Guild Wars 2: Pre-Release Discussion

[Colenzo]

I'd go back to playing GW but somehow my STR Tormented Shield got stolen from my account, and nothing else D:

it was the only thing i cared about!

well except for like the 400k i've dropped on my warrior's armor i guess

edit: also, i love the fact that if i want to go back and play i don't have to think about spending 13$ to be horribly disappointed again, plus GW is actually pretty fun in small spurts

I stole it

Spoiler: show

http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/t...lv20/gw040.jpg

[Dragir]

The top five Guild Wars features we take for granted
by Rubi Bayer Oct 12th 2009 at 5:00PM

Guild Wars was my introduction into MMO gaming. My husband heard of it on a podcast and decided to check it out. I got curious, asked him if I could try it, and never looked back. My outgoing, chatty personality combined with my love of computer games made MMO gaming an irresistible new world to explore. With all the recent (long-awaited) news of Guild Wars 2, this seemed like a great time to take a look back at some of the features of Guild Wars that are rarely found in other games of its type.


5. No Downtime for Patches.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively...00-rb-1012.jpg
The Guild Wars update screen; don't blink, or you might miss it.

While you're sitting around on a Monday morning (every other week sometimes) waiting for your Final Fantasy XI update, or every Tuesday for your World of Warcraft updater to patch, just think about the fact that Guild Wars players don't ever have to deal with something like that. "A new build of Guild Wars is available." We see the green message, log out, and are back within minutes with the update. What about server downtime for problems? With a very, very few notable exceptions, it's nearly nonexistent. It's pretty easy to take for granted the absence of something, but this is a huge perk that Guild Wars offers. How does ArenaNet do this? That's one of the great mysteries of the game that arguably may have one of the best server teams and configurations ever.


4. Map Travel

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively...p1-rb-1012.jpg
A portion of the Canthan map; 1/5 of the game-world

"Hey, guess what? My mom showed me how to map travel the other day! It's amazing!" says young Mauban in the Map Travel Inventor quest, a part of Nightfall. He's right, it's pretty great. Map travel -- instant teleporting to any town or outpost that you have walked to once -- was created to help eliminate the need for mounts, and has really spoiled us as GW players. I got teased a bit recently for complaining about the horribly long run to a dungeon. "Ugh, it takes a half hour!" After a while, you get so used to it you forget what a great feature it is. Map traveling allows you to get where you are going right away, and get started playing, and isn't that why we're there?


3. Instanced Worlds

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively...q1-rb-1012.jpg
A few common Hall of Monuments trophies

This is probably the biggest feature that turns traditional MMOers off, but there are advantages to be had beyond the initial feeling that "it's not an MMO if it's instanced." In a persistent world, there are queues for bosses, unnaturally-timed respawns and a feeling that you're just another cog in the wheel. With an instanced environment, there's more a feeling of accomplishment that you just won't find in that traditional persistent zone. Eventually, ArenaNet took this one step further with the introduction of vanquishing. Vanquishing is a way for a party to entirely clear a zone of its inhabitants in Hard Mode. Once that area is completely cleared out, it is marked as Vanquished on your map, and you can continue working towards the Vanquisher titles for each chapter's maps. There's something about vanquishing an area and reclaiming those lands for your people that really pulls you into the story.


2. The ArenaNet Business Model

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively...e-sms-1009.jpg

An MMO with no subscription fees was a highly unusual concept back when Guild Wars was introduced [and it still is], and turned out to be a great idea over time. A free-to-play game is more attractive to the casual gamer, because there's no pressure to make sure you're getting your money's worth every single month. "Casual gamer" equals "wider audience", which equals sales. In addition, the f2p model was pretty attractive to those who were considering the game but weren't quite sure about it. A one time expenditure made it worth a try, and gave them a chance to see what a beautiful game it was. It obviously worked through two new chapters and an expansion, and these days you can find a few rogue game developers following in the footsteps of ArenaNet everywhere you look.


