Are we going to get a new playable race with the Canthan expension?

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

I honestly don't know.  There are a couple of ways to tie them in to the story, so it's not entirely impossible, at least conceptually and story-wise.  But, if Tengu aren't added as a playable race, what will be the big draw for EoD?  HoT had a) revenant, b) gliding & masteries, and c) the guild halls; PoF brought us the incredible mounts.  So what will be the "big draw" that will get people to drop cash on EoD?  I don't think underwater combat and Bubbles are sufficient by themselves.  Neither are the gen 3 legendaries and new elite specs.  At least, I don't think they are enough to drag a host of new players to the game.  Don't get me wrong, I fully expect that I will be buying the expansion for both of my accounts, but I do wonder what will be the big pull for EoD if it isn't Tengu or some other playable race.

[Dante.1763]

1 minute ago, Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294 said:

I honestly don't know.  There are a couple of ways to tie them in to the story, so it's not entirely impossible, at least conceptually and story-wise.  But, if Tengu aren't added as a playable race, what will be the big draw for EoD?  HoT had a) revenant, b) gliding & masteries, and c) the guild halls; PoF brought us the incredible mounts.  So what will be the "big draw" that will get people to drop cash on EoD?  I don't think underwater combat and Bubbles are sufficient by themselves.  Neither are the gen 3 legendaries and new elite specs.  At least, I don't think they are enough to drag a host of new players to the game.  Don't get me wrong, I fully expect that I will be buying the expansion for both of my accounts, but I do wonder what will be the big pull for EoD if it isn't Tengu or some other playable race.

Ive been asking myself the same thing honestly..New masteries, and an elite spec just..lack that oomph.  Especially given that all a new elite spec means is more power creep, and more than likely nerfs to other elite specs already in game to make the new one appealing.

 

A new weapon type maybe, but what would they add? Spears? They can just make staffs function as spears. Scythes? Theyve already pretty got much that covered with daredevil.

 

A new mount? okay but they can and have done that with living world, not once, but twice.

 

A new race would be a huge draw, but it has to be done right, and thats alot of effort.

[Fueki.4753]

12 minutes ago, Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294 said:

What will be the big draw for EoD?

They might think that Cantha, the favourite region of many people on the forums, is enough of a draw.

 

But after seeing what they did with my favourite regions (Istan, Vabbi, and the Crystal Desert), I don't think Cantha will be even slightly as grand as many hope.

[kharmin.7683]

Adding a new playable race is not a selling point for me.  I think it would be easier to just have a transformation for it.

[Kondor.2904]

I'm not sure why they didn't try to add new race variations in the forms of awakened humans (post-PoF) and mordrem variations of sylvari (post-HoT), which would basically serve as reskins of regular humans and sylvari without much change. It wouldn't even need any real "personal" story, I think just some background text would suffice, and you'd just start as level 80 once you complete the respective expansion story line. Or maybe they did think about it and it turned out to be way too complicated and resource intensive idk, but that could add some variety to the current races. 

But anyway, not a big deal, yeah. Plenty of other ways to make the game more diverse and engaging tbh. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Kondor.2904

[Telgum.6071]

I'm not a fan of new races. They add nothing outside individual aesthetic so is not a relevant feature at all like mounts or raids.

 

I rather see new and relevant features instead, specially after seeing they can't do everything they want (remember season 5 being cut in half to focus on the expansion?). Different races could be added through tonics like Kodan's for those who want to pretend being one of those races.

Edited July 19, 2021 by Telgum.6071

[eyelogix.1654]

On 7/18/2021 at 4:56 PM, The Fear.3865 said:

Why would you include Tengu in the original story, they are supposed to be lockdown in the empire of the winds / cantha. 

 

I recall the tengu left when Ministry of Purity banned all outsiders from Cantha during Emperor Usoku's reign.
Quetzal settled in Auric Basin, and the Angchu built the Dominion of Winds.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tengu (read under Winds of Change)

[The Fear.3865]

40 minutes ago, eyelogix.1654 said:

 

I recall the tengu left when Ministry of Purity banned all outsiders from Cantha during Emperor Usoku's reign.
Quetzal settled in Auric Basin, and the Angchu built the Dominion of Winds.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tengu (read under Winds of Change)

You really think you wont see any Tengu on Cantha cuz you read something on Wikipedia ? Lol

[eyelogix.1654]

4 minutes ago, The Fear.3865 said:

You really think you wont see any Tengu on Cantha cuz you read something on Wikipedia ? Lol

Wikipedia? It's guild wars 2 own wiki, and i recalll it was even mentioned back in the day by a dev.
Winds of Change is also playable in Guild Wars 1 setting the stone for the Tengu in Cantha.
It is briefly mentioned here 
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/lore-interview-with-ree-soesbee/ 
and here 
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Movement_of_the_World also written by Ree. 
You can also find the book in-game in Domain of Istan near the Astralarium. 🤦‍♂️

[The Fear.3865]

Can you tell us more about Tengus ? 

[Astralporing.1957]

17 hours ago, Dante.1763 said:

If they do add one it will be tengu more thab likely. They are the only other race that made it as far into development as they did. It came down to a choice between Charr and Tengu in the end as the final race.

It did not. The five races were already decided even before they started working on GW2. The Tengu might have ended up as a surprise sixth race, but there never was any option of them replacing some of the current ones.

 

Remember, that in Eye of the North expansion to GW1 they've given us racial storylines for 3 of the races (Asura, Norn and Charr), hinted at fourth (Sylvari), and removed the Dwarves from equation. In addition to humans, that gave us the current 5-race setup. No Tengu were involved.

 

Which suggests, that the choices of the five races were already locked before or during GW:EN development.

 

While they've indeed mentioned thinking about Tengu, and even preparing some ground for them, it was evidently something that appeared much later, and only as a potential addition to the choices we have now. Addition never realized, either because of too much work needed, or due to the game rushing to completion ahead of schedule.

 

 

[Zavijah.2695]

I would honestly love to see them added, with the compromise that they may not have a full fleshed out base game story, and instead a short chapter introducing them back into the fold of the outside world tying into the Icebrood Saga. 
Have good, but understandably limited wardrobe choices, particularly for head so as to minimise having to go back and tailor past sets. 

This is thinking pre-emptively in mind with the primary objections I've seen to their development.

[Devanear.9520]

I would definitely accept compromises to have Tengu in the game. This would be such a wish come true for me, no amount of restrictions could ruin it.