Guild Wars 2

I use the crafted armor. I keep it brown leather tones but i make the chestplate and shoulders look metal. So it looks like a metal breastplate.

All I can say is the female necro from GW1 art has white hair and still looks awesome. I would guess she had an impact.

kenshinakh.3672:

They have a different chromosome count than humans in their DNA. It seems they can also mate with humans, but the offspring would be infertile. I’m kinda curious if there are any human/norn couples ingame though lol.

Both links Arsenic Touch provided have confirmed that Humans and Norn cannot interbreed at all. Not even mule children :P

Flyfunner.2093:

Okay, but who is telling the Charr to hold back? It’s like the kids in school who used to say, oh yea I got a C on this test, but that’s because I didn’t study, I would’ve had an A if I studied. Isn’t it ignorant on their part to not embrace the magic and advance themselves. And who says that Charr could even harness magical power even if they tried?

Not ignorance. Politics. Currentlly they have one whole legion that embraces magic like they have legions that embrace technology, physical combat, and stealthiness. the problem is that legion is trying to force their ideals on everyone else when what they should be doing is vying for power the same way everyone else is doing. By building themselves up without trying to knock everyone else down so blatantly. The charr would be unstoppable with a strong khan ur and a flame legion that doesn’t need a diety.

When the flame legion wants to act like a big boy they’ll be invited back in to charr society where they can contribute to the charr warmachine, as a whole, with their magic prowess.

the real problem I see with this asuran method is that it factors in bodymass to brainsize ratio (as Zaxares said) and implements that into an ideal that only the asura subscribe to (as was also said), Eternal Alchemy.

Body mass to brain size being a huge factor against it’s validity.

Pietoro.2014:

There is no reason for the different racial beliefs to fight, since outside of the Sons of Svanir and Flame Legion there aren’t any religious nutjobs in Tyria trying to force people to conform to any sort of worship they don’t want to.

Good point. The ones that do do this are already creating conflict so…..

A-net to OP: You’re welcome :P

As Alex the Precise said, the diffrent religions aren’t in competition with each other.

The asuran society uses magitech. It doesn’t seem the engineer technology is something the asuran culture has ever explored. it’s not ancient technology to them, it’s a new tech that asuran engineers are looking into. the futrue ball story line shows a possibility of the PC discovering a way to incorporate steam tech into golem tech, thereby creating steamgolems and taking over the world.

This makes sense if the asura have always had magic as a source of power. they would have used what was available instead of needing to find a way to develope simple steam mechanisms into usefull tools that could compete with what they could do with magitech.

ChampionChains.9780:

I don’t see the Sylvari as having “sexuality” so much as finding someone they pair well with on a more mental/emotional level regardless of sex.

Devs have stated that the Sylvari do have genitalia but also that they lack all human/mammal organs. They also stated that Sylvari don’t have jaws for instance, but rather plant matter imitating a jaw. Basically all of their bodies are plant matter imitating human lifeforms but without the organs and bio functions.

I’d imagine they lack the organs needed for sexual intercourse while having plant matter that resembles what human genitalia looks like…but without any of the functionality.

Since Sylvari son’t breed, they have no need for sex. Their relationships are probably just strong emotional bonds they form with others of their species and since sexual intercourse is a non factor, they likely wouldn’t care what “sex” their partner was.

Since Sylvari are just plants imitating the look of humans, I’d bet that they really don’t even have two distinct sexes, rather one lifeform that can take on a feminine or masculine appearance.

it’s been confirmed that they do have sex but as you say, they cannot sexually reproduce since their imitation sexual organs are functional for sex but not for reproduction. And as you said, becasue of this, what “sex” their partner is is a non-factor.

I’d think it is indeed a common underlieing principle that unites the three main colleges. Asura specialize in magi-tech. Meta often signifies an “aboutness”. So metamystics could be the principles of how magic works.

I think A-net said they intentionaly wanted to stay away from race specific classes.

One of the male horns looks sawn off.

edit: Far right in the middle they are sawn off and capped.

Saw them off so his sillouette is smaller and can slip through tighter spaces without getting snagged if he is a rogue.

it wouldn’t change their belief about the gods, i don’t think. They still wouldn’t be worshipped, only looked at as immensly powerful beings. Unless it was a flame legion shaman. then it would be worshipped… by the flame legion.

They all look like the same body type to me. If it’s the male body type you’re asking about it is the thinnest one.

