Guild Wars 2

New Aetherblade Air-Captain spotted!?

(Arenanet Game-Masters, I came here in a legitimate way without using glitches or bugs. I see it as an extreme-jumping puzzle. Before thinking of an eventual ban please contact me ingame)

for god sake please let this not to be true.
Aetherblades have no space in GW2. I hope they are gone forever.
And before someone asks…. Space ships and laser guns have no place in a fantasy game.
If i want to play Borgs i play Star Trek

Just as a little heads up for the people who didn’t notice. The person on the Aethership is me… So don’t worry about actual new Aetherblade Captains. As far as I know of Arenanet has no new Aetherblade content coming out soon.

thank goodness,

i was already looking for my blood pressure pills

Kurrilino.2706:

for god sake please let this not to be true.
Aetherblades have no space in GW2. I hope they are gone forever.
And before someone asks…. Space ships and laser guns have no place in a fantasy game.
If i want to play Borgs i play Star Trek

Oh?
I was under the impression that nothing forced a fantasy story to be based on medieval times.

There are many kinds of fantasy in the world.
Harry Potter is one, it is about magic, but they still have trains, cars, firearms and so on.

Science-fiction is technically also a sort of fantasy and at least one fantasy author (JK Rowlings) have won the Hugo Award, which is basically the coolest thing you can get in the Sci-fi world.

I am also rather sure that airships are not space-ships, and to be fair airships did exist (at least in theory) several hundred years ago.

Tyria is a world of magic, but you take issue with them having access to somewhat “modern”-time stuff?

Which airship is that?

I guess the red spawn in Edge of the Mists.

lordkrall.7241:

Kurrilino.2706:

for god sake please let this not to be true.
Aetherblades have no space in GW2. I hope they are gone forever.
And before someone asks…. Space ships and laser guns have no place in a fantasy game.
If i want to play Borgs i play Star Trek

Oh?
I was under the impression that nothing forced a fantasy story to be based on medieval times.

There are many kinds of fantasy in the world.
Harry Potter is one, it is about magic, but they still have trains, cars, firearms and so on.

Science-fiction is technically also a sort of fantasy and at least one fantasy author (JK Rowlings) have won the Hugo Award, which is basically the coolest thing you can get in the Sci-fi world.

I am also rather sure that airships are not space-ships, and to be fair airships did exist (at least in theory) several hundred years ago.

Tyria is a world of magic, but you take issue with them having access to somewhat “modern”-time stuff?

GW2 got the name as squeal of GW1.
I always loved GW1 because of magic and sword n board.
From what i heard is GW2 not called a cyborg or scifi game.
I woudl love to hear your defense when they introduce Nascar racing, laser guns
and space suits into a new Harry Potter well…. if there would be one.

What about we ask the Star Trek online guys to drop their space ships and get metal swords and shields to fight dragons and goblins….

sure we can put 2 hot dogs into a bun or dance tango with 3 persons…. absolutely
but would it be right????

Kurrilino.2706:

lordkrall.7241:

Kurrilino.2706:

for god sake please let this not to be true.
Aetherblades have no space in GW2. I hope they are gone forever.
And before someone asks…. Space ships and laser guns have no place in a fantasy game.
If i want to play Borgs i play Star Trek

Oh?
I was under the impression that nothing forced a fantasy story to be based on medieval times.

There are many kinds of fantasy in the world.
Harry Potter is one, it is about magic, but they still have trains, cars, firearms and so on.

Science-fiction is technically also a sort of fantasy and at least one fantasy author (JK Rowlings) have won the Hugo Award, which is basically the coolest thing you can get in the Sci-fi world.

I am also rather sure that airships are not space-ships, and to be fair airships did exist (at least in theory) several hundred years ago.

Tyria is a world of magic, but you take issue with them having access to somewhat “modern”-time stuff?

GW2 got the name as squeal of GW1.
I always loved GW1 because of magic and sword n board.
From what i heard is GW2 not called a cyborg or scifi game.
I woudl love to hear your defense when they introduce Nascar racing, laser guns
and space suits into a new Harry Potter well…. if there would be one.

Harry potter has cars and people who shoot energy out the same way people shoot out “lasers” in GW2, so that ship has sailed long ago. It still fantasy.

What about we ask the Star Trek online guys to drop their space ships and get metal swords and shields to fight dragons and goblins….

