New Origins

I think giving players different origins is something this game badly needs. In fact, it contributes largely to the roleplaying aspect of many MMORPGs. ANet has talked about playing as different races. I'm sure they are thinking of this on a statistical level, as in, "how will this race change a character's stats and combat game?"

But I think the prospect of playing different races isn't as appealing as simply being able to play as a different origin. The difference is in how we think about it. At heart I am a roleplayer, and this game is not quite as satisfying as many other games I've played on the roleplaying front. But they can easily (and cheaply) add a lot to the PvE game and the user's experience in general by letting us play as different people. They can even use the existing maps, retro-fitted with different stories.

For example, play as:

• Tengu
• Dredge
• Kurzick
• Luxon
• Shining Blade
• Ascalon who stayed with King Adleburn
• Ascalon from the settlement in Kryta
• Deldrimor Dwarf
• Orrian
• Zaishen
• Forgotten

These all have potentially interesting backgrounds. One might say we already played as Kurzick, Luxon, and Ascalons from the Kyrtian settlement, but I have always felt we were just Ascalons along for the ride. In fact, the way the story has been delivered to us is very much like we are just passive watchers of events who do a bunch of fighting in between. They tried to make us seem like Kurzicks or Luxons, but we never were actually. We never grew up in their war, with their culture, their situation. The fact that the Kurzicks and Luxons so readily accepted us as their own, rather than the outsiders we actually were, just somehow seemed cheesy instead. And since we can jump sides so easily, why would they be so trusting in the first place?

With this they could finally fill in the (very many) gaps in the story. I mean, the ending to the Prophecies campagn completely ignored the white mantle and the shining blade. We finished the game and yet we have no idea what came of those parties. Or Ascalon for that matter. This is a chance for ANet to fix their plot. They could continue to make hastily written new plots, or breathe life into their old ones, enriching them to the level of most other RPGs.

I guess in the end what I'm suggesting here is that they give us new origins so that the situations they put us in more closely involes us; not just travelers who pretend like they are locals. At the moment, all we do is pretend like we are Deldrimor Dwarves; pretend we are Kurzicks; pretend we are Luxons; pretend we are White Mantle; pretend we are Krytans; pretend we are Shining Blade. This whole game consists of us going to places and doing stuff for other people when really it is always more interesting to do stuff for ourselves and be wrapped up in our own plot.

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Nobody has any thoughts on this? Comments? Flames? Nothing?

I'll agree Anet needs some definity writing improvements and yeah, it'd be interesting to grow up as a Luxon or Kurzick and learn why they have such a strong hate for each other.

But people are uneasy to satisfy, they want new shiny cool looking things. Not many people appreciate litature anymore, and the majority would take more appealing graphics over an indepth storyline sadly.

I for one do not like the different races, but growing up as a nationality would be neat.

Yeah, that's why you get more ideas about technical improvements or new game mechanics or profession concepts... its good... but somewhat depressing... *sniff*

But it would be rather difficult to impliment this, considering that you have to add them in with such carefulness that you dont screw up the storyline. I mean, if Canthans can only come into the game when the storyline is at Lions Arch (i.e. they cant do the previous quests.... although the recent update allowed them to do those missions prior to Lions Arch without the benefits of skill point gaining) then a Forgotten Character would recieve even less benefits. And then you have to take in the fact that characters starting in those areas have to have crappy swords, crappy skills, training programs and crappy monsters... it becomes overwhelming.

Good point. Managing the story is difficult. I think if you make whole new areas though, then something could be a well-done tie-in.

For example... if you are the Shining Blade you can start in one of those unused sections of the map for your training area and to get the plot rolling. You can go into some sections of Kryta after you're about level 10-ish, closed off with gates and the lack of Prophcies quests. They you can go to a whole new area where the Shining Blade sent people to get their training. Finally, you can end the story in Maguuma Jungle and carry on where the Prophecies campagn left off.

