Amy of Darkness.5248

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> So, you're saying that there isn't any discrimination against straight people? At all?

Oh hey we're sealioning now?! Time for the greatest hits, straight from the Disingenuous Internet Argument Playbook!

I see you no longer want to debate suddenly, but you asked me and here I am, answering.

Absolutely, for being heterosexual? Straight people do not face discrimination for being straight, FULL STOP. As a heteromantic cis woman who doesn't have my head firmly shoved up my rear-end and a miles wide victim complex, I recognize that LGBTQA+ people who are murdered, raped, have been vilified in media for YEARS, oppressed by the government, denied their rights, fired from their jobs, denied basic rights like marriage and visiting loved ones in the hospital, shamed and humiliated by their moralizing bible-thumping hypochristian peers, told they are going to hell for their "sin" by the same people who sexually abuse them, brainwashed and manipulated by cruel unsympathetic family members (or condescendingly "accepted" so long as they can play straight the rest of their lives) and often driven to homelessness, suicide, sold into sex slavery or subjected to mass genocide by corrupt governments solely because they are homosexual or transgender (deep breath) _is not even close to the same_ as "a gay boy called me "breeder" once and I kinda hate babies so it made me feel real bad" :(

There is no "straight panic" defense to excuse someone for murdering you if you flirt with them or happen to give off "heterosexual vibes" at the wrong time. Guess what has let the murderers of gay and transgender folks go free of charges. You got some tidbits from history where straight people were illegal, and straight cops cruised around straight hangouts trying to root out and arrest straight folks? Where women wearing dresses and men wearing pants landed them in jail for conforming to their social gender roles? Did straights get denied joining the military? Can you be arrested for making love to your straight partner? Do people object to your straightness using misquoted passages from a heavily edited and poorly translated religious text from a religion you don't even practice? Do these same people make laws go through that disadvantage and punish you for being straight?

Did a virus ravage the straight community while the country did nothing to help them, and millions of straight people died because the "straight virus" was perceived as something only straight people would contract? Did preachers say heterosexual sin was bringing the wrath of God on the nation? Do straight people still get denied donating blood for being straight because they assume straights have that virus? (but like coronavirus, you probably think AIDS was overblown too)

I am completely disinterested in whatever example you have to go with your deeply troubling whataboutism "straight people are discriminated against, too!" because I know exactly what your intentions are. The fact that some people that are poor or disabled or bullied happen to also be straight cis people is correlation NOT CAUSATION.

Reverse-discrimination, what the fresh hell are you talking about? Bullies and bigots do not get to complain that someone punched back when they were punching them down and continue to do so.

The fact that you respond to the other poster with a dismissive, laconic "hyperbole" and "well, the gay folk can go to another place that will bake their cake/hire/rent to them" shows how deeply misinformed you truly are about these issues or simply have no empathy or compassion. You clearly have no idea how humiliating and degrading it is to go into a business and ask for service and have them say "Not for you." Just go somewhere else does NOT fix the problem. Do you have to screen every business you try to engage with to see if they're straight friendly?

I think the other poster who called you ignorant was attempting to be diplomatic. Ignorance is forgivable, because it is a temporary state, it is only a bad thing if you intend to double-down on it and not learn ANYTHING. People that call you ignorant aren't calling you stupid, they are pointing out to you that you are lacking information either unintentionally or intentionally.

I don't even know why I'm bothering to try and inform you, you prodded me so here I am, but I may as well be talking to a brick wall. You're here to troll and nothing I say, even if I backed it up with a million articles, will matter. If you think it's unfair people make assumptions about you, maybe take a hard look at what you say that betrays who you are.

Let me make one thing abundantly clear, I am not interested in debating you-- or anyone who refuses to argue in good faith and even do the bare minimum to inform themselves before they make erroneous statements that cause real life harm. And I guess you're mercifully unwilling to debate too, because Jayden brought up some good points and suddenly the questions you asked don't need answers or to be debated because this isn't the place.

