This week we have two special guests from ArenaNet that join us for our World vs. World segment; game developers Habib Loew – WvW Team Coordinator and Matt Witter – Systems Designer. We discuss all the issues of the day as well as the potential of future content. Stay tuned for scary boxes, evil dolls and a few hints, if you listen carefully enough, of what might lay ahead for the February Update.
This week we explore the tears and breakups as we explore how Titan Alliance broke up and the other tears of Tier 1 match play. Our guest this week is Obs of Lords of Death as we explore SBI and how they seemingly gave up last week and next week, as they win T2, will match up with HoD and JQ.
If you’re fond of Legendaries, we talk some PVE while you can listen to Draegan babble on about Engineers.
Remember we also have a contest for the name of our show. No one has won yet. If you have a suggestion for our show, email it to [email protected].
Keep reading for the full video show!
A German website called Wartower had a chance to interview Bobby Stein, Guild Wars 2 Lead Writer. You can find the interview (podcast) over on their forums.
Continue reading for an English summary (provided by Wartower).
Over the last two days, Guild Wars 2 Hub published a great two-part interview they had with Guild Wars 2′s Lead Content Designer, Colin Johanson. In it, he discusses some behind-the-scenes design details about the beta weekend events, renown events, the difficulty of the game, the impact of player feedback, the goals of the design team, and the atmosphere at the office. Good stuff!
Here’s one of the questions that was asked, with an answer that hits close to home for many MMO gamers:
Lewis B: Something that many people continued to say to me during the first Beta Weekend Event was that they couldn’t believe how polished the game was, that it could undoubtedly be launched tomorrow. Do you think this is a fair assertion? Where are you in terms of your overall timeline and assessment on the products level of “finish”?
Colin: First, let me say that we’ve seen that comment a lot, too, and it makes us, in particular our QA team, extremely proud of the hard work everyone has been doing. In an age where new-game releases have been ripe with bugs and unfinished products, one of our goals is to try to buck that trend and release a truly finished game that is as bug free as possible. We’re all gamers first at ArenaNet, and honestly we’re sick of paying for released games that aren’t ready to be released—it drives us nuts and we don’t want to do that to our fans. Quite frankly, we wouldn’t want to play our own game if it wasn’t ready for release either.
Make sure and check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the full interview!
GW2 Hub has published a great interview with Jon Peters in regards to class balance and the overall balance of the game. There are some interesting tidbits for everyone. One point that stood out was an update on the Engineers:
Lewis B: I was enjoying the engineer over the last few phases as it’s so fun to play, but have developed a list of concerns or issues, especially around kits, the tool belt, and trait line synergy. I think out of all the professions in the game it needs some tweaks at the moment. Can we expect any changes or significant improvements over the next few patches? I noticed their traits have had a tidy up…
Jon: The engineer is the first profession we have addressed since the last BWE. Changes have been made to many skills and to the trait lines as well. The previous list of traits contained many holdovers from the old trait system that did not fit into the new tier paradigm.
Read the rest of the interview at GW2Hub.
We got a chance to ask Guild Wars 2 Lead Designer, Eric Flannum, a few questions about the game ranging from World vs World, class balance, PVP vs. PVE progression and more. We’re very excited to share this with, especially on the same day that Arenanet has announced that the game’s launch is August 28, just two months from now!
GW2 Junkies: Guild Wars 2 has some amazing character models, ranging from gigantic norn to tiny asura. With any competitive MMO, players worry about hit boxes and how character models affect gameplay. Since a player can get hit by stray damage, how have you designed the hit boxes for all the varied sizes and shapes that GW2 has to offer—asura are short, norn are tall, charr are wide (and low to the ground when they are running), etc.?
Eric Flannum: Every player character in Guild Wars 2 has the exact same sized collision cylinder. For asura this means that the cylinder is larger than they are and for norn it means that it is smaller. Very early in the process of making the game we knew this was going to be the case, so the min and max sizes of our races are heavily influenced by this.
MMO Reviews has an interview up with Eric Flannum, Lead Game Designer, where they discuss a myriad of topics on Guild Wars 2. The interview opens up with these two questions:
What are your plans for the WvW content of the game in the long run?
One of the coolest things that we’ve added to WvW recently is a persistent mini-dungeon that can be accessed through the three keeps in the center map. This area is designed with multiplayer PvP in mind and players can do things like activate the traps in the mini-dungeon to defeat enemy players. Of course, at the end of the area there’s a chest full of rewards.
We also have some exciting plans for WvW post-launch, but of course we don’t want to talk about our post-launch plans until after we ship the game and have had some time to implement things.
Will there be PvP tournaments or some other kind of scheduled competitions?
We fully plan to support tournaments in competitive PvP. We will have a variety of tournament types, from automated tournaments to more competitive scheduled tournaments.We are still talking about whether or not we want to support any type of WvW tournaments after we launch. If player interest is high, then I think it’s definitely something we’d consider.
Make sure you read the rest of the article over at MMO Reviews.
