Guild Wars Diversity - Discussion of new Races in the GW Universe

Why wouldn't they? If the *ghosts* are helping us, why wouldn't some of the Undead decide to help us too?

Ah well, perhaps Elona is GuildWars' Africa? Tyria would be Europe and Cantha would be eastern Asia. Just because there are some black (or shall I say Elonian-Ascalonians and Elonian-Krytans for those who like idiotic american political corectness ) you can't expect to have the option of creating black characters. True, the game gives you a choice of different skin colors but dark skin on a caucasian makes your characters look like Indians and Pakistanis. I think Elona has covered the black race nicely - not just with the skin colors but also with faces available. Not to mention the pimp hairstyles.

You can make henches and heroes any race, but I don't think you'd be able to make the main character anything other than human. Well, without changing missions dramatically. I mean a char? Cool, sure, but why would they do any of the tyrian missions at all. They'd have to have all new different missions, to like attack ascalon and invade, then chase the refugees or something. Then they'd be defending their gods the titans from human players, whatever.

It'd be cool, you could pvp against all the human players but I don't think they'd change current chapters that much. Same with naga and wardens, it'd be totally opposed to current human missions and quests that you may as well make a new campaign to see things from the opposing view...

Actually, on second thought. Yes please.
/signed more 12v12 pvp please

I agree with Kazjun I think that you should be able to have any race that is able to fight at the moment and have different missions. There could be a new PvP place just fr racial battles and races have to do their own missions but can go to all outposts. Like in Cantha I think that the races in PvP should be competing for dominance over the land. They should add like new outposts and stuff like that and new histories and new gods. And every race has their own expansion pack.
There should be:
Undead
Charr
Tengu
Envoy
and you can think of others. Most will choose undead no doubt and each race has their own special elite skill for each prof. If everyone chooses undead though that would be a problem because of PvP dominace. We need to think of how to solve that problem

ummmm...the majority of Black people live and die in Africa but there is a sizable population in the Americas. Migration from one continent to another is quite natural. I'd like to be able to make my character whatever color I like, in whatever campaign I like. Its a small thing. I'd even pay to be able to do it. It's gonna be darned troublesome to have to get to the Nightfall equivalent of Lion's Arch/Kaineng Center just to get to Tyria/Cantha(every time I type Cantha I always type Canto first) with my Black character.

As for the "race" issue...African-American and Caucasian aren't races. They're ethnicities. Humans, no matter what color they are, are all the same race.

I know. You can make indians, hispanic or whatever right now with the 3 chapters. i.e making a asian (Factions) with darker skin; or a african (Nightfall) with lighter skin; Just combine cuacasian (Propecies), asians (Factions), and africans (Nightfall) with the different skin colors, that's what I trying to explain

About fantasy races, I like a LOT the Orcs, many games add orcs as enemies NPCs, that's is good but I prefer being one I play Orc in all RPGs (that let me being one) It's my favorite fantasy race of all time.

I'd like to add my two cents to this topic.

I'm so completely fed up of playing human races in Guild Wars. I'm a human being in real life. I don't need a fantasy MMORPG to experience what being one is like.

Different skin shades don't interest me. The chance to play a race completely 'different' to what I experience in RL does.

Demons, orcs, charr, naga, tengu, werewolves, werebats, draconians, etc etc. These are the sort of races that interest me. Not yet MORE skin shades of human.

Everquest has ratonga, iksar, frogloks, trolls etc. Warcraft has dwarves, elves, minotaurs and the like. Vanguard will have wolves and similar.

How awesome would it be to have a few playable races SPECIFIC to our game? Horizons had the right idea. It had satyrs, dragons and all sorts. The game may have bombed, but you can't knock the originality.

Let's have some regengade charr and make them shamans. I rarely meet anyone who doesn't like the charr models. They're cool. Let's have some shapeshifters - but make them an interesting species like tengu.

