Written on March 11, 2010 at 5:13 am, by JR
The guys over at Wartower have put up a 27 minute audio interview with ArenaNet’s Martin Kerstein. The interview is in German, but courtesy of Desert Rose we have the main points hashed out:
- The number of skills in GW2 will be reduced because many players were crushed by the sheer number of skills and possible builds.
- The entrance into PvP is to high in GW1, they will to try to make it easier in GW2.
- In GW2 the number of PvP formats will be reduced.
- Balancing will never stop.
- There will be new content for GW1, but the definition of “content” may varies from player to player. Mainly new content will expend the story of GW1 and will build a bridge to GW2.
- There will be something special for the 5th birthday.
- HoM will be account based in GW2. One GW2 account will be abled to linked to another GW1 accont. With a special item you will be able to enter a instance of the HoM. There are no informations what the bonuses are at this point.
- They seriously consider to enable player organized tournaments. It hasn’t made clear if they also consider if players will be able to make custom maps.
- There isn’t a easy way to show who is online in the alliance guilds, so it’s very unlikely it will be implemented in GW1.
- The build system in GW2 will be similar to GW1; you can make a build out of different possibilities
If you want to listen to the original interview, check that out here. If you want to discuss the interview or check for clarifications of the translation, check out our forum thread here.
Written on March 10, 2010 at 6:03 am, by JR
It’s interview time, and we need questions!
Is there something you’re just dying to know about Guild Wars 2, that hasn’t been covered in an existing interview? Submit your questions via this forum thread, and we will pick ten of the best (along with a few of our own) to send to ArenaNet.
Before you post I’d advise you to double check past interviews and news posts, to make sure your question hasn’t already been asked. Also avoid asking anything unrealistic, like release or beta dates, pricing… and so on.
The thread will be closed for submissions at 20:00 GMT / 15:00 EST/ 12:00 PST on Saturday the 13th.
Submit your questions here!
Written on March 3, 2010 at 5:03 pm, by Inde
A few ArenaNet artists will be attending the Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle on March 13th & 14th. If you’re lucky to attend you’ll have a chance to meet Katy Hargrove, Kristen Perry, and Matt Barrett, three talented artists in the game industry working on Guild Wars 2.
Whether you go to the con or not, there’s a meet and greet with ArenaNet staff at a local pub in downtown Seattle! Join staffers at the Elephant & Castle Pub and Restaurant on Saturday, March 13, 2010 from 18:00 onwards. For more information, and to RSVP, visit the event page. See more details here.
Written on February 23, 2010 at 6:48 pm, by JR
ArenaNet has just put up details of the first Guild Wars novel on the official site. The title for this book is Ghosts of Ascalon, and you can read about it here, along with a very detailed FAQ
Join in the discussion on our forum, here.
[Small update: Regina just stopped by the forum to let us know that there are no immediate plans for a hardback release of Ghost of Ascalon, but it might be an option for the future. - source]
Written on February 23, 2010 at 5:20 pm, by JR
There were a whole bunch of questions raised by that last interview, and Martin Kerstein was helpful enough to stop by the forum and help clarify a few things:
- Having characters in more than one guild is optional, not mandatory.
- All characters in a guild on the same account are considered to be one member when showing up on the guild list.
- Additional characters will not require an additional invite to join the same guild as another character on the account.
He also confirmed that they are definitely looking at letting players organize their own tournaments.
View those posts in this thread.
Written on February 23, 2010 at 7:28 am, by JR
IncGamers have put up a very interesting interview with a number of ArenaNet staff. In addition to covering the usual lore bases, the interview also shows the start of a swing towards talking about gameplay information.
IncGamers: Will there be high-level Pick-Up Group PvP, as we saw in Heroes’ Ascent?
Jon Peters: We have two main types of competitive play in Guild Wars 2. First we have World vs World (WvW), which pits uneven numbers of players against each other across large maps and involves level progression. We also have Player vs Player, which pits smaller groups of evenly matched opponents against each other.
Check out the rest of that interview here, and discuss it on the forum here.
Written on February 16, 2010 at 4:21 am, by JR
Jeff Grubb, ArenaNet’s star interviewee, has stepped up to the plate once again. This time to take some swings at TenTonHammer, and some hard hitting lore questions.
Ten Ton Hammer: What role will the player play in uniting the races of Tyria?
Jeff: The players grow personally throughout their quests, going beyond the race-specific challenges of their people to the point where they join one of the multi-racial orders (Durmand Priory, Order of Whispers, or the Vigil), which transcend racial agendas and face the greater challenge of the Elder Dragons. The players are keystones in pulling other people together.
Read the rest of the interview here, and head over to the forum to discuss it in this thread.Thanks to Shew for bringing another story to our attention!
Written on February 5, 2010 at 2:41 pm, by JR
Ravious of KillTenRats fame just threw up a nice summary of events over the last couple of weeks. This includes a few choice forum posts from Regina and Martin, plus a rather amusing thread in which Martin has become something of a meme.
Martin Kerstein: Bucket Theif
Check that out here.
[Credit to Scarecrow for the awesome image.]
Written on January 25, 2010 at 7:13 pm, by JR
Eric Flannum (Lead Designer on Guild Wars 2) dropped some very interesting thoughts on our forum, by way of Community Manager Martin Kerstein. The focus is races and professions, and particularly the thought process involved in adding more.
“With professions, we’re much more concerned with how they interact with the current balance and whether they provide a different play experience. With races, their overall look and feel is generally the most important thing.”
Check that out and add your comments here.
Written on January 22, 2010 at 8:07 pm, by JR
Regina just put up a remarkably interesting post on the forum, sharing information from ArenaNet’s Audio Director, James Ackley.
“Every footstep in Guild Wars 2 is made up of three sounds: heel, toe and spray (spray is the kick of your toe, mostly only made with loose surfaces and running). With this set-up, each of those three sounds gets its own random parameters, so you never feel like you are hearing the same footsteps over and over. Using Drew’s system, we get these incredible results but keep the total memory footprint in check.”
There’s also some information on armor and clothing sounds, environmental sounds, and some great pictures of the sound effects team out recording material.
A huge thanks to James for the information, and also to Regina for putting it up.
