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Borderlands bloodlust in Guild Wars 2's World vs. World
Changes are coming to Guild Wars 2 in tomorrow's Tequatl Rising patch, and not all of them have to do with dragons. ArenaNet's Devon Carver has written a blog post to let fans of World vs. World know what they can expect to see after the implementation of the new Borderlands Bloodlust buff -- and what they can expect not to see. The lakes in the center of the Borderlands maps are being replaced with Ruins of Power, which will provide benefits to the world that manages to capture and hold them. Players must capture three of the five ruins to access one rank of Borderlands Bloodlust, which will provide players from that world with a significant boost to stats. The downside is that the ruins must be defended from nasty, off-world Mist invaders (otherwise known as your fellow players) to prevent them from capturing your ruins and stealing your buff. Carver also discusses the philosophy behind the changes, which are meant to give players fun reasons to fight each other instead of krait and quaggan NPCs.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Simple pleasures in Guild Wars 2
Right after finally crafting The Flameseeker Prophecies, I took my in-game efforts down a couple of notches. As a result, I've had a few fairly quiet weeks in Guild Wars 2. It's not for lack of things to do or of goals; I've still got plans for oodles of armor sets, a few of the pseudo-legendary weapons, a double-handful of additional level 80 characters, and some titles. I've just been taking a more laid-back approach to achieving those goals. For the last month or so before getting my shield I was running two to three dungeons a day along with other things like camping meta events and going into Orr for T6 mats, which is by no means hardcore but has made for a very pleasant experience switching into a lower gear. I've been taking time to enjoy the simpler pleasures of Guild Wars 2.
The Daily Grind: How long will you suffer bugs and outages?
In the 10 days since its head start launch, Guild Wars 2 has suffered multiple outages and bugs, seemingly a new one every day. Even if we discount those players who lost their accounts to hacking, we've still seen players affected by in-game mail outages, exploits, overflow bugs, character creation and deletion issues, server transfer problems, guild system implosions, and a new email authentication system (which was meant to reduce the rate of hackings) that rendered even some Massively commenters and staffers unable to play the game over chunks of this holiday weekend. Perhaps the issue affecting the most people over the course of the last week has been the near-permanent offline status of the Black Lion Trading Company, the game's auction hall. Quaggans are cute and all, but I'm starting to get impatient myself; I've yet to see the trading post live for even a minute. So today we're wondering when exactly your patience runs out when it comes to large-scale MMO launches and their immediate aftermath. How long do you give a just-launched game to get its act together before you give up and go back to more established, tried-and-true MMOs? And if you leave in a huff, do you forgive and forget and return when the game has settled down? 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: Five things to love about Lion's Arch
Lion's Arch, the quintessential Tyrian player hub, has undergone quite the extensive renovation for Guild Wars 2. As a special treat for the last beta weekend, the city was made explorable to players for the first time -- and what a treat it was! After the Rise of Orr and the accompanying land shift, Lion's Arch as we knew and loved it in the original Guild Wars was flooded. It has been raised anew, very near the first city, and stands as a monument to piracy, desperation, and inter-species cooperation (not, perhaps, in that order). So what makes Lion's Arch awesome? It's one of six huge cities that are the thriving populatiion centers of Tyria as we find it in Guild Wars 2, and since it doesn't have one single race to lend it culture and purpose, you can bet it had better be pretty special.
Quaggan SMASH: Guild Wars 2 reveals its most cute -- and deadly -- race yet
Look at that guy up there? Isn't he just the cutest thing ever? Oh, ignore the teeth -- Quaggans are big softies, really. ArenaNet is back with another exposé on the races of Guild Wars 2. This time the studio's focusing on the Quaggan, which it calls "our most cuddly race." But what do cuddles and creatures that look as though they should already be sold as plushie dolls through the ArenaNet gift shop have to do with the rough-and-tumble fantasy world of Guild Wars 2? While the peaceful and polite race wouldn't normally make waves, the Quaggans have an interesting ability to "hulk out" and go on rampages when they get mad. As the saying goes, "Do not make Quaggan angry. You would not like Quaggan when Quaggan is angry." Therefore Quaggans have to be mellow to avoid a non-stop WWE battle royal -- although at times, unleashing their inner aggression can save their hides. It's this dynamic ArenaNet latched onto while fleshing out the race's place in the world. You can read more about the dolphin-like Quaggans over on the ArenaNet blog.
ArenaNet releases images from Guild Wars 2 Designing Dynamic Events panel
New races, new lands, and talk of familiar places with a new look. The Guild Wars 2 Dynamic Events panel at PAX stirred up quite a bit of conversation and even more curiosity. What are these regions? What events are there? What is a krait obelisk for? What does The Great Oouo look like? Guild Wars 2 fans watched all the video taken by hand held cameras at the panel and viewed snapshots of the screen, trying to get a better look. If you've been dying for an up-close view of the Regrown Flame, orrian undead, and yes, even The Great Oouo, you're in luck. ArenaNet has generously provided Massively with the images used in the panel, so check out the gallery below for the newest look at Tyria of the future! %Gallery-102231%
Quaggan sad: A look back at the Guild Wars 2 Dynamic Events panel
At the top of my to-do list for Saturday morning at PAX was Designing Dynamic Events, a Guild Wars 2 panel with designers Eric Flannum and Colin Johanson. Talk and video of the panel have been everywhere this week, and I wanted to take a little bit of time to give my thoughts on what they did and how it was received. The panel was billed as a discussion about "how Guild Wars 2 designers create events in the dynamic, living game world and the many factors to consider when designing any kind of MMO content." It sounded interesting, but it was a ticketed event with limited attendance, which seemed strange to me. I managed to get a ticket and was even more confused when I walked into the relatively tiny room. Why such a small place for something that would certainly have drawn a huge crowd? It all became clear very soon, so follow along after the cut to hear more about my take on the new things we learned in Designing Dynamic Events.
