ORR
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Google employees don't want it to work with US border agencies
In a newly published petition, Google employees are demanding the search giant not bid on a recent cloud computing contract from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's living story and the Orrian menace
The cleansing of Orr has long been a popular source of speculation in the community, which is why I asked Colin Johanson about the possibility of it happening in the course of Guild Wars 2's living story when I interviewed him in July. Although I understood his reasoning, I was still disappointed by the answer: that it'd be very difficult to change Orr due to its intersection with the personal story but that in future chapters ArenaNet will do its best to make sure no areas end up locked in time. In a recent Q&A session, our own Richie Procopio asked ArenaNet president Mike O'Brien a similar question and got a somewhat different response. According to O'Brien, the studio's original intent was to steer away from content that could impact the personal story in the interest of simplicity; however, ArenaNet wants to make sure that nothing is off limits to the living story overall. I'm trying not to read too much into that, since it could just be a different way of phrasing what Johanson said, but given a little hope to cling to I'd like to discuss why it's so important that ArenaNet not establish any existing content as off-limits -- especially not Orr.
Flameseeker Chronicles: My Guild Wars 2 wishlist
Having hit level 80 on one character, finished the personal storyline, delved into dungeons, been handed my backside in PvP, conquered keeps in WvW, and run around like a chipmunk on crack with multiple alts, I feel that I am totally in a position to pass absolute judgment on Guild Wars 2. Well, I've at least had enough time to draw some firm opinions about the game. There are a lot of things I like, but there are also things I wish were different. This is by no means a conclusive list of those things. What are they? You'll never know unless you skip below the jump. Go on. You know you want to.
Flameseeker Chronicles: The game at the end of Guild Wars 2
Let's hear it for information! Last week ArenaNet developers Eric Flannum and Colin Johanson streamed a "TAD talk" (that apparently stands for The ArenaNet Developers, but I prefer to think it's something along the lines of Truthy And Designerrific or The Answer Dump) about endgame in Guild Wars 2. There was some pretty neat stuff. This, as a necessity, pretty much all relates to PvE. Sure, you could argue that PvP is endgame, as in it's something-to-when-you-are-level-80, but when you consider the way that PvP works in Guild Wars 2, it's actually something you do anytime you like. That might be all the time; that might be none of the time. So PvP and WvW will always be waiting there with open arms for you when you need to spice up your in-game life. They are constant. You don't fight your way up to level 80 and then think, "Gee, I'm competitive in PvP now!" That's part of ArenaNet's design philosophy. The team has a stated goal of not wanting to change the game drastically for endgame. If you're at the point in time that's marked "endgame," you've ostensibly enjoyed the game for the last 80 levels (otherwise, why on earth would you not quit?), so what ArenaNet doesn't want to do is suddenly give you something completely different to fill your days. That leaves some people feeling like there is no endgame because the endgame in Guild Wars 2 is strikingly similar to the rest of the game.
ArenaNet devs talk legendary weapons, endgame, and more
Have you always wanted to wield a unicorn bow and shoot trails of rainbows? (We know you have; don't lie to us.) If you have, ArenaNet developers Eric Flannum and Colin Johanson have confirmed today that Guild Wars 2 is the game for you. The two devs took to Guild Wars 2's Twitch page today to talk about late- and endgame content and progression for the game. To begin with, they talked about Orr, the erstwhile city of the gods, which has recently been turned into the abode of the dragon Zhaitan and his reanimated minions. Orr has no renown hearts, the quest-like activities that have been known to litter the lower-level areas, "because there are generally very few friendly NPCs in Orr." Instead, players' focus in Orr will be on huge events. There are roughly twice as many dynamic events in the Orrian areas as in other explorable zones; many of these are tied together as nets, rather than simple chains. Events tend to have farther-reaching effects than we've seen so far in lower-level areas, putting emphasis more on holistic zone control and cooperation than in the early game. Johanson suggested that players will need to recapture the fallen temples of the old gods and then keep control of those while also pushing deeper into the zone and fighting baddies at the frontlines.
Flameseeker Chronicles: And this is a big deal why?
ArenaNet revealed some exciting news this week -- well, technically it revealed exciting news about upcoming news. Gamescom is just a few short weeks away, and Community Team Lead Martin Kerstein penned a blog post telling what fans can expect to see at the event. Fasten your seatbelts, Guild Wars 2 fans, because whatever you've been waiting to see is probably on the to-be-unveiled list for Gamescom this year. Sylvari, Asura, PvP, mid-level play, character customization -- you name it and it's there. While exciting, all of this upcoming news has the potential to be really confusing, particularly if you haven't been following Guild Wars 2 news closely for the past year or two. This week I've put together a little primer to help explain the history and basics of each of the big reveals coming to Gamescom. Follow along after the jump to make sure you're up to speed!
