Category: Guild Wars 2

I was having a lot of fun in Aspect Arena, which is one of the three new activities in this bi-weekly Guild Wars 2 update, Cutthroat Politics. It’s more or less capture-the-flag with three classes (wind, sun, and lightning). I was also working on the Kiel Supporter meta-achievement, which can be filled, in part, by playing Aspect Arena.

The baseline achievement for Aspect Arena is simple and does not color gameplay. Aspect Arena Frequenter just requires 15 games to be played, but time flies when you are having fun and trying new tricks and strategies. Crystal Capper is also pretty simple because it requires that the player capture 10 crystals. In a sense it focuses gameplay, but capturing crystals is really the focus of this PvP activity anyway. Crystal Breaker was where I started seeing the achievement taint gameplay.

On paper, Crystal Breaker looks fine; kill 15 players that are holding crystals. Players do want to stop the other team from scoring. After playing 15 games, every player with reasonable skill should have a few crystal bearer kills. Yet, I saw on Tuesday night that Crystal Breaker was affecting gameplay because many people were focusing on killing crystal bearers. In some games it was laughable at how neither side wanted to pick up a crystal because the players wanted crystal bearer kills. A few times a teammate and I would stand at the base of one of the side towers waiting for some poor schmuck to get up and grab the crystal. Without that achievement, the focus would have reverted to a more natural gameplay state.

In olden times, there would be two content guides in order of focus: quests and achievements. The quest line for the content update would direct people to the content, where they could check that content off for completing the quest. An achievement would increase the content’s playable time or skill become a content guide for an additional challenge. Players then could have the feeling of pure completion (“I did all the quests!”) without bashing their heads against really difficult achievements. The casuals and hardcore each had their cake. Continue reading [GW2] Achievement-Colored Content

Cutthroat Politics is the second release to the Living World centered on Bazaar of the Four Winds. Most of the content builds on the first release referred to in the New Player’s Guide to Bazaar of the Four Winds, which this Guide supplements. This guide is written for those just buying Guild Wars 2 now or returning after a long break. Any level character may participate in the activities below, unless otherwise noted. Continue reading [GW2] New Player’s Guide to Cutthroat Politics

Last week ArenaNet posted plans on where they intend to take Guild Wars 2. I wanted a weekend (to eat hot dogs in Chicago) to digest all that the official blog post had discussed. I think for the most part things are pretty good. Some ideas are “wait until implementation to decide” and some are “OMG, I want that now!” Overall, it’s nice to see that there are many plans beyond the bi-weekly Living World releases.

Four Living World Teams Stand Before You

That’s what I said now. I think most Guild Wars 2 fans are blown away with the updates. It is very addictive to get something new so often. Tonight, I know that players are going to be a buzz with the player-decided election in Cutthroat Politics. The goal is for each of the four teams to have four months to design and polish a month of content. I seem to recall that in a Twitch developer livestream one of the devs implied that they were just hitting that four month cadence now, and it really shows. The content seems much tighter in Bazaar of the Four Winds. Continue reading [GW2] 2013 Plans

Much of the Living World updates in Guild Wars 2 are designed so that characters of all levels can join. Bazaar of the Four Winds is no different, and this guide is written for those just buying Guild Wars 2 now.

The Core

If you play normally, you will run across Zephyr Sanctum Kite Baskets located throughout the world. Looting these advances an achievement and gives the new crafting supply, quartz, and a rare chance at some other goodies. Enemies will rarely drop Kite Fortunes, which can be cracked for a short buff and Fortune Scraps.  Fortune Scraps can be amassed to buy the exclusive skins at the new zone.

What Will I Miss?

