Guild Wars 2

I have seen several calls for a gem store item that allows you to change your race, but there was always story limitations behind this. However, in the newest patch, it is shown that through mesmer magic, we can change the appearance of npcs, so that they take the form of different races.

Do you think we will ever get the option to do so to ourselves?
Are you for or against racial re-rolling?

The mesmer magic is temporary though. The outside form changes, is in a sense an illusion, but inside it is still the mechanical critter.

I am very much against not only racial rerolling, but class rerolling via gemstore items. It would make class and race selection at the beginning essentially pointless. It would require no thought at all on the part of the person making a new character. They wouldn’t think long and hard about what they really wanted to do, because they could just throw real money at it and make it something else…of the same level, with no drawback what-so-ever. Definitely no.

Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this.

Race and class are ENTIRELY different things.

Marty McFly.9084:

Race and class are ENTIRELY different things.

Correct, and my reasoning stands the same for both. Making it so you can swap either helter skelter at will trivializes their importance in character creation.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The mesmer magic is temporary though. The outside form changes, is in a sense an illusion, but inside it is still the mechanical critter.

I am very much against not only racial rerolling, but class rerolling via gemstore items. It would make class and race selection at the beginning essentially pointless. It would require no thought at all on the part of the person making a new character. They wouldn’t think long and hard about what they really wanted to do, because they could just throw real money at it and make it something else…of the same level, with no drawback what-so-ever. Definitely no.

Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this.

This is a bad thing how? I can have a character leveled from 1-80 in a few days as it is – now we have instant level 20 scrolls. Why would having this option be a detriment other than you don’t like it?

This post seems poorly thought through.

Mesmer magic is illusionary. It’s like tonics that change your appearance. Are you asking for a Charr/Norn/Asura/etc tonic that you can change in and out of? Because that’s what’s what it’d be similar to.

Not for race change items. Just reroll your character. It’s not hard to level, you can keep gold, gems, tokens, etc. You’d appreciate your chosen race after rerolling and you’d be less fickle about your choice so you won’t find yourself changing races every week or at the drop of a dime when something slightly better pops up.

So only mesmers can get a race change? I’m ok with this.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The mesmer magic is temporary though. The outside form changes, is in a sense an illusion, but inside it is still the mechanical critter.

I am very much against not only racial rerolling, but class rerolling via gemstore items. It would make class and race selection at the beginning essentially pointless. It would require no thought at all on the part of the person making a new character. They wouldn’t think long and hard about what they really wanted to do, because they could just throw real money at it and make it something else…of the same level, with no drawback what-so-ever. Definitely no.

Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this.

You would have a point if everyone already knew everything there was to know about the class they picked as a new player just getting the game. But they don’t, and at some point they may realize they made a mistake and want to change it without having that time they invested wasted.

foofad.5162:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The mesmer magic is temporary though. The outside form changes, is in a sense an illusion, but inside it is still the mechanical critter.

I am very much against not only racial rerolling, but class rerolling via gemstore items. It would make class and race selection at the beginning essentially pointless. It would require no thought at all on the part of the person making a new character. They wouldn’t think long and hard about what they really wanted to do, because they could just throw real money at it and make it something else…of the same level, with no drawback what-so-ever. Definitely no.

Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this.

You would have a point if everyone already knew everything there was to know about the class they picked as a new player just getting the game. But they don’t, and at some point they may realize they made a mistake and want to change it without having that time they invested wasted.

Then they make another class. And they learn that class as they play it up to max level.

It may turn out that they selected a class that they thought they would hate, but in learning it over the 80 level path, they discover they actually love it.

If you can just swap your class, or race at any point, you miss things. You miss out on learning to use your class. You miss out on racial specific story. It makes having to choose a race or class in the beginning pointless.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

foofad.5162:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The mesmer magic is temporary though. The outside form changes, is in a sense an illusion, but inside it is still the mechanical critter.

