[WHAT RACES WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD TO THE GAME?]

1 hour ago, Rognik.2579 said:

All that may be true, but you forget that the first two chapters of the personal story is directly affected by the race of the character, all of which would need to be created for each race.

I literally mentioned this fact in my post. I understand why it'd be a lot of work for Anet to do, I just disagree that it wouldn't add value to the game or be worth doing.

 

Also you're kind of forgetting that Anet straight up ignores timeline inconsistencies already. Canonically it is impossible for the PC to be a revenant because Rytlock was the first, yet the Pact Commander can be a revenant while fighting Zhaitan before the class even existed yet. So that argument against a new race being Pact Commander doesn't work.

 

The Commander is a narrative void. If the player makes a Tengu the game will just treat the PC as having always been a tengu because the lore around the Commander already is inconsistent and paradoxical. 

[WHAT RACES WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD TO THE GAME?]

On 7/21/2021 at 4:05 AM, firedragon.8953 said:

Playable race?

Honestly, none.

Race adds nothing substantial in terms of gameplay mechanics in GW2. It would be a lot of work for a few moments of novelty. 

I feel like you're vastly underestimating how much a new race adds to the gaming experience for players like me. When WoW came out with the Zandalari I re-subbed and made multiple new characters and leveled them all to max level even though I already had characters using the same class as the new Zandalari were using.

 

Race adds a lot more than just novelty. It adds a whole new flavor of roleplay and a new culture to deeply invest in on top of new aesthetics to play around with in relation to gear and weapons. A new GW2 race would add even more since it'd come with a new level 1-10 experience and potentially a new racial capital.

 

I understand why Anet doesn't want to do it because of the workload but it kind of bugs me when people insist adding a new race wouldn't add anything of value to the game. New races are one of those big hooks that can get me coming back to a game and the range of playable races is a deal breaker for me if they don't have anything suitable to my preferences. GW2 has charr and sylvari who are my go-to choices here but the pickings are pretty slim otherwise. The game could use another option or two for the sake of variety.

 

... At the very least give Norn a racial battle tonic for their forms so they don't play like larger humans 99% of the time.

 

As for MY preferences. Tengu and Largos seem the most likely but have already been talked about a ton.

 

Personally I'd love playable nagas or krait even though I am fully aware it'll never happen. Same with centaurs. Though I think they could manage a sort of springing animation for the snake people the centaurs just wouldn't have good looking dodge animations.

 

I'd also love hylek even though they were a minor race in the personal story. Maybe one of the unique tribes from Maguuma instead?

 

Basically the further from human the better. Another true beast race like the charr but with a different flavor would make me so very happy.

[i love Asura gameplay personal story wise not so much]

To be fair the difference in size between an asura and a charr is a lot smaller than the difference between a charr and a giant or hydra and yet nobody bats an eye at the charr hero taking those things on with skill and determination.

 

This is an odd sort of double standard I see a lot of. People are more accepting of a human-sized fighter taking on a 50ft long dragon but if you drop just two feet off that human's height suddenly it is no longer realistic.

 

If we're going with gritty realism no playable race should survive a single hit from a giant or a sandshark aside from maybe the norn, and that is only because they're supernaturally strong and resilient for their size.

 

Also keep in mind all classes use magic to varying degrees. Your asura isn't just a mundane, every day asura if you go with warrior. They'll be enhancing their physical abilities through a passive use of the ambient magical energies in the air and in their bodies. So roleplay your asura as more of a super-asura. One that can smash the ground so hard they create shockwaves or can swing their sword so fast as to become a living blender.

 

Combine that with enchanted armor and weapons and I really don't see why an asuran warrior can't compete with humans or even the norn. After a certain point the edge the larger races get from pure biological athleticism becomes too marginal to matter.

[ranger elite spec icon speculate and theme]

On 8/3/2021 at 5:39 PM, anduriell.6280 said:

i am thinking it may be something related to the jugernauts with an f5 to transform as e-spec mechanic similar to a druid or necro . not revolutionary if that is the case.

 

I also heard the symbol is a charr kabuki  mask, which seems very plausible. Although then i have my doubts that would be the engeenier symbol because usually that profession is the one represented by a charr, while ranger is a silvary. 

 

It being connected to Kurzick lore would be really cool. They were my favorite part of Factions. 

 

Interestingly I was looking through the GW2 outfits and noticed the Primal Warden's mask looks almost identical to this symbol.

 

So an elite spec themed around the Wardens of Echovald doesn't seem too far fetched.

[ranger elite spec icon speculate and theme]

Healing definitely fits the ranger theme. The OG fantasy ranger, Aragorn, was a warrior and a healer both. Then the DnD ranger inspired by him that would go on to inspire the Guild Wars ranger also had healing spells on its spell list as a half caster, which is almost definitely why one of the five core ranger trait lines in GW2 is Nature Magic, which focuses on support and healing options to boost our support and healing spirit utility skills. Spirit skills that are a call back to the ranger spirits of GW1, who also still had Healing Spring, Troll's Unguent, and Melandru's Resilience to showcase nature's ability to heal.

 

The GW2 ranger has the potential to specialize in nature magic more deeply than the GW1 ranger could, and druid is the GW2 ranger taking it another step further.

