#commanderhorncleaver

[hawkepockets]

mr hawte pocket, may we ask your thoughts on the expansion news, since you mentioned in that recent post you have mixed opinions (@commanderhorncleaver)

ok i'm just gonna go point by point

👍 standard price for the expansion size. pleasant surprise! i was put off at seeing only a $5-10 discount from prev expacs, but i also wasn't expecting 3 maps and such sweeping changes to combat. if it includes living world unlocks, i think $25 is very fair.

👍👍 mounted combat PLEASE. YEAH

👍 if i'm understanding the rune changes right, they sound solid. while certain stat sets may be collapsed together, i think that moving the current 6th rune perk into its own distinct slot will lead to more build customizability, not less, while cutting down on tp costs as a barrier of entry to endgame group content.

👍👍👍👍👍 MESMER RIFLE‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

👍 adding a new path to unlocking skyscale, while vet players who went through the tedious collection already are rewarded in the mastery tree. i’m glad their efforts aren’t gonna be totally thankless, and that the mount will be more accessible to the rest of us!

👍 "silent surf" is a gorgeous & highly vertical map. i'm sure the new zones will look and feel good.

👎 i have worries, based on the gyala episodes' failure to strongly tie the new oni threat to the end of the dragon cycle or the commander's canonical interests/motives & the amount of goofy filler, lore fudging, & fanservice in "what lies within," about the story's ability to follow up on itself. i think upcoming story releases will try to appeal to new players who haven't played the aurene storyline live and have less loyalty to the existing cast of npcs, while appeasing vet players with sloppy gw1 tie-ins and lazy answers to long-memed-about fan questions like "where's zojja" and "kessex wizard tower????" and that it’s likely to hurt itself in its confusion.

🥴 i hope that i'm proven wrong here, like i was by core eod story, and don't get me wrong i'm into wizards & demons, but after the false promises of "what lies beneath" and IBS i'm feeling... hm! well.

👍 i'm glad we're seeing more of cantha! 🫶 cantha...

🤨❓ decoupling elite specs from their signature weapons. here's where i get complicated.

IT WILL BE FUN. like. let's just get that out of the way it will be fun. i'm very excited to see all the new playstyles that become possible, a broadening of the endgame instanced pve meta, a big bang of rp builds tailored to character lore, new animations!! IT WILL BE FUN.

but i have some bigtime problems with it. first, i think anet has always fallen short of paying back vet players who've invested the most time, energy, and money to a game that gets continuously cheaper, easier, and more accessible. cheap and accessible are good things! high difficulty should be opt-in! and i don't in any way resent new players for having a better experience getting into the game. that said, the elite specs & their associated new weapon proficiencies were a major selling point of the prev expacs, right alongside story, maps, and gliding/mounts. it feels scammy for anet to now say, "remember when you preordered heart of thorns, full price, as soon as it was announced because you were THAT excited to play a guardian with a bow?? silly." the value loss here is not insignificant, and not reimbursed in any way.

& if access to the signature weapons is no longer an incentive to unlock and play an elite spec, there needs to be another incentive. those trait lines need to be powerful, individual, and on-point with lore and personality. that's the trade off. and right now, that is not at all the zeitgeist of gw2 balance patches. for a few years now, balance has been homogenizing specs, spreading out q/alac and heal capabilities while methodically deboning what's unique, potent, and vexing about the devs' least favorite classes: chrono boon support, mirage evasion, berserker dps, etc. without their signature weapons, what do these specs have going for them? what's their appeal? what's their vibe? where's their place in the world lore or the meta? opening up weapon selection, without reversing the trend of 2022-23 balance patches, accelerates the specs' decay into sameyness, and may make some completely obsolete. i'm not okay with that. keep guildwars weird.

however, i am hopeful that the change will address another of my beefs with balance, which is that in the current meta many elite specs are expected not to use their signature weapon at all. my feeling is & has always been, if i wanted to play D/D thief i wouldn't have trained specter, a spellslinger class made for scepter. if i didn't like axe, i never would've been attracted to mirage. so i hope the new armory system will put some of those back into play.

