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Guild Wars 2's revamped sPvP rewards skillful play, not just wins
ArenaNet's Justin O'Dell is on dev blog duty today for Guild Wars 2, and his post is all about planned updates to the game's sPvP matchmaking and ladder ranking systems. "We decided to move to a score-based search method that takes into consideration several metrics that we believe are important for a match to be fun," he explains. "We chose a score-based system over other methods because we found that it's a good compromise between the often competing goals of match quality and short queue times." The system will do its best to match players by skill level, rank, party size, and so forth. Points awarded through the ladder ranking system are determined by final score and odds of victory in an attempt to ensure that playing well in spite of a loss is encouraged and that luck isn't the driving force in ranking. "Imagine a world where everyone took the saying 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game' seriously," O'Dell says. "Wouldn't that be great?"
Guild Wars 2 celebrates the Queen's Jubilee
Citizens! Queen Jennah, ruler of the human kingdom of Kryta, is preparing to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of her reign in ArenaNet's latest living story update for Guild Wars 2. All of Tyria is invited except bad guys, presumably, but we're beginning to notice a pattern in these little celebrations and won't be shocked if some show up to crash the party anyway. If you're not bent on the subjugation or destruction of the entire world (or can at least keep quiet about it for the first act or so), you're welcome to hitch a ride in one of the nifty hot air balloons Her Majesty has provided to take guests to the brand-new Crown Pavilion in the human home city of Divinity's Reach. Fighting stuff is de rigueur for any Tyrian social event, and players can earn rewards through single combat in the Queen's Gauntlet, where the value of the rewards increases as challengers take more risks and fulfill special conditions. The crown is also employing a new technology known as watchwork; players will be able to gather it themselves for use in crafting new recipes and purchasing the new Sovereign weapon set. Completing the meta-achievement for the event will earn you a sweet miniature replica of one of Jennah's intimidating Watchknights. They're pretty creepy-looking, but they seem a lot less prone to putting their feet in their mouths than Logan Thackeray is.
Guild Wars 2 developers share APIs, hopes for the future
This morning, ArenaNet dropped the price point of Guild Wars 2 by $10 across all available editions. In a follow-up chat about some of the decisions behind that move, Game Director Colin Johanson talked a bit about community support, the game's regular update cadence, and the company's hopes for bringing Guild Wars 2 into new markets. While a $10 price drop is not an extreme move, Johanson is confident that the change will bring Guild Wars 2 to new people. The company seems to be currently focused on building up community support. Just yesterday, some APIs were made available to the public for the first time. We've already seen them put to use in real-time WvW tracking and event monitors. Johanson also talked about recent efforts to shore up the support for sPvP and how the additions of custom arenas and spectator mode has led to viewers for sPvP streams "more than doubling" in the last few weeks. The game appears to be moving towards a twice-monthly update schedule. Johanson said that while ArenaNet has "not ruled out" the idea of future expansions, the company is committed to the idea of the living story. Johanson mentioned that Guild Wars 2 is sitting solidly at "well over 3,000,000 copies sold" without tapping into the Chinese market. He added that the game just had its first closed beta test in China and that the team is optimistic. ArenaNet hopes to make the Chinese version of the game as similar as possible to the existing one. [Source: ArenaNet conference call]
Flameseeker Chronicles: It's time for some retribution in Guild Wars 2
Another patch day is upon us. Among other things, Guild Wars 2's Flame and Frost: Retribution is bringing in a new living story dungeon and some much-needed structured PvP improvements. Over the weekend, members of the press were invited to preview some of the incoming content. I'd like to talk about it with you, so be warned that there are spoilers for the living story dungeon ahead. Something that I found particularly interesting about all of this is that the Molten Weapons Facilities dungeon is going to be available for less than two weeks. The dungeon is due to exit on May 12th. I had expected it to be time-limited, of course, but I think I was expecting a little more time than that. Anyway, let's dive right into it.
Flameseeker Chronicles: April's Guild Wars 2 patch brings custom arenas, spectator mode, and a living story dungeon
It is time to start talking about Guild Wars 2's April update for reals. I've got some serious knowledge to drop on you regarding the Flame and Frost: Retribution update, so let's get right to it. Retribution will be the final installment of the Flame and Frost living story arc. To tie everything off, we're getting a new story dungeon that'll take us deep underground into the Molten Weapon Facilities. Structured PvP is getting some love in the form of custom PvP arenas and spectator mode. Guilds are getting more missions and new rewards. The gem store will be getting new stuff. Let's dive in and look at some specifics, shall we?
