Guild Wars 2

Shufflepants.9785:

Tom Gore.4035:

Shufflepants.9785:

I feel like this is obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdd6_ZxX8c

I for one love that this isn’t some static world where all technological progress ceased thousands of years ago.

To be fair if our world had magic we wouldn’t had to invent stuff to make our life easier, which is the base of all invention. A combination of technology and magic would definitely still be viable.

To be fair, if our world had magic, it would be called “science”.

It would get studied and researched like any other current aspect of science. And this seems to be the way that the asura approach magic, scientifically.

Exactly.

If magic is an observable, controllable, predictable phenomenon, it is nothing more than an alternate form of physics that fit a fantasy setting and it would be systematically studied; i.e. science. People would use this powerful knowledge to make magical toasters, plow fields in 20 minutes, create water, eliminate hunger, fly around on floating platforms and instantly heal the sick. It would look way more hi-tech than most sci-fi because it would essentially be real world physics on steroids.

Gandarel.5091:

Seriously, I thought I bought a fantasy game. But after seeing megalasers attached to skyships defended by golems, and repelling a terimantor invasion from an alternate future (after I destroyed a high-tech weapon facility), what about magic? Most of the classes are magic users. Only engineers and sometimes thieves fit this game nothing else (warrior is totally outdated). Others are outcasts.

Why aren’t we replaced with golems? It’s just a matter of time I guess.

TA was one of the few fantasy-only dungeons, but BAM it needs some technology for sure.

Will fantasy ever return?

ummmm since beta and beyond they have shown robots and other tech…. why on earth you think this game wouldn’t have those elements. Also steampunk is considered fantasy.

Not sure if your trying to troll or not but ya….

Gandarel.5091:

lordkrall.7241:

Gandarel.5091:

There’s a level I say ‘ok’. But the balance between magic and technology is 20-80% at best.

So steampunk is not fantasy?

Megalasers aren’t steampunk. Terminators aren’t steampunk. Golems aren’t steampunk.

The term is Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is Science fiction Fantasy that depicts unrealistic or exaggerated future technologies.

Faux.1937:

No it doesnt

Fantasy-
~the faculty or activity of imagining things, esp. things that are impossible or improbable.
~The creative imagination; unrestrained fancy
~An imagined event or sequence of mental images, such as a daydream, usually fulfilling a wish or psychological need*

There is no meaning of that word being place to only mean Medieval, Im sorry but that is your lack of knowledge in thinking it means that.

Fantasy can mean Past, Present or Future.

Nor have I ever said it must be Medieval.

“!=” does mean NOT equal to.

Lucky.9421:

I think Aetherblades/Asura are more magitek.

Steam creatures are steampunk

Watchwork creatures are clockwork/clockpunk

Charr are dieselpunk

These are 4 distinct motiffs.

Can we please just start using steampunk as a catch-all for the last three? I mean is there any real deep difference between them? Most settings that use improbable steam-powered devices also have an abundance of absurdly advanced clockwork devices as well.

The charr for all their “dieselpunk” as you put it, still have gears and clockwork mechanisms sticking out anywhere they can get away with it.

Charrpunk!
Aetherpunk!
Asurafunk!
Humanesque!

Golems have been the first autonomous machines, robots. Robot comes from “work”/“labour”. Stuff that inspired Asimov.

In essence (for me) the level of explainable technology versus non-explainable … superstition (?) … is one of the key differences. But we all draw our own lines (for this purpose).

Nothing I’ve seen so far brings the game to a whole new level – from what it has been at the beginning.

Riot Inducer.8964:

Can we please just start using steampunk as a catch-all for the last three? I mean is there any real deep difference between them? Most settings that use improbable steam-powered devices also have an abundance of absurdly advanced clockwork devices as well.

The charr for all their “dieselpunk” as you put it, still have gears and clockwork mechanisms sticking out anywhere they can get away with it.

Well, there’s always Punkpunk :P

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PunkPunk

Onshidesigns.1069:

Gandarel.5091:

lordkrall.7241:

Gandarel.5091:

There’s a level I say ‘ok’. But the balance between magic and technology is 20-80% at best.

