Guild Wars 2

I feel like Sylvari are a little more special than the other four races in the game. I don’t mean special as in different but more as in how they are given a bit more extra attention. They had a small part in GW1 where you could witness the Pale Tree in it’s younger state so I feel like there were definitely plans for them, and while I’m not saying the other races aren’t special or anything, I just think that there are plans for the Sylvari and that’s why they are garnering a bit more attention from Arenanet.

Caith is on the start up screen of the game, (and the one who keeps pushing to reunite Destinies Edge.)

The first song they released was “Fear not this night” the anthem of the Sylvari sung by the pale tree. If I’m not mistaken they’re the only race with a specific song that’s sung by an actual character in the story. it's the song that plays after you kill zhaitan

Trahearne as well being the firstborn sylvari with a wyld hunt to cleanse orr. I know they had to pick one race but why sylvari. I played through as a charr first and I didn’t really get the whole wyld hunt thing. I feel like the story might be tailored a bit to fit a sylvari play through.

anyway these are just my thoughts. I’m probably just stupid but I’m just curious on your takes on the attention to the sylvari race.

Sylvari are used all the time! Past level 60 every second character seems to be Sylvari in your personal story. Not to mention Trahearne

Yeh sure, thats why the armor is made for humans and scaled to sylvari ( and onther races ). Armor still looks better on humans, i think the human is there favorite.

Where can you see the pale tree in gw1? I completely missed that O_o

Half Tooth.1867:

Where can you see the pale tree in gw1? I completely missed that O_o

There are two instances where you get to see it:

1. Explore Arbor Bay. Ventari and Ronan can be found there tending the young (and non-responsive) Pale Tree. It’s on the island in the southwest part of the map.

2. The Ogden’s Benediction cinematic (for completing Eye of the North) shows a shot of the Pale Tree growing in what will be the Grove.

Sylvari do have a pretty big role in the story, though its not like what race the characters are really makes that much of a difference.

On the other hand, all the events seem to be related more to the Humans and Asura. The events take place mostly in human areas, but the “main” NPCs have been mostly Asura (the researcher running the Halloween Scavenger Hunt, the researcher “warning” about the Karka attack and running that scavenger hunt, and Tixx for the upcoming event).

I think the Sylvari got a little more spotlight in the personal story because they’re the playable race that’s the most intertwined with Zhaitan (and I think the story does end up making the most sense from the Sylvari’s perspective) but I don’t expect them to keep being special because they’re really tied to Zhaitan specifically, much like the Norn are very tied to Jormag, or the Asura to Primordus. The open world is a good example, because you see Risen very on crawling up to the Grove’s doorstep, and areas with high Risen concentration tend to have Sylvari outposts around to contain them—but you don’t see that same presence around the brand, or in the Shiverpeaks because Zhaitan’s their big focus. And now that we’ve kicked his tail you’ll probably see less importance from the race as a whole and whoever is corresponded closest to the next dragon will get a day in the limelight.

I agree with what athuria said.
I don’t think Anet as a whole got 1 favorite race.
You could argue for humans getting most attention as most armor is seemingly firstly made for them, then fitted to other races.
You could say it was asura for the reason that they seem to take up a good role in certain events (imo not really that big a role that it matters)
You could hold on the sylvari due to the role they apparently play in the personal story atm.
You could also say charr, because we got charr plushie (no other race has a plushie), we got Rytlock in the CE and we got Rytlock mini.
And although I cannot think of anything that show special attention to norn as of right now I am sure they will get attention too.

Yeah I’m sure other race’s will take spotlight once we focus on their dragon (can’t wait for the crystal desert). Also the fact that Sylvari were probably the “hip” thing cause they are new probably relates to the active role of Sylvari in the story. I still hope we get to learn more about them. Thanks for all the input.

I think the launch version of Guild Wars 2 is more about the Sylvari than the other races, as they’ve been set pretty firmly opposite Zhaitan. I think each dragon we face will bring a different race to the forefront in terms of personal story. The Sylvari personal story from beginning to end is pretty much about Zhaitan tho for other races it takes a long while for him to become a part of the picture, and in some cases (humans -coughcough-) feels a little forced. So yeah, I think you’ve got a point.

