Guild Wars 2 Articles

[Morreion]

Guild Wars 2 official site

Guild Wars 2 (Wikipedia)

Guild Wars 2 is a fantasy MMORPG currently in development by ArenaNet, as a sequel to their episodic Guild Wars game series. It was announced in 2007 alongside the final Guild Wars expansion Eye of the North...

Guild Wars 2 will allow a player to create a character from five races and eight professions (the game's term for character classes). Professions are divided into three categories: scholars, who use light armor, adventurers, who use medium armor, and soldiers, who use heavy armor. As of April 2010, two professions, the elementalist and warrior, have been announced. The maximum character level has been increased also, however the developers emphasize they wish "to avoid forcing players into the grind-based gameplay that too often accompanies a high level cap." Two mechanics have been described which are intended to prevent this and allow players to play the game how they want; a sidekicking system, similar to that used in City of Heroes", will be introduced allowing high-level characters to transfer their powers to lower-level characters and entry to e-sport type PvP will grant access to all skills, items and provide a fixed level. In a departure from the high number skills present in Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will focus on quality of skills over quantity and will also reduce the overall number of game modes to reduce balancing complexity.

In PvE content Guild Wars 2 will use a persistent game-world but still utilize instanced content as a story telling device.[1] Instead of quests in this game-world, the persistent area will have a set of scenarios, or events, which dynamically occur depending on player actions in the area. These in-game events are designed to allow character of all levels to continuously interact with the game-world. Underwater areas are being added for players to explore and make up approximately half of the area available for players to explore. Earlier in development, a companion system was considered, but it was decided they didn't need it due to diversity of the professions and how they can work together. Items, such as weapons and armor, are intended to have a larger effect on PvE game play. A more elaborate crafting system and other non-combat interactions are also being added to the game.

PvP combat will also change from the original series. The popular guild vs. guild matches from the original series will continue to be available, but Guild Wars 2 will introduce large scale world vs. world matches in the in-game setting called the Mists. Players will be able to join this worldwide PvP battle in a variety of roles, with rewards commensurate with their success.

Guild Wars 2 : Combat: Weapons, Professions, and Races (MMORPG.com)

Kicking things off we are provided with the full list of weapon types available to players in Guild Wars 2:

One-Handed: Axe, dagger, mace, pistol, scepter, and sword.

Two-Handed: Greatsword, hammer, longbow, rifle, shortbow, and staff.

Offhand only: Focus, shield, torch, and warhorn.

Not all classes can wield all weapon types, and Eric also mentions that some classes will be able to dual wield one handed weapons, which is key due to the fact that as Eric mentioned yesterday, the weapons you wield will determine five out of the 10 skills at your character's disposal. In the case of a warrior dual wielding two one handed weapons (let's say an axe and a dagger) he would receive three skills from the weapon in his main hand and two from the weapon wielded in the off-hand.

Guild Wars 2: Exclusive Interview (MMORPG.com)

MMORPG.com:

In the Blog you mentioned non-combat activities for Guild Wars 2. Can you give an example of how these will impact players?

Eric Flannum - Lead Designer:

One of the major things we are doing is bringing back many of the activities that players loved from the first game. For example we had a lot of mini games like snowball arena, rollerbeetle racing, and nine rings. These were all activities that players could engage in no matter their level. In most MMOs players will pick certain cities and use those cities as social hubs. We recognize that this is the case and have decided to populate the major cities in the game with mini games similar to those found in Guild Wars. We call these games “activities” and they encompass everything from a bar brawl to a shooting gallery. It’s important for us to treat our major cities as social hubs where players of all levels can gather and have fun.

[Regolyth]

GW2 looks pretty awesome. I'm thinking of giving it a try.

[Morreion]

Guild Wars 2: Dynamic Events Interview (MMORPG.com)

In the Guild Wars 2 dynamic event system, an event will kick off in the world and players will see things in their environment – like smoke from a burning caravan - and hear NPCs shouting about what is happening. You’ll never have to read a big chunk of quest text to find out what’s going on; you’ll actively see and hear about it. Based on what happens in that event, the world will change and the event will chain out into other events that cascade across the map, creating a truly dynamic and ever-changing world.

Players can choose to participate in events that occur all over the map, which have a cascading cause-and-effect in the game world based on player participation and the outcome of the event chain. Events exist in a persistent world; they are content shared between all the players who choose to participate in them. They can even be triggered by actions the players take as they explore and play in the game.

