Guild Wars 2

So, is there any lore reason as to why Krait no longer morph/evolve like they did in Gw1? Me and a friend were talking about it but couldn’t find any reason they no longer do it.

I don’t think the Krait that we see in GW2 are the same creatures as in GW1. They look quite different. Plus the GW2 Krait have their own culture, and religion. They seem far more evolved as a species than the simple snake-like creatures in GW1.

Well the appearance has to be taken with a grain of salt, because Oak Hearts, Moas, and a few other creatures from Gw1 do not look the same as they do in GW2.

However you are right, maybe the krait in Gw1 were of a more “primitive” nature? I know my friend thought they may have had that ability due to some artifact that was lost when they moved, but again neither of us know.

It is possible that eventually their many transformations became permanent at some point, and they became the Krait we see today.

But I think the more logical explanation, is that Anet simply re-envisioned this species, and made them more interesting for GW2.

Their appearance change is just a redesign to fit their developed lore of them being deep sea creatures. Their lack of morphing is unexplained however.

Well, 250 years is probably enough time to shed some traits. And I don’t think all the krait morphed back then anyway.

What happened in GW1 was that the lower-level neoss could morph into other forms. but other forms and higher-level neoss couldn’t. The way I always envisaged that was that they weren’t really shapechangers per se, it was that the lower-level neoss were essentially a larval stage, and that they had a tendency to remain in larval stage until prompted to transform through some crisis (the evolutionary logic perhaps being that that way they could determine what they most need to become at the moment of transmutation). Certainly, though, it seems to be a one-way transformation either way.

Personally, I’m inclined to think that they’re separate (sub)species that happen to share a language, with the land-dwelling Tarnished Coast krait having been largely driven off by the asura between GW1 and GW2.

All that said, though, it’s possible that the seagoing GW2 krait do have a metamorphosis in their life-cycle, it’s just that it isn’t as extreme as for the GW1 krait, and in their culture it’s not something that they do in combat.

The krait are the same as they are in Guild Wars 1. If you look on the original GW wiki, you see the types of Krait mobs specifically that you encounter. Krait Neoss, Devouss, and Necross are all types of Krait that you fight in our GW2. Must have been something that the devs just didn’t include.

I seem to remember the devs explicitly saying that they changed the Krait for GW2 to make them more interesting. I don’t remember where exactly…. maybe it was in the art book. [EDIT:] No, it’s not in the art book, but from the wiki:

Krait are very flexible and are excellent swimmers. They have three stages of existence: larval, adolescent, and mature. Larval krait are weak and fragile. They are kept in guarded hatcheries until they master swimming and basic life skills. Adolescents serve as scouts. Mature krait exhibit the strength and dedication for which their race is famous. All krait are willing to die, if necessary, so that the krait beliefs and race can survive.

And behind the scenes:

The krait were featured in the original Guild Wars game, and we very much wanted to continue their story in Guild Wars 2. We knew so little about their culture and society; as we were expanding the game into new underwater regions, it was exciting to add new depth (pun intended) to an existing race.

The krait have always been an unapologetically evil race. While we take pains in many instances to provide two sides to any story and to show that even evil races, cultures, and characters have good reasons for their actions, the krait were designed to be straightforwardly “black hat.” We approached their focus on religion very cautiously, knowing that the word “prophets” would bring to mind modern religious references. It is important to note that we in no way want to compare krait fanaticism to any real-world faith. The prophets of the krait are false religious figures invented by a ruling priest caste to maintain their control. No part of the krait culture or religion is based on, or intended to resemble, any real-world parallel.

The mysterious obelisks that the krait revere were initially created by undefined pieces of concept art—dark, unadorned stone columns that looked unusual and stood out from other underwater terrain. They really caught the eye of the design team, and we could easily imagine how a race might believe these are holy relics. The GW2 art for the race is also amazing, very sinuous in animation and ferocious in design. We wanted to keep preexisting styles of krait (the hypnoss) and also add new ones. Expanding the story into their underwater cities gave us the perfect reason to introduce krait types that were not seen in the original Guild Wars.

Nothing on their morphing abilities…. Hmph.

“Coming close to death transforms them, causing them to shape-shift out of religious frenzy; in such a state, they are even more difficult to destroy. "

That is from the krait blog post ANet released a few months before launch. They remembered the shapeshifting, and had expanded the lore a bit, so we can’t just wave it away as something they forgot or changed their mind about. They just never implemented it, for Abaddon knows what reason.

IrishPotato.6327:

The krait are the same as they are in Guild Wars 1. If you look on the original GW wiki, you see the types of Krait mobs specifically that you encounter. Krait Neoss, Devouss, and Necross are all types of Krait that you fight in our GW2. Must have been something that the devs just didn’t include.

They have the same names, but have little else in common. Neoss were the most common krait in GW1, while in GW2 they’re the occasional event champion. Hypnoss were mesmers in GW1 but necromancers in GW2 (and this is a plot point in one event, so it’s not that they were intended to be mesmers but they made them necromancers for previews before the mesmer was revealed, and forgot to turn them back). Devouss I don’t recall – I think they do exist in GW2, but they haven’t made a big enough impression on me to comment. Meanwhile, two of the most common krait we see are nimross and damoss, which were not in GW1.

There’s also the distinction that in GW1, the krait seemed much more magical, with most krait either being spellcasters or low-level neoss that will transform into spellcasters. GW2 krait, however, are mostly mundane.

Sharing names just means that the names are coming from the same root language – it doesn’t on its own discount the ‘different subspecies’ theory.

I think this may be a thing on which we need one of the writers to comment. Either the species evolved, or it’s simply an artistic re imagining of the species. Both are possibilities.

I always personally approached it with the idea that the Krait have the ability to morph in order to adapt to their new environments. GW1 was the first time, that we know of, that they approached the shore and thus they had reason to morph in order to adapt to the new environment in which they live. Now by the time of GW2 they have been living in shallow water/land for long enough that they have reached the prime form for their survival in this type of location. I understand that this isn’t law, this is just how my mind makes sense of the situation.