I’d much rather change a current class as opposed to race. A race change would be a drastic change to the personal story, whereas a class change would simply (loosely) restrict a character from using its current available armor(s)/weps. And change some dialogue options.
A lot of people point to the personal story as a reason for not getting this,
Not quite.
Copying data is easy. Pasting data is easy. Editing is easy. (Well, with complications.)
What’s challenging is determining the consequences of doing any of that. Personal story is just an obvious thing that has obvious side effects; it’s not the only potential issue.
All the programming for the last 4.5 years (and longer, probably) has been made under the assumption that race & profession are unchangeable. Breaking that assumption requires a lot of checking & cross-checking, without knowing what exactly might be affected.
I realize some people may find it easy to just create a new character and start over that way, but there are so many soulbound parts of the game and I’ve invested so much time into each one that it’s just not worth the effort.
That’s an entirely reasonable idea.
So you might be in a good position to see that from ANet’s point of view, they, too, have invested “so much time” into race being intertwined with the entire idea of “character”. You might also see how, to them, it’s “not worth the effort” given that there are so many other suggestions out there that require similar effort.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
I’m going to leave aside the problems with Person and Living World stories, and make this point:
Assuming most people who would go for a race change would not only need to change the race, but the name of the character, and assuming that they would also like to edit the look of the new race when the race change is done, that’s already the cost in gems of an Identity Repair Kit on top of a race change kit.
It would most likely be cheaper to get a character slot instead from the gem store, so probably not worth ArenaNet’s or most players’ worthwhile.
Don’t delete your old characters.
If you still have available character slots,create a new character of the the race and profession you like.
If you are an old player you probably have hoarded up on birthday scrolls and experience tomes,and it will take you all of 2 min to max level your toon with all the trait lines but the elite spec,unlocked.
If you don’t have a remaining character slot,buy one from the gem store.
Everything else in this thread is fluff and kitten.
GW2 has THE easiest levelling of all times,especially for veteran players it hands out free lvl 80s like candy.
-Win a pip,lose a pip,win a pip,lose a pip,lose a pip,
lose a pip,win 2 pips,lose a pip,lose a pip…………..-
-Go go Espartz.-
I’ll give folks the point about bag slots. However, you’ll have to weigh it against potential price for a race change. Essentially, if the race change would cost 2k gems (a price point suggested in this thread iirc), that’s equal to a character slot + 3 bag slots at full price.
I would have happily paid 2k gems to be able to race change my mesmer when I was changing from a human to sylvari… then back to a human. The joy of deleting the two commander tags, and re-buying bag slots still stings a bit xD
@Aenaos.8160: What you consider fluff other players may find value in being able to carry over.
I don’t think race change will ever be possible. From remarks about other topics they’ve said that changing baseline code would result in a lot of bugs that would be extremely difficult to find and fix.
What maybe they could offer those who want a race change is a gemstore bundle with a level 80 boost, a name change contract and a use once gizmo that gives one char map completion of vanilla Tyria (with the understanding that that char gets no map completion rewards, karma or Gift of Exploration for that learned area). You’d still have to relearn any new maps but that might be a sufficient compromise to satisfy most people who want a race change.
Be careful what you ask for
ANet may give it to you.
I believe others have already stated why it will never be implemented.
Also, it is not needed as you can easily create a new character power-level it to 80 via either tomes or professions and delete the old one after moving your stuff (only if you need that character slot). Ascended gear and legendaries are account bound, exotic armor is basically free. The only downside is map completion (which you would do anyways and if not=huge profit by selling legendaries)
No need for race change.
In the Vanilla game I could see their reasons to hold back from a Race Change token in the Gem Store, as it effects the first three chapters of your story. But with each expansion, as our story continues to revolve around a generic “commander”, I could see them offering one now. As a 2k Gem item I’m sure their return would be a profitable one, and they could make it conditional (Can’t use the token until you’ve chosen an Order so it won’t effect your story).
it would be a logistical and programming nightmare
It would also mess up the “your story” aspect, since there are so many choices, with many being tied to race.
It would best to just reroll and have fun with what you wanted to play.
Nope, never going to happen. Get over it, buy a new slot simple as that.
LOL…..people used to say that about mounts too (never say never)
The reasons people said mounts wouldn’t happen was based in design & psychology: in effect, people thought ANet didn’t want them because (they thought) not enough of the community wanted them.
The reasons people say that race change won’t happen are economics, nothing to do with opinion. Changing race involves dealing with a lot of complex mechanics behind the scenes, including progress in the personal story — there’s simply no easy way to reset it, let alone adapt it.
That makes it extremely costly in resources, without offering much to the entire community. Lots of people have no interest in race change contracts and we already have a viable work-around: new character slots, which surely aren’t going to be more expensive than a race-change contract.
In short, people say that race-change (and a new race) aren’t likely because of the costs, not because of anyone’s desire to see them (or not see them) in the game.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
How do people not understand that its not about gear or money!?!?!? MMOs are a huge time investment and when someone has been playing a character since launch, going through the story and exploring the world with them, they get attached. i rolled a new character because race change wasnt available and honestly i regret spending my level 80 boost and about 20G on exotic equipment. i havent even played that character because i dont want to mess around doing everything again because i like my norn too much. i just want to make him little. like a human.
a purely cosmetic race change would not be that hard to implement. no story change, no lore change. just change the way the character looks. it could even introduce some interesting rp. an asura who grew up with and acts like a norn. or a civilized charr who grew up with humans.
How do people not understand that its not about gear or money!?!?!? MMOs are a huge time investment and when someone has been playing a character since launch, going through the story and exploring the world with them, they get attached. i rolled a new character because race change wasnt available and honestly i regret spending my level 80 boost and about 20G on exotic equipment. i havent even played that character because i dont want to mess around doing everything again because i like my norn too much. i just want to make him little. like a human.
a purely cosmetic race change would not be that hard to implement. no story change, no lore change. just change the way the character looks. it could even introduce some interesting rp. an asura who grew up with and acts like a norn. or a civilized charr who grew up with humans.
Not sure how you can accurately say that you, “like my norn too much,” if you dont want him to be a norn.
How do people not understand that its not about gear or money!?!?!?
Apparently the same way you think that money isn’t a factor in ANet’s decisions about what features to prioritize.
No one denies that there are legit reasons to want a race-change feature. What folks are saying is that the cost of offering such a feature far exceed the benefits.
a purely cosmetic race change would not be that hard to implement.
ANet says otherwise. Race is fundamental to various aspects of the character as kept in the database. There are many systems that depend on the assumption that race doesn’t change. Now, probably ANet should have realized before they started coding the game that people might want to change race and built in the ability to swap, but since they didn’t, it’s a lot more than just changing how things look.
no story change, no lore change. just change the way the character looks.
It is a story change. It is a lore change. Race is inherent to both.
tl;dr it’s a costly feature to offer, with a relatively small number of people willing to pay the high gem cost that would be required to defray some of the development resources required. That makes the cost of offering it far higher than the benefits.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
