You know how cats that can purr can’t roar and vice versa?
I like the idea that Charr can have either kind of voice box and it varies from person to person. What do you think?
OKAY SO
I've already talked about how I hc Tyrian races have as a common trait a syrinx-like specialized vocal organ, which is what allows them to speak human languages like Krytan/make sounds understandable by humans (who are alien to Tyria and can't speak anything else due to the lack of that organ).
As for charr, I'm for the "they get everything" because it's fun lol.
Being closer to big cats anatomy-wise, the setup for roars is probably what one should expect, but the specialized organ is still the driving part of their vocalization kit, so they can still technically purr.
It's not "proper" purring like that of a cat, even just for size alone (bass-boosted purrs anyone?), and it's more of a mix of vocal organ's vibrations and low/soft growls.
Anyone hearing a charr purr for the first time would probably think they were big mad yet trying to subdue their growls xD
Good thing they very rarely purr in public past their cubhood!
Another Charr question for you that you either have an answer for or might enjoy thinking about (prompted by Tyria Pride starting to kick into gear):
We know being trans isn’t a big deal in Tyria, so how do Charr transitions work? Do transfem Charr get tail fur extensions?
So, in my headcanon, transition in Tyria is not that rare of a thing and can be done in multiple ways.
The simplest way is just social transition.
As you said, being trans isn't a big deal in Tyria, so it's something accepted in more or less all races.
Some smaller groups are the jerks/bigots of the situation, but that's not the norm.
As for charr, due to their troubled history (and as a bit of a perpetual middle claw to the Flame Legion), the High Legions' culture is actively against gender roles of any sort, meaning that transition is really not that big of a deal.
Sure, cub-making is kind of an important priority for a constantly-at-war society and that's pushed as part of the duty of every good soldier regardless of identity, but gender itself doesn't really matter and the average charr will just roll with whatever pronouns or name you give them.
If Skullcrusher is still gonna crush skulls like a good soldier regardless of what pronouns they use that day, realistically no one will have a problem with them (and if there were a problem to be had, it'd realistically be about the crushed skulls quota not being met).
Then there are illusions/glamours.
Needless to say, they are a huge boon for trans people in Tyria, since they can turn people into their true self without much issue.
Obviously not everyone who is trans has the magical attunement to be a mesmer and be good with illusions/glamours, so it's not exactly something easy to address on your own, but you can find someone willing to enchant a trinket long-term fairly easily and even for a good price.
In fact, that's essentially what the Total Makeover kit is, just commercialized and not as custom-made as specialized mesmers can do (that's why there are presets lol).
The one downside is that enchantments can't be active all day every day, but it's not that bad given the ease of use.
Tonics are also a similar option, just short-term and with potentially more side effects since they directly affect the body (they can turn you into anything, they can temporarily transition you lol).
As for charr, many are still kinda suspicious of magic, so many stick to social transition, but it has become more common.
And then there's hormones.
Asura are another barely-gendered race, so it'd make sense for them to go all-in with research on transition even just for the sake of extra knowledge.
Given the general level of experiments seen in just the base game, it's safe to say that they have likely developed a whole array of HRT methods (injections, potions/tonics, pills, subcutaneous implants, etc) a long time ago. Probably not entirely safe, but iteration makes perfection, right?
Granted, asura-based research applied to charr and other races is not as researched as it is on asura, but it IS an option for those willing to trust a krewe/individual who can make that happen.
I also hc that the Inquest has programs specifically to gather volunteers as test subjects for research on new transition methods beyond what's considered safe, like surgeries and whatnot. Kinda dubious and scary because >Inquest methods, but also kinda awesome for those who get nice results.
As for the second question, charr don't have much in terms of dimorphism nor "gendered appearance", so I guess tail extentions/trims are kind of the extent of body modifications charr do to themselves.
Of course some do like to take a page out of other races' fashion/culture (how I explain the "feminine" outfits/armors for both charr and asura), but that's rarely stuff that a Legion-raised charr would recognize as specifically feminine/masculine. More of a hinderance in battle, probably, since decor is not really practical.
Also bc I'm curious what's your read on our New Director so far? I'm finding him genuinely fascinating, and I'm so curious as to where he's going with what he's doing. @ratasum
I'm so so SO intrigued by him as a character and I want to dig around in his head and backstory so so SO bad.
[end of spoiler-free comment, rest is spoilery up to the end of what we got so far]
First thing I wanna say: the VA channeling Silco into this smooth rat is a *chef's kiss* choice.