👍 hey. look at me. mesmer rifle.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #secrets of the obscure #answers #commanderhorncleaver

[kerra-and-company]

Does Kerralind have any particular opinion of Rytlock? (@commanderhorncleaver)

Thanks a bunch for the ask!! :D And yes, yes she does.

Kerra, during the personal story, was kinda...friendly acquaintances with Rytlock, I guess? She didn't know him all that well, but also didn't dislike him and thought he was a pretty damn good fighter, and was more focused on bringing Destiny's Edge back together than on him individually. HoT was the start of them actively Not being on the same page--Rytlock was kinda in the "they belong to the dragon now" mode re: sylvari, and Kerra (as a sylvari) did not appreciate that, to say the least.* The fact that he wouldn't say exactly what happened in the Mists was also frustrating, but she'd mostly let that go until PoF.

After learning the whole story about Balthazar's release, Kerra is furious with him. That broke her trust in him entirely. She does believe that he didn't know who he was releasing, but considering the fallout and the fact that he did it entirely to relight Sohothin, it doesn't matter all that much to her that he didn't know. She assigns partial blame to Rytlock for all the havoc Balthazar wreaks in Elona (including the lives lost)--and for Vlast's death. (Kerra blames him a bit for her own death as well, but wouldn't say that out loud and barely acknowledges that even to herself.)

Rhi (her kid) awakens after LWS4. They don't meet Rytlock until a solid year/year and a half after that, and that's only because they're tagging along with their mom to the All-Legions Rally.**

I guess the gist of Kerra's opinion on Rytlock at this point is that he's a friend, but one where their relationship has a lot of baggage. She wants him to be happy, but that trust is never going to come back.

(bonus facts for the asterisks under the cut!)

* - I mentioned this here, but it's worth noting that Kerra takes Canach and Caithe with her into Mordremoth's mind at the end of HoT, and Caithe is someone else that Kerra went through a period of not fully trusting. Kerra and Caithe also were on rough terms for a decent bit, but while Kerra didn't trust Caithe not to keep things from her at that point, she did trust her to fight against Mordremoth. And she was very angry but wanted her sister with her regardless.

** - Kerra brings her kid to the rally, which also happens to be where we meet Ryland for the first time. Part of the reason Kerra and Rytlock are on as friendly terms as they are at this point is because of Icebrood and the fact that Rytlock is so focused on his son during it. There are also things that happen that aren't great for their friendship (the bit where Rytlock and Crecia fall fully victim to the whispers for a bit, for example), but the first time Kerra and Rytlock ever sit down and actually talk about personal things is during Icebrood, when he tries, with limited success, to ask for (very late and also definitely too late) parenting advice.

#gw2 #kerralind #commanderhorncleaver #thanks a bunch for the ask! :D #kerra never had a strong foundation with rytlock to lose #which shaped a lot of their later relationship #also just. the mental image of kerra with rhi holding her hand while they all stand next to rytlock and crecia and braham #and they watch ryland in the ring with the devourer #i don't know. something something parallels and contrasts

[mystery-salad]

Can I get 1, 3, 10? (@commanderhorncleaver)

Since you didn't specify which one, I'm giving you Cora! Since I've so rarely talked about her or her partner ;3c

1. Who are they and what's their dynamic with the commander?

Cora is a very eligible handsome gal, and for years she was incredibly single and ready to mingle. But a little after lws4, she's snatched up a lovely partner who's a sylvari-turned-mordrem named Mae ( @ascalonianpicnic ). After HoT, once the mordrem were free of Mordremoth's influence, the team ran into Mae in the exalted city while checking on the egg.

Mae wanted to join the team, wanting to help people, and Cora saw a teammate and friend in her rather than a monster to fear. For a long time that's all she saw in them, but then she dealt with her own changes that really pushed Mae from teammate to confidante she could trust with her very being.

After so many years saving the world and being exposed to magic and binding with Aurene the daughter of Glint...she started experiencing some changes. The exalted were once humans until with a promise and an agreement they changed themselves using excessive magical energy. Cora had no such agreement, but she had intake far more magic than any humans body was made for. She felt her body crumbling away and in her terrified state she tried to hide it, but Mae cared so deeply about her and was all too familiar with trying to hide things away. They knew something was going on even if Cora wouldn't say what.

