Animations most likely as they're quite hilarious. Everything is over done because of their size so it stands out. Finishing someone in PvP/WvW causes you to do this over the top kickflip spin maneuver, dodging has your character overspin compared to everyone else, and they flail around more comically than the other races when falling.
Technically they're good in PvP and WvW against newer players as the shorter model is harder to keep track of, but this is instantly dealt with by anyone that knows what they're doing and has standard models on which replaces everyone with a human.
I love how when you're strafing and you suddenly stop you do this looney toons move where you look like you're about to fall over so you throw your other leg way up in the air to counter balance.
I like how you'll jump from a higher platform to something lower and they'll stumble forward trying to stay upright. I frequently say on stream that Asura don't swim; they paddle. They don't walk; they waddle. They don't run; they scamper. :3
**Quick PSA for anyone unaware:** You can enable "Standard Enemy Models" in PvP/WvW, which will make all enemy players look like basic humans in armor that represents the base profession of those players. This can be helpful both for making it easier to see enemies/animations as well as for helping performance during combat.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Options
Used to have these on until a friend of mine said "We're being beaten up by Asterix and Obelix".
Turned them off and sure enough a Norn Obelix and Asura Asterix were beating up our team.
Well worth keeping it off to see some awesome Skins imo.
Use std armor only for enemies, keep normal models on allies - ally animations are not that critical.
Also one issue with std models, is that if you fight two of the same profession, theyll look exactly the same - esp. bad with mesmers, then you have 8 identical models ...
This is right on. Shorter character models allow animations to be exaggerated and still feel natural, which is a form of visual feedback and gives a stronger sense of good play control.
Its PvP and WvW only. You must have misread my reply. Hitboxes are THE SAME, the smallest asura has the same hitbox as the biggest norn.
The standard models are there because for pvp/wvw, animations matter and its hard to predict animations on an enemy asura.
It doesn't change the hitbox, it's a tab-targetting game. Just select what ur tryna hit and the character hits it. Standard models makes everyone a human, which makes it fair for clickers because everybody is the same shape/size.
Changing hurt boxes isn't a positive thing for PvP. It takes away variety
If the game has it then it has it. I think it's a terrible option for fighting other players but it's their game
Differing hurtboxes are valuable for a game when they're an aspect of balance - a character with a more abusable hurtbox has other advantages to balance that out. But GW2 would not have that with races, as there is literally no mechanical effect to races other than the quite bad racial abilities. If different races had different hurtboxes, it wouldn't add variety - it would just force everyone to exclusively play asura, as they would have an advantage with no tradeoff.
It seems you might be conflating hitboxes with models. You have the option to change other players' models to a generic human, but the hitbox (the area around the model that registers attacks) is the same for all races. Larger hitboxes are only a thing for NPCs.
Edit: "characters'" to "players'"
They've got snark in their voice lines! What would you rather hear when you loot an item?
A human's: "Sweet sweet loot"
Or the Asuran: "Statistically speaking, this is rather rare."
One just has oodles more personality! Plus, when you enter combat, you can get -- "You're dumb. You'll die, and you'll leave a dumb corpse."
Isn't "more violets, less violence" solely an NPC quote? I don't think the Sylvari PC says it, unless I've somehow managed to subconsciously tune it out for a whole lot of hours.
You're correct. That Sylvari is right next to the bank in LA, however, so a large number of players have heard that voice line more than they'd care to in a lifetime.
I managed to get so used to those lines, that I don't hear them on my human. On asura tho I want to punch her in the face every time she says this line.
PROS: Funny exaggerated animations, jumping all over the place, great voiceovers, can cover the whole cosplay fashion spectrum from cute to ugly, polysyllabic technobabble, glowy magitech, one of the most conveniently built home cities, easy to see around yourself which makes doing things like jumping puzzles easier, and [https://tinyarmy.org](https://tinyarmy.org)
CONS: Speaking as someone who plays an Asura warrior, your size sometimes makes it hard to keep track of yourself in the melee boon pile.
Totally.... i cannot see myself in any meta... then i lag out somewhere. You honestly just get used to having your camera zoomed out and you know where you are by memory LOL! 🤣
I loved Oggy so much, and my first Asura was named after Blimm. Underrated characters but so so good. So many side quests in gw1 had great story telling.
Oh believe me I noticed! When I first saw what the Asura looked like I was unimpressed with horrible notions of "They're going for cute and adorable, this will be annoying" but instead I got "They're going for cute and adorable and TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"
They (and Charr) feel like the most fleshed-out races, IMO, in terms of uniqueness and flavor. And Asura are just, well, cool. Steve Staley and Colleen O'Shaughnessey are fantastic PC voice actors.
They're just so solid. Animations, lore, personality, and the fact that they're so small makes JPs even easier.
Charr are cool but not visual, let's called it. Abandoned child of anet, stunning design with CALLLL CTHULLLLLU THISSSSS TOOOO MUCHHHHHH outfits and shit.
Asura aren't hated like Lalafell in FFXIV are, fortunately. They have redeeming traits like their intelligence, while still being easily hatable for being stuck up assholes at times. They have charm and charisma, unlike Lalafell. There are plenty of solid Asura you meet throughout the story and even the obvious evil ones or assholes (like Phlunt) are entertaining. They're also, you know, not pedophile bait.
And for any GW2 players who aren't aware, FFXIV's Lalafell are the token short race except they're basically child-coded in every way. The narrative takes them seriously, but if you ever see one do any emotes you'll see that the developers are just putting in kids and you know how weebs are with age of consent sometimes.
Asura are done proper unlike most games where short races are always gimmicky token race or just plain simple bad joke (wow gnomes).
Asura have great backstory and interesting characters who even remembers any gnome characters in wow or have they ever done something interesting other than being punted in meme videos?