That voice alone does SO MUCH to elevate him, and you instinctively go "yeah I get why and how he got where he is now, man rolls nat20 in charisma on the regular and knows how to manipulate everyone like playdough".
I don't think it was done casually (I see that hairstyle and little scar under his left eye, I know what you designers did and I oh so approve of it), and I'm curious of how many parallels and opposites to Silco/Arcane they're gonna hint at.
Anyway, that's the design and VA part, but the way he's portrayed sets me off to ramble for ages.
I'm taking a bit of a specific angle with my read on him (many other people said very interesting things already so I won't repeat them), I'll try to keep it short (ahah) and coherent (I hope).
In general, antagonists who have full trust and respect (and maybe a little worship boner) towards the hero are always very juicy narratively, especially when they wholeheartedly believe they're right and that they can get the hero to see it their way/join them (the stronger the delusion, the more interesting it is).
And man, it's particularly juicy in this case because it's a first after a pretty good array of baddies (who are often foils of the Commander), but also because of who the Commander is as the hero of the situation!
Now, (if we take what PTM told us about him for the truth) Vloxx was compelled to go down that path by pretty damn understandable reasons, and I believe he genuinely feels that he can pull a "Commander" (earning other people's support) on the Commander because they're similar.
They both try to do what is necessary to save Tyria's people after all, and he isn't one of those fundamentally "wrong" people who opposed the Commander until the end, nor one who let bad things happen despite having the power to stop them (everyone and their skimmer turns to Isgarren).
But Vloxx is above that, because he is fully aware of the 4D chess he's playing: he's willing to do the "evil thing" to make good and destroy the evil thing itself (those in it are not innocent, therefore not worth saving), and he's taking the power to do it himself because "otherwise no one else will".
And since he's not wrong and their goals line line up, the Commander MUST eventually see reason and go along with his plan. It all just makes logical sense! (ratman is delusional, but between the weight of the dam collapse on his conscience and the anger towards the Council, his logic can get a lil' fucked up as a treat)
And so, he purloined an artifact used to ascend members of an elder race, while waiting for the Commander to see he's right.
Whether that is shaping up like he wants the Commander to ascend as well or just do whatever he will do himself, idk, but I'm kinda betting on both. The Commander is the hero Tyria needed and has experience with being a dragon's Champion, after all. I'm not even sure yet if he's considering us an equal or some sort of "better being he has to do the dirty work for".
And the thing is, he does all that without even really knowing us!
For most of Tyria, the Commander is already fairly mythical (multiple dragon slayer, dragon champion, godslayer, etc) and is probably thought of as someone who has always done the right and heroic thing.
But most of Tyria doesn't know half of how much we fucked up before doing our best to fix things, and I fear that very much includes Vloxx.
Does he know that the Commander actually died? Does he know that Joko was not wrong about us nearly toppling the balance by killing dragons? Does he know of how we were always stumbling in the dark along with Aurene? Does he know we're a hundred traumas and regrets shambling around in a trenchcoat?
Because we (the players) do, and to NOW have someone fundamentally go "you're amazing and can do no wrong, people like you deserve to be in charge instead of [guy of a fundamentally divine race and other people in charge] that is holding us back" is... very interesting indeed (and reeks of "a good dictator could fix everything").
Overall, he is in that gray area that is ripe with possibilities that we're still too early into the story to see them, but I'm gonna take a small tangent to talk about Isgarren.
Isgarren is generally a foil for the Commander, as they share the same goals but have wildly different approaches, phylosophies and priorities ("I'd save the farm" "And Isgarren would mourn the loss" lives rent free in my head), ywt on the topic of ascension and wanting to do the good thing for Tyria he is THE foil for Vloxx!
We got confirmation that the memory-wipe part of the Wizards' Ascension was something Isgarren added into the ritual. It was a precautioun, a "necessary evil" to keep the past from influencing the actions of the man-shaped magic-nukes he was creating to aid his plans to do good.
He sure has more insight into the ascension ritual than anyone else we know, it was his people's thing after all, so maybe it was a valid concern and he did the best he could with the knowledge he had at the time, even rebelling against tradition and getting punished for it after he very much saved Waiting Sorrow (just gonna point out Sidony shrugged off her very real suffering from Koda's rage).
Now, from the point of view of anyone but his own, Isgarren is not "morally-gray area" incarnate only because his skin is blue.
Wiping someone's memory IS quite questionable, to put it mildly.
