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Flameseeker Chronicles: How to win friends and influence Guild Wars 2's development
By the time this article goes to press, it'll be Halloween in Guild Wars 2. No, not October 31st; a little known fact is that Halloween actually encompasses the entire month of October and is allowed to sneakily take over part of September if you're particularly excited about it or even seep into November if you're having difficulty letting go. Since it's too early to carve pumpkins and expect them to still be around at the end of the month, MMOs are great places to get your scary on without spending a lot of money on perishable gourds or "stocking up early" on bags of candy that will also mysteriously disappear by the 31st (pro tip: blame ghosts). In the meantime, though, I have one more week before this column can officially turn into the Fearspooky Creepicles and it becomes professionally acceptable to devote at least 200 words to candy corn (note to self: double check with lead editors [Editor's note: /approved! -Bree]). So let's discuss something awesome that's happening on the GW2 official forums under the direction of ArenaNet's Studio Design Director, Chris Whiteside. Let's talk about collaborative development.
Flameseeker Chronicles: The Guild Wars 2 expansion blues
It's the beginning of autumn at last. In the past few months, Guild Wars 2 fans have cleaned some clocks, gone back to school, and beat up on Tequatl the Sunless. At the moment, we're trying to kick Scarlet Briar out of Twilight Arbor. We've been busy! ArenaNet has continued to toss content our way at lightning speed, and unlike many of the previous releases, much of the content in the past month has been in the form of permanent adjustments to the game. It might seem nuts to complain about lacking an expansion for a game where content releases happen every two weeks, but for some reason the GW2 community seems to be feelin' that vibe lately. Popular YouTube personality and lore expert WoodenPotatoes created a video about it. Threads criticizing the living story and arguing for expansions are common on the official forums. Admittedly, I'm feeling a little restless for a change in the air myself. But what's so important about an expansion, and what isn't the living story offering?
Flameseeker Chronicles: When good Guild Wars 2 commentary goes bad
I'm aware that not everybody who reads this column loves Guild Wars 2, and I'm cool with that. Occasionally I'm baffled by a comment or two left by people who apparently just swung by to give a brief, negative review of the game, completely independent of the topic of the article they left it on, but that's mostly harmless. I appreciate the vast majority of thoughtful comments, whether positive or negative; I like to think that most of you love MMOs as much as I do, and I believe that a person doesn't necessarily have to like a game in order to have something insightful to say about it and its role in influencing the industry. I mention all of this because I want to make it clear that when I talk about toxic GW2 commentary, I don't mean people leaving negative criticism in general, or saying that they don't like the game. In fact, the majority of what I'd like to discuss comes from people who apparently play the game regularly and who are deeply invested in it. Some of them say that they love it. And because they love it, it's easy to see why they might feel protective of it and take perceived threats to it personally.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's dragon evolution
I'm praying to Grenth -- not just because he's lord of the dead and my human Necromancer's supreme master but because being in Sparkfly Fen during a Tequatl-stomping session has been threatening to down my usually robust computer and I'm hoping Grenth will take mercy on it. That, or I could just upgrade it. Every little bit helps, though. I've spent most of this past week finishing up the move to a new apartment, but I've still made time to throw myself at Guild Wars 2's buffed-up Tequatl the Sunless fight. I was pleasantly surprised by the encounter and the community's reception of it, and it's definitely given me hope that ArenaNet will be able to add more complex and fun fights of this kind to GW2's open world in the future. Tequatl is like the star of a teen movie, turning every head at the prom after a radical makeover. I know you needed that mental image. You're welcome.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Ain't no party like a Guild Wars 2 party 'cause a GW2 party don't stop
There's something in the water, and it's rising. Word travels along the shore of Sparkfly Fen in terrified whispers, and the names of the beast that stalks the Splintered Coast are on every tongue: Tequila the Sunrise. Taco the Soft Shell. Loot Piñata. At the very least, poor Tequatl the Sunless will hopefully be shedding the last nickname with the upcoming Tequatl Rising content patch for Guild Wars 2. That one's kind of mean; the others are just affectionate. You know, as affectionate as we can be toward an undead servant of Zhaitan bent on subjugating all life. ArenaNet previewed the new and improved Tequatl fight mechanics at PAX Prime, but apart from that (and the new LFG tool and the new World vs. World mechanics), this latest GW2 release seems a little bit...quiet. I'm OK with that. In fact, it may be exactly what we need.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Why I love Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure Box
Back in April, ArenaNet played what was arguably the greatest MMO-related April Fool's Day prank of all time when it released level designer and jumping puzzle maestro Josh Foreman's labor of love, Super Adventure Box, in Guild Wars 2. I was but a wee Massively commenter then, and I recall that my comment on the news post about that particular revelation was something to the effect of "I'm not leaving this place until they kick me out. See you all next month!" I remember this because I was only half joking, and I really did spend most of April inside Moto's palace of 8-bit wonders. I love Super Adventure Box. I don't just love it because it's retro or because I get the references or because my first foray into it left me laughing fit to kill (OK, maybe the last one). I love it because, entirely independent of GW2, it's a game I can spend a whole month playing and not get tired of it. Jump with me past the cut, and I'll tell you why.
