Guild Wars 2

So this came up on one of the profession forums as people were coming up with ideas for new elite specs. I have no clue what the lore is, if any, on the individual professions. I was informed that GW1 had profession-specific quests that more or less taught you about your profession and gave much more of a feel for what your profession was about, how it fit into the world, etc. Is there anything like that in GW2, and if not is there anything like that anywhere in the wiki?

Is there anything like that in GW2, and if not is there anything like that anywhere in the wiki?

Not in the game no. We did get a bit of lore on the newer professions (Guardian and Engineer especially) via interviews, but that was all, and that stuff should be on the profession articles on the wiki.

Revenant ‘has lore’ but for the most part it’s fallen down to Rytlock saying “I’ll tell you later.”

I’ll reread the articles, but I guess I just want to understand how some of these came about. Like a charr mesmer? or an asuran warrior (when they seem to rely on golems primarily)? Or a norn engineer?

Even separate from the weird race/profession combinations, just general background on how they came about and the roles they play in their respective societies would be nice, at least for the more esoteric ones.

An Asura Warrior could be an Asura who values tradition a lot.
Remember, 250 years ago a LOT of Asurans you’d see were simple warriors using axes made out of stone (or perhaps obsidian, my memory is slightly hazy on this.)

A Charr Mesmer could work.
Although the Charr in general frown upon the use of magic due to the Shaman Caste it does not stop all Charr from practicing magic entirely.

If so all Charr would be either Warriors, Engineers, Thieves or Rangers.
Remember that individual personalities are more dominant than the shared traits of a race.
There are tonnes of humans in real life who can’t stand the sight of blood, yet others are utterly fascinated by it be the motive scientifically, psychologically or whatever.
A Charr could choose to study the arts and practices of a mesmer as a means to win a fight. Using clones to distract your opponents gives you a significant advantage after all.

A Norn Engineer?
I don’t see why Norn can’t be interested in technology as much as Humans, Charr, Sylvari or Asurans.

I do however agree with you, I’d love to have official lore on the professions from the unique races’ points of view.
I’d love to have more than “It is possible.”

Aside from humans and professions in general, there isn’t much lore on ‘why a certain race began to pick up a certain profession’.

My theory is most races had similar professions but they just had diffrent names for them
(like Chaot’s may have been what Charr called their mesmer’s)

oddly Mursaat had standard profession names.

Nero.8047:

An Asura Warrior could be an Asura who values tradition a lot.
Remember, 250 years ago a LOT of Asurans you’d see were simple warriors using axes made out of stone (or perhaps obsidian, my memory is slightly hazy on this.)

A Charr Mesmer could work.
Although the Charr in general frown upon the use of magic due to the Shaman Caste it does not stop all Charr from practicing magic entirely.

If so all Charr would be either Warriors, Engineers, Thieves or Rangers.
Remember that individual personalities are more dominant than the shared traits of a race.
There are tonnes of humans in real life who can’t stand the sight of blood, yet others are utterly fascinated by it be the motive scientifically, psychologically or whatever.
A Charr could choose to study the arts and practices of a mesmer as a means to win a fight. Using clones to distract your opponents gives you a significant advantage after all.

A Norn Engineer?
I don’t see why Norn can’t be interested in technology as much as Humans, Charr, Sylvari or Asurans.

I do however agree with you, I’d love to have official lore on the professions from the unique races’ points of view.
I’d love to have more than “It is possible.”

Exactly. I don’t deny any of what you said, I just want some idea of the cultural perspectives, at least in a general sense.

bearshaman.3421:

I’ll reread the articles, but I guess I just want to understand how some of these came about. Like a charr mesmer? or an asuran warrior (when they seem to rely on golems primarily)? Or a norn engineer?

Even separate from the weird race/profession combinations, just general background on how they came about and the roles they play in their respective societies would be nice, at least for the more esoteric ones.

I belive i saw somewhere the engineers was a charr only proffesion when it began and the other races saw it on the battlefield vs the charr and picked it up i cant remmber where i got it from so dont hang me up on it

ScarecrowHD.4120:

bearshaman.3421:

I’ll reread the articles, but I guess I just want to understand how some of these came about. Like a charr mesmer? or an asuran warrior (when they seem to rely on golems primarily)? Or a norn engineer?

Even separate from the weird race/profession combinations, just general background on how they came about and the roles they play in their respective societies would be nice, at least for the more esoteric ones.

I belive i saw somewhere the engineers was a charr only proffesion when it began and the other races saw it on the battlefield vs the charr and picked it up i cant remmber where i got it from so dont hang me up on it

Haha, i see what you did there… XD

What I would mostly love to see is a cool quest to tackle the coming of elite specs… they could explore this as a collection, but yeah, explain things, have some showcases of magic. The game has so much magic but the way it’s conveyed is so… meh.

