Oh Gods! "Blade Runner" Kaineng City is real :(

[Linken.6345]

7 hours ago, mythical.6315 said:

Funny that it looks to be one of the most technologically advanced places in Tyria despite being so isolated.   I hate it when games (and movies) do this. 

wakanda errr I mean Guildwars 2 forever

[Ultramex.1506]

Pfft,  if i wanted same old medieval fantasy, then i will play ESO/LOTR/WOW with their holy trinity races of Elf/Dwarf/Human, at least ESO have cat and lizard. Let GW2 do it thing

Edited December 19, 2021 by Ultramex.1506

[Dawdler.8521]

Now if only GW2 looked like its concept art...

[Freya.9075]

Ppl have different taste and opinions which is fine. Anet will never be able to cater to all. If you feel the game is taking a wrong turn, maybe it’s time to move on.
 

I see nothing wrong with the concept art. There are many concept art that looks different then ingame so it’s best to wait with the doom and gloom till you actually see it.

[Omega.6801]

Totally fine with this. Magitech has always been a part of GW2 and it's visual design. Wouldn't it be very disapointing if 250 years had passed and everything looked like GW1? I know, it's nostalgia and how dare things change, yadayada make GW2 GW1 again, I know. But not everyone wants GW2 to be GW1 and GW1 is still live for you to enjoy.

Edited December 18, 2021 by lokh.2695

[Teratus.2859]

Ewww cyberpunk..

Kaineng was no looker in Gw1, but cyberpunk is one of the few things they could have added to it to make it look worse than a mass of rotting wood.

I'll reserve much of my judgement until I see it in game of course but if most of this massive city is covered in neon lights and it's citizens are running about with repulsive semi shaved heads etc I will spend as little time there as humanly possible for the sake of keeping vomit out my keyboard lol

[Teratus.2859]

15 hours ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

I don't think most players who have been playing GW2 since launch started this game so they would be playing in a cyberpunk universe.

I hate this direction. I feel 100% alienated by it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

If this is the future of GW2, I suppose it is time to start looking for another MMO. 😢

Speaking for me there.

I've got nothing against Magitech, the Asura fit really well into this world and their architecture is aesthetically pleasing and adds to the game.

Cyberpunk is a completely different style and one that I personally detest.
Same goes for Steampunk which I also detest.

I can think of no two styles more visually repulsive and offensive than those two abominations.

The Aetherblades pushed it quite hard with those horrendous armour and weapon skins they brought to the game but I genuinely dread any kind of inclusion of Cyberpunk which is arguably worse lol
Generally I won't even play a game if it's Cyberpunk themed so I hope that little to none of it ever comes to Gw2.
It simply will not fit into this world and will stand out even more than the ugly Aetherblades did.

There are plenty of games that mix fantasy and future tech together really well, the Asura again are a good example of this in Gw2.
But cyberpunk, god no lol
It's a style I consider to be 100% regressive rather than progressive.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Teratus.2859

[BadSanta.6527]

it is look beutifuly !!! good work anet , feels as map asthethic you made really good effort 

hope for the same or at least half of it on the elite specs and we good to go !!! 

 

[Sobx.1758]

15 hours ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

I don't think you get me.

It took me a while to make my peace with the Charr steam tech and the annoying increase of Asuran technology everywhere

Oh, I think they do get it, but you're missing why they're responding the way they do (and I agree with them). Your claim is "this is not what gw2 is!" and you're just being shown that it really IS what GW2 was for quite a long time. You're free to dislike it all you want, but lets not pretend that design is somehow out of place.

I like it btw. It looks fresh and interesting.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Sobx.1758

[saalle.4623]

I love it actually, this sort of diversity works for FF XIV so can work for this too. I just hope its not complete shift but just tied to this region.

Edited December 18, 2021 by saalle.4623

[Lyssia.4637]

19 hours ago, Mungo Zen.9364 said:

It’s not like we are riding around on  stuffed toy mounts….that would break the fantasy feeling pretty quickly I’d imagine. 

Hey, now... what is The Nutcracker, or Babes in Toyland, if not fantasy?  Anet is just going really retro-old-school.  😁

Besides, what else would magical girls ride around on??  Or Queensdale Academy Harry Potters during the winter holidays?

