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 DO NOT TALK ABOUT BOTS, THIS IS NOT THE THREAD FOR ITGoon Guilds Information Server is Maguuma for US Goon Squad. Server is Maguuma for EU Goonion Squad. To get invited to the guild, register and follow the instructions at http://www.gw2goons.org/ IRC: #gw2@synirc This is the international start up goon Alliance for Guild Wars 2.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amlOct9Tvj0  ---------------------------------------------------- Server is Maguuma for StarFleetDental, to register go to http://www.starfleetdental.com/ IRC: #sfdental@synirc We are the ultimate cosmopolitan and internationally renowned guild for high rated MMO players. Dear Leader and Great Successor lead SFD into the abyss of Guild Wars 2 for a Better Tomorrow.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEKWpfov-Zg  ----------------------------------------------------  Server is Gandara for EU Rouge Squadron. This server is an alternative for those who do not wish to play on Maguuma. If you are a previous Rouge Squadron member, please check the forums and maybe we can convince you to play with us again. Or if you're looking for some chill goons to hang with and don't want to play on the US server, please feel free to visit us at http://www.rougesquadron.com. The site is still heavily branded with SW:TOR related graphics but don't worry about that, we'll be updating the site soon to reflect our new direction while keeping some references to the old legacy.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1JUwPqzQY  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GwKGbNKQHE Guild Wars 2 is the sequel to the hugely popular MMORPG Guild Wars series. It's currently under development by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of NCSoft, publisher of other successful MMORPGs such as Aion and City of Heroes (fun fact: ArenaNet was founded by ex-Blizzard Inc. employees that had done extensive work on the Diablo series). Many new features have been implemented into Guild Wars 2, such as a completely new game engine, an entirely persistent world with dynamic events, a brand new take on traditional MMO quests and missions, new modes of PvP combat, and a unique skill system unlike any RPG before it with heavy emphasis on weapon selection and character race. The most significant of these features is the "Dynamic Events" system, which essentially reinvents the MMO quest and mission structure.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em0Sd60iI2w For generations, war and chaos raged across the land of Tyria. Five great races competed and warred against each other, struggling to tip the balance of power in their favor. Rarely has there been a time of peace in these troubled lands. The years since the Ascension of Kormir and the defeat of the Great Destroyer have been no different. There have been dangers. There have been adventures. The world is no longer the Tyria it once was—and yet, so many things are the same, beneath her troubled exterior. Sleeping monsters, aeons old, have awakened. The Elder Dragons, seemingly unstoppable as they cause widespread destruction across Tyria. The races of Tyria are unable to understand their intelligence, motivation or even gender, as the Elder Dragons are primordial forces. They crawled from beneath the earth, razor claws sinking into stone and ground over a world that has not seen their like in millennia—and where they rose, they dominated the world around them, twisting it to serve their purposes. The years have not been kind to Tyria. Even so, as green plants grow over the scorched rocks of Ascalon and the waters recede from Lion's Arch, a new city rises and the shattered coastline gives way to new life. New adventures lurk around every corner, and ancient places beneath the surface push up, their doors opened to reveal lost secrets. However, the massive power of the dragons has been unleashed, spilling across the land like a disease that twists everything in its wake. Unless they can be stopped, the dragons will change the face of Tyria irrevocably, eradicating the sentient races...to what end, we can only guess. Time and tide have changed the world. The races of Tyria now stand on equal ground, fighting for superiority even as dragons far older than history—truly primal powers—awaken to claim the world in their bloody claws. If there are heroes left in these lands anywhere among the races, it is time for them to step forward, if the world is to be saved. Now heroes from the five races must set aside ancient rivalries and stand together against their common enemies. Magic, technology, and cold steel will determine the ultimate fate of the world. Someone must rise to seize glory, offer a moment of hope, and perhaps give the world one last chance for peace. If those who would be heroes are listening... ...Now is your time.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEdr8HHJ-zU  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpcsxIYTXw Long ago, a weary soldier planted a strange seed in the depths of the Maguuma Jungle. For centuries, the Pale Tree grew, branches arching over the forest, until at last--twenty five years ago--it bloomed, and the Firstborn stepped into the world. They were followed by their brethren, season after season of sylvari, wide-eyed with wonder and searching for purpose in this strange land. Shaped first by the Dream that nurtured them before they awakened, the sylvari now travel Tyria seeking adventure and their place in the world. The birth of sylvari was a response to the threat of the dragons, and as such, sylvari believe it is their destiny to hunt the dragons. The sacred Ventari Tablet, inscribed with the ethical views of its creator, remains at the base of the Pale Tree. Sylvari have an innate bond with plants, and each other, which they call the Dream of Dreams. However, concealed within the Dream of Dreams are nightmares, something which the sylvari do not yet understand. These nightmares have manifested themselves in the form of the Nightmare Court, a sylvari faction who have turned against their own kind. Sylvari craft their armor and weapons from organic material, such as roots and leaves. Capital City - The Grove is the sylvari capital located within Caledon Forest. It is situated at the base of the massive Pale Tree and is formed from her network of roots and branches. This location shares many parallels to Ventari's Refuge in that it was founded on values of peace and mercy. Religion - The sylvari have an agnostic view of the Human Gods, wishing to see proof of the gods' existence and work. They venerate the Ventari Tablet as their most sacred artifact and testament. The Pale Tree is also much revered, though more as a wise parent than as a deity. If the sylvari need counseling, they often travel to the heart of the mighty tree and commune with her there. Government - The firstborn, the first of the sylvari to emerge from the Pale Tree, have the greatest experience in and wisdom of the world and are well respected among the sylvari. Four of them in particular (one of each cycle) have taken on positions of leadership, organization and teaching and provide something like governance and guidance for the sylvari people. History - Ronan, a human soldier, found the fist-sized seed of the pale tree in a cave. On returning to his home he discovered his home destroyed by mursaat. He planted the seed on the graves of his family and swore never to fight again. Ronan formed an unlikely friendship with the centaur Ventari and together they built a refuge near the growing tree for those who sought peace and shelter. As the pale tree grew, the war between the centaur and krytans became more brutal and fewer listened to Ventari and the small outpost grew smaller. Before he passed away in 1180 AE, Ventari carved his life lessons on a tablet which he placed at the base of the tree in the hope travellers might read it. Over one hundred years later, golden fruit formed for the first time on the pale tree. In 1302 AE, these opened to reveal the first of the sylvari. The tablet at the base of the tree and the Dream of Dreams guide the sylvari, who are imprinted by the morality and ethics of Ventari and the bravery of Ronan.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q4V-ZpRbTk They hail from the frozen north--the norn, a race of heroes. These massive, shape-shifting warriors prize individual valor and victory above all. They trust only the power of steel. The norn do not beg or grovel for the favor of the Gods, no. Instead, they revere the spirits of animals and draw strength from them. The norn can assume the form of their sacred totem beasts--bear, snow leopard, raven, and wolf--and call upon their power whenever they do battle, which is often… The norn are a race of valiant, shape-changing barbarians. Boisterous, strong-willed, and passionate, the norn are an independent people that swear fealty to no single being. They thrive in their mountain stronghold by the sharpness of their senses, the quickness of their wits, and the strength of their massive forearms. They are guided in this world by their Spirits of the Wild, who embody the virtues of the mightiest beasts. As a people, they are quick to anger, even quicker to smile, and treat each new day as a personal challenge. They drink and feast and hunt with equal gusto, and fear few things. They are steadfast allies and implacable foes. Driven south by the dragon Jormag, their culture in tatters, the norn now hunt among the abandoned dwarven forts of the Shiverpeaks and as far afield as Kryta. New norn homesteads and totem lodges are spread across the high peaks and in snowy valleys of the Shiverpeaks. The largest of the norn settlements is Hoelbrak, their central meeting place. Here they seek to preserve what is to be norn, which means heroic deeds, brawling, drinking and more drinking. They do not consider themselves vanquished by Jormag, however. They think of this as a temporary retreat. Capital City - Hoelbrak is the largest of the norn settlements that were built after the servants of Jormag drove the norn from their homeland. Originally a hunting lodge built by Asgeir when he led his people south, placing the fang he took from Jormag in its very center. These days, young norn test their strength against the tooth, and it is said that the one to break it will signal the time for the norn to reclaim their lands. A vast sprawling encampment has grown around the hunting lodge, and Hoelbrak now serves as a central meeting place for the norn. This outpost is dominated by five gigantic structures: the Great Lodge, holding the fang of Jormag, and four lodges dedicated to the Spirits of the Wild: Wolf, Bear, Raven, and Snow Leopard. Here the norn seek wisdom and commune with the spirits. The settlement is currently under the care of Knut Whitebear and the settlement that has been erected around the lodge now forms the hub of activity for the norn and those wishing to meet them. The settlement is the safest place around, and so it is from here that hunts are organised, friends meet, and ale moots are held. Religion - The Spirits of the Wild are the norn's spirit guides. Unlike the Six Human Gods, these Spirits of the Wild do not represent broad-minded concepts like “war” or “nature,” but instead embody all the complex virtues and vices of the animals they represent. Likewise, the Spirits are not worshiped in the traditional sense of the word, but rather revered. The Spirits of the Wild have always been around to guide the norn, and though they don't always offer their aid directly, they always aim to help - if they do nothing after being asked for help, then their help wasn't necessary. The spirits also keep the norn in check, teaching them not to despoil the land and effectively become a balance to the norn's direct, quick-tempered natures. The norn have the ability to transform into werebeasts, the favored forms of the Spirits. Government - The norn do not have a central government or nation. Most norn resist being followers and will not kneel before anyone. The closest thing to leadership comes from the respect gained from other norn by those who have performed significant, widely recognized heroic deeds. Those norn with exceptional strength and prowess in battle might establish a homestead, but they are not considered rulers of those living within it. Knut Whitebear is the master of Hoelbrak Lodge, charged with keeping Hoelbrak safe. His sons lead the Wolfborn which provides something of a peace keeping role in Hoelbrak. History - The origin of the norn race isn't known, but there are theories. The kodan believe the norn may be descended from a group of kodan hunters separated from the tribes during the great storm, becoming lesser creatures for giving up being bears. This contradicts the norn belief their ability to transform was granted to them by the Bear Spirit. It isn't clear which, if either, of these is true. The norn have always been a nomadic people focused on hunting and individual goals and pursuits. For a brief while the norn were united as a race in the years after they assisted with the downfall of the the Great Destroyer in Guild Wars, but it did not take them long to revert to a nomadic, individualistic lifestyle. This did not stop them from convincingly holding their lands in the far north Shiverpeaks against invading charr warbands. Their defence earned the respect of the charr and something of a cooperative peace emerged from their mutual respect for each other which has lasted for 200 years.