So steampunk is not fantasy?

Megalasers aren’t steampunk. Terminators aren’t steampunk. Golems aren’t steampunk.

The term is Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is Science fiction Fantasy that depicts unrealistic or exaggerated future technologies.

Not necessarily. Star Trek fits that definition, but it clearly not cyberpunk. Cyberpunk involves ubiquitous technology, combined with a certain flavor of antihero that rebels against an overwhelming authority. You need the “punk” aspect as well as the tech.

lordkrall.7241:

Faux.1937:

No it doesnt

Fantasy-
~the faculty or activity of imagining things, esp. things that are impossible or improbable.
~The creative imagination; unrestrained fancy
~An imagined event or sequence of mental images, such as a daydream, usually fulfilling a wish or psychological need*

There is no meaning of that word being place to only mean Medieval, Im sorry but that is your lack of knowledge in thinking it means that.

Fantasy can mean Past, Present or Future.

Nor have I ever said it must be Medieval.

“!=” does mean NOT equal to.

“=” does mean queal….. IDK what you mean by an ! in front of it, but the way I read it is that you said Medieval = fantasy, for all I knew that “!” was just that an ! mark.

Anet never said it was a medieval game and GW2 is 200years after GW1, in 200 years a lot can be learned.

If you bought the game knowing anything about Asura or Charr, you should’t have expected it to not have technology. Games are to have fun. If you do not enjoy them, don’t whine to others, just stop playing!

epicbawler.6854:

If you bought the game knowing anything about Asura or Charr, you should’t have expected it to not have technology. Games are to have fun. If you do not enjoy them, don’t whine to others, just stop playing!

Did anyone else want to commandeer those huge “bikes” the first time they saw them? Let alone drive one of the smaller ones.

Faux.1937:

“=” does mean queal….. IDK what you mean by an ! in front of it, but the way I read it is that you said Medieval = fantasy, for all I knew that “!” was just that an ! mark.

It’s a programming thing and so it’s leaked onto the rest of the internet as occasionally happens. Personally I think that outside of actually coding =/= at least ‘looks’ more like the not equal to symbol.

Faux.1937:

“=” does mean queal….. IDK what you mean by an ! in front of it, but the way I read it is that you said Medieval = fantasy, for all I knew that “!” was just that an ! mark.

Anet never said it was a medieval game and GW2 is 200years after GW1, in 200 years a lot can be learned.

Indeed “=” does mean equal.
I did however not write “=” but rather “!=” which is does mean not equal. (Maybe I should stop assume that people know programming-terms though, to avoid misunderstandings)

If you actually read the rest of my post and the posts I commented on I would say that it is quite clear that I have never stated that a fantasy game needs to be medieval.

lordkrall.7241:

Faux.1937:

“=” does mean queal….. IDK what you mean by an ! in front of it, but the way I read it is that you said Medieval = fantasy, for all I knew that “!” was just that an ! mark.

Anet never said it was a medieval game and GW2 is 200years after GW1, in 200 years a lot can be learned.

Indeed “=” does mean equal.
I did however not write “=” but rather “!=” which is does mean not equal. (Maybe I should stop assume that people know programming-terms though, to avoid misunderstandings)

If you actually read the rest of my post and the posts I commented on I would say that it is quite clear that I have never stated that a fantasy game needs to be medieval.

On that note, can someone please tell me what =/= means? I always assumed it meant ‘not equal’. but now I’m not so sure.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

lordkrall.7241:

Faux.1937:

“=” does mean queal….. IDK what you mean by an ! in front of it, but the way I read it is that you said Medieval = fantasy, for all I knew that “!” was just that an ! mark.

Anet never said it was a medieval game and GW2 is 200years after GW1, in 200 years a lot can be learned.

Indeed “=” does mean equal.
I did however not write “=” but rather “!=” which is does mean not equal. (Maybe I should stop assume that people know programming-terms though, to avoid misunderstandings)

If you actually read the rest of my post and the posts I commented on I would say that it is quite clear that I have never stated that a fantasy game needs to be medieval.

