Guild Wars 2

Hi, I gave in to my urgings and purchased GW2 just now. It’s downloading.

as I read over the Lore and such for the 5 races in the game, while the game downloads, I am looking for some impressions based on experience with playing the races.

which is most/least popular, which has the most interesting lore/characters (no spoilers please), etc. (i am a casual RPer and a Lore Junkie if that helps any)

I’m pretty much set that my first character, regardless of race, is going to be a Shadow-Stepping Thief with dual pistols(or at least a Pistol and a Dagger in the offhand, if thats possible). I liked the Assassin in GW1, and thats what I am shooting for, except with GUNZ.

(incidentally, as with every MMO, there is a supreme abundance of Rogue Types, and no healers right? or are the classes pretty balanced here?)

thanks in advance.

Most popular choice for thief is human.

This is all my humble opinion…

But I believe Charr and Asura are the most interesting races to play.

Asura are just so snarky, while Charr have their barbaric humor.

Azure Prower.8701:

Most popular choice for thief is human.

Thief human female.. with human culture tier 3/ named armor.

All races are good, and enjoyable.

Main healer class is Elementalist, 2nd perhaps the necromancer.

LordYz.8941:

Azure Prower.8701:

Most popular choice for thief is human.

Thief human female.. with human culture tier 3/ named armor.

I suppose every Thief is running around in a thong and a bra then? bleh.

is Human the overall most populous race?

what is the least?

JMadFour.9730:

LordYz.8941:

Azure Prower.8701:

Most popular choice for thief is human.

Thief human female.. with human culture tier 3/ named armor.

I suppose every Thief is running around in a thong and a bra then? bleh.

is Human the overall most populous race?

what is the least?

Humans are the most populous race. I’d like to say…Charr was the least popular off the top of my head, but I am not 100% sure.

For lore, the Charr starting areas are rich and rewarding. The race is, too.
Humans also have a good history, but not so much of it comes out in GW2.

Norn, if you don’t mind being huge, feels well-developed.

IMO the Sylvari and Asura starting areas are not nearly as rich, not as complete as the others.

If you like lore then you can’t go past an ash legion charr thief. I find the Charr to be the most interesting because of their historic relation to the humans (They wiped Ascalon off the map), and the Ash Legion are the Charr clan of spies, scouts and Assassins.
Black Citadel also has Historian Goshkia who tells the tale of Oldroar, a wonderful tale about on of my guildies who passed away before GW2 launched.

My main character is a human thief but I also have a Norn and Charr Thief among my alts (I have 2 accounts)

Hello. I think humans look the best so that’s what I play. Also enjoyed their starting zone.

As a fan of RPGs, I have to recommend playing human and picking these choices during character creation: Raised on the Streets / Unknown Parents. Honestly though, I only progressed those choices to the lvl 10 Storyline quests so far, but instantly fell in love with it. Also think it’d go with your Thief profession very well.

I have also enjoyed the Nobility/Commoner lines, and have more experience with them, just that combo above grabbed me most.

Also, take a look at http://gw2census.com/ and fill it out to see what the totals are. It’s pretty interesting. Of course, not everyone knows of the site or takes the time to fill it out.

You can always play each race to level 5 or 10 and see which grabs ya the most. Also keep in mind each race has racial abilities that can be trained with skill points. Keep in mind, racials can be used anywhere except in Structured PvP where everything is balanced level, gear, and skill wise. You can find some videos on youtube showing racials if you type “Gw2 racials” or “Guild Wars 2 Racials.”

If you’re a casual RP’r than one of the races with simple but strong temperamental predispositions are fun to play upon since it can be done easily and naturally for laughs.

Charr (by a big margin) followed by Asura and Sylvari (About equal) are the rarest races according to the last OFFICIAL set of data (That census site obtained most it’s data before the game even launched!). Human is by far the most common. The Sylvari may have some intresting lore revelations down the line but I hear their starter story arcs suck. Charr’s home story arcs and environs suit them perfectly, as does Asura

As for class distribution… it WAS pretty even at launch, but right now thief and mesmer are flavour of the month as people think rolling either is as good as an auto-win button in PvP

Sylvari are the best Thieves.

I find the Charr to be very fun and unique and have a ton off cool lore and being based in ascalon lead to some cool Easter eggs. some parts of the game focus on the human and charr conflict and some human still not liking the charr and if you talk to those people as a charr you get some unique dialogue which is always fun.

Charr. Who doesn’t want to be giant atheist cat?

Asura is the best because their animations look 100 times better than the other races. And Charr is def not the least played race, Im sure sylvari is, you rarely see them even

so I can still play quest/storylines from the other races right?

or at least have some interaction with the other major cities, if I so choose?

JMadFour.9730:

so I can still play quest/storylines from the other races right?

or at least have some interaction with the other major cities, if I so choose?

You can’t play storylines from other races, because a storyline is your character’s personal story which pretty much starts at character creation. What you can do is join someone in an instance of his personal storyline (storyline missions are instanced).

