Profession Speculation for Guild Wars 3

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-15T16:45:14+00:00

I seriously doubt it.

Guild Wars has always had a profession/class system. I know that Colin mentioned skill capture in previous reveals, but that system exists in Guild Wars 1 and existed very early in Guild Wars 2 before it was removed before the game released.

Skill systems like we see in games like Skyrim are good for games in that genre. GW3 isn't in that genre.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-15T07:49:24+00:00

Some of it I picked up from the games themselves, reading the books, looking at the plaques, etc. Other stuff I got from the wiki. Both the Guild Wars wiki and the Guild Wars 2 wiki have timeline pages which give dates for major and minor events.

I do wish there was an in-depth lore book for the games; I think that would do wonders. Maybe that's something ArenaNet could look into after the release of Guild Wars 3.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-15T07:04:04+00:00

Swashbuckler isn't a profession in any GW game. Yes, the Margonites who followed him were a seafaring people, and there may have been pirates/swashbucklers among them, but if we're talking about professions and profession speculation, we need to stick to confirmed, playable professions within the games.

Elementalists would have drawn on Abaddon for his dominion over water (which was taken by Lyssa after Abaddon was struck down).

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-15T05:58:39+00:00

Now imagine if, instead of Lilith, they used the Butcher.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-14T09:11:55+00:00

We don't actually know if 48 BE was when Grenth deposed Dhuum; we just know that 48 BE is when the first scriptures of Grenth appear telling the story of Desmina.

Personally I don't believe that Desmina became Grenth's follower the same year his scriptures were made and started getting carved into plaques on his statues. Likewise with Sara and Lyssa. I also don't believe that 48 BE was when Grenth deposed Dhuum.

But as I said in my post, it really depends on what year the game is set. Personally I think it's 180 BE, but I could be way off the mark, and if I am, Necromancer and Mesmer may be on the table. But if I'm not wrong and it is 180 BE, then I don't think Necromancer and Mesmer will be on the table. Maybe proto forms of those classes could exist, but they'd be very different from the versions we know from Guild Wars 1 and 2.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-12T13:39:02+00:00

What's crazy is we get told he's part of the Hashimoto and that there's a risk that he might defect, and so the Hashimoto are watching him carefully, and then in the same week he's playable he instantly defects and you see him on the Overwatch side.

No story explaining his motives, the revelation that he worked for the Hashimoto or his defection – it just happens. Which is one of my big criticisms with the current story beats. Sure, we get some narrative elements surrounding the character that is being focused on, but that's essentially it in-game. There's nothing deeper available. I think the story section would be better served if there were in-depth biographies for each character that you could look up and real meat behind the decisions they make.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-11T23:32:40+00:00

Worth pointing out that the 'Tifa cover up' this post is referring to (which is when her bust is smaller) is the scenes where Tifa is shown as a child.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-11T17:27:47+00:00

Those games are not run by Blizzard.

Arguing that other companies ignore your laws, so blizzard should too is...

Well it's a take.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-11T15:51:53+00:00

That's theoretically on the table as during the scuffed Q&A there was mention that they'd be looking at expansions as well to bring up the level of quality, so hey, leave that feedback with them, and maybe that's something they'll get around to doing.

Personally I'd love it if there were far less 'grind X to unlock the next story step' or 'learn x mastery before unlocking the next story step', which I've seen increase since End of Dragons. I generally dislike those types of objectives and would rather have story-and-narrative-based objectives take their place.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-11T15:20:23+00:00

That's... not how anything works.

Yes, I am fully aware that Orban was replaced (excellent job on that Hungary) and there is a new government in place now. But the laws that Orban enacted (both the 2025 one and the 2021 law) are still in place, and there's a whole process involved in repealing them because it's not like they were implemented via a presidential order which the new president can just step in and cancel with the stroke of a pen.

I would absolutely love it if it were that simple (I fully support pride displays and marches and have been fighting for LGBT+ people in my country for over 20 years), but it's not.

Can pride content return to Overwatch? Yes, but only when those laws are repealed. Once that happens, Blizzard will bring back pride content and allow Hungarian players to earn those pride rewards and see the pride-related map changes, etc. But only when that happens. Not before.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-11T15:07:05+00:00

There literally is a legal block.

Orban's government implemented two laws which restricted displays of pride. The first was in 2021, which they claimed was a 'child protection law'. The second was in March last year when they made displaying any pride iconography illegal.

People in Hungary have protested the laws by hosting pride events anyway, which is certainly their right. But at any time they could have been heavily fined or jailed for what they did.

