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Guild Wars 2's Point of No Return launches today amidst 'Heart of Thorns' expansion rumors
Last week we showed you the preview vid for Guild Wars 2's latest living story update. Today ArenaNet is publishing the full patch, as Point of the No Return has officially gone live. The firm says that "in addition to bringing the Season 2 storyline to its epic conclusion, Point of No Return delivers new gameplay and access to new treasures." Completing the story will get you the Carapace armor set headgear while fighting the Mordrem Vinewrath gives you a chance to loot the Carapace chest, according to the latest GW2 press release. In other Guild Wars 2 news, thanks to a recent ArenaNet trademark filing, clever Redditors have uncovered what they suspect is the name of the game's rumored expansion: Heart of Thorns. Think they're right? We've included the logo below. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Here's a PvP event schedule for Guild Wars 2
ArenaNet has given us a heads-up relative to Guild Wars 2's near-future PvP events. Global events go down every Sunday, whereas North America gets a weekly 2v2 shindig each Tuesday. If neither of those days work for you, hit up the full announcement post because there's basically something PvP-related happening in GW2 all week long.
Blade & Soul raid boss looks grumpy at its future prospects
Blade & Soul will soon have a new 24-person raid boss to fight, and if a teased poster is any indication, the big bad doesn't look happy at being at the bottom of a pile-on. However, it does look competent, as evidenced by all of the dead bodies at its feet. MMO Culture reports that the raid will be tailored to include the upcoming Warlock class, although there are no other details or specifics to absorb at the moment. Until we know more, content yourself to gaze into the eyes of madness after the break and know that this beast holds the key to all of your loot dreams... at least if you're in Korea. The rest of us are still impatiently awaiting the game in the West.
Korean investment firm forecasts Guild Wars 2 expansion
This year's biggest trend thus far in the MMO space is to talk about the Guild Wars 2 expansion as if it's already here. But it's not! It hasn't even been announced yet. Gamers are speculating on whether or not it even exists. This didn't stop Daewoo Securities from predicting that NCsoft's income will see a nice boost in Q3 thanks to the sales of the presumed Guild Wars 2 expansion. Daewoo Securities is not an official NCsoft source, of course, but it sure does throw another bit of kindling on the fire. ArenaNet will be at PAX South very soon to discuss the future of Guild Wars 2, and while the word "expansion" hasn't been used, the expectation that it's going to be the big announcement has been echoed by our own Guild Wars 2 columnist. Whether or not it'll be out by Q3 2015 is another story altogether.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Is 2015 the Guild Wars 2 expansion year?
Way back in the ancient era of 2013, I wrote an article about why I thought Guild Wars 2 could use one of those fancy expansion doodlehoppers MMORPGs tend to get after they've been running for a while. You might not be surprised to learn that my opinions have changed only slightly since then, and mostly in the direction of, "Yes, GW2 really does need an expansion pack." If GW2 fans have sounded a little like hungry baby birds repeatedly peeping, "Expansion!" for the past couple of months, it's not without reason: The most recent NCsoft financial report conference call reportedly contained hints at expansion plans, and ArenaNet seems to have something mysterious in the works for PAX South this year. But are there any real reasons to think that we might be getting an expansion announcement in 2015 when we've gotten our hopes up to no avail before?
Guild Wars 2's Season 2 finale is past the point of no return
Guild Wars 2 is gearing up for the finale of its Living World Season 2 story arc. "With Glint's egg still missing, Tyria's heroes must rally their allies and prepare the pact fleet as they begin to launch an assault against Mordremoth," ArenaNet says in its latest press blurb. Players will ultimately face "a decisive moment" during the finale, which is probably why ANet dubbed the update "Point of No Return." Be sure and catch the teaser clip just beyond the break.
Guild Wars 2 hosts a Wintersday twitter contest this week
The holiday season is over. It's over. We're done. But you could still win some stuff from Guild Wars 2 if you're willing to slap some stencils up on your window. The team behind the game is hosting a Twitter-based contest this week, starting today and running until January 9th, with one lucky winner each day receiving a Griffon Mail Carrier. How can you win? Put some Guild Wars 2-themed stencils up on your window of choice, take a picture, and tweet it to the main Twitter account for the game this week with the hashtags #GW2 and #Wintersday. For those not feeling terribly creative, there are pre-made stencils available to fulfill the requirements. Sure, maybe you're happy to have the holiday decorations taken down, but if you want that mail carrier, you'll get to it. There's still time to enter the other Wintersday contests as well, although those are a little more elaborate; you can read the full details on the contests page.