I am very much against not only racial rerolling, but class rerolling via gemstore items. It would make class and race selection at the beginning essentially pointless. It would require no thought at all on the part of the person making a new character. They wouldn’t think long and hard about what they really wanted to do, because they could just throw real money at it and make it something else…of the same level, with no drawback what-so-ever. Definitely no.

Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this.

You would have a point if everyone already knew everything there was to know about the class they picked as a new player just getting the game. But they don’t, and at some point they may realize they made a mistake and want to change it without having that time they invested wasted.

Then they make another class. And they learn that class as they play it up to max level.

It may turn out that they selected a class that they thought they would hate, but in learning it over the 80 level path, they discover they actually love it.

If you can just swap your class, or race at any point, you miss things. You miss out on learning to use your class. You miss out on racial specific story. It makes having to choose a race or class in the beginning pointless.

The original limitation was, how do you change the race without issues with the personal story? This provided a way to do it, when you enter a personal story instance it could swap you back to your original race.

I’m okay with Racial re-rolling tbh. Profession changing is just silly.
Why am I okay with Racial changes? Despite the “it should mean something” arguments I see so commonly there are many factors involved when enjoying a character that can evolve over time with one’s tastes. I used to love Human armor and always made Humans. Well now, a year later, I have 3 lvl 80 Humans and I find their armor rather boring because it’s always the same. I’d like to have a Norn and Sylvari as well but I’ll be dammed if I level duplicate professions just for a skin change. Race is a “appearance factor” when all is said and done and appearance related items should be sold in the gem store. They tried to make race mean something but at the end of the day it just doesn’t. There isn’t enough personal story to warrant limiting racial choices. If this was a RPG game that focused on us (the individual players) like the huge big deal the “Personal Story” was supposed to be I’d be against it but it’s moved on and forgotten those ways so should it move on and forget racial limitations.

Limitations on race change:
- Must be lvl 80.
- Completed X part in personal story. (Where X is past the final racial quest).
- Etc.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I am very much against not only racial rerolling, but class rerolling via gemstore items. It would make class and race selection at the beginning essentially pointless. It would require no thought at all on the part of the person making a new character. They wouldn’t think long and hard about what they really wanted to do, because they could just throw real money at it and make it something else…of the same level, with no drawback what-so-ever. Definitely no.

Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this.

So everyone should play the game the way you like to play the game? I’m not trying to be snarky but that’s the only reasoning I see in your post.

Some people do not care at all about lore or immersion, which should be obvious by the number of weird player names out there. If one of these people would like to change their race for appearance purposes without having to play the same class 1-80 again, a race change item would come in handy.

Is it really so offensive to you that people might create a character on a whim rather than as a well thought out plan that you need to vehemently be against a race change option?

I think you win anyway though, as ANet has said they have no plans to offer race change.

foofad.5162:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The mesmer magic is temporary though. The outside form changes, is in a sense an illusion, but inside it is still the mechanical critter.

I am very much against not only racial rerolling, but class rerolling via gemstore items. It would make class and race selection at the beginning essentially pointless. It would require no thought at all on the part of the person making a new character. They wouldn’t think long and hard about what they really wanted to do, because they could just throw real money at it and make it something else…of the same level, with no drawback what-so-ever. Definitely no.

Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this.

You would have a point if everyone already knew everything there was to know about the class they picked as a new player just getting the game. But they don’t, and at some point they may realize they made a mistake and want to change it without having that time they invested wasted.

So a new player is new and doesn’t realize available choices and at some point thinks a better option is available. You honestly think it’s wiser to suggest that player spend real money on something they have so little invested in? Or that they should just keep playing because, after changing up their characters it’d be less likely they ‘realize’ another ‘mistake’? It’s called buyer’s remorse.

