Guild Wars 2

Because today it’s that, tomorrow it’s Pandas. ;-)

synk.6907:

Chopps.5047:

I think it was more than 1 person, it was a company wide decision. They’re trying tk market to those countries and japan, china, korea takes their different heritages very seriously. As american, I am melting pot, so I don’t mind mixing culture it’s what we do. But it could hurt sales for them if patrons from japan/korea are offended.

It’s a good thing cats cannot talk or purchase video games. They might be outraged at the fictional portrayal of cat-like people living in harmony with their own city!

Or, for a more realistic comparison, look at how significantly large portions of Europe and North America are totally not upset about any of the design behind the humans and cities in-game that obviously draw from their different cultures! Because it’s a fictional, fantasy game.

Ugh that’s so frustrating that, from the information we have, it’s basically true that Cantha is being blocked by a bunch of weirdos who think it’s, like, a critique on their lives or some nonsense.

Meh, I disagree. I think you’re young and naive with a lot to learn about the world. Also, did you just call half of the world’s population “a bunch of weirdos”? I’ll pretend you didn’t.

I just think NCSoft is trying to maximie profits while preventing a possible public relations disaster. We’re talking big, big money on the line. As an American, I personally don’t care much for culture. But there’s a lot of people who treat that as their identity. How would you feel if your favorite band started playing backup for Justin Beiber? I imagine it’s like that.

Recently, anet has hinted that canthan themes will make a come back, so it’s just a matter of them being able to do it in ways that make sense. I like the “wait and see” approach.

Chopps.5047:

synk.6907:

Chopps.5047:

I think it was more than 1 person, it was a company wide decision. They’re trying tk market to those countries and japan, china, korea takes their different heritages very seriously. As american, I am melting pot, so I don’t mind mixing culture it’s what we do. But it could hurt sales for them if patrons from japan/korea are offended.

It’s a good thing cats cannot talk or purchase video games. They might be outraged at the fictional portrayal of cat-like people living in harmony with their own city!

Or, for a more realistic comparison, look at how significantly large portions of Europe and North America are totally not upset about any of the design behind the humans and cities in-game that obviously draw from their different cultures! Because it’s a fictional, fantasy game.

Ugh that’s so frustrating that, from the information we have, it’s basically true that Cantha is being blocked by a bunch of weirdos who think it’s, like, a critique on their lives or some nonsense.

Meh, I disagree. I think you’re young and naive with a lot to learn about the world.

People in our world get upset by a lot of things. I’m very aware of that. For some, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was as serious as, say, depicting Muhammad. It is a silly thing to be upset about a fictional world that borrows from real world cultures, with no intent to represent or parody them, in developing its atmosphere. There are so many more pertinent problems in our world.

The tone of my post probably conveys my meaning rather poorly, but the gist is that I’m still quite frustrated by the situation regardless of the reality that may serve as the backdrop for it.

I’m not really sure how my sense of frustration is something that can be disagreed with, but that’s likely a result of writing a garbage post as a result of said frustration.

I’d bet I’m older than you’re assuming, which just makes it clearer that I should have given more thought to what I wrote or, at least, the word choice. Ah well. That’s a good sign to log off.

Shanna.4762:

Sobiech.9613:

If not mentioned before, there is a nice article that points to this thread.

Hope restored?

I was just headed here to post about this, hope is somewhat restored! People need to keep asking, though

/cheer /dance !!

What a wonderful article! It’s working, folks! Let us be inspired to continue our efforts!

Best news I’ve read all day. XD

Ratphink.4751:

So yeah, people have the right to care about how their culture is interpreted, assuming that that was the case anyways. I don’t think any confirmation was given to the theory.

There had never been any mention of Asians being unhappy because Factions, or the Canthan designs originally present in GW2, were stereotyping them. I’m not sure what theory you’re referring to.

What has been confirmed by devs is that “feedback from Asia” indicated unhappiness with different cultural styles being mixed to create a hybrid Japanese/Chinese/Korean amalgam. Josh Foreman stated that the origin of the problem was mixed cultural designs.