1. One Server. One, Single Server.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively...man-rb-124.jpg

Aion's recent issues with server queues gave us a new appreciation for the Guild Wars single-server format. Aion struggled for a solution - rolling out new servers, temporarily disabling character creation on some servers, and ultimately offering a free one time change to selected servers. While Aion players were queueing for hours to log in, those of us in Guild Wars were enjoying playtime on one server, hopping districts in a matter of seconds if things became a bit crowded and bogged down. There is no "Okay, I'm creating my character. What server are you on?", we just log in and play. The convenience of being able to switch characters at will and still join all of your friends, and jump districts if overcrowding or lag becomes a problem, is a luxury that most MMOs don't offer. Guild Wars has been referred to as MMO-lite, and that may be a pretty apt term for it.

But when ArenaNet launched the game, they brought some groundbreaking new ideas to the table, and a new approach to a lot of MMO standards. That outlook is one of the things that's helped keep Guild Wars fun for over four years, and it's the reason that Guild Wars 2 holds such great promise.

[Purrrfect]

Hope gw2 turns out good. I don't like PvP enough to pay monthly for it, but I'd pick up a b2p game game if it was good. Not sure what turned me off gw back when, but I hope its not an issue this time.

[Dragir]

What turned me off about Guild Wars was that it was called "Guild Wars"... and that I was a huge Squaresoft fanboy before FFXI/FFX-2 happened and the money train got rolling and SE decidedly killed any good feelings I had about them as a company. The "Guild Wars" title reminds me of the shareware era of software circa mid-90s and is, in my opinion, an uninspired title and I feel silly now that I hadn't given the game a chance until 2009 because of it. That fact remains, but regardless of it, ArenaNet had put together what was and still is an amazing game which is still unique within its genre in many ways and I kinda 'kick myself' now remembering that I didn't pick up the Guild Wars box when I saw it on the shelf at Best Buy solely based on its title and my own perceptions.

[Dragir]

Guild Wars 2 Stuff (2/4)
Posted by Ravious on February 5, 2010 in Guild Wars 2. Comments

The ArenaNet community managers are using an interesting tactic over at the Guild Wars 2 unofficial forum where they take the gist of a thread and quickly interview the devs themselves. I really like that they are opening up a tad more communication, but the quick hits can get lost in the middle of a 20-page thread. So, every week or so I’ll try and pull them from the water and comment on them here (especially since JR is slacking on the front GW2G page).

The first time I saw ArenaNet do this was when Regina responded to a thread on audio, of all things. It seems that many sounds in Guild Wars 2 will be created procedurally. For instance each footstep is made of only three sounds, but when ran through a procedural generator it will sound like different footsteps each time. This system will apply to armor clinks and other things (hopefully combat hits as well).

Another post, where Martin rode in to save the thread on expansion-like races and classes, came from the Lead Designer of Guild Wars 2, Eric Flannum. The post mostly dealt with the amount of decisions required to make when evaluating whether or not to add a new race of profession. The Guild Wars 2 information that was embedded was that race will control the look, feel, and story of the character (with a small impact on combat), while the profession impacts the character’s mechanical performance to a much higher degree.

We get a little Hall of Monuments information where Regina related to us via the devs that “declaring your ancestor” will mean linking a single Guild Wars 1 game account to the Guild Wars 2 game account. The Guild Wars 2 characters can then access an instanced version of the Hall of Monuments to claim the rewards. This can be done by every Guild Wars 2 character on the Guild Wars 2 account as many times as the player wants. The rewards cannot be traded or sold.

Finally, there is a small tidbit on the open parts of the world. With the event system having no traditional (!) quests, a lot of players were wondering whether combat would only occur in the open world via events. In other words, did you have to track down hotspots in order to kill things? The answer, as it turns out, is no. Eric Flannum wrote that they deliberately made traditional mob hunting areas to go farm some gold, XP, and secret other things.

Also, one of the ArenaNet community managers is clearly the wrongdoer to poor defenseless creatures. The evil man taunts us too by relating that for ArenaNet, Fridays may or may not be the best days.

