Guild Wars 2 Preview

18 Aug 2010 at 19:27:05 by Paul Younger

Gamers following the development of Guild Wars 2 have been wondering how ArenaNet would approach the game's development and were intrigued by their plans following recent official updates such as the ‘Manifesto’ video which indicated that ArenaNet were ready to push and expand the foundations of the MMO genre. At Gamescon NCSoft and ArenaNet gave a live Demo for the first time to the gathered press.

One of the core elements to be added to Guild Wars 2 is the dynamic public event system which is similar to the system in Warhammer Online. Each player in each other’s vicinity can participate in the events and reap the rewards.

To show how the events work, in the demo an NPC announces that the fortress is under attack from Centaurs, immediately you jump into action and watch as other players join the quest and fight the centaurs and help remove them from the fortress. Experience and loot was dropped for all players involved, even though the other players never joined a group and some did not even take part from beginning.

These events however are not isolated quests, every action has a consequence. The success or failure of players taking part in events has an impact on the game world. Each decision and each action will trigger a chain of events and this is one of the features that Guild Wars fans have most been looking forward to most.

Another innovative feature is the scaling of battles in Guild Wars 2, both for boss encounters and events which adapt automatically depending on group strength and number of enemies. ArenaNet say  they want each player to feel the gameplay experience has been tailored for them and that everyone playing should feel like a hero, something they claim has not been possible in other MMOs due to the way in which the gameplay is structured.

Character creation at Gamescom was simplified and stripped down but how you set up your character will also determine how the ‘personal’ story will play out, a key feature in determining paths for the player in the world.

There is to be no pre-defined way to complete a quest, such as take out monster A, then B then C. Guild Wars 2 will distance itself from repetitive quest mechanics that have plagued current MMOs. Instead the gameplay is made up of events, quests and personalised tasks . The point is to make a very personal playing experience in instanced ‘Home’ zones but also play with friends and groups.

Henchman are a thing of the past, ArenaNet state that they did not find henchman necessary in the new game due to the way the game is now structured.  When quizzed about Henchmen ArenaNet added: “First, we would simply have too many characters on the screen, but more importantly is that our characters have a tremendous versatility, which makes a Henchmen system obsolete."

The quest structure and combat mechanics are also innovative in Guild Wars 2. In order to progress you will not have to traipse to a quest giver, you will help NPCs that are in need of help. For example, a farmer who is attacked by monsters, you simply jump in and help instead of going to the NPC first to get the quest then ultimately the reward.

Quests are also not delivered completely in text, often players will be told a story with voice and ArenaNet say they have focused a lot of their efforts on the voice acting. There will also be over 60 animated movies for characters in the game.

ArenaNet are breaking down traditional class structures as we know them with the implementations of an active combat system and a cross-class combo system which mixes up the roles. For example, a melee class can also use ranged weapons such as a bow and dish a lot of damage, depending on how many skill points have been assigned.

Players can determine how their character will look with armour upgrades and there are other factors that can affect the appearance of equipment such as the day and night cycle and even the presence of enemies.

ArenaNet want the playing environments to show as much detail as possible and have added lots of waypoints which will act as a high speed travel system once discovered.

Fans of the Guild Wars franchise should be impressed with the innovation in the sequel, the game is less of a sequel or continuation of the original game and looks to be breaking new ground in the MMO space. If the combination of a personal history, new combat system, revised classes and open events work as intended, the game could be a massive success.

Article courtesy of partner site Gamona.de

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