Guild Wars 2 Articles

[Morreion]

I agree, I'm really getting excited about this game- particularly how it seems like DAoC RvR open world PvP looks to be making a comeback!

[Jaema]

Those videos were fun to watch. Love seeing the character creation one but made me want to sit down tonight for an hour and make mine

[dortmunder]

Sign ups started today.

Go!

beta.guildwars2.com/

[Morreion]

Flameseeker Chronicles: ArenaNet talks PvE vs. PvP (Massively)

For example, one of the first major decisions was eliminating the concept of dedicated PvP characters from the game, deciding instead on a system where you took the same character into each of the different game types (PvP,PvE,WvW) and your character changed to suit the game type as they needed to. So in PvP all characters can be set to the same power level and have access to the set of skills we designate for PvP while still being the same character you play in PvE.

Guild Wars 2: Top Nine Skill Combos (IGN)
The developers reveal their favorites.

Smoke Screen + Stomp = Cloaks for Everyone!
Professions: Thief, Warrior
"This is one of my favorite combos. You take a thief, who uses his/her Smoke Screen skill to create a smoke field. Then a warrior comes along and blasts the smoke with a Stomp, adding Stealth to nearby allies by cloaking them in gloom. It's a very cool effect, and it comes in handy in combat."
-Ben Miller, Game Designer

The Savage Pride of the Jotun (ArenaNet)

The jotun (pronounced JŌ-tun) are the last remnants of an ancient society of giants. Once powerful, advanced, and arrogant, they proclaimed themselves rulers of the Shiverpeak Mountains and raised great monuments to themselves on the highest peaks. Their leaders, known as giant-kings, were tremendously powerful beings, as skilled in feats of strength as they were in magic and lore.

Amazon.de begins Guild Wars 2 preorders, claims June 30th launch date (Massively)

"We have not released an official launch date within 2012 as feedback from our closed and open marketing betas will help us determine an exact release date. We will release Guild Wars 2 when it is ready."

A sneak peek at Guild Wars 2's PvP Scholar armor [Updated] (Massively)

In fact, if fancy armor gets your motor running, Guild Wars Insider has a treat for you: two pictures of Guild Wars 2's PvP Scholar armor set modeled by a majestic Norn Elementalist. While the armor may not maximize skin coverage, the detail and design is certainly fetching.

Fans share their anticipation for Guild Wars 2 (Massively)

A world as beautiful as the one ArenaNet is making with Guild Wars 2 just begs to be explored. Since fans can't quite do that yet, they're doing the next best thing and making trailers to show the world how ready they are to hop back into the world of Tyria.

Guild Wars 2 console version confirmed (Massively)

"In March and April there will be large-scale testing for GW2; depending on results of testing a finalized commercialization schedule will be determined. [The] console version will be launched separately from [the] PC [version] at a later date," the fan site reports.

A closer look at Guild Wars 2 world vs. world PvP (Massively)

Each WvW arena is made up of four huge maps. Each map is capable of holding more than 100 players from each of three factions (servers), which means that upwards of 1,200 concurrent players will be able to get in on the large-scale action. The beauty of having three teams duking it out is that things tend to balance themselves out naturally. If one team goes beast-mode and starts making life miserable for everybody, the other two teams can naturally gang up to fight against the first.

Mike Ferguson on Guild Wars 2 World vs. World (ArenaNet)

For instance, you might help a group of ogres protect their camp against constant harpy assaults. In return, your new ogre allies will go rampaging toward the nearest enemy objective or send out patrols to help you hold on to your territory. These factions won’t fight for you indefinitely, but they can help turn the tide of battle, so you’d be wise to recruit their aid whenever possible!

GW2 WvWvW Explained (Keen & Graev)

A PvP system like this emphasizes the whole realm and removes the focus off of the individual and even off of the guild. Guilds still benefit the server through their organization, but I can be in a guild of 5 friends and jump into WvWvW to contribute 100% as much as the next person. Since the maps are “absolutely gigantic”, players can spread out and stratigize movement, smaller groups can avoid zergs, and a real battlefield experience can be had.

ArenaNet is giving me everything I want in PvP. I don’t even care about their PvE game anymore. I haven’t even read up on any sort of PvP progression (is there one?). With no subscription fee, playing GW2 has become a no-brainer. With this type of PvP and no subscription fee… it almost feels wrong.

Beta Development Update (ArenaNet)

Another recent development for Guild Wars 2 has been the implementation of hidden areas with interesting challenges. Our amazing environment artists have carved out a variety of caves, cliffs, and structures in the world. We’ve been stretching our imaginations to fill these spaces with content that should provide an exciting change of pace. Some areas will test your platforming abilities, requiring you to make a series of difficult jumps before you find your treasure at the end, while others contain dangerous foes that will stop at nothing to see you dead.