That’s not really the same thing as being unhappy that the game portrayed Asians in an unrealistic, oversimplified and stereotypical way. The problem Josh discussed appears to be more of a “We’re Korean, not Chinese, get it straight” sort of scenario. And “how dare you mix my nation’s architecture with that nation’s over there.”

I’m all for defeating stereotypes and representing people fairly, and of course people have a right to care about how their culture is portrayed. But negative Asian stereotypes has not ever been cited as part of the Cantha veto issue.

In fact, Asian or Asian-American players have stated here and elsewhere that they’re more offended by Cantha’s exclusion than by how it portrayed their cultural heritage.

Doctor Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism. Lookit up, because Cantha is a textbook example of it.

Sorry, missed this post when I was replying earlier.

Chopps.5047:

I’m American so I can’t explain it any better than I did, guys, sorry. I wish someone knowledgable about culture would post, but I’ve heard it described as “imagine making a digital representation of New York City where the Canadian flag is flown and The Sears Tower is on the cityscape.” I wouldn’t say it’s being politically correct…it’s a little deeper than that. And when you’re talking millions of dollars, you better make sure you’re not offending your potential customers. I hope that helps.

I like your example. Add on top of that centuries of history, politics and cultural complexity, and maybe we can begin to wrap our minds around why the Canthan district means something different to the Asian viewers who were uncomfortable with how it was designed, than it does to us.

BUT with one important difference. It’s actually like making a digitized cityscape designed to resemble the United States but actually is not the US, but a totally fictional country populated by made-up characters involving magic and technology that doesn’t really exist.

I think it’s important to remember Cantha is a fantasy world. Making a game and saying, “This takes place in Korea” is a LOT different from making a game and saying, “This takes place in a fantasy world inspired by various Asian cultures.” Anet is not trying to pass off Cantha as the real Asia here.

Anyway, I’m still convinced Anet can find a design that will respect these cultural considerations while further developing the Canthan lore we love.

Ratphink.4751:

Doctor Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism. Lookit up, because Cantha is a textbook example of it.

You must not have read my earlier posts in this thread, when I replied to you before. I have read Said. (What lit major hasn’t?)

I’m not really debating here whether Cantha is an example of Orientalism or not…that’s a separate discussion, one we already had as a matter of fact in those earlier posts.

What I’m pointing out is that Cantha being a negative stereotype of Asia has not ever been part of the decision to remove Canthan elements from the game, based on all the information we know from reliable sources.

The decision to avoid Canthan themes was based on cultural sensitives between Asian countries. It had nothing to do with Western countries’ stereotypical portrayal of Asia, which is a separate issue.

Ratphink.4751:

Doctor Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism. Lookit up, because Cantha is a textbook example of it.

But then the garbling of European mediaeval and 17th century and various European cultural types in Asian MMOs is an example of Asian “Occidentalism”, and we ought to be offended by it.

In fact, the elephant in the room is that China was always the top dog in the region, and most Asian cultures borrowed heavily from it (as indeed a few influences went the other way), so everything Far Eastern perforce looks “vaguely Chinese” in a quite objective way.

It’s a fascinating topic, but I think the foofaraw about “Orientalism” is more a case of Western breast-beating, egged on by Said, who himself is about as Western-enculturated as they come. All cultures take whatever they fancy from other cultures, and take things out of context. There are Amazonian tribesmen with Coke t-shirts. Presumably they wouldn’t wear them if they didn’t like them

gurugeorge.9857:

But then the garbling of European mediaeval and 17th century and various European cultural types in Asian MMOs is an example of Asian “Occidentalism”, and we ought to be offended by it.

Hahaha, exactly. If we want to accuse Anet of anything, then it should be stereotyping everyone. Anet’s real crime? Tropes everywhere!

gurugeorge.9857:

It’s a fascinating topic, but I think the foofaraw about “Orientalism” is more a case of Western breast-beating, egged on by Said, who himself is about as Western-enculturated as they come.

Great point. If we really want to have a discussion about Orientalism, we have to have a discussion about Said’s argument too, where it does and does not hold up, and how influenced it is by the very cultural preconceptions he’s trying to critique. His views are quite controversial, and we can’t talk about whether Cantha is or is not Orientalism unless we wade into that sticky debate. We could start outlining what aspects of Said’s theories we agree with and which we don’t, but I think that’s a little beyond the scope of this thread.