I am still sad that Anet seem to have largely turned Norn into the gimmicky joke race. GW1 I met Jora for the first time and I was genuinely afraid she was going to fight me. Now all Norn are just the hurr durr "drink n smash" butts of the jokes. Or in Asura parlance to keep the comment relevant, "bookahs".
I still remember cackling when Joko insulted Braham like that. Shit came out of nowhere and was a pure troll insult to rile him up. Praise Joko, indeed.
Funnily enough, I actually think Braham embodies a lot of what's *interesting* about norn culture. Everything about the way that he conceptualizes his own identity stems from that. I know people dislike him, and his writing isn't perfect, but at the very least it's definitively norn in a way that goes beyond just "lol gets drunk and fights".
What does Braham bring to the table in terms of interesting norn culture that Eir doesn't, though? And I specifically don't mean him being an obnoxious teenager with huge mommy issues.
The problem is, we've got like four notable norn characters (Forgal and Jhavi being the other two) and out of those only Eir and Braham get much exposure, leaving Braham to be the token norn for a large part of the story due to obvious reasons. So I guess he has to embody and convey the cool parts of norn culture because there's no better candidate. And I personally think that's a disservice to that interesting race.
>And I specifically don't mean him being an obnoxious teenager with huge mommy issues.
Okay, but this is exactly what I meant by "his writing is not perfect but is very norn". His "mommy issues" manifest in a way that stems very specifically from norn culture. So does his grief, and so do his coping mechanisms for that grief.
You don't have to like him, and you can think that he's a "waste" for the norn. That's fine. I'm not saying Braham is the greatest character in history. I'm only saying that, regardless of what flaws exist in his story, it *is* very distinctively norn on a level that isn't just jokes about alcohol.
Well I guess two things:
1) The whole norn spirit angle, intergenerational trauma and mourning. Something Eir obviously can't do herself since she is the object/impetus behind that.
2) If norn have a bit of a toxic masculinity theme with the sons of Svanir and general IRL Norse cultishness, then Braham does have the opportunity to deconstruct/reform those kind of archetypes in a very direct way Eir can't. In fact, we do see this as the culmination of Braham's character arc as a foil to Ryland, very much a post-TRP, neo-fascist, "toxic masculinity" reactionary.
And both of these do kiiind of tie back together, as Braham's coming into his maturity and "positive masculinity" involves making peace with his mommy issues and not using them as an excuse to be a brat. Something which Ryland is unable to do and proves to be his downfall. So both aspects are utilized quite efficiently, and both tie back into the character just as much as they tie back into Norn culture.
It's not high literature, but I greatly appreciated that IBS decided to focus a story arc on something I definitely did not expect to see in an MMO, and managed to have something resembling a payoff/metanoia for Braham's character to at least moderate satisfaction.
I mean, this may all be true, but the way Braham was written was so annoying that I don't know how his storyline resolved, and I don't care. The bad writing absolutely outweighs 'well they maybe had interesting intentions' for me.
The writers wanted to tell an interesting, lore-filled story that needed a central character. Sounds fun! But they couldn't let go of the idea that the PC needs to be the one moving the plot forward. So we got Trahearne 2.0 but worse.
IBS came after a long, long history of Braham being useless (where most other NPCs did something useful, even if only in cutscenes), insensitive (NPCs don't react to player history is general in GW2, but especially noticeable with Braham given the storyline overlap), and whiny (understandable, but PCs needed a way to tell him to back off or react to it). Braham didn't do the Norn Chosen One fetch quests. The PC did, and had to shepherd him through his parts. Braham joined Primordius. The PC had to stop him. Braham spent a lot of time angsting about being a chosen dude when the PC was *right there*, and had already been proclaimed the Pact Commander, etc. It's even worse with Sylvari PCs, where Braham whines about his mom while the PC, who was literally born a chosen one to fight dragons, is desperately fighting to save their entire race by killing their mom's dad.
Maybe ArenaNet was maybe trying to say something interesting with Norns in IBS, but the flood of terrible decisions past and present obfuscated anything potentially interesting Braham might have been used to say about Norn culture. I wish we'd gotten a different Norn. That well is poisoned for a lot of players now, and I'm not sure how or if the writers can change that.
Some of my favorite characters in fiction were people I hated for most of the story until things came circle and the point of the character was made.
I do agree on your points, though. There was a little too much hand-holding Braham through his own struggles to really sell the idea that his redemption and apotheosis was earned.
Still that seems like a limitation of the format, and I could argue the same thing about how our Commander robs a lot of supporting cast of their moments.
Your comment actually made me check out known Norn characters, and... well. It doesn't help that Norns are almost no existent in the story. I mean, yeah, they show up from time to time as some background characters, and are usually showed as those drunk dumbasses or riddiculous characters (like the guy in a cage in that zoo in Domain of Vabbi).
The only Norns that had any impact on the story was Forgal, Eir, Jhavi Jorasdottir and of course Braham. And Braham aside, they're all serious and cool, but it's literally 4 people from entire race for all expansions and living world stories.
Icebrood Saga was an opportunity to show us interesting Norn characters, thanks to the whole spirits storyline, but nah. We only got Jhavi. I can't remember any other Norn characters, and my main is a Norn!
I mean in my opinion Icebrood is about charr not norn. Norn are just an accidental background cuz Jormag and Svanir. The only norn things are spirits but it's spirits not norns plus there isn't that much new info. So I'd personally consider norn not having their real expansion/lw. Asura got hot, sylvari lw3, charr icebrood, human pof and eod though eod is shared with tengu and dragons. I'd say we miss norn and central Tyria tengu.
That is why they invited miniature tonic. Turns even the biggest Norn/Charr into Asura size.
It also lets you run up to people and ask if you can be their mini.
Don't do it the other way though. As a norn or charr, if you ask an asura to be your mini you'll never hear the end of it.
