Guild Wars 2

I think the theme is fine. There are plenty of straightforward fantasy games, the genre didn’t really need yet another one.

i like the way it is, i would increase the steampunk/asura tech for clothing, i’m so tired of capes and skirts.
actually my greatsword is asura tier 3 very sci-fi magic glowing and fits with my mesmer, otherwise it would be the steampunk one.
i wish i could wear a less wizardlike armor and see more innovation in that field too.
i like magic, i like it very much but i don’t think every mage in the world should look like the pope

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

I don’t much care, I don’t like a lot of it, but some people do.

I do think they jumped a bit too far at times. They could have included Hot Air balloons, Derigibles, all kinds of lighter than air..without plopping a Charr Helicopter into the landscape. That is a big jump in tech.

You would think the Charr would have one rail line. Nope, they have tanks and pack animals.

Apparently they skipped the entire phase of dragging guns into battle with teams of draft animals. They seem to build cannons on the spot with pocket toolkits.

It’s kind of hard to think of a culture that could conceptualize wheels, sprockets, chain drives and never manage to build a bicycle.. but went straight to huge armored vehicles.

I guess I am more opposed to the randomness of tech, rather than the presence of it.

Things that were invented were invented for the purpose of making war on being awake and the ghosts. Rail hasn’t come up yet because frankly Tyria isn’t big enough for it, but more importantly, the Asura gate and waypoint services work just as well for fast/costly transportation.

Actually the Steampunk theme of the Charr was something I actually liked. Not a fan of Charr myself though, but I do like their theme they got going on. I mean it’s been over 200 years and times change. The Charr have always been known for their engineering skills since the beginning, so it makes sense that they have evolved as they have.

I was rather disappointed though to see all this new Steampunk stuff, but barely any Steampunk outfits. Was hoping to get some fancy cogwheel-themed armor or something at least. Even some fancy rifles/pistols. But barely anything in that department.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Actually the Steampunk theme of the Charr was something I actually liked. Not a fan of Charr myself though, but I do like their theme they got going on. I mean it’s been over 200 years and times change. The Charr have always been known for their engineering skills since the beginning, so it makes sense that they have evolved as they have.

I was rather disappointed though to see all this new Steampunk stuff, but barely any Steampunk outfits. Was hoping to get some fancy cogwheel-themed armor or something at least. Even some fancy rifles/pistols. But barely anything in that department.

If enough folks request it, they might make some in the future.

Sylv.5324:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Actually the Steampunk theme of the Charr was something I actually liked. Not a fan of Charr myself though, but I do like their theme they got going on. I mean it’s been over 200 years and times change. The Charr have always been known for their engineering skills since the beginning, so it makes sense that they have evolved as they have.

I was rather disappointed though to see all this new Steampunk stuff, but barely any Steampunk outfits. Was hoping to get some fancy cogwheel-themed armor or something at least. Even some fancy rifles/pistols. But barely anything in that department.

If enough folks request it, they might make some in the future.

I want to say you’re right, but sadly I doubt it.

People have been requesting tons of new outfits/armor skins/weapon skins/etc for awhile now and nothing has been added. I mean even requesting outfits that are already in the game to be town clothing hasn’t happened (like clothing NPCs wear). It feels like the only way we are getting new outfits is via holidays only. Which in turn is really disheartening. People have constantly asked, but guess it is not a priority.

Eh, toss out all of the rationalizations, it just comes down to “Bikes and locomotives are not Kewl, Tanks n Helicopters is” and that applies to most of it. Kewl gets shoehorned in regardless. And not just this game.

I had to chuckle at the concept that Charr would not have invented Rails and Locomotives as war machines. Sad, cause they were. Rail guns, Armored Trains, logistics, they very much were. But, no matter. I guess they didn’t invent them for the same reason they never got past the dirt road. Rome did, but never mind.

It’s the tech equivalent of “a wizard did it”. I visualize dev convos like this.

“What is that thing?”
“a Constellation Class Starship”
“How does that possibly fit into this game we are making?”
“It is steam and clockwork powered”
“Uh.. ok”

I’ve played mmos for 10 years. I’m used to “a wizard did it” It stems from magic, which has no basis, so needs no basis. When I cringe is when RL advanced tech is randomly dumped in based on steam,gears, or “a gnome/insert race made it”.