Castaliea.3156:

I’m okay with Racial re-rolling tbh. Profession changing is just silly.
Why am I okay with Racial changes? Despite the “it should mean something” arguments I see so commonly there are many factors involved when enjoying a character that can evolve over time with one’s tastes. I used to love Human armor and always made Humans. Well now, a year later, I have 3 lvl 80 Humans and I find their armor rather boring because it’s always the same. I’d like to have a Norn and Sylvari as well but I’ll be dammed if I level duplicate professions just for a skin change. Race is a “appearance factor” when all is said and done and appearance related items should be sold in the gem store. They tried to make race mean something but at the end of the day it just doesn’t. There isn’t enough personal story to warrant limiting racial choices. If this was a RPG game that focused on us (the individual players) like the huge big deal the “Personal Story” was supposed to be I’d be against it but it’s moved on and forgotten those ways so should it move on and forget racial limitations.

Limitations on race change:
- Must be lvl 80.
- Completed X part in personal story. (Where X is past the final racial quest).
- Etc.

Then I don’t think the appearance part means all that much to you.

So you feel you can’t be bothered playing the same profession because apparently you didn’t like the content enough for it? Why not ask for the content to be improved then or ask for more? I think the devs would be more likely to do that.

As for playing the same profession, lol I have 2 Warriors! Because Charr look too silly wielding a GS and an Asura looks too goofy using Axes. They’re both lvl 80 and I play my PvP/WvW with the Asura, my dungeons/solo content with my Charr and I tend to swap between each when the desire hits. I know I would have been disappointed if I spent gems on a race change on the Charr because he looked dumb with a GS only to find out the weapons are quite small and the animations for Axes looks like goofy ballerina spins on the Asura. Same goes for when they finally release the Tengu as a playable race and how I wanted to make a Tengu Ranger but settled with a Human, would be totally ignorant of me to go spend gems on something I don’t even know I’ll enjoy.

If you’re so eager to throw gems around to get the look you want, why not instead invest in a spare character slot? You can do a whole lot with an extra character slot too!

I wouldn’t mind having “Battle Ready” tonics that would let you change your appearance, but keep all your skills and traits (rather than changing your skills or removing them altogether).

By extension, I don’t think it would be a problem to have, say, a “Battle Charr Tonic” that turns your character into a Charr for a while (maybe even have an unlimited tonic available), which you keep all your skills, traits, and personal story status.

Leo G.4501:

Castaliea.3156:

I’m okay with Racial re-rolling tbh. Profession changing is just silly.
Why am I okay with Racial changes? Despite the “it should mean something” arguments I see so commonly there are many factors involved when enjoying a character that can evolve over time with one’s tastes. I used to love Human armor and always made Humans. Well now, a year later, I have 3 lvl 80 Humans and I find their armor rather boring because it’s always the same. I’d like to have a Norn and Sylvari as well but I’ll be dammed if I level duplicate professions just for a skin change. Race is a “appearance factor” when all is said and done and appearance related items should be sold in the gem store. They tried to make race mean something but at the end of the day it just doesn’t. There isn’t enough personal story to warrant limiting racial choices. If this was a RPG game that focused on us (the individual players) like the huge big deal the “Personal Story” was supposed to be I’d be against it but it’s moved on and forgotten those ways so should it move on and forget racial limitations.

Limitations on race change:
- Must be lvl 80.
- Completed X part in personal story. (Where X is past the final racial quest).
- Etc.

Then I don’t think the appearance part means all that much to you.

So you feel you can’t be bothered playing the same profession because apparently you didn’t like the content enough for it? Why not ask for the content to be improved then or ask for more? I think the devs would be more likely to do that.

As for playing the same profession, lol I have 2 Warriors! Because Charr look too silly wielding a GS and an Asura looks too goofy using Axes. They’re both lvl 80 and I play my PvP/WvW with the Asura, my dungeons/solo content with my Charr and I tend to swap between each when the desire hits. I know I would have been disappointed if I spent gems on a race change on the Charr because he looked dumb with a GS only to find out the weapons are quite small and the animations for Axes looks like goofy ballerina spins on the Asura. Same goes for when they finally release the Tengu as a playable race and how I wanted to make a Tengu Ranger but settled with a Human, would be totally ignorant of me to go spend gems on something I don’t even know I’ll enjoy.

