Guild Wars 2

- Kodan
- Centaur
- Ogre
- Dwarf
- Tengu

Plz add fast right? LoL

Dont tell me this is impossible because of some issue in lore they have free creation power to make any kind of lore to introduce a race as playable maybe they find some issues on armor skins which is izi to fix or animation like centaur doing a heartseeker lol.

Alright, I do agree a new race would be great however I think they need to go along with the lore. You may not like lore but it’s important for many games that introduce new races. I would also prefer fixes on Charr clipping before they add anything like a centaur to guild wars 2. Overall, I like the idea of Kodan and Tengu but Dwarf cannot due to lore and Ogre and Centaur don’t really fit the image of guild wars 2 imo.

There is a Tengu with a drawn bow in the news about PvP paths. That´s how desperate I am looking for some Tengus even in news not even concerning them.^^

I believe you find Tengu in Stronghold, hence the pictures.

If they add another race it would have to be the Tengu. It’s already in their lore and there is evidence that it might have been in the workings once. Tengu is fine but it feels like just another animal race – just another Charr. I’m more likely to play an elfish race but actual elves wouldn’t be added because Guild Wars has their own lore and mobs. People would complain they were copying everyone else if they added elves. Still, if they added dark elves I would play them.

But what I would really like to see is merfolk. Reasoning – it’s not been done in any mmo other than Perfect World and that game… umm lacks. But with GW2 extensive underwater landscapes a mer would fit in well. Of course they would have to have landlegs when they exited the water but that’s okay.

Be nice if we could get some lovely long hairs for both male and fems with a class like mer folk. Also an option to make a few uglier mer folk for variety.

When will people learn finally, that certain races will never come, because Anet clearly has said, that they count for the game#s story as “lesser races”.

So we will never see races become playable that are:

- Ogres
- Quaggan
- Skritt
- Grawls

Dwarfs will never become playable out of lore reason too.. there exists in the game only 1 single Dwarf and that is Ogden, he is already OFFICIALLY the LAST ONE OF HIS KIND for the other races. If you want classical 0815 races like dwarves, elves of millions of sorts and so so, go please play one of the many 0815 MMORPGs that are out there, like LOTRO, WoW and Co. which provide these 0815 races that absolutely every classical mmo rpg has. Guild Wars is different… thats why we have Charr, Asuras and Sylvari and not the typical 0815 pabulum

From all the rest of possibilites that are there I think the only ones that ever should become playable are:

• Tengus
• Largos (after a redesign)

Centaurs will never become playable out of two simple reasons that should be very easy to grasp

1) They are by design and lore the main enemy currently of the Humans!!
2) Centaurs are unable to swim and dive!! They are simply impossible to design for any Underwater Content
A horse just can barely swim, as long theres ground under their legs, but take away the ground under their legs and the swimming will become quickly a death trap for them once they run out of endurance to keep their massive bodies/nose above the water to breathe.
A horse practically doesn’t swim, it goes through the water as long it has contact to the ground more or less to keep its nose above the water mirror. Or have you ever seen a horse diving under water? Not to mention that Anet would have to make completely new movement animations and all that extra for them just to make them viable for a game content part, that has seen since game release absolutely no attention at all!!

Then rather Largos, which are much more likely to become a playable race, are enemies of no one, have a humanous body shape, so no need to make for them special new animations extra like for a 4 legger it would be needed and which are per se also a much more interestign race, than the Centaurs.
Once we ar so far to go finally again the deep sea dragon, I think it will be most likely that the Largos could become then a playable race, once we learn about htme also alot more…whenever that will be… by the spee we go currently agaisnt the dragons, most likely in like 8+ years or so xD because surely we will set attention first on Jormag, Primordus and Kralkatorrik before we ever get to see the deep sea dragon, nor finally get to know even its name >.>

Drow.2081:

If they add another race it would have to be the Tengu. It’s already in their lore and there is evidence that it might have been in the workings once. Tengu is fine but it feels like just another animal race – just another Charr. I’m more likely to play an elfish race but actual elves wouldn’t be added because Guild Wars has their own lore and mobs. People would complain they were copying everyone else if they added elves. Still, if they added dark elves I would play them.

But what I would really like to see is merfolk. Reasoning – it’s not been done in any mmo other than Perfect World and that game… umm lacks. But with GW2 extensive underwater landscapes a mer would fit in well. Of course they would have to have landlegs when they exited the water but that’s okay.

