Race Change - A humble solution.

[Quodaax.8370]

Since I know that the subject of Race Change falls on deaf ears at ANet, may I offer up a humble solution? OK, here goes...

An NPC in the Wizard's Tower has a certain tonic that if consumed will change your appearance to any race you desire while keeping your original race a secret.

Sort of like a skin, but for whole body. This way there's no need to change a character's background or personal story lore (and sure... we still won't be able to buy race gear other than our original race). What say you? Heck, once the quest to unlock this tonic is complete, put Appearance Reversal Spells in the cash shop (as well as the Appearance Change itself). And/or you could sell each race as a skin and put a slot for it in the Wardrobe tab. We've been asking for Race Change for exactly the time GW2 launched until now, which has now been 4,342 days. It's really frustrating.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Everything about a character slot is tied down to race. You are hard locked out of even interacting with armor that doesn't match your character slot race tag. It isn't just a simple cosmetic change.

[kharmin.7683]

Please use the forums search feature.  There have been many threads with this request along with the reason why it will not be implemented.

[Sobx.1758]

1 hour ago, Quodaax.8370 said:

And/or you could sell each race as a skin and put a slot for it in the Wardrobe tab. We've been asking for Race Change for exactly the time GW2 launched until now, which has now been 4,342 days. It's really frustrating.

Who's "we"? Also if that really is the case, one would think you'd be able to simply make a new character with the desired race choice 4,341 days ago?

[Obnoxa.6702]

Not everyone rolled Norns out of the gate and now there's a lot of regret, I get it - that said what it is you are requesting is no easy feat.
I swan-dived to my death for the better part of 3 days in wvw because of one new gemstore skin with a bug last year that took three days to find. Think about how many changes your request actually calls for. 
You are asking for ALL the personal stories, ALL the racial dialogue, ALL the racial armor, ALL the racial APs, ALL the racial abilities (I know no one uses them, but they still exist), ALL the racial combat/dance/emote animations to function for any of the 5 races, 2 genders, 9 core professions and 27 elite professions. I know, I know, you are tossing out words like "skin" and "tonic" but that's only what it is on the front end; it's not a magic button on the back end, it's lines of code - lots and lots and lots of 12-15 year old code.
You know what happens to my toons Havroun Doublet if you put it on a Charr? You break the game.
You know what happens when a human zones in to the Norn personal story and tells Knut Whitebear he's going after those Sons of Svanir on there own turf to keep the fight out of Hoelbrak? You break the game.
You know what happens when an Asura casts Become the Bear? Everybody say with me now: You break the game.
Thousands upon thousands of revisions, effecting even more thousands upon thousands of racially influenced chain reactions... and it just takes one error.
Just one guy who messes up his if-else input that is supposed to allow Sylvari, that is actually a Norn and only looks like a Sylvari but not real Sylvari, to talk to the T1 Norn armor vendor and instead with sample guy's 'oopsie' now any Sylvari can interact with the T1 Norn armor vendor and one day a real Sylvari does... and equips those brand new Norn boots that were never coded to be equipped by a Sylvari and what happens? Hoelbrak stops. Just... stops. Everyone in Hoelbrak gets kicked and anyone with a toon in Hoelbrak can't log in while every single Sylvari in GW2 is wearing said Norn Boots and nothing else no matter what armor they have on. Now we have a handful of ANet employees spending who knows how many days trying desperately to debug millions of lines of revised code to find the needle-in-the-Norn-Boots that broke the kitten game.
 

I figure if you can be cavalier in how easy your suggestion is, I can be heavy-handed in the potential for damage in my rebuttal; adds some balance 😆
But anyone who has ever had the misfortune of debugging bad code will tell you I'm not actually being very dramatic.

Race may not seem very important now because of the direction the game ultimately went in, but it influences characters more than you seem to realise; something as simple as what npcs say when certain races are around them could create all kinds of game busting bugs regarding storylines, hearts, achievements and any other possible character interactions because like it or not, character race was weaved heavily into characters in the core game; you would basically have to rewrite the game for the amount of revisions necessary.

I can't imagine what would motivate someone to cling to the idea of racial changes; don't want to do a map completion but really like your little star? Didn't foresee bikinis and speedboats and your Asura looks like a low-rent Pitbull while the babes party it up with ripped Norn and Human dudes? Rolled a Charr and then realised... now you're a Charr? Yikes, that is a rough one; my condolences. Whatever it is, I'm sure you have a reason, but after 4,342 days I would advise you to stop holding your breath for those race change tonics and utilize character slot #2.