 

Blade Runner is arguably a sci-fi film noir.  Frankly, I don't much care if they add more science fiction; as someone else said, I'll go to the ES series for my pure fantasy.  I am a lot more excited about the suggestion of noir elements in that concept art; I'd like to see more twisty, dark stories with less angst and more grit.  I think there is absolutely NO chance that's what we're actually going to get, but at least I can enjoy a couple of weeks of imaging the possibilities.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Lyssia.4637
Edit: bad sentences. They're behaving now, I promise.

[number.8174]

20 hours ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

Latest Artwork for New Kaineng City

Don't get me wrong, the original "Blade Runner" is one of my all-time favorite movies. But - and sorry to repeat myself - I don't want GW2 to be turned into a futuristic Cyberpunk Game. 😢

Make a new game if you must, but stop ruining this one by mixing genres to such extent.

Kaineng City being futuristic doesn’t means that the entire game will now be reformulated and be “cyberpunky”. I think the new cyberpunk theme for Kaineng and Cantha itself fits perfectly with the lore of this region of the world of Tyria, as they developed independently through the years, isolated from the rest of the world. Furthermore, I expect that other regions and continents have their own culture and different styles too. You can’t expect that all the regions in the world have developed in the same pace as the medieval humans of Tyria continent, the Asuras and Charrs themselves are more technological than Tyrian humans, different races on different regions develop in different ways, even the real world is like that, some countries are more developed and richer than others. GW2 it’s a fantasy game, so I personally like ANet to mix medieval with some futuristic and steampunk things just like in Final Fantasy games.

Edited December 18, 2021 by number.8174

[Elricht Kaltwind.8796]

My feelings on this are complicated. Do I want futuristic cyberpunk elements in Guild Wars? No. Not at all. What attracted me to Guild Wars as a series was Pre-Searing Ascalon, and that's what I still think of as the quintessential Guild Wars environment. The closer to those sort of environments we had in the first game, the more I like it.

 

However, while I agree strongly that these sci-fi elements are a terrible choice in direction for the series, they're already here and have been for a long time. It started with the Asura stuff, which I largely disliked from launch, and got substantially worse from there. At this point, some of the coolest most distinct locations in the lore have already been turned into forgettable sci-fi laboratories and the like (Gandara etc.) Players are riding on high-tech mounts. Even the Aetherblade stuff, which I actually thought was pretty cool for the most part, was probably the first time they intensified the cyberpunk stuff in the game world.

 

So as someone who has really disliked all of it from the beginning when I see "cyberpunk Kaineng," I actually feel kind of positive about it. Like we all knew it was going to be more high-tech sci-fi stuff, but at least this time it looks like it'll probably be cool and immersive. And when I think about how awesome Kaineng was in Factions, this does seem like a natural evolution of that, and to be honest it always has. Kaineng in the first game was already like a sort of mashup of Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong, and Dharavi, India. It was obviously meant to evoke a parallel between these modern slums which we associate with computer piracy and peddling stolen tech etc in the real world, but then made to fit naturally in the Guild Wars world. And that's where the key lies: rather than take something from the real modern world and simply adapt it into the game world 1:1, they thoughtfully transposed it into the game world in a way that felt completely convincing and artful and natural. And I think that sensibility has always been missing in the sequel, where flashy nonsensical stuff reigns more and more as the years pass.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Elricht Kaltwind.8796

[MagicalLeaf.1307]

The great and eternal question:

 

Will this community ever quit complaining?

 

[Metricos.5617]

People get real mad when they're forced to reckon with a fictional society learning to use or invent technology to improve and advance their own civilizations.

 

Even in fantasy settings, high or low, the complete stagnation of technological advancement is just bad writing.

 

I'm stoked to see what 200+ years will do for Kaineng. They deserve it.

[Pifil.5193]

I think it looks great. Can't wait to see it in game.

[Elricht Kaltwind.8796]

17 minutes ago, Metricos.5617 said:

People get real mad when they're forced to reckon with a fictional society learning to use or invent technology to improve and advance their own civilizations.

 

Even in fantasy settings, high or low, the complete stagnation of technological advancement is just bad writing.

Huh? We went from civilisation being in a state with a level of development between the early middle ages and the renaissance, to being in 2300. I think that's what people find unconvincing, not technological development lmao. It's not bad writing to have a civilisation that develops at a realistic pace.. when I saw Guild Wars 2 concept art, I thought the whole game was going to have a 1700s-1800s vibe and I thought that was a great direction that would follow naturally in succession after the first game's world.