Guild Wars 2 devs talk crafting, PvP (Massively)

"We're still designing many of the specifics but players should expect crafting to enhance their adventuring experience and not be a system that tries to replace it. What I mean when I say that is that crafting will not be something players can engage in as a career without ever going out and slaying monsters and being a hero. We think that systems that allow players to do that can be a lot of fun but just aren't right for what we're doing in GW2," said Flannum.

We’ve mentioned before that we’re taking some cues from first-person shooters with how we’ll handle PvP in GW2. This, specifically, means a few things:

‣ GW2’s PvP will use the same formats for both pick-up/random and tournament play. Gone are the days of different game modes for differing skill levels, so players can learn skills that are relevant in all levels of competition.

‣ Pick-up play is 100% hot-joinable. You can leave or join a game already in progress, and the game modes and types will be built to support this. This removes the catch-22 of groups disallowing newer players to join, when those same players can’t get better because they can’t find a group. Tournaments will also be supported, so arranged teams will be able to face off in a competitive setting.

‣ Since games are hot-join, we want to add support for micro-communities to have some control over the type of play environment they want, while in turn letting all players seek out the experience they enjoy. We’ll be releasing more details on how we’re doing this later this year.

ArenaNet's Ree Soesbee gives new details on personal story in Guild Wars 2 (Massively)

T

his all sounds great, but what does it have to do with the overall world story? Well, even your character's personality will have an effect on the world around you: "In order to develop your character's personality, the biography also has questions that are applicable to all races and classes. If you describe your character as intimidating and unfriendly, the reactions of NPCs will be different than if you choose to portray yourself as charming and kind. If you are simply making an alt character to see if you enjoy a class or race, you can choose 'random selection,' and these questions will be instantly filled out for you. But if you take a moment and answer, your character's story will be tailored to meet your interests, and match your vision of the person you have created within the world of Tyria."

The Fashion of Guild Wars 2: An Interview with Kristen Perry

Can you talk a little bit about how you’ve approached NPC and clothing design for Guild Wars 2?

Designing the clothing for a race is a lot of fun, particularly when you start at the beginning with a clean slate. One of the things I really like about GW2 is it gave us the opportunity to see the town inhabitants as a whole, rather than just an individual list of needed people (even though what I got was a list of needed people, heh heh). This allowed me to draw a block of designs at once and see them all together. Doing that gives insight into how the NPCs work as a crowd, spreading out interesting silhouettes and shapes that make them simultaneously a good backdrop for the players as well as appealing individually.

This is the first and most important step, as I’ll outright plan on designing by silhouette. There will be a shirt with short sleeves and another with long, one will be frilly while the other is tight, and even more mixing. The same line of thinking follows any pant or boot; all of their silhouettes must look appropriate for the culture but also have very different shapes for visual variety at any distance.

Once you start designing with that in mind, then focusing on the details and traits that are unique to the race culture will add to the overall world direction. As with any project, all these pieces need to work well together: environment, props, characters, etc. So for the humans, I needed to design in the vein of what, for example, Divinity’s Reach townsfolk might look like. What would a pauper in Divinity’s Reach look like? Or a noble? A merchant? They all have to fit their roles and fit well together.

[Morreion]

Guild Wars 2: Traits Overview (MMORPG.com)

Builds, something Guild Wars players should be quite familiar with, are returning in Guild Wars 2, however, this time players will have to take traits into account with their builds in addition to skills and attributes. You won’t be able to equip all the traits your class has access to, either, you’ll have to choose traits that complement the rest of your build, and with around 100 traits per class there should be a ton of diversity. Traits are structured in “Trait lines”, which are similar in nature to the attribute lines each class had in the original Guild Wars, and consist of both Major and Minor slots. Ben uses the Warrior class to illustrate an example; the Warrior (right now) has two General trait lines dubbed “Power” and “Tactics”, as well as a line for each weapon type he can wield, and you basically slot the appropriate Traits into these lines as you acquire them over time. Traits are flexible as well, as players can change our their traits free of charge anywhere in the game world as long as they are out of combat The original Guild Wars allowed players to switch their builds out in town for free as well, however, the additional freedoms allowed by being able to change builds anywhere in the game world are sure to be appreciated by fans.

Rounding things out, Ben uses the Warrior example again to show us what an example build would look like. Giving the build a bit of context, it is being designed to defeat a giant boar that is rampaging through the forest as part of one of Guild Wars 2’s dynamic events. To that end, Ben’s Warrior build consists of dual wielding swords and a Longbow in his second weapon set for kiting, the healing skill Healing Surge (restores both health and Adrenaline), the On My Mark elite shout skill (calls out a target and debuffs enemy armor), the amusingly named For Great Justice (ally Fury/Might Boon), Frenzy (boost to Adrenaline gain), and Battle Standard, which boosts allies with a number of powerful buffs.