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTO5xDzgJtA The thundering sound of their advancing war machines makes the lesser races tremble with fear. They are the charr, and conquest is their birthright. The charr race was forged in the merciless crucible of war. It is all they know; war defines them and their quest for dominion drives them onwards, always onwards. The weakling and the fool find no place among the charr. The feline charr of Tyria are a victorious race challenged by their own success. They have survived defeat, oppression, and civil war. They have returned, reconquered, and rebuilt their original homes. Their mighty fortress, the Black Citadel, dominates the surrounding ruins of the human city of Rin, and their non-magical technology is the mightiest in the land. Yet despite their success, they are challenged by divisions among their people, the power of the Elder Dragons, and the ghosts of their own victories. Capital City - Built upon the ruins of the human city of Rin, the Black Citadel is the headquarters of the charr legions in Ascalon. Commanded by Smodur the Unflinching, Imperator of the Iron Legion, the great city is dominated by the huge metal-shod sphere at its center. Siege devices and mechanical traps are constructed here before being deployed to battle. Near its center, there is a large arena. The business of the city is done under the watchful eyes of the Adamant Guard. Religion - Due to their history many charr shun religion. They do not accept any god's authority and quickly anger on topics of charr worship or manipulation by god-like beings. Charr acknowledge other races' gods as beings of power but do not see them as something worthy of worship. In the case of the Human Gods, the charr view the deities as beings to fight and strive to kill. Government - Charr society is built around the military chain of command which every charr is brought up to respect. The true head of the chain of command is the Khan-Ur, considered the primus imperator. He ranks above the imperators of all four High Legions and coordinates all the armies of the charr. There is currently no Khan-Ur because no charr holds the leadership artifact, the Claw of the Khan-Ur. The charr nation is therefore currently led by a kratocratic oligarchy, built around the four High Legions. Each legion has a primus warband which the legion is named after and is led by an imperator, a descendant of the original Khan-Ur. If an imperator can obtain the Claw and perform a great deed, that charr will become the next Khan-Ur. Charr society consists of four High Legions: three allied and one outcast. Each legion is then separated into different warbands. Although the charr live in relative peace with one another and their neighbors to the west, the norn, this does not mean that they do not have to defend their territories. Human resistance forces from the Blazeridge Mountains still strike out from their sole remaining fortress, and the ghosts of Ascalon City still zealously guard their home as if they might still have a chance against the might of the charr legions. In addition, the charr must contend with the twisted servants of Kralkatorrik, who were corrupted by the southward flight of the dragon. All of the four legions are fiercely independent from the others, maintaining their own lands and city-state strongholds. Three of the primary legions - Ash, Blood, and Iron - are allied and work together to maintain their lands and push for military conquest of lands outside those already held by charr. The fourth legion, Flame, is outcast and at civil war with the other legions. No legion allows the other three to rule over them, but the Iron legion is stated as taking a leading role within the lands of Ascalon. History - The first time the warbands of the charr united was under the rule of the first Khan-Ur long before the arrival of humans in order to put an end to internal conflicts. Some internal conflicts remained, but the unity of the Khan-Ur allowed the charr to expand their territory southward, into the area now known as Ascalon. But the end of one enemy brought the start of another: the humans. Due to humanity and the aid they received from the Six Gods, the charr were forced to give up the southern portion of their lands. This strife caused a complete unity in the charr; however the Khan-Ur was assassinated and in leaving no clear heir, the Khan-Ur’s four children split the race into four legions. Although several charr have since briefly held the title of Khan-Ur, there has been no leader who could unify the charr race for longer than a few weeks, as every charr that has attempted to claim the title of Khan-Ur has been overthrown or died in battle shortly after making their claim. Eventually, the charr began to feel that the reason the humans were able to best them was due to the their gods. In desperation, the charr sought for gods to call their own, and found them when the Burnt warband of the Flame Legion traveled to the Hrangmer volcano. There, in a pillar of fire, appeared the titans, beings of fire that the charr would call gods. Upon their return, the Flame Legion's Shamans began to worship the titans and were soon followed by the other High Legions' Shamans. Eventually, all the charr to agreed to unify under the banner of the Flame Legion - except for Bathea Havocbringer. She spoke out against the Titans, and became a sacrifice to the new gods; her actions also led to the removal of female charr from the battlefield, forced to do domestic duties. Once more united, the charr finally resumed the war against the humans in 1070 AE, in a war known to humans as the Charr Invasion. They struck without warning and with a devastating new power, granted to them by the titans. Using the Cauldron of Cataclysm, they brought forth the Searing, destroying the Great Northern Wall and invaded the three human kingdoms: Ascalon, Kryta, and Orr.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX15YEwMcRQ They may be short in stature, but this subterranean race of magical inventors are intellectual giants. These incredibly intelligent beings use their knowledge and skill with magic and crafting to assert their natural dominance. In the world of the asura, it is not the strong who survive, but the clever. Other races believe they should rule by virtue of their power and strength, but they delude themselves. All will serve the asura - in due time... The asura were previously a subterranean race and living below Tyria they regularly interacted with other underground races, dwarves and dredge. The appearance of the destroyers, the minions of Primordus, deep underground forced the asura to the surface. The majority found a home among magical ruins found on the Tarnished Coast, where they quickly learned how to harness these the magical energies to further their research. Over the years the asura have increased their network of waypoint gates across Tyria, but they jealously guard the technology and enforce gate use for peaceful activities only. Capital City - Rata Sum is the capital city of the asura and is in the form of a giant, floating cube. When the Great Destroyer drove them from their homes in the Depths of Tyria 250 years ago, they arrived at the ruins of some previous civilization, setting up geomystical generators for power within these already fortified confines and establishing the area as their new capital. The aesthetic sensibilities of these ruins are reflected in modern asuran architecture. Originally a hastily erected outpost protected by ruins, Rata Sum is now a geometrical masterpiece, a testament to the asura's unstoppable ability to progress. Religion - Asura believe in the Eternal Alchemy - the idea that all beings and magic in the world are a part or function of a greater purpose or "machine". Asura life is built around the research of the Eternal Alchemy - the asura join one of three massive colleges dedicated to this research. It is believed once complete mastery is gained over the Eternal Alchemy, mastery will be gained over all of Tyria. The Inquest is a meta-krewe which believes that the Eternal Alchemy could be controlled and manipulated like any other machine. Members of the Inquest thrive on controlling power and knowledge, and their experiments are less ethical and more dangerous than those performed by other asura. They have no qualms about experimentation on sentient beings. The Eternal Alchemy is the ideology of the asura. Those that believe in the Eternal Alchemy view that all beings, even the human gods, contribute to some greater purpose. There are many different aspects to the Eternal Alchemy, such as the aspect of chaos and strife which the Zaishen Order follows. It is stated that even magic is just a cog in the Eternal Alchemy. Government - Rather than organized government, the asura prefer to utilize krewes: small, efficient task forces led by the most experienced member, designed to allow any individual asura to reach their maximum potential in any particular task. The asura also have a group known as the Arcane Council who are responsible for the mundane parts of asura city life. The members of this council rotate - membership into this council is granted by performing a task which benefits the asura as a whole. The role is rarely desired as it means an individual asura cannot spend time advancing one's own research. History - Inventors and builders, the asura care little for history, choosing to use their intellect to look forward rather than to look back. While much is known of asura culture and attitudes, little is known about the race before their surfacing outside of their regular contact with other underground races such as the dwarves and the dredge. When they were driven out as Primordius' minions appeared from deep underground, the majority made a home among the magical ruins found on the Tarnished Coast where they quickly learned how to harness the magical energies to advance their research.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNuS3igfc4o The humans of Tyria are an embattled race. Over the past three hundred years, they have lost much of their territory. Old enemies and new races threaten traditional human lands on all sides. Yet the human race survives, defending their remaining lands and maintaining the human spirit as they have for centuries. Their greatest city, Divinity's Reach, shines as a beacon of hope for the people of Kryta and beyond – even those dwelling deep within charr territory. The human legends are indelibly imprinted on the souls of all the races of Tyria, be they friend or foe. The resiliency of the noble human race has been tested many times. They have paid a dear cost for their security and liberty, yet their spirit remains unshaken. From the invasion of Ascalon by the savage charr, to the cataclysmic rise of the lost kingdom of Orr from the depths of the sea, mankind has been battered and overwhelmed. They have lost homelands; their prayers go to silent skies. Now, the remaining sons and daughters of man have one last homeland--the nation of Kryta, ruled by Queen Jennah. Capital City - The fortress city Divinity's Reach, is the core of humanity's culture and its last, best hope. It is the only major human city left, and for this reason they will guard it to the death. Ruled by Queen Jennah, the Krytan government has had to adapt to accommodate refugees from all of the former human kingdoms. The only other known human settlement is Ebonhawke, where the remains of Ascalon stubbornly hold out against the charr hordes. The humans still revere their Gods, however they have been worryingly absent in human affairs at a time when humanity needs them more than ever. Perhaps they have taken a step back to allow the humans to develop on their own, or maybe they, like the race that worships them, are in decline. Religion - The Six Human Gods are a group of deities worshiped by the humans of Tyria, Cantha and Elona. The extent of their powers is not known, but it is known they are not omniscient, and by their own very nature as a pantheon each is not omnipotent. At an unknown time after the writing of the Tome of Rubicon, they arrived on Tyria and brought the humans with them (although humans believe that they created Tyria, and the charr also have legends of Melandru creating the world), but from where is not known. Their age is also unknown, but it is known that the current pantheon is not the first, and that it is not as old as the Elder Dragons. Government - The human race is governed by a hereditary monarch and a body of ministers which contains representatives of all the human races. The ministers design law and present their proposals to the queen, who authorizes or rejects their implementation into society. Initially, this system was designed as a temporary government for the refugee camps, but in the 150 years since the flood of Lion's Arch it has become a stable system and a cornerstone of Krytan culture. The government is supported by its armies. The largest group is the Seraph, the police force and defenders of the people throughout Kryta led by its captains, each assigned to different territory of Kryta. The Ministry Guard support and protect the interests of the Divinity's Reach ministers, and report directly to the Legate Minister. The Shining Blade are a small elite force who protect the queen, and are commanded by the Master Exemplar. This government isn't without its troubles. The nobility does not always agree with Queen Jennah's decisions. The Chamber of Ministers is filled with intrigues and plots often centered on Legate Minister Caudecus, who is seen by some as a rival to the queen. The different military groups are entangled in these power struggles in a complex web of which group has authority in what circumstances. History - At the end of Guild Wars humanity was still the dominant race in Tyria. Spanning three continents with an extensive trade network and significant population, humanity had spread to every corner of Tyria. From these heights humanity started to falter and for the past 250 years they have been in decline. The human's war with the charr continued in Ascalon. On the back-foot since the searing, the humans repeatedly lost ground against the charr. From 1070 AE to 1090 AE, King Adelbern was able to maintain a tenuous grasp on Ascalon, until the charr marched on Ascalon City and in his madness he unleashed the Foefire turning much of the human population of Ascalon to ghosts. After the Foefire Ascalon was completely controlled by the charr but for the human fortress of Ebonhawke which stands against the charr to this day. In 1219 AE, the great wave which accompanied the awakening Zhaitan smashed through the Krytan capital, the largest human settlement in Tyria at the time, and all of the coastal areas. Lion's Arch was completely destroyed and abandoned as the capital. When Lion's Arch was born again it was founded by pirates and it became a free city and was no longer under humanity's sole guidance. Kryta, united under Queen Salma, became the last stable, reasonable human nation and refugees fled to it from all of the troubled corners of the three continents. The new capital Divinity's Reach became the center of the human universe and their last hope to recover their feet even as it continues to struggle against centaurs and bandits. Many humans would die before letting anything harm Divinity's Reach and their queen. Somebody fucked around with this message at Oct 26, 2012 around 15:59 |
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  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C96PenzhCE The Elementalist channels natural forces of destruction, making fire, air, earth, and water do their bidding. What the Elementalist lacks in physical toughness, they make up for in the ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack, dropping foes from a distance before they can become a threat. Yet, despite incredible offensive potential, versatility is what makes the Elementalist truly formidable. Rather than swap weapons to adjust to new situations, the multi-faceted elementalist quickly adapts to new threats by attuning to different elements as needed. When the elementalist attunes to any of the four elements, they receive intrinsic bonuses that continually empowers them. FIRE attunement, the elementalist can inflict scorching damage on multiple enemies by turning the ground to fire or raining down molten rock from the skies. Why kill just one enemy when you can burn them all? Just by attuning to fire, the elementalist automatically causes flame damage to any foe foolish enough to touch them. AIR attunement, harnessing wind and lightning to target specific foes with focused, high-damage attacks. Dazzling bolts of lightning rip from the elementalist's fingertips, and brilliant flashes of light blind her enemies. When an elementalist attunes to air, nearby enemies are continuously pelted with lightning strikes. WATER attunement, forgoes the raw damage of air and fire, in favor of controlling an opponent's movement. By creating slippery ice or freezing foes solid, water attunement ensures that the battle is always fought on the elementalist's terms. Nearby allies receive continuous healing from an elementalist who is attuned to water. EARTH attunement, the elementalist relies on the powerful defense of the earth in the most dangerous situations. An earth elementalist uses the ground under their feet to defend them and their allies, turning flesh to stone, destabilizing foes with seismic shocks, and destroying threats with volcanic eruptions. Earth attunement automatically confers magical protection to the elementalist.  Exclusive Skills & Mechanics
