Curse

Gaile Gray · Nov 23, 2005, 09:02 AM // 09:02

Alright, you guys, here are some facts:

ArenaNet was started in March of 2000 in Southern California, as Triforge, and then moved to Washington State (and found a better company name) just a couple of months later. Development for Guild Wars started in 2000. ArenaNet became a wholly-owned subsidiary of NCsoft in December 2002. NCsoft is based in Seoul, Korea. Let's see now: There are offices for NCsoft in Seoul, in Austin, Texas, in Brighton, England, and there are also offices in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, too. (There may be a couple of offices I'm forgetting just now.)

Closed testing for Guild Wars is currently going on, or will soon start, in Taiwan and Japan. (That's what tonight's update was all about.) The game will be released in other countries in the future, as well.

Hope that clears things up.

aismailuk · Nov 23, 2005, 09:10 AM // 09:10

Wow, that's weird to think I live about 5 mins away from Brighton and didn't realise there was an NCsoft office there!

(/sneaks off to spy through Brighton office windows...)

Sereng Amaranth · Nov 23, 2005, 09:36 AM // 09:36

Gaile, are they hiring in Austin? I'm moving there soon.

Tactical-Dillusions · Nov 23, 2005, 09:58 AM // 09:58

What's closed testing?

RTSFirebat · Nov 23, 2005, 10:24 AM // 10:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tactical-Dillusions

What's closed testing?

The key word is closed... its a beta test which is private. Normally for a select number of people ranging from internal employees, members of the press, people from guild wars related fan sites and others who are luckily.

Beyond that they are the same as a normal beta.

So does anyone know when the game is going to be released? As I have it feeling it will be the return of 300g Ectos and shards again

Sekkira · Nov 23, 2005, 11:06 AM // 11:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by RTSFirebat

The key word is closed... its a beta test which is private. Normally for a select number of people ranging from internal employees, members of the press, people from guild wars related fan sites and others who are luckily.[/B]

What most people refer to and are under the name and NDA as Alpha testers.

RTSFirebat · Nov 23, 2005, 11:30 AM // 11:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sekkira

What most people refer to and are under the name and NDA as Alpha testers.

Debatable, as a Alpha version and beta version are two different stages of the games developement. So they maybe Alpha testers upgraded to internal beta testers.

Pyrii · Nov 23, 2005, 01:31 PM // 13:31

(retype *shoots Windows*), Holding my hands is EDGE 133 (Feb 2004) which goes on about the difficulties of games fromt he west breaking the japanese market.

Things like them not really enjoying competitive play, rather they prefer to play together, so PvE may be the biggest part of JapGW. And they prefer a different style of gaming, so this bring about the question, is the japanese verions of GW different to accustom for the japanese market. Or is it a straight port with IME support?

And whatever path Arenanet have taken, will we be able to try these changes. I'd like to be able to type some Japanese in game. (Altough I need to fix the IME on my system as it's fecked, only lets me use katakana).

Alex Weekes · Nov 23, 2005, 01:45 PM // 13:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by aismailuk

Wow, that's weird to think I live about 5 mins away from Brighton and didn't realise there was an NCsoft office there!

(/sneaks off to spy through Brighton office windows...)

So you're the one who keeps following me home?

aismailuk · Nov 23, 2005, 02:02 PM // 14:02

damnit! I've been spotted...!

/activates storm chaser and runs...

Pyrii · Nov 23, 2005, 02:26 PM // 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Weekes

So you're the one who keeps following me home?

Not me, you're slightly too far away far a casual stalking.

jibikao · Nov 23, 2005, 03:13 PM // 15:13

Is there a Chinese version of Guild Wars? I can't believe my friend is still playing D2!!! I told him about GW but he said he hasn't heard about it and his English isn't good enough to read the websites. I am sure my friend will love GW!

I pwnd U · Nov 23, 2005, 03:30 PM // 15:30

couldnt u translate it for him if u can read english? i mean it would be a pain but just translate the parts that got u hooked. possibly that could get your friend to start playing GW instead of D2

jibikao · Nov 23, 2005, 03:34 PM // 15:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by I pwnd U

couldnt u translate it for him if u can read english? i mean it would be a pain but just translate the parts that got u hooked. possibly that could get your friend to start playing GW instead of D2

Well, I guess I could translate for him but he can't play the game and that's the problem. He is in Taiwan and I am in Maryland, USA. lol

Another tiny problem is there are just sooooooooo many skills in GW, unlike D2. And some of the skill names are tough to translate/prounce. So when he actually plays the game, I doubt he can actually type out the skill names. lol

Kabale · Nov 23, 2005, 03:46 PM // 15:46

Sucked to get kicked out of halls for this update. One of the teams we were facing actually left so they could meet up quickly and jump straight in again...

Oh well, free sigils ftw xD

Loviatar · Nov 23, 2005, 04:42 PM // 16:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pyrii

(is the japanese verions of GW different to accustom for the japanese market. Or is it a straight port with IME support?

).

there was an official comment about *area specific content* (whatever that means ) for the china/japan/taiwan market.

could be different artwork or who knows.

if it is different will we see the difference again who knows

Gaile Gray · Nov 23, 2005, 05:05 PM // 17:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loviatar

there was an official comment about *area specific content* (whatever that means ) for the china/japan/taiwan market.

could be different artwork or who knows.

if it is different will we see the difference again who knows

Guild Wars will be the same game no matter where you play. We're all one big global community.

However, occasionally we do special regional events, such as the North American preorder or the European preorder or the Korean Coke promotion. In those cases we will place that content on the servers and that would be reflected in the Update Notes. When we say "area specific content," in the case you mention, though, we're talking about the GUI, the local language choices, programming that directs certain accounts to the right servers, and so forth.

We could, in the future, have some small differences in items, such as the regional promotional items that we offer once in a great while. But the core game -- regions, missions, professions, spells, and items -- will be the same for all of us now (in the first chapter), and will be the same for all of us who venture to the second chapter in the future.

quickmonty · Nov 23, 2005, 05:52 PM // 17:52

If Anet is capable of doing "area specific content" then why was it necessary for us in other regions to download a Japanese language update? Or was this, with the length of the update, an undocumented nerf .... er .... update?

MSecorsky · Nov 23, 2005, 05:54 PM // 17:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by quickmonty

If Anet is capable of doing "area specific content" then why was it necessary for us in other regions to download a Japanese language update? Or was this, with the length of the update, an undocumented nerf .... er .... update?

You can change servers, and there's translation code in place, is there not?

Alexandria Kotov · Nov 23, 2005, 06:22 PM // 18:22

Pft, you're being paranoid. ANet, implementing undocumented nerfs?! Never.