A couple notes on Dragonhunter. We went with this name because we felt it was evocative of the medieval witch hunters. Guardians consider themselves protectors of the innocent. Followers of their faith be it in honor, valor, etc. The origin of the dragonhunter is a more subtle nuanced version of this. Guardians fight for justice and the dragonhunter faction believes justice is the eradication of dragons and their minions. I understand this is a lot more high concept than Mesmer but at the end of the day we felt like we wanted to try and push a more mature theme here. I hope this helps explain our thinking. We had other generic names in mind but felt like it was important to have a mix of spec names that are generic fantasy, more Tyrian fantasy, and more high concept. This one falls more in the third category.
Thanks,
Jon
Thank you for your reply. We appreciate anyone from ArenaNet providing feedback on the fan responses. I get what you were going for. I really do. That became apparent in the Friday twitch stream on the guardian elite specialization. The problem is that the concept comes across as incredibly garbled mess. Intent does not equate to reception. You are sending mixed messages through the name and the flavor text in a manner that feels both disassociated from the core concepts of the guardian and what you claim the elite specialization is about.
You and Karl indicate that ArenaNet seek to evoke a “medieval witch hunter.” But ANet talks about the specialization being “big game hunters,” which is a distinct concept from a “medieval witch hunter.” I can see “witch hunters” being connected conceptually to guardians, as purifiers and inquisitors of the faith, but not “big game hunters.” “Witch hunters” were not known for taking down “big game,” but the secretive, deceptive, and dangerously subtle ‘game’ that lurked within the hearts of their fellow humans: apostates, pagans, and heretics. The danger for “witch hunters” was neither “big game” nor the world outside of their community, but within their community.
When many people think “witch hunter,” they think of the Victorian Van Helsing. More broadly, the “witch hunter” concept evokes colonial Puritan and medieval Germanic witch hunts and Spanish inquisitions. Even Van Helsing was less concerned with “big game” and more with the deception of the occult, vampires, and Satanic forces of evil. For both medieval witch hunters and later invented popular conceptions (e.g. Van Helsing), exorcisms, charms, and prayers were a significant component of how they performed their work. Even 20th century Hollywood action-hero witch hunters (e.g. Blade, Hanzel and Gretel, Van Helsing) are not “big game hunters,” even with their semi-automatic use of arrow ballistics.
When I think of a “big game hunter,” I think of posh British imperialists in 19th century Africa on a leisure holiday unwittingly driving creatures to extinction for kittens and giggles. Even the name of the GM Trait “Big Game Hunter” feels about as terrible of a name “Kill the Bad Guy Shot” or “Make the Dragon Dead.”
A lot of the famous dragon-hunters of folklore (e.g. Beowulf, Siegfried, Saint George, etc.) were conceptually nothing like “medieval witch hunters,” nor were they “big game hunters.” Saint George did not slay the dragon he had captured until the populace of Silene converted to Christianity. It’s even a miracle in itself that a Christian saint can be counted among the folkloric dragon hunters. They were simply warriors. The same is true for most dragonhunters in modern fantasy conceptions: basically warriors and rangers. A lot of the virtuous knights and warriors who slew dragons in myth, folklore, and poem did so with swords, spears, and shields. Not bows. That’s true even for Turin Turambar. Bard the Bowman of Laketown is seemingly the exception, and he’s no guardian.
I’m not sure how ‘dragon-hunting’ is anymore “high concept” or “mature” than a profession named after Ninendo’s “Duck Hunters.” The name has the transparency of a glass window pane completely shattered by thrown bricks. We get it. Dragonhunters “hunt dragons.” But that’s just about as far from “high concept” or “nuanced” as you can get.
Feryl Grimsteel (Charr Engineer)
Tarnished Coast
(edited by Genesis.8572)