Weapons & ArmorTwo-handed: Staff — Can cast different AoE spells with direct or lasting effects. Main-hand: Scepter — Casts various single and multiple target, medium range spells. Dagger — Emphasizes close range spells as well as self-defense. Off-hand: Focus — Provides powerful close range abilities suitable for cross profession combinations. Dagger — Provides supportive spells in form of energy shields, healing waves and defensive AoE effects. Aquatic: Trident — Long range magical weapon for manipulating attuned elements underwater. There are [5] possible weapon sets for elementalists. The elementalist has access to only one weapon set during combat, but can change weapons outside combat. The elementalist is a scholar profession and will thus use Light Armor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t12znpCJbY The Warrior is a master of weapons who relies on speed, strength, toughness, and heavy armor to survive in battle. A warrior can shrug off blow after blow to stay in the fight, all the while building up adrenaline to fuel his offense. Adrenaline makes the warrior more powerful, increasing his damage output with every attack while powering up his burst skill. Each weapon set has a single designated burst skill which a warrior can trigger by spending all his built-up adrenaline to unleash a powerful attack. The warrior can use his burst skill at any time, but the more adrenaline stages he has filled, the more devastating his attack will be. Some burst skills apply more and varying conditions while others simply do more damage. Each weapon has one burst skill that improves at three different stages of adrenaline. This improvement can be anything from doing more damage, adding additional conditions, increasing condition duration, or increasing skill duration. The burst skill does not take a skill slot and is automatically chosen according to the two-handed weapon equiped or, in case of dual-wielding, the weapon equipped in the main hand. Each weapon serves a different role, allowing the warrior to customize his play style. Warriors can compliment main hand weapons like swords and maces with a shield, warhorn or dual wielded weapon, but their role is still mostly defined by the main or two-handed weapon.  Exclusive Skills & Mechanics
Weapons & ArmorTwo-handed: Hammer — Pounds the ground with area-of-effect attacks that can stagger groups of enemies. Greatsword — Sweeping area-of-effect attacks while being able to move quickly between groups of enemies. Longbow — Massive fire AoE damage used to keep hordes of enemies at bay. Rifle — Inflict various conditions and unleash powerful attacks against a single target. Main-hand: Axe — Can quickly build up adrenaline and can deliver powerful high damage attacks. Sword — Quick and mobile, with many opportunities to cause bleeding. Mace — Has powerful stunning attacks, leaving enemies susceptible to further blows. Off-hand: Shield — Used to bash foes or block incoming attacks. Warhorn — Grants boons to allies. Axe — Can be used to strike with both weapons simultaneously or charge with a whirling attack. Sword — Used as a crippling attack or to block and retalitate. Mace — The warrior can perform a stunning attack against a single target or harm all foes in front of him by slamming the mace on the ground. Aquatic: Harpoon gun — Long range mechanical weapon. Spear — Close quarters melee weapon. There are [19] different combinations of weapons that a warrior can wield. The warrior is a soldier profession and thus wears Heavy Armor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-vkG4ySIAI The ranger is a jack-of-all-trades and a master of them all as well, relying on their keen eye, steady hand, or the power of nature itself. A master of ranged combat, the ranger is capable of striking unwitting foes from a distance with their bow. A ranger is accompanied by their pet, a loyal animal companion. Rangers charm pets and then bond with them. Pets' base health, armor, and damage are based on the level of the player that owns them. Pets are charmed by interacting with juvenile versions of the species you want to charm. There are a variety of Tyrian species that can be charmed, including bears, moas, devourers, and sharks. As you adventure with a pet, it evolves to become more unique and eventually allows you to give it abilities that compliment your tactics. Rather than manage a unique resource in combat, a ranger will manage his pet, assigning them a behavior from aggressive to passive. A ranger can also manage his pet by giving commands such as "attack," "heel," and "stay."  Exclusive Skills & Mechanics
Weapons & ArmorTwo-handed: Greatsword — A brute force, heavy-damage weapon with emphasis on countering and evasion. Longbow — Powerful sniping weapon, used for rapid fire strikes or barrages at long distance. Shortbow — Quick skirmishing weapon relying on movement, positioning and conditions for quick kills. Main-hand: Sword — Mobile melee strikes which can be used to distance the ranger from the target or surprise them from behind. Axe — Medium ranged throwing weapon which can ricochet off a target or can toss a cluster of axes. Off-hand: Axe — Enter a stance to reflect incoming strikes or throw the axe for a boomerang effect. Dagger — Used as a crippling ranged attack, or a quick poisonous stab for melee. Torch — Throw the torch at enemies for burning damage, or can light areas on fire. Warhorn — Call in temporary animals to attack or used to buff allies. Aquatic: Harpoon gun — Use ranged attacks to strike multiple foes and makes use of the underwater environment. Spear — Keep foes at bay with close range spear stabs and swipes. A ranger has [11] possible weapon combinations. The ranger is an adventurer profession and they will use Medium Armor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH7k-6ZdQWA A necromancer is a practitioner of the dark arts who summons the dead, wields the power of lost souls, and literally sucks the lifeblood of the enemy. A necromancer feeds on life force, which he can use to cheat death or bring allies back from the brink. A necromancer feeds on death and decay. Life force is the energy that a necromancer uses to extend his own life. Using specific skills, a necromancer builds up life force by attacking and killing enemies. They have very high health and the ability to extend that health through the use of the Death Shroud plus the ability to heal themselves through life-stealing skills, leading to a profession that is very hard to put down. For support, the necromancer is great at inflicting debilitating conditions on enemies as well as removing conditions from allies.  Exclusive Skills & Mechanics
Corruption is a necromancer skill type that specializes on applying conditions either on a single target or in an area. Corruptions give the caster a condition when cast. [*]Spectral Spectral is a type of skills exclusive to necromancers, involving using an otherworldly spectral energy.[/list] Weapons & ArmorTwo-handed: Staff — Long range spellcasting weapon which emphasizes AoE support via use of conditions. Main-hand: Scepter — Provides a good mix of long range offensive spells. Axe — Use powerful attacks to tear enemies at medium range. Dagger — Steal an enemy's health or life force at close range. Off-hand: Focus — Make the enemy vulnerable and freeze, or remove your own conditions. Warhorn — Summon a swarm of locusts or daze enemies with the wail of the horn. Dagger — Provides support, either by weakening foes or damaging them while healing allies. Aquatic: Spear — Reap enemies with close range attacks or terrorize them by summoning vampiric shrimp. Trident — Thwart the enemy with offensive support and sink them into the abyss. The necromancer has a total of [10] possible weapon sets. The necromancer is a scholar profession and thus uses Light Armor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb8a2nqrzMc The guardian is a devoted fighter who calls upon powerful virtues to smite enemies and protect allies. As dangerous with a staff as he is with a mighty two-handed hammer, a true guardian is a master tactician who knows when to sacrifice his own defenses to empower his allies to achieve victory. Each guardian is supported by passive benefits, but he can relinquish those benefits, passing his powers on to his allies. This ability makes the guardian an excellent supportive fighter whether they are leading an assault or defending your party's flanks. Guardians have developed three virtues that empower them in combat. By wielding Justice, the guardian's attacks can burn his enemies. With Courage, the guardian can shrug off even a mighty blow. Through Resolve, the guardian passively regenerates health, allowing him to wade into the most dangerous situation and come out alive.  Exclusive Skills & Mechanics
Weapons & ArmorTwo-handed: Hammer — Provides powerful close range AoE attacks and abilities. Greatsword — Imbue allies with swiftness and control foes with leaping attacks and blinds. Staff — Controls enemies with wards and AoE damage and supports allies with defensive spells. Main-hand: Mace — Gives access to a chain of mace attacks, as well as support abilities. Scepter — Offensive spellcasting weapon to bind and smite single enemy. Sword — A melee weapon with a good balance of offense and defense. Off-hand: Focus — Provides supportive spells for both offense and defense. Shield — A protective off-hand shield for local area of effect shielding. Torch — Scorches enemies while cleansing allies of conditions. Aquatic: Spear — Used for rapid, close range damage. Trident — Magical, long range support. There are [12] combinations of weapon sets available for this profession. The guardian is a soldier profession and thus wears Heavy Armor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezK-WzoNSrc A master of stealth and surprise, the thief is deadly in single combat—particularly when catching enemies off guard. Thieves compensate for their relatively low armor and health by being quick and evasive. They can move through the shadows, vanish into thin air, or steal items from their opponents and use them as weapons. Enemies should watch their backs, or the thief will watch it for them. While other professions rely on recharge rate for their weapon skills in combat, thieves rely on Initiative. Thieves have ten points of Initiative to use, and they gain back one point every second. Weapon skills cost Initiative points, but they have no recharge time, so thieves can use them back-to-back. This allows the thief to keep their options open at all times or unleash a rapid flurry of powerful attacks. Thieves make use of a special skill called Steal, which generates a useful environmental weapon in the thieves' hands based on the monster or player that they stole from. For example, when stealing from a moa bird, a thief might get a handful of feathers that they can throw to blind enemies around them. When using a main hand and off-hand weapon combination, the thief differs from other professions. Their first two skills come from the main hand weapon, while the last two skills come from the off-hand weapon. The final skill, called their Dual Skill, is determined by both weapons. For example, a thief with two daggers will have Leaping Death Blossom as their Dual Skill, but a thief with a dagger and a pistol will have Shadow Shot as their Dual Skill.  Exclusive Skills & Mechanics
Weapons & ArmorTwo-handed: Shortbow — Ranged mobile weapon with AoE attacks and shadow step ability. Main-hand: Sword — Flanking sword attacks provide extra evasiveness and controls enemy movement. Dagger — Jump on a foe, attack quickly and inflict many conditions on them. Pistol — Ranged shots from pistol leave enemies vulnerable to following attacks. Off-hand: Dagger — Gives access to close range skills which allow quick escape by crippling the enemy or vanishing from sight. Pistol — Ranged weapon used to quickly retreat or to daze the target by a shot to the head or from a pistol whip. Aquatic: Harpoon gun — Bombard enemy with ranged attacks or pull them in, stab them and shadow step away. Spear — Rapid melee attacks spiced up with the usual thief tricks. The thief has [7] available weapon combinations and can have two weapon sets. The thief is an adventurer profession and thus wears Medium Armor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP-bMPn8pto Masters of mechanical mayhem, engineers tinker with explosives, gadgets, elixirs, and all manner of deployable devices. They can take control of an area by placing turrets, support their allies with alchemic weaponry, or lay waste to foes with a wide array of mines, bombs, and grenades. Like elementalists, engineers use a single weapon set at a time, but they complement this weapon set by equipping special utility and healing kits. These kits provide the engineer with special weapons and backpacks loaded with a full set of skills to replace their current weapon skills.  Exclusive Skills & Mechanics
Weapons & ArmorTwo-handed: Rifle — Blast foes out of the way while keeping the wielder at a safe distance. Main-hand: Pistol — Poison or blind enemies with variety of ranged shots. Off-hand: Pistol — Spread sticky glue on the ground or fire a jet of flames from your pistol. Shield — Provides protection from ranged attacks and capable of absorbing enemy spells. Aquatic: Harpoon gun — Ranged weapon suitable for controlling foes. There are [3] possible weapon sets for the engineer. Because the engineer is able to switch skills using backpack and weapon kits, they are restricted to one weapon set in combat. The engineer is an adventurer profession and thus wears Medium Armor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ylkt1UV_TU Mesmers are magical duelists who rely on deception and confusion to keep their opponents in check. Indecision is their greatest ally. Using powerful illusions to distract, they make sure they never go toe to toe with an enemy; they use their powers and tactics to set up an unfair fight. Just when you think you've figured out what the mesmer is doing, illusions begin to shatter, clones start to fade away, and you realize you've been swinging at empty air all along. It's hard to keep your eye on the real mesmer. The mesmer doesn't have the brute power of the warrior, or the ranged devastation of the ranger. Instead, the mesmer weaves a web of interlaced illusions, conditions, and phantasmal sources of damage. Through skillful play, mesmers combine these pieces into a deadly puzzle to be solved by their foes, while also helping their allies. Mesmers are maestros of mirage. They weave mental magic that confounds, controls, or evokes emotion in their enemies. With a wave of the hand, they can shatter their own illusions to produce even greater special effects.  Exclusive Skills & Mechanics
Weapons & ArmorTwo-Handed: Greatsword — Used as a ranged weapon. Staff — Focuses on giving conditions to foes and boons to allies. Main Hand: Scepter — Causes blind or confusion at range. Sword — Focuses on melee-range attacks and character movement. Off Hand: Focus — Offers offensive and defensive illusions. Pistol — Offers thief-like dps and multi-target conditions. Sword — Offers a defensive clone created by blocking and an offensive swordsman phantasm. Torch — Gives user short invisiblity or confuses target. Aquatic: Spear — Focuses on damage and manipulation of position. Trident — damages and applies various conditions and boons. There are [10] possible weapon sets for this profession. The mesmer is a spell casting scholar profession that uses Light Armor. Monomythian fucked around with this message at May 7, 2012 around 00:11 |
