Guild Wars 2

I don’t foresee race changing, it doesn’t make sense because of the story. Act 1 is over but there’s future Act’s in the storyline of our characters on the way and a lot of the characters and situations are tied into your race selection. Just level a new toon I’m working on my 3rd right now.

Order change would be nice, I remember them saying they want to allow people to switch orders via a series of quests or something one day, but they said that right before the game launched so who knows. I think it’s more likely that we will join other orders in future regions like if we go back to Cantha, the factions there, or maybe Elona.

Guild halls are gonna happen eventually, as will player housing..They’ve said they are looking at both, but they’re not on the immediate horizon.

quickthorn.4918:

Honestly, I wouldn’t miss Kaineng City if it was razed to the ground. Sure the architecture was different from the usual European castle type fantasy art, but it was truly horrible to navigate your way around and the tunnels were even worse. It also suffered from Orr syndrome in having too much of the same type of enemy (Afflicted). I wasn’t overkeen on the whole faction system either.

That isn’t about the culture, it’s the area design and mechanics so I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Cantha return in some form. I have much fonder memories of Elona and would love to see it return, but even then, I’d really rather do without those wurm journeys which were the one situation in GW1 where the camera caused motion sickeness.

Elona would be pretty awesome to go back to, as well but I kind of worry it will be too much like Orr at this point, given what happened to it.

It’s been 250 years since we last saw Cantha, and Elona for that matter…Elona suffered a horrendous fate wheras Cantha just isolated itself and is probably pretty well intact and given the nightmarish situations on the other side of Tyria, this might actually have saved it. It would be amazing to see both again, rather than focusing soley on going to new areas, in 250 years the whole “afflicted” situation could very well have been gone from Cantha for a long time. And with the new engine, they could make Kaineng easier to navigate and still make it huge and epic considering how amazing the cities in the game are right now, Divinity’s Reach being my favorite by a long shot…Kaineng City, or whatever might be Cantha’s capital now would be incredible.

I actually also kind of liked the factions, and we’ve kind of already got them with the “orders”. I could see having to join a new order in Cantha being a viable way to bring them into the picture and thus creating a whole new system around them rather than going with what they’ve done with the 1st game.

JQ isn’t dead in the open world O_o

It’s not that they don’t want to make them playable.

The real reason is probably a little more complicated then that. Currently, the game has not returned to Cantha and we don’t know if they will or not yet. The Caromi are native cousins of the Tengu, and are a Canthan race by origin. Non-human species were forced out of Cantha some time after the events in GW1 and scattered all over the place. There aren’t many Tengu in Kryta or any other part of Tyria they’re relatively uncommon to find and the same goes for Caromi. Chances are if ArenaNet moves forward in opening Cantha in the game, the most likely playable race to be added would be the Tengu or Caromi.

You can find the discussion about adding Cantha to the game in the general section and a developer has even taken part in the discussion, so your best bet would be to join in the conversation and show interest in the return to Cantha!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/How-is-getting-rid-of-Cantha-a-universal-representation-of-humanity/page/4

I’d love the Dervish, there’s currently a thread in the general section about bringing Cantha and Elona back in GW2. Many people want this, I’m sure with that the dervish and ritualist would both return.

While I like many of the styles available, there’s always room for more in any game

Thank you for your service, and I’m sure you will get through it all in time.

Josh Foreman.8250:

kineticdamage.6279:

Pure target audience strategy. They saw how westerners rejected Asian elements during Mists of Pandaria development, so they took it as a business rule and wanted to surf on the rejection. That is speculation of course, but it is so obvious …

That’s not what happened. This went down long before anyone even know MOP was coming. It was simply a cultural consideration.