Nero.8047:

An Asura Warrior could be an Asura who values tradition a lot.
Remember, 250 years ago a LOT of Asurans you’d see were simple warriors using axes made out of stone (or perhaps obsidian, my memory is slightly hazy on this.)

As stated in another topic or another forum (I forget which), friendly AI is not a good showing of what the races can do. Otherwise we assume the Seraph are all warriors that use sword-shield or bow. Likewise other factions had very limited professions shown, I think all Lionguard period were warriors in GW1. Ascalon had rangers and warriors, but little else. Going off gameplay alone.

Why would they value tradition and use an axe when even back then they were a heavily magic society? Asura warriors in general don’t operate like other races. Even if it’s a simple “They hit smarter”. They are smaller then most races and not as strong.

A Charr Mesmer could work.
Although the Charr in general frown upon the use of magic due to the Shaman Caste it does not stop all Charr from practicing magic entirely.

If so all Charr would be either Warriors, Engineers, Thieves or Rangers.
Remember that individual personalities are more dominant than the shared traits of a race.

Charr see magic as a tool, not a win all. They don’t worship it or see somebody with magic as better then everybody else (As the Shamans did).

I do however agree with you, I’d love to have official lore on the professions from the unique races’ points of view.
I’d love to have more than “It is possible.”

The problem is each class can be in a range of subclasses or viewpoints.

An Asura ranger could be an oddball who loves animals (One is found in Metrica, an Asura who refuses to do any experiments on rabbits and thus is hidden in a cave with a whole bunch), a person studying animal behaviors, a zoologist studying animals in general, or even one seeking to make animal-like golems.

A thief can be anything from a con-man to a pickpocket to an assassin to a sneaky scout for the military to a spy.

It’s hard to say a unique racial viewpoint on some classes without just going into a very vague, generalized statement that doesn’t truly help :P.

I’ve never stated that we should assume nearly all Asurans to have been melee-class-fighters simply because we’ve seen a lot of them. All I’ve literally said is that we’ve seen a lot of them and that there is a possibility for a “modern-age”-Asura to relate to this past.

I also didn’t mean to say that magic is a “win”.
As you mentioned yourself: “Charr see magic as a tool, …” This is the point I was trying to make. A Charr might choose to resort to magic simply due to it being a useful tool to, among others, enrich its odds of winning a fight.

“The problem is each class can be in a range of subclases or viewpoints.”
Is exactly what I’ve said as well, except I related it to the individual and their personalities instead of professions.
“Remember that individual personalities are more dominant than the shared traits of a race.”

In its entirety my reply was a misunderstood comment on Bearshaman’s post:

“I’ll reread the articles, but I guess I just want to understand how some of these came about. Like a charr mesmer? or an asuran warrior (when they seem to rely on golems primarily)? Or a norn engineer?”

I was simply giving options to provide explanations for the origin of these combinations of Race + Profession.

Bearshaman agreed upon my reply and stated that they’d still want some idea of a cultural perspective. Which I have not replied to, nor intend to.

“Why would they value tradition and use an axe when even back then they were a heavily magic society? Asura warriors in general don’t operate like other races. Even if it’s a simple “They hit smarter”. They are smaller then most races and not as strong.”

To reply to this:
Eventhough Asurans are one of the more intelligent and rational species found in Tyria it does not mean all their choices are entirely rational.

“Why would they value tradition?”
Can easily be answered by a “Why does anyone value a tradition?”

The value attached to a tradition does not imply that the tradition in question is a logical choice. Yes, an Asura is smaller than most races and due to physics would be incapable of hitting as hard.
But basing your deduction on this rationale means you consider the effectiveness of a choice as superior to other motives.

This in its essence does not fit your statement of:
“An Asura ranger could be an oddball who loves animals”

An Asura warrior could be an oddball who has chosen to value a martial tradition lead by any given motive, ignoring the efficiency of it likely being better at casting a lightning bolt.

Individuals are strange, they are most often not defined by ratio or logic and are instead better defined by desire or tradition. In which tradition could even apply to a simple: “My grandfather was a martial guard, my father was a martial guard, I will be a martial guard.”

In short:
I know my comment was misplaced in answering Bearshaman’s question. Simply because I am unable to provide any certified information regarding it. All I did was list possibilities.
As I said regarding choices of profession depending on race:
“I’d love to have more than “It is possible.” "

My reply did not contain an intended generalization, which I tried to counter with my statement regarding individual traits being more dominant than racial ones.

As a final note I’d like to apologize for this post.
I am in no way trying to appear superior to you or anyone else here.
We are all aware of the limitations regarding forum-posts and this reply had the intention of clearing up some obscurities retained from my previous post in this thread.

In the end I assume we share a similar view yet I was unable to illustrate mine properly.
And for this I’ll ask you, and everyone here, to forgive me.
Communication isn’t my strongest asset and most, if not all, I’ll ever utter will likely be vague.