If you’re so eager to throw gems around to get the look you want, why not instead invest in a spare character slot? You can do a whole lot with an extra character slot too!

First, how can race mean a lot to me? It has nothing to do with anything. It might have at some point but the game has long since gone in the other direction. I fell in love with the Lore of GW long ago and when GW2 came out they had such a big emphasis on “Personal Story” and bringing back the RPG of MMORPG. They didn’t, at all. By the end of the “Personal” story you didn’t even matter. Somehow they made you even less significant than you were in GW1. As i said, If I had any sort of RPG attachment to this game I’d stay away from Race changing. However, they have long since moved away from personal stories and RPG elements, not I, they. Race has stop meaning anything other than appearance which you even admitted to. You don’t even have RPG attachments to your characters from your description. You just don’t like racial animations or weapon appearance. Using your same argument why don’t you ask for the animations to be improved on? Because you like something about both races. What if you didn’t? Then you’d have to level a whole new character of the same profession to 80, buy new gear, waste all of that time just so you can be happy with your appearance. This change does not effect you in any way and you’re only against it based on an ideal that has long since been abandoned by the very people that imprinted that ideal onto you.

Facepunch.5710:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I am very much against not only racial rerolling, but class rerolling via gemstore items. It would make class and race selection at the beginning essentially pointless. It would require no thought at all on the part of the person making a new character. They wouldn’t think long and hard about what they really wanted to do, because they could just throw real money at it and make it something else…of the same level, with no drawback what-so-ever. Definitely no.

Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this.

So everyone should play the game the way you like to play the game? I’m not trying to be snarky but that’s the only reasoning I see in your post.

Some people do not care at all about lore or immersion, which should be obvious by the number of weird player names out there. If one of these people would like to change their race for appearance purposes without having to play the same class 1-80 again, a race change item would come in handy.

Is it really so offensive to you that people might create a character on a whim rather than as a well thought out plan that you need to vehemently be against a race change option?

I think you win anyway though, as ANet has said they have no plans to offer race change.

The OP asked whether I was for or against. I gave my stance and my reasonings behind it and everyone felt the need to jump on me because my stance is different than theirs. Yes, I feel strongly about it, but I didn’t attack anyone in my response, yet people suddenly feel the need to do so to me.

Yes, I feel that when you select a race and class, it should mean something. Not just some arbitrary ‘click-click I’m done. If I dont care for it there’s no penalty to just swap’ and I stand behind that opinion. If you dont care about your character, why are you making one? If you dont care about what race you are, or what profession you are, how are you ever going to ‘care’ about the world you are supposed to be saving? Why not just play a console rpg where there is no character selection then, they just put you into some prefabbed char’s shoes, because none of it matters. If you dont care about lore…ok, fine, lot of people dont care for the lore. Immersion on the other hand….then why are you playing again? Without immersion, I cant see how the game would be enjoyable at all… and from the numerous threads kittening about lack of immersion, I think many would agree there.

You don’t have to be of the same opinion. You don’t even have to like my reasonings behind it. That’s fine. But if people want to be kittens to me because I have a difference of opinion, I have no issue being a kitten, with a capitol B, right back.

I am not saying anyone has to play the game a specific way. Like I said, I simply offered my opinion, my stance, on the question asked. Kitten, I wasn’t even mean about it. I simply said I was strongly against it, and why. You people make it seem like I came out and said ‘Absolutely not. No one can ever change their race. If they made it they have to play it because I kitten said so and if they don’t like it they can lick my toes and whine like a bunch of pansy kitten kittens.’ Which, really is nothing like what I said. Essentially this line “Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this” was a summation of everything I had already said. Sheesh.