I don’t think it’s exactly accurate or fair to say westerner’s rejected Asian elements in MoP, the expansion did really well and many people were very excited for it, it managed to interest people for a while and it still is..I don’t think it’s the new Asian theme has anything to do with why that game is on the (very slow) decline. I think it’s simply age. The notion that westerner’s are relatively resistant to Asian themes in our games I think is a big misconception, westerner’s are cautious when approaching games MADE in Asia, by Asian developers due to the fact we’ve been burned by them so many times just as they have been with other western games. So many times it’s been graphically beautiful games lead on with the mega hype train with very little of the substance in the game that western players prefer. (Story depth, content variety, etc) all of which are things Anet has done a very good job at providing while keeping GW2 an MMORPG, and they have excelled so far. So I think an Asian themed region/expansion (Cantha) would be received at least just as well as any other expansion they will release. I would honestly go as far as to say it would be received more openly because it’s a region that so many people are very passionate about and interested in compared to some of the other ones we’re currently venturing into.

If the only options at the end of the day were that Anet has to make the concession to keep Cantha uniformally one Asian culture moving forward, or never have it then I bet most of us would accept that concession even though it sucks that they have to be “sensitive” to those issues for political reasons. There’s a lot that goes on that we never hear about and never will hear about, and have really no right to hear about at this point in time in regards to the business and relations portion of ArenaNet and the game. As Josh said, many of the developers would love to return to Cantha, I bet many of them would rather do it sooner than later, but there’s probably a lot they have to do in order to move forward with Cantha and I sincerely hope they will and if there’s a way for them to make it happen I am sure they will. It’s good to know we have developers pushing for Cantha along with us and I hope that we can make this happen. Several of my friends who are Chinese, and Japanese were talking about this in vent the other night…None of them would be offended or annoyed by the approach Anet took in the first attempt, either and will probably be posting their points of view here some time..

I’m willing to bet we will see certain content inspired by each game in both titles, yes. GW2 has the groundwork set for a lot of that stuff already, and already has the vistas. I would like to see the housing system from WildStar in GW2 in some iteration..And different types of missions would be neat.

I don’t foresee an invasion of Tyria happening from Cantha at all. They are currently an isolationist nation where as several Tyrian cultures have unified to fight the Dragon threat, liberate Ascalon, and Orr…We have no idea what’s happened there except for a few Canthan’s and Pirates here and there coming up on the shores of other regions, for all we know their isolation has done wonders for them, maybe it’s cleaned up a lot due to it. Maybe they’ve been able to make significant progress in reducing the poverty in the lower levels of Kaineng and there could be a new Emperor or Empress on the throne that has done significant reforms…Maybe a few successive ones since Usoku, who unless something strange is going on, would long since be dead and there would probably have been a few new leaders since him. Maybe the Tengu we’ve met are the descendents of the ones forced out of Cantha, but they could have ‘relatives’ who are still there and they could have been brought back…This is part of why I want Cantha to be added sooner than later, I’m really interested in seeing what’s happened.

I don’t really think mounts are necessary for this game at this time, if they added regions that are infinitely open and very large terrains then maybe…I’m not opposed to it, I just think the game in it’s current state doesn’t really need them. Part of enjoying the game is running around exploring, taking a look at the scenery etc..Concept Art is always about promoting a specific atmosphere, or feel to something rather than being taken at face value, and expecting it to mean something related to the content very specifically.

ShadowGryphon.6257:

A petition was requested to save Cantha (and Elona):
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gw2expansions/

Lets do this!

Yay! I was thinking about starting one but you already did, so thanks! I’m curious how many people will actually sign a petition.

I’m glad to see so many people agree that Cantha is an absolute must for the game, and feel as strongly (in a positive way) as I do about it. Seeing the community come together about something that has always been an integral and deep part of the GW lore & Mythos must be pretty fantastic for the developers to see, especially devs like Josh so I hope the discussion continues to move forward!

I would love to see the Jade sea finally back to being water, and thinking about the types of monsters both on land and in the water is pretty exciting. The dynamic events, and everything would definitely be very exciting to see, especially if we had a big event where we took ships from Lions Arch or even from a newly liberated section in Orr now that there is progress being made and there are somewhat less undead swarming everything, the first scene arriving at Cantha would be so amazing…Lol so many of us have made our toons Canthan from the first and now second game, to be able to go ‘home’ is something that I’m pretty sure would be received very positively by most of the community! 250 years is a long time, so many things could have changed by now for the better. I agree with a couple posters above that said that the moments where we’re back in familiar places from GW1 are the most gratifying experiences, after all that is what a true sequel does in my opinion. I’m definitely open and looking forward to new places that weren’t in GW1 but my heart is in the places that were, so being able to return and take part there in a “living” world that Anet has been creating, to see the changes and progress, or lack there of are the most gratifying experiences.

