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The most lore-friendly ranger race?


EpicName.4523

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Been thinking which race will fit each profession best when it comes to lore and aesthetics.For some time I thought Sylvari are the ultimate rangers because of their plant appearance and supposed nature connection. That is, until I rolled a Sylvari ranger and saw the basic skills...They all come with visual effects based on wild animals - bears, birds and so on which makes me feel like the player is really pushed to play as a Norn to match the theme of the class.

"Nature" is a theme which involves more than plant life or animals, yet the ranger seems more focused on the latter. Ranger core fits Norn better, Soulbeast does as well and only Druid spec can arguably be closer to Sylvari.

Are Norn the most lore-appropriate ranger race given their cultural affinity? If they are the most fitting race for this profession, what really makes sense to roll as a Sylvari?

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Norn/Sylvari are both equally lore friendly when it comes to rangers in my personal opinion. We see plenty of Sylvari around the world followed by their staple sylvan hounds, which can imply their close connection to animals/plant life not unlike the Norn. Though this is of course depends on your own personal perspective when it comes to what the ranger is, since like warriors, rangers are rather open to interpretation as to what they're lore wise.

Anyway, in my opinion I think Sylvari/Norn are equally the most lore friendly race when it comes to rangers if you really wanted to look at it that deeply. I guess following those two would be Humans/Charr middling the ground as lore friendly rangers, and Asura coming dead last when it comes to rangers and lore friendliness.

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I'd say that the asura are very lore-friendly when it comes to the class (I may be biased, since my ranger is one). The Druid traitline and NPC druids are products of the Maguuma Jungle, and the asura are a dominant playable race in that region. The setting literature that covers how the asura view the other playable races states that "Although the Asura have grown to appreciate the skills and talents of other races, often using them in experiments or on dangerous missions, they still hold fast to their organized society... The Asura believe they are destined to rule the larger, less intelligent races of the world. They see humans, especially, as quite good for heavy lifting, and in general terms, view other races as merely pawns to be manipulated in Asuran schemes." If that is how they view the non-genius humanoid races, it's not illogical for an asura to also view an animal companion as having similar utility. There's unfinished in-house fanfic of an asuran ranger, albeit a less egotistical one than most, that revolves heavily around the relationship between pet and master. A prominent NPC in one of the first Asuran story missions also has a pet; in that case both are used for comic effect. And perhaps most helpfully of all when coming up with the backstory for your PC, there are multiple examples in the game's backstory of asuran settlements being destroyed by sudden cataclysms (e.g. the pre-surface cities that were destroyed by the imaginatively-named Destroyers; the destruction of Rata Novus by the Chak; whatever happened in the events covered by the Uncategorized fractal, if those events qualify as real; the asura who were "expelled or killed" by Palawa "I'm an overused meme" Joko from the desert during the events of the PoF backstory; and probably other examples as well). A survivor of any of these events, forced to survive in wilderness conditions with limited equipment but the instinctive know-how to tame lesser intellects and craft basic technologies? They would have the perfect backstory to take up the ranger class!

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I still don't think Asuran would be lore friendly because they're all capable of making or purchasing their own golem. Which would be more efficient than spending similar hours on domesticating a pet ally just to have it die from old age or combat.

A single golem could be designed to do what multiple pets can do. So imo a genius race wouldnt waste their time on an inefficient pet. Also, bows are super primitive and Asuran love being the pinalce of technology.

Charr are probably the second least friend. Again, they invented firearms, it would be out if the norm for a charr to use a bow. Once rangers can use rifles, they'll be tied with sylvari. Imo, a charr that uses a bow would have to either be older than firearms, not wanting to relearn marksmanship on a rifle. Or they grew up far away from charr civilization.

Imo, sylvari are third. Because having a sylvari dog doesn't make you in-touch with other animals. Sylvan hounds are born behaving for sylvari, takes no effort to domesticate them. Nightmare sylvari have to actually domesticatee them to be nightmare hounds. Most pale reavers use rifles. The first born sylvari are around 20 years old. Most archers have been practicing archery their entire lives. A human/charr/norn archer over 30 years old would have an entire life of archery practice leading up to the first events at the tutorial. A sylvari is literally born when you create it. And a master at archery a level 80, probably a month or two ingame days.

Humans are second, because unless you're in one of the military factions, you'd have to be rich or lucky to have a firearm. Bows are more available and most humans would need to hunt for their food. There's even an event in queensdale where you hunt boars. So like I mentioned above, a lot of humans probably grow up learning basic archery to hunt. Humans domesticated krytan hounds to help with hunting. So they have know how to train animals. And taming an animal is easier if you already have a tame one. I don't count sylvan hounds as animals, they're sylvari. I don't believe, imo, other hounds would recognize them as a dog.