Content Designer Matthew Medina Discusses the Alphabets of Guild Wars (Arena Net)

When you browse through the market stalls in Divinity’s Reach, all manner of signs and posters will be calling for your attention, and vendors such as the cloud candy stand and the potion maker will advertise their specials. As you delve deep into the ruins of Old Ascalon, you may find distressed runes that tell of heroic exploits of ages long past. In a grand laboratory within Rata Sum, you could come across notes about fiendishly difficult mathemagical formulae written by a crazed asura elementalist. You may even be the first to discover an ancient language that until now had been lost to history – will you be the one to translate it?

Guild Wars 2: Killing Time Without Killing (IGN)

One of the more exciting examples of the activities ArenaNet has planned is the bar brawl, which removes the player's weapon and pits them in a battle royale where the environment is the only thing that can give them an edge. Picking up a beer stein and smashing it over the head of another patron, for example, is an acceptable – even encouraged – course of action. As is chugging a beer and spewing its toxic contents, or waiting until the last moment to get the killing blow on a worn-down enemy. It's an activity that is far-flung from the tight, organized combat we can expect from the main game. "The nice thing about working on activities is that, where we want to, we can take the core mechanics and just toss them out," says Game Designer John Stumme.

Personality is another aspect being introduced. Previously known as diplomacy, in Guild Wars 2, it serves to establish the type of character you are playing. Over time, the way you respond to NPCs will categorize you as a certain personality archetype, and from there NPCs will act differently, and your actions towards them will change. The example we were given was the "badass" character who would use intimidation to obtain food or an experience buff from an NPC. A more honorable character might inspire the NPC to help, or talk them into it. The end result is the same, but the means are different. In that respect, personality is mostly cosmetic, but it aids players in getting into the spirit of their character. If role-playing is your thing, then personality is going to help you define and maintain your role.

To live and die in Tyria -- death, healing, and combat in Guild Wars 2 (Massively)

"Downed mode" is the first highlight in this new system, and one that makes a lot of sense. Think about it: If you've got an enemy at 10% HP, why is he still fighting and casting at full strength? If you're nearly dead, you should probably feel like you're nearly dead. So that's what's going to happen in Guild Wars 2: "Rather than being presented with immediate failure, when a player loses all of their health in Guild Wars 2, they are put into "downed mode." In this mode, the player has a number of downed skills they can use to target enemies and fight for a chance to survive."

What about healing? Well, first of all, stop calling it that: "Don't belittle the SUPPORT role by calling it heal. Healing is the least dynamic kind of support there is. It is reactive instead of proactive. Healing is for when you are already losing. In Guild Wars 2 we prefer that you support your allies before they take a beating." Think of the support role as a combined prot monk, paragon, and warder with a six-pack of Red Bull. The support roles will have damage increases, AoE heals (ground-targeted healing rain, specifically), armor buffs, and so much more. It's going to be a fascinating, coveted position with huge potential.

[url=http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/locations
-and-lore]The Changing Landscape of Tyria in Guild Wars 2 - An overview of Guild Wars 2 map locations and lore (Arena Net)[/url]

Silverpeaks

Once the home of the proud Deldrimor dwarves and the dasterdly Stone Summit dwarves, after the events of Eye of the North the norn were forced to flee into the southern Shiverpeaks due to the awakening of the elder dragon Jormag. Prior to these events, heroes in the original Prophecies campaign lead the refugees of Ascalon on a perilous journey across these mountains in hopes of reaching Kryta, eventually returning to the southern peaks to prepare for the final confrontation with the Lich and his army of Titans.

On the new map of Tyria, a number of key locations have been highlighted:

Durmand Priory - One of the three main orders players can join in Guild Wars 2, Durmand Priory is a monestary hidden in the Shiverpeaks which houses many volumes of information rescued from Lion's Arch. The monks of the monestary are a collection of fighter-scolars that come from multiple races, and seem to be likely candidates for those players interested in seeking out profession challenges to unlock new traits.

Frostgorge Sound - This area seems to be a large bay in what was formerly known as the Far Shiverpeaks. It is likely that the awakening of the elder dragon Jormag which forced the norn south plays a role in the creation of this massive new landmark.