I guess you’ve never actually seen the original Star Trek series, huh? There were knights in armor, cowboys and capone-style gangers, depending on what planet they visited. There was a ton of things that could be described as “dragons” or “goblins”.

sure we can put 2 hot dogs into a bun or dance tango with 3 persons…. absolutely
but would it be right????

Uh… Yeah?

Kurrilino.2706:

GW2 got the name as squeal of GW1.
I always loved GW1 because of magic and sword n board.
From what i heard is GW2 not called a cyborg or scifi game.
I woudl love to hear your defense when they introduce Nascar racing, laser guns
and space suits into a new Harry Potter well…. if there would be one.

Indeed.
And GW1 ended 250 years before GW2 started.
250 years ago on Earth was around 1764.
Now compare Earth 1764 with Earth today.
Does it look exactly the same? Do we still ride around on horses with swords and very basic rifles?

You also seems to blatantly ignore that there were sci-fi elements in GW1 as well. Such as the G.O.L.E.M and the Asura-gates.

Nascar racing very much exists in the Harry Potter world. So does space suits. It does take place quite recently after all (last book takes place 1997-1998).

I’d have put it more politely, but I kind of agree with Kurrilino. I’m not really a fan of steampunk or sci-fi elements in my fantasy games, and would prefer not to see it completely take over GW2. (The sci-fi elements were getting more and more pervasive as the Living Story progressed, going from steam tech to magi-tech to finally holomancy, and it culminated in a giant flying spaceship/drill that even had computer consoles!)

Zaxares.5419:

I’d have put it more politely, but I kind of agree with Kurrilino. I’m not really a fan of steampunk or sci-fi elements in my fantasy games, and would prefer not to see it completely take over GW2. (The sci-fi elements were getting more and more pervasive as the Living Story progressed, going from steam tech to magi-tech to finally holomancy, and it culminated in a giant flying spaceship/drill that even had computer consoles!)

You mean just like those computer consoles that have been in the game since release?
Just like how Airships have been in the game since release.

Technology, Golemancy, ‘Computer screens’, Holographs, and Audio files have all been part of Guild Wars 2 from release. They are nothing new. As lordkrall said, golemancy and asura gates have also been part of the prequel. The advancement of technology is a main theme of this game.

All the technology seen in the Living World Season 1 was already established in the game from launch.

It’s all because of those blasted engineers that we have steampunk elements now, I mean, rifles?! Also Asura, because magi-tech.

And don’t get me started on Asuran engineers…

Kurrilino.2706:

for god sake please let this not to be true.
Aetherblades have no space in GW2. I hope they are gone forever.
And before someone asks…. Space ships and laser guns have no place in a fantasy game.
If i want to play Borgs i play Star Trek

sigh we’ve been over this, yes they do. Everything in GW2 is magi-tech, that is, technology that relies 100% on magic. The only exception being charr technology which is clearly inferior. The tech in GW2 is the logical result of a world with true magic.

We have engineers because they wanted more tech, not the reverse.

The thing is that if we removed all of the tech from guild wars, the franchise would then shift far into the generic “arbitrarily medieval fantasy world where everyone does magic but is inexplicably too dumb to actually use it logically” paradigm that a million fantasy worlds represent. If there’s a fantasy land where thousands of people can walk around cities shooting out fire, electricity or ice out of their hands every 5 seconds, it doesn’t make any sense for the world to NOT advance technologically in a very rapid and radical way.

GW is a world where people can generate an indefinite amount of energy from their bodies and there are magic items that produce an infinitely renewable amount of power and light. Imagine human beings thinking scientifically in a world that functions like our own except that people can control gravity or produce lightning from their fingertips. The only believable conclusion is that people eventually produce technology that is much more advanced than what is possible in the real world.

lordkrall.7241:

Zaxares.5419:

I’d have put it more politely, but I kind of agree with Kurrilino. I’m not really a fan of steampunk or sci-fi elements in my fantasy games, and would prefer not to see it completely take over GW2. (The sci-fi elements were getting more and more pervasive as the Living Story progressed, going from steam tech to magi-tech to finally holomancy, and it culminated in a giant flying spaceship/drill that even had computer consoles!)

You mean just like those computer consoles that have been in the game since release?
Just like how Airships have been in the game since release.

Believe me, I was VERY close to not getting GW2 when the Engineer was revealed and that steampunk and magi-tech elements were in the game. :P I stuck with it and don’t regret my decision since GW2 is still an awesome game, but yes, I HATE technology in my fantasy. Even stuff like blasting powder used for mining is something I’d rather not see in fantasy games.

