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ArenaNet teases Guild Wars 2's road to war
After a break, a feature pack, and the yearly antics of the Thorn family, the second season of Guild Wars 2's living world will soon be back in business. The business is, of course, preparing to fight Elder Dragons; the We got to talk with ArenaNet's Lead Writer Bobby Stein and Associate Game Director Steven Waller about how the living world story has marked out what the team calls the "road to war" against Mordremoth and its minions. But as Game Director Colin Johanson said in his latest blog post, "The road to war is paved with points of no return." That doesn't exactly sound good for Tyria, but it may be exciting for GW2 fans who are looking forward to something big.
Flameseeker Chronicles: How Guild Wars 2's living world can liven up roleplay
Scarlet Briar is planning an attack on Lion's Arch, the central hub city of Guild Wars 2. L.A. is the city where all of the playable races -- and plenty of individuals from others -- live together in one big, piracy-flavored metropolis; despite the theme of ruthless capitalism, it's also a place that symbolizes peace and camaraderie. Humans in Kryta may view diversity as an astonishing novelty, but the people of L.A. chortle at the hayseeds and go about their business. Among the GW2 roleplayers I know, several have characters who live in Lion's Arch. A few of them were born and raised there. After watching some of us chat about the massive upheaval the city's destruction will create in the lives of those characters, one of my favorite people ventured that this was probably a bad time for her to dip her toes into GW2's RP scene, right? Nope. In fact, there hasn't been a better time to jump in since, well, ever.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's tower flower power hour
I'm super into the idea of open-world endgame zones, which is admittedly strange because my experience with them hasn't been great. They usually involve a lot of dying in terrible places, kill-stealing, and people tripping over one another in a way that creates centuries-long mutual hatreds. Guild Wars 2's Tower of Nightmares zone manages to mostly avoid the latter two by virtue of ArenaNet's core game design choices, but the first appears to be a defining feature of the content. If you haven't yet found yourself pushing up toxic daisies while Scarlet's minions casually play board games on your corpse, you haven't... uh... lived. It's pretty awesome. That might sound strange, but when everything comes together the tower plays like a big, magnificent dungeon where parties can form on the fly. It follows, then, that it's a lot less painful when approached as a dungeon rather than as a zone where the goal is to race to the instance at the end.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Cultivating positive growth in Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2's Tower of Nightmares release has been with us for the past week, transforming formerly beautiful (if centaur-populated) Kessex Hills into a toxic wasteland. The source of the devastation is a massive, thistle-topped structure in Viathan Lake, which was built and defended by the Krait and Nightmare Court. A whole lot of mystery is tied up in that thing, from Krait religion to Nightmare ambitions to the involvement of Scarlet Briar, but Marjory Delaqua and her partner Kasmeer Meade are on the case. The Pact has also gotten involved by aiding with research and demolishing the tower plant's offshoots, which are spreading on the wind like dandelions, only I wouldn't recommend adding them to salads, and they're not fluffy. The ArenaNet team responsible for this release has made some praiseworthy improvements over previous releases, which supports the idea that GW2's living world is still a work in progress with lots of room to grow. Combined with some interesting developer responses from the collaborative development initiative, I think it paints a promising picture of where the story is going in the upcoming months.
ANet's Stein talks Guild Wars 2 design team goals and roles
ArenaNet lead writer Bobby Stein is featured in an interview at Guild Wars 2 Hub. Stein talks about how his role has evolved since the game's launch, the challenges inherent in GW2's new two-week content cadence, and a host of other design-related topics. Stein also offers some frank analysis with regard to GW2's lofty pre-launch goals. "You can't pour your blood, sweat, and tears into something for more than five years and not see a million things that you'd do differently, if given the chance," he explains.
Guild Wars 2 writers talk (at length) about MMO story
What's it like to pen the narrative for one of the most anticipated MMORPGs, well, ever? It's quite different from writing a novel or a screenplay, according to ArenaNet's Angel McCoy. She joins Guild Wars 2 lead writer Bobby Stein and Peter "The Explorer" Fries for an MMO story-flavored sit-down with fan site Under the Pale Tree. The interview is a lengthy one (who knew that writers could be so wordy?), and it covers a bunch of ground including the megalithic sprawl of GW2's narrative, the challenges inherent in writing particular races, and the differences between in-game dialogue and cutscene exposition. There's more to it, of course, but honestly the thing is so huge that we're going to go finish reading it after we've jotted down this here news post.
The MMO Report: GW2 field trip edition
This week on The MMO Report, Casey treks to Burbank, California, to check out Guild Wars 2's voice-acting studio and interview ArenaNet lead writer Bobby Stein. Stein tells the crew that his team has been working on GW2's voice-overs for three years, resulting in approximately 70 or 80 times the amount of voice work for Guild Wars 1's final installment, Eye of the North. Casey also interviews a trio of women portraying female Charr characters, but it just wouldn't be an MMO Report field trip if Casey hadn't given the voice acting a try himself. Rising to such stage directions as "he's a cat" and "now try it drunk," Casey receives a hard-earned standing ovation from the sound booth. All this and more in the MMO Report video tucked behind the break!