If you do ignore this Living World update, it is believed that in early August the small zone Labyrinthine Cliffs will become unavailable. This will also make the Sanctum Sprint minigame, a Mario-Kart-parkour-type race, unavailable. You will also miss the rewards for the meta-achievement to get a personal quartz resource node. Continue reading [GW2] New Player’s Guide to Bazaar of the Four Winds

ArenaNet has been inviting fan sites and journalist sites to preview the new content the weekend before it drops. I really appreciate all the work the team is doing for this because it gives the sites time to think, write, and develop well-rounded impressions and guides. This is the first time I have been able to join in on the preview, and for the content coming July 9, we checked out the Bazaar of the Four Winds.

New Map, Labyrinthine Cliffs

Although kind of unspecified in the official site’s Bazaar of the Four Winds page, the majority of this content update takes place on a brand new map called Labyrinthine Cliffs. It’s about the size of Rata Sum, or a small capital city, but it does have some enemies to combat. Labyrinthine Cliffs is located east of Mount Malestrom, and it is beautiful. Kites are the theme, and the sense of wind and freedom permeates the map. All the artists have done a remarkable job, as usual. It is also where the giant, nomadic airship – the Zephyr Sanctum – docked. Continue reading [GW2] Bazaar of the Four Winds Impressions

I was going to write about necromancers today. ArenaNet decided otherwise. Their public face has swung a gigantic hammer today. Not only do players hear about the next new thing: The Bazaar of the Four Winds, but ArenaNet put up a wave of discussion on the service they want to provide. I highly recommend listening to the Game On podcast at mmorpg.com and reading and watching Colin “The Serious Don’t Smile” Johanson’s official post.

Stepping back to view our favorite genre, MMOs are a service. At the base level the developer hosts a playground. In the current MMO market, the service must also include updates to be a viable studio. Updates are the lifeblood of MMOs. What other genre has fans chomping at the bit to read patch notes? Patch notes can bring swarms of players back to the game. They are like treasures such that people are willing to break contracts to leak them out. For quite some time, MMOs have been living worlds and their living documents have been the patch notes. Continue reading [GW2] The ArenaNet Service

Sea of Sorrows is the last book in the planned series of three Guild Wars universe novels. I’ve reviewed the first two, Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny, already. This book stands apart for two reasons: it is the only novel that has been released since the Guild Wars 2 launch, and it is the only novel wholly written by an ArenaNet employee (Jeff Grubb of ArenaNet co-authored Ghosts of Ascalon with Matt Forbeck). The time it appeared to have to mature made this book the best of the series. Any Guild Wars 2 fan looking for a little bit more out of the Guild Wars universe will enjoy Sea of Sorrows. Continue reading [GW2] Sea of Sorrows Review

I just got back from vacation. Zubon held down the fort in fine manner. The Guild Wars 2 players assaulted another while I was gone. Apparently sky pirates, a guild/faction known as the Aetherblades, were docked right next to Lion’s Arch (and under the Tengu wall!) thanks to the evil asuran Inquest corportation’s help. The good people are on the assault taking out Aetherblade caches across Tyria and attacking their Aetherblade Retreat dungeon head on.

In a way this story is interesting. The Aetherblade are themed around lightning, and indeed they have appeared out of nowhere. More of the story of Mai Trin, and how she tied in to the Dragon Bash assassination will be revealed next week. For now we are left with Inspector Kiel pondering her first engagement with the Inquest and their pirate lackeys. I feel like the Aetherblade kind of got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and the response by Lion’s Arch was impressive. Continue reading [GW2] Late to the Aetherblade Assault

Mrs. Ravious has been smitten with the idea of getting the legendary weapon, Kudzu. She’s only been playing her first MMO ever for a few months, and already she’s a huge fan of Dulfy, has notes all over her desk on resource nodes and “best places to…”, and she has a hand drawn spreadsheet for her legendary. I married the right woman. Still, it’s going to be a hard, long road for us casual hardcore players.

The best chunk of getting a legendary is the Gift of Mastery. This is where players just play the game as intended. Gain levels, explore the word, play events, and kill lesser players in World vs. World (WvW). The other three chunks are basically just grinding, money, and luck. So Mrs. Ravious and I have decided to largely focus on WvW for summer. Continue reading [GW2] Progressing Wuv