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Latest Guild Wars 2 interview reveals new gameplay details
Those anticipating Guild Wars 2 love big news such as class reveals, but they're just as happy to have small details about how things will work in the Tyria of the future. Fans got plenty of the latter yesterday, thanks to an interview with several of the Guild Wars 2 devs over at Univers Virtuels. It's a great interview full of tantalizing small details about skills, weapons, gameplay, and more. Jotun, for example, can throw their sword and create a "Jotun Sword" environmental effect. The sword becomes fair game, meaning that if you can get to it first, you can attack with it. That was just one of the many new details. The complete interview is full of little pieces of information like this, and while none of it is quite on the scale of a class reveal or beta date, it's an exciting read for the Guild Wars 2 community.
Personality in Guild Wars 2: NPCs will give you pie
Do you like pie? Do you want game NPCs to give you free pie? How about a free jar of bees? (Don't look so surprised, it's an excellent weapon.) It may sound funny, but free goodies from NPCs are all part of the personality system in Guild Wars 2. Way back in May, ArenaNet's Ree Soesbee gave us an exciting overview of how your personal story will work in Guild Wars 2. The whole point of personal story, and dynamic events for that matter, is to make you feel that you're truly in the world and making an impact. However, it's a bit immersion-breaking if you've been tearing around building a reputation as a centaur-slaying hero, and then you enter town to be greeted by blank stares and static dialogue from every NPC. ArenaNet thought of this too. Follow along after the jump to see how the developers have addressed this issue in the latest blog entry: Personality in Guild Wars 2.
James Phinney discusses Guild Wars 2 classes, events, and combat at Comic-Con
Comic-Con may be over, but the news keeps rolling in. The newest video over at GameTrailers is of a chat with ArenaNet's Design Director James Phinney. James gave a brief rundown of what we know about Guild Wars 2 so far, explaining the combat roles of the classes we know: elementalist, warrior, and ranger. He also covered the dynamic event system that we've heard so much about, as well as the reasoning behind it. Finally, he addressed the burning question of "When?" Unfortunately, it looks like we'll have to wait for that coveted date a bit longer: "When it's ready." For now, you can look after the jump to see the video for yourself.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guilds, grind, and Gamescom
Thursday evening was fairly eventful for me. Thursday is our regular Massively night in Guild Wars, so [MVOP] arrived in The Wilds and began setting up for our run through the mission. We found a few players waiting for us, extended guild invites, sorted out our grouping, and off we went. We made it through the mission with only one hitch -- which I'll address in a moment -- then headed over to the Eye of the North to begin tackling the Asura storyline. The plan was to make the full trek through Vloxen Excavations to the Asura Gate, but once we arrived at Umbral Grotto, certain party members (me) were falling asleep in their seats and had to bow out and get some rest. The plans for this week are all set, and everyone is welcome to join us. Now, about that little hitch. We were traipsing around the jungle in The Wilds when I got an IM telling me that the level cap had been set for Guild Wars 2. What? No way. A quick check confirmed it, and my wonderful group sent me off to a safe corner to leech and knock out a quick news story while they continued the mission. They even came back to find me after I returned and demonstrated my truly dismal navigational skills, because they are wonderful like that. The leveling and progression information was pretty big news, so there was no question that I'd look into it a bit more deeply for this week's Flameseeker Chronicles -- follow along after the jump.
Eric Flannum answers more questions about Guild Wars 2's ranger
The latest profession reveal for Guild Wars 2 was the ranger class, and ArenaNet has been generous with information since then. In the newest entry on the ArenaNet blog, Lead Designer Eric Flannum answers the most frequently asked questions from the community. He clarified quite a few things from the reveal video and discussed some mechanics that will carry over from Guild Wars, such as the ability to dodge. Some new information on the blind condition caught the attention of quite a few fans. Rather than the timed duration we're familiar with now, blindness in Guild Wars 2 "causes the target's next attack to miss." Interestingly, a question very near the top of the frequently-asked list was not answered: that of interrupts. There's heavy community speculation on why this is, and hopefully we'll have some news that clears it up very soon. For now, the latest round of new information can be found at the ArenaNet blog.
The Daily Grind: Do you get game wanderlust?
We gamers are a fickle bunch. Perhaps you're a veteran player of Guild Wars and have always loved the game, even when you knew the sequel was coming. But you saw the recent Ranger reveal, and when you logged in you were suddenly struck by an overwhelming urge to play Guild Wars 2 immediately, not this crappy old game that you hate and is terrible. It's not that you're actually dissatisfied with the game, but the promises of new shiny things have left you feeling an urge to pick up and go somewhere new. The allure of something new and good can be a powerful intoxicant, and it can bring people into strange new locations. Do you find yourself wanting to head off into a new game despite there being nothing wrong with your current main game? Are you tempted to try out newer titles on a regular basis, even if you know you'll end up going back? Or do you convince yourself not to go anywhere when you'll just turn around in the end?