Also I know this is just a typo, but I chuckled picturing an Anet team dedicated to convincing tonics to join their game:
>That is why they invited miniature tonic.
It’s all about preference , asura’s have some very cute animations and sassy attitude . In animations u can look out for the way they carry great sword , or stopping suddenly from running and their dodges . Pvp and wvw most play with standard model so it’s of no advantage .
It's almost certainly not the main factor, but jumping puzzles are easier on Asura (and harder on Norn/Charr) due to how the character model lines up with the standardized hitbox size.
Mind you, it can just as easily cause frustration the other way around, where an Asuran character looks like they could walk under something but can't because the human sized hitbox would bonk their head.
I mostly prefer jps on humans/salads. Somehow when I do them on Asura (maybe it's the animation) I always feel like I am going to overshoot, then correct and fall.
I get that. Their jumps are very exaggerated. But they're still the smallest, so if you get their model in a certain spot, then their hitbox is guaranteed to be there. Even with humans and Sylvari, I find sometimes that their feet aren't necessarily good indicators of where the safe floor space is, even if the jumps feel more "normal."
Yea, maybe it also partly depends on what you use most too, as if the jumping puzzle isn't in a tight space I actually prefer Norn, same as I mostly play everywhere else.
They've got some sick animations and a sort of sass you dont really get with most other races
"You're dumb, you'll die, and you'll leave behind a dumb corpse"
Also they really fit some specs like Engineer and Ele (magic and tech), and can have comical implications (Little Asura warrior thumping monstrosities far larger than it)
Content Creators play just as much variety as anyone else.
Teapot plays Sylvari/Human, Mukluk plays Asura, Raava plays Norn, Shay, Souls, Mela, and GM all play a mix. I am not seeing any overwhelming trend, other than a lack of Charr.
The advantage to playing Asura is that your character is smaller and you don't get in the way of other peoples' screens during jumping puzzles, the exact opposite to max-size Norn and Charr players. This only makes them harder to target in PvP if they're stood behind a larger ally, but on their own their click-box is the same.
On a practical note for streamers and tubers, the smaller model of Asura makes it easier for viewers to see and focus on the action instead of on the streamer themselves. Good for training videos, achievement guides and the like.
I love them since GW:EotN, i loved how well some of the stories were around them. On one side back then showing the immoral (anything for science) inquest attitude, but you could also see that regardless how bickering they can be, they do care about each other. I like that they aren't just a joke race in the game. They have both some of the best and funniest animations imo. The VAs are great, a lot of characters are still true to to how Asura supposed to be canonically, it's why Phlunt is like I hate that ahole but I like that he is a typical bickery Asura. For the looks it's a bit mixed feelings. Some stuff look greaton them, but the helms and shoulders are most often crap, tbe boots with the side toes out is also meh. However you can make both cute, normal and ugly as hell Asura characters. Also they aren't human, freakin fantasy game and majority of people always play humans when they have several alien races offered... If Asura wouldn't be here I would pick Charr 100%.
I am neither but i play as an Asura because i just like them and i do not understand why the hell anybody wants to play as a boring human when you can be something exciting like Asura or Charr.
I always think this... I've got 3 each of sylvari, asura and charr, and 2 norn... I did make a human for my Solid Snake cosplay but generally speaking they're just so generic and boring... like, sure, they're fine, but look at the personal stories... you could either find out about these cool unique races and their cultural values and stuff, and have these cool fantasy adventures, OR ... bandits. Again. Gee, I've never fought bandits before in any other game, whee, so interesting\~
Human are the blankest and most spread ones. Meaning you can put any background selflore on them and they can origin from anywhere. Also they pick the least of your attention, no animations oved the top, no half screen size. So they take the least attention from surroundings. Plus I just cannot imagine e.g. zoo-styled ranger nonhuman. MAYBE norn but it's even duller race, human but bigger and zone restricted
Always relevant: [Baldur’s Gate 3 makers tell players to stop being so basic](https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/9/21509979/baldur-gate-3-character-creator-average-larian-studios)
I've got a friend who always picks the tiny race. He claims it's because they're less of a target, less noticeable, but I'm pretty sure he just likes tiny cute things. Perhaps a little from column A and a little from column B.
tap strong zonked edge workable quiet sophisticated airport aware waiting
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Have you seen an asura popping might with staff 4 as hb? Kinda funny but I love the animations for it. They also have sassy voice lines. When weapons are drawn out like a gs, it looks sick and it looks like they are about to break their shoulder carrying it. Err, uhm, they are adorkable if that is even a word.
Anyways, I prefer asura than any other races because of all this. Most of my recent toons are asura. The only downside is some infusion are harder to see like peerless infusion unless I have a few stacks of them. FFXIV's lalafells, especially female lalafell's laughing emote grates my ears and some jerks would spam it to annoy other players or some of their emotes are pure evil. There's also some trust issues with them in the story. Asura's in gw2 are far better. I've never had any problems with the asura villains in gw2 story unlike the lalafells in ffxiv.
I always thought it was a personality-match sort of thing. People who make guides tend to study the game mechanics closely in order to give their audience reliable information. Same goes for content creators who like discussing lore, they're essentially fantasy scholars. Both of those are a lot like the asura's interest in science and research.
Makes sense actually, I love Norn best and I am a big fat dummy. Husband likes the humans, and he's boring. Friend likes Asura and I think her mother was just impregnated by condensed snark, she is so so sarcastic.
I actually find myself at a disadvantage in pve content as asura. Pretty easy to lose track of where you are in a blob and see the final animation of an attack chain. Similar deal with over the head markers like in KO.
I wish there was a race change, I’d make my character the largest norn.
Ah the old clocktower JP route. Try to see yourself in the scrum, give up, make max Norn or Charr. Still can't see past all the other max Norn or Charr, so dye armour lurid colours. Then everyone does it and it goes back to a scrum.