But still, leaving aside the moral issues with the act itself and Ward as a whole (and jfc let's not get started) and not wanting to assume any malice at all on his part (I am squinting so hard for this, since we're seeing how other Seers thought of other races), you can see why he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing with the soon-to-be Wizards: it was an untested process for non-Seer, and Mabon and Waiting Sorrow were maybe the only ones who could possibily reasonably benefit from the memory loss due to their particularly prickly situations.
(Doesn't mean he shouldn't have mentioned that from the start, and I'm not sure every other Wizard would have qualified for it if that wasn't the "functional precedent", but at the very fucking least it was not a surprise for the others :/)
Being too cautious to the point of letting harm happen IS one of his flaws, and no one is denying that for sure.
Now that Vloxx has Ancora and intends to find out how to ascend, we're faced with a big question about it: was Isgarren right in any way at all and the Wizards would have lashed out due to their past, or was he just too cautious and made people suffer needlessly?
Who knows!
But hey, I guess we might be about to fuck around and find out! :D
Vloxx sure isn't waxing philosophically about whether he should ascend at all and he isn't listening to our warnings, because he KNOWS he's doing the right thing, not a single doubt in his mind, only words of reassurance towards the Commander.
Both him and Isgarren are charging ahead with ascension on non-Seer, and while Vloxx seems to know more than most about ascension, the difference between them is that he doesn't know enough about it, nor how or what to use it for exactly (I went a little "ahah what the fuuuuck?" when I heard him say it).
He just assumes he will be able to handle it all because he is good, he is not the Arcane Council, he is not Isgarren.
He says he has no desire for power or legacy, that it won't be a permanent solution! He'll see what to do when he gets there, but he just wants to return control of Tyria's future to her people, to the next generation of those like the Commander!
My brother in Alchemy, I don't know if there'll be a future if you do what you're planning.
And I'm sure he 100% believes that... at this point in time.
Oh I'm SO ready to see what will go wrong :D
Again, what a foil for Isgarren.
Cautious dusty crusty old man with millennia of accumulated bs VS smooth "self-immolating" rat with a plan and a complex about useless authority.
And I'm kinda hoping the ex-Ward Vloxx theory is true because it would supercharge this.
Also in general I want to see both Vloxx and Isgarren unravel nastily, so that the moral gray area gets some more defined shapes I can grab and squeeze more out of them. Pretty pleaseee
Do you think if Commander is a charr… Vloxx would want to be vored?
I'm pretty sure he'd let the Commander do anything and everything to him, if it was for the good of Tyria's people.
And he's both "people" and willing to be convinced :) :)
(From the ask for OC Lovers of yours) *Throws 5, 9, 11 at you*
Asks for OC-lovers 👤❤️
5. Has a song ever heavily inspired an OC of yours?
WHEN HAVE THEY NOT?
I don't think any song directly made me create a new OC, but whenever I find one that might fit a character, it helps me flesh their personality out a little bit more by giving me different angles to approach things from or just making me imagine them in new situations I hadn't yet considered.
My playlists keep increasing in size because they're such a fundamental part of my OC creation process, with a big emphasis on FUNdamental hehe.
More specifically, imagining/writing the script for an animatic based on the song helps me a lot with refining character arcs/stories/specific scenes. Trying to match "visuals" to the song/lyrics gives me a fun and comfortable structure of "beats" to loosely follow, forces me to make choices (especially when I only have a loose idea of the events that I want to happen but no specific order in mind) and streamline them even further (very good to figure out key scenes/moments to later expand on).
-
11. What's the worst/best "what if" that ended up becoming canon for your OCs?
When I went "what if I gave this big angry charr gal a whole warband?" and it started this descent into OCs madness.
Probably the nuclear chain reaction of what ifs that happened over a few months around Tocchix and Iotta.
"What if Tocchix had a mentor that's actually an Inquest double-agent? That'll bring some juicy angst >:)" -> "What if his mentor is actually around his age and they dated for a time? That's even more angsty >:D" -> "Iotta only pretending to care about him is fun, but what if she actually cared immensely without realizing it until it was too late? OH THE ANGST! >8D"
I can't even begin to the life-changing effect these what ifs had on me (along with the OTP that very loosely inspired them "going through it" in their canon lmao), how many other characters and storylines exploded into life around them, and the death grip these two had on my soggy little brain for well over 4 years :'D
-
[putting this out of order so I can take advantage of the read more to hide the monster design]
9. Which OC changed the most from their first concept?
Edraas Noiza, definitely.
Noiza (No.124) was originally a design for a dA contest for alien-inspired characters way back in 2012. I decided to keep it as an OC and came up with backstory and all (imagine Mewtwo but in monster form), but I never ended up doing much with it (many art and redesign attempts failed because of reasons).
