Guild Wars 2

Product Description

A full 250 years after the original Guild Wars, massive upheavals, cataclysms, and globe-spanning events have changed the world of Tyria. Human civilization is in decline. Other races are rising up, taking control over large portions of the world; the balance of power has shifted. Then if that is not enough, the dragons have awaken...

Review

Guild Wars was released several years ago and literally shocked the world MMO rapid rhythmic game play, innovative, grinding-less philosophy and especially: a lack of a monthly subscription. There was a lot of different skills, a system which made PVP fun, balanced. Plus the expanding of new content kept game play fresh.

For several years now, ArenaNet has been hard at work development of their new MMO world with new occupations, new races, new game modes and a new engine and lore. Considering all the new features of Guild Wars 2, it is safe to say that this game is looking to be a great game and possibly even better than the original.
Guild Wars 2 will introduce several new playable races, five of which have been announced so far. Different races will have different advantages and disadvantages.  In fact, these new races will have their own starting areas, quests, and their own racial characteristics. Professions will not be restricted based on the race, the developers hope to ensure that each race is effective at each profession.

In addition, the game engine has been updated significantly. The original Guild Wars game engine has been improved upon with support for more detailed environments and models, better lighting and shadows, new animation and effects systems, plus new audio and cinematic engines and a more flexible combat and skill-casting system. Those who wanted to level higher than 20 will be happy to hear that Guild Wars 2 has raised the level cap to 80. Game play is more realistic with the ability to jump and move freely in the newly developed world.
The game will be on multiple servers or "worlds," but players will not be bound to a world and may therefore change servers easily. Guild Wars 2 will be designed to run on computers with mid-range gaming specifications, but will have higher requirements than the original Guild Wars. A character can play any game mode available in Guild Wars 2: PvE, Structured PvP and World PvP.  A player may still have multiple characters. The game is designed to be viable for both solo and group play.

There will be two types of PvP available in Guild Wars 2 -
World PvP and Structured PvP.

World PvP will allow you to play characters of any level, using the skills that you have in your possession at that particular time. This level discrepancy will be relaxed by a side-kicking system intended to provide a bridging point between PvE and structured PvP. It will be on a larger scale than the original Guild Wars PvP with large battles which take place over a long period with people coming and going.
Victory in World PvP will confer benefits to your world. This may include improved drop rates, better energy regeneration or other bonuses.

Structured PvP is similar to today's GvG. It will allow you to enter the game at maximum level with all skills, races, items and classes automatically unlocked.

Player vs Environment will be available, with some changes.
There will be changes to the instancing system used. Persistent areas, similar to those traditionally used in other online multiplayer games, will be introduced to Guild Wars which may allow players to meet and interact while exploring. Instances will still be used to further storytelling within the game and for missions and dungeons.

A day/night cycle, faster than real-time, is being added to the game. Some events and monster appearances will depend on that in-game time. There will be weather effects in-game. Persistent explorable areas will be larger than those of GW1. The interior of houses and buildings in the environment will be accessible to players.

Guild Wars 2 will have a very different system for quests than the original Guild Wars. Instead of the standard green exclamation point above an NPC's head to mark a possible quest, Guild Wars 2 will use a new Event system. In this system, events will happen with or without the presence of the player, and if a player happens to be present at the time of the event, then the player can complete the quest by participating in the event, and the outcome of the event may have an effect on what kind of event may happen soon there after.

Characters from the original Guild Wars will not be migrated to play in Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 will be a fresh start. Some items and weapons players earn in the original Guild Wars campaign may be redeemed for rewards in Guild Wars 2 through the Hall of Monuments, which is available to players who have GWEN - Guild Wars Eye of the North. However, players will not be able to migrate the exact items or titles they obtained in Guild Wars. Names will also be reserved through this system.


It was officially announced that it will be possible to explore, fight, and breathe underwater in Tyria. The ability to breathe underwater will be granted via the use of an easily obtainable consumable item. Though some developers have said, that creating the underwater "continents" is one of the things that has been delaying the game.

Guild Wars 2 won't be released till somewhere around the beginning of 2011 if all remains on track. GW2 will likely have a public event in the form of a closed beta in 2010. More information about the Guild Wars 2 beta testing and the game's release can be found at http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/game-faq/#one

A big fan of the Guild Wars Trilogy, I hope this preview has been informative. I eagerly await this highly anticipated sequel to the GW game family.