Aetherblades are cool. Hopefully now that Scarlet is gone, we can take them more seriously.

I’m not sure i think it’s generation related.

I can see the older generation being incredible unhappy with laser, phasers, airships
cyberpunk in our beloved fantasy games.
Maybe it has something to do with younger generations losing they eye for the beauty and being entertained by brute force.

But i could also be wrong,
I am just a 30+ years long guild wars player who loves art and themed music,
mixed with an epic story and heroic actions.
These days it’s enough to have millions zerker running around withpout any target
and random music at random places

And no, Aetherblades are not cool

Zaxares.5419:

Believe me, I was VERY close to not getting GW2 when the Engineer was revealed and that steampunk and magi-tech elements were in the game. :P I stuck with it and don’t regret my decision since GW2 is still an awesome game, but yes, I HATE technology in my fantasy. Even stuff like blasting powder used for mining is something I’d rather not see in fantasy games.

So basically you just want yet another generic medieval fantasy game?

Even though it has been 250 years since those things started appearing in Tyria? And in 250 years in the real world technology advanced massively?

It is very unlikely that a world would stand completely still, especially if said world have magic.

Zaxares.5419:

Believe me, I was VERY close to not getting GW2 when the Engineer was revealed and that steampunk and magi-tech elements were in the game. :P I stuck with it and don’t regret my decision since GW2 is still an awesome game, but yes, I HATE technology in my fantasy. Even stuff like blasting powder used for mining is something I’d rather not see in fantasy games.

You hate technology in fantasy? Like that technology to build massive stone buildings, and that technology to make steel swords and armour, and so on? Technology doesn’t just start at guns or computers. It goes back to the Stone Age.

Also, poor OP. Starts a nice thread about off-the-map jumping, and gets an argument about lasers in fantasy.

Kurrilino.2706:

I can see the older generation being incredible unhappy with laser, phasers, airships
cyberpunk in our beloved fantasy games.
Maybe it has something to do with younger generations losing they eye for the beauty and being entertained by brute force.

I doubt it’s a “kids these days” issue at all (though that’s a trendy cliche that is ubiquitous anywhere someone doesn’t like something on internet). And “brute force”? How is using a laser more brute force than smashing someone with a mace? Flying in airship as opposed to riding a horse?

I’m in my mid 30s and i grew up with He-man, who was a fantasy barbarian-type in a world with high magic sorcery and spaceships with lasers. Kids today have no clue who He-man is/was. There’s also Thundercats, which did much the same for my generation.

If you’re looking at a decade earlier, people growing up in the 70s lived in an era where sci-fi and fantasy were constantly mixed in novels and media. Gary Gygax, one of the creators of D&D in the 70s, ran games where fighters, rogues and wizards got teleported to spaceships and the wild west. Hell, the magic system of that game was based on novel set in the distant future of earth.

The issue with accepting technology as part of fantasy has nothing to do with generations and certainly nothing to do with “brute force” (I’m not even sure how that fits into this in the first place anyway). Some folks just can’t get out of the artificially narrow concept that “fantasy” must be equivalent to “medieval ONLY fantasy”.

Tom Gore.4035:

Which airship is that?

Its is the one located above Stormbluff Isle in Bloodtide Coast. use Deadend Waypoint to get there.

That being said, this airship floats high in the air, absolutely unreachable by any leaping or jumping weapon-/utility-skills. Thus Farothion must have used such skills (seeing he used a female warrior) to reach waterlevel out of map [he basicly crossed the by normal means not crossable border of the map to get below the ground and inside the water], swimming back to where the airship is located, and performing a relog. Upon that, the client will place any character which is located below normal ground level on the highest position with physical collision possible, which in this case is the Aetherblade airship if you placed your character correctly.

The same mechanic could be used to reach the top of the lighthouse or the top of the tower near the mystic forge in the former Lion´s Arch.

Its debatable if such practice is a bannable offense. I am a extreme-JP´er myself, so i adore stuff like this, but its clearly a grey zone, since it CAn be abused to gain unfair advantage over other players.

if (and that is totally possible of course) i was wrong with that, then Farathion must have found a spot somewhere around the airship which will change the flight path of a leap skill slightly. Those spots do exists, i once got elevated high into the air after being pulled with opposing thief´s Scorpion Wire, dying from falling damage in the consequence.

in any case i am 100% sure that Farathion did NOT reach this spot by usual jumping / use of skills/items/environmental weapons. There have to be bugs involved.

lordkrall.7241:

So basically you just want yet another generic medieval fantasy game?