[Ryuk.6840]

5 hours ago, Quodaax.8370 said:

Since I know that the subject of Race Change falls on deaf ears at ANet, may I offer up a humble solution? OK, here goes...

An NPC in the Wizard's Tower has a certain tonic that if consumed will change your appearance to any race you desire while keeping your original race a secret.

Sort of like a skin, but for whole body. This way there's no need to change a character's background or personal story lore (and sure... we still won't be able to buy race gear other than our original race). What say you? Heck, once the quest to unlock this tonic is complete, put Appearance Reversal Spells in the cash shop (as well as the Appearance Change itself). And/or you could sell each race as a skin and put a slot for it in the Wardrobe tab. We've been asking for Race Change for exactly the time GW2 launched until now, which has now been 4,342 days. It's really frustrating.

I think "hiding" things is an interesting concept   , rather than the normal Race Change that can create more bugs than needed .

 

If i had to add something on that  is , that we can combine Personal Stories with board game like "Clue"  , to create some Instanced repayable Content  .

Each person can waste designing +5 characters of different race (and keep those to be used by the Wizard Tower's potion as an alternative to Race Change as you proposed) .

One random character will be he "main character" in the board  game , and a random one  (from you or the opponents)  as the "killer" that needs to be found .

As long as he have drunk an extra potion , your Normal class  , get more race affixes ,  becoming a Sylvari/Char ... etc , hybrid  , allowing you to join all Personal Stories from every Race,  that are unlocked for you and your teammates as  "rooms" as each time the next persons  roll a dice . (if the roll is low , you can do some IBS Strikes)

Then it normally  follows the rules of Clue , but some bosses like Big Ted are replaced by the shadow-killer .

 

In the same time , you also unlock the  option to join each race personal stories to be done of your leisure  time , by your hybrid class , or take the opportunity to redesign  personal Stories

small edit: Rather than having +5 contestant ,  in the same room at and the same time  , there could be linked for the whole day and each checks every few hours what where the moves of the others and as far as Strike goes (or even OW event) as the low rolls punishment , is proceeded if the sum of "failed rolls" exceeds 20 in the linked party . Then like PvP tourmants , there will be a time , where whoever team (or solo players)  had low rolls can participate

Edited July 16 by Ryuk.6840

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

Just.  Make.  Another.  Toon.

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

8 hours ago, Quodaax.8370 said:

Since I know that the subject of Race Change falls on deaf ears at ANet, may I offer up a humble solution? OK, here goes...

An NPC in the Wizard's Tower has a certain tonic that if consumed will change your appearance to any race you desire while keeping your original race a secret.

Sort of like a skin, but for whole body. This way there's no need to change a character's background or personal story lore (and sure... we still won't be able to buy race gear other than our original race). What say you? Heck, once the quest to unlock this tonic is complete, put Appearance Reversal Spells in the cash shop (as well as the Appearance Change itself). And/or you could sell each race as a skin and put a slot for it in the Wardrobe tab. We've been asking for Race Change for exactly the time GW2 launched until now, which has now been 4,342 days. It's really frustrating.

this "solution", although locking your appearance into that of the tonic (IE you wouldn't be able to change armor skins nor dyes while in tonic mode)^, seems to be the only viable "solution" to allowing one  to "change race" for their characters. This would actually be acceptable for several reasons: 1) (coding) no change to the character save file, meaning no fatal errors associated with with the save file (Skyrim modders know this problem very well.) and 2) (lore) mesmers, in the personal story, change your character's appearance to fool the enemy. 3) (lore) engineers mimic magic through chemical concoctions (elixers) and 4) (coding) combat tonics already exist in game. (like Kodan combat tonics)

^... i also acknowledge that you would also be locked into the racial skills of the race you originally selected for your character.

I would be all for making generic race combat tonics. eventually there could even be dozens of various race combat tonics.

it would allow for roleplaying, for silly-raids (everybody bring a charr!) when people only have so many character slots, or for any other reason i currently can't think of... i am suffering from Bacon Deficiency Disorder, so sometimes i just can't imagine all the things that people enjoy

[Obnoxa.6702]

8 hours ago, Forgotten Legend.9281 said:

this "solution", although locking your appearance into that of the tonic (IE you wouldn't be able to change armor skins nor dyes while in tonic mode)^, seems to be the only viable "solution" to allowing one  to "change race" for their characters. This would actually be acceptable for several reasons: 1) (coding) no change to the character save file, meaning no fatal errors associated with with the save file (Skyrim modders know this problem very well.)

