Guild Wars 2

In “real war”, camouflage is an important consideration. If we had different races in the real world, an asura darting around wearing mottled brown armor would be a lot harder to detect than a norn wearing shiny plate armor.

But in WvW there’s a complicating factor, the block of text that floats overhead.

So since I am not experienced, my question is: does physical appearance actually make any difference? Is it harder to notice, find and hunt down a character of one particular type compared to another based on character and gear appearance choices, rather than profession/skills?

Oh yess indeedie it does!

Mouse-selecting a target becomes much harder if you can’t hit the box. Even if it’s the same size for all characters, it’s more difficult to select small characters in a melee. That’s why some people use shape-transforms occasionally.

And for mesmers, choice of armour colour is important to make your phantasms more believable.

Interesting point about the mesmer, thanks.

My thief is the smallest possible asura with medium brown skin and grayish mottles, and armor with brown tones. She actually does “blend into the shadows” pretty darned well most of the time, but I wondered about that text box…

Being an asura can also help you, skills that are telegraphed (like killshot) are a lot harder to notice on an asura, especially if it’s in a zerg or if you’re fighting one as a bigger character.

As Contiguous said, it is harder to click on you; when you are in a group of other people, guards, or mobs, it increases that advantage.

Your red name will always will be there, however yours will be lower then other races. This makes it possible to hide behind certain terrain that is too low for others to hide behind.

I don’t think it makes a big difference. I detect most players by their red names, the appearance is almost meaningless or the battlefield.

Many people use low graphics and they are used to detect foes by the name (the characters appear all green/red, or the game doesn’t even load the model at all) and not by the character itself. Plus, I hardly need to target someone with the mouse, usually I use the TAB. It became very efficient with the improvements a few patches ago.

Of course it doesn’t make a big difference. It just gives you an edge.

Sometimes an edge is all you need.

Think about this.

You are in a group of 20 with varying classes, facing another group of 20. Asura at the smallest size are not much bigger then some ranger pets and necro pets. The shape is different but with a quick glance to find a target most players ignore pets to find the players. This gives the asura a chance to not be selected as a target over someone who is obviously a player.

its not going to work most of the time. but 1 in 5 times or so it will work and that means less instant deaths and more tagging overall.

If you want to troll your enemy into thinking you are weaker than another character of the same class, play Asura. If you want your enemy to think twice about attacking you, play Norn. It will not work often, but it does have a mental impact on some.

Asura are scary. You can’t usually tell what armor they have on or what weapon they have equipped until it’s used on you. Asura Hammer warriors can be scary once in a fight, but outside of a fight Norn Hammer warrior is far more menacing on the psychology scale.

Funny because my thief is the smallest possible asura and my warrior is the largest possible norn. I was thinking of WvW with the former but not the latter.

Both are female though and my guess is male norn are seen as more menacing.

I was actually wondering if I should go asura for the warrior too, but I guess with a warrior the name of the game isn’t evading notice as it is with a thief.

just make a white sylvari mesmer with a slight purple glow…

GOSU.9574:

If you want your enemy to think twice about attacking you, play Norn. It will not work often, but it does have a mental impact on some.

I wish I had a copper penny for every time someone has run away from my big,scary, brightly coloured, support-build Norn.

I find wading into a zerg swinging my scintillating hammer usually opens a path for the real damage coming behind me.

Contiguous.1345:

I wish I had a copper penny for every time someone has run away from my big,scary, brightly coloured, support-build Norn.

Are you joking or being serious? Sorry, I’m too newbie to be sure.

No, quite serious. The psychological effect is quite real, people simply can’t help but flinch away.

OTOH. with Asura, people are apt to die laughing – literally.

That’s actually a reason to make a high-offense deadly asura. I love contrasts. I made a cute little asura guardian on that premise but maybe warrior would be better.

Is it better to intimidate in WvW as a warrior or trick people into thinking you’re easy pickings when you’re not?

I learned my lesson with Asura. I was leaving spawn by myself, and I saw this enemy group of 5 Asura. I actually stopped for a second to check something. Next thing I know I was getting mobbed. It was absolutely terrifying.
I didn’t pay any attention to them because they were cute lil’ Asura, and I gave them a free kill.
That’s the last time I disregard Asura.