Be nice if we could get some lovely long hairs for both male and fems with a class like mer folk. Also an option to make a few uglier mer folk for variety.

You, my friend, should check out the Largos. They’re basically manta/mer-elves and would make perfect sense to become playable in any sort of future underwater expansion.

Scritt rule!!!!

Orpheal.8263:

From all the rest of possibilites that are there I think the only ones that ever should become playable are:

• Tengus
• Largos (after a redesign)
  >.>

I would rather the Largos not be redesign but to stay as is. With that being said, they’re original design would not fit our current characters armors. There would be horrible clipping issues with the wings. The Charr are not happy about their tail and horns clipping issues. There will be legions of players against the Largos’ wings clipping issues.

3 issues with this OP:

1 – No Skritt.
2 – Skritt not in the first place.
3 – No skritt, are you skritting me, what the skritt!?

Tengu hands down…….

Paulytnz.7619:

3 issues with this OP:

1 – No Skritt.
2 – Skritt not in the first place.
3 – No skritt, are you skritting me, what the skritt!?

….and these dudes.

fireflyry.7023:

Tengu hands down…….

Paulytnz.7619:

3 issues with this OP:

1 – No Skritt.
2 – Skritt not in the first place.
3 – No skritt, are you skritting me, what the skritt!?

….and these dudes.

Quaggin could be a decent enough replacement for the time being me thinks. :P

Tengu yes please, but the race i want the most, and that count be implemented imo is the Largos

Drow.2081:

If they add another race it would have to be the Tengu. It’s already in their lore and there is evidence that it might have been in the workings once. Tengu is fine but it feels like just another animal race – just another Charr. I’m more likely to play an elfish race but actual elves wouldn’t be added because Guild Wars has their own lore and mobs. People would complain they were copying everyone else if they added elves. Still, if they added dark elves I would play them.

But what I would really like to see is merfolk. Reasoning – it’s not been done in any mmo other than Perfect World and that game… umm lacks. But with GW2 extensive underwater landscapes a mer would fit in well. Of course they would have to have landlegs when they exited the water but that’s okay.

Be nice if we could get some lovely long hairs for both male and fems with a class like mer folk. Also an option to make a few uglier mer folk for variety.

Merfolk are a race, not class. There are male and female models in-game, of the evil Krait, similar to both Naga and Merfolk. They’d be best at using water magic, as Elementalists.

I seriously think the stronger candidates to become playable on a future expansion are the Tengu and the Quaggan.

We know the Tengu and their Dominion of Winds were in the original plans for GW2 launch, and there are models made, and that hole in the map clearly waiting to become a starting zone. Nothing to add here.

I know nobody would spect to see the Quaggan as a playable race (They will not be my first choice either), but I really believe they will become THE race for the Bubbles expac, simply because Anet have been quietly but consistently working on them with every new patch they add, both gameplay and lore wise.

Gameplay: Quaggan are actually one of the most polished “non-human racial transform” animation-wise, next to the plant wolfs. They began as simple reskins with extremely limited animations, very stiff and buggy. Watch them now: the ability to run and walk properly even backwards and very well done evade and jumping animations that are unique to them.

Lore: The lore specifiy how the Quaggan originally lived deep into the unending ocean but were leaving behind their homes when taken by krait and dragons. They have no home now, but can easily get a proper starter zone anywere in the unending ocean. While Quaggan are normally peaceful, they can transform into agressive creatures, and those who can control that behavior are feared and considered special. This is a great starting point for player character story, IMO.
Way more important: Quaggan are changing, from a background passive race without any relevant role in the fight against the dragons, to be much more determined, focused and active. They have a story that actually involves “becoming more” and “choosing their destiny”, which is hinted around in multiple dialogues from LS, and clearly stated with the new events in Verdant Brink, where that young Quaggan girl leads the attack against the Blighting Tree. Both she and her second in command literally stop using the generic "Quaggan" pronoun and began to say "I" in the process. I think the strong cultural change shown in this event chain is a hint to a much more impactul change for the race in the future. No other non playable race has received this level of dedication in GW2.

Largos. Hands down. And the reason why is probably the larger reason most seem to over look: Appeal.

If they make an existing race playable and they never have plans to add in a way to change your existing characters race then the new race has to be appealing enough to warrant rolling a whole new toon even if you’ve got every class. That appeal would be appearance.

There’s about 100 people tops who would reroll for the races you suggested but I promise loads would reroll for a Merfolk-Elf hybrid with wings by default.

Not my appeal at all… but you are right, appeal is the thing.

