Spotify Region Themed Playlists

[Lady Kaguya.3208]

Hello! Sorry, kinda wordy. tl;dr - a collection of soundtrack appropriate songs organized by zone and region for the game. Very useful for roleplayers, writers, artists as well!

## [updated 3/4/2020]

I know of the playlist feature that you can use in-game. However it's pretty crude. I don't want the same music for Shiverpeaks and Elona, I'm picky. Until such a time that I could figure out a workaround or better fix, I've spent the past years creating and solidifying a list of playlists for the game (if anything, a good archive/collection). As of now I have it set on Spotify. Depending on requests and suggestions, in the future I can copy it over to other streaming sites.

Mone of this music is produced or promoted by me in any way and please keep in mind copyright laws. The cover art is all from Guild Wars concept art, was taken from the wiki. I can't really claim any credit so you honestly can do what you want--copy this, remake 'em, whatever floats the goat. But all the tedious organizing/archiving has been done by me if you like my music choices. It's all a HUGE amount of immersion friendly soundtrack, game, classical, and even some electronic and rock. This at the end of the day is tailored for my needs and my views of the game/lore. That being said, if you have some music you think would fit in, throw it at me! And I'm sure there are mistakes, duplicates, etc. It's a continual work in progress and I am always adding and updating....make sure you shuffle!

PLAYLISTS:

(Spotify simply won’t let me share the playlist folder where they all are, so I’ll have to link individually. Workaround: Follow the playlists and then simply make your own GW2 folder.

> BOSSES, METAS, RAIDS

Still in a WIP stage, not content with it. However, it is the playlist to use if you need heavy and continuous action music.

> The Mists

Fairly new playlist, still working on refining. Was originally with Rata Sum, but now is designed for anything related to The Mists, Fractals, etc.

> Elona / Combat

Ended up recently separating ambience and combat music into two playlists, feels less cluttered/random.

> Elona / Ambience

Both ambience and combat and designed for: Crystal Oasis, Desert Highlands, Elon Riverlands, The Desolation, Domain of Vabbi, Domain of Istan, Sandswept Isles, Domain of Kourna, Jahai Bluffs

> Lion's Arch

A bit more on the ambient/exploration side. Spanish guitar and pirates galore. I use it for Lion's Arch, Gendarran Fields, Southsun Cove, Bloodtide Coast, Sparkfly Fen.

> Steamspur Mountains

I use this playlist for more action/combat in the above mentioned regions. Action music for pirates! Also Mount Maelstrom.

> The Shiverpeaks

Wayfarer Foothills, Snowden Drifts, Lornar's Pass, Frostgorge Sound, Dredgehaunt Cliffs, Bitterfrost Frontier, Thunderhead Keep.

> Hoelbrak

Ambient focused music for Norn, Shiverpeaks, related. I also have a variety of Native American music as well; underestimated inspiration for Norn (IMO).

> Ascalon

Lots of 'cowboy western' themes--you'll like it or hate it. Sometimes a bit spooky and atmospheric to reflect the Foefire.

> Black Citadel

Charr themes also focus on industrial styles and moods, lots of bass and drums.

> Ebonhawke

Maybe unnecessary, but focuses on human Ascolonian culture--Appalachians, Celtic, Medieval.

> Kryta

Queensdale, Kessex Hills, Lake Doric, Harathi Hinterlands, Gendarran Fields. Traditional/deemed stereotypical fantasy music. Still a good collection of lively adventure music.

> Divinity's Reach

Renaissance, Victorian London, Classical, and some Celtic.

> Tarnished Coast

Caledon Forest, Brisban Wildlands, Southsun Cove, Metrica Province. Gaelic, adventurous, tribal, and some tunes and genres suiting asura as well.

> The Grove

Sylvari themes. atmospheric gaelic, fairy, fantasy, ethereal.

> Rata Sum

There is often a mix between extravagant songs, humorous melodies, and ultimately sinister undertones for Inquest shenanigans. Lots of electronic ambience and sci-fi. This playlist is less defined than others about its combat/ambience.

> Maguuma Wastes

I use this playlist for: Drytop, The Silverwastes, Bloodstone Fen, Brisban Wildlands, Ember Bay

>Maguuma Jungle

Similar to Tarnished Coast but much more hardcore. Verdant Brink, Auric Basin, Tangled Depths, Dragon's Stand, Draconis Mons.

> Orr

Straits of Devastation, Malchor's Leap, Cursed Shore, Siren's Landing. Deathly, dark, evil. This music is more twisted and warps traditional adventure music, almost as an opposition. The use of choirs/vocals are more heavily used.

