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Jonathan Sharp bids farewell to Guild Wars 2
Jonathan Sharp has been involved with Guild Wars 2 for eight years as an important part of the public-facing development team. But all good things must come to an end, and Sharp's time with ArenaNet has done just that. Associate Game Director John Corpening announced on the forums last night that Sharp is moving on to pursue an undisclosed opportunity elsewhere. Sharp included a personal farewell: Hey all. I'm sad to say that I'll be leaving ArenaNet after 8 years with the company, and it's been an amazing ride! I've chatted with many of you on vent, we've debated on State of the game, we've tossed ideas back and forth on the forums, and I've met many of you in person at various cons! It has been my privilege, pleasure and honor to work with such a passionate and intelligent group of fans. You guys have always kept me honest, you've pushed me to better myself, and your ideas have helped to create GW2's success – we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for your love, passion and communication. I will always look back on my time here with love and gratitude, and much of that is owed to you, our wonderful fans. -Chap Sharp's role on the GW2 PvP team will be filled by PvP designer Hugh Norfolk, already well known to players who follow the game's developer activity with zeal. [Thanks to Dystopiq for the tip!]
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.
ArenaNet offers sneak peek at future Guild Wars 2 balance changes
Game design lead Jonathan Sharp took to the Guild Wars 2 official forums yesterday to offer players a "high level" look at ArenaNet's plans for profession balance and improvements. Although the changes won't be going into effect until the October 15th release -- and Sharp cautions that some of them might not make it in that early -- ArenaNet wants to provide fans with a chance to see where each profession is headed and to offer feedback. Several nifty quality of life improvements are also in the works, such as updated trait tooltips and more options for fast cast ground targeting. In another forum post, lead content designer Mike Zadorojny gave fans an update on GW2's highly anticipated looking-for-group tool. To ensure quality and stability, a beta version of the tool will be released with next week's Tequatl Rising content patch and will initially be available to a limited number of players. As the week goes on, greater numbers of players will have access to the tool. [Thank you to Siphaed for the tip!]
Guild Wars 2 devs talk balance with the GW2Guru community
The folks at Guild Wars 2 Guru collected some questions from their community for the Guild Wars 2 team last month and the results are back. Jonathan Sharp and Jon Peters of ArenaNet stepped in to answer the barrage of questions. The interview is meaty, but as the GW2G admin says in the comments, not all original questions were answered. But we do get some info on weapon skills staying the same for now, a focus on trait revisions, and the inevitable pigeon-holing of classes, despite ArenaNet's attempts at squashing the "holy trinity" of class distribution. If you're interested in learning more about how the company looks to keep the game balanced and still growing in the future, check out the full interview.
ArenaNet devs dish on WvW, new achievements, and more
ArenaNet trotted out a trio of game devs yesterday to answer your Guild Wars 2 questions via livestream. The vidcast has since been archived on the company's TwitchTV channel, and we've also embedded it just past the cut for your convenience. Taking center stage are Anet's Mike Zadorojny, Jonathan Sharp, and Matt Witter. Topics include revitalizing deserted PvE areas, a new achievement system, and various world-vs. world tweaks.
Guild Wars 2 starts Lost Shores, previews new PvP map
Hot on the heels of Halloween 2012, Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores content update seeks to prove if the masterminds at ArenaNet can keep up the pace and quality of their releases. The multi-stage event began today at 3:00 p.m. EST and will continue through Sunday, November 18th. Massively has you covered on all the info, from a primer on the event to the official schedule to a spoiler-free look at the new content. If you have a couple minutes before rushing into the game to check out the event, you might want to stay tuned for a 15-minute video on the game's new PvP map, Temple of the silent Storm. ArenaNet PvP Coordinator Jonathan Sharp takes us through all of the intricacies of the new map mechanics.
ArenaNet explains upcoming Guild Wars 2 PvP features
Guild Wars 2 has a pretty active and dedicated sPvP community. ArenaNet's Jonathan Sharp took to the blog today to talk to that community (and the rest of you peasants, too) about some upcoming goodies for PvP. Right now, players are able to compete in structured automated tournaments. These free tournaments pit eight teams of five against each other, with reward chests, glory, and rank going to the top four teams. Soon, players will also be able to participate in paid automated tournaments. Tickets for entry can be found in reward chests from free tournaments, bought in the gem store, or received whenever a player hits a new sPvP rank. Every team in the paid tournaments will receive a reward, but the four teams with the best performance will get better loot -- including gems. What better way to hone your skills for paid tournaments than by renting custom arenas in which to practice? Custom arenas can be rented by players with options for password protection, scrimmage hosting, and setting a custom map rotation. Sharp promised more information about custom arenas in a future blog post, and said that after paid tournaments and custom arenas come online, the team will turn its focus to other key features for making Guild Wars 2 sPvP even better.
Guild Wars 2 paves the way for e-sports
What you'll see in Guild Wars 2's competitive player-vs.-player combat at launch is only the tip of the iceberg, says ArenaNet Systems Designer Jonathan Sharp. The PvP team has e-sports on the mind, according to Sharp, and the system's only going to grow from here. "We looked at sports when we were designing Guild Wars 2 from day one," Sharp said. "If you walk through the office on a given day, there are people watching streaming. We're watching and we have plans to do some of that stuff." The game will release with free tournaments but will soon have paid versions with gem rewards as well. "It's more of a case of putting money on the line and somebody's going to get some really cool stuff," Sharp said. The e-sports aspect of the game will be expanded into daily, monthly, and yearly tournaments as well as customizable ones. And yes, spectator mode is still forthcoming, although it's not quite ready for prime time. Even with the system expanding, ArenaNet wants to keep it simple and easy to understand for all. The team is striving to keep the rules of PvP consistent, giving players ways to express their personality during matches. The devs are hopeful that visual cues in combat will help players understand what's happening on the battlefield.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Information overload
Early last week I had a fail-proof strategy in place for handling Gamescom. I'd diligently watch the Guild Wars 2 news coming from the event, and at the end of the week, do a nice neat wrap-up for all of you. It's OK, you can laugh -- I am. Talk about trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon! There is one thing I can wrap up for you: Last week there were ArenaNet blog posts and site updates, over a dozen interviews and articles written, nine photo galleries (one from ArenaNet), 17 video interviews, and over 100 game footage videos. So how do you even begin to process all of that, especially when you consider that there's another wave coming in just a few days? Follow along after the jump and let's take a look!
