Guild Wars 2

Look at all the people whining about Kiel reusing the dragon bash hologram projector when Evon would have used the same exact thing if he won.

VitalSuit.1980:

Look at all the people whining about Kiel reusing the dragon bash hologram projector when Evon would have used the same exact thing if he won.

Evon Gnashblade would have built a giant, eternal bonfire in that very spot. It would have been a nice place to sit and roast some Asura over the fire, talking fondly about the searing whilst pointing at the Sylvari across the way and laughing hysterically.

I imagine the other races don’t make a great deal of use of Asura tech because of its alarming tendency to explode and rip holes in the fabric of time and space.

The gates were just too useful to be squeamish about.

darkace.8925:

Tony.7624:

When I saw this huge a** hologram of Kiel I thought “Could this b**** get any more full-of-herself?” I’m starting to dislike her more and more now. -_-

As long as we don’t have a two-week long festival to celebrate her election – complete with Sky Pirate shenanigans – she’ll soon enough be “out of sight, out of mind.”

Rise Against quote appreciated

i just miss the fountain. first its destroyed, then its rebuilt, now its replaced. Bring back the Fountain >.<

Akechi Hotaru.7129:

i just miss the fountain. first its destroyed, then its rebuilt, now its replaced. Bring back the Fountain >.<

Yes! I missed what exactly did happen to it the second time? It was just gone suddenly for the dragon hologram. After all the hard work we did to get it back, it is annoying it disappeared again.

Lets see here…

-Asuras dont want to share their technology with the other races.

-Charr tech is made to battle the neverending ressurecting ghosts of the ascalonian empire, thus it doesnt need to be fancy but it do have to be durable.

-Humans use leftover tech they can scavenge just for survival.

And when you have magicians around who can just shield themselves from bullets (see every foe who just reflects projectiles) ofc you will still use a sword if you cant wield magic yourself.

There are many wars in our own history where technology have been so different that one side just laughed at the other(basically).
Sometimes hightech just doesnt cut it, things break.
In a world such as ours with cars and planes and spacecraft the bedouins in northern africa still use camels.
Just think about it for a moment.

There are many wars in our own history where technology have been so different that one side just laughed at the other(basically).
Sometimes hightech just doesnt cut it, things break.
In a world such as ours with cars and planes and spacecraft the bedouins in northern africa still use camels.
Just think about it for a moment.

We don’t have to “think about it”, in the real world it’s fairly obvious.

Although in the real world, if a group of giant lizards were threatening to eat all life on the planet, but could easily be killed by our modern weapons, we would just go do that.

Which is kinda why the Zhaitan conclusion makes the entire Elder Dragon thing seem silly. Clearly we’re so far above them in terms of technology that it’s hard to see how they’re even a credible threat to the world now. We have Flying Battleships with better-than-modern-day-earth lasers mounted on them, one of which literally cut an Elder Dragon in half.

In terms of lore, how are we to even take these threats seriously anymore?

What kills one Elder Dragon may not be adequate to kill another. Because, you know, MAGIC. These aren’t just “giant lizards”. They are chaotic forces of nature with godlike magical power. We sliced the “undead” Dragon in half with a laser (and only after seriously disrupting his magical support systems). That seems a logical outcome, right? Zombies don’t seem like they’d be particularly laser-proof.
So what do we do about the "crystal "Dragon? You know, the one that warps the very fabric of reality with an application of will? Who is essentially a mass of living prisms?
You do know what happens when you shoot a laser into a prism, right?
How about what happens when you shoot a laser into lava?
And sure, Jormag’s ice powers are likely no match for lasers just like Zhaitan’s zombie powers aren’t, but we don’t even know WHAT the powers of the other dragons even are for sure.

No, I’m sorry. The treats are still very real and should be taken just as seriously.

HawkMeister.4758:

And we better not even start talking about the quasi fascist Charr childrearing by “the state” or the blatant misandry shown in the “Charr-feminist uprising” and the “evil patriarchy” threat of the Son´s of Svanir.

Because charr women wanting to be treated equally after an age of oppression is just as bad as the Sons of Svanir’s blatant misogyny and hate of women. Yup. Okay.

On-topic, my largest gripe with the hologram is that they didn’t model it correctly to be see-through and her eyes are really freakin’ creepy.

Other than that, technological advancement has been largest for the charr, not the asura. The asura aren’t actually that far more advanced than they were in GW1. Losing the Central Transfer Chamber set them back pretty far as far as I can tell.

Holograms have been around for awhile in Guild Wars. You just need to know where to look.

Elbegast.6970:

Meluna.1764:

The Kiel holo gives me the creeps. Those eyes… those horrible, horrible eyes! O_O

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdpvxmrrsN1r2du9bo1_400.gif

.. I was just watching that movie.