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 • Dynamic Content – http://www.arena.net/blog/colin-joh...event-questions There are no Quest givers in Guild Wars 2. NPC's will simply point you in the direction of unfolding events instead of giving you very specific instructions through walls of text. Even then, it's entirely unnecessary to interact to these NPC's as events are automatically pinged when you are within a certain distance of them. Although there will be limitations, the foremost requirement to participating in an event is simple to be in the right place at the right time. Events are intended to prevent spawn camping and kill stealing of major objectives prevalent in other MMORPG by allowing any interested players to cooperate towards an objective without needing to form a party and each who "contributed significantly to the combat" will be rewarded for their participation and receive 100% of any experience gained. In order to prevent griefing, ArenaNet has developed an array of methods to stop potential griefers from ruining the fun for players who actively participate in an event: Events never encourage player conflict, and never have fail conditions that can be triggered by players. The conditions that may seem to fail an event actually just trigger another series of events. Higher-leveled players will be de-buffed in areas that are intended for lower leveled players. Dynamic Events happen in real time with or without your participation while affecting the game world. An Event with Bandits ransacking a village, unless stopped, will ultimately end up with them establishing a new base of operations there, causing an Event in which the player must take back the village from the Bandits. Continuing this process, if the Bandits are left unabated, they will send out new raiding parties from the village that will cause new Events, so on and so forth. However these are not simply chains following a lateral sequence either, but can splinter off into multiple, and differing Events depending on yet unknown factors. Speculation assumes that splintering events can be triggered depending on how quick an event is completed, special items used, protecting a specific NPC, etc, but really, the potential and possibilities are to numerous to list. Certain events will only occur when specific conditions are met, like a snow storm rolls into the map, or night falls over the graveyard. Although the cyclical nature of the system means that consequences are ultimately temporary, event results can persist for days, weeks, or even months. A player cannot know exactly what state the world is in and what one might see wandering around, even if they have quested in same zone multiple times. This means that experiencing every possible Event with all professions can never really happen. The world continually changes making it so you can never truly ‘accomplish everything’. It's almost like rewarding you for exploring the map, because according to ArenaNet, there are going to be 1500-1600 events going on in the persistent, "living" world for players to engage in. This map shows an example of a cascading chain of Dynamic Events across a small portion of an area.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CyqGJHTjes • Active Combat – http://www.arena.net/blog/jon-peters-talks-combat Guild Wars 2 combat is visceral, weighty, and visual. ArenaNet has taken great lengths to steer your eyes away from the wing dings of the user interface and into the action. Movement, timing, and synergy between players will replace the staples of MMO combat such as skill rotations. Damage in the game is avoidable, everything from melee to magic, by players, and enemies alike. This makes gameplay much more akin to an action adventure then a role playing game. ArenaNet wants you to be able to identify the skills being used at a glance and also have a good idea of what that skill is doing. Even a simple skill like fireball explodes in such a way that you can clearly see the area that they will affect. Beyond your typical fireballs and lightning bolts, you'll see skills that create giant crushing stone hands, turn their users into massive tornadoes, and summon flocks of vicious birds of prey. So much emphasis is placed on dynamic movment in GW2 that there is additional mechanic to add more depth to it, the Energy/Stamina bar, which regenerates over time and is primarily used for Dodging. A player can dodge in any direction by rapidly tapping the corresponding movement key, or by pressing a movement key and the dodge key simultaneously. If you are not moving, you will dodge backwards. There are also skills that when "held down" will actively block incoming projectiles from their intended target. So this will allow you to "take a hit" for other players if the situation arises. Dodging now also evades attacks, making it a more effective and understandable way to avoid big creature attacks or to get out of AoE spells.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GofhQB4yQ3I • Underwater Combat – http://www.arena.net/blog/jonathan-...derwater-combat Guild Wars 2 has a huge amount of it's content under water, entire cities and civilizations. You may potentially be underwater for extended periods of time, fortunately there is no breath bar, each player is automatically provided a breathing apparatus for use underwater, without limit. Under water combat should not simply be seen as a secondary experience compared to the land zones, it will be a slightly different but equally grand experience. In order for the player to feel that underwater combat is fun and rewarding instead of a hindrance the players wield a harpoon gun, spear, or trident, resulting in an entirely different set of skills and combat styles. These skills take into account the Z-Axis as well as the usual X & Y. Spells and abilities now have wider arcs or more area of effects to account for the additional dimensions of movement.In addition to a wide variety of dynamic events, most dungeons have underwater content, and your personal story will also occasionally take you under the sea.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my9T1SjmOW8 • The Holy Trinity – http://www.arena.net/blog/jon-peter...death-questions There are no defined class roles of Tank, Healer, or Striker, therefore no Holy Trinity. Combat is built around concepts of mobility, tactics, and control, every player will have the responsibility of doing a little bit of everything. While it's true that some profession have the potential to take harder hits, deal more damage, or buff to a greater degree, relying on a single player or class to do these things to the extent you feel you don't have to will almost certainly be suicide. There are no skill rotations, macros, or custom mods, therefore you cannot meta build a good character by research alone. You are going to be keeping yourself alive by paying attention, you’re going to be tanking, you’re going to be doing damage, you’re going to be healing, you’re going to be buffing, you’re going to be debuffing, you’re doing to be resurrecting allies. Situational awareness is everything. A lot of work went into this from animation systems to animations themselves allowing skills while moving. It takes a lot of pressure off of the skill system and puts in back into movement, tactical play, and ground control. Couple that with double tap dodge rolling the combat system that is more like a first person shooter where finding real cover, flanking and other more realistic fighting techniques find a lot more use. This again de-emphasizes the importance of roles, professions act as play styles, not as roles. Each profession can support, control, and do damage. This creates more dynamic combat and more distinct professions because there are more play styles than roles.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ki8FPxRpp4 • World & Map Size - Tyria is a continent in the world of the same name. The geography of the continent ranges from the dense jungles of the Maguuma, to high mountains of the Shiverpeak Mountains, to forests of the Blood Legion Homelands and Ascalon, to the sandy Crystal Desert. Beneath the land stretches the interconnected caverns of the Depths of Tyria which holds ancient structures of unknown origins that date back to a time before humanity. Over ten thousand years ago, the Giganticus Lupicus once roamed the land. Before all recorded history, the Elder Dragons roamed - whether before or during the time of the Giganticus Lupicus is still unknown. And over a thousand years ago, before the exodus, the human gods lived in the continent of Tyria. Throughout the ages, the continent has changed - from seas turning to deserts, to sinking kingdoms and scorching lands, to flooding cities, and to deserts turning green by diverted rivers - and may continue to change. Elevation - As events start all around you, you’ll come across times where you might be at a different elevation level than said event. So you’ll get a little arrow indicator next to the event details in the tracker that shows if you’re above or below the event. Click for full size!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsOwim1uCp8 • Level & Scaling – http://www.arena.net/blog/progressi...in-guild-wars-2 There are 80 levels total, but that's just a number. Anyone can increase the length of an experience bar and call it content. Guild Wars 2 is filled with an almost endless stream of things to do as the driving force behind your progression, not the size of your experience bar. Even at Level 1 you play for fun, not out of some dogged determination to slowly, slowly advance before the fun starts. And because the world is ever-changing and dynamic, two characters journeying through the game will have two different experiences, which means the game will remain fresh for all you out there who enjoy making a million characters. Even for those who do still feel they have to ding that final ding before they are satisfied will be happy to hear there’s no exponential leveling curve in GW2, it’s linear and plateaus quickly. Each additional level takes no longer to reach than the level before it. Going even further into the concepts of the player not being defined by their level, higher level players are scaled down to lower levels depending on the content they take part in. Friends, family, and guildmates will be able to play the same content together regardless of their personal progression. How dynamic content scaling fits into this is say 4 players are engaged in an assault on the Flame Legion base. They're fighting off waves of 5-6 enemies at a time. Other players passing by see the burning smoke plumes from the assault, and decide to help. Cut to a dozen players joining the original 4 over an extended period and they are now fighting off waves of 20-25 enemies. The game will scale to hugely epic battles the more players decide to help out one another. Everyone who actively participates in the event will receive a reward for the event. There are three levels of participation which scale the rewards given: bronze, silver and gold. Rewards include Experience, Gold and Karma. These rewards will be given even if the player(s) did not complete the win objective of an event. The players will just receive a prize less rewarding than it would be for the successful completion of an event. For example, if the players fail to stop centaurs from pillaging an outpost, they still will get the reward, so they do not feel they just wasted their time.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=negeLd6w3KE • Endgame & Longevity - Guild Wars 2 is built with an anti-grind philosophy from the very beginning, having no "endgame" or being "entirely endgame"; effectively the same thing. The intention is to eliminate many of the issues present within existing MMOs. Notably, Guild Wars 2 does not feature raids, which follow an infinite loop: Gear increases your avatar power which allows you to defeat more powerful enemies, which drop gear which increases your avatar power, which allows you to defeat more powerful enemies… and so on. This infinite loop does not exist in Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet concluded that the increase in avatar power do not significantly impact your experience as newly added encounters are designed to be a match for you, regardless of how large the numbers on your character sheet may be. In fact, if avatar power is kept constant, developers can finely-tune levels of difficulty faster and more accurately, leaving more time available on making the content unique and fun. In Guild Wars 2, new content expands rather than extends the game. Thanks to the side-kicking system, content never becomes obsolete; when you reach the level cap your options are not limited to content specifically made for the endgame, you can still play any of the dynamic events or attempt any of the dungeons you may have initially missed. Furthermore, dynamic events provide constant variation across the entire game world. A zone might be completely different the next time you visit it due to different events being active, events being at different stages, or events having a different number of players participating in them. While your character/avatar may not endlessly increase in power, that isn't to say that the content offers no in-game rewards once you reach the level cap. There are rewards which expand your abilities, traits, skills, or attributes. All of these things combined provide a significant amount of depth in terms of character builds which is great news for those who enjoy theorycrafting and experimentation. There are also rewards which provide ways of customising the appearance of your character. Armour sets, and rare dyes can be used to change the aesthetics of your character in unique and creative ways. It's not unreasonable to assume that Guild Wars 2 will also feature other kinds of collectibles and treasure to give people more of a reason to explore the world and/or trade with other players. There are rewards which provide a sense of achievement through explicitly tracking your progress and recording your character's history. Achievements, titles and statistics are now a common feature of MMOs, and these are all present in Guild Wars 2. Whereas other MMOs use the "treadmill/loop/carrot" raid model, which requires repetition of content and continuously increases your avatar's power, thus rendering content obsolete as you out-level or out-gear it, Guild Wars 2 takes a completely different approach. When you reach the level cap, you turn right around and go back the way you came, because there are still plenty of challenges, places to explore, hidden rewards, discoveries, and adventures to be had, in the world itself. The game does not revolve around endlessly increasing numbers in a single narrow tier of instanced content as its primary mode of "progression". In Guild Wars 2, You Actually Get to Eat the Carrot. From Level 1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1JfSbKjHHI • Weapon Skills – The traditional 8-slot skill bar has been replaced with a new 10-slot bar. However, the mechanics of this change aren't simply limited to adding extra skills. Instead, it offers a new dynamic as to how your weapon choice and profession selection plays into the abilities you have at your disposal. As such, the secondary classes mechanic from the first game has been omitted, as your selection of weapons and character race in Guild Wars 2 now determines your primary and secondary skill sets. How this 10-slot skill bar works is simple; the first five slots are automatically filled with specific skills based on the weapon you choose to wield as well as the race of your character. A weapon’s skills are now learned by fighting with that weapon. Because weapon skills are tied to weapon use, there is no reason to visit a trainer and make choices about which ones to unlock. Instead, it makes more sense to learn how to use the weapon by, you know, actually using it. Once you learn all 5 skills for say a sword, all future swords you obtain will have the skills unlocked. So you just have to unlock all of the skills for each weapon type and you're done. For example, a warrior wielding a mace and shield would get access to strong but slow damage skills like Obliterate, as well as powerful defensive skills such as Block and Shield Bash. A warrior wielding a greatsword would have access to a lot of movement-oriented skills like Rush, and area-of-effect skills like 100 Blades. In each case, the warrior's first five skills are determined by what he's holding in his hands. Weapon skills also take profession into account, so a warrior wielding a sword will have different skills than a different sword-wielding profession. To provide additional variety to the mix, most professions can have two different weapon sets equipped and can very quickly and easily swap between the sets. For example, a warrior might keep a longbow or rifle for engaging foes at a distance, and then switch to a hammer when that enemy gets close. In PvE and world PvP weapon skills are initially locked. Pet skills and skills given by environmental weapons do not need to be unlocked and are always available to PvE and world PvP players. In structured PvP all skills are available for play without needing to be unlocked first.