176 replies to this topic

[PatriotArrow]

According to a poll from right after BWE3, which can be found here: http://www.guildwars...our-first-race/

Charr are the least popular race. That surprised me. I see a lot of norn hate around here, and every fantasy rpg forum has people who complain that humans are too mundane for their tastes. So I was wondering:

Are the charr really that unpopular? Or was it just the hype that had yet to die down after new races were released, or was it something else that skewed things in a less-than-accurate manner?

Personally, I really liked the sylvari and asura that weekend, but as time went on, I decided that I wanted to have my main be a charr after all.

[Ingway]

That pool didn't receive that many votes if we consider the numbers of actual players on the game, there could be more charr players for all we know when the game goes live.

[Red J]

The Charr deserve no love.

As for the poll, I wouldn't take the results seriously. Mainly because everyone was crazy about both Sylvari and Asura which have been playable for the first time. I am sure the numbers will even out after release.

[binidj]

I strongly suspect that my main will be a charr.

Reasons why other people might not like them:

• Some GW1 devotees still really don't like them because of their role in Prophecies.
  
• Some people aren't fond of the running animation.
  
• Charr aren't sexy.
  
• Armour and clothing designs are uglier than for other races.

[DrunkenMadKing]

My favorite race are the asurans, followed by humans (as I relate to them of course the best), followed by the Charr, followed by the Sylvari, and at the rear are the Norn.

I think the problem with 1 pick polls they don't really accurately cover how people feel about things.  if they allowed the poll to rank things and used the lowest number (based on rank 1-5) that would then show which races are the most popular.

[Kreyl]

The Charr are by far my favorite race, my only concern is a lot of the armor found in game looks a bit out of place on the charrs models, especially the headpiece. In general however I love the charr and my main will be one, I will just need to find armor the appeals to me.

[Kilconey]

Kreyl, on 03 August 2012 - 11:14 PM, said:

The Charr are by far my favorite race, my only concern is a lot of the armor found in game looks a bit out of place on the charrs models, especially the headpiece. In general however I love the charr and my main will be one, I will just need to find armor the appeals to me.

As long as you're rolling a class that wears heavy, everything looks great.

[Dibrom]

I would run as a charr if they weren't so BIG.  Ah well...

Edited by Dibrom, 03 August 2012 - 11:17 PM.

[Deuzerre]

My main will absolutely be a Charr Engineer, so no worries, there is still love.

Though it's one of the two races I can't play with a female, along with Asuras.

[Rafistilus]

95% of the armors of the game are inappropriate to Charrs. The way they run... I personally like. But I know a lot of people who don't.

I just loved Charrs in GW1. They were nasty, vicious, intelligent, strong and muscular. Now... They look like ugly plush, say "What can I do for you?" to other races, and only the racial charr armors and Citadel of flame sets are appropriate, aesthetically and culturally.

Personally, I wanted to play Charr. But when I saw what they became... No, thanks. Don't want to play a bad parody of GW1.

Edited by Rafistilus, 04 August 2012 - 05:52 PM.

[907gamer]

binidj, on 03 August 2012 - 11:12 PM, said:

I strongly suspect that my main will be a charr.

Reasons why other people might not like them:

• Some GW1 devotees still really don't like them because of their role in Prophecies.
  
• Some people aren't fond of the running animation.
  
• Charr aren't sexy.
  
• Armour and clothing designs are uglier than for other races.

All of these probably play a large part in the Charr "hate." I have also heard that there have been some clipping issues with Charr armor? This might be a turn off to people who are really into aesthetics.

[Eqo]

It seems the charr fans are a lot more vocal than the others. Either that or I just notice them more, because I will never forgive them for the Searing.






FOR ASCALON!

[NeonArlecchino]

Collector's Editions are sold out all over... those come with a charr statue, they can't be too unpopular if so many people want statues.

Charr Plushies were also sold out very shortly after release.

[Syncline]

I think that, like with Asura, we'll see more of them as folks see how cool they look in game. I also think we'll see more of them in-game than we'll see represented in the polls.

Anyway, we'll see a reasonably accurate spread of the races in game after a couple months, when folks have had time to noodle around on various races. The betas are bad for that IMO, because there's no time to just relax and get to know a race's quirks.

[AngryTom]

Charr FTW. I don't really care if they're popular or not. I think they're cool and that's what matters.

They're not as trendy and PC as the other mickey mouse races and that's just fine with me.