 

Speaking of nature magic though, I am personally hoping for scepter and another elite spec that emphasizes the nature magic of the ranger but focuses more on offensive casting rather than healing like the druid. I like the mental image of the ranger wearing its symbol as a spooky face mask and holding a magic scepter made from wood and animal bone in one hand and a bloody dagger in the other. Maybe give it mantras to represent magical chanting or cantrips for additional spell tricks. 

 

Mechanics could go in a lot of directions. I am imagining no pet swap and instead a pet that gains the trait Conduit. When we cast certain spells a weaker version is produced around out pet wherever it is. Likely our animal spirit skills, so like Maul, Swoop, Viper's Strike, etc. Doubling up with us and our pet could be the big damage spike. Additionally have it be invulnerable as long as it is standing in one of our AoE ranges so it survives better.

 

Alternatively I wouldn't mind a sort of barbarian beastmaster with a two-handed warhammer that has both pets out together and has an F2 that is like a special combo that teleports both pets to the target before unleashing their skills on them. Utilities could be animal summons so it plays like a necro minion master, or it could go a different way and be a second set of Commands so we have more control over our dual pets.

 

Another thought I had was rangers getting kits. Maybe it'd come with shield and it would be more of a martial focus for ranger where our kits give us access to throwing javelins, a melee land-spear, and an elite survivalist kit with bombs, new traps, a camo disguise, etc.

 

Mechanics wise I am unsure. Maybe the pet is perma stowed and we instead get the engineer's toolbelt mechanic, but each skill summons our equipped pet with the equivalent tool-belt item attached that does whatever that skill was meant to do while it attacks the target.

[Potential Additional Pet Families?]

It is really surprising that we don't have raptors or griffins. Both are pretty unique in Tyria and many rangers would love more fantastical beast options.

Given we're going to Cantha phoenixes seem like almost a given. It was one of the three rare pets with its own statue in the Hall of Monuments and a very popular ranger pet in Guild Wars.

[Favourite Pet]

I am quite partial to the wyverns and drakes. I love my big elemental lizard friends. I especially enjoy the salamander drake and wish very much it had a better F2.

[Ranger elite specialization for the 3rd expansion.]

Soulbeast really isn't a pet enhancing spec. It allows you to play without a pet, which is the opposite of that.

To that effect I'd really like an elite spec that focuses on making the ranger a master of beasts. Either make a single pet very strong or let us have two pets out simultaneously. Remove the pet swap and instead make it a pet heal/revive if buffing one pet or losing that ability for a second F2 on the pet skill bar for the second pet.

Weapon could be a mainhand Warhorn that makes our 1-3 skills command the pet to do things. 1 could be a call that boosts the pet damage to compensate for the loss of player auto attack. 2 could be a short range move that teleports the pet to the target and slows the target. 3 could make the pets break out of stuns, gain evasion frames, and teleport back to the ranger while giving the ranger a short duration of protection.

The heal could heal the ranger and revive their downed pets instantly for when you don't want to wait for them to naturally recover. Utilities could be minion-like skills that summon an extra pet. Bonus points if we can actually assign which pets we want to each utility slot. They'd be weaker and not have their F2s, but it'd be compensated with a pack. Elite could perhaps be a skill that makes all pets invulnerable for a period of time while boosting their damage.

Basically I want to be a super powered zookeeper.

[PSA: Don't tilt if you're serious about winning.]

Agreed. Tilting basically ensures you lose that match.

Nobody plays better when they're angry or upset. If you've already been tilted your own play is probably suffering, so why would you then turn on your teammates and ensure that they are also feeling angry and upset, therefore reducing the quality of their play even further?

More than that, when you get mad and start shouting at your teammates they usually try to defend themselves. You know what they aren't doing while having an argument with you over whether or not they suck? Playing well. Because they are now focusing more on your words than they are on the objectives.

There is no positive outcome from being rude or condescending to your teammates. You've basically elected to lose the match the moment you've chosen to start trash talking your team.

[Chances of Druid pets getting a rework like Chrono did?]

Personally I've always felt it would've made sense for celestial avatar to replace pet swap, but in return the pet becomes a focus for the druid's healing abilities. Both being healed itself and becoming a secondary source for celestial form skills.

Pet swap skills would then be activated upon entering celestial avatar. Pets would get a strong passive healing pulse while you are in your avatar form along with their own celestial skin so that they can recover from heavy damage without the pet swap. Possibly have celestial avatar revive a downed pet as well. Pets acting as a conduit for the celestial spells would also allow the druid to support their allies from a distance through their pet or double up with the pet's heals when both are in melee for a burst of healing around the pair. Rejuvenating Tides and Natural Convergence in particular would pulse from both the pet and the druid and would overlap for a doubled effect when the pet and druid's AoE ranges overlapped. Pet could also leave a Seed of Life on their location whenever the player casts their own Seed of Life. Maybe Cosmic Rays could come down every time the pet lands an auto attack too.

This would intrinsically tie the pet to the druid in a way where the pet not only benefits from the druid's healing but also gives the druid more versatile use of their healing and allows for bursts of healing achieved only through careful positioning of the druid and their pet. It would also mean the druid loses the versatility of having two pets as a trade off. Rather than having two weaker pets (as is now) the druid would have a single pet of normal strength they can use to enhance their own druidic powers.