Guild Wars 2

So do we get a one handed katana? In the one promotional image of the Revenant he is clearly holding a one handed Katana, not Balinda’s Sword. Mind you this is promotional art and not anything in game. The in game screens just show the Revenant holding generic fantasy weapons.

They were nice enough to give us a two handed version (or rather a nodachi) with Balinda’s Greatsword. So will HoT finally give us one handed versions?

Yes! Please! I hope Belinda’s great sword will be available in the gemstore again comes the expansion as well. Every body will be wearing one, but for once I don’t care.

Yes there is a 1 handed katana sword and dagger that were recently datamined.
[&AgGADQEAAA] [&AgFcDgEAAA

Dulfy has a gallery showing them http://dulfy.net/2015/03/16/gw2-upcoming-items-from-march-16-patch/

I am liking those skins people!!!

Donari.5237:

Dulfy has a gallery showing them http://dulfy.net/2015/03/16/gw2-upcoming-items-from-march-16-patch/

Thank you!

inb4 the tanto and iaito get released in the gemstore

those makeshift weapons look pretty swag though.

IllegalChocolate.6938:

inb4 the tanto and iaito get released in the gemstore.

I knew I liked you. People calling that a katana had my teeth itching.

I think I’m gonna stick with the makeshift weapons myself, or just stay with my fractal weapons since I grinded for so long for them. Everyone is gonna have nihonto its like the black feather wings all over again when it comes out.

By the comparative length of the models, the ‘katana sword’ is actually a wakizashi. Tanto should be 15-30cm, and the blade length of the ‘katana sword’ is no more than double of that, placing it just in the wakizashi range.

And come on, ANet is fully aware that those will sell like candy from gem store. You can still see Belinda’s odachi everywhere.

Zania.8461:

By the comparative length of the models, the ‘katana sword’ is actually a wakizashi. Tanto should be 15-30cm, and the blade length of the ‘katana sword’ is no more than double of that, placing it just in the wakizashi range.

And come on, ANet is fully aware that those will sell like candy from gem store. You can still see Belinda’s odachi everywhere.

I just wish they’d make it avaiable again, I need that skin for my Necromancer once the Spec hits and when it was avaiable i had a break from GW2 t.t

Nike.2631:

IllegalChocolate.6938:

inb4 the tanto and iaito get released in the gemstore.

I knew I liked you. People calling that a katana had my teeth itching.

You’re right about the tanto/wakizashi thing, but calling the longer one a Iaito makes MY teeth itch.
An iaito is a sword for training Iaido with a blunt blade usually made out of a alluminium-cink alloy, which is lighter and thus easier to use, and of course cheaper, but it tries to look and feel as closely to a real katana as possible – the same size of blade and handle, the same way the handle is made, possibly some visual cues like the hamon on the “blade”, in order to get the Iaidoka ready for the shinken, the sharp sword.
You usually start Iaido by practicing with a Bokken, the wooden sword, also formed like a real katana, and then, once you feel ready, you get a Iaito with a scabbard (saya) in order to train the movements of a real blade, especially the movement of putting the sword back into the scabbard without putting the enemy under pressure after a fight.
So a Iaito is just the fancy word for “Training Sword”, and whoever taught you that this is actually the real word for a shorter katana, tell him to kitten off.
All this coming from a 2nd Dan Iaidoka from Germany.

The more you know.

Gem store or not I look forward to seeing them. The Makeshift Weapons aren’t bad either, might give some of those to my Norn!

kitten it I’ve been found out

Shhh, I won’t tell anybody, it’s our little secret

..why are people so in love katanas so much..they were great for cutting down unarmored peasants, but against heavy armor they went dull and broke quite quickly..sorry voicing my opinion here.

Fanboys love them because when the rest of the world had moved on to guns, the Japanese’s closed society kept making blades and as a result they have a bit more advanced metallurgy – not compared to their contemporaries, because there are no contemporaries, but compared to the final serious efforts of other cultures that were busy shooting each other by then. Its a bit like lusting after an A-10’s Avenger over a civil war Gatling gun. No kidding the version 100 years newer is more impressive. Duh.

Add in a bit of romantic whitewashing of the Samurai warrior culture (a culture that in reality spent long periods considering the spear to be the essential weapon of a warrior…) and you get some ooo and aaah’ing over what is in essence a fairly typical cavalry saber independently developed by pretty much every civilization that had horses.

But mostly I cringe at calling those models “katana” because they lack curvature .

Omega Zoa.3859:

..why are people so in love katanas so much..they were great for cutting down unarmored peasants, but against heavy armor they went dull and broke quite quickly..sorry voicing my opinion here.