Hoelbrak - After being driven south by Jormag, the norn established Hoelbrak, the largest of their settlements in the Northern Shiverpeaks.

Sorrow's Embrace - A key location in Guild Wars history, Sorrow's Embrace is in the former location of Sorrow's Furnace, the Stone Summit mine where the Tome of the Rubicon was thought to be forever buried beneath age old ruins. It's this tome that contained the true name of the Great Destroyer which, when spoken aloud would bring about the return of the elder dragons.

Vigil Keep - Vigil Keep was established by the Vigil, one of the various multi-racial orders which players can choose to join in Guild Wars 2. The Vigil consists of crusaders who believe that by facing and testing the powers of the elder dragon Zhaitan directly, one day such knowledge can eventually be used against it in battle.

Guild Wars 2: Interview with Game Designer Jeff Grubb (MMORPG.com)

Guild Wars 2 will have five playable character races, races previously introduced in Guild Wars 1 expansions, the Norn, the Charr, the Asura, the Sylvari and the humans. Game Designer and author Jeff Grubb was present at Comic Con to speak of the world and story of Guild Wars 2 and the new series of novels that are being published, based in the world of Guild Wars.

“The big differences are the new player races,” said Jeff, “as well as the persistent world.”

The main thrust of the Guild Wars 2 story, is that the Elder Dragons are waking up all over Tyria, and the coming together of the races to combat them. In the game, choices and events will have consequences. The cycle and chain of events will create a sense of growth in the story. There are two stories in Guild Wars, the story of events, and the story of you, the player. Your experiences are unique and as you make different choices, different opportunities will open up to you, playing out against the backdrop of the greater world events.

Guild Wars 2: Revealing the Ranger (MMORPG.com)

Ranger's pets are designed to help him adapt to his opponents strengths and weaknesses, and he can have up to three pets stored, however, only one may be active at a time. Similar to the original Guild Wars, Rangers charm their pets in the wild and bond with them, and the process is relatively simple. The must simply seek out a juvenile version of the animal they wish to charm, and get to it! Pet options will include bears, moas, devourers, and most interestingly of all, sharks (perhaps an Asura Ranger can mount frikkin’ lasers on their heads?)! Thankfully, a pet’s base health, armor, and damage will also scale along with the player, though there is no word on whether or not the pet will inherit stats from gear as well.

Spirits make a return to Rangers in Guild Wars 2 as well. Players will have access to a number of nature spirits that can be summoned to influence enemies or players in its immediate proximity. For example, the Sun Spirit grants allies within its range bonus fire damage to all their attacks. Spirits can be slain in battle and are short-lived, disappearing on their own after a brief duration or if the Ranger steps too far away from it.

[Morreion]

Progression and Leveling in Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet)

First off, we set the level cap for the game at 80, but we made the time between levels rather short. Instead of taking longer and longer to reach each level, it takes about the same time to go through each level. It’s pretty simple; if we expect you to level up every few hours, then why shouldn’t it be that way all through the game?

I'm looking forward to trying this interesting mechanic!

Overall, we expect our content to be the driving force behind how long it takes to do things in-game. Anyone can increase the length of an experience bar and call it content, but our world is filled with an almost endless stream of things to do. We expect content—not long, grindy progression—to be the deciding factor that keeps people playing our game

Video: James Phinney discusses Guild Wars 2 classes, events, and combat at Comic-Con (Massively)

Guild Wars 2 Elementalist Preview (Ten Ton Hammer)

Unlike the Warrior, the Elementalist will not be able to change weapons in combat. That will not prevent them from being able to switch skills, however. The first five skills on the Elementalist’s skillbar are determined by the weapon equipped along with which element the Elementalist is attuned to. Each elemental attunement changes the class drastically by providing bonuses based on the element along with skills from that element.

* Fire Magic: AoE damage is where Fire will shine the most, with the majority of the spells focusing on dealing damage to large groups of enemies. Attuning to Fire will burn any nearby enemies who attack you.
* Air Magic: Air Magic focuses on single target DPS in order to bring a single target down as fast as possible. Attuning to Air will deal damage to all nearby enemies.
* Water Magic: Control in the battlefield is important and that’s where Water shines. Water focuses on forms of control like snaring enemies and helping your allies. Attuning to Water will heal your nearby allies constantly.
* Earth Magic: Earth Magic is a lot like Water but more defense oriented. Earth contains a lot of stuns and attuning to Earth will drastically increase your defense.

