Guild Wars 2

I have tried the others and well..

Asura: This class gets on my nerves, you cannot do anything that shouts out “Hey look at my armour and weapons” – instead you cannot tell anything and the voice of them does my head in.

Charr: Something about the look of them makes me wonder. :{ I just cannot grasp them, they annoy the hell out of me.

Norn: Like a human, just to massive, I hate it, I hate them (I enjoyed the starting mission of them though) – No female should be that tall. :L

Slyvari: Freakish scaled people :{ They look like bark. lol.

But yes all 8 of my characters are female humans, I was a tad disappointed there was no emo/scene hair xD
But yeah I need something to drag me away from the Human PS as it’s getting old and annoying.

We are humans, so we would naturally find other humans more pleasurable to look at.

I love mythical things and all that jazz, come to think of it I’d love an angel race, like that thing from the Personal story that spoke funny, a race like that would be amazing!

This is the exact same thing that I have. I only had the will to level up my class if it is a Human Race. I tried creating and appreciating other races and somehow I cannot get the feel to it.

I always play as human. Because i’m human…

I’m playing a Charr now and I’m forcing myself to like it. I’m almost there. LOL

TheKillerAngel.3596:

We are humans, so we would naturally find other humans more pleasurable to look at.

Says you. Aside from Logan, I can’t find any of the human characters even remotely aesthetically pleasing. They look human, but in most cases they look like they’re lifted out of a Manga or something, some are mannequin-like in that they are too smooth and have zero imperfections on their bodies, it’s unnerving to look at.

I have two accounts. One full of humans, the other has one of each. But yeah, humans are just more relatable, especially since that was all there was in GW1, and that’s what I am used to.

I enjoy having a pinch of roleplay in my gaming experience. This is why I always play a Human Male in any game that gives me the choice. I also make the character look as much like me as possible if the option is given.

I do the same. I can’t stand playing other races for some reason. All of my Humans even look exactly the same. I tried to play an Asura at one point, but the falling over and floating attacks annoyed me.

Toxyn.9608:

I enjoy having a pinch of roleplay in my gaming experience. This is why I always play a Human Male in any game that gives me the choice. I also make the character look as much like me as possible if the option is given.

Interesting. That is what I do as well. I try to make my characters look as much like myself as possible. He actually looks amazingly similar. lol

^
Post a picture of yourself then ^^ :-P

This is totally irrelevant but I think many of the human male faces looks a little south european (no rascism). Anyone else thought of that?

Mejo.3198:

^
Post a picture of yourself then ^^ :-P

This is totally irrelevant but I think many of the human male faces looks a little south european (no rascism). Anyone else thought of that?

Well, the character is actually based on early 20s me and I am 32 now. I got to scan in an old picture and upload it, but will post the side by side when I do.

This is what I’ve been thinking too. Out of my 6 characters, 3 are human, 2 are norn and 1 is asura. I guess it’s about making your character aesthetical as possible and like others said we are naturally drawn to human characters because we are humans ourself. It’s just about preferance and personality, my female friend has one girl character (norn) and rest are male, and her main is charr.

Every player will have a different preference. Personally I have one character of each race, play them all equally, and love them all equally.

Human supremacy for the win! THem human separatists are like the watered-down version of us..

Ashanor.5319:

…. All of my Humans even look exactly the same. …

Lol, I made an alt, choose another head (and body type) then my main but after some slider work she turned out to be more similar then a sister ….

Personally all of the races have a unique aspect (other than racial skills) that I find helps them stand out or even give them an advantage.

Asura are smaller, and thus harder to target and have advantages in jump puzzles. They have the best looking dodge roll, and some of the most amusing emotes.

Norn are basically giant human vikings, so aesthetics are there. There giant size actually makes weapons fit their attack range, so combat looks a lot more natural to me (instead of whiffing air and seeing damage numbers). They have some of the funniest personal stories.

Charr beg to be named after your house cat. The only race with a truly unique movement style that makes me wish it actually had a speed advantage (non-combat). Plus you can easily create sports team mascots with them!

Sylvari has the best dance emote hands down. Plus I like their swim action more than humans. I also feel they are one of the most unique races in the game.

