It's safe to assume that the announcement coming on the 15th is related to the game's upcoming sixth expansion. By extension, this teaser image is likely also related to the expansion; it's almost certainly a small taste of the more substantial information we'll receive two weeks from now.
Now, let's drop the formalities. You read the title; you know what we're here to do. Let's try and draw out every little scrap of information we can from this simple image, and see if it tells us anything meaningful about the upcoming expansion.
The Lute
The teaser image features a black-and-white illustration of a lute atop a purple and orange hexagon. Many players were quick to point out that the hexagon motif used in the teaser is one very strongly associated with an existing game system: specializations. Based on this, the natural assumption is that this lute is the icon associated with a new elite specialization which will be added in the sixth expansion. For ease of discussion, I'll refer to this alleged new elite spec as the "Minstrel" from here on.
Naturally, this leads to another question: if the Minstrel is a new elite spec, which class is getting it? Some players have assumed that the Minstrel will be a Mesmer spec, since those have previously been the first spec to be teased in past expansions; we'll know how much water that idea holds based on whether or not additional specs are teased in the coming days. Others have proposed that all nine classes may be getting their own variations of the Minstrel spec, each with their own unique skills and traits designed around the shared theme of music.
Of course, while most have concluded that a new elite spec is the most likely intention behind this teaser—a conclusion I personally agree with—there's no guarantee that's the case. It's entirely possible that the use of the hexagon graphic was just a stylistic choice without any deeper meaning. If not an elite spec, what else could the lute represent?
The 10th Profession
Some have suggested that the Minstrel could be an entirely new, 10th class instead of a new spec for an existing class. While there's plenty of interesting ideas the team could explore with an entirely new class, I find this incredibly unlikely for several reasons.
First, the game currently has a perfect balance of 3 classes of each armor weight; it'd certainly be an odd choice to disrupt that balance with the introduction of the Minstrel. Furthermore, a new class would also represent an absolutely massive workload for the team: they'd need to design a full suit of specializations, traits, skills, and weapons—not to mention the issue of the Minstrel's own elite specs.
A whole new class and 3 new elite specs for that class would be a balancing nightmare for the team. Assuming that the existing classes also get some form of new content, such as a new weapon, this would present the team with more variables to track than ever before. They've had enough trouble in the past balancing elite specs while adding one at a time; 3 at once would just be absurd. They could, of course, simply give the Minstrel only one spec, or none at all, but that would leave it awkwardly imbalanced with other classes.
The biggest issue with the Minstrel being an entirely new class would be that it would functionally lock the new expansion's primary selling point behind making a new character. Most players have some form of attachment to their existing characters, for a variety of reasons; being forced to choose between sticking with their main or experiencing the main new feature of the expansion just wouldn't be a good feeling.
Other Possibilities
Another possible meaning behind the lute is that it could be a new weapon type. We could lutes, or just instruments in general, as an entirely new weapon unique to the sixth expansion. Similar to the land spears introduced in JaWi, they could be used by all classes. While I find this possibility much less likely than new elite specs based just on the team's choice of graphics, I could totally see it happening, and I honestly think I'd prefer this.
Another idea I've seen floating around is that the lute could be representative of some sort of new mastery line or activity. Perhaps we'll gain new masteries allowing us to interact with the world via music in the sixth expansion's maps, or perhaps there will be some sort of musical activity similar to fishing. While I could definitely see us getting either of these if music does turn out to be a major theme of the expansion, I doubt the teaser would point solely to either of these options; I feel that'd be seen as somewhat of a letdown. It should be noted, however, that the team did just release the Ornate Grand Piano, with significantly improved music mechanics; one has to wonder if the timing is truly a coincidence?
Finally, something that ought to be pointed out aside from the lute itself is the color of the icon behind it, as well as the image's border. It's very likely that these purple and orange shades are the "main colors" of the expansion, just as blue was the main color for JaWi and yellow was the main color for SotO. I doubt any further info can be ascertained from this palette, but I'm sure someone will try anyway.
The Background
Environment
Firstly, the art seems to depict the shoreline of a region with tropical plants. This alone gives us a vague idea as to where the next expansion will take place: it's somewhere warm, and, more importantly, somewhere with direct access to the ocean, or at least to a large body of water.
The art also features several large arching structures in the environment. It's difficult to tell with the monochrome palette, but these could either be the roots of a very large tree—perhaps a Pale Tree, or one similar to the huge trees found in Echovald Forest—or just stone formations.
To the right of the lute is what appears to be a tree growing on a floating island tethered to the nearby "roots", or just a stone formation held up by roots rather than a real floating island. The island also has a strange hole in the side, which could be interpreted as a doorway or window; to me, it seems vaguely reminiscent of certain structures found in Verdant Brink.
Behind the island, it's very difficult to tell what's being depicted. The bursts of white at the bottom evoke the foam of a waterfall, but the art above seems to be at the wrong angle to be that; it could simply be a steep hill, or it could turn out to be meaningless smudges once we see the art in full color.
Sailors
On the left side of the art, we can see a collection of characters alongside a ship and a large tent. There seem to be six characters present in total. The five on the right are too small to make out anything of note about them, except that one appears to be a Charr and the other four appear to not be Charr. There is one character we can make out on the far left. Based on the proportions, it appears to be a Norn woman, and she appears to be wearing the Dark Tyrant outfit.
It's impossible to tell if the characters shown are actually indicative of the expansion's cast or if they're just generic figures to help establish the scale of their surroundings. Given the closest character is a female Norn, it's possible she's the same Commander stand-in that the art team used for promotional imagery and key art in JaWi.
Setting the characters aside, the design of the ship beside them can also tell us a lot about the expansion's setting. Firs,t the ship is beached, and its sails appear to be torn up; this could imply that we went through some particularly rough water or storms on the trip here, or even that we somehow end up stranded. Alternatively, it could imply that it's not actually our ship, but an old shipwreck we're finding on the beach. Given the tent set up next to it, I think it's more likely to be our ship.
The final object of note is the large tent, but it has a rather generic design, so there isn't much to analyze regarding its appearance. The streamers resemble those seen in some places in Kryta, but they're also very generic. The fact that we brought such a big tent does imply we arrived at the setting with the intention of staying for an extended period of time, perhaps on Alliance business.
Conclusions
To conclude, let's summarize everything we know based on this teaser, then make a few predictions.
- The lute icon most likely indicates we're getting a new set of elite specializations, though until we get additional info, it could also represent something else, like a new weapon.
- The new expansion's "main colors" will be pinkish-purple and orange.
- The new expansion will likely take place at least partly in a setting with a coastline and a tropical climate.
- The setting may feature obscenely large trees.
Knowing our destination has a coast doesn't narrow down the possibilities as much as you'd expect, but I have a few predictions.
- This expansion could have us traveling to Malyck's tree somewhere near the Maguuma jungle. This would explain the climate and roots, and it could tie in to the new information we got regarding the Pale Tree's condition in JaWi.
- This expansion could have us visit some of the northern parts of Cantha. That area has a coast and the roots could be from trees at the northernmost reaches of the Echovald Forest. There are also plenty of plot hooks left over in Cantha to explore.
- This expansion could finally take us to the Dominion of Winds. This would match the coast and climate.
Ultimately, as fun as it is to speculate, there's only so much we can do with just a single image. At this point, it's unclear if this is the only teaser we'll get until the larger announcement on the 15th, or if there will be more. If there are, you can look forward to me yapping about them.
What are your thoughts on the teaser? Any details you noticed that I missed? Any predictions and theories? I look forward to seeing more of the community's thoughts on this.
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