If you’ve been living under a rock, or simply choose to ignore MMO news, it’s highly likely you won’t have heard anything about ArenaNet’s sequel to the highly successful Guild Wars.
Having touched upon Guild Wars 2 several months ago when news first began to trickle out, the developers have now finally begun to reveal a great deal about what Guild Wars 2 has to offer…
Four professions have been revealed (eight in total), a new Dynamic event system similar to that of Warhammer Onlines Public Quest system, but on a much grander scale, alongside the complete abolition of “Healer” class types. There is a focus on story lead character creation and with enemy A.I that no longer stands waiting for you to attack it and finally external iPhone and browser apps that allow you to talk to friends while offline, view your inventory and trade items makes the game even more accessible, to name a tiny fraction of what it has to offer. It really does look and sound quite remarkable.
Considering the game is over twelve months away from release, the level of polish shown is astounding. Quite simply, it could ship tomorrow and still be in a better physical state than 99% of MMO’s on the market.
The original free-to-play model has clearly put ArenaNet in a financially fortunate position. With over 7 million copies of Guild Wars sold (you do the maths), it has no doubt given ArenaNet the financial and creative freedom to re-write the rule book, without a pushy publisher getting in the way.
In the mean time, I’ll continue to hit the F5 key on the ArenaNet blog in desperate anticipation of more news.
You can find the blog here, it’s well worth the read.
Email the author of this post at lewisb@tap-repeatedly.com
Grrrggggnn…….. nnnnnngggg…. must…not….be….intrigued……
I get the RSS feed from Jeff Grubb, their lead content designer (or some similar title). Seems like a nice fellow – wrote Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Magic the Gathering and a heap of other books previously (some of which I’ve even read). I don’t really want to get into another MMO at the moment (after quitting WoW several months ago), but Jeff definitely knows his fantasy so the narrative should be great.
Guild Wars is/was great. I finally stopped playing when I realized I had to put in more time than I was willing to in order to advance. Steerpike… you should really check it out.
Steerpike, I really can’t stress enough how much GW 2 is going to change MMOs, the simple fact every class can heal, with no dedicated healer is huge. Couple that with AI that attacks on sight, as opposed to standing like statues and your on for a treat.
I will bet every penny I have that this will be one of the best games made, never mind best MMO.
@ Gust, why not just make a permade character? You come fully geared in the best armour possible! GW really wasn’t gear heavy even in PVE.
“and finally external iPhone and browser apps to make the game even more accessible”
What does that mean, aps to trade? The game is clearly not going to run full engine on an iPhone.
I’m looking forward to GW2 (GW was one of the few uncrippled MMOs ever released) but suck is my default MMO prediction and I’ll take that bet. GW2 won’t be best MMO ever made, never mind one of the best games.
The app and browser version GW2 allows a player to talk to guild mates, invite friends, manage their inventory and trade items, all while offline.
WoW retains the crown as the best MMO on the market (not simply due to sheer subscription numbers) yet GW2 is already many showing signs of surpassing it in almost every way.
Aion, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Champions Online are all poor compared to Guild Wars, let alone the sequal.
While GW2 may not surpass WoW for player numbers, it doesn’t mean it won’t be a better game. The list of WoWs faults and terrible game design is so long I’d be here all day writing about.
GW2 not only builds on strong foundations, but implements genre changes that will be felt for a generation. The media hasn’t blown up in excitement for no reason, it’s because it really does look and play so well.
So GW2 is a different experience…well, let’s assume it is. I love the idea of aggressive monsters and the game looks freaking beautiful. I’m happy they’ve dumped a “healer” class and I hope that means they are nuking the tired “tank-healer-DPS” MMO character schematic.
Never mind we hear this kind of hype with every single MMO heading to market. If GW2 delivers and is the best game ever made, I’m not touching it.
To me at least, to millions at most, a good MMO is like heroin. It’s impossible to only play a little, or only on Saturdays, or only an hour a day. It is impossible to significantly progress without massive playtime. It’s simply in the game’s best interests to be as addictive as possible, and I am particularly vulnerable to it.
When I played WoW, it was all I played. It seemed fun at the time, but looking back at it, I just wanted another ding. If GW2 is actually fun, then forget about playing other games or going outside or seeing movies or spending time with the kids. Sure, I would spend time with my family, but I would be thinking about this damn game all the time. Forget about playing other games.
Christ–I can’t even log off to escape any more if I can trade while off-line. I don’t want to be constantly thinking about my character and my guild and our nemeses and my inventory during my waking hours.
The glorious thing about Civilization and games like it is that I can move at my own pace without penalty. MMOs reward regular sustained play much more tangibly than any other style of game–that’s why they are so popular. Don’t have the time? Too bad! Your friends are now 10 levels higher than you and your items suck!
To those with the time and desire–have fun because it does indeed sound awesome. Pawn some noobs for me!
All fair points Jason for a traditional style of MMO, Guild Wars however has never been like that, and the new one is even better.
1. There is no healer arch type any longer. All classes can heal an ressurect.
2. You’ll no longer waste time looking for an optimal party, as there isn’t one; all classes are equally important.
3. Its free to play, so there is no pressure to achieve anything, it’s at your own pace.
4. All gear, armour and weapons are given to you by ArenaNet when you take part in PvP and endgame content. There is NO need to grind. You are auto boosted, auto
Skilled, and auto geared by the game the moment you take part in any PvP.