Fast forward a whole lot of years, at one point I wanted an Inquest experiment character and Noiza was already perfect for it, so I pulled it into the GW2 universe and now it's a draconic asura hybrid of sorts with pretty much the same backstory and an extra name.
Yeah and to be clear that’s my personal brain blocker— eventually it’ll feel normal the more I do it lol! I do think it’s really interesting the split in the community on “getting it”. There are absolutely some UX that it seem(?) will be solved slowly, but everyone keeps pointing to like clicks-per-function as to why it’s bad or why they find it hard to follow and idk. That feels like an inaccurate heuristic but I do wonder what the cause of the split is. To me, this is a new system and it will take time to get used to and you need to fiddle with— it does more things than the previous method of making equipment templates function as fashion templates, so there will be more complicated workflows. It will also feel even more complicated if you try to use it to make equipment templates still a main part of the workflow. Also people HATED equipment templates when they came out, it’s a wonder what like 10 years does.
Also to be clear I don’t think anyone is wrong for disliking the new workflow or like “not getting it”— I just think it’s interesting that there’s a split!! There are clear missteps in UX (like the whole “how do I just dye things” from when they first launched), this is just reaction to the overall workflow.
Little note before the answer: they announced in the forums a proper update later this week on planned changes to the fashion templates.
So yeah, we're getting changes!
I'd also say that the issue was definitely inflated by the lack of other stuff "for everyone" in the release [I'll spare my judgement on the schedule once we get the next release], while I think the heat should have been reserved for the quickplay disaster lmao (then again, I did have shitty experiences /in my use case/, while others chilled)
But yeah, complaining about the amount of clicks is kinda lame when it's not that big of a change and there are very good trade offs (the codes alone are worth EVERYTHING). It's annoying, but it's not game-breaking.
The paid dyes bug was an issue at first, but also bugs are honestly to be expected when touching core systems.
I 100% expected the bugs to be much MUCH worse, like "game instance crashes if someone clicks this thing" or entire outfits getting deleted instead of saved, so TO ME it was neatly in the average-case scenario zone lmao. Elite beta had it worse.
At the same time, after reading so many people freak the fuck out for no reason, I'm kind of jaded about the entire topic when the tones are not conductive to giving feedback.
Like, it's perfectly valid not to like a system, but I'm also not inclined to listen to anyone who repeats stuff that is just not true (like that whole "they took a feature out of equip templates and sold it back to us" ffs), acts as if a dev personally came to their house to rob them, or never attempted to learn it and is stubbornly trying to use it like the old one.
And there has been... a lot LOT of that. Touch grass may be not enough anymore for some people.
Also you CAN just say you don't like it/you preferred your old workflow, you don't need an "objective" or "holy" reason to want it to explode lol
My current number one brain blocker with fashion templates is that having to click on the dyes to switch to the dye interface feels like mobile game UX ooouuuugggghhhh it always makes my brain hiccup a little to remember how to get there. I’d rather have a button specifically to toggle between armor and dyes LOL
I do not fully share that because it actually fixed problems for me, but it's a very understandable brain hiccup :'3
I mean, I had the "am I selecting the dye or changing it?" brain hiccup in the old system (especially in mounts), plus it felt really buggy at times in ways I can't pinpoint.
And then... the new interface kinda solved the issue for me?
Idk it's stupid, but I can click on the skin and then again on the dyes WITHOUT accidentally dyeing something, which acts as a quick little check. And my (dumbass) brain registers it better???
The only thing I'd improve is indeed a clearer way to do it other than clicking on the skin/swatches, plus maybe a way to "reset" your picked color (did it always default to black?).
But it just works better for me, which goes to show how hard it is to make something everyone likes/clicks with lol
Also I prefer having everything together, because switching tabs between dyes and wardrobe was either buggy (stuff changing color at random) or with the risk of accidentally deleting every change (this dumb brain will not answer questions on the topic).
Fix the bugs and I'm better than good, basically.
Ultimately it's all about unlearning the old system and learning the new one.
They both have things that don't work properly, but beyond bugs and brain hiccups, I 100% believe lots of people are simply more mad at the new thing because it's not the old one, meaning they have to put effort into learning something (at a time where energy is low for everyone it seems *gestures at world's sorry state*).
And it's also very funny it's not doing that to me, because I'm on a personal crusade against needless UI changes in modern UIs.
It's probably because I'm taking my time with it instead of doing all my chars on the first day with day1 bugs. Even if I had less than 30 characters, it would have been a veeeeeeery souring way to learn it lol
