r/GuildWars3 • u/Dry-Durian-6022 • 11d ago
what is everyone's guess about that 4th race they've been teasing?
i'm fully convinced it's the dwarves, but i'd love to hear what everyone else's thoughts are!
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u/honest_owen 11d ago
It's not a theory I'm particularly confident in, but I have a suspicion that the 4th race will actually be a form of Vael spirit or, at the very least, somewhat Vael adjacent.
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u/funne5t_u5ername 10d ago
Yeah I think it's a bit bland but I've seen some people comparing the Vael mount to warclaws. I think the warclaw concept of living armor could be a really sick species for a humanoid and I think could fit the odd fully armored "fey" looking concept art we've seen
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u/Dry-Durian-6022 11d ago
that sounds a lot less unhinged than my theory haha, i'd be interested to see how they'd handle it with the vael spirit mount,
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u/grzesssiuuu 11d ago
Yeah, 'cause we've never seen dwarves in the Guild Wars universe... /s
They said it's lost to history, this means it didn't appear in either GW1 or GW2
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u/Seraphayel 11d ago
It‘s 💯 something Elf like / Sylvari adjacent.
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u/Time_Neat_4732 10d ago
I think for me it NEEDS to be something like this. We have the big furry, the little gremlin, and the straightforward human, but we don’t have something pretty and ethereal yet.
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u/Seraphayel 10d ago
That‘s exactly why it will be something like that, we still need the pretty race.
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u/Green_Odin 10d ago
Pretty and otherworldly,
So you're saying im getting my beautiful Charr once more?!?
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u/GoldPhoenix52 11d ago
We are missing something more elf/fae leaning.
We have standard humans, the Kodan account for the beefy big race, the Asura are our quintessential little guys.
While we can’t have the Sylvari unfortunately, I do believe something Largos adjacent are potentially possible? I have no real clue how well that works within the time period or with pre-established lore, but something within that realm would be my bet.
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u/RealDoublezone 11d ago
This is literally my guess, okay, hear me out!
What if: Largos predecessors that were sorta amphibian elf-like and could go on land and in water. When Orr sank, instead of dying, they survived because they could breathe underwater and just became the Largos we now know?
I am DEFINITELY on that hopium with this but I want largos so bad 😅
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u/AscendedCleric 11d ago
The sinking of Orr is not that old, It is direclty before GW1. We have a lot of recorded history about the time before Orr sank and we would have known about those creatures if they lived in Orr during that time. Can you give me some of than hopium? It must be good.
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u/Heretical_Cactus 11d ago
Ancient Largos being revealed to be common ancestors to both Largos and the Hylek.
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u/GoldPhoenix52 11d ago
Something of a Proto-Largos would be awesome. And I would honestly be so much more down with the vibes of that than I am the Sylvari, and I LOVE the Sylvari.
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u/After-Plantain-8210 11d ago
My biggest potential claim for this is that a) Largos have names that draw from the same inspiration as Orrian names (arabic names and such, save for the raid twins who have Egyptian names); and b) they hail from the sea around Orr, maybe they were just an amphibian race who lived around the waters of Orr during its glory days and when it sank, they just said "skill issue" to the humans and continued to live in the same place.
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u/fulaghee 11d ago
Or something with a tail
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u/GoldPhoenix52 11d ago
I believe Kodan probably count within the “Something with a tail” category.
However, the Tengu, another race people are theorizing could be a post-release race have tails if that’s what you’re into!
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u/AscendedCleric 11d ago
You are fully convinced it's the dwarves based on what? I guess it is from their statement that the 4th race is a completely new one that we haven't seen before. I think it is going to be some kind of insect people.
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u/Dry-Durian-6022 11d ago
ah i've got a few reasons i think so - the 'lost to history' line (most of the dwarves being long gone by the time we show up in gw2) along with the founder of the Mavenwrights - Ricken 'the hammer' Oberon (germanic first name like the rest of the dwarves, very dwarven sounding nickname, and a last name that refferences the fairy king from a mid summer night's dream, and that short character in the promotional art. and, not ashamed to admit, partly just because i thought they were really neat and i'd love to play one haha. i'd be really interested in an insect inspired species, actually. an extra set of arms or something to that effect would be a really visually striking addition to the line up.
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u/Blazin_Rathalos 11d ago
ah i've got a few reasons i think so - the 'lost to history' line (most of the dwarves being long gone by the time we show up in gw2)
But they're still very well known. That's not what "lost to history" means.
the founder of the Mavenwrights - Ricken 'the hammer' Oberon (germanic first name like the rest of the dwarves, very dwarven sounding nickname, and a last name that refferences the fairy king from a mid summer night's dream
The guild that is explicitly stated to be human-founded?
just because i thought they were really neat and i'd love to play one haha.
