176 replies to this topic

[Swickster]

GODh, on 04 August 2012 - 12:43 AM, said:

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

yea, but i really prefer to have them shown, but with charr thats not even an option cause of their crazy long necks. just looks wrong imo. lmao

[Graywolf4409]

Nicator, on 04 August 2012 - 12:48 AM, said:

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

I like the industrial path, shows a change in culture once Gods were removed, which i guess kind of parodies the scientific boon that came after the dark ages of scientific repression were over.

Also, it means that the big tough race is viably as advanced as the little smart-ass race, even if their lack of magic makes their inventions less extravagant.

[devicus]

The reddit poll have similar results with a much bigger (ie statistically viable) set of results. However both polls have a selection bias based on the sort of person who'll post here. Plus yes, one choice poll.

There's a lot of reasons to question the data but it's not like charr won't be played at all. There's plenty of people who like the roman esque lore and the black citadel feeling like Tuchanka complete with Steve Blum voicing Rytlock.

Bear in mind though that they're competing with the following.

> The snarky ones
> Giant Idealised Vikings
> Familiar comfortable humans
> Beautiful sort of elfy (but more human than many elves) tree people.

All of which have some form of pull of their own. Many of which have much prettier home cities. I mean most people think the world tree is cool, Kryta might seem dull but you could easily holiday there and the Asura city is full of sci fi wonder. Industrial ruins are pretty niche on the other hand.

Edited by devicus, 04 August 2012 - 12:58 AM.

[PoisonedTea]

devicus, on 04 August 2012 - 12:54 AM, said:

The reddit poll have similar results with a much bigger (ie statistically viable) set of results. However both polls have a selection bias based on the sort of person who'll post here. Plus yes, one choice poll.

There's a lot of reasons to question the data but it's not like charr won't be played at all. There's plenty of people who like the roman esque lore and the black citadel feeling like Tuchanka complete with Steve Blum voicing Rytlock.

Bear in mind though that they're competing with the following.

> The snarky ones
> Giant Idealised Vikings
> Familiar comfortable humans
> Beautiful sort of elfy (but more human than many elves) tree people.

All of which have some form of pull of their own. Many of which have much prettier home cities. I mean most people think the world tree is cool, Kryta might seem dull but you could easily holiday there and the Asura city is full of sci fi wonder. Industrial ruins are pretty niche on the other hand.

Ever hear of steampunk.

[relshdan]

i'm superficial.

they are hulking masses, known to be tribal/war-like.

i can only envision them through a warrior aesthetic......so i wouldn't play them in any profession except warrior.


that said....i will play one as an alt for the story mode....as a warrior.

[gobberpooper]

My main will be asura but I'm definitely making a Charr necromancer. I loved Black Citadel and the Charr's design but I've always hated Ascalon since 5 years ago when I first created my character and saw pre-Searing.

[Dew]

My main might be sylvari, but charr are close second as my fav race, so at some point if I run out of things to do with my sylvari I will play charr. I just loooove kitties :3

[Sifira]

Eqo, on 03 August 2012 - 11:23 PM, said:

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!

Funny, my charr yells the same thing when he does his battle roar. xP

They're an industrialized beast race that isn't short, that might put some people off.  And then there is the Searing for GW1 vets.  I doubt they'll ultimately be the least played race though.

[Sir Twist]

We are Charr. We have no need to seek your approval. Now, begone before I tie a pork chop around your neck and dump you in the fahrar at lunch time.

[Bandit17]

In BWE3 I played a charr thief and had a great time. I felt the aggressive tension between different legions and the race as a whole was very ferocious which I thought was a breath of fresh air. Their capital is very cool looking and the personal storyline I had was rather fun. The charr, to me, remind me of my Mongol studies. They have a very tribal war-like vibe to 'em.

That being said my main will still be a norn ranger. I was able to connect more to the norse cultural vibes among them and it matched perfectly what I wanted in my ranger. I will roll a charr someday though when time permits!

[Mistah Eff]

I don't like them because of the way the armor looks on them...