Humans actually I think DON’T have any visual (non-story) elements that are better than other races. Their massive sell point is the simple fact that they are humans, and thus the most attractive race to us. There’s a reason I have 3.

You run in LA and 80% of people you meet are human females. You suddenly start to realise something is wrong with design of other races. Yes there is some people who pick human because they want to relate. But most pick human because other races are not as cool… as in doesn’t look as good as humans.

benda.4893:

You run in LA and 80% of people you meet are human females. You suddenly start to realise something is wrong with design of other races. Yes there is some people who pick human because they want to relate. But most pick human because other races are not as cool… as in doesn’t look as good as humans.

I wouldn’t say that. I play on Tarnished Coast and I think the popularity breakdown is about:

Human: 25%
Norn: 25%
Sylvari: 20%
Asura: 15%
Charr: 15%

It’s because you’re racist. -sage nod-

Romarix.5829:

It’s because you’re racist. -sage nod-

And this is a good thing! We don’t need them cats and plants ruining our community.

Yeah I have 3 humans and 1 norn that I play regularly with. Tried a charr once but I couldn’t stand playing with that character so deleted it. And I already hate sylvari (because or Trahearne) and they look like a vegetable and asura just look creepy and extremely small.

Nah, I love humans, too. I just want to see every race’s personal story, so that’s the only reason I’m keeping myself from having five humans and nothing else.

Probably because the human race in GW2 is the underdog for once, and they stand for a lot of what I stand for, so I just kinda relate to them better.

(though the only race I have yet to enjoy is Charr. I can’t make one look good, and even if I could, they have the same problem as a lot of horde races in WoW do; they are constantly hunched over.)

Norn are my second favorite simply because of their architecture, their hospitable and spiritual yet competitive and warlike nature, the area they live in (seriously, snowy mountains and pine forests are probably my favorite ecosystem in the world), and they remind me of large dwarves, who were my favorite race in WoW before I switched to GW2.

…that was quite the tangent.

What I’m trying to say is just to find some reason to love a race, and roll with it. Don’t be afraid of making lots of the same race; I’ll most likely end up doing just that somewhere along the line.

I play most on sylvari and norn.
And then human.
And last azura.
And yes I never play charr..

First things first : I hate the azuras ( I don’t know why just can’t stand those little freaks).

The first time I played I made a ele Silvari ( spent an hour choosing his looks ), hated the ele ( yes I am a hater ) so I made the generic human warrior out of rage ( yes I’m also a rager ) and ended up liking him a lot, now i have also a human thief who looks hot as hell ( I’m a straight guy and he doesn’t look like me but I’m allowed to say it, I have a girlfriend ).

When i tried to make more people I just couldn’t bring myself to like the norns ( Too big … just too kitten big ) or the Charrs ( Yay I’m a kitty cat ! ) and I’ve been scarred of the silvaris and now I’m bored of the human beginning, SOMEONE HELP ME AND MY FIRST WORLD PROBLEM PLEASE !

I always play a human male as my main. I guess I see him as an extension of myself.

I’m the same… I just can’t make myself play another race… I’m quite a girly girl so I play whatever seems to be the most aesthetically beautiful thing, I would’ve thought the Sylvari would be something I like ‘cause they’re like flowery type people but I just don’t like them, they look like shriveled up sprout people in a variety of colours. >_>

I’d trade them for elves any day ‘cause I love anything elven really. Sorry to be so negative but I’m just really disappointed with the other races.

Asura : Not cute enough / can’t tell the sexes apart sometimes / the teeth put me off.

Charr : If the female ones were less monster-ish looking then maybe, but I’m not a fan of humanoids in general.

Norn : Not enough female faces, hairstyles, and eyebrow choices for me. Plus the voices really put me off, they sound like men. If it was just a TAD bit more feminine…

So yeah, I’m just really nit-picky about stuff but it goes a long way with me because I’m very indecisive. It literally takes me hours to make sure it’s perfect and I won’t end up deleting it or changing it. ._.