On that note, can someone please tell me what =/= means? I always assumed it meant ‘not equal’. but now I’m not so sure.

=/= is often used when the actual symbol for “not equal” cannot be displayed on a web page (such as these forums). Other forms are in this image.

Asura and Charr were both advertised as being technological-based races. Sylvarri and Norn are more nature-based. And humans are in the middle.

If anything I would like to see some more technology added. My problem is that any technological device seems to fall on being asura tech. You can pilot asura golems in WvW but you can’t pilot charr tanks.

OP never played

Tales of the Abyss

Dragon Quest

Chrono Trigger

Final Fantasy

im a “steampunk” lover and i would LOVE to get more steampunk in the game, (also a cyberpunk lover)

Tho i somewhat agree they made a nature related dungeon more steampunk when theyve could do something with COE and SE.

Denial Of Service.5732:

OP never played

Tales of the Abyss

Dragon Quest

Chrono Trigger

Final Fantasy

im a “steampunk” lover and i would LOVE to get more steampunk in the game, (also a cyberpunk lover)

Tho i somewhat agree they made a nature related dungeon more steampunk when theyve could do something with COE and SE.

Not to mention that idea of fantasy with technology is super old, and predates video games (as well as Lord of the Rings!) altogether. Just look up the “sword and planet” genre to see people fighting with swords, rayguns and magic powers on alien planets. In fact, Howard, the inventor of Conan was big into sword and planet.

the technology is in the game no one can deny that but what I dont want is this ‘last of the samurai’ crap or any part of history where the invaders turn up with better technology and the natives with their bows and arrows are completely outmatched.

We have characters that use swords and shields, bows, magic – if GW2 turns into constant stories of high tech invaders I’m going to get bored really quickly.

Rouven.7409:

I like the mix.

Would be something to see a big golem pummeling Tequatl. Heh, who knows, the day might come …

Jormag’s general called. He said the rotter can have the lot of em’.

Also,

lordkrall.7241:

Fantasy != Medieval.

Steampunk is still considered fantasy, even if they use robots and other somewhat “modern” weapons.

This guy nailed it.
/thread

Fantasy can have technology in it and still be fantasy. Fantasy does not equal Medieval only. The fantasy in GW2 is based around games like the Tales Series with magitechnology with use of golems and weaponry powered by mana. Everything doesn’t have to be from a Tolkien book to be considered fantasy.

You have to be purposefully dense to sugarcoat the fact that this game has indeed massively expanded that theme. It launched with a maximum of 40% (generously, let’s say two races are 100% industrial tech and others 0%) steampunk/magitech. This is the gold standard the OP and other posts are asking for, not some medieval high fantasy straw man you set up.
Every single Living Story has had a full-on steampunk/magitech vibe, from megalasers to automated mines dropping golems to giant holograms, and you can’t deny that. All we’re asking is for the average ratios to be returned to normal.
The only exception where I think this original ratio was achieved was with Zephyr sanctum, which coincidentally was also the most beautiful LS installation.

AlecFair.1270:

Fantasy can have technology in it and still be fantasy. Fantasy does not equal Medieval only. The fantasy in GW2 is based around games like the Tales Series with magitechnology with use of golems and weaponry powered by mana. Everything doesn’t have to be from a Tolkien book to be considered fantasy.

How about it doesn’t equal technology only?

There are Charr (a engineer type of race, this was known sense gw1) and Asura a race that also based on building machine like objects, but both still use magic to do this.

IDK why it matters at all, I kinda like it, kinda like a Final Fantasy game, a mix of future with the past and a dash of the present.

Drakkon.4782:

Gandarel.5091:

lordkrall.7241:

So steampunk is not fantasy?

Megalasers aren’t steampunk. Terminators aren’t steampunk. Golems aren’t steampunk.

Yes, they are, yes, they are and yes, they are.

Steampunk is a style of presenting modern of high technology in an anachronistic manner. Typically it follows either an Edwardian or Victorian level of technology, incorporating clockworks, brass fittings, shiny buttons, glowing lights, and arcs of electricity and/or other types of energy.