They made it clear they were here for anything, whatever she needed to lean on. And when the changes became too big to hide, she asked Mae to accompany her back to Tarir so she could ask the exalted what was happening to her. It was a very meaningful trip that put a lot of extra trust in each other, and Mae was the first teammate to see her new form and warmly accept her. The two dating didn't take long to happen after, and they anchor each other well with their love.

3. What does/what would the general population of Tyria think of the relationship?

It was almost secondary news next to the fact that the Commander had become Exalted! For a long time Tyria was abuzz with the way Cora had changed, how strange it was and if she was still the same person underneath. No one had seen an Exalted up close before with all of them sequestered away in a dangerous jungle so she's an oddity to many. As the tabloids run out of sensational things to write though, Cora's saying life is speculated on once more. What had been a very eligible bachelor is now something "inhuman" to many. How do you kiss something with no mouth, embrace something with barely a physical form? Of course it's a mordrem who at the end of the day is attracted to her confusing new look, perhaps they find space in each other for these changes.

The public isn't exactly...mean on a straightforward level, but headlines follow trends that would get someone punched if Cora paid attention to them.

10. Are there any events in the story that happen differently because of/to/involving them?

Not that we've ironed out so far! We're still a few chapters behind in Cora's plot though and EoD is absolutely going to have some big changes due to how Cora's Exalted form will interact with the high magic saturation zones and the Void. And icebrood will have changes, but those will be more due to me not liking the plot progression than Cora dating Mae :p

#commanderhorncleaver #cora the exalted

[havoc-warband]

(horncleaver!) In his free time, does Vikaros have any hobbies? Are there things he likes to do? Not entirely related, does he have romantic interests or inclinations?

Hi @commanderhorncleaver! Sorry for letting this sit for a while, I've been abnormally busy while the new academic year gets ready to start ;-;

You keep asking me interesting things I have barely thought of! The hobbies thing, I actually got into a discussion with a friend recently thanks to your ask about his age, Vikaros is a horrible workaholic at the start of the PS due to... well, he didn't have time or space attention for anything other than leadership/fighting stuff up until then. I imagine he, as the PS goes on, slowly begins to understand that he is allowed to have other things, things purely to himself, and he is able to not spend his every waking second on Work, even if that Work is keeping the whole world from being eaten by Elder Dragons.

In Orr, he was still w a y too stressed about everything going on and new in his role to pick up anything.

In Maguuma, during his downtime, he gets shown how to weave various types of plants into mats or baskets - it's repetitive, it's calming, he can give the results to the medics/supply officers, so it's not entirely """useless""". And it's not permanent, he's not putting anything of himself in it, at the start, so it's safe. (Nonviolent) self-expression is fucking scary when you've never been taught how to, or that it's okay to.

In Elona, he learns how to carve. Sticks, bones, rocks. He's already familiar with the process of it, due to the warband's internal system of symbols and habit of carving their symbols into the terrain in recon missions, but in Elona, he makes it into an art. He keeps it private, he doesn't really show anyone, he still feels conflicted about being able - being allowed! - to do this, but it feels liberating, in a way. One day, he bumps into some Elonian children admiring the artwork he made out of a tree, and though he doesn't let them know he's there or that he saw them, it sets something inside of him free, and it's entirely unexpected, the feeling of making someone's day not just because he saved their lives for the umpteenth time, but because he made something nice. When he arrives back in camp, he shows Havoc a particularly thick bone he'd been working into a rendition of Swiffer the lynx in the middle of a jump, and they encourage him. (They mostly don't have the same compunctions about hobbies and Time To Themselves that Vikaros does, and are happy to see him get more comfortable with himself and them, though this is an enlightening experience for Tavryn, who's struggled with similar feelings about Duty and reconciling it with what she wants)

Romantic interests or inclinations-wise, to be honest, I'm solidly demisexual and I can barely remember to think about romance as a concept when writing anything that doesn't have the romance as The Focus. None of the charr in Havoc currently have anything extra-platonic going on. They think of each other as family, so that would be Ew, and I haven't gotten to a point in my canon where they would meet anyone who they 1. spend enough time with to create a bond, and 2. they do not think of as family. I've been too busy/not in the right headspace to write recently, but since I noticed that I projected this hard onto the whole warband, I've been thinking about it, but don't have anything concrete in mind.