–Ravious

[Kaluuki]

Ten Ton Hammer added a new article, I don't know if this is real news or not. I found it interesting.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81024

[Dragir]

Flameseeker Chronicles: Divinity's Reach to Ascalon City
by Rubi Bayer - Mar 8th 2010 at 6:00PM - Comments

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively.../fc1-rb-38.jpg

We recently heard that Ghosts of Ascalon, the first Guild Wars 2 novel, is due out this summer. The plot of the book revolves around a group of adventurers traveling from Divinity's Reach to Ascalon City in search of the Claw of the Khan-Ur, a Charr relic that is the key to a truce between the Charr and the humans. Traveling from Divinity's Reach to Ascalon City is quite a hike, even in present-day Tyria (which is presumably much friendlier to travelers than the world of Guild Wars 2.) Since Jeff Grubb -- one of the principal designers of Guild Wars 2 -- is involved in the book, hopefully the tale will give us a look at the land of Tyria 250 years into the future.

For now, we'll have to content ourselves with piecing together what we know of the world and taking a look at the path our (hopefully) intrepid heroes will be facing. Examining future lore based on partial knowledge is a tricky thing, because there are so many different opinions and schools of thought. Follow along after the cut for a ride on the speculation train, and feel free to add your thoughts at the end!

While it's far from certain and some arguments regarding the threat from the Deep Sea Dragon can be made, the currently-inaccessible area north of Divinity Coast is generally regarded as a very likely location for Divinity's Reach. Our heroes may begin their quest here -- if not, it won't be much farther south thanks to Zhaitan. So assuming our travelers start out in this area, they'll be traveling east along Watchtower Coast to reach the Shiverpeaks. While we still don't know much about Kryta in GW2, we do know it's the last human kingdom in Tyria. While it's home to people from Tyria, Cantha, and Elona, they can probably expect minimal human resistance in their travels -- the ability for players to choose from any of those heritages for their characters is indicative of peace between the nationalities -- we can probably assume the local wildlife hasn't gotten much friendlier. Have the mergoyles evolved into something even fiercer? (As someone who favors the caster classes, I find the thought of souped-up mesmers pretty unnerving.) What about the undead? Did the tidal waves drive them north from the Black Curtain and the Cursed Lands? It's possible they headed south to join up with the undead Orrian army, but our adventurers would do well to keep a careful eye out just in case.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively...1268060699.jpg

The current standard route through Scoundrel's Rise into Griffon's Mouth is one possibility for the next leg of the journey, although another currently-inaccessible area presents a potential northern path. Traveling the southern route would come perilously close to Dredge territory. The Dredge have evolved into a fairly cranky race after years of slavery in places such as Sorrow's Furnace, and who can blame them? Whether you feel sympathy for their plight or not, however, is of little consequence to them. They're now hostile toward all other races and embroiled in a war with the Norn. The Dredge control the Southern Shiverpeaks, while the Norn control the Northern Shiverpeaks, and anyone traveling through the Griffon's Mouth/Beacon's Perch area could possibly find themselves caught in Dredge/Norn crossfire. It's not the most pleasant thought, and besides, the huge unexplored landmass to the north of Kryta presents so much more potential! Traveling north, then east through the northern part of Deldrimor Bowl would steer well clear of the Dredge and into friendlier Norn territory. However, it could be a case of "out of the frying pan and into the fire", as we have no idea what's lurking in that region.

Onward through the Northern Shiverpeaks! It's a pretty logical assumption that our heroes in Ghosts of Ascalon didn't die horribly at the hands of the Dredge (and nobody remembered to pack a rez), thus ending the novel, so our next stop is Ascalon. This is where it gets interesting. The only human settlement remaining in Ascalon is Ebonhawke, far south of where our travelers need to go. Otherwise, the former homeland of so many humans has begun regaining its Pre-Searing beauty, but is now the most hostile area to them. To begin with, they'll have to contend with the Charr.

