ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 made a large impact once again at gamescom this
year. Fans were clamouring everywhere for a bit of hands-on with the
game or any new nugget of information they could take home with them.
Ten Ton Hammer got a chance to sit down with the developers of the
popular game for a one hour presentation. Colin Johanson, Lead Content
Designer and Matthew Moore, QA Lead walked us through some of the
newly-announced features of the hot title.
Competitive PvP
ArenaNet wants to get the message across that competitive PvP in
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars 2 should
be taken very seriously. The PvP side of the game got a lot of
attention from CounterStrike,
Team Fortress 2
and other online FPS players throughout gamescom.
That is our target audience. We want competitive gamers from just
about any type of game. We want to get
style="font-style: italic;">StarCraft players,
we want to get CounterStrike
players; all of them should be checking out
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars 2s
competitive PvP. We want this to be a giant e-sport game.
alt="GW2 Conquest Siege Map" width="600">
A PvP Siege Map with Trebuchets in
Guild Wars 2
To join a structured PvP match in Guild
Wars 2, you open up a server browser that lists all
current matches, including the current and total number of players in
each game. This works similar to online FPS games in that youll be
able to pick from games on the list and enter them rather than being
placed randomly into a team.
As soon as one game ends, another one starts up with the same people
that were in the previous match. At this point it remakes the teams
based on the individual players scores from the previous game.
The first map shown at gamescom was called the Battle of
Khylo. This map contains three capture points: the windmill, the clock
tower, and the mansion. As long as you hold a capture point, it will
continue to give points to your team. You also get points for every
kill you get. Then the first team to get to 500 points is the winner.
Another key component on the map is the trebuchet, one of the various
secondary objectives players can get. Using the trebuchet lets you use
skills 1 and 3 to rotate it, and skill 2 fires the weapon. The longer
you hold down skill 2, the further the projectile will fire. One way
this can be used is to change the terrain of the map which opens up new
paths for players to use. In the demo, the roof of the clock tower was
blown off, opening up a new path in to where the capture point is
located.
Other examples of how additional paths through a map can be opened up
include barrels that can be exploded to open holes in walls, or
destructible windows that can be broken and leapt through. Likewise,
there will be environmental objects that can serve as cover until
destroyed by player attacks.
The trebuchet also opens up other tactical options. If you blow up the
other teams trebuchet, they can go out and try to find the repair kit
to try and get it operational again. In the midst of that, they will
also need to continue attempting to capture and hold objectives if they
want to win the match.
There is also ranked, tournament-based PvP that players can sign up to
participate in with a team. These can range from smaller 4v4
tournaments, up to huge tournaments involving multiple teams.
The other type of PvP in the game is World vs. World vs. World. It was
not being shown in the current demo at gamescom, but it is giant, open
world PvP with hundreds or thousands of players in a map fighting over
huge keeps and castles, including the use of siege weapons.
In WvWvW, a server will be matched up against two other servers in a
two-week long PvP battle. At the end of the two weeks, whichever server
has the most points is the winner and will then be matched up against
two new servers based on how well you did in those two weeks to try to
keep the gameplay balanced.
Playable Races and Character Customization
The show floor demo at gamescom included all five playable races for
the first time, including the norn starting experience, the asura, and
the sylvari.
alt="Diverse Characters in GW2" width="600">
Characters in Guild Wars 2 can be as
diverse as they get after character creation customization.
ArenaNet has also added character appearance customization which
includes detailed adjustments for facial features, and also integrates
the in-game dye system. Armor pieces have three dye channels that you
can customize, and your selections will then be applied to any armor
you equip. You will be able to dye your armor at any point and will
discover new dyes throughout the game.
For charr characters, you will be able to choose different fur
patterns, and then adjust the colors of them as well. Along with body
type and facial appearance options, charr characters will also be able
to select from different types of horns. The current demo version of
character customization is still a work in progress, so you can expect
to see even more detail to customization options in the future.
The Charr Starting Experience
During character creation, charr characters are presented with a choice
of which Legion they belong to. This choice is unique to the charrs
biographical options during character creation, and will have a direct
impact on their first few levels and beginning storyline experience. So
two players who create similar charr characters but select different
Legions as part of their personal story will then have different
starting experiences in-game.
Another biography question unique to the charr asks which member of
your warband you are closest to, or who your best friend is. Then as
you play through the game, all the other members of your warband are
going to be killed except for the one you chose during character
creation, and then that will be the person who goes through your
personal story with you as you play through the game.
For the demo they created a charr engineer who belongs to the Iron
Legion. At the start of the game, you enter a large battle between the
charr and the ghosts of the former human residents of Ascalon.
An interesting lore hit for GW1 players, one of the first tasks given
in the charr starting experience is to find the ghost of Duke Barradin.
The duke was the father of Lady Althea who was the betrothed of the one
and only Prince Rurik.
This leads to a large boss battle that is part of a dynamic event. As
with other dynamic events, the one at the beginning of the charr
starting experience will scale in difficulty in proportion to the
number of players in the area.
Changes to Earning Weapon Skills and Energy
Another area of the game that has changed since last year is the way
you earn your weapon skills. In the new system, as you use a specific
weapon you will unlock the other skills associated with that weapon
fairly early in the game. These will unlock somewhat rapidly at first,
for example in the demo the charr engineer had already unlocked its
second rifle skill, Net Shot, within the first minute of gameplay.
Underwater weapons will be acquired and crafted in the same way normal
weapons will, and you will also unlock the skills associated with those
weapons through normal gameplay as you would with your other weapon
sets.
Energy as a skill resource has been removed from the game. Instead,
skill recharge will determine how often a skill can be used. The energy
meter has been replaced by one that now functions as a dodge meter. The
meter will display how much dodge power you have, and when you dodge
you avoid all incoming attacks. You can dodge as long as you have
energy left in the meter.
alt="Underwater Creatures in GW2" width="600">
Guild Wars 2 will feature underwater
combat
General
The game is still in closed Alpha. Once a public beta happens, the
results of the beta tests will help determine the launch date for
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars 2.
GW2 is currently slated for release in English, French, and German, and
will be fully voiced and localized for all three languages. Additional
languages are currently being looked into.
Players shouldnt have to worry about not reading the books or having
played GW1. You can still learn the back story of the original
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars while
playing the game. Likewise, the story dungeons in the game are the
story of Destinys Edge, the characters from the second book,
style="font-style: italic;">Edge of Destiny. So
through the story dungeons you will be able to learn their stories as
well.
How often events trigger varies from event to event. They all have
ranges that they fall within. For example, some might trigger ever 6 to
10 minutes, while some might only happen at night or at certain times
throughout the day. There may also be special holiday events that might
only happen for a few days, like for a few days in October for example.
Weather patterns can also create events. A snowstorm might roll into an
area and create an event that might not have otherwise happened.
Player behavior will also help kick off certain events. For example,
once players kill enough of a certain type of monster that can kick off
an event in the area. Or maybe youll be walking down the hall in a
cavern and blow out the torch on the wall which causes a boss to come
running out, and a dynamic event kicks off.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Guild Wars 2 Game Page.
