Quest Hard #6 'Legend of the Horse Cannon'

 

No horses were harmed in the making of this episode. we talk in great depth about Age of Empire the MMO-ish version, Bilzzard’s epic lawsuit we also discuss the possible closure of Earth Eternal and how Hex does not care about Duke Nukem forever, there is also yet another tear shed for Spellborn.

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Guild Wars 2, Some questions.

With the launch of Guild Wars 2 on the very real horizon now there has been a good many posts all cross the internet speculating about the mechanics and story of the new game. With all this buzz and interest I have waited to write my thoughts on the whole topic. So, I have prepared the following ramblings that really is designed to raise questions about they day to day experience…

There are going to be many changes to the Guild Wars game play, this includes everything from the skill bar selection method to the lack of healers and tanks to the new death penalties and all the undisclosed stuff in-between.

I am sure that the game will be a great improvement upon the first, I mean no disrespect to the first game as it was one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had but its getting a little old now and most of us serious players have finished all of the content at least once and there are some things missing from the game that are standard in newer games.

However with all this said there are specific nuggets of information that I am interested in that have not yet been disclosed.

Servers
Even though ArenaNet have spoken in some detail about persistence and such like, they have not addressed the method they are using to accomplish this, will the outposts and cities still be separate zones/instances or will the be in the centre of the instance? Sounds like a small question I know but the dynamics of this effect a great deal how the day to day travel and socialising will work.

Will I be able to ‘map’ somewhere in the same way I can with with the first game or will I be relying on mounts like in other games? If I am going to need a mount or something similar will there also be fast travel routes?

Will I be able to switch instance like I can now to play with a friend or is my server choice going to be more restrictive than that? In a lot of new games like Champions online there is a limit to about 100 people in a single instance will this be the same with Guild Wars 2?

Will there still be hard mode, will this be a hard mode instance/server that I have to switch to or will I be able to make the choice when out in the wilderness?

Will there still be a structure like the hall of Monuments that is a personal instance or will this be expanded to player housing?

Social
I have already mentioned my concern about server choices restricting who you can play with but will this new game have a buddy system that lets me play with anyone I like or will the new levelling system already account for this in some way that we have not yet thought of?

Will the game have social tools like Twitter or Face book integration of any kind, I know it may not ‘fit’ a fantasy MMO but if LotRO can have a player blog system (my.LotRO) then I think the options are a little wider than they used to be. I for one would like to be able to see a twitter feed in every game I play.

Will your characters ‘stats’ be available on a website like the WoW Armoury system? Even if not at launch is this planned at some point?

Will the friends list offer more information than online and offline, will I be able to see character details and titles for people who are offline?

Price
I know that they have used the phrase ‘Guild Wars pricing model’ but what exactly does that mean? At the moment we can buy unlocks, costumes and character slots in the store and campaigns come in massive chunks in the future however will we be buying campaigns or area’s. Will the campaigns come with new slots and races or classes or are all these things going to be separate?

As you can see I have some pretty specific questions about the game that so far have not been directly addressed. So, I am letting the more skilled news outlets tell us about classes and lore while I wait for the quality of life stuff to surface.

I am sure that ArenaNet will make the sequel that we all desire so badly, I’m even sure that it will live up to expectations. I just hope that the tools to build a community will be there.

Guild Wars 2 Hype machine - Warrior

Once again the GW 2 Hype machine has had a mighty blast of awesome released with the confirmation and video of the Warrior Class.

Sure we all knew it was coming but now its official. the Warrior is officially announced as a Guild Wars 2 profession. there is even a video to prove that they didn’t just throw this in at the last minuet.

If your want more news about Guild Wars 2 then check out GuildCast podcast (its really the best one out there) or the games official  home page over at www.guildwars2.com

write on

On thing that has always fascinated me is people ability to write. I real allot and as I read I am always mesmerised by the concept that a single person crafted the novel in my hands. Even a bad book is a feat of dedication and imagination. I don't get the same impressions when watching a movie however, I'm never struck by the skill of the writer, I am fairly sure its the delivers, you watch a film and your not constantly reminded that the words are written, the actors do their job's and everything looks natural, like its really happening.

What about games then? How often do we give thought to the writers in the games we love? I think it maybe about time that these writers got more public about who they are. For instance Guild Wars is a game that has strong cut scene dialogue as well as many interlocking quest based story's. Who writes this stuff? Do the writers have a history as novelists or are they just people off the street who say “I work cheap”

According to the Guild Wars Wiki the head of the writing team is called Bobby Stein who graduated university with a degree in film. What strikes me as strange is that I had to look that up. I think games should showcase these people after all how are the writers of guild wars any less important that the writers of the books we love.

