Ent sylvari

[sorudo.9054]

When the game was in alpha stage they redesigned the sylvari and even while i personally like the early designs i see why they did, they had to look more like a plant and less like an elf.However, they specifically said that they redesigned the race so anyone who wants to play an elf can do so but anyone who wants to play an ent can do that as well.The problem here is that, while we can make some awesome wood and other smaller elf races, we can’t really make a proper ent.

What i propose doesn’t require a different lore (a small bit adjusted but nothing major) and the story can be exactly the same.It does require a bit of refitting the armor, the body model would be different from that of plant sylvari and are a bit bigger. (biggest size equal to norn)

I first got this idea from the master of fantasy books, J.R.R. Tolkien.Back when Lord of the Rings first got on screens i fell in love with it, when The Two Towers showed ents i was sold.Years later Anet came with GW2 and told us about the sylvari redesign so it put a smile on my face.However, when it got released it put a sour taste in my mouth, sylvari can be made elf but in no sense or speech is it an ent.You can have ent-like hair and face styles but when you’re still walking with a human-like plant body it’s just a mask, not an actual ent.

I like to see a bark body with root-like hands and feet, a body type that is thin but long, kind but intimidating.

Ill leave the rest up to you.

[Tommo Chocolate.5870]

@"sorudo.9054" said:However, they specifically said that they redesigned the race so anyone who wants to play an elf can do so but anyone who wants to play an ent can do that as well.

Who said this, and in what context? Kristen Perry explicitly said that she didn't want them to be like elves or like ents in her very detailed blog post about the redesign:

"It seemed that most images of plant people fell into one of two categories: painted humans with leaf accessories or outright plant monsters. The elf concept was most prevalent, featuring flora jewelry and clothing. They may have sported leaf coiffures, but they were little more than humans with an affinity for nature."

"At the far end of the plant spectrum were all of the ents and forest monsters, composed of many root, leaf, and bulb materials that merge together to create a humanoid form. Overall, this direction is too far as it pulls away from the beautiful humanoid we wanted."

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Yeah, I don't recall any Devs saying we could be elves or ents.I think sometimes we just 'remember' what we want to remember.

[Jin.8501]

Sylvari to me has always been green elf with ugly naked body

[Ashantara.8731]

@Jin.8501 said:Sylvari to me has always been green elf with ugly naked body

That's an insult to elves, as elves don't look like plants, e.g. have no bark for skin, and don't have branches and leaves growing in funny places. ;)

Elves are beautiful, sylvari are quite creepy. :)

[Cristalyan.5728]

All this debate comes from a wrong understanding of the sylvari world. It seems that we, the sylvari, are so amazing that the other mortals cannot understand us. Even the "smart" large-ears-evolved-rats-pretending-to-be-intelligent, are unable to see the true. They are good only for target practice, as Faolain and Caithe proved.

The ents are not required because we have the Mooshearts, Druids and other guardians to protect the forest. And the Pale Tree can take care of any living plant in Maguma. Including flowers, herbs and even seeds.

@Ashantara.8731 said:

Elves are beautiful, sylvari are quite creepy. :)

This is a direct attack :# . How do you think we, the sylvari, feel by dealing every day with strange and out of the normality creatures? No color, without any drop of chlorophyll? It takes a lot of effort to act polite and respectful with beings without any leaf or branch. They don't bear any fruit. They eat fruits!! BRRRR !!!

The only good thing is that these .... other world inhabitants have the habit to battle a lot. And after the battle you have a lot of bodies - decomposing carcasses. That means nourishment enriching the soil. At least, they are not completely useless.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"Cristalyan.5728" said:It takes a lot of effort to act polite and respectful with beings without any leaf or branch. They don't bear any fruit. They eat fruits!! BRRRR !!!

"Yes, those monsters! I feel you," says my sylvari Mesmer. ;)

[sorudo.9054]

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Yeah, I don't recall any Devs saying we could be elves or ents.I think sometimes we just 'remember' what we want to remember.

i just remember just fine, i know 100% they said that.

but i already expected this to happen, instead of commenting about the idea ppl derail it and make one single thing into the main objective.

[Ashantara.8731]

It is safe to say that those of us who are not the biggest fans of sylvari looks don't care either way whether ent looks are added or not. ;)

Besides, I was trying to communicate that sylvari do not look like elves, so why should we have other non-GW2 related races (or looks) added to GW2? They refused to make elves, dwarves have become extinct, and the tree entities are the sylvari. Whether ANet adds ent-like body options or nor does not affect me in the slightest. Besides, adding ent looks to the sylvari race would kind of ruin the current lore and pose a problem with existent armor sets.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Then, there will be no problem posting the Dev quotes.
I eagerly await them, as I'm always happy to add new quotes to the file.

[Vancho.8750]

They look like the Dryads from Dungeon Siege and their three city looks somewhat like Eirulan.

[Ashen.2907]

@sorudo.9054 said:

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Yeah, I don't recall any Devs saying we could be elves or ents.I think sometimes we just 'remember' what we want to remember.

i just remember just fine, i know 100% they said that.

but i already expected this to happen, instead of commenting about the idea ppl derail it and make one single thing into the main objective.

And yet the dev quote in this very thread specifically states that they did not want sylvari to look like ents.

Personally I find the idea of a norn sized ent sylvari to be interesting. I dont know that I would play one, or that the cost associated with their addition would be worthwhile, but interesting. A thousand Groot, Gruut, Grute, I am Groot, etc running around would be hilarious