My name’s Devin M. (Xerelin). I’m a new writer on staff here at GuildWars2Junkies. I’ve been brought on board here to bring everyone a new weekly column called, “Discovering Tyria”. The idea behind it will be to go into detail about certain aspects of the game such as lore, the elder dragons, minigames and puzzles, and the three orders players can choose in the game. I’ll start off the new column this week with an introduction of myself and then move on to one of the lesser known areas in the game, the Maguuma Jungle.

There’s a lot of repetition going on in MMORPGs these days. Developers subscribe to this trend of continuing to implement features that mirror other games because they assume those features are why the games are popular. Class trainers who teach 30+ abilities, for instance. Sure, some gamers like huge arsenals at their disposal. But when one game comes out with 30 abilities learned by spamming the “train” button, the next 35, and the next 45, at some point we have to stand back and say, “Well, wait a minute. Why do we need all this? Why can’t we just customize our abilities right on the battlefield?”

Lucky for us, ArenaNet hasn’t given into the trend. The developers are attempting to think outside of the repetitive MMO box. Even down to the little details of Guild Wars 2, the hints of immersion and innovation are there. Yes, the game has trainers, but not for every aspect of combat. Players are able to switch abilities based on their equipped equipped. Combat can vary extensively between one encounter to the next– all without needing to spend 20 minutes clicking at the trainer. Minor details like this make the difference upon embarking on an adventure into Tyria, because we know that the developers didn’t say, “Let’s do this like those other games.” They said, “Let’s do something different.”

This batch of four screenshots over at Guild Wars Insider gives us a glimpse at some up coming pvp environments. Here we see lush landscapes and snow capped peaks in the distance with the usual red vs blue team colors. This particular zone they state is set to be tested in February. Everyone will be hoping they get a chance at the beta event for pvp carnage. Except there has been no word yet as to how to get into any Beta events.

The MMORPG genre is growing faster now than ever before. From Everquest to World of Warcraft, Warcraft to Age of Conan, and in 2011 we saw two major titles released in Rift and Star Wars: The Old Republic. With the clock beginning to tick in 2012, there are multiple AAA titles scheduled to be released, but nothing grabs our attention more than Guild Wars 2. With the massive success of it’s predecessor, our expectations are sky high.

Last year we got our hands on the game at PAX Prime, and all we can say is that our expectations aren’t high enough!