Guild Wars 2 MMO News, Guides, and Features at Ten Ton Hammer

For anyone who has been following the development of Guild Wars 2, it’s been readily apparent that ArenaNet isn’t simply content to create yet another formulaic MMOG based on a decade old template. Every aspect of gameplay has been given close attention with the end goal of creating the best, and more importantly, most fun experience possible. While certain things may contain an aspect of familiarity for veteran players of the original Guild Wars such as the names of various skills, by and large the combat in Guild Wars 2 is an altogether fresh experience.

To get some more details on what sets combat apart in Guild Wars 2, Ten Ton Hammer spent some time speaking with Game Designer Isaiah “Izzy” Cartwright who is heavily involved in that aspect of the game’s development.

Ten Ton Hammer: Will there be any kind of equivalent to runes that you can apply to armor or even your weapons that will factor into that build aspect of your character?

Izzy: Runes in Guild Wars 1 kind of went hand in hand with your attribute choices. Traits are way more in depth – they’re more about manipulating the skills themselves. You almost kind of get to be a skill balancer and decide things like, “it would be really cool if this skill had less recharge” or “what if that skill did this” and you get to kind of manipulate things in that way and make things really cool. Of course it makes my job insane, but that’s what I love.

• Continue reading Skills, Traits and Builds - An Exclusive Guild Wars 2 Combat Interview.