[shillo]

Quote

When a player creates a character in Guild Wars 2, they will be able to answer many questions about their personal character history. These answers will help determine your personal story in the game. As many fans have theorized, one of the first things you choose is a 'subdivision' of your race, which provides a more personal feel to your character's history. For the humans, that means their ancestry--Elonan, Krytan, Ascalonian and Canthan--and also their social status as gentry or commoners of the city of Divinity's Reach.

http://www.mmorpg.co...ure/3812/page/1

[XNEO]

OMGGGGGGGGGGGG thxxx a lot :D

[Corpsesarefun]

:O multiple background questions :O

charr: legion and ?
norn: totem and ?
sylvari: season OR time of birth (Dawn, Day, Twilight or Night)
asura: college and ?
human: class (commoner or gentry) and ancestry

"The sylvari follow the path of their seasonal cycle, or the time of day in which they awakened, being Dawn, Day, Twilight or Night."

Humans get 2 questions, sylvari get a choice of two questions and can answer only one and the rest get only one question? odd...

but also, balence :D "One thing that's important to note: the choices made to determine a character's personal storyline do not affect the power of the character. For example, a norn choosing to walk the path of bear can still choose to use snow leopard form instead of bear form."

the asura arnt nuetral "The asura treated them [sylvari] like expendable helpers at best and experiments at worst, leading to a mistrust between the two races that is not easily overcome."

Edited by Corpsesarefun, 08 December 2009 - 09:24 PM.

[Tr0n]

Cool, nice find.

[Malchior Devenholm]

HAhaha! Speculation from the community wins again!

Great find shillo, thanks! :)

Fantastic, we foresaw all of these divisions :) Which means we are on track with Guild Wars 2, as is Arenanet.

And it's magnificent news that our choice won't make us any less powerful, Norn being able to be any form even though they walk the path of bear. Thank you Arenanet!

The division of armor-Light armor, Medium armor, Heavy armor

Instancing as simple an area as Logan's office? Dang, different quests and character texts depending on your alignment! That's great!

No large zergfest raids in PvE.

Edited by Malchior Devenholm, 08 December 2009 - 09:38 PM.

[Wyld Emissary]

that little thing about armor really makes things a lot simpler

[Ferahgo]

And they confirmed Ranger as a playable class.(read the bit about ranger armors)

I'm also liking all their visions for the game:) was a good read.

[Kwintpod]

Sounds pretty inventive, hope they execute it well

[damkel]

Awesome more info. Thank you for sharing!!!!

Quote

"As we get closer to launch, I think we'll definitely see more things both in Guild Wars 1 and outside of it that hint at things to come."

I jizzed in my pants slightly

Edited by damkel, 08 December 2009 - 09:51 PM.

[al capowned]

Quote

a less complex combat system with fewer overall skills

quite possibly the worst thing I have heard in regards to GW2. Because the majority of the player base isn't intelligent enough to develop a build that works Anet decides they'll just give us less skills to work with...awesome!

Quote

For the humans, that means their ancestry--Elonan, Krytan, Ascalonian and Canthan--and also their social status as gentry or commoners of the city of Divinity's Reach. For charr, it primarily means their legion, whether Blood, Ash, or Iron. The asura choose between the three most respected colleges of learning; Synergetics, Dynamics, and Statics.

Nice concept...completely unnecessary and somewhat pointless but a nice addition for the PvEers.

Quote

The sylvari follow the path of their seasonal cycle, or the time of day in which they awakened, being Dawn, Day, Twilight or Night. The norn choose their personal totem, and may choose to walk in the path of bear, snow leopard, raven or wolf.

what happened to "not making another WoW clone". I don't want to be able to turn into a bear...if you want to go play WoW.

Quote

One thing that's important to note: the choices made to determine a character's personal storyline do not affect the power of the character. For example, a norn choosing to walk the path of bear can still choose to use snow leopard form instead of bear form.

Then what's the point in making a selection to begin with? That's like saying "You can choose to go to school to become a doctor but if you want to practice law you can do that too".

Quote

We use a lot less instancing than we have in the past. The game is structured much more like other MMOs, with the world consisting almost entirely of fully persistent areas.

Great another MMO...I don't fully understand how it slipped Anet's mind that the reason Guild Wars was successful is because they delivered us a game that wasn't exactly like every other MMO out there. WTF Happened to CORPG???

Quote

That being said, we have a number of different ways in which we use instancing. Dungeons, for example, are instanced areas designed for group play.

Has anyone at ArenaNet played WoW before? This is exactly how WoW runs...Persistent world Instanced Dungeons..GG Anet!

Quote

As you said, the end game is critical, and we've been considering our end game right from the beginning of development. That being said, we have three different end games to worry about: Player vs. Player, World vs. World, and Player vs. Environment. Each of these game types needs its own end game, since each of them has its own opening and mid games as well.