Queue no more thanks to Guild Wars 2's overflow servers (Massively)

When there's too much traffic on one server, your character will be temporarily sent to a different server. Once you've reached the front of the queue, you'll be asked if you want to transfer back to your original server, and voila: home, sweet home. Any progress made on the overflow server will be carried back to the home server, so you can even be productive while you're waiting in a queue.

Guild Wars 2 Press Beta Impressions - Part 1 (Ten Ton Hammer)

As you’re out adventuring, defeated enemies have a chance to drop seeds that you can take back to an NPC in your character’s personal instance. The seeds take a little time to grow, so you’re given a ticket that you can take back and exchange for a random dye on the following day. Once you do, the new dye will be placed in your inventory so that you can either double-click it to add to your personal collection, mail it to your friends, or even place it on the market to sell to other players.

Flameseeker Chronicles Extra: Guild Wars 2 crafting explained (Massively)

As you advance in crafting XP, new basic recipes will unlock, so you'll always have at least a vague idea of what you can be doing at any level. You'll see at 3:05 that I had enough XP to see a new tier of inscriptions to craft. Although I couldn't actually craft those things yet (red item names indicates that you're close to unlocking something but aren't quite there), I could see what was waiting for me if I gained just a bit more XP. That said, I think the system might get tricky as you progress -- at lower levels, just crafting stuff straight from the recipes works pretty well, but I think it might get frustrating to try to figure out whether you need the super mighty inscription or the awesome mighty inscription and whether those will work equally with weapons of a certain type or what. I guess for some people that's the joy of the discovery process; for me, I may resort to the inevitable wiki page sooner rather than later.

ArenaNet announces 48-hour beta signup for Guild Wars 2 (Massively)

Guild Wars 2 beta signups peaked at 4,000 a minute [Updated] (Massively)

During peak periods of the signup, the company recorded more than 4,000 signups a minute. That seems to be a huge testament to players' anticipation of the upcoming MMO -- as if the feat of achieving 1,000,000 tester signups in just under 50 hours weren't cool enough.

Guild Wars 2 General Article: Ascalon Catacombs Dungeon Experience (MMORPG.com)
During this past weekend's limited press closed beta, we had the chance to check out one of the dungeons players will have the opportunity to play through. Check out what we thought of the Ascalon Catacombs and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Though the puzzles we experienced in this dungeon were basic pressure sensitive floor tiles, they did require teamwork and communication. In fact, the entire dungeon promoted heavy teamwork. We would have died several more times if we had not done so. When a player was downed, we had to make lightning fast decisions on who was going to work on reviving, and who was going to try and keep the enemies attention, and how to keep it long enough to revive the player.

GW2 WvWvW Population Cap and Home Servers (Keen & Graev)

Update: I’ve been thinking more on the subject of limiting numbers and it occurred to me that forcing “even” numbers makes sieges much more difficult. All things equal, even numbers favors defenders. What’s worse is 100 defenders, 100 attackers, and 100 other people screwing with the attackers. It happened all the time in DAOC. The way the attackers won was either through skill or more people.

Update #2: 100 vs. 100 vs. 100 per MAP confirmed. There are 4 maps (3 borderlands, 1 central) so a total of 400 players from your server at a time in the Mists.

Mike Ferguson Takes Your WvW Questions Here and on Reddit (ArenaNet)

Every team has one permanent waypoint in each map, located next to the asura gates that lead to other maps (see below). Every keep in WvW can be upgraded to gain additional waypoints for your team.

Flameseeker Chronicles: I hope you like PvE stuff (Massively)

I was going through the early level Norn story with another player, which shouldn't be surprising given how much I've emphasized my appreciation for group play in this game, and we both just so happened to need to talk to Beigarth the Smith in Hoelbrak to kick off our personal stories. After a short but vicious fight about who got to advance the storyline first, my buddy queued up his instance. Imagine my surprise when, at the end of his conversation with Beigarth, I was given an option to either save this progress as my own or redo it. I chose to accept it, and just to see how far that went, we spent the next nine levels' worth of personal story accepting each other's progress.

Guild Wars 2: Casting Aside Convention (IGN)
ArenaNet's MMO blends complexity and accessibility in all the right ways.

...you have a limited number of skill slots. On the left half of the skill bar, five slots are dedicated to weapon-based skills. Five more on the right are dedicated to a huge range of unlockable skills you can purchase as you level. Dedicated healing abilities can be assigned only to one slot on the right, so you have to choose one and only one at a time. Other unlocked skills can be fitted into the rest of the right side skill bar, but the skills eligible for slots are rigidly defined – you can't, for example, wipe a healing skill off the bar entirely to make room for something else.

Competitive Combat in Guild Wars 2 (IGN)
ArenaNet's MMO provides plenty of options to beat up others.

