Curse

Makkert · May 12, 2006, 06:31 AM // 06:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by teklys

Other than a few details that got left out....

Escaping from getting pwned in Ascalon by the Charr
Crazy Ascalon king is well...crazy so we bounce
Get to Kryta to find a home for the refugees; have to kiss White Mantle armor to let us in
Find out White Mantle is The Devil(tm) and they'll probably start sucking the soul out of Ascalonians if we don't do something
Turns out killing people and sucking their souls is a bit of downer so we help the Shining Blade out against the White Mantle
Just sorta made the White Mantle mad so we decide we're going to become demi-gods and kick some butt
Becoming a demi-god was fun so we decide a dragon would be something to do before breakfast
End up helping the dwarves since they "helped" us escape to Kryta
Find out we don't like how the Mursaat roll and we take off after them

I dunno, the story in Chapter 1 sounds pretty good to me.

Haha, looking at it like that, it does sound a bit better.

Thanks for the laugh and refreshing look at Ch.1 storyline. ^^

~ Makk.

Haggard · May 12, 2006, 06:34 AM // 06:34

Great. More sand and annoying desert life.

frojack · May 12, 2006, 07:47 AM // 07:47

Africa? Finally

..... I think I've waited like, nearly 20 years. Thanks Anet.

RTSFirebat · May 12, 2006, 07:54 AM // 07:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haggard

Great. More sand and annoying desert life.

Have you ever even been to Africa? Most of the northern Africa is a desert area, but maybe you should check Western and South Africa and tell me its still a desert.

I blame CNN.

xXa1 · May 12, 2006, 08:12 AM // 08:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tr0n

Direct link for the concept art.

http://www.intothepixel.com/content/...34d9c30d53.jpg

The info is from E3, where they show Chapter III under closed doors.

IMHO the influence is strongly arab, think of Byzantium, Damascus, Alexandria, Marrakesh, even Seville in the era of the Crusades

or better yet, Diablo II's: Lut Gholein

Dahl · May 12, 2006, 08:34 AM // 08:34

Judging by that picture, it looks like ch3 is going to look somewhat greek/roman, but that's just me.

I could picture the landscape, crumbling white stone on lush green grass and huge white cities.

Miss Innocent · May 12, 2006, 08:36 AM // 08:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by sir skulkcrasher

Please tell me they did NOT start working on Chapter 3 when there is tons of bugs and fixes that needed to be done! What is going to be in Chapter 3 this time, load up all bosses with greens once again like in Factions. Won't introduce new areas for us to explore later on in the game? Storyline that don't make sense? Once again, characters that don't move their mouth when talking?

I've decided that the whole world is populated by ventrilloquists.

That aside though, there are alot of bugs that need fixing. Guild Chat goes down repeatedly (whispers and team chat worked ok though, unless it seemed to be a problem with my computer network instead). I even took a screen shot of my friend simultaneously chatting with me and listed as online in my friend's list, and listed as offline in my Guild roster.

Alex Weekes · May 12, 2006, 09:51 AM // 09:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelechRic

I hope this doesn't translate to, "We'll fix all your gripes about Ch.2 in Ch.3."

If I misunderstood you then you have my apologies and can happily ignore the previous statements.

Misunderstood me, slightly, because I was talking purely about C3 in that paragraph. C2 has a separate team so if they decide that any particular player concerns need to be addressed they will be able to do so. Keep in mind, here, that Prophecies received a lot of additions and enhancements over the last year ... the same is likely to follow for Factions.

jackie · May 12, 2006, 09:55 AM // 09:55

To me c3 pictures brought Prince of Persia on my mind.

RinkXing · May 12, 2006, 11:11 AM // 11:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Weekes

Keep in mind, here, that Prophecies received a lot of additions and enhancements over the last year ... the same is likely to follow for Factions.

Exactly.

Either people forgot about how GW was this time last year, or they joined the game later than others (when it was all fixed, fine and dandy), but Prophecies had it's problems that needed fixing as does Factions, however it seems people are making a bigger deal out of this because there is a much larger player number now.

Really guys, wait it out and in a few weeks time I can imagine it will all be fixed. Enjoy the new content you have and be grateful that there is a whole new continent to explore, as well as two new classes to try out.

I don't doubt buying Factions one bit, and I will be buying future chapters too, since the game is great and new content will always be well recieved by me, since it really adds alot more excitment to the game.

