I’ve just received word that next week (9/12-9/16) is Asura Week for Guild Wars 2. The week is chock full of blog articles fans would expect from the Guild Wars 2 race weeks. Monday and Tuesday, Matt Barrett will be discussing asura character and then environment design with a special “Hey Bookah” asura advice column on Tuesday. Wednesday, Angel McCoy is going to discuss writing about the asura and the article is sure to be peppered with asura audio. Thursday, Helen Prior is going to show off the asura animation style while Jeff Grubb helps to update the official site’s asura entry, and Ree Soesbee is going to top it all off with a lore post on Friday.
I find this interesting in terms of development and possible the beta because there is really only one more big arrow, the eighth profession, after Asura Week. I say big arrow because, in my opinion, it’s the last bit of news that all Guild Wars 2 fans are interested in. Things like guild specifics, PvP specifics, and the like won’t hit everybody’s bullseye, so to speak. Those anti-gremlin asura are sure to get the mental juices flowing!
–Ravious
Another thing that needs to be addressed is the hardware. Until they nail down how they will be handling the servers, transfers, playing with people on different servers, languages and localization we cant possibly play the game.
“Things like guild specifics, PvP specifics, and the like won’t hit everybody’s bullseye, so to speak.”
Disagreed, there’s still WvWvW and I suspect that how that turns out exactly could attract or turn away a lot people.
“A lot” is pretty subjective, but I disagree that it is such a make or break point for a substantial amount of fans.
Not saying it isn’t important, but things like races and classes (professions) seem to turn heads like no other feature.
Do you frequent general MMO forums? Because persistent 3-sided mass pvp is almost all the fans of pvp there talk about, at least that’s my experience.
Again you qualify with “fans of pvp”.
Here’s the thing. The mechanics of WvWvW can be changed a lot during beta. Firing off “a big arrow” about WvWvW only gives hypothetical argument ammo to the polite, considerate, well-spoken PvP masses. So while I disagree that WvWvW could be in the same league as what I believe to be the “big arrows”, it doesn’t even matter because that information, as known by intelligent primates, is subject to plenty of change based on iteration and feedback.
Racial Weeks and profession reveals on the other hand are more concrete and bigger in terms of marketing. They give evidence much moreso of what’s left in the quiver, and how much time before the arrows simply run out.
That’s only if you’re a fan of PvP.
Also I agree with Ravious, while PvP can take a focus while ArenaNet is marketing the game, more people are going to be looking at how they can play instead of what they can play.
I think of it as this; you have PvE fans and PvP fans, both of which are going to be looking for different things in terms of news. Though the one thing they’ll both be looking at are races and professions. They’ll be looking at professions because that’s what they are going to use to determine their play-style, and races are going to determine how they’ll customize themselves. Both play a big part in selling an MMO, more so than PvE and PvP.
Ah, finally we can show those dirty bookah what we’re all about! ASURAPOWER
S’gonna be good. I think you’re right that the ultimate destination is the final profession – stopping off at pvptown, guildville and minorracefield on the way.
I agree with your points on this one Ravious!
After these two “arrows” really the only thing MOST people will be interested in is when beta will be announced, let alone release date.
All the same, I cannot wait to read this “Hey Bookah” column. I only wish they could make it a regular thing.
As far as WvWvW goes, I intend to participate, but it will not be a main focus of my gaming time. There is simply going to be too much Tyria for me to see and experience.
Asura are best. Cannot wait for the information! It seems like extra compared to other weeks.
I hope the information can give the community a better understanding of the Asura and maybe they won’t be disliked as much. Who knows. Maybe appearance means a lot for people.
I don’t know, if you look at the history of how Arena.Net have released information, each race has an introduction week, and then later a race starter area.
I suspect there are a few more arows left, Sylvari Starter Area, Asura Starer Area, 8th Profession and WvWvW.
More items that many people would want to hear more about include: Other PvP gametypes (unless Conquest really is the only type), more PvP maps (we have only seen one so far), more Dungeons (again, we have only seen one so far)
Then there are little items that they are working on that can be posted about: Crafting rework, Skill acquisition was reworked, more info about Guilds and finally minipets.
But I do agree with you, there is one huge arrow left, the rest are darts to keep the audience occupied :)
I’ve converted 8 friends to GW2 and none of them even batted an eye at race weeks and profession reveals. They were drawn to gameplay videos that showed off world bosses, fast combat, weapon swapping and pvp.
I think showing off the revised traits and WvWvW will be huge hits. And besides those they can just show off more gameplay bideos to keep people hyped. Ex… asura and sylvari starter areas, cool events, etc. Announcing both closed and open beta will also stir people up.
I agree that the asura week and the 8th profession are without compare the two biggest arrows left. They are all but guaranteed to make a splash outside of the normal circles of fans (things like The MMO Report). Still, I wouldn’t be assured that arenanet only have small technical detail-orietend arrows left. Go back a few months, and out of left field we were treated to a week devoted to sound design and production which certainly made many people sit up and take notice.
There is also a potentially big arrow left in what the team working on the Extended experience come out with. At gamescom I asked Braeden Shosa about it, and while he couldn’t reveal anything, he did confirm that they still have a dedicated team working on just these in-direct means of interacting with the game.
I’m afraid the eighth profession won’t be revealed until the end of the convention seasons, i.e. after the Paris Game Week in late October. At least, there wasn’t anything big last week from gamescom to the Paris Game Week ; plus, it would seem weird they reveal the profession without making it playable at the cons, and I doubt the eighth profession would premiere in Paris. Although that would be awesome for me, Belgian player =P
so excited for this game! i absoloutely love the idea of a dynamic and ever changing world!
Interestingly, Amazon just bumped the release date for the third book (Sea of Sorrows) until June 26, 2012. I think that calls for a frowny-face. :(