WvW combat is much more sophisticated than the Conquest arenas, though, and will actually serve as a means of progressing. You can earn items and experience by participating. To begin, you jump into a huge map covered with castles and caves and hill, many of which can be captured for your team. Your team just so happens to represent your server, and any success in the field is converted into a server-wide bonus that benefits your crafting, experience gain and a whole lot more. In other words, there is plenty of incentive to bypass your standard questing and jump into the bigger PvP game.

[Morreion]

Guild Wars 2 pre-purchase details announced (Massively)

From April 10th onward, pre-purchasers of any of the editions (Collector's, Digital Deluxe, or Standard) will be guaranteed access into beta weekend events and a three-day head start for launch, which is awesome if you want to reserve a cool name so you're not stuck with being xLegolasXx. An additional benefit to any pre-purchase is the somewhat mysterious Hero's Band, which will apparently give characters a variety of power boosts to speed them on their way.

ArenaNet thanks potential beta testers with new Guild Wars 2 video (Massively)

With that in mind, the fine ladies and gentlemen at ArenaNet have released a brand-new video featuring exclusive footage to show their appreciation for the overwhelming interest in GW2. Any players interested in watching the full video will have to go to the title's Facebook page and Like it before being given access to the short trailer...

Custom-tailor your character with Guild Wars 2's traits and attributes (Massively)

Players who have been following GW2 up until this point may already be familiar with the game's four primary attributes: power, vitality, precision, and toughness. But the team decided that four wasn't quite good enough, so five more attributes were thrown into the mix. While these five new attributes (three for offense, two for support) offer new and exciting ways to customize your playstyle, the catch is that players can only gain points in these attributes through trait lines or gear. Each profession also gets a profession-specific attribute. For instance, Rangers get the empathy attribute, which increases the attributes of the hunter's pet.

Guild Wars 2 Previews: The Guardian Preview (MMORPG.com)
During the recent beta weekend event, we spent some time with each of the Guild Wars 2 professions. Today we take a look at the Guardian and offer you some of our impressions. Check it out!

Special Skill Types

Spirit Weapons—The guardian can summon spirit weapons to fight at his side for a limited time. Spirit weapons cannot be attacked by enemies and can be commanded to inflict a powerful attack before disappearing. For example, Hammer of Wisdom can be summoned to fight alongside a guardian, then commanded to knock down an enemy and vanish.
Symbols—The guardian places symbols on the ground, where they inflict damage to enemies or deliver a benefit to allies. Symbols persist for a few seconds and then go away. For instance, Symbol of Faith is a hammer attack that leaves a transient symbol on the ground, giving allies the Vigor boon.
Wards—A ward is a marked area on the ground that stops enemies from passing through while allowing allies to move freely. For example, a staff-wielding guardian can create a Line of Warding in front of him that keeps enemies from reaching the allies behind him.
Aegis—Guardians are adept in the use of Aegis, a removable boon that blocks the next attack. Guardians have access to this boon through the virtue of Courage.

A Primer on MMO Inflation (Reddit)

To alleviate the gold inflation from item selling, GW2 encourages salvaging. Salvaging breaks down items into their component parts, and those parts can then be consumed while crafting. This allows Arenanet to sink gold into craft-leveling without charging oppressive transaction fees. Most of the items that come out at the end of crafting will not be worth the sum of crafting components added to them, but will pay off in the long-term when more unique and cosmetically gorgeous recipes are available at the end of the game.

The Sky Is Falling! Traits Are Here! (GW2 Guru)

3. Isn’t this just restricting my play experience?

It depends if you are a half-full or half-empty sort of person. This system draws parallels with Guild Wars 1 where you had to return back to town to change your skills and attributes, it is also (again) about placing importance on traits and encouraging individuals to think about their character and their builds in their entirety rather than on a situational basis. Your primary class flexibility whilst out in the field comes from swopping weapons and skills freely. Don’t forget, The Mists also grant you a perfect opportunity to experiment at your own leisure free of charge, complete with training area.

An Interview With Guild Wars 2's Jon Peters (ZAM)
We sat down with Guild Wars 2's Jon Peters to talk about competitive PvP, combat, and GW2's eSports aspirations!

In Conquest, capture points are just our way of getting players to fight. It prevents turtling and gives new players a very easy way to help their team. See a point you don't own? Go to it. Are people attacking a point you do own? Go to it. It also gives us a nice set of layers to observe. The first thing is the score. Anyone can look at the score and know who is winning by who has a higher score. Then after that they can look at the state of the objectives and start to understand that next layer. After that they can start to look at player positioning and builds and get into the real nitty-gritty strategy. If you compare this to something like football, score is their first layer. Field position and down is their next layer, and offensive and defensive formations is their 3rd layer.

Imagine All the People: An Interview With ArenaNet Writer Angel Leigh McCoy (The Border House)

Creating a fantasy society is similar to building a house. You start with land. You have to know the world in which society lives. What’s it like physically? (Jungle, dangerous, etc.) Once you know that, you can build a firm foundation for the house. You decide the basic nature of the race, the most broadly sweeping elements that all members of the society share and that inform all later decisions about what will go into making the house. (Plant people, born from a mystical process.)

