Will Asura Be In ArenaNet's Next Guild Wars 2 BWE?

Written by: Scott Hawkes (@jarimor) | June 19, 2012 9:18 pm

Will Asura Be In ArenaNet's Next Guild Wars 2 BWE?

64 Comments

Editor’s Note: This article is written by the inimitable Richie “Bogotter” Procopio.

On Monday, some subscribers to ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 YouTube channel received an email that a new video had been uploaded. Unfortunately, there was no payoff for clicking the link, because the video was marked as private.

However, the email did reveal the title of the upload: “Rata Sum, Capital of the Asura in Guild Wars 2 – UK PEGI Rated”

Don your tinfoil hats, folks, because it’s conspiracy theory time.

We know that there will be at least one more beta weekend event and, if the pattern holds, we can expect it sometime in July. So far, we haven’t gotten our grubby little hands on the elusive Asura and Sylvari, which begs the question: Does this mysterious video portend that the Asura will be available for play during the next beta weekend event?

mmorpg guild wars 2 mmorpg Breaking: Asura Playable Soon?

Picture a shiny new ArenaNet blog post describing the features of BWE3, complete with details about the diminutive hyper-minded Asura. We would see some new screenshots AND an amazing fly-through trailer of Rata Sum, their capital city! It’s genius. There’s no other explanation. This is it. Asura are in beta weekend event three.

You heard it here first. We called it.

Maybe.

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http://www.facebook.com/asiwjee Abbass-Ali Siwjee

YES YES YES YES. PLEASE.
http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

Keeping that race for launch.
- http://twitter.com/Stormigirl1 Ashley Johnson
  
  I agree I am not spoiling anymore of the game for myself I will mossy around the human area again I have not even touched Charr area because I want the full experience when I get it for good!!!!!!
http://twitter.com/AgeNightroad Adrian Lloyd

I really hope we do get at least one new race to try out
http://www.facebook.com/craig.gafoor Craig Gafoor

ill be running an asura warrior in gw2 in this beta if able to if not when they are playable, in this game not being seen on LOS is a important thing, being small will be VERY helpful for hiding from other players in game, i have a habit in most games for going for a small avatar for this very reason, you dont think to hit what you cant see….any idea yet on when the next beta weekend will be guys?
- NightLord_001
  
  just a reminder, every player has the same hitbox.
  - Old Ben
    
    Then I can just hit myself and damage everyone else!
- Michael Smerdon
  
  if it’s like GW1, not tested this yet, you can press alt and just see nameplates for people nearby, even if they are behind a wall, so not much of an issue
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tj-Vossos/647768691 Tj Vossos

wouldn’t surprise me with the way they have worded everything its sounded like they were going togive us one in the beta
- http://twitter.com/Stormigirl1 Ashley Johnson
  
  OMG are you everywhere troll?
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Tj-Vossos/647768691 Tj Vossos
    
    how am i troll
Kemwer

You guys realize this video was already posted online months ago, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAMKBwk1wek

The UK PEGI Rated on the title tells us this is just a second version with the PEGI information on the video.

While that doesn’t mean that the Asura *won’t* be playable on the next beta, this video isn’t evidence pro or against it.
Cyclops07

I think there will be two more events at least and it would make sense to have Asura and then in another before release we would get the Sylvari
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Tj-Vossos/647768691 Tj Vossos
  
  doubt we will see both they have said they wanna keep some stuff secret for launch
  - Old Ben
    
    They’re keeping all areas and dungeons above level 35 “secret”, no?
    
    Not testing the starting zones of the Asura and Sylvari would be a bit suicidal. Not only would those zones be more likely to have bugs, but a lot of people would roll Asura or Sylvari on launch simply because they hadn’t seen those yet, which would increase the number of people encountering said bugs.
    - http://twitter.com/Stormigirl1 Ashley Johnson
      
      The open betas and test are more a stress test type beta rather then a bug hunting type beta that has been going on in closed doors for a long long time and all areas of the game have been tested by professional alpha testers. They are also being tested by closed beta testers so no not valid argument at all.
      - Michael Smerdon
        
        The last part was valid completely, if they leave them till launch, those 2 starting zones will be hammered, as will the races, causing alot of issues for areas that haven’t been fully stress tested (later zones can get away with it because players will be spread out when those zones actually come) and that is something they’ll want to heavily avoid.
      - Old Ben
        
        GW2′s events are designed to scale based on the number of players, and most bugs with that scaling only become noticeable with large numbers of players moving between events. Several bugs were found in BWE1 (NPCs not respawning, skill challenges becoming stuck, creatures respawning too fast or doing too much damage due to buggy event scaling, etc.), and several more were found in BWE2. Despite months of internal testing.
        