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHvNRTSslnE • Slot Skills – The second set of five slots are all chosen by the player from a pool of skills determined by both profession and race. One of these slots is dedicated to healing skills that replenish the health of the character and his allies, while another slot is dedicated to elite skills that trigger visually spectacular and powerful effects. For example, a human Elementalist can choose to bring Aura of Restoration, which is a buff that heals him every time he uses a skill, or he can choose to bring Glyph of Healing, which is a more straightforward heal. A warrior might take the Frenzy skill, which will fill his adrenaline gauge instantly; the shout skill Fear Me! which inflicts the weakness condition on surrounding foes; or the Banner of Courage skill, which inspires his allies and increases their melee damage. Skill acquisition for your healing/utility/elite skills will work differently than your weapon skills. You gain one skill point each time you level, which can be spent on healing, utility, or elite skill unlocks. Each skill costs a set amount of points that range between 1-7 points for healing and utility skills, or between 15-25 points for elites. With these skill points you can unlock any skill you wish as long as you have enough skill points. Normal leveling will allow you to unlock a good chunk of skills or traits, but to unlock all available points you’ll want to go out and complete various challenges that are marked on your map. There will be 200 skill challenges in the game. ArenaNet has described challenges as ranging anywhere from defeating difficult enemies, to solving riddles, to ingesting potent drinks. The skill's effect can also be modified by the application of traits. If necessary, skills will have different effects in PvE and PvP versions or disallowed from PvP play to maintain balance. It is possible to auto-use skills by right-clicking on their icon.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYXpLDcfkdY • Skill Combinations – http://www.arena.net/blog/guild-war...e-by-jon-peters You'll be able to create additional effects by stacking certain skills on top of each other at the same time with the assistance of other professions, people playing the same profession as you, and even by yourself. The Initiator is the one that creates a Field by using an area of effect with at least one specific and lasting effect. A Field can be elemental effects—such as fire, ice, and lightning—to other effects like poison, light, dark, and smoke. This then allows the Finisher to use their skill known as a Trigger. The Trigger interacts with the characteristics of the Field, creating a more much more powerful and dynamic output. Finishers can only interact with one Initiator at a time, and do not stack. Finishers are actions of some kind, including firing projectiles, leaping, and blasting an area. Every Finisher can only be modified once, to avoid confusion and stacking. Some examples of combos that can be created are: Use Ricochet through a Firewall to get a bouncing axe that has a chance to burn the targets it hits. Leaping Death Blossom through a Symbol of Faith will remove conditions from allies near your target. Stomp inside a Smoke Screen to cloak nearby allies. This is just a small sampling of what you can do with combos. There's even a UI element for creating combos that helps you take advantage of them as well as let your allies know they can set one up. When two players create a combo there's a floating notification shown to both players and tells you which skills are involved. Skills also display their field type or finisher type in their description, to help players experiment. Almost every weapon has some sort of initiator or finisher which leaves two players ample opportunities to find and capitalize on combos, regardless of profession or other skill choices.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE_pYRXJ92w • Boons & Conditions - Boons are a set of effects that are the positive counterpart to conditions. The duration of boons can be stacked, but their effectiveness does not stack. For example, if a 10 second regeneration buff was placed on an ally with 5 seconds of regeneration still remaining, that ally would not gain extra regeneration but the buff would have 15 seconds remaining. Some examples of Boons are:  Aegis Block the next attack. Exclusive to guardians.  Fury 20% Critical Chance increase. Stacks in duration.  Might X damage per attack increase. Stacks intensity.  Protection 33% damage reduction. Stacks in duration.  Regeneration Regenerates X health per second. Stacks in duration.  Swiftness33% movement speed increase. Stacks in duration.  Vigor Faster endurance regeneration. Stacks in duration  RetaliationDoes X damage to an opponent each time they hit you. Stacks in duration. A condition is a negative effect that can be inflicted against enemies. Currently, only through the use of skills and affecting traits can players utilise conditions. Certain conditions can stack, commonly providing a longer lasting condition than normal or an increase in damage dealt over time. When a condition is removed using a skill, the entire stack of that condition is removed. Examples of conditions are:  Bleeding Inflicts X damage per second. Stacks in intensity.  Blind Causes the target's next hit to miss instead.  Burning Inflicts X damage per second. Stacks in duration.  Chilled 66% movement-speed reduction & 66% slower skill recharge while active. Stacks in duration.  Confusion Inflicts X damage each time a foe uses skill. Stacks in intensity.  Crippled Target moves 50% slower. Stacks in duration.  Fear Causes the target to run directly away from the caster.  Immobilized Immobilizes and prevents dodge. Stacks in duration.  Poison Inflicts X damage per second. Reduces outgoing heals by 33%. Stacks in duration.  Vulnerability X armor reduction. Stacks in intensity.  Weakness 50% of attacks are glancing and endurance regeneration is reduced by 50%. Stack in duration.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afcZ20bbfkY • Attribute & Traits – http://www.arena.net/blog/play-your...-and-attributes Starting from level 11, and then each time a character gains a level, they are granted a number of trait points that can be manually distributed. Every profession has five trait lines, and every line has 30 maximum possible points that a player could allocate to it. Each time you place a point into a line, it improves two of your character’s attributes. The pair of attributes that get improved varies based on profession. There are four primary attributes. Two improve offensive aspects of the character, two improve defensive aspects. All attributes deal with both magical and physical characteristics. Power — every point increases attack by one point. Precision — increases critical hit chance. Toughness — every point increases armor by one point. Vitality — every point increases maximum health by ten points. There are five general attributes which are used by all of the professions. These attributes do not automatically receive points at each level and the player must choose to improve these. There are three offensive and two defensive attributes. Compassion — Improves all outgoing heals that your character does, including self heals. Concentration — Improves the duration of all boons applied by the character. Expertise — Improves the duration of all conditions inflicted by the character. Malice — Improves the damage done by conditions like burning, poison, confusion, and bleeding. Prowess — Improves the damage multiplier on critical strikes. Each profession has an attribute which only it can use. These attributes are not enhanced automatically and the player much choose to improve them. Brawn (warrior) — Improves the damage of warrior burst skills. Willpower (guardian) — Decreases the recharge on all virtues. Cunning (thief) — Decreases the recharge of the Steal ability. Empathy (ranger) — Improves pet attributes. Ingenuity (engineer) — Reduces the recharge on all tool-belt skills. Guile (mesmer) — Reduces the recharge on all Shatter skills. Intelligence (elementalist) — Reduces the recharge of the four elemental attunements. Hunger (necromancer) — Increases the size of the necromancer’s life-force pool. For every 10 points spent in that line you will unlock a Major trait that allow you to customize exactly what benefits you want from that specific line. While you’re free to spend points in all 5 lines if you choose, the attribute lines tend to pair best with either a particular weapon set or playstyle better than others. A trait can be equipped by a player to provide passive ongoing effects or used to boost a character's attributes, reduce the effects of conditions, improve the effects of skills and more. A trait may be disallowed from PvP play for balance reasons.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbeHhJUBo2o • Downed State & Death Penalty – Guild Wars 2 has changed the handling of character revival/resurrection in a significant way. Gone are one-time use resurrection signets and hard revival skills such as a flesh of my flesh or rebirth. Instead, every character can inherently revive a character. No skill required. Another significant change is that your character doesn't automatically "die" per say. When your health reaches zero, you enter what is called a 'Downed State'. In this state, your character is unable to move but has access to four downed skills for a chance to kill an enemy and rally so you can keep fighting. These downed skills are less powerful than other skills and include a skill to call out for assistance and slowly rally yourself. While downed, a character's health bar is replaced by a consciousness meter which indicates the time remaining in the downed state. A player downed several times in a short space of time will take increasing longer periods of time to rally again. If the player is not rallied or revived before this meter runs out, or if they continue to be attacked, they will enter a Defeated State. A defeated character is no longer able to participate in a battle in any way. In this mode they must either wait for an ally to revive them or resurrect at a waypoint for a small amount of gold, equivalent to the price for using waypoints when alive. Such fee is in place in order to avoid allowing characters to use death as a way of teleporting for free and is waived if the player has no money either in inventory or storage. There are two penalties for being downed or defeated. Each time you are downed, you will accumulate 1 point of penalty. Each point accumulated will decrease your consciousness bar (the downed state health bar) by 25%. If you die 4 times within 1 minutes time, you will be unable to rally and will die. This penalty disappears after a few minutes of not entering the downed state. Each time you are defeated, one of six possible pieces of your armor will become damaged, after six deaths one of those pieces of armor will break. What this means is the item will no longer function or give you any of the statistical benefits until you repair it. With this system in place, it means that you don’t ever have to pay any durability fees if you never die so it encourages smart play rather than something that is inevitable like other MMOs. When a piece of armor first breaks, you’ll be notified through a little UI element that you can hover over to check our armor status. When it breaks you’ll see a broken red shield that tells you that you should probably repair your armor. In PvP a powerful melee only finishing move which takes a few seconds to activate sends a downed player straight to defeated.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP66ieQvznc • Character Creation - http://www.arena.net/blog/lead-writ...-house-of-style The Guild Wars 2 character creation system uses Aion's technology as its basis. The available customization is more than in Guild Wars, but not as much as in Aion. This is so that a specific artistic aesthetic is maintained. Although the details are currently unknown, customization will be a hybrid combination of choosing from preset options, as in Guild Wars, and tweaking each detail. Some details will be able to be adjusted by sliders, such as the width of the nose. Body Options Height, Physique, Head Options Hair Hair Style, Hair Color Face Options Face Type, Skin Color, Eye Color, Eye Angle, Eye Size, Eye Openness, Eyebrow Thickness, Eyebrow Placement, Eyebrow Angle, Nose Length, Nose Width at Base, Nose Width at Bridge, Nose Height at Base, Nose Height at Bridge, Upper Lip, Lower Lip, Mouth Width, Chin Length, Jaw Width  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMzth2plFho • Biography & Personality – http://www.arena.net/blog/personality-in-guild-wars-2 Both of these come together to tell your personal story, this is essentially how you roleplay in Guild Wars 2, determining how your character will deal with the events that make up much of PvE gameplay. The personal story is independent from random world events and is always available to follow through the game world and the events which occur there. The biography is a section in the character creation process which provides the foundation for the character's personal storyline. A player can determine the biography of a character by completing statements with multiple answers based on their profession and race. Determining your biography consists of the answering the following questions: One profession-related question, One question that determines your starting personality, Three race-specific questions. Personality is a mechanic that gives players a method to roleplay their characters more directly. Initial personality is set at character creation time using the biography questions and is later refined by the character's last 100 interactions with the NPCs of the world. The game keeps track of three aspects: ferocity, dignity, and charm. Actions and dialogues may change a character's personality to strengthen one of those aspects; for example, a character who bullies a NPC would increase his ferocity, and soon be known as barbaric. Likewise, a character who often cons NPCs may be known as a scoundrel. Choosing a personality has many possible rewards. Some dialogue options are only available to specific personality types, so for example a barbaric character may once in a while have the option of punching a NPC in the middle of a conversation. Personality may also determine how NPCs react to the character, so merchants may cower behind their stalls when approached by someone of the barbaric archetype. One of the earliest available titles in the game is related to the chosen personality type. It's also possible to use karma to impose a character's personality on the world for significant rewards. However the different outcomes for taking a personality choice are typically not extreme to allow the player to play a particular personality without being concerned about the gains. At character creation a basic personality is assigned based on the answer of a biography question. Brute - 25% charm, 25% dignity, 50% ferocity - the ferocity option selected at character creation Charming - 50% charm, 25% dignity, 25% ferocity - the charm option selected at character creation Dignified - 25% charm, 50% dignity, 25% ferocity - the dignity option selected at character creation Other personality types develop over time as personality altering actions and dialog are taken. There are potentially thousands of variations in the stories which can be experienced. The story is played from one character's perspective for that character's story. Other players can help with someone else's story but are not able to make choices which affect the outcome.