More questions answered on death and healing in Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 designer Jon Peters answered several of the community's questions on death and healing earlier this week, and promised more to come. The rest of those questions were released last night on ArenaNet's blog, thanks once again to Jon. The questions had a wide range, giving more details on the mechanics of downed and defeated states, possible exploits, and even a bit of information on the philosophy behind Guild Wars 2's design. There is plenty of new information here, and Jon even managed to sneak in another Guild Wars 2 skill mention -- the elementalists's Vapor Form skill. The entire list of questions and answers can be seen on the ArenaNet blog.
New ArenaNet blog post confirms information about second Guild Wars 2 novel
Fans may get impatient with ArenaNet for its secrecy, but when the people behind Guild Wars 2 decide to release information, they pull out all the stops. The past 24 hours or so have been pretty exciting for Guild Wars 2 fans, and now we've got one more tidbit of news to enjoy. The newest ArenaNet blog post comes to us courtesy of Jeff Grubb, co-author of Ghosts of Ascalon. He talks quite a bit about Ghosts of Ascalon, but the final paragraph holds some extremely interesting news for those already looking forward to the second book. While intrepid fans have tracked down a bit of book information via publishing and bookstore sites, Jeff gives us some confirmation: Edge of Destiny, written by J. Robert King, is due out in December. Furthermore, we learn more about the book's content: "Of the "big guns" of Guild Wars 2 – Rytlock, Zojja, Logan and the rest that we saw in the early trailers – a couple of them will show up in Ghosts, but their full story is told in the second novel, Edge of Destiny." Check out the full blog post -- it's a must-read for any fan.
The story behind Ghosts of Ascalon: Massively's interview with Jeff Grubb
As Guild Wars 2 hype grows and we look to the upcoming novels to help hold us over until that elusive launch date, fans of all things Tyrian have become familiar with a long list of names. One of those names is Jeff Grubb. Jeff is a game designer for ArenaNet, focusing on content and lore. He's also the co-author of Ghosts of Ascalon, the first Guild Wars 2 novel to be released in what will become a trilogy before the game launches. The book is due out in less than two weeks, and Massively's Shawn Schuster got a chance to read an advance copy. He had plenty to say about it, but we had even more questions once it was all over. We spent some time with Jeff to chat all about Ghosts of Ascalon, so follow along after the jump to see what he had to say!
New information on the Guild Wars 2 ranger: Massively's interview with ArenaNet
Yesterday's Guild Wars 2 ranger reveal caused a huge stir in the Guild Wars community. This is our third class reveal, but it can be argued that of the three classes, rangers have gotten the most dramatic and eye-catching makeover so far. As always, the excitement and discussion among fans brought about a fair amount of follow-up questions. We at Massively had quite a few of our own, so we posed them to ArenaNet, who was kind enough to answer. Follow along after the jump to hear what ArenaNet had to say about rangers and their companions.
You can have a shark as a pet: ArenaNet unveils the Guild Wars 2 ranger
It's been one of the hottest topics among the Guild Wars 2 community for over a month. The warrior was revealed on June 9th, and once the excitement of that died down, it was back on board the speculation train. What's the next class? Speculation was all over the map: necromancer was a popular choice thanks to the recent sneak peek of Ghosts of Ascalon. Mesmers and some sort of paladin class were suggested, as well as rangers. Things got even more interesting on Monday, when ArenaNet teased the upcoming reveal of a new class. Well, it looks like rangers won out -- ArenaNet announced the ranger class for Guild Wars 2 today. Rangers are getting some serious upgrades -- follow along after the jump for all the exciting news about rangers, their companions, and why it's a terrible idea to get on their bad side.
Death and healing: Guild Wars 2 community questions answered
What happens if you have no money and aren't revived? Do we wait to be killed, and respawn at a waypoint? Do we have to lie on the ground, begging people passing by to come and revive us? It seems like this could suck. It's a valid question, and one that Jon Peters was more than willing to answer. ArenaNet released information on death and healing to eager Guild Wars 2 fans last Thursday. The community had a long list of followup questions, so the Guild Wars 2 team rounded them up and set out to answer them. According to Community Manager Regina Buenaobra, there were so many good questions to answer that the team decided to split them into two blog posts. The first of those two was posted last night, and addresses a handful of player concerns as well as some interesting details of how the system will work. Check out the first batch of questions on the ArenaNet blog, and keep an eye on Massively -- we'll bring you round two just as soon as it's made available!
NCsoft announces Comic-Con schedule for Aion, City of Heroes, and Guild Wars 2
Comic-Con is just over a week away, and if you're a fan of any of NCsoft's games you'll be happy about the latest news: NCsoft has released the full schedule for its Comic-Con presence. Fans will be treated to some merchandise giveaways and signings, and there will be speaking sessions centered around Guild Wars 2 and City of Heroes: Going Rogue. While we can't play Guild Wars 2 quite yet, NCsoft will have stations set up to experience Aion and Going Rogue. Events are scheduled daily from the 22nd through the 25th, so check out the NCsoft events calendar to be sure you don't miss anything!
