Curse

Skyy High · Apr 27, 2010, 06:04 PM // 18:04

Here.

Posting this awesomeness because people have been complaining about info from GW2Guru not being transferred here. This seems like big enough news that people should hear about it on GWG too.

Also: HELL YES!

Shayne Hawke · Apr 27, 2010, 06:09 PM // 18:09

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Because, like Guild Wars before it, GW2 doesn’t fall into the traps of traditional MMORPGs. It doesn’t (...) force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun; and of course, it doesn’t have a monthly fee.

I will believe this only after seeing it.

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When someone kills a monster, not just that player’s party but everyone who was seriously involved in the fight gets 100% of the XP and loot for the kill.

I'm sure that degrees of involvement necessary for a reward will be a talking point.

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Now worlds can compete against each other, through the mists that separate them, for scarce resources that benefit an entire world.

Depending on how tied players are to their worlds, something like this could become a problem if a world is stuck with no real competitors fighting for its sake.

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Finally, since combat is such a core part of the gameplay of any MMO, we’ve put a lot of emphasis into rethinking combat. So much of traditional MMO combat is rote and repetitive. You execute the same strategy over and over again, just augmented over time with better and better gear. After a while it starts to feel like you’re playing a spreadsheet.

Fairly representative of what GW PvE combat currently feels like.

Quote:

An Elementalist can cast Fire Wall next to an opponent, and then switch to Water attunement, which freezes all enemies around him. Using the concussive force of Water Trident, he can slam his frozen enemy into the Fire Wall, leaving him to roast in the flames.

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And now you can build up and select traits for your character which give you new intrinsic abilities, such as the Elementalist’s Stone Boots trait, which keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground even when an attack or skill effect would normally toss him through the air.

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So if you’re playing an Elementalist, try casting a fire wall, and then see what happens when your friends shoot projectiles through it.

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If a Stone Elemental throws a boulder at you, pick it up and throw it back. Or as an Elementalist, use that boulder to create a meteor storm. If you’re fighting an Oakheart with an axe and you manage to hack off a branch, pick up the branch and try using it as a weapon.

So, it looks like we are getting:

A skill called Fire Wall, which likely burns and might ignite projectiles passing through it.
The return of Attunements with the possibility of some kind of system to switch between them, and different effects associated with them.
The return of Water Trident, with knockback.
A Trait system
Environmental weapons (gear?)

This. This is good.

Shriketalon · Apr 27, 2010, 06:12 PM // 18:12

Quote:

If you meet a beekeeper outside town, buy a jar of bees from him and see what happens when you lob it at nearby enemies.

So, the preorder button, where is it?

Zenzai · Apr 27, 2010, 06:19 PM // 18:19

Bees? Feh. I hope we can get a wasp upgrade. Let's face it, wasps are more hardcore and don't die after the first sting.

Hyperventilate · Apr 27, 2010, 06:36 PM // 18:36

Quote:

If you’re fighting an Oakheart with an axe and you manage to hack off a branch, pick up the branch and try using it as a weapon.

WTB Pre-order.

I want this to work in reverse, too. If you're fighting a centaur, he should be able to hack off your leg and beat you to death with it.

slowerpoke · Apr 27, 2010, 06:40 PM // 18:40

I had to check that the article author wasn't Peter Molyneux

zwei2stein · Apr 27, 2010, 06:53 PM // 18:53

This sounds very impresive. I always expected playthrough to be at least on par of GW1.

Major question is, what happens in endgame? Player can have fun playing storyline for 100 hours, he will want to continue well past they did every mission and quest.

Question is, how are they going to please people who would like to sink 1k+ hours in a game. You know, people who are getting GWAMMs. Will they cop-out with simple to create "do this 10000 times" task or will there be long-term content for people who are not exactly happy with that kind of ... mindlessness?

How are they going to convince casual player and semi-casual player that he should not be stressing over not having X the same size that timesinkers do?

How is PvE going to be protected from ridiculousness of mudflation (and gw-inspired skillflation)?

This leads to even more questions!

Anyway, here is my own manifesto:

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* I want to play a game and enjoy myself in vast world without artificial limits.

* I do not want to spend hours of grind in order to access content, I don't want to be dictated in which zone I have to play and which quests to complete. I don't want to be forced to repeat the same lame tasks over and over.

