97 replies to this topic

[7thCylon]

the norn are a race of giants... the lost jotun said so....

[vermilion]

I wonder what's the point of this thread? Should we convince you to like Norn or should we tell you that we don't like them too? I don't understand. In every game there will be something that someone don't like. There are tons of people who think Norn are the best race ever.

Let's look how it can go with different race:
What is the point of Charr? I don't really care about the story behind them, because in reality they are just furry cats who walks on 2 feet like humans. People well go for them because they look much more badass in armor [due to their posture]. There is plenty of more original races in the Guild Wars universe, blah, blah, blah...

Why we even have humans in game? I have seen in my life so many humans that I'm tired of them...

Really, what's the point?

[Potato Cat]

vermilion, on 23 July 2012 - 09:09 AM, said:

I wonder what's the point of this thread? Should we convince you to like Norn or should we tell you that we don't like them too? I don't understand. In every game there will be something that someone don't like. There are tons of people who think Norn are the best race ever.

Let's look how it can go with different race:
What is the point of Charr? I don't really care about the story behind them, because in reality they are just furry cats who walks on 2 feet like humans. People well go for them because they look much more badass in armor [due to their posture]. There is plenty of more original races in the Guild Wars universe, blah, blah, blah...

Why we even have humans in game? I have seen in my life so many humans that I'm tired of them...

Really, what's the point?

This. So, so much. If they are a dying race, why are there so many of them? And more to the point, when is the dying going to begin? They're city's nice and I want to know when we, the superior races,  can move in.

Norn are cool. They can shapeshift. They get snow. They get Eir.

Humans are not cool. They can turn into a walking tree. They get the worst place to farm what with all the bandits and and wurms. They get Logan who betrayed everyone and killed Thane.

[Dew]

Red J, on 23 July 2012 - 08:15 AM, said:

I'm already starting to hate all these 9 feet  wide and tall male-gorillas blocking my view.

If you are asura everyone does that, get used to it.
At least you will just experience this in game... I am a shortie in rl, please get rid of tall people in rl they are blocking my view D: lol

Really I can see how norn look very human (or is it humans that look very norn? eh?) but I am cool with them being unique in other ways.
And no I don't want more "humans" but I don't think Anet would just suddenly throw in another "humanesque" race.

[Red J]

Dew, on 23 July 2012 - 09:18 AM, said:

If you are asura everyone does that, get used to it.
At least you will just experience this in game... I am a shortie in rl, please get rid of tall people in rl they are blocking my view D: lol

Really I can see how norn look very human (or is it humans that look very norn? eh?) but I am cool with them being unique in other ways.
And no I don't want more "humans" but I don't think Anet would just suddenly throw in another "humanesque" race.

I was actually playing Sylvari. I am fine with normal-height Norns, they are supposed to be taller then everything else. The problem is, 99% of male Norns turn their height slider to max and choose the bulkiest build available. When those things jump into melee range, you just can't see monsters beneath them.

[GODh]

Tbh all races are alike... the all have a head, body, 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 eyes, etc... just the shape and the way they move are different.

[Heart Collector]

What is the point of Norn?

Shapeshifting.

I mean, dude you can turn into a frakking werebeast at will! What's not to like? Well, apart from the batty bird form *coughs* Oh, and you can drink copious amounts of booze and party hard!

Rawr!!!

Edited by Heart Collector, 23 July 2012 - 10:42 AM.

[Dew]

Red J, on 23 July 2012 - 09:54 AM, said:

I was actually playing Sylvari. I am fine with normal-height Norns, they are supposed to be taller then everything else. The problem is, 99% of male Norns turn their height slider to max and choose the bulkiest build available. When those things jump into melee range, you just can't see monsters beneath them.

It was meant as: if you are asura that could happen with sylvaria, humans and charr too. Or I would think so, since asura are so tiny lol
Charr can actually be quite tall and bulky too (they just have that hunched position so they don't look nearly as tall).
I sort of see what you are getting at, it is sort of the same issue as when you in gw1played a ranged profession and use M.O.X as a hero, really did not like him blocking my view so often.
I haven't seen that many bulky norn around this beta, and I the few norn I saw never bothered me in the situations where I met them.
In the end you will have to get used to it though... regardless.
Remember that some people in rl have to get used to taller/bigger people blocking the view to things all their lif, then maybe it will seem less bad.... I dunno.

[Garrock]

Ardaion, on 22 July 2012 - 12:44 PM, said:

I don't really care about the story behind them [you should read more carefully], but I care that yet another human race [albeit slightly larger] is filling a slot that could be used by a different, more original race [Jotun, Frogmen, Tengu etc.].

