Guild Wars 2

I’m wondering why they didn’t add them into the Black Lion vendor for 5 claim tickets either What’s the deal with that? They added in Christmas ones but not the old Halloween ones.

I didn’t get to do them last year either. And when I finally did get to play I thought “I should take it easy, they’ll just be back next year so I can have more fun!”
Oh how wrong I was.

I was quite hoping they would release the old and add in new ones onto the list. This year’s new skins are… kind of disappointing compared to last year’s, not to mention the utter lack of new costumes too. Could the older skins still be acquired via other methods perhaps?

Small bright side is Yak’s Bend might eventually get bored of stomping us so that we can have some fun too. This match-up is just lame for us all.

Josh Foreman.8250:

rfdarko.4639:

To further illustrate the point : http://youtu.be/J9-aUFHIt7c

It’s not difficulty, it’s not even lag, it’s terrible detection. If Josh can watch this and claim everything is fine with the hit detection and the player was at fault in each case, then I really don’t know what to say.

No. That is clearly a terrible experience. Something is obviously terribly wrong there. If I saw anything like this during testing we would have reworked everything. I’ve never claimed anywhere that anyone’s poor experience is because it’s the player’s fault. I don’t think that way. I like to make people happy, believe it or not.

Is this issue (dying randomly and getting pushed off rocks constantly) happening to you? If so, is it happening as frequently as this video shows? If this is anything more than an edge case than we have a serious problem that will necessitate some serious solution. Thanks for pointing it out.

I had the same thing happen to me, random deaths and all. It was happening to my partner as well. Its strange standing still for almost 4 minutes then being catapulted down the rapids suddenly too. That video in particular illustrates the areas where the random deaths happens the most, at least in my case too.

I know that Guild wars has never been known for its grand writing, but… I guess they’re not paying their writers enough anymore. I haven’t seen a Sue this bad since 2007. I wonder if Arenanet even cares about the quality anymore.

Conncept.7638:

Have you not created a Charr character? Some of those faces couldn’t look more mean if their muzzles were dripping blood.

Aw, I honestly think they’re all very pretty. Only the old charr face looks any mean, and that one I used for quite a while for one of my charr. Needs to be more mean and more cute too.

Egon Vidar.9125:

Just my two cents.

I think the reason why Rox bothers some people and not others is precisely because of something similar to the Uncanny Valley effect with robotics and CGI humans. If something looks “off,” some people recognize it as being so and are disgusted, unsettled, or horrified by it. Me? I’m rarely deeply bothered by anything uncanny valley, but I still recognize it. Here’s an example of a robot that falls hard into the valley.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF_8gM4urmA

She most likely looks fine to her creators. She doesn’t bother me, but I see regardless that she looks terribly wrong. To other people, she’s completely terrifying.

Rox, to me, is sort of the same deal. People know the general facial layout of the Charr as a species, and how they look, even when their features vary considerably. Rox breaks that for many people – she falls far outside the design presented by Anet originally, to such an extreme degree that she looks like an entirely different species of Charr, just as tigers and housecats are different species but are still cats. She obviously looks fine to whoever designed her, and fine to many players, but it isn’t shocking or surprising at all that she really puts off a lot of people.

As an illustrator, if I had the time, I could sit down and draw countless Charr that are entirely unique by only stretching the morphology of the species, not shattering it entirely. You could even pretty easily make a housecat looking Charr that doesn’t look as bizarre and out-of-place as Rox.

And talking about design, her “cute” kitten face along with those gigantic horns, large body, and enormous claws look.. Jarring, to me. There’s no flow to the design, the whole thing clashes and, frankly, her face looks transplanted on. I also have a feeling her skull would be pretty unstable and frail with those giant orbits, mashed in sinus (she’d probably have the same issues as a bulldog or persian cat with breathing) and massive horns on top of it all, but this is a game with talking plant people so I suppose I can let anatomical nitpicks like that slide. But not the fact that she doesn’t even look like she falls into the same art style, much less species. You can totally design very unique Charr that don’t look like mutants – Caithe, Trahearne, and the Pale Tree’s avatar look entirely unique in their faces, and they still look like Sylvari.