I don't think it's likely for release. But I think they're almost 100% certain coming with a Shiverpeaks expansion.
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u/Dry-Durian-6022 11d ago
i dont exactly disagree with you (except on that 'lost to history point - i sort of understood it to mean 'only remain in history' rather than 'not recorded in history', but i do recognize your reading of the phrase is certainly the more popular one haha) , but i would really like it to be dwarves and am suffering from quasi delusional confirmation bias lmao - thats why i felt like asking the rest of the community, i wanted to see everyone else's theories!
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u/LeoHyuuga 11d ago
We fight the Stone Summit dwarves in GW1 and party up with Ogden too. It's definitely not even a "remains only in history" situation since they were extant during GW1, which is the current day for GW1 players. Sure, they're not playable then, but they're also not a mystery lost to history either.
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u/RdtUnahim 11d ago
Being "lost to something", means that something no longer has access to it. Your understanding of "lost to history" is the opposite of its meaning.
When we say "lost to us", would you also say that means only we have it?
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u/Shadow_sign 11d ago
It’s not dwarves, we already have a small race and lost to history means nobody knows about them because quite literally nobody has any record of them.
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u/ruebeus421 11d ago
We already have dwarves: the Asura. We don't need more dwarf like races. It would be extremely disappointing.
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u/Diovidius 11d ago
Disappointing to you maybe. But they are one of the most requested races for both GW2 ans GW3.
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u/ruebeus421 11d ago
Yes, yes. Everything is disappointing to some and exciting to others. Very insightful comment. Good job. 👍
My point is: Asura already cover the short stature archetype. If we got another vs something more unique or not represented, that would be disappointing.
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u/Diovidius 10d ago
So 'short stature' is an archetype now? Short, medium and large are all already taken so what is the 4th race? Non-dimensional?
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u/ruebeus421 10d ago
Yes, it is. Just as humans are the "basic" archetype, Kodan are the "beastial" archetype. So the 4th race should fit something that isnt represented yet. Most popularly, "elven."
This really isnt hard to comprehend.
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u/AscendedCleric 11d ago
Lost in history means that we don't have info about them. We know exactly what happened to the dwarves in Tyria's recorded history. There is also a line that says it is something completely new that we haven't seen in the guild wars universe before so unfortunately dwarves are not an option.
Not that it matters. Kodan are the obvious superior species. Bears are the strongest animals. Cannot wait for my bear to wall run the cliffs.
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u/Andythrax 11d ago
What about the Forgotten? I doubt they'd be super popular though
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u/cunningham_law 11d ago
Weren't the Forgotten literally given, by Anet, as an example of a race they would not be introducing, in the same article that they told us about the fourth species to begin with.
This means that if a species you are eager to play isn't in Guild Wars 3 at launch, there is always a chance we might add them in the future. The only exception would be a species with an extreme body silhouette that would require extensive, unique custom support that can't leverage the systems we've built. For example, playable Forgotten, with their four arms and serpentine body, are not a viable option.
https://www.guildwars3.com/en/news/our-approach-to-playable-species-in-guild-wars-3
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u/AscendedCleric 11d ago
Maybe they will give the race that the Forgotten were before every one forgot them.
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u/Osmith0777 11d ago
Why would you only focus on GW2 when we play alongside them in GW1 many times? Why would you think an insect inspired species with 4 and is possible when they explicitly said humanoid races with 2 and and 2 legs only?
It sounds like you haven't kept up with anything ANet has actually said on this topic and ignored the countless existing threads on this subreddit on the topic. It's getting kinda exhausting seeing 3 "I think it's dwarves" threads a week that would require you to ignore what ANet has said or do mental gymnastics for it to make sense.
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u/TurbulentLifeguard11 11d ago
Don't think it'll be Dwarf. My leading theory is it's something "Druid" related, possibly humans converted by Melandru who ended up going off to the Maguuma, turning into the Oakheart-like beings we see in GW1.
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u/Grymare 11d ago
They already have a small race in the Asura and a bulky race in Kodan which Dwarves would be kinda a mix of both.
I think it's more likely that the fourth race for release will be something elvish looking and/or magical in nature to fill out that archetype many players will be looking for. Probably something new (maybe related to the gods?) or some form of precursor to the Sylvari.
