Guild Wars 2 Catch All

CaptainCrowbar wrote:

Some very bad news in a RPS's latest interview:

German Guy: Can I explore dungeons alone? Or with one friend?

CL: Yes you can. Well, you can go into them all by yourself, whether you can complete them is another thing. Dynamic events in the world will scale up from four people participating, but our dungeons will need to be designed around know we have five people coming in from this direction and they are going to do that, and the order of the creatures. If you go in with a single character you are probably going to have a very difficult time, and that’s because our dungeons are closer to our traditional instanced content where you go in with a limited number of people and encounter the creatures that are there.

Dungeons will have forced grouping? Aaaargh sh*t sh*t sh*t. That's a huge change for the worse from GW1. My interest in GW2 just took a massive nosedive :(

I don't see that as a big thing. The dungeons sound like only one part of the game, so if you can't get groups together then you can give them a miss. And just wait for the community to come up with solo builds.

jdzappa wrote:

I'm really looking forward to playing the demo at PAX (and yes my friend over at Anet has confirmed there will be a playable version). Will report back this weekend.

Awesome. Interested in hearing your impressions.

Oh man, this could be trouble.

http://www.massively.com/2010/09/03/...

Today the Guild Wars 2 developers unveiled that team's current project: Guild Wars 2 for smartphones and the iPad. The project isn't completed, but it's already very extensive. Players will have the ability to check their friends lists, follow their friends on the map, message their friends, and move around the world on their characters.

That actually sounds like a good way to add to the game for players using a mobile device.

Yeah, that's freaking awesome. I've always thought online games need tools to do stuff in the game without running the game itself.

Hopefully they do a web interface too.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
CaptainCrowbar wrote:

Some very bad news in a RPS's latest interview:

German Guy: Can I explore dungeons alone? Or with one friend?

CL: Yes you can. Well, you can go into them all by yourself, whether you can complete them is another thing. Dynamic events in the world will scale up from four people participating, but our dungeons will need to be designed around know we have five people coming in from this direction and they are going to do that, and the order of the creatures. If you go in with a single character you are probably going to have a very difficult time, and that’s because our dungeons are closer to our traditional instanced content where you go in with a limited number of people and encounter the creatures that are there.

Dungeons will have forced grouping? Aaaargh sh*t sh*t sh*t. That's a huge change for the worse from GW1. My interest in GW2 just took a massive nosedive :(

I don't see that as a big thing. The dungeons sound like only one part of the game, so if you can't get groups together then you can give them a miss. And just wait for the community to come up with solo builds.

jdzappa wrote:

I'm really looking forward to playing the demo at PAX (and yes my friend over at Anet has confirmed there will be a playable version). Will report back this weekend.

Awesome. Interested in hearing your impressions.

Just wanted to report back that the demo was incredible. You have a lot of customization options when creating a character, including being able to decide your background and starting personality. Yes, this means that a noble character will have different starting missions than a character from the gutter. Depending on what choices you make, you can either be seen as a champion of the people, self-interested merc, or anti-hero.

The cities are now fully fleshed out instead of being small hubs. There are also open areas where you're free to explore, much like traditional MMOs.

I didn't get a chance to play any of the dungeons, but honestly most MMOs require grouping. Heck the GW missions required grouping, and in the case of Factions you often needed two groups working in unison. I don't know how many times I failed Naphui Quarter because either my PUG or the other PUG didn't make it.

Thanks. That just confirms that this is a day one for me.

I didn't get to play it at PAX (long lines + 40min demo timer), but I watched some other people play and saw a live demo. The game looks awesome. In the live demo the guy was playing a ranger and swapping back and forth between sword and bow, and both playstyles looked fun and effective (and completely badass, animation-wise). The event scaling seems to work well, and the big earth elemental boss fight at the end of the human starting area is ridiculously epic considering it's just for people in the level 1-2 range. This is definitely a day one buy for me.

Comments like that really make me wish for a beta to be announced, even if it is heavily restricted.

This is pretty cool.

Massively writer gets involved in designing a dynamic event during a GW2 PAX panel.

This will be my first MMO. As such I'll be looking for instructive company. Be gentle, good people.

Schmutzli wrote:

This will be my first MMO. As such I'll be looking for instructive company. Be gentle, good people.

That's very cool, but I'm curious. What is it about this game that makes you decide to make it your first MMO?

MrDeVil909 wrote:
Schmutzli wrote:

This will be my first MMO. As such I'll be looking for instructive company. Be gentle, good people.

That's very cool, but I'm curious. What is it about this game that makes you decide to make it your first MMO?

The lack of subscription fees is a factor, since I don't have to worry anymore about feeling guilty for not finding the time to play consistently. Also, I've always wanted to jump in an MMO in early days, before everyone has had the chance to learn the game down to a scientific level - to be part of the discussion.

But most important was something I read about the game in the early press, and also heard repeated in this thread: the dynamic event system.

"I think I can safely say that you won't see a single exclamation mark floating above a character's head in Guild Wars 2," claims lead designer Eric Flannum.

"We actually don't have a traditional RPG/MMO quest system," Flannum continues. "Instead what we've got are Events. Think of them as group-orientated activities. This is one of the many things that will encourage the player to explore the world - you can wander through and never quite know what you're going to see. You might come across a fortress that's being attacked by centaurs, or it might be that the centaurs attacked half an hour before you got there and they hold it now. You might start walking along a road you've walked a hundred times and suddenly there's a caravan travelling along that road that you may not have seen, and you can go help that caravan out." (via Eurogamer)

I get the idea that they care that lvl 1 players are enjoying themselves as much as level 80s or whatever. I've done some trials of MMOs here and there, and at least for me the time investment was always slightly greater than the reward, up to the point where I had to quit. I can see the appeal of that kind of character progression, but I'm just not monogamous enough with my gaming habits to get to the tipping point. I'm hoping with GW2 that I can log on, get a small dose of adventure, and come back whenever I feel like it. Maybe over time I'll become an expert, but that won't be prerequisite for having a bit of fun.