Dahl · May 12, 2006, 11:24 AM // 11:24

Did you guys know that when guild wars was in beta, there was no such thing as guild capes? If I remember, the emblems were imprinted directly onto your armor. There was no trader economy (they had permanent set prices) there were no rune traders, no dye traders, you had to either find your own runes or buy from other people (so even something like minor swordsmanship costed several thousand gold, which wasn't pocket change back then). there were no chest&keys. You could capture elite skills right at the beginning (ex. Hundred Blades form Gorgaan Hatemonger [charr] in the Breach outside of Piken). There were no priests of balthazar. They implemented most of this stuff at the end of summer of 2005. ***Edit*** Oh, and Sorrow's Furnace didn't exist back then either, nor did Green Items in general, there was no such thing as a green item back then. Even the player attitudes were different back then, not only were people polite, but many spoke in old english tongue. Farming as a whole was taboo (if you farmed, you were sort of looked upon as a hacker/scammer, cause farming was bad) haha. But once farming started, THE best place to farm were those Lightning Drakes at Gates of Kryta, things have changed a lot.

So quit whining about factions, they will fix everything up.

TriX · May 12, 2006, 11:51 AM // 11:51

With all these different chapters they are making more than whatthey could from a montly fee. =\

Jugalator · May 12, 2006, 11:56 AM // 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Weekes

Misunderstood me, slightly, because I was talking purely about C3 in that paragraph. C2 has a separate team so if they decide that any particular player concerns need to be addressed they will be able to do so. Keep in mind, here, that Prophecies received a lot of additions and enhancements over the last year ... the same is likely to follow for Factions.

Agreed, it's about time this is brought up. Heck, Prophecies didn't even give faction or had PvP unlocks. Did that make PvP of Prophecies suck quite a bit? The answer is -- yes, and it was fixed.

I can definitely see a change to make Elite Missions easier to access, but many seem to believe that since Chapter 3 is in development, Chapter 2 will be neglected completely, just like Chapter 1 wasn't when Chapter 2 was developed.

Of course... One could blame ANet for not getting it right the FIRST time, but things like these can be hard to predict in the design phase. I'm sure Elite Mission content was added as bonus stuff to give very hardcore players some rewards, and added with only good intentions to please their gamers. But then the aspect of feeling "left out" was neglected too much. Maybe they'll learn from this mistake, like they did with Chapter 2 and less hand holding and linearity in the storyline and skill acquisition than in Prophecies. That's alone a huge improvement in Factions to me. God I came to dislike that Proph campaign so much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TriX

With all these different chapters they are making more than whatthey could from a montly fee. =\

But there's the choice of not paying, while still playing. That's the difference from MMO's where if you'd find that e.g a new dungeon was totally rubbish, you'd still have had to pay the fee to support the devs for creating that dungeon. People reading up on Factions reviews and not liking the Elite Missions don't have to keep buying these chapters to keep playing in the first place.

Raziel665 · May 12, 2006, 12:11 PM // 12:11

Im kinda surpised nobody posted this from IGN yet...
http://pc.ign.com/articles/708/708116p1.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by IGN

May 11, 2006 - Following the recent release of Factions, the team behind Guild Wars is already hard at work creating an entirely new campaign set for the game. Though team isn't quite ready to start revealing details of the game, they were willing to show us a very impressive trailer that let us get a good look at the locations for the new campaign as well as some concept art for the creatures and NPCs that might populate it.

Starting on a rocky beach, the demo focused on a somewhat run-down dock and a massive, swan-shaped ship with sails that looked like dragonfly wings. From there the game transitions to a North Africa style savannah. Green trees, rocky outcrops and gaily painted mud huts decorate the landscape. We soon traveled to a very interesting windmill that had a hawk-like figure on its top.
By far the most beautiful visuals came when we moved to a massive stone city. Decorated with golden minarets and lush gardens, it looked like the perfect place to relax. There's also a magical touch here as some of the plants actually hang in the air. Water cascading down from them into crystal clear pools gave the whole area a really mystical atmosphere.

After taking a tour and seeing the sights, the team showed us a ton of concept art for the game. The NPCs and creatures all fit the African sort of theme but they show heavy fantasy influences as well. Robed dervishes and giant flattened worms shared the stage with desert warriors and horned tapirs. We'd love to give you details on the new creatures and the classes but the team isn't quite ready to reveal any of those details just yet.

NCSoft told us that the 110 person Guild Wars team has been divided up into two separate campaign teams. That allows them to release an entirely new campaign every six months. Each one is intended to offer a unique visual style based either on real world geography and culture or some sort of mythological setting. Each campaign will also support an entirely new tournament event.

Btw, can I quote this is that a copyright kinda thing?