So, using that as a base-line for “what is steampunk?”, Megalasers are Steampunk, Terminators (especially the clockworks we were fighting) are Steampunk, and Golems (particularly the way the Asuran Golems all glow and have bright shiny fittings) are most definitely Steampunk.

---

I feel it important at this point in the discussion to bring up Clarke’s Third Law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”, and it corollary: “Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.”

The only reason we look at Megalasers (Laser Cannons), Terminators (Combat Robots) and Golems (Power Armor) as heratical pieces of “ubertech that has no place in fantasy” is because we’ve been introduced to them in a technological manner, and we keep going back to thinking of them in those terms. Instead, what we really have are Amplified Light Cannons, Clockwork Automatons and Magically Amplified Body Armor. ANet went for the easiest to understand terms they could when creating the Megalasers and that was the problem that sets this whole argument up. That they keep going back to the well indicates that they haven’t gotten it into their heads that while Steampunk is very fantasy and is alright and all, we want to see more sword and sorcery stuff, too.

---

Also, to clarify, Kryta has Catapults in every zones where we have Centaur (all of them, so…) which makes it 100% tech. Also, modern plumbing (more advanced than Roman aquaducts), fortified walls, modern building techniques. All very technological as opposed to magical.

Magumaa is 100% tech, as well, because of the Asura. Magitech, but tech nonetheless. The Sylvari use the most advanced technology of all: bio-organics. They grow their technology as plant life. They’re even more advanced than the Asura, even if they want to act like they don’t understand “technology”. They don’t understand inorganic technology is all. Bio-organics has a very sword and sorcery feel. It’s all very DnD druid.

Ascalon is 100% tech because of the Charr, thought he Charr are the only race that can be said to be 100% normal tech. Diesel engines, flamethrowers, rifles, pistols, etc. Modern-ish tech.

Of all the zones, Shiverpeaks is the only one where the technology level is very minimal. The Norn live in a world of magic and fantastic beasts, where dragons ravage their towns and threaten their very way of life, and horribly altered beasts, warped by dark magic and foul spells are an actual threat. This is the most “fantasy” zone of all. If you’re looking for traditional fantasy, this is your stop.

Every other zone is a mix of traditional high fantasy, medieval fantasy, steampunk and hypertech. Even Orr.

Entirely wrong. Steampunk is a fictional branch of technology without electricity, using clockwork and steam devices. Asuras are completely the opposite branch of technology, with flowing energy everywhere, using crytsals and stone.

And no I don’t want to afk 24/7 in the shiverpeaks (which has the dredge, inquest and the steam creatures FYI).

I want magic to somehow return to the story. And the amount of technology just alienates the norns from the events.

CETheLucid.3964:

Rouven.7409:

I like the mix.

Would be something to see a big golem pummeling Tequatl. Heh, who knows, the day might come …

Jormag’s general called. He said the rotter can have the lot of em’.

Also,

lordkrall.7241:

Fantasy != Medieval.

Steampunk is still considered fantasy, even if they use robots and other somewhat “modern” weapons.

This guy nailed it.
/thread

Thank you for taking the effort to read and understand my point. I actually love steampunk. But megalasers and the imbalance between the amount of magic and technology is just insane.

Lostwingman.5034:

lordkrall.7241:

Gandarel.5091:

There’s a level I say ‘ok’. But the balance between magic and technology is 20-80% at best.

So steampunk is not fantasy?

I think the appropriate term is “Sword and Sorcery”, not fantasy.

We have a winner.

So many people forget that fantasy is more then just swords and sorcery.

OP ,

you do know that the lasers in the game are made of pure magic right?

DiogoSilva.7089:

The problem with GW2’s world, in my opinion, is the lack of consistency. DR is presented as a LoTR-style of fantasy, and then we have charr’s steampunk, and then we have asura’s cyberbunk(?), etc. But what makes it truly unbelievable, is the sharp contrast between those zones. It’s hard to believe that they are all from the same game, in the same world.