You make an excellent point. Uncanny Valley probably is the reason why she puts off people. I’m quite sure now that Arenanet originally designed her to look like a normal charr, but decided to change her at the last minute to make her to make her more “unique”, hence the gruff voice, large horns, dreadlocks, and awesome concept art. Not that change is a bad thing, but just an extremely out of place one such as just changing her eyes to look larger is strange, particularly since her eyes aren’t as animated as most charr either.
Also, all this makeup on Rox discussion made me doodle up this comic: http://i.imgur.com/y7nbjgu.jpg. Rox was actually booted from the Legions because she was applying her makeup during mortar training, she just doesn’t want to admit it

Brutalistik.6473:

Euin.3578:

Tybalt is quite the special case, and well, I can’t explain too much about him without going into spoilers. I don’t think he can be included in this at all though. He most certainly lives by charr code.
Either way, I truly wish that Arenanet doesn’t go too far down the “cuddly kitty cat” spectrum for a long time. Poor Rox has sparked quite the discussion and while discussing Charr aesthetics is very interesting, its not going to lead to Rox getting her eyeballs re-examined, you know?

Maybe they will on some faces and maybe they won’t because they have to please both crowds. So expect some cuddly kitty innocent look and expect mean grouchy grumpy kitty look.

• Everyone wins

I hope so, and hopefully they won’t scare people as badly as poor Rox did. Now, talking about this has given me a really funny idea, I just need to draw it out real fast.

Brutalistik.6473:

I don’t think you caught on to what I mean influence, like some charrs might do it and some won’t sticking to their charr code. Tybalt didn’t have make up on, but he sure was a different attitude charr. I can say Charrs that were raised in Lion’s Arch probably would try it out more than Charrs from Black Citadel..

Looking at Rox she’s probably was a adventurous charr. Even though their isn’t enough background lore to know why she wanted to get eyelashes. We just know its on her. It’s a new approach after all.

Tybalt is quite the special case, and well, I can’t explain too much about him without going into spoilers. I don’t think he can be included in this at all though. He most certainly lives by charr code.
Either way, I truly wish that Arenanet doesn’t go too far down the “cuddly kitty cat” spectrum for a long time. Poor Rox has sparked quite the discussion and while discussing Charr aesthetics is very interesting, its not going to lead to Rox getting her eyeballs re-examined, you know?

Brutalistik.6473:

I would really rather it didn’t. Too much like a worgen for my tastes. Animals wearing makeup. Eugh. Talk about the creepiest thing ever.

Worgens are humans after all that’s their storyline. Charr storyline with makeup is influences from human culture I can predict since they’re trying to form a treaty. Yeah I know your type of vision with this stuff, but just think of it this way. Humanoids with animal like features because if they were animals then charrs would be rangers pets 24/7 that can only say meow or roar instead of For the legion / For great Justice!.

Get it now?
[/quote]

No, not really. Charr are not humans, they are not bound by our beauty standards as humans, and it would be incredibly silly to force it onto them. I don’t think there’s many humans adopting charr standards of beauty either. But from an aesthetic standpoint, tribal-esque makeup would be more of a thing for charr, not this strange mascara thing that poor Rox has going on. Hoping that Anet doesn’t try too much more cute cuddly stuff for the charr.

Brutalistik.6473:

It’s a good thing it can happen in a video game right?

I would really rather it didn’t. Too much like a worgen for my tastes. Animals wearing makeup. Eugh. Talk about the creepiest thing ever.

Jemmi.6058:

Less out there than a big cat talking. This is a fantasy game and these are humanoid creatures. If they can walk around, talk, wear armor and clothing, why can they not wear make up?

Mascara is actually extremely sticky, sticky and fur do not go together, secondly, charr claws, mascara tubes, and eyeballs also don’t mix together. That just sounds like a recipe for disaster. As long as they don’t start all wearing makeup its fine though. And no lipstick. Unless its for parody use.

Jemmi.6058:

Also, why is it that Rox cannot wear mascara? Confused.

Also, for everyone complaining that Rox does not fit the Charr theme. Why does every Charr have to fit under a certain characteristic? Can there not be a variety??

A big cat wearing makeup is a little out there, no?

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

Hi, everyone. The team has been following the spirited discussion about Rox (and Braham). I just wanted to pop in with a note from our Lead Character Artist so he can provide some background information and clarity about the art direction for Rox.