_ALSO, immersion. It was simple as that. Argue that precious immersion you all care about will shatter like glass if you see a pride flag, the way it would if a Union Jack were flying in Tyria, if you didn't want to upset people. I'm sure you can ignore all the French words in a world without France, but whatever. If you wanted a reasonable, non controversial objection, that was it._

To the OP and mods, I'm truly sorry it's like this in here. I hope this "community" did not drive away the OP.

"What about straight pride" is bog standard whataboutism and concern trolling with far-right origins; a disingenuous statement intended to stir up and intentionally upset victimized people with a false equivalent argument. You said something deliberately incendiary and are acting like a victim when someone rightfully calls you on it. You were insulted? Then educate yourself on LGBTQA+ issues before you step into a topic like this again.

Oh, YESS! Thank you Anet this is PERFECTION!

As for inspiration, I've always been under the impression it was inspired by (spoilers ahead) the kennel scene in the movie "The Thing", where the "dog's" face peels away from the skull in that exact flower pattern. And in the movie "The Thing from Another World" which was based on the same novel, the alien is plant-based. Considering how the Mordrem operate, I don't think it's too little to speculate if someone was inspired by this movie. Clearly Stranger Things was making a deliberate reference though, since the poster for the John Carpenter version is rather put on display in the backdrop.

So wait, so you're saying fighting discrimination, something that should be intrinsic to the foundation of democracy and the very core principle of justice, is a bridge too far?

Then by that logic, encouraging people to do their civic duty and vote is far too political.

Let's be real here, people here are uncomfortable that gay people exist and that discrimination exists and don't want a rainbow around reminding them.

The problem is you've chosen to view people being proud of their identity in the face of adversity as inherently political if they actually show signs of said pride instead of secretly, quietly being gay somewhere that won't upset you.

*smacks forehead* oh my gods, being LGBTQA+ is not a political statement! It is only "political" because you are making people's identities political, and that's on YOU.

"Can I have a cape that looks like a pizza slice to show I have a great love of pizza?"

"NO! Food preference upsets the pizza haters, and people from places where they don't acknowledge pizza as a food!"

"But... there's a pizza in the game..."

"Acknowledging real-life pizza is a political statement and tacit approval of pizza rights!"

^Wow didn't take long for someone to come into a thread about Asura to deliberately say something unnecessary, unhelpful, rude and hateful.

Anyway OP is right, and should say it-- I have felt the same way and appreciate the effort and articulation in this thread despite it obviously going over some folk's heads in here. There is no excuse for the area being so small, punishing exploration and curiosity (Walk off the play area and get kicked from instance in your own lab!) and so filled with low-poly nightmares when in no other racial city do I encounter denizens whose literal seams are showing on the model until I crank the visual settings up-- and even then they have this uncanny look to them. There are so many areas that are just arbitrarily closed off with no promise of further development. And come on, having portals doesn't excuse the lack of set dressing in the actual college areas or the numerous closed doors with Asura telling you to go away in some form or another! Vetendi Academy looks more scholarly than any of the so-called colleges of Rata Sum with actual lecterns and student seating. When I saw the fahrar play area in Black Citadel, I knew instantly what it was. This game KNOWS how to dress a set when they actually bother, and Rata Sum is a letdown in that area because you'd be forgiven for not realizing it's an educational campus. I do not FEEL like I am in a hub of Asuran education and invention. I feel like it's a near empty promenade clogged with kiosks in a half-dead mall, or a subway station. If the POI didn't flash what college I'm allegedly standing under(?) when I'm on the top level I wouldn't even know a college was here, and there's no discernible difference between any of them despite the narrative telling us there totally is. When so much of the area is barred off or sends you to jail or you are rebuffed by NPC's telling you to buzz off, it doesn't make me feel like there's something back there, it's an obvious shortcut to not put effort into those areas like how for years the comic artist Rob Leifeld infamously drew objects in front of everyone's feet to avoid drawing them because he was bad at it. Even _he_ learned how to draw eventually, and it's because of people noticing and pointing it out and criticizing the lazy choice-- not because people contrived some lame excuse with lore within his work or said "I hate his art anyway so I don't care if he improves".