Flameseeker Chronicles: Simple pleasures in Guild Wars 2
Right after finally crafting The Flameseeker Prophecies, I took my in-game efforts down a couple of notches. As a result, I've had a few fairly quiet weeks in Guild Wars 2. It's not for lack of things to do or of goals; I've still got plans for oodles of armor sets, a few of the pseudo-legendary weapons, a double-handful of additional level 80 characters, and some titles. I've just been taking a more laid-back approach to achieving those goals. For the last month or so before getting my shield I was running two to three dungeons a day along with other things like camping meta events and going into Orr for T6 mats, which is by no means hardcore but has made for a very pleasant experience switching into a lower gear. I've been taking time to enjoy the simpler pleasures of Guild Wars 2.
Guild Wars 2's leaderboards are up and running
Guild Wars 2's big March update introduced leaderboards as an abstract concept. Things were being tracked and ranks calculated, but we couldn't really see what that all amounted to. Those of you who have been unsure of your self-worth up 'til now can rest easy, though: The leaderboards have gone live. You can check them out for yourself. Right now the leaderboards show the top 100 players for PvP, WvW, and achievement points. The PvP boards are based on tournament matches, which players will need to have participated in at least ten of before their stats are tracked by the leaderboard. The team is looking forward to expanding the functionality of leaderboards in the future, but at least we've got some sort of stick to start measuring ourselves by.
Flameseeker Chronicles: The Gathering Storm preview
I know that nothing (nothing in the whole world, in the history of ever) sucks like waiting for the patch on patch day. There's the promise of wonderful things in the future, but they're just so tantalizingly out of reach. So what better way to pass the time waiting for Guild Wars 2's February patch than by talking about it? I got a bit of a sneak preview at the incoming content over the weekend, so let's take a look at the nitty-gritty of what awaits us in the The Gathering Storm.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Hopes for the new year in Guild Wars 2
It's the dawn of a brave new year. Guild Wars 2 is still in its infancy, really -- ArenaNet's work in this year will do a lot to shape the future and lasting impact of the game. With apparently an expansion's worth of content coming out in January and February, this certainly promises to be an exciting year. I don't know whether the following things are predictions or hopes, but they can't be all that much more inaccurate than fondling sheep guts.
ArenaNet on future content updates and learning from Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores
Guild Wars 2 recently got its first big non-holiday content update, which added a new zone, a new PvP map, a new dungeon, and a bunch of items. In addition to the permanent content (which seems, with a few glaring exceptions, to be very well-received), ArenaNet threw in a one-time event over the weekend (which was not received very well). In response to player reaction, the team has posted a new blog post that acknowledges the pitfalls of the Lost Shores event and laid out plans for moving forward. We've seen people saying that they really liked the principle of using events to unveil new content, but we need to tighten up the methods by which they are deployed. We take these comments to heart, as it is our goal to always deliver content of the highest quality. In the short- to mid-term future, ArenaNet plans to revamp and rebalance existing dungeons, add new dungeons to the Fractals of the Mists, fix existing content, add new content and progression for guilds, keep adding features to PvP, add new WvW content and rewards, and continue to add to the dynamic content around the world. There's no mention of one-off events in that list, which hopefully means the team is taking time to make sure that the technical problems have been hunted down and sorted out before another attempt is made.
Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores content primer
We're just days away from Guild Wars 2's next big content patch and special event. So far the Lost Shores have been shrouded in mystery. Will the shores ever be found? Who lost them? Exactly how absent-minded does one have to be to misplace an entire shore? There are other, more pragmatic mysteries too. What is the content update all about? What can we expect? What sort of name do you give to a race of evil, bow-legged crustaceans? Happily, we're equipped to shed a little light on all those and more. Read on for our Lost Shores content primer!%Gallery-170657%
Flameseeker Chronicles: The good, the mad, and the Lunatic
Things have been getting spookier and spookier around the land of Tyria. If you're a Guild Wars 2 player, I sincerely hope for your own sake that you've been able to get some time in-game in the last few days. A lot has been going on -- there've been scavenger hunts, dark tales unfolding, spectral energy levels rising, maddening races up clock towers, and so much more! Have you been missing out? Trying to decide how best to spend your precious holiday time in-game? Let's take a look at some of the big changes that have been creeping in with the shadow of the Mad King.