ArenaNet lead writer Bobby Stein interviewed on script-writing, voice-overs
Today, Tap Repeatedly has an exclusive interview with ArenaNet's lead writer Bobby Stein. The interview covers a variety of script-related details, such as the difference in approach between Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, what led to the decision to implement full voice-overs, and some of the difficulties the studio faces in doing so. He also offers some juicy tidbits on just how voice-acting will affect the atmosphere of the game, one exciting example being: "Say you're travelling a road between two towns, when a guard approaches you in a frenzy. He emphatically tells you that the estate he's guarding is under attack, and that the family–including a small child–is in danger. You storm the property and cut through waves of pirates. Meanwhile, you hear the owners down below cowering in fear. But you've arrived a few moments too late. You overhear the kidnapping take place, and the pirates whisk the little girl to their hideout for ransom. If you're quick about it you can even watch them make the journey." It's an absolute gold mine for anyone anticipating GW2, and doubly so for any of you who are particularly interested in the writing end of game development. Click on over to Tap Repeatedly for the full interview.
Guild Wars 2 Norn week continues with new video and developer interview
In what might well be the highlight of Norn week, ArenaNet has released a wealth of information to Guild Wars 2 fans this morning. A new video, screenshots and art, and an interview with the developers combine to tell players all about what they can expect if they choose to play a Norn character. Where and how will you live? What are your surroundings like? Jeff Grubb, Ree Soesbee, Eric Flannum, and Bobby Stein gathered to deliver some insight on the Norn and gave us some exciting new details in the bargain. For example, the Norn trait of being in sympathy with nature isn't limited to the animal forms we're familiar with so far. For example, Eric Flannum explained that Norn players can use that affinity to call upon the wurm spirit and summon a temporary wurm pet to assist in battle. While we're not sure you'd want one sticking around and following you home, they make for handy companions to call on in a pinch. The new video, set to Jeremy Soule's instantly recognizable background score, offers sweeping views of some of the Norn home areas. The video, which is a combination of familiar and new footage, deserves at least two viewings to allow you to take it all in -- thanks both to the sheer size of it all and the intricate detail. From the shields mounted high above to the weapons on the fences below, there's more to see than can be parsed in one viewing. The screenshots are a combination of new and old too, but even the familiar ones have new bits of information here and there. The Norn female we saw way back when is now clearly identified as a Ranger in the image title, for example. Follow along after the jump for the video, a gallery of the new images, and the developer interview!
New ArenaNet blog post details dialogue in Guild Wars 2
Just yesterday, we talked a bit about the fact that Guild Wars 2 fans love the small details just as much as the large ones. As we learn more and more about Guild Wars 2, so much of what is exceptional about the game is found in those little details. Attention to the little things, right down to the stitching on a ranger's armor piece, adds up to create an overall sense of immersion and depth that helps make a good game a great one. That attention to detail comes heavily into play when the GW2 team looks at how the story is presented. Way back in May, Lead Designer Colin Johanson spoke at length about the traditional system of quests and quest text. We know that ArenaNet is actively rejecting the traditional -- and immersion breaking -- system, but what will take its place? We got some exciting news on that very thing last night, and as always, it's all in the details. Follow along after the jump to see for yourself.
ArenaNet introduces house style for Guild Wars 2
ArenaNet's latest blog entry is a bit of a departure from what we've grown used to lately. Rather than another big announcement or new information, they've focused a bit on the writing in Guild Wars 2 -- specifically, changes that they'll be making. Guild Wars 2 Lead Writer Bobby Stein gives some entertaining information on the process behind this new style, pointing out the inconsistencies and occasional silliness in the way things have been done until now. The short version is that they'll be conforming to the Chicago Manual of Style. The long version is contained in the blog post and a great read whether you've got the word nerd gene or not. Take a look at the full entry for all the details on how the writing in Guild Wars 2 will differ from that of Guild Wars.
MMO storyline writing: ArenaNet style
In a recent interview with Ten Ton Hammer, ArenaNet's Bobby Stein explains a great deal about the process of creating such an intriguing storyline as we have in Guild Wars. The company's Writing Team Lead speaks candidly about how they were able to concentrate the plot into the most efficient and interesting quest lines, walking that fine line between a boring wall of text and "nothing more than quest dispensers."Speaking briefly on the upcoming Guild Wars 2, Stein adds, "We were able to keep the coolest things from the world while letting the rest remain in the annals of history. Despite all that has changed, Tyria is very much in need of heroes. A lot can change in a few hundred years. New races have risen to prominence. New threats have surfaced. You'll see threads of current Guild Wars history, along with some new stories." Even as there's no new information on Guild Wars 2 here, it's still a compelling article for those interested in learning more about the storyline writing process from one of the best in the business.