PS: I hope Josh and other devs continue to take part in the conversation

I feel like a couple people didn’t read what Josh Foreman said about the whole narrow corridors and new engine thing, and that seems to be the primary complaint which I can understand as well….It’s important to keep in mind that this would be Cantha 250 years in the future from where we left it in the first place, that’s a long time…For all we know Kaineng City got destroyed by something and they had to build a new city elsewhere, or on top of the old one, it’s been 250 years even a “new” city that was built 2 centuries or more ago would be old now and had many numerous generations come and go since.

Also, in 250 years the isolation could have actually served as a positive thing for the country and they could keep Kaineng alive but there could be dramatically reduced poverty and slums, there could be a “new” Emperor or Empress on the throne that has done a lot of work in livening up major portions of the city, and thus reducing a lot of the “depressing, and dark” feeling of those former slum areas since it has been two and a half centuries since it’s known darkest period in the history of Cantha. They could be reluctant to re-open trade and end their isolationist era but need to because there’s something major going on, there is literally many ways that Cantha could be introduced in GW2, it doesn’t have to be depressing at all as there were so many parts of Cantha that were bright and vibrant locations even in the City..

ASB.4295:

Kaineng City(and the Undercity) was pretty much my favorite part of the GW world when it came to map design. It was a maze you could genuinely get lost in, even if you tried not to. Now with the tech of GW2, the ability to jump, and 250 years of creative freedom, I hope that the cramped corridors full of 90° turns will have survived in some form for us to explore.

I’d like to imagine the Canthans having built their megacity further into the sky, burying old Kaineng below, just like they did before with the Undercity. With an imperial column of skyscrapers looming above, the city would rely on airships and skyways for transport instead of regular ships, using tall buildings as ports for them to load and unload cargo or passengers. I would like to have to watch my steps constantly(at least as long as I’m not familiar with the area) to not fall into the abbyss of old Kaineng.
I know this is pretty much a pipe dream, but I would like to be able to traverse the whole length of the tunnel the Dredge have supposedly been digging to Cantha. I imagine the exit to be somewhere in old Kaineng, or even the Undercity/sewers, which players had to work their way out of to get to the surface.
Regardless, I hope they will bring the destroyed Asura gate outside Kaineng back online for us to travel through, or even have it moved to the Imperial “towers”.

That’s actually a really amazing idea and I want Cantha even more now!! darn it!!

It’s much better than 6 months ago in the way of bugs and performance optimizations. There’s more content, now…But they added ascended gear, and that may or may not scare you off…:P

The game already has many asian-themed aesthetics built into it everywhere mixed with western styles, and was built from the ground up to have a more universal appeal than the first game so it really isn’t an “otherwise westernish fantasy game”… So Cantha wouldn’t be out of place at all. And then there’s Earth, where you could try and apply that logic, too..variety in aesthetics is a very very good thing :P

It was never wearable in beta, but it was in mesmer promotional videos by ArenaNet leading up to the launch of the game. I believe it will be available at some point, possibly when they introduce new orders to join such as the Seraph, since it’s an outfit worn by the elite amongst the Royal institution (the Seraph) as Countess Annise wears pieces of it. Or it could be a gem store armor skin in the future…But it currently NOT available in the game…I know, many of us want it :P

Sorry I don’t agree, either. I worked hard for my T3 cultural for my norn and I did that because I wanted to look very “Norn”. I don’t want to see anyone else wearing any other cultures gear tbh, but they could come up with another type of armor skin that is multi-cultural with the same type of work involved toward getting it in the future. But keep the current culturals strictly for their respective races.

If you’re wanting to see Cantha in GW2 please go to the link the poster above me linked, and express it.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Cantha was my favorite GW1 region to work on. And I worked on every GW release. I know a lot of the dev team loved it and would love to revisit it. I kinda agree with critickitten about the negative aspect of tight corridors. Most of that came from hitting technological limits while trying to keep the epic quality of the concept art. I think we could do some really amazing things with those themes in our new engine. Certainly nothing is ruled out. I certainly encourage anyone to express your desire for a Cantha region in GW2 in a positive and friendly way. It could be years away, but it’s worth asking for.