Finally, Norn would be number one. Norn are a very prideful race and would most likely frown at the use of a less skilled weapon like a rifle. And norn are literally outside all the time. Wayfarer foothills is filled with norn that have befriended animals. Imo, Norn don't tame their pet companions, they befriend them. They also have a deep spiritual connection with animals as deities to help guard them from the mists. Anyone that's played norn story would know all about that so I won't go into details. But like the humans, Norn have hunted for their entire lives. There's a hunt for a big antelope thing in wayfarer foothills. Dolyak hunts, hunts for a legendary yeti. Norn are definitely the most lore friendly.

Good discussion topic.

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@Remix.2086 said:

Charr are probably the second least friend. Again, they invented firearms, it would be out if the norm for a charr to use a bow. Once rangers can use rifles, they'll be tied with sylvari. Imo, a charr that uses a bow would have to either be older than firearms, not wanting to relearn marksmanship on a rifle. Or they grew up far away from charr civilization.Remember though that the race Arenanet themselves chose for a ranger hero npc was charr (Rox)

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My own ranger is human. His game creation story is that he was given up by his real parents for adoption (the "never looked for his real parents" option) who grew up among commoners (the regular working folk of the Salma District) and was blessed by Melandru. His adopted family (or at least, the NPCs I interpret as being his adopted family) run the inn in the middle of the Salma District. Based on all that, I interpreted his childhood as being spent learning to hunt and forage in Kryta to provide food for the inn; during that process, he did a lot of growing up on his own, with animals and nature for companionship more than people. Hence him being a ranger.

As for rifles vs. bows, bows are more friendly for stalking and hunting. You fire a bow, kill your prey, and can immediately move to to find your next target. You fire a rifle, and you just spooked all the prey nearby (or even worse, attracted predators); good luck moving on to that next kill until the critters settle down. Hence the ranger preference for the quiet elegance of bows over big noisy guns.

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@Tora.7214 said:

Charr are probably the second least friend. Again, they invented firearms, it would be out if the norm for a charr to use a bow. Once rangers can use rifles, they'll be tied with sylvari. Imo, a charr that uses a bow would have to either be older than firearms, not wanting to relearn marksmanship on a rifle. Or they grew up far away from charr civilization.Remember though that the race Arenanet themselves chose for a ranger hero npc was charr (Rox)

Not to mention that as someone stated above, the Charr did domesticate the devourers. Can’t discredit that.

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Humans had a lot of famous rangers especially in Ascalon and Cantha, and they are excellent scouts, not to mention Krytans became the first druids in the maguuma centuries ago. Norn is a race of hunters so it's only natural for them. Sylvary are very close to nature so it fits. Charr used to be big on archery and were known to tame a wide variety of beasts.

Any of the races fit, except for asura. I don't think there's a single asura NPC wielding a bow, or at least there weren't in GW1 and they are way too tech oriented.

@Gandrogh.1530 said:Charr who are not good at war or can't support their society with military tasks do trades, farming and hunting. GW2 wiki

Wrong thread? Or what are you trying to say?

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@"Professor Sprout.1560" said:I'd say that the asura are very lore-friendly when it comes to the class (I may be biased, since my ranger is one). The Druid traitline and NPC druids are products of the Maguuma Jungle, and the asura are a dominant playable race in that region. The setting literature that covers how the asura view the other playable races states that "Although the Asura have grown to appreciate the skills and talents of other races, often using them in experiments or on dangerous missions, they still hold fast to their organized society... The Asura believe they are destined to rule the larger, less intelligent races of the world. They see humans, especially, as quite good for heavy lifting, and in general terms, view other races as merely pawns to be manipulated in Asuran schemes." If that is how they view the non-genius humanoid races, it's not illogical for an asura to also view an animal companion as having similar utility. There's unfinished in-house fanfic of an asuran ranger, albeit a less egotistical one than most, that revolves heavily around the relationship between pet and master. A prominent NPC in one of the first Asuran story missions also has a pet; in that case both are used for comic effect. And perhaps most helpfully of all when coming up with the backstory for your PC, there are multiple examples in the game's backstory of asuran settlements being destroyed by sudden cataclysms (e.g. the pre-surface cities that were destroyed by the imaginatively-named Destroyers; the destruction of Rata Novus by the Chak; whatever happened in the events covered by the Uncategorized fractal, if those events qualify as real; the asura who were "expelled or killed" by Palawa "I'm an overused meme" Joko from the desert during the events of the PoF backstory; and probably other examples as well). A survivor of any of these events, forced to survive in wilderness conditions with limited equipment but the instinctive know-how to tame lesser intellects and craft basic technologies? They would have the perfect backstory to take up the ranger class!

There are also asura rangers in GW1, for example, in the quest O Brave New World.

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@Lonewolf Kai.3682 said:

Charr are probably the second least friend. Again, they invented firearms, it would be out if the norm for a charr to use a bow. Once rangers can use rifles, they'll be tied with sylvari. Imo, a charr that uses a bow would have to either be older than firearms, not wanting to relearn marksmanship on a rifle. Or they grew up far away from charr civilization.Remember though that the race Arenanet themselves chose for a ranger hero npc was charr (Rox)

Not to mention that as someone stated above, the Charr did domesticate the devourers. Can’t discredit that.

Actually a human domesticated a devourer back in Guild Wars Prophecies.