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yh498HjCfc • Guilds & International Connectivity – Guilds are formal groupings of players. Guilds will be available to players from the start of the game, will not be racially-exclusive, and you may join as many guilds as you would like per account. When a character logs in, it will be able to choose which guild it would like to represent. While representing that guild you will appear active on the guild roster and have access to the guild chat. Guild membership will also allow greater out-of-group interactivity, with guild members being easily located on a map, current activities visible on the guild roster, and other ways to keep track of fellow guildmates. Guilds will be able to work towards guild achievements. As guilds do things together in the world, they earn influence. Guilds are able to spend influence on many things such as guild storage, a calendar, and experience flags. Guilds are also able to claim keeps in WvW. They will be able to fly their guild flag from the keep and use influence to buy guild perks, upgrade their keep, fortifying it against attacks. Out-of-game support for guilds will be also be implemented, with a guild calendar allowing guilds to coordinate events across timezones, guild chat accessible from web browsers, and smartphone apps that will be available for free. Guild Wars 2 almost entirely eliminates regional restrictions for it's players. While you are restricted to logging in from your region of purchase, meaning if you buy a EU version you must log in from Europe, etc. Once in game you can travel/transfer between regional servers so that long distance friends and large guilds with an international host of players can now all play together without the hassle of buying/paying for foreign versions of the game. Logging in from anywhere that isn't the US or Europe is counted as being part of the US for this purpose.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8TFDMf8DuI • Dungeons – http://www.arena.net/blog/william-f...ng-the-dungeons Every dungeon has two mode's, Story and Exploration. The Story mode uses concept art, cinematic events, and exposition for a more lore focused experience, revealing and developing the Destiny's Edge situation. After completing the Story mode of a dungeon, you will unlock Exploration mode. Exploration mode is significantly harder than the Story mode version. Story mode is meant for random pick up groups, with Exploration mode being the challenging content designed for a coordinated group of players. Each of the Exploration dungeons have 3 paths that the group can vote on that will determine what path they take. The Dynamic Event system is also present in both versions of the dungeons, so even if you play through multiple times, that doesn’t mean you’ll see the same exact thing. Bonus events could spawn from player actions, by location or even at random and change your experience. Both Story and Exploration allows for groups of up to five players; content does not scale depending on the number of players in the party so the difficulty remains constant, although sidekicking and player level scaling are performed for dungeons. Dungeons have their own unique weapon and armor set modeled according to the theme of the dungeon. Completing a dungeon awards a token. A story mode token can be traded for a weapon from the dungeon set, while an explorable mode token can be traded for armor from the dungeon set.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7gKbdynJek Monomythian fucked around with this message at May 17, 2012 around 10:27 |
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• Gathering & Crafting – http://www.arena.net/blog/andrew-mc...crafting-in-gw2 The crafting system is divided into a variety of specific crafting professions called disciplines, two of which the player can have active at one time and switch to any of the other six for a fee. All skill points and recipes learned in a discipline are saved when switching. Each craft has several levels of advancement; the pacing of the advancement through the levels is intended to match the players' progression through the game, so they should be able to craft items of their level without creating excess items they do not need. The items obtainable through crafting will have unique appearances but the statistics on the items are no better or worse than items attained through other ways of playing the game. The crafting skill level is also used to determine some titles and achievements. Weaponsmith – Weaponsmiths craft melee weapons, such as swords, axes and hammers. Huntsman – Huntsmen craft ranged weapons like bows and pistol, as well as torches and warhorns. Artificer– Artificers craft magical weapons such as staves and scepters Armorsmith – Armorsmiths craft heavy armor pieces. Leatherworker – Leatherworkers craft medium armor pieces. Tailor – Tailors craft light armor pieces. Jewelcrafter – Jewelcrafters craft jewelry, such as rings and necklaces. Cook – Cooks can prepare food which characters can eat for temporary combat buffs. There are several different ways you can obtain crafting materials: Harvesting – Ore veins, plants, and trees can be found around the world and harvested for materials. Looting – You have a chance of finding appropriate crafting materials like hides or trophies when you loot slain enemies. Purchasing – Some specialist merchants sell ingredients. Salvaging kit – Available from merchants, salvaging kits allow you to salvage crafting materials out of old or unwanted items.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fan8dbzWEYU • Transmutation – http://www.arena.net/blog/a-rewardi...alks-about-loot A big feature of Guild Wars games is the ability to customize a set of armor until it looks unique to you. The original Guild Wars accomplished this visual customization in part with a dye system that let you make your armor pieces whatever color you wanted. Guild Wars 2 takes this further with the introduction of Transmutation, a system which allows players to customize the appearance of their equipment. Using Transmutation Stones, players can combine two items of the same type, creating a single item with the appearance of one item and the statistics of the other. If both items have an upgrade component, such as a crest, players may choose which one is kept. A Transmutation Stone is a single use item which allows players to combine two weapons or pieces of armor, gaining a desired aesthetic look from one piece, and a desired set of statistical modifiers from the other. They will be available for purchase through the in-game store and through gameplay through the use of karma.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqst0JHkrlQ • The Dye System – http://www.arena.net/blog/live-and-...-gw2-dye-system Guild Wars 2 has a vast and intricate dye system unlike anything seen before. ArenaNet has stated that there are going to be around 400 dye colors to pick from, on top this, a dye colour will look different based on what material type you apply them to. Dying could actually be considered a Crafting Skill in itself, as most of the colours are not available to the player at the start, and must be unlocked, found, or given as a reward. Every dye you unlock is then available account-wide and along with that you will be able to sort the dye UI to your heart’s content; even including a favorites section. Some pieces of armor may have 1 or 2 dye channels, but larger armor will have up to 3 dye channels. In some cases with things such as clothing, there will be 4 dye channels allowed. ArenaNet has created sets for their armor pieces, you’ll be able to take say a trench coat, an inside vest and shirt, and pants and dye the coat and pants separate colors. This will give you tons of customization possibilities because this can be applied to any weight class for armor types. Each race has its own cultural palette for dye colors when starting out. This means a red color for a human may not look the same as a red color for a norn or charr. The norn, for example, have far more earthy colors: rust reds and rich forest greens and browns. With the furs, straps, and intricate carved patterns of their culture, these colors really feel solid and meaty on their armors. A charr would have probably have more blood reds and desaturated military blues and greens, while a human might have more jewel-tone reds and blues, etc.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG6IGAkUlHg • Trading Post & Gem Store - http://www.arena.net/blog/mike-obri...ars-2#more-7677 The Marketplace is the Guild Wars 2 player trading system. It is global, enabling trade between players on different servers. It can be used to sell and buy items without the need to find a buyer or seller first. While items can only be put up for sale when in-game, it is possible to browse, bid, or cancel auctions and offers when out of-game and logged into a web browser. A sale can be completed whilst the seller is offline, with the coin going into an account bank. The marketplace is capable of displaying the history and trends of item values. Gems- Gems are the currency used to purchase things in the in-game store, they can be obtained via two ways. First is by using real money and purchasing some Gems through ArenaNet. The second way is to use the in-game Trading Post by buying Gems via Gold. This system cuts out illegal farming and gives money directly to ANet as well as allows people who don't have or don't want to spend real money on microtransactions to do so through obtaining Gold through normal play.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34c7X2N-Suc • Tournament PvP – http://www.arena.net/blog/the-battl...an-sharp-on-pvp Tournaments PvP will equalise/normalise everyone’s character level, gear, and unlock all skills from the start to have two teams fight in a fair, instanced game. Tournaments are the more organized side of structured PvP. Tournament play is always 5v5 and matches take place on the same maps that are used for hot join play. Tournaments run with varying frequency, and different reward levels allow some players to get their feet wet in the smaller tournaments while more-organized teams battle it out in the larger tournaments. Tournaments come in the following flavours. Pick-up, a single elimination tournaments wait for 8 teams to join before starting. This tournament has 3 rounds of eliminations, with winners receiving qualifier points. Monthly, which requires an amount of qualifier points from the pickup tournaments to join. Yearly, grand tournaments featuring the winners from the monthly tournaments slugging it out for the right to call themselves the best PvP players of the year. And finally, Player-Run, customized by players, these tournaments allow for great flexibility and unique bragging rights.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IogrJbCsUE4 • Quick Join PvP – A pick-up play team based hot joinable style of PvP without the tournament rules. You can leave or join a game already in progress, and the game modes and types will be built to support this, with larger teams of 10 players, longer match times, and more points to win. This removes the catch-22 of groups disallowing newer players to join, when those same players can’t get better because they can’t find a group. Like with Ladder PvP your character's level and gear will be equalized.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPfwv3UKFw0 • World v World PvP – http://www.arena.net/blog/mike-ferg...-world-vs-world World vs World, WvW, World PvP or Casual PvP, will take your current character – as is – and have them join an ongoing, large-scale battle to win rewards for their world. Worlds, or servers, are randomly matched up against two other worlds, rotated every two weeks. The combat is open and features many objectives and roles which players can do; "players may decide to fight alone against a supply caravan, join a single group and capture a mine or create a large alliance to assault one of the numerous fortress that could give an advantage in the zone." The battle is on a large scale, where hundreds of people can fight on each side in two week-long battles. Each opposing world starts out with castles, mercenary camps, mines, lumber mills and villages. Separating the starting zones are neutral zones controlled by no one, also containing fortresses, mines, and villages. The resources gained from mines and lumber mills are used to rebuild walls, create siege engines, and generally defend the team's fortress. These territories and control points will confer benefits to the world that controls them; "maybe everyone gets increased energy regeneration or healing rate or enhanced loot drop rate." Players can gain experience and level their character in World PvP. Guilds will be able to take and hold keeps. Players are free to come and go from the battle as they please and there is no limit to the number of players entering. Players enter with a character of any level and use skills they have available to that character. Characters can enter as a sidekick which will allow them to play as a higher level character. World PvP is intended as a casual form of PvP, designed to be a more relaxed bridging point between PvE and the tactics and pressure of structured PvP. It is hoped that players of any level or PvP experience can participate and be useful. Gear, experience, currency, and skills can all be gained from participation in WvW.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbRYEE1k-xk • Achievements & Feats – Achievements are part of an account-wide award system that gauges what a player has accomplished in the game, from killing monsters, to mastering weapons, or participating in mini-games. Achievements are split into ten main categories, and are then ranked by tiers. As players progress through each tier, they become more difficult to master. Certain categories will require more than one character to complete. Some achievements will unlock cosmetic items or titles that players can display beneath their character's name. Achievements do not have any impact on gameplay, nor do they give players an advantage they would otherwise lack. Feats are combat related tasks that reward players with a Daily Feat Chest. By completing these Feats you can gain access to loot for your profession as well as additional XP & Coin. Feats reset daily so they’re not a one off type thing. There are various differing requirements to completing a Feat, such as time spent fighting, overcoming specific challenges, or how fast you kill, how many creatures killed, length of kill streaks, etc.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnKTXN7GtDI • Activities & Seasonal Events – http://www.arena.net/blog/john-and-...tivities-travel Seasonal Events are in the game but there is very few details about them at this point. Activities are various mini games located in the major cities; each is designed to fit with the unique flavor of that city. They are open to players of all levels, and put veterans and new characters on the same footing. The mini games have rewards similar to that of achievements, unlocking rare cosmetic items that are not otherwise available. There are about 30 activities in game. These include Archery, Bar brawl, Keg Brawl, Shooting gallery, Smash ‘Em Up, and Snowball fight. There are also things like the One-Man Band in Divinity’s Reach, the human capital. The One-Man Band is like a giant festive jukebox. Players can select songs from it and have them playing within the square that everyone around can hear.