ArenaNet devs talk parties, games, and map travel
ArenaNet must be feeling generous this week, because we've gotten another hefty dose of new information about Guild Wars 2, a mere day after the last round. After all that talk of death and healing, we're venturing back to the lighter side with designers John Stumme and Ben Miller. We established not long ago that there's an important lighter side to Guild Wars 2 -- a part of the game that's just for playing, having fun, and taking a break from the burdens of war. Follow along after the jump for our take on ArenaNet's look at activities in Guild Wars 2 and a bonus look at travel!
To live and die in Tyria -- death, healing, and combat in Guild Wars 2
As the Guild Wars 2 news continues to roll in, one of the main topics of conversation has been the lack of a dedicated healer class. No monks in Guild Wars 2? What will we do? The question of death mechanics is a natural one to follow that line of thought, and it's something else we've been anxious to find out. Well, "everyone take a deep breath. It's going to be OK." That's straight from the designer's mouth. Game Designer Jon Peters finally lifted the veil on this information, so to speak, with the newest update to the GW2 site. Follow along after the jump as we take a look at "A New Way of Looking at Healing and Death."
One Shots: Fledgeling steps
If you hadn't figured it out by now, we've got a couple of hardcore Guild Wars nuts on the staff here at Massively. Not only can you catch up with them in-game, but they've decided to respawn Shawn's old podcast, Guildcast, to cover both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 goodness -- outside of all the things we do here. With that said, our readers also seem to enjoy it as we've seen more and more screens from this ArenaNet MMO coming in, such as this lovely vista from k8z who writes: "I find myself really pumped up about Guild Wars 2. With all the impressive details out now and on the way, it's hard not to be, and while I've always been more of a "seamless world" type of gamer, I decided to go back and give Guild Wars a legitimate try, and acclimate myself to the IP. I've only been in the game now for 10 minutes, yet, I think I'm starting to get it. Stunning!" Are you just now journeying in an MMO that's been out for a while? We don't mind! Send some screenshots of those lowbie areas you're enjoying in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in. %Gallery-85937%
Newest Guild Wars 2 interview talks dungeons, racial abilities, and more
A new interview with the Guild Wars 2 team has popped up at Jeux Online, posing questions sent in by the site's community. While many questions were met with versions of the traditional "we're not ready to talk about that yet," the interview contained a few new bits of information. Jeux Online asked specifically about group size -- will we be able to go in with groups of 8 or 12 like we do now? The answer was a slightly surprising "no." Group sizes will be limited to five: "We believe that this is an appropriate size for the dungeon difficulty that we established." Racial abilities were clarified a bit as well, and the clarification seems to be in line with the diverse system of skills and abilities that we have been learning about: "Race has no effect on the skills provided by a profession. The racial abilities, however, have similar functions to certain occupations, while being profoundly influenced by this race." The full interview (in English or the original French) can be found at Jeux Online.
Next Guild Wars novel to come in December?
We're three weeks away from the release of Ghosts of Ascalon, and fans are alternately excited and a tad concerned. We know that there will be three Guild Wars novels before Guild Wars 2 is released, so they're serving as sort of a timeline. Curiosity about when the next one will arrive may have been satisfied a bit by an update to several sites yesterday: publisher Simon and Schuster, and two major bookstore sites. Simon and Schuster shows an unnamed book set for release on December 28th of this year. That in itself is a fairly useless piece of news until it's combined with the Borders placeholder that gives the same date and calls the book "Untitled Guild Wars," as does the Barnes & Noble site. While nothing is confirmed as of this writing, the two site updates together provide a potentially exciting piece of information.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Community guide, part two
As information about Guild Wars 2 continues to be made available, community activity has increased greatly. The sheer number of resources can be pretty overwhelming at this point, and for a while I considered updating the original community guide. However, there are new podcasts, fansites, images, and much more, so in the end I decided that it was more than enough to warrant a new community guide. So without further delay, I bring you Community Guide Two (go ahead and say electric boogaloo, you know you want to. I'll wait.). Hit the jump to see what's what in the Guild Wars 2 community these days.
Excerpt for first Guild Wars 2 novel now available, mentions necromancer class
Ghosts of Ascalon is the first of three planned Guild Wars 2 novels, and fans have been waiting anxiously to get a look at it. Today we got a little bit of our wish granted with an excerpt from the novel on Simon & Schuster's website, along with a shipping date of "On or around July 27th, 2010." Our peek at Ghosts of Ascalon serves as an introduction to the characters, but even more importantly, it might just serve as confirmation of the necromancer class in Guild Wars 2. Killeen the sylvari is defined as a necromancer in the excerpt: "The sylvari necromancer was probably the most pleasant individual of their motley krewe." Does this mean we'll definitely see necros in Guild Wars 2? It seems like a safe assumption, but as always, we'll have to wait for confirmation from ArenaNet.