I don’t see a huge issue with the amount of attention the Sylvari got although I am confused as to which dragon will be more human specific. I doubt it will be bubbles since I’d be shocked if the Largos didn’t become playable (either that or the Quaggan will be the heroes). So humans always going to be also ran as far as the dragons? Or are they sharing with the Charr? (I don’t really care because I’m a huge Sylvari fan but it is a bit odd that the most popular race hides in the background of the story.)

My first character was Asura. I found the first two chapters confusing, the starting zone even more so. Third was human… Didn’t like the storyline intro, nor the tie in to the Zhaitan quest. I no longer have either of these characters.

My second however, was Sylvari. I dunno, something just clicked immediately. Like everything made sense. Like I knew, completely, what my purpose, my calling within Tyria was. There was no question about it. It was epic, yet whimsical.

I then made a few Charr. I do rather like the intro tutorial, and am in love with Charr society, I feel the whole thing fits very much like a glove. Fighting alongside my warband…. That being said I dislike the transition from the third act onward. It’s like you spend two whole acts rebuilding your warband, and then never see them again. I can understand how and why you wind up joining an Order, but it’s never said anywhere what happens to your Warband, or your status among the Legions. Perhaps there’s more later – I’m only at the start of Chapter 7 on my highest level Charr.

(minor spoiler?) made total sense on my Sylvari. It was to be expected. Felt completely right. It was a little… Odd at first, for my Charr. But then Trahearne’s a Sylvari so there… right?

I have to say without a doubt, that Sylvari and Charr are very much my favorite races in GW2. Currently, I’ve two Sylvari, four Charr and a Norn. (Yeah… I’m a fur, so sue me.) I might reroll my Norn as human, just to give that storyline another shot, but I personally have no interest in Asura at the moment, and little in Norn. Maybe because Zojja annoys me so much… But to each his own, right?

I don’t know that the Sylvari got the most attention or anything, but I feel their storyline is the most directly tied into the overall story, definitely.

The SIlvary are the answer to the dragons. Their existence is a counter weight to the dragons destruction. Life vs Death situation. At least that’s what they believe and are told by the tree. In fact they act as a bringer of peace and hope, except the court.

Any one else thinks that they could be mellandus children or at least her influence in tyria ?

That’s just because Sylvari are the coolest race in the game.

I agree. The top 3 blacksmiths of the world include, according to the storyline, a Norn, a Tengu and a Sylvari. Now, the first 2 make some kind of sense but a Sylvari…that’s just shoving one in without thinking. Charr or Asura would have made so much more sense.

I’d have been ok with Sylvari being equal to the elder races. But they’re so often portayed as better that it’s getting annoying.

The only Sylvari that was well done was Seiran, because she actually displays the lack of worldly knowledge the Sylvari were supposed to have…before the game was released anyway.

ThiBash.5634:

I agree. The top 3 blacksmiths of the world include, according to the storyline, a Norn, a Tengu and a Sylvari. Now, the first 2 make some kind of sense but a Sylvari…that’s just shoving one in without thinking. Charr or Asura would have made so much more sense.

I’d have been ok with Sylvari being equal to the elder races. But they’re so often portayed as better that it’s getting annoying.

The only Sylvari that was well done was Seiran, because she actually displays the lack of worldly knowledge the Sylvari were supposed to have…before the game was released anyway.

Actually it makes complete sense. The Sylvari do not practice normal blacksmithing; they use their connection with plants to mold them. They cause the plants to grow into particular shapes that form into weapons and armor, like the verdant weapons, cultural weapons or cultural armor sets. When amassing an army consisting of differently skilled soldiers with different preferences, it helps to have different kinds of resources. So it would make sense to find the best Sylvari smith, the best traditional blacksmith, and the best Tengu smith; the Tengu also possessing their own unique form of smithing.

