There are five different races to choose from when you create a new character. These races are Human and Charr, from "Guild Wars Prophecies", Norn and Asura from "Guild Wars Eye of the North", and the Sylvari, a new race to the "Guild Wars" series. There are also 8 professions to choose from. The profession and race of the player decides what special abilities the player can use. As in "Guild Wars", the player has a skill bar where he/she can choose from a large pool of abilities. The skill bar is different from "Guild Wars". It can now hold ten skills instead of eight, but is more limited. The weapon the player is holding decides the first five skill slots. The 6th slot is used for a healing skill. The 7th, 8th and 9th slots are used to hold the remaining skills that the player can use. Finally, the 10th slot is used for an elite skill, which is more powerful than the other skills. ArenaNet has made the skill bar more limited to solve the balance problem many MMORPGs has. Skills in "Guild Wars 2" has also been made in quality instead of quantity.