Guild Wars 2

It makes some of us wonder if there is any kind of lore behind our new specializations ?

From lore POV it feels kind of dull as we enter the Maguuma jungle and then “woah check it guys, I can now wield a longbow for some reason” and this kind of thing.
Elite specializations are one of the best things that are about to happen but don’t you guys think that it lacks some “kick” to it ?
What I mean is wouldn’t it be amazing to have a special kind of living story that is fitted to every each class (doesn’t have to be connected to HoT events) that explains how our new found powers came to be ?
What was the inspiration to gain what we are about to receive along with HoT release.
For example:
Warriors went to hone their skills after defeat of Zhaitan, in the mountains (good old karate kid style) or smth about that and (ate some shrooms – cause real berserkers were on shrooms as well, bro) met someone or something that helped them to better understand the primal need to hunt/fight like an animal. So they make a campfire then somehow get caught on fire and then they angrily punch bears with bare hands while trying to find some water to extinguish themselves.

It’s just a rough idea just to show you what I mean.

Now the second part of this thread which probably was featured for quite a bunch of times but well, it got lost in the bowels of this forum so I’d like to refresh it (it’s not like it’s going to harm anyone).

As I read lore about monks, paragons and guardians (which is still kind of thin as I’ve just begun) now I start to wonder. From where does it really come from ?
Yes, it comes from faith itself, faith into warband, alchemy, spirits of the wild, human gods and caesar salad or channeled through bloodstones etc…
It’s a game mechanic that all races have access to all professions cause bloodstones grants us powers that do not choose between races or ideologies.
Guardian’s power originates from one of the four aspects of magic: preservance.
It was that kind that monks and paragons used and that got merged into one name of our beloved blue class.
So yeah, I kind of explained it to myself right ? Well not exactly.
Let’s put our tinfoil hats upon our heads and let’s get weird.

Let’s not look at game’s mechanic of “all races all profs” but first…
What is light ?
This is my theory which may be wrong as I do not know everything yet but let me have some fun, k ?
Mesmers use light in its physical nature as they could use magic to bend it and create Illusions.
Guardians use light as well BUT ! This is not a physical but spiritual light.
With paladin/crusader/templar/guardian archetype we imagine light and its ideology as a pure and simple font of power that heals true and strikes true. It’s like a feeling of radiance of a dawning sun that gracefuly descends upon, giving you the sweet feeling of safety, tranquil mind… or brings excruciating torment and purging flames to punish you (depends if you are with a guard or against guard ).
This is how we think of this kind of light, it’s not a sheer power that is stored withing our muscles, it’s not physical, it does not feel like a force of nature nor arcane.
It is divine.
If we, guardians use our power that is seen as faith, why isn’t it depicted as something that is specific to our race’s culture and beliefs but manifested as a light of divine aspect in all of us?
It feels like humans, norn, asuras (asurans ?), charr and sylvari (well plant people are kind of a mystery as they are dragon minions but let’s keep going)
we all have the same understanding of faith, as pure and simple, humble feeling of safety when being close to our loved ones, to those we crave to protect and places we belong to that we wish to defend.
It’s like there is something more than just human gods, eternal alchemy and celestial spirits/spirits of the wild. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an entity because it feels like a concept we all know of in real life and we don’t have to be limited by just that one thought. But then, are human gods only and just for humans ? It is said that paragons taught everyone about gods’ ways and how to tap into preservation to power their own faith.
The question remains: Why every race guardian’s abilities are of divine, holy nature ?

tinfoil hat mode off

I know that it’s a game mechanic that we all have the same abilities and stuff but let’s get creative and look at it from lore point of view.
Also If I made some cruicial story mistakes, please let me know (I bet you will anyway).

“In the Light, we are one.”
- Maraad (Draenei paladin featured in World of Warcraft)

Continue reading up on lore. http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/31/behind-the-scenes-with-the-guild-wars-2-guardian-massivelys-in/

Is there a story behind the Guardian on the lore end of things? Do you have any thoughts on how it came to be?

