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How would you all feel about a playable Orc Race?


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We have Charr instead of orcsSylvari instead of elvesAsura instead of gnomes/goblinsHumans instead of humansAnd Norn instead of humans (yes, i still refuse to acknowledge they're not just big humans)

New race contenders would likely be a Canthan subspecies of an existing one, like the tengu.I really missed the Elonian centaurs. I loved them in GW1 and had hoped to see them again.But Joko killed them all of. Worse yet, he removed all centaur skulls

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I like the idea of adding new races, both playable and otherwise, but I'd rather not see orcs because (as many other people have said) they're too common at this point.

The thing which originally got me interested in Guild Wars was the charr, specifically the fact that they didn't look like anything I'd seen before. There's so many fantasy games, even some fairly original ones, where I can go through most their creatures with a DnD Monster Manual and a book on folklore and say "So it's this creature, but with X changed to Y". The charr do have similarities to various other races (including orcs) but they're different enough that I can't point to one source for them. I think gnolls are the nearest comparison, but they're anthropomorphic hyenas rather than cats (and even at a glance the charr are noticeably cat-like), nomadic and don't use magic. Most cat-people I know of in games are more like The Elder Scroll's khajiit - smaller built than humans and inclined towards stealth rather than brute force and overall less aggressive than the charr.

I know not all GW races are that original (centaurs are an obvious example of one which will be familiar to many people) but my preference is definitely to see more original creations rather than copies from other works.

I think it would be difficult to do something similar to the charr with orcs, especially because there's already been so many different variations. Either they're changed so much they're not really orcs in anything but name (in which case why not call them something more appropriate?) or they'd come across as a copy of an existing race from another franchise. They'd be ok as a relatively minor non-playable race, but if they're going to get the kind of attention a new playable race would get I'd rather see something original.

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Orc's are kinda too common to be shoved into an established game like this.

They wouldn't fit well and most people upon seeing them would probably just think.. "meh.." or "Oh.. now we have Orcs.. "I prefer Anet stick with making more unique races instead rather than adding common fantasy ones.

Tengu, Charr, Norn, Asura, Sylvari, Skritt, Quaggans etcThey're all pretty unique to this world.. sure some have traits from other more common races (Sylvari=Elves for example) but they're different enough to feel unique.Orcs wouldn't feel that way unless they were so drastically different from anything in current fantasy games that they wouldn't really feel like Orcs anyway.

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@"Danikat.8537" said:I like the idea of adding new races, both playable and otherwise, but I'd rather not see orcs because (as many other people have said) they're too common at this point.

The thing which originally got me interested in Guild Wars was the charr, specifically the fact that they didn't look like anything I'd seen before. There's so many fantasy games, even some fairly original ones, where I can go through most their creatures with a DnD Monster Manual and a book on folklore and say "So it's this creature, but with X changed to Y".

I have to disagree, since Charr pretty much are a race of creatures from DnD just like Orcs are, just with a different name. In fact many MMOs also have Charr like creatures just with different names for them going back to Dungeons and Dragons.

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I don't want generic fantasy race that you find in almost every game.Making a race of humans with prosthetics is unimaginative.I wouldn't mind seeing new races with an original twist, seeing the world being expand further away from its existing borders.We know that the planet is gigantic and we barely see the equivalent of the Mediterranean Sea coast line + some part of the Sahara Desert.Now that Lion's Arch has an airport, we could have airships scattering to remote places.

The story of GW2 sadly has a Bible feel: Apocalyptic & worldwide changing events happens in a tiny focused area.

World Map from the Durmand Priory:https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/b/be/Tyria_%28world%29_map_2.png

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If anything, would rather have skritt or quaggan as a playable race. I'd jump on skritt in a heartbeat. I love them. I'd love to be in a Teq reset and hear a chorus of 'SKRITT! KILL IT!'

Edit to add that an intelligent skritt without the numbers would actually be lore friendly and plausible. In Metrica there are some asura 'testing' on skritt and we all know the Inquest see any research someone else is doing and does a 'hold my beer'. Could easily have it be a Rats of Nimh homage where you are escaping an Inquest facility with a few altered Skritt and altered Quaggan.

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@Linken.6345 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:No, boring and unoriginal. It would be just one more “something that looks mostly human but with a slight difference.” If they’re going to add a new race I’d prefer they add from this game world’s existing lore, such as Tengu or Skritt, rather than shoehorning in a race from other game’s lore.

where Skritts in GW1 lore?

No where that I know of. However they are unique to this game unlike Orcs which are in multiple games and books.

My objection is primarily relating to the lore of the game not being mixed in with the lore from other games. With unique races the story that this world has to tell is not a tired copy of other stories from other places. It homogenizes the stories when each game world has its Orcs, it’s Elves, etc instead of having their own unique races and unique stories.

skritt are akin to dumb skavens arent they?