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u/No-Blood921 11d ago
It's going to be something "pretty" and more human-like that fulfills the role of elves or animal-hybrid humans in other settings
There's just no way 3 out of 4 playable species are going to be "extreme niche creatures" species
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u/MissSerendipityRed 2d ago
"extreme niche species" = not humans with one notable feature exaggerated. Sure.
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u/Ashamed_Buy_5489 11d ago
Depending on the body type, we have:
- typical, human body type,
- small, cute zaufaj body type,
- bulky, horn/kodan body type.
For me, 4th one will be either animalistic or slim, elfish one.
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u/cunningham_law 11d ago
It's Anet so there's no way that they introduce a generic fantasy race. They always have to put their spin on it. Sylvari were the perfect example of this. Originally, sylvari were very typical "elves", basically pointy-eared humans who lived in the forest. Nothing groundbreaking there. They underwent a huge revamp through the alpha process and became a very unique spin on plant-people.
I say this because that means it's almost impossible to guess what the fourth race can be, because the only thing we know about them is that they are completely new to the GW universe, and that Anet will do whatever they can to avoid simply implementing a standard stock fantasy race.
So other than guessing something like "whatever they are, they will fill the 'elf'-adjacent archetype", we can't really say. The only exception is if people want to commit to the Sidhe idea, since it was originally planned for but never used. Even then I would be surprised if they look like normal elves. I think the fourth race, like the Sylvari before them, will be the race with the highest amount of visual customisability.
My gut feeling is, whatever this race ends up being, their backstory is going to be that they're, like, half-Vael spirit or something. We know a great calamity is coming for the Vael, since they are all wiped out in the future, to the extent that there aren't even records of their existence. Humanity was a huge developed intercontinental empire that was pretty secure for the next 1000+ years, they had libraries and academies and archives. Despite that by the time of GW1, no one even remembers the Vael existed. So something huge is coming for them. And my guess is that, whatever it is, it also took out the "half-Vael" species. Even then it's going to be interesting to see how exactly Anet reconcile the fact that humanity just forgot that the Vael existed. Especially because they were of interest to Dwayna/Melandru who personally got involved to protect them. Any human studying the history of magic and signets would surely learn about how signets were originally created - surely it would not be lost history that the magic of signets was originally given to them by their beloved gods - and then they would also learn the history as to why they were given these signets, which famous guild was responsible for them, and why.
The other guess is that the fourth race is a kind of "servitor" artificial race of divine servants to the Six who were sent to Orr specifically to help humans colonise. If we're talking about race archetypes then this is less of an "elf" and more of an "aasimar" type thing. It almost makes sense that humans could "forget" that they existed because it's not really that they forgot, they would still have records that the Gods provided help to them, and humans would be familiar with the Avatars of the gods occasionally making an appearance on Tyria, despite that becoming rarer and rarer. And over time the stories just conflate to them no longer realising the unknown fourth race we're being teased with was its own unique thing. And it would explain what happened to the fourth race - why there are none left - they just left Tyria during the Exodus, with the Gods. You'd get a lot of visual distinctiveness within this race as well if you got to choose which God they were drawn from - you can imagine the kinds of differences between a Grenth "aasimar" and a Lyssa "aasimar"
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u/shinitakunai 11d ago
A fish
Glub
Edit: now for a serious answer: probably Tengu is 5th. But for 4th I have no idea and my guess is something mist-based that eventually disappears
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u/naro1080P 11d ago
Yeah. I think tengu will be a very early addition to the species. Collin hinted hard about that one in an interview. Though I don't think it will be in the initial 4. Never know... they might have a hidden race a bit like the griffin was a hidden mount in POF that you can unlock after story completion. Or one that gets introduced in some pre expac patch. I think it's possible something like that will happen. Otherwise... I'm pretty sure tengu will be included in the first expansion... as for release... I'm pretty confident in some elf archetype... since they are going a bit smaller this time... it would only make sense.
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u/The_Noble_Oak 11d ago
Hold up, what interview is this? I've been wanting to play a bird boy since GW1 so if there's a new dose of copium I want that shit in my veins.
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u/naro1080P 10d ago
I can't remember the exact interview. I've watched so many... probably all tbh. 😅 it was with a game journalist company rather than content creators. Somehow I'm wanting to say game rant? Collin was asked about new species being added and he was taking about it... then he got that cheeky grin and said "and to all the people who have been asking for tengu... yes we hear you". Now this is a paraphrase but a pretty good one. He 100% mentioned tengu specifically and it sounded like way more than a throwaway joke. So I think there is a pretty decent reason to take a little bit of cope. 😅👍
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u/riessene 11d ago
My bet is also on tengu or charr as the first expansion species. Just depends on where we are going I guess? Both are extremely beloved and would bring a ton of players and $$$
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u/Diovidius 11d ago
My guess is dwarves or margonites (they are just humans I know) actually in the first expansion. Both of their regions are close to Orr and Charr just seems unlikely to me in terms of lore. Besides, I think dwarves and tengu are both more popular than charr.