[Strawberry Nubcake]

Keep in mind that a little over 600 people voting doesn't mean much of anything.  There will be far more people playing the game and quite a few of them will be playing Charr.  IMO I think the Norn will probably end up being the least popular.

I was one of the "ugh, why would I want to play as a Charr?" people before I played one and it ended up being my second favorite race.  

[pamelakd]

I personally liked them until I played them in BWE1.  I didn't like the story, so I couldn't connect to my Charr.  They seemed a little one dimensional to me.

[Nicator]

I think that the Asura/Sylvari anticipation drew some numbers down. Heck, I'm quite sure I saw more Asura than humans in BWE3.

I personally don't like how they went all technological, and their city is ugly.

Edited by Nicator, 03 August 2012 - 11:40 PM.

[Esorono Osuiger]

I love charrs, but armor look awful on them, except their racial armor. They don't have a human-like body, but the armor in the game was created for human-like shape in mind. Things such as long skirts and butt capes may look good on humans, but on charr it's blech.

[Tibbel]

I almost went for a Charr main. I generally like the more exotic character races (I've played Trandoshan, Tauren, and Argonian as primary characters in other games), so Charr initially appealed to me. I also really like how the Charr drop to all fours for their running animation.

However, what caused me to lean away from the Charr are:

• I wanted a sleeker option for male Charr -- swept-back (or very small) horns, a thinner physique that wasn't just ribcage and pelvis, and a sleeker face on a smaller head with no long, raggedy facial hair or fangs going everywhere.
  
• The long coats and robes look very silly on Charr. I assume there are other options (though every piece of medium chest armor I saw in the beta weekend went at least down to mid-thigh), but it does rule out some potentially cool-looking armor for me.
  
• The tail. Oh man, the tail. I wanted more feline tail animations, rather than the fly-swatting that Charr tails do. Cats use their tail for balance, and while I realize Charr aren't intended to exactly represent real cats, the tail swinging around all over the place even while I was just standing still was enough to annoy me a little bit.

That said, I'll probably roll a Charr as an alt at some point early on. The female Charr have some legitimately sleek options (although they still have the armor and tail issues), so I imagine probably my warrior or thief will end up prowling the fields of Ascalon.

[Yourgrandmother]

I made a Charr Necromancer during BWE2 on a whim to try out the necromancer.

What I found is that Charr became my favourite race, they are worth playing for the personal story alone.

[Majic]

I played in every starter area available during the past two BWEs, and the Charr area was easily as popular as any of the others, even after the Asura and Sylvari areas became available during BWE3.

So while they may not be the most popular first race, they are still very popular.

And who knows? Maybe Charr players don't vote in polls as much because the little voting buttons are too tiny for big paws.

[Snag]

Charr and Sylvari are equal as my two favourite races, so there's definitely 1 more Charr fan here. I've certainly forgiven their transgressions of GW1 because ANet has just made them so badass in GW2.

[Swickster]

i think the charr armor is ugly as hell, especially the helms, just can't see myself making a charr cause i like my characters to look decent at the very least.

[GODh]

I think all races are nice... The thing i kinda dislike about Charr is the industrial environment, but i still gonna play at least 1 Charr..

Edited by GODh, 04 August 2012 - 12:41 AM.

[frags]

As long as the Asura are the least popular, I am content.

There was a video a while back that interviewed many Arenanet employees and the vast majority, literally 90%+, were going to play Charr. The race is far more popular than a vote on Guru made lead you to believe.

[GODh]

Swickster, on 04 August 2012 - 12:33 AM, said:

i think the charr armor is ugly as hell, especially the helms, just can't see myself making a charr cause i like my characters to look decent at the very least.

I probably dislike 99% of all headpieces (all races too)... good thing is that you can hide them.

Edited by GODh, 04 August 2012 - 12:43 AM.

[Nicator]

GODh, on 04 August 2012 - 12:41 AM, said:

I think all races are nice... The thing i kinda dislike about Charr is the industrial environment, but i still gonna play at least 1 Charr..

I really hate the industrial path too. They were all natural in GW, and now suddenly they're the most industrial.

[Graywolf4409]

I dislike head pieces for the most part, but i think my Charr looks badass. Only weird part is their feet but i can live with that.

[PoisonedTea]

Charr are the monster(at least tell the Tengu are playable then they will have 2) race also Badass people will play play them.

The Norn on the other hand vary likely will be least played. First they look like big human's so people will play human's before them, second Charr look and act more badass although Norn are fair Badass but in a nicer way. Norn are too most people less interesting,

I love the norn that story is great and culture.