Thank you for the ask! >:)

#woops i slipped and dropped the full jar of Projecting Onto Characters into this one #vikaros havocforge #havoc warband #commanderhorncleaver

[ratasum]

BUT YEAH if anyone is curious as to like. Relationship specifics, I am always open to asks or pms. I like talking! I just get nervous and shy.

#bunny rambles #also most of my characters tie into wall-legion's #and a decent handful with wisp-enclosure and commanderhorncleaver

[jollycryptid]

🐱CHARRTY TIME🐱

Characters belong to: @commanderhorncleaver (Gaius), @thatdogmagic (Lydia), @wilsons-journey (Wilson) & @wisp-enclosure (Lucasta)

#jolly's art #guild wars 2 #guild wars 2 fan submission #gw2 art #gw2 #charr #digital art #artists on tumblr #sketch #doodle #art #anthro

[scourgeblooms]

march [na] vsartparty portraits!! ☘️☘️☘️

Lucretia Naissance (adore this hairstyle on femvari!) - @abyssal-oddity

Darius Sunstep (luv this fella's colors. such a good palette) - @clemmykins

Dusty Wanderhorn (such a good charr hairstyle/headgear combination) - @telltalecoyote

Alchimancer Phlunq (curly haired asura!!!!) - @commanderhorncleaver

Chreibhe Croile (captivated by this sylvari's miserable swampy vibes [affectionate]) - @twilightdomain

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #vsartparty #mine #scourgescribbles #art #trying to start adding alt text to my stuff

[wilsons-journey]

Spread the love ♥

Spreading some love for the following lovely people ♥

Nastazya & Marcus for @brightwingedbat Blanca & Kittra for @lofilesbo & @jollycryptid Zenais and Lyda for @dotmander Agaue & Garrus for @ratasum & @wall-legion Aikarico and Zytarra for @astralarias & @the-tired-commander Pregabalin & a past love for @otvian

And some friendly kissies from my OCs for:

Pythus for @alta1r1an Hera for @commanderthalys Ahrikima for @ahrikima Gaius for @commanderhorncleaver

And some extra love for everyone reading this ♥♥♥.

#gw2 #guildwars2 #guild wars 2 #charr #myArt #so many cats #and so many kisses #♥ #it was a little special I did for people on the blorbos server #and the people that see their charr here without throwing their cat at me in that thread #surprise - I thought you might like that too <3

[nullvoidface]

They look like a glass of chocolate milk that is being mixed with a spoon.

Anyway, cubs of Corvus and @commanderhorncleaver’s Gaius o7

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #Magpie #Jackdaw

[telltalecoyote]

Efram, Rytlock, Gaius, Oberon, and Corvus!

Big kisses for the big cats, they've got plenty of love to share.

Gaius >> @commanderhorncleaver, Corvus >> @nullvoidface

#gw2 #ttart #charr #furry #oc: oberon furyhorn #gaius horncleaver #corvus blightstep #efram greetsglory #rytlock brimstone #this is a scheduled post and i wanna say that i almost had it post next year. also this is cause i played the christmas TSR special..

[scrumpygoat]

Charr symmetry comm for @commanderhorncleaver! This handsome fellow is Gaius Horncleaver ✨✨

#gw2 #my art #charr

[kerra-and-company]

39, 41, 44 for your big brainscramble pairing! (@commanderhorncleaver)

Oh geez, at different times that's different folks alskjdfs--the two who have been on the brain the most recently are Ari and Cio. Going to grab this ask as a spot to talk about them! :D

39. If your OCs has/had a child, who would be the stricter parent?

Hmm, good question--Cio, if only because Ari would lean so far away from imitating the way she grew up in the fahrar that she'd struggle with how to discipline their kid at all.

41. What green flags do they have for one another?

My brain is putting this early on in their friendship long before they get together, so that's the context that these answers are in!

