Guild Wars 2

GW2 was my first experience with an MMORPG. Additionally, I had no experience or knowledge of the original GW. So when it came time to make my first Character, I was met with an unconventional lot of fantasy creatures (no elves or orcs here). Initially uncertain, I began to follow process of elimination, and it went something like this…

Human: “What is the point of a fantasy setting if I am just going to be a mundane human?”
Norn: “A human by any other name…”
Sylvari: “You won’t catch me looking like a pansy.”
Asura: (Sees strange little creature with huge, bulging, terrifying eyes staring…) “NOPE”

With one race remaining, and the description making them seem like a cheesy, obligatory “villain race” incapable of the civil yet deviously cunning behavior I’d like to see on account of some chronic “warrior race” brutality, I set out to do a little more research. (That, and their appearance invoked some uncomfortable memories relating to images I regrettably saw while curiously researching you-know-which fandom years back.)
What I found was pleasantly surprising. “Orderly, technologically advanced society… Government in pursuit of peace with their oldest enemy… That remarkable, tasteful rarity of a female model that wasn’t made to be deliberate fetish material… OMG, EVERYONE GETS A FREE BAZOOKA?!? SIGN ME UP!” (Because no one expects a necromancer with a bazooka.)

Since then, I have come to respect the special place humanity has in the lore, I can now take the Sylvari seriously, and I find Asura less creepy than I initially did. The Charr, however, have developed into my true favorite race with their unique brand of hairy quasi-streampunk awesomeness (Chat filter turned how I actually wanted to phrase that into a pet shop window.). Making choices like “Ash Legion” and “Durmand Priory” still allow me to be that dangerous-yet-intellectual character I’d like to see.

Was Charr also your first choice for race; your favorite? Tell everyone what made you decide to be a part of the High Legions.

I simply made a point of playing at least one of every race and profession. Nothing else to it.

I played the original Guild Wars and the Prophecies campaign was my favorite. Charr were my favorite enemy. However, I also really enjoyed Eye of the North and the norn. So it was a toss up between the two for me.

The clincher was when I learned norn wouldn’t be able to maintain their transformations longer than 30 seconds. Seriously? That’s PATHETIC. The norn from Guild Wars were able to maintain their transformation permanently, and in fact it was their primary combat form. I was looking forward to being a shapeshifting viking giant, and instead I just got “bigger humans”.

So charr were a natural fit. I love their design and history, and I love their military culture. I especially love the fact they are a heavily industrial world superpower. You don’t see many beast races in fantasy who are ahead of the curve technologically.

I saw the humans. Meh, too typical. I mean, you play this awesome game, then you choose a human? Then I look at sylvari, meh too leafy. They look like trees., and I’m not too naturey. I look at norn, cool with the whole shapeshifting thing, but they seem like elsafied humans. I look at asura, well they look kind of weird. I mean they’re short, they have enormous ears and eyes, and they are what I call “Genius Dwarves”. And thenI see the charr. Me: HOLY CRAP! They look so awesome!! I mean, I am definitely one of those people who you would think they are a tech person. The society is just so interesting there (more then the other races, in my opinion). Naturally, I was just so attached to them. The whole military and history was just amazing. Now, as I wait for my computer to download game, (it’s 9% finished) I eagerly wait for character creation.

I have wanted to be able to play as Charr since GW1. I’m being human enough IRL

“I am a Charr. In this world of constant battle, I am the deadliest weapon of all.”

Oh yeah, I’m definitely making a Charr. XD

“With engines of destruction, we have killed our gods.” Oh heck yeah

Personally it was a desire to play the Charr from GW 1. They may have been villains, depending on your view, but they were interesting as a race and part of the game, as well as the fact that ArenaNet gave us just enough information about them to make them mysterious in a sense.

I am a Guild Wars 1 veteran, and from the moment I heard charr would be playable in GW2, I was hooked. Charr were the original bad guys, and Pyre Fierceshot from Eye of the North really built upon them.
What convinced me even further were the females. I’m a female player, and there’s only so much sexism and degradation of women as sex objects, that I can stand in a video game. The charr women, totally un-sexualized, realistic, and with equal armor to the males, were just the sort of escapism I needed. Additionally, their lore drew me in—they had to fight for gender equality.
Currently, I have 4 charr females, and 2 males. I’ve dabbled with the other races, but most of my characters are charr.

Sparkee.5348:

“With engines of destruction, we have killed our gods.” Oh heck yeah

This. Love their antitheistic flair ^^

at first, my idea was to make some scary charr, and after some time and ton of makeovers this is what u get

It may sound funny, but it’s thanks to Pyre Fierceshot. I loved begin Human in GW1 (like we had any other choice), but the other races didn’t find my interests (Tengu, Asura, Dwarfs, …), except for the Norn (thanks to Jora), but the Charr were different.

