Does a sylvari engineer make sense? I think it does since they are curious types and so are engineers. Trying to decide if i should make 1 since I am kind of a lore type person. And if not what race fits an engineer role perfectly? i was trying to play everything new introduced to gw2 which was sylvari and engineer so i was trying to make them work together. since the curiosity bit and their attitude fits an engineer thought they would go hand in hand. thanks.
A-net confirms that they do for the exact reason you stated though they also say there aren’t many of them for “obvious reasons”.
All races fit the role but if you want “perfection”, charr Iron legion are the ones that have spearheaded the engineer technology. So they have the closest ties but that in no way excludes any of the other playable races or High Legions.
Agreed that the charr (and especially the Iron Legion) are really the epitome of the engineer class, although you can certainly make it work with all races. Engineers seem to have developed out of charr tech, chiefly, although by their nature it will keep changing as people tinker.
I took the challenge of making a sylvari engineer (and a charr guardian) exactly because it’s an unlikely combination that I wanted to make work as a character. My engineer is a sylvari who became really fascinated with technology when he saw it in action, and wanted to learn more about it (as many sylvari choose to learn about one particular thing in depth). Since he’d seen this in the hands of the charr, he travelled to the Black Citadel to find a charr engineer who would teach him. After much persistence and proving his resolve, he convinced an Iron Legion guy to take him on as an apprentice, and after a couple of years of study and getting to know the charr as a race he’s now considered an honorary warband member (although he suspects they see him more as a mascot, the tree that makes explosions!).
A sylvari with a deep understanding of and appreciation for the charr has been fun to roleplay. He’s also still philosophical and poetic in the sylvari way, but he’s just as likely to wax lyrical about the beauty of machines (not living, but animated by imagination and ingenuity; something built that carries on its purpose, a thought given form and independence!) as he is about the Grove.
Very short answer: Seed turret.
This plant is built as and act as an engineer’s turret, and it shows that sylvari are very capable of building turrets. Om might argue that the actual turrets an engineer builds are more charr like, same goes for some of the tool-kits, but that might just be cause the charr-engineered turrets and kits are the best and all engineer’s therefor stick to that one. On the other hand… what are potion’s made off?? I strongly believe that they are vegetable and are the result of silvari engineering.
If there is one true odd-ball in engineering it would be the Norn in my opinion. A silvari engineer strikes me as less odd as a human engineer.
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Seed turrets, while mechanically like engineer’s turrets, are not mechanical in any sense nor are they related to engineers in anyways. It’s pure plant and magic.
Dear ANet writers,
Stop treating GW2 as a single story. Each Season and expansion should be their own story.
What Konig said. A lot of people seem to like to try to put other races flavor into the engineer class. There are lot’s of threads asking for magitech turrets for asura, plant for sylvari, etc. But A-net shows that the engineer class isn’t just a bunch of tinkerers dealing with any technology. It is specific to the clockwork and steam-punk style tech that the Iron Legion specializes in. Otherwise, the entire asuran race would be engineers since they all seem to tinker with their own technology. as well as the sylvari who also grow a lot of their own technology.
How do any of the other classes make more sense to people (Even ranger doesn’t make sense to me)?
How do people accept cats with poseable thumbs running on two legs swinging swords?
How do people accept that there is a species of plant that can trap and consume animals (venus fly trap) when most other plants don’t.
How is one tree running with guns, turrets, flamthrowers, gernades, etc so much worse than the one using rifles, greatswords, banners and lets not forget axes (the immortal enemy of the tree).
Being plant related, it makes sense that Sylvari can even help the concept of the class. Engineers have a lot of alchemy and Sylvari with their conection to nature are probably excellent at it. Even creating a Flame Thrower or powder explosives needs alchemy (chemistry had that name in the old times).
To a new race like sylvari, only existing for 25 years and not having followed the development of the world, engineering is just as magical as … magic itself. Most sylvari have the maturity of a child.
I distinctly remember the first time I saw a computer at age 4. It was a magical, inquisitive. I still remember that moment very vividly. That’s how a sylvari looks at technology.
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The biggest issue people have is that the engineer turrets look like charr tech — very / clockwork/steampunk in appearance. If sylvari engineers sprouted different types of seed turrets, and used spores instead of grenades, many people would actually take the opposite stance and say the engineer fits the sylvari perfectly.
The same argument can be made about asura engineers — some people argue that the engineer doesn’t really fit with the asura since their gadgets are based on industrial revolution steampunk and clockwork mechanics rather than magi-tech. An asura engineer’s gadgets would actually be considered rather primitive and crude by his contemporaries.
That’s the great thing about fluff, (or fitting yourself into the established lore for those of you who don’t speak Warhammer) everything makes sense if you’re creative enough. My Asura is an engineer because, being the eccentric Asura genius that he is, he’s utterly fascinated by the primitive feline races ability to produce functioning (albeit crude) technology using little to no magic. Building a turret using good old fashioned non-magical gears and cogs is a challenge, and a grand experiment.
It’s honestly not hard to explain any race/profession combination. It just takes giving your characters a little personality.
Yeah, that’s not to say sylvari engineers don’t make sense. They might be a bit of an oddity in sylvari society, but some of the best and most memorable characters in any fantasy story are the ones who break the stereotypes and go against convention. Take Ventari for example…
Asura engineers may not even be using primitive technology. Since they had access to a powerful source of magic power to develope their technology with, steampunk and clockwork tech may actually be completely new to them. Like Alpharius I also have an asuran engineer but he isn’t using ancient tech, he’s using a wholy new tech that the charr have developed due to their large scale rejection of magic.
Same with sylvari engineers. Sylvari have seed turets. But just any turret doesn’t make an engineer. An engineer class is specific to the charr-developed tech.
I currently have an 80 engi with that race. The reason why i made that is because they are the least played race and profession combo. it doesnt really make sense to have a sylvari engineer and that is why i play one. the most sense would be to make a charr engineer that is iron legion. Having a sylvari engineer, i kinda dont like it since i think the whole lore with them is kinda weird and quite frankly (excuse me) “homosexual”. that isnt ment to offend anyone, it is just how i feel. i also chose this race because of the unique looking armor. but when you are used to it, the armor tends to all look the same. Now that i look back on it, i think i still would have made a sylvari. the humans are too main stream, i hate the asura, the norn or too big, and the charr look weird with some armor models with their head.
basically i like and dislike sylvari. i hope i have confused you even more because i also have confused myself.
Their curiosity for the natural world drives a sylvari engineer down the path of alchemy and science, seeking harmony between nature and technology.
Being in tune with nature, the sylvari engineer possesses vast knowledge of chemistry! By mixing a kittentail of nature’s most wild ingredients, they could do everything from creating a soothing elixir to heal the wounds of allies, to combustible bombs which burn their enemies!
The curiosity of a sylvari is unmatched even by the most eccentric asura!
Just as an aside (sorry for ranging off-topic), in terms of charr-style technology seeming ‘primitive’ compared to other forms, I don’t think this is always a bad thing. To me, charr technology epitomises the way that charr culture values self-sufficiency and not being dependent on anyone else – not gods, not mystical forces, just what I build myself, which I understand and control. As Dustfinger says, they largely reject magic; it’s not that they can’t use it, they just choose to find another way.
So what happens to asuran magitech when things like the Elder Dragons consume magic? What happens to sylvari plant turrets if there really is a jungle dragon that corrupts plantlife? Those technologies can be nullified or turned against their users. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure there is no Borg Dragon which can corrupt charr tech. It runs as its creators make it run, and you can rely on it as long as your skill and ingenuity are up to the challenge!
