[GW2] Asura Week: TMI!

Normally at about this time I would be slogging through the vast amounts of information which is spewed forth from the ANet blog-machine over the course of a race week. I did it for the human, charr, norn and sylvari weeks but I don't think my feeble bookah brain can quite handle condensing all of the information from asura week into one post. Considering that on most days we've had twice amount of information we'd usually have I think it's pretty understandable that I've taken the weedy way out and decided not to tackle the whole hog all at once.

So, instead I'm going to tease out the 5 most interesting, funny and compelling reasons to absolutely love the asura. Take them or leave them, you can't deny that our tiniest Tyrians are a lively bunch and have certainly stolen a lot of people's attention. So, in no particular order:

1. The way they move.

2. They have shiny inner ears.

3. They are condescending buggers at times.

4. They're attracted to... weird things

 “Come on, Dlixx. You know full well it’s every asura for herself down here.” She took a winsome step toward him, and he could smell the intoxicating aroma of fuel oil and particulate ozone. “I could take you with me, if you like. We were on the same krewe, after all.”

5. They aren't ALL golemancers.

All in all, I'd say that the whole week (well, in fact, the whole period since the start of Gamescom all those weeks ago) has been a roaring success. So much so that the asura have rocketed to the top of the "favourite race" charts:

[GW2] Asura Week: A Gabble of Golemancers

Oh, look he has a staff. That's a surprise.

I'm a sociologist, first and foremost*, and I know a division of labour which won't work when I see it. You can't run a society on a whole population of hairdressers. So, with that in mind I ask you this: is every single asura a golemancer? 

Every asura we have encountered in the literature (Ghosts of Ascalon, Edge of Destiny and now Jeff Grubb's "Mr Sparkles") certainly is. Snaff, Blimm, Kranxx, Zojja and now Flummox - all golemancers, through and through. Don't get me wrong, I liked the story from yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I did find it rather predictable. As soon as Flummox said "We’ll need them to get the apparatus operational" the word "Golem" wasn't too far behind. 

I like the idea of a golemancer, I really do, but along with this vocation seems to have to come a magical counterpart. Without too much of an imaginative leap you could come to the conclusion that every one of the above named asura was a student of the arcane arts in some form of another. And I don't just mean (yes, I did start that sentence with "and") that they dabble in the mystical; I mean fully fledged, fireball wielding, lightning bolt hurling magical professionals. 

My issue is that ANet have always had the stance that no one race will be overly powerful as one school of professions. If it were the case that the norn made the best warriors, then no-one would play any other race (short of RP purposes) for their warrior. I'm sure it is still the case that the races and professions are in balance, but in terms of lore I think we'd currently be hard pushed to justify an asura guardian - all the lore sources we have seem to suggest that they don't exist.


Look, I don't like to complain (and I'm sure that Ree's post at the end of the week will feature a roving band of renegade asura warriors complete with rippling biceps, short fuses and even shorter attention spans) but would it be too much to ask for a story containing an asura guardian? Even a thief or ranger would do - something which shows off the other side of their character? We know they have brains - but how about we see a little of their brawn?

*Trained at the 3rd best University in the country, I'll have you know! 
Ps. I'm willing to admit some of them may be engineers, but that still isn't satisfactory!

[GW2] Asura Week: Littllest, but not Least

As I type this I know a number of my Guild Wars buddies are eagerly sitting by their blog feed waiting for ANet to drop the first article of the much anticipated asura week. The asura have claimed a lot of attention since they were released during Gamescom - mainly due to their freaking adorable animations and fantastic character modelling - but they have a long history at their back, and that's what I'm here to cover today.

The asura are short. There's no way around it, they are titchy. They are primarily a subterranean race and so have evolved large eyes to compensate for the low light of their underground lairs, and large ears to further enhance their senses. With short legs and short tempers they make unlikely heroes, but what they lack in stature they more than make up for in arrogance and self-belief. They are renowned for their faith in their own intellect; and this faith is, by and large, well placed.

The asura construct great cities of swirling rocks and boulders held up by arcane energies. They mackle together monstrous golems of metal and magic to do their bidding. Their great intellect does have a downside, however, as they view almost all other races as intellectual inferiors and often dismiss them as dullards and dunces out of hand. However, they are fierce fighters, determined and stoic in their eagerness to prevail (and such, prove their superiority over their opponents and friends) - as such they make terrible adversaries and even better allies.

 The asuran belief system is almost Gaiac in origin. They believe in the "Eternal Alchemy" - in that each facet of the world is interconnected and part of a greater structure. As such, working out the great formula for life should be an asura's greatest concern. 

In the years between the end of the Guild Wars story and the start of the Guild Wars 2 one, the asuran race - much like a lot of the races of Tyria - has suffered somewhat of a displacement. The increasing ferocity of the Destroyers (having recovered from the loss of their General - the Great Destroyer) has forced the asura from their underground cities and into the daylight. Even the transformation of the dwarven race into rootin-tootin stoneclad fighting machines hasn't been enough to prevent the need for the mass exodus. The asuran race has had to adapt to their life on the surface. The great city of Rata Sum has flourished and has evolved in kind from their main outpost on the surface to their fully fledged capitol city.

The asura have kinda won the hearts of the Guild Wars population over the past few weeks and ANet must be giddy with excitement to see how we react to all the juicy info they will be releasing over the next 5 days. I'm personally excited because I know that what comes out of the ANet blog from now until Friday will shape my final decision on my main race and so will probably shape how I play the game in the (hopefully) years to come.

An in-depth look at the Asura

...either way I believe that the axe + horn combo will be far more effective in taking down a wider variety of enemies. Imagine if you will, a battle against a foe who uses ranged attacks, sure you've got the bow, but if you switch to your axe then you can not only use it effectively at range, but also...

Wait

WHATS THAT?

.
.
.
.
.
.

 

!!