Guild Wars 2

I like Halloween, and I love how Anet chooses to celebrate it with all of the puzzles, and mats, and recipes, and minigames and events. It’s all extremely fun and fascinating to me.

HOWEVER, one thing that constantly nags at me is how human-centric this holiday is, and it has me worried that future holidays will be the same. All of the events happen in human zones where you normally would be dealing with human issues. Where do the Asura fall into this? Or the Charr?

Come Wintersday are we going to be dealing with the human gods? Do the Norn spirits have no part in it? Will the Pale Tree ignoring the festivities?

What I’m trying to get at is that I feel like I’m being punished for not choosing to play a human. Someone chooses to create a human during this week, and they’re instantly involved in halloween. If that person chose to play a Norn though they would have to deviate from their personal story and go through the various asuran portals to get to the festivities.

I do know that this is the first holiday with this new game, and they’re likely to expand in the future. I’m just curious if anyone else is sharing this concern.

Well, there is going to be a bit of pro-human bias simply due to the nature of the lore in Guild Wars 1; Halloween has always been about Mad King Thorn breaking free, Canthan New Year necessitates the Canthan element.

Yet, there is also attempts to bring in the others. Go to Wayfarer Foothills, and you will find a Norn kid dressed up as a “Reindeer Shaman” (aka Santa), which hints that the once human-exclusive Wintersday festival has incorporated other cultural traditions.

Humans seem to have far less flavor than the other races, at least let us have this bone.

These holidays are already tied to Humans through the lore of GW1. More importantly the event takes place in Lions Arch, which is a mixed race city. There are pumpkins in Metrica Province and other such starting zones. I don’t see the issue here?

This is only the first holiday, perhaps other holidays may have more prominence in other zones. I get what other races are saying because its all Queensdale, Kessex, Gendarran mainly, though there are some decorations elsewhere. but I think there will be things in other maps as well in the future. Perhaps even Act 2 or Act 3 who knows. Ascalon? I don’t know. But future holidays as well. who knows

New human holiday: Waterballoon the Charr Week! …what? I’m sure everyone in Ebonhawke could get behind it!

Like others have said, Halloween is tied to humans through the first Guild Wars… But they’ve based in Lion’s Arch which is the multicultural hub of every race. For whoever said that they have to go through multiple portals to get to the festivities… so do humans. Lion’s Arch can only be reached through the Asura Gates. The only thing that’s exclusive to the human areas are the haunted doors.

three book pages are in human zones. but well thats okay, this is only act 1 and its also only halloween :P maybe other races will have their time for other holidays who knows

takatsu.9416:

three book pages are in human zones. but well thats okay, this is only act 1 and its also only halloween :P maybe other races will have their time for other holidays who knows

Ah yes I forgot about the book pages. But if you’re in LA already for the festivities… it’s not a big leap to go to Divinities :P It’s not like Divinities got overhauled along with LA and the other cities didn’t.

As others have said Halloween was always going to be very human-centric because the in-game version is all about a (formerly) human king. So it’s centered around his kingdom and especially things that deal with his life directly like the scavenger hunt have to happen in the relevant locations.

But I don’t think that will be the case with all the holidays. A lot of the real-world ones, like Easter and St. Patricks Day never had much in-game lore, just special drops so they should carry over easily.

Winterday is apparently a battle between Grenth and Dwayna for supremacy in the coming year (coincidentally Dwayna is always the official winner) but that could easily be explained as just the human version with the other races having their own. Alternatively in GW1 we see the other races embracing the idea of a mid-winter celebration (the norn especially) even if they don’t believe in the reasons behind it so maybe in GW2 we’ll see it as more of a secular multi-racial celebration.

The only two that could be tricky are Canthan New Year and the Dragon Festival. If they’re even included before we get an expansion adding Cantha to the game.

Danikat.8537:

The only two that could be tricky are Canthan New Year and the Dragon Festival. If they’re even included before we get an expansion adding Cantha to the game.

Not unless the Tengu want to let us in.

takatsu.9416:

three book pages are in human zones. but well thats okay, this is only act 1 and its also only halloween :P maybe other races will have their time for other holidays who knows

They’re in Human areas because they’re about the “Mad” King Thorn. He was a human king. And the holiday is all about him.

Dinks.2478:

takatsu.9416:

three book pages are in human zones. but well thats okay, this is only act 1 and its also only halloween :P maybe other races will have their time for other holidays who knows

They’re in Human areas because they’re about the “Mad” King Thorn. He was a human king. And the holiday is all about him.

This , people did not pay attention to the first act story at all.

It is lore people , in lore this is a human king , hell , asura were still under the earth , sylvari did not event exist on his time.

So , it is a human thing? Yeah , i can see why.

Actually that’s an interesting point. He wouldn’t have seen any of the other races except the Charr, and they were the mortal enemies of humans at the time.

I wonder how he’ll react when he returns and sees LA full of all these strange races.

The Priory has set up camps in Queensdale, Metrica Province, the Plains of Ashford, Caledon Forest, and Wayfarer Foothills

Most of my concerns have been brushed away by this statement. I’m still worried about how wintersday will be pulled off though. They’re tied down by lore set in place before there were 5 races, and I can’t imagine the writers are liking that tie down much more than I am.

As an Asura fan I know exactly where the OP is coming from. I’ve decided to hold my judgement until we see a few more holidays in case it’s just a Halloween thing.

adragon.1234:

The Priory has set up camps in Queensdale, Metrica Province, the Plains of Ashford, Caledon Forest, and Wayfarer Foothills

Most of my concerns have been brushed away by this statement. I’m still worried about how wintersday will be pulled off though. They’re tied down by lore set in place before there were 5 races, and I can’t imagine the writers are liking that tie down much more than I am.

Wintersday is an annual event which celebrates the Tyrian New Year according to the Mouvelian calendar and Dynastic Reckoning. It is the celebration of the end of the Season of the Colossus and the beginning of the Season of the Zephyr, decided through the outcome of a battle between the gods, Grenth and Dwayna.

Perhaps other races adopted the Calendar, or even adopted the holiday. I know non-Christians who celebrate Christmas. And since Christmas itself borrows from pagan holidays, I am sure we will see all of the races enjoying the festivities.

Human is also the most played race so this may be a way to ensure lots of people experience the content through their normal progression. Shrug.

The Chaar appear to have adopted this holiday. The children, at least:
“It’s Hellow… Halla… it’s Candy Day!”

Dark.6083:

The Chaar appear to have adopted this holiday. The children, at least:
“It’s Hellow… Halla… it’s Candy Day!”

That line made me chuckle. Charr cubs sound so un-charr like.