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEYftsxMDOg • Sound Design & Custom Soundtracks - http://www.arena.net/blog/james-boe...w2-audio-design With over 60 feature films worth of dialogue recorded for the game and industry legend Jeremy Soule at the helm of music production, Guild Wars 2 is set to impress you ears. One of the key features is the ability to tie any audio cue (including music) to the game’s dynamic event system. For example, if a fort comes under attack by centaurs, you might hear the music change to increase the tension of the situation. Even beyond this, the music system will work intelligently whenever you’re out in the world. By analyzing nearby friends and enemies and keeping track of what everyone is doing, it tries to gauge what’s happening in the world, and will switch up soundtracks accordingly, while still trying not to make the transitions too frequent or jarring. The world is gigantic, and ArenaNet want it to be filled with the sounds you’d expect in a living, breathing environment. The sheer quantity of sounds required is staggering. Every single critter in the game, from chickens running around underfoot to a huge creaking Oakheart trudging through the snow will have a complete and unique set of sounds. When a warrior in full plate mail runs by, he will sound very different than an elementalist in her cloth armor. In Guild Wars 2, much of the natural ambience of the world actually comes from the creatures, characters, and players all around you. You’ll hear frogs croaking as you approach the edge of a river, but perhaps only in the early evening hours. The world ambience shifts and changes over the course of the day instead of simply playing repetitive loops. That said, no matter how fantastic a game’s music is, when you hear the same music for the thousandth time, you start wanting to change things up a bit. Many players will simply turn the game music off and play their own collections. The problem is that an external music player has no context as to what’s going on in-game. Guild Wars 2 will offer a solution for this as well. By giving players the option of choosing external music playlists that the game’s audio engine will use as a replacement for the default in-game music. Players can choose different playlists for background ambience and battle music, for instance. Additionally, when appropriate, such as during cinematics, the game can revert back to in-game music temporarily to give the best possible cinematic experience, then resume the custom playlist when it’s done. Players are already eagerly compiling and asking other what their own personal playlist will consist of.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CxfLhPJSA0 • Extended Experience Is how you play Guild Wars 2 when you’re not playing Guild Wars 2. As in, they’re releasing apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Android smart phones that’ll allow you to interact with the world. While this does not mean you have the ability to play the whole game on the Ipad (but never say never, they say), but be able to “do” stuff when you’re not available to play. The same functionality will be available via a web-interface. The demo for iPhone and iPad was shown at PAX this year, showing basically the real-time world-map display, where you can follow your friends around and watch as the dynamic events kick off. Also, chat and share information. So, if you scroll around the map, you can find locations and then give the knowledge back to people in game – eventually via ping. They’re working on adding the ability to browse characters in a hero view, revealing their stats and equipment, including the source of the artefact. Basically, to start with, it’s a program that allows you to interact with the mass of information in the game and watch events play out, live.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTV6MTWKq-g
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 _____Release & Testing When will GW2 be released? August 28th 2012 (Head Start 25th) Can I sign up to participate in the beta? Pre-Purchasing comes with access to all Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Events Can I use the Beta client to play the full game on release? Yes. The beta client will be patched to a release version. No need to re-download. Is there a demo? ArenaNet have demos available at several gaming conventions. Will GW2 be available on Steam? No, not for it's initial release. Will there be a Collector's Edition? https://buy.guildwars2.com/collectors-edition What are the specs for running GW2? •Windows® XP Service Pack 2 or better •Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3, AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 or better •NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800, ATI Radeon™ X1800, Intel HD 3000 or better (256MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better) •25 GB available HDD space •Broadband Internet connection •Keyboard and mouse What languages will be supported? Will there be different servers for different languages? At release only English, Spanish, German, French, and other yet-unspecified European languages will be supported. Support for Asian languages will be added later. _____General Do I need to play Guild Wars 1 to understand the combat/lore in Guild Wars 2? No. They are drastically different games. The Eye of the North Expansion was specifically made to bridge lore because of the drastic change in direction ArenaNet were taking the series in. If you want a movie version of the lore behind the first Guild Wars, then someone has kindly compiled them into mini movies. Guild Wars - Prophecies Guild Wars - Eye of the North Trailer HD Guild Wars - The Story of Eye of the North Will GW2 have a subscription fee? No. After buying the game you will be able to play for as long as you like. Will GW2 have micro-transactions? Yes, there will be micro-transactions. They will be similar to the micro-transactions offered in the GW1 store. None of the things you can buy in the in-game store will give you an advantage over other players. Will the game world be persistent or instanced? GW2 will have a fully persistent world. You will be in the world with other players, but there will be loading times between maps. The areas of the game that are instanced are as follows. Open World - No PvP, PvE Dynamic Events, Cities Dungeons/Bosses - No PvP, PvE Dynamic Events, Cutscenes Personal World - No PvP, Personal Story Events, Cutscenes, Player Housing WvWvW - 100+ player PvP, PvE Dynamic Events based scoring, Keeps, Time Limit 2 Weeks Tournaments - 10-20 player PvP, Kill/Point based scoring, Time limit 10-30 minutes Will I have to choose a server? Yes, GW2 will have several servers. Will there be RP servers? This hasn't been decided yet. Will I be able to switch to a different server? Yes, you will be able to visit and play on a different server for free with some restrictions, but you are still bound to your home server. Paid transfer is available to change your home server entirely. Will my Hall of Monuments carry into Guild Wars 2? You can find out right now! Click → http://hom.guildwars2.com Who is the composer for the kick-rear end Guild Wars music? Jeremy Soule How does the Economy work?  _____Gameplay & Mechanics Will we be able to jump and swim? Yes, you will be able to jump and swim in GW2. Will we be able to fly? No, you will not be able to fly. Will we be able to map travel like in GW1? Yes. GW2 will have waypoints and asura gates. Will there be Group Finder/LFG? Yes. Will there be Dungeon Finder/LFD? We don't know yet, there is no indication that one is present. Will I be able to solo Dungeons? No, Dungeons are designed for 5 players and do not scale by player participation like Dynamic Events. Will there be mounts? There will be no mounts in the game at release. However, they may be added to the game later on. Is there going to be a day and night cycle? Yes. Day and night cycle is currently two hours. 1:20 of daylight and 40 of night. Possibly will change before release. Will there be a weather cycle? Yes. Is there a buy back function? Yes, you can buy back items you've sold to a merchant. Will there be an auto sell junk/grey option? Yes. _____Characters & Professions Can I have a one word name? Yes. Can I have a multiple word name? Yes. What are the naming restrictions? 19 characters with spaces counting as letters. In the English version of the game, only English letters are allowed. Will we be able to reserve names? You will be able to reserve names through the Hall of Monuments. Details are as of yet unknown. Will there be player housing? Yes, but not at the game's initial launch. Will we be able to choose a secondary profession like in GW1? No, this system was removed in the earlier stages of GW2. Are there profession restrictions on races? No, every race can be every profession. _____Customisation & User Interface Will there be a Combat Log? Yes. Will we be able to change key bindings? Yes. Will we be able to customise the UI? Yes, not as extensively as GW1, but there will be in game options to move, resize, and hide your UI. Will the the game be moddable? No, however ArenaNet is looking into ways the playerbase can input their own ideas without modifying the game itself. Will there be a Macro system? No. Will there be an auto loot option? Yes. Will there be an aoe loot option? We don't know yet. _____PvP Will there be open world PvP? Players can only attack and kill each other in PvP-designated areas. Will we be able to duel each other? Not in the open world. However, 1v1 will be possible in Hot join PvP. Will there be UAX, unlock of all skills and items, for PvP players? It has been stated that a character which is taken into Structured PvP will be given fixed level, and have access to the same set of skills, items, and professions as other players. World versus World will use the equipment, skill and level of the character entering. Will I be able to host my own tournaments? It is being considered. _____Armor & Weapons How does the armor system in GW2 work? There are 3 types of armor in GW2, light, medium and heavy armor. Will there be a durability mechanic in GW2? Yes, you lose armor durability on death, along with a temporary penalty on downed state duration for any additional deaths. Is it possible to dye/brand armor? Yes, GW2 has a very extensive dye system and unique guild emblems for armor. Is it possible to dye weapons? No, but weapons can be customised/branded with unique guild emblems. Will each race have its own armors? Every race has several sets of armor that are restricted to that race. There will also be "normal" armor that looks good on every race. _____Guilds Will I be able to reserve my Guild Wars guild's name? We don't know yet, however you will be able to reserve any guild name during the Headstart Access. Will my account be able to join multiple guilds? Yes. Each character will optionally be able to join a different guild. All characters from the same account in a guild will show as a single member. If one character belongs to a guild no further invitations are required to add more characters to the guild. Are any features being added to support guild-based activities in-game? There will be guild achievements added and guilds may hold keeps in World versus World. There will be a guild calendar and you can participate in guild chat from a web browser. Will guilds be segregated by character race? No. Guilds will be restricted by race only if the leadership chooses to restrict it. Will guilds be able to chat to multiple guilds at the same time? Not currently. Will we be able to create an alliance with our guild? We don't know. How many members can join a guild? Higher limit than in the previous Guild Wars, up to no limit. Will guilds have a Leader, Officer, Member ranking that limits their guild-management options? Yes. Will guilds have a way to recruit without using chat channels? We don't know. Will there be guild halls? Guild halls will be released sometime after the game has launched. _____Sewers & Sewer Based Content Will there be Sewers? Yes. Will there be Sewer Dungeons? Yes, lots. Can I level exclusively in Sewers? Yes. Will there awesome treasure in the Sewers? Yes, the fattest chests and bulgiest bags. Can my player housing be location in the Sewers? We don't know yet.  CLICK THESE LINKS FOR TONS OF NEW BETA WEEKEND CONTENT, TOO MUCH TO LIST HERE INDIVIDUALLYhttp://www.guildmag.com/press-close...gregration-page http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum...eta-t32145.html Guild Wars 2 Casts & Channels http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2 GuildwarsInsider Gamebreaker GuildCast WarTower.de GuildWars2Live GuildWarsCommunity GuildWars2Lore Avatar Collections http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/...-t10474517.html http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum...t297.html?t=297 http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum...747.html?t=7747 http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum...tars-t6147.html Guild Wars 2 Soundtracks http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/...2_battle_music/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gay1...EE67656836AE1B1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CxfLhPJSA0 Commentary Specific Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SMYW3tvYeE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ8uTPh0TEw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B-s9-rsBiU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ttfOuxB6Gc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x68uuh8zS_ohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOYP4ViTYzU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TgAf4lbvTMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR2Esy83MQ0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm6RqOnIAZchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X_q48ldaY0  Guild Wars 2 Official Website Guild Wars 2 Wiki Guild Wars 2 Twitter Guild Wars 2 Facebook Connect Guild Wars 2 YouTube Download the client: http://cloudfront.guildwars2.com/client/Gw2.exe Support: http://support.guildwars2.com/ Account & Forums: https://account.guildwars2.com/login Keyboard/Mouse Controls: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/for...age/1#post23799 TL;DR Version     
Monomythian fucked around with this message at Jul 28, 2012 around 22:18 |
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Reserved
Monomythian fucked around with this message at Aug 7, 2012 around 22:41 |
| # ? May 5, 2012 11:03 |
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As captain of the USS Hype, I welcome you aboard. Next stop ... INFINITY!SIDE GUILD POST First up is MY GUILD "The Quaggun" for you PVE lovers: quote:Haven't decided what guild to join yet? Let me first suggest STARFLEET DENTAL(http://www.starfleetdental.com/GW2/Forums/) or GOON SQUAD(http://www.gw2goons.org/). Both of these are sure to be very large guilds with lots of people to play with, great forums, and all the goon fuckery that you look forward to in goon guilds. Next, we have a Euro server guild for Euros. They are called "Rouge Squadron" quote:I present to you the new version of Rouge Squadron. We were a guild in other terrible MMO games such as SW:TOR and there are still many of us left who continue to enjoy playing games together. As a result, we have decided to play Guild Wars 2 under our old banner. We as a guild prefer to stay away from terrible drama and play in a nice chilled atmosphere. Andry fucked around with this message at Aug 20, 2012 around 22:10 |
| # ? May 5, 2012 11:38 |
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). Or if you're looking for some chill goons to hang with and don't want to play on the US server, please feel free to visit us at
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You don't have to be suffering GW2 withdrawals but it certainly helps!