Zenyatoo.4059:

Frankly once the flame legion is either eradicated, or finally gets a tribune with half an inkling of sense the charr will actually be unstoppable.

All the charr really need is a flame legion that values magic without diety worship and a farar who posseses the claw. Then they would be unstoppable.

LegoTechnic.5910:

What I want to know is why they have belly buttons. >_>;

maybe it served a similar purpose, like that might have been how they were attached to the tree gaining nourishment before they ‘ripened’. Like a navel orange

LegoTechnic.5910:

So… Like playing a thief with a ranged cloak+dagger/backstab combo, then? :-]

yeah what’s up with that? usually when i stab people in the back irl they flail around for a bit first :P

tigirius.9014:

Well two other classes can easily 1 shot anyone in WvW why not? What do the Charr have to discover nuclear bombs in order for their grenades to work properly now? is that it?

It’s just ridiculous to expect people to play a class or a game where it’s outrageously off by a huge margin in the damage department. Do what you want to pvp but definitely definitely fix them for pve. There is sooooooo much wrong with this class right now outside of the bugs that it bears a very large consideration before anything is done.

People have stopped logging into their engis en masse because of it.

So I take it you’re one of those who thinks it’s perfectly fine to throw 30 grenades at a mob, that’s not underpowered to you huh? completely normal? yeah. Suppose while fighting a champion we should have to get twelve of those gun vehicles Charr developed to all fire 30 tank shots each right? yeah that’s normal.

Not sure how this relates to my favorite shows.

Would being OP by one shotting mobs be an acceptable substitute? becasue your example of favorite shows was kind of rediculous. Now, if there is a valid complain then cool, but comparing mmo play to television shows isn’t valid since they need to fulfill diffrent aims. But to answer your question,“No”. Taking one extreme and responding to it by going to the complete impractical opposite extreme isn’t the answer. but neither is being able to kill any mob with one gun shot just because it happens in RL or shows. that wouldn’t work for an mmo.

tigirius.9014:

I think everyone should step back and ask themselves, what would happen to their favorite show or movie if these weapons were really this weak in those shows or movies? Like if you got to Orr, imagine Orr being the Walking Dead? What would happen to the characters in those shows if they had to unload 30 bullets per individual zombie? Or how about throwing about 26-30 grenades just to get them to die?

Despite the trolls coming here it’s definitely NOT your imagination there bud.

What would happen to your favorite MMO’s if one rifle shot killed every man sized target in pve and pvp? Or one grenade took down everything in a 15 meter radius? :P

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Loki.4871:

Focksbot.6798:

A more interesting question is: why are Sylvari sexually dimorphic? Plants, of course, have both male and female parts. Is there any chance the Sylvari are similarly hermaphroditic? What’s nature’s plan for a race that don’t reproduce through any kind of sex but are still outfitted with sexual organs?

The seed of the Pale Tree was planted on a mass grave of humans. There’s a lot about the sylvari’s origins that raise questions, and it’s never outright stated that being planted on a mass grave is the reason the sylvari look human, but most people think it’s the reason.

Except that we now know that there are Sylvari who come from OTHER Pale Trees and still look distinctly Sylvari. Considering their pale trees were not planted on human graves (or at least it’s unlikely to be so) I don’t think thats the reason for Sylvari looking the way they do at all :P

Unconfirmed possibilities aside, I’d say you’re right. If the pale tree was planted on the grave of humans and that’s why the sylvari look the way they do then the sylvari would be built like humans. But the Pale tree only knew what a human looked like from the outside.

However, because the race tightly relates to the essence of human due to the Pale Tree’s influences from Ronan, the overall form has a human silhouette. But if you look more closely, you’ll see the forms are really quite alien. They are a collection of abstract notions the Pale Tree had about what made up the human, as she really only saw the surface. They are a tree’s interpretation of humans.

http://www.talktyria.net/2011/08/11/sylvari-lore-interview-with-ree-soesbee-kristen-perry/

So, whether the Pale tree intentionally created them in her version of a human image of if it was just the by product of experiencing humans may be up in the air but we know she only experienced the outside of physical humans, not the inner working like you might find in a graveyard.

Arcadio.6875:

I’m from NYC and offended a Mexican while in Indiana by calling them Spanish, lol. And WTF, I too say Spainish!!!

Boom! Great minds…

This video should answer your question nicely.