If we want to look at a “more consistent version of Tyria”, we can look at Final fantasy XII’s Ivalice. It has its own asuras (moogles), it has its own mix of cyberpunk and steampunk with medieval fantasy, but everything feels well integrated. You see the “outdated” technology in abandoned placed and prisons while the “updated” technology is taking over. You see moogle’s tech all over the world, but the technology for architecture is also mostly consistent, with very few exceptions.

When you teleport from Rabanastre to Archades, you can tell that Archades is more advanced, but they still feel like they’re from the same world. When you leave any of them and visit abandoned steampunk ruins, it still feels within the same world.

But when you teleport from Divinity’s Reach to the asura’s town, and then to charr’s deathstar, it feels like you’re going to a completely new game, with a new world.

That just goes to show that GW2 is doing it right. Charr, Asura and Human culture, physiology and mindsets are entirely different and alien to eachother. Everything about how they do things is different. As such if there were any similarities in their civilizations that would be the thing that didn’t make sense.

When you go from the human castle city to the Aura cube it should be a culture shock. It should be highly disjointed because they are two entirely separate races with no commonality. The same with the Charr.

That every city looks like it came from the same basic origin in FF XII just means that their cultures don’t have a separation point. They don’t have a Moogletown where the race can actually represent itself outside of the melting pot it is subjected to.

Take Final Fantasy into account. It’s fantasy with all these airships, guns, superweapons and the main characters still use swords, magic, and other really nonsensical weapons to combat people with guns and giant mechs.

I (partly) agree. Whilst sci-fi/steampunk may count as subgenres of fantasy, it really feels like most of the updates have been about Golems, Cannons, Mega-lasers and Robotic Things Gone Wrong.
I would like to see onis, hylek tribal rites, gods, horror stories, mythical creatures, unexplored lands and stars that are going to crash a la FFXIV. More civilizations that have remained isolated such as the Kodan and Tengu. I would really enjoy real civil wars and enemy factions with a complex history and motives. I’d love personal clockwork cats and dogs. I’m curious and would like to see more of Dredge society and maybe even get a glimpse of the Nightmare. I would love a dungeon on a boat that ends up in a Bermuda triangle asura field.
Just to mention a few random things in a random order.
Basically, a more balanced implementation of all the fantasy subgenres (and not).

lordkrall.7241:

Gandarel.5091:

There’s a level I say ‘ok’. But the balance between magic and technology is 20-80% at best.

So steampunk is not fantasy?

Steampunk evolved into it’s own subgenre of fiction. It’s neither fantasy nor Sci-fi, and has a different feel.

If I talk about the lack of magic in the world I talk about things like.. can you tell me a single magic academy in GW2? (no, asura colleges aren’t different).

Like Nolani, Drascir, Ascalon Academy in GW1.

Gandarel.5091:

I want magic to somehow return to the story. And the amount of technology just alienates the norns from the events.

“I want the game to be I want it and I don’t care about whether or not others like it how it is.”

Got it.

Denial Of Service.5732:

OP never played

Tales of the Abyss

Dragon Quest

Chrono Trigger

Final Fantasy

im a “steampunk” lover and i would LOVE to get more steampunk in the game, (also a cyberpunk lover)

Tho i somewhat agree they made a nature related dungeon more steampunk when theyve could do something with COE and SE.

As someone who dislikes steampunk I tolerate its existence in Tyria (it’s only a part of Tyria, outside of the Living Story there is a great deal of sword and sorcery type elements). I am concerned by its increased prominence. If it exists, it should be balanced with the more traditional (remember than Tyria was around 250 years ago in GW1 where technology was far less advanced) parts of the world and it certainly shouldn’t be overshadowing the classical fantasy elements of the world. The idea that Scarlet (or any engineer) can do everything anyone else can do through engineering was one of the worst lore developments I had heard. If they want to add technology as another element to Tyria, that’s fine, but going so far as to say engineers can do everything anyone else can do with devices… that’s going too far. From steampunk pirates to watchwork knights to watchwork horrors to turning the only dungeon in the game that had absolutely no technology elements to it and turning into into an engineers creation… at some point I think they need to know that there is a difference between a giant machine that shoots fire and a person or creature that shoots fire. I don’t care that the technology in GW2 utilises magic to do what it does, the mystery and the fantasy is gone when I see robots and guns doing all the things that creatures and artifacts used to do. I’d rather a quest to acquire a magical Orrian artifact (like Magdaer) that can be used in a magical ritual to combat Zhatian as opposed to a quest to help build a giant laser on a flying air ship. I don’t care that gadgets and gizmoes are an extension of magical artifacts, there is a balance that is crossed there. They can both co-exist, but technology feels like it’s taking the magic out of the world.