"These Charr are relentless." They were our first enemies in Guild Wars, and remain some of our fiercest foes. The battle for Ascalon can be considered lost: Ascalon is Charr territory. Even if our travelers were holding a banner along the way that said "We are just trying to get your relic back for you, please let us pass," it's doubtful that the information would hold sway over a few hundred years of hostility and bitter fighting. The Charr think of humans as an infestation, and would like nothing more than to see them eradicated, so getting to Ascalon City is going to be a combination of stealth when possible and fighting when it's not. We know that the Iron Citadel is located upon the ruins of Rin, making a northern route possible in order to avoid a main Charr city. The Black Citadel, however, is a bit more of a mystery. It's described as a giant Charr keep constructed on the ruins of Ascalon. This leaves a lot of room for speculation, but we can assume that it'll be harder to avoid along the way, if nothing else due to sheer size. With the Iron Citadel in the area of Rin, Ascalon City occupied by the spirits of the Ascalon Guard, and Ebonhawke to the south, there aren't many places the Black Citadel will fit other than smack in the path anyone traveling to Old Ascalon needs to use. Hopefully Ghosts of Ascalon will clarify the size and location a bit.

The Charr aren't the only threat, however. Stories of the great dragon Kralkatorrik say that it flew over Ascalon, and "transformed anything that was in its flight path into a twisted caricature of its former self." Will we find mutated elementals, devourers, and gargoyles? What about the docile moa birds? Whatever they are, they're a formidable foe and one that the Charr are in a continual battle with. We can safely assume they won't be any friendlier than humans.

Here the speculation train reaches its destination, and our intrepid heroes hopefully reach theirs. Putting together the pieces of the puzzle based on current knowledge while we wait for the real thing to arrive is a fun pastime for lore fanatics. Feel free to add your own puzzle pieces in the comments below!

[Dragir]

GDC 2010: Guild Wars 2 Arts Trailer
Posted 03-16-2010

http://uppix.net/7/3/1/116bdd73c73aa...a92f2898a2.jpg


Guild Wars 2's artwork is amazing. Because ArenaNet has a group of incredible, award-winning artists. At this years Game Developers' Conference, ArenaNet's Lead Artist, Daniel Dociu, talked about the art direction of Guild Wars 2. Below is a selection of slides selected by Daniel Dociu; but keep in mind that not all of the images are Guild Wars 2 related [according to guildwars2guru.com].

Click on the G.O.L.E.M. to watch the GDC2010 Concept Art Slideshow-Trailer. Be sure to change the stream to 720P!
http://uppix.net/2/0/3/c4685d264d2f8...c593ed3df0.jpg
Click on the G.O.L.E.M. to watch the GDC2010 Concept Art Slideshow-Trailer. Be sure to change the stream to 720P!

http://uppix.net/a/9/f/13e3c992330d8...3268342ffc.jpg

http://uppix.net/8/a/c/93c9b77055056...8d6dc67cf6.jpg

http://uppix.net/9/6/e/6c84f396bc46b...f472d82e66.jpg

http://uppix.net/c/0/f/1edca7c7b6c5b...76ad632198.jpg

http://uppix.net/f/9/d/307e98386c0cf...3e60aa9586.jpg

http://uppix.net/7/3/2/7b8aa132b5f22...3d9f2e0c2d.jpg

http://uppix.net/8/4/d/33e2dc967c537...7cfcd98529.jpg

[Dragir]

Second Guild Wars 2 concept art slideshow released
by Rubi Bayer Mar 21st 2010 at 12:00PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paP6tCuRe5U

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively...w2-rb-2010.jpg

When the first slideshow video of Guild Wars 2 concept art was released, fans immediately saw the "Part 1" in the title and were thrilled to know that more was on the way. That "more" arrived Friday afternoon in the form of Part 2, a video that seemed to drop some very broad hints via current game load screens (such as one from Elona), Dhuum concept art, and an image of the Grenth costume recently made available to players. (There are some technical difficulties with the sound right now, but hopefully they'll get resolved.)