The Secret World still has XP but instead of character levels that xp goes towards skill and ability points.

The wiki said both one and two sylable names are common. Three syllibles are still okay but they risk a childhood of ridicule. What’re you gonna do? kids are cruel.

Vane.2387:

Named my Sylvari: Turnip The Beet

+5 for you!

I want Small giants! Miniscule even. No larger than my thumb!

Fee fi fee fim, I smell the breadcrumbs of an englishman!

If it is taken then you can add a title or honorific, though as Zenguy said, they don’t have last names. But they do use titles so go Crazy

Zenguy.6421:

Ah, a taxonomy debate! How marvelous!

No, you’re clearly wrong there.
There’s not doubt about it; Asura are undoubtedly sapiens excelcius! (And don’t forget the exclamation mark, an essential component of the classification)

Sapiens Excelcius! differ from the earlier Sapiens Excelcius which were an earlier pre-doctoral, trade school ancestor of the asura.

Ah, you don’t happen to have that link do you? I don’t think i’ve read that one.

Beast not being a demon or a cow? :P

Keep in mind catagories like mammal, reptile, amphibian are completly dependant and based on rules that are already broken in alot of placesand overlaped in others. So, that kind of catagory only really refers to a set of characteristics that we see tend to go together.

In a fantasy world like Tyria, those tendancies may not be as prevalent so there may be no practicle purpose for that manner of catagory. They may use an entirly diffrent standard of classification.

Charr are kitten:

“What you worship and fear, we will fight and destroy!”

flawed logic the Necro MM was the best profession of the ones that did not make it into guild wars 2 :P

The main key to the design was developing an obvious anatomy that clearly described the race as plant rather than an offshoot of human. However, because the race tightly relates to the essence of human due to the Pale Tree’s influences from Ronan, the overall form has a human silhouette. But if you look more closely, you’ll see the forms are really quite alien. They are a collection of abstract notions the Pale Tree had about what made up the human, as she really only saw the surface. They are a tree’s interpretation of humans.

In exploring the anatomy, you can see a lot of different details. The forearms, for example, are not a human arm with leaves tacked on top, but rather a shape created by many stem tendons and long leaves coiling around one another to create the structure. The faces of the sylvari are not restricted by the anatomy of the skull as a human would, but are created by layers upon layers of plant materials that press together, forming the illusion of anatomy.
http://www.talktyria.net/2011/08/11/sylvari-lore-interview-with-ree-soesbee-kristen-perry/

As far as the faces go, this seems to be A-Nets intention. They were going to go with more human/elvis features then intentionally steered away.

Well, keep in mind that they are the pale trees attempt to to create something humanlike. But she doesn’t know how we actually work. she just has what she sould see from the outsdie. And since they are mobile they can’t completly survive on photosynthesis. Even though they can and do benefit from the sunlight.

What color did you make her eyes? Mine are black but it was intentional.

They are described by A-Net as feline like. So, they are ‘cat people’ in a loose sense of the word but they also have other traits like the horns and ears. I read a good example someone came up with, they are “beasts” like beuty and the beast. They just happen to have more feline qualities in their “beastness” rather than any other type of animal.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@Dustfinger: I would take in-game dialogue over old blog posts and interviews any day. They’re more recent and more canonical, being from the game and all and not an outside source. And currently, in-game sources state that they have wood instead of bone. It’s probably not a perfect endoskeleton – or rather, endoskeleton replica – but it is wood that’s used to support and shape the mass of the sylvari body (the skeleton’s purpose).

Quite possible. In that case the ingame and out game sources wouldn’t have to be in conflict.

HA!

(required 15)

i liked it. it deserved both +1’s that i gave it

EUREKA! Not really but maybe.

Nov 20, 2001: They are plants, really, their bodies, if you want to take a Sylvari and do experimentation, which the Asura did – these horrible creatures- , they have sap instead of blood, they have hard wood where bones are, they’re built very much like a plant what’s trying to replicate humans. Like it had looked at them, had seen them and understood how they worked and it made a plant form of a human. http://www.wartower.de/artikel/artikel.php?id=651

Sept 1, 2009: The sylvari are a very young race of nature spirits, who have awakened with the rise of a new age in Tyria. http://www.wiispace.com/wii-forum/open-topic/23788-wiispace-interview-ree-soesbee-world-designer-writer-guild-wars-2-a.html

Aug 11, 2011: The main key to the design was developing an obvious anatomy that clearly described the race as plant rather than an offshoot of human. However, because the race tightly relates to the essence of human due to the Pale Tree’s influences from Ronan, the overall form has a human silhouette. But if you look more closely, you’ll see the forms are really quite alien. They are a collection of abstract notions the Pale Tree had about what made up the human, as she really only saw the surface. They are a tree’s interpretation of humans.