There's nothing stopping the new professions being added to the game being non-human races and NC-Soft generally listen to suggestions quite well, so be vocal about it ^_^

Also, I'd like to throw in a suggestion for a vampire race, with form of the bat (speed buff, lower health) Form of the mist (makes you harder to hit), enchantments that create a thrall for you if you kill them with a close range melee attack (fangs), mark of the unholy (decrease effectiveness of surrounding opposition healing spells) Form of the wolf (hits cause knockdowns, bleeding) cloak of night (hits on you cause attacker to be blinded) so on and so forth.

It has potential! PS - When I say vampire, I mean proper nosferatu - glowing red eyes, bestial apperaence etc, not a bishi slender human type. The less stock 'generic human with differing skin shade' types I see in the future, the better

Maybe if we done races, in towns we could challenge people from other races to a 1 on 1 battle... maybe that's another thing races can be used for.

Gladiator battles with monsters in the game? That's a sweeeeeet idea, I like that.

I really hope the fact that a tengu has been a henchman and now a centaur is a hero, points to the fact that NC-Soft are toying with the idea of actually giving us some fully playable 'other' races though.

undead ftw, id love to do double dmg (with say judges insight) in pvp against some dudes that decided the undead necro might be a cool looking choise

tho id say that it would be kindof a hassle if it meant more than jst appearance,
i for one have my first char (warrior) an still play alot with it , ive got most of warrior greens(customized), several armor sets, runes, about 4 mil xp an over half of all skills on it
id really hate to have it gimped vs some new warrior jst because it is of different race, or if not gimped then say have less hp but more armor for example which would make my warrior gimped vs necro an mesmer spells but tuffer vs melee. so this would be a bit restrictive

i dont have any objections on a different race to have its own primary profession, i mean sec profession is gimped vs primary anyway cuz of runes armor etc so why not
for bad example
archer, race would be elf an it might get something elflike attribute as its primary, now secondary archers can never get the primary attribute so it would be kindof realistic, this way the primary attribute could be something else than a human attribute without screwing up anything...

am i making any sence?

There are several ways of doing race in GW. Here are few of them that were suggested before by various suggestion-fourmeers. (in relation to stats/proffession)

• New Race as Skin Change Only

  The new race would pretty much play as the humans, with the same profession choice, equipment stats, and no racial bonus of any sort.

• New Race with Racial Bonus

  The new race would have some sort of Racial Bonus, but otherwise still have the same profession choice as that of human.

• New Race as Attribute

  Similar to the racial bonus, but they would have a Racial Attribute associate with them, as well as Racial Skills that link to it. Attribute points are needed to make better use of them, and the skills need to be equipped. This cuts down the passiveness of a typical Racial Bonus.

• New Races as New Profession

  Will treat new race as a new profession, in which they have their own playing-role/functions/style, like any new profession. They would be able to combo with any other 2ndary as well. Unsure if need to limit them from being as 2ndary.

• New Race with its Own Core

  Instead of having new race share the core 6 profession of the human, they would get their own Core Profession too. It could mirror that of the core 6, with slight change and shuffle to better reflect the style of the new race.

• New Race as “Set Character”

  Set Character would mean they are very limited in what they can do. Not a RP or PvP character, their level, skills, stats, equipments, etc, would/could be cap to some extend. Also would mean they can only be use at certain mission/area/arena only, and can not exit out of it (like the Worm).

• No Non-human Playing Character at all

  Few people still feel that it is more original and true to the story to keep all player-playing character as human.

There might be/could be more ways of doing race too, but those are what I read before, and off my head. I guess it is matter of personal opinion on what is the best way to do the race thing. Personally I like the New Racial Core Profession for more combo choice, and bigger seperation from the exisiting professions. But I think other ways are valid too.

As most people would have a general same way feeling, we'd only want In-Guild Wars Races playble, no Tauren and outside stuff happening.
Also, no uber races, thats just slack.
No, Primitive Races, just supid.
Lastly, it must be able to merge in to the story line without distrupting it.

