Guild Wars 2

Jonathan Sharp on the (Near) Future of Guild Wars 2 PvP

Here at ArenaNet we’re passionate about our game. Like… sickly passionate. We want Guild Wars 2 to be good, and we want our players to enjoy it. Even if true perfection is an unreachable idea, we still want to strive for it, dammit!

Due to that desire to make the best game possible, we iterate. A lot. We take an idea, we build it, we test it, we make changes, we test it again, we add to it, we test some more, we take something away, we test again…. you get the idea.

So when we say we’ll show something “when it’s ready,†we really mean it. We don’t want to talk about it until we’re ready to show it, because it may change. We may come up with a better idea, we may receive data that shows why a feature needs to be tweaked, or we may find a new solution in the course of testing that’s superior to our original idea. That’s how game development works. We don’t want to talk to you about things too soon, and then have those things change. We don’t want to make empty promises to you. We like to talk about things once they’re ready. Do we get everything perfect? NO WAY. J But it’s still a goal.

Structured Player vs. Player (sPvP) is a core feature in Guild Wars 2, and it’s quite massive. The features we want to add to sPvP, to use an analogy, are like an iceberg…It’s more than we’ve been able to say so far. And like all our other game types, we talk about sPvP features when they’re ready. We shipped the game with some key features, but a lot of features we wanted to show at release simply weren’t ready. So now we’d like to start talking about some coming features that, until now, have been beneath the surface of the ocean on our metaphorical iceberg.

First, let’s talk about free automated tournaments, the new paid automated tournaments, and the differences between them. After that we’ll talk about another new feature – custom arenas.

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Almost two weeks later, bots are still an issue. They don't wreck the gameplay as no kill stealing but they are hurting the economy. They are also quite annoying... ANet needs to fix this, I'm kinda baffled at this point they haven't been able to do more. These aren't just simple bots stuffed in less traveled areas... they are out in the open, easy to come across and the best part most of them can teleport! That's the part that gets me, 6-7 weeks in how has ANet not been able to identify and plug this teleport exploit.

I'm hoping ANet figures out something soon, many MMOs have been destroyed by Bots

 

Shadow of the Mad King, the first major game release for Guild Wars 2, will go live on October 22. This new game update will include a number of new features for all of our players to enjoy, new content to explore and see, and a week-long Halloween event.

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I'm really looking forward to this, they are going to add quite a bit of stuff starting tonight!

 

Halloween is here! The people of Lion’s Arch and beyond have begun celebrating the week-long holiday with candy, costumes, decorations, and of course, the traditional jokesters dressed up in Mad King garb. Despite the festivities and fun, there are a vocal few who claim that Mad King Thorn will return on the 500th anniversary of his death.

Brand New Events – The scholars of the Durmand Priory are concerned by odd energy fluctuations and eerie Halloween phenomena. Help them delve into the history and mystery of the Mad King in a series of all-new events.

Haunted Doors – What’s the secret of the strange doors that have appeared across Tyria? If you’ve got the nerve, knock on one of these Halloween portals and see what answers.

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Holiday

Happy Halloween! Let the trick-or-treating begin. The “Mad Kings” have dusted off their costumes and are taking to the stage, telling their jokes to make the children laugh. It’s a lighthearted holiday, and only children truly believe that the spirit of Mad King Thorn once appeared in Tyria. No one has actually reported seeing him in over two centuries. These days, he’s nothing more than a tale told to make children squeal and behave.
But, paranormal activity in Tyria is on the rise, and Durmand Priory scholars have taken notice. They’re not sure what’s going on, but they aim to find out! Something’s not right.

From October 22 through November 1, Tyria is under the shadow of the Mad King. The weeklong event will unfold in four acts, each introducing new content to explore and experience, including decorations for Tyria and the Mists, minigames, Halloween-specific dynamic events, holiday crafting recipes, and mind-blowing jumping puzzles.
Join us on October 31 (midday, Pacific Time), when we’ll celebrate the holiday pinnacle with a bang!

This is the premiere holiday release for Guild Wars 2, and we’re blasting out of the gate! Visit Lion’s Arch to begin digging into the Halloween content.