In exploring the anatomy, you can see a lot of different details. The forearms, for example, are not a human arm with leaves tacked on top, but rather a shape created by many stem tendons and long leaves coiling around one another to create the structure. The faces of the sylvari are not restricted by the anatomy of the skull as a human would, but are created by layers upon layers of plant materials that press together, forming the illusion of anatomy.
http://www.talktyria.net/2011/08/11/sylvari-lore-interview-with-ree-soesbee-kristen-perry/

Aug 12, 2011: Sylvari biology is very different from any other race. They do not have internal organs, but instead are formed of growing plant matter, sap for blood, leaves and bark for skin. A jaw, for example, can be formed by leaves, vines, or even shards of bark that grow and press together to form the silhouette, but if you look closely you can still see the fibers and holes of the structure. Instead of bones, an arm is a mass of tightly-woven stems and leaves that work together to do the work of such a limb.

Their blood is a sticky sap, and though they can bleed, they do not have blood pressure or a pulse. http://www.arena.net/blog/dream-and-nightmare

Okay. It seems in 2001 they had bones because the pale tree knew how humans worked, internal functions and all. Then in 2011 that was changed because the pale tree didn’t know the internal functions of a human. Only abstract notions of what she saw on the surface. So, instead of one solid wooden endoskeleton they have a sort of endo/exo-skelton because the limbs are composed of stems and leaves within and without tightly wrapped together. But not having an actual skeletal structure as the faces are “Not restricted by the anatomy of a skull”.

Nightmare Court. Not sure if there is anything but their dialog may have something to work off of.

i got to go with what i see. if i see anything that disqualifies it, i’ll go with that. that’s why i provide source refernce because i’m a lore nerd. And it gets tiring seeing the same misconceptions over and over. But if the material is sourced then it’s easier for everyone and promotes discussion on the actual lore.

edit: if there’s more statments on them I’d love a source to look at. I save them to refer to later.

Either hard and smooth like a mass of twisted leaves and stems or hard and rough like a mass of stems and bark. Up to you and what you made.

I loved it when i saw that. i know The Secret World tried to get around that with no levels but this is nice to. It never made sense that some wolves are like flys while others can kill three men depending on where you are.

We aren’t. We level down in low level areas.

Idk. They may have meant that the wood provides the same strength that a bone would but this link seems to confirm that they aren’t built the same way other creatures are. Look at the jaw and blood example.

A jaw, for example, can be formed by leaves, vines, or even shards of bark that grow and press together to form the silhouette, but if you look closely you can still see the fibers and holes of the structure. Instead of bones, an arm is a mass of tightly-woven stems and leaves that work together to do the work of such a limb.

Their blood is a sticky sap, and though they can bleed, they do not have blood pressure or a pulse.

This all seems to indicate that they are a mass of twisted plant parts that have grown together to form a “sillouette” rather than a human sytem made of plant parts. especially the “To do the work of such a limb” part. and before talking about the bone sais "very diffrent’.

edit; so jawbone especially is confirmed not to be there. Only a sillouette made of a pressed together mass.

Calle.8746:

Anyway how you don’t get that this isn’t a priority I don’t get.

Read the title real quick, didn’t ya? :P

It definatly makes sense and seems to be confirmed by A-Net. I’d guess they have plant parts similar to pitcher plants or venus fly traps that allow them to break down protein more rapidly than their RL “meat eaters”.

They aren’t actually built like us. they don’t have bones made of plants and skin and a heart and all our organs made of plants. they are basically a plant grown into a humanoid mold to imitate our sillouetter and primary limb functions.

Instead of bones, an arm is a mass of tightly-woven stems and leaves that work together to do the work of such a limb. http://www.arena.net/blog/dream-and-nightmare

the same source cites that they can’t reproduce becasue they don’t have the internal organs to create children and that they have no pulse. So they have sap-blood like plants but they have no pulse becasue they have a plant-like system. Not a human-like system made of plants.