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: Who watches Guild Wars 2's watchknights?
A few weeks ago, I covered a few possibilities for the direction of the Guild Wars 2 patch that was known at the time as The Queen's Speech, now revealed to actually be Clockwork Chaos. The majority of it didn't pan out, which is to be expected when engaging in wild mass guessing; I'll be a little disappointed if ArenaNet has really decided to retcon the hints it previously set up around the Great Collapse, but we know that the Crown Pavilion Arena will probably be revisited at some point and there's always a chance for things to go wrong in lots of different ways. The plus side is that Scarlet Briar is exactly the kind of villain GW2 has been hurting for, and her presence on the playing field is opening up all kinds of potential directions for the plot. Behind the cut are spoilers for this chapter of the living story as well as Scott McGough's short story What Scarlet Saw. Join me in the depths of hopeless nerditude and let's discuss the new lore elements this release has introduced!
The Soapbox: Actually, that really isn't an MMO
In last week's edition of The Soapbox, Mike Foster argued that online gaming has evolved over the past few years and that the term MMO should be expanded to cover other online games like MOBAs. He examined the blurred dividing line between new online games and the classic MMOs of yesteryear, and he made the controversial argument that Call of Duty and League of Legends should now fall under the MMO umbrella. I found myself disagreeing with many of Mike's arguments and wanting to make additional points of my own, so this week I'd like to offer a few counter-points on the same topic for debate. The MMO market has certainly evolved since Massively was founded, with some pretty big innovations in gameplay and new ideas like the free-to-play business model taking hold. As much as people like to complain about a lack of innovation in the games industry, the same level of experimentation and evolution has hit industry-wide. Call of Duty has borrowed unlock and XP systems from the world of orcs and dragons, and League of Legends came from nowhere to be at the forefront of a global MOBA revolution, but neither of them is an MMO by any stretch of the imagination. In this in-depth opinion piece, I break down the definition arguments surrounding the term MMO, offer a reasoned view of where the line can and should be drawn, and look at why Massively covers games other than MMOs.
Flameseeker Chronicles: A Guild Wars 2 anniversary wish list
Guild Wars 2 is doing very well. Even setting aside ArenaNet's announcement last week that the game is officially the fastest-selling MMO ever, GW2 has enough players who are dedicated to it and spending money on it to justify a content patch every two weeks, and the development team is showing no signs of slowing down. It's a success story in an unforgiving industry where successes are few and far between; while many other studios are restructuring and redefining their games -- or even shutting games down altogether -- GW2 is holding steady a year after launch. Happy birthday, GW2! I love this game. If I didn't, I'd be nuts to devote time to writing a weekly column about it, let alone play it almost every day. Even though I had nothing to do with its creation, I'm proud of it in a way, and I'm happy for the people who made it because they deserve success. Based on what's been talked about, I feel pretty good about what's coming up in the second half of the year. There are a few lingering nitpicks I have, though, that run the risk of becoming so entrenched that they hang out on the back of the priority list for years -- and they're at the top of my wish list for things I'd like to see before GW2's two-year anniversary rolls around.