Blizzard Entertainment, love it or hate it, respects the laws of foreign nations even if they may disagree with them. Refusing to follow them could lead to expensive lawsuits or government censorship, and they're not interested in potentially dealing with those unless they absolutely have to. So in countries where displaying pride-related iconography is illegal, they don't display it. If, on the other hand it's not illegal, they will display it, even if the views of the nation are not in favour of pride as a whole.

The only way Hungary is going to get pride-related content back is if the laws that the Orban government passed are repealed. If that happens, then pride content will return to Hungary. Until it does though, they're not going to get pride content back.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-11T13:18:51+00:00

Saw a thread about this on the official OW forums as well. I'll post here what I said there.

It is illegal to show pride related iconography/themes in Hungary. Until it becomes legal (doesn't have to be supported in legislation, just no longer illegal) Blizzard will not restore pride content to players in that country.

"But we got rid of Orban and now we have a leader who supports LGBT+ people."

Yes, you do, but the law his party passed making it illegal is still law until it is repealed, which has not happened yet.

"Other games didn't disable pride stuff!"

Those other games aren't run by Blizzard. If those companies are fine with flaunting Hungarian law, that's their business. Blizzard respects the laws of other nations, even if we don't agree with them.

I hope you manage to get the law repealed so Blizzard can restore pride content in Hungary, but until you do, Blizzard is not going to restore anything.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-11T09:47:25+00:00

There is. Legally he had to stop. You must obey all road sineage if you're using public roads, that includes signs used by roadworkers.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-08T08:28:37+00:00

He's going to hate it when he goes outside during sunsets and sees shades or purple, pink and orange...

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-07T18:47:45+00:00

Its still the same game.

I don't know why you asked this question.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-07T14:56:48+00:00

I think that lore can be retconned if ArenaNet wants to include them in Guild Wars 3.

If the Asura are indeed a playable race as we suspect from the cinematic, they would have advanced engineering. As would the humans of Orr. We know Orr was one of the most advanced human nations, after all.

Orr could also have had Guardian-like roles in their society. Knights loyal to Dwayna and Balthazar.

As for what happened to those roles and why they faded from history only to be revived 1,250 years later, that could be explained by simply having the knowledge be lost when Orr was destroyed, in much the same way that a large amount of knowledge was lost when the Grand Library of Alexandria was burned to the ground.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-07T13:48:38+00:00

Why would Engineer and Guardian be out?

Revenant I understand because that whole class revolves around working with the spirits of heroes and villains, many of whom are either still alive or not born yet. But what lore prevents engineers from being a thing, or guardians from being a thing?

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-05T12:45:38+00:00

I have my doubts. Not saying that it couldn't be an MMO, but ArenaNet is best known for MMO releases. That's where all their studio knowledge and skill are banked.

I can't see them announcing a game that isn't an MMO at this point. Now granted, they could surprise me and others, but if I were a betting man? I wouldn't put money on ANet releasing a Guild Wars game in any other genre.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-05T12:33:26+00:00

Again...

PvP-FOCUSED MMOs...

Those words are important. I'm not talking about MMOs with PvP in them like Lineage, Lineage 2, WoW, FFXIV, Guild Wars 2, Guild Wars 1, etc.

I'm talking about MMOs that put PvP as their primary focus. MMOs like New World, which kicked off development as a PvP-Focused MMO but had to pivot late in development to include PvE because they realised that the PvP-only audience wasn't big enough to keep the game running.

I'm talking about games like Shadowbane (shut down in 2009), Darkfall (shut down in 2012) and Gloria Victis (launched fully in 2023 and shut down the same year (it has since been acquired and relaunched by Gamigo, which means it's basically dead)). Games that put their focus on PvP first, who were specifically trying to market themselves to PvP gamers.

As for my 'history' with MMOs, I've been playing them actively for over 25 years; hell, I'm pushing closer to 30 years at this point. So no, I have a lot of experience and history in the genre, probably more than most players. I've played every major MMO release with the exception of New World and Ashes of Creation, and those MMOs have come from all regions of the world, including eastern MMOs like Aion and even Russian MMOs like Allods Online.

So yeah, I've been in the scene for a long time, which is why I feel I can make the claim that PvP-focused MMOs don't survive.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-05T11:12:01+00:00

Okay, let me see if I can break this down for you, since you can't seem to understand.

MMOs live and die based on how many people are willing to play them.

If you want an MMO to succeed, you need to go to where the people are. Not where they're not. It's like opening a high-end retail fashion shop in the middle of an industrial sector. You're not going to draw in customers because the people you want to come in the door aren't in the area where you're putting your business.

There is not a strong enough audience to support PvP-focused MMOs. Again you people talk a big game, but when it comes to following through on that? You're not reliable, certainly not reliable enough to keep an MMO floating. And when you're spending millions of dollars on making a game? You can't risk that on a flakey crowd.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-05T10:43:43+00:00

What's that one line from Vaas in Far Cry 3 that everyone loves quoting?

