Guild Wars 2 Catch All

Scratched wrote:

From the arenanet blog:
Sound design
Field recording

Because these were awesome, I'm just gonna post the YT vids:

I love when developers do sound videos as it really gives the sound design a chance to stand out.

Moving pictures:

The grove: http://www.vgrevolution.com/2011/08/...
The sylvari page at the main GW2 site got update: http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-gam...

Tagged. Interest still at "meh" levels. GW1 levels still at "pretty cool" levels.

As awesome as the Sylvari look, I was very disappointed that all the leaf-like features looked like glued-on plastic cosplay. This is 2011, I am sure it wouldn't eat too many resources to have petals, leafs and all the other fragile features flow and move.

http://www.arena.net/blog/jon-peters...

Energy

Skills no longer cost energy. This means energy potions are also gone. (Sorry to everyone who so vehemently helped us defend their existence.) In place of the energy-potion button is a new dodge button. This allows players to use the mouse to dodge and lets players bind dodge to a single keystroke. If you are moving in a direction, the dodge will take that into account and dodge in that direction. If you are not moving, you will dodge backward. Dodging now also evades attacks, making it a more effective and understandable way to avoid big creature attacks or to get out of AoE spells. Dodging is limited by energy, which regenerates over time.

We have a new long-term replacement for the other benefits that energy potions provided to our system, but since it is not in the game yet, we aren’t talking about it.

Skill Acquisition

The acquisition of skills is changing. Why? Because it wasn’t helping teach people the game, it didn’t fit with how skills actually worked, and it didn’t carry over the fun collection element that made the original Guild Wars unique.

A weapon’s skills are now learned by fighting with that weapon. Because weapon skills are tied to weapon use, there is no reason to visit a trainer and make choices about which ones to unlock. Instead, it makes more sense to learn how to use the weapon by, you know, actually using it.

Non-weapon skills are learned in a different way. The second half of the bar will be unlocked using a collection mechanic similar to Guild Wars. We want players to make fun choices about how they build their character, so the new systems will help promote this. Along with this, the player progression of traits, attribute-point spending, and skill tiers have been updated as well, but the final implementation is not a part of this build either. For this demo, the trait panel is disabled, and when the new system is ready, we will explain how it works.

I was wide-eyed when I saw the energy change, but it makes sense given the previous system (long term management rather than short term) and everything else in GW2.

A weapon’s skills are now learned by fighting with that weapon. Because weapon skills are tied to weapon use, there is no reason to visit a trainer and make choices about which ones to unlock. Instead, it makes more sense to learn how to use the weapon by, you know, actually using it.

I wish he would've elaborated on that. In general, games I've played that use that system of upgrading have the side-effect of players choosing not to use a new or different weapon because you're starting from scratch and no longer upgrading the toys you have that you've invested in. How does one learn a weapon skill by using the weapon that doesn't yet have the skill? Perhaps instead of a use factor it's based on a weapon achievement system. By completing those use cases, you learn a new strategy that helps with your upcoming skill?

In other news, I finally did this last night:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/vGOc9.jpg)
One down...

edit: Oh good grief, Asura can have an afro! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqWcn...
Awesome!

The presenter has to be tolerated but the footage is good!
You get a good look at an asura guardian gameplay.

I have to say the guardian looks good. I was afraid they would be a stale melee centric class but they have some mid range abilities that look fun!

They really nailed the animation of the asura hefting a 2 handed mallet over its shoulder!

I respect that they are keeping the info flowing about the game, but the only thing I want to know is the release date. Enough with the hype already.

WTF is up with that fool calling the Charr cows?

So in the latest PC Gamer podcast, one of the editors let slip that he thinks Guild Wars 2 has a good chance of being out this year. I'm wondering if the press has some inside angle that we don't. Since PAX Prime is in ArenaNet's backyard, I'm wondering if they'll be making a big announcement this weekend.

jdzappa wrote:

So in the latest PC Gamer podcast, one of the editors let slip that he thinks Guild Wars 2 has a good chance of being out this year. I'm wondering if the press has some inside angle that we don't. Since PAX Prime is in ArenaNet's backyard, I'm wondering if they'll be making a big announcement this weekend.

Arenanet have been very careful to say nothing regarding when to expect beta/release. Something they did say at gamescom was that there's still a decent amount of things they want to change, feedback to implement from gamescom/pax, plus there's all the things we can't see. Ranger pets weren't in the gamescom demo as they're apparently overhauling that system currently, a whole class that's not publicly known, WvWvW, how guilds work, and there's a lot of content they haven't shown, such as the Asura starting area, all of which may or may not be finished.

As much as I want to play it, I do find it interesting that the perception has grown that Arenanet has it all finished and is holding it back.