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> > @"Amy of Darkness.5248" said:

> > > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > > @"Trise.2865" said:

> > > > > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > > > > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > > > > > Something like Rift/Wildstar housing would be nice.

> > > > >

> > > > > Personally, I think that people who want housing like these games should just play those games.

> > > >

> > > > "should have played" those games.

> > >

> > > Thanks for making my point ;)

> >

> > What point? The MAJOR reason Wildstar died was because it stupidly decided to pander exclusively to the vocal minority of _hardcore gamers_ to the detriment of everyone else, and the housing was the only reason people even stuck around until it was completely dead. I don't know much about Rift, but the postmortem is lack of identity beyond trying to take down WOW was what did them in, not player housing, of which there are several easy to find articles praising the feature.

> >

> > Yeah, I realize you're being sarcastic, I just think it's ridiculous to even imply that GW2 will fail like those games did if they introduced player housing of all things.

>

> The point, dear reader, is not that housing will kill Guild Wars, but rather that it isn't worth the effort. The people that wanted housing didn't bother playing games that had it, and those who did were not in statistically significant numbers. What makes ANet think it will be different here? Why spend the resources and (more of) NCSoft's money adding a feature people didn't justify making the first time? or the first *three times*?

>

> Yes, *you* want it. There are maybe a few dozen more on the forums with a similar passion. But the mass appeal they would need to justify designing a *completely new game* and grafting it into this one simply isn't there.

>

> This is a statement of fact, not sarcasm. Hard truth.

_Where_ in my post did I say I want it? Don't assume. I'm just annoyed that this is the second time Wildstar's failure as been used as a smug "gotcha" in service of rejecting player housing like that has anything to do with why it failed. I do not care if there's player housing in GW2 or not. The literal only MMO I've ever played is this and Gw1, I don't have enough experience with it to form any opinion either way on it.

You clearly ignored the entire point I was making by stating they didn't bother to play them... are you seriously suggesting nobody plays SWTOR, LOTRO, ESO, EQ2, FFXIV, Ultima Online and BDO!? Even WOW is teasing with the idea of player housing. In spite of the failure due to its other flaws, every time someone mentions player housing, Wildstar comes up as an example of doing it right (from people who obviously played it) while those other more popular games often tacked it on. Even if an enterprise ultimately fails it does not mean every idea was bad.

Also, I apologize for the confusion but it wasn't even your comment I was referring to being sarcastic.

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"Trise.2865" said:

> > > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > > > Something like Rift/Wildstar housing would be nice.

> > >

> > > Personally, I think that people who want housing like these games should just play those games.

> >

> > "should have played" those games.

>

> Thanks for making my point ;)

What point? The MAJOR reason Wildstar died was because it stupidly decided to pander exclusively to the vocal minority of _hardcore gamers_ to the detriment of everyone else, and the housing was the only reason people even stuck around until it was completely dead. I don't know much about Rift, but the postmortem is lack of identity beyond trying to take down WOW was what did them in, not player housing, of which there are several easy to find articles praising the feature.

Yeah, I realize you're being sarcastic, I just think it's ridiculous to even imply that GW2 will fail like those games did if they introduced player housing of all things.

The Charr fit less into "steampunk" and more "dieselpunk", the distinction being steampunk is Alternate Universe Victorian whereas Dieselpunk is more World War era, with a larger focus on the machines of war and a world in conflict.

And definitely not Sci-fi, science fiction denotes some remote possibility and plausibility to the science part. Science fantasy or aetherpunk are a better fit.