Edited for clarity.

We’ve already talked about Said’s theories on “Orientalism”. We do not really need to go back to that in my opinion. They are theories, and this is a game that is being sold to a very vast demographic of players from ALL walks of life and that includes Asian’s of all kinds.

I play with many Asian players, and they’re highly diverse as to their heritage & cultures that all get along quite nicely, and then of course Asian players from the UK & Australia and the USA, etc. Almost every one of them that I talk to has brought up, or joined in on discussions on Cantha in and out of game, some of which have posted here on this thread. Cantha is not Asia, Cantha is a mythological/fantasy region & nation based off a very broad spectrum of diverse Asian cultures and they understand that, and have never even once brought anything up about that being an issue. I very highly doubt that in any meeting ArenaNet has had with NCsoft, that they brought up Said’s theories on Orientalism followed by slamming the book on the round table and saying “NO, CULTURAL INSENSITIVITY!”. It sounds as though it was an issue with the mixing of Asian architecture’s from different regions COUPLED WITH being in a district of a Western themed city that that literally towered over the Canthan District, which is something that politically, may be deemed offensive and could have been hard to pass censors in China at one point. Now, we will probably never know the exact truth on this matter, we can only gather from what we have been told by Josh Foreman and any other developers who have commented on the issue.

Many developers at ArenaNet seem very keen on bringing Cantha back with GW2. It’s been years and years since that discussion originally took place. It’s important to note that NCsoft had slated Blade & Soul to launch in NA/EU roughly around the same time frame as GW2. B&S is a game that is EXTREMELY entrenched in Oriental mythologies and basis, and NCsoft may have been worried about direct competition between the two games if GW2 carried heavy oriental influences too early on, as well. Since then, B&S launched and struggled in S. Korea, and has been pushed back here til next year at the very earliest (this was confirmed by NCsoft themselves) and because of the gap between releases the two do not really face the competition they would have otherwise had.

So there’s that. I still see no reason, in fact I see even less reasons for Cantha to be excluded from this game and I stand by my earlier statement that the only thing that would be culturally insensitive with this, is if they did indeed leave Cantha out of the game, thus giving their Asian players the short end of the stick for no real good reason what-so-ever.

Found some pretty nice concept art of Canthan architecture in a Chinese GW2 forum, not sure if anyone has seen them before but they are nice nonetheless.

Just to give a nostalgic touch to everyone’s day… =)

that “reason” for not putting cantha in GW2 is like, the stupidest thing I’ve heard on the internet ever.

fwiw, I’m asian

Mirta.5029:

Meglobob.8620:

So political correctness gone mad then?

I bet 99.99% of those Asian cultures would not have been bothered at all…

Pretty much this. However the 2nd statement is incorrect. They couldn’t sell in China with an Asian quarter in place. Chine is sort of sensitive. Japan wouldn’t have cared though.

Why not, is the something wrong with a cantha quarter in Divinity?

Is there any way to jump directly to the ANet response on this? I mean, don’t get me wrong, wading through 27 pages of “this game sucks” is great and all, but I would like to see what someone with, you know, knowledge of such things has to say…

Just thought I’d add in my desire to see Cantha again to this thread.

GW1 was one of my first experiences into the world of MMOs along with WoW, both of which I found to be unique and interesting fantasy settings with incredible artwork and an interesting, if not fully revealed, story to immerse myself in. I thoroughly enjoyed the darker doomsday setting of GW1 with the Charr and undead waging war against mankind all, to whatever extent, being backed by a disgruntled God.

However the release of Factions was perhaps my favorite of the GW1 series with the unique artwork, themes, music, atmosphere and cultural diversity, and when I say cultural diversity I am speaking of Tengu, Luxon, Kurzick tribes living on the borders of a human empire. Ritualist quickly became my favorite profession using spiritual weapons and ancestor reverence to protect and smite in combat – and the fact that it was a rare profession to see played well until future reworks.