I’m a bit sorry I even brought up linear tech and infrastructure progression. Ultimately it still gets down to some version of “a wizard did it”. I’m fine with that. But, at that point you can’t pick and choose what is possible and what is not, and argue it based on era, industrialization, or whatever.

Heck, 5 different Norns in spirit form should be able to click magic rings and form Norntron. It is just as plausible as a charr helicopter. (joking)

SpyderArachnid.5619:

People have been requesting tons of new outfits/armor skins/weapon skins/etc for awhile now and nothing has been added. I mean even requesting outfits that are already in the game to be town clothing hasn’t happened (like clothing NPCs wear). It feels like the only way we are getting new outfits is via holidays only. Which in turn is really disheartening. People have constantly asked, but guess it is not a priority.

With their limited budget, I think that expecting a bunch of new stuff a couple months after launch is not realistic, but we’ll get more armors. Putting in requests now means they have an idea of what we’d like for future expansions and content.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Eh, toss out all of the rationalizations, it just comes down to “Bikes and locomotives are not Kewl, Tanks n Helicopters is” and that applies to most of it. Kewl gets shoehorned in regardless. And not just this game.

I had to chuckle at the concept that Charr would not have invented Rails and Locomotives as war machines. Sad, cause they were. Rail guns, Armored Trains, logistics, they very much were. But, no matter. I guess they didn’t invent them for the same reason they never got past the dirt road. Rome did, but never mind.

To me it makes sense that the Charr wouldn’t have wasted the time trying to lay down rails considering they’ve got: human separatist, Ascalonian ghosts, Branded minions, and Flame Legion troops all heavily infesting the surrounding countryside outside of the Black Citadel. The amount of time and effort they would have to spend just to protect and repair the lines would be a huge hassle.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

I had to chuckle at the concept that Charr would not have invented Rails and Locomotives as war machines. Sad, cause they were. Rail guns, Armored Trains, logistics, they very much were. But, no matter. I guess they didn’t invent them for the same reason they never got past the dirt road. Rome did, but never mind.

Besides the fact that rome did not invent trains, the problem is that the charr and humans have been fighting guerilla warfare tactics as well as traditional ones, and there are enough humans actively sabotaging roads that it would have been implausible to keep the infrastructure for trains going in an active war zone.

Now that they’re at peace, who knows?

The other perplexing thing for me is, I played GW1. I hated Charr, I spent a huge amount of game time in Charr lands, killing Charr. I cannot recall ever finding Charr tech, or any precursor to Charr tech.

They destroyed the wall and Ascalon by doing mumbo jumbo round a big boiling vat like thing. I saw it. Many times. Humans had Trebuchet, Charr had large bugs.

So I just don’t get the “long history of engineering thing” at all. Unless the Shaman class rulers were also Luddite, and all the tech was there, just secretly buried away in caves and stuff.

Zeefa.3915:

Actually it is more gearpunk I think. I mean it is gears running all that kitten. Not steam.
I was initially against these things too. But you know what… it fits. It really fits the game and the charr.

Sure these things are powerful, but they are still just an alternative to magic. It wont overpower the other elements, it just lets less magically inclined people have a go too.

Gearpunk, good word really. I was thinking almost more diesel punk, but I cant tell if they are using some sort of combustion engine yet. I am really not a huge fan of the ‘Steampunk’ explosion in fandom these days, but when I log into this game, I see Charr tech, I dont see people running around in froo froo Victorian outfits with bronze painted nerfguns and cogs and such superglued to everything.

Steampunk: When Goths Discovered Brown, is not what Charr Tech is at all. It has a hugely different feel to it. They also use feline/charr faces in a lot of their metalwork (see Heavy tier 3) so Using it on their tanks and such seems a logical leap.

As for the Poor Humans… well, they will be taken care of as soon as we finish with these pesky dragons.

Erm…. ever watched CLOSE to how the bone-structure of charr is? Their shoulder width is nearly as much as their height… And they have O-legs…

And now… think of a 6-year old boy with massive overweight and o-legs trying to learn how to ride a bicycle.

Yes.

