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'Guild Wars 2' cheater faces public humiliation before ban
Most cheaters in online role-playing games face an ignominious end. The developers ban them, and that's all she wrote. Not one particularly egregious Guild Wars 2 offender, however. When game developer ArenaNet finally took action against a hacker who had been terrorizing player-versus-player battles for weeks, the security team decided that some public humiliation was in order. It stripped one of the player's characters naked, jumped this persona off a ledge, and proceeded to delete every character linked to the account -- all recorded for posterity on video, as you can see below.
Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores content primer
We're just days away from Guild Wars 2's next big content patch and special event. So far the Lost Shores have been shrouded in mystery. Will the shores ever be found? Who lost them? Exactly how absent-minded does one have to be to misplace an entire shore? There are other, more pragmatic mysteries too. What is the content update all about? What can we expect? What sort of name do you give to a race of evil, bow-legged crustaceans? Happily, we're equipped to shed a little light on all those and more. Read on for our Lost Shores content primer!%Gallery-170657%
SteelSeries shows off new WoW wireless mouse, cache of corded rodents and a headset at E3
This time last year, SteelSeries showed us a headset and mouse meant for Diablo III, but at E3 2012, the company showed us a bunch of goodies. The highlight is the inaugural SteelSeries cordless offering, aptly named the World of Warcraft wireless mouse, which sports a themed skin and glowing white runes and logo on the palmrest (at least that's the plan, the prototype unit we saw didn't light up). Similarly, the charging base is studded in true Azeroth style and ringed in blue runes to let you know when it's powered up, plus it can be connected to your computer via microUSB if you want to play and charge simultaneously. It's PC and Mac compatible, comes with 11 programmable buttons, and once you've given it 60 minutes to fill its tank, you'll get up to 16 hours of continuous, intensive game play. It's set for a release in the latter half of this year and will cost $129. Along with the WoW model, we also got to see the gunmetal grey MLG edition Sensei and a pair of special-edition Kana mice -- for Dota 2 and CounterStrike: Global Offensive -- each uniquely skinned in the style of their namesake games. To go along with the CS:GO rodent, there's an accompanying headset (a Siberia v2 with a camo paint job) as well. Rounding things out is a GuildWars 2 branded headset and Sensei mouse. The stereo headset is the on-ear variety, and its flexible white frame can be folded down during travel. A 3.5mm input resides at the base of each earcup, and the open jack can be used to connect another set of headphones to share your audio with a friend. The headset's priced at $100, while the mouse will retail for $70 and will land on store shelves when Guildwars 2 is released.%Gallery-157403%
The Daily Grind: Have media impressions affected your excitement level for Guild Wars 2?
So our first official Guild Wars 2 impression pieces are in the books, and boy was there a lot to digest after ArenaNet's press preview weekend. Whether you're anxious to discover more about the game's combat, intrigued by an MMO that lacks dedicated healers, or looking forward to a transformed Tyria some 250 years after the original Guild Wars, there is plenty to chew on. Even those of us on the periphery of a game's fan community can get caught up in the pre-release groundswell, and though I've barely played the original game, I find myself quite intrigued by the reports coming from my colleagues. What about you, Massively readers? If you weren't already on board the fan train (or even if you were), has the recent media coverage upped your excitement level for Guild Wars 2? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Flameseeker Chronicles: What lies ahead
To say last week was exciting for Guild Wars 2 fans is a bit of an understatement. Mike O'Brien gave the community the news it's been dying to hear, Ree Soesbee told us all about the Jotun (no, seriously, I hate those guys and their stupid KDs), and... well, some other things happened too. We've got lots to talk about, so hit the jump and let's dive right in.
Flameseeker Chronicles: We don't need no stinkin' endgame
We talked a lot about the concepts of endgame and raiding on last week's Guildcast, but since not everyone has had time to watch it (and because the subject is still knocking around in my head), I want to address it a little more in this week's Flameseeker Chronicles. There are so many assumptions and so much speculation and so much talk about the concept as a whole and how it applies to Guild Wars 2, so let's dive on in.
Guild Wars 2 confirmed for 2012, public beta coming [Updated]
ArenaNet founder and president Mike O'Brien rocked the Guild Wars 2 community very early this morning with a blog post celebrating 2012 as the year of the dragon and the official launch year for Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 recently finished up a very small closed beta test, and now ArenaNet is planning to start opening the testing doors wider very quickly: "In February we'll invite select press to participate in beta testing, and in March and April we'll aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events so that many of you will have a chance to participate." This all leads up to the event fans have been eagerly awaiting on the edge of their seats: a 2012 launch for Guild Wars 2, according to O'Brien. He wrapped up the blog post with words guaranteed to put a big smile on the face of every fan: "So welcome to the Year of the Dragon – the year of Guild Wars 2." [Update: Martin Kerstein has further clarified ANet's plans on the GW2 Guru forums, reminding players that "public beta events" does not mean "unlimited open beta." He does say that at least some of these events will be in the form of weekend testing events.]
