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Watch Guild Wars 2's official livestream show
Guild Wars 2 has a new official livestream show that you can watch at 3:00 p.m. EST. The show's called Points of Interest and stars Kate Welch, Leif Chappelle, and Theo Nguyen. The first episode will be looking back at the Living World's Season 1. You can watch the livestream after the break!
Jukebox Heroes: Guild Wars 2's living story soundtrack
I'm going to make a bold statement here that might net me some haters, but here goes: I think that Guild Wars 2 is better off now that it's cast off Jeremy Soule and moved on to in-house composers. Soule's soundtrack was great in parts, but he's not the be-all, end-all of good video game music. And his company's unexplained decision to yank the soundtrack from its store (and not even offer a digital version) irks me beyond the telling of it. Good luck finding it! So today I'm going to give tribute to the two men who have been forging ahead -- spectacularly, I might add -- with scoring Guild Wars 2's ongoing living story updates. Maclaine Diemer and Leif Chappelle have been whipping up a wide variety of tunes to go with the various story elements and events. To ArenaNet's credit, the studio has been posting these downloadable tracks for free on SoundCloud. And while rumor has it that Diemer and Chappelle are already composing music for season two, I thought it'd be worthwhile to go back and share some of my favorites from their season one portfolio. I won't be dipping into Super Adventure Box, however, as we did that last year.
Jukebox Heroes: More of Guild Wars 2's soundtrack
It's been well over a year since I last touched on Guild Wars 2's OST, Super Adventure Box aside. Wow, has it really been that long? Sometimes it seems as if it just came out! At this point in the game's lifespan, there are two categories of music that you'll find: the Jeremy Soule original soundtrack and the in-house pieces done by Maclaine Diemer and Leif Chappelle. I'm going to wrap up my favorite Soule selections in this column and leave the latter category for a later column. Let's get down to making out with our ears, shall we? Here are six more great Guild Wars 2 tracks that are among my personal favorites.
Launch an assault on Twilight Arbor in Guild Wars 2's new Aetherpath
Scarlet Briar and her Aetherblades are doing a little remodeling work on Twilight Arbor in Guild Wars 2's Twilight Assault content update. No, no need to thank them -- after all, they live there too, now. We're a little concerned that the new modern industrial decor might clash with the existing creepy nature theme, but that's really the Nightmare Court's problem. Your job is to evict all of them, because as tenants go they really suck. The new level 80 explorable path for GW2's Twilight Arbor dungeon -- dubbed the "Aetherpath" -- is the brainchild of the ArenaNet content team responsible for Aetherblade Retreat, along with content designer Leif Chappelle, who worked on the Molten Weapons Facility. Chappelle and his party of professional dungeon runners were kind enough to give us a partial tour of the content, which combines feedback and lessons learned from previous content to provide a challenging new experience. Jump past the break to check it out!
Jukebox Heroes: Super Adventure Box's soundtrack
OK, yeah, how could I not do this? I know that we at Massively have gone a little ga-ga over ArenaNet's stellar April Fools' Day prank-slash-massive update, but when I saw that the team released a half-hour of original score in addition to all of the pixelated monkey mayhem, I knew I had to review it. Your enjoyment of Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure Box and its score will largely depend on your memories or feelings about old-school video games. For a kid who grew up on 8-bit and 16-bit games, the sound of SAB is pure nostalgia (even if it is original composition). I think it's also as catchy as cooties. Composers Maclaine Diemer and Leif Chappelle put in a lot of effort to not just make a classic-sounding soundtrack here but specifically reference and pay homage to plenty of old-school hits. Hang with me as I highlight the best of Super Adventure Box, and I promise that next week we'll get back to serious business.
Listen to the entire Guild Wars 2 Super Adventure Box soundtrack
Enjoying your Super Adventure Box groove in Guild Wars 2? Then you've probably noticed the kicking 8-bit tunes as well. ArenaNet Composers Maclaine Diemer and Leif Chappelle put together 26 minutes of brand-new (and old-school) music tracks to power the super adventure, and you can listen to the whole shebang on SoundCloud. "It's not easy reducing a lush, bombastic orchestral piece into just the four channels we have available to us for 8-bit music," Diemer said. "After the initial statement of the theme, a galloping rhythm and bass line with more of a classic Zelda feel kick in, followed by a new melody that bridges the gap between the Guild Wars 2 we know and love and the world of Super Adventure Box." What's even better is that each of the tracks has composer notes attached to them, so if you're interested in how the duo came up with these catchy tunes and what inspired them, your curiosity shall soon be sated.
Guild Wars 2's living story to 'grow in scope and grandeur'
Guild Wars 2 Living World Designer Leif Chappelle continues ArenaNet's efforts to educate and sell the concept of gradually unfolding stories to the playerbase. Chapelle says that several storytelling tools are being employed, including open world activities, dungeons, crafting, and instanced episodes. "What we're creating is an actual chronology of the world," Chappelle says. "The events of Flame and Frost will create repercussions throughout the world, bringing new tales and conflicts to light. Through the course of 2013, the concept of these Living World releases will grow in scope and grandeur as we move ahead and build up the groundwork to make this a key component of the developing and ever-changing world of Guild Wars 2." While the event is going on, players will have the option to go back in time and see earlier stages of the story, but this will be denied once the arc is complete. Chapelle says that the team has worked hard to make the UI more clear in regards to steering players to the right areas for the story. ArenaNet is currently selling Guild Wars 2 for 30% off until April 1st.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Life in the legions
Last week, Leif Chapelle, a content designer, took some time to update the ArenaNet blog with a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at personal story in Guild Wars 2. He sketched out the structure of how players' biography choices affect their storyline: "To experience every potential storyline being told from level one to 10, you'd need to play the game 30 times (five races times three initial storylines times two internal branches in each storyline)... We have 80 levels of progression for your character, and every 10 levels or so, you'll begin a new chapter in your story." To someone who has rolled a seemingly endless string of alts in virtually every game I've played and is extraordinarily trigger-happy when it comes to remaking characters, this shows a great deal of promise. I'm sure it's quite an angstilicious idea for people who want to savor ALL THE STORY, but I hope that such types might admit (however grudgingly) that too much story is a better option than too little.
