(Ben - I was unable to post this under the "Guild Wars 2" button - If appropriate, please feel free to move this post there)
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Tenebrae and I attended the "Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2" question and answer seminar at DragonCon this weekend. We haven't played Guild Wars in about 3 years, so I may get some of my terminology wrong (I will apologize in advance for this). I was as thorough as I could be with my notes - but I know I missed a bunch. I was writing as fast as I could... heh heh...
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The session was hosted/moderated by Shawn Schuster of "Massively Daily News about MMOs". He does NOT work for GuildWars/ArenaNet, and he said that this information is "informed, but NOT official" news... But, here are some things that were discussed:
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GW2 is a sequel, not an expansion to GW, because they wanted to add too many things that the original coding of the game would not allow them to add (he mentioned "jump" as an example).
The setting of Guild Wars 2 is 250 years after the Guild Wars timeline.
The Dye System - You will start with 11 colors, and unlock new colors as you mix them.
You will be able to dye almost all items and equipment.
Some dye-areas will be guild related, some areas will be player related.
GW2 will be I-Phone / I-Pad compatible - their "extended experience team" is still working on this.
There are new non-playable/enemy races - some of which will begin neutral, but will fight if attacked first.
Less intelligent / more intelligent NPC races will be located next to each other across borders, and part of the story experience will be to see how the "smarter race" will mess with the dumber ones - example: tricking them to worship a "holy rock" - Just for kicks and giggles...
Another young NPC race is a forest of trees that just became self aware 25 years ago - they have a shared knowledge/conciousness - They are still fairly naive, but are learning quickly.
There are still no plans to make it a subscription based game, but will probably continue to add one expansion per year.
Level progression will be expanded to Level 80 (unofficial, and unconfirmed rumor at this time)
Names and achievements will transfer through the "Hall of Monuments", he wasn't sure if title tracks would transfer through - An official announcement about this will be made soon.
Interactions with NPCs will be more fluid, and you will audibly hear them talking (not just text bubbles).
There will be four playable races.
Each race will have four classes to choose from: Elementalist, Warrior, Ranger, Necromancer.
Some of the abilities of other classes in GW are being absorbed into these four classes.
The continent of Or will be opened (forgive my spelling)
PVP - Structured PvP and World PvP
Structured will be in Arena Battles and Random Battles .
World - will be open RvR and Public quests.
Lion's Arch will be the RvR hub, so it is likely the default will be that you will be opted-out of PvP
There will be "destructible environments", but it does not look like that will be in the persistent world, but limited to your "personal story"
The "personal story" will be from the point of view of the party leader. If you switch leaders, it will change the story, and which player will get the credit for completing the story arc.
There will now be a persistent world.
Players will be able to jump in, and join public quests at any time.
Rewards for public quests will be points that are awarded solely based on participation (no random rolls)
Points can be turned in for equipment, weapons, or consumables.
They haven't said how many Alts you will be allowed, but it is presumed it will be fewer than the total number of classes available.
Artwork - They have same art director, and many of the original team, but also have new artists on staff.
Older machines will be able to run GW2, but they have not released the minimum/recommended specs yet.
No word about a Collector's Edition yet.
Fast travel and city zoning will be available - no word on player mounts.
If you "zoom out" from your character, you will scroll all the way out to a "map view".
They have added jumping, swimming, and underwater swimming.
The Continent of Or and Temple of Ages are underwater, and you will have to swim underwater to adventure there.
Kantha and Alona have been cut-off / destroyed so will not be available - perhaps this will be one of the planned expansions...
There will be no dedicated "healer class" - the monk will remain, but will be different.
Characters will have 2 skill bars, with 5 slots in each:
5 slots for attacks/heals - 3 for main hand, 2 for off hand
5 slots for abilities - class specific, race specific, consumables, and elite skill
Healing skills: Self only or party? We don't know yet.
You will be able to chain skills on a single button (if you add the button for the 3rd step of a skill chain, you character will automatically do attack 1, 2, then 3 when you click it)
In GW you can jump into scenarios at Max level, will that function remain? Not sure.
Adrenaline and Mana will be tied to your character's health bar (max amount available, and regeneration).
Karma - Characters will gain good and bad Karma for their actions - and will be able to trade in points for items.
There will be a crafting system.
They have eliminated Dual-Classing, and characters will be one of 3 types (Warrior/Caster/Scholar).
All four races will have access to all three types.
Companions (Heros and henchmen) have been eliminated.
However, if you are solo in an instance, the instance will be scaled.
Skill buttons:
If an Elementalist summons a minion, the function of the skill button will automatically change to a "destroy minion" button.
If you switch weapons, you skill bar will switch to functions relating to the equipped weapon (unavailable abilites will be grayed out)
The first 5 skill button on your bar are NOT your choice - they are weapon/item related (the second 5 skills are player selected)
There are rumors of testing/beta/release dates all over internet, but if it is not posted on GuildWars2.com... it's just a rumor - So look there to find out when (Rumors of November 2010 are not true) - It will be next year sometime.
GuildWars2Blog has the first chapter story-line and world maps available.
» Edited on: 2010-10-08 15:17:40
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