I have heard many people refer to Cantha as “Asian” and I want to challenge that manner of thinking. I do not play video games to play in China or the U.S.A or Vietnam or Japan. I could play Secret World or Call of Duty if I wanted to look at what I would expect to have realistic architecture or racial identity. Guild Wars is a fantasy setting inspired by Anet’s artists and what they envision could be different racial aspects for humanity in a video game, just as the Charr have legions, the Norn have clans, the Asura have colleges, and etc. Canthans are a subgroup of humans if you will that live across the ocean/Elona and have a different culture and architectural style. That style is not meant to be offensive to Asians and in my opinion has nothing to do with Asia other than the fact that Asia is different from other world regions and was an inspiration to the artists seeking to envision a new type of human culture known as canthan.

That said I continue to play Guild Wars 2 out of respect for the original game’s story and the new age game combat dynamics which I find to be much more interactive and enjoyable. However I am a bit depressed with the story thus far, not that it isn’t good in its own right but that it doesn’t have the doom-and-gloom feel of the original series. I have to save the world from world devouring dragons but would rather spend my time playing with Quaggan hatchlings. With the Quaggans, Kodan, Sylvari, Asura, Norn, Skritt, and Largos (D&D dark elf manta ray?!?) still uncomfortable races to me being that their tie in to the series is stretched so thin I can only hope for significant future content of the races history and how they avoided humanity’s notice to start making them more legitimate.

That said I would love nothing more than 2 significant expansions revealing the remainder of the original game’s world (Elona and especially Cantha) which may have completely different stories than the land surrounding Lion’s Arch and that may eventually be tied into a continued grand scheme of forces from the original game (Menzies, Dhuum and friends). Elona could have human refugees, the undead legions of Joko and whatever else popped out of the ground while Cantha could focus its story on an isolated region of the world where humanity struggles with tyranny and darker forces than Kanaxi and beasts like the Maw no longer frozen in the sea. Such a story would be extremely appealing to a player like myself who cares more for the struggle for human survival and defeating dark forces through heroics than allying with the local asuran zoo to kill a dragon then party for a year before killing another.

In short I think Cantha is a unique and creative blend of concepts that Anet’s team put together based on things they have seen in our world but yet their own entity entirely and not an “Asian” race. Cantha also offers a human-based story that I personally would love to explore with new professions like the Ritualist and type of blademaster such as Tagachi still being trained at the Monastery. To not include Cantha in Guild Wars 2 would be no different than playing a game of Risk where Africa did not exist but the rest of the world map remained unchanged. Not including a minimum of Cantha and Elona in GW2 would degrade the integrity of Anet’s fantasy world in my eyes and make me think twice before considering a purchase of a Guild Wars 3. How can a living world truly be developed and grow when no loose ends are ever tied, new races and continents continue to be added, yet the core story of the world dissappears on a whim due to a comparison between the fantasy world and real life. Canthan culture is a part of the humans of Tyria as is Vabbian, Istani, Ascalonian, Krytan, Orrian, Kournan, and those other yet un-revealed cultures across the sea. Once the story is written it can’t just be erased or collapse, it needs to continue growing as a whole or it will die as a whole.

I can only agree with everyone. Factions with Cantha is my favorite campaign from GW1. Everything about it, the look, the music, the alliance battles, the ritualist, which quickly became one of my favorite classes, along with the mesmer. I really hope we will see again the awesomeness of Cantha in GW2, and the ritualist. I will be really disappointed if we don’t.

Antara.3189:

Just to give a nostalgic touch to everyone’s day… =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LtSMlkBAFE

This makes me sad. Time to reinstall GW1, just so I can hear the soundtrack while I walk the map.

Mouhappai.5406:

Found some pretty nice concept art of Canthan architecture in a Chinese GW2 forum, not sure if anyone has seen them before but they are nice nonetheless.

Thank you for sharing these concept art pieces. Are these fan made for Cantha in GW2? or is it GW1 Art? I haven’t seen them before!

There’s still no confirmation that Cantha is being worked on. I think we need to start mailing cake and pastries to Anet HQ to let them know we’re serious.

Fund Cantha and Elona through crowd sourcing?