Even though it has been 250 years since those things started appearing in Tyria? And in 250 years in the real world technology advanced massively?

It is very unlikely that a world would stand completely still, especially if said world have magic.

No. A generic medieval fantasy game would have had orcs, elves, dwarves etc. Guild Wars has its own lore and setting, which is what drew me to the game in the first place.

Worlds with magic tend to develop differently than worlds without magic. If magic can fix things that we resort to technology to do, why would people ever resort to developing technology? Especially since in GW2, it seems that EVERYBODY (or at least a huge segment of the population) can use magic. Why bother having non-magical healers when you could just have a Guardian traited to remove conditions just stand near you? Why bother building aquaducts when you could just hire a Water Elementalist to spam Geyser and Healing Rain a few times a day? (The exception here would be the Charr, due to their racial distrust of magic, but that’s kinda a half-hearted effort since we see Charr mages just about everywhere anyway.)

The world grows and evolves, of course, but it would do so in ways that don’t necessarily mimic how our world has evolved.

Olvendred.3027:

You hate technology in fantasy? Like that technology to build massive stone buildings, and that technology to make steel swords and armour, and so on? Technology doesn’t just start at guns or computers. It goes back to the Stone Age.

See my post above. A world with magic would develop technology that improves the use of magic, not just mimic modern devices that are “powered by magic”. The use of the term “hologram” is an example; it calls to mind a very specific science-fiction technology, when really it’s no different from an advanced Mesmer illusion.

Zaxares, I think you might have confused technology with steampunk and the general Asuran golem/robotic aesthetics.

You are, of course, absolutely correct in saying that a world running on the laws of magic would develop differently from one without. However, citing your example of a Water Elementalist vs an Aqueduct, I think it would be natural technological progression to build an aqueduct that provides constant water better that a water ele. After all, why would I want to pay a person to stand around a village/city, wasting their precious energy and time to channel water that might not necessarily be adequate enough to provide water when needed?

Or portals. If we were going by the Harry Potter-esque style, where spellcasters have to chant a few words and wave a stick around (let’s ignore the methods of travel by fireplace and toilet for a moment), why wouldn’t it progress to having the Asura finding a perfectly taxable efficient way to shunt large amounts of cargo quickly through the use of aethergates?

I think the real main point of contention here is that the way magic is applied in Tyria is too reminescent of our own, so it doesn’t seem as exotic as it should be.

If we’re following some sort of idea of the real world but with magic, of course a society is going to develop items and structures like aqueducts that consistently put out magical effects like water, light or power instead of having someone stand around and do it manually all day. There are a lot of tasks that people can perform in real life but, whenever possible, humans find ways of making machines or tools that do the work for them. Now add in magic that can produce permanently flaming objects, electrical swords or otherwise unlimited energy output and the only logical conclusion is that humans WILL develop advanced technology based on these wildy better-than-real-life rules of physics that they have to work with.

Is that on LA? If so, its usual, since the lionguard have take control of a lot of those airships, and the rest of’em have been left there on the attavk.

@Herald: Yeah, when I refer to “technology”, I tend to mean stuff like steampunk, science-fiction gadgets and modern day mechanical devices. I acknowledge that building massive infrastructure for irrigation (if we’re continuing that example) would make more sense if we’re dealing with agriculture on a massive scale, but the size of the game world doesn’t really match up. It could cost thousands of gold to build something like the Queensdale water pumping station and the associated pipes (a structure which is routinely targeted and sabotaged by bandits, I should add); in contrast, depending on workforce competition, you might be able to get that Water Elementalist to work for you for 5 silver a day. And if he gets killed by Bandits, well, you can probably find a replacement worker that same day. (Orrr just hand out karma rewards to any adventurers who run past to get them to water your fields for you. XD)

As far as portals are concerned, that’s another thing. During the Lost Shores Living Story, we saw how quickly people could get waypoints up and running on a new island. (Apparently Waypoints are discrete magical devices that can simply be brought to a location and then activated.) Wouldn’t it be easier to just transport goods and supplies by players running through Gates and Waypoints rather than building huge, expensive airships?