[Daisyspit]

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.

#3.  I am  a girl that only likes to play girl characters.  Its not so much about being sexy, its about not being ugly.  No way I can make a decent looking female Charr.

[StaplerPie]

There are several reasons.

One is lore: a lot of professions don't make sense with the Charr, lorewise.  From the wiki: "They have renounced all gods as false and instead view all of life, from magic to combat, with a hard, cynical eye" and "While the average charr is willing to embrace technology, many view the use of magic as a sign of weakness and will distrust magic-users as a whole".  So basically all the scholar classes and guardian are pretty out of place as a Charr.  Elementalist is especially awkward because of the whole flame legion thing.

A second is that a lot of armor, especially scholar armor, looks horrible on Charr.   Seriously, look: http://i4.ytimg.com/...A/mqdefault.jpg .  He looks like the cartoon Beast from Disney or something, and Mesmer purple butterflies just don't go with Charr at all.

Third is they're not as pretty.

[devicus]

PoisonedTea, on 04 August 2012 - 01:05 AM, said:

Ever hear of steampunk.

Yeah it's like the furry factor. I try not to think about either while I play charr because it'd make me feel dirty. The charr feel less "cogs and monocles for everyone pip pip" and more like they're just pragmatic and industrious, it's very possible to be industrial without steampunk, as the idea of a badass industrial backdrop is a pretty well used idea. Also mass effect was an influence on the designers, I'd bet a sum of my own money on it. I mean look at the skritt, they were brainstormed by someone who'd recently played mass effect 2 and talked to legion about his people.

Daisyspit, on 04 August 2012 - 02:35 AM, said:

#3.  I am  a girl that only likes to play girl characters.  Its not so much about being sexy, its about not being ugly.  No way I can make a decent looking female Charr.

The charr are the most alien looking race. The variables of their appearance are on completely different scales and axes to human parameters, it's like make your own lion. I can see that making people feel less connection to their toon because it's less human. Every other character seems to adjust things along human scales to some extent, if that makes sense. I think the number of people who are all "cool, a truely alien race" are outnumbered by people who want it to be easier to feel their character is a *person* which takes a lot more work with a charr.

[tallanx]

PatriotArrow, on 03 August 2012 - 11:02 PM, said:

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.

Unless the poll was done in-game and is mandatory for all players, it means absolutely nothing in the greater scheme of things. At best it reflects the preferences of the GW2Guru community and even that's a stretch since not everyone on GW2Guru voted in that poll.

[Beorn The Berserker]

Here's a poll with a much larger sample size (tens of thousands) and it shows the same results

http://massively.joy...ld-wars-2-main/

as for an explanation, people like playing as characters they can identify with. It's harder to identify with such a massive bestial creature like a charr.

Edited by Beorn The Berserker, 04 August 2012 - 03:12 AM.

[Golvellius]

This...made me love Charr so much.  Won't be my main, but will be my 1st alt.


Rytlock.....just saying that name should be /thread.

[HappyDragon]

Tons of people will play as charr at release, even if they turn out to be the least chosen race. Personally, I love the charr. I'll definitely be making one. I hope Rytlock shows up in the personal story. The voice acting is amazing.

[Strawberry Nubcake]

I'm a girl that usually likes her characters to look pretty, but I'm also one of those freaks that goes into "aww!  it's soooo cute!" mode when I see something that resembles a feline or pretty much any other furry creature.  (The likelihood of me becoming a crazy cat lady or having a house that resembles a zoo later in life might be high.)

Like I said earlier, I wasn't really feeling so enthusiastic about playing a Charr until I actually did.  What sold me was the fact that my character didn't have to look like something that would rip the face off of anybody that got near it.  I thought my Charr was pretty damn cute... well, for a Charr.  Unlocking pink and purple dyes didn't hurt either.  Nothing screams "I'm going to claw your face off and eat it!" like pink armor, right?  

To each their own.

Edited by Strawberry Nubcake, 04 August 2012 - 03:19 AM.