Flameseeker Chronicles: Efficient Hall of Monuments progress
Guild Wars 2 is drawing ever closer. It may not feel like it sometimes, but it's getting nearer each day. A lot of fans are easing the pain of the wait by playing through Guild Wars 1 in an effort to beef up their Hall of Monuments scores for the day GW2 arrives. The Hall of Monuments in GW might only award titles and cosmetic goodies, but we gamers do love our shinies, so lots of people are diving into present-day Tyria to make some HoM progress while they wait for GW2. I posted a series of Hall of Monuments guides almost a year and a half ago, and while most of it has stood the test of time very well, I want to revisit it. The reason I want to do this is to smooth the path a little more. So many people are still coming into Guild Wars for this reason, and starting from scratch with such an enormous goal can make a lot of them throw in the towel. Thankfully, ArenaNet has added some features into the game in the past few years that can make your Hall of Monuments progress more "hare" and less "tortoise," with the same prizes at the end. They all work together so you can get the most of your travels through Tyria in a much shorter time. This one's for the min-maxers, so follow along to read about three simple things you can keep an eye on to speed up your HoM progress!
MMO impressions from Eurogamer Expo 2011
Some of the industry's biggest names were at Eurogamer Expo last week, including BioWare, NCsoft and Trion Worlds. I was on the floor at the expo to get some hands-on experience with several upcoming MMOs and countless singleplayer games. Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic stole the show, with hands-on gameplay sessions and in-depth developer talks. BioWare also made the bold move of announcing SWTOR's official release date during its talk at the convention. In addition to promoting the heck out of RIFT, Trion showed off upcoming MMORTS End of Nations with a hands-on demo and encouraged attendees to sign up to the End of Nations newsletter. RIFT and World of Tanks were both playable on the show floor for the entire weekend, but nothing new was being shown. Hack-and-slash adventure RPG Dark Souls and the beautifully zen Journey both demonstrated incredibly innovative multiplayer aspects that I'll likely cover in my weekly Not So Massively column, but neither falls neatly into the MMO box. OnLive had a spectacular showing at the expo, giving away free home consoles to every attendee and demonstrating the system's surprisingly lag-free gameplay on the floor. We discovered that although there are no MMOs in OnLive's current lineup, this isn't due to technical infeasibility, so we may yet see MMOs launched on the service. Skip past the cut for my in-depth hands-on impressions of Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic and End of Nations from Eurogamer Expo 2011.
ArenaNet blog focuses on the Krait
Arenanet has updated its blog with a new post featuring the serpentine Krait race. Guild Wars players will be familiar with the shape-shifting creatures, but the blog post delves into detail beyond what most players would likely know (that is, how to make them dead). The piece details how the Krait are fond of keeping humans trapped inside great obelisks in the middle of the sea until they are ready to be sacrificed in one of the Krait's dark religious ceremonies (how messed up is that?) and more, including specifics on their society, religion, and dwellings. Also included is behind-the-scenes information from the team regarding why it has chosen to further develop the lore of this "unapologetically evil" race for Guild Wars 2.
J. Robert King talks about the second Guild Wars 2 novel, Edge of Destiny
As ArenaNet has been unveiling more and more racial lore about Guild Wars 2, there have been plenty of other sources for the upcoming game's backstory. Chief among those sources are the novels that have been mapping out the two centuries between the original Guild Wars and the sequel. Edge of Destiny is the second novel, written by J. Robert King, and it continues the story of the awakening Elder Dragons that shake the face of Tyria. We know that we've got more than a few regular readers interested in Guild Wars 2, and so we jumped at the opportunity to ask Mr. King a few questions about the storycrafting that went into writing Edge of Destiny. Click on past the break for more details on crafting the story and lore of Tyria's struggles and on how he worked in characters that are both iconic of the playable races while keeping them distinct and memorable.
Guild Wars 2 blog updates with Norn lore entry
The world of Tyria has long been possessed of deep and engaging lore, and the official ArenaNet blog has just updated with a bit more of the backstory that fans will be soaking up with the eventual release of Guild Wars 2. ANet's Ree Soesbee has penned a Norn-centric piece that offers a revealing look at the warrior race's affinity for the Spirits of the Wild. Soesbee's update focuses on four of the more important Spirits -- bear, snow leopard, raven, and wolf -- and features three story vignettes to go along with a bit of intro exposition in each case. Head to the official ANet blog for the latest update as Norn week comes to a close.
Guild Wars 2 uses iOS apps for 'extended experience'
Guild Wars 2 is going to become the latest big PC game to get a satellite iPhone app. Our friends at Massively have a post up about the "extended experience" that ArenaNet is going to offer in the MMO sequel. You won't be able to play the full game on your iPhone or iPad, but you will be able to chat with friends, browse the world of the game, access character and achievement information, and even wiki information about the game, either from a mobile location or just using the mobile device alongside you as you play. It all sounds really interesting, and actually very forward-thinking; lots of gamers have an extra device around them as they're playing these PC games, so why not use the iPhone or iPad to enable mobile connectivity and add on to the experience as you play. Guild Wars 2 is, of course, the sequel to the very popular first ArenaNet title, and it's expected out sometime in 2010 or 2011. The app will presumably be out sometime close to the game's release, though some of the functionality is mentioned as future plans, so we'll have to see. Meanwhile, there's a growing trend of supplementing PC gaming with iOS apps. Both Blizzard Entertainment and Fallen Earth developer Icarus Studios have released apps designed to work in tandem with their desktop titles. It's an intriguing idea -- most of the viewpoints on the App Store have it replacing traditional desktop computing, but these companies are using Apple's devices to supplement their other products.
The Digital Continuum: 'Meh' to MMOs?
While the MMO genre appears to be growing at a decent pace (at least for Blizzard) there's still plenty of room for growth. World of Warcraft clones can attract only so many interested players and turning to classic niche designs such as the sandbox MMO ala Fallen Earth won't do anything to pique the interest of people who otherwise have no interest in the genre. So what will appeal to someone who has never felt a desire to play a game both massively and multiplayer?