Guild Wars 2 throws anniversary bash at PAX
ArenaNet is throwing its own mini-convention during PAX this month. The studio's rented out the Madison Ballroom in downtown Seattle's Renaissance Hotel to throw a grand anniversary bash for Guild Wars 2. The event takes place on Saturday, August 31st in the afternoon and all of the evening. The anniversary bash kicks off with an address by President Mike O'Brien, followed by a sneak peek play session of exclusive new content, a panel on the living world of the game, a PvP invitational tournament, and a fun party. It is first-come, first-served and the event has limited capacity. Can't come? Don't worry: ArenaNet will be livestreaming the event of anyone who would like to attend virtually. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!]
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 election postmortem
We were young. We were trusting. We didn't understand the power we wielded. When the voting booths closed and the last ballots were cast, a dark portal yawned wide in Lion's Arch, unleashing the terrible titan version of candidate Ellen Kiel upon the unsuspecting Guild Wars 2 playerbase. ArenaNet didn't see fit to warn us of the true consequences of the Cutthroat Politics update, but at least we can take some comfort in the fact that Evon Gnashblade didn't win the election. He's got claws. And really pointy teeth. Fortunately, the citizens of Tyria have been distracted from their inevitable doom by the current Queen's Jubilee patch, which is showering us with loot in the manner of a quenching summer rain. I'm the kind of person who will happily farm for multiple hours if given the opportunity, but I'm going to try to drag my hollow eyes from the slaughter long enough to talk about how the previous living story chapter was a great experiment in evolving the world of GW2 -- and how it didn't quite hit the mark.
Guild Wars 2's Johanson hints at the game's anniversary plans
Have you gotten Guild Wars 2 a present yet? It's celebrating its first birthday in just under three weeks, so it'd be rude if you didn't get it anything. Even if you're not getting the game a present, director Colin Johanson has dropped some hints about the presents that characters and players will be getting from the game, including a promise that characters will receive annual gifts as seen in Guild Wars. Johanson is adamant that the update on the anniversary will change the world forever and will bring together all of the stories that have been in motion over the past year. He goes on to explain that the changes will help give players a hint as to where the game is heading in the future. Exactly what the changes will be and how well several disconnected stories will tie together remains to be seen, but fans have to wait until August 28th to see what goes down on the one-year mark.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Crashing Guild Wars 2's anniversary bash
ArenaNet's latest release for Guild Wars 2, the Queen's Jubilee, takes place in the human capital city of Divinity's Reach. Not everyone is as giddy about this as I am. Humans are boring. Do we really need another festival-based event? Where's the real lore? However, Divinity's Reach is a hotspot for plot-based drama and intrigue, and setting an event there does more than just encourage players to return to the city for the sake of livening it up: it also sets the stage for ArenaNet to (hopefully) revisit some of the plot elements introduced at the launch of the game. The update will have gone live by the time this article is published, but chances are we won't know every bit of the story right away, so I'm going to take this opportunity to recap some of the pieces on the chess board which could make this event important to more than just humanity. This will necessarily include massive spoilers for the plot of GW2.
Guild Wars celebrates Wintersday in July
What is this? A winter celebration in the middle of summer? Guild Wars, you're so crazy! We love you, though. The classic Guild Wars is taking a break from reminding us that it still exists and is quite fun too by throwing an encore of its Wintersday celebration. Wintersday in July began yesterday and will continue until July 31st. There are plenty of activities to enjoy, including the snowball arena. The game will also drop plenty of cool rewards like fruitcake. OK, the game will also drop plenty of cool rewards except for fruitcake, which is nasty and evil to its sticky core. So egg nog it up with your fellow Tyrians for the next week because the hot weather is coming back!