Guild Wars 2: Downed Abilities (MMORPG.com)

The idea of Downed Skills that you can use before completely going under as a character is definitely exciting. How many times have you button mashed your final seconds away before seeing your bar go blank in other MMOs? The idea of downed skills lets you think about what you can do and have an option to come back. In terms of excitement, the idea seems to make combat much more exciting and allow for players to rally. Using specific abilities when your character is downed, you can possibly heal yourself back up and rejoin the fight. Not only do you have this option on your own, but other players can rally to your cause as well.

Personality in Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet)

In Guild Wars 2, we’re going even further to make the out-of-combat experience a role playing experience by introducing “personality” as a player character role. How you respond to other characters develops and changes your personality over time, letting you affect how the game treats you. Personality is your character’s attitude toward others; it grows and changes as you play through your personal story and as you adventure in the persistent world.

Will you play a charming friend to all with a quick tongue and sharp wit, a dignified visionary who puts loyalty first, or a thug who solves everything with his fists? Your biography at character creation sets your starting personality, but almost immediately you will start refining your choice in dialogue with NPCs.

For example, in the persistent world you may find a norn mercenary who likes your style and decides to follow you exclusively for a while, without charging his normal fee. Along the way, you might talk a farmer into parting with some strength-granting pies, or you may even meet a local dignitary who offers to double your experience gain or boost your speed for a short time. Personality rewards can be beneficial, prestigious, and even humorous—like the farmer who is willing to give you a jar of bees to throw at your enemies.

Interview GW2 - Univers Virtuels

UV: Environmental weapons sound awesome. You announced that some professions' mechanics have been built with those weapons in mind. How do you balance environmental weapons' spawn rate – considering the fact that some professions can create a few of them – so that any player in an area can have a chance to pick one up but not too easily, so we don't feel like we are always using them?

Eric: Environmental weapons bring new and cool skills to the player, on a temporary basis. As the name suggests, they are based on the environment, so we pretty much look at each environment and ask ourselves, “Would a branch fall from this tree so that the player can use it? What about a piece of rock at this particular location?” If so, we wonder what the player could do with it and if it brings interesting gameplay at this point of his adventure. Given that many of these environmental weapons are destructible, the player is quickly back to using his own weapons.

UV: You announced pretty early that you want a clear separation between PvE and PvP. On the other side, it is not possible to create a PvP-only character anymore. If this is understandable for unbalanced PvP – World versus World – won't it be a problem for rerolls in balanced PvP? If my party/guild needs an elementalist, how long will it take for me to create a new character and get access to balanced PvP?

Eric: It would be as easy as going through the character creation screens, ending up in the starting zone and then switching to the PvP mode. You would then need to equip your character and create your build by selecting skills and traits, an experience that Guild Wars players are already familiar with.

New ArenaNet blog post details dialogue in Guild Wars 2 (Massively)

...The GW2 dev team seems to be bypassing text almost entirely, and jumping straight to audio. A lot of audio. "We're voicing the equivalent of more than 60 feature-length films," says Bobby, and that's only the beginning.

Ambient sound will provide a rich background -- voices of passers-by, chirping crickets, gold changing hands in the market, just as you would hear a variety of sound as you walk around in real life, you'll hear it in Guild Wars 2. Pay close attention to what you're hearing as you move around, too. The people around you will often give you the chance to participate in an adventure, buy some useful items, or explore a new area.

[Regolyth]

Overall, we expect our content to be the driving force behind how long it takes to do things in-game. Anyone can increase the length of an experience bar and call it content, but our world is filled with an almost endless stream of things to do. We expect content—not long, grindy progression—to be the deciding factor that keeps people playing our game

This does not bode well for an OCD player like me (or a certain keen I know). We suffer from wanderlust, and must do everything possible within the game. It will just eat up all our time!

[Morreion]

I HOPE I become obsessed with GW2! I'm ready to be immersed in a virtual world once again!

[Morreion]

Guild Wars 2 Videos: Design Manifesto Video (5:43) (MMORPG.com)
ArenaNet outlines their goals for Guild Wars 2 in this latest video of epic proportions. Come for the visuals, information, and music, stay for the giant God of War 3 scale dragon of awesomeness at the end!

Good video!

Walking the Walk (ArenaNet)

You’ve seen footage of Divinity’s Reach, the last great human city. Now come experience it in person. It’s enormous and detailed, and full of amazing things to discover. This is where your human character’s home is located, and you’ll keep coming back to it as your personal story plays out.

