Talk:Crystal Desert

List of quest givers

I'd like to see a list of the quest givers in the Crystal Desert region that give you a secondary profession. Currently searching for Secondary quest only leads you to that guy in Ascalon in pre-searing times.--Worldly Tutor 03:39, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Profession changer has it. I'm not sure how it would fit in an article on a region. Maybe just link it in the notes section. -- ab.er.rant 06:04, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Mmmm

Crystal dessert *drools* Paddymew 14:16, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Landmarks

There is a problem with the dispay of the Landmarks section. Someone who knows how the wiki work could fix it :)--188.36.171.15 11:31, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

It's not something we can fix (though we can replace with a manual static list, but then we'd have to alter it back once the issue is fixed) and is being looked into (per here). -- Konig/talk 11:35, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Ah, I see. Thanks for the info.--188.36.171.15 12:30, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Campaign: Proph alone? or Proph + EotN

I'd like us to document the community's preference for how to describe the campaign for the Crystal Desert, lest we encounter another series of revert/counter-reverts down the road. Here are the EotN/not arguments as I understand them:

Campaign = Proph + EotN

• Glint's Challenge's map appears over the CD.
• The loading screen for the challenge uses a CD loading screen.

→ In effect, you are transported to the CD for the mission.

Campaign = Proph alone

• You cannot reach the CD without owning Prophecies; you can take part in the Challenge if — and only if — you own EotN (Proph not required.)

→ In effect, the mission takes place in a special area only reachable when you own EotN.

It strikes me that the Proph alone argument is an unassailable matter of mechanics, whereas the EotN argument follows our typical testing for matters of lore (i.e. nothing is entirely provable, so we use circumstantial evidence to establish the facts). So I think this comes down to a matter of preference: should Lore trump Mechanics or vice-versa?

Personally, I prefer to treat this region as Proph-only: it's a cleaner argument because it does not require second guessing ANet's choice of map locations/screenshots. ANet often re-uses skins/animation/etc and I think that, generally, it's a mistake to draw conclusions from these coincidences except in very rare cases. (Otherwise, we should explain why Alkar's Concoctions look like Jars of Honey, etc.) – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 18:17, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

I'd consider it more like this: The challenge is in the Crystal Desert, but it's a different Crystal Desert than what, say, Augury Rock is in. In other words, code-wise, there'd be two "Crystal Desert"s. There would be no other place but Crystal Desert (Eye of the North) to put the Challenge Mission (as it is not in the Depths), so it is easiest for documentation's sake to put it here. A note on this page and/or the challenge mission's page would suffice to explain such an unusual nature of the mission and its location.

This is not nor ever has truly been a matter of lore vs mechanics but more of "visible mechanics vs hidden mechanics." In which case, hidden should win except when its very tedious to document; e.g., Sarah and Shiro Tagachi are both two separate NPCs; Sarah is a human and a ghost NPC and it is visible this is so; Shiro Tagachi is a human and a demon but what's visible is human and envoy, however we do not document envoy because he is in fact a demon mechanically - this is a case of an easy to document situation thanks to a little work around of the NPC infobox.

Not sure if there's a situation like this elsewhere in the game, tbh, so it'd be silly to create a work-around for it. Konig/talk 18:50, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

I also prefer the proph-alone option, for the reasons you've given. (And I prefer to go with mechanics instead of lore here.) pling 21:50, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Getting here...

If we ignore the question of Glint's Challenge, how do we get to the Crystal Desert? It appears to be only accessible by doing Sanctum Cay. (Yes, I know you can cross from the back end of the Desolation, but only if you've unlocked it already.) Is that right?

Specific goal here: I'm looking to take a Prophs character through EotN to get Silver Eagle armour. I want to eliminate the disadvantage of not having my 30 quest-given attribute points, and that means I have to go to the Crystal Desert. Do I have to do Sanctum Cay to get here? Cynique 11:17, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

Yes, you have to do Sanctum Cay to get here. -- Hong 11:21, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

OK, cheers. Cynique 13:00, 8 November 2011 (UTC)