I dunno, I’m male but I really can’t relate to human males in video games. I find it so boring to play what I am that I won’t like the character enough to identify myself to him and I’ll quit. So no, personally I REALLY don’t make only human guys just because that’s what I am. My main character is a female human and my alts are a male of each other race and I bond with those character a lot easier than I would with a human dude.

Also, I personally disagree that the other races aren’t interesting. I love my asura, my norn and my charr. Sylvari, I care a little less, but I still find them more interesting than male humans.

Aristara.5249:

I’m the same… I just can’t make myself play another race… I’m quite a girly girl so I play whatever seems to be the most aesthetically beautiful thing, I would’ve thought the Sylvari would be something I like ‘cause they’re like flowery type people but I just don’t like them, they look like shriveled up sprout people in a variety of colours. >_>

I’d trade them for elves any day ‘cause I love anything elven really. Sorry to be so negative but I’m just really disappointed with the other races.

Asura : Not cute enough / can’t tell the sexes apart sometimes / the teeth put me off.

Charr : If the female ones were less monster-ish looking then maybe, but I’m not a fan of humanoids in general.

Norn : Not enough female faces, hairstyles, and eyebrow choices for me. Plus the voices really put me off, they sound like men. If it was just a TAD bit more feminine…

So yeah, I’m just really nit-picky about stuff but it goes a long way with me because I’m very indecisive. It literally takes me hours to make sure it’s perfect and I won’t end up deleting it or changing it. ._.

This. I think I’ve said this before but I feel like Anet traded appeal for originality a bit too much.

I prefer Humans too, not only in Gw2 but almost in every game I play. Norn isn’t that bad, but only as a female. For Sylvari likewise, although they really need more customization options, especially the “hair”.

I am the same way. All ym guild mates think its funny that most of my character end up being human. I only have 1 non-human at the moment and that’s my Sylvari Ranger. My guardian, warrior, mesmer, elementalist are all human.

That seems like a personal problem, but I think there are some clues as to why this is happening, and it’s somewhat the result of a clever direction.

Take for example WoW in which most races have humanoid traits, especially human-based anatomy. It’s pretty alluring, then, to choose, say, a night elf or a blood elf, or even an undead and a spacegoat because you can fantasized about it pretty easily using your knowledge of the human anatomy to translate your fantasies. To state the obvious, an elven breast is just as if not more desirable than that of a human.

On the other hand, Guild wars 2 races are, with the exception of norn, “not” human-like:
Asuras are somewhat more akin to gremlins, have weird toes and have no indication of analog anatomies other than the basic bipedal movement and such. Furthermore, most of them are bald. Even the cutie-doll-looking Zojja is bald under her goggle-like headgear.
Norns are somewhat largely human-like and akin to viking and scandinavian origins in the real world. They are the somewhat more relatable race of the game next to humans, so it basically comes down to personnal preference and fetishes whether they appeal to you or not.
Charrs are more akin to cats and bulls than humans. They have the horn and puff-ended tail. They are covered in fur and (Thanks god, arena net dodge that bullet when WoW took it right in the face with female taurens) they do not have a human-like breast. Without armor, they still have a cloth covering the chest, but it’s pretty clear there is nothing there.
Sylari have no sexual intercourses, or if they somewhat do, have no purpose other than recreationnally since the Pale Tree is the only one capable of reproduction. Their skin is also not exactly what one may see as closed which is somewhat uncanny and their facial and capilary traits are more of a disformation of a skin rather than epidermal opening or hairs in the traditionnal sense.

Last nail in that coffin: Interacial relationships never produces offsprings, that is to say if intercourse is even possible.

So you can’t identify to other races for one and you can’t fantasize about them either, unless you fall in that kind of fetish-based categories(zoophiliac and phytophiliac for instance: look it up).

And before anyone asks or dismiss this argument for that reason: Everything is about sex. That’s just human’s nature to self-insert itself into something they can either identify sexually with or fantasize sexually about.

That being said, I admire Arena Net for using that kind of design as it renders most sexist arguments moot and allows characters like Almorra, Zojja or Caith to shine without the help of aesthetical motives. That being said, tabula rasa characters such as… player characters tends not to have a personality and their physical feathures are the only thing in the equation, unless you roleplay, which I do.

That’s my opinion on the matter.