Check out the scene in the video with giant hands reaching out from the ground creating a vortex of destruction. That’s an earth elemental, summoned by an enemy shaman as part of a multiplayer event near the start of the human story. You’ll probably fight it as a level 1 character. That’s quite a step up from killing ten rats!

That enormous steel structure in the video is called Steeleye Span. It’s a charr stronghold whose cannons hold the line against an army of corrupted dragon minions that rise up from the scorched earth in an area known as the Brand. Come play as a charr and man those cannons!

And watch out for the dragon, named The Shatterer. He’s a special rank of dragon that terrorizes the Brand. You’ll see him in the demo too.

This game will care that you're there: Our look at the Guild Wars 2 manifesto (Massively)

"We treat our environments as if they are characters themselves." Daniel Dociu's statement is backed by aerial shots of expansive environments that are incredibly detailed and invite exploration. They've got distinct personalities and history for you to discover, just as a human (or norn, or asura) character would. The care and detail put into every aspect of the game -- even the backgrounds -- are a large part of what makes Guild Wars 2 what it is.

While we're on the subject of background and detail, Daniel also commented on the overall look of Guild Wars 2, using the words "stylized" and "illustrated" to describe the design goals, but that doesn't mean we can expect to see a LOVE-style abstract world. On the contrary, what we've seen of Guild Wars 2 so far is a near-perfect blend of realism and beauty. Guild Wars 1 is widely acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful game worlds around, but the advances made since 2005 have allowed the artists to create something even better. The attention to detail creates something more realistic and attractive than much of what we've seen in any game until now.

GW2 Trailer Blows Minds But... (Keen & Graev's Gaming Blog)

Cool stuff mentioned, right? Who wouldn’t want all that in a MMO? Decisions from one player having lasting effects and all that diverse gameplay and all those events happening around you.

All of that is supposed to be happening in the… open… world? Nah. Arenanet does say right in their FAQ that they’re going to use “extensive instanced gameplay”. Where do you think everything in that trailer is going to take place?

The illusion is suddenly destroyed for me. I can get all of that great stuff in a singleplayer game or coop gameany time I want (see @necrorogicon). I play MMO’s to participate in a world that is shared simultaneously with other players — a virtual world. I play MMO’s to be in a world where the decisions of others change my gameplay experience. I play for the community and the interaction.

I don’t want to diminish how cool GW2 looks or Arenanets accomplishments. However, it’s time that we start seeing really cool stuff like this in the actual persistent world shared by everyone. It’s not fair to say all the things they said in that video and call it a MMO when it’s more like a single player experience. It’s just wrong.

Guild Wars 2: No Grind? Yes, Please!
In his latest column, MMORPG.com Community Manager Michael Bitton takes a look at Guild Wars 2 and how ArenaNet has decided to take away the 'been there, done that' feeling that many gamers are experiencing in today's MMOs. Find out what Mike thinks is it that Guild Wars 2 devs are bringing to the genre is exciting the worldwide MMO community.

ArenaNet recently revealed details on the game’s experience curve (or lack there-of), as well as plans for item progression. Guild Wars 2 will not feature a grind; instead, the leveling curve plateaus early on, Given the history of the original Guild Wars, it should come as little surprise to people that the game’s successor would not put a huge emphasis on leveling (players could level cap in the original in a matter of days, or even create max level characters for PvP), but ArenaNet revealed that Guild Wars 2 would be a full-fledged MMOG some time ago, unlike its predecessor, and this left the speed of progression a bit of a mystery.

Gamers should also be happy to know that they shouldn't expect a post-level cap bait-and-switch with Guild Wars 2, either. Not only will Guild Wars 2 feature a relatively flat leveling curve, but item progression has also been treated in a similar fashion. A post-level cap dungeon-grind won't be waiting for you to make up for the ease of leveling. If there is a dungeon with an item you want in it, you'll only have to do that dungeon a pre-determined finite amount of times to get what you want out of it. You won't spend three days hitting the level cap and then five years gearing up (figures used for sake of argument). Of course, this all based on what ArenaNet is saying, so whether you believe all this or not entirely rests on how much stock you put in their word.

PErsonal Story Overview (Guild Wars 2 site)

Tell Me a Little About Yourself…

A character's biography will influence their storyline immediately. Once you have created your character's race, class, and gender, you may choose your physical appearance - and there are a ton of options! From there, you are offered a chance to answer several detailed questions about your character's personality, history, and background.

