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Guild Wars 2 is on sale until February 25th
Hey, you. Yes, you, the person reading this post right now. You want some Guild Wars 2? You want to get in cheap? I know a guy who knows a guy who can get it for you really cheap, man. Specifically, the guy in question is the guy who runs the official store on the game's website, which is offering the game for about 30% until February 25th. So it may actually be multiple guys or girls, since one would imagine ArenaNet has several people working on the store page. Prospective players or current players who dearly want another copy of the game can buy the standard edition for $39.99 or the Digital Deluxe edition for $54.99. No word on exactly when the sale will end on the 25th, but we'd recommend just going ahead and picking up the game now if it's on your agenda. It's not going to be any cheaper tomorrow.
The Secret World's Last Train to Cairo pulls into the station this March
While Funcom's recent restructuring and relocation put the brakes on The Secret World's content release schedule, it wasn't totally derailed. In fact, the next content update will be hitting servers sooner than many expected; Issue # 6 The Last Train to Cairo is scheduled to go live in the beginning of March. While no exact date has been given yet, paid members will get two days of early access to the content. What awaits denizens of The Secret World in this latest issue? A new storyline, a new foe (of raid proportions), the new veteran reward system, PvP ranking, and a new auxiliary weapon are all a part of this update. A new recruitment system will also be implemented, granting points equal to one month of membership for every new recruit. In an effort to contain the evil spreading through the sands of Egypt, players will delve deeper into the past of the desert land by actually traveling back in time to uncover powerful artifacts. Remember that petrified undead arms dealer, Said? Tap into his wisdom for advice on working against the cultists and their dark prophet Abdel Daoud. And last but certainly not least, fight atop a speeding train to Cairo with the newest auxiliary weapon, the whip, in true Indiana Jones style.
Guild Wars 2 puts the 'guild' back in play with new group missions
Next week's update to Guild Wars 2 will do its darndest to get players to group up via new guild missions. These missions, which can be done with guildies or friends, are a new type of PvE experience for the game that offer special challenges that take place in the persistent world. There are several types of unlockable guild missions, including bounty hunting, exploration, coordinated challenges, races, and puzzles. Players can earn new features for their guild and garner personal rewards by participating. ArenaNet released a video to show off the new guild mission system, and it's unlocked by clicking on the green button below. Ready? Set? Go!
Flameseeker Chronicles: The storm clouds are gathering in Guild Wars 2
I really wanted to talk with you about jumping puzzles this week, but jumping puzzles last forever and there's been some super cool stuff coming out about Guild Wars 2's February patch. We can talk jumping puzzles some other time, and I dearly hope we will, but for now there's an oncoming storm and new PvP stuff and guild missions and it's all just so very exciting. Let's get to it, shall we?
Guild Wars 2's February update gives players a bit more loot
Guild Wars 2 might sell itself as not being a loot-focused game, but let's face it: No one wants to pound on a giant for five straight minutes without getting a new sword. So players were more than a little annoyed when exactly that was happening. After extensive investigation, director Colin Johanson posted to the forums confirming that the team believes it's found the problem and will be fixing it with the large patch later this month. The short version is that the game has a set of criteria to determine whether or not a player gets credit for killing an enemy and whether or not said player gets loot. Unfortunately, the conditions for getting loot from a target, especially high-health targets like most Champions, were extremely restrictive and could easily result in players deserving of loot winding up empty-handed. The next major patch will correct this issue, with better criteria for determining loot drops and an assured blue drop from any Champion killed.
Chaos Theory: My crisis of faith in The Secret World
Oh hush, all you negative Nancys! No, this isn't an article about my jumping ship and leaving The Secret World. Far from it; there's still so much to do in there that I haven't gotten to. I know, I know -- there is a horde of you who have played through all the zones, completed all the quests, and filled out the entire ability wheel (earning yourself one snazzy outfit in doing so). But not me. In fact, I have countless play sessions of new content still ahead. The problem is, I don't know whom to do everything on! In this world of secret societies, I don't know who I truly am. Hence, my crisis of faith. I am at a crossroads with my decision about which faction to really play. I used to have one clear main character who did everything, but thanks to Choose My Adventure and streaming, my little alt is nearly caught up and my main has stagnated. Should I continue with the brash little blonde Illuminati who was voted to life during CMA, or do I return to the steady trigger finger of my red-headed Templar? Or do I revive that first soul I created, the fiery-eyed, raven-haired Dragon? Whom should I devote my time and attention to? Does it really even matter? Perhaps you, too, have experienced this same quandary, so let's find some answers together.