I don't have a problem with a genre blend, I actually really appreciate that about this game. Maybe I'm a little biased for reasons. I just wish they had a dedicated lore team that focused on each race and really filled things out. There's too much even on the fan-cultivated wiki that's like "We guess it's like this? Probably? Allegedly..." and I don't feel like that's because they drip-feed us lore and more because that was a blind spot for the people developing the lore, and it hasn't been discussed by those folks in a while and/or people who were passionate advocates left and took the rest of their ideas with them. There's a lot of assumptions the fans make that simply don't gel with what's in the game. There's things even the devs say that are simply not supported by the game! Could really use a lore wrangler.

> @"yann.1946" said:

> I think the last thing you said is the most important here. Analytics are useful but also inherently flawed and should be looked at criticly. Their are lots of examples where valid data gives very wrong messages, but that doesn't make the data useless.

I find it odd to say analytics are inherently flawed. That is like saying engineering is flawed because there are lots of buildings that have fallen down due to bad foundations. Analytics are a pretty well established science, when they give the wrong message it is due to flaws in how they are set up. Charts after all can give very wrong messages too if configured deceptively and improperly, but the presence of charts which are flawed does not mean that charts are inherently flawed.

If you have a better tool in mind than analytics then by all means offer an example, but thus far no one can seem to come up with one. Analytics allow insight into what players are doing and how they are experiencing content. While data alone can be tricky to read because it doesn't give context and has to be followed up with non-analytical investigation, and bad overly narrow reporting can be created which ignores larger data trends, there are lots of fairly definitive insights one can gain which can then of course be added to data points gathered from non-analytical sources to try and create a definitive picture.

Ok no, actual artist (and homebrew GM) who is friends with artists here to tell ya that if you think artists don't also use stats/analytics to determine work focus and make important business decisions, then you've never spoken to a real live artist in your entire life. You insult artists by insinuating we don't understand business and basic science, it's disrespectful and ignorant of how the real world works just to make a petty dig at someone who doesn't agree with you.

I can assure you that the most uncreative, unimaginative, boring person can still come up with a fun game because they also understand what is fun and what is not through studying and understanding human psychology and game design principles. Trying to discredit someone by calling them un-artistic is ridiculous.

In regards to analytics and games, Mark Rosewater has literally hundreds of columns and podcasts on game design and he is NEVER shy to invoke metrics as one of their guiding lights. He might debate with people what the numbers mean, but he has never cast doubt on their importance or validity. I don't know a single good GM who doesn't take the time to discuss with their players what they liked and didn't like about previous game sessions, and keep a close eye on when players start to stack dice or sketch on the back of their character sheet.

It's also possible to be wildly imaginative and creative but utterly unskilled in art and make terrible, boring games. In fact it is rather common as game design is often un-intuitive, as it requires us to identify which of our tastes are niche and which resonate with other people. Most people can make a game they'll enjoy, some will be able to make a game they and their close friends will enjoy, but to make a game that will appeal to millions of people you really have to understand people and that requires an understanding usually driven in part by metrics, just as much as a spark of inspiration and a gut creative feeling.

I just watched a documentary on Darkest Dungeon and they went over how they had a bold and creative design that broke all the rules, but they also clearly mention how they studied the user data to figure out how to refine, improve and polish that experience in order to be the success that they are.

It's possible to be an artist AND a bean-counter at the same time. EVERY artist just like every business endeavor will suffer financially if they fail to understand and capture what the audience desires, but we cannot conceivably ask every single individual who interacts with our work to tell us exactly what they want.

Metrics are a compass, you follow the directions but not so rigidly you walk yourself off a cliff or into a lake. It offers you the right direction but acting foolishly with what that information tells you is at your own peril.

"The Golem" is arguably the coolest of the dances in terms of flow and rhythm, just wish they could do it without the self-made music! But the best dance of my personal opinion, has to go to the Carlton dance the Norns do, it always make me laugh. Though if we base it entirely on criteria of "actually have to be able to dance to do this properly" then yes I'd vote on Asura dance being the best. (and now I am down the rabbit hole of watching Robot and pop & lock dance videos!)

What if they brought back.... this?

(For you Juvenile Humans it's reference to this)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_DF2Af3LM

> @"Drizzt.1796" said:

> Hmm... what if they just wear a wig?