Castaliea.3156:

First, how can race mean a lot to me? It has nothing to do with anything. It might have at some point but the game has long since gone in the other direction. I fell in love with the Lore of GW long ago and when GW2 came out they had such a big emphasis on “Personal Story” and bringing back the RPG of MMORPG. They didn’t, at all. By the end of the “Personal” story you didn’t even matter. Somehow they made you even less significant than you were in GW1. As i said, If I had any sort of RPG attachment to this game I’d stay away from Race changing. However, they have long since moved away from personal stories and RPG elements, not I, they. Race has stop meaning anything other than appearance which you even admitted to. You don’t even have RPG attachments to your characters from your description. You just don’t like racial animations or weapon appearance. Using your same argument why don’t you ask for the animations to be improved on? Because you like something about both races. What if you didn’t? Then you’d have to level a whole new character of the same profession to 80, buy new gear, waste all of that time just so you can be happy with your appearance. This change does not effect you in any way and you’re only against it based on an ideal that has long since been abandoned by the very people that imprinted that ideal onto you.

I don’t state my connections to race because they take too long to go over point by point. But if there’s anything that City of Heroes ever taught me, it’s that the less emphasis the story dictates upon your character, the easier it is to build personal bonds and stories of your character yourself. The game already starts dictating some things about your character depending on your race but that it doesn’t delve too deep is why you can just do it yourself.

Being involved with the game’s story is one thing, making personal connections with your character/race/appearance is another. Just because you can’t figure out how to express yourself as a character doesn’t automatically mean the game fails.

Leo G.4501:

Castaliea.3156:

First, how can race mean a lot to me? It has nothing to do with anything. It might have at some point but the game has long since gone in the other direction. I fell in love with the Lore of GW long ago and when GW2 came out they had such a big emphasis on “Personal Story” and bringing back the RPG of MMORPG. They didn’t, at all. By the end of the “Personal” story you didn’t even matter. Somehow they made you even less significant than you were in GW1. As i said, If I had any sort of RPG attachment to this game I’d stay away from Race changing. However, they have long since moved away from personal stories and RPG elements, not I, they. Race has stop meaning anything other than appearance which you even admitted to. You don’t even have RPG attachments to your characters from your description. You just don’t like racial animations or weapon appearance. Using your same argument why don’t you ask for the animations to be improved on? Because you like something about both races. What if you didn’t? Then you’d have to level a whole new character of the same profession to 80, buy new gear, waste all of that time just so you can be happy with your appearance. This change does not effect you in any way and you’re only against it based on an ideal that has long since been abandoned by the very people that imprinted that ideal onto you.

I don’t state my connections to race because they take too long to go over point by point. But if there’s anything that City of Heroes ever taught me, it’s that the less emphasis the story dictates upon your character, the easier it is to build personal bonds and stories of your character yourself. The game already starts dictating some things about your character depending on your race but that it doesn’t delve too deep is why you can just do it yourself.

Being involved with the game’s story is one thing, making personal connections with your character/race/appearance is another. Just because you can’t figure out how to express yourself as a character doesn’t automatically mean the game fails.

How can you make personal connections with your character if there is no story? I know full well what you mean and in RPGs I do so. The problem is that what you describe doing is for an RPG. GW2 is not an RPG and if you want to call it an RPG it’s a very lazy RPG that makes you do all the role playing in your head, not in the game, like you just admitted to. That is why it’s a failure in this particular role playing regard and despite at one time being vehemently against Race changes I now support them as the game has moved vast distances away from an RPG.

What it comes down to is “Is GW2 still a strong RPG or simply an MMO?”. You may still feel ties to the few RPG elements inserted into the game but over the course of this year, (and due to the introduction of “Living World”) for years to come, has and will no longer be an RPG.

didnt guild wars 1 towards the end have class swapping? class swapping should only be available to max level characters, so that if you like the way your character looks and cant remember how you got it there or what you picked, you can just switch classes without having to completely start over.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The OP asked whether I was for or against. I gave my stance and my reasonings behind it and everyone felt the need to jump on me because my stance is different than theirs. Yes, I feel strongly about it, but I didn’t attack anyone in my response, yet people suddenly feel the need to do so to me.