Maybe with the fully acted dialogue in Dragon age and the up coming Old Republic we will see greater appreciation for writers and voice actors.

An epic picture and some Myst.

okay, I have been a bad blogger recently, I’ll take that. This is partly because of real life commitments and party because of another writing project i am working on (can’t go into that right now, sorry) but i did go to the launch event for the new ATI graphics card that was at Eclipse Computer store in Coventry. imagine my shock when i ended up on their web page.

I’m the grownup (not the random passing child) its just a shame that the real Predator and Alien where booked that day and we had to make do with statues made of motorcycle parts (really!)

This post is not all self congratulating randomness its also to let anyone who does not know that Myst Online is back!

 http://mystonline.com/en/

Its back, its free and its still pretty! so go and play it you don’t know what your missing (says I, who has not had chance to play it yet!)

Anyway, I’ll be blogging again properly soon and hopefully won’t miss anything that i cant catch up on, like a one day only Guild Wars level 21 day of something.

Fresh eyes

The other night some one i know through gaming decided to make the jump and buy Guild Wars, he purchased the trilogy from the Steam service and then purchased the Eye of the North from The GW-Store.

The individual in question comes from a WoW background but is branching out with games like Global Agenda (the current hot pick) so i was quite shocked when i was asked to join him in Guild Wars.

What i noticed straight away was that he was talking in WoW terms and trying to compare everything in the game to something familiar. so in an effort to help the new players who are familiar with other MMO titles i will try to explain a few things.

End Game, Raiding.

In Many MMO’s the part of the game that takes place once you have taken your character to the highest level you begin to experience what is known as the ‘end game’ however in guild wars this throws people because max level is only a few days play away for a serious gamer.

once you reach the maximum level for a guild wars character you still need to finish the fantastically constructed story (missions, primary quest line) for each campaign, this gives you XP (that you still need to buy skill’s) and gold (always useful) as well as a deeper understanding of the games lore.

once you have finished this portion of the game the ‘end game’ really starts, this is where you can start playing through the massive dungeon area’s of the Far Shiverpeaks (Eye of the North area)

Another Part of the ‘end game’ is ‘skill hunting’ that's finding a skill you want and then hunting it down from the relevant boss. once you feel your at your best you can take that PvE character and experience the brutal PvP portion of the game.

This a swell as minor portions of the game such as title farming and vanquishing had given me many hours of ‘end game’ enjoyment without the stress of traditional ‘raiding’ that you find in other games.

 

Auction house

Most MMO’s have an Auction house, a place where you can sell your unwanted ‘gear’ to other players for a profit.

Guild Wars does not have one of these. The reason for this is that Guild Wars is free to play, there is no monthly subscription fee so its an expense to host that arena net avoided

What you do have is ‘Trade’ chat channel that works surprisingly well. its not ideal but for the most part you will have little difficulty selling good quality items

Item Rarity

Many players who come from WoW are baffled by the colour coding of item rarity. okay, Light Blue items are the first step of rarity, then Purple, Gold and finally the Green items are the most voluble and unique, this is not ‘stupid’ or ‘pointless’ this game did not follow the trends of other MMO’s and if the colour coding of items irritates your too much then you have issues of your own to work out. its a design choice nothing more. (i have had that conversation many times)

You can not jump

i know, but the game is not designed with jumping in mind so your not missing out. complaining about it wont help. the game was designed from the ground up to work a specific way, jumping was not designed into that, again a design choice.

Servers

There are no servers as such you can switch your current regional location by using the menu in located in the top left corner of the screen. so, you can play with any of your friends, there are no restrictions like in other games.

PvP Characters

you can choose to create a PvP only character, you will have limited skills to pick from (only those that you have unlocked on your account) but you will be given a level 20 character and allowed to take part in all of the PvP content. however that character can not be used for PvE play.

Hello everyone, its me, again.

Hello, it would appear that thanks to the Guild Wars community management guys that a link to this blog has been posted on the Guild Wars Community page.

So, to all new readers I would like to say hello. This blog is a collection of Guild Wars themed thoughts, tutorials and general observations.

I usually post fortnightly and provide wiki links whenever possible. This blog has been running for quite some time now and you may find some of the older posts of use.

if you have any thoughts or question please feel free to post comments or get me on twitter @HexDSL. I hope you enjoy the posts (and hit the follow button).

thanks for taking the time to read.