If the end-game PvP isn't at the very least on par with the original game Guild Wars 2 will lose it's fan base almost instantly. It'd be nice for them to offer PvE end game but the replayability of this game is in GvG and PvP. Hence the reason nobody plays GW anymore. I can say, at least for my guild, there are only 2 or 3 people that still play and we were one of the most prominent guilds in the game at one point.

Quote

Each of the races have their own challenges and their own story. In the end, however, they all share a common world--and therefore a common danger. Zhaitan, the dragon of Orr, plans to destroy all life on Tyria, and the other dragons are not far behind him in power. No matter where the individual races begin their story, all of them must come to see that their survival against these powerful foes is inextricably tied together.

The idea of all the races of Tyria coming together is going to make for some amazing storylines and great gameplay...but Dragons???!?!? Seriously...DRAGONS!@!@# you couldn't come up with anything less cliche??



Seems to me that for the most part Arenanet has taken the advice of it's fans. Normally I would say this is a good thing but in this instance I do believe you have encouraged them to produce an inferior game to the original and am expecting a WoW clone come release. But really, that's what all of you want anyway you just don't want to admit it.

please stop telling Anet to ruin such an epic game.

[Legion]

So you can chose to be high-class or low-class. Wow!

Quote

Logan Thackeray, captain of the Seraph, has an office located in Divinity's Reach; his office is instanced because we need to update his status based on choices the player has made.

Does it means that Logan is technically...your boss?

[Milennin]

I love the thing about individualized quests... sounds very interesting.

[Kendil]

Thank you shillo for that find :D

The only thing I'm a bit worried about is the questions at the beginning. Sure it's a great way to start your characters story. But I'm afraid I won't be content with my answers, it'll probably take me forever before I even start playing!

Wait a sec, individualized quests? Didn't Anet say that there will be no quests?

[Ghost Omel]

Strange.. i alwasy thought that GW was famed for its strategies, classes, its skill selection and usage..as well as its Story.. i never heard that Instancing was...HUGELY FAVORED..are you sure you are not puting your personal opinion in this?.. oh wait..you are..making your point..hold no truth.

I thought that you can do many things and not only one...

Wow i must be bad person..because i go to a Criminal Justice School as well as studying Filming..you are right..it does not make sence when you are able to go any way you want..even if your primary Job is a Doctor..there is no way you can be a ..Zoologist -_-

[Tr0n]

Kendil said:

Wait a sec, individualized quests? Didn't Anet say that there will be no quests?

Quote

Individualized quests, events that alter according to player interaction, and personalized character history are only a few of the many ways in which we encourage the players to make their story personal and unique.

They probably mean events.

[Milennin]

Al_Capowned said:

quite possibly the worst thing I have heard in regards to GW2. Because the majority of the player base isn't intelligent enough to develop a build that works Anet decides they'll just give us less skills to work with...awesome!

I have to agree the part they said the combat system will be less complex and there will be less skills was the only thing that really disappointed me.
I think the combat system in Guild Wars 1 was one of the most fun combat systems I've ever played in a game.=x

Also you have a point about the selection thing. It seems kind of weird we get to chose something (path of the Bear) and still being able to chose different forms. Sounds kind of useless, but I think the different paths might be giving you different individualized quests.

[damkel]

EDIT. accidental post.

[Shew]

good interview! thanks for posting it

Quote

When a player creates a character in Guild Wars 2, they will be able to answer many questions about their personal character history.

I like this a lot.

[Tr0n]

I think the "less complex skill systems" is just less skills with each doing something unique instead of 100 copies of the same skill.

1000+ skills GW1 has is pure overkill for most players.

[TotTWriter]

Kendil said:

Thank you shillo for that find :D

The only thing I'm a bit worried about is the questions at the beginning. Sure it's a great way to start your characters story. But I'm afraid I won't be content with my answers, it'll probably take me forever before I even start playing!

Wait a sec, individualized quests? Didn't Anet say that there will be no quests?

I know what you mean about that customisation...

Also, I believe what they said was that you won't see green question marks over people's heads, not that there wouldn't be quests at all.

[al capowned]

Milennin said:

I have to agree the part they said the combat system will be less complex and there will be less skills was the only thing that really disappointed me.
I think the combat system in Guild Wars 1 was one of the most fun combat systems I've ever played in a game.=x

Also you have a point about the selection thing. It seems kind of weird we get to chose something (path of the Bear) and still being able to chose different forms. Sounds kind of useless, but I think the different paths might be giving you different individualized quests.

it's a cop out. Anet has been met with so much controversy from it's lower end players about how they can't do this or they can't do that. So Anet has gone to every length to allow even the worst players to do whatever they want. The eradication of the Worlds at War system that drove PvP behind the Favor System because PvEers complained about not being able to play UW or FoW is just the first example. It's ridiculously useless to have a player select a direction and then have that direction bare no consequences or quite literally have no impact at all on the game.