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's endgame progression is leveling up
I don't like Guild Wars 2's Ascended gear. I've never liked it. My initial response to the controversy surrounding it was "wait and see," but after the details came out and the first pieces were implemented, my opinion of it settled somewhere between frustrated disappointment and apathy and has lived there ever since. While I didn't have much of a problem giving ArenaNet the benefit of the doubt where its desire to avoid a never-ending gear treadmill was concerned, what did bother me was how reactionary and rushed Ascended's inclusion seemed. When I thought of all the cool things the developers could have done to provide players with ways to continue progressing our characters after level 80, a new tier of gear with slightly higher stats and largely time-gated acquisition was not even on the list. I'm sure it was on the very top of some people's lists, because I remember reading several of their comments and thinking, "Wow, I could not be less excited for this, but at least somebody likes it."
The Perfect Ten: MMO commercials that take us back
I don't see a lot of commercials these days. I like to imagine that I'm a one-man force out to frustrate advertisers, ducking and weaving whenever they try to wing a 30-second spot at me. A lot gets through, but I've long since canceled cable, and the only traditional commercials I sit through are the ones for the occasional YouTube video. But there's something about a good commercial that can take us back on a wave of "remember whens?" and community bonding. I hear more discussions about creative ad spots the day after the Superbowl than the game itself. Commercials can even be a time capsule that unlocks memories for us of favorite movies, toys, and experiences. But what about MMOs? Well, they have commercials too, although not as many have made it to the standard airwaves. They're out there, though. Lurking. Emitting nostalgia rays from the past. And I've been hunting them down, looking for commercials that take us back to a simpler, goofier time. A few thousand dead brain cells later, I've got 10 of the margh make it sop pleaze pleaaa... Enjoy.
Jukebox Heroes: Expansion themes
Main themes seem to be a strong favorite among video game music fans (and even the casual set), but I've talked about them a few times already. So instead of puttering around with main MMO themes, why not give expansions some of the credit? Not every expansion gets its own theme tune, of course, but plenty do. We've covered a few of them in this column so far, including Riders of Rohan and EVE Online: Apocrypha. What we haven't done is spend an entire week looking at these upstart themes and see how they compare to the originals. So strap on your headphones and prepare for symphonic excellence. Here are six great MMO expansion themes that deserve a few minutes of your time!
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's living whirl
Hi there! I'm Anatoli Ingram, and starting today I'll be your friendly neighborhood Flameseeker Chronicles columnist. Some of you probably know me from my previous life as commenter RingBonefield, but thanks to the kindness and pure heart power of the Massively lead editors, I've evolved into my final form: a guy who not only won't shut up about Guild Wars 2 but gets paid to not shut up about Guild Wars 2. If you're anywhere near as easily distracted as I am by shiny objects placed tantalizingly out of reach, it's probably been difficult to tear yourself away from the Zephyr Sanctum. But GW2 fans have recently gotten huge chunks of information regarding the future of the game -- biweekly content updates, big plans for upcoming content, a possible lack of expansions, holy cats! -- and there's been no shortage of player concern and controversy to go along with them. Join me after the break, where I'll take a breather from dashing around as an ethereal being of light and wind to talk about what all of this potentially means for GW2's living world.
Massively's Guild Wars 2 Cutthroat Politics patch preview
ArenaNet's next patch for Guild Wars 2, titled Cutthroat Politics, will allow players directly affect the living story by giving them the ability to vote in an important election. During the Dragon Bash storyline, Theo Ashford was murdered, causing a vacancy on Lion Arch's prestigious Captain's Council. Two candidates have stepped forward, Ellen Kiel and Evon Gnashblade, and players will cast votes using support tokens to decide the winner. While choosing which NPC will become a more prominent figure in the game is a nice twist, apparently there is more at stake. The winner of the election will express his or her gratitude by reducing the cost of certain goods and services, bringing back various minigames, and even sponsoring Mist research so players can re-live one of two historical events. This Cutthroat Politics game update goes live on July 23 and is full of new events, rewards, and features, so check out the preview video after the cut to hear me dissect all of the details. We've also got a screenshot gallery to accompany the official site release!%Gallery-193932%