Full list is massive, read the rest here

 

As we said in our last blog post, we’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg for sPvP. Custom Arenas are still being worked on and when they’re ready, we’ll show you more. In the meantime, there are a number of new features coming to PvP.

Qualifying Points

Qualifying points (QPs) are gained in paid tournaments – each person on a winning team in an 8-team paid tournament gets 1 qualifying point. QPs lead to rankings for larger tournaments, and allow you to measure yourself against other players.

Because you must have a full team in order to join a paid tournament and it takes tickets to enter, we know that the best teams will be playing paid tournaments. So while you do compete for better prizes than in free tournaments, the thing you’re really competing for are QPs. Think you’re actually good at competitive GW2? Hit the paid tournaments and prove it. We’ll be adding more features that build off QPs, so once that’s ready, I’ll give everyone another update!

New UI

To make it easier to get into sPvP, we’ve made some User Interface (UI) adjustments.

Tournament Browser

The tournament browser UI now shows you the map rotation for a given tournament, as well as the rewards.

Quick-launch button update

You can now join and leave structured PvP by using the crossed swords button in the upper left of your screen. This opens a panel that shows your sPvP stats and info about your character.

Scoreboard

The scoreboard now shows player ranks at the end of a game. It’s another way people can see how awesome you are at sPvP.

So that’s it for now! We’re still working on other features in addition to custom arenas which will support sPvP, and once those are ready to go, we’ll do another update!

Full post with images here

 

Halloween is coming to Guild Wars on October 19. This means 13 days of mischief and mayhem in Tyria, courtesy of Mad King Thorn and his Lunatic Court! The Halloween festival starts on Fridaday, October 19, at noon Pacific daylight time (-7 GMT) and runs until November 2nd at 1 a.m. Pacific daylight time (-7 GMT). This year you’ll again be able to dress up in the Halloween-themed costumes and enjoy the festive events! Monsters will drop their usual festive items and you’ll also be able to obtain one of the festival hats of past thanks to the popular Festival Hat NPCs in Lion’s Arch and Kamadan. And there are other treats! Once more, Mad King Thorn will appear on October 31st to entertain you... or be entertained! Head over to the Halloween 2012 page for all the details!

Calendar of Events

Spooky decorations, Halloween treats, creepy new quests, and the Mad King's malevolent games—all this and more await you during the Halloween Festival! Here's a schedule of events:

October 19: The Halloween celebration begins at noon, Pacific time! The mood will be set with eerie decorations in the cities of Lion’s Arch and Kamadan and the towns of Droknar’s Forge and the Tomb of the Primeval Kings. Plus, the Costume Brawl starts today!

October 24: Halloween quests begin in Lion’s Arch and Kamadan. Pit your skill against the Lunatic Court, delve into the Underworld to take on Dhuum with your allies, or embark on a classic Halloween quest from holidays gone by. Speak with the Mad King’s Steward to begin your adventure!

October 31: Mad King Thorn appears every three hours in Lion’s Arch and Kamadan. Participants in the Mad King’s games will receive holiday treats. The better you follow directions, the sweeter the treats will be!

November 2: The seasonal festivities conclude at 1:00 AM Pacific time.

 

“Our Halloween celebrations are in full swing, costume brawls are aplenty and the Shadow of the Mad King is falling across Tyria. Because we are as excited as you are, we will add another opportunity for you to get shiny Halloween goodies.

You will be glad to hear that we are adding recipes to the Mystic Forge that will allow you to throw stuff you get from the Black Lion Chests into it to get a special Halloween chest (no key needed for this one). These chests will include Halloween specific loot and give you a second chance to get one of the terrifying, rare Halloween skins. Here is the recipe we will add:
You need 1 Candy Corn, 6 Mystery Tonics, 1 Boost (any), 1 Boost (any) to get a Mad King Chest.

We hope you like this gruesome addition, we will let you know immediately when they will be in the game – enjoy the celebrations!â€

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Mad King Says was a staple of GW1 was very happy to see it return. The whole Halloween event was a lot of fun.