One Shots: Water-walker
What MMOs will be releasing this year in the west? It's hard to say, exactly, although there are those who hold out hope that Blade & Soul might finally make the leap to the Americas and Europe. If pictures like this are any indication, we are missing out. "I've recently stepped back into the game with the Chinese release and while I'm not very far along into the game (it's a little tough when I don't understand the language!) I'm completely in love with the art style and combat mechanics," reader Dynatos said. "I don't usually go the cute fluffy look, but I wanted to create a Summoner character to play with the mechanics of the class. Here he is gliding gracefully through the air after learning the first Qing Gong. Next up -- running on water!" Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!
Guild Wars 2 looks to the future at PAX South
If you're a Guild Wars 2 fan and live in the right region to head to PAX South, you're in for a treat. Director Colin Johanson and ArenaNet president Mike O'Brien will be taking on a panel for the game on January 24th, one ominously titled Beyond the Point of No Return. And what will they be discussing? Waypoints, possibly! Sure, the actual panel description doesn't include any mention of waypoints, but it also doesn't specifically rule out talking about waypoints. Actually, the panel will discuss the framework for the next phase of updates for the game, teasing that "the Living World was just the beginning." There's also the promise of a sneak peek at what comes next, which could mean expansions, new areas, new standalone titles... almost anything. Short version: If you're a fan, you will want to be at that panel next month. [Thanks to Dystopiq for the tip!]
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's past year and future
A year ago, I was excited for WildStar's future. Now I'm sitting here wondering how things went so very, very wrong. That's not true, though; I know exactly how things went wrong. I don't like thinking about it, but I do know. And so here I am, with a game I was hugely excited to play out and in the wild, and so much has gone wrong. It's easy to think that I've pretty much clocked out altogether. But that's also not true. I'll be the first to point out that I've said some decidedly unkind things about the state of the game and the choices that have been made thus far in terms of fixing them. The last column I wrote even posited that it might be too late for several of the changes being proposed to make any sort of impact when it comes to the game's image. This is why I really want the game to prove me wrong.
One Shots: Grim Raider
"Here's my Guild Wars 2 Necromancer haunting the countryside of Divinity's Reach, bleeding and poisoning souls to fuel his demonic rituals and Necromancing zealotry," Russel announced, as if that was the sort of thing that you can say in polite society. Actually, as a fellow Necro, I have to say that I agree with looking the part. You got to have a skulls motif; there's no way around it. Way to commit to the role! Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!
One Shots: A prince among men
Trust me, we're getting somewhere with putting out all of these neglected screenshot submissions from earlier this year! Today's attractive One Shot comes from reader Skorry, who can't help but look amazing anywhere he goes. "I took a break from adventuring to admire the artwork inside the Central Plaza in Divinity's Reach with my elementalist, Mirka Wallace," Skorry writes. "I swung my camera around and, through the oddities of Guild Wars 2's third-person view, found I had randomly struck a fantastic view of him standing in front of the Royal Palace. Massive screenshotting ensued. In my opinion, this was the best of the lot, just a pretty noble boy posing regal in the symbol of Krytan majesty." Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!
One Shots: Mandy the Christmas Whale
Last year in our household we started up a new tradition, the legend of Mandy the Christmas Whale. Mandy, I told my children, was a green-and-red whale with lights on her tail that would swim through the first snow of the year to deliver cookies to the bedsides of good little boys and girls. Sometimes she even brought a snowsuit (an actual suit of snow) when it came to houses in warmer climes. Maybe reader James' Guild Wars 2 picture here isn't of Mandy, but one never knows what she might look like in disguise during the other days of the year. Have you been good enough to deserve cookies lately? Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!
One Shots: The last superhero
I've been holding onto this screenshot for the better part of the year for a time when the world entire would need a jolt of City of Heroes to get it through the next day. I think that today is that day. Behold! A superhero! Reader Michelle said that she was still traumatized by the game shutting down: "This particular screenie was of my last 50. He was a Fire Armor/Electric Melee tank named Demolition Companion. He was a clockwork that the Resistance attempted to reprogram but didn't complete, so he was broken (hence why he was on fire all the time) and very, very dangerous. In this shot he's standing in the sewers ready to wipe out some Resistance scum. (He was one of my only Loyalists.) I wish I'd gotten to RP him more." Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!