With the way the hair works in the game, every race is wearing a wig! ;)

Joking aside, they are mammals and that hair is real, lore wise. You're probably just teasing with that laconic response because I wrote a whole novel in reply, but I'll take the bait 'cuz I'm a sucker for over-explaining pointlessly. Buckle up!

I think if they wore wigs, with how gossipy and catty everyone sounds when you hear NPC dialogue in the background, there would absolutely be some Human or Charr taking a potshot at the Asura for not having real hair.

I also don't think they have the same hang-ups with baldness that humans do, though I'll admit this is me filling in some holes the lore team left open, but there's religious, cultural, age and health related baggage when it comes to us humans and our hair. So far I have not seen much to suggest Asura are particularly ageist against the older generation or that male pattern baldness is a thing for their species. Baldness isn't consistent enough to suggest it's culturally significant beyond what we've been informed in-game and beyond about what Asura consider attractive traits in a potential mate-- brows and ears. You can choose to make your Humans and Norns bald also, so I think it simply comes down to player choice. Some people just prefer the bald look especially with the stripe patterns that run over the scalp.

Most bald Asura I've seen as NPCs are either:

1. Wearing skin-tight cultural helm that removes hair (aside from Zojja I have not seen another bald female Asura)

2. Ancient old farts like Phlunt

If Asura wore wigs, it would be ostensibly to appeal to human sensibilities and what humans consider attractive, so that's right out the window! Asura care little about what the races they consider mentally inferior think about their looks. The artist who designed them even suggested they'd find offense in being called "cute".

The Rata Sum loading screen certainly makes it look like baldness is the default, but as an artist myself I can just say with reasonable confidence that a good portion of the loading screens are speedpaints, and stopping to reference the canon hairdos, then rendering them, slows the process down. Not having to bother rendering hair because the Asura have no taboo with baldness is a freebie!

But also in response to "what if they wear wigs"? Then it makes even less sense to say they can't have beards, because they'd use the same technique to apply fake facial hair!

> @"Drizzt.1796" said:

> First of all, sylvari have leaves, asura are actually bald, (see Zojja and any asura wearing light tier 3 asura helm), Norn just have normal beards, and charr just have hair.

The artist drew leaves for the appearance of a beard and not hair, and several sylvari display facial-hair like features so this is not a stretch. Their entire facial and body features are made of leaves layered on top of each other like an un-bloomed cabbage, nothing suggests that this isn't a possibility for a Sylvari to grow beard-like features with broader types of leaves like the artist here depicted. A Dandelion leaf beard would be pretty neat, I think. As mentioned I feel like it is reminiscent of medieval art of the Green Man, a popular motif with leafy greens standing in for a wild beard.

Second...

**OBJECTION!**

Zojja may be bald but Asura are _not_ naturally bald. Zojja has eyelashes, so it's likely she shaves her head-- having one's entire egghead on full display and unobscured by hair is probably considered attractive, who knows. Flimsy lore excuseplanations aside, Zojja's almost certainly only bald because the existing hairstyles clashed with the helmet they designed for her, and that's all. If the cultural armor was designed before she was, however, then it was simply a matter of choosing to have the character be bald because the helm just _does that_ and they didn't bother altering her model to have hair with it when it will take the hair off Player characters.

Helmet baldness means nothing, for by that logic all humans are bald, norn are naturally clean-shaven, and charr horns are all fakes, because they come off with with a good majority of headgear (see the [Top Hat](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Top_Hat) for a prime example of completely unnecessary baldness on a human female!)

Only the Swaggering Hat doesn't take your hair off, because they included a hairstyle for each race as part of the hat itself. Most helms that aren't headband style like bunny ears will em-balden your character. Anet's inability to mitigate hair vs full helm clipping issues is not a valid source for lore.