More sense than getting an Asura? Or a Charr? Also, did you notice that none of the pact soldiers actually WEAR plant armor?

And disregarding that for a moment, let’s assume that he can make a unique form of plant armor. Why does this armor has to be, as seen in Sylvari story, better than any other armor out there? Why can’t it just be ‘very good’? Why does it have to make the wearer ‘immortal’?

Because they’re mary sues, that’s why.

The focus of the story towards mid-end of the Personal Story is definitely biased towards Sylvari character.

There’s not only Trahearne, but lots of other Sylvari characters that all characters act as if they have met, but only Sylvari characters have. So the story assumes that you’re playing as a Sylvari.

It is really bullkitten.

The story doesn’t make any assumptions about race in the later half. As a Sylvari my race is just as often forgot about and I get the opposite effect, where people I should know well or concepts I should already be familiar with are treated as if they are distant or new. And it’s just as immersion breaking as if I was suddenly buddies with a stranger.

^this. I don’t know what story you’re playing, but more often than not characters have amnesia rather than know me. Also, I really don’t understand why we’re nitpicking the blacksmiths. They show up for one story step during the pact part. And the celebration scene, if that counts. It’s not like they have any viewable effect on us, so who cares what races they are

Mystic Starfish.2586:

^this. I don’t know what story you’re playing, but more often than not characters have amnesia rather than know me. Also, I really don’t understand why we’re nitpicking the blacksmiths. They show up for one story step during the pact part. And the celebration scene, if that counts. It’s not like they have any viewable effect on us, so who cares what races they are

Many of the players in this game have a little thing between their legs that they want the devs to stroke and make hard, cause it makes them feel good. People want their race represented, since feelings of racial supremacy is unavoidable when you have a game with such varied playable races. It’s nothing against the player because it’s nothing new. The first mistake the devs made in this game is having a ‘hero’ (I use this term loosely) be from one particular race instead of providing one hero for each of the races.

In all honestly, they took the game so far away from focusing on destiny’s edge that when asked who the Norn member was, I had to look it up. This game would have had a story unable to be matched by any previous MMO if they had done away with Trahearne entirely (or at least just made him a fly on the wall) and focused on your race’s destiny edge hero instead. First 10 levels should have been about learning your racial history and becoming important so that the next 10 levels were your race’s hero noticing you and learning about your hero. 20-30 should have been joining an order with your hero, 30-50 should have been rising through the ranks of your order and repairing the turmoil between all 5 members, 50-60, bringing the 3 orders together under Destiny’s Edge, and 60-80, discovering relevant information about killing Zhaitan, information like what that cannon needs to fire to hurt Zhaitan, what the dragon’s weakness is, as well as how to starve and blind it, instead of having a ship show up with weapons ready to kill the dragon, and not a freaking clue as to how or what was involved.

Think about the advertisements before the game’s release. I don’t recall ever seeing Trahearne in any of them, yet Destiny’s Edge was everywhere. I get into the game, and the only time I see any of them is once when they talk about their falling out, quite randomly I might add, and oddly close to level 30 to just be a coincidence. (anyone think that the devs might have originally planned for them to be the focus instead and got scrapped by idiotic ceos?) Then, you see them sporadically in story dungeons, but only two or three at a time, and then dead on the bow of the zhaitan slayer ship, and suddenly alive again and all happy together at fort trinity with the pale tree singing in the background. I can’t help but feel that their story would have made for so much more player enjoyment.

athuria.2751:

The story doesn’t make any assumptions about race in the later half.

Yes. Yes it does. There was some Syvlari chicks that I had never met because they are in the Sylvari storyline, yet my Norn acted all chummy with them as if he had known them forever. Then you have Treehearne who just appears from out of nowhere and takes over the entire storyline, unless you play a Sylvari who have met him well in advance.

Its bogus.