Aaron Coberly, Lead Character Artist

Hey everyone, this is Aaron Coberly, the Lead Character Artist here on Guild Wars 2. I can see that there are a lot of strong feelings about the design decisions for Rox so I wanted to come on and set the record straight. The goal with Rox was to expand the charr’s visual options. She is a young charr so we thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce the cute kitty cat end of the spectrum. This isn’t a change of direction but an expansion of the race. Our goal is to add more variety to all of the races over time and we saw this as a good opportunity to do this with the female charr. The charr are a feline race, which gives us a lot of options—from the grizzled matronly lioness to the strong puma and even the cute house cat. We don’t want to limit our options to just one section of the feline genus. Our designs are inspired by all the feline variety that exists in nature.

Further on down the road, it does mean that if we introduce new faces into character creation, they will include a broader range. Does that mean that this particular face will be in there? No, because she is a main character, but there could be a cute kitty cat style face.

Hope that information helps you all understand the thinking behind Rox’s appearance.

Can we please have some meaner faces too?

That must’ve been good fun! And terrifying for everyone else XD

catqeer.1954:

Weindrasi.3805:

Ok…. I have a SERIOUS problem with this. WHY IS ROX WEARING MASCARA? HORRIBLE! DX
My charr is dying of laughter

you do realize a lot of charr patterns cause that… a lot of cats look like they have eye liner on….

Its the eyelashes. She has more glamourous eyelashes then most humans naturally have.

Is her hair in too?

Brutalistik.6473:

Summon them as my minions of course.

You nefarious fiend! If you do get those eyes, they better be a necromancer. It would just be wrong if they weren’t.
On topic, Rox is just as scary in game as she is in screenshots. However, I want the number of her makeup specialist. I want pretty eyelashes like that too.

Brutalistik.6473:

I want the eyes because I know players will be omg crash

Edit: I’m serious

Wha-what would you do with all the souls those eyes would steal?!

My first pick would be the Tengu, because honestly I want to see what those little birdies are hiding in the Dominion of Winds.
Second pick would be the Centaurs, mostly in particular the Veldrunners. Ever since doing their quests in Guild Wars I’ve always had a deep interest in them. I think I would dance for joy if they were ever added in as a playable race.
Thirdly would be the Kodan, because I love polar bears and doing all the events in Frostgorge Sound got me thinking about them too. Koda is quite the interesting thing.
Which reminds me, for those of you who are discounting the centaurs because of water issues, horses can actually swim quite well! Here’s a video showing an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfb3Pg_qQos

Penguin.5197:

Im pretty sure you can create characters with those kinds of eyes in game if you set them big enough. Having said that, she still looks creepy, like those women who try to anime-fy their eyes.

I really don’t think you can, I tried my very hardest. Though, with all attempts I ended up with a very scary looking charr, so poor Rox might just be the victim of a strange racial trait.

Iknakh.1970:

I decided to test her facial beauty with legendary internet science. She scored higher than I imagined.

I can’t breathe anymore!
I hope she has a cute voice.

Weindrasi.3805:

Actually, no, you can’t create a character as freakish as Rox in character creation. Someone tried—this was as close as they could get. Even on max settings, the eyes are still significantly smaller and much more realistic. While the charr in this picture is cute, she is still clearly a charr who belongs to the race. Rox, on the other hand, looks like a badly-drawn chibi cartoon.

I made this charr quite some time ago to see if I could make a good kitten-looking charr. She looks pretty scary instead of cute I’d say, but then again, Rox is too
I would die laughing if Arenanet made her eyes even bigger instead of shrinking them though.

Nimmi.1650:

There’s both positive and negative feedback. Then there’s also good and bad feedback. It seems we have an abundance of all four in this thread, mostly bad unfortunately. XD I hope that Anet will not write off the good positive/negative feedback just because of the bad.

The best way to voice your opinion and give criticism is to do it in the shoes of the artist. If you were the person or company who designed Rox, which piece of feedback would you likely listen to?