The [concept art](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/3/3e/Gixx_concept_art.jpg), and even going back to Eye of the North where they were introduced, shows that Asura have always had hair, and [yes even facial hair.](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Mamp)

Some of the reeeally old second pass concepts had them mostly bald, but since they clearly have noses now and aren't goblin troglodytes I hardly think that counts as valid representation of what we see in the game today and what was established in GW1. Them not having beards in spite of Steward Gixx (first image) and [Professor Bronk](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Biography_Bronk.png) showing clearly they could in concept art that is shown to us both at creation and as a loading screen, is a result of just being lazy and not caring enough to be consistent.

Also, even if they were bald (which they are not) and those were wigs, with the ability to simulate close shaved hair they would definitely be able to wear stick-on facial hair that looks real.

(This is all probably too much for a reply as you probably don't care, but I see the bald Asura comment a lot and feel compelled to weigh in)

Throwing support behind this too! I have Elegy heavy armor on with the Metal Legion shirt, Heavy Plate on another but dyed so it's not obvious that it's chainmail but there's still bulky metal running up the thighs. Mist Shard looks like a perfectly nice pair of pants is hiding behind hunks of shiny metal and weird codpieces. Free them!

ლ(╹◡╹ლ) give us the jeans please please!

WOW! That's quality facial hair! (◕∇◕)⌵b

I love these concepts! Would absolutely love to get that goatee for Asura, no fair the concept art shows they totally could rock that look but none of the models come equipped with facial hair. That Green Man lookin' Sylvari is fantastic, too.

You look at that top and think it's worth $100? One hundred dollars of REAL money? Who has that kind of money to spend just on ONE item that's not even ascended rated? I mean I know that rich people spend that kind of money like nothing, but making decisions that only benefit rich gamers and people with infinite amounts of time and willing to waste it all doing the same thing over and over in vain hope the abysmally low drop rate will favor them today, is pretty whack.

This whole set should have been acquirable the way other armors always were, especially after pushing it as a selling point for the new content. It's about how they presented it, and then broke all precedent on how armor sets are acquired. It's a tease, and it feels completely unfair to all but those who are obviously rolling in cash right now and can spend it on frivolities without any worry. They didn't do this with Runic, they didn't do this with Warlord. I don't think it's because they learned their lesson, it feels like they were scrambling to find rewards for the chapter and cannibalized the armor set for it rather than make something worth repeatedly coming back for in the SM.

> @"Khisanth.2948" said:

> That would require a premise that is simply not true.

>

> If they were actually trying to get people to do raids then that would imply they were stuff putting a lot of efforts into creating raids but there is nothing to suggest that they are.

[They expressly said that strike missions are a ramp on to raids.](https://massivelyop.com/2020/02/04/the-daily-grind-do-you-avoid-mmorpg-raiding-and-why/)

So yeah, it is true. And yeah, they are putting the cart before the horse by not making new Raid content while soft-pushing Raid content. Why make new Raid when so many players haven't even played the "Raid they have at home" even once, yet? This is not made for Raid longtime players-- this is an attempt to appeal to new potential Raiders. When those numbers are up, they might make more Raid content, maybe.

But I'm sorry, as much as Raid folks might want that, that's no excuse for the people acting defensive and weirdly hostile over how other people want to play the game if it differs from their preferred way of playing it?

I have not seen one single person say they want Anet to stop making Raids and Strikes, only to keep that stuff opt-in and not entangle it with Story and map meta achievements going forward, it's basically a "but-thou-must" just to frog boil players into harder and harder content in vain hope we will check out raids without actually fixing the fundamental problems with them. We are allowed to push back with our opinion and say "No thank you, please, not like this".

> @"mikansei.5742" said:

> ...Yeah, actually, they did.

Then I stand corrected, the wiki article on it was poorly worded. As I admitted I don't have a Charr yet and can only go by information that's presumed to be correct on the official wiki. Then again, there's more than a few speculative fan theories stated as fact there. So, female Charr had only 8 faces before that? All that did was even out the face options with male.