Also: Complaints about misandry in a videogame are hilarious.

My only issue with the holo-kiel was those big red eyes and that evil smile…..

I swear, I took 1 look at that holo, and all I could think was “What have those fools done…..WHAT HAVE YOU FOOLS DONE!!!!!!!”

Edit: And what I mean by that, is I mean why did you all vote for Kiel

Xkyline.5267:

Well technology advances with the times,you can hardly expect them to continue using obsolete crap of 250 years ago in the modern world.We don’t use pinhole cameras when we can just pull out a smartphone and insta-snap now do we?

It took us humans over 500 years to get past using swords and the bow and arrow.

Yea, holograms and all that stuff really ruin the appeal. Warcraft did the same thing when they released burning crusade and all of its spaceship nonsense.

unseenone.1463:

Yea, holograms and all that stuff really ruin the appeal. Warcraft did the same thing when they released burning crusade and all of its spaceship nonsense.

Its not the fact that it was a hologram that is bothering me….its those bloody eyes and that creepy smile……

There is nothing I can do to alter personal tastes, but let me at least try to put a few things in perspective.

First, the Charr Industrial Revolution. These people got fed up with their Fire Legion’s wanting to find “gods” and trying to be the supreme power among the legions that they eventually kicked the Flame Legion out entirely. Consider the kind of ideological standpoint this would require – the charr would take a dim view of gods and magic. So, what happens next? They use their own ingenuity. “Necessity is the mother of invention” – a race at war needed to find ways to fight that did not rely on the power-hungry Shaman Caste.

The invention of guns is eminently logical in this context. And, further mechanical discoveries would follow suit. (I do, however, agree that Anet might be pushing it too far, too fast. Those vehicles in the Citadel, for example, look very gratuitous.)

As for proliferation of things like guns to the other races. Again – they were at war with the humans. The soldiers at Ebonhawke were going to get their hands on firearms eventually. They’d take them apart, experiment until they find out how it works (and yes, that is as dangerous as it sounds, given the overall tech level of Tyria at the time), and eventually start making ones of their own. (And from there, it’s only a matter of time until other races get their hands on it, too.)

The Dredge are a rather different case. With the Dwarven race in decline, they found themselves free – in the homes of their former oppressors, the Stone Summit. And we KNOW that the Dwarves are at least somewhat mechanically inclined – or did you forget the Iron Forgeman, added to the game before it was even a year old? Tweaking them to a more mole-styled system of sonic weaponry is easily possible in the intervening centuries.

Now, I believe someone said something like “so why are we still using swords and maces if we have guns?”. Well, let’s see. SURELY here on earth, guns replaced swords overnight, right? Oh, wait, NO. Swords were still in common use as late as the U.S. Civil War (although not so much after that; those who still adhered to the older styles had… trouble… when they charged cannon emplacements). Firearms had been seen in warfare outside of China since the 14th century. (I’m a bit fuzzy on when gunpowder was first used – as a weapon – in the land that invented it.) So we’re talking 450-500 years, here.

And as for the Asura and their magic/technology dichotomy: think, people! The Asura are more than “the magic race”. They believe that ALL EXISTENCE can be broken down into a formula. They are scientists and researchers in one of the purest definitions of those professions. They seek to understand the world. Magic is part of the world of Tyria, and so they wish to understand it. But if something new comes up – nonmagical, mechanized devices – well, IGNORING them would be ignoring part of the world they wish to understand. (And, of course, being Asura, they will want to start mixing the two.)

Then all this talk about holograms and lasers – we don’t ACTUALLY know these are wholly technological in the first place. Given they are made by asura, machines that can convert magical energy into, say, an illusion on a grand scale, or a focused beam of energy…. they would do things like that. (Probably the Synergeticists. If you ask me, anyway.) Besides, do I have to come and quote Clarke’s Third Law? This is just that, backwards.

Most settings that mix magic and technology like to keep them separate, on the principle that ACTUALLY mixing them is a Very Bad Idea™. Guild Wars 2 is one of the rare examples of meshing them without constant disasters resulting from the mix, and you want them to stop?

Again… if this is just not your taste in game, I won’t say anything against you about that. You have every right to your choices. I’m only saying that this isn’t really as far-fetched as you think.

As a LONG-time player of fantasy RPGs, I understand the appeal of the pure “high fantasy” themes. Fortunately, if I want to play games like that, I have plenty to choose from. Indeed, Guild Wars itself – the original one – is still there. Waiting for you to log in once more. I certainly didn’t leave it behind, even if it doesn’t get as much time now as it did then.

Aeolus.3615:

Kiel hologram eyes looks like wan to pop out :S, very very scary face!

That’s what your eyes look like when you have no soul.

