Best race for new xpac

[Kalstark.8462]

Hey all. Been away for awhile and looking to get back into game before new xpac comes out. What would you say is the best race lore wise to make for this?  Leaning nord. I also just got the kodan tonic and was thinking maybe try to just use it all the time. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks all 

[mandala.8507]

It's probably Human > Charr > Norn > Asura > Sylvari for story relevance.

Norn is going to fit the aesthetic of the expansion the best, no question.

Using a combat tonic for all of story can be challenging in the modern game since you can't mount or anything while it's active.

[CETheLucid.3964]

The story is PC centric and the PC can be any of the playable races.

With the Elder Dragon's gone, charr civil war wrapped up, and the Pact without a purpose the major races have established a new "Pact", the Tyrian Alliance, while you were off with the wizards. You're about to be reincorporated into this as Isgarren has decided he's going to reveal his order to Tyria and you'll be the front man as his Wayfinder.

So far major players seem to be humans and charr, they're the ones out there right now that we know about. The White Mantle cultists clearly had a major presence in the area and Titans (the formerly extinct false gods of the flame charr of yesteryear) have been rediscovered. Janthir was also a major mursaat hub forever ago. We'll probably see a lot of their ruins and abandoned stuff. Unless...

Also a new tribe of kodan we've never seen before are out there. Been out there for a while. They're probably the friends that are going to teach us the ways of the spear and give us shelter.

Do with that what you will.

[Dean Calaway.9718]

It's highly unlikely you'll get race specific story, so I'd go with the tried and tested mid to small characters, since Norn and Charr always feel slow and sluggish, plus never mind jumping.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

16 hours ago, Kalstark.8462 said:

Hey all. Been away for awhile and looking to get back into game before new xpac comes out. What would you say is the best race lore wise to make for this?  Leaning nord. I also just got the kodan tonic and was thinking maybe try to just use it all the time. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks all 

So far it feels very much like SotO as being not very race specific. Though White Mantle are somewhat involved, it seems to just be their ruins, and we have indication of charr relation to the narrative too. But the main plot point seems to be this "United Nations"-Tyrian Style that is being developed in secrecy (for some reason), which so far appears to involve all the playable races (only one not outright confirmed is sylvari) plus Cantha (probably Elona too).

Overall I feel GW2's plots can be grouped into three segments:

• Core -> HoT - the "we're telling a new story and we're focusing on sylvari because they're new" narratives, which means while every race is touched upon, main focus is on sylvari because, to paraphrase an ANet dev a while back, they have the most to tell to catch up
• LWS3 -> EoD - the "hey, remember being in this place in GW1? Well now you're back there" narratives, which means primarily human focused (IBS is the only real exception, being more charr and a bit norn focused)
• WLB -> JW (and more?) - the "hey, remember this mystery that never got explained in GW1? Well we're explaining it" narratives, which despite tying to GW1, isn't really focused on any one race because such is only tangentially tied to the races around in GW1.

For what it is worth, the trailer stand-in of the Commander during the PoF, IBS, EoD, and SotO timeframes can be seen in Dragon Bash now. None for JW, but since we don't see SotO's standin, it is likely the tanned female norn that shows up frequently, such as next to Malice at 0:23 in the trailer, or front and center in this screenshot. For PoF, IBS, and EoD the standins for the PC were of the race that has the most ties to the (beginning of the) storyline - Elonian-styled human, norn, and Canthan-styled human. SotO's is a sylvari and this makes JW a norn. where is my charr representation ANet?

[Genesis.8572]

On 6/8/2024 at 8:28 PM, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

So far it feels very much like SotO as being not very race specific. Though White Mantle are somewhat involved, it seems to just be their ruins, and we have indication of charr relation to the narrative too. But the main plot point seems to be this "United Nations"-Tyrian Style that is being developed in secrecy (for some reason), which so far appears to involve all the playable races (only one not outright confirmed is sylvari) plus Cantha (probably Elona too).

I wonder if this "Tyrian United Nations" is meant to move the story towards the hypothetical Guild Wars 3.