Maybe they should have considered more broad racial features for human faces when they allowed us to adjust the skin tone instead of making a batch of creepy, neotenic, vaguely European faces with varying levels of makeup for the human females. Why did Asura have African style hair before the humans did? It's not "social justice" just to realize POC exist, y'know. I can understand why Anet wouldn't want to charge money for the option of POC features, but that's them dropping the ball from launch and forgetting them in the first place. Nightfall already existed before this game, even without the Elona expansion on the horizon they should have been considered from the start and that goes for potential Canthan faces, too. We know they existed in Tyria and they could've slowed it with the "14 year old girl, 14 year old girl but with makeup" and included those from the get-go. And then saved the thick lipstick, plucked eyebrows and smoky eyes for the extra features panel instead.

Also, the fact that Asura, Charr, Sylvari don't exist in real life is what opens them up to so much potentially interesting diversity that they're failing to capitalize on. There should be even MORE options than boring, basic humans. Even with the Norn, there should definitely be wilder Norn diversity instead of the same Brock Lesnar clones. Why not some Norn that retain animal features from their shape-shifting or the animal spirit they chose in character creation? Feathers for hair, claws, leopard eyes... often folklore about shape-shifting beings has some of those retain some of their wilder features even in "human" form.

GW2 has their own unique fantasy races, and suddenly no inspiration or idea what to do with them design-wise? As a creator myself, I find that hard to believe, almost offensive. I've seen the fan community come up with so many creative new designs and faces for these races. Even if they can't for legal reasons base anything off of those, it shows how there's potential for so much more that's being wasted by just not even trying. Real life humans are the ones whose designs are restrained by adherence to reality, when you make your entire own species it is only your own lack of imagination that hems you in.

Storywise yes I'd agree the Norn have been ill served throughout the last few major arcs, but this story started off as a Charr story and morphed into a Norn one, not the other way around. Now it's coming back to Charr again. I'm sure the Charr players feel equally used that they were about to get deeper story with the legions and suddenly it's about Jormag and we're going to Norn land and getting all this Svanir stuff. But that is the intent isn't it? The story is literally about the Charr attempting to steal the Norn's glory, for political purposes.

"Lore" is such an insincere, terrible excuse and it's a ludicrous reason to leave out the other 4 playables again in favor of humans who have overwhelmingly been coddled by the developers since forever. What is the "lore" reason that we got 3 faces each for Festival of Four Winds? Or Wintersday? Or after the fact when Season 2 came out? The festivals weren't even major expansions, and everyone got 3 faces-- in the makeover kit, which you have to purchase. The last 3 faces non-humans ever got was in a _patch_ 5 years ago! Again, only for purchase.

Yea, sure-- Path of Fire, the human focused story with human gods in human-land, gave only humans new faces and hair--but for FREE, in the character creator at default. But when they also give one single new Charr female face and new horns, Charr players didn't get that for free, now, did they? A whole new tribe of Charr introduced but only 1 face and some horns/hair, but you gotta pay for it. Did Sylvari get new, free faces and hair like humans did for POF, in the Heart of Thorns because it was Lore Appropriate™ time for them to get an update? No, not a one? So "the lore!" excuse is completely bogus. You just want humans to be the only ones who get nice things, and you're getting an entire new expansion focusing on an area where humans are the super-special only race there because they threw everyone else out. Directly catered to, and YET you still have to be a dog in the manger about other races you won't play even hypothetically getting nice things! I'm so tired of this!

Nobody is asking to stop servicing the humans, or even take options away from them. We just want more options for the others and don't want to be left even further behind AGAIN. Human female has at DEFAULT, **27 faces** and human male has **20** and I guess the rest of us can eat dirt because other than Norn female (13) and Sylvari female (10) we get 9 except for asura male with only 8, and almost all of those faces are direct exports of the geriatric professor NPCs and feels like they didn't care enough about people wanting to play this race to bother making appropriate character designs to match the personal story of a young college STUDENT and not a retiree going back for further education, subsequently hauling his brittle bones out on adventures. It's like LOTR Bilbo ditching his memoirs, snatching the ring from Frodo and taking off for Mount Doom by himself.

