My thoughts on Cantha (RIP Mega-thread)

[arbitor.1894]

Pre-face: Couldn't find another Cantha thread on the new forums. Guess I'm kicking it off. Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse.

 

Guild wars: Factions was my life. I spent a couple hundred hours in Shing Jea monastery alone besides doing all of the story a few times. I played GW1 for 3,251 hours over 108 months. I cried a little when I actually loaded into GW1 again after so long. It was a lot of my childhood. Everything was still so familiar and still waiting for me.

 

I miss the architecture, the culture, the cool looking armor. The two factions that seemed so foreign yet so close to me as the player. Everything about Factions was every thing Guild Wars did right put into one expansion. Beautiful hills and maps, dense forests, even the Jade sea. Combined with the tight Asian themed cities and streets and the transition between all of them made it perfect for me. To me there was a map for every mood I was in. Hearing GW2 might not get cantha really broke my heart for so many years.

 

It is what it is, but I still hold out hope for seeing my favorite side of Guild Wars. The experiences I had on that part of the game alone changed me as I grew up playing. I just wanted to leave my mark of support for seeing Cantha one last time in Guild Wars 2. No game has really ever held a candle to Guild Wars 1 to me. Everything seems so boring and dull. Mindless WoW clones or games that really try too hard to be special. GW2 fits kinda in the middle to me, but I still enjoy it.

 

Bringing cantha back...would mean everything to me and a lot of other people. I personally know around 30-40 people I used to play with who don't want to get GW2 because of that missing piece for them.

 

I know I'm just one person, and I doubt that would make much of a difference for an entire expansion, but I know I'll wait for the day that may never come when the special spot in my heart for Guild wars is filled.

 

I don't know if anyone from Anet will peek at this thread, but I never did get a chance to thank you for all the time I had on GW1, and time I will spend on GW2. I have my gripes but guild wars will forever be guild wars to me. I started playing guild wars when I was around 10 years old with my cousin...i'm 20 now. It's been that much of a part of my life. So I just wanted to thank you for everything that will come, and has come.

 

Sorry for the emotional piece, I've held this in for a long time. Thanks again Anet, for one of the best games I will ever play, and for being the two games I've held onto for over half my life.

[Jgr.8765]

I hope we will get to see Cantha in GW2! I started my Guild Wars journey with Factions. Man, the game was GOAT, especially Alliance Battles!

 

A trip down memory lane!!

 

Your post is very good. Kitten, it's a meme if GW2 doesn't get Cantha.

[Emberstone.2904]

Cantha, to this day, remains my favorite world in a video game, ever. It would disappoint me greatly if we never got to go there in Guild Wars 2. I really, really hope the next expansion takes place there.

 

It would be especially disappointing since Cantha isn't removed from Guild Wars 2 as some might have you believe. Look at Revenants; they can channel the powers of Shiro Tagachi. Not only is he a reference to Cantha, but the player character talks about it in their random dialogue with him when you're currently channeling that legend.

[SidewayS.3789]

No please, we had enough of Human "stories" and how they are the bullied kids in Tyria. I want a norn/charr, hell even asura expansion. We had sylvari, we had humans...It's time for something else.

[Kodama.6453]

> @"SidewayS.3789" said:

> No please, we had enough of Human "stories" and how they are the bullied kids in Tyria. I want a norn/charr, hell even asura expansion. We had sylvari, we had humans...It's time for something else.

 

Norn will probably play a huge part if we go against Jormag while Asura chime in against Primordus. They will get their turn, but having Cantha when we are fighting the sea dragon Bubbles would be awesome. I share OPs view, Cantha was absolutely amazing in the first game. I want to see what Kaineng has become. I want new Asian themed elite specs. It just has too much to offer to not consider going to Cantha soon.

[Dragana.1497]

> @"SidewayS.3789" said:

> No please, we had enough of Human "stories" and how they are the bullied kids in Tyria. I want a norn/charr, hell even asura expansion. We had sylvari, we had humans...It's time for something else.

 

I'm with you. Pretty much everything since HoT has been Human. I'm tired of them and I'm tired of playing gw1b instead of gw2.

[Dragana.1497]

> @"Kodama.6453" said:

> > @"SidewayS.3789" said:

> > No please, we had enough of Human "stories" and how they are the bullied kids in Tyria. I want a norn/charr, hell even asura expansion. We had sylvari, we had humans...It's time for something else.

>

> Norn will probably play a huge part if we go against Jormag while Asura chime in against Primordus. They will get their turn

 

Considering Jormag and Primordus both went back to sleep I seriously doubt it. And if we ever get a Far Shiverpeaks expansion it'll probably focus on Quaggan and Kodan instead of the Norn. We've seen that in Bitterfrost. :/

 

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"SidewayS.3789" said:

> No please, we had enough of Human "stories" and how they are the bullied kids in Tyria.

 

There aren't just humans living in Cantha, I assure you. ;)

 

I, too, am on Team Cantha for the next expansion. We can get Charr and Norn content in LWS 5 (hopefully!).