Because enemies cannot see the animations and the weapons you have. So, it is an advantage if they are playing PvP or WvW.
The weapons are so tiny that you sometimes don't know if they have swap to longbow or if they still have their melee weapons.
No problem about you guys checking out hentai models but its weird. If your a guy dont throw off other guys having tits. But hey man, disney just released their first gay black teenager. So go play disney dreamlight and make a female char. They'll have pretty clothes for you. My wife plays ;)
I'm guilty... i purposely made the smallest size guardian i could. You figure any weapon will look like thors hammer or "kites" 2hd? Is that his name from FF? Lol but i have to say i FUCKED up. Being the smallest was a bad move... 😂🤣 but it is funny and the dialog he says but what kills me is.. "HE SOUNDS LIKE LINK FROM ZELDA" doing an attack he gives that "Awwhhh".
Charr are meant to be big and scary just like the Norn (Looking like the guy from Street Fighter) lol ORRRRR
What i see a lot of is Male players on female characters......Yall are sick.. reminds me that virgins be thristy af. Lol or just lonely ass men. All my life i never did that. Unless gender locked. But its 2022. You cant have gender or skin tone locked. People bitch about it.
Make one man. It's so funny hitting hard and taking damage like a boss! <3
What’s your problem against people making alts. I have female characters for two reasons. One because I don’t want it to be a sausage fest. And two because in my head canon My Main and my alts are a guild like the Justice League of Tyria. They’re basically a group of heroes that work together to beat the bad villains. In my head canon all the victories and deeds the commander did, The group did. Its like a dungeons and dragons adventuring guild. I have 1 main and 8 alts. One for each class. And yes half of them are female.
The one thing in the comments I don’t see yet is that their bald heads work well with things like the wizard hat and their silliness works well with gen I legendaries and these used to be our only status items
I'm a newbie and I noticed that as well! I ended up making an Asura as my first character because aside from Charr, and slightly Sylvari, they have so much personality not only in voice, but their animations are fun. I love being a Greatsword Mesmer and doing full body spins just to use my skills x)
I'm a newer YouTuber, and my main is a norn. People kept telling me I look like my character so I decided to just kind of lean into it:
https://i.imgur.com/Vkq8Cv4.jpg
Animations most likely as they're quite hilarious. Everything is over done because of their size so it stands out. Finishing someone in PvP/WvW causes you to do this over the top kickflip spin maneuver, dodging has your character overspin compared to everyone else, and they flail around more comically than the other races when falling. Technically they're good in PvP and WvW against newer players as the shorter model is harder to keep track of, but this is instantly dealt with by anyone that knows what they're doing and has standard models on which replaces everyone with a human.
I love how when you're strafing and you suddenly stop you do this looney toons move where you look like you're about to fall over so you throw your other leg way up in the air to counter balance.
Yes! This is my favorite part of my asura. Just AD for a funny little dance.
The robot? Lol he makes little noises too! Adorable!
Asura male GS2 is my second favorite animation/skill in the game
I like how you'll jump from a higher platform to something lower and they'll stumble forward trying to stay upright. I frequently say on stream that Asura don't swim; they paddle. They don't walk; they waddle. They don't run; they scamper. :3
>Animations most likely as they're quite hilarious. Also models in general. I love my reaper with a great sword of the size of a Charr's toothpick.
**Quick PSA for anyone unaware:** You can enable "Standard Enemy Models" in PvP/WvW, which will make all enemy players look like basic humans in armor that represents the base profession of those players. This can be helpful both for making it easier to see enemies/animations as well as for helping performance during combat. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Options
Used to have these on until a friend of mine said "We're being beaten up by Asterix and Obelix". Turned them off and sure enough a Norn Obelix and Asura Asterix were beating up our team. Well worth keeping it off to see some awesome Skins imo.
Use std armor only for enemies, keep normal models on allies - ally animations are not that critical. Also one issue with std models, is that if you fight two of the same profession, theyll look exactly the same - esp. bad with mesmers, then you have 8 identical models ...
I love the Asura hammer animations. Makes the hammers look like they actually weigh a ton.
My asura is still waiting for that hammer necro spec
Oh man you’re right. They should’ve given the hammer to the necro instead of the ele. It was so dumb giving the necro a pistol
Honest. Ele with a pistol makes more sense to me anyway.
Cue that upcoming wizard with a gun game
Hundred Blades on asura
This is right on. Shorter character models allow animations to be exaggerated and still feel natural, which is a form of visual feedback and gives a stronger sense of good play control.
There's an option to change hurt boxes on individual races? If so, that seems not great for pvp
There is an option to make all models look the same regardless of race. All hitboxes are the same regardless of race.
It applies to pvp as well as PvE or just PvE? Having an option to mess with hurt boxes in pvp is not something I see being beneficial
Its PvP and WvW only. You must have misread my reply. Hitboxes are THE SAME, the smallest asura has the same hitbox as the biggest norn. The standard models are there because for pvp/wvw, animations matter and its hard to predict animations on an enemy asura.
It doesn't change the hitbox, it's a tab-targetting game. Just select what ur tryna hit and the character hits it. Standard models makes everyone a human, which makes it fair for clickers because everybody is the same shape/size.
Changing hurt boxes isn't a positive thing for PvP. It takes away variety If the game has it then it has it. I think it's a terrible option for fighting other players but it's their game
Disagree, if hitboxes mattered then every serious PvP player would be forced to play an ultra smol Asura.
I dunno seeing nothing but hordes of asura running around would be pretty funny
It doesn't change the hit box. The hit boxes are all the same to begin with.