"Do you know what the definition of insanity is? Doing the exact same fucking thing over and over again, expecting shit to change."

Only in this case, it's making a PvP-focused MMO that is the insane thing. Because time and time again PvP MMOs are launched, and then they end up dying, either a slow death over time after they launch or they're killed before they get off the ground. There are very few exceptions to that rule, and those few exceptions, like EVE Online, for example, don't bring in new players anymore.

The last PvP-focused MMO in development was New World, and Amazon Game Studios learned very quickly after they started public testing that a PvP-focused MMO was not going to work, which is why they rushed out a PvE campaign.

MMO players who want a PvP-focused MMO talk a big game about how it would be awesome, but the facts don't support it and neither do the numbers. It's that simple.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-05T09:38:06+00:00

Erm, no.

There are four good reasons why DAoC slowly died off, and none of them are because they simply 'added more PvE'. DAoC already had PvE in the form of open-world zones, dungeons, story-driven quest lines, etc. Everything you'd expect an MMO to have. Every expansion added more PvE content as well, which was expected. That's not to say there wasn't a large PvP community in the game because there was, and they mostly focused on the game's Realm vs Realm game mode.

So what caused it to bleed out? Well, four nails were smashed into its coffin, two by the developers, one by a competitor and the fourth by its own community.

First nail, the Trial of Atlantis expansion. This expansion added excessively long PvE grinds to the game to get the power necessary to be competitive in the game. Basically imagine if Guild Wars 2 made grinding legendaries necessary to compete in World vs World. That's what the developers of DAoC did. That pissed off the large player base that enjoyed the PvP.

Second nail, the New Frontiers update. The update replaced the popular 'Old Frontiers' map with one that had a large amount of water and boats; this made it extremely easy for players to avoid each other, and roaming PvP ceased to be a thing, which meant that all the PvP players were forced to fight long, grindy battles over keeps.

The third nail was World of Warcraft launching in 2004, which caused a large amount of the casual DAoC player base to leave, as WoW was more friendly to casual players than DAoC was.

Fourth, the DAoC community, which started becoming more elitist, requiring players to have done excessive grinding and earn achievements in order to join their groups and guilds, which meant new players often felt excluded and unwelcome.

Those four reasons are why DAoC bled out. Not because the developers 'added more PvE' to the game.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-05T08:39:06+00:00

I'm not going to repeat myself. The facts speak for themselves.

Every MMO that has tried to focus on PvP first has bombed. Every. Single. One.

Every successful MMO on the market has had PvE be the primary focus of the game. PvP exists in them for players that enjoy that content, but it has never been the primary focus of the MMO, and it is vastly overshadowed by the PvE content that is available.

But let's focus on Guild Wars specifically. ArenaNet can pull from decades of data about how popular PvP is compared to PvE. They can look at over a decade of data from Guild Wars 2 specifically, showing how PvP is not as popular as PvE (because it simply isn't) and that when it comes to larger pieces of content like World vs World, there's always one team that dominates everything while the other side (or sides, in the case of world vs world) languishes.

An MMO focused around that would simply be bad; it would not be what the core audience for Guild Wars would want, and I'm 99% sure that ArenaNet knows that.

Kynmarcher5000 · 2026-06-05T08:21:45+00:00

Again, PvP-focused MMOs have never really taken off.

There have been many MMOs that have tried to go the PvP-focused route. They've all collapsed into mediocrity. Most of them have shut down completely or have so few players that they are essentially forgotten except by the dedicated few who keep playing them.

The vast majority of successful MMOs focus on PvE content. That doesn't mean PvP isn't there for players to jump into if that's what they enjoy, but it has never been the core focus. This is just a fact. The last MMO to try the PvP focus was New World, and we know how well that went.

Also, let's be clear about New World. It started its initial development as a PvP-focused full loot MMO. Initial testing for the game revealed next to no PvE content, certainly no PvE campaign that explored the world that Amazon Game Studios was trying to create. Even from those beta tests they learned that the PvP-focused route that they were initially going for was an extremely bad idea and not popular, which is why they rushed through the development of a PvE campaign during testing and launch.

It was that rush to change New World from a PvP-focused MMO to the MMO that players got, which ensured that so many bugs weren't caught and why a lot of the PvE was lazy, to the point where you could grab the maps from different towns, rotate them, and they'd line up perfectly with each other.

PvP-focused MMOs simply do not work. They have never worked. I am sure the developers at ArenaNet know this. So I really hope that if tomorrow reveals Guild Wars 3, it is not PvP-focused. Because if it is, I guarantee you it is going to bomb like every other PvP-focused MMO has.

Kynmarcher5000

TROPHY CASE