Shanna.4762:

Mouhappai.5406:

Found some pretty nice concept art of Canthan architecture in a Chinese GW2 forum, not sure if anyone has seen them before but they are nice nonetheless.

Thank you for sharing these concept art pieces. Are these fan made for Cantha in GW2? or is it GW1 Art? I haven’t seen them before!

It’s GW1 concept art. Unfortunately a lot of the GW1 concept art never got displayed very prominently. It exists in the back corners of the internet mostly xD.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Shanna.4762:

Mouhappai.5406:

Found some pretty nice concept art of Canthan architecture in a Chinese GW2 forum, not sure if anyone has seen them before but they are nice nonetheless.

Thank you for sharing these concept art pieces. Are these fan made for Cantha in GW2? or is it GW1 Art? I haven’t seen them before!

It’s GW1 concept art. Unfortunately a lot of the GW1 concept art never got displayed very prominently. It exists in the back corners of the internet mostly xD.

Ooh, okay. Well honestly at this point I’m pretty sure we will be going to Cantha eventually, just going from what I have heard by the developers lately when it comes to going back to the iconic places from GW1.

Not sure if anyone’s added it yet, but I found a Canthan related book in Divinity’s Reach called “The Winds of Change.”

“Contact with Cantha was finally lost when the flood from Orr’s rising disrupted trade.”

“They’ve closed their shores to us and left us to fight the Dragons alone. To the Mists with them.”

What that means is that even if Cantha were to ever “return”, it would come back to the tune of disdain from the current Tyrian territories due to the abandonment in hard times.

i just want to voice my support for a return of Cantha. Cantha was by far the most compelling continent for me on GW1 – it added richness and diversity to the game. as far as humans go in GW2, what we have now is a sea of white people – hardly any diversity among the humans at all. as a result, they are not that interesting to me.

almost a year into GW2 and no sign of Cantha or Elona. sad. hopefully the never-ending living story will bring us back to these lost shores.

Tad.4109:

i just want to voice my support for a return of Cantha. Cantha was by far the most compelling continent for me on GW1 – it added richness and diversity to the game. as far as humans go in GW2, what we have now is a sea of white people – hardly any diversity among the humans at all. as a result, they are not that interesting to me.

almost a year into GW2 and no sign of Cantha or Elona. sad. hopefully the never-ending living story will bring us back to these lost shores.

Which is wierd – the white people thing. Krytans weren’t white in GW1.

I would love to see Cantha in GW2. I want to see my beloved giant city all grown up in a Steam-Punky way. Just imagine riding floating steam-trains through the city. See Statues of Master Togo. The Lore was epic and the missions were challenging and yet satisfying in my demands for story-telling and eye-candy. Indeed Cantha was the first campaign I completed in GW1 because I just wanted to know how the story ends.
Don’t throw away one of your masterpieces NCSoft. Make it happen. Revive Cantha!

As a person of white european descent I find the inaccurate historical references to my culture throughout the region of Kryta offensive…

Wait no I dont.

I love seeing this thread pop up every once in a while to let the devs know we still care.

A bit of speculation on Cantha from the end of GW1-today:

• Back in GW1, we underwent the Winds of Change which brought up the Ministry of Purity. Events led to the eventual “purge” of Cantha and all non-Canthans including Tengu were exiled from the continent and it was sealed off entirely for nearly 250 years and counting.
• Along comes E3 2013 with Daniel Dociu and his Crossroads piece for an “unannounced” game. At the time it didn’t make much sense but the influences were clearly Asian, although quite futuristic.
• Come the Republic of Sky Pirates patch and “futuristic” pirates emerge from the sky in airships that aren’t speculated to be simple stolen Pact airships, and their leader, Mai Trin, is clearly Canthan or of Canthan descent.

I may be making connections that don’t exist, but I have reason to believe that during the 250 years that Cantha secluded itself from the world it went through a massive technological era while the rest of the world maintained a somewhat medieval stance technologically (only recently did the pact even invent flying ships, when clearly stated in the personal story that they thought flight was impossible before combining human, charr and Asuran technology). It may be wishful thinking, but I suspect that ArenaNet has Cantha in their master plan, and are pulling our leg with no news on the subject. Also, every concept Daniel Dociu makes public seems to make it in game one way or another

Sube Dai.8496:

As a person of white european descent I find the inaccurate historical references to my culture throughout the region of Kryta offensive…

Wait no I dont.