Thanks for contributing to the topic, maybe it will help put some attention on Cantha. I have seen a few newer players ask about it in the game, and when they’re told it’s not in the game and might never be they frowny face us, and as I’ve mentioned before, it’s come up in conversation in my guild before with most people really wanting it as well from what I can tell, so there definitely is a lot of interest in seeing Cantha brought to the game ASAP.

There has to be a way to reach middle ground or something on bringing that region to GW2, unfortunately though it sounds like some major concessions would have to be made on the developers/artists behalf in sticking to a “uniform” theme with Cantha, as in keeping it strictly Chinese, Korean, or Japanese and not mixing them like in GW1, and if that really is a huge reason as to why we don’t have more Canthan in the game then that’s just depressing because each culture has so much to offer. If I’m wrong in this conclusion then by all means correct me because I would love for this not to be the case, as it sounds like the worst (possible) case scenario.

Even if the game wasn’t going to go to the eastern/asian territories, it would be worth building Cantha into the game for the rest of us. Many westerners are fascinated by asian/oriental mythologies and history. Most of my favorite memories of GW1 were in Cantha, my toons in this game were made under my own belief I’d be able to go there again in GW2 and they are the namesakes of my GW1 characters who were Canthan, so to not be able to go there in this game would most likely be the biggest let down I have felt with a game in a very long time. I’m not saying I’d rage quit or anything but I would very literally be extremely disappointed and that disappointment would linger for a long time and probably carry into any potential GW3…:P

I have a feeling that hairstyle isn’t in because those earlier screenshots and videos, the character models weren’t finished..You can tell the quality of everything is noticeably less…However, I hope they do add that and others in the future)

Cantha’s isolation probably is a good indication that it hasn’t advanced all that much because their last known Emperor was extremely xenophobic…That’s not to say advancements haven’t been made in other area’s, but in terms of mechanical technologies I bet it would be minimal..Especially when you consider that we’ve moved into the industrial age relatively recently in the regions we do have available to us right now.

They could do so many cool things with Cantha both with the Dragon’s storylines and other types of gameplay.

At this moment I’m much more interested in ArenaNet coming forward and being honest with us about the whole Cantha thing and telling us in some varying degree what’s up and if we can ever count on seeing Cantha again, or not. I’ve found it really interesting that discussion on Cantha has increased over the last few weeks in particular amongst the player-base, both in and out of the game. A bunch of people in my guild want it the most out of any of the other regions, myself included. But it would be nice to know if we can count on seeing Cantha again anytime in the relatively foreseeable future or not…And if not, why?

As I have said before, a big part of what brought me to the GW franchise was the Factions expansion in the 1st game, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t confident that I’d be able to see it again in the second game being that it was such a gigantic part of the first game and such a huge part of the lore of the series in general…Having it removed due to politics majorly disappoints me, and frustrates me and I hope Anet will have the guts to move forward with it regardless of if they have complete support of the “bureaucracy” about it and that a middle ground can be met.

The whole dragon thing is perfect for a Cantha expansion. They may have to go more uniformally with the design in terms of making it strictly Japanese, or Chinese but not mixing them as they did initially…Because of politics, apparently (there’s another thread in the general section about the whole issue)

Recycle.5493:

GW1 was mostly populated with NA and EU players, but GW2 is a completely different story. Anet(and NCSoft) has big plans for GW2, including releasing it in both Chinese and Korean language(the official Chinese site have been up for months). With the Canthan district in the BWE’s, Anet’s Chinese overlords and Korean Dictators aren’t happy about that, so it was completely destroyed and said to be massive landslide due to poor construction(as all Chinese buildings are). Since Chinese and Koreans will never likely to become friends and agree on letting Anet having buildings with both of their architectural styles, there would probably never be a Canthan related map in GW2.

