–Ravious

Rubi Heading To Higher Ground is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

Then you enter the first Luxon town, and the buildings are on even bigger tortoises. They have ambulatory, turtle-based homes. Guild Wars 2 needs this: player housing should include a tortoise option. The Asura can use box turtles.

: Zubon

[GW] Turtle Power is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

One notion I like about GW2 karma is that the rewards make more sense and you should feel less like a jerk for taking things from the poor people you are supposed to be helping. The farmer has some spare vegetables, or will give you a good deal on buying sheep.

: Zubon

[GW] Your Thanks Are Enough is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

Behind the scenes, ArenaNet’s loresmith Ree Soesbee writes that the jotun lore was expanded to show something great that was taken because the jotun race cannibalized itself. They were legendary and possessed the magic and the ability to create huge monuments, possibly before the time of the gods and Bloodstones that brought magic to the races. This leads one to wonder whether the jotun had a hand in the Eye of the North superstructure. Regardless, all that’s left is a mongrel scrap of a race among massive stone monuments without meaning.

I have to wonder about their addition because Guild Wars, in my humble opinion, already has a fallen race story over and over! We need, yet another race, that has fallen? We have the mysterious Giganticus Lupicus (True Giants) that used to rule Tyria, we have the Forgotten that used to rule Tyria, we have the mursaat that were killed of by player actions, and an entire player-character race is dedicated to “down, but not out.” I guess the humans can be redeemed, I still think the Forgotten were a slave race to begin with, Jeff Grubb is likely holding the mursaat hostage because of me, and the True Giants seem truly lost to time. The jotun are the tattered race flapping in the wind; it’s just a matter of time before the sands of time pull them off the flagpole to fling them into the beyond.

I really wonder how far ArenaNet is going to take this race. Will it be another story left to the imagination, like the Forgotten? Or, is there simply nothing left to tell. I feel of all the NPC races, the jotun are going to have the most difficult story, if there is even one left. The humans are fighting back, the Forgotten seemed at peace by the end of Guild Wars their hand played out long ago, but it seems like the jotun intend to spiral downward without any intent on stopping.

In a way, the jotun remind me of  the “prawns” in District 9. There is so much to learn about this space-faring race, but the humans just disregard the prawns as barely sentient creatures unworthy of a culture. The prawns live under one of the greatest monuments Earth had ever seen, and for all that power the spaceship and prawn technology was nearly worthless. With the prawns, the fallen status was apparent throughout the movie. I wonder how ArenaNet plans on showing the jotun in a similar boat.

They will have magical monuments at their camps, while standing around in loincloths and sharpened rock weapons, but is that enough to show the race has truly fallen? I wonder thematically how ArenaNet intends to show the difference between the primitive jotun on the downswing versus the primitive grawl on the upswing. I do hope that somehow the jotun come across differently in game than “brutes with clubs.” I would prefer not to just have one more solitary bit of lore for the Priory.

–Ravious
too bad they had to go so soon

[GW2] The Jotun, That Which Was Lost is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

To rock in the Chinese New Year, ArenaNet has announced that Guild Wars 2 will be released this year. There was much dancing and celebration in the streets. Even though most revelers were celebrating the announcement, they didn’t mind the company of the other Chinese New Year party-goers.

In the blog post, Mike O’Brien then goes on to discuss ArenaNet’s plans for the ongoing beta:

We recently finished our first closed beta test, and we’re now ready to hold progressively larger events. In February we’ll invite select press to participate in beta testing, and in March and April we’ll aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events so that many of you will have a chance to participate. And of course, this all leads to the release of Guild Wars 2 later this year.

Don’t worry, faithful readers. My firstborn is already shipped well on her way to the ArenaNet studios.

There are a couple of interesting points, though. Press are usually involved in MMO betas at some point, but usually this is one of the last phases of beta. What does ArenaNet intend with having awesome, dedicated bloggers and some real journalists in the beta? Normally, I would assume they would be under a non-disclosure agreement, but it would be really cool if ArenaNet kind of said “we’re so amazing, just come play and tell the world.” It could also be that ArenaNet wants possible “reviewers” to have more time to play so the Metacritic crushing reviews happen all the fast upon release.

Which of course leads to the question, when is release? Certainly nothing would be more epic than it launching on the Guild Wars 7th Anniversary. Yet, many times in the past it seems a good idea for MMOs to shut down beta and give the company a couple weeks to add that last bit of polish. This would lead the launch on the edge of summer, during exam time for students, near vacations, etc. Most MMOs will not launch during summer. Then there is this bit of Nostradamus-ish evidence of ArenaNet soccer jerseys possibly signifying June 28, 2012. My personal best guess is September with a wild card bet of April.