Cio re: Ari: she's willing to snark back and forth but is really not judgmental, she's dedicated to what she believes in, she'll listen and try to be open even if it's hard for her, she's kind

Ari re: Cio: she's flexible (I mean mentally flexible, not physically, shush), she believes in what she does and truly loves what she's working on, she cares a lot and will show it, she's easy to talk to

44. Who’s the better cook?

Oh geez, neither of them are the best at cooking xD Cio, maybe, if only because she does have practice roasting marshmallows without burning them. Ari knows how to throw snacks in a bag and go. They both do try to learn to cook together later on, but neither of them take to it particularly well.

#this was SAVED in my DRAFTS good LORD al;ksjdfasf #how old is this ask?? i am So Sorry lmao #gw2 #cioffi #ari stormshield #ciari #commanderhorncleaver #thanks a bunch for the ask! :D #legitimately! even though it vanished in my drafts for a while i promise i appreciate it asldkjf

[mystery-salad]

🥵, 💦, 👀, 👃, 👂, 😍, 🚲 for Dian (@commanderhorncleaver, I'm sorry for going wild lmao)

So many!!!!!! :o 💖

Going under a read more for ease, enjoy!

🥵 : Is your OC perceived as physically attractive to others? Is it at first glance or is it something that takes more time to reach fruition?

Oh fuck yeah she is, that is the fabled leader of the Fireshadows warband, the now imperator of Fire Legion and a very well built charr. Buff as fuck, long fangs, sharp claws, perfectly sculpted and cared for horns 😳 she is absolutely what would be considered a warband thirst trap.

💦 : Is your OC’s attractiveness based on looks or a more intangible aura?

Both, she's attractive by purely technical degrees but she also has the aura of a natural born leader and she has been further leading her 'band since the foefire and onward for centuries now. Confidence and competence oozes off of her in waves.

👀 : Does your OC believe they are attractive? Do they use that to their advantage?

She knows she's very hot, both figuratively and literally 😎 but she doesn't ever use it to her advantage unless she's explicitly looking for a fun time or a date. In which case she will turn the charm all the way up to eleven~

👃 : Does your OC smell good? Do they have a signature scent?

She smells like a sharp cold almost, the crispness of a fire so hot it can numb you hangs around her in spirit. Takes some getting used to honestly, if you've never been around her before!

👂 : Does your OC have an attractive voice?

Her voice is low and rolls like thunder, she can be so gentle with it and soothing or she can crack it like a whip and command a room in seconds. If that's attractive to someone, then yes~

😍 : What does your OC find irresistible in others?

She likes someone who will stand up for themself and the underdogs, who will defy convention when needed and assess situations thoroughly instead of just following orders blindly. And more physically, she loves someone who's smaller than her and a little soft~

🚲 : Does your OC enjoy playing the field? Or are they more monogamy-minded?

The thing is, not a lot of others live as long as a now-immortal warband! She honors the partners she's had, but she is open to whatever works at the moment. She's had exclusive romances, and completely open ones. It's more up to whatever the person she loves wants, in her mind.

#commanderhorncleaver #dian the unyielding #thank you it was so fun to get to think more on her!!!

[commanderthalys]

Art party doodles!! These were really chill but it felt good to do some traditional art for a change.

@crowstrel

@creativebrainrot

@commanderhorncleaver

@indigo-montari

#my art #gw2 #guild wars 2 #vsartparty

[jynxghoststep]

i didn’t have time to line or color them this time bc of my graduation stuff so here are my VS art party sketches! lots of good charr this time :) i had fun!

if you see your character, feel free to let me know and i’ll credit you! so far i know ka raska is @daughterofbrimstone, natya skyburn is @straywyvern, gaius horncleaver is @commanderhorncleaver, veska bonefang is @leafofkudzu, malva is @nyoka-gorefell, kittra curbstomp is @jollycryptid, zephrys moonchase is @couple-o-commanders, chaskana is @praise-joko, and telma dunespur is @griffinsfavoriteimp !

#art #charr #vsartparty #gw2 #guild wars 2

[ratasum]

My boy Silas having a very nice sibling outing to fuck up the Flame Legion.

@commanderhorncleaver @wisp-enclosure

#gw2 shenanigans #silas dreadpyre #other people's characters