It matters to me that there is a balance in Tyria and that while it can co-exist with magic, technology shouldn’t overshadow the traditional fantasy elements of the world.

Lore wise, the advent of the Pact lead to rapid creation of new inventions because the Pact merged the technology of 10 races with the knowledge of 3 orders.

It would be nice if they toned down the use of asuran technology though.

I dont have any problem with technology its always nice to mix it with fantasy but I hope after this patch we get rid for scarlet and all her robots and skyships and stuff.

I hope for more content that feels like Labyrinthine Cliffs it was a great place I m getting tired by all those clockwork robots, skyships, gears and guns.

Perhaps it will go in phases. This is the steampunk phase. Next may be magic, then uh.. normal stuff? Who knows. I’m getting all I can collect of the steampunk while I can beforeit shifts to something else.

What I really dont wanna see is a dragon like Zhaytan going down by an airship with cannons. It was cool the first time but I hope they wont use technology to take down another dragon.

In my opinion the ratio of tech to spiritual or medieval content is leaning too far towards the tech side, and I would appreciate the focus shifting to other aspects of the world, like the norn spirits or human religion. It seems most problem and solutions involve asura or charr methods.

GW2 is a magitech, akin to FF6.

Guild Wars 2 isn’t sci-fi. It’s a mixture of high fantasy, magitech, and steampunk. This is plainly obvious if you look at Divinity’s Reach, Rata Sum, and the Black Citadel. It has never concealed this, and even Guild Wars 1 had many of these elements in them. It’s not like ArenaNet just pulled this one out of their kitten and said “GOTCHA!” when you bought the game.

If you’re arguing for ingame realism, people use swords and armor because of cost and practical use. I mean, modern armies still had cavalry units up until the 1940s, and people still fought with blades instead of the unreliable alternatives in guns in a lot of circumstances. It’s not a hard assumption to make that all the steampunk/magitech technology just isn’t available to the majority of the population, and that if it was it’s not even very effective and it’s overly complicated.

Really, the only classes you can even have an issue with are warriors and guardians anyways, since the rest use magic and technology. Technically, warriors use rifles (Rytlock uses a pistol too) and guardians use magic, though.

However, with all that said I think that with these recent content patches ArenaNet has gone overboard on the steampunk. It gets stale after months of Scarlet and her machines. I sincerely hope that Scarlet either dies or her story is resolved in October, because I never want to hear the name Scarlet Briar again. A terrible villain with no motivations and no depth to any of her actions. That’s the best way to describe her. Molten Alliance, Aetherblades, etc. are just poorly written henchmen.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

lordkrall.7241:

Faux.1937:

“=” does mean queal….. IDK what you mean by an ! in front of it, but the way I read it is that you said Medieval = fantasy, for all I knew that “!” was just that an ! mark.

Anet never said it was a medieval game and GW2 is 200years after GW1, in 200 years a lot can be learned.

Indeed “=” does mean equal.
I did however not write “=” but rather “!=” which is does mean not equal. (Maybe I should stop assume that people know programming-terms though, to avoid misunderstandings)

If you actually read the rest of my post and the posts I commented on I would say that it is quite clear that I have never stated that a fantasy game needs to be medieval.

On that note, can someone please tell me what =/= means? I always assumed it meant ‘not equal’. but now I’m not so sure.

!= I believe is mathematical notation. It means the same thing as =/=

Larynx.2453:

If you’re arguing for ingame realism, people use swords and armor because of cost and practical use. I mean, modern armies still had cavalry units up until the 1940s, and people still fought with blades instead of the unreliable alternatives in guns in a lot of circumstances. It’s not a hard assumption to make that all the steampunk/magitech technology just isn’t available to the majority of the population, and that if it was it’s not even very effective and it’s overly complicated.