Some of these questions are defined by earlier choices - a character's race, class, or heritage. An asura will be asked what college they attended (Synergetics, Dynamics or Statics), while a human will be asked to define their social background (Gentry, Commoner, or Streets). Other questions might establish that your character has sympathy for a particular lesser race. A charr would have little opportunity to meet the peace-loving quaggan, as quaggan are sea-creatures and Ascalon has no coastal territory. So, while the game may have stories that focus on the quaggan, skritt, ogres, hylek, and grawl, a charr character chooses between grawl, skritt and ogres. A sylvari character, coming from the coastal Maguuma jungle, instead chooses between hylek, skritt and quaggan. In this way, we've made certain choices distinct to each race.

In order to develop your character's personality, the biography also has questions that are applicable to all races and classes. If you describe your character as intimidating and unfriendly, the reactions of NPCs will be different than if you choose to portray yourself as charming and kind. If you are simply making an alt character to see if you enjoy a class or race, you can choose 'random selection,' and these questions will be instantly filled out for you. But if you take a moment and answer, your character's story will be tailored to meet your interests, and match your vision of the person you have created within the world of Tyria.

The Elder Dragons of Guild Wars 2 (Ten Ton Hammer)

For those brave Tyrian heroes that have been a part of the Guild Wars universe over the past five years, our abilities have been tested and pushed to their limits time and again. We fought against the Charr, the Unseen Ones, the crazed guard of a former emperor, a fallen god, and the “Destroyers” who are as mysterious as their name leads on. Each foe was more difficult than the last with far more influence than before, but relatively speaking the worst, as they say, is yet to come. Guild Wars 2 will introduce enemies who are so strong that their power rivals that of the six gods themselves. These beings of immense power are known as the “Elder Dragons” and will be the primary antagonist of the GW2 series.

Guild Wars 2: Heals for Everyone!
In the third installment of his Guild Wars 2 column, MMORPG.com writer Bill Murphy takes a look at health and healing in Guild Wars 2. Without the need for a dedicated healer, without having to stand around advertising for a healer to run an instance, the game is, according to developers, more fun and the healing wealth is spread among all character archetypes. Read all of Bill's thoughts about health and healing.

But rather than just let all classes then have healing abilities, the beauty of GW2’s proposed system (and I emphasize that word because we don’t know if they can pull it off just yet) is that it allows players to mix classes as they did in the original. One example the aforementioned developer blog gives is of an elementalist using an AOE healing rain that will rejuvenate all allies in a specific area. It’s not that there won’t be healing abilities, it’s just that the entire game is being designed from the outset with the notion that a singular class doesn’t need to be centered on the healing mechanic.

So instead each class will be given different ways in which to support their groups. Whether it be with an onslaught of pure damage to the enemies, or with some defensive and offensive boosts, or with controlling the foes with knockdowns, interrupts, blinds, and knockdowns everyone will have something to offer the party. And what’s probably more important is that combined with the downed abilities, every class will be able to revive team members on the battlefield. No more waiting around a town or city looking for someone who can keep you from running back to the battle from the nearest graveyard, and no more waiting or in some cases even paying someone for their ability to heal. Guild Wars 2 is aiming to take away a lot of the reasons we MMO gamers get annoyed with whatever game we play. And while it remains to be seen if they can pull it off, there’s certainly reason to be hopeful.

[Regolyth]

Holy crap! That video looks freaking awesome! I have chills now, wanting to play that. I really love the graphics and the art style. When the one artist talks about how the game has an "illustrated" and "hand crafted" style, that really gets me excited. I've always loved that art style, and have tried to recreate it in my own art.

I even love how the developers in the interview get into what they're saying. The seem really excited about their game, and determined to give something new, and out of the norm, to the MMO world. The first GW wasn't much of an MMO. In fact, it wasn't an MMO at all, but this one is shaping up to be awesome.

And that dragon at the end, the way he swooped down and slide across the ground?! Epic!

[Morreion]

Gamescom: Hands-On With Guild Wars 2 (IGN)

The farmland surrounding Divinity's Reach is full of dynamic events. As you first walk down to the farms, you may have someone run over to you, begging you to help slay an invading Broodmother. In the opposite direction, you can help a farmer save his watermelons from a pack of ravenous rabbits. Participating (and completing) these events have consequences. In the instance of the rabbits, you can now buy and eat the watermelons for a passive stat-buff, while the death of the Broodmother means the fisherman can now go back to work in the river. Some of these events lead into others, which can become a pretty long chain. You can stop whenever you want, of course, and other people can join in whenever they please. It was surprising how often some sort of event was within reach simply while running through the world.

