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Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's Gates of Maguuma is a leap forward
A few months passed between season one of Guild Wars 2's living world story and the start of season two, and the first content release of the new arc was going to have to make a big splash, no matter what it turned out to contain. Fans grumbled warily about the chances of being asked to repair road signs for weeks while waiting for the meat of the story, and ArenaNet played its cards close to the vest. Teasers, speculation, and season one recaps were all we had to quench our thirst for GW2's second season. We were parched, moving endlessly through a vast wasteland of -- wait, there's a metaphor here. Hold on, it's coming to me. Anyway, we've been delivered to an oasis: The Gates of Maguuma are open, and we've taken our first steps into a new region of Tyria. Along with several other media representatives, I was invited to take a developer-led tour of the new Dry Top zone and story content. Does it live up to the anticipation? The answer necessarily contains spoilers, so read on at your peril, mortal.
Guild Wars 2 teases Entanglement, season two's next episode
Have you played through Guild Wars 2's latest living story installment yet? No? Well, hurry up because episode 2 arrives next week on July 15th. It's called Entanglement, and its associated teaser video arrived in our inbox last night with merely this cryptic introduction: There are secrets hidden within the newly revealed area of Dry Top, just waiting to be discovered. Continue your adventures in the Maguuma Wastes and take a stand alongside your fellow heroes against an ancient, growing threat. Evil grows in the video below.
Listen to Guild Wars 2 Season 2's soundtrack now
Were you intrigued -- tantalized, perhaps -- with the recent talk on Guild Wars 2's new orchestra-recorded soundtrack for the second season of the living world? Well now you can listen to a chunk of it, thanks to the studio and SoundCloud. The team has posted six new tracks for the first episode of season two, including "The Fall of the Zephyrites" and "The Arid Sands." Check out ArenaNet's SoundCloud page to listen through them and let us know what you think!
What you need to know about Guild Wars 2's second season living story
The wait for Guild Wars 2's Season 2 is finally over! Today, players will dig into the next arc of the living story with the new Gates of Maguuma content (or save the content for later by unlocking it in their story journals). What exactly is in store? If you don't mind a few spoilers, we've got some of those answers for you right now. Back at E3 2014, ArenaNet Associate Game Director Steven Waller and Studio Design Director Chris Whiteside gave us a recap of the first season, but they also gave us a preview of the second. And yes, that next step is through a portal into a whole new zone!
Guild Wars 2 composer talks live orchestras and season two sounds
If you're into MMO music, Guild Wars 2, or both, you'll want to have a look at the latest ArenaNet video that goes behind the scenes on the music production for season two of the game's "living world." The clip is hosted by composer Maclaine Diemer, who explains how working with a live orchestra enhances both the music and the gameplay experience. "When you hear live music while you're playing, you feel it on a much more visceral level," Diemer says. "What we recorded matches the aesthetic already set in Guild Wars 2, and I also think that it stands on its own as something unique and fresh." Click past the cut to watch the vid.
Guild Wars 2 is half price before Season 2
There's not long to go until Guild Wars 2 starts up its second season of story updates, which you can hear about at length by asking almost any Guild Wars 2 fan. Want to jump in on the ground floor? You can do so at a discount until June 29th. The game is being sold at a 50% discount; that's $25 for the regular edition and $35 for the deluxe edition. Already an owner of the game? Well, then, there's not much for you, except for these two ominous sounds that have appeared on the game's website to forecast what comes next, which is something. But let's face it, if you're a fan you're already looking forward to the next season, you don't need the extra encouragement.
Guild Wars 2's Gates of Maguuma open July 1st
Guild Wars 2 fans have been not-so-patiently awaiting news about the inbound second season of story content, which arrives beginning next week on July 1st with the Gates of Maguuma update. ArenaNet has today released a teaser video to prime players for what the new plotline will entail. Says the studio, In this teaser, you'll see that the Zephyrites have been met with trouble and there are rumors of a disturbance in the tangled western reaches of Brisban Wildlands. When players log in on July 1, they will work together with their fellow GW2 counterparts as well as Marjory, Kasmeer, Rox, Braham and Taimi to discover what is going on. In addition, when you log in to experience the start of Living World Season 2, you can unlock the story content permanently in your Journal to play in the future. The teaser video is included below.