Really, the only classes you can even have an issue with are warriors and guardians anyways, since the rest use magic and technology. Technically, warriors use rifles (Rytlock uses a pistol too) and guardians use magic, though.

An even more direct explanation is that people use swords in the Guild Wars universe because it’s obvious that everyone is a magical kitten.

We can plainly see that the mesmer and guardian are using swords to shoot magic and force fields out all over the place and, really, even the warrior is a beyond-real-world-physics class. As a level 1 warrior, i swing my greatsword around and trails of light appear when i pop my no. 2 skill. When i spin, i become invulnerable to bullets! With the right trait, i can hold my mace up and automatically reflect a hail of gunfire directly back at the shooters.

People clearly still use swords and other melee weapons in a world with guns because everyone is a superhuman who them as tools to perform superhuman things.

EDIT: Lmao! Changing what i said to “magic kitten”

Lucky.9421:

I think Aetherblades/Asura are more magitek.

Steam creatures are steampunk

Watchwork creatures are clockwork/clockpunk

Charr are dieselpunk

These are 4 distinct motiffs.

If I may build off your quote, I believe this indicates the current problem.

All of these motifs may be distinct, but they still fit into an overall umbrella of “Gears and Gizmos”. With the exception of the karka, we have been fighting Gears and Gizmos opponents throughout the living story for months and months now, with minor motif changes to introduce new foes. This is producing a great deal of fatigue in some people who would like to see more mystical, martial, or monstrous opponents for a change.

For a parallel, imagine if we spent the last eight months fighting Fire themed opponents. First the Destroyers popped up and rampaged everywhere. Then the Flame Legion created a ritual of ascension that turned them into fiery cat people. After that, Djinn of fire and light invaded a major city. Finally, Great Solar Beasts descended from the sky to burn Tyria to ashes. Throughout these stories, snippets of conversation indicated that a mighty Infernomancer was behind the incident, a laughing maniac intent on some grand plan of chaos and flame.

At a certain point, most people would step back and ask “Can we fight something that doesn’t involve fire? Please?”

So too, this thread’s complaint. Steampunk is certainly a worthwhile addition to the magical, magitechnical, and technological wonders of Tyria, but it is currently oversaturating the Living Story. We’ve been neck deep in Gears and Gizmo monsters for months now, and some people are sick and tired of beating up on glorified toasters all the time. Likewise, they would like to see the more mystical elements of Tyria get some time in the spotlight. Rather than have the humans obsessing over their new clockpunk creations, it would be nice to have some ritualism and pursuit of lost divinity. Instead of Norn acting like grunts to fight the Molten Alliance without any mention of the Spirits of the Wild, it would be nice if their shapeshifting and spirit medium aspects were more emphasized in the story.

This doesn’t mean that steampunk needs to go away or that it is somehow inappropriate for the setting, but it needs to be one aspect among many. The Living Story should strike a balance between the different magical and technological aspects of the world and give different cultural nuances a chance to shine.

1) Humans are the best race with magic, as per lore.
2) Humans must be useless in GW2, so other races can take over.

1+2=magic must be useless.

Ok that’s a bit much. But you get the idea.

It is time the likes of Livia, Verata and Isgarren teaches the world to fear magic once again. All 3 are “human”, mind you.

Kyrel.8942:

Take Final Fantasy into account. It’s fantasy with all these airships, guns, superweapons and the main characters still use swords, magic, and other really nonsensical weapons to combat people with guns and giant mechs.

To be fair, the very final bosses in Final Fantasys are usually mages. Technology can only bring you so far. Ancient magics are more powerful at the end.

Technomancy, Magitek and all that stuff are one of the things that made me like this game more than others.
As Arthur C. Clarke once said: “Magic is just science that we don’t understand yet”.

Shriketalon I agree with you. I like the scifi/fantasy fusion but it would be nice to see some more high fantasy in future arcs.