Sylvari, The Mystery Race of GW2

[The Sins We Die By]

http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/0/01/Sylvari.jpg

Many of us have read the lore, what are your thoughts on their role in the story of GW2?

What other roles do you see them taking in the game?



Look at the concept art. Kinda reminds of the ritualist, and is that a sheathed dagger or wand in her right hand?

[Tom Nook]

Elves.

And it's a flute.

[Brainbasher]

no, not elves. Maybe in apearance but definatly not in spirit, elves are old and aristocratic and the sylvari seem to be young and childish (in the good sense). I see them doing anything they like.

[Rockweaver]

i think we will find them to be child like and at the same time very attuned to nature. i suspect that they will be aligned "Good" vs chaotic.

lots o questions few answers.

[Ace Bear]

Her class seems to be high class.

Her profession seems to be stripper.

Her in-game is Paris Hilton.

[krattos]

Her class seems to be high class.

Her profession seems to be stripper.

Her in-game is Paris Hilton.

lol nice comparison :laugh:

[JayyDestroyer]

I bet they'll have abilities similar to ritualists and rangers in GW2

[Lanyare]

Although she does look slightly Elven, and she definitely seems a faery-creature, she still reminds me more of a Dryad or some other nature spirit.

A profession like Ranger would fit well for her, as would Elementalist I guess, but if they want to implement new professions, I could see these beings as Druids. Or Amazons if you want something that relies less on magic.

I definitely love the look and when I get Guild Wars 2 my very first character will most likely be from the Sylvari.

Brainbasher: For the record... Elves really don't have to be old and aristocratic all the time. Ever read The Hobbit?

[Nikhera]

Her class seems to be high class.

Her profession seems to be stripper.

Her in-game is Paris Hilton.

False. Paris Hilton =/= high class. :grin:

At any rate, it says Sylvari are tied closely to nature and to one another, so maybe natural health regen or a reduction in skill cost that's related to the elements might be a passive ability of theirs. (Or not...considering we're not 100% sure if races have passive abilities or how they would balance.)

They seems less like Tolkien Elves and more like fay to me - they are nature spirits, after all. I always pictured elves as ancient and wise, while the Sylvari are completely new to the world and know almost nothing at all.

[Kendel]

Ritualist? Doubt they'd have any bonus' towards that. Been a completely new species with absolutely no knowledge of death/afterlife sorta rules out potential bonus' for a Rit.

[Tom Nook]

Ask yourself this; "Which class would use a flute?"

That's right, witness the new (to Guild Wars) Class...Bard! :grin:

[mocax]

I thought they use air guitars.

I presume Sylvari can't talk very well, so they could be masters of mime.
/rock and the enemy gets pelted with invisible stones.

And a whole new way to play the game.

[Rockweaver]

one thing that has not been looked at yet is that the Sylvari are a young race but by the time GW2 is open to us to explore they will have been around long enough to build cities. while the concept of death etc will be new they will have some experience with this. they do not portray them as stupid or dumb just young. i also think they will be super smart in many ways.

we are of course speculating so we don't have a clue. we can sit all day and say they will be this or that and have this or that skill. the truth is we are all guessing and as a result we will probably be wrong. :)

i think we all have our wish list of what they will be like etc. i would love them to be more like the young elves in the The Silmarillion quick to learn and quick to adapt to the world around them. Skilled in all things naturally etc...

[Jair of the Forest]

I think they will be even more "let-zeh-bookahs-fix-zem-own-problems" than the Asura's. So, unlike the elves, they'll just let the world turn.
They'll probably have a good bond with the Centaurs, since their 'father' (Ventari) was a Centaur. And as The Movement of the World states, the Centaurs will be fighting the humans. That makes me think that there will be tension between the humans and the Sylvari.

[Sefk]

one thing that has not been looked at yet is that the Sylvari are a young race but by the time GW2 is open to us to explore they will have been around long enough to build cities. while the concept of death etc will be new they will have some experience with this.

That's why you can change your secondary profession.

[Greenery]

Sylvari looks more like Pixie to me than Elves because of their petite size, character wise they might be gullible because they've just recently born into world of Tyria.

[kate sullivan]

you forget about one very important ability they have... if any of the sylvary learns something every other sylvary learns it too they learn as one meaning they will be quick to learn whats going on.

[raspberry jam]

Sylvari racial trait: Whenever any other sylvari member of your party learns a new skill, so do you.

[matishalin]

At any rate, it says Sylvari are tied closely to nature and to one another, so maybe natural health regen or a reduction in skill cost that's related to the elements might be a passive ability of theirs. (Or not...considering we're not 100% sure if races have passive abilities or how they would balance.)