February 26th sees the inclusion of trading post previews for Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 gives you a fair amount of control over the appearance of your character's armor and weapons, but it's still heartrending to spend a bunch of money on the trading post only to find out that you've bought a Merciless Jacket of Searing Ugliness. But fret not, fashion-minded players! Starting with the game's next major patch on February 26th, you will be able to preview armor on your characters straight from the trading post! Are there other features in the patch? Well, technically, yeah. I mean, you can choose your daily achievements instead of having to fulfill an arbitrary set, which will work nicely with the existing Laurels rewards. And there's new team vs. team matchups in PvP, guild missions in PvE, and further elaboration of the large meta-storyline started back in January. There's even a new PvP map. But who cares about any of that? The important part is previewing items off the trading post. [Thanks to Jesse for the tip!]
One Shots: Middle-earth cowboys
The recent Riders of Rohan expansion in Lord of the Rings Online has brought out the cowboy and cowgirl in a lot of us. Must be the emphasis on horseback riding over scenic plains while savage attacks are waged on settlements. It's here that we begin our journey through snapshots in MMO life this week. Reader Binklewyst sets the scene for our first One Shots: "Riding over a low hill on the plains of Rohan, I stopped my warhorse to admire a view of the Faldham fortification. In the distance to the right is the evil Nink-hai warcamp." Saddle up, pard'ners. The frontier awaits us after the jump!
Guild Wars 2 schedules community meet and greet
If you're a fan of Guild Wars 2 and in a position to make your way to Seattle on March 1st, then ArenaNet has an invitation for you. The studio is hosting a community meet and greet on Friday the 1st in the evening at the Tap House Grill. The developers and CM team will be out in force to talk with fans, host a Q&A panel, and raffle off several prizes. There will also be refreshments for those who show up, although the event is limited to the venue's capacity and those 21 and over.
Guild Wars 2 cross-breeds a new PvP map
There's a new PvP map coming to the wild lands of the Norn in Guild Wars 2, and it's a smash-up of two popular zones to create a whole new flavor. Spirit Watch combines a capture-the-flag mechanic with a conquest template, all set against dizzying drops of cliffs and crags. There are three capture points in Spirit Watch that influence the score of the "flag" (in this case, a shiny orb) coming home to roost. Players running the orb have a movement penalty and must make a choice as to which capture point to head toward: Capture points that a team control offer up 30 points per orb, enemy and neutral capture points offer 15 points per orb, and enemy capture points that have an orb tossed into them will be converted to a neutral point. The Spirit Watch PvP map will come with the hefty update planned for later this month. You can get a quick eyeful of it with a video after the jump, however.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars features I wish had made it to Guild Wars 2
You may have noticed, but Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 are different games. I thought we'd clear that up to begin with. In fact, they're such different games that there are oodles of people who are fans of one but not the other (typically, most of these folks seem to be in favor of Guild Wars 2, but I know a fair few staunch supporters of the original). I happen to be a fan of both games, although I definitely find it a little disconcerting to switch between the two games. Most of that is because of things that the sequel does better, like casting on the move, a player auction house, and (in my opinion) the downed state. Some of it's because of things that aren't so much about quality as style, like the existence (or lack thereof) of Monks and heavy instancing. And then there are things that I really loved in the original that aren't around anymore.
Chaos Theory: Oh, give me a home -- in TSW
Last week, I explored transportation as one avenue of making The Secret World even more of a living, breathing world. Today, my focus is on that one aspect that really can make an MMO a home: actual homes! It's no secret that I love housing; I've written about it on multiple occasions and livestreamed tours in various games as well. But this isn't just about fulfilling a personal wish list. Adding housing goes beyond making my gaming experience more immersive (though it most certainly does that); it's a method for increasing the longevity of the game. Housing is one of those features that, when done well, binds players to a game, giving them a reason to not only stay in game longer during a play session but stick with the game long term. And I definitely want that for The Secret World.
One Shots: Bring out your dead
Ah, nothing like a pile of rotting stiffs to start your day off right, I always say! So nice of considerate readers to send me such pictures in my email. Maybe it's a somber commentary on the fragility of life and the tragedies that go unnoticed around us daily. Maybe it's somebody trying to gross me out. I'm good either way. Reader Volska clues us in: "Talk about morbid. Here's a screenshot of some piles of corpses from the Guardian starter area in RIFT. No happy welcoming party here." With a start like that, what other pictures will we have to share? It's a wild and wooly One Shots, and it all starts after the jump!
GW2's Flame & Frost: The Gathering Storm coming February 26
The second installment in Guild Wars 2's Flame and Frost content extravaganza has been dated. That date is February 26th, and you can expect to see a new PvP map called Spirit Watch as well as new guild missions and merits. There's also a new type of competitive PvP in the wings, and it involves two teams of "equal average rating" duking it out in quick matches with ratings and bragging rights on the line. More details are yours on the official GW2 website. [Thanks to Pete for the tip!]
