ArenaNet

Guild Wars 2 Design Manifesto

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Of course GW2 has great support for parties, but they just don’t feel as necessary as they do in other MMOs, because your interests are always aligned with all other nearby players anyway. When someone kills a monster, not just that player’s party but everyone who was seriously involved in the fight gets 100% of the XP and loot for the kill. When an event is happening in the world – when the bandits are terrorizing a village – everyone in the area has the same motivation, and when the event ends, everyone gets rewarded.

Above is an excerpt from the recently launched Guild Wars 2 blog. Just wanted to take a moment and note that this new social system reminds me of the Public Quests found in Warhammer Online…except that everyone wins.

The Lunchtime Gamer – 9/1/2009

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Guild Wars

The World of Warcraft servers were down over lunch (until 2PM PST) so I decided to jump into Guild Wars. After spending some time reorienting myself to the game interface, I was off on a quest with a group of henchmen. Ruins of vast old cities, minotaurs, and ice giants were just a few of the sights and creatures that were encountered. Fun stuff. I had forgotten just how beautiful the graphics in this game are. Not only are the graphics beautiful but the scale and vastness of the games world is simply incredible. So why did I leave this game in the first place?

  1. Guild Wars lacked that hook that other MMOs (WoW, LOTRO) have to keep me going.
  2. Confusion over PVE versus PVP characters. I’d prefer to build a character for all seasons.
  3. A level 20 cap that ended in gameplay being focused on finding the perfect skill set. I did not have the time nor interest to do this.

The lunch hour is only so long, and so are my musings. Until next time.

Journal I: Guild Wars

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Guild Wars

Once upon a time, many years ago, I journeyed to the land of Tyria for the first time.  Tyria was a land free of subscription based play and featured a unique content delivery system. Guild Wars was new, fun, and graphically impressive.

The recent stirrings of Guild War 2 news has me wondering, what has happened in Guild Wars since I left? Besides the three expansions (Factions, Nightfall, Eye of the North), does anyone still play this game?

Updating Guild Wars

Intrigued, I decided to download the client, install the game, and log in. I was then greeted with the the familiar load screen. Only this time, 24,408 files were in desperate need of download. Admission to Tyria was denied over my lunch hour. At least for today.

Guild Wars 2 Website is Smoking!

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Guild Wars 2After a period of great radio silence regarding the development of Guild Wars 2, the folks at ArenaNet are beginning to chatter once more. Over on the Guild Wars Official Wiki, ArenaNet head Mike O’Brien writes:

Hey all,

Last week I promised you’d get your first glimpse of Guild Wars 2 “very soon now”. That day is almost here.

I want to thank all our fans for their patience as we developed the game to the point where we can start talking about it publically. I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting this moment. You’ll soon understand how ambitious we’ve been and what we’ve accomplished during these past two years of development. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but from here on out we’ll be able to provide you with more regular updates.

Guild Wars 2 is going to be a huge leap beyond the original. We have the best team in the industry executing at the top of their game, and I’m very proud of what our team has accomplished so far. As I said last week, I’m confident that when you get your first look at what we’ve been working on, you’re going to love what you see. Stay tuned for an exciting week ahead.

—Mike O’Brien 20:31, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Look to JohnnyBGamer.com for the latest in Guild Wars 2 news & information!