In several threads I’ve seen people express the desire to play centaurs. I don’t want to hijack those threads, so I’ll ask here. Why do you want to play centaurs?
I’ll set aside that they’ve been established as “bad guys”, because lore can be written to make anything happen. So let’s focus on their physiology. Being quadrupeds, in my opinion, means they’ll never be a playable race. Think of the design problems of making leg armor for four-legged creatures. Think of how silly they’ll look swimming underwater. Think of all those jumping puzzles with tiny little platforms on which a centaur can’t physically fit. Do you think centaurs are going to stand on their hind legs during jumping puzzles?
Moving past the problems presented with the models, what exactly is it about centaurs that makes you guys want to play them? Is their lore any more interesting than the dozen or so other non-playable races already established? Is it their culture? Their homeland? What? To me, and I recognize this aspect of my case against them is subjective, nothing about them is particularly interesting. But obviously some of you disagree with me.
Horsies!
Seriously though I have not seen a single thread asking for centaurs, many for skritt and quagen.
Would be an interesting change of playable species though.
Probably because of Zhed Shadowhoof, a centaur hero you could recruit in nightfall in GW1 (he was an elementalist by default, though you could change it anytime you wanted). He hated humans (his own family being killed by humans) but joins the player’s group to fight a common enemy. Some of his quotes:
“I was taught peace by my people, and war by humans. If I am violent, then I can only offer you congratulations. Your kind won.”
(when going to watch a play for a quest) "This “play” you speak of… it is entertainment? Very well, I will be entertained. Tell me, who dies?"
It’s a pile of Elonian protection magic, mixed with a little monk training,
wrapped up in some crazy ritualist hoo-ha from Cantha.
A real grab bag of ‘you can’t hurt me. They’re called Guardians.
People have made suggestion threads for pretty much everything. I’m not convinced centaurs would be made any more interesting as a playable race, though I’m not versed in the lore from GW1.
I do like them, though. There are a at least a couple points where you get the chance to hear from certain centaurs who seek peace with the other races, though it’s clear that they are a minority and there aren’t many who are willing to listen to them. I think that could make for an interesting subplot, and having social unrest increasingly blowing up all over the place while Tyria is trying to fight the dragons would be cool. We have enough black-and-white “bad guys.”
Until we got to Elona every centaur in game, save Ventauri, were KOS to all humans. Only the Kournan Centaur were non aggro, and tbh they looked different from the Tyrian Centaurs.
And as far as Zheds’ kind, sorry bronies, whatever they were wasn’t part horse..not with cloven hooves.
Ley lines. The perfect solution to deadlines and writers block. Now in an easy open Can.
I don’t want to play as centaurs… First of all, and as a human, they look hideous! Secondly, it just doesn’t feel right playing them. It’s just like you said (Pointing at OP), they have/will have design problems/issues.
Give a man fire, he will be warm, set a man on fire, he will be warm forever! …or dead…
It might currently be partially fueled by MLP’s fan craze, but it has been one of the most commonly requested playable races even before that show came out.
Centaurs have always been a well established race within the Guild Wars universe. They’ve had established lore that has been well fleshed out later on in the game’s lifetime. We even have Zhed and Ventari, two well received NPCs within the community. The only time we’ve never seen any was in the Factions campaign.
All in all, MLP isn’t the main reason as to why people want centaurs to be a playable race. If at all really.
Not gonna happen, although imagining how a centaur thief would try to do a leaping death blossom, or any attack with movement really, would be rather hilarious.
Tengu are much more likely as they don’t seem to be quite as tribal as the others, and they haven’t had as much revealed about their culture.
If I had a first choice of a new playable race it would be Skritt hands down and Ive seen others say the same thing also.
As for Centaur lore and faction, this game’s history is a progression of history in Guild Wars 1 and there were allied Centaur and even heroes [kind of like a pet only humanoid automated group members] that were Centaur.
Centaurs could easily be a playable race in the future. Lore could be written in, just like any other game. Look where Shadowbane went, with having centaur as a playable race.
I’m not really someone who wants centaurs (my top wanted races are Tengu and Largos) but I imagine some of the difficulties you mention in your OP is part of the reason some want them. People like what’s different. A quadrupedal race would be very different and unique. Not everyone would be interested in that, but some would. People like the Charr 4-legged running animation, and having a Centaur would be like that all the time.
Centaurs are also a decently popular mythological creature, so I guess some of it might come from that as well. Especially since they’re one of the only mythological creatures present in the Guild Wars universe and not extinct or something. Dwarfs are gone, elves don’t exist nor do gnomes, faeries, ect.
They also don’t have any particular story aspects barring them from being playable, other than the aforementioned challenges with armor and animations. They aren’t outright evil so it wouldn’t be THAT strange for them to be teaming up against the dragons, they aren’t one of the “lesser races”, they use all varieties of weapons, ect.