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| # ? May 5, 2012 11:41 |
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I haven't been this excited for a game since Starcraft 2 
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| # ? May 5, 2012 11:42 |
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If you have been searching for a game to revive the feeling of DAoC... This is your game. If you are so tired of quest hubs and breadcrumbs... This is your game. If you want to play TF2 but with magic and swords... This is your game. If you never want to get on the treadmill again, if you want to eat the carrot... This is your game.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 11:53 |
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Excellent OP as always but your info on attributes is incomplete. There's 10 attributes per class - the article you quoted was about the at-the-time new attributes they'd introduced and so the list doesn't include Power, Vitality, Precision and Toughness.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 11:55 |
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If everything is scaling to your gear, is there any way to actually progress your avatar. Are there situations where an increase in gear will make content more challenging? Also sad to see that the organized pvp is 5v5, I don't have 4 friends.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:00 |
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Bashez posted:If everything is scaling to your gear, is there any way to actually progress your avatar. Are there situations where an increase in gear will make content more challenging? Also sad to see that the organized pvp is 5v5, I don't have 4 friends. That's what Goons are for.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:03 |
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After playing the beta, none of my other games can hold my interest for more than 5 minutes. I just want to play more GW2. Thanks ANet! 
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:13 |
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Great OP, great game.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:13 |
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I was actually pretty underwhelmed by the beta BUT I didn't try World vs World at all. As far as the PvE went it reminded me a lot of WAR's PQ system and it just wasn't particularly interesting. I still have high hopes for the pvp in the game though
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:18 |
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Reeposting this WvW video from the last thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbRYEE1k-xk&hd=1
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:21 |
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Bashez posted:If everything is scaling to your gear, is there any way to actually progress your avatar. Are there situations where an increase in gear will make content more challenging? Also sad to see that the organized pvp is 5v5, I don't have 4 friends. Nothing scales to your gear. Scaling is entirely level based. You scale down to the PVE you are doing, you scale up to the PVP you are doing. Gear, while functional, is de-emphasized in Guild Wars 2. There is no never-ending hamster wheel of gear to deceive you into believing your character is advancing. There is also no monthly fee.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:22 |
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Zzulu posted:I was actually pretty underwhelmed by the beta BUT I didn't try World vs World at all. WARs PQ system, but it actually works. WAR's PQs completely failed at the organic part and had no ability to conjure the illusion of spontaneity whatsoever. I dunno people being underwhelmed by dynamic events confuses me. It's probably one of the highlights of the game for me. It really helps rekindle the idea that in an MMO I can just pick a direction and start walking and ADVENTURE will happen. That sadly hasn't been true for a long time 
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:24 |
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Bashez posted:If everything is scaling to your gear, is there any way to actually progress your avatar. Are there situations where an increase in gear will make content more challenging? Also sad to see that the organized pvp is 5v5, I don't have 4 friends. Nothing scales to your gear, it scales to your level. Ideally, content gets more challenging as you progress throughout the game. You know, like a normal video game. Good gear certainly is useful! You will scale down to your surroundings, but you will never scale up to them, so having better gear will always make things better for you. There's also the stuff that's hard to find like weapon sigils with the effects you want; for example, if you have a high Precision, you definitely want to find the sigil that makes stuff explode on a critical. Also if you didn't try WvW you missed half the fun of the beta, at least in my experience.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:25 |
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This is going to be what I call a "good game".
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:29 |
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Yeah, really whatever you may think about the content of this totally HERO-BASED STORY in PVE (if you are hoping for dark, complicated, anti-heroes this is not for you), the system itself truthfully allows you to explore as the main driving force behind your play. You don't follow a path, you don't follow a line, you see something in the horizon, you test yourself against its inhabitants, and if successful you press forward... in some direction. Of course some areas will be too challenging. You can't just walk out of the Shire into Mordor. But no one, no NPC, is going to tell you where to go. You decide.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:30 |
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That is one hell of an OP Monomythian. Well done I say! I am really bored with all of my current games after playing during the Beta Weekend. Hopefully me and my friends will all get Max Payne 3 while I wait.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:31 |
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Andry posted:Of course some areas will be too challenging. You can't just walk out of the Shire into Mordor. But no one, no NPC, is going to tell you where to go. You decide. All I can say is, watch out for the Longhorn Sheep. Those bastards are sinister. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBtrYDEPxMI Edit: Oh feces. I managed to double post even though I set out not to do that by editing my previous post. Torabi fucked around with this message at May 5, 2012 around 12:37 |
| # ? May 5, 2012 12:33 |
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Monomythian makes the best OPs. 
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:34 |
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Here's hoping we get to page 2 quickly so chrome doesn't keep freezing whenever I open this thread!
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:42 |
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Don't forget your 5s boys. Do it for Mono's great OP!
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:46 |
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Some of the info in the OP is outdatedquote:Stances I don't think stances work like that in GW2. Maybe this is how they worked in GW1?
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:53 |
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toeman posted:Reeposting this WvW video from the last thread: Haven't seen this one yet, thanks! Pretty nice compilation.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:54 |
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What a beast of an OP. Great job.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:55 |
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To any fellow goons looking to run the game on the minimum specs like I did: Don't bother. Excellent game, but if you have more than 4 people on-screen, your FPS turns into SPF. And that's still a goddamn amazing OP. There's enough information in there for more than one game. I swear you've just put random pictures in the middle of it and gone "haha nobody is going to read this, here are some free beta keys and my norn-asura fanfic".
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| # ? May 5, 2012 12:55 |
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Can we nip this in the bud now? BAD PERFORMANCE IN THE BETA WAS DUE TO A BUILD THAT WAS CPU LIMITED. RELEASE PERFORMANCE WILL BE DRASTICALLY BETTER.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 13:00 |
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Mr. Moon posted:Excellent OP as always but your info on attributes is incomplete. There's 10 attributes per class - the article you quoted was about the at-the-time new attributes they'd introduced and so the list doesn't include Power, Vitality, Precision and Toughness. Minorkos posted:Some of the info in the OP is outdated Ah yeah, I'll change that. There might be a few blips of info left over from older builds. Tiers for skills was something I spotted as outdated and took out.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 13:01 |
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I've been out of the loop for a while - was the Sylvari playable in this most recent weekend?
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| # ? May 5, 2012 13:02 |
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Six Of Spades posted:I've been out of the loop for a while - was the Sylvari playable in this most recent weekend? Neither Sylvari nor Asura were playable. I strongly suspect they will be for the next.
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| # ? May 5, 2012 13:03 |
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Honestly I'm kind of baffled at the performance of this game. My CPU is okay at best (something like a 3.0 GHz quad-core Athlon), and I know that was the primary determiner of performance on the BWE build. The absolute only times I had any performance issues were serverside-lag based (and that only really came up during the closing event and an early burp Friday afternoon while I was still on Sea of Sorrows) and the rest of the time everything ran beautifully, though I couldn't give you FPS counts. I maxed out everything but shadows, too, which was just one from max. I know all kinds of people with beefier CPUs than me were having serious trouble. What gives?
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| # ? May 5, 2012 13:05 |
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neongrey posted:Honestly I'm kind of baffled at the performance of this game. My CPU is okay at best (something like a 3.0 GHz quad-core Athlon), and I know that was the primary determiner of performance on the BWE build. The absolute only times I had any performance issues were serverside-lag based (and that only really came up during the closing event and an early burp Friday afternoon while I was still on Sea of Sorrows) and the rest of the time everything ran beautifully, though I couldn't give you FPS counts. I maxed out everything but shadows, too, which was just one from max. I know all kinds of people with beefier CPUs than me were having serious trouble. What gives? I'd like to point this out so hopefully it gets nailed directly into people's craniums but the developers acknowledged that the BWE client was unoptimized and chosen because it was the most stable version. A lot of little QoL features asked in the official forums already exist on newer incarnations so treat the first beta's performance with goddamn salt markets of timbuktu because it is highly likely you get better FPS. A metric shitton frontloaded on the CPU, with little GPU load. Delacroix fucked around with this message at May 5, 2012 around 13:14 |
| # ? May 5, 2012 13:12 |
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How many times do we have to say that the beta is unoptimized. It is getting pretty annoying. Yes you have a computer that you spent your life savings on, that doesn't mean that the unoptimized beta will run any better.
Torabi fucked around with this message at May 5, 2012 around 13:24 |
| # ? May 5, 2012 13:14 |
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Yeah I get that... hence why I'm wondering my lovely CPU was some sort of magic bullet that somehow outperformed far more powerful ones. 
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| # ? May 5, 2012 13:23 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 12:03 |
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Nice OP once again, Mono
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| # ? May 5, 2012 13:28 |
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