I can't decide if this game should be played with fantasy or sci-fi lore...

[draxynnic.3719]

> @"Dustfinger.9510" said:

> It helps to realize that even top Asuran tech, is ultimately just magictech. The radio might as well just be a magic gem or cowl you talk into for all intents and purposes.

 

Pretty much this.

 

The "science fiction" elements of Guild Wars 2 are essentially magical devices mimicking technology. While the people of Tyria might not fully understand the rules, there is an underlying "sufficiently analysed magic is indistinguishable from SCIENCE!!!" aspect - magical energy can be harnessed and channeled through magic-powered devices to achieve reproducible results. For people familiar with D&D settings, I think Eberron is a good example of this principle - a world with equivalents to trains and other industrial-era devices which are actually magic items being produced on a large scale.

 

Guild Wars 2 complicates this by having advanced nonmagical technology as well (albeit with whateverpunk tropes), but the nonmagical technology is still behind modern technology, with the possible exception of dredge sonic weaponry.

 

> @"Kalavier.1097" said:

> > @"Jimbru.6014" said:

> > Either way, fantasy or sci-fi, it should have been made with a much tighter focus in regards to the tactics and strategy to go with the technology and the hazards we face. I realize GW2 is a game and we have to suspend disbelief to some degree just to be able to log in, but the rationality meter really is pegged low when it comes to the magi-technical status of the GW2 universe. In reality, melee weapons were obsolete as primary tools of war in the 18th century, and tight formations ended the hard way in WW1. Tyria is a world filled with ranged magic, AOE attacks of every description, bows, guns, artillery, siege engines, tanks, helicopters, airships, Vigil Megalasers, golems, Engineers, mountain-sized Elder Dragons, and even worse, pocket raptors. What are the primary tactics in at least 80% of the game? Melee weapons and stacking in groups. Yeah, right...

>

> And alongside the rifles and artillery, there are magical melee attacks and the ability to close the distance. Bullets could universally kill/disable troops across the board IRL when they started coming out, but in Tyria? A bullet will hit a charr with different results then a human. A bullet works to down a human quickly but what about that rampaging Centaur group? Or the crazed Ettins in the hills?

>

> Another thing you must understand is Gameplay does not = lore entirely. The whole concept of mass stacking players to burn down a boss in dungeons or other things isn't going to work in actual lore. Mostly because you can't have 20 people literally standing in the same area. Simply put, Tyria is filled with a lot of races and monsters that won't go down that quickly, meaning Melee weapons are still very much viable and important.

 

Possibly more important than having different races is the presence of improved armour.

 

Consider that historically, the most advanced armour until recently was made of steel. In Tyria, on the other hand, steel is tier 3 of seven tiers of armour materials technology, and putting aside the likelihood that darksteel and up are inherently magical materials, the materials that go into insignias indicate that the armour is enchanted. Leather and cloth 'armour' isn't so easy to compare with history, but you're still likely looking at magic protection on top of whatever physical protection they provide. This means that personal armour in Tyria is going to stand up to threats that would render 15th century full plate obsolete.

 

Now, we also have magic weapons as well, but it's probably impractical making individual bullets, arrowheads, and even artillery shells out of deldrimor steel infused with Zojja's inscriptions. So however enchanted the bow or handgun might be, it's probably still firing relatively mundane ammunition. Meanwhile, melee weapons may well be made out of the same special materials (mithril seems to be fairly standard among the Pact based on requisitions, for instance), and therefore is just as good against that armour as historical steel melee weapons were against historical steel armour.

 

If we had mithril, orichalcum, and deldrimor steel in the real world, it's entirely likely that we'd have continued to see elite units of knights and men-at-arms continue to be used up until close to modern times. Especially if those heavily armoured soldiers were supported by magic that protected against projectiles.