I started out as Norn. The part of me that wanted to just be a total hardass warrior thought Norn would be a great choice for that berserker style warrior play. The problem was I felt overly huge. When I used a smaller body, the feet didn’t get smaller to fit, so I felt like I had these large goofy feet. In the end I identified with and felt more comfortable with a human, and that’s what I’ve stuck with sense. I can’t really play a character I can’t identify with personally, and Asura are too short, Norn are too large and bulky, Asura are too small, and Sylvari are plants.

deltanium.7543:

That seems like a personal problem, but I think there are some clues as to why this is happening, and it’s somewhat the result of a clever direction.

Take for example WoW in which most races….

Everything you just typed out here was extremely interesting and I am now researching gaming psychology, haha. Seriously.

I have tried all races except Asura and well it seems that all of them lack the polish that the humans have. Divinity’s Reach is well thought out & Queensdale is the only starter zone I can find that makes sense. So this may have more bearing on my decision to make multiple humans but I ended up taking 3 humans to 80 and I have a Norn Guardian that is sitting on 50 and I can’t take him any farther. Wonder why?

I also make only human characters. I tried all the other races, and none really suit me better. I don’t want to be a plant, I’m not a furry, I don’t want to be a short smurf, and norn males look like neanderthals.

Brennus.1435:

deltanium.7543:

That seems like a personal problem, but I think there are some clues as to why this is happening, and it’s somewhat the result of a clever direction.

Take for example WoW in which most races….

Everything you just typed out here was extremely interesting and I am now researching gaming psychology, haha. Seriously.

How people choose the character they want to play and why it’s this character instead of that character is indeed a very interesting topic. I’d really like to read a psychology thesis on the subject, personally.

There could be many reasons for people to ignore all races except humans, but I think people simply want to look at a character they can identify themselves with. Our characters are basically “us in Tyria” and others players are already identifying ourselves to our online avatar, so if the player hates his character and can’t relate to him or her, it kind of sucks and a good part of immersion is ruined.

Different players relate to different things. For some, making an identifiable character could mean making a carbon copy of them in real life (so all human, like the OP), while for others it means making something they find super cool and can immediately connect to, making something unique, making something that doesn’t look like them but feel it represents them (most common for mains/first characters), or simply picking a gender/race that fits with the archetype of the profession in their mind. (most common for alts.)

If you’re interested, Arenanet expose their own view on the matter in this blog post:
http://www.arena.net/blog/the-emotional-connection

I also think people’s characters represent them more than they believe. For example, in nearly 10 years of playing MMOs, I think the race, gender and general look of a character is a good hint on the personality of the player in front of the monitor, especially if it’s their main or their first character. (Because for alts most people go with what “fits” best, ie: a charr or a norn for warriors and an asura of a human female for an elementalist.) And that’s especially true in a game like this where you have a lot of ways to customize your character’s look. Even if both play the same race/gender/profession, the character of an extroverted and highly social player usually won’t look the same as the character of an introverted player. Not always, it’s hard to generalize over that kind of things, but I find it to be true more often than not.

Ashanor.5319:

I do the same. I can’t stand playing other races for some reason. All of my Humans even look exactly the same. I tried to play an Asura at one point, but the falling over and floating attacks annoyed me.

I have the exact same… “problem”….

I tried playing an Asura (mostly cause some of those NPC asuras are pretty cool like Zrii and Zott) but I couldn’t stand being a rat

I tried playing a Norn, that just failed horribly (also, the character’s voice doesn’t help)

What about Charr? Nope, somehow, it’s either I can’t find a good name, or I find them pretty awkward for some reason (some NPCs are also pretty cool Charr like Tybalt)

Sylvari? Well, I only have 1 Sylvari, and that’s because I was nagged at for having almost no other race but human. Although, the Cultural armor is pretty neat on him

Not only that, I only have 2 characters that are female… and one of them is a bank “mule” while the other is collecting dust while I level my Guardian.

Oh, and my characters look identical, to the point where some of them look like clones. 4/5 have the same face, 3/5 have the same hair. The only other difference is hair color and eye color (and maybe some facial hair, but even then, it’s the same hair “model”)

I play all humans as well, I found 3 faces that I can make work for me and about 4 or 5 different hair styles. I think the Largos might be fun to play, I hope they are a playable race later on and if not we see more of them.