They seems less like Tolkien Elves and more like fay to me - they are nature spirits, after all. I always pictured elves as ancient and wise, while the Sylvari are completely new to the world and know almost nothing at all.

definetly not very tolkiness, i like the idea of passivness. they seem to be pretty innocent and uncorrupt also as they are born with a link to each other a spelcastery leaning is probable. I agree they are like the Fey folk though less evil. Probably in D&D terms Caotic Good.

[Akirai Annuvil]

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa205/Wakashan/pedobear4dz.jpg

That is all.

[DarthSidious]

Maybe they could be some sort of nature/forest elementalist?

[Kendel]

Akirai... seriously... where the hell do you get these pictures :p

Sylvari is using Solar Beam!

[Windw]

I'm thinking the sylvari will be in one of the next released quests like mox was.

[Alaris]

I'm thinking they'll keep the Sylvari as a surprise until the release. I wouldn't even be surprise if there were no Sylvari in the beta.

[GADefence]

"i think we will find them to be child like and at the same time very attuned to nature. i suspect that they will be aligned "Good" vs chaotic."

Order fights chaos. Good fights evil. If the silvari were the "good" aligned race, that would make things odd.

"I think they will be even more "let-zeh-bookahs-fix-zem-own-problems" than the Asura's. So, unlike the elves, they'll just let the world turn.
They'll probably have a good bond with the Centaurs, since their 'father' (Ventari) was a Centaur. And as The Movement of the World states, the Centaurs will be fighting the humans. That makes me think that there will be tension between the humans and the Sylvari."

Wouldn't make sense, Ventari proposes peace at all costs. More likely they'll be doing everything in there power to live up to the religious iconology they'll have of him and be peace worshipers.

[kaede]

I presume Sylvari can't talk very well

let's not forget the few basic facts which we know so far:

1. Sylvari emerge from trees fully grown. Also, they all emerge from the same tree, the sylvari tree.
2. They have a sort of "hive mind" which is described as "the dream of dreams" which connects them all and allows all knowledge that other sylvari have to pass onto each independent sylvari. When a sylvari is "born" she knows as much as the other living sylvari do.
3. They are descibed as young and naive and with little knowledge regarding "evil".

These things we know, let's discuss them rather than repeating them :sunny:

I wonder if this "hive mind" of theirs will affect gaming much? :P

[Rhadix]

I wonder if this "hive mind" of theirs will affect gaming much? :P

"Captain Loltastic ,the sylvari party leader, has cast Echo , You have cast Echo. Captain Loltastic has cast Mending , You have cast Mending . Captain Loltastic is targeting 12 enemy mobs and shouting CHAAAAAARRRRRGE , You are targeting 12........"

[Skyy High]

I wonder if this "hive mind" of theirs will affect gaming much? :P
Lord I hope not....that would make Sylvari the paragons of GW2, innately triggering off each others' abilities = bad for balance.

[sorudo]

i think it's a race loved by melandru with a new prof, nature controller.
i ones suggested a similar one a whole while ago, very outdated :P
http://guildwars.incgamers.com/showthread.php?t=431751

[Windw]

There sync dancing must be perfect with hive minds!

[Karuro]

I'm thinking the sylvari will be in one of the next released quests like mox was.
We're all pretty much dead when the Sylvari are born.

[Jair of the Forest]

I actually think that Anet wanted to come up with some kind of Elf'ish race, but to cover that they made up that the Sylvari would be the youngest race instead of the oldest. I'm not really fond of them.

[sorudo]

I actually think that Anet wanted to come up with some kind of Elf'ish race, but to cover that they made up that the Sylvari would be the youngest race instead of the oldest. I'm not really fond of them.
they are not elfs for 2 reasons
1.)an elf doesn't grow on a tree
2.)an elf has pointy ears, and a sylvari doesn't.
kinda fails your comment...
btw, they could also be called a wingless fairy, and i've never seen a fairy as playable character in a game.

[Arkhan The Black]

They remind me more of the Elves you find in Scandinavian folklore rather then your typical Tolkien/DnD Elf.

[Naor Vyr]

As they will live their early years according to the tablet written by Ventari, i guess they will be naiv first, courious second, and later scared, scarred and isolationists. Thats how it works if you are thought about peace in a world of conflicts. I wonder nobody thought them being monks according to their originally peaceful nature..."Sylvari uses Amity!" OMG.
Dont thing being a young race would make you ignorant about death though...also death is a part of nature, one side of the balance. Although their deaths might not be the usual 'go to the mists' kind. I imagined it as returning to the Tree, being its substenance for new sylvaris to born.
It would be an interesting point should they find some connections to the spirit druids of maguuma. About Melandru's and Dwayna's favor to them i find no doubt. Balthazar might not like them that much :)
The hive-mind ingame could be a special and UNIQUE Chat bar that none-sylvaris cant see...no more idea about that...