If by viable, you mean a tonic like the toys tonics, sure - but I get the impression the OP wants to be able to play the character in OW/WvW/PvP to which, how would you get around all the true/false racial statements implemented into the characters code on creation without having to edit the code to avoid errors?

[Cyninja.2954]

21 hours ago, Quodaax.8370 said:

We've been asking for Race Change for exactly the time GW2 launched until now, which has now been 4,342 days. It's really frustrating.

Yeah, that's a very long time to "not get the message". Imagine spending 4,342 days expecting a very specific solution to an issue which could have been solved from day 1: make a new character.

The developers have explained why race changes are not likely to get implemented for a very long time now. I'm pretty sure that they would have gladly implemented such a feature if only to monetize it heavily IF it were on the table.

You are of course free to wait another 4,342 days hoping for a feature which might never get implemented.

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

5 hours ago, Obnoxa.6702 said:

If by viable, you mean a tonic like the toys tonics, sure - but I get the impression the OP wants to be able to play the character in OW/WvW/PvP to which, how would you get around all the true/false racial statements implemented into the characters code on creation without having to edit the code to avoid errors?

should i quote myself? i specifically stated combat tonic, which is currently usable anywhere without changing the character's code. (except i don't know if combat tonics are allowed in PvP mode since i stopped playing it before PoF) I've used combat tonics in OW and WvW before... no problem. you're making an issue out of something that is already in-game and not an issue... reminder: tonics don't change character code.

[Schimmi.6872]

25 minutes ago, Forgotten Legend.9281 said:

should i quote myself? i specifically stated combat tonic, which is currently usable anywhere without changing the character's code. (except i don't know if combat tonics are allowed in PvP mode since i stopped playing it before PoF) I've used combat tonics in OW and WvW before... no problem. you're making an issue out of something that is already in-game and not an issue... reminder: tonics don't change character code.

They don't work in PvP, raids,... and the most important thing, they don't work with other transformations like mounts, chairs, class skills etc.

Edited July 16 by Schimmi.6872

[Obnoxa.6702]

3 hours ago, Forgotten Legend.9281 said:

should i quote myself? i specifically stated combat tonic, which is currently usable anywhere without changing the character's code. (except i don't know if combat tonics are allowed in PvP mode since i stopped playing it before PoF) I've used combat tonics in OW and WvW before... no problem. you're making an issue out of something that is already in-game and not an issue... reminder: tonics don't change character code.

I don't know - quote yourself if you want, a combat tonic let's you fight but it doesn't behave anything like a skin; and I admit, I don't use them so I didn't know you could enter combat with them, but I digress, the OP is talking about races as skins and maybe it is presumptuous of me to assume they don't want the minimal customization of a tonic, which doesn't allow for armor appearance/effects, instances, ALL of the things Schimmi mentioned, but if a combat tonic change was the level of change they were looking for, why are they writing about a wardrobe tab addition?
I don't think the OP is looking to be an always weapon wielding Kodan, or in this case Asura, so how do you suggest a tonic that visually sits above the character model but underneath armor, effects (weapon stowing, etc.) and skills that also allows the character to enter instances maintaining  the tonic effect without revising any of the games code?

Edited July 16 by Obnoxa.6702

[kiroho.4738]

On 7/15/2024 at 10:00 PM, Quodaax.8370 said:

Since I know that the subject of Race Change falls on deaf ears at ANet

It doesn't fall on deaf ears at all. Anet did look into this potential feature years ago and decided it's not worth the work.
There are too many systems bound to the race and the risks that one or some of them kitten up is too high. Plus changing everything to support a race change is - as said - too much work for the little gain.

A very simple example:
What happens if you wear cultural (race bound) armor and change the race? It would completely kitten up your character model.
Okay, let's say race change is only available if no cultural armor is used -> what if a player simply unequip their armor and change the race? They can't equip it again and they can't change the skin (as a character have to wear it first).
Exotic and lower armor are lost forever this way. Ascended armor requires a character or the old race in order to equip it and change the skin. Not everybody has a character of all races and all weights. Also not everybody has a free character slot to create a char for this purpose.
And even if, it's an overall dirty solution.

Racial skills and the personal story that has to be resetted are much more complicated problems.

 

On 7/15/2024 at 10:00 PM, Quodaax.8370 said:

We've been asking for Race Change for exactly the time GW2 launched until now, which has now been 4,342 days. It's really frustrating.