250 years is lot of time. Look at real world 250 years ago and now.

Let’s see. We have a world populated by human interlopers that were transported from their home world to Tyria, with an intervention 250 years or so ago by storm troopers from the future, with homeworld underground dwelling critters that can fold and bend space and time for instantaneous transport for the past 250+ years.

Nope not seeing any reason for a sci fi fantasy conglomeration.

They had 250 years to advance since the first game, of course there is going to be new technology, and I think it looks pretty neat, now please stop and enjoy the game for what it is. If you don’t like it don’t look at it. Simple as that.

And I can totally buy it tbh. In GW2 universe they already acknowledge the existence of other worlds besides theirs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tyria was surrounded by many of those worlds/planets. Look at the night sky in some areas, you can see the galaxies, indication of a young universe.

Humans, if you didn’t know, are not originally from Tyria but from another planet. Gods brought em to Tyria for whatever reason. If I can believe that in a video game, I can surely believe they have such tech.

Bovinity.8610:

I do agree that the Asura technology is a little out of place.

Charr stuff is at least acceptable to a point. That sort of unpolished, early industrial stuff makes sense.

But Asura tech, that’s just crazy. Especially since you take the primary antagonist of the entire story thus far (Zhaitan) and literally just blast him in half with a laser mounted on a flying ship. It’s hard to take anything else in the world seriously from a lore standpoint when there are Death Stars flying around the world.

Totally agree.

“Hey, hero with the axe an other outdated weapons! Could you keep off the undead while I fire my anti-dragon megalaser? Thanks”

knbBlackTemplar.3059:

250 years is lot of time. Look at real world 250 years ago and now.

Yes but most of the players still fight with axes and hammers in plate armor. Only the engineer fits the game and maybe thief.

I don’t mind it much..but Holo Kiel is scary..

Holo-Kiel: Thank you all for electing me! I assure you I will make Lion’s Arch a better place and you’ll be better off…

As long as you obey...

CharrGirl.7896:

They had 250 years to advance since the first game, of course there is going to be new technology, and I think it looks pretty neat, now please stop and enjoy the game for what it is. If you don’t like it don’t look at it. Simple as that.

And I can totally buy it tbh. In GW2 universe they already acknowledge the existence of other worlds besides theirs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tyria was surrounded by many of those worlds/planets. Look at the night sky in some areas, you can see the galaxies, indication of a young universe.

Humans, if you didn’t know, are not originally from Tyria but from another planet. Gods brought em to Tyria for whatever reason. If I can believe that in a video game, I can surely believe they have such tech.

This is technically not 100% true. As I said before, it took humans a VERY long time to ever get a form of machine working, a very long time. Once man created a machine, then the inventions started flowing out, one after the other. But I must still reiterate that it took them a VERY VERY long time to get to that point.

Now, I believe someone said something like “so why are we still using swords and maces if we have guns?”. Well, let’s see. SURELY here on earth, guns replaced swords overnight, right? Oh, wait, NO. Swords were still in common use as late as the U.S. Civil War (although not so much after that; those who still adhered to the older styles had… trouble… when they charged cannon emplacements). Firearms had been seen in warfare outside of China since the 14th century. (I’m a bit fuzzy on when gunpowder was first used – as a weapon – in the land that invented it.) So we’re talking 450-500 years, here.

Right, because early guns were very clunky, unpolished sorts of weapons that were often as dangerous to the users as they were to the targets.

That’s why I said that Charr technology does at least fit. It’s very “Pre-industrial” in nature, very rough-and-tumble, not overly polished, not usable in every engagement or context, so on and so forth. It’s the kind of tech that would make sense in the current GW2 setting and would still allow for people with swords and such to still make at least some sense.

Asura – and Pact by association – tech is way beyond that. It’s like Future-Earth stuff. It’s nothing like the early versions of guns on earth that were so bad that people often still stuck to swords and bows for a while, so that comparison makes no sense. A lot of it is straight out of Star Trek…energy shields, teleporters, phasers or whatever those superlasers are.

That level of technology just makes no sense in this setting. Especially when you have other nations that are supposedly legitimate powers in the world, despite the fact that their military powers are still having issues with Centaurs and Bandits and such.

I thought this thread was about the Holo-Kiel with the Terminator eyes, not about the inconsistency of the various nations’ levels of technology! Desist!

Holo-Kiel: I will not be ignored! OBEY! (starts lazoring random NPCs in Lion’s Arch)

“Her holo’s ego is out of control! Aaaahhh!”

Now look what your off-topic-ness has done, eek!

Bovinity.8610:

Asura – and Pact by association – tech is way beyond that. It’s like Future-Earth stuff. It’s nothing like the early versions of guns on earth that were so bad that people often still stuck to swords and bows for a while, so that comparison makes no sense. A lot of it is straight out of Star Trek…energy shields, teleporters, phasers or whatever those superlasers are.

