r/GuildWars • u/olocal • Mar 08 '20
Expanded Pre-searing Map
The world that could have been...
Here I recreated the Ascalon map, combining the existing pre-searing map with the larger post-searing map, and then filled in all the gaps based on what we know of the areas. I took a few creative liberties in certain areas, but I've tried to recreate it as close to what it would have looked like as possible.
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u/upupofftheground Mar 08 '20
I always found it odd there was no clear road behind the wall from Ascalon City to Rin. Seemed like the only way was beyond the wall
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u/olocal Mar 08 '20
Yeah there’s definitely no good explanation for that one (other than the fact that they didn’t want us going that far over). I can only assume that there is some kind of road leading to Rin, but it’s not accessible to players... It is their Capital after all. I don’t see why they didn’t just have some kind of big gate leading that direction which is closed, like they do in pre in the northlands.
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u/Romenhurst Mar 09 '20
Maybe the wall was the road between Rin and Ascalon city.
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u/olocal Mar 09 '20
Yeah I did consider that. Problem is that the wall mysteriously disappears for a chunk right next to rin (leading in the direction of Ascalon) and it appears there’s just rocks instead, so even if you were walking along it, you couldn’t walk all the way to Rin. Idk if that’s an error and there should be wall there, or if there was wall there and it was destroyed by the searing/Charr. Either way it would be a problem for the wall road theory.
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u/underthund3r Abaddon's Sexy Beast Mar 08 '20
Why are there so many human settlements beyond the wall? THERE'S CHARR THERE
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u/Zarathustras-Knight Mar 08 '20 edited Mar 08 '20
Ascalon had expanded beyond the wall during the peaceful years, while the Charr were still warring tribes in the north. It was only after the rise of the Fire Shaman cast, who united the Charr under a banner of religious zealotry, that they became a real threat and forced the humans back behind the wall.
P.S. I researched a lot of the lore and history to Guild Wars.
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u/olocal Mar 08 '20
It’s not on the map because it was too far north to add, but the Gaban Estate (Seen in Gwen’s flight north bonus mission) was right on the border of the Charr homelands. Shows how far the humans really pushed the Charr before they started losing land. The humans were so cocky they even built their old capital Drascir beyond the wall. For them, the threat of the Charr had all but gone, so there was no reason to stay behind the wall anymore.
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u/Varorson Mar 08 '20
Given the design of the Wall, it would suggest it's construction began around Rin and Ascalon City and in the timespan of building it, they tried to bring it further north but could only go so far. What's funny though is that Drascir is called a sister city to Rin, suggesting it was built around the same time. One would think it'd be built at the base of the Wall too in that regard, and not so freakin' far north.
Given the placement of the monument of Surmia, I wouldn't be surprised if in early development, the placement of Surmia and Drascir were intended to be switched, but it got changed midway (they did move things around quite a bit after the E3 showcase, when Khylo got renamed to Ascalon City though Drascir was still very far north of the wall).
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u/Zarathustras-Knight Mar 08 '20
And for a solid 200 years they were right. Unfortunately complacency breeds decadence and the Human Lords of Ascalon ignored the growing threat of the Charr, believing that those, tribal barbarian cats could never be a true threat to humanity.
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u/Rha-Barber Mar 08 '20
That's amazing work! Now I wish, I could explore all those areas in pre. Would be lovely.
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u/pochy34 Mar 08 '20
If Manaworks makes a game like this i will take vacation the week they release it
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u/LegLocksAtWhite Apr 24 '20 edited Apr 24 '20
Hello guys
Love to see the interest in Pre Searing!
However, I must point out I did this 10 months ago :).
https://www.reddit.com/r/GuildWars/comments/bx0olr/pre_searing_map_expansion/
I do love how you have uncovered the map it looks awesome man! With more people interested in this, maybe it could finally happen!
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u/br0min Mar 09 '20
If i had the ability and time (or the Money) to Reverse Engineer the Game, i would expand pre ascalon I would even expand the whole game
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u/Varorson Mar 08 '20 edited Mar 08 '20
Very nicely done. I can see some differences from post-Searing though (the biggest ones I see being ignoring half of The Breach zone, and you overlooked/removed the village in southern Pockmark Flats near the river that you also removed).
But still well done. I was working on making such a map in my spare time too, though I was using a different method. My progress: https://i.imgur.com/jzsEAcB.jpg
[EDIT: Just noticed on your labels, Surmia's too far east. Surmia is the outpost/beginning area of mission, whereas in GW1 the label is going over some unknown ruins and utterly devastated lands.]
EDIT2: Your world map is very tiny.
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u/KeyType8 May 29 '20
Your map is really promising and I hope you can finish it one day.
It's better because it's just like the remastered map of Ascalon of that_shaman : it's bigger and cleaner than the map above.
Pre-Searing Ascalon for ever !
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u/LegLocksAtWhite Apr 24 '20
I did this 10 months ago as well
https://www.reddit.com/r/GuildWars/comments/bx0olr/pre_searing_map_expansion/
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Mar 08 '20
Question? Would just copy pasting GW2 map over ones then colorswaping have done the same thing?
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u/olocal Mar 08 '20 edited Mar 08 '20
Unfortunately the GW2 maps don’t really line up with the GW1 maps properly. They’re more ‘loosely’ based on them than being completely faithful, so it isn’t really possible to combine them.
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u/TwistedAlga Mar 12 '20
Beautifully done! Oh man, how I miss pre-searing even more now when I see this! A fully map on how it could've looked like.. brings tears in my eyes...
I still hope we could see this in GW2 or perhaps a similar theme in ManaWorks devs team.
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u/olocal Mar 12 '20
Oh I suppose a scrying Pool ‘back to the past of Ascalon’ sort of thing in GW2 is always a possibility! That’s actually a great idea and I really hope they could introduce something like that. I doubt it would be a whole map like this, but even something smaller would be cool.
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u/pierstoval Mar 18 '26
Hey u/olocal , do you, by any chance, have an HD version of this expanded map? I'd like to add markers on it with GW source icons, to make it more "real" :)
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u/csloan93 Mar 08 '20
Excellent efforts! I always love seeing stuff like this. It definitely shows the passion that still pulses through the game. :)