And yet you haven't noticed Anet's answer to this request or simply ignored all their reasons?...

And who is "we" btw? You are speaking for yourself, nobody else.

 

On 7/15/2024 at 10:00 PM, Quodaax.8370 said:

An NPC in the Wizard's Tower has a certain tonic that if consumed will change your appearance to any race you desire while keeping your original race a secret.

That's literally combat tonics. We already have a bunch of them in the game. Including at least one for each race.

Aside from playable races, combat tonics also include Watchknight, Kryptis, Kodan, Awakened, Shadow Warrior, Olmakhans' sand elemental and embiggening/miniatur transformations.

Edited July 17 by kiroho.4738

[Mic.1897]

Race changes shouldn't be a thing

I know everyone wants to change to Charr, but paying to become one wouldn't really be something to be proud of.

Begin anew like the current Charr players had to

[Dibit.6259]

As kiroho.4738 mentioned, it wasn't that anet weren't/aren't listening to the race change request, it was the fact that it couldn't be worked into the code. I believe this to be the case even with the "race change tonic". It would probably have to be very limited as to not mess with current code. They can add new things in game easier than they can change old stuff is a bit more complicated. Even with new stuff we still get bugs which take time to fix. It's probably still easier and quicker to create a new character.

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

18 hours ago, Obnoxa.6702 said:

I don't know - quote yourself if you want, a combat tonic let's you fight but it doesn't behave anything like a skin; and I admit, I don't use them so I didn't know you could enter combat with them, but I digress, the OP is talking about races as skins and maybe it is presumptuous of me to assume they don't want the minimal customization of a tonic, which doesn't allow for armor appearance/effects, instances, ALL of the things Schimmi mentioned, but if a combat tonic change was the level of change they were looking for, why are they writing about a wardrobe tab addition?
I don't think the OP is looking to be an always weapon wielding Kodan, or in this case Asura, so how do you suggest a tonic that visually sits above the character model but underneath armor, effects (weapon stowing, etc.) and skills that also allows the character to enter instances maintaining  the tonic effect without revising any of the games code?

You're post asked me MY meaning... and now you're attacking me for explaining MY meaning... by telling me that MY meaning doesn't match everything that you think the OP means. I think I was pretty clear that tonics wouldn't offer everything the OP asked for. 

Saying that im okay with something is NOT the same as caring enough about it to answer all your ridiculous coding questions about stuff beyond the scope of being okay with combat tonics. I'm not your slave. I don't have to suggest anything about ideas I don't care about, even if I say I'm okay with them.

My opinion is that you are harassing me, now...

why not stop berating me over what I didn't say.  

All I said is that I'd be fine with combat tonics for different races, and mentioned that there are limitations to tonics by mentioning few specific limitations, including that ... I'll just quote my post. The italics part was there originally, too

On 7/15/2024 at 11:44 PM, Forgotten Legend.9281 said:

this "solution", although locking your appearance into that of the tonic (IE you wouldn't be able to change armor skins nor dyes while in tonic mode)^, seems to be the only viable "solution" to allowing one  to "change race" for their characters. This would actually be acceptable for several reasons: 1) (coding) no change to the character save file, meaning no fatal errors associated with with the save file (Skyrim modders know this problem very well.) and 2) (lore) mesmers, in the personal story, change your character's appearance to fool the enemy. 3) (lore) engineers mimic magic through chemical concoctions (elixers) and 4) (coding) combat tonics already exist in game. (like Kodan combat tonics)

^... i also acknowledge that you would also be locked into the racial skills of the race you originally selected for your character.

I would be all for making generic race combat tonics. eventually there could even be dozens of various race combat tonics.

it would allow for roleplaying, for silly-raids (everybody bring a charr!) when people only have so many character slots, or for any other reason i currently can't think of... i am suffering from Bacon Deficiency Disorder, so sometimes i just can't imagine all the things that people enjoy

 

[MooTownSnacker.3659]

Resurrecting this thread to say it would require a bit of work, but they could make a distinction between race and nationality.  Your "nationality" (ie. existing race-check functions) could stay the same, so that no story or ability changes are needed, and the only thing that is added is an appearance flag so you can't equip gear for which there isn't a model (or A-Net could bite the bullet and make the models for all races). Yes, some gear would then be unwearable, but the sacrifice may be worth it to some.

[Maria Murtor.7253]

"Deep down, everyone's a Ferengi." - 284th Rule of Acquisition

But I can see the temptation of being a Charr.