Yeah, I get that, I'm very similar. I've bitten on MMOs a few times after starting with Guild Wars and I always get disappointed because they put so many obstacles in your way. I don't begrudge the games being like that, it's what most people like, but it's just not for me.

I got into WAR at launch and got left in the dust by the other players, got into LOTRO late and killed my enjoyment trying to power through to catch up to my higher level friends. Eve is its own kind of game and one I get tempted to go back to every now and then, but I still enjoy logging into Guild Wars occasionally and putting a few hours a week for a couple of weeks.

Actually, this week I'm picking up my low-level Mesmer again and carrying on. The new player experience is still as good as it was the day I started.

Details on the Guild Wars Extended Experience project. The various apps and ideas they have for playing when outside the game.

There's so much interesting stuff here I won't even do extracts, it needs to be read in full.

Loot: http://www.arena.net/blog/a-rewardin...

Short version:

Guild Wars Principle #1: Everybody gets a swing at the proverbial piñata.
Guild Wars Principle #2: Rewards should be worth obtaining.
Guild Wars Principle #3: Players should look the way they want to look.
Guild Wars Principle #4: Players should be able to look truly unique.
Guild Wars Principle #5: Upgrading gear should be fun.
Scratched wrote:

Loot: http://www.arena.net/blog/a-rewardin...

Short version:

Guild Wars Principle #1: Everybody gets a swing at the proverbial piñata.
Guild Wars Principle #2: Rewards should be worth obtaining.
Guild Wars Principle #3: Players should look the way they want to look.
Guild Wars Principle #4: Players should be able to look truly unique.
Guild Wars Principle #5: Upgrading gear should be fun.

Honestly from looking at that article the thing that stuck out to me the most is that I am SO in love with their art design.

Got GW:EotN? Been taking care of your hall of monuments? See what it will get you in GW2:
http://hom.guildwars2.com

I'm at level 5, which gives me a bunch of armour.

I clearly need to do some work in Eye of the North. I've only got 3/50 points. Boots, leg armour and chest armour.

Suddenly I want to play EotN some more..

The first thing I did was look on the wikis to see what was needed to unlock more. There's a fair amount to do if you want it.

At a minimum, there is a bunch of gear, pets and other stuff that I accumulated but haven't added to my hall of monuments. So I'll do that.

Also, I'm looking for any excuse to motivate me to complete EotN

Never got around to beating Nightfall, either. Only a mission or two away from that..

I don't necessarily want to fill everything up, but getting some more stuff would be cool, and I hardly gave EotN any attention when it came out. My guild dissolved totally and I lost motivation.

*edit*

And I've got quite a few pets that aren't showing, and no heroes.

Personally, the more I read about this, the warier I get. I've seen a whole lot of hype train burn in the last 2 or 3 years, and I'm really, really afraid that GW2 will have that happen. I don't think it'll die off like APB did, but ArenaNet is promising an awful lot, and the internets are not kind to developers who fail to deliver on hype.

At some point they need to, errr, lay it out on the table for the world to see. Now they've shown it at expos for short play periods, the next step is 'live fire' on the internet for longer play periods where you get to develop a character.

Really I don't think they're being stupid with their hype, they're recapping the classes and highlighting important changes to the game from GW1, and what makes them different to the competition. If anything it's the lack of a finish line publicly that's annoying.

I love the approach they are taking from the art style to the customization of armor and weapons geared toward what the player prefers to look like. Very exciting!

Scratched wrote:

At some point they need to, errr, lay it out on the table for the world to see. Now they've shown it at expos for short play periods, the next step is 'live fire' on the internet for longer play periods where you get to develop a character.

Really I don't think they're being stupid with their hype, they're recapping the classes and highlighting important changes to the game from GW1, and what makes them different to the competition. If anything it's the lack of a finish line publicly that's annoying.

That stuff they've done fine with. I'm talking more to the "manifesto" type trailers, a couple of which have been linked earlier in the thread. In fairness they're not the only company out there doing that though; CCP is very, very guilty of this as well with EVE.

I suppose it comes down to that Miyamoto quote: "A late game is only late until it ships. A bad game is bad until the end of time."

AnimeJ wrote:
Scratched wrote:

At some point they need to, errr, lay it out on the table for the world to see. Now they've shown it at expos for short play periods, the next step is 'live fire' on the internet for longer play periods where you get to develop a character.

Really I don't think they're being stupid with their hype, they're recapping the classes and highlighting important changes to the game from GW1, and what makes them different to the competition. If anything it's the lack of a finish line publicly that's annoying.

That stuff they've done fine with. I'm talking more to the "manifesto" type trailers, a couple of which have been linked earlier in the thread. In fairness they're not the only company out there doing that though; CCP is very, very guilty of this as well with EVE.

You make a good point, and it's something to be cautious about. But I get the feeling that Arena.Net are not making promises that can't be delivered on. Nothing they say they want to do seems technically unfeasible, and they were very quiet for a very long time so I think they got their ducks in a row before speaking.

Ok you guys make me feel a lot better about my HOM. I have 11/30 but on some of the other game forums I frequent people are talking about how they're gunning for the crazy 40 and 50 point titles. Honestly, I can stop grinding once I get my raccoon minipet. Only 10 points to go!

Yes, after looking at the wiki there was a big list of things I was able to ignore because I wasn't interested in grinding.