“Oh, and my characters look identical, to the point where some of them look like clones.” this for me too, but not exactly identical.

Most armor in this game seem to have been designed around a human’s form factor.

Some would argue that there’s also Cultural sets which are supposedly designed around their intended race but honestly I’ve only seen a few cultural sets which actually looks ‘good’ when worn by their intended race… the Charr’s heavy Tier 3 armor set comes to mind.

But overall I find humans so much easier to work with when it comes to mix & matching items from various sets. (see attached)

As others have also said, a big part of it for many is the armor. Most armor looks the most suitable on humans by far, so you have a lot more variety in good looking choices.

I have alts of all races but Sylvari, but with each of them I find I’m only considering a very small set of armor skins (and primarily cultural ones at that) because much of the armor doesn’t look appropriate. I wish they had done a better job of fitting the armor on other races, particularly Charr, but they didn’t and so many sets of armor don’t look right on other races.

That said, I really wish Humans had more options, particularly in the beard department. The selection of facial hair is sad.

Coming from GW 1 I was 100% certain all my characters were going to be human. Funnily enough, though, out of my current four characters, only one is human. (1 Human, 1 Sylvari, and 2 Norns). I know that as soon as I saw Faolin from TA I knew that the whole gnarled, dead branches look would look so cool for a necromancer, and it turns out making a sylvari is actually kind of fun. I may make another one if I decide to make a ranger. As well, the Norn fits really well for the warrior profession, and then the Norn females are just great (I have a thing for tall woman who aren’t afraid to show a bit of their masculine side) so I made a female Norn ele.

Saying that, I will most likely never make an Asura because they just do not interest me and I may only make a Charr if I ever try an Engineer. Other than those, it’s pretty much fair game for the other three races for future characters.

My necro started as a norn but it just did not fit so I remade him as a human looking more like my necro in GW1 and he is still my main, i also leveled a human engineer and tried to make him look like me.
i also had a norn guardian and a sylvari thief but i did not like the professions they had, maybe i will make an asuran warrior just to see them hop with a hammer :p

It’s just natural to stick to the norm, all MMO’s have had a majority of humans in them.

I have 4 humans that I never get annoyed by. My Norn Warrior I like too, but I can’t lose the notion that he sounds like a kitten when swinging his weapon: “Aheoua, aheoua”.

Charr, sloppy feel to combat. Whenever I’m in the Urban Battlegrounds Fractal i’m happy that the transformation is temporary.

Sylvari, dry wood. I’m new to the GW universe and can’t understand how someone would pick that race other than maybe for specific plans. Like sticking it in Nightmare or Cultural armor and never change away from it.

I really want an Asura and if I decide to level another char, I might try it out. Mind you, i’ve already failed that attempt once with a now human

they are cool!

Actually I feel the exact same way, and keep making Human after Human. I want to like the other races and I do but not playing one myself.

I could see myself rolling a Norn if they changed the running animation to be less goofy, same goes for Sylvari which I also like and would like more if they wouldn’t look so skinny and weird wearing armor.

Humans are just best in proportion and armor looks awesome on them regardless of profession.

Personally i have only played human as my main(which i only have one)
but i have to say that asuras have awesome movements so are charrs. and as a warrior, it feels so good to be a charr(played it in mist :P) or a norn, it feels like i can cover more space with my sword(every enemy is just so easy to reach) and each strike even the auto attack feels powerful and pleasant to use, now look back to my human i feel weak.

and Sylvaris are basically humen, but they have glowing effect which looks awesome.

Because they are attractive, and because I hate the Charr with a passion. GW1 player here.

So far i only got one character, a human, because it’s (in my own little personal version of the game) the descendant of my GW1 main character.

I looked at the other races and both Asura and Charr are just not my taste, due to how their races are portrayed ingame.

I wanted to try the Sylvari out but there are very few options for hairstyle and face that i find to be acceptable, and none that i really like.

Nothing against the Norn, maybe i’ll create one eventually.