He’d fail miserably.

Same for nearly all the charr. So they most likely invented 4wheel muscle-driven vehicles first, and just took over the driving engines from the other races.

Sylv.5324:

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

I had to chuckle at the concept that Charr would not have invented Rails and Locomotives as war machines. Sad, cause they were. Rail guns, Armored Trains, logistics, they very much were. But, no matter. I guess they didn’t invent them for the same reason they never got past the dirt road. Rome did, but never mind.

Besides the fact that rome did not invent trains, the problem is that the charr and humans have been fighting guerilla warfare tactics as well as traditional ones, and there are enough humans actively sabotaging roads that it would have been implausible to keep the infrastructure for trains going in an active war zone.

Now that they’re at peace, who knows?

I suppose I should have separated this sentence.

" But, no matter. I guess they didn’t invent them for the same reason they never got past the dirt road. Rome did, but never mind."

spelling it out.. Rome built improved roads, something apparently beyond “charr engineering”. Empires did that sort of thing. Logistics. It’s what industrial war machines do. But never mind. Sorry if I implied that Rome built trains. I have to remember to be ultra literal on forums.

And you aren’t really giving reasons, you are pulling excuses out of a hat.

I’m fine with “a wizard did it”. It makes more sense, and requires less typing.

Don’t forget the life cycle of a game. Games that come out now were conceived and began development 5+ years ago. 5 years ago steam punk was kinda big, so they probably thought it was a good idea.

Anyhow, I like it. There is enough of all elements to give everyone what they want. And without it, my favorite class the engineer wouldn’t exist,

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

And you aren’t really giving reasons, you are pulling excuses out of a hat.

Their entire technological renaissance was fought during a 250-year war with humans that occupied the same territory. Even the early quests are significantly about having to fight separatists and defuse mines, not even including some of the Order quests and charr storylines.

If you’ve seen ones under constant guerilla warfare, you’ve seen how devastated they become fairly quickly. I can’t speak for the devs, but Charr railroads would never have lasted without spreading the charr military too thin.

(If you look at the history of the american railroad, it required the subjugation of native americans to manage it, and real life native americans did not have magic or cannons. It also needed a very large workforce, but most Charr were busy killing humans. Or each other.)

OT to steampunk, but will mention this as an example of the randomness of Tech in game.

Apparently the Seraph can’t grasp the cannon thing. It isn’t a human thing, since every Bandit with 3 people in his gang has one. Every pirate living in a wrecked ship, down by the river, has one. Vigil has em. But.. a major arm of the Krytan military, naaah. Just funny to me.

Sylv.5324:

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

And you aren’t really giving reasons, you are pulling excuses out of a hat.

Their entire technological renaissance was fought during a 250-year war with humans that occupied the same territory. Even the early quests are significantly about having to fight separatists and defuse mines, not even including some of the Order quests and charr storylines.

If you’ve seen ones under constant guerilla warfare, you’ve seen how devastated they become fairly quickly. I can’t speak for the devs, but Charr railroads would never have lasted without spreading the charr military too thin.

(If you look at the history of the american railroad, it required the subjugation of native americans to manage it, and real life native americans did not have magic or cannons. It also needed a very large workforce, but most Charr were busy killing humans. Or each other.)

A large hat.

I could argue that Germany, in two wars, advanced rail lines across holy Mother Russia.. but naw, no partisans there. Never mind. In American history, the Union advanced rail lines right up the front lines, beating the Confederacy down with technology and engineering. But no matter. The British Empire ruled a huge chunk of the world, and tied it together with rails and ships. Null point.

I will repeat, games get things shoved in them for Kewl factor. Period. Arguing any other reason is ludicrous. They don’t need linear tech or industrial progression, realism, logic, or historical examples. They don’t need logistics or infrastructure, as they can pull the massive resource needs out of the ether.

Charr have helicopters for the same reason I can store 3 suits of armor, massive amounts of ore, and sundry weapons dropped by non sentient beasts who apparently eat them…..in a small knapsack. Charr have helicopters for the same reason I can call pets out of invisible pokeballs. Charr have helicopters for the same reason I can whisk myself across vast distances but can’t seem to grasp the concept of riding a Dolyak. etc etc.

wizardry

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

OT to steampunk, but will mention this as an example of the randomness of Tech in game.