Lion's Arch Lament dissected for Guild Wars 2 fans
The destruction of Lion's Arch formed the centerpiece of Guild Wars 2's first Living Story finale, an event with a big emotional impact for players who had grown accustomed to the city's presence. How do you summarize such a huge event? With music, of course. A new development blog on the official site details the creation of "Lion's Arch Lament," music that commemorates the destruction while at the same time walking through the history of the city in just a few moments. The piece starts off with an homage to the music most strongly associated with Lion's Arch in the original Guild Wars, then ties in Scarlet's Theme and the city music from Guild Wars 2 to herald its return and destruction. If you're familiar with the game's music, you should give the post a read and listen to the song; it's likely to stir at least a few emotions about the city and its loss.
Guild Wars 2 to host its first player tourney at Gamescom
Top Guild Wars 2 players will have the opportunity to duke it out in the game's first International All-Stars Tournament during Gamescom 2014, which runs from August 13th through the 17th. ArenaNet will fly players from Europe, China, and North America to the convention in order to compete against one another. Even if you aren't participating in the tourney itself, you'll be able to visit the Twitch.TV booth to play some GW2, chat with the developers, and partake in other activities. Want to get in on the tournament or any of the other community events during Gamescom? Keep an eye out: We'll bring you more information as soon as the details are released.
Watch Guild Wars 2's official livestream show
Guild Wars 2 has a new official livestream show that you can watch at 3:00 p.m. EST. The show's called Points of Interest and stars Kate Welch, Leif Chappelle, and Theo Nguyen. The first episode will be looking back at the Living World's Season 1. You can watch the livestream after the break!
Tara Strong on Guild Wars 2's 'British Harley Quinn'
Chances are that you've encountered a character played by Tara Strong, since the prolific voice actress sports a resume that reads like a gaming greatest hits list. It includes MMOs and sort-of MMOs like Star Wars: The Old Republic, Marvel Heroes, Infinite Crisis, and Guild Wars 2. Strong's GW2 work goes under the microscope in ArenaNet's latest video release. It's basically a three-minute behind-the-scenes/interview mashup featuring Living World villainess Scarlet Briar, whom Strong describes as a "British Harley [Quinn]." Click past the cut to have a look.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 features that time forgot
It's hard to believe it's the middle of June already. School's out, E3 has come and gone, and all that's left for us Guild Wars 2 fans to do is to pick up our World vs. World Spring Tournament rewards and kick back with a tall glass of omnomberry juice (pro tip: don't). We're still two weeks out from the start of the living world's second season, and ArenaNet has so far been especially cryptic where the future is concerned. We've speculated all there is to speculate for now, and summer heat makes me cranky, so before we blast off to any new horizons, let's take a look back at a few of the unfinished, unimplemented, and underutilized elements of GW2 that could really use some catching up.
E3 2014: Recapping Guild Wars 2's first season
With Season Two of Guild Wars 2's living story starting up on July 1st, players are eager for more information. So far, only snippets and clues have teased fans. To try and glean more details, I sat down with Associate Game Director Steven Waller and Studio Design Director Chris Whiteside at E3 2014. Before moving on to what lies in store, however, the devs wanted to look back at the impact of the first season. Oh, and they offered a new trailer that adds a bit more fuel to the teasing fire!
The Daily Grind: Should MMOs change fundamental design rules post-launch?
A few weeks ago, ArenaNet added a new buyable perk to the Guild Wars 2 cash shop: a crafting license that allows an account's entire roster of characters to pick up an extra craft skill. In other words, buying this license means your characters can run three production craft skills, not just the original two at a time. My first reaction was wooo, awesome! But after some reflection, I wondered whether the change wasn't more than cosmetic. Having three craft skills on every character affects leveling rates and PvE zone population, inflates the item market, impacts the resource market, and could even alter whether players buy other items from the cash shop (like character and inventory slots). It's definitely more than just a fun cosmetic thing. While this tweak probably won't matter that much in the long-run of a game like Guild Wars 2, fundamental changes made midstream have certainly been known to haunt some games forever. What do you think -- should MMOs change core design rules post-launch? Where do you draw the line between a little quality-of-life tweak and a major shift in design philosophy? 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!