Thanks for your reply, I’ll be sure to improve on my articulation for future-use.

It’s been stated that even warrior asura are still interested in invention…

I tend to think of asura warriors as being asura whose area of interest is something that makes them better warriors. Maybe they’ve made a better weapon (those glyphic, Peacemaker, and other weapons may have the same stats as other weapons mechanically, but lorewise I bet they’re more potent than the average conventional weapon). Maybe they’ve used golem technology to make power armour. Maybe they’ve used some means to enhance their own strength, so even though they’re tiny they actually have the strength of a norn.

Or maybe they’re just one of the few asura with more brawn than brains. Consider Warmaster Efut in Retribution – while the Priory and Whispers reps both have a good idea of what the invention they’re using to break down the gate is, it’s the asura who dubyaspeaks it.

Although in Efut’s case, it’s also indicated that she’s a good tactician, so this could be an instance of an asura choosing to focus their mind on a nonmagical but still intellectual pursuit… but since it’s a military one, she also learns to become a warrior so she can also defend herself while on the field.

I would say one way you could explain the Asuran Warriors that we find would be the results of mixed feelings about Golems after the Great Golem Uprising?

draxynnic.3719:

It’s been stated that even warrior asura are still interested in invention…

I tend to think of asura warriors as being asura whose area of interest is something that makes them better warriors. Maybe they’ve made a better weapon (those glyphic, Peacemaker, and other weapons may have the same stats as other weapons mechanically, but lorewise I bet they’re more potent than the average conventional weapon). Maybe they’ve used golem technology to make power armour. Maybe they’ve used some means to enhance their own strength, so even though they’re tiny they actually have the strength of a norn.

Or maybe they’re just one of the few asura with more brawn than brains. Consider Warmaster Efut in Retribution – while the Priory and Whispers reps both have a good idea of what the invention they’re using to break down the gate is, it’s the asura who dubyaspeaks it.

Although in Efut’s case, it’s also indicated that she’s a good tactician, so this could be an instance of an asura choosing to focus their mind on a nonmagical but still intellectual pursuit… but since it’s a military one, she also learns to become a warrior so she can also defend herself while on the field.

That’s a good explanation. Efut could be the Asura equivalent of Sun Tzu, studying and excelling at the art of war, and trained enough to survive on the battlefield.

Which makes me wonder about something…

Instead of actually giving what we so very much crave, is the lack of information potentially intentional in order to force us (those of us who care about this stuff anyways) to come up with our own “personal story” of why our characters exist? Did they intentionally leave it to us to explain how a norn, who arguably come from the least tech savvy of the races, becomes an engineer, or how a sylvari would be a necromancer (Trahearne still makes no sense to me in that regard), or any other counter-intuitive combination of race and class?

(Side note: really wish the racial skills worked better with the class skills (looking at you norn elites, asura armor, etc), but that’s off topic.)

I’m sorry to debunk a myth or two but… I’m sure it has been stated many times that most of the warrior npcs in the first game were warriors only because the devs have wanted them to have the Healing Signet. So instead of judging them by their in-game profession, I’d rather take a look on their equipment or simply theme.

Honestly, I don’t think we’ve EVER seen an asura fighting with a non-magical weapon prior to Guild Wars 2. As a result, I wouldn’t be too quick to jump into profession related conclusions.

For example, take a look at Blimm: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Blimm

He’s marked as a warrior, but from the first time we met him, he’s looking for his staff. Mentioned item can be found in game: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Red_Asuraline_Staff
As you can see, it requires spawning power. If it means anything, we should assume that despite being marked as a warrior, Blimm should be thought of as an ritualist. Same reasoning can be applied to another asura scholar, Renk, although the GWW says that he can be seen using his staff as a melee weapon.

Nevertheless, almost every major asura npc in the original game seems to be some kind of caster. Vekk, Oola, Gadd, Kerrsh (not sure about this one, but he wields a staff if I’m correct).

TL;DR: In the original game warrior profession may mean that the npc should have easy access to one of the most basic healing skills (Healing Signer) or that the character himself is a warrior. In most situations it’s obvious to tell what’s the case.

considering they prolly only had to fight mostly skritt or each other in the past. asura warriors makes alot of sense in that case. (that would be like humans never having warrior’s just because ele’s can make elemental xD)

There was definitely a lot of that in GW1. There are a couple we can even point to as using Healing Signet when later on they had a non-warrior profession: Magi Malaquire, for instance, uses Healing Signet in the quest to transfer a character from Tyria to Elona for the first time, but uses Ritualist skills in the War in Kryta. Zinn and Blimm use Healing Signet, but Blimm is described as having been a Necromancer in Ghosts of Ascalon if I recall correctly.

On the other hand, there are “Asura Troopers” in Eye of the North, which are armed with warrior weapons. It’s hard to get them to fight, though, since they’re generally either dead or in safe areas.