        If the asura and sylvari areas launch in the state that the human, norn and charr starting areas were in BWE1, the reviews aren’t going to be nice.
        
        You know what company relies on internal testing for their games? Bethesda.
7BitBrian

I hope so. I cannot wait to roll an Asura and run around calling everyone a Bookah!
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Azimov-Valinor/100001723160042 Azimov Valinor
  
  Ooh someone said you were racist
  - mcsumo
    
    ‘Bookah!’ PROOF!!!
  - 7BitBrian
    
    It’s because I say Brownies a lot(damnit now I want some Brownies), and mentioned it on my Video Question in Legendary. It’s a bit of an inside joke, Scott gets it.
http://twitter.com/cyanpill cyanpill

It would be slightly odd, with rata sum being further west then the grove… maybe the maps would work, but it would be odd. Maybe the grove would be open but not playable?
http://twitter.com/AWGHodder Aaron Hodder

It’s the same thumbnail and very similar title to the video that already exists here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnydJ9qFNHo&list=UUYPZ4y3IHKOtjgMnlw8H2pQ&index=6&feature=plcp
Ian Mansfield

We have seen a large amount of Asura gameplay compared to the sylvari for them not even being playable yet so I think their (arguably) second most iconic race will be in A beta just so we can see more footage of them cause they are adorable ferocious terrifying MONSTERS OF DOOM that Im totally going to play over and over. College of syngetics!
Ian Mansfield

they still have work to do with sylvari to hype them up more, develop some more story on them or something before they are playable, still love the sylvari but asura seem closer to finnished quality…. Oh and question will there be expantions?
- http://twitter.com/Stormigirl1 Ashley Johnson
  
  You are seriously asking if GW2 will have expansions and just before that speaking on the subjects of finished or not in regards to the races…seriously? First off yes the game is complete and as RB2 stated on Fb today there are areas of the game that are not shared with the public as a matter of fact she stated they are not going be showed to the public before release and you know that closed beta has been going on since 2011? They have had 2-3 blogs from ArenaNet themselves talking about expansions so yeah that has been covered as well and the answer is YES of course there will be. These type of games are more dependent on expansions then a subbed MMO in the long run that is how they make their money.
- Michael Smerdon
  
  It’s hard to develop more story on a race that is only 25 years old . The only solid story that happened in that time is the Nightmare Court and I imagine they’ll only have that in game and kept mysterious till release as it will be a massive thing for Sylvari.
Old Ben

Well, there is already a video called “Rata Sum, Capital of the Asura”. It’s been on YouTube for nine months and on the official Guild Wars 2 channel for two. The YouTube video id is [ JnydJ9qFNHo ].
- http://www.facebook.com/Mitsukakex Nick Tucker
  
  yep i 2nd that. only reason they would put something up like that is because they want to sub for other languages. so 100% false alarm for those that believe its playable ‘hint’ next beta
DoctorOverlord

Tinfoil hats are always so much fun. Thanks for the conspiracy hints Scott!

It would be very cool to be able to play asura in the next BWE.
http://twitter.com/Stormigirl1 Ashley Johnson

If you noticed in the last beta the Asura was lit up more then in the first one..I actually tried to click on it during character creation because I was sure it not being totally dark like before meant it was playable. I think they will give us a taste of this on the 28th and release the game a few weeks afterwards.
http://twitter.com/borded nathan law

since the last beta ended a huge 1.5gb patch to the beta client was released. just saying.
benzjie

just wondering…van you make’m blue with a white hat?
- http://twitter.com/borded nathan law
  
  you can give them a white hat but there are no blue ones.
totaltitan

Uh… this is an old video. Fact checking might be in order.

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/races/asura/
Francesco Rubeo

I watched the video before it turn private (I’ve opened it immediatly, as soon as the email arrived), it’s the rata sum presentation already available on the Guild Wars 2 youtube channel. The only difference is the pegi info at the start of the video. I’ve also watched both video in sincro, and it’s definitely the same!
Mathew Edwards

I don’t think I’ll play as an Asura even if they are available. I’m quite interested in the Asura story plot so I don’t want lots of spoilers to ruin my actual playthrough when I get the game. I’ll definitely want to visit Rata Sum if I can though. It looks amazing
Kicknpups

I most likely will venture into Rata if they allow us to take a peak during BWE-3. I plan on playing an Asura 100% but I’m still in the air on what class..
- http://profile.yahoo.com/AMTOD6OXQBNX4QD3O4VIHZ5CQ4 Zelphane
  
  I’m thinking I’ll go with Engineer for my first Asura.
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    I figure there will be tons of Asura Engineers. Thats why Im going with Asura Guardian, want to see the character model with the Greatsword.
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Azimov-Valinor/100001723160042 Azimov Valinor
      