Yes, I feel that when you select a race and class, it should mean something. Not just some arbitrary ‘click-click I’m done. If I dont care for it there’s no penalty to just swap’ and I stand behind that opinion. If you dont care about your character, why are you making one? If you dont care about what race you are, or what profession you are, how are you ever going to ‘care’ about the world you are supposed to be saving? Why not just play a console rpg where there is no character selection then, they just put you into some prefabbed char’s shoes, because none of it matters. If you dont care about lore…ok, fine, lot of people dont care for the lore. Immersion on the other hand….then why are you playing again? Without immersion, I cant see how the game would be enjoyable at all… and from the numerous threads kittening about lack of immersion, I think many would agree there.

You don’t have to be of the same opinion. You don’t even have to like my reasonings behind it. That’s fine. But if people want to be kittens to me because I have a difference of opinion, I have no issue being a kitten, with a capitol B, right back.

I am not saying anyone has to play the game a specific way. Like I said, I simply offered my opinion, my stance, on the question asked. Kitten, I wasn’t even mean about it. I simply said I was strongly against it, and why. You people make it seem like I came out and said ‘Absolutely not. No one can ever change their race. If they made it they have to play it because I kitten said so and if they don’t like it they can lick my toes and whine like a bunch of pansy kitten kittens.’ Which, really is nothing like what I said. Essentially this line “Race and class selection should mean something, and gemstore swaps trivialize this” was a summation of everything I had already said. Sheesh.

Again, I wasn’t trying to be snarky or mean, I just think that personal opinions should be formed with potential effects on others in mind. I understand that you’re saying you wouldn’t want a race change option, but is that the only thing you factor in when deciding if you’re for or against something, how much it appeals to you personally?

I’m actually inclined to agree with you and say that I wouldn’t use a race change either for many of the same reasons, but I’d still be strongly for them because it seems many, many people would like to change race and them doing so wouldn’t affect me negatively in the slightest.

Against class change. However, if they were to later introduce new playable races I would hate to delete a char or dupe a class in order to get it. (Would delete my thief and reroll it into skritt if I had to).

Castaliea.3156:

Leo G.4501:

Castaliea.3156:

First, how can race mean a lot to me? It has nothing to do with anything. It might have at some point but the game has long since gone in the other direction. I fell in love with the Lore of GW long ago and when GW2 came out they had such a big emphasis on “Personal Story” and bringing back the RPG of MMORPG. They didn’t, at all. By the end of the “Personal” story you didn’t even matter. Somehow they made you even less significant than you were in GW1. As i said, If I had any sort of RPG attachment to this game I’d stay away from Race changing. However, they have long since moved away from personal stories and RPG elements, not I, they. Race has stop meaning anything other than appearance which you even admitted to. You don’t even have RPG attachments to your characters from your description. You just don’t like racial animations or weapon appearance. Using your same argument why don’t you ask for the animations to be improved on? Because you like something about both races. What if you didn’t? Then you’d have to level a whole new character of the same profession to 80, buy new gear, waste all of that time just so you can be happy with your appearance. This change does not effect you in any way and you’re only against it based on an ideal that has long since been abandoned by the very people that imprinted that ideal onto you.

I don’t state my connections to race because they take too long to go over point by point. But if there’s anything that City of Heroes ever taught me, it’s that the less emphasis the story dictates upon your character, the easier it is to build personal bonds and stories of your character yourself. The game already starts dictating some things about your character depending on your race but that it doesn’t delve too deep is why you can just do it yourself.

Being involved with the game’s story is one thing, making personal connections with your character/race/appearance is another. Just because you can’t figure out how to express yourself as a character doesn’t automatically mean the game fails.

How can you make personal connections with your character if there is no story? I know full well what you mean and in RPGs I do so. The problem is that what you describe doing is for an RPG. GW2 is not an RPG and if you want to call it an RPG it’s a very lazy RPG that makes you do all the role playing in your head, not in the game, like you just admitted to. That is why it’s a failure in this particular role playing regard and despite at one time being vehemently against Race changes I now support them as the game has moved vast distances away from an RPG.