Apparently the Seraph can’t grasp the cannon thing. It isn’t a human thing, since every Bandit with 3 people in his gang has one. Every pirate living in a wrecked ship, down by the river, has one. Vigil has em. But.. a major arm of the Krytan military, naaah. Just funny to me.

I think that has more to do with Logan being a moron than anything else. If the Seraph wanted GOOD cannons, they’d need to go to the source. I can’t exactly see Logan going, helm in hand, to ask Rytlock if they can have some charr engineers help them to defend Divinity’s Reach.

Onshidesigns.1069:

HawkMeister.4758:

Onshidesigns.1069:

pure mid evil game.

Dude..
M E D I E V A L
Neither right nor left and surely not MID EVIL!

And it´s Norn!

Boy, hadn´t had such a powerful grammar-nazi attack in ages.
Whew, glad it´s over.

So kittening what

Well, the what is some people aren’t content to wallow in their own craptacular ignorance. Apparently, you are, feel free and get used to being corrected by those who aren’t. I always get a kick out of those who go so what, like being ignorant was something to be proud of.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Actually the Steampunk theme of the Charr was something I actually liked. Not a fan of Charr myself though, but I do like their theme they got going on. I mean it’s been over 200 years and times change. The Charr have always been known for their engineering skills since the beginning, so it makes sense that they have evolved as they have.

I was rather disappointed though to see all this new Steampunk stuff, but barely any Steampunk outfits. Was hoping to get some fancy cogwheel-themed armor or something at least. Even some fancy rifles/pistols. But barely anything in that department.

So basically, smear cogs and gears all over something, regardless of if they have a point = steampunk. At least from any example of it I’ve seen.

Sleel.8365:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Actually the Steampunk theme of the Charr was something I actually liked. Not a fan of Charr myself though, but I do like their theme they got going on. I mean it’s been over 200 years and times change. The Charr have always been known for their engineering skills since the beginning, so it makes sense that they have evolved as they have.

I was rather disappointed though to see all this new Steampunk stuff, but barely any Steampunk outfits. Was hoping to get some fancy cogwheel-themed armor or something at least. Even some fancy rifles/pistols. But barely anything in that department.

So basically, smear cogs and gears all over something, regardless of if they have a point = steampunk. At least from any example of it I’ve seen.

That’s an upgrade from just throwing an airship into the game and calling it steampunk…

To much? I’ve always felt that there wasn’t enough steampunk elements.

It was weird to walk around in the Charr capitol(al?) and see those huge vehicles and not see them EVERYWHERE in the game where Charr are. It was weird to see a single solo Charr helicopter. If you encounter the Charr doing anything, it’s always on foot. The Dredge on the other hand? nope, they use APV’s (armored personnel vehicles) with acoustic cannons (seems stupid since they have excellent hearing), mining mech’s, cannons, trebuchet’s, turrets, etc. Dredge seem more industrialized than Charr unless you visit the Charr capitol…

To even think the humans survived against the Charr is laughable since the humans can barely get anything done without fracturing their individualistic society into pieces.

Anyway, I like the steampunk/gearpunk style, and 250 years from scratch isn’t all that inconceivable. Though I think that if Hero of Alexandria would have made the connection with his steam toy to rotary torque engine (not as simple a leap as some like to think) then our world would have went through a steampunk revolution early on, then again, there were dozens of other times when it could have happened and didn’t so maybe humans are just too dumb to accomplish things like this

As a GW1 veteran it isn’t that the Charr weren’t already on that path, it’s that the only ones we fought were of the Flame Legion, not the Ash, Iron, or Blood legions. As such they were very magical due to the religious beliefs and not more ironpunk like the Iron legion.

Mardukar.8327:

Not sure if this is the right thread for this topic

Does anyone hold this opinion? I’d like to think of GW 2 as a fantasy game… Guns, cannons… pfff, okay… Flying airships, okay… But Risen ROFL-copters? Charr Thundercat mobiles? It’s ridiculous. This game seems to be evolving in the same way the Fable franchise did starting of as fantasy and ending in ridiculous steampunk.

