1. Introduction
I have always liked playing MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) and
when I heard about Guild Wars 2, I read up on it and I noticed many changes to the traditional
MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) style game. Guild Wars 2 is still currently in development
but I have had the chance to play the game in Beta weekends and Stress Tests and I highly
recommend the game to people who do like MMO’s and the people who don’t as I believe
that Guild Wars 2 is designed to changed the way people see MMO’s and make the gaming
world different from every other MMO.
Guild Wars 2 – Dynamic event summary
Colin Johanson is the Lead Content Designer for Guild Wars 2. It is up to him and his team
of designers to build and develop what happens in the game.
Guild Wars 2 is building a brand new questing system. When Arenanet were building Guild
Wars 2, they looked at every core element including the traditional questing system of a
MMORPG and thought “how can this be improved?” Arenanet then introduced Dynamic
Events to address these flaws.
Traditional quest systems require you to read a wall of text and head out to kill something.
But what that text says, actually never happens in the game. For example, a man says ogres
are going to destroy his home so you set off to kill 10 of them; the ogres are just standing in a
field far from his home and are no threat to the man. After you kill them, you hand in a quest
and get another one, now those ogres will never become a threat to the mans house. The
quest is lying to you!
At Arenanet, they believe that this is not good enough. In Guild Wars 2, you’ll actually see
these ogres charging to the mans house and destroy it if you do not stop them. This type of
quest system is to make the player feel they are needed in the game.
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2. Here shows where the Dynamic events
are taking place and the contribution
you’re making to it.
Things I know about Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 is a MMORPG. It is being developed by Arenanet who have been working on
Guild Wars 2 for around 5 years but have been talking about the game for 6-7 years.
Guild Wars 2 is set 250 years after the first one on the fictional continent Tyria, which shares
the same name with the fictional world it’s on. I also know a bit about the weapon system and
how they work, depending which class is wielding them.
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3. Here is a timeline showing key moments in the Guild Wars franchise.
Arenanet
After the success announces Guild
A playable version Wars 2 will be
of Guild was,
Guild Wars of Guild Wars 2 released on
Guild Wars 2
was released. was introduced at August 28th 2012
began
Gamescom.
development.
April 2005 2005 - 2007 March 2007 August 2009 2010 2012 28th July 2012
New expansion Beta testing
packs released began for Open Beta
for the game. Guild Wars 2. weekends opened to
people who pre-
purchased the
game.
Endgame
Endgame is not something that has a direct definition. But the overall idea of it is that you
play through an MMO to max level, from there you may choose which path you may want to
take, for example: you may like lore, so you venture out and complete all the quests, hidden
achievements to fully understand the games lore. Or if you are a casual to big gamer, you
will want to enter a Guild/Clan and undergo what is called Raiding. This is where big groups
of players enter a raid instance and take on harder monsters and bosses to try and obtain
rare and unique gear/items and achievements.
How it’s different
The Endgame in the traditional MMO is somewhere along the lines of Raiding. But in Guild
Wars 2, there are no raids. The Endgame is the game itself, what I mean by that is Arenanet
have built Guild Wars 2 so that the content and leveling areas never ‘get old’. What this
means is that Guild Wars 2 has a scaling system where your level gets lowered if you enter a
place that you are a higher level then, making the game more consistent and fair, allowing the
player to complete all of the areas without overpowering them. Although there are no raids,
there are dungeons in which 5 players can enter and battle bosses to obtain new and
upgraded items. But, there maybe raids of some sort in the future.
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4. Here is a table showing all of the professions and the weapons available to them.
Profession Available Weapons
Elementalist Dagger – Main hand/ off hand
Scepter – Main hand
Focus - off hand
Staff – Main hand
Engineer Pistol – Main hand/ Off hand
Shield – Off hand
Rifle – Main hand (two hand)
Guardian Mace – Main hand
Scepter – Main hand
Sword – Main hand
Focus – Off hand
Torch – Off hand
Shield – Off hand
Greatsword – Main hand (two hand)
Staff – Main hand (two hand)
Mesmer Pistol – Off hand
Scepter – Main hand
Sword – Main hand
Focus – Off hand
Torch – Off hand
Greatsword – Main hand (two hand)
Staff – Main hand (two hand)
Necromancer Axe – Main hand
Dagger – Main hand / Off hand
Scepter – Main hand
Focus – Off hand
Warhorn – Off hand
Staff – Main hand (two hand)
Ranger Axe – Main hand / Off hand
Dagger – Off hand
Sword – Main hand
Torch – Off hand
Warhorn – Off hand
Greatsword – Main hand (two hand)
Longbow – Main hand (two hand)
Shortbow – Main hand (two hand)
Thief Dagger – Main hand / Off hand
Pistol – Main hand / Off hand
Sword – Main hand
Shortbow – Main hand (two hand)
Warrior Axe – Main hand / Off hand
Mace – Main hand / Off hand
Sword – Main hand / Off hand
Shield – Off hand
Warhorn – Off hand
Greatsword – Main hand (two hand)
Hammer - Main hand (two hand)
Longbow - Main hand (two hand)
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5. Here is a table showing the professions unique mechanic.
Profession Unique Description
Mechanic
Elementalist Attunements Have 4 different attunements, meaning they can
swap between fire, water, earth and air spells.
Engineer Tool Belt The tool belt allows the engineer to place a number of
turrets on the floor to help while in combat.
Guardian Virtues Have 3 abilities which add a buff themselves and
nearby players. They heal you, deal extra damage to
enemies and give a protection buff.
Mesmer Shattering The Mesmer summons illusions of themselves, and
upon shattering them, they can apply damage to a
target or heal/buff the Mesmer.
Necromancer Death Shroud This ‘evil’ profession can turn into a Dark Shroud,
giving them extra health and abilities for a short
duration.
Ranger Animal The ranger can tame animals to become their pets,
Companions which are used to help the ranger in combat.
Thief Initiative & The initiative allows the thief to shadow step to an
Stealing enemy and steal one of their abilities to use for
themselves.
Warrior Adrenaline The warrior gain adrenaline from every weapon swing
and ability used. The adrenaline builds up so the
warrior can use a unique ability to that weapon which
is significantly better than an average skill.
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6. Here is a pie chart showing the popularity of the professions in Guild Wars 2. As the chart
shows, the profession choices are very balanced. This is good as it shows that Arenanet
have made all the profession equal so there is no single profession that is dominant.
Permission from Tristan Pope
Image link - http://alttabme.com/forum/index.php?threads/what-profession-will-be-popular.619/
Tristan’s website link - http://tristanpope.com/
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7. Conclusion
Overall ArenaNet have created a unique game that they wanted to create from the very start.
I think they have done it very well and this will defiantly change the way MMORPG’s work.
This is a brilliant innovation as it encourages players in the local area to team together and
take on the Dynamic event at hand. This will create a strong community amongst the players
and it’s a good way for players to meet people and venture out as a team.
Sales Comparison
7
6
5
4 Guild Wars
Million Guild Wars 2
3
2
1
0
Guild Wars Guild Wars 2
This bar chart I made shows sales figures for Guild Wars and the estimated CD copy only
sales for Guild Wars 2 by the end of 2012. To finish off my conclusion – I believe that Guild
Wars 2 will out sell Guild Wars. It will also become one of the biggest MMO games out as
Arenanet have certainly lived up to what they set out to achieve in Guild Wars 2.
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