So I was watching part 1 of the 5 part panel from PAX, and Colin was talking about how the dynamic events scale up, and how they are for everyone on the server. Anyone can come by and participate.

Do you think he was just engaging in some convention hyperbole? Because otherwise this seems like it could be problematic. How does a dynamic event that can be soloed or played by a couple level 5's get scaled up when a level 80 drops by (or 20 level 80s?? Does the level 80 get to fight the "cool" boss, and the level 5's who started the event get to fight a bunch of boring minions? There have to be some limits to the scalability and particibility (..?) of the events, don't there?

Also, I hope things like the "centaur village raid" they've been talking about for 2-3 years are going to be truly dynamic - in the sense that they can happen to any village (perhaps of a certain size) in the world, and not just to the same 1 village it was scripted to happen to. Otherwise I can't see how it will feel very "dynamic" when you pass Village X for the 1000th time and go, "oh there's the centaur raid again..."

All in all, though, I can't freaking wait for this game. Please release it soon. I am positively jonesing for this.

I think they've been saying consistently that, yes, it scales all the way up and down.

Regarding mixing characters of different levels in the same areas, this is where sidekicking comes in, low level characters in a high level area get sidekicked up, and vice versa, so that L80 isn't going to be one-shotting everything or fighting a different fight, they'll be on equal footing with the L5s.

Watch all 5 parts, it's worth it.

Ah yep, very cool. Looks like they've got it all well under control! Very nice. I am constantly impressed by these guys, they seem to really have their stuff together, without being overly arrogant and condescending about it. Plus they have the best artists in the game development business, in my opinion.

Prepare Your Minds for Asura Week!

They may be small, but they think big. They’re the asura, a race of diminutive geniuses whose inventions, experiments, and research make them a force to be reckoned with in Tyria. Next week we’re examining the asura with five days of blog posts, videos, stories, and more. Get ready for Asura Week, which runs Sep 12-16!

Here’s what you can expect from Asura Week:

Monday, 9/12 – An asura character design blog post by concept artist Matthew Barrett, the key artist responsible for the look of the asura.
Monday, 9/12 – BONUS! We’re throwing in an extra asura short story by loremaster Jeff Grubb!
Tuesday, 9/13 – An asura environmental design blog post by Matthew Barrett that takes a closer look at asura architecture and props.
Tuesday, 9/13 – Hey, Bookah! This advice column provides smart asura answers to stupid questions.
Wednesday, 9/14 – Writing the asura blog post by Writer Angel McCoy, with audio examples of asura chatter.
Thursday, 9/15 - Asura animation blog post by Lead Animator Heron Prior, with video examples of unique asura animations.
Thursday, 9/15 – We’re updating the GuildWars2.com asura web page with new lore by Jeff Grubb, new screenshots and wallpapers, and a brand new asura feature video.
Friday, 9/16 – A narrative asura blog post by Ree Soesbee that explores the world of the asura through fiction.

As you can see, we have a full schedule planned for next week – the asura wouldn’t have it any other way. So tune up your golem, grab a spare mojonic control rod, and memorize your meta-survey incantations – Asura Week is almost here!

BONUS! - Charr plushie

charr plushie = teh awesome!

I'm surprised Scratched hasn't already posted this.

TotalBiscuit recorded some high level Sylvari Necromancer gameplay and some PvP gameplay.

Sylvari part 1

Sylvari part 2

Norn Thief PvP

I watched those over lunch. It looks awesome. Because I'm too lazy to Google, what is the estimate for release on this?

It looks real close. We've seen considerably more high end stuff from GW2 than from TOR.

MeatMan wrote:

I'm surprised Scratched hasn't already posted this. ;)

Too busy finally making progress on GW1. Finally got Prophecies finished, and just tonight got through a mission on Nightfall that was blocking me.

Also worth noting that any headlines you read sourced from Eurogamer saying "beta definitely this year" are misleading - reading the actual quote and it's still the same story of closed beta this year, which is currently in progress, and then they'll see about open beta/release.

I'm just wondering how much enthusiasm I have for extra HoM points.

edit: "You worthless bits of animated anatomy" is going in the book of things to call people.

Still no release estimate. They're promising Beta this year. I assume that puts us well into 2012; they'll want time for everyone to get tired of ToR. I'd guess late March would be the earliest launch date possible. More likely April-May-June sometime.

Edit: Scratched just noted this above. Imma genius. That said, I'll note even closed Beta will probably last a couple months.

Oh! And I wanted to share a theory: Does anyone else remember 'E3 at Home'? Before the original Guild Wars launched, Arena let folks play a limited version of the game during the 2004 E3. It'd be an awesome 'tradition' to do that again. If they want to do that, it could mean release late in the summer. Who knows?

Just damned looking forward to this game.