Guild Wars 2 WvW changes delayed until March
For those of you anxiously awaiting the upcoming WvW changes slotted for this month, Guild Wars 2's Game Director Colin Johanson jumped into the forums today to let players know that the update will come in March instead. But the good news is that we get a significant glimpse into the crystal ball of GW2's development as Colin details upcoming improvements such as the continual optimization of game models and data compression to reduce performance problems plus ways to draw more people in to the WvW feature. Be sure to read Colin's entire post over at the GW2 community forums.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Flame and Frost
Well, my goodness! We've got a week of the Flame and Frost prelude patch behind us, and what a week it's been! The patch notes for this sucker were impressive; for a relatively minor patch, the Flame and Frost prelude brought in a lot of tweaks and updates. I'm kind of glad for that, as quality of life additions were top on my list for hopes for Guild Wars 2 in 2013. I'm very pleased with ArenaNet for shoring up the content that's already out rather than leaving it be in the rush to get out new content. So! Let's take a look at what ArenaNet brought us in the past week.
NCsoft earnings report shows healthy growth
NCsoft just released its fourth quarter 2012 earnings report, and things are looking pretty good across the board for the multi-MMO company. NCsoft's earnings are up both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year due to the releases of Blade & Soul and Guild Wars 2, not to mention "record-breaking annual revenues" from Lineage. Guild Wars 2 accounted for 45% of the company's sales in Q4, followed by Lineage (24%) and Blade & Soul (10%). ArenaNet's newest game increased the North American market from 16% in Q3 to 25% in Q4. It's not completely sunshine and roses, however. Lineage II and Aion both experienced declines during the period. NCsoft's net income was in the red for the quarter and its stock has slid since September, losing half of its value in the process. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!]
Chaos Theory: Mounting a campaign for vehicles in The Secret World
It makes sense that while I am spending a week traveling about in this world, my mind turns to the subject of travel within The Secret World. Thankfully, some aspects of transportation in reality are not a part of our online world; I don't know if I could stand being stuck on a tarmac out at the Kingsmouth Airport! But with all the trappings of various vehicles littered all about the landscape, it's difficult to not want to snag one for personal use. The desire to add these mechanical mounts isn't even about the need for speed; folks already have various speed boosts, and the world doesn't need to get smaller by our traveling each zone at an even quicker pace. It not about getting somewhere more quickly; it's about the feel of a living, immersive world. How many of you have come upon a bicycle or a scooter in TSW and had the instant urge to hop on? Or what about the slick motorcycle, sitting there, begging for a rider? I'm certainly not one to say, "Pfft, forget those sweet wheels; I prefer hoofing it when evading zombies." Having to walk on by is an immersion-breaker in a game where ambiance and immersion are two of the defining features. So if the goal is to enhance immersion without making the zones seem even smaller, how would mounts work? I'm glad you asked!
One Shots: 100% Guild Wars 2
Yes, we know that Guild Wars 2 is a gorgeous and popular game. Why do we know this? Because week after week, One Shots has been swamped with GW2 submissions, far outstripping almost every other game submission put together. That's not a bad thing, as I agree that it's a lovely title that has an immense amount of eye candy. It just makes it difficult when I'm limiting One Shots to one-picture-per-game-per-column. So you know what? We're throwing out the rule today. Today's all about Guild Wars 2 as we dig through the growing backlog of photos. Reader Jacob kicks us off with this awesome pose of his toon: "This is my Charr engineer pretending to be a statue in the hidden strawberry patch in Diessa Plateau. Rather angelic looking for such a fierce race!" There's more where that came from, so leapfrog over the jump and let's get moving!
Guild Wars 2 adjusts dynamic leveling system
ArenaNet's Isaiah Cartwright, lead game designer on Guild Wars 2, has posted a new dev blog to address the recent changes to the game's dynamic leveling system. In the build of the game that went live on January 28th, the team made two major changes to the way dynamic leveling works. First, the devs "changed the formula for how attributes are calculated when the dynamic leveling adjustment system scales [players' levels] down." This is intended to make players' returns to low-level zones "more fun and better balanced." Secondly, the team "changed the formula for how rewards are calculated when scaled down to make it more rewarding for high-level players to visit lower-level areas." Cartwright claims that the goal of these changes is to "more accurately reflect the attributes [players] should have at that level for a similarly geared character" and adds that even though the changes will increase the difficulty of some lower-level zones, the team wants to ensure that "all areas of Guild Wars 2 [are] exciting and fun for players of any level." And last but certainly not least, Cartwright notes that "in 2013, one of [ArenaNet's] main goals is to add more content to map of all levels, as well as stronger reward structures for playing across all locations in the world."
