Guild Wars 2

Hello all,

I recently returned to the game and after playing every class to ~30+ I have decided to focus on thief.

However, I cannot for the life of me decide which race to create. I have read numerous topics on the marginal advantage at best when it comes to racial abilities.

Lore / RP . . .this is not really a factor for me.

Looks. . . I tend to prefer non-large races for mobile / stealthy classes. Thus it’s a toss up for me between asura, human ans sylvari. I am not crazy about sylvari so that narrows it down to asura and human.

PvX. . . I plan on focusing mainly on PvE and WvW. Race doesn’t seem like it would matter for PvE so PvP. . . I have read that a smaller character model provides at minor at best advantage in PvP (telegraphing abilities, ability to duck into the enviroment, etc). So I am wondering from those that have a fair amount of experience in PvP. . . would there really be any reason to go with asura over human or vice versa? (I plan on making a male character if that matters)

Thanks for any advice!

The differences are size, appearance, and animations. Asuras, being smaller, have smaller animations for your opponent to spot, and you can more easily see your target over your head. Standard models in ranked arenas addressed the former, but it’s still the case in WvW, hot join and unranked PvP. As for the latter, the recent camera changes allow you to position your camera higher, so you can better see over your head on any race. Another point about the size is obstructions. For example, the mine cart on the mine point on Legacy of the Foefire can be stood behind to obstruct other players’ attacks. On an asura, a ranger’s longbow skills won’t hit you because you’re the same height as the cart. On a human, you would get hit unless you make yourself lower by, for example, using the /sleep command.

So it comes down to:
- How the enemy sees you in PvE, WvW, hot join, and unranked PvP.
- Sleight advantage regarding low height obstructions with asuras.
- The difference of animations between the two races.
- The appearance options they have, and how you want to look.

I play the smallest size Charr, and he’s just a little shorter than the tallest human. And cute as kittens.

I also have a Charr. And a human thief. I play both at a regular basis.

Sometimes I want to be big and scary (and lets face it, charr thieves is not overpopulated, so it’s cool to stand out from the crowd), and sometimes smaller is nice (human male). I dont know, it feels like the human is more “fluent” and fast, compared to the clunky charr.

But I like both, so I can’t really help ya :P

Impact nailed it really.

Another benefit from being small in for example GvG situations is that you’re tougher to be picked out even in open field fights.
That minor advantage, combined with certain spots such as the Mine Cart on Foefire that Impact mentioned, make Asura the best technical choice.

I’d recommend Asura or really tiny human.
Personally playing on the tiniest Asura I could make, gives your opponents who run without the ‘Standarized Player Models’ a bit of a harder time.

But really… It’s nitpicking and doesn’t matter too much I’d say.

Try both races in hotjoin or unranked and play a bit. You will see all animations and you can decide better then

Biggest male norn with heritage armor!

I went Asura, personally. But then, it’s funny as hell to have an Asura gal runnin around, shooting fools in the kneecaps. And the PW from Asura is amazeballs.