@panzer: Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Technological advances in a magical world should progress along making magic more effective, since that’s the proven, most efficient tool to accomplish things. Instead of a large water pumping station, why not have smaller, magical towers in each field that generate a constant supply of clean water through magic (utilising said Geyser and Healing Rain spells)?

panzer.6034:

Kurrilino.2706:

I can see the older generation being incredible unhappy with laser, phasers, airships
cyberpunk in our beloved fantasy games.
Maybe it has something to do with younger generations losing they eye for the beauty and being entertained by brute force.

I doubt it’s a “kids these days” issue at all (though that’s a trendy cliche that is ubiquitous anywhere someone doesn’t like something on internet). And “brute force”? How is using a laser more brute force than smashing someone with a mace? Flying in airship as opposed to riding a horse?

I’m in my mid 30s and i grew up with He-man, who was a fantasy barbarian-type in a world with high magic sorcery and spaceships with lasers. Kids today have no clue who He-man is/was. There’s also Thundercats, which did much the same for my generation.

If you’re looking at a decade earlier, people growing up in the 70s lived in an era where sci-fi and fantasy were constantly mixed in novels and media. Gary Gygax, one of the creators of D&D in the 70s, ran games where fighters, rogues and wizards got teleported to spaceships and the wild west. Hell, the magic system of that game was based on novel set in the distant future of earth.

The issue with accepting technology as part of fantasy has nothing to do with generations and certainly nothing to do with “brute force” (I’m not even sure how that fits into this in the first place anyway). Some folks just can’t get out of the artificially narrow concept that “fantasy” must be equivalent to “medieval ONLY fantasy”.

well i am your age and i have to say that i still love He-Man and own all episodes on dvd.
But i see 3 flaws in your argument…. well not flaws in that meaning, just differences.

A: Eternia is a complete different setting. It had characters like Stratos,Beastman or ManAtArms from the beginning and people loved it.
Despite the technology there was no mass destruction, everything was still fought man vs man in most cases.

B: The Quality. Everything on Eternia had a deeper meaning. As kids you couldn’t see instantly but even every episode was made for a learning purpose.
My favorite part was and still is the message to the kids at the end.
It gives me awesome memorys of biking without a helmet or being outside even after sunset playing in front of the house. Heck even the respect towards other people and property was based on shows like He-Man.
These days you don’t have any message anymore beside there are no heros anymore,
no reason to be descent or heroic.
What 2 lesbian lovers have to do in a game for kids is far beyond me but this is just my opinion.
In short, Eternia and these wonderfull 80’s are over and kids are really missing out.

C: Gw world is not a cyberpunk or space suit setting.
It started with awesome adventures, well written storys and incredible magic mixed with epic combat mechanics. Just think back to the crystal desert where you had to prove yourself at 3 epic quests to get access to the cave and defeat the element dragons. Just imagine how the Kurzick or Luxon interact with each other.
Yes there was magic involved but all that wouldn’t be so great with laserguns and photon topedos.
Why we dump all this to introduce the Borgs, Terminator and Power Rangers is far beyond me. Even 250 years after GW1 is no excuse to create a mix of Battleship Galactica and Star gate.
Whats coming next ?? Skritt finding Nascar racers or Norn inventing the stock market? Spirits of Ascalons are allowed to marry a horse to be political correct??

And yes, i still think it is generation related.
Just watch how people interact with each other and how the kids lost the ability to put effort into something, where everything loses interest as soon as they have to do something for it. If it isn’t available instantly and without effort nobody wants it anymore. And this is why i am concerned about GW2.

Zaxares.5419:

As far as portals are concerned, that’s another thing. During the Lost Shores Living Story, we saw how quickly people could get waypoints up and running on a new island. (Apparently Waypoints are discrete magical devices that can simply be brought to a location and then activated.) Wouldn’t it be easier to just transport goods and supplies by players running through Gates and Waypoints rather than building huge, expensive airships?

Case in point. You have to get to the location first, before you can place the waypoint. Is a huge expensive airship going to help with that? Yes. Also, we know that the Pact developed airships for aerial combat against dragons, which is something that obviously can’t be done with gates. There are other obvious advantages to having a military air force: aerial bombardment, reconnaissance, landing troops in places where there are no WPs or the WPs are contested, etc.

As for the Aetherblades: they’re a criminal organisation. From what we know of Waypoints and gates, they’re available and visible to everyone. Is a group of pirates really going to drop a massive “Here we are! Also, you can magically appear in our midst” Waypoint in the middle of their base? They need to be off the map, so to speak, so they fly around in airships.

Essentially, even when certain types of magic exist, they don’t necessarily fill every need that may arise. Novel applications of magic and/or technology are required to fill those needs.

