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How would you all feel about a playable Orc Race?


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@Ashen.2907 said:

@"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:I always liked & respected Guild Wars lore because it wasn't so Tolkien based..

Shouldn't you say "Germanic-based"?Because that's where elves and dwarves come from.And the word may Orc derive from the Ork in the Austran folklore.The behaviour of classic (non-WoW derived) Orcs as brutish uncivilized races also resemble the Japanese Oni and the Norse Jötun (which as a GW2 race also have a spiritual aspect like WoW-Orcs have).

Weird, my first exposure to dwarves and elves was norse mythology, not germanic.

The Norse people were a Germanic people..

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@Sarrs.4831 said:if i wanted to play orcs id play wow

OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something? Not like Orcs are exclusive to WoW. Orcs in WoW were written to be Aliens from a different universe dimension, where as Orcs in Lord of the Rings are Elfs. Sylvari I would argue, especially based on the original concept art are Woodelfs by a different name.Like Mesmer and Mesmerizer are pretty much the same class archetype but with a different name found throughout the Fantasy RPG spectrum. Why is it OK for this in some things but not others?

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There are no elves in this game. It certainly doesn't need orcs. Let's not turn GW2 into another Tolkien derivative. The world is far too full of fantasy writers with not enough imagination to come up with their own races and peoples. GW2 has mostly stayed away from these fantasy tropes and that is one of its charms.

@Knighthonor.4061 said:

@Sarrs.4831 said:if i wanted to play orcs id play wow

OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something? Not like Orcs are exclusive to WoW. Orcs in WoW were written to be Aliens from a different universe dimension, where as Orcs in Lord of the Rings are Elfs. Sylvari I would argue, especially based on the original concept art are Woodelfs by a different name.Like Mesmer and Mesmerizer are pretty much the same class archetype but with a different name found throughout the Fantasy RPG spectrum. Why is it OK for this in some things but not others?

Because most writers who let themselves be inspired by others aren't skilled or imaginative enough to give it their own spin. Yes, GW2 has fantasy tropes. It's hard to completely elude them. Even GRRM uses them, despite the fact his brand of fantasy feels quite unique in today's fantasy genre.

For instance: Sylvari = Wood Elves. That's an original spin on it. It's clearly inspired by it, but not a copy it. GW2 has given their woodland people a sufficiently different spin so they don't seem like a derivative of Wood Elves. They don't even look like them.

WoW Orcs might be aliens, but in other regards they pretty much live up to the Orc stereotype, all the way down to how they look and act. It might've been okay in the early 2000's (debatable to me, but that's not what this discussion is about), but in the year 2019 writers can and should do better.

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@Knighthonor.4061 said:OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something?

no

  1. dnd isn't an mmo; it's a ttrpg and you can do whatever you like in it. people actually have done up gw2 races for dnd
  2. i wouldnt ask for charr in another game; funnily enough, i wouldn't ask for them in wow because Mag'har Orcs basically are charr

Existing races like what?

humans, norn, sylvari, asura, charrthere's already more than enough you can do with them and even then there are still 'races' of those races that we need more models of (like canthans)

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@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@Thalimae.3406 said:Hard NO for me. I like that GW2 doesn't have the usual cliché fantasy races, save for humans obviously. But no elves, no orcs and they even got (mostly) rid of the dwarves with Eye of the North.

This is pretty funny when the game is loaded with vampires and zombies =) .

gw2 got vampires and zombies were?

Orr is crawling with them.

Vampires? Where in Orr? Under what name?

I didn't read further down to check for answers to this, but the only vampires I can recall in game are in HoT

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@Ashen.2907 said:Weird, my first exposure to dwarves and elves was norse mythology, not germanic.The Norse people are a Germanic ethnicities.

@"TheNecrosanct.4028" said:WoW Orcs might be aliens, but in other regards they pretty much live up to the Orc stereotype, all the way down to how they look and act.Is it really part of the Orc stereotype that they are one of the smartest races and that they build communities that go further than "the strongest one is the leader"?I always thought that the Orc stereotype was the dumb brutes that are incapable of anything but fighting, eating and breeding and that Warcraft distances itself a lot from that stereotype.

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@Thalimae.3406 said:

@Thalimae.3406 said:Hard NO for me. I like that GW2 doesn't have the usual cliché fantasy races, save for humans obviously. But no elves, no orcs and they even got (mostly) rid of the dwarves with Eye of the North.

This is pretty funny when the game is loaded with vampires and zombies =) .