I still bet on Quaggan, though: I believe Anet has done the focus groups and marketing studies already, and Quaggan is one of the favorites. I don’t have numbers, just the hunch.

Why, exactly, do we need a new race? Because you’re bored? Why not try another game, then? I’m not trying to be hostile, these are serious questions. Not least because I’ve seen too many “we should have” posts on various game forums. New… race… class.. weapon…. Apologies for any offence the OP (or anyone else may feel), but I cannot remember a “New” suggestion that wasn’t born out of several degrees of ignorance. Allow me to explain before you bite…

I have been a re-enactor & a Medieval Martial Artist. I won’t claim I was especially good (although I wasn’t bad), but the point is that I know a good deal about the physical mechanics of the way weapons & armour work. Fantasy / game be bolloxed, if gravity doesn’t still work, then nothing else still works. GW2 may be a game, and a fantasy one, but gravity still holds sway, therefore…

In the early days of the game, I did hang around here somewhat. Some heavy-handed moderation put me off until recently; I do not criticise, I’m just doing, oh, full disclosure, is that the phrase? Anyway, I recall a fairly vigorous “New…” thread. Someone wanted the whip as a viable weapon. The whip is not a viable weapon. I don’t care what you claim, it just isn’t, alright? And I know what I’m talking about. As an off-hand adjunct, like the focus, yes, fine! But don’t try to tell me that a whip is going to do anything as a real weapon e.g. against heavy armour (in GW2). Poster. Wants! Whip!! My words were all water off a duck’s back.

Classes, ditto. I’ve seen sooooo many suggestions for new classes that are ridiculous, over-powered, or both. Everyone thinks samurai & ninja were supermen! Sorry to disillusion you!! They weren’t!!! But when someone wants something, especially when they don’t really understand what they’re asking for…

Races, of course, are slightly different. All of them are fantasy (with human as a “ground zero”). I can’t point out gravity, or over-romantic notions. If Anet choose to create a new race, they’ll make sure it balances against the others.

In the context of the current discussion, I’ll say that there’s only two realistic options, in my opinion – Quaggan & Hylek. Neither of which, funnily enough, are in Verminor’s OP. They’re the only two races that are widespread enough in Tyria to be justifiable. Yes, there’s the Skritt, but a Skritt on its own has an IQ of 10. Do you want to play a handicapped race? Because if Anet don’t make a playable Skritt terminally thick, they break their own lore (Disclaimer: Because this is the internet, I know I have to do this – I comment only that the Skritt, by Anet’s own lore, could not easily be made into a player race. If you want to read something else into my remarks, don’t waste your time, cos your inferences aren’t there, OK?).

How did it go… Kodan, Centaur, Ogre, Dwarf, Tengu. All of these races, bar the Dwarf are area specific. As someone has already pointed out, there’s only one Dwarf left so forget that entirely. You can find Humans, Charr, etc, across the world. Not so the rest (especially Tengu). Quaggan & Hylek at least turn up in multiple realms i.e. Kryta & Shiverpeaks & Ascalon & etc…

But the ignorance I mentioned before isn’t in this. It’s this – did you stop to consider what Anet have to do to introduce a new race? They have to expand the backstory of a lesser race enormously (because, bless ‘em, they do take that seriously). More to the point, they have to create an entire Personal Story that relates to A.N.Other new race. Worse, think how the current PS meshes together (I’ll assume you’ve played several races) – they have to integrate the new race into that, which means seriously altering every other race’s PS.

Suddenly, this is an awful lot of work that your casual suggestion didn’t stop to consider, isn’kitten And I doubt it stops there. Racial armour & weapon skins, blah, etc… Sorry, but I’ve been here since Day One. I’ve all classes at the cap, I’ve a spare slot that I’ve levelled to the cap, before deleting & restarting, on different classes / races so many times that I’ve lost count.

I am not trying to claim any primacy, but I’ve explored every strand & PS variation of every class & race that I can find. I’d rather Anet spent their limited time / money / resource (any PM’s out there? ) on creating good content that isn’t bugged.

I don’t need a new race. But it would be nice, just once, to have a patch that doesn’t need another patch within 24 hours. Priorities & all that…

Well yeah there would be a lot of work involved but if their focus for future expacs aren’t just moar elite specs then they’d have all the time they would have had to invest into that idea as opposed to a new race. I don’t see a new race happening. As fun as the idea sounds to half of the GW2 community I really don’t think that a new race is appealing enough to bring in new players OR fill hours of gameplay for the typical GW2 player now. New areas and new elite specs are going to be what new content consists of.