Note that I don’t have anything against the concept of airships themselves. Air power is an undeniable advantage in many areas, not least of which is warfare. But WHY do they look like airships/zeppelins? If the ships are powered and kept aloft by magic, why do they look like they have a central balloon? Look at the Zephyrites, for comparison. Their ship is kept aloft purely by magic and wind, and it shows. I’ll grant that we never received an explanation for how exactly the airships function, but if your ship is propelled by magic and does not rely on external factors, why not make it a flying tank? A miniature Death Star with solid steel armor everywhere and bristling with cannons? Why an airship, in particular?

Who knows? It may be that keeping it aloft with hot air is cheaper/easier than using magic, or at least, lowers the operating costs. Maybe as a failsafe, in case the magic ‘engine’ breaks down. Maybe the particular variety of magic engine used by the aetherblades needs a balloon for some reason… anything from the obvious, to needing a large amount of surface area for the magic to work on. Maybe it’s a purely aesthetic design convention, held over from sailing ships. There could be any number of plausible reasons.

Also, magic doesn’t just completely bypass physics. A mini Death Star with armour and cannons is going to weigh a lot more than a primarily wood/fabric construction; and potentially generate more friction too (the latter is debatable, with the balloon/sails and all. But if it does partly use wind for propulsion, sails will help more than a big metal ball).

Zaxares.5419:

…And if he gets killed by Bandits, well, you can probably find a replacement worker that same day…

Lol, you must be Asura.

Anyway, I guess I sort of understand how you feel, Zaxares. I’d personally like to see more medieval-magic used (for lack of a better word), so it actually feels like I’m playing a fantasy game (not too sci-fi or steampunk, please), because I just personally like that aesthetic.

The problem is, ANet hasn’t really defined the properties of Tyrian magic (my best guess is that aether works pretty much like electricity), so we can’t really say how magic should have evolved. I mean, for all we know, filling a hot air balloon might require less energy and maintenance than a portal, or the Arcane Council might have been too selfish to give certain factions access to their coveted aethergates.

All is not lost though, while prevailing technology seems to stem mostly from Asuran and Charr (choppers, really? I wanted a gryphon mount!) engineering, human magic might just make headway one day. If the Orrian people finally band together into a large confederation or something, we might actually be able to see real magic!

panzer.6034:

Kurrilino.2706:

I can see the older generation being incredible unhappy with laser, phasers, airships
cyberpunk in our beloved fantasy games.
Maybe it has something to do with younger generations losing they eye for the beauty and being entertained by brute force.

I doubt it’s a “kids these days” issue at all (though that’s a trendy cliche that is ubiquitous anywhere someone doesn’t like something on internet). And “brute force”? How is using a laser more brute force than smashing someone with a mace? Flying in airship as opposed to riding a horse?

I’m in my mid 30s and i grew up with He-man, who was a fantasy barbarian-type in a world with high magic sorcery and spaceships with lasers. Kids today have no clue who He-man is/was. There’s also Thundercats, which did much the same for my generation.

If you’re looking at a decade earlier, people growing up in the 70s lived in an era where sci-fi and fantasy were constantly mixed in novels and media. Gary Gygax, one of the creators of D&D in the 70s, ran games where fighters, rogues and wizards got teleported to spaceships and the wild west. Hell, the magic system of that game was based on novel set in the distant future of earth.

The issue with accepting technology as part of fantasy has nothing to do with generations and certainly nothing to do with “brute force” (I’m not even sure how that fits into this in the first place anyway). Some folks just can’t get out of the artificially narrow concept that “fantasy” must be equivalent to “medieval ONLY fantasy”.

Maybe it’s not a case of they “can’t” and more a case of they “don’t want to”. I was unhappy with the tech advancements of engineers and charr siege engines over the last 250 years (anyone else remember the concern over the engineer reveal and the LED lights on the mines?) but I can accept it becoming a part or Tyria today. It’s not a coincidence that the asura are my least favourite race or that despite my main being a charr and my ability to appreciate the design of the city, the Black Citadel is my least liked racial city.

