Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone,

I decided to make an Engineer for my next profession (i was wandering between necro and engi, but decided engi because I like confusion and blasts :P), and I can’t decide what race to select.

I’d like you friends to tell me which race is the most fun to play/ has best appearance/its cooler.

anything will do! Some differences in animation, an armor set, anything!

feel free to change my opinions
It seems like asura would be the most fun to play, but i don’t really like any armors
I kind of like a couple of pieces of the sylvari armor looks, but it seems like the animations are as normal as it goes..
norn? haven’t really looked into that.
human, well i already have a few, and the armors don’t really seem worth it
charr, I can’t really see them as anything beside heavy armor :/

What are your opinions? what would be the best option?
note: screenshots of engineers will be appreciated, emphasizes your aesthetic point!

Asura……………………..

IVIUIEI.9631:

Asura……………………..

a couple of reasons would be good!

anything but sylvari…

Cosmetic-wise, it’s ultimately up to you. I rather dislike Norn but know people who love them, and love sylvari but know people who hate them, etc. You can check the race boards on this forum- they should have some threads where people will post pictures of their characters. That might give you an idea of what to shoot for.

Asura are funny as hell, and it seems than Engineers are a good fit, theme-wise. Not sure about medium armours on them, but you may find something appealing, or just cross random armour elements until it looks god. Asura fashion may not be ready for the booka tastes!

An industrial Engi Charr is also a good thematic fit. Probably there is some skin or armor that looks good enough

The Asura racial skills work well with some of the Engineer abilities based on how you build them. Pain inverter and radiation field add even more conditions an Engineer can generate.

It’s not a huge difference, but other than looks, the racial abilities are the only objective way to choose a race.

The Asuras are really cute (and best race for jumping puzzles – Norn and Charr are too big to see anything!). However, I think there’s a lack of decent looking armor for medium armor types when it comes to the Asura. As Pandemoniac points out, some of the Asuran racial skills synergise really nicely with the condition elements of the Engineer class.

I think the Charr medium armors actually look pretty good, and a Charr Engineer obviously fits thematically with the rest of the lore. But I dislike playing Charrs just because they’re so large and I struggle to see in jumping puzzles etc. Same issue with the Norns, but the Norn females are better than Charrs.

I never use the racial abilities on any race except Asura, so I can’t say if there’s anything more attractive for one over the other unless going for a particular effect to do with your class (eg, maybe the human elite, Hounds of Balthazar, if you are a minion Necro – but then you’d probably take Flesh Golem).

CrossedHorse.4261:

The Asuras are really cute (and best race for jumping puzzles – Norn and Charr are too big to see anything!).

Well someone else pointed out in another thread, you can always use a tonic to shrink yourself down for the puzzles where it’s a problem, so there’s a workaround. But after using an Asura for jumping puzzles, I’m really having a hard time doing them with any other race

Since there are no discernable differences between the races, choice of it is only cosmetic: choose what you like. Open up one of the websites with all armor skins, grab a cup of tea and start browsing.

It’s really all up to you and your own tastes.

I, for one, have only human characters. I simply cannot relate to any of the other races. I desperately tried to like the Charr, I loved them from GW1, but I just cannot play one. I made a character of each race and got them all to level 25 to get their respective race achievements, but then I deleted them. In hindsight, I am now sorry that I did not buy a full set of tier 1 armor for each of them before deleting, so I could get those extra achievement points; ah, well – maybe I will do it again in the future when I will be bored. I’m glad the other races are in the game, more options to chose from are always welcome, but it’s just not for me.

I’ll go with asura. Lorewise they make sense as engineers, plus their medium cultural armor looks like a perfect fit for an engineer (charr and norn medium look better for rangers, while sylvari and human for thieves/assassin types, IMHO).

I have a charr engineer, and and while I do love the character, TBH I don’t recommend charr for light and medium armor users, unless you’re not bothered by clipping issues. There are like 5 or 6 chest armor pieces that won’t clip with the tail, and I’m including the ones you can purchase off the gem store.

Norn! It doesnt get much more epic than a giant barbarian guy with a hobosack that can change into a bear and run half way across the map with 1 skill (Charge). Oh did i mention that you can flip karkas in southsun without playing the minigame? Why not go norn…

Pandemoniac.4739:

CrossedHorse.4261:

The Asuras are really cute (and best race for jumping puzzles – Norn and Charr are too big to see anything!).