Much of it is subject to change, of course. Concept art isn't a concrete set of plans so much as it is ideas that help develop the look of the game -- much of the old concept art from Factions, for example, is wildly different than what we ended up with. It gives a good idea of where the game is going, though.

Keep an eye out for Monday's Flameseeker Chronicles as we take an in-depth look at the current art. For now, follow along after the jump for the latest slideshow, or check it out on YouTube.

[Ramor]

it's going to look so god damn beautiful

and i must say, the quality of each of your posts dragir is quite good, especially considering that most people with <100 posts generally are unable to spell or link images or do anything except be retarded

well done sir.

[Purrrfect]

Is there any hard info here besides concept art and lore?

[Dragir]

Is there any hard info here besides concept art and lore?

I should say "Define hard info", but look at the OP/original post/post #1/etc and click on some of the links, particularly the Google Video Search. This one is one of my recent favorites among them, but the developers-interview found toward the bottom are pretty entertaining/informative. Aside from that, there's two trailers with some in-game alpha-stage footage at GuildWars2.com, and the "What We Know" link in the OP is actually a better "FAQ" than the one at the official web site.

it's going to look so god damn beautiful... and i must say, the quality of each of your posts dragir is quite good, especially considering that most people with <100 posts generally are unable to spell or link images or do anything except be retarded. well done sir.

Thanks. ArenaNet isn't doing the most brilliant job of marketing what I believe is going to be an amazing piece of software, both artistically and mechanically... unavoidably-stereotypical RPG story archetypes not withstanding. Although, I do kind of appreciate the 'classic' feel the story will have. Like Dragon Age, but with more imagination.

Maybe once they get into public beta, we'll start seeing more banner ads, poster boards, interviews, lengthier trailers, previews and reviews and so on. Until then, I feel like an unpaid one-man advertising agency. It's all passion, though, I promise you. I just appreciate what ArenaNet is doing with their subscription-less MMO model... and they're not exactly the slackers you normally expect to find behind a 'free' MMO. They really are doing their best and the communicate well with their fans and players. Something I sorely miss with Square.

Anyway... the post count? Yeah, I'm more of a lurker is all. Check the join date... but even with that, I've actually been reading BG since uh... early 2006? Maybe '05? Whenever people started migrating here to hide from KI. I just didn't create an account until much later (when it became necessary )

[Purrrfect]

I meant more like release plans/date ranges. I've had enough reading lore for games that are 1.5 years from coming out.

[Dragir]

I meant more like release plans/date ranges. I've had enough reading lore for games that are 1.5 years from coming out.

If you'd watched the somewhat brief video I linked there, and here, you'd know that they haven't announced a release date yet. I've mentioned a few times that the game is still in alpha. If all you think of as "hard info" is a release date, I can't do anything for you, because it's the only information that hasn't been released. Anything else that matters, and moreso in my opinion (I couldn't care less when it's released as long as it's done right, and well) is out there to be watched, read or heard.

[Purrrfect]

Oh yeah, I didn't mean an actual date. I know they won't have that kind of stuff down until the last minute. Just something like 2011 2nd half or something. I'll have to watch that video when I have some time at work tomorrow.

[Dragir]

Oh yeah, I didn't mean an actual date. I know they won't have that kind of stuff down until the last minute. Just something like 2011 2nd half or something. I'll have to watch that video when I have some time at work tomorrow.

Aha. Well, in that case, the projected "pessimistic" release date is 2011Q1. Odds are good we'll see a beta in 2010Q2/3 and it may possibly be finished and released by Christmas. Keeping my fingers crossed, anyway.

[Dragir]

ArenaNet releases third concept art video
by Rubi Bayer Mar 24th 2010 at 9:00AM

Watch in 720P

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively...ous-rb-323.jpg

ArenaNet has released the third of four slideshows of Guild Wars 2 concept art that was presented at GDC nearly two weeks ago, and all is not lovely and idyllic in the land of Tyria.