 

We want you to experience Guild Wars 2 and Lost Shores with your friends, so on Monday November 12, we will turn on Refer a Friend Free Trial. You will be able to invite up to 3 Friends to play Guild Wars 2 with you for free from November 15-18.

To do so, you need a Guild Wars 2 account in good standing that was created before 23:59 PST (7:59 GMT) on November 6.

We will give you more details once the program goes live, but start thinking about who you want to invite!

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November 2012 Release Highlights

Big changes are coming to Tyria in November. From the historic Lost Shores event on November 16-18 to the endlessly entertaining Fractals of the Mists dungeon and a brand new PvP map, after this month, Tyria will never be the same!

Lost Shores Weekend Event Nov 16-18
Begins November 16 at 12:00 PM Noon (9:00 PM CET)

A spectacular one-time world event! Unravel a mystery of epic proportions in The Lost Shores, a storyline that begins at 12:00 PM Noon (9:00 PM CET) on November 16. Join a fight against a formidable new threat that culminates in a once-in-a-lifetime, thrilling conclusion on November 18. Face a brand-new species, earn unique rewards, gather new crafting resources, learn new recipes, and much more! Lost Shores will change the face of Tyria—don’t miss it!

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Free Trial Weekend Nov 15-18

If you’re an existing Guild Wars 2 player, you’ll have the chance to invite three friends to experience the world of Tyria during our special Free Trial that begins at 9:00 AM Pacific (6:00 PM CET) on November 15. Your guest will receive an invitation with a unique serial code that will allow them to play for free just in time for our epic Lost Shores world event. Supplies of trial keys are limited, so get your invites out early!

New Dungeon! Enter the Fractals of the Mists

Introducing a dungeon experience like no other—Fractals of the Mists! You’ll be pitted against a series of unique “fractal†mini-dungeons that get harder and harder as you progress, giving you unlimited levels of challenge! With great risk comes great reward, including new weapon sets, a back-slot item, new Ascended loot, and much more!

New Beta PvP Map: Temple of the Silent Storm

This brand new PvP map, set on a kodan iceberg, has a distinctive look and a more vertical layout than previous dungeons. Since this is a beta version of the Temple of the Silent Storm map, we need input from players like you before we introduce it permanently into the game’s PvP map rotation.

New Lost Shores Items from the Black Lion Trading Company

The Gem Store will be well stocked in November! Unique minis and brand-new weapon skins made just for the Lost Shores weekend event are just some of what the Black Lion Trading Company has in store.

New Ascended Gear & Infusions

Introducing Ascended items, artifacts of great power that can be improved by a special new type of upgrade called Infusions, which can be found in dungeons. Look for more information about Ascended gear soon

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This one-time world event takes place from November 16 -18, with new content each day:

November 16 Begins at 12:00 PM PST (9:00 PM CET)
They came from beneath the waves—the karka, a monstrous new species bent on destruction!

Defend Lion’s Arch

All hands on deck! Protect the city of Lion’s Arch against strange invaders from the sea in a desperate battle for survival. Race against time to help the Lionguard uncover the mystery of these formidable new creatures!
November 17 Begins at 12:00 PM PST (9:00 PM CET)
The karka must be stopped at all costs, and the Lionguard needs your help to defeat this threat!

Retake Lion’s Arch

The nigh-invulnerable karka pose a threat to every living thing on the Tyrian coast! Join the fight and help drive the karka invasion from Lion’s Arch.

Discover a Brand New Map

Enter the lair of the karka—a lost island at the edge of the Sea of Sorrows. Introducing Southsun Cove, a completely new map full of wonder, danger, and exciting events! The counter-attack against the karka begins today!
November 18 Begins at 12:00 PM PST (9:00 PM CET)
Be part of Tyrian history—join the final battle against the Ancient Karka!

An Epic One-Time Event

This is it: the final battle against the fierce Ancient Karka on the brand-new Southsun Cove map. Only the combined might of the heroes of Tyria has any hope against a creature this powerful, which means we need you! This once-in-a-lifetime event takes place only on November 18—don’t miss it.