As an Asian, I would love to see American culture being portrayed in GW2 by a race and a city. It would be very entertaining to see Wild West cowboy tropes being perpetuated and adds to the diversity of the GW2 universe. Just saying.

I just ask if ppl is loosing they’re mind or something…seriously!!!
The World is going just crazy and we are allowing it!!

I realy can’t figure how something cultural and Lore related,that just occur in a fantasy world created for a fantasy game, can offend or annoy real ppl in real world !

I wonder if that kind of ppl don’t know or ever red this!!:

- " This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental."

Draconicus.7564:

I just ask if ppl is loosing they’re mind or something…seriously!!!
The World is going just crazy and we are allowing it!!

I realy can’t figure how something cultural and Lore related,that just occur in a fantasy world created for a fantasy game, can offend or annoy real ppl in real world !

I wonder if that kind of ppl don’t know or ever red this!!:

- " This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental."

agreed man.. agreed.. it is indeed very.. VERY sad to see how they react when obviously there is even a disclaimer that says its all fictional!! and yet somone was opposed to the idea of cantha being reintroduced into gw2.. =/

Idk who will agree but the most memorable character that we all liked actually came from Factions imo. Talon Silverwing Master Togo and my love hate relationship with Shiro honestly prophecies had no impact on me whatsoever except for the little flute girl Gwen. Nightfall I wanted to kill kormir and Varesh, however I liked Razah and many of the heroes. So, Factions like the asian culture in real life HAD the biggest impact on the players I miss it where I afk’d and sat around chatting after I did what I wanted in gw1 I sat in Shing Jea alllllllllllllll day.
Edit: oh and “Beware the Harvest Ceremony.”

Posting my daily support for Cantha’s return to the game.

Just say ‘NO’ to Cantha.

Sir Morgan Malory.2069:

Just say ‘NO’ to Cantha.

Congratulations! You just had the 1337 post on this thread

Safer Saviour.9685:

Which is wierd – the white people thing. Krytans weren’t white in GW1.

Yes, the Krytans are white and caucasian. The Krytans are mediterraneans. They look like the French, Italian, Spanish and Greeks. Brown-dark haired, brown eyes, light to dark skin. I should know, I’m French (from Quebec in Canada) and we all have pretty much that, brown hair and brown eyes. I don’t recall us mediterraneans being Black, Asians or Indians.

It’s not just the British and the Nordic countries, the blonder hair and lighter skins that makes one “white and caucasian”. We are too white and caucasian.

Willowleaf.5721:

Safer Saviour.9685:

Which is wierd – the white people thing. Krytans weren’t white in GW1.

Yes, the Krytans are white and caucasian. The Krytans are mediterraneans. They look like the French, Italian, Spanish and Greeks. Brown-dark haired, brown eyes, light to dark skin. I should know, I’m French (from Quebec in Canada) and we all have pretty much that, brown hair and brown eyes. I don’t recall us mediterraneans being Black, Asians or Indians.

It’s not just the British and the Nordic countries, the blonder hair and lighter skins that makes one “white and caucasian”. We are too white and caucasian.

:>

People seem to forget about the huge diversity in Caucasians. Oh well, we’re here for Cantha! Asian stuff pls!!!

So I’ve been thinking and came up with an idea I’d like to toss out at the devs to sidestep the possible issues with Cantha, assuming it is THE issue:

If the problem is too many Asian cultures are being blended together, let’s separate them into more defined cultures!

This scenario could be used as a possible explanation:
The Ministry of Purity was all about purifying Cantha of non-humans, but once all the non-humans are gone or have become too rare to be a daily job for them, what at they left with?

Attempting to “purify” the humans of Cantha.

Communities become walled off, corralled, and separated from other communities based on their “purity” (Pure of what would be the dev’s decision), the end result is that the small differences in these communities would grow into almost entirely separate cultures, getting to the point where Cantha is practically several nations in one. Different and distinct, but none of them “worthy” by the arbitrary and increasingly mad standards of the Ministry of Purity.