Here’s the interview for those who don’t know the cause of Great Collapse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xWo8G0OJ0FM#t=6226s

Yep this confirms the rumors…That really sucks to be honest…I hope they move forward with Cantha anyway, it sucks to make all the players miss out on something like that because of that sort of crap…Even if certain people over there get annoyed over it they should put it in anyway, if they have to choose to go more uniform with Chinese, or Japanese, or whatever styles keeping it consistent as to avoid offending people than fine, I guess that’s a concession that may have to be made unfortunately, but to leave Cantha out all together is just tragic.

lmao…lore-wise the tengu mostly left Cantha with the other Canthan’s fleeting the last known Emperor’s craziness a long time ago.

I’m kinda wondering this, myself…I want new looks !!!!!!!

I understand the OP’s complaints though because Anet has seemed very adverse to rewarding players to even a moderate level when it comes to drop-rates or anything like that so far, so everyone saying “YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO BUY IT AND SPEND YOUR KARMA RARARA” should relax a little :P…because he does have a point.

Dante.1763:

i really really hope not, cantha is what got me into GW1 and i miss it already..

Me too, actually! It seems to come up more and more in-game ever since the living story thing went live with the refugees and people were hoping it had something to do with Cantha (top knot guy with his dolyak in the art), and then Anet said NOPE!

Cantha will be a huge undertaking, so it would most likely be released in an expansion…I’m just kind of hoping it’s the 1st expansion even though I kind of doubt it since it isn’t even on the map unless you visit the globe at the Order of Whispers HQ.

Im more annoyed by the salvaging thing, that’s about it…I’m trying to make money in the game and salvaging everything isn’t helping me at all.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact ascended gear was supposed to be in at launch. The best way for them to handle this is to continuously open up ways to attain it other than fractals.

I guess so…lol

They could always represent Cantha more positively this time around, It has been over 100-150 years since Cantha actually became isolationist in the timeline…They are very touchy over there about being represented negatively by westerner’s and while I do agree it’s silly, it’s not necessary for that to be the case with GW2. I can see any number of possible (positive) portrayals of Cantha in this era with the end of the isolationist era. There would almost definitely be a new Emperor (Or Empress) on the throne of Cantha by now which always brings about new possibilities

I created my toon in GW2 to be the namesake of my toon in GW1, as a descendent and it would be pretty depressing if we don’t get to go back to Cantha anytime in the relatively near-ish future.

I think in the long run they’d be doing themselves a disservice by leaving Cantha out of GW2…I doubt it has anything to do with NCsoft being unhappy with how the asian culture was “portrayed” in GW1, because if that were the case they wouldn’t of allowed factions to be released the way it was.

In the end ArenaNet is creating a living, vibrant world…or so they say…And if that’s the case how do they intend to do that when they leave out one of the most complex and deep cultures in the series, one that so many people have a strong interest in?

This game has the potential to be genuinely universal in appeal, but there’s so little about Cantha in the game that anyone who never played GW1, or paid attention to any of the lore would probably have almost no clue that it exists…The fact they literally built the Canthan district in Divinity’s Reach prior to release, and then decided to toss it down an endless abyss randomly is the main thing that brings believability to the whole thing and is a pretty good way to alienate the potential Asian/Eastern playerbase they could gain with the game.

As for why I love Cantha and why I want it in the game….I may or may not be in a minority when I say this but I enjoyed the Canthan portion of GW1 the most because it was so vibrant, and rich when it came to the storylines and the culture compared to some of the others while maintaining a darker/grittier atmosphere in many portions of it’s content. I enjoyed my ritualist a lot, and I made one of my favorite characters in GW2 based off Cantha, even making her the namesake of my original GW1 toon) at launch I was assuming we would have more Canthan content in the game eventually, and I really want to go back there with her and see what has happened with the region of her ancestors If we don’t get that opportunity then I will feel seriously let down, to be honest…

We were having this discussion in my guild a few days ago and there were many people who really hope Cantha is on it’s way.

I’m definitely hoping for Cantha to be the first expansion, or in a gigantic update relatively soon…It was my favorite part of GW1…However, I came across this thread

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/How-is-getting-rid-of-Cantha-a-universal-representation-of-humanity/first

Thoughts on this rumor? I would be pretty p’d off if it’s true, Cantha was such a major part of guild wars and the place I really want to see in GW2 the most, out of any of the others by a long shot, and it seems that this is also the case amongst many other people in the game.