I'm not sure that they would be considered "the usual cliché fantasy races" in the scenario we are actually talking about but that's aside the point cause neither of these are playable races which is the point of this discussion after all. And as others have pointed out the comparison is rather flimsy to begin with when you count bat-monsters as "vampires". Yes, technically they are named that but that doesn't make them what people associate with the term in a fantasy setting. Heck, real life has literal "vampire bats" as well but that doesn't mean that vampires are real.

I just get a chuckle at Anet trying to break the mold but including a huge cliche right from the start. Nothing wrong with any of it, the more fantasy spam the better I say. :)

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@"Obtena.7952" said:I would think "WTH did these orcs come from?"

As long as we are adding races just to sell something, might as well add Ninjas, Terminators and Jedi while you are at it.

Cantha has Ninjas...

@Knighthonor.4061 said:

@"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:I always liked & respected Guild Wars lore because it wasn't so Tolkien based..

How so?Also how we defining "Tolkien based"?

Stolen Mythology :D

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@"miraude.2107" said:Edit to add that an intelligent skritt without the numbers would actually be lore friendly and plausible.

I've already fan-fic'ed this...

It's very rare the Commander does anything that requires some brain cells. Just go and kill things or hit F until the heart is filled. A skritt can easily do their job.

The motivation to set out from the scratch is as simple as "Zhaitan stole my shiny! This is my story." Why do they help Destiny's Edge in the dungeons? Shinies! Also they seem to have a deep connections to their friends. And Aurene? Soooo shiny! Also they seem to care deeply for kits. In S2 Dragon's Watch seem to follow the Commander (when they follow them) simply because they get stuff done so that can just as easily apply.

The big problem of course is the effort needed to re-write all of the dialog and get some of the old voice actors back to redo some lines. But this is the same for any new playable race.

Also, motivating them to leave Tarir might be a problem...

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@Knighthonor.4061 said:

@Balthzar.3807 said:would rather play one of the existing races rather than trying to introduce a new one and try to work it into Lore

Existing races like what? Most of the races I seen suggested so far at redskins of current races. Is that really what people want? A bird headed Charr? A Bear Headed Norn?Lay it out for me

Tengu, Kodan off the top of my head

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Anet creates a game with fewer fantasy tropes. Fans come and ask whether we should have more fantasy tropes. My answer is no. We don't need more fantasy tropes. Frankly I'm glad Anet killed off the dwarves in Guild Wars 1. There's too much derivative fantasy out there. People need to learn to think outside the box.

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@Dante.1508 said:Cantha has Ninjas...

Assassins weren't Ninja.They made a living out of killing, while Ninja were soldiers to primarily 'acquired' information.Ninja were nothing like the fantasy tropes Senran Kagura or Naruto are trying to convey.And since their primary function included sitting silent and still in narrow attic for HOURS, they can't even compared to the jumpy Assassins from GW1 or GW2's Thief.

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@Knighthonor.4061 said:

@"Sarrs.4831" said:if i wanted to play orcs id play wow

OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something? Not like Orcs are exclusive to WoW. Orcs in WoW were written to be Aliens from a different universe dimension, where as Orcs in Lord of the Rings are Elfs. Sylvari I would argue, especially based on the original concept art are Woodelfs by a different name.Okay, but that brings us back to the original question people asked you: what
you
understand under the term "Orc", and how it is different from a few races that are already in the game (like Charr, Grawl or Ogres) and fill the same spot orcs usually do in other games.Because, like you said, the word "Orc" can mean many different things, so asking people whether they'd want orcs in the game is meaningless without mentioning first
which
orcs are you talking about.

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@Astralporing.1957 said:

@"Sarrs.4831" said:if i wanted to play orcs id play wow

OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something? Not like Orcs are exclusive to WoW. Orcs in WoW were written to be Aliens from a different universe dimension, where as Orcs in Lord of the Rings are Elfs. Sylvari I would argue, especially based on the original concept art are Woodelfs by a different name.Okay, but that brings us back to the original question people asked you: what
you
understand under the term "Orc", and how it is different from a few races that are already in the game (like Charr, Grawl or Ogres) and fill the same spot orcs usually do in other games.Because, like you said, the word "Orc" can mean many different things, so asking people whether they'd want orcs in the game is meaningless without mentioning first
which
orcs are you talking about.