Ranger (GW2 official site)

The ranger is a jack-of-all-trades and a master of them all as well, relying on his keen eye, steady hand, or the power of nature itself. A master of ranged combat, the ranger is capable of striking unwitting foes from a distance with his bow. With a stable of pets at his command, a ranger can adapt to his opponents' strengths and weaknesses.

A ranger is accompanied by his pet, a loyal animal companion. Rangers charm pets and then bond with them. A ranger can have up to three pets at his call, but generally speaking, only one pet can be active at any time. Pets' base health, armor, and damage are based on the level of the player that owns them.

Elementalist (GW2 official site)

The elementalist channels natural forces of destruction, making fire, air, earth, and water do her bidding. What the elementalist lacks in physical toughness, she makes up for in her ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack, dropping foes from a distance before they can become a threat. Yet, despite her incredible offensive potential, versatility is what makes the elementalist truly formidable.

Rather than swap weapons to adjust to new situations, the multi-faceted elementalist quickly adapts to new threats by attuning to different elements as needed. When the elementalist attunes to any of the four elements, she receives intrinsic bonuses that continually empower her.

Warrior (GW2 official site)

The warrior is a master of weapons who relies on speed, strength, toughness, and heavy armor to survive in battle. A warrior can shrug off blow after blow to stay in the fight, all the while building up adrenaline to fuel his offense.

Adrenaline makes the warrior more powerful, increasing his damage output with every attack while powering up his burst skill. Each weapon set has a single designated burst skill which a warrior can trigger by spending all his built-up adrenaline to unleash a powerful attack. The warrior can use his burst skill at any time, but the more adrenaline stages he has filled, the more devastating his attack will be. Some burst skills apply more and varying conditions while others simply do more damage.

Necromancer (GW2 official site)

A necromancer is a practitioner of the dark arts who summons the dead, wields the power of lost souls, and literally sucks the lifeblood of the enemy. A necromancer feeds on life force, which he can use to cheat death or bring allies back from the brink.

A necromancer feeds on death and decay. Life force is the energy that a necromancer uses to extend his own life. Using specific skills, a necromancer builds up life force by attacking and killing enemies. Rather than going into a downed state when he runs out of health, a necromancer automatically activates the Death Shroud ability. A necromancer can continue fighting in the ghostly Death Shroud form until he either runs out of life force or he gets a kill, rallying back into his own corpse.

Video: Creating Guild Wars 2 Cinematics (GW2 official site)


Video: Exclusive First Look at Human Necromancer Gameplay in Guild Wars 2 (Ten Ton Hammer)


Exclusive Video Interview with Guild Wars 2's Eric Flannum (Ten Ton Hammer)


Dancing With Destiny - A First Look at Guild Wars 2 (Ten Ton Hammer)

At this point I believe it’s safe to say that ArenaNet has gone far beyond simply giving us a Tyria with updated graphics and a few basic gimmicks, but rather has crafted an overall MMO experience that has some serious potential to become the new king of the industry hill. The gameplay is incredibly fluid and easy to pick up from the word go, yet the deceptively simple skill bar also adds a layer of complexity and depth that will no doubt put the heated debates about personal and team builds in the original campaigns to shame.

Thoughts on Guild Wars 2 Energy (Kill Ten Rats)

In Guild Wars 2, energy is now a long term resource for paying off a skill’s energy cost. Instead of setting a tempo for a single encounter like in Guild Wars, energy will set a duration of active play. Tempo is still important because a more frenetic encounter will shorten the duration of active play more than a calm, surgical strike on a mob, but it’s possible that a player’s energy could handle multiple spamfests of skills before expiring.

Flameseeker Chronicles: Back to (the other) basics (Massively)

Will Guild Wars 2 have subscriptions, or will it be free-to-play?

The short answer is "neither." Guild Wars had an unusual business model that has worked very well for the past five years, and ArenaNet will be using the same model for Guild Wars 2. You will purchase the game, then that's it. No subscription fees, no game time cards, no paying to unlock premium content, nothing like that -- your purchase of the game gets you full access to everything. Any future expansions will work the same way.

There will almost certainly be microtransactions, but we don't know what they will be. So far in Guild Wars, ArenaNet has restricted store items to "fluff" content: permanent access to extra storage, cosmetic items like costumes and makeovers, and shortcuts like skill unlock packs. Those items could be considered a preview of the direction microtransactions will take in Guild Wars 2, but again, there is no official word from Arenanet.