During GW1 I always disliked them, because of the Searing. They were beasts, wanted destruction, etc etc… then when I played EoTN, I struggled as much as Gwen did to accept certain help from a Charr. But Pyre opened my eyes of how and who the Charr actually are. When I then heard Charr would be a playable race in GW2, I just had to make a Charr character to explore and learn the Charr Culture.

While I don’t have anything against humans in an MMO/RPG, they’re not aesthetically interesting. No new shapes or colors.

Getting into GW2, I knew I was going to play a Charr from the get-go. Their anatomy and biokinetics were an instant draw. Add the casual brutality and almost comical irreverence, and I was sold. On top of that, it’s easy to tell stories with them, right down to their names:
Spaiten Maluscrack (canonical, not his in-game name :P), Chagra Fademist, Eidol Thundersoul… they all say something about the character in just two words. Glorious.

I made some pretty rockin’ humans, though.
Sylvari went from “oh look, plant elves….” to “wow, what a verve for life and exploration!” It’s hard to stay mad at the salads.
Asura are, as someone mentioned above, gnomegremlins with little morality beyond science. How Rata Sum is even still floating is a mystery, given their entire council is corrupt. And yet, funnymidgetslol. I still enjoy them, kinda.
Norn. Sigh. Oh look, giant dwarves. Drink fight yadda yadda bore. I play them grudgingly. Them? I think I have one.

With so much variety, it’s hard to go elsewhere for a race in GW2.
}]:3

My first character 2 years ago was a female charr ranger – i didn’t really play gw1, but i’ve always wanted to play a real, actual beast-race, and when i saw that female charr aren’t over-sexualized – no boobs, no revealing armor (though bcause of no boobs, i like armor on them that reveal their fur and pattern), they were very beastlike, fierce, yet at the same time very beautiful and captivating – just like a wild tiger. So as a race, they were (and still are) by far the most interesting race for me. I did try every other race too eventually, but charr is the one i always come back to.

I’m a female, so i mostly play female characters, so all i can say for different races are about the female character models – norns’ voice is really irritating for me, human voice acting is a bit overdramatic imo, asuras are just…. uh…. not my thing, and sylvari; well, i really enjoy sylvari as well, but somethimes i wish the default character animations and such weren’t so childish.

Also, i think charr have the most humorous, most interesting and perhaps some of the deepest story quests and backgrounds, and i love the whole charr race’s attitude as well.

I played some GW1 and always thought the charr were an awesome race. I didn’t care that they were killing the humans, I thought they looked cool. Then playing through EotN just helped cement that fact with Pierce.

However, I had issues playing a charr in GW2 once the game released. I just couldn’t find a look I liked well enough. So I ended up making a sylvari instead. Finally last fall my husband told me that I would like a charr so make a charr necro since I didn’t like an asuran necro. I tried to fight him about it a bit but well…I am now totally sold on charr. I love my charr female and I ended up making a female charr warrior as well.

The running animation on all fours is just fun, it makes the character feel playful in a way to me. The fact that they are more beast than human also endears them to me. I’ve never gotten to play such a beast like race. I can’t stand playing humans or half humans in games, I find them mundane and if I really want to be human I can just log off and live in the real world.

I think charr also seem to have the richest lore in the game. Sylvari are cool looking and are mysterious but I still wish I could do a race change on the one I have so I could have all three of my characters as charr.

shinreigari.7318:

My first character 2 years ago was a female charr ranger – i didn’t really play gw1, but i’ve always wanted to play a real, actual beast-race, and when i saw that female charr aren’t over-sexualized – no boobs, no revealing armor (though bcause of no boobs, i like armor on them that reveal their fur and pattern), they were very beastlike, fierce, yet at the same time very beautiful and captivating – just like a wild tiger.

This actually played a role for me as well, I son’t like the typical, sexist visualization of women in games and I love how the history of the charr race describes their overcoming of a patriarchal, religious society to one of the best depictions of eual rights I’ve seen in games so far – There is literally no difference based on gender in charr society, it just doesn’t play role in defining how far you can get.

After my first character (Sylvari) I tried out a Charr woman and loved their steampunk, their way of walking, the fur, their fighting style, humor and strength. Wouldn’t the Asura be such arrogant snobs they were my favorite race as well.

Anthro feline beasts… with a tail… running on all four. Warmachines in furry coats. Pure awesomeness.

Even though they were cast as the villains in gw1 the Charr were my favorite race probably with the Tengu coming in second. Then when Pyre Fierceshot was introduced I thought it was cool that there were some good Charr.

So when they announced that the Charr would be playable in gw2 I about lost my kitten mind in excitement.

I believe a lot of people in the furry fandom would play charr. That was the reason why I play it lol If there wasn’t any playable anthropomorphic animal in the game, I probably would never played it. Also, their background is quite amazing and they’re just so friggen cute

Who are you calling cute? -_-

Alkonium.9164:

I simply made a point of playing at least one of every race and profession. Nothing else to it.

