Victorian era Style Necro armour
I just love airships in steampunk. Games such as the Final Fantasy series and movies like Howels moving castle have sparked this interest in me. And not only is the idea of ‘advanced steam powered technology set in the Victorian era’ a interesting concept but the fashion is actually, pretty sexy also.
Steampunk is a sub genre of fantasy which has defined the idea of ‘steam powered flying machines’ and there is a tone of proof from the concept art that the Charr have steampunk technology’s and weapons as well as other elements of Steampunk existing in Gw2 including fashion and architecture.
In fact allot of the Charr machines draw influence from Diesel punk as seen by the industrial war machine themes in the charr culture. The charr’s architecture is mainly all metal, (brass and iron).
In charr concept art we have seen ships, tanks and tank like battle flying ships all reassembling WW2 era Nazi Germany war machinery.
So what do we know about airships in Guildwars 2 and what role will they play?
Well the only information is from the concept art in the trailers as well as what Eric Flannum said at this Q&A session last week.
No individual controlled airships or airships for travel. However airships do play a very important role in certain encounters as well as the personal story
Im assuming he meant boss encounters, so how awesome would a battle airship be with firing cannons controlled by players to take down a attacking flying elder dragon?
One has to assume these are steam powered air ships, they look exactly like the ones found in steampunk fantasy.
Finally the engineer class fits in well with the streampunk themes, tinkering with gears and springs to make weapons and gadgets.
To some sum up im so glad the designers have brought Steampunk (and sub genre) influences into the game and lore. This is just one of the many many themes GW2 draws from and we haven’t even got any expansions yet.
Some fans have have said they dislike bringing these themes into GW2 and have even questioned ‘if gw2 is set 250 years after the first and they now have steam technology, what will Gw3 look like’?
So whats your thoughts? Do you like the steampunk themes or not?
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I like steampunk too
To be honest, I really hate the, “is this REALLY 250 years in the future,” argument. The USA, as a nation, is only 235, and in that time look how much technology around the world has improved. Now, imagine 250 years with magic, and the scientific geniuses that are the asura. It’s only logical to assume that in 250 years, the world of Tyria has progressed slowly. So, it’s very logical that steam engines and other things have come about.
On a more positive note, I do really enjoy the idea of a charr warlord driving a battle air-ship and dropping charr-troops into the thick of battle while blasting cannon fire overhead.
Some interesting points there hex, thanks for the comment
Alot of it comes down to the lore. Because of the Flame Legion (now the Gold Legion) the Charr don’t wholly trust magic, so what do you do when you don’t have magic to make things easier? You break out the machines. Their creations are very much steampunk and industrial, if magic was to disappear the Charr wouldn’t be complaining hence their steampunk style. But then look at Asura who could be considered as technologically advanced as the Charr but their aesthetic is entirely different to the Charr. The Asura using magic to the point where you might call it abusive so their creations have lots of ‘magic gems’ and such built into their design which is why they have a more futuristic arcane look to them.