Guild Wars 2

Hello!

I was just looking at the map, and being Dutch and never having seen anything inspired by the Dutch landscape, I figured I’d throw that out here with some pictures and some explanations.

First of all, I suppose Janthir Bay would be a fairly decent region, on the edge of the woodland cascades. the Idea is that the defining features would be windmills, a harbour with large (East-Indies Company type) ships, and polders as well as canals. I’ll just leave a few pictures here, to show what I mean. I just feel it’s a shame that this beautiful landscape we have is often overlooked, and I’m sure the massive Dutch population this game seems to have would like it, too.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x8cmAyzfILU/TjJzJwWpj_I/AAAAAAAAACc/jZ3i6wYM74E/s1600/windmill.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Zuidlaren_-_Molen_De_Wachter_-_februari_2009.jpg

http://imagene.youropi.com/binnendieze-bezienswaardig-1(p:location,2812)(c:0).jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Utrecht_-_Oude_Gracht_en_Hamburgerbrug_1900.jpg

Again, not saying that this has to be copied, but taking some inspiration from it would be epic.

and if you’re doing canals anyway, you might as well add this: http://www.vaartips.nl/images/trekschuit.jpg
which is a horse-drawn boat. I wouldn’t mind chilling out on those for a bit in game…put some nobles on there and a skillpoint, and woop!

edit: since image embedding apparently doesn’t work, please just click the links.

I though that queensdale is, technically, some kind of polder. There are these 2 huge dams on both sides of Divinities reach clearly holding back some water. (now don’t ask me why queensdale is not as flat as the Netherlands or why there are no mills taking care of the of the groundwater)

But for you suggestion, I don’t think any place in tyria is typical to one country. It’s a bit a mixture of everything. So don’t think you should single out one specific country to design a map around (not that I would mind a Dutch map of course ;-), no hills and just cows to fight).
I will leave the obvious jokes about a certain gathering material to future posters.

Hehehe. Yeah, no I get your point, but it would just be nice to have some obvious influences… For example, that port in kessex hills is very german-looking.

… It’s a freaking fantasy game. It’s free to look like whatever the hell it wants.

For example, for me personally Queensdale and Divinity’s Reach have a very fantasy feel. To me, they look like a typical starter village and capital city in a fantasy game, whereas places like Hoelbrak look like something you’d run into a bit later in the game.

And let’s be honest, things like beauty are subjective.

And the pictures that you linked had me thinking of Queensdale. A lot of similarity.

The problem with having a harbor as the main feature of a city is that it does not make much sense from a Lore point of view. The only big seas we have are Sea of Sorrow, which doesn’t offer a significant route anywhere, and Straits of Malchor, which separate Orr and Grove/Rata Sum. Sea routes are always about trading, but Kryta has a much better option, the Asura Gates, which are already linking all the major cities.