This newest video gives us a look at what are presumably Orrian undead, as well as a decaying ship and something huge brandishing a pair of severed heads. The video runs the full spectrum, however, and the architecture, armor art and newborn Sylvari scenes provide a beautiful contrast to some of the older areas. We enjoyed a peek at details of all five playable races, and art ranging from basic creature sketches to some fully fleshed-out areas that are beginning to look familiar to us.

The technical difficulties, now fixed, in part two gave us a renewed appreciation for the music and sound effects added in, and this round is just as impressive as the last two, and -- hey, wait a minute! what was that at the end? Follow along after the jump to see for yourself!


Comments

[Dragir]

ArenaNet Releases Fourth Guild Wars 2 Concept Art Video
by Rubi Bayer, posted Mar 26th 2010 at 11:00AM Comments

Watch in 720P


http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively.../rubigw580.jpg

The final Guild Wars 2 concept art slide show is finally out, and ArenaNet finished up with a bang. Monsters, armor, clothing and landscapes were the theme of this video with the camera panning across some truly breathtaking locations both above and below the sea and enough creature images to qualify as a bestiary. While the last video seemed to focus more on details, this one contains plenty of long, sweeping views that give us an overall view of areas that are becoming very familiar to us. The distinct look and feel of each of the five races has become more apparent with each round of art released, and it's fairly easy to identify what we're looking at in that respect.

While we know the focus is mainly on the art, we'd be amiss in not giving a nod to those who added the music and sound effects. These added a dimension to each slideshow that became very apparent during the brief technical difficulties of the second video. We -- and the Guild Wars community -- say thanks to the amazing talent behind the art, animations, video, and music given in these four slideshows.

Follow along after the jump to see for yourself. As with the last slide show, it couldn't hurt to watch all the way to the end. Just in case.

[Dragir]

Stop the Press! Guild Wars/ArenaNet Flyers Tease
by Malhavoc Adhamar, posted 22nd Mar 2010 11:36PM

http://www.guildwars.com/white_mantle/flyer.jpg

Flyers passed out at the Games Developers Conference by ArenaNet. What could this mean being this close to Guild Wars’ fifth birthday? …my Mal senses are tingling. Along with this I’ve also been hearing rumors of a content update in April, although I can’t seem to find anything to back this up. That said the rumors combined with this unexpected ad deployment suggest to me that we could well be in for a content update, maybe even a significant one.

What could this mean?

Judging from the sides and assuming ArenaNet are planing something epic for the fifth birthday this is what I’m going to speculate what that something might be:

The start of the revolution to overthrow the White Mantle and to reinstate the rightful Queen of Kryta.

Why do I say this? Because it’s a nifty way to start linking Guild Wars with Guild Wars 2 and since we’re all playing humans, it makes sense to reassert this conflict.

What might the speculative event entail?

There are two possible outcomes so I’ll start with my personal favorite: the week before the big day; a series of daily quests start from both a Shining Blade NPC and a White Mantle NPC, each getting to you spy, sabotage, raid and destroy its opposing faction. Then, on the Guild Wars' fifth birthday, there’s one last big mission. This last mission could either be a standard event mission within Lion's Arch or (my favorite) the introduction of an alliance battle based on the Shining Blade and White Mantle as they fight for power. There is also a quest for either side to kill x number of player characters in a game to get a new costume suit.

The other possible event could be just a standard event but with White Mantle and Shining Blade quest givers to hand out standard event quests and rewards. However, this is ArenaNet we’re talking about, so I’m going to lean towards the epic event rather than a standard, but well done, birthday event.

Will this actually happen?

I hope so. I’ll admit it’s probably far from the truth of what ArenaNet is planning, but either way I look forwards to seeing how this little ad campaign plays out and to the fifth birthday… has it really been five years of GW?...I feel old now.

Have fun,
Mal


http://www.guildwars.com/shining_blade/flyer.jpg

[Takiwaki]

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-gam.../elementalist/

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/part-one/

alot of new info