–Ravious

[GW2] Year of the Dragon is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

Since I am still waiting to play Guild Wars 2 (still, ArenaNet, still), I’ve been playing around my with my old flame, Lord of the Rings Online. It’s a good ol’ vanilla MMO with its own twists like World of Warcraft or Rift (possibly the new Star Wars MMO, which I haven’t played enough to include here). Like a good ol’ MMO, it has quest hubs which branch out to get players exploring the sub-zones. It’s a tried and true formula. Fill a sub-zone with enemies and problems, and then get players a reason to get out there. It’s fun, there’s constant activity, and it’s comfortable.

Except it’s not perfect because in creating this hitlist of monsters and boar specials, quests become selfishly personal. Players then are faced with the dilemma of playing with others in the area at the cost of efficiently crossing of the personal checklist. It’s so sad when I run by a fellow “hero” overwhelmed with orcs, and I am happier at the poor sap’s misfortune because he is making it easier for me to run by to complete my quest. Ah, now I am just rambling along on well-tread ground.

A lot of emphasis, even here, has been placed on events in Guild Wars 2 replacing quests because they are objective. Instead of “killing ten rats” players are tasked with breaking centaur morale, which involves, you know, killing a bunch of centaurs. Except now we can kill a hundred centaurs together! I want that centaur dead; you want that same exact centaur dead. That is going to be one freakin’ dead centaur. Then the event is over. The centaurian morale is broken. The fort is reclaimed. The world has moved on. This is why events are not like quests. They are… well events.

You know that time in ye good ol’ MMO you were about to run by some poor sap overwhelmed by a handful of orcs, and you joined in the fray instead. You and Mr. Sadmaple fighting side by side drawing even more aggro until you stood on top of a mound of dead orc bodies. There was the exchange of a nod, and the moment was over. That’s an event. ArenaNet took that moment, and made it a core to the PvE experience. They still don’t replace quests.

Hearts are what now replace quests, in my humble opinion. Hearts in Guild Wars 2 are the quest hubs of MMO of yore thrown in a blender and painted back over the zone. Hearts are personal like a quest checklist. Players don’t share hearts. Hearts are bound to a sub-zone. Hearts can be filled by doing a bunch of activities. And, for the kicker, hearts are a source of perpetual activities.

First look at the hobbit conclave of Maur Tulhau in Lord of the Rings Online, or your favorite quest hub from your favorite good ol’ MMO. The quests range from killing evil things, killing things for meat, picking flowers, and scraping boar droppings off the ground. Usual stuff for the most part. Now look at the very first Heart for human characters in Guild Wars 2, Help Farmer Diah. The activities range from feeding cows, watering crops, killing worms, and stomping on things that kind of look like cow patties (a.k.a. “worm holes”).

The critical difference between the two activity hubs is players can help out the Guild Wars 2 hub (a.k.a. “the farm”) however they want in order to complete it. For better or worse, the activities bound to a Heart also can change depending on the ongoing events. Completing an event seemed to account for a large part in filling up a Heart, but if a player is sick of escorting some yak to somewhere, there are plenty of other activities. How cool would it have been if I could have decided how to help Maur Tulhau how I wanted and still get that tidy completionist feeling? My character long ago gave up the life of flower picking. How dare you, stunted sir!

And, the best part. Quests as hearts are a together activity. As personal as filling that heart bar is to a player, the activities to do so are not selfish ones. Instead of a checklist of personal chores, Guild Wars 2 Hearts have a way of saying simply “just play.”

As I’ve done in the past occasionally, I’ve asked ArenaNet to see if they wanted to comment on Hearts with regard to this post. Anthony Ordon, Guild Wars 2 Game Designers, came through big time with some of his thoughts:

I’m glad you called out this feature on your blog. We showed hearts in the public demonstrations last year, but we never really explained the system to people who didn’t get a chance to play.

To clarify, heart icons represent renown regions. A renown region is the setting for an ongoing story in which you participate to win over and get rewards from the NPC that lives there. They also provide players with a static, one-time piece of content to play when local events are not running. As an added bonus, we get to sneak in some background story and ambient lore which gives context and meaning to said events. In the Farmer Diah example, you show up to the farm and start helping her get things back in order. It takes some time for you to do this, so you happen to be around for the kickoff of an event where those pesky bandits show up to torch the place. You also have a better idea of what’s going on, because the renown content supports the event content.