The problems with a new race, any new race, is the limited amount of new game play that it brings compared to how much work is required to add it. It brings nothing new mechanically to the game, at all. The only real addition would be the starting city, 1/3 of a personal story, and a whole lot of graphics. The graphical work of modeling every single non racial armor in the game for them is enormous, plus the three new racial armors they’d have to model. In the end, you end up with something that really has no impact on the game for months and months of labor. Seriously, all that work, and absolutely no impact whatsoever once you get out of the starter personal story and in to the factions part.

Why would they waste their limited development time on something so overwhelmingly cosmetic?

The only things that could work in terms of “Enemy” playable races, would be a very long backstory lore for a specific clan of those races, where they become friendly to the major races due to those clans being saved, or having more intimate relations with the other races.

And like above, races are mainly cosmetic, other than racial skills and skins.

As for what race I would prefer? I would prefer some form of lamia or succubus/incubus. But I know these won’t happen due to how krait and imps are. I’d prefer clipping issues fixed, and additions of “Very Long” Hair options where hair can go below the behind.

imsoenthused.1634:

The problems with a new race, any new race, is the limited amount of new game play that it brings compared to how much work is required to add it. It brings nothing new mechanically to the game, at all. The only real addition would be the starting city, 1/3 of a personal story, and a whole lot of graphics. The graphical work of modeling every single non racial armor in the game for them is enormous, plus the three new racial armors they’d have to model. In the end, you end up with something that really has no impact on the game for months and months of labor. Seriously, all that work, and absolutely no impact whatsoever once you get out of the starter personal story and in to the factions part.

Why would they waste their limited development time on something so overwhelmingly cosmetic?

Flaw with your post where I have made bold. Sure it would be small but I would consider racial skills new mechanics.

That and roleplay and making a lot of people happy and giving them more variety I should say would make it all worth it imo.

“Why would they waste their limited development time on something so overwhelmingly cosmetic?”

You seem to forget just how much of a cosmetic game this is especially after level cap and what some people call end game. It becomes dress up Barbie which hey I am not knocking and many people enjoy. So why would players not want this to extend to the character at the most basic level?

Racial skills, because of Anets standing policy of always balancing them to be ineffective fluff inferior in pretty much every situation to class skills, don’t really matter. They’re about as important as adding emotes.

As for the cosmetic thing, sure cosmetics are big, but why waste development time on so many OLD cosmetics? Any “new” race is going to be one we’ve seen plenty of. All that modeling and art work to re-make all the existing armors for them is just going to be extensions of themes that you’ve already seen. The only truly new thing you’d get out of it is the three racial armor sets.

Roleplay, I don’t know how many people are actually involved in, maybe Anet knows. If enough of them, which I find incredibly doubtful, then maybe the upsides of a new race would be bigger than the overwhelming landslide of downsides.

I would love to see a new race. It’s more lore and culture to learn, more diversity amongst my characters and would give that “new game” sensation as you discover their new animations, voices and aesthetic.

Tengu is primary candidate- I believe Tengu were going to be playable at release, but they got cut. Maybe we’ll see them in the future.
Pros:
-We already see them in-game
-They have their own city, which is a necessity for a race. There is even a potential spot for a starter zone between Claw Island and Caledon Forest.
-Tengu were part of the first game and were somewhat important, meaning they have an interesting history and won’t just feel “tacked on”
-They are aesthetically different, it’d be nice to have 3 human-like and 3 not-so-human-like creatures
-Character-wise they are also quite different to the current playable races. They come off as very humble, wise and thoughtful.

Cons:
-Currently, Tengu share the Charr model (and the norn elite transform models). I think they’d need quite a rework to make them stand out a bit from the Charr, otherwise they’re just going to be another “beast” race.
-As with above, we’d probably see similar armour/clipping issues that we see with Charr
-(I’m struggling a bit to think of any more cons, I’m quite a strong advocate for Tengu :P )

WoodenPotatoes made a video about this topic a while back and I agree with his stance for the main part.

