skill-based-combat
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Guild Wars 2 is skill-based, says lead designer
Although Guild Wars 2 has had many reveals lately, much of the game is still shrouded in mystery, and ArenaNet has generally remained tight-lipped about specific game information. However, in a recent interview with Guild-Hall.cz, Lead Designer Eric Flannum did let fans in on a few tidbits. A concern for a lot of players is skill vs. level. Flannum revealed that skill will play a significant role in Guild Wars 2 and clarified it by saying, "For really large level spreads of say 10 or more levels, then the gear and raw power of the character is going to be a huge factor. When you are talking about smaller level differences then skill plays a very large role." Given the more action-based combat mechanics of the game, we think this makes a lot of sense. In a related question, Flannum was asked about the quality of dropped gear vs. crafted gear. "It will be possible to craft items that are comparable in power to the best items available through drops and other rewards," he assured readers. For the whole interview with Flannum and designers Jon Peters, Jeff Grubb, Colin Johanson, and Ree Soesbee, hop to Guild-Hall.cz.
Ask Massively: Massively is one of those multiple-robot Transformers edition
The technical term depends on how much of a fan you are and whether or not you want to be a jerk. The only term that has been officially used with any regularity is "combiner," which describes nicely what's going on but isn't terribly evocative. "Gestalt" is always a popular fan term, but it's also clearly the sort of term that bored 20-year-old psych student comes up with when talking about a cartoon online instead of doing homework. You know what? Let's just say we're a supergroup, like Asia. That's easier. So while you're queueing up "Heat of the Moment" and cursing me for getting that song stuck in your head for the next four days, it's time for Ask Massively, which this week features questions about the staff's opinions on games past, present, and future. Fun for everyone! And of course, you can send in your question to ask@massively.com, or you can just leave it in the comment field.
