mesmer
Latest
Choose My Adventure: The Guild Wars 2 way
This week has been severely under-productive in light of my lofty Guild Wars 2 goals, but that's not a bad thing. Pippy Peat, the sad yet determined I-think-I-can Mesmer has wielded his two-handed greatsword with gusto and has been fighting a valiant fight. The jarring emptiness of Metrica Province has left me wondering whether some of GW2's events are scaling improperly, are set too high, or aren't scaling at all. Nevertheless, there were plenty of events for me to take part in, and they've been my main source of experience for this week's Choose My Adventure. I've also come across some bugs and glitches that Massively's resident GW2 expert, Elisabeth Cardy, has helped me with. My greatsword is proving incredibly handy, mixed with clones of myself to distract the Inquest and random grumpy animals. I couldn't resist zapping some of the innocent critters littering the landscape. I'm sorry. Pippy is a sad, depressed, maybe narcissistic little Mesmer. Every once in a while, he takes his aggression out on the local fauna. Setting up a reasonable amount of polls is proving to be difficult. There are so many options for traits, weapons, and skills. It's staggering. Instead of trying to be all-inclusive for every aspect of the game, I'm trying to take into consideration how readers feel from votes and comments and use that as a guide. So what has Pippy has gotten himself into this week?%Gallery-170307%
ArenaNet releases a sneak peek of The Making of Guild Wars 2
Whether you've reserved one of the coveted Guild Wars 2 collector's edition or are too poor or uninterested to have done so, ArenaNet has a special treat for each and every one of you today. Continuing its blog series highlighting the collector's editions insides, ArenaNet posted three spreads (that's six pages) of the book The Making of Guild Wars 2. The revealed pages discuss the creation of the Mesmer class (which was apparently never in doubt), the difficulty of mastering the Necromancer and Thief professions, how the game was designed, the differences between Guild Wars' and Guild Wars 2's hex mechanics, and the effort that went into producing the game's many and varied creatures. This hardcover book is 112 pages and comes with full-color concept art, screenshots, and developer insights into the construction of the game. Earlier today we reported on ArenaNet's glimpse into the creation of the collector's edition statue.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Why must they starve then drown us?
Today's Flameseeker Chronicles title comes to you courtesy of one of Massively's livestream team members, echoing the wails of many news-starved fans of all things Tyrian. In a classic case of 'be careful what you wish for," we got the Guild Wars 2 Mesmer, two enormous Q&A sessions with the devs, a bit of closed beta news, and Wintersday and new costumes in Guild Wars 1, all in just a few short days. I need to lie down. While I do that, follow along after the jump for a rundown of all the excitement of last week.
Massively talks Mesmer: Our exclusive interview with Guild Wars 2 designer Eric Flannum
It's been days since we got the official Guild Wars 2 Mesmer reveal, but the excitement is still running strong through the fan community. Here at Massively, we're just as excited about it, so we took some time to sit down with game designer Eric Flannum and chat about some of the background and design details of the eighth and final Guild Wars 2 class. Follow along after the jump to see what he had to say!
The Daily Grind: Now that all Guild Wars 2 professions are revealed, which will you play?
Earlier this week, the internet exploded with a leaked reveal of Guild Wars 2's eighth profession: the Mesmer. The official reveal soon followed, with some of the most amazing skill videos and game mechanics to ever hit an MMO class. OK, so I'm a Mesmer fanboi. Sue me. But now that we can flip through the entire array of Guild Wars 2 professions, we're left with the question about what class to play... or play first. Will you be burning stuff with the Elementalist, bashing stuff with the Warrior, or shooting stuff with the Ranger? Perhaps you'd like to pander to your inner kleptomaniac by playing a Thief or dance with the dead as a Necromancer. Throw in the Guardian, Engineer, and Mesmer, and it's fairly impossible to pick just one. So which will you play first? Let us know your profession plans for Guild Wars 2 in the comments below. 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!
The MMO Report: This is why we can't have nice things edition
This week on The MMO Report, Casey explains that the leaked Guild Wars 2 Mesmer reveal is exactly why we can't have nice things. He highlights Lord of the Rings Online's first major update since the Rise of Isengard expansion, discusses the newly revealed Egyptian-themed zone in Funcom's upcoming The Secret World, and suggests that fan feedback -- "very loud fan feedback" -- is responsible for the fan-pandering of EVE Online's recent Crucible expansion. He also pokes a bit of fun at Q Entertainment's on-the-nose Ninety-Nine Nights Online, a "2-D PC action mmo [that] will most likely play exactly how you expect it to, with lots of clicks and clacks and plenty of hacks and slashes." Finally, Casey dips into Uncle Casey's Mailbag to read an email from a fan who believes Casey is a dead-ringer for Christopher Eccleston (of Doctor Who fame), which gave The Beard an opportunity to plug next week's special edition MMO Report, in which the crew will dish out some insider info on the inbound Doctor Who MMO. The full video is tucked behind the break.
ArenaNet unveils the Guild Wars 2 Mesmer
Broken embargoes and leaked videos aside, longtime fans of Guild Wars 2 are expressing a complete lack of surprise at today's Mesmer reveal. ArenaNet finally unveiled the long-awaited eighth class this morning: the iconic Mesmer, the class that's been nearly synonymous with the Guild Wars name since 2005. OK, maybe that's a little on the dramatic side, but after fans waited through seven other classes, two books, and quite literally years of development news, it's Kind of a Big Deal. Now it's finally here, so what's it like? Let's take a closer look at the Guild Wars 2 Mesmer class.