What it comes down to is “Is GW2 still a strong RPG or simply an MMO?”. You may still feel ties to the few RPG elements inserted into the game but over the course of this year, (and due to the introduction of “Living World”) for years to come, has and will no longer be an RPG.

Lol players these days don’t know the definition of ‘RPG’.

Facepunch.5710:

Again, I wasn’t trying to be snarky or mean, I just think that personal opinions should be formed with potential effects on others in mind. I understand that you’re saying you wouldn’t want a race change option, but is that the only thing you factor in when deciding if you’re for or against something, how much it appeals to you personally?

I’m actually inclined to agree with you and say that I wouldn’t use a race change either for many of the same reasons, but I’d still be strongly for them because it seems many, many people would like to change race and them doing so wouldn’t affect me negatively in the slightest.

Yeah, sorry wasn’t intending to go nuclear on you as it wasn’t specifically you I was railing at. Just the straw that broke the camels back kind of thing.

I’m in agreement with LanfearShardowflame in that I’m generally against the idea of race or profession changes. There are precious few choices in GW2 that actually affect much of the way you play the game, but these are, to ME, two of them. Making it possible to change your mind at any point sort of takes away the whole point of creating a character with any “history” or attributes at all.

I agree that some people made mistakes when creating their character – but I maintain that it doesn’t take you to get to level 80 to realise those mistakes. All of them will be painfully obvious to you before level 20 (at the latest, 30). It doesn’t take long to get to level 30, and you probably haven’t invested that much money in that char either, so re-rolling isn’t the hassle it would be for a level 80 char that’s been your main for a year.

This is all simply my opinion. I am not against the option per se – other people using it doesn’t affect MY game at all, so if ANet see fit to add one in, then that’s up to them and I’ll ignore it happily. But insofar as my general opinion on the matter, then I am against it because of the reasons stated above.

I have a question for those in this thread who are opposed to the idea of racial change: do you have a problem with Total Makeover Kits and Name Change Contracts? Both of those are already in game, so players can already change the appearance, gender, and name of a character.

I don’t have a problem with the idea of a race change item. Unless a player is looking for access to a specific racial ability, it’s really about aesthetics. If changing the aesthetics of a character is going to keep a player interested in playing the game, then I’m all for it. And changing aesthetics doesn’t really impact anyone in any appreciable way.

ANet has said that they don’t have any plans for racial change options, but if I were a betting man, I’d wager they will offer one in the future, as it could be a real money maker for them. People didn’t think Blizzard would sell many of them in WoW, but they certainly did (and continue to).

I’m happy with the choices I’ve made, so I wouldn’t buy a race change item. But I certainly would not mind if other people did.

Spiral Architect.6540:

I have a question for those in this thread who are opposed to the idea of racial change: do you have a problem with Total Makeover Kits and Name Change Contracts? Both of those are already in game, so players can already change the appearance, gender, and name of a character.

No I have no issues with these… in fact, you can do all of this IRL too. However, changing your appearance, or your name, or even your gender, does not change who you are as a person. Your history is still your history. You are still you.

Racial changes, make you someone else completely. Different history, different game play, its more than just a cosmetic change. If we can simply change this at any point, then what is the point of selecting a back story for a character at all? It becomes a wasted effort for anet to have set up branching stories, because now they no longer matter. We may as well just have a single generic story background, with no branching or personalization at that point.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Spiral Architect.6540:

I have a question for those in this thread who are opposed to the idea of racial change: do you have a problem with Total Makeover Kits and Name Change Contracts? Both of those are already in game, so players can already change the appearance, gender, and name of a character.

No I have no issues with these… in fact, you can do all of this IRL too. However, changing your appearance, or your name, or even your gender, does not change who you are as a person. Your history is still your history. You are still you.

