User:The Millionth One/Races of Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet's MMO Guild Wars 2 has five playable races, chosen at character creation. Players may be human, a resilient race recently pushed back and abandoned by their gods; asura, a race of small intellectual geniuses; charr, a race of militaristic cats; norn, giant hunters who can shapeshift into animal form; or sylvari, a new young and curious race of plant people.
 * http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/19/guild-wars-2-intro-sequences-set-up-human-norn-and-charr-races/
 * http://www.gamesradar.com/guild-wars-2-races-guide/
 * http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-29-guild-wars-2-the-five-races

Asura
Jonathan Leack of Game Revolution drew attention to their funny dialogue.


 * http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/12/guild-wars-2-arenanet-celebrates-asura-week-with-vg247-chat/
 * http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/09/17/guild-wars-2-asura-interview-part-1-rata-sum-the-floating-city/
 * http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/09/19/guild-wars-2-asura-interview-part-two-love-and-inquest/
 * http://www.vg247.com/2011/09/15/inventing-the-asura-guild-wars-2s-ree-soesbee-and-jeff-grubb/
 * http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/features/i137929/ArenaNets-Jeff-Grubb-on-Guild-Wars-2/
 * http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/09/19/guild-wars-2-meets-mech-warrior-in-the-asura-battle-suit/
 * http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/07/23/excelsior-the-cheerful-insanity-of-the-guild-wars-2-asura/

Charr

 * http://uk.ign.com/articles/2004/09/10/the-armies-of-guild-wars
 * http://kotaku.com/5794330/guild-wars-2-charr-arent-your-average-cat-people/
 * http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/13/the-perfect-ten-best-non-traditional-mmo-fantasy-races/

Human

 * http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/16/guild-wars-2-designer/
 * http://kotaku.com/5951929/in-a-world-full-of-fantastic-fictions-to-try-guild-wars-2-players-remain-fixated-on-humans

Norn

 * http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/02/22/guild-wars-2-race-revealed-the-norn/
 * http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/02/25/guild-wars-2-trailer-shows-norn-homeland-more-screenshots-released/

Sylvari
A young place race, the sylvari were first unveiled during, and first made playable in the game's Beta Weekend Event in July 2012. They are a race of plant people, and are only 25 years old.

The sylvari's initial concept description consisted of three words: "noble, beautiful, plant". Ree Soesbee, one of Guild Wars 2's game designers, called them the sylvari a wholly new concept. The designers wanted a race that could evoke the "fantasy" and "mysticism" of the world. They were made as an "elf-like, plant race", and went through different design changes. Their first designs resembled "gnarled, wooden figures", before being turned to children; they were again changed from children as the developers did not want child warriors in battle. Then, in their first public design they were made as humans with plant accessories and pointy ears. Their next redesign largely focused on changing the anatomy, making them more plant-like. An "illusion of anatomy" was used in order to find a middle-ground between painted humans and plant monsters. Initially, the sylvari had telepathic powers, but this was changed to empathy due to gameplay and story concerns.

Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar listed them as one of the "most intriguing MMO races", a sentiment shared by IGN's Nick Kolan. After playing them in the Beta Weekend, Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Richard Cobbett praised their friendliness and their lack of an environmentalist message, calling them "a much more appealing race than I expected".


 * http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/24/flameseeker-chronicles-dreaming-of-green-knights/
 * http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/07/20/a-look-at-guild-wars-2s-sylvari-cinematic/
 * http://www.arena.net/blog/ree-soesbee-on-the-sylvari-cinematic-intro/ (dead link, have archive)
 * http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/07/23/turning-over-a-new-leaf-in-guild-wars-2s-sylvari-starting-exper/
 * http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/08/13/leaderboard-what-the-heck-is-guild-wars-2s-pale-tree/
 * http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/07/15/flameseeker-chronicles-the-true-nature-of-guild-wars-2s-sylvar/