[killermanjaro.5670]

I never played GW so I missed out on visiting Cantha, but I'm really hoping it gets added to GW2 at some point. From what I've seen it looks like an amazing place, which I'm certain it would become my favourite area of the game as I love that type of architecture and style! I haven't seen weapons/armour from the area, but if they also have an East Asian style influence then I'm pretty sure they'd be my favourite too. I think Cantha could really bring a lot to GW2.

[Randulf.7614]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > @"SidewayS.3789" said:

> > No please, we had enough of Human "stories" and how they are the bullied kids in Tyria.

>

> There aren't just humans living in Cantha, I assure you. ;)

>

> I, too, am on Team Cantha for the next expansion. We can get Charr and Norn content in LWS 5 (hopefully!).

 

It's almost entirely humans. Most of the non-humans if not all, were driven out by the Emperor who then closed the borders to outsiders. It became at last report, a highly xenophobic society

[Naxos.2503]

I'd think it's actually an expansion content, considering The Deep Sea Dragon is likely to surface near Cantha (which is fairly small compared to other land masses and has a lot of sea water between it and Tyria/Elona)

[Omernon.9762]

I was never a big fan of asian-themed worlds, but oh boy, Cantha left big impression on me and I did liked it more than Elona in Nightfall. It’s because of the reason you’ve mentioned - well detailed and artistically beautiful world. Also for once there was a MMO that seemed to really respect Asian culture (designers knew a thing or two about history) and made a world without big-eyed females with boobs bigger than their torsos.

 

GW1 left the same impression on me as it did on you, OP. I did played MMOs before, but when I’ve loaded GW Prophecies for the first time and saw the searing of Ascalon nothing was the same again. That game soaked me for hours and it always will be remembered by me.

 

Thank you ANet for the Guild Wars series and I hope that one day we will be able to reach the shores of Cantha in Guild Wars 2. =)

[Dante.1763]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > @"SidewayS.3789" said:

> > No please, we had enough of Human "stories" and how they are the bullied kids in Tyria.

>

> There aren't just humans living in Cantha, I assure you. ;)

>

> I, too, am on Team Cantha for the next expansion. We can get Charr and Norn content in LWS 5 (hopefully!).

 

Er..its entirely humans these days.

 

The Naga where exterminated or forced out, the Tengu where forced out off the continent entirely.

 

"Emperor Usoku, raised the Canthan military by spending millions in gold and conquered the still-warring vassal states of the Luxons and Kurzicks, forcing them fully into the empire once more. With this done, he then drove out all non-humans and closed the borders to Cantha. Said to be tyrannical and fierce, those who disagreed with Emperor Usoku left their homeland and sought refuge in Elona and Tyria."

[Elric.4713]

Give me Echovald Forest and Ritualist as Rev E-spec and I will be content.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"arbitor.1894" said:

> Pre-face: Couldn't find another Cantha thread on the new forums.

 

Couldn't find? [From searching for 'cantha' in the title of posts](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/search?adv=1&cat=all&comment_answer=1&comment_c=1&date=&discussion_d=1&discussion_poll=1&discussion_question=1&search=&tags=&title=cantha), there are over a half-dozen "megathread" requests/suggestions/demands (not including duplicates or questions for lore)

 

* November 2018: [Concepts for; The Grandmasters, Legendary Relic Quest, and other stuff (Future Cantha Expansion)](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/59784/concepts-for-the-grandmasters-legendary-relic-quest-and-other-stuff-future-cantha-expansion)

* July 2018: [story idea for a new expansion in Cantha](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/49890/story-idea-for-a-new-expansion-in-cantha)

* April 2018: [Guild Wars 2: The Celestial Tournament - Cantha expansion idea](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/36018/guild-wars-2-the-celestial-tournament-cantha-expansion-idea)

* March 2018: [Elite Specialization concept when we go to Cantha - still in progress](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/30635/elite-specialization-concept-when-we-go-to-cantha-still-in-progress)

* December 2017: [The Case for Tengu and Cantha](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/20390/the-case-for-tengu-and-cantha)

* December 2017: [so... CANTHA? Would you like to explore Cantha in the next expansion!?](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/19095/so-cantha-would-you-like-to-explore-cantha-in-the-next-expansion)

* [October 2017: Requesting Cantha](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/9841/requesting-cantha)

* September 2017: [The Cantha Thread](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/481/the-cantha-thread) (this one is _literally_ someone reposting the old forum megathread)

[Randulf.7614]

I particularly refer you to the link on the Celestial Tournament, which leads to this

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Lon-ami/Cantha#New_expansion_pack:_The_Celestial_Tournament

 

A lot of thought went into that and it came across really exciting

[Ashen.2907]

Prophecies was my favorite part of GW1, but Factions came close. I loved the Echovald Forest and Kaineng in particular. From Hong Kong action gangster movie to gothic mythology. So very good.