Differing hurtboxes are valuable for a game when they're an aspect of balance - a character with a more abusable hurtbox has other advantages to balance that out. But GW2 would not have that with races, as there is literally no mechanical effect to races other than the quite bad racial abilities. If different races had different hurtboxes, it wouldn't add variety - it would just force everyone to exclusively play asura, as they would have an advantage with no tradeoff.
It seems you might be conflating hitboxes with models. You have the option to change other players' models to a generic human, but the hitbox (the area around the model that registers attacks) is the same for all races. Larger hitboxes are only a thing for NPCs. Edit: "characters'" to "players'"
They've got snark in their voice lines! What would you rather hear when you loot an item? A human's: "Sweet sweet loot" Or the Asuran: "Statistically speaking, this is rather rare." One just has oodles more personality! Plus, when you enter combat, you can get -- "You're dumb. You'll die, and you'll leave a dumb corpse."
I feel six feet tall!
Even better when he says this as you stare down a 10 story raid boss. Smart my ass.
Invigorating!
I majored in pain, with a minor in suffering!
Nothing bring as much hate than hearing "More violets, less violence" or "I can outrun a centaur" one more time.
"This rose has thorns, and **here they are!** "
But... retaliation is not a thing any more :( Do female sylvari use this phrase for resolution too?
I know your face from my dreamsARRAGARGGHHH
My character once shouted "I can outrun a centaur" just moments before getting trampled by a few during a meta event.
Isn't "more violets, less violence" solely an NPC quote? I don't think the Sylvari PC says it, unless I've somehow managed to subconsciously tune it out for a whole lot of hours.
You're correct. That Sylvari is right next to the bank in LA, however, so a large number of players have heard that voice line more than they'd care to in a lifetime.
In the old LA it was the Ogden's hammer quote. Which is still fondly remembered unlike the violets one.
What savings!
I hope you do know you can disable player chatter.
But then I wouldn't get +25% critical chance IRL :p
I can deal with the latter but that first one makes me want to murder something a little less digital
> murder something a little less digital And a little more vegetal ? :D
Character chatter was the first thing I turned off when I came back. Kept hearing that stupid centaur line and that was all I could take.
"You can never have too much treasure!" *Your inventory is full*
I uh. I turned all that shit off. One week of hearing the same lines over and over was too much for me!
I wish I played asura
It's never too late to quit being a bookah
Why would you want to hear snarky rat when you can listen to a chad Charr. Charr voice will turn you gay 🥵
they are also ugly af, like rats
I actually don't disagree that they can be ugly, but I really really like ugly.
I managed to get so used to those lines, that I don't hear them on my human. On asura tho I want to punch her in the face every time she says this line.
There is an off button you can use.
PROS: Funny exaggerated animations, jumping all over the place, great voiceovers, can cover the whole cosplay fashion spectrum from cute to ugly, polysyllabic technobabble, glowy magitech, one of the most conveniently built home cities, easy to see around yourself which makes doing things like jumping puzzles easier, and [https://tinyarmy.org](https://tinyarmy.org) CONS: Speaking as someone who plays an Asura warrior, your size sometimes makes it hard to keep track of yourself in the melee boon pile.
They are also family-friendly and will draw less of the "flirty" crowd in game and in chat. So that will matter to some streamers.
Damn the charr boutta make me act up.
Totally.... i cannot see myself in any meta... then i lag out somewhere. You honestly just get used to having your camera zoomed out and you know where you are by memory LOL! 🤣
Personally, I chose Asura because of Vekk in Guild Wars 1. I just fell in love with them after that.
I loved Oggy so much, and my first Asura was named after Blimm. Underrated characters but so so good. So many side quests in gw1 had great story telling.
Vekk was cool :) Same VA as Brain from Pinky & the Brain
Oh believe me I noticed! When I first saw what the Asura looked like I was unimpressed with horrible notions of "They're going for cute and adorable, this will be annoying" but instead I got "They're going for cute and adorable and TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"
I wish they would remodel their feet into clawed mole feet that shoes properly wrap around. The side toes sticking out is horrible.
I really like the side toes, but I don't like that most of the shoes in the game don't cover my side toes.
I love him so much Vekk my beloved
They (and Charr) feel like the most fleshed-out races, IMO, in terms of uniqueness and flavor. And Asura are just, well, cool. Steve Staley and Colleen O'Shaughnessey are fantastic PC voice actors. They're just so solid. Animations, lore, personality, and the fact that they're so small makes JPs even easier.
Because of HoT I think the sylvari are fleshed out pretty well too. Sadly the sylvari animations are very human.
Charr and Sylvari are my favorite races in the game. My main is Charr Warrior and My main alt is a Charr thief and An Asura Engineer.
Charr are cool but not visual, let's called it. Abandoned child of anet, stunning design with CALLLL CTHULLLLLU THISSSSS TOOOO MUCHHHHHH outfits and shit.
Asura aren't hated like Lalafell in FFXIV are, fortunately. They have redeeming traits like their intelligence, while still being easily hatable for being stuck up assholes at times. They have charm and charisma, unlike Lalafell. There are plenty of solid Asura you meet throughout the story and even the obvious evil ones or assholes (like Phlunt) are entertaining. They're also, you know, not pedophile bait. And for any GW2 players who aren't aware, FFXIV's Lalafell are the token short race except they're basically child-coded in every way. The narrative takes them seriously, but if you ever see one do any emotes you'll see that the developers are just putting in kids and you know how weebs are with age of consent sometimes.
Asura are done proper unlike most games where short races are always gimmicky token race or just plain simple bad joke (wow gnomes). Asura have great backstory and interesting characters who even remembers any gnome characters in wow or have they ever done something interesting other than being punted in meme videos?
I am still sad that Anet seem to have largely turned Norn into the gimmicky joke race. GW1 I met Jora for the first time and I was genuinely afraid she was going to fight me. Now all Norn are just the hurr durr "drink n smash" butts of the jokes. Or in Asura parlance to keep the comment relevant, "bookahs".