I like my fantasy to lean on the side of fantasy and not sci-fi (otherwise I would read sci-fi or play a sci-fi game). Magic seems less cool when the Living Story writers say in an interview Scarlet can do pretty much anything (cross any class boundaries) via her engineering genius. It felt less cool to be a mesmer. The necromancer’s ability to revive the dead or the elementalist’s ability to control the elements, these things become less fantastical to me when an engineer’s device can do the same thing. Technology is so impersonal, there is something beautiful about magic, about bloodline ties to it (like the human royal line and Jennah accessing something an ordinary person couldn’t) and that’s just not there with technology. Magic is ancient and rich, it’s about personal limitations, rituals, gods and totems. Magic is rich with stories (not just from today, but going back to ancient times – in Tyria, whether it be the bloodstones, the gift of magic or the Elder Dragons). Technology is so boring. It’s modern and new, it’s argued to be limitless, it doesn’t seem to have boundaries (or follow rules) and it overshadows magic.

I don’t mind technology being a part of Tyria (it always has been, it’s just more advanced now) but I feel like technology is taking over (especially in the Living Story). I think engineers should be able to use technology to compete with traditional magic, but not to emulate or improve upon it. That makes magic seem pointless. I like the Zephyrite ships (powered by an advanced understanding of wind magic and access to dragon magic) and I think they are a lot more interesting than Pact air ships (because technology – how boring is that?). There is poetry to a Zephyrite ship (an elegant combination of architecture and precise mastery of air magic, but it goes back to Glint), Pact ships just feel like they work because technology said so. People make fun of magic in stories because it’s used to explain the unexplainable, that role in GW2 has been given to technology. Magic in Tyria has limitations, it has origins and sources, it has an identity, technology crosses and goes beyond these boundaries.

Kurrilino.2706:

A: Eternia is a complete different setting. It had characters like Stratos,Beastman or ManAtArms from the beginning and people loved it.
Despite the technology there was no mass destruction, everything was still fought man vs man in most cases.

What does this have to do with supporting any of your points though? They flew around on Battering Rams with lasers (tech) and beat each other up like barbarians (brute force). The show is a strong example of exactly what you’re complaining about.

B: The Quality. Everything on Eternia had a deeper meaning. As kids you couldn’t see instantly but even every episode was made for a learning purpose.
…
These days you don’t have any message anymore beside there are no heros anymore,
no reason to be descent or heroic.

If by “deeper meaning” you mean “incredibly cliche and oversimplified morality” then, yeah.

I see action cartoons nowadays with heroes just like in the He-man days except with more far more developed characters and plots. When i try to watch the old shows now on netflix, i’m shocked at how ridiculously simple and campy they were compared to what’s out now. Newer stuff can still hold my attention because there’s more depth but i can’t sit through the old stuff i used to like as a kid anymore because it’s superficial and simple to an absurd degree.

What 2 lesbian lovers have to do in a game for kids is far beyond me but this is just my opinion.

Because, just like in the old He-man shows, having a story that shows that accepting people that are different from you is important for kids. It doesn’t need a contrived and intellectually insulting speech at the end to send a message. The irony here is that it’s going to be the kids of the future that are going to be the accepting ones and the older generation that will be more bigoted.

C: Gw world is not a cyberpunk or space suit setting.
It started with awesome adventures, well written storys and incredible magic mixed with epic combat mechanics.

Having a crap story has nothing to do with having technology though.

Why we dump all this to introduce the Borgs, Terminator and Power Rangers is far beyond me. Even 250 years after GW1 is no excuse to create a mix of Battleship Galactica and Star gate.
Whats coming next ?? Skritt finding Nascar racers or Norn inventing the stock market? Spirits of Ascalons are allowed to marry a horse to be political correct??

I guess when you make stuff up and pretend it’s in the game, that makes it look pretty ridiculous, huh?

And yes, i still think it is generation related.
Just watch how people interact with each other and how the kids lost the ability to put effort into something, where everything loses interest as soon as they have to do something for it. If it isn’t available instantly and without effort nobody wants it anymore. And this is why i am concerned about GW2.

And this has NOTHING to do with liking tech in fantasy or Aetherblades.

panzer.6034:

Kurrilino.2706:

A: Eternia is a complete different setting. It had characters like Stratos,Beastman or ManAtArms from the beginning and people loved it.
Despite the technology there was no mass destruction, everything was still fought man vs man in most cases.

What does this have to do with supporting any of your points though? They flew around on Battering Rams with lasers (tech) and beat each other up like barbarians (brute force). The show is a strong example of exactly what you’re complaining about.

B: The Quality. Everything on Eternia had a deeper meaning. As kids you couldn’t see instantly but even every episode was made for a learning purpose.
…
These days you don’t have any message anymore beside there are no heros anymore,
no reason to be descent or heroic.