Skritt, Quaggan and Largos shouldn’t be playable races as their themes clash with the standpoint of a playable character.
-Skritt have a hive mind, so would be next to useless on their own as a single playable character
-Quaggan are too cutesy to be a playable character- think of playable character interactions with the NPCs. Think of the personal story… would a Quaggan (or Skritt) seriously be able to be Commander of the Pact? How could people trust a cute, simple-minded beast with the future of Tyria?
-Similarly, Largos would clash somewhat with the Personal Story, considering Trahearne makes a point of keeping Sayeh well away from other people (as she might frighten them). The whole Sayeh arc would have to be significantly changed to allow for the Largos race. The big appealing factor for Largos is that they’re secretive and quite independent, which also doesn’t really fit with the MMO/playable character theme.
-Any of the “semi-intelligent” races (Quaggan, Skritt, Ogres, Grawl, Ettins etc) would be a tricky candidate considering their dependency on the 5 playable races in the story. They’re made out to be naive and need baby-sitting… whereas the playable races are meant to be strong, dependable and the leader-type.
-Centaur are certainly more clever, but considering their aesthetic and their problems with the humans, I don’t think they’ll get a look-in.

EDIT: Forgot to mention Kodan and dwarves:
-Kodan are interesting, I think they could be a possibility but would be held back considering there can’t be too much aesthetic deviation there. Polar Bears are just big, white bears. Their lore and characteristics are quite unique, but at the same time they could clash a little with the Norn style-wise.
-A-net actually made a point of stepping away from Dwarves as they didn’t want to be like every other fantasy MMO. Considering that Ogden is the last of the dwarves, I think adding them as a playable race could be quite confusing.

That being said, character-wise and intelligence-wise, Kodan and Dwarves would fit the current story quite well in my opinion.

Tl;dr: When thinking of a new playable race, you have to consider how well they’ll fit in with the current events (PS, LS, expac). They’d need to “turn as few heads” as possible and make sense lore-wise. So, they need to be present in-game, have similar intelligence to current playable races and already have strong positive ties with current races too.

I don’t know about new races but new outfits that look like convincing werewolves would be great. Each race would have their own versions and things like fur could be dyed.

“Tl;dr: When thinking of a new playable race, you have to consider how well they’ll fit in with the current events (PS, LS, expac). They’d need to “turn as few heads” as possible and make sense lore-wise. So, they need to be present in-game, have similar intelligence to current playable races and already have strong positive ties with current races too.”

They could always make up new races. Keep in mind there’s so much uncharted territory.

OumaShu.4502:

Alright, I do agree a new race would be great however I think they need to go along with the lore. You may not like lore but it’s important for many games that introduce new races. I would also prefer fixes on Charr clipping before they add anything like a centaur to guild wars 2. Overall, I like the idea of Kodan and Tengu but Dwarf cannot due to lore and Ogre and Centaur don’t really fit the image of guild wars 2 imo.

They are the writers, they can bend lore in any way without breaking it.

Centaurs? Look at how they introduced Charr.

Dwarves? Is it really that impossible for a tribe or faction of Dwarves to have lived secluded all this time, or just in one of the currently inaccessible zones of the game?

Raedwulf.3712:

Why, exactly, do we need a new race? Because you’re bored? Why not try another game, then? I’m not trying to be hostile.

Yet you are being hostile, he wants some aesthetic changes, such as a new race, and you’re showing him the door. People are allowed to like things you don’t, you know?

Valid, Pauly, but much too limited. I don’t like to say “most / few”, but I suspect the RP community is very much a minority (and I’m on Piken for a reason). Racial mechanics? Do you use them? Really? Off the top of my head (because I’m not going to log through all my capped alts to check), I think I use no racial skills. Why would I? I can get class/trait-influenced bonuses for other skills. From the RP p-o-v, maybe my Necrokitty should be calling down artillery strikes. From the gameplay perspective it would be a stupid self-limiting choice. Only if I were RPing. I think I already mentioned RPing.

Imso is quite correct, in my view. A new race simply doesn’t add anything to game mechanics. The new race will still have the same sword skills, if they are a sword using class, the same sceptre skills if they are a sceptre using class. He argues the same point that I do – Anet have to do an awful lot of work to add… what? I’d rather they spent their limited resources elsewhere.

Raedwulf.3712:

Why, exactly, do we need a new race? Because you’re bored? Why not try another game, then? … -snip- …

First, someone said reroll. That’s a DDO term meaning to delete your character and make a new one. Which is not necessary in GW2 because you can buy extra spaces with irl / game cash. I would never delete my Sylvari. I’m still making more!

To Raedwolf – Not bored just envisioning an even brighter future. We’re all gamers here; we are trying other games. But GW2 is the best mmo atm – beating the competition. So I want to stay.

I didn’t know about the Largos until now. The design is good. Character creation options could allow for many types of Largos not just what is in the wiki picture. There are already wings in game you can buy on TP. If they clip oh well let them clip w/e.

