Ten Ton Hammer:
On an individual level, how do each of these races play into the story
of Guild Wars?
Can you give us any details, especially on the Norn and
Sylvari?
style="font-weight: bold;">Ben: Each of the
races plays an integral role in the story of GW:EN. You spend a lot of
time with the Norn, Asura, and Charr in pretty equal amounts, but in
ways that really serve to deepen them as cultures and societies. They
all serve as valuable, and in some cases un expected allies in the
various struggles and obstacles you'll encounter in GW:EN.
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">The Sylvari have a mysterious
beginning, one that is foreshadowed in GW:EN.
alt="Charr Hero" title="Charr Hero" name="photo_j"
border="0" height="113" width="150">
The Charr were the first new race to be conceptually
rendered.
Ten Ton Hammer:
What sort of importance do the new races play in terms of actual
gameplay in GW:EotN? Do the NPCs exist simply as quest-givers and
targets, or will they have more interactive roles with the players?
Could the Asura be used to create new magical weapons for the player?
Or will you be able to recruit Norn NPCs to adventure with you into the
depths of the multi-level dungeons?
style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Ben
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">: When you get right down to
it any RPG is only as good as its characters, its story, and its world.
The new races are far more than just your run of the mill quest giving
NPCs. Some become powerful allies, in the form of unlockable Heroes
that you can use even if you haven't purchased Nightfall (the campaign
that introduces the Hero mechanic). Many NPCs that you gain
reputation with will teach you valuable skills as quest rewards. Some
you can dynamically hire to follow you around and dispense things like
exploding powder kegs to your party. Some are masters of the Asura game
of polymock, while others are always looking for a bare-knuckle brawl.
From all the races there are some amazingly memorable characters, and
we hope you have fun discovering all the dynamic content we packed into
these guys and gals.
Ten Ton Hammer:
Speaking of multi-level dungeons, you have implemented eighteen of
these massive PvE instances into the game, what drew you towards the
reimplementation of the dungeon into
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars? Why do
so many of them
in one broad stroke?
style="font-weight: bold;">Ben: Why so many?
Well, we figured we might as well go big or go home. As to what drew us
towards doing dungeons in the first place, it was actually a
combination of things. We all love a good dungeon crawl and have a few
folks here with some experience making them. The other thing is we
looked at some of the coolest things we have done, and the Sorrow's
Furnace update is always high on that list. We look at that as our
first real "dungeon", and decided to really expand on those design
elements. Improving leaps and bounds over what we started with Kilroy,
Alkar, and the rest of that crew.
Ten Ton Hammer:
In the dungeon developer diary that you recently released, you made
mention that events in many MMORPGs lack permanency and revert back to
a normal state if a player waits long enough. On the contrary, in
style="font-style: italic;"> Guild
Wars: Eye of the North, you take a very solid approach to
permanency
and are trying to implement it into the dungeons. How will this be seen
by the players? Aside from NPCs dying, how else can a player character
affect the dungeon around him?
style="font-weight: bold;">Ben: We wanted the
individual dungeons to really be challenges in and of themselves so
there is a lot the player will be able to that will affect the dungeon
around them. Players can actively interact with elements of the dungeon
environment, opening new passageways, disabling traps, finding allies,
uncovering secret passageways etc.
Ten Ton Hammer:
You’ve claimed that the boss monsters at the end of these
multi-level dungeons will have some pretty extensive A.I. How does this
A.I. operate, and do you have any examples? Does the A.I. change if the
characters are grouped with other player characters or varying classes
/ strengths?
alt="Spikes, horns, and teeth galore!"
title="Spikes, horns, and teeth galore!" name="photo_j"
border="0" height="113" width="150">
Dungeons will feature persistent environments and
extensive monster A.I.
style="font-weight: bold;">Ben: It is a
combination of improvements really. Part it comes from refinements of
systems we already have, along with custom scripting boss skills and
situational behaviors based on various conditions. We have made it
extremely easy for us to have a group of creatures choose a leader and
make a formation around that leader, or to flee and call for
reinforcements, or to target a character that is under a specific
condition. We spent a lot of time making it really simple for us to
create really dynamic behavior at the designer level that we never had
before. This functionality instantly changes the feel of the encounters
into ones that are far more exciting than ones you may have previously
seen in any other Guild
Wars campaign to date.
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