A very important distinction between these regions and traditional quest givers is that you do not have to interact with Farmer Diah to participate. We felt that requirement was tired and counterintuitive to the flow of gameplay and. After all, you and Mr. Sadmaple killed quite a few nasty worms making your way over to the good farmer. Why should she be any less grateful if she hadn’t asked you to do it yet?

This same logic was applied to our decision to remove the checklist and replace it with the progress bar. You fill the progress bar by doing anything and everything that contributes to the renown NPCs goals. Farmer Diah’s crops need watering just as much as those bandits need—well, murdering. We’ve already said that our goal for each region is to provide the players with a variety of objectives. But our secret goal is to make sure most of these tasks bleed into and support each other. If you stomp the worm holes, you’re probably going to fight a few worms. If you kill a bandit, you’re probably going to find the stuff they stole and have an opportunity to return it. The end result is gameplay that rewards exploration and cooperation more than your ability to follow instructions.

Speaking of rewards, participating in the renown region to fills the progress bar in the UI. When it’s filled, you’ve earned the respect and appreciation of Farmer Diah. She’ll even send you a letter containing her gratitude (as well as some bonus gold and experience). But it doesn’t quite end there. Now that Farmer Diah thinks so highly of you, you can return to her at any time and gain access to her karma goods. Karma goods replace quest rewards in the sense that you can purchase them from completed renown NPCs. Each NPC has different rewards to offer; a farmer like Diah might share her finest (consumable) vegetables or a (crafting) recipe for her favorite stew. Meanwhile, the seraph commander down the road can probably help you with gear. After you’ve helped him with this problems, that is.

The price for karma goods is paid in karma. Karma is earned by participating in events and helping others with personal story. It is not earned by participating in renown regions (but it is for participating in events that occur in those regions). The gameplay circle of life perpetuates itself with the different types of content, all of it supported by an ever-expanding selection of rewards on top of ever-replenishing method of earning them.

Thanks, Anthony! So much focus has been on events, dungeons, and PvP, but it appears that just as much design, inspiration, and love went in to creating renown activities and rewards. Can’t wait to see how it all plays out!

–Ravious

[GW2] Just Play, Quests as Hearts is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

In the latest lore interview by Guild Wars Insider, Ree Soesbee, hints at the great focus that was originally seen in the first trailer only to be diluted by later trailers and demos of actual play:

GWI: Obviously with the return of Zhaitan comes the return of Arah, so what role will that city play in Guild Wars 2?

Ree: I can tell you a little…Arah is where the dragon lives. Zhaitan doesn’t get up and wander around the world, he sits in Arah and his minions bring him things to eat and things to make him powerful, and anything else that in inscrutable mind of the hurricane is looking for. As a player character, you’re going to need to defeat Zhaitan. That’s simply where you have to go, because he’s not going to come to you. So it’s playable, and we expect the players to look forward to the great battles against Zhaitan, on his turf and in his city. We expect players of Guild Wars to recognize, and players of Humans to point out, that this was once the city where the Gods walked, even if they’re not there now.

She goes on to say that even getting to Orr is a big deal involving a naval attack on Orr. Soesbee also points to many water preserved lore gems found in the still sunken parts of Orr.

I know that Guild Wars 2 has to build that brand, but as a Guild Wars player I kind of want Guild Wars 2: Death Dragon (or another cooler title) instead of Guild Wars 2 [Lots of Stuff]. The Elder Dragons seem so epic and worthy of huge focus. Anyway, I think this is pretty good evidence that there is going to be significant play based on Zhaitan and his minions, likely at the “end game.” Soesbee flat out says that players are going to need to go there to beat him.

I hope that ArenaNet can return some of the focus of the first trailer back to players’ minds. Anyway the whole 7000 word interview is really good. Listening to the audio is even better because Soesbee is so passionate about her work. Check it out at Guild Wars Insider.

–Ravious

[GW2] Ree: Focus on the Enemy is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

Because the ArenaNet Community Managers are now on vacation, let’s do a little logic exercise. First, we must assume! We must assume that Guild Wars 2 will have queues. We know they are going to have servers (“worlds“) more like current MMOs than the original Guild Wars, where players get to fight for their world in World vs. World PvP combat and fight evil in their world with other worldly citizens. It’s a safe assumption given almost every MMO’s launch.

I wonder thought if there will be a difference because of the business model. In SWTOR and every other subscription-based MMO, wasted time is wasted money. A player stuck watching a queue is paying to do so. Now we could senselessly break it down to say that “well, at $0.50 /day a player stuck in an hour queue is only wasting a couple cents.” Except it doesn’t work that way. Time is precious and fleeting, and not being able to access something that is paid for ruins the feeling that it is worthwhile to subscribe. If I value my time at $15/hour (to throw a number out there), then perhaps I can say the queue just wasted $15.02 of my life. It gets even slappier in the face when the queue is wasting so-called “free time.”