The fact that Sylvari players meet Trahearne before Claw Island doesn’t mean much, because with the exception of getting an extra cutscene played in Claw Island (with our mentor proceeding to introduce us anyway) it’s never acknowledged or referenced. We as players know who he is a bit better, but all of that early stuff might as well not have happened. And when there are elements from our racial story (Caladbolg) that reemerge, it becomes really obvious that the dialogue didn’t have us in mind because there are a lot of parts that should be different given our race.

As for Carys and Tegwen, you’ll need to be more specific because every race has three opportunities to meet them—recruiting with the Durmund Priory, setting a trap for the first Eye of Zhaitan, and choosing to go with the Vigil plan and move tanks into Orr. I didn’t even meet them until the last one because I made different story/order decisions, and I didn’t notice any elevation in friendliness or grief at loss that I wasn’t showing to other characters I also barely knew (Tonn, Beirne).

Raphael.2064:

Think about the advertisements before the game’s release. I don’t recall ever seeing Trahearne in any of them, yet Destiny’s Edge was everywhere. I get into the game, and the only time I see any of them is once when they talk about their falling out, quite randomly I might add, and oddly close to level 30 to just be a coincidence. (anyone think that the devs might have originally planned for them to be the focus instead and got scrapped by idiotic ceos?) Then, you see them sporadically in story dungeons, but only two or three at a time, and then dead on the bow of the zhaitan slayer ship, and suddenly alive again and all happy together at fort trinity with the pale tree singing in the background. I can’t help but feel that their story would have made for so much more player enjoyment.

My guess? You’re probably not far off thinking the main heroes we’re meant to follow in the game is Destiny’s Edge. Where I think you’re wrong is in assuming they should be the focus of the main story now.

Remember, this is an MMO with ever updating content. I’m willing to guess, with the early introductory levels being you meeting and befriending their members and the story mode helping you learn more about each member. Zhaitan, however, isn’t “their problem” so to speak. I’m wagering future content will center on them while the current game is the devs getting their feet wet with the new Tyria and updated game mechanics.

Obviously, they’ll be more important when we face Kralkatorrik
That’ll be their true test of if they can be a team again

ThiBash.5634:

More sense than getting an Asura? Or a Charr? Also, did you notice that none of the pact soldiers actually WEAR plant armor?

And disregarding that for a moment, let’s assume that he can make a unique form of plant armor. Why does this armor has to be, as seen in Sylvari story, better than any other armor out there? Why can’t it just be ‘very good’? Why does it have to make the wearer ‘immortal’?

Because they’re mary sues, that’s why.

Actually, if you look around Fort Trinity and other Pact fortresses in Orr, part of their protections seem to be thickets of thorned branches. Those might be the sylvari "smith"’s contribution.

On the whole, I’d say that charr, asura and sylvari probably get a little more than their fair share of the spotlight, while humans and norn are left behind. Charr and asura get all the flashy things, while sylvari have been pretty central to the storyline – however, for all we see of their contributions, it’s easy to imagine the Pact being successful without human or norn involvement.

The Norns time in the spotlight will come.

Just you wait till they make us able to take on Jormag!

A fellow by the name of BuddhaKeks.4857 on the “We Don’t Like Trahearne” (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/story/We-don-t-like-Trahearne-Spoiler-Warning-merged/first) thread said this (it’s a bit of a long post):

BuddhaKeks.4857:

Another reason I don’t like Trahearne; he is sylvari. Yes, this is a valid reason for me to dislike him. The sylvari race in general feels too Mary Sue-ish for me. You would expect, if a new race shows up, that has such high birth rates, that they can outnumber anyone in a few decades, and is completly alien in behavior to all other races, they others would be, well suspicious to say the least. But no, everywhere I go, if it’s Lion’s Arch or Frostgourge Sound, everywhere when they talk about sylvari, it’s always positive. They are appearently the best blacksmiths, because they don’t brag and they are liked by the Kodan because they are in balance.
They simply have no flaw, they are perfectly lawful good and everyone likes them for it. Okay you have the Nightmare Court, but really that’s black and white painting. All other races have morally good, evil and neutral characters and that’s what makes them work as races. The playable sylvari however are always lawful good, the NC always evil. Nothing in between.