With the foundation built and reinforced as needed, you then turn to the walls and roof. You build boundaries on your society, put in windows and decide which rooms have none. You put in doors, thresholds of ingress to and exit from the society. Are they welcoming at all? Do they have secrets? What organizations occupy the rooms? Do they let only certain types of people in through the front door? Do they let anyone—or no one—leave? (Honorable, curious, brave, anti-dragon, gregarious, etc.)

One Pixel Among Many: An Interview with Angel McCoy, Part 2 (The Border House)

I want what all of us at ArenaNet wants: to produce a game that people love. That’s no small thing. But, there’s more. I also want Guild Wars 2 to be seen as the innovation that pulled gaming out of the Dark Ages. When future gamers look back on the Guild Wars 2 era, I want them to be able to say that this game changed how people play, how they interact with each other, and how all subsequent games approached game design. I want Guild Wars 2 to set an example and raise the bar so high that other game companies have to really stretch outside their comfort zone to awesome new levels of intelligent gaming. I want Guild Wars 2 to show people how damn much fun a living world like Tyria can be to explore, with all its quirky, evil, tragic, tender, and likeable characters.

[Morreion]

Flameseeker Chronicles: Quest education (Massively)

An informative article about the different types of questing:

Hearts work on a very standard completion bar. You start with your progress bar empty, and as you do tasks, it fills up. There are typically several ways to make progress. If you're in Wayfarer foothills helping out near the Bear shrine, for example, you can disable bear traps, feed little baby bears (and then they make hearts at you and it's so sweeeet), or kill Sons of Svanir; while in the human area of Queensdale, you can help a monastery out by ridding its garden of grubs, taste-testing ale, keeping bandits from stealing ale kegs, or fighting off centaurs. As you can see, not all objectives are combat-based, and this system allows you to participate in as many or as few viable ways as you like. I refuse to honor the Snow Leopard shrine in any way except by petting baby snow leopards and making them purr!

Building Community (ArenaNet)

Official forums!

Let me point out the two biggest changes in the ways we interact with our communities between the original Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 right up front: we will have official forums, and we will not have a traditional fansite program.

ArenaNet confirms Guild Wars 2 beta invites are in progress (Massively)

"Yes, beta invitations have begun going out. They'll be sent out over the next few days. Please remember that discussing the beta in any way, shape, or form -- including your status in it -- is a breach of NDA. Don't risk your beta access!"

Flameseeker Chronicles: Setting up for success (Massively)

I do have one caveat regarding the failure of defensive events. During the beta weekend, I was pleased to note that one of the soul-crushing elements of escort tasks has been removed, at least from the escort-type events that I experienced. That element was that of event failure upon subject death. I had to escort a caravan to Claypool, and along the way, an unlucky aggro spawn led to the NPCs' being overhwhelmed; my fellow players and I survived, but the caravan and its escort were killed. I was just getting nicely bitter about the wasted time when I noticed that I had the option to revive all the NPCs and continue along my way. Since we don't have a taunt mechanic to make sure that NPCs aren't the target of enemy aggro, I'm hoping that this mechanic is held out throughout the game.

Sounds too easy to me...easier PvE is a long-term MMO trend :/

The Evolution of Narrative in Personal Story (ArenaNet)

When you’re playing through the game, you’re going to see an amazing open world with plenty to do, but you also get to play through the equivalent of a full-fledged single-player RPG into which you can bring friends in order to experience it together. And the diversity of gameplay you experience in these storylines is truly varied. Whether you’re chasing a mystical creature through an undead-infested swamp, going undercover as a pirate and competing in a bawdy drinking contest, playing a bit of tower defense with turrets and troops against an onslaught of invading ghosts, sneaking through a city at night, or leading a huge army against an overwhelming foe, you’re going to find a lot to enjoy as you experience your character’s own personal story.

ArenaNet expands on microtransactions in Guild Wars 2 (Massively)

"If you want something, whether it's an in-game item or a microtransaction, you ultimately have two ways to get it: you can play to earn gold or you can use money to buy gems. We think that's important, because it lets more players participate on a level playing field, whether they use their free time or their disposable income to do it."

The Soapbox: The hidden perils of Guild Wars 2's microtransactions (Massively)

A solid essay on GW2's cash shop system, which Runes of Magic had:

The ArenaNet post about microtransactions in Guild Wars 2 reveals that the "gems" currency will be bought with real money and be available for purchase with in-game gold in GW2. But people seem to have forgetten that Runes of Magic's cash shop operated this way three years ago. I've been playing RoM since closed beta, and the cash shop is one of the reasons RoM is so different from other F2P MMOs of its era.