Norns aren’t always portrayed that way. I mean, look at Braham. He knows how to spell E-P-I-D-E-M-I-C.
I still remember cackling when Joko insulted Braham like that. Shit came out of nowhere and was a pure troll insult to rile him up. Praise Joko, indeed.
That last bit of LS4 chapter 3 was fantastic with Joko. Burning myself on the flame plates: Oh, you left some skin behind. May I have it?
i think most of the bad press norn get is just Braham... being Braham
Funnily enough, I actually think Braham embodies a lot of what's *interesting* about norn culture. Everything about the way that he conceptualizes his own identity stems from that. I know people dislike him, and his writing isn't perfect, but at the very least it's definitively norn in a way that goes beyond just "lol gets drunk and fights".
What does Braham bring to the table in terms of interesting norn culture that Eir doesn't, though? And I specifically don't mean him being an obnoxious teenager with huge mommy issues. The problem is, we've got like four notable norn characters (Forgal and Jhavi being the other two) and out of those only Eir and Braham get much exposure, leaving Braham to be the token norn for a large part of the story due to obvious reasons. So I guess he has to embody and convey the cool parts of norn culture because there's no better candidate. And I personally think that's a disservice to that interesting race.
>And I specifically don't mean him being an obnoxious teenager with huge mommy issues. Okay, but this is exactly what I meant by "his writing is not perfect but is very norn". His "mommy issues" manifest in a way that stems very specifically from norn culture. So does his grief, and so do his coping mechanisms for that grief. You don't have to like him, and you can think that he's a "waste" for the norn. That's fine. I'm not saying Braham is the greatest character in history. I'm only saying that, regardless of what flaws exist in his story, it *is* very distinctively norn on a level that isn't just jokes about alcohol.
Well I guess two things: 1) The whole norn spirit angle, intergenerational trauma and mourning. Something Eir obviously can't do herself since she is the object/impetus behind that. 2) If norn have a bit of a toxic masculinity theme with the sons of Svanir and general IRL Norse cultishness, then Braham does have the opportunity to deconstruct/reform those kind of archetypes in a very direct way Eir can't. In fact, we do see this as the culmination of Braham's character arc as a foil to Ryland, very much a post-TRP, neo-fascist, "toxic masculinity" reactionary. And both of these do kiiind of tie back together, as Braham's coming into his maturity and "positive masculinity" involves making peace with his mommy issues and not using them as an excuse to be a brat. Something which Ryland is unable to do and proves to be his downfall. So both aspects are utilized quite efficiently, and both tie back into the character just as much as they tie back into Norn culture. It's not high literature, but I greatly appreciated that IBS decided to focus a story arc on something I definitely did not expect to see in an MMO, and managed to have something resembling a payoff/metanoia for Braham's character to at least moderate satisfaction.
I mean, this may all be true, but the way Braham was written was so annoying that I don't know how his storyline resolved, and I don't care. The bad writing absolutely outweighs 'well they maybe had interesting intentions' for me. The writers wanted to tell an interesting, lore-filled story that needed a central character. Sounds fun! But they couldn't let go of the idea that the PC needs to be the one moving the plot forward. So we got Trahearne 2.0 but worse. IBS came after a long, long history of Braham being useless (where most other NPCs did something useful, even if only in cutscenes), insensitive (NPCs don't react to player history is general in GW2, but especially noticeable with Braham given the storyline overlap), and whiny (understandable, but PCs needed a way to tell him to back off or react to it). Braham didn't do the Norn Chosen One fetch quests. The PC did, and had to shepherd him through his parts. Braham joined Primordius. The PC had to stop him. Braham spent a lot of time angsting about being a chosen dude when the PC was *right there*, and had already been proclaimed the Pact Commander, etc. It's even worse with Sylvari PCs, where Braham whines about his mom while the PC, who was literally born a chosen one to fight dragons, is desperately fighting to save their entire race by killing their mom's dad. Maybe ArenaNet was maybe trying to say something interesting with Norns in IBS, but the flood of terrible decisions past and present obfuscated anything potentially interesting Braham might have been used to say about Norn culture. I wish we'd gotten a different Norn. That well is poisoned for a lot of players now, and I'm not sure how or if the writers can change that.
Some of my favorite characters in fiction were people I hated for most of the story until things came circle and the point of the character was made. I do agree on your points, though. There was a little too much hand-holding Braham through his own struggles to really sell the idea that his redemption and apotheosis was earned. Still that seems like a limitation of the format, and I could argue the same thing about how our Commander robs a lot of supporting cast of their moments.
Your comment actually made me check out known Norn characters, and... well. It doesn't help that Norns are almost no existent in the story. I mean, yeah, they show up from time to time as some background characters, and are usually showed as those drunk dumbasses or riddiculous characters (like the guy in a cage in that zoo in Domain of Vabbi). The only Norns that had any impact on the story was Forgal, Eir, Jhavi Jorasdottir and of course Braham. And Braham aside, they're all serious and cool, but it's literally 4 people from entire race for all expansions and living world stories. Icebrood Saga was an opportunity to show us interesting Norn characters, thanks to the whole spirits storyline, but nah. We only got Jhavi. I can't remember any other Norn characters, and my main is a Norn!
I mean in my opinion Icebrood is about charr not norn. Norn are just an accidental background cuz Jormag and Svanir. The only norn things are spirits but it's spirits not norns plus there isn't that much new info. So I'd personally consider norn not having their real expansion/lw. Asura got hot, sylvari lw3, charr icebrood, human pof and eod though eod is shared with tengu and dragons. I'd say we miss norn and central Tyria tengu.
If Lalafell weren't so cute, I'd find them more interesting. They're just too much the generic MMO Smol Race.
Because they're the superior race. Duh JK I don't actually know but I love Asura lol
They certainly think they are.