If by “deeper meaning” you mean “incredibly cliche and oversimplified morality” then, yeah.

I see action cartoons nowadays with heroes just like in the He-man days except with more far more developed characters and plots. When i try to watch the old shows now on netflix, i’m shocked at how ridiculously simple and campy they were compared to what’s out now. Newer stuff can still hold my attention because there’s more depth but i can’t sit through the old stuff i used to like as a kid anymore because it’s superficial and simple to an absurd degree.

What 2 lesbian lovers have to do in a game for kids is far beyond me but this is just my opinion.

Because, just like in the old He-man shows, having a story that shows that accepting people that are different from you is important for kids. It doesn’t need a contrived and intellectually insulting speech at the end to send a message. The irony here is that it’s going to be the kids of the future that are going to be the accepting ones and the older generation that will be more bigoted.

C: Gw world is not a cyberpunk or space suit setting.
It started with awesome adventures, well written storys and incredible magic mixed with epic combat mechanics.

Having a crap story has nothing to do with having technology though.

Why we dump all this to introduce the Borgs, Terminator and Power Rangers is far beyond me. Even 250 years after GW1 is no excuse to create a mix of Battleship Galactica and Star gate.
Whats coming next ?? Skritt finding Nascar racers or Norn inventing the stock market? Spirits of Ascalons are allowed to marry a horse to be political correct??

I guess when you make stuff up and pretend it’s in the game, that makes it look pretty ridiculous, huh?

And yes, i still think it is generation related.
Just watch how people interact with each other and how the kids lost the ability to put effort into something, where everything loses interest as soon as they have to do something for it. If it isn’t available instantly and without effort nobody wants it anymore. And this is why i am concerned about GW2.

And this has NOTHING to do with liking tech in fantasy or Aetherblades.

I am saying that He-Man was introduced as it is.
GW morphed into Battlestar Galactica, that is the difference

Shiren.9532:

I like my fantasy to lean on the side of fantasy and not sci-fi (otherwise I would read sci-fi or play a sci-fi game).

Liking fantasy that is at a medieval level of technology is fine but thing is that this idea that we have fantasy vs. sci-fi and that you like one or switch over to the other in a binary fashion is an artificially contrived mental construct. Like the previous He-man example; there are lasers and ships but the whole thing is still a form of fantasy.

Magic seems less cool when the Living Story writers say in an interview Scarlet can do pretty much anything (cross any class boundaries) via her engineering genius. It felt less cool to be a mesmer.

I don’t think this was a problem with technology, per se, as much as the Mary Sue aspect of Scarlet that the writers went with. If her source of being better than everyone else had been magic, it would have been just as dumb.

Technology is so boring. It’s modern and new, it’s argued to be limitless, it doesn’t seem to have boundaries (or follow rules) and it overshadows magic.

I like it precisely because it does make the world more rich. If everything is magic, then you potentially have a boring setting where everything is done by the same force. If you have tech that can compete with magic, then you can have power struggles and cultural conflicts that you can’t really do in a magic-does-everything world. I agree that it shouldn’t completely overshadow magic but i haven’t really gotten that impression in gw2 since a majority of the classes are not tech and much of the tech is magic powered in the first place.

I think the way this next LS arc is shaping up might please you though. It looks like we’ll be getting a strong injection of magic and dragons instead of a high tech villain.

Kurrilino.2706:

I am saying that He-Man was introduced as it is.
GW morphed into Battlestar Galactica, that is the difference

Except for the fact that it didn’t become Battlestar Galactica. That’s like me saying that you want it to go back to being Peter Pan vs. My Little Ponies.

panzer.6034:

Kurrilino.2706:

I am saying that He-Man was introduced as it is.
GW morphed into Battlestar Galactica, that is the difference

Except for the fact that it didn’t become Battlestar Galactica. That’s like me saying that you want it to go back to being Peter Pan vs. My Little Ponies.

If that is what you call it, yes i want it back.
Everything is better than Stormtroopers vs Borgs like the Aetherblades

Kurrilino.2706:

panzer.6034:

Kurrilino.2706:

I am saying that He-Man was introduced as it is.
GW morphed into Battlestar Galactica, that is the difference

Except for the fact that it didn’t become Battlestar Galactica. That’s like me saying that you want it to go back to being Peter Pan vs. My Little Ponies.

If that is what you call it, yes i want it back.
Everything is better than Stormtroopers vs Borgs like the Aetherblades

You’re making some preeeeeeetty massive leaps for your arguments here.