Frogster eventually removed the ability to buy diamonds with gold because of fraud, so I'm curious to see how ArenaNet handles that issue. My time in RoM has shown me that there are other issues involved here, issues of security, players gaming the system, botting, and pay-to-win debates. In other words, there's more at stake here than whether cash shops sell gear or items toward gaining power.

Cash Shop Items Leak (GW2 Guru Forums)

Images from GW2's beta cash shop, check them all out!

[Morreion]

Beta Impressions - Your First Steps in Tyria (GW2Hub)

A good portion of your available skills in Guild Wars 2 – regardless of which profession you choose to play – will be linked directly to which weapons you equip. When you first enter the game, you’ll have one of the available main hand weapons for your profession equipped, and upon completion of the tutorial you’ll be awarded your choice of off-hand weapons.

An outsider's look inside Guild Wars 2 (Massively)

Jef Reahard- diehard sandbox fan- checks out GW2:

I should mention Guild War's 2 UI presentation here. Wow! would be one reaction. Holy crap, that's pretty! would be another, and even though I'm one of those guys who likes to drag, resize, and manipulate every aspect of an MMO interface, I didn't much care that I couldn't due to the drop-dead gorgeous art direction (and the logical placement of all the essentials). The aforementioned text chat is easily the most visually pleasing I've ever seen in an MMORPG; the windows appear and disappear with subtle animations capped off by brush-stroke buttons that give the whole enterprise a certain classical feel that's hard to describe and easy to love.

Breaking down Guild Wars 2's character creator (Massively)

I always love a good, in-depth character creation system, as there's a joy in spending a good amount of time making exactly the sort of character you want to play. Unfortunately, most MMOs have stripped this process down to the bare basics, which is why I'm pleased to announce that it's actually a mini-journey in and of itself in Guild Wars 2.

A look at Guild Wars 2's world vs. world PvP (Massively)

I would have to say, however, that the absolute best part of my time in WvW was being involved in a fortress siege. Madness! Sweet, glorious havoc! Catapults fired everywhere while castle defenders rained hell from the battlements and the infantry of both sides duked it out in front of the keep's gates. It was one of the most intense, edge-of-my-seat experiences I've had in quite some time, and I absolutely can't wait to do it again.

Guild Wars 2: For glory! (Massively)

Dungeons are supposed to be some of the more challenging content in the game; they're not things you're supposed to be able to stumble through haphazardly. To this end, they're not actually needed for personal story progression, leaving the developers with the freedom to make the content tricky without necessarily worrying about making sure that even the most unskilled of nooblets can blunder through with a bit of luck. That said, the story mode of this dungeon is relatively forgiving. You might find yourself finishing the dungeon naked or on gear drops that you happened to find as loot to replaced your own broken pieces, but you are likely to finish it if you and your teammates go in knowing how to use your professions with moderate intelligence (which, by by the time you start encountering dungeons 30 levels into the game, you really should). I've been in teams that struggled with encounters here and there, but only one group that ended up throwing in the towel, and that had more to do with our unfortunate choice to start the dungeon just before lunchtime than anything else. Beta weekends are hungry, hungry business.

Flameseeker Chronicles: Life in the legions (Massively)

The Iron Legion plays home to the engineers and inventors who drive the innovation of the Charr warmachine, and as a shining example of that lot, your Iron Legion character has evidently been devising new anti-ghost weaponry in his or her spare time. When you first meet with Goreblade, your Tribune, after the defense tutorial, he mentions that Iron Legion is looking for a way to end the ghost problem -- and you volunteer your invention-in-making, the Ghostbore Musket. In recognition of your potential brilliance, Goreblade promotes you to acting legionnaire and tells you to get cracking on it. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, you bound off to retrieve your plans -- but wait, what are all those Flame Legion scallywags doing in your barracks? Dozens of them are pawing through your stuff, and you and Clawspur fight wildly to protect your weapon plans. After securing the plans and routing all the infiltrators, you push on toward your goal and head to the scrapyard to salvage some parts. There, you're bothered once again by Flame Legion and once again refuse to be deterred from the creation and testing of your weapon. Luccia Wildeye, who apparently has the early shift at the scrapyard, proves herself useful enough that you ask her to join your crew. She can whip up a fierce cannon on demand, evidently, and such talents might be useful. The moment of truth draws nigh: It's time to test out your invention!

Dynamic Events and the Shadow Behemoth (GW2Hub)

On one character I mainly went around stomping on wurm mounds and collected a reward of XP, karma, and some copper for my efforts. On another run through a lot more players were around, and the fields were under attack by bandits who were attempting to burn everything in sight. On yet another run through, a massive wurm had erupted out of the ground and it took the few dozen players in the area to defeat it, with quite a few of us taking a nasty dirt nap in the process.

Mike O’Brien on Microtransactions in Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet)

Here’s our philosophy on microtransactions: We think players should have the opportunity to spend money on items that provide visual distinction and offer more ways to express themselves. They should also be able to spend money on account services and on time-saving convenience items. But it’s never OK for players to buy a game and not be able to enjoy what they paid for without additional purchases, and it’s never OK for players who spend money to have an unfair advantage over players who spend time.