The human vs centaur stuff is one of my favorite elements of world PvE. It feels like a lot of it was done before the Renown Heart system was put into place, so events regarding centaurs, their fortresses, and their assaults on human settlements feel a lot more connected and cohesive. I think the quality of the warfare events is behind the popularity of Queensdale, Kessex Hills, Gendarren Fields, and Harathi Hinterlands.
I’d love an Orr-style map that was all about centaurs. No Renown Hearts, just a war between centaurs and humans where the lines of battle were in constant flux.
Horsies!
Seriously though I have not seen a single thread asking for centaurs, many for skritt and quagen.
Would be an interesting change of playable species though.
Yeah. I’d roll a skritt, never thought about a cent, but that might be fun too. No way I’d roll a quaggan, any more then I would an aura. Quaggans are delicious. If it wasn’t for ppl saving them all the time they’d be extinct. Pretty much food that avoided being such by talking.
The human vs centaur stuff is one of my favorite elements of world PvE. It feels like a lot of it was done before the Renown Heart system was put into place, so events regarding centaurs, their fortresses, and their assaults on human settlements feel a lot more connected and cohesive. I think the quality of the warfare events is behind the popularity of Queensdale, Kessex Hills, Gendarren Fields, and Harathi Hinterlands.
I’d love an Orr-style map that was all about centaurs. No Renown Hearts, just a war between centaurs and humans where the lines of battle were in constant flux.
I hope every zone moving forward is like Orr with no heart system. Just huge event chains. Southsun was a start I guess, but not enough going on there. I hope the next campaign/exp pack comes complete with no hearts…just exploration.
I would play most any race that folks have suggested, I think the only issue I would have with becoming a Centaur is jumping through hoops trying to get a jump puzzle done. Seems like it would be awkward. Then again, I do from time to time do it on all fours with a weapon stowed Charr.
Nothin wrong with centaurs. I’d probably role one to and it has nothing to do i’m a horseman myself. They fit into GW lore, Zhed has already been mentioned. And just look at Greek mythology, though they are not the most reputable race, Chiron plays a very important role. I’d even bet Zhed is directly inspired if not a copy of Chiron.
It would’nt be any problem designing armor for centaurs either. Just google medieval horse armor or armored centaur. You dont need leg armor, in fact, though the legs are the most vulnerable part, armoring them would seriously hinder movement. So they could easily compensate that with significantly higher health & toughness but a standard penalty to cripple attacks. A standard 5 sec longer on cripple attacks. And the movements. well most are already there, including a cool charge and skid attack. I dont see why it would be any more difficult then the ranger swirling sword/axe attack, an Asuran floating in the sky waving a sword in someones face or that rotating greatword swirl attack.
So yeah there you have it, technically no problem, lorewise no problem, but i hope they dont get introduced untill the next expansion and all the bugs,technical issues and balances are ironed out in the game we have now.
“i do not want to hijack those several threads that are about the same thing i am asking about so i will just make another thread when there are plenty”
is the tl;dr.
I thought centaurs were trite as hell after the first two human-themed zones, but must just be me.
If I had to guess the next player race(s) they would be either the Skrit or the Koda. Both have areas that could be considered a hometown already. It would be easy to add them in.
I’m more confused as to why some would want to play as annoying little rat people. And no, I’m not referring to th Asura. Centaurs aren’t really interesting as a playable race anyway. To be fully honest (and this is just my opinion) I hope they just stick with the current five races.
Tengu are the most important non-playable race, IMHO. They have a city (and a real one, not a crappy shantytown or a tiny village), are the last bastion of Canthan culture in Tyria, and the Tengu mercenary Talon Silverwing fought alongside the Weh no Su to stop Shiro from drowning the world in plague, and by association, the destructive machinations of Abaddon.
I’m more confused as to why some would want to play as annoying little rat people. And no, I’m not referring to th Asura. Centaurs aren’t really interesting as a playable race anyway. To be fully honest (and this is just my opinion) I hope they just stick with the current five races.
Because they’re cute
because they like to tinker with gadgets and gizmos and are not irritating little snobs.
It’s never been done before, and the amount of work involved would mean that only the very largest game companies could afford to try and attempt it.
I would play a centaur if they did decide to make them, and I would applaud their bravery of going for something that is difficult INSTEAD OF GOING THE EASY ROUTE.
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
I really hope not. The last thing we need is them wasting time trying to make every single armor set make sense on something that is 50% horse.
Every single set of pants, boots, and more than a few chest pieces would need complete redesigns.
Oh yes and modding the boots to fit charr feet is so easy.
Who are you anyways
Why do you think you’re so important that you get to decide what the devs work on based on what you feel is more important.
Compared to redoing all armors from the ground up, yes, modifying them to fit on the feet of a race is VERY easy.
Centaurs will not happen because they are not humanoid. Period. There would be far too much extra work involved in redoing all armors.
Actually the current count between all the races and genders requires that Anet refashion any armor piece at least seven times and animations for any armor piece at least ten times to account for all possible races and genders. Two more won’t make much of a difference, and it could even be one more if males and females share armor like with the asura.
Good necro by the way, but it’s going to be moved to suggestions any moment now…
