Guild Wars 2

This is an idea that I think others have thought about, but I haven’t seen much discussion on it.
I think it would be interesting to see advantages for different races that make things more realistic. I started thinking about this when I created a Char.
As you know, all races have the same hit-box, speed, etc. This, thinking realistically, doesn’t make as much sense. You could see a tiny Asura running next to a Char, and they both have the same speed. Shouldn’t the Char be more fast, since it’s size is about twenty times larger?
Another thing that doesn’t make sense is that the Asura can swim really fast on the surface. They look like motor boats. It would be a bit more realistic for them to swim more slowly.

So then does all this mean that larger races should run faster and smaller ones should move more slowly? Here’s basically what I think:
Larger races: Run more quickly
Smaller races: Run speed is fine, keep it the same, but decrease the above-surface swim speed.

This at first seems like a disadvantage to smaller races. However, larger races could have disadvantages, such as a larger hit-box, making them a bit more vulnerable to some AoE attacks like Meteor Shower.
There might also be some areas that only small races can enter due to the size of a hole.

The point is that it feels unnatural to me that bigger races (Char and Norn) move the same speed as the smallest one, the Asura. So I’ve always played Asura, because I feel really slow with the other ones.

I also know that this could be hard for ANet to balance. This could cause quite a few major issues, and many people wouldn’t like it, and that’s why I think this will never happen.

But what do you think? If things ended up being perfectly balanced, would this be a good feature? I really want to play a Char or Norn, but I’ve tried three times, and I can’t get myself to like it, because of how slow it feels. If they made them faster, I would like to play them.

This would be a really terrible feature. Sorry to say it. Basically “larger” characters have a distinct advantage (Getting away from things).

It was implemented this way because they didn’t want people to select races for their advantages, but for their look and feel. I like it the way it is, personally

Frotee.2634:

It was implemented this way because they didn’t want people to select races for their advantages, but for their look and feel. I like it the way it is, personally

This.

Similar things have been brought up from time to time, and Anet has always replied “We don’t want to see a scenario where players feel they need to be a certain race to play as a certain class/role.”

The only real “disadvantage” I see is the Jumping Puzzles with Charr… Troll’s End anyone?

The guy who implemented that should play that JP 24/7 with a big fat male charr…

Racial advantages/disadvantages as you are describing them, hit-box size, run speed, are a bad idea. In these respects the races should be identical and they are. There are distinct advantages now. Character navigation with an Asura is much easier than, say, a norn. My norn warrior often prefers to fall to his death rather than do something my asura can laugh at. But being better at everything is, perhaps, just a asura thing.

Race matters… but only slightly due to racial skills… a bit more if you’re an eng… since your racial skills = different toolbelt skills as well.

Tacking speed onto that is a bad idea for balance reasons.

This would be hugely problematic for social (i.e., guild-based… Guild Wars) gameplay. As it stands, teams can move about zones at the same speed regardless of race. This allows a multiracial team to function without extraordinary measures – speed differences based on class alone are not sufficient to cause issues. If you compound that, however, with speed differences based on race, you’ll have Norn and Charr warriors with permahaste massively outpacing Asura engineers with limited haste access and no speed signet.

The same applies to WvW. Maximum-mobility classes like thieves would be specifically rolled as taller races to further enhance mobility. Players who selected race based solely on story reasons/personal preference would be unduly disadvantaged.

It’s interesting to see what you guys think, thanks for the feedback. This makes me feel a bit better about how things are set up. All these points makes me realize that this wouldn’t be a good thing.

I am usually doing WvW and I think the small races have a distinct advantage, especially in the middle of a zerg. In a sea of toons, you notice Charrs and the Norns where as the little mice goes mostly unnoticed. When playing a large character, it is ridiculous to have the same stats as the puny races, and also a disadvantage due to your large size.

Races being cosmetic should be an idea stuck to in all future MMOs.

This was the one thing I liked about SWTOR and I like that GW2 does it too.

Let people just pick what they want to look like and not have to be making some permanent sacrifice between appearance and skillset of any kind.

Racial advantages/disadvantages have been a terrible idea ever since D&D/MUDs.

MangoMan.3218:

I think it would be interesting to see advantages for different races that make things more realistic.

Removing magic would also make things more realistic, but it’d be a really bad idea. As would this. There are at least a thousand other ways you could make the game more realistic and would also make it a much worse game. Eventually the game becomes an online job simulation. If I wanted that, I’d be playing EVE Online… (lol sorry couldn’t resist)

Gunnykiln.9152:

I am usually doing WvW and I think the small races have a distinct advantage, especially in the middle of a zerg. In a sea of toons, you notice Charrs and the Norns where as the little mice goes mostly unnoticed. When playing a large character, it is ridiculous to have the same stats as the puny races, and also a disadvantage due to your large size.

Good points.

All races shouldn’t have all professions/classes either, like they had in WoW.
But maybe they changed that for a reason… :P