MMORPG Interview – Armor options, character questions & more
9 Dec
Garret Fuller of MMORPG has scored an exclusive interview with Guild Wars 2 Lead Designer, Eric Flannum, World Designer and Writer Ree Soesbee,and Environment Art Lead Dave Beetlestone.
I’ve already summarized recent articles in my “GW2: What We Know” post. Here’s a summary of new information on the game:
- A simpler armor system with light, medium and heavy armor. Each profession has a diverse range of appearances to choose from. For example, a Ranger in Guild Wars was typically forced into wearing a long coat and mask; they can still do that, but don’t have to.
- When you create a character, you will answer questions about the character, and these answers will shape your personal story.
One of these choices is the ‘subdivisions’ we’ve already heard about.- Human heritage: Elonan, Krytan, Ascalonian or Canthan
- Asura college of magical learning: Synergetics, Dynamics, or Statics
- Sylvari season of awakening: Dawn, Day, Twilight or Night
- Charr legion: Blood, Ash, or Iron
- Norn personal totem: Bear, Snow Leopard, Raven or Wolf
- These choices do not affect the power of the character. For example, a Norn that has chosen the path of the Bear can still use the Snow Leopard form.
- Instancing is used to reflect personal choices that impact the storyline.
- ArenaNet is focusing on three end-game scenarios:
- Player vs. Player
- World vs. World
- Player vs. Environment
- There will not be massive multi-party raids that disallow smaller guilds and groups from taking part.
- Each starting area has some form of water environment to explore, whether it’s a lake, river, or ocean.
- As the release approaches, there will most likely be events in-game and outside the game that lead up to the state of things in Guild Wars 2.
You can read the full interview at MMORPG and discuss it at my favorite Guild Wars 2 forum, GuildWars2Guru.com
I’d like to thank “Loaded Charrzooka” for whispering me about this interview – it was nice, and I’m glad to be on your friends list, even if you are an almost-random.
Which point do you love the most? Comment below!
I think I love the armor options the most. The two trailers show the same armor on different races. If that is how most of the armor works, then it’ll be awesome.
… I still think we should have access to cool NPC armor.
In general, all the new features are looking pretty damn good =D
Though with that “personal story” kinda stuff that you can choose…I reckon most of the time that shit is pretty gimmicky…just changing around one or two dialogue options or reactions or whatever. From what I’ve heard, it’s much more well done in a game like Dragon Age, but I’ve never found that stuff to be great in MMOs – just something they put under “features” to attract people to the game.
And damn…picking a race will be hard. I haven’t played Guild Wars itself yet…but Human, Sylvari, and Charr all sound appealing.
Hi Gixi, welcome to my blog and thanks for posting :)
The “personal story” is something that they’re really pushing. Along with the Event system, these two features have been done before. I have high hopes that they’ll take it above and beyond everything else that’s out there, and truly set a new standard for interactive storytelling.
I’m relieved that it wouldn’t be twenty-one people raiding and grinding all time!
I like the idea of separate starting locations, also I would like to see weather changing while you play.
There is one more thing I am wondering.. how are they going to avoid the persistent areas being “captured” by certain people parties?
In the end I am happy to see the new trailer, and I think Guild Wars 2 will blow any competition :) .
That’s an interesting question. I think the key is in making it “players versus monsters” all the time… in PvE mode, I mean. I don’t see why we need more of the Kurzick/Luxon split. The fact that player guilds can grind to “own” a town seems against the fundamental principles of Guild Wars. I hope they’ve recognized that.