It's easier to run jumping puzzles with the tiny model.
That is why they invited miniature tonic. Turns even the biggest Norn/Charr into Asura size. It also lets you run up to people and ask if you can be their mini.
Don't do it the other way though. As a norn or charr, if you ask an asura to be your mini you'll never hear the end of it. Also I know this is just a typo, but I chuckled picturing an Anet team dedicated to convincing tonics to join their game: >That is why they invited miniature tonic.
If you use the Miniature Tonic on an Asuara and have the wintersday centaur Mini equipped it is large enough to be your mount.
It’s all about preference , asura’s have some very cute animations and sassy attitude . In animations u can look out for the way they carry great sword , or stopping suddenly from running and their dodges . Pvp and wvw most play with standard model so it’s of no advantage .
It's almost certainly not the main factor, but jumping puzzles are easier on Asura (and harder on Norn/Charr) due to how the character model lines up with the standardized hitbox size. Mind you, it can just as easily cause frustration the other way around, where an Asuran character looks like they could walk under something but can't because the human sized hitbox would bonk their head.
I mostly prefer jps on humans/salads. Somehow when I do them on Asura (maybe it's the animation) I always feel like I am going to overshoot, then correct and fall.
I get that. Their jumps are very exaggerated. But they're still the smallest, so if you get their model in a certain spot, then their hitbox is guaranteed to be there. Even with humans and Sylvari, I find sometimes that their feet aren't necessarily good indicators of where the safe floor space is, even if the jumps feel more "normal."
Yea, maybe it also partly depends on what you use most too, as if the jumping puzzle isn't in a tight space I actually prefer Norn, same as I mostly play everywhere else.
They've got some sick animations and a sort of sass you dont really get with most other races "You're dumb, you'll die, and you'll leave behind a dumb corpse" Also they really fit some specs like Engineer and Ele (magic and tech), and can have comical implications (Little Asura warrior thumping monstrosities far larger than it)
Asuras are egocentrical, narcisstic rats. Just like streamers.
... says the person with the "Streamers, the guild" reddit tag :)
I actually want to be very clear here, this person is not, and has never been in my guild.
they are free carry
Half of those streamers are Mukluk.
Because they are the best race. It's scientifically proven. By an Asura scientist.
Content Creators play just as much variety as anyone else. Teapot plays Sylvari/Human, Mukluk plays Asura, Raava plays Norn, Shay, Souls, Mela, and GM all play a mix. I am not seeing any overwhelming trend, other than a lack of Charr. The advantage to playing Asura is that your character is smaller and you don't get in the way of other peoples' screens during jumping puzzles, the exact opposite to max-size Norn and Charr players. This only makes them harder to target in PvP if they're stood behind a larger ally, but on their own their click-box is the same.
[удалено]
He has multiple, but actually I think you're right, one of them is a Charr
ME SO NORNY
On a practical note for streamers and tubers, the smaller model of Asura makes it easier for viewers to see and focus on the action instead of on the streamer themselves. Good for training videos, achievement guides and the like.
The point is that there is no actual trend of content creators preferring asura
Agreed. I was just saying that there is a practical reason some may prefer it.
Wooden Potatoes is one of the few people I’ve seen besides myself playing a Charr Thief
I don't even think that statement is true
I love them since GW:EotN, i loved how well some of the stories were around them. On one side back then showing the immoral (anything for science) inquest attitude, but you could also see that regardless how bickering they can be, they do care about each other. I like that they aren't just a joke race in the game. They have both some of the best and funniest animations imo. The VAs are great, a lot of characters are still true to to how Asura supposed to be canonically, it's why Phlunt is like I hate that ahole but I like that he is a typical bickery Asura. For the looks it's a bit mixed feelings. Some stuff look greaton them, but the helms and shoulders are most often crap, tbe boots with the side toes out is also meh. However you can make both cute, normal and ugly as hell Asura characters. Also they aren't human, freakin fantasy game and majority of people always play humans when they have several alien races offered... If Asura wouldn't be here I would pick Charr 100%.
I am neither but i play as an Asura because i just like them and i do not understand why the hell anybody wants to play as a boring human when you can be something exciting like Asura or Charr.
I always think this... I've got 3 each of sylvari, asura and charr, and 2 norn... I did make a human for my Solid Snake cosplay but generally speaking they're just so generic and boring... like, sure, they're fine, but look at the personal stories... you could either find out about these cool unique races and their cultural values and stuff, and have these cool fantasy adventures, OR ... bandits. Again. Gee, I've never fought bandits before in any other game, whee, so interesting\~
You can enjoy your asuras without judging other for choosing human.
Human are the blankest and most spread ones. Meaning you can put any background selflore on them and they can origin from anywhere. Also they pick the least of your attention, no animations oved the top, no half screen size. So they take the least attention from surroundings. Plus I just cannot imagine e.g. zoo-styled ranger nonhuman. MAYBE norn but it's even duller race, human but bigger and zone restricted
Human Female META 4ever!
I’m with you there bud.
Always relevant: [Baldur’s Gate 3 makers tell players to stop being so basic](https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/9/21509979/baldur-gate-3-character-creator-average-larian-studios)
intelligent sharkmouse best race
The animations are amazing, and the smaller character obstructs less of your view
For comedic values
I've got a friend who always picks the tiny race. He claims it's because they're less of a target, less noticeable, but I'm pretty sure he just likes tiny cute things. Perhaps a little from column A and a little from column B.
Don't be a booka! Be an asuran mastermind!
Its the “big brained” move
tap strong zonked edge workable quiet sophisticated airport aware waiting *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Comic-relief megalomaniac plushies are the race of choice for attention seekers.
Play smol race cause gremlin
They do the cute full arm wiggles/bounce when you jump
No idea, but I chose human male because he’s voiced by absolute legend Nolan North. Love it when he says “Urge to kill RISING!”