Not in a group. Their intelligence is related to how many of them are in proximity to each other.

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@Linken.6345 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:No, boring and unoriginal. It would be just one more “something that looks mostly human but with a slight difference.” If they’re going to add a new race I’d prefer they add from this game world’s existing lore, such as Tengu or Skritt, rather than shoehorning in a race from other game’s lore.

where Skritts in GW1 lore?

No where that I know of. However they are unique to this game unlike Orcs which are in multiple games and books.

My objection is primarily relating to the lore of the game not being mixed in with the lore from other games. With unique races the story that this world has to tell is not a tired copy of other stories from other places. It homogenizes the stories when each game world has its Orcs, it’s Elves, etc instead of having their own unique races and unique stories.

skritt are akin to dumb skavens arent they?

They're almost the polar opposite. Skritt are highly social, and capable of nth level organization that can put many militarizes to shame. They've evolved a high speed communication method through high pitched sounds they make (which keeps hinting back to them being more related to bats then rodents). This enables them to utilize both a form of swarm intelligence and distributed memory, with more members resulting in greater bandwidth, processing power and information storage. A decent sized Skritt Scratch (what they name their homes) can rival the intelligence of individual Asura, and can even figure out some of their technology. But unlike Asura, they do so with none of Ego stroking and frequent in-fighting that are commonly seen in Asuran Krewes.

Prior to being forced to the surface by the Destoryers, both races were constantly clashing for territory in their native subterranean homes. Body for Body, Asurans are stronger and have access to better tools. But Skritt reproduce quickly, substantially outnumber them, and operate almost like a hive mind in battle. Large enough Scratches had even been known to go on the offensive, raiding and even utilizing stolen weapons, gear, supplies with respectable proficiency. Its why Asura spend so much effort to try and keep their numbers in check.

Their background quirks is amusingly similar to 40k Orks- except instead of their gestalt "wut mek dem Ork teknologee wurk" by literally willing it to be true, Skritt are like a Cel Processor network where more individuals raises the intelligence of the whole group; allowing them to tackle a wide variety of complex problems. There are few Dynamic events, and at least one Personal story chapter, built around this premise of them being the smartest thing in the room.

But the main reason this is rarely seen thus far, is largely due to the sheer number of threats they face in the Surface world that keep their numbers heavily suppressed. They're commonly hunted down for being a nuisance, when out and about, their hunting groups tend to be small, and their penchant for shinnies leads them into comically dangerous amounts of life threatening situations. But there are exceptions. Skritt employed for Pact Operations display higher then average intelligence for individual skritt; which seems to afford them an uncharacteristically large amount of self control and risk awareness. Skritt teams have also shown an impressive level of resourcefulness when things get dicey. Some organizations (see Lion Guard, and even Asuran Krewes) use Skritt as a form of cheap labor, scavenging parties, or personal assistants (both with or without fair compensation).

I'm actually surprised to have never seen any mention of theorizing a way to create a Skritt "Think Tank" to aid in researching. I'm speculating the logistics to support a scratch of a large enough size or do that is slightly past practical. But despite that, I await the day to come across a lab (probably old inquest) operated by a large group of Skritt, doing legit experiments on other "test subjects" for once.

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I don't want orcs. I am tired and sick of orcs.

I liked it very much that the traditional elf role was filled with the humans in gw2 and I am glad there aren't any dwarfs left.

I am sick of the holy 'fantasy trinity' of orcs, elves, dwarves. They grind on my nerves. Unless most people I read old legends - and these three are a caricature at best or a vicious insult to those creatures.

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@"Melech.4308" said:I thought charrs filled in the roles of orcs in the game. I feel like orcs are already too prevalent as they are in fiction and MMOs, but I wouldn't mind if Anet does introduce them

This, initially Charr were supposed to be Orcs, but Anet decided against it because it's "too generic" which I agree with. That's how they created flame worshipping demoncats called the Charr.

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@"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:I don't want orcs. I am tired and sick of orcs.

I liked it very much that the traditional elf role was filled with the humans in gw2 and I am glad there aren't any dwarfs left.

I am sick of the holy 'fantasy trinity' of orcs, elves, dwarves. They grind on my nerves. Unless most people I read old legends - and these three are a caricature at best or a vicious insult to those creatures.

Huh? Just about all the playable races in GW2 Lore can be found in DnD at least by a different name.

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@witcher.3197 said:

@"Melech.4308" said:I thought charrs filled in the roles of orcs in the game. I feel like orcs are already too prevalent as they are in fiction and MMOs, but I wouldn't mind if Anet does introduce them

This, initially Charr were supposed to be Orcs, but Anet decided against it because it's "too generic" which I agree with. That's how they created flame worshipping demoncats called the Charr.

That's from DnD

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