More Black Lion armor and weapon skins.

More/New payment options for gems such as Mobile payments: Boku, MoPay Etc.

More ‘fashionable’ medium armor skins in general for females. The options right now don’t have even close to the gender variation that light does.

I pay for my own cell phone, and I’m not a child anymore and I still would use a mobile payment option over my credit card, or debit card etc. It simplifies the bills for games when this option is available and I’m more likely to purchase things like in this case, gems. It’s more secure, and if that isn’t enough it just broadens the options for their game which should be reason enough. SW:TOR uses Boku, just to name a newer (American) game that uses the option. But there’s also other ones like MoPay etc…:))

If Neverwinter isn’t deeply story driven then I think it will be awkward to most of the people who will be jumping to play it in the 1st place. I get the whole action combat thing….But they’re also charging 200 dollars for an ultra collectors edition where the best thing you get is a special playable race and we don’t really even know anything about the game as a whole…Just that it has the Neverwinter title, and the foundry.

I want a big event where we officially re-take and rebuild Ascalon and make it a new capital for all races like LA

I want different types of hairstyles, too! For example I’d like more hair with bouncy curls and stuff, kind of like Milla Jovovich’s hair in The Three Musketeers for one example, and more oriental hairstyles…A lot more…of all kinds

Raea.8419:

Traelia.8629, can you please please please tell me what shoulders those are?i cant find it on google, wiki, the pvp locker, the trading post, you tube, i even asked in map chatand no one knows! I would love a responce and i happy lvling!

that mask on the shoulder is just…so kitten?..cant swear lol

T2 human cultural

Doubt we’ll be seeing this update anytime in the next few hours.

I don’t think TESO is on the “horizon” I doubt it will be released this year. if it is, it won’t be until the very end of the year…And to be honest I’m not sold on it, yet. It sounds almost identical to GW2 with a couple more bells and whistles, and probably a better oPvP system, but overall they haven’t really even shown anything substantial other than the world reacts to you differently if you save a town from werewolves or not. Cool, GW2 could probably do that too. I am looking forward to seeing more info on it, but between how little we’ve really even seen of it, Bethesda/Zenimax’s track record, and the frightful excuse for character models and animations they have shown off in the few gameplay videos they actually have…Just not sold, yet…That being said I am looking for more and if GW2 can’t cover what I’m looking for then I will play other games, including TESO if it manages to pull it off..I’m ready for these “Sandpark” MMO’s, such as Wildstar, ArcheAge, EQnext (supposedly). etc..I want to do more than events, and quests…I want to build houses, camps, have alternative types of content like those games all are supposed to and while I think Anet could do this with GW2, I kind of doubt it’s on their immediate plans.

My view on trahearne is simple…I like him, but I didn’t like being secondary TO him when the story is supposed to be about me…There wasn’t enough about me, and too much about everyone else.

I get where the OP is coming from, like in SWTOR your personal story never had to have anyone else in it if you didn’t want to all the way to the end…But I think their reason for this was that you’re reaching max level so they’re trying to introduce you to finding groups for dungeons in a more seamless way than “You’re now finished with your story. Say hello to the brick wall. Now divert your attention over here indefinitely.”

This thread is so useful! Thanks!

My third post here:

I have noticed the trends for upcoming MMO’s tend to lean toward sandbox/themepark hybrids, and this is an extremely popular concept. I, for one, am looking forward to games such as Wildstar, ArcheAge, Dragon’s Prophet, and EQnext because I want a game that has a very strong themepark element combined with extensive sandbox features. I want to be able to explore a frontier, I want to be able to build a house using blueprints and customizing it completely to my taste, in general I want more life breathed into these games and I think GW2 has a solid foundation for those features, and the sooner they come the better it is for the game overall. We need things to do outside of the typical dungeons, leveling alts, getting gear, etc.

I’m having this problem, and my maps are literally all uncovered, I’ve checked and I have all the white named areas in each zone and I’m still stuck at 174/175.

I want my ritualist and cantha.