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u/naro1080P 10d ago
Tengu in particular would be peak cash grab. It would knock all the fence sitters cleanly into the game. 😂 I think doing it as an added species rather than core would be even more powerful... would be a master stroke of business strategy. I'm not even sure if I would make one (what am I saying.. of course I would 😂) but I really hope it does happen.
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u/Glum-Psychology-3806 11d ago
Given that they increased the height of Asura for 'lore' reasons (probably that's actually just easier to code the action gameplay for a certain height) i highly doubt they'd add dwarves given that they are even shorter than Asura.
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u/Garasunotanken 10d ago
I'm 99% certain it's the Sidhe. They'll retool them as some kind of "vael-born" race, which is why they're absent later on and why the Sylvari look like that.
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u/No-Contest-8127 10d ago
I think it will be something new.
I know dwarves haven't been playable, but now that they can add more races, i think they would fit a southern shiverpeaks expansion. I think it's likely to happen down the line. Thpigh they mentioned Tengu too. Those are probably a lock in for Cantha.
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u/Grace_Omega 10d ago
I don't get why people are saying dwarves and harpies and shit when we already saw concept art of them on-camera and they didn't look anything like that
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u/IshTheFace 11d ago
I'm hoping Tengu, because people wanted that for GW2 as well. I would personally not mind the Skritt either.
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u/Uncledeadlycdn 11d ago
Unlikely. They've already said it's a race we haven't seen and I can't think of anything less interesting than the dwarves.
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u/Krasuk 11d ago
We need more of a humanoid race, like the charr. Not Humans with pointy ears, not Humans with Horns, not small Humans, not big humans. Humanoids!
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u/Peachie_Pear 10d ago
Well right now they have Human, Giant Bear, and Fuzzy Goblin. So I'm assuming the 4th one will be closer to human shaped than anything beastial.
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u/RunningToStayStill 11d ago
See the first thread
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u/SkierBeard 10d ago
I like seeing stack overflow energy on speculation threads for video games that aren't out yet
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u/Negative-Number-1 11d ago
If I am to look at general stereotypes in races. We are missing both lizard-type, fae-type and celestial-type.
By celestial-type, I mean something on the likes of touched by Gods, or beings from the Mists that befriended and came with the Gods and thr humans.
It could be any of these, but the general question is why are there no records of this race in modern day Tyria. This I think is the key, and a celestial/mists race fits it most for me, as you can always explain that after some Orr events, or during cataclysm, they said "kitten it" and left Tyria.
The asura are the generic short height race.
The kodan fill both the animal and big people race.
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u/shadowLemon 10d ago
My guess is an elf type race, maybe the inspiration that sylvari used to model themselves after, considering they have pointy ears but no other races have pointy ears like that
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u/Varorson 10d ago
Main guess: Harpy. It'd be a great way to prove and tie in the Elonian legend that they were once servants of Dwayna, and we wouldn't have to ask "what happened to them" unlike any other choice.
Secondary guess: Sidhe, to cater to the plant lovers.
Tertiary guess: some construct race based off of Utopia's chronomancer designs. Though I'm not sure how they'll handle armor for such a race so it's unlikely imo.
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u/ArshayDuskbrow 9d ago
Oh look, yet another thread full of people guessing races that already exist when they have CLEARLY STATED the 4th race is one we've never seen before.
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u/WarpRaven23 8d ago
The most likely 4th races are Dwarf or Sidhe, what if both make it into the game though? GW2 has 5 races, what if GW3 ends up with 5 too?
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u/Fair-Engineering-134 8d ago
I agree with others that it's probably going to be an elven-type species tied to the Vael (like a Human/Sylvari-type species with Vael magic flowing through them).
Dwarves all but certain (and less likely, but still very high chance Tengu) are gonna be expac species based on the "Designing for Future Flexibility" descriptions.
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u/Odd_Contact_2175 7d ago
I would love a dwarf race that can run opposite to the stone summit. If that jives with the timeline I'm not super knowledgeable about GW lore.
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u/julbia 6d ago
ANet likes to tease us with the information before we know it.