Why Microtransactions are a Good Thing for GW2 (GW2Hub)

Any efforts on the developer's part to keep the third-party RMT market from ruining the experience for gamers is a good thing in my book. While gems will naturally work a bit differently than PLEX since there are not subscription fees for GW2, I still think this is a step in the right direction for the industry in general.

Rumor: GW2 Cash Shop could be a deal breaker (Keen & Graev)

Takeaways for those who want the short version.

*ArenaNet’s “time-saving convenience items” turned out to be a iffy like I suspected in my post a few days ago.
*Boosts to things like rare item finding and exp, random item bags, keys that unlock chests we have no idea about offer minor bonuses to people who cash shop it up. Undecided if it’s game-changing enough to be bad.
*Cash shops like this are usually only the beginning of something more sinister.
*Cash shops that alter gameplay inherently alter game design. Watch for it.
*Speak up now or never, even if it’s overreacting or jumping-the-gun. Now’s the chance to make a change -before- launch when it becomes too late.

ArenaNet president talks microtransactions and the risks of going subscription-free (PCGamer)

“Microtransactions should unite communities. It shouldn’t be the case that there is a group of players in the game that I would really like to hang out with, but they’ve decided that anybody who hangs out with them needs to spend 30 hours a week playing the game. We’ve taken a one-two punch as far as our philosophy goes. Punch number one is that Guild Wars is not that kind of game anyway – Guild Wars is not a grindy game, and Guild Wars is not a game where your success is dependant on whether you have the right gear.”

"Punch number two is that there’s now an equivalence between time and money. If I’m a player who can play the game a lot and there’s something I want, I don’t need to pay for it. If I’m a player who can’t play the game a lot, but I want things in the game also, I can spend money on microtransactions."



The comments on this post have turned into a debate over whether GW2 is going down the wrong path with their F2P implementation.

Comment:

Cash shop yes. Cash shop like a F2P game? Sorry, but if they want to act like a F2P game, drop the $60, minimum, price tag and go F2P.

Was really disappointing to see the screenshots yesterday on GW Guru of all the things to bypass the game.

You can't say since gear is purchasable with Karma you can't buy gear since you can buy Karma boosters to effectively help pay for gear with RL money. If you want more than 1 set, using enough boosts will eventually pay for a set with RL money.

I don't know, why pay money for a game that sells ways to skip the game for more money?

[Morreion]

Beta Preview: Hands-On with the Ranger (GW2Hub)

Where I felt the ranger truly shines, however, is when you equip a sword in your main hand. Suddenly what might have simply been a ho-hum ranged attacker becomes an acrobatic whirlwind of pure fun. All three sword skills not only have some of the coolest combat animations in the game, but are interesting for other reasons as well...

Flameseeker Chronicles: What's your golden carrot? (Massively)

For the explorers among us, the game tracks points of interest in the same way that it tracks how many of a map's hearts have been completed or waypoints unlocked. Coming across something that the designers have deemed a point of interest will mark the area on your world and minimaps with a label of what it is; these are things like the sunken Temple of Ages in the Godslost Swamp and a little place called Mock's Niche in the Plains of Ashford. Some of them are exceptionally beautiful, some have a skill point associated with them, and some are simply located in and around hotbeds of activity.

Jordan Massey on the Role of the Squad in WvW (ArenaNet)

Squads are our solution to some of the communication difficulty we experienced early on in WvW. Good communication is an inextricable part of excelling on the battlefield, and our existing channels weren’t quite meeting our needs. Team chat was too large because everyone in the entire map could talk in it, resulting in too much noise. On the other hand, parties—which are capped at five members—were too small. In order to bridge that gap, we designed the squad system, which allows communication on a larger scale than parties, but in a much more focused manner than team chat.

Stances on the GW2 Cash Shop and Pre-order Q’s (Keen & Graev)

The Slippery Slope

This is my position. I have no idea if the GW2 cash shop is going to ruin the game because it’s too early. I think it’s currently in the ‘gateway drug’ phase of cash shops, though, and could at any time introduce much worse. I’ve seen the pattern and I know how the picture unfolds. It can lead to a ruined game (LotRO) We shall see what happens.

What We Know About World Vs World (GW2 Guru)

Double sword icons shown throughout the map point out important battle points. Conversely, a shield is represented to let players know defense is needed somewhere in the area. I am beyond relieved a system like this exists. After watching the press videos and seeing just how massive the maps really are, I couldn’t help but feel a bit worried everybody would be wandering aimlessly looking for action for hours on end. Thankfully that isn’t the case. I know I don’t want to be swimming underwater looking for Quaggan while the enemy is busy laying waste to Stonemist Castle.