This pretty much.

I initially picked a profession – ranger and then a race that I thought fit – Norn. She’s still one of my favorites. Next I created a female Sylvari elementalist and a male Charr warrior. Neither lasted very long.

I got lost in the Charr tutorial, fell off platforms, hated Black Citadel, didn’t like the way the Charr hopped along and the “everything for the band of brothers” just didn’t fit with my loner personality.

It was only after I was rounding out my characters with every profession, every race that I created my current female engineer Charr. Being a fan of the Chanur novels I had to make a female named Pyanfar. (Had to pick a different last name since of course the name was taken.) Now that I have traited for speed on equipping a kit she’s almost got permanent speed and so doesn’t hop along. Py was one of the last to be leveled to 80 but I’m starting to enjoy playing an engineer more and more. My only dissatisfaction is the lack of variety for medium armor that looks good on a Charr and the camera issues in tight spaces (same problem I have with my Norn).

The run animation and tails.

And like someone else said, I don’t like playing oversexualized characters. I get it, women are “sexy” (so I’ve heard). Charr have a nice and refreshing brutality to them and I love it (the females, that is). I feel like a lot of females in games are depicted as sweet or not opinionated enough and, well, I’m a VERY opinionated person and I don’t got time for BS irl.

So charr it is.

I love reading all your responses! Looks like a lot of you were itching to play as Charr since the first Guild Wars. I notice it seems that the lack of kinky fanservice in a beastfolk race has been a major selling point for a lot of people. Sounds like beast-boobs in fantasy gaming may have overstayed its welcome.

You don’t need to have explicit sexualized bodies to have kinky fanservice for a beastfolk race.

It all started when EoTn was released and the moment I say Pyre and and all the charr (didnt care much about them in proph) I just fell in love and said “I NEED TO BE ONE OF THESE!!!” I just want to hug and squeeze charr <3 And everything else about them was just a cherry on top. Their military lifestyle and warlike nature only made me love them more and more. With gw2 I love how they as Zaxares also said, they didnt sexualize females, they look like how a female charr should look like.

And that is why im a charr … my only turn off with charr is what anet is doing with medium armor

Zaxares.5419:

You don’t need to have explicit sexualized bodies to have kinky fanservice for a beastfolk race.

Uh-oh…
Dare I inquire…?
Actually, I think I get it. Looking for GW2 fan content in the past (typically humor and parody, but the internet is a mixed bag), I’ve seen that some fans really must have the hots for Rox. Some men like their women strong, some like them big, some like them hairy, and some like flat chests. I guess it only follows that some men like their women Charr. I suppose I shouldn’t judge if Rox is your fantasy dream girl.

it’s pretty simple actually, I like the barbarian type aesthetic.

And if I’m going to play a fantasy game, why in the hell would I want to play as a humanoid? humans are boring, give me something to stretch my imagination around

Nox Lucis.8341:

Zaxares.5419:

You don’t need to have explicit sexualized bodies to have kinky fanservice for a beastfolk race.

Uh-oh…
Dare I inquire…?
Actually, I think I get it. Looking for GW2 fan content in the past (typically humor and parody, but the internet is a mixed bag), I’ve seen that some fans really must have the hots for Rox. Some men like their women strong, some like them big, some like them hairy, and some like flat chests. I guess it only follows that some men like their women Charr. I suppose I shouldn’t judge if Rox is your fantasy dream girl.

hey, it’s not just Rox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_34_%28Internet_meme%29

Harny.6012:

hey, it’s not just Rox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_34_%28Internet_meme%29

Oh, I think everyone here likely already knows all the rules. I just say Rox because I don’t see too much evidence of pulses rising for Torga Desertgrave.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/a/a2/Torga_Desertgrave.jpg
(Although let’s face it, nothing is beneath the Internet.
Also, if you know anything on this, don’t tell me. Please. )

Nox Lucis.8341:

Harny.6012:

hey, it’s not just Rox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_34_%28Internet_meme%29

Oh, I think everyone here likely already knows all the rules. I just say Rox because I don’t see too much evidence of pulses rising for Torga Desertgrave.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/a/a2/Torga_Desertgrave.jpg
(Although let’s face it, nothing is beneath the Internet.
Also, if you know anything on this, don’t tell me. Please. )

I am seriously tempted to draw some NSFW of Torga now, just for laughs XD

If you do, pm me link to it, Weindrasi :p

I always thought Charr look more kitten as Necromancer compared to humans. Because of that, I made a second necromancer with my charr.

Malkavian.4516:

I always thought Charr look more kitten as Necromancer compared to humans. Because of that, I made a second necromancer with my charr.