So were left with things like
- Dwarves
- Centaurs
- Tengu

I chose there because i distinctly remember them.
Dwarves had a major Prophecies role.
Centaurs and Tengu are in 2 chapters, thus the playability.

But did anyone say no humans bar ascalonians?
- Krytans
- Krytans - Mantle
- Shining Blade

I would say pure Luxon or Kurzick, but it would unbalance the story line (imo).
We could pass the Krytans/Magummans some missions to wait to jump on the storyline band wagon.

Good/Bad?

NO ELVES!!!!!
I'm sick of those pointy eared gits.
Legolas FTL

I personally want a Metemorpth race.

Think a changling.

It has a head, and arms and legs, but its very sleek and thin and tall.

Think Area-51-esc.

It doesnt have any apparently features to its face, and no apparent eyes or a mouth.

Its body is slim and long, as are its limbs. Its body is blue to look at, but reflects light like metal. Its slightly transparent and lets light through.

I cant think of any huge skills, but it would have the ability to change into a select number of creatures.

A large, well armored, but slow rock "the thing" kind of creature which does close combat damage.

A low armored, fire de-jin kind of creature which does high AoE fire damage.

A fast, low damage, human sized spider-like creature which can interupt and slow down with spiderwebs.

A mist like creature which can penetrate creatures and play with their minds and infect them with degen.

It would obviously have skill sets based around these and skills related to them all.

But it would also have normal abilities when in its normal state;

Like splitting into 4 and doing 4 x the dmg but weeker armor, then breaking up into water and reforming when it ends.

It can consume a creature inside itself for a given time, making the enemy amune to attack, but unable to breath and suffercating.

It can create smaller versions of itself, which it send out to overwhelm the enemy as they enter them and do dmg inside then.

It could expand to form a bubble around a given area inwhich you cant move of or enter, but those inside are protected from all attacks for a given time.

It could suck the life from people by expanding its arms inside a creature and draining the life, until its knocked down or its time runs out.

It can join itself to another team member and boost their skills while its part of them, or protect them individually.

It can turn itself into powerfull staffs or focus items which the team uses to boost their abilities for a given time.






But the main focus would be on using these different forms to do the dmg and choosing which one to use when and where.

It would be a high energy creature.

Im not sure how armor would work because its a liquid but im sure theyd get around that.

please love of god no elves x_x

Tengu are exactly like humans and if there's anything remotely possible for this it would be them. I doubt you'll see dwarves etc

Also alternative races in the game would possibly change the storyline so they would need a way for a chapter to link them together on one continent as equals.

By the way if you really want to play a dwarf I suggest....playing World Of Warcraft or just making your character as short as possible.

All this stuff about being too similar to WoW is completely right. If the developers of GW add any races, GW will lose any competitive edge it has over WoW, and we won't be able to tell the two apart.

For that matter, I hear that you can equip swords in WoW. We should really push for swords to be removed from GW as well.

In fact, Unreal Tournament copied off of WoW when it allowed you to choose different races to represent your character. Even though it came first.

I don't see how Kurzik/Luxon would unblance the game, I would definitely vote for any NPC race. For instance, Draves were a plot issue in Prophecies, therefore lore should allow for Dwarves as a playable. Factions had an alliance with the Tengu, Tengu could have been playable, with out disrutping the story. As far as, Krytan, Maguman, Kurzik, Luxon and the other Elonians, more face/hair options would solve that.

The devs need to think of it this way, "If they can hench it, they can play it"

/notsigned

Although I could see it being balanced, it would take away from the game, as it is about competition/cooperation between humans (and interaction between humans). The fact that humans are the only race seems to be pushing the mindset that these other humans really ARE other humans (despite the fact that I've never seen people who look or dress like this in real life, but that's beside the point). It wouldn't really fit into existing chapters, either, since they are all about human conflicts. The only way this could work in existing chapters is maybe a tengu in Factions, otherwise it wouldn't make sense. Hey, you get Wallow henchmen in the Kurzick areas, would we be able to play as them?

