Guild Wars 2

Hello !

In classics universes, wizards are the wise counsellor, with valuable knowledge.
But in Tyria, knowledge and magic aren’t linked. You found very few magical items, very few are mentioned. Magic look so rare and unused in Tyria except by Asura. But Asura don’t directly use magic, they make inventions who use it for them.

So, I’m wondering, what could be the purposes of wizards professions. Are they just walking artillery compared to non-magic user ?

I am not sure but dont technically all professions, apart from engis, use magic?

So why would you say it is rare and unused?

Everytime a magical threat come, a big sword in the face work as a solution…

In the swamp south to Divinity’s Reach, you just slash portals with a sword to close them and do the same to expel shadows. When you need more than sword, there’s always an artifact/asuran gadget/charr device.

There’s a quest where a necromancer try to call a ghost with valuable informations, but it’s said as dangerous and very uncommon.

The only ones that have something other to do are mesmers who can use their illusions and portals (Queen Jennah, Kasmeer Meade, Countess Anise, Lady Wi)

What’s wizards purpose if anyone with a big sword can expel magical threats ?
Currently in the game, necromancers and elementalists are just walking artillery. Or did I miss something ?

I’m guessing since you posted it in the lore section, you mean from a lore perspective. Well story-wise each class has something different to bring to the table. For instance, if you did the living story as an engineer, the chat options were different. So there are certain things a mesmer will understand in the story that a guardian for instance will not.

If you mean from a lore-army set up…. as in why does the vigil not just train everyone to use swords, well… different people are good at different things. If a dude is built like a brick kitten house, he’s probably gonna be better at swinging a sword. If a dude has some ability at flinging fireballs but isn’t all that great at swinging a sword… he might want to stick to what he’s good at.

From a lore perspective everyone is using magic in some way (even the shouts of warriors as far as i am understanding it)
However everyone is able to use, or proficient in a certain direction of magic use.

The player characters depiction of a magic user is mostly through combat. We do not see the PC use magic in any other way, then these situations.

In the world, though, we can see other aplications of the same or similar magic to a much higher degree.
- We see summoning of ghosts and demons
- Rising of the land or a brdige of bones
- Teleporting over long distances
- Opening portals to other dimensions
- Doing rituals
- Seeing the past
- etc.

There are a lot of ways a specialised magician could be used.

You have to always keep in mind that there is the discription in the world and the depiction of the class in a gameplay related way.

You wouldn?t want to stand in a circle with several other players and chant some magic. You wouldn`t want to study books to perform some ritual.

You are a fighter on the battlefield. You know that and nothing more.

As stated, everyone is born with magic ability so in tyria, wizards don’t have the monopoly on secret knowledge. Everyone has something to bring to the table. And the secrets of each class are generally guarded.

The job of discovering ancient arcane knowledge doesn’t fall to any one class like in other fantasy universes, it falls to the priory.

Dustfinger.9510:

As stated, everyone is born with magic ability so in tyria, wizards don’t have the monopoly on secret knowledge. Everyone has something to bring to the table. And the secrets of each class are generally guarded.

The job of discovering ancient arcane knowledge doesn’t fall to any one class like in other fantasy universes, it falls to the priory.

I would say it is less that it “falls to the priory” and more that the priory is just the most pervasive and well known organization that does so.

Lostwingman.5034:

I would say it is less that it “falls to the priory” and more that the priory is just the most pervasive and well known organization that does so.

Agreed, from a lore perspective.

I was just talking from an out of game perspective where the creators would make decisions that determine the lore and in their decisions, it fell to the priory to be the face of that niche rather than any class.

Jaken.6801:

From a lore perspective everyone is using magic in some way (even the shouts of warriors as far as i am understanding it)
However everyone is able to use, or proficient in a certain direction of magic use.

The player characters depiction of a magic user is mostly through combat. We do not see the PC use magic in any other way, then these situations.

In the world, though, we can see other aplications of the same or similar magic to a much higher degree.
- We see summoning of ghosts and demons
- Rising of the land or a brdige of bones
- Teleporting over long distances
- Opening portals to other dimensions
- Doing rituals
- Seeing the past
- etc.

There are a lot of ways a specialised magician could be used.

You have to always keep in mind that there is the discription in the world and the depiction of the class in a gameplay related way.

You wouldn?t want to stand in a circle with several other players and chant some magic. You wouldn`t want to study books to perform some ritual.

You are a fighter on the battlefield. You know that and nothing more.

I think this is pretty much it, especially the last few lines. We see a lot of cases of other spellcasters doing things that the PCs have no skill for – Anise and a few other mesmers can magically disguise people, in one story step Sieran appears to fly across a canyon, and so on. PC spellcasters are largely limited to the battlefield roles, but NPCs have other abilities. Heck, somewhere there may even be GW1-style monks around… just staying in the hospitals rather than fighting on the battlefield.

Muchacho.2390:

I am not sure but dont technically all professions, apart from engis, use magic?

So why would you say it is rare and unused?

Yes. It’s the explicit application which differs. Warriors jump higher and hit harder due to magic, but it’s more in a supportive capacity. The elementalist is focused on specifically harassing magic.
However using magic (explicitly so) does seem to be somewhat difficult since Tyria isn’t exactly Hogwarts. Asura are probably the closest to having practical-day-to-day magic, but they’re more magi-tech.