Guild Wars 2 Lore To Be Told In Book Series

Awesome, I'll defo be getting them

I only have one book series based on a game, the Resident Evil Novels and I LOVE them <3

This is going to be a good thing, this going to help the GW franchise regardless of how much pertains to the game. I hope these sell very well for them to warrant more books. I would love to see prequels to the books they are doing.

I'll definitely buy these. Sometimes the books end up being better than the game.

My thoughts there too. There are some really good books set in worlds the authors didn't make up and there are some, well, terrible ones out there. Guild wars has a rich enough world that a good author could do some interesting works.

I am reminded of the Dungeons and Dragons or Star Wars books - there are some of them that I really want more when the books end (for Star Wars the Timothy Zhan sequels come to mind) and some I wish I had never even started, let alone finished (again, for Star Wars a Splinter of the Mind's Eye comes to mind).

In many of those cases it isn't so much that the author is good or bad, but more that they can work well within someone else's world. That is an *entirely* different skill than making your own up - I saw David Eddings listed a bit back. I like quite a number of his books/worlds but that is entirely a different skill (I don't recall if he has done stories in other worlds). Going back to Star Wars I like Zhan's novels there MUCH better than his own worlds - in fact I would say his novels set in other worlds are WAY better than his own worlds.

Eh - if they are good I will buy them. The first I will most likely read and make up my own mind - while I tend to agree with "community opinion" in most cases there have been cases where I didn't. While most Star Wars fans like the Zhan series some consider it hack work (and they are vocal about it), I've also found a few novels that have been highly rated that I thought the same thing of. So no matter the reviews I will give them a shot.

Sweet, i wanted these for a loooong time.

Interesting. If they're good I may get them. I'm not too much of a reader but still quite interested in the story behind the world of Guild Wars.

Personally I would like it to be in the form of manga, like some of the concept art of Gwen.
But that is just me because I am a manga-obsessed otaku. =w=

Graphic novel fits GW best though.

This.

If the books won't be filled with illustrations I won't care.

Regardless of how well the books are written if they are from the perspective of a single player and of a player with a single class there will be a great amount of QQ with the "why isn't a necro or an ele or a rit the main character".


I'm sure this will not affect the sales, nor the content of the books but, forumites always have to have something to whine about, which i find rather entertaining.

interesting. I hope I can buy them online somewhere, because books like these are hard to find in the Netherlands. I've bought many many novels based on the M:TG cardgame, and I loved them so much, I actually stopped playing and started reading.

Would be cool to see what happens after the defeat of the Great Destroyer, what new races and classes emerge in Tyria, and what story we will land in in GW2. We'll be continuing that story, so it would be cool to read what happened before we start in GW2.

I would speculate that it will be told from number of perspectives, most notably the lead characters from each of the campaigns along with potential new characters. I don't think the story is going to be from gamers vantage point, because of varied classes.

I call for a complete third party perspective ~

see: Guild Wars Factions guide.

Everything in relation to history and lore in the guide is written from the persepctive of a historian. There's no mention of specific characters that are not directly relevant to drastic changes in history, the way it should be.

Guild Wars 2 is about as futuristic as medieval times was. 250 years isn't enough time to suddenly have 5 gajillion guns, gunblades, lasers, flying aircraft, nukes, vaporizing grenades, etc.

It will basically be no different than what it is now. Just 250 years later. Compare the stone age's beginning to 250 years after it. Very little changed.

oh man, cannot wait!

Interesting. Title of book one: Death of your Hero by Old Age.

250 years were more than enough time for the U.S. to turn from a backwater colony into a global superpower. Fantasy worlds are always artificially restricted from making progress the way the real world did. We always have to consider that Tyria has the far superior energy source (magic), so without being held back by the creators of the world, they would accelerate even faster than the real-world society.


The books are also going to have some very hard challenges.

First of all there is the issue of danger to the group of heroes. Tyria is littered with reincarnation shrines and filled with healing magic. Almost nothing the author can do to the characters will be of relevance. Even if somebody dies, the fans will still be able to say "idiot noob team, didn't bring rez spell, lol."

Secondly, there is the magic itself. Magic in GW is only used for combat purposes, outside of battle, there aren't that many uses for magic, although one would expect people to use it for growing crops, heating houses and construction. We don't notice that in a combat driven game, but as soon as we expect a realistic fantasy setting those issues would be noticed instantly.

Third problem are distances and dimensions, naturally they are far from being realistic in any game.

Fourth problem are the badguys in GW. They are usually a bunch of moronic, yet powerful beings, perpetrating deeds of evil for the sake of evil itself. GW is deeply rooted in a "black vs. white" battle of "good vs. evil". Popular fiction, be it comics, books or movies are rooted in conflicts between different shades of grey. Good guys doing bad things for the greater goods and bad guys who initially had honorable intentions. Not something current GW lore is known for. You're either a red dot or a green dot and that's how the game is perceived while cutscenes and dialogue is being skipped.

i love fantasy novel/book and the story line in GW is very nice i hope in a good work ^^

The US didn't become a global superpower during medieval times, which is generally the technology level (+ magic) of all fantasy powers. In fantasy worlds, technology comes along very slowly. Mostly because once a fantasy world has great technology, it's no longer fantasy, but sci-fi. From the things they have shown of GW2, it is still going to be fantasy with the slight hint of sci-fi thru magic (like the golems and grenades.).

I highly doubt they would change their technology aspect of the whole world, that would turn off way too many players.

If it reads like a sourcebook for an RPG and is filled with the badass guildwars concept art, then excellent.

If it reads like a novel, then bleh.

Fantasy is almost never in a real medieval setting. Fantasy almost always includes political structures and ideas FAR beyond medieval times. The whole mindset of characters in GW is not that of people living in the middle ages. There is nothing medieval about Tyria, Kryta or any of the other Kingdoms. Their societies are vastly different from the middle ages, the structure of their society is different, the motivations of the people are different and the goals of people seek are different. There are no estates of realm, no hierarchy beyond a king, no system of fiefdom. Religion seems to be separate from state and of little influence in daily life. A book will have to develop all of these aspects or risk describing a very bland generic world.


That's really something ArenaNet should create. It can flesh out the whole universe without the burden of having to tell an epic story at the same time.