* I want to win by my tactics and clever use of what is at my disposal. I want challenges I can pass, challenges that I will be struggle and ultimately overcome them by becoming a better player. I want Challenges that I will probably never pass because I won't be good enough, regardless of how much I play.

* I want a world where a talented newbie can master difficult places clueless veteran only can dream about.

* I don't want to expect certain victory by taking the easy way of by grinding some more power and coming back later. I want victory to be mine, and not that of my character. I want my victory to be a matter of skill, not a matter of repetition. I want to discover power in myself and my understanding of tactics and game mechanics.

* I want to kill monsters because I enjoy killing them, not because I have to collect experience or collect hundreds of scalps for an uninspired collection grind quest.

* I want quests or missions to reward me by being part of interesting story, making me visit new interesting places and give me the joy of overcoming and mastering challenges ahead. Not by making me run after a carrot by increasing a meaningless level number +1.

* I want items just to be items, the ultimate one being as powerful as newbie gear, the real power of items being in how they are used to best effect, not by just using them.

* I believe that player abilities and experience should count, not in showing off an XP number that merely shows that I/my char spent way too much time grinding/gaming.

* I don't want to hunt for a carrot; I want to explore new areas, new stories and meet interesting people.

http://zweistein.cz/mmorpg/levels.html

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Originally Posted by Zenzai

Bees? Feh. I hope we can get a wasp upgrade. Let's face it, wasps are more hardcore and don't die after the first sting.

OMG, look at that noob using waspjar! Damn leecher, tagging every mob in area with wasp aoe and then doing nothing ...

(I kind of imagine this attitude to be problem. Some people will be jerks if they percieve that someone is freeloading on them and some people are going to do that intentionally: Damage mob enough to get XP and move on, leaving someone else to finish it off. Lets hope there is no XP-drama)

Axel Zinfandel · Apr 27, 2010, 07:02 PM // 19:02

I'm totally digging the whole "people around you have the same objectives" thing. I really dig that. Hardcore Dig that. and the 100% EXP and loot. Lets hope there's just not some crazy way around that that will involve a bunch of leeching and whatnot. It would certainly be awesome if people naturally worked together for the common goal, and it sounds like you guys are really trying to revamp the system, and I really dig that.

I also like the little plugs in mechanics that hints knockback, and even into air mechanics, as well as natural skill synergies like shooting arrows through a wall of fire or something. I'm still curious if there will still be any hint of a 'build' type deal, where you're only allowed to take a certain amount of skills or whatnot.

Storyline atmosphere is pretty awesome to think about as well. Lore is something that is often a lot deeper than meets the eye and few true MMOs engage the player in it. It's ussually just something we all skip past to get to the action... but engaging a player in actual choices that define where the storyline takes is very interesting, to say the least, I just hope it meshes well enough with the flow of everything, as far as as the difficult of finding people on the same storyline path as you

but alas, it sounds like we'll be hearing a lot more, and I can't wait

I'm gettin' pumped!

Quote:

Originally Posted by zwei2stein

I kind of imagine this attitude to be problem. Some people will be jerks if they percieve that someone is freeloading on them and some people are going to do that intentionally: Damage mob enough to get XP and move on, leaving someone else to finish it off. Lets hope there is no XP-drama)

I kind of expect, and hope, that the algorithm will be strict enough to prohibit that... like a player has to be involved in the battle for a certain % of time or something, and also not just standing idly by... and certainly not giving the player the ability to boot people from getting rewards if leeching. that'd be a bad idea. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with that though.

JDRyder · Apr 27, 2010, 07:05 PM // 19:05

GW2 will be the best MMO over...

Acumen · Apr 27, 2010, 07:07 PM // 19:07

Specifically mentions Elementalists, a few skills, and a few enemies.

While the "run around and get into adventures" aspect sounds interesting, it's going to be very hard for them to make it so it doesn't turn a min/max farm-fest. Sure, there's lots of interesting quests and things to see in Ascalon in GW1, but how often do people do them?

Edit:That screenshot looks very Canthan..

fowlero · Apr 27, 2010, 07:08 PM // 19:08

Though i'd always worry about how they'd change GW's combat, i think this sounds very interesting and look forward to see how it pans:

Quote:

An Elementalist can cast Fire Wall next to an opponent, and then switch to Water attunement, which freezes all enemies around him. Using the concussive force of Water Trident, he can slam his frozen enemy into the Fire Wall, leaving him to roast in the flames.