Big question time: Will it make much of a difference when the pressure of a subscription is gone? Guild Wars 2 has no subscription fees. There is no wasting of a bought-for time when standing obediently in a queue line. The only salty rub is that there is definitely a player-herd leveling wave. Like one big tsunami players rush to the end to join the end game. I hope that the majority realizes that with side-kicking based on area, this other pressing need isn’t as… pressing.

There is an interesting option ArenaNet could take. They could make “Fragment” servers with full intention of shutting them down once the launch rush is done. We know the marketplace is going to be game wide instead of based on a server economy. The “fragment” servers could have an expiration date and no World vs. World match-up. It would be an interesting decision. A subscription-based game would never choose this because no “community” is built on a transient server. Community equals retention, which is money, friend.

–Ravious

[GW2] Queued Up is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

: Zubon

2012 Predictions is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

Oh, you say, the mesmer lost hexes and interrupts. They make copies of themselves, for Kormir’s sake. It is the most different, you say! Yet, I would say the mesmer didn’t change. It was the battleground that changed.

The mesmer is the master of the fourth wall. It attacks mechanics and people as much as it attacks computer controlled NPCs. In the original Guild Wars the mesmer’s strongest tools were hexes and interrupts. The hexes didn’t just do something like the necromancer’s degen, they forced the player to act or not. Wastrel’s Worry was a fun one that forced a player to choose within three seconds whether to become an ally-killing AoE or to fire off a skill at a bad time. Empathy simply harms warriors that cannot quit attacking. Very fun if you see one Frenzy.

Then there were the interrupts, which in PvP became a game unto themselves. A mesmer’s interrupted target would lose the energy for casting the spell, eat a cooldown for a now uncasted spell, and sometimes take another swift kick to the nethers as an added bonus. Players would start fake casting their own spells as a way to try and outplay the mesmer. If the target could cancel the spell before an interrupt hit, the mesmer would waste the interrupt. Huzzah, metagame! Jon “More Celebrity than Johanson” Peters says this is the mesmer controlling resources in the best mesmer interview. I call it a mindf….well, anybody ever interrupted by a mesmer will know.

Oh, Guild Wars 2, how the game has changed. No more skill monitors, no more energy, no more hexes, and no little red dots on the mini-radar everybody liked to watch. The resource is now: your eyeballs and the mesmer is going to yank those jellies out and make you wish all you had was red dots to monitor. ArenaNet rephrases and reiterates so many times that they want players to watch the action. Not a row of healthbars. Not some carefully monitored mana bar. And, no, not those little red dots.

So, that’s what the mesmer now attacks. It can hide parties. It can throw out a new condition that combines Empathy and Backfire into one neat package (remember no more auto-attack). Oh, and it can copy itself. See that lonely mesmer in WvW? Now there’s three. Four? Wait, one just disappeared. And, just when you think you found the real mesmer after pushing through all the pain, it shatters in your face causing even more, well pain. (And, in case you are sick of them breaking enough rules, they can cast over their own spells with Mantras too.)

Jonathan “Also a Celebrity” Sharp pre-emptively attacks the biggest issue with the resource-conquering mesmer. Will it be the profession that once again is one of the best in PvP, and fail so hard in PvE? From the aforesaid best mesmer interview:

In our game, you can still do the support. You can call up a chaos storm with your staff that puts up random conditions on foes and random boons on allies. You can still support in that way. In Guild Wars 1, we found that while the class was great in PvP, a lot of times in PvE it had a really hard time. We designed the mechanics with the illusions so that the mesmer on their own in the world of PvE is still very effective.

They’re able to take care of themselves, deal out damage, and also support allies. And you’ve still got the control that you had from the first game. You’ve still got the stuns and the dazes. Those act as interrupts in our game. You can still interrupt key skills from opponents. You’ve still got all of those things that you had from the first game in addition to being able to do damage on your own if you need to.

Sharp also makes sure to add that the mesmer, like many of the professions, has a low entry-point for casual players, but it has an incredibly high skill ceiling. For example, Peters also suggests that good mesmers learn to move like copies in Question 22. So the best mesmers will confuse you personally, make you wish you could stop pressing skill “1″, and move like robots.

–Ravious
we’re done here

[GW2] Mesmer Metagame is a post from: Kill Ten Rats