Tr0n said:

I think the "less complex skill systems" is just less skills with each doing something unique instead of 100 copies of the same skill.

1000+ skills GW1 has is pure overkill for most players.

they don't do the same thing. every skill has a purpose and a use and a reason for using it. Whether it be too small for the average player to notice is not the fault of the game or of the developer.

[J0ttem]

I don't see any problem with lesser skills tbh, as long as the quality of each skills is equal, so you have to make a strategic choice, instead of using a certain skill because the rest is inferior

[Kendil]

Milennin said:

I have to agree the part they said the combat system will be less complex and there will be less skills was the only thing that really disappointed me.
I think the combat system in Guild Wars 1 was one of the most fun combat systems I've ever played in a game.=x

I think they meant that the combat system will be less complex because they remove a lot of skills. I don't think that they've moved away from their original combat system, maybe tweaked it. But replacing something that was, and is, great would just be stupid.

[Malchior Devenholm]

[quote name='Al_Capowned']quite possibly the worst thing I have heard in regards to GW2. Because the majority of the player base isn't intelligent enough to develop a build that works Anet decides they'll just give us less skills to work with...awesome![/QUOTE]

Guild Wars 2 is no longer fully PvP driven, because more people enjoy the PvE instead of the PvP of Guild Wars 1. Also, Tyria is such an interesting world with the great possibility of a wonderful storyline. Also, the number of skills is being reduced to ease balancing issues. It was nearly impossible for Izzy and now Linsey to balance between 1500 skills each month. This was officially released by Arenanet.



[quote name='Al_Capowned']Nice concept...completely unnecessary and somewhat pointless but a nice addition for the PvEers.[/QUOTE]

If you don't like it, don't comment on it.

[quote name='Al_Capowned']what happened to "not making another WoW clone". I don't want to be able to turn into a bear...if you want to go play WoW.[/QUOTE]

Are you that dumb? The Norn have always been able to be the bear. They are making it into a form now to use all a player's current skills, so it won't be overpowered like Ursan form in Guild Wars 1 was. It might even affect your PvP play, so how about being silent about it.[/QUOTE]



[quote name='Al_Capowned']Then what's the point in making a selection to begin with? That's like saying "You can choose to go to school to become a doctor but if you want to practice law you can do that too".[/QUOTE]

To remove player restrictions. Arenanet doesn't want to anyone to make a visual or character developing choice that might make them inferior in the gameplay. Again, if it doesn't apply to you, don't comment on it.



[quote name='Al_Capowned']Great another MMO...I don't fully understand how it slipped Anet's mind that the reason Guild Wars was successful is because they delivered us a game that wasn't exactly like every other MMO out there. WTF Happened to CORPG???[/QUOTE]

Like it or not, most people enjoyed the PvE of Guild Wars 1 and wanted to see it as an MMO. You will still have your structured PvP, so shut up about areas of the game that don't apply to you.



[quote name='Al_Capowned']Has anyone at ArenaNet played WoW before? This is exactly how WoW runs...Persistent world Instanced Dungeons..GG Anet![/QUOTE]

Because it works! Damn, you're dense. And Everquest and DAoC did instanced dungeons before WoW! Instanced dungeons allow for a more controlled player experience in difficult areas, while allowing for more freedom at telling a storyline.



[quote name='Al_Capowned']If the end-game PvP isn't at the very least on par with the original game Guild Wars 2 will lose it's fan base almost instantly. It'd be nice for them to offer PvE end game but the replayability of this game is in GvG and PvP. Hence the reason nobody plays GW anymore. I can say, at least for my guild, there are only 2 or 3 people that still play and we were one of the most prominent guilds in the game at one point.[/QUOTE]

Duh, you really think they are gonna completely abandon the one thing that made Guild Wars great? No, structured PvP will be just like that of Guild Wars 1. Competitive e-teams playing on equal terms to see who is the better team.



[quote name='Al_Capowned']The idea of all the races of Tyria coming together is going to make for some amazing storylines and great gameplay...but Dragons???!?!? Seriously...DRAGONS!@!@# you couldn't come up with anything less cliche??[/QUOTE]

Yes, dragons exist. If you are going to PvP, why do you care?


[quote name='Al_Capowned']Seems to me that for the most part Arenanet has taken the advice of it's fans. Normally I would say this is a good thing but in this instance I do believe you have encouraged them to produce an inferior game to the original and am expecting a WoW clone come release. But really, that's what all of you want anyway you just don't want to admit it.

please stop telling Anet to ruin such an epic game.[/QUOTE]

It's not a WoW clone. It's not an inferior game. It's all the core values and good things of Guild Wars put into an MMO.