Flameseeker Chronicles: Crafting up a storm in Guild Wars 2
Merry Wintersday! Guild Wars 2's non-denominational twinkly winter celebration is in full swing. Despite earlier reports from ArenaNet that we'd get pure repeats of both Halloween and Wintersday, this year has added some new quests and a thematically appropriate relocation to Divinity's Reach. I was wrong last week about the sad Dickensian atmosphere of ruined Lion's Arch decorated with snowflakes, but there are still plenty of unfortunate children, so it all evens out. As your resident Scrooge, I'm going to skirt around the topic of candy canes and jumping puzzles to talk about a game feature that's much closer to my heart: crafting. However, I come to lob snowballs at GW2's crafting system, not to praise it.
Aion EU starts a new Q&A vidcast
Aion's EU dev team has released the first episode of a new vidcast called Ask Aion. It follows a pretty familiar Q&A format, with the questions pulled from fans via Twitter. They include bits about player events, possible server merges, and even an angry rant directed at publisher GameForge which prompts Aion's EU product director to strangle a plushie on camera. See for yourself after the cut.
Win part of a $50,000 pool at Guild Wars 2's PAX East tournament
Fancy yourself a not-half-bad PvP player? Are you keen on the notion of winning enough money to avoid work or school for a year so that you can concentrate on MMO gaming? Then step right up to Guild Wars 2's World Tournament Series Championship at PAX East next spring, where the winners will dip into a $50,000 prize pool. The tournament will take place on March 7th, 2015, at the gaming convention in Boston. Players from several countries are welcome to face off against each other, although teams will have to compete and win in earlier qualifiers to make it to the championship. You'll have to be at least 18 and from the US, Canada, Mexico, or the EU to participate. A cool perk of making it to the championship is that ArenaNet will foot the bill for teams' airfare, hotel, and a per diem.
WildStar eyes Chinese release
WildStar may have a new audience for its sci-fi western ways, as 2P.com reports that the game will be headed to China somewhere between late 2015 and early 2016. The MMO will be operated by Giant Interactive, which also handles ZT Online. However, NCsoft and Carbine have yet to officially announce the partnership. A new market for WildStar may be just what the beleaguered title needs to shore up its financials. The Q3 2014 earnings report from NCsoft showed that the new MMO had dropped sales dramatically compared to the previous quarter. [Thanks to Mason for the tip!]
Guild Wars 2 kicks off Wintersday events
The event avalanche of Guild Wars 2's Wintersday has gotten up to full speed and is currently roaring down upon the game's population. Today's update activates the previous years' Wintersday content as well as a few new additions. There's the Wondrous Workshop to explore, jumping puzzles, bell choir minigames, the Snowball Mayhem battle royale, and a quest to track down Grawnk to get a Wintersday tree for home instances. The patch also activates a couple of PvP events, new Wintersday-themed cash shop cosmetics, the daily login rewards, and the latest overhaul of the daily achievement system.
WildStar's next big update and holiday surprise
The first major WildStar update of 2015 is available on the test servers now. Yes, there's a little time before it actually goes live for everyone. Creative Director Chad Moore took the opportunity today to explain to the community everything contained within the new update, starting with the addition of two new dungeons (the Protostar Academy and the Ultimate Protogames), a new Shiphand mission, and the addition of veteran-level Shiphand missions that can still be cleared solo or in a group as you'd like. This update also includes new housing options, cosmetic options for characters (including the ability to edit your appearance post-character creation), and the addition of the new Glory currency for completing dungeons and raids, which can be exchanged for high-end equipment. Last but not least, it's the update that includes the long-discussed drop of the Datascape raid down to 20 players, making it less of a challenge to assemble a roster for this content. While it remains to be seen how well the update actually plays, it looks to be filled with a number of positive changes for the game. In other WildStar news today, the studio is running holiday promotion during December. "Carbine wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and spread some cheer by giving out 12 Days of Boom Boxes," wrote Community Manager Tony Rey yesterday. "Everyone that has logged into WildStar during the month of December (12/1-12/15) will receive these sweet little bundles of potential."