My posting on this subject is not meant as a disrespect to the devs hard work on HoT.

My rage bar max because you didn’t include Largos in your OP.

Never forgive. Never Forget.

I personally love the idea of new races, I just don’t see it happening. They’d basically have to be the core that a new expansion was built around, with a new starting city, and a new starter zone. As I mentioned there would be an enormous amount of essentially repeat work for the devs to make all the existing items work with them. And in spite of them being pretty nifty, they would, as I mentioned, have zero real impact on gameplay.

I was slightly amused by the thought of quaggan or largos being added though. Access to every water weapon in the game and a bunch of elites, and one two handed weapon per class on land and one elite.

Alukah.2063:

Raedwulf.3712:

Why, exactly, do we need a new race? Because you’re bored? Why not try another game, then? I’m not trying to be hostile.

Yet you are being hostile, he wants some aesthetic changes, such as a new race, and you’re showing him the door. People are allowed to like things you don’t, you know?

No, Alukah, I’m not being hostile. For exactly the same reason why I made the point about the Skritt not being a realistic playable race (for the sake of it… Of the minor races, the Skritt are my favourite. The rest of them are just pixels; the Skritt have some character… )

I am well aware that people are allowed to like things I don’t. I thought it was implicit, somewhat overt, in my last post. If not, I apologise. I don’t like fluff, for example. I play the game, I don’t really give a something what my pixels actually look like. On the other hand, lots of people do. And Anet create new fluff because people pay real world £$£ to get that stuff. And the game continues. Why would I be complaining?

However, a new race is, simply, NOT an aesthetic change. It’s a huge amount of work for Anet (admittedly, much of it may have already been done if they have plans to introduce X as a new playable race). I’ve already said the appropriate things. I’m an analyst / programmer, professionally. If I say that a new race will cost Anet a good deal of money for very much less reward, I do have some idea of what I am talking about.

If enough people want it, or if Anet have already planned it… Otherwise… If you see what I mean!

The thing about playable races is that I don’t really see them as being worth it. A new race would mean that Anet would have to modify every piece of armor so that the new race can wear them. It would add onto the production time for new armor pieces. The personal story would not make much sense with the new race. Any lore than could be gained could also be gained by just introducing that race through the living story. Depending on the race chosen, and the armor equipped, there may be only subtle difference in appearance unless viewed up close.

The only real benefit a new class would provide is a new visual appearance for a character. That’s it.

Tengu have a city, however it is locked. No other race is allowed to enter it.

The walls to Dominion of Winds were built to separate them and their scouts will shoot at first sign anyone who tries to trespass into their city.

In my opinion, the only way to make Tengu a new race, is a new content focused on Primordus and his minions breaching and attacking Dominion of Winds. Which no doubt, will be heartbreaking seeing their second home under attack and, hopefully, they won’t flee but fight back this time.

While I agree that creating a new race would imply a gigantic effort for little mechanic impact, I think the aesthetic aspect of a game should NEVER be underestimated. Aesthetics tell stories, impact the eye, and in the end, sell products. Mechanic weighs a ton for people that already bought the game. For new people, aesthetics are way more atractive.

So, I don’t think a new race is such a preposterous idea.

I think HoT was (I say was because the core of the expac is public knowledge now) the great instance Anet needed to renew and normalize their game mechanics, bussiness model and production cicle. HoT introduce some things that were mostly expected by veterans: more maps, a third heavy proffession, more skills, more skins, more enemies, more story, mechanic adjustments. All this was mandatory, things that we will demand.

But first and foremost, HoT was the opportunity to introduce totally new and unknown things: a new and simpler Trait System, Specs, Masteries, Raids, Guild Halls, Map Rewards, and the very concept of a GW2 Expac, including the new “Play for Free” model. All these things were basically unexpected. And their novelty was the selling point of the Expac, the hook to keep the old players interested, and to lure new players into the game.

Now think about the future. They already have their plan exposed. They know what they will bring with a new Expac. Raids, Specs, mechanic balance, Map Rewards, Guild Halls, Masteries… they all will be expected. We will DEMAND them.

So they will need something extra. Something new. Unexpected. Aesthetically interesting and high quality new hook: A new race, and very probably, a complete actualization of maps and timeline would be what I should see as “Exciting” for that moment.

I understand the issues to insert new races because of the lore but guys they can create anything they want.