[PoisonedTea]

Strawberry Nubcake, on 04 August 2012 - 03:18 AM, said:

I'm a girl that usually likes her characters to look pretty, but I'm also one of those freaks that goes into "aww!  it's soooo cute!" mode when I see something that resembles a feline or pretty much any other furry creature.  (The likelihood of me becoming a crazy cat lady or having a house that resembles a zoo later in life might be high.)

Like I said earlier, I wasn't really feeling so enthusiastic about playing a Charr until I actually did.  What sold me was the fact that my character didn't have to look like something that would rip the face off of anybody that got near it.  I thought my Charr was pretty damn cute... well, for a Charr.  Unlocking pink and purple dyes didn't hurt either.  Nothing screams "I'm going to claw your face off and eat it!" like pink armor, right?  

To each their own.

Yes I have seen a few good looking Charr's cute even. They can look rugged too.

I still see there city very steampunk like. But there culture is still aggressive.

Edited by PoisonedTea, 04 August 2012 - 03:44 AM.

[DuskWolf]

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.

This one has the right of it.

Partly it's just that the Ascalonians wer brainwashed by god and king in the original Guild Wars, and thus they didn't have much individuality or opinions of their own, they were taught to see things a certain way and that was the only way they could see it. Sadly, this also carried over to the players, so even in a new game, 250 years later, they still hold their faith. Propaganda is a pwoerful, powerful thing. Even in videogames!

See, the charr are supposedly mindless beasts. And you have those who now detest that they currently aren't, that they have depth, and passion, and their own brand of goodness (their loyalty) which is in some ways more genuine than that of any other race. I'd trust a charr to guard my back more than any of the other races, that's for sure.

And then you have the superficial ones, the ones who want to play a pretty little fae, or a cute little midget. The sylvari and asura are popular? That's not a big surprise. So was the Titantic, and that film was bloody awful. There's just no accounting for taste when you involve superficiality. So people will look at the charr, throw a mental parable about how that which looks gross must therefore be gross, and then move onto the sylvari or asura.

What this means is that the charr will have less players.

It also means that the charr will have more interesting players.

So we'll be devoid of leetspeak, which will be rife among the more popular races, and we'll actualy no doubt have some good RP going on. In fact, on some social networking sites, I've already observed that future charr players already have some fairly great RP going on, and it's been fun to read. And some fantastic artists have taken to the charr, too. Really, the charr are like a magnet for creative people, this makes me happy. But then, creative people were never really superficial, were they? Creative people are always broken in their own, interesting ways. That's what makes them creative.

So, if you're one of the few who might be interested - feel free to join me as a charr. The Black Citadel will be a quiet, friendly place, free of leetspeak and arrogant children, and rife with intelligent roleplay. I actually relish this. I dread that my chosen race actually ends up being one ofthe popular ones, to be honest.

Quality over quantity.

And believe me, with what I've seen on the social sites out there, I am really looking forward to the quality of the charr playerbase. They're kind of amazing.

[Syncline]

Polls like these should be taken after the game's been out a while. A lot of people are meh on charr until they actually play one, or intend them to be alts but then like them more then they thought. Asura have the same thing going.

Re: other races: sylvari and asura also have extremely solid lore behind them (and many of their RPers are also good and creative). Dismissing their players as bad (or 'awful', and neither are those races) is not fair or accurate, and I wish people would keep that unnecessary shit on the WoW forums where it belongs. ANet gives each race a lot of attention, design and lore, its not just 'because they're pretty' or 'let's point the bads at that race' or 'this one will appeal to shallow people'.

The great thing about this game is that every race, even the humans, has a ton of hooks for creativity and originality. Just because someone doesn't play the race you prefer doesn't mean that they are less a quality player than the ones who do.

Not to mention that most folks play alts, so that Asura you're sneering at on Thursday could be played by someone who made that Charr you thought was so cool on Wednesday.

Edited by Syncline, 04 August 2012 - 03:56 AM.

[Ivybelle]

I'm a bit upset that all the armor options are either ugly, or clash with the tail, or both. I really want a Charr character but I don't think I'll have one for my main anymore.