== broke quite quickly?! Lol don’t be a joke they were amongst the best piercing swords at its time== I think you’re talking about long swords not being able to penetrate anything. As far a I know Damascus swords and katanas were able the slice a person in half without any real afford at the same time being able to penetrate any plate armor without bending!(it’s almost impossible to be able to pull that off with any common blade)

…we do from time to time practice actual cutting when we practice Iaido. We have special rolls made from a certain type of grass or bamboo, and cutting through one of these rolls is basically the same as cutting through a lower arm, flesh and bones, and let me tell you: that kitten is NOT easy. With enough practice you surely can cut through them, and even multiple of those, but I really really doubt that you would be able to cut through a whole torso plus armor in one swing. That just doesn’t happen.
The thing is, japanese swords are just very very mysticised, and most things you hear simpy aren’t true. With a katana, you try to aim for parts of the armor that aren’t as protected as others – the parts where armor pieces were linked, armpits, wrists, knee… Those were the places to wreck damage. Or you just stab the person, but no blade will be able to survive stabbing through hundreds of armors and getting stuck in bones without breaking the tip off

Nephrite.6954:

Omega Zoa.3859:

..why are people so in love katanas so much..they were great for cutting down unarmored peasants, but against heavy armor they went dull and broke quite quickly..sorry voicing my opinion here.

== broke quite quickly?! Lol don’t be a joke they were amongst the best piercing swords at its time== I think you’re talking about long swords not being able to penetrate anything. As far a I know Damascus swords and katanas were able the slice a person in half without any real afford at the same time being able to penetrate any plate armor without bending!(it’s almost impossible to be able to pull that off with any common blade)

Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. The katana was folded because the iron which was available to the Japanese at the time was of poor quality, a process known as pattern welding which had been in use in Europe (by the Celts, for example) even earlier. The reason Europeans stopped doing it was because they discovered how to make good quality homogenous steel, rendering the folding process an unnecessary waste of time.

The cutting edge of a katana was harder than that of a longsword, but it was also (as a direct result if this hardness) more brittle, and tended to chip more easily against armor and bone. It was not a piercing sword (the tip was optimized for cutting), nor was it effective at dealing with heavy armor. It was a cutting sword, and no sword was capable of cutting through the tempered plate armor which came into widespread use in Europe. The longsword evolved into a primarily thrust-oriented weapon, which was used to apply leverage and stab through the gaps in the plate armor. It was still capable of cutting, and cutting well, but it wasn’t quite as efficient as a katana at dealing with soft tissue. However, this is soft tissue we’re talking about, so the difference wasn’t noticeable as a practical matter; both swords were perfectly capable of cutting through the torso of a human.

http://www.thearma.org/essays/longsword-and-katana.html#.VQ4Nk-FGxbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLWzH_1eZsc

Elegant.

Katanas make no sense in this game unless we’re getting cantha.

I dont understand this whole anime fenomenom.

SAB weapons make no sense, half the legendaries make no sense, etc. A katana looks elegant and is no oversized, overdone, too shiny weapon.

I agree with legendaries.
I dont agree with sab. sab weapons are gadgets from a place existing in the game and explained lorewise. Katanas are just easy money from anime freaks.

So much hate and bigotry on this thread…its a weapon skin. A weapon skin that fits lorewise into the game (there are a good deal of Canthan refugees). If you do not want to use the weapon skin, don’t. Many people find the Katana an elegant and neat looking weapon. No need to judge people off of it.

katanas would fit lore if cantha wasnt closed for any contacts with tyria.
in this case any katanas in game should be covered in rust or broken.
katana skins are fast money, like black wings not long time ago, this is why those skins are in gem store and not in game

Many.8419:

katanas would fit lore if cantha wasnt closed for any contacts with tyria.
in this case any katanas in game should be covered in rust or broken.
katana skins are fast money, like black wings not long time ago, this is why those skins are in gem store and not in game

There were hundreds, if not thousands of Canthan refugees. The player character (if human) can even have Canthan ancestory based on customization options. I find it very likely that some of those refugees were weaponsmiths and have passed on the craft of creating katana style weapons over the years. This skill wouldn’t be common, but then that makes sense why you see so few katana skins and so many of others (such as broadsword).

How does this not fit into lore?

I cant find it explained in lore anywhere. This is just making excuses. If your idea was correct then we should have an option to craft katana skins in game. But we cant. because its gem store easy cash.

Many.8419:

I cant find it explained in lore anywhere. This is just making excuses. If your idea was correct then we should have an option to craft katana skins in game. But we cant. because its gem store easy cash.

What do you mean you can’t find it explained in lore? Belinda is confirmed to have Canthan lineage, Tengu behind the wall are confirmed from Cantha, if you choose human as your race, you can choose Canthan as your culture. Cantha is all over the place in Tyria.

As for not being able to craft the weapon, there are a number of things we can’t craft, but make sense. Sticking to Canthan theme, we can’t craft Cantha style dress, but you can’t deny it is in the game and worn. You also can’t say that is old chothing because, well it looks new to me when people are wearing it. To think that at least a few craftsmen didn’t migrate to Tyria when they came over in large numbers (per “the movement of the world”) is just silly.

Nike.2631:

IllegalChocolate.6938:

inb4 the tanto and iaito get released in the gemstore.

I knew I liked you. People calling that a katana had my teeth itching.

I <3 you guys

As someone that’s been doing Iaido for 8 years I agree lol. Everyone calling Belinda’s greatsword a katana (nodachi even though the blades aren’t curved so technically this isn’t true either. Just the proper term for the length) was grating enough lol. Cept iaito is not what you are looking for, those are blunt training swords not designed for actual fighting, that would be a shinken