1. “What in the world?! Ewww, nasty gross. Ugliest character design ever! I hate you Anet for doing this. Blah blah blah. This is trash, I am never making a Charr again because of -insert reason here without any real constructive criticism- !!!”

or

2. “Hi there! I really enjoy the Charr, but I believe something isn’t quite right about the new character’s eyes. It may be at best interest to adjust them to look more natural. -example of what you believe is better here-. At the moment, they appear much too big. This is throwing off some of the other features on her face, and it’s causing her to appear slightly distorted or disproportionate in certain places. If you were to make them a bit smaller, it would -please insert why this idea would be better- Etc, etc, etc. I would be very grateful if you took all of this into consideration! Thank you so much for taking the time to read up on what I have to say. The original design behind the female Charr is very inspiring to me and I hope you remain loyal to it. I honestly think it’s great that you chose a female Charr to be the next lead in the upcoming patch! Seriously, Charr should lead everything!!!”

Short and simple, but still gets all the points across. A lot of heart and time goes into art. ^^ Giving feedback the way you would want to receive it is the another good way to look at things. It shows you have care, interest, passion and respect for whatever/whoever it is you are criticizing. In short, a little common courtesy can go a long ways.

(Note – The feedback examples aren’t actually something I stand with. They’re just random examples I thought up of. I don’t find Rox all that game breaking, but think a bit of improvement on the way the eyes are shaded wouldn’t hurt).

I agree. Very much wish that she would get some kind treatment so that people aren’t so off put by her though.

FenGuild.1097:

Superpal.4961:

Good day,

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/march-2013/

Genuine question .. are Rox’ eyes going to look like that? Right now, she looks like a comic-stylised character. I’ll have a hard time taking her serious, and importantly; immerse myself in the lore you’re writing into the game.

Thanks.

She looks cool, I like the horns and is that a new hairstyle? I like it. Why will you have a hard time about this? Lore? She’s just a NPC model of a teenager gladium charr on a mission. I am guessing her attitude may be spunky too. If anything this is her lore so she is a adventurous female charr sent on a important task. You guys need to ease down a bit and not overlook this issue too much. It baffles me to be honest lols

Its not the lore, its not really any of that, its the eyes. They’re uh, a tad way too big for her face. That’s what the OP was talking about, cause they’re kinda scary looking.

Brutalistik.6473:

So if this is all about the big eyes and not the design of the youthful model this thread is complaining about. Why add more to the scene like model design, lore and whatever non important stuff to the thread.

Rox, the Charr has big eyes please reduce them, but I like the horns This should of been enough to what you and others wanted to express.

As for the link yeah I know what he said, but understand that models may be tweak a bit in the future giving it more flavor and selections to choose from.

I absolutely love her horns and hair. She’s pretty, but the eyes are way too much. She’d look so much cuter with a lot less eyeball and a bit more angle maybe but you know she needs some space for her brain there at least haha.

Brutalistik.6473:

Not try…just do. I am not sure how it looks like a hybrid of asura and charr. All I see is a youthful female charr and that is the design they chosen. It has nothing to do with this charr vision you have nor what others keep complaining about. Charr panders to furries sounds like a personal problem I am not going to get involve with.

This entire thread repeatedly says what is wrong with her, nor am I being disrespectful. I am telling what I feel about this subject, and by the number of people responding in this thread, I’m sure they agree. She needs an eyeball reduction, badly.
What do you mean by charr vision? http://web.archive.org/web/20120209094625/http://www.arena.net/blog/the-artistic-origin-of-the-charr explains what the female charr are supposed to be and I’d say prior to Rox Arenanet did one heck a good job making the charr what they’re supposed to be. Why is expressing our disappointment in this wrong?

Brutalistik.6473:

Okay enough, you’re taking this a bit serious and it baffles me. If they add this to the character selection then don’t choose it. It’s not the end of your beloved charr people. We get the point you and some others don’t like it, but respect others who does like it / for it and may want to look like it.

I am trying to be respectful. I don’t wish for any sort of fights about it. I wish that the representative of the charr race would actually look like charr and not an asura/charr hybrid, thank you. I already hear enough “charr pander to furries!” as it is, and if you’re okay with that, that’s fine, but I’m not. I don’t want the lore to be broken any further then it already has either.

Ryuujin.8236:

@ Euin: Then just say that! – go to the suggestions forum and tell them you don’t like the design, instead of acting like some some law has been violated.