Jeff Grubb: With the turmoil in Elona and the spread of the Order of Whispers into other lands, more Paragon teaching showed elsewhere in Tyria. These teachings melded with other traditions, and over time, the Guardians and their abilities can be found throughout the world and among all the races. They are not tied to a particular race, philosophy, or group of gods but rather to a larger concept of proactive defense, of taking the fight to a foe and protecting those you fight alongside while appealing equally to humanity’s defensive nature and the Charr’s desire to rule the battlefield.

I think the Guardian is much more of a pragmatic and tactical user of a magic as opposed to an Elementalist, who is a pure student of magic. The Elementalist casts discrete spells, and you have the feeling that there is a heritage and body of knowledge behind those spells. Guardians seem to use magical energy in the heat of combat, from the front line. That sense of immediacy sets the Guardian apart from more traditional spell-casters and allows for a heavily armored magical character.

Other professions don’t use light in its physical sense. Mesmers manipulate ether the building block of reality. It is purple. The healing wells for necro/mesmer are light fields. Veil and gravity well alter principles associated with light and space so they are light and dark fields. Guardians are the only one who can forcibly cause light to solidify. No divinity is the required.

Now that is something new that I didn’t know yet, thanks for the link.
Gotta get some more of that sweet lore.

I agree there should be more lore on where the elite specs come from, but I think a pretty widely held assumption is that the Exalted will teach us the ways of the elite specs. There’s going to be collections to unlocking the elite spec skins (like the shield skin on Chronomancer, the helm on Berserker), so I assume we’ll gain some lore from those collections. It’s not the best, but given we’re getting lore-ish collections for the precursors, they’ll probably do the same for the elite specs.

Regarding Elite Specs, I like to think:

Warriors know they are fighting the jungle dragon, and know plant-type creatures are normally weak to fire, so they use Fire a lot more.

Guardians can physically manifest light and use longbows to channel said light to their desired target ( I got this from somewhere else I forget).

Revenants as a “super new” prof could have suddenly undergone massive study-fests trying to find out about what a revenant is, does and what magic is uses etc etc. and during this learned of Glint’s Flameseeker Prophecies, in detail, channeled her and took up her prophecy as a way to protect and aid allies ( including the flameseeker legendary shield)

Rangers delved into the Jungle and heard the call of Nature (Druids from gw1), ( Sylvari would also hear Mordremoth), and learned to harness the sun’s rays, and space itself to help protect Tyria from the dragons. So they picked up a branch (Staff) and started training.

Engineers have been thinking about how to improve their turrets, and now they have finally created a mobile turret, but due to the need for it to be small, it cannot have abilities as strong as the turrets themselves, plus when they discovered the good old “hit it until it works” phrase, they went all out and got a hammer.

Thieves are the spiritual descendants from Assassins, who Originated in Cantha, it’s possible those who took the training of a thief have now been able to tap into canthan heritage and ceremonies, so while practicing and learning to use daggers like their ancestors, and exploring the jungle, they stumbled upon the monkey king in chains, captured by the bandits. The thief then stepped in (stealthily) and freed the Monkey King, he was graetful enough to teach them his way of utilising staves.

Mesmers while researching about how to further improve their abilities and looks stumbled upon Time Magic (Chronomancy), so to stay young and beautiful for a longer duration than normal, they then learned to focus this magic to completely step out of the timeline, albeit for a few seconds, to aid their needs.

Elementalists channeled hard to call stronger storms than before, finally resulting in being able to Overload their attunements. To combat the mainly damaging abilities they learned, they also became able to use their very voice to cast powerful magic, to even prevent death for a few seconds (Rebound). They saw this as an opportunity and decided to breathe magic into the air and their witha Warhorn.

Necromancers knew tales of the Grim Reaper, Grenth, Dhuum and the like. So they wished to channel these darker energies to bring all their enemies to their knees. When they finally were able to manifest a scythe out of darkness, they felt empty when not channeling the reaper, so they decided to take up a greatsword and enjoy carving their names into anything, allowing ice crystals to slowly but surely destroy their enemies.

I hope these sound ok :P

ALSO:

All races can use magic due to the ability to tap into the bloodstone, and technically the dragons themselves as the inquest with the help of scarlet tried to do, and eventually with the crucible of eternity and Kudu, who was able to have dragon minions completely under his control.