Why add another race? Are you undead, sitting at your computer typing responses to this thread?

It's supposed to be an avatar of you in the game. Not an avatar of some retarded cat with pink fur. We're people. We play people. I hate other races in online games because they always end up getting some stupid ass racial skill that people find ways to cry about (undead WoTF in WoW, anyone?)

Well I have been at my computer for 7 hours now.

Why not, of course as a Wallow there would be no dances or l33t armor and you can only play a blood necro.

As a non-human, there should be bonus and penalties, like do we all want to see a female Tengu in a Luxon 15k ele suit?

Although I do see you point about this being a "human conflict" story.

I guess it really boils down to this:

We are all tired of seeing the same 5 faces.

An awful lot of opinion and generalization in there. New races will never be added, so don't ask.

/signed...


Please, no Elfs

ok people ive been thinking dwarves from the beggining of prophacies because lets admit it they would be amazing! But i mean come on all these new proffesions are cool but when are we gonna see some monster proffesions!

personally i think tengu and char are winning it for me but there are so many more monsters that we could play as...

I wouldnt mind seeing some kind of Draconian or dragon lizard thing from the "Dragonlance" series of books. And they could be implemented to follow Glints storyline...

I would like new races too. They could just be like a "magic" set of armor that you equip. Each piece just looks like normal armor untill you equip the whole set. Once the whole set is equiped, then you look like a different race, but still keep all the same attributes as you had before. It could be similar to FOW armor (but maybe not as expensive) so you wouldn't "have" to get it, but it is still nice to have. With this, we could also have our already made characters still become different "races". If need be, these armors could even be event items (like the hats) so they give no armor, but are still cool enough to get. And if they give no armor, then they can also just be one single armor peice that you need to equip (like just head or shirt or pants or something)

Now that I've said that, I'd like to see these as races we can be (in order of most wanted to least wanted):
*Tengu
*undead (who wouldn't want an undead necro when being a MM? )
*Charr
*Snowmen (would have to be an event item; no armor value)
*ginger bread men (would have to be an event item; no armor value)
*other holiday related things similar to the snow men and ginger bread men (would have to be an event item; no armor value)
*minotars (like the ones in Nightfall)
*skales (like the ones in pre sear and I think magumma jungle, or is it Kryta?)
*forgotten (the ones in the Crystal Desert)
*Dragons (it's been discussed in other threads)
*Dwarves (yes, they might have been overdone in games, but they are still in GW and it would be nice to have them as a race)
*Elves (been overdone just like dwarves, but would still be nice; I'd only like this if elf NPC's were put in as part of a new chapter, just like there are dwarves in the shiverpeaks)

Wow, I just relized how old this thread is! Oh well. I'd still like this.

/signed for races being cosmetics (such as being a type of armor like I said above)

/not signed for races only being certain profesions, or certain races have bonuses that other ones don't have

/signed for races being as original as possible (assuming we do eventually get races)

If it is supposed to be an avatar of us ingame, how come males (in Real Life) are able to create females (in game) and visa versa? Why can't we uplode our own images of our clothes so our chars can wear what we wear? That's because it isn't supposed to be a avatar of us.

ArenaNet, it's been asked before many times, and there are ways to put it in (like what I said). Why not put it in? It will only please a lot of people, make more variety of looks in game, and possibly boost sales.

I think evil races should be implimented later.

I like the idea of Charr and Undead, and the Shiverpeak evil dwarves.

On the other hand the good races that can be added are Tengu, and the Shiverpeak good dwarves.

The evil characters would make for a cool, new type of PvP, and GvG.

If I'm not mistaken though, I think when GW's first came out, some of the interviews with Anet did suggest there would be new playable races some day in some chapter.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm a level 60 tauren chieftan sitting in front of my computer.

I’ve been wracking my brain to think of a new interesting profession for guild wars, and I think the Astrologist might be a fun direction. Take on the avatars of the zodiac; channel the powers of fate (perhaps the primary attribute) and maybe tap into the might of the stars themselves. I know this idea is a bit broad, but considering areanets insistence on using human characters, this may be a new fun direction they could take in the evolution of the game.

