by Stacy Jones on Jun 21, 2013
Steampunk + Airships + Lightning. Thats one of the ways that ArenaNet Game Designer Steve Hwang described the elements used to create Guild Wars 2s new villains, the Aetherblade Sky Pirates. But these new steampunky pirate villains sailing around on skyships had to go through quite a bit of development as they were being prepared for their big debut. The residents of Tyria are no stranger to pirates, so ArenaNet had to get creative to make something that would stick out from the other rabble in areas like Gendarran Fields and Bloodtide Coast.
However, instead of being traditional water-based scoundrels, the Aetherblades come from the skies which of course meant providing them with an appropriate mode of travel. We figured our sky pirates, being felonious by nature, would steal their rides from the Pact, who have their own fleet of airships.
Hwang also explores the various types of pirates that players will face in his blog as well as those that command them that players will encounter in the new story dungeon. A good read if youre curious to learn more about the newest pirates sailing the Tyria sky.
Guild Wars 2: Sky Pirates of Tyris launches on Tuesday, June 25th, 2013.
Source: GW2 Aetherblades