Racial changes, make you someone else completely. Different history, different game play, its more than just a cosmetic change. If we can simply change this at any point, then what is the point of selecting a back story for a character at all? It becomes a wasted effort for anet to have set up branching stories, because now they no longer matter. We may as well just have a single generic story background, with no branching or personalization at that point.

Basically, this^.

Though it’s probably worth saying that apart from changing hair style or colour from time to time, I don’t change any of my characters because I spend a long time in character creation getting them just the way I like them.

But in general, I agree with what Lanfear has said – the two kits you mentioned deal with cosmetic changes only, and don’t change who you are (though an argument could be made for changing genders, but again, I wouldn’t have given that option). Changing race changes everything about that character and basically reduces it to the point where it means nothing. I don’t like that. As I said before, if other people don’t like that, then that’s fine and if they wanted to use an item to change this well then that’s up to them. But I’m against it in general.

I certainly respect your opinions, but I see it differently. To me, my character means nothing – it is just pixels on a screen. If the personal story actually had any impact on who a character becomes, I might feel differently about the matter, but it doesn’t.

To me, race choice in GW2 is merely an aesthetic choice, so it doesn’t’ matter to me if someone wants to change their mind later.

Spiral Architect.6540:

I have a question for those in this thread who are opposed to the idea of racial change: do you have a problem with Total Makeover Kits and Name Change Contracts? Both of those are already in game, so players can already change the appearance, gender, and name of a character.

I don’t have a problem with the idea of a race change item. Unless a player is looking for access to a specific racial ability, it’s really about aesthetics. If changing the aesthetics of a character is going to keep a player interested in playing the game, then I’m all for it. And changing aesthetics doesn’t really impact anyone in any appreciable way.

ANet has said that they don’t have any plans for racial change options, but if I were a betting man, I’d wager they will offer one in the future, as it could be a real money maker for them. People didn’t think Blizzard would sell many of them in WoW, but they certainly did (and continue to).

I’m happy with the choices I’ve made, so I wouldn’t buy a race change item. But I certainly would not mind if other people did.

For some, it’s extremely jarring from an RP perspective.

In a highly customization focused game like City of Heroes, there were ways to change costumes, size, body type, gender, everything but ‘class’ and origin and it made sense because there is no emphasis on race. You can create an alien without a sex, a monster demon or horny catgirl. Going to a surgeon/facelifter to change your appearance drastically can draw from the vast possibilities of comic book logic.

In GW2, there is emphasis on race. Asura do not allow other races into their colleges. Norn’s importance is on their legend built over the course of their lives. Charr have shaky relations with Humans. So on and so forth. Changing from one race to another makes about as much sense as waking up and deciding “I’m tired of being a caucasian canadian…I think I’ll be chinese this week!”

Changing your appearance doesn’t change the fact that you’re still Canadian and you have no ancestry from China. It makes even less sense considering that the Races of Tyria aren’t even races, they are species. So change the above example with “I’m tired of being human today…I’ll be a squirrel this week!” If we can just have our characters swap races, then there shouldn’t be any animosity between races, especially the Charr and Humans. If you can just swap into the other’s race, then war solved.

A proposed race change mechanic would have to step completely outside of the mechanics of everything else in the game which has even the barest of explanations such as a makeover kit being able to change your gender (the kit does come with a pair of scissors)http://amd-icbm.com/icbm/media/uploads/2013/01/guild-wars-2-3-Day-New-Years-Sale-jan-5-2012-home-600x474.png

Dante.1763:

didnt guild wars 1 towards the end have class swapping? class swapping should only be available to max level characters, so that if you like the way your character looks and cant remember how you got it there or what you picked, you can just switch classes without having to completely start over.

Hmmm. Sort of. You had your main class and then your secondary class. For example my main was a Ritualist/Ranger. You could change your secondary class, in this case the Ranger part, once you got to a certain quest. However, and this was a big one, even if you fully specced into your secondary class as far as you could, you were still weaker than a true character in that class as you didn’t have access to the main class attribute. Sort of like a Warrior who doesn’t have access to Adrenaline.