So i was looking around old info and content...

And i found this link in a reddit thread from years back.https://haikai13.deviantart.com/art/Guild-Wars-2-Sylvari-Prototype-326195119

Maybe it's just me......but that Prototype looks so much better than the current Sylvari. A cross between Elf and Nature rather than the full plant-like body the Sylvari currently have just looks so good by comparison. Why wasn't this chosen? All my characters would be Sylvari if they had that sort of design.

idk I prefer my current salads, so its all down to taste i don't really like that version at all. I mostly have humans and sylvari's because of height for vistas and jumping puzzles but I do have a few norns for the awesome braids.

I think they specifically wanted to avoid the elf thing ...

Elves come with a lot of extra baggage.

@"Ephemiel.5694" said:A cross between Elf and Nature

That was the original goal and why they ultimately redesigned them. They ended up wanting something more unique, rather than something that would be seen as the elves in every other MMO. They wrote a blog post about the redesign back then.

@Healix.5819 said:

@"Ephemiel.5694" said:A cross between Elf and Nature

I can't recall any MMO that made Elf/Nature crosses though and the most important Sylvari [Caithe] looks extremely humanoid compared to literally any other Sylvari.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/2/2b/Caithe_04_concept_art.jpg

Even her main concept art [even used in-game at times] shows her as much more humanoid.

I prefer the Sylvari we have in the game. That prototype looks like a generic elf race that can be found in every other MMO... :/

I don't like sylvari at all but those we have are still better than the concept you link to. It looks like generic anime style F2P P2W mobile game design

@Ephemiel.5694 said:

@Healix.5819 said:

@Ephemiel.5694 said:A cross between Elf and Nature

Elf + Nature is a very common theme maybe not done in the EXACT way of the original Sylvari concept but still.. heavily overdone.Caithe doesn't look that much different than other Sylvari NPCs she's just not super colorful.It's always bothered me that that concept art gets used in loading screens but iirc that concept art also came before the redesign? I can't remember exactly. At least she doesn't look like some winx club reject anymore

I think the Sylvari are as different to Elves as Humans are. They are literally plantbased lifeforms and if i understand everything correctly so far they are originally Mordremoths creation through the Pale Tree that was purified by Ventari's tablet/teachings.

I think the whole concept of the Mordrem and their Sylvari counterparts are awesomely done.

The contrast with the Nightmare Court reminds me a lot of the Winter and Summer Fae from Kingdoms of Amalur of whom the Winter Fae become partly corrupted by an ancient dragon.

The origins of Winter- and Summer Court Fae seems to come from Scottish folklore (the Seelie Court and Unseelie Court).

I think Sylvari and Elves are two different inspirations from the same source (Fairy's).

@"Ephemiel.5694" said:And i found this link in a reddit thread from years back.https://haikai13.deviantart.com/art/Guild-Wars-2-Sylvari-Prototype-326195119

Maybe it's just me......but that Prototype looks so much better than the current Sylvari. A cross between Elf and Nature rather than the full plant-like body the Sylvari currently have just looks so good by comparison. Why wasn't this chosen? All my characters would be Sylvari if they had that sort of design.

I felt much the same as you OP but the Sylvari design we have in-game has "grown" on me since release. I have two of them out of my 14 characters. The one I am most proud of is my Druid, the theme just works really well and particular skins like the cultural stuff, plant glider, etc.

I do hope we get some "planty" mount skins at some point, a Jackal-Sylvan Hound Mount and other leafy adaptations for the other mounts.

I like my Sylvari being different and not just the standard meat suit of the other races.

It's funny to say that the original design was much less... original.

I never really liked it, I was only interested in the other races. Also that prototype was, well just a prototype. The in game version was less exciting. And then the redesign came and I loved it.

That prototype design is nothing more than an Elf/Human body with leafy armor on. You could make a female Human right now and give her Sylvari armor and it would look exactly the same. I wouldn't think of Sylvari at all if I saw that and didn't know where it came from. But it is reminiscent of basically every generic fantasy game out there. There's no identity to that prototype. Sylvari, however, are quite unique. The less human looking I can make them, the better.

I prefer the sylvari as they are now. They are actual sentient plants rather than long eared humans wearing plant armor. One is unique and the other is a rehash of every low budget elf wannabe race out there. ANet reconsidered the prototype race and made them better.

We already have humans and big humans, I like the uniqueness of the Sylvari, versus skinny humans with pointy ears.

That prototype is still in the data file. I have it imported in blender, but I lost the texture while doing some cleaning and never felt like browsing the millions files in data again to retrieve them. I wanted to import it into Skyrim.

While I really like that model, it think it doesn't really fit with the rest of the art style of the game.

The model was textured later, it's not supposed to fully look like that in-game.

I like that they're literally plants, but most of the design options are ugly and could be improved imo. I agree that concept art looked better than most sylvari do now.

Sylvari are plants, not Elves. Literal salads, not elegant humans. That's the whole point.I HATE those few faces that are more human-like and let people create elf style characters. I would support making Sylvari even more plant-ish. It would be great.

@"Ardid.7203" said:Sylvari are plants, not Elves. Literal salads, not elegant humans. That's the whole point.I HATE those few faces that are more human-like and let people create elf style characters. I would support making Sylvari even more plant-ish. It would be great.

they're fruits, not plants.The pale tree is mimicking human features when creating sylvari, so it's normal for them to have a more human look.Also being fruits and not plants is the reason for the early models and why they were better. Fruits generally don't have bark or leafy skin that look like house plants.

A fruit is a plant (part of one).