Guild Wars 2

He is a Norn. Almost an adult. He should transform really, in GW1 norns were all about the transforms, here they are just drunkards. Who needs a guardian with mace/shield rly >.>

He didn’t want to put the skill points into it.

he’s also the worst partner… oh you’re meleeing down these mobs? let me just shield knock them away

jerk.

Charak.9761:

he’s also the worst partner… oh you’re meleeing down these mobs? let me just shield knock them away

jerk.

They should add another NPC who is a longbow ranger. They can take turns knocking mobs back. ^^

Rox is a longbow ranger, she just has the decency to spam Barrage instead of knocks.

Rox is a shortbow ranger

Sublimatio.6981:

Rox is a shortbow ranger

actually it’s a mix between both.

auto attack of the warrior longbow, barrage of the ranger longbow, quick shot(the dodge shot) of ranger shortbow. can’t remember any other skills right now but I wouldn’t be surprised if she had another shortbow ability

To be fair, my norn doesn’t shapeshift either :/

I haven’t seen any Norns shape shifting except to maybe try it out. Even Braham knows those skills aren’t worth the skill points.

Astral Projections.7320:

I haven’t seen any Norns shape shifting except to maybe try it out. Even Braham knows those skills aren’t worth the skill points.

Come play with me some time.

Boneheart.3561:

Astral Projections.7320:

I haven’t seen any Norns shape shifting except to maybe try it out. Even Braham knows those skills aren’t worth the skill points.

Come play with me some time.

No. I’ve already seen “save myself” Leopard form used enough in wvw. Logan should use it.

Plus Jormag ate Brahams chosen spirit.
There is no Spirit of the Giant Sloth anymore.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Boneheart.3561:

Astral Projections.7320:

I haven’t seen any Norns shape shifting except to maybe try it out. Even Braham knows those skills aren’t worth the skill points.

Come play with me some time.

No. I’ve already seen “save myself” Leopard form used enough in wvw. Logan should use it.

Plus Jormag ate Brahams chosen spirit.
There is no Spirit of the Giant Sloth anymore.

Raven offered me guardianship. Way to insult someone who wasn’t even talking to you.

Boneheart.3561:

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Boneheart.3561:

Astral Projections.7320:

I haven’t seen any Norns shape shifting except to maybe try it out. Even Braham knows those skills aren’t worth the skill points.

Come play with me some time.

No. I’ve already seen “save myself” Leopard form used enough in wvw. Logan should use it.

Plus Jormag ate Brahams chosen spirit.
There is no Spirit of the Giant Sloth anymore.

Raven offered me guardianship. Way to insult someone who wasn’t even talking to you.

Im sorry. I honestly did not think anyone would actually use Raven. I’ve only seen Raven form used by NPCs who die a lot.
I assumed Leopard, the only form I have seen used, mostly in wvw.

Use messaging for private chats.

Or he can’t, which isn’t unprecedented. Jora couldn’t become the bear in EOTN because of the influence on her of a certain dragon champion. It’s entirely possible that Braham’s inability to transform comes from an outside source, and might even be a future plot thread. Aside from where he used to live, and his relationship to Eir, we really don’t know much about his past at all.

Maybe it’s because they didn’t want to start any (Teen)Wolf Form Braham jokes.

Erukk.1408:

Maybe it’s because they didn’t want to start any (Teen)Wolf Form Braham jokes.

Or Team Braham.

PopeUrban.2578:

Or he can’t, which isn’t unprecedented. Jora couldn’t become the bear in EOTN because of the influence on her of a certain dragon champion. It’s entirely possible that Braham’s inability to transform comes from an outside source, and might even be a future plot thread. Aside from where he used to live, and his relationship to Eir, we really don’t know much about his past at all.

I was thinking of something along the same lines. It might be a mental block of sorts, something that he will have to overcome in the future. It also could be how he was raised and the importance of those transformations figuring in. Perhaps he thinks he’s good “enough” just being a guardian.

Shardelyss.4807:

PopeUrban.2578:

Or he can’t, which isn’t unprecedented. Jora couldn’t become the bear in EOTN because of the influence on her of a certain dragon champion. It’s entirely possible that Braham’s inability to transform comes from an outside source, and might even be a future plot thread. Aside from where he used to live, and his relationship to Eir, we really don’t know much about his past at all.

I was thinking of something along the same lines. It might be a mental block of sorts, something that he will have to overcome in the future. It also could be how he was raised and the importance of those transformations figuring in. Perhaps he thinks he’s good “enough” just being a guardian.

Then again, taking animal form doesn’t seem to be as important to norn as it used to, I think this is because they wanted to make racial skills kinda suck, and thus thought it would be weird if the NPCs made like those forms were a big part of being norn when to players they were just kinda meh.

I still sort of wish they’d buff all of the racial skills. I mean, I understand the logic of not having a “this race is the best at this class” dynamic, but maybe if they added a way to learn mechanically identical, but visually different skills from other races similar to the titles in EOTN it wouldn’t be an issue.

For instance, in EOTN humans could learn to take on aspects of spirit animals that gave them shapeshift-style powers, but they didn’t actually shapeshift. Similarly, a lot of the asura skills are just devices, or sylvari skills are mostly just a bit of magic. Stuff like “hounds of balthazar” could just be a pair of golems for asura, or just calling two wolves for norn, etc.