Mesmerizing revelation: Guild Wars 2's Mesmer is the final class
No, faithful Guild Wars 2 fans, this is not an illusion: The Mesmer is in the game, so stop rubbing your eyes and pinching your arms in disbelief. To be honest, if ArenaNet had announced that the eighth and final profession for Guild Wars 2 was anything but the Mesmer, there would have been worldwide riots. Fortunately, such is not the case, as the studio confirmed in a brief tweet that the Mesmer would be the last addition to the class roster. According to the tweet, the full reveal of the Mesmer was slated for Wednesday, but the CMs said that "someone jumped the gun" and let the information slip earlier than desired. Apparently GameReactor Denmark jumped the embargo and posted a video about the reveal (the video has since been removed from the site). We'll be waiting for the official unveiling with bated breath!
Leaderboard: GW's Gwen vs. EQ's Firiona Vie
Like breakfast cereals and discount tire retailers, MMO companies have a long tradition of cultivating mascots to promote their games. Typically, said mascot is on the cover, shows as much cleavage as the ESRB allows, and is shooting rainbow magic from her navel. Or something. Today, Leaderboard is pitting two of the more well-known MMO mascots against one another, sort of like Top Model if Top Model contained three-dimensional characters. In the left corner is Guild Wars' Gwen, an orphan, refugee, warrior, and storybook princess all rolled into one. In the right corner is Firiona Vie, the Vanna White of EverQuest box art. Firiona may be flaunting a bit more skin than battle protocol requires, but it's certainly served the purpose of getting players to pick up the box and wonder whether true Elfy love lies within. Gwen's recent marriage to Keiran Thackeray unfortunately takes her off the market to those hoping that a sentient computer would digitize and throw them into a video game in the hopes of (ahem) mesmerizing her with charm. It's Elfish mage vs. human mystic, blonde bombshell vs. goth cutie in today's knockout poll! Hit the jump to cast your vote.
Guild Wars 2 designers discuss the last three Guild Wars 2 professions
Are the Mesmer and Assassin returning to Guild Wars 2 or not? Speculation on these two professions has been ongoing and enthusiastic among Guild Wars fans, and designers Eric Flannum and Jon Peters added a hefty dose of fuel to the fire in their interview with Eurogamer today. The two didn't offer a definitive answer on these two classes but hinted that the Mesmer profession might not be returning exactly as we know it. Jon Peters commented that "people who enjoy that playstyle will be happy," but didn't offer further clarification. Eric Flannum did confirm that we have one more light armor class and two more medium armor classes -- what those are remain to be seen, hopefully very soon. Check out the full interview at Eurogamer.
Player vs. Everything: Coolest classes ever
For most fantasy MMOGs, the basic classes you can expect to be playing aren't too hard to predict. Whether you're a stalwart warrior with shield in hand, a crafty mage raining fiery bolts of destruction, a sneaky rogue with poison on his knife, or a benevolent cleric healing the wounds of his allies, you make up part of what's known as the holy trinity of MMOs: Tank-DPS-Healer. You need someone to get your foe's attention, someone to whack them over the head until they die, and someone to keep everyone alive until that happens. Everything else is just icing on the cake. We can debate the merits of that particular combat system as long as you like, but what I really wanted to point out is how boring those three specialized roles are. The four archetypes I mentioned are a staple in almost every single fantasy MMOG on the market, but they're far from the most interesting ones. While it's true that you can't get by without them, they've become so vanilla-flavored at this point that they're practically passé. Whenever I log into a new game and look at their class list, I wince a little. "Oh, a chance to be a brave warrior... again. Hmm. Mage? Rogue? Meh." I've always been a big fan of classes that went against the grain, played outside the box, and did something a little different from the "core" classes. Not everyone needs to fit nicely into those three archetypal slots. The classes that don't often turn out to be the most rewarding and fun to play, in my experience. That said, I thought I'd take a look at some of the more interesting class designs in the games I've played and discuss what made them so cool.
A "meta" class for WoW
Draele over at Rantings of the Afflicted asks if WoW could ever have what he calls a "meta" class. He lists the examples of Mesmer in Guild Wars or a Psionicist in Vanguard, and I'll add to that the Sorcerer class in Dark Age of Camelot-- classes that depend on manipulation and mind control rather than direct damage or healing.I'd say that it's possible, but extremely unlikely. Why? Because WoW is based on an RTS game, and in RTS, there's not a lot of complicated manipulation going on-- either you're attacking or defending, or some mix of the two. There hasn't really been any precedent (that I can think of or stretch to) in the Warcraft universe for a Bard or "Mesmer" class, and that's why it's pretty unlikely that Blizzard will try to break out past the trinity of usual MMO archetypes. Not to mention that, as Draele says, a meta class is a complex thing to create and play, and WoW tends to be more casual than complex.Of course, never say never. There's a lot in this universe that hasn't even been hinted at in the game yet, and as was mentioned in last week's podcast, Death Knights will likely only be the beginning of hero classes, so who knows what Blizzard could come up with.