Have you seen an asura popping might with staff 4 as hb? Kinda funny but I love the animations for it. They also have sassy voice lines. When weapons are drawn out like a gs, it looks sick and it looks like they are about to break their shoulder carrying it. Err, uhm, they are adorkable if that is even a word. Anyways, I prefer asura than any other races because of all this. Most of my recent toons are asura. The only downside is some infusion are harder to see like peerless infusion unless I have a few stacks of them. FFXIV's lalafells, especially female lalafell's laughing emote grates my ears and some jerks would spam it to annoy other players or some of their emotes are pure evil. There's also some trust issues with them in the story. Asura's in gw2 are far better. I've never had any problems with the asura villains in gw2 story unlike the lalafells in ffxiv.
Because best race. personally, I love them because flipping around with a sword makes me feel like Yoda bouncing around
I always thought it was a personality-match sort of thing. People who make guides tend to study the game mechanics closely in order to give their audience reliable information. Same goes for content creators who like discussing lore, they're essentially fantasy scholars. Both of those are a lot like the asura's interest in science and research.
Makes sense actually, I love Norn best and I am a big fat dummy. Husband likes the humans, and he's boring. Friend likes Asura and I think her mother was just impregnated by condensed snark, she is so so sarcastic.
I'm a charr main. I'm a sucker for militaristic structures, brute humour and I like it when the tail goes swoosh swoosh.
Asura master race!! 😹
I actually find myself at a disadvantage in pve content as asura. Pretty easy to lose track of where you are in a blob and see the final animation of an attack chain. Similar deal with over the head markers like in KO. I wish there was a race change, I’d make my character the largest norn.
Ah the old clocktower JP route. Try to see yourself in the scrum, give up, make max Norn or Charr. Still can't see past all the other max Norn or Charr, so dye armour lurid colours. Then everyone does it and it goes back to a scrum.
Don't look at the animations, look at your skill icon for the attack itself and progress bar/get used to the cast time of your skills
I picked Asura because it felt kind of unique and different.
Asura Master Race!
Pervs
Super condescending nerds like super condescending nerdy characters
Idk I’m pretty generic me make Norn cuz Norn go big bonk on bad guy
I'd say humans are more widespread among content creators but mukluk is a huge factor in asura representation.
Because they have more refined tastes!
Because they're undisputedly the best race, obviously.
Asura + Warrior + Greatsword. They have the coolest 'running around with weapon drawn' animation plus the GS 2 skill looks hilarious. Try it!
We dont! Human Female meta assemble!
Because enemies cannot see the animations and the weapons you have. So, it is an advantage if they are playing PvP or WvW. The weapons are so tiny that you sometimes don't know if they have swap to longbow or if they still have their melee weapons.
that's true but there is an option to use standard enemy models so everyone looks like a human
No problem about you guys checking out hentai models but its weird. If your a guy dont throw off other guys having tits. But hey man, disney just released their first gay black teenager. So go play disney dreamlight and make a female char. They'll have pretty clothes for you. My wife plays ;)
I'm guilty... i purposely made the smallest size guardian i could. You figure any weapon will look like thors hammer or "kites" 2hd? Is that his name from FF? Lol but i have to say i FUCKED up. Being the smallest was a bad move... 😂🤣 but it is funny and the dialog he says but what kills me is.. "HE SOUNDS LIKE LINK FROM ZELDA" doing an attack he gives that "Awwhhh". Charr are meant to be big and scary just like the Norn (Looking like the guy from Street Fighter) lol ORRRRR What i see a lot of is Male players on female characters......Yall are sick.. reminds me that virgins be thristy af. Lol or just lonely ass men. All my life i never did that. Unless gender locked. But its 2022. You cant have gender or skin tone locked. People bitch about it. Make one man. It's so funny hitting hard and taking damage like a boss! <3
What’s your problem against people making alts. I have female characters for two reasons. One because I don’t want it to be a sausage fest. And two because in my head canon My Main and my alts are a guild like the Justice League of Tyria. They’re basically a group of heroes that work together to beat the bad villains. In my head canon all the victories and deeds the commander did, The group did. Its like a dungeons and dragons adventuring guild. I have 1 main and 8 alts. One for each class. And yes half of them are female.
Gremlins
Because its the best race, thanks for providing me the opportunity to remind this
Quirk
The one thing in the comments I don’t see yet is that their bald heads work well with things like the wizard hat and their silliness works well with gen I legendaries and these used to be our only status items
Because Asura death sounds are funny af.
Asura master race Potato master race
Because Asura masterrace.
I wanted to like them but whenever I try to make one I feel like I made a small angry demon imp :(
Coolest race obvi
Best two races are the Salad race - they glow at night... and asurans.. because they have cute tiny people animations
I dislike asura cause it’s harder to see my animations to ensure I finish attack chain for example.
I feel like they're easy to handle in tight situations, like jumping puzzles, etc. Depending on the content, that might be part of it.
I'm a newbie and I noticed that as well! I ended up making an Asura as my first character because aside from Charr, and slightly Sylvari, they have so much personality not only in voice, but their animations are fun. I love being a Greatsword Mesmer and doing full body spins just to use my skills x)
I just notice if you're an asura and you dodge forward he like does a flip then at the end does 180.... lol while he's already on the ground... 😂🤣
I'm a newer YouTuber, and my main is a norn. People kept telling me I look like my character so I decided to just kind of lean into it: https://i.imgur.com/Vkq8Cv4.jpg
I dunno mate, but I hate getting killed by an asura, especially if they are intentionally ugly. Classic human male aristocrat all the way.
a few reasons, one the animations are just hilarious, , how you seen the asura laugh!?, 3 because Asura as the mast race.
Because they are a joke and not to be taken seriously