> Memories of Cantha

Sorta a bonus/for fun that's done with Cantha in mind--obviously, lots of Asian music from various cultures, groups, styles and more. This playlist is less defined, but fitting if you need inspiration related to this region. If Cantha ever returns, I will make it more organized....

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Main downside is music will not be as easily dynamic as actual in-game music--though the upside is you get a larger pool of music. I haven’t found this a deal-breaker and for the most part flows well.
• For further control, best advice is to have Spotify on a second monitor or easily reachable--phone, tablet, etc. Then you can change playlists accordingly. If a song does not match well with what you’re doing, simply skip it (can also be done with keyboard shortcuts, which I have ‘skip’ set on my mouse).
• Sadly some songs that I have kept in the playlists are not available yet in Spotify. The original Guild Wars 2 soundtrack included. :'( These either will be greyed out or may not appear at all, depending on your settings.
• From my experience, if you do have the music already on your computer, (such as Guild Wars 2 OST) you should be able to direct Spotify to your local files.
• The music normally works best if you turn Spotify down a bit so it won’t drown out the game’s ambience, effects, and dialogue. Finetune to your needs.

Whew, ok, done. Sorry, way too many words. Enjoy but no pressure. But if you do fancy it, let me know what you think and be sure to follow the playlists.

[RedJaded.4523]

I've made playlists for a few of my favorite characters from GW2 specifically.

Joko and Edrick

These are more so from their perspective on different things, or songs that I felt would fit them or their theme.

• Joko's playlist goes between quiet and loud at times, I wanted it a little atmospheric where it just focuses on the music or theme of the PoF maps themselves, they give me strong Egyptian vibes up until you reach The Desolation, which I have to say Joko's bone palace is one of the most 'metal' things i've ever seen, so there is a nice bit of rock thrown in there as well, tastefully so. Throughout his playlist I wanted it to also feel almost like a stage play because he's so dramatic and I honestly think he'd appreciate theater.

• Edrick on the other hand, I just wanted as much heavy music as possible and I wanted to portray a feeling of agony or suffering, as well as his disgust with his father and the people that celebrate him over himself. Edrick is a 100% certified edgelord but he's also really poetic ( I can hear it in his voice ) It's a lot more to him than all people can see but no one really pays that much attention, it's always about Oswald around this time of year. His playlist is mostly loud and aggressive and lashes out at you.

This is the best brief description I could come up with for this, the rest is up to how you hear it if you do decide to give these a listen n.n

If you'd like to talk more about Tyria and music or something, I don't mind adding you on discord as well. I'll give a follow for now!

edit: I forgot to mention that I'm an artist and I drew a lot of pics of Edrick, one of them is what I used for his icon haha

[Lady Kaguya.3208]

Hey, thanks for sharing. In an alternative universe I would had gone into the music industry, so I love to make playlists and even more to check out new works and others creations

Feel free to DM and we can exchange discord, always nice having more music friends. also will check out the art ?

[Lady Kaguya.3208]

I can't remember if it's okay to bump with a reason? Past week or so I've done some pretty thorough touching up, added a whole ton of more music, and thankfully now more official GW2 music has been made available to spotify! such as living world music.

the playlists of note that I focused on was Hoelbrak and The Shiverpeaks, since we're getting deeper into the Icebrood Saga. Black Citadel and Ascalon got some revisions too. I may or may not create a 'Far Shiverpeaks' playlist...similar to how I did it with Maguuma Waste and Jungle. Simply have the far north one be edgier/darker. I suppose it may depend how many more maps we get in the region.

I'm still missing most/if not all of Jeremy Soule's work on the game, both for original and GW2. I'm assuming due to copyright within DirectSong. I'm hoping someday that gets resolved, because finding decent quality of those soundtracks are becoming scarce. Regardless, I have added them from my own local drive. These will be greyed out, but at least you can see what hopefully can be added in the near future--or if you own them yourselves locally.

i've noticed some recent follows to the playlists--thank you! i'll continue to mantain this the best I can. don't be shy to suggest songs or point out any possible errors

(ok i got my ramble out, can move on)

[Lady Kaguya.3208]

dangit, accidentally refreshed. anyway, have some updates. idk if people are really caring about this all, but it's an enjoyable thing i do for fun and great way to discover great music.

• Memories of Cantha is a recent playlist I made that was done during Lunar New Year. It's mostly just a large selection of different Asian inspired music and styles. if Cantha ever returns, I'll definitely make it more organized.
• Joe Hisaishi, mostly known for his work with Studio Ghibli has released all of his works now on Spotify! I have edited my playlist to reflect that.
• Besides the usual finetuning, editing, and fixing of the playlists, now the only music that is unavailable is the Guild Wars work of Jeremy Soule (more or less). Maybe I'll make an effort sometime to email him or related and see what's up with that. I'm assuming copyright and DirectSong.