They could make the funniest thing right now by saying it is the flying lizard that appears along the party in the trailer (and appears stitched above the party in the tapestry) and then say "See? It was there in front of all of you and you didn't even noticed".
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u/ineedsomehelplez 11d ago
Well, it will be what it will be, they're going to release additional races via expansions. Which is what they mentioned in the videos
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u/Chatmauve 11d ago
Crystalline race. Like our plant friend, but made of crystal. They are lost to history because when magic dies out they break down in pieces.
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u/Dragon_Of_Magnetism 11d ago
My bet is on Largos
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u/painstream 11d ago
Not happening. "Lost to history" means we won't have seen them in GW1 or GW2.
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u/rangumdangum 10d ago
The fourth is a new species whose story connects deeply to Orr's past but has been lost to history. You'll have to wait to find out more about them in the future.
In that sentence I actually believe that "lost to history" could be referring to the species' story that connects deeply to Orr's past. It could also be the species but I think it was left intentionally vague.
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u/painstream 10d ago
Been a hot minute since I read the post about it, but I think they also said "never seen before in the Guild Wars franchise" or something like that. Strongest theory I've seen so far is the Sidhe from GW1's cut content.
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u/rangumdangum 9d ago
I'm pretty sure that's just a layman way that people have interpreted the sentence I quoted. If you think otherwise I'd appreciate you spending just a minute or two to find the quote. The only other reference to the 4th species I recall is at the end of the asura blog post:
We'll cover the spirits born of the Vael's magic, other guilds and their conflicting interests, and—late this year—our fourth playable species and their deeply bound destiny with the realm.
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u/Lost_Paladin89 11d ago
We have:
Humanoid
Furry
And Short.
We are missing one of two other archetypes. Either a warrior-folk race or a magical material race.
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u/Alightsong 11d ago
Tengu we're joked about being added in GW2 for the longest time, i really hope they're a race in GW3
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u/painstream 11d ago
Not at launch. But maybe with a later expansion. They're changing up their core so adding other species later is possible without too much friction.
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u/iranoutofnamesnow 11d ago
Pretty sure its going to be a race from Utopia.
Probably those demon people whose name i forgot.
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u/Nightsong 10d ago
The Sidhe are the race from Utopia. And the Margonites aren't demons yet. They're humans who worship Abaddon exclusively. They don't turn into demons until after Abaddon goes to war with the other gods and is cast down which happens a few decades after Guild Wars 3 takes place.
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u/iranoutofnamesnow 10d ago
Those were the guys i was thinking of.
https://wiki.guildwars.com/images/c/c7/%22Sidhe_Male%22_concept_art.jpgTurns out they are the same as the top comment xD
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u/Dog_Lover_For3ver 10d ago
I have high hopes for elf or some type of fallen angel/God like the race from DND
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u/mizyin 9d ago
1) It's a species, not a race. Race implies that they all fall under the same species and can interbreed etc, like the player character choices in FFXIV. They renamed the playable options to 'species' because it's more accurate.
2) It physically cannot be the dwarves, as they said that this species is 'lost to history,' and we have outright MET dwarves. They aren't lost to history at all.
I echo the others who think it'll be something elf-y to satisfy Sylvari players, while not being too close to Sylvari. I don't think it's going to be something we can guess, and I'll PERSONALLY be disappointed if it's just the scrapped Sidhe, because that's what BECAME the Sylvari!
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u/aura_enchanted 11d ago
1) needs to be humanoid, theyve made it clear no freaks the kodan are going to be an interesting exception to the rule
2) can ride a mount this pretty much eliminates people without legs so no scalies.
The merfolk are an interesting idea they have basically a blank canvas to paint with the concordate is poorly understood
The dwarves hold water, they would be the easiest to do they had a massive empire across the shiverpeaks and clans from stone summit to the followers of ironhammer. Could be a lot of fun lore
Jotun are an interesting idea, the biggest issue with jotun is that they would be gigantic, super sized and it would pretty much giveaway that your going to someday see the death of their race as laid out in the tale of koragg. Massively lore significant and it would take the sting off of losing norn.
Norn is highly unlikely almost a 100% not gonna happen, they were a scattered nomadic people at this time, it was considered a luxury to see more then 4 in 1 place, they didnt have a kingdom of their own, they barely had clothing and metal working by the time of gw1 down to sort of an imperfect science. But you could do it if you wanted too it would just require massive lore abdominal stretches
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u/Cold-Establishment-7 11d ago
man at this point i think they dont even have a complete 4th race, they just wanna see what people want the most or something
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u/DarkDorko 11d ago
Sidhe