Thus you could have the “flashy version” on the original race, but you could get a “inspired by lessons learned from race X” version on everyone else.

Braham does need a buff, honestly. :P He’s the only one of the Biconics who doesn’t have some unique abilities of his own.

Rox: Uses a weird medley of shortbow and longbow skills. Has a unique Barrage that also inflicts poison.

Marjory: Nothing too unique here, but she can dodge roll at least.

Kasmeer: The most OP of the Biconics. She can Blink across gaps, create portals without needing to be at the locations, and use Time Warp with apparently no cooldown.

Taimi: Haven’t had too much opportunity to study her combat moves yet, but I do know she has some skills unique to golems, such as the ability to give all allies Protection.

The shapeshift skills are garbage, except in the hands of NPCs that can recharge/maintain them beyond what the players can do, and a certain blacksmith at a certain forge in Edge of the Mists who can maintain it indefinitely below half health and spam launching charges constantly.

So Braham doesn’t need that.

Filaha.1678:

Erukk.1408:

Maybe it’s because they didn’t want to start any (Teen)Wolf Form Braham jokes.

Or Team Braham.

Yeah, lets try not to fantasize about this young muscular norn transforming plox.

Astral Projections.7320:

Charak.9761:

he’s also the worst partner… oh you’re meleeing down these mobs? let me just shield knock them away

jerk.

They should add another NPC who is a longbow ranger. They can take turns knocking mobs back. ^^

…/twitch
My flamethrower engi friend does this to me ALL THE TIME while I’m in melee.
/twitchtwitch

Its good that kasmeer doesn’t use a great sword ;-)

PopeUrban.2578:

Or he can’t, which isn’t unprecedented. Jora couldn’t become the bear in EOTN because of the influence on her of a certain dragon champion. It’s entirely possible that Braham’s inability to transform comes from an outside source, and might even be a future plot thread. Aside from where he used to live, and his relationship to Eir, we really don’t know much about his past at all.

AFAIK, Braham is in shapeshift form trying to hide his real identity, like Superman pretending to be Clark Kent. thum-thum-thum

Sir Vincent III.1286:

AFAIK, Braham is in shapeshift form trying to hide his real identity, like Superman pretending to be Clark Kent. thum-thum-thum

He doesn’t shift because he can only do wolf form, and in that form he looks surprisingly like Garm.

Nobody wants to deal with the questions that raises.

Nobody.

Palador.2170:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

AFAIK, Braham is in shapeshift form trying to hide his real identity, like Superman pretending to be Clark Kent. thum-thum-thum

He doesn’t shift because he can only do wolf form, and in that form he looks surprisingly like Garm.

Nobody wants to deal with the questions that raises.

Nobody.

Or…he only shapeshift in private moments with Rox…

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

No. I’ve already seen “save myself” Leopard form used enough in wvw.

What about my fave the “Where you think you’re going Sucka’ !” chase down?

Those Norn shapeshifting skills should just be tonics. They are pretty much useless as elite skills.

nexxe.7081:

Those Norn shapeshifting skills should just be tonics. They are pretty much useless as elite skills.

If their movements weren’t so chunky and the auto-attack was set on, they’d be.. okay. I pulled out of a bad melee situation with wolf transformation before, but all told, all the transformations suck.

it’s a specialized skill.. it’d be like eir using a greatsword, she can but she doesn’t.. she doesn’t turn into wolf much either..

We know for sure from the book (Edge of Destiny) that Eir can yet I never saw her do it in the game.

I’d prefer it if the Norn shapeshifting forms got reworked to be more like what it was in GW1; when transformed, Norn do not lose their existing skills. They just gain increased stats and possibly additional buffs depending on the form they choose. (e.g. Bear form gains increased Power and Vitality, a long-lasting Protection buff and inflicts Vulnerability on attacks, Raven gains Precision and Condition Damage, a long-lasting Stability buff and inflicts Blindness on attacks).

arkealia.2713:

We know for sure from the book (Edge of Destiny) that Eir can yet I never saw her do it in the game.

Actually, in the norn quest line, you have to fight her temporarily while shes in wolf form (shes testing your skills).

If memory serves me right, there was an old interview with Jeff Grubb in which it was said that being able to take the form of the totem spirit only became possible after some coming of age thing. Maybe Braham is still too young (he’s only 17 during Season 2).

I like to imagine that Braham can’t shapeshift because he doesn’t have a proper Norn beard yet!

Oh and my Norn characters use their shapeshift skills for sure. None of them ever uses any regular elite skills, there is only bear form! I don’t care if it’s the best or not, it feels the most appropriate!

He’s young.

Plus his wolf form would have red hair like Eir’s.

But Eir is not young. Not young at all. Female norn just don’t show their age (fat don’t crack, and they have a thick layer of fat under their skin)

So why haven’t they made a copy of the skill used by Eir and Braham that uses a slightly different model with a texture colorized red?

They make new NPC skills all the time.

I can’t think of any reason. Not even time and resources. That can’t take way too long.

Maybe he suffers from a curse like Jora, and is unable to channel the spirits in a way that allows him to transform.