/Signed
Many online games aloow you to choice a Race
Being different can be a bad thing

/signed

personally id like to see charr come back in chapter 4 (if there is a chapter 4) it would bring the game more back to life and would be interesting..of course it would be a ton of work for the gw staff...but id be cool if it was something easy like luxon vs. kurzrick and only affected the PvE side of the game. it also could however affect the PvP side of teh game giving racial benefits or such and such...then again a new look wouldent be so bad.

good with almost any race, but no gnomes for god sakes.


~platnium~

What if someone is a man trapped in a woman's body, or vice versa? How do you know I don't have a full body jumpsuit with bones woven into it?

The characters are supposed to be based on you, but in a different way. They're based on what you want to look like (or want someone of the opposite sex to look like). Really, who wants to stare at themselves every time they go play a game?

/notsigned. read the guild wars lore carefully. more races would seriously screw up the storyline.

So far the stories have been mostly from the human's point of view. For example Prophecies, I doubt any dwarf/charr/centaur character would have fit in right from the beginning to the end. Did you see other races in the main human cities? I didn't. There were no dwarves in Ascalon, no dwarves in Lion's Arch. Even according to the lore of the game, it seemed like every race just minded their own business and weren't on the best of terms even during a crisis. As for the undead... well... considering that the whole world was fighting to remain alive from an undead invasion, having undead hero-type characters running around would have seriously spoiled the storyline. It's Us vs Them, and racial mixing would have caused lots of long explanations and extra material to justify having an undead hero running around.
And as for Factions... well, tengu didn't seem too happy living near humans. Or when they did, they still didn't fit in and most humans were acting pretty unfriendly towards them. Again, would a tengu hero be able to go through the whole storyline without causing serious plot problems? I think not. I doubt the Luxons or Kurzick would have trusted an outside race like that, when they didn't even want other humans to interfere. A tengu henchman was enough to get the race involved in the story, but having tons of tengu-characters running around would totally have spoiled the idea of humans having a strenuous relationship with the other race.

Maybe in future games it will make more sense to be another race, but I really don't see how they would have worked in the earlier games.

Anyhow.... /not signed. I like the game the way it is now, with human characters. I do not want to follow a storyline designed for dwarves/elves/centaurs/whatever. If there ever are other races, I prefer gamecube187's idea of them being kind of like armor or cosmetics.

Race would kill GW, IMO.
we're ok with human, really.

No offense but...
Sounds awkward and highly un-guild wars to me.

Edit:
@Perynne
Like i previously said, it doesnt have to be Ascalon alone, what happened to the Shining Blade, Mantle and even Krytan Peasants?
Also, During a crisis, anyone on merely okay terms will merge for a great cause, thus our human-dwarf alliance vs summit-mursaat alliance.

I think Tengu (or a different bird like race) would be neat, and probably not something other games have done in the past. Dwarves and Elves are obvious additions to any RPG game that most players would like.

I think that the new races should have some kind of different stats than the human race existing now. Perhaps a bonus of some sort, but also a weakness of some sort to balance it out. For example Dwarves could have incresed strength but also increased weakness to magic (or something like that), the Tengu could attack faster but do less damage per hit, and elves could have more energy but less defense.

Aliens!!!!muahahhahaha!!!!LOTS OF ALIENS!!!!!!and maybe giants and more

Dear lord NO! ugh.. no... elves....

If they ever did add a new race, why not something original? Tengu FTW!!
s'not gonna happen tho..

wanna see space marines aswell?

The problem with playable non-human races is that everyone would end up looking alike. Humans are good at recognizing different human forms. Very minor differences in facial features are enough to make two of us distinctive. With non-humans the physical differences would have to be much larger. I mean, who here honestly pay any attention to the faces of the Charrs? That would make crafting wearables far too hard.