You can go to all cities as soon as your character has left the intro sequence — which only takes a couple of minutes.

I like the Asura from a lore POV (condescending uppity SOBs), but their weapons and armor are so tiny. I like to look cool in the games I play, and the thought of grinding for tiny weapon skins was a major buzzkill for me.

So I went with Charr.

Narrowed it down to Charr or Sylvari.

zauselbart.8142:

JMadFour.9730:

so I can still play quest/storylines from the other races right?

or at least have some interaction with the other major cities, if I so choose?

You can’t play storylines from other races, because a storyline is your character’s personal story which pretty much starts at character creation. What you can do is join someone in an instance of his personal storyline (storyline missions are instanced).

You can go to all cities as soon as your character has left the intro sequence — which only takes a couple of minutes.

but if I go to the other cities, there won’t be anything for me to do there, since I can’t do their questlines? or am I missing something?

When I make a new character I think about if I want to make it a cool character or some lame one. When I choose cool, I choose Norn.

I only play Norn!!!

Viking Powah!

You can’t do the personal quests for another race. But you can do the heart quests and other zone-related stuff.

Sylvari story is pretty cool, of all the races they’re most conscious of the need to oppose the elder dragons, and there’s that big mystery of where they came from / what’s their purpose / the Pale Tree etc. Though some of my friends found them too serious.

Charr focuses more on their race’s struggles and recent history. They’ve reclaimed their ancestral lands from the humans and overthrown the Flame legion, but are beset on all sides by enemies looking to take them down. Personally I like their bestial heritage and all-around bad kitten attitudes, so I went with them.

Lore of Sylvari stories though ties in more to the overall lore of Tyria (IMHO) so you might prefer that.

[quote=874162;JMadFour.9730:
but if I go to the other cities, there won’t be anything for me to do there, since I can’t do their questlines? or am I missing something?
[/quote]

Yes, you’re missing something.

There are no quests in the traditional sense. You don’t walk up to an npc, take some quests, do whatever is asked, go back and collect your reward, then move on to the next npc and so on.

There’s only one quest, and that is the personal storyline.

GW2 has dynamic events that occur as you explore the maps, and it has ‘heart quests’ (symbolized by a heart on the map). Those heart quests resemble the traditional quests, though you don’t have to talk to the npc. You’re notified what there is to do as soon as you are in the vicinity of that NPS.

Human hands down the human are is very well made, I love their area. Asura is good and sylvari.

Hey, game finally finished downloading. Is there a designated “RP” server?

JMadFour.9730:

Hey, game finally finished downloading. Is there a designated “RP” server?

No rpg server not sure if there are any major rpg guilds either.

I see. wondering what server I should play on. guess I’ll just eenie meenie miney moe it.

I believe Tarnished Coast is the “unofficial” RP server.

Yeah +1 for TC. The guys who RP in W3 are hilarious.

I see. Tarnished Coast is full though, is there a decent secondary option for an Unofficial RP Server?

You can transfer during off-peak, when the server’s not full. Just create a character on whatever’s free now, set your alarm for some ungodly hour, and transfer your character then.

AFAIK there’s no other unofficial RP server.

Speaking honestly about races, the zones and personal stories for all of them paint a pretty accurate picture lore-wise of that race. Therefore, keep in mind that your profession will have no impact on your story as delivered by the game, and that the majority of your personal story will be narrated based upon your character as a typical member of that race and any upbringing/subfaction of that race you select.

If you’re roleplaying its just a matter of personal preference, but from the content end of things I’d say that they all have a pretty killer amount of lore-based content in the early levels. So the question is really whether you’re looking to be unique, or typical. If you’re looking to be unique, off-theme characters are things you don’t see a lot. Stuff like Charr/norn spellcasters, sylvari engineers, or Asura Warriors give you a lot of room to memorably roleplay with other players.

If you want a personal story experience that accurately fits the character you’ve envisioned then you’ll be looking at your starting questions from the perspective of the race’s most defining characteristics, and then answering the creating questions accordingly.

Also, it should go without saying that playing a male light/cloth character, or a female in armor that actually covers the majority of your skin helps you stand out from the crowd a lot.

Have a read through each races biography. I’m sure what ever race you choose there will be some parts you will like and others that you won’t. IMO, it’s more important choosing the profession you will enjoy using because once the story is finished your own “story” contiues for a long time.

Barabbas.8715:

Charr. Who doesn’t want to be giant atheist cat?

If anything they’re agnostic . The Charr acknowledge that gods exist but dont believe in them themselves.

As far as Lore goes you could have a lot of fun with Sylvari as they are new on the scene and their history is yet to be written for the most part . If you wanted somthing more developed go human ( ive grown to hate the Charr over the years ) or possibly Norn

Look at the races. Close your eyes and picture the class you want. Is it a giant norn female warrior who cleaves monsters with a greatsword? Or maybe an Asura Thief who slices people and then vanishes with a dagger dagger build.

Only you are going to know what you want to play. Look at the race, envision what you think the ideal figure for that race is, and then roll!

