Going into PAX, there was no game I was looking forward to more than Guild Wars 2. So when I was able to schedule an interview with a Guild Wars 2 developer, I was very excited. Being a huge fan of the series, I was very prepared for this interview hoping to get all the information I could.
In Guild Wars, the Player vs Player (PvP) system was very competitive. Known for having one of the best and most difficult PvP systems in the online competitive community, I wanted to know whether they would be able to carry over this same competitive spirit to Guild Wars 2. At this moment, in Guild Wars 2, there are two different types of PvP combat. One type will be the classic arena gameplay (8v8, 4v4, etc), an area for organized team battles. The other, newer PvP, will be a world vs world combat. This will be a less organized type of battle where a player’s level is not a issue, and you can enter or leave whenever you want. It is not clear how exactly the World vs World combat will balance out. What is going to balance a group of max level players competing against a world of low level characters? The developer did briefly say if one world, or server, gets too powerful, the smaller worlds will have to work together to take the higher levels out.
When we asked about a duel system possibly being implemented into the game (a 1vs1 challenge), we were only greeted by “it is in development”, a phrase we heard quite a bit during our interview. One of the biggest forms of PvP in Guild Wars was the war of guilds them self. Holding monthly tournaments to support this type of PvP helped their popularity. ArenaNet seems like they want to take everything that made Guild Wars the success it was and bring it into Guild Wars 2. So with that, we hope to see support for the monthly tournaments and community combat.
Guilds in Guild Wars were not only important for the competitive nature of the game but also for the social aspect of it. They helped form groups of friends who would never have met each other without the game. This being said, guilds were vital in getting the full experience of Guild Wars so we wanted to know if this same feel of community would be brought to Guild Wars 2. Yes, guilds will be present again. How exactly they will be run or built is still in development.
There seems to be three different world “powers” in Guild Wars 2. Power’s such as The Order of Whispers or the Shinning Blade. Each person in the game will have the option to follow one of these powers. Each of these world powers has objectives throughout the game. If you choose to follow one of these powers, you will most likely share many of these goals.
Another option they did not bring into Guild Wars until many years after release, was an effective player selling/buying system. Although the NPC markets worked just fine, the player made markets where made of solely chat spam. They solved this by implementing the Party Chat system in towns, allowing you to list the items you wanted to sell, without having to chat spam. It seems as if they know this was a problem with the original Guild Wars and they are working on implementing a better trading system in Guild Wars 2.
The skill system in Guild Wars 2 is now a weapon based layout, very different from Guild Wars. There are now a couple skills “attached” to the different weapons you have equipped. When you switch these weapons (from weapon set A to weapon set B) you skills change. This adds a new tactical approach to battles, allowing for someone to use ranged combat skills and as the enemy gets closer you can change to your sword and use close combat skills to finish off the enemy. This allows for thousands of combat combinations. During our hands on demo, I decided to explore the user interface a little and stumbled upon the skills you can unlock. It seems as if the current level cap is level 80, for skills. Instead of having 120 different skills and using you attributes to determine how powerful they are, the skills are now on a tier unlock system. You seem to be able to upgrade your skills to higher levels to deal more damage or another special ability. At the moment there are quite a few skills but there were many times I looked at level x unlockables only to find one skill underneath it. Hopefully as the skill system is revealed more this will either be explained or more skills will be implemented. Instead of attributes for each profession you know have a general skill system. This system allows you to upgrade strength, health, and other such traits. The elite skills are based on the race and profession you choose. For example, a Norn is able to turn into their totem animal, as an Elementalist is able turn into a tornado.
Although not fully revealed, there will be eight different professions. Since every player now has a mandatory heal skill, the Monk’s role will most certainly change in Guild Wars 2. It seems as if every race will be based more around offensive skill and have smaller support skills. In the demo I was able to play as a Warrior and a Necromancer. The combat in Guild Wars 2 is very fluid and fast paced. The addition of the Z axis allows for much more freedom than the original game. You can jump over obstacles, roll away from incoming projectiles or even swim across a lake.
The dynamic event system incorporated you into a world of constant changes. It seemed like even some of the most trivial things, like not helping a farmer, could come back to haunt you. For instance, when I was teleported to an event where a dragon was attacking I was not able to use some turrets in the background because people had not done a simple event earlier to protect those turrets. The level of exploration within the demo was immense. Walking through one of the cities took me almost an entire demo, which was forty minutes long.
Within these cities you will find mini games. Although I was not able to find it, a marksman’s game was located somewhere in the demo. The art of the cities and scenery was outstanding and I was told the settings were not set at max. The level of detail is nothing I have seen in a MMO before. Early on in Guild Wars 2 reveals they had explained that the armor system was going from a set numerical number to the light, medium, and heavy armor system. I was little worried about this because the distinctive armor for classes in Guild Wars was so beautiful and individualized for each class. I was assured the quality of the armor is still there and prestige armor will still make a presence in Guild Wars 2. The dyeing system of Guild Wars 2 is much more extensive than the original. It seems as if the dyes will no longer be a random drop or something you buy from a trader, but instead incorporated into the equipment window.
Many people have seen or read the Guild Wars book Ghosts of Ascalon. The book told the story of the 250 year gap between Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. The book described many different skills and events, which I was hoping would correlate to Guild Wars 2. The story seems to hold firm and is true to the series. I was assured each page went through different sets of minds, most of who were involved in making of Guild Wars 2.
Something that was not present in Guild Wars was a crafting and farming system. Being able to pick up plants from the wilderness, combine them with hides from the monster you killed earlier is something a lot of player find entertaining while playing games. The ability to do that stuff is still in development for Guild Wars 2, but I would expect a more options when it comes to this gameplay.
Going into PAX I had some very high expectations for Guild Wars 2 and every one of them was met. This game continues to excel at its ingenuity. The team at ArenaNet is doing an outstanding job and continues to surprise me with every screen shot and gameplay demo released. And yes, I did ask about the release date only to be met by the ever so clever, “It will be done when it’s ready.”
~Dew
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