 

It's also extremely jarring that different areas of society are seemingly on completely different levels of development simultaneously. We're still using greatswords and giant hammers like the high middle ages but why are we doing that when we could be flying around in spaceships with laser cannons? You want to talk about civilisations not advancing being bad writing but in actuality, what totally breaks the world and its lore is the introduction of rapid advancement.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Elricht Kaltwind.8796

[Eesolk.5267]

I'm actually excited by the direction they're taking. One of the coolest things for me when I first started playing GW2 was how the world evolved between the events of GW1 and 2 and it's nice to see they're keeping up with that trend.

[Tails.9372]

Some people seem to seriously overestimate how much "cyberpunk" there is going to be. The concept art is barely any different from this part of the Jade Sea. Make it night time, add some neon tubes to some of the buildings and it's essentially the same as in the drawing.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Tails.9372

[ugrakarma.9416]

6 hours ago, Teratus.2859 said:

Speaking for me there.

I've got nothing against Magitech, the Asura fit really well into this world and their architecture is aesthetically pleasing and adds to the game.

Cyberpunk is a completely different style and one that I personally detest.
Same goes for Steampunk which I also detest.

I can think of no two styles more visually repulsive and offensive than those two abominations.

The Aetherblades pushed it quite hard with those horrendous armour and weapon skins they brought to the game but I genuinely dread any kind of inclusion of Cyberpunk which is arguably worse lol
Generally I won't even play a game if it's Cyberpunk themed so I hope that little to none of it ever comes to Gw2.
It simply will not fit into this world and will stand out even more than the ugly Aetherblades did.

There are plenty of games that mix fantasy and future tech together really well, the Asura again are a good example of this in Gw2.
But cyberpunk, god no lol
It's a style I consider to be 100% regressive rather than progressive.

completely agreed.

 

if they go tech, i would prefer something more new like synthwave and its more with magitech.

 

[Ashantara.8731]

55 minutes ago, Elricht Kaltwind.8796 said:

Huh? We went from civilisation being in a state with a level of development between the early middle ages and the renaissance, to being in 2300. I think that's what people find unconvincing, not technological development lmao. It's not bad writing to have a civilisation that develops at a realistic pace.. when I saw Guild Wars 2 concept art, I thought the whole game was going to have a 1700s-1800s vibe and I thought that was a great direction that would follow naturally in succession after the first game's world.

This. Thank you.

Quote

It's also extremely jarring that different areas of society are seemingly on completely different levels of development simultaneously. We're still using greatswords and giant hammers like the high middle ages but why are we doing that when we could be flying around in spaceships with laser cannons? You want to talk about civilisations not advancing being bad writing but in actuality, what totally breaks the world and its lore is the introduction of rapid advancement.

Indeed. I have nothing more to add to the topic.

P.S.:

2 hours ago, Lyssia.4637 said:

I am a lot more excited about the suggestion of noir elements in that concept art; I'd like to see more twisty, dark stories with less angst and more grit.

They already promised that for the Icebrood Saga. And what did we get? Yes, it started out quite promising with the Bjora Marches (map+missions alike), but then it went back to a kids-friendly, boring "same old, same old."

So if you are expecting a noir themed expansion, I think you will end up being majorly disappointed.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[Flapjackson.1596]

We’ll have to see how it actually looks in-game, but I see this as the best looking use of the Jade so far. It actually has contrast with the darker city. Compare it to the Jade Sea where the jade parts of the map are garish and dominating or Shing Jea that looks irradiated.

[Tsakhi.8124]

I'm kind of neutral on this, because I've played little of Guild Wars. However, if they're going for the high fantasy/ sci-fi mix, I think it would kind of look and feel like Final Fantasy 6 for the SNES which is a good thing. You have the Espers and the Magi-tech blending into this chaotic but sort of beautiful way. The old ways mingling with the new. It's like the  stages of grief, where you eventually just accept that things never stay the same.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Tsakhi.8124

[Voraxen.2035]

I love it like many others. Jade tech colors be popping.

[Lyssia.4637]

1 hour ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

you will end up being majorly disappointed.

Nope.  Expect the worst, imagine the best.  Right now, I get to imagine the best.  If we get the worst, it won't be worse than I'm expecting, and imagining the best is likely to give me new grist for my own next novels, and ideas for the direction of the world I've built for them.  So, it's all good either way.  😉