Traits and Builds Interview with Jon Peters (GW2Hub)

Jon: Yeah, the racial stuff we aren’t going to allow in PvP because then it creates this thing where you have to be a norn warrior or whatever. But then there’s also stuff like, should this skill even exist in PvP because it’s too strong, or does it work for PvE?

So doing a split seemed like a good idea at the time, but the creatures have been starting to use more of the player skill interactions. They’ve been throwing boomerangs that you have to dodge out of, they’re using more boons and conditions, and all of the sudden all of those skills are starting to make a lot more sense because the creatures have also been undergoing lots of changes. We’ve been iterating on them constantly for two years, so the creatures have come to this place where they play a lot more like players do. So it’s created less necessity for that split which is nice.

ArenaNet clarifies Guild Wars 2 CE pre-purchase options (Massively)

The long and short of it is that any retailer that is distributing keys prior to the April 10th street date is violating said street date "and risks losing [its] allocation of keys." That said, ANet can't stop stores from taking reservations, but O'Brien says unequivocally that "a reservation is not the same as a pre-purchase."

Guild Wars 2 adds Best Buy to CE pre-purchase retailer list, releases new video [Updated] (Massively)

According to the ArenaNet-authored pre-purchase retailers list on the Guild Wars 2 wiki, Best Buy has joined Gamestop, which makes them the only two brick-and-mortar outlets in the US that are selling physical copies of the standard edition and Collector's Edition. US players also have the option of pre-purchasing a boxed standard edition through Amazon.

Guild Wars 2 is now available for pre-purchase, still no launch date (Massively)

As of the time of this writing, many tipsters have reported that GW2 collector's editions have been sold out at several retailers. ArenaNet said it will have an update in a few hours on Twitter.

[Morreion]

Guild Wars 2: The Inside Stories (Eurogamer)
To Seattle and back again: what it's like on the inside.

Within the hundreds of hours of content an MMO offers, a million different stories can be told. But behind every MMO there are hundreds of stories often left untold. They are the stories of the makers.Five years after work first commenced, Guild Wars 2 is in its year of release. Fans will soon savour a game they've waited half a decade for. And as the curtain begins to raise, I was invited to to spend a beta weekend alongside developer ArenaNet at its Seattle base, to live and breathe development of a game that's consumed the lives of its developers long before it's had a chance to consume the lives of its future players.

I went there for a snapshot of a company making a landmark video game, and I came away with emotional tales of sacrifice, teamwork and pride. Guild Wars 2's got what it takes to better World of Warcraft, but right now it's just potential - and five years of life and labour for its 270-strong crew.


A great article- the writer visited GW2 headquarters and talked to several of the people working there about their experiences working for ArenaNet. Recommended if you're interested in behind-the-scenes stories from the MMO world.


We see rare, top-level weaponry being made. An enormous and wide two-handed sword has no blade but a shimmering, ethereal beam. Behind him, another bald-headed man crafts an elaborately designed and massive axe. In the other art room, costumes are being made, as well as monsters and a hand in a thumbs-up pose. I wonder how much art this would all represent if painted on canvas. "Oh!" responds Dociu. "I don't know. We probably wouldn't store them in a gallery, but stacked in crates in train cars full of stacked art. It's thousands and thousands of pieces."

Dociu has watched the team he hired grow up around him, and with him. "Now they're all either married or have families," he remarks, "or are published artists and extremely successful winners of international competitions." He tells me "it's almost like a family," how it "matures and evolves and changes over time".

Small arguments happen often, daily, but the bigger conflicts are mostly avoided. "We've learnt to pick our battles," Dociu says. " "We're more often than not able to diffuse the tension and not allow it to escalate to major conflicts. But sure, it's, again, like a giant family, where people argue and have differences of opinion. And sometimes these get resolved elegantly and sometimes ... not so much."

[Morreion]

Traits and Builds Interview with Jon Peters Pt. 2 (GW2Hub)

First, we give you weapons so that you can learn your weapon skills. Weapons are really the cornerstone of your build. From there we start giving you access to utilities, followed by traits, and then we start giving you those item bonuses to factor in. We give them to you in that order, because that’s the order we think they’re important to a build. So it’s weapons, skills, traits, and finally items.

So that’s why we built the whole thing around the weapons, and each set gives you that set of 5 core skills which is really where your build comes from. The weapons and skills are easy to switch in between every fight, and sometimes you can swap the weapons in combat, so even that stuff follows that same progression.

Exploration in Guild Wars 2 (GW2Hub)

The final area where your progress will be tracked on the map legend, landmarks work a bit differently than waypoints, hearts, or skill challenges. Rather than being clearly marked on the map to begin with, landmarks will only be labeled once you’ve traveled to them. For example, in Kessex Hills you may know that there are a total of 24 landmarks for you to discover, but it will be up to you to explore the map and find them all.