5. There is no reward for excessive play, and racing to level cap- see point 4.
6. Experience points needed to level up actually level off and remain static after a certain level. Meaning it doesn’t get harder to level the higher you get, just a set standard figure, making leveling incredibly fluid.
7. You can level up throughout the entire game, without ever needing a group.
These 7 steps remove almost every fault every MMO has, as well as remove any of your anxieties 😉
Dear Mr. Dobry, Nov 12, 2010
We sincerely thank you for your $39.95 and we acknowledge your truly exceptional time requirements outside the game at home and work. Therefore, we automatically enrolled you in the ‘play stand in’ program (where all the characters you could possibly play and all the choices you could possibly make are simultaneously run in our new “Schroedinger’s Cat” quantum simulator) and this letter is to celebrate your character’s substantial victory over evil that occurred on October 13 at 23:12GMT. Transcript follows:
DAWG! We did it! OMFG You were awesome! Now that’s a final boss fight that will be talked about for ages. And the boys in the pub are still ROAWRING over when you sliced the head off the Silver Lizard of Labyrinthian Diabolism with the fabled Katana of Mersh. You healed everyone while wielding and automatically reached level 235 at the end LOL.
That’s a great story and your impact on our game was exceptional. Mr. Dobry, your participation in GuildWars 3 is extremely important to us, and we’ve automatically enrolled you in our ‘pay now, play later’ program (cost a mere $39.99, game arrival est. 2013)
Have a nice day,
Evolina Harthurst
ArenaNet
I fully intend a return to GW & finish the expansions. Even more motivated to do so once the multitudes move on to GW2. I approach MMOs like my own personal online adventure sandboxes – honor & glory, recognition & achievements mean nothing to me.
Right now I’m playing an open beta of Zentia. Fun & easy, great sense of humor, love the Asian inspired game world. As Zentia is originally a Chinese release, all npcs speak Chinese (Ne-how!) & some menus are still untranslated. Haven’t enjoyed an mmo this much since my first days in Elwynn Forest.
Someday I also plan a foray in Everquest II – bought the boxed set of all expansions but the latest for $19.99. Mines of Moria expansion for LotRO, that’s waiting too. For the unambitious such as I, F2P is fantastic for drop-in visits without forever commitments.
Having obsessively played three MMOs (WoW, GW, and half brilliant/half broken ATTID) I’m hopeful but sticking to suck until I’m playing it so I’ll take the bet! Been burned too many times. Pre-release and early play impressions of MMOs aren’t reliable. “This is great…oh, there’s nothing to do after ten hours.”
The change to mob triggers sounds great but I can think of a dozen ways it could go horribly wrong.
Helmut–
You are an very bad person.
Lewis–here’s my reaction to your point-by-point presentation:
1. Good
2. I’ll believe it when I see it, but I doubt “all classes will be equally important” at launch or ever. Sounds like unattainable hype.
3. Free to play? Awesome.
4. Boosting and equal loot for PvP sounds brilliant…grinding is depressing. I think it would be even better if each player had so many “points” to spend on a variety of items, giving tactical and strategic choices.
5. No reward for excessive play? Come now, it must have some reward for a high playtime, but maybe you mean obsessive players aren’t gods compared to others.
6. Fluid leveling sounds reasonable, but I’d have to know more about the leveling system (how does my character improve, if at all?) to say more.
7. Solo-play is awesome!
Still not buyin’ it. Go away!
Haha Dobry, I shall convert thee!
2. All classes can heal, all classes can resurrect. Even tanking plays a less than important role. It’s easily possible.
3. Yes F2P.
4. Players can only customise their gear using a variety of gems etc. alongside personalising skill trees. It remains very tactical.
5. Nope, see 4. The only thing you’ll get through excessive play is a fat /played time.
6. Character stats improve each level through Player vs. Enemey, but your level and stats and gear are capped in PVP. I also am lead to believe skill > anything.
I was just saying that with all the points Lewis had made, the game can practically play itself.
See I can’t obsess on MMOs and I feel like that’s the whole point. It was fun playing GW with Finkbug and Yappette though.
Game looks disappointing. I have a feeling that they don’t take this game seriously. Move while casting magic? what? so I’m assuming that there’s no power hitting magic in this game. Level equally to level faster and no grinds? HA you still level and I’ve seen some bad quests which you will be doing again again, differently. Multiple thumbs down.
“See I can’t obsess on MMOs and I feel like that’s the whole point. It was fun playing GW with Finkbug and Yappette though.”
Still got the screenshots!
We could get the old team from the photos back together. Finkbug and Yapette, and Skout and some of the new blood we have around and we could cut a swath through those pretty pretties.
Finkbug please put up the screen shots if you can find them.
http://tinyurl.com/2bx3xa4
Found. Includes the nekkid dance party
God, that’s the one of me as a monk. I only played that one for a week and found out I’m no healer. Not much of a ranger either. Maybe the necro is for me next time.
I remember those snake things too. It took like 8 tries to beat that level. They would always swarm in right at the end and kill me every time.