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Greetings citizens of Tyria! My name is Linsey Murdock. Some of you may remember me as the Guild Wars Live Team Lead before the lovely and talented John Stumme took up the cause so I could work on other projects. As a game designer for Guild Wars 2, I primarily work on crafting and items, which is why I am here to talk to you today about some exciting new features coming up for items progression that my team has been working on.

As we watch Guild Wars 2 mature in its Live environment, we have found that our most dedicated players were achieving their set of Exotic gear and hitting “the Legendary wall.†We designed the process of getting Legendary gear to be a long term goal, but players were ready to start on that path much sooner than we expected and were becoming frustrated with a lack of personal progression. Our desire is to create a game that is more inclusive for hardcore and casual players alike, but we don’t want to overlook the basic need for players to feel like they are progressing and growing even after hitting max level. Adding item progression is a delicate process normally undertaken in an expansion, but we feel it’s important to strive to satisfy the basic needs of our players sooner rather than later.

We have always worked hard to create a sense of satisfying progression rather than gear grind and this new item progression initiative is no exception. By adding challenging new combat mechanics to end-game content and ways to mitigate those mechanics through gear progression for high-end players, we can add personal progression without making the game feel like an endless treadmill of gear that is just out of your reach. Original Guild Wars fans may recognize that we took a familiar approach to our new progression. The first end game mechanic we will introduce is Agony, which will be encountered in the Fractals of the Mists dungeon, and is mitigated by Infusions.

New Condition: Agony

In the upcoming Fractals of the Mists dungeon, we’ll introduce a new monster condition called Agony.

This extremely dangerous condition ticks percentages of player health away and can’t be cleansed by normal means. Players who wish to delve deep into the Fractals will find that Agony makes progress increasingly difficult, until they reach the point where some defense against this condition is a must. The only way to mitigate Agony damage is by building up resistance through Infusions, a new type of upgrade component that can be acquired in the Mystic Forge.

New Upgrades: Infusions

Infusions are a special new type of Upgrade Component that can only be slotted into special Infusion slots on gear.

There are multiple types of Infusions and Infusion slots. In November, we’ll introduce Offensive, Defensive, and Omni Infusions of Fine rarity from new Mystic Forge recipes. Infusion upgrade types must be paired with their like slot, with the exception of the rare and versatile Omni Infusions which can be slotted into any type of Infusion slot.

For now, Infusions slots can only be found in gear of a new rarity type: Ascended.

New Rarity Type: Ascended

In November we’ll unveil the first Ascended items. This new rarity type falls between Exotic and Legendary on the spectrum of rarity and has slightly higher stats than Exotics.

Ascended gear works a little bit differently than other gear types. The stats and functionality normally added to gear through upgrade components are actually built into Ascended items. Instead of upgrade slots, Ascended gear has Infusion slots, and rarer versions of the items also come with additional Agony Resistance built into them. Players will be able to acquire Ascended Rings in the Fractals of the Mists dungeon, and Ascended items worn on the back can be acquired through special Mystic Forge recipes.



The Future of Items Progression

This is just the beginning. In November, we’re only adding the first level of Infusions and Ascended Rings and Back slots, so that leaves us a lot of room to build upon these levels of Item progression in future content.

As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content.

You’ll also see more Legendary items in the future and an update to our existing Legendary weapons. Legendary items were always intended to be on par with other “best-in-slot†items. So fear not, all existing Legendary weapons, which are currently on par with Exotics, will be upgraded to be on par with Ascended weapons at the same time that we add Ascended weapons to the game. Thus Legendaries will remain “best-in-slot†items. All Legendary items going forward will be of Ascended power. We also have plans to add more fun ways to acquire Legendary precursor items with a more “scavenger hunt†feel than they are acquired currently.

The new additions in November are just the start of our item progression initiative. We’re going to add tons of new high-level content to Guild Wars 2 in the future. As we introduce the new high-level content, we’ll also roll out complimentary Ascended and Legendary items (to say nothing of the other rewards you can earn by playing the content).

I hope you are all as excited about these new items as I am!

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Update this is now Live. I got 3 Invites if anyone is interested, PM me just need your email address to send an invite.