LordMahal · May 12, 2006, 12:26 PM // 12:26

Our issues and suggestions will be addressed in chapter 3... Now, things changed in prophecies, a lot on what we all complained about and thats great. But 2 should have been better, and thats a pretty pathetic excuse there Alex... I dont buy it, and others shouldnt either. I dont care what team is working on what and when, you and your kids released an unfinished product and are moving on while this one sits... Oh im sorry changes are being made, sure, but most of those things should have been done prior to not after the fact. So basically by about say, chapter 137 all things should even out. How about taking the 2 teams and sitting them down in one room, and going over whats wrong with everything so far. You cant tell me this is like a dennis rodman/carmen electra relationship, where both your teams are in two different places. Im sure at some point they do talk, about money. About making cash and selling games, because lets face it, what we say doesnt mean as much as your paycheck now does it? Whats GW have now 1 million players or more? So if you piss off 1000 who cares right? Right. Dump the work on 3/4 and do us all a favor and work on 2.

Peewee · May 12, 2006, 12:28 PM // 12:28

Arab theme would be pretty cool. Rumour has it that it will be based on a real life theme, rather then the pseudo-asian and western themes so far.

I am betting on another ranger type proffesion, perhaps with a kinda of cross between melee and range fighting, ie attacks which hit at half agro circle range, like ice spear. Essentially a skirmisher class or something. As for a possible secondary proffesion, its hard to say. When exactly will proffesions roles start to clash may well be in Chapter 6. Melee fighters have been pretty much exhausted with the warrior and the assassin, support characters to are pretty much accounted for by Monk and Ritualist, as are druid style characters, range is pretty much covered by the ranger *duh* hexes and misdirection by the necro and mesmer respectively, and crude dmg from spells comes from the elementalist. Its difficult to see where another proffesion could fit in without either being a clone of one, or a combination of a few. My bet is one instead of having more proffesions, having more attributes and skills for the existing one. ie the warrior can become a berserker, the ranger can become a crossbowman, etc etc etc.

Oh, and for those griping about factions, perhaps reasonable considering the problems, and i think we all agree there are problems, they are small in comparison to the problems with prophecies. Yes, they may take some time to fix, but i reckon within the next couple of weeks some of the more annoying bugs wil be fixed, and in a couple of months inbalances with alliance standing will be fixed as well. It just takes time to come up with a suitable solution.

I remember a time, and i am sure others do to, where skills were a mere 100 gold at the skill trainer, and they never got more expensive than that. I also remember a time when you could only change attributes a number of times, dictated by 'refund points' That meant that a ranger, having increased markmanship largely to equip better bows, could not redirect those points easily into other areas upon getting the full whack of attributes. Can you imagine the annoyance of not being able to change your pve chars role?

WasAGuest · May 12, 2006, 01:01 PM // 13:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Weekes

Misunderstood me, slightly, because I was talking purely about C3 in that paragraph. C2 has a separate team so if they decide that any particular player concerns need to be addressed they will be able to do so. Keep in mind, here, that Prophecies received a lot of additions and enhancements over the last year ... the same is likely to follow for Factions.

Question: If the developement teams are shifted from chapter to chapter to meet the 6 month release (1 yr dev cycle) how will the team from Factions (who should already be be shifted to Chapter 4) be adding too or seriously adjusting "issues" in Factions?
It would seem to me, that only a small team of bug fixers would be left to work on Factions so the team could move on.
Obviously this question comes from only having second hand knowledge, but I'm just curious.

BTW, if the above info on Chapter 3 is correct (about the theme); awesome!

Njall · May 12, 2006, 01:42 PM // 13:42

Quote:

Melee fighters have been pretty much exhausted with the warrior and the assassin

I want new lines of skills : 2 handed slashing weapons (axe and sword ) or spears !

Quote:

I remember a time, and i am sure others do to, where skills were a mere 100 gold at the skill trainer, and they never got more expensive than that. I also remember a time when you could only change attributes a number of times, dictated by 'refund points' That meant that a ranger, having increased markmanship largely to equip better bows, could not redirect those points easily into other areas upon getting the full whack of attributes. Can you imagine the annoyance of not being able to change your pve chars role?

You forgot the funny thing : capturing an Elite stance while the boss was still alive !

Tetris L · May 12, 2006, 01:45 PM // 13:45

The bulk of work after a campaign has been released is bug/exploit-fixing and re-balancing of skills and items. All those who work mainly on content and art can move on to the next campaign as soon as the previous campaign is out, or even earlier.

Zorian Direspell · May 12, 2006, 04:39 PM // 16:39

Huh. Africa after all. I was kind of predicting this. Anyone notice how there seems to be a subtle elemental theme underlying each expansion as well? The "Charr" attack Ascalon in a big "firey" event, leading to a series of quests to stop the fulfillment of the "Flameseeker Prophecies". (Prophecies = Fire) Shiro dies and turns the sea to "jade" and the forest to "stone". (Factions = Earth) My guess is that 3 will focus on water (either the need for it or the danger of it ... the theme seems to be "danger of it") ,because water was always a focal point of ancient North African culture, and chapter 4 will focus on Air (maybe set in a floating Greco-Roman cityscape or something ... we know that floating structures exist, so...)