Guild Wars 2 previews upcoming structured PvP features
Guild Wars 2 is getting on top of its game -- its PvP game, to be precise. ArenaNet posted a preview of the improvements and features coming to structured PvP in the near future. PvPers who win in paid tournaments will soon be granted qualifying points (QPs), which not only allow players to measure themselves against the competition but will be used to seed the game's larger tournaments. ArenaNet said that it will also be adding more ways for QPs to matter down the road. The user interface for PvP is getting tweaked as well. The tournament browser will now show map rotations and rewards, and ArenaNet is adding a quick-launch button and a scoreboard as well. The team hinted that it's continuing work on custom arenas, although it's not ready to reveal the work on that project as of yet.
ArenaNet explains upcoming Guild Wars 2 PvP features
Guild Wars 2 has a pretty active and dedicated sPvP community. ArenaNet's Jonathan Sharp took to the blog today to talk to that community (and the rest of you peasants, too) about some upcoming goodies for PvP. Right now, players are able to compete in structured automated tournaments. These free tournaments pit eight teams of five against each other, with reward chests, glory, and rank going to the top four teams. Soon, players will also be able to participate in paid automated tournaments. Tickets for entry can be found in reward chests from free tournaments, bought in the gem store, or received whenever a player hits a new sPvP rank. Every team in the paid tournaments will receive a reward, but the four teams with the best performance will get better loot -- including gems. What better way to hone your skills for paid tournaments than by renting custom arenas in which to practice? Custom arenas can be rented by players with options for password protection, scrimmage hosting, and setting a custom map rotation. Sharp promised more information about custom arenas in a future blog post, and said that after paid tournaments and custom arenas come online, the team will turn its focus to other key features for making Guild Wars 2 sPvP even better.
ArenaNet devs discuss PvP tournaments and e-sports
Guild Wars 2 is getting steadily closer to release, but players are as hungry as ever for every little detail about the game. ArenaNet devs Jonathan Sharp and John Corpening took some time to scratch the unrelenting itch of curiosity in an interview with Guild Wars 2 Guru. The game's normal structured PvP tournaments will be restricted, for technical reasons, by region. Worldwide tournaments will still be possible but will be dealt with "in a manner outside of the online tournament system." Before automated tournaments, players will be able to see the maps that will be used for each of the three rounds of the tournament but unable to see the composition of enemy teams. As things stand now, players will be able to change builds between rounds, but the devs are still looking for further feedback about that particular bucket of fish. Game formats other than the conquest that currently serves as the current primary PvP mechanic aren't out of the question for the future, but the team wants the game to start off with something that is easily approachable. ArenaNet hasn't really made a secret out of e-sports plans for Guild Wars 2. To that end, a spectator mode is high on the list of additions to the game, but the only timeframe devs are giving is "when it's ready." While the devs can't say much yet about plans for PvP publicity and ranking systems, they are hoping for Guild Wars 2 to prove itself as an e-sport and are committed to the original intention of letting players jump in and be competitive in PvP right off the bat. Check out the original interview for every breathtaking tease, hint, and detail.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's Legacy of the Foefire
This Guild Wars 2 beta was possibly more exciting for me than any of the previous ones. It was bigger in pretty much every sense -- more areas, more races, more PvP, more people. It was still rife with its fair share of technical issues, but those issues did not seem to really define the norm. And most importantly, it was the last one, which left each experience flavored with the subtle taste of anticipation. What did you get up to? I'd hope some of you who aren't quite as comfortable with structured PvP took this last opportunity to get in and give it a go while the scene is (theoretically) as open and easy to join as possible. If you did, you probably ran into the Legacy of the Foefire map. If you didn't, here's a bit about what you missed.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 PvP primer
Welcome to the PvP primer, the post with a small taste of everything you didn't think you wanted to know about PvP content in Guild Wars 2. Some folks regard Guild Wars 2 as a PvP-centric game with PvE content tacked on as an occasional diversion. If that's you, this post is probably full of stuff you already know. Think of this as crib notes for the uninitiated. Are you unsure how to find your way around WvW? Are you trying to find your way into a PvP match? This primer is for you. Last week we took a look at world vs. world (WvW), which pits three servers against each other in grand-scale, pitched battles. Now it's time to give some love to structured PvP (some folks are getting sPvP started as a term for that), which is all about quicker battles with fewer people on smaller maps.