For example (1)some centaur tribe that sympathize with humans and understand the importance of this alliance. (2) forgotten dwarf city reborn from any kind of magic bringing back a ancient lineage of dwarves.

So i think the bigger problem its some kind of animation like centaur and kodan ( I did not stop to laugh when I imagined a centaur or a kodan doing the heartseeker lol). With this in mind I think the more viable races will be Tengus and Dwarfs.

Largos are a nice race too and deserve the opportunity.

Verminor.7014:

- Kodan
- Centaur
- Ogre
- Dwarf
- Tengu

Centaur and Tengu, too difficult to alter armor sets to suit. Fancy trying a jumping puzzle on a centaur? Mapping.

Dwarf. Far too few of them. They’re all constantly stone-d.

Ogre, size would need new armor.

Skritt. Possibly the best option, their armor could be modified from Charr fairly easily.

Really it’s a problem of adding new content to the game, it would take a lot of effort including a whole new story line and not be cost effective.

imsoenthused.1634:

Racial skills, because of Anets standing policy of always balancing them to be ineffective fluff inferior in pretty much every situation to class skills, don’t really matter. They’re about as important as adding emotes.

As for the cosmetic thing, sure cosmetics are big, but why waste development time on so many OLD cosmetics? Any “new” race is going to be one we’ve seen plenty of. All that modeling and art work to re-make all the existing armors for them is just going to be extensions of themes that you’ve already seen. The only truly new thing you’d get out of it is the three racial armor sets.

Roleplay, I don’t know how many people are actually involved in, maybe Anet knows. If enough of them, which I find incredibly doubtful, then maybe the upsides of a new race would be bigger than the overwhelming landslide of downsides.

There is only 1 racial skill that is any decent I will admit that. Point was, it is still SOMETHING even if just for fun. As for adding emotes, to some people that is important as well. Simply because they are not important to you does not mean there is no value there.

Waste development time? You keep saying this would be a waste. How could it be a waste when once made they last FOREVER and can be used by people new to the game or others who want something new to play with? Unlike many of the LS bits and pieces we had early on in the game which lasted a day or 2, that to me was a true waste. Not only racial armours but there will be new PS as well as a new city like you said above. Sure the PS may be a small % of what you get from the full PS but then again maybe this could be an incentive for anet to go back and add on to ALL of our PS and take them a little further than just the small point they do atm. Also more races = more people wanting to play them which = more char slots bought.

It’s not really just roleplay, it’s also immersion, these are 2 different things. I have every class and race covered at the moment in game. While I don’t go hardcore RP as it’s not really my thing I still play them as if they were their own different characters. They have their own background and theme I sort of go for when I play them and it can add a lot of fun to the game for me. It can give a nice break from my main when I just feel like playing the game differently for a bit. Again I see nothing wrong with this.

If new races are not for you that’s cool, simply don’t play them if they come. But let anet decide if it’s worth it or not. Also who is to say they have such limited resources anyway? After all they are hiring more and more people all the time. Maybe it’s things like this they want to expand on in the game. Heck they have gone well and truly beyond what I thought they would for the guild halls with the decorating part. So I can easily see them doing things in the future that many people have said in the past “never, wont happen” or “waste of time/resources”. Truly, us players have NO idea what anet are willing/able to do and when exactly. Also add to the fact that Anet loves to try and surprise/shock us. I wouldn’t be surprised if they DID try and do some of these things just to say “you say we can’t, you are wrong – we can!”

Devourer. Everything else is uninteresting.

Orpheal.8263:

(snip)
Centaurs are unable to swim and dive!! They are simply impossible to design for any Underwater Content
A horse just can barely swim, as long theres ground under their legs, but take away the ground under their legs and the swimming will become quickly a death trap for them once they run out of endurance to keep their massive bodies/nose above the water to breathe.
A horse practically doesn’t swim, it goes through the water as long it has contact to the ground more or less to keep its nose above the water mirror. Or have you ever seen a horse diving under water? Not to mention that Anet would have to make completely new movement animations and all that extra for them just to make them viable for a game content part, that has seen since game release absolutely no attention at all!! (snip)

I don’t know why you think horses need contact with the ground and would drown in short order in deeper water, but horses can swim. There was a fad where horses, sometimes with a rider and sometimes not, leaped off high places into deep water. They had to swim underwater to get to the surface and then swim to shore. Granted, horses don’t usually swim underwater or dive off high places but they can if they have to.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_horse

I think we too many playable races already.

I wanna play as a Centuar and challenge Human females to races.

