the ruins but haven't preordered the game or found a beta key, our partners at Chronicles of Tyria are giving out 25 beta keys in their contest. All you have to do is post a witty caption on one of the screenshots provided on their contest post and enter it for a chance to win.

Your chance to win a beta key is on Chronicles of Tyria
Note: The contest is now over. You can still view the winners!
Chronicles of Tyria BWE Key Winners.

If you need more help deciphering the map, the bridges on all three maps lead to Ascalon Academy!

Final Batch of Pictures until BWE3

Lions Arch

Shaemoor Bridge

Grendich Courthouse

Graggult's Keep

Back to Your Roots

I spent a lot of time in Ascalon in the latest Beta Weekend Event.  To me, and apparently a lot of Project Tyria's fans, Ascalon feels like home. It tugs at our hearts to watch it transform. Here's pictures especially for those of you who call Ascalon home.

Click for Larger Image!

Flame Temple Corridor/ Incendio Templum

Rin

Ashford/ Ashford Forum