Didn’t the Asura come out of the ground with robots and teleportation in EotN way back in GW1, 250 years ago? In that case, how long would it take for a civilization to get to airships and mega lasers? We don’t know since there is no real world analog here and the stuff you’re having issue with is already hundreds of years old.

That level of technology just makes no sense in this setting. Especially when you have other nations that are supposedly legitimate powers in the world, despite the fact that their military powers are still having issues with Centaurs and Bandits and such.

One word: magic. Everyone except the charr seems to have big-kitten -magic (B.A.M.!) that competes with technology, making any “sense” about who is most powerful completely up in the air. Apparently Queen Jenna, for instance, is strong enough to defeat dragons herself and could probably wipe out an army. Her people fight primitive centaurs, but apparently their champs summon tornadoes and such.

The whole “one side has so much technology that no one could be a threat!” logic works for real life (somewhat) but doesn’t hold any water in a fantasy setting where magic can do anything.

but doesn’t hold any water in a fantasy setting where magic can do anything.

Yeah, that’s what I said before…it’s ANet’s story, so I’m sure they can just do any kind of Deus Ex Machina or “It’s Magic!” or whatever to explain things away. And if you’re hell bent on liking it, then you’ll be fine. Generally speaking though, it’s awful writing.

Nilkemia.8507:

I thought this thread was about the Holo-Kiel with the Terminator eyes, not about the inconsistency of the various nations’ levels of technology! Desist!

Holo-Kiel: I will not be ignored! OBEY! (starts lazoring random NPCs in Lion’s Arch)

“Her holo’s ego is out of control! Aaaahhh!”

Now look what your off-topic-ness has done, eek!

I think everyone missed the memo…

Her holo eyes will forever haunt me. There are some things you just can’t unsee D=

Nay of the Ether.8913:

Aeolus.3615:

Kiel hologram eyes looks like wan to pop out :S, very very scary face!

That’s what your eyes look like when you have no soul.

That’s what your eyes look like after a night of little sleep.

I love the holo. I think the the different races having varying tech levels and styles adds to making the game very unique. Lion’s Arch is sort of a melting pot. I suggest players that prefer a more medieval or high fantasy atmosphere go to DR, Hoelbrak or The Grove.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Nay of the Ether.8913:

Aeolus.3615:

Kiel hologram eyes looks like wan to pop out :S, very very scary face!

That’s what your eyes look like when you have no soul.

That’s what your eyes look like after a night of little sleep.

Yeah she was up all night draining souls out of people that paid her for…ooops can’t say that on the forums xD

I can’t believe this thread has gotten this many posts.

OP, if you didn’t like the light steampunk elements in Guild Wars 2 why have you stayed with the game? It was obvious since launch that that was the direction they were going (as if the addition of an engineer class and the addition of guns wasn’t enough of a giveaway).

And we knew since GW1 that the Asura would be showing up. And they had pretty advanced technology back then!

Elbegast.6970:

Gabby.3205:

…Really?
Have you ever been to Rata Sum?

Yes and I have complained about the Sci-Fi Asura as well as the Steampunk Charr/Dredge.

This isn’t the Guild Wars that I knew and loved. ArenaNet may as well remove all melee weapons and replace them with blaster rifles. Mesmers could use holography rather than magic. It’s so sad.

And those dragons, as it turns out, are mechanical and filled with Asura. They would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their crazy dog.

God forbid the races make any scientific or magical progress since your precious ‘good ole days’.

God forbid the races make any scientific or magical progress since your precious ‘good ole days’.

That’s not the issue, but nice try.

Maybe if every race AND their enemies advanced, that’d be cool, rather than one race being Star Trek now and the others still in medieval times.

Bovinity.8610:

God forbid the races make any scientific or magical progress since your precious ‘good ole days’.

That’s not the issue, but nice try.

Maybe if every race AND their enemies advanced, that’d be cool, rather than one race being Star Trek now and the others still in medieval times.

Then that’s the fault of the other races, well okay the Charr are making some progress.

The asuran “technology” isnt technology, its magic, their magic “machines” only work from magical runes and incantations the asura imbue on crystals and stones.
put simply, the asura and their machines are the best arcane wizards ever seen.
(this is explained better in the books)
The only really sci-fi thing about them is that their golems talk like straight up 1950s B-movie robots. but they talked like that in GW1 too.

If you still cant get over that hurdle, then simple well put, it is 250 years since gw1. and even though there are still places in the world that are very very non-“sci-fi” thats still pretty in line with real life. You have your 3rd world countries, and you have your 1rst world countries. so in essence, Anet hasnt messed anything up.