[DuskWolf]

devicus, on 04 August 2012 - 02:53 AM, said:

I think the number of people who are all "cool, a truely alien race" are outnumbered by people who want it to be easier to feel their character is a *person* which takes a lot more work with a charr.

See, that's exactly it, that's the point I'm trying to make.

Superficial and less interesting people will just want the work done for them, they'll pick the easy option, the one that requires the least work or explanation. But for someone who really relishes getting into their character and making their character something worthy, something that is theirs, then the charr present a really unique challenge. This is a challenge that creatively minded people tend to veer towards, and more superficial people veer away from.

It's obvious that there are more superficial people in the world than creative people, we know this from our day to day lives. So often when it comes to popularity, the least popular things are going to be the most interesting. I mean, an indie game like To the Moon which has one of the most incredible stories I've ever been witness to in a game isn't going to be that well known, it's obscure, but it's also emotionally powerful, it's made me and those I've exposed to it really have a good cry. It's really amazing. But most people won't want a game like that. They'll want a 'puzzle' game, where the puzzle involves picking up a gun, pointing it at a person, and pulling the trigger.

This could be why I've seen women veer towards playing charr as well, especially on social/roleplaying sites. Or that could be that the charr has more gender equality than other races. I can't say for sure, but I digress.

Some people want a story. Some people want to make a story. And some people really want to task themselves with making a genuinely interesting story that steps away from the mainstream. The charr are To the Moon, the humans are Call of Duty, the kind of people drawn to each are very different.

Like I said, it's a quality or quantity equation.

[Teef]

People want to act like the Charr were evil. Bah. They existed in Tyria long before humans came and spread like wildfire *ing up everything in their path. Don't be ignorant, know your Tyrian history.

[tallsmartman]

When I decided that I was going to be a warrior, I knew I wanted a BIG race. I tried to like the Charr, I really did. It just didn't stick with me. Maybe it's cause I felt like I was playing an animal, more than a "person." I ended up with a Norn, they just feel like Giants, but very human like. That may be why they get so much hate, but that is why I like them.

[Barda The Hobo]

Its ok we will crush the haters with our war machines. For the Iron Legion!!

But Ive wanted to play a charr since I first saw them in GW1 ) so Im happy they are available in GW2.  Already have my armor picked out, you cant hate a charr in a hat!

Spoiler

Edited by Barda The Hobo, 04 August 2012 - 04:09 AM.

[Syncline]

DuskWolf, on 04 August 2012 - 03:55 AM, said:

Superficial and less interesting people will just want the work done for them, they'll pick the easy option, the one that requires the least work or explanation. But for someone who really relishes getting into their character and making their character something worthy, something that is theirs, then the charr present a really unique challenge. This is a challenge that creatively minded people tend to veer towards, and more superficial people veer away from.

Dude, there are enough nerd hierarchies in the nerd hierarchy. You do not need to make more by blanket dismissing people based on what races they play.

Some people like giant cats. Some people like plants. Some people like short nerdy folks. Some people like big vikings. And some people like playing humans. And then you iterate concepts from there.

The grizzled veteran Charr, who's fought many wars but still has some fire left in him; the newborn Sylvari who's overwhelmed at how vast, complicated and old everything about this world is; the Asura who's trying to come up with the next world-changing invention but is still just some unappreciated apprentice; the Norn who committed a shameful misstep so overcompensates by getting in over her head to try to pull off something to redeem her rep; the Human who wants to return glory to her people because of everything they've lost.

Go and read the character concept pages in the relevant sections in GW2RP; you'll see a ton of well-thought out concepts for each race. People are actually trying to think about these things, are actually reading the lore and wrangling out different concepts.

Edited by Syncline, 04 August 2012 - 04:04 AM.

[Gramis]

I love the charr! their animations, armor designs, their overall look is great! Im not too into their story, but my main will be a charr. I also love the tier 1 racial armor for the charr(heavy).

[Herr Roy Raven]

Charr are better than all other races combined!  Only cowards don't like Charr.