Combo's across classes sounds like a very interesting game mechanic too:

Quote:

So if you’re playing an Elementalist, try casting a fire wall, and then see what happens when your friends shoot projectiles through it.

Be interesting to see what else comes from these following "in-depth articles".

The 100% loot and exp is very cool too, i liked Public Quests in WAR but it was always annoying how when i played even if you'd been there the whole time sometimes you didnt even get anything from it. If everyone gets stuff this sounds like it'd be much more successful.

Karate Jesus · Apr 27, 2010, 07:13 PM // 19:13

No PvP info at all in the first teaser?

Thus ends the war of PvE v. PvP focus in GW2......

Operations · Apr 27, 2010, 07:17 PM // 19:17

I can't help but read this article and think;

"And here we lay the foundation for, combined with, "It will be done when it's done," the excuse for a release date of 2012 or later."

jiggles · Apr 27, 2010, 07:18 PM // 19:18

That article makes gw2 sound so amazing, do not dissapoint.

JDRyder · Apr 27, 2010, 07:20 PM // 19:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karate Jesus

No PvP info at all in the first teaser?

Thus ends the war of PvE v. PvP focus in GW2......

I didn't think they said a lot about either tbh, however I think this was more info than "Pve will have story like in GW"

Quote:

We even redesigned the competitive part of the game to be friendly like this. Now worlds can compete against each other, through the mists that separate them, for scarce resources that benefit an entire world. Joining this PvP competition is completely optional, just like it was in the original GW, but if you do compete you’re now going to find that your world welcomes you with open arms. You don’t have to join a party to join the fight. All you have to do is get out there and start helping. Everyone has the same objective, and if your world can get 501 people working for the same goal, that’s only going to be more helpful than 500 people.

MagmaRed · Apr 27, 2010, 07:28 PM // 19:28

Using a tree branch as a weapon.... since you cut it off with your axe? Seems like what we already have, but in a less useful manner. In Guild Wars we can kill an Oakheart and it will drop a bow, staff, wand, sword, etc. that we can use as a weapon. Are they removing the weapon drop idea completely, or just modifying it? If I only get a branch, but already use an Axe (which got me the branch), what benefit would the branch give me? And I like that they want to reduce and maybe even eliminate grind, but they can't unless they make the game short. Eventually you run out of things to do, and I have never heard of a game that offered infinite replay without introducing grind or making it repetitive.

Still waiting to see details on what the HoM offers for GW2, what the skills, attributes, classes, races, etc. will offer. Hints are nice, but I want details still, but I doubt any of that will happen until they do the beta.

Endrance · Apr 27, 2010, 07:33 PM // 19:33

Although I hardly play Guild Wars any more, it seems everyday now I'm getting more hyped up for the second one. After reading this, I would give my left arm leg (so I can still play it) for this game right now.

galbat0rixx · Apr 27, 2010, 07:36 PM // 19:36

Need...Guild Wars....2....now.

Hope PvP remains a big focus though, but I think it's silly to make assumptions based on their first proper manifesto, it's not a complete description.

Love the idea of seeing quests happen in real-time (sort of), and alternate stories/paths to take is a dream come true (being a fan of Oblivion). PvE is definitely going to be wicked (as in the good wicked...not the bad wicked...).

Hopes for PvP: Realm vs Realm, More Random Rewards for general PvP and no sellable "tokens" (please go away Z-Keys, nobody likes you), Massive Scale Battles (for the lolz), no bots.

If they do this along with the sort of stuff the manifesto says, I may well still be on my PC in 40 years time.

Lord Sojar · Apr 27, 2010, 07:39 PM // 19:39

The next article detailing the combat systems should be a great and very revealing read. I'm hoping for a lot more active play, and by the sounds of it, that's exactly what they are delivering. Sounds spectacular.

athariel · Apr 27, 2010, 07:39 PM // 19:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karate Jesus

No PvP info at all in the first teaser?

Thus ends the war of PvE v. PvP focus in GW2......

it has PvP info:

Quote:

Now worlds can compete against each other, through the mists that separate them, for scarce resources that benefit an entire world. Joining this PvP competition is completely optional, just like it was in the original GW, but if you do compete you’re now going to find that your world welcomes you with open arms. You don’t have to join a party to join the fight. All you have to do is get out there and start helping. Everyone has the same objective, and if your world can get 501 people working for the same goal, that’s only going to be more helpful than 500 people.

I wonder if people will demand r9+ rank for WvW when GW2 launches