      They have great animations, my guardian will be Asura too.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EaC02CfOd0
http://twitter.com/RichieProcopio Richie Procopio

Well they launched a bunch of small fly-throughs on their YouTube channel this morning. Some showing Ascalon, Kryta, etc as well as Rata Sum. Darn….and I liked wearing my tinfoil hat!!!
http://twitter.com/Nathiest Nathiest

The speed that which this game it pumping out content in beta, it should be out in stores by… spring 2013
- H S
  
  Pretty funny, since a small group of testers(press) got to play on the Asura and Sylvari zones a long time ago.
http://twitter.com/crushnaut Phil Mowatt

If i click the link for the video given above it is not private.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Quinn/504633100 Jason Quinn

I plan to play asura and I don’t want to ruin the surprise by playing in beta.
http://www.youtube.com/user/cpjontek?feature=mhee cpjontek

That video isn’t private and it’s actually the same video that was released months ago showing the Asura capital city.
http://profile.yahoo.com/7MPGC5FCQJZGFKICKCMALR3AYY Eric

Well with all those ‘watch this space’ hints we were getting in the AMA, you can be pretty sure that somethings gonna happen with them before release. Went back and checked, doesn’t look like those spaces have done anything yet.
http://profile.yahoo.com/Q2CK4FW6T2AW2HUMBCUSKIAPWY chopsuey

No need for a tinfoil hat. They only updated their youtube channel with an old video. They’re kinda slow. If i remember correctly this video was shown during the Asura introduction week. (9/12 – 9/16)
Sklys

As I have said before, the folks at A-Net love to play mind games. If the Asura come out in
BW3 great, if not ok too.
- SiderFace
  
  I like your attitude
  
  but I don’t think its their intention to “play mind games”
  - Sklys
    
    Maybe it is not there intention but in GW1 WOC (at the 1st of all parts)
    you had to hunt all NPC down for the quest/mission. That is just one
    exp.
    - SiderFace
      
      Ah yes. True
      
      I guess I just didn’t notice that cause at that point it seemed like a wiki-reliant quest system at that point.
      I really enjoyed the close connection of players’ analysis of quests at that point since they were ANYTHING but easy in that late game stuff.
SiderFace

I am really looking forward to the Sylvari.

As a true ArenaNet fanboy, I feel kinda like I know them, and I am very excited to see something that (from what information we have) appears to be a VERY experimental and unique lore/art concept. Its definitely looking like a sign that they are always willing to try new things and dive head first into things that they know are going to end up being GIANT projects and COUNTLESS additional work hours.

If nothing else with this post, I may have distracted many of you from of your AAD problem (AAD = Asuran Anxiety Disorder) ;)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000267765226 Vegas Steve

Yeah, old video. Sounds like they recycled this one (y’know, kinda like gamebreaker recycle of the previous Guildcast episode?) ;)

We certainly all grasp at straws on this game though!
Edwin Pfeiffer

You are missing here the most important part: GW2 has got da PEGI Rating!
- http://www.facebook.com/asiwjee Abbass-Ali Siwjee
  
  This is kind of old news… What I mean is, on the channel ArenanetOfficial there’s this video:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPROkIV-Ssc which was posted 3 Months ago but also has the PEGI rating. It unfortunately doesn’t mean much since 3 months ago they still had a very buggy product.
- Old Ben
  
  Er… no, they don’t. Games aren’t like movies where the raters can see the entire thing in a couple of hours. The rating agency isn’t going to assign 5 or 6 people to play a game for weeks or months until they think they’ve “seen everything”.
  
  The company just needs to guarantee that the game doesn’t contain certain elements (like visible blood, swearing, nudity, etc.), and present a small sample of the gameplay. If (after release) it turns out the game _does_ contain any of that, they get slapped with a huge fine.
  - http://twitter.com/Patrikules Patrick Hargan
    
    i’m calling you 2 cent Ben from now on.. Just as i can rely on the sun coming up, I can rely on you commenting on someone’s GW2 post. Don’t get me wrong, it is appreciated, and you are correct about 90% of the time.
    - Old Ben
      
      Adjusted for inflation, 2 cents from my days are almost 5 million dollars!
Mystique60

I am dying to play asura, but I will not play it in beta. I want it to be fresh when I play as my asura guardian at release.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506728308 Julian F’n Mugnieco

a sylvari video was also released on the 20th…as was a charr vid, human vid, and norn vid…. NOTHIN’ TO SEE HERE FOLKS!
Wilco Duijnhouwer

Theory crafting, If they do release one of the 2 races, Would we get 2 new area’s to fool around with in addition to another major city? Since we’ve had 2 area’s for each race so far…

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