Guild Wars 2

Hi

I am an unsociable scumbag so will probably solo my way through the game where possible. I will also only play it once.

Unless someone convinces me otherwise I like the idea of being a ranger (fun for solo play)

Question:
What then should my race and background be?

The Nord-like race are aparently boring and generic so not those dudes. I don’t care what I look like.

Thanks in advance!

Andy

Depends what you want, really. I’ve heard from a few people that the charr personal stories are great, the only downside is that charr and norn can feel really slow compared to other races because of their run animations (they’re actually the same speed as all the other races, but it feels slow, haha). Asura, by comparison, feel rather speedy. They have fun, often light-hearted stories at the beginning and some hilarious animations, although some people find some of them annoying/distracting, so your milage may vary. Sylvari are cool and interesting but generally take themselves seriously, not sure if that’s a plus or minus to you.

I can’t recommend which race you’d like but hopefully that helps you make the decision a little. Ranger is a good starter solo class I believe, just be aware your pets will start out not very hardy – you have to watch them and/or be ok with them being taken down in fights.

Mostly, race and story choices are just for flavour, so pick something that appeals to you and I hope you enjoy it!

Maybe take a look at each races unique armor sets and see which ones you like the best. I made my necromancer a Norn because I love their armor sets the most.

As for the speed of Norns, yeah of course everyone runs at the same basic speed but they might seem slower because they have longer legs so they appear to move slower. You can always make them shorter tho, you can get down to almost regular human height if you pick the smallest Norn height.

Personally I don’t find them generic and boring. I thought I would love the Asura but I really didn’t like their start zone or story or anything really. I didn’t like being that short once I started playing too, so I restarted.

If you’ve the time, quickly check them all for feels… animations and all. Voices and such. If you pick one with a voice you find horrible, whilst wanting to keep the dialogue volume on: eww!

That said, there are lists on the Wiki pages that show the racial skills. Seeing you wish to zoom through the game, and likely solo at that, it’s probably not a bad idea to pick a race with solid racial skills that you might actually enjoy using.

Ranger is a very good choice for solo’ing, and if it’s not your thing after all, you could always roll a Warrior, a Guardian or a Necromancer for comparable “solid” results, from what I hear.