Source: Exclusive interview with Eric Flannum the Lead Game Designer of Guild wars 2
Recently published today, Venturebeat discusses the monetization of Guild Wars 2 in an interview with studio president Mike O’Brien. Here are a few things we found interesting:
GB: What are the key features that set Guild Wars 2 apart from free-to-play MMORPGs and simultaneously justify a $60 purchase?
O’Brien: [...]I think Guild Wars 2 is one of the best values in gaming, period. Where else can you get this many hours of enjoyment, of content, of polish, of replayability for $60?
I’ll give a direct comparison. Guild Wars 2 is both a great MMO and a great RPG, so anyone who plays offline RPGs like Skyrim or online RPGs like Diablo III is going to love Guild Wars 2. Those games cost $60. Compared to them, Guild Wars 2 has at least as much content, world exploration, personal storylines, and replayability. And then for no additional charge, Guild Wars 2 gives you a fully persistent world where you can hang out with your friends online, lots of social features, a live team dedicated to introducing lots of new content into the game, and two integrated forms of [player-versus-player].
…
Once you get in that mindset, microtransactions in Guild Wars 2 are pretty straightforward, and it’s not as controversial as you’d think. If players need something to play the game, it’s part of the game. If something is a fun add-on or service, it can be a microtransaction.
Keep reading for more.
Eurogamer’s Robert Purchese takes a tour of Arenanet and gets a chance to interview the team. Here’s a snippet from his time with Mike O’Brien. Make sure you read the rest of the article for more quotes from the team.
Mike O’Brien stressed at the very beginning of our visit that Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have a release date. The “when?” of this gigantic operation will depend on the beta. But it’s clear the end is in sight, and that every facet of ArenaNet wants the world to see what it’s poured five years of hard work into, because they genuinely believe they’ve made something great.
Having seen their knowledge and dedication first hand, the sentiment is infectious. But one day not long from now Guild Wars 2 will be judged, by its numbers and by its quality. Another chapter will open for Guild Wars 2 as this five-year chapter ends. And there’s something bittersweet about that for ArenaNet. This moment, this team, may never come again.
“At my age, I don’t feel like I have the luxury of wasting a development cycle, of putting five years of my life into something that’s less than relevant or game changing,” Daniel Dociu says. “Will it feel big enough, relevant enough, to where I can look back and say, ‘Hell, this was definitely worth putting five of my last years into?’ And I hope that’s going to be the case, but you can’t help but be nervous about it.”
Source: Guild Wars 2: The Inside Stories
Today, GW2Hub put out their second part of their interview with Jon Peters where they discussed a bit of everything from social interaction to changes in the game. Here’s a quick clip:
Sardu: And that kind of interaction also helps promote more of the social aspects of the game which are obviously very important in GW2.
Jon Peters: I played in the beta weekends before the Prophecies release, and now I’ve been able to play in the beta events for GW2 as well. What’s interesting is that we’re currently right back in that stage where people are deeply theorycrafting builds, deciding what the cornerstones of X build should be based on Y.
So we’re seeing that exact same cycle repeat itself now, and I expect that will be even more the case when the next beta event hits. At that point, a lot of theorycrafted builds will be put into action and people will begin to discover why they may or may not work the way they expected.
From Gamestar.de:
Guild Wars 2 Interview: In our interview with gamedesigners Jon Peters and Ben Miller from ArenaNet we discuss the endgame of Guild Wars 2, matchmaking, guilds, tournaments and the engineer.
MMORPG.com has partnered with the Guild Wars 2 team for an exclusive Live Stream Q&A with Jon Peters at 10:00 a.m. PST (1:00 p.m. EST) about professions and traits in Guild Wars 2. We’ve compiled your questions to ask during the interview.
** UPDATE #2** The interview has been posted to youtube and added to this post.
PVP class balance:
ZAM published an interview with Jon Peters today where they discussed general game play and the eSports side of things in regards to Guild Wars 2. Here are a few snippets we found interest, but make sure you read the full interview by following this link.
ZAM: Given Guild Wars’ renown as a competitive PvP-focused game, will there be any plans to extend that competitiveness to PvE encounters? Something like leaderboards for completing elite events and dungeons the fastest?
Jon: We did do some stuff like this in Guild Wars: Factions so it is something we do enjoy. However, there are no current plans for this.
ZAM: Speaking of competitive team-based PvP, eSports has been making a big push into the public sphere, with more players turning to streams to generate consistent revenue while playing in tournaments for the prestige and bigger cash prizes. Do you have any major plans to support eSports gaming in Guild Wars 2 that you can share?
Jon: Absolutely. We consider it to be one of the primary goals of Guild Wars 2 competitive PvP to make it into an eSport. We plan to have daily tournaments, monthly tourneys and a yearly world championship. I can’t give out tons of details on these yet, but I just wanted you guys to know that we plan to have these things and support them.
Wartower.de put together a collection of interviews they did with developers of Guild Wars 2 that shows the passion and the intensity of why they love Guild Wars 2. You can really see the passion they all have for the game and from our experience with the game: it shows.
LET'S GET SOCIAL