The source of my turmoil lies in an essential question I have to ask myself when I venture into a game world - who am I? Am I me? Will - the human male; 6'3, around 15 stone, all round suave entrepreneur and geekeratti? Or am I something other than that?
Am I Bristleback Firepit: The ferocious charr warrior?
Am I Willem Stillwater: Secondborn sylvari ranger?
Am I Vilhjálmr Nix-talker: Tearaway norn guardian?
Or am I Distilled: genius asuran thief?
I've always been drawn towards the sylvari, they seemed to fit the ranger profession and, having played ranger all the way through my Guild Wars 1 career, I had fully expected to take this choice into the next game. But as I have said in the past, the focus which the ranger places on the pet in the new game just hasn't grabbed my attention. As I began to question my choice of profession, so too did I question my choice of race.
In the initial flurry of excitement over the sylvari redesign I overlooked some of my doubts. I loved the fact that they embraced the leafy design and really focused on the organic growth of the race as a whole, but I don't know whether I fully agree with Ree Soesbee's assertion that the sylvari are a totally new race in the fantasy scene (let's be realistic!). Admittedly, they aren't just humans with leaves attached to them, but they aren't enough of a break from the norm to pull me away, and they aren't exciting enough to pull me away from my new loves: the asura and the charr.
The asura and the charr represent a true step away from the norm. Whilst the sylvari could be seen as essentially humanoid, the two more "animal" like races are very much a step into the other. Their animations are so much more full of life than the humanoid races - they sway and shift their centre of balance in a much more expressive way than what I've seen from the other races. It is this venturing into the unknown; into the territory of the more beastly side of role play which really intrigues me. Having asked myself the question: "Who am I?" I've come out with the answer; "Whoever the hell I want to be!" (possibly adding a: "BITCH!" onto the end of it, if I'm feeling frisky).
Lucky you don't have just the one slot, but that still leaves the question of who your "main" is, I suppose. and then if you're going to role-play or not. Come to think of it, there are a lot of questions that come to mind when thinking of creating a character for GW2. But, as you said, you are whoever you want to be.
ReplyDelete*chuckle* what is it with the big guys and the little character race? Willian Murphy over at MMORPG.com is 6'4" and loving the hell out of the asura guardian he played at PAX.
ReplyDeleteAlthough a sylvari necro will almost certainly be my first character, an asura guardian won't be far behind and I step into the ring at 6'4" and roughly 20-21 stone.
Btw, 15 stone? Must be nice to still be young and in shape!
All. Be all of them.
ReplyDeleteI probably will be! But I always have a main - one which I focus most of my efforts on and which, if forced, I would probably sacrifice the welfare of all the other characters for.
ReplyDelete24 and mleh, not particularly in shape!
ReplyDeleteAs for the choice of asura, they're just so freaking adorable!
True, true. My main is always my focus and (at least this is how I've played it in GW1) all my alts will be a nice thing to do for a couple of weeks before I get bored and strip them to fund things for my main.
ReplyDelete