I just want to say that Labyrinthine Cliffs makes it pretty obvious how awesome Cantha would be with this team and engine.

vox.5019:

I just want to say that Labyrinthine Cliffs makes it pretty obvious how awesome Cantha would be with this team and engine.

100% agree , it will be just a amazing continent , as a place to play and explore!!

Gosh…who in this world will not be in love for this?…, pls listen all, just 1.30s.
IMO best Factions track ever!!!:

After following and reading all 27 pages I decided to cast support. I’m a big fan of Cantha, especially the Echovald Forest, it would be a crime against humanity if it will be left out.

scizwig.5492:

“NCsoft was firm in its decision to stay away from “Asian” themes and keep it “universal.”

Good.

I’m gonna post this yet again…why is there such a hangup on this for the developers? it’s been 100 years or more since the world has seen Cantha (for the most part…I still think the Whispers organization has means to get there) so any conflicting or controversial architecture that the developers deem unsafe to publish doesn’t need to be used ! The land would have changed so much since then, that you could quite literally do anything you wanted with it. It would take all of 15 mintues to write up a story explaining the changes. Please don’t take Cantha and the rest of the world maps away from us!

Safer Saviour.9685:

Tad.4109:

i just want to voice my support for a return of Cantha. Cantha was by far the most compelling continent for me on GW1 – it added richness and diversity to the game. as far as humans go in GW2, what we have now is a sea of white people – hardly any diversity among the humans at all. as a result, they are not that interesting to me.

almost a year into GW2 and no sign of Cantha or Elona. sad. hopefully the never-ending living story will bring us back to these lost shores.

Which is wierd – the white people thing. Krytans weren’t white in GW1.

Exactly, true Krytans were directly descended from Canthans (and some offshoots of Elonians) anyway. I think now though, with the re-absorbing of all the Ascalonians that fled Ascalon, the devs decided to just default to white Krytans, which is pretty disappointing to me. You can still find a few non-white Krytans though if you look enough. Completely off the original topic in here though lol. Just thought I’d point that out.

Cantha for me is one of the fondest memories I have from GW 1. It would be an utter shame not to see it return in one shape or form. I can only hope that Anet understand how much it means to a lot of players if they decided to feature Cantha and Elona at some point.

Nay of the Ether.8913:

Safer Saviour.9685:

Tad.4109:

i just want to voice my support for a return of Cantha. Cantha was by far the most compelling continent for me on GW1 – it added richness and diversity to the game. as far as humans go in GW2, what we have now is a sea of white people – hardly any diversity among the humans at all. as a result, they are not that interesting to me.

almost a year into GW2 and no sign of Cantha or Elona. sad. hopefully the never-ending living story will bring us back to these lost shores.

Which is wierd – the white people thing. Krytans weren’t white in GW1.

Exactly, true Krytans were directly descended from Canthans (and some offshoots of Elonians) anyway. I think now though, with the re-absorbing of all the Ascalonians that fled Ascalon, the devs decided to just default to white Krytans, which is pretty disappointing to me. You can still find a few non-white Krytans though if you look enough. Completely off the original topic in here though lol. Just thought I’d point that out.

Krytans were descendants of Elonians, nothing to do with Canthans.

But with the fall of Ascalon, western cultures and people could’ve been find only in Ebonhawke. So they gave us a nation, but Kryta is pretty much mixed.

Gandarel.5091:

Krytans were descendants of Elonians, nothing to do with Canthans.

All humans came from Cantha, they just spread to Elona first before getting to Kryta. The Krytan settlers came from a line okittengs in Elona that split off north not long after arriving there from Cantha.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Humans

Nay of the Ether.8913:

Gandarel.5091:

Krytans were descendants of Elonians, nothing to do with Canthans.

All humans came from Cantha, they just spread to Elona first before getting to Kryta. The Krytan settlers came from a line okittengs in Elona that split off north not long after arriving there from Cantha.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Humans

Okittengs? Lol. What word was that before the forum filter got hold of it?

And developers are still ignoring this thread.