I’ve been accumulating news snippets about the as-yet-to-be-formally-scheduled release of Guild Wars 2 for an email newsletter I send out to my friends and acquaintances in the Guild Wars community.
A slow week, compared to the last few weeks.
Part 1: Discussion of previous news
- The first Guild Wars 2 tie-in novel, “Ghosts of Ascalon” by Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb has been nominated for a Scribe award.
Part 2: Guild Wars news
- Game update: “Removed all things that can’t be processed with a normal brain:
– Non-tiger creatures with tiger blood
– Red Rock Candy from Mars
– Warlocks”
Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news
- A glowing review of the Thief profession. “Yes, she just dragged him over here like Scorpion. Yes, he just teleported to where he shot his arrow. Yes, her dagger just hit three enemies at once, and YES he just went invis, stole a branch off a treant and then used it to beat down an ogre. Show me another MMO with a class that looks and plays like this, and I’ll give you a cookie. Not some healthy little Snackwells cookie either, one of those big soft mushy ones like you get in a combo meal at Subway. If Guild Wars 2 wasn’t on your MMO radar before (I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be) it had better be now. And for all you WoW Rogues out there who are tired of herp derping around throwing fans of knives, I think you’ve found your true calling.”
- Part 2 of the interview with Daniel Dociu. “It is satisfying to see one of your concept materialize, but it is even more satisfying to see your concept elaborated on and improved upon. And that’s what’s very important to me and something I keep repeating, especially to the young artists who join us. A good modeler is capable of delivering ‘spot on’ and staying very true to a concept — a great modeler, though, is capable of building upon it. Taking a concept as a starting point and bringing their own contribution. Looking at it with a critical eye; dissect it, analyze it, understand it, form an opinion or attitude towards it and then add that layer of your own to the concept. It is extremely satisfying to me when I see a concept of mine brought to a level I wasn’t capable of seeing or anticipating.”
- Part 3 of the Daniel Dociu interview. “Some people may have the artistic inclination and the creativity but lack the drive or ability of hard work and sustained intensity over four years of school. At the end of four years education, there is only a fraction of students who present themselves as a complete package with a convincing body of work (both quality and quantity wise) who would indeed stand a good chance in the very competitive job market. Everyone else may struggle a great deal, and it’s heart breaking for me as a parent to see all these kids misled into believing it’ll be a walk in the park.”
- Horia Dociu talks about putting the Commando April Fool content together. “One day, while working on some of the previous Guild Wars 2 skill videos, I thought about how I’d love to see a SWAT team taking out charr with assault rifles and how much fun it would be to make that video. Then it clicked: April Fools’ Day would be my only opportunity to do that, so I had to make it happen!”
- Video interview with Colin Johanson, part 1. “We caught up with Guild Wars 2 lead content designer Colin Johanson to discuss the upcoming MMORPG. In this the first part of the interview we discuss World of Warcraft, the event system and story.”
- Part 2 of the Colin Johanson interview. “Our interview with Arenanet’s Colin Johanson continues and this time we talk about such diverse matters as the new Silvari race and the keg brawl mini”
- Those sneaky, sneaky Skritt. “Skritt are small, rat-like creatures in Guild Wars 2 who come from deep beneath the surface of Tyria. At first glance, these skittering fur balls may seem barely capable of rational speech, but they wield weapons and wear clothing and armor like more advanced races. Also, as the asura will tell you (or as any careful observer might note), the skritt actually gain intelligence when many of them congregate. Speaking in chirps and squeaks so fast that it sounds like buzzing to human ears, they share information, parse knowledge, and determine actions between themselves. The more skritt there are to do so, the more rational, intelligent, and cunning their activities become. One skritt alone is a simple-minded individual, capable of performing basic tasks and keeping himself alive, but an entire colony of hundreds? Clever enough to challenge even the brainpower of the asura.”