I still try to give every Sylvari character a chance, but so far I disliked them all. Sieran for example is annoying and doesn’t really seem to know/care about history, she just likes adventuring (her so called knowledge about the dwarves is very basic). I was glad to see her die on Claw Island, could have taken Trahearne with her though.
Caithe? Oh please, the perfect example of a Mary-Sue if you read Edge of Destiny. And even ingame she is of course the only one who every other member of the group still likes. Killeen from GoA was another generally well liked Sylvari, I didn’t. She had no character, and died as she lived, trying to be as cool as the other protagonists but utterly failing.

And I completely agree. I can’t stand the Sylvari for all the reasons above.

Incidentally, I consider that to be a very black-and-white view of the Sylvari. For morality, I can think of Caithe and Gavin for Sylvari on both sides of the spectrum that hedge what we think of as good or bad. Also Sylvari pirates, have you seen how many there are?

I’ve stumbled on a lot of NPC conversations with or about Sylvari that weren’t positive—they were disrespectful, or suspicious, or annoyed. The overall attitude is fairly positive, but that’s also in comparison to long-standing grudges like the Humans and Charr. Sylvari are weird but haven’t done anything to actively kitten another race off.

A point is also made, if you talk to a Sylvari back in the area they were born, that as different as they are they still feel all the same things emotionally as other races (individually, since nobody else has that empathetic connection). And relating to people emotionally is a very powerful thing.

On the Kodan in particular, you’ll notice that they and the Sylvari have similar views of community and respect/living with the nature around them. Of course the Kodan like them for being “in balance”, they share important aspects of culture. It’s not the Sylvari are special as much as it is the Kodan are actually really condescending towards the other races who don’t view things as they do, given they consider them lower on the totem pole of enlightenment.

I also want to know where it’s stated that Sylvari are having an abnormally high birth rate—the only statement I’ve seen is that Sylvari are being born “about as fast as players are making characters” now, and outside of the sudden burst back at the beginning of the game I don’t exactly see tons of newbies, and I spend a lot of time in the Grove and Caledon. I’d average them at anywhere from 2-4 new Sylvari (edit: A day, not a year), which is a pretty average birthrate. Other races are probably very similar.

Well, just taking into account that firstborn was 12, then secondborn was (I can’t remember if there’s a number given), they stop tiering the generations. So our PC could be 7th born by now.

I must say, as much as I like my Sylvari character, the race as a whole does seem kind of Mary Sue-ish. I think everything about their character creation and culture is really cool, but Trahearne and the immunity to corruption thing is kind of…offputting.

They still can die. The only thing they’re immune to is being turned into a minion (for whatever reason). I’d hardly call that grounds for Mary Sue. Not to mention if it was a true Mary Sue the nightmare court and the soundless wouldn’t exist. People seem to be suffering from extremely selective memory. Kodan like the sylvari’s philosophy? Well the Asura wanted to (and some still do) dissect them because they didn’t see them as being alive. How is that Mary Sue? What about Trahearne’s magic sword. Remember how he wasn’t the first owner of it? The original owner of it (also a first born) got himself killed because he was basically a noob.

Honestly, this seems to center 100% around Trahearne and not the race (because he does kind of pop out of nowhere and is given command of entire armies for very little reason other than the plot demanding there be a non-player hero who does all the administration stuff so the player can focus on killing stuff). Might as well paint the entire human race with Logan’s brush if we’re going to over generalize.

Any fantasy race that features a lesbian vegetable as one of their most renowned characters is indeed very special.

Half Tooth.1867:

Where can you see the pale tree in gw1? I completely missed that O_o

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinni/7855005654/in/set-72157622996008249/ → Pale Tree in Ventari’s Sanctuary if I am not mistaken.

I took the screenshot during the Wayfarer’s Reverie event that happened just before GW 2 launched. I started doing the quest for the HoM point since I needed a Torment weapon but I ended-up really enjoying myself, reliving things and also seeing the GW 2 ties in.