@Greyfur: And who created Rox again? – Arenanet, so it still stands, it’s their bloody design xD

You know the original charr had horns coming out their shoulders; but modern charr no longer have those? – But they’re still charr right

That’s kinda what this thread is for. Telling Anet that we don’t like Rox’s eyeballs. And there’s also on on the suggestion forum which needs more attention too. And on the charr forum too. Charr deserve better then this, don’t you think?

Ryuujin.8236:

I’m sorry, and you are the leading authority on Charr designs since when exactly? – An elephant eared human would be stupid because you don’t get elephant eared humans, but Arenanet created the Charr. Where they take the charr design aesthetic is theirs to decide.

Personally I like Rox and hope we see the eye option extended to the makeover kit :p

I’m sorry, but I do not wish that the representative of my very favorite race be a bug-eyed caricature of a charr, thank you. Its not a matter of being a expert on charr designs at all, either, its knowing that a giant eyed charr is gonna weird quite a few people out.

Blackmoon.6837:

Your assessments are based on what’s already in the game. Again, there’s a massive spectrum to be had. With this specific character they’re attempting to unlock that spectrum and yet you deny them by suggesting that what’s in game is final?

I’m not understanding your inability to think open-mindedly about the possibilities of how Anet could enhance their game’s diversity, without actually challenging their own style, aesthetics and core elements. You’re simply shutting them down, for arbitrary reasons, by suggesting that they can’t widen their perspectives of their fictional universe.

“They look too big and creep me out”. Good for you.

/thread

I’m too closed minded to want Anet to make their charr look like charr? Please. You can get a charr to look like a kitten without making a mutant. There’s broadening diversity, and there’s alienating fans of the race. Imagine if the humans had a new representative of their race to stand beside Logan. Imagine that she has giant ears that challenge the size of her head. Now, would you tell people that its “broadening diversity”, that we should accept this human with elephant ears? How could it not be, after all, if a charr with giant eyes is acceptable a human with massive ears must be too. Its hard to want to affiliate yourself with a race when its representatives are over the top caricatures of that race. As others have stated before me, she also goes against what Arenanet originally intended to set as the female charr’s appearance. Its not being irrational to want Arenanet to make a Charr that doesn’t alienate the charr’s fanbase.

I agree, I wish for those eyes to be just a wee bit smaller so I don’t feel like my soul is getting stared at.

Blackmoon.6837:

Greyfur’s simple photo manipulation is hardly constructive. There are numerous factors you have to consider before simply downsizing the eyes.

For example, what is the proper anatomy? Do you really believe that the creators of this creature don’t understand what they’re doing? You think we do? Realistically, I’d say it’s entirely possible for a creature of that size and spec to be born with eyes that size. Why deny the possibility?

What about the fact that we have yet to actually meet this character. This one picture has yet to prove anything over the wide range of expressions she has in store. Perhaps this shot was taken while the character was surprised or giving off an expression that had her eyes wide for a moment.

Unfortunately, here I will have to repeat quite a bit of the thread here to explain this.
1. Charr cubs do not look remotely like her. They are downscaled adults. They have normal sized eyes.
2. She is obviously not a child charr, she is “adolescent”. Adolecent big cats nor charr do not have such large eyes.
3. Comparing her to all other charr, she is completely mutant-like in eye to face ratio. “Realistically” she is a charr, and needs their anatomy, not giant doll eyes. I highly doubt this is the result of an expression, because not a single npc nor player character in this game makes facial expressions beyond scripted emotes, which it is obvious in this shot that its not, she is in the “walking with weapon drawn” animation.This entire thread is about Rox’s terrifying “thousand yard” staring eyes and what can be done to fix it.

I can’t blame anyone for getting a bit worked up over this. The charr have held a lot of meaning for some, including me, as a step in the proper direction for playable races.
You can easily make a charr that looks like a kitten without the dreaded huge eyes and thousand yard stare.

Yeah she just plain scares me silly. I mean the horns look cool but those eyes and general arrangement of facial features… Tried too hard to make her cute and ended up making her scary.

It made my heart go thump thump when opening it. In a good way though.

Goodness gracious. She’s… a little extremely terrifying to look at. Yikes!

I made an old lady charr as my elementalist. Her young lady voice combined with her constant annoyed look makes for a hilarous charr