Get off of the forum if you do not want to support such an awesome game.

Thank you.

[Greibach]

Al_Capowned said:

quite possibly the worst thing I have heard in regards to GW2. Because the majority of the player base isn't intelligent enough to develop a build that works Anet decides they'll just give us less skills to work with...awesome!

Well, I think that its fair to say that Guild Wars had too many skills to balance. 1000+ skills is more than you should really need in a game for it to be fun. I'm not sure what they mean by "more simple", but hopefully they just mean fewer skills and eliminating duplicates or ones that are very similar and unnecessary.

Al_Capowned said:

Nice concept...completely unnecessary and somewhat pointless but a nice addition for the PvEers.

what happened to "not making another WoW clone". I don't want to be able to turn into a bear...if you want to go play WoW.

Then what's the point in making a selection to begin with? That's like saying "You can choose to go to school to become a doctor but if you want to practice law you can do that too".

Uh, how is character cusomization and story tailoring unnecessary in a game with a rich PvE world? You could do the same thing in GW1, they were the different regions. Making PvP characters you still chose their region. Also, you do realize that the Norn could do Bear-forms in GW1 also right? You just couldn't be a norn. Its not like they developed the mechanic out of thin air for GW2, and its racial not class-based. Not sure how that is like WoW, and WoW wasn't the first thing to come up with were-bears/wolves anyway.

Again, like in GW1, you wouldn't want elonian mesmers to not be able to learn the same skills as canthan mesmers would you? The only reason that some races had different classes was because they were campaign based, not there in the beginning. I don't see this as a bad thing.

Al_Capowned said:

Has anyone at ArenaNet played WoW before? This is exactly how WoW runs...Persistent world Instanced Dungeons..GG Anet!

They also say that your personal story quests will be instanced. It remains to be seen how much/how many of those there are. My hope is a large amount, but we'll have to see.

Al_Capowned said:

If the end-game PvP isn't at the very least on par with the original game Guild Wars 2 will lose it's fan base almost instantly. It'd be nice for them to offer PvE end game but the replayability of this game is in GvG and PvP. Hence the reason nobody plays GW anymore. I can say, at least for my guild, there are only 2 or 3 people that still play and we were one of the most prominent guilds in the game at one point.

As much as PvPers hate to admit it, GW also has a very strong PvE only or light PvP community as well. Many people play because they like the world, art, lore, and gameplay, not because they PvP. True, many would dislike it, but many couldn't care less.

[Legion]

Al_Capowned said:

quite possibly the worst thing I have heard in regards to GW2. Because the majority of the player base isn't intelligent enough to develop a build that works Anet decides they'll just give us less skills to work with...awesome!

Great another MMO...I don't fully understand how it slipped Anet's mind that the reason Guild Wars was successful is because they delivered us a game that wasn't exactly like every other MMO out there. WTF Happened to CORPG???

The idea of all the races of Tyria coming together is going to make for some amazing storylines and great gameplay...but Dragons???!?!? Seriously...DRAGONS!@!@# you couldn't come up with anything less cliche??

Have you been living under a rock? All of this is common knowledge since the Eye of the North expansion.

[Tzu Qui Jinn]

Best word to describe one of ANet's primary goals.


Immersion

Quote

posted by Malchior Devenholm
Guild Wars 2 is no longer fully PvP driven

Was it ever? nope didn't think so.

Edited by Tzu Qui Jinn, 08 December 2009 - 10:15 PM.

[Dove]

Great find. The individualization sounds like a great idea, as long as they haven't bitten off too much to chew... I'd rather have the same story on each character if they're shoddy and poorly done.

Still, the concept intrigues me. Enjoyed the article quite a bit.

[Naoroji]

Al_Capowned said:

it's a cop out. Anet has been met with so much controversy from it's lower end players about how they can't do this or they can't do that. So Anet has gone to every length to allow even the worst players to do whatever they want. The eradication of the Worlds at War system that drove PvP behind the Favor System because PvEers complained about not being able to play UW or FoW is just the first example. It's ridiculously useless to have a player select a direction and then have that direction bare no consequences or quite literally have no impact at all on the game.

... BAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW moar.


Besides, choosing your background story is something PvE'ers LOVE to do, even if the path you choose isn't that influential on your powers. It's just,... Cool.

Al_Capowned said:

they don't do the same thing. every skill has a purpose and a use and a reason for using it. Whether it be too small for the average player to notice is not the fault of the game or of the developer.

So,... You don't think Karei's Healing Circle is the same as Heal Area? (Just the first example that popped into my head).

[captainnl]

Awesome interview!