Guild Wars 2 announces its second Tournament of Legends [Updated]
ArenaNet has just announced Guild Wars 2's Tournament of Legends 2, the prelim matches for which are scheduled to begin in July for European and American participants. PvP-inclined players can sign up as early as this Friday. Says the studio, The sign-ups for Tournament of Legends 2 will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis and will accommodate up to 128 teams. Participating teams will be evenly divided between four qualifier tournaments, and the top two teams from each qualifier will move on to the Tournament of Legends Championships. All matches will be hosted on the weekends, with qualifying matches beginning in July. You can expect a full schedule of dates and times to be released later this week. Prizes for the top-finishing team include legendary weapons; other competitors are eligible to win precursors, Black Lion Weapon Tickets, and an exclusive llama minipet. [Update: Signups are now live!]
Guild Wars 2 introduces DVR-like functionality to the Living World
If you're already a fan of Guild Wars 2's Living World feature, you may also be happy to hear about the Living World Journal announced today by developer ArenaNet. The Living World Journal allows players to save and revisit each new episode of the Living World with what is described as DVR-like replay functionality. With more than two dozen free Living World updates, and Season 2 dropping on July 1, the new journal will especially help those who haven't had a chance to keep up with the intense update schedule for the game. Game Director Colin Johanson comments, "With this addition to the story Journal, content from Living World episodes will be a mix of new story steps and open world content. Story steps will work just like existing story steps in the game today by taking you on a journey specific to your selected episode, which ties into a broader narrative from the season's continual story progress. Open world content additions to Living World updates will permanently expand or change the world of Tyria and will tie to the theme and story of the episode."
Flameseeker Chronicles: The strange case of Guild Wars 2's reward system
Every now and then I'll hear someone say that Guild Wars 2 has no rewards. They'll say it's extraordinarily grindy, that there's nothing to work toward, and that ArenaNet is intentionally making things harder than they should be so that we'll all give up and buy gems. This is confusing and frustrating to me for two reasons: The first is that all of those things are demonstrably untrue. The second is that I can nevertheless see where those people are coming from to some extent, and it's been difficult to put my finger on why. GW2 showers players with loot and rewards. In an hour's normal play, I can fill my bags with items and come out of it with a tidy sum of cash; nearly everything in the game is designed to reward players for doing stuff, no matter what that stuff is. Some of it, like Edge of the Mists, is almost ludicrously generous. Even with the changes to the way Queen's Pavilion fights work this time around, it's possible to grab huge numbers of Champion loot bags if you land on an organized megaserver. So why does GW2 feel so stingy?
Guild Wars 2 starts Season 2 of the Living World on July 1st
It's happening, all right. Season 2 is coming to Guild Wars 2 starting July 1st, meaning that we've got a month of what will no doubt be teasers, hints, and taunts. That image above is a teaser. If you stare deeply enough, you may be able to uncover its mysteries. For within its depths lie... well... who knows? No, seriously, we don't know either. It could be anything. Speculation has already begun, but that first image is all we have to go on for certain right now, and that means... what? Take a gander at a larger version of the image just past the break and start your speculation engines. Or just wait a month if that's your speed.
A video preview of Guild Wars 2's brand-new character faces
As part of yesterday's Festival of the Four Winds patch, ArenaNet updated Guild Wars 2 with a slew of new face options, three new faces for each race and gender. The faces are available in the Total Makeover Kit purchaseable in the cash shop. Friend of Massively Richie "Bogotter" Procopio has uploaded a video to his YouTube channel previewing all of the new faces so you can see whether it's worth shelling out for the freckles and rhinoplasty of your dreams. Enjoy it below!
Jukebox Heroes: Guild Wars 2's living story soundtrack
I'm going to make a bold statement here that might net me some haters, but here goes: I think that Guild Wars 2 is better off now that it's cast off Jeremy Soule and moved on to in-house composers. Soule's soundtrack was great in parts, but he's not the be-all, end-all of good video game music. And his company's unexplained decision to yank the soundtrack from its store (and not even offer a digital version) irks me beyond the telling of it. Good luck finding it! So today I'm going to give tribute to the two men who have been forging ahead -- spectacularly, I might add -- with scoring Guild Wars 2's ongoing living story updates. Maclaine Diemer and Leif Chappelle have been whipping up a wide variety of tunes to go with the various story elements and events. To ArenaNet's credit, the studio has been posting these downloadable tracks for free on SoundCloud. And while rumor has it that Diemer and Chappelle are already composing music for season two, I thought it'd be worthwhile to go back and share some of my favorites from their season one portfolio. I won't be dipping into Super Adventure Box, however, as we did that last year.