As for the "humans get nothing special" point, that is fair to say, and even though I will _never_ roll a human, I'd still vouch for an extra option for something like makeup, piercings and tattoos where the others have racial customization. Humans not having extra options though is no excuse for denying more faces/hair for the other races.

All we are asking is IF Cantha is bringing new faces for humans to fit the setting, then it is only fair to give us all more options too, it doesn't matter if there are no Asura, Charr, Sylvari or Norn in Cantha-- there should just be more variation in our own racial homelands to begin with, I don't even have a Charr yet but it appalls me to know they've been sitting on several NPC faces they could let the players have by now.

(post edit-- I had the wrong number and have corrected it)

Weren't people also asking for a "horse" mount that looks like the one that's just Skritt in a horse costume? What's under that bulky horse blanket on the neck area? ;)

But I don't want to pick on this pterippi, it looks like it can actually hear everyone calling it pterrible, the poor thing. It's like the person who to worked on this deliberately crafted that Eeyore look in its eyes just to say "Yeah, I know what you're thinking". :'(

\ (◕∇◕)/ YEEeeeEESSSS THANKYOU!!! I am ecstatic! Today is a good day! Thanks so much for letting me know!

World boss portal seemed to work, this fight really needs a fail-out. First year playing Wintersday and this was a miserable experience to say the least. Spent nearly an hour dead and knew I wouldn't be missed because I was useless to cause anyway, and couldn't escape. Team was not getting the snowball thing first round and one member was being pointlessly hostile to everyone. I had to eventually log out to character select just to get out of watching 2-3 people refuse to GG after another half hour, some real life stuff needed taking care of.

Only found out WBP works on second go with another team that didn't have an actively hostile member making everyone miserable. Even when I was able to actively contribute second time, we just didn't have the manpower and I felt terrible for folks laying dead. Team wanted to move on but couldn't leave, spent 10 mins after trying to help people escape. Can't we have a team vote to exit or have the timer actually give us mission failure? Is that what it is supposed to do? I wish it did!

> @"Gautama.5378" said:

> long time im asking in gem store requests Mini Avian 3 Pack but still nothing and i think coz of wiki message-"Players may still possess the item, but it can no longer be acquired."-there is no way to get it even for black lion mini tickets-so im asking to bring back this item atleast once for winter theme coz there is snow owl or raven which is birds of winter and i want all 3 birds in this item-so pls sell it in gem store or make it possible for tickets atleast for celebrating winter or christmas theme coz i want it most but there is no way to get it.

Oh did you see? It's not in a 3 pack but the raven and owl are in the minis available now! Thought of this request when I saw them, thought you should know they're available if you haven't checked yet! Go get those birds!

Also pitching in a third vote, the previous posted request for a whole bunch of the civilian wear to be made available. Sometimes we wanna get comfy & casual!

(also also-- wish I could tell better whether I thumbs-upped a post or not because I forgot I did already and it revoked it, and now I feel bad!)

I would be over the moon if head pieces from more of the outfits were made as separate armor skin the way the Shrine Guardian ears are.

Wish list in descending order of burning desire:

* Inquest Exo Suit ~~scouter~~ eyepiece (This one most of all it is easy money)

* Hexed Outfit Straw Hat (as in Female version) so male also get cool straw hat

* First Follower Desmina Horns

* Ghostly Outfit spooky ghosty face

* Raiment of Lich Hood

> @"Gryphon.2875" said:

> This little chap's ensemble as an Outfit, with toggle-able gloves.

> 

>

I can't help with the top of her outfit, but you can find the pants she's wearing for very cheap on TP if you search up "Common clothes tonic" it's only a few silver, and also already has no gloves! (No shoes either) it looks like this: [Common Clothing Outfit](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Common_Clothing_Outfit "Common Clothing Outfit"). Trade it in right away to Black Lion Exchange merchant for wardrobe unlock!