Well someone else pointed out in another thread, you can always use a tonic to shrink yourself down for the puzzles where it’s a problem, so there’s a workaround. But after using an Asura for jumping puzzles, I’m really having a hard time doing them with any other race

Huh, I didn’t know about those … what tonics are they?

azizul.8469:

anything but sylvari…

Hey now, don’t be a plant hater! I have a Sylvari ranger that’s awesome, well, I think so.

To the OP, Asuras are a ton of fun, the camera perspective on them is great for jumping puzzles and exploring but stinks when you are in the midst of the zerg since you cannot see over anyone. The next character I build, another ranger, will be Asuran. I have a necro and guardian Asurans as well. Asuras also feel like the move quicker than most races and I definitely notice a difference in NPC AI (artificial intelligence) with Asuras, they act more realistic, not sure if anyone else feels this way but fighting the Inquest seems tougher than equivalent level Centaurs, for example.

I find that Norns use a different perspective as well and to me, even if the pace is the same, a Norn always feels like it’s moving slow, plodding almost. And forget jumping puzzles, charr and norns are a poor choice.

I have a human Engineer and Mesmer, nothing to write home about.

Leveled 2 charrs, best looking cultural weapons and armor of any race, IMO. They feel slow when they run, to me, but they seem to be tougher than other classes.

My Engineer was my first character and it was a Sylvari. I don’t really mind my Sylvari, but it’s not my favorite character look wise and i won’t do another Sylvari Engineer if I could go back. I think the best race for Engineer would be Charr, Asura or Human.

Human : Well they fit everything so.

Char : Their culture in GW2 fit so well the Engineer. A semi-industrial (18-19h century europe) kind of look.

Asura : An asura with an engineer kits is always funny. These little things with a huge backpack its just perfect lol. Its so easy to make a funny character with the mix of Asura and Engineer.

Thaddeus.4891:

My Engineer was my first character and it was a Sylvari. I don’t really mind my Sylvari, but it’s not my favorite character look wise and i won’t do another Sylvari Engineer if I could go back. I think the best race for Engineer would be Charr, Asura or Human.

Human : Well they fit everything so.

Char : Their culture in GW2 fit so well the Engineer. A semi-industrial (18-19h century europe) kind of look.

Asura : An asura with an engineer kits is always funny. These little things with a huge backpack its just perfect lol. Its so easy to make a funny character with the mix of Asura and Engineer.

One thing to take into account if you plan on making a charr engineer… medium armor is VERY trenchcoat heavy (big surprise!!!)… problem is there are only like 5 or 6 armor sets that take into account that the charr have a tail, so you’ll be severely limited on armor sets unless you don’t mind the tail clipping all the time trough the back of the armors.

Tiny asura if playing against other players in most cases.

Normal human if jumping puzzles are important to you as they are the easiest to jump IMO.

Anything else if the two criteria above are not important.

CrossedHorse.4261:

Pandemoniac.4739:

CrossedHorse.4261:

The Asuras are really cute (and best race for jumping puzzles – Norn and Charr are too big to see anything!).

Well someone else pointed out in another thread, you can always use a tonic to shrink yourself down for the puzzles where it’s a problem, so there’s a workaround. But after using an Asura for jumping puzzles, I’m really having a hard time doing them with any other race

Huh, I didn’t know about those … what tonics are they?

There’s an Asura tonic that’s available from the COE dungeon apparently, bandit ones, and others that turn you into human figures. Some allow you to keep your utility skills so you can use any speed buffs, but I think there’s only one (Potion of Ascalonian Mages) that lets you keep weapon and utility skills.

Some of them are quite inexpensive on the TP.

There’s a complete (as far as I know) list on the wiki http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Category:Tonics

Pandemoniac.4739:

CrossedHorse.4261:

Pandemoniac.4739:

CrossedHorse.4261:

The Asuras are really cute (and best race for jumping puzzles – Norn and Charr are too big to see anything!).

Well someone else pointed out in another thread, you can always use a tonic to shrink yourself down for the puzzles where it’s a problem, so there’s a workaround. But after using an Asura for jumping puzzles, I’m really having a hard time doing them with any other race

Huh, I didn’t know about those … what tonics are they?

There’s an Asura tonic that’s available from the COE dungeon apparently, bandit ones, and others that turn you into human figures. Some allow you to keep your utility skills so you can use any speed buffs, but I think there’s only one (Potion of Ascalonian Mages) that lets you keep weapon and utility skills.

Some of them are quite inexpensive on the TP.

There’s a complete (as far as I know) list on the wiki http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Category:Tonics

Oh, thanks! I’ll check them out.