There was a quest in pre searing where you got two devourer eggs as the quest reward. After doing another quest where you kill an NPC's bull, you compensate him by giving him one of the devourer eggs.

Later on after the searing you meet him again and he has a devourer pet called Joe, the NPC's name was Old Mac.

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I think it's a wrong assumption to make that every Sylvari is inherently in symbiosis with nature or that Asura are not. Take Canach or Scarlet for example; they have no more inherent connection with nature than what they're made of. And if your train of thought stems from the fact that they're made of plant cells, then you must also consider that the other races are made of animal cells, and animals and plants are just as relevant to nature. If anything, I just recall Sylvari being especially good at plantshaping, which they used to form The Grove and their houses, but their bond with the fauna seems to me is lesser than that of Charr, Norns, or Humans. And in tems of Asura rangers, I see them as herbology specialists who have expert knowledge on the taxonomy of any plant and animal

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  • 1 year later...

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:Don't forget that Charr domesticate devourers.I think if you want to be a lore-friendly ranger, you could be any race, depending on which pets you choose to travel with.

It makes since what this person said. Its not about the race, its about the pet you choose travel with.

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It works for pretty much all races as seen by the pretty big cosmetic only pet diversity that we have in the game.

The only Race I have trouble matching most classes to is Asura..I see Thief and Engineer fitting them perfectly fine as well as all the light armour Scholar classes.But Ranger doesn't fit too much given the Asura's superior attitude over lesser lifeforms and their technological advancement, they just seem to lack the kind of compassion and kinship that I would consider neccessary to bond with nature and an animal companion.. core traits of Rangers.Their small frame also makes them largely incompatible as Soldier classes for me.. I find it rather hilarious seeing Asuran Warriors running about with Greatswords.. just can't take it seriously.

Norn do fit very well with Ranger as well as the Soldier classes, Necromancers and maybe Elementalist.Thieves, Engineers and Mesmers though.. no, Norn are far too big, bulking lunks to be nimble thieves and it's one of the most ridiculous combinations in the game for me.I rind their oafish nature far to dominant to justify them having the intelligence and patience for Engineering and more so the kind of mental fortitude and focus required for the mesmer arts.

Charr suffer the same issue with Mesmer even though it's been a profession they've used since Gw1.They're just far too aggressive for this profession imo and I find it difficult to believe a Charr could possess the kind of focus required to be a Mesmer.Ranger fits Charr pretty good though as Charr have a very long history as beast tamers, though I'd regard the relationship between Charr and pet more like a Master and Slave rather than an bond.. as such their pets often tend to be just as rough and gruff as they are, like Devourers, Hyena's and Drakes.The incompatibility with Ranger comes from the Nature Magic side of the class as Charr much like asura are interested in technology and are more than happy to sacrifice nature for this goal.. Druid does not fit them, at least not Charr from the legions.Warrior, Thief, Engineer, Elementalist and Necromancer fit the class well.. Revenant works too to some extent (not ventari)Guardian I feel kind of goes against their nature a bit.. Charr tend to prefer killing things rather than protecting them.

Sylvari and Ranger go well, specially with Druid.Main classes that don't fit this race too good for me are Engineer, Necromancer and Revenant.I find Engineer conflicts far too much with the druidic lifestyle of the Sylvari.. this being a strong theme with Scarlet, everything she became was essentially a perversion of what a Sylvari should be.. cruel with no regard for life, building giant machines that destroyed the earth etcSylvari don't need to make guns and turrets from metal and wood.. they literally grow plants that have the same function.. so this class just doesn't fit them at all.As for Revenant and Necromancer.. I feel that the race is very young and just hasn't been around long enough to really understand the concept of death or the magic that comes from it.. they are very much alien in the mists.I have a Sylvari Necro myself but that was more about cosmetic appeal lol

Humans are pretty much the default average in every game so they fit any class really.There is far more diversity among humans than there is the cultures of other races.Though we are finally starting to see more of it in the game in recent years thanks to the members of Dragons Watch mostly.That said these uncommon traits tend to be limited to our close allies and friends and among the wider view of their respective races the stereotypes that have defined them for so long remain pretty strong traits that are hard to see past.

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I think all the races, except Asura, are lore-friendly with ranger.

Human Rangers technically are Worshippers of Melandru and thus have a religious connection to nature, being fairly balanced between the pet and magic aspects.Norn have a similar bond, albeit stronger on the pet-side and much weaker on the magical side, due to worshipping the Spirits of the Wild.Sylvari, being plants and our Elves equivalent, are deeply ingrained with Nature and plant magic.Charr are far less compatible with Nature and plant magic, yet they still have a knack for taming animals.Although the current "industrialized" Charr Legions are moving closer to Asuran "relations" to ranger aspects:

Asura on aren't exactly known for handling animals in a respectful manner, nor are they shown to have much respect for natural balance or anything nature magic stands for.They are much better known for abusing and extort said magic (the new essence masteries are a prime example of this).Also, to Asura pets are more work animals and pets (in the real life definition) than friends.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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