[sorudo]

might be fun to have it that when a sylvari dies and resses in the res shrine, it grows a plant with the sylvari coming out of it.

[Gmr Leon]

The hive-mind ingame could be a special and UNIQUE Chat bar that none-sylvaris cant see...no more idea about that...

Or it could encourage an interesting new gameplay aspect in an online game. Say Sylvari one has Skill A, if there's another Sylvari in the party there will be a pop up saying Sylvari 1 is using Skill A! Say Sylvari 2 has Skill B, that can work in accordance with Skill A so long as it is hit before Skill A has been cast/used. This would then combine the two skills to devastate the enemy, and it would require skill for the other Sylvari to use it at the right time.

This would work well with the naivety of the new race as they would stick together early on to maintain their fragile existence in a world fraught with strife.

Although it could easily make balancing a nightmare, and people would use them as a spike race, but depending on how the gameplay is. If the skills depend on the context, not only would this add more interesting effects to see, it would make people playing them need to be knowledgeable and skillful.

Just a thought that's more interesting than a special chat bar, in my opinion..

[Akirai Annuvil]

Although it could easily make balancing a nightmare, and people would use them as a spike race, but depending on how the gameplay is.
Actually, it's very easy to balance. Any race can 'empower' their skills by timing them correctly, however only the Sylvari have a visual aid to help them now when to time their skills. Making small UI changes and features racial based isn't too bad, gives them a unique flavour and doesn't imbalance the game.

[raspberry jam]

Although it could easily make balancing a nightmareWhat you described can easily be replicated by any player of any race as long as the he's smart enough to hold down the control key when he uses his skill.
Ctrl-calling your skills doesn't require balancing, so neither does your example.

[Xunlai Agent]

I disagree with the balancing issue your brought up. Explain why it would be a nightmare because as the poster above me rightly says it hardly appears to be anything worth worrying about.

[Gmr Leon]

I was just thinking about how if the skills reacted to different environments it would be a pain to balance it out for one particular environment or for every environment. That's all.

[tommynj]

The story seems ok for what has been revealed. The role, no idea since it is a mystery at this point. To me they look more like Dryads than elves to be honest (which I guess could be a form of an elf ? ).

[Windw]

That is why i want it to be a hero from a future quest, so it gives us the story of them or at least the beggining of them maybe it's like a quest that plunges your into you decendants future and you see the birth of the Sylvari.

[deco inferno]

AH Sylvari

Could ponder over these fellas for days and not get them right.

I suspect that the hive mind will not play an immediate role in combat as I do not think of it as hearing every action and feeling of another Sylvari. I suspect that they are connected to each other the same way we are connected to each other via the internet, only built into our head. Any other way would make problems in a pvp fight where both sides contain Sylvari. this would mean sectioning the DoDs off to sylvari on one side and Sylvari on another which does not make sense to me.

I wouldn't call Sylvari elves. You can see a resemblance but if you went ahead and did that with any race in the game you can compare it to something. They are to Elves as Asura to Gnomes or goblins.

I believe the Sylvari will be loved by Melandru and in death their soul will go to his/her realm, assuming the Sylvari are have a soul (I think it would be rather cold to consider a sentient creature to not have a soul if even the charr have one)

All speculation but since news on GW2 is slim pickings at best.

[Sludge]

wonder what alcohol would do to sylvari ~_^

[genocide raven]

hahahaha considering there newborns (light wieghts) that would be something to pay for ^_^

[Sorale]

I hope there are male sylvari.

[Jagersson]

me too

there's enough 'boys who are girls' out there in gw -_-

[Sludge]

80% of girl chars are played by guys. i find that somewhat odd :P

[Rayala]

80% of girl chars are played by guys. i find that somewhat odd :P
I'd find it odd as well, considering it isn't true.

I would like to refer you to page 5 (and page 11) of this document: http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2008.pdf
40% of us are girls (44% of online gamers, in fact)... we just generally don't feel the need to go running around shouting about it. No big deal, you see?


edit to be more on topic: It really will be interesting to find out how this race works- I hope that their racial abilities don't make them the best healers, because I'm really looking forward to my asuran monk.. or whatever the equivalent gw2 class is ^^; I'd expect them to be good spellcasters though- that's about all I can really be certain of.