"barbarian" race =/= human.

Theres a big difference.

Its like lion and a cat. Both are cats but the "cat" is what we people have as pets and is the more intelligent of those 2...and smaller and less dangerous.
Same thing with norn and human. They have gone different evolution paths, one has gone more into physical hunting and tribe stuff. The other has gone more into intelligent empire army thing.

Pointless topic. :/

[Soazak]

vermilion, on 23 July 2012 - 09:09 AM, said:

I wonder what's the point of this thread? Should we convince you to like Norn or should we tell you that we don't like them too? I don't understand. In every game there will be something that someone don't like. There are tons of people who think Norn are the best race ever.

Let's look how it can go with different race:
What is the point of Charr? I don't really care about the story behind them, because in reality they are just furry cats who walks on 2 feet like humans. People well go for them because they look much more badass in armor [due to their posture]. There is plenty of more original races in the Guild Wars universe, blah, blah, blah...

Why we even have humans in game? I have seen in my life so many humans that I'm tired of them...

Really, what's the point?

/thread

This is the answer really. Norn are part of GW lore, and some of us like Norn, so why not ?

I for one am happy Norn are included, but as above Charr, not so much

[Naqaj]

Let's see:
different faces
different hair styles
different animations
different armor
different voiceover
different stories
different architecture
different starter maps

If Arenanet really intended to save development resources by making another humanoid race, they totally blew it.

[SPanka]

Personnally I prefer Norns to Humans in Gw2, mostly because I couldn't get to like the Human personal story and in my opinion Norns have better animations (at least for Female characters) and they are so kewl! So yeah it's not just bigger Humans or a waste of anything.

Edited by SPanka, 23 July 2012 - 12:59 PM.

[Sirius]

I think you basically need to go into the historical context (i.e. GW1) to fully appreciate what norn are there for. Basically, it works out that amongst RPG gamers you have a bunch of different tastes in races, and some of the key ones to hit are:

• Some people always want human, no matter what (so it's there)
  
• Some people want very non-human races e.g. robots or beasts, see Tauren and the like (this is what charr cater to, and to a lesser and somewhat different-focused extent asura)
  
• Some people want near-human but not-quite races - probably for some degree of familiarity/relatability, yet still feel "fantasy" - your elves and your dwarves. Because ArenaNet didn't want to carbon-copy cliches, they opted not to use these - dwarves pretty much got written out of the story in EotN themselves - and the nearest analogues are sylvari (much cooler than elves, IMHO at least) and norn respectively.

Sylvari aren't really that human-like in anything other than body structure though - they have very different skin etc. So norn more or less get to be the counter to that - the very human-like but not actually a human race.

It doesn't look like ArenaNet wanted to leave them quite there in GW1 though; apart from the incredible martial ability they had, they also threw in the bear transformation to give them another "badass" twist. There were allusions to other forms as well, though we didn't see these in the game. So they were a human-like race but a pretty memorable one.

Unfortunately, while these traits carried through into GW2, game balance resulted in them being muted quite a lot. They can't be the super-warriors they were in GW1 any more or they would ruin the game for the other races; in fact they can't be any more powerful at all. Same goes for the bear form (and other forms); there was a lot of emphasis on the "become the bear" ability in the GW1 EotN story - it was basically a defining trait of the norn, not to be able to do it caused Jora a lot of shame - and it turned a norn into quite the killing machine. That's been downplayed massively in GW2 to the point that neither the game nor the blog articles on the GW2 website make much mention of it anymore - they're elite skills, they're decently powerful, but not especially so and not even the best option in most cases. So not much of it ends up coming through.

But still, the norn continue to fill the niche they're meant for; a human-like but different-cultured race that should have appeal to dwarf fans (as long as they can get over being big and not small!).

[Arquenya]

Eir, on 22 July 2012 - 12:43 PM, said:

yes cause dwarves are just small humans, giants are even bigger humans, elves are humans with pointy ears.
so what was your point exactly?

Lol!! :-)

[True_Kamika]

Hello there,

Norns and Humans can't have childs with each other. Because of that fact i believe that Norns have different organs that Humans. So big differences can be inside them

[Vidal]

I have to say that the Norn come in handy for folks like me who want a warrior that isn't built like a ballet dancer.

[Rainfall]

Ardaion, on 22 July 2012 - 12:12 PM, said:

I don't really care about the story behind them, because in reality they are just larger humans.
People will go for them because they look much better in armor [due to their size]. There is plenty of more original races in the Guild Wars universe - Jotun, Frogmen, Tengu to name a few, but Arena Net decided to do yet another humans. I can only suspect that this decision was made due to the issues with limited resources and I really hope that they will avoid another place fillers in the future expansions - because it's cheap.