Not a lot of new areas need to be added. It could be simply another Sorrow's Furnace type of add-on.

Of course, they could go all the way with this idea and make it a whole new expanion. For some cultures such as the Forgotten or the Orrians they can create a whole new map and campagn around them. (I'm aware the Orrians don't exist anymore, by the way, but they can always slip in the "lost society" type of deal.) Such a campagn can have all the shiny new things they want.

At the moment they just seem to borrow much of their content from our world, which frankly almost takes us out of the fantasy of Guild Wars. "Let's go to Asia!" "Let's go to Africa!"... I wouldn't mind an arab-theme locale, but really, they have such good artists that they can create their own culture.

That's a possibility, there are quite a few areas of tyria that are simply unaccessible... like the area to the north would be a sound addition. There is some quests related to the norther invation... i think if I remember properly.

/signed!

I'd love to see the Guild Wars chapters evolve into a wider world with more different origins you could take and follow the storyline of. I think some of these origins and their storylines wouldn't have to be large - certainly not as large as the main adventure of 'Ascalons in for the ride'. But it would keep up PvE interest, being able to start new characters and play through different storylines that fill in the gaps created by the current, main storyline system. For example, I'd like to be part of the Shining Blade and do quests/missions in the (possibly expanded) jungle, or be a Deldrimor Dwarf and do quests that involve helping the Ascalons across the mountains and fighting the Stone Summit.

Maybe this would be quite hard to implement, but I agree with the idea that once the unique quests/missions for the individual origins have finished, the character could then go on to join the main storyline of the chapter at an appropriate point. Only characters of the right origin would be able to acccess their unique missions/quests.

I don't think being a Dwarf, Forgotten, Dredge, Tengu or any other non-human race should change anything other than looks.

This whole idea for different origins, and starting areas with quests/mission for them, could of course link up with all the ideas for filling the gaps in the map - http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=75993

Interesting thread here, I hope more stems out of the original idea. Perhaps I'll contribute a few ideas later after more discussion!

As we get into further chapters we will have several characters who come from a totaly seperate continent, that is seperate origins.

It doesn't seem like much with only one additional chapter under our wing, but after chapter 8 or so, alternate origins will be very prevalent.

Right now we have people from Ascolon, and People from Cantha, and in Cantha we have people who side with Luxons, or Kuzicks.

I agree that "more" content like this would be greatly enjoyable, but there is some of this element already.

Probably the best opportunity for players to experience previous continents with different story lines is alternate races, like Dwarfs and Tengu, or even Char, playing through a chapter that takes place on one of the previous contenents yet visiting different cities and playing through an alternate story would be very interesting, and alternate enough to justify revisitation.

However I don't believe minor human facets should be expounded. The shining blades and homebound ascolon are the ones who stay home and make families, or remain at home and defend their town, they are not the ones who continue the storyline and save Tyria or other continents. Anet could do it, but they could surely do something better, and rather than make a minor facet in a previous chapter, it woud be much better to explore a totaly original background in a totaly seperate continent. If you compare originating in the magumma jungle and playing a slight branch in story as a shining blade origin to being a student of shing jea monistary in a totaly new continent, with totaly new classes, and completely seperate story developement, it is very obvious which has more potential.

New content isn't about what could be added, anything could be added if Anet chose it, the selection of new content revolves around what is the best thing that could be added to GW. Do I want to be Shining Blade? or do I want to be something totaly new and better from a totaly new chapter, instead of rehashing previous content. It is obvious which I would chose, what would you chose?

Expanding the storyline by being able to roleplay as other origins would have been good if it had been in from the start. And if you want you can now roleplay as a White Mantle or Am Fah or other human type. But some roleplayers feel that the current storyline is already too limiting for their imagination. So I would now prefer the devs to work on entirely new content, so that I can choose from a wider range of content, and fill in any gaps I see in it for myself, rather than be given a more detailed and therefore more constrained set of roles to play within.