Doggie.3184:

I wanna play as a Centuar and challenge Human females to races.

Uh oh, now that would change the game in a BIG way!

My mind boggles at the proud and introspective Kodan as a playable race.

See them shooting off their skills in the bank at Divinity’s Reach and manically hopping about setting portals and annoying everyone.

Listen to them trash talk in PvP – no longer concerned with ‘balance’ but more focussed on calling out the ‘noobs’.

Wait for the scores of forum posts ‘So, I have this Kodan and it’s so boring in white. Is this the best you can do Anet? Seriously.’

Maybe not.

Paulytnz.7619:

If new races are not for you that’s cool, simply don’t play them if they come. But let anet decide if it’s worth it or not. Also who is to say they have such limited resources anyway? After all they are hiring more and more people all the time. Maybe it’s things like this they want to expand on in the game. Heck they have gone well and truly beyond what I thought they would for the guild halls with the decorating part. So I can easily see them doing things in the future that many people have said in the past “never, wont happen” or “waste of time/resources”. Truly, us players have NO idea what anet are willing/able to do and when exactly. Also add to the fact that Anet loves to try and surprise/shock us. I wouldn’t be surprised if they DID try and do some of these things just to say “you say we can’t, you are wrong – we can!”

Much that you say is again true. However! Yes, let’s let Anet decide. Only “I want…” threads sprout like mushrooms. Posters like me who are willing to say “but I don’t want…” are less common. So how do Anet judge? By means which are unknown to us mere punters.

TMR again. Time. Money. Resources. The classic Project Management triangle. You never have enough of all three, so you have to shorten one side. And when you do, it impacts, the other two…

Are they hiring more & more people? I wonder what they’re hiring for, then. Because every update / patch they release needs a major re-patch within 24 hours; sometimes a second, third… And my personal expectation is that HoT will break so much stuff, we’ll be patching for weeks! TMR.

Bear in mind, I am an IT professional. I have never worked in the games industry, but what the games industry gets away with with bugs would simply not be tolerated in any “real” company. I’ve worked in a lot of different sectors, though mostly in finance & publishing. The sort of bugs that occur regularly in gaming don’t cost the games companies much money because gamers want to play & will continue to play.

But in the “real” world, those sort of bugs cost real companies real money. So there is (usually) a strict QC (not QA, for those of you that understand the difference) procedure that tries to minimise this. I occasionally wonder what games companies have. Because it doesn’t kittening work! (NB: this is a generic criticism; Anet fail, but they certainly are no worse than anyone else).

I presume that Anet must be at least breaking even. I presume they are making a profit. But they are still in the grip of TMR because every company in the world is. Even one man operations. Lose money & you eventually go bust, whether you’ve one employee or a million. When income starts dropping (and it will, because every game suffers that), investment will shrink appropriately. Not least because GW3 is probably already on the drawing board…

The short answer remains what it was – unless Anet have already invested TMR in the notion of a new playable race, I can’t see it happening (& I don’t personally, want one). No profit from the effort involved; not even break-even. Yes I agree that aesthetics matter too. But when it comes down to it, any company that keeps making a loss goes bust.

Skritt or get out.

It is absolutely possible Anet don’t add any race to this game, and instead keep those major ambiental changes for a future “GW3”. My point is they WILL need to make that big aesthetic overhaul at some point, be it within this game, or jumping to a new one.

IMO the whole excpac+trait system rework+masteries indicates Anet has decided to keep GW2 running for a looong time, so its highly probable the need for “merely aesthetic content”, (like new races, updating PS or actualization of anachronic maps) will happen within this game life. Maybe not with the second expac, but more and more probably with the 3rd and 4th…

My beloved tinfold hat tells me Anet has already planned how to keep going for the next few years, and they are slowly preparing the needed changes, including redesigned lore and animations for new playable races.

I want to play as a Quaggan Ranger with a Human pet.

If they ever add a new race, you can forget anything that is not humanoid.

If they were to add centaur or quaggan, for example, they would need to redo a new version of each and every armor piece that exists in the game. The current models don’t fit a non-humanoid template.

This would be way too much work for very little gain. Never going to happen.

My top picks would be Tengu (they already have their home city space marked off), Largos, or the Exalted. Seriously, did anyone else read the article on the Exalted and think, “holy kitten, these guys would make an amazing playable race”?

I actually think instead of making a new playable race, they should try showing the “lesser races” as detailed as possible in their cities.
But if there’d be a choice, i think hylek or Tengu would be cool.