I’m just hoping that the developpers don’t choose to go down this path any further or next Guild Wars 3 will be more akin to SWTOR than to GW 1 in terms of setting

Nope, too few.

I prefer “high fantasy” elements to my games. The more scifi injected the better.

I do like steampunk elements in game.

To concern why do charrs run with swords while they have tanks ..well.. this is game. You can set wooden carts to bleed and poison them so bashing tank with axe isint such a preposterous idea.

Also it is more likely for some races to evolve beyond others than all of them to evolve same. You have Asuras which lived underground and their technological proggression was seperated from rest of the world and we have Norn which more or less are still savages. You can see similarities to real world , even in 21st century.

Im unhappy with many things in gw2 but atleast world conception isint one of them. I really do love how they sorted current state of technology and progress in game.

Too much?

Wait for the next expansion when Kralkatorrik goes to the moon to change its orbit and make it crash into Tyria and d00m us all … But don’t loose hope!

Space comander Treharne is the plant with the plan,he build a spaceship single-handedly with your help then send you off to space to figth krak…

Kralkatorrik proves to be too much for your heroes alone, but not all is lost they remember the big red button that zojja put on ship for emergencies labeled deus ex something…

Pushing the button Make the ship turn into giant plant animal robot blessed by the gods and powered by steam*!!! then after a long epic moon battle kralkatorrik finally falls…

But it is too late Kralkatorrik plan is in motion and the moon is en route of collision with Tyria, but a unknown hero emerges Wruce Billisfang the renegade charr who decides to stay behind and blow the moon to save Tyria.

You return home and all the people of Tyra cheers … Treharne for saving tyria once again you gain a yellow space hat for your efforts and go home.

*to form the head you must buy the head unlocker in the cash shop.

Sleel.8365:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Actually the Steampunk theme of the Charr was something I actually liked. Not a fan of Charr myself though, but I do like their theme they got going on. I mean it’s been over 200 years and times change. The Charr have always been known for their engineering skills since the beginning, so it makes sense that they have evolved as they have.

I was rather disappointed though to see all this new Steampunk stuff, but barely any Steampunk outfits. Was hoping to get some fancy cogwheel-themed armor or something at least. Even some fancy rifles/pistols. But barely anything in that department.

So basically, smear cogs and gears all over something, regardless of if they have a point = steampunk. At least from any example of it I’ve seen.

lol you got a point there, but yes, basically that’s it. :P

But how is that any different from any other fad? Or even any armor or fashion in general? Just look at some of the gear we already have in game and you can see the same philosophy applied to them as well for their own themes.

I’m not a Steampunk fan, so I can sympathise with you, OP. I’m normally pretty big on keeping my technology out of my fantasy (crossbows and siege engines are generally about the limits of what I’ll tolerate), but I have to admit that GW2 has handled it pretty well. I nearly boycotted GW2 when ANet revealed the Engineer ("Grenades?? Turrets?! FREAKIN’ ROCKET JUMPS?!), but I’m glad I didn’t. GW2 is still a great game if you can get over the genre-mixing.

Caedmon.6798:

OP did you ever play Final fantasy ? Your idea of what a fantasy game should be like is a bit screwed , nothing electrical,no planes,choppers,or anything on wheels,basically a Medieval setting,right ? Well heres the prob,gw is not a medieval game.

This guy. ^

Yeah what this game boasts is a lot of “magic technology”, which is like our technology but based around magic, not electricity.

I used to hate magic technology (thanks Final Fantasy), but Guild Wars I believe is using it on a decent level. Asuras being the ones who excel at it, and the rest of the races benefit from it.

Its just background stuff though. All the subs, helicopters and tanks just sit there. We’re all still afoot shooting and swinging swords at each other.

ya i agree i dont like the guns and other stuff like that, especially the pistols that can shoot like machine guns but look like flintlocks.

I just think there is too much dredge in shiverpeaks

Rikimeru Tokesbudz.3816:

ya i agree i dont like the guns and other stuff like that, especially the pistols that can shoot like machine guns but look like flintlocks.

…MAGIC flintlocks!

Hec.8413:

I just think there is too much dredge in shiverpeaks

We need Dwarves to kill them off again, very soon..with guns i’m sure..