Ignorant post. Norn are their own race and have their own rich background. Anyone else would see them as much more than just 'big humans' but you won't as you don't care. So i suggest going to read the wiki before posting again.

[thehotsung]

I'm not a fan of the Norn and you make a very good point OP.  I wish Tengu would replace Norn.  Norn just feel so out of place while Human, Charr, Sylvari, and Asura all look different from one another.  Add Tengu and it would fit perfectly.  I love the Tengu.  They are the opposite version of the Charr.  

Beside Tengu are in snow cap places so they would easily replaces the Norn.  Maybe we get Tengu in future expansion.

What I disagree with the OP is that the Norn have a rich history and lore and fighting the icy dragon is pretty much the icing on the cake.  The Norn story is my favorite in Guild Wars 2.

Edited by thehotsung, 24 July 2012 - 08:06 AM.

[Ss Heretic]

I think you're twisting the story here...

Indeed Humans and Norn look quite similar, actually they are bigger humans. (very well noticed! +1)

You could say: "Anet has done an excellent job creating two totally different unique storylines, backgrounds, habits, starting area's, looks, feels and gameplay from thesame but bigger looking race!"

If you can't appreciate that and thinking that the work thats gone into this is nothing compared to what they could've done with a totally strange and new looking race, then I can tell you: Please get a refund and buy WOW Mists of Pandaria in which you have total anti humanoid being called panda's. Unique don't you think?

[Ualtar]

What is the point of Ardaion?

Discuss

[Duveth]

norn is the best race by long, u can create a gay human or asura if u want

[AndrewSX]

WasiKaBooM, on 22 July 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:

I agree, Humans are pointless, they are just small Norn.

/win thread.

[Sleepyx732]

Why does everything have to have a "point"?

[ArekkusuIII]

You may not like the story behind them but other people do. I personally would take the norn dragon hunter story over the human centaur story. But that's just me, I know it's a shock to have someone with a different opinion to you so i'll leave you to think about that for a minute.

[Eremite]

The point of Norn is in the story; they are major race with established ties with the other races in the game. The races you mentioned do not have those ties, nor have their stories ever suggested that they would (the Tengu in Cantha did manage to coexist with humans for a time, but since the Emperor exiled them I believe they've become isolated from other races).

Simply put, the races you suggest do not have a reason to coexist with the other playable races; and like it or not lore is the foundation of a race.

[el hefe]

Ardaion, on 22 July 2012 - 12:44 PM, said:

I don't really care about the story behind them [you should read more carefully], but I care that yet another human race [albeit slightly larger] is filling a slot that could be used by a different, more original race [Jotun, Frogmen, Tengu etc.].

im hoping for skritt.  skrittsburgh is a neat place.

[Testud0]

True_Kamika, on 24 July 2012 - 07:49 AM, said:

Hello there,

Norns and Humans can't have childs with each other. Because of that fact i believe that Norns have different organs that Humans. So big differences can be inside them

I can't have a baby with a pig or a rat but we still dissect them because of how similar our organs and organ structures are.

Norn do, however, have greater body heat and more muscle naturally.

Duveth, on 24 July 2012 - 08:41 AM, said:

norn is the best race by long, u can create a gay human or asura if u want

Did you just call the sylvari gay humans? Seriously?

Edited by Testud0, 24 July 2012 - 09:53 AM.

[nilzardo]

I'm not going to start ranting about why the norn are my favourite mmo race ever and why they're better than humans in every possible way.

But:

Ardaion, on 22 July 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

My point is that the differences between Humans and Norns aren't significant enough to classify them as a different race.

Going by your logic dwarves, elves and hobbits are also simply humans, which is obviously not the case.

The plural form of norn is simply norn by the way, just like there are no "sylvaris" or "asura(n)s". Get it right kids.

Edited by nilzardo, 24 July 2012 - 10:30 AM.

[True_Kamika]

Testud0, on 24 July 2012 - 09:50 AM, said:

I can't have a baby with a pig or a rat but we still dissect them because of how similar our organs and organ structures are.

Norn do, however, have greater body heat and more muscle naturally.

You are right, but we don't know if they have two hearts or something like that, at least i can't find informations like this.

[Testud0]

True_Kamika, on 24 July 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

You are right, but we don't know if they have two hearts or something like that, at least i can't find informations like this.

Actually, that idea is really interesting. That, coupled with their large body mass and heat, would make a fair bit of sense in my opinion. Of course, I'm no biologist.

Edited by Testud0, 24 July 2012 - 11:39 AM.