I posted an example of what I would like for a orc.like the Warborn from Archeagehttp://webcdn.triongames.com/archeage/img/community/Warborn_Transform.jpg

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@Knighthonor.4061 said:

@"Sarrs.4831" said:if i wanted to play orcs id play wow

OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something? Not like Orcs are exclusive to WoW. Orcs in WoW were written to be Aliens from a different universe dimension, where as Orcs in Lord of the Rings are Elfs. Sylvari I would argue, especially based on the original concept art are Woodelfs by a different name.Okay, but that brings us back to the original question people asked you: what
you
understand under the term "Orc", and how it is different from a few races that are already in the game (like Charr, Grawl or Ogres) and fill the same spot orcs usually do in other games.Because, like you said, the word "Orc" can mean many different things, so asking people whether they'd want orcs in the game is meaningless without mentioning first
which
orcs are you talking about.

I posted an example of what I would like for a orc.like the Warborn from Archeage
http://webcdn.triongames.com/archeage/img/community/Warborn_Transform.jpg

This is hilarious!Astralporing: asks what Knighthonor understands the term "orc" to mean.Knighthonor: posts something that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with orcs!

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@Knighthonor.4061 said:

@"Sarrs.4831" said:if i wanted to play orcs id play wow

OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something? Not like Orcs are exclusive to WoW. Orcs in WoW were written to be Aliens from a different universe dimension, where as Orcs in Lord of the Rings are Elfs. Sylvari I would argue, especially based on the original concept art are Woodelfs by a different name.Okay, but that brings us back to the original question people asked you: what
you
understand under the term "Orc", and how it is different from a few races that are already in the game (like Charr, Grawl or Ogres) and fill the same spot orcs usually do in other games.Because, like you said, the word "Orc" can mean many different things, so asking people whether they'd want orcs in the game is meaningless without mentioning first
which
orcs are you talking about.

I posted an example of what I would like for a orc.like the Warborn from Archeage
http://webcdn.triongames.com/archeage/img/community/Warborn_Transform.jpg

These new race requests are funny. They ask for a new race then they show an example with the char so covered with armor that the race can’t be seen. Just play a tall human or Norn and wear bulky armor that covers everything and say you’re an Orc.

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@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@"Sarrs.4831" said:if i wanted to play orcs id play wow

OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something? Not like Orcs are exclusive to WoW. Orcs in WoW were written to be Aliens from a different universe dimension, where as Orcs in Lord of the Rings are Elfs. Sylvari I would argue, especially based on the original concept art are Woodelfs by a different name.Okay, but that brings us back to the original question people asked you: what
you
understand under the term "Orc", and how it is different from a few races that are already in the game (like Charr, Grawl or Ogres) and fill the same spot orcs usually do in other games.Because, like you said, the word "Orc" can mean many different things, so asking people whether they'd want orcs in the game is meaningless without mentioning first
which
orcs are you talking about.

I posted an example of what I would like for a orc.like the Warborn from Archeage
http://webcdn.triongames.com/archeage/img/community/Warborn_Transform.jpg

These new race requests are funny. They ask for a new race then they show an example with the char so covered with armor that the race can’t be seen. Just play a tall human or Norn and wear bulky armor that covers everything and say you’re an Orc.

Are you sure thats armor looks like their skin to me.

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@Tommo Chocolate.5870 said:

@"Sarrs.4831" said:if i wanted to play orcs id play wow

OK, and can't you say the same thing about Charr and just playing DnD or something? Not like Orcs are exclusive to WoW. Orcs in WoW were written to be Aliens from a different universe dimension, where as Orcs in Lord of the Rings are Elfs. Sylvari I would argue, especially based on the original concept art are Woodelfs by a different name.Okay, but that brings us back to the original question people asked you: what
you
understand under the term "Orc", and how it is different from a few races that are already in the game (like Charr, Grawl or Ogres) and fill the same spot orcs usually do in other games.Because, like you said, the word "Orc" can mean many different things, so asking people whether they'd want orcs in the game is meaningless without mentioning first
which
orcs are you talking about.

I posted an example of what I would like for a orc.like the Warborn from Archeage
http://webcdn.triongames.com/archeage/img/community/Warborn_Transform.jpg

This is hilarious!Astralporing: asks what Knighthonor understands the term "orc" to mean.Knighthonor: posts something that has
absolutely nothing whatsoever
to do with orcs!

Well I did say orcs are different in different games. You all been the people here saying Orcs=Wow Orcs. I never said that, in fact I been saying orcs can be different in ways and similar in others. Seen some of them while playing Archeage, but they they on the opposite Faction from me. Something like that would be cool in GW2. Norn are big but human like compared to orcs.

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