JMadFour.9730:

(incidentally, as with every MMO, there is a supreme abundance of Rogue Types, and no healers right? or are the classes pretty balanced here?)

Kind of worried that no one addressed this, so I guess I will.

There is no designated healer class in GW2. There is also no designated tank. All classes can heal themselves, and some can heal others, but in the end, you are responsible for your own damage and healing. Also, no class here can expect to stand in front in bosses and facetank/outheal damage- you will die each and every time. Dodging, kiting, using boons/conditions to reduce or avoid damage- you will have to learn those techniques if you want to stay alive.

Sorry for sounding harsh, but after seeing more new players than I care to count attempt to facetank bosses, fail miserably, and not learn, it still needs to be said.

JMadFour.9730:

Hi, I gave in to my urgings and purchased GW2 just now. It’s downloading.

as I read over the Lore and such for the 5 races in the game, while the game downloads, I am looking for some impressions based on experience with playing the races.

which is most/least popular, which has the most interesting lore/characters (no spoilers please), etc. (i am a casual RPer and a Lore Junkie if that helps any)

I’m pretty much set that my first character, regardless of race, is going to be a Shadow-Stepping Thief with dual pistols(or at least a Pistol and a Dagger in the offhand, if thats possible). I liked the Assassin in GW1, and thats what I am shooting for, except with GUNZ.

(incidentally, as with every MMO, there is a supreme abundance of Rogue Types, and no healers right? or are the classes pretty balanced here?)

thanks in advance.

I’ve tried every race except Charr. My favorite are the Norn and Asura story lines. Asura are intelligent smartkittens, which is fun. Norn are proud and tribal, which is interesting. Sylvari is to innocent/child like to me (but I like their animations) Human is well..human. Their story of struggle is good, their city gorgeous, but I see them everyday in the real world lol.

There is no dedicated healing class in this game, every class can do this.

zauselbart.8142:

There’s only one quest, and that is the personal storyline.

GW2 has dynamic events that occur as you explore the maps, and it has ‘heart quests’ (symbolized by a heart on the map). Those heart quests resemble the traditional quests, though you don’t have to talk to the npc. You’re notified what there is to do as soon as you are in the vicinity of that NPS.

To elaborate on this a bit more, you may do an instanced mission in your personal story (5-20 minutes, depending on the mission), then when you come out the next one could be set for 2-3 levels higher. Its very hard to fight over level in this game, so expect about 90% of your leveling to be from the aforementioned dynamic events, exploring, etc., the personal story is an occasional thing you progress when you get high enough level for the next one in the chain. They are nicely done, but certainly won’t carry you to 80 by themselves.

just to update this…

I tried a Sylvari for a little bit, but i did not like the Thief Class as much as I thought I would.

so my second character attempt, I made a Charr Guardian.

Charr are awesome. their whole harsh atmosphere, and the “survival of the fittest” vibe from all the Legions is very nice. there is some awesome humor as well (the Legion Soldiers perpetually arguing over whether the Meat is done is one example), and the variety in activities is great, its not all "kill 10 of these and come back(diffusing the Bar Brawl was interesting). wondering why more people don’t play Charr.

kinda liking the Guardian class thus far, but i am only level 8 or so. still wrapping my head around the combat differences from what I am used to, and dying a lot. but it is fun. I keep forgetting that I can do a barrel roll.

I’m on Yak’s Bend for now, but for some reason nobody there talks, maybe its cause everyone is in high level zones or whatever. but the only chatter i’ve seen in the Charr areas are “lfg AC EXP” whatever that means. I guess its a high level dungeon or something.

I guess I’ll look into moving to Tarnished Coast when I can. I’ve yet to see TC less than full. I had read somewhere though, that Stormbluff Isle had a decent RP population. was considering moving there since its not always full. I’m not a hardcore RPer though, its just that from my experience in MMOs, RP servers tend to have the best of kind and friendly/kitten player ratio.

AC EXP stands for Ascalonian Catacombs Explorable mode . Its the earliest doable dungeon ( level 30 ) . Each dungeon has a story mode and an explorable .

Awesome. Charr Guardian was my first character, and my main. I too had a hard time adjusting to the Guardian gameplay at first, but eventually got it and am loving it at end-game. Remember you have two heal skills available at all time, don’t be afraid to pop them esp. F2 (which I always forget about lol). Greatsword is easiest weapon to use and great for starting out or leveling. I’d actually suggest buying a white version from a merchant if you don’t have one yet, makes the early levels easier and won’t damage your finances in the long run. I did the first 15 levels using a mace, it was slooooow lol.

Finally got my hands on a 2H Hammer. Kinda diggin’ it.

Wanna switch servers though. Looking for a bit more social interaction. I know i’m still low-level and most everyone is level 80 and whatnot, but I mean c’mon son. I see players running around all the time, and nobody responds to anything except LFM.

Tarnished Coast is always full. so I don’t really know where to go. this forum needs some Server-specific forums so a newbie can get a feel for the community of each server a little bit.

You should be human. We have the best hair