Certain landmarks will be a bit more obvious, such as villages, farms, or keeps, but the majority will definitely require you to wander far off the beaten path. In many cases you’ll also discover some awesome content that you may not have even realize existed had you not set out to explore more parts of the map.

Inside the Collector’s Edition – Making of Guild Wars 2 Book (ArenaNet)

Today we’re going to take a look at another key component of the Collector’s Edition – the 112- page Making of Guild Wars 2 book. This deluxe hardback book goes behind the scenes during the five year production of Guild Wars 2.

Inside the Collector’s Edition – Rytlock Figurine (ArenaNet)

Take a look at it! 10 inches (25 cm) of armored savagery, painted with painstaking detail. This heavy rock-solid sculpture deserves a place of honor on your desk or bookcase—just don’t drop it on your cat!

The Movement of the World (GW2 Wiki)

A large lore article on the world of Tyria- very nice!

Flameseeker Chronicles: Simplicity itself (Massively)

Exploration and fighting in PvE is also based on the idea of simple rules interacting to create complex circumstances. Events, which drive the majority of PvE content, can be triggered in any number of ways (although some can't be intentionally triggered at all but instead go off in response to unseen timers as they go about their merry chain) and are generally direct in their goals (defend this, kill all of those, help so-and-so get over there). They're all but self-explanatory: Even without the UI tip about the "meta event" in a given area, most players would be able to figure out how individual events relate to each other and what the driving conflict in a portion of the map is. If you were fending off centaurs one moment and find yourself pursuing them to their hidey-holes the next, you're likely to figure out that there's a relationship between the two even without a tooltip telling you what's up (you clever person, you!).

New concept art! (GW2 Facebook)

Cool underwater image.

Guild Wars 2 developer has plans "for literally years to come" (Eurogamer)

"We today know a number of the high-level features that we're going to do, and expansion content for years to come," said Price. "No, it's not drilled down in a way that is - it's all at the five-thousand foot level and above, from a big picture [perspective]. But every month we go through time, we get closer and it gets down and, OK, now we're actually creating content for it."

Guild Wars 2 announces first beta weekend for April 27th to 29th (Massively)

Guild Wars 2 briefs players on next weekend's beta event (Massively)

The event will take place from Friday, April 27th, at 3:00 p.m. EDT until Monday, April 30, at 3:00 a.m. While there are various ways to obtain a key for the weekend (such as having gone to PAX East), the only 100% surefire way of getting in the event is to have pre-purchased the game. All event attendees will be emailed next week with instructions about the client download.

Five Reasons to Play Guild Wars 2 (Ten Ton Hammer)

You’re losing faith in the (Un)holy Trinity

You know the drill--in order to have a balanced group in nearly every MMOG you have to have a tank, a damage dealer, and a healer. If you’re lucky, you can throw in a support class for flavor and added utility. Anyone who has stood around waiting to head off into a dungeon while waiting for the right mix of classes to join the group knows that the Holy Trinity of MMOGs can lead to some unholy tedium.

Guild Wars 2 will eliminate that tedium by making each profession self-reliant. There’s no dedicated healing profession in the game, but each profession has some distinct healing skill coupled with the ability to revive other players. Not only that, but each profession’s skills are designed to work cooperatively with another’s, making just about any profession combination viable for grouping.

If you’ve ever stood around calling out, “Group looking for healer for Cool Uber Dungeon X!” in global chat for what seemed like hours you’re not groaning at ArenaNet’s decision to eliminate the dedicated healing profession…you’re breathing a sigh of relief.

Seven Tips for GW2 Beta Participants (GW2Hub)

2. Learn the building blocks of builds

A given build in Guild Wars 2 consists of numerous parts, each serving a different function in your overall build. These are listed below in the order in which they’re unlocked in standard PvE progression:

Weapon Sets – weapon sets will grant you the first 5 skills on your hotbar, mapped to the 1-5 keys on your keyboard. At level 7, weapon swaps will unlock for those professions able to do so in combat. This is done by pressing the tilde ~ key.
Profession Mechanics – each profession in GW2 has a unique mechanic. In most cases you will need to unlock the full use of these mechanics either through active use or leveling. For example, the necro’s death shroud skills unlock through use similar to weapon skills, while elementalist attunements unlock through leveling.
Healing Skill – the healing skill slot for all professions is mapped to the number 6 key. You will start out with one heal unlocked, but can purchase others as you earn more skill points.
Utility Skills – these are mapped to the 7-9 keys, with all three being unlocked once you reach level 20. Utility skills need to be purchased via skill points, and can be freely changed while out of combat.
Traits – at level 11 you will unlock the first tier of traits. More details on this process can be found below.
Elite Skills – Last, but certainly not least, you will unlock your elite skill slot at level 30. Elites are more powerful skills, but also cost more than double the points of the most expensive utility skills. In general, you will probably need to complete multiple skill challenges prior to reaching level 30 if you want to purchase an elite as soon as the slot is unlocked.