Author: Ravious

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

 

That buzz word in the title should get some attention. Regardless of your stance, good reader, on federalism and what any U.S. founders believed, the premise of “big government” is control. It’s this issue of control, or perceived lack of control, with the hinted Guild Wars 2 guild system that has the community in a tizzy.

The Guild Wars 2 guild system lets players join multiple guilds through their account and characters. My asura warrior, Guvvernator, might be in some main guild, an asura-only role-playing guild, a 6-man real-life friends guild, and a casual PvP guild. The full details of the guild system are missing, but I suspect that since I can rack up influence for my guilds, I would likely have to choose one guild as my “main,” which would receive the benefits of my activities. The others would be exclusive chat rooms with whatever other guild features ArenaNet is planning, hopefully like a guild bank. Continue reading [GW2] Big Government Guilds

As I’ve said before, with the mind crush of information coming out of PAX for Guild Wars 2 I have to focus on one feature with laser-like intensity for my sanity and ability to communicerfuffle*error*. Anyway, possibly one of the first features most players think about for Guild Wars 2 is the guilds themselves. We aren’t doing a guildless war, people!

Elixabeth, Bringer-of-Sunshine, finishes up her thoughts on day 2 at PAX, where significant news of guilds in Guild Wars 2 was released. There’s some cool stuff like gaining “influence” for a guild by doing activities, which seems to be getting more standard in MMOs, such as Rift. Guilds will be able to capture, hold, and upgrade keeps in the world v. world PvP combat zone, which again is pretty standard for an MMO with that persistent PvP zonage. I would say that these are pretty good additions, but the best news is how each player and that player’s character joins guilds. Continue reading [GW2] Unshackling Guilds

The one thing that I will commend ArenaNet for in this pre-release hype-building phase is that they are illustrating the time, work, and love that is being poured in to each ounce of Guild Wars 2. ArenaNet could do the simple thing and just prop up the charismatic Colin Johanson with a video blog. Maybe ask him to wear sunglasses, only black shirts, and sport an English accent to make it seem like developers are all rock-stars, but that’s not real. What is real is hearing from all the people that it takes to make one small part of a video game. In the latest ArenaNet blog post they do just that.

This beautiful article goes through a complete process of creating a single PvP map from lore to design to programming. Even my man, Peter Fries, talks about the PvP announcer’s voice with his cohort, Scott McGough. It is readily apparent that each developer wrote their own portion. Habib Loew raises the banner for game programmers and gives an overview of the programming required for PvP within the engine designed for massive PvE. Shen-Ming Spurgeon goes pretty specific discussing one of the major visuals for the map: great balls of fire. I really like how in-depth Spurgeon went for the task.

It’s really a nice read, and I hope that the developers have more time to do this. A big challenge when the polite request is likely “how do I make my job interesting?” I think they did a great job. I think it really helped that these were all bounded in a focused part of the game rather than, “Yo, Chuck Knigge, tell us what you do.”

Like Rubi over at Massively says, there is serious information overload. So many interviews, articles, videos, etc. that it is nearly impossible to focus. For those wanting links I’d check out Guild Wars 2 Guru’s thread, Talk Tyria, and GuildMag for some great updates. For faster commentary than I can handle make sure to look up Hunter’s Insight. With PAX coming, it’s not going to stop for quite some time.

–Ravious

EDIT: Thanks to Mr Crackers for clarification, but it appears that conquest is not the only PvP game type.. I guess even including WvWvW. 

Holy NCSoft information crush coming from Germany this morning. Carbine Studios shows off their shiny new MMO with a funny trailer. Seems like an MMO worth watching with gameplay a tad more action than the vanilla norm (“don’t stand in the poop” red circles) and a theme that shares creative space with Firefly or Borderlands with more magic. More on that later. ArenaNet also joins in on the crush with a brand new Guild Wars 2 trailer with a fantastic, artistic opening. This is on top of everything else coming out of gamescom. I don’t have the mental fortitude to digest all of this so I will focus on one small offering. Guild Wars 2 PvP.

Continue reading [GW2] PvP Unveiled

If ArenaNet is teaching us anything it’s that the game we see today might not live until launch. Some interviews here are now part of a mirror-world Guild Wars 2 that won’t exist in this timeline. Yet this is the double-edged sword ArenaNet knows it is welding, and as they swing that sword again, I believe everybody on all sides are learning just a little bit more. Jon Peters spends some time on the ArenaNet Blog discussing what players will be seeing in the upcoming demo builds for Guild Wars 2 for the lucky players at gamescom and PAX. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything has he starts out by saying energy is gone.

Continue reading [GW2] Demo Changes (Turn and Face the Strain)

Of all the enemy-within factions for the playable races of Guild Wars 2, the Nightmare Court of the sylvari is easily the most disturbing. Loresmith Ree Soesbee discusses the sylvari lore including the appearance and goals of the Nightmare Court in the final blog article for the Sylvari Week. They are the mirror of the noble sylvari. They see the commandments of Ventari’s tablet as shackles to the power and potential to the new race. They are the means that will end the pure-hearted sylvari race.

Continue reading [GW2] War for the Dream