Those Necromancer masques: Halloween face-paint on humans,
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/b/b0/Screenshot_Demon_Masque.png/162px-Screenshot_Demon_Masque.png
the face of “Where are your gods now?” on Charr.
https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/63895/IMG_0547.JPG
(Pictures from Google)

i just wanted the ap for my cultural armor, and i didn’t have an engineer so i made a charr engi

was asure enginer in beta for soo fun first week ten game game out was soo lead down with engi play 1month then play like week with guard(humen) got to it to lvl 50boring soo try my charr war i well in love with charr war and then i soo T3 heavy and i one it love only 3 ting from charr T3 heavy(gloves,helm,pants)mix and mist it with 3 other ting(SE chest,cof boots, coe shoulder and i got my self cool look charr and ever sins people see my i goten wisper hey asom charr or cool look charr what set is thad.

cats > all => charr

Because I couldn’t roll an Orc.

I started off playing Sylvari cause I love gardening, and named them after different plants I grow. Then, I played one of each other race to get the PS achievements, and started to enjoy the Charr animations. Now I play three Charr all named and somewhat looking like three cats I rescued: a grey tabby ele Charr named Purrleeta (for my cat Perlita), a grey & black thief Charr named Grracie (for my kitten Gracie), and a long-haired grey warrior Charr named Furggy (for my kitten Fergus). It’s so much fun playing GW2 with my cats as characters in the game, lol.

First and foremost, it’s because Gw1 as most of you said. At first I enjoyed Asuras the most, however they look like they were not borned to command or raise in power and rule the lands. And here come Charrs – male Charr with heavy armor and GS does really look like a commander. I don’t mean they are stupid wild beasts, but they seem to know how to fight in wars. Not only they discover something, but everything they create or discover is useful. Plus they are not arrogant. But these are only my thoughts.

I’ve got 4 characters. I’ve also got 4 Charr. I do miss my Sylvari from time to time though.

Love Charr to bits. The one liners you hear the NPC’s making are just brilliant, not to mention the beauty, majesty and somewhat weird cuteness that is Dinky. Whoever wrote that heroes dialogue was a genius, honestly.

As for their lore, I love it. Their story, how they are slightly mis-understood, since as you get to know them they can be just as cuddly and friendly as a curious Sylvari or just as cunning as an Asura. Also seems they can be fiercely loyal if you earn their full trust. Not to mention the regular moments of kittenery, (Rytlock fan-boy club). And their intense love for the whiskey and all things martial (and mystical in some cases). I can certainly relate to them :P.

As for legions, although I liked Ash Legion, I’m having a lot of fun with Blood Legion at the moment! Completely to my surprise as I really didn’t think I’d like it! The first story element left me feeling a bit like "well this is just typical “WE BEAT PEOPLE UP” kind of thing". But I stuck with it for a little longer and I’ve found your Warband members chat a lot more in Blood Legion, and there seems to be a bit more of a brotherly theme going on. I also like the backstory for each of my Warband members, I seem to have a theme of a Warband of “outcasts, but that’s okay to be an outcast, cause you’re one of us.” semi-quote Dinky chatting to Soure.

Long story short. I’m feeling the love, the pain and all the whiskey and meat a Charr could need. I’m very content :P.

Alright alright… since everyone wants to make this personal. I enjoy the fact they are ferocious, driven, although they are no strangers to order. I feel that at their root they are savages. I also like the irony that although they are beast-like creatures, they have a sense of superiority from the other races. They know what they are capable of.. They may not have the scientific advances or mental capacity of the Asura, but they are more practical. They are problem solvers and they do not back down from resistance.

I guess when you really look at it.. I just almost everything about the charr. However, I am more of a fan of the old school charr. These new age charr are a bit too silly for my taste, which is part of the reason I favor the flame legion. I do not agree with the alliance agreement they have with the humans, or any other races.

i read the wiki about all the races, and felt that the Charr’s background and story was best. i also really liked how they base themselves on very tight-knit war bands. as a bonus, i got – what i think is – the best starting zone in the game.

Because I’m a lion rowr

juxo.7129:

at first, my idea was to make some scary charr, and after some time and ton of makeovers this is what u get

that late comment
i knew i recognized that white fur! it Judas =D

I’ve always loved monster and cat races (khajiit are the bondiggity) so combine them and you get my nEW FAVORITE THING EVER! Seriously, ever since I started I’ve totally fallen head over heels for the Charr.
At first glance they seem like the general antagonist race that knows nothing but “SMASH THINGS AND KILL THINGS RAUGH” but they’re so much more than that once you delve deeper past the surface.
And, as a girl, I’m so very happy to see that not only is the female model not made for the simple pleasure of making fanboys hot, but also that the female members of the race fight alongside the boys